1.  See the Olympica, 12. 10: “σύμβολον πιστὸν ἀμφὶ πράξιος ἐσομένης.” Also Æschylus, Agamemnon, 8: “καὶ νῦν φυλάΣΣΑ λαμπ/δος τὸ σύμβολον.”

2.  Syntagma De Symbolis, &c., per Clavdivm Minoëm, Lvgdvni, M.DC.XIII. p. 13: “Plerique sunt non satis acuti, qui Emblema cum Symbolo, cum Ænigmate, cum Sententia, cum Adagio, temerè & imperitè confundunt. Fatemur Emblematis quidem vim in symbolo sitam esse: sed differunt, inquam, vt Homo & Animal: alterum enim hîc maximè generaliùs accipi, specialiùs verò alterum norũt omnes qui aliquid indicii habeant.”

3.  “La Vita et Metamorfoseo:” “A Lione, per Giouanni di Tornes,” 8vo, 1559, pp. 2, 3.

4.  

5.  

6.  

7.  Philemon Holland names the work of art, “A broad goblet or standing piece,”—“with a device appendant to it, for to be set on and taken off with a vice.”

8.  Now the property of his grandson, Mr. Henry Yates Thompson, of Thingwall, near Liverpool.

9.  “Quidam . . . . scriptos eos (scilicet locos) memoriæque diligentissime mandatos, inpromptu habuerent, ut quoties esset occasio, extemporales eorum dictiones, his, velut Emblematibus exornarentur.”—Quint. Lib. 2, cap. 4.

10.  So the note in illustration quotes from Gower, Conf. Am. f. 190,

11.  See Smith’s Dictionary of Gk. and Rom. Ant., p. 377 b, article Emblema.

12.  See the Author’s Introductory Dissertation, p. x, to the Fac-simile Reprint of Whitney’s Emblems.

13.  See Plate I., containing De Hooghe’s engraving, reproduced on a smaller scale.

14.  “Il portar queste imprese fu costume antico. Gio. Non è punto da dubitare, che gli antichi vsassero di portar Cimieri & ornamenti ne gli elmetti e ne gli scudi: perche si vede chiaramẽte in Vergil, quãdo fa il Catalago delli genti, che vẽnero in fauore di Turno contra i Troiani, nell’ ottauo dell’ Eneida; Anfiarao ancora (come dice Pindaro) alla guerra di Thebe porto vn dragone nello scudo. Statio scriue similmente di Capaneo & di Polinice; che quelli portò l’ Hidra, e queste la Sfinge,” &c.

15.  See Gabriel Symeon’s Devises ov Emblemes Heroiqves et Morales, ed. à Lyon, 1561, pp. 218, 219, 220.

16.  See Paolo Giovio’s Dialogo, p. 10, and Symeon’s Devises Heroiques, p. 220. Also Le Imprese del. S. Gab. Symeoni, ed. in Lyone 1574; from which, p. 175, the above device is figured.

17.  i.e., the space left between one of the sides of a bed and the wall. Employed figuratively, this word relates to a custom which has passed away, when people betook themselves to the alcove or sleeping room of their friends to enjoy the pleasure of conversation.

18.  Herodotus, in the Melpomene, bk. iv. c. 131.

19.  So in the autumn and winter which preceded Napoleon’s return from Elba, the question was often asked in France by his adherents,—“Do you like the violet?” and if the answer was,—“The violet will return in the spring,” the answer became a sure revelation of attachment to the Emperor’s cause. For full information on Flower signs see Casimir Magnat’s Traité du Langage symbolique, emblématique et religieux des Fleurs. 8vo: A. Touzet, Paris, 1855. In illustration take the lines from Dr. Donne, at one time secretary to the lord keeper Egerton:—

20.  See also “Real Museo Borbonico,” Napoli Dalla Stamperia Reale, 1824. Vol. i. tavola viii. e ix. Avventura e Imprese di Ercoli. Vol. ii. tav. xxviii. Dedalo e Icaro. Vol. iii. tav. xlvi. Vaso Italo-Greco depinto. Vol. v. tav. li. Vaso Italo-Greco,—a very fine example of emblem ornaments in the literal sense.

