able to meet with
this; but such high praise, from so judicious a critic, makes me very
desirous to see and peruse it.

S.W. Singer.

Mickleham, July 3. 1850.

[Footnote 8: "Ubi primum exissent _Ep. Ob. V._ miro Monachorum applausu
exceptae sunt apud Britannos a Franciscanis ac Dominicanis, qui sibi
persuadebant, eas in Reuchlini contumeliam, et Monachorum favorem, serio
proditus: quamque quidam egregie doctus, sed nasutissimus, fingeret se
nonnihil offendi stylo, consulati sunt hominem."--_Erasm. Epist._ 979.]

_Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum_.--Your Querist H.B.C. (Vol. ii., pp.
55-57.) will find, in the 53rd vol. _Edinb. Rev._ p. 180., a long
article on these celebrated letters, containing much of the information
required. It is worthy of remark, that in page 195. we are told

"In 1710 there was printed in London the _most elegant_ edition
that has ever appeared of these letters, which the editor, Mich.
Mattaire, gravely represents as the productions of their
ostensible authors."

Now this edition, though neat, has no claim to be termed most elegant,
which is hardly to be reconciled with what the reviewer says in a note,
p. 210., "that the text of this ed. of 1710 is of no authority, and
swarms with typographical blunders."

The work on its first appearance produced great excitement, and was
condemned by Pope Leo X. See _Dict. des Livres Condamnes, &c._, par
Peignot, tom. ii. p. 218.

Many amusing anecdotes and notices are to be found in Bayle's _Dict_.
See particularly sub nomine Erasmus. Burton, in his _Anatomy of Mel._
pt. i. sec. 2. Mem 3 sub 6. citing Jovius in Elogiis, says,

"Hostratus cucullatus adeo graviter ob Reuchlini librum qui
inscribitur, Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum dolore simul et pudore
sauciatus, et scipsum interfecerit."

See also _Nouv. Diction. Historique_ in the account of Gratius, O.

There is also a good article on these letters in a very excellent work
entitled _Analectabiblion_, or _Extraits Critique de divers Livres
rares, &c., tirez du Cabinet du Marq. D. R. (oure)_. Paris, 1836. 2
tomes 8vo.

F.R.A.

_Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum_.--The article inquired for by H.B.C. (Vol.
ii, p. 55) is probably one in the _Edinburgh Review_, vol. liii. p.
180., attributed to Sir William Hamilton, the distinguished Professor of
Logic in the university of Edinburgh.

CH.

* * * * *

CAXTON'S PRINTING-OFFICE.

(Vol. ii., p. 9