New-York tribune., 1894-10-22

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known at the present daY was Palatino an
Italian writer on penmanshp; and he gives
/ specimen Of italian quatran figured out in a
way 10 put modern rebus writer's to the blush.
! Palatino belonged to the middle Of the sixteenth
century so that he could have had before him
! the best examples Of form Of picture Htera-
/ ture which Is despsed. but which was In its
! time universally popular. Learned and un-
/ learned all took delight in it and gathered In
structon from it. This literature owed It's origin
! to Andrew Alcat an Italian law professor. who
lectured by turns at Milan Avignon. Bourges.
Pava Bologna. Ticino and Ferrara and to
whom as Hallam says the voice of Europe at
tributed the regeneration Of Roman law lie
taught jurisconsuls to write good Latin ana
with his endless commentaries on Justinian and
frequent studies in general literature ne found
time for a project peculiarly his own. This was
embodied In what has ever since been called MS
Book of Emblems" He had the recognized
Christian emblems by way of suggestion ana he
was probably familiar in his youth with those
mediacval tales which always ended with
moral more or less wholesome. His plan was to
have picture drawn that set forth his idea. and
then to explain II with Latin ep:gram AS ne
had been from mis- youth fertile writer or cpl
grams his practice in that way may nave
helped to form the thought which he hnaIly car
ried OUT for he must have beer we'll aware no"
many Of the Greek eplgrams alluded to pictures
and statues and also to things p.ainly used as
symbols-as in the distich attributed to Sappho,
which alluded to the wicker basket and oar that
marked the tomb of a fisherman. But the main
inspiration of his curious work was drawn from
his own experience of life and his observation Of
the world about him. For this reason Few OF MS
emblems could have been devised in his early
years.
There has been much controversy among those
interested in the subject. and the confusion as
to dates is illustrated by the fact that Mr. Clous-
ton sets down the first publication OF the Book
of Emblems" in 1925 though he shows his iamil-
iaritv at other points with the works Of the Rev
Henry Green-an enthusiastic Votary Of Mclat
and Of emblem literature in general, VINO found
an edition Of 1881 and searched Europe III Nalh'
on the authority of Bernd and Hrunet Tor an
edition that was said TO have seen the Iight IN
1922 Ii is to be imagined that Bernd ana Bruhet
may bo wrong No one who has read the ora
tions Of Alciat will need to be told how pctur
esoue is his description Of his wanderings This
is particularly true of the Introductory discourse
at Ferrara. whittier he went at the invitation OF
the Duke of Modcna He talks there Ike
warrior who is TO lead his students as soldiers
into the citadel Of the law. Afflicted with the
slaughter
land" he exclaimed. Il flee to the sacred anchor.
where safety, honor, riches. and, Indeed the
highest dignity attend me. They say that Zeno,
when he was shipwrecke1 said that he was never
luckier at sea- fo- now having lost all, he had
room for philosophy. | can say the same. In
nv native land. ease and tranquility came near
DESTROYING me: but driven out by the atrocities
Of VIZ r began my wanderings and took refuge
in the study Of the law. which to me plainly
was as the Greek proverb has II. the shield ot
Myrtus. He was a soldier Of great courage.
who when shpwrecked. found that the shield
which had been his defence SO often in the battle
sufiiced also to bear him safe 10 land Here
there are at least three good emblems-the In
vasion Of the castle Of the law. the anchor ard
the shield Of Myrtus. The anchor and the
castle figure In other senses in his Book OF En-
blems." but the shield Of Myr,ilus appears. not
in the edition Of 1881, but in all those that fol-
lowed 1888. the date of the Grafton at Ferrara.
and in the epgram the author speaks Of himself
Just as he does in his speech. The picture IS
that of a soldier floating on his shield There
could hardly be clearer proof that the emblems
grew out of the very life Of the man. This un-
doubtcdly helped to make them attractive to men
ike Erasmus who also made their learning serve
the uses of their daily life, applying 1t as Alcat
did 10 the events Of the times. II was no won
der so long the emotions Of that age remained
vivdly in the memory Of mankind that Alciats
little book continued TO be reprinted until the
number Of editions rose to near 200. 1t was i'm
itated by a crowd of writer's among whom the
Dutchman Jacob Cats and the Engshman Fran
cis Quares are perhaps the best known.
All these various literary tendencies seem to
have had their effect upon the composition Of
the first herog.yphic BiDle This was the work
Of Mechior Mattsperger. burgomaster and mer-
chant Of Augsburg. 1t was at Augsburg that
the first known edition Of Alciats "Emblcms
was printed and it at Augsburg that Mats
perger's work was planned compiled. illustrated
and printed The city the home Of some Of
the most eminent among early printers and en-
gravers. Steyner who Aciats printer, and
John George Bodenehr. who made the copper
plates for Mattspergers work, are both better (
known at the present day than either Of the
thors by whom they were employed. Mats
perger's book Is now extremely rare. For this
the author was himself largely to blame He
spared neither labor expense in getting up his
book 1t was not printed with movable types
Each page, words and all, was the impression
Of a separate copper plate. The difference be- /
tween such a work and the cheap productions /
which initiated it was immense. Nevertheless, the /
author in his preface calmly advised those who
bought his book TO teai out the pages and to use
them : marks in their perusal OF Luther's ver- |
sion OF the Scriptures The piety Of this sugges-
tion is unmistakable but 1t Is rank hcresy from
the bibophilists point of view. The title Of the
book is a fitting Introduction to its curious pages
thus: Spiritual Heart Fancies set forth In
Two Hundred ani fifty Biblical Picture Texts
For all pious Hearts and for the youth that loves
Virtue. a diversion well-pleasing to Cod
and for the Simple. attractive representa-
tion. and easy understanding and profitable COM
prehensiOn. Gathered together from each and
every book of the Holy scriptures, according to
Doctor Martin Luther's Translation by a lover of /
the Word of God. With special pains designed