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A Sketch of that branch of Literature called "Books of 

 Emblems/' as it flourished during the \Qth and 17 th centu- 

 ries, by Joseph Brooks Yates, Esq., E.S.A., President. 



" Fallor, an et radios hiuc quoquo Phcebus habet?" — Miltoni Eleo. vii. 

 PART II. 



In the first part of this Memoir (vide the last published 

 portion of the Society's Proceedings) our attention was di- 

 rected to those productions, which, being published under the 

 title of Boohs of Emblems, were composed in strict conformity 

 with the definition before given. It will scarcely however be 

 considered a digression, if we now briefly advert to a few con- 

 temporaneous publications, which, though not called by their 

 authors " Boohs of Bmblems," are really entitled to take their 

 place in the same category. They consist of a feiv lines of 

 Poetry — generally in elegant Latin — subjoined to an Engraving, 

 and are proper to be attached to a Vase, a Pillar, or apiece of 

 Ftirnitnre, The first, which is a very large and important 

 class, was taken from Bible History, and employed the talents 

 of the greatest scholars and artists during the 16th and 17th 

 centuries. By them many magnificent works were put forth 

 in various forms — from a duodecimo hand-book to a stately 

 quarto or folio — exhibiting in regular progression the princi- 

 pal events recorded in the Old and New Testament. And 

 these works have not merely excited general admiration, but 

 have supplied models for the imitation of artists down to the 

 present day. Their value will be the more appreciated, when 

 we call to mind that very many of the great painters of those 

 times handled the graver and the brush with equal success, 

 and in both departments of art largely occupied themselves in 

 embodying the momentous occurrences so graphically recorded 

 by the pens of the inspired writers. While the great Italian 

 artists embellished the temples with their frescoes and paint- 

 ings on a large scale, many of the Germans — in compliance 



