317 
MAN 
to fome r,n.cient voluminous Greek and Latin authors, 
undoubtedly.theirs ? May not there ftill fome fuppofiti- 
tious pieces lurk among them, which have the luck to he 
received, only be.caufe they have been more ingenioutly 
counterfeited ? And, if it was really poffible to find out 
,'the time when an author lived only by diligently reading 
his works, furely the world would have been long finc'e 
agreed as to the time when Homer lived, though they 
could not tell where he was born. And I believe even 
in the lift of eccleiialtical writers there are i'ome, and thofe 
not of the leaft confideration, who, notwithftanding their 
.works have been read over and over, are ftill reckoned to 
be of uncertain age. 
“ As for pictures, though I have much lefs experience 
in them than I.had once in manufcripts, yet I will not 
deny but that the works of a hundred mafters may be 
known by the hands, though they may be almoft as dif¬ 
ferent as their feveral hands in writing ; but that one 
painter cannot copy from another, fo exaftly, as that in 
trad of time it (hall not be known which piflure is the 
original, is what I dare not affert. It has been frequently 
pradiled by painters to borrow pictures of thofe who are 
lovers and judges of fuch things, to copy them, and to 
return their copies for the originals, without any difco- 
very made by the difcerning'owners. And I believe it 
poffible, though exceedingly difficult, for a great mafter 
to copy a pidure fo, that, when they both ftand together, 
a good judge fliall not dare pofitively to fay which is the 
copy and which not; nor he that drew the original dare 
to'own, that he could imitate his own handyw'ork better 
than a ftranger has done. There are a great many fto- 
ries common among painters to this purpofe. And one 
would not think it much more difficult for a man to imi¬ 
tate a drawling or pidure than to counterfeit another 
man’s hand-writing, which fome people can do moft ex- 
adly. And others with pen and ink will copy after any 
thing that is printed fo nicely, as that one would affirm 
their writing to be printed off at the prefs. 
“On the whole, it feems' to me, that there is a gradual 
and fenfible alteration in the appearance of things, and es¬ 
pecially in the fcripture or hand-writing of manufcripts. 
Now thefe ought to be conftdered with refped to the par¬ 
ticular places where they were written. Every country is 
fuppofed to have remaining in it the greateft variety and 
molt confiderable monuments of its own charaders; un- 
lefs they are known to have been carried away to other 
places. And therefore, if any man be defirous of confi- 
dering the letters of any language that has been confined 
to any one particular region or province, it is but going 
thither, and it is ten to one, if he be diligent, but he may 
fatisfy bis curiofity very well. For example, fuppofe I 
fhould be willing to conlider the nature of the Irifti let¬ 
ters, their origin, progrefs, and variations, with their re¬ 
lation to the Roman, Franco et Anglo Saxon ; this might 
be done by travelling in Ireland, principally by taking a 
trip into the Scotch Highlands, and perhaps into the llle 
of Man, and by confulting fome Englilh and other libra¬ 
ries whither fome Irifti manufcripts have been carried. 
If I would confider the French, Italian, Spanilh, or Eng¬ 
lilh, hands, each country affords fufficient helps. But, 
if a man would conlider the letters of a dead or living 
language which fpread far, and has been or is ufed in fe¬ 
deral countries; he cannot be fuppofed a perfect mafter 
in all the ways of writing that language till he has conii- 
dere'd the whole ftate and fucceffion ot its letters in each 
of thofe countries. Among thofe languages I reckon the 
Hebrew, Arabic, Turkilh, Armenian, Perfian, Greek, 
Latin, Teutonic, Sclavonian, &c. And, though Latin is 
common among us, and every one is pronouncing the age 
of a Latin manufeript, yet I think they would do well to 
inquire where, as well as when, a book was written; and, 
if they are certain that fuch a Latin book was written in 
,fuch a particular qountry, or province, it is then more 
eafy, by confictering the fucceffion of letters ufed in that 
province, or by comparing it with other books written 
Vol. XIV. No. 976. 
M A N 
there, to fay how old it is. For want of this confidera- 
tion, many learned perfons have been almoft always out 
in their calculations, and have pronounced at random. 
