BOO 



BOO 



vrhere it makes four leaves; in 8", where eight; inJuode- 

 cimo, where twelve ; in i6', where fixtecn ; in 24°, where 

 twenty-four. 



Books, with regard to c'lrcumjlances and accidents, may be 

 divided into lojl, thofe which liave perifhed by the injuries of 

 time, or the malice or zeal of enemies. Such are divers 

 even of the ancient books of Scripture, written by Solomon, 

 and others of the prophets. Fabr. Cod. Pfeud. Vet. Teft. 

 torn. ii. p. 171. p. 247. Books/irowZ/f,-/, thofe which authors 

 have given expeftations of, which they have never accom- 

 plifhed. Janf. ab Almcloveen has given a Bibliotheca of 

 books promifed, but ftill latent, or not publillied. Books 

 Jiaitlous, thofe which never exifted : to which may be added 

 divers feigned titles of books. Loefcher has publifhed a 

 great number of plans, or projefts of books, many of them 

 good and ufeful enough, if there were but books written cor- 

 refponding to them. M. Dugono has a whole volume of 

 fchemes, or projeds of looks, containing no lefs than 300c. 



Books in Ana, Anti, Sec. See Ana, Anti, &;c. 



Books, the/cope, or d^Jign of, is various ; that of fome is 

 to tr'ce the origin of things difcovered ; of others, to fix 

 and eftabliih fome truth, or raife fome doftrine to a higher 

 pitch or fubtilty ; of others, to remove fome fcruple, or pre- 

 judice, which had before obtained, or fix more accurate and 

 precife ideas of things : of others, to explain the names and 

 words ufed in different nations, ages, and fefts ; of others, to 

 improve our knowledge of fafts, and events, and ihew the 

 order and ways of Providence ; laftly, others aim at divers, 

 or all of thefe ends. 



Books, the nfes of, are numerous ; they make one of the 

 chief inftruments, or means of acquiring knowledge : they 

 are the repoCtories of laws, and the vehicles of learning of 

 every kind : our rehgion itfelf is founded on books : " With- 

 out them," fays Bartholin," " God is filent, juftice dor- 

 mant, phyfic at a ftand, philofophy lame, letters dumb, and 

 all things involved in Cimmerian darknefs." De Liibr. 

 Legend. Diif. i. p. 5. 



The eulogiums which have been bellowed on books are 

 infinite : they are reprefented " as the refuge of truth, 

 which is baniflied out of converfation ; as ftanding coun- 

 fellors, and preachers, always at hand, and always difin- 

 terefted ; having this advantage over oral inftruftors, that 

 they are ready to repeat their leifon, as oft as we pleafe." 

 Books fuppl) the want of mailers, and even, in fome meafure, 

 the want of genius and invention : and can raife the dulleft 

 perfons, who have memory, above the level of the brigliteil 

 without them. An author who wrote not inelegantly, 

 though in a barbarous age, fums up all their praifes. Vide 

 Lucas de Pennaap. Movhoif. Polyhill. lib. i. cap. 3. p. 27. 

 " Liber eft lumen cordis, fpeculum corporis, virtutum ma- 

 gillcr, vitiorum depulfor, corona prudentum, comes itineris, 

 domefticus amicus, congerro talentls, coUcga & confiliarius 

 prajfidentis, myrotheciumeloquenti?e, hortus plenus fruftibus, 

 pratum floribus diftinclum, memoriae penus, vita recorda- 

 tionis ; vocatus properat, judus feftinat, femper prxfto eft, 

 nonquam non morigerus, rogatus confeftim refpondet ; ar- 

 cana revelat, obfcura illuftrat, ambigua certiorat, perplexa 

 refolvit, contra adverfam fortunani defenfor, fccundx mode- 

 rator, opes adauget, jacluram propulfat," &c. 



Perhaps their greateft glory is, the atfeitlon borne them 

 by many of the greatcll men in all ages : M. Cato, the elder 

 Fliny, the emperor Julian, and others, are on record for a very 

 extraordinary devotion to books. This laft has pei-petuatcd 

 his paflion by fome Greek epigrams in their praile. Richard 

 Bury, bifhop of Durham, and lord chancellor of England, 

 has a treatife exprefs on the love of books. Philobibkon, 

 five de Amore Librorum. Vide Plin. Epift. vii. hb.iii. 



