THE COLLECTION OF FRANK MARCHAM 1899 GIFT OF Prank Marcham I Digitized by the Internet Arciiive in 2007 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.arcliive.org/details/curiositiesoflitOOcornrich iBteto &mio»itit$ of literature. LONDON : PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY, Dorset Street, Fleet Street. # ^uvin^itit^ of Hiteratute, BY I. D'ISRAELI, ESQ., DOCTOR IN CIVIL LAW OF THK UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, AND FELLOW OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON. Sllu0trateti ,* BOLTON CORNEY, ESQ., HONORARY PROFESSOR OF CRITICISM IN THE REPVBLIQUE DES LETTRBS, AND MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF ENGLISH BIBLIOPHILES. Popular as D'Israeli is, I do not think hehaseTer obtained from criticism a fair acknow- ledgment of the eminem itiMon h<» is entit'ed to claini."— L. L. Bulwbr, Esq., M.P. jec'oAd iiDirwN, iiBVisfeZ) Ami AcljkijfATEn. TO WHICH ARB AUOEI), Itreag on Controbersg : Deduced from the practice of a Veteran; and adapted to the meanest capacity. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, ^utJlisi^er in ©rtritiarj) to ?^er iWajestg. 1838. W^ e{ l^4n^ k6u4 i^^U^ '^ PREFACE. These illustrations of the writings of Mr. D'Israeli, and of the school of literature to which he belongs, were privately circulated towards the close of the last year, as an experimental inquiry into the force of truth.^ On the appearance of a ninth edition of the Curich- sities of Literature^ — a work which had left me rather pleasurable recollections — I was induced to renew my acquaintance with it; and, at every glance, de- tected some misrepresentation or error. To correct the errors of a popular work is always desirable ; and it may also be expedient to unveil the deception and conceit of its author. In conformity with such principles, these critical illustrations were composed. I do not more expressly advert to ^ Curiosities of Literature, by I. D'Israeli, Esq., Doctor in Civil Law of the University of c3xford, and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Illustrated by Bolton Corney, Esq., Honorary Professor of Criticism in the Republigue des Lettres, and Member of the Society of English Bibliophiles. Greenwich [London : F. Shoberl, Junior.] : printed by especial command. Sm. 8vo. pp. viii + 160. ^ Curiosities of Literature. By I. D'Israeli, Esq. D.C.L. F.S.A. Ninth edition, revised. Lon- don : Edward Moxon, 1834. Sm. 8vo. G vols. f7i90972 VI PREFACE. motives — because I have dilated on that point, and on various important points of criticism and litera- ture, in an episode which follows the series of articles. An arid list of errata would have failed to obtain the object in view. I resolved, therefore, to select from the numerous instances which I had noted, a very limited proportion ; to admit no one which seemed unadapted to serve as the basis of an essay ; to aim at variety of subject; and, as to form, at the attraction of novelty. Such was the plan of the work; and of its competent execution, I have re- ceived very gratifying testimonials. It was my wish, on various accounts, to reprint the work for public use; but I chose to defer the execution of my project, in consequence of the an- nouncement of an intended reply ^ — which did not appear till four months after the transmission of my volume to Bradenham House. This reply, entitled The Illustrator Illustrated^'^ would alone have led me to decide. I forbear to characterise the pamphlet. It may be sufficient to state that the author has omitted to illustrate the only instances of oversight which have been pointed out to me ; and that his labours have not required me to suppress one line ! ^ Athenaeum, 27 January 1838. * The Illustrator Illus- trated. By the author of the " Curiosities of Literature." Lon- don : Edward Moxon, 1838. 8vo. pp. iv+81. PREFACE. VU In this edition, some further evidence is pro- duced on a contested point in the first article ; in the second, the subject of which interests me, there are material improvements ; and various additions are made to the twenty-fourth, twenty-eighth, twenty- ninth, and thirtieth articles. The others have no alterations of importance; and some are reprinted verbatim, I have reviewed the pamphlet in notes, which are marked thus : *^* ; and have attempted the portraiture of a controversialist, in the Ideas on Controversy. I certainly did not affect to spare Mr. D'Israeli. Facts, supported by references to authorities, were the corrective instruments chiefly resorted to ; but I rather freely availed myself of sarcasm and irony. The nature of his reply justifies me on every point ; and proves that I had formed an accurate conception of his character. It must be admitted that our essayist is not the only popular author whose writings call for critical examination; but I have vacated the chair of criti- cism — in opposition to very flattering solicitations. Fearless, as ever, of an encounter in vindication of truth and literature, 1 conceive that one enterprise of this description may be sufficient for an individual whose time is otherwise occupied ; and who loves tranquillity. Vlll PREFACE. I how cheerfully commit to men of letters, the appreciation of my motives and of my censures ; and as my opponent has shown a disposition to leave me in possession of the last argument, withdraw from the controversy. JSolton CorntD. Greenwich, 31 July 1838. TABLE OF CONTENTS. ^n ^fmitation. Exordium: on the choice of books — influence of a prospectus — difficulties of criticism . . p. 1 Art. I. The original Ms. of the Code of Justinian discovered by I. D'Israeli, Esq., D.C.L. and F.S.A. . . 6 II. The Bayeux Tapestry, and the royal operative — a splendid Jiim-Jlam ! . . . . . .11 III. An unpublished teston of Henry VIII. — from the cabinet of I. D'Israeli, Esq., D. C. L. and F.S.A 32 IV. The effrontery of Vasari — the bonhomie of Silvano Razzi — the union of both in I. D'Israeli, Esq., D.C.L. and F.S.A 38 V. A lament for Iaus de Camoens — with a specimen of superfluous fiction 44 VI. Queen Elizabeth appointing her successor — our female historian and our male historian . .47 VII. John Stow the annalist — with illustrations of ancient gravity, and modern Jlippancy . . . .54 VIII. Cervantes — Don Quijote de la Mancha a native of Barbary /....... 61 IX. Sir Walter Ralegh — the author of some passages interspersed in the History of the World . . 65 X. Philip III. of Spain — his last illness, and premature death 8? : CONTENTS. XI. The Rev. Samuel Purchas, M.A. — the unheard-of Traveller p. 93 XII. The Rev. Samuel Purchas, M.A. — sipping coffee at Constantinople, anno 1614 . . . 107 XIII. A glance into the French Academy — with a his- tory of certain arm-chairs . . . .111 XIV. La Guirlande de Julie — with curious specimens of history and ratiocination . . . .116 XV. The true sources of Secret History — now first disclosed by I. D'Israeli, Esq., D.C.L. and F.S.A 121 XVI. Secret history of the Restoration of Charles II. — "I always give the pour and the contre V — I. jy Israeli 125 XVII. A historian with no conception of the dignity of history — scilicet, Clarendon ! . . .130 XVIII. The Ashmolean Ms. — with a specimen of archaio- logic proficiency 135 XIX. Character of Queen Mary II. — "I always give thepoMr and the contre !" — I. D'Israeli . 139 XX. Lady Grace Gethin versus I. D'Israeli, Esq., D.C.L. and F.S.A 144 XXI, The path of the Woolsthorpe apple — calculated on data not known to Sir Isaac Newton ! .152 XXII. William Collins — with a true and particular ^q- count of the jo«6/ic ignition of his Oc?es- . . 158 XXIII. Facts relative to William Oldys, Esq., Norroy King at Arms — with specimens of his uncourt- ly style 162 XXIV. The poet Shenstone — the schoolmistress Sarah Lloyd — the critic D'Israeli: an anticlimax . 185 XXV, M. de Buffon and the Tour de Saint Louis — a critico-topographical sketch . . . .196 XXVI. The romance of modern history — last words of the Due d'Enghien 201 CONTENTS. XI XXVII. An immaculate edition — Os Lasiadas de Camoes, por Dom Joze Maria de Souza-Botelho . p. 204 XXVIII. The three species of Discovery — in part illus- trated by I. D'Israeli, Esq., D. C. L. and F.S.A 210 XXIX. The science of Literary Economy — " Masterly Imitators" 213 XXX. Hints on Camaraderie Litteraire — with select specimens 219 Conclusion: an episode — on future editions — vacation of the chair 225 Ideas on Controversy : Deduced from the practice of a Veteran ; and adapted to the meanest capacity 235 ^M^ » w > •'. I : ■ Cfuriosttitg of literature SUu0trateli« On the announcement of a new edition of the " Curiosities of Literature by /. U Israeli, Esq., D. C. L. and F. S. A.," I felt an inclination to add the volumes to my cabinet collection. To decide on the choice of authors for a small library is a task of considerable difficulty, and this difficulty increases in the proportion in which books multiply — a proportion which, whether it most re- sembles the arithmetical or the geometrical, is cer- tainly sufficient to astound. The learned works of Sir Thomas-Pope Blount ^ and M. Baillet,' which were formerly resorted to as the accredited guides on such occasions, stand in need of recomposition ; and the Judgement of the learned upon English authours, though not deemed too humble a project for one of the first of critics,^ is still a desideratum. Even Re- ^ Censura Celebriorum Authorum, Londini, 1690. Fol. * Jugements des Savants, Paris, 1722. 7 vol. In-4. ^ Boswell, Life of Johnson, 1791. 4to. ii. 558. B # 2 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE views and Magazines, the usual sources of information • HS jEo the nqvelti^s of Uterature, seldom allot much ^, ^ space to new editions of established works — not to :''\ ' pien'*ib>i how small the share of confidence which can with safety be placed in the opinions of anonymous stipendiaries. While in a state of suspense arising out of these circumstances, chance threw before me the prospectus of the work announced;* and, though experience whispered that a document of that description should be read with reserve, it was drawn up with such con- summate art as to allay every suspicion — and to su- persede further inquiry. We were assured in this elaborate prospectus that Lord Byron had characterised D'Israeli as a " most entertaining and researching writer," and had read his works 'Softener than perhaps those of any other English author whatever f that Sir Walter Scott, whose praise alone gives the entree to the court of Fame, had pronounced the work in question to be a " lively and popular miscellany;" not to repeat other laudatory scraps by writers of no less authority and influence than Moore, Southey, Bulwer, etc. It was also stated that the proposed edition would be the ninth; that the work was designed for those who " require the materials for knowledge, and for think- ing, by the readiest means ;" and that the purchasers ■^ of it would " PARTAKE OF THE UTILITY OF A PUBLIC "ff LIBRARY." No further persuasion could have been requisite; but the table of contents was superadded, * London : Edward Moxon, Dover Street, . 834. 4 leaves. ILLUSTRATED. O and seemed comparable, for the variety and presumed piquancy of its articles, to the carte of the renowned Very himself. The result of this accumulation of praise was an- swerable to the design of it. The volumes, as they were successively published,^ took their station on my shelves with due punctuality ; and I should think myself deficient in candour and generous feeling if I did not avow the satisfaction with which I gazed on their comely exteriors — clothed, as they were, in all the luxury of oriental splendour, in fine linen, and in purple, and in gold ! Anticipating the pleasure to be derived from their contents, it required no effort of sensibility to address them in some impassioned lines, which I formerly discovered while prosecuting my studies in a certain Institution in Albemarle- street, and which had fixed themselves in my memory as an exquisite imitation of Ambrose Philips : — " Golden volumes! richest treasures I Objects of delicious pleasures ! You, my eyes rejoicing please^ You, my hands in rapture seize \" ^ To such innocent coquetry, however, my acquaint- ance with the comely volumes was at that period limited. Ardent and sincere as is my attachment to literature, without some special stimulative I aspire not to the name of a student during the summer sea- son. To decline the invitation which munificent Na- ' 1st March — 1st August, 1834. " D'lsraeli — e Jlan^zovio? Cat. Royal Inst, 1821. 8vo. p. xx. -f Curiosities of Litera- ture, i. 7. b2 4 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE ture then holds out, is no part of philosophy ; and to me this invitation of Nature is scarcely resistible when it presents itself, as it not infrequently does, shaped into immortal verse by one of her own true sons — the amiable Beattie : — " O how canst thou renounce the boundless store Of charms which Nature to her votary yields ? The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields."'^ It will excite no surprise if, under the influence of such sentiments, I determined to reserve the lively miscellany as an antidote to the gloom of November ; but the sun of summer shone throughout that month, an instance of ultra-felicity without parallel. It was not, therefore, till December that I read the volumes, even cursorily; and, from the intervention of more imperative occupations, it was not till time had al- most completed another annual revolution that I could undertake to read them critically. In the interval of those periods I was nominated to the chair of Honorary Professor of Criticism in the Republique des Lettres — an appointment the more gratifying to me, as I entertained feelings approach- ing to veneration for certain members of that ancient Fraternity. The first resolution which I formed after the acceptance of office was to avoid the appellation of a sinecurist ; and the first care which occupied me was that of selecting a work on which to exercise my official functions — a work on which I could express the dictates of truth with some prospect of benefit to " Minstrel, 1784. 8vo. stanza ix. ILLUSTRATED. 5 the public, and with the least injury possible to the author. The Curiosities of Literature proved well suited to the purpose. On a cursory perusal I had noticed discoveries which the incurious public seemed to overlook — extraordinary art bestowed on the embellishment of facts — a rich display of epi- grammatic smartness, etc. ; and I eventually became convinced that the work would never be correctly appreciated without the aid of critical illustration. I considered, on the other hand, that if I should fail to preserve the juste milieu of criticism ; that if in the exuberance of my sensibility to the charms of ornate composition I should praise to excess, or through inexperience in the perlous career before me should censure with undue severity, (the Scylla and Cha- rybdis of that tempestuous sea on which I was about to embark,) no injury could ensue to the cause of literature, or to the author. This assertion, I admit, involves a paradox — but the lively D'Israeli shall explain it. " Praise^^ he avers, " cannot any longer extend his celebrity^ and censure cannot condemn what has won the reward of public favour^ ^ Another circumstance influenced my choice. It is one of the calamities of authors to be sometimes compelled to expunge or modify their statements in obedience to the decisions of critics — a calamity to which it must be painful to contribute. Now, the lively author seems to hint that nothing would induce him to alter one sentence of what he has written ! ^ I could here dilate with feeling on the difficulties of criticism, which have seated themselves in my 8 Cur. Lit., i. vii. ^ C, L., iv. 361, v. 239, etc. 6 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE CHAIR like the ghost of Banquo ; but it would not become me to imitate the current practice of review- ing the notions of the reviewer, instead of reviewing the work proposed to be reviewed ^^ — ^ practice for which I find no authority in my Critical Code. I shall therefore proceed to close this exordium; and if I leave it to the sagacity of the reader to decide whether it be a narrative oi facts, or a mixture of Jact axidjiction — whether a fragment of some histo- rical novel, or a specimen of the romance of history — I do so in full confidence that the numberless ad- mirers of the two latter species of composition can distinguish between fact axidjiction at a glance ! — It remains for me to declare to those to whom these presents shall come greeting, with what profound hu- mility I survey my attempts at illustration ; and to conjure them to accept what I have to ofier, as a mere coup dHavant to the banquet which the Athe- N^us OF OUR AGE ^^ has SO haudsomcly provided. Art. I. — The original Ms. of the Code of Justinian discovered by L D'Israeli, Esq., D.C.L. and F.S.A. " The original manuscript of Justinian s code was dis- covered by the Pisans, accidentally ^ when they took a city in Calabria ; that vast code of laws had been in a manner unknown from the time of that emperor. This curious book luas brought to Pisa; and when Pisa was taken by the Florentines, was transferred to Florence, where it is still preserved" — I. D'Israeli.^ 1° Edinburgh Review, 1802-36, sparsjwi.+ Quarterly Review, 1809-36, spr/rsim. '' Mitford, Prospectus, C.L. ^C. L.i. 29. ILLUSTRATED. 7 It is not my intention to engage in the wars be- tween the Pisans and the Florentines. ITie enterprise before me is of a less hazardous nature. I am about to search after the original Ms. of the Code of Justi- nian, and to discuss the early history of the civil law. These are not points of mere professional interest. Blackstone, the encomiast of our own laws, describes an acquaintance with the civil law as an " ornament to the scholar, the divine, the statesman ;"2 and Sir William Jones, whose comprehensive mind embraced all the juridical wisdom of the West and of the East, declares it to be " the true source of nearly all our English laws, that are not of a feudal origin."^ I shall premise for the information of the uniniti- ated, whether graduates in civil law or otherwise, that the Corpus Juris Romano-civilis, or collection of Roman civil law, consists of four parts ; namely, the Institutes in four books, the Pandects in fifty books, the Code in twelve books, and the Novels, or later edicts, etc.* D'Israeli asserts that the Ms. of the Code of Justi- nian was discovered hy the Pisans. — Now, the Ms. ob- tained by the Pisans at the sack of Amalfi in 1 1 3o,^ the event to which he obscurely alludes, was a Ms. of the Pandects,^ Whether, therefore, we take the word code in its peculiar sense as used by civilians, or in its extended sense, the assertion is manifestly erroneous. Not more tenable is the assertion that the Florentine 2 Discourse on Law, Oxford, 1758. 4to. p. 3. ^ Memoirs, etc. 1804. 4to. p. 308. ^ Corpus Juris Civilis, Amstelodami, 1663. Fol. 5 Pignotti, Hist, of Tuscany, 1323. 8vo. i. 284, ii. 90. • Brencmanni Historia Pandectarum, Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1722. 4to. p. 2. 8 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Ms. is the original. — Torrentino, indeed, when about to publish the text of this Ms., represented to Henry II. of France that he had recovered " les urays tippes et originaulx des Pandectes ;"7 but the learned Torelli, who edited the volume in 1553, made no such claim for its prototype.^ The very remote antiquity of this precious Ms. is incontrovertible. Mabillon and Fonta- nini believed it to be of the sixth century ;9 while the Mss. of the Pandects, which are preserved in the rich- est cisalpine depositaries, are chiefly of the fourteenth century.^^ Brencman, however, denies its originahty;'^ and thus writes the learned Charles Butler : " Some have supposed that the Florentine manuscript is the autograph of the Pandects ; for this opinion there is no real ground or authority. ^^ ^^ D' Israeli further asserts, that vast code of laws had been in a manner unknoion from the time of that em- peror [Justinian]. — Sir James Mackintosh an ob- servant student on such topics, assures us that " the Roman law never lost its authority in the countries which formed the western empire.^^^^ Without much in- clination to dive into the histories of the Lombards, the Franks, the Visigoths, etc., I shall endeavour to establish the correctness of this latter statement. It should be remembered that Justinian died in 5^5, and that the sack of Amalfi took place in 1135. About the year 560 we find the validity of the Roman ' Digestorvm libri L., Florentiae, 1553. Fol. Sig.f ii. ^ Ibid. Leclt. ^ Biencmanni H. P., p. 11. ^° Haenel,Catt. Librorum Mss. Galliae, etc. Lipsiae, 1830. 4to.pp. 32, 261, 403, 485, 950, 991, etc. " II. P., p. 8. '^'Horee .Turidicre Subsecivae, 1804. 8vo. p. 63. " Hist, of England, 1830. Sm. 8vo. i. 172. ILLUSTRATED. 9 law declared by Clotaire L, King of the Franks ;^'*' and about 660 its continued validity is proved by the cu- rious formulary of Marculfe.^^ Soon after that period Aldhelm, the father of men of letters in England, enumerating to Hedda, a prelate of note, the sciences which occupied his time in the school at Canterbury, mentions the Roman jurisprudence}^ We shall now leave Canterbury, and re-cross the straits of Dover. Between 712-44 Luitprand, King of the Lombards, a judicious legislative reformist, declared the exclusive validity of the Lomhardic and Roman latds}'' About a century later Charlemagne and Louis-le-Debonnaire expressly declared, in various capitularies, the validity of the Roman law;^^ and an edict of Charles-le- Chauve, dated in 864, contains the very remarkable declaration that the validity of the Roman law was never impaired hy legislative enactment}^ In 962, in 1014, etc. we find the Roman law cited as authoritative ;-° and in 1102 Irnerio expounded it at Bologna-^ — which city afterwards became the most celebrated school of jurisprudence in Europe."^ In civil law, two witnesses make a probatio plena; and I have produced more than thrice that number. Sir James Mackintosh, however, shall be heard once more. " It was indeed," says that learned juris utriusque doctor, " a most " C. von Savigny, Hist, of the Roman Law, by E. Cathcart, Edinb., 1829. 8vb.i. 110. ^^ Ibid. i. 111.-}- Poncelet,Biog. UniA^., xxvi. 622. ^s Henry, Hist, of Great Britain, 1788-95. 8vo. iv. I4.+Broughton, Biog. Brit., pp. 91-2. ^'' Savigny, H. R. L., i. 114. + Sismondi, Biog. Univ., xxv. 408-9. ^* Savigny, H. R. L.,i. 111. »9 Ibid. i. 161. ^o xbid. i. 147, 152. ^^ Pig- notti, H. T., ii. 92. ^'^ Ibid. ii. &7. b5 10 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE improbable supposition, that a manuscript found at the sack of Amalfi, and not adopted by public authority, should suddenly prevail over all other laws in the greater part of Europe."^^ I shall now pass sentence. That a D. C. L. and F. S. A. should confound the Code of Justinian with the Pandects ; that he should have so imperfect an ac- quaintance with the rules of evidence as to pronounce the Florentine Ms. to be the original ; that he should describe the Roman law as in a manner unknown while it prevailed over a considerable portion of Europe; are circumstances which, subject to the right of appeal, are henceforth to be numbered with the Curiojlttie^l of Hiterature. *^* Our new Illustrator clings to his D.C.L. — He admits his error as to the contents of the Florentine Ms. — an error which he discovered on the arrival of my volume at Bradenham House — but thinks it " may be fairly styled an original^ I cannot concede even that point, for a doubtful circumstance should never be stated positively. He intimates that I was not aware of the distinction between the laws of Justinian and the Roman law. The distinction is perfectly ob- vious ; but I could not argue on the code, which is not contained in the Florentine Ms. — nor on the pandects, which he had not mentioned. I undertook, therefore, to prove the continued vaUdity of the Roman law. He asks, " Who denies it ?" I answer, it was gene- rally denied till the late researches of Savigny — which, 2=^ H.E.,i. 173. ILLUSTRATED. 11 as Sir James Mackintosh declares, " have merited the gratitude of EuropeJ' He states that I had claimed a profound acquaintance with the civil law ! This is one of his convenient fictions. No such acquaintance was claimed — nor was it requisite, to enable me to cope with such an opponent. Art. II. — The Bayeux Tapestry, and the royal operative — a splendid jiim-fiam l^ " Otho [ Ofifow] , the bishop at the Norman invasion^ in the tapestry worked by Matilda the queen of William the Conqueror, is represented with a mace in his hand, for the purpose tliat lohen he despatched his antagonist he might not spill blood, but only break his bones ! Iteligion has Jmd her quibbles as well as law." — I. D'Israeli.^ The Bayeux Tapestry^ as we denominate it, is a piece of hanging which belongs to the cathedral church of Bayeux. Its origin has not been ascertained ; but it is, undeniably, the most ancient monument of its class in existence. This extraordinary relic of imitative art represents the conquest of England by William, Duke of Nor- mandy, in the year 1066. It is worked with colour- ed worsted on a brownish linen cloth; and is nine- • The author intends to re-examine his collections on the Bay- eux Tapestry, and to methodise the results. He proposes to con- sider its history, the scenes which it represents, the tradition at- tached to it, and the evidence of its origin. He is gratified by the approbation bestowed on his first essay — which has been irans- lated into French by M. Jubinal. ^ c. L., i. 246. 1^ CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE teen inches in height by about two hundred and twenty-six feet in length, without seam. One third of the height is chiefly occupied by borders. The tale is told in a succession of scenes, which commence with the departure of Harold from the court of Edward, and terminate with the battle of Hastings. The scenes are divided as in ancient sculpture, and the subject of each scene is indicated by a short Latin inscription. The colours are not proper ; but are so varied as to answer the purpose of light and shade.^ The public are indebted to the zeal and liberality of the Society of Antiquaries of London for the best engraved copy of this Tapestry. In 1816 they de- puted the admirable Charles Stothard to make draw- ings of it,"* and he laid the entire series before the Society in 1819.^ The engravings, which united would extend nearly seventy feet, are executed by Basire ; are coloured in imitation of the Tapestry ; and form the most curious and attractive portion of the Vetvsta Monvmenta.^ The intended letter-press, however, has not made its appearance ! Surely with our venerable Saxon Chronicle, and our Domesday- Book ; with the prose of Guillame de Poitiers, Guil- laume de Jumieges, Ingulph, Eadmer, Orderic Vital, and William of Malmsbury ; with the verse of Guy of ^ The Tapestry of Bayeux. C. A. Stothard del. J. Basire sculp. 17 folio plates, 181 9-23.+ Hudson Gurney, Archaeoiogia, xviii. 359, etc. '» Mrs. C. S., Memoirs of C. A. Stothard, 1823. 8vo. p. 218. " C A. S., Archaeoiogia, xix. 184. ^ La Tapis- seriede BayeuXy drawn and engraved by M. Sansonetti, has recently appeared at Paris in 24 folio plates. The scale is that of Mr. Stothard. ILLUSTRATED. 13 Amiens, Geoifroy Gaimar, Benoit de Sainte-More, and Mestre Wace ; and with all the aids to be derived from ancient laws, charters, and deeds — from archi- tectural remains, monumental effigies, coins, seals, illuminations, etc. — a satisfactory description of it would be practicable. To obviate further delay, I advise the appointment of a committee for the purpose ; and shall propose as members Thomas Amyot, Esq., Sir Henry Ellis, Alfred John Kempe, Esq., Sir Frederic Madden, and Sir Samuel Rush Mey rick— with M. Floquet of Rouen as correspondant pour rancienne province de Nor- mandie. In the interim, I shall undertake an examination of the tradition which ascribes the Tapestry to Queen Matilda ; advert to the internal evidence of its anti- quity ; submit a new conjecture on its origin ; and conclude with an illustration of the martial achieve- ment of Bishop Odon. M. I'Abbe de la Rue, Chanoine Honoraire de Bay- eux, assures us that the Tapestry is first mentioned in an inventory of the treasures of the church in 1369 ; and that the item contains no allusion to Matilda.^ The existence of the Tapestry in 1476 is proved by an inventory of that date, on which we possess more circumstantial information. I shall transcribe the preamble of it, and the item in question : — " Inventaire des joyaulx, capses, reliquiairs, ornemens, tentes, paremens, livres, & autres biens apartenans a I'Eglise Nostre- ^ Recherches sur la Tapisserie de Bayeux, Caen, 1824. Iii-4. pp. 44, 48. 14 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Dame de Bayeux ; & en icelle trouv^s, veus & visit^s par vene- rables & discretes personnes Maistre (iuillaume de Castillon Archidiacre des Vetz, & Nicole Michiel Fabriquier, Chanoines de ladite Eglise, a ce deputez & commis en Chapitre general de ladite Eglise, tenu & c^lebre aprfes la Feste de Sainct Ravent & Sainct Rasiph en Tan mil quatre cent septante six, Tres Reverend Pere en Dieu Mons. Loys de Harecourt Patriarche de Jerusalem lors Eveque, &c. Ensuivent pour le quint Chapitre les tentes, tapis, cortines, pa- remens des Autels & autres draps de saye pour parer le cueur aux Festes Solennelles, trouv^s & gardes en revestiaire de ladicte Eglise. Item. Une tente tres longue & etroite de telle h. broderie de ymages & eserpteaulx [escripteaulx ?] faisans representation du Conquest d'Angleterre, laquelle est tendue environ la nef de 1' Eglise le jour & par les octaves des Reliques."^ This inventory was drawn up with extreme care ; the compilation of it occupying several days. The Canons state that they wrote it in French ''pour plus claire 4" familiere designation desdits joyaulx, ornemens Sr autres Mens Sr de leurs circonstances ;" and such, we may be sure, were their instructions. In conformity with their plan of recording the circon- stances of the various articles, they describe " deux tentes de laine batues a fil d'or," as the " don du patri- arche de Jerusalem ;" they describe " ung mantel duquel, comme on dit, le Due Guillaume estoit vestu quand il epousa la Ducesse;" and they describe " ung autre mantel duquel, comme Ven dit, la Ducesse estoit vestue quand elle epousa le Due Guillaume." Thus it appears that MM. les Chanoines, not satis- * Lancelot, Memoires de I'Acad^mie Royale des Inscriptions, viii. 603-4. ILLUSTRATED. 15 fied with recording facts, record even traditions of the credibility of which, as venerables et discretes personnes, they felt bound to intimate their suspicions — yet, dear as was the memory of William and Matilda, are silent on the asserted tradition when they describe an article of so much interest as the tenfe du conquest d' Angleterre ! In accordance with the soundest principles of criticism, it may be concluded that no such tradition then existed. We must pass over two centuries and a half before we can obtain a second glimpse of the Tapestry. In 1562 the Calvinists committed the most lamentable devastations in the cathedral of Bayeux. The Bishop, in his report on the occasion, mentioned the preser- vation of some tapestry, and the loss of " une tapis- serie de grande valeur" — but did not allude to the Tapestry in question.^ In 1588 De Bourgueville gave a description of the cathedral of Bayeux ; its cu- rious central tower, its lofty spires, its flying but- tresses, its matchless clock, and musical chimes — but did not allude to the Tapestry.^o In 1681 Du Moulin," and in 1646 D'Anneville,^^ both Normans, chronicled the conquest of England — vrithout alluding to the Tapestry ; and M. de la Rue declares that he had read over the immense collections on the ecclesi- astical and literary antiquities of Normandy formed by Du Monstier, who died in 1662, without discovering the least trace of it.^"* In 1705 Hermant, Cure de • M. Beziers, Hist. Somraaire de Bayeux, Caen, 1773. In-12. p. 3, etc. '® Recherches des Antiquitez de Neustrie, Caen, 1588. In-4. p. 56. " Hist, de Normandie, Rouen, 1631. In-fol. pp. 163-92. '^ Inventaire de I'Hist. de Normandie. Rouen, 1646. In-4. pp. 64-70. " R. T. B., p. 51 16 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Maltot, who wrote at the command of the Bishop of Bayeux, published a portion of the history of that dio- cese.^* He pointed out that we were indebted to Wace for some remarkable particulars relative to the expedition of William ;^^ furnished a very ample ac- count of Odon;^^ noticed the Jour des Reliques qui tomhe toujour s le premier jour de Juillet;^"^ and even cited various precious articles from the inventory of 1476^^ — but did not allude to the Tapestry ! It would be difficult to account for the silence of these writers, if we assume the existence of the tradition within the period. On the death of M. Foucault in 1721, a drawing of near forty feet of the Tapestry was found in his col- lection. It became the property of M. de Boze, who was well qualified to appreciate it ; but made it over to M. Lancelot.^y M. Foucault had been Intendant de la gentralite de Caen — apparently in the years 1688-1704. He was an active and sagacious antiquary : " II luy est arrive plus d'une fois," writes M. de Boze, "d'ap- prendre aux habitants d'une ville ou d'une province, quHls possedoient des monuments sinyuliers, ausquels ils ne faisoient aucune attention"^^ M. Lancelot was a perfect enthusiast in research— the very model of an anti- quary : " personne ne I'egaloit," says the same esti- mable writer, " pour I'exactitude des dates, & le detail des circonstances de tous les evenemens publics ou particu- liers""^ But M. Foucault missed the honor of having '* Histoire du diocbse de Bayeux, Caen, 1705. In.-4. »5 Ibid. p. 196. '^ Ibid. pp. 130-50. »' Ibid. p. 194. »8 Ibid. p. 352. '^ M. A. I. vi. 739. *" Ibid. v. 401. 2' Ibid, xvi. 268. ILLUSTRATED. 17 pointed out the value of this monument singulier ; and M. Lancelot, when he composed an academical me- moir on the drawing in 1724, had not ascertained whether it represented a basso-relievo, or a fresco, or stained glass, or tapestry — or where the monument itself was preserved.^^ Father Montfaucon, who had composed an expla- nation of the same fragment, was more successful About the year 1728, he obtained from Bayeux the information which he so ardently desired ; and des- patched M. Antoine Benoit to make a drawing of the entire Tapestry, with directions de ne rien changer dans le gout de la peinture, -^ M. Lancelot, on receiving information of the discovery, secured a qualified cor- respondent at Bayeux ; and both the antiquaries com- pleted their learned illustrations in 1730. ^"^ It is now obvious that we must have recourse to Father Montfaucon and M. Lancelot for the earliest statements of the tradition — statements not recorded till more than six centuries after the conquest; and as tradition is the only authority for the ascription of the Tapestry to Matilda, it becomes us to examine the statements in question attentively — and to endeavour to form a just estimate of their credibility. I shall transcribe them verbatim ; with the addition of that of Sir Joseph AylofFe, who cites as his vouchers the French antiquaries : — " L'opinion commune h Bayeux est, que ce fut la Reine Ma- thilde femme de Guillaume le Conquerant, qui \a,Jitfaire. [savoir, ** Ibid. vi. 739. ^^ Monumens de la Monarchic Frau^ioise, i. 371, ii. 2. '^ ibid. ii. 1, etc. 4-M. A. I., viii. 602, etc. 18 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE la tapisserie.] Cette opinion qui passe pour une tradition dans le payis, n'a rien que defort vraisemblable.'' Dom Bernard de Montfaucon— 1730.*^ " La meme tradition qui a donne a ce monument le nom de Toilette du Due Guillaume, veut aussi que ce soit Mathilde ou Ma- haut de Flandres, Reine d'Angleterre Duchesse de Normandie, femme de ce Prince, qui Vait tissue elle-mcnie avec sesfemmes." M. Lancelot— 1730."' " The Conquest of England by William the Norman . . . was, by command of queen Matilda, represented in painting ; and fterwards, by her own hands and the assistance of the ladies of her courty worked in arras, and presented to the cathedral at Bajeux, [sic] where it is still preserved." Sir Joseph Ayloffe, Baronet, V.P.A.S. etc.— 1770. *^ The juxtaposition of these extracts forms no con- temptible illustration of the nature of tradition; of its curious transformations — and of the occasional rapidity of its growth. Father Montfaucon, be it observed, echoes the sentiments of the monks of Saint- Vigor, who could have no motive to under- value the tradition ; yet he expresses himself very cautiously. M. Lancelot, who wrote on the autho- rity of his correspondent at Bayeux, is much more explicit. He informs us that the Tapestry was called La Toilette du Due Guillaume — but speaks with no confidence of the operative ardour of Ma- tilda. Now, it is certain that the inhabitants of Bayeux, at this very period, ascribed almost every monument of antiquity au Due Guillaume.^^ I reluctantly criticise Sir Joseph Ayloffe — the able 2-' M. M. F., ii. 2. »« M. A. I., viii. 605. »7 Archaeo- logia, iii. 186. ^^F. Pluquet, Contes populaires de Bayeux, Rouen, 1834. In-8. p. 30. ILLUSTRATED. 19 Vice-President of our Society of Antiquaries ; but it is unavoidable. Writing only forty years after Mont- faucon and Lancelot, and citing no other authorities, he advances an assumption for every ten words in his paragraph ! The tradition as current about the year 1730, and its variations, have now been sufficiently discussed ; but an apposite anecdote may not be unwelcome, after this argumentative detail. There remained at that period, in the Abbey of St. Stephen at Caen, a fresco portrait of William ; which the monks, on the authority of tradition, believed to be coeval with that monarch: Father Montfaucon declared it to be of later date by more than three centuries I^^ On a review of this evidence, I am tempted to conclude with the learned historian and critic M. Daunou, " que I'opinion qu'on a con^ue a Bayeux de I'origine de cette tapisserie, est, comme la plupart des traditions locales de cette espece, denuee de tout fondement et incapable de supporter un examen se- rieux" ^° The rejection of the tradition is no denial of the antiquity of the Tapestry; and we may therefore advert to the question of its internal evidence. M. Lancelot pronounced it to be coeval with the con- quest before he was aware of the tradition : " habits, armes, caracteres de lettres, omements, gout dans les figures representees, tout," says that experi- enced antiquary, " sent le siecle de Guillaume le Conquerant, ou celuy de ses enfants."^^ Mr. Hud- » M. M. F., i. 402. 3" Journal des Savans, 1826. p. 698. 31 M.A. I.; vi. 755. 20 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE son Gurney,32 Mp, Stothard,^^ and M. Delauney,'* have expressed similar opinions. This point re- quires considerate examination. Propriety of cos- tume is not always decisive of the coeval execution of a monument. It may have been the result of choice, or of the propensity of inferior artists to copy the works of their predecessors. Before we subscribe to the opinion of M. Lancelot, it should be made evident that the costume of the Tapestry is exclu- sively/ that of the period to which it relates, and that the artist represented the costume of his own times. Now, we cannot decide on the correctness of the costume of the monument without the means of comparison — which we very imperfectly possess ; but its partial conformity with the illuminations in the Ms. of Petro D'Ebulo — the resemblance of the casques and shields to those on the medals of the Norman conqueror of Sicily — the built of the vessels, with their steering paddles — the very sparing use of the chevron ornament — the absence of pointed archi- tecture, of plate armour, and of armorial bearings — are no doubt remarkable indications of the antiquity assigned to it. On the other hand, if illuminators chiefly represented the costume of their own times, ^^ (an argument relied on by some antiquaries in whose opinions it would give me pleasure to acquiesce,) I doubt if we should extend that conclusion to the Tapestry ; in which instance the elaborate nature of the composition, and the intelligence contained in the 32 Archaeologia, xviii. 359-70. ^Mbid. xix. 184-91. ^* Originede la Tapisserie de Bayeux, Caen, 1824. In-4. p. 11. '^ J. Strutt, Regal Antiquities, 1777. 4to. p. 5. ILLUSTRATED. SI inscriptions, clearly point out the superintendence of some learned person — who most probably was qua- lified to direct the operatives as to the costume of the period. It is observable that Harold is called Dux previously to the scene of his coronation ; afterwards, Rex. William, whose coronation forms no part of the pictorial tale, is called Dux ; never Rex. This evinces a desire to avoid anachronisms — and is not erroneous costume an anachronism ? I have promised a new conjecture on the origin of the Tapestry ; and I venture to submit, in oppo- sition to divers formidable chiefs of antiquarian lore, that it was executed after the union of Normandy with France — and at the expense of the Chapter, Caradoc of Llancarvan, ^^ and the Saxon annalists, describe William I. as the conqueror of England f but he was too politic a prince to assume the title of the Conqueror ^^ — and in Domesday-Book it is constantly said of him, postquam venit in Angliamzi after he came into England. ^9 Jt seems, therefore, impro- bable that a monument of the conquest should be publicly exhibited. On the union of Normandy with France in 1204, ^^^ the impolicy of such an exhi- bition would cease ; and the Tapestry must have gratified the Normans (which it still does) as a me- morial of the prowess of their ancestors, and as an intimation of the importance of their province to ^ The Historic of Cambria, 1584. 4to. p. 108. ^ Saxon Chronicle, [by Anna Gurney] 1819. 8vo. pp. 209, 226, 239. 38 Rep. on Public Records, 1800. Fol. App. a a. ^ H. Ellis, Gen. Int. to Domesday-Book, 1817. 4to p. 169. -^o Vide Depping, Hist, de la Normandie, Rouen, 1835. In-8. ii. 452, etc. 22 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE France. We will inquire how this notion accords with other circumstances. Mestre Wace, a Canon of Ba5^eux, who wrote a metrical account of the conquest about the year 1160,*^ gives it as a report that Harold swore on the relics at Bayeux.*^ In the tapestry it is stated positively. If it had been in existence, could Wace have doubted its authority? This cir- cumstance alone forcibly argues a posterior date; but other similar instances of discrepancy could be named. The cathedral of Bayeux was burned in 1160;*^ and Philippe de Harcourt, who then held the bishopric, expended immense sums in its restora- tion.44 If the Tapestry had been acquired in his time, would not the circonstance have been stated in the inventory which was submitted to his descendant Louis de Harcourt? The successor of Philippe de Harcourt was Henry de Beaumont. He had held the deanery of Salisbury, and was an Englishman:^ He certainly could not consider such a memorial as a suitable ornament to his church; and he filled the see till 1205 — the period for which I contend as that of the most remote antiquity of the Tapestry. If the Tapestry was executed after the union of Normandy with France, it is clear that the deviser endeavoured to preserve the costume which prevailed at the conquest ; but oversights might be committed. Guillaume de Poitiers styles the combined invading army Normanni :*^ the Tapestry always has Franci. ''* Brial, Hist. Litteraire dela France, xiii. 518, etc. +Le Roman de Rou, Rouen, 1827. 2 vol. in-8. ii. 106, etc. *^ Ibid. ii. 113. « De la Rue, R. T. B., p. 51. "* Hermant, H. D. B., p. 176. "^ Hermant, H. D. B., p. 177. +Le Neve, Fasti E. A., 1716. Fol. p. 262. "6 H. N. S. A., p. 201, etc. ILLUSTRATED. 2S I consider this as an oversight — and indicative of the period at which the monument was executed. If the operatives were ever allowed to act with- out control, I conceive it would be in the orna- ments, and forms of the letters. Now, the fables which occur in the borders are suspicious circum- stances; but the letters afford more tangible evidence. They are unlike those on the seals of our Kings of the Norman line ; ^^ but perfectly resemble those on the seal of Henry de Beaumont, and on various Nor- man seals of the thirteenth century.*^ Antiquaries of undisputed eminence — Montfau- con, Lancelot, LethieuUier, Ducarel, Visconti, De la Rue, Amyot, etc. — assume the Tapestry to have been a gift. — I believe it to have been provided at the EXPENSE OF THE CHAPTER ; but, reserving for future exhibition the plans, elevations, sections, and details of this new edifice — I substitute a series of rude sketches of it. Various circumstances tend to prove that the Tapestry was not a gift. 1. The inventories of 1369 and 1476 do not notice it as a gift; a cir con- stance which could scarcely have been omitted. 2. The monument itself contains no such indication. Now, the crown presented by Odon bore an in- scription ; the table presented by Louis de Harcourt bore an inscription ; and the Tapestry presented by Leon Conseil contained his portrait.*^ 3. It has not the splendour of a gift. Crowns, crosses, shrines, *' Appendix to Reports on Records, 1819. Fol. No. 35, etc. ''^ Recueil de Sceaux Normands, Caen, 1834. Planche, iii. Nos. 4 & 5, etc. "^ M. Beziers, H. S. B., pp. 39, 45, & Adv. 4. ^4 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE chalices, etc. of gold and silver, and vestments em- broidered in gold and silver, were the articles in request.^^ 4. It was even inferior to other articles of its class. It is said of Dame Leviet, embroi- derer to William and Matilda, facit aurifrisium ;^^ and the deux tentes which Louis de Harcourt pre- sented to his church were worked a jil d'or^^ — but the tente in question is of the plainest mate- rials. 5. The furniture of this description required in cathedrals and abbies seems to have been usually provided at the cost of those establishments : the monks of Saint-Riquier received a piece of tapestry in feodal payment annually !^^ 6. If it had been a gift — if it had not been devised within the precincts of a church — it could not have escaped female influence: it could not have contained such indications of celihatic superintendence. It is not without its domestic and festive scenes; and com- prises, exclusive of the borders, about ^ve hundred and thirty figures — but in this number there are only three females ! I believe the Tapestry to have been provided at the expense of the Chapter — because it bears decided marks of locality. 1. The size of it denotes its special purpose. According to Ducarel, it reaches exactly round the nave of the church of Bayeux.^* 2. The time of its exhibition has the same tendency. It was not exhibited on the anniversary of the death 50 Saxon Chronicle, 1819. 8vo. pp. 210, 215, 271, etc. 5» Domesday-Book, 74 a 2. ^"^ De la Rue, R. T. B., p. 49. 53Bullet, Dissertations, Paris, 1171. In-12. p. 279. "Anglo- Norman Antiquities. 1767. Fol. p. 79. ILLUSTRATED. 25 of William or Matilda, but on the Jour des Reliques — which it behoved the Chapter to celebrate with the utmost solemnity. Now Odon, in addition to the gigantic crown which adorned the nave, had present- ed the church with several very valuable reliquaries, which were preserved till the fatal year 1562;^^ and as Odon is conspicuous on the Tapestry, it was suitable to the occasion. 3. Two prelates accom- panied the armament of William ; Geofiroy, Bishop of Coutances — and Odon, Bishop of Bayeux.^^ Geofiroy, who was of noble family, and of vast property and influence, ^^ is not named in the Tapestry; but Odon is twice named, and is intro- duced on the most important occasions — at the council in which the invasion of England was re- solved on, at that which was held soon after the army landed, and at a critical moment of the battle of Hastings. 4. The expedition of William and Harold into Bretagne, is but an episode in the history of the conquest of England. Guillaume de Jumieges scarcely bestows ten words on it.^^ Guil- laume de Poitiers is more communicative ;^ but the Tapestry records circumstances of it not elsewhere noticed.^ This admits of explanation : the army, on its return, halted at Bayeux; and the warriors no doubt recounted their adventures — the memory of which was preserved by tradition. 5. A view of ''^ Hermant, H. D. B., p. 131. ^ G. de Poitiers, Historiae Normannorvm scriptores antiqvi. Lvtetiae, 1619. Fol. p. 201. " O. Vital, Ibid. p. 523.+Domesday-Book, 87 b 2, 102 a 1, etc. " H. N. S. A., p. 2&5. ^ Ibid. p. 191, etc. ^ I-aiicelot, M. A. I., viii. 614. C 26 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Mont-Saint- Michel is introduced in this episode ; but no event occurs to require it. This circum- stance also admits of explanation ; for the priory of Saint-Vigor, which was rebuilt by Odon, had re- ceived its inmates from Mont- Saint-Michel — and the nomination of its Abbot was one of the rights of the Bishop of Bayeux.