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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Book-Collectors, by 
+Charles Isaac Elton and Mary Augusta Elton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Great Book-Collectors
+
+Author: Charles Isaac Elton and Mary Augusta Elton
+
+Release Date: July 29, 2006 [EBook #18938]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT BOOK-COLLECTORS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Great Book-Collectors Charles & Mary Elton]
+
+[Illustration: FABRI DE PEIRESC.]
+
+
+
+
+The Great Book-Collectors
+
+By Charles Isaac Elton
+
+Author of 'Origins of English History'
+'The Career of Columbus,' etc.
+
+& Mary Augusta Elton
+
+[Illustration]
+
+London
+
+Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd.
+
+MDCCCXCIII
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+                                                              PAGE
+
+CHAPTER I.
+CLASSICAL                                                       1
+
+CHAPTER II.
+IRELAND--NORTHUMBRIA                                           13
+
+CHAPTER III.
+ENGLAND                                                        27
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+ITALY--THE AGE OF PETRARCH                                     41
+
+CHAPTER V.
+OXFORD--DUKE HUMPHREY'S BOOKS--THE LIBRARY OF THE VALOIS       53
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+ITALY--THE RENAISSANCE                                         63
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+ITALIAN CITIES--OLYMPIA MORATA--URBINO--THE BOOKS OF CORVINUS  76
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+GERMANY--FLANDERS--BURGUNDY--ENGLAND                           87
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+FRANCE: EARLY BOOKMEN--ROYAL COLLECTORS                        99
+
+CHAPTER X.
+THE OLD ROYAL LIBRARY--FAIRFAX--COTTON--HARLEY--THE
+                       UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE                111
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+BODLEY--DIGBY--LAUD--SELDEN--ASHMOLE                          124
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+GROLIER AND HIS SUCCESSORS                                    139
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+LATER COLLECTORS: FRANCE--ITALY--SPAIN                        158
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+DE THOU--PINELLI--PEIRESC                                     169
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+FRENCH COLLECTORS--NAUDÉ TO RENOUARD                          183
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+LATER ENGLISH COLLECTORS                                      202
+
+INDEX                                                         221
+
+
+
+
+List of Illustrations
+
+
+PORTRAIT OF PEIRESC                                    _Frontispiece_
+  (From an engraving by Claude Mellan.)
+
+INITIAL LETTER FROM THE 'GOSPELS OF ST. CUTHBERT'                 18
+
+SEAL OF RICHARD DE BURY                                           38
+
+PORTRAIT OF THE DUKE OF BEDFORD PRAYING BEFORE ST. GEORGE         59
+  (From the Book of Hours commonly known as the 'Bedford Missal.')
+
+PORTRAIT OF MAGLIABECCHI                                          74
+  (From an engraving in the British Museum.)
+
+BINDING EXECUTED FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH                             112
+  (English jeweller's-work on a cover of red velvet. From a
+  copy of 'Meditationum Christianarum Libellus,' Lyons,
+  1570, in the British Museum.)
+
+PORTRAIT OF SIR ROBERT COTTON                                    117
+  (From an engraving by R. White after C. Jonson.)
+
+PORTRAIT OF SIR THOMAS BODLEY                                    126
+  (From an engraving in the British Museum.)
+
+BINDING EXECUTED FOR GROLIER                                     141
+  (From a copy of Silius Italicus, Venice, 1523, in the British
+  Museum.)
+
+PORTRAIT OF DE THOU                                              168
+  (From an engraving by Morin, after L. Ferdinand.)
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+CLASSICAL.
+
+
+In undertaking to write these few chapters on the lives of the
+book-collectors, we feel that we must move between lines that seem
+somewhat narrow, having regard to the possible range of the subject. We
+shall therefore avoid as much as possible the description of particular
+books, and shall endeavour to deal with the book-collector or
+book-hunter, as distinguished from the owner of good books, from
+librarians and specialists, from the merchant or broker of books and the
+book-glutton who wants all that he sees.
+
+Guillaume Postel and his friends found time to discuss the merits of the
+authors before the Flood. Our own age neglects the libraries of Shem, and
+casts doubts on the antiquity of the Book of Enoch. But even in writing
+the briefest account of the great book-collectors, we are compelled to go
+back to somewhat remote times, and to say at least a few words about the
+ancient book-stories from the far East, from Greece and Rome, from Egypt
+and Pontus and Asia. We have seen the brick-libraries of Nineveh and the
+copies for the King at Babylon, and we have heard of the rolls of
+Ecbatana. All the world knows how Nehemiah 'founded a library,' and how
+the brave Maccabæus gathered again what had been lost by reason of the
+wars. Every desert in the East seems to have held a library, where the
+pillars of some temple lie in the sand, and where dead men 'hang their
+mute thoughts on the mute walls around.' The Egyptian traveller sees the
+site of the book-room of Rameses that was called the 'Hospital for the
+Soul.' There was a library at the breast of the Sphinx, and another where
+Cairo stands, and one at Alexandria that was burned in Julius Cæsar's
+siege, besides the later assemblage in the House of Serapis which Omar
+was said to have sacrificed as a tribute of respect for the Koran.
+
+Asia Minor was celebrated for her libraries. There were 'many curious
+books' in Ephesus, and rich stores of books at Antioch on the Orontes,
+and where the gray-capped students 'chattered like water-fowl' by the
+river at Tarsus. In Pergamus they made the fine parchment like ivory,
+beloved, as an enemy has said, by 'yellow bibliomaniacs whose skins take
+the colour of their food'; and there the wealthy race of Attalus built up
+the royal collection which Antony captured in war and sent as a gift to
+Cleopatra.
+
+It pleased the Greeks to invent traditions about the books of Polycrates
+at Samos, or those of Pisistratus that were counted among the spoils of
+Xerxes: and the Athenians thought that the very same volumes found their
+way home again after the victories of Alexander the Great. Aristotle
+owned the first private library of which anything is actually recorded;
+and it is still a matter of interest to follow the fortunes of his books.
