[Footnote 4: A _skinker_ is one who serves drink.]
_Emblemata_ (Vol. vii., p. 614.).--I have a small edition of the _Emblemata
Horatiana_, with the following title-page:
"Othonis VaenI Emblemata Horatiana Imaginibus in _aes_ incisis atque
Latino, Germanico, Gallico et Belgico carmine Illustrata: Amstelaedami,
apud Henricum Wetstenium, M. DC. LXXXIV."
The engravings, of which there are 103, measure about four inches by three;
the book contains 207 pages, exclusive of the index. "Amicitiae Trutina,"
mentioned by MR. WELD TAYLOR, is the sixty-sixth plate on page 133.
There is another volume of Emblems by Otho Venius, of which I have a copy:
"Amorum Emblemata Figuris Aeneis Incisa, studio Othonis VaenI: Batavo
Lugdunensis Antverpiaee Venalia apud Auctorem prostant apud Hieronymum
Verdussen, MDCIIX."
The engravings, of which (besides an allegorical frontispiece representing
the power of Venus) there are 124, are oval, measuring five inches in
length by three and a half inches in height. The designs appear to me to be
very good. On the {89} first plate is the name of the engraver, "C. Boel
fecit." Each engraving has a motto, with verses in Latin, Italian, and
French. Recommendatory verses, by Hugo Grotius, Daniel Heinsius, Max.
Vrientius, Ph. Rubentius, and Petro Benedetti, are prefixed. It appears
from Rose's _Biographical Dictionary_ (article "Van Veen"), that Venius
published another illustrated work, _The Seven Twin Sons of Lara_. Is this
work known?
Horace Walpole did not appreciate Venius. He says:
"The perplexed and silly emblems of Venius are well known."--_Anecdotes
of Painting_, vol. ii. p. 167.
The Emblems of Gabriele Rollenhagius (of which I have also a copy) consist
of two centuries. The engravings are circular, with a motto round each, and
Latin verses at foot. My edition was published at Utrecht, MDCXIII.
I write rather in the hope of eliciting information, than of attempting to
give any, on a subject which appears to me to deserve farther inquiry.