^i 6. Harold swore fidelity to William. He swore on relics — which William after- wards carried about him at the battle of Hastings.^^ But where did the ceremony take place ? Guillaume de Poitiers, who was Chaplain to the Conqueror — Guillaume de Poitiers, who received his account of the event from eye-witnesses — assures us that it took place at Bonneville.^^ The deviser of the Tapestry is pleased to claim the honor for Bayeiix. 7. Guil- laume de Poitiers intimates that Harold was con- ducted to Rouen after the expedition into Bretagne — and states positively that William retained him some time as his guest.^* In the Tapestry, the return of Harold to England immediately follows the ceremony at Bayeux. 8. M. d'Anville cites as the ancient names of Bayeux — Bajocasses, Civitas Bajocassium, and Bajocse.^^ The Tapestry has hic willelm venit: bagias — which M. Lancelot remarks he had not met with elsewhere.^ The silver plate found near Derby in 1729, proves that bogi^ was some- times used at Bayeux,^ 9. It has been said, whence «' M. Beziers, H. S. de B. p. 129. ^^ G. de Poitiers, H. N. S. A., p. 201. '^3 Ibid. p. 191. " Coadunato ad Bonamvillam consilio, illic Heraldus ei fidelitatem sancto ritu Christianorum iurauit." ^ Ibid. p. 192. ^ Notice de I'ancienne Gaule, Paris, 1760. In-4. pp. 82-4. ^^ M. A. I., viii. 626. «? w. Stukeley, Account of a Silver Plate, 1736. 4to. p. 5. ILLUSTRATED. 27 came the Saxon terms ^lfgyva and ceastra?^ This new hypothesis solves the difficulty. The Saxon language prevailed at Bayeux; where traces of it are still discoverable.^^ lo. There are only fifteen persons named in the Tapestry; eleven per- sons of historical celebrity, such as Edward, Harold, William, etc. — Elfgiva, a female — and three per- sons unknown to fame, Turold, Wadard, and Vital. The brilliant names commemorated by Guillaume de Poitiers, 7° were less attractive to the deviser than those of Turold, Wadard, and Vital — names familiar to the inhabitants of Bayeux. This asser- tion requires proofs — but Elfgiva is entitled to pre- cedence. William promised to bestow one of his daughters on Harold.'^^ She is represented beneath the inscription ^lfgyva — but Elfgiva was not her name. Emma, daughter of Richard I. of Nor- mandy,72 ^nd mother of Edward the Confessor,^^ is sometimes called by the Saxon annalists, Elfgiva Emma.'^'^ Elfgiva, therefore, whatever Florence of Worcester may assert,^^ seems to have been an ap- pellation of honor — a point which I submit to our Saxonists. But why was the name of the betrothed omitted ? Could it not be ascertained ? or was it so familiar as to be deemed superfluous ? I apprehend the latter to have been the case : she was the dame «« Archaeologia, xviii. 100, 102.+xix. 199, 204. ^9 y. Plu- quet, Essai historique sur Bayeux, Caen, 1829. In-8. p. 9. ^0 H. N. S. A., pp. 202-3. ''^ G. de Jumifeges, Ibid. p. 285. ^'-^ G. de Jumi^ges, Ibid. p. 247. " Saxon Chronicle, by Ingram, 1823. 4to. p. 212. ''^ Ibid. pp. 175, 212, 232. '•^ Ibid. p. 175. c 2 ^8 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE par excellence — she was buried, and was annually com- memorated, at Bayeux J^ — tvrold appears as a name ; but it is doubtful to which figure it applies.'^'^ The name was not uncommon. One Turold had been tutor to Wilham, but died some years before the con- quest."^^ Another Turold succeeded Odon in the see of Bayeux -p and I conjecture that the Turold named owes that honor to some relationship with the pre- late. Ralph, a son of Turold, held some pleasant sites in Kent under Odon^^ — an additional proof of the connexion of the name with Bayeux. — hic : est: wadard: appears over the figure of a man armed and mounted. Mr. Douce and M. de la Rue consi- dered him as a centinel !^^ I take him to have been the chief commissary of the army. Wadard, a name which does not occur in the Domesday survey as a tenant before the conquest, obtained six messuages at Dover — the gift of Odon.^^ jjg ^Iso held lands under Odon in various parts of Kent, in Oxfordshire, in Lincolnshire, etc.^^ In Lincolnshire alone he is nine times called homo episcopi baiocensis = the homager of the Bishop of Bayeux,^^ — hic: willelm : Dvx interrogat : vital : si vidisset exercitv ha- ROLDi = Here Duke William asks Vital if he had dis- covered the army of Harold, This is a remarkable scene, and relates to a circumstance recorded in history. Wilham himself made a reconnaissance '« De la Rue, R. T. B., p. 56. '' Lancelot, M. A. I., vi. 753. " G. de Jumifeges, H. N. S. A., p. 268. '» O. Vital, Ibid, p. 765. ^ Domesday-Book, 6 a 1, 7 a 2, etc. ®^ Archaeo- logia, xvii. 102. ^ Domesday-Book, 1 a 1. ^ Ibid. 6 a 2, 7 b 1, etc. 155 b 2, 156 a 1, etc. ^ Ibid. 342 poswm. ILLUSTRATED. 29 soon after his arrival at Pevensey ;^ and despatched some approved knights on a second reconnaissance.^^ Vital, we may presume, was one of the approved knights. He obtained lands in Kent under Odon,^^ and was witness to a charter of Odon in 1092.^ But why was he introduced in preference to the renowned warriors enumerated by Guillaume de Poitiers, Orde- ric Vital, Mestre Wace, and Benoit de Sainte-More ? I conjecture that he was a relative of the Vital of saintly eminence who died in 1119 — in whose name miracles are said to have been performed — and who was born near, and is celebrated in the cartulary of the church of, Bayeux.^9 I cheerfully approach a question of easier solution, Is Odon represented with a mace in his hand ? He did not bear a mace at the battle of Hastings ; nor is he so represented. Guillaume de Poitiers, writing soon after the con- quest, assures us that Odon never bore arms ; 9° and Mestre Wace shall testify that he was not armed on the occasion in question : — " Sor un cheval tot blanc seeit, Tote la gent le congnoisseit. Un baston teneit en son poing ; L^ u veeit li grant besoing, Faseit li chevaliers torner, E la les faseit arrester ; ^ G. de Poitiers, H. N. S. A., p. 199. ^ G. de Poitiers, Ibid. p. 201. ^ Domesday-Book, 10 a 1. ^^ De la Rue, R.T.B.,p.57. «Mlermant,H.D.B., pp. 185-6. ^"Arma neque mouit vnquam, neque voluit moueri : valde tamen timen- dus avmatis." H. N. S. A., p. 209. 30 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Sovent les faseit assaillir, E sovent les faseit ferir." ^' As the French of Mestre Wace is not identical with that of MM, les quarante, I shall furnish an imitation of the above lines — albeit the poetic light of the doer shineth faintly : — " Mounted on a milk-white steed, Odon spoke to every eye ; Swift he rode where most was need, A staff in hand — he bears it high. And he checks each heartless knight, Each knight incites to face the foe. Onward to move — nor think of flight — But grasp the lance — or deal the blow !" ^ On this point the chronicler and the artist coincide. Odon is represented in the Tapestry as well-mounted — but not on a war-horse. He wears a suit of gam- beson — not the armour, of a combatant. He wears indeed a casque — but has neither javelin nor shield. The inscription is hic . odo eps : bacvlv tenens : CONFORTAT pvEROs — which Mr. Sharon Turner will permit me to translate Here Bishop Odon bearing a STAFF encourages the young soldiers. ^^ Now, the staff borne by Odon is of the same description as that which Duke William bears when he questions Vital on the result of his reconnaissance ; when he addresses the soldiers previous to the onset; and when he endea- vours to shame the fugitives. It is clearly a baton de commandement. Father Montfaucon, who had borne arms in early life, 9* calls it a baton ; 9^ M. Delauney 9' R. R., ii. 220. ^=^ E Mss. Corneianis. ^^ Vide Du Cange, in voce puer. ^* Weiss, Biog, Univ., xxix. 536. «* M. M. F., ii. 28. ILLUSTRATED. 31 of Bayeux calls it a baton ;96 and M. de la Rue ex- pressly calls it a baton de commandement.^'^ The wea- pons which certain antiquaries are pleased to con- sider as maces, are what Guillaume de Poitiers calls SAXA LiGNis iMPOsiTA 9« = stoncs with woodcu handles — and were chiefly used as missiles. This must positively be the terminus, on the present occasion, of my Anglo-Norman researches and conjec- tures. Having despatched the premises of D'Israeli, I should attack his inferences with the fullest confi- dence of success ; but forbear — for it would seem like superfluous pugnacity. In the first article of this anti-ZzueZy miscellany, I have endeavoured to estimate the claims of D' Israeli as a civilian ; and in the present article as an anti- quary. Let no one conclude that my principal aim is to deprive him of his titles of honor : the circum- stance is the mere accidental effect of chronology! I shall, however, recommend to our universities and learned societies to economize in the distribution of such honors — and not bestow them on men who, whether they write on civil law or on other antiqua- rian subjects, are sure to increase the mass of the Curioi^itieiS of iliterature. *^* The meek dissertation on the Bayeux Tapestry, as Mr. D'Israeli terms it, has had an exciting effect on his mental frame ; and this excitement has produced, as it often does, inconsistency. He exalts my name much above its due level in antiquarianism ; and, at ^ O. T. B., p. 81. "^ R. T. B., p. 87. '^ H. N. S. A., p. 201. S2 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE the same time, threatens me with antiquarian annihi- lation ! In his short comment there are also; 1. Two fictitious quotations : " I deny the sentinel," — " I deny the mace ; 'tis no mace ; 'tis a staff." And 2. Two false assertions. He declares that I call his aphoristical idea " a siplendid Jiim/lam :" I have only applied the words to his ascription of the Tapestry to Matilda. He says, " And on the pretext of correct- ing mace into baton, Mr. Corney has written this dis- sertation of fourteen pages." I have not bestowed two pages on that point. That such was not the main ob- ject of my essay, and that my conjectures were really possessed of some novelty and plausibility, may perhaps appear by the following extracts : — *' L'auteur pense que la tapisserie de Bayeux a ^t^ faite aux de- pens du chapitie de leglise de cette ville, apr^s la reunion de la Nonnandie. II prouve au moins qu'elle n'est pas I'ouvrage de Mathilde,femrae de Guillaume-le-Conquerant.'' — Daunou, Mem- bre de VInstitut Royal de France, Garde des Archives du Rot/~ aume, etc. " I have read it with much interest, and am clearly of opinion that you have proved two things : 1". That there exists no good ground for attributing the tapestry to Matilda ; 2". That it was probably worked at Bayeux for the use of the church of Bay- eux." — John Lingard, D. D., Author of the Histon/ of Eng- land, etc. Art. III. — An unpublished teston of Henry VIII. — from the cabinet of I. DTsraeli, Esq., D.C.L. and F.S.A. " An ancient English proverb preserves a curious fact concerning our coinage. Testers are gone to Oxford, to ILLUSTRATED. 3.5 study at Brazen-nose. When Henry the Eighth debased the silver coin^ called testers, from their having a head stamped on each side; the brass, breaking out in red pimples on their silver faces, provoked the ill-humour of the people to vent itself in this punning proverb, which has preserved for the historical antiquary the popular feeling which lasted about fifty years, till Elizabeth reformed the state of the coinage,'^ — I. D'Israeh.' Philips has chanted in sonorous verse the praise of a splendid shilling. ^ Plain prose is no doubt better adapted to a dissertation on a base teston — but I shall perhaps enliven it with an occasional specimen of verse. As method is desirable on all subjects, I shall divide the article into six sections. 1. On the ancient Eng- lish proverb^ Testers etc. 2. On base testons of Henry VIII. having a head stamped on each side. 3. On the proportion of brass contained in these testons. 4. On the red pimples which broke out on their silver faces. 5. On the ill-humour which provoked the allu- sion to Brasen-nose college. 6. On the duration of the popular feeling. § 1. On the ancient English proverb, Testers etc. — This sentence wants the characteristic of a proverb : it admits of no moral application. Fuller indeed, of whom D' Israeli silently borrowed it, classes it as an Oxfordshire proverb ; ^ but Hey wood, of whom Ful- ler avowedly borrowed it, shall confute them both. Master John Heywood, the contemporary of Henry ' C. L., V. 127. 2 Poems by Mr. John Philips, 1744. 12mo. pp. 1-7. ' Worthies of England, 1662. Fol. Oxf«., p. 328. c5 34 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE VIIL, was a great admirer of our pit!)ie proutrbt^ oXtit, He has left us a Dialogue of Proverbs in 24 chapters — 300 Epigrams on 300 Proverbs — and 300 Ejn- grams invented and made by himself. Now, the pre- tended proverb is a mere fragment of one of the last- mentioned epigrams — which I give entire in its old English dress : — '^Ce^tons; \st som to (©jifortle gotl be i^^tix jjpeetle: Co iStutlie m ISrtaslemto^t ti^cre to proactJe/' * § 2. On base testons of Henry VHI. having a head stamped on each side, — A teston of this type would be an ornament to the richest cabinet. Snelling, an ex- perienced dealer in coins, had never obtained a sight of one;^ nor had our learned numismatic annalist, the Rev. Rogers Ruding. ^ I cannot therefore per- suade myself of its existence; and shall hazard a conjecture as to the source of the hallucination. The reverse of the testons of Henry VIH. is an expanded rose crowned. Now I conceive that D'Israeli, in some moment of excitement, mistook the expanded rose for the expanded visage of his Majesty ; or per- haps examining some teston of which the reverse had been worn smooth at shovelboard, he fancied the re- flected object to resemble the head of a king — and hastily concluded that there was a head stamped on each side. § 3. On the proportion of brass contained in these testons. — The ancient standard for silver coin was •'John Heywoodes woorkes, 1566. 4to. Ep. 5th 100. No. 63. * View of the Silver Coin, 1762. Fol. Plate iii. No. 38. ^ Annals of the Coinage of Britain, 1819. 8vo. Plate viii. 2 and 6. ILLUSTRATED. S5 lloz. 2d wt. fine and 18 dwt. allay. ^ The testons of the 34th Henry VIII. contained 10 oz. fine and 2 oz. allay ;^ those of his 36th year, 6 oz. fine and 6 oz. allay ; 9 and those of his 37th year, 4 oz. fine and 8 oz. allay. 10 But this allay was not brass : it was copper — which, as Fuller very justly remarks, '^ com- mon people confound with hrassJ^ ^^ § 4. On the red pimples which broke out on their silver faces, — How could D'Israeli suppose red pim- ples to be occasioned by brass ? or, indeed, any de- scription of pimples ! The allay, whatever it was, would combine with the silver — and the colour of the testons be uniform. So Heywood describes them : — " W^t^t Ces'tonji loofee retltre : ]^oU) lifee |)ou tliei^ame? Ci)S a toofem of grace : tfjtu l)lu^!)c for !Sl)anu.** '^ The truth is that D'Israeli utterly mistakes the nature of the allusion. The head on the shilling of Henry VII. was a profile : so that the auricle was the prominent part. The head on the teston of Henry VIII. was a full face ; and to the inevitable abrasion of the nose, added to the baseness of the metal, our historical antiquary should have attributed that ap- pearance which occasioned the allusion to Brasen- nose. § 5. On the ill-humour which provoked the allusion to Brasen-nose college. — When we have occasion to contradict, politeness requires that it should be done 7 W. Lowndes, Report on Silver Coins, 1695. 8vo. p. 18. « Ibid. p. 22. ' Ibid. p. 22. ^" Ibid. p. 23. " W.E Oxf«., p. 328. *2 Woorkes, 1566. 4to. Ep. 5th. 100. No. 64 36 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE in some circuitous method — but the claims of brevity induce me to adopt the direct method. I therefore declare that the allusion which D'Israeli attributes to the ill-humour of the people, should be attributed to the good-humour of an individual. Heywood was in much esteem with King Henry VIII. ;^^ and possessed a rare fund of good humour.^* He thus concludes the address to the readers of his fifth book, which con- tains the above epigrams : — ** Hsi j[, for mirtl), mprilw t(it( make it, ^0 ^ou, tn mixX^y mpnb luill take it.*' § 6. On the duration of the popular feeling. — The first debasement of the silver coin took place in the 34th Henry VIII. ^^ — and the first considerable de- basement in the 36th Henry VIII. -^^ but all the base coin was called in by proclamation on Michaelmas euen before noone the 2nd Elizabeth.^^ I need not cite Blair or Sir Harris Nicolas to prove that this leaves about eighteen years for the duration of the popular feeling : our historical antiquary calculates it at fifty years ! The learned Francis Douce, Esq., to whom the lively miscellany is inscribed, was much attached to numismatics ; and wrote an article on testons, which he admits to have cost him no small labour.^^ He must have been amused with the curious fact concern-- ing our coinage, so cleverly historified by his friend D'Israeli — and no doubt considered it as one of the Curto^itttfl of Eittrature. '3 Wood, Ath. Oxon., 1691-2. Fol. i. 116. '* Camden, Re- mains, 1614. 4to. p. 299. '^ Lowndes, R., p. 22. '^ Ibid, p. 22. '^ Stow, Annales, 1601. 4to. p. 1094. *^ Illustrations of Shakspeare, 1807. 8vo. i. 35. ILLUSTRATED. 37 * * * It now appears that Mr. D'Israeli never heheld a tester ! — but he ventures to controvert one of my state- ments. He had described the period of the debase- ment of the silver coin to be fifty years. I stated it correctly at eighteen years. In return for this correc- tion, he calls me " a vile suppressor of evidence f* and declares, with a shout of triumph, that Camden tells us it was " two hundred years and more." The venerable Camden shall be my witness; and his evidence may enable the public to decide between the mendacity of the Pseudo- Illustrator, and the veracity of the late Honorary Professor. " King Henry the eyght," says Camden, ..." in his later dayes first corrupted the rich coyne of this flourishing Kingdome with Copper." * * * « By her benefit," con- tinues Camden, speaking of Queen Elizabeth, " Eng- land enioyeth as fine, or rather finer sterling siluer then euer it was in this Realme by the space of |wo hundred yeares & more ; a matter worth marking and memory." ^^ Mr. D'Israeli then adverts to the numis- matic essay of Mr. Douce ; and introduces this super- fluous flourish : " to which I might add something which Mr. Corney shall not at present learnt I may not comprehend the threat; but shall attempt a suitable reply. I possess a Ms. valuation of the literary qualifications of Mr. D'Israeh, by Francis Douce, Esq. — the particulars of which Mr, Tf Israeli shall not at present learn. '^ Remaines, 1614. 4to. pp. 208-9. CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Art. IV. — The effrontery of Vasari — the botihoinie of 8i\vano Hazzi — the union of both in I. D'Israeli, Esq., D.C.L. and F.S.A. " It is... strange that neither Bottari nor Tirahoschi ap- pear to have been aware that Vasari employed others to write for him;... I have discovered the name of the chief writer of the Lives of the Painters^ ivho wrote under the direction of Vasari^ and probably often used his own natu- ral style, and conveyed to us those reflections which surely come from their source" — I. D'Israeli.^ In certain collections towards An Inquiry into the Literary Character of I. ly Israeli, Esq., D.C.L. and F.S,A. (which are preserved in a private depository) an attempt is made to enumerate the peculiar quali- fications of that writer ; and the precedence is assign- ed to his extraordinary aptitude for discovery. He is said to be the son of an Italian. He has certainly travelled in Italy, and is conversant with its literature; 2 and it is therefore reasonable to expect that this aptitude for discovery should shine with more than common brilliancy on such a subject as the character and talents of Vasari. Without pre- tensions to either of the advantages which he pos- sesses, I shall presume to examine how far those ex- pectations are realized. Vasari published the first edition of his Lives of » C. L., V. 238-6. =* C. L., i. 43, ii. 198, etc. ILLUSTRATED. 39 the Painters in 1550 ;^ and a revised edition in 1568.* In 1577, three years after the death of Vasari, Father Serafino Razzi incidentally stated that the Lives of the Painters were chiefly written by his brother Silvano Razzi.^ To this statement D'lsraeli is pleased to give full credence — and he announces it as a discovery. He opens his case by asserting that Vasari was " a mere painter and goldsmith, and not a literary man^ — I prefer the authority of Vasari himself, and shall call him a painter and architect f nor can I omit to add that he huilt the finest edifice in Florence l'^ The latter part of the assertion is not more credible. If Vasari had been devoid of the qualifications of a writer, would Cardinal Farnese have urged him to undertake the work? Would Giovio, Caro, Molza, etc. have encouraged him to proceed ?s Besides, the remark is out of place : it is the very point to be proved. He proceeds, It is,,, strange that neither Bottari nor Tirahoschi appear to have been aware that Vasari em- ployed others to write for him, — It is strange that ^ Le Vite de' piv eccellenti Architetti, Pittori, etc. da Giorgio Vasari. In Firenze, 1550. 4to. 3 parts. " Le Vite de' piv eccellenti Pittori, etc. da M. Giorgio Vasari. In Fiorenza, 1568. 4to. 3 vols. ^ " Ma chi pur volesse, pud vedere il tutto nelle vite de' Pittori^ Scultori, ed Architetti scritte per la pivi parte da D- Silvano Razzi mio fratello per il Sig. Cavalierc M. Giorgio Vasari Aretino suo amicissimoy Serafino Razzi, Vite de' Santi, etc. cited by Nelli, Saggio di Storia Letteraria, etc. Lucca, 1759. 4to. p. 58, note 2. « V. P., 1568. Title. "^ Milizia, Lives of Architects, by Mrs. Cresy, 1826. 8vo. ii. 25. " Lanzi, His- tory of Painting in Italy, by T. Roscoe, 1828. 8vo. i. 238. 40 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE D'Israeli should make so unfounded an assertion. Bottari, one of the most learned prelates of the court of Rome in the last century, 9 published a splen- did edition of the Lives of the Painters in 1759-60.^^ He expressly states that Vasari, in his second edition, received the assistance of Silvano JRazzi,^^ He even enters into a discussion on the amount of assistance, and concludes that Razzi may have contributed cer- tain eloquent passages on virtue and monastic perfec- tion ;^2 but Poggiah has proved that his conclusion was in part founded on misapprehension. ^^ Tira- boschi gives the passage of Serqfino Razzi verbatim* He remarks that if the falsehood of it could not be shown, it would much diminish the praise due to Vasari — but leaves the examination of it to others.^* We now arrive at the important announcement, I HAVE DISCOVERED, ctc. — Will D'Israeli condescend to define the word discovery ? our lexicographers seem all at fault. If he uses it in the sense of discovery to himself it will at once account for the perpetual oc- currence of the word in the lively miscellany ; if he means discovery to the public^— 1 have proved that as to the statement of Serafino Razzi, he made 7io dis- covery. It is to be presumed that D'Israeli has read Lanzi.^^ He cites him repeatedly, and calls him the » Ginguen^, Biog. Univ., v. 259. ^° Vite de' piu eccellenti Pittori, etc. illustrate con note, Roma, 1759-60. 4to. 3 vols. '* Ibid. i. xiii. *^ Ibid. i. xiv. '^ Serie de' Testi, etc. Livorno, 1813. 8vo. ii. 392. ^* Storia della Letteratura Italia- ua, Modena, 1787-94. 4to. vii. 1611. '^ Storia Pittorica della Italia, Bassano, 1795-6. 8vo. 3 vols. etc. ILLUSTRATED. 41 sagacious LanzL^^ Now, the sagacious Lanzi also makes the statement which D'Israeli claims as a dis- covery ; he made it in 1795/^ and with the addition of some critical remarks in 1809.^^ Poggiali also repeated the statement of Serafino Razzi in 1813 ;^9 while that portion of the lively miscellany which com- prised the article on Vasari — a portion produced at the period of life in which, as D'Israeli expresses it, we open the virgin veins of original research^ and strike out new results in the history of human nature"^ — was not pubhshed till 1823.21 So much for the discovery. The truth or falsehood of the statement is a separate question, and a matter of opinion. I shall therefore leave D'Israeli in quiet possession of such conclusions as best suit his pecu- liar notions of historical testimony ; but as an anti- dote to his paradox shall transcribe the remarks made on this subject by the late Professor Salfi — and I believe it will be admitted that a controvertible point could scarcely be treated with more candour and impartiality : — " Tiraboschi hasarde cette cita- tion sans rexaminer.22 Mais serait-il vraisemblable que Vasari, qui certes ne manquait pas de tous les moyens necessaires pour composer un pareil ouvrage, eut voulu s'attribuer les travaux d'un autre, que celui-ci I'eut tolere de bon gre, et que les Florentins eux-memes, qui les connaissaient bien tous les deux, n'eussent pas de voile le plagiat de I'un et la bon- '« C. L., iv. 212, 213, 218, etc. >' S. P. I., i. 177. '« Ibid. Bassano, 1809. i. 194. '^ S. T., ii. 392. ^ C. L., i. vi. '^^ C. L., Second Series. 8vo. 3 vols. ^ Ma chi pur volesse, etc. 42 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE horaie de I'autre ? Nous croyons que Silvano Razzi, consulte par Vasari, son ami, revit tout au plus ses ecrits, et probablement lui communiqua ses re- marques ; et que Serafino, son frere, par une sorte de vanite, infera de cette correspondance litteraire plus qu'il ne devait. On salt d'ailleurs que Vasari avait aussi consulte les artistes et les amateurs les plus in- struits de son temps, tels que Vincenzo Borghini, et d'autres ; et lui-meme ne manque pas de I'avouer dans son ouvrage."^^ Such is the critical sentence of the learned and ju- dicious Salfi, the associate and continuator of Gin- guene. I shall venture to make one small addition to it — remote as the subject is from my habitual pur- suits. Father Serafino Razzi, some ten years after the publication of the statement under discussion, at which time his brother Silvano was Abbot of the mo- nastery of the Angeli at Florence, wrote an account of certain Dominican friars who had occupied their leisure with success in the cultivation of the fine arts ; and in that short narrative thrice pointedly names as the author of the Lives of the Painters — II Cava- LiERE Vasari. 2* ^ F. Salfi, Histoire Litteraire d'ltalie de P. L. Ginguen^, Paris, 1811, etc. In-8. x. 342. ^* " Come piii lungamente serine il Caualiere Vasari.^ neUe sue vite de Pittori. — F. Girolumo lomhurdo, conuerso nostro, vien molto lodato dal CaualUere Vasari. — Xo modo narra il Vasari nelle sue vite de i Pittori." Istoria de gli hvomini illvstri...del sacro ordine de gli Predicatori. Scritta da F. Serafino Razzi. Lucca, 1596. Sm. 8vo. pp. 354-6-9. — I purchased this curious book from the library of the late Earl of Guilford. ILLUSTRATED. 43 Now that Disraeli, with all the advantages of his transalpine travels and familiarity with Italian literature, should have had the honhomie to place so much confidence in the precipitate statement of Serafino Razzi; that he should have had the effrontery, in defiance of obvious proofs, to dispute the intelligence of Bottari and Tiraboschi; and to announce as a discovery of his own what has been recorded in various works of first-rate celebrity ; are circumstances which must surely be considered as Curio £iitu5 of Hiterature, *^* I have exhibited, for the gratification of the lover of curiosities, a D.C.L. who had confounded the code of Justinian with the pandects; and a F.S.A. who sneers at the Bayeux Tapestry, and never beheld a tester ! I now exhibit this versatile writer as a dis- coverer in Italian literature. He fails to produce evidence that Vasari was a mere painter and goldsmith — the very fiction which gave plausibility to his dis- covery. He attempts to elude, what he cannot deny, my assertion as to Bottari ; but he admits it as to Tiraboschi. The fact had escaped him — for it was not in the index ! The counter-evidence on the main question which I produced from Serafino Razzi, he omits to notice. He concludes with the novel idea that " an Italian historian, extracting from an Italian writer, could not very well avoid giving the extract VERBATIM." I have, at least, named an English his- torian who has repeatedly extracted from an English writer, without giving the extract verbatim. 44 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Art. v. — A lament for Luis de Camoens — with a specimen of superfluous fiction. " Camoens^ the solitary pride of Portugal, deprived of the necessaries of life, perished in a hospital at Lisbon, This fact has been accidentally preserved in an entry in a copy of the first edition of the Lusiad, in the possession of Lord Holland" — I. D'Israeli.^ I could wish to transport myself to the banks of the Derwent-water, and obtain permission to turn over the leaves of a certain bibliotheca lusitana MANUscRiPTA ; ^ or to some less romantic site on the Tyne (where, however, the muses haunt) and hold converse with the zealous biographer of Camoens.^ Deprived of such assistance, I may lament the fate of the Lusitanian bard — but cannot promise much illus- tration of it. D'Israeli is pleased to style Camoens the solitary pride of Portugal. — This is a smart compendium of the literary history of that nation ; but not likely to supersede the four gigantic folios of Father Diogo Barbosa Machado.* ' C. L., i. 42. 2 R. Southey, Hist, of Brazil, 1810-19. 4to. iii. V. ^ I leave this effusion in its primitive state; but have since been favored by John Adamson, Esq. M.R.S.L., etc., the biographer of Camoens, with a Bibliotheca Lusitana, New- castle-on-Tyne, 1836. Sm. 8vo. pp. iv.+lie. It describes an ample collection of the best books on Portuguese literature — and is a choice specimen of bibliography. * Bibliotheca Lusitana, Lisboa, 1741-59. ILLUSTRATED. 45 D' Israeli then states that Camoens, deprived of the necessaries oflife^ perished in a hospital at Lisbon. — I consider this as superfluous fiction. Camoens, who was called the Prince of the Poets of his time — Ca- moens, whose Lusiadas had obtained the approbation of Sebastian — Camoens, whose epic was in its cast so national, so calculated to extend the fame of Lusitanian enterprise — was indeed left in the ranks of hopeless poverty. He was not without a friend — but the sympathy of the Lusitanians was denied him: — ** Dans ce delaissement funeste, Uu ami toutefois lui reste ; Mais ce nest pas un Liisitain : Chaque soir sa main charitable Quete le pain que sur leur table lis partagent le lenderaain."* Death bereft him of his faithful Antonio — a native of Java, who had accompanied him from India. He survived him but a few months. Sickness was added to his other misfortunes ; the news of the death of Sebastian, whose achievements he intended to cele- brate in verse, increased it ; and he expired on the bed of poverty in 1579. Such is the information af- forded by his contemporaries Manoel Correa and Pedo de Mariz;^ and by his earliest biographer, Manoel Severim de Faria.'^ It does not warrant the assertion — nor does the narrative of Dom ^ Raynouard, Journal des Savans, 1829. p. 430. ^ Os Lvsiadas, Lisboa, 1613, 4to. Sig. f 4 verso. Fol. 1. 308. verso. ' Discvrsos Varies Politicos, Evora, 1624. 4to. p. 128. 46 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Joze Maria de Souza^ — that Luis de Camoens perished. I have taxed D'Israeli with superfluous fiction — and now tax myself with superfluous facts. His error admits of a shorter explanation. He formerly wrote, " Camoens was deprived of the necessaries of life, and is believed to have perished in the streets"^ He afterwards ascertained that Camoens died in a hos- pital ; but, penurious of revision — or, misled by certain notions on the calamities of authors — he is now pleased to state that Camoens perished in a hospital ! He adds. This fact has been accidentally preserved, etc. — He leaves the credulous to consider the discovery of thisy«c^ as the result of his learned researches at Holland House. Now, that Camoens died in a hos- pital was stated by Manoel de Faria e Sousa in 1639 ;^o by Diogo Barbosa in 1752 ;ii by Pellicer in 1797;^'^ by Dom Joze Maria de Souza, who printed the note from the volume which had been transmitted to him by Lord Holland, in 1817 ;i3 and by Mr. Adamson, to whose learned researches we are really much indebted, in 1820.^* From Mr. Adamson, in fact, has D'Israeli silently borrowed the whole of his account of Camoens — except its errors. I disclaim all pretensions to an acquaintance with 8 Os Lusiadas, Paris, 1817. Fol. Vida de C. pp. 69-70. " C. L., 1791. 8vo. p. 61. ^^ Lvsiadas de Camoens, Madrid, 1639. Fol. Vida de C. col. 33. '' B. L.,iii. 71. '^ j)^^ Quixote de la Mancha, Madrid, 1797. Bvo. Vida de C. p. cciii. '3 Os I.usiadas, Paris, 1817. Fol. Vida de C. pp. 69-70. '* Memoirs of Luis de Camoens, 1820. 8vo. i. 207. ILLUSTRATED. 47 Portuguese literature ; have promised no novelty of illustration on the lamented fate of Camoens; and shall be satisfied if the reader will permit me to class the statement of D'Israeli as one of the minor Curios'itwjg oi Eiterature. % ,* Mr. D'Israeli attempts to justify his assertion that Camoens perished in a hospital, by the example of M"'^ de Stael — who, as he declares, so expresses herself. I must inform him that M"^ de Stael ex- presses herself in French.^^ He afterwards, with his usual consistency, admits that he should have said, died in a hospitaU^ Art. VI. — Queen Elizabeth appointing her successor — our female historian and our male historian, " I was introduced to Miss Aikin, the author of several his- torical works, and especially one on Elizabeth. She is a well- informed and lively woman, and I found her conversation very entertaining." — Frederick von Raumer.^ Miss Aikin, whose Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth" lie before me, describes the closing scene of the long and eventful life of her Majesty in the words of Sir Robert Gary, afterwards Earl of Monmouth."^ D'Israeli twits this accomplished writer as " our '5 Biog. Univ., vi. 621. ^^ i j,^ p, 79, 1 England in 1835, 12mo. ii. 113. ^ Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth. By Lucy Aikin, 1818. 8vo. 2 vols. ^ Ibid. ii. 493, etc. 48 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE female historian"* — tells us that she had not wasted " the bloom of life in the dust of libraries" ^ — and pre- tends to give the Secret history of the death of Queen Elizabeth from an authentic Ms.^ Now, I shall weigh our female historian against our male historian ; and I predict that the latter — in despite of the pon- derous additaments D.C.L. and F.S.A. — will exhibit unequivocal signs of comparative levity. Queen Elizabeth had always been extremely averse to name a successor. Of this fact we have abundant and curious proofs. In 1559 the House of Commons made request to her Highness for marriage ;^ she would only promise that the realm should not remain destitute of an heir,^ In 1563 Mr. Speaker, with the whole House, exhibited a petition to her Majesty touching marriage and succession : she accepted it with an excellent oration — but was pleased to defer the answer for the gravity of the cases.^ In 1566 the Lords and Commons made suit to her Majesty for marriage and succession : she answered, as to the succession, that time would not yet suffer to treat of it ;^^ and soon after dissolved the Parhament — ex- pressing, with inconceivable sharpness, her displea- sure at the doings of the Commons.^^ Her resolute behaviour on this occasion almost laid the subject of the succession at rest.^^ In 1575, however, Mr. -♦ C. L., iv. 361, vi. 122. « Ibid. iv. 361. « Ibid. vi. 120-7. ' Journals H. C, i. 54. « Sir S. D'Ewes, Journals temp, Eliz. 1682. Fol. p. 46. ^ J.H.C., i. 64. »<> Ibid. i. 76. '' Ibid. i. 81.+Sir S. D'Ewes, J. E., p. 116. ''^ H. Ellis, Archaeologia, xviii. 242. ILLUSTRATED. 49 Speaker (prudently avoiding the obnoxious word succession) in the name of the House moved her Majesty to marry — to which she graciously promised, for the benefit of the realm, to dispose and incline her- self}^ Her progress in this delicate operation did not satisfy the Commons; and in 1593 Sir Henry Bromley and Mr. Wentworth revived the topic of succession : they were cited before the Privy Council — and, to appease offended Majesty, committed to prison !** The Queen was no doubt favorable to the claims of James VI. — but chose to conceal her sentiments. ^^ Early in 1603, on the day of her last removal from Whitehall to Richmond, she remarked to the Earl of Nottingham, " Mi/ throne has been the throne of Kings, and no other but my next heir should succeed me."^^ The importance of this remark could not escape the Lord Admiral. He communicated it to the Privy Council, who deputed the Lord Keeper Egerton, Mr. Secretary Cecil, and the Lord Admiral himself, to wait on her Majesty and ascertain her pleasure as to her successor — on which occasion she named the King of Scots.^t^ We will describe an event of later date in the words of Sir Robert Cary: — " On Wednesday the twenty-third of March, she [the Queen] grew speechless. That afternoone, by signes, she called for her Council 1, and by putting her hand to her head, when the King of Scottes was named to succeed her, they all knew hee was the man she desired should reigne after her." '^ " Sir S. D'Ewes, J. E., p. 233. ^^ jbid. p. 470. '^ Cam- deni Annales Eliz., 1717. 8vo. p. 911. '" Ibid. p. 909. 17 Ibid. pp. 911-2. 18 Memoirs of R. Cary, 1759. 8vo. p. 176. 50 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Now, Sir Robert Gary was a near relation of her Majesty, with whom he had repeated interviews ; his sister Lady Scrope was in constant attendance on her ; another sister had been the wife of the favorite Not- tingham ; and his brother Lord Hunsdon was a Privy Councillor.i9 Such were his opportunities of infor- mation — and his character as drawn by Campion, a contemporary of note, adds to the credibihty of the above testimony : — " Vnus erat vitae tenor, & prudentia iuncta Cum grauitate tibi ; sic quasi nata foret : Nee mutauit honos, nee te variabilis aetas ; Qui nouit iuuenem, noscet itemque senem." ^ His Memoirs are also written in that artless manner which inspires confidence : " veracity" says Lord Orrery, " is their only ornament" The most scrupu- lous historian could scarcely resist such testimony — but it does not stand alone. Nottingham and Cecil assured M. de Beaumont, the French ambassador, that Elizabeth had named to them her successor some days before her death; and that her speech failing, they requested her, in presence of others of the coun- cil, to confirm it — on which ''she put her hand to her headr"-^ D'Israeli, however, is not satisfied with this odd statement ; and sarcastically remarks that Miss Aikin " could only transcribe the account of Cary" He also asserts that on this occasion the exact Birch " draws his information from the letters of the French ambassador^ '9 W. Dugdale, Baronage, 1675-6. Fol. ii. 39r-8+M. R. C, pp. 172-82. ^° Tho. Campiani Epigrammatvm libri II. 1619. 1 2mo. Sig. A 7. ^i Birch, Memoirs of Elizabeth, 1754. 4to. ii. 508. ILLUSTRATED. 51 Villeroy" — Why, Mr. Historian, it was the learned Dr, Birch - who first published this statement ; and so much did he value it, that he declared the remark- able circumstances of the last illness and death of Elizabeth to be ^'hest described in the words of Sir Robert Cary^'"^^ Besides, Mr. Historian, the name of the French ambassador was not Villeroy ! We must now examine the Ms. — D'lsraeli saith, "I HAVE DISCOVERED a curious document in a manu- script volume formerly in the possession of Petyf^ — but whether in the British Museum, or in the State- paper Office, or in the archives of Bradenham House, the lively scribe seemeth not to remember. I will refresh his memory. The volume to which he refers is the Lansdowne Ms. No. 512 ; but an earlier transcript of the narrative is preserved in the Cotton library, ^^ another transcript in the Sloane collection, ^^ and two in the library of the Inner Temple. The portion introduced by D' Israeli was even published by Mr. Nichols, in a work which obtains a prominent station in every collection of Elizabethan history, in 1788 -^ — and repeated in 1823.-^ The statement in ques- tion stands thus in the Lansdowne Ms. : — " She [the Queen] not being able to speak, was asked by Mr. Secretary in this sort, wee beseech your Majesty if you remaine in your former resolution and that you would have the King of Scots to succeed you in your Kingdorae shew some signe unto us, [viz. Egerton, Nottingham, and Cecil] whereat mddainly heaveing her selfe upwards in her bed and pulling her arms out of' 22 Earl of Hardwicke, Letters of Sir D. Carleton, 1780. 4to. p. 1. 23 Historical View, 1749. 8vo. pp. 205-13. ^ Titus, C. vii. fol. 57. ^ Addit. Ms. No. 1786. fol. 3 verso . '^ Progresses of Q. Elizabeth, 1788-1805. 4to. ii. Sig. A. p. 1, etc. "" Ibid. 2nd. D 2 52 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE bed she held both her hands joyntly together over her head in man- ner of a crowne, whereby as they guessed shee signified that shee did not onely wish him the kingdome but desired the continuance of his estate ."2« D'lsraeli points out, as the quintessence of his discover?/, that the expression of Sir Robert Gary ^^ putting her hand to her head, too meanly describes the joining her hands in manner of a crown^ He values the evidence according to its scenic effect. He thinks it probable that Ehzabeth, who excelled in majesty of demeanour, ^9 should have closed her career with an act of mimicry. I do not hesitate to assert that the Petyt Ms. (which D'Israeli is inclined to ascribe to Cecil) is an unauthoritative compilation. It commences thus: " About the Friday senenight after Chrismas last being about the 14. January 1602," [1603] and we read within a few lines, " Mr. Secretarie Cecill (after Earle of Salisbury)." — Now, Sir Robert Cecil was not created Earl of Salisbury till the 4th of May 1605; 20 so that the document of which D'Israeli vaunts the importance — the document on which he builds his triumph over our female historian — bears on its face the marks of in-authenticity. In the Petyt Ms. the date and circumstances of the event are both mistated. The author represents it to have occurred about 4 P. M. on the 24th of March: before that hour James I. had been pro- claimed at Whitehall and Cheapside Cross I^^ He edit. iii. 607, etc. ^s Lansdowne Ms. No. 512. fol. 43. ^9 gj^ Robert Naunton, Fragmenta Regalia, 1641. 4to. p. 3. ^° Howes, Annales, 1615. Fol. p. 863. ^i gto^, Annales, 1605. 4to. p. 1425. ILLUSTRATED. 5S represents it to have occurred in the presence of Egerton, Nottingham, and Cecil, alone — to whom the siffn was superfluous : we have the testimony of Nottingham and Cecil, as communicated to M. de Beaumont, that it was in presence of the council — to whom it was of the utmost importance. The judicious author of Certaine short ohseruations concerning the life of Elizabeth, ^^ (composed, it appears, in the autumn of 1603) ^^ records some interesting particulars of her latter moments which he received from " such persons as had good meanes to understand the truth of things" ; ^^ but when about to relate that the Queen " hfted vp hir hand to hir head, and turned it round in the forme of a circle," he says, " It is reported — " and concludes with, " These re- portes whether they were true indeed: or giuen out of purpose by such as would haue them so to be beleeued it is hard to say : sure I am they did no hurt." ^^ He adds that there were diuerse rumors spread concern- ing the manner of the death of the Queen; and I consider the narrative copied in the Petyt Ms. to be a mere distant echo of some of the rumors of the time. It would be useless to continue the illustrations of this pretended discovery in Elizabethan history. The facts which I have produced, will enable the inquisi- tive student to repeat the statical experiment alluded to at the commencement of this article; and the result must inevitably be, the exaltation of our male historian — the courteous author of the CunojElitwsl of Hiterature. 32 Addit. Ms. No. 718. ^3 jbid. fol. 39. ^' Ibid. fol. 39. 35 Ibid. fol. 39 verso. 54 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE *:^* Our male historian endites a pathetic exordium on Miss Aikin and himself, or rather on himself and Miss Aikin — for he contrives to make himself the pro- minent object. His effusion is a neat example of what Longinus styles Parenthyrse, or ill-timed emotion. I shall exhibit the chameleon in his true colours. He is ashamed of his sarcasm on our female historian, but has not the manliness to avow it : he now calls it a congratulation ! — He cannot controvert the least por- tion of the facts detailed in the above article ; but, with the petulance of a spoiled child who is thwarted, declares that the narrative of Sir Robert Gary is " the very worst of all these narrativesP A note to his comment, calls for a short remark. He refers to Mr. Turner on the Petyt Ms.: Mr. Turner cites as his authority Mr. D 'Israeli ! It was unhandsome on the part of Mr. D'Israeli to draw in his learned friend — who is not very felicitous on the last period of the history of Elizabeth. He mis- leads us as to the day of her death ; and prints, as the simplest and truest statement of the particulars in question, what the author of it gives as a report ! ^^ Art. VII. — John Stow^ the annalist — with illustrations of ancient gravityy and modern flippancy, " The fashions of the Elizabethan age have been chro- nicled by honest John Stowe. Stowe was originally a tailor, and when he laid down the shears, and took up the pen, the taste and curiosity for dress was still retained. ^^ Hist, of the reigns of Edward VI. etc. 1829. 4to. pp. 701-2. ILLUSTRATED. 55 He is the grave chronicler of matters not grave. TJie chro- nology of ruffsy and tufted taffetas ; the revolution of steel poking-sticksy instead of bone or wood used by the laun- dresses ; the invasion of shoe-buckles, and tlie total rout of shoe-roses ; Sfc These, and occurrences as memo- rahlcy receive a pleasant kind of historical pomp in the im- portant, and not incurious, narrative of the antiquary and the tailor.'' — I. D'Israeli. ^ After the avowal of feelings approaching to vene- ration for certain members of the literate fraternity — need I hesitate to call John Stow, the venerable John Stow ? So, at least, it delights me to find him called by a learned transatlantic writer — an annalist himself of no mean note.^ Stow passed a prolonged life in the love-making or wooing of truth; and never had truth a more faithful admirer. England is indebted to him for the most elaborate coeval picture of the brilliant era of EUza- beth — and London for the traces of her growth during six centuries ; but neither the nation nor the metro- polis did him justice. Poverty was the unmeet com- panion of his latter years ; and when his claims were represented to the British Solomon — the British Solomon, in recompense of the toil of near half a cen- tury, and as an encouragement to others, graciously permitted him to become a mendicant ! Behold, in proof, one of the curiosities of literature : — " James, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, defender of the Faith &c. To all our welbeloued Subiects, greeting. Whereas our louing Subiect, lohn Stowe (a very aged, & 1 C. L., i. 330. ^ Abiel Holmes, D. D., Annals of America, Cambridge, [U. S.] 1829. 8vo. i. 3. 56 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE worthy member of our city of London) this fiue & forty yeers hath to his great charge, & with neglect of his ordinary meanes of maintenance (for the generall good aswell of posteritie, as of the present age) compiled and published diuerse necessary bookes, & Chronicles ; & therfore we, in recompense of these his pain- full laboures, & for encouragement to the like, haue in our royall inclination ben pleased to graunt our Letters Patents vnder our great scale of England, dated the eightth of March, 1603. therby authorizing him, the sayd lohn Stowe, and his deputies, to collect, amongst our louing Subiects, theyr voluntary contribution & kinde gratuities ; as by the sayd Letters Patents more at large may appeare : Now, seeing that our sayd Patents (being but one in them selues) cannot be shewed forth in diuerse places or parishes? at once (as the occasions, of his speedy putting them in execution, may require) we haue therfore thought expedient, in this vnusuall manner, to recommend his cause vnto you ; hauing already, in our owne person, and of our speciall grace, begun the largesse, for the example of others. Giuen at our palace at Westminster," ^ The true date of the letters patent cited in this do- cument, is the 8th of March 1604. Stow was then on the verge of his eightieth year ; and closed a life of labour on the 5th of April 1605 * — leaving a name which still acts as a charm on the lovers of EngUsh history. It is not fit that we should dwell exclusively on the shadows of existence. Stow was honored with the countenance and approbation of Parker, Whitgift, Camden, etc. ^ Stow was fortunate in the posses- sion of rare manuscripts ; ^ manuscripts which would claim a conspicuous station amidst the treasures at Middle-Hill. He was, moreover, to use the lan- 3 Harleian Ms. No. 367. fol. 10. A printed copy — probably unique. * A. M., Svrvay of London, 1618. 