+He left them as a legacy to a pupil, who bequeathed them to his librarian
+Neleus: and his family long preserved the collection in their home near
+the ruins of Troy. One portion was bought by the Ptolemies for their
+great Alexandrian library, and these books, we suppose, must have
+perished in the war with Rome. The rest remained at home till there was
+some fear of their being confiscated and carried to Pergamus. They were
+removed in haste and stowed away in a cave, where they nearly perished in
+the damp. When the parchments were disinterred they became the property
+of Apellicon, to whom the saying was first applied that he was 'rather a
+bibliophile than a lover of learning.' While the collection was at Athens
+he did much damage to the scrolls by his attempt to restore their
+worm-eaten paragraphs. Sulla took the city soon afterwards, and carried
+the books to Rome, and here more damage was done by the careless editing
+of Tyrannion, who made a trade of copying 'Aristotle's books' for the
+libraries that were rising on all sides at Rome.
+
+The Romans learned to be book-collectors in gathering the spoils of war.
+When Carthage fell, the books, as some say, were given to native
+chieftains, the predecessors of King Jugurtha in culture and of King Juba
+in natural science: others say that they were awarded as a kind of
+compensation to the family of the murdered Regulus. Their preservation is
+attested by the fact that the Carthaginian texts were cited centuries
+afterwards by the writers who described the most ancient voyages in the
+Atlantic. When the unhappy Perseus was deprived of the kingdom of
+Macedonia, the royal library was chosen by Æmilius Paullus as the
+general's share of the plunder. Asinius Pollio furnished a great
+reading-room with the literary treasures of Dalmatia. A public library
+was established by Julius Cæsar on the Aventine, and two were set up by
+Augustus within the precinct of the palace of the Cæsars; and Octavia
+built another near the Tiber in memory of the young Marcellus. The gloomy
+Domitian restored the library at the Capitol, which had been struck and
+fired by lightning. Trajan ransacked the wealth of the world for his
+collection in the 'Ulpiana,' which, in accordance with a later fashion,
+became one of the principal attractions of the Thermæ of Diocletian.
+
+The splendours of the private library began in the days of Lucullus.
+Enriched with the treasure of King Mithridates and all the books of
+Pontus, he housed his collection in such stately galleries, thronged with
+a multitude of philosophers and poets, that it seemed as if there were a
+new home for the Muses, and a fresh sanctuary for Hellas. Seneca, a
+philosopher and a millionaire himself, inveighed against such useless
+pomp. He used to rejoice at the blow that fell on the arrogant
+magnificence of Alexandria. 'Our idle book-hunters,' he said, 'know about
+nothing but titles and bindings: their chests of cedar and ivory, and the
+book-cases that fill the bath-room, are nothing but fashionable
+furniture, and have nothing to do with learning.' Lucian was quite as
+severe on the book-hunters of the age of the Antonines. The bibliophile
+goes book in hand, like the statue of Bellerophon with the letter, but he
+only cares for the choice vellum and bosses of gold. 'I cannot conceive,'
+said Lucian, 'what you expect to get out of your books; yet you are
+always poring over them, and binding and tying them, and rubbing them
+with saffron and oil of cedar, as if they could make you eloquent, when
+by nature you are as dumb as a fish.' He compares the industrious dunce
+to an ass at a music-book, or to a monkey that remains a monkey still for
+all the gold on its jacket. 'If books,' he adds, 'have made you what you
+are, I am sure that you ought of all things to avoid them.'
+
+After the building of Constantinople a home for literature was found in
+the eastern cities; and, as the boundaries of the empire were broken down
+by the Saracen advance, learning gradually retired to the colleges and
+basilicas of the capital, and to the Greek monasteries of stony Athos,
+and Patmos, and the 'green Erebinthus.' Among the Romans of the East we
+cannot discern many learned men, but we know that there was a multitude
+ready to assist in the preservation of learning. The figures of three or
+four true book-lovers stand out amid the crowd of _dilettanti_. St.
+Pamphilus was a student at the legal University of Beyrout before he was
+received into the Church: he devoted himself afterwards to the school of
+sacred learning which he established at Cæsarea in Palestine. Here he
+gathered together about 30,000 volumes, almost all consisting of the
+works of the Fathers. His personal labour was given to the works of
+Origen, in whose mystical doctrine he had become a proficient at
+Alexandria. The martyrdom of Pamphilus prevented the completion of his
+own elaborate commentaries. He left the library to the Church of Cæsarea,
+under the superintendence of his friend Eusebius. St. Jerome paid a visit
+to the collection while he was still enrolled on the list of
+bibliophiles. He had bought the best books to be found at Trêves and
+Aquileia; he had seen the wealth of Rome, and was on his way to the
+oriental splendour of Constantinople: it is from him that we first hear
+of the gold and silver inks and the Tyrian purple of the vellum. He
+declared that he had never seen anything to compare with the library of
+Pamphilus; and when he was given twenty-five volumes of Origen in the
+martyr's delicate writing, he vowed that he felt richer than if he had
+found the wealth of Croesus.
+
+The Emperor Julian was a pupil of Eusebius, and became reader for a time
+in the Church at Cæsarea. He was passionately fond of books, and
+possessed libraries at Antioch and Constantinople, as well as in his
+beloved 'Lutetia' on the island in the Seine. A sentence from one of his
+letters was carved over the door of his library at Antioch: 'Some love
+horses, or hawks and hounds, but I from my boyhood have pined with a
+desire for books.'
+
+It is said that another of his libraries was burned by his successor
+Jovian in a parody of Alexander's Feast. It is true, at any rate, that
+the book-butcher set fire to the books at Antioch as part of his revenge
+against the Apostate. One is tempted to dwell on the story of these
+massacres. In many a war, as an ancient bibliophile complained, have
+books been dispersed abroad, 'dismembered, stabbed, and mutilated': 'they
+were buried in the earth or drowned in the sea, and slain by all kinds of
+slaughter.' 'How much of their blood the warlike Scipio shed: how many on
+the banishment of Boethius were scattered like sheep without a shepherd!'
