BOO
BOO
- books on the fame fubject, that one falls in the way of one man, and another beft fuits the level, or the apprehcnfion
. of another.^ — " Every thing that is written, fays he, does " not come into the hands of all perfons: perhaps fome " may meet with my Books, who may hear nothing of others
- ■ which have treated better of the fame fubject. It is of
" fervice therefore, that the fame queftions be handled by tc feveral perfons and after different methods, though all on " the fame principles, that the explications of difficulties,
. *' and arguments for the truth, may come to the know- " ledge of every one, by one way or other b . " — Add, that the multitude is the only fe'eurity againft the total lofs, or deftruction of books: it is this has preferved them againft the injuries of time, the rage of tyrants, the zeal of perfecu-
- tors, and the ravages of barbarians ; and handed them . down, through long intervals of darknefs, and ignorance,
fafe to our days c .- — Sotaque non norunt hac monumenta mor'i.
—^Vid. Bac. de Augment. Scient. 1. I. Works T. r. p. 49.
i "Auguft. de Trin. I. 1. e. 3. c Barth. lib. cit. DiJ. 1. p.
8. feq. ;
Chufing and judging of Books. — Authors are not well agreed on the conditions neceftary to denominate a book, good.
, Some require. only good fenfe in the writer, and an ac- quaintance with the fubject; others with Salden demand folidity, perfpicuity, and brevity: others think intelligence
j and exadtnefs enough : the generality of critics feem to hold, that none of the perfections, which the human mind is ca- pable of, ought to be wanting : but on this footing there is fcarce any fuch thing as a good book ; at leaft none which
. they themfelves will all agree to be fuch a . The more rea-
. fonable allow a book -to be very good, which has but few ' faults ; optimal Hie, qui minimis- urgeiur : at leaft where the good things in it exceed the bad and indifferent. Nor is a book to be called bad, where the indifferent is the prevailing part, and the good and bad are proportioned equally b . —
- Vid. Baillet. Jugem. des Scav. T. 1. P. r. c. 6. p. 19. feq.
h Honor. Reflex, fur les Regl. de Grit. dijf. I. Since the fall of the Latin tongue, authors do not feem fo much to aim at the glory of writing well, as of writing good things : fo that a book is commonly allowed for good, if it be happily conducted to the end which the author aimed at; whatever other faults it may have : thus a book which is not written on account of ftyle, may be good, though the ftyle be naught a . Thus an hiftorian, who is well in- formed, faithful, and judicious j a philofopher, who reafons juftly, and on found principles ; a divine who is orthodox, and departs not from fcripture and antiquity ; will be al- lowed good in their kinds, though they be faulty in the lefs material things. — a Fid. Baillet, lib. cit. c. 7. p. 24. feq. And thus moft books, in one refpect or other, will be found good and ufeful ; fo that the choice feems difficult ; not fo much what to take, as what to reject. \ The elder Pliny ufed to fay, there was no book fo bad, but fome good might be had from it : Nullum librum tarn malum effe, qui non aliqua ex parte profit h . But there are degrees of goodnefs c ; and in many books, the good is fo thin fown, that it is hardly worth the gathering d ; or hid fo deep, or fo befet with
. thorns, that it will not quit the coft of digging. Virgil
could gather gold out of Ennius's dunghil ; but every body
• has not the zeal, or the fkill and attention neceftary to do
- the like. — *Yi&. Hook. Collet!. N° 5. p. 127, IS 1 35, feq. b Plin. Epiji. 5. /. 3. c Reimman. Bill. Acroam. in Praf. §. 7. p. 8. feq. d Sacchin. de Rat. Libr. Legend, c. 3. p.
' 10. feq. It is better judged in thofe who recommend a fmall number of the beft books; advifmg us to read much, but not many: multum legendum effe, non mUlta a . But how is the choice to be made ?— a Vid. Plin. Epifl. 9. /. 7.
To judge of a book, thofe who have treated of the fubject, direct us to obferve the title, the author's or editor's name, the number of the edition, the place where, and year when it was printed (which in old books is frequently marked at the end,) and the printer's name, efpecially if he be a celebrated one a : proceed thence to the preface, and look for the au- thor's defign, and the occafion of his writing: coufider alfo his country, (each nation having its peculiar genius b ) and the perfon by whofe order he wrote, which may fometimes be learned from the dedication : if his life be annexed, run it over, and note his profeffion, what rank he was of, and any thing remarkable that attended his education, ftu- dies, converfation, or correfpondences with learned men : not forgetting the elogies which have been given the author, which often occur at the beginning, or even any critique or cenfure, efpecially if made by a man of judgment. If the preface do not give an account of the method of the work, run briefly over the order and difpofition of it, and note what points the author has handled, obferve whether the things and fentiments he produces be trite and vulgar, or fo- lid and fetched from greater depths. Note, whether he go in the common road, or make any innovation, and intro- duce any new principle. Obferve alfo his method, whether it be a dichotomy, or according to the four caufes, or any other more peculiarly adapted to the fubject c . — a Vide Barth. DiJ. 4. p. 93. feq. b Bail], c. 7. p. 228. feq. c Struv. In- - trod, ad Notit. Rei Liter, c. 5. §. 2. p. 338. feq.
