Hither and Thither II 1 ■I ^MiHnlilllllllllll Itilllill 1 II 111 lllllllll Hither and Thither A COLLECTION OF COMMENTS ON BOOKS AND BOOKISH MATTERS JOHN THOMSON Librarian of The Free Library of Philadelphia PHILADELPHIA GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO. PUBLISHERS Preface. My work as a Librarian has given me an opportunity to examine a large number of books, many of them rare and curious, and others of a general or of a special interest. From time to time I have published various comments upon some of these volumes, and I am indebted to the editors of the Philadelphia Ledger, Press, Inquirer, Record, Optimist, and others, for their kind permission to reprint some of the articles which have appeared in those papers during the past ten years. To these articles I have added some which have not hitherto appeared in print. The facts which I have recorded may possibly be of use to those who have occasion to use reference books in public libraries, and if, in addition, this volume shall prove to be of service to members of the Library Profession, I shall be amply repaid for the labor — very pleasant in itself — in- curred in its production. I am especially indebted to my son, O. R. Howard Thomson, for the Index, which he has kindly prepared. Contents. PAGE The Ten Lost Tkibes 3 The Master of the Rolls Series 13 Early Chronicles 31 Botany and Block-Books 41 British Essayists 53 A Few Art Treasures 65 A Polyglot Psalter 73 Children's Literature 77 The Hammurabi Code 89 Saint Mark's, Venice 97 Haverford College 107 Dr. Sommer's "Le Morte Darthur" 115 Sevres Porcelain 127 Liturgical Manuscripts 135 Six "Greatest" Books — I. "Of the Imitation of Christ" 147 II. "The Pilgrim's Progress" 150 III. "The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe". .155 IV. "Don Quixote" 161 V. "Utopia" 166 VI. Franklin's "Autobiography" 173 CONTENTS. PAGE Fac-Similes of the Manuscripts of Tacitus 179 Fac-Similes of Portions of the Works of Ter- ence, the Poet and Dramatist 185 The Text of the Bible 191 Mexican Antiquities 209 The Nuttall Codex 221 The Breviary of Cardinal Grimani 227 Saint Margaret's Book of the Gospels 233 Visiting Cards 239 Horse-Shoes 219 Mourning 261 Friday 275 Fables 287 Palestrina's Music 305 Alexandre Dumas 311 "Of the Imitation of Christ" : Who Wrote It ?. .323 History Repeats Itself 325 A Plea for Free Libraries 339 The Value of Reading Fiction 315 Earnestness a Necessity for Permanence 357 The Ten Lost Tribes. The Ten Lost Tribes. IT is somewhat difficult to know whether to treat seri- ously four "Studies" of "Our Race," 1 aggregating one thousand and fourteen pages in eight volumes, published by Chas. A. L. Totten, first lieutenant, Fourth Artillery, IT. S. A., or to regard them with a feeling kindred to that experienced by most readers on a perusal of the various "relations" of Swedenborg's, or an exam- ination of the wild vagaries of William Blake. Pos- sibly, at some not very distant date collectors may be found who will value these volumes when discovered in their "original paper covers," unbound and uncut, as highly as present bibliophiles esteem numbers of the French roman- ticists in their original "cheap and nasty" paper covers. In speaking of the story of "Our Race," as told by Mr. Totten, there is no necessity to follow the custom of novelists, who reserve the conclusion of the plot, till anxiety makes an over-excited and impatient reader peep at the last few pages to see how it all ends. We may, without impro- 1 Our Race. Its Origin and Destiny. A series of Studies on the Saxon Riddle. New Haven : Our Race Publishing Company, 1891. (4 parts 12mo). HITHER AND THITHER. priety, take the conclusion for our starting point and then leisurely pick up for recital such points as seem of interest. The Anglo-Saxons are the-ten lost tribes of Israel. This Mr. Totten and "The Saxon Identity Association of "America" have ascertained and will preach, whether we bear or whether we forbear. The case is proved by piling together a mass of figures, which in amount would almost equal those used in an astronomical calculation in connec- tion with a transit of Venus ; interspersed with a series of quoted texts from the Bible, rivalling in number those in a three-volume work by Canon Farrar. In support of his position, the author indulges in an analysis of a multitude of points found in histories of Egypt, ancient America, the Aztecs and Ireland ; which, together with a large num- ber of overlooked — but as it turns out, "vastly important" — nursery rhymes have been ascertained to embody the original teachings of prophets such as Jeremiah ; and to have retained in their popular but somewhat quaint lan- guage the revelations of the Almighty as first disclosed in prophesy, but filtered down as centuries passed on, to the level of the apprehension of our latter day investigators, in striking, but decidedly popular forms. The points made by Mr. Totten, so far as an ordinary reader can follow them, seem to be somewhat as follows : All men are now ready not to be surprised at anything, and intense expectancy wraps a waiting world ; whence it- follows, that we may learn without surprise that when Frederick III., of Austria, invented his boastful, national formula, A. E. I. 0. U. (Austria Est Imperare Orbi Universo), which, being interpreted, is that Austria is TIIE TEX LOST TRTP.TCS. 5 designed to rule the world universal, he miscarried, as the motto should have rend A. E. I. 0. U. Y. (Anglia Est Imperare Orbi Oniverso YisraelaB). This corrects Fred- erick, and asserts, "as the truth is," it is for the Anglo- [sraelites to dominate the universe; and it also solves the mystery which surrounds the fortunes of the lost ten tribes of Israel who ever since 1721 B. 0., the date of their final deportation into Media, have remained hidden and undis- coverable. The theories that have hitherto found favor with various writers on "Unfulfilled Prophecy" are all brushed on one side, while the idea that the Jews are the Jews, and nobody else, is scouted. Contrariwise Mr. Totten and his co-thinkers are satisfied that the Jews whom we know and recognize as such, are descendants of Judah, but that the bulk of their nation, the descendants of Israel, exist in a separate form, who after the reign of Zedekiah betook themselves to Ireland, "a place provided by Jere- "miah" from whence they worked their way via Scotland down to London, in which place all the tribes gathered themselves under the title of the Heptarchy, or "if "Manasseh is included," the Octarchy. Of these tribes, seven apparently remained in Great Britain and are now John Bull ; whilst the eighth, as Brother Jonathan, ran "over the wall," or, as it is explained, went to America, so that England and America between them share the privi- lege of being the missing tribes. These ''facts" are proved because the Bible says, texts being quoted in confirmation of the assertion, that Israel must be a Sabbath-keeping race, and no countries but England and the United States meet this requirement; 6 HITHER AND THITHER. but, more conclusively, Israel must have a State Church, which Britain has, and Manasseh has not. The meaning of the name Manasseh, "who makes to forget," is signifi- cant, yet America does what is next best, "recog- nizes religion," for argues Mr. Totten, though it is often claimed "that God is not mentioned in "the Constitution," yet the very ratification of that document "in the year of our Lord," etc., is "a tacit refuta- tion" of the statement. Moreover, Israel was directed to write the Commandments on the walls of their national church, and it is urged that this custom was undoubtedly followed in the eighteenth century in a large number of the Church -warden-ruled churches of England, but not in "Catholic or Continental churches." Lastly, or rather pre-eminently, the Israelites must be addicted to the vice of drunkenness, for so Isaiah had described them, and as Mr. Totten points out, the Saxons "drink like a fish." In all the author enumerates sixty-eight "identities," but as he found, our space "simply fails to prosecute this subject "further." The point that has been overlooked by general students of history is that Zedekiah's daughter Tea Tephi, the sole surviving lineal descendant of David, settled down at Tara, having carried thither the "wonderful stone" which traveled from Tara to Dunstaffnage, from DunstafT- nage to Scone, and from Scone to London, where it was fitted in the Coronation Chair, still extant in Westminster Abbey; whereon the sovereigns of England, down to and inclusive of King Edward VII., have been seated at their coronations. These truths are much enhanced in value, when we call to mind that we find the harp in Ireland THE TEX LOST TRTTIKS. 7 ringing in the halls of Tara, as proved by Tom Moore's well-known poem, and that the cockney is still pursued by the stumbling of Ephraim's tongue over the letter H — "shibboleth" is still a stumblor in the mouth of every Londoner born within the sound of Bow-bells. The full name of "'our heroine/' as the daughter of Zedekiali is styled in these volumes, was Tea Tephi, familiarly signifying Tender Twig; and on the proof that she went to Ireland and from Tara came forth, in the manner above indicated, rests the whole superstructure oil these studies. It is claimed that Irish chronicles are redundant with references to Jeremiah, for firstly, not only has his bust a place of honor upon Dublin's Capitol ; but secondly, his grave has been shown from time immemorial in the Isle of Davenish, Lough Erne; and thirdly, a wide- spread tradition exists that the gigantic individual who built the Giant's Causeway Fin McCool went to school With the prophet Jeremiah! And a well-known Irish couplet tells us There's not a hut the Isle around But where a Jerry may be found. It was from the great veneration for the Queen Tea Tephi herself, who became "the Queen of the Welsh as well "as of the Irish,'" that the Welsh as a people became known as Taphs or Taffies, and the way in which Judah's monarchy vanished is preserved in the poem, b HITHER AND THITHER. Taffie was a Welshman Taffie was a thief; Taffie came to my house Arid stole my piece of beef. I went to Taffie's house But Taffie wasn't home, For Taffie was at my house And stole my marrow bone. It is pointed out that the sobriquet Taffie is "usually "derived" from David, or, in the Hebrew, beloved. Tephi, the beloved, was herself the daughter of David, so becom- ing the very beloved of the beloved, she was in very sooth the "marrow bone" or last hope of the kingdom, or as one may say, "beef" of Ephraim ; that is to say, of "a heifer," or in other words, of the ten lost tribes. From this close reasoning we pass on to quote two "final proofs deduced "from folk-lore." First, the story of "Jack and Jill," which exactly illustrates the successive fates which befell the crowns of Israel and Judah ; and second, if further evidence is needed, the story of "Jack Horner." The very gist and philosophy of Israel's present favored circum- stances among the nations of the earth, is condensed, as it were, into a nutshell, in the well-known rhyme ; — Little Jack Horner Sat in the corner Eating a Christmas pie; He put in his thumb, And drew out a plum, Saying, what a big boy am I ! Texts are given in Mr. Totten's pages to justify the adjective "little" and the concealed identity of the Anglo- THE TEN LOST TT5TBES. 9 Saxon race in the name "Jack Horner," and to prove, as promised in the Bible, that Israel is to be called in Isaac's name, which finally came to be recognized as being the same word as Saxon. The line "sat in a corner" distinctly refers to the Angle-land, or in French, Angle-terre, the Corner Land, as is verified by nine quoted and other nnqnoted texts, which are set ont in a note. That no nation "does or can keep Christmastide as Saxons do," lends a vim to the forcible line "eating a Christmas pie;" and, as it is a simple truism that the ''hand is an emblem of "might and the thumb is the strength thereof," the pru- dence of the folklorist in recording that Jack Horner "put "'in hi* thumb," almost necessarily leads to the conclusion that he "drew ont a plum," even did not Mr. Totten find an appropriate text in St. Matthew's Gospel, beside two texts in the first book of Samuel, a fourth in the second book of Samuel and yet a fifth in the first book of Chronicles, which all confirm the statement made in the rhyme. The use of the word "big" in the last line is apologized for. It is contracted from beichog, beichiwag, burdened, loaded, "pregnant ;" as Webster says, "Pregnant as with something "portentous;" and while its ancient meaning was full of "Josephetic signification," as shown in several quoted texts, it is only in these latter times that it has obtained "a baser value." Should any link in the above chain of deductions break down, a connecting link may be picked up through Hamutal, "who seems to have been the "prophet's only child ;" and with reference to whom "sufficient data" exist to show that she intermarried with the Kings of Denmark, who will be found in 10 HITHER AND THITHER. time, to be male descendants of David himself. Two out- looks are therefore offered ; one in the Danish line and tho other in Queen Victoria's grandchild, popularly known as the "Duff Princess," whereby the victory to our race, as promised by "this Ra ! this Ra ! of Tara," may be secured to the Anglo-Saxon people when one hundred and fifty- three shall have sat on the throne seat of our rulers. Inasmuch as Queen Victoria was the one hundred and fiftieth descendant in the direct line from Adam, therefore her little granddaughter, above mentioned, "is the one "hundred and fifty-third," and probably last of the "Great "Fishes" to be gathered into the net (see the last chapter of the Gospel according to St. John). With her reign, when it comes to pass, great things may be looked for. One thing alone seems quite clear from these studies, that the best that can be done is to wait in patience for further developments. The author mentions that three and one-half years were consumed in a pilgrimage with his manuscripts from pub- lishing house to publishing house; and that his series of studies had been successively offered to, and more or less promptly been rejected by, many houses, ten of which are named, including the Century Co., Messrs. Harpers, Messrs. Porter & Coates, Scribners, and Cassells; but he himself has printed them, and "living or dead, he will "calmly await the issue." The Master of the Rolls Series. The Master of the Rolls Series. In advocating a knowledge of the two hundred and fifty odd volumes forming the ''Roll Series," 1 I am by no means advising a study of new books, and in no sense would these be the newest of books to most readers. They might, in one sense, almost be called "Incunabula," except for the reason that their printing is recent. They are a series of chronicles and memorials, the latter comprising letters, poems, and similar literary products embrac- ing the period from the earliest time of British history down to the end of the reign of Henry VII. , or about the year 1500. They are published under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, (a Judge of the Court of Chan- cery, England,) as a national undertaking. The issue was proposed as long since a« 1822 ; but it was not until 1857 that the Master of the Rolls obtained the sanction of the Treasury to the proposal. These books can never be of general use to any but spe- cial students, until a descriptive catalogue, or catalogue 1 The Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland dur- ing the Middle Ages ; published by the authority of the Lords Com missioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, under the direction of the Mas- ter of the Rolls. London, 1858, etc. 13 14 HITHEE AND THITHEE. raisonne, with a complete subject and biographical index is prepared. Many of them relate to abbeys; many are like John Capgrave's Chronicle, and profess to give the history of the world from the time of Adam to the date on which the chronicle was written. With a para- graphical index to these, we could find out what each of these books contains upon any particular point. Now it is a matter of grave research. By way of instance, take a book, popularly known, such as the "Nuremberg Chroni- cle," and consider how impossible it is to find out what it contains on any one particular matter for want of indexes. 1 The works in the "Master of the Rolls Series," being selected and issued in no chronological order, the catalogue and index I advocate becomes, therefore, still more neces- sary. Unfortunately, no translation of any treatise in Latin has been given, although it was ordered that translations of any language but Latin, such as French, Anglo-Saxon or Norman French, might be given. This defect has been partially overcome by means of elaborate introductions giving an outline of these works, under the title of "Intro- eductions," accompanied by glossaries of the more unusual mediaeval and low-Latin words. To those who have dipped pretty freely into these volumes, a confident appeal can be made to confirm the statement, that there is as much interesting matter to be found in a large num- ber of these volumes as there is in some of the best known and most widely read biographical and historical books. 1 Though the Chronicle has what is termed an index, alphabetically arranged, it is practically nothing more than a table of contents. THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS SERIES. 15 I do not mean to say that there are no uninteresting volumes; but, if the Introductions had been printed as important articles in the leading magazines, there is hardly one that would not have met with perusal and approval from a very large number of general readers. The reviews of these volumes in the principal literary magazines like The Atlicna-um, The Spectator, etc., enable persons to form some idea of their valuable contents ; and it will be noticed that hundreds of references to these volumes are made in the "authorities" quoted, at the end of the principal arti- cles in "The Dictionary of National Biography," showing the importance and value of the manuscripts rescued from oblivion by this important work of the British Government. Works of this class are of comparatively small value where general indexes do not appear. Of what use would Notes and Queries be but for the general index to each series of twelve volumes? And en passant, how much better it would be if these numerous indexes of each twelve volumes were incorporated into one? How seriously are the "Jahrbiicher" of the Berlin and Austrian national libraries handicapped, by the want of general indexes ! However, till the day comes when Lord Campbell's threatened punishment shall be inflicted, we can only "hope" for better things. Lord Campbell, in a judgment on some copyright matters, stated that, if he had his will, any publisher who published a book without a proper index should go without any payment for his volumes, and the editor should be imprisoned. This would, of course, have been drastic, but would, probably, have been effective. 16 HITHER AND THITHER. Turning to the books themselves, let us examine three or four, to see what knowledge we can gain of the condition of science in early days ; to wonder at the amount of biblio- graphical knowledge to be found in the series ; and to enjoy reading about discoveries and beliefs, seriously pro- pounded and entertained, a thousand years ago. Take the case of Friar Roger Bacon, who lived from 1214 — 1292 or 1294. Only two or three of the numerous works of this very remarkable man had been well known till Mr. Brewer's edition of the "Inedited Works of "Bacon" 1 was commenced ; yet, Leland names thirty and Bale enumerates eighty different works written by this man whose erudition earned him the title of "Mirabilis "Doctor." Bacon was a Franciscan monk and a master of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and apparently of Arabic, also. He wrote on science, mathematics, mechanics, optics, chemistry, chronology, physics, and astronomy. His writings on geography were sufficiently important to be included by Hakluyt in his collection of "Voyages;" and to Bacon has been attributed, more or less exclusively, the invention of gunpowder, the telescope, and spectacles. As might be expected from the age in which he lived, charges of magic and an undue study of judicial astronomy and alchemy were brought against him; and very serious were the labors put upon him by Pope Clement IV., who required him to send to His Holiness some of his works. In the same way that it would be incredible, if it were not a fact, that Handel composed his oratorio of "The 1 "Opus Tertium," "Opus Minus," etc., of Roger Bacon. Edited by J. S. Brewer, 1859. (Rolls Series 15.) THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS SERIES. 17 "Messiah." within the period of a calendar month, it would seem impossible that Bacon should have prepared and transcribed for the Pope within fifteen or eighteen months his Opus Ma jus, Opus Minus,, and Opus Tod inn. Such a feat is unparalleled in the annals of literature! In the "Dictionary of National Biography," Professor Adamson stated that one of the most valuable recent studies of Bacon is Brewer's "Preface" prepared for this Series. In working up Bacon as a study, the majority of persons would seek biographies and similar books; aot knowing that in the "Rolls Series" is to be found, probably, the best review yet written. According to popular ideas, Roger Bacon was little more than a dabbler in black-art. He it was who discovered that, if he could make a brazen head to speak and hear it speak, he could wall around England with brass to his eternal glory. With the assistance of a conjurer-friar and one of worse origin, Bacon could only learn it would speak "within a month." Bacon watched for three weeks till, worn out, he sent a servant to watch while he slept. The image spoke: "Time is," and after half-an-hours silence, said: "Time was," and after a second half-hour's space said : "Time is past," and then exploded. The care- less servant reviled it each time it spoke, and made merry with jests ; but he never took the trouble to wake his master "for those few word-," and Bacon was "undone." 1 The servant was struck dumb for one month by way of pun- ishment. Leland, the antiquary, says it is easier to collect the leaves of the Sybil than the titles of the works written by Roger Bacon. 2 18 HITHEE AND THITHEE. A mass of information has been gathered from the works of Gerald dn Barry 1 — or, as he is generally known, Giraldns Cambrensis. He lived through the reign of Henry II., the period of Becket's murder, the conquest of Ireland, the reign of Richard I., the reign of John, when Normandy was lost to England, and the beginning of the reign of Henry III. The church was his predilec- tion; his father used to call him "little bishop." His works are comprised in eight volumes of the "Rolls "Series;" and the Gemma Ecclesiastica, or "The Jewel of "the Church," is there printed for the first time. It is a remarkable book, giving a picture of the Welsh clergy in the thirteenth century, that would be looked for elsewhere in vain. The work is full of interesting anecdotes ; but, of course, many are quite incredible. He detested an unedu- cated clergy, and illustrates it by humorous anecdotes — as where a priest promised a bishop two hundred eggs, and, giving his promise in Latin, said he would send "ducentas oves" (200 sheep), meaning "ducenta ova." The bishop held him to his promise. In 1188, Archbishop Baldwin preached the Crusade, and the King sent him into Wales for this purpose. The archbishop produced little effect till he bade Giraldns do the preaching. Then, although he spoke in French and Latin, which the people did not understand, such crowds, we are assured, came to take up the cross that the arch- bishop was almost pressed to death, and compelled the 'The Works of Giraldns Cambrensis. Vols. [-IV, edited by J. S. Brewer. Vols. V-V1I, edited by James F. Dimock. Vol. VIII, edited by George F. Warner. 18G1-1S91. (Rolls Series 21.) THE MASTER OF THE BOLLS SEEIES. 19 archdeacon (Giraldus), to pause for a time. Giraldus was a remarkable man ; and in his writings will be found accounts of the reforms then needed in the lives of mem- bers of the monastic orders. Humorous stories are told, as of the abbot who wanted more privileges for his mon- astery, and entertaining Henry I. unawares, made him drink nearly through the night. When the abbot was sent for on the following day, the king made use of the terms of pledging that the abbot had used over night, and finally conceded his wishes. It must have been a happy occasion, but is probably fictitious. In his energy, the writer describes many of the Cistercian monks as men imbued with groveling propensities of avarice. It is hard to think this of the men who gave to England Tintern, Furness, Fountains and Xetley. Another book which will afford great interest to the gen- eral reader is entitled "Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and "Starcraft of Early England." 1 It is in three volumes, and illustrates the history of science in Great Britain before the ]STorman Conquest. Through it we obtain a curious insight into the study and use of herbs for the cure of so many addles (or ailments), that the leeches might have said to their patients as the French quack doctors said of their remedies — "Take them, ladies and gentlemen, "in all security! They can do you no harm, and may do "you some good!" There are many young and middle- aged lovers who would lx' glad to find effective the proper- tics said to attend the use of waterwort, which is good. 'Leechdoms Wortcunning and Starcraft of Early England. Vols. I-III, edited by T. Oswald Cockayne, 1864-1866. (Rolls Series 35.) 20 HITHER AND THITHER. we are told, for ladies whose beauty is damaged by swellings, or for men whose success in wooing is impeded by their baldness. Orbicularis was found to be good if a man's hair fell out, or if he had a "disturbance "in the inwards." By use of this remedy, his baldness was cured and his stomach-ache relieved ; but, should this fail, there was a Saxon remedy for baldness as follows : "In "case that a man's hair fall off, take juice of the wort "which one nameth nasturtium and another names cress, "put it on the nose, and the hair will grow." Details are not given. In the account of the manners and customs of the time, the book shows that the Saxons were able to act a very fair share of comfortable food; that cookery was not wholly contemptible; and that they had an abundance of fruits, ales, and beers, home and foreign; and it is encouraging to know that at that time they had feather-beds with bolsters and pillows. It is undoubtedly true that there was a vast deal of superstition mixed up with the remedies that were proposed for various troubles. Thus, for "flying "venom," the sufferer was directed on some Friday to churn butter not mingled with water and sing over it nine times a litany, nine times the Paternoster, and nine times an incantation, quoted and said to be Gaelic, but which is, undoubtedly, gibberish. For certain illnesses or addle-, after Credos, Paternosters and Psalms, finally the leech and the sick man were required to sip thrice of the drink. I[<>w much improved many <>f the medicines given to-day would be if our doctors were compelled to drink thrice with us ! How nice black draughts would taste thereafter ! THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS SEKIES. 21 A wonderful recipe for the cure of a lunatic practically continued in English madhouses from that date until long after George III., was king. The remedy was to take the skin of a mere-swine or a porpoise, work it into a whip, swinge the man therewith, and "soon he will be well. "Amen !" Smile as we may at these prescriptions, in days to come, probably there will be equally small respect for some of the remedies much applauded and approved at the present, day. A cursory reference should be here made, to a volume entitled the "Chronicle of the Abbey of Evesham ;' n for, undoubtedly, from that book and one or two of similar purport, a remarkable insight has been gained into the daily life and occupations of that and similar great institu- tions. It must never be overlooked, in reading these books, that there is a great distinction between the different kinds of monks. The majority of the monks of that period, had to attend to the temporal matters of the monasteries, and were not. priests and not concerned with the carrying on of religious offices of the Church ; so that many of the doings, sayings and habits of monks, which, from the satires of sar- castic writers, have been heaped upon the members of the orders, are due only to the members of the secu- lar orders. Secular monks who had to look after the property and attend to the provisioning of the monas- teries, often incurred the hostility of the nobles and feudal authorities in the same neighborhood; but. the generous defense of the poor villeins and others, shown by these ^'hronicon Abbatise Eveshamensis. Edited by W. D. Macray, 1803. (Rolls Series 29.) 22 HITHER AND THITHER. monks in times of distress, won for them much popular love and a generous overlooking of many complaints which were alleged — sometimes with great justice, but more fre- quently from the bitterness of one order against another, or one monastery against a rival institution. Evesham had great periods of trouble, and has almost entirely vanished from existence. The abbey church, with its sixteen altars, its one hundred and sixty-four gilded pillars, and the chapter-house, library, cloisters, refectory, dormitory, buttery, and accommodation for eighty-nine religious inmates, with sixty-five servants, were, with few exceptions, ruins even in the time of Shakespeare. The sudden and violent dissolution of an important abbey like this must have produced great wretchedness on the poor and industrious inhabitants who surrounded the buildings. To have its principal revenues seized by a despot, was a poor exchange for the work the religious house had accom- plished. There was no town of Evesham before the foun- dation of the abbey. The benevolence of the religious house was systematic and uniform. While the abbey stood, there was an annual disbursement there, which has been computed to be equal to £80,000 of present English money. More than one hundred and fifty inmates of the monastery were turned loose on the world; and half the population of the town of Evesham was reduced to grave distress upon its abolition. It is interesting to study this chronicle and see what was being done, and how that which was done was accom- plished. Tn The Contemporary Review* there is an 1 Contemporary Review, Vol. V, 1867, page 304 et seq., by George G. Perry. TIIR MASTEE OF TIIK ROLLS SEBIES. 23 account of the "Troubles of a Mediaeval Monastery," which makes interesting reading; especially as its writer takes a hostile view of the benefits of the monastery, and thinks that abolition was brought on by its own actions. Having obtained a view of both sides of the ques- tion, turn again to the chronicle itself, and then judge whether those, who regard the suppression of the monas- teries by Henry VTIL, and the manner in which it was done, as one of the most serious wrongs accomplished by even that remarkable King, are not justified in coming to that conclusion. The chronicle is almost biographical. It gives the his- tory of the institution from 690 to 1418, makes us acquainted with the inner daily life of this abbey, and is interspersed with many notices of general, personal and local history. Another of the most interesting of all the volumes is a prose work by Alexander Xeckam and a poem by the same author. 1 It is necessary only to call attention to the prose work on the natures of things — ''De Xaturis "Reram." This work was written about six hundred and fifty years ago, and is here-and-there on the same lines as Pliny's "Natural History," but more amusing. Xeckam suffered a good deal from puns made on his name, some calling him Xequam (or wicked) ; and at that period, apparently, "qu" in Latin was pronounced as "k," so when he applied for admission to the order of the Cis- tercians, he asked in Latin if he might come, to which a ^lexandri Xeckam de Naturia Rerum libri duo; with Neckam'a Poem, Dp Laudibus Divinse Sapientiae. Edited by Thomas Wright, 1863. (Rolls Series 34.) 24 HITHER AND THITHER. Latin answer was sent, saying: "If yon are good, yon may "come, bnt if you are Nequam (wicked) neqnaqnam !" which could be very freely translated at the present day "nixie." He was so much offended that he joined another order. This edition of his works illustrates again the necessity for a general index. To make the best use of the volume under discussion, a reader would have to consult, the Deeds of the Abbots of the monastery of Saint Alban, 1 the Annals of Tewkesbury, 2 the Annals of Dunstable, 3 the Annals of Worcester Monastery, 4 and Hardy's Catalogue, 5 all in the "Rolls Series." Xeckam states his object to havo been to collect a quantity of known facts, and to treat of them morally. He draws a moral from every fact of natural history — some much more extended than, and many of them as queer as, the morals of xEsop's "Fables." He carries the method of finding meanings in words, which was so popular in mediaeval writings, to an extreme degree. He finds, for instance, that "cadaver," the Latin for a corpse, is really a gathering together of the first syllables of three other Latin words — "caro," "data," "vermibus," these three words meaning "flesh given to worms ;" hence, cadaver is a corpse, to which explanation are appended various morals. The construction of the book itself, is very curious. The 1 Chronica Monasterii S. Albani. Vols. I-VII, edited bv Henrv Thomas Riley, 1803-1870. (Rolls Series 28.) 23 *Annales Monastic!. Vols. I-V, edited by Henrv Richards Luard, 1804-1809. (Rolls Series 30.) 5 Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts, Relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland. Vols. I-1II, by Thomas Duffus Hardy, 1802-1871. (Rolls Series 20.) THE MASTER OF THE BOLLS SERIES. 25 first part, the bulk of the work, consists of a "Manual of "Science," as same was then known, and which undoubt- edly might be designated after the dictum "Science falsely "so-called. 1 ' However, it was the best they knew, and no doubt, was as valuable in the eyes of those who then lived, as is much of the science of the present day; the outcome of which, in the eyes of the inhabitants of the earth many years hence, may be regarded with considerable amuse- ment. In Neckam is found the earliest allusion we have to the popular legend of the "man-in-the-moon." There is a pretty nearly contemporaneous mention of it in an old English song edited for the Percy Society, and printed by Ritson. This legend is introduced by Neckam after a long* series of his own speculations on the spots on the moon. !Neckam adds moralizations that God has placed spots on the moon that, as the celestial body nearest to the earth, it might be a sign to man that he also, retains spots in his nature, contracted from the "prevarication in our first parents." He excels Pliny on the anecdotical side. He says the wren, though the smallest of birds, is called the Regulus, or King of Birds, because when the birds assembled to choose a king, it was agreed that the throne should be given to the bird which mounted highest towards Heaven. The wren hid itself beneath the wing of an eagle, and when (he eagle, far above all birds, made its claim to the prize, the wren started from its hiding-place, perched on the eagle's head, and claimed to 1m? the highest and therefore, the winner. In our favorite oyster, Xeckam finds an emblem of 26 HITIIEU AND THITHER. monastic life. Within the shell, it is safe ; when it opens the shell, it becomes a prey to the crab and its other enemies ; therefore, it is conclusive that a monk is safe while he stops at home within the walls of his convent, but if he goes out, he is exposed to all the snares of the Evil One. Imitation of good things is desirable, but imitation may be carried too far. An ape imitated a shoemaker, and every day, as soon as the shoemaker went from his stool, the ape took his tools and made havoc with the leather and strings by trying to imitate the shoemaker. The shoe- maker finally took a knife and repeatedly drew the broad back across his throat, and then sharpened the other side to a razor-like degree. When he went to dinner, the ape commenced with drawing the knife across his throat, and imitation proved destruction. Sir Edward Jones and others have written elaborate articles as to the origin of chess. If these learned writers had looked to Xeckam, they would have ascertained that the game was invented by Ulysses. A dog is a faithful creature. A mediaeval British sailor had a dog so faithful, that he learned to manage the ropes with Ins mouth at the orders of his master, and once saved him in time of great peril. Among his stories, we are told that the hawk seizes the first piece of warm plumage on which it can lay claw, lies on it all night, and in return for its service refrains from breakfasting on it in the morning. In many things, says Roger Bacon, writing on iSTeckam, THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS SERIES. 27 he wrote what was true and useful. He neither lias noi ought to have any title to be reckoned an authority. Many funny things in this series are apt to he overlooked for want of indexes — for instance; the letters of some Spanish ambassadors, who were sent to examine and report on the features of a proposed queen to one of the kings, but whose description of the length of her nose made the king resolve that he would have none of her. Pecock's Repressor 1 gives a mass of information as to the Lollards, otherwise unprocurable; and if information is desired about Becket, the Series contains seven volumes, 2 elaborately and carefully edited, entirely superseding the eight volumes edited by Dr. J. A. Giles, and published in the Bohn edition. But here again, much information about Becket, not in these seven volumes is given in Magnussons elaborate preface to Thomas Saga, 3 as well as in the vol- umes of Gervase of Canterbury 4 and Ralph de Diceto. 5 1 The Repressor of over much Blaming of the Clergy. By Reginald Pecock. Vols. MI, edited by Churchill Babington, 1860. (Rolls Series 19.) 2 Materials for the History of Thomas Becket. Vols. I-VI, edited by James Craigie Robinson; Vol. VII, edited by Joseph Brigstocke Sheppard, 1875-1885. (Rolls Series G7.) 3 Thomas Saga Erkibyskups. A life of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Icelandic. Vols. I-II, edited with English translation, notes and glossary by M. Eirikr Magnusson, 1875-1884. (Rolls Series 65). 4 Historical Works of Gervase of Canterburv. Vols. 1-11, edited by William Stubbs, 1879-1880. (Rolls Series 73.) 5 Radulfi. de Diceto Decani Lundoniensis Opera Historica. Vols. I-II, edited by William Stubbs, 1876. (Rolls Series 68.) Early Chronicles. Early Chronicles. THE larger and the move rapidly a public library grows, the more difficult it is for onlookers to apprehend, how much it is used and in what multitudes of ways it serves to educate and promote the well-being of the citizens, in whose midst it is placed. To persons who frequently traverse a thickly-wooded district, many and various paths rapidly become more and more familiar; but the more numerous the paths, the more diffi- cult it is for a stranger to find his way through the ramifi- cations of the forest, So it is with a library. It is a thickly-packed series of book-shelves, and the volumes, from their very numbers, compel persons to make a careful study of the collections, or to altogether fail in making the best* use of the lines of books, arranged for the promo- tion of knowledge and the enjoyment of the thousands who desire to consult them. The history of the creation and the development of the Free Library of Philadelphia, has been told in its <>\vn annual reports, and through the courtesy of the press has been related t<> general readers in many ways. It has had 31 32 HITHER AND THITHER. a very rapid growth. It is little more than ten years old ; but already there are in the Free Library itself and ita branches, nearly two hundred and seventy thousand vol- umes, access to which is free to every citizen. The far greater number of these volumes can be taken out of the library buildings for home perusal. The others can be consulted during twelve hours of every day, by all persons who desire to do so. Representatives of every class in life ; members of every profession ; students, book worms and mere seekers foi amusement, daily visit the Library, and find on the open shelves books on whatever topic they desire information. From 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 volumes are taken out each year by readers, and of these a vast majority have a justi- fication for perusal. One may be a hard-headed volume on penology, but the moving cause for taking up such a study may have been the novel, Marcus Clarke's "His Natural "Life," detailing, the frightful story of Van Diemen's Land, when it was reduced to a hell upon earth by the mis- doings of a few men, "drcst in a little brief authority," and the need for the work done by Mrs. Fry and those who labored in the British Parliament, for the amelioration of prison conditions. The perusal of a book of fiction, which should rather be called a sociological study, frequently results in important subjects being studied seriously. It is a hundred to one that the person taking out either or both Robert Buchanan's "Shadow of the Sword," and Hugo's "Les Miserables," will become more or less a student of Napoleoniana. The effect of Napoleon's ambition and of his conscriptions, as EARLY CHRONICLES. 33 told in the one, and the story of Waterloo, as told in the other, set persons to thinking, and put them on the road to a good course of reading. Just as soon as theatre bills announce the produc- tion of some play presenting historical characters, or founded on historical events — for instance, "Charlotte "Corday," "Robespierre" or "Michael Strogoff" — just so soon is there a great demand for biographies of the persons made the subjects of the plays, or for books relating to the history of the country or the period brought into relief. These are some of the lines of books, or paths in the forest of literature, which are very easily explained and understood ; but let us consider rather, the lines of study, amusement and useful knowledge, which can be pursued by any who will accept a little help from those working in libraries, and so ascertain what mass of material lies at their disposal. How is a history written ? We read a history of this country or of that country, but does it occur to us to ask whence the writer got his facts ? It is quite evident that there must be a great difference between annalists and his- torians. The former, as their very title designates, are recorders of dry facts, without comments or generaliza- tions. A historian records events, with running com- ments on incidents which induced the events, and on the consequences of such events. There are in every large library hundreds of volumes of this character. The vol- umes technically called Chronicles were simply Annals. The writers gathered together an unconnected chronologi- cal series of events, having no connection with the inci- 34 HITHER AND THITHER. dents preceding or following each. It is by browsing among the reprints of these ancient records, that a truer insight is gained into the everyday life and habits of our ancestors, than from any other source. Long ago a series of these volumes, to which atten- tion is called in detail in the preceding article, was under- taken and still continues to appear periodically, some two hundred and fifty volumes having been issued under the general title "The Chronicles and Memorials of Great "Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages/' edited by able scholars and persons, selected for their special ability to edit such records of past times. The majority of the old manuscripts are in Latin, others are in Norman-French and Irish; but with each is given, by way of preface, a full synopsis or outline of the work, so that, whether the reader can follow the original or not, the whole is laid out clearly for his information in these prefaces, which often cover from three to four hundred pages. Where they are in anything but the old monastic Latin, in addition to these prefaces a translation accompanies the reproduction of the original. Readers can therefore gain an insight into the daily lives of the monk- ish writers and the inhabitants of the monasteries of a bygone time, as clear and specific as they would by reading an account from a good correspondent, of some home in which their interests and affections were centered. Take, for instance, the chronicles of the Monastery of Melsa, 1 from 1150 to 1406. This abbey of Meaux was a Cister- 1 Chronica Monasterii de Melsa ab anno 1150 usque ad annum 1406. Vols. I-III, edited by Edward Augustus Bond, 1866-1868. (Rolls Series 43.) EARLY CHRONICLES. 35 cian house, and "the work of its Abbot is a faithful and "often minute record of the establishment of a religious "community, of its progress in forming an ample revenue, "its struggles to maintain its acquisitions and of its rela- tions to the governing institutions of the country." The volume comprising the "Fasciculi," 1 or "small "packet," of Wyclif gives the only contemporaneous account of the rise of the Lollards. We all know the story of the three spinning women in Grimm's "Fairy Tales," and the general mediaeval version of three mysterious visitants, spreading a table for three to bring good luck to children born in that house. The monks of the Abbey of Evesham in their Chronicle 2 trace the origin of their house to a vision of three beautiful maidens in heavenly garments, singing sweetly. They were seen by a swineherd in a forest, who reported their appearance to the Bishop, who was favored with the same vision and founded the monastery on the spot where the maidens had appeared. The device on the Abbey seal rep- resents the vision. There are many versions of this incident, notably in a poem on the miracles of St. Swithin, and of course, in the three weird sisters of "Macbeth." One of Anstey's most popular novels, "The Tinted "Venus," is nothing more than an elaboration of one of the 1 Fasciculi Zizaniorum Magistri Johannia Wyclif cum Tritieo. Ascribed to Thomas Netter. Edited by W. W. Shirley, 1858. (Rolls Series 5.) 2 Chronicon Abbatiae Eveshamensis. Edited by W. D. Macray, 1863. (Rolls Series 29.) 36 HITHER AND THITHEE. stories or legends taken from these old Chronicles, 1 modified in its tone to suit a nineteenth century audience. In the Chronicles, however, the story is told as veracious history. The way in which many of these Chronicles were com- piled is curious. The "habit of putting together Annals "began to be formed very early." Many of the chroniclers were exceedingly credulous. They gave funny, rather than reasonable, explanations in matters, such for instance, as to how places acquired names. That given in the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle of the origin of the name Portsmouth 2 is a case in point, as also is the alleged origin of the name of the Isle of Wight. 3 The method of compilation seems to have been for a Chronicler to take some existing manu- script and add to it or correct it, according to what he deemed better information, and then continue it by a record of all such local or personal matters as were within his special knowledge. Recollecting that monasteries were the great resting places of travellers and that in early days news traveled slowly, it was but natural that visitors bringing news of other countries and localities should be keenly welcomed at tables where monotony was apt to prevail; and what could be more natural, than that the writer or annalist of each particular religious house, should gather in and record all the news that he could ? 1 Scot ifli ronicon; William of Malmesbury ; Roger of Wendover and Matthew of Westminster. 2 Anglo Saxon Chronicle — 501 A. D. 'Anglo Saxon Chronicle — 449 A. D. EARLY CHRONICLES. 37 In the volumes of Matthew Paris, 1 as in many others, additional pleasure is given by the incorporation of a large number of facsimiles of the early manuscripts, beautifully executed and of great general interest. Much attention has been directed to many of these Chronicles by the series translated and published in the ever-popular Bonn's "Antiquarian Library," and for a general reader these are of great value and undoubtedly of much interest. It has been said : "It is better to read in ancient times than about "them ; so it is better to read ancient writers themselves, "even though you have to read translations only, rather "than to read only about them." Even at the risk of repeating an oft-told story, it may be well to mention the "Nuremberg Chronicle." This was published in 1493. It is a handsome folio, and on the first leaf is a. prefix, styling it a chronicle of events from the beginning of the world, with figures (or portraits) and illustrations. Dibdin devoted twenty-six folio pages to a description of this book. 2 "It is a vast work," says the bibliographer Meusel, "but crammed with many absurd "and fabulous narratives, in which, however, many "curious things can be discovered." The woodcuts exceed two thousand two hundred in number, though some wood- cuts do service for several persons, one portrait serving to represent Suetonius, Julius Africanus, Venerable Bede, Hugo de St. Victor, St. Bernard, Alexander of Aries, 1 Matthaei Parisiensis Historia Anglorum, Historia Minor. Vols. I-I1I, edited by Frederick Madden. 18G6-18C9. (Rolls Series 44.) Matthaei Parisiensis Monachi Saneti Albani, Chronica Majora. Vols. I- VII, edited by Henry Richards Luard, 1S72-1S84. (Rolls Series 57.) 2 Bibliotheca Spenceriana. Vol. Ill, p. 255, etc. 38 HITHER AND THITHER. John of Monte Villa and John Gerson. In this Chron- icle will be found an illustrated account of an old virago who was carried off by the Devil on a broom- stick on account of her bad language. This furnished Southey with the foundation for his ballad entitled "The Old Woman of Berkeley." The punishment of some young men and maidens who interrupted midnight Mass by singing and dancing, and were compelled to dance for a twelve-month uninterruptedly, is given in story and picture. Some of the statements in the old Chronicles are decidedly humorous, for instance, where the acts of the Creator on the sixth day are thus stated: "On the sixth "day He created all animal kind and all the beasts that "go on four feet, and the two men, Adam and Eve." Notwithstanding the bulk of this great volume, the editor stated that it would be desirable to add an account of all the important subsequent events of the world, and, therefore, he bound up six blank pages to meet that con- tingency. Botany and Block-Books. Botany and Block- Books. A STROLLER through the many devious paths of a great wood or a rarely-trodden forest has many and very unexpected revelations. Paths and byways of varied delight meet him. He will not find in the forest a specimen of the edelweiss, but perhaps he will run across a great mass of superb gerardia, the extra-trop- ical delight of a lover of uncultivated wild flowers. Later he will bathe his senses in the flower delight of an acre of wild hyacinths. Each discovery will furnish him with a subject for special study and afford a keen pleasure both to his eye and mind when he considers the habits, growths and peculiarities of each. It is so when a browser or student passes along among the varied lines of books arranged in a libra ry, like paths in a printed fairyland. The profusion of books upon flowers, trees and botany, creates astonishment in the reader who pauses in front of the shelves, in a large library, devoted to volumes on these subjects. Possibly on no sub- ject have books excelled, in beauty and in the ait of book- making, those devoted to floriculture. To many of these, 41 42 HITHER AND THITHER. too, a curious and interesting story is attached. Let a reader enter a large library and ascertain where books on this subject are placed, and a revelation awaits him. The books on this topic have attained to perfection in form and execution. Take, for instance, the greatest work ever published on one family — the orchids. As long since as 1886, Mr. II. Sotheran, of London, commenced the publication of the book "Reichenbachia," 1 devoted to the illustration and description of orchids, in which he was assisted by scientific authority. It was issued in forty-eight parts, and the imperial edition, printed in atlas folio of about SG 1 /^ inches by 19 inches, was limited to an issue of one hundred copies. A copy of this work was presented to the Free Library of Philadelphia by Mr. Clarence H. Clark, and is bound up in eight volumes. It has one hundred and ninety-two splendidly-colored illus- trations of orchids, drawn natural size, accompanied by descriptive letter press and where necessary, ana- lytical drawings of the structural parts of the flowers. Some of the plant portraits are colored by lithography, and others hand-painted. The title of the book is adopted from the name of Dr. Reichenbach, of Hamburg, "the "great orchidologist, who devoted his life to the study of "the orchid family." It has been remarked of this pro- fessor that he constantly surprised his friends and "not "seldom shocked them." He reserved his greatest sensation until the last, "until, in fact, he certainly could not enjoy 1 Reichcnbachia; orchids illustrated and described by Frederick Sander: 1st ser. 2 vols, in 4; 2d ser. 2 vols, in 4. London, Sotheran, 1886-1894. (Imperial Edition.) BOTANY AND BLOCK-BOOKS. 43 "it in the flesh, and probably not in the spirit." He died in May, 1889, and his will was not only absurd in itself, but humiliating to human nature. His collections, his herbarium, his botanical library were unequaled in the world. He was the foremost expert on orchids. He had left England in 1863 in a huh , where and all over the world he was recognized as the "Orchid King." It had been thought that he was more comfortable at Kew, in England, than he was even at home, but he was sensitive to an unbe- lievable degree. To dispute his dictum was to place your- self in an unforgivable position, and "when a great book "was issued with only such reference to the Orchid King "as could not be avoided, his mind revolted, and he left "England in a rage." His personal pride dominated all his feelings, and how intensely he felt the non-recognition of his undoubtedly pre-eminent position in this study was shown when his will was read, by which he gave all his collections to the Imperial Hof Museum, at Vienna, under the condition that his preserved orchids should not be exhibited before twenty-five years from the date of his death and until that time his collection was ordered to be preserved in sealed cases. It stands to reason that, how- ever carefully preserved they may be, they will either be bonces of dust when the twenty-five years have elapsed, or merely a collection of superseded specimens by reason of later studies by newer students. Leaving aside this unpleasant part of the story ; to turn over the leaves of these eight volumes is a simple delight. For a floriculturist they are a revelation. Those who have been through the great orchid chambers at Kew and on 44 HITHER AND THITHER. Miss Gould's estate at Irvington wonder, as they stand spellbound in those conservatories, at the varieties of forms that exist, and yet it is surprising how small a part of the entire family has been gathered together in these collec- tions. Hardly does the browser turn from these volumes before he is apt to run against a great work entitled "Flora de "Filipinas," 1 in six folio volumes, four consisting of text, printed in Spanish and Latin on the same page, and two of colored lithographed plates. It is a monumental work of the highest character, classified according to the sexual system of Linnaeus by an Augustinian, Manuel Blanco. It was published at Manila first in 1837, again in 1845, and finally a third time in 1S77-1S83, for the Friars of St. Augustine, under the direction of His Excellency, the late Sebastiano Vidal y Soler, assisted by two able botanists of the Augustinian Order of Friars. It was composed from manuscripts of Fr. Blanco, of that Order, and the plates were drawn and colored from nature by native artists. They were sent to Barcelona, where they were litho- graphed, and after six hundred copies had been printed ofr, the stones were destroyed. As may be noticed in many cases the specimens are depicted both in flower and in fruit, necessitating in a large number of instances a gath- ering of the specimens at distinct seasons of the year. There were several stoppages during the printing of the work, caused by a large fire at one time and by an earthquake at another, from both of which the printing 1 Flora de Filipinas par el P. Fr. Manuel Blanco. Gran Edition. Manila: Plana y Ca, 1877, etc. BOTANY AND BLOCK-BOOKS. 