Chapter VIII: Section IV: Emblem Works and Editions Between A.d. 1564 and A.d. 1616

IN the year at which this Section begins, Shakespeare was born, and for a whole century the Emblem tide never ebbed. There was an uninterrupted succession of new writers and of new editions. Many eminent names have appeared in the past, and names as eminent will adorn the future.

The fifty years which remain to the period comprised within the limits of this Sketch of Emblem Literature we divide into two portions of twenty-five years each: 1st, up to 1590, when Shakespeare had fairly entered on his dramatic career; and 2nd, from 1590 to 1615, when, according to Steevens (edition 1785, vol. i. p. 354), his labours had ended with _The Twelfth Night, or, What You Will_. As far as actual correspondences between Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers demand, our Sketch might finish with 1610, or even earlier: for some time will of necessity intervene, after a work has been issued, before it will modify the thoughts of others, or enter into the phrases which they employ. However, there is nothing very incongruous in making this Sketch and the last of Shakespeare’s dramas terminate with the same date.

I.—In 1564, at Rome, in 4to, the distinguished Latinist, Gabriel Faerno’s Fables were first printed, 100 in number;—it was three years after his death. The plates are from designs which Titian is said to have drawn. Our English Whitney adopts several of Faerno’s Fables among his Emblems, and on this authority we class them with books of Emblems. From time to time, as late as to 1796, new editions and translations of the Fables have been issued. A copy in the Free Library, Manchester, “Romæ Vincentius Luchinus, 1565,” bears the title, _Fabvlae Centvm ex antiqvis avctoribvs delectae, et a Gabriele Faerno, Cremonensi carminibvs explicatae_.

Virgil Solis, a native of Nuremberg, where he was born in 1514, and where he died in 1570; and Jost Amman, who was born at Zurich in 1539, but passed his life at Nuremberg, and died there in 1591, were both artists of high repute, and contributed to the illustration of Emblem-works. The former, between 1560 and 1568, produced 125 _New Figures for the New Testament_, and _An Artistic little Book of Animals_; and the latter, from 1564 to 1586, contributed very largely to books of _Biblical Figures_, of “Animals,” of “Genealogies,” of “Heraldry,” and of the _Habits_ and _Costumes_ of All Ranks of the _Clergy of the Roman Church_, and of _Women_ of every “Condition, profession, _and age_,” throughout the nations of Europe.

From the press of Christopher Plantin, of Antwerp, there issued nearly fifty editions of Emblem-books between 1564 and 1590. Of these, one of the earliest was, “EMBLEMATA CVM ALIQVOT NVMMIS ANTIQVIS,”—_Emblems with some ancient Coins_,—4to, 1564, by the Hungarian, John Sambucus, born at Tornau in 1531. A French version, _Les Emblemes de Jehan Sambucus_, issued from the same press in 1567. Among Emblematists, none bears a fairer name as “physician, antiquary, and poet.” According to De Bry’s _Icones_, pt. iii., ed. 1598, pp. 76–83, he obtained the patronage of two emperors, Maximilian II. and Rudolph II., under whom he held the offices of counsellor of state and historian of the empire. To him also belonged the rare honour of having his work commented on by one of the great heroes of Christendom, Don John of Austria, in 1572.

_Les Songes drolatiqves de Pantagrvel_, by Rabelais, appeared at Paris in 1565, but its emblematical character has been doubted. Not so, however, the ten editions of the “EMBLEMATA” of _Hadrian Junius_, a celebrated Dutch physician, of which the first edition appeared in 1565, and justly claims to be “the most elegant which the presses of Plantin had produced at this period.”

We may now begin to chronicle a considerable number of works and editions of Emblems by ITALIAN writers, which, to avoid prolixity and yet to point out, we present in a tabulated form, giving only the earliest editions:—

Pittoni’s _Imprese di diversi sm.fol. Venice 1566
principi, duchi, &c._ _k._[61]

Troiano’s _Discorsi delli triomfi, 4to Monica 1568
giostre, &c._ _k._

Rime _Rime de gli Academici 4to Brescia 1568
occvlti, &c._ _k._

Farra’s _Settenario dell’ humana ... ... 1571
riduttione_ _v._

Dolce’s _Le prime imprese del 4to Venice 1572
conte Orlando_ _v._

” _Dialogo_ 8vo Venice 1575
_k._

Contile’s _Ragionamento—sopra la Fol. Pavia 1574
proprieta delle Imprese, _k._
&c._

Fiorino’s _Opera nuova, &c._ 4to Lyons 1577
_k._

Palazza’s _I Discorsi—Imprese, &c._ 8vo Bologna 1577
_k._

Caburacci’s _Trattato,—dove si 4to Bologna 1580
dimostra il vero e novo _k._
modo di fare le
Imprese._

Guazzo’s _Dialoghi piacevoli_ 4to Venice 1585
_k._

Camilli’s _Imprese—co i discorsi, et 4to Venice 1586
con le figure_ _k._

Cimolotti’s _Il superbi_ 4to Pavia 1587
_k._

Fabrici’s _Delle allusioni, imprese 4to Roma 1588
& emblemi sopra la vita, _k._
&c., di Gregorio XIII._

Rinaldi’s _Il mostruosissimo_ 8vo Ferrara 1588
_k._

Porro’s _Il primo libro_ 4to Milano 1589
_k._

Pezzi’s _La Vigna del 4to Venetia 1589
Signore—Sacramenti, _t._
Paradiso, Limbo, &c._

Bargagli’s _Dell’ Imprese_ 4to Venetia 1589
_v._

So, briefly, in the order of time, may we name several of the French, Latin, and German Emblem-writers of this period, together with the Spanish and English:—

FRENCH.

