(XAVIER), one of the most celebrated Italian literati of the eighteenth century, was born at Mantua, the 18th of July 1718. After studying under the Jesuits in his native city and at Bologna, he entered in 1736 upon the noviciate of this society. He then undertook a new course of study; and afterwards taught the belles-lettres, from the year 1739 to 1744, at Brescia, where the Cardinal Quirini, Count Mazzuchelli, Count Duranti, and other scholars, formed an illustrious academy. He there began to distinguish himself by some pieces of poetry, composed as scholastic exercises. Being sent to Bologna to pursue his divinity, he continued, at the same time, to cultivate his poetical talent, and wrote also, for the theatre of the college, his tragedy of Jonathan. The number of learned and literary persons collected in this city exceeded by far what he had met with at Brescia. The Institute, recently founded by the Count Marsigli, the Clementine Academy of Design, the School of the astronomical poet Manfredi, the growing reputation of his ingenious and learned pupils, Zanotti, Algarotti, and others, at this time fixed the attention of the literary world on Bologna. It was in the midst of this society, to which he was admitted, that Bettinelli completed his education, and attained the age of thirty. He went in 1748 to Venice, where he became Professor of rhetoric. He left it for various missions, and returned to it again often. We may see by his epistles in free verse (or sciolli), that he was connected on friendly terms with all that this city and state could boast most illustrious. He was destined by the Superiors of his order for the oratorical department; but the weakness of his chest compelled him to relinquish it. The superintendence of the college of nobles at Parma was entrusted to him in 1751; he principally directed the studies of poetry and history, and the entertainments of the theatre. He remained here eight years, but not without visiting, at intervals, different cities of Italy, either on the affairs of his order, or for pleasure, or for health. In 1755, he undertook a longer journey, traversed a part of Germany, proceeded as far as Strasburg and Nancy, and returned by way of Germany into Italy; taking with him two young princes, sons or nephews of the Prince of Hohenlohe, who had requested him to take charge of their education. He made the year following another journey into France, along with the eldest of these two young Princes, and lodged, while at Paris, at the College of Louis-le-Grand. It was during this excursion that he wrote the famous Letters of Virgil, which were published at Venice with his sciolli verses, and those of Frugoni and Algarotti. The opinions, and we may add without much hesitation, the literary heresies, maintained in these letters against the two great luminaries of Italian poetry, and particularly against Dante, created him many enemies, and what was still more unpleasant to him, embroiled him with Algarotti. Willing to know something more of France than Paris, he made several excurs- Bettinelli sions into Normandy and other provinces; he went also into Lorraine, to the court of King Stanislaus; from thence he proceeded to Lyons, and from thence to Geneva. Soon after his arrival he went to visit Voltaire. This celebrated writer sent to his inn an edition of his works, upon which he inscribed this stanza, in allusion to Bettinelli's Letters of Virgil:

Compatriote de Virgile, Et son secrétaire aujourd'hui, C'est à vous d'écrire sous lui; Vous avez son ame et son style.*

From Geneva, where he consulted Tronchin the physician, Bettinelli proceeded to Marseilles, from thence to Nismes, and returned by Genoa to Italy and Parma, where he arrived in 1759. The same year, he took a journey to Venice, and afterwards to Verona, where he meant to settle. He resided here till 1767. Having resumed the occupations of preaching and teaching, he, according to the Chevalier Pindemonti, in his Poesie campestri, converted the youth to God in the church, and to good taste in his own house. He afterwards lived for some years at Modena, and he had just been appointed professor of rhetoric there, when, in 1773, the order of Jesuits was abolished in Italy.

He then returned into his own country, where he resumed his literary labours with new ardour. He there published several works, and regretting, as it appears, that he had written so much in his life without having been able, till then, to write anything to please the women (perhaps in consequence of the habit which he wore), he determined to make up for lost time, by publishing, one after the other, his Correspondence between two Ladies—his Letters to Lesbia on Epigrams—his Letters on the Fine Arts—and, lastly, his Twenty-four Letters on Love. These he published in 1796, when the war raged in all parts of Italy, and when the siege laid by the French to Mantua compelled him to leave it. He retired to Verona, and there formed the most intimate friendship with the Chevalier Hippolito Pindemonti, notwithstanding the disproportion of their age. In 1797, after Mantua had surrendered, he returned there. Though nearly eighty years old, he resumed his labours and his customary manner of life. He began, in 1799, a complete edition of his works, which was finished at Venice, in 24 volumes duodecimo. Arrived at the age of ninety years, he still retained the gaiety and vivacity of his mind, and died the 13th of September 1808, after fifteen days of illness, with the firmness of a philosopher, and the sentiments of a believer. Without giving a list of all his works, or specifying the separate editions, it will be sufficient to refer to them in the order in which they are placed in this last edition.

1. Ragionamenti Filosofici, con Aunotazioni. These philosophical discourses, which occupy the two first volumes, form a system of religious morality, in which the author endeavours to exhibit man under all his relations, and in all states, following the order of the sacred writings, and treating, first, of man as created,—as reasonable,—as lord of the other creatures,—and in all the different states of solitude, society, innocence, error, repentance, &c. He only finished ten of these discourses. The notes are themselves little philosophical treatises,—On Beauty in general,—On Beauty of Expression,—On Physiognomy, &c.

2. Dell' Enthusiasmo delle Belle Arti, 2 volumes, in three parts, of which the last is an appendix to the two others, and treats of the history of enthusiasm in different nations, and the influence which climates, governments, and all the modifications of society, have had on enthusiasm. In the two first parts, the author, who was not very subject to enthusiasm, sometimes writes a little obscurely on it, becomes turgid when he endeavours to be sublime, and remains a stranger to the warmth which he affects.

3. Dialoghi d'Amore, 2 volumes. The object of the author is to point out the influence which the imagination, vanity, friendship, marriage, honour, the love of glory, the study of the sciences, and fashion, have on the passion of love; and afterwards to trace the influence which it exercises on the productions of the arts of genius, and of the dramatic art in particular. The last dialogue, which is entitled, On Love and on Petrarch, is followed by the Eulogy of Petrarch, one of the author's best pieces.

4. Risorgimento negli Studi, nelle Arti e ne' Costumi dopo il Mille, 3 volumes; a work regarded in Italy as superficial, but which, nevertheless, contains some enlightened sentiments, and in which facts are often presented under a philosophical point of view, which wants neither novelty nor justness.

5. Delle Lettere e delle Arti Mantovane: Lettere el Arti Modenesi, 1 volume,—almost entirely filled with anecdotes of literary history, tending to the glory of Mantua, the country of the author.

6. Lettere dieci di Virgilio agli Arcadi. 1 vol. These letters, which have been translated into French by M. de Pommereul, Paris, 1778, are, of all the works of Bettinelli, that which has made the most noise. They are followed in this volume by Letters from an Englishman to a Venetian, which treat somewhat vaguely on different topics of literature.

7. Italian Letters from a Lady to her Friend on the Fine Arts, and Letters from a Friend, copied from the Originals, 3 vols. of which the letters on the fine arts occupy only the first.

8. Poetry, 3 volumes, containing seven small poems, sixteen epistles in easy verse, sonnets, canzonets, &c. Without ever showing himself a great poet, the author is always elegant and ingenious. These three volumes are preceded by a well-written discourse on Italian poetry. Several of the epistles and smaller poems are seasoned with attic salt. Such is the poem in four cantos entitled, Le Raccolte, in which Bettinelli very happily turns into ri-

* "Fellow-countryman of Virgil, and at present his secretary, it is for you to write in his name: you possess his soul and his style."

VOL. II. PART II. Bettinelli ridicule those insipid collections of verses, which, in his time, appeared on every occasion in Italy.

9. Tragedies, 2 vols. These tragedies are Xerxes, Jonathan, Demetrius Poliorcetes, and Rome Delivered, a translation from Voltaire. Prefixed to them are some letters written in French, and a discourse in Italian, on the Italian tragedy. Some letters on tragedy, among others one on the tragedies of Alfieri, follow; and the second of these two volumes concludes with an eulogy on Father Granelli, a Jesuit, a preacher, and a poet, author of some tragedies, which are in much esteem, particularly for the elegance and beauty of the style.

10. Lettre a Lesbia Cidonia sopra gli Epigrammi, 2 vols. consisting of twenty-five letters, intermixed with epigrams, madrigals, and other light pieces, translated and original.

11. Lastly, an Essay on Eloquence, to which are added, some letters, discourses, and other miscellanies. It would be hazardous to pronounce a judgment on so great a diversity of productions, the author of which has so lately ceased to live and write. It should seem, in general, that he is distinguished more for wit and talent than for warmth and genius; that his writings contain literary opinions dictated by a taste not always correct, and which, having been publicly declared early in life, have often reduced the author to the unpleasant dilemma, either of retracting or of persisting, in spite of his better judgment, in what he must have perceived to be the errors of his youth; that his philosophy, of which the morality is pure, wants, when it aspires to metaphysical questions, both determinate principles and just conclusions, and is too often verbose and declamatory; but that, though his ideas are not always entitled to praise, his style is so almost always; that having been to blame, according to the Italian critics, in paying too little respect to the great writers of the fourteenth century, he has the merit of having remained constantly attached to those of the sixteenth, and to the authors who were his contemporaries, and who have taken him for their guide; and also of having defended to the last, both by his opinions and his example, the finest of the modern languages against the corruption which threatens, or rather which overwhelms it on all sides.—See Biographie Universelle, Tom. IV.

BEYKANEER or BICANERE, a principality of Asia, situate in the north-west of Hindostan, the precise dimensions and limits of which are scarcely ascertained by modern geographers. It extends from about 27° 40' north latitude to 29° 45', and from 72° 10' to 75° 15' east longitude; and its superficial area probably amounts to about 17,000 square miles. It is bounded on the north by a country occupied by the Battles or people of Batneer; on the east by the territories of Huriana and Shekhawuttee, in the province of Delhi; on the south-east by Jeypour; on the south-west by Jesselmere; and on the west by Bahawulpoor. But these may be deemed obscure limits, for the countries named in them are scarcely better known than the subject of this article.

A vast proportion of the soil of Beykaneer is a barren sandy desert, or a hard flat clay, sounding like a board under horses' feet, and entirely destitute of Beykaneer inhabitants, water, and vegetation. Many miles are occupied in hills and valleys of loose heavy sand; the former from 20 feet to 100 in height, shifting their position and altering their shape according to the influence of the wind; and, during the heats of summer, clouds of moving sand threaten to overwhelm the traveller. Sometimes the phenomenon called mirage is exhibited in this desert, consisting of an optical illusion, whereby a spectator believes that he beholds a lake or a wide river well defined before him, reflecting surrounding objects, while there is nothing but a level uninterrupted surface in view.

Vegetation is exceedingly scanty throughout, except in a few patches, which are skilfully and industriously cultivated; and the whole country seems to depend on external supplies of grain. Nevertheless, in the midst of arid tracts, the water-melon, a juicy fruit, grows in profusion, attaining the remarkable size of three or four feet in circumference, from a stalk no larger than that of the common melon. The seeds are sown by the natives, and also grow wild, but it is difficult to account for such an enlargement of size with so little moisture. Water seems to be obtained only at an immense depth; the wells at Beykaneer are often from 300 to 345 feet deep, yet not above three feet in diameter; all are lined with masonry; and one of the most curious objects in the city of Beykaneer, is considered to be a well 300 feet deep, and 15 or 20 in diameter, worked by four pair of oxen drawing as many buckets of water. The water is always brackish, scanty, and insalubrious, and this, combined with the nature of the soil, principally occasions the prevalent sterility of this country.