45 establishment at which the book was being published suf- fered. The original editor was Sr. Domingo Vidal, who, unfortunately, after two or three parts of the work had been given out, was obliged to leave the Philippines on account of poor health. Several months later he died, and his brother, who assumed the editorship upon his departure from Manila, continued the work until it was finished. It is not, however, by the examination of these great works only, that the fascinating study of flowers is encouraged in a large library. "Elizabeth and Her Ger- "raan Garden" 1 has been supplemented by a variety of books, such as "Judith's Garden," a story about flowers, by Mrs, Mary E. S. Basset; "The Garden of a Commuter's "Wife; 2 and the sequel to "Elizabeth," entitled "The "Solitary Summer." 3 The special study of Alpine flowers in Sutherland's book 4 on that subject, many books by Darwin, such as the ones on climbing plants, orchids fer- tilized by insects, cross and self-fertilization in the vege- table kingdom, and Williams' "Window Gardening" are but a few of the many that will reward a. reader for strolling into and resting in this path of the forest of liter- ature. It is by no means necessary to restrict oneself to the ahove named modern books. In Alexander Xeckam's "Natural History," 5 as also in Pliny's "Natural History," 1 By the Grafin von Arnim. 2 Macmillan, 1901, anon. 8 By the Grafin von Arnim. 4 Handbook of hardy herbaceous and Alpine flowers. By William Sutherland. Edinburgh; Blackwood, L871. 5 Alexandri Neckam de Naturis P.erum libro duo. Edited by Thomas Wright, 1863. (Rolls Series 34.) 46 HITHER AND THITHER. will be found many dozens of pages of interesting matter, showing what the ancients knew, or more probably did not know about trees and flowers, their remedies, their virtues and their peculiarities. By some strange twist of the mind, while reading or writing of these books, some of which are the very per- fection of modern book-making, a stroller in the paths of bookland is apt to turn into a narrow, crabbed lane, in which he will come across some of the earliest specimens of books, thus becoming acquainted with the greatest contrasts to the sumptuous modern volumes. In the pres- ent day it is almost impossible to think of what the world was before the invention of printing ; and no topic is more full of surprises and interest than the study of the begin- ning of this art. As a successor to the early impressions of playing cards, introduced from the East about 1350, many specimens of which will be found in the second volume of "Die Anfange "der Druckerkunst in Bild und Schrift," 1 and as a connect- ing link between manuscripts and books printed with mov- able types, there flourished for a short period of ten to twenty years a series of volumes popularly known as "Block-Books." They are books printed wholly from carved blocks of wood, and are frequently called "Image-Books," having been chiefly impressed with images of saints and other historical figures, with a text or a few explanatory lines 1 Die Anfange der Druckerkunst in Bild und Schrift ... in der Weigel'schen Sammlung . . . erlautert von T. O. Weigel und Dr. Ad. Zesterniann. Leipzig: T. 0. Weigel, 1866. BOTANY AND BLOCK-BOOKS. 47 cut in onto the block. The text was carved and not put together with movable types. There are possibly nearly a hundred of these, though really only from ten to thirty are properly so called. The dated block-books are mainly between 1470 and 1480, though a disputed date of 1440 has been asserted to exist on the "Brussels Block-Book." The method of production was as follows : A block when carved was thoroughly wetted with a thin, watery ink and an impression taken on a sheet of damp paper rubbed over the block with a dabber or burnisher. The letter-press was frequently cut in imitation of handwriting. As movable types became general, the use of block-books, promptly and absolutely died out. The pictures were their all in all, the text being made as inexpensively as possible. The four best known are the "Ars Moriendi," the "Bib- "lia Pauperum," the "Apocalypticse" and the "Canticum "Canticorum." The first edition of the "Ars Moriendi" is dated 1450, a copy of which was purchased by the British Museum in 1872, for £1,072.10. It has eleven illustrations. Herr Weigel, from whom it was obtained, says "it is the very "first edition." A fac-simile of it has been printed by the Holbein Society, from the copy in the British Museum, with an introduction by Mr. George Bullen. Excellent specimens of this curious work will be found in Lacroix's "Middle Ages," 1 Xoel Humphreys' "History of the Art "of Printing" 2 and similar books. The block-books printed 1 Leg Arts au Moyen Age et a l'Epoque de la Renaissance: par Paul Laeroix. Paris: Didot Freres, Fils et Cie. 1869. (Eng. ed. London: Virtue & Co.) 'History of the Art of Printing. By H. Noel Humphreys (second issue). London: Quaritch, 1868. 48 HITHER AND THITHER. in the beginning of the fifteenth century afford matter for interesting comparison with those executed ten, fifteen or twenty years before. It is to be regretted that there is no satisfactory hand- book devoted to this subject. One writer describes one or more and another two or three others of these books, but nearly all the writers make use of the books, principally as so much argument in the discussion of the history or development of typography. The best book on this sub- ject at present is Dutuit's, 1 but he only deals in absolute detail with some seven of the block-books, and then gives a notice sommaire of the remainder. Fac-similes of pages from the "Biblia Pauperum" will be found in Blades' "Pentateuch of Printing," 2 as well as in Humphreys' work. There are various dated copies of this book, which seems to have been designed as a book for the poor friars. Some say that the book was prepared by St. Ansgar, who copied the designs from sculptures in the Cathedral at Bremen. Others say that the drawings are from the painted windows of the convent of Hersehare. They are probably from the old "Historia" of the Old and ]STe\v Testaments. Humphreys says "that Lawrence Kos- her, of Harlem, the inventor of movable types," was the printer of the "Biblia Pauperum," but the whole mat- ter, date and all, is much in dispute. In early copies there were forty and in later editions fifty leaves. The copies vary in detail, but the general idea of the book is the same. 1 Manuel a l'Amateur d'Estampes : par Eugene Dutuit. Paris, London, 1884-1885. 2 Pentateuch of Printing, with a chapter on Judges. By William Blades. Chicago: McClurg, 1891. BOTANY AND BLOCK-BOOKS. 49 On the same pages are given pictures of apostles and orophets, or of patriarchs of the Old Testament and saints of the Christian Church, and these by the selected text are shown in type and anti-type. A copy was sold in 1897 for £1,050, though in earlier days copies had been sold for £37 and £257. "The Song of Songs," or "Canticum Canticorum," is of Holland or Dutch origin, and Mr. Bullen, the keeper of the books in the British Museum, describes the designs as showing marked improvement, and as being demonstra- tively of the school of the Van Eycks. They are undoubt- edly superior from an artistic point to the drawings of the "Biblia Pauperum," The designs are a series of appli- cations of the words of the Canticles to St. Mary, the Virgin. British Essayists. British Essayists. A PERFECTLY delightful peep in the umbrageous paths of booklore will be found by those seeking the company of the British Essayists. Just think who the principal writers were! Steele, Addison, Pope, Bishop Berkeley, Doctor Johnson, Swift, Chester- field, Lord Orford, Thomas Warton, Cumberland, and a galaxy of other bright lights that have graced English literature. The writings of the essayists may be called the invention of newspapers, not "such as we have to-day, nor "even like the early 'Mercuries,' or the purely official "news sheets; still, the first attempts to guide public "opinion." At the end of the seventeenth century there were two centers of society — the court with the aristocracy, and the clubs and coffee houses used by the commercial and profes- sional classes. The essayists sought, out of the contact between these classes, to mould opinion. With the eman- cipation of the press from State control, by the lapse and non-renewal of the Licensing act in 1679, arose the devel- opment of the modern press. The time and the occasion for such a growth were existent. What was wanting was 53 54 HITHER AND THITHER. the man to fit the needs of the times. Such a man was Sir Richard Steele. The originator of essays as a form of periodical writing was Daniel Defoe. In 1704 he commenced the literary and political journal, entitled The Review, 1 a number appearing on those days of the week "when the post left "London for the country." His politics brought him into such frequent collision with the authorities that The Review was discontinued ; but other writers followed the example he had set, and a legion of periodical essays were published. How delightful it is to be drawn to read these essays, and through them to be induced to peruse the biographies, of such an inimitable ne'er-do-weel as Dicky Steele, and the famous Mr. Joseph Addison, which tell of their curious experiences of matrimony — to read of the recklessness of Steele; the apparent uselessness of money when it did come to him ; his contests with theatrical employees who never saw the "color of his Honor's money," and threatened never to drive a nail until they did ; and his defeats under duns and bailiffs. And this love of biography will be greatly accentuated by a perusal of such papers as those in The Tatler. 2 The essayists, as writers, formed a great epoch in literature. The Tatler was exclusively the design of Steele, and ran 1709-1711, through two hundred and seventy-one papers. It was named "Tatler" in honor of the fair sex, and was chiefly intended for them in its origin. The first four numbers were given away gratuit- 1 The Review (under various forms and titles) : Feb. 19, 1704 — June 11, 1713. "The Tatler: April 12, 1709— Jan. 2, 1711. BRITISH ESSAYISTS. 55 on sly. Then the numbers were charged for at the rate of one penny, but later the price was two-pence a paper. One angry correspondent, whom Steele had styled "Tom "Folio," declared that he was designated, in reality, "Tom "Fool," and in return described The Tatler as "writings "printed on tobacco paper and filled with scurvy letters." Tom Folio's indignation arose from his being made the subject of a skit upon those who preferred an Aldus or an Elzevir to a Horace or a Virgil, and who knew only where in some "rare volume" two commas could be found on some particular page instead of a parenthesis, by which rarity a particular copy could be distinguished, and for that reason esteemed a treasure, especially if it had, addi- tionally, a semicolon turned upside down. "Poor Tom "Folio" was described as a man who "knew little but the "title pages of books, and those only as a bibliomaniac, "and not a bibliophile." Hence his indignation. When collected in volumes, the papers of The Tatler were sold for a guinea a volume, and had for subscribers a loug list of "the greatest beauties and wits in the whole "island of Great Britain," whose names Steele intended to print alphabetically, a fact he stated to be "worthy of men- "tion, for the sole benefit of those who were not subscribers "up to that date." The imaginary editor of The Tatler stated its design to be to expose the false arts of life, to pull off the disguises of cunning, vanity and affectation, and to recommend a real simplicity in our dress, our discourse and our behavior. The reading of Steele and Addison, and also of books about them, will insure to the peruser of Lord Lytton's 56 HITHER AND THITHER. "Devereux" and Thackeray's "Henry Esmond," increased pleasure, as in both of them both are introduced. So long as books exist, The Spectator, 1 the immediate successor of The Toiler, will be of much interest to readers. The hypothetical club, of which the various members were contributors to the paper, proved a popular thought. What a pleasure it is to read for the first time about the quaint Sir Roger de Coverley, noted for his modesty, gen- erosity, hospitality, eccentric whims shown in his courtesy to his neighbors, his affection for his family and his amia- bility to his servants! His adventures, opinions and conversation by or relating to himself, occupy twenty-six papers. Of these Addi- son wrote fifteen, Steele seven, Budgell three and Tickell one. The impropriety attributed to the hero, in jSTo. 410, has often been quoted as leading to the end of The Spectator. It is said that Addison was so enraged at the slur cast on the "modern gentleman of Queen Anne's time" that he swore, which, it is also said he never did but this once, that he would "kill" Sir Roger lest someone else should "murder" him. "We love Sir Roger," says Thackeray, "for his vanities "as much as for his virtues." Many supposed identifica- tions of the characters have been advanced, but they are probably groundless ; and the club and characters are, more likely than not, altogether fictitious. In The Spectator we run across the pleasant satire on tedious memoirs, entitled a "Journal of the Retired Citizen," containing a pleasant 'The Spectator: March 1, 1711-Dec. 6, 1712— June 18, 1714-Dec. 20, 1714 (035 numbers). BRITISH ESSAYISTS. 57 and satisfactory week's memories, in which the main de- tails are : So-and-So tied his knee-strings ; retired to bed ; woke early, worked late, and so on. How many such elab- orations of nothing have wearied patient readers. There, too, we find "The Vision of Mirza," a perfect piece of writing, and for pure fim all can enjoy the description of the Busy News Monger, a kind of unoccupied Paul Pry, who always arrived when there was a dearth of foreign intelligence, and arrived again before daylight to ascertain if the French mails had come in. With the commencement of The Guardian, 1 in 1713, which followed The Spectator, arose one of the periodical quarrels, which Tonson, the publisher, had with most of the persons with whom he had business dealings. The difficulty arose probably over some change in sides on a political matter, the details of which are not now clearly ascertainable, but at all events the last number of The Guardian was issued in October of the same year. Between The Spectator and its great successor, The Rambler, 2 a host of unsuccessful, or only temporarily suc- cessful, journals were published. John Paine, the book- seller, backed The Rambler, and promised Dr. Johnson four guineas a week for two papers, with a share in future profits, which fortunately materialized. The Rambler was published in Prance and Italy, and the title was lit- erally translated by the Italians, II Vagabondo. Dr. John- son may be said to have rewritten most of the essays, as there were six thousand alterations in the second l The Guardian: March 12, 1713-Oct. 1, 1713 (175 numbers). "The Rambler: March 20, 1750-March 14, 1752 (208 numbers). 58 HITHER AND THITHER. and third editions, and its value was shown in that the learned doctor lived to see ten large editions published in England, besides unlimited copies elsewhere. Numer- ous editions have been published since his death. On the cessation of The Rambler Dr. John Hawkesworth published The Adventurer, 1 which ran to one hundred and forty numbers. He was assisted by Johnson, Joseph War- ton and Bathurst, and contributed seventy papers himself. Probably the most amusing paper is that, giving a ludi- crous account of a playwright, who being invited to give a reading of a manuscript play at a nobleman's house, meets with various physical accidents by tumbling against the furniture. It was founded on an actual event in Gay's life, and was amusingly paralleled in Guild Hall, London, when the King of the Belgians, who was very short-sighted, attended to receive the freedom of the city from one of the City Companies. Going forward to greet Baroness Bur- dett-Coutts, who had just previously been made the first "Livery Man" of the city, the King stumbled over a foot- stool, barely saving himself from taking a seat in the lap of the Baroness, near whom he landed in an undignified manner in an adjoining chair, to the great amusement of many who were present, including the writer. A rather curious incident occurred in connection with the. publication of the successor to The Adventurer, which was entitled The ^Yorld. 2 This latter was a successful publica- tion, and the sales generally reached to over two thousand a number. In No. 209 (the last) the editor was ficti- 'The Adventurer: Nov. 7, 1752-Mareh 9, 1754. 2 The World: Jan. 24, 1753-Dec. 30, 1756. BRITISH ESSAYISTS. 59 tionsly alleged to have died, and a great deal of mis- called fun and joking was extracted from this grim piece of humor. When the writer published a second edition he superintended the republication of the num- ber, and actually died when the last paper was in the press. The design of the periodical was to try what good could be done by turning the follies of that day "into ridi- "cule under the mark or defense of apology," and therefore "to ridicule, with novelty and good humor, fashions, "foibles, vices and absurdities of that part of the human "species which calls itself the world." There were two editors to the next of the series of essays, entitled The Connoisseur, 1 namely, George B. Colman and Bonnell Thornton. They were at that time young men at Oxford. Thornton is celebrated as an early pioneer in the getting up of burlesque exhibitions. He inaugurated "An "Exhibition of Sign Paintings" in Bow street, Covent Gar- den, to which Hogarth also contributed. The catalogue explains the jocular character of the signs exhibited. ISTo. 36, for instance, shows a sailor falling from a horse against the tenth milestone from Portsmouth, and represents, it is explained, a man out of his element. Hogarth contributed a view of the road to Paddington, including a presentation of "The Deadly Xever Green, that Bears Fruit All the "Year Round." The sign was Tyburn, with three fellows on the gallows, and the critics, we are told, "deemed the "piece remarkable for the execution." Of the remainder of the publications, suffice it to say, that in The Idle) 2 we 'The Connoisseur: Jan. 31, 1754-Sept. 30, 1756. 'The Idler (published in "The Universal Chronicle or Weekly "Gazette") ; April 15, 1758-April 5, 1760 (103 numbers). 60 HITHER AND THITHER. find a very severe criticism of a public piece of folly, namely, that of a young lady who laid a wager that she would ride a thousand miles in a thousand hours. At her coming the country people strewed flowers in her way and made great rejoicing. What would Dr. Johnson have said to the later folly executed by a man who, in the middle of the last century, walked consecutively one thousand miles in one thousand hours, one thousand half miles in one thousand half hours, and one thousand quarter miles in one thousand quarter hours, being greeted daily by crowds of Londoners and their country cousins, who went to see him tramping on his weary tan pathway ? The Observer, 1 which was published by Henry Cumber- land, was designed to be a "liber circumevarens" that is, freely translated, a series of round-about papers. It attained to one hundred and fifty-two numbers, and has been regarded as a not unworthy successor of The Spec- tator and The Adventurer. The most interesting collected edition of the British Essayists is still that in forty-five volumes edited by Dr. Alexander Chalmers, 2 with historical and biographical prefaces. It is a collection of literature, characteristic of the age in which it was written, but now of the past. The insight to the manners and customs of the times gained by turning over the leaves of these volumes is very great. The additional interest gained in the other works of the authors, and the consequent perusal of biog- 1 Published in two volumes, 1785 — enlarged 1786 — published in six volumes, 1790. 2 London. J. Johnson; and others. 1802-1803. BRITISH ESSAYISTS. 61 rapines, memoirs and similar books, tends to prove that this narrow cutting through the forest of literature, cir- cumscribed as it may be in its outlook, and somewhat similar in character throughout its length, is yet full of shady pleasantnesses and views worth seeing, and he who has strolled down it once, will be inclined to revisit it often. A Few Art Treasures. A Few Art Treasures. TXTAXDERIXG through woods and amongst trees and shrubs, desiring to more closely examine the foli- age and the blooms of each, induces many and many a one to cull a bouquet, so that the bulbs and full-grown flowers may each be examined and enjoyed at home. There are, however, treasures which cannot be so collected and carried off to be enjoyed in a house. Sprigs of honeysuckle, privet, phlox ; sprays of maiden fern, nestling violets or bolder sweet-william, may all be plucked and carried away for home enjoyment. Kot so, however, a stately tree or bush of broom, which must remain in spots to which their lovers must make pilgrimages as often as they desire to revel in the sight of their beauty. This restriction calls up another phase of the use of multitudes of books in a library. Outside of those that can be plucked, as it were, and carried home, there are numbers of books that can only be examined and studied on the spot to which they are rooted or shelved, whether such rooting be in a room devoted to art and decoration, to ancient and modern architecture, or to whatever may be 5 66 HITHER AND THITHER. the division of book lore to which such volumes are assigned. Small and insignificant as are the rooms at present appropriated to the purposes of the Free Library of Phila- delphia, there are one or two nooks and corners in which books can be examined that give rare delight to the casual or the devoutest lover of fine books. In examining a few such works, we find that each has a separate lesson for those who examine them, and each directs the thoughts and ideas of the student to a separate and important department of art and literature. For delicacy of coloring and for beauty of book making, it would be difficult to find a better example than Edouard Garnier's volume on "The Soft Porcelain of Sevres." 1 This volume has fifty plates, representing two hundred and fifty water-color subjects after the originals. The speci- mens are selected from samples in the collections of such well-known collectors of Sevres material as Baron Alphonse de Rothschild; her Majesty, the Queen Victoria; the South Kensington Museum, London ; Mons. S. L. Watelin ; and Sir Richard Wallace. The work forms the subject of a separate article in this volume. Many great books are known by reputation to thousands who rarely have the opportunity of examining them, yet who would be only too glad to make an intimate acquaint- ance with their contents. There is a notion abroad that the attendants at a library do not like to be asked to exhibit books or to aid visitors in obtaining an inspection of a 1 The Soft Porcelain of Sevres, with an historical introduction by Edouard Garnier. London: John C. Nimmo, 1892. A FEW ART TREASURES. 67 library's rarities. Certainly, at the present day, this is not so. At a reception held some time since, an opportunity to lay out on tables for inspection by one hundred or more artists and architects, some of the art treasures of the Free Library of Philadelphia, was embraced. It was delightful to note the pleasure with which some examined a copy of the works of Piranesi the elder and his son, collected in twenty-four folio yolumes. The two Piranesis executed an enormous series of engraved plates, which formed almost the life work of the enthusiastic father. The work has ahvavs been very highly esteemed and King George III., in 1774, deemed a copy of this collection worthy of presentation as a special gift to Pope Clement XIV. The collection contains eleven hundred and eighty plates, with three portraits, including the engraved titles and some remarkable engraved dedications; one volume being de- voted to descriptive text. The whole collection has been styled "a gem of art." The elder Piranesi, who spent the greater part of his life in Rome, has been called "the Rem- "brandt of Architecture," and nothing more remarkable in the management of light and shade and in attractive weird- ness can be mentioned than many of his engravings in these volumes. In Volume VI, as the collection is ordinarily bound, are sixteen double plates, each plate occupying two pages, giving a series of dream-conceived "prisons." These made a great impression on Coleridge and De Quinecy. The latter, in his "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater," writes: "Many years ago, when I was looking over Pira- 68 HITHER AND THITHER. "host's 'Antiquities of Rome,' Mr. Coleridge, who was "standing by, described to me a set of plates by that artist "called his 'Dreams,' and which record the scenery of his "own visions during the delirium of a fever. Some of them "(I describe only from memory of Mr. Coleridge's account) "represented vast Gothic halls ; on the floor of which stood "all sorts of engines and machinery, wheels, cables, pulleys, "levers, catapults, &c, expressive of enormous power put "forth and resistance overcome. Creeping along the sides "of the wall you perceived a staircase ; and upon it, grop- "ing his way upward, was Piranesi himself. Follow the "stairs a little further, and you perceive it to come to a "sudden, abrupt termination, without any balustrade, and "allowing no step onward to him who had reached the "extremity, except into the depths below. Whatever is to "become of poor Piranesi, you suppose, at least, that his "labors must in some way terminate here. But raise your "eyes, and, behold, a second flight of stairs still higher ; on "which again Piranesi is perceived, by this time standing "on the very brink of the abyss. Again elevate your eye, "and a still more aerial flight of stairs is beheld ; and again "is poor Piranesi busy on his aspiring labors; and so on "until the unfinished stairs and Piranesi both are lost in "the upper gloom of the hall." The title and description given by De Quincey are not strictly accurate, but still they give a powerful insight into this weird series of engravings by Piranesi. Among other valuable subjects dealt with in this interest- ing series of engravings may be mentioned the details of Trajan's Column, given in nineteen plates. Towards the A FEW ART TREASURES. 69 closo of the sixteenth century this column had become much injured, only the feet of the statue of Trajan remain- ing. Pope Sixtus V. undertook the restoration of it in 1585, and the figure of St. Peter was substituted on the summit for the Emperor's fallen statue. The bas-reliefs contain about twenty-five hundred human figures, besides a great number of horses, fortresses, etc. With a glimpse at the Laocoon group, we turn aside from Piranesi. This group was esteemed by Pliny as "preferable to any other production of the art of painting "or of statuary." Piranesi has posed the right anus of the figures after the restoration differently to the pose, claimed by Liibke to be correct, a drawing of which may be found in his "History of Sculpture," page 235. The sub- ject has been a favorite one with writers ever since Virgil. 1 Byron has devoted a stanza to the group in his "Childe "Harold ;" 2 Thomson incorporated its beauties into his "Liberty ;" 3 and it is hardly necessary to mention the fact that Lessing used the group as a basis for expounding his system of art, giving to the treatise the title "Laocoon, or "the limits of Poetry and Painting." A book pretty continuously examined and used in large libraries by persons connected with decoration as a business is a work in two large folio volumes, entitled "Oriental "Carpets," published in Vienna by the Imperial and Royal Austrian Commercial Museum, by authority ; the English edition 4 of which was edited under the direction of Dr. ^neid, Book II, line 199, etc. 2 Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto IV, stanza ICO. 3 Liberty, Part IV, (Britain). 4 Vienna (two parts), 1892-1893. 70 HITHER AND THITHEK. Clarke, of the South Kensington Museum in England. The work was restricted to four hundred copies, of which two hundred form the German edition and the remainder the English and French editions. The Free Library of Philadelphia possesses copy ISTo. 293, and it is a work of great importance to those who desire to inform themselves, not only on the rise and progress of the manu- facture of carpets, but on the immense capabilities of this important article of commerce. There are monographs on modern Turkey carpets, on the decorative animal figures in old Oriental carpets, the present state of the carpet industry in Persia, the history of Oriental carpet weaving in France and kindred subjects. The plates are executed in chromotype, and accompanied by plates in heliotype, the whole being accompanied by a minute description of the warp, weft, knotting and decoration of each carpet. The chromotypes are executed on satin and aid those who want to study the effect of the carpet, with all its various decorations of color, animals, trees, and so on; the helio- types assist those who consult the work in order to make a careful study of the detail of execution ; while for the com- plete understanding of the plates, the preliminary explana- tions will be found to be very minute and carefully pre- pared. A Polyglot Psalter. A Polyglot Psalter. THERE are, of course, many interesting polyglot Bibles and Psalters, but one of the most interest- ing is that generally known as the Genoan poly- glot It comprises the Psalter, and was published in 1516, two years after the commencement of the issue of the "Complntensian," the earliest of the series. The German Psalter is printed in eight columns, four on each page, so that the whole group is before the eye at one time. On the first page are the Hebrew, a Latin literal yersion of the same, the Vulgate and the Greek. On the opposite page are given the Arabic, a Chaldee paraphrase of the same in Hebrew characters, a Latin literal translation of the same, and in the eighth column are the "scholia" and notes. This is the first specimen of Western printing in the Arabic character. A great deal of interest in the book lies in the fact that in one of the notes to Psalm xix, as a commentary on the passage "Their words arc gone out to the end of the world," is given a sketch of the life of Christopher Columbus, with an account of the discovery of America and descriptions of 74 HITHER AND THITHER. the inhabitants. According to this note, Columbus boasted himself to be the person appointed by God to fulfill the prophetic exclamation of the Prophet David, that he should carry knowledge to the ends of the world. As may be expected, this note has led to much disputation, and the son of Columbus, in the "Vida y Hechos del Almirante "D. C. Colon," contradicts the statements of the writer of the note in several particulars. The volume was printed in September, 1516, by Peter Paul Porrus, of Milan, on the premises of Xicholas Justinian Paul, at Genoa. Porrus himself was a resident of Turin. On the last page is a very interesting "printer's "mark," consisting of a full-grown leek, with two letters, U P. P.," one on each side of the plant. Children's Literature. Children's Literature. IT would certainly seem to be a difficult task to find a new field of bibliographical description, and yet a few years since, Mrs. E. M. Field apparently did so in her volume ''The Child and His Book," 1 in which she treats chronologically of the history and progress of chil- dren's literature in England. From the time when Thomas Frognall Dibdin set the modern bibliographical ball rolling, in his new and improved edition of Ames' and Herbert's '"Typographical Antiquities," 2 hundreds of volumes have been published dealing with other books, limited to minute descriptions of all sorts and descrip- tions of works, from Renouard's Aldines and Willems' Elzevirs to Lowndes, Brunet, Allibone, Sonnenschein, etc., till the mere list of such reference books becomes almost bewildering. In furnishing a categorical account of the rise and progress of children's books as a separate class, Jlrs. Field supplied a distinct want. She found in Bur- 1 The Child and His Book. By Mrs. E. M. Field. London: Wells Gardner Dart on & Co., 1891. 1 Joseph Ames published his "Typographical Antiquities'' in 1741). William Herbert's edition, with additional matter, appeared, Vol. 1, 1785; Vol. II, 1786; Vol. 111. 1790. Dibdin issued the work in its final form: Vol. I, 1810; Vol. II, 1812; Vol. Ill, 1816; Vol. IV, 1820. to HITHER AND THITHER. ton's "Book Hunter" a most admirable text for her mono- graph, which seems worth quoting. "If," says Burton, "we "are to consider that the condition of the human mind at "any particular juncture is worth studying, it is certainly "of importance to hear on what food its infancy is fed." Mrs. Field gives the history of literature provided for children from the earliest times, long before printing was invented, to somewhere about the end of the first quarter of the last century, and from every chapter much entertain- ing, as well as instructive, gossip may be gathered. "Beginning at the very beginning," she starts out with the education, small as it was, accorded to British youth before the Norman conquest, and describes the early monastic schools, when only the teacher was provided with a book. The book was most frequently a simple and pleasant Latin composition, in which cheerful dialogues of every-day sub- jects were used as vehicles for instruction. Generally wide- written versions were made on vellum with a gloss or trans- lation written in between the lines for the guidance of the teacher, who sate in state, in a high-back chair, whilst his boy and girl pupils were ranged before him, sitting or kneeling, as the case might be, and were instructed. Dur- ing this period the most celebrated student and teacher was the Venerable Bede. His books of instruction read oddly enough to-day. Astronomy, in his view, had two uses, one to display the power of God and the other to fix the church calendar; whilst a later teacher, Alcuin, defined herbs as "the friends of physicians and the praise of cooks." A third teacher was careful to confute sundry popular errors "as that of certain unlearned priests," who declared that children's literature. 79 leap year bad been produced by Josbua when he made the sun stand still. The books from the Conquest to Caxton, covering the period 10 G 6-148 5, comprised many of counsel or morals addressed to young persons. In one of them "the wise "woman is to love God and the Church ; from the "latter, rain is not to keep her away ; she is not to chatter "there ; she is not to be of many words, to swear not leefe, "nor be ofte dninke." The wise man is "to be diligent "not tale wijs;" and the whole duty of a child is related in one hundred and two lines, in which the use and value of the rod to young people is fully expounded, concluding with the admonition: "So, children, here may ye all hear and see "How all children chastised should be ; "And therefore, children, look that ye do well, "And no hard beating shall ye befall, "Thus may ye all be right good men "God grant you grace so to preserve you. "Amen." The child iu England, even if of the dignity of wards of royalty, had a serious time whilst under tutelage. Apart from the system of a blow for every mistake and general corporal correction as a way of knocking knowledge into obtuse minds, the mere hours of study were, to put it mildly, severe. The rules laid down for Queen Elizabeth's wards required them at six to go to prayers, and then have a Latin lesson till eleven, when they dined. From twelve to two they studied music ; French from two till three ; then Latin and Greek till five, after which followed prayers and an interval for "honest pastimes." From eight till nine the music master again held supremacy, following 80 HITHER AND THITHER. which the wards went to a well-earned heel time. Of Bushy, famous as a wielder of the rod, it is related, that once when he was in school, a stone came through the window. Busby, supposing the offender to he a hoy, sent for him, and a Frenchman entered, apologizing profusely. Busby, however, merely said to his scholars, "Take him "up," and the unfortunate foreigner was duly flogged. He departed furious, and sent a messenger with a challenge to the schoolmaster. Busby read the challenge, tore it up, and turned to the boys with "Take him up !" The mes- senger was duly whipped, and on his return to his princi- pal demanded compensation, hut was met with a shrug: "Ah ciel, que faire ? He is the vipping man ! He vip me, "he vip you, he vip all the world !" The hooks of courtesy or counsel on manners have special interest, as they afford a deep insight into the every- day habits and domestic life of the young people of that day; and in this way, to the customs of the period. The books dealt Avith courtesy, demeanor and the arts of carving and serving; the details being quaint in the extreme and indicating a primitiveness of manners not only surprising, but "a little revolting to our modern "notions." It was there taught that "a noble child" should not "lick dishes," for that is the propertie of "catties," and should remember that it is a "wilde and rude thinge to "lean upon one's elbow." Such forms of counsel were not always humbly accepted, as in a caricature of 1605, we find the advice : "When thou art set devoure as much as thou with healthe canst eate "Thou therefore wert to dinner bid, to help away his meate " children's literature. 81 About this time came into use the Horn-book, alphabet pages and alphabet poems, of which "A apple pie" survives to this day, with the worthy and ever-enduring "A was an "archer." The antiquity of the alphabet craze, is wit- nessed by a sermon of over two centuries ago, in which a preacher named Eachard, referred to it in criticising the "over-nice" notice taken by preachers of the "letters" of their text. "Suppose sir," he said, "that you are to give "an exhortation to repentance upon that of St. Matthew, " 'Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand ;' you "must observe that Repent is a rich word, wherein every "letter exhorts us to our duty. Repent, R readily, E "earnestly, P presently, E effectually, X nationally, T "thoroughly. Again Repent, Roaringly, Eagerly, Plenti- fully, Heavily (because of H), Notably, Terribly. And "why not Repent, Rarely, Evenly, Prettily, Elegantly, "Neatly, Tightly? And also," added Eachard, "why not "add A apple-pasty, B bak'd it, etc.," which apparently he thought would be as sensible teaching. After that period came, from 1510 to 1619, a flow of educational reform, during which was produced Ascham's "The Schole Master." 1 The immediate cause of his publish- ing this work was, he tells us, "a conversation at Secretary "Cecil's dinner-table, while he was in attendance on Queen "Elizabeth at Windsor Castle, concerning divers scholars "of Eton that be run away from school for fear of beating." The idea that a blow should immediately follow any mis- take was evidently very deeply rooted. It existed in one of the largest public schools of London down to at least the 1 The Schole Master. Published posthumously in 1570. 6 82 HITHER AND THITHER. year 1855, the "sub-master" steadily pursuing that system. His predecessor was known as Wack Durham from his adherence to that method and from his initials, W. A. C. Durham, wherefore it was said he was Wack and his pupils Wacked. The way in which boys regarded their birch-tormentors is illustrated by Dante's treatment of his master (Brunetto), who was repaid by his grateful pupil by being consigned to a region in the Infemo, where, under an unremitting reign of fire, he must either walk forever, or should he pause for a moment, stand still for a hundred years. All boys must be curious to know what fate over- took Mr. W. P. Russell, the verbotomist, or word-dissector as he delighted to call himself, who in reference to his own book, 1 published in 1805, wrote with the humility of true genius: "I challenge the universe (or the literati of each "quarter of the globe) to produce any page exhibiting "brevity and perspicuity equal to the two columns in page "52. They cannot do it; at least, no such book has ever "been before me. I should be glad to see the work that "equals Verbotomy in this respect." For a clear and logi- cal definition, however, that given in Caxton's "Myrrour" 2 deserves quotation. "Rethoryke is a scyence to cause "another man, by speche or by wrytynge, to beleue or to "do that thyiige whyche thou woldest haue hym for to do. "To the which thou must fyrst deuise some wey to make "thy herers glad and wel wyllynge to here." The seventeenth century saw great changes, and Puri- tan teachings began to hold their sway. The teaching 1 Verbotomy, or the Anatomy of Words. 2 Thymage, or Myrrour of the Worlde, 1481. children's literature. 83 prevailed that man, from his infancy upward, was a lost and ruined creature, to be saved from an infinitely horrible eternal fate, but to be saved "so as by fire." In the books of that period, one hapless child of eight years of age, wept inconsolably because he thought he had lied, for when his mother had asked him if he felt cold he had said "Yes," but afterward doubted if he had been really cold and moreover, he knew he was a sinner, because he had whetted his knife on the Lord's Day. In an "Epistle to Youth" the warning was prefixed : "Upon a world, vain, toilsome, foul, "A journey now you enter; "The welfare of your living soul "You dangerously adventure." One author, in sending forth his book, trusts that if his readers are unable to call it verse, they will at least con- sider it good prose. Against this modest apology may be set off the explanation of Samuel Wesley, in 1T1T, 1 who "attempted in verse" the history of the Xew Testament in the intervals of his time, which he wished "had never been "worse employed." "There are," he adds, "some passages "here represented which are so barren of circumstances "that it was not easy to make them shine in verse." The name of Wesley calls to mind that of his brother minister, Dr. Watts, of whose verses much merriment is made, mainly by those who have not read the despised composi- 1 The History of the Old and New Testament attempted in verse and adorned with 330 sculptures, 1701. 3 vols. The History "fjhe New Testament was first published separately, 1701; 3d. ed. 1717. The History of the Old Testament separately in 1704 (Allihone). The History of the Old and New Testament, attempted in verse, 1704. 3 vols. 2d"ed., 1717. (Diet, of Nat. Biog.) 84 HITHER AND THITHER. tions, on account of a "grammatical error which the good "Doctor never really made." He did not write : Let dogs delight to bark and bite. For God hath made them so ; Let bears and lions growl and fight, For 'tis their nature to. The line really stands : " 'Tis their nature, too." An amusing story, says Mrs. Field, is told of a social gathering of some thirty people, who, all hut one, wagered a new hat that the time-honored verse read thus : "Let dogs delight to bark and bite, "For 'tis their nature to." so deeply fixed in their minds was the popular mistake. Of the later providers of children's hooks, a good account is given of John Xe wherry, 1 whom Goldsmith styled "the "honestest man in creation," and who was almost certainly Goldsmith's hest friend in the world. It is said that the passing traveler who relieved Dr. Primrose at an ale-house, when taken ill while on his journey in pursuit of Olivia, was no other than "the philanthropic bookseller in St. "Paul's Churchyard, who has written so many little books "for children." Newberry was a good forerunner of the present trade advertisers, and adopted many advertising devices. The following was one of them : "This day was "published 'Nurse Truelove's New Year's Gift, or the Book " 'of Books for Children,' adorned with cuts, and designed "as a present for every little boy who would become a great 1 Born 1713 — died 1767. See for references Diet, of Nat. Biog. children's literature. 85 "man and ride upon a fino horse, and to every little girl "who would become a great woman and ride in a "Lord Mayor's gilt coach. Printed for the author, who "has ordered these books to be given gratis to all little boys "and girls at the Bible and Sun in St, Paul's Churchyard, "they paying for the binding, which is 2d each book." Another device was to advertise a "Pretty Pocket-Book, at "Gd., but for Sd. to add a ball for a boy or a pincushion for "a girl to the purchase." The whole of Mrs. Field's book is extremely interesting. The Hammurabi Code. The Hammurabi Code. 1 FIVE thousand years ago Hammurabi, then King of Babylon, promulgated a Code of laws, for the government of the mighty peoples he had sub- dued and over whom lie ruled. This Code is preserved on a stone stele discovered at Susa, in Persia. It is a magnifi- cent monument, nearly seven feet in height, and contains nearly five thousand lines of cuneiform characters, each line containing an average of six words. The inscription, as is usual in so many of these ancient monuments, is columnar. How this monument came to be at Susa is not explained. It was probably taken from Babylon at some time when the King of Susa gained a victory over his neighbor and Suzerain. The most regrettable feature in connection with this stele, is that one of the columns has been carefully polished down so that the inscription is lost. It is thought that this was done in order that the captor of the stele might record his name and dignities on the cleared space. Having omitted to do this, we are left to the reasonable con- 1 The Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon about 2500 B. C. By Robert Francis Harper. Chicago University Press; Callaghan & Co. London; Luzac & Co., 1904. 90 HITHEE AND THITHER. jecture that lie, as Shakespeare would call it, "con- "veyed" the monument to his own territory, but for some unexplainable reason failed to carry out his intention of recording the facts on the space which had been rubbed down for the purpose. No more interesting document has been brought to the knowledge of the present day than this Code. The stone was. found by M. de Morgan, and on it is preserved an elaborate record, by no means tinged with modesty, of Hammurabi's estimation of his own greatness, followed by two hundred and eighty-two edicts or laws. The whole is concluded by an epilogue, or lengthy enumeration, of the great blessings conferred upon the world by Hammurabi, and of his greatness and benefi- cence in thus providing a rule which should be for his own people, then, and thereafter to the end of time. Before he brings his epilogue to a close he launches forth into a series of curses and anathemas upon anyone who may deface any part of the Code ; venture to try and amend or improve the same ; or otherwise disfigure the superlative quality of his work. The series of curses related by the Reverend Mr. Barham in his "Ingoldsby Legends" on misdoers and those laid by the Church in the Dark Ages on sacrilegious per- sons are magnificent. They are no exaggeration of the fearful retribution, invoked by Hammurabi, on those who should attempt to injure his legal monument. The edicts themselves show that, even at that early date in the history of the world, rules for the government of society or communities had assumed a well-developed method. The first thing that strikes one on reading the Ham- THE HAMMURABI CODE. 91 murabi Code is the lack of the element of mercy and a curious attempt to award punishments which should be the exact equivalent of each crime. We are all familiar with the "Eye for an eye" and "Tooth for a tooth" form of satisfaction for a crime, but Hammurabi in many cases throughout his Code, gives original ideas of this law of retaliation, at once curious and suggestive. For instance, if a man kills or causes the death of another man's son, the son of the man who commits the injury is to be put to death. This, of course, may be an exceedingly satisfactory way of getting an exact equivalent for the wrong com- mitted, but can hardly be regarded as satisfactory to the son, thus compelled to lose his life, because his father com- mitted a crime or did a wrong. Immediately after the discovery of the Code an elaborate and admirably-executed transcript, and translation of it into French, was published. This, again, has been trans- lated into German, and this German translation of a trans- lation, has been written out in English and recently printed. Of course, those who are able to read the cunei- form inscriptions point out that, admirable as it is to be able to obtain a general idea of the document without delay ; much time and labor will have to be spent upon the subject before the true meaning of the Code can be given in book form for the use of students. The question was raised, as soon as the Code was pub- lished, whether or not it had been taken from Babylon to Susa by the Elamites, from whence it had found its way to Egypt, and so after the expiration of a thousand years, had been used by Moses, in some greater or less degree as an aid 92 HITHER AND THITHER. in the preparation of the great Pentatenchal legislation. A large number of the Hebrew scholars, however, are posi- tively of opinion, that there is no ground whatever for thinking that the Hammurabi Code was known to, or came within the purview of Moses. That a great system of legis- lation existed in countries, far more civilized than we have been inclined to admit; that very early peoples had codes and legislation of a very definite and carefully-prepared character ; and that these codes were probably founded on a long series of cases, tried and determined in able courts, which would influence, and be generally known to persons of the advanced knowledge of the Egyptians at the time of Moses, can easily be apprehended. Some of the general principles, worked out by the rulers of the earth centuries before the time of Moses, must necessarily have been familiar to the learned Egyptians. The very con- trast existing between the Hammurabi Code and the Pentateuchal Laws, would seem to give prima facie evi- dence that Moses had no access to the Babylonian Laws as epitomized in this Code. It has been pointed out more than once that a special point of difference between the two Codes is shown, in the matter of punishment by ordeal, and it would be easy to point out many other very striking differences. The laws of Moses are full of sanitary provisions, provisions for the Sabbath, provisions against unnatural crimes, provisions regulating a priesthood. None of these subjects are dealt with in the Babylonian Code. The subject is so obviously full of interest, and is so cer- tain to be dealt with in great detail, that it is to be hoped THE HAMMURABI CODE. 93 that a good English translation, made direct from the cuneiform inscription, will be speedily offered for the benefit of those who are unable to read from the fac-similes of the original, which have already made their appear- ance. Saint Mark 's, Venice. Saint Mark's, Venice. EVEN in the present age of dainty volumes, sumptu- ous reprints and encyclopaedic issues, a feeling of astonishment cannot but be created by the enter- prise of the editor and publisher of the superb "La Basilica "di San Marco in Venezia, Illustrata Nella Storia e jSTell' "Arte da Scrittori Veneziani" (Venice: Ferdinand On- gania. 1877-1891). The price of unbound copies in port- folios was two thousand, three himdred and thirty-three francs, the edition being limited to five hundred numbered copies, of which a very few only were subscribed for in this country when the work was first published. As this stupendous monograph can only be in the possession of a limited number of library owners, and is not likely to be accessible, even for inspection, by the generality of art lovers, it seems to be a work worthy of description in more detail than is usual in noticing ordinary illustrated books. The work has had a very checkered existence. A publi- cation with the same title and general scope as the present one was begun by Messrs Kreutz in the year 1843, but, notwithstanding a handsome subsidy from the Austrian Government, it was not carried far, and was "discontinued 98 HITHER AND THITHER. "shortly afterwards on their decease." Xo mention is made of what became of the subsidy. The work was subsequently taken in hand by M. Ongania, of Venice, and entailed on him from twelve to fourteen years' labor. It is founded on the original scheme, but, under encourage- ment from Mr. Ruskin, Octave Uzanne and others, was enlarged in scope, and, notwithstanding repeated modifi- cations in minor details as the volumes progressed, has become an accomplished fact. It is a work comprising volumes of various sizes. Two are of atlas folio size, seven of imperial quarto, and two of small quarto form. It gives a minute and complete illustrated and textual account of almost every inch of the "Church of Gold," the mosaics of which cover about forty thousand square feet, surrounded by a wealth of gilding, bronze and Oriental marble, and is the result of the co-operative assistance of a small army of enthusiastic artists, antiquaries and authors. The two atlas-folio volumes have eighty-six chromo- lithographs, executed by Giesecke & Devrient, Winckel- mann and others, which may challenge comparison with any similar efforts. Of these plates, twenty-one give the entire facade of the church, and if mounted on one canvas would form a single large illustration measuring 8 feet 91/2 inches in length by 5 feet. 9 inches in height. Others of the plates are interesting as showing the transformation of the celebrated facade under successive restorations, and are followed by a series of reproductions in colors of the quaint and heavily-gilt mosaics which decorate the various cupolas of the vestibule and north outermost aisle. These comprise a very interesting series of drawings depicting SAINT MARK'S, VENICE. 