The table book, of daily recreation and information : concerning remarkable men and manners, times and seasons, solemnities and merry-makings, antiquities and novelties ... forming a complete history of the year ... / by William Hone.

  • Hone, William, 1780-1842.
Date:
[1857?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The table book, of daily recreation and information : concerning remarkable men and manners, times and seasons, solemnities and merry-makings, antiquities and novelties ... forming a complete history of the year ... / by William Hone. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE FRONTISPIECE PET it ARCH 3 INKSTAND. Miss Edgeworth's lines express her esti- mation of the gem she has the happiness to own. That lady allowed a few easts from it in bronze, and a gentleman who possesses one, and who favours the “ Table Book” with his approbation, permits its use for a frontispiece to this volume. The engraving will not be questioned as a deco- ration, and it has some claim to be regarded as an elegant illustration of a miscellany which draws largely on art and literature, and on nature itself, towards its supply. “ I delight,” says Petrarch, “ in my pic- tures. I take great pleasure also in images; they come in show more near unto nature than pictures, for they do but appear; but these are felt to be substantial, and their bodies are more durable. Amongst the Grecians the art of painting was esteemed above all handycrafts, and the chief of all the liberal arts. How great the dignity hath been of statues; and how fervently the study and desire of men have reposed in such pleasures, emperors and kings, and other noble personages, nay, even persons of in- ferior degree, have shown, in their indus- trious keeping of them when obtained.” Insisting on the golden mean, as a rule of happiness, he says, “ I possess an amazing collection of books, for attaining this, and every virtue : great is my delight in behold- ing such a treasure.” He slights persons who collect books “ for the pleasure of boasting they have them; who furnish their chambers with what was invented to furnish their minds; and use them no otherwise than they do their Corinthian tables, or their painted tables and images, to look at.” He contemns others who esteem not the true value of books, but the price at which they may sell them—“ a new prac- tice” (observe it is Petrarch that speaks) “crept in among the rich, whereby they may attain one art more of unruly desire.” He repeats, with rivetting force, “ I have great plenty of books: where such scarcity has been lamented, this is no small possession : I have an inestimable many of books!” He was a diligent collector, and a liberal imparter of these treasures. He corres- a't.ded with R»cri,«n ufc Bury, iih.s tnous prelate of ou. own country, emmet for hr5, 'ove of learning and learned men, and sent many precious volumes to Eng. land to enrich the bishop’s magnificent library. He vividly remarks, “ I deligh, passionately in my books;” and yet he wb« had accumulated them largely, estimated them rightly : he has a saying of books worthy of himself—“ a wise man seeketh not quantity but sufficiency.” Petrarch loved the quiet scenes of nature, and these can scarcely be observed from a carriage or while riding, and are never enjoyed but on foot; and to me—on whom that discovery was imposed, and who am sometimes restrained from country walks, by necessity — it was no small pleasure, when I read a passage in his “ View of Human Nature,” which persuaded me of his fondness for the exercise : “ A jour- ney on foot hath most pleasant commo- dities ; a man may go at his pleasure ; none shall stay him, none shall carry him beyond his wish; none shall trouble him; he hath but one labour, the labour of nature—to g0-” In “ The Indicator” there is a paper ot peculiar beauty, by Mr. Leigh Hunt, “ on receiving a sprig of myrtle from Vaucluse,” ■ with a paragraph suitable to this occasion • “ We are supposing that all our readers are acquainted with Petrarch. Many of them doubtless know him intimately. Should any of them want an introduction to him, how should we speak of him in gross? We should say, that he was one of the finest gentlemen and greatest scho- lars that ever lived ; that he was a writer who flourished in Italy in the fourteenth century, at the time when Chaucer was young, during the reigns of our Edwards; that he was the greatest light of his age ; that although so fine a writer himself, and the author of a multitude of works, or rather because he was both, he took the greatest pains to revive the knowledge of the ancient learning, recommending it every where, and copying out large manuscripts with his own hand ; that two great cities, Paris and Rome, contended which should have the honour of crowning him ; that he was crowned publicly, in the metropolis of the world, with laurel and with myrtle; that he was the friend of Boccaccio the father of Italian prose; and lastly, that his