+Perhaps the subject should be isolated in a separate volume, where the
+rude Omar, and Jovian, and the despoilers of the monasteries, might be
+pilloried. Seneca would be indicted for his insult to Cleopatra's books:
+Sir Thomas Browne might be in danger for his saying, that 'he could with
+patience behold the urn and ashes of the Vatican, could he with a few
+others recover the perished leaves of Solomon.' He might escape by virtue
+of his saving clause, and some excuse would naturally be found for
+Seneca; but the rest might be treated like those Genoese criminals who
+were commemorated on marble tablets as 'the worst of mankind.'
+
+For several generations after the establishment of the Eastern Empire,
+Constantinople was the literary capital of the world and the main
+repository of the arts and sciences. Mr. Middleton has lately shown us in
+his work upon Illuminated Manuscripts that Persia and Egypt, as well as
+the Western Countries, 'contributed elements both of design and technical
+skill which combined to create the new school of Byzantine art.'
+Constantinople, he tells us, became for several centuries the main centre
+for the production of manuscripts. Outside the domain of art we find
+little among the Romans of the East that can in any sense be called
+original. They were excellent at an epitome or a lexicon, and were very
+successful as librarians. The treasures of antiquity, as Gibbon has said,
+were imparted in such extracts and abridgments 'as might amuse the
+curiosity without oppressing the indolence of the public.' The Patriarch
+Photius stands out as a literary hero among the commentators and critics
+of the ninth century. That famous book-collector, in analysing the
+contents of his library for an absent brother, became the preserver of
+many of the most valuable classics. As Commander of the Guard he led the
+life of a peaceful student: as Patriarch of Byzantium his turbulence rent
+the fabric of Christendom, and he was 'alternately excommunicated and
+absolved by the synods of the East and West.' We owe the publication of
+the work called _The Myriad of Books_ to the circumstance that he was
+appointed to an embassy at Bagdad. His brother wrote to remind him of
+their pleasant evenings in the library when they explored the writings of
+the ancients and made an analysis of their contents. Photius was about to
+embark on a dangerous journey, and he was implored to leave a record of
+what had been done since his brother had last taken part in the readings.
+The answer of Photius was the book already mentioned: he reviews nearly
+three hundred volumes of the historians and orators, the philosophers and
+theologians, the travellers and the writers of romance, and with an even
+facility 'abridges their narrative or doctrine and appreciates their
+style and character.'
+
+The great Imperial library which stood by St. Sophia had been destroyed
+in the reign of Leo the Iconoclast in the preceding age, and in an
+earlier conflagration more than half a million books are said to have
+been lost from the basilica. The losses by fire were continual, but were
+constantly repaired. Leo the Philosopher, who was educated under the care
+of Photius, and his son and successor Constantine, were renowned as the
+restorers of learning, and the great writers of antiquity were collected
+again by their zeal in the square hall near the Public Treasury.
+
+The boundaries of the realm of learning extended far beyond the limits of
+the Empire, and the Arabian science was equally famous among the Moors
+of Spain and in the further parts of Asia. We are told of a doctor
+refusing the invitation of the Sultan of Bokhara, 'because the carriage
+of his books would have required four hundred camels.' We know that the
+Ommiad dynasty formed the gigantic library at Cordova, and that there
+were at least seventy others in the colleges that were scattered through
+the kingdom of Granada. The prospect was very dark in other parts of
+Western Europe throughout the whole period of barbarian settlement. We
+shall not endeavour to trace the slight influences that preserved some
+knowledge of religious books at the Court of the Merovingian kings, or
+among the Visigoths and Ostrogoths and Burgundians. We prefer to pause at
+a moment preceding the final onslaught. The letters of Sidonius afford us
+a few glimpses of the literary condition of Southern Gaul soon after the
+invasion of Attila. The Bishop of Clermont gives us a delightful picture
+of his house: a verandah leads from the _atrium_ to the garden by the
+lake: we pass through a winter-parlour, a morning-room, and a
+north-parlour protected from the heat. Every detail seems to be complete;
+and yet we hear nothing of a library. The explanation seems to be that
+the Bishop was a close imitator of Pliny. The villa in Auvergne is a copy
+of the winter-refuge at Laurentum, where Pliny only kept 'a few cases
+contrived in the wall for the books that cannot be read too often.' But
+when the Bishop writes about his friends' houses we find many allusions
+to their libraries. Consentius sits in a large book-room when he is
+composing his verses or 'culling the flowers of his music.' When he
+visited the Prefect of Gaul, Sidonius declared that he was whirled along
+in a stream of delights. There were all kinds of out-door amusements and
+a library filled with books. 'You would fancy yourself among a
+Professor's book-cases, or in a book-shop, or amid the benches of a
+lecture-room.' The Bishop considered that this library of the Villa
+Prusiana was as good as anything that could be found in Rome or
+Alexandria. The books were arranged according to subjects. The room had a
+'ladies' side'; and here were arranged the devotional works. The
+illuminated volumes, as far as can now be judged, were rather gaudy than
+brilliant, as was natural in an age of decadence; but St. Germanus was a
+friend of the Bishop, and as we suppose of the Prefect, and his copy of
+the Gospels was in gold and silver letters on purple vellum, as may still
+be seen. By the gentlemen's seats were ranged the usual classical
+volumes, all the works of Varro, which now exist only in fragments, and
+the poets sacred and profane; behind certain cross-benches was the
+literary food of a lighter kind, more suited to the weaker vessels
+without regard to sex. Here every one found what would suit his own
+liking and capacity, and here on the day after their arrival the company
+worked hard after breakfast 'for four hours by the water clock.' Suddenly
+the door was thrown open, and in his uniform the head cook appeared and
+solemnly warned them all that their meal was served, and that it was as
+necessary to nourish the body as to stuff the mind with learning.
+
+When the barbarians were established through Gaul and Italy the libraries
+in the old country-houses must have been completely destroyed. Some faint
+light of learning remained while Boethius 'trimmed the lamp with his
+skilful hand'; some knowledge of the classics survived during the lives
+of Cassiodorus and Isidore of Seville. Some of the original splendour may
+have lingered at Rome, and perhaps in Ravenna. When Boethius was awaiting
+his doom in the tower at Pavia, his mind reverted to the lettered ease of
+his life before he had offended the fierce Theodoric. His philosophy
+found comfort in thinking that all the valuable part of his books was
+firmly imprinted on his soul; but he never ceased regretting the walls
+inlaid with ivory and the shining painted windows in his old library at
+Rome.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+IRELAND--NORTHUMBRIA.
