Читать книгу Geofroy Tory. Painter and engraver; first royal printer; reformer of orthography and typography under François I онлайн

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Alas! this depiction of the vices of society is not peculiar to the sixteenth century. The world is very old, and it changes little. If Tory were living in our day, it may be that he would use even darker colours; for, after all, he was appreciated in his own time, and perhaps he would die of hunger to-day. As we see, he was not fond of cooling his heels in the antechambers of the great, and lived peacefully in his own house; but honour came there to seek him. Unluckily it was a little late, as will appear hereafter.

At the end of the poem is the design reproduced on the next page, wherein we see for the first time the famous 'Pot Cassé' [broken jar] which Tory adopted thenceforth as the mark of his bookshop; together with the device 'non plus,' which he used thereafter instead of the word 'civis.'

Tory subsequently offered, in his 'Champ fleury,' a very confused explanation of his Pot Cassé, doing his utmost to connect it with the ordinary events of life; but everything tends to prove that it owes its origin to the death of Agnes. This shattered antique vessel represents Tory's daughter, whose career was shattered by destiny at the age of ten. The book secured by padlocks suggests Agnes's literary studies; the little winged figure among the clouds is her soul flying up to heaven. The device 'non plus' suggests the desperate grief of Tory, who seems to say: 'I no longer [non plus] care for anything'; or, more laconically: 'There is nothing more for me'; after the example of Valentine of Milan when he found himself in a similar situation.[52]