21.  “Εφορει δ’ αυτος περι τον τραχηλον εκ χρυσης ἁλυσεως ηρτημενον ζωδιον των πολυτελων λιθων, ὁ προσηγορευον ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑΝ.”

22.  

23.  See Kenrick’s Ancient Egypt under the Pharaohs, vol. i. p. 291.

24.  See the Stromata of Clemens, vi. 633,—where we learn that it was the duty of the Hierogrammateis, or Sacred Scribe, to gain a knowledge of “what are named Hieroglyphics, which relate to cosmography, geography, the action of the sun and moon, to the five planets, to the topography of Egypt, and to the neighbourhood of the Nile, to a record of the attire of the priests and of the estates belonging to them, and to other things serviceable to the priests.”

25.  “Ori Apollinis Niliaci, De Sacris notis et sculpturis libri duo,” &c. “Parisiis: apud Jacobum Keruer, via Jacobæa, sub duobus Gallis, M.D.LI.” Also, Martin’s “Orus Apollo de Ægypte de la sygnification des notes hieroglyphiques des Ægyptiens: Paris, Keruer, sm. 8vo, 1543.”

26.  Horapollinis Niloi Hieroglyphica, 8vo, pp. xxxvi. and 446: “Amstelodami, apud J. Muller et Socios, MDCCCXXXV.”

27.  The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo Nilous, sm. 8vo, pp. xii. and 174: “London, William Pickering, MDCCCXL.”

28.  Horapollo’s Hieroglyphica, by Conrad Leemans, bk. i. c. 13, p. 20:—Τί ἀστέρα γράφοντες δηλοῦσι. Θεὸν δέ ἐγκόσμιον σημαίνοντες, ἢ εἰμαρμένην, ἢ τὸν πέντε ἀριθμὸν, ἀστέρα ζωγραφοῦσι· θεὸν μὲν, ἐπειδὴ πρόνοια θεοῦ τῆν νίκην προστάσσει, ᾗ τῶν ἀστέρων καὶ τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου κίνησις ἐκτελεῖται· δοκεῖ γὰρ αὐτοῖς δίχα θεοῦ, μηδὲν ὃλως συνεστάναι· ἑιμαρμένην δέ, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὔτη ἐξ ἀστρικῆς οἰκονομίας συνίσταται· τὸν δὲ πέντε ἀριθμὸν, ἐπειδὴ πλήθους ὂντος ἐν οὐρανῷ, πέντε μόνοι ἐξ αὐτῶν κινούμενοι, τὴν τοῦ κὸσμου οἰκονομίαν ἐκτελοῦσι.

29.  Horapollo, bk. i. c. 1.

30.  Bk. i. c. 10.

31.  Bk. i. c. 17–19.

32.  Bk. ii. c. 58, 94, 118.

33.  For a further and very interesting account of the Emblems of Christian Art, reference may be made to a work full of information,—too brief it may be for all that is desirable,—but to be relied on for its accuracy, and to be imitated for its candid and charitable spirit:—Sacred Archæology, by Mackenzie E.C. Walcott, B.D., 8vo, pp. 640: London, Reeve & Co. 1868.

34.  “Ex Officina Christophori Plantini, Architypographi Regij, 1588.”

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

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

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

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

39.  To follow out the subject of the Biblia Pauperum, or of Block-books in general, the Reader may consult Sotheby’s Principia typographica, The Block-Books, &c., 3 vols. 4to, London, 1858; Dibdin’s Bibliotheca Spenseriana, 4 vols. London, 1814, 1815; or Berjeau’s Biblia Pauperum, a fac-simile with an historical introduction, 4to: Trübner, London, 1859.