The wild ass, remarkable for its speed and its Animals. shyness, is found here, sometimes solitary, but often er in herds. At a kind of shuffling trot, peculiar to itself, it will leave the best horses behind. Antelopes are seen in some parts, also foxes, smaller than those of Britain, and the desert rat is in great numbers, occasioning serious inconvenience to equestrians from the holes it makes where the ground is sufficiently solid. Of domesticated animals, horses, bullocks, and camels, are in abundance; the last kept in great herds for various purposes. The horses brought from the vicinity of the Lacky Jungle, an adjoining district, where they are reared on excellent pasture and with the strictest attention, are much prized. But the original breed was greatly improved by the introduction of fine Persian horses, brought hither during the successive invasions of Hindostan by Nadir Shab, and other eastern potentates. At present they bear very high prices, some of them bringing even L. 250 Sterling, a large sum in a poor country. But some decrease in the extent and quality of the breed has lately resulted from the impolitic conduct of the officers of the Rajah of Beykaneer, by whom the owners are compelled to sell them at an undervalue. When purchased thus, the horses are sent on speculation to different parts of the Indian peninsula.

We are little acquainted with the manners and Manners. customs of the inhabitants of this country, otherwise Beykaneer, than by their correspondence with those of the same tribes disseminated elsewhere in India. The natives are divided into two principal classes, Rajpoots and Jauts; the former the rulers, the latter the mass of the people. The Jauts are of small stature, black, ill-looking, and bear strong indications of poverty and wretchedness; the Rajpoots are stout and handsome, with Jewish features, of haughty manners, an indolent disposition, and greatly addicted to intoxication with opium. It is doubtful whether the Rajpoots of Beykaneer entertain those elevated and magnanimous sentiments so peculiar to their tribe, whether they are animated by that high sense of honour and impatience of indignity, which, united to the violence of their passions, lead to the most terrible catastrophes. When a man of rank finds himself beset by an enemy, from whom he has no chance of escape, he inquires whether, by surrender, he can preserve the honour of his family; should the answer be equivocal or unfavourable, he clothes himself in yellow, the symbol of despair, and repairing along with his nearest relatives to the apartments of the females, the whole are involved in promiscuous destruction; nor is it uncommon, on such occasions, for the women themselves to commit suicide. The Rajpoot then rushes furiously against his enemies, and though he should be successful and prevail over them, rather than survive his dire calamity, he plunges his sword in his own breast. The same sense of dishonour induces females of rank to deem themselves contaminated by the gaze of any man but their most intimate relatives; and it also leads them to ascend the funeral pile of their husbands, lest, by survivance, they should lose the consideration of the world. The people of the East, while more placid and resigned to fate, are, at the same time, agitated by more acute and ungovernable passions than the inhabitants of the Western World. A Mahometan officer of high rank, who was hard pressed by a victorious enemy, approaching the place where his wife and daughter had sought refuge on the banks of a river, gave the following account of his conduct: "I leapt from my horse, and seizing each by a hand, rushed with them into the water up to their waists, and covered the rest of their persons with a cloth: I drew my sword to defend them with my life from further insult, and, happily for my honour, their faces were not seen by the eyes of a stranger." Of late the Rajpoots of Beykaneer have been accused of being cruel and treacherous.

The population of this territory is altogether uncertain; but, from the scarcity of water, it is probably very much restricted. The inhabitants are dispersed in towns and villages, of which Beykaneer, near the southern frontier, in about 27° 55' north latitude, the capital, and Churoo, on the eastern frontier, are the chief. Beykaneer, surrounded by lofty white walls, strengthened with numerous round towers crowned by battlements, presents the imposing picture of a great and magnificent city in the midst of a wilderness. But, on entering the gates, the illusion vanishes; it proves to consist, for the most part, of huts built of mud, and painted red. Nevertheless, there are some high houses, several temples, and at one corner a lofty and fine looking fortress, a quarter of a mile square, environed by a wall 30 feet high, and a good dry ditch. The interior is a confused assemblage of towers and battlements, overtopped by houses, and it contains the royal palace, a curious old edifice. Churoo, independent of the suburbs, is above a mile and a half in circuit, and, although situate among sand-hills, has a handsome appearance. All the houses have terraces, and are built of a pure white limestone like those of Beykaneer. Villages are occasionally seen in the most dismal situations, to which their miserable aspect corresponds. They consist of a few round huts of straw, with low walls and conical roofs like little stacks of corn, and surrounded by hedges of thorny branches stuck in the sand. A modern traveller speaks thus, in describing the town of Pooggul: "If I could present to my reader the foreground of high sand-hills,—the village of straw huts,—the clay walls of the little fort going to ruins, as the soil which supported them was blown away by the winds, and the sea of sand which formed the rest of the prospect, he would probably feel, as I did, a sort of wonder at the people who could reside in so dismal a wilderness; and of horror at the life to which they seemed to be condemned." The city of Beykaneer is said to stand 219 miles north-west of Delhi, but its real position is south-west, and we conceive the distance to be not less than 260 or 280 miles. Fortresses are not so common in this territory as in a large portion of Hindostan, owing to the quality of the surface.

Scarcely anything definite can be said regarding the occupation and pursuits of the people in their trade and manufactures. Cattle of an inferior breed, and horses, are the only exports; rice, sugar, opium, and indigo, are obtained from the Punjaub; salt from Samber; wheat from Jeypour; and spices, copper, and coarse cloth, are imported from Jesselmere.

Beykaneer is governed by a Rajah, who is a sovereign, and independent prince, though he seems formerly to have been tributary to the monarch of Delhi; and even acknowledged the supremacy of Britain, when Delhi had fallen under a foreign power. He enjoys an absolute sway over the lives and property of his subjects, and maintains considerable state in his reception of strangers. His revenues do not exceed L.50,000 per annum, though occasionally augmented to nearly double that sum by vexatious imposts on merchandise in transitu. Therefore, those caravans which were accustomed to take the route of this province from Surat to Tatta, a town on the Indus, follow another course, in order to avoid such exactions. The resources of Beykaneer are thus very small, which is not surprising, considering they are derived from a country that becomes an absolute desert even within a few yards of the capital. The Rajah's forces amount to 10,000 men, of whom 2000 are cavalry, and he has 35 pieces of artillery; all which troops are paid by assignments of land. Soorut Sing, the reigning Rajah, having profusely dissipated the treasure accumulated by his predecessors, became cruel and tyrannical. Oppressive exactions to relieve pressing necessities alienated the regard of his subjects, and an army of mercenaries became necessary to preserve his authority. He was suspected of poi- Beykaneer being an elder brother, and undoubtcdly murdered the envoy of another prince passing through his dominions. Yet, being strict in his external devotions, and religiously abstaining from prohibited food, his people have admitted him to the character of sanctity. The sovereign of Beykaneer has to contend with many enemies, who, in their turn, are opposed by the most powerful obstacles. Water must be carried by an invading army; for the natives either poison the wells, fill them up, or cover them over in such a manner that they cannot possibly be found; and, besides, they mix arsenic with bread, which is insidiously disposed of in the hostile camp. Some years ago, George Thomas, a celebrated adventurer, who raised himself to the government of a neighbouring territory, invaded Beykaneer, and compelled the Rajah to purchase peace with L.25,000. He also aided the Battles in expelling him, on occasion of an incursion he had made into their country. More recently, a war having commenced between the Rajahs of Joudpour and Jeypour contending for the hand of an eastern Princess, the interference of Soorut Sing excited the wrath of some of the competitors against himself. Five different armies invaded Beykaneer in 1808, when the Rajah filled up all the wells within ten miles of the walls of his capital. The contest was protracted for a considerable time, but we are unacquainted with its issue.

See Franklin's Memoirs of General Thomas.—Scott's Memoirs of Eradut Khan.—Franklin's Tracts.—Elphinstone's Account of Caulul.

B I B L I O G R A P H Y.

The branch of knowledge to which the term Bibliography is now universally applied, would certainly be more correctly designated by the word Bibliology. It was originally employed to denote skill in the perusing and judging of ancient Manuscripts,* but is, at present, appropriated to the Knowledge of Books, in reference to their Constituent parts, their Editions and different degrees of Rareness, their Subjects and Classes.

It is in France, Germany, and Italy, that this species of knowledge has been most largely and successfully cultivated; for though it will appear in the sequel, that Britain has produced some valuable works in this department, it will also appear, that our Bibliographical labours have been greatly surpassed by the Continental Nations. It is to France, in particular, that we are indebted for the most popular and useful treatises in Bibliography; but whilst we make this acknowledgment, in which all who have had any experience of their utility will concur, we must add, that some of her Bibliographers have lately fallen into a very extravagant mode of describing the nature and rank of this branch of Learning. They go so far as to represent it as a Universal Science, in whose ample range all other sciences, and all other kinds of knowledge, are comprehended. La Bibliographie étant la plus étendue de toutes les sciences, semble devoir les renfermer toutes, is the language of one:† La Bibliographie est la plus vaste et la plus universelle de toutes les connaissances humaines, is the language of another;‡ though, nothing surely can be more preposterously illogical than to view it in this light, merely because it is conversant about Books, and because Books are the vehicles of all sorts of knowledge. Yet this is the sole foundation that we can discover for these extravagant representations; which tend, as in all other cases of extravagant pretension, to bring ridicule upon a subject, that, were its nature and objects simply and correctly defined, could not fail to appear both useful and important. We have already stated, in a general way, what kind of knowledge of Books it is, to which the appellation of Bibliographical knowledge is applied; but, in order more fully to illustrate its nature and scope, as well as to point out its limits and its utility, we shall now endeavour to detail something more particularly the chief objects of inquiry which it embraces.

It is the business of the Bibliographer, then, to trace the history of Books in regard to their forms and all other constituents, and, consequently, to trace the beginnings and progress of Typography. It belongs to him, in a particular manner, to mark the differences of editions, and to indicate that edition of every Book which is esteemed the most correct and valuable. In the case of Books published without the names of their authors, or under feigned names, it is his business to assign those names with which the discoveries of Literary History may have furnished him. All remarkable facts attaching to the history of Books,—such as the number of their editions, their rareness, their having been condemned to the flames, or suppressed, belong to the province of Bibliographical inquiry. Further, every one who engages in any particular line of study, must of course wish to know what Books have been published in re-

* BIBLIOGRAPHE. C'est le nom qu'on donne à ceux qui déchiffrent les anciens manuscrits, et qui sont versés dans la connaissance des livres; mais aujourd'hui on donne ce nom spécialment à ceux qui connaissent les livres, et les éditions, et qui en font des catalogues. Dictionnaire de Trevoux, Tom. I. † See Cours Elementaire de Bibliographie, par Achard. Introduct. ‡ See Dictionnaire de Bibliologie, par Peignot. Art. Bibliographe. gard to it, or in regard to any particular point that interests his curiosity; now, it is the business of the Bibliographer to furnish this most useful species of information: in other words, the compilation of Catalogues of the Books which have appeared in the various Branches of Knowledge, constitutes another grand department of Bibliography. It is by means of such Catalogues that, to use the words of Dr Johnson, "the Student comes to know what has been written on every part of learning; that he avoids the hazards of encountering difficulties which have already been cleared; of discussing questions which have already been decided; and of digging in mines of literature which have already been exhausted." (Preface to the Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae.)

Such is the outline of the principal objects and pursuits of the Bibliographer; and while it must appear abundantly evident that his Science, as it is called, has no pretensions to those lofty epithets upon which we have animadverted; it must, we think, be allowed by every one, that it embraces many curious, as well as interesting subjects of inquiry; and that it is calculated to afford very useful aids to every other species of intellectual occupation. This view of it will be fully confirmed by the details which we are to offer in the course of this article; in which we propose to point out the progress and best sources of information, in regard to all those departments of Bibliographical knowledge, to which we have alluded. In doing so, we shall divide the subject into such a number of heads, as shall appear best suited to the purposes intended.

