Books Condemned to be Burnt. By James Anson Farrer. (Elliot
Stock.)—The earliest burning that Mr. Farrer records is that of Porphyry's "Treatise Against the Christians," burnt by order of Theodosius the Great in A.D. 388. Some curious things have been done in this way. One volume was burnt in 1516 because it maintained that the immortality of the soul could only be proved by Scripture. Altogether, this is a curious record ; but Mr. Farrer's comments and inferences, and even his facts, cannot always be trusted. The reason of Dolet's execution could hardly be his "unsparing exposure of the immoralities of priests and monks, and the plan of the Sorbonne to put down the art of printing in France." That execution was a detestable crime, but it had other and, it may be said, deeper causes. As Mr. Christie, in his " Etienne Dolet," points out, Dolet was as hateful to men like Calvin as he was to the Sorbonne; and Calvin had no tender- ness for monks and priests, and no hatred of printing.
Previous page
