S"d S. No 96., Oct. 31. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUEHIES. 



345 



preface be notices the existence of one work from 

 the library of this far-famed earl. Since his 

 death a second book on mathematics and algebra 

 has turned up ; both this volume and the former 

 one are in the original binding, and more ex- 

 quisite specimens of the bibliopegestic art can 

 hardly be figured ; the latter would have satisfied 

 even Lord Dundrennan's fastidious taste in this 

 respect. 



The conlribution to the Maitland Club was a 

 joint one ; the late Lord Cockburn, who had mar- 

 ried Dundrennan's wife's sister, being the coad- 

 jutor. It was the collected works of " George 

 Dulgarno," an Oberdonian, who had been praised 

 by Dugald Stewart, but who nevertheless was but 

 little known. 



Before he obtained a judgeship Mr. Maitland 

 edited for a few friends the Clavis Universalis of 

 Collier. This was a private publication, and 

 originated out of a notion that the original edition 

 of the book was ^ of extraordinary rarity — the 

 modern Athenians not being aware that it often 

 turned up on English book- stands, and might be 

 bought for a mere trifle — and that it had been 

 reprinted about the end of last century. It was, 

 as usual with everything of the kind the editor had 

 any concern with, beautifully printed in 8vo., and 

 had a biographical account of the supposed author. 

 After two or three copies had gone abroad it was 

 discovered that the individual whose life had been 

 given was not the author of the Clavis, but his 

 brother. The sketch was consequently cancelled, 

 and bibliomaniacs who have copies with it may 

 congratulate themselves as possessing a volume 

 which is entitled to be enrolled among the Libri 

 rarissimi. J. Maidment. 



NOTKS ON SOME RECENT FRENCH ABCHiSiOIiOOICAL 

 PDBIilCATIONS. 



Le Trhor des Pieces rares ou inidites, public par 

 Auguste Aubry, Paris, 8°., vols. i. — x. 



We cannot complain just now that the study of 

 antiquarian lore is neglected, nor lament at the 

 paucity of our resources, when we sit down to 

 examine the annals of the past. In a short time, 

 we do believe, there will not remain a single MS. 

 unpublished, .and every black-letter volume now 

 so fondly petted, handled, cherished, and pre- 

 served by bibliomaniacs will have been vulgarised 

 by reprints. This consummation may perhaps, to 

 amateurs of rarities, seem little short of an act of 

 Vandalism ; but it should be proved first that 

 historical documents are the less valuable because 

 they do not appear on coarse, dirty-looking, worm- 

 eaten paper, grotesquely printed, and bound in 

 pig-skin. 



Commend us to M. Aubry's Tresor des Pieces 

 rares ou inedites, therefore, and let all those 

 amongst our readers who are fond of analecta 



curiosa rescued from oblivion and carefully edited 

 — let them just open a volume or two of this in- 

 teresting collection. These are not, however, 

 honest friend, books that thou couldst read, as 

 Charles Lamb delighted to do, with fingers soiled 

 by the contact of buttered muffins. No ! respect 

 the neat cloth binding, the broad margin, the ele- 

 gant impression, and the beautiful paper. 



The first volume we take up contains some 

 works of Ronsard, hitherto unpublished or little 

 known.* About thirty years ago, when the po- 

 etic crusade, led on in France by Victor Hugo 

 and the other romantic writers, broke out, Ron- 

 sard became the great authority of the innovators. 

 His style was assiduously studied, his authority 

 considerably quoted, and his reputation exag- 

 gerated in the same proportion as it had till then 

 been despised and slighted. Like every other re- 

 action, the romantic movement went too far, and 

 after the brilliant example Set by M. Sainte- 

 Beuve in his Histoire de la Poesie Franqaise au 

 Seizieme Siecle, many critics spent their time in 

 endeavouring to discover throughout Ronsard's 

 works merits which he did not possess. But in 

 spite of this transitory delusion, we must say that 

 the author of the Franciade was a man of great 

 powers and a consummate writer. His literary 

 merits sufficiently j ustify every attempt made to 

 illustrate his life, explain his influence, and, in 

 order to this last-mentioned object, publish a 

 complete edition of his poems. This task has 

 been undertaken by M. Prosper Blanchemain, 

 who is already engaged upon a reprint of the 

 Gentilhomme Vendomois for M. Jannet's Biblio- 

 theque Elzivirienne, and the volume we are now 

 noticing will form a most useful and necessary 

 supplement to the acknowledged writings of the 

 poet. It contains, 1°, CoUetet's biographical me- 

 moir of Ronsard, printed for the first time from a 

 MS. in the library of the Louvre ; 2°, seventeen 

 sonnets, elegies, &c., likewise here first printed ; 

 3°, a number of poems scattered in various recueils 

 or collections, and which had never hitherto been 

 included in any edition of the ceuvres completes : 

 'i", pieces which, although of uncertain origin, 

 may be ascribed to Ronsard ; 5°, the poet's prose 

 compositions. M. Blanchemain has edited these 

 curious reliquia with the utmost care ; his notes 

 are short but sufficient, and the bibliographical 

 indications will be found very useful by those 

 whose taste leads them to researches connected 

 with French literature. 



Belonging to the school represented by Villon, 

 Henri Baude, whose poems are now introduced to 



* " Oeuvres Inedites de P. De Ronsard, Gentilhomme 

 Vandosmois, publi^es par M. Prosper Blanchemain, de la 

 society des Bibliophiles fran^ois, bibliothecaire-adjoint au 

 ministcire de I'interieur, orndes du portrait de Ronsard, de 

 ses armoiries et da fac-simile de sa signatare, graves sur 

 bois." 



