Opening the text

Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries, Vol. 1Hallam, Henry

History

Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries, Vol. 1

Name: Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries, Vol. 1
Author: Hallam, Henry

Hallam, Henry

Literature, Modern -- History and criticism

hard to judge from a single case; but the letter of Lady Pelham, quoted
in the first chapter, is ungrammatical and unintelligible. The seed,
therefore, was now rapidly germinating beneath the ground; and thus we
may perceive that the publication of books is not the sole test of the
intellectual advance of a people. I may add, that although the middle of
the fifteenth century was the period in which the fewest books were
written, a greater number, in the opinion of experienced judges, were
transcribed in that than in any former age.

  [360] This collection is in five quarto volumes, and has become scarce.
     The length has been doubled by an injudicious proceeding of the
     editor, in printing the original orthography and abbreviations of
     the letters on each left-hand page, and a more legible modern form
     on the right. As orthography is of little importance, and
     abbreviations of none at all, it would have been sufficient to have
     given a single specimen.

  [361] “As to Ovid de Arte Amandi, I shall send him you next week, for I
     have him not now ready.” iv. 175. This was between 1463 and 1469,
     according to the editor. We do not know positively of any edition
     of Ovid de Arte Amandi so early; but Zell of Cologne is supposed to
     have printed one before 1470, as has been mentioned above. Whether
     the book to be sent were in print, or manuscript, must be left to
     the sagacity of critics.

|Low condition of public libraries.|

42. It may be observed here, with reference to the state of learning
generally in England down to the age immediately preceding the
Reformation, that Leland, in the fourth volume of his Collectanea, has
given several lists of books in colleges and monasteries, which do not
by any means warrant the supposition of a tolerable acquaintance with
ancient literature. We find, however, some of the recent translations
made in Italy from Greek authors. The clergy, in fact, were now
retrograding, while the laity were advancing; and when this was the
case, the ascendency of the former was near its end.

|Rowley.|

|Clotilde de Surville.|

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries, Vol. 1Hallam, Henry

History

Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries, Vol. 1

Hallam, Henry

Literature, Modern -- History and criticism

hard to judge from a single case; but the letter of Lady Pelham, quoted
in the first chapter, is ungrammatical and unintelligible. The seed,
therefore, was now rapidly germinating beneath the ground; and thus we
may perceive that the publication of books is not the sole test of the
intellectual advance of a people. I may add, that although the middle of
the fifteenth century was the period in which the fewest books were
written, a greater number, in the opinion of experienced judges, were
transcribed in that than in any former age.

  [360] This collection is in five quarto volumes, and has become scarce.
     The length has been doubled by an injudicious proceeding of the
     editor, in printing the original orthography and abbreviations of
     the letters on each left-hand page, and a more legible modern form
     on the right. As orthography is of little importance, and
     abbreviations of none at all, it would have been sufficient to have
     given a single specimen.

  [361] “As to Ovid de Arte Amandi, I shall send him you next week, for I
     have him not now ready.” iv. 175. This was between 1463 and 1469,
     according to the editor. We do not know positively of any edition
     of Ovid de Arte Amandi so early; but Zell of Cologne is supposed to
     have printed one before 1470, as has been mentioned above. Whether
     the book to be sent were in print, or manuscript, must be left to
     the sagacity of critics.

|Low condition of public libraries.|

42. It may be observed here, with reference to the state of learning
generally in England down to the age immediately preceding the
Reformation, that Leland, in the fourth volume of his Collectanea, has
given several lists of books in colleges and monasteries, which do not
by any means warrant the supposition of a tolerable acquaintance with
ancient literature. We find, however, some of the recent translations
made in Italy from Greek authors. The clergy, in fact, were now
retrograding, while the laity were advancing; and when this was the
case, the ascendency of the former was near its end.

|Rowley.|

|Clotilde de Surville.|

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries, Vol. 1

Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries, Vol. 1

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