I. Of the Constituent Parts of Books, and the Differences of Editions.

The history of the Materials employed to make Books, of the arts of Writing and Printing upon these materials, and of the Forms and Sizes in which they have appeared, all belong to this head of inquiry. Almost the whole of these particulars have furnished topics for much elaborate research; and some of them for speculations and disputes not yet likely to come to any satisfactory conclusion; but as our main object at present is, to indicate the inquiries which belong to the different departments of Bibliography, together with the best guides to information in each, our notices of those subjects here, must be limited to what is necessary for that purpose. Most of them, indeed, necessarily form the subjects of separate articles in other parts of an Encyclopaedia.

Much curious learning has been exercised in describing the various substances used for writing, previous to the important discovery of the art of making Paper from linen rags. The precise era of this discovery is not known, nor are authors agreed as to the country in which it was made; but it seems to be ascertained, that this kind of paper was in general use in Europe before the end of the fourteenth century. Cotton paper had been in general use more than a century before; and though of greatly inferior quality, its introduction was one of the most fortunate circumstances in the history of the arts; for parchment had become so scarce, that old writings were often erased, in order to apply the parchment to other purposes; and thus, by a metamorphosis of a singular and fatal kind, a Classic was sometimes transformed into a vapid homily or monkish legend. In this way, it is supposed, that some valuable works of antiquity have perished; and, indeed, there can be little doubt of this, when we consider the number of manuscripts that have been discovered, evidently written upon erased parchments. Upon some of them both writings remain legible, and, in this guise, some fragments of Cicero have lately been discovered. These twofold manuscripts are called Codices Rescripti. We shall quote from Mr Horne's Introduction to Bibliography (Vol. I. p. 115), an account of a Codex Rescriptus, discovered about twenty-five years since, at Dublin, by Dr Barret of Trinity College. "While he was examining different books in the Library of that College, he accidently met with a very ancient Greek MS., on certain leaves of which he observed a twofold writing, one ancient, and the other comparatively recent, transcribed over the former. The original writing had been greatly defaced, but, on close examination, he found that it consisted of the three following fragments: the Prophet Isaiah, the Evangelist St Matthew, and certain orations of Gregory Nazianzen. The fragment containing St Matthew's gospel, Dr Barret carefully transcribed, and it has been accurately engraved in fac-simile, and published by the order, and at the expence, of the University. The original writing, or Codex Vetus, Dr Barret, with great probability, assigns to the sixth century; the Codex Recens, or later writing, he attributes to the thirteenth."

That part of the history of Books which regards the various substances upon which they have been written, is compendiously, but learnedly, treated in the first volume of that very valuable work, the Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique, compiled by two Benedictines of the celebrated Society of St Maur. This work was published at Paris in 1750, in six volumes quarto. M. Peignot gives a complete list of separate works on this subject, in the introduction to his Essai sur l'histoire du Parchemin et du Vélin, published at Paris in 1812.

The inquiry as to the origin of Writing, is a purely philosophical speculation; but the knowledge of the different kinds of writing peculiar to different ages, is a branch of the history of Books which belongs to the province of Bibliography, and upon which much information will be found in the learned work of the Benedictines of St Maur, just referred to. One of the best Books on this subject is Mr Astle's Origin and Progress of Writing; the first edition of which was published at London in 1784, and the second, with some additions, in 1803, both in one volume quarto. The chapters on the Transcribers and Illuminators, and the instruments, inks, and other matters which they made use of in their operations, will be found peculiarly interesting to the Bibliographer.

We are now so familiar with the wonders and glorious results of Printing, that it is only when we look back into the history of the darker ages, that we are made fully sensible, of all the various advantages which it has conferred upon mankind. The mention of the Transcribers, that is, the class employed to copy Books, before the discovery of Printing, is well calculated to give rise to reflections of this kind. Their ignorance and carelessness were often the causes of much trouble and mortification to living authors, and of irreparable errors in the works of those who were dead. Petrarch, who flourished in the fourteenth century, has expressed himself in very moving terms, in regard to this double evil. "How shall we find out a remedy," says he, "for those mischiefs which the ignorance and inattention of the Copyists inflict upon us? It is wholly owing to these causes that many men of genius keep their most valuable Pieces unpublished, so that they never see the light. Were Cicero, Livy, or Pliny, to rise from the dead, they would scarcely be able to recognise their own Writings. In every page they would have occasion to exclaim against the ignorance and the corruptions of those barbarous Transcribers."* Upon the invention of Printing, the class of Copyists immediately took alarm, and exerted every means to extinguish an art which, whatever benefits it promised the rest of mankind, held out nothing but prospects of loss to them. They endeavoured, and their example is still steadily followed by other Crafts, to set up their own petty interests in opposition to the general good; and called upon their Governments to invest them with exclusive privileges, which all the great interests of society required to be done away. Thus, when Printing was introduced at Paris, the Copyists complained of the injury to the Parliament, and that body forthwith caused the Books belonging to the Printers to be seized and confiscated; but Louis XI. had the good sense to restore their property to these ingenious artists, and to authorize them to proceed in their laudable vocation. (Lambinet, Origine de l'Imprimerie.)

The question as to the origin of Printing, is of a complexion wholly different from that regarding the origin of Writing, as it turns entirely upon matters of fact; but it is not the less true, that this is a subject upon which opinions widely opposite are, to this day, entertained; for though this art, we mean the art of Printing with moveable types, was spread all over Europe within twenty years of the first discovery, it has unfortunately failed to record, in decisive terms, the name of the individual to whom the honour of the invention is due. The place where the discovery was made remains also a subject of doubt and contention. In Mallinkrot's work, De ortu et progressu artis Typographicae, published in 1640, he enumerates a hundred and nine testimonies in favour of Mentz, as the birth-place of the art; and since that time the number has been greatly augmented; yet the latest author who has resumed the controversy, declares decidedly in favour of Haerlem, which, in Mallinkrot's day, ranked only thirteen advocates; and further, assigns the wreath which the supporters of Mentz have variously placed on the brow of Guttenberg, of Faust, and of Schoffer, to Lawrence Coster, as its rightful owner.† All that we can do in this place, is to point out some of the most important works which have been published upon the origin and history of Printing, and which it may be necessary for the Bibliographer to examine, in order to enable him to judge of early editions; recommending those who wish to see a clear and compendious view of the various opinions which have been advanced upon this subject, to peruse M. Dau-nou's Analysis of these opinions, published in the fourth volume of the Memoirs of the Moral and Political Class of the French Institute.

The Monumenta Typographica of Wolfius, published in two thick octavo volumes, at Hamburg in 1740, contains a valuable and curious collection of treatises by various authors, and also of extracts, illustrative of the origin and early history of the art. Some of these pieces are in verse. Among several other elaborate tables, it contains one of all the authors, who, up to that time, had either directly or indirectly treated of the history, or of the mechanical part of Printing. Meerman's Origines Typographiae is one of the most instructive works as to the progress of the art. It is illustrated with various specimens of early printing, and fac-similes of the Books called Block-Books, printed by means of wooden-blocks. Meerman, who was a Lawyer, and author of many elaborate treatises in the Civil and Canon law, was born at Leyden in 1722, and died in 1771, six years after the publication of his Origines; in which he supports the pretensions of Haerlem as the birth place of the art, and of Lawrence Coster as its inventor, with great ardour and learning. Another work of curious research on the origin and first progress of Printing, is that of Prosper Marchand, originally a Bookseller at Paris, but whom the repeal of the edict of Nantz drove to Holland, where he employed himself till his death in 1756, in composing various works in Literary History and Bibliography. He makes Guttenberg the inventor of the art, and Mentz the place where he completed the invention; the first idea of it, however, having been formed by him, whilst he resided in Strasburg. This work, entitled, Histoire de l'Origine et des premiers progres de l'Imprimerie, was published in 1740. A valuable Supplement, in which some errors of Marchand are corrected, and some new views are advanced, was published by M. Mercier, Abbé de Saint Leger, in 1773, and republished in 1775. The author of the original work was not at all pleased with this Supplement, and he accordingly criticised it with great severity in a long letter addressed to the Editors of the Journal des Savans, where it was published. The opinion that Guttenberg conceived the first idea of the invention at Strasburg, and afterwards completed it

* Quoted in Lambinet, Origine de l'Imprimerie, Tom. I. p. 38, 39. † See Ottley's Inquiry into the Origin and early History of Engraving, cap. 3. Bibliography at Mentz, is also supported by Lambinet, in his Recherches, historiques, litteraires, et critique sur l'Origine de l'Imprimerie, first published at Brussels in 1799; and republished in two volumes octavo at Paris in 1810, with the addition of M. Daunou's Analyse des Opinions, already mentioned. Besides the main subject of inquiry, M. Lambinet's work embraces various other objects of curious research,—the history of the substances employed for Books, of Inks, of Engraving in relief, of Block-printing, and of Stereotype Printing. Upon the history of Printing, we shall only mention further, M. Serna Santander's Essai Historique, prefixed to his Dictionnaire Bibliographique, to be afterwards more fully described; and the Initia Typographica of Professor Lichtenberger, published at Strasburg in 1811; in both of which, the claims set up for Coster are treated as founded on fables; Gutenberg being represented as the inventor of the art, and Mentz the place where it was perfected; and in both of which, there are ample details as to its progressive establishment in the other cities and countries of Europe.

Besides the information afforded in these General Histories, as to the progress of Printing throughout Europe, there are various Histories of its establishment in particular countries and places, which it will often be necessary for the Bibliographer to consult. One of the most valuable, particularly to the English Bibliographer, is Ames's Typographical Antiquities; which contains memoirs of our early Printers, and a register of their publications, from 1471 to 1600. The first edition, published in 1749, consisted of one volume quarto. Another edition, enlarged by Mr Herbert to three volumes quarto, was completed in 1790; and a third edition, illustrated with superb embellishments, and containing some valuable additions, by Mr Dibdin, is now (1817) in course of publication. The French, Germans, and Italians, particularly the latter, are rich in Typographical Histories of this description; but for accounts of them, we must refer our readers to Peignot's Répertoire Bibliographique Universel, where they are enumerated and described.

A knowledge of the different classes and bodies of Letter used by Printers is necessary to the accurate description of Books, and discrimination of editions. The Bibliographer must also be acquainted with the corresponding appellations assigned to the different bodies of letter by foreign Printers. Thus the form called pica by English Printers, is called Cicero by those of France and Germany, because Cicero's Epistles were printed in that type. The form called paragon, is the only one which retains the same name among the Printers of all countries. Upon all these points, Stower's Printer's Grammar, and Fournier's Manuel Typographique, may be consulted with advantage. The latter is rich in specimens very neatly executed. It consists of two octavo volumes published in 1764, to which the author, who was a Parisian Letter-founder, and Engraver of great ingenuity and taste, intended to have added two more, but was prevented by his death, which happened in 1768.

The Books of the Ancients were generally in the form of cylinders, made by rolling the joined sheets upon a stick, to the ends of which, nobs or balls were affixed, often richly ornamented; there being just as much foppery among the Collectors of ancient times, as to the matter of ornamenting their Books, as among the Bibliomaniacs of the present day. In the infancy of Printing, the sizes were generally folio and quarto; and some have supposed that no Books were printed in the smaller forms till after 1480; but M. Peignot instances many editions in the smallest forms, of an earlier date; as may be seen in the article Format of the Supplement to his Dictionnaire de Bibliologie. An accurate knowledge of the different forms of Books is necessary to the Bibliographer, as, without this, no Book can be correctly described; and however easy of acquisition this knowledge may appear, it is yet certain, that errors in this respect are sometimes committed even by experienced Bibliographers; and that doubts have been entertained as to the existence of editions, owing to their forms having been inaccurately described.* These mistakes generally proceed from this, that there are different sizes of paper comprehended under the same name. But the water lines in the sheets afford a test; as they are uniformly perpendicular in all folio and octavo sizes, and horizontal in all quarto and duodecimo sizes.

