Bibliomania; or Book-Madness.

by Thomas Frognall Dibdin.

MY DEAR SIR,

When the poetical Epistle of Dr. Ferriar, under the popular title of "THE BIBLIOMANIA," was announced for publication, I honestly confess that, in common with many of my book-loving acquaintance, a strong sensation of fear and of hope possessed me: of fear, that I might have been accused, however indirectly, of having contributed towards the increase of this Mania; and of hope, that the true object of book-collecting, and literary pursuits, might have been fully and fairly developed. The perusal of this elegant epistle dissipated alike my fears and my hopes; for, instead of caustic verses, and satirical notes,[3] I found a smooth, melodious, and persuasive panegyric; unmixed, however, with any rules for the choice of books, or the regulation of study.

[Footnote 3: There are, nevertheless, some satirical allusions which one could have wished had been suppressed.

For instance:

He turns where PYBUS rears his atlas-head Or MADOC'S mass conceals its veins of lead;

What has Mr. Pybus's gorgeous book in praise of the late Russian Emperor Paul I. (which some have called the chef-d'oeuvre of Bensley's press[A]) to do with Mr.

Southey's fine Poem of Madoc?--in which, if there are "veins of lead," there are not a few "of silver and gold." Of the extraordinary talents of Mr. Southey, the indefatigable student in ancient lore, and especially in all that regards Spanish Literature and Old English Romances, this is not the place to make mention. His "_Remains of Henry Kirk White_,"

the sweetest specimen of modern biography, has sunk into every heart, and received an eulogy from every tongue. Yet is his own life

"The more endearing song."

Dr. Ferriar's next satirical verses are levelled at Mr.

THOMAS HOPE.

"The lettered fop now takes a larger scope, With classic furniture, design'd by HOPE.

(HOPE, whom upholsterers eye with mute despair, The doughty pedant of an elbow chair.")

It has appeared to me that Mr. Hope's magnificent volume on "_Household Furniture_" has been generally misunderstood, and, in a few instances, criticised upon false principles.--The first question is, does the _subject_ admit of illustration? and if so, has Mr. Hope illustrated it properly? I believe there is no canon of criticism which forbids the treating of such a subject; and, while we are amused with archaeological discussions on Roman tiles and tesselated pavements, there seems to be no absurdity in making the decorations of our sitting rooms, including something more than the floor we walk upon, a subject at least of temperate and classical disquisition. Suppose we had found such a treatise in the volumes of Gronovius and Montfaucon? (and are there not a few, apparently, as unimportant and confined in these rich volumes of the Treasures of Antiquity?) or suppose something similar to Mr.

Hope's work had been found among the ruins of Herculaneum?

Or, lastly, let us suppose the author had printed it only as a _private_ book, to be circulated as a present! In each of these instances, should we have heard the harsh censures which have been thrown out against it? On the contrary, is it not very probable that a wish might have been expressed that "so valuable a work ought to be made public."

Upon what principle, _a priori_, are we to ridicule and condemn it? I know of none. We admit Vitruvius, Inigo Jones, Gibbs, and Chambers, into our libraries: and why not Mr.

Hope's book? Is decoration to be confined only to the exterior? and, if so, are works, which treat of these only, to be read and applauded? Is the delicate bas-relief, and beautifully carved column, to be thrust from the cabinet and drawing room, to perish on the outside of a smoke-dried portico? Or, is not _that_ the most deserving of commendation which produces the most numerous and pleasing associations of ideas? I recollect, when in company with the excellent DR. JENNER,

----[clarum et venerabile nomen Gentibus, et multum nostrae quod proderat urbi]

and a half dozen more friends, we visited the splendid apartments in Duchess Street, Portland Place, we were not only struck with the appropriate arrangement of every thing, but, on our leaving them, and coming out into the dull foggy atmosphere of London, we acknowledged that the effect produced upon our minds was something like that which might have arisen had we been regaling ourselves on the silken couches, and within the illuminated chambers, of some of the enchanted palaces described in the Arabian Nights'

Entertainments. I suspect that those who have criticised Mr.

Hope's work with asperity have never seen his house.

These sentiments are not the result of partiality or prejudice, for I am wholly unacquainted with Mr. Hope. They are delivered with zeal, but with deference. It is quite consolatory to find a gentleman of large fortune, of respectable ancestry, and of classical attainments, devoting a great portion of that leisure time which hangs like a leaden weight upon the generality of fashionable people, to the service of the Fine Arts, and in the patronage of merit and ingenuity. How much the world will again be indebted to Mr. Hope's taste and liberality may be anticipated from the "_Costume of the Ancients_," a work which has recently been published under his particular superintendence.]

[Footnote A: This book is beautifully executed, undoubtedly, but being little more than a thin folio pamphlet devoid of _typographical_ embellishment--it has been thought by some hardly fair to say this of a press which brought out so many works characterized by magnitude and various elegance. B.B.]

To say that I was not gratified by the perusal of it would be a confession contrary to the truth; but to say how ardently I anticipated an amplification of the subject, how eagerly I looked forward to a number of curious, apposite, and amusing anecdotes, and found them not therein, is an avowal of which I need not fear the rashness, when the known talents of the detector of Stern's plagiarisms[4] are considered. I will not, however, disguise to you that I read it with uniform delight, and that I rose from the perusal with a keener appetite for

"The small, rare volume, black with tarnished gold."

_Dr. Ferriar's Ep._ v. 138.

