About the middle of last century, the Abbe Bo nardi, Librarian to the Sorbonne, undertook a Dic tionary of anonymous and pseudonymous works, but he died without publishing it. The manuscript is said to have been carried to Lyons ; and, it is sup posed, was destroyed there, during the disorders that followed the Revolution. In the third volume of Cailleau's Dictionnaire Batiographique, published in 1790, there is a separate alphabet for anonymous Books, which occupies about half the volume. It embraces Books in all languages, but those only which the compiler thought rare or curious. The last, and by far the best work in this department, is the Dictionnaire des ouvrageset Pseudo nyms, by M. Barbier, Emperor of France. It consists of fair volumes octavo ; two of which were published in 1806, and the remaining two in 1809. It comprises above twelve thousand articles ; but the plan does not embrace any English, German, or Italian works, but those which have been translated into the French language. Works of this class are more particularly useful in regard to the literary productions of periods and countries which have been greatly restricted in the liberty of the Press. M. Barbier states, that in every Library composed of useful Books, it will be found, that a third part have not the names of the authors, translators, or editors; a proportion which, if true at ail, can only bold true, we think, of Continental Libraries.
VI. Condemned and Prehibikd Books.
Books supposed hurtful to the interests of govern ment, religion, or morality, have sometimes been condemned to the flames, sometimes censured by particular tribunals, and sometimes suppressed. These measures have been followed by particular countries, both in respect to their own productions and those of their neighbours. In some countries, lists of the Books prohibited within them, have, from time to time, been published; and in.these lists are often found the most highly prized productions of the Literature of other nations. This constitutes, indeed, a melancholy portion of the history of Books ; for though the facts which it collects sometimes amuse by their folly, they oftener excite indignation and pity at the oppres sions of Power, and the sufferings of Learning. .
The practice of condemning obnoxious Books to. the flames is of very ancient date. The works of Protagorus of Abdera, a disciple of Democritus, were prohibited at Athens, and all the copies that could be collected were ordered to be burnt by the public crier. Livy mentions, that the writings of Numa, which were found in his grave, were con demned to the flames, as being contrary to the reli gion which he had himself established. Augustus caused two thousand Books, of an astrological cast, to be burnt at one time ; and he subjected to the same doom, some satirical pieces of Labienus. Tacitus mentions a work which the Senate, under Tiberius, condemned to the fire for having designated Cassius as the last of the Romans.* This practice was early introduced in the Christian world. " After the spreading of the Christian religion," says Professor Beckmann, " the Clergy exercised against Books that were either unfavourable or disagreeable to them, the same severity which they had censured in the heathens, as foolish and prejudicial to their own cause. Thus were the writings of Arius condemned to the flames at the Council of Nice ; and Constan tine threatened with the punishment of death those who should conceal them. The Clergy assembled at the Council of Ephesus, requested Theodosius IL to cause the works of Nestorius to be burnt, and this desire was complied with. The writings of Eutyches shared the like fate at the Council of Chalcedon ; and it would not be difficult to collect examples of the same kind from each of the follow ing centuries." When the Popes caused the nations of Christen dom to acknowledge their infallibility in all matters appertaining to religion, they also took upon than. selves the care and the rightof pointing out what Boolut should, or should not, be read ; and hence originat ed those famous Espergatory Indexes, which fur nish such ample materials for the Bibliography of prohibited Books. There is a copious list of these Indexes in the work of Peignot, to be immediately noticed: The next asp in the progress of usurpa tion was the licensing of Booki. By the Council of Lateran, held at Rome in 1515, it was ordered, that in future all Books should, previous to publication, be submitted to the judgment of Clerical Censors. " To fill up the measure of encroachment," says Milton, " their last invention was to ordain, that ne Book should be printed, as if St Peter had bequeath ed them the keys of the Press also, as well as of Pa radise, unless it were approved and licensed under the hands of two or three gluttonous Friars. Till then, Books were ever as freely admitted into the world as any other birth ; the issue of the brain was no more stifled than the issue of the womb ; no en vious Juno sat cross-legged over the nativity of any man's intellectual offspring." (Speech on the Liberty of unlicensed Printing.) The following works contain accounts of con demned and prohibited Books, and of the Indices Ex purgatorii. 1. Dissertatio historico-literaria de li bris combustis, in the seventh volume of Schelhorn's Anicenitates Literarix. The same subject is resum ed in the eighth and ninth volumes. 2. Index generalis librorum prohibitorum a Pontis ; in usum Bibliothecce Bodleiance ; by Tho. James, 1627.