When Books have gone through more than one edition, various minute inquiries must often be made, in order to determine the respective merits of those editions. It is a principal object of the Bibliographical Dictionaries, to be afterwards mentioned, to point out the editions of important works, which such inquiries have ascertained to be the best. There are many particulars in which one edition may differ from, or excel another. There may be differences and grounds of preference in Size, in Paper, and in Printing. The Text of one edition may be more correct than that, either of a preceding, or a subsequent one. An author sometimes corrects errors, makes alterations, or introduces new matter when his work comes to be reprinted, thereby giving the edition so altered a decided superiority over its predecessor. One edition may differ from another by having Notes, an Index, or Table of Contents, which that other wants; or these accompaniments may themselves furnish grounds of preference by being superior in their kind in particular editions. Plates make great differences in the value of editions, and even in the value of Copies of the same edition. In the beautiful engraved edition of Horace by Pine, there is, in the copies first thrown off, a small error, which serves as a test by which Bibliographers immediately judge whether any copy has the best impressions of those elegant vignettes which illustrate that edition. The medal of Augustus in page 108 of the second volume, has, in the copies

* See Boulard, Traité Elementaire de Bibliographie, p. 38, 39. first thrown off, the incorrect reading Post Est for Potest; this was rectified in the after impressions; but as the Plates had previously sustained some injury, the copies which show the incorrect reading are, of course, esteemed the best. Mr Dibdin, in his Book called The Bibliomania, very absurdly points out this as an instance of preference founded on a defect; whereas the ground of preference is the superiority of the impressions, ascertained, without the necessity of any comparison, by the presence of this trifling defect. There are, sometimes, owing to particular circumstances, differences between Copies of the same edition of a work; and which, therefore, stand to each other in the same relation, as if there had been another edition with some variations. Walton's Polyglott Bilde is a celebrated instance. The printing of that great work, for which Cromwell liberally allowed paper to be imported free of duty, was begun in 1653, and completed in 1657; and the preface to it, in some copies, contains a respectful acknowledgment of this piece of patronage on the part of the Protector; but in other copies, this compliment is expunged, and replaced by some invectives against the Republicans, Dr Walton having, at the Restoration, printed another preface to the copies which were undisposed of at that event.* The copies, with the original preface, are much rarer, and of course more prized, than those with the loyal one, which latter seems to have helped the author to the Bishopric he afterwards obtained.

II. Of Early Printed Books.

The productions of the Press, in the different countries of Europe, during the century in which Printing was invented, have engaged much of the attention of Bibliographers, and have been described in various works, compiled for that purpose. The first of those productions to which the name of Books has been applied, were printed, not with moveable types, but with solid wooden blocks; and consisted of a few leaves only, on which were impressed images of Saints, and other historical pictures, with appropriate texts or descriptions. These leaves were printed only on one side, and the blank sides were generally, though not always, pasted together, so as to look like single leaves. The ink used was of a brownish hue, and glutinous quality, to prevent it from spreading. These curious specimens of the infant art are called Image Books or Block Books. They have often been largely described, every particular concerning them being fondly cherished by Bibliographers. Their number is fixed by some at seven, and by others carried to ten; but there have been numerous editions of most of them; for they maintained their popularity long after the invention of the art of Printing, properly so called. One of the most celebrated is the Biblia Pauperum, consisting of forty leaves, printed on one side, so as to make twenty when pasted together; upon which, certain historical passages of the Old and New Testament are represented by means of figures, with relative inscriptions. It was originally intended, as its name imports, for the use of those poor persons who could not afford to purchase complete copies of the Bible. There is a copious account of all the Block Books, in Baron Heinecken's learned work, Idée générale d'une Collection complète d'Estampes, published in 1771, in one volume octavo. Mr Dibdin's Bibliotheca Spenceriana contains fac-similes of the figures in several of them, as does also Mr Otley's History of Engraving.

The first Book of any considerable magnitude printed with moveable metallic types, was the celebrated editio princeps of the Bible, printed at Mentz, between the years 1450 and 1455. It is printed in large, but handsome, Gothic characters, to resemble manuscript, having two columns in the page, and consisting in whole of 637 leaves, divided into two, three, or four volumes, according to the taste of the binder. (Santander, Diction. Bibliog. Tom. II.) The advance from the rude Block Books, of a few leaves, to this noble monument of early Typography, is great indeed; and it is impossible not to regret, that there should be still so much uncertainty as to the person whose ingenuity furnished the means of at once raising, almost to perfection, an art destined ever after to exercise so vast and so beneficial an influence on the affairs of the world. The Psalter, printed at Mentz by Faust and Schoffier, in 1457, is the first Book which bears the Printer's name, with the date, and place of printing.

In general, in the very early printed Books, the name of the Printer, the date, and the place of printing, are either wholly omitted, or placed at the end of the Book, with some quaint ejaculation or doxology. The pages have no running title, or number, or catch-word, or signature-letters, to mark the order of the sheets. The character is uniformly Gothic, till 1467, when the Roman type was first introduced. There were no capitals to begin sentences; the only points used were the colon and full stop; and in almost every sentence there were abbreviations or contractions. In regard to these and other peculiarities of early printed Books, the reader may consult the following works: The General History of Printing, by Palmer (supposed, however, to have been chiefly written by the celebrated George Psalmanazar); Jungendres, De notis characteristicis librorum a Typographie incunabulis ad an. 1500 impressorum; and Recherches sur l'origine des Signatures, et des Chiffres de page, par Marolles.

Many of the early Printers had peculiar marks or vignettes, which they sometimes placed on the title-page, and sometimes at the end of the Books printed by them; and most of them, also, made use of monograms or cyphers, compounded of the initial or other letters of their names. These furnish a clue to the discovery of the Printer, where they occur on books without any Printer's name. An acquaintance with them, therefore, is necessary to the Bibliographer, because questions occur as to early

* See Vol. I. of Dr Clarke's Bibliographical Dictionary, for some curious details on this point. editions which can only be decided by ascertaining the Printer's name. For explanations of these marks, the following works may be consulted:—Orlandi's Origine e progressi della Stampa, published at Bologna in one volume 4to, in 1722; and Scholtzius's Thesaurus Symbolorum ac Emblematum, in one volume folio, published at Nuremberg, in 1730. The monograms of the early English printers are explained in Ames's Typographical Antiquities.

The following works are appropriated to the description of early printed Books: 1. Index Librorum ab inventa Typographia ad annum 1500, cum notis; 2 vols. 8vo, 1791. This work, by Laire, is one of the best of its kind. The descriptions are clear, the notes brief and instructive; and there are four indexes, which furnish the means of ready reference to all the names, titles, places, and Bibliographical notices contained in the work: 2. Dictionnaire Bibliographique choisi du quinzième siècle. Par Serna Santander, 3 vols. 8vo, 1805. This is a very learned and exact work; and, like the preceding, embraces only the rarest and most interesting publications of the fifteenth century. 3. Bibliotheca Spenceriana, or a descriptive Catalogue of the books published in the fifteenth century, in the Library of Earl Spencer; by the Rev. T. F. Dibdin; 4 vols. 8vo, 1814. The abundance and beauty of the fac-similes and other embellishments, as well as the fineness of the paper and printing, render this by much the most splendid Bibliographical work ever published in any country. It contains some curious information, enveloped, however, in a much greater proportion of tasteless and irrelevant matter. 4. Annales Typographici ab Artis inventae origine, by Michael Maittaire, published in 4to, as follows: In 1719, volume first, which embraces the period from the origin of printing to 1500; volume second, published in 1722, extends the annals to 1536; and volume third, published in 1726, brings them down, according to the title-page, to 1557; but there is an Appendix, which affords a partial continuation to 1664. In 1733, the first volume was republished, with corrections and large additions, and is commonly called the fourth volume. The fifth and last volume, containing Indexes, was published in 1741. As four of the volumes consist each of two parts, the work is sometimes bound in five, sometimes in nine volumes. Several Supplements have been published to this elaborate work; the most valuable of them, that by Denis, in two volumes 4to, was published at Vienna in 1789; and contains 6311 articles omitted by Maittaire. The latter has enriched his Annals with many learned Dissertations; and the work is allowed to be the most important that has yet been compiled in England, in any department of Bibliography. But though written in this country, the last was the only volume published in it, the others having been published in Holland. 5. Annales Typographici ab artis inventae origine, ad annum 1500, post Maittaire, Denisii, aliorumque emendati et Aucti; opera S. W. Pauzer; 11 volumes 4to, published at Nuremberg, the first in 1793, the last in 1803. This work labours under great defects, in point of arrangement; but it is unquestionably the most complete of its kind that has yet appeared. It comes down to the year 1536, though the title-page of the first volume limits it to the fifteenth century.

The works we have just described may fairly be set down as indispensable to every Bibliographical Collection. But they have a value, we think, independent of the assistance which they afford the Bibliographer, in his examination of the early productions of the Press; they are also calculated to interest the Philosopher as curious registers of the extent and objects of intellectual industry, during a period when the human mind began to be acted upon by new impulses, and to receive the seeds of revolutions destined to change the whole aspect of the intellectual world.

III. Of Rare Books.

Rareness is a circumstance which must, generally speaking, confer some degree of value upon Books; and it is, therefore, one of the objects of Bibliography to indicate those Books which, in a greater or less degree, come under this category. A passion for collecting Books, merely because they are rare, without inquiry as to any literary purpose they may be calculated to serve, is, no doubt, a very foolish habitude; but it is just as foolish, on the other hand, to ridicule all solicitude about Books of this description; for this implies that every valuable Book is common; a notion which no one can entertain who has ever had occasion to follow out any particular line of literary research, to decide upon any fact involved in doubt or in controversy, or to speculate upon the progress of knowledge either in the Sciences or the Arts. With regard to the Bibliographical compilations appropriated to the description of Books of this class, it may be observed of most, if not all of them, that they have applied the epithet rare much too vaguely and lavishly. It must, indeed, in a multitude of cases, be exceedingly difficult to speak with precision on this point; so difficult as to render it impossible, we apprehend, to compile a work of this kind, which shall not frequently mislead those who consult it.

David Clement, the author of a very learned work of this class, which we shall immediately notice, assigns the following, as the different degrees in which Books may be said to be rare. A Book, which it is difficult to find in the country where it is sought, ought to be called, simply, rare. A Book, which it is difficult to find in any country, may be called very rare. A Book, of which there are only fifty or sixty copies existing, or which appears as seldom as if there never had been more at any time than that number of copies, ranks as extremely rare; and when the whole number of copies does not exceed ten, this constitutes excessive rarity, or rarity in the highest degree. This classification of the degrees of rareness is copied from Clement, by all subsequent Bibliographical writers in this department. It is abundantly obvious, that the justness of the application of these classifications to particular Books, must entirely depend on the extent and precision of the knowledge with which they are used.

We cannot in this department, any more than in the others embraced in this article, indicate any but the most prominent and useful Books belonging to it. The following, in this view, are particularly worthy of attention: 1. Beyeri, Memorie Historico-critica Librorum variorum, 1734, 8vo. 2. Vogt, Catalogus historico-criticus Librorum variorum, 1732, 8vo. The last and best edition was published in 1793. In this work, the epithet rare is applied with more judgment and knowledge than in most others of the same class. 3. Gerdesii, Florilegium historico-criticum Librorum rariorum; first published in 1740, and again in 1763, in 8vo. It was partly intended as a Supplement to the preceding work by Vogt, and, therefore, notices only those books which are not included in his Catalogue. 4. Bibliothèque curieuse, ou Catalogue raisonné des Livres rares; par D. Clement. 1750-60. This work, to which we have before alluded, is compiled upon a more extensive plan than any of the preceding; for, though consisting of nine volumes quarto, it comes down no farther than to the letter H in the alphabetical arrangement of names; terminating here in consequence of the death of the Author. Clement is generally blamed, and with justice, for a very profuse and inaccurate application of his own nomenclature of rarity; his notes, too, are crammed with citations, and tediously minute; but, on the other hand, it must be allowed, that they contain many curious pieces of Literary History; and it has, upon the whole, been matter of regret to Bibliographers, that the work, voluminous as it must have proved, was not completed. 5. Bibliotheca Librorum variorum universalis. Auctore Jo. Jac. Bauer; 7 vols. 8vo, 1770-91. This, we believe, is the latest publication of its class. It contains only the titles of Books without any further notices; and this being the case, it must be evident, that seven volumes could scarcely be occupied with titles of Books justly called rare.