Grevin’s _Emblemes d’Adrian La 16mo Anvers 1568
Jeune_ _v._

Vander _Theatre ... les 8vo Londres 1568
Noot’s inconueniens et miseres _v._
qui suiuent les mondains
et vicieux, &c._

De _Emblêmes ou devises 4to Lyon 1571 Montenay’s chrestiennes_ _k._

Chartier’s _Les Blasons de vertu par 4to Aureliæ 1574
vertu_ _v._

Droyn’s[62] _La Grand nef des fols du fol. à Lyon 1579
monde_ _c._

Goulart’s _Les Vrais Pourtraits des 4to Genue 1581
Hommes illustres._ _k._

Verdier’s _Les images des anciens 4to Lyon 1581
dieux (par V. Cartari)._ _v._

Anjou _La joyeuse et magnif. fol. à Anvers 1582
entrée de Mons. _k._
Françoys, duc de
Brabant, Anjou, &c., en
ville d’Anvers._

L’Anglois _Discours des hierog. 4to Paris 1583
égyptiens, emblêmes, _k._
&c._

Messin _Emblêmes latins de J.J. 4to Metis 1588
Boissard, avec _c._
l’interpretation
françoise_.

Of these works, Vander Noot’s was translated into English, says Brunet, (v. c. 1072,) by Henry Bynneman, 1569, and is remarkable for containing (see _Ath. Cantab._ ii. p. 258) certain poems, termed sonnets, and epigrams, which Spenser wrote before his sixteenth year. Mademoiselle Georgette de Montenay was a French lady of noble birth, and dedicated her 100 Emblems “to the very illustrious and virtuous Princesse, Madame Jane D’Albret, Queen of Navarre.” Chartier, a painter and engraver, flourished about 1574; L’Anglois is not mentioned in the _Hieroglyphics_ of Dr. Leemans, nor do I find any notice of Messin.

LATIN.

Schopperus Πανοπλία, _omnium 8vo Francof 1568
illiberalium _v._
mechanicarum, &c._

” _De omnibus illiberalibus 8vo Francof 1574
sive mechanicis _t._
artibus._

Arias _Humanæ salutis monumenta, 4to Antverpiæ 1572 Montanus &c._ _k._

Sanctius _Commentaria in A. Alciati 8vo Lugduni 1573
Emblemata._ _k._

Furmerus _De rerum usu et abusu_ 4to Antverpiæ 1575
_t._

Lonicer, Ph. _Insignia sacræ Cæsareæ, 4to Francof 1579
maj. &c._ _k._

Estienne, _Anthologia gnomica_ 8vo Francof 1579 Henri _k._

Freitag _Mythologia ethica_ 4to Antverpiæ 1579
_t._

Microcosm Μικροκοσμος, _parvus 4to ... 1579
mundus, &c._ _v._

ΜΙΚΡΟΚΟΣΜΟΣ _Parvus Mundus_ 4to Antverpiæ 1592
_k._

Beza _Icones—accedunt 4to Genevæ 1581
emblemata_ _c._

Hesius, G. _Emblemata sacra_ 4to Francof 1581
_v._

Reusner _Emblemata—partim ethica 4to Francof 1581
et physica, &c._ _k._

” _Aureolorum Emblem. liber 8vo Argentor 1591
singularis._ _t._

Lonicer, _Venatus et Aucupium 4to Francof 1582 J.A. Iconibus artif._ _c._

Moherman _Apologi Creaturarum_ 4to Antverpiæ 1584
_t._

Emblemata _Emblemata Evangelica ad fol. ... 1585
XII. signa, &c._ _k._

Bol. _Emblemata Evang. ad. XII. 4to Francof 1585
Signa cœlestia._ _v._

Hortinus _Icones operum, &c._ 4to Romæ 1585
_k._

Modius _Liber—ordinis 8vo Francof 1585
Ecclesiastici origo, _t._
&c._

” _Pandectæ triumphales, fol. Francof 1586
&c._ _k._

Fraunce _Insignium, Armorum, 4to Londini 1588
Emblematum, Hierogl., _t._
&c._

Zuingerus _Icones aliquot clarorum 8vo Basileæ 1589
Virorum, &c._ _t._

Cælius _Emblemata Sacra_ 8vo Romæ 1589 (S.S.) _v._

Hortinus _Emblemata Sacra_ 4to Trajecti 1589
_v._

Camerarius _Symbolorum et Emblematum, 4to Norimberg 1590
&c._ _k._

Arias Montanus, born in Estremadura in 1527, was one of the very eminent scholars of Spain; Furmerus, a Frieslander, flourished during the latter half of the sixteenth century, and his work was translated into Dutch by Coörnhert in 1585; Henri Estienne, one of the celebrated printers of that name, was born in Paris in 1528, and died at Lyons in 1598; a list of his works, many of them of high scholarship, occupies eight pages in Brunet’s _Manuel du Libraire_. The name of Beza is of similar renown;—both Etienne and he had to seek safety from persecution; and when Etienne’s effigy was being burnt, he pleasantly said “that he had never felt so cold as on the day when he was burning.” Laurence Haechtanus was the author of the _Parvus Mundus_, 1579, which Gerardt de Jode _den liefhebbers der consten_, the lover of art, has so admirably adorned. Nicolas Reusner was a man of extensive learning, to whom the emperor Rudolph II. decreed the poetic crown. Francis Modius was a Fleming, a learned jurisconsult and Latinist, who died at Aire in Artois, in 1597, at the age of sixty-one; Theodore Zuinger was a celebrated physician of Bâle; and Joachim Camerarius, born at Nuremberg in 1534, also a celebrated physician, one of the first to form a botanical garden, “attained high reputation in his profession, and was consulted for princes and persons of rank throughout Germany.”

An edition of a work reputed to be emblematic belongs to this period—to 1587; it is the _Physiologist_, by S. Epiphanius, to whom allusion has been made at p. 28.

GERMAN.