+
+
+The knowledge of books might almost have disappeared in the seventh
+century, when the cloud of ignorance was darkest, but for a new and
+remarkable development of learning in the Irish monasteries.
+
+This development is of special interest to ourselves from the fact that
+the church of Northumbria was long dependent on the Irish settlement at
+Iona. The Anglians taught by Paulinus very soon relapsed into paganism,
+and the second conversion of the North was due to the missionaries of the
+school of St. Columba. The power of Rome was established at the Council
+of Whitby; but in the days when Aidan preached at Lindisfarne the
+Northumbrians were still in obedience to an Irish rule, and were
+instructed and edified by the acts and lives of St. Patrick, of St.
+Brigit, and the mighty Columba.
+
+We shall quote some of the incidents recorded about the Irish books, a
+few legends of Patrick and dim traditions from the days of Columba,
+before noticing the rise of the English school.
+
+The first mention of the Irish books seems to be contained in a passage
+of Æthicus. The cosmography ascribed to that name has been traced to
+very early times. It was long believed to have been written by St.
+Jerome; but in its present form, at least, the work contains entries of a
+much later date. The passage in which Ireland is mentioned may be even as
+late as the age of Columbanus, when Irish monks set up their churches at
+Würzburg and on the shores of the Lake of Constance, or illuminated their
+manuscripts at Bobbio under the protection of Theodolind and her
+successors in Lombardy. A wandering philosopher is represented as
+visiting the northern regions: he remained for a while in the Isle of
+Saints and turned over the painted volumes; but he despised the native
+churchmen and called them 'Doctors of Ignorance.' 'Here am I in Ireland,
+at the world's end, with much toil and little ease; with such unskilled
+labourers in the field the place is too doleful, and is absolutely of no
+good to me.'
+
+Palladius came with twelve men to preach to the Gael, and we are told
+that he 'left his books' at Cellfine. The legendary St. Patrick is made
+to pass into Ulster, and he finds a King who burns himself and his home
+'that he may not believe in Patrick.' The Saint proceeds to Tara with
+eight men and a little page carrying the book-wallet; 'it was like eight
+deer with one fawn following, and a white bird on its shoulder.'
+
+The King and his chief Druid proposed a trial by ordeal. The King said,
+'Put your books into the water.' 'I am ready for that,' said Patrick. But
+the Druid said, 'A god of water this man adores, and I will not take
+part in the ordeal.' The King said, 'Put your books into the fire.' 'I am
+ready for that,' said Patrick. 'A god of fire once in two years this man
+adores, and I will not do that,' said the Druid.
+
+In the church by the oak-tree at Kildare St. Brigit had a marvellous
+book, or so her nuns supposed. The Kildare Gospels may have been
+illuminated as early as Columba's time. Gerard de Barri saw the book in
+the year 1185, and said that it was so brilliant in colouring, so
+delicate and finely drawn, and with such enlacements of intertwining
+lines that it seemed to be a work beyond the powers of mortal man, and to
+be worthy of an angel's skill; and, indeed, there was a strong belief
+that miraculous help had been given to the artist in his dreams.
+
+The 'Book of Durrow' called _The Gospels of St. Columba_, almost rivals
+the famous 'Book of Kells' with which Mr. Madan will doubtless deal in
+his forthcoming volume on Manuscripts. A native poet declared that when
+the Saint died in 597 he had illuminated 'three hundred bright noble
+books'; and he added that 'however long under water any book of the
+Saint's writing should be, not one single letter would be drowned.' Our
+authorities tell us that the Book of Durrow might possibly be one of the
+three hundred, 'as it bears some signs of being earlier in date than the
+Book of Kells.'
+
+St. Columba, men said, was passionately devoted to books. Yet he gave his
+Gospels to the Church at Swords, and presented the congregation at Derry
+with the volume that he had fetched from Tours, 'where it had lain on St.
+Martin's breast a hundred years in the ground.' In one of the biographies
+there is a story about 'Langarad of the White Legs,' who dwelt in the
+region of Ossory. To him Columba came as a guest, and found that the sage
+was hiding all his books away. Then Columba left his curse upon them;
+'May that,' quoth he, 'about which thou art so niggardly be never of any
+profit after thee'; and this was fulfilled, 'for the books remain to this
+day, and no man reads them.' When Langarad died 'all the book-satchels in
+Ireland that night fell down'; some say, 'all the satchels and wallets in
+the saint's house fell then: and Columba and all who were in his house
+marvelled at the noisy shaking of the books.' So then speaks Columba:
+'Langarad in Ossory,' quoth he, 'is just now dead.' 'Long may it be ere
+that happens,' said Baithen. 'May the burden of that disbelief fall on
+him and not on thee,' said Columba.
+
+Another tradition relates to St. Finnen's book that caused a famous
+battle; and that was because of a false judgment which King Diarmid gave
+against Columba, when he copied St. Finnen's Psalter without leave. St.
+Finnen claimed the copy as being the produce of his original, and on the
+appeal to the court at Tara his claim was confirmed. King Diarmid decided
+that to every mother-book belongs the child-book, as to the cow belongs
+her calf; 'and so,' said the King, 'the book that you wrote, Columba,
+belongs to Finnen by right.' 'That is an unjust judgment,' said Columba,
+'and I will avenge it upon you.'
+
+Not long afterwards the Saint was insulted by the seizure and execution
+of an offender who had taken sanctuary and was clasped in his arms.
+Columba went over the wild mountains and raised the tribes of Tyrconnell
+and Tyrone, and defeated King Diarmid in battle. When the Saint went to
+Iona he left the copy of Finnen's Psalter to the head of the chief tribe
+in Tyrconnell. It was called the _Book of the Battle_, and if they
+carried it three times round the enemy, in the sun's course, they were
+sure to return victorious. The book was the property of the O'Donnells
+till the dispersion of their clan. The gilt and jewelled case in which it
+rests was made in the eleventh century: a frame round the inner shrine
+was added by Daniel O'Donnell, who fought in the Battle of the Boyne. A
+large fragment of the book remained in a Belgian monastery in trust for
+the true representative of the clan; and soon after Waterloo it was given
+up to Sir Neal O'Donnell, to whose family it still belongs. It is now
+shown at the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. 'The fragment of the
+original _Book of the Battle_', says O'Curry, 'is of small quarto form,
+consisting of fifty-eight leaves of fine vellum, written in a small,
+uniform, but rather hurried hand, with some slight attempts at
+illumination.'
+
+We have now to describe the great increase of books in Northumbria. In
+the year 635 Aidan set up his quarters with a few Irish monks on the
+Isle of Lindisfarne, and his Abbey soon became one of the main
+repositories of learning.
+
+The book called _The Gospels of St. Cuthbert_ was written in 688, and was
+regarded for nearly two centuries as the chief ornament of Lindisfarne.
+The monastery was burned by the Danes, and the servants of St. Cuthbert,
+who had concealed the 'Gospels' in his grave, wandered forth, with the
+Saint's body in an ark and the book in its chest, in search of a new
+place of refuge. They attempted a voyage to Ireland, but their ship was
+driven back by a storm. The book-chest had been washed overboard, but in
+passing up the Solway Firth they saw the book shining in its golden cover
+upon the sand. For more than a century afterwards the book shared the
+fortunes of a wandering company of monks: in the year 995 it was laid on
+St. Cuthbert's coffin in the new church at Durham; early in the twelfth
+century it returned to Lindisfarne. Here it remained until the
+dissolution of the monasteries, when its golden covers were torn off, and
+the book came bare and unadorned into the hands of Sir Robert Cotton, and
+passed with the rest of his treasures into the library of the British
+Museum.
+
+[Illustration: INITIAL LETTER FROM THE GOSPELS OF ST. CUTHBERT.]
+
+Theodore of Tarsus had been consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in the
+year 669. He brought with him a large quantity of books for use in his
+new Greek school. These books were left by his will to the cathedral
+library, where they remained for ages without disturbance. William
+Lambarde, the Kentish antiquary, has left an account of their appearance.
+He was speaking of Archbishop Parker, 'whose care for the conservation of
+ancient monuments can never be sufficiently commended.' 'The reverend
+Father,' he added, 'showed me the _Psalter of David_, and sundry homilies
+in Greek, and Hebrew also, and some other Greek authors, beautifully
+written on thick paper with the name of this Theodore prefixed,' to whose
+library the Archbishop thought that they had belonged, 'being thereto led
+by a show of great antiquity.'
+
+The monks of Canterbury claimed to possess the books on pink vellum, with
+rubricated capitals, which Pope Gregory had sent to Augustine. One of
+these afterwards belonged to Parker, who gave it to Corpus Christi at
+Cambridge: the experts now believe that it was written in the eighth
+century 'in spite of the ancient appearance of the figure-painting.'
+Another is the _Psalter of St. Augustine_, now preserved among the
+Cottonian MSS. This is also considered to be a writing of the eighth
+century.
+
+In the Bodleian library there is a third example, written in quarto with
+large uncial letters in double columns, in much the same style as the
+book given by Parker to Corpus Christi. The Bodleian specimen is
+especially interesting as containing on the fly-leaf a list in
+Anglo-Saxon of the contents of the library of Solomon the Priest, with
+notes as to other small collections.
+
+We have reached the period in which Northumbria became for a time the
+centre of Western culture. The supremacy of Rome, set up at the Council
+of Whitby, was fostered and sustained by the introduction of the Italian
+arts. Vast quantities of books were imported. Stately Abbeys were rising
+along the coast, and students were flocking to seek the fruits of the new
+learning in well-filled libraries and bustling schools. We may judge how
+bright the prospect seemed by the tone of Alcuin's letters to Charles the
+Great. He tells the Emperor of certain 'exquisite books' which he had
+studied under Egbert at York. The schools of the North are compared to 'a
+garden enclosed' and to the beds of spices: he asks that some of the
+young men may be sent over to procure books, so that in Tours as well as
+at York they may gather the flowers of the garden and share in the
+'outgoings of Paradise.' A few years afterwards came the news of the
+harrying of Northumbria by the Vikings. The libraries were burned, and
+Northumbria was overwhelmed in darkness and slavery; and Alcuin wrote
+again, 'He who can hear of this calamity and not cry to God on behalf of
+his country, must have a heart not of flesh but of stone.'
+
+Benedict Biscop was our first English book-collector. The son of a rich
+Thane might have looked to a political career; he preferred to devote
+himself to learning, and would have spent his life in a Roman monastery
+if the Pope had not ordered him to return to England in company with
+Theodore of Tarsus. His first expedition was made with his friend St.
+Wilfrid. They crossed in a ship provided by the King of Kent. Travelling
+together as far as Lyons, Wilfrid remained there for a time, and Benedict
+pushed on to Mont Cenis, and so to Rome, after a long and perilous
+journey. On a second visit he received the tonsure, and went back to work
+at Lindisfarne; but about two years afterwards he obtained a passage to
+Italy in a trading-vessel, and it was on this occasion that he received
+the Pope's commands. Four years elapsed before he was in Rome again:
+throughout the year 671 he was amassing books by purchase and by the
+gifts of his friends; and returning by Vienne he found another large
+store awaiting him which he had ordered on his outward journey. Benedict
+was able to set up a good library in his new Abbey at Wearmouth; but his
+zeal appears to have been insatiable. We find him for the fifth time at
+the mart of learning, and bringing home, as Bede has told us, 'a
+multitude of books of all kinds.' He divided his new wealth between the
+Church at Wearmouth and the Abbey at Jarrow, across the river. Ceolfrid
+of Jarrow himself made a journey to Rome with the object of augmenting
+Benedict's 'most noble and copious store'; but he gave to the King of
+Northumbria, in exchange for a large landed estate, the magnificent
+'Cosmography' which his predecessor had brought to Wearmouth.
+
+St. Wilfrid presented to his church at Ripon a _Book of the Gospels_ on
+purple vellum, and a Bible with covers of pure gold inlaid with precious
+stones. John the Precentor, who introduced the Roman liturgy into this
+country, bequeathed a number of valuable books to Wearmouth. Bede had no
+great library of his own; it was his task 'to disseminate the treasures
+of Benedict.' But he must have possessed a large number of manuscripts
+while he was writing the Ecclesiastical History, since he has informed us
+that Bishop Daniel of Winchester and other learned churchmen in the South
+were accustomed to supply him constantly with records and chronicles.
+
+St. Boniface may be counted among the collectors, though he could carry
+but a modest supply of books through the German forests and the marshes
+of Friesland. As a missionary he found it useful to display a
+finely-painted volume. Writing to the Abbess Eadburga for a Missal, he
+asked that the parchment might be gay with colours,--'even as a
+glittering lamp and an illumination for the hearts of the Gentiles.' 'I
+entreat you,' he writes again, 'to send me _St. Peters Epistle_ in
+letters of gold.' He begged all his friends to send him books as a
+refreshment in the wilderness. Bishop Daniel is asked for the
+_Prophecies_ 'written very large.' Bishop Lulla is to send a cosmography
+and a volume of poems. He applies to one Archbishop for the works of
+Bede, 'who is the lamp of the Church,' and to the other for the Pope's
+_Answers to Augustine_, which cannot be found in the Roman bookshops.
+Boniface was Primate of Germany; but he resigned his high office to work
+among the rude tribes of Friesland. We learn that he carried some of his
+choicest books with him on his last ill-fated expedition, when the meadow
+and the river-banks were strewn with the glittering service-books after
+the murder of the Saint and his companions.
+
+Egbert of York set up a large library in the Minster. Alcuin took charge
+of it after his friend's death, and composed a versified catalogue, of
+such merit as the nature of the task allowed. 'Here you may trace the
+footsteps of the Fathers; here you meet the clear-souled Aristotle and
+Tully of the mighty tongue; here Basil and Fulgentius shine, and
+Cassiodorus and John of the Golden Mouth.' As Alcuin was returning from
+book-buying at Rome he met Charles the Great at Parma. The Emperor
+persuaded the traveller to enter his service, and they succeeded by their
+joint efforts in producing a wonderful revival of literature. The Emperor
+had a fine private collection of MSS. adorned in the Anglo-Frankish
+style; and he established a public library, containing the works of the
+Fathers, 'so that the poorest student might find a place at the banquet
+of learning.' Alcuin presented to the Emperor's own collection a revised
+copy of the Vulgate illuminated under his personal supervision.
+
+Towards the end of Alcuin's career he retired to the Abbey of St. Martin
+at Tours, and there founded his 'Museum,' which was in fact a large
+establishment for the editing and transcription of books. Here he wrote
+those delightful letters from which we have already made an extract. To
+his friend Arno at Salzburg he writes about a little treatise on
+orthography, which he would have liked to have recited in person. 'Oh
+that I could turn the sentences into speech, and embrace my brother with
+a warmth that cannot be sent in a book; but since I cannot come myself I
+send my rough letters, that they may speak for me instead of the words of
+my mouth.' To the Emperor he sent a description of his life at Tours: 'In
+the house of St. Martin I deal out the honey of the Scriptures, and some
+I excite with the ancient wine of wisdom, and others I fill full with the
+fruits of grammatical learning.'
+
+Very few book-lovers could be found in England while the country was
+being ravaged by the Danes. The Northern Abbeys were burned, and their
+libraries destroyed. The books at York perished, though the Minster was
+saved; the same fate befell the valuable collections at Croyland and
+Peterborough. The royal library at Stockholm contains the interesting
+'Golden Gospels,' decorated in the same style as the _Book of
+Lindisfarne_, and perhaps written at the same place. An inscription of
+the ninth century shows that it was bought from a crew of pirates by Duke
+Alfred, a nobleman of Wessex, and was presented by him and his wife
+Werburga to the Church at Canterbury.
+
+It seems possible that literature was kept alive in our country by King
+Alfred's affection for the old English songs. We know that he used to
+recite them himself and would make his children get them by heart. He was
+not much of a scholar himself, but he had all the learning of Mercia to
+help him. Archbishop Plegmund and his chaplains were the King's
+secretaries, 'and night and day, whenever he had time, he commanded these
+men to read to him.' From France came Provost Grimbald, a scholar and a
+sweet singer, and Brother John of Corbei, a paragon in all kinds of
+science. Asser came to the Court from his home in Wales: 'I remained
+there,' he says, 'for about eight months, and all that time I used to
+read to him whatever books were at hand; for it was his regular habit by
+day and night, amidst all his other occupations, either to read to
+himself or to listen while others read to him.' St. Dunstan was an ardent
+admirer of the old battle-chaunts and funeral-lays. He was, it need
+hardly be said, the friend of all kinds of learning. The Saint was an
+expert scribe and a painter of miniatures; and specimens of his exquisite
+handiwork may still be seen at Canterbury and in the Bodleian at Oxford.
+He was the real founder of the Glastonbury library, where before his time
+only a few books had been presented by missionaries from Ireland. His
+great work was the establishment of the Benedictines in the place of the
+regular clergy: and the reform at any rate insured the rise of a number
+of new monasteries, each with its busy 'scriptorium,' out of which the
+library would grow. We must say a word in remembrance of Archbishop
+Ælfric, the author of a great part of our English Chronicle. He was
+trained at Winchester, where the illuminators, it is said, were 'for a
+while the foremost in the world.' He enacted that every priest should
+have at least a psalter and hymn-book and half a dozen of the most
+important service-books, before he could hope for ordination. His own
+library, containing many works of great value, was bequeathed to the
+Abbey of St. Alban's. We end the story of the Anglo-Saxon books with a
+mention of Leofric, the first Bishop of Exeter, who gave a magnificent
+donation out of his own library to the Cathedral Church. The catalogue is
+still extant, and some of the volumes are preserved at Oxford. There were
+many devotional works of the ordinary kind; there were 'reading-books for
+winter and summer,' and song-books, and especially 'night-songs'; but the
+greatest treasure of all was the 'great book of English poetry,' known as
+the Exeter Book, in which Cynewulf sang of the ruin of the 'purple arch,'
+and set forth the Exile's Lament and the Traveller's Song.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+ENGLAND.
+
+
+A more austere kind of learning came in with the Norman Conquest.
+Lanfranc and Anselm introduced at Canterbury a devotion to science, to
+the doctrines of theology and jurisprudence, and to the new discoveries
+which Norman travellers were bringing back from the schools at Salerno.
+Lanfranc imported a large quantity of books from the Continent. He would
+labour day and night at correcting the work of his scribes; and Anselm,
+when he succeeded to the See, used often to deprive himself of rest to
+finish the transcription of a manuscript. Lanfranc, we are told, was
+especially generous in lending his books: among a set which he sent to
+St. Alban's we find the names of twenty-eight famous treatises, besides a
+large number of missals and other service-books, and two 'Books of the
+Gospels,' bound in silver and gold, and ornamented with valuable jewels.
+
+A historian of our own time has said that England in the twelfth century
+was the paradise of scholars. Dr. Stubbs imagined a foreign student
+making a tour through the country and endeavouring to ascertain its
+proper place in the literary world. He would have seen a huge multitude
+of books, and 'such a supply of readers and writers' as could not have
+been found elsewhere, except perhaps in the University of Paris.
+Canterbury was a great literary centre. At Winchester there was a whole
+school of historians; at Lincoln he might listen to Walter Map or learn
+at the feet of St. Hugh. 'Nothing is more curious than the literary
+activity going on in the monasteries; manuscripts are copied; luxurious
+editions are recopied and illuminated; there is no lack of generosity in
+lending or of boldness in borrowing; there is brisk competition and open
+rivalry.'
+
+The Benedictines were ever the pioneers of learning: the regular clergy
+were still the friends of their books, and 'delighted in their communion
+with them,' as the Philobiblon phrased it. We gather from the same source
+the lamentation of the books in the evil times that followed. The books
+complain that they are cast from their shelves into dark corners, ragged
+and shivering, and bereft of the cushions which propped up their sides.
+'Our vesture is torn off by violent hands, so that our souls cleave to
+the ground, and our glory is laid in the dust.' The old-fashioned clergy
+had been accustomed to treat religious books with reverence, and would
+copy them out most carefully in the intervals of the canonical hours. The
+monks used to give even their time of rest to the decoration of the
+volumes which added a splendour to their monasteries. But now, it is
+complained, the Regulars even reject their own rule that books are to be
+asked for every day. They carry bows and arrows, or sword and buckler,
+and play at dice and draughts, and give no alms except to their dogs.
+'Our places are taken by hawks and hounds, or by that strange creature,
+woman, from whom we taught our pupils to flee as from an asp or basilisk.
+This creature, ever jealous and implacable, spies us out in a corner
+hiding behind some ancient cabinet, and she wrinkles her forehead and
+laughs us to scorn, and points to us as the only rubbish in the house;
+and she complains that we are totally useless, and recommends our being
+bartered away at once for fine caps and cambrics or silks, for
+double-dyed purple stuffs, for woollen and linen and fur.' 'Nay,' they
+add, 'we are sold like slaves or left as unredeemed pledges in taverns:
+we are given to cruel butchers to be slaughtered like sheep or cattle.
+Every tailor, or base mechanic may keep us shut up in his prison.' Worst
+of all was the abominable ingratitude that sold the illuminated vellums
+to ignorant painters, or to goldsmiths who only wanted these 'sacred
+vessels' as receptacles for their sheets of gold-leaf. 'Flocks and
+fleeces, crops and herds, gardens and orchards, the wine and the
+wine-cup, are the only books and studies of the monks.' They are
+reprehended for their banquets and fine clothes and monasteries towering
+on high like a castle in its bulwarks: 'For such things as these,' the
+supplication continues, 'we, their books, are cast out of their hearts
+and regarded as useless lumber, except some few worthless tracts, from
+which they still pick out a mixture of rant and nonsense, more to tickle
+the ears of their audience than to assuage any hunger of the soul.'
+
+A great religious revival began with the coming of the Mendicant Friars,
+who, according to the celebrated Grostête, 'illumined our whole country
+with the light of their preaching and learning.' The Franciscans and
+Dominicans reached England in 1224, and were established at Oxford within
+two years afterwards, where the Grey Friars of St. Francis soon obtained
+as great a predominance as the Dominicans or Black Friars had gained in
+the University of Paris. St. Francis himself had set his face against
+literature. Professor Brewer pointed out in the _Monumenta Franciscana_
+that his followers were expected to be poor in heart and understanding:
+'total absolute poverty secured this, but it was incompatible with the
+possession of books or the necessary materials for study.' Even Roger
+Bacon, when he joined the Friars, was forbidden to retain his books and
+instruments, and was not allowed to touch ink or parchment without a
+special licence from the Pope. We may quote one or two of the anecdotes
+about the Saint. A brother was arguing with him on the text 'Take nothing
+with you on the way,' and asked if it meant 'absolutely nothing';
+'Nothing,' said the Saint, 'except the frock allowed by our rule, and, if
+indispensable, a pair of shoes.' 'What am I to do?' said the brother: 'I
+have books of my own,' naming a value of many pounds of silver. 'I will
+not, I ought not, I cannot allow it,' was the reply. A novice applied to
+St. Francis for leave to possess a psalter: but the Saint said, 'When
+you have got a psalter, then you'll want a breviary, and when you have
+got a breviary you will sit in a chair as great as a lord, and will say
+to some brother, Friar! go and fetch me my breviary!' And he laid ashes
+on his head, and repeated, 'I am your breviary! I am your breviary!' till
+the novice was dumbfounded and amazed; and then again the Saint said that
+he also had once been tempted to possess books, and he almost yielded to
+the request, but decided in the end that such yielding would be sinful.
+He hoped that the day would come when men would throw their books out of
+the window as rubbish.