IV. Of the Classics.

It is remarked by Mr Roscoe, "that the coincidence of the discovery of the art of Printing, with the spirit of the times in which it had birth, was highly fortunate. Had it been made known at a much earlier period, it would have been disregarded or forgotten, from the mere want of materials on which to exercise it; and, had it been farther postponed, it is probable, that many works would have been totally lost, which are now justly regarded as the noblest monuments of the human intellect." (Lorenzo di Medici, chap. i.) The rapid diffusion of the art, and the speedy appearance of the Classics in an imperishable form, afford sufficient proofs of the bent of the age, and the opportuneness of this great discovery. Gabriel Naudé observes, that almost all the good as well as bad Books then in Europe, had passed through the Press before the year 1474;* that is, within twenty years of the earliest date to which the use of moveable types can be carried. Within this period, editions had been printed of nearly all the Latin Classics. The whole works of some of them, of Cicero, for example, had not yet appeared in one uniform edition; but several of his treatises, the whole of Pliny the Elder, of Livy, Sallust, Cæsar, Tacitus, Suetonius, Justin, Lucan, Virgil, and of Horace, had been published before the end of 1470. Most of these early editions of the Classics were published in Italy. England remained greatly behind her Continental neighbours in the naturalization of these precious remains of ancient learning. Of all the Classics, only Terence, and Cicero's Offices, had, in 1540, been published in this country in their original tongue. Caxton and others made use only of French translations in the early versions and abridgments published in England. Gawin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, so well known for his Scottish poetical version of Virgil, has, in his preface to that work, commemorated his indignation at the injustice done to "the divine Poet" by Caxton's second-hand translation, in the following curious and emphatic lines:

Thoch Wylliane Caxton had no compation Of Virgill in that buk he preyd in prois, Clepand it Virgill in Eneasos, Quilkil that he sayis of Frenshe he did translait, It has nothing ado therwith, God wate, Nor na mare like than the Deu'l and sanct Austin. Haue he na thank thairore, bot lois his pyne; So shamefully the storie did pernerte, I reid his work with harmes at my bert, That sic ane buk, but sentence or ingyne, Suld be intitlit ofir the poete divine. His ornate golthi versis mare than gylt; I spitte for dispiste to se thame spyll With sic ane wicht, quilkil treuly be myne entent Knew nevir thre words at all quhat Virgill ment.

Almost all the Latin Classics had appeared in print, before the art was employed upon any one Greek author. But the desire to possess printed editions of the latter became general and urgent towards the end of the fifteenth century; and Aldus had the glory of ministering to that desire, by publishing in rapid succession, and with singular beauty and correctness, almost all the principal authors in that tongue. Beginning in 1494 with Museus's Hero and Leander, he printed before 1515, the year of his death, upwards of sixty considerable works in Grecian literature, frequently joining the learning and the cares of the Editor to those of the Printer. "Yet his glory," to use the words of Mr Gibbon, "must not tempt us to forget, that the first Greek Book, the Grammar of Constantine Lascaris, was printed at Milan in 1476; and that the Florence Homer of 1488 displays all the luxury of the Typographical art." (History, Chap. 66.) Besides these works, there had been published before 1494, some Greek Psalters, the Batrachomoeachia of Homer, and the Orations of Isocrates; during that year, the Anthologia Graeca was published at Florence; and the works of Callimachus, of Apollonius Rhodius, and of Lucian, were published at the same place within two years after the first essays of Aldus in Greek printing. Thus, though we have no sort of wish to detract from the just fame of this learned and beautiful Printer, we cannot admit the propriety of those eulogies of his late Biographer M. Renouard, in which he is represented as having given

* Addition à l'Histoire de Louis XI. Par G. Naudé. an entirely new direction to the art of Printing, and, indeed, to the literary taste of Europe.* It is as incorrect in point of fact, as it is unphilosophical, to ascribe to Aldus the production of that taste for Grecian literature which he himself imbibed from the spirit of his age. He saw that there was a great and growing want of Greek Books; and his peculiar praise lies in this, that he applied himself to supply this want, with much more constancy and skill, and with much more learning, than any other Printer of that period. All that we have said on this point, is fully corroborated by the account which he himself has given, in his Preface to Aristotle's Organon, published in 1495, of the circumstances which induced him to undertake the publication of the Greek Classics. The passage is translated by Mr Roscoe in his Life of Leo the Tenth (Vol. I. p. 110), and is as follows:—"The necessity of Greek literature is now universally acknowledged; insomuch, that not only our youth endeavour to acquire it, but it is studied even by those advanced in years. We read but of one Cato among the Romans who studied Greek in his old age, but in our times we have many Catos; and the number of our youth, who apply themselves to the study of Greek, is almost as great as of those who study the Latin tongue; so that Greek Books, of which there are but few in existence, are now eagerly sought after. But by the assistance of Jesus Christ, I hope ere long to supply this deficiency, although it can only be accomplished by great labour, inconvenience, and loss of time. Those who cultivate letters must be supplied with Books necessary for their purpose, and till this supply be obtained, I shall not be at rest."

The Editiones Princeps of the Classics have always formed capital objects in Bibliography, and are sometimes spoken of with a degree of rapture in Bibliographical works, which is apt to appear inappropriate and unreasonable to those who covet books solely as they are calculated to afford delight or information. The lover of first editions has, however, some plausible reasons to assign in justification of this expensive, and, as some think, factitious passion. These editions, it is said, are valuable, in the first place, as curious monuments of early Typography, and, in the next place, as being more faithful representatives of the best ancient Manuscripts, than any other editions. Eorum editionem authentatam, says Maittaire, alius omnibus esse preferendum, quippe que solà MSS. fida nitatur. This ground of preference, however, has some learned oppugners. Schelhorn, in his Amoenitates Litterarice, speaks of those to whom we are indebted for the first editions of the Classics, as, in general, very ignorant men; quite incapable to collate Manuscripts themselves, and seldom taking assistance from those who were. The first Manuscript that could be procured, it has been said by others, and not that which, after a careful collation, appeared entitled to a preference, was hastily committed to the Press, in order to take advantage of the recent discovery. Thus Gravius, in the Preface to his edition of Cicero De Officiis, states, that the celebrated editio princeps of that work, by Faust, was printed from a very inaccurate manuscript.† On the other hand, there are many who view those editions in the same light with Maittaire. M. La Grange assures us, in the Preface to his French translation of Seneca's works, that he never, in any case of difficulty, consulted the editio princeps of 1475, without finding there a solution of his doubts; adding generally, que ceux qui studient les auteurs anciens, soit pour en donner des Editions correctes, soit pour les traduire dans une autre langue, doivent avoir sans cesse sous les yeux les premiers Editions de ces auteurs. To the same purpose, M. Serna Santander observes, that the Editio Princeps of Pliny the Elder, printed at Venice by Spira in 1469, is in many places more accurate than the celebrated edition of Father Hardouin. The truth seems to be, that though many first editions have a real literary value for such purposes as are specified by M. La Grange, there are others which have no value save what their extreme rareness gives them;—that, therefore, they who scoff at, and they who laud indiscriminately these literary rarities, are equally in the wrong:—in a word, that we must apply a different rule of estimation to the first editions of such a Printer as Aldus, and those of Sweynheim and Pannartz.§

The Classics have often been published in Sets more or less complete, and more or less estimable for beauty, correctness, commentaries, and so forth. Lists of all these sets, with remarks on their relative extent and merits, will be found in the Bibliographical works to be immediately mentioned. As the origin of the Delphin Collection forms an interesting piece of Literary History, it may not be improper to notice it more particularly. This celebrated body of Latin Classics was originally destined for the use of the Dauphin, son of Louis XIV.; and was projected by his Governor the Duke of Montausier. This nobleman, who, though a Courtier and Soldier, was both a Philosopher and a Scholar, had been in the habit of carrying some of the Classics along with him in all his cam-

* Annales de l'Imprimerie des Alde, ou Histoire des trois Manuce, et de leurs Editions. Par A. G. Renaudard. 2 tomes 8vo. Paris, 1803.

† See a curious chapter on First Editions in Marchand's Histoire de l'Imprimerie. He mentions, as a piece of extreme folly, that one hundred guineas had been paid for a copy of the first edition of Boccaccio; but if that price deserved such a censure, what epithet shall we bestow on a late purchase of a copy, for which L.2260 was paid?

‡ When Mr Dibdin tells us, Introduction to the Classics, v. Aulus Gellius, "that all the first editions printed by Sweynheim and Pannartz are considered as particularly valuable by the curious in Bibliography," he should have added, chiefly on account of their being curiosities from their great rarity, and not on account of their superior accuracy. paigns; and had often experienced impediments to their satisfactory perusal, from the recurrence of difficulties and allusions, which could not be removed or explained, without Books of reference, too bulky for transport on such occasions. It was in these circumstances that the idea first occurred to him of the great utility of a uniform edition of the principal Classics, in which the text of each should be accompanied with explanatory notes and illustrative comments; and when he became Governor to the Dauphin, he thought that a fit opportunity to set on foot an undertaking calculated to prove so useful to the studies of the young Prince. Huet, Bishop of Avranches, then one of the Dauphin's Preceptors, was accordingly commissioned to employ a sufficient number of learned men for this purpose, and to direct and animate the whole undertaking. Once every fortnight they came to him on a stated day, each with the portion of his work which he had finished in the interval, to undergo his inspection and judgment. The copious verbal indexes, which constitute so valuable a portion of these editions, were added at his suggestion; but not without considerable opposition on the part of his assistants, who were appalled by the prospect of so much irksome labour as would be necessary to do justice to this part of the plan. (Memoirs of Huet's Life, Book 5.) The collection, including Danet's Dictionary of Antiquities, extends to sixty-four volumes quarto. "It is remarkable," says Dr Aikin, in one of the notes to his excellent translation of Huet's Memoirs, "that Lucan is not among the number. He was too much the Poet of liberty to suit the age of Louis XIV."

The following are the most useful Bibliographical accounts of the Classics: 1. A View of the Various Editions of the Greek and Roman Classics, with Remarks, by Dr Harwood. This work, first published in 1775, has gone through several editions; the larger works of the same kind, to which it gave rise, not having superseded it as a convenient manual in this department of Bibliography. 2. Degli Autori Classici sacri profani, Greeci e Latini, Bibliotheca portatile; 2 vols. 12mo, Venice, 1793. This work was compiled by the Abbé Boni, and Bartholomew Gamba; and contains a translation of the preceding, with corrections and large additions, besides criticisms on the works of Bibliographers, and a view of the origin and history of Printing. 3. An Introduction to the Knowledge of Rare and Valuable Editions of the Classics, by T. F. Dibdin. The first edition was published in 12mo, in 1803; but it has since been greatly enlarged in two octavo editions, the last of which appeared in 1808. The utility of this work is considerably enhanced by the full account which it contains of Polyglott Bibles, of the Greek and Latin editions of the Septuagint and New Testament, and of Lexicons and Grammars.