99 the creation of the world, followed by the lives of Noah, Joseph, Moses and scenes from the lives of Saint Mary and the Saviour. It is impossible to notice each of the volumes, which are filled with hundreds of heliographs of details of the altars, monuments and sculptures of the Basilica ; but Volume VIII will probably best reward examination. It contains ninety-seven plates in large quarto, of which twenty-one are chromo-lithographs and the remainder heliotypes, many being printed in colors, reproducing the collection of art gems preserved in the Treasury, including princely Byzantine bookbindings, reliquaries, crosses, Venetian lace, tapestries, and chalices, a pax, the gift of Cardinal Grimani, and another pax, the gift of Pope Gregory XVI. It would seem to be true, that of the thousands of visitors to St. Mark's from all parts of Europe and xVmerica, but a very small percentage sec the greatest of all its treasures, the Pala d'Oro, or Altar Front, forming a kind of reredos. It is placed on a solid support of fine marble, at about a metre's distance behind the high altar, but has before it a less valuable Pala, which serves for general use. The Pala d'Oro is not exhibited unless specially inquired for, it being as a rule, only uncovered two or three times a year, on high festivals. It was originally intended to embellish the front of the altar, and is a remarkable specimen of Byzan- tine art, dating from the year 900. It is filled with quaint, sacred figure-subjects in enamels, inlaid some in plates of gold and some in silver gilt. Each minute detail of workmanship and color is shown in the chromo-litho- graphs in Volume VIII. The majority of visitors not 100 HITHER AND THITHER. knowing what a treasure stands behind the altar, fail to produce the "silver key" which alone will procure a view of it; but, to these and all others who have had no oppor- tunity to see the original, the chromos will give genuine pleasure. The Pala consists of eighty-five panels arranged in rows, containing representations of sacred personages and subjects, with two devoted to the Doge OrdelafTo Falier, who renovated the altar-piece in 1105, and Irene, the Empress of Constantinople, in whose honor there are two lengthy Latin inscriptions, one recounting particulars of the renovation executed by Doge OrdelafTo Falier and the other a subsequent renovation by Doge Pietro Zain in 1209. The Pala gradually lost some of its valuable jewels and other ornaments, but in 1847 the whole was carefully repaired and the lost jewels replaced by votive gifts from devout ladies and others, who gladly repaired the losses incurred by time and carelessness. On this last restoration was expended a sum of more than twenty thousand francs. Among the most interesting plates are eight added to Volume II. by way of appendix, giving a fac-simile of a celebrated wood-engraving executed in Venice by Mattio Pagan (1556-1569), of "The Procession of the Doge on "Palm Sunday." A large number of the official and civil dresses of the period are shown, and many different head- dresses of women are to be seen among the crowds at the windows of the Piazza watching the procession pass. The series is also instructive as to the insignia of office: it shows the chair, ducal crown and sword of state carried before and after the Doge ; a set of six silver trumpets that SAINT MARK'S, VENTCK. 101 have to be supported by pages on account of their extra- ordinary length ; the celebrated official umbrella under which the Doge walks, and so forth. Only three copies of this engraving exist, and of these the copy in the Museum of Bassano (Veneto), from which the editor has taken this appendix, is the only one in Italy. The quotation, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever," is hackneyed enough, but nothing can well be found more deserving of the phrase, and yet more entirely fresh and original, than the "Dedication" to Margaret of Savoy, the Queen of Italy, and the "Preface" in black and gold, and red and blue letters, dated 1881, both included in the atlas- folio volumes. They were designed from manuscripts in the Royal Marciana Library. We may undoubtedly accord to the work the praise of its being a monument of modern graphic art worthy of the great treasure it illustrates. As may be surmised from our observations, the text forms but a small portion of the whole work. It is given in Italian, with parts in Italian and French, and some portions in an English translation as well. The reading is very curious, and from the historical documents may be gathered many disturbing accounts of how narrowly the Basilica has from time to time escaped injury from would- be benefactors. About the year 1000 a Doge who had offended the populace took refuge in Saint Mark's, where he defied the people, who besieged him in the church, routed him out, and destroyed the Basilica by fire and pillage. This outrage and public wrong was righted by Doge Pietro Orseolo, who set about rebuilding the fabric out of his own 102 HITHER AND THITHER. property. It was a noble work, nobly executed, but in 1731 the Senate discovered that the Doge, who had been subsequently canonized, had not even a chapel or so much as an altar in his own Fane. This was bad, but worse remained, for the Venetians were at that time promised a gift of "the whole of the Saint's right arm," which was to be dispatched from France as a gift to the Republic. Instantly the question arose, "Where is the relic to lie ?" Various reports were taken, officials consulted, this spot suggested and that rejected, almost everybody fortunately objecting on principle to everybody else's suggestions ; but all uniting in protesting against the risk of tampering with an inch of existing mosaic. But more urgent news was received. The Republic was informed that two monks, charged with the relic were on their way, bring- ing to St. Mark's not only the Saint's right arm, but also "his thigh and his leg." Time did not permit the authorities to make an altar, much less a chapel ; and the procurators of the Basilica drew up the programme of the ceremony for the translation of the portions of the beatified Saint. The dean, in his pontifical vestments, accom- panied by the canons, the singers and other servants of the church, and by the procurators, was ordered to receive the relic and deposit it temporarily in the sacristy. At the same time details were decreed for its removal to an altar-chapel on the following "recurrence of the festival of "the Saint," when a solemn Te Deum and Mass was to be sung in the church, followed by vespers, and a solemn pro- cession in the Piazza, "with the greatest possible pomp," accompanied by salutes from the ships. Moreover, the SAINT MARK'S, VENICE. 103 various schools or associations were to be required to attend and provide suitable allegorical figures or tableaux vivants ''adapted to the occasion." Happily, however, with the reception of the relic and its temporary depositure in the Treasury, matters rested ; and it is to be hoped, in the interest of this wonderful pile, that for all time this arrangement may remain undisturbed. Haverford College. Haverford College. THE history of Haverford College 1 for the first sixty years of its existence, prepared by a committee of the Alumni Association, consists of an introduc- tory account of the preparation of the work, an amusingly- written proem, and nineteen chapters in which various members of the association have related the growth of the college, each writer treating of a particular period or of some marked characteristic of the institution, the volume closing with an elaborate appendix, giving lists of the students, the members of the faculty, its officers and man- agers, the officers of the Alumni Association, and the orators, poets and prize-winners. Necessarily, the history is one of especial interest to those who have spent happy years within the precincts of the college, but it is also a book of general interest to those who value progress in educational centers. Like all books made up of con- tributed articles, it may, perhaps, lack some of the unities of form and sequence usual in a book compiled by a single writer, yet that very lack of unity is compensated for by 1 A History of Haverford College for the first sixty year9 of its existence. Philadelphia : Porter & Coates, 1892. 108 HITHER AND THITHEB. the many-sided views of the life and growth of the College, due to the collaboration of different writers. It was pro- posed as long since as 1877 to publish a descriptive and illustrated history of the College, from its beginning as a school to the present time; but after a good deal of hard work had been accomplished, the result proved "little or "nothing" having regard to what was wanted, and in 1884 the intention was abandoned. The idea was revived in 1888, and carried forward to a successful conclusion. The College had its origin in 1830, through the recogni- tion of the lack of education — especially of higher educa- tion — among Friends, and during that and the following year the subject was ventilated in the columns of The Friend, known in latter times by double entendre as The Square Friend. Outlines of a plan for the establish- ment and maintenance of a Friends' central school were reduced to form, and from that time, through periods of trouble and even disaster, brightened by periods overflow- ing with promise, the institution has grown to its present proportions. It would be too long a story to relate how, from its small beginnings, 1 the school grew, sometimes prospering, more often failing, till at the end of the sum- mer of 1815 the regretful conclusion was reached that it would not be right, with the certain prospects of a large accumulation of debt, to continue the school after the close of that term. The time of disaster is not always one of apathy, and out of the greatness of the troubles which then weighed down the school arose a spirit of enthusiasm, 1 Opened Oct. 28, 1833, with twenty-one students, by the Haver- ford School Association, successor to the Friends' Central School Association. HAVEByORD COLLEGB. 109 in which the love of the old students for the home of their education showed itself in a highly practical form. A general call upon the Haverford students was made, by a self-constituted committee, to meet for an old-fashioned game of foot-ball and a meal in the old dining-room. The scheme was a "bold and novel one." On the appointed day the "foot-ball flew vigorously, as of yore ; married and "unmarried, farmers and men of merchandise, busy men "and idlers, all showing that what the cares of life had "taken from their youth was revived in breathing the air "of their old haunts." Xo one could doubt what the result would be. A strong pull and a pull all together was resolved upon. Steps were taken to raise funds, and raised they were, so that in a few months Haverford was placed on a durable foundation. After a suspension of two years and eight months, the building was reopened in May, 1848. In a short time the school became a college, 1 and although it has since passed through many periods of anxiety, "Haverford at sixty" was a solid institution. It is well remarked by the writer who deals with the subject in the History, that colleges are "not money-making concerns, but money-spending," that "a college flourishes at the cost of its treasury, its profit- "and-loss account is all debit." Inasmuch as it can spend any amount of money in adding to its educational re- sources, it follows that probably "no class of institutions "is more hungry for money or more constantly poor." And summing up the position in four words, "Haverford is "no exception." Her endowment, however, lias slowly 1 1856. 110 HITHER AND THITHER. but steadily grown, until she has now $220,000 invested funds, besides an amount estimated roughly at $600,000 in buildings, lands, library, museum and appliances. Founded and managed by Friends and on Friends' principles, the restrictions imposed on the students were somewhat stricter than those which prevail in the gener- ality of schools and colleges ; but these, both as to courses of education and in the recognized sports, have been modi- fied from time to time. The subject of lighting proved a matter of much debate. Gas was at one time regarded as a very questionable improvement. It is recorded that no less a person than Horace Binney, the Philadelphia lawyer, denounced its use in schools and such like build- ings as criminal, in that it would lead to endless conflagra- tions and explosions. It was not until 1852 that the buildings generally were lighted with gas, and in November of that year the managers expressed their belief that, with attention to the management of the works, it would prove an economical light. In 1S65, it was proved that Mr. Binney 's fears had some justification, for in the course of that winter a gas meter, under the stairs, by the dining- room, exploded, injuring several of the students. At that time the splendor of electricity as a common illu- minator was not thought of. But beyond lessons, gas and dress, a huger question created much discussion. Boys may learn or they may not; but, eat they must. The senior class was entitled to a lunch of pie, and precedent had established that in a short five minutes' recess at eleven in the forenoon each senior's allowance, fixed "at "90 degrees of circumference," should be fetched by the HAVKRFORD COLLEGK. Ill "scavenger" or class deputy from the kitchen. Now, four pies to a class of thirteen gave three extra pieces, and these were usually retained by the "scavenger." The writer in the "History," who touches upon the matter, states "with regret" that this luncheon was abolished by act of faculty in 1872, and adds that a cruel slander was spread to the effect that the act was brought about through the too great love of pie manifested by the class of '72. That class is called "much slandered," for though they were "young, turbulent and ridiculous," they were not bad at heart. Perhaps the truth has been missed. Is it not more reasonable to think that the act proceeded from a feeling of mercy in the minds of the faculty toward the scavenger, who must have imperiled his life in devour- ing three such pieces of pie a day ? Music, also, was a sore point. It was not exactly encour- aged by the college authorities, but by 1876 it had received sufficient attention to let the students boast of possessing quite a respectable quartette, with some additional talent for the choruses. When, however, instrumental music was attempted by an overzealous pupil, who tried flute- playing in his bed, the appearance in the doorway of a kind and familiar face gazing long and sadly upon him caused him to cease. As the reproachful face withdrew the ears of the offending student were assailed with the laconic rebuke "And thee's a Friend's child." In earlier days, when all music was under ban, it "happened" that the simple jewsharp would find its way in. As each harp was confiscated as soon as detected, it is a curious problem what became of the barrelful of harps that had been 112 HITHER AND THITHER. gathered from the lovers of the charm which "soothes the "savage breast." The contests in cricket were mighty and numerous. The game was introduced at Haverford in 1836 by an English gardener named William Carvill, and "it is "thought that at Haverford College cricket was first "learned by Americans and adopted as a game." The successes and defeats of the College teams, however, are too generally known to require recitation. The records of "the famous seven hit" by Howard Comfort and a hun- dred other incidents of the College matches are given and dwelt upon with pride, but the ingenious student who tried to save labor, yet provide sport or at least practice, by inventing a "catapult bowler," so that cricket could be practiced with as few players as are required for a game of solitaire, met with failure, for the catapult refused to work. Nevertheless, Haverford cricket has continued to triumph. The library, it appears, is a growing and increasingly valuable adjunct. It numbers over thirty thousand volumes. A list of the rare and curious books is given, among which may be mentioned fac-similes of the three great codices of the Bible, the Codex Alexandrinus, the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaitieus. The "History" has some sixty well-executed illustra- tions, including views of the principal points of interest connected with the buildings, and twenty-one portraits of the more notable of its presidents and patrons. Dr. Sommers "Le Morte Darthur. j j Dr. Sommer's "Le Morte Darthur." IT is remarkable that it should have been reserved to a Prussian scholar to produce the monumental reprint "Le Morte Darthur," ! which was published 1889- 1891. As a specimen of typography, this work has few equals, and Dr. Sommer, as the result of four years' almost continuous labor, effected, thanks to the German Govern- ment, who granted three subsidies, a result which must delight all bibliophiles, and at the same time reflect the greatest credit upon himself. The first volume, covering eight hundred and sixty-two pages, is a reprint from Earl Spencer's copy, printed page for page and line for line. Only two copies of Caxton's editio princeps of 1485 are extant. That belonging to Lord Spencer was acquired at Lloyd's sale in 1816 for £325, but lacks eleven leaves, which were replaced by fac-simile leaves executed from the only other copy in existence, which, after belonging to l Le Morte Darthur. By Syr Thomas Malory. The original edition of William Caxton now reprinted and edited with an intro- duction and glossary by H. Oskar Sommer, Ph.D., with an essay on Malory's prose style by Andrew Lang, M. A. London: David Nutt (3 vols.), 1889-1891. 116 HITHEB AND THITHER. the Harleian collection, was sold to the Earl of Jersey, and was one of the gems of the library at Osterley Park. This copy is perfect, and on the death of the owner came into the market, when a spirited contest for its ownership naturally ensued. The British Museum hid £1,800 for it, but there stopped. The prize fell to Mrs. Abby E. Pope, of Brooklyn, ~N. Y., who paid £1,950 and became the envied owner of the volume. The Caxton edition is printed in black letter, and the type throughout is that described by Mr. Blades as 4*. The volume has no title-page, the lines are spaced out to an even length of 4% inches, and thirty-eight lines make a full page. 1 It is without folios, headlines or catchwords, and the initial letters are printed from wood. Those to "Books" are ornamental letters five lines high, the initials to "Chapters" being only three lines high. Dr. Sommer has used handsome Roman type in lieu of black letters, but at the beginning of volume I, has provided the reader with a fac-simile of page 75 from Earl Spencer's copy. The next edition after Caxton's was printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1498, in folio, and Lord Spencer owned the only known copy. Of a second edition by the same celebrated printer, dated 1529, the only existing copy, known as Archdeacon Wrangham's, has been acquired by the British Museum. The Earl Spencer collection is now the property of the Manchester Public Library, in England. Only nine other reprints prior to Sommer's were published, of which the best known are Southey's edition of 1817 and 1 A few pages have less than thirty-eight lines and some have thirty-nine. LE MORTE DARTHUR. 117 Mr. Thomas Wright's two editions of 1856 and 1866, included in the "Library of Old Authors." 1 Volumes II and III of Sommer's edition contain the critical and literary portion of his work, and also Mr. Lang's essay. One of the most valuable contributions in these volumes consists of a "List of Names and Places" in the "Morte Darthur," being the "first complete and "critical index" to this work ever published. In it are from eight hundred and fifty to one thousand names which occur in the text. It is printed in seventy-four double columns, and an idea of its laborious character may be gathered from noticing that Arthur fills' eight, Galahad three, Launcelot seven, and Tristram six columns respectively. The literary value of the "Origin of English Romance" has been variously estimated. Sir Walter Scott styles it the best of all English romances, but old Roger Ascham, the Latin secretary or tutor of Queen Elizabeth, judged otherwise. He was a learned man, and while the Queen paid him a salary of £20 a year only for his; services, she nevertheless "esteemed him highly;" for on his death she declared she "would rather have lost £10,000 than her "tutor, Ascham." In his well-known "Toxophilus," 2 and also his "Scholemaster," 3 he discusses these books of "cheuvelrie." In the latter work he remarks of the "Morte "d'Arthur," "The whole pleasure of this booke standeth in 1 A Series of Rare Works Collected and Printed under the Title of "Library of Old Authors." London: John Russell Smith. 1856, eto. 61 vols., 8vo. Mto., 1545. Ascham's works are accessible in the "Library of Old "Authors" (4 vols.). *8vo., 1570. Printed posthumously. 118 HITHER AND THITHER. "two especyall poyntes in open mans slaghter and bolde "bawdrie, in which booke those, be counted the noblest "knights that doe kill most men without any quarrell and "commit foulest adoulteries by sutlest shiftes." Mr. Gil- roy, more recently, well said that Malory's romance is as truly the epic of the English, as the Iliad is the epic of the Greek mind. The Arthurian romances have been a glean- ing ground for many of our greatest poets and writers ; notably Spenser in "The Faerie Queene;" Tennyson in "The Idylls' of the King;" Swinburne in his "Trystram of "Lyonesse ;" Arnold in his "Tristram and Iseult," and Morris in his "Defence of Guenevere." Of Sir Thomas Malory little is known. He was a knight and an amateur antiquary, born about 1430, and completed his compilation fifteen years before Caxton printed it. Caxton finished printing the book in the abbey of Westminster on the last day of July, 1485, a work which he had undertaken, he tells us, at the request of "many noble and dyvers gentylmen of the royame of "England." Malory was a compiler rather than an author, yet it should be remembered that he did not servilely copy his originals, but, after studying the various versions, impressed upon the whole the stamp of his own indi- viduality, and in doing this combined English and French romances. The source of each portion of the cycle of romances 1 has 1 Richard Jones in his "Growth of the Idylls of the Kins" (1894), says: "It appears that five great cycles of legends, — 1, the Arthur, "Guinevere, and Merlin cycle; 2, the Round Table cycle; 3, the "Lancelot cycle; 4, the Holy Grail cycle; 5, the Tristan cycle, — at first "developed independently, were later connected together about the "mediaeval hero, King Arthur. Even to run through all the available "versions of the related legends is the task of a lifetime." LE MORTE DARTHUR. 119 been traced with great skill by Dr. Sommer to different manuscripts, but from whence the several romances were originally drawn by the writers of these manuscripts is still a fertile source for debate. During the fifth century a colony of Britons took refuge in Armorica from the Saxons, and the memory of Arthur and his knights was preserved there, as fresh as in Wales or Cornwall. Hun- dreds of minstrels seem to have composed or adapted a variety of poems relating incidents, now familiar to readers of Arthurian romance, and out of these, again, grew prose romances. 1 In this way their origin is, in one sense, as disputable as is the source of Macpherson's "Ossian." The question of Gildas, an historian of the sixth century, styled by Gibbon "The British Jeremiah," and Xennius, who is alleged, in the ninth century, to have written his jejune "Narrative" in the form of dry epitome, cannot be discussed here. There is little doubt, however, that the legends of Arthur belonged originally to South Wales, but were modified by incidents and elements afterwards intro- duced into them. When we come to Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wrote his celebrated "Historia" or "Chronicon" in the twelfth century, we are on much safer ground. According to his own statement, he received in 1128 a manuscript from one Walter Calenius, an archdeacon of Oxford, who in that century traveled in Brittany and collected the legends subsequently worked up by Geoffrey into his "true history" of the Britons. According to Polydore Vergil, who is fol- 1 As C. F. Keary remarks in the Diet, of Nat. Biog., the bibli- ography ©f the mythic Arthur is almost infinite. 120 HITHER AND THITHER. lowed by many writers, Geoffrey invented many of the legends he purposed to translate, but, be this as it may, his "Chronicon" is one of the corner-stones of romance. There is little doubt that he is responsible for much embellish- ment of the stories he narrated. He scorned to be bound by simple facts of history, and tells us, with dry humor, that he left records of such mere details as names, dates and places to his friends and contemporaries. Caradoc of Llancarvan, William of Malmesbury and Henry of Hunt- ingdon reveled, it is true, in the ancient history of the kings of the Britons, but "he alone had the precious book "which he had taken care to translate." Monsieur Paulin Paris will not admit that any Calenius manuscript ever existed, and many agree in thinking that it has no more actuality than the "Old Plays," out of which Sir Walter Scott so happily "invented" quotations, as headings for chapters of his novels. The Arthur legends, as we have them, practically origi- nated in Geoffrey's "Historia," published 1138, and repub- lished 1147, but only in a partial form, for no mention was then made of the Round Table. That was introduced a few years later in Wace's "History of the Britons," published 1155, and travelers, when they visit Winchester, in Eng- land, are regaled to the present day by a sight of the very table, round which Arthur and his favorite twelve knights sat. If any incredulous visitor should remark that it does not in the least resemble the accounts of the table made by Merlin, as given in the romances, nor any known record of the smaller table to seat thirteen ; he will be silent when he is told that Henry VIII. showed the Winchester table LE MORTE DARTHUR. 121 to Francis L, and stated "that it was the one used by the "British King." After Geoffrey's time the legend grew apace, and many additions were made by Layamon, Wace and Walter Mapes or Map. Up to this point chivalry and routs had mainly characterized the romances. Walter Map transformed the whole cycle by the infusion of Lancelot and the quest of the Holy Grail, which stands out as the main subject of the romances collected by Malory. 1 The Grail was a sacred vessel originally presented by Solomon to the Queen of Sheba; or, if not so old, it was the dish which twenty centuries ago our Lord used at the Last Supper. Being stolen by one of Pilate's servants, it was next used by the Governor when he publicly washed his hands at the time of the Crucifixion, after which it was presented to St. Joseph of Arimatha?a, who collected in it the Blood which flowed from the five wounds of the Saviour. It was alleged that it had been carried to Heaven, but in 1101 it was cap- tured by the Genoese and Pisan crusaders at Cesarea, and the former resigned to the Pisans all other booty in con- sideration of being awarded this one treasure. It was preserved with great reverence in the Sacristy of San Lorenzo, at Genoa, till 1809, when the French seized it and carried it to Paris, from whence it was returned to San Lorenzo by the allies in 1815. It was supposed to have been made of a single piece of emerald, and as early as 1 At least, writes Prof. Saintsbury in "The Flourishing of "Romance and the Rise of Allegory" (1897), "it may be asserted with "the utmost confidence that it has not been proved that he did not." If we accept Map, we, of course, deny the claims of Robert de Borron and Chrestien de Troyes. 122 HITHER AND THITHER. 1500 it was decreed that to make experiments upon it by touch of gold, stones, coral or any other substance, to test its composition, should be punishable by death. On its restoration, in 1815, the Sacro Catino, as it is now desig- nated, was so tightly packed that it was broken between Turin and Genoa, but the glass fragments have been exquisitely refitted and secured by beautiful gold filigree work, and it is one of the most treasured relics of Italy. At the end of book XVII of the "Morte Darthur," Caxton writes: "Thus endeth thistory of the Sancgreal "that was breuely drawen oute of the Frensshe in to "Englysshe, the whiche is a story cronycled for one of the "truest and the holyest that is in thys worlde." Many writers have seen in Malory's Galahad, Percival, Sir Bors de Ganis (or Wales) and Lancelot the antitypes of the Bunyan heroes, Christian, Faithful and Hopeful, and some have read in them Malory's testimony to the sor- rows of Henry II. Malory's Lancelot is a truer picture of human character, under the form of a fictitious hero, than many that would satisfy modern analysts. The romancist depicts a pupil of Merlin, who is at warfare with his own flesh ; but whose sins render it impossible for him to fully achieve the quest. The gentle Sir Galahad par- takes of the wonderful food, but when Sir Lancelot enters through the door where the Grail is, it is as though he was burned by fire, so that he lies for twenty-four days and twenty-four nights as though he was dead. After again falling into sin he repents, and in sorrow creeps to his grave without any marvelous conversion or periods of exaltation. He becomes a hermit and afterwards a priest ; LE MORTE DARTHUR. 123 and in a quiet life of prayer and preaching sings his daily mass till, in gentle hopefulness, he is gathered to his rest. The story is all the truer because a peaceful end is the lot of the majority of mankind. Sevres Porcelain. Sevres Porcelain. THE purchase of Sevres' porcelain has always been reserved to the wealthy, for the simple reason that no other persons can afford to buy it. Those who appreciate this porcelain can thoroughly enjoy themselves while examining a splendid volume in folio size, published by John C. Ximmo, of London, entitled ''The Soft Porcelain of Sevres," * with an historical intro- duction by Edouard Garnier. The treatise of thirty-two pages is illustrated by fifty plates, representing two hun- dred and fifty water-color subjects. The Chinese claim to have made porcelain for more than two thousand years, but it was not known how to make it in Europe until the seventeenth century. Monsieur Garnier cur- sorily notices the introduction of Chinese porcelain into Europe by the Venetians in the fourteenth century, when from its beauty and novelty a very general belief pre- vailed that it was possessed of magic qualities. A little later the Portuguese and the Dutch introduced the pre- cious ware, and whilst the novelty wore off, and it was 1 The Soft Porcelain of Sevres, with an historical introduction by Edouard Garnier. London: John C. Nimmo, 1892. 128 HITHER AND THITHER. ascertained what the Chinese put into it, still its manu- facture could not be accomplished in Europe because the requisite kaolin or white clay which constituted the porce- lain paste had not been found in European countries. About 1709 or 1711 a man named Bottger, "who was try- ing to find out the secret of porcelain-making for the "Elector of Saxony," discovered the location of the neces- sary materials by an expedient of his valet, who, for want of the proper hair powder to dress his master's wig, had used instead a kind of white powdered clay he had found in the neighborhood. M. Bottger was astonished at the unusual weight of his wig, and having questioned his servant, proceeded out of a not unnatural curiosity to examine the clay, when, to his delight, he found that it was the true kaolin or hard porcelain. Quickly a factory was established at Meissen, a few miles from Dresden, and the porcelain then and since made there is generally called "Dresden." The discovery, however, of "soft" porcelain had been made in France several years previously, in 1695, near Limoges, although nearly twenty-five years elapsed before its right use was attained. In porcelain the terms hard and soft are intended to express the capability of resisting heat when the finished ware is submitted to the process of "firing," 1 and the "old Sevres" comprises only "soft" porcelain manufactured prior to about 1770, after which date Sevres china was made of "hard" clay. The volume by Nimmo relates to the former ware. The styles of "Sevres" are broadly divided into three classes, the Pompadour or Rocaille, 1753-1763; the style 1 Gamier ( note to page 23 ) . SEVRES PORCELAIN. 129 Louis Quinze, 1763-1 7 8 G, and the style Louis Seize, 1786- 1703. Nearly every class of article has been made of porcelain, including entire tables, clocks and candelabra, while in 1780 Mademoiselle Beaupre, an actress, appeared in a carriage of which the panels consisted of exquisitely- painted porcelain. The cost of choice specimens is almost fabulous, for not only was its manufacture the work of skilled artisans, but the best artists were employed in the coloring and decoration ; yet time and again the plaques and vases broke in the process of "firing," frequently three or four of these expensive gems of art being destroyed to one that came safely through the furnace. Naturally, frauds of all kinds have been perpetrated, and had the Sevres factory been five times its actual size, and had ceaseless work been carried on, still its output would have fallen far short of the amount offered for sale in the market. It is, therefore, a ticklish task to turn collector of old Sevres, and a purchaser needs much knowledge. One of the oldest and most amusing frauds was the pre- sentation in 1811 to Louis XVIII. of a splendid Sevres dejeuner service, with medallion portraits of Louis XIV. and celebrated persons of his court. It was used at the Tuileries for two years before the deception was discovered. The service was at last "suspected" by a connoisseur and sent to headquarters for examination, when it was promptly condemned ; and the King "having no further use for it," it has been pilloried in a case at the Musee Ceramique as an example of "fraudulent imitation." The manufacture in France has always been under royal patronage, and in 1710 two workmen named Dubois, 9 130 HITHER AND THITHER. who had previously been engaged at Chantilly, proposed to Monsieur Orry de Fulvy, brother to Philibert Orry, Comptroller of Finance under Louis XV., to reveal to him the secret of the composition paste. Desiring to rival the Dresden manufacture, a factory was started at Vin- cennes, but after three years' experiments and the expendi- ture of sixty thousand francs the brothers Dubois were discharged "for bad conduct," and the scheme languished. Madame de Pompadour, however, stepped into the breach and recommended the King to take the matter into hia own hands and save the large sums that went out of France to purchase Dresden china. The King was nothing loth, and M. Orry de Fulvy having "purchased the secret" from a Monsieur Gravant, who had for some time been at the factory under the Dubois, a "company was formed under "the name of Adam," 1 his name being used to conceal that of the other real proprietors. A capital of three hundred and fifty thousand livres was provided, of which the King contributed one hundred thousand, and, under the director- ship of Monsieur Boileau, the venture was crowned with success. Improvements of various kinds were introduced into the manufacture, and the services of eminent chemists, artists, painters and modellers were secured. Things went more or less smoothly for a while, but so many complaints were made of attempted frauds that Louis XV., becoming weary, in 1760 bought up the establishment and "became "sole proprietor, continuing M. Boileau as director." The King and Madame de Pompadour used to visit the factory every week, and the latter, who was a skilled artist herself, ^his was 1745. In 1753 the factory was transferred from Vin- oennes to Sevres. SEVRES PORCELAIN. 131 often colored some of the tasteful specimens of manu- facture, and even molded some of the cups and vases with her own fingers. One table presented by the King to the Comtesse du Nord cost the large sum of seventy-five thou- sand livres. The story is told that at Chateau de Belle Vue the Marquise de Pompadour during one winter received the King in a room opening into a conservatory filled with exquisite blooms which shed around delicious perfumes. The King desired to pluck one lovely flower, but found that the bloom and its fellows were made of porcelain, watered with sweet-smelling essences. Louis in this instance was deceived, as in another way was the artist who tried to brush from an oil painting a fly painted by Quentin Matsys. The King, in his delight, ordered from the fac- tory flowers for Belle Vue and his own palaces, to the value of eight hundred thousand livres, if the continuation of the story may be believed. In 1778 Catherine II. of Russia ordered and paid for a service of seven hundred and forty-four pieces, costing three hundred and twenty-eight thousand, one hundred and eighty-eight livres, or nearly $200,000. This service had a curious history. At a fire in one of the palaces one hundred and sixty of the pieces were stolen, and afterwards sold in England. The Emperor Nicholas heard of the pieces and repurchased them, restoring them to Russia about the year 1852. The old buildings at Sevres were erected in 1755, when the works were transferred from Vincennes and purchased by Louis XV., but new buildings have been added and the old much improved. They now belong to the State. 132 HITHER AND THITHER. ISText to taking the drive from Paris to Sevres, and spending a couple of hours in examining the splendid col- lection there gathered together, the most enjoyable thing is to have such a volume as that provided by M. Gamier, over which to sit in a cosy arm-chair and pore at one's leisure. It may be invidious, where all the plates are so good, to single out any two or three in particular, but if a choice is to be made the three deserving special notice seem to be the frontispiece, a tray with the mono- gram of Madame du Barry, painted by Asselin, and plates 11 and 25, depicting two exquisite vases, one the well-known Vaisseau a Mat, or masted vessel, executed in 1752, and reproduced in most of the text-books on porce- lain, and the other a Vase aux Colombes, both in the possession of Baron Alphonse de Bothschild. Liturgical Manuscripts. Liturgical Manuscripts. IN the Free Library of Philadelphia are preserved fourteen Choir Books written on parchment during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which for- merly belonged to various convents of religious orders in Portugal. The original bindings have been preserved, and deserve particular attention. They have, in some parts, been subjected to necessary repairs. The majority are thick boards, covered with stamped brown calf leather, having the bosses, clasps and chiselled corners complete, while the metal ornamentations are varied. The largest volume measures 30 by 22, and the smallest 20 by 14 inches. They are fine specimens of Portuguese caligraphy, and at least two of the earliest of them were gifts of King John III. of Portugal to Portuguese convents. He reigned between the years 1521 and 1557, and is celebrated in history for having colonized Brazil and being the King under whose auspices Japan was discovered. He established the Inquisition in Portugal. The books give a pleasant insight to Portuguese scrip- torial art of that date, many of the illuminated borders to the great folio leaves being very handsome. The initial 136 HITHER AND THITHEE. letters are in some instances miniatured or historiated, and scattered through the volumes will he found hundreds of capital letters in colors and in gold. Some details con- nected with each volume are hereafter given, attention being especially called to number seven, not copied by the pen, but executed by means of stencil letters. It has been asserted, and probably with truth, that in none of the Portuguese cathedrals will be found a collection as com- plete as this, of the liturgical monuments of the national worship. As might be expected, bibliomaniacs have not hesitated to injure some of the books by cutting out por- tions of the decorations. More than enough remains, how- ever, in every volume, to make it a matter of congratulation that so fine a set of liturgical volumes has been secured for a public library. In every cathedral and monastery in foreign countries there will be generally found a large lectern in the center of the choir, on which is placed a book similar to one of these. They contain portions of the Mass not sung by the Priest or by the Great Choir. In them will be found, there- fore, Introits, Graduals, Alleluias, Offertories and other portions of the Office, which are usually sung by four or more Cantors, who, vested in copes, group themselves around the lectern and sing in the Gregorian or Plain Chant those portions of the Mass which change according to the season. Some of the books are mainly for use on Ferial or ordinary days, to which there is no special Office or music attached. In other volumes the Gregorian or Plain Chant settings, suitable for Great Feasts and Fast Days, are found. It need hardly be mentioned that the LITURGICAL MANUSCRIPTS. 137 music is mainly written on the old four-line staff, with square, diamond and tailed-square Gregorian notes. Number I : A Sancturale according to the Order of St. Jerome. From the colophon, it appears that this book of Divine Offices was completed in the month of June, 1548, while Father Blasius D'Olivenga was rector of the College, and the expenses are stated to have been borne by King John III. The volume consists of one hundred and eighty-nine folios, of which six (152, 15S, 159, 181, 184 and 185) are lacking. Many of the pages have been cut, but care- fully mended. On page 1 is a large border of flowers and arabesques in gold and in colors; part, however, has been cut away. In the center of the bottom of the border are the arms of some Cardinal, the arms themselves having been effaced. The initial letter V[nus] on folio 1 deserves careful notice, and on the verso of folio 151 is a very handsome historiated initial letter S[ancti], showing St. Jerome kneeling before a crucifix. The volume is written in a large, Gothic hand, in red and black, and has the Plain Chant notation throughout. It contains a thousand initial letters, of which more than nine hundred are red, some blue and the remainder black. Father Blasius D'Olivenga, was Friar of the celebrated Convent of Belem, near Lisbon. This magnificent church was founded by King Emmanuel in honor of the discovery of the route to India by the Cape of Good Hope by Vasco de Gama. Later D'Olivenga was made Provincial of the Order of Saint Jerome in Portugal. 138 HITHER AND THITHER. The binding is well preserved. Number II: A Dominicale according to the Order of St. Jerome. The Dominicale is a book in which is contained the lections and other matter belonging to the Office for Sun- days and Dominical Festivals. At the end of the volume it is stated in the colophon that this book of Divine Offices was completed in the month of June, 1548 (like Number I) ? during the rectorship of Father Blasius D'Olivenca, the terms being the same as in the colophon to Number I ; and it is added that the expenses were borne by King John III. of Portugal. This volume consists of one hundred and sixty-three folios. The principal decoration can be found on page 1, of which part of an elaborate border is still preserved, and there is a large initial letter E [cce] . About eleven hundred initial letters will be found in the volume, in red or in blue, of the same artistic character as the letters in Volume I. In this volume, however, no Plain Chant is given. It will be noticed that a delicate floriated decoration will be found in the margins to accom- pany each of the beautiful initial letters. These are much varied. Folios 4 and 5 of the original on parchment are wanting, and in their stead two folios of paper of the same period, have been inserted with the text in black, but with- out initial letters. Number III: A book of Offices, opening with the special matter for the Vigil of the Nativity. Unfor- tunately, the last leaf has been mutilated and the lower half cut away and replaced by a piece of paper of the LITUEGICAL MANUSCRIPTS. 139 period iii which the volume was apparently written. It will be noticed on some of the earlier folios, 2, 3, 4, 26, etc., that to adapt the volume to the use of some particular church, in which the responses were not the same as those written out by the scribe, others written on strips have been tipped in with gum and placed over the original writing. There are really one hundred and ninety-three folios in the volume, although, according to the pagination, there should be 203, but through an error the scribe has jumped from 187 to 198. The writing is beautifully done, and is of the same style as Numbers I and II. Of the initial letters, three hundred and two are in black and one hundred and sixty in red or in blue. The initial letter on the first folio R[ex] is miniatured, and shows the Holy Family on the steps of a porticoed building. Saint Mary is adoring the Infant Christ sur- rounded by an ox, St. Joseph, the ass, etc. There is a particularly well executed large initial letter Z[elus] on the verso of folio 58. The gold and blue are fresh and attractive. The filigree decorations of some of the initial letters, especially those depicting flowers, are elaborate and worthy of examination. Number IV: A Ferial Book written in the sixteenth century, commencing with the particular matter used in the Mass sung on the Saturday before Quadragesima. There are one hundred and eighty-six folios, paginated 1 to 44, 88 to 187 and 189 to 216 (after which some pages are apparently wanting), followed by fourteen unnum- bered folios. There does not seem to be any omission, and probably the pagination is at fault. There certainly seems 140 HITHER AND THITHER. no folio missing between 187 and 189, and if there were any between folios 44 and 88, they must have been removed or omitted at the time when the volume was bound. The three principal initial letters are: T[unc] on folio 1, A[lleluya] folio 88, and S[acerdos] folio 150. The last is, by far, the best of the three. There are two hundred and ninety-four initial letters in red or in blue, and seventy-four in black. One of the clasps is wanting. Number V: A Ferial Book for use on ordinary days from Easter to Pentecost. It rather unusually commences with the Plain Song for the Kyrie, Gloria in Excelsis, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei, followed by the Asperges. The pagination is on the reverse of each folio. The volume contains two hundred and twenty-nine folios, and the writing belongs to the end of the sixteenth century. There are four hundred and forty-four initial letters, with six large letters in gold and in colors. These are curious, and have arabesque ornaments. They are on the following folios: A[d] on folio 2, P[uer] on folio 22, H(i)[esu] on folio 155, V[iri] on folio 176, S[piritus] on folio 181, and B[enedicta] on folio 189. The execu- tion of these is more curious than beautiful. The brass corner bindings are very small. Number VI: A Graduale, in a very good state of preservation. The brass ornaments are well preserved. Strictly, a Graduale is the anthem or hymn sung after the Epistle and before the Gospel. At an early time it ceased to be sung at the altar, and was sung at the lectors' ambo. At the end of the volume is given an index, arranged in LITURGICAL MANUSCRIPTS. 141 alphabetical order, showing where can be found the Introits, Graduals, Alleluias, Offertories and Communions contained in the volume. After these, on folio 188, is given the Asperges, with notation. The volume contains one hundred and ninety-one folios, of which folio 123 has been cut out, as also has the lower half of folio 185. The writing may be compared with Number IV, being of about the same date. There are two hundred and seventy-six initial letters in colors, with two large ones worthy of careful examination. M[ ihi] on folio 1, showing St. Andrew with his cross, and G[audeam] on folio 86. Number VII: Measures 29 by 22 inches, and is the "Common of the Apostles and Evangelists except at Easter- "tide" ; that is to say, the service book used on Feasts of Apostles and Evangelists for which no special responses were provided. It is stated that it was executed by Brother Emmanuel, of the Most Holy Trinity, a monk of that monastery, in the year 1787. It is an unusually large book, and has apparently been executed by stencils. There are ninety-nine folios with initials in red, and a very interesting series of three vignettes executed by the pen on folios 1, 12 and 48. The vignette on folio 1 has never been completed, as the title of the book has not been inserted in the large space in the center apparently reserved for it. At the foot are pictures of some of the monks engaged at work, with two boxes of stencil plates appro- priated to the upper and lower cases respectively. The second vignette is at the foot of folio 12, and is apparently 142 HITHER AND THITHER. an allegorical sketch of Adam and Eve and the apple, after the Fall. In the center is a head, probably of one of the cherubim, from whose month pours forth a stream of fire. The sketch is evidently not completed. The third vignette is on page 48. It is very conventional. Number VIII : A manuscript of the seventeenth century. On the last folio has been gummed in a list of the particular festivals between the Vigil of Saint Andrew and the Feast of Saint Michael, for which special responses have been provided and noted in this volume. The volume consists of eighty-eight folios, and the execu- tion of the scribe is not remarkable. Number IX : This volume is of great size, and is a beautiful specimen of the work of the scribe, but, unfor- tunately, the first and last folios are wanting. It is a book of the sixteenth century, has one hundred and forty folios, and two hundred and sixty-five initial letters in red or blue. The letters are variously patterned. Number X : This volume is apparently incomplete. Looking at folio 1, it seems clear that it was intended to put into this volume more than it now has, or else it formed a part of a larger work, of which the folios here bound together, formed a part. The writing is of the seventeenth century. It has three large initial letters in red and blue, with Arabic ornamentations, besides ninety-five initial letters in colors and two hundred and fifty in black. The initial letters are: C[reator] folio 5 verso, A[ve] folio 88, and E[xultet] folio 101. Both clasps are missing. Number XI: A Psalterium of the sixteenth century without the music. LITURGICAL MANUSCRIPTS. 143 It consists of one hundred and eighty-nine folios, of which folio 160 has been cut out, and apparently one or more folios are wanting at the end. The writing is beautiful, and there are seven large letters in many colors, with rich painted borders. The large letters are : B[eatus] on folio 3, T)[ominus] on folio 38 verso, of which the border is very choice; D[ixi] on folio 61 verso, D[ixit] on folio 80 verso, S[alvum] on folio 99, E[xultate] on folio 126, and C[antate] on folio 116. The rich borders add very much to the beauty of this book. Number XII: A volume of the seventeenth century, which commences with the Asperges. It contains one hun- dred and eight folios, and has one hundred and five letters, colored and decorated with arabesque ornaments. At folio 87 is a comparatively modern but elaborate title-page, which commences the special Office for the Feast of Saint Anthony. The decoration is not very artistic, but it is elaborate, and before some of the colors became rubbed it. may have been far more attractive than it now is. The initial letters are wanting in the usual ecclesiastical characteristics. For instance, the "P" on folio 90, and the two at the top of the verso- of folio 93 and at the top of folio 91, where the artist apparently gives us a dryad and a mermaid. Two folios at the end have apparently been cut out, and one of the clasps is missing. Number XIII : Consists of ninety-nine folios, of which folio 57 is wanting in the enumeration, but the catch word 144 HITHER AND THITHER. on folio 56 would seem to show that there is nothing miss- ing. There seem to be one or two folios wanting at the end. There are many initial letters in black, blue and red, which are elaborately ornamented with foliations at the side. On folio 70 verso, is a capital P[laceboj, the center of the letter containing a skull bearing upon it a large cross. The bones of the skull are not anatomically well done. One of the clasps is missing. Number XIV: A good specimen of the workmanship of the seventeenth century. There are a large number of initial letters in black, red and blue, and a large initial letter on folio 34, It [ex]. It contains one hundred and seventeen folios. Six "Greatest" Books. 10 Six "Greatest" Books. 1 i. Of The Imitation of Christ. I WAS asked early in 1904 to say a few words in six numbers of a Philadelphia magazine 2 on "Six "Greatest Books." I rashly said, "Certainly I will "do so," — the more rashly as I did not decide till after the promise was made on what books I would write. The task seemed easy, and taking a pencil and paper, I first put down the Bible, but concluded that ought to be omitted as standing in a pre-eminent class — one by itself. Then I came to a stop. What is meant by "greatest book ?" Is it a book that has given the author the greatest labor to compose ? Is it a book that has done the most good ? Is it a book of which more copies have been sold and printed than others? In what does greatness consist as connected with a book ? 1 "Six Great Books" was the title intended, but the printer willed otherwise. 2 "The Optimist." 148 HITHER AND THITHER. If we give a little consideration to the book known as "Of the Imitation of Christ," we shall find that several of the questions propounded above, if applied to it would be answered in the affirmative. It undoubtedly has achieved an immense amount of spiritual good, and is one of the six books of which the greatest number of copies have been printed. It is a remarkable book, and the number of its readers is larger in the present day and generation, than ever before. Is it not remarkable that the authorship of some of the bestrknown books is a matter of controversy ? In the present case the dispute is more apparent than real. I have, in a separate paper 1 in this volume, said all that is necessary as to the authorship of this immortal book. Much I wrote for this series of articles may be consequently omitted. It has been properly pointed out that the primary cause of the controversy about the authorship lies in the un- assuming greatness of the writer. Like Shakespeare, A'Kempis did not obtrude himself, but, as John Malone says, "the plain tale of contemporary testimony and the "undoubted autographs of A'Kempis himself put the "claims of all but A'Kempis himself outside the bars of "evidence." A'Kempis wrote several smaller works, but his fame rests almost entirely on "The Imitation." The book has been in men's hands now for five hundred years ; and one collector alone had over a thousand differ- ent editions in his library. 1 Of the Imitation of Christ. OF THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. 149 In defense of his anonymity, the writer himself said he "lived to be unknown," and advised men "to search not "who spoke this or that, but to attend to what was spoken." To the remarkable German monk who gave us this book of almost priceless value an enormous debt is owing. Hardly a home containing books does not include a copy of "The "Imitation." It has been the comfort of rich and poor, the educated and the little trained. It may fairly stand as one of the foremost books of the world. Lastly, it may be remarked that it is strange that, not only should the authorship of this book be in dispute ; but that also the authorship of "The Whole Duty of Man" 1 remains undiscovered, yet no two religious books have been more universally received and circulated. Millions of these books have been circulated in the Christian world. 1 Published 1659. Variously attributed to Archbishop Saneroft, to William Chappel, and to others. Six "Greatest" Books. II. The Pilgrim's Progress. A SECOND of the "greatest" six books, of which the largest number of copies have been printed is John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress." It was published in 1678, when Bunyan was about fifty years of age. He is not a man of one book, but his immortal alle- gory is undoubtedly so far superior to any of his other writings, that he is generally known and thought of only as the author of "The Pilgrim's Progress." Lord Macaulay has written the most unqualified of the many panegyrics about the book. He could find nothing but praise for it, and dismissed the objection that the alle- gory does not hang together in details, and that some of the particulars are incongruous, with the remark "It is not "easy to make a simile go on all-fours." 