" The doughty knight retorted, by "A Case for Sir
Humphrey Lind's Spectacles."

Some of these obscure titles have an entertaining absurdity; as "The
Three Daughters of Job," which is a treatise on the three virtues of
patience, fortitude, and pain. "The Innocent Love, or the Holy Knight,"
is a description of the ardours of a saint for the Virgin. "The Sound of
the Trumpet," is a work on the day of judgment; and "A Fan to drive away
Flies," is a theological treatise on purgatory.

We must not write to the utter neglect of our title; and a fair author
should have the literary piety of ever having "the fear of his
title-page before his eyes." The following are improper titles. Don
Matthews, chief huntsman to Philip IV. of Spain, entitled his book "The
Origin and Dignity of the Royal House," but the entire work relates only
to hunting. De Chantereine composed several moral essays, which being at
a loss how to entitle, he called "The Education of a Prince." He would
persuade the reader in his preface, that though they were not composed
with a view to this subject, they should not, however, be censured for
the title, as they partly related to the education of a prince. The
world was too sagacious to be duped, and the author in his second
edition acknowledges the absurdity, drops "the magnificent title," and
calls his work "Moral Essays." Montaigne's immortal history of his own
mind, for such are his "Essays," has assumed perhaps too modest a title,
and not sufficiently discriminative. Sorlin equivocally entitled a
collection of essays, "The Walks of Richelieu," because they were
composed at that place; "The Attic Nights" of Aulus Gellius were so
called, because they were written in Attica. Mr. Tooke, in his
grammatical "Diversions of Purley," must have deceived many.

A rhodomontade title-page was once a great favourite. There was a time
when the republic of letters was over-built with "Palaces of Pleasure,"
"Palaces of Honour," and "Palaces of Eloquence;" with "Temples of
Memory," and "Theatres of Human Life," and "Amphitheatres of
Providence;" "Pharoses, Gardens, Pictures, Treasures." The epistles of
Guevara dazzled the public eye with their splendid title, for they were
called "Golden Epistles;" and the "Golden Legend" of Voragine had been
more appropriately entitled leaden.

They were once so fond of novelty, that every book recommended itself by
such titles as "A new Method; new Elements of Geometry; the new Letter
W