Stimmer _Neue Kunstliche Figuren 4to Besel 1576
Biblischen, &c._ _t._

Feyrabend _Stam und Wapenbuch_ 4to Franckfurt 1579
_k._

Schrot _Wappenbuch_ 8vo Munich 1581
_k._

Lonicer, J. _Stand und Orden der 4to Francfurt 1585 A. heiligen Römischen _v._ Catholischen Kirchen._

Clamorinus _Thurnier-buch_ 4to Dresden 1590
_k._

Tobias Stimmer was an artist, born at Schaffhausen in 1544, and in conjunction with his younger brother, John Christopher Stimmer, executed part of the woodcuts in the Bible of Basle, 1576 and 1586. The younger brother also prepared the prints for a set of Emblems, _Icones Affabræ_, published at Strasburg in 1591. Sigismund Feyrabend is a name of great note as a designer, engraver on wood, and bookseller, at Francfort, towards the end of the sixteenth century. Who Martin Schrot was, does not appear from the _Biographie Universelle_; and Clamorinus may probably be regarded as only the editor of a republication of Rüxner’s _Book of Tournaments_ that was printed in 1530.

DUTCH OR FLEMISH.

Van Ghelen Flemish translation, ... Anvers 1584
_Navis stultorum._ _v._

Coörnhert _Recht Ghebruyck ende 4to Leyden 1585
Misbruyck van tydlycke _v._
Have._

SPANISH.

Manuel _El conde Lucanor_ 4to Sevilla 1575
(apologues & fables). _v._

Boria _Emprese Morales_ 4to Praga 1581
_k._

Guzman _Triumphas morales_ 8vo Medina 1587
(nueuamente corregidos). _t._

Horozco _Emblemas Morales_ 8vo Segovia 1589
_t._

Don Juan Manuel was a descendant of the famous Alphonso V. His work consists of forty-nine little tales, with a moral in verse to each. It is regarded, says the _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxvi. p. 541, “as the finest monument of Spanish literature in the sixteenth century.” There are earlier editions of Francisco de Guzman’s _Moral Triumphs_, as at Antwerp in 1557, but the edition above named claims to be more perfect than the others. Horozco y Covaruvias was a native of Toledo, and died in 1608; one of his offices was that of Bishop of Girgenti in Sicily. In 1601 he translated his Emblems into Latin, and printed it under the title of _Symbolæ Sacræ_.

ENGLISH.

Bynneman’s _Translation of Vander 8vo London 1569
Noot’s Theatre._ _v._

North _The Morall Philosophie of 4to London 1570
Doni_ _v._

Daniell _The worthy tract of 8vo London 1585
Paulus Jovius, &c._ _k._

Whitney _A Choice of Emblemes, 4to Leyden 1586
&c._ _k._

Henry Bynneman, whose name is placed before the version of Vander Noot’s _Theatre_, is not known with any certainty to have been the translator. He was a celebrated printer in London from about 1566 to 1583. Sir Thomas North, to whose translation of Plutarch, Shakespeare was largely indebted, was probably an ancestor of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal under Charles II. Samuel Daniell enjoyed considerable reputation as a poet, and on Spenser’s death in 1598, was appointed poet-laureate to the Queen. Of Whitney it is known that he was a scholar of Oxford and of Cambridge, and that his name appears on the roll of the university of Leyden. He was a native of Cheshire, and died there in 1601. It may be added that an edition of Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_ was in 1570 “Imprinted at London in Paules Churchyarde by John Cawood Printer to the Queenes Maiestie.”

Thus, in the period between Shakespeare’s birth and his full entry on his dramatic career, we have named above sixty persons, many of great eminence, who amused their leisure, or indulged their taste, by composing books of Emblems; had we named also the editions of the same authors, within these twenty-five years, they would have amounted to 156, exclusive of many reprints from other authors who wrote Emblems between A.D. 1500 and A.D. 1564.

II.—Shakespeare’s Dramatic Career comprises another period of twenty-five years,—from 1590 to 1615. From the necessity of the case, indeed, few, if any of the Emblem writers and compilers towards the end of the time could be known to him, and any correspondence between them in thoughts or expressions must have been purely accidental. For the completion of our Sketch, however, we proceed to the end of the period we had marked out. And to save space, and, we hope, to avoid tediousness, we will continue the tabulated form adopted in the last Section.

ITALIAN.

Bernardetti _Giornata prima dell’ ... ... about
Imprese_ 1592
_v._

Capaccio _Delle Imprese trattato, 4to Napoli 1594
in tre libri diviso._ _k._

Tasso _Discorsi del Poeme_ 4to Napoli 1594
_k._

Porri _Vaso di verita ... dell’ 4to Venetia 1597
antichristo_ _v._

Dalla Torre _Dialogo_ 4to Trivegi 1598
_k._

Caputi _La Pompa_ 4to Napoli 1599
_k._

Zoppio _La Montagna_ 4to Bologna 1600
_k._

Belloni _Discorso_ 4to Padova 1601
_k._

Chiocci _Delle imprese, e del vero ... ... 1601
modo di formarle._ _v._

Pittoni _Imprese di diversi fol. Venezia 1602
principi, &c._ _v._
(reprint).

Ripa _Iconologia, &c., 4to Roma 1603
Concetti, Emblemi, ed _k._
Imprese._

” ” ” ” 4to Siena 1613
_t._

Vænius _Amorum Emblemata_, in obl. Antverp 1608
Latin, English, and 4to _k.t._
Italian.

Glissenti _Discorsi morali ... 4to Venetia 1609
contra il dispiacer del _v._
morire, &c._

Giulio Cesare Capaccio, besides his Neapolitan History, and one or two other works, is also the author of _Il Principe_, Venetia, 1620, a treatise on the Emblems of Alciatus, with more than 200 political and moral notices. Torquato Tasso is a name that needs no praise here. Of Alessio Porri I have found no other mention; and I may say the same of Gio. Dalla Torre, of Ottavio Caputi, and of Gio. Belloni. Melchior Zoppio, born in 1544 at Bologna (_Biog. Univ._ vol. lii. p. 430), was one of the founders of the Academia di Gelati, in his native town. Battisti Pittoni was a painter and engraver, who flourished between 1561 and 1585. The extensive work of Cesare Ripa of Perugia, which has passed through about twenty editions in Italian, Latin, Dutch, Spanish, German, and English, is alphabetically arranged, and treats of nearly 800 different subjects, with about 200 devices. Otho van Veen, or Vænius, belongs to Holland, not to Italy,—and his name appears here simply because his _Emblems of Love_ were translated into Italian. Fabio Glissenti in 1609 introduced into his work (Brunet, iii. c. 256, 7) twenty-four of the plates out of the forty-one which adorned an Italian edition of the _Images of Death_ in 1545.