4to. p. 285. ^ An- nales, 1601. 4to. Bed. etc. ^ Summarie abr. 1566. Ded. + Powel, Historic of Cambria, 1584. 4to. Sig. If 7 verso. ILLUSTRATED. 57 guage of one of his contemporaries, a merry old man ;'f and it was visible in a pleasant and cheerful countenance.^ We will therefore come to the con- clusion that he bore his poverty with patience, a conclusion which an authentic anecdote tends to confirm. Walking with Ben Jonson, they met two mendicant cripples ; and the merry old man asked, ^'what they would have to take him to their order." ^ There is ample scope for the biographer of John Stow; and I am gratified in believing that justice will shortly be done to his memory. ^^ Howes con- trives to interest — but provokes by his brevity. Strype is rather verbose than circumstantial — and has very imperfectly availed himself of the aids to be derived from bibliography. The essayist shall now make his entrance. He re- marks, in the true spirit oi flippancy, that the chro- nicler was originally a tailor, and that ichen he laid down the shears, and took up the pen, the taste and cu- riosity for dress loas still retained. — The essayist, who prides himself as an adept in the philosophy of history, would have us consider the taste and curiosity for dress which the chronicler exhibits, as the remains of his former vocation ! — Is not Edward Hall, the chro- nicler, a gentleman of Grayes Inne, a citizen hy birth ' H. Holland, Ecclesia S. Pavli illvstrata, 1633. 4to. Sig. C 2. ^ Howes, Annales, 1615. Fol.p. 811. ^ Extracts from the Hawthornden Mss. Edinb. 1831-2. 4to. p. 102. i** I venture to state that a memoir of Stow is contemplated by John Gough Nichols, Esq. F.S.A. — whose hereditary love of research, and minute acquaintance with our national antiquities, peculiarly qualify him to undertake it. d5 58 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE and office, as common Sergeant of London,^^ extremely minute on dress ? We will examine the inference of D' Israeli more closely. Stow records that in a " time of dearth and scarcity of victuals, at London, an hens eg was sold for a peny, or three egs for two pence at the most." ^^ jjad he been a vender of those edible curiosities ? The chronicler records that a " goodly challenge was made & obserued at Westminster at the tilt, with each one sixe courses : at the turney twelue strokes with the sword, three pushes with the pun- chion staffe : and twelue blowes with the sword at barriers, or twenty if any were so disposed^ ^^ With what technical minuteness does he enumerate the thrusts and blows ! Had he been a master of the art of defence ? The chronicler records that " Son- day the 5. of August, [1604] a lionesse named Eliza- beth, in the Tower of London, brought forth a lions whelpe," and that " the 26. of February was an other lion whelped ... by the foresaid lionesse," etc. How are we to account for the notice of such events ? So unlike the dignity to which modern historians aspire ! Had the chronicler been a keeper of wild beasts? He shall answer for himself. " Thus much of these whelpes haue I obserued, and put in memory, for \hdXl haue not read of any the like in this land before,^' etc.i^ Need I express the logical conclusion ? If the chronicler is minute on dress, it is because he loved to be minute on every subject which he noted FOR POSTERITY. " Stow, Svrvay, 1603. 4to. p. 114. ^^ Annales, 1601. 4to. p. 1281. *3 Annales, 1601. 4to. p. 1116. " Annales, 1605. 4to. pp. 1430, 1433. ILLUSTRATED. 59 The inanity of the philosophy of history^ as exem- pHfied by D'IsraeU, will become more evident when I state that the attribution of the chronology of ruffs and tufted taffetas etc. to Stow the tailor, is utterly devoid of authority. It was written by Edmond Howes, GENTLEMAN ! ^^ D'Israeli characterises Stow as the grave chronicler of matters not grave. — He is the faithfid chronicler both oi gaieties and gravities — of whatever he con- ceived would interest his contemporaries and posteri- ty. As early as 1565, he thus announced his views on the subject of historical composition : " in hysto- RIES THE CHIEFE THYNG THAT IS TO BE DESYRED IS TRUTHE ;" and he added this caution on phrase- makers : — ** (Bi iSmootl^e antr flatterpnge ffpeac^t, rmtemftev to take dFbr Cioutl^e m pla»n toortJejl mau be toHle, of craft a Ig€i)at!) mTJe/'i6 That the same principle actuated him through life, is evidenced by his travels " on foote vnto diuers cathedral churches and other chiefe places of the land to search records ;" ^^ by the historical volumes which he " caused to be printed ;" ^^ by his versions of the old Latin chroniclers ; ^9 by his innumerable transcripts, excerpts, etc.~° in addition to the well- '* Annales, 1615. FoL pp. 869, 948, Edit. 1632. pp. 869, 1038-9, etc. •« Sumraarie [1565.] 8vo. To the Reader. '7 Howes, Annales, 1615. FoL p. 811. '^ Annales, 1601. 4to. Sig. a 4. '3 Catt. Mss. Angliae, 1697. FoL nos. 10005-6. 20 Harleian Mss. Nos. 247, 367, 530, 540. Lambeth I\Is. No. 138, Art. 10. 60 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE known works which he published, viz. A Summary of English chronicles ;^^ The Annals of England ;^^ A Survey of London.-^ " He alwaies protested," says his biographer Howes, " neuer to haue written any thing, either for maUce, feare, or fauour, nor to seeke his owne particuler gaine, or vaine glory, and that his only paines and care was to write truth," 2* This is his own testimony ; but it is incontroverti- ble. It is this unwearied pursuit of truth during an extended career, which exalts his moral character — which stamps a value on his works — and has made his name as national as that of Bede, or Camden. I vehemently hate persiflage — when aimed at those who deserve more than ordinary praise. Stow complained, at the outset of his literary life, of the snarlings of certain critics ;25 and there were also scoffers in those times.*^^ Bipeds, even of the cri- tical class, now rarely snarl; and scoffing is consi- dered as beneath your exquisite writer. The ap- proved critical weapon is persiflage — in the use of which D' Israeli has attained a fair portion of that proficiency which is generally the result of assidu- ous application. 27 This weapon, however, if not very skilfully handled, sometimes recoils ; and should D'Israeli have had the misfortune to experience that annoyance, his persiflage on the venerable John Stow must undoubtedly be classed as one of the CurioiitttejE; of literature. ^' 1565, etc. 8vo. ^ 1580, 1592, 1601, \ 605, 4to. the latter not a reprint. ^ 1598, 1603, 4to. ^* Annales, 1615. p. 811. ^^ Sumraarieabr. 1566. Ded. -^ Howes, Annales, 1615. Fol. p. 811. ^ C.L., passim. ILLUSTRATED. 61 # * * The castigatory observations which I made in favor of John Stow, have had due eiFect. Mr. D'IsraeU now styles him venerable Stowe. He remarks, in conclusion, that our annalist ^^ gave the nation their Chaucer" Poor Mr. D'Israeli ! he is sure to stumble whenever he enters his favorite path, the history of our vernacular literature. Stow edited Chaucer in 1561, and furnished his louing friend Speght with Chaucerian notes, which appeared in 1597 ;^^ but Master William Caxton gave the nation their Chaucer — half a century before John Stow was born.29 Art. VIII. — Cervantes — Don Quijote de la Mancha a native of Barhary ! " Cervantes composed the most agreeable book in the Spanish langiuige during his captivity in Barbary,'' — I. D'ISRAELI.l It is never advisable to commence an argument with an assumption; but an assumption which is readily assented to — and which the circumlocution of some lively writer compels one to adopt — may per- haps escape censure. I shall therefore assume that by the most agreeable book in the Spanish language, we are to understand El ingenioso hidalgo D. Quijote de la Mancha. 28 Svrvay of London, 1603. 4to. p. 465. ^ Typographical Antiquities, 1749. 4to. p. 54, etc. ^ C. L., i. 50. 62 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE The principal biographers of Cervantes are los Se- nores D. Gregorio Mayans y Siscar,^ D. Vicente de los Rios,^ D. Juan Antonio Pellicer y Saforcada,* and D. Martin Fernandez de Navarrete.^ I exclude Nicolas Antonio and Sarmiento; Antonio, on the score of his brevity^ — and Sarmiento, because his work remains in Ms J El Sefior Mayans was a learned and assiduous author;^ but he could not ascertain the birth-place of Cervantes, nor was he aware of the anecdotes of his captivity furnished by Haedo.9 El Senor Rios, an officer of artillery possessing exquisite taste in literature, 1^ and el Sefior Pellicer, afterwards libra- rian to his Catholic Majesty, ^^ pursued their re- searches with superior success ; but it is to the emi- nent abilities and activity of el Senor Navarrete, and to the influence of his name over the keepers of the various archives, that we are indebted for the most complete life of Cervantes ^^ — q^i^ may he live to con- ' Vida y Hechos del ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, En Londres, 1738. 4to. Vol. i. Vida de C. pp. 103. ^ El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, En Madrid, 1780. 4to. Vol. i. Vida de C. pp. cc. " Ensayo de una Bibli- otheca de Traductores Espanoles, En Madrid, 1778. 4to. pp. 143-98. ^ Vida de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Madrid, 1819. 8vo. « Bibliotheca Hispana, Romae, 1672. Fol. ii. 105. ' Bibliotheca Heberiana. Pt. xi. No. 1410. ® Serapere, Ensayo de una Biblioteca Espanola, En Madrid, 1785-9. 8vo. iv. 14, etc. ' Vide Topographia, e historia general de Argel^ En Valladolid, 1612. Fol. 10 Sempere, E. B. E,, v. 17, etc. " Ibid. v. 66, etc. 12 Raynouard, Journal des Savans, 1820. pp. 534-42. ILLUSTRATED. 63 tinue his invaluable account of the early maritime achievements of the Spaniards.^^ Now, the circumstance stated by D'Israeli has eluded the inquiries of the aforesaid erudite biogra- phers, ^* (not to mention the opposite intimation of Cervantes himself, )^^ and if conclusive evidence of it could be produced, I am persuaded that el Senor D. Martin Fernandez de Navarrete would hail our most sagacious compatriot as the Columbus of literary his- tory ! But, alas ! it is a mere Jiction, a fiction entirely de- void of the attractive qualities of fiction. — It might have been added, as an appropriate embellishment, that the autograph Ms. was still in the possession of the Dey of Algiers — that it was on superfine wove paper made by Whatman — that it was bound by Charles Lewis in a choice portion of the hide of el famoso cahallo Rocinante — etc. Need I repeat the facts ? — In lieu of adverting to the facts, which have been repeated a hundred times, I shall attempt a history of the fiction. In 1694-5 appeared a second edition of the Mena- giana, on hons mots, etc. de M. Meriage.^^ The first edition is ascribed to M. Galland, the learned orien- talist. ^^ The second edition was published by M. " Vide Colecciou de los viages y descubrimientos, que hicieron por mar los Espanoles desde fines del siglo XV,, Madrid, 1825-9. 4to. 3 vols.— [Vols. 4 & 5 appeared in 1837.] '* Mayans, p. 19. Rios, p. xiv. Pellicer, p. 164. and Navarrete, p. 95. '•' Prologo de D. Q. ^^ Menagiana, A Paris, 1694-5. 2 vol. in-12. " M. de Boze, Histoire de I'Academie Royale des In- scriptions, 1740. In-8. ii. 42. 64 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE I'Abbe Fayditj " qui la grossit de plusieurs imperti- nences;"^^ and among the additions which he made to it we find this paragraph : — " J'ay oui dire que Micliel de Cervantes auteur de ce Roman de Dom Quixote 6toit manchot, & qu'il auoit compost ce livre ^tant captif en Barbarie."^^ Fail not, courteous student, to observe that M. Faydit reports what M. Menage had heard reported. We have only the oui-dire of an oui-dire — but some men value that sort of evidence. In 1791 appeared, anonymously, a volume entitled Curiosities of Literature. It was chiefly compiled from the French Ana; and contained the fiction on Cer- vantes. In 1834 appeared a ninth edition of the work, adorned with the name of the pretended author I. D'Israeli, Esq. D.C.L. and F.S.A.— Now, if we suppose each impression to have consisted of five hundred copies; if we allow about five readers to each copy ; and believe it possiLle that the readers should be no better informed than the compiler ; we must conclude that D'Israeli, in this instance alone, ha^ misled more than twenty thousand of his readers ! * # * * * I suppress the crowd of mortifying reflections which a review of this article has excited. — As an illustration of the insufficiency of periodical criticism — of the carelessness of writers — and of the efi*ects of misplaced confidence on the part of readers — the con- tinued currency of this fiction during one hundred and forty years is a circumstance so remarkable — that it '^ Foisset, Biog. Univ., xxviii. 254. '^ Menagiana, 1694-5. ii. 8=1715. iii. 15, etc. ILLUSTRATED. 65 seems almost superfluous to characterise it as one of the CuviojJitiesl of literature. *^* To commit an error is perfectly easy : to con- fess it is a serious affair. Mr. D' Israeli evades it, by asserting his conviction that " Cervantes gave free- dom to his genius during his captivity." He certain- ly exercised his genius in devising plans of escape ^o — and perhaps />oe^zc«Z/y. 21 Cervantes was redeemed in 1580.-2 Can it be conceived that our inimitable romancer, who lived by his wits, should have detained el ingenioso hidalgo in the captivity of his writing desk for twenty-five years? Mr. D'Israeli seems rather inclined to yield the point ; but contends that he was guided hy a right feeling — in deceiving, as he calculates, half a million of his readers ! Art. IX. — Sir Walter Ralegh — the author of some passages interspersed in the History of the World, " It was true of him, [Sir Walter Ralegh] what was said of Cato Uticensis : that he seemed to be born to that onely which he went about : so dexterous was he in all his undertakings, in court, in camp, by sea, by land, with sword, with pen, witnesse in the last his History of the World," — Thomas Ful- ler, D.D.i That stupendous volume entitled The History of 20 Navarrete, p. 34, etc. ^^ Ibid. p. 57. "^ Ibid. p. 50. 1 Worthies of England, 1662. Fol. Devon^ 262. 66 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE the World was first published in 1614.2 The learned Camden ascribed it to Sir Walter Ralegh ; ^ Oldys, a vigilant scrutineer of authorities, ascribed it to Sir Walter Ralegh;* and Mr. Tytler, whose acquaint- ance with the sources of historical evidence, and skill in its application, it would be superfluous to proclaim, also ascribes it to Sir Walter Ralegh.^ D'Israeli, undaunted by the opinions of such formidable writers, announces the discovery of a little fact — sports one of his most novel deductions — and reduces the especial claims of Sir Walter to " the eloquent, the grand, and the pathetic passages interspersed in that venerable volume^ ^ A voyage of discovery can never want interest. I shall therefore examine the track of D'Israeli; en- deavour to do him justice on the score of its novelty ; and, with the experience of some short cruises be- tween the same meridians and parallels, shall cor- rect it by the result of careful and repeated observa- tions. He thrice announces a discovery; undertakes to disclose the secret history of the work ; asserts as a truth that the " collection of the materials of the His- tory of the World was the labour of several persons ;" and names as contributors, Thomas Hariot, Mr. Serjeant Hoskins, Ben Jonson, and Dr. Robert Burrel. With those objects in view, we take our de- parture. ^ London, Walter Bvrre, 1614. Fol. — 1617. Fol. A revised edition. ^ Camdeni Epistolce, etc. 1691. 4to. Annales, p. 9. * Life of Sir W. Ralegh, [1735.] Fol. p. 183. ^ Life of Sir W. Raleigh, Edinb. 1833. Sra. 8vo. p. 333. ^ C. L., v. 233. ILLUSTRATED* 67 1. Thomas Hariot. — " TJiere was an English phi- losopher .... Thomas Hariot, whom Anthony Wood charges with infusing into RawleigKs volume philoso- phical notions, while Rawleigh loas composing his His- tory of the World:' — I. D'Israeli. Anthony Wood makes no such charge. His words are : " He [Hariot] was a deist, and his doctrine he did impart to the said Count, [Henry, Earl of Northumberland] and to Sir Walt. Raleigh, when he was in compiling the History of the World" "^ — Now, the assertion that Hariot imparted such notions does not amount to the charge of infusing them into the volume ; besides, we have his own testimony, con- firmed by his executors, that he had no deistical notions to impart.^ If the charge of infusion had been made, it should not have been repeated without adverting to its refutation. This omission shall be supplied. Wood states, in evidence of the deism of Hariot, that he maintained the eternity of matter ; but Sir Walter Ralegh, into whose volume the philosophi- cal notion is reported to have been infused, says, " the supposition is so weake, as is hardly worth the answer- ing T*^ Wood made use of the communication of Aubrey, almost verbatim ; ^° and Wood himself admits that Aubrey was exceedingly credulous, and " would stuff his many letters sent to A, W, with folliries, [sic] and misinformations"^^ — points in the evidence which ' Athenae Oxonienses, 1691-2. Fol. i. col. 390. ^ Report of Virginia, 1588. 4to. Sig. E 4. + Survey of London, 1633. Fol. p. 831. ^ H. W., 1614. Sig. D 3. verso. " Letters by Emi- nent Persons, 1813. 8vo. ii. 369. " Lives of Eminent Anti- quaries, Oxford, 1772. Bvo. ii. 209. 68 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE could not escape the notice of one conversant with our vernacular literature, Hariot was by birth and education an Oxonian. He became mathematical tutor to Sir Walter Ralegh ; ^^ made a voyage in his service to Virginia, with Sir Richard Grenville, in 1585;i3 returned with Sir Francis Drake in 1586 ;i* and published an account of the colony, in the suc- cess of which Sir Walter was deeply interested, in 1588.1^ We afterwards lose sight of him for some years — which, it is probable, were passed in studious retirement. Sir Walter was committed to the Tower on the 19th of July 1603 ;i6 and in 1605 Hariot ap- pears as one of the six persons who had obtained leave to repair to him at convenient time.^'^ Sir Walter had previously introduced him to the Earl of Northumber- land ^^ (the favourer of all good learning) who gene- rously conferred on him an annual pension of £\20'^^ — which enabled him to devote his whole time to philosophical pursuits. In 1607 he observed the Halleian comet ;2o in 1609 he introduced the use of the new cylinders; and in 1610 he commenced his observations on the satellites of Jupiter, and on the solar spots, at Sion House^^ — where, by the munifi- '■^ R. Haklvyt, De Orbe Novo, Parisiis, 1587. 8vo. Sig. a iiii. verso. ^^ Hakluyt, Principall Navigations, 1589. Fol.p. 736. '* Ibid. p. 747. ^^ A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia, etc. Imprinted at London, 1588. Sm. 4to. A to F. fours. 16 Birch, Add it. Ms. 4160. Art. 136. '^ Birch, Ibid. Art. 122. ^^ Wood, A. O., i. col. 390. '» Isaac Wal- ton, L. E. P., ii. 418. 20 g. p. Rigaud, Misc. Works of Brad- ley, Oxford, 1832. 4to. p. 514. 21 §. P. Rigaud, Account of Harriot's Papers, 4to. pp. 20, 21, 31, etc. ILLUSTRATED. 69 cence of his noble patron, he was allowed to reside J^- Camden,-^ Hakluyt,^^ Capt. Smith,-^ and other wor- thies of those times, have borne unequivocal testi- mony to his merit. He died in 1621 ; and the re- sults of his algebraic researches were published in 1631.^^ Other remarkable proofs of his attachment to science remain in Ms.-^ — It may be collected from the above facts, that Sir Walter Ralegh did not Undervalue the fidelity and varied attainments of Hariot; but, when he remarks that mathematicians are the best authorities in accompt of times^^^ he names not the mathematical Hariot — when he com- memorates Galileo and his perspective plasses,^^ he names not the Galileo of Sion House — nor is it pos- sible to produce the slightest evidence that he was a contributor to the History of the World, 2. Serjeant Hoskins. — " But in that imprisonment [in the Tower] it singularly happened that he [Sir Walter Ralegh] lived among literary characters, with the most intimate friendship. There he joined the Earl of Northumberland, the patron of the philoso- phers of his age, and with whom Rawleigh pursued his chemical studies ; and Serjeant Hoskins, a poet and a wit, . . . and that Rawleigh often consulted Hoskins on 22 Isaac Walton, L. E. P., ii. 418. '-» Epistolae, A. p. 72. 24 Virginia richly valued, 1609. 4to. Sig. A 3. ^ Description of New England, 1616. 4to. p. 4. ^ Artis Analyticae Praxis, Londini, 1631. Fol. ^ Harl. Mss. 6001, 2— Transcripts, ex- cerpts, etc. +6083 — seems also to contain a portion of the / Ibid. p. 130. i«i F. R., p. 34. i^^ ibj^j jyi^ ^opy in my possession — the printed text is erroneous. ^°^ D. Lloyd, States-men of England, 1665. 8vo. p. 490. ^^^ H. W., 1614. p. 46. 105 xbid. p. 67. io« Ibid. p. 78. 84 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE recollection the spouts which he had seen in the West Indies, and what he had been told of floods by " some ancient southsayers'''' in America. ^^^ In narrating the early attempts at navigation, he speaks of coracles and canoes — and adds, " Of the one sort I haue seene in Ireland^ of the other in the Indies" ^^^ Pointing out the misconceptions which had occurred in naming newly discovered countries, he states the origin of the name of Peru " as diners Spaniards in the Indies as- sured" him; 1*^9 and adds, " Tlie same hapned among the English, ichich I sent vnder Sir Richard Greeneuile to inhcd)ite Virginia," ^^^ Need I proceed? The above passages are neither eloquent, nor grand, nor pathetic. Were they written by Thomas Hariot? or by Mr. Serjeant Hoskins ? or by Ben Jonson ? or by Dr. Robert Burrel ? It is diificult, on some occasions, to preserve a suit- able measure of gravity — but the attempt must now be made. — If we examine the whole of the above e\TL- dence ; if we compare the more prominent facts con- tained in it with the statements and insinuations of D'lsraeli ; we must either assume that his acquaint- ance with our vernacular literature is extremely super- ficial, and that he has not read the smallest portion of the work of which he pretends to have discovered the secret history — or, we must come to a conclusion not much adapted to establish his character as o. faithful and ingenuous writer. Sir W^alter Ralegh, it may be once more stated, was endowed with splendid abilities ; but his abilities, 107 Ibid. pp. 109, 7, 5. 1^ Ibid. p. 154. i<« Ibid. p. 175. "0 Ibid. p. 175. ILLUSTRATED. 85 without other quahfications, would not have produced the History of the World, It is in the continued at- tachment to hterature which he so especially evinced, and in the habit of assiduous application to his pur- suits, that we read the secret history of its composi- tion. I make the assertion with confidence — being enabled to prove its congeniality with his own senti- ments : " Opus peragunt labor et amor, W, Ralegh^ ^^^ * # # # * D'Israeli, in one short essay, calls in question the character and abilities of Giorgio Vasari, and of Sir Walter Ralegh. He insinuates that the two celebrated works to which their names seemed for ever attached, have been mis-ascribed; assumes to himself the discovery of the secret history of those works; and, by a convenient application of critico- arithmetical science, pronounces those tioo instances of discovery to be equivalent to tioenty, I shall assume that, in this and a preceding article, I have effected the demolition of his two discoveries ; and, adopting the said critico-arithmetical process, might therefore claim the merit of restoring twenty deserving individuals to their rank and honors in the Repuhliqiie des Lettres — but, if the Court of Appeal to which all cases of this description appertain, should decide in favor of the validity of only one tenth part of such claim, I shall rejoice at having accepted the Professor- ship of Criticism — and that I made my dehut with the Curiosiiticsl of literature. ^^^ Album of Capt. Segar — successively in the collections of Mr. Meyrick, Mr. Bindley, and Mr. Heber. 86 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE *^* The essay on the ascription of Tlie History of the World to Sir Walter Ralegh has received such emphatic praise, that I cannot condescend to vindi- cate it till some more formidable opponent than Mr. D'Israeli shall arise. I leave to their inevitable fate his falsified quotation on Hariot, his audacious infer- ence, his misrepresentations on Hawthorne, etc., his quirks, and his conjectures. A sagacious observation by Sir Walter Ralegh himself, and a short comment on the paragraph in which Mr. D'Israeli passes sen- tence on my essay, is all that I propose to add : — " There is no errour which hath not some slipperie and had foundation^ or some apparance of prohahilitie resembling truth, which when men who studie to be sin- gular flnde out, straining reason according to their fancies they then publish to the world matter of contention and jangling : not doubting but in the variable deformitie of mens minds tojinde some partakers or sectatours^ — Sir Walter Ralegh."^ This observation proves that there have been D'Israelis in former times; and I recommend it to our modern D'Israeli, as a text for him to meditate on for the remainder of his days. " In his article of Sir Walter Mawleigh, vnth a pa- rade of original research, he has only followed in the wake of his more courteous predecessor, Mr. Tytler^ — I. D'lsRAELL^is These three lines call for as many remarks. 1. It is not said that the parade of original research is mere parade ; and I quietly submit, as it is impossi- ble to return the compliment: Mr. D'Israeli has "'^ H. W., 1614. p. 57. ''3 I. I., p. 80. ILLUSTRATED. 87 substantial reasons for not citing his authorities. 2. Mr. Tytler, I am persuaded, would be courtesy itself to those who have a claim on his courtesy ; but he did not hesitate to characterise the article of Mr. D'Israeli as " a remarkable and instructive example how certainly superficial research leads to error^ and error to injustice" i^* 3. I am proud to announce that Mr. Tytler, in whose wake I am said to folloiv, has commended my essay for its " precision and satisfac- tory strength," for the " neio information it communi- cates" etc. Art. X. — Philip III. of Spain — his last ill- ness, and premature death. " Philip the Third was gravely seated by the fire-side : the fire-maker of the court had kindled so great a quantity of woody that the monarch was nearly suffocated with heat, and his grandeur would not suffer him to rise from the chair ; the domestics could not presume to enter the apart- ment, because it was against tJie etiquette. At length the Marquis de Potat appeared, and the king ordered him to damp the fire ; but he excused himself; alleging that he was forbidden by the etiquette to perform such a function, for tvhich the Duke d' Usseda ought to be called upon, as it was his business. The duke was gone out : the fire burnt fiercer ; and the king endured it, rather than derogate from his dignity. Put his blood was heated to such a degree, that an erysipelas of the head appeared the next day, which, succeeded by a violent fever, carried him off in 1621, in the twentyfourth year of his age" — I. D'Israelt.i "^ Life of Sir W. R., p. 458. 'C. L., i. 285. 88 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE The nature of this volume has required the irk- some repetition of various statements to which it was not desirable to give additional currency; and now, on the most serious of all subjects, requires me to ex- hibit — a caricature. That Philip III. of Spain died in 1621 is an undoubted fact: the rest of the above narrative is a tissue of fiction and witticism. 1 oppose to it a plain account, founded on coeval authorities ; on the despatch sent to Gondomar,^ the memoir of Philip III. which was presented to his son and successor by Porreno,^ and the more extended History compiled by his official chronicler Gil Gonza- lez Davila.* Philip the Third, after hearing mass on Sunday the 28th of Feb. 1621, [N.S.J felt indisposed. Fever soon made its appearance, accompanied with erysipe- las — from which he had before suffered severely. He continued in the same state about a week, when symptoms more untoward supervened. On the 29th of March he commanded the attendance of his chil- dren. Addressing the Prince he said, " He llamado para que veais en lo quefenece todo"=I have called you that you may see what is the end of all things; and he recommended the Infanta Maria to his especial 2 Addit. Ms. 4108. fol. 172. ^ Dichos, y Heclios de el Senor Rey D. Phelipe III. Por el Licenciado Porreno — printed in Memorias para la Historia de Don Felipe III. Key de Espaiia. Recogidas por Don Juan Yanez. En Madrid, 1723. 4to. p. 222, etc. '' Historia de la Vida y Hechos del inclito Monarca, amado y santo D. Felipe Tercero. Obra posthuma del Maestro Gil Gonzalez Davila— /j/iw^ec/ in Monarquia de Espana. Madrid, 1770-1. Fol. 3 vols. ILLUSTRATED. 89 care. The same night he received the sacraments and extreme unction. On the 30th he executed his will, the preparation of which had been ordered two years before ; and he expired on the following morn- ing. From the commencement of the disease, the King entertained no hopes of recovery. He seemed, says Davila, as certain of his approaching end as if it had been revealed to him. We must not consider the objectionable narrative as the invention of D'lsraeli, who never composes in so non-vernacular a style. It is evidently a transla- tion from the French. From Amelot de la Hous- saye ? I cannot find it ; but there I find the apocry- phal anecdote with which D'Israeli is so excessively delighted — the anecdote of Philippe de Comines and the boots ! But we pass over the caricature, to examine facts and dates. D'Israeli asserts that Philip III. died in the twenty fourth year of his age, — The writer who attempts history, should bestow an occasional thought on the art de verifier les dates. If Philip died in his twenty-fourth year, he must have been born about 1598. Did Gregorio Madera dedicate to him the Pre-eminence of Spain by anticipation.^ Did his father undertake to teach him the art of government before he could lisp in Spanish?^ Was our gallant Earl of Nottingham — with a suite of six hundred noblemen, knights, gentlemen, etc. — sent on an em- ' Excelencias de la Monarchia de Espafla, Valladolid, 1597. FoL ^ Testimonio de las cosas qve passaron en la muerte de Phelipe II., Valencia, 1599. 4to. p. 110. 90 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE bassy to a child P^^ The questions seem absurd- hut they arise naturally out of the absurdity of the statement of D'Israeli. El Padre Mariana, whose historical volumes are sufficiently accessible, would have informed him that Philip died in the forty-third year of his age ;^ and the renowned historiador Don Luis Cabrera de Cordoba, who had carefully studied the principles of his art, would have informed him that he was born on the 14th of April 1578 at two of the clock in the morning.'^ D'Israeli produced the fiction in 1791. It is therefore one of those cases in which — assuming the correctness of certain calculations stated in the article on Cervantes — he has misled more than twenty thousand of his ?'eaders ! That a writer on Spanish etiquette, and on Spanish poetry, should have made no more progress in Spanish history after forty years of additional research, is certainly one of the Cuno£litU£{ of literature. *^* Behold a triumph ! Behold the hero of OUR VERNACULAR LITERATURE — orcct in the gilded chariot of popularity — clad in purple and embroidery like his own precious volumes — a crown of laurel on his head — his breast adorned with an amulet which repels criticism ; behold with admiration ! and hear the periodical shouts as he advances in solemn proces- sion along the via triumph alis towards the brazen ' R. Treswell, A Relation, etc. 1605. 4to. pp. 2, 62. ^ His- toria General de Espana, Madrid, 1780. Fol. ii. 927. ^ De Historia, para entenderla y escrivirla, Madrid, 1611. 4to.+Filipe Segvndo, Madrid, 1619. Fol p. 976. I ILLUSTRATED. 91 portal of Bradenham House. Behold, alas ! the late Honorary Professor of Criticism— fallen from his high estate — laden with the chains of error — the victor him- self acting the pantomime to add insult to misfortune ; behold with commiseration ! and hear him lament, in the intervals of To triumphe, that he should have exchanged his quiet pursuits for the din and jeopardy of warfare — lament, above all, that he should have had the temerity to cope with so experienced and re- doubtable a chieftain ! Such are the soul-exciting ideas which the ingeni- ous comment of Mr. D'Israeli on the above article is calculated to create — at the ^rs^ glance. On examin- ing it more attentively, we discover that this imposing effect is produced by; 1. A falsified quotation. 2. Three false assertions. 3. A flat contradiction ; and 4. Two absurd inferences. 1. A falsified quotation. — I had remarked that " the writer who attempts history should bestow an occasional thought on the art de verifier les dates^ This was an allusion — but no reference. When I call Mr. D'Israeli Vetourdi, is it a reference to Mo- liere ? When I state that liability to criticism is one of the calamities of authors^ is it a reference to the work of D'IsraeH ? He felt the force of the objec- tion ; and in order to make it appear that I had cited a work without having consulted it, alters it to L'Art de verifier les Dates, 2. Three false assertions. — He asserts that his cain- cature narrative, with all the details, is to be found in UArt de verifier les Dates, I deny it. The narrative stands thus : " Ce Prince fut la victime de I'etiquette. 92 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Etant au Conseil, il se plaignit de la vapeur d'un brasier qui rincommodoit, d'autant plus qu'il relevoit d*une grande maladie. L'Officier charge du soin d'entretenir le feu etant absent, personne n'osa rem- plir son emploi. Cette delicatesse couta la vie au Monarque."^^ He asserts that it is also to be found in the Biographie Universelle. I deny it. M. de Beauchamp, the author of that article, gives the above account almost verbatim,^^ I was aware of the anecdote as given in the Art de verifier les Dates, and in the Biographie Universelle — works which were close to my professorial chair. I have since found it more fully stated by Desormeaux,^^ ^Jjq ^ites no authority. The antipathy between the French and Spaniards is adverted to by Desormeaux as a no- torious fact, and probably gave rise to the anecdote. I consider it as a French fabrication ; and agree with a periodical critic in thinking " it certainly is incom- prehensible how Mr. D'Israeli could credit such nonsense."^^ Mr. D'Israeli then boldly refers to the Art de verifier les Dates for an explanation of what he is pleased to call his clerical error in describing Philip as " dying in the twenty-fourth year of his age;" and saith, " For the word age, read reign" Verily, Mr. D'Israeli, thou art a genius of a peculiar cast. Dom Clement himself bears witness against thee ! " Philippe meurt le 31 Mars, [1621] age de 43 ans moins 14 jours, dans la 23* annee de son regne."^"^ 1® Art de verifier les Dales, Paris, 1770. In-fol. p. 823. ^^ Biog. Univ., xxxiv. 157. '^ Abrege chronologique de riiistoire d'Espagne, Paris, 1759-8. In-12. iv. 261. ^^ Athe- nseum, 20 Jan. 1838. " A. V. D., p. 823. ILLUSTRATED. 93 3. A flat contradiction. — Mr. D'lsraeli thus quotes me correctly : " We must not consider the objection- able narrative as the invention of D'IsraeU" — and afterwards says, " He accuses me of fabricating an anecdote in Spanish history," etc.^^ This is above the reach of ordinary intellects — and requires some of his own incomparable illustration. ■ 4. Two absurd inferences. — I had stated that the anecdote is evidently a translation from the French — on account of its gallicisms : our anti-ratiocinative critic considers this as a proof of anti-Gallic preju- dice f He assumes its authenticity — because, as he pretends, it appears in the Art de verifier les Dates : Dom Clement, to whom we owe the edition of 1770, denounces one portion of his own work as pleiji d'in- exactitudes^^ — a mark of candour which deserves the especial notice of Mr. DTsraeli. Art. XL — The Rev. Samuel Purchas^ M.A. — the unheai'd-of Traveller. " PurcJias, whoi in the reign of our first James, had spent his life in travels to form his Relation of the World, wJien he gave it to the public, for the reward of his labours teas thrown into prison, at the suit of his printer. Yet this was the book which, he informs Charles the First in his de- dication, his father read every night with great profit and satisfaction'* — I. D'Israeli.^ I spoke with diffidence on Camoens — and even had recourse to a sort of invocation. I speak with >« I. L, pp. 42, 78. ISA. V. D.,p.911. ^CL., i. 46. 94 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE confidence on Purchas — being more at home on the subject of Voyages and Travels. If an invocation did seem requisite, I should certainly invoke the Right Honorable Thomas Grenville. The above short extract from one of the classical and most charming essays of DTsraeli (I characterise them in the classical and most charming diction of his enthusiastic eulogist Bulwer) contains three asser- tions which demand the apphcation of my critical compasses. He asserts that Purchas, in the reign of our first James, had spent his life in travels to form his Relation of the World. — Now, James I. ascended the throne on the 24th of March 1603, and Purchas had com- pleted at the press his Pilgrimage or Relations of the World, a closely-printed foUo of near 800 pages, be- fore the expiration of the year 1612 ;2 which leaves a short life to poor Purchas — and a short period for a pilgrimage over Asia, Africa, and America, with the islajids adjacent! But this is a minor point. Did Purchas really practise the art of transport by land and hy water ? or did he pilgrimize in his library chair ? Has he given us, like Humboldt, a personal narrative of travels? or is the volume a mere com- pilation ? This is a question of considerable im- portance in the history of our vernacular literature — and therefore entitled to a right serious and ample discussion. The earliest biographer of Purchas celebrates him as a philosopher, a historian, and a divine^ — not as a 2 Pvrchas his Pilgrimage, 1613. Fol. Ded. ^ Boissardi Bibliolheca, Fraucofvrti, 1628. 4to. Art. 53. p. 297. ILLUSTRATED. 95 traveller. He fabricates for him a distich which merits repetition : — " Gaudeat irriguus Ptolomaei nomine Nilus, Ast Anglis primus sum Ptolomaeus ego." Imitated. Let the o'erflovving Nile in Ptolemy rejoice, Me her first Ptolemy, proclaims the English voice. Now, if the learned fabricator of this distich had con- sidered Purchas to be a traveller, he might perhaps have compared him to Strabo — he certainly would not have compared him to Ptolemy. Fuller omits to notice Purchas among the Worthies of England, Anthony Wood celebrates him for the " natural genie he had to the collecting and writing of voyages, travels, and pilgrimages f^ Bishop Kennet as a " la- borious collector of travels and navigations;"^ the Rev. Philip Morant as " compiler of the very valua- ble collection of voyages which bears his name;"^ and M. de Larenaudiere, a well-informed writer on such topics, says, " On doit a son z^le et a sa vaste erudition I'un des plus celebres recueils de voyages qui aient ete publies."^ In short, I can dis- cover no writer who celebrates Purchas for his extra- ordinary locomotive achievements — no writer who classes him with Marco Polo, Ibn Batuta, Varthema, Teixeira, etc. instead of classing him with Fracan- zani, Grynseus, Ramusio, Hakluyt, and Thevenot — except D' Israeli. * Athense Oxonienses, 1691-2. Fol. i. 821. ^ Lansdowne Ms. 984. fol. 114. 6 Biog. Brit., p. 3447. ^ Biog. Univ., xxxvi. 324. 96 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE We are all liable to be misled by authorities ; but to hazard assertions without the semblance of authority is scarcely pardonable. I shall therefore so far advo- cate the cause of D'Israeli, as to point out some cir- cumstances which favor his hypothesis. Purchas adopted as his motto, AD Vena sVM ego et peregrin Vs In terrls sICVt patres^ = "I am a stranger with thee, and a pilgrim^ as all my fathers were ;" ^ he calls the Pilgrimage his " first voyage of discouerie ;" ^^ he describes himself as " shipped for the new world ;" ^^ he speaks of the dangers to which he was subject " in passing along snowie and fierie hills, deceitfuU vnwholesome bogges, scorching sandie plaines, wildernesses inhabited with wilde beasts, habitations peopled with wilder .... men ;" ^^ he mentions being " embarqued on the Peruvian coast" on his homeward voyage ;^^ and at the close of the narrative he exclaims with rapture, " now me thinkes I see the shores of England, from which my lingring pilgrimage hath long detained me : I heare the bells, and see the bon-fires," etc.^* But this language, if it has deceived a certain writer on geographical style,^^ carries no conviction to the mind of the Professor of Criticism. As to the motto, it is evidently a chronogram ; and I pronounce ex cathedra that the capitals should be read thus, A.MDCVVVVIIII — which was twelve years after the conclusion of the supposed pilgrimage. ^ Pilgrimes, Front. ^ Comp. Psalm xxxix. 12. and Hebrews, xi. 13. ^^ Pilgrimage, 1613. Bed. " Ibid. p. 601. '' Ibid. p. 737. ^^ ibid. p. 737. 14 i^id. p. 752. '5 C. L., i. 127. ILLUSTRATED. 97 I proceed to the other points. Purchas, it is true, speaks of his first voyage of discovery — but he admits that it made him indebted to Ramusio, Hakluyt, and seuen hundred authors ; ^^ he states that he was ship- ped for the new world — but we find that he sailed on an inkie sea ; ^^^ we also find that after his escape from the snowy and fiery hills of Peru, he proposed to re- turn by the commoditie of a pa'per-harke ; ^^ and as to his exclamations on the bells and bonfires which greeted him when he approached the shores of Eng- land — I apprehend he means to intimate that the last sheets of his work were sent to press on the bth of November, 1612 ! ^9 I shall now produce more decisive evidence. If Purchas travelled over Asia, Africa, and America, with the islands adjacent, how are we to interpret cer- tain verses addressed to one of the noted travellers of those times, the Rev. Edward Terry ? " Though most geographers have the good hap To travel in a safe expencelesse map, And while the world to us they represent, No further yet then Pilgrim Purchas went, Past Dovers dreadful! clifFe afraid to go" — ^^ Fiction often lurks in prose — and truth sometimes discovers itself in verse. Creswell, the author of these lines, was perfectly correct in his allusion. Purchas compiled his Pilgrimage at the obscure village of Eastwood, amidst the " daily cares of his family, and the weekly dueties oi preaching and cate- '» Pilgrimage, 1613. Cat. and Bed. »' Ibid. p. 601. '8Ibid.p.737. 'Mbid. p.752+edit. 1614.p. 918. 20 Voy- age to East-India, 1655. 8vo. Sig. A 8. F 98 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE cliising ;" 21 and declares that he " neuer trauelled two hundred miles" from his native town — Thaxted in Essex! 22 D'Israeli then asserts that Purchas, when he gave his Pilgrimage to the public, for the reicard of his labours was throicn into prison, at the suit of his printer, — To this assertion, propounded with all the techni- cal preciseness of a learned civilian, I attach not an atom of credit. The work was never printed at the expense of Purchas. The first edition, which bears the date of 1613, was printed hy William Stanshy for Henrie Fether stone. It is clear therefore that the printer could have no claim on Purchas : the trans- actions as to copyright were no doubt between Fetherstone and Purchas — who could not have been the debtor. I venture to advance another step: I deny the existence of evidence that he was ever thrown into prison, or even became involved in debt, on account of his publications, Purchas has left us some pointed remarks on the vocation of a bookseller, a printer, etc.-'' He com- plains that the " stationer or booke-seller " hires the printer as an " vnderling, and suckes out his sweetest gaines ;" but, prone as he is to introduce his private affairs, he does not describe himself as a sufferer — he makes no allusion to the walls of a prison. The Pil- grimage was in fact one of the most successful publi- cations of that period. It was reprinted by Stanshy for Fetherstone in 1614, in 1617, and in 1626; and Purchas assures us that he had been " ofien quarelled 2» Pilgrimage, 1613. Bed. ^ Pilgrimes, 1625. Fol. iv. 1980. 23 Pilgrim, 1619. 8vo. p. 522. ILLUSTRATED. 99 for forcing men hy frequent additions in later editions to renew their purchase of Purchas his renewed Pil- grimage" '^ I am aware that Wood, after enumerating the works of Purchas, adds, " by the publishing of which books he brought himself into debt;"-^ but the vagueness of this assertion rather diminishes its authority. I do not mean to contend that Purchas was never in necessitous circumstances. He held, indeed, the vicarage of Eastwood in Essex, and the rectory of Saint Martin, Ludgate — which he describes as a " benifice not of the worst;" but in 1618 he had the misfortune to lose a brother-in-law, leaving him " the cares of another family, the widdow and the fatherlesse," and also his own brother Daniel, leav- ing him " to pay manifold debts, and to prouide for his foure little fatherlesse and motherlesse orphans." ^^ To those events we should no doubt attribute his poverty. His own testimony seems decisive : he complains that he was " almost executed by executor- ship"-'^ He so far, however, recovered from the effects of those very disheartening events, as to pass the summers of 1621-4 in the new polemical college at Chelsea — assiduously occupied in preparing for the press his Pilgrimes ;~^ and on the 31st of May 1625, he was in possession of " house and lands with other goods." "'^ 2* Pilgrimage, 1626. Fol. Ded. to ^bp. Abbot. ^ A. O., i. 822. =^ Pilgrim, 1619. 8vo. Preface, ^ Ibid. =^« Pil- griraes, 1625. Fol. To the Reader. ^ Transcript of his ^^'ill. f2 100 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE As I have controverted the authority of Anthony Wood, on this and other occasions, it is fit that I should apologize to his Oxonian admirers. I readily admit the vast importance of his laborious compila- tions; I admit that he took extreme pains to draw truth from her almost impenetrable recesses; but he was not always successful, and was liable to be misled by interested and credulous correspondents. His account of Purchas is incomplete and erroneous. He could not decide where he was born : Purchas himself informs us he was born at Thaxted.^^ He could not ascertain in what college at Cambridge he was educated : Purchas names the college of Saint John.^^ He ascribes to him a sermon on Psalm 39. 5 : it is no doubt the Pilgrim which he had before mentioned. He states that he died about 1628: now if he had read on six lines in the work cited, he would have found — ohiit anno prcesentis seculi XXVL The truth is that Purchas, often admonished hy in- firmities^ made his will on the 31st of May 1625, and died before the end of September 1626 ;^~ and I can- not omit to point out as a remarkable circumstance, that Wood should cite the article in which his death is correctly recorded, yet overlook the fact — and that his error should have been copied by some of the most 30 Pilgrimes, 1625. Fol. iv. 1980. ^i jbid, iii. Bed. ^'^ " Register of Burials of Saint Martin, Ludgate, London. ' 1626. The Last of September Mr Samewell Purchas our pson.' — I certify the above is a true copy taken this 27th of March 1836. Witness my hand. W. G. Huet, M. A. Officiating Minister." ILLUSTRATED. 101 assiduous inquirers into English i3i?ogra/phy/ Bisbop Kennet, the Rev. Philip Mwant^ Mr;; -Alexaiade?*. Chalmers, etc. ' » ..• T' ^ ; Having narrated the untimely fate of Purchas, I shall revert to his earliest biographer. Wood calls him. 3i learned person ;^^ Mo rant is more circumstan- tial, calling him a learned foreigner ; ^* Chalmers, adopting the language of his predecessors, calls him Boissard^^ — Boissard ! who had been in his grave a quarter of a century I^^ I take this mysterious writer to have been a learned Englishman, — Now for the proofs and illustrations. We open Icones qvinqvaginta virorvm etc. cum eorum vitis descriptis a I. L Boissardo. Francofurti, 1597. 4to. We place by its side, Biblio- theca sine Thesavrvs virtvtis et glories : etc, per I, I, Boissardvm, Francofcrti, sumptihts Gvilielmi Fitzeri, Anno 1628. It proves to be a new edition of the Icones qvinqvaginta. We remark on the title, " Ac- cesserunt clariss. aliquot virorum effigies & vitae nunc recens conscriptae" — and among these viri clarissimi appears Samuel Purchas. We then examine II, Pars Iconvm^ etc, Francofurti apud Guil, Fitzerum^ 1630. 