2. Geography. 4. Ecclesiastical History. 8. Antiquities. 9. Literary History and Bibliography. 10. Biography. Class IV.-LITERATURE:- 11. Historical Extracts. 1. Grammar. This is the system of which Charles Nodier has said, "It is simple, clear, easy. It can include, without strain, all the capricious and innumerable sub-divisions which it has pleased human fancy to introduce into the literary form of books;" and (which appears to me of still more importance) it is embodied in catalogues which have become classics in their kind. BOOK III. Chapter II. Systems. Essential cha racteristics of the Schemes hitherto enumer ated. All the Schemes which have been particularized, however diversified in their respective details, may be Classificatory grouped, I think, in one or other of two classes; the first of which aims at the systematic and consecutive arrangement of all human knowledge, in accordance with some theory either of the power and functions of the mind itself, or of the order and sequence in which the phenomena of the material world may be conceived to present themselves to its contemplation; and the second of which, with far humbler pretensions, seeks but to assort after some convenient and manageable fashion the instruments of knowledge for ordinary employment and daily use. The system-maker, in the former case, aspires to solve some of the problems which have occupied and divided metaphysicians in all ages; in the latter, he is content if he be found to have facilitated the buying and selling, the shelving and the finding of books, by all who handle them or seek them, whether their quest be for the Dialogues of Plato, or for the last edition of the favorite Cookery Book. I am far from contending that it is necessary to apply to catalogues precisely the same rules as to that avoidance of subtle distinctions, and complex subdivisions, which will be found indispensable in the actual arrangement of books on their shelves. Whatever plan may be adopted, it is certain that a good catalogue will require a much more minute classification than would be either useful or practicable in the presses of a Library. It is also certain that the preferability of one plan over another will greatly depend on the character and contents of the collection which has to be BOOK 111. Chapter II. Classificatory Systems. catalogued. If, for example, the Library be especially rich in historical works, it may be expedient, not only to give a series of divisions and sections under the class "HISTORY" far more numerous than those assigned to any other class, but also to insert in that class many works which in ordinary cases would have a better claim to appear elsewhere. Thus, in a collection the main strength of which lies in British history, it may be well to catalogue the "Statutes at Large," (the merits of which as an historical text-book have been well enforced by Mr. Froude in the Oxford Essays,) in that class rather than in the class "Jurisprudence," giving in the latter a mere reference or guide-mark; and to take precisely the same course with many works which are poetical in form but historical in substance; as, for instance, the Alliterative Poem on the deposition of King Richard II., or the collection of Political Songs from the reign of John to that of Edward II., published by the Camden Society. This plan was adopted by John Michael Francke, in his catalogue of the Library of Count Bunau (now incorporated with the Royal Library at Dresden), and it is not the least useful characteristic of that admirable though unfinished work. During the latter half of the eighteenth century several new bibliographical systems were proposed-that of Leclerc de Montlinot, published in the Journal Encyclopédique for September, 1760, and critically dissected by Mercier, in the same Journal, three months afterwards, being perhaps the most fantastically symmetrical of them all. But I pass them over without further mention, and hasten to the description of some, more important for our present purpose, which form a portion of the fruits of that intellectual activity to which the revolution of 1789 gave so vigorous an impulse. Of these the most noticeable seem to be the schemes proposed respectively by Ameilhon, by Camus, by Butenschoen, and by Daunou. BOOK III. Chapter II. Systems. Camus' Schemes. The prominent place assigned in preceding systems Ameilhon's and to Theology was of course offensive to men imbued with the revolutionary principles of the day. M. Ameilhon, therefore, proposed to displace Theology in favour of Grammar, to retrench from Jurisprudence its section of Canon Law, (inserting the latter as a sort of appendix to Church History,) and to separate the Physical Sciences from the Arts. He makes nine chief classes, and arranges them thus:-I. Grammar; II. Logic; III. Morals; IV. Jurisprudence; V. Metaphysics; VI. Physics; VII. Arts; VIII. Literature; IX. History: and he is especially careful to disclaim all idea of grouping these classes according to any scheme of the faculties of the human mind, or of establishing by their sequence any theory of the growth of human knowledge.1 M. Camus, on the other hand, is far more ambitious. Like so many of his predecessors nothing less will content him than to take a man "in a state of nature," and then to class his Library in the order in which this man of nature forms his impressions of the universe about him. His attention, says the worthy academician, is first directed to the heavens, and to the stars which embel 1 Projet sur quelques changemens à faire aux catalogues des bibliothèques. (Mémoires de l'Institut National, etc., ii, 477). Vol. II. 50 BOOK III. Chapter II. Systems. lish them, and then to the earth on which he dwells. Classificatory And after having made the tour of the universe he comes back upon himself, studies his own mind, takes the measure of his own capacities, and begins to collect all that has been written on the nature of man, his education, the formation of languages, and so on. The reader will scarcely need further proof that the elaborate essay of M. Camus (although it has been printed more than once) has done small service to bibliography; but if further proof were desired, it will surely be afforded by the statement that the author gravely proposes to remove the eulogies of dead men from the shelf of Biography (where he admits common sense might be tempted to place them), and to transfer them to that of Oratory, because "eloquence is their chief object."1 M. Butenschoen, who at the beginning of this century was Professor of History, and Librarian, at Colmar, on the Upper Rhine, followed much in the same track, but with somewhat greater direction. Peignot has described his system at great length. Here, however, I can but enumerate his principal classes, which run thus: I. Works introductory to the Sciences, Literature and the Arts; II. Literature and Fine Arts; III. Historical Sciences; IV. Philosophical Sciences; V. Mathematical and Physical Sciences; VI. Economical and Medical Sciences; VII. Arts and Trades; VIII. Positive Sciences (1. Jurisprudence, 2. Theology); IX. Miscellanies, Col 1 Mémoires de l'Institut, an IV, 64, seqq. Peignot characterises this paper as "profound and judicious." Dictionnaire de Bibliologie, ii, 220. Achard has reprinted it in extenso, (Cours de Bibliographie, i, 252-278) |