FRENCH.

Desprez _Théatre des animaux ... 4to Paris 1595
actions de la vie _v._
humaine._

Boissart _Mascarades recueillies_, 4to ... 1597
Geyn (J. de) Opera. _v._

Emblesmes _Emblesmes sus les 12mo Mildelbourg 1605
Actions—du Segnor _k._
Espagnol._

Hymnes _Hymnes des vertus ... par 8vo Lyon 1605
belles et délicates _v._
figures._

Vænius _Amorum Emblemata_ 4to Antverpiæ 1608
(Latin,Italian, and _v._
French).

Vasseur _Les Devises des Empereurs 8vo Paris 1608
Romains, &c._ _t._

” _Les Devises des Rois de ... Paris 1609
France._ _v._

Valence _Emblesmes sur les 8vo ... 1608
Actions—du Segnor _k._
Espagnol._

Rollenhagen _Les Emblemes ... mis en 4to Coloniæ 1611
vers françois._ _v._

Dinet _Les cinq Livres des 4to Paris 1614
Hiéroglyphiques._ _v._

De Bry _Pourtraict de la 4to Francfort 1614
Cosmographie morale._ _v._

Robert Boissart, a French engraver (Bryan, p. 90) flourished about 1590, and is said to have resided some time in England. Of Vænius, so well known, there is no occasion to speak here. Jacques de Vasseur was archdeacon of Noyon, celebrated as the birth-place of Calvin, and in 1608 also published another work in French verse, _Antithises, ov Contrepointes du Ciel & de la Terre_. Desprez and Valence are unknown save by their books of Emblems. Pierre Dinet is very briefly named in _Biog. Univ._ vol. ii. p. 371; and Rollenhagen and De Bry will be mentioned presently.

LATIN.

Callia _Emblemata sacra, e libris 32mo Heidelbergæ 1591
Mosis excerpta._ _k._

Borcht _P. Ovidii Nasonis obl. 16mo 1591
Metamorphoses._ Antverpiæ _t._

Stimmer _Icones Affabræ_ ... Strasburg 1591
_v._

Mercerius _Emblemata_ 4to Bourges 1592
_t._

De Bry _Emblemata nobilitate et obl. Francof 1592
vulgo scitu digna._ 4to _v._

” _Emblemata secularia_ 4to ” 1593
_v._

Freitag _Viridiarium Moralis Phil. 4to Coloniæ 1594
per fabulas, &c._ _k._

Taurellius _Emblema physico-ethica, 8vo Norimbergæ 1595
&c._ _k._

Boissard _Theatrum vitæ Humanæ_ 4to Metz 1596
_t._

Franceschino _Hori Apollinis selecta 16mo Romæ 1597
hieroglyphica._ _v._

Le Bey de _Emb. a J. Boissard 4to Francof 1596 Batilly. delineata, &c._ _t. k._

Altorfinæ _Emb. anniversaria 4to Norimbergæ 1597
Academiæ Altorfinæ._ _k.c.t._

David _Virtutis spectaculum_ 4to Francof 1597
_v._

” _Veridicus christianus_ 4to Antverpiæ 1601
_t. k._

David _Occasio arrepta, 4to Antverpiæ 1605
neglecta, &c._ _c. t._

” _Pancarpium Marianum_ 8vo ” 1607
_t._

” _Messis myrrhæ et 8vo ” 1607
aromatum, &c._ _v._

” _Paradisus sponsi et 8vo ” 1607
sponsæ, &c._ _k._

” _Dvodecim Specvla, &c._ 8vo ” 1610
_t. k._

Sadeler, Æg. _Symbola Divina et Humana fol. Prague 1600
Pontif. Imper., &c._ _k._

” _Symb. Div. et. Hum., fol. Francof 1601, 2,
&c.;Isagoge Jac. 3 _k._
Typotii._

Passæus _Metamorphoseωn obl.4to ... 1602
Ouidianarum typi, &c._ _t._

Epidigma _Emblematum Philomilæ 4to ... 1603
Thiloniæ Epidigma._ _v._

Vænius _Horatii Emblemata, 4to Antuerp 1607
imaginibus_ (ciii.) _in _k._
æs incisis._

” _Amorvm Emblemata, Figvris 4to Antuerpiæ 1608
æneis incisa._ _t. k._

” _Amoris Divini Emblemata_ 4to Antuerpiæ 1615
_t._

Pignorius _Vetustissimæ tabulæ æneæ 4to Venetia 1605
sacris Ægyptiorum _v._
simulacris cœlatæ
explicatio._

” _Characteres Ægyptii ... 4to Francofurti 1608
per Jo. Th. et Jo. Isr. _v._
de Bry._

Sadeler, Æg. _Theatrum morum. Artliche 4to Pragæ 1608
gespräch der Thier met
wahren Historien, &c._

Broecmer _Emblemata moralia et 4to Arnhemi 1609
œconomica._ _t._

Aleander _Explicatio antiquæ Fabulæ 4to Romæ 1611
marmoreæ Solis effigie, _k._
symbolisque exsculptæ,
&c._

