New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-01
BOOK-BURNING.
PROSECUTING LITERATURE IN ENGLAND.

must of necessity be a commentary upon the times
in which such burnings occurred As, however
books have been burned in many countries and
at intervals during thousands of years an attempt
to write exhaustive history of the subject would
manifestly demand an amount both of time and
space vastly disproportoned to the Importance and
interest of the subject Mr. Farrcr has made no
such attempt. He has simply undertaken - deal
with the books condemned to be burned in Great
Britain; and, while in thus limiting his researches
he necessarily omits great deal of interesting
history regarding the persecution of literature
the Continent of Europe England alone furnishes
matter moro than sufficient to ill a modest vol
umc like the present one. Book burning is of
great antiquity. OF old it was done mostly by
conqucrOrs, and in bulk. Soldiers have generally
exhibited hostility TO books. and several of the
most famous libraries of antiquity persisted 70
crafty this barbarous and ignobc antipathy
War has ever been foe TO literature. and is
sponsbe for the destruction of treasures of price
less value.
In the ecclesiastical and political burnings Of
books described in Mr.. Farrer's pages, he finds ii
often necessary TO discriminate between the cases
where the authors as well as their books
were burned. and those in which the
men escaped and only their writings wcrc
crcmated OF course il is in no way sur
prisng that in ages when human life was so cheap
little respect should have been shown to books.
When it was quite generally held that the best
way to silence an opponent was TO kill him. il was
clearly consistently held that the best way IN dis
pose Of Objectionable books was TO commit them
| TO the flames. We know now what our ancestors
were too 20 perceive that the spread Of
thought can neither he checked by the killing OF
thinkers nor by the destruction OF their writing
| 90 faot H. ,,., L..
save in the wholesale burnings Of antiquity.
| when copies even of renowned works were rare
has seldom had the effect aimed by the dcstroycrs
Sometime il has made books OF little worth very
scarce, and has thus supplied stimulus 10 col.
lectors and benefited one department. OF the book
| trade bnt whenever the condemned book was really
great it has deed the fire, and has come dowr 20 US
unharmel. Whoever takes the trouble 10 glance
over the famous Index Librarum Prohibitorm
will probably be surprised TO find in that extensive
| list Of works condemned by the Roman Church
almost every production of genius and enlighicn-
ment that has appeared from the sixteenth CEN
| fury down to the present day. With these. 81
course, there is a great quantity Of ephemeral rub
| Dish, which might have been trusted To sink by
its own weight But no book of any consequence
has ever suffered the least diminut0n of influence
| through being placed upon the Index
| WNctDeF Une DOOks were lOIIldHN DuTDcI OF
merely condemned, the failure OF the attempt 10
suppress them has been the In Great
| Britain book burning was due 10 political almost
as much as religious causes, as Mr.. Farrcr shows
| He divides lis subject into seven chapters BE-
| ginning with Sixteenth century book fires" and
ending with "Our last boolS-fires," the very last
| being the solemn burning, at Oxford University.
| in Che year 1649, Of Mr.. Froudcs Nemesis Of
| Faith" This clearly anachronsm almost
| as great as an attempt TO burn witch would
have been in the middle Of the nineteenth century,
| and would think that even Oxford conserva-
tism must wish to expunge from the records Of
| the University all trace Of deed 40 stultifyng
In the times Of the Stuarts book burning was
quite in harmony with the prevailing civilization
! and though the practice Of roasting authors had
| then gone ont of fashion, the most fastidious
| and humane princes, judges and mobiles considered
that there barbarty in cutting of the
ears of condemned author branding him with
| redhOt iron on both checks. and putting him in
the pillory. Nor was this treatment confined to
one side. II the Stuarts maintained it, so did the
| Cromwellians. OF course it lost no hold during
| the Restoration, and though ear-clippings had
occurred for many years previously, the pillory
was only abolished in the first year of the reign
of Queen Victoria.
Naturally enough, the Reformation furnished
| occasion for book-burning in England, as every
where else. Cardinal Wolscy opened the cam
| paign by ceremoniOusly destroying many Of LII
| theirs publications at ST. Pauls in 1921 Yet this
| was not the first English book burning The first
was the neutrality-suspicious. as it sounds to-day
| of poor Tyndae's English translation of the New
| Testament After they had burned Tyndalc's
book they committed him also TO the flames
But the circulation of the Gospel increased so
rapidly despite the attempt to rcprcss it that in
| SAG il became necessary to command all persons
| possessing them TO deliver to the bishop. or
| sheriff to be openly burnt, all works in English
| purpOrting TO lie written by Firth, Tyndale,
Wicif, Joye, Basil, Bale, Barnes. CoSerdale,
| Turner, or Tracy" The only effect of these
| measures was TO make the works Of the authors
named rare and costly. But their ideas never
ceased to be propagated in defiance of censorship.
When it was sought to put special mark Of
| infamy upon an author. his peccant book was
ordered TO be burned by the common hanamap.
Mr.. Farer is not sure whether the Historic Of
ltalie," by William Thomas 1870, or Prynnes
HistriomAstix" 1888 was the first book con
| demned to this special degradation. It does not
really matter much. The only effect OF such per.
| sccution was to render the branded books more
sought after. Indeed, 50 far did this 90. in Mr.
Farrcr's opinion, that vast number OF worthless
books derived wholly Fictitious Importance from
it. Left to themselves they would have died of
their own dnlness, Tor to-day even the most dis
passionate and patient antiquarian finds them
| absolutely unreliable. 1t must, however. he re-
| mcmbered that in periods of fierce controversy
very silly books serve to fan the fame. to in.
crease enmities, and to spread excitement: and
| In those days even the most distinguished
! writers were not above indulgence in methods
OF controversy which would now be termed
blackguardly. No other cpithet will fifty char
scterize great part Of John Millions at