4to. In the dedication to Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse, we read, after an allusion to the taste of Pliny for the memorials of ancient worthies, and a remark that nature still produced men entitled to admiration, " Ostendent id ad viuum expressa s«x«;v»(rjw,aTa doctissimorum virorum, quae annis superi- oribus Theodorvs de Bry, socer mens clarissimae 33 A. O., 1691-2. i. 822. ^^ Biog. Brit., p. 3448. ^' Gen. Biog. Diet., 1798. xii. 420 -{-Ibid. 1812, etc. xxv. 385. ^e Weiss, Biog. L^niv., v. 26. 102 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE nieinoriae, dredala sua dextra exsculpsit ; quceque ego 7107118. quihusdam dderihus prcesentis sceculi adauxi" — arid 'this dedication is signed, " Guilielmus Fitzer Angliis Librarius Francof." — The chain of evidence seems complete. It may be confidently announced that the earliest biographer of Purchas was William Fitzer, a learned Englishman — established as a pub- lisher at Frankfort, and son-in-law to John Theodore de Bry. We cease to wonder that this learned person — this learned foreigner — this Boissard — should com- memorate an Englishman. We cease to wonder that he should commemorate Purchas in preference to Ralegh, Camden, Bacon, etc. — for the Pilgrimes of Purchas furnished the chief materials of the twelfth part of the Petits Voyages of De Bry and his succes- sors, which part was edited by Fitzer, ^^ and the fron- tispiece of the work furnished him with the portrait of Purchas. I ask pardon for this short excursion — which my exploratory genius irresistibly impelled me to under- take — and shall now endeavour to recover the road to Bradenham House. DTsraeli asserts, in conclusion, that James I. read the Pilgrimage every night with great profit and satisfaction. — I take this to be an instance of hallucination. Purchas, speaking of the Pilgrimes — a work which differs from the Pilgrimage " both in the object and subject" — assures us that his Majesty made the volumes " his nightly taske, till God called him by fatall sicknesse to a better pilgrim- ^ Camus, Memoire sur la collection des Grands et Petits Voy- ages, Paris, 1802. In-4. p. 271, etc. ILLUSTRATED. 103 age ;" ^^ so that if the words read every night, etc. are to be considered as a modern version of made them his nightly taske, etc. they are evidently misapplied. Master Purchas, it should be stated, was exces- sively addicted to harping on one string. He styles himself a 7>?7^nm ; he entitles one of his publications his Pilgrimaged^ — which contains, as he expresses it, " actions, factions, fractions of religions and states ;" another publication he entitles his Pilgrim'^^ — in which he declaims on the vanities of life " not for flashes of wittie lightnings, or of thundering affright- ing rhetorikes," etc.; and another his Pilgrimes'^^ — which he describes as " a world of histories com- posed into a historic of the world." The Pilgrimes was the work which James I. made his nightly taske in the short period which elapsed between its publi- cation and the close of his life. The Pilgrimage had, for some years, been one of his favorite volumes ; and, as Purchas assures us, his Majesty ''professed freely that he had read the v)orke seuen times"*" — a circumstance which would appear incredible to those who are not aware that Purchas, whatever be his merit as a collector and editor of Voyages and Travels, was in his own compositions the very Prince OF QUIBBLERS ! I shall now deliver my critical sentence. — That a D.C.L. of the university of Oxford and F.S.A. of London — that a man who has been extolled for his 3® Pilgrimage, 1626. Bed. to Charles I. ^ Pvrchas his Pilgrimage, 1613. Fol. ^^ Pvrchas his Pilgrim, 1619. 8vo. " Pvrchas his Pilgrimes, 1625. Fol. 4 parts. *^ Pilgrimage, 1626. Bed. 104 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURD love and knowledge of literary history "^^ — should cir- culate such extraordinary fictions on a subject of which the facts were so accessible — a subject so interesting to a nation justly proud of her navigators and travel- lers — is a circumstance which is henceforth to be considered as entitled to an eminent station among the Curio jElititjg of literature. * To my extreme humiliation, it appears that our commentator is no admirer of the above elaborate article on the Rev. Samuel Purchas. Thus irreve- rently thereon doth he venture to emit his critical sentence : " After all his facetious researches, and the parade of his authorities, this recondite bibHo- grapher has only revealed a circumstance to be found in the most common sources, and even in Alexander Chalmers !" Mr. D'Israeli may be very familiar with common sources ; but I hold up his sentence as the romance of literary history — and between us let the critics decide. The allusion to some relationship between common sources and Alexander Chalmers^ leads me to undertake another excursion — in the same description of vehicle as w^as adopted by Master Purchas in his travels over Asia, Africa, and America, with the islands adjacent ! I have admitted Mr. Alexander Chalmers to be one of the most assiduous inquirers into British biography ; but must declare that I have never con- sulted the General Biographical Dictionary with even a tolerable share of satisfaction. The remarks imply no inconsistency. The enterprise was above the " J. W. Croker, Life of Johnson, 1831. 8vo. Preface, p. xxii. ILLUSTRATED. 105 powers of an individual ; and required, as Bacon ex- presses it, the conjunction of labours. It may be suf- ficient to state, in defence of this opinion, that the new edition contains about tv/o thousand re-ivritten articles, and near four thousand additional lives ! The article on Purchas is extremely defective. His earliest biographer is misnamed; his death is misdated; his Pilgrim is misdated; and the Pil" grimes^ his most important work, is described as a portion of the Pilgrimage — from which it differs both in the object and subject. Other articles which have been examined, proved not superior to that on Purchas ; and the result of such experience is, that I could never persuade myself to cite the work as an authority. The Biographic Universelle, to which I have made frequent references, is the conjoint production of more than three hundred writers. The superiority of its execution is commensurate with the superiority of its plan. In this capital work we have Newton and Bradley historised and appreciated by Biot ; Wren, by Quatremere de Quincy ; Smeaton and Rennie, by De Prony ; Ray, G. Edwards, Pennant, etc. by Cuvier ; Dampier and Cook, by De Rossel ; Dawes and Markland, by Boissonade. Other similar instances might be produced; but it is certain that no general biography, and especially one of foreign construction, can supply all the information which is required in a national biography, A new British Biography is therefore a desidera- tum. A substantial collection appeared in the Gene- ral Dictionary ixi 1734-41; of which a vast portion F 5 106 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE was contributed by the Rev. Thomas Birch. The Biographia Britannica followed in 1747-66. The chief writers were the Rev. Thomas Broughton, Dr. Campbell, the Rev. Phihp Morant, Dr. Nicolls, W. Oldys, etc. The secession of Campbell, and the death of Oldys, had an unfavorable effect on the lat- ter volumes. The non-completion of the Biographia Literaria, and of the second edition of the Biographia Britannica, were unfortunate events in the history of our national biography ; and the General Biographical Dictionary has now become the chief repertory — on which, with every respect for the memory of its editor, I have ventured to deliver my opinion. I must repeat that a British Biography — a work of moderate extent, and just proportions — based on adequate research, and accompanied by references to the authorities — composed by men whose abiUties and pursuits would qualify them to appreciate the sub- jects introduced — men who would unreservedly con- tribute the produce of their studies in honor of depart- ed merit, and for the instruction of our contempo- raries and of posterity — is a desideratum of imperious urgency ; and it gratifies me to learn that the Royal Society of Literature has some such project under consideration. The Camden Society would no doubt join in the promotion of so congenial and patriotic an enterprise. As I have disserted rather seriously on Alexander Chalmers, on British biography, and on the conjunc- tion of labours, it may be desirable to add a spice of entertainment — which an exposition of the ingenuity of our commentator in palHating his error, cannot ILLUSTRATED. 107 fail to afford. He states that the name of Purchas appears incidentally in his lucubrations ; and that the real purport was to illustrate the poverty of the learn- ed. He pathetically pleads his own youthful inexpe- rience ; and, though Purchas never deceived more than ONE writer, and his over-credulous admirers, he condemns him for entrapping his readers by " ridicu- lous per sonijications of himself as a traveller J^ This he very deliberately calls a cheerful acknowledgement of his mistake! He does not attempt to explain how this absurd error escaped the " continued corrections of successive editions^* He does not attempt to account for the stationary nature of his intellectual property. In short, he seems to have no idea of the important fact — that those who are born with a superfluity of conceit seldom acquire a superfluity of information. Art. XII. — The Rev. Samuel Purchas, M.A. — sipping coffee at Constantinople, anno 1614. " Our own Purchas, at the time that Valle wrote, was also * a Pilgrim,' and well knew what was ' Coffa,' which * tJieg drank as hot as they can [sic] endure it ; it is as black as soot, and tastes not much unlike it ; good they say for digestion and mirthj " — I. D'Israeli.' The name of Purchas has a remarkable effect on ^ C. L., iv. 95. 108 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE D'Israeli: it quite sets in motion his imaginative faculties. A want of sensibility to the species of fiction in which he excels, has indeed tempted me to check some of his flights ; and, like the critical and fastidious Fadladeen, I shall now repeat the opera- tion. Pietro Delia Valle left Venice on his travels the 8th of June, and reached Constantinople the 15th of August, 1614.2 Purchas had completed his pil- grimage, whether real or imaginary, in 1612.3 Are we to assume that he undertook a second pilgrimage over Asia, Africa, and America, icith the islands adja- cent ? It is utterly incredible ; and the sole point for consideration therefore is, did he have recourse to cojtfee to counteract the effects of t\iQ grossenesse of the aire at Eastwood in Essex ? A glance at the early history of cofffee will decide this point. — Von Hammer seems to state that it was introduced into the Ottoman empire about the year 1555.* RauwolfF, a learned botanist, who passed some months at Aleppo in 1573-4, found Chaube, or coffee, in common use at that celebrated emporium, and on sale in all the bazars.^ M. de Monfart, a hrave spirit, who made an over-land journey to Can- ton in 1608, (I commend him to the notice of M. de Larenaudiere) assures us that " a certaine drinke called Caahiete as blacke as inke" was " drunke from Turkey to China ;" and, with true French taste, de- 2 Voyages de P. Delia Valle, Paris, 1745. In-12. i. 2, 30. 3 Pilgrimage, 1613. Fol. Ded. * Silvestre de Sacy, Journal des Savans, 1832. p. 733. ^ Collection of Travels. By J. Ray. 1693. 8vo. i. 92. ILLUSTRATED. 109 scribes it as " exceeding wholsome and goodP^ But this notable panegyric of M. de Monfart, which passed the London press in 1615, appears to have made no impression on the merchants composing our East India and Levant CompaniesJ Lord Bacon indeed, who died in 1626, a short time before Pur- chas, minutely describes the culinary process and qualities of Coffa — but not as an experimental philo- sopher : his Lordship announces it as a drink which they have in Turkey.^ Evelyn, the inquisitive Eve- lyn, informs us that Nathaniel Conopios, a Cretan, who was placed by Archbishop Laud at Balliol col- lege, Oxford, between 1637-40, was the ^^ first he ever saw drink coffee ;" 9 and Wood received similar information from some of the ancients of that col- lege.io We must decide, on this accumulation of evidence, that Purchas knew not the luxury of coffee — and that the assertion of D'Israeli is one of the flights of his imaginative faculties. I shall now state the plain facts. In 1615 the ac- complished George Sandys published his elaborate description of the Turkish Empire, ^gypt, the Holy- land, etc.^i He reached Constantinople on the 1st of October 1610, and having passed near four months in the house of Sir Thomas Glover, ambassador from James I. to Sultan Achmet, was well qualified to de- ^ Exact and cvriovs svrvey of all the East Indies, 1615. 4to. pp. 28, 39. '^ L. Roberts, Merchants Mappe of Commerce, 1633. Fol. passim. ^ Sylva Sylvarvm, 1626. Fol. No. 738. * Memoirs, 1818. 4to. i. 7. ^^ Athenae Oxonienses, 1691-2. ii, 658. ^^ A Kelation of a Journey begun An: Dom : 1610. 1615. Fol. 110 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE scribe the manners of the Turks. He thus remarks on the use of coffee : — [The Turks] " sippe of a drinke called CofFa (of the berry that it is made of) in little China dishes, as hot as they can suffer it : blacke as soote, and tasting not much vnlike it . . . which helpeth, as they say, digestion, and procureth alacrity :"'^ In 1617 Purchas published a third and much en- larged edition of his Pilgrimage, He divided Book III. Chap. 10. into paragraphs, and availing himself of the narrative of Sandys to form the paragraph, Of the Turkish manners — repeated, with some slight va- riation, the above remarks on coffee.^^ The vv^orthy Purchas, it is clear, intended no de- ception — for he admits, at the commencement of the paragraph, that he views the Turks vnth the eyes of Master George Sandys ! The maker of a scrap- book, however, can seldom spare time to examine the context. He does not (as Stow is reported to have done) lay down the shears to take up the pen,^"^ but takes up the scissors or the pen ac- cording to circumstances; and having, by ex-scis- sion^ transcription, and other facile operations, as- sembled a convenient quantity of materials, and placed them in most admired disorder — perchance dignifies the motley assemblage with the title of CurwsJitiesJ of Jliterature. *^* The name of our new Illustrator has been enrolled, for more than twenty years, among the his- torians of coffee. He has declined, however, to notice '2 A Relation, etc. 1615. Fol. pp. 28, QQ. ^^ Pilgrimage, 1617. Fol. p. 340. ** C. L., i. 330. ILLUSTRATED. Ill the Constantinopolitan anecdote separately. Now, I maintain that the occasional use of coffee might have had a beneficial influence on his lucubrations; and that it was injudicious to treat with contempt a pota- ble which was denied to Virgil himself — which Vol- taire adored — which inspired the verses of Delille : — " II est une liqueur au pofete bien chere, Qui manquait il Virgile, et qu'adorait Voltaire ; C'est toi, divin Cafe, dont Tairaable liqueur, Sans alterer la tete, 6panouit le coeur I" Art. XIII. — A glance into the French Academy — with a history of certain arm- chairs. " In t/ie republic of letters the establishmeiit of an academy has been a favourite project ; yet perhaps it is little move than an Utopian scheme. The united efforts of men of letters in Academies liave produced littler — I. D'ISRAELI.' D'Israeli entitles his article A glance into the French Academy, but commences with one of his smart paragraphs on academies en masse. He for- merly declared that the perfection of criticism was owing to the establishment of academies." He now views them as Utopian schemes ; and has even the hardihood to pronounce that we must not expect " any continuity of investigation, any curiosity of re- ^ C. L., ii. 238. ^ ^ L., 1791. 8vo. p. 170. 112 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE search . . . ,from the labour of many'^^ A reply would be superfluous — and might subject me to the charge of excessive condescension ; but I shall submit two short excerpts to his sober considera- tion >— " Let this ground therfore [of the increase and advancement of learning] be layd, that all workes are ouercomen by amplitude of reward, bysoundnesse of direction, and by the coniunction of labors." — Bacon/ " Les gouvernemens sages, convaincus de I'utilite des so- cietes savantes ... les envisages? comme I'un des prlncipaux J'ondemens de la gloire et de la prosperite des e?npires.^' — La- place.^ D' Israeli then casts a ff lance into the French Aca- demy, partly through the coloured spectacles of Fu- reti^re. The Academy was founded in 1635;^ and the statutes required the composition of a Dictionary, a Grammar, a didactic treatise on Rhetoric, and on Poetry. The Dictionary alone has appeared ; but D'Israeli silently passes over what the Academy has omitted to perform — to twit it on what it has per- formed ! He remarks that the Dictionary of Fure- tiere became a formidable rival to that of the Acade- my. Is it now a formidable rival? He adds that Johnson did as much as the forty themselves. This is a very flat version of David Garrick : — " And Johnson, well-arm'd like a hero of yore. Has beat forty French, and will beat forty more !" ^ 3 Athenaeum, 1835. p. 626. * Of the Proficience of Learn- ing, 1605. 4to. Sig. Aa verso. ^ Exposition du Systeme du Monde, Paris, 1824. In-8. ii. 345. ^ Pellisson^ Histoire de I'Academie Franpoise, Paris, 1730. In-12. i. 4, 30. ' Boswell, Life of Johnson, 1811. 8vo. i. 282. ILLUSTRATED. 113 The dictionaries scarcely admit of a comparison : they rather form a contrast. The Academy gives no etymologies — which Johnson seldom omits. But, Johnson passes over the pronunciation : the Academy notices all its exceptions. Johnson very frequently explains one word by another : the Academy almost always defines, and its definitions are models of phi- losophical precision. Johnson borrows his examples from other writers, so that ten lines are sometimes required to introduce one word: the Academy has formed the chief portion of its examples — which are more pertinent, much more concise, and infinitely ftiore numerous. — The work of Johnson does him honor as an individual : that of the Academy is much superior to it — because it has been produced by the conjunction of labours.^ The Academy has other claims to commendation. The very existence of it is a stimulus to perfection. The discours de reception of its members form a rich assemblage of didactic and critical papers ; and I may mention that of Bufibn, as worth all the treatises of rhetoric from Aristotle to Whately. The reports which they make on works of importance keep alive the spirit of classical composition. The subjects proposed as prize essays have called forth the talents of Laharpe, Marmontel, Villemain, etc. — and even its public meetings (I could speak as an eye-witness on the Academic des Beaux-Arts) ^ A Dictionary of the English Language, etc. By Samuel Johnson, LL.D. 1785. 4to. 2 vols.+Dictionnaire de I'Academie Franjaise, sixieme Edition. [Avec une preface par M. Villemain.] Paris, 1835. In-4. 2 vol. 114 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE cannot but operate as an excitement to emula- tion.9 I have now to notice the arm-chairs. In 1713 M. de la Monnoye, on the invitation of Cardinal d'Es- trees, etc. offered himself as candidate for a vacant seat in the Academy.^^ At the mature age of seventy- two he cherished an Utopian scheme. The academi- cians who were cardinals had for some time absented themselves from the meetings, because they were not allowed arm-chairs — a distinction reserved for the three members who held office.^ ^ The cardinals were anxious to vote for their candidate ; and an expedient which would reconcile their notions of dignity with the principles of academic equality, was a special desideratum, D'Israeli asserts, in this in- stance on no mean authority, that Louis XIV. hit on the expedient, and sent forty arm-chairs for the forty members. I disbelieve both his assertions — shall seat myself in one of the arm-chairs — and examine the minutes : — " Sa Majesty approuve entierement les changemens qui ont ite proposes par Vacademie Jran^aise pour les sieges k bras, du moment qu'il n'y a rien de contraire dans les statuts et regle- mens. Je suis ravi en mon particulier que cet expedient, qui parait tres-convenable, procure a I'academie la satisfaction de jouir de ce qu'elle a de plus illustre, etc. [M. de Pontchartrain — au marquis de Dangeau — 4 Nov. 1713.] ^ Almanach Royal, In-8. + Choix de Discours de Reception, Paris, 1814. In-8. 2 vol.-j-Couronnes Academiques, Paris, 1787. In-8. 2 vol. + Daunou, Journal des Savans, 1816-36. ^^ G. Peignot, Nouvelles Recherches sur La Monnoye, Dijon, 1832. Iu-8. p. 33. " Raynouard, J. des S,, 1832. p. 232. ILLUSTRATED. 115 En meme temps M. de Fontanieu, intendant des meubles de la eouronne, eut ordre de faire porter du garde-meuble trente fauteuils ^ Tacademie, en attendant qu'on en eut fait de neufs. 6 Novembre, M. de Fontanieu, intendant des meubles, a fait apporter a la salle de I'academie, au Louvre, trente fauteuils."'^ I have now to deliver my sentence on the anti- academic sally of D'IsraeH. It must be admitted that the united efforts of men of letters could not have pro- duced it — and I therefore pronounce it to be one of the Cuvioi^ities; of Hiteratui't. *^* Our sharp-sighted Illustrator pretends that the arm-chairs were the preponderating objects of my meditations on the above occasion. The conclusion of the article proves the reverse : I did not even allude to the arm-chairs. His anti-academic remark was the main object in view — a remark, however, which I may have censured too seriously. It appears to have been only one of the pioneers of his intended history of our vernacular literature — on which the public in general, and the ghost of Ritson in particu- lar, have been so cruelly tantalized. As the history of the arm-chairs may be a subject better suited to my homely pen than the utility of academies, I shall return to it. Mr. D'Israeli ad- mits that I have been enabled to correct him as to their number — by some " obscure researches" The source of information, so obscure to this Illustrator, was the Journal des Savants ! He considers that I owe it to the public to search after the " ten unac- counted for Louis Quatorzes !" It would be beneath ^^ Raynouard, Ibid. p. 233. 116 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE my antiquarian dignity ; and I therefore commission our dealer in curiosities. Art. XIV. — La Guirlande de Julie — with curious specimens of history and ratiocination. " Receuez, 6 Nymphe adorable, Dont les cceuis ref oiuent les loix, Cette CovRONNE plus durable Que celle que Ton met sur la teste des Roys." M. le Marquis de Montausier— a Julie.* Could I borrow the pen which immortalized Lalla Rookh, or dip that which I hold in a rainbow, it might be possible to express myself in suitable terms on La Guirlande de Julie — but it is not to be believed that Thomas Moore would lend his pen, and the other expedient may not be practicable. I promise, therefore, no more than a plain statement' of •facts. La Guirlande de Julie, a manuscript embellished with paintings, was devised by M. le Marquis de Montausier (afterwards Due de Montausier, and Gouverneur du Dauphin, son of Louis XIV.) as a gift to Julie Lucine d'Angennes de Rambouillet, of whom he was the avowed admirer. It was presented in 1641. The Marquis was one of the finest charac- ters of his time, a man ornt de toutes sortes de vertus ; and Julie was pronounced to be incomparable,'^ — Her • Guirlande de Julie, Paris, 1784. In-8. p. 3. ^ H. de La- porte, Biog. Univ., xxix, 456-62. ILLUSTRATED. 117 portrait, by Mignard, is preserved in the Spencer col- lection at Althorp. The volume is in folio, and consists of ninety-eight leaves of vellum. The preliminary portion contains two titles, a Zephyr breathing on a garland of twenty- nine flowers, the madrigal of which a fragment ap- pears above, and four blank leaves. The twenty- nine flowers painted on separate leaves by Nicolas Robert, and sixty-one madrigals by M. de Montau- sier, M. Conrart, M. des Marets, M. de Malleville, etc. occupy the remainder of the volume. The writ- ing was executed by the inimitable Nicolas Jarry. The volume, which is bound in red morocco stamped with the cipher of Julie,^ has ornamented the libra- ries of M. de Gaignieres, M. I'Abbe de Rothelin, M. de Boze, M. le President de Cotte, M. Gaignat, and M. le Due de la Valliere. It was purchased by Mr. Thomas Payne in 1784; is said to have been brought to England ; to have re-crossed the channel ; and to be now the property of the descendants of the Due de la Valliere.* If D'Israeli had made no attempts at facts or in- ferences in the article under consideration — if he had merely wrapped up La Guirlande de Julie in his own spangled phraseology — he would have acted with discretion ; but he essayeth to describe the nature 3 M. Van Praet, Cat. de M. de la Valliere, ii. 382, etc. M. de Gaignieres, Supp., p. 57. +G. de J., 1784. Notice. "* H. de Laporte, Biog. Univ., xxix. 462. Messrs. Payne and Foss, and Mr. R. H. Evans, have favored me with their recollections on this subject. They cannot speak positively ; and I suspect the article was purchased under an injunction of secrecy. 118 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE of the gifi^ and to give the history of the parties,^ With what success, shall be made evident. The bibliographical part of his essay, in which he transforms a Zephyr into a Cupid painted to the life^ is extremely curious — but I shall produce, in pre- ference, half-a-dozen specimens of history and ratio- cination. 1. He asserts that La Guirlande de Jidie was a new-year' s gift, — I shall call it a name-day gift ;^ but, if he can prove that the jour de Van, and the jour de la fete de Julie, coincided — let him take the benefit of such coincidence. 2. He intimates that Gustavus Adol- phus of Sweden preoccupied the heart of Julie. — Gustavus married when Julie was a child r^ and his consort, the heroic Eleonora, survived him.^ 3. He asserts that the gift was presented a short time after the death of Gustavus. — Shakspeare informs us how time travels on certain occasions. Shall we estimate this short time at three months ? It was nine years ! 9 4. He asserts that the gift was success- ful. — The charm, at all events, was slow in its opera- tion — for Julie did not pronounce the welcome mono- syllable till four years afterwards, ^° and was then near forty !^^ The Marquis had not spared the epithets aimahle, incomparable, adorable i~ — but Juhe was inex- 6 C. L., i. 363. « N. Petit, Vie de M. le Due de Montau- sier, Paris, 1729. In-12. ii. 134. '' Art de verifier les Dates, 1783, etc. ii. 100. -fH. de Laporte, Biog. Univ., xxix. 460, ^ W. Harte, Hist, of Gustavus Adotphus, 1759. 4to. ii. 304, etc. 9 A. V. D., ii. 101. 10 N. Petite y. de M., i. 83. " H. de Laporte, Biog. Univ., xxix. 460. '^ G. de J., pp. 3, 19, 45, etc. ILLUSTRATED. 119 orahle. The Queen and Cardinal Mazarin interposed their influence ; and Julie, after a courtship of twice seven years, married in obedience to parental autho- rity!^^ The Marquis obtained her heart — but it was a post-nuptial gift.^* 5. He asserts that La Guirlande found its way to England in the French revolution. — Rabaut de Saint-Etienne was not aware that the revolution commenced so early as 1784.^^ It is one of the historical discoveries of D'Israeli. 6. He states, with unwonted correctness, that La Guir- lande was sold in 1770 for 780 livres, and in 1784 for 14510 livres. He does not state that it was ever sold for a smaller sum — yet holds up the history of it as a lesson to collectors. A choice specimen of ratio- cination ! The facts, as stated by himself, tend to prove the reverse of his inference. Historical accuracy, and an approach to ratioci- nation, are desirable on all points — but on minor deviations who would be severe? I shall there- fore wave further criticism — however astonished that D'Israeli should have bestowed no more pains when writing on so brilliant a specimen of the Cuvuj^ititiS of ILittraturf. *^* In connexion with this sentimental subject, Mr. D'Israeli bestows on me divers unseemly names ; to wit : Hurlothrumho^ solemn idiot, atom of spite, clod, etc. The real provocation was not slight : I had pre- luded in a style too ambitiously ornate ; and had un- feelingly applied to that of Mr. D'Israeli the too cha- '3 N. Petit, V. de M., i. 83. " Ibid. i. 84. '' G. de J., p. XV. 120 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE racteristic epithet spangled ! The alleged provocation was, that I had mis-stated facts. I repeat it. La Guirlande de Julie was a name-day gift, M. de Gaignieres, one of the earliest posses- sors of the Ms., assures us that it was presented " lejour de la fete de Julie ;" and the editors of the verses, in 1729 and 1784, confirm the statement of M. de Gaignieres. Huet, I am aware, says other- wise ;i^ but, as the Abbe d'Olivet informs us, his memory was much impaired when he wrote his pensees.^'^ He had ceased to be a man of facts ; and his affliction is nowhere more obvious than in the account which he gives of La Guirlande de Julie. Mr. D'Israeli then says, with more than sufficient grandiloquence, that Julie " declared and all France repeated it, that she was in love with Gustavus, and refused to have any other lover." I deny it. Huet says, " Julie faisoit paroitre une grande admiration pour la valeur de ce Prince. Elle avoit son portrait dans sa ruelle, & prenoit plaisir a dire qu'elle ne vouloit point d'autre galant que lui." It is easy to conceive that Julie admired the valour of Gustavus, but that is no proof of love ; and if she had unfortunate- ly fallen in love with the hero, she would not have told her love. Now, it grieves me to disenchant Mr. Quintessence of Sentimentality touching the fair Julie ; but, in truth, she was the very antipode of a roman- tic lover. She was accustomed to say, " Que les hommes lui avoient appris a aimer les bites !^*^^ She IS Huetiana, Paris, 1722. In-12. p. 104. ^^ ibid. p. xvii. ^^ Paroles M^morables, recueillies par Gab. Brotier, Paris, 1790. In-8. p. 263. ILLUSTRATED. 121 had an aversion to marriage ;^^ and her admiration of Gustavus was one of her convenient excuses. There are always resources on such occasions. She would sometimes say, " qu'elle ne comprenoit pas comment on pouvoit de sang froid se donner un Maitre ; que les hommes le sont toujours, quoiqu'ils puissent dire ; & que pour elle, elle renonceroit le plus tard qu'elle pourroit a sa liberte."'^^ This information may be new to Mr. D'Israeli; and I hope our giant of sagacity^ our oracle of psycho- logy, our patentee of sentimentality, may be able to comprehend it — for it forms a part of the " history of the heart" Art. XV. — The true sources oi Secret His- tory — now first disclosed by I. D'Israeli, Esq., D.C.L. and F.S.A. " True sources of secret history. TJiis is a subject which has been hitherto hut imperfectly comprehend- ed even by some historians themselves /' — I. D'Israeli. ^ Herodotus, in the exordium of his venerable writings, incidentally gives an excellent definition of history. Sallust and Livy have also left some sen- sible remarks on its utility ; and if we descend to the times in which intellect shone with diminished splen- '" N. Petit, Vie de M., i. 46. 20 ibid. i. 46-7. ' C. L., vi. 197. 122 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE dour, we find Mestre Wace state its object with equal propriety and terseness : — ** Por remembrer des ancessours Li fez fe li diz fe li mours — "^ D' Israeli, however, announces an improved de- scription of history — which he denominates secret history. He seems to have intended a definition of it; but it is impossible to define what is imperfect- ly comprehended. We observe indeed, in the course of twenty pages of declamation, two fragments of a definition, viz. that " Secret history is the supplement of history itself^ and is its great corrector ;" and that " there are obviously two species ; it is positive, or it is relative." It appears from the first fragment that secret history is not history itself, but something supe- rior to it. It appears from the second fragment, in connexion with some additional remarks, that secret history is positive when the facts are first given to the world — that it is positive secret history when it ceases to be secret ; and relative, in proportion to the know- iedge of those to whom it is communicated — which may be said with equal correctness of the positive, and in- deed of every description of knowledge from the sounds of A B C to the Principia of Newton. Facts and opinions are within the reach of criti- cism; but inane declamation does not possess the same tangibility — and, besides, criticism is too preci- ous an article to be tbrown away. If D'Israeli had consulted Father GrifFet, he would have furnished him with some positive notions on the sources of his- 2 Roman de Ron, Rouen, 1827. In.8. i. 1. ILLUSTRATED. 123 tory;^ and so would M. Koch — who has treated the subject with such comprehensive brevity, that I shall not apologize for transcribing his introductory re- marks: — " Sources de Vhistoire. — Le caractbre principal de I'histoire, c'est la v^rit^. Pour la trouver, il faut eclairer les temoignages de I'histoire du flambeau d'une saine critique. Ces temoignages sont de deux espbces : 1 . Xes actes et monumens publics, tels que les m^dailles, inscriptions, traites, chartres, diplomes, et generale- ment tous les Merits redig^s ou publics d'autorit^ publique. 2. Les ecrivains prives ; auteurs d'histoires, de chroniques, de m^- moires, de lettres. Ces Ecrivains sont ou contemporains ou eloign^s des temps dont ils ^crivent I'histoire."* To pass from general history to English history. The learned Carte, in his review of the materials of English history, avoids the senseless term secret his- tory ;^ and so does Sir Harris Nicolas, even when writing on the Privy Council^ — but cease we to dispute on the mere name. Compare the informa- tion afforded by DTsraeli on this hitherto hut im- perfectly comprehended subject, with the substantial and elaborate analysis of the manuscript materials of English history drawn out by Sir Alexander Luders" — it has not even the value of a icalking shadow. ^ Traite des difF(§rentes sortes de preuves qui servent a ^tablir la verite de I'histoire, A Liege, 1770. In-12. * Tableau des Revolutions de I'Europe, Paris, 1814. In-8. i. p. xv. ^ A Collection of the several papers published by Mr. Thomas Carte, in relation to his History of England, 1744. Bvo. ^ Proceed- ings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England, 1834, etc. 8vo. vol. i. Preface. ' Rep. on Public Records, 1800. Fol. pp. 519-63. g2 124 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE The perpetual sneer at historians which is ob- servable in the essay of D' Israeli, claims a hand- some repayment — but I have intimated my deter- mination to be parsimonious of criticism on this occasion. It may be added that the short remarks introduced, are to be considered as the preliminaries of two other subjects — the Restoration of Charles 11.^ and the Character of Queen Mary II. — which fixed my attention while occupied on the survey of the CxuiojEJitie^; of Eiteraturt. *^* A considerable portion of The Illustrator Illus- trated is inexplicable by the rules of criticism which apply to other works. If we believe it to have been assumed by Mr. D'Israeli that the Curiosities of Lite- rature Illustrated was only in the hands of some ob- scure persons — that no bibliopolist of renown would ever exercise his diffusive capabilities in favor of so anti-popular a work — and that falsified quotations, misrepresentations of every description, the attribu- tion of motives which have never operated, and of feelings which do not exist, might therefore be made with comparative impunity — the difficulties of expli- cation immediately vanish. This proposition I shall illustrate by two examples; premising that other articles furnish examples much more remarkable — and that the proposition is, to speak bibliographically, a Key to The Illustrator Illustrated, I. I had stated that " Herodotus, in the exordium of his venerable writings, incidentally gives an excel- lent definition of history" — and believe the remark to be indisputable. Mr. DTsraeli seems to have felt ILLUSTRATED. 125 it so. He alters it to, " Herodotus in his exordium gives us an excellent definition of history"^ and forth witli declares that Herodotus certainly never in- tended it ! 2. I had produced a very neat and comprehensive paragraph, from the Tableau of M. Koch, on the sources of history — in which they are considered as either public or private. In defiance of this circum- stance, Mr. D'Israeli declares that I " cannot under- stand that there may be a combination of private and public history," etc. The proper illustration of Art xv. would have been a definition of secret history — in lieu of which we have IREFUL remarks on my inability to comprehend, etc. I had, in fact, committed an apparent error of a serious nature— in naming Herodotus, Sallust, and Livy, before D' Israeli. I can assure him, on the word of a man of honor, that it arose out of my at- tachment to the art de verifier les dates. Art. XVI. — Secret history of the Restora- tion of Charles II. — " I always give the pour and the contre /" — I. D' Israeli. " In history the Restoration of Charles appears in all its splendour — the king is joyfully received at Dover, and the shore is covered by his subjects on their knees — crowds of the great hurry to Canterbury — the army is drawn np, etc. in a wordy all that is told in history describes a monarch the most powerful and the most happy. * * * Turn to the 126 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE faithful memorialist — turii to Clarendon, in his own life } and we shall find that the power of the king was then as dubious as when he was an exile ; and his feelings were so much racked, that he had nearly resolved on a last flight.'' — I. D'IsRAELi.i The article which D' Israeli entitles True sources of secret history contains, in point of fact, a triad of subjects — his view of that hitherto-hut-imperfectly- comprehended species of history,^ his secret history of the Restoration of Charles 11.^ and his discovery of the Character of Queen Mary IL I have split the triad. It would have had a dazzling effect — but its component parts may be inspected without inconve- nience. I observe a sub -triad in the history of the Restora- tion, viz. on the conduct of Monk, on the position of Charles, and on the application of the hitherto-but-im- perfectly-comprehended species of history. 1. On the conduct of Monk, — D'Israeli remarks that Monk " acted very mysteriously^ never correspond- ing with nor answering*^ the King. — Monk kept him- self in a cloud^^ but he aimed at the restoration.^ To Price, one of his Chaplains, who had expressed some impatience of delay, he emphatically said, " What Mr. Price will you then bring my neck to the block for the King, and ruin our whole design, by ingaging too rashly?"^ The words require no comment. ' C. L., vi. 209. 2 The authors of the Rejected Addresses will permit a brother critic to avail himself of their charming in- vention of compound hyphens. ^ Price, Mystery of H. M. Restauration, 1680. 8vo. p. 153. " Ibid. Sig. A 4. " Ibid, p. 27. ILLUSTRATED. 127 Monk advised Charles to despatch the letters and declaration from Breda,^ which were the sole visible motive to the restoration^ Correspondence would have been unsafe. He gave oral instructions to Sir John Granville, who wrote them down to fix them in his memory — and Monk himself threw the paper into the fir e,^ 2. On the position of Charles, — It is obvious that Charles, on his restoration to the throne, had nume- rous claims to answer, ungracious duties to perform, opposite views to reconcile, etc. " Men were general- ly satisfied" says Sir John Reresby, but " malecon- tents of several sorts there were"^ Clarendon, who vn-ote his Life in advanced years, and in banish- ment, dwells on the gloomy features of affairs — but I shall nevertheless examine D' Israeli by Clarendon alone. Was the power of the king as dubious as when he was an exile ? D'Israeli asserts, in proof, that Monk presented Charles with an obnoxious list of Privy Councillors drawn up by his wife. The assertion is a fiction, and the inference is suitable to it. The list was drawn up by Mr. Morrice, under the orders of Monk, who had held communications with men of all parties, and " so had promised to do them good offices to the king" — but was " without any imaginations that the king would accept them" as Privy Councillors.^^ The power of the king dubious / — Clarendon affirms, ^ Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebellion, Oxford, 1720. 8vo. iii. 735. ' Clarendon, Life, Oxford, 1827. 8vo. i. 320. ^ Price, M. R., p. 137. ^ Memoirs, 1735. 8vo, p. 6. ^^ Claren- don, Life, i. 325. 128 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE as MOST TRUE, that " the people were admirably dis- posed and prepared to pay all the subjection, duty, and obedience, that a just and prudent king could expectV'^'^ D'lsraeli further asserts that Charles had nearly resolved on a last flight, — Clarendon only states that Charles, perplexed with the unhappy temper of the royal party, " grew more disposed to leave all things to their natural course" — and to pursue his pleasures. ^'^ The assertion of D'lsraeli is evidently another fiction — but not his last flight. 3. On the application of the hitherto-but-imperfect- ly-comprehended species of history, — The only work which D'lsraeli cites as public history is an anony- mous tract, which according to his own imperfect definition is inferior secret history ! The only work which he cites as secret history is the Life of Claren- don — which was published before D'lsraeli was born, and may be met with in every well-chosen library in the British Islands. So much for the secret history of the Restoration. It must excite astonishment that such errors and in- consistencies should be committed by an author who, in the same article, boasts of experience in literary researches — and sneers at popular historians, theoreti- cal writers of history, superficial readers, imperfect comprehension, etc. — " The philosopher," says D'lsraeli, " may well abhor all intercourse with wits!" — and, in truth, I am almost weary of the CuriojlitteiS of literature. *^* We have, in this instance, a pretended illus- » Ibid. i. 314. ^^ Hji^j. i. 357.3^ ILLUSTRATED. 1^ tration which occupies twice the space of the text ; and from which we learn that the facts of the verita- ble Illustrator are only to be met by ideas and surmises and conjectures. The assertion that Monk presented Charles with an obnoxious list of Privy Councillors drawn up by his wife^ I had termed a fiction. Mr. D' Israeli, by way of defence, cites Granger as one who had the fiction before him. Now, Granger only says, " She is supposed to have recommended," etc.^^ The re- ference is in other respects unfortunate — for he also says, " As she was a thorough royalist, it is probable that she had no inconsiderable share in the Restora- tion." i* I shall now enliven my note by an extract from the pamphlet : " The particulars which I have given," says Mr. D' Israeli, " would alone satisfy me that I drew from an authentic source." I have never assumed that Mr. D'Israeli was not satisfied with himself I but I must remark that those who under- take history, should endeavour to satisfy their readers. It was not affirmed that Mr. D'Israeli invented the fiction in question, but it may have been so — for he cannot state where he discovered it ; and this is the man who is cited by Mr. Sharon Turner, and other writers of eminence, as an authority ! ^^ Biographical Hist, of England, 1775. 8vo. iv. 157. " Ibid. iv. 157. g5 130 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Art. XVII. — A historian with no concep- tion of the dignity of history — scilicet. Claren- don! " It is an odd observation of Clarendon in his own life, that * Mr* Chillingworth was of a stature little superior to Mr, Hales ; and it was an age in which there were many great and wonderful men of that size.' * * * This irre- levant observation of Lord Clarendon is an instance where a great mind will sometimes draw inferences from accidental coincidences, and establish them into a general principle ; as 'if the smxxll size of the men had even the remotest con- nexion with their genius and their virtues. Perhaps, too, there was in this a tincture of the superstitions of the times : whatever it was, the fact ought not to have degraded the truth and dignity of historical narrative. We have writers who cannot discover the particulars which characterise the Man, — their souls, like damp gunpowder, cannot ignite with the spark when it falls on them," — I. D'ISRAELI.* I cordially subscribe to the opinion of the late Chancellor of the University of Oxford, that his pre- decessor Edward Earl of Clarendon was " one of the most upright characters of our history — a lover of truths and a sincere friend to the free constitution of his conn- try*^^ — and I need no other stimulus to induce me to repel the attacks contained in the above extravagant * C. L., iv.'68. ^ Lord Grenville, Letters written by the late Earl of Chatham, 1804. Sm. 8vo. pp. xxiii, xviii. ILLUSTRATED. 131 piece of criticism, and to express without hesitation whatever the review of it may prompt. It is true that an aspiring writer, the late Lord Dover, has exhibited a less favorable view of the cha- racter of Clarendon f but, leaving the vindication of the noble statesman to the historical intelligence, the honorable feelings, and graceful pen of Mr. Lister* — I shall confine myself to the text, and treat it with the utmost brevity. Matters of fact claim the first place. — I deny, on the authority of the text itself, that Lord Clarendon draius inferences from accidental coincidences ; I deny that he establishes them into a general principle ; I deny that he supposes any connexion between the small size of the men and their genius and virtues ; and I there- fore deny that the odd observation could partake of the superstitions of the times. I also deny, on the authority of John Locke, that facts degrade the truth of historical narrative — but I admit this to be a figure of speech which, in its peculiar line, it would be im- possible to surpass. It would not become me to express myself so posi- tively on matters of taste. The question is, should the biographer condescend to notice the personal cha- racteristics of those whom he commemorates ? Does the observation on the stature of Chillingworth, Hales, and others, degrade the dignity of biographical narrative ? We will consult on this point the classi- ^ Historical Inquiries respecting the character of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, Lord Chancellor of England, By the Hon. George Agar Ellis. 1827. Sm. 8vo. pp. 182. ^ Gent. Mag., 1836. i. 290. 132 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE cal biographers Cornelius Nepos and Plutarch. Cor- nelius Nepos, so justly eulogized by the learned Harles,^ records that Agesilaus had the misfortune to be lame and o/* small size.^ Plutarch, whose writings Theodore Gaza and Menage seem to have preferred to all the remains of antiquity/ records that Alci- biades had a lisping in his speech^ — that Sylla had eyes of a lively blue, fierce and menacing^ — that Marc Anthony had a graceful length of heard, a large fore- head, and an aquiline nose^^ — that Cecina, one of the military officers of Vitellius, was of a gigantic size ^^ — and that Demetrius Pohorcetes, though tall, was NOT EQUAL IN SIZE TO HIS FATHER AnTIGONUS.^^ Now, if Cornehus Nepos and Plutarch held such remarks to be consistent with delicacy of taste, con- sistent with the dignity which is required in biogra- phical composition, can it be unreasonable to claim the same latitude for modern writers? — Surely D'ls- raeh, to whom Bulwer ascribes a tender vein of senti- ment, will consent to moderate his censure — to ex- press himself with some tenderness on the literary de- linquencies of Clarendon ! The Oxford press may then once more be appropriately occupied with the History of the Rebellion ! Perhaps it will not be irrelevant to state under what circumstances the obnoxious observation was made. Clarendon wrote his History of the Rebellion for the * Br. Notitia Litteratvrae Romanae, Lipsiae, 1803. 8vo. p. 39. * C. Nepotis Vitae, Lipsiae, 1806. 8vo. p. 352. ' Menagiana, 1729. In-12. iii. 1-3. » Plutarch's Lives, by J. and W. Lang- home, 1770. 8vo. ii. 101. ^ Ibid. iii. 213. lo Ibid. v. 393. " Ibid. vi. 235. ^^ xbid. v. 334. ILLUSTRATED. 