towards you, is one who seems puzzled, with his hand thrust behind under his hat, and scratching his head it is perfectly evident what his state of the game is. Opposite the first, is a man, with his right hand drawing out a card, and looking across the table, doubting whether there is not some foul play under the smiles of his opponent. On the back of his chair leans a dark gloomy character, not attending to the game, with all the marks of a lazy, desponding, silent, smoke-dried frequenter of an ale-house. The fourth, at the game, I do not at this mo ment recollect; but between him and the third is the woman of the house, a kind of slattern, rather interested in the game, and with a fat, slabbering baby, almost tumbling out of her arms, and reaching towards the cards. It is altogether a most complete piece of humour.Every thing bears the marks of a careless, frolicking house. There is a shelf with an omnium gatherum' perfectly in character-a fiddle half out of a green bag, &c. &c. His pictures I am told are sold at an enormous price, and he surely merits it. F. W. MEMOIRS OF ALDUS MANUTIUS, OR TH ELDER ALDUS. [Amongst those who have hitherto exercised the art of printing,an art, of which the imperfect attainment is as easy, as real superiority is rare, Aldus the Elder, and his son, Paulus Manutius, are entitled, on every account, to the first rank. Filled with an enthusiastick ardour for the literature of Greece and Rome, they sacrificed those advantages of fame and fortune, which could only be obtained from works of their own and spent their whole lives in rescuing the ancient writers from that obscurity, in which eight ages of barbarism had involved them. Not content with preserving them from destruction, they were desirous of rendering the study of them universal, and undertook to reproduce them under such less expensive forms, as would render them attainable by a greater number of readers. Common knowledge and moderate talents were sufficient for the printing of books of scholastick divinity, jurisprudence, and mysticism, which at this period almost exclusively engaged the press; but to quit the long-frequented path, undismayed by the difficulties attending the first publication of ancient authors, and more particularly Greek authors, required, along with no common degree of erudition, all the energy of a superiour genius, joined to the most unabating perseverance. Many learned men of these first periods of the revival of letters have rendered their whole lives famous, by the revival of one, or a very small number, of these precious writings, which have not passed through the darkness of ages, without more or less of alteration; but the celebrated printers, whose history is now to be perused, are the only ones whose brilliant catalogue of editions,published and laboriously corrected by themselves, is at the same time nearly the entire list of master-pieces of ancient litera ture. In the midst of continual labours, and the cares which were incessantly required through a long series of years by the difficult and learned editions, which each month and week issued from their presses, these indefatigable men still, themselves, found leisure for the cultivation of literature; and they have left several works, which evince their profound knowledge, and still retain a well-deserved esteem. Paulus Manutius, in particular, acquired, by a constant study of the works of Cicero, a purity and elegance of style, which will always be admired in those letters and prefaces, which he wrote in the Latin language. His Commentaries on Cicero are still in the hands of all those, who would study to advantage the orations of that father of eloquence; and his treatises of antiquity are read less now, only on account of their being replaced by more modern works, which are indebted to him for some of the most valuable of their contents. Aldus Manutius, son of Paulus, the last of this illustrious family shines with less splendour in the list of renowned printers. Indeed,it may be said,without injustice towards him, that if he had not been the son of Paulus Manutius, if he had not succeeded to the excellent Aldine press, it would seldom be remembered that he had ever been a printer; bat if his inclination gave a different direction to his pursuits and studies, if even he did not in any thing equal his father and grandfather,his numerous works,nevertheless, prove that he was industrious and learned, and justify, to a certain degree, the elogiums bestowed upon him by many of his cotemporaries. The history of these three learned printers has never been completely written, although many biographers give a longer or shorter account of them. All those who have spoken of the state of literature during the sixteenth century, could not but mention with distinction the Aldine family among its greatest ornaments. But the passages which we find in De Thou, and many less celebrated authors, are rather testimonies of esteem, than historical relations, and are by no means sufficient to make these printers known, as they deserve to be, by every friend of literature. In the last century, Unger, in Germany, Zeno, at Florence,Manni, at Venice,Lazzeri, at Rome, and Maittaire and Tiraboschi, left accounts, more or less detailed, of one or other of the three Aldi. The first of these writers, Unger, who published his work in 1729, has loaded it with digressions foreign to the subject, which necessarily render it, on the whole, uninteresting and forbidding. Geret, who reprinted this work at Wittemburg, 1753,in quarto, has added notes, correcting many errours, and supplying many omissions,but these only serve to render it more confused. The catalogue of the Aldine editions, found in these two publications is likewise so in correct, that it is altogether useless. Manni has given his work a more historical form;it is therefore read with greater interest than the unconnected,tedious,paragraphs of the German author. Like Un ger, he has written only of the elder Aldus; his account of the Aldine editions is very incomplete and has the great fault of containing some vague account of several editions, which have never existed. Father Lazzeri, who published at Rome, in 1754-58, some account of Paulus Manutius, in the introduction to A Collection of Manuscript Letters of several learned Men, relates, with minute exactness, all which he thought in the least referred to Paulus Manutius. Letters, prefaces, manuscripts, nothing escaped the researches of this laborious jesuit; and if he could have avoided useless details, limited his quotations, and introduced them more appropriately, his work would have been less tedious and much more read. The best memoir relative to this family, in every respect,that has been published, is that which Apostolo Zeno has given of the younger Aldus, prefixed to “ Epistole famigliari di Cicerone tradotte." 