CHAPTER XIBOOKPLATES IN AMERICA

THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT

1705. He was M.P. for Whitchurch 1715-34, after which he was elected for Southampton. He was Master of the Mint 1727-37. He succeeded Sir Isaac Newton, but previously to the death of Newton he relieved him of his most onerous duties for some years. He married Mrs. Catherine Barton, Newton’s niece, on 20th August, 1717.

“His only daughter married Viscount Lymington, son of the first Earl of Portsmouth, which accounts for the fact that Newton’s MSS., etc., are in the possession of the Portsmouth family; also the magnificent portrait of Newton by Kneller.

“Conduitt wrote, in 1730,Observations on the Present State of our Gold and Silver Coins, which came into the possession of Dean Swift, and after remaining many years in MS. was published in 1774. Jevons praised the work very highly.

“Conduitt was buried in Westminster Abbey, close by Newton’s grave.

“There is a scandal connected with Mrs. Catherine Barton which biographers of Newton have generally agreed to ignore. She is known to have kept house for Charles Montague, Earl of Halifax (who died in May, 1715), and is generally spoken of as his mistress by thegossips of the day. Augustus de Morgan wrote a book on the subject, which was published after his death, and entitled,Newton, his Friend, and his Niece. 1885. In this De Morgan argued for the opinion which he had formed that Lord Halifax (who died May, 1715) married Mrs. Barton privately about April, 1706. He made out a fair case, but he could obtain no actual evidence, and when Mrs. Barton married Conduitt she was described as a spinster.”

Of his own bookplate, here reproduced, Mr. Henry B. Wheatley,F.S.A., kindly writes to me:—

“I gave Hamilton an account of its origin, which he printed in the little book on members of the Society of Odd Volumes. The room represented was on the back first floor of the house in Caroline Street, Bedford Square, which had been built out for John Philip Kemble to accommodate his fine collection of plays, now in the library of the Duke of Devonshire. I used the room as my library during the six years I lived in the house, and a very pleasant room it was, looking out upon trees which occupied an open space between Caroline and Charlotte Streets. It, with other houses, was pulled down soon after I left in 1889, and the

JAMES RAINE

Bedford Mansions have been built on the site. Kemble lived in the house from 1787 (when he married) to 1799, when he removed to a larger house in Great Russell Street.”

A good plate is theex librisof Robert Surtees of Mainsforth, the well-known antiquary and topographer. It was drawn by himself, and engraved by Samuel John Neele, who was born in 1758 and died in 1824. Surtees was born in the South Bailey of the ancient city of Durham in 1779. On 28th October, 1796, he matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, and took his M.A. in 1803. His father had just died, so he now settled at Mainsforth, the family home. As an undergraduate at Oxford he was already planning to record the history of his native shire.

Settled at Mainsforth, he used to drive about the county with a groom; and his friend and kindred spirit, James Raine, whose plate I give from a book kindly lent me by the Rev. Prebendary Deedes, has recorded the groom’s testimony that it was “weary work, for Master always stopped the gig, and we never could get past an auld beelding.” Surtees suffered from constant ill-health, but his house was always open to scholars and antiquaries. He died at Mainsforth on February 11th, 1834.

This plate is in a volume of two tracts—one about Marston Moor, 1650. On the inside of the end cover is a plate in the Bewick style: “T. Bell, 1797,” and the autograph facsimile “Thomas Bell.” This is no doubt the bookplate of Thomas Bell, the antiquary, born at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1785. He died in his native place in 1860, and his library, rich in antiquarian lore, printed and in manuscript, was sold there after his death.

An armorial plate of the palm-branch manner is that of “Thomas Langton” in a book of sermons by Richard Hurd,D.D., 1788. As given by Burke, the crest is an eagle displayed with two heads, vert, charged on the breast with a trefoil, or. The motto is “Loyal au mort.”

A curious succession of bookplates connected one with another is shown in two volumes before me. One work is “Vindiciæ Pietatis: ... By R. A. London: Printed in the year 1663.” The other is a book as far asunder as the poles. It is catalogued “Des Livres, Estampes & Desseins, du Cabinet.... Appartenent Au Baron Tessin, Marèchal de la Cour du Roy & sur-intendent de Batiments & Jardins Royaux de Suede.... Stockholm, 1712.”

The first volume has three bookplates, allarmorial. First, the plate of Sir William Lee, Knight, with the motto “verum atque decens.” “Mutlow, sculp., York Street, Covent Garden.” Then a smaller and different plate, but by the same engraver, and with the same arms, crest, and motto, but pertaining to “William Lee Antonie, Esqʳ.” After this, again, comes the thirdex librisin the book, and this is without name engraving, but is evidently Lee quartering Fiott.

John Fiott, a London merchant who died at Bath in 1797, married Harriet, second daughter of William Lee, of Totteridge Park, Hertfordshire. Their son John, fifth wrangler at St. John’s College, Cambridge, in 1805, and LL.D. in 1816, assumed, in 1815, by royal licence, the name of Lee under the will of William Lee Antonie, of Colworth House, Bedfordshire, his maternal uncle. At the same time he acquired the estates of Colworth in Bedfordshire, and Totteridge Park, Hertfordshire. He lived eighty-four years, and in 1863, at the age of eighty, he was admitted a barrister of Gray’s Inn. Between 1807 and 1810 he held a travelling bachelorship from Cambridge, and made a learned tour through the Ionian Isles and other parts. In 1828 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and heleft valuable collections to the Society. He was even more interested in science than in antiquities, and in 1830 built an observatory in the south portico of Hartwell House. Leaving no children, his property passed to his brother, the Rev. Nicholas Fiott, who took the surname of Lee. The Lee crest is a bear with a chain.

Guillim has recorded: “Hee beareth Sable, a Beare passant, Argent.... The Shee Beare is most cruelly imaged against any that shall hurt her yong, or dispoile her of them: as the Scripture saith, in setting forth the fierce anger of the Lord, that he will meete his aduersaries, as a Beare robbed of her whelps. Which teacheth vs how carefull Nature would haue vs to bee of the welfare of our children, sith so cruell beasts are so tender harted in this kind.”