The improved editions, by Harles and Ernesti, of the Bibliotheca Graeca and Bibliotheca Latina, of Fabricius, are well known to the learned, as immense magazines of information in regard to the Classics Bibliography and classical literature; but as they extend over a much wider field of inquiry than is embraced by Bibliography, it does not belong to our present subject to give a more particular account of them.

V. Of Anonymous and Pseudonymous Books.

The great number of Books published anonymously, as well as under false or feigned names, early directed the attention of the learned to this branch of Bibliographical inquiry. In 1669, Frederic Geisler, a Professor of Public Law at Leipsic, published a Dissertation De Nominum Mutatione, which he reprinted in 1671, with a short catalogue of anonymous and pseudonymous authors. About the same period, a similar but more extensive work had been undertaken by Vincent Placcius, Professor of Morals and Eloquence at Hamburg, and which was published in 4to in 1674, with this title: De Scriptis et Scriptoribus, anonymis atque pseudonymis, Synagma. Four years thereafter, John Decker, a learned German Lawyer, published Conjectura de scriptis adespositis, pseudepigraphis, et supposititiis; which was republished in 1686, with the addition of two Letters upon the same subjects; one by Paul Vindilingius, a Professor at Copenhagen, and the other by the celebrated Peter Bayle. In 1689, John Mayer, a Clergyman of Hamburg, published a letter to Placcius, under this title: Dissertatio epistolica ad Placcium, qua anonymorum et pseudonymorum farrago exhibitur. Placcius, meanwhile, had continued his inquiries; and after his death, the fruits both of his first researches and additional discoveries were embodied in one work, and published in a folio volume, at Hamburg; in 1708, by Mathew Dreyer, a Lawyer of that city. The work was now entitled, Theatrum Anonymorum et Pseudonymorum; and, besides an Introduction by Dreyer, and a Life of Placcius, by John Albert Fabricius, it contains, in an appendix, the before-noticed treatises of Geisler and Decker, with the relative Letters of Vindilingius and Bayle, as well as Mayer's Dissertatio Epistolica, addressed to Placcius. This very elaborate work contains notices of six thousand books or authors; but it is ill arranged, often inaccurate, and three-fourths of it are made up of citations and extracts, equally useless and fatiguing.

A part of this subject, that relating to Books published under false or fanciful names, had been undertaken in France by Adrian Baillet, nearly about the same period that Placcius commenced his inquiries. In 1690, this author published his Auteurs Déguisés; but this is little more than the Introduction to an intended Catalogue of such authors, which Baillet never completed; being deterred, as Nicéron says, by the apprehension, that the exposing of concealed authors might some way or other involve him in trouble. In this piece, which was reprinted in the sixth volume of De la Monnoye's edition of Baillet's Jugemens des Savans, there are some curious

* See the copious article on Placcius, in Chaufpie's Nouveau Dictionnaire Historique et Critique. Tom. III. literary anecdotes; particularly those illustrative of the rage which obtained after the revival of letters, for the assumption of classical names. In Italy, these names were so generally introduced into families, that the names of the Saints, hitherto the common appellatives, almost disappeared from that country.

The taste for this species of research, which the work of Placcius had diffused in Germany, produced several Supplements to it in that country. In one published at Jena, in 1711, under the name of Christopher Augustus Neuman, there is, besides the list of authors, a dissertation upon the question, Whether it is lawful for an author either to withhold or to disguise his name? which question he decides in the affirmative. This work is entitled, De Libris anonymis et pseudonymis Schediasma, complectens observationes generales, et Spicilegium ad Placcii Theatrum. But the most considerable of these Supplements was that published by John Christopher Mylius, at Hamburg, in 1740. It contains a reprint of the Schediasma of Neuman, with remarks; and a list of three thousand two hundred authors, in addition to those noticed by Placcius. The notices of Mylius, however, are limited to books in the Latin, German, and French languages.

About the middle of last century, the Abbé Bernardi, Librarian to the Sorbonne, undertook a Dictionary of anonymous and pseudonymous works, but he died without publishing it. The manuscript is said to have been carried to Lyons; and, it is supposed, was destroyed there, during the disorders that followed the Revolution. In the third volume of Cailleau's Dictionnaire Bibliographique, published in 1790, there is a separate alphabet for anonymous Books, which occupies about half the volume. It embraces Books in all languages, but those only which the compiler thought rare or curious. The last, and by far the best work in this department, is the Dictionnaire des ouvrages Anonymes et Pseudonymes, by M. Barbier, Librarian to the late Emperor of France. It consists of four volumes octavo; two of which were published in 1806, and the remaining two in 1809. It comprises above twelve thousand articles; but the plan does not embrace any English, German, or Italian works, but those which have been translated into the French language. Works of this class are more particularly useful in regard to the literary productions of periods and countries which have been greatly restricted in the liberty of the Press. M. Barbier states, that in every Library composed of useful Books, it will be found, that a third part have not the names of the authors, translators, or editors; a proportion which, if true at all, can only hold true, we think, of Continental Libraries.

VI. Of Condemned and Prohibited Books.

Books supposed hurtful to the interests of government, religion, or morality, have sometimes been condemned to the flames, sometimes censured by particular tribunals, and sometimes suppressed. These measures have been followed by particular countries, both in respect to their own productions and those of their neighbours. In some countries, lists of the Books prohibited within them, have, from time to time, been published; and in these lists are often found the most highly prized productions of the Literature of other nations. This constitutes, indeed, a melancholy portion of the history of Books; for though the facts which it collects sometimes amuse by their folly, they oftener excite indignation and pity at the oppressions of Power, and the sufferings of Learning.

The practice of condemning obnoxious Books to the flames is of very ancient date. The works of Protagoras of Abdera, a disciple of Democritus, were prohibited at Athens, and all the copies that could be collected were ordered to be burnt by the public crier. Livy mentions, that the writings of Numa, which were found in his grave, were condemned to the flames, as being contrary to the religion which he had himself established. Augustus caused two thousand Books, of an astrological cast, to be burnt at one time; and he subjected to the same doom, some satirical pieces of Labienus. Tacitus mentions a work which the Senate, under Tiberius, condemned to the fire for having designated Cassius as the last of the Romans.* This practice was early introduced in the Christian world. "After the spreading of the Christian religion," says Professor Beckmann, "the Clergy exercised against Books that were either unfavourable or disagreeable to them, the same severity which they had censured in the heathens, as foolish and prejudicial to their own cause. Thus were the writings of Arius condemned to the flames at the Council of Nice; and Constantine threatened with the punishment of death those who should conceal them. The Clergy assembled at the Council of Ephesus, requested Theodosius II. to cause the works of Nestorius to be burnt, and this desire was complied with. The writings of Eutyches shared the like fate at the Council of Chalcedon; and it would not be difficult to collect examples of the same kind from each of the following centuries."

When the Popes caused the nations of Christendom to acknowledge their infallibility in all matters appertaining to religion, they also took upon themselves the care and the right of pointing out what Books should, or should not, be read; and hence originated those famous Ex purgatory Indexes, which furnish such ample materials for the Bibliography of prohibited Books. There is a copious list of these Indexes in the work of Peignot, to be immediately noticed. The next step in the progress of usurpation was the licensing of Books. "By the Council of Lateran, held at Rome in 1515, it was ordered, that in future all Books should, previous to publication, be submitted to the judgment of Clerical Censors. "To fill up the measure of encroachment," says Milton, "their last invention was to ordain, that no Book should be printed, as if St Peter had bequeathed them the keys of the Press also, as well as of Paradise, unless it were approved and licensed under the hands of two or three glutinous Friars. Till

* See the chapter on Book Censors in Professor Beckmann's History of Inventions. then, Books were ever as freely admitted into the world as any other birth; the issue of the brain was no more stifled than the issue of the womb; no envious Juno sat cross-legged over the nativity of any man's intellectual offspring." (Speech on the Liberty of unlicensed Printing.)

The following works contain accounts of condemned and prohibited Books, and of the Indices Ex-purgatori. 1. Dissertatio historico-literaria de libris combustis, in the seventh volume of Schelhorn's Amaenitates Literariae. The same subject is resumed in the eighth and ninth volumes. 2. Index generalis librorum prohibitorum a Pontificis; in usum Bibliotheca Bodleiana; by Tho. James, 1627. We do not know that any other work of this kind was ever published in England. 3. Francus De Papistarum Indicibus librorum prohibitorum, published at Leipsic in 1684. 4. Thesaurus Bibliographicus ex Indicibus librorum prohibitorum congestus, published at Dresden in 1743. 5. Dictionnaire Critique et Bibliographique des principaux Livres condamnes au feu, supprimés ou censures, par G. Peignot, 2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1806. This Book is amusing, and gives a copious list of Indices Ex-purgatori, as well as of authors who have treated of the subject of condemned Books in general: but it cannot be allowed, that it contains anything approaching to a complete enumeration of the principal works which come under the scope of the title-page. There are very few English Books noticed, either those condemned in this country, or those prohibited in others; though in this latter class, the most valuable of our philosophical and literary works would be found to be named. One of the most preposterous sentences of prohibition, incurred by an English author, is that mentioned in a letter from Sir John Macpherson, while in Spain, to Mr Gibbon, viz. that Smith's Wealth of Nations was prohibited there "on account of the looseness of its style, and the looseness of its morals." (Gibbon's Posthumous Works, Vol. III.)

We should like to see an accurate account of works which have been condemned to the flames, or suppressed, in Britain. In former times, we should find some as abominable instances of oppression in this particular, as ever disgraced the worst governments of Continental Europe. The proceedings against William Prynne, on account of his Histriomastix, or Player's Scourge, furnish a noted example. We wish we could add, that these proceedings have always been mentioned in our Histories, in the terms which their singular atrocity is calculated to call forth from every heart that has one chord in unison with the rights of humanity. Prynne, who was by profession a Lawyer, is characterized by Mr Hume as being "a great hero among the Puritans." He was in truth a very fanatical person; but his learning was immense, his courage unconquerable, and his honesty certainly as great as that of any of his opponents or oppressors. His Histriomastix, a quarteto of upwards of a thousand closely printed pages, with all its margins studded with authorities, came out in 1633; and was intended to decry all dramatic amusements, and all jovial recreations, and to censure the lax discipline, and the Popish ceremonies of Prelacy. In the Alphabetical Table at the end of the volume, there is a reference in these words,—Women actors, notorious whores; and as the Queen sometimes acted a part in Dramas played at Court, it was represented that Prynne pointed at her Majesty in this reference, and that the Book was in fact intended as a satire upon the Government. He was accordingly prosecuted in the Star-Chamber for a libel. The Book, which the Judges described as a huge misshapen monster, in the begetting of which the Devil must have assisted, was condemned to be burned; and after the example of foreign countries, this was ordered to be done, for the first time in England, by the hands of the hangman. It was ordered, that Mr Prynne should be expelled from Oxford, he being a graduate in that University; and also from the Bar. He was farther sentenced to pay a fine of five thousand pounds, and to endure perpetual imprisonment; but this was not yet all; he was condemned to stand in the Pillory on two successive days, in Westminster and Cheapside, there, on each day, to have an ear cut off. One of the Judges, who represented the Queen's virtues as such that neither oratory nor poetry could do any thing like justice to them, was for making the fine ten thousand pounds; stating, that he knew it was much more than Mr Prynne was worth, yet far less than he deserved to pay; and he wished farther, that his nose should be slit and his forehead burned in addition to the loss of his ears, because he might buy himself a perriwig, and so hide that loss.* The Book, which involved its author in such unprecedented calamities, had actually been licensed, according to the regulations which then obtained for the licensing of Books for publication; but it was stated, that the Licensor had not read the whole of it. Well might Sir Simonds D'Ewes speak of this as a terrifying trial. "Most men," says he, "were affrighted to see, that neither Mr Prynne's Academic nor Barrister's Gown could free him from the infamous loss of his Ears; and all good men conceived this would have been remitted; many asserted it was, till the sad execution of it. I went to see him a while after," continues Sir Simonds, "in the Fleet, to comfort him; and found in him the rare effects of an upright heart, by his serenity of spirit and cheerful patience."† The account which Mr Hume gives of this nefarious trial and sentence—dwelling chiefly on the acrimonious and ridiculous parts of the Puritan Prynne's character and Book—wholly passing over the miscreant sycophancy of his Judges, and but gently censuring their appalling and ruthless cruelty—is characteristic enough of

* See Prynne's Trial in the Collection of State Trials, Vol. III. of the 8vo Edition. † See Extracts from MS. Journal of D'Ewes's Life, published in Nichols's Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, No. XV.—These Extracts contain some curious scraps of history and anecdote; but it is much to be regretted that the Editor had not the discretion to suppress the atrocious calumny upon Lord Bacon. his general principles and manner; and well calculated to show, that, with all his penetration, and philosophic spirit, and charms of style, he was still deficient in some qualities of a Historian, without which, History cannot be rendered profitable either to Princes or to People.