But it is a fmall number of books, we have opportunity of thus judging of by perufing them ; befide, that when we have read a book over, the judgment comes too late for many purpqfes : it feems neceftary therefore to have other indica- tions, whereby to prevent our being at the charge of pro- curing, or the pains of perufing a worthlefs book: divers rules of this kind are given by Baillet a , Struvius \ Stollius ', and others ; which though, in reality, no more than pre- emptions, and frequently liable to be falfified d j are not without their ufe. The journalifts de Trevoux object; to them all : " The fhorteft way, fay they, to judge of a book " is to read it, if you be qualified in the fubject, otherwife " to refer yourfelf'to thofe who are fo •■'* Heuman is fomewhat more explicit ; « making it a mark that a book is " good, when it is efteemed by perfons intelligent in the " fubject it treats of; and when thofe who commend it re- " ceive no advantage from the applaufe they beftow on it, " nor are leagued with the author in any cabal, for efpou- " fmg any particular principle, fyftcm, or party in religion " or learning V — *-Yid\ Baillet. Jugem. des Scav. T. 1. P. 2. p. 111. feq. b Struv. lib. cit. c. 5. §. 3, p. 390. c Stoll. In- trod. Htft. Liter. P. 1. §. II. p. 9. d Budd. de Criteriis boni Libri paffim. Wale. HiJL Cr'tt. Ling. Lat. c. 7. §. 6. p. 320. e Mem. deTrev. an. 1712. art. 17. f Heuman. Conjp. Rei- publ. Liter, c, 6. §, 11. p. aSo.feq.
But more particularly, it is an indication that a book is good* i°. If the author be known to excel in that talent more im- mediately neceftary for fuch a fubject; or have already pub- lifhed any thing on the fame that is efteemed. Thus we may conclude, that Julius Csefar will teach us the art of war better than Peter Ramus ; Cato, Palladius, and Columella, agriculture better than Ariftotle ; and Cicero oratory better than M. Varro B : add, that it is not enough the author be fldlled in the faculty, but that he be fo in the particular branch of it he treats of; fome, for inftance, excel in the civil law, yet not in the public law : Salmafms proved him- felf an excellent critic in his Exercitat. Plinian. but came much inferior to Milton in his Defenfto Regia b . 2°. If the book be on a fubject that requires great reading, it may be prefumed good, if the author have a copious library, or can have accefs to one; cr lived in a place where books were not wanting : though here is a danger too of running into excefs of quotations, efpecially, fays Struvius, if the author be a lawyer c ." 3 . A book which took up a long time in compofing, cannot often fail of being good : Thus Villal- pandus's commentary on Ezekiel was a work of forty years: Baronius's annals of thirty ; Gouffet's Hebrew commentaries of thirty ; Paulus j^Emilius employed the fame tfrng in his hiftory ; and Vaugelas in his tranflation of Q^ CLirrius. La- my was thirty years in his treatife of the temple : Em. Te- fauro' forty years in his Idea Argute dicl'ionis : and the jefuit Carra forty year? in his poem called Columbus : — It is true, they who are fo long on the fame fubject, rarely bring it . out uniform and methodical ; befides, that they are apt to flag and grow cold in fo long a purfuit: men cannot attend to the fame thing for fo many years without being tired ; which will be apt to fhew itfelf in the compofition : and hence it has been obferved that in thofe large books fo long about, the beginnings glow, the middle-parts are luke- warm, the latter ends frigid, apud vajlorum voluminum auc- tores, principia fervent, medium tepet, ultima frigent d . But then they muft excel in the materials, which have been, ga- thering for fo long a tract of time : this is particularly ob- ferved of the Spanifti writers; and is at leaft more commen- dable, than the levity and precipitancy of fome of their neighbours. Not but the public are fometimes difappomted in their expectations, from writers who are fo long in la- bour ; as was the cafe in Chapelain's poem la Pucelle, in the finifhing of which he fpent thirty years : and concerning which we have that epigram of Monmor : Ilia Capellani dudum expeelata puella, Poft tanta in lucem tempora prodit anus. Some, it is certain, have carried their fcrupuloufnefs to ait excefs, as Paulus Manutius, who often fpent three or four months in writing a fingle epiftle ; and Ifocrates, who was three olympiads in writing one panegyric °. 4 . Books on points of doctrine by eclectic writers, are to be prefumed better than thofe writ by the retainers to particular fects. 5°. The age of a writer may give us fome indication : books^ which require labour, are ufually better performed by youn- ger perfons, than thofe who are far advanced in years : thus there is more life in Luther's former pieces, than in thofe he; wrote a little before his death : ftrength decays, bufmefs en- creafes, we truft too much to our judgment, and are not fcrupulous enough in making enquiries r . 6°. Another indi- cation may be taken from the author's ftate and condition : Thus hiftory written by a perfon who was ah eye-witnefs of what he relates, or is concerned in public affairs, or has ac- cefs to the public records, or other monuments, from whence^ intelligence may be drawn ; or who is not byaffed by party* or hired by any great man, will be fuppofed to be good; Thus Salluft and Cicero were well able to write the hiftory of Catiline's confpiracy, as having fome concerns in it 3 d'Avila, de Comines, Guicciardin s, Clarendon, tftc. were
prefent