1 Eichard Dowling, in his "Indolent Essays," protests against the prescriptive approval of Bunyan, as being one- sided, and vigorously attacks the language used by him. It is difficult to agree with this comment. Bunyan had vigor, a story-telling gift and an apt and clever use of the 1 Critical and Miscellaneous Essays : "Southey's edition of The Pil- "grim'e Progress." THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. 151 homely language of his own class in his own day. Bun- van's conceits were drawn from his own imagination; pondered over at length in the dullness of twelve years' imprisonment; and fostered only by a very limited educa- tion and recourse during twelve years to two books only. But how great the result was, is shown by the popularity of the work. Lord Macaulay said that if there had been no ''The Pil- "grim's Progress" the author's ''Holy War'' would have been the first of religious allegories. 1 This seems altogether beyond belief. Canon Venables has said that the narrative of "The Holy War" "moves in a more shadowy region," 2 than "The Pilgrim's Progress." Mr. Froude says "The "Holy War would have entitled Bunyan to a place "among the masters of English literature. It would never "have made his name a household word in every English "speaking family on the globe." 3 The editions of "The "Pilgrim's Progress" in England fill many pages of the Catalogue of the British Museum. Bunyan's education was of the slightest character, and his early life discreditable. His language was so atrocious that he was rebuked by a woman who heard him, she pro- testing that he swore and cursed at so fearful a rate that she was made to tremble to hear him, although she herself w T as notorious for what we to-day call "fishwives' Billings- "gate." Bunyan owed very much indeed of the changed life that came over him to the influence of his wife, whom he married when he was only nineteen. He lived in troublous 1 Critical and Miscellaneous Essays : "John Bunyan." 2 Life of John Bunyan. By Edmund Venables. (Great Writers.) •Bunyan. By James Anthony Froude. (English Men of Letters.) 152 HITHER AND THITHEE. religious times, it being a period when it was unlawful to preach in conventicles or at unlicensed meetings. The success of "The Pilgrim's Progress" was instanta- neous, two editions being published in 1678. It reached its tenth edition by the year 1685, has been translated into over seventy-six different languages, and has proved itself the greatest and most popular allegory ever written. Those written in later times by Adams, Monro and others are great, but just as Shakespeare has never been equaled by any other English poet, so Bunyan has never been equaled in skill and abounding interest by any other writer of allegory. A very charming edition was published some six years ago, with illustrations by the three brothers, Louis, Frederick and George Rhead; and the "Temple "Classics" edition is well worth owning. It is not certain how much was written during his imprisonment and how much after his release. Some maintain that the actual writing was done by Bunyan during his secona^imprison- ment, which lasted less than a year. The first edition came from the press of Nathaniel Ponder, a London pub- lisher, and the publication proved such a financial success that the printer was afterwards known as "Bunyan "Ponder." The Bunyan literature is very voluminous. The col- lection of the earlier editions of the allegory in the Lenox Library at New York is fairly complete. It has all but four, namely, the first, seventh, eleventh and seventeenth of the first thirty-four editions. The fifth was apparently the first to be illustrated, and the copper cuts prepared for the fifth edition were sold either with or without the THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. 153 text That the popularity of the work was enormous, is practically proved by the fact that it was dramatized, though, as may be easily understood, it was not a success upon the stage. The lives of Bunyan are very numerous, and among the best writers upon him and his works are included Southey, Doctor J. Brown, OfTor, Lord Macaulay, J. A. Froude and Copner. Whilst Shakespeare can boast of having had his name spelled in sixty-four different ways, John Bunyan has proved a fairly successful rival, as we find his name spelled with thirty-four variations, from Buignon and Bunion down to Bunyan. The copy of Fox's "Book of Martyrs" which Bunyan spelled out in prison has been purchased by subscription and placed for preservation in the Bedfordshire General Library. It is enriched with annotations in rhyme, written by the prisoner, which are about as poetical as the verses which usually precede "The Pilgrim's Pro- "gress." One is a comment upon the account of Bishop Gardiner's death, as described in Fox, and it reads as fol- lows: "The blood, the blood that he did shed "Is falling on his one [own] head ; "And dreadful it is for to see "The beginning of his misere." Bunyan did not lack for humor, for when a Quaker visited him in jail and declared that he had searched for him through half the prisons in England, the prisoner retorted that if the Lord had sent him, he need not have 154 HITHER AND THITHER. taken so much trouble to find him out, for the Lord knew that he had been a prisoner in Bedford Jail for twelve years. Although Bun van wrote fifty-nine different works, it is doubtful if any are familiarly known, except his "Grace "Abounding to the Chief of Sinners," published in 1666, "The Holy War," published in 1682, and "The Pil- "grim's Progress." As a book of extraordinary imagi- nation, appealing deeply to the human heart; an equal delight to old and young; and as a work that has accom- plished immense good, it is certainly permissible to include "The Pilgrim's Progress" among the six "greatest" books. Six " Greatest" Books. in. The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. U^TAHERE scarce exists," says Sir Walter Scott, "a J^ "work so popular as "Robinson Crusoe." 1 Dr. Johnson thought that the only books he knew of, that he wished longer than the authors had made them, were "Don Quixote," ''The Pilgrim's Progress" and "Rob- inson Crusoe." 2 In fact, it was commonly reported that when this last work was first published every old woman did her best "to go the price of it," and then bequeathed it as her best legacy with its companion book, Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress." 3 The book has exercised a greater influence on those who read it, than it is possible to estimate. In one of the principal British reviews it is designated as being in- tensely original, and at the same time, very commonplace. This is so because it occupies an almost unique position as the most popular piece of fiction ever produced ; and whilst 1 Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Novelists: Defoe. (In his Mis- cellaneous Prose Works.) 2 Piozzi "Anecdotes." 8 Life and strange surprising adventures of Mr. D De F . (1719.) 156 HITHER AND THITHER. some persons will rank "The Pilgrim's Progress" above it, it must not be overlooked that this latter work depends for its universal popularity very much on its religious character. The story of Robinson Crusoe breathes on every page sound and practical teaching as to the duties of children to their parents, yet it is never didactic; and the writer never sermonizes. The great point made by Defoe is — Turn your hand to what is next to be done with prompti- tude, perseverance and a resolution to make the best of circumstances. Crusoe's entire course of action during his residence of twenty-eight years on the island of Tabago is a determina- tion to make the best of circumstances. He was not a skilled laborer; he was only a lad when he ran away from home and had no particular education. But as his life would have been infinitely less comfortable without chairs, tables, earthenware vessels to hold his drink and pipes through the medium of which he desired to enjoy the pleasures of tobacco, he set to work, made the best tools he could ; utilized the trees around him and proceeded to make himself comfortable. He protected himself from the risks of wild beasts, and built stockades to protect himself from the incursions of possible savages from neighboring islands. He secured stocks of dried grapes, various fruits, grew a little wheat, created a farm and enjoyed the pleasures of conversation with his parrot. He took pos- session of a cave which protected him during the rainy seasons; then constructed a protected residence, which he called his "palace ;" built himself "a country residence," THE ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 157 in a part of the island where the fruits were most abun- dant; showed his want of knowledge as a workman by building a canoe so large that he could not move it from the place on which it was built; manufactured his celebrated umbrella; cut himself convenient caps; provided himself with herbs to act as medicines ; tried to keep a record of the passing days and months ; read in the Bible, a copy of which he had found in the bottom of one of the chests saved from the wreck; and generally made the best of things. The book has, it is asserted, a better claim to be con- sidered an English classic than almost any other book in the language. It has been suggested that the adventures are an allegory or dream picture, founded on the author's own life ; that the desert island, the hero's ingenious mechanical contrivances, the visits and fights with savages, his attempts to circumnavigate his island home, his love of wandering, as shown in his various experiences after he readied Tabago, are meant to shadow forth the "experi- ence of a man who had gone over every vicissitude of "life." If this be so, Defoe's difficulties and dangers, which are familiar to every reader of literature, suggested to him "not a Byronic grimace, but the most cheerful and "honest of smiles." The "Adventures of Robinson Crusoe," was not written until seven years after the story of his prototype, Alexander Selkirk, on the Island of Juan Fernandez, had been published. 1 The notion that Selkirk wrote out or 1 Selkirk's adventures were described in Capt. Woodes Rogers's 158 HITHER AND THITHER. dictated his adventures, asking Defoe to put them into good English, may be dismissed without much considera- tion. The story of Selkirk was common property, and, whilst it may have incited the brain of Defoe to write a story on similar lines to the life of Selkirk, there is no ground for thinking that Defoe and Selkirk had any com- munication with one another in the direction of narrator and editor. A "catchpenny pamphlet" entitled "Provi- dence Displayed," etc., and purporting to be written by Selkirk "by his own hand," is to be found in the Harleian Mi seel 1 any. The improbabilities, or rather impossibilities, boldly narrated in "Robinson Crusoe" have often been the subject of comment. It is unusual, to say the least, for a man to leap overboard from a ship or boat naked, and after he has swum to land to refresh himself with biscuits which he had put into his pockets ! It is pointed out also that Selkirk, when first rescued, as a result of his four years solitude on his island, mumbled and was hardly intel- ligible to his rescuers, seeming to pronounce each word in halves: whereas Robinson Crusoe, thanks to the talka- tive propensities of Pretty Poll, kept up his powers of con- versation, so that he could rejoice in the friendship of his man Friday; and after twenty-eight years spent on the island, seems to have found no particular trouble in talk- ing when "rescued by Pyrates." "A Cruising Voyage Round the World" and Capt. Edward Cooke's "A Voyage to the South Sea and Round the World" (Vol. II, intro.), both published in 1712. There was also a catchpenny pamphlet, "Providence Displayed," written by his own hand. (Diet, of Nat. Biog.) THE ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 159 Rousseau 1 considered "Robinson Crusoe" to rank above Aristotle, Buffon and Pliny, and Edgar Allan Poe 2 said that the work has become a "household thing" in nearly every family in Christendom. Daniel Foe changed his name to Defoe (or De Foe) in 1703, and published no less than two hundred and fifty- four works. The change of name cannot have troubled him much, as it is noticeable that he used no less than one hundred and eighty-four pseudonyms in the course of his long career as a journalist and novelist. His "Robinson "Crusoe" was published in April, 1719, 3 the second edition in May, followed by the third and fourth editions in June and August of the same year. By 1761 eight more editions had been issued, and those published subsequently are too numerous to mention. A very charming illustrated edition was published in 1864, with a portrait and one hundred drawing's by J. T. Watson, engraved by the brothers Dal- ziel. The work has been translated into Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Latin, Persian, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, Welsh and other languages. It has been asserted that Defoe could not find a publisher willing to accept the book, and that he carried the manuscript through the round of the publishing houses of the day. This seems a very improbable story, as he was fifty-eight years of age when he wrote the book ami an exceedingly well-known writer. The publisher, 1 Emile. 2 Review of "Life . . . Robinson Crusoe." in Southern Literary Messenger. January, 1836. 3 Originally in a periodical entitled The Original London Post, or Heathcote's Intelligencer (Nos. 125-289, inclusive. 1719). 160 HITHER AND THITHER. Taylor, was a poor man when he undertook to bring out this work, but five years later died, leav- ing between £40,000 and £50,000. A more probable story is that Taylor acquired £1,000 by undertaking its publication. Originally the two volumes comprised the entire work, which were followed several years later by a sequel in the third volume, which "nobody ever read\" The present monument over Defoe's tomb in Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, (the original "mean" stone having become broken,) was as the inscription states erected as "the result of an appeal in the 'Christian World' news- paper, to the boys and girls of England for funds to "place a suitable memorial upon the grave of Daniel "Defoe." Subscriptions were received from seventeen hundred persons, and the monument was erected in Sep- tember, 1870. Sir Leslie Stephen states 1 that an absurd story, pre- served by T. Warton, is given in Sir Henry Ellis' "Letters "of Eminent Literary Men" to the effect that "Robinson "Crusoe" was written by Lord Oxford in the Tower. It "needs no refutation." "Robinson Crusoe" has been indeed an instantly and eternally popular work. "To no work," it has been aptly remarked, "can we with greater justice apply Fielding's "boast than we can to 'Robinson Crusoe,' that in fiction "everything is true but the names and dates, whereas in "history only the names and dates are authentic." 8 Diet, of Nat. Biog. Six " Greatest" Books. IV. Don Quixote. IN many ways, it may be claimed that the publication of "Don Quixote" effected a revolution in the literature, and possibly in the manners, of Europe. Be thi3 true, whether to a larger or to a smaller extent, the publi- cation of this work indisputably forms an important era in the history of mankind. It is a book that stands for a vast deal more than a very large number of merely "great" books. If it is to be included among the half a dozen books which may possibly be classed as "greatest," the reason for its admission into the list ought to be patent. It is not too much to say that by the production of "Don "Quixote," the death of the old romance and the birth of the new was accomplished. Fiction from that time "divested herself of her gigantic size, tremendous aspect "and frantic demeanor: and descending to the level of "common life, conversed with man as his equal." The book had an immediate success; but the value of that success must be judged from a separate standpoint. We are told that twelve thousand copies of the first part, printed at Madrid in 1605, were circulated before the sec- n 162 HITHER AND THITHER. ond could be gotten ready for the press. Having regard to the fact that the sale took place just three hundred years ago, such a tremendous operation deserves attention. Whence was its merit ? What was the cause ? We are told that "the very children handled it, boys read it, men under- stood, old people applauded the performance, and it was "no sooner laid down by one than another took it up, some "struggling and some entreating for a sight of it" Of the readers of that day it is said "they were astonished to find "that nature and good sense could yield a more exquisite "entertainment than they had derived from the most "sublime phrenzies of chivalry." The erudite George Ticknor, in his "History of Spanish "Literature" tells us that eight editions of the first part were printed in ten years, and five of the second part in two years. Further that he considers that the edition pub- lished in 1781 by the Rev. John Bowie, "who gave "fourteen years of unwearied labor to prepare it for the "press," is the true and safe foundation on which to study "Don Quixote," and Bowie's work is criticised as one of "much real learning and at the same time of little preten- tion," as is nearly always the case. "Don Quixote" has been translated into many lan- guages, notably Latin, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, German and English. 1 The early 1 In Albert J. Calvert's tercentenary edition of the "Life of Cer- "vantes," he gives a bibliography ending with 1895, excepting for one item dated 1904. Up to 1895 there were 208 Spanish editions. A separate table, however, gives 650 as the total number of editions, including 212 Spanish, 133 English, 158 French, 51 German, 20 Rus- sian, 20 Italian and 16 Dutch. The seventeenth century saw 73, the eighteenth century 137, and the nineteenth century (down to 1895) 440 editions. DON QUIXOTE. 163 dramatizations of "Don Quixote" were very unsuccessful, although all who were fortunate enough to see the version produced by Sir Henry Irving, felt that not only had this great actor afforded to theatre-goers a treat in his delinea- tion of the eccentric hero; but that he had laid before his audiences the result of a keen and satisfactory study of the book dramatized. His performance was recently criti- cised in the writer's hearing as being not only a piece of excellent stage work, but a valuable contribution to the appreciation of the pre-eminent work accomplished by Cervantes. It is interesting to notice, in an article in Temple Bar, how Cervantes was noticed, or more properly unnoticed and not regarded by many noted victors in the field of lit- erature. There it is stated that Ruskin mentions him in a foot-note only, and that neither Swift, Southey, Addison, Steele, Pope, Sterne, Goldsmith nor Johnson have told us anything about him; but that Sir Walter Scott confessed that but for Cervantes the "Waverley Novels" would never have been written. 1 Coleridge, on the other hand, bears admirable testimony to his position as a writer, dubbing him "the inventor of "novels for the Spaniards" and claiming that "in his 'Per- " 'silis and Sigismunda' the English may find the germ of "their 'Robinson Crusoe.' " 2 Heine says, "Cervantes, "Shakespeare and Goethe form the poetic-triumvirate, who "in the three forms of poetic representation, epic, dramatic "and lyric, brought forth the highest." 3 'Temple Bar, Vol. XLVII (1876) : "Heine on Cervantes and the "Don Quixote." ' Fragments and notes, mainly from the "Lectures of 1818." ' Einleitung zur Prachtausgabe des "Don Quixote." 164 HITHER AND THITHER. In the novels preceding the time of Cervantes, old epic stories, the feats of knights, the deeds of kings, and the prowess of members of chivalry were the sole topics ; while the thoughts, lives and doings of the masses had no part or parcel in the stories. Nor is it difficult to understand how writers who had been fed and trained on such works as the ''Shah Nameh" of Firdausi, the "White King," and "Theurdancks" of Treitzsaurwein, dealing with the deeds of Maximilian I. ; and who considered the heroes of the cycles of Charlemagne and the Holy Grail as the beginning and end of all that romance should be, naturally developed their romances on methods false to life, inas- much as they depicted one side of life only. Cervantes effected one of the greatest changes that the pen has ever achieved when, by his example, he made a general view of the life and the daily doings of the masses possible, and even necessary, in works of fiction, if they were to be enduring. In precisely a similar way the great painters of peasant life have supplemented with grace and usefulness, rather than replaced, the great painters, who in their day and generation depicted nothing of common life, but confined their immortal talent to the execution of mag- nificent Madonnas and Saints. Henry D. Sedgwick says that " 'Don Quixote' is the "first modern novel, or, in other words, the last of the "romances of chivalry and the first novel." He disputes the idea that "Don Quixote" is a burlesque on romanti- cism and knight-errantry; for even if Cervantes began with the purpose of ridiculing old romances, "his genius "ran away with the charioteer," as after a very few DON QUIXOTE. 165 chapters he was writing not a satire so much as a revela- tion or picture of the real depths of life, and writing it with a brain and fancy both keen and incisive. It is quite possible to read into the chapters of "Don "Quixote" hidden meanings which probably never had any existence in the mind of Cervantes, just as intense meanings, occult learning, and superhuman knowledge are generally infused by enthusiasts into the lines of Shakespeare, of which he was probably wholly guiltless. Shakespeare spoke from his unapproached throne of greatness as a writer, and he spoke from a full heart ; but probably without one-thousandth part of the deep, subtle and hardly-to-be-discovered meanings which writers to-day put upon his words. Don Quixote is a great teacher. His whimsicalities afford amusement; his learning is instructive; and those who read Cervantes' book with attention will see how great it is, and why it deserves to be included amongst those that have effected the greatest changes in literature. Such readers will become as much improved through their com- panionship with the eccentric knight, as Sancho Panza wa9 improved and changed, from an almost simpleton at the beginning of the book to the worthy and excellent fellow he became after remaining long a faithful follower of his optimistic and delightful guide. Truly Don Quixote was the inspirer of much that is good and wise. Six " Greatest" Books. Utopia. APIOXEER book is entitled to earnest consideration when considering which works are entitled to be called great books. Sir Thomas More's "Utopia" has been aptly described as the "first original story by a "known English author." Flore's work has at least received the flattering attention of being imitated by many great writers. Among the most notable imitations are Lord Bacon's "Xew Atlantis," Harrington's "Oceana," Lord Lytton's "Coming Race" and Morris' "Erewhon." Probably much additional force was lent to Hobbes' "Leviathan" and Locke's "Civil Government," from the virile force of More's "Utopia." More's work is undoubtedly very great, whether it be regarded as almost a prophecy of many changes that have come over manners and activities in the human race since his book was published, or whether it be looked upon as a work of so important a character, that the thoughts enun- ciated in it have gradually led to the acceptance of the principles for which he contended. He wrote at a time of great political tumult and great UTOPIA. 167 as was his principal literary product, still greater in interest is his remarkable life and career. In his "Utopia" he set forth a system of religious disorganiza- tion, depicting it all the while as a model organization. He set forth a system of multiplication of sects, each in private "practicing its own special cult, but all uniting in "one national worship." To a large extent he was a theorist and not practical; but was ready to lay down his life rather than yield a point to which his conscience for- bade him to assent. King Henry VIII. determined he would have his concurrence on the divorce question or his life. He could not obtain his approval, therefore, under one fiction and another, he hounded Sir Thomas More to prison, and finally to the scaffold. "Utopia" is a very advanced work, and it is strange to find a book written nearly four hundred years ago urging complaints against the unnecessary severity of the criminal law, and making scathing comments on the wretched con- trast exhibited between the luxury and over-indulgence of the selfish rich and the wretched condition of the patient laboring class. His opinions are just such as we find in every magazine and paper of to-day, when he deplores the "conspiracy of rich men procuring their own commodi- ties under the name of a Commonwealth," and states that perfect wealth will never be found among men until the accumulation of money by means of trusts shall be "exiled "and banished." It is also strange to read his pleas for reforms, many of which have since been tried or effected, such as the substitution of penal servitude for capital pun- ishment, improved methods in the education of the general 168 HITHER AND THITHER. masses, a six-hour labor day, and the modification of agrar- ian conditions. A book that has induced and brought about great changes in the government of countries, that has been the direct cause of reforms on a great scale ; and that has been the original seed from which has grown a perfect orchard of similar works, is fairly entitled to a place amongst the great books of the world. More is another instance of persons who have made great way in life with a comparatively slender education. He was to a large extent, a self-trained man. He was born in 1478, educated first at a free school, and later in the family of Cardinal Morton, but left college without taking a degree. He had two lifelong friendships that he valued very much, Erasmus, whom he met in 1498, and De^n I Colet, with whom he was very intimate from 1504 to 1519. At one time he thought of becoming a Carthusian, and he| | lived under the rule for four years. He tired of thejfj| thought and of the practices of the rule and chose a wifeN^ The peculiar humor of the man is clearly indicated in his method of selecting a bride. He made the acquaintance of a gentleman who had three accomplished and agreeable daughters. His inclination led him to the second, but he thought "it would be both great grief and some blame also," to the eldest if she was left unmarried, and so he chose the latter. It is curious that he had the courage to marry at all, as he himself had compared the danger of choosing a wife to that of putting a hand into a bag full of snakes with only one eel, where, he said, "one may indeed chance "to light on the eel, but it is a hundred to one he will be "stung by a snake." Whether he found a bite from a UTOPIA. 169 snake or not, he seemed willing to make a second venture in the marital market, for we are told that, his first wife dying, he obtained a dispensation to marry again within a month of the lady's death and "without any banns- "asking." 1 Henry Craik, in his "English Prose," devotes consider- able space to Sir Thomas More's "Utopia ;" and quotes with special approval a long passage on "Pasturage "Destroying Husbandry," and criticises the work gener- ally with the remark "that the book itself is full of the "quiet fun in which More has no superior." Undoubtedly few men would have had the wit to remark to the Lieutenant of the Tower, who apologized for not being able to entertain him as he would wish: "Mr. Lieutenant I verily believe, as you may, soe are you "my good frend in deed, and would (as you say), with "your best cheere entertaine me, for the which I most "hardly thank you. And assure your selfe (Mr. Lieuten- ant) I doe not mislyke my cheere, but whensoever I soe "doe, then thrust me out of your doores." ISTor would many have shown so curiously all absence of fear of death. "When mounting the scaffold, observing it to be a weak structure, he remarked to the Lieutenant: "I pray you, "I pray you Mr. Lievetenaunt see mee safe upp, and "for my cominge downe lett mee shift for my selfe." More seems to have been "an intelligent, peace-loving "Conservative, sprung from the people, who desired the 1 This story quoted by the Diet, of Nat. Biog. appeared in the "English Historical Review" Vol. VII— 712-15 — 1892). but Lumley in his edition of Roper's "Life of More" and More's "Utopia," gives the date of the death of More's first wife as 1511-1512, and the date of the second marriage as 1515. 170 HITHER AND THITHER. "welfare of all classes, but never contemplated achieving "reform in any department of State or Church by revolu- tion." Much of the weight of his arguments in "Utopia" may be attributed to the fact that he was very earnest in looking forward to a reformation in church matters from within, and had no sympathy with the attempt of Martin Luther to effect a reform from without. Sir Thomas More was successively Treasurer of the Exchequer, Speaker of the House of Commons, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Lord Chancellor, being the first layman to hold that eminent office. It may fairly be taken that he was an honest, earnest, sincere man; one who had boldness enough to plead against social wrongs and also sufficient acumen to express himself and plead for changes in a manner and tone which enabled all persons to read him with pleasure and to weigh with benefit his powerful arguments. His "Utopia" was first printed in Latin, at Louvain, in 1516. The most important translations into English are first that by Robinson, issued in 1551, 1556, 1597, 1621 and 1639. This was republished by Dibdin in 1808, and again by E. Arber in 1869. The second was by Bishop Burnet, who brought out his translation in 1684. This was reproduced in nine subsequent editions. The third most important translation was published by Arthur Cayley in 1808. Dr. Johnson esteemed More's reputation as standing above that of Erasmus or Micyllus; 1 and More, as father of English prose, 2 is considered to have done for Eng- 1 Journey into North Wales, July 15, 1774. 2 More's controversial works were written by him in English, and probably also the History of Richard III., Life of Edward V., etc. UTOPIA. 171 lish style what Chaucer, as father of English verse, accom- plished for the English vocabulary. Sir Thomas Move's happy creation of the word "Utopia," literally "No place" or "No where," introduced a new word into the English vocabulary, with a wide range of meaning, from ideal to chimerical perfection. More depicted "a state of equal social opportunity and not, "social equality," and the dominant note of his whole book is "social reconstruction." In the "Anatomy of "Melancholy," Burton declares "Utopian parity is a "kind of government to be wished for rather than "effected;" and Euskin declares 1 that Utopianism "is an- "other of the devil's pet words," and proceeds to argue that the "admission which we are all of us so ready to make, "that because things have long been wrong, it is impossible "they should ever be right, is one of the most fatal sources "of misery and crime." 'From the time of Plato downwards speculative theories of what would be an ideal condition of life and government has been a favorite subject with writers on social topics, and it is impossible to doubt that Sir Thomas More and the long stretch of writers who describe their varied Utopian schemes of government have done much good. It never can fail to be of use that people should set up a better model for consideration, and Utopists of the last four centuries have been public benefactors. All praise, therefore, to More, who to a large extent has been, if not the creator, at least the foremost exponent of this class of literature. By Roman Catholics Sir Thomas More, for his firmness 1 Architecture and Painting, II. 172 HITHER AND THITHEK. in tlie matter of the question of Henry VIII.'s divorce, has been very highly distinguished. Sidney Lee 1 records that Gregory XIII., on succeeding to the papal throne, bestowed on More the honor of public veneration in the English Col- lege at Rome. On December 1, 1886, he was beatified by Pope Leo XIII. To the 1518 edition of "Utopia," Holbein contributed a map and a picture of More and his friends "listening to "Raphael's narration," and permitted engraved borders already in other books to reappear there. Holbein, who had stayed with More at Chelsea for three years, returned his hospitality by painting portraits of him and his family. 'Diet, of Nat. Biog. Six " Greatest" Books. VI. Franklin's "Autobiography." THE impossibility of formulating any rule by which it could be decided whether any particular work should be counted one of the greatest books, or should not be so accounted was very humorously shown in the contest which arose over Sir John Lubbock's list of "The Hundred Best Books." Sir John Lubbock an- nounced "that he did not treat the hundred he had chosen "as being the hundred best books, but as those which, on "the whole, he considered the best worth reading." Mr. Ruskin "put his pen lightly through the needless and blot- "tesquely rubbish and poison of Sir John's list." Apart from the intrinsic interest of the book itself, it is probably "the earliest American book that acquired and "sustained a great popularity." Undoubtedly it stands out as one of the foremost books of general and perpetual interest. The story of the book from its bibliographical side has been frequently told. It was written in install- ments : the first part, giving Franklin's life until his mar- riage, in 1730, was written in England, at the house of a friend, and in remembrance of the man and the greatness 174 HITHER AND THITHER. of his work the room in which it was written was always afterwards known as "Dr. Franklin's room." The second part was written in 1784 at Passy, near Paris. The third part was written in 1788 in Philadelphia, and the fourth, consisting of a few pages only, was concerned more with politics than mere autobiography. The third and fourth parts were written when Franklin was over eighty years of age. Having regard to the great value of this book, it is remarkable with how much unwillingness Franklin ap- plied himself to write it. This may largely be accounted for when it is remembered how deeply the great philoso- pher was engaged in affairs of State. Immediately after his death the first portion was pub- lished in French in Paris. It was then re-translated into English, in which form it appeared in London, and was accepted both in Great Britain and America as the authors original work. Finally the "Autobiography" was pub- lished by Franklin's grandson, William Temple Franklin, from a copy of the original manuscript. 1 1 There were two manuscript copies of the "Autobiography." One had been sent by Franklin to M. le Veillard, and one in Franklin's own hand-writing came into possession of William Temple Franklin, upon Benjamin's death. On the publication of the French edition of the first part in 1791, M. le Veillard stated: "I do not know by "what means the translator has procured them, but I declare and "think it ought to be known that he did not have them from me ; "that I had no part in this translation," etc. (Letter to the "Journal "de Paris," 1791). William Temple Franklin did not publish his grandfather's "Autobiography" until 1817 (American edition 1818). and then cxiriously, he exchanged with Mine, le Veillard (M. le Veil- lard having died previously) the autograph copy Franklin had left him for the copy that Franklin had sent to M. le Veillard. The reason for this exchange was that M. le Veillard's copy was better written and easier for the printer to read. Hence the edition of 1817 (copied by Sparks) was printed from the copy presented to M. le Veillard by Franklin, and not from the autograph copy left to the grandson. Upon the death of the widow le Veillard, the auto- franklin's autobiography. 175 It was undoubtedly desirable that this remarkable book should be printed from the original manuscript, as it enabled many curious blunders in the early English edition to be corrected. One such blunder may be mentioned — the translator of the edition published by Mr. J. Parsons calls one of the ballads that Franklin wrote in his boyhood "The "Tragedy of Pharo." "None would recognize under this "title the little song which was known as 'The Lighthouse " 'Tragedy.' The explanation of this droll mistake is "found in the fact that the word lighthouse used in the "French copy was 'Phare,' and the Frenchman translated "the title of the poem as "La Tragedie du Phare !' " There are at least five editions in French, "all being distinct and "different translations." One of the earliest critical notices of the "Autobiogra- phy" will be found in the Monthly Review of 1794. The general interest of readers in it can be very practi- cally proved by examining the records of public libraries and seeing how frequently the "Autobiography" is called for. In one library in New York the book was taken out during one year more than four hundred times. Professor graph copy passed into the hands of her daughter, and upon her death in 1834, it became the property of M. P. de Senarmont. John Bigelow, in his "The Life of Benjamin Franklin," (1874) tells how he learnt of the existence of the autograph copy, and how he secured this price- less treasure, on January 26, 1867. He says "I availed myself of my earliest leisure to subject the memoirs "to a careful collation with the edition which appeared in London "in 1817, and which was the first and only edition that ever pur- ported to have been printed from the manuscript. The results of "this collation revealed the curious facts that more than twelve hun- "dred separate and distinct changes had been made in the text, and, "what is more remarkable, that the last eight pages of the manu- script, which are second in value to no other eight pages of the "work, were omitted entirely." In Mr. Bigelow's "Life," the text of the autograph copy was given. 176 HITHER AND THITHER. McMaster, in his "Life of Franklin," included in the "American Men of Letters Series," says "if it be put with "books of its kind and judged as an autobiography, it is "beyond doubt the very best; if it be treated as a piece of "writing and judged as literature, it must be pronounced "the equal of 'Robinson Crusoe,' one of the everlasting "books in the English language." A book must stand very- high in general estimation when it can also be favorably compared with Pepys's "Diary." The "Autobiography" of Franklin, besides claiming the attention of readers on account of its intrinsic interest, commands remembrance from its having marked a brilliant departure in American literature. It would be a slight to Franklin's memory to omit to mention that to him is due the credit of having founded the Library Company of Philadelphia, which was com- menced in 1731, and is familiarly known as "the mother "of subscription libraries." Franklin was a great man, his "Autobiography" is a famous book and it is gratifying to know that a new and excellently -prepared edition of his "Life and Works" is in preparation 1 and is to be given to the world at the time of the celebration of his bi-centenary, on January 17, 1906. 1 Edited, by Professor Albert H. Smyth. Facsimiles of the Manuscripts of Tacitus. Fac-Similes of the Manuscripts of Tacitus. 1 APT quotations are frequently made, and yet it is not always easy to give the authority. Public and other speakers will often tell you "When they have "made the world a solitude, they call it peace ;" or, again, "Everything unknown is magnified," "Forbidden things "have a secret charm," "We accomplish more by prudence "than by violence." These and many more are familiar quotations from the celebrated Latin author, Tacitus, who lived during the last half of the first century. He was a friend of the younger Pliny, and was the renowned author of a narrative of events in the reigns of Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. There have been many editions of his works; some in the original Latin, with notes, and others in the form of simple transla- tions. The text of his "Annals" has been mainly founded on two celebrated manuscripts known as the Medicean Codices. Photographic fac-similcs of these two manu- 1 Codex Laurentianus Mcdieeus 68 I — Codex Laurentianus 68 II. (Codices Graeci et Latini .... Tome VII, 1902: pars prior et pars posterior. ) 180 HITHER AND THITHER. scripts have recently been issued. The original manuscripts themselves are preserved in the Laurentian Library, at Florence, and form a part of the enormous collection of ten thousand manuscripts by Greek and Latin classical authors there gathered together. These two manuscripts of Tacitus are among the most treasured of this collection. There is no certainty as to the proenomen of Tacitus. In the first manuscript he is called Publius Cornelius Tacitus, but in the second he is described only as Cornelius Tacitus. In other places he has been designated Gaius. Manuscript No. 1 is on sheets of parchment measuring 9% x 7% inches. This writing forms the sole authority for Books I-IV, a fragment of Book V, and Book VI, of the "Annals," as they are generally called, although there seems to be no real authority for that title. In the first manuscript the books are called "ab excessu Augusti," a title similar to that of the words of Livy, "ab urbe condita." The first manuscript is necessarily considered to be the best, as it is also the oldest manuscript, of any part of the works of this historian. Philip Beroaldo, the younger, an Italian scholar and writer of great reputation, was libra- rian of the Vatican in 1516, and edited the books com- prised in this manuscript in editions published in Rome in 1515, Lyons in 1542 and Paris in 1608. They were all in folio. Beroaldo dedicated the work to Pope Leo X, who gave 500 sequins for the parchment from which it was copied to Angelo Arcomboldo, who brought it from the Abbey of Corvey in Westphalia. A full account of the first edition of the first five books of the "Annals" pub- lished at Rome in 1515 is to be found in Dibdin's Cata- logue of Earl Spencer's Library. On the reverse of the TACITUS FAC-SIMILES. 181 last leaf of that edition is given a print of the Papal arms and the Pontiff's offer of a remuneration to those who should discover ancient works not previously edited. Man- uscript No. 1, is of the ninth century, and was discovered about the year 1520 ; but, as will be noticed, it lacks Books VII-IX, and for what remains of these "Annals" the Medi- cean Codex, No. 2, written in the eleventh or twelfth cen- tury, is the only authority. This second manuscript is written on sheets of parch- ment measuring lS 1 /^ x 10^/2 inches. It is in Lombard characters, and comprises Books XI-XVI of the "Annals." Some of the original pages, notably folios 49, 100 and 101, have faded, and at some time some librarian has interlined the words that have faded away as accurately as he could read them. These manuscripts are reproduced and form the seventh in a series of twelve codices now in course of publication at Ley den by A. W. Sijthoff', under the title "Codices "Graeci et Latini." The fac-simile has been done with extreme care, and in the margins will be found a series of annotations, the majority of which are attributed to Bero- aldo. The Codices previously published comprise the Col- bertine Old Testament in Greek, portions of St. Augustine, Bede, Horace, Ovid, Servius, a magnificent copy of Plato in two volumes, Plautus and Homer's Iliad. 1 The volumes are attractively bound in wooden covers, with three-quarter leather backs, the whole presenting a very mediaeval appearance. 1 Subsequently facsimiles of Terence and Aristophanes have been issued. For remarks on the Terence fac-similes, see "Fac-similes of "portions of the works of Terence, the Poet and Dramatist." Facsimiles of Portions of the Works of Terence, the Poet and Dramatist. Fac-Similes of Portions of the Works of Terence, the Poet and Dramatist. THE eighth of a series of twelve of the oldest and most precious Greek and Latin manuscripts now in course of publication by A. AY. Sijthoff, of Leyden, was issued in May, 1904-. 1 The volume consists mainly of a photographic fac-simile of a celebrated manu- script of Terence, preserved in the Ambrosian Library of Milan. Much interest attaches to this manuscript, from the fact that it is elaborately illustrated, and gives a large number of drawings of the principal characters in leading scenes from Terence's plays. There are included ninety- one pictures from other codices of Terence and some of the very early typographic editions of this author. The work contains an elaborate preface by Eric Bethe. The principal manuscripts of Terence are nine in num- ber, and one of the two preserved in the Vatican Library, 1 Codices Graeci et Latini. Toraus VIII. Terentius Codex Ambrosianus H. 75 inf. . . . Praefatua eat Ericua Bethe. . . . Lugduni Batavorum, A. W. Sijthoff, 1903. 186 HITHER AND THITHER. known as the Vatican Codex No. 2, 1 is of the ninth century and of special interest, as it contains drawings of the masks worn by the actors. One preserved in the Library of Paris, 2 of which twenty-three pages in fac-simile are given in the volume under description, is full of large illustrations of the scenes in the different plays, from which much amusement and instruction can be obtained. In the Vatican Codex No. 2, we have a portrait of the Roman author himself. Other portraits are given in one or two of the remaining manuscripts, but the one mentioned seems the best of them, though whether it is a good portrait or not must remain undecided, as we know how, in books like the Nuremberg Chronicle, one portrait is made to do for many persons. Bethe's introduction deals principally with the textual variations between the various codices. Little seems to be known of the origin of the Ambrosian manuscript, which consists of one hundred and twenty leaves of parchment, written on both sides. The leaves are a little over nine inches in height by eight inches in width. Folio 84 is included in Chatelain's collection of the Palaeography of Latin Classics, being there described as a writing of the ninth century. The first notice of the manuscript appears to be by the celebrated critic, Cardinal Angelo Mai, an associate in the Ambrosian Library, who pub- lished some commentaries and unpublished drawings of Terence in 1815. 3 Bethe and most other authorities treat ' Codex Vaticanus 3868, fol. 2r. 'Codex Parisinus 7899. 3 M. Acci. Plauti fragmenta inedita . . . Mediolani, 1815. TERENCE FACSIMILIES. 187 the Codex as belonging to the tenth or eleventh century. Mai seems to be the only writer who particularly noticed the manuscript until Umpfenbach, who published an edi- tion of the comedies of Terence in 1870, and gave a full account of the variations between the various manuscripts, including the Ambrosian Codex, in his preface and notes. We have preserved to us only six of the comedies of Terence, and it is, perhaps, interesting to know that in anticipation of the methods of many modern critics, who have ascertained that no celebrated author really wrote the books attributed to him, Terence was accused of not having written the plays known as his. But in the same way as we deal with the questions whether Bunyan wrote "The Pilgrim's Progress" or made a translation of his immortal allegory from a Latin manuscript; whether Shakespeare wrote his plays or not ; whether Milton copied Vondel, and so on, the majority are content to believe that Terence was the author of the six plays attributed to him. They have been used, from time to time, by successive writers, and adapted to later purposes by various English dramatists, notably Steele, Garrick and Cumberland; as well as by Moliere, Baron and others. This is not the place to comment on the plays, of which, however, Scaliger said : "There are not three imperfections in the whole "six plays," while Madame Dacier observed that "it would "be difficult to determine which of his six plays deserved "preference, since they had each of them their peculiar "excellences." In one of the early typographical editions of Terence, a picture is given of the "Theatrum." It is interest- 188 HITHER AND THITHER. ing, not only as showing what was thought to be a picture of the pulpitum, or raised stage; but as probably not a bad illustration of the principal features of a theatre at the time when the particular edition 1 of Terence from which this illustration is taken (1493) was printed. In the play of "Heauton-timoroumenos" ("The "Self-Tormentor") is given an illustration in which four of the chief characters are shown. To this play Chapman owed a portion of the plot of his "All "Fooles." In the "Phormio" is to be found another very characteristic illustration. In it are shown two side scenes, or wings, while in nearly every other case only one, either on the left or right, is given. It was from this play that Moliere took the idea of one of his most extravagant farces, "The Cheats of Scapin." The illustrations of Terence have attracted a great deal of attention, and twenty-six of them, comprising the com- plete set for the "Phormio," were taken in 1893 from the Vatican Codex No. 2, for the use of the classical depart- ment of Harvard University. The Parisian Codex is placed on exhibition in a special case at the Bibliotheque Rationale. 1 Terentius a Jobauue Trechsel. Editus Lugduni, 1493. The Text of the Bible. The Text of the Bible. FOR several centuries not only learned scholars, but thousands of others have expended lives of labor in studying the text of the Bible. Yet it is only recently that nineteenth century invention, by enabling us to produce exact fac-similes of invaluable manuscripts, has placed it within the power of library owners to have on their shelves reproductions of the most ancient copies of the Book of Books, on which they can bestow a casual interested examination or a minute study, as their leisure or inclination shall dictate. Thanks to the liberality of the trustees of the British Museum, the custodians of the Vatican Library and the Emperor of Eussia, anyone, at a cost of from $450 to $500, can now gather in one room, not only printed editions of the three oldest known manuscripts of the Bible in the world, which, however correctly examined by argus-eyed proof-readers, are liable to contain misprints ; but, better still, splendid reproduc- tions of the three most important "texts" of the Scriptures, two of them printed from special types, and the third (the Codex Aloxandrinus) produced by photo-lithography. An examination of thorn shows that there is much of ordinary 192 HITHEB AND THITHEK. and general interest which deserves notice for that large class who like to read about exceptional publications. It is a very remarkable fact that out of the two hundred or more manuscripts of portions, more or less complete, of the Bible contained in the great libraries of the world, the three principal, known as the Alexandrine, Vatican and Sinaitic codices, are in the possession, one each, of the three great divisions of the Christian Church. 1 The Alexandrine is in the custody of the English Church, the Vatican, as its name indicates, in that of the Eoman Catholic Church, and the Sinaitic in that of the Greek Church. In somewhat similar manner as the three great cities of these centers of Christendom, have magnificent domed buildings as their principal churches — namely, St Paul's Cathedral in London, St. Peter's in Rome, and St. Isaac's in St. Petersburg — so each of the three branches of the Church, has as one of its principal glories, one of these priceless manuscripts. The Alexandrine, transcribed a little more than four hundred years after Christ, was pres- ented to King Charles in England in 1628. The date when the Vatican Library obtained its chief treasure is not known; but it is included in the first catalogue of that library, made in 1475, and is in a fourth century hand- writing. The Sinaitic codex was discovered in ou-r own- days by the great scholar, Constantine Tischendorf, in 1859, and "presented" by him, in Xovember of that year, 'The fourth groat uncial codex is the Codex Ephraemi (generally referred to as Codex C) of the fifth century. This codex is, however, very imperfect and barelv legible, the ancient writing having been almost removed by a mediaeval scribe to make way for the writings of Ephraem Syrus. THE TEXT OF THE BIBLE. 193 to the Emperor Alexander II. It is probably a little older than the Vatican copy. It is peculiar that the Alexandrine codex is written throughout in double columns, and the Vatican and Sinaitic mainly in three and four columns, respectively. In each manuscript the poetical portions are written stichometrically ; that is, in two columns upon a page. The writing in each of the manuscripts is uncial, that is, in one style of letters, closely resembling capitals, with- out any stops or even any division between the words. The term comes from the Latin word wacia, an inch, the letters sometimes being an inch long. An idea of the appearance of the writings may be obtained by transcribing a short passage of the Bible in uncial fashion, remembering, of course, that the codices in question are in Greek, and that each line was filled up regardless whether a word was broken in the middle of a syllable or not. Using Eng- lish for Greek characters, the appearance of the leaves is therefore somewhat after this fashion : THUSSAITHTHELORDTH EYALSOTHATUPHOLDE GYPTSHALLFALLANDT HEPRIDEOFHERPOWER SIIALLCOMEDOWNFROM The fac-simile of the Alexandrine codex was printed by order of the trustees of the British Museum in 1879- 1883, in four folio volumes, by autotype process. The original has been bound in a similar number of volumes, and the arms of King Charles I. are emblazoned on the 13 194 HITHER AND THITHER. covers. Volumes I to III contain the Old Testament, in the Septuagint version, and the fourth the New Testament. Apart, too, from some defects from loss of some leaves of the original, single letters have in several places been cut off in the process of binding. This is always designated as "Codex A," it having been the first that was thoroughly studied by scholars, though it has been since outranked in antiquity by the Vatican and Sinaitic copies. On the first folio of the text is a note in Arabic, reading, "Made an "inalienable gift to the Patriarchal cell in the city of "Alexandria. Whosoever shall remove it thence shall be "accursed and cut off. Written by Athanasius the "humble." He is supposed to have been Athanasius III., the Melchite Patriarch, who was still living in the year 1308. On a flyleaf at the beginning of the first volume is a note in Latin, in a hand of the seventeenth century, "Given "to the Patriarchal cell in the year of Martyrs 814," to which is added in pencil, "+ A. D. 284 equals 1098." But for this date Sir E. Maunde Thompson, the librarian at the British Museum, says, there is "no authority what- ever in any part of the manuscript." On the back of Folio 4 is another inscription, in Arabic, to which has been added a Latin translation in the hand- writing of Dr. Richard Bentley, who held the office of librarian from 1693 to 1724, that "some persons record "that this book was written by the hands of the martyr "Thecla." The tradition of the Church of Alexandria that Saint Thecla was the scribe is preserved in a state- ment written by the Patriarch Cyril Lucar, of Constanti- THE TEXT OF THE BIBLE. 