“Vindiciæ Pietatis: ... By R. A. London: Printed in the year, 1663.” The author of this precious volume was Richard Alleine, born in 1611 at Ditcheat, in Somersetshire. In 1641 he became Rector of Batcombe in the same county. TheDictionary of National Biographyis for once induced to warmly clothe the dry skeleton, with which it has usually tried to make us content. “For twenty years Alleine

remained at Batcombe, and was idolized by his parishioners.... Vindiciæ Pietatis ... refused license by Sheldon ... was published without ... was rapidly bought up and did much to mend this bad world. Roger Norton, the royal printer, caused a large portion of the first edition to be seized on the ground of its not being licensed, and to be sent to the royal kitchen. But, glancing over its pages, he was arrested by what he read, and on second thoughts it seemed to him a sin that a book so holy and so saleable should be killed. He therefore bought back the sheets, says Calamy, for an old song, bound them, and sold them in his own shop.”

The closing lines ofVindiciæ Pietatisare: “But by the grace of God, whilst God is a God of holinesse, whilst holinesse is the Image and Interest of God, whilst these words of the Lord, Be ye holy, follow holinesse, live righteously, soberly, and godly in this present world, whilst these and the like words of the Lord, stand unrepeal’d, by the Grace of God, I will be a Friend, an Advocate, a Confessor, a Practitioner of Holinesse to the end of my days. This is my resolution, and in this resolution I commit myself to God, and so come on me what will.”

So much for the first book of the two. The second—Baron Tessin’sCatalogue—has twoex libris. The first is that of John Fiott before he took the name of Lee. It is the plate of “John Fiott, B.A. / St. John’s College, Cambridge, / 1806 /.” The plate shows a globe floating in the air, with the Fiott arms engraved on it, and the crest, a horse coupé, over it. Of course, as a wrangler he could not help being an astronomer; but this indicates his early taste for studying the heavens.

Of this crest Guillim tells us:—

“A horse erected boult vpright may bee termed enraged, but his noblest action is expressed in a saliant forme. This of all beasts for mans vses, is the most noble and behoofefull either in Peace or Warre. And sith his service and courage in the Field is so eminent, it may bee maruelled why the Lion should be esteemed a more honourable bearing. But the reason is because the horse’s seruice and strength is principally by helpe of his Rider, whereas the Lion’s is his owne: and if the Horse be not mounted, he fights auerse turning his heeles to his aduersary, but the Lion encounters affront, which is more manly.”

The Duke of Sussex used two plates amongst

THE DUKE OF SUSSEX

his books in Kensington Palace, one “Perkins and Heath. Patent Hardened steel plate.” The main feature of this plate is a Knight of the Garter’s chain forming a circle enclosing a lion on a coronet at the base of the plate, a helmet on one side, and an owl on the other. The other plate is here reproduced.

A pretty armorial plate of about this time, the shield resting on flowers, and a palm branch at each side, is theex librisof “Charles Gordon Esqʳ of Beldorny and Wardhouse.” Below the shield is engraved a ribbon, but without any inscription. The motto—“in hoc spes mea”—is fittingly over the crest, which is described as a cross crosslet fitchée. The arms of Gordon of Beldorny are quarterly, first and fourth, azure, a lion rampant argent between three boars’ heads erased of the second; second and third, azure, three boars’ heads within a bordure engrailed argent.

Now for old Scotland—“Fraser of Ledeclune”; this is a splendid modernex libris. This plate is worthily found in a fine, large-paper copy of “poems by goldsmith and parnell. london: printed by W. Bulmer and co. Shakspeare Printing Office, cleveland row. 1795”. “To raise the art ofPrinting in this country from the neglected state ... to combine the various beauties of Printing, Type-founding, Engraving, and Paper-making; as well with a view to ascertain the near approach to perfection which those arts have attained in this country, as to invite a fair competition with the best Typographical Productions of other nations.... The whole of the Types, ... are executed by Mr. William Martin, in the house of my friend Mr. George Nicol, whose unceasing endeavours to improve the art of Printing &c.... The ornaments are all engraved on blocks of wood, by two of my earliest acquaintances, Messrs. Bewicks, of Newcastle upon Tyne and London, ... I may venture to say, without being supposed to be influenced by ancient friendship, that they form the most extraordinary effort of the art of engraving upon wood, that ever was produced in any age, or any country....” Of the paper it is only necessary to say that it comes from the manufactory of Mr. Whatman.

Burke’sGeneral Armourygives:—

“Quarterly, first and fourth, azure, a bend engrailed between three cinquefoils (or frasiers), argent, a canton gyronny of eight or and sable; second and third, argent, three antique crowns gules (the latter quartering was given

to Sir Simon Frazer for having thrice saved the life of Robert Bruce at the battle of Methven). Crest a buck’s head, erased gules. Supporters, two stags proper, attired and unguled or, collared azure, pendent therefrom an escutcheon gyronny of eight gold-and-sable, each resting one foot on an anchor of the last. Motto: ‘Je suis prêt.’ The branches of yew in the bookplate are the ancient badge of the clan Fraser. This book has been beautifully bound, evidently by Kalthoeber.”

“The Honourable Archibald Campbell Esqʳ. 1708” is engraved at the base of an armorial plate, with mantling, and lions for supporters. This is the plate of Archibald Campbell, second son of Lord Niel Campbell, who was second son of Archibald, Marquis of Argyll. The owner of this plate had a remarkable life. First, he is said to have taken part in the rebellion headed by his uncle, the ninth Earl of Argyll, in 1685, and then to have made his escape to Surinam.