133 information of posterity :^^ it is of course open to criticism as a work of history. He wrote his Life for the information of his own family,^* and it was NEVER TO SEE LIGHT : ^^ it is a ^iQCQ oi private auto- biography — in which private autobiography the ob- servation occurs. The noble writer gratefully avows the intellectual and moral benefits which he derived from the conversation and friendship of men of emi- nence. ^^ He enumerates the chief acquaintance which he made while a student in the Temple, com- prising Selden, Ben Jonson, Sir Kenelm Digby, May, Carew, etc. and of each individual draws a charac- ter ^"^ — in which department of composition he is pro- nounced by Granger, a master in the delicate art, to be unrivalled among the moderns. ^^ He after- wards enumerates and carefully portrays his more in- timate friends Sir Lucius Carey, Sidney Godolphin, Waller, the ever-memorable John Hales, etc.'9 and having concluded his account of Hales with the re- mark that he was one of the least men in the kingdom^ and one of the greatest scholars in Europe — by a very natural and easy transition thus introduces the cha- racter of another of his intimate friends : " Mr. Chil- LiNGWORTH was of a stature little superior to Mr. Hales (and it was an age, in which there were many great, and wonderful men of that size) and a man of so great a subtilty of understanding, and so rare a temper in debate ;" etc^o Now, the structure of the ^' Hist, of the R., Oxford, 1702-4. Fol. i. 1. " Life of C, Oxford, 1759. Fol. Cont. p. 1. '^ Ibid. Oxford, 1827. 8vo. i. 185. '6 Life, 1759. p. 15. " Ibid. 16, etc. ^« Biog. Hist, of England, 1775. 8vo. iv. 63. i^ Life, 1759. p. 19, etc. 20 Ibid. p. 28. 134 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE sentence, and the use of the parenthetical marks, sufficiently point out the incidental nature of the ob- servation to which the learned critic so fiercely ob- jects — but the learned critic has been pleased to mutilate the sentence, to falsify the punctuation, and to suppress the parenthetical marks. It remains for me to notice the peroration of the criticism, which it would be unhandsome to overlook. It is evidently aimed at Lord Clarendon ; but was not less evidently a ruse de guerre litteraire — the harbinger of certain Commentaries on the Life and Reign of Charles the First.^^ In the preface to that work ap- pears a review of the principal writers on the rebel- lion of 1640, excepting Clarendon! The author no doubt believed that he had despatched the noble his- torian with the previous criticism — and did not con- template the possibility of his revivification. I shall despatch the plebeian critic with a parody. ^ We have writers who can discover the particulars which no others can discover; their souls, like amadou, ignite with the spark when it falls on them — but, the light WHICH THEY AFFORD IS NO BETTER THAN THAT OF A WILL-WITH-A-WISP. And now cometh mine own peroration. — Tra- descant, Thoresby, Sir Hans Sloane, Hunter, and other collectors of curious articles, admitted monstrosi- ties into their Museums — and with such precedents, I shall venture to class the criticism on the Earl of Clarendon as one of the Curio£litie£l of Hitecature. *^* It has been hinted to me by more than one 2' Commentaries etc. By I. Disraeli, 1828-31. 8vo. 5 vols. ILLUSTRATED. 135 writer of celebrity, that I had overrated the character of Clarendon. Some explanation may be now due. I chose the favorable side of a debatable question, be- cause the noble statesman and historian was in the hands of Mr. Lister. The result of his inquiries did not appear in time to allow me to reconsider the ques- tion ; and I therefore produce the article verbatim. The extreme arrogance and injustice of the criti- cism on Clarendon, in part furnished its own refuta- tion; but the censure of it was not useless. The new illustrator is evidently ashamed of the lively essay- ist : we now read, not without a reflection on the attractive character of dociUty, that Clarendon is an " immortal writer, if there be immortality in the English language." As a sort of reply to my exposure of the artful omission of Clarendon in a review of the principal writers on the rebellion of 1640, it is said that he is referred to " very nearly two hundred times." This is not defence : it is evasion. I frequently refer to the lively miscellany — but no person fancies that I consider Mr. D'Israeli as one of our principal loriters. Art. XVIIL— The Ashmolean Ms.— with a specimen of archaiologic proficiency. " One of these summonses to Stowe, the antiquary, with his memoranda on the back, exists in the Ashmolean Mu- seum, I shall preserve it with all its verbal aerugo. 136 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE * Society of Antiquaries, < To Mr. Stowe. * The place appointed for a conference upon the question followinge ys att Mr. Garter s house, on Fry day e the Wth of this November y 1598, being Al Souk's daye, at II of the clocke in the afternoone, where your oppinioun in wi^tinge or otherwise is expected, ' The question is, ' Of the antiquiticy etimologie, and priviledges of parishes in Englande. ' Yt ys desyred that you give not notice hereof to any, but such as liaue the like somons.' " — I. D'Israeli.i It would be gratifying to ascertain that a Ms. of the venerable John Stow exists in the Ashmolean Museum — if the phrase / shall preserve it, did not intimate that some awful fate awaits that establish- ment. The Secretary of State for the Home Department should attend to this intimation ; and, in the mean time, I shall console myself with the assurance that the most eminent member of the University of Oxford is a CONSERVATIVE — and a master of arts well calcu- lated to protect whatever appertains to it. We pass on to the Ms. — Did the antiquarian zeal of D'Israeli conduct him to Oxford to transcribe these few lines ? or did he avail himself of the transcript of Thomas Hearne, M.A. ? We will examine what the faithful and assiduous Tom Hearne said on this sub- ject anno 1720: — " Now that what I have said as to summoning is true, op- uv- C. L., iv. 231. ILLUSTRATED. 137 pears from a passage in a MS. in the Ashmolean Museum y ichick because it will very much conduce to a Notitia of the Society, I shall here transcribe it at large, as I find it entered in my Collec- tions : * ^ozittv of ^ntiquanejl. Co iBr. Stowe. C^e plate appouttetf for a Conference upon ti^e que^? tion foUoioinge, |)£( att Plr. @arterg JoujSe on Frydaye t!)e a. of tljt^ Nouember, bcinge ^I^oulesl tran, at ti. of tije doofee in t{)afternoone, tu!)ere»ciir oppinioun in iurgtinge or ot^tvin^St i^ ejipeeteTl, Cf)e qitesltion ijj, (Bl t^t ^ntiquitie, (i!rtimolog;ie mti pniJiletfgej; of parisli^ej; in dBnglantJe. ©t i)s! tfe^relJ, ti)at won giue not notice i^ereof to an», but iucl)t aj( i)aue t|^e like £lomonj(.[']"2 When we condescend to borrow, we should con- descend to avow it — and take the utmost care of the article borrowed. Disraeli slights these obvious maxims : Tom Hearne seems beneath his notice, and it fares no better with facts. According to Hearne, the summons was for the second of November : D'Israeli says the eleventh — a F. S. A. calls the eleventh of November All Souk day ! According to Hearne, the year was not expressed. D'Israeli inter- polates 1598. I take it to have been 1599.^ Ac- cording to Hearne, the appointed hour of meeting was two in the afternoon : D'Israeli says eleven in the afternoon ! The question as to the hour of meet- ^ Curious Discourses, Oxford, 1720. 8vo. p. xxxix.=London, 1775. 8vo. i. xiv. ^ Notitia Historica, by N. H. Nicolas, 1824. Bvo. p. 98.+Curious Discourses, 1720. 8vo. p. cxviii. 138 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE ing is of considerable importance. Gough sharpl)' censures James I. for dissolving the Society of Anti- quaries.* The statement of D'Israeli is a triumphant vindication of the conduct of that monarch : the Fel- lows held their meetings at midnight ! There is another point which requires illustration. D'Israeli omits to commemorate Mr. Garter, who so politely accommodated his antiquarian friends. Could he furnish no anecdote of this Mr. Garter? Who was this Mr. Garter? Why, Sir William Dethicke, Garter King at Arms^ — which accounts for the meet- ings being held in the College of Arms. Now, that this F.S.A. should announce as the fruit of his own recondite researches what had been in print more than a century — that he should contrive, in one short transcript, to mis-state the liour^ the day, and the year — are circumstances which may fairly be considered as Curio sliticiS of Hiteratur^. *^* It was one of the rights and privileges of the elevated station which I formerly occupied in the Re- puhlique des Lettres, that I could express my critical opinions in decisive terms without liability to the charge of arrogance. It is one of the conveniences and comforts of my present rank as an amateur, that I can express my doubts on the subjects which come under notice without incurring any serious imputa- tion. Such an occasion now presents itself. Is evasion a part of controversy ? I had censured Mr. D'Israeli for printing a docu- * Archaeologia, i. xiv. ^ Archaeologia, i. v. + Curious Dis- courses, 1775. 8vo. ii. 431. ILLUSTRATED. 139 ment which he transcribed from Hearne, as from an Ashmolean Ms, ; for erroneously interpolating the year ; and for mis-stating the day and the hour. He passes over the attempt at imposition — and the erro- neous interpolation ; entitles his comment, Black- letter dates; and ascribes his obvious blunders to mis-copying the black-letter numerals! Art. XIX. — Character of Queen Mary II. — '' I always give the pour and the contre r — /. D' Israeli, " The late Queen Mary, consort and partner of the crown with King William III. was so exemplary in religion and every virtue, that our modern histories will be unjust and untrue, if they do not represent her as the purest ornament of her sex and royal dig- nity." — Bishop Kennet.^ Examine the catalogue of crowned ladies from Semiramis to Adelaide — examine the narratives of the most credible historians and biographers — review all that the spirit of eulogy has devised — it will add to the conviction that Mary, the consort of William III. of England, was one of the most amiable women who ever adorned a throne. Now, it hath pleased D' Israeli to make choice of her Majesty as the object of one of his curious experi- ments in the philosophy of history ; and also to exer- 1 Register etc. 1728. Fol. Bed, 140 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE cise his skill as a literary manipulator on her right re- verend biographer Burnet. Two extracts (not a pair) will serve to convey some notion of the first step in the experimental process on Mary : — " Burnet informs us, that when Queen Mary held the administration of government during the absence of Wil- liam, if was imagined hy some, that as ' every woman q sense loved to be meddling, they concluded that she had but a small portion of it, because she lived so abstracted from all affairs.' " — I. D'Israeli.2 " The Queen was now in the administration. It was a new scene to her ; she had, for above sixteen months, made so little figure in business, that those, who imagined, that every woman of sense loved to be meddling, concluded that she had a small pro- portion of it, because she lived so abstracted from all affairs." — Bp. Burnet.^ D'Israeli undertakes to " expose the fallacious ap- pearances of popular history^ His first step is an act of deception. Burnet applies his remark to the six- teen months which preceded the absence of William — who bore the cares of government. D'Israeli applies it to the time of his absence — at which time Mary was, as Sir John Dalrymple justly observes, in one of the most singular situations known in hiS' toryl"^ " The distracted state amidst which the queen lived, the vexations, the secret sorrows, the agonies and the despair of Mary in the absence of William, nowhere appears in his- tory / * * * They were reserved for the curiosity and in- ' C. L,, \\. 212. 3 Hist, of his own Time, 1724-34. Fol. ii. 48. ■* Memoirs of Great Britain, 1790. 8vo. iii. 68. ILLUSTRATED. 141 struction of posterity ; and were found by Dalrymple, in tJie letters of Mary'' — I. D'Israeli. This extract describes the second step in the expe- rimental process on Mary. We must revert to her singular situation. William was in Ireland, prepared to contend in arms with her own father.^ A conspi- racy was formed at home;^ a triumphant armament paraded our coasts;' the cabinet council was com- posed of discordant materials.^ Her situation was evidently one of pecuhar difficulty — but her chief care was for the safety and approbation of William. She wrote to him almost daily; and about thirty of her letters were published by Sir John Dalrymple, from the private cabinet of William at Kensington, in 1773. They are extremely rich in subjects for meditation. With the glow and flexibility of sentiment which per- tain to the female character, she stamps the impres- sion of the moment — and has left vivid proofs of her affection, of her vexations, and of her anxieties. Her despair is the invention of D'Israeli. Not a shadow of it appears in her letters ! She extremely laments his absence, but assures him that his love enables her to " bear all things else imih ease^^^ — to " bear all icith -patiencer^^ She expresses her Joy on every proper occasion; 11 and repeatedly declares, with peculiar emphasis, her trust in Providences'^ 5 Burnet, H. O. T., ii. 46, etc. + Dalrymple, M. G. B., iii. 8. ^ Burnet, ii. 35, etc. + Dalrymple, iii. 4, 11, 54, etc. '' Burnet, ii. 49. + Dalrymple, iii. 15, etc. ^ Burnet, ii. 49.+Dalrymple, iii. 9, 21, etc. ^ M. G. B., iii. 73. ^^ Ibid. iii. 126. " Ibid. iii. 69, 92, 113, 119, 120, etc. ^^ 11,^^. iii. 68, 74, 76, 83,84, 88,89, 92, 113, 117. 142 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Thus, by asserting the apparent tranquillity and carelessness of Mary on the pretended authority of Burnet — and by converting her trust in Providence, as recorded in her own letters, into despair — has D'Israeli attempted to expose the fallacious appear- ances of popular history ; and this is what he calls lifting the curtain, to exhibit the picture of Queen Mary! D'Israeli twits Burnet as the Scotch bishop, as our warm and vehement bishop, as deficient in sagacity, etc. Perhaps Burnet did not possess the ingenuity which our critic has evinced on this occasion. Bur- net, describing the behaviour of Mary previous to the absence of William, remarks that she " seemed to employ her time and thoughts, in any thing, rather than matters of state ;i3 etc. D'Israeli applies this remark to the anxious period of her administration. Nor is this the only proof of his ingenuity. Burnet says, she seemed to employ, etc. D'Israeli, when he draws his contrast between the actual state of Mary and the representation of Burnet, omits the word seem- ed. Now, I apprehend that Burnet attached a mean- ing to the word seemed ; ^'^ but, if my critical discern- ment should fail me on that point, I am quite confi- dent that D'Israeli is aware of its meaning — for he omits the very word which, independently of the anachronism, would have demolished his discovery ! Such are the contrivances by which D'Israeli essays to prove that the actual state of Mary escaped the ken " H. O. T., ii. 48. " Vide An Essay on the Memory of the . late Queen, 1695. 8vo. p. 159. ILLUSTRATED. 143 of the Scotch bishop ! and that he mistook a mask for a face, I conclude with the facts. Burnet, who saw Mary once a week at the critical period of her administration, records that she showed extraordinary firmness^^ — that she covered her inward apprehensions with an equality of behaviour ^^ — that " though she was full of dismal thoughts^ yet she put on her ordinary cheerful- ness^ when she appeared in pvhlick" etc^^^ This article may be considered as an illustration of the manner in which D'Israeh strikes out new results ; and in which he exemphfies his own declaration, " / always give the pour and the contre." I have consult- ed on the occasion no authorities but those which are alluded to by D'Israeh himself. I have met him with the weapon of which he has made choice ; and if I have held it rather Ughtly, it was because no exertion seemed requisite. He sarcastically remarks of two celebrated his- torians — Gilbert Stuart and Robertson — that they depend on the simplicity of their readers. — That he should at the same time offer himself as the victim of his own sarcasm, is certainly one of the Curiosiitws; of literature. *^* The remarks which I have made in the note to Art. XV. on certain points which appear to have been assumed by Mr. D'Israeh, apply with pecuhar force to the subject now under consideration. I had taxed him with an act of deception, with •^ H. O. T., ii. 55. '« Essay, p. 158. '^ H. O. T, ii. 55. 144- CURIOSITIES OF LITF.RATURE literary manipulation, with invention, with contrivances, etc. Accusations of this serious nature, if made against myself, I would refute — or would resign the pen for ever. Mr. D'Israeli views his position in a more cheerful light. In lieu of attempting an answer, he gives us various discursive remarks on the use of secret history, on the philosophy of history, on the re* tired habits of the Queen, on the busy Bishop, on hehdo^ madal visits, on the cabinet of William the Tliird at Kensington, on the best edition of Burnet by Dr.Routh, on the Lords Dartmouth, Hardwicke, etc. If the craft of authorship should fail — I should re- commend Mr. D'Israeli to turn lecturer on the art of EVASION ; and I promise to certify his qualifications. Art. XX. — Lady Grace Gethin versus I. D'Israeli, Esq., D.C.L. and F.S.A. " No might nor greatness in mortality Can censure 'scape ; back-wounding calumny The whitest virtue strikes : — " Shakspeare. I am about to comment on a commentator, in vindication of aspersed excellence ; but shall endea- vour to express myself with all the reserve which is due to — arrogance and flippancy. The work on which D'Israeli exercises his pen as a commentator is entitled, Reliqui^ Gethinian^, or, some remains of the most ingenious and excellent lady, the Lady Grace Gethin, lately deceased, 1699. ILLUSTRATED. 145 4to. He censures the editor of the volume ; the bio- graphers of Lady Gethin; and, above all, Lady Gethin herself. ^ The critic shall now submit to cri- ticism. He taxes the editor of the volume with cant and mendacity, because he believed the matured reflection with which it abounds to be the hasty conceptions of Lady Gethin. — If this be equitable, I shall unavoid- ably tax with cant and mendacity a writer of more lofty pretensions. He censures Ballard, one of the biographers of Lady Gethin, for having, with all the innocence of criticism, given specimens of the ReliquicB Gethiniance without suspecting that he was transcribing the words of Lord Bacon. — Ballard occupied the humble station of a provincial mantuamaker ; but literature was his delight, and he devoted to his studies the hours which were due to sleep. " After quitting," says Rowe Mores, ''the external ornaments of the sex^"* he became '' a contemplator of their internal qualifications,^^ The result of his contemplations was Memoirs of several ladies of Great Britain, who have been celebrated for their writings or skill in the learned languages arts and sciences. Oxford, 1752. 4to. comprising more than sixty articles. He died prematurely in 1755.^ To twit such a man for an oversight is the poorest of triumphs. We are all fallible. Even the critic him- self, who scarcely bestows six lines on Ballard, cites an edition of his work which never existed ! ^ C. L., iv. 22-7. ^ E. R. Mores, Dissertation upon Eng. Typ. Founders, 1778. 8vo. p. 36.+J. Walker, Letters by eminent Persons, 1813. 8vo. ii. 92, etc.+ Memoirs, etc. 1752. 4to. H 146 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE He censures the Rev. Mark Noble, another of the biographers of Lady Gethin, on the same score. — There is a touch of the innocence of criticism in this censure, for Bacon was chiefly indebted to Lucre- tius and Montaigne for the passage which Noble se- lects as a specimen of the composition of her Lady- ship. ^ I shall now introduce Lady Gethin. — She was the daughter of Sir George Norton of Abbots-Leigh in Somersetshire; married Sir Richard Gethin of Ge- thin-Grott in Ireland; and died, in her twenty-first year, on the 11th of October 1697. Her remains are deposited at Hollingbourne in Kent ; but there is a cenotaph to her memory in Westminster Abbey, and to perpetuate it a sermon is preached there annually on Ash Wednesday. In 1700 the sermon was preach- ed by Dr. Peter Birch, one of the prebendaries of Westminster; and in 1836 by the Bishop of Here- ford. The contemporaries of Lady Gethin celebrate her eminent virtues — her exemplary piety — her sober unaffected piety. They describe her as an excellent person — as a most excellent person — as adorned with all graces and perfections of mind and hodyJ^ Even D'Israeli admits that her mind was pure and ele- vated ; but the same D'Israeli, as if determined to give an example of effrontery and inconsistency which should set competition at defiance, declares that she " HAD NO CONCEPTION OF THE DIGNITY OF THE 3 Rev. M. N., Biog. Hist, of England, 1806. 8vo. i. 281. -|- Bacon, Essayes, 1625. 4to. pp. 4-5. ^ Reliquiae Gelhinianae, 1699. 4to. 4- Dr. Birch, Funeral Sermon, 1700. 4to. + J. Dart, Westmonasterium, Fol. ii. 78. ILLUSTRATED. 147 FEMALE CHARACTER, THE CLAIMS OF VIRTUE, AND THE DUTIES OF HONOUR." I shall briefly describe the ReliquicB Gethiniance. The volume is in small 4to. It consists of four pre- liminary leaves and ninety pages of text. The true date is 1699 ; but a new title was printed in 1700, two poems and a sermon being added; and also in 1703, when another poem was added. The Georgian copy, which is of the latter description, has a line mezzotinto portrait of Lady Gethin by W. Faithorne after A. Dickson, and a view of the monument in Westminster Abbey. The editor of the volume gravely asserts that its contents were written by Lady Gethin by way of essay, and at spare hours. He has digested them under twenty-nine heads. Now eight of these heads, viz. Of youth and age — Of custom — Of riches — etc. are entirely transcribed from the Essays of Lord Bacon ; six others, viz. Of honour and high places — Of charity — etc. are chiefly transcribed from the same exquisite manual ; and numerous tran- scripts from Bacon occur under other heads. With such evidence, I conclude that Lady Gethin did not compose one sentence in these Remains. The volume, moreover, is a woful specimen of editorship. The errata are most absurd. Ex. gr. " men in great places seek poverty and lose Hberty;" p. 83. [seek jooioer etc.] — " young men are . . . fitter for new frolicks than solid business:" p. 75. \iiQyf projects etc.] — " the principal part of beauty is defect and gracious mo- tions." p. 78. [is decent etc.] — I do not lose sight of D'Israeli. He remarks that the Reliquice Gethiniance excited his curiosity and his suspicion. He afterwards H 2 148 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE boldly announces his " discovery of the nature of this rare volume, of what is original and what collected ;" ^ but omits to state by what perseverance of research, or felicitous efforts of reminiscence, he made the discovery. Perhaps I can illustrate this point. He mentions that Sir William Musgrave, in a Ms. note, described the volume as very scarce. — Now, Sir Wil- liam was not so penurious of information ; witness his entire note : " The following Work is very scarce Sf has been celebrated by Mr. Congreve in an excellent poem. — It is a compilation."^ There are facts which require no comment — ^and I consider those contained in the two preceding para- graphs to be of that description ; but shall neverthe- less give, in due form, specimens of comments on the commentator. " There is a poem prefixed [to the Reliquiae Gethini- anse] icith the signature W. C. which no one will hesitate to pronounce is by Congreve ;'' — I, D'Israeli. I cannot assent to this decision. It is improbable that Congreve should write two poems on the same volume; it is improbable that he should affix his name to one of the poems and not to the other ; it is improbable that he should contribute one to the Annual Miscellany and not the other ; it is improba- ble that he should admit one into the collective editions of his works and not the other. Nor is this all the evidence. The poem signed W. C. was print- ed as an addition to the second issue (to use a conve- nient bibliographical neologism) of the Reliquice Ge- ' C. L., V. 338. « R. G., 2nd edit., B. M. ILLUSTRATED. 149 thiniancB, The poem signed W. Congreve was print- ed as an addition to the third issue of the volume ; and that issue was recommended to notice by the statement that it contained " a coppy of verses" by Mr. Congreve — a plain intimation that the other copy of verses was not by Mr. Congreve. — On a review of these circumstances, I pronounce the above decision to have been made with all the innocence of criticism, " It is one of the best bonds of charity [chastity] and obedience in the wife if she think her husband wise, which she will never do if she find him jealous." — Reliquiae Gethinianae. " A wife was only to know obedience and silence : how- ever, she [Lady Gethin] hints that such a husband should not be jealous ! There wa^ a sweetness in revenge reserved for some of these married women" — I. D'Israeli. This comment would call on me to exercise with the utmost rigour certain powers with which I am invested ; but, disposed to temper justice with mercy, and to make due allowance for the force of that temptation to write with smartness which often so cruelly assails this commentator, (a temptation per- haps increased in the present instance by the inabihty of the lady to reply with smartness) I have merely issued a notice requiring the comment to be cancel- led ; and have ordered one of the scouts who are at- tached to my office for the purpose of collecting new publications, carrying copy to the press, etc. to serve it on D'Israeli with the utmost possible despatch. As a caution to over-lively writers, I transcribe the entire document: — 150 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE ** i \)txth^ require anti commanti you I. D'Israeli, Esq., D. C. L. and F. S. A. of Bradenham House in the county of Bucks immediately after the receipt of this notice or as soon after the receipt thereof as possibly may be to enter your library at Bradenham House as aforesaid and taking in hand the choicest copy of the ninth edition of the work entitled Curiosities of Literature written or compiled by you the said I. D'Israeli, Esq., D. C. L. and F. S. A. to turn to the twenty-seventh page of the fourth volume thereof and to read with your utmost attention the pas- sage commencing with the words A wife and ending with the words married women being a comment or pretend- ed comment on certain words attributed to Lady Grace Gethin late of the parish of Saint Martin in the Fields in the county of Middlesex deceased and having so done to take up the pen wherewith the said passage was writ- ten or in default thereof any other pen and forthwith to efface cancel and obliterate the same so that no mark sign or trace thereof shall remain the words to which the said passage is applied as a comment or pretended com- ment having been written by one Francis Bacon before the said Lady Grace Gethin was born, ^txtol fail not.*' " Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men's nurses." — Reliquiae Gethinianse. " The last degrading senterice is found in some writer, whose name I cannot recollect^ — L D'Israeli. On the philosophy of the degrading sentence I am not qualified to speak ; but, with the imperfect light which I possess, it seems to depict the constitution of nature. I pass to the comment. — To discover the writer of a sentence whose name has escaped the re- ILLUSTRATED. 151 searches of D'Israeli, and his learned friends, was a most formidable task. I determined, therefore, to have recourse to an oracle which I have consulted with success on various occasions for near half a cen- tury. The response was made with promptitude — and was exempt from the perplexing ambiguity of those of Delphi and Dodona. I give it verbatim: " The obscure writer of the degrading sentence is Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, Viscount Saint Albans, Lord High Chancellor of England, etc. etc. etc." So much for the classical and most charming essay of D'Israeli on Lady Gethin; on her biogra- phers ; and on the Reliqui(B Gethiniance. It would be faint praise to characterise it as one of the Curiosities of Literature : it is a constellation of the Curio^iticsl of literature. *^* It has been announced that Mr. D'Israeli was " getting somewhat sage^^ in 1817.'^ If he had made much progress in the happy art, he would not have attempted to justify his essay on Lady Gethin. The sum of his attempt is, that the Honorary Professor looked at Lady Gethin " through the spec- tacles of his books" — the only spectacles through which she was visible ; and that Mr. D'Israeli " look- ed into human nature" through his own phantasmati- cal optics — drew a portrait de charge — and, by some in- comprehensible mistake, wrote under it Lady Gethin. We observe, in a note, " a specimen of the new art of criticism by this Honorary Professor." — I believe M.I., p.5. 152 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Mr. D'Israeli to be the main author of the pamphlet under examination; but on this particular occasion he must have obtained assistance — and as I conceive — the assistance of Puck himself ! I had said, " We are all fallible. Even the critic himself, who scarcely bestows six lines on Ballard, cites an edition of his work which never existed !" On this Mr. D'Israeli, who is proud of his powers of comprehension, exclaims, " I am censured for scarcely bestowing six lines on Ballard. I was writing on Lady Gethin !" He then exclaims, " Petty critics may trouble an author who lies at their mercy ; he compels me to rise from my chair, and I find I am wrong !" The public will now be sensible of the extraordinary efficacy of my profes- sorial labours. It appeareth that, under the influ- ence thereof, Mr. DTsraeli actually rose from his chair to ascertain a fact ! Art. XXI. — The path of the Woolsthorpe apple — calculated on data not known to Sir Isaac Newton ! " We owe the great discovery of Newton to a very trivial accident. When a student at Cambridge, he had retired during the time of the plague into the country. As he was reading under an apple-tree, one of the fruit fell, and struck him a smart blow on the head. When he observed the smallness of the apple, he was surprised at the force of the stroke. This led him to consider the accelerating mo- tion of falling bodies ; from whence he deduced the princi- ple of gravity, and laid the foundation of his philosophy T — I. DlSRAELI.l 1 C. L., i. 123^ ILLUSTRATED. 153 An anecdote derives its value from the eminence of the individual with whose name it is associated; the importance of the event which it tends to illus- trate; the philosophic and moral lessons which it affords. The anecdote of Newton and the falling apple unites these species of interest; and is, like Newton himself, without a rival ! But I am not about to write a Dissertation on Anec- dotes — for D'Israeli has treated the subject with a vivacity to which I do not aspire." He declares, amid other sallies, that anecdotes are susceptible of a thousand novel turns ; ^ and if he has since modified the declaration,* he still attempts to exemplify it. Now, according to my home-spun notions, according to my non-imaginative apprehension, an anecdote ad- mits of no novel turns — but should be recited with a strict adherence to truth. An examination of the sources of the above anec- dote will be the best illustration of these notions. Soon after the death of Newton, which took place on the 20th of March 1727, Mr. Conduitt, his nephew, drew up some memoirs of his life for the information of M. de Fontenelle. He thus narrates the incident of the falling apple : — " In the year 1665, when he [Newton] retired to his own estate, [at VVoolsthorpe] on account of the plague, he first thought of his system of gravity, which he hit upon by observing an apple fall from a tree^^ M. de Fontenelle omitted this anecdote in his eloge ^ A Dissertation on Anecdotes, 1793. 8vo. ^ Ibid. p. 74. * C. L., iv. 65. 5 Yi^Q Hist, of Grantham, 1806. 4to. p. 160. h5 154 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE of Newton ; ^ but Voltaire afterwards mentioned it on the authority of the charming Mrs. ConduittJ Pem- berton, who possessed the confidence of Newton, and published an exposition of the Newtonian philosophy in 1728, merely states that " As he [Newton] sat alone in a garden, he fell into a speculation on the power of gravity ;" ^ and this statement was repeated by Birch, ten years afterwards, in his very valuable account of Newton.9 In 1760, or perhaps earlier, Dr. Nicolls, a learned mathematician, published an elaborate Hfe of Newton.^<^ He had the advantage of access to some papers of Newton in the possession of the Earl of Macclesfield, and gives the anecdote of the falling apple in conformity with the narrative of Mr. Conduitt.ii In 1812 Dr. Thomson, the eminent chemist, published a judicious biographical sketch of Newton; 12 and mentions the anecdote of the falling apple, chiefly in the words of Mr. Conduitt. In 1822 M. Biot, a man of science of the first rank, whose in- clination to do justice to the memory of Newton is not inferior to his capability, published an admirable account of his life ; ^^ and thus faithfully records the anecdote of the falling apple : " Assis un jour sous un pommier, que Ton montre encore, une pomme tom- ha devant lui [Newton];" etc.^* In 1831 Dr. Brew- ^ Eloge de Monsieur le Chevalier Neuton, Paris, 1728. In-4. ' (Euvres completes, [Kehl] 1785-9. In-8. xxxi. 175. ® A view of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy, 1728. 4to. Preface, Sig. [a]. ^ General Dictionary, vii. 783. ^^ Biog. Brit., v. 1760. pp. 3210-44. " Ibid. pp. 3210, 3244. ^^ Hist, of the Royal Society, 1812. 4to. p. 277, etc. " Biog. Univ., xxxi. pp. 127-94. ^^ Ibid. xxxi. p. 134. ILLUSTRATED. 155 ster, whose fame is coextensive with science itself, published a very interesting narrative of the life of Newton.1^ There is reason, however, to conclude that the learned writer could not bestow his undi- vided attention on this lofty theme.^^ He omits to describe in what manner the first idea of gravity oc- curred to Newton 'y^"^ and afterwards states that the anecdote of the falling apple is not mentioned by Mr. Conduitt — that he could not find any authority for it whatever ! ^^ Sir David will permit me to remark that he did not prosecute his optical researches with his accustomed perseverance. He will permit me to remark that he might have introduced the anecdote of the falling apple, without becoming subject to the charge of viewing history through the kaleidoscope of fancy. Having examined the narratives of the principal biographers of Newton, with a view to the particulars in question, I shall revert to the statement of D'ls- raeli ; and endeavour to appreciate correctly his anecdotical and philosophic genius. He states that Newton was reading when the fall- ing apple excited his attention : Conduitt and Pem- berton lead us to conclude that he was occupied in meditation. He states that Newton was surprised at the force of the stroke of the falling apple : Galileo dis- covered the accelerating power of gravity ^9 — which would account for the force of the stroke — and Galileo 15 The Life of Sir Isaac Newton, 1831. Sm. 8vo. pp. xvi. 366. *^ Vide Biot, Journal des Savans, 1832. pp. 193-203, etc. " Life of Newton, pp. 147-8. ^^ ibjjj. p. 344. '^ Systema Cosmicum, Londini, 1663, 8vo. p. 309. 156 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE died before Newton was born.20 jj^ states that from the incident of the falling apple Newton drew the principle of gravity : Conduitt, who understood the subject on which he was writing, makes use of the phrase his system of gravity — for the discovery of Newton was not the discovery of terrestrial gravity, but the discovery of the universality of gravity.'^^ Another proof of philosophic proficiency remains to be stated. Conduitt, Voltaire, Biot, etc. speak vaguely of the falling apple : D' Israeli calculates its exact path — and discovers that appulse of which Newton himself was utterly ignorant ! This discovery in physics also involves a curious discovery in psychology ; for it proves, in opposition to the re- ceived opinion, that a smart blow on the head pro^ MOTES MEDITATION ! How careful should authors be in the examination of facts, and in the enunciation of opinions ! How cautious should readers be in the choice of books ! Dr. Dibdin assures us that he chose the Curiosities of Literature as the companion of his evening hours and lone musings beyond midnight at the period of his college life.22 j^Y. Dibdin, after an interval of forty years, repeats in substance the anecdote of the falling apple as most erroneously reported by D'Israeli '^^ — and exclaims in the fever-heat of camaraderie litte- raire, " Never was truth attired in more at- tractive GARMENTS THAN IN THESE VOLUMES." ^4 I have now to make a confession very humiliat- 20 Biot, Biog. Univ., xvi. 329. + Conduitt, Hist, of Grantham, p. 158. ^' Pemberton, View, etc. pp. 16-7. " Reminis- cences, 1836. 8vo. p. 87. ^3 j^jj^ p^ ^^gg^ 24 jbij p^ 88. ILLUSTRATED. 157 ing to a Professor of Criticism. I had conceived the extract of which I have attempted an illustration to be the composition of D'Israeli ; the air of smartness which it exhibits seemed so characteristic — the whole internal evidence so conclusive. I should even have believed it to be his composition if I had found it in- terwoven with a censure on the British Solomon ; or with a panegyric on the antiquary Gough, who with his usual discernment^^ recorded his sentiments on anecdotes — on curiosities of literature — on Mss. author rities — on the philosophy of history — and on the brilliant sallies dxA flippant style of an historical petit- maitre.'^^ But, alas ! how full of hazard is the path of criticism. On casually examining one of the earlier editions of the lively miscellany, I dis- covered the extract included between certain sig- nificant marks ycleped inverted commas, which de- note it to be a borrowed article ! — I shall, there- fore, on this occasion, quietly back out; and leave the reader to consider the discovery as one of the €\xmiititi of Hiteratiire. *^* It is now admitted that the anecdote of New- ton and the falUng apple was one of the adopted chil- dren of Mr. D' Israeli ; and I have ascertained that it is one which he has not improved by education. The question is, Did Newton hit on his system of gravity by " observing an apple fall from a tree ?" as stated by Conduitt ; or did the apple strike him " a smart blow on the head ?" and so promote meditation ! «5 C. L., vi. 389. 26 Gent. Mag., Ixiii. 1120-1. +J. Nichols, Cat. R. Gough, 1810. p. vii. 158 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Mr. Disraeli printed the latter statement. He de- fends himself by asserting that he had no more open source of intelligence in 1790, and by reminding us that the narrative of Conduitt was not published till 1806. He also charges me with transcribing titles in a hop-hazard; and with recklessly referring to Dr. NicoUs for a statement in conformity with that of Conduitt. I am not apt to be reckless when truth is at stake ; nor did I deviate from my habits of accu- racy on this occasion. Thus wrote Dr. Nicolls in his account of Newton, A.D. 1760: " His System of the World took its beginning from seeing some apples fall from a tree in an orchard." I must add, in evidence of the reckless audacity with which Mr. D'Israeli sets truth at defiance, that I had referred to the very page in which this statement of Dr. Nicolls occurs. Art. XXII. — William Collins — with a true and particula?' account of the public ignition of his Odes. " Collins burnt his odes before the door of his publisher ." — I. D'Israeli. 1 More is meant than meets the ear in this short sentence; but I shall call in the assistance of one who is perfectly qualified to interpret it. " What," says D'Israeh, " must have been the agonies of the 1 C. L., ii. 183. ILLUSTRATED. 159 neglected Collins when he burnt his exquisite odes at the door of his publisher /"^ The reader has now before him the sentence — and the quo animo of the sentence — and is therefore pre- pared to attend to further illustrations. The earliest account of Collins was published in 1763 ;^ apparently written by Fawkes, the translator of Anacreon. A supplemental character of the poet was contributed by Mr. Samuel Johnson.* Not a word is said on the ignition of the Odes. In 1765 the Rev. John Langhorne prefixed some memoirs of Collins to the first separate edition of his Poetical Works,^ He states that Mr. Millar, the celebrated bookseller (whom he is pleased to describe as ^. favourer of genius when once it had made its way to fame) published the Odes on the account of the author ; and thus proceeds : — " He [Millar] happened, indeed, to be in the right not to pub- lish them on his own [account] ; for the sale was by no means successful; and hence it was that the author, conceiving a just in- dignation against a blind and tasteless age, burnt the remaining copies with his own hands." ^ In the same year this statement of Langhorne was animadverted on in the Monthly ReviewJ The writer vindicates the character of Millar; declares that he purchased the copy-right of the odes at a very ^ Essay on the Literary Character, 1795. 8vo. p. 108. ^ Po- etical Calendar, 1763. Sm. Bvo. xii. 107, etc. ■♦ Boswell, Life of Johnson, 1811. 8vo. i. 366. « The Poetical Works of Mr. William Collins, 1765. Sm. 8vo. ^ Ibid. p. xi. ' M. R., xxxii. 294. 160 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE handsome price ; and thus chronicles the destruction of the surplus copies : — " When he [Collins] came to the possession of an easy for- tune, by the death of his uncle, Colonel Martin, — he recollected that the publisher of his poems was a losei- by them. His spirit was too great to submit to this circumstance, when he found him- self enabled to do justice to his own delicacy ; and therefore he desired his bookseller to balance the account of that unfortunate publication, declaring he himself would make good the deficiency : the bookseller readily acquiesced in the proposal, and gave up to Mr. Collins the remainder of the impression, which the generous, resentful bard, immediately consigned to the jiames.^^ This evidence is of course nameless — but its cre- dibiUty is undeniable. It is cited as authoritative by Kippis,^ who was a writer in the same Review ;9 and Langhorne himself seems to have admitted the truth of it by the suppression of his opposite statement as to the copy-right of the odes, and also of his insinua- tions against Millar. ^^ Chance now enables me to name the author of the article." It was written by Griffiths, the editor of the Review, who was intimate with Dr. Rose, one of the literary advisers of Millar ^^ — gQ ^j^^t the state- ment, which only amounts to immediate consignment to the flames^ may safely be considered as a portion of the AUTHENTIC Mstory of our vernacular literature. It is time to revert to the text of D' Israeli. He loves to dwell on the calamities of authors — and * Biog. Brit., 2nd ed. iv. 29. ^ Rees, Sermon on Kippis, 1795. 8vo. p. 44. ^« Poetical Works of Mr. W. Collins, 1776. Sm. 8vo. p. xi. " Vide B. H., Part viii. No. 1666. '' J. Nichols, liiterary Anecdotes, iii. 506, 386. ILLUSTRATED. 161 fancies that he has established some new results in the history of human nature.^^ Has he never read that MAN is horn unto trouble ? Has it never occurred to him that while the calamities of those who write be- come recorded in their own vivid language — the cala- mities of those who do not write pass into oblivion ? To affirm as much would be almost justifiable. He is welcome, however, to his darling crotchet ; but I cannot permit him to support it a tort et a tr avers. I cannot permit him to starve Camoens ; to imprison Purchas ; and to describe as the agonies of Collins what was the effervescence of his generous spirit and delicacy of feeling ! Hitherto we have met with no proof of the public ignition of the Odes — the point in dispute ; and we will now continue our researches. In 1804 the Rev. Alexander Hay published a circumstantial account of Collins, ^"^ which was printed in the house in which the poet was born. In 1813 Sir Egerton Brydges embodied some curious papers on Collins,^^ the ob- ject of his visionary admiration. In 1827 the Rev. Alexander Dyce edited the Poetical Works of Collins, with a considerable accumulation of illustrative mate- rials.^^ We explore these sources in vain for a con- firmation of the public ignition of the Odes, ^3 C. L., Preface. ^^ Hist, of Chichester, Chichester, 1804. 8vo. p. 526. Fawkes ? Johnson, Langhorne, Kippis, Chalmers, Suard, Campbell, etc. state that Collins died in 1756! Mr. Hay states correctly, 12th June 1759. '^ Sylvan Wanderer, Lee Priory, 1813-7. 8vo. i. 71-80. ^^ The Poetical Works of William Collins ; with the life of the author, etc. London, W. Pickering, 1827. 8vo. 162 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Are we to consider that D' Israeli has unintention- ally improved on the information of his precursors? or that he has sported an invention in favor of his hypothesis on the calamities of authors ? I need not decide on the deUcate question — for the statement, in either case, must undoubtedly pass as one of the CuriojJitiejei of ^literature. ^^* The tone in which the remarks on the above article is composed, proves that our ordinary cata- logues of the calamities of authors are incomplete. To be detected in the perversion of truth, is undoubt- edly one of the chief calamities of authors ; not, in- deed, a calamity which always overwhelms — for it sometimes infuriates. When a detection of this nature has been made, it becomes an act of duty to expose it ; but we are not bound to notice the vituperation of the culprit — nor even to disclaim the feelings which he may insidi- ously impute. Such imputations are the common resource of those who are without the means of de- fence ; and the man who avails himself of them may be safely left to strut and fret his hour — till reason and a sense of decorum shall return. Art. XXIII. — Facts relative to William Oldys, Esq., Norroy King at Arms — with spe- cimens of his uncourtly style, " Mr. Oldys, a man of eager curiosity and indefatigable dili- gence, . . . first exerted that spirit of inquiry into the literature of ILLUSTRATED. 163 the old English writers, by which the works of our great draraa- tick poet have of late been so signally illustrated.'' — James Bos- well.* An accurate summary of the life of Oldys would be a valuable accession to our national literature; and I recommend the subject to the biographer of Vincent and Ritson, as a suitable relaxation from his more recondite studies. D'Israeli entitles his last article, Life and habits of a literary antiquary — Oldys and his manuscripts,^ He offers it as the produce of unexpected materials^ and evidently prides himself on his handiwork. Bui- wer also lauds the operative; asserting that he has profoundly analyzed Oldys, and has made him pecu- liarly his own, I shall presume to inquire into this profundity of analysis; shall offer some account of the Mss. of Oldys ; illustrations of his uncourtly style ; and of the expertness with which D'Israeli has leaped over what most redounds to the honor of our literary antiquary. It may be convenient to premise that Oldys was born on the 14th of July 1696 ; became Librarian to the celebrated Earl of Oxford ; Norfolk Herald extraor- dinary, and, by patent of the 4th of May 1755, Nor- roy King at Arms ; pubhshed a considerable number of works in biography and bibUography ; and died on the 15th of April 1761.3 A very limited number of specimens will be suffi- ' Life of Johnson, 1791. 4to. i. 94. ' C. L., vi. 363-92. 3 Addit. Ms. 4240. p. 14. + Ducarel, Ms. Memoir of Oldys. + Documents in the College of Arms. 164 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE cient to prove the inutility of further inquiry into the merits which we have seen ascribed to D'Israeli. § 1. Illustrated specimens of analytical profundity. 1. "^e [Oldys] mentions thatheuasin Yorkshireyrom 1724 to 1730. * * * It has sometimes occurred to me, that for Yorkshire we must understa,nd the Fleet. There we know he was;' etc. — I. D'Israeli.^ D'Israeli is very sharp-sighted on the calamities of authors ; but this is not one of his happiest conjec- tures. What says Oldys himself? " Being at Leeds in Yorkshire^ soon after Mr. Ralph Thoresby the antiquary died, anno 1725, I saw his Musaeum;" etc.^ 2. " He [Oldys] mentions that he was inY oxkshixe from 1724 to 1730. This period is a remarkable blank in Oldys s life." — I. D'Israeli.^ Oldys did not pass the time unprofitably. In 1 727 he purchased his second Langbaine, which he con- tinued to annotate for thirty years.'^ In 1728 appear- ed the Universal Spectator, in which he wrote many things,^ In 1729 he wrote an Essay on Epistolary Writings : w:*'' respect to the Grand Collection of Tho\ Earl of Strafford. Inscribd to the Lord Malton. 