195 nople, who, in a Latin memorandum of thirteen lines, occupying the whole of the right side of Folio 2, records that this book written in Greek, containing the New and Old Testaments, was, "as we have received from tradition," written by the hand of Thecla, a noble Egyptian lady, (some thirteen hundred years before we acquired it), "a "little after the Council of Nice." He adds that her name appeared in a subscription appended to the manuscript, which had been destroyed long before his time. Cyril removed the manuscript from Alexandria about the time of his promotion from the See of Alexandria to that of Constantinople, in 1621 ; and later presented it to James I. of England, through Sir Thomas Roe, the English Ambassador at Constantinople, but failed to place it in the hands of Sir Thomas until after the death of that king. In a letter to Lord Arundel, dated January 30, 1625, the story of its origin was embellished, for the Ambassador there states that the Patriarch had described the manu- script to him as "written by Thecla, the protomartyr in the "time of Saint Paul." This he modified in a subsequent letter, dated 1627, addressed to Archbishop Abbot, where he notes that the "Patriarch doth testify under his hand "that it was written by the Virgin Thecla, daughter of a "famous Greek called Abgierienos, who founded the "monastery in Egypt upon Pharoas (sic) tower, a devout, "learned maid, who was persecuted in Asia and to whom "Gregory ISTazianzen hath written many epistles. . . . She "died not long after the Council of Nice." The tradition can hardly have had any foundation in fact. In 1628 it was presented to Charles I., seventeen years too late, 196 HITHER AND THITHEK. unfortunately, to be of use in the preparation of the "Authorized Version ;" and when the British Museum was founded, in 1753, it was transferred from the royal private collection to the national depository. The lost leaves of the New Testament comprise all prior to verse 6 of chapter xxv of Saint Matthew's Gospel ; the passage from Saint John vi : 50, to Saint John viii : 52, and II Corinthians iv: 13, to xii: 6. At the close, how- ever, by way of compensation, is found the "only extant "copy of the earliest of the Apostolic Fathers, the Epistle "of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, together with "a part of a second epistle whose authorship is more "doubtful." * The manuscript consists of seven hundred and seventy- three leaves, with one or more modern leaves to each volume, the size of the leaves being 12% x 10 inches. The manuscript was numbered in Arabic numerals of the four- teenth century on the verso sides, and has been repaged throughout by Patrick Young, the librarian to Charles L, with a separate numeration for each Testament; the New Testament commencing with the number 26 to allow for the loss of the first twenty-five leaves. The Clementine Epistles were numbered by a more recent hand. After the list of canonical books, including the Clementine Epistles, there is a gap, and then is added, separately, "The Psalms of Solomon." These are now lost, but the Clementine Epistles were most admirably edited in 1S69- 1 The lacunae in the Old Testament are I Kings xii, 19, to xiv, 9: Psalms xlix, 19, to lxxix, 10: and some other portions due to the mutilation of the leaves. THE TEXT OF THE BIBLE. 197 1877 by the late very learned Dr. Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham. Two reproductions of the Vatican Codex have been issued, one in photographic fac-simile, the other from special types. The manuscript is probably a hundred years older than the Alexandrine. Whether it is as ancient as the Tischendorf manuscript is a matter of question. That expert considered the two as of "about the same "date," whilst Tregelles, the English critic, believed the Vatican copy to have been in existence as early as the Council of Xice, which was held in the year 325. Prob- ably the Sinaitic copy is some fifty years older. The Codex Vaticanus, generally referred to as Codex B, contains the Old Testament in Septuagint version, less, however, all Genesis to chapter xlvi : 48, and Psalms ev to exxxvii, inclusive. In the New Testament the Epistles to Philemon and Titus, the two to Timothy, the Epistle to the Hebrews after chapter ix, verse 14, and the whole of the Revelations are wanting. The manu- script consists of seven hundred and fifty-nine leaves of the finest but very thin vellum, measuring about IOV2 x 10 inches. The whole is bound in one volume in red morocco. Each page contains three columns of forty-two lines apiece, but with several marked peculiarities. Words are written smaller and are more crowded at the ends of lines and many words are contracted, the omission of the Le1 lers in or n (for example) at the end of a word being indi- cated by a line across the top of the lasl letter written by the copyist. Some of the leaves have lost their corners, with consequent losses of a greater or less number of words, but 198 HITHER AND THITHER. the writing must "in its original condition have been very "perfect as a specimen of penmanship, but nearly the "whole of the text has been traced over by a later hand, "probably in the tenth or eleventh century, and only such "words or letters as were rejected as readings have been "left untouched." The Old Testament, including the books styled Apocrypha in the English version, are con- tained in volumes I-IV, and the New Testament opens volume V. The condition of the page ending the Gospel according to Saint Mark, has been much commented on. In the English version of the Bible the last chapter of his Gospel has twenty verses. Only the first eight of these are contained in the Vatican and Sinaitic manuscripts. Erom the fact that rather more than a column is left blank in the Vatican codex, it has been argued that the copyist knew of the verses omitted, but had doubts as to whether they were to be in- cluded or not. To this may be objected that the copyist closed up Saint Mark's Gospel with the "filigree" ornament with which the close of other books is indicated, and also appended a kind of finis} hata markon, according to Mark, indicating that either the third column was acci- dentally left blank or that he had consulted his superiors after he had begun to transcribe Saint Luke, and was directed to close Saint Mark at verse 8 of chapter xvi. In the reproduction the missing portions of the manu- script are supplied in modern Greek characters for the convenience of readers, but in the codex itself they are supplied in a hand appai'ently of the fifteenth century, and the title on page 1 of the first volume is written in purple letters. THE TEXT OF THE BIBLE. 199 On pages 238 and 621 of the codex is written, in a large, flourishing hand, in Greek letters, Clemes monachos, apparently the signature of one, Clement, the Monk, the probable "restorer" of the manuscript, to whom may ho due the disfigurement, caused in the beautiful uncial writ- ing by the manuscript being "written over," through some ungrounded fear that the writing would fade away. That this was a baseless alarm is shown by the perfect condition of the words here and there left untouched. Various other like offenders seem to have amended or altered the original manuscript by collation with other manuscripts. The notes, additions and alterations have been classified and four hands identified, and in volume VI of the fac-simile, these are distinguished as the handi- work of unknowm amanuenses, except so far as the name of Clemes has been retained, designated as B 1, B 2, etc. In the center of the last page of the codex are stamped in red the letters "R. F.," which stand for "Republique "Frangaise," inclosed in a circular stamp, bordered with the words "Bibliotheque Rationale." They were im- pressed on the manuscript after Napoleon, in 1808, had "transferred" this codex, with large numbers of other treasures of art and literature, from Borne to the Paris Imperial Collection. This invaluable manuscript was restored to the Vatican by the Allies after the peace of 1815, and over the French marks has since been added that of the tiara and keys, in a circular stamp bearing the words "Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana." When this codex first came under scholarly criticism, the presence throughout of accents over the Greek charac- 200 HITHER AND THITHER. ters, threw much discredit on its age. Examination under powerful glasses, however, showed that they were all added at a much later date, the ink being of a different color and kind. An edition of the Vatican codex was undertaken iu 1828 by Cardinal Mai, at the instance of Pope Leo XII., but did not appear until 1857, and "was extremely inaccurate," having "many hundreds" of errors. The fac-simile edi- tion, which gives the text intact, was issued under the auspices of Carolus Vercellone and Josephus Cozza, 1869-1881, and has been of inestimable value to the students of Holy Writ. The story how Constantine Tischendorf, of Leipzig, hunted from 1843 for the Sinaitic codex, and only recovered that priceless manuscript in 1850, is full of interest, mixed up as it is with the literary forgeries of that worthy colleague of the tribe Psalmanazar, Samuel Ireland and Shapira, Dr. Constantine Simonides, of Athens. As early as 1843 Tischendorf, under the patronage of his own sovereign, Frederick Augustus, King of Saxony, visited the convent of Saint Catherine, in the peninsula of Sinai. The convent, apparently, was once an active center of learning and study, and a rich library of manu- scripts had, probably from the offerings of worshipers, been accumulated in the course of centuries. As time went on, however, care for these treasures, and even knowledge of their value, seems to have dwindled, much as did the num- ber of the monks, which was reduced, according to "various "travelers, to twenty-three, twenty and twenty-six." When THE TEXT OF THE BIBLE. 201 access to the convent had been obtained by Teschendorf, he set about to examine the library. His "eye fell npon a "large basket full of old parchments standing upon the "floor, apparently counted of no value, and only waiting "for use as kindlings," to which purpose two basketfuls of similar fragments had already been applied. From this fire-feeder he rescued forty-three leaves. But his eagerness had been too clearly shown, for having told the monks that their probable date was as early as the fourth century, they would not part with any more, the remainder having suddenly grown valuable in their eyes. The leaves secured were parts of the Old Testament in Greek, and comprised portions of I Chronicles and II Esdras, all of Xehemiah and Esther, and parts of Tobit, Jeremiah and the Lamentations. They bore every mark of great antiquity, were penned in oblong folio, written with four columns on each page. 1 With these forty-three leaves he had, perforce, to be content for the time, and they were deposited, on his return, in the University Library at Leipzig. The publication of an edition of these leaves in 1846, under the title of the Codex Frederico-Augustanus, in honor of his patron, created immense interest, and many scholars and governments ransacked all likely and unlikely spots, in the hope of recovering the remainder of the manu- scrip. Fortunately, Tischendorf had resolutely kept secret where he had found the forty-three leaves. In 1853 he again visited the convent, but fruitlessly, for "not a trace "of the coveted parchments could be found." In 1855 he 1 These 43 leaves were originally part of what is now known as the Codex Aleph., or the Sinaitic Codex. 202 HITHER AND THITHER. published two further pages, of which he had secured copies, but not the originals, in 1843. Undaunted, how- ever, by the refusal of the monks to part with any more parchments at any price, though the petition was enforced by an influential coadjutor, the physician to the Viceroy of Egypt, the indefatigable manuscript seeker, a third time visited the convent in 1859, supported by an Imperial commission from the Emperor of Russia, the head of the Eastern Church, to make an Eastern journey in the inter- ests of Biblical science, and supplied with the necessary funds from the Imperial treasury. Again he reached the convent, and when the library was cheerfully thrown open to him he was favored with a display of manuscripts of liturgies and treatises of great value; but nowhere could he espy the one volume for which he was searching, and, as time slipped by, he lost heart, In despair he had arranged to leave on a certain day, and on the previous afternoon took a walk with the oikodomos, or house steward of the convent, and in him found a sympathetic student. Their talk was continued after their return to the convent, and at supper time, as they were preparing to part for the night, the steward said, "I, too, have been reading the Septua- "gint." As he spoke he brought a bulky volume, wrapped in a red cloth, from the corner of his own cell and laid it in Teschendorf's hands. The rest of the story is soon told. The first glance revealed that the manuscript was found. Tischendorf held in his hand "the most precious Biblical treasure in exist- ence." His next request was for permission to take the manuscript to Cairo, that it might be copied in full. This THE TEXT OE THE BIBLE. 203 the steward could not permit, and Teschendorf hurried away to Cairo to find the prior of the convent, who had left for that city a day or two previously, and in less than a week the necessary consent was obtained. A day or two later the manuscript was brought to Cairo, and, with the assistance of two Germans, a doctor of medicine and a druggist, the one hundred and ten thousand lines were transcribed, revised and corrected. Then came an overmastering desire to possess the original, and Teschendorf suggested that it should be pre- sented to the Emperor of Russia, as the head of the Greek Church ; and as the traveler, at this juncture, was able to lend great assistance to the convent in the matter of an ecclesiastical election, in which he carried for them their candidate, he urged his request, which was emphasized by the support of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey. ''The next day," says Tischendorf, "I received from them, "under the form of a loan, the Sinaitie Bible to carry it to "St. Petersburg, and there to have it copied a6 accurately "as possible." This he did, but went several steps further, as in November of that year (1859) he "presented" the priceless volume, with many other literary acquisitions that he had picked up in his travels, to the Emperor Alexander II. Suffice it to say that, however the mis- understanding arose, whether on the part of Tischendorf, or on the side of the monks as to the terms of their loan, the Emperor has deposited the copy in the Imperial Library, and the monks, refusing to be compensated, are grieved at what they regard, with good reason, as a breach of faith. 204 HITHER AND THITHEE. The reproduction was accomplished in 1862-lS67,in five atlas-quarto volumes, at the expense of the Czar, in an edition limited to three hundred copies, two hundred of which were sent, by order of the Emperor, to the great institutions and libraries throughout the world ; one hun- dred being left in the hands of the editor, with liberty to sell them. The codex consists of three hundred and forty-five and one-half leaves of fine and beautiful vellum, each leaf measuring about 13^/2 inches in length by rather more than 141/2 inches in height. The arrangement of the writing is almost unique, being distributed in four columns, each column containing forty-eight lines of from twelve to fourteen uncial, or capital letters, without spaces between the words, or accents, the marks of punctuation being exceedingly few. Of the three hundred and forty- five and one-half leaves, one hundred and ninety-nine are taken up by the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, exclusive of the poetical portions, and of so much of that portion of the Bible as was included in the forty-three leaves of the Codex Frederico-Augustanus before men- tioned. The poetical portions are written in parallel clauses, regulated by the sense, with only two columns on a page. The principal value of this codex lies however, in its containing the only extant copy in Greek of the Xew Testa- ment in its entirety. The Gospels are given in their usual order, then follow the Pauline Epistles, the Epistle to the Hebrews, preceding the four Pastoral Letters, then the Acts of the Apostles, the general epistles, and lastly the Revelations. THE TEXT OF THE BIBLE. 205 It has been noticed that the "coincidence of this manu- script with readings known to have been approved by "Eusebius, renders it very probable that the Codex "Sinaiticus was one of fifty volumes written on skins in "ternions and quaternions which he prepared in the year "331 A. D., by Constantino's direction, for the use of the "new Capitol." The value of this manuscript to critical experts cannot be exaggerated, but remembering that every time a rare manuscript is handled it is liable to injury, it is easy to understand how few custodians of such a docu- ment are willing to submit it for long and minute examina- tion. It was, therefore, a task of the last value that, by means of photo-lithography and other processes, copies should be multiplied which would be to a reader of pre- cisely the same value for study as the inestimable originals themselves. Mexican Antiquities. Mexican Antiquities. A BOOK that cost from $250,000 to $300,000 to pub- lish has few rivals, even if we include the "Description de l'Egypte," published under the auspices of Napoleon I., and when it is added that the history of its preparation reads like a romance and that it cost its wealthy author his life, it seems worth while to note the remarkable story. The work is well known, and is generally called "Lord Kiugsborough's Mexican Antiqui- "ties." 1 It consists of nine large folio volumes. In the first four are nearly eleven hundred plates, reproducing in fac- simile all the odd coloring of twenty old Aztec manuscripts, which comprise some of the most important relics of that ancient "literature." Only three of these manuscripts have been interpreted and of one of them a portion of the interpretation is lost. When Lord Kingsborough was an Oxford student his attention was drawn to this interesting study by meeting with one of the manuscripts, the 1 Antiquities of Mexico, comprising fac-similes of ancient Mexican paintings and hieroglyphics preserved in ... . together with The Monuments of New Spain, by M. Dupaix . . . the whole illus- trated by many valuable inedited manuscripts by Lord Kingsborough . . . 'in IX volumes. London; 1831-1848. 14 210 HITHER AND THITHER. "Mendoza Collection," in the Bodleian Library, and he became so fascinated with the subject that he practically devoted the remainder of his life to an attempted unravel- ing of the mysterious hieroglyphics. Who shall be the Champollion to unlock these hieroglyphics remains to be seen. Some, indeed, fear that the power to read the manuscripts will never be acquired, but it is not altogether hopeless that some key will be found, kindred to the Bosetta stone, for, says the historian Gama, "If we are to "believe Bustamente, however, a complete key to the whole "system is at this moment somewhere in Spain. It was "carried home at the time of the process against Father "Mier, in 1795. The name of the Champollion who dis- covered it is Borunda." 1 As soon as Lord Kingsborough's appetite for this study was duly whetted, he collected all the particulars of the manuscripts in the Bodleian, Vatican and Escurial Libraries, and employed an artist, one Monsieur Aglio, for five years in making fac-similes. These were collected and printed, with transcripts of such explanations as existed, supplemented by extracts from various historians and transcripts of inedited works, the whole being finally issued in 1831-1848. A dispute having arisen between Lord Kingsborough and his paper makers as to their account, he, like Mr. Pickwick in the matter of the Bardell costs, declined to pay, and was cast into a debtor's prison. He fared worse than Mr. Pickwick, for, unhappily, he had no Sam Weller to help him whilst he was in prison. He contracted a prison fever, from which 1 Descripcion, torn, ii, p. 33, nota. MEXICAN ANTIQUITIES. 211 he died. Had he lived but a few months longer, through the death of his father, the Earl of Kingston, which occurred about that time, he would have succeeded to the title and a fortune of £40,000 a year. The work concludes with the "Kelaciones" of Don Alva Ixtlilxochitl. It is amusing that a correspondent of the London Notes and Queries some years ago wrote to ask how one was to learn to pronounce the long and almost unread- able Mexican names, and referred particularly to Ixtlil- xochitl. ISTo one answered the query, but to-day an inquirer can obtain a solution by consulting some such popular and easily-accessible book as Thomas' "Bio- graphical Dictionary." There it is said the name is to be pronounced Ikst-lel-no-chcetl. It has been well remarked that some of the Aztec emperors, especially the last two, lived lives equalling in interest the careers of Alfred the Great, the Young Chevalier and others, and yet their names are even unknown to most Europeans. This is perhaps attributable to the impossible names they bore. Mexieanese was, indeed, a wonderful language. Amongst other trifles, in it a "priest" was elaborately designated as "notlazomahuizteopixoatatzin," or "vener- "able-minister-of-God-that-I-love-a^-my-f ather ;" and the word "amatlacuilolitquitcatlaxlahuitli" signified "the-re- "ward-given-to-a- messenger- who- bears-a- hieroglyphic-ma p- "conveying-intelligence." The "Mendoza Collection" is a transcript made after the conquest of Mexico, and is divided into three sections. It relates (plates 1-18) to the civil history of the nation; (plates 19-57) to the tributes paid by conquered cities; 212 HITHER AND THITHER. and (plates 58-73) to the domestic economy and discipline of the Mexicans. A copy, possibly the original, was seen by the Marquis Spineto in the Escnrial, and in the seventh lecture of his "Elements of Hieroglyphics" he describes and engraves a plate (No. 62, in Kingsborough), exhibiting the marriage ceremonies of the Mexican aborigines, where the bride is being carried to the groom pick-a-back by a female intermediary. The series from which this plate is taken shows the way in which, year by year, the offspring of the marriage was educated and brought up to the doing of "chores" and the following of other useful pursuits, such as making mats and fishing-nets, rowing, etc. Last of all, footsteps are depicted on the ground between the houses of neighboring lads and lasses, indicating with what pertinacity the youthful Johns or Williams walked backward and forward from their homes to call on the maidens of their choice, resulting, let us hope, in satis- factory and happy marriage ceremonies. It is worthy of comment that the copy of the original map, when sent to Charles V., was captured on its pas- sage by a French cruiser and the manuscript went to Paris, where Purchas bought it, and in 1625 engraved it in the third volume «">f his "Pilgrims." This "Mendoza Collection" was, of course, much used by Prescott, as it is the most authentic document relating to the ancient Mexicans, and a large number of the plates are dated. The epoch of the Aztecs in the Valley of Mexico began with our year 1091. How ancient the inhabitants were has still to be ascertained. A certain Bishop Nunez quotes a tradition among the Indians that Yotan was a MEXICAN ANTIQUITIES. 213 Chiapaneze who was present at the erection of the Tower of Babel, that tower being, in fact, built by Votan's own uncle. On the dispersion following the confusion of tongues, Vbtan received a language from the Almighty, with the added command to populate the lands of Anahuac, or the Valley of Mexico. This he did, and the Bishop Nunez affirms that "he knew" a family at Teopixca, of the surname of Votan, the populator. Further "proof" of descent from Votan was deemed unnecessary. The nation's antiquity seems better shown in the facts that they had no knowledge of wax or oil for purposes of light; did not use milk, unless they took it from buffaloes; had not begun to use iron ; and had no domestic animals, so that when Cortez appeared with a horse the king spoke of the "kind of deer" on which the Spaniard rode. Almost the sole object of Lord Kingsbo rough was to demonstrate that the Aztecs were descended from the Israelites, probably even from the time of Xoah ; and his notes, filling a volume and a half, are elaborate com- mentaries to prove that hypothesis. Unfortunately, these notes made as each hieroglyphic afforded an opportunity for comment, are appended without order or arrangement, hence masses of learning and strained interpretations, the result of years of labor, are practically inaccessible.. In their present form the notes are as bewildering and as unconnected as the thousand and one tales of Scheherezade in the "Arabian Xights," and not so entertaining. The hieroglyphics undoubtedly show remarkable parallelisms, or remnants of traditions, wonderfully akin to the teach- ings of the Mosaic and Christian Scriptures, but so do 214 HITHER AND THITHER. the traditions of nearly every heathen religion. It is only a question of degree, and abstractly they afford no actual proof of having come from direct Mosaic teaching. In the baptism of Aztec infants the babes were sprinkled with water amid prayers by the midwife for the washing away of their original sin, and the words of the prayers used have been preserved. Their marriage laws resembled those of the Hebrews, refusing polygamy except to kings and nobles, punishing adultery by stoning to death and requiring chastity under severe penalties. Both confession to a priest and absolution were practiced. It was ordered that every few years the land should lie fallow. Hebrew Scripture events were remembered with variations. The fall of Eve was ascribed to the eating of a banana, not an apple. The deluge is recorded in plate 7 of the Codex Vaticanus, and Noah, who is there called Cox-Cox, and his wife are shown escaping the flood in a box, they being the only two persons who were saved. So, also, the story of the fall of man is given, and his subse- quent redemption through a Son born of a Virgin is shown in plates 7 and 20. It was an Indian tradition that Saint Thomas, the Apostle, personally taught in Anahuac, and the promise of his return, like that of Elijah to the Jews, is delineated in certain plates, as explained by Lord Kings- borough in the sixth volume. Having regard to the similarity between Hebrew lore and Aztec traditions, the remarkable "repetition," almost complete, of the life of David in the life of the Mexican King Nezahualcoyotl (which means the hungry fox), should be mentioned. In youth Nezahualcoyotl was pur- sued over mountains and into caves like a partridge by a MEXICAN ANTIQUITIES. 215 second Saul, who feared him as a successor to the throne, but the young prince was beloved by his peasant subjects and always escaped, as David did by the aid of Jonathan and other sympathizers. Finally he came to the throne, and fell madly in love with the promised bride of one of his old generals. The general was forthwith dispatched by the King to a war and put, like Uriah, in front of the battle, where he was killed, after which the bride, like Bathsheba, became the wife of Xazahualcoyotl. This King was the chief singer of his nation, wrote many poems, some of which have been preserved and took charge of the music of the temple. He built a great temple "to "the Unknown God," and had an only son by his wife. She was a long time barren and he at last, almost in despair, went into a retreat, where he fasted forty days, praying for a child ; and at the end of the fast was favored with a vision promising that the event should be as he desired. The child was born and when eight years old the King, as he felt death approach, appointed him his successor and threw the royal mantle upon him. The child was named JSTezahualpilli, that is, "the prince for whom "one has fasted," and he proved himself a second Brutus. His eldest son and heir entered into an amorous poetical correspondence with "the Lady Tula," one of his father's concubines, and Xczahualpilli had him publicly executed, his house built up so that it could never be entered, and the poor Lady Tula strangled and burned to ashes. 1 The discovery of crosses on Aztec altars has been much discussed by snch men as J. L. Stephens in his "Travels 1 For fuller history of these two kings see Preseott's "Conquest of Mexico," Book I. chap. vi. 216 HITHER AND THITHEK. "in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan ;" 1 and "Inci- dents of travel in Yucatan," 2 also by Baring-Gould in his "Curious Myths of the Middle Ages." 3 A plate of an enormous cross ou an altar, with two figures, one on each side, one of whom is holding an infant bending toward the cross, has been copied by Lord Kingsborough. The anonymous author of "Communications with the "Unseen World" records that a tradition existed among the Indians that when the sign of the cross should be vic- torious, the old religion would disappear, as was fulfilled when the Spanish conquest led to the establishment of the Roman Catholic religion throughout the country. The Mexican aborigines' knowledge of astronomy was very extraordinary, and their reckoning of time was almost perfect, a difference of only a few hours in five centuries having been detected in their calendar. Lord Kings- borough, and Dupaix, in his "Monumens," which were originally prepared by order of the King of Spain, both state that the Mexicans knew the use of the telescope. 4 It is indisputable, from plate 22 of the Codex Telleriano- Remensis, that they calculated eclipses ; and Laplace com- ments on their great knowledge of this study in the fifth book of his great work. The critical value of this monumental work has been seriously disputed. More recent fac-similes of the work have raised the question whether Mons. Aglio did the best ■N. Y. 2 volumes, 1841. 2 N. Y. 1843. 3 Curious Myths of the Middle Ages : The Legend of the Cross. 4 Prescott in a note dissents from this opinion (Conquest of Mexico, Book I, chap. iv). MEXICAN ANTIQUITIES. 217 that, could have been done in his part of the work, and it is quite certain that Lord Kingsborough, in his five volumes of text, might have done a great deal better than he did. During the past few years the Due de Loubat has been issuing a series of fac-similes of Mexican manuscripts, including one or two of those comprised in the great work of Lord Kingsborough. These are accompanied by elaborate and carefully-written commentaries, or notes, and all persons interested in this subject owe a very large debt of gratitude to the Duke for what he has done and is doing. He has kindly presented copies of some of these to The Free Library of Philadelphia, and it is hoped that gradually a complete set of what he has issued will be included among the possessions of the Library. The Nuttall Codex. The Nuttall Codex. STUDENTS are much indebted to the Curator and other authorities of the Museum of Archeology in Harvard University, for the issue in fac-simile of the "Nuttall Codex" 1 from the original Mexican picture history, now the property of Lord Zouche, of England. It at one time belonged to the Library of San Marco. The name has been given to this codex as an acknowledgment of Mrs. Zelia NuttalFs attainments in the difficult study of Mexican archaeology. The fac-simile is of the exact dimensions of the original, which is painted on prepared deer skin, strips of which are glued together at intervals and form a long folded band. The codex is painted on both sides with signs in reverse positions. Counting both sides, it practically makes a series of eighty-four pages of brilliantly-colored pictographs, measuring about 10 by Ti/o inches each. Among the principal chiefs whose deeds are portrayed 1 Codex Nuttall : facsimile of an Ancient Mexican Codex belonging to Lord Zouche . . . with an introduction by Zelia Nuttall. Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University; Cambridge, Mass., 1902. 222 HITHER AND THITHEK. are two known as Eight-Deer and Twelve-Ollin. It has been remarked that while the history and deeds of these chieftains are given in considerable detail, yet the codex does not contain what might be termed a consecutive written text, but "merely consists of a pictorial representation of "events, accompanied by such hieroglyphic names as were "necessary in order to preserve them exactly and fix them "in the memories of the native bards, who would con- stantly derive an inspiration from the painted pages." Mrs. ISTuttall has accompanied the codex with an intro- duction of thirty-five pages, giving in detail her first im- pressions of this remarkable discovery. Whilst, of course, it is a fact that we know but little of the history and literature of ancient Mexico, and of the names of its national heroes ; this volume supplies us "with a wealth of "fresh knowledge, especially concerning the dress, cere- "monial observances and the position of women." It has not been possible to positively identify Eight- Deer and the other heroes whose exploits are commemo- rated in this codex, nor to precisely localize the events which are pictured therein. But as the dates of many of the years are given and can be read, as increased knowledge of the period from 1470 to 1520 is acquired, it is possible that the identification of the heroes will be made certain. From many of the pages — c. g., page 47 — it is apparent, from traces of effaced hieroglyphs, that the artist first sketched the scene he desired to depict and then finished it in the brilliant colors. In some cases he seems to have designed to put a particular scene in one picture and then altered his mind, probably discovering that he had made THE NUTTALL CODEX. UJO an error. At all events he frequently depicted some other scene. In the "Antiquities of Mexico," 1 published by Lord Kingsborough, plates 58 to 62 of the "Mendoza Collec- tion," preserved in the Selden collection of manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, interesting pictorial de- scriptions arc given of the rites, ceremonies and educational methods connected with the birth and bringing up of native children from the cradle to their marriage. Similar cere- monies are shown in the Xuttall codex, and on page 19 is exhibited much of the ceremonial of the lord Twelve-Wind and the lady Three-Flint. The actual physical ceremonial of kneeling under an arch whilst streams of water were poured upon them from above by priestesses, holding painted bowls, was probably not strikingly pleasing to the persons so honored. On page 52 the great hero Eight-Deer is shown divested of military insignia, undergoing the rite of having his nose pierced by a priest, in order to enable him to assume the "nose-turquoise," the mark of chieftainship, which he is shown wearing in all subsequent pictures. Mrs. Wuttall has promised to state in much more detail, in a later publication, the result of her study of this and other codices. It was found that photography could not be utilized in this reproduction, and the entire codex had to be traced by the hand of an artist. Mrs. Xuttall says that his "ac- "curate and admirable drawing is unsurpassed." The manuscript was "lost to view" for a long number 1 See article in this volume entitled "Mexican Antiquities." 224: HITHER AND THITHER. of years, and during a third of a century it remained undisturbed in the library of the Honorable Robert Curzon, and not even a trace of its existence reached the outer world. In June, 1898, it was entrusted to the custody of Sir Edward Maunde Thompson, of the British Museum, so that Mrs. Nuttall might proceed with the work she has so excellently accomplished, of procuring its reproduction for the benefit and edification of students at large. The Breviary of Cardinal Grimani. 15 The Breviary of Cardinal Grimani. SIJNTCE the early part of the fifteenth century the Breviary of Cardinal Dominique Grimani has been regarded as one of the greatest library treasures of the world. The celebrated Giacomo Morelli, who was appointed librarian of St. Mark's Library, at Venice, in 177S, said that, of its kind it was the most beautiful work in existence, and had the most authentic and most marvel- ous collection of miniatures of the Flemish school. Under the editorship of Dr. S. G. De Vries, the libra- rian of the University Library at Leyden, a fac-simile reproduction of this work is being issued, 1 and the first of the twelve parts in which it is to be published was received in Philadelphia early in January, 190L 2 The edition is limited to six hundred copies, and a vast deal of newspaper and magazine writing has been published concerning the 1 II Breviario Grimani: della Biblioteca di S. Marco in Venezia Riprodnzione fotografica completa pubblicata da Statu de Vries, Pre- fctto della Biblioteca Universitaria di Leida. Prefazione del Dr. Sal Morpurgo. Leida; A. W. Sijthoff, 1904, etc. 2 The second, third and fourth parts have since been received. 228 HITHER AND THITHEK. authorship of the miniatures and marginal decorations. The original work seems to have been undertaken about 1478, and Cardinal Grimani secured possession of it in 1489, so that, if these dates are correct, it was ten years at least in execution. It appears to have been sold to the Cardinal by one of the artists for five hundred ducats, but now is much more nearly worth, according to the popular phrase, its "weight in gold." The original work was largely encouraged by Pope Sixtus IV., but he did not live to see the work completed, and it remained for some time in the hands of the artists. For a long time it was preserved in the library of the Basilica of St. Mark's, and, for greater safety, was pre- served in the Treasury of that "Church of Gold." By a decree dated 1797, the librarian, Morelli, procured the removal of the Breviary from the Treasury of St. Mark's to the celebrated library of San Marco, in Venice. The work was bound by Alexander Victoria, at the expense of the Venetian Republic, in crimson velvet, the upper and lower covers being emblazoned with profile portraits in silver-gilt of the celebrated Doge Antonio Grimani and his son, the Cardinal. The volume contains eight hundred and thirty-one pages, measuring between 11 and 12 inches in height by 8 inches in width. Those who have carefully examined the original work describe the parchment as unexcellable. The Breviary follows the form of that book of offices as published at Borne in 1477. It has no title page or frontispiece, but commences with the illuminated calendar, one page being devoted to each month, and each month being preceded by BREVIARY OF CARDINAL GEIMAHT. 229 a full-page miniature depicting a scene .or ceremony appro- priate to the season. These and some one hundred or so more of flic miniatures are stated to be the workman- ship of Memling, but those who are not willing to accept this statement can refer to John W. Bradley's "Dictionary "of Miniaturists," in which it is asserted that there is no reliable proof of Mending's ever having worked in minia- tures. The arguments for and against the attribution of these glorious illuminations to Memling are, however, given in detail in the "Dictionary." More light may probably be thrown on this subject when we receive the introduction to this fac-simile, which is promised from the hands of the present Director of the Library of San Marco, Dr. Sal Morpurgo. In addition to the twenty-four whole-page miniatures of the calendar, "all by the hand of Memling," there are sixty more, said to be by him, depicting scenes from the Bible and the leading incidents of the principal saints, with eighteen smaller ones connected with or descriptive of particular services contained in the Breviary and placed at the head of each office. In the Breviary the miniature frequently occupies the whole page, with a single subject picture, or the miniature is superimposed upon a picture border, which, strengthened by rigid architectural lines and tabernacle work, forms a rich frame. Each page has on its margin a perpendicular band, variously ornamented. In these are given arabesques, beautiful gildings, decorations in silver, pictures of flowers and fruits of all sorts, with a multitude of quadrupeds, birds and fish, and, "in a word, all the products of nature." 230 HITHER AND THITHER. Besides these are given country scenes, garden views, cameos, statues, in addition to capital letters which deserve especial notice. There have been various illustrated books published about this work, notably a series of photographs by Mas- Latrie, and a series of chromo-lithographs by dinner ; but this is the first time that a complete reproduction mainly in the original colors, has been attempted. Official per- mission in regard to this "authorized publication" was granted to A. W. SijthofT, of Leyden, under whose auspices the "Codices Graxd et Latini" 1 are being published. The entire work will consist of twelve hundred and sixty-eight collotype plates and three hundred colored plates, and will take a very important place among the magnificent fac- simile reproductions which have distinguished the last few years. 1 A series to which reference has previously been made. The fac- similes of Terence and Tacitus in this series are described elsewhere in this volume. St. Margaret's Book of the Gospels. St. Margaret's Book of the Gospels. IT is a trite remark that if yon cannot see the original, the next best thing is to see a photographic fac-simile. The fac-simile of "The Book of the Gospels," 1 owned by St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, who died in 1003, has been published, and a copy placed in the Free Library of Philadelphia. The original is preserved in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford ; and the story of the book is as remark- able as the beauty of the manuscript itself. The original manuscript consists of thirty-eight leaves of vellum, and measures 7 x 4% inches. It has four full-page illumina- tions, facing respectively, the four selections from each of the four Gospels. "The four Evangelists are drawn," says Professor Westwood, "with much spirit, and are engaged "in writing or holding their individual Gospels and are "seated o"n stools and cushions, each having a plain, circu- lar, golden nimbus." The fac-simile is edited by Father W. Forbes-Lei th, who 1 The Gospel Book of St. Margaret, edited by W. Forbes-Leith ; Edinburgh, David Douglas, 1896. 234 HITHER AND THITHER. gives an interesting preface, relating the history of the manuscript. Nearly eight hundred, years ago it was care- fully described by the Confessor of the Queen. He relates that it came to pass that, on one occasion, as the person who carried it to her was crossing a ford he let the book, which had been carelessly folded in a piece of cloth, fall into the middle of the river. Unconscious of what had occurred, the bearer quietly continued his journey; but when he wished to produce the book, suddenly it dawned upon him that he had lost it. Long was it sought, but nowhere could it be found. At last, however, it was discovered lying open at the bottom of the river, from which it was miraculously recovered without injury. After the death of St. Margaret the book entirely dis- appeared from notice ; and it was only eight or nine years ago that a little octavo volume of manuscript, in a shabby brown binding, was removed from a small parish library at Brent Ely, in Suifolk, England, and offered for sale in a London auction room. The Bodleian Library purchased this manuscript for the insignificant sum of £6. On examination of the book, for the purposes of cataloguing it, it was noticed that there was a poem inscribed on a fly leaf in front of the manuscript ; and in that poem refer- ence was made to an attendant who, while carrying it "to "the King and Queen," had crossed a ford and let it fall into a stream, where it lay a long time — until, in fact, a passing knight discovered it. Mr. Falconer Madan, who catalogued this Bodleian treasure, questioned, "I wonder who were the King and "Queen ?" His assistant, Miss Lucy Hill, daughter of tho saint Margaret's book of the gospels. 235 editor of BoswelFs "Life of Johnson," remarked, {C Whj, "there was a similar incident recorded in the life of St. "Margaret of Scotland!" The mystery was solved. The identification of the hook seems indisputable, and there is little doubt that the hook, after all these centuries, has hecn recovered. Were it now to get into the market, it would take many multiples of £P>, to secure this magnifi- cent specimen of early illuminated writing. Visiting Cards. Visiting Cards. IT is almost impossible to conceive how the fashionable world ever did without those social conveniences, known as visiting cards. Yet they are not of very ancient date. Apparently they were adopted in English society, before they Avere generally used on the European continent. Mrs. St. George, whilst she was staying at Hanover, records in her journal on ^November 16, 1799, "at six Madame de Basche called to take me to pay my "visits ; we only dropped tickets ;" and four months later records that at Vienna she had again been paying formal visits, but that "the multiplicity of visits was not confined "to leaving a card, as in London; but real, substantial "bodily visits." When the custom first began, it was the habit to write the visitor's name on the back, of the whole or a part, of an old used playing card. Xot only were the names of callers written on them, but messages and inquiries were conveyed in the same way. They were also so used for announcing marriages, ceremonies and programmes. Invitations and inquiries had previously been conveyed by servants, and 240 HITHER AND THITHEE. this use of cards was introduced to guard against their mistakes. In 1851, on removing a marble chimney piece in the front drawing room of a house in Dean street, Soho, Lon- don, which had been the residence of Hogarth or his father- in-law, four or five visiting cards were found, on one of which was written the name of Isaac Newton. In the fourth plate of Hogarth's "Marriage a la Mode" is found an additional proof of playing cards having done duty as visiting cards and cards of invitation, during the middle of the eighteenth century. There are several lying about on the floor in the right-hand corner of the picture. On one is inscribed "Count Basset begs to no how Lade "Squandor sleapt last nite." An old King of Spades still exists, on the back of which is written : "Return thanks. Mrs. Frere presents her "compliments to Mr. Selwyn and returns him thanks for "his kind inquiries after her. New Bond street." A packet of these visiting and invitation cards of the last century, dating between 1752 and 1764, was accidentally discovered a few years since; showing how the playing- cards had been so used by the Northumberland family. Many of these were printed from elegantly engraved copper plates, on the back of old playing cards. The visit- ing cards were about 3 by 2 inches ; and the names of the Earl and Countess of Northumberland are printed on the backs of a half of the Three of Clubs and of the Queen of Diamonds, respectively. On the back also of the Eight of Spades, was a note from the Earl. The invitations to card parties were similarly printed from copper plates, but were VISITING CAKDS. 241 large enough to cover the whole of the back of a playing card. Examples of these exist from the Countess of Grafton, as well as Lady Northumberland, on the backs of an Ace and a Ten of Hearts and a Ten of Spades. At the bottom of one is added "without a hoop if agreeable," indi- cating how the monstrous hoops of those days, were regarded as nuisances, interfering with the free approach to the card table. The custom of visiting en blanc, as it was called — that is, by leaving a card — was introduced in Paris, about the year 1770. It can be imagined that the old ladies and gentlemen, who dearly loved to show their costumes, regarded this fashion as fantastic ; but the exigencies of society overcame the objection, and convenience carried the day. A lady of rank, who sent her compliments to an English parson written on the back of an old Ten of Hearts, received by way of answer, the following poetical retort : Your compliments, dear lady, pray forbear, Old English services are more sincere, You send ten hearts — the tithe is only mine, Give me but one and burn the other nine. The world-renowned Canova had his name on a card, on which was represented a block of marble, rough hewn from the quarry, drawn in perspective, and inscribed in large Roman capitals A. CAXOVA. Miss Berry and her sister Agnes, the intimate friends and correspondents of Horace Walpole, used one whereon were portrayed two nymphs in classical drapery, pointing to a weed-grown slab, on which is engraved "Miss Berrys." The one we are describing 16 242 HITHEE AND THITHER. looks like a tombstone. One of the nymphs leads a lamb by a ribbon, to typify Miss Agnes Berry. It is said that a worm will turn, and so a lamb may show fight; as in fact, did these ladies, who published a series of Walpole's letters to themselves by way of answer to Lord Maeaulay's severe sketch of Walpole, published in the Edinburgh Review, which the Miss Berrys thought gave an untrue and unfair view of the character of their friend and patron. The cards, however, were not always of the melancholy character above described, but were often made objects of artistic beauty, pleasant to the eye and worthy of preserva- tion. The greatest artists did not scruple to execute designs for such cards, and a few by Casanova have been preserved. Adam Bartsch, who Avas a lover of the canine species, drew a picture of a handsome spaniel sitting on his hind legs in a begging posture, holding in his mouth a card, bearing the name inscribed on it ; and a second in which a savage dog has just torn a roll of paper with the date 1795, beneath which is written, "Adam Bartsch has the "pleasure of presenting his compliments and good wishes "for the New Year." The late Emperor Napoleon III., had in his possession a Nine of Diamonds, which the great Napoleon had cov- ered with English phrases, at a time when he was endeav- oring to acquire some facility in that language. It is noticeable of the cards .of English society that the landscapes, which Avere a favorite conceit for such cards, are all more or less faithful. Bath, the city of English elegance of the period, is a favorite subject. Sometimes VISITING CAKDS. 243 tlio scene selected is Milsoin street, well known in the memoirs of the gallants of that day, with its long per- spective of fashionable houses. Sometimes the North Parade or Queen's Square, is so faithfully drawn, that Sheridan would have been able to point out his favorite residence, or Beau Brummel to identify himself amongst those depicted as parading the terrace. The Italian cards are of a very different style, contain- ing drawings of the antique, reproducing chefs d'oeucres of the Greeks and Romans. In some are sacrifices of sheep or oxen; in some Psyche before Venus and her son, seated in a family conclave. The architect Blondel inscribed his name above the cor- nice of a ruined monument. The Germans engraved sometimes, the bust of their favorite hero beside their names. For example, the Count of Drakslaw has that of the Archduke Charles defending the approach to Vienna, which is recognizable by the spire of its beautiful cathedral. Another card represents in its left-hand corner, a woman sitting with three children, two at her knees and one in her arms. A flight of quaintly- drawn angels bear garlands and gifts from the cloud which is drawn overhead, and the motto, "Benediction du ciel," with the names, "Les deux Comtesses de Windischgratz," appears on the white remainder of the card. Old and soiled packs of cards have been utilized for practical 'purposes. Mr. Chambers vouches for the two following stories: 1 Once a worthy skipper, worn almost to death by foul weather and a sick crew, bethought him- 1 "The Book of Days." 244 HITHER AND THITHER. self that he had better make use of the services of a lot of steerage Irish who were aboard. They cheerfully agreed to work the ship in the absence of the regular crew on the sick list, but knowing nothing of the ropes were useless, notwithstanding their desire to help. The bright thought occurred to the master of the vessel to fix up a playing card, as a mark or tally, at each of the principal ropes. He put the red cards in the fore part of the ship and the black cards aft ; using the Hearts and Clubs on the starboard and Diamonds and Spades on the larboard. So when the order went to haul the Ace of Spades or Ten of Hearts the substitute Jack Tar was at his post in a twinkling, and no further mistakes occurred. Many a sailor has been longer in learning his duty 'fore the mast, than these merry, honest Irishmen who worked "by "the card." The second instance of a good use of an old pack vouched for by Mr. Chambers as a curious, but undoubtedly authen- tic historical anecdote, is as follows: Toward the end of the reign of Queen Mary a commission was granted to a Dr. Cole to go over to Ireland and commence a fiery crusade against the Protestants of that country. On reaching Ches- ter, in England, on his way, the Doctor was waited upon by the Mayor of the city, to whom lie gleefully showed his commission, exclaiming with premature triumph, "Here is "what shall lash the heretics of Ireland." Mrs. Edmonds, the landlady of the Chester Inn, having ;i brother in Dublin, was disturbed by overhearing these words, so when the Doctor courteously attended the Mayor down si airs, she hastened to his room, opened his box, took out the commis- VISITING CARDS. 245 sion and put a pack of cards in its place. When the Doctor returned to his apartment, he put the box into liis port- manteau without suspicion, and the next day sailed to Dublin. On his arrival he waited on the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council, to whom he made a speech on the sub- ject of his commission, and then presented the box to his Lordship. But ou opening it there appeared only a pack of cards, with the Knave of Clubs uppermost. The Doctor was petrified, and assured the Council that he had had a commission, but what was become of it he could not tell. The Lord Lieutenant answered, "Let us have another com- "mission, and in the meantime we can shuffle the cards." Before the Doctor could get his commission renewed Queen Mary died, and thus the persecution was prevented. Queen Elizabeth heard of the story and settled a pension of £40 per annum on Mrs. Edmonds, for having saved the Queen's Protestant subjects in Ireland. Horse-Shoes. Horse-Shoes. 44 ~\ T" ANITY of Vanities, all is Vanity," is an ancient V truism, and the ingenious minds of Nero and his wife found a means of displaying that very common foible of the human character in their use even of such unlikely objects as horse-shoes. We are told by Suetonius that Nero's mules had silver shoes 1 and, accord- ing to the elder Pliny, Nero's notorious wife, Poppaea, out- Heroded him in extravagance and caused the shoes of her delicate beasts to be made of gold. 2 A similar piece of folly is related of Boniface, the third duke of Tuscany, one of the richest princes of his time, who went to meet Beatrix his bride (mother of the well-known Matilda), about 1038, his whole train so magnificently decorated that "his horses "were not shod with iron, but with silver." lie further insisted that even the nails should be of the same metal, and that when any of them dropped out they should belong to those .who found them. Of this latter arrangement there is no record of any complaint having been made. This anecdote is related by a contemporary writer, but. 