Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/222

 204 P A M P at Berytus, in the latter half of the 3d century. After studying at Alexandria under Pierius, the disciple of Origen, he was ordained presbyter at Ca?sarea in Palestine, where the remainder of his life was spent. There he established a theological school, and warmly encouraged .students ; he also founded, or at least largely extended, the great library to which Eusebius and Jerome were after wards so much indebted. He was very zealous in the transcription and distribution of copies of Scripture and of the works of various Christian writers, especially of Origen ; the copy of the complete works of the last-named in the library of Cresarea was chiefly in the handwriting of Pamphilus himself. At the outbreak of the persecution under Maximin, Pamphilus was thrown into prison, and there, along with his attached friend and pupil Eusebius (sometimes distinguished as Eusebius Pamphili), he com posed an Apology for Origen in five books, to which a sixth was afterwards added by Eusebius. He was put to death in 309. Only the first book of the Apology of Pamphilus is extant, and that but in an imperfect Latin translation by Rufinus. It has been reprinted in De la Rue s edition of Origen, and also by Routh and by Galland. Eusebius wrote a memoir of his master which also has unfortunately disappeared. PAMPHLETS. The earliest appearance of the word is in the Philobiblon (1344) of Richard de Bury, who speaks of &quot; panfletos exiguos &quot; (chap. viii.). In English AVC have Chaucer s &quot;this leud pamflet&quot; (Test, of Love, bk. iii.), Occleve s &quot;go litil pamfilet &quot; (Mason s ed., 1796, p. 77), and Caxton s &quot;paunflettis and bookys&quot; (Book of Eneydos, 1490, Prologue). In all these examples pamphlet is used to indicate the extent of the production, and in contradis tinction to book. In the 16th century it became almost exclusively devoted in English literature to short poetical effusions, and not till the 18th century did pamphlet begin to assume its modern meaning of a prose political tract. &quot;Pamphlet&quot; and &quot; pamphletaire &quot; are of comparatively recent introduction into French from the English, and generally indicate fugitive criticism of a more severe, not to say libellous, character than with us. The derivation of the word is a subject of contention among etymologists. The experts are also undecided as to what is actually understood by a pamphlet. Some bibliographers apply the term to everything, except periodicals, of quarto size and under, if not more than fifty pages, while others would limit its application to two or three sheets of printed matter which have first appeared in an unbound condition. These are merely physical peculiarities, and include academical dissertations, chap-books, and broadsides, which from their special subjects belong to a separate class from the pamphlet proper. As regards its literary character istics, the chief notes of a pamphlet are brevity and spontaneity. It has a distinct aim, and relates to some matter of current interest, whether religious, political, or literary. Usually intended to support a particular line of argument, it may be descriptive, controversial, didactic, or satirical. It is not so much a class as a form of literature, and from its ephemeral character represents the changeful currents of public opinion more closely than the bulky volume published after the formation of that opinion. The history of pamphlets being the entire record of popular feel ing, all that is necessary here is to briefly indicate the chief families of political and religious pamphlets which have exercised marked influence, and more particularly in those countries England and France where pamphlets have made so large a figure in influencing thought and events. It is difficult to point out much in ancient literature which precisely answers to our modern view of the pamphlet. The libelli famosi of the Romans were simply abusive pasquinades. Some of the small treatises of Lucian, the lost Anti-Cato of Caesar, Seneca s Apocolocyntosis written against Claudius, Julian s Kaio-apes *j and Ai/rto^iKos r/ Mio-oTrwywv, from their general applica tion, just escape the charge of being mere satires, and may therefore claim to rank as early specimens of the pamphlet. At the end of the 14th century the Lollard doctrines were widely circulated by means of the tracts and leaflets of Wickliffe and his followers. The Ploughman s Prayer and Lanthome of Light, which appeared about the time of Old- castle s martyrdom, were extremely popular, and similar brief vernacular pieces became so common that it was thought necessary in 1408 to enact that persons in authority should search out and apprehend all persons owning English books. The printers of the 15th century pro duced many controversial tractates, and Caxton and Wynkin de Worde printed in the lesser form. It was in France that the printing press first began to supply reading for the common people. During the last twenty years of the 1 5th century there arose an extensive popular literature of farces, tales in verse and prose, satires, almanacs, etc., extending to a few leaves apiece, and circulated by the itinerant booksellers still known as colporteurs. These folk-books soon spread from France to Italy and Spain, and were introduced into England at the beginning of the 16th century, doubtless from the same quarter, as most of our early chap-books are transla tions or adaptations from the French. Another form of literature even more transient was the broadside, or single sheet printed on one side only, which appears to have flourished principally in England, but which had been in use from the first invention of printing for papal indulgences, royal proclamations, and similar docu ments. Throughout western Europe, about the middle of the 16th century, the broadside made a considerable figure in times of political agitation. In England it was chiefly used for ballads, which soon became so extremely popular that during the first ten years of the reign of Elizabeth the names of no less than forty ballad-printers appear in the Stationers Registers. The humanist move ment of the beginning of the 16th century produced the famous Epistolie Obscurorum Viroriim, and the leading spirits of the Reformation period Erasmus, Hutten, Luther, Melanchthon, Francowitz, Vergerio, Curio, and Calvin found in tracts a ready method of widely circulat ing their opinions. The course of ecclesiastical events was precipitated in England by the Supplicacyon for the Beggars (1523) of Simon Fish, answered by Sir Thomas More s Stip- plycacion of Soulys. In the time of Edward VI. brief tracts were largely used as a propagandist instrument in favour of the Reformed religion; political tracts were repre sented by the address of the rebels in Devonshire (1549). The licensing of the press by Mary greatly hindered the production of this kind of literature. From about 1570 there came an unceasing flow of Puritan pamphlets, of which more than forty were reprinted under the title of A parte of a register (London, Waldegrave, 4to). To this publication Dr John Bridges replied by a ponderous quarto, A defence of the government established in tin church of England (1587), which gave rise to Oh read over D. John Bridges. . . by the reverend and ivorthie Martin Marprelate gentleman (1588), the first of the famous Martin Marprelate tracts, whose titles sufficiently indicate their opposition to priestly orders and episcopacy. Bishop Cooper s Admonition to the. People of England (1589) came next, followed on the other side by Hay any worke for Cooper. . . by Martin the Metropolitans, and by others from both parties to the number of about twenty-three. The controversy lasted about a year, and ended in the discomfiture of the Puritans and the seizure of their secret press. The writers on the Marprelate side are generally