318 



ON THE REVIVAL OF LITERATURE. 



IV. Nothing could occur more auspiciously to the zeal and splendour with 

 which this munificent and sumptuous pontiff was prosecuting; the revival of 

 literature than the invention of printing ;~that wonderful discovery which 

 has since effected, and which is so well calculated to effect, the most 

 important revolutions among- mankind : the noblest art of man, next to the 

 invention of letters ; the winged commerce of the mind ; the impregnable 

 breastplate of freedom. We may fairly call it an invention, even at the 

 period here adverted to, since, though the same art, as well in the form of 

 stereotype or wooden blocks, and of moveable type, had at this time been in 

 use in China ever since the close of the ninth century, and was encouraged 

 by the patronag^^ of the emperor Teen Foh*, there is not the smallest ground 

 for supposing, as there is in the case of the mariner's compass, that it was 

 introduced into Europe from any communication with the Chinese empire. 

 Strasburg has the honour of having given birth to this invention in the mid- 

 dle of the fifteenth century, at the very period when Constantinople fell 

 prostrate before the standard of the Crescent. It was for some time kept a 

 profound secret ; but it was an art of far too much importance to remain con- 

 cealed long; and was soon eagerly laid hold of by a variety of spirited and 

 noble Italians, whom the fashion and ardour of the times had stimulated to 

 try their respective powers in the generous contest for literary fame and dis- 

 tinction; and applied, upon an extensive scale, to a pubUcation of correct 

 and almost immaculate editions of the best Greek, Roman, and vernacular 

 authors. 



Among this excellent group, v/orthy of all praise and immortality, stands 

 first in order of time, and foremost in that of merit, the well-known name of 

 Aldo Manuzio, or Aldus Manutius Bassianus, the intimate friend of Erasmus, 

 born at Bassiano, a village within the Roman territory, in the year 1447 : he 

 established his printing school at Venice ; invited all the scholars of the age 

 to his assistance ; and, in 1494, produced, as the first fruits of the Aldine 

 press, the first Greek poem or Greek book that ever appeared in print, the 

 Hero and Leander of MuscEus ; which was followed, not many years after- 

 ward, by an accurate edition of the entire works of Plato, at that time the 

 most popular of all the Greek philosophers ; introdnced by an elegant copy 

 of Greek verses composed by Marcus Musurus, one of the most learned 

 Greeks of the day, who had carefully superintended the press, and justly 

 complimentary to the talents and princely munificence of the head of the 

 church; who, with a singular coincidence of facts, was at that very moment 

 addressing a letter to Musurus, requesting his assistance in the formation of 

 his Greek seminary at Rome. I need not add, that to Musurus, to Aldo, to 

 Agostino Chisi, who also founded, and at Rome itself, a printing establish- 

 ment of great extent and celebrity, to scholars and artists of every descrip- 

 tion and country, his patronage- his high approbation, and his pecuniary aid, 

 were dealt out to an extent, ana v^^ith a liberality, that no other age has ever 

 witnessed either before or since. 



Nor did he confine his attention to a restoration of the Greek and Roman 

 languages, or an improvement of his vernacular tongue. Under his auspices 

 a study of the oriental dialects, so necessary to a perfect knowledge of the 

 sacred writings, now first began to engage the attention of the learned. Fe 

 invited ecclesiastics from Syria, Ethiopia, and other eastern countries. In 

 order to carry this important object into due effect, he established a Syriac 

 chair in the university of Bologna, and appointed the celebrated canon Teseo 

 Ambrogio to be the first professor, who is said to have been acquainted with 

 eighteen different languages, and to have delivered his instructions in the 

 Syriac and Chaldee tongues with the fluency of a native. He patronised the 

 Psalter of Agostino Giustiniani, published at Genoa in 1516, in four different 

 languages ; personally perused and superintended, as long as he lived, Pag- 

 nini's translation of the Bible from the original Hebrew ; and, to sum up the 

 whole, gave every encouragement to that masterpiece oflearning and labour, 



* Morrison's Philological View of China, p. 27. 