'Lives of the twelve Caesars; Nero, XXX. * Natural History; Book XXXIII, chap. 49. 250 HITHER AND THITHER. being told in verse, we may believe that he possibly indulged in poetical license. True or untrue, it is a useful piece of history, as it proves that horse-shoes were fastened on with nails at the time of the author, as otherwise he could not have mentioned the fact. The question when iron shoes were first introduced, and how the shoes were originally fastened on to the horses, is never likely to be satisfactorily answered. Mules and camels are the beasts of burden first mentioned as having shoes, and as mules, camels and asses were used more commonly than horses in earlier times, this is to be expected. They were more tractable, and the shoeing was no doubt more easily performed on them. Some lay great stress on the fact that Homer speaks of the "brazen-footed "horse," but this need not be regarded as conclusive evi- dence that horses wore metal shoes unless we can also be sure that towers, men and women have been clad in brass because we find frequent mention in books of brazen towers, brazen lungs and brazen faces. rt may fairly be concluded that the Canaanites did not) shoe their horses, from the assertion that "then were the u horse-hoofs broken by the means of the prancings, the "prancings of their mighty ones," 1 for had their hoofs been shod either with iron or brass they would not have been broken by the prancing. ( 'asaubon tells us that the practice of shoeing was not known anciently, and in the works of Zenophon and Vegetius, as well as other authors, methods are described for hardening the hoofs, but no clear intimation is any- 1 Judges v, 22. HORSE-SHOES. 251 whore given that either the Crocks or the Romans made a practice of shoeing their horses to protect the hoofs from wear. The earliest metal shoes of which we find mention arc described as being variously of copper, iron, silver and gold ; but before these came into use it would seem that camels and oxen, in times of war and during long journeys, were provided with leather coverings or bandages for the feet, the latter being sometimes plaited from the fibres of plants. Unlike the rims of metal popularly known now- adays as horse-shoes, they were actual shoes which tied over the hoof; for Aristotle gives them the same name as was then given to the shoes, socks or soles of the com- mon people, which were made of strong ox leather. They were probably made of undressed leather. Horses in countries like Egypt, where the land is soft, naturally did not need shoes, though they have become indispensable in the modern days of macadamized public roads. At the beginning of the eighteenth century horse-shoes were still unknown in Ethiopia and Tartary; and in Japan, in the exceptional instances when horses were shod at all, they wore shoes such as those of the ancients. When first brought into use, they were almost certainly not fastened with nails, for Catullus speaks of the iron shoes of his time as easily drawn off ; expressing a desire to throw a heavy townsman of his headlong off a bridge into the river, that he might, if possible, shake off his lethargy and leave his stupidity in the mud, "as the mule "leaves her iron shoe in the stiff slough. 1 They were only 1 In the Lamb and Grainger metrical collection, XVII. (To a town, on a stupid husband. Lamb). 252 HITHER AND THITHEE. put on in miry places, or when the safety or pomp of the cattle required it. Even the mighty Vespasian once had to pull up in the middle of his royal progress and wait whilst the coachman put on the shoes of his mules. Their irregular and infrequent use in early times is confirmed by the fact that Mithridates, when besieging the town of Cyzicus in his first war against the Romans, was obliged to send away his whole cavalry to Bithynia because the horses' hoofs were worn down and their feet disordered, an evil to which the horses "were often liable," which would not have been the case had they been shod with iron. The ancients appear at first to have plated them round the bottom of their feet, and to have drawn them over the hoofs, as the plated shoes, when they covered the hoofs, made a more glittering appearance, especially those of silver or gold, than if nailed at the bottom of their feet only. One ancient writer asserts that the horse-shoes of Nero and his wife had the upper part only formed of these noble metals. The Russians in Kamchatka cover the feet of their dogs which draw their sledges on the ice, binding the leather or other covering round their feet so ingeniously that the claws of the animals project through small holes. Apparently it would seem that the Thessalonians were the first who protected their horses' hoofs with shoes of iron. When the modern horse-shoes were first invented, they were known by a Greek name, identifying them with their moon shape, and the earliest use of this name which has been discovered, is in the works of the Emperor Leo, the HORSE-SHOES. L' .">.'> philosopher, in tho ninth century. It is expressly stated that these were made of iron, and that they were fastened with nails. The most ancient nails hitherto found by antiquaries are those once belonging to a horse buried with Childeric I., who died in 481, and whose shoe was fastened with nine nails. The oldest iron shoe, or part of one that has been found is a portion of one belonging to Charle- magne's horse, in which are holes for the nails. Horse-shoes are supposed to have been introduced into England by William, the Conqueror. That king gave the city of Northampton, then valued at £40 per annum, as a fief to a certain person in consideration of his providing "shoes for his horses," and it is believed that Henry de Ferres, or de Ferrers, who came over with William, and whose descendants still bear in their arms six horse-shoes, received that surname because he was entrusted with the inspection of farriers. A similar transaction was arranged with one Henry de Averying, who held the Manor of Morton, in the county of Essex, of the King in chief, by service of a man and a horse worth ten shillings and four horse-shoes for the then pending expedition against Wales. Perhaps, out of some similar transaction arose a singular and rather tyrannical custom which long prevailed at Oakham, in Rutlandshire, the seat of Earl Ferrers, one of the peers of England. If any baron of the English realm passed through the place he forfeited one of his horse's shoes unless he chose to redeem it by a line: the forfeited shoe, or if the tine was paid the one made in its place, was fixed upon the castle gates, inscribed with his name, in consequence of which custom the castle 254 HITHER AND THITHER. gates became in time covered with numerous shoes, some of unusual size and some gilt. In course of time certain of the properties situated in the city of London, which had been originally held by private persons in consideration of the nominal payment of a certain number of horse-shoes and nails, a large sum having been paid down for the king's use at the time of the original grant, became the property of the corporation of London, and to this day, when the Lord Mayor is for- mally presented in great state, on November 9th, to the Barons (or Judges) of the Court of Exchequer, who on behalf of the King express the approval of His Majesty to the election of the Lord Mayor, a certain number of nails are still counted out and handed to the officers of that court as payment of the duty and in assertion of the right of the corporation to the property in perpetuity. Two such instances are mentioned in the Great Rolls of 19 Henry III., and in the Rolls of the Exchequer of the first year of the reign of Edward I. One is that of Walter le Brim (marshal or farrier) of the Strand, who received a grant of a certain place in the parish of St. Clement's, to build a forge there, in consideration of six horse-shoes annually, and the other that, of Walter Mareschal, or the farrier at the Howe Cross, who was bound to render annually forever six shoes with their nails as a reserved rent for a certain forge opposite to the Howe Cross. The former rent has therefore been paid over six hundred and fifty and the latter for nearly six hundred and twenty years. The cor- poration has been very careful to keep up the annual pay- ment of this duty ever since the property was acquired. HOUSE-SHOES. 255 Shakespeare puts into the mouth of King Lear, when the poor old man is babbling to Gloucester, the saying: "It were a delicate stratagem to shoe "A troop of horse with felt. I'll put 't in proof." This "stratagem" had actually been practiced some fifty years before the great poet was born. Lord Herbert, in his life of King Henry VIII., writes: "And now, having "feasted the ladies right royally for divers days, Henry "departed on 13 Oct. 1513, from Tournay to Lisle, whither "he was invited by the Lady Margaret, who caused there "a juste to be held in an extraordinary manner — the place "being a fore-room raised high from the ground by many "steps, and paved with black square stones, like marble; "while the horses, to prevent sliding, were shod with felt "or flocks: after which the ladies danced all night." In connection with horse-shoes exists the old popular tradition of its being an omen of good luck "if drinke be "spilled upon a man or if he find old iron," so that Dr. Home, in his "Dsemonologie, or the Character of the Cry- "ing Evils of the Present Time" (1650), tells us, "How "frequent it is with people (especially of the more ignorant "sort, which makes the things more suspected) to think "and say, if they finde some pieces of iron, it is prediction "of good lucke to the finders ! if they find a piece of silver, "it is a foretoken of ill lucke to them." And among the good wishes enumerated by Holyday in his comedy of the "Marriage of the Arts" is included "That the horse-shoes "may never be pul'd from your threshold." We can well imagine how, whilst outwardly pretending to despise the 256 HITHER AND THITHER. tradition, an old cynic would look around in hopes that nobody saw him, and carefully pick up the shoe against which he stumbled ; and how he would inwardly chuckle over his hoped for good luck, even whilst he had the hardi- hood to write in his "Reflections," published in 1665, ''The common people of this country have a tradi- tion that 'tis a lucky thing to find a horse-shoe, and, "though 'twas to make myself merry with this fond con- ceit of the superstitious vulgar, I stooped to pick it up." Why, of course, he went in to win the luck, in the same spirit that country maidens, if nobody is looking, courtesy to the new moon, or bemoan their ill luck if they are so unfortunate as to first see the new moon through glass. Another tradition is that horse-shoes act as a protection against evil spirits and witches by preventing them from crossing the threshold over which they are nailed. This practice resembles a custom of driving nails into the walls of cottages, which prevailed among the Romans, and which was believed to serve as protection against the plague. The poet Gay writes of the custom in his "Fable" of "The "Old Woman and her Cats" : . . . "Crowds of boys "Worry me with eternal noise; "Straws laid across my pace retard, "The horseshoe's nail'd (each threshold's guard) "The stunted broom the wenches hide, "For fear that I should up and ride; "They stick witli pins my bleeding seat, "And bid me shew my secret teat." It lias been suggested that the custom may have grown nut of the still earlier practice of having sacred paintings HORSE-SHOES. 257 on the exteriors of houses, as is still so common in the rural parts of Germany and Bavaria, especially in the Dolomite region. Such paintings may have in time become more and more nearly obliterated by the weather, whilst the metal or gilded menisci over the heads of the Virgin or Saints lasted longer, becoming prominent objects which could not escape attention, hence, the respect originally given to a whole picture may have been con- tinued to its meniscus, and from that to the horse-shoe, which, after a time, was put up in substitution for the last fragment of the picture. Butler, in his "Hudibras," says of his Conjuror that he could "Chase evil spirits away by dint "Of sickle, horseshoe, hollow flint." A writer in the latter half of the seventeenth century mentions that most of the houses at the west end of London were thus protected to hinder the power of witches, who would otherwise enter them. On April 26, 1813, another writer counted no less than seventeen horse-shoes in one street in London, known as Monmouth street, though by 1841 that number had been reduced to five or six. 1 Xor was this superstition confined wholly to the lower classes, for at Holly Lodge the residence of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts and Mr. Coutts, they, being superstitious, caused a rusty, old, broken horse-shoe to be fastened on the highest marble step by which the house is entered from the lawn. These preventives against witches even became rivals of the Stoup of Holy Water in the porches of 1 Brand's Popular Antiquities of Great Britain. 17 258 HITHER AND THITHER. churches, tiles having been found under the porch of Stan- infield Church and many other places with horse-shoes upon them, put there with that object. A story was given in the newspapers some years since of a carpenter residing at Ely who, on being taken ill, imagined that a woman named Gotobed, whom he had ejected from one of his houses, had bewitched him. Some matrons who were assembled in the sick man's chamber agreed that the only way to protect him from the sorceries of the witch was to send for the blacksmith and have three horse-shoes nailed to the door. This was done, much to the anger of the supposed witch, who at first complained to the Dean of the Cathedral, but was laughed at by his Reverence. She then rushed in wrath to the sick man's room, and, miraculous to tell, passed the Rubicon notwith- standing the horse-shoes. This wonder ceased when it was discovered that, in order to make the most of the job, the faithless Vulcan had used a pair of donkey's shoes. Horse-shoes were always made by hand until 1835, when a machine was invented by which as many as fifty or sixty shoes can be made per minute. Mourning. Mourning. AS statisticians state that with the lapse of every second of time one person dies, 1 it is not surprising that an immense amount of curious matter is found scattered up and down in books, concerning the dif- ferent ways, in which among various peoples the family and friends of the dead have outwardly expressed their grief. Nearly every one must, many times in the course of an ordinary lifetime, have to go into mourning, and a large and interesting volume might be written on the sub- ject — the dress adopted, the period of observance, personal behaviour, etc., though the gist of the subject can be com- pressed into a short space. The customs of the Jews are probably more fully known than those of any other nationality. They generally mourned the dead seven days, though the period Avas ex- tended, as in the cases of Aaron and Moses, to thirty days. During this period the people indulged in loud and violent weeping, rending the clothes (which nowadays is symbol- ized by running a penknife through a garment), smiling 1 The question is disputed. The "World Almanac" some years ago suggested the figures of: Births, 70; deaths, n a Good Friday who was possessed of the old charm for curing the bewitched : "l"] ii in Good Friday "I will fast while I may "Until I hear them knoll "Our Lord's own bull." 276 HITHER AND THITHEE. The evil odour of the day is attributed in an old manu- script preserved in the British Museum to the fact that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit on a Friday and died on a Friday; and in the south of France the term Friday Tree — in its reference to the "accursed tree" — is applied to an unsuccessful undertaking or person; being used to express a trial or misfortune. On the other hand, the old lines "Friday's dream on Saturday told "Is sure to come true if it's ever so old," speak both good and ill of dreams dreamt on that day; inasmuch as the dreamer's satisfaction at the fulfilment of the dream, will naturally be regulated by the fact whether it was a desirable or an unpleasant one. Sir Thomas Overbury in his description of "a faire and happy "milk-mayd," writes: "Her dreams are so chaste, that "she dare tell them; only a Fridaie's drcamc is all her "superstition: that she conccales for feare of anger." * There can be little doubt but that the belief in Friday being an unlucky clay originated in its being the day of the Crucifixion. Chaucer refers to the traditional belief where he speaks of the death of Richard Cccur de Lion on a Friday, in these lines: "0 Gaunfred, deere maister soverayn "That, whan thy worthy kyng Richard was slayn "With shot, compleynedest his deeth so soore "Why no hadde 1 now thy sentence and thy loore "The Friday for to chide, as diden ye? — "For on a Friday, soothly slayn was he." 2 1 Characters, etc. 2 The Nonnes Preestes Tale. FRIDAY. 277 The Brahmins of India say that on a Friday no busi- ness must be commenced; and among the Finns, whoever undertakes any now business on a Monday or a Friday, is warned to expect very little success. The rigid custom of the Spaniards never to undertake anything of conse- quence on a Friday is well known; whilst the Neapolitans foretell evil of two days, their proverb running: "Neither "on Friday nor Tuesday marry or journey commence." On the other hand, the great Mogul or Shah of Persia, thought differently of the day, and used at the end of his devotions, to turn to his attendant and say, "O that my "death may happen on a Friday, for blessed is he who "dieth on that day." 1 The Registrar-General of England says in one of his reports: "Seamen will not sail and women will not wed "on Friday so willingly as on other days of the week;" and remarks that out of four thousand and fifty-seven marriages, in the midland districts of England, not two per cent, were solemnized on Friday; while thirty-two per cent, were celebrated on Sunday. The next day in favor was Monday with twenty-one per cent., and then Saturday with seventeen per cent. This dislike of being married on a Friday, is also preserved in the West Sussex belief, that "owing to Adam and Eve having eaten the forbidden fruit "on a Friday, that of all days was to be avoided for mar- "riages, or you and your wife will lead a cat and dog life." A different state of things has been found to prevail in Scotland, for the City Chamberlain of Glasgow, a few years since, wrote that it was a well established fact, that 1 Memoirs of the Mogul Empire, by Evadut Khan, p. 10. 278 HITHER AND THITHER. nine-tenths of the marriages in Glasgow were celebrated on Friday, and only a few on Tuesdays and Wednesdays ; while Saturday and Monday were still more rarely adopted. He adds : "I have never heard of such a thing in Glasgow "as a marriage on Sunday." It would appear, therefore, that in Scotland, Friday is the lucky day of the week ; at least, for marriages. In the west of Scotland, on the event- ful day of marriage, which was "always a Friday," great attention was paid to every incident ; for if the bride broke a dish, or the postman forgot to deliver a letter to the bride until he was some way on his journey and had to return, or some soot came down the chimney, it was a bad omen for the future wedded life. It seems that in parts of America at least, many persons look upon Friday as an unlucky day, for a statement, dated Philadelphia, is printed, announcing that during one entire year only one couple was married by the Mayor on that day of the week. If it was not good to marry on a Friday, so, in parts of England, it was rendered disagreeable, at least to the parties immediately concerned, to court on that day. A man in the north of Lancashire was recently busy most industriously belabouring a frying-pan, exactly in the way country people do when bees are swarming ; and as it was not the season of the year for bees to swarm, he was asked what induced him to make that hideous noise. His answer was, "Why this be Friday and there is a woman down the "lane a'courting. Women doing that there thing o' a "Friday is always sarved so." The evil repute of Friday led to the publication of a riUDAY. 279 singular statistical fact by Monsieur Minard. "Friday," he says, "is considered such an unlucky day in France thai "not only is the number of travellers by rail much smaller "on that, than on other days, but the difference is also "sensibly felt in the receipts of the omnibusscs." But it was not always so in France, for it is related of King Henry IV., that he considered Friday lucky, and began his undertakings by preference on that day. One sarcastic writer has suggested, that it is probable that the dislike to this day, arose from the fact that it is late in the week, and both money runs short among the poor, and time amongst those who ought to have been busy; and perhaps also, because Friday is a fast day in Catholic countries, and so in olden times people looking back would remember Fridays, as generally associated with something less pleasant than other days. Tn the Domestic Series of the Calendar of State papers is preserved the following curious entry: "1G20 April C> "Thomas Folvety solicits the permission of Lord Zouch, "Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports to kill a hare on Good "Friday, as huntsmen say that those who have not a hare "against Easter must eat a red herring." Sailors, who are most generally credited with this super- stition, have not always come to grief when sailing on a Friday; for it was on a Friday, the 3d of August, 1492, that Columbus set sail from Palos, in Spain, in three caravels, carrying one hundred and twenty men: begin- ning on a Friday, strange to say, the greatest and most momentous maritime enterprise ever undertaken by man, and which entitled him to be called the Discoverer of the New World. 280 HITHER AND THITHEB. It is notorious that sailors as a body, even if they now do so to a less degree than heretofore, did regard it as most unlucky, and as tempting Providence, to sail on a Friday. It is doubtful, however, what truth is to be credited to the story, alleged by Cooper, the novelist, to be an event of which he had personal knowledge, that to dis- abuse sailors of the superstition against sailing on a Friday, a ship was begun on a Friday, the first plank laid on a Friday, launched on a Friday, commanded by a captain named Friday, sailed on a Friday, and was never heard of more. This same story is attributed elsewhere to the action of some gentlemen of Xew York who wished to "disabuse the vulgar;" but with the same result. 1 It is related of Admiral, the Earl of Dundonald, that when he was in command of TI.M.S. 'AYcllesley," pursuant to orders he got under way from Plymouth, on a Friday, the 24th of March, 1848; but after the ship got outside the breakwater, she was recalled by the Port Admiral, and did not leave again till the next day. Her return was for the purpose of taking in mail bags, but the firm belief of the men was, that the gallant Admiral purposely left something behind to avoid going to sea on the unlucky day. The ill-fated "Amazon," carrying mails to the West Indies, sailed from Southampton, under command of Cap- tain Symons, on Friday, the 2d of January, 1852; and on the very same day the Birkenhead troopship, whose 1 In fact the story is of wide currency. Walsh in his "Curiosities of "Popular Customs" quotes Mrs. Rebecca Harding Davis as telling it. In her version Wilmington, Del., is the place of the building of the boat; Isaac Harvey the name of the builder; and "Friday, of Wil- "mington," the name of the boat. FRIDAY. 281 disastrous loss was accompanied by a terrible loss of life, sailed from Portsmouth. Neither ship returned. An officer on the Melbourne Royal Mail Steamer, which subsequently came to grief, wrote from Lisbon to a rela- tive: "I joined the ship on a Friday, I procured my "register ticket on a Friday, the ship left London on a "Friday, and she eventually sailed from Plymouth on a "Friday." It is singular that on leaving Plymouth he mentioned his apprehension at again starting on this appar- ently ill-omened day and that his fears were soon after realized. One curious tradition about Friday, related by Del Pio in his "Disquisitions on Magic," is that it has long been an unlucky day for cutting one's nails; a notion which in a somewhat extended form prevails in France, for it is unlucky in that country to cut the nails on any day which has an "r" in its name, viz: Mardi, Mercredi or Vendredi (Tuesday, "Wednesday or Friday). Yet when one steps into Holland it is quite different, as by cutting the nails there on a Friday, one is protected from toothache. Ac- cording to Ausonius, how r ever, among the Romans Wed- nesday was the proper day for that important operation. It is an old belief that the observance of the custom of eating hot cross buns on Good Friday, protects the house in which they are eaten from fire, besides bringing other good luck; but all the best feelings and beliefs of child- hood, in the propriety of thus doing, are put to flight by studying the antiquaries 1 who elaborate a theory, that these buns are nothing but the cakes against the prepara- 1 Hutchinson, Bryant, etc. 282 HITHER AND TIITTHEB. tion of which the prophet Jeremiah inveighed when ho wrote the Israelitish "women kneaded their dough to "make cakes to the Qneen of Heaven;" x and state that the sacred cakes offered at the Arkite Temple, were called "bous ;" in one of its cases "boun," or as the Latins would write it "bun/' whence we have borrowed our English word bun. Alack, alack! we are to believe that from a pagan source has originated the old ecclesiastical custom of selling a sort of consecrated cakes called buns on Good Friday. Perhaps, be it said for our comfort, the Christian practice is none the worse for having been originally pagan ; as probably the buns, saffron cakes, or symnels of Good Friday, through their "being, formerly at least, "unleavened, may have a retrospect to the unleavened "bread of the Jews ; in the same manner as lamb at Easter "to the Paschal Lamb." 2 Various places and streets have been named Friday. Xear Arundel, in England, on a Down, the property of the Duke of Norfolk, are extensive earthworks forming a regular encampment, known by the name of "Friday "Church ;" and an important street in Cheapside, London, is called "Friday Street;" but Stow, in his "Survey of "London," published in 1508, says this street was "so "called by fishmongers dwelling there and serving Friday's "market;" an explanation, which, however good in itself, will not explain the numerous Friday streets in the other counties of England ; as, for example, Surrey and Suffolk, in which seven or eight instances exist. 1 Jeremiah vii. 18; xliv, 19. 2 Gentleman's Magazrne. FRIDAY. 2S3 It is a tradition in the County of Hampshire, in villages around the city of Winchester, thai if parsley seed be sown on any other day than Good Friday, it will not come double. Another strange lore attaches to bread baked on Good Friday. It was said that it would keep good for more than a year, and a faithful Shropshire domestic was most indig- nant that her master should doubt such a fact. "Why, "sir," she said, "everybody bakes Good Friday bread — -it's "good for babies when they have the belly ache ;" and to clench the matter, she added, "I myself know of an old "Shropshire woman living in London who from mere force "of habit goes on baking Good Friday bread, year after "year, and always finds it good when the anniversary comes "around." On another occasion a lady inquired of a labourer's wife, in Warwickshire, how her neighbour's little son was. The latter replied that he had been very poorly with a bowel complaint and that nothing his mother gave him did him any good, "so," she continued, "I took him "a piece of Good Friday bread and grated some of it in a "little, brandy — the child took it and it cured him. Good "Friday bread never grows mouldy and is very useful in "brandy as a medicine. The piece I have now has been "baked seven or eight years. It is quite good, but very "dry. I remember my mother having some that had been "made m'ore than twenty years, and I always keep it "wrapped up in paper in a box upstairs." The loaves or buns so preserved, were also used as a panacea for all the diseases to which domestic animals are liable, and a Good Friday loaf so preserved, would prevent 284 HITHER AND THITHEK. other bread in the house placed with it from going ropy, although baked at another period of the year. What further qualities could be desired? Perhaps the whole matter is well summed up in the lines from "Poor Robin's Almanac," published in 1733 : "Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs "With one or two a penny hot cross buns, "Whose virtue is, if you believe what's said, "They'll not grow mouldy like the common bread." Fables. Fables. IT is too generally assumed that the subject of fables is one that is only fit for juvenile readers. As a fact, it is a matter of wide literary interest; one that has attracted the attention of very learned students; and one on which writers and readers are still very much in the dark. To define a fable or an apologue is not easy. Oliver Goldsmith in his essay upon fables, says: "Fable is the "method of conveying truth under the form of an "allegory." Lafontaine, in speaking of his collection of fables, calls an apologue: "A comedy where hundred acts convene "In which the Universe supplies the scene." In effect an apologue is a kind of little drama with a proposition,, a plot and a denouement. De la Motte defines it as "an instruction under the "allegory of action." Early critics divided fables into three classes: rational, moral and mixed. 288 HITHER. AND THITHER. Rational fables are parables or relations of things sup- posed to have been said or done by men, and which might possibly have been said and done, though in reality they were not, such as the parables of the Bible. For example : "The Ten Virgins;" "The Prodigal Son;" and Nathan's parable of the "Ewe Lamb." Moral fables are those wherein not only beasts, but trees and other inanimate substances are introduced as actors and speakers. This class of fable is exemplified in the volume of iEsop, and in the Old Testament in the stories of "The Trees electing a King," and "The Thistle and "the Cedar." Though the rational fable might be true, the moral could not, because brutes and stocks cannot speak. Mixed fables are those wherein men and brutes are introduced conversing together ; or where the rational and moral fables are mixed in their construction. Justin, the Latin historian, gives one of the latter. A Ligurian collated a fable to alarm an ancient Gaulish king against the Massilians, who after the marriage of Protis and Gyptis had founded Marseilles. He told them a dog, big with young, begged a shepherd a place to lay her whelps in, this favor granted, she further begged leave to rear them there. At length the whelps being grown up, the mother depending on the strength of her family, claimed the right to the place as her own. "In like manner," ho continued, "the people of Marseilles, who are now regarded "as your tenants, will one day become the masters of your "territory." * 1 Book XLIII, chap. iv. FABLES. 289 A true fable must consist of a clear, probable, short and pleasant narrative, with a pithy interpretation to show the moral sense or design thereof. The great writers of fables are not many ; and who they really were is a matter of endless dispute and argument. The two fables alluded to in the Old Testament are amongst the very oldest extant. They are very familiar. The first relates * that Gideon being dead, his bastard son, Abimelech, slew all his brethren, three score and ten persons, Jotham alone escaping. In anger at the rejection from the judgeship Jotham related the story of the trees going to anoint a king over them. How that the olive re- fused to leave his fatness and go to be promoted ; then that the fig tree refused to forsake his sweetness and good fruit ; and again that the vine would not leave his wine which cheereth God and man. But that the bramble accepted, in- viting the trees to come and put their trust in his shadow. Jotham enforced the story by showing the wrong done by Abimelech, which would redound to their misery. The second 2 tells that when Amaziah provoked Jehoash and was overcome and spoiled, Jehoash warned him before- hand, saying: "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the "cedar that was in Lebanon, saying: 'Give thy daughter " 'to my son to wife ;' and there passed by a wild beast "that was in Lebanon and trod down the thistle," and Jehoash added that he would be destroyed if he battled with Israel. Xow passing over these two instances, the question fudges ix: 5-21. 2 II Kings xiv: 9. t 10 290 HITHER AND THITHER. arises, Whence did fable spring ? The great collections of Bidpai, Lokman, iEsop and Phsedrus were not original with those writers ; and Lokman and iEsop probably never lived, but are rather impersonations adapted to support the authorships — pegs whereon to hang hats — not living persons. The question, Whence did fable come? is not easily answered. Sir George Cornewall Lewis, to whom we are indebted for an edition of the 'Tables of Babrios," the Greek fabulist, 1 since translated into English verse by the Rev. James Davies, held that fables originated in Greece. But this opinion seems controvertible on every side. Fable is found at a remote period in Greece. One of the earliest poets, Hesiod (circa S00 B. C), quotes the "Nightingale and the Hawk." 2 iEsop is generally sup- posed to have lived 619-564 B. C. But to make animals converse is not natural to Greece, and if not natural to that people, fable can scarcely be indigenous to the country. On the other hand we can understand it to have been in accord with the people of India. That animals should act, reason and talk like men, is so contrary to universal experience, that the peculiar property of the popular fable can only be accounted for by the belief in metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls, held by the ancient people of India. A comparison of the xEsopean fables with the Sanscrit l Babrii Fabuloe iEsopere, &c, 1846; 2d pt. 1859. Both parts translated into English verse by Davies, 1851). But these spurious fables Mere concocted by Minoides Menas, a Greek, who sold them with the manuscript of the genuine apologue to the British Museum! 2 Works and Days. FABLES. 291 collections makes it seem almost indisputable that the Greeks originally derived the fable from India; however difficult it may now be to point out the particular route by which it came. Instances have been elaborately dwelt on by writers to prove this contention. Take the European story of how six men played a trick upon a country fellow who was carrying a lamb to market. They agreed to meet him, one by one, and insist that it was a dog and not a lamb he was carrying. This they did, and the rustic was so dum- founded by their successive accusations that he let them carry off the lamb. In this form, the fable seems rather pointless, but turn to the older Sanscrit version. There the victim is a Brahman, carrying a goat for sacrifice. The robbers agree to call the goat a dog. jSTow a dog is, to a Brahman, an abominable thing. When, therefore, for the third time the man is assured he is carrying a dog, he throws it down and flies in horror. The Brahman creed gives a real point to the story. It has often been stated that the "Pantchatantra," con- sisting of five books after the manner of the Pentateuch, is the earliest collection of the fables of India, known at present. Its date is uncertain and, though attributed to the fifth century before Christ, was doubtless a collection of fables then already popular. The Pantchatantra and the llitopadesa (''wholesome instruction" or "salutary "advice"), or some antecedent form of these collections form what are now known as the "Fables of Bidpai," a work that has been translated into a great number of lan- guages. Two curious stories are told as to how the first 292 HITHER AND THITHER. translation was made by Barzuyeh, an eminent physician at the court of the Persian king Khosru Xushirvan, who reigned between A. D. 531 and 5 70. The King of Persia heard that there existed in India a book full of wisdom, and Barzuyeh was sent to get a copy, which he did by surreptitious methods, and only claimed as a reward permission to write as a preface an account of his own life and opinions. This shows us, says Max Miiller, "a soul dissatisfied with traditions and formu- "laries, striving after truth, and finding rest only where "many other seekers after truth have found rest before "and after him, in a life devoted to alleviating the sufTer- "ings of mankind." * The other story is given by Firdausi, in the "Shah "Xameh," according to which the physician read in a book that there existed in India, trees or herbs supplying a medicine by which the dead could be restored to life. He was sent by the King to find it, and after a year's inquiries, was told what was really indicated were "the ancient "books of wisdom preserved in India, which imparted life "to those who were dead in their folly and sins." 2 There- upon the physician translated these books, and one of them was this collection of fables, the Sanscrit version of which is known as "Kalilah and Dinmah," or the dullard and the cunning one. The name is derived from those of two jackals who are amongst the principal actors in the intro- duction. The "Fables of Bidpai," however, have been so much altered in the various transformations they have 1 Chips from a German Workshop: Vol. IV, p. 152. 2 Ditto, p. 153. FABLES. 293 undergone, that no dependence can be placed on the strict originality of any one <>f them. Many have been adopted into the "Gesta Romanorum," and some eighteen of Lafon- taine's fables may be traced directly to this sonrce: Lafon- taine himself acknowledging ln's indebtedness to the work. Beanmont and Fletcher used one of his stories in the comedy of "Women Pleased;" and Massinger made the same story serve in his play entitled "The Guardian." The earliest English version of the fables of Bidpai, lias been edited by Joseph Jacobs, and republished in London. 1 This version is "a distinct literary find." This version was due to Sir Thomas North, who published it in 1570. It was but a translation of an Italian version (1552) by Doni; taken from a Spanish version (1493); of a Latin version (1270) by John of Capua; who translated his edition from a Hebrew version (about 1250) by Rabbi Joel ; which was written from the Arabic version (about 750), entitled "Kalilah-Wa-Dimnah ;" which in its turn was translated from an old Persian version by Barzuyeh (570 A. I)) ; that being translated from the Sanscrit (about 300 A. D.). Mr. Jacobs, in his edition, gives a genealogical tree showing how the work has passed through these several stages, and also earlier ones, in the form of "Buddhist Birth-Stories" in Cingalese (now lost), and in Pali (about 250 B. C), also lost. It has been translated, it appears, into thirty-eight languages in one hundred and twelve different versions, which have passed into one hun- dred and eighty editions. Whence these fables come, before Barzuyeh, is there- 1 18S0. 294 HITHER AND THITHER. fore very doubtful. The variations made in the stories themselves, according to the country in which they were introduced, is undoubted. Professor Taylor Lewis, in a magazine article, calls attention to the modifications they have received, and says: "Some pious animal, such as a "devout jackal, a very virtuous lion, in one place a very "pious cat, and in another a very hypocritical one, who "makes religion a cloak for her atrocities, is quite a favorite "personification. This recluse character has in the original "Pantehatantra or Indian legend quite an ascetic aspect, "is very quietistic, eats no flesh ; in other words, shows the "predominance of Brahman and Buddhistic ideas. In the "Persian (ante-Islamic) it lias more of the Magian look. "In the Arabic the pious fox, etc., is an orthodox Mahom- "medan, a Nasek, an extraordinary devotee who is ever "attentive to the call of the muezzin, says extra prayers, "quotes the Koran and makes extra pilgrimages to Mecca. "In the Greek version of Simeon Seth, on the other hand, "he becomes a decided monk or hermit; to accommodate "him ablutions are turned into penance and sometimes the "translator renders Arabic phrases by literal quotations "from the Scriptures. Not content with this, Simeon "Seth sometimes makes all the animals talk Homerically "and parodies in this way entire hexameters from the " 'Iliad' or the 'Odyssey.' " It has been said that iEsop never lived. The sugges- tion has been that Lokman and .Esop were both mythical, and the fables attributed to them, really only well known stories handed down from age to age, and finally collected, and an assumed author's name attached. FABLES. 295 Lokman, a celebrated Arabian Bage, and great fabulist, has been identified with ^Esop. Silvestre de Sacy says many pasages of his life were evidently borrowed from the legendary story of ^Esop. His fables were translated into Latin in 1G15. Lokman is mentioned in the Koran, and is regarded as a contemporary of David and Solomon. Others allege him to have been a near relation of Job; and to trace the matter further, suggestions have been made that these fables arc some of the lost wisdom of Solomon; but that the Solomon in question was no other than Joseph, the great patriarch in the time of Pharaoh ; for it is argued, ^Esop, Bidpai and Phsedrus have been alleged to be slaves, and to have become the confidential ministers of their kings, and was not Joseph sold into Egypt, and did he not become the second in Egypt after Pharaoh? Therefore, Joseph, iEsop and the rest, were all one and the same person, whereby the fables obtain a ''distinctly antique origin." One writer amusingly says that the modern incredulity in ancient authors is a necessary result of modern historical research ; and not to be cavilled at, if we will only con- sider a parallel possibility in after ages. Who believes, he says, in Sam Weller, or in the Clockmaker ? Yet the time may come, some ages hence, when each of these worthies will be looked upon as a real personage, who lived in the world, and delivered from his own mouth, all the sage remarks wbich go under his name. As to the fabulist of greatest renown, iEsop, it is notice- able, as far as he is concerned, that whether his fables were invented by himself, or as has been suggested by Socrates, by Solomon or by Homer, they have never been 296 HITHER AND THITHER. excelled for brevity, point and practical good sense. Some of his fables acquire special interest when the use is recalled that has been made of them in the stormy and difficult period of Grecian history. It is related that the citizens of Agrigentum were warned by Stesichorus, who nourished about six hundred years B. C, against the incroachments of Phalaris, by the recital of the "Horse "and the Stag," 1 wherein a horse asks a man to help him to punish a stag that has damaged a pasture in which the horse ranged. The man mounting his back puts a bit in his mouth, thus instead of giving the horse revenge, making him the slave of man. Herodotus tells how when the Ionians, 2 who had rejected a previous invitation of Cyrus to join him, sent ambassa- dors to him, after his success, offering him terms, the indignant conqueror gave them no other reply than the story of the "Fisherman Piping." The fish would not come to shore Avhen piped to; but when netted, danced and napped about, whereupon the fisherman smiled and said: "Since you would not dance when I piped, I will have "none of your dancing now." Whence all may learn that it is a great art to do the right thing at the right time. According to Livy, Menenius Agrippa quelled an insur- rection by reciting "The Belly and the Members of the "Body." 3 The popularity of ^Esop's "Fables" among the Athen- ians was unbounded. They arc continually referred to by 1 The longest fragment of Stesichorus preserved is only six lines in length. 2 Book I. chap. 141. 3 Book II, chap. 32. FABLES. 297 their Writers. Socrates in prison turned them into verse, Phsedrus produced them in Latin iambics, and Babrius in Greek choliambics. Phsedrus, who flourished about 20 to 30 A. D., was orig- inally a slave. lie left ninety-seven fables in iambic verse, but the subjects and ideas are largely borrowed from .Esop. Their purity of style has been much praised. Babrius was a Greek fabulist, supposed to have lived a short time previous to Augustus, whose work's were for a long time lost. They have, however, come to the knowledge of modern scholars in our own time. lie is supposed to have lived at the close of the second century after Christ. Leaving the ancient fabulists one meets with the names of Gay, Prior, and others, but they are largely wrongly so called. To a great extent they relate admirable stories in verse. They are delightful reading, but lack much of the pithiness and point which constitute the really essential characteristic of fables. One fabulist, however, requires more extended notice. Lean Lafontaine, who lived 1621-1695, was urged by his father to enter the Church, but he found it unsuited to his tastes. lie was a dull, spiritless youth, and had reached twenty-two, before he manifested a spark of poetry. At twenty-six he married, to please his father, lived with his wife a few years, and had by her one son. lie studied the best writings of the ancients, was awarded a pension of one thousand francs from Fouquot, and after Fouqucfs fall went into the service of Henrietta, wife of Monsieur, the King's brother. Later he lived at Madame Sabliere's for twenty years, and drifted through life without any idea 298 HITHER AND THITHER. of money. lie was one of the brightest writers of the age of Louis XIV. His fables are nearly inimitable. Long- fellow speaks of him as "never misanthropical — never out "of humour with his fellow-beings." 1 He was on inti- mate terms with Moliere, Boileau and Racine, and was known as "Le Bon Homme," for he was "as simple as the "heroes of his own fables." The abbess of Paris promised to provide for his son. Lafontaine met the son in society for many years and was delighted with his conversation. When told, "He is your "son," he genially responded, "Ah ! I am very glad of it." Being urged to reconcile himself with his wife, he went to her country residence and inquired for her. The door- keeper did not know Lafontaine and gave a general answer that Madame was well. Lafontaine proceeded to a friend's house, where he stayed for several days and returned to Paris. When questioned how his mission had succeeded, said : "I have been to see her, but I did not find her ; she "is well." Lafontaine published the first six books of his fables in 1668, the subjects being mostly taken from iEsop, Phaxlrus and Horace. In 1678 a second edition of these six books was published, enriched by five books of new fables. In 1694 a third edition appeared, containing one additional book, completing the collection. Among the interesting facts connected with fables, un- doubtedly stand the various editions of Gay's "Fables" and zEsop's "Fables," illustrated by the celebrated wood en- graver, Thomas Bewick, the English artist. Gay's "Fables" were printed by T. Saint in 1779, in 1 Poets and Poetry of Europe: Jean de la Fontaine. FABLES. 299 one volume, with seventy seven cuts of fables with borders, and thirty-five vignettes. For the tasteful and clever engraving of Jive of the cuts, one being "The Huntsman "and the Hound," the Royal Society of Arts presented Bewick with their medal. Some of the cuts included in the edition of Gay's ''Fables/' published in 1779, were thought so much of by "my master Beilby," says Bewick in his "Memoir," "that he in my name sent impressions "of a few of them to be laid before the Society for the "Encouragement of Arts, and I obtained a premium." The premium amounted to £7.7.0, and lie presented the money with intense gratification to his mother. To understand how fables travel, consider how the story of Perrette, the milkmaid, who, while speculating how, from the profit to be derived from the sale of a pail of milk she was carrying, she would ultimately become wealthy, capered for joy, and lost all, has reached its present form. The fable is in Lafontaine's seventh book, published, therefore, 1G7S, in the preface to which Lafon- taine says, that he owes the largest portion of his fables to "Pilpay," the Indian sage. Max Miiller, in his essay, "On the Migration of Fables," 1 has selected this fable and discusses the matter fully. He quotes the version in the "Pantchatantra," where the milkmaid and her pail are replaced by a Brahman and a pot of rice; and follows this with the -version in the "Hitopadesa," where the characters are still a Brahman and a pot of rice. In the first, of these two, the Brahman, musing upon his future, imagines his wife will not hear an order that he will issue, and says : 1 Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. IV. 300 HITHER AXD THITHER. "Then I get up and give her such a hick;" and in the second he imagines that his wives will quarrel, and says : "I shall he in a great rage, and take a stick." Thus were the pots of rice broken. Max Midler asks, how did the fable travel to France, and how was the Brahman changed to a brisk milkmaid? The next to the "Hitopadesa" version is the Arabic "Kalilah and Dimnah." Here the politer religious man only chastises his son, which, perhaps is much better than beating his wives. In a subsequent Greek text 1 .we have virtually the same story — a beggar marries, has a son, and heating him, loses the honey and butter which gave rise to his speculations. Still there is no milkmaid. To explain how the fable reached Lafontaine, is to repeat how many times "Kalilah and Diurnalf' has been translated and retranslated. After the conquest of Spain by the Mahommedans, Arabic literature found a new home in Western Em-ope, and in 1289 a Spanish translation of the fables called "Calila e Dynma" was published, Bidpai being changed to Bundobel. This was turned into Latin verse in 1313 by Raimond de Beziers, and in the same cen- tury into Latin verse by Baldo under the title "xEsopus alter." The fables in their various forms appear to have been exceedingly popular. They were introduced into ser- mons, homilies and works on morality, and became so changed as they passed from mouth to mouth as to be hardly recognizable. In a Latin book called "Dialogues "of Creatures Moralyscd," transacted into several modern languages, Midler finds the fable with, for the first time, the milkmaid. 1 "Stcphanites and Ichnelates." FABLES. 301 One more point may be mentioned. With the rise of a spirit of inquiry in the Middle Ages, arose the question why certain animals wen- always depicted with certain traits of character, e. g., the wolf, the fox, the cat, the bear, and so on, each always betraying' the same characteristics, under whatever different circumstances. A compiler of a French metrical 1 romance gives a quaint answer: When Adam and Eve were driven out of Paradise the Creator in compassion gave the former a wand and told him if in want of anything to go to the seashore, strike the water and he should find relief. Accordingly, the pair went on the sands, and Adam struck the sea with his wand. Immediately there appeared a lamb. "There/' said he to Eve, ''take care of the animal, for as it grows it will give "us milk and cheese/' Eve's milk, as it was called, was much used in the Middle Ages. Eve was envious of Adam's success and thought she would get a better lamb, so while he was not looking, she struck the sea, when Out came a furious wolf who seized the lamb and carried it off into the woods. When Eve saw this she cried in distress, and Adam, aroused, took the wand and struck the sea again. A dog sprang out, followed the wolf, and rescued the lamb. Eve not satisfied, tried her fortune again, and the result was the appearance of a fox. Adam and Eve went on striking alternately, the father of mankind always drawing animals that became domesticated, such as were beneficial to society, but Eve always drawing forth some wild and noxious animal. Thus it was that the wolf and the fox 1 Renard. 302 HITHER AND THITHER. and the oilier animals "which figure in the fables came into the world, with the various tempers which have given them their celebrity. "From the high position which such writers as Lafon- taine, Lessing and Gay have given to it we may," says a writer in the Cornhill Magazine in I860, 1 "look back "upon its old and long career, as, born under the warm "sky of India, it crept by ways unknown to the classic "clime of Greece, passed thenee less obscurely to Latium, "and wandered onward into the Middle Ages of Europe, "there to meet its older parent from its far distant birth- "place ;" and, where with it, it later took mediawal "society "by surprise" and conquered "a more remarkable position "than it had previously held either in the East or in the -West." 1 The History of a Fable. Palestrina s Music. Palestrina's Music. A COMPLETE copy of the compositions of Pales- trina, 1 in thirty-three folio volumes, has been pub- lished in Germany, and deserves a few words of notice. Volumes 1 to 7 contain two hundred and twenty- five motets, of which some are in twelve parts, proving the wonderful mastery of composition to which this great com- poser attained. Volumes 8 and 9 contain one hundred and thirteen hymns and offertories. Volumes 10 to 24 are de- voted to his masses, written in four, five, six and eight parts. In the eleventh volume is given the celebrated "Missa Papa.' Marcelli," which has been often referred to as one of the greatest works accomplished by this writer. The mass known as the "Papas Marcelli" is described by Edward II. Pember as the mass by which "all felt that the "future style and destiny of sacred art was once for all "determined." In Mr. Pember's article on this great mass, 2 he says that "Baini likens its transcendent excellence to "that of the relative grandeur of the thirty-third canto of "the Inferno" ; that "Parvi, contemporary musical copyist "at the Vatican, transcribed it into the Chapel collection 1 Pierluigi da Palestrina's Werke : Breitkopf & Hartel, Leipzig, 18G2, etc. 2 "Dictionary of Music and Musicians," Vol. II. 20 306 HITHER AND THITHER. "in characters larger than those which he commonly "employed"; that "the Pope ordered a special performance "of it in the Apostolic Chapel, and that, at the close of the "service, the enraptured Pontiff declared that it must have "been some such music that the Apostle of the Apocalypse "heard sung by the triumphant hosts of angels in the New ''Jerusalem" — that, "in short, there was a general agree- "ment of prelate and singer that Palestrina had, at last, "produced the archetype of ecclesiastical song." Some have expressed an opinion that certain of the remainder of Palestrina's masses are entitled to even more praise, than that bestowed on the "Papa 1 Marcelli;" but it must be noticed that, while the "Papa? Marcelli" has been frequently performed since the death of its composer, the masses claimed to be superior have never been used in church or concert hall. For those who are not able to play upon the organ with- out the aid of a written organ accompaniment, these recon- dite works in four, six, eight, ten and twelve parts, it may be good news that there is in popular use a volume of selections from Palestrina, published by Novello, and edited by J. M. Capes and V. Kovello, in which is included the "Papa? Marcelli," with such an organ accompaniment. In this same volume are included three other of his best masses as Avell as some motets. It is to be hoped that, before long, the German editions of the complete works of Palestrina, Bach, Handel and other great composers will be published in some such similar form, for the delectation of the hundreds of choirs and organists who would rejoice to have in a practical and available form, these masterly productions for use in churches. palestrina's music. 