A CENTURY OF EMBLEMS
Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh.
A
Century of Emblems
BY
G. S. CAUTLEY
VICAR OF NETTLEDEN,
AUTHOR OF 'THE AFTERGLOW,' AND 'THE THREE FOUNTAINS.'
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
By the Lady Marian Alford, Rear-Admiral Lord W. Compton,
Venble. Lord A. Compton, R. Barnes, J. D. Cooper,
and the Author
London
MACMILLAN AND COMPANY
1878
To the Memory
OF
CHARLES DOUGLAS,
MARQUIS OF NORTHAMPTON,
THIS LITTLE BOOK,
MAINLY DUE IN ITS PRESENT FORM TO
HIS GENEROSITY AND COUNSEL,
IS DEDICATED,
IN ALL GRATEFUL AND TENDER RECOLLECTION
BY
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
This small volume is the latest of above three thousand[1] of a similarkind, which, under the general title of "Books of Emblems" have followedin the wake of the Libellus Emblematum,[2] a work, much resembling achild's primer in outward appearance, published at Augsburg in A.D.1532, and composed by Andrea Alciati, a famous lawyer, antiquary, andlitterateur of Milan.
This book consisted of nearly a hundred Latin Epigrams, some original,some translated or paraphrased from the Greek, and each accompanied bya[x] rude woodcut illustration. Alciati was the first author who gave thename of Emblem to this form of expressing his ideas: and the notion forso doing was suggested by the original meaning of the word Emblem, whichsignifies anything inserted. The Greeks and Romans used to insert smallpictures or bas-reliefs in the sides of vases, drinking-cups, andvarious other utensils: these little works of art were called Emblems:they were sometimes accompanied by mottoes or verses, and often ma