1736,2 vol. 8vo under the title, Notizie Manuziane, and without any list of the Aldine editions. By this short piece, as by many others, he has proved that a good writer may treat of literary history in such a manner as to deprive it, in a great degree, of its dryness and dullness; and his bibliographical and critical works are eminently distinguished from all others of the same kind. We are assured that he had written a complete and methodical work upon the three nutii, but that being robbed of it when preparing it for the press, he could never 'bring himself to resume it. Cardinal Brienne, who had long laboured to realize his favorite project of an universal library, caused a catalogue of the Aldine editions to be printed at Pisa, in 1790,which he had methodically arranged, with the assistance of P. Laire, his hbrarian, who died a short time since at Auxerre, where the library of the department of Yonne had been confided to his care. This list, entitled" Serie dell' edizioni Aldini," was reprinted the following year, at Padua, with some additions, and in 1791, at Venice, with the profession of " emendations and additions," which, however, exist only in the title page. These several works, or rather fragments of works,although numerous,are insuffi'cient. The" Serie" presents only an uninteresting list, destitute of notes and pre3 K Vol V. N.. IX. liminary observations. As for the other accounts, they are dispersed in many volumes, the greater part of which are not easily obtained, and which few readers would be tempted to collect. Besides, we should search the whole of these writ ings in vain, for that succession of clear and precise ideas, without which, all reading becomes painful, and remains unprofitable. It is therefore hoped, that, to those who take an interest in all that concerns literary history, who love the typographick art,and those labours which tend to preserve and multiply the productions of genius, the following account will prove acceptable and satisfactory.-[Monthly Magazine.] ALDUS MANUTIUS was born either in 1446 or 1447, but more probably in the latter year, at which time the typographical art, still in its infancy, produced only sheets of designs rudely cut in wood, and accompanied by a few lines of description, still more rudely executed, so that the same period which produced this inestimable art, gave birth to one of its greatest improvers and ornaments. Some have thought he was born at Rome, because in most of his editions he styles himself Aldus Romanus; but in some of them, we find that his native country is positively ascertained. In the "Thesaurus Cornucopiae," 1496, in the first and second. volume of Aristo, 1495—97, he calls himself "Manutius Bassianus," from Bassiano, a small town inthe duchy of Sermonetta. Aldus had the misfortune of being placed under the tuition of an ignorant pedagogue, who, instead of skilfully developing the promising talents of his pupil, uselessly fatigued him, by making him learn grammar out of the Doctrinale Alexandri de Villa-Dei," a dry and abstruse work, written in barbarous verse. Such was the scarcity of elementary books at that time, that those children destined to receive a liberal education, who had not the happiness of being entrusted to the care of a master capable of removing their difficulties, were obliged to study the ridiculous and unintelligible jargon, honoured by the pompous name of the "Doctrinale " Aldus never forgot how much this book had har rassed him; one of his first literary labours, therefore, was the composition of a Latin grammar,which he first printed in 1501, and of which many editions have since appeared, both from his own press, and from many others in different parts of Europe. During the childhood of Aldus, many Latin grammars had been published less exceptionable than that of VillaDei ; but theAccidence of Aldus totally obliterated all remembrance of that contemptible rhapsody. The grammar of Aldus cannot, indeed, boast either the precision or the analytical order of the best of our modern elementary books, but the Dumarsais,the Condillacs, the great men of the Port Royal had not then appeared: here therefore, as in typography, Aldus has the undoubted merit, of being almost the first, who, by his labours, enabled those that followed him to succeed still better. He quitted this ignorant master, and came to Rome, to receive lessons of Gaspar de Verona, and of Domizio Calderino, of the same city, both celebrated professors of the Belleslettres, under whom he made the most rapid progress He cherished a grateful remembrance of their attentions to him, and in several of his prefaces, he gives them testimonies of his great esteem and veneration. His first studies seem to have been confined to the Latin language, and it was not till he arrived at years of maturity that he applied to Greek. At the time of his leaving Rome in order to return to Ferrara, he took lessons of the celebrated G.