The Project Gutenberg EBook of Microcosmography, by John Earle

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Title: Microcosmography
or, a Piece of the World Discovered; in Essays and Characters

Author: John Earle

Release Date: August 25, 2008 [EBook #26425]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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MICROCOSMOGRAPHY;

OR,

A Piece of the World discovered;

IN

ESSAYS AND CHARACTERS.

MICROCOSMOGRAPHY;

OR,

A PIECE OF THE WORLD
DISCOVERED;

IN

ESSAYS AND CHARACTERS

By JOHN EARLE, D.D.

_A Reprint of Dr. Bliss's Edition of 1811._

WITH A PREFACE AND SUPPLEMENTARY
APPENDIX
By S. T. IRWIN.

Bristol:
PUBLISHED BY W. CROFTON HEMMONS.
London:
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LTD.

TO THE MEMORY
OF THE REVEREND DAVID WRIGHT,
"THE GRAVE DIVINE" OF THESE PAGES,
WHOSE NAME WILL LIVE IN BRISTOL
AS LONG AS MEN CARE FOR BEAUTY OF CHARACTER,
RICHNESS OF THOUGHT, OR DISTINCTION OF SPEECH,
THIS BRISTOL REPRINT IS INSCRIBED.

"From the contagion of the world's slow stain
He was secure."

PREFACE.

It may be reasonably asked why Dr. Bliss's[A] edition of the
Microcosmography should require a preface, and the answer is that it does
not require one. It would be difficult to have a more scholarly, more
adequate, more self-sufficing edition of a favourite book. Almost
everything that helps the elucidation of the text, almost everything about
Bishop Earle that could heighten our affection for him (there is nothing
known to his disparagement) is to be found here.[B] And affection for the
editor is conciliated by the way. It is not only his standard of
equipment that secures this--a standard that might have satisfied Mark
Pattison[C]--but also the painstaking love revealed in it, which, like
every other true love, whether of men or books, will not gi