[Footnote 4: In the fourth volume of the Transactions of the Manchester Literary Society, part iv., p. 45-87, will be found a most ingenious and amusing Essay, entitled "_Comments on Sterne_," which excited a good deal of interest at the time of its publication. This discovery may be considered, in some measure, as the result of the BIBLIOMANIA. In my edition of Sir Thomas More's Utopia, a suggestion is thrown out that even Burton may have been an imitator of Boisatuau [Transcriber's Note: Boiastuau]: see vol. II. 143.]

Whoever undertakes to write down the follies which grow out of an excessive attachment to any particular pursuit, be that pursuit horses,[5] hawks, dogs, guns, snuff boxes,[6] old china, coins, or rusty armour, may be thought to have little consulted the best means of ensuring success for his labours, when he adopts the dull vehicle of _Prose_ for the commnication [Transcriber's Note: communication] of his ideas not considering that from _Poetry_ ten thousand bright scintillations are struck off, which please and convince while they attract and astonish. Thus when Pope talks of allotting for

"Pembroke[7] Statues, dirty Gods and Coins; Rare monkish manuscripts for Hearne[8] alone; And books to Mead[9] and butterflies to Sloane,"[10]

when he says that

These Aldus[11] printed, those Du S[=u]eil has bound[12]

moreover that

For Locke or Milton[13] 'tis in vain to look; These shelves admit not any modern book;

he not only seems to illustrate the propriety of the foregoing remark, by shewing the immense superiority of verse to prose, in ridiculing reigning absurdities, but he seems to have had a pretty strong foresight of the BIBLIOMANIA which rages at the present day.

However, as the ancients tell us that a Poet cannot be a _manufactured_ creature, and as I have not the smallest pretensions to the "rhyming art," [although in former times[14] I did venture to dabble with it] I must of necessity have recourse to _Prose_; and, at the same time, to your candour and forbearance in perusing the pages which ensue.

[Footnote 5: It may be taken for granted that the first book in this country which excited a passion for the _Sports of the field_ was Dame Juliana Berners, or Barnes's, work, on _Hunting and Hawking_, printed at St. Alban's, in the year 1486; of which Lord Spencer's copy is, I believe, the only perfect one known. It was formerly the Poet Mason's, and is mentioned in the quarto edition of Hoccleve's Poems, p. 19, 1786. See too Bibl. Mason. Pt. iv. No. 153. Whether the forementioned worthy lady was really the author of the work has been questioned. Her book was reprinted by Wynkyn de Worde in 1497, with an additional Treatise on _Fishing_. The following specimen, from this latter edition, ascertains the general usage of the French language with our huntsmen in the 15th century.

Beasts of Venery.

Where so ever ye fare by frith or by fell, My dear child, take heed how Trystram do you tell.

How many manner beasts of Venery there were: Listen to your dame and she shall you _lere_.

Four manner beasts of Venery there are.

The first of them is the _Hart_; the second is the _Hare_; The _Horse_ is one of them; the _Wolf_; and not one _mo_.

Beasts of the Chace.

And where that ye come in plain or in place I shall tell you which be beasts of enchace.

One of them is the _Buck_; another is the _Doe_; The _Fox_; and the _Marteron_, and the wild _Roe_; And ye shall see, my dear child, other beastes all: Where so ye them find _Rascal_ ye shall them call.

Of the hunting of the Hare.

How to speke of the haare how all shall be wrought: When she shall with houndes be founden and sought.

The fyrst worde to the ho[=u]dis that the hunter shall out pit Is at the kenell doore whan he openeth it.

That all maye hym here: he shall say "_Arere!_"

For his houndes would come to hastily.

That is the firste worde my sone of Venery.

And when he hath couplyed his houndes echoon And is forth wyth theym to the felde goon, And whan he hath of caste his couples at wyll Thenne he shall speke and saye his houndes tyll "_Hors de couple avant, sa avant!_" twyse soo: And then "_So ho, so ho!_" thryes, and no moo.

And then say "_Sacy avaunt, so how_," I thou praye, etc. The following are a few more specimens--"_Ha cy touz cy est yll_--_Venez ares sa how sa_--_La douce la eit a venuz_--_Ho ho ore, swet a lay, douce a luy_--_So how, so how, venez acoupler!!!_"

Whoever wishes to see these subjects brought down to later times, and handled with considerable dexterity, may consult the last numbers of the Censura Literaria, with the signature J.H. affixed to them. Those who are anxious to procure the rare books mentioned in these bibliographical treatises, may be pretty safely taxed with being infected by the BIBLIOMANIA. What apology my friend Mr. Haslewood, the author of them, has to offer in extenuation of the mischief committed, it is _his_ business, and not mine, to consider; and what the public will say to his curious forthcoming reprint of the ancient edition of Wynkyn De Worde _on Hunting, Hawking, and Fishing_, 1497 (with wood cuts), I will not pretend to divine!

In regard to Hawking, I believe the enterprising Colonel Thornton in [Transcriber's Note: is] the only gentleman of the present day who keeps up this custom of "good old times."

The Sultans of the East seem not to have been insensible to the charms of Falconry, if we are to judge from the evidence of Tippoo Saib having a work of this kind in his library; which is thus described from the Catalogue of it just published in a fine quarto volume, of which only 250 copies are printed.

"_Sh[=a]bb[=a]r N[=a]meh_, 4to. a Treatise on Falcony; containing Instructions for selecting the best species of Hawks, and the method of teaching them; describing their different qualities; also the disorders they are subject to, and method of cure. Author unknown."--Oriental Library of Tippoo Saib, 1809, p. 96.]