307 Volumes 25 to 27 contain a series of lamentations, litanies, motets, psalms, and four-, five-, six- and eight-part renderings of the Magnificat. Volumes 28 and 29 con- tain the celehrated madrigals. In volumes 30 to 33 are included a variety of this composer's works from hoth man- uscript and printed collections in the archives of the Pon- tifical Chapel, the Vatican Library and other places. The life of Palestrina was by no means unclouded. The music used for the mass, in his day had reached almost to the point of a scandal. The Pope resolved to "reform "the music of the church or to banish it." Fortunately for his contemporaries and those who lived after his age, Palestrina was directed to compose a mass which would conform to a pure orthodox standard. The above-men- tioned mass of Pope Marcellus, published in 1665, was the result of this commission, and it is pleasant to remember that it was received with great admiration. It is still greater pleasure to know that the composer's superiors, on hearing of this successful work, decided to retain grand music in the church and to abolish the operatic frippery which had led to so serious a crisis. In 1585 Palestrina wrote a motet and a mass in such a hurry that neither proved worthy of any remembrance. As Mr. Pember remarks, 1 ''These regrettable productions "would have been well lost to sight but for the reckless bru- tality of Igino, 2 who, looking only to what money "they would fetch, published thorn after his father's death, "with a bold-faced inscription to Clement VIII." These 1 "Dictionary of Music and Musicians," Vol. II. 2 Igino was the only one of Palestrina's sons who survived him. 308 HITHER AND THITHER. unfortunate compositions, however, were more than atoned for by the great mass of "Assumpta est Maria in "Ccelum," which confirmed Palestrina's work as a com- poser, and was very greatly esteemed by the Pope. Fortu- nately, a copy of this has been edited for the use of the English "Bach Choir," by W. S. Eockstro, and is pub- lished by Novello, to the great satisfaction of musicians and lovers of real church music. Alexandre Dumas. Alexandre Dumas. THE voluminous author, Alexandre Dumas, once boasted that he was the author of one thousand volumes and sixty dramas. How he turned out the amazing quantity of manuscript published in his name is one of the unsolved enigmas of literary life. He traveled widely and leisurely, ran a theatre of his own, and lived luxuriously, keeping' almost open house. Any one of these amusements, let alone all three, meant a serious expenditure of time, yet he found opportunity to write more pages of travels, dramas, feuilletons and historical romances than any other writer has ever been known to accomplish. In the zenith of his fame he is reported, in consideration of a large retaining fee, to have bound him- self not to publish more than thirty-five volumes in any one year. The mere notion of writing, and still worse, of contracting to write, a three-volume novel every month would have appalled any other author, but to bind himself not to exceed that quantity forms a unique record. At one period he had six novels in course of piecemeal publication, and the publishers prudently refused, in their 312 HITHEK AND THITHER. own interests, to accept any manuscript not in Lis own handwriting. One awestruck thinker on this problem has asked, not unwisely, how any one mortal's pen could traverse these regions of space ; the reams, not realms, of fancy and invention, which bear the signature of Alexandre Dumas. The methods of various authors, in the fine frenzy of literary composition have been a subject of dis- cussion in many a circle. Miss Charlotte M. Yonge, who produced over one hundred works, wrote daily for about five hours. Anthony Trollope wrote with an open watch in front of him for a fixed daily period, constraining himself to turn out a certain number of lines each quarter of an hour. Lord Beaconsfield wrote as the humor seized him, with a Berserker rage, dashing off quire after quire of his political novels, and working tirelessly till the task in hand was accomplished. Southey was said never to be seen without a quill-pen in his hand. Albert Barnes, the Phil- adelphia pastor, ceased writing every morning at 9 o'clock, yet, by working from 5 till 9, he completed in a few years sixteen volumes of a "commentary" of which a quarter of a million Volumes were sold. Peter Bayle, the author of the great five-volume folio dictionary which bears his name, told his biographer, Des Maizeaux, that from twenty to forty he worked fourteen hours a day and in fact, never knew what leisure was. Pliny, the elder, was always jotting down his notes, till at his death his note- books numbered one hundred and sixty volumes, closely written on both sides, in which achievement lie was almost paralleled by the antiquary, Thomas Ilearne, who left behind him one hundred and forty-five small octavo vol- ALEXANDRE DUMAS. 313 umes of notes, he having made it a rule of life always to have a note-book in his pocket in which to jot down "what he though t, what he road, what he saw him- "self, or what he was told by others." Sir Walter Scott, besides poems, essays, reviews and histories, wrote twenty- five novels in twenty-five years, and Samuel Warren wrote a novel of five hundred pages in one-and-twenty days. Joseph Beaumont, a Royalist fellow ejected from Cam- bridge in 1644, retired to his old home at Hadleigh, and in eleven months composed a poem on a religions subject, consisting of forty thousand lines, 1 thus achieving the longest poem in the English language; and Lope de Vega, "a personification of celerity," left, as alleged, twenty-one million three hundred thousand verses in print, including over two thousand original dramas. Other writers have been as slow as many of these were rapid. Of Thomas Gray, the poet, Lord Beaconsfield remarked that no other man had gone to his grave leaving so great a name behind him, but carrying so small a volume under his arm. Lord Bacon did not produce his magnum opus till he was sixty years of age, and he revised the work twelve times before he would let it see light. Jane Austen kept her manuscripts in hand till time and many perusals satisfied her that the charm of recent com- position was dissolved, and then, and then only, would she let them -go to a publisher. Edmund Burke printed off each of his principal works at a private press twice before he submitted them to a publisher, and Saint-Pierre revised his "Paul and Virginia" nine times before he gave it to the world. Beranger never exceeded fifteen songs in a 1 Psyche, or Love's Mystery, 1G48. It contains 3S,922 lines. 314 HITHER AND THITHER. year, Goldsmith thought ten lines a day good progress when writing the "Deserted Village/' and George Eliot, week in and week out at times, only accomplished a page a day, till by polishing and alterations she deemed some favorite character, or important scene properly described. What wonder, then, that Alexandre Dumas was charged with accepting the work of other writers and palming it off as his own. The charge has been frequently made, notably by Eugene de Mirecourt in his "Fabrique de Romans par "A. Dumas et Compagnie," 1 as well as by M. Querard, 2 who has gone through "the one thousand volumes and sixty "dramas" and made regular lists of how much came from the pen of Dumas himself and how much was furnished by industrious collaborateurs. According to Mr. Percy Fitz- gerald, in his "Life and Adventures of Dumas," his assistants, in particular Messieurs Maquet and Bourgeois, are entitled to somewhere about seventy-five to eighty per cent, of the credit earned by Dumas, and the author him- self to some small proportion only of the remaining twenty or twenty-five per cent. How it was that his collaborateurs maintained a dignified silence, and allowed Dumas to run away with the unbounded praise bestowed upon the books, as well as, apparently, with the enormous pecuniary profits arising from this literary manufactory, does not appear. Some of these assistant writers have published books in their own names, which fell as flat as ditch-water. If we are to believe the envious pens of Dumas' censorious 1 Fabrique de Romans Maison Alexandre Dumas & Cie. Eugene de Mirecourt. Paris, 1S45. 2 Les supercheries litteraires dcvoilC-es (2d ed. Paris, 1870). ALEXANDRE DUMAS. 315 critics, when they worked for him they produced hooks which found thousands of interested renders, though when they wrote for themselves they were unable to produce n romance worth the trouble of reading. It is universally admitted that Dumas lived most extravagantly and spent money like water, so that either the Maquets and others are creatures of fancy, or Dumas was served with a reticent faithfulness never before nor since imagined. It was humorously said that if Dumas were admitted to the French Academy, so alarming were the numbers of heads and hands employed in his factory, that he would have required a whole bench and not a seat only, in that august assembly. In rapidity of production and quantity of "copy" he exceeded all competitors and obtained better returns for his publishers than any two or three of his comparatively voluminous rivals combined. For one person who goes in for a course of G. P. R. James, Mrs. Gore, diaries Lever, and so on, probably fifty read "The "Count of Monte Cristo," "The Three Musketeers," "The "Queen's Necklace" and other novels, justly included as component parts of the "cream" of Dumas' writings. It is remarkable that he was nearly forty before he dis- covered the vein of talent which made his reputation and his fortune, the first of which will doubtless stick to his name, the latter of which he hopelessly failed to retain. He was twenty-five years of age when, in 1828, ho pro- duced his first successful drama and for fifteen years he was very industrious as a playwright. It is not known to everyone, that the whole English-speaking world owes to Dumas the great debt of a "logical" conclusion to 316 HITHER AND THITHER. Shakespeare's "Hamlet." Notwithstanding that Dumas' compatriot, Eugene Sue, has exquisitely apostrophized the immortal bard as "The Great William," others of his nationality have ridiculed "Hamlet" in no meas- ured terms. When Dumas considered the matter, all became clear in a moment. Shakespeare's method was at fault, argal if Dumas provided a "logical" ending all would be well and the play would be worthy of representa- tion at his own private theatre. To conceive the comedy was an inspiration ; to carry it out the work of a few hours only. Shakespeare represented Hamlet's "native hue of resolu- "tion so sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought" that, while hesitating to punish the guilty king, he destroys Polonius, Ophelia, Guildenstern, Rosencrantz, Laertes and the Queen before he rids the world of the King and him- self. Dumas saw that this was wrong, and provided a "conclusion," in which the ghost takes an active part. That perturbed spirit having failed to duly stir up the Prince for four acts, and feeling, presumably, that there is a time for all things, is at last himself invoked to come and straighten things out. Although the Ghost might just as well have acted in Act I, as in Act V, still when he does bestir himself, he bestirs himself effectively. When re- quested to come and see the murderers die he opens his budget of advice. First he advises Laertes to "pray "and die," which the latter forthwith does. Turning to the Queen the Ghost proceeds to tell "the poor lady" that love has been her fault, but that though a woman on earth, she shall be a queen in Heaven; then, when ALEXANDRE DUMAS. 317 he begs her to "hope and die" the Queen turns over and expires. The King fares the worst of all, for the angry shade tells him he shall be a companion of Satan and his woes forever, desiring him to "despair and die," whereupon the King, prudently saying nothing, goes to another world. Hamlet then asks as to his own fate, and the Ghost "logically" and obligingly replies that he "shall "live!" This "adaptation" and many dramas founded on his own novels were the staple productions of his Theatre Ilis- torique, nor till he was forty years of age did Dumas hit on that vein of fiction which produced for him his greatest reputation and reward. From the very start the stream of luck he struck as a writer of historical romances, had the force of a torrent. In 1844 he com- menced an almost interminable and inexhaustible series of novels. In one and the same year were produced his "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Three Muske- "tcers." The habit of writing for the stage had given him a surprising facility of composition. Most writers find that nothing is so fatal to literary success as to make a story long, but Dumas acted in the direct teeth of any such rule, and once he had started a story, could go on, liko Schcherezade, for one thousand and one chapters, and then start afresh with the same characters, keeping up an endless variety of adventures, scenes and perpetual con- versation, yet all the while carrying his readers breath- lessly along with his story, so that ;it the end. when the end did come, the only feeling of regret was, that there were no more volumes to be read. This was peculiarly the case in 318 HITHER AND THITHER. his D'Artagnan series. What other four characters of fiction can be compared with D'Artagnan, the typical adventurer of fiction and penniless gentleman of Gascony, who lives through novel after novel in company with that inimitable trio of heroes, Athos, Porthos and Aram is. whose plots, counterplots and escapades in company with their four lackeys are so impossible, but so amusing, and told, moreover, with such verisimilitude that one is inclined to believe it all true history not elsewhere recorded. We grow to wonder whether, after all, these wonderful men did not really almost save Charles I., from execution, did not really carry off General Monk in a trunk and if they were not able, as they told the Cardinal, "to "overturn all France, and even all Europe, if they "chose." 1 Their early adventures are full of the wonderful force of four young heroes at twenty years of age, so that when the first series of events was closed it was no wonder that Dumas could not prevail on himself to let them fade into oblivion. But it was bold and a remarkable piece of literary courage to take up the thread "Twenty Years "After," in a second novel as long as the first; and show the heroes at forty, as full of energy and pluck as when but twenty years of age. The heroes, however, having been long separated, are found to have deep individual interests, so that the four plot and counterplot between themselves, two siding with the Court and two with the Fronde. And 1 In reality Dumas availed himself freely of Hie "Memoirs of Monsieur D'Artagnan" (died l(i7.">), written by Courtilz de San- dras in 1700; a translation of which, by Ralph Nevill, was published by II. S. Nichols, London, 1898. ALEXANDRE DUMAS. 310 yet "Ten Years Later/' in a mighty history filling six octavo volumes, we find the same heroes now verging on sixty, involved in a series of chances ami events told natur- ally and full of entertainment. In this novel, the main title of which is ''The Vicomte de Bragelonne," we find ourselves in the society of Louis XIV., Louise de la Val- liere, Madame de Montespan, Fouquet and Colbert, and were it not that Dumas buries the four lackeys and three of the four heroes, there seems no reason why yet another ten volumes should not have been devoted to accounts of their lives and sayings. We sigh as we near the end. Athos dies from a broken heart on receiving the news of the death of his son; Porthos perishes in attempting a task worthy of Samson, while D'Artagnan is dismissed by a bullet, just as he had been presented with the baton of a Marshal of France. Poetical justice is meted out by Dumas in leaving Aramis, the "wily intriguer, senti- "mentalist and false priest," to live and repent if he will. Well did Thackeray write of these wonders of fiction : "I have read about them from sunrise to sunset with the "utmost contentment of mind. They have passed through "many volumes — forty ? — fifty ? I wish, for my part, "there were a hundred more. I would never tire of them "or their bravery in rescuing prisoners, punishing ruffians "and running scoundrels through the midriff with graceful "rapiers." ' What a trio were Athos, Porthos and Aramis, and what a hero was D'Artagnan ! A list of the historical characters introduced into these forty volumes would fill a volume. May everyone who has not read the D'Artagnan series, the Marie Antoinette romances and, best of all, 320 HITHER AND THITHER. "The Count of Monte Cristo," take a month's holiday and prepare himself for an enjoyment and harmless pleasure not easily surpassed. ' ' Of the Imitation of Christ. ' Who Wrote It? 21 "Of the Imitation of Christ." WHO WROTE IT ? DID not inexorable facts contradict us, it would seem that there could be no doubt, as to who were the actual authors of the best-known works that are in everybody's hands. We do not speak here of the Bible, and the disputed questions, whether Moses wrote all or any parts of the Pentateuch ; whether St. Paul, Apollos, or some other person wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews. Nor need we seek to answer the query whether or not the half- educated tinker, John Bunyan, was the true author of ''The Pilgrim's Progress," thereby gaining an imperish- able fame. ISTo difficulty exists in determining who is the author of Vortigern, but who shall answer beyond dispute the conundrum, Who was the writer of the Poems of Ossian? The wild theories that Shakespeare did not write his immortal plays ; that Homer never lived, or if he did, was merely a collector of disjointed popular poems, which he welded together and called his own ; that Gray's ''Elegy" is merely a beautiful mosaic of other poets' thoughts; and so on; are familiar to every sufferer under the "critical" views of the very learned of the 324 HITHER AND THITHER. last and present centuries. To some extent, the very fact of their authorship not being known, has kept cer- tain books "a necessity in every gentleman's library." This is notably the case in the instance of the "Let- ters of Junius." The letters would hardly be remem- bered to-day but for the burning question, "Who wrote "them?" Perhaps, however, the strangest page of literary history relates to the great work of the "Imitation of "Christ." "The Imitation" is one of the half-dozen books of which the greatest number of copies have been sold; and probably, next to the Bible, more copies of it have been printed than of any other book ever written. It has been translated into every modern language, and cir- culated in every part of the known world ; and yet for two hundred years the fiercest of debates has been waged as to who wrote it. No more furious literary war has been fought ; not only in volumes containing hundreds of pages, but in multitudinous pamphlets of all sorts and sizes, con- taining answers, rejoinders and sur-re joinders; than over the dispute as to whether Thomas A'Kempis was the author of this, the most remarkable religious work yet penned. This warfare would never have reached its actual propor- tions, had it not happened, that the glory of the authorship was claimed by two of the most important religious orders, namely, those of St. Augustine and St. Benedict. To have had a predecessor in the order capable of writing such a treatise would add real glory to the society ; hence the earnestness of the dispute that is still revived about every twenty years, but to which it seems as if no absolute solu- tion could bo found. OF THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. 325 Thomas A'Kempis was horn in the year 1380, of parents named Hamercken, at a village called Hempen, in the Diocese of Cologne, not far from Zwoll, and became an Augustine monk in the monastery of Mount Saint Agnes in 1300, when, according to the custom of the times, he became known as Thomas A'Kempis, after the name of his birthplace. Tic became a priest in 1413, and is believed to have written "The Imitation" a year later, in 1414. He lived a very retired, studious life; was made sub-prior of the monastery in 1425, and lived to the good old age of ninety-one, dying in the year 1471. Much of the time of the monks of Saint, Agnes was spent in copying manu- scripts, and Thomas was an industrious and voluminous copyist Three manuscripts in his own handwriting are in existence. Two of these, dated 1441 and 1450, are in the Royal Library at Brussels, and a third, unsigned and undated, but supposed to have been written in 1417, is at Louvain. The manuscript of 1441 contains thirteen treatises, the first four of which are what we know as "The "Imitation," though in a different order from the usual one, as the fourth precedes the third. The remaining nine treatises are of similar character to u The Imitation." The manuscript is partly parchment and partly paper. 1 Xow, as Mr. Leonard A. W neatley 2 has pertinently remarked, it is highly improbable that a mere scribe would think of in- serting his own works after one borrowed from another source, especially a man of the known modesty of St. 1 The manuscript of 1456 contains thirteen sermons and meditations. The Louvain manuscript contains thirty sermons to Novices and the life of St. Lydewig. -The Story of the "Imitatio Christi." 326 HITHER AND THITHER. Thomas. For nearly two centuries A'Kempis was held by both the literary and religious world to be the undisputed author, and sixteen contemporary witnesses can be quoted as vouching that he was "the author of the 'De Imita- " 'tione !' " that "the Brother who composed it is called "Thomas," and so on; while a translator of "The Imita- tion," twenty-one years after Thomas' death, categorically attributes the authorship to him. In 1604 one Don Pedro Manriquez, in a work on the preparation for the Administration of Penance, observed that in some "Condones" of Bonaventura were long pas- sages repeated verbatim in the "Imitation." As Buona- ventura died in 1273, rather more than one hundred years before the birth of A'Kempis, this allegation created a great stir; but inasmuch as it was proved, within a year, that the "Condones" were not by Bonaventura at all, but were written nearly two centuries later than alleged, the subject was dismissed from discussion, although only for a very short period. In 1605 a Jesuit Father found in the library of the convent at Arona, near Milan, an old, undated copy of the treatise, with a title to this effect: "Here begin the chapters of the first book by the Abbot "John Gersen" on the "Imitation of Christ," with a colo- phon at the end expressing, "Here ends the fourth and last "book of the Abbot John Gersen." This manuscript almost immediately fell into the hands of an antiquary, Constantino Cajetan, who, according to Dean Hook, in his ecclesiastical biography, "is chiefly celebrated for the "almost insane devotion which he evinced toward the "Benedictine Order." He rushed into print, and issued OF THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. 327 it from the Roman press as the work of the venerable man John Gersen, Abbot of the Order of St. Benedict on the "Imitation." But for the title "venerable" and the words ''Order of St. Benedict," not a word of authority existed in the manuscript, so that these words were suppressed in a second edition, published in 1018 ; and on the authority of an old copy printed in Venice in 1501, the title-page stated that this book "was not written by John Gersen, but by "John, Abbot of Vercelli." A little later the same antiquary found that John of Vercelli was surnamed de Canabaco, upon which an edition was put forth at Augs- burg, in 1024, with the "complete title," ''Four books on "the Imitation of Christ by the great and venerable ser- "vant of God, John Gersen, of Canabaco, of the Order of "St, Benedict, Abbot of Vercelli, in Italy." Apart from variations in the spelling of Gersen's name, it further turned out that no Abbot of Vercelli, of the name of Gersen, nor any other, could be shown to have existed, who would represent the candidate supported by Cajetan. It was then claimed that the true author was Chancellor Gerson, who lived 1303-1429, but, as the French critic, Eenan. says, "the opinion which attributes "the book to Gerson is not at all to be sustained," 1 and one strong point is that it is not in the list of the writings of the Chancellor, drawn up by his own brother. Many pas- sages, moreover, in "The Imitation" could be quoted show- ing that the writer was a monk; while Chancellor Gerson Avas not one, nor did he even live in a community of reli- gious men. In 1038 Cajetan, however, obtained permis- sion from the Congregation of the Index to print the "De 1 Etudes d'Histoire Religieuse. 328 IIITHEK AND THITHER. "Imitatione" in the name of Gersen, and thereby, as he claimed, established the claim of the Benedictines that a member of their order was the author. A little later a new trouble arose, for it was announced that Cardinal Richelieu was about to bring out a magnifi- cent copy of the treatise, and then raged the question, to which of the contending parties would the Cardinal lend his aid. Pressure was brought to bear from both sides, experts were consulted, manuscripts examined, reports made, and endless discussions had, but the Cardinal, with a deal of prudence, brought it out without any name at all, 1 and so probably offended both parties, but aided neither. Thereupon, from that time to 1652, a general con- troversy ensued between the two orders. Finally appeals were made to the Parliament, when the Augustinians proving temporarily victorious, were authorized to pub- lish the work under the name of Thomas A'Kempis. 2 Altogether, some twenty-two persons have been named as the true author, but the claims of none beyond those of A'Kempis and Gersen merit serious discussion. As recently as 1881 one Walton Hilton, a Carthusian monk, was put forward in Notes and Queries, but his claim will not stand close investigation. The claim of A'Kempis seems to have resisted all attacks, and we may fairly con- clude, that to him does the world owe this helpful book. One writer collected together a long list of testimonies to the value of "The Imitation," wherein it was curious to notice Catholics, Wesleyans, Presbyterians, divines, ph.il- 1 1640. 2 1G52. OF TIIE IMITATION OF CHRIST. 329 osophcrs, kings, soldiers and the thoughtful of all sects, unanimously bearing witness to its value, and to how they had been helped by it. It was a sound remark, that it is perhaps well that the hook should remain anonymous, for, owing to that very reason, the treatise lives, tinged with the thought of no one man or school, but remains a goodly heritage belonging to all, valued by all, and the source of delight apart from sect or party. Among the innumerable editions of this work, one pub- lished in Paris, in two volumes, deserves special descrip- tion. It is printed from the text of the edition of Michel de Marillac, dated 102 6. Each page has a border copied from some ancient manuscript, the fac-similes and engrav- ings being collected from upwards of three hundred and sixty manuscripts executed between the sixth and the seventeenth centuries. They are admirably executed in chromo-lithography by Le Mercier. Five whole-page chromo-lithographs serve as frontispieces to the entire work, and to ench of the four books into which the treatise is divided. They are Louis XIV., at prayers; Anne of Brittany praying, accompanied by her ladies of honor; the education of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the Annunciation; and the Nativity. These last four, as well as the borders to the twelve pages of preface, are copied from the cele- brated Book of the Hours of Anne of Brittany, a work of the sixteenth century. The twelve borders are illumina- tions from the calendar, one for each month of the year, showing the labors of husbandmen in the various seasons ; the May-pole dance in May, maidens crushing the grapes with the feet for September, and shepherds feeding and 330 HITHER AND THITHER. killing the swine for November and December. In one beautiful border, from a manuscript of the Koran, written in 1422 by Mohammed the son of Hadgi Hassan, is written in a scroll at the foot of the page in Arabic, "Touch not these pages unless with pure hands." Many of the examples copied are resplendent with the quaint ideas of the retired and rather eccentric artists of medi- a?val monasteries. In one, taken from a "little book of "poetical compositions in honor of the Virgin, collected "by Jacques Lelieur," preserved in the public library of Rouen, are displayed figures of the Virgin feeding the Infant Christ with a bowl-spoon as long as the body of the Holy Child, while on the opposite page are angels, one of whom is flying upward with a deceased person in a basket fastened to his shoulders, reminiscent of the pictures of an Indian mother with her papoose. Above him, on two banks of clouds, one far above the other, are two angels, one on each cloud bank, engaged in hoisting human beings in a basket, by means of a roped crane, up to the Father, who is drawn at the top of the border in a center of glory. One librarian, whose name is fortunately not recorded, desecrated a splendid manuscript, now preserved in the Louvre and here reproduced, of the "Hours of the Cross," dated 1493, belonging to Charles VIII. and Louis XII. of France, by impressing his library stamp, "Bibliothoca 1 "Itegia*," across the middle of its exquisitely illuminated title-page. The borders, of the index of manuscripts and printed books reproduced or cited in this charming work, contain the figures of the "Dances of Death," attributed to Jollat, OF TTTE IMITATION OF CHRIST. 331 Beham and Holbein; and the whole is usefully supple- mented with biographical and bibliographical accounts, accompanied by portraits of John Gersen, the Chancellor Gerson, St. Thomas A'Kempis and Michael do Marillac, and an elaborate history of the "Ornamentation of Manu- scripts, " the latter sumptuously embellished with a large number of handsome capital letters collected from the manuscripts put under contribution in this interesting edition of "The Imitation of Christ." History Repeats Itself. History Repeats Itself. AS long since as 1719 a tribe of the Cabyles (or Kabyles) in the neighborhood of Morocco and Algiers were giving precisely the same trouble to civilized nations that they gave in the year 1904 in the case of Messrs. Perdicaris and Varley. In October, 1719, the Comtesse de Bonrke was proceeding from Cette to Bar- celona with her whole family, excepting her youngest son, to join the Comte de Bourke, then recently appointed Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court of Sweden. She proposed to join him at Madrid, but on October 25th the vessel in which she was sailing was captured by Algerian corsairs, and was being towed to Algiers when it became separated from the capturing vessel during a desperate storm and was wrecked. The Comtesse and her son, with several of her servants, were drowned, but the daughter. Mile, de Bourke, an old Abbe and a man servant were made prisoners by some Moors, who finally carried them into the mountains as slaves. Three letters which Mile, de Bourke wrote miscarried, but fortunately, a fourth letter reached the French Consul, and steps were immediately taken to procure the release of the unfortunate captives. 336 HITHER AND THITHER. The Grand Marabout or Priest was made the intermediary with the Governor of the Mountains and other chiefs, who had carried off these subjects of France. Negotiations were tedious, especially as the Moors were willing to release all excepting Mile, de Bourke, then little over ten years of age. They insisted on retaining her that she might be made the bride of the son of "the King of the Mountains," whose rank was in their eyes equal to that of anyone in France. Ulti- mately, however, they were all released in consideration of the payment of a sum of nine hundred piastres. In con- cluding this bargain the mountaineers declared that their consent was due to the veneration they entertained for their Marabouts, and "did not originate from any fear of the Dey "of Algiers." The story of the shipwreck of the Comtesse de Bourke is related in full in the "Mariner's Chronicle," and also in a book published in Paris in 1721, by Father Francois Comelin and others. A translation of the his- tory of this particular shipwreck, as related in this French book, is to be found in the Catholic World for July, 1881. The whole matter has also been worked up into an excel- lently told story, entitled "A Modern Telemachus," written by Miss Charlotte M. Yonge, and published in 1886. It was undoubtedly strange to read in 1901 of the same people, the Cabyles (who are apparently renegade Arabs and Moors, mixing with neither of those peoples), being engaged in almost precisely the same tricks; and to find that the civilized nations have again, more by mediation very carefully pursued than by any other means available, been able to rescue persons carried into captivity by these independent mountain tribes. A Plea for Free Libraries. A Plea for Free Libraries. FREE libraries at the present day are important factors in the system of public education. The true position of free libraries can be stated in a very few lines. The case of the city of Philadelphia is a proof that they are not luxuries, but educational necessities. The city is expending nearly six millions of dollars annually for the maintenance of public schools of various grades. More school buildings are required every year, new sites have to be purchased and buildings erected in large numbers, and yet the accommodations for the children are not sufficient. What is the purport and end of this education \ To teach the youth of the city that reading is as important for the mind as food is neces- sary for the body. That if insufficient food is taken, their bodies will be stunted and injured ; that if insufficient education (another word for reading) is assimilated, their chances of achieving honorable positions in business or in professional careers will be seriously hindered. What can be said of a proposition such as this: "We, the city "authorities, not only recommend boys and girls to come "to school, but, in the interests of the comm unity, we com- 340 HITHER AND THITHEK. "pel them so to do; and to prove the sincerity of our belief "we are spending millions a year with the main object "of teaching them the advantages of reading. We train "them up to desire books and all that books mean, and "then, when they are sixteen years of age, take them ruth- lessly to the school door, thrust them outside the school "buildings and tell them 'we have created in you a desire " 'for knowledge, we have shown you the advantages of " 'learning, Ave have shown you how it will help you to " 'make good progress in life, and there we leave you. Go " 'into the world and do the best you can !' ' Some fifty or sixty years ago it occurred to the great municipalities of the United States that it was a public duty to afford to their citizens the opportunity of carrying on their education, notwithstanding that their school days were ended, by the aid of free libraries. What number of the million and a half of the inhabitants of Phila- delphia go to college? Probably considerably less than two per cent. How are the remainder to obtain infor- mation on the thousand and one questions which de- mand solution in business; or progress in life, unless acceas to books is granted, the desire and need for which has been created by the city's rulers? It may not be amiss to call to mind that the greater part of a person's education is not what is learnt and acquired during a period of school life, but that which is accumulated gradu- ally, year by year, as the result of having been trained to desire an increase of knowledge. The principal charac- teristic of many of the greatest men of the world lias been that, whilst their education in school lias been slight, A PLEA FOR FREE LIBRARIES. 341 llioir natural inclination to learn has been strong and culti- vated. Thousands of the foremost of the leaders of the world have been almost self-taught. This is true with the leaders in literature, law, religion and many another path of life. It is with pride, therefore, that Philadelphia points to its widespread institution "The Free Library." The system now consists of the Library itself on Chestnut street; fifteen active branches, scattered up and down through the city, and over one hundred depositories of books, known as "Travelling Libraries," on account of their being changed every few months. It possesses one of the largest collections of embossed books for the blind owned by any public library, and it has collections of rare books, gradu- ally accumulated or presented by liberal donors, some of them so rare that copies of the volumes are not to be found even in the British Museum. The patronage of the Library and its branches has been phenomenal. The Library itself was opened to the public in March, 1S04, in two small rooms in the City Hall, with a nucleus of about fifteen hundred volumes. By the end of IS 95 six splendid branches, which had been opened under the careful man- agement of the Board of Education, were handed over to the Free Library. Branch after branch has since been added, and owing to the munificent gift of Mr. Carnegie of a million and a half dollars, the number of branches will soon considerably exceed the number of thirl v. Mr. P. A. B. Widener has presented one branch, Mr. John Wanamaker has just completed another, and the example set by these citizens is likely to be followed by others. To 342 HITHER AND THITHER. round out the work of the city, which is very widely scat- tered, the system will be none too big when it consists of a large, handsome, well-ordered main library, with at least forty branches, and some two hundred travelling libraries. Nor need this prospect be considered far off from accom- plishment. In ten years the Library has assumed the pro- portions above described, and instead of fifteen hundred,, it owns at the present time, over two hundred and sixty- six thousand volumes. The Free Library possesses a very large collection of books on Greek and Roman architecture. This was gathered together after a careful study of the catalogue of the splendid Avery architectural library presented to Columbia University by Samuel P. Avery in memory of his son. The death of Mr. Avery, in August, 1904, was a great loss to booklovers. It has also a rapidly increasing, but very complete, collection of photographic fac-similes of many of the most important manuscripts in the world, in- cluding the principal codices of the Bible; the earliest manuscripts of the classic writers, such as Plautus and Tacitus ; the quartos and folios of Shakespeare, and many another supreme artist in literature. One great feature which is being rapidly developed in the library field of Philadelphia is the scheme of lectures for the purpose of bringing the knowledge of books home to the people. Not only are courses of six lectures each delivered in various parts of the city by experts in the lecture field, but, following the example of the University Extension methods, a system of "School Extension Lec- "tures" for the young, peculiar to the Free Library of Philadelphia, has been carried on in various branches. The Value of Reading Fiction. The Value of Reading Fiction. WHEX glancing over the pages of the annual reports issued by the larger free libraries in the United States, and the tables of the classes of books read, many points worthy of earnest thought are suggested. Naturally, the old and well-worn question of the proportion of fiction read by the general public, as compared with books on special lines of thought, crops up. This is continually made the principal ground for adverse criticism, when the free library movement is discussed. It is entirely overlooked how many biographies prove that a perusal — and if this word be too feeble, a devouring — of books of romance was the beginning of the studies of a large proportion of the writers who have risen to eminence. We need only suggest the names of Southey, Scott, Chief Justice Coleridge and many others, who claimed that but for their, early love and juvenile assimilation of works of romance, they would never have achieved the important positions in literary history to which they attained. It seems inconceivable that a person can "take himself "seriously" when, at the age of sixty, he sits down and says, with a solemn air: "I think it is a sad thing to 346 HITHER AND THITHER. "see persons reading so much fiction when they conld be "persuaded to study important volumes if only the heads "of libraries would direct them aright." The experiences of any such talkers, if they should volunteer suggestions to the average reader in a free public library, would be worth recording. Earnest carers for the proper treatment of books have been known to offer suggestions to readers in public libraries not to moisten their fingers when turn- ing over the pages ; yet, instead of being thanked for the suggestion, they have been brusquely admonished to mind their own business. For the purpose of affording easy access to certain lines of reading, it became necessary, some fifty years ago, to make classifications of books. It was desired that every person pursuing a particular study should find collected upon contiguous shelves, books relating to this or that par- ticular topic. It is common knowledge how this system of classification was worked out, and how two or three leading systems of classification became the subject of earnest discussion among librarians. Whether librarians should adopt the system of classifica- tion formulated by John Edmands, that by C. A. Cutter, or that by Melvil Dewey was a comparatively immaterial point, so far as the public was concerned. But for libra- rians it was a serious question, how and where to shelve books not easily assigned to the classes "Religion," "Sociology," "Useful Arts," "Fine Arts," "History," "Biography," "Travel," and so on through a thousand sub- divisions. What was the best way of dealing with llie tremendous percentage of books which came under their THE VALUE OF BEADING FICTIOX. 347 notice for classification, but which would not legitimately go into any one of the above divided and subdivided classifications ? To aid the public in gaining easy access to these volumes, many libraries decided not to put them under their legitimate classifications as "Literature- "English-Fiction," "Literature-French-Fiction," etc., as this would scatter them throughout the library; but to put them all into a single section designated "Fiction." And here comes the real question : What is "fiction," and what "fiction" is intrinsically worthy of perpetuation and circulation by free libraries ? If libra- rians were endued with superhuman intelligence, and were enabled to spend the time and money that would be required for the purpose, they could differentiate between "fiction" and "fiction," and by elimination end the discus- sion, now furiously waged, as to whether too much fiction is read for the good of the public. One of the principal objects of a free library is to create the habit of reading. It is useless at this period of the world to say that books can be ignored. Books are as large a part of life and progress to-day as are the over- discussed bacilli, which are supposed to have so much to do w T ith our existence. We may or wo may not be bene- fited, or injured, by bacilli. We must be benefited by the recorded thoughts of great men. If it would not occupy too much space, it would be a good thing to name some good round five hundred volumes of so-called "fiction" the reading of which would result in benefit equal to that which would be obtained by the perusal of twice that number of solid, hard books of his- tory, travel and biography. 348 HITHER AND THITHEE. Perhaps a few examples will be sufficient for our pur- pose. A young person taking up Defoe's "New Voyage "Around the World," and following it with the aid of a modern atlas, would, perhaps, be surprised to find that he learned more of the Philippine Islands, the volcanoes of the Andes and the tremendous difficulty of crossing from the Pacific to the Atlantic than from the carefully-prepared books placed before him during the course of his school life. Should a "fiction-fiend" take up, say, Sir Walter Besant's "Armorel of Lyonnesse," when he lays it down he will find that he knows more of the legends of the Arthurian cycle near Cornwall, England, than he ever acquired from more "solid and instructive" books. And beyond the mythical story, he will have learned a vast deal about the waters of that neighborhood, as well as the fauna, the flora and the habits of the inhabitants. Should he next take from a free library, William Black's "White Wings," even though he cannot afford to take a "trip across" and spend two or three weeks among the Lochs of Scotland, he will, if he will follow the story with a map, learn much of the west side of Scotland and its wonderful yachting possibilities; and will acquire a more definite knowledge of the neighborhood than he could by six weeks' study in one of our higher schools. The same inquirer after knowledge will, perhaps, next take up Dumas' novel of "The Black Tulip." He will read the novel with avidity, but he will say: "How is it that "the story of the De Witts has always been told to me as "a case of two brothers murdered by a mad mob ? Where THE VALUE OF HEADING FICTION. 349 "did Dumas get his idea of their being murdered in "prison ?" No better proof of the value of the historical novel could be given, than this desire for more nearly correct information, created by the differences in the story as told by the historian and the novelist. It is probable that the reader, after laying down the novel, will come to the free library and say: "Can I see Larned's 'Dictionary " 'of Historical Reference' ? And can I borrow Motley?" Should he do so he will read a great deal which, in all probability, never would have attracted his attention had he not perused the despised volume of "fiction." No reader of modern intelligence hesitates to accept the criticism passed on "The Marble Faun" — that it is the best guide to Rome ever written. A modern librarian would record the reader of "The Marble Faun" as a reader of "fiction," whilst he would put down a person who took out a volume of Baedeker's "Guide to Rome" as a person studying "travel." The absurdity of contrasting these two readers only requires to be stated to afford amusement to a person who thinks upon the subject. Should a person come to a free library and take out. "The Bell of St. Paul's," by Sir Walter Besant, could any honest and straightforward person maintain that the reader would not get a better idea of the neighborhood of the Globe Theatre, and the localities consecrated by the memory of William Shakespeare and his compatriots, than he would get from reading dry and earnestly-prepared descriptions of the neighborhood, placed by a classitica- tionist under the title of "JI istory" or ''Travel and Descrip- tion" ? 350 HITHER AND THITHEE. A great many persons of antique age, and a number of boys who will grow to be tlie grandfathers of a future generation, will, if honest, own that their first studies on the matter of comets, their inconsequential concussions with other bodies during their swift travels through space, their arrivals at nowhere, and their disappearance into nowhere, were incited by reading Jules Verne's "Hector "Servadac." It would be impossible to disprove — and, therefore, possibly may be considered proved — that, rather than read three volumes of the history of Queen Anne, a previously unmstructed but information-hunting reader would do better to study Bulwer-Lytton's "Devereux" ; that if he wants to make the acquaintance of Swift, Pope, Addison, Steele, Bolingbroke, Colley Cibber, and a hun- dred and one persons of that period, he can do so better by reading this novel, than by reading Hume and Smol- lett's histories of the same few decades. Can it be denied that a reader will store in his brain a better idea of Devonshire, England, by reading Blaek- niore's Lorna Doone" — of which one who should know said : " 'Lorna Doone,' to a Devonshire man, is as good "as clotted cream, almost" — than by reading the curt notices of the locality given in a gazetteer ? It seems incred- ible that a person who reads a history should bo stated to be reading a good book and a book worth taking out from a free public library; whilst his co-reader, who takes out George Eliot's "Eomola" should be charged with wast- ing his time because he is reading a book of "fiction." The latter will have a more fixed idea of Savonarola and his period than the ordinary reader of a "life" of the great reformer. THE VALUE OF READING FICTION. 351 A person reading Dumas' ten volumes of ''The Three "Musketeers," "Twenty Years After" and "The Vicomte "de Bragelonne" will be more deeply inspired to read the history of France, and especially that of the period of Louis XIV., than if lie had taken any number of pre- liminary canters through serious histories. More knowledge can be acquired of the times of the Countess of Derby and the consequences of the warfare that was carried on by that pugnacious but magnificent woman, by reading Ainsworth's "The Leaguer of "Lathom" than by reading any history of that particular period. In it are more of the real ins and outs of the civil war in Lancaster than in many solid but not alto- gether interesting books of pure history. It is unneces- sary to mention such books as Bulwer-Lytton's "Harold" and his "The Last of the Barons." If you want to teach persons to study periods, times and histories, you must start them on a plane which will lead them to study. A boy of twelve, a lad of twenty, and a man of thirty are all still on the hunt for knowledge, information and development, and it is out of place for a man of fifty or sixty years of age to sit at his table and say : "What a pity "it is that people do not take out" (at the age of twenty) "the 'books in which I have learned to delight!" Most young persons are not ready to take out such books. They have yet to make a closer acquaintance with Mal- lory, Cervantes, Scott and a hundred other romance writers; and who will deny that these writers themselves were romance readers before their general education was completed? Who can get a better idea of Andreas llofcr 352 HITHER AND THITHER. than the fiction lover who will read Miihlbach's novel of that name ? Who can get such an idea of the "no-popery" riots of Lord George Gordon and the hideous period of the French Revolution as those avIio read "Barnaby Rudge" and "A Tale of Two Cities" ? Who will get such an idea of the unhappy life, imprisonment and death of Mary of Scots as the reader of Scott's "The Abbot" ? In the notes to this novel will be found a better description of the escape of Queen Mary from Loch Leven than will be found in any "history." Who will not benefit by the conception of the great composer, Mendelssohn, given in the novel "Charles Auchester" ? Who will get a more splendid idea of Rienzi than the man who reads Bulwer-Lytton's novel of that name I Who will get such an idea of Loch Katrine and the glorious Ellen's Isle as the man who studies Scott's "The Lady of the Lake" ? Who will know more of Wal- lace and Bruce than the peruser of "The Scottish Chiefs" ? Who will have such a good idea of a castle raised to such a height of magnificence, that it was capable of entertain- ing royalty with more than royal hospitality, and which to-day is a mere shell of broken-down ruin, than the reader of Scott's "Kenilworth" I Who will get a better idea of the industry and labor of persons like Xiccolo Porpora, who was so great an instructor of singers that he became known as the "greatest singing-master that ever "lived," than he who reads "Consuelo," wherein Porpora appears as the master of Haydn and a delightful repre- sentation df humanity? Truly it may be said that decriers of fiction-reading are behind the age. A lot of the stuff that is classed under THE VALUE OF BEADING FICTION". 353 "fiction" is undoubtedly beneath contempt; and until librarians can issue better tables of circulation and dif- ferentiate between "fiction" and "fiction," just so long will the wrong idea prevail abroad that libraries foster fiction reading when "they might do better work." If the readers of volumes taken out from public libraries do nothing but obtain amusement, no money that is devoted to their maintenance is better expended. If the people are provided with good water, healthy reading, and open space for recreation, cities are spending money in a most excellent way. Cranks may cry: "Free libraries are a "fad;" "free libraries circulate fiction;" but only those who can lay their hands on their hearts and honestly state that they have read one-sixtieth part of the wholesome literature which makes an improved man, may be heard about free libraries. Until they can do this, let them remember the old adage, "Look to your own coop, and then "find fault with your neighbors' chickens." 23 Earnestness a Necessity for Permanence. Earnestness a Necessity for Permanence. 1 IN its baldest sense, the statement that earnestness is a necessary element of success is a simple truism. It may be taken as beyond dispute that nothing attains permanency which has not been conceived in care- ful thought, gradually developed, and finally brought to fruition by earnest effort. It is not at all implied that earnestness will necessarily produce permanence. Some of the most earnest workers have beaten the wind and put their energy, strength and the fullest powers of mind to accomplish an end which has resulted in nothing more valuable than a pricked bladder. Cotton Mather and his coadjutor, the minister Noyes, bent their whole minds to the accomplishment of some- thing in the direction of the suppression of witchcraft. Consider the whole of the witchcraft, or rather anti-witch- craft movement. What was its net result ? The production for the edification of bibliophiles of many interesting, however odd, books on a subject which nine hundred and 1 A paper read before the Philadelphia "Browning Society." 358 HITHER AND THITHER. ninety-nine persons out of a thousand know to have been a matter of credulity and imagination. If we had but the courage to bring experience to bear on fads as they arise in the world, how many misbeliefs would fall of their own weight. Instead, like children in the presence of a conjuror, we cry, "All, yes, but there must be something "in it," and so fallacies and frauds are coddled into beliefs. No great result will ever be accomplished without enthusiasm. But misapplied enthusiasm is an injury and not a benefit. Charles Dickens has defined earnestness as being some- thing that involves thoroughgoing ardor and sincerity, and Pascal tells us that earnestness is enthusiasm tempered by reason. An assurance or proof of the necessity of sincere earnest- ness as a precursor of work that shall become permanent may be deduced from the results attained by the novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne. He had not what might be called the pen of a ready writer, nor did he throw off his books and stories with the fire and fury attributed to Benjamin Disraeli. He had not the steady peg-at-it methods of Anthony Trollope; he had not the dogged so-many-hours- a-morning methods of Sir Walter Scott. His attainment of a position of permanency among the army of great writers was accomplished through painful industry. His earlier writings were printed here and there, and to all appearances, promised to have but a fugitive fame. When his "Twice Told Tales" were gathered together, the revela- tion of their value through the genial and lovable review EARNESTNESS A NECESSITY FOR PERMANENCE. 