We do not know that any other work of this kind was ever published in England. 3. FaAbicus De Papistarum Indicibus librorum prohibitorum, pub lished at Leipsic in 1684. 4. Thesaurus Bibliogra phicus ex Indicibus librorum prohibitorum congest us, published at Dresden in 1743. 5. Dictionnaire Critique et Bibliographique des principaux Lirores coisdamnes an feu, supprimes ou censures, par G. Peignot, 2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1806. This Book is amusing, and gives a copious list of Indices Ex purgatorii, as well as of authors who have treated of the subject of condemned Books in general : but it cannot be allowed, that it contains anything approaching to a complete enumeration of the prin cipal works which come under the scope of the title page. There are very few English Books noticed, either those condemned in this country, or those prohibited in others ; though in this latter class, the most valuable of our philosophical and literary works would be found to be named. One of the most preposterous sentences of prohibition, in curred by an English author, is that mentioned in a letter from Sir John Macpherson, while in Spain, to Mr Gibbon, viz. that Smith's Wealth of Nations was prohibited there " on account of the lowness of its style, and the looseness of its morals." (Gibbon's Posthumous Works, Vol. III.) We should like to see an accurate account of works which have been condemned to the flames, or suppressed, in • Britain. In former times, we should find some as abominable instances of oppres sion in this particular, as ever disgraced the worst governments of Continental Europe. The proceed ings against William Prynne, on account of his His triomastix, or Player's Scourge, furnish a noted ex ample. We wish we could add, that these proceed ings have always been mentioned in our Histories, in the terms which their singular atrocity is calculated to call forth from every heart that has one chord in unison with the rights of humanity. Prynne, who was by profession a Lawyer, is characterized by Mr Hume as being " a great hero among the Puritans." He was in truth a very fanatical person ; but his learning was immense, his courage unconquerable, and his honesty certainly as great as that of any of his op ponents or oppressors. His Histriomastix, a quar to of upwards of a thousand closely printed pages, with all its margins studded with authorities, came out in 1633 ; and was intended to decry all drama tic amusements, and all jovial recreations, and to censure the lax discipline, and the Popish ceremo nies of Prelacy. In the Alphabetical Table at the end of the volume, there is a reference in these words, —Women actors, notorious whores ; and as the Queen sometimes acted a part in Dramas played at Court, it was represented that Prynne pointed at her Majesty in this reference, and that the Book was in fact in tended as a satire upon the Government. He was ac cordingly prosecuted in the Star-Chamber for a libel, The Book, which the Judges described as a huge mis shapen monster, in the begetting of which the Devil must have assisted, was condemned to be burned; and after the example of foreign countries, this was ordered to be done, for the first time in England, by the hands of the hangman. It was ordered, that Mr Prynne should be expelled from Oxford, he be ing a graduate in that University ; and also from the Bar. He was farther sentenced to pay a fine of five thousand pounds, and to endure perpetual imprison ment; but this was not yet all ; he was condemned to stand in the Pillory on two successive days, in West minster and Cheapside, there, on each day, to have an ear cut off. One of' the Judges, who represented the Queen's virtues as such that neither oratory nor poetry could do any thing like justice to them, was for making the fine ten thousand pounds; stating, that he knew it was much more than Mr Prynne was worth, yet far less than he deserved to pay ; and be wished farther, that his nose should be slit and his fore head burned in addition to the loss of his ears, be cause he might buy himself a perriwig, and so hide that loss. * The Book, which involved its author in such unprecedented calamities, had actually been li censed, according to the regulations which then ob tained for the licensing of Books for publication ; but it was stated, that the Licenser had not read the whole of it. Well might Sir Simonds D'Ewes speak of this as a terrifying trial. " Most men," says he, " were affrighted to see, that neither Mr Prynne's Aca demical nor Barrister's Gown could free him from the infamous loss of his Ears; and all good men conceived this would have been remitted ; many asserted it was, till the sad execution of it. I went to see him a while after," continues Sir Simonds, " in the Fleet, to_ comfort him ; and found in him the rare effects of an upright heart, by his serenity of spirit and c.hearful pa tience." -I- The account which Mr Hume gives of this nefarious trial and sentence—dwelling chiefly on the acrimonious and ridiculous parts of the Puritan Prynne's character and Book—whol ly passing over the miscreant sycophancy of his Judges, and but gently censuring their appalling and ruthless cruelty—is characteristic enough of his gemal principles and manner ; and well calculated to show, that, with all his penetration, and phi losophic spirit, and charms of style, he was still deficient in some qualities of a Historian, without which, History cannot be rendered profitable either to Princes or to People.