8vo. Ms.9 — and in 1730 Some Considerations upon the Publication of iSf Thomas Roe^s Epistolary Collections, Fol. Ms.^0 The Ms. Essay on Epistolary Writings was probably of some utiUty to Lord Malton — for Dr. Knowler, who edited the Strafford papers in 4 C. L., vi. 375. ^ Life of Sir W. Ralegh. [1735.] Fol. p. xxxi. ^ C. L., vi. 375. ' Langbaine, B. M. passim. 8 Ducarel, Ms. Memoir of Oldys. ^ Addit. Ms. 4168. 10 Ibid. ILLUSTRATED. 165 1739, declares that he followed the directions and in- structions of his Lordship.^^ The Considerations on the collection of Sir Thomas Roe abound in substan- tial information, and evince the spirit of method. Oldys expatiates on the importance of state papers ; reviews the collections entitled the Compleat Ambas- sador, the Cabala, the Life of Sir Leolin Jenkins, and the Memorials of Sir Ralph Winwood ; and delivers it as his opinion that none of them can " stand in com- petition with that spacious rendevous of epistolary con- ference w"'' centred in Sir Thomas Roe" Every parti- cular connected with the publication of the papers in question, he perspicuously and judiciously discusses. I need not pursue this topic. The facts which I have produced are creditable to Oldys — and establish the existence of a remarkable blank in the intelHgence of D'Israeli. 3. " The literary diary of Oldys wotild have exhibited the mode of his pursuits, and the results of his discoveries. One of these volumes I have fortunately discovered'' — I. D'Israeli.i2 D'Israeli remarks that Oldys was accustomed to record his most secret emotions ; and immediately pro- duces specimens as from the fortunately-discovered diary. Will it be believed? More than two-thirds of these specimens are copied from a volume which D'Israeli himself ca\h far-famed f ^^ 4. " It was an advantage in this primceval era cf lite- rary curiosity, that those volumes . . . which are now so ex- " Earl of StrafForde's Letters, etc. 1739. Fol. 2 Vols. Preface. '' C. L., vi. 380. ^^ Vide Langbaine, Verso of Title, Pre- face, and Verso of Finis. 166 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE cessively appreciated^ were exposed on stalls^ through the reigns of Anne and the two Georges, Oldys encountered no competitor, cased in the invulnerable mail of his purse, to dispute his possession of the rarest volume" — I. D'ls- RAELI.l* This is the romance of bibliographical history, to which I oppose facts. Oldys obtained access to the richest hbraries in England ;^^ and purchased as many as 200 volumes out of one collection — that of the Earl of Stamford. ^^ No competitor! He de- nounces rich monopolizers — men who " can never rest till they have gathered themselves libraries to doze in; like children, who will not be quiet without lights to sleep by." He complains of tracts being " prized at their weight in gold" — and declares that there were " never so many eager searchers after, or extravagant purchasers of scarce pamphlets." ^^ 5. *' Oldys is chiefly known by the caricature of the face- tious Grose, a great humourist, both with pencil and with pen : it is in a posthumous scrap-book, where Grose de- posited his odds and ends, and where there is perhaps not a single story which is not satirical" — I. D'Israeli.^s And it is from this posthumous scrap-book that D'Israeli chiefly borrows his account of the habits of Oldys. He seems to value evidence in the inverse ratio of its credibility. If we compare the accounts which Grose gives of Ames, Ducarel, Warburton, etc. with those in the Literary Anecdotes of Mr. Nichols, '* C. L., vi. 372. '^ Life of Sir W. R., pp. iv, vi, etc.-H British Librarian, 1738. 8vo. p. 374. ^^ Langbaine, p. 336. '7 Phoenix Britannicus, 1732. 4to. p. 558. ^^ q j^ ^ y^^ ^qk,^ ILLUSTRATED. 167 (whose means of information, and candour of disposi- tion, are undeniable) we must inevitably pronounce the Olio of Grose to be one of the most contemptible of books. Grose was a mere youth when Oldys died ; and was never the man to appreciate his character. He informed Mr. Brooke, Somerset Herald, that Oldys was a person of no capacity — and, at the same time, condemned him for not exercising his literary abilities !^^ He stated, according to the printed ac- count, that Oldys passed most of his evenings at the Bell in the Old Bailey, He informed Brooke that his usual practise was to remain in his library till 2 P.M., and then adjourn to the Horn Tavern."^ It is on the authority of such a chronicler that D'Israeli talks about the prevalent infirmity of Oldys, and his deep potations of ale ; and perhaps this is what Bulwer alludes to when he informs us that Disraeli has made Oldys peculiarly his oion ! § 2. An account of the manuscripts of Oldys. " Oldys s manuscripts, or O. M, as they are sometimes designated, are constantly referred to by every distinguished writer on our literary history, I believe that not one of them could have given us any positive account of the manu- scripts themselves r — I. D'Israeli.^i D'Israeli claims the merit of exhibiting a silhouette of Oldys. I re-exhibit the above as a silhouette of D'Israeli ; executed by the artist himself, and full of character. The equitable and modest cast of the outline, I leave to the discovery of other physiogno- mists. ^^ I. C. Brooke, De Vitis Fecialium, Ms. in the College of Arras. 20 ibj^, ^' C. L., vi. 365. 168 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE As I am not a distinguished writer on our literary history, I may perhaps be able to give some positive account of the Mss. of Oldys. I commence with those which were in the possession of Mr. Thomas Davies in 1762.22 Annotated Books. — Folio. No. 227 NIcolson's his- torical Libraries, with a great nymber of Ms. additions, re- ferences, &c. by the hxte William Oldys, Esq ; very fair, 2l. 2s. 1736. [This volume was in the collection of Steevens, No. 1674, and of Heber, x. No. 2504. I claim the credit of identifying it. It was recently in the pos- session of Mr. Thorpe.] 230 Fuller's Worthies of Eng- land, with Ms. corrections, additions, &c. by Mr. Oldys. 11. lis. 6d. [The price cancelled. — I conjecture this volume to be at Strawberry Hill. There is a transcript of the notes in the Malone collection at Oxford — Cat. p. 15.] Octavo. 1371 Nicolson's Irish historical Library, with Ms. additions by Oldys, and list of the Governors of Ireland, 5s. 1724. — 1511 Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets, by Langbaine and Gildon, with Mss. additions by Oldys, 3s. 6d. 1699 Twelves. 2354 Erie's Historical Dictionary of England and Wales, with Ms. additions, alterations, &c. and an account of the author, by Mr. Oldys, 5s. 1692. Manuscripts. Folio. 3612 Cata- logue of books and pamphlets relating to the city of Lon- don : its laws, customs, magistrates ; its diversions, pub- lick buildings ; its misfortunes, viz. plagues, fires, &c. and of every thing that has happened remarkable in London 22 A Catalogue of the Libraries of the late William Oldys, Esq ; Norroy, King at Arms, (A.uthor of the Life of Sir Walter Raleigh) etc. April 12, [1762.] By Tho. Davies, Bookseller. 8vo. pp. 146. ILLUSTRATED. 169 from 1521 to 1 759, with some occasional remarks. [This volume was purchased by Steevens, who allowed Gough the use of it. It passed to Sir John Hawkins. — British Topography, i. 567, 761*.] —Quarto. 3613 Of London Libraries : with anecdotes of collectors of books, remarks on booksellers, and on the first publishers of catalogues. [Mr. Heber, whose copy of the catalogue of 1762 lies before me, has marked this article with N.B, JV.B. It evidently set him on the qui vive.'] — 3614 Epistoiae G. Morley ad Jan. Ulitium. — 3615 Catalogue of graved prints, of our most eminent countrymen, belonging to Mr. Oldys. [I conjecture this volume to be at Straw- berry Hill.] — 3616 Orationes habitae in N. C. 1655 — English Verses. — 3617 Memoirs relating to the family of Oldys. [In the British Museum, Addit. Ms. 4240. The bequest of Dr. Birch.] — 3618 Barcelona: or the Spanish expedition under the conduct of the Right Hon. the Earl of Peterborough ; a poem by Mr. Farquhar, 7iever before published. [This seems to have been copied from the printed edition.] — 3619 The life of Augustus, digested into 59 schemes, by James Robey. — Octavo ET INFRA. 3620 The Apophthegms of the English Nation, containing above 500 memorable sayings of noted persons ; being a collection of extempore wit, more copious than any hitherto published. [I conjecture this volume to be at Strawberry Hill. It was probably founded on a Ms. collection of earlier date. — Life of Sir W. R.;, p. xxxii] — 3621 Description of all kinds offish. — 3622 The British Arborist, being a natural, philologi- cal, theological, poetical, mythological, medicinal and mechanical history of trees, principally native to this Island, with some select exoticks, &c. &c. Twt finish! d.—^ 3623 Description of trees, plants, &c. — 3624 Collection of Poems, written above 100 years since. — 3625 Trin- I 170 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE arcliodia: the several raignes of Richard II. Henry IV. and Henry V. in verse, supposed to be written 1650. [This volume became the property of J. P. Andrews. Park describes it — Restituta, iv. 166.] — S&'^Q Collection of Poems, by Mr. Oldys. — SQ27 Mr. Oldys's Diary, con- taining several observations relating to books, characters, &c. [In the British Museum, Addit. Ms. 4245?] — 3628 Collection of observations and notes on various subjects. — 3629 Memorandum Book, containing as above. — 3630 Table of persons celebrated by the Eng- lish poets. — 3631 Catalogue of Ms. [sic] written by Lord Clarendon. — 3632 Names of eminent English writers, and places of their burial, &c. — 3633 Descrip- tions of flowers, plants, roots, &c. — *3633 Descriptions of all kinds of birds. [Finis.] This is a complete list of the annotated books and manuscripts of Oldys which were offered for sale by Mr. Davies in 1762. It appears from a memorandum presented to Nichols by Ducarel in 1784, that Horace Walpole purchased some of the most valuable arti- cles ; which has led me to conjecture that Nos. 230, 3615. and 3620, may be preserved at Strawberry Hill. Other annotated books shall now be briefly described : — 1. An account of the English dramatick poets. By Gerard Langbaine. Oxford, 1691. 8vo. [Oldys anno- tated this work till the year 1724. The copy fell into the hands of Coxeter, and afterwards of Theophilus Cib- ber. It was made use of in the Lives of the PoetSy Lon- don, 1753. 12mo. 5 vols. — Langbaine, B. M. p. 353.+ Berkenhout, Biographia Literaria, 1777. 4to. p. xi.] 2. An account of the English dramatick poets. By Gerard ILLUSTRATED. 171 Langbaine. Oxford, 1691. 8vo. [Oldys purchased a second Langbaine in 1727 ; and continued to annotate it till the latest period of his life. It is preserved in the British Museum, to which establishment it was bequeath- ed by Dr. Birch. The volume is almost filled with notes, interlineary and marginal, on the lives and works of the authors named. The handwriting is very minute, and the quantity of information extraordinary. Percy, Steevens, Malone, Reed, and Ruding, have made tran- scripts of these notes. The Malone transcript is now at Oxford. — Langbaine, B. M. passim. + Gent. Mag., 1784. p. 162. + Malone Cat. p. 22.] 3. The Lives of the most famous English poets. By W. Winstanley. Lon- don, 1687. 8vo. [Oldys frequently refers to his notes on Winstanley. Steevens seems to have possessed the volume. A transcript of the notes is preserved in the Malone collection at Oxford. — Langbaine, pp. 30, 39, etc.+Biog. Lit., p. 349, etc. + Malone Cat. p. 46.] 4. De Re Poetica : or, remarks upon poetry. By Sir Tho- mas Pope Blount. liOndon, 1694. 4to. [A copy of this work, with the notes of Oldys, was in the collection of Reed, No. 6690 ; and of Heber, iv. No. 156. The notes are not numerous. The volume was purchased, on the latter occasion, by Mr. Thorpe.] 5. The English Topo- grapher. [By R. Rawlinson.] London, 1720. 8vo. [A copy of this work, with the notes of Ames and Oldys, was in the possession of Snelling, Gough ob- tained the loan of it. — Brit. Topog., i. Preface, p. 51.] Further proofs of the assiduity of Oldys in record- ing the results of his studies, shall appear in the next section. § 3. Illustrations of the uncourtly style of Oldys. i2 17^ CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE " Oldys lived in the hack-ages of England _,•*** and so loved the wit and the learning which are often bright under the rust of antiquity, that his own uncourtly style is embrowned with the tint of a century old.'' — I. D'ls- RAELI.23 Oldys has recorded his sentiments on style, and I shall repeat them for the edification of D'Israeli. Adverting to the mutable nature of our language, he remarks that it " may moderate the conceits of those who depend upon a style, or manner of expression, more than the matter expressed, that will not, hke most other things, become obsolete, but maintain its perspicuity, and engage the taste of all ages."-'* It must be admitted that Oldys, who was perpe- tually occupied in the collection and classification of facts, rather undervalued the attractive qualities of composition — but not to an extent which calls for much apology. The learned Campbell pronounces him to be a very intelligent and judicious writer;"^ and if, like other antiquaries, he occasionally falls into archaisms and inelegancies, he never attempts to make himself more conspicuous than his subject — which is more than I should choose to affirm of his critic. I now offer three specimens of the style of Oldys ; the commencement of an essay, a private letter, and a biographical anecdote. The specimens which D'Is- raeli has printed, are inaccurate transcripts of mere memoranda and marginal jottings. *^ C. L., vi. 371. 2* British Librarian, 1738. 8vo. p. 128. ^ BiQg. Brit., p. 2201. ILLUSTRATED. 173 " Our famous Milton was the greatest example which our nation has produced, of a mind impatient under any appre- hensions of slavery ; and no one has shewed himself so zealous a champion for that freedom of our being, which he contended to be so essential to the dignity of our species. This spirit of free- dom he demonstrated in his own poetry, by shaking off the mana- cles of rhime : this spirit he extended more universally to the sen- timents of others, by publishing a discourse upon the liberty of the press: this spirit he advanced even to government itself, against the sovereignty of one man : and this spirit he exerted against the bands of matrimony, for confining us so inseparably to one woman." — William Oldys.^ In this paragraph there are some uncourtly no- tions ; but they are not expressed in an uncourtly style. I do not hesitate to call it a capital miniature of Milton ; and I believe the best of his biographers would be proud to claim it. "Sir: I received last night two guineas by the hand of my worthy and honH'^ friend Mr Southwell ; for which favour, and much more for the polite and engaging manner of conferring it, besides this incompetent return of my sincere thanks, I have beg'd him to make my acknowledgments more acceptable, than in my present confused and disabled state, I am capable my self of doing. I have also desir'd him to intimate, how much more I might be obliged to you, if, at your leisure, and where you shall perceive it convenient, you wou'd so represent me to such hon^l* friends among y! num'rous acquaintance, that they may help me towards a removal into some condition, wherein I may no longer remain altogether unusefull to mankind ; which woud lay an obli- gation inexpressible upon Sy Y' most obedient July 22 d . 1 75 1 . Humble Serv*. TotheRevd Mr: Birch W^ : Oldys."^? ^ Universal Spectator, 1756. 12mo. ii. 58.-fLangbaine,p.374. =^ Addit. Ms. 4316. Art. 4. 174 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE This letter, which is honorable to all the parties named, seems to have been written in the Fleet prison. Oldys lost his most invaluable friend and patron,^^ the Earl of Oxford, in 1741 ; and quitted re- luctantly the Ark of Literature,^'^ The editorship of the Harleian Catalogue^ the Harleian Miscellany^ etc. afterwards supported him; but a work to which he extensively contributed was suspended in 1750 — and it is to be feared that Oldys remained in prison till he was appointed Norfolk Herald extraordinary. — I revert to style. Detached specimens do not always convey an adequate idea of it. Comparison is essen- tial. Accept, therefore, an anecdote in the imbrowned language of Oldys; and in the language of an ad- mired writer of our own times. " Mr. Edward Wieraark, a wealthy citizen, great newsmonger, and constant Paul's-walker, hearing there, the news of Sir Walter Ralegh's death the day he was beheaded, and saying, among other things, ' His head would do very well upon the shoulders of Sir Robert Naunton,' then secretary of state, was coraplain'd of, and summon'd to the privy council ; where he pleaded, that he intended no disrespect to Mr. Secretary, only spake in reference to the old proverb, that ' Two heads were better than one ;' so for the present was dismiss'd. Not long after, when rich men were callM upon for a contribution to St. Paul's cathedral, Wie- mark, at the council-table, subscribed a hundred pounds. But Mr, Secretary said, ' Two hundred are better than one, you know, Mr. Wiemark ;' which, between fear and charity, he was fain to subscribe." — W. Oldys. " The people were deeply affected at the sight, [the execution of Sir W. R.] and so much, that one said, that * we had not such another head to cut off;' and another ' wished the head and 2« VV. O., On Nicolson, p. vi. =» L^f^ ^f gj^ W. R., p. cv. ILLUSTRATED. 175 brains to be upon Secretary Naunton's shoulders.' The ob- server suffered for this ; he was a wealthy citizen, and great news- monger, and one who haunted Paul's Walk. Complaint was made, and the citizen summoned to the privy-council. He plead- ed that he intended no disrespect to Mr. Secretary; but only spoke in reference to the old proverb, that ' two heads were better than one !' His excuse was allowed at the moment; but when afterwards called on for a contribution to St. Paul's Cathe- dral, and having subscribed a hundred pounds, the Secretary observed to him, that ' two are better than one, Mr. Wiemark !' Either from fear, or charity, the witty citizen doubled his sub- scription." — * * * The inferiority of the style of Oldys is not very obvious from this comparison ; a circumstance rather remarkable — for the latter fragment has been printed as the composition of I. D'Israeh, Esq.^^ § 4. Illustrations of the expertness with which D'Israeli has leaped over what most redounds to the honor of Oldys. " Oldys affords one more example how life is often closed amidst discoveries and acquisitions. The literary antiquary, when he has attempted to embody his multiplied inquiries, and to finish his scattered designs, has found that the LABOR ABSQUE LABORE, * the labour void of labour,' as the inscriptio7i on the library of Florence finely describes tJie researches of literature, has dissolved his days in the voluptuousness of his curiosity ; and that too often, like the hunter in the heat of the chase, while he disdained the prey which lay before him, he was still stretching onwards to catch the fugitive .'" — I. D'Israeli.^' I have read this paragraph repeatedly, with the 30 C. L., V. 230. 31 Q i^^ ^i 391. — See also pp. 373 and 377. 176 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE hope of discovering some ambiguity in it. It too clearly means that Oldys had designed a general ac- count of our literature, which he failed to execute. Clarendon was bespattered, that another historian of Charles I. should appear more spruce ; and Oldys is reduced to the mere designer of too formidable an enterprise, in order that the admiration of the public should be kept in reserve for the future historian of our vernacular literature. He is admitted to have been a prodigy of curiosity — who left us a barren list of manuscript ivorks ! Now, I maintain that Oldys never formed the design attributed to him; that he executed to an admirable extent what he did de- sign ; and that the principal fact was known to D' Is- raeli. The favorite pursuit of Oldys was Biography, He commenced with biography in 1722 ;-^2 ^^^ years afterwards he intimated his attachment to it;^^ be- fore he had completed his fortieth year he produced one of the most perfect specimens of biography in the English language ; and, in short, to biography his immense researches were chiefly subsidiary. D'ls- raeli observes that Oldys could not fly for instant aid to a BiOGRAPHiA Britannica ; but does not even hint that he was a contributor to that work. He had read the statement in Kippis, in Grose, and in Chal- mers ; but he chose to conceal it. I shall, therefore, detail the contributions alluded to, and point out their importance : — ^ Langbaine, p. 285. ^^ Phoenix Britannicus, p. vii. ILLUSTRATED. 177 Contributions of W. Oldys to the Blographia Britannica, London, 1747-66. Folio, 7 Vols. Volume and Date Name. Claim to Admission. Year of de- cease. No. of Page*. i. 1747 George Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury . 1633 l-*? Robert Abbot Bishop of Salisbury ]6ir 2| Sir Thomas Adams* Lord Mayor of London 1667 li W. Alexander, Earl of Statesman and Dramatic 1640 5 Stirline* . Writer .... Charles Aleyn* Historical Poet . 1640? u Edward AUeyn* . Founder of Dulwicb College 1626 71 William Ames Divine 1633 l| John Atherton Bishop of Waterford . 1640 8 Peter Bales* . Writing Master . 1610? 11 ii. 1748 John Bradford* Protestant Martyr 1.555 16i William BuUeyn* . Physician and Botanist 1576 H William Caxton . Printer .... 1491 26| iii. 1750 Michael Drayton* . Historical & Pastoral Poet . 1631 5 Sir Geo. Etherege* Dramatic Writer . 1688? 8 George Farquhar* . Dramatic Writer . 1707 11 Sir John Fastolff . Statesman and Warrior 1459 m Thomas Fuller Historian etc. 1661 20 Sir Will. Gascoigne* Judge 1413? 131 iv. 1757 Fulke Grevile, Lord Brook Biographer and Poet . 1628 124 Rich. Hakluyt Naval Historian . 1616 14 Wenceslaus Hollar* Engraver .... 1677 8| V. 1760 Thomas May Historian and Poet 1650 6 These articles have the signature G. — Ducarel ascribes them to Oldys, ^* who claims several of them in his annotations.^^ The choice of subjects affords a remarkable proof of his intelligence and dis- crimination. The twelve persons whose names are marked with asterisks were not commemorated in the General Dictionary ^^ — which was the most learned and voluminous of the previous repertories of biogra- phy — but now appear in our best collections, the General Biographical Dictionary ^^"^ and the Biogra- phic Universelle.^^ ^* Ms. Memoir. ^^ Langbaine, pp. 1, 213, 257, etc. ='6 Loudon, 1734-41. FoL 10 vols. ^ London, 1812-17. 8vo. 32 Vols. ^^ Paris, 1811-28. In-8. 52 Vol. l5 178 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE On the execution of the articles, I submit some short remarks. The Hfe of Archbishop Abbot is especially commended by the author of the preface to the work; and was reprinted in 1777. 8vo. The life of Edward Alleyn is also justly characterised by the same writer as very curious. The article on Peter Bales, if rather discursive, is rich in information ; and contains, in the notes, a history of writing- masters. BuUeyn, whose works were formerly popu- lar, receives due attention. As Gough remarks, Oldys has " rescued him almost from oblivion." ^^ Master William Caxton occupies more than twenty- six pages. Oldys had carefully examined the chief portion of his rare volumes ; and Dr. Dibdin admits that his '^^performance is in every respect superior to that of Leivis." "^^ The account of Drayton and his works is an interesting specimen. Oldys points out the numerous deficiencies of the splendid edition of 1748; and his information seems to have led to the completion of it. The life of Sir John Fastolff, of which the first sketch was contributed to the General Dictionary in 1737, is the result of extraordinary re- search. The FastolfF of history and the FalstafF of fiction are ingeniously contrasted. The account of Fuller is compiled with peculiar care ; and affords a remarkable proof of the extent to which the writings of an author may be made contributive to his biogra- phy. The History of the Worthies of England, which Oldys frequently consulted, is characterised with much candour; and he has very appropriately intro- 3» British Topography, 1780. 4to. i. 133. ^o Typographical Antiquities, 1810. 4to. p. Ixxiv. ILLUSTRATED. 179 duced the substance of a Ms, essay on the toleration of wit on grave subjects. Sir William Gascoigne is copiously historised. Oldys, with his usual ardour in search of truth, obtained the use of some Memoirs of the family of Gascoigne from one of the descendants of Sir William, and a communication from the Rev. R. Knight, Vicar of Harwood, where he was buried. The life of the patriotic Hakluyt claims especial notice. Oldys had pointed out his merit more than twenty years before ; ^^ and seems never to have lost sight of him. He has left an admirable memorial of the " surpassing knowledge and learning, diligence and fidelity, of this naval historian" — and it well deserves to be separately re-published. The account of Hol- lar and his works is written with the animation and tact of a connoisseur. Oldys justly describes him as ever making art a rival to nature, and as a prodigy of industry. He also reviews the graphic collections of his admirers, from Evelyn to the Duchess of Port- land. The article on May was his last contribution. He vindicates the History of the Parliament from the aspersions cast on it — in which he is supported by Bishop Warburton, Lord Chatham, etc. It may be safely asserted that no one of the contri- butors to the Biographia Britannica has produced a richer proportion of inedited facts than William Oldys ; and he seems to have consulted every species of the more accessible authorities, from the Feeder a of Rymer to the inscription on a print. His united articles, set up as the text of Chalmers, would occupy about a thousand octavo pages. ^' Life of Sir W. R., p. cix.+ British Librarian, p. 137. 180 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Oldys would no doubt have continued his labours, had his life been spared. He was preparing accounts of Otway,42 Mary Countess of Pembroke,*^ Katha- rine PhiUips,** Thomas Rawlins,*^ Thomas Rymer,*^ and Shakspeare.*7 jjis collections on Shakspeare were very copious, but not digested ; as he informed Ducarel Sife^v days before his death^^ A portion of the Mss. of Oldys was purchased, some time before the year 1778, for the proprietors of the second edition of the Biographia Britannica, Kippis describes them as a '"' large and useful body of biographical materials ;" ^9 and we find them quoted on Arabella Stuart, John Barclay, Mary Beale, W. Browne, Sam. Butler, etc. Kippis promised an account of Oldys ;^<^ but did not reach the letter O. I therefore once more com- mend our literary antiquary to Sir Harris Nicolas. A very remarkable feature in the farewell essay on Oldys remains to be described. D' Israeli insidi- ously omits to notice one of the most important por- tions of his labours ; assumes his inability to execute what he never contemplated ; hints an imprisonment of six years in the Fleet while he was sporting with the mountain nymph in Yorkshire ; prates about his infirmity and his deep potations of ale on the most contemptible evidence; censures his style, and pro- duces no other specimens than absurdly-erroneous transcripts of private memoranda ; and winds up with *2 Langbaine, p. 400. ^^ Ibid. p. 402. "^ Ibid. p. 403. *^ Ibid. p. 424. "^ Ibid. p. 433. "^ Ibid. pp. 455, 399. *^ Ms. Memoir. *^ Biog. Brit., i. Preface, p. 20. *<> Ibid, ii. Preface, p. 8. ILLUSTRATED. 181 a sneer at his solitary groans, his poetical hags, his parchment budgets, etc, — yet he announces the essay as a vindication of Oldys ! And this is the essay which Bulwer trumpets as an instance of the profun- dity of analysis ! I have almost deviated into serious reprehension; and can scarcely persuade myself to conclude in the usual style — but the formulary is indispensable. Those who are familiar with theatrical exhibi- tions must be aware that actors, when about to make their exeunt, are particularly solicitous of applause ; and sometimes overstep the modesty of nature, or even express more than is set down for them. Very similar circumstances occur in literature ; which D'Israeli has notably exemplified in his farewell essay on Oldys. The essay, however, has a species of merit to which no critic can be insensible. It corresponds with the title of the work — being indisputably one of the CxuHOiSitieiS o! literature. *^* In the art of concentrating error, Mr. D'Is- raeli may have formidable rivals — but he has not many compeers. I have pointed out three errors on the civil law, in a curiosity of four lines; and six errors on numismatics, in a curiosity of ten lines. It would be unhandsome, however, to dwell on those specimens. As Mr. D'Israeli is a graduate in civil law, and a titled antiquary, he may have written rather carelessly — in the over-confidence of his quali- fications. I have now, as it fortunately happens, to examine a portion of his new curiosities on a sub- ject which he has considered more attentively. 182 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE He assures us that his article on Oldys was the re- sult of "long and arduous inquiries" — and that if " ever he composed with the devotion of a votari/" it was on that occasion. We may fairly expect a sub- stantial aftercrop ; and I invite the reader to partake of some of these fresh fruits of persevering research and votive enthusiasm. First specimen. — Mr. D'Israeli has justly charac- terised Oldys as a man of " unswerving veracity" ^^ — as a " prodigy of literary curiosity "^^ — as one with whom a " single line was the result of many a day of research "^^ — yet he modestly pretends that the feel- ings of Oldys " echoed in his own bosom." Verily, this is a choice specimen of auto-eulogy. Second specimen. — It was stated by Mr. D'ls- raeli that every distinguished writer on our literary history had referred to the manuscripts of Oldys with- out being able to give " any positive account of the manuscripts themselves !" — and I undertook, conceiv- ing myself to be a person sufficiently obscure, to sup- ply the desideratum. On this our Illustrator re- marks, that " Mr. Corney gives . . . what he calls a ^positive' account of these Mss. of Oldys." This re- mark should not be undervalued. The figure of speech is of extreme rarity : it seems to be a maxim with most writers to avoid auto-quizzing ! Third specimen. — When a man controverts him- self, we may safely pronounce him to be a controver- sialist of the true breed. " It must have been a strange device of mine," says Mr. D'Israeli, speaking 5' C. L., vi. 369. '2 ibid_ vi^ 391, 53 i^id. yj. 373. ILLUSTRATED. 183 of the contributions of Oldys to the Biographia Bri- tannica, " to conceal that which all the world knows." ^* The same Mr. D'lsraeli, who chose to conceal the contributions in question, also declares that Oldys is " only popularly known through his own essay." ^^ This is an undoubted specimen of auto-controversy. Fourth specimen. — This specimen shall be made up of two extracts. " To Dr. Percy, ... we are in- debted, for directing us to the purchase of a large and useful body of biographical materials, left by Mr. Oldys."— Andrew Kippis, D.D. 1778.56 " Mr. Corney . . . takes no notice whatever of that considerable lot, [of the Mss. of Oldys] which I had discovered had been disposed of to Kippis for the Biographia Bri- tannica" — I. DTsraeli, 1838.^'^ A fact which was communicated to the public in 1778, could not have been discovered by Mr. DTsraeli. He speaks, on an- other occasion, of original discoveries : ^^ perhaps this is intended as a specimen of secondary discovery ! Fifth specimen. — I censured Mr. D'IsraeU for giving specimens of the secret emotions of Oldys as from a volume which he had fortunately discovered — because I found more than two-thirds of those speci- mens in a volume which he stated to be Jar-famed. The charge admitting of no reply, he pretends that I " captiously protest that these emotions are not secret, since they are found in a volume now open to all antiquaries." There is nothing more convenient, in certain case&, than misrepresentation and evasion. »4 I. I., p. 70. " Ibid. p. 79. *« Biog. Brit., Second edition, I. p. xx. " x, ^ p^ gg. '^ C. L., vi. 363. 184 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Sixth specimen. — The assertion that I gave an ac- count of the Mss. of Oldys from the same materials which Mr. D*IsraeU had used, is too ridiculous to de- serve an answer — but his assertion that, in giving it, I took no notice whatever of the portion which was ob- tained for Kippis, is undeniable. I said, however, at the end of the second section, " Further proofs of the assiduity of Oldys in recording the results of his studies, shall appear in the next section" — and I therein described the Mss. — in the words of Kippis ; pointing out several articles in which they are cited. It must be admitted that the latter assertion of Mr. D'Israeli is a masterpiece of quibbling criticism. Seventh specimen. — It is stated by Mr. D'IsraeH, with admirable gravity, that the contributions of Oldys to the Biographia Britannica were irrelevant to his subject " in the psychological character of the literary antiquary." So it appears that mental tendencies and qualifications have no connexion with individual character. We may infer the practicability of giving a psychological character of Bacon, without one word of allusion to the advancement of learning ; of Shakspeare, without glancing at the well-trod stage ; and of Nelson, or Wellington, without having one bat- tle in the hook ! This is a curious discovery on the application oi psychology. Eighth specimen. — I shall commence with an ex- tract: " When Oldys was employed in compiling the Harleian Miscellany, which is a collection of pam- phlets, it was not amiss to inform the world that tracts were ' prized at their weight in gold.' " — I. D'Israeli. Oldys made his remark on the prices of ILLUSTRATED. 185 tracts, in 1731 ;^ and the Harleian Miscellany was not published till 1744-6 !^ If we are to believe Mr. Disraeli on this occasion, 0\dy^ foresaw his con- nexion with the Earl of Oxford— ^resat^ the death of his patron in 1741 — foresaw the disposal of the Harleian books to Mr. Osborne — foresaw the publi- cation of the Harleian Miscellany — and over-stated the prices of tracts, in order to promote the sale of a work of which he foresaw that he should become the editor. It is evident that Mr. D'Israeli has very ex- traordinary ideas on candour and chronology. Such are the precious fruits of his arduous re- search, and votive enthusiasm. Such is the mode in which he attempts to illustrate the Honorary Profes- sor — to vindicate Oldys — and to vindicate himself ! Art. XXIV. — The poet Shenstone — the schoolmistress Sarah Lloyd — the critic D'ls- raeli : an anticlimax. " A deep and tender vein of sentiment runs, at no unfrequent times, through your charming lucubrations ; and I might instance, as one of the most touching, yet unexaggerated conceptions of human character, that even a novelist ever formed, the beautiful Essay upon Shenstone." — E. L. Bulwer, Esq. M. P. to I. D'ls- RAELi, Esq.' *^ Phoenix Britannicus, 1732. 4to. comp. pp. vii & 558. ^^ The Harleian Miscellany : or, a collection of scarce, curious, and entertaining pamphlets and tracts, etc. London : T. Osborne, 1744-6. 4to. 8 vols. ' England and the English, Third Edition f ii. 49. 186 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE D'Israeli has two articles anent my favorite Shen- stone — a vindication of the poet, and a critical disqui- sition on one of his choicest poems.^ Bulwer omits to state which of the charming lucubrations called forth his laudatory eloquence ; and, the family like- ness being very striking, I shall consider the united articles as forming the beautiful essay. It must be admitted that Bulwer, in addressing the said laudation to D'Israeli himself, has evinced a very just conception of character. I contend, never- theless, that the beautiful essay is — but I shall pro- duce the facts, and leave the reader to enjoy the luxury of drawing his own inferences. Detached annotations may perhaps be sufficient for the occasion. I should not choose to incur the ex- pense of weaving my remarks into an essay ; and, be- sides, an attempt to rival the beautiful essay might seem to prove the absence of that deep and tender vein of sentiment, without which it would be too much to hope for the applause of the sagacious distributor of celebrity.^ § 1. " The domestic life of a poet. — Shenstone vindi- cated." 1. " The dogmatism of Johnson, and the fastidiousness of Gray, . . . have fatally injured a fine natural genius in Shenstone.'' — I. D'Israeli. D'Israeli comes forward to vindicate the poet. He has given a specimen of his peculiar ideas on the 2 C. L., V. 173-91. The domestic life of a poet. — Shenstone vindicated. -f-iv. 353-9. Shenstone's School-mistress. ^ Vide England, Book the fourth, passim. ILLUSTRATED. 187 nature of vindication in his rhapsody on Oldys ; and he is anxious to do the same justice to Shenstone. So much by way of preface. 2. " Four material circumstances influenced his cha- racter, and were productive of all his unhappiness," — I. D'ISRAELI. One material circumstance influenced his charac- ter, and was productive of his unhappiness — which circumstance D'Israeli passes over in silence. The source of his unhappiness was want of health. Even in his sixteenth year he had courted the capricious maid in the woods, and in the ivave, and at the mine-' ral fountain, without success.^ At thirty we find him subject to fits of fever, to lowness of spirits, to twitch- ing s of the nerves, to involuntary vigils, etc.^ — and thus he wrote, at that heyday period of Ufe, to his inti- mate friend the Rev. Richard Graves: "About half the appetite, digestion, strength, spirits, etc. of a mower, would make me the happiest of mortals P'^ 3. " Four material circumstances, etc. The neglect he incurred in those poetical studies to which he had devoted his hopes ;" etc. — I. D'Israeli. In 1737 Shenstone printed, for private distribution, a small volume of poems.'' In 1740 he published a shilling pamphlet,^ and in 1741 a sixpenny pamphlet 9 — all anonymously. In 1748 his name * The Works in verse and prose, of W. Shenstone, Esq. 1764-9. 8vo. 3 Vols. — i. 130. ^ Ibid. iii. 90, 95, 99, etc. ^ Ibid. iii. 101. '' Poems upon various occasions. Oxford, 1737. Sm. 3vo. pp. viii -f- 72. ® The Judgment of Hercules, a poem. 1741. 8vo.+Works, iii. 18. * The School-mistress, a poem. 1742. Svo.-j- Works, iii. 53. 188 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE appeared as a poet, without his sanction^^ In 1755, having been pressed by Dodsley,^i he contributed to his miscellany the Pastoral Ballad, Rural Inscriptions, etc.^2 The ballad had been twelve years in manu- script ; and the inscriptions were published at the instigation of Sir George Lyttelton.^^ j^ 1753 \^ contributed a further portion of his poems to the same miscellany, ^^ some of which were intended to appear anonymously,^^ His elegies, chiefly written in early life, were left in manuscript, — Such is the poeti- cal history of Shenstone ; and it certainly affbrds no evidence of his inordinate appetite for poetical fame ! 4. " miy have the * Elegies' of Shenstone, which forty years ago formed for many of us the favourite poems of our youth, ceased to delight zis in mature life f — I. D'ls- RAELI. Why have the Elegies of Shenstone — the very por- tion of his poems which he forbore to publish — been chosen as the measure of his poetical stature ? Why is the Pastoral Ballad — which Akenside " preferred to every thing of the kind, either ancient or modern" ^^ — despatched with a solitary epithet? Have the Rural Inscriptions no claim to admiration ? Has the Ode to Memory ceased to delight us in mature life ? Should it have been left in oblivion ? ^0 A Collection of Poems. R. Dodsley, 1748. 3 Vols. Vol. 4, 1755. Vols. 5 & 6, 1753, 12mo. — i. 211. + Works, iii. 200. " Ibid. iii. 257. ^^ a. Collection etc. iv. 338-63. " Works, iii. 288. ^* A Collection etc. v. 1 etc. ^^ Works, iii. 313. ^° Recollection of some particulars in the life of the late W. Shenstone, Esq. [To W. Seward, Esq. F. R.S. by the Rev. R. Graves.] 1788. Sm. 8vo. p. 106. ILLUSTRATED. 189 5. " To what a melancholy state was our author reduced, ivhen he thus addressed his friend: — ' / suppose* etc. The features of this sad portrait are more particularly made out in another placer — I. D'Israeli. Shenstone, like most dyspeptic subjects, was apt to whine ;^^ and our invalid would sometimes relieve himself at the expense of his correspondents.^^ D'Is- raeli forms a portrait of our author^ by the junction of two of these querulous scraps. The interval, on which not a word is said, was seventeen years ! ^9 6. " Whenever forsaken by his company he describes the horrors around him, delivered up ' to winter, silence, and reflection ; ever foreseeing himself ' returning to the sarne series of melancholy hours'" — I. D'Israeli. I am no match for D'Israeli in ingenuity of quota- tion, but shall venture to throw in a word of criticism. Shenstone foresaw a series of melancholy hours — be- cause he had just experienced Jits of fever, and was apprehensive of a relapse. "^ He admitted that he was delivered up to winter, silence, and reflection — but he admitted, at the same time, that the summer had proved even a scene of jollity /^i 7. " Shenstone was early in life captivated by a young lady, whom Graves describes with all those mild and serene graces of pensive melancholy," etc. — I. D'Israeli. This is an' amusing specimen of what D'Israeli — when exercising his critical sagacity on others — calls the innocence of criticism. The nameless young lady whom Graves describes was his own sister.^^ 17 Works, iii. 60. »« Ibid. iii. 45. ^^ Ibid. iii. 44, 311. 20 Ibid. iii. 98-9. '^^ Ibid. iii. 232. ^ Recollection etc. pp. 40, 46. 190 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE 8. " It was his own fault that he did not accept the hand of the lady whom he so tenderly loved ; but his spirit could not eiidure to be a perpetvxil witness of her degradatum in the rank of society, by an inconsiderate union with poetry and poverty^ — I. D'Israeli. A man of letters should know that Miss G. was not Miss C. — I can beheve that Shenstone might have obtained the hand of Miss G., whom he always re- membered affectionately : " it will be necessary to my ease" says he, " that whoever marries her she should be happy." ^^ With Miss C, to whom alone the remark on loss of rank is applicable,^* he seems scarcely to have passed the Umits of flirtation.^^ 9. " It is probable that our poet had an intention of marrying his maid QMary Cutler]." — I. D'Israeli. A touching conception of character ! It appears in evidence, 1. That Shenstone made a jocular allusion to marrying his maid. 2. That he presented her with his portrait as a new-year gift. — But, it is im- probable that he had such an intention. 1. Because he made a jocular allusion to it. 2. Because Mrs. Arnold had much influence over him by her charms, her incantations, etc. 3. Because in the envoi to Mary Cutler he calls himself her master — and love is notoriously a leveller. 4. Because about nine years elapsed between the jocular allusion and the presenta- tion of the portrait.-^ 10. " The solitary magician, who had raised all these ^ Works, iii. 162, ^* Select Letters, 1778. 8vo. ii. 19. 25 Works, iii. 86+Graves, Recollection etc. p. 105. ^ Works, iii. 117.+10, 95, etc. ILLUSTRATED. 191 wonders^ [at the Leasowes] wets, in reality, an unfortu- nate poet, the tenant of a dilapidated farm-house, where the winds passed through, and the rains lodged, etc. — I. D' Is- raeli. The Leasowes was originally a small farm-house, but Shenstone exercised his skill and taste in im- proving it.-'^ Masons, carpenters, carvers, etc. were put in requisition ; ^s and we find that Lady Lux- borough, with two other friends, and their five ser- vants, were entertained for nine days in this dilapi- dated farm-house^ where the winds parsed through, and the rains lodged ! ^^ 11. " His elegant mind had not the force, by his produc- tions, to draw the celebrity he sighed after, to his hermitage,'^ 1. D'ISRAELI. The Leasowes was one of his productions — the " off- spring of his fancy*' ; and " long before he died," says Dr. Nash, " it had attracted the notice and procured him the friendship of persons the most distinguished for rank or genius." ^^ 12. " This article has been written in vain, if the reader has not already perceived, that they [tlie hopes and expec- tations of Shenstone] had haunted him in early life ; sick- ening his spirit after the possession of a poetical celebrity, unattainable by his genius ; some expectations too he might have cherished from the talent he possessed for political studies,'' etc. — I. D'Israeli. The chief misfortune of Shenstone was constitu- tional debility. An infernal lawsuit also robbed him 2^ Graves, Recollection, pp. 71-2. ^^ Works, iii. 191, 226. 29 Ibid. iii. 227. 530. 19^ CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE of his peace " for six of the best years of his life."'^ Both these facts D'Israeh conceals ! Another source of unhappiness is often alluded to in his correspon- dence. ^^ D'Israeli, with his usual candour and con- sistency, asserts it to have been a " master-passion for literary fame" — pretends that it " eluded his grasp" — that the calamity of this '^^ fine natural genius" was " mediocrity of genius" — and sums up as above, sup- porting his conclusions by a falsification of the TEXT of Shenstone ! The truth is no mystery. Shenstone had intended to follow some lucrative profession ; but the indolence which too frequently accompanies debility, and the rural delights of Harborough, overcame him.*^^ He soon perceived his error, ^^ and even foretold its con- sequences — but he could not retrace his steps. He next cherished hopes of preferment,^^ which he never obtained; and, finally, he clung to the hope of a pension — which death intercepted.^^ In 1748, which was his thirty-fourth year, he thus addressed Mr. Graves : " I have lost my road to happiness, I con- fess; and, instead of pursuing the way to the fine lawns, and venerable oaks, which distinguish the region of it, I am got into the pitiful parterre-garden of amusement^ and view the nobler scenes at a dis- tance" ^^ Explanation would be impertinence. I rather com- mend the passage to the notice of those who think it 31 Works, iii. 338. '^ Works, iii. 10, 44, 59, etc. 33 Graves, Recollection etc. pp. 31-6. ^4 Poems, 1737. Bed. H-Works, iii. 35. ^5 i^j^j j^j^ 32, 36 Graves, Recollection, pp. 165-6. " Works, iii. 161. ILLUSTRATED. 193 irksome to labour in their vocation, — It is observed by Graves, whose career was better adapted to secure happiness, that the effects of an inactive life on Shen- stone are too evident in his correspondence^^ — but one of the calamities of D'Israeli is obliquity of vision. § 2. On the editions, poetical character, index, and embelHshments, of the Schoolmistress. 1. " This first edition is now lying before me^ with its splendid ' red-letter* its ' seemly designs/ and what is more precious, its ' Index,' " — I. D'Israeli. The first edition was printed in 1737 ^^ — five years earlier than this ardent explorator of the curiosities of our national literature supposes. It has neither red-letter, nor seemly designs, nor Index. 2. " The purpose of this poem has been entirely 7nis- conceived, * * * it has been admired for its simplicity and tenderness, not for its exquisitely ludicrous turn /" — I. D'Is- raeli. Who could misconceive its drift? Neither Sarah Lloyd, who sat for the portrait, nor any one of the simple vassals who yielded obedience to her birchen sceptre. Read, Mr. D'Israeli, the conclusion of it — an eulogy on the inventor of Shrewsbury Cakes ! Re- member, also, that in quoting the second stanza you found it convenient to alter the punctuation, and omit the tender line : — " Who boasts unruly brats with birch to tame" — 3. " This discovery [of the character of the poem] / owe to the good fortune of possessing the original edition of * The School- Mistress,'" — I. D'Israeli. •■'8 Recollection etc, p. 56. ^^ Poems, 1737. pp. 17-22. K 194 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE To the edition of 1742 Shenstone added a ludi- crous INDEX, to show fools — as he very significant- ly says — that he was in jest ;'^^ and D'Israeh, who cites the anecdote, admits that he is indebted to that index for his discovery. Can he discover a choice of inferences ? 4. " But * the fool,' his subsequent editor , who, I regret to say, was Robert Dodsley, thought proper to suppress this amusing ' ludicrous index,''' — I. D'Israeli. Dodsley made no alterations in the collective edi- tion of 1764, without the concurrence of the most judicious friends of Shenstone*^ — so that the suppres- sion might have been attributed to an assembly of fools! But what is the fact? In 1758 Shenstone communicated to Dodsley, for publication in his mis- cellany, a revised and enlarged copy of the School- mistress — omitting the crude and useless Index.