359 by Longfellow created something of astonishment. The story of how he was pressed by his friend and publisher to give to the world "The Scarlet Letter" only continues the story. Hawthorne's earnestness consisted in thinking, or rather plodding, over his stories until they were fully ripe for committal to paper. He himself has said that his stories "growled within him" and slowly took form. We are not concerned with arguing whether they are good or bad, great or small; they are permanent. Never would they have become so but for the earnestness which he put into his work, and which enabled him to take the position of a great writer. Probably Samuel Smiles, in his "Self Help," has adduced no stronger proof of the relation of earnestness to permanence than in his account of the work of Sir William Herschel and his sister Caroline. Herschel played an oboe in the band of the Durham Militia ; then became a violin player at concerts; then an organist, and then, without assistance from tutors, a student of mathematics. Fasci- nated by the study of the heavens, and unable to purchase a telescope from want of means, he made his own instru- ments, working with a patience and perseverance hardly ever excelled. Alternately taking a turn at the oboe and a turn at the observation of the heavens, he was rewarded by discovering the planet Uranus or Georgium Sidus. Smiles remarks that "so gentle and patient, and withal "so distinguished and successful a follower of science "under difficulties, perhaps cannot be found in the entire "history of biography." 1 1 Self-Help, chap. v. 360 HITHER AND THITHER. The discussion Lord Bacon versus Shakespeare is of little importance (although, by the by, Lord Bacon's earn- estness in collecting undeclared dividends for his own private pocket has left him a permanent record which few will envy), nor is it probable that the earnestness of Delia Bacon will result in anything permanent, but may rather be quoted as an example of misplaced enthusiasm or energy. But nothing but earnestness in seeking for the best plots, and earnestness in his work as a dramatist, could have achieved for the immortal poet, William Shake- speare, the permanent position he has attained. We know how nearly the true Shakespeare was lost to the world. We know how his best plays were tortured and distorted by the butchers who beneath a claim of improve- ment, temporarily mutilated the beauty of their whole- souled form, but whose weapons were insufficient to destroy either their innate strength or their innate life. So great was their strength, so magnificent their poetical physique, that like a tree that has been bruised, but recovers itself with time and care, Shakespeare's plays have happily in our days been restored to their pristine dignity. It is almost incredible that such a drama as "Law "Against Lovers," 1 by Sir William Davenant, now rele- gated to oblivion, should ever have been tolerated. This play is a mixture of Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" and "Much Ado About Nothing," and where the language of Shakespeare "is rough or obsolete," Davenant, we are told, "has taken care to polish it." He, in his "Macbeth," 2 1 Produced February 18, 1662. 2 4to. 1673, 1687, 1710. EARNESTNESS A NECESSITY FOE PERMANENCE. 361 "adapted" Shakespeare's tragedy? With Dryden he pro- duced an interpolated version of Shakespeare's "Tem- pest/' 1 into which they introduced Hippolito as "one that "never saw a woman," as a foil to the incomparable Miranda, the daughter of Prospero, and further desecrated the immortal play by giving Caliban, a sister Sycorax, one of "two monsters of the isle." 2 What shall be said of John Lacy's; "Sawny the Scot," 3 from Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," in which Padua becomes London, Grumio is turned into Sawny, and the fifth act is almost altogether new ? The writer is old enough to remember with joy the reproduction on the stage of the Princess' Theatre, of "Richard III.," by Charles Kean, when he abolished Colley Cibber ; giving to delighted Londoners, Shakespeare in the original, after it had been long forgotten, by the admirers of the clap- trap, which had taken the place of its sturdy magnificence. Shakespeare's work was the product of earnestness, and this earnestness has made the work permanent. At least such it would seem would be the judgment of all thinking literary persons at the present time. Charles Kean and Samuel Phelps deserve a world of praise for their restora- tion of Shakespeare's text in their magnificent series of Shakespearean revivals. To take another illustration, John Milton undoubtedly 1 Pepys states it was produced November 7, 1667, but it does not appear in the Davenant folio. 2 The Rivals (4to. 1668) is another of Davenant's alterations, being a rendition of The Two Noble Kinsmen. Davenant and Dryden have also been accused of a contemptible version of Julius Ciesar ( 12mo. 1719), but the charge cannot be proven. • 4to. 1698, 1708, 1714. 362 HITHEE AND THITHER. was an earnest man, and whilst no comment or observation need be made on his political or religious opinions, the necessity of earnestness to ensure permanence, and inci- dentally the fact that earnestness does not always involve the attainment of success, is shown by the facts connected with his "Paradise Lost." Do all or many feel how great this epic is, or thor- oughly realize that it must have been the product of an almost unequalled earnestness? Admirable as were the proportions of his work, they formed no protection against the almost certainty of its failure to take a place amongst the great writings of the world. He sold the manuscript for a bagatelle. It failed to attract general attention when first issued from the press, and when Tonson secured the rights of copyright, in so far as they remained in the first publisher, what a risk he ran! The first edition (S. Sim- mons) had appeared in 1667, and before it was sold off, the printer had given it eight title pages, as "whets" to the public appetite. Tonson secured half rights in 1683, and whole rights in 1690. The work increasing in popu- larity, Tonson had the adventitious personal benefits and Milton the permanence. 1 Some of the greatest artists of the world have enforced the lesson that earnestness is a necessity. Salvini said that you must "study, study, study," and that all the genius in the world would not help anyone in any art unless he became a hard student. Salvini confessed, as to himself, that it had taken him years to master a single 1 The second edition Simmons, 1674; third edition, 1678; fourth edition (Tonson), 1688; fifth edition, 1692, etc. EARNESTNESS A NECESSITY FOR PERMANENCE. 363 part. Garrick, when questioned by a bishop how the actor could make people look on and regard a made-up story as true, whilst the bishop had difficulty in making people believe the real truth, answered sarcastically, though with a deal of truth: "Is it not, my lord, that you "preach the truth as if you did not believe it, while I act "that which is not true as if I did believe it ?" Shiftlessness is the very opposite of earnestness, and is it deniable that shiftlessness is the cause of much failure \ How did Charles Lamb comment on Samuel Taylor Coleridge? "He is an archangel a little damaged." When we think of what Coleridge was and what he might have been, we admit that there are few sadder pictures in the whole gallery of English literature. What was it he lacked ? Earnestness ! The books he was going to write would fill pages by their mere titles. It has been not unpleasantly remarked that the world is full of unsuccess- ful men who have spent their lives "letting empty buckets "down into empty wells." Bulwer Lytton says that "the man who has acquired the "habit of study, though only for one hour every day in the "year, and keeps to the one thing studied until it is mas- tered, will be startled to see the way he has made at the "end of a twelvemonth." Is not this saying, in another form, that permanence cannot be achieved without earnestness ? Franklin cried : "Stand firm, don't flutter;" in other words, be earnest! Force concentration. " Whate'er your forte, to that jour zeal confine ; "Let all your efforts there concentered shine." 364 HITHER AND THITHER. The very opposite to the conduct of Coleridge is the advice of Goethe : "Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute, "What you can do, or dream you can, begin it." 1 An enormous proportion of the work of life that is injured, proves useless, or results in small ends, comes from hurry. "Hurry not only spoils work," says Lubbock, "but "spoils life also." Earnestness that accomplishes success and permanence must be thoroughgoing. That is not earnestness which shows itself in hair-splitting, in doing over minutely this, that or the other work, when a bolder method would do it thoroughly, do it well, and avoid a waste of time. What is the difference between a great painter of scenes for the stage and a pre-Raphaelite artist ? The scenic artist works with intense earnestness. The result is the production on the stage of a magnificent bit of color; a taste delightful to the eye. It has, however, no enduring quality, but is used, applauded generally, and in a very short period of time put on one side forever. The pre-Raphaelite painter, probably, has not put more earnestness into his work, but he has deliberately planned to do something lasting, whether it results in canvasses, such as those by Rossetti ; or "The Light of the World," and the "Two Gentlemen of Verona," by Holman Hunt, or not. Earnestness has been expended with a view to perma- nence. When all is said and done, what is here proved ? This only, that the statement "earnestness is a necessity for "permanence" is a simple truism. 1 Faust. Index. ABBOT, The, see Scott. Abduction, see History Re- peats Itself. Absolution, see Confession. Adam and Eve, as two men. ... 38 fall of, on Friday 276 story of 301 Addison, Joseph 54 in Devereux 56, 350 in Henry Esmond 56 -ls, shoes for 250 Ce :pbell, Lord, on indexes. ... 15 Cm*, lanites, their use of horse- shoes 250 ' idles, not known to Aztecs. 213 i le, Busby, wielder of 80 Vack Durham, wielder of.. 82 C nticum Cantieorum 49 Canova, A., his visiting card. . .241 Caradoc, of Llancarvan 120 Or ~ds, see Playing cards. Cards, see Visiting cards. Carnegie, Andrew, and The Free Library of Philadelphia. .341 Carpets, see Oriental Carpets. Carriage, with porcelain panels. 129 Carvill, William, introducer of cricket in America 112 Casanova, A., his designs for visiting cards 242 Catherine, St., Convent of, and Codex Sinaiticus 200 Catherine II., her porcelain ser- vice 131 Catullus, quoted 251 Caxton, William, his Myrrour, definition of rhetoric 82 his Morte Darthur, reprint of 115 his Thymage 82 Cervantes, Miguel de, Coleridge. S. T., on , 163 Heine, Heinrich, on 163 his Don Quixote 161 Dr. Johnson on 155 dramatizations of 163 editions of 161 Irving's performance of... 163 its influence on manners and literature 161 Sedgwick, H. D., on 164 his Persilis and Sigismunda.163 Scott, Sir W., on 163 other authors' estimation of. 163 Chalmers, Alexander, his edi- tion of British essayists... 60 24 Chambers, Robert, on playing cards 243 Chapman, George, his All Fooles 188 Charlemagne, piece of his horse's shoe 253 Charles Auchester, see Sheppard. Charms, against bewitchment. .275 Chaucer, G., his N o n n e s Preestes Tale, quoted, on Friday 276 Cheats of Scapin, see Moliere. Chess, Ulysses, inventor of . . . . 26 Child and His Book, see Field. Childe Harold, see Byron. Children, duty of..." 79 Children, effect of Puritanism on 83 Children's Literature 75 Chinese, mourning customs of. 262 Chips from a German Work- shop, see Migration of Fables. Chronicle of Abbey of Evesham, see Evesham. Chronicles, annals not histories. 33 humorous statements in 38 used in fiction 35 see also Early Chronicles. Chronicles and Memorials, see Master of the Rolls Series. Chronicon, Geoffrey of Mon- mouth's, source of 119 Cibber, Colley, in Devereux .... 350 Cistercian monastery, see Melsa. monks, disliked by Giraldus Cambrensis 19 Civil Government, see Locke. Clarke, Dr., editor English edi- tion of Oriental Carpets. .. 70 Clarke. Marcus, His Natural Life, incentive to study of penology 32 Clement, St., his Epistles, ms. of 196 Clemes monachos 199 Code, The Hammurabi 87 see also Hammurabi. Codex, Aleph 201 Alexandrinus 191 date of 192 370 INDEX. Codex, Alexandrinus, fac-simile of 193 lacuna? 196 presented to James 1 195 St. Thecla alleged scribe of. 194 Ephraemi 192n Frederico Augustanus 201 Graeci et Latini — Tacitus. .. 179 Terence 185 volumes issued 181 Sinaiticus 192 date of 192 discovery of 200 Eusebius alleged scribe of. 205 Vaticanus 191 date of 192, 197 facsimiles of 197 injuries to 199 lacunse 197 see also Mexican Antiqui- ties. see also Nuttall Codex. Codices, Uncial writing in. . . . 193 Cole, Dr., loss of commission to persecute heretics 244 Coleridge, S. T., on Piranesi . . 67 Lamb on 363 on Cervantes 163 Colet, Dean, friendship with Sir Thomas More 168 Colman. George B., joint-editor of The Connoisseur 59 Columbia University Library, its Avery collection 342 Columbus, Christopher, proph- ecy regarding 74 sailed on Friday 279 Columbus, son of Christopher, his Vida y Hechos 74 refutation of Genoan Poly- glot 74 Comfort, Howard, his hit at cricket 112 Coming Race, see Bulwer-Lyt- ton. Common of the Apostles and Evangelists, manuscript. . . 141 Communications with the Un- seen World 216 Confession and absolution, practiced by Aztecs 214 Connoisseur, The 59 Constantine, and the Codex Sinaiticus 205 Consuelo, see Sand. Cornwall, Arthurian legends in. 119 Corporal punishment in schools 81 Corpse, origin of word in Latin. 24 Count of Monte Chisto, see Dumas. Courtesy, old-time books on ... . 80 Courting, not permitted on Fri- day 278 Coverley, Sir Roger de, see Spectator. Cox-Cox, the Aztec Noah 214 Craik, Henry, on Utopia 169 Cricket, first played in America at Haverford 112 Criticism, excesses of 165 Cross, on Aztec altars 216 Crusades, eloquence of Giraldus Cambrensis 18 Cumberland, Henry, publisher of The Observer 60 Curious Myths, see Baring- Gould. Cutter, C. A., his classification.346 Cyrus, his fable Fisherman Piping 296 DACIER, Mme., on Terence.. 187 Daemonologie, see Home. Dante, his revenge on Brunetto 82 D'Artagnan series 318, 351 Darwin, Charles, his books on botany 45 Davenant, Sir Wlliam, his adaptation of Macbeth 360 his adaptation of The Tem- pest 361 his Law against Lovers, an adaptation of Shakespeare. 360 his Rivals, an adaptation of Shakespeare 361n David, King, life of, paralleled by King Nezahualcoyotl . ..214 Davies, James, translator of Lewis' Babrios 290 Death, fictitious report of in The World 58 Deaths, number per minute.. 261n Defence of Guenevere, see Mor- ris. INDEX. 371 Defoe, Daniel, changes of name. 159 his New Voyage 348 his Review 54 his Robinson Crusoe 155 ascribed to Lord Oxford.. 160 blunders in 157 Dr. Johnson on 155 editions of 159 germ of, in Persilis and Sigismunda 1 63 lessons of 156 not due to Alexander Sel- kirk 157 Poe on 159 Rousseau on 159 Scott on 155 superior to Aristotle Buf- f on and Pliny 159 his tomb 160 Del Rio, his Disquisitions on Magic, on cutting nails. . . .281 Deluge, Aztec account of 214 Denmark, kings of, descended from David 9 De Quincey, Thomas, on Pira- nesi's Dreams 67 Derby, Countess of, in Leaguer of Lathom 351 Devereux, see Bulwer-Lytton. Devonshire described in Lorna Doone 350 Dewey, Melvil, his classifica- tion 346 De Witts, The, in Black Tulip. 348 Dibdin, T. F 77 on Nuremberg Chronicle.... 37 on Tacitus 180 Dickens, Charles, his Barnaby Rudge, No Popery riots in. 352 his definition of earnestness. 358 his Tale of Two Cities. French revolution in 352 Dictionary of Miniatursts, see Bradley. Dilke, Mrs., her funeral 270 Disquisitions on Magic, see Del Rio. Disraeli, see Beaconsfield. Dr. Sommer's Le Morte Darthur 113 Doctors, forced to partake of own medicines 20 Dog, as an assistant in sailing. 26 Doge, of Venice, Palm Sunday procession of 100 Dogs, on visiting cards 242 shoes for 252 D'Olivenea, Fr. Blasius 137 Dominicale, manuscript 138 Don Quixote 161 see also Cervantes. Dowling, Richard, his Indolent Essays, on Pilgrim's Prog- ress 150 Drakslaw, Count, his visiting card 243 Dreams, Friday's 276 Dresden porcelain, produced at Meissen 128 Dryden, John, his adaptation of The Tempest 361 Duff, Princess, and the Lost Tribes 10 Dugdale, Sir William, quoted.. 270 Dumas, Alexandre, his assist- ants 314 his authorship disputed. .. .314 his Black Tulip, introduces the De Witts 348 his Count of Monte Cristo..317 his D'Artagnan series. .318, 351 Thackeray on 319 his ending to Hamlet 315 his literary pi-olificness 311 his Marie Antoinette ro- mances 319 history taught by 319 Dundonald. Earl of. observance of Friday superstition. . . .280 Durham. Wack. wielder of cane 82 Dutuit, Eugene, his Manuel... 48 Duty, of children 79 of men 79 of women 79 De Vries, see Vries. EACHARD, his satire on preachers 81 Earey Chronici.es 29 Earnestness a Necessity for Permanence 355 Earnestness, Bulwer-Lytton on. 363 Delia Bacon's 360 Dickens' definition 358 372 INDEX. Earnestness, Franklin on 363 Garrick on 363 Goethe on 364 Hawthorne's 358 Milton's 361 misdirected 357 not alone sufficient 364 Pascal's definition 358 Salvini on 362 Shakespeare's 360 William and Caroline Her- schel's 359 Easter, spring lamb, due to Jewish Passover 282 Edmands, John, his classifica- tion 346 Edmonds, Mrs., and a Protest- ant persecution 244 Education, fostered by Free Libraries 340 Egypt, horse-shoes in 251 Eight-Deer, Aztec hero... 222, 223 Elijah, parallel tradition of St. Thomas 214 Eliot, George, her literary methods 314 her Romola 350 Elizabeth, Queen, and a Protest- ant persecution 245 Elizabeth and her German Garden, see Arnim. Ellis, Sir Henry, on authorship of Robinson Crusoe 160 Eloquence, of Giraldus Cam- brensis 18 Endurance feats, stupidity of.. 60 Epic, the English 118 Erasmus, and Sir Thomas More 108 Erewhon, see Morris. Ethiopia, horse-shoes in 251 Eusebius, alleged scribe of Co- dex Sinaiticus 205 Eve, see Adam and Eve. Evesham, Abbey of, founded on spot of vision 35 life at 22 suppressed by Henry VIII.. 23 Evesham, Chronicle of Abbey of 21 FABLES 285 iEsop's, see ./Esop. Babrius', see Babrius. Belly and the Members of the Body 296 Bidpai's, see Bidpai. characters of animals in.... 294 classes of 287 definition of, De la Motte's..287 Goldsmith's 287 Lafontaine's 287 Dog with Young 288 Fisherman Piping 296 Gay's, see Gay. Hitopadesa 291 Horse and the Stag 296 Man and the Lamb 291 modified by travel 299 Nightingale and the Hawk . . 290 origin of 290 Pantchatantra 291 Perrette the Milkmaid 299 Phaedrus', see Phsedrus. Thistle and the Cedar 289 Trees electing a King 289 Fac-similes Mexican, issued by Due de Loubat 217 Fac- similes of Portions of the Works of Terence, the Poet and Dramatist. 183 Fac-similes of the Manu- scripts of Tacitus 177 see also Breviary of Car- dinal Grimani. see also Codex — Alexan- drinus. see also Codex — Sinaiti- cus. see also Codex — Vatica- nus. see also Mexican Antiqui- ties. see also Nuttall Codex. see also St. Margaret's Book of the Gospels. Faerie Queene, see Spenser. Fairies, Three, bring luck at birth 35 Falier, Doge OrdelafTo, restorer of the Pala d'Oro 100 Fall, The, happened on Friday.276 Fasciculi ascribed to Netter. . .35n INDEX. 373 Fasciculi, on the Lollards 35 Felt, used for horse-shoes 255 Ferial Book, manuscript. . 139, 140 Ferrers, Henry de, origin of name of 253 Few Art Treasures, A 63 Fiction, an incentive to study.. 32 Arthurian legends taught by. 348 astronomy taught by 350 biography taught by 350 circulation of, in libraries. . .345 educative 347 Fielding's comparison with history 160 geography taught by 348 history taught by 348 how classified in libraries. . .347 read by great men 345 taken from old chronicles. . . 35 Fiction, Value of Reading, The 345 Fiefdoms, held by payment of horse-shoes 253 Field, E. M„ her Child and His Book 77 Fielding, Henry, his compari- son of fiction and history. 160 Fijian mourning customs 265 Finns, Monday superstitions. .277 Friday superstitions 277 Firdausi, his Shah Nameh. quoted 292 Fitzgerald, Percy, his charge against Dumas 314 Fletcher, Beaumont and, see Beaumont and Fletcher. Flora de Filipinas, see Blanco. Floriculture, books on, see Bot- any and Block-Books. Flourishing of Romance, see Saintsbury. Flowers, books on, see Botany and Block-Books. Flying venom, cure for 20 Folio, Tom, his opinion of The Tatler 55 Forbes-Leith, Fr. W., editor of St. Margaret's Book of the Gospels 233 Forest, similarity to a librarv, 31, 41, 61, 65 Fox, John, his Book of Mar- tyrs, Bunyan's copy of . ... 153 Francis, Robert, his Code of Hammurabi 89 Franklin, Benjamin, founder of Philadelphia Library .... 176 his Autobiography 173 demand for 175 history of the manu- scripts 174n how published 174 McMaster, J. B., on 176 mistakes in translations of. 175 when written 173 life and works of, new edi- tion 176 on earnestness 363 Franklin's Autobiography. ..173 see also Franklin. Frederick Augustus, patron of Tischendorf 200 Frederico Augustanus, Codex of, see Codex — Sinaiticus. Free Libraries, see Libraries. Free Library of Philadelphia, The, see Philadelphia. Freemasons, funeral customs of 271 French mourning colours 266 French Revolution, in Tale of Two Cities 352 Friday 273 attempts to disprove super- stitions 280 blessed day to die 277 Chaucer on 276 Columbus sailed on 279 courting on, disallowed 278 dreams 276 luckiness of 279 marriages on 277 origin of superstitions against 279 sailors' superstitions 279 ships lost which sailed on. . .280 streets named 282 superstitions 275 travel on 279 unluckiness of, origin 275 see also Good Friday. Friday of Wilmington, loss of.280 Friend, The 108 374 INDEX. Friends, founders of Haverford College 108 Froude, J. A., on Holy War. . .151 on Pilgrim's Progress 151 Fulvy, Orry de, his connection with Sevres porcelain 130 Funerals, Freemason customs. 271 John Paston's extravagance at 269 memorial books 271 Mrs. Dilke's, niggardly 270 pretty custom at 271 wine at 269 see also Mourning. GAMA, on key to Mexican hieroglyphics 210 Garden of a Commuter's Wife. 45 Gardiner, Bishop, Bunyan on death of 153 Gamier, Edouard, his Soft Por- celain of Sevres 66, 127 see also Porcelain. Garrick, David, on earnestness. 363 Gas, opposition to at Haverford College 110 slight explosion of, at Haver- ford College 110 Gay, Thomas, his Fables, illus- trated editions of 298 his Old Woman and her Cats, quoted 256 incident of, told in The Ad- venturer 58 Genoa, see Lorenzo, San. Genoan Polyglot Psalter 71 Geoffrey of Monmouth, his Chronicon, Arthurian legends in 120 source of 119 Geography, taught by fiction . . 348 Gersen, John, the Imitation, ascribed to 326 Gerson, Chancellor, the Imita- tion, ascribed to 327 Gesta Romanorum, indebted- ness to Bidpai 293 Gildas 119 Giraldus Cambrensis, his life and works 18 Gilroy, Mr., on Morte Darthur.118 Globe Theatre, in Bell of St. Paul's 349 Goethe, J. W von, on earnest- ness 364 Gold, horse-shoes of 249 Goldsmith, Oliver, his defini- tion of a fable 287 his literary methods 314 his Vicar of Wakefield, original of Dr. Primrose . . 84 on John Newberry 84 Good Friday, bread baked on . . 283 buns 281 see also Hot cross buns. day for witches 275 parsley sown on 283 see also Friday. Gordon, Lord George, in Barnaby Rudge 352 Gospels, Book of the, see Mar- garet, St. Gould, S. Baring-, see Baring- Gould. Graduale, manuscript 140 Grail, Holy, see Morte Darthur. Gray, Thomas, Beaconsfield on.313 his Elegy, a mosaic 323 smallness of production 313 Greeks, horse-shoes not common amongst 251 mourning customs of 263 Grimani, Cardinal, his Brev- iary 227 contents of 228 history of 228 Morelli, Giacomo, on 227 price paid for 228 style of illustration 229 time of execution 228 Grimm's Fairy Tales duplicated in chronicles 35 Growth of the Idylls, see Jones. Guardian, The 57 Guardian, The, see Massinger. HAMLET, see Shakespeare. Hammurabi Code, The.. 87 its difference to the Mosaic code 92 Hammurabi, King of Babylon, code of 89 INDEX. 375 Hammurabi, his estimation of himself 90 Handbook of Alpine flowers, see Sutherland. Handel, G. F., his Messiah com- posed in one month 16 Harold, see Bulwer-Lytton. Harrington, James, his Oceana. 166 Haverfobd College 105 beginnings of 108 call issued to raise funds . . . 109 consumption of pie 110 History of 107 projected 1877 108 its library 112 music forbidden at Ill re-opening 1848 109 slight explosion at 110 suspension of, 1845 108 tardy adoption of gas 110 pioneer in American cricket.112 Hawk, generosity to its live bedding 26 Hawkesworth, Dr. John, pub- lisher of The Adventurer. 58 Hawthorne, Nathaniel, earnest- ness of 358 his Marble Faun, a guide book to Rome 349 his Scarlet Letter 359 his Twice Told Tales, re- viewed by Longfellow 358 Haydn, Joseph, in Consuelo . . . 352 Head, Talking-, Friar Bacon's. 17 Hearne, Thomas, his literary methods 312 Hector Servadac, see Verne. Heine, Heinrich, on Cervantes. 163 Henry I., entertained by an Abbot 19 Henry II., portrayed in Morte 'Darthur 122 Henry IV., fondness for Friday.279 Henry VIII. , assumption of mourning for Anne Boleyn.268 his treatment of More 167 sponsor for the Winchester Round-Table 120 Henry Esmond, see Thackeray. Henry of Huntingdon 120 Herbs, defined by Alcuin 78 Herodotus, his fable Fisherman Piping 296 Herschare, Convent of, its windows in Biblia Pau- perum 48 Herschel, Caroline, earnestness of 359 Herschel, Sir William, dis- covery of Uranus 359 earnestness of 359 Smiles on 359 Hesiod, his fable, Nightingale and the Hawk 290 Hieroglyphics, Mexican, how painted 222 alleged key to 210 Hill, Lucy, and St. Margaret's Book of the Gospels 234 Hilton, Walton, the Imitation ascribed to 328 His Natural Life, see Clarke. Histories, how made 33 History, Fielding's comparison of, with fiction 160 in nursery rhymes 8 taught by fiction 348 History of Haverford Col- lege 107 see also Haverford College. History of the Art of Printing, see Humphreys. History of the Britons, see Wace. History of the Old and New Testament, see Wesley. History Repeats Itself 333 Hitopadesa 291 Hobbes, Thomas, his Leviathan. 166 Hofer, Andreas, in Andreas Hofer ■ 351 Hogarth, William, contributor to satirical art exhibition. 59 his Marriage a la Mode, and visiting cards 240 Holbein, Hans, the younger, his picture of Sir Thomas More 172 Holy Grail, see Morte Darthur. Holy War, see Bunyan. Holy Water, rivalled by horse- shoes 257 376 INDEX. Holyday, his Marriage of the Arts, quoted on horse- shoes 255 Home, Dr., his Daemonologie, quoted on horse-shoes 255 Homer, a mythical person 323 Hood, Dean, on Cajetan 326 Horn -books 81 Horse-shoes 247 as protection against witches.256 as rival to Holy Water 257 as toll 253 Baroness Burdett-Coutts' be- lief in 257 belief in, derived from men- isci 257 Butler on 257 Casaubin on 250 Catullus' reference to 251 early forms of 251 first use of, unknown 250 forge held by payment of . . . 254 furnished for fiefdoms 253 good-luck to finders 255 Holyday on 255 Home, on finding of 255 how fastened anciently 252 humorous story of 258 imperfectly fastened 251 in Egypt 251 in England, introduced by William, the Conqueror . . . 253 in Ethiopia 251 in Japan 251 in Tartary 251 London held by the corpora- tion by payment of 254 mentioned by Emperor Leo. .252 Mithridates' lack of 252 nails for, most ancient 253 not common amongst the Greeks and Romans 251 number to be seen in London.257 of felt 255 of gold, Poppaea's 249 of iron, first used by Thes- salonians 252 of leather 251 of silver, Duke Boniface's. . .249 Nero's 249 piece of one worn by Charle- magne's horse 253 Horse-shoe:, used by Canaan- ites 250 Vespasian, delayed by 252 Horses, not known to Aztecs. ..213 Hot cross buns, see Buns. Hudibras, see Butler. Hugo, Victor, his Les Miser- ables, an incentive to study of Napoleoniana 32 Humphreys, H. N., his History of the Art of Printing. .47, 48 Huntingdon, see Henry of. Hurry, Lubbock on 364 TDLER, The 60 * Idylls of the King, see Ten- nyson. Image-Books, see Block-Books. Imitation, danger of blind 26 Imitation of Christ, Of the 147, 321 see also Kempis. Imperial Library (Russian), and Codex Sinaiticus 191 Incidents of Travel, see Stephens. Index to persons and places in Morte Darthur 117 Indexes, Lord Campbell on ... . 15 Indolent Essays, see Dowling. Inquisition in Portugal, estab- lished by John III 135 Ireland, connection with Lost Tribes 6 Iron, first used for horse-shoes. 252 not known to Aztecs 213 Irving, Sir Henry, and Don Quixote 163 Isle of Wight, origin of name. . 36 JACOBS, Joseph, his edition of Bidpai 293 James I., and mourning for Prince Henry 268 Japan, horse-shoes in 251 Japanese mourning customs . . 264 Jehoash, his fable, Thistle and the Cedar 289 Jeremiah, his residence in Ire- land 7 his tomb 7 INDEX. 377 Jeremiah, quoted concerning Zekekiah's daughter 7 Jewish mourning customs . . . .2G1 Jews, see Ten Lost Tribes. John III., of Portugal, colonizer of Brazil 135 established Inquisition in Portugal 135 manuscripts presented by him. 135 Johnson, Margaret, reputed witch 275 Johnson, Samuel, his criticism on feat of endurance 60 his Rambler 57 on Don Quixote 155 on Pilgrim's Progress 155 on Robinson Crusoe 155 on Sir Thomas More 170 Jones, Richard, his Growth of the Idylls, quoted 118n Joseph, identical with Lokman and ^Esop 295 Joseph of Arimathea, his use of the Grail 121 Joshua, the causer of leap year. 79 Jotham, his fable, Trees elect- ing a King 289 Judith's Garden, sec Basset. Julius Caesar, see Shakespeare. Junius, Letters of 324 Justin, quoted 288 KABYLES, see Cabyles. Kalilah and Dimnah.292, 293 Kean, Charles, his restoration of Shakespeare 361 Keary, C. F., on Arthurian bibliography 119n Kempis, Thomas A', his Imita- tion 147, 323 ascribed to Bonaventura. .326 ascribed to Chancellor Ger- son 327 ascribed to John Gersen . . 326 ascribed to Walton Hilton. 328 Cajetan on 327 claimed by Augustine Order 324 claimed by Benedictine Order 324 his authorship disputed ... 324 Marillac's edition 329 Kempis, Thomas A', number of editions 148 Renan on authorship of. . .327 Richelieu's edition 328 testimonies to value of... 328 Wheatley on authorship of.325 his life 325 his manuscripts 325 Kenilworth, see Scott. Kenilworth Castle 352 King Lear, see Shakespeare. Kingsborough, Lord, his An- tiquities of Mexico 209 cost of 209 key to the hieroglyphics. ..210 Mendoza collection 210 contents of 211 indebtedness of Prescott to 212 his hypothesis of Aztec an- cestry 214 his interest in Mexican an- tiquities 210 imprisoned for debt 210 Koster, Lawrence, reputed printer of Biblia Pauperum. 48 reputed inventor of mov- able types 48 I ACHRYMATORIES 262 *-> Lacroix, Paul, his Middle Ages 47 Lacy, John, his Sawny the Scot, adapted from Shake- speare 361 Lady of the Lake, see Scott. Lafontaine, Jean, career of . . . .297 his definition of a fable 287 his indebtedness to Bidpai..293 stories of 298 Lamb, at Easter, Jewish origin of 282 Lamb, Charles, on Coleridge. . .363 Lancelot, see Morte Dartlmr. Lang, Andrew, his essay on Morte Darthur 117 Laocoon, see Les*ing. Laocoon group, as posed by Liibke 69 as posed by Piranesi 69 Byron on 69 378 INDEX. Laocoon group, Leasing on ... . 69 Thomson on 69 Virgil on 69 Last of the Barons, see Bulwer- Lytton. Laurentian Library, its Tacitus manuscripts 180 Law against Lovers, see Dave- nant. Layamon, Arthurian legends in. 121 Leaguer of Lathom, see Ains- worth. Leap Year, produced by Joshua. 79 Leather, used for horse-shoes. .251 Lectures, a library activity . . . 342 Leechdoms Wortcunning and Star-craft 19 Leith, see Forbes-Leith. Lenox Library, its editions of Pilgrim's Progress 152 Leo, Emperor, his mention of horse-shoes 252 Les Miserables, see Hugo. Lessing, G. E., his Laocoon .... 69 Leviathan, see Hobbes. Lewis, Sir G. C, his edition of Babrios 290 Lewis, Taylor, on Bidpai 294 Liberty, see Thomson. Libraries, classific ations of books in 346 education fostered by 339 Free, fiction, circulation of.. 345 necessity for 339 Plea for 339 see also Philadelphia. similarity to a forest 31,41,61,65 their treatment of fiction .... 347 Limoges porcelain, when first manufactured 128 Literary methods, Bacon's 313 Barnes' 312 Bayle's 312 Beaconsfield's 312 Beranger's 313 Burke's 313 George Eliot's 314 Goldsmith's 314 Hearne's 312 Jane Austen's 313 Literary methods, Miss Yonge's 312 Pliny's 312 Saint-Pierre's 313 Southey's 312 Trollope's 312 Warren's 313 Literary prolificness, Dumas'.. 311 Scott's 313 Vega's 313 Literature, influenced by Don Quixote 161 Little Jack Homer, and the Jews 8 Liturgical Manuscripts .... 133 Book of Offices 138 Common of the Apostles and Evangelists 141 Dominicale 138 executed with stencils 136 Ferial Book 139, 140 Graduale 140 Psalterium 142 Sancturale 137 Seventeenth century. 142, 143, 144 Sixteenth century 142 Livy, his fable, Bellv and Mem- bers of the Body 296 Llancarvan, Caradoc of, see Caradoc. Loch, Katrine, in Lady of the Lake 352 Locke, John, his Civil Govern- ment 166 Lokman, identified with ^Esop and Joseph 295 a mythical person 294 Lollards, in Pecock's Repressor. 27 rise of, in Fasciculi 35 London, held by part payment of horse-shoes 254 Longfellow, H. W., his review of Twice Told Tales 359 Lorenzo, San, of Genoa, custo- dian of the Grail 121 Lorna Doone, see Blackmore. Lost Tribes, see Ten Lost Tribes. Loubat, Due de, his Mexican facsimiles 217 Louis XL, his assumption of mourning 267 Louis XV., acquisition of Sevres Porcelain factory. . . 130 INDEX. 379 Lubbock, Sir John, his Hundred Books, Ruskin on 173 on hurry 364 Liibke, his pose of the Laocoon group 69 Lunacy, cure for 21 Lycians, disapproval of mourn- ing 264 MACAULAY, Lord, his attack on Walpole 242 on Holy War 151 on Pilgrim's Progress. ..150, 151 Macbeth, see Shakespeare. McMaster, J. B., on Franklin's Autobiography 176 Malmesbury, see William of. Malory, Sir Thomas, compiler, not author 118 his Morte Darthur 115 Man in the moon, see Moon. Manasseh, Americans lost tribe of 6 Manchester, Public Library, its Earl Spencer's collection. . 116 Manners, influenced by Don Quixote 161 old-time books on 80 Manriquez, Pedro, on author- ship of the Imitation 326 Manuel a l'Amateur d'Es- tampes, see Dutuit 48 Manuscripts, Liturgical, see Liturgical Manuscripts. Map, Walter, his claims not disproven 121n his introduction of the Grail and Lancelot into Morte Darthur 121 Maquet, Dumas' assistant 314 Marble Faun, see Hawthorne. Marcellus, Pope, on Palestrina's Papa? Marcelli 305 Mareschal, Walter, and horse- shoes 254 Margaret, St., her Book of the Gospels 233 edited by Fr. W. Forbes- Leith 233 how identified 234 loss and recovery of 234 price paid for 234 Margaret, St., Prof. Westwood on 233 Marie Antoinette Romances, see Dumas. Marillac, M. de, his edition of the Imitation 329 Mariner's Chronicle 336 Mark's, Saint, see Saint Mark's. Marriage, Aztec ceremonies. . . . 223 Aztec customs and cere- monies 212 Aztec laws 214 on Fridays 277 Sir Thomas More's remark on 168 Marriage a la Mode, see Ho- garth. Marriage of the Arts, see Holy- day. Marseilles, foundation of 288 Mary, Queen of Scots, in The Abbot 352 Mass, parts not sung by priests or choir 136 Massinger, Philip, his The Guar- dian, indebtedness to Bid- pai 293 Master of the Rolls Series . . 11 see also Early Chronicles. Mather, Cotton, his misdirected earnestness 357 Matsys, Quentin, story of 131 Measure for Measure, see Shake- speare. Meaux, Abbey of, see Melsa. Meissen, porcelain factory at.. 128 Melsa, Monastery of 34 Mending, miniatures attributed to 229 Memoirs, tedious, satire on, in The Spectator 56 Men, duty of 79 Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix, in Charles Auchester 352 Mendoza collection, see Kings- borough. Menenius Agrippa, his fable, Belly and the Members of the Body 296 Menisci, source of belief in horse-shoes 257 380 INDEX. Mercy, absent from the Ham- murabi Code 91 Meusel, on Nuremberg Chronicle 37 Mexican Antiquities 207 Mexican names, pronunciation of 211 Middle Ages, see Lacroix. Migration of Fables, see Miiller. Milk, cows', not known to Az- tecs 213 Milton, John, earnestness of. . .361 his Paradise Lost 362 editions of 362 Mirza, Vision of 57 Missa Papae Marcelli, see Pales- trina. Mitford, A. B., his Tales of Old Japan, quoted 264 Mithridates, his lack of horse- shoes 252 Modern Telemachus, see Yonge. Moliere, J. B. P., his Cheats of Scapin, drawn from Ter- ence 188 Monastic life, symbolized by the oyster 26 Monday, unluckiness of 277 Monmouth, see Geoffrey of. Moon, Man in the, earliest ref- erence to 25 More, Sir Thomas, beatification of 172 debt of English prose to. . . . 170 education of 168 friendship with Dean Colet. .168 friendship with Erasmus. ... 168 his creation of the word Utopia 171 his remark on marriage 168 his second marriage 169 his selection of a bride 168 his Utopia 166 Craik, Henry, on 169 editions of 170 trusts, evils of, fore- shadowed in 167 views embodied in 167 works inspired by 166 Holbein's picture of 172 humor of 169 Johnson, Dr. Samuel, on. . . .170 persecuted by Henry VIII.. .167 More, Sir Thomas, positions held by 170 public veneration of 172 Morelli, Giacomo, on Grimani's Breviary 227 Morgan, M. de, discoverer of the Hammurabi code 90 Morpurgo, Dr. Sal, and Gri- mani's Breviary 229 Morris, William, his Erewhon.166 his Defense of Guenevere, drawn from Morte Darthur. 1 1 8 Mortality, see Deaths. Morte Darthur, added to by Layamon 121 added to by Wace 120. 121 Andrew Lang's essay on.... 117 Ascham's charge of immo- rality in 117 bibliography of, C. F. Keary, on H9n Caxton's first edition of 115 claims of Borron and Troyes disregarded 121n Dr. Sommer's edition 113 gleaning ground for poets. . .118 growth of legend, Richard Jones on, quoted 118n Holy Grail, history of the cup 121 introduced by Map 121 present custodian of 121 in Geoffrey of Monmouth. ...120 index to persons and places in 117 influence on Bunyan 122 Lancelot, introduced by Map. 121 true to nature 122 legend preserved inArmorica, Wales and Cornwall 119 portrayal of Henry II 122 Sir Walter Scott on 117 the English epic 118 the Round Table, preserved at Winchester 120 introduced 120 Wynkyn de Worde's edition. 116 Morton, Manor of, held by part payment of horse-shoes . . . 253 Mosaic code, its difference to the Hammurabi code 92 INDEX. 381 Moses, his authorship of Penta- teuch disputed 323 ignorant of the Hammurabi code 92 Motte, De la, his definition of a fable 287 Mourning 259 Arabian customs 264 assumed by Henry VIII. for Anne Boleyn 268 assumed without grief by Louis XI 267 black-edged paper, use of . . . .271 black sealing wax, use of . . . .271 Byzantine customs 264 Chinese customs 262 colours, in China 262 in France 266 in Spain 266 in various countries 265 Japanese 264 Roman 263 significance of 266 exaggeration of 272 extravagance in 269 Fijian customs 265 forbidden by James I., for Prince Henry 268 graduation of 268 Greek customs 263 in Bride of Lammermoor. ...269 Japanese customs 264 Jewish customs 261 Lycian disapprobation of.... 264 Numa Pompilius' edict on. . .263 Persian customs 265 Pope on 268 Roman customs 263 Sandwich Island customs .... 265 Syrian customs 265 see also Funerals. Much Ado aboiit Nothing, see Shakespeare. Miihlbach, Louise, her Andreas Hofer 352 Mules, shoes for, see Horse- shoes. Miiller, Max, his Migration of Fables 299 quoted 292 Music, forbidden at Haver ford College Ill Myrrour, see Caxton. Mythology, on visiting cards.. 243 NAILS, for fastening horse- shoes, see Horse-shoes. finger, cutting of 281 Del Rio on cutting of 281 Napoleon I., his use of a play- ing card 242 Napoleoniana, study of, induced by Shadow of the Sword . . 32 by Les Miserables 32 Nasturtium, application of in cases of baldness 20 Natural History, see Neckam. see also Pliny. Neapolitans, Friday supersti- tions of 277 Neckam, Alexander, his Natural History, botany in 45 pun on name of 23 works of 23 works to consult in connec- tion with 24 Nennius 119 Nero, his mules shod with silver 249 Netter, Thomas, Fasciculi, as- cribed to 35n New Atlantis, see Bacon. New Voyage, see Defoe. Newberry, John, Goldsmith's comment on 84 his advertising devices 84 original of Dr. Primrose in Vicar of Wakefield 84 Newspapers, created by the es- sayists 53 Newton, Isaac, visiting cards of. 2 10 Nezahualcoyotl, King, life of, similar to King David's.. 214 Nezahualpilli, King, life of . . . .215 Noah, the Aztec Cox-Cox 214 No-Poperv Riots, in Barnaby Rudge 352 Nonnes Preestes Tale, see Chaucer. Nord, Comtesse du, porcelain table of 131 Northampton, City of, held by payment of horse-shoes. ...253 382 INDEX. Northumberland family, visit- ing cards of 240 Nose, length of, undoing of a princess 27 ornament, Aztec, denoting chieftainship 223 Novel, taken from old chroni- cles 35 Novels, see Fiction. Noyes, Rev., his misdirected earnestness 357 Numa Pompilius, his edict on mourning 263 Nunez, Bishop, on origin of Aztecs 213 Nuremberg Chronicle, Dibdin on 37 insufficiently indexed 14n Meusel on 37 source of Southey's Old woman of Berkeley 38 Nursery rhymes, history in. . . . 7 Nuttall Codex, The 219 size and character 221 Nuttall, Zelia, editress of Nut- tall Codex 221 OAKHAM, Seat of Earl Fer- rers, horse-shoes levied at.253 Observer, The 60 Oceana, see Harrington. Of the Imitation of Christ. . . 147, 321 see also Kempis. Offices. Book of, manuscript. .. 138 Oil, illuminating, not known to Aztecs 213 Old and New Testaments, see History of. Old Woman and her Cats, see Gay. Old Woman of Berkeley, see Southey. Ongania, Ferdinand, his Basil- ica di San Marco 97 Opus Minns, see Bacon. Opus Tertium, see Bacon. Orbicularis, cure for stomach- ache and baldness 20 Oriental Carpets 69 Orseoli Doge Pietro, disposal of his bones 102 Orseoli Doge Pietro, his res- toration of St. Mark's, Venice 101 Our Race, see Totten. Overbury, Sir Thomas, on Fri- day dreams 276 Oxford, Lord, Robinson Crusoe ascribed to 160 Oyster, symbolical of monastic life 25 P\GAN, Mattio, engraving by.100 Paine, John, backer of The Rambler 57 Pala d'Oro, of Saint Mark's, Venice 99 restorations of 100 Palestrina, Igino 307 Palestrina, P. da, his Assumpta est Maria 308 his Missa Papa? Marcelli, Baini on 305 Parvi on 305 Pember on 305 work of 307 Palestbina's Music 303 Palm Sunday procession, of the Doge in Venice 100 Pantchatantra 291 Papa? Marcelli, Missa, see Pales- trina. Paper, black-edged, iised in mourning 271 Paradise Lost, see Milton. Paris, Paulin, on Calenius' manuscript 120 Parsley sown on Good Friday. .283 Parvi, and the Missa Papa? Marcelli 305 Pascal, Blaise, his definition of earnestness 358 Paston, John, his funeral 269 Paston Letters 269 Paul. St., his Epistle to the Hebrews, authorship dis- puted 323 Pecock, Reginald, his Repressor, on the Lollards 27 Pember, E. H., on the Missa Papa? Marcelli 305 Penology, studv of induced by His' Natural Life 32 INDEX. 383 Pentateuch of Printing, see Blades. Perdicaris case, parallel to . ... 335 Permanence, how attained, see Earnestness. Persia, Shah of, Friday super- stitions 277 Persian mourning customs 265 Persilis and Sigismunda, see Cervantes. Pha?drus 297 his Fables 297 drawn from JEso-p 297 Phelps, Samuel, his restoration of Shakespeare 361 Philadelphia Free Library of, The, Carnegie gift 341 growth of 31, 341 its collection of Liturgical Manuscripts . .135 its fac-simile of Grimani's Breviary ... 227 its Mexican fac-similes 217 lectures delivered by 342 Wanamaker, John, his gift to 341 Widener, P. A. B., his gift to.341 Philadelphia Library (Com- pany), founded by Frank- lin 176 Pie, at Haverford College 110 Pilate, his use of the Grail. . . . 121 Pilgrim's Progress, The 150 see also Bunyan. Piranesi, the elder, admired by Coleridge 67 De Quincey, on 67 his Laocoon group 69 his .plates of Trajan's column 68 Piranesi, the younger 67 Pisans, receive the Grail from Genoese 121 Playing cards, first visiting cards 239 introduced from the East. . . 46 substituted for royal commis- sion 244 use of by Napoleon 1 242 used to identify ropes on board ship 243 Plea fob Free Libraries, A . . 337 Pliny, the elder, his literary methods 312 his Natural History, botany in 45 quoted 249 Pliny, the younger, his friend- ship with Tacitus 179 Poe, E. A., on Robinson Crusoe. 159 Poem, longest English 313 Polyglot Psalter, A 71 Pompadour, Mme. de, her paint- ing of porcelain 130 her porcelain flowers 131 interest in porcelain manu- facture 130 Pope, Abby E., her copy of Morte Darthur 116 Pope, Alexander, in Levereux. . 350 on mourning 268 Poppaea, her beasts shod with gold 249 Porcelain, Dresden, made at Meissen 128 introduced from China into Europe by Venetians 127 kaolin for, discovered 128 Limoges, date of first manu- facture 128 Sevres 66 carriage of Mile. Beaupre.129 collectors of 66 dates of styles ..128 factory acquired by Louis XV 130 flowers of 131 fraudulent 129 manufacture encouraged by Mme. de Pompadour .... 130 manufacture of, under royal patronage 129 old, dates of 128 painted by Mme. de Pom- padour 130 presented to Louis XVIII.. 129 service of, belonging to Catherine II 131 table of the Comtesse du Nord 131 uses to which put 129 Porpora, Niccola, in Consuelo..352 Porter, Jane, her Scottish Chiefs 352 384 INDEX. Portsmouth, origin of name ... 36 Portugal, establishment of In- quisition in 135 pictorial art of 135 Preachers, satire on 81 Premiums given with books .... 85 Prescott, W. H., his indebted- ness to the Mendoza collec- tion 212 Primrose, Dr., original of 84 Printing, Commencement of, see Anfange. Procession of the Doge, of Venice, on Palm Sunday . . 100 Providence Displayed, see Sel- kirk. Psalter, A Polyglot 71 Psalterium, manuscript 142 Psyche, longest English poem. 313 Pun, on name of Neckam 23 Puritanism, effect on children . . 83 QUACK medicines, Good Fri- day bread 283 remedies 19 Quakers, founders of Haverford College 108 Querard, M., his charge against Dumas 314 RAMBLER, The 57 Redemption, Aztec version. 214 Reflections, quoted 256 Reichenbach, Dr., his life and will 42 Reichenbachia, see Sander. Relics, of Doge Orseoli, custody of 102 Renan, Ernest, on authorship of the Imitation 327 Repressor, see Peoock. Review, The, see Defoe. Rhetoric, Caxton's definition of. 82 Richelieu, Cardinal, his edition of the Imitation 328 Rienzi, see Bulwer-Lytton. Rienzi, Tribune, in Rienzi .... 352 Rio, see Del Rio. Rivals, see Davenant. Robinson Crusoe 155 see also Defoe. Romance, limitations of old... 164 Romans, horse-shoes not com- mon amongst 251 mourning customs of 263 Rome, described in Marble Faun 349 Romola, see Eliot. Round Table, see Morte Darthur. Rousseau, J. J., on Robinson Crusoe 159 Ruskin, John, on Lubbock's Hundred Books 173 on Utopianism 171 Russell, W. P., his Verbotomy, quoted 82 Russians, their shoes for dogs.. 252 SAILORS, their Friday super- stitions 279 Saint Margaret's Book of the Gospels 231 Saint Mark's, Venice 95 injured by fire and pillage.. 101 Pala d'Oro 99 restored by Doge Pietro Orseoli 101 Saint-Pierre, B. de, his literary methods 313 Saintsbury, Prof., his Flourish- ing of Romance, quoted.. 121n Salvini, Tomaso, on earnest- ness 362 Sanctuary, violation of privilege of 101 Sancturale, manuscript 137 Sand. George, her Consuelo. ...352 Sander. Frederick, his Reichen- bachia 42 Sandwich Islands, mourning customs 265 Savonarola, in Romola 350 Sawny the Scot, see Lacy. Scarlet Letter, see Hawthorne. Schole Master, see Aschaui. School-books, in monastic days. 78 School-extension lectures 342 Schools, caning in 80 corporal punishment in 81 in days of Elizabeth 79 Scott, Sir Walter, his Abbot. . .352 his Bride of Lammermoor, mourning in 269 INDEX. ;),s;> Scott, Sir Walter, his Kenil- worth 352 his Lady of the Lake 352 his literary prolificness 313 oil Cervantes 163 on Morte Darthur 117 on Robinson Crusoe 155 Scottish Chiefs, see Porter. Sealing-wax, black, used in mourning 271 Sedgwick, H. D., on Don Quixote 164 Self Help, see Smiles. Selkirk. Alexander, his adven- tures 157n his Providence Displayed. . . .157 not original of Robinson Crusoe 157 Sevres Porcelain 125 see also Porcelain. Sevres, Soft Porcelain of, see Gamier. Shadow of the Sword, see Buch- anan. Shah Nameh, see Firdausi. Shakespeare, William, earnest- ness of 360 his authorship disputed 323 his Hamlet, Dumas' ending to 315 his Julius Caesar adapted. .361n his King Lear, quoted 255 his Macbeth adapted 361 his Measure for Measure, adapted 360 his Much Ado about Nothing, adapted 360 his plays, mutilation of 360 restored by Kean and Phelps 361 his' Taming of the Shrew, adapted 361 his Tempest, adapted 361 his Two Noble Kinsmen, adapted 361n Sheba. Queen of, presented with the Grail 121 Sheppard, E. M., her Charles Auchester 352 Shoemaker and ape, story of . . 26 Shoes, for mules, see Horse- shoes. 25 Shoes, for mules, see also Asses, shoes for. see also Camels, shoes for. see also Dogs, shoes for. see also Horse-shoes. Silver, horse-shoes of 249 Six "Greatest Books" 145 Smiles. Samuel, his Self Help..359 on Herschel 359 Smyth, A. H., his edition of Franklin 176n Socrates, his verse form of ^sop 297 Soft Porcelain of Sevres, see Gamier. Solitary Summer, see Arnim. Solomon, original owner of the Grail 121 Sommer, Dr. H. 0., his edition of Morte Darthur 113 Sotheran, E. H., publisher of Reichenbachia 42 Southey, Robert, his literary methods 312 his Old Woman of Berkeley, source of 38 Spaniards, their Friday super- stitions . . . r 277 Spanish mourning colours 266 Spectator, The 56 Coverley, Sir Roger de, au- thors of 56 reason of his death 56 Thackeray's comment on . . 56 satire on tedious memoirs ... 56 Vision of Mirza 57 Spencer, Earl, his copy of Morte Darthur . 115 location of his collection. ... 116 Spenser, Edmund, his Faerie Queene, and MorteDarthur.118 Spineto, Marquis 212 Square Friend, The 108 Steele, Sir Richard, his reck- lessness 54 his service to journalism. ... 54 his Tatler 54 in Devereux 55. 350 in Henry Esmond 56 Stencils, manuscript executed with 136 386 INDEX. Stephens. J. L., his Incidents of Travel 216 his Travels 216 Stesichorus, his fable Horse and the Stag 296 Stomach-ache, cure for 283 orbicularis, a cure for 20 Stonesfield, pretty funeral cus- tom 271 Suetonius, quoted 249 Sutherland, W., his Handbook of Alpine flowers 45 Swift, Dean, in Devereux 350 Swinburne, Algernon, his Trys- tram of Lyonesse, source of 118 Syrian mourning customs 265 TACITUS, Fac-similes of 179 1 his Annals, Dibdin, T. F., on 180 edited by Beroaldo 180 his friendship with Pliny... 179 his proenomen 180 Medicean codices of 179 scope of 179 Taffie was a Welshman, his- torical significance of 8 Tale of Two Cities, see Dickens. Tales of Old Japan, see Mit- ford. Taming of the Shrew, see Shakespeare. Tartary, horse-shoes in 251 Tatler, The, criticism of biblio- maniacs 55 designed by Steele 54 Tom Folio on 55 Taylor, publisher of Robinson Crusoe 160 Tea Te phi, daughter ofZedekiah 7 Tears, easily shed by Eastern peoples 262 Telescope, dispute as to Aztec knowledge of 216 Tempest, The, see Shakespeare. Ten Lost Tribes, The 1 Anglo Saxons descended from 4 Aztecs descended from 213 see also Totten. Ten Years Later, see Dumas. Tennyson. Lord, his Idylls of the King 118 Terence, fac-similes of 185 his authorship questioned ... 187 his Heauton-timoroumenos. . 188 his manuscripts, illustrations in 185 his Phormio illustrations to. 188 his works, debt of modem dramatists to 187 Mme. Dacier on 187 portrait of 186 Text of the Bible, The 189 Thackeray, W. M., his Henry Esmond, introduces Steele and Addison 56 on Dumas 319 on Sir Roger de Coverley. ... 54 Thecla, St., alleged scribe of Codex Alexandrinus 194 Thessalonians. first to use iron horse-shoes 252 Thomas, St., in Anahuac 214 tradition of. similar to Elijah 214 Thomson, James, his Liberty, on Laocoon group 69 Thornton, Bonnell, joint editor of The Connoisseur 59 Three Musketeers 318, 351 Thymage, see Caxton. Tinted Venus, see Anstey. Tischendorf, Constantine, his discovery of Codex Sinaiti- cus 200 Tonson, Jacob, publisher of Milton 362 quarrel of 57 Totten, C. A. L., his Our Race. 3 Anglo-Saxons the Lost Tribes 4 Lost Tribes in nursery rhymes 7 wanderings of 4 Toxophilus, see Ascham. Trajan, column of 68 Travels in Central America, see Stephens. Tristram and Iseult.see Arnold. Trollope, Anthony, his literary methods 312 INDEX. 387 Troyes, Chrestien de, his claims not reconcilable with Map's 121n Trusts, declaimed against in Utopia 167 Tiystram of Lyonesae, see Swinburne. Twelve-Ollin, Aztec hero 222 Twenty Years After 318, 351 Twice Told Tales, see Haw- thorne. Two Noble Kinsmen, see Shake- speare. Types, movable, reputed in- ventor of 48 Typographical Antiquities 77 ULYSSES, the inventor of chess 26 Uncial writing, described 193 University -extension lectures. . . 342 Uranus, discovered by Herschel.359 Utopia 166 see also More. Utopian works 166 Utopianism, Burton, Richard, on 171 Ruskin, John, on 171 VALUE of Reading Fiction, The 343 Van Diemen's Land, penal con- dition of in His Natural Life 32 Vatican, its Codex Vaticanus. .191 Vega, Lope de, his literary pro- lificness 313 Vegetius, quoted 250 Venables, Canon Edmund, on Holy War 151 on Pilgrim's Progress 151 Venetians, introducers of porce- lain into Europe 127 Venice, Palm Sunday procession of the Doge 100 St. Mark's, see Saint Mark's. Verbotomy, see Russell. Vergil, Polydore, on Geoffrey of Monmouth 119 Verne, Jules, his Hector Serva- dac, comets in 350 Vespasian, delayed by horse- shoes 252 Vicar of Wakefield, see Gold- smith. Vicomte de Bragelonne. .. .318, 351 Vida y Hechos, see Columbus. Vidal, Sr. Domingo and brother, editors of Flora de Fili- pinas 45 Vincennes, porcelain manufac- ture at 130 Virgil, his iEneid, on Laocoon group 69 Vision of Mirza 57 Visiting Cards 237 a modern invention 239 Adam Bartsch's 242 busts on 243 Canova's 241 Casanova's designs for 242 Comtesses de Windischgratz's.243 Count Drakslaw's 243 dogs on 242 German 243 in Hogarth's Marriage a la Mode 240 Isaac Newton's 240 Italian 243 landscapes on 242 messages on 239 mythological subjects on ... . 243 Northumberland family's . . . 240 originally worn playing cards. 239 the Miss Berrys' 241 verses on 241 Votan, founder of Aztec nation.213 present at Tower of Babel. . .213 Vries, Dr. S. G. de, editor of Grimani's Breviary 227 WACE, his History of the Britons, Arthurian legends in 120, 121 Wales, Arthurian legends in. . .119 Wallace, William, in Scottish Chiefs 352 Walpole, Robert, defended by the Miss Berrys 242 Wanamaker. John, and The Free Library of Philadel- phia 341 388 INDEX. Warren, Samuel, speed of com- position 313 Waterwort, specific for bald- headed suitors 19 specific for ladies' beauty. ... 19 Watts, Dr., error falsely at- tributed to 84 Wesley, Samuel, his History of the Old and New Testament in verse 83 Westwood, Prof., on St. Mar- garet's Book of the Gospels.233 Wheatley, L. A., on authorship of the Imitation 325 White Wings, see Black. Whole Duty of Man 149 Widener, P. A. B., and The Free Library of Philadel- phia 341 Wight, see Isle of Wight. William of Malmesbury 120 William, the Conqueror, his in- troduction of horse-shoes into England 253 Williams, his Window Garden- ing 45 Winchester, theRound Table at.120 Windischgratz, Comtesses de, visiting cards of 243 Window Gardening, see Wil- liams. Wine, at funerals 269 Witchcraft, stupidity about its suppression 357 Witches, activity on Good Fri- day 275 charms against 275 horse - shoes protection against 256 Johnson, Margaret, confes- sion of 275 Witts, de, see De Witts. Women, duty of 79 Women Pleased, see Beaumont and Fletcher. Woodcuts, as portraits of vari- ous persons 37 Worde, Wynkyn de, his edition of Morte Darthur 116 World, The 58 Wotan, see Votan. Wren, the king of birds 25 Wyclif's Fasciculi, see Fasci- culi. Y ONGE, C. M., her literary I methods 312 her Modern Telemachus, source of 336 ZAIN, Doge Pietro. restorer of the Pala d'Oro 100 Zenophon, quoted 250 Zouche, Lord, his Mexican Codex 221 RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT TQ^Mfr- 202 Main Library LOAN PERIOD HOME USE ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS Renewals and Recharges may be made 4 days prior to the due date. Books may be Renewed by calling 642-3405. DUE AS STAMPED BELOW AUIUUISCIWOSW FORM NO. DD6, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY BERKELEY, CA 94720 PS 2843b3 -7 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES CQ0SS75217