-Batt. Guarini, who there filled the the Greek Grammar of Lascaris, in Greek chair in so distinguished a 4to. published also in 1494. manner. We may judge what progress he made under the care of this able master by his numerous Greek editions, and by his Grammar of that language, which is still studied with much advantage. He was the literary tutor of Albertus Pius, prince of Carpi, and, though young, discharged that important office, in such a manner as fixed the reputation both of the mas ter and his pupil. In 1482, Ferrara being besieged by the Venetian army, Aldus quitted that city and retired to Mirandola, the residence of the celebrated Johannes Picus. Some time afterwards he went to Carpi, to reside near his pupil Albertus Pius. Picus soon joined their society, and it is probable, that, in the literary conferences of these scholars, the project was first formed for the establishment of an excellent printing-office, which should principally be designed to give correct and elegant editions of the best Greek and Latin authors; and in all probability, these two princes, so ardently attached to literature,defrayed the first expenses of this establishment, as the circumstances of Aldus did not enable him to undertake it alone. Venice appeared to him, from its reigning taste for literature and the arts, the most suitable place for the execution of his favourite plan, He repaired thither in 1488, according to his own account, in his preface to "Aristotelis Organum," fol. 1495, in which he says he had been seven years employed in the arduous un dertaking of establishing a press. His first publication was the small poem of Musæus, which he printed in Greek and Latin, in 4to. 1494. This first edition was succeeded by In 1495, he published a collec tion of Grammatical treatises by Theodorus, Apollonius and Herodianus,and applied himself diligently in collecting, comparing, and correcting the writings of Aristotle, which had never been published in Greek, although many Latin editions of them had appeared in the 15th century. The first volume of this important work appeared in 1495; it was completed in 1498, and its masterly execution placed Aldus very high both as a printer and as an editor. During this period he was not employed with the works of Aristotle alone; many other interesting editions issued from his press; in which the just taste which directed his choice is eminently conspicuous. The cotemporary printers, whether at Venice or elsewhere, misled by the prevailing taste of that age or yielding to interest, printed only books of jurisprudence, or scholastick and mystical works; and very few good ones of ancient literature and philosophy. It was reserved for the genius of Aldus to change this system, and to give a new direction to the press, which from that period produced less scholastick trash; and nothing proved more efficacious towards renewing the universal study of ancient literature, than the resolution of this man, who devoted his whole life to republish its principal works. The writings of Aristotle, Plato, Xenophon, Homer, &c. &c. which had been hitherto confined to a few learned men, and possessed by few libraries, were thus placed with. in the reach of every reader. After having published a collection of Greek editions, for the execution of which he had so much desired the establishment of a press, he employed himself with the literary master-pieces of ancient and modern Rome and the classical works which he intended to publish in that language, were preceded by a Latip Grammar of his own. That his works might be read by others as well as scholars by profession, and not at the desk alone,or in libraries, he formed the excellent design of printing a collection of classicks, in 8vo (Enchiridii forma) which,in one convenient, cheap, and portable volume,should contain almost as much as a quarto, or a folio. To attain this end, he at first invented a type, the idea of which we are assured was suggested by the writing of Petrarca, and concerting with Francis de Bologna, a skilful engraver, who had drawn and engraved all the other types belonging to his press, he caused him to execute this well known italick, the first which was ever made of the kind, and which for a long time was called "Aldino," from his name. In 1501, appeared his Virgil, in 8vo. the first book printed in the new type, which was soon generally used. This little italick of Aldus, so different from the Gothick or Semigothick, caused a revolution in the press. Patents for the exclusive use of it were granted to Aldus for ten years, in 1502,by the senate of Venice; and,in the same year, by Pope Alexander VI. This patent was renewed for fifteen years by Julius II. in 1513, and again by Leo. X. in the following November; and besides these patents for his type, Aldus obtained others, for his numerous editions. From the year 1502, some printers at Lyons counterfeited the 8vo. editions of Aldus, in Latin and Italian, as they were published. There appeared successively, Virgil, Horace, Dante, Petrarca, Juvenal, and Persius, Martial, Lucan, Ovid, &c. &c. These editions of the same form, printed in a neat, though rath er heavy italic, were without date, and without any kind of mark; but every thing was copied in them, even the prefaces which Aldus,or his editors, generally placed at the beginning of them. During the years 1501-2-3-4-5, the Aldine press was constantly employed, and successively published the best Greek, Latin and Italian authors; and each month produced at least a volume either in folio or octavo. "Mille et amplius alicujus boni autoris volumina singulo quoque mense emittimus ex Academia nostra," he says in his preface to Euripides, 8vo. 1503. Every thing in these books was excellent; as to their literary merit, they were master pieces: and typo, graphically examined, the composi tion will be found to be even and well displayed, the press-work of a fine colour, and almost always uniform; the ink of so excellent a quality, that it still retains all the brilliancy of its varnish,and is far superiour in this respect, to that of the rivals of the Aldi, the Giunti of Florence, who printed upon paper, made with too little size, and with a gray ink, and so bad, that after three centuries, it still sets off under the binder's hammer. Aldus was conscious that the task, which he had imposed upon himself, exceeded the powers of one man, and that his most assiduous labours were not sufficient for the collation and correction of so many different texts, which were almost all published from very faulty manuscripts. Well knowing the extent of his undertaking, and too modest to wish to seem to do all by himself, be was soon surrounded by the most learned men of his age, who emulously lent their assistance in opening the sanc-. |