That fine old Tory, Dr. Samuel Johnson, says of him, that after his youthful whiggish days “he kept better company and became a violent tory.” On the 25th of August, 1711, he was consecrated a bishop at Dundee by Bishops Rose, Douglas, and Falconer. He died inLondon in 1744. This plate is in his interleaved and copiously annotated copy of the New Testament in Latin: “Theodore Beza’s, Londini excudebat Thomas Vautrollerius, Typographus, 1581.” It belongs to Mr. E. F. Coates.

The nice plate of “Campbell of Shawfield” gives a shield-of-arms, not just corresponding with Burke’sGeneral Armoury, which records: Gyronny of eight or and sable, within a bordure of the first, charged with as many crescents of the second. Crest a griffin erect, holding the Sun between the forepaws. Motto: “Fidus amicis.”

Campbell of Shawfield might be dubbed doubly Campbell, as being a time back represented by Walter Frederick Campbell, of Islay and Shamfuld, son of Colonel John Campbell and his wife Charlotte, youngest daughter of John, Duke of Argyll.

Guillim wrote: “This forme of helmet, placed sidelong and close, doth Ger Leigh attribute to the dignity of a Knight, but in mine understanding, it fitteth better the calling of an Esquier ... of these, each Knight had two to attend him in the warres, withersoeuer he went, who bare his helmet and shield before him; forasmuch, as they did hold certaine lands

of him in scutage, as the Knight did hold of the King by Military seruice.”

This Campbell of Shawfield plate is in a copy ofThe History of the Siege of Toulon.... Done from the French Copy, Printed at Paris, and Dedicated to the French King. London ... at the Raven in Pater Noster Row. 1708.

“Hudson Gurney” was born in Norwich on the 19th of January, 1775, his father being Richard Gurney, of Keswick Hall, Norfolk. Hudson Gurney was indeed a proper man to have a bookplate, and he had several. He gave his money generously to help the publication of works of antiquarian interest. From 1822 to 1846 he was a Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries. He had a library of from ten to fifteen thousand volumes, and was not content merely to have his books, but was an ardent reader. He was also very ready to help others: he was kind, liberal, and hospitable. He died on the 9th November, 1864. His family, as the ancient Norman family of De Gournay, owned Keswick Hall and West Barsham, both in Norfolk, for many centuries. The arms (see Burke): Argent, a cross engrailed gules. The smaller bookplate, not reproduced here, represents one crest of the family, namely,on a chapeau gules, turned-up ermine, a gurnet fish in pale, with the head downwards.

The Hastings bookplate is simply armorial with supporters, and underneath it the inscription “Hastings.” The barony of Hastings, created by Edward I. in 1290, having fallen into abeyance, the House of Lords reported that Henry L’Estrange Styleman Le Strange, Esq., of Hunstanton, Norfolk, and Sir Jacob Astley, Bart., were co-heirs to the barony. Whereupon Sir Jacob had the abeyance terminated in his favour, and was summoned to Parliament by writ in 1841 as Baron Hastings. On his death, in 1859, he was succeeded by his elder son, Jacob Henry Delaval, Baron Hastings, who died in 1871, and was succeeded by his brother, the Vicar of East Barsham, in Norfolk. He died in September, 1872, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son, who, however, dying in 1875, unmarried, was succeeded by his next brother, George Manners. The arms are: Quarterly, first, azure a cinquefoil pierced ermine within a bordure, engrailed, or for Astley; second, argent a lion rampant gules ducally crowned, or for Constable; third, argent two lions passant, gules for L’Estrange; fourth, or a maunch, gules for Hastings. Supporters, on either side a

CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL

lion gules, ducally crowned, and gorged with a collar or, therefrom pendent an escutcheon of the arms of Hastings. The motto is “Justitiæ tenax.”

Old Guillim illustrated the maunch, and wrote: “The Field is Topaze, a Maunch Ruby. This Coat armour pertained to the honourable Family of Hastings, Earles of Pembroke, and is quartered by the right Honourable Henry Gray, now Earle of Kent. Of things of Antiquity, saith Leigh, that are growne out of vse, this is one, which hath beene, and is taken for the sleeue of a garment.”

The view bookplate of the library of the Dean and Chapter of Winchester is interesting. Beriah Botfield described the library as a long room over the only remaining portion of the cloisters attached to that noble building. It is curious to note that this bookplate is in a folio copy of theReliquiæ Sacræ, or writings of Charles I., and that many of the chief books in the library were the generous bequest of Bishop Morley, the friend of Charles I., and who, tradition says, helped the issue ofEikon Basilike. The books are in the old open oak bookcases in which they stood in the good bishop’s palace of Wolvesey. In the library is in manuscript “A Catalogue of all theBookes in his Lordship’s Library, bequeathed by his Lordship’s Will to the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity of Winchester; and which the longer his lordship lived, he declared by his letters should be the more and not the fewer.”

The bookplate in the Bewick style of the “Revᵈ T. Newcome. Brook sculp. 302 Strand.” is in an imperfect volume of an eighteenth-century duodecimo edition of Samuel Butler’sHudibras.

Of cathedral libraries an interesting bookplate, and lent to me by Mr. G. F. Barwick, is that of the Dean and Chapter of Chichester. The Rev. Prebendary Deedes, of Chichester, has very kindly written to me the following note:—

“This is the earlier of the two bookplates used in the Cathedral Library. That at present in use, which is substantially the same design, has no embellishment and is not so well engraved.

“See a paper on ‘The Arms of Chichester Cathedral’ inSussex Arch. Transactions, vol. xi., with illustrations from seals, now in the possession of the Bishop or the Dean and Chapter. The design is intended to represent our Lord as described by St. John the Divine in Revelation i.

The heralds of the seventeenth century mistook it for ‘Prester John,’ the mythical Emperor of Abyssinia in the Middle Ages, and it is sometimes so described in Heraldic Manuals. There is a difference of treatment as to tinctures. The ‘field’ is, I believe, uniformly blue, the throne gold, the figure usually gold, but occasionally white, which my friend Dr. Codrington maintains is correct. The earlier seals generally give a badge of the Holy Trinity, which is the Dedication of the Cathedral. The motto—‘Liber monumente coram eo’—is the Vulgate version of part of Malachi iii. 16.”

Of about this date, with a garland surrounding the shield and crest at a little distance, and two palm branches crossed, is the bookplate of the “Revᵈ. Manley Wood. Middle Temple.” The family is of North Taunton, Devon, and the arms, as given by Burke: Sable, three bars or; on a canton gules, a demi-woodman, holding a club over the dexter shoulder or. Crest a woodman proper, wreathed about the temples and loins vert, holding in the dexter hand an olive branch of the last. This bookplate of a Devon man is in a Devon book, and it is “down along” all over. It bears the inscription: “W. Beal ex dono authoris. Plymouth.” The book is “the Plain Truth: ... By John Agate M.A.... Exon: Printed by Jos. Bliss, and Sold by the Booksellers in Exon MDCCVIII.” I have only quoted about a twentieth part of the title-page, but must give a scrap or two from “To the Reader”: “Be it known, that supposing Mr. Wither had not (as ’tis shamefully notorious he has) first broken the Peace, by drawing me to the Press, yet his Harangue about Union and Moderation, is all Banter and Grimace: for how ridiculous is an everlasting Cant and Din about Peace and Union, from One who, ... if he does not Love, yet manifestly lives by Divisions!...”

The armorial bookplate with large margin of “The Rᵗ Honᵇˡᵉ The Earl of Suffolk, is in a splendid folio large-paper copy of The Book of Common Prayer.... Printed by Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel, printers to the Universitie of Cambridge. Anno Dom. 1638. The latter half of the volume is the Whole Book of Psalmes, Collected into English metre, by Th. Sternhold, John Hopkins, and others, ... with apt notes to sing them withall:”—the same printer and date. The whole volume being ruled in red lines in the very effective way used with special copies, and bound in fine

old black morocco, gilt extra, evidently by good Thomas Buck of Cambridge town.

The arms, with an earl’s coronet above, and lions for supporters, are first, gules, a bend between six cross crosslets, fitchée, argent; on the bend an escutcheon, or, charged with a demi-lion, rampant, pierced through the mouth with an arrow, within a double tressure, flory-counter flory, gules, for Howard; second, gules, three lions passant-guardant, in pale or, and a label of three points, argent, for Thomas of Brotherton; third, chequy, or and azure, for Warren; fourth, gules, a lion rampant, argent, for Mowbray. Below the shield is the motto, “Nous Maintiendrons.” The family of the Earls of Suffolk and Berkshire comes from the famous house of Howard, springing from Thomas, fourth Duke of Norfolk and his second wife.

In theex librisof “HRH Princess Sophia” there seems something delightfully simple and suitable to a virgin Princess. The Princess Sophia, one of the numerous family of George III., was born in 1777, and lived until 1848. This bookplate is a lesson in the art of simplicity. It is in “Memoires du Prince Eugénie de Savoie ... A Londres 1811.”

Here, also, is the bookplate of “BulkeleyBandinel DD Bodleian Librarian, Oxford.” This little plate tells all that could be wished. It is in a copy of the 1720 edition of Wishart’sMontrose, and has Bandinel’s autograph. It has lately belonged to Mr. William Twopeny.

I give also the plate of Philip Bliss, another famous custodian of Bodley’s. In any of his books which had not his bookplate he had a playful habit of marking the B sheet signature.

Theex librisnow mentioned is in a curious copy of a curious work. “The North Briton ... London: Printed for J. Williams, near the Mitre Tavern, Fleet Street. MDCCLXIII.” Two volumes bound in one, and including all the forty-five numbers. The volume is bound in calf and lettered “poison for the Scotch.” Inside is an armorial bookplate with two winged monsters for supporters. It is evidently the bookplate of a Fletcher. The arms that Burke gives are sable, a cross flory argent between four escallops. Crest a bloodhound azure, ducally gorged or. The motto is “Dieu pour nous.”

“Robert Plumptre”’s bookplate gives argent, a chevron between two mullets pierced in chief, and an amulet in base sable, the arms of Plumptre; and the crest a phœnix or out

of flames proper. The motto given is “turpi secernere honestum.” Another small shield-of-arms is placed over the Plumptre shield,

Nottingham has been the chief abiding-place of the Plumptres for many centuries.

This bookplate is in a copy of œuvres de Mr. Pavillon de C’Academie Francoise. a la Haye, ... 1715.

There are twoex librisin a copy belonging to Mr. E. F. Coates, of “Report of Proceedings ... Oyer & Terminer and Gaol Delivery. County of York. held at the castle of York ... 1813.” The first is that of “William Stretton Lenton Priory,” which words are engraved under a simple armorial shield. Arms: argent, a bend engrailed sable, cotised gules. The second plate has the inscription “Sempronius Stretton Lenton Priory.” In this plate the shield, with different bearings from the other, is represented as held by an eagle. This Sempronius Stretton of Lenton Priory, in Nottinghamshire, was, I fancy, a colonel in the army; and hanging just below the shield are two objects looking like war medals.

In a fine copy of Baxter’sAnacreon—a rare little work—is the armorial plate “Brown” (Waterhaughs, County Ayr, 1806). Burkegives: Quarterly, first and fourth, gules, on a chevron between three fleur-de-lis or, a ship sails furled sable, a bordure of the second; second and third, gyronny of eight wavy, ermine and gules, for Campbell. Crest a demi-lion proper, holding in his dexter paw a fleur-de-lis or.

A good plate here given is that of Sir J. S. Stewart, Baronet.

In a 1649Eikon Basilikeis a modern round bookplate of “John Bailey Langhorne.” The arms were granted to the Langhornes of Bedfordshire 20th January, 1610. Sable a cross argent; on a chief of the second three bugle-horns of the field, stringed gules. Crest a bugle-horn sable, stringed gules, between two wings expanded, argent.

“John Warren, BA, LLB.” The name and, to some extent, the arms will remind incidentally bookplate collectors of the first historian of English bookplates. The motto is “tenebo.” The arms are chequy or and azure; on a canton gules a lion rampant argent. Crest on a chapeau gules, turned-up ermine, a wyvern argent, wings expanded, chequy or and azure.

“Thomas James Tatham,” anex librisabout fifty years old. Thomas James Tatham lived in Bedford Place, Russell Square, and bore for

his own arms, argent, a chevron gules between three swans’ necks couped sable. Crest, on a trumpet or, a swan with wings displayed sable. The motto: “perseverance.”

A bookplate very interesting from the identity of its owner is that of “Henry Crabb Robinson,” the warm friend of Lamb, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, and a host of other interesting characters. He died at his house, 30, Russell Square, on February 5th, 1867, at the good age of ninety-one years.

A sensible armorial plate is that inscribed at foot as “Right Honᵇˡᵉ. Sir Robert Peel Bart,” and across the top “Drayton Manor.” The arms, as granted to Robert Peel of Manchester, father of the first baronet, were: Argent three sheaves of as many arrows proper, banded gules; on a chief azure a bee volant or. Crest a demi-lion rampant argent, gorged with a collar azure, charged with three bezants, holding between the paws a shuttle or. Motto: “Industria.”

“Robᵗ D Mayne,” a facsimile signature, is under a modern plate, where, of course, both arms and motto have something to say about hands. The arms are: Ermine, on a bend sable, three dexter hands couped argent. The motto runs: “manus justa decus.”

Of martial mottoes, “militavi non sine gloria” is a good specimen. It is on the bookplate, about forty years old, which has under it the engraved signature of “J Knight.” The crest is a spur between two wings.

“Wynfield.” This is a shield with Wynfield arms—vert on a bend argent, three crosses patonce sable, and a host of quarterings; also two crests, one a lion’s head, and the other a falcon. The motto is “aut vincere aut mori.”

“William Holgate.” This is a plain armorial bookplate. Or, a bend between two bulls’ heads, couped sable. The crest is, out of a mural coronet argent, a bull’s head sable, gorged with a collar of the first, charged with two bends gules.

“T. A. Dale.” A very small shield, with simply the name underneath. Arms of Dale of Rutlandshire, confirmed in 1602: Paly of six argent and gules, on a chief azure three garbs or. Crest three Danish battle-axes erect, handled or, headed argent, enfiled with a chaplet of roses of the first.

The bookplate, also armorial, with two palm leaves, of “Honᵇˡᵉ Edmund Phipps.” The arms are, of course, the Normandy coat. Quarterly first and fourth, sable, a trefoil slipped between eight mullets argent, forPhipps; second and third, paly of six argent and azure; over all a bend gules for Annesley. Crest, a lion’s gamb erect sable holding a trefoil slipped argent. This in a 1648 copy ofEikon Basilike.

A pleasant variety in style is the plate of “George Cardale.” It is evidently a real bookman’s bookplate. In good large letters on a scroll around the shield are the words, “studendo et contemplando indefessus.” In the arms and crest is seen the Cornish chough.

AnEikon Basilike, 1648, with a bookplate, “Revᵈ Charles Chester.” Below and beside the armorial shield is a neat design of two palm leaves. The arms, ermine, on a chief sable a griffin passant or, armed argent. Crest, a dragon passant argent, are those of Chester of Blabie in Leicestershire, descended from an uncle of the first Sir Robert Chester of Royston, who, as one of the gentlemen of the Privy Chamber to King Henry VIII., received from that monarch a grant of the monastery of Royston.

“Fothergill sc” is on theex librisof “Cecil D. Wray, A.M. / F.C.C. Manchester.” Arms: azure, on a chief or, three martlets gules. Crest an ostrich or. Motto: “et juste etvray.” The Rev. Cecil Daniel Wray, Canon of Manchester Collegiate Church, was son and heir of the Rev. Henry Wray, of Brogden House, in Kelfield, Lincolnshire, and his wife the daughter of George Lloyd, of Holm Hall, near Manchester.

The Wrays come from Sir Christopher Wray, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench in the days of Queen Bess.

A pretty little plate, and not armorial, is that of “John T. Beer.” The centre represents an open mouth of a well, with an owl perched on the further edge of it. At each side of the well rise tropical palms. Besides the name ribbon are these three inscriptions: “knowledge is high,” “truth is straight,” “wisdom is wealth.”

An unpretendingex librisis that of “Robert Buchanan Stewart.” These words are inscribed on a circular strap enclosing a fancy monogram. Below is “ubi thesaurus ibi cor.” Below are spaces for filling in number, class, and case.

As a good specimen of a Society’s bookplate may be given one engraved for the “Royal Institute of British Architects. Tite Donation 1868.” Sir William Tite, the architect of the Royal Exchange and of many great buildings,

was born in 1798 in the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, London, and died at Torquay in 1873. He represented Bath in the House of Commons from 1855 until his death. His valuable library of early English books and other rarities was sold at Sotheby’s after his death.

The Right Honorable Sir Gore Ouseley, Baronet, Grand Cordon of the Persian Order of the Lion and Sun, and Grand Cross of the Imperial Russian Order of St. Alexander Newski—a famous Oriental scholar, Fellow of the Royal Society, and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries—was born in 1770, and created a baronet in 1808. His wife was Harriott-Georgiana, daughter of John Whitelocke, Esq. In 1810 Sir Gore Ouseley became Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Persia, and afterwards at St. Petersburg. He died in 1844 at Hall Barn, Beaconsfield, which had belonged to Edmund Waller, the poet, and which he had twelve years before purchased from the poet’s descendant, Mr. Waller of Farmington.

“Whalley Hamerton” is a good idea in bookplates. It looks like unto a picture of some fine old seal. Whale’s heads for Whalley. It is in ascarce book: Marshal Ney. Report of the trial ... Paris: Printed and sold at Galignani’s ... 1815.

“A fenwyke! a fenwyke” is the motto at the foot of a Fenwick bookplate, probably Fenwick and Robinson. First and fourth, six martlets counterchanged, three cinquefoils. The Fenwicks were an intrepid race haunting the northern borders, and the proud House of Percy never went to battle without the valiant Fenwicks to help them.

“Richard Clark Esqʳ. Chamberlain of London.” Such are the words engraved below the plain armorial plate. Argent on a bend gules three swans proper, between as many pellets, a canton sinister azure charged with a demi-ram mounting of the first, armed or between two fleur-de-lis in chief of the last; on it a baton dexter of the field. The motto is “est modus in rebus.”

Guillim remarks: “The Swan is a Birde of great Beautie, and strength also: and this is reported in Honour of Him, that hee vseth not his strength, to Prey or tyrannize ouer any other Fowle, but onelie to be reuenged on such as first offer Him wrong; in which case he often subdueth the Eagle.”

A goodex libris, engraved perhaps about 1820, and in an 1824 copy ofEikon Basilike, is

the bookplate of “Harry Kerby Pott.” The motto is “fortis et astutus.” The arms are: azure, two bars or, over all a bend of the last. The crest a leopard, or ounce, sejant proper, collared, lined and ringed azure. According to the Herald’s College, these arms were granted in 1583.

The quite modern, fantastic plate of “Thomas Bradshaw. Stackhouse. Settle.” seems to represent Father Time with his scythe; and Father Time seems to be expressed as an old man in a hurry, who has learnt to fly without wings. This plate is in a Yorkshire West Riding poll-book of 1838, belonging to Mr. E. F. Coates.

A very pleasing modern non-armorial plate is “George Parker Heathcote”’s. In a prettily formed rectangular frame is seen an angel holding a shield and pointing to the monogram “G P H”, which occupies the shield. The names in full are round the framework. This plate is in a volume of the Camden Society.

Appropriately, in a copy belonging to Mr. E. F. Coates, of Poulson’s Holderness, Hull, 1840, is a bookplate of a member of a family that hails from Knaresborough. “John Rhodes” is the facsimile signature at the foot of the plate, below the motto “ung durant mavie.” The arms are: argent on a cross engrailed, between four lions rampant gules, as many bezants. Crest a leopard sejant or, spotted sable, collared and ringed argent.

Two nineteenth-centuryex libris—one of “Thomas Tindal Methold,” and the other of “Henry Methold.” The Methold arms are: azure six escallops or. The crest is a goat’s head erased argent, attire and beard sable. The Metholds, or Methuolds, are an old Norfolk family.

A simple nineteenth-centuryex librisis that of “Christopher Roberts,” with the motto “un roy une foy une loy.” The arms, granted on 2nd June, 1614, to Roberts of Truro, Cornwall, are: azure, on a chevron argent, three mullets pierced sable. Crest a demi-lion azure holding a mullet argent, pierced sable.

SIXTY years ago the intelligent European reader would have rubbed his eyes and looked at his feet to be sure that they were not where his head ought to be, if told that American readers formed, in a marked degree, a very large class to whom publishers and authors should look for sympathy and encouragement. That is all changed now, and there is probably no country in the world where books, and all that is implied in that magic word, arouse so keen an interest.

It will not be out of place to pause and think of the honoured names of a few of those who have helped to prepare the road for this change. Of course, some seeds of good fruit were sown many generations before. Passing over Sir Walter Raleigh, colonist and author, we reach, in a few years, George Sandys, poet and colonist, one of the brave companions of Captain John Smith.

John Smith was a member of the council of the 105 emigrants who on December 19th, 1606, set out from Blackwall to found a colony in Virginia. Combining prudence with intrepid enterprise, he became the trusted founder and leader of the colony. In one expedition inland in December, 1607, he was taken prisoner by the Indians, and is said to have been rescued by the intervention of Pocahontas, the Indian Princess.

George Sandys, son of the Archbishop of York, born in 1578, two years before John Smith, was, in 1611, named as one of the “Undertakers” in the third Virginia charter, and in 1621 was made Treasurer of the Virginia Company, not very long before the colony was taken over by the Crown. What is to the point of our story is that, in his colony home on the banks of James River, he translated Ovid’sMetamorphoses, dedicated to Charles I., and published in folio in London in 1626.

In 1623 the Rev. William Morrell, armed with a commission to superintend the churches there, went out in Captain Robert Gorges’ expedition to Massachusetts, lived at Plymouth there one year, and, returning to England, published in London, in 1525, in quarto, Latin hexameters, with a translation into Englishheroic verse, and entitling the book: “New-England, or a briefe Enarration of the Ayre, Earth, Water, Fish, and Fowles of that Country. With a Description of the ... Habits and Religion of the Natives.”

In 1629 William Wood emigrated from England to Massachusetts, and after staying there about four years, he came back to England, and in 1634 published his “New England’s Prospect: A true, lively, and experimentall Description of that part of America commonly called New England: Discovering the State of that Countrie, both as it stands to our new-come English Planters and to the old Native inhabitants: Laying downe that which may both enrich the Knowledge of the mind-travelling Reader, or benefit the future Voyager, London, by Thomas Cotes for John Bellamie. 1634.”

The author soon went back to the colony, became a representative in the State Legislature, became the chief founder of Sandwich in Plymouth Colony, and died there in 1639.

Of the youth of Roger Williams, the next colonist author, a curious incident is recorded: “He attended trials in the Court of Star Chamber, in order to take down notes of them in a shorthand.” Many will recall at once,how often working as a reporter, has led to a literary career. In this connection the name of Charles Dickens, and a host of other authors, occur at once.

In 1626 Roger Williams took his B.A. degree from Pembroke College, Cambridge; and on December 1st, 1630, he embarked from Bristol in a ship named theLyon, and after a voyage of over two months, reached Nantasket February 5th, 1631. He had been ordained in England; but neither in the old country nor the new did his ideas of a Church and Church government generally agree with the views of those in authority.

In January, 1636, he was cited by Boston, but declining to appear, Captain John Underhill was despatched to Salem with a sloop to arrest him and put him aboard ship for England. Receiving a hint from Winthrop “to arise and flee into the Narrohiganset’s country, free from English Pattents,” with a few companions he “steered his course for the land of the Narragansett Indians, being sorely tossed for one fourteen weeks in a bitter winter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean.” In 1639 he became an Anabaptist, was duly immersed, and founded the first Baptist church in Providence—the mother of 18,000 Baptistchurches in America. In a few months he completely separated from the Baptists, and became a “Seeker.” His whole life and journeys to and from the old country cannot be followed here. He lived till 1683, “preaching the Gospel of Christ, not only to his own people, but to the Children of the Forest, who received the Missionary, and loved the Man.” Some of his chief published works were:—

“A key into the Language of America, or an Help to the Language of the Natives in that Part of America called New England; together with Briefe Observations of the Customes, Manners and Worships of the aforesaid Natives in Peace and Warre, in Life and Death, London, Gregory Dexler, 1643.”

“The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience, discussed in a Conference ... 1644.”

“Experiments of Spiritual Life and Health and their Preservatives. London 1652.”

“George Fox digg’d out of his Burrowes, or an Offer of Disputation on fourteen Proposals made this last Summer, 1672, (so call’d) unto G. Fox, then present on Rode Island, in New England. Boston. Printed by John Foster 1676.”

John Winthrop, born on January 12th, 1588,at Edwardston in Suffolk, was one of the twelve signatories at Cambridge on August 26th, 1629, to the document which practically made Massachusetts self-governing. Those who signed undertook to set sail with their families to inhabit and continue in New England, provided that the whole government, together with the patent for the plantation, be first by an order of court legally transferred and established, to remain with us and others which shall inhabit upon the said plantation. Shortly John Winthrop was elected to be governor, and in March of the next year sailed from England. His literary character was in evidence even throughout the voyage, as the famous diary was then begun, and also in his journey across the seas he wrote a little manual, the manuscript of which now belongs to the New York Historical Society, and is calledChristian Charitie. A Modell hereof.

Now we come to talk of a man who is perhaps the most interesting figure in early American authorship. John Eliot, the Indian apostle, born in Herefordshire in 1604, took his degree at Cambridge in 1622, and afterwards entered Holy Orders. He landed at Boston, New England, in 1631. On November 5th, 1632, he was made a “teacher of theChurch at Roxbury, and held this post until his death at Roxbury on May 20th, 1690.” In the meanwhile, between 1632 and 1690, John Eliot had, amongst other vast labours, translated the whole Bible into native Indian; but to be more precise: First came the New Testament in 1661, and a second edition in 1680. In 1663 the whole Bible, first edition, and in 1685 the second edition. These wonderful works were published at Cambridge, in New England. He also helped in the preparation of the English Metrical version of the Psalms, the first book printed in New England. This was known as the Bay Psalm-book, and was printed by Stephen Daye in 1640. Everett declared of him: “Since the death of the Apostle Paul, a nobler, truer, and warmer spirit than John Eliot never lived.”

Again, Mather wrote of him: “He that would write of Eliot, must write of Charity, or say nothing.”

Richard Baxter, another contemporary, recorded: “There was no man on earth whom I honour’d above him.”

The credit for the first really original work published in America seems to belong to Anne Bradstreet, whose maiden name was Anne Dudley, her father, Thomas Dudley, becomingGovernor of Massachusetts. She was born in Northamptonshire, and at the early age of sixteen married Simon Bradstreet, and in 1630 went with him to America. Her husband became Governor of Massachusetts in 1680.

Mrs. Anne Bradstreet’s poems were first published in 1640, under the title of “Several Poems, compiled with great variety of Wit and Learning, full of delight; wherein especially is contained a compleat Discourse and Description of the Four Elements, Constitutions, Ages of Man, and Seasons of the Year, together with an exact Epitome of the Three first Monarchies, viz: The Assyrian, Persian, and Grecian; and the beginning of the Roman Commonwealth to the end of their last King, with divers other pleasant and serious Poems: by a Gentlewoman of New England.”

This is not a treatise on history, and we must pass on to later days, and soon find firm ground with American-born literary men and women.

Jonathan Edwards, born at Windsor, in Connecticut, became a student at Yale College in 1716. Already, at thirteen years old, he was reading Locke onThe Human Understanding, “with a keener delight than a miser feels when gathering up handfulls of silver and goldfrom some newly-discovered treasure.” The greatest of his many writings was “A careful and Strict Inquiry into the modern prevailing notion that Freedom of Will is supposed to be essential to Moral Agency,” and this work has been described as undoubtedly the great bulwark of Calvinistic theology. Edwards’ father had been fifty years minister of a church in America, and his ancestors first emigrated from England in Queen Elizabeth’s days; but the origin of Benjamin Franklin, to whom we come now, was much humbler.

His father, Josiah Franklin, came from England, and started in Boston as a tallow chandler. Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17th, 1706, and when ten years old his father took him home from school to cut wicks for the candles! The boy became anxious for the life of a sailor; but the father, with what now, looking back, we may call happy instinct, apprenticed Benjamin to his elder brother, James, who, just returned from a voyage to London, had, in 1717, set up a printing-press in Boston.

This change brought Benjamin at once within reach of reading, and as what is here written relates wholly to books, the following words of Benjamin Franklin, written to a son of CottonMather in his later years, are worth repeating: “When I was a boy, I met a book entitledEssays to do Good, which I think was written by your father. It had been so little regarded by its former possessor that several leaves of it were torn out, but the remainder gave me such a turn of thinking as to have an influence upon my conduct through life; for I have always set a greater value on the character of a doer of good than any other kind of reputation: and if I have been, as you seem to think, a useful citizen, the public owes all the advantage of it to that book.”

In 1724, with aid from Sir William Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin came to England with the object of obtaining and bringing over a printing-press and all materials for himself; but not succeeding in this, he stayed two years in London, working at his trade, and at this time, 1725, he publishedA Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain. This publication is not in any old collection of Franklin’s writings, and even now only one copy seems to be known.

In 1730 Benjamin founded the Public Library in Philadelphia. In 1753 he became Postmaster-General for British America. In 1743 he had originated the American Philosophical Society,and in 1749 he became the real founder of the University of Pennsylvania. The year 1752 saw the verification of his theory identifying lightning with electricity. After the Declaration of Independence Franklin was, in 1776, appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to France. In 1785 he became President of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and in 1787 sat with Washington and Hamilton in the Federal Convention which framed the Constitution of the United States. On his death, on April 17th, 1790, Mirabeau announced in the General Assembly of France: “The genius which had freed America, and poured a flood of light over Europe, had returned to the bosom of the Divinity.”

Nicolas Trübner, in the interesting Introduction to hisGuide to American Literature, London, 1859, points out that until 1793 no American devoted himself exclusively to literature as a profession. In this year Charles Brockden Brown’s first novel appeared. The title of this wasWieland; or, the Transformation. The author was born in Philadelphia in 1771.

The great historian William Hickling Prescott, whose grandfather, Colonel William Prescott, commanded at Bunker’s Hill, was born atSalem, in Massachusetts, in 1796. In 1814 he graduated from Harvard with honours, although in 1811, his first year at Harvard, he had lost the sight of one eye, and shortly afterwards the other eye was seriously affected in sympathy with it. This unfortunate accident was caused by a blow from a crust of bread thrown at random at a college dinner. The years from 1815 to 1817 he spent in England, “delighting not the less in the charms of nature because by him they could be seen only” as through a glass, darkly. He returned, resolved “that the ample page of knowledge, rich with the spoils of time,” if obscured to his external organs, should be no stranger to his intellectual vision.

In 1837 his first great work,The History of Ferdinand and Isabella, was finished. With inborn modesty he did not mean it to be published; but his father, Judge William Prescott, of course insisted on its publication, and soon it was published, not only in the author’s own tongue, but in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, in the respective languages of those lands. In 1843 appearedThe History of the Conquest of Mexico, and in 1847 hisHistory of the Conquest of Peru. Next came the first volumes of the great work which Prescott wasnever destined to finish. In 1855 were published the two first volumes ofThe History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, and in December, 1858, appeared the third volume. Early in the year he had been attacked by a slight stroke of paralysis. Early in the next year this was followed by a second, and he passed away on January 28th, 1859. In a conversation only forty-eight hours before his death he spoke of various friends, and particularly of George Ticknor, whom he described as “having shortened and brightened what, but for him, must have been many a sad and weary hour.” Asked if he was not coming to New York, he said: “No; I suppose that the days of my long journeys are over. I must content myself, like Horace, with my three houses. You know I go at the commencement of summer to my cottage by the seaside at Lynn Beach; and at autumn to my patrimonial acres at Pepperell, which have been in our family for two hundred years, to sit under the old trees I sat under when a boy; and then with winter come down to hibernate in this house. This is the only travelling, I suppose, that I shall do until I go to my long home.”

George Ticknor, to whom the dying historianPrescott made such interesting allusion, was born at Boston, Massachusetts, on August 1st, 1791, and from early childhood displayed a passion for books. He became a barrister, but could not long keep away from literature and learning. In 1815 he came to Europe, and haunted some of the best libraries and universities of the Old World. Actually, before his return home to America, he was, in 1817, appointed Smith Professor of Modern Languages and Literature in Harvard College. In 1819 he returned to America, and for fifteen years held this chair of teaching, delivering all the while the most valuable courses of lectures. In 1835 he gave up his professorship in order to go again to Europe and study for preparing his great book. After three years he came back to his native land, and, in 1849,The History of Spanish Literaturewas first published in New York by Harper and Brothers, in London by John Murray.

Of it Washington Irving wrote to the author: “No one that has not been in Spain can feel half the merit of your work, but to those who have it is a perpetual banquet. It is well worth a lifetime to achieve such a work.”

Washington Irving, almost the first authornoticed as a native of the city of New York, was born on April 3rd, 1783. His father was a Scot, and his mother English. Passing over interesting publications likeSalmagundi; or, The Whim-Whams, and Diedrich Knickerbocker’sHistory of New York, we come toThe Sketch Book, first issued in 1819. Curiously enough, Washington Irving, as a fact, wrote the MS. for this in England; but it was at first only printed and published in New York. Incidentally, Lockhart, inBlackwood’s Magazine, February, 1820, paid a high compliment:—

“We are greatly at a loss to comprehend for what reason Mr. Irving has thought fit to publish hisSketch Bookin America earlier than in Britain; but, at all events, he is doing himself great injustice by not having an edition printed here of every number after it has appeared in New York. Nothing has been written for a long time for which it would be more safe to promise great and eager acceptance.”

Washington Irving’s fame was now secure, and these few concluding words, from Allibone, must suffice: “WhenBracebridge Hallwas ready for the press, in 1822, Mr. Murray was ready to offer 1,000 guineas for the copyrightwithout having seen the MS. He obtained the coveted prize at his offer, and subsequently gave the same author £2,000 for the chronicle ofThe Conquest of Granada, and 3,000 guineas for theHistory of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus.”

Very few words here must be written of John Lothrop Motley, born in Massachusetts in 1814. It is enough to mention his splendid work,The History of the Rise of the Dutch Republic. Now, from what is gone before, it will readily be granted that America was well prepared, by the work of her own sons, to take a proud position in Literature, and in concluding these introductory remarks only one honoured name shall be mentioned further.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, on February 27th, 1807, and was descended from William Longfellow, who, born in Hampshire, England, in 1651, emigrated to Massachusetts. The chief incidents of the life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow are like household words, and to think of all that is pure and noble in America without naming him, is impossible. All his writings are instinct with the breath of a pure and noble life.

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