*^ The fool, therefore, was William Shenstone, Esquire. 5. " The truth is, that what is placed in the landskip over the thatched-house, and the birch-tree, is like a falling monster rather than a setting sun ; but the fruit-piece . . . Mr, Mynde has made sufficiently tempting" — I. D'Is- raeli. Mynde was the engraver employed ; ^^ but certain- ly did not etch the fruit-piece — nor could he make any thing tempting. The comparison which D'Israeli offers is one of the wildest conceptions that even a novelist ever formed. The setting sun more resembles a TiPULA siLVESTRis, or Fathcr-long-lcgs ! 40 Works, iii. 69. ''* Works, i. Preface, p. 7. *^ A Col- lection etc. Edit. 1758. i. 241. "=* Works, iii. 54. ILLUSTRATED. 195 6. " / shall now restore the ludicrous index, and adapt it to the stanzas of the later edition'' — L D'Israeli. The achievement of D'Israeli is the triumph of criticism ! He discovers the ludicrous turn of. a poem which had been described as partly burlesque before he commenced his charming lucubrations ;'^ and re- stores an index which the improved taste of its author led him to suppress ! If we may believe Bulwer, these are specimens of a great whole"^^ — the history of our vernacidar literature. I take leave of Shenstone and Sarah Lloyd with the familiarity which old acquaintance justifies. To D'Israeli and Bulwer it becomes me to make a ceremo- nious bow. — I consider the beautiful essay as one of the most impudent and absurd pieces of criticism that ever spoiled child of popularity ventured to publish — that ever spoiled child of popularity ventured to praise — and as perhaps without parallel, except in the €m\Q&iiizi of literature. *^* As the article on Shenstone is now considera- bly extended, and occasionally acuminated, a short note is all that can be requisite. Mr. D'Israeli objects against me that I " look upon the case of Shenstone like an apothecary." We may conclude that he would consider it as imperti- nence in an apothecary, to look upon the case of an in- valid ! The remark, in one respect, was not infelicitous — for many persons consider that I have hit the case of " Graves, Recollection etc. p. 142. "' England, ii. 4. k2 196 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Mr. D'lsraeli very exactly — though, from the chronic obstinacy of his complaint, the treatment adopted has not been attended with all those beneficial effects on the temperament of the patient, which the experi- ence of ordinary cases might have led his friends and admirers to expect. Art. XXV.— M. de Buffon and the Tour de Saint Louis — a critico-topographical sketch. '' Buffon often quitted the old tower he studied in, which was placed in the midst of his garden, for a walk in it i' — I. D'ISRAELI.l Johnson remarks, in very characteristic phrase, that to " abstract the mind from all local emotion would be impossible, if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish, if it were possible." ^ The charm of such associations is indeed extensively felt; and perhaps no lover of literature could visit, without receiving some beneficial impulse, the Tour de Saint Louis at Montbar — the favorite study of Buffon. It is therefore desirable to ascertain its exact site ; and it obviously comes within my jurisdiction to cor- rect an author who would mislead. The lamented Cuvier, who was a warm admirer of Buffon,^ and is one of his best biographers,* describes as the most curious of the contemporaneous accounts * C. L., i. 59. * Journey to the Western Islands, 1775. 8vo. p. 346. ^ Mrs. R. Lee, Memoirs of Baron Cuvier, 1833. 8vo. p. 12. * Biog. Univ., vi. 234-43. ILLUSTRATED. 197 of him the Visite a Buffon of M. Herault de Se- chelles.^ To that narrative I shall have recourse for an elucidation of the point at issue ; and as perpetual criticism, unless imperatively demanded for the sake of literature, is as repugnant to my feelings as it would be irksome to the reader, I shall intermix a portion of anecdote and description. M. de Sechelles, a young avocat du roi of family and fortune,^ visited M. le Comte de Buifon at Mont- bar in 178 5 J He had recently compHmented that eminent writer as the Interprete de la Nature ; and was very graciously received.^ Buffon was then in his seventy-eighth year ; but his appearance was that of a man of sixty, and his literary ardour was unabated.9 His favorite topics of conversation were natural history — composition — and himself ^^ I omit the effusions of his vanity, to introduce some morceaux choisis of more importance to students. Newton ascribed his discoveries to " industry and patient thought." ^^ Buffon said " Le genie n'est qu'une plus grande aptitude a la patience." ^^ jj^ was no doubt sincere in this very consolatory opinion ; for he meditated much before he took up the pen — revised and altered with unexampled perseverance what he had composed — and bestowed on it such re- peated perusals, that he had all his icritings by heart ! ^^ He seems to have advised an exclusive attention to ^ Visite a Buffon, 1788. In-8.=Voyage h Montbar. Paris, An ix. In-8. ^ Beugnot, Biog. Univ., xx. 222. "^ Voyage ^ Montbar, p. 1. ^ Ibid. pp. 2, 6. ^ Ibid. pp. 6, 17, etc. 10 Ibid. pp. 23, 48. ^^ Hist, of Grantham, 1806. 4to. p. 173. »2 V, ^ M., p. 15. '3 Ibid. pp. 20, 18, 46. 198 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE the capital works in each class of literature.^* Such advice, however, should not be received without cau- tion — for secondary works frequently afford import- ant facts, and capital works sometimes exhibit as- tounding fictions. He considered precision of ideas, and their correspondence, as the most valuable pro- perties of composition ; and declared himself to be still a learner in that exalted art,^^ His studies were his greatest pleasure, and occupied the chief portion of his time. To some person who expressed sur- prise at his celebrity, he made this memorable reply, " J'ai passe cinquante ans a mon bureau." ^^ The residence of M. de Buffon was no chateau; but it contained twelve rooms, was in excellent order, and very well furnished. The garden was planted with pines, plane-trees, sycamores, etc. flowers being intermixed. It was very steep, and had thirteen irregular terraces. There had formerly been a pit in which were kept lions and bears ; and some extensive aviaries still remained.^^ I proceed to describe his favorite cabinet, as it appeared to M. de Sechelles when he first viewed it. — The entrance was by green folding doors, within which was a screen on each side. The room was paved with tiles, wainscotted, and hung with prints of the birds and some quadrupeds belonging to the Histoire Naturelle. The only furniture v/as a couch, some old chairs covered with black leather, a table on which were some manuscripts, and a small black- looking table. His writing-desk, a coarse piece of »* V. a M , p. 52. 15 ibi(j^ pp 25, 47, 24. '^ Ibid. pp. 14, 44. ^7 Ibid. pp. 4, 10, 11. ILLUSTRATED. 199 chestnut-tree furniture, stood near the fire-place. It was open ; but there was nothing to be seen except the manuscript on which he was then engaged, the Traite sur VAimant. His pen lay by the side of it ; and above the desk was a cap of grey silk which he was accustomed to wear. Before it was his arm-chair, an old affair in bad state, on which had been care- lessly thrown a red morning gown with white stripes. Opposite the seat, on the wall, was an engraved por- trait of Newton. — I shall add to this curious picture the emphatic words of M. de Sechelles : " La Buffon a passe la plus grande et la plus belle portion de sa vie. La ont ete enfantes presque tons ses ou- vrages" ^^ This favorite cabinet was in the Tour de S. Louis, at the distance of presque un demi-quart de lieue, or about five hundred English yards, from the mansion of Buffon — and situated " a Vextremite de ses jar- dins," ^9 The precise situation of the Tour de S. Louis may seem perhaps, after all, a very unimportant question. Facts, however, are never unimportant: they are the parents of inferences — the parents of the whole circle of science. From the statement of D' Israeli we should conclude that Buffon chose the old tower as his study for the convenience of a refreshing walk on every side. The inference would be erroneous. The Tour de S. Louis was, as I have had occasion to remark, about five hundred yards from the house. Now, Buffon was very methodical ; and chose to pur- " Ibid. pp. 13, 14. '^ Ibid. p. 17. 200 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE sue his studies at that distance, not merely to avoid intrusion — but, says M. de Sechelles, '' parce quHl aime a separer ses travaux de ses affairesr-^ To com- prehend the force of these words, we must remember that BufFon was a man of business as well as a man of letters : his iron-works sometimes occupied four hundred pairs of hands.-^ I have no inclination to censure D'Israeli for the slight inaccuracy contained in the above text; but have chosen to illustrate it, because it exempli-" fies the connexion between facts and inferences — and may have its utility as a short and easy lesson for some of the numerous artificers of books who are now carrying on their operations. Such were the reasons which led me to transfer it from the Cuno^itujl of literature. *^* Patience under criticism is not one of the con- spicuous virtues of authors ; but it must be admitted, in their defence, that criticism is sometimes insidi- ously and rashly exercised. When administered by an accredited Professor, and in just proportions — neither over-sharply, nor infinitesimally — it should be submitted to with the best possible grace. Now, I maintain that Mr. D'Israeli, in this particular, is utterly graceless. When I have treated him sarcastically — for he is not only sarcastic in himself, hut the cause that sarcasm is in others — his excitement overflows in the " style of the fish-market." When circumstances have permitted 20 V. ^M., p. 18. 21 Ibid. p. 29. ILLUSTRATED. 201 me to express myself with my habitual moderation, he returns it with sarcasm. Thus, he calls the arti- cle on the Bayeux Tapestry, a meek dissertation ; and he says of the above article, in which I pass no cen- sure on him, that I am evidently ashamed of it ! Art. XXVI. — The romance of modern his- tory — last words of the Due d'Enghien. " At the murder of the Duke dEnghieUy the royal victim^ looking at the soldier s^ who had pointed their fusees, said, < Grenadiers f lower your arms, otherwise you will miss, or only wound me /' To two of them who proposed to tie a handkerchief over his eyes, he said, ' A loyal soldier who has been so often exposed to fire and sword, can see the approach of death with naked eyes, and without fear: "—I. D'Israeli.i " I was just going to ask you," said Spence in conversation with Pope, " a very foolish question, ' What should we read for ?' For ? why, to know facts;" 2 — I readily forgive Spence for asking this very foolish question^ since it led him to place on re- cord a very judicious answer ; an answer which, if it had due influence on writers and readers, would pro- duce an immeasurable improvement in the state of our literature. On the first glance at the extract relative to the ^ C. L., V. 335. ^ Observations, etc. by the Rev. J. Spence, 1820. Sin. 8vo. p. 45. k5 202 CURIOSITIES OP LITERATURE Due d'Enghien, I pronounced it to be a fiction. Entertaining decided notions as to the value of facts, notions perhaps similar to those which dictated the above-recorded answer, I made some exclamation not very complimentary to D' Israeli, and marked the extract for illustration. I did not feel confident that I should be able to trace it to its source ; but, with access to one of the richest libraries in the world, where every desirable facility is afforded to the researches of the studious, there seemed a chance of success. The search scarce- ly occupied ten minutes. The curiosity of literature proved to be a mere transcript from the Annual Re- gister ; 3 but D'Israeli, who loves to attempt emenda- tions, transposes the paragraphs of which it consists, and so adds to fiction — absurdity. No authentic account of the arrest and execution of the Due d'Enghien could be expected while France remained under the domination of Napoleon. In 1814 M. le Comte de Firmas-Peries published a well- written biographical sketch of the unfortunate prince.* He admits, " les derniers mots qu!on lui prete n^ont pas assez d^authenticite pour que nous les consacrions id" In 1815 M. le Baron de Marguerit, aided by various communications, wrote a more cir- cumstantial account of his life.^ M. Michaud, in a letter which I owe to his courtesy, dated Paris, le V^ Aoust 1815, describes the notice of M. de Marguerit 3 A. R. for 1804, p. 160. ^ Notice historique sur L.-A.-H. de Bourbon-Cond^, due d'Enghien, etc. A Paris, Michaud frferes, 1814. In-8. + Barbier, Diet, des ouvrages anonymes, 1822-7. No. *23027. ^ Biog. Univ., xiii. 149-57. ILLUSTRATED. 203 as very complete and accurate, '^ parcequ'elle a ete fournie en grande partie par des personnes attachees au prince'^ To M. de Marguerit I shall therefore ap- peal for the last words of the Due d^Engliien, I have read with attention two important pamphlets of later date : ^ they do not impeach the accuracy of what I am about to transcribe : — " On quitte la salle du conseil, I'on descend dans le foss^ par un escalier etroit, obscur et tortueux. Le prince se retourne vers Tofficier, [qui avait ^te ^leve dans la maison de Conde] et lui dit : * Est-ce que Von veut me plonger tout vivant dans un cachot ? Suis-je destine, d perir dans les oubliettes ? — Non, raon- seigneur, lui repond-il en sanglottant, soyez tranquille.' On con- tinue de marcher, et Ton arrive au lieu du massacre. Le jeune prince voit tout cet appareil et s'^crie : * Ah I grace au de/, je mourrai de la mart d'un soldat/ * * * Murat et I'un des aides-de- camp de Buonaparte ^taient presents k Texecution. En allant a la mort, le due d'Enghien desira qu'on remit a la princesse de Rohan, une tresse de cheveux, une lettre et un anneau. Un sol- dat s'en etait charg^ ; I'aide-de-camp s'en aperpoit, les saisit en s'^criant : * Personne ne doit faire ici les commissions d'un traitre/ Au moment d'etre frappe, le due d'Enghien, debout, et de I'air le plus intrepide, dit aux gendarmes : ' Allons, mes a?nis. — ^Tu u'as point d'amis ici,' dit une voix insolente et feroce : c'etait celle de Murat. II fut a I'instant fusille dans la partie orientale des fosses du chateau, a I'entree d'un petit jardin." After transcribing the above melancholy narra- tive, I am in no disposition to conclude in the style of the preceding articles; and shall therefore leave ^ I. Pibces judiciaires et historiques relatives au proces du due d'Enghien [par M. Dupin aine]. Paris, Baudouin frbres, 1823. In-8. — 2. Extrait des Memoires de M. le due de Rovigo, concernant la catastrophe de M. le due d'Enghien. A Paris, C. Gosselin, etc. 1823. In-8. 204} CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE the reader to shape his own inferences as to the extent of information, the ideas of historical tes- timony, and the evidences of a love of truth, which are discoverable in the compiler of the CuviojSitiejS of Eiteratur^. *^* The comment on this article is chiefly re- markable as affording the materials of two new canons of historical criticism — which, for the benefit of students, I shall draw out in form : — Canon I. An account not wholly inconsistent with the best authority, is a sufficient authority. Canon II. When a subject is mentioned incident- ally, it is not necessary to aim at accuracy. These canons should be fixed in the memories of all those who propose to read the lively miscellany, or other lively works of the historian of flim-flams, quarrels, calamities, etc. Art. XXVII. — An immaculate edition — Os Lusiadas de Camoes, por Dom Joz6 Maria de Souza-Botelho. " Whether such a miracle as an immaculate edition of a classical author does exist, I have never learnt ; hut an at- tempt has been made to obtain this glorious singularity — and was as nearly realised as is perhaps possible in the magnificent edition of As [52c] Lusiadas of Camoens, by Dom Joze Souza, in 1817." — I. D'Israeli. ^ » C. L., i. 117. ILLUSTRATED. 205 D'Israeli, in exhibiting his pretensions as a cul- tivator of hterary history, hazards the expression barren hibliography,^ Now, it is scarcely possible to take a safe step in literary history, or in editorship, without the aid of this barren bibliography ! I could cite in proof numerous instances ; but one may suffice — the immaculate edition of Os Lusiadas. The volume is entitled, Os Lusiadas, poemn epico de Luis de Camoes. Nova edi^do correcta, e dada a luz, por Dom laze Maria de Souza-Botelho, Morgado de Mutteus, Socio da Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa. Paris, na officina ti/pO" graphica de Firmin Didot, 1817, Folio. Portrait of Caraoens, and eleven plates. This edition was printed at the expense of M. de Souza for private distribution. If we except the Marlborough Gems, the Bute Botanical Tables, the Worsley Museum, and the Blundell Statues, it is per- haps the most magnificent of that class of books. The type, which is of peculiar beauty, was cast for the purpose ; the paper is of the finest quality ; and M. Firmin Didot, a true lover of the art, bestowed extreme care on the composition and press-work. M. Gerard, who contributed the portrait of Camoens, undertook the superintendence of the embellish- ments; and the gravers of Forster, H. Laurent, F. Lignon, Richomme, Toschi, etc., faithfully exhibited the drawings of Desenne and Fragonard. The appearance of this volume fixed attention. It was reviewed by M. Raynouard with all the richness of information, accuracy of taste, and lucidness of 2 Athenaeum, 1835. p. 626. 206 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE manner, which distinguish his writings ; ^ and a com- mittee of members of the Institut Royal, comprising MM. Visconti, Guerin, etc., which had been appoint- ed to examine it as a loork of art, after expressing their admiration at the successful efforts of those who contributed to its execution, thus concluded their report : — " Ce travail, que M. de Souza a consacre k I'honneur du poete son compatriote, et a I'avantage de la litterature de son pays, devient des aujourd'hui, par la communication lib^rale qu'il en fait k toutes les nations du monde civilis^. un monument plus glorieuxj plus utile et plus durable que ceux meme que Von pent eriger avec le marhre et le bronze."* The noble sentiments which animated M. de Souza in this enterprise, shall be explained in his own words; which I transcribe from the original Ms. " A Monseigneur I'Archeveque de Cantorbery et les autres Gardiens du Musee Britanique. Monseigneur, Milords et Messieurs Venant de terminer una Edition du Camoes que j'ai soign6e avec le sentiment d'amour pour la Patrie, et d'enthousiasme pour le Poete qui a si bien chante les tems de notre gloire, permettez- moi, Monseigneur, Milords et Messieurs, de vous prior de vouloir bien me faire I'honneur de faire placer I'exemplaire cy joint dans ^ Journal des Savans, 1818. pp. 387-98. The J. des S. v^^as re- established in 1816; and is an inexhaustible treasury of informa- tion. It contains above 1400 articles by MM. Abel-Remusat, Biot, Chezy, Cousin, Daunou, Letronne, Quatrem^re de Quincy, Raoul-Rocliette, Raynouard, Silvestre de Sacy, etc. MM. F. Cuvier, Flourens, Naudet, Villemain, etc. have lately become contributors. The editorial labour of 21 years has not abated the zeal and activity of M. Daunou. * Ibid. p. 389. ILLUSTRATED. 207 la bibliotheque du Musee Britanique, cet ouvrage ne devant pas etre vendu. J'ai Thonneur d'etre avec la plus haute Consideration Monseigneur, Milords et Messieurs Votre tres humble et trfes obeissant Serviteur D. Joseph Marie de Souza/' I shall now inquire to what extent the views of M. de Souza were realised. The first edition of Os Lu- siadas was printed at Lisbon by Antonio Gon9alvez in 1572. 4to. A second edition was printed in the same year, and much resembles it ; but in the former, the privilegio has " em Lisboa, a vinte & quatro dias do mes de Setembro, de MDLXXI." — and in the latter, " em Lisboa, a. xxiiij : de Setembro," etc.^ M. de Souza had before him two copies of the first edition, (one of which had been transmitted to him by Lord Holland,)^ but could not obtain a sight of the second edition for the purpose of collation.^ He therefore adopted the first edition as his standard; admitting, however, from the second a few readings which had been communicated to him in manu- script.^ About the year 1825 a copy of the second edition was obtained for the Royal Library at Paris; 9 and the text having been carefully collated with that of * Vide Bibliotheca Heberiana. Part VI. 1835. Nos. 605 and 606. I availed myself of this opportunity of comparing the two editions. It is stated in the catalogue, that the second " ap- pears to have been printed as a facsimile of the first edition^ and probably some years after it T ^ Os Lusiadas, 1817. Adv. p. vi. 7 Ibid. Adv. p. iii. « Ibid. p. 378. » Brunet, Nouvelles Recherches Bibliographiques, 1834. In-8. i. 259. 208 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE the first by M. Mablin, a man of letters conversant with the niceties of the Portuguese language, it be- came evident that the second edition had been revised hy Camoens himself.^^ M. Mablin published the re- sult of his collation in 1826.^^ He records, and criti- cally discusses, about thirty emendations which are contained in the second edition, but were not admitted into that o/'1817 ; so that the volume which had been projected with such rare enthusiasm, which was printed with such consummate art, adorned with such exquisite taste, produced at so immense an ex- pense, distributed as a model of editorial care, and crowned with unlimited applause^ fails to possess what constitutes the chief excellence of a classical edition — fails to exhibit what it was the especial ob- ject of M. de Souza to establish and perpetuate, a PURE AND CORRECT TEXT I The precipitancy with which M. de Souza adopted the conclusion that the second edition of Os Lusiadas had not been revised by Camoens is most unaccount- able. Father Diogo Barbosa Machado, the oracle of the literary history of Portugal, stated in 1752 that the second was a revised edition.^^ Dom Jose Carlos Pinto de Sousa also made the same statement in 1797 ; with the addition that there were then two copies in Portugal — one in the Royal Library, and !•' Raynouard, Journal des Savans, 1826. p. 528, etc. " Let- tre a I'academie royale des sciences de Lisbonne, sur le texte des Lusiades. Paris, 1826. In-8. pp. 77. ^^ " Foy esta obra [Os Lusiadas, 1572.] recebida com tal aplauso do orbe literario que no mesmo anno se reimprimio mais correctaJ'' Bibliotheca Lusitana, Lisboa, 1741-59. Fol. iii. 74. ILLUSTRATED. 209 the other in the library of the Marquis de Angeja.^^ This second edition is indeed one of the rarest BOOKS IN existence; but, if the public libraries of France could furnish no copy of it, if the two copies alluded to had disappeared before 1817, M. de Souza could easily have obtained a collation of its text — for it is preserved among the treasures of our own NATIONAL Museum.^* Nor was that the sole in- stance in which M. de Souza undervalued bihliogra- phy. The edition printed at Lisbon in 1609, faith- fully represents the revised text of 1572 ; and is, says M. Mablin, " sans contredit une des meilleures." ^^ M. de Souza had not seen that edition /^^ — but it is in my own small collection. I am aware that the encomiastic anecdote was chiefly borrowed of an estimable writer ;^7 and that the counter-evidence contained in the above remarks was not at that time accessible. But, why was the anec- dote repeated in 1834? Had the lights held out by Raynouard and Mablin never penetrated the beechen shades of our county of Bucks ? I shall not pursue the inquiry — having sufficiently commented on this portion of the CurioslititiS of Hiterature. *^* Is the comment on the above article genuine ? The point might be doubted, for the Honorary Pro- ^^ Bibliotheca Historica de Portugal. Lisboa, 1797. 8vo. p. 101. '* B. M. Cat. 8vo. ii. Art. Camoens. I have minutely examined this copy, aided by the valuable pamphlet of M. Mablin. ^^ Lettre, etc. p. 7. '^ Os Lusiadas, 1817. Adv. p. ix. ^' Vide J. Adarason, Memoirs of Camoens, 1820. 8vo. ii. 371. ^10 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE fessor escapes without one injurious epithet — but, from other circumstances, it appears to have been written by Mr. D'Israeh. He is now convinced that barren bibliography makes a fructiferous figure in hterary history ; and it is announced that what he artistically calls his " large picture of the history of man," ^^ is to be " critical, philosophical, and bibliographical"^^ To explain this mystery, he informs us that " bibliogra- phers are a class of men who are always at hand, ready at a beck." We may infer that he has received some new light touching the expediency and utility of the conjunction of labours. Art. XXVIIL — The three species of Dis- covery — in part illustrated by I. D'Israeli, Esq., D.C.L. and F.S.A. " I have discovered" — I. D'Israeli.^ This short text would invite to ample discussion ; but the subject has been incidentally illustrated in most of the preceding articles — to which let me add a sort of corollary. There are three species of discovery; 1. The dis- covery of that which no one else had discovered. 2. The discovery of that which no one else can discover. 3. The discovery of that which every one else has discovered. 18 Athenjeum, 1835. p. 626. '» Publishers' Circular, No. 1. 1 C. L., passim. ILLUSTRATED. 211 1. The first species of discovery is the choicest product of human intellect and curiosity — seldom ob- tained without laborious research, and patient consi- deration. It forms the proudest triumph to which the votary of science or literature can aspire — and every instance of baseless claim to it, deserves ex- posure ; deserves, if advanced unintentionalli/, to be disproved by facts — if insidiousl?/, to be held up to unsparing censure and contempt. This, it has been seen, is not an occasion which invites me to descant on the happy art — nor shall I here enumerate its laureate chiefs : their names and symbols appear on the adamantine walls of the Temple of Fame ! 2. The second species of discovery is a contribu- tion to the diffusion of error. What proof have we that the original Ms. of the Code of Justinian was discovered at Amalfi? 2 What proof that Odon bore a mace at the battle of Hastings, in order that he might not spill bloody but only break bones ?^ Are there testons of Henry VHI. with a head stamped on each side ? ^ Have we evidence to deprive Vasari and Ralegh of the honors of authorship ?^ Are we to be- lieve that Cervantes composed the most agreeable book in the Spanish language during his captivity in Bar- baryl^ Did Philip HI. of Spain die in the twenty- fourth year of his age ?7 Is it true that Purchas spent his life in travels ? ^ — that Lady Gethin had no con- ception of the claims of virtue ?^ — that Newton was led to meditate by a smart blow on the head?^^ — that Col- * Art. i. ^ Art. ii. "* Art. iii. ^ Arts. iv. and ix. ^ Art. viii. ' Art. x. ^ Arts. xi. and xii. ^ Art. xx, 1" Art. xxi. 21^ CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE lins burnt his odes before the door of his publisher ? ^^ etc. etc. — The man who corrects one prevalent error, or adds one fact to the published mass, is en- titled to thanks : the service, trivial in appearance, may dispel a host of false inferences, and lead to im- portant results. An author who, through extreme ignorance, or the reckless ambition of discovery, con- tributes to the diffusion of error — is not so valuable a member of society as a village schoolmaster. 3. The third species of discovery, with no claim to brilliancy, has at least no mischievous tendency ; and it sometimes proves a source of amusement. Ex. Gr. " Table-books of ivory are still used for memoranda." '^^ Aristarchus himself could scarcely condemn such in- nocent information — or, if disposed to express himself in the irascible mood, could only condemn it as the superfluity of discovery. I dismiss this expansive subject — which, in truth, would almost require a second series of illustrated Curioslitieje; of Hiteraturt. *^* The new Illustrator very unceremoniously des- patches this article, as it stood in the former edition, by declaring — it " calls for no remarks from me." I have introduced some additional touches ; and hope he will now recognise himself — at least in one section. Perhaps, however, he would have acted judiciously by despatching, with the same cool phrase, the other portions of the Curiosities of Literature Illustrated. " Art. xxii. ^2 c. L., iii. 41. ILLUSTRATED. 213 Art. XXIX. — The science of Literary Eco- nomy — " Masterly Imitators." " A Trick of following their Leaders To entertain their gentle Readers." — S. Butler. An experienced person informs us that " the craft of authorship has many mysteriesJ' ^ This is mere tantalization : it becomes me to be more com- mimicative. There exists a science which has escaped all our encyclopedists. Occasional traces of it are discover- able in antiquity; but its elaboration has been the work of modern times. I have named this hitherto- nameless science, and shall now define it. Literary Economy embraces the various means by which the producing classes of the community of literature — sometimes erroneously called authors — are enabled to meet the demands of the consuming classes — in common parlance readers — with the low- est amount of capital, and the least possible quantum of the labour of research and composition. A general view of the science would occupy more space than it would be convenient to allot ; and, as the disclosures involved in it might check the demand for the commodities of literature — a demand which, if no objection attach to the articles on the score of qua- lity, it would afford me extreme pleasure to promote — I shall now only notice its comparatively obvious ' C. L., i. 201. 214 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE instruments, Transcription^ Translation, and Conver- sion. I must apologize for deviating from one of the established rules of literary economy — in citing the authors to whom I am indebted. Specimen of Transcription, Picart.-— " The taste of his day, ran wholly in favour of anti- quity : ' No modern masters were worth looking at.' Picart, piqued at such prejudice, etched several pieces in imitation of ancient masters ; . . . These prints were much admired, as the works of Guido, Rembrandt, and others. Having had his joke, he published them under the title of Impostures innocentes." — W. Gilpin, M.A.2 " Picart had long been vexed at the taste of his day, which ran wholly in favour of antiquity, and no one would look at, much less admire, a modern master. He published a pretended collec- tion, or a set of prints, from the designs of the great painters ; in which he imitated the etchings and engravings of the various masters, and much were these prints admired as the works of Guido, Rembrandt, and others. Having had his joke, they were published under the title of Imposteurs Innocens." — I. D 'Is- raeli.^ Transcribers sometimes improve on their exem- plars. Gilpin very gravely informs us that Picart was piqued : D'Israeli rejects this alliteration — but admits that he was vexed, Gilpin writes Impostures innocentes = innocent impositions: D'Israeli writes Imposteurs innocens = innocent impostors. Admire, ye lovers of rhetoric, the personification ! 2 Essay on Prints, 1781. 8vo. p. 110. +1792. 8vo. p. 77. 3 C. L., ii. 13. ILLUSTRATED. S15 Second specimen of Transcription. " Some of his friends had advised him [the Duke of Bucking- ham] how generally hee was hated in England, and how needfull it would bee for his greater safetie to weare some coate of maile, or some other secret defensive armour; which the duke slighting, saied, ' It needes not ; ther are noe Roman spirits left.' " — Edited by J. Nichols, 1783." " I discovered the following notice of the Duke of Buckingham in the unpublished life of Sir Symonds d'Ewes. * Some of his friends had advised him how generally he was hated in England, and how needful it would be for his greater safety to wear some coat of mail, or some other secret defensive armour, which the duke slighting said, ' It needs not ; there are no Roman spirits left/ "—I. D'ISRAELI.« Manuscript authorities add to the dignity of com- position; but the perusal of ancient Mss. is rather laborious — as Herr von Raumer, or Sir Harris Nicolas would testify. The most economical method is to transcribe from print, and to cite the transcript as a Ms. One inconvenience, however, attends this method. We cannot cite the authority with the requisite minuteness. In the above, and in three similar in- stances, we have only — Harl, Ms. 646.'^ Specimen of Translation. " L'Abbe de Marolles avoit une si grande demangeaison d'ecrire, qu'il faisoit imprimer jusqu'a des Listes & a des Cata- logues de ses amis, *** M. Menage fit mettre sur le Livre de la Traduction des Epigrammes de Martial par I'Abbe de Marolles, Epigrammes contre Martial.''' — M. Charpektier, 17 ?^ * Extracts from the Ms. Journal of Sir Simonds D'Ewes, 1783. 4to. p. 39. ^ C. L., iv. 170. ^ C. L., iv. 121, 124 bis. ' Carpentariana, Paris, 1724. In-12. pp. 42-3. 216 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE " This Abb^ [de Marolles] was a most egregious scribbler ; and so tormented with violent fits of printing, that he even print- ed lists and catalogues of his friends. * * * On a book of his ver- sions of the Epigrams of Martial, this critic [Menage] wrote. Epigrams against Martial." — I. D'Isra-ELI.^ This specimen calls for two remarks. Dryden or Pope would have said itch of scribbling — but D'ls- raeli has fits of refinement. — Did the learned Me- nage write on calf-skin ? I apprehend he employed M. le Relieur to quiz M. I'Abbe. Second specimen of Translation. " Mignard peignit une Magdeleine sur une toile de Rome, & Garrigue alia donner aussitot avis en secret au Chevalier de Clairville, qu'jl devoit recevoir une Magdeleine du Guide, qui passoit pour un chef-d'oeuvre. Le Chevalier pria Garrigue de lui en faire avoir la preference qu'il promit de paier. Le tableau fut vendu deux mille livres." — M. I'Abbe de Monville, 1730.® " This great artist [Pierre Mignard] painted a Magdalen on a canvass fabricated at Rome. A broker, in concert with Mi- gnard, went to the Chevalier de Clairville, and told him as a secret that he was to receive from Italy a Magdalen of Guido, and his masterpiece. The chevalier caught the bait, begged the preference, and purchased the picture at a very high price." — I. D'ISRAELI.IO This translation occurs in the article Masterly Imi- tators — but it is not a masterly imitation. Why was the name of M. Garrigue omitted ? He was a dealer in curiosities ! Why are the words deux mille livres translated by a very high price ? This leaves too much to fancy. « C. L., ii. 147. » Vie de P. Mignard, Paris, 1730. In-12. p. 90. 10 C. L., ii. 11, ILLUSTRATED. 217 Specimen of Conversion, " M. PruniSf Chanoine regulier de Chancelade en P^rigord, parcouroit celte Province pour faire des recherches relatives a une Histoire du Perigord qu'il avoit entreprise. II arrive a I'ancien Chateau de Montaigne,, possede par M. le Comte de Segur de la Roquette, pour en visiter les archives, s'il s'y en trouvoit. On lui montre un vieux cofFre qui renfermoit des papiers condamnes depuis long-tems a I'oubli; on lui perraet d'y fouiller. II decouvre le Manuscrit original des Voyages de Montaigne, I'unique probablement qui existe/* — M. de Quer- LON." " A prebendary of Perigord, travelling through this province to make researclies relative to its history, arrived at the ancient chateau of Montaigne, in possession of a descendant of this great raan. He inquired for the archives, if there had been any. He was shown an old worm-eaten coffer, which had long held papers untouched by the incurious generations of Montaigne. Stifled in clouds of dust, he drew out the original manuscript of the Travels of Montaigne."— I. D'Israeli.'^ When the cost of an edifice threatens to exceed the estimate, the projector looks about for cheap mate- rials ; and converts them, with more or less skill, to the purposes required. It is precisely the same in literature. D' Israeli converts the materials which he obtained of M. de Querlon into a curiosity. We will examine his performance. — Why is the name of M. Prunis omitted ? He was a discoverer of the true class. Why is his literary project concealed ? It evidently led to his success. And why is he eject- ed from the Abbey of Chancellade ? Is he made a Prebendary of Perigord by way of compensation ? The office was a nonentity ! There were indeed " Journal du Voyage de Michel de Montaigne en Italic, etc. Paris, 1774. In-4. Disc, prelim, p. ii. '^ C. L., i. 32. L 218 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE thirty-four Canons of Perigueux. On what authority is it said that the chest was worm-eaten, and that M. Prunis was stifled in clouds of dust ? These are curi- ous specimens of embellishment ! Now, suppose that A. should convert the narrative of D'Israeh ; and that B. should convert the narrative of A. Would a shadow of the truth remain ? I have freely availed myself of transcription on this occasion ; and shall close with a specimen of conver- sion, from the learned author of Hermes. And so much for Transcription, and so much for Translation, and so much for Conversion. So much likewise as to the subject of this treatise. Literary Economy — for which be all honor paid to the nomi- nal author of the Curtn^lttie^ of literature. *^* I have discovered a science which Bacon omitted to register — which has eluded the micro- scopic eye of M. Ampere ; and I have established the claims of Mr. DTsraeli as one of its votaries. With what coin does he reward me ? He passes over my sagacity and my generosity; declares that the article " calls for no remarks ;" and so — blowing at the house of cards which it has cost him such infi- nite pains to build — rejects the honor of being con- sidered as one of those who — " * * * entertain their gentle readers/* ILLUSTRATED. S19 Art. XXX. — Hints on Camaraderie Litte- raire — with select specimens. " Le proverbe therapeutique Passe-moi la casse et je te passer at le sent, est applicable a presque toutes les conditions et a tous les etats ; mais nous le voyons justifie d'une manifere incroyable dans I'histoire de la republique des lettresj surtout a certaines epoques plus rapproch^es de la noire." — De Moleon. We are indebted to M. de Moleon for one of the earliest essays on camaraderie litteraire.^ It is written with considerable animation; but it wants profundity, and the adornment of specimens. The term may require explanation. Camaraderie LiTTERAiRE dcnotcs the excessive laudation bestowed by one writer on another under the expectation of a prompt repayment in the same coin, and the repay- ment itself. The object of the traffic is, the accumu- lation of popularity — which leads to the accumulation of pelf. It is clear, from this definition, that no man in his sober senses would lavish the riches of his phrase- book on so unattractive a subject as the quarrels of authors — with so wide and flowery a field before him, as camaraderie litteraire. There are two branches of it. 1. Camaraderie lit- ttraire en masque, and 2. Camaraderie litteraire ouverte. To the former pertain anonymous paragraphs insert- ed in newspapers, and anonymous articles contributed 1 Encvclop^die des Gens du Monde, iv. 553. l2 220 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE to reviews — with auto-reviews of both descriptions, and to the latter, those paragraphs which bear the name of their respective authors. The first branch is almost a terra incognita. Without some positive enactment — without a return of the names of all those who have exercised the art of preparing ultra-laudatory paragraphs, reviews, etc. — the subject must remain intangible. Perhaps the Honorable Member for Kilkenny will make a motion for such a return. In the interim, some idea of the anonymous system may be obtained from the five volumes of Periodical Criticism hy Sir Walter Scott, Bart, — allowance being made for its operation in the hands of reviewers of inferior stamp. The second branch presents no difficulties. The materials are abundant. I offer a selection of speci- mens, as a guide to aspirants and collectors. " Lord Orford, honourably known under the name of Horace Walpole (a name that presents to the mind, taste, fancy, and learning) has said" etc. — I. D'Israeli, 1795.^ Speculations sometimes fail. Horace Walpole died in 1797, without having made a response. He could not foresee that D'lsraeli would become the Horace Walpole of literature^ — and characterise the veritable Horace Walpole as one of the Pucks of lite- rature.* " The sepulchral monuments of Mr. Gough, form a splendid work of this kind, [illustrative of ancient manners] which has de- servedly gained their author the distinguished title of the English Montfaucon."— I. D'Israeli, 1793.^ ' Essay on the Literary Character, 1795. 8vo. p. 208. ^ Bul- wer, England, ii. 49. * C. L., vi. 84. ^ Dissertation on Anecdotes, 1793. 8vo. p. 7. ILLUSTRATED. 221 This was another unfortunate speculation — unfor- tunate for both parties ! Mr. Gough made no re- sponse. He died in 1809 ; and in 1823 the aforesaid D'Israeli chose to denounce our English Montfaucon as a man rarely over-kind to any one — as a light-finger- ed antiquary — as a purloiner of relics of royalty !^ These specimens, it must be admitted, are not very attractive ; and, indeed, are rather offered by way of caution than of guidance. Our prospect now becomes more exhilarating. " See also some very curious matter further confirming this disputed point, in Mr. D'Israeli's Quarrels of Authors : a work replete with interesting anecdote, selected and arranged with infi- nite taste."— S. W. Singer, 1820.' " We have been taught to enjoy the two ages of Genius and of Taste. The literary public are deeply indebted to the editorial care, the taste, and the enthusiasm of Mr. Singer, for exquisite re- prints of some valuable writers." — I. D'Israeli, 1823.^ The due observance of proportion, and the deli- cacy with which the infinite and the exquisite are balanced, render this a choice pair of specimens. The most fastidious collector might give it a place in his scrap-book. " Mr. D'Israeli, the modern ' Indagator invictissimus ' of every thing that is curious and interesting, and precious, re- lating to our history and literature," — T. F.Dibdin, 1824 ^ " I discover many hundred new things in it, [The Library Companion] and your skilful reference to existing objects ... is most happy and peculiar. * * * I shall often be looking you over, ^ C. L., vi. 108-9. ' Anecdotes, etc. by the Rev. J. Spence, 1820. 8vo. p. 144. 8 C. L., vi. 370. ^ Library Companion, 1824. 8vo. p. 201. ^22 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE and I have no doubt I shall be able to supply some important corrigenda for a future edition." — I. D'Israeli, 1824.^° The Rev. Dr. Dibdin, whose works richly deserve illustration^ is the laudator general of men of letters — his critics excepted. He has performed the duties of his office with considerable vivacity — but, on this oc- casion, without sufficient inquiry into the laudability of his object. The answer is characteristic of its author — a perfect curiosity. " Memoirs of the Embassy of the Marshal de Bassompierre to the Court of England in 1626. Translated with Notes. 8vo. 1819. I recollect no volume of the size in our historical literature so de- sirable for the general reader as the present. Its varied informa- tion is perpetually enlivened by a searching spirit, which strikes at the results of historical evidence, deducing inferences, and de- tecting nice discriminations, such as a mind practised in the business of life, and drawing from its own experience, could alone discover, and which prove that the writer has been con- versant with courts more modern than those of the historical an- tiquary. The writer, or the Editor, as in the coyness, or the pride of his talents, he styles himself, is John Wilson Croker, Esquire, M.P. Secretary of the Admiralty ; a gentleman in office, who has had the rare merit of occupying his leisure by literature." — I. D'Israeli, 1828.^1 ** To Mr. D'Israeli's love and knowledge of literary history, and to his friendly assistance, the editor is very much indebted ;" — J.W. Croker, 1831.'^ The royal salute fired off by D'Israeli must have been a severe trial to the feelings of Mr. Croker. It was more than the regulations prescribed; and he ^0 Reminiscences, by the Rev. T. F. Dibdin, 1836. 8vo, pp. 731-2. " Commentaries on Charles I. 1828. 8vo. i. 131. ^'^ Boswell's Johnson, 1831. 8vo. Preface, p. xxii. ILLUSTRATED. 223 answered it, after an interval, with extreme economy of ammunition. ** Mr. D'Isiaeli, from whose works the best-informed reader may learn much, and who in the temper of his writings as well as in the research which they display, may be a useful model for succeeding authors, calls Bunyan ' the Spenser of the people/ " — Robert Southey, 1830.'^ Vive muchos afios, excelentisimo Senor — and con- tinue to produce works which will attain longevity. Continue also to praise, where praise is due ; but, when you deUver Ms. to Caxton — remember the in- fluence of your name. " One writer I must single from the rest — I speak of yourself . . . the Horace Walpole of literature ... the most elegant gossip upon the learned letters . . . you who have studied the literary character so deeply . . . have portrayed so well the calamities of authors ... all the perseverance of the antiqua- rian, and all the enthusiasm of the scholar ... by examination you re-create . . . drawing new views and bold deductions ... the most novel deductions ... the most giaceful truths ... a deep and tender vein of sentiment . . . most touching conception of character . . . your charming lucubrations . . . those classical and most charming essays . . . every part is adorned . . . every page displays a beauty and none an imperti- nence . . . specimens of a great whole ... to fill no inconsi- derable vacuum in English literature ... to add a permanent glory to the letters of your country" . . . etc. — E. L. Bulwer toI.D'Israeli.*' The judicious and modest Bulwer asserts that we have not even secondary names in History. Our Turners, our Lingards, our Hallams, our Southeys, our Tytlers, are beneath his notice ! But, what an irradiation of panegyric on DTsraeli — and what bright '3 Pilgrim's Progress. 1830- 8vo. Life of B. p. xcvi. ^^ Eng- land, Book the fourth, sparsim. • ^24 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE beams of reflection may we not anticipate from a cer- tain history of our vernacular literature ! In despair of being able to discover a choicer spe- cimen, I shall conclude. It may be sufficient to state, for the information of those collectors who love method, that the results of their researches may be classed as speculative or responsive — prompt or tardy — proportionate or disproportionate — etc. Perhaps it would be prudent to withhold this fragment of an article on camaraderie litttraire — as it may tend to deprive me of the henejit of the act. But, I owe it to the chair in which I have the honor to sit ; and, besides, it arose out of the perusal of the Cunoslttitil of Hitcrature. *^* This article, says Mr. D'Israeli, " calls for no remarks from me ;" but I cannot take leave of my fellow-traveller on the highways andhy-ways o/* litera- ture with the same abruptness. Authors do not always perceive the real tendency of their genius. — Mr. D'Israeli declares, with refer- ence to the final and most elaborate article in the Curiosities of Literature, that the feelings of Oldys " echoed in his own bosom." No two men of letters could be more unlike ! Oldys was a faithful and assiduous searcher after truth — but no artist in com- position : Mr. D'Israeli very frequently sports with facts — but, in his serene moments, is a clever phrase- maker. Oldys constantly cited his authorities— and was perfectly unobtrusive : Mr. D'Israeli unfairly conceals his authorities — and is perpetually exhibit- ing himself in distortions, in misapplied sarcasm, and in witticism. ILLUSTRATED. ^25 On no occasion have we better reason to expect a display of skill, than in this species of warfare. Mr. D'Israeli, it is evident, is proud of the success of his former encounters. He has now overshot the mark, and left himself defenceless. He has set his seal to my estimate of his charac- ter ; and has more than justified the tone of my criti- cisms. He has cast away his tact, his taste, and his temper — in order to assert the dignity of his station !