12 



(chiefly French) of the middle of the sixteenth century. But 

 the multifarious calls upon this writer's industry and ingenuity 

 seem to have precluded him from entering into that accurate 

 and enlarged discussion of which he was doubtless capable. 

 The ninth volume of the Retrospective Review* contains an 

 article winch treats ' of Emblems/ It is however extremely 

 meagre and imperfect, and contains several important errors. 

 Beloe, at the conclusion of his c Anecdotes of Literature and 

 Scarce Books' informs us that he had ' extended to a conside- 

 rable length a Treatise on Emblems/ which, if the author had 

 lived to complete and publish it, would have rendered the pre- 

 sent ' Sketch' unnecessary. 



" In entering upon an historical detail of printed Books qf 

 Emblems, it will be proper to make a few preliminary observa- 

 tions. 



" It may generally be remarked that those which were pub- 

 lished during the commencement and progress of the sixteenth 

 century may boast of the most distinguished scholars as the 

 authors of the Metrical Illustrations, while the engravings 

 (though possessing great merit) are for the most part upon 

 wood, and inferior in effect to those which were exhibited at 

 a subsequent period. These early engravings were of a small 

 size ; the works in which they were contained were generally 

 published in 8vo. or 12mo., and the poetry was in most in- 

 stances brief and epigrammatic; whereas, that of a later 

 period was more diffuse, and frequently accompanied with 

 commentaries and enlargements by the authors themselves. 

 Most of the early productions were in Latin, and issued from 

 the French and Italian press. t Soon, however, the printing- 

 houses of Germany, the Low Countries, and Spain, became so 

 prolific in these publications, that it would not be too much to 



* Page 122. 



+ Among the printers ami publishers of these works, Wechel, of Paris, Rouille, 

 of Lyons, and Plantin, of Antwerp, (having an establishment also at I.eyden,) stood 

 preeminent 