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

41.  The Title is “Apologi Creatvrarvm;” “Vtilia prudenti, imprudenti futilia. G. de Jode excu. 1584.”

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

43.  See Brunet’s Manuel, iii. c. 85, and i. c. 1860; Biog. Universelle, “Zainer;” Timperley’s Dictionary of Printers, p. 197; and Bryan’s Dict. of Engravers, p. 918.

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

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

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

47.  The “Ehrenpforte,” or Triumphal Arch, about 1515, and the “Triumphwagen,” or Triumphal Car, A.D. 1522, both in honour of Maximilian I., are among the noblest of Durer’s engravings; but the Biographie Universelle, t. 33, p. 582, attributes the engravings in the “Tewrdannckh” to Hans Shaeufflein the younger, who was born at Nuremberg about 1487; and with this agrees Stanley’s Dict. of Engravers, ed. 1849, p. 705. There are other works by Durer which, it may be, should be ranked among the Emblematical, as Apocalypsis cum Figuris, Nuremberg, 1498; and Passio Domini nostri Jesu, 1509 and 1511. It is, however, now generally agreed that Durer designed, but did not engrave, on wood. See Stanley, p. 224.

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

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

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

51.  Clarissimi viri D. Andreæ Alciati Emblematum libellus, uigilanter recognitus, et iã recens per Wolphgangum Hungerum Bauarum, rhythmis Germanicis uersus. Parisiis, apud Christianum Wechelum, &c., Anno M.D.XLII.

52.  “Omnia Andreæ Alciati V. C. Emblemata. Adiectis commentariis, &c. Per Clavdivm Minoim Diuionesem. Antverpiæ, Ex officina Christophori Plantini, Architypographi Regij, M.D.LXXIII.;” also, “Editio tertia multo locupletior,” M.D.LXXXI.

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

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

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

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

57.  “Petri Costalii Pegma Cum narrationibus philosophicis.” 8vo, Lvgdvni, 1555.

“Le Pegme de Pierre Covstav auec les Narr. philosophiqves.” 8vo, A Lyon, M.D.LX.

58.  The dates have been added to Menestrier’s list.

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

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

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

62.  First printed at Lyons in 1498.

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

64.  We select an instance common to both Holbein and Shakespeare; it is pointed out by Woltmann, in his Holbein and his Time, vol. ii. p. 23, where, speaking of the Holbein painting, The Death of Lucretia, the writer says,—“The costume is here, as ever, that of Holbein’s own time. The painter reminds us of Shakespeare, who also conceived the heroes of classic antiquity in the costume of his own days; in the Julius Cæsar the troops are drawn up by beat of drum, and Coriolanus comes forth like an English lord: but the historical signification of the subject nevertheless does in a degree become understood, which the later poetry, with every instrument of archæological learning, troubles itself in vain to reach.”

It may be noted that in other instances both Wornum, the English biographer of Holbein, and Woltmann, the German, compare Holbein and Shakespeare, or, rather, illustrate the one by the other.

65.  As when Cooper, at the tomb of Shakespeare, describes it,—

66.  Act v. sc. 3, lines 14–84, Cambridge edition, vol iii. pp. 422–25.

67.  The ivory statue changed into a woman, which Ovid describes, Metamorphoses, bk. x. fab. viii. 12–16, is a description of kindred excellence to that of Shakespeare:

68.  “Julio was an artist of vigorous, lively, active, fearless spirit, gifted with a lightness of hand which knew how to impart life and being to the bold and restless images of his fancy.” The same volume, pp. 641–5, continues the account of Romano.

69.  “An important one,” says Kugler, “at Lord Northwick’s, in London.”

70.  Two of Titian’s large paintings, now in the Bridgewater Gallery, represent “Diana and her Nymphs bathing.” (See Kugler, vol. ii. p. 44.)

71.  See Drake’s Shakspeare and his Times, vol. ii. p. 119.

72.  See D. Franz Kugler’s Handbuch der Geschichte der Malerei, vol. ii. pp 44–6.

73.  The subjects of the “nyne pageauntes,” and of their verses, are—“Chyldhod, Manhod, Venus and Cupyde, Age, Deth, Fame, Tyme, Eternitee,” in English; and “The Port” in Latin.

