Part 15 (2/2)
Although the book-plate in use in the library of ”La Providence” is an English production, it belongs to an essentially French religious community, and so is ent.i.tled to a place here (see page 199), especially as it bears the well-known and oft-quoted motto from _Menagiana_. Of a somewhat similar nature is the ex-libris, dated 1868, of the library of the Society of the History of Protestantism in France, founded in 1852.
There is also the well-known Huguenot Society of London, a powerful body which aims at preserving the old religious and national spirit amongst the descendants of the refugee families, and has done much service in preserving the ancient history and traditions of the Huguenots.
A glance at its roll-call suffices to recall the fact that many names held by families long since thoroughly anglicised, are of French origin.
[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE SOCIeTe DE L'HISTOIRE DU PROTESTANTISME FRANcAIS, 1852.]
Indeed an amusing chapter might be written on the curious modifications of certain old French names, by which they have gradually acquired an anglicised appearance in print, whilst still preserving some little similarity to their original p.r.o.nunciation. Cottew (Coteaux), Cussans (De Cusance), Dampier (Dampierre), Dobree (D'Aubraye), Ducane (Du Quesne), Margary (De Marguerie), Perowne (Piron), Rainier (Regnier), Shoppee (Chapuis), Woollett (Viollet), and many others might be cited.
[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE LIBRARY OF THE HUGUENOT SOCIETY OF LONDON, 1572-1685.]
The Secretary of the Huguenot Society of London is Mr. G. H. Overend, F.S.A.
There is also a German Huguenot Society, a Huguenot Society of America, and another for South Carolina, besides La Societe de l'Histoire du Protestantisme Francais, all of which tend to preserve the traditions of the Huguenots, and to encourage the study of their history and genealogy.
In the United States there are also numerous families claiming Huguenot descent; take Gabriel Duvall as an instance, born in Maryland, 1752, Member of Congress, Comptroller of Currency, 1802, a.s.sociate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court, 1811. Died 1844. He had a book-plate dated 1778.
A more modern example is the book-plate of the late Mr. Daniel Ravenel, curious on account of its heraldic bearings, which its owner in simple good faith, and in ignorance of all the laws of heraldry, thought himself ent.i.tled to a.s.sume, as he would have done a trade-mark. In the innocence of his heart the good gentleman accompanied each copy of his book-plate with the following curious explanation:
”THE DANIEL RAVENEL BOOK-PLATE.
”My coat of arms (according to d'Hozier and other celebrated authors on Heraldry) consists of a field gules,[3] with six crescents of gold, each surmounted by a star of the same placed two and two, with a gold star at the base of the s.h.i.+eld.
”This s.h.i.+eld rests on a larger s.h.i.+eld, showing, first, the fleurs-de-lis of France: second, a cross, denoting persecution: third, an open Bible, denoting the cause: fourth, a palmetto tree, showing where freedom was found.
”On one side of this large s.h.i.+eld is a spray of marigold, the Huguenot emblem, and on the other side, a spray of wall-flower, the French name for which is _Ravenelle_.”
Mr. Ravenel died in September, 1894; he was a direct descendant of Rene Ravenel, a Huguenot _emigre_ from Bretagne, who settled in South Carolina in 1685.
Another of Mr. Ravenel's ancestors was the first pastor of the little French Protestant church in Charleston, S.C., of which Mr. Ravenel was one of the elders at the time of his death. Indeed, everything connected with Huguenot history had a charm for him, as was shown by his zeal in collecting books, maps, ma.n.u.scripts and coins dealing with it. He was almost as keen in searching for records concerning his native state of South Carolina, in addition to which he possessed one of the most interesting and valuable collections of book-plates then known in the United States.
[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF DANIEL RAVENEL, 1890.]
[Ill.u.s.tration]
CHAPTER XII.
BOOK-PLATES OF MEDICAL MEN.
”Honour a physician with the honour due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him” says the old book, and having considered the plates of those whose duty it is to attend to the cure of souls, we may now briefly consider the ex-libris belonging to the kindred profession whose aim it is to cure the body of all the ills that flesh is heir to.
In many early plates we find doctors are content to describe themselves simply as Doct. Med., but later they displayed ghastly views of dead bodies in dissecting-rooms surrounded by curious students; or sick patients in bed with skeletons beckoning them away.
Such plates may be interesting in a collection, but designs so lugubrious are totally unfit to perform the duties of book-plates even in a library devoted entirely to medical works. What, for instance, can be more incongruous than the plate of Matthew Turner, with its handsome coat-of-arms in a Chippendale frame and the quotation from Cicero: ”_Salutem hominibus dando_,” as compared with its accessories, a grinning skeleton in a cupboard on the left of the s.h.i.+eld, whilst below it are several naked little urchins dragging a dead body on to a dissecting-board, a dissecting-saw lies in the foreground, close to the serpent-twined rod sacred to aesculapius.
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