^^ And so concludes the series of articles. I have endeavoured to unite interest of subject with the charm of variety, and to avoid those inferior anec- dotes which D'Israeli so pointedly calls the very farthing pieces of history ! I could not undertake the intenninable toil of a complete survey of the Curiosi- ties of Literature ; but I profess to sketch the general course and character of the stream — and to convey some notion of its reaches, of its icindings, of its shal- lows, and of its falls. Objects out of number present- ed themselves to notice; and, even on the limited plan adopted, I have sometimes feared that — " I more voluminous should grow Than Holinshed or Stow." I now crave attention to a serious episode. Cri- ticism is an ungracious task ; and, on other accounts, one of the least attractive branches of authorship. It is an ungracious task ; because the motives to it are often misinterpreted — especially by those who take " 1. 1, p. 1. l5 226 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE no real interest in the state of literature. It wants the predominant attraction of authorship ; for works of occasional criticism, however executed, soon pass into comparative oblivion. But criticism requires no advocacy. To Litera- ture we chiefly owe the formation of the national character; which in turn it faithfully reflects. It is the imperishable medal which transmits our features to the compatriot of every class — to the most distant cHmes — to the generations of futurity. It is the choicest species of national property ; and whatever tends to preserve it from deterioration merits ap- plause. Such is the object of criticism ; and I am persuaded it would soon acquire dignity, if the public would cease to tolerate the deception and imperti- nence of the invisible piece-workers of the craft. Criticism, properly exercised, is no other than the vindication of truth; but, however incontrovertible its importance, there is scope for variety of opinion on the mode of its application. Should its dictates be enforced by stern reprehension ? Should they be clothed in such holiday and lady terms as scarcely imply censure ? Is it allowable to introduce irony and sarcasm ? The medicine, I conceive, should be suited to the nature of the complaint, and to the idiosyncrasy of the patient. If truth seems to have presided — if we discover proofs of that care which the public claims — the faults arising from defective education, from the ab- sence of experience, from the unobvious nature of the requisite authorities, or from the occasional urgency of despatch, should be pointed out with urbanity; ILLUSTRATED. 227 and the share of commendation which justice and candour demand, should be freely bestowed. If an author has united the benefits of a careful education, of travel in foreign countries, of intercourse with men of letters, of access to the best deposito- ries of books, of more than competence, and of an extended life of leisure, we may be allowed to raise our expectations; and to express our disappoint- ment, should serious disappointment ensue, without pecuUar reserve. If such an author, asserting a pure love of literature, solicits the patronage of the public — and returns it with the perversion of truth, with the most impudent pretences of discovery, with the most absurd errors, with perhaps the most extraordi- nary examples of the concentration of error which the wide field of error afibrds; if such an author, elated by the praise of those whose praise should stimulate to excellence, and by the imitative shouts of the periodicals, presumes to cast his censures and his ridicule on some of the most valuable writers which the nation claims ; presumes to set criticism at defi- ance, to declare that 'Upraise cannot any longer extend his celebrity^'' and that " censure cannot condemn what has won the reward of public favour^^ — it can require no apology if a lover of truth and literature endeavours, by the most forcible means which he commands, to convince the public to what extent its confidence and its favors have been abused — if he endeavours to re- cover the author himself fi'om that inebriated state which the fumes of excessive praise have produced — and to prevail on him to exercise those abilities which he unquestionably possesses, in a manner more 228 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE conducive to public utility and his own permanent re- putation. Such were the considerations which led to the composition of this volume. The history of it is correctly stated in the exordium, with the exception of what is obviously fictitious ; one circumstance only requiring to be added. It was intended to be a mere squib — a hint to more competent critics — to which design its fanciful form seemed appropriate ; but, before I could make much progress in it, the public voice had directed me to England and the English, hy Edward Lytton Bulwer, Esq., M.P. — a work which, in spite of its occasional extravagances, has been read by thousands at home, and will often be appealed to abroad. I bore in remembrance that Milton, at no auspicious period, had described our nation as " not beneath the reach of any point, the highest that human capacity can soar to ;" and could not but feel astonished at an attempt to estimate the intellectual spirit of the time in the shape of an act of homage to D'Israeli. This astonishment increased when I found him placed at the head of our miscellaneous writers — the vocabulary of eulogy almost exhausted in his favor — and a conspicuous station allotted to the Curiosities of Literature ! The critical project forth- with assumed an importance which I had not before attached to it. I felt the necessity of exertion, the expediency of elaboration ; and I conceived that by extending it, without altering its form, it might also serve as an exposition of the arts of the popular CLIQUE — as a picture of the write-with-ease school OF LITERATURE. The what school of literature ? ex- ILLUSTRATED. 229 claims Bulwer. The phrase, it must be admitted, requires explanation; and with such explanation I shall conclude this episode. The continental critics make perpetual allusions to the classical and romantic schools of literature. We have two similar schools of literature in England — the classical school, and the write-icith-ease school. An author of the classical school aims at perfection. He values Aristotle and Quinctilian, because their precepts seem to rest on the eternal basis of reason and propriety. He admires the choicest works of antiquity, because they exemplify his ideas of excel- lence. When he undertakes to communicate infor- mation or amusement, he weighs the tendency of his project — matures the plan — and distributes in due proportion its subordinate parts. He appears before the public in his best attire. Is the object of his work matter of fact ? He is convinced that there is nothing more beautiful than truth ; and he spares no pains to attain it — suffers no prejudice to induce him to conceal it. Is it fiction ? If he cannot reach its happier flights, he at least makes it subservient to the improvement of morals and taste. He feels that his native language has its peculiar character, and he respects it. He may not have been endowed with the richer gifts of nature; but he exerts himself to raise the public taste to that standard of excellence which studious reflection has led him to form. He considers quality as the test of authorship — as the only substantial claim to literary distinction. An author of the write-with-ease school chiefly aims at popularity. He rejects the established rules of 230 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE art, and the models of antiquity, as incompetent guides in this age of exquisite intellectuality — as trammels which would rather spoil than improve his natural gait. The defects in the master-pieces of romantic literature he converts into precedents. When he projects a new work, he studies above all things the taste of the public — before whom he ap- pears with as much ceremony as an unwashed arti- ficer ! Does he undertake matters of fact? Re- search is toilsome ; and to compare the various authorities — to adjust their discrepancies — requires time. He therefore seeks ease and rapidity of execu- tion in implicit confidence — aware, moreover, that reviewers are often very dim-sighted. Does he un- dertake avowed fiction? It is difficult to reach novelty of conception, and he substitutes for it novelty of form. He is sufficiently ambitious of smartness, and tricks out his native language with the cheap imported trumpery of a bazar. He may possess excellent abilities ; but he writes doivn to the taste of the public. He considers quantity as the test of authorship — as the principal claim to literary distinction. I do not exhibit the portraits of individuals, but a picture of the schools. The colouring is after nature; but perhaps the lights are too bright — the shadows rather too broad and deep. I add therefore, as an inscription, the chaste yet glowing sentence of M^'*^. Louise Ozenne : " Ne soyons jamais assez classiques pour reprouver Shakspeare, assez romantiques pour reprouver Racine ; mais partout oii nous sentirons se reveler le genie, que ce soit sous la forme ideale et I ILLUSTRATED. 231 accomplie du classique ou sous la forme originale et variee du romantique, preparons de Vencens et tressons des couronnes" I resume the chair, and proceed in my accustomed strain ; in order that no invisible critic should have it in his power to twit me with — " Infelix operis summ^, quia ponere totum Nesciet." An author whose work has reached its ninth edi- tion, may be said to wear the chaplet of popularity. Dr. Mavor, I am aware, outlived the 250th edition of his English Spelling-hook, and Mrs. Rundell now ex- ults in the 60th of her Domestic Cookery ; but, ortho- graphy is essential in times of refinement, and cookery is studied by all sensible persons as one of the conser- vative arts. On the other hand — as the substantial productions of literature are now more than ever at- tainable, the public would not so readily exchange the precious metals for curiosities if it did not place confidence in the dealer, and believe them to be genuine articles ! A ninth edition has been tacitly admitted. To speak accurately, one sixth portion of the work has reached its 7iinth edition. But even this is more than common success ; and it leads me to offer some short suggestions on future editions. I recommend, in the first instance, an editio expur- gata, or family edition — the superintendence of which should be confided to the executors of the late Mr. Bowdler. The office would be no sinecure. As a successor to the family edition, I propose an illustrated edition. To this should be prefixed An 2S2 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE Inquiry into the Literary Character of L U Israeli^ Esq. (towards which I have furnished various hints) and a collection of testimonia, as is usual in classi- cal publications. Some extra copies of the testimo- nia might be entitled Specimens of Critical Sagacity ; and would form a valuable note-book for juvenile reviewers. The peculiar attention of the editors (for no individual could successfully illustrate a work to which a host of authors has contributed) would be further required; 1. On the citation of authorities. 2. On the translations. 3. On certain instances of metamorphosis, and 4. On typographic economy. Master Purchas, the unheard-of traveller, justly condemns those writers who omit the citation of authorities — " as if their own assertion were sufficient authoritie in things borrowed." This omission on the part of D'Israeli should be supplied. The names of Huet, Menage, etc. would occupy small space ; and abbreviations might be devised for those of M. Ame- lot de la Houssaye, M. de Maziere Abbe de Mon- ville, and M. de Vigneul-Marville alias Dom Bona- venture d'Argonne, Chartreux ! The chief varieties of translation have been com- mented on with ability by Lord Woodhouselee ; but he omits phonetic translation — in which D'Israeli excels. It is an imitation of the sound and colloca- tion of words, rather than of the sense. Ex. Gr. " The great and admirable Voyages [from Madrid to the Escurial etc.] of the King Mr. Philip." -— " The inhabitants were passed on the edge of the sword," — " It altered his health," etc. This mode of transla- tion may eventually assimilate all languages ; but, to ILLUSTRATED. 23S the lover of idiomatic purity — the occurrence of it is like the screech of an owl in the midst of an air by Grisi or Albertazzi. Very curious specimens of metamorphosis occur in the liveli/ miscellany — specimens which might have posed Peter Burman himself! Who has not heard of the learned antiquary M. Le Grand d'Aussy ? Who but D' Israeli could metamorphose him into Le Grand d'Assoucy ! I apprehend he means D' Assoucy, empereur du burlesque — the pitoyable auteur of whom said Boileau : — " Et, jusqu'a D 'Assoucy, tout trouva des lecteurs." The disposition to provide cheap literature is one of the hopeful signs of the times. It prevails with our eminent bibliopolists, and suits the public taste ; but it requires to be met by expedients. Favorite phrases are found in all classes of composition — from the par- liamentary speech of Her Most Gracious Majesty to the most trivial of critical essays. They save time to the composer, but waste that of the compositor. I therefore submit, as conducive to economy, that such phrases be prepared in stereotype, Ex. Gr. i have DISCOVERED I SHALL PRESERVE SECRET HISTORY IT IS SAID MS. LETTER OF THE TIMES man of genius — flim-flams — etc. I have also to advise the exclusion of the one thousand and one superfluous notes of admiration which Master ^\x^t hath foisted into the volumes. Voltaire observes, " On doit des egards aux vivants ; on ne doit aux morts que la vtrite" I doubt the cor- rectness of the maxim ; but, whatever be the pun- gency of these illustrations, have avoided all infrac- 234 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE ILLUSTRATED. tion of it. D'Israeli shall bear me witness. " I en- joy," says he, dating from the shades — of Braden- ham House, " a sort oi posthumous reputation." The defunct author receives the precise amount of his claim, la verite ; and, if I cannot call on him to alter one sentence of what he has written — I hope to have some influence with those who read hr facts — and with future editors of the Curiosities of Literature, It remains for me to announce the immediate vacation of the chair ; and to commit the defence of my sayings and doings to other critics, their heirs and successors. To my patrons, some explanation is due. If I have ever felt ambition, it has been the ambition of authorship : but, a more exact review of the state and prospects of literature has convinced me that not to he an author will soon be the chief mark of distinction ! It has convinced me that this once teachable nation is about to be transformed into a nation of authors — that her literature will become deteriorated in proportion to its over-production — that the vocation of the critic will resemble that of the most humble of parish functionaries — and that his labours will be just as effective in the prevention of offences ! 235 Klrtag on &ontxo\)tx»s : DEDUCED FROM THE PRACTICE OF A VETERAN ; AND ADAPTED TO THE MEANEST CAPACITY. " To observe the ridiculous attitudes in which great men ap- pear, v^^hen they employ the style of the fish-market, may be one great means of restraining that ferocious pride often breaking out in the republic of letters." — I. D'Israeli. I PERCEIVE signs of immediate warfare be- tween men of facts, and men of ideas — between the classical school, and the write-with-ease school. Some hints on controversy may therefore be no inappro- priate addition to this volume — the author of which first sounded the trump of alarm in the field of litera- ture. A system of tactics, adapted to the occasion, is an obvious desideratum ; but it should be based on the widest experience — and who can calculate the dura- tion of the contest? Homer sings a war of ten years ; and Schiller records one of thirty years. It would be absurd, therefore, to speculate on the cessa- tion of hostilities ; and injudicious to defer instruc- tion on the score of its future perfectibility. The series of ideas now developed, if beneath the dignity of the theme, may have some utility as a rudimental IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. ESSAY ; and the a propos of its appearance may atone for its defects. We are not entirely left to the exercise of our inventive faculties. A Veteran of celebrity - — a man of ideas — has already astounded us by his move- ments ; and has evinced his familiarity with the numerous resources of stratagemical science. From his practice we deduce our precepts ; and thus, as a POPULAR author significantly remarks, we enable the reader to combine the delight which is derived from anecdotes, with the philosophy which is founded on examples. Idea I. AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM is an ap- proved RULE IN AFFAIRS OF CONTROVERSY; BUT IT IS SOMETIMES SLIGHTED, — If, therefore, the work of your opponent should be inaccessible to the public,^ let the reply be made accessible.^ Let its appear- ance be proclaimed in the diurnals, in the hehdoma- dals, etc. — and you may chance to obtain a tem,po- rary triumph. Idea II. Remember that " if a title be ob- scure, IT raises a prejudice against the author."*' — ITie title of your pamphlet should beam with brightness. Adopt, for example. The Illustrator Illustrated. You have the authority of a late Profes- sor of Criticism for the peculiar application of the word illustrated ; and of a late Professor of Poetry ' Curiosities of Literature Illustrated. Sm. 8vo. pp. IGO. ^^ Tiie Illustrator Illustrated. 1838. 8vo. pp. 81. ^ (^unosj. ties of Literature. Ninth edition, ii. 60. IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. 237 for the collocation of the triad of words — witness, Tlie Examiner Examined.* If modesty should in- duce you to conceal your name — say, By the Author Idea III. Remember also that " a preface, be- ing THE entrance TO A BOOK, SHOULD INVITE BY ITS BEAUTY."^ — lutroducc, iu accordance with this judicious maxim, an eulogy on yourself: if ever we attain the beautiful in composition, it is when we endite con amore. Introduce also, in proof of your ex- quisite taste, a glowing review of some illustrated ornament of the Bibliotheque du Monde.^ It may even be stated, should such be the attractive fact, that you have sometimes mused in silence and oblivion between the Abbe de la Rue and John Pinkerton.^ If to proemial beauty you wish to add utility, cen- sure your rivals. Perchance you deal in anecdote and literary history. Declare, in consequence, that Andrews is " too often trivial ;" that Seward is " too often careless ;" that Thomas Warton wrestled with " barren antiquarianism ;" and that Joseph Warton had a " fragmentary mind." ^ If any one of your works should have been less successful than the others, announce the " severe accuracy" of its con- tents.9 Advert, in no equivocal terms, to the very curious synchronism — the dawn of " philosophical thinking," and the dawn of your own lucubrations.^^ Idea IV. Should affairs become serious, en- * [By E. C] Oxford, 1809. 8vo. pp. 57. ^ C. L., i. 103. 6 I. I., p. 2, etc. ''Ibid. p. 5. « Ibid. p. 3. Mbid. p.7. 10 Ibid. p. 3. 238 IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. DEAVOUR TO FORM A LITERARY UNION; AND TO CONCILIATE THE WAVERING SCRIBES. — Iiivoke the aid of Lucian and Erasmus ^^ — men of renown, and smart controversialists. Allude to your friendly colloquies with the learned Mr. D.^^ — though he held you very lightly. Celebrate the courtesy of Mr. T.^^ — though he may have chanced to disport himself on your superficial research, your Jits of affectation, etc. De- clare, in extra-pathetic phrase, that your sarcasm on Miss A. was a congratulation ! i'* Idea V. In adumbrating the character of your OPPONENT^ ABSTAIN FROM EXCESSIVE FLATTERY. Describe him as an " obscure individual :" ^^ this will enhance the value of your marvellous efforts to illus- trate him ; and may help to convince the public of his previous incapacity as an illustrator. Declare that he " never emancipates himself for an instant from his morbid moroseness :" ^^ this will stamp you as a discoverer of that which no one else can discover ; and it must also inevitably reduce the circle of his readers — for we live in the age of comic literature ! Call him a " solemn idiot," an " atom of spite," a " clod," ^'^ a " carl ;" ^^ and complain of his " want of taste and manners:" ^9 should he be a bachelor, he can never hope to proceed; and you may be sure his book will never become the book of the boudoir. Idea VI. If you address the literate and the " I. I., p. 12. ^2 Ibid. pp. 18, 22. »3 Ibid. p. 80. '4 Ibid. p. 27. 1^ Ibid. p. 80. ^^ i^id. p. 12. " Ibid, p. 48. '« Ibid. p. 2. '^ Ibid. p. 77. IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. 289 REFINED, IT WOULD BE IMPOLITIC TO EXHIBIT YOUR OP- PONENT AS VERY SENSIBLE TO THE MISFORTUNES OF GENIUS. — A censure has been lanced at your singular statement that Camoens ''perished in a hospital:" declare, in consequence, that your " hypercritic can- not perceive the distinction between a natural ces- sation of life, and its extinction from want and misery." 20 ^^ exposure has been made of your numerous misrepresentations and errors on the poet Shenstone : declare that he had mani/ sorrov^s — but that " it is not his least misfortune to have found a vindicator in Mr. * * *." An exposure has been made of your sentimental fiction on the public ignition of the Odes of Collins : declare that your man of facts estimates " the agonies of a neglected poet at the PRICE OF PRINT AND PAPER !*'22 Such remarks place your opponent in no amiable light; and if they do not prove that you are a brother of the craft — at least prove that you can write prose poetically ! Idea VII. An over-anxiety to multiply cha- racteristics, MAY BETRAY INTO UNINTENTIONAL EULOGY : " PRAY YOU AVOID IT." Do UOt, aS a POPU- LAR writer once did, call your opponent a " man of facts :" 23 there are many readers who possess a cer- tain genius for drawing comparisons. Do not call your opponent a " hammerer of dates :" ^^ it is a maxim that chronology is one of the eyes of his- tory. Avoid objecting against him that his head is =» 1. 1., p. 26. =*> Ibid. p. 79. ^2 i^id. p. QQ. "^ Ibid, pp. 10, 19, etc. =** Ibid. p. 37. 240 IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. unfit to " hold together tico opposite ideas of the same thing :"25 ^Jth reflecting persons, it may tend to obtain for him the character of a man of con- sistency. Pray you avoid remarking that no one can complain of " the spangles of his style :" ^6 it may lead to the awkward inference that his style possesses some more substantial and valuable quali- ties. Idea VIII. To obviate misconception, fore- warn THE INEXPERIENCED READER AS TO THE CRI- TICAL QUALIFICATIONS OF YOUR OPPONENT. State, in limine, that neither his " habitual pursuits," nor his " native dispositions," fit him for the enterprise : ^^ the less you know of him, the more decisive this evi- dence of your extraordinary penetration. Compare him to " Midas," with his erect auricles i^^ you may perhaps pass for another Apollo — at least, with those who believe in mythology. Pronounce him to be a " critical charlatan :" ~9 the public, it may be said, is not always unfavorable to charlatans, critical or otherwise — but short is the period of their celebrity. Produce some striking instance of his want of lite- rary taste. Assert, for example, that he " seems half inclined to criticise" Don Quixote .-^o you may surely avail yourself oi fiction, when writing on so celebrated a work of fiction. It may also be ad- visable to apologize to the reader for your extreme condescension in holding " a branglement with a wrongheadr^^ 25 1. 1., p. 46. 26 Ibid. p. 80. 27 Ibid. p. 2. =^« Ibid . p. 30. 29 xbid. p. 74. 30 Ibid. p. 32. 21 Ibid. p. 1. IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. 241 Idea IX. As authors are apt to poetise in THE STATEiMENT OF THEIR MOTIVES, YOU MAY CON- JECTURE THOSE OF YOUR ADVERSARY. — He may have pleaded a love of truth and literature :^^ pass over his plea in silence — for it is not to be conceived that i/ou should sympathise with him in so romantic a notion ! Insinuate, rather, that he has failed in some attempt at authorship — and therefore turned critic : ^^ this may pass as a proof of your incomparable acquaint- ance with the secret history of our vernacular literature. Denounce, in illustration of your beautiful theory, his " rabid hatred and ill-concealed jealousy" of popular writers i^* should you be believed, he can have no chance of escape — but must fall, pierced by a hun- dred missiles. Idea X. In noticing the work of your oppo- nent, YOU need not aim at the minute accuracy OF MERE BIBLIOGRAPHERS. — The title of his work may indicate no extreme respect for your own titles OF HONOR : modestly omit a certain portion of it — though it chance to destroy his physiognomic beauty.^^ You need not specify the size of his work : when you avoid affirmations, you also avoid error. Say you observe that " his tract is printed at Greenwich :" ^^ this remark (which reminds us that his subject pos- sesses tractility) will prove that you did not conde- scend to read on to the conclusion — witness the colophon : " London : F. Shoberl, Junior, Leicester Street, Leicester Square." — As bibUography is made '^C.l..l.,episode. =^3 I, i,^ p. 77. 3* ibid. p. 77. 3* Ibid. p. 1. ^Ibid. p. 81. M 2i2 JDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. up of titles, sizes, colophons, etc. — and is one of the essentials of literary history — the public will no doubt be satisfied, from this specimen, of your incom- parable qualifications for the projected history of our vernacular literature. Idea XI. In addition to your bibliographical ELUCIDATIONS, YOU MAY CRITICALLY CHARACTERISE THE WORK OF YOUR OPPONENT. — State, cxordially, that the produce of his spare hours occupied " sevei^al years :" ^"^ you reduce him to a mere plodder — envi- ous of your distinction as the laureate essayist of half a century. Should he have pointed out six errors in a curiosity oi ten lines ^^ — state, as the sole result of his labours, the detection of " half-a-dozen nullities !" : ^^ this will prove that you possess a sufficient share of erudition to write synecdochichally ! State, in con- clusion, that his criticism is conveyed " in language as mean- as his subjects:"*^ the subjects being your own, it may seem like modesty to condemn; and your e-siixsrordinary tact in the appreciation of cha- racter, will be evident to those who are aware that the subjects are Queen Elizabeth, Ralegh, Claren- don, Newton, Buffon, etc. In support of your cen- sures on his " uncouth pen," produce some glaring specimens. Suppose he should have said " coeiml authorities," when you think contemporary was the exclusive word: allude to this evidence of his non- synonymous genius at least three times."^^ Suppose he should have said that " Burnet saw Mary once a week;" slyly convince him of your immense superio- 37 1. 1., pp. 12, 16. ^^ C. L. I., Art. .3. a^ I. I., p. 8. 40 Ibid. p. 80. "' Ibid. pp. 42, 51. IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. S43 rity as a phrase-maker, by writing " Burnet visited her hebdomodally I"^^ Suppose he should have said that Sir Walter Ralegh " did not undervalue the fide- lity and varied attainments of Hariot" : exclaim, " O thou appraiser of small wares !" *^ No one can be in- sensible to the peculiar felicity of this designation — when applied to the reviewer of the Curiosities of Literature, Idea XII. If convenient, you may avail your- self OF THE INFORMATION AFFORDED BY YOUR OPPO- NENT. — This practice, to view it favorably, is a covert compliment ; and may serve to smooth the asperities of warfare. I cannot, therefore, omit to notice it. Your opponent may have ascertained, at the expense of considerable research, that the Mss. of the Pan- dects are "chiefly of \he fourteenth century:"'*^ re- peat the statement as your own ; and add, with suita- ble gravity, " This he admits."*^ He may have said, on the authority of a manuscript note which chance threw in his way, that a certain anecdote on the poet Collins was recorded by Griffiths :^^ with the solemnity of a revealer of secrets — ascribe the same anecdote to Griffiths^"^ He may have enume- rated the principal biographers of Sir Isaac Newton, assigning the ' anonT/mous articles to their respective authors:*^ repeat the names of Birch, Nicolls, etc., with all the imitative fidelity of one of the psittacus family I^s ^2 T. I., p. 58. "^ Ibid, p, 35. "* C. L. I., Art. 1 . « I. I., p. 14. ^e C. L. I., Art. 22. '^ I. I., p. 66. "« C. L. I., Art. 21. *^ I. I., p. 63. M 2 244 IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. Idea XIII. An assertion not mathematically ACCURATE, MAY OCCASIONALLY BE MADE FOR THE SAKE OF EFFECT. — As this idea is familiar to the majority of controversialists, no accumulation of ex- amples can be requisite — but its importance forbids me to pass it over in silence. Your opponent may have estimated the duration of the popular feeling on base testers at " about eighteen years :" ^^ refer him to the Remaines of Camden ; and declare, with all the confidence of a victor, that the learned historian informs us it was " two hundred years and more."^^ Your opponent may have twitted you on the state- ment that Philip III. of Spain died in the " twenty- fourth year of his age :" ^" add, by way of explanation and correction, " For the word age read reign^^ — and appeal, in support of your corrective assertion, to L'art de verifier les Dates,^^ If Master Camden ^^ and Dom Clement ^^ should chance to contradict you, the . fact may escape detection — for who would dis- turb the remains of Camden on account of a base tester ? — and it is certain that many readers, I might safely say the fair proportion, have an aversion to the art de verifier les dates. Idea XIV. A Fact or argument of an inconve- niently FORMIDABLE NATURE, MAY BE MET STRATA- GEM ICALLY. — In every species of controversy, there is scope for the exercise of stratagemical ingenuity. I shall draw two examples from one subject — pre- mising that other subjects possess more fertility — 50 c. L. I., Art. 3. ^'I. I.,p. 21. « C. L. L, Art. 10. " 1. I., p. 43. " Remaines, 1614. 4to. p, 208. " A. V. D., 1770. p. 823. IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. 245 and that the resources of the art are inexhausti- ble. Has your opponent denied the Florentine Ms. of the Pandects to be " the original :" ^'^ reply, that it " may be fairly styled an original." ^^ Every one ad- mits the utility of the exchange of articles ! Has he laboured to prove the continued validity of the Roman law ?^^ : exclaim, " Who denies it ?"^9 ^ bold ques- tion very often poses. It may escape recollection that Lord Karnes says, all the world knows it was " in oblivion for ages."^^ — Clever specimens of this de- scription are sure to obtain extensive notice. The consuming classes of the community of literature are collectors, readers, and students. The mere collectors are out of the question. The readers, however, may give you credit for ratiocinative ingenuity — and the students cannot fail to observe your stratagemical inge- nuity. Idea XV. In quoting your opponent, you may DEVIATE from THE RULES LAID DOWN BY THEORETI- CAL CRITICS. — " Nothing," says Franklin, "gives an author so great pleasure, as to find his works respect- fully quoted."^'^ Quote, nevertheless, your opponent : it is not probable that he will consider his case as within the category. Has he said that Herodotus " incidentally gives an excellent definition of his- tory" ?^^: quote him, omitting the word incidentally — add that Herodotus certainly never intended it ! ^^ — and you make it appear that he has no extraor- 5« C.L. I., Art.l. '' 1. 1., p. 14. 58 C. L. I., Art. 1. *» 1. I., p. 16. ^^ Essays, 1749. 8vo.p. 15. ^' Works, 1806. Bvo. iii. 453. ^^ C. L. I., Art. 15. " I. I., p. 50. 246 IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. dinary skill in drawing an inference. Has he been compelled, by your whimsical circumlocution, to as- sume that the most agreeable book in the Spanish language means El ingenioso hidalgo D. Quijote de la Mancha?:^'^ pretend that he " consents to assume" — and infer that he is disposed to criticise that immortal work ! ^^ Has he said, in one of his choicest exordial paragraphs, " the other expedient may not be practi-^ cable. I promise, therefore, no more than a plain statement of facts" ?:^^ mar the quotation at plea- sure 67 — and you make it appear that he cannot write tolerable English, even when advancing towards a^ plain statement of facts ! The difference between theory and practice, has been noticed by many a writer; and it is very obvious in controversial quotation. To conclude this idea, you " May boldly deviate from the common track." Idea XVI. If the text of your opponent SHOULD BE UNSUITED TO FRAGMENTARY EXHIBITION, YOU MAY SUPPLY ITS DEFICIENCIES BY INVENTION. On a subject which requires invention, no precepts can have the force of examples. I commence, there- fore, with examples : " I '11 have our Michael Cassio on the hip I"^^ — « by this distinguished member of the society of English Bibliophiles." ^9 — " Your fifty years are reduced to eighteen !"7o — « I deny the sen- tinel," ^^ — "I deny the mace; 'tis no mace; 'tis a staff." ^~ Such inventive efforts may seem to prove «* C. L. I., Art. 8. ^' I. I., p. 32. '' C. L. I., Art. 14. «7 1. 1., p. 48. «8 Ibid. p. 19. ^» Ibid. p. 51. '» Ibid, p. 21. " Ibid. p. 18. ''^ Ibid. p. 17. . IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. 247 that your opponent is another lago — that he has no small share of conceit — no small share of asperity and petulance. In short, the reader may fancy him to resemble the critic so strikingly portrayed by Mr. Alfred CrowquilL Idea XVII. In quoting your own works, you ARE AT LIBERTY TO INTRODUCE ANY CONVENIENT EMENDATIONS. — The maxim that we may do as we like with our own is so extensively adopted, that it may appear superfluous to assert its applicability to quotation — but, as this essay is the only didactic work on controversy, and should therefore be com- plete in all the divisions and sub-divisions of the art, I resolve to furnish a specimen. Suppose you had said that Lady G — , who was in reality a " most excellent person,'^ had *' no conception of the dignity of the female character, the claims of virtue, and the duties of honour r"^^ You may have an unconquer- able aversion to apologies ; but should the daring fiction have been sharply censured 7* — you may alter the punctuation, omit the more offensive parts, and quote it thus : " she had no conception of the dig- nity of the female character." '^ Idea XVIII. A fact or argUxMENt which cannot BE MET WITH ANY CHANCE OF SUCCESS, SHOULD BE EVADED, — Is evasion a part of controversy? The question has been proposed; but not decided. For the nones, as Master Chaucer saith — it may be allow- able to assume an affirmative decision. — Odon, you '' C. L., iv. 27. 74 c, L, i^^ A.rt. 20. '' I. I., p. 61. 248 IDEAS ON CONTROVERSr. have asserted, bore a mace at the battle of Hastings that " he might not spill blood, but only break bones /" ^^ : it would be useless to explain ; for your critic is evidently an over-grave person — quite insen- sible to the charms of flippancy ! You have stated, in support of one of your pretended discoveries, that Vasari was " a mere painter and goldsmith :" ^^ to yield so capital a point may be a provoking alternative ; but do not attempt a defence — for the fiction is utterly indefensible. You have ascribed to John Stow, the narrative of Edmond Howes — and on this error have built one of your exquisite philosophical reflections:^^ submit in silence to the censure of your critic — to his impertinence on thrusts and bloios, on edible curio- sities, etc. — for the error did not become a F.S.A. ! You believe that " Garth did not write his own Dis- pensary's—and projecting a similar discovery on Ralegh, have pretended to learn from a Ms. that he "often consulted Hoskins on his literary works :"79 hear with patience the taunts of your opponent — and forbear all allusion to the Ms ! You have been de- tected in offering the print of Tom Hearne, as a manuscript curiosity from the Ashmolean Museum ; and in various errors of transcription : ^^ evade the serious charge — entitle your article black-letter DATES — and crave mercy for " mis-copying the black-letter numerals." You have been censured for presuming to try one of your philosophical experi- ments on the character of Queen Mary II. i^^ pass over the charge of deception, invention, etc. — and en- '« C. L., i. 246. ^"^ Ibid. V. 236. '' Ibid. i. 330. '^ Ibid. V. 234. 80 c. L. I., Art. 18. «' Ibid. Art. 19. IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. 2i9 deavour to amuse the reader with remarks on heb- domodal visits, self-artists, miniatures, pictures large as life, etc. You have assumed the inability of a cele- brated literary antiquary, on whose life and habits you profess to have made arduous inquiries, to execute a work which he never projected^^ — {^ order to magnify your own merit on the score of a similar work which you have had the temerity to announce: this may have been a very clever device ; but pass over it in silence — for it cannot now be the most gratifying arti- cle in your retrospective review. You have exhibited an unparalleled assemblage of misrepresentation and error on the poet Shenstone : ^^ you may not be able to produce a defence — but you can supply its place by vague remarks on the evidences of genius, \hQ psychology of genius, the calamities of genius, etc. Your opponent has too accurately stated the amount of your claims to discovery ;^'^ he has named the proprietors of some of those ornaments which you have been accustomed to display on the promenade of literature ; ^^ he has dis- closed a portion of the secrets of that art which yOu have most intensely studied — the art of acquiring popularity.^^ The facts cannot be denied : they must be evaded. Declare that the essays in which they ap- pear — call for no remarks /^^ — The apphcative nature of these specimens is almost beyond question ; and I seem to hear the reader exclaim, " How incomplete would this Hand-book for Controversialists have been — if the author had evaded the subject of evasion !" «2 C. L., vi. 391. '3 Ibid.v. 173-91. iv. 353-9. " C. L. I., Art. 28. «^ Ibid. Art. 29. '' Ibid. Art. 30. " I. I., p. 77. 250 IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. Idea XIX. As errors of every descriptio>j MAY BE COMMITTED, IT IS DESIRABLE TO ACQUIRE A FACILITY IN EVERY SPECIES OF PALLIATION. Ac- cording to the Welsh Triads, there are three excuses for remitting punishment : there are certainly three species of palliation. 1. Palliation proper — in which the error is reduced to its lowest denomination. 2. Palliation reflective — in which the blame is laid on another person. 3. Palliation extraordinary — in which it is converted into self-laudation. 1. Pallia- tion proper. — You have been censured for calling the Pandects of Justinian, the Code :^^ if, perchance, a D.C.L. — call it " a mistake which it required no very recondite erudition to correct." ^9 You have been censured for naming a French ambassador Villeroy — instead of De Beaumont : so declare, at the hazard of retaliation, that the " name is wholly insignificant." 9^ You have been censured for ante- dating the most agreeable hook in the Spanish language, by a quarter of a century ; and for shifting the site of its composition to another quarter of the world :^" compare the censure of these enormous errors, to the cannonade of a sparrow on a chimney-top.^^ — The per- tinency of these examples seems to obviate the neces- sity of addition or illustration. 2. Palliation reflec- tive. — You have been censured for some palpable error on Philip III. of Spain: 9* call it a clerical error^^ — and the censure may fall on your amanu- ensis. You have been censured for describing a tester which no one ever saw : 9^ it may have been ^« C. L. I., Art. 1. «« I I., p. 13. »" C.L.I, Art. 6. «»I. I., p. 28. 92 C. L. I., Alt. 8. ^M. I., p. 31. 9'C. L. I., Art. 10. »' I. I., p. 43. ^^ C. L. I., Art. 3. IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. 251 an erratum of your intellectuals — but transfer it to your typographer.97 You have been censured for denying the existence of some information in the celebrated work of Tiraboschi : ^^ expose the imper- fection of the index 99 — and the censure may fall on the index-maker. The amanuensis, the typographer, and the index-maker, may be left to conduct their own defence. 3. Palliation extraordinary. — To con- vert palliation into self-laudation is one of the master- strokes in the art of controversy. I shall produce two examples. You have been censured for record- ing an obvious fiction as literary history :^^ declare that you were " guided by a right feeling" ^^^ You have been censured for some metallographic dh- surdity:^^^ attribute it to the "wantonness of an im- providentyawcy." ^^^ The reader may infer, and the inference cannot but advance your palliative efforts, that the man who possesses right feeling and fancy — could only have been censured by one who pos- sesses neither ! — Perfect accuracy is scarcely attain- able by mortals ; and you will no doubt receive the thanks of men of letters, for discovering such inge- nious excuses for fallibility. Idea XX. With a view to keep your opponent in a STATE of critical ALARM, YOU SHOULD OCCASIONALLY ENiGMATizE. — Hc may have written a meek disserta- tion on " some rude and faded needle-work :"^oi pre- dict that it will turn out a " serious affair for him" — and that " he will find the remnants flutter about «M. I., p.21. «« C. L. I., Art. iv. '--M. I., p. 24. '«« C. L. I., Art 8. i«i 1. I., p. 33. 102 c. L. I., Art. 3. '">'' I. [;, p. 20. 10' C. L. I., Art. 2. ^252 IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. him."^^^ He may have written a somewhat-quizzing- but-certainly-sufficiently-methodical essay on a teston of Henry VIH. :^^^ pretend that Camden nods assent to your superior numismatic information; and after adverting to an illustrative essay by the learned Douce, say that you " might add something which Mr. * * * shall not at present learn." ^^^ Such expe- dients, however, should be resorted to very cauti- ously. It may lead your opponent to produce some potent testimonials in favor of his meek dissertation — to call in Camden, who may horizontally shake his venerable beard at you — and to announce the existence of a critical sentence touching a certain POPULAR writer, " which Mr. * * * shall not at present learn" Idea XXI. The points whereon you may have BEEN CRITICISED RATHER TWITTINGLY, SHOULD BE CAREFULLY NOTED WITH A VIEW TO RETALIATION. Your opponent may have named you the " lively author :" ^^^ represent him as an enemy to that " viva- city which displays all things in their true shape." ^^^ He may have called you, in his ironic way, the Columbus of literary history ; "^ and may have alarm- ingly thinned the ranks of your discoveries : declare, on some topic which he has riyht seriously and amply discussed,^^^ that he has " only revealed a circum- stance to be found in the most common sources." ^'^^ He may have censured your " embellishment of facts," and non-citation of authorities :""* denounce ^O'l.I., p. 18. io«C.L. I.,Art. 3. ^^^ I. j.^ p. 22. ^"^ C. L. I., exordium, etc. ^^^ 1. I., p. 11. ^i" C. L. I., Art. 8. "» Ibid. Art. 11. "M.I. p. 45. ^^^ C.h.l.^ exordium h episode. IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. 253 him as a " man who has nothing but facts in his head,"^i* and censure the '^parade of his autho- rities." ^^^ He may have made some sarcastic remark on your " spangled phraseology :" ^^^ proclaim, to the whole Repuhlique des Lettres, his " thoroughly un- gentlemanlike style." ^^^ He may have cited your metrical attempts in order to shew, by sly italics, that every line had its fault : ^^^ remark, on some poem which exhibits wit and airy grace, that it could not have been written by " any of the ancestors of his family !" ^^9 He may have repeatedly exposed your bibliographical superficiality : ^-^ retort that he " can work and wriggle his way through a priced catalogue as well as any other brother grub." ^^^ Idea XXII. On the subjects which you have MAL-TREATED MOST EGREGlOVSLYf YOU SHOULD ANSWER YOUR OPPONENT MOST TRIUMPHANTLY. The more ineffectual your means of defence, the more urgent the necessity of exertion ; and the more audacious your statements, the better the chance of their being credited by the most thinking people! Suppose that, in writing on Spanish history, you have given an absurd fiction as an authentic anec- dote ; and have abbreviated the life of a monarch by some twenty years.^^- Suppose, moreover, that your opponent should have censured these misdoings : ^^^ draw him at your chariot wheels over three pages of sarcasm ! ^-^ Suppose that, in writing on La Guir- ''' I. I., p. 9. "5 Ibid, pp. 45, 80. i'« C. L. I., Art. 14. "7 I. I , p. 43. "« C. L. I., exordium. "^ I. I., p. 61. 120 C. L. I., Arts. 7, 24, etc. '''' I. 1., p. 69, i« C. L., i. 285. 123 Q L I., Art. 10. 124 j j^ p 4^^ gf^. ^51 IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. lande de Julie, you have unadvisedly attempted to historise, to ratiocinate, to sentimentallze'^^^ — and that your failure in every attempt has been made evident i^^e represent your opponent as an idiotic plodder, and ask, " what business has Clod with Cupids and Zephyrs?" 127 Idea XXIII. In the absence of facts, the TRUE PABULUM OF RATIOCINATION, IT MAY BE EXPE- DIENT TO VITUPERATE. — lu this brauch of contro- versy, no art can equal the gift of nature — but some short instructions may be desirable. Should you, for instance, have occasion to introduce the obnoxious word rascal — add, " observe, Mr, * * *, rascal /" ^"^ If your opponent should have declined to repeat the obvious error of some noted author whose work he had avowedly consulted, you may style him a " vile suppressor of evidence."" ^'^^ You cannot, without a manifest violation of zoological nomenclature, ex- pressly call a biped by the name of a quadruped — but you may intimate that your opponent, with cer- tain charming lucubrations before him, resembles a " pig in a drawing room^ ^^^ You may also intimate, as a contrast to this unseemly figure, and in proof of your command over the more lofty species of invec- tive imagery, that he is a " wild cat of the moun- tains I"^^^ To multiply examples, might be an in- fringement of copjTight. It is sufficient to state that a mere controversial pamphlet may be made to serve as a Vituperative Vocabulary ! ^=5 C. L., i. 363, etc. '^ C. L. I., Art. 14. ^^^ I. I., p. 48. J=« Ibid. p. 28. ^"^ Ibid. p. 21. ^^o ibid. p. 8. "1 Ibid. p. 80. IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. 2r)J Idea XXIV. A controversial peroration should BE COUCHED IN TERMS AT ONCE ORNATE AND STRIKING. — It is pitiable to compare (as the ghost of Samuel Johnson sagaciously remarks) " incipient grandeur with final vulgarity." ^'^^ xhe reader should not be exposed to the sensation — nor should his opinions be allowed to vibrate between the victor and the victim. To obviate such casualties, the resources of art should be called into employ. Throw out, accord- ingly, a premonitory hint on the success of your en- counters with " some of the pride of chivalry :" it will be easy to anticipate the result of a tilt with a carl in a " leathern jerkin." ^^^ As you appropin- quate the moment which is to decide the fate of your opponent, it may be advisable to give further note of preparation by stating that his criticism " is a nuisance in literary controversy, and required abate- ment." ^^^ You may then declare, with the solemnity due to so important an occasion, that you have placed him hors de combat — or if you are anxious to express the idea with perfect originality, and with all the charm of vernacular elegance, say that " he has not a leg left to stand upon^ ^^^ Idea XXV. It is consolatory to believe that " EVERY WORK MUST BE JUDGED BY ITS DESIGN,'* And now, Mr. Disraeli, I shall epitomise the rules of controversy as deduced from your latest work — The Illustrator Illustrated. (^ You may ascribe the meanest motives to your opponent, without a »32 Rejected Addresses, Art. 10. ^""^ I. I., p. 2. ^^* Ibid, p. 80. '35 iijjj p_8j_ % 256 IDEAS ON CONTROVERSY. shadow of authority ; you may mis-state facts with reckless effrontery; you may introduce falsified and fictitious quotations; you may have recourse to the most contemptible evasion ; you may abuse with all the virulence of a charlatan who has been unexpect- edly deprived of his mask — if the design of your work is " TO ASSERT THE DIGNITY OF YOUR STATION." ^^^ 23olton Corner. Greenwich, 31 July 1838. '3« I. I.,p. 1. " It is not in the power of thought to conceive or words to express the contempt I have for you, Mr, D'Israeli." — Richard Porson, M.A., Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge. THE END. London: Printed by Samuel Beiitley, Dorset Street, Fleet Street. "■^^S BOOK IS ^^ 2i-I OOni. ^>'40(fiQo. U.C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES CDS71DD77D y ivi9097S THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY