Thomas Frognall Dibdin - A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Two

T >> Thomas Frognall Dibdin >> A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Two

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Of _modern_ monuments, the boast and glory of this church is that of the
famous MARSHAL SAXE; who died at the age of 55, in the year 1755. While I
was looking very intently at it, the good verger gently put a printed
description of it into my hands, on a loose quarto sheet. I trust to be
forgiven if I read only its first sentence:--_Cette grande composition
reunit aux richesse de l'art des Phidias et des Bouchardon, les traits de
la grande poesie._" "Take any shape but this"--thought I to myself--and,
folding it up as gently as it had been delivered to me, I put it into my
pocket. My good friend, I do beseech you to hear me out--when I preface my
remarks by saying, that, of all monuments, _this_ is one of the most
tasteless and uninteresting. Listen to a brief but faithful description of
it.

An immense pyramidal-shaped gray marble forms the background. Upon such a
back-ground there might have been a group of a _dozen_ figures at least.
However, there happen to be only _four_ of the human species, and three of
animals. These human figures are, the Marshal; a woman weeping lustily--I
had almost said blubbering; (intended to represent France) Hercules; and a
little child--of some order or degree, not less affected than the female.
The animals are, a lion, a leopard, (which latter has a bear-like form) and
an eagle. I will now tell you what they are all doing. Before the Marshal,
is an opened grave; into which this illustrious hero, clad in complete
armour, is about to march with a quiet, measured step--as unconcernedly, as
if he were descending a flight of steps which led to a conservatory. The
woman--that is France--is, in the meantime, weeping aloud; pointing to the
grave, and very persuasively intreating the Marshal to enter--as his mortal
moments have expired. I should add that death--a large formidable-looking
figure, veiled by a piece of drapery, is also at hand: seeming to imply
that hesitation and reluctance, on the part of the hero, are equally
unavailing. Next comes Hercules; who is represented as stationary,
thoughtful, and sorrow-stricken, as France is agitated and in motion. The
lion and leopard (one representing Holland, and the other England--
intending to convey the idea that the hero had beaten the armies of both
countries) are between the Marshal and Hercules: the leopard is lying upon
his back--in a very frolicksome attitude. The lion is also not less
abstracted from the general grief of the figures. And this large, ugly,
unmeaning composition--they have the temerity to call the union of art by
Phidias and Bouchardon--with the inspiration of sublime poetry! I will make
no comments.[214] It is one of those _felicitous_ efforts which have the
enviable distinction of carrying its own text and commentary. Below this
vast mural monument, is a vault, containing the body of the Marshal. I
descended into it, and found it well ventilated and dry. The coffin is
immediately obvious: it contains the body of the chieftain enclosed in two
cases--of which the first is _silver_, and the second _copper_. The heart
is, I believe, elsewhere.

Forming a strikingly happy contrast to this huge, unmeaning production--are
the modest and unassuming monuments of _Schoepflin_, _Oberlin_, and _Koch_:
men, of whom Strasbourg has good reason to be proud. Nor let the monument
of old _Sebastian Schmidt_ escape the notice and commendation of the
pensive observer. These were all "fine fellows in their day:" and died,
including the illustrious Marshal, steady in the faith they had espoused--
that is, in the belief and practice of the tenets of the reformed church. I
have no time for a particular description of these monuments. Schoepflin's
consists of a bronze bust of himself placed in the front of a white marble
urn, between two cinnamon-colour columns, of the Corinthian order--of free
stone. The head is thought to be very like. Oberlin's is in better taste.
You see only his profile, by Ohmacht, in white marble--very striking. The
accompaniments are figures in white marble, of which a muse, in rilievo, is
larger than life. The inscriptions, both for Schoepflin and Oberlin, are
short and simple, and therefore appropriate. The monument of Koch is not
less simple. It consists of his bust--about to be crowned with a fillet of
oaken leaves--by a figure representing the city of Strasbourg. Below the
bust is another figure weeping--and holding beneath its arms, a scroll,
upon which the works of the deceased are enumerated. Koch died in his
seventy-sixth year, in the year 1813. Ohmacht is also the sculptor of
Koch's monument. Upon the whole, I am not sure that I have visited any
church, since the cathedral of Rouen, of which the interior is more
interesting, on the score of monuments, than that of St. Thomas at
Strasbourg.

I do not know that it is necessary to say any thing about the old churches
of St. Stephen and St. Martin: except that the former is supposed to be the
most ancient. It was built of stone, and said to be placed upon a spot in
which was a Roman fort--the materials of which served for a portion of the
present building. St. Martin's was erected in 1381 upon a much finer plan
than that of _St. Arbogaste_--which is said to have been built in the
middle of the twelfth century. Among the churches, now no longer _wholly_
appropriated to sacred uses, is that called the _New Temple_--attached to
which is the Public Library. The service in this church is according to the
Protestant persuasion. I say this Church is not _wholly_ devoted to
religious rites: for what was once the _choir_, contains, at bottom, the
BOOKS belonging to the public University; and, at top, those which were
bequeathed to the same establishment by Schoepflin. The general effect--
both from the pavement below, and the gallery above--is absolutely
transporting. Shall I tell you wherefore? This same ancient choir--now
devoted to _printed tomes_--contains some lancet-shaped windows of _stained
glass_ of the most beautiful and exquisite pattern and colours!... such as
made me wholly forget those at _Toul_, and _almost_ those at _St. Owen_.
Even the stained glass of the cathedral, here, was recollected... only to
suffer by the comparison! It should seem that the artist had worked with
alternate dissolutions of amethyst, topaz, ruby, garnet, and emerald. Look
at the first three windows, to the left on entering, about an hour before
sun-set:--they seem to fill the whole place with a preternatural splendor!
The pattern is somewhat of a Persian description, and I should apprehend
the antiquity of the workmanship to be scarcely exceeding three hundred
years. Yet I must be allowed to say, that these exquisitely sparkling, if
not unrivalled, specimens of stained glass, do not belong to a place now
_wholly_ occupied by _books_. Could they not be placed in the chapel of St.
Lawrence, or of St. Catharine, in the cathedral?

As I am now at the close of my account of ecclesiastical edifices--and as
this last church happens to be closely connected with a building of a
different description--namely, The PUBLIC LIBRARY--you will allow me to
_colophonise_ my first Strasbourg epistle with some account of the
_contents_ of this library.

The amiable and excellent younger Schweighaeuser, who is head librarian, and
one of the Professors in this Gymnase, was so obliging as to lend me the
key of the library, to which I had access at all hours of the day. The
public hours are from two till four, Sundays excepted. I own that this
accommodation was extremely agreeable and convenient to me. I was under no
restraint, and thus left to my own conscience alone not to abuse the
privilege conceded. That conscience has never given me one "prick" since
the conclusion of my researches.[215]

My researches were usually carried on above stairs, at the table where the
visitors sat. Of the MSS. I did not deem it worth while to take any
particular account; but there was _one_, so choice, so splendid, so
curious, so interesting, and in such an extraordinary state of
preservation, that you may as well know it is called the famous _Hortus
Deliciarum_ of _Herarde, Abbess of Landsberg_. The subjects are
miscellaneous; and most elaborately represented by illuminations. Battles,
sieges, men tumbling from ladders which reach to the sky--conflagrations,
agriculture--devotion, penitence--revenge, murder,--in short, there is
hardly a passion, animating the human breast, but what is represented here.
The figures in armour have _nasals_, and are in quilted mail: and I think
there can be little doubt but that both the text and the decorations are of
the latter end of the twelfth century. It is so perfect in all its parts,
and so rich of its particular description, that it not only well merits the
labour which has been bestowed upon it by its recent editor Mr.
Engleheardt, but it may probably vie with any similar production in
Europe.[216]

However, of other MSS. you will I am sure give me credit for having
examined the celebrated _Depositions in the law-suit between Fust and
Gutemberg_--so intimately connected with the history of early printing, and
so copiously treated upon by recent bibliographers.[217] I own that I
inspected these depositions (in the German language) with no ordinary
curiosity. They are doubtless most precious; yet I cannot help suspecting
that the _character_ or letter is _not_ of the time; namely of 1440. It
should rather seem to be of the sixteenth century. Perhaps at the
commencement of it. These documents are written in a small folio volume, in
one uniform hand--a kind of law-gothic--from beginning to end. The volume
has the following title on the exterior; "_Dicta Testium magni consilij
Anno dni m^o. cccc^o. Tricesimo nono_. The paper is strong and thick, and
has a pair of scales for the water-mark. The younger Schweighaeuser thinks
my doubts about its age not well founded; conceiving it to be a coeval
document. But this does not affect its authenticity, as it may have been an
accurate and attested copy--of an original which has now perished.
Certainly the whole book has very much the air of a _Copy_: and besides,
would not the originals have been upon separate rolls of parchment?[218]

I now come to the PRINTED BOOKS: of which, according to the MS. catalogue
by Oberlin, (who was head librarian here) there are not fewer _than four
thousand three hundred, printed before the year 1520_:--and of these,
again, upwards of _eleven hundred without dates_. This, at first hearing,
sounds, what the curious would call, promising; but I must say, that of the
_dated_ and _dateless_ books, printed before the year 1500, which I took
down, and carefully opened--and this number could not be less than four or
five hundred--there was scarcely one in five which repaid the toil of
examination: and this too, with a thermometer frequently standing at
eighty-nine and ninety, in the shade in the open air! Fortunately for my
health, and for the exertion of physical strength, the public library
happened to be very cool--while all the windows were opened, and through
the openings was frequently heard the sound of young voices, practising the
famous _Martin Luther's Hymn_--as it is called. This latter was
particularly grateful to me. I heard the master first sing a stave, and he
was in general accurately followed by his pupils--who displayed the
well-known early tact of Germans in the science of music. But to revert to
the early printed books.

FIRST GERMAN BIBLE; supposed to have been _printed by Mentelin_; without
date: Folio. Towards the latter half of this copy, there are some
interesting embellishments, in outline, in a bistre tint. The invention and
execution of many of them are admirable. Where they are _coloured_, they
lose their proper effect. An illumination, at the beginning of the book of
_Esther_, bears the unequivocal date of 1470: but the edition was certainly
four or five years earlier. This Bible is considered to be the earliest
German version: but it is not so.

LATIN BIBLE, BY MENTELIN: in his second character. This Bible I saw for the
first time; but Panzer is decidedly wrong in saying that the types resemble
the larger ones in Mentelin's _Valerius Maximus_, _Virgil_ and _Terence_:
they may be nearly as tall, but are not so broad and large. From a ms.
note, the 402d leaf appears to be wanting. This copy is a singularly fine
one. It is white, and large, and with rough edges throughout. It is also in
its first binding, of wood.

LATIN BIBLE; _printed by Eggesteyn_. Here are several editions, and a
duplicate of the first--which is printed in the second smallest character
of Eggesteyn.[219] The two copies of this first edition are pretty much
alike for size and condition: but _one_ of them, with handsome
illuminations at the beginning of each volume, has the precious coeval ms.
date of 1468--as represented by the fac-simile of it in _Schoepflin's Vind.
Typog. Tab. V._ Probably the date of the printing might have been at least
a year earlier.

LATIN BIBLE: _printed by Jenson_, 1479. Folio. A fine copy, upon paper. The
first page is illuminated.

To this list of impressions of the SACRED TEXT, may be added a fine copy of
the SCLAVONIAN BIBLE of 1584, folio, with wood cuts, and another of the
HUNGARIAN Bible of 1626, folio: the latter in double columns, with a
crowdedly-printed margin, and an engraved frontispiece.

As to books upon miscellaneous subjects, I shall lay before you, without
any particular order, my notes of the following: Of the _Speculum Morale_
of P. Bellovacensis, here said to be printed by Mentelin in 1476, in double
columns, roman type, folio--there is a copy, in one volume, of tremendously
large dimensions; as fine, clean, and crackling as possible. Also a copy of
the _Speculum Judiciale_ of Durandus, _printed at Strasbourg by Hussner and
Rekenhub_, in 1473, folio. Hussner was a citizen of Strasbourg, and his
associate a priest at Mentz. Here is also a perfect copy of the Latin
PTOLEMY, of the supposed date of 1462, with a fine set of the
copper-plates.

But I must make distinct mention of a _Latin Chronicle, printed by Gotz de
Sletztat_ in 1474, in folio. It is executed in a coarse, large gothic type,
with many capital roman letters. At the end of the alphabetical index of 35
leaves, we read as follows:

DEO GRATIAS.
_A tpe ade vsqz ad annos cristi 1474
Acta et gesta hic suffitienter nuclient
Sola spes mea. In virginis gracia
Nicholaus Gotz. De Sletzstat._

The preceding is on the recto; on the reverse of the same leaf is an
account of Inventors of _arts_: no mention is made of that of _printing_.
Then the prologue to the Chronicle, below which is the device of Gotz;[220]
having his name subjoined. The text of the Chronicle concludes at page
CCLXXX--printed numerals--with an account of an event which took place in
the year 1470. But the present copy contains another, and the concluding
leaf--which may be missing in some copies--wherein there is a particular
notice of a splendid event which took place in 1473, between Charles Duke
of Burgundy, and Frederick the Roman Emperor, with Maximilian his Son;
together with divers dukes, earls, and counts attending. The text of this
leaf ends thus;

_SAVE GAIRT VIVE BVRGVND._

Below, within a circle, "Sixtus quartus." This work is called, in a ms.
prefix, the _Chronicle of Foresius_. I never saw, or heard of, another
copy. The present is fine and sound; and bound in wood, covered with
leather.

Here are two copies of St. _Jerom's Epistles, printed by Schoeffher_ in
1470; of which that below stairs is one of the most magnificent imaginable;
in two folio volumes. Hardly any book can exceed, and few equal it, in size
and condition--unless it be the theological works of ARCHBISHOP ANTONIUS,
_printed by Koeberger_, in 1477, in one enormous folio volume. As a
specimen of Koeberger's press, I am unable at the present moment to mention
any thing which approaches it. I must also notice a copy of the _Speculum
Humanae Salvationis, printed at Basle, by Richel_, in 1476, folio. It is a
prodigious volume, full of wood cuts, and printed in double columns in a
handsome gothic type. This work seems to be rather a _History of the
Bible_; having ten times the matter of that which belongs to the work with
this title usually prefixed. The copy is in its original wooden binding.

JUNIANUS MAIUS. _De Propriet. Priscor. Verborum, printed at Treviso by
Bernard de Colonia_, 1477, folio. I do not remember to have before seen any
specimen of this printer's type: but what he has done here, is sufficient
to secure for him typographical immortality. This is indeed a glorious
copy--perfectly large paper--of an elegantly printed book, in a neat gothic
type, in double columns. The first letter of the text is charmingly
illuminated. I shall conclude these miscellaneous articles by the notice of
two volumes, in the list of ROMANCES, of exceedingly rare occurrence. These
romances are called _Tyturell_ and _Partzifal_. The author of them was
_Wolfram von Escenbach_. They are each of the date of 1477, in folio. The
Tyturell is printed prose-wise, and the Partzifal in a metrical form.

We now come to the Roman CLASSICS, (for of the Greek there are _few or
none_)--before the year 1500. Let me begin with _Virgil_. Here is
_Mentelin's_ very rare edition; but cropt, scribbled upon, and wanting
several leaves. However, there is a most noble and perfect copy of
Servius's Commentary upon the same poet, _printed by Valdarfer_ in 1471,
folio, and bound in primitive boards. There are two perfect copies of
_Mentelin's_ edition (which is the first) of VALERIUS MAXIMUS, of which one
is wormed and cropt. The _other_ Mentelin copy of the Valerius Maximus,
without the Commentary, is perhaps the largest I ever saw--with the ancient
ms. signatures at the bottom-corners of the leaves. Unluckily, the margins
are rather plentifully charged with ms. memoranda.

Of CICERO, there are of course numerous early editions. I did not see the
_De Officiis_ of 1465, or of 1466, of which Hermann speaks, and to which he
affixes the _novel_ date of 1462:--but I did see the _De Oratore_, printed
by _Vindelin de Spira_ without date; and _such_ a copy I shall probably
never see again! The colour and substance of the paper are yet more
surprising than the size.

It is hardly possible to see a finer copy of the _Scriptores Hist. Augustae,
printed by P. de Lavagna_ in 1475, folio. It possesses all the legitimate
evidences of pristine condition, and is bound in its first coat of oak.
Here is a very fine copy of the _Plutarchi Vitae Paralellae_, printed in the
letter R, in two large folio volumes, bound in wood, covered by vellum of
the sixteenth century. But, if of _any_ book, it is of the first edition of
_Catullus Tibullus et Propertius_, of 1472, folio--that this Library has
just reason to be proud. Here are in fact _two_ copies, equally sound, pure
and large: but in _one_ the _Propertius_ is wanting;[221] in lieu of which,
however, there is the first edition of JUVENAL and PERSIUS by V. de Spira--
in equal purity of condition. The perfect copy has the SYLVAE of STATIUS
subjoined. It should seem, therefore, that the Juvenal and Persius had
supplied the place of the Propertius and Statius, in one copy. You are well
aware of the extreme rarity of this first edition of Catullus Tibullus et
Propertius.

I now take leave of the _Public Library of Strasbourg_; not however without
mentioning rather an amusing anecdote connected with some of the books just
described; nor without an observation or two upon the present state of the
library. The anecdote is thoroughly bibliographical. After having examined
some of the finer books before mentioned, and especially having dwelt upon
the Latin Bible of Mentelin, and a few copies of the rarer Classics, I
ventured to descant upon the propriety of _parting_ with those for which
there was _no use_, and which, without materially strengthening their own
collection, might, by an advantageous sale, enable them to enrich their
collection by valuable modern books: of which they obviously stood in
_need_. I then proposed so many hundred francs, for such and such volumes.
Messrs. Schweighaeuser, jun. Dahler, and several other professors were
standing round me--when I made this proposition. On the conclusion of it,
professor Dahler put his hand upon my shoulder--stooped down--(for I was
sitting the whole time)--and looking half archly, replied thus: "Monsieur
le Bibliographe, vous raisonnez bien: mais--nous conserverons nos anciens
livres." These sturdy conservators were not to be shaken; and none but
_duplicates_ were to be parted with.[222]

The next observation relates to the collection. Never did a collection
stand in greater need of being weeded. There are medical books sufficient
to supply six copies for the library of every castellated mansion along the
Vosges[223]--should any of them ever be repaired and put in order.
Schoepflin's library furnishes many duplicates both in history and
theology; and in _Classics_ they should at least make good their series of
the more important _first Editions_. The want of a perfect _Virgil_ by
_Mentelin_, and the want of a _first Terence_, by the same printer--their
boasted townsman--are reproachful wants. At any rate, they should not let
slip any opportunity of purchasing the first _Ovid, Horace, Ausonius_, and
_Lucretius_. No man is more deeply impressed with a conviction of these
wants, than the present chief librarian, the younger Schweighaeuser; but,
unfortunately, the pecuniary means of supplying them are slender indeed. I
find this to be the case wherever I go. The deficiency of funds, for the
completion of libraries, may however be the cry of _other_ countries
besides _France_.

As to booksellers, for the sale of modern works, and for doing, what is
called "a great stroke of business," there is no one to compare with the
house of TREUTTEL and WUeRTZ--of which firm, as you may remember, very
honourable mention was made in one of my latter letters from Paris. Their
friendly attention and hospitable kindness are equal to their high
character as men of business. It was frequently in their shop that I met
with some of the savants of Strasbourg; and among them, the venerable and
amiable LICHTENBERGER, author of that very judicious and pains taking
compilation entitled _Initia Typographica_. I was also introduced to divers
of the learned, whose names I may be pardoned for having forgotten. The
simplicity of character, which here marks almost every man of education, is
not less pleasing than profitable to a traveller who wishes to make himself
acquainted with the literature of the country through which he passes.

[203] _Alsatia Illustrata_, 1751-61, folio, two volumes.

[204] In the middle of the fifteenth century there were not fewer than nine
principal gates of entrance: and above the walls were built, at equal
distances, fifty-five towers--surmounted, in turn, by nearly thirty
towers of observation on the exterior of the walls. But in the
beginning of the sixteenth century, from the general adoption of
gunpowder in the art of war, a different system of defence was
necessarily adopted; and the number of these towers was in consequence
diminished. At present there are none. They are supplied by bastions
and redoubts, which answer yet better the purposes of warfare.

[205] This work is entitled "_Notices Historiques, Statistiques et
Litteraires, sur la Ville de Strasbourg_." 1817, 8vo. A second
volume, published in 1819, completes it. A more judicious, and, as I
learn, faithful compilation, respecting the very interesting city of
which it treats, has not yet been published.

[206] I had before said 530 English feet; but a note in M. Crapelet's
version (supplied, as I suspect, by my friend M. Schweighaeuser,) says,
that from recent strict trigonometrical measurement, it is 437 French
feet in height.

[207] The _Robertsau_, about three quarters of a mile from Strasbourg,
is considered to be the best place for a view of the cathedral. The
Robertsau is a well peopled and well built suburb. It consists of
three nearly parallel streets, composed chiefly of houses separated by
gardens--the whole very much after the English fashion. In short,
these are the country houses of the wealthier inhabitants of
Strasbourg; and there are upwards of seventy of them, flanked by
meadows, orchards, or a fruit or kitchen garden. It derives the name
of _Robertsau_ from a gentleman of the name of _Robert,_ of the
ancient family of _Bock_. He first took up his residence there about
the year 1200, and was father of twenty children. Consult _Hermann_;
vol. i. p. 209.

[208] "The engineer Specklin, who, in order to complete his MAP of ALSACE,
traversed the whole chain of the VOSGES, estimates the number of these
castles at little short of _two hundred_: and pushes the antiquity of
some of them as far back as the time of the Romans." See _Hermann_;
vol. i. p. 128, note 20: whose compressed account of a few of these
castellated mansions is well worth perusal, I add this note, from
something like a strong persuasion, that, should it meet the eye of
some enterprising and intelligent English antiquary, it may stimulate
him--within the waning of two moons from reading it, provided those
moons be in the months of Spring--to put his equipage in order for a
leisurely journey along the VOSGES!

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