Vol. IV. 



Cato's attachment to books may be obferved in the followirtg 

 paragraph. 



" M. Catonem vidi in bibliotheca fedentem multis circum- 

 fufum Stoicorum libris. Erat enim, ut fcis, in eo inexhaufta 

 aviditas legcndi, nee fatiari poterat : quippe qui, ne reprehen- 

 fionem vulgi inanem reformidans, in ipfa curia foleret legere, 

 fjepe dum fenatus cogerelur, nihil operse reipublicse dctra- 

 hens." VideCic.de Divin. lib. iii. n. 11. See alto Cic. 

 Orat. pro Arch, tom.iv. p. 2182. 



Books, the ill effeds objefted to, are, that they employ 

 too much of our time and attention ; engage us in purfuita 

 of no ufe to the commonwealth, and indifpofe us for the 

 fnnftions of civil life ; that they render men lazy, and pre- 

 vent their exerting their own talents, b)* furnifhing them, on 

 every occafion, with things that are the productions of others ; 

 and that our natural lights become weakened and estinguifhed, 

 by inuring ourfelves to fee only with foreign lights : befides, 

 that ill men are hereby furniflied with m.eans of poifoning 

 the people, and propagating fuperftition, immorality, enthu- 

 fiafm, or irreligion, which will always fpread fafter, and be 

 received more greedily, than leflbns of truth and virtue. 

 Many other things are added concerning the emptinefs of 

 books, and the cn^irs, fables, and follies they are fraught 

 with : which, together with the multitude and perplexity of 

 them, are fuch, that it may feem eafier to difcover truth in 

 the nature andreafon of things, than in the uncertainty and 

 confufion of books. Add, that books have turned the other 

 inftruments of knowledge out of doors, as experiments, ob- 

 fervations, furnaces, and the like, without which the natural 

 fciences can never be cultivated to purpofe ; and that, in ma- 

 thematics, books have fo far fuperfeded the exercife of inven- 

 tion, that the generality of mathematicians are now contented 

 to learn the folution of problems from others ; which is to 

 relinquilh the chief end of their fcience ; fince what is con- 

 tained in mathematical books is properly the hiftoiy only of 

 mathematics, not the fcience, art, or talent of folving 

 queftions ; which is hardly to be had from books, but only 

 from nature and meditation. 



Books, for the art of writing, or compq/ing, we have much 

 fewer helps and inftruflions than for the art of fpeaking ; 

 though tlie former be the more difficult of the two ; as a 

 reader is not fo eafy to be impofed upon, but has better op- 

 portunities of detcdling faults than a hearer. A great car- 

 dinal, indeed, reduces an author's bufinefs to a few heads ; 

 were they but as eafily praftifed as prefcribed ; " Let him 

 confider who it is writes, what, how, why, and to whom." 

 Auguft. Val;r. di Cant, in edend. lib. 7'hf conditions required 

 in a hook are, according to Salden, " folidity, perfpicuity, 

 and brevitv :" the firft will be beft attained, by kteping the 

 piece long by us, often reviewing and correfting it by the 

 advice of friends : theyfr/jni^, by difpofing the fentiments in 

 a due order, and delivering them under proper and ufual 

 expreffions : the third, by throwing every thing afide that 

 does not immediately concern the fubjedl. Were thefe 

 rules obferved, it would fcarcely be poffible for any, except 

 an angel from heaven, to write many books. " Vis 

 totidem quot Thebarum portas vel di\itiis oftia Nili." 

 The cuilom is much altered fince the times of the ancients, 

 who carried their fcrupuloufnefs into what relates to the 

 compofition of books beyond all that has been above ex- 

 prefled ; fo auguft was the idea they formed of a book, that 

 nothing would fuffice lefs than its being a treafure : " the- 

 fauros oportet effe, non libros :" no labour, no affiduity and 

 exaftnefs, were thought enough to fit a work for the public 

 view : every fentiment and expreffion were to be maturely 

 weighed, and turned on all fides ; and not fuffered to pafs, 

 onlefs erery word were a pearl, and every page befet with 



iG 



gems. 