VII. Of Bibliographical Dictionaries and Catalogues.

The works which fall to be considered under this section, sometimes called Dictionaries, sometimes Catalogues, and sometimes Bibliothèque, constitute the most generally useful and interesting class of Bibliographical publications. By showing what has been written in all the various branches of human knowledge, in every age and country, they act as useful guides to the inquiries of every class of the learned; while, by pointing out the differences of editions, they constitute manuals of ready information to the professed Bibliographer.

Works of this class are called General or Particular, according as their object is to indicate Books in all, or in one only, of the departments of Science and Literature. The former only aspire to point out rare or remarkable Books; for no attempt has yet been made, or probably ever will be made, to compile a universal Bibliographical Dictionary. On the other hand, it is the object of particular Dictionaries to notice all, or the greatest part, of those Books which have been published on the subjects which they embrace; and hence their superior utility to those who are engaged in the study of any particular science or subject.

The works of the former class, which chiefly demand our notice, are the following:—1. Bibliographie Instructive, ou Traité de la Connaissance des Livres rares et singuliers, par G. F. De Bure; in seven volumes octavo, published at Paris between 1763 and 1768. The books described in this work are arranged, in appropriate subdivisions, under the five grand classes of Theology, Jurisprudence, Sciences and Arts, Belles Lettres, and History; and the classification which it exemplifies is that generally followed by foreign Bibliographers. The names of the authors in all these classes are arranged alphabetically in the last volume; but it has no index to anonymous works,—a want, however, which was afterwards supplied by another hand, in a thin octavo volume published in 1782, entitled Bibliographie Instructive, tome dixième. This is called the tenth volume, because De Bure had himself published a Supplement of two volumes in 1769. Its title is, Supplément à la Bibliographie Instructive, ou Catalogue des Livres de Louis Jean Gaignat. De Bure was a Bookseller at Paris, of great eminence in his profession, but still more distinguished for extensive information in all matters appertaining to Bibliography and Literary History; and, accordingly, his work is still the delight of Bibliographers, though it has been followed by others which indicate a much greater number of Books, and which also, in some particulars, excel it in accuracy. 2. Dictionnaire Typographique, Historique, et Critique, des Livres rares, estimés et recherchés en tous genres, par J. B. L. Osmont; 2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1768. This work is more ample in notices of Italian Books than that of De Bure. 3. Dictionnaire Bibliographique, 3 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1790. This work, generally known under the name of Cailleau's Dictionary, was compiled, according to M. Barbier and others, by the Abbé Du Clos. It was republished in 1800, with a Supplementary volume, by M. Brunet. It has been already mentioned, that the third volume has a separate alphabet for anonymous Books. 4. Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres; contenant, 1o, Un nouveau Dictionnaire Bibliographique; 2o, Une Table en forme de Catalogue Raisonné; par J. C. Brunet. This work was published in three volumes octavo in 1810, and republished with large additions, making in all four volumes, in 1814. It contains a much greater proportion both of English and of German Books, than any of the preceding compilations; and its plan is such as to afford all the advantages both of a Dictionary and a Classed Catalogue; three of the volumes being employed to indicate Books under their names in alphabetical order; and the fourth, to class them, divested of all Bibliographical details, according to the system generally followed. The prices of the rarer Books are given from the principal sales that have taken place of late years in France and other countries; so that, upon the whole, this work, though it has less literary interest than that of De Bure, is probably the best Bibliographical Dictionary extant, for the purposes of the professed Bibliographer.

In the class of General Bibliographical Dictionaries we must also place the following work, though its limitation to Books in the learned and Eastern languages, renders it much less general in its plan than those we have described. It is entitled, A Bibliographical Dictionary, containing a Chronological Account, alphabetically arranged, of the most curious and useful Books in all departments of Learning, published in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and other Eastern languages. It was published in 1803, in six volumes duodecimo, and the author, we believe, is Dr Adam Clarke. To the principal works noticed in this Dictionary, there are added Biographical Notices and Criticisms; but the author would have judged more wisely, had he included Books in the modern languages, instead of deviating so largely, and with such small pretensions to novelty, into the provinces of Biography and general Criticism. The Supplement, which he published in two duodecimo volumes in 1806, under the title of The Bibliographical Miscellany, contains, among other matters, an account of English translations of the Classics and Theological writers; a list of the cities and towns where printing was established in the fifteenth century; and a list of authors on Literary History and Bibliography.

Some writers have complained, particularly M. Camus, that these Bibliographical Dictionaries have been too exclusively devoted to the indication of rare and curious Books; and that they notice but few comparatively, of those whose value consists only in their utility. "Je voudrais," says he, "qu'on suppléât à ce défaut; et que, dans une Bibliographie formée sur un non nouveau plan, on indiquât quels sont, re- lativement a chaque genre de connaissance, les livres les plus instructifs."* The Manuel of M. Brunet, we may observe, which was published subsequent to the period of this remark, contains the titles of a much greater number of useful Books, than are to be found noticed in any of the other General Bibliographical Dictionaries; but it certainly does not, and indeed was not intended, to realize the idea of such a Dictionary as was wished for by M. Camus.

It has sometimes also been alleged, that these Dictionaries, by pointing out so many curious Books, and rare Editions, have contributed greatly to the diffusion of that singular species of disease called the Bibliomania. We do not doubt that they may have helped to do so; but the truth is, that this disease has a much deeper root in the vanities of human nature, and is of much more ancient date, than some persons seem to imagine. It gave great offence to Socrates and to Lucian;† and its prevalence among his countrymen had called forth the animadversions of Bruyere, long before the popular work of De Bure gave such an acknowledged zest and pungency to the taste for amassing literary curiosities.

The number of Dictionaries, Catalogues, and Bibliothecae, applicable to particular departments or provinces of Learning, is much too great to permit us to do anything more than to point out a few of the most remarkable and useful among them. Lipenius, a learned German Divine and Professor, born in 1680, and who died in 1692, worn out, as Niceron says, by labour and chagrin, compiled a Bibliotheca Theologica, a Bibliotheca Juridica, a Bibliotheca Philosophica, and a Bibliotheca Medica, making in all six volumes folio. The Bibliotheca Juridica has been several times reprinted, and two Supplements have been added to it, one by Schott, published at Leipsic in 1775, and the other by Senkenberg, also published there in 1789, making in all four volumes folio. An immense number of Books are indicated in each of these Bibliothecae of Lipenius; of all of which the plan is, to arrange the Books alphabetically according to their subjects, each Bibliotheca having also an alphabetical table of the names of the authors whose works are arranged under the alphabet of subjects. The Bibliotheca Juridica, owing to the corrections and additions which it has received, forms by much the most valuable part of this series. In regard to Jurisprudence, we may farther mention Bridgman's Legal Bibliography; and the valuable work of M. Camus, entitled, Lettres sur la profession d'Avocat, et Bibliothèque choisi des Livres de Droit. There are some truly excellent Catalogues of Works in the Sciences, and in Natural History. Such are Dr Young's Catalogue of Works relating to Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts, annexed to his Lectures on Natural Philosophy; the Bibliotheca Mathematica of Murhard; the Bibliographie Astronomique of La Lande; and the Catalogus Bibliotheca Historia Naturalis Josephi Banks, by Dr Dryander; which, though the title seems to promise only the catalogue of a private Library, is allowed to furnish the most complete and best arranged view of Books in Natural History, ever published in any country. In the great department of History, there have been published various Bibliothecae, some of them embracing the historical works of all ages and countries, and others, those only which relate to particular countries. The Bibliotheca Historica of Meusel, an immense work, consisting of above twenty volumes, and not yet completed, is of the former class. It includes Voyages and Travels; but of Books of this class, there is an excellent separate Catalogue in six volumes octavo, by M. Boucher de La Richarderie; published at Paris in 1808. We must observe, however, that this work would have been better suited to the legitimate ends of such a compilation, had the author confined himself to Bibliographical notices, and wholly refrained from those long extracts by which his Book has been so much enlarged. Of the class of Bibliotheca applicable to the history of particular countries, the Bibliothèque Historique de la France, originally published in 1719 in one volume folio, but in the last edition published between 1768 and 1778, extended to five volumes, is by far the most splendid and perfect example. It contains nearly fifty thousand articles as well in Manuscript as Printed, methodically arranged under the different heads of French history to which they relate, and accompanied with a complete set of indexes to authors and subjects.

We must refer such of our readers as are desirous of seeing a fuller list of Catalogues of Books in the different branches of knowledge, to the Répertoire Bibliographique Universel of M. Peignot; a useful, but ill arranged Book.

It does not belong to our plan to notice Catalogues of particular Libraries; but we may observe, that Classed Catalogues of extensive Collections are justly regarded as rich storerooms of information by all inquirers after Books. We cannot but add, that in this Country, we are greatly, we might with propriety say, shamefully, behind the Continental Nations in this respect. Catalogues of this kind might have been expected from the Directors of the British Museum, and from the great Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, so rich in Books, in leisure, and endowments; but it was a Law Society of Scotland, we believe, namely, the Society of Writers to his Majesty's Signet, which set the first example in Britain, of publishing a Catalogue of their Library, so arranged, as to enable every one to turn at once to the class of Books which immediately interests his inquiries.

VIII. Of the Classification of Books.

The classing of Books in a Catalogue, so as to furnish a correct systematic view of the contents of an extensive Library, is a task of great difficulty and im-

* Memoires de l'Institut National.—Class—Litt. et Beaux Arts. Tom. II. † Lucian's piece, called in Francklin's translation of his works, The Illiterate Book-Hunter, is perhaps the bitterest satire upon Book-Collectors, who are not Book-readers, ever printed. portance. In order to this, it is necessary to refer every Book to its proper place in the general system of human knowledge; and to do so with precision, it is necessary to have clear and exact ideas of the scope and objects of all the departments and branches of which that system consists. The utility of Catalogues so classed is very great, and consists obviously in this, that the Books upon any subject are found at once by referring to the proper head; whereas in Alphabetical Catalogues, the whole must be perused before we can ascertain what Books they contain upon the subjects which interest us. All who duly consider the matter, therefore, must concur in Dr Middleton's brief and emphatic description of such an undertaking, as res sane magni momenti, multique sudoris.*

Whether Classed Catalogues were in use among the ancients, is a piece of information which has not descended to us. The first who is known to have written upon the subject was a German, named Florian Trefier, who published a method of classing Books, at Augsburg, in 1560. Cardona, in 1587, and Scholt, in 1608, published treatises upon this subject; and in 1627, Gabriel Naudé, a writer of no small celebrity in his day, published his Avis pour dresser une Bibliothèque, in which he treats of the principles of classification.* The Catalogue which he compiled of the Library of the Canon De Cordes, afterwards purchased by Mazarin, was published in 1643, and is esteemed a curiosity among Bibliographers. In the early part of the eighteenth century, Gabriel Martin, a learned Parisian Bookseller, who seems to have been much employed in compiling Catalogues, chalked out a system of arrangement, which, in a great degree, superseded all other systems, and which, in its leading divisions, is still generally followed on the Continent. Various other systems have, however, been proposed by the Bibliographers of France and Germany; but, before proceeding to any particular notice, either of the system of Martin, or of those which differ from it, we must observe, that all who have written upon the subject, seem to have confounded two objects, as we think, perfectly distinct—the arrangement to be followed in the Catalogue of a Library, and that to be followed in placing its Books. They all suppose the same nicety and exactness of classification to be equally necessary, and equally practicable in both. Now, we must remark, that where there is a Classed Catalogue, the grand objects of all arrangement are sufficiently provided for, independently of the location of the Books; and, if there should not be a Classed Catalogue, it seems very clear, that the bulk of those who frequent a public Library, could derive little, if any, benefit from an elaborate classification of the Books on the shelves; even supposing it practicable to effect and maintain it. The chief end of any arrangement that is made on the shelves, ought to be, to aid the memory, and abridge the labour of the Librarians; and all that is useful in this respect, may be accomplished, by means of a much ruder plan, than could be tolerated in any Catalogue pretending to Classification.

