i8 9 i-92-] 383 



Sir William Stirling Maxwell, in his introduction to " The 

 Chief Victories of the Emperor Charles V.," says, " The noble 

 gentlemen of Europe. . . . declared their inward preten- 

 sions, purposes, and enterprises, not by speech or any apparent 

 manner, but shadowed under a certain veil of forms and figures," 

 and " it was the fashion for men of all degrees to clothe in sym- 

 bolic shape their sympathies or antipathies, their sorrows, joys, 

 or affections, or the hopes and ambitions of their lives." 

 Gentle and simple, following the example of sovereigns, each 

 adopted an impress or device, with its appropriate legend. 

 Such inventions were held in high esteem, and took firm root 

 in these countries, exercising the ingenuity of the bravest and 

 wisest in devising them. That the fashion of expressing their 

 thoughts in emblems must have been very prevalent appears 

 from frequent references from our older poets. Chaucer's 

 " Prioress" had 



" A broche of gold ful shene, 

 On which was ywritten a crouned A, 

 And after, Amor •vincit omnia? 



" Emblem books," as they were termed by English writers, 

 have never been numerous, and seldom original, the field being 

 occupied by the writers of Italy, France, and Germany. A 

 revival of interest was given to this most attractive branch of 

 symbolic or emblematic art by the publication, a few years ago, 

 of an excellent work on the subject, " Historic Devices, Badges, 

 War Cries, &c," by Mrs. Bury Palliser. It is an admirable 

 exposition of the subject, and full, of interest to the student of 

 history. A copy is here on the table, also a copy of Alciati's 

 "Emblems," published 1589; "Imagines Mortis," Holbein's 

 "Dance of Death," 1573 ; Valeriani's " Hieroglyphica of the 

 Ancient Egyptians," including Horapolla's works ; facsimile 

 reprint " The Mirror of Majesty," 1618 ; «« Whitney's Choice of 

 Emblems," edited by Henry Green, 1870 ; " Shakspere and the 

 Emblem Writers," Henry Green, 1870 ; and other works 

 treating of the subject. 



