SECTION II. EMBLEM WORKS AND EditioNS DOWN TO THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. EAVING for the most part out of view the discussions which have taken place as to the exact time and the veritable originators of the arts of printing by fixed or moveable types, and of the embellishing of books by engravings on blocks of wood or plates of copper, we are yet-for the full development of the condition and extent of the Emblem Literature in the age of Shakespeare-required to notice the growth of that species of ornamental device in books which depends upon Emblems for its force and meaning. We say advisedly " ornamental device in books," for infinite almost are the applications of Symbol and Emblem to Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting, as is testified by the Remains of Antiquity in all parts of the world, by the Pagan tombs and Christian catacombs of ancient Rome, by nearly every temple and church and stately building in the empires of the earth, and especially in those wonderful creations of human skill in which form and colour bring forth to sight nearly every thought and fancy of our souls. Long before either block-printing or type-printing was practised, it is well known how extensively the limner's art was employed "to illuminate," as it is called, the Manuscripts that were to be found in the rich abbeys or convents, and in the mansions of the great and noble. For instance, the devices dans les livres de Simon Vostre; c'est ce que nous avons pu remarquer dans un magnifique manuscrit de la seconde moitié du quatorzième siècle, enrichi de nombreuses et admirables miniatures qui, après avoir été conservé en Angleterre dans le cabinet du docteur Mead, à qui le roi Louis XV. en avait fait présent, est venu prendre place parmi les curiosités de premier ordre réunies dans celui de M. Ambr. Firmin Didot." A strictly emblematical work in English is the following, "from a finely written and illuminated parchment roll, in perfect preservation, about two yards and three quarters in length," "The Five Wounds of Christ." "By William Billyng;" "Manchester: Printed by R. and W. Dean, 4to, 1814" The date is fixed by the editor, William Bateman, "between the years 1400 and 1430;" and the poem contains about 120 lines, with six illuminated devices. We give here, on page 40, in outline, the DEVICE of "The Heart of Jesus the Well of everlasting Lyfe." There follows, as to each of the Emblems, a Prayer, or Invocation; the Device in question has these lines, "Maple welle and cobyte of eulastpng lyffe On alle I sprynglyde lyke purpul dew enhuede.” An Astronomical Manuscript in the Chetham Library, Manchester, the eclipses in which are calculated from A.D. 1330 to A.D. 1462, contains emblematical devices for the months of the year, and the signs of the zodiac; these are painted medallions at the beginning of each month; and to each of the months is attached a metrical line explanatory of the device. This manuscript contains, as J. O. Halliwell says of it, "an astrological volvelle-an instrument mentioned by Chaucer : it is the only specimen, I believe, now remaining in which the steel stylus or index has been preserved in its original state." Doubtless it is a copy of the Kalendrier des Bergers, which with the Compost des Bergers, has in various forms been circulated in France from the fourteenth century almost, if not quite, to the present day. An edition in 4to, of 144 pages, printed at Troyes, in 1705, bears the title, Le Grand Calendrier et Compost des Bergers; composé par le Berger de la grand Montagne. Kindred works issued from the presses of Venice, of Nuremberg, and of Augsburg, between 1475 and 1478, in Latin, Italian, and German, and are ascribed to John Muller, more known under the name of Regiomontanus, a celebrated astronomer, born in 1436, at Koningshaven, in Franconia, and who died at Rome in 1476. One of these editions, in folio, was printed at Augsburg in 1476 by Erhard Ratdolt, being the first work he sent forth after his establishment in that city. (See Biog. Univ., vol. xxx. p. 381, and vol. xxxvii. p. 25.) But the most thoroughly emblematical work from Ratdolt's press was an "Astrolabium planữ in tabulis," "wrought out anew by John Angeli, master of liberal arts, MCCCCLXXXVIII.” There are 414 woodcuts, and all of them emblematical. The library at Keir contains a perfect copy, 4to, in most admirable condition. Brunet, i. c. 290, names a Venice edition in 1494, and refers to other astronomical works by the same author. In its manuscript form, too, the celebrated "SPECULUM HUMANÆ SALVATIONIS," Mirror of Human Salvation, exhibits throughout the emblem characteristics. Of this work, both as it exists in manuscript and in the earliest printed form |