If then this method appears rational, and even necefl'ary, 
in order to attain a fufficient meafure of this fort of know¬ 
ledge ; it follows, that it is no eafy matter to affign the 
age even of a Latin manufeript, no not even in England, 
where yet I fuppofe there may be as great a variety of 
Latin hands as in moft other countries.” Phil. Tranf. 
vol. xxiv. p. 1993. 
MAN'USCRIPT, adj. Done in writing, as diftinguiffied 
from what is printed. 
MANUTEN'TION, f. [from the Eat. manus, the hand, 
and teneo, to hold.] The act of holding by the hand. 
Bailey. 
MANU'TIUS (Aldus), the firft of thofe celebrated 
Venetian printers who were as illuftrious for their learn¬ 
ing as for uncommon fkil 1 in their profeftion. He was 
born 144.7, at Baffano in Italy; and hence is fometimes 
called Bqffianus, though generally better known by the 
name of Aldus. After a common grammatical education, 
he was fent to Rome, where he purfued his claffical ftudies 
under Gafpar da Verona; and removing thence to Fer¬ 
rara, he had the advantage of learning Greek from Bat- 
tifta Guarino. During his refidence at the latter city, 
he was employed to give private leffons to Alberto Pio, 
prince of Carpi, and to Hercules Strozzi, afterwards a 
diftinguiflied poet. The war between the Venetians and 
the duke of Ferrara in 1482 obliged Aldus to quit that 
city'; and he took up his abode with that illuftrious prince 
and patron of learning, John Pico of Mirandola. He af¬ 
terwards vifited his pupil Pio at Carpi, whither Pico alfo 
came ; and it was probably in concert with thefe two en¬ 
lightened nobles, and with the aftiltance of their purfes, 
that he undertook to fet up a printing-office at Venice for 
the purpofe of giving correct and elegant editions of the 
Greek and Latin clatiics. Aldus is laid to have opened 
his prefs in 1488, but the firft work which he finiflied did 
not appear till 1494. Within the fpace of about twenty 
years he printed almoft every Greek and Latin clallic, as 
well as a number of other books. Of thefe editions, cata¬ 
logues have been given by various bibliographers and 
writers on typography. One of the moft arduous of his 
undertakings was the entire Greek text of Ariftotle, w hich, 
at valt labour and expenle, he was the firft who gave to 
the learned world. He was the inventor of the Italic 
character, called the Aldine, and obtained from the fenate 
of Venice and the pope patents for its exclulive ufe fora 
number of years. In order to render his editions correft, 
he procured the affiftance of fome of the belt fcholars of 
the age in their revifion, fuch as Demetrius Chalcondylas, 
Alexander, and others whole names are known in litera¬ 
ture. Aldus likewife eftabliffied a kind of academy in 
his own houfe, at which all the learned in Venice affem- 
bled on fixed days, when they difeuffed various literary 
topics, efpecially the choice of books proper to be print¬ 
ed, and the readings to be preferred in each. This aca¬ 
demy was compofed of Mufuro, Bembo, Navagero, Ri- 
nieri, Egnazio, Ramulio, and feveral other men ol emi¬ 
nence and erudition. Aldus was very defirous of ren¬ 
dering it perpetual ; but it does not appear to have fur- 
vived him, though it was fucceeded not long after his 
death by the Venetian Academy. He died in noiil 1515. 
Aldus Manutius deferves a confpicuous place in the 
lift of learned printers, as well as of improvers of the ty¬ 
pographic art. To many of his editions are prefixed dif- 
iertations and prefaces of his own compofition in the 
Greek and Latin languages; and many elegant letters of 
his in the latter tongue have been printed in epistolary 
collections. He publilhed a Latin grammar compiled by 
himfelf, and a treadle De Metris Horatianis; trantlated 
various pieces from the Greek into Latin, and publilhed 
a Greek dictionary. He was vilited by all learned ftrangers 
who came to Venice; but, in order to prevent a watte of 
the time which lie could to well occupy, he put up an in- 
4 hi leription 