The system generally followed, as we have already mentioned, is that of Martin; which divides books into the five great classes of Theology, Jurisprudence, Sciences and Arts, Belles Lettres, and History. Each of these classes has divisions and subdivisions more or less numerous, according to the number of the branches to be distinguished; and it is in the distribution of these, that the chief differences are found in foreign Catalogues; though the divisions and subdivisions of De Bure, as exemplified in his Bibliographie Instructive, are those commonly followed. Some Bibliographers, however, have proposed to alter the order, others to diminish, and some to increase the number of the primitive classes; while a few have proposed systems altogether different, and greatly more refined in their principles of classification. M. Amelhon, in a paper published in the Memoirs of the French Institute, proposes the following leading divisions: Grammar, Logic, Morals, Jurisprudence, Metaphysics, Physics, Arts, Belles Lettres, and History.† In this arrangement, Theology, to which he has great objections as a separate class, is transferred, with evident impropriety, to the class of Metaphysics. M. Canus has also investigated the principles according to which Books ought to be classed, in another paper in these Memoirs, already quoted; but, as he has not reduced his method, which proceeds on views much too fanciful for the purpose, to specific heads, we can only refer our readers to his paper. Equally remote from the proper objects of a classed Catalogue, are the systems proposed by M. Peignot, and by M. Thiebaut.‡ The former takes the well known speculations of Bacon and D'Alembert, as to the Genealogy of Knowledge, for the basis of his system; and thus fixes upon three principal heads or classes, under the names of History, Philosophy, and Imagination; with the addition of Bibliography as an introductory class. In the system of the latter, there are, in like manner, only three principal heads, founded upon a division of Knowledge, into knowledge Instrumental, Essential, and Suitable.

Germany has also produced a variety of Bibliographical systems; some of them as absurdly refined as those just mentioned; while others, that of Leibnitz, for example, are better adapted to practical purposes. The classes proposed by this eminent Philosopher are as follows: Theology, Jurisprudence, Medicine, Intellectual Philosophy, Mathematics, Natural

* See his very judicious Tract, entitled, Bibliotheca Cantabrigiensis Ordinandae Methodus, in the fourth Volume of his Works. † Mémoires de l'Institut National. Class—Litt. et Beaux Arts, T. II. ‡ See Dictionnaire de Bibliologie, par G. Peignot, art. Systeme. Philosophy, Philology, History, and Miscellanies.* Another system, not very remote from this, is that proposed by M. Denis, keeper of the Imperial Library at Vienna; in which books are divided into the classes of Theology, Jurisprudence, Philosophy, Medicine, Mathematics, History, and Philology. This system is developed in his Introduction to the Knowledge of Books, to be afterwards described.

Dr Middleton is the only British author, so far as we know, who has written any separate tract on the classification of Books. The classes proposed by him are these: Theology, History, Jurisprudence, Philosophy, Mathematics, Natural History, Medicine, Belles Lettres (Literae humaniores), and Miscellanies. His object in the tract referred to, was to recommend the adoption of this arrangement for a Catalogue of the University Library of Cambridge; and whatever may be its defects, it cannot be questioned that a printed Catalogue of this collection so classed, would have proved of much utility; and would have helped to wipe away that stain of remissness in this particular, which still unfortunately attaches to our great Universities.

Naudé mentions a writer, who proposed to class all sorts of Books under the three heads of Morals, Sciences, and Devotion; and who assigned, as the grounds of this foolish arrangement, these words of the Psalmist, Disciplinam, Bonitatem, et Scientiam doce me. We confess, that all such systems as those of M. Peignot and M. Thiebaut, when applied to the formation of Catalogues, appear to us quite as absurd as this system deduced from the Canticles. The remark which Naudé applied to it, that it seemed intended "to crucify and torture the memory by its subtilties," is just as applicable to the former. That system, he adds (we use the words of Evelyn's Translation of his Avis pour dresser une Bibliothèque), "is the best, which is most facile, the least intricate, and the most practised; and which follows the faculties of Theology, Physic, Jurisprudence, Mathematics, Humanity, and others." M. Amelihon also objects decidedly to all over refined Bibliographical systems, and particularly to those which aspire to follow the genesis and remote affinities of the different branches of knowledge. "L'Execution", says he, "en seroit impossible; ou si elle ne l'etoit pas, au moins entraineroit-elle des difficultés, qui ne pourroient être surmontées que par des hommes profondément réfléchis et exercés aux méditations métaphysiques."† The truth is, that when Bibliographers speculate in this field with a view to Catalogue making, they entirely forget their proper province and objects. They have nothing whatever to do with Genealogical Trees of knowledge, or with any mode of classing Books which is founded upon remote and arbitrary abstractions. The whole use and end of a Classed Catalogue is to furnish a ready index to Books, arranged according to their subjects; and that arrangement is therefore to be preferred, which is founded upon the most obviously marked, and generally recognised divisions of those subjects. We may add, that to compile a good Catalogue of an extensive Library, even on this humbler plan, would require more ability, and more correctness of knowledge, than are often likely to be employed in such an undertaking.

Though we are not altogether satisfied with the division and order of the classes in the system commonly followed, we have no doubt, that by means of an additional class, and a correct arrangement of the subdivisions, a Catalogue might be formed, perfectly adequate to every useful purpose. We allude to a class, such as is partly indicated in the schemes both of Leibnitz and Middleton, for the reception of all Encyclopedical works, of Collections of treatises on various subjects, and Works of authors who cannot with propriety be limited to any one division of knowledge. M. Camus thinks, that the latter description of works may be properly enough entered in the class in which their authors most excelled; those of Cicero, for example, among the Orators;‡ but, not to mention the evident incongruity of placing a collection, so multifarious as Cicero's works, under Oratory, there may sometimes be room for uncertainty, as to the division under which, according to this rule, an author's works ought to be sought. These incongruities and inconveniences, together with those which must arise from placing Encyclopaedias, and General Collections, under any of the common divisions, can only be remedied by a Miscellaneous Class; and while this class ought to indicate, in one of its divisions, the Collective Editions of an author's works, his separate treatises ought to be entered under the subjects to which they belong; as, without this, the Classed Catalogue will not fully answer its purpose, of showing what has been written by the authors contained in it, on the different branches of knowledge. Thus, a Catalogue compiled upon this plan, would not only be rendered more consistent in its arrangement, but much more complete as an index to the materials of study.

IX. Of Bibliography in general.

It was our object in this article, to institute such a division of the general subject, as should enable us to point out the best sources of instruction and information in regard to all its branches; and in order to complete our view, we have still to notice some of those works which treat generally of all matters appertaining to Bibliography. We do not know any Book that presents a well written, judicious, and comprehensive digest of these matters; but there are several, nevertheless, which contain much curious and useful information in regard to them. 1. The Introduction to the Knowledge of Books (Einleitung in

* Idea Leibnitiana Bibliothecæ Publicæ, Secundum Classes Scientiarum Ordinandæ, fusior, et contractior. Works, Vol. V. † Mém. de l'Instit. Class. Litterat. et Beaux Arts, Tom. I. p. 483. ‡ Mém. de l'Instit. Tom. I. Litt. et Beaux Arts. Bucherkunde), by M. Denis, whose Supplement to Maittaire, and Bibliographical system, we have already mentioned, is of this description. The last edition, published at Vienna in 1796, consists of two volumes quarto. It has never been translated from the original German; and it is to be observed, that though it treats of the substances, forms, and classification of Books, it cannot be considered as a merely Bibliographical work, a large portion of it being devoted to the general History of Learning. The author, who was long principal Librarian of the Imperial Library at Vienna, died in 1808. In Germany he ranks high, not only as a Bibliographer and general Scholar, but as a Poet. He was the first who made his countrymen acquainted with the Poems of Ossian, by means of a poetical translation, which he published in 1768. His own poetry has much of the spirit and manner of the ancient Bards of the North; but he unfortunately chose hexameters for his translation of Ossian,—a form of verse not at all suited to the genius of the poetry which bears the name of that Bard. We are told, that his brother Poet, Alxingar, who died a year or two before him, had bequeathed his Head to augment the craniological stores and science of Dr Gall; a destination which Denis appears not at all to have relished for his own head, and to have feared that it might yet take it; for, by his testament, he enjoined his executors, in very positive terms, to see his body inhumed without dismemberment.* 2. Manuel Bibliographique, ou Essai sur la connaissance des livres, des formats, des éditions, la manière de composer une Bibliothèque, etc.; par G. Peignot, published in 1800. 3. Dictionnaire raisonné de Bibliologie, contenant l'explication des principaux termes relatifs à la Bibliographie; des notices sur les plus célèbres Bibliographes; et l'exposition des différents systèmes Bibliographiques: in 3 vols. 8vo; by the same author. Bibliography is certainly indebted to this industrious compiler; but his vague and extravagant notions of its objects and rank have too often led him into confusion in his Books.

4. Cours de Bibliographie, ou la science du Bibliothécaire; par C. F. Achard, in 3 vols. 8vo, published at Marseilles in 1807. The chief value of this compilation consists in its details of the different systems which have been proposed for classifying Books. We learn from the Introduction, that M. François de Neufchateau, when Minister of the Interior, gave orders that the Librarians of all the Departments should deliver Lectures on Bibliography; but that the plan, which indeed savours somewhat of Bibliomania, entirely failed; these Librarians having been found quite incapable to prelect upon their vocation. 5. Introduction to the Study of Bibliography, to which is prefixed a Memoir on the public Libraries of the Ancients; by Thomas Hartwell Horne, in 2 volumes 8vo, published at London in 1814. This, which is the only English Book of its kind, is chiefly translated and compiled from the French Bibliographical Works, and will be found useful to those who have not access to them. It contains full lists of Writers on Bibliography and Literary History; and the fullest account we have seen of Catalogues of Libraries both British and Foreign. The specimens of early Typography, and of the Vignettes and Monograms of the early Printers, are very neatly executed.

We do not understand what this writer means, when he describes his Book as intended for "an Introduction to the infant Science of Bibliography." He seems to have allowed himself to be imposed upon, by the vague verbage of those French Writers, who claim for this branch of knowledge a character of vastness which does not belong to it. Bibliography certainly presents a pretty wide field of inquiry, and in which there is yet room for many useful works; but it must appear evident from the details contained in the present article, that this field has in almost every part been long cultivated; if not always with perfect taste and judgment, yet with great industry, and so as to yield very profitable returns to the Commonwealth of Learning.