Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/515

 io"> s. iv. NOV. ss, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 425 Lyndon' is inclined to place it at the head of Thackeray's books :— "It has an immense advantage over his better- known works in being far shorter—for which reason the plot is clearer, simpler, and more connected than it is in ' Vanity Fair,' ' Pendennis,' or ' The Newcomes.' We do not think that Mr. Thacke- ray's extraordinary power of description was ever more strongly illustrated than in the sketches which this volume contains of the wild mad Irish life of Dublin and the provinces in the last century In some respects it appears to be the most charac- teristic and best executed of Mr. Thackeray's novels, though it is far less known, and is likely, we think, to be less popular, than the rest." JOHN C. FRANCIS. (To be concluded.) 'THE LIVING LIBRARIE,' BY PHILIP CAMERARIUS, 1625. THERE were two English editions of this work, the first appearing in 1621, and the second in 1625. It is the latter that forms the subject of this note. I shall here tran- scribe the contents of the title-page :— The Living Librarie, or Meditations and Observa- tions Historical, Natvral, Moral, Political, and Poetical. Written in Latin by P. Camerarius. And done into English by lohn Molle Esquire. The second Edition. Horace Hee of all others fittest is to write. That entermingleth profit with delight. London, Printed by Adam Islip. 1625. The difference between these two editions is very considerable—the second having a Sixth Book which is not to be found in the first. To collectors the edition of 1625 is consequently the more desirable. Philip was the third son of Joachim Camerarius, a most distinguished man, to whom we owe a ' Life of Philip Melancthon,' still held in repute by students of the history of that period. Another son, Joachim, callec after his father, was a do_ctor of medicine and a botanist and scientist of the greatest eminence. Philip, the third son, chose law as a profession. His career was a very dis- tinguished one, and he was held in high honour by his contemporaries. He was a Doctor of Basle in 1573, and in 1581 was installed Chancellor of the University o: Altorf. He was born in Nuremberg in 1537 and died in the same place on 22 June, 1624. Of the personal history of the translator John Molle, I regret that I have not been able to learn anything more than what is contained in the Dedication to the Lore Keeper Williams, subscribed "Ryc.Baddeley " and in the address " To the Reader," presum ably from the same pen. A more inflatec .nd pedantic bit of writing surely never came- 'rom the pen of any man than the former, while the fatter, if written in a more natural vein, is equally barren of personal interest. The following passage, taken from the latter, must be accepted for what it is worth :— " The consideration whereof did long since iustly mooue a right learned and religious Gentleman [in he margin Mr. lohn Molle] (whose solid and. cnowne worth hath been long approoued at home, mt much more abroad, for which cause his memone shall be in lienedictione sempitema) to vndertake the translation thereof, as before that it had been done into French out of Latine (in which language t was at the first curiously arayed) into our vulgar ; whereby the benefit thereof might accrue and be communicated to this Nation also. Accept there- 'ore (ingenious Reader) this his trauell in good part, and make that vsefull profit to thy selfe, in the due icrusini: thereof, which shall best sort both for the iccomplishment of thine owne good, and of hia desires, who for thy sake did first attempt and finish this Taske. So may some happie hand here- after goe on in the finishing of the Remainder of these Meditations, aud other peeces of the same Author, which are had in no small estimation, by their iust desert, amongst the learned of these times." Nor does the address " To the Reader," explanatory of the appearance of the Sixth Book, and subscribed "H. Molle," afford anything more personal than what is given above. From its language 1 have no doubt that "H. Molle" was a son of the translator of the former portion of the work, and com- pleted what his father had left undone. The title of the original work was ' Horse- Subsecivse,' and in the address] "To the Reader," already referred to, we are told that the author entitled these meditations ' Th& Employment of Spare Hours.' The change in the title to 'Living Librarie'was prob- ably suggested as one more likely to attract public attention. Of the work itself, I have no hesitation m saying that it is altogether excellent. It is packed full of information of the most curious and varied kind. One of its charms is the personal vein which runs through it. In one place the author tells of a conversa- tion he nad with his father, as it were by the fireside, about the extraordinary performances of an ancient Egyptian magician ; and in another place he records a marvellous story of a deaf and dumb boy, "which my brother loachim the Doctor told me at his returne from a iourney out of the countrey of Hesse." Nor are his own numerous personal remi- niscences less interesting. To his profound learning Camerarius added a very keen per- ception of human character, and his work, in its own way, is not unworthy to take a place on the same shelf with the 'Essays' of