Rollenhagen _Nvclevs Emblematum 4to Coloniæ 1611–13
selectissimorum._ _c. t._

” ” ” ” 4to Arnhemi 1615
_k._

Hillaire _Specvlvm 4to Traject. 1613
Heroicvm—Homeri—Iliados._ Bat. _c._

À Bruck _Emblemata moralia et 4to Argentinæ 1615
bellica_ _v._

Peter Vander Borcht, born at Brussels about A.D. 1540, engraved numerous works, and among them 178 prints for this edition of Ovid. The Stimmers have been mentioned before, p. 90. Jean Mercier, born at Uzès in Languedoc, wrote the Latin version of the _Hieroglyphics_ of Horapollo, Paris, 1548,—but probably it was his son Josias whose Emblems are mentioned under the year 1592, and who dates them from Bruges. Theodore De Bry, born at Liege in 1528 (Bryan, p. 119), carried on the business of an engraver and bookseller in Francfort, where he died in 1598. He was greatly assisted by his sons John Theodore and John Israel. _The Procession of the Knights of the Garter in 1566_, and that at the _Funeral of Sir Philip Sidney_, are his workmanship. Nicolas Taurellius was a student, and afterwards professor of Physic and Medicine in the University of Altorf in Franconia. An oration of his appears in the _Emblemata Anniversaria_ of that institution. He was named “the German Philosopher.” Denis le Bey de Batilly appears to have been royal president of the Consistory of Metz. John David, born at Courtray in Flanders, in 1546, entered the Society of the Jesuits, and was rector of the colleges of Courtray, Brussels, and Ghent; he died in 1613. Ægidius Sadeler, known as the Phœnix of engravers, was a native of Antwerp, born in 1570, the nephew and disciple of the two eminent engravers John and Raphael Sadeler. He enjoyed a pension from three successive emperors, Rodolphus II., Matthias, and Ferdinand II. Of Crispin de Passe, born at Utrecht about 1560, Bryan (p. 548) says, “He was a man of letters, and not only industrious to perfect himself in his art, but fond of promoting it.” His works were numerous, and have examples in the Emblem-books of his day. Otho van Veen, of a distinguished family, was born at Leyden in 1556. After a residence of seven years in Italy, he established himself at Antwerp, and had the rare claim to celebrity that Rubens became his disciple. In his Emblem-works the designs were by himself, but the engravings by his brother Gilbert van Veen. (Bryan, p. 853, 4.) Lawrence Pignorius, born at Padua, 1571, and educated at the Jesuits’ school and the university of that city, gained a high reputation by several learned works, and especially by those on Egyptian antiquities. He died of the plague in 1631. The work of Richard Lubbæus Broecmer, is little more than a reprint of one by Bernard Furmer, in 1575, _On the Use and Abuse of Wealth_. Jerome Aleander, nephew of one of Luther’s stoutest opponents, the Cardinal Aleander, was of considerable literary reputation at Rome, being a member of the society of Humourists, established in that city,—his death was in 1631. According to Oetlinger’s brief notice, _Bibliog. Biograph. Univ._, Gabriel Rollenhagen, of Magdeburg, was a German schoolmaster, born in 1542, and dying in 1609; his _Kernel of Emblems_ is well illustrated by Crispin de Passe. The same “excellent engraver” adorned _The Mirror of Heroes_, founded on Homer’s _Iliad_ by “le sieur de la Rivière, Isaac Hillaire.” Both Latin and French verses are appended to the Emblems, and at their end are curious “Epitaphs on the Heroes who fell in the Trojan war,” too late, it is to be feared, to afford any gratification to their immediate friends. To Jacobus à Bruck, surnamed of Angermunde, a town of Brandenberg, there belongs another Emblem-book, _Emblemata Politica_, Cologne, 1618. In it are briefly demonstrated the duties which belong to princes; it is dedicated “to his most merciful Prince and Lord, the Emperor Matthias I., ‘semper Augusto.’”

GERMAN.

De Bry _Emblemata 4to Francofurti 1596
Secvlaria—rhythmis _v._
Germanicis, &c._

” ” ” ” 4to Oppenhemii 1611
_t._

Boissard _Shawspiel Menschliches 4to Franckf. 1597
Lebens_ _v._

Sadeler _Theatrum morum. Artliche 4to Praga 1608
gespräch der Thier, &c._ _v._

DUTCH OR FLEMISH.

David _Christelücke_ 4to Antuerp 1603
_k._

Vænius _Zinnebeelden der 4to Amstel. 1603
Wereldtsche Liefde._ _v._

À Ganda _Spiegel van de obl. Amsterod. 1606
doorluchtige,&c., 4to _t._
Vrouwen._

” _Emblemata Amatoria Nova_ obl. Lugd. Bat. 1613
4to _k._

Moerman _De Cleyn Werelt ... 4to Amstelred. 1608
metover schoone _k._
Const-platen._

Ieucht _Den nieuwen Ieucht obl. ... 1610
spieghel ... C. de 4to _t._
Passe._

Embl. Amat. _Afbeeldinghen, &c._ obl. Amsterd. 1611
4to _k._

Gulden _Den Gulden Winckel der 4to Amsterdam 1613
Konstliev ende _k._
Nederlanders
Gestoffeert._

Bellerophon _Bellerophon, of Lust tot 4to Amsterdam 1614
Wysheyd._ _k._

Visscher _Sinnepoppen_ (or Emblem 12mo Amsterdam 1614
Play) _van Roemer _k._
Visscher._

De Bry, Sadeler, David, and Vænius have been mentioned in page 96. Theocritus à Ganda is known for this work, _The Mirror of virtuous Women_, for which Jost de Hondt executed the fine copper-plates that accompany it; and also for _Emblemata Amatoria Nova_, published at Amsterdam in 1608, and at Leyden in 1613. _The Little World_, by Jan Moerman, is of the same class with _Le Microcosme_, Lyons, 1562, by Maurice de Sceve; or with “ΜΙΚΡΟΚΟΣΜΟΣ,” Antwerp, 1584 and 1594, and which Sir Wm. Stirling-Maxwell attributes to Henricus Costerius of Antwerp. _The New Mirror of Youth_, 1610; _The Delineations_, 1611; _The golden Ship of the Art-loving Netherlander finished_, 1613; and _Bellerophon, or Pleasure of Wisdom_, 1614; are all anonymous. Roemer van Visscher, born at Amsterdam in 1547 (_Biog. Univ._ vol. xlix. p. 276), is of high celebrity as a Dutch poet,—with Spiegel and Coörnhert, he was one of the chief restorers of the Dutch language, and an immediate predecessor of the two illustrious poets of Holland, Cornelius van Hooft and Josse du Vondel.