74.  Thus to be rendered—

75.  Through Mr. Jones, of the Chetham Library, Manchester, I applied to D. Laing, Esq., of the Signet Library, Edinburgh, to inquire if the bed of state is known still to exist. The reply, Dec. 31st, 1867, is—

“In regard to Queen Mary’s bed at Holyrood, there is one which is shown to visitors, but I am quite satisfied that it does not correspond with Drummond’s description, as ‘wrought in silk and gold.’ There are some hangings of old tapestry, but in a very bad state of preservation. Yesterday afternoon I went down to take another look at it, but found, as it was getting dark, some of the rooms locked up, and no person present. Should, however, I find anything further on the subject, I will let you know, but I do not expect it.”

76.  This mode of naming the motto appears taken from Shakespeare’s Pericles, as—

77.  In two other Letters Drummond makes mention of Devices or Emblems. Writing from Paris, p. 249, he describes “the Fair of St. Germain:”—

“The diverse Merchandize and Wares of the many nations at that Mart;” and adds, “Scarce could the wandering thought light upon any Storie, Fable, Gayetie, which was not here represented to view.”

A letter to the Earl of Perth, p. 256, tells of various Emblems:—

“My noble Lord,—After a long inquiry about the Arms of your Lordships antient House, and the turning of sundry Books of Impresaes and Herauldry, I found your V N D E S. famous and very honourable.”

“In our neighbour Countrey of England they are born, but inverted upside down and diversified. Torquato Tasso in his Rinaldo maketh mention of a Knight who had a Rock placed in the Waves, with the Worde Rompe ch’il percote. And others hath the Seas waves with a Syren rising out of them, the word Bella Maria, which is the name of some Courtezan. Antonio Perenotto, Cardinal Gravella, had for an Impresa the sea, a Ship on it, the word Durate out of the first of the Æneades, Durate et vosmet rebus servate secundis. Tomaso de Marini, Duca di terra nova, had for his Impresa the Waves with a sun over them, the word, Nunquam siccabitur æstu. The Prince of Orange used for his Impresa the Waves with an Halcyon in the midst of them, the word, Mediis tranquillus in undis, which is rather an Embleme than Impresa, because the figure is in the word.”

78.  See device at a later part of our volume.

79.  See Symeon’s Deuises Heroiques & Morales, edition, 4to, Lyons, 1561, p. 246, where the motto and device occur, followed by the explanation, “Ceux qui ont escrit de la Physiognomie, & mesme Aristote, disent parmy d’autres choses que le front de l’homme est celuy, par lequell’ on peut facilement cognoistre la qualité de ses mœurs, & la complexion de sa nature,” &c.

80.  It may be named as a curious fact that a copy of Alciat’s Emblemes en Latin et en Francois Vers pour Vers, 16mo, Paris, 1561, contains the autograph of the Prolocutor against Mary Queen of Scots, W. Pykerynge, 1561, which would be about five years before Mary’s son was born, for whom she wrought a bed of state. The edition of Paradin, a copy of which bears Geffrey Whitney’s autograph, was printed at Antwerp in 1562; and one at least of his Emblems to the motto, Video et taceo, was written as early as 1568.

81.  In some of the more elaborate of Plantin’s devices, the action of “the omnific word” seems pictured, though in very humble degree,—

82.  Derived from Joachim du Bellay (who died in 1560 at the age of thirty-seven), the excellence of whose poetry entitled him to be named the Ovid of France. There is good evidence to show that Du Bellay was well acquainted with the Emblematists, who in his time were rising into fame.

83.  Dibdin, in his Bibliomania, p. 331, adduces an instance; he says, “In the Prayer-Book which goes by the name of Queen Elizabeth’s, there is a portrait of her Majesty kneeling, upon a superb cushion, with elevated hands, in prayer. This book was first printed in 1575, and is decorated with woodcut borders of considerable spirit and beauty, representing, among other things, some of the subjects of Holbein’s Dance of Death.”