Microcosmography

or, A Piece of the World Discovered, in Essays and Characters

John Earle

• Publisher: Aeneas Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9785501818064
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

Seventy-eight portraits of English types drawn in 1628: a plain country fellow, a she-precise hypocrite, a young raw preacher, a downright scholar, a tavern. John Earle was a young Oxford don when he wrote them and later a bishop; the book circulated anonymously and made his name. Each character is a paragraph long and cuts exactly as deep as it needs to. Fifty-nine plates after Hogarth and Gainsborough extend Earle's gallery of types into the satirical prints and portraits of eighteenth-century England.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Preface
• Supplementary Appendix
• A Piece of the World Discovered; IN
• Advertisement
• The Preface
• Advertisement
• Editions of “Microcosmography.”
• To the Reader[At]
• I. A Child
• II. A Young Raw Preacher
• III. A Grave Divine
• IV. A Meer Dull Physician
• V. An Alderman
• VI. A Discontented Man
• VII. An Antiquary;
• VIII. A Younger Brother
• IX. A Meer Formal Man
• X. A Church-Papist
• XI. A Self-Conceited Man
• XII. A Too Idly Reserved Man
• XIII. A Tavern
• XIV. A Shark
• XV. A Carrier
• XVI. A Young Man;
• XVII. An Old College Butler
• XVIII. An Upstart Country Knight
• XIX. An Idle Gallant
• XX. A Constable
• XXI. A Down-Right Scholar
• XXII. A Plain Country Fellow
• XXIII. A Player
• XXIV. A Detractor
• XXV. A Young Gentleman of the University
• XXVI. A Weak Man
• XXVII. A Tobacco-Seller
• XXVIII. A Pot-Poet
• XXIX. A Plausible Man
• XXX. A Bowl-Alley
• XXXI. The World’s Wise Man
• XXXII. A Surgeon
• XXXIII. A Contemplative Man
• XXXIV. A She Precise Hypocrite
• XXXV. A Sceptick in Religion
• XXXVI. An Attorney
• XXXVII. A Partial Man
• XXXVIII. A Trumpeter
• XXXIX. A Vulgar-Spirited Man
• XL. A Plodding Student
• XLI. Paul’s Walk
• XLII. A Cook
• XLIII. A Bold Forward Man
• XLIV. A Baker
• XLV. A Pretender to Learning
• XLVI. A Herald
• XLVII. The Common Singing-Men in Cathedral Churches
• XLVIII. A Shop-Keeper
• XLIX. A Blunt Man
• L. A Handsome Hostess
• LI. A Critic
• LII. A Sergeant, or Catch-Pole
• LIII. An University Dun
• LIV. A Stayed Man
• LV. A Modest Man
• LVI. A Meer Empty Wit
• LVII. A Drunkard
• LVIII. A Prison
• LIX. A Serving Man
• LX. An Insolent Man
• LXI. Acquaintance
• LXII. A Meer Complimental Man
• LXIII. A Poor Fiddler
• LXIV. A Meddling Man
• LXV. A Good Old Man
• LXVI. A Flatterer
• LXVII. A High-Spirited Man
• LXVIII. A Meer Gull Citizen
• LXIX. A Lascivious Man
• LXX. A Rash Man
• LXXI. An Affected Man
• LXXI. A Profane Man
• LXXIII. A Coward
• LXXIV. A Sordid Rich Man
• LXXV. A Meer Great Man
• LXXVI. A Poor Man
• LXXVII. An Ordinary Honest Man
• LXXVIII. A Suspicious or Jealous Man
• No. I. Some Account of Bishop Earle[Ax]
• No. II. Characters of Bishop Earle
• No. III. List of Dr. Earle’s Works
• No. IV. Lines on Sir John Burroughs,
• No. V. On the Death of the Earl of Pembroke[Br]
• No. VI. On Mr. Beaumont
• No. VII. Dedication to the Latin Translation
• No. VIII. Inscription on Dr. Peter Heylin’s[Bs] Monument in Westminster-Abbey
• No. IX. Correspondence Between Dr. Earle and Mr. Baxter
• No. X. Monumental Inscription
• No. XI. Chronological List of Books of Characters
• Additional Notes and Corrections
• Supplementary Appendix
• [Clarendon State Papers, No. 1465.] MR. EARLES TO MR. HYDE.[EI]
• Micro-Cosmographie;
• A Peece of the World Discovered; in Essayes and Characters
• Micro-Cosmographie;
• A Peece of the World Discovered; in Essayes and Characters
• About the Author