SPANISH.

De Soto _Emblemas Moralizadas_ 8vo Madrid 1599
_t. k._

Vænius _Amorum emblemata._ (Latin 4to Antuerpiæ 1608
and Spanish verses). _v._

” _Amoris divini 4to ” 1615
Emb....hispanicè, &c._ _t._

Orozco _Emblemas Morales_ 4to Madrid 1610
_t. k._

Villava _Empresas Espirituales y 4to Baeça 1613
Morales_ _k._

Hernando de Soto was auditor and comptroller for the King of Spain in his house of Castile. At the end are stanzas of three verses each, in Latin and Spanish on alternate pages, “to our Lady the Virgin.” Don Sebastian de Couarrubias Orozco was chaplain to the King of Spain, schoolmaster and canon of Cuenca, and adviser of the Holy Office. Both Soto and Orozco dedicate their works to Don Francisco Gomez de Sandoual, Duke of Lerma. Juan Francisco de Villava dedicates his first Emblem “to the Holy and General Inquisition of Spain.” Neither of the three names occurs in the Biographies to which I have access.

ENGLISH.

P. S. _The Heroicall Devises of 8vo London 1591
M. Clavdivs Paradin._ _c._

Wyrley _The true use of Armorie, 4to London 1592
shewed by historic, and _v._
plainly proved by
example._

Willet _Sacrorvm Emblematvm 4to Cambridge 1598
Centvria vna, &c. A _v._
Century of Sacred
Emblems._

Crosse _Crose his Covert, or a MS. About
Prosopopœicall 1600
Treatise._ _c._

Vænius _Amorum Emblemata_ (Latin, 4to Antverpiæ 1608
English, and Italian). _k. t._

Guillim _A Display of Heraldry_ fol. London 1611
_k._

Peacham _Minerva Britanna, or a 4to London 1612
Garden of Heroical _c. t.
Deuises, &c._ k._

Yates, MS. _The Emblems of Alciatus MS. About
in English verse._ 1610
_t._

William Wyrley’s _True use of Arms_, was reprinted in 1853. In _Censura Lit._, i. p. 313, Samuel Egerton Brydges gives a pleasing account of the character of Andrew Willet, whom Fuller ranks among England’s worthies (vol. i. p. 238). Of John Crosse himself, nothing is known, but his MS. is certainly not later than Elizabeth’s reign, for the royal arms, at p. 33, are of earlier date than the accession of the Stuarts; and the allusion to the Belgian dames, pp. 2–6, agrees with her times. The work contains 120 shields and devices, and was lent me by my very steadfast friend in Emblem lore, Mr. Corser of Stand. At pp. 10 and 37, it is said,—

“In Troynovant a famous schoole was founde
By famous Citizens; whilome the grounde
Of noble Boone;”—

and

“To traine vp youth in tongues fewe might compare
With Mulcaster, whose fame shall never fade.”

Now it was in 1561 Richard Mulcaster, of King’s College, Cambridge, and of Christchurch, Oxford, was appointed head master of Merchant-Taylor’s School in London, then just founded. (Warton, iii. 282.) Thus it is shown to be very probable that _Crosse his Covert_ may take date not later than A.D. 1600. It may be added that at the end of the MS. the figure of Fortune, or Occasion, on a wheel, is almost a fac-simile from Whitney’s Device, p. 181, which was itself struck from the block (Emb. 121. p. 438) of Plantin’s edition of Alciatus, MDLXXXI. John Guillim’s work on _Heraldry_ passed through five editions previous to that of Capt. John Logan, in 1724; the original folio is one of the book-treasures at Keir. Henry Peacham, _M^r. of Artes_, as he terms himself, was a native of Leverton in Holland, in the county of Lincoln, and a student under “the right worshipfull Mr. D. Laifeild,” in Trinity College, Cambridge. He has dedicated his work “to the Right High and Mightie Henrie, Eldest Sonne of our Soveraigne Lord the King.”

Singular it is, that except the MS. which belonged to the late Joseph B. Yates, of Liverpool, there is not known to exist any translation into English of the once famous _Emblems of Alciatus_. That MS. (see _Transact. Liverpool L. and P. Society, Nov. 5, 1849_) “appears to be of the time of James the First.” The Devices are drawn and coloured, and have considerable resemblance to those in Rapheleng’s edition of Alciatus, 1608. As a specimen we add the translation of Emblem XXXIII. p. 39, “Signa fortium.”

“O Saturn’s birde! what cause doth thee incyte
Upon Aristom’s tombe so highe to sitt?
‘As I all other birds excell in mighte—
So doth Aristom, Lords, in strength and witt.
Let fearful Doves on cowards’ tombs take rest—
We Eagles stoute to stoute men give a crest.’”

How pleasant to feel that this Sketch of Emblem-books and their authors, previous to and during the times of Shakespeare, has been brought to an end. “Vina coronant,” _fill a bumper_, “let the sparkling glass go round.”

The difficulty really has been to compress. The materials collected were most abundant. From curiously or artistically arranged title pages,—from various dedications,—from devices admirably designed or of wondrous oddity,—and from the countless collateral subjects among which the Emblem writers and their commentators disported themselves, the temptations were so rich to wander off here and there, that it was necessary continually to remember that it was a veritable sketch I was engaged on and not a universal history. I lashed myself therefore to the mast and sailed through a whole sea of syrens, deaf, though they charmed ever so sweetly to make me sing with them of emperors and kings, of popes and cardinals, of the learned and the gay, who appeared to believe that everyone’s literary salvation depended on the contrivance of a device and the interpretation of an emblem.

Had I known where to refer my readers for a general view of my subject, either brief or prolix, I should have spared myself the labour of compiling one. The results are, that, previous to the year 1616, the Emblem Literature of Europe could claim for its own at least 200 authors, not including translators, and that above 770 editions of original texts and of versions had issued from the press.[63]

If Shakespeare knew nothing of so wide-spread a literature it is very wonderful; and more wondrous far, if knowing, he did not inweave some of the threads into the very texture of his thoughts.

