BOOKS OF SECRETS. 35 



meanings, doubts, grave doubts, about the veracity and trustworthiness 

 of editors, doubts about almost everything except the bare facts of paper, 

 printing and binding. These troubles are inherent in the books themselves 

 and in the motives of the publishers. Their aim was to push their wares. 

 It was not likely that the bibliographical minutiae which give the books 

 a fictitious, or adventitious, value in our eyes, ever entered the head of — 

 let us say— Nicholas Boddington, or of his chapmen, still less of the 

 goodwives with whom they chaffered, or that they bothered about whether 

 the editions were numbered or dated or not, which would have been so 

 useful to us now. 



Thus the problems instead of being direct and obvious are often 

 crooked and refractory and from sheer want of data the solution must be 

 relegated to a better informed time. Perhaps the solution could be found 

 at once if it were only seen that the data are lying unrecognised and 

 unheeded at our hand. "All difficulties are but easy when they are 

 known." 



The subject is not finished, but it is time to stop. From these random 

 selections it can be seen that it is a big one, even when limited. In one 

 aspect it is of no importance, and yet it attracts attention. " Secrets " of 

 course are always alluring, and the promise of a revelation of the hidden 

 meaning will draw many to listen. But the secrets these books disclose 

 are all done with long ago, and are not used for their purpose any more. 

 They can, however, serve another purpose. In short, the books are 

 historical documents and give insight into the knowledge and skill of the 

 times when they were composed. They throw light on the practical life, 

 as the literature illuminates the mental life of those days. From them we 

 can acquire notions of the beliefs and practice of the times and can 

 compare what the books tell us with what remains of the products. For 

 the study of the history of arts and manufactures these books are in- 

 dispensable, for however inaccurate or mistaken from our point of view 

 the authors may have been, at least the substances they employed were 

 the same as ours, and it is possible thereby to check their statements and 



