10. The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles (signed with the letters G. M. and the Lorraine cross in a small circle).
We think that we can safely attribute the designing of these engravings to Guillaume Merlin, the publisher of this book of Hours. They must, at all events, be much earlier than 1548, for we have already seen one of them (no. 10) in a book of 1541 (supra, p. 217).
Guillaume Merlin also published about 1559 a book of Hours embellished with engravings signed with the Lorraine cross. It is entitled: 'Heures à l'usage de Romme' [_sic_], and is undated, but has a calendar from 1559 to 1570. It is a small octavo, printed in gothic characters, in red and black. At the end are the words: 'Printed by Jean Bridier.'
We find in this volume, which was in M. Chedeau's library, 12 engravings representing the twelve months of the year. Three of them are signed with the Lorraine cross, namely, January, May and December. The others have no mark. They are 10 centimetres high by 7 wide. On folio 62 verso is the Virgin holding the Child Jesus. She is within an aureole of flames, with her feet on a crescent.
THEODORI BEZÆ VEZELII POEMATA. Paris, Conrad Bade, 1548.
Octavo of 100 pages printed in italic type. This is the first edition of this book and contains a portrait of Théodore de Bèze signed with the Lorraine cross. It is the oldest portrait that we know. Below it are the following verses, alluding to a laurel wreath which Théodore has in his hand:--
Vos docti docta præcingite tempora lauro: Mi satis est illam uel tetigisse manu.
The inscription 'An. 29,' at the top of the portrait, indicates that it was engraved in the same year that the book was printed; for Théodore de Bèze, born at Vezelay June 24, 1519, completed his twenty-ninth year in 1548, the date of the dedicatory epistle of this book, which the author addressed to his teacher, Melchior Volmar. 'Vale. Lutetiæ, VII. cal. Iul. qui dies est mihi natalis.' The mark of Conrad Bade, also signed with the Lorraine cross, is on the first page of this book, which was finished on July 15, 1548. 'Lutetiæ, Roberto Stephano, regio typographo, et sibi, Conradus Badius excudebat, idibus Julii M. D. XLVIII.' It was shortly after, in this same year, that Théodore de Bèze, on recovering from a severe illness, withdrew to Geneva, and abjured 'the papacy, as he had sworn to God to do at the age of sixteen.' The portrait has been reproduced on copper; there is a copy of the reproduction in the collection of Tory's work at the Bibliothèque Nationale.