In this Sketch of Emblem writers, it will be perceived, though their names are seldom heard of except among the antiquaries of letters, that, as a class, they were men of deep erudition, of considerable natural power, and of large attainments. To the literature of their age they were as much ornaments as to the literature of our modern times are the works, illustrated or otherwise, with which our hours of leisure are wont to be both amused and instructed. No one who is ignorant of them can possess a full idea of the intellectual treasures of the more cultivated nations of Europe about the period of which the works of Alciatus and of Giovio are the types. We may be learned in its controversies, well read in its ecclesiastical and political history, intimate even with the characters and pursuits of its great statesmen and sovereigns, and strong as well as enlightened in our admiration of its painters, statuaries, poets, and other artistic celebrities, but we are not baptized into its perfect spirit unless we know what entertainment and refreshing there were for men’s minds when serious studies were intermitted and the weighty cares and business of life for a while laid aside.

Take up these Emblem writers as great statesmen and victorious commanders did; read them as did the recluse in his study and the man of the world at his recreation; search into them as some did for good morals suitable to the guidance of their lives, and as others did for snatches of wit and learning fitted to call forth their merriment; and see, amid divers conceits and many quaintnesses, and not a few inanities and vanities, how richly the fancy was indulged, and how freely the play of genius was allowed; and then will you be better prepared to estimate the whole literature of the nations of that busy, stirring time, when authorities were questioned that had reigned unchallenged for centuries, and men’s minds were awakened to all the advantages of learning, and their tastes formed for admiring the continually varying charms of the poet’s song and the artist’s skill.

True; those strange turns of thought, those playings upon mere words, those fanciful dreamings, those huntings up and down of some unfortunate idea through all possible and impossible doublings and windings, are not approved either by a purer taste, or by a better-trained judgment. We have outgrown the customs of those logo-maniacs, or word-worshippers, whom old Ralph Cudworth, in his _True Intellectual System of the Universe_, p. 67, seems to have had in view, when he affirms, “that they could not make a Rational Discourse of anything, though never so small, but they must stuff it with their Quiddities, Entities, Essences, Hæcceities, and the like.”

But at the revival of literature, when the ancient learning was devoured without being digested, and the modern investigations were not always controlled by sound discretion,—when the child was as a giant, and the giant disported himself in fantastic gambols,—we must not wonder that compositions, both prose and poetic, were perpetrated which receive unhesitatingly from the higher criticism the sentence of condemnation. But in condemning let not the folly be committed of despising and undervaluing. We may devotedly love our more advanced civilization, our finer sensibilities, and our juster estimate of what true taste for the beautiful demands, and yet we may accord to our leaders and fathers in learning and refinement the no unworthy commendation, that, with their means and in their day, they gave a mighty onward movement to those literary pursuits and pleasures in which the powers of the fancy heighten the glow of our joy, and the resources of accurate knowledge bestow an abiding worth upon our intellectual labours.

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Footnote 35:

See Brunet’s _Manuel du Libraire_, vol. v. col. 476–483, and col. 489;
also vol. iv. col. 1343–46.

Footnote 36:

Sold at the Duchess of Portland’s sale in 1789 to Mr. Edwards for
£215,—and at his sale in 1815 to the Duke of Marlborough for £637
15_s._ See Dibdin’s “_Bibliomania_,” ed. 1811, p. 253; and Timperley’s
_Dictionary of Printers and Printing_, ed. 1839, p. 93.

Footnote 37:

One of the earliest and most curious of the Block-books, _Biblia
Pauperum_, has been reproduced in fac-simile by Mr. J. Ph. Berjeau,
from a copy in the British Museum.

Footnote 38:

Mr. Humphreys reads “Pluviam sicut arida tellus;” but in this, as in
two or three other instances in this pl. 2, and p. 40, a botanical
lens will show that the readings are those which I have given. I
desire here to express to him my obligation for the courteous
permission to make use of pl. 2, p. 40, of his work, for a photolith
(see Plate VI.), to illustrate my remarks.

Footnote 39:

To follow out the subject of the _Biblia Pauperum_, or of Block-books
in general, the Reader may consult Sotheby’s _Principia typographica,
The Block-Books_, &c., 3 vols. 4to, London, 1858; Dibdin’s
_Bibliotheca Spenseriana_, 4 vols. London, 1814, 1815; or Berjeau’s
_Biblia Pauperum_, a fac-simile with an historical introduction, 4to:
Trübner, London, 1859.

Footnote 40:

As in Nourry’s Lyons editions of 1509 and 1511, where the title given
is, “~Destructoriũ vitiorum ex similitudinũ creaturarum exemplorũ
appropriatiõe per modum dialogi~,” &c.; lge. 4to, in the Corser
Library, from which we take—~De Sole et Luna~.

Footnote 41:

The Title is “APOLOGI CREATVRARVM;” “Vtilia prudenti, imprudenti
futilia. _G. de Jode excu._ 1584.”

Footnote 42:

An English translation, with wood engravings, appeared about the time
of Shakespeare’s birth, it may be a few years earlier:—_The Tryumphes
of Fraunces Petrarche_, “translated out of Italian into English by
Hẽrye Parker knyght, lorde Morley,” sm. 4to.

Footnote 43:

See Brunet’s _Manuel_, iii. c. 85, and i. c. 1860; _Biog.
Universelle_, “Zainer;” Timperley’s _Dictionary of Printers_, p. 197;
and Bryan’s _Dict. of Engravers_, p. 918.

Footnote 44:

Langlois in his _Essai_, pp. 331–340, names thirty-two editions
previous to A.D. 1730.

Footnote 45:

Be lenient, gentle Reader, if you chance to compare the above
translation with the original; for even should you have learned by
heart the two very large 4to volumes of Forcellini’s _Lexicon of all
Latinity_, I believe you will find some nuts you cannot crack in the
Latin verses of Jodocus Badius.

