Page:A dictionary of printers and printing.djvu/478

 SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

409

out knowledge, and guide our inquiries in ereiv branch. And this great philosopher has well merited the appellations be has received — the Prophet of the Arts, and the Father of Experi- mental Philosophy.

Bacon laid the foundationofauencycloptedia* full of the most profound inquiries, and boldest anticipations which his own age was not capable of understanding. Since the time of Bacon, a multitude of encyclopsedias have appeared, but none of them hare his purely scientiric design, and all relate either to the instruction of uie young and uninformed, or are intended as books of reference for the deeply learned.

The honour of undertaking encyclopedias on a regular plan belongs to the middle ages, which, with iron industry, produced not only a large number of encyclopaedias of particular sciences, called Sumnue or ISpecula, but also a Univenal Encydopadia, such as had never been seen before. The first person who conceived the idea of an encycloptedia or universal dictionary, was Andrew Matthew Acquaviva, duke of Altri and

frince of Teramo, in the kingdom of Naples, le was one of the greatest luminaries of the age in which he lived. He published a work under that title in two volumes fulio, which though scanty and defective, was sufficient to give some hints for conducting a compilation of that kind. He died in the year 1528.

In the seventeenth century, the works, by no means without value, of Matthius Martinus, professor and rector in the gymnasium of Bre- men (Idea methodiea et brevis Encyelopadia five adumbratio Univertitatis, Herbom, 1606), and of John Henry Alstead (Encyclopedia n't Tomit dittincta, Herbom, 1630, 2 vols, folio), were followed by those of the illustrious Bacou.

1621, Jan. 6. PiUL Van Somer, an artist of great merit, was born at Antwerp, in 1676, and died in London. He was the first of those artists who, after the accession of James I. arrived in England, and practised a skilful management of the chiaro-scuro. His portraits were admired for great elegance of attitude, and remarkable resemblance. His pencil was chiefly employed on portraits of royal, noble, and eminent personages.

1621. Crispin Van Pas, Pass, or Passe, a celebrated engraver of Utrecht, resided in Eng- land, at this time. He published Holland's Heroloogia, and a treatise DeW Arte di DUeg- nare e di Pingere, in 1643. He engraved the

J dates for Withers's Emblems, 1615. Magda- en his daughter, William his son, and Simon of the same family, were all engravers. Magda-

tbe Greek, bat not a naUre compooiid of that language, originally denoted the wbole circle of the vaiioot brancbes of knowledge wbich were comprehended by the ancients in a liberal education. At a later period, the word was applied to every systematic view, either of the whole extent of human knowledge (universal encyclopKdia), or of particular departments of it (partlcalar or partial en- cyclopedia). The spirit of compiling, which prevailed in tbe Alexandrian bchool, soon led to attempts remotely allied to this, and Varro and Pliny the Elder, among the Romans, eompowd worts of a similar kind.
 * Tbe word Enej/etopttdia or Cj/elop^dia i» formed from

len engraved Katherine, duchess of Bucking- ham. William engraved the family of king James I., the king and queen of Bohemia, and their children, 1 621, and some single por- traits. Simon settled in Denmark, after having spent two years in England; he engraved counters of the English royal family ; Liberum Belgium, and a great number o'f portraits. There was also a younger Crispin.

1621. Printing introduced into Aberdeen, a town of Scotland, well known for its university, which was founded about 1404. The circum- stances attending the introduction of the art of printing into this town are here given from the Annalt of Aberdeen, by W. Kennedy, in two volumes quarto, 1818. " In the year 1621, a patent was obtained from king James, by bishop Patrick Forbes and sir Paul Menzies of Kin- mundie, provost of Aberdeen, for establishing printing at Aberdeen: and Mr. Raban was ac- cordingly appointed soon after, by the magis- trates and council, printer to the town and uni- versity; with the exclusive privilege of printing. He was allowed a salary of £40 annually : and for his further encouragement to prosecute the art, a small emolument of eight-pence quarterly from each scholar at the grammar-school, which was collected with the school-fees.

" He had acquired the reputation of being at the time a very eminent master; which indeed appears from the specimens of his works. Among these may be mentioned a pocket Prayer book for the tenice of the Church, printed in the year 1625, with the Calendar and the Psalms set to music, which we believe was among the first of his works."

In 1623, Mr. Raban printed .4 britf (Chronicle of all the King$ of Scotland ; declaring in what year of the tcorld, and of Chritt, they began to reign, how long they reigned, of what qualitiet they were, and how they died. Printed for David Melvill. 8vo. pp. 41. Reprinted in the third volume of the Harleian Miscellany.

" In the year 1633, Dr. Barron printed his book On the arrival of King Charles in Scotland, vrith Poems on the Coronation ; which was dedicated to the magistrates and council. In 1636 a volume of The Funeralls of a right reve- rend Father in God, Patrick Forbes, of Corse, Bishop of Aberdeen, and the Canons and Con- stitutions of the Church were printed there in the same year.

" Mr. Kaban carried on the printing bnsiness until the year 1649, when he died, and was succeeded in his office of printer to the town and university by James Brown, son of Wil- liam Brown, minister of Inveroochty."

1621. Anatony of Melancholy. By Demo- critus Junior. Oxford. Folio. £ondon, 1652.

This is the celebrated work of Robert Burton, and presents, in quaint language, and with many shrewd and amusing observations, a full view of all the kinds of that disease. It was so success- ful at first, that the publisher realized a fortune by it ; and Warton says, that " the author's variety of learning, his quotations from scarce

VjOOQ IC