422 
In the midst of continual labours, and the 
cares which. were incessantly required 
through a long series of years, by the dif- 
hReult and learned editions which each 
month and week issued from their presses, 
these indefatigable men Still, themselves, 
found leisure for the cultivation of litera- 
ture; and they have left several works, 
which evince their profound know!edge, 
and still retain a wellédeserved esteem. 
Paulus Manutius, in particular, acquired, by 
a constant study of the works of Cicero, 
2 purity and elegance of styles which will 
always be used in those letters and pre- 
faces, which he wrete in the Latin, lan- 
guage. His Commentaries on Cicero, are 
still in the hands of all chose who would 
study to advantage the: oratiens of that 
father of elaguence; and his treatises of 
antiquity are read less. now, only on ac- 
count of their being replaced by more mo- 
dern works, which are indebted to him for 
some of the most valuable of their ton- 
tents. 
Aldus Manutius, son of Paulus, the last of 
this illustrious family, shines with Jess 
splendour in the list of renowned print- 
ers.  {ndéed, it may be said, without in- 
justice ‘towards, him, that ,if he had not 
been the son of Paulus Manutius, if she 
had not succeeded to the excellent Aldine 
press, it would seldom be remembered that 
he had ever been a printer ; but if his in- 
clination gave a different direction to his 
pursuits and studies, if even he did’ not in 
any thing equal his father and grand-fa- » 
ther, his numerous works, nevertheless, 
prove that he was industricus and learned, 
and justify, to a certain degree, the clogi- 
ums bestowed* upon ares ‘by emanyrof hiss 
cotemporaries. 
The history of ‘these eitet learned printers 
bas never been completely written, al-... 
though many biographers give a lomger or 
shorter account of them. ~All those, who 
have spok as of the state of literature dur- 
ing the sixteenth century, could not but 
mention with distinction the Aldine fa- 
mily among its greatest ornaments. . But 
the passages which we find in De ha,” 
and many less celebrated authors, are ra- 
ther testimonies of esteem, than_histori- 
cal relations, and are by no means sufh- 
cient to make these printers known, as they 
deserve to be, by every friend, of litera- 
ture. 
Jn the last century, Unger, in Germany, Ze- 
no, at Fluxence, Manni, at Venice, Laz-. 
geri, at Kome, and Maittaire and Tira- 
boschi, Icft.accounts, more or less detailed, 
of one or other of the three Aldi... The 
first of these writers, Unger, who publish- 
ed his work in 1729, has loaded it. with 
digressiuns, foreign to the subject, which 
necessarily render it, .on the whole, unin-. 
Geret,, who re-_ 
printed this work at Wittemberg, 1793, in - 
teresting and ,orbidding, 
Memoirs of Aldus Maniitius, or the Elder Aldus. 
[June-l, 
quarto, has added notes, correcting many 
errors, and supplying many omissions, but 
these only serve to render it more,confused. 
The catalogue of the Aldine editions, 
found in these two publications, is likewise 
su incorrect, that it is altogether useless. 
Manni, has given his work a more historical 
form; it is therefore read with greater in- 
terest than the unconnected, tedious, pa- 
ragraphs of the, German at haate Like 
Unger, he has written only of the elder 
Aldus; his account of the Aldine editions 
is very “incomplete, and has the great fault 
of containing some vague account of se- 
vera] Suck which have never existed. 
Father Lazzeri, who published at. Rome, i In 
1754-58, some account of Paulus Manu- 
tius, im the introduction to A Collection of 
Manuscript Letters of several learned Men, 
relates, with minute exactness, all which 
he a aaa in the least referred to Paulus 
Manutius. Letters, prefaces, manuscripts, 
nothing escaped the researches of this la- 
borious jesuit ; and if he could have avoid- 
ed useless details, limited his quotations, 
and introduced them more appropriately, 
his work would have been less tedious, and 
much more read. 
The best memoir relative to this family, in 
every respect, that bas been published, is 
that which Apostolo Zeno has given of the 
younger Aldus, prefixed to ‘* "ebistore fa 
ee idi Cicerone tradctte,” 1736, 2 vol. 
8vo. under the title, WVotizie Manuzianey 
and without any list of the Aldine editions. 
By this short piece, as by many others, he 
has proved that a good writer may treat 
of literary history in. such a manner as to 
deprive it, in a great degree, of its dryness 
“and dulness; and his? bibliographical and 
critical works are eminently distinguished’ 
from all others ‘of the saine kind. “We 
are assured that he had writtena complete 
and methodical work upon the) three;Ma- 
nutii, but that being robbed ‘of it when 
preparing it for the press, he ‘could never 
bring himself to resume it. 
Cardinal Brienne, who had long laboured to 
realize his. fayourite project of, an univer- 
sal library, caused a catalogue of the Al~ 
dine editions to be printed at. Pisa, in 1790, 
which he had methodically arranged, with 
the assistance of P. Laire, his librarian, 
who died a short time. since at Auxerre, 
where the library of the department of 
of Yonae had been confided to his care, 
This list, entitled 6€ Sorie dell? edizioni Al- 
dini,” was reprinted the, following year, 
at Padua, with some additions, and in 
/ 1791 at. Venice, with the profession of 
-** emendations and additions,” which, how- 
ever, exist only in the. title page. . 
These several works, or rather fragments of 
works, although numerous, are insufficient, 
The *¢ Serie” presents. only an uninterest- 
ing list, destitute of notes and preliminary 
observationss . As for the other accounts, 
they 