Footnote 46:

For a very good account of Joachim’s supposed works, consult a paper
in _Notes and Queries_, September, 1862, pp. 181–3, by Mr. Jones, the
excellent Librarian of the Chetham Library, Manchester; and for an
account of the man, Aikin’s _General Biography_, v. pp. 478–80.

Footnote 47:

The “~Ehrenpforte~,” or _Triumphal Arch_, about 1515, and the
“~Triumphwagen~,” or _Triumphal Car_, A.D. 1522, both in honour
of Maximilian I., are among the noblest of Durer’s engravings; but the
_Biographie Universelle_, t. 33, p. 582, attributes the engravings in
the “~Tewrdannckh~” to Hans Shaeufflein the younger, who was
born at Nuremberg about 1487; and with this agrees Stanley’s _Dict. of
Engravers_, ed. 1849, p. 705. There are other works by Durer which, it
may be, should be ranked among the Emblematical, as _Apocalypsis cum
Figuris_, Nuremberg, 1498; and _Passio Domini nostri Jesu_, 1509 and
1511. It is, however, now generally agreed that Durer designed, but
did not engrave, on wood. See Stanley, p. 224.

Footnote 48:

Belonging to one of the earlier editions, or else as an Imagination of
the Tablet itself, is a wonderfully curious woodcut, in folio, of
which our Plate 1. _b_ is a smaller fac-simile.

Footnote 49:

The title is rather conjectured than ascertained, for owing, as it is
said, to Alciat’s dissatisfaction with the work, or from some other
cause, he destroyed what copies he could, and not one is now of a
certainty known to exist. For solving the doubt, the Editor of the
Holbein Society of Manchester has just issued a note of inquiry to the
chief libraries of Europe, _Enquête pour découvrir la première Edition
des Emblêmes d’André Alciat, illustre Jurisconsulte Italien_. Milan,
A.D. 1522.

Footnote 50:

A copy was in the possession of the Rev. Thos. Corser, and has passed
through the hands of Dr. Dibdin and Sir Francis Freeling; also another
copy is at Keir, Sir William Stirling Maxwell’s; both in admirable
condition.

Footnote 51:

CLARISSIMI VIRI D. ANDREÆ AL_ciati Emblematum libellus, uigilanter
recognitus, et iã recens per Wolphgangum Hungerum Bauarum, rhythmis
Germanicis uersus._ PARISIIS, _apud Christianum Wechelum, &c., Anno_
M.D.XLII.

Footnote 52:

“OMNIA ANDREÆ ALCIATI V. C. EMBLEMATA. Adiectis commentariis, &c. Per
Clavdivm Minoim Diuionesem. ANTVERPIÆ, Ex officina Christophori
Plantini, Architypographi Regij, M.D.LXXIII.;” also, “Editio tertia
multo locupletior,” M.D.LXXXI.

Footnote 53:

“Emblemata v. Cl. Andreæ Alciati—_notulis extemporarijs Laurentij
Pignorij Patauini. Patauij, apud Pet. Paulum Tozzium_, M.DCXIIX,” sm.
8vo.

Footnote 54:

The Holbein Society of Manchester have just completed, May, 1869, a
Photo-lithographic Reprint of the whole work, with an English
Translation, Notes, &c., by the Editor, Henry Green, M.A.

Footnote 55:

_La tres admirable, &c., entrée du Prince Philipe d’Espaignes—en la
ville d’Anvers, anno 1549._ 4to, Anvers, 1550.

Footnote 56:

North’s translation of Plutarch’s _Lives_, we may remark, was the
great treasury to which Shakespeare often applied in some of his
Historical Dramas; and we may assume that other productions from the
same pen would not be unknown to him.

Footnote 57:

“PETRI COSTALII PEGMA _Cum narrationibus philosophicis_.” 8vo,
LVGDVNI, 1555.

“LE PEGME DE PIERRE COVSTAV auec les Narr. philosophiqves.” 8vo, A
Lyon, M.D.LX.

Footnote 58:

The dates have been added to Menestrier’s list.

Footnote 59:

A friend, Mr. Jan Hendrik Hessells, now of Cambridge, well acquainted
with his native Dutch literature, informs me the “_Spelen van Sinnen_
(Sinnespelen, Zinnespelen) were thus called because allegorical
personifications, _Zinnebeildige personen_ (in old Dutch,
_Sinnekens_), for instance reason, religion, virtue, were introduced.”
They were, in fact, “allegorical plays,” similar to the “Interludes”
of England in former times.

Footnote 60:

As “Wat den mensch aldermeest tot’ conste verwect?”—_What most of all
awakens man to art?_

Footnote 61:

The works to which a _k_ is appended are all in the very choice and
yet most extensive collection of Emblem-books at Keir, made by the
Author of _The Cloister Life of Charles V._, Sir William Stirling
Maxwell, Bart.; _c_, in the Library formed by the Rev. Thomas Corser,
Rector of Stand, near Manchester; _t_, in that of Henry Yates
Thompson, Esq., of Thingwall, near Liverpool. I have had the
opportunity, most kindly given, of examining very many of the
Emblem-works at Keir, and nearly all of those at Stand and Thingwall.
The three collections contained at the time of my examination of them
934, 204, and 248 volumes, in the whole 1386 volumes. Deducting
duplicates, the number of distinct editions in the three libraries is
above 900. Where I have placed a _v_, it denotes that the sources of
information are various, but those sources I possess the means of
verifying. I name these things that it may be seen I have not lightly
nor idly undertaken the sketch which I present in these pages.

Footnote 62:

First printed at Lyons in 1498.

Footnote 63:

Since the above was written I have good reasons for concluding that
the fact is very much understated. I am now employed, as time allows,
in forming an Index to my various notes and references to Emblem
writers and their works: the Index so far made comprises the letters
A, B, C, D (very prolific letters indeed), and they present 330
writers and translators, and above 900 editions.

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