+
+A curious change took place when the Mendicants got control of the
+schools. It was absolutely necessary that they should be the devourers of
+books if they were to become the monopolists of learning. In the century
+following their arrival, Fitz-Ralph, the Archbishop of Armagh, complained
+that his chaplains could not buy any books at Oxford, because they were
+all snapped up by the men of the cord and cowl: 'Every brother who keeps
+a school has a huge collection, and in each Convent of Freres is a great
+and noble library.' The Grey Friars certainly had two houses full of
+books in School Street, and their brothers in London had a good library,
+which was in later times increased and richly endowed by Sir Richard
+Whittington, the book-loving Lord Mayor of London.
+
+There were some complaints that the Friars cared too much for the
+contents and too little for the condition of their volumes. The
+Carmelites, who arrived in England after the two greater Orders, had the
+reputation of being careful librarians, 'anxiously protecting their books
+against dust and worms,' and ranging the manuscripts in their large room
+at Oxford at first in chests and afterwards in book-cases. The
+Franciscans were too ready to give and sell, to lend and spend, the
+volumes that they were so keen to acquire. A Dominican was always drawn
+with a book in his hand; but he would care nothing for it, if it
+contained no secrets of science. Richard de Bury had much to say about
+the Friars in that treatise on the love of books, 'which he fondly named
+Philobiblon,' being a commendation of Wisdom and of the books wherein she
+dwells. The Friars, he said, had preserved the ancient stores of
+learning, and were always ready to procure the last sermon from Rome or
+the newest pamphlet from Oxford. When he visited their houses in the
+country-towns, and turned out their chests and book-shelves, he found
+such wealth as might have lain in kings' treasuries; 'in those cupboards
+and baskets are not merely the crumbs that fall from the table, but the
+shew-bread which is angel's food, and corn from Egypt and the choicest
+gilts of Sheba.' He gives the highest praise to the Preachers or Friars
+of the Dominican Order, as being most open and ungrudging, 'and
+overflowing with a with a kind of divine liberality.' But both Preachers
+and Minorites, or Grey Friars, had been his pupils, his friends and
+guests in his family, and they had always applied themselves with
+unwearied zeal to the task of editing, indexing, and cataloguing the
+volumes in the library. 'These men,' he cries, 'are the successors of
+Bezaleel and the embroiderers of the ephod and breast-plate: these are
+the husbandmen that sow, and the oxen that tread out the corn: they are
+the blowers of the trumpets: they are the shining Pleiades and the stars
+in their courses.'
+
+Brother Agnellus of Pisa was the first Franciscan missionary at Oxford,
+and the first Minister of the Order in this county. He set up a school
+for poor students, at which Bishop Grostête was the first reader or
+master; but we are told that he afterwards felt great regret when he
+found his Friars bestowing their time upon frivolous learning. 'One day,
+when he wished to see what proficiency they were making, he entered the
+school while a disputation was going on, and they were wrangling and
+debating about the existence of the Deity. "Woe is me! Woe is me!" he
+burst forth: "the simple brethren are entering heaven, and the learned
+ones are debating if there be one"; and he sent at once a sum of £10
+sterling to the Court to buy a copy of the Decretals, that the Friars
+might study them and give over their frivolities.' The great difficulty
+was to prevent the brethren from studying the doctrine of Aristotle, as
+it was to be found in vile Latin translations, instead of attending to
+Grostête, who was said to know 'a hundred thousand times more than
+Aristotle' on all his subjects. Grostête himself spent very large sums
+in importing Greek books. In this he was helped by John Basingstoke, who
+had himself studied at Athens, and who taught the Greek language to
+several of the monks at St. Alban's. Grostête upheld the eastern
+doctrines against the teaching of the Papal Court, and indeed was
+nicknamed 'the hammerer of the Romans.' He based many of his statements
+upon books which he valued as his choicest possessions; but some of them,
+such as the _Testament of the Patriarchs_ and the _Decretals of
+Dionysius_ are now admitted to be forgeries. On Grostête's death in 1253
+he bequeathed his library, rich in marginal commentaries and annotations,
+to the Friars for whom he had worked before he became Bishop and
+Chancellor. Some generations afterwards their successors sold many of the
+books to Dr. Gascoigne, who used to work on them at the Minorites'
+Library: and some of those which he bought found their way to the
+libraries of Balliol, Oriel, and Lincoln; the main body of Grostête's
+books was gradually dispersed by gifts and sales, and dwindled down to
+little or nothing; so that, when Leland paid his official visit after the
+suppression of the monasteries, he found very few books of any kind, but
+plenty of dust and cobwebs, 'and moths and beetles swarming over the
+empty shelves.'
+
+It has been said that Richard de Bury had not much depth of learning; and
+it has been a favourite theory for many years that his book might have
+been written for him by his secretary, the Dominican Robert Holkot. The
+matter is not very important, since it is certain, in spite of ancient
+and modern detractors, that Richard de Bury or 'Aungerville' was a most
+ardent bibliophile and a very devoted attendant in the 'Library of
+Wisdom.' He was the son of Sir Richard Aungerville, a knight of Suffolk;
+but in accordance with a fashion of the day he was usually called after
+his birthplace. He was born at Bury St. Edmunds in the year 1287: he was
+educated at Oxford, and afterwards took a prominent part in the civil
+troubles, taking the side of Queen Isabel and Edward of Windsor against
+the unfortunate Edward II. He was appointed tutor to the Prince, and soon
+afterwards became the receiver of his revenues in Wales. When the Queen
+fled to her own country, Richard followed with a large sum of money,
+collected by virtue of his office; and he had a narrow escape for his
+life, being chased by a troop of English lancers as far as Paris itself,
+where he lay concealed for a week in the belfry of the Minorites' Church.
+When his pupil came to the throne many lucrative offices were showered on
+his faithful friend. Richard became Cofferer and Treasurer of the
+Wardrobe, and for five years was Clerk of the Privy Seal; and during that
+period he was twice sent as ambassador to the Pope at Avignon, where he
+had the honour of becoming the friend of Petrarch.
+
+The poet has himself described his meeting with the Englishman travelling
+in such splendid fashion to lay before his Holiness his master's claims
+upon France. 'It was at the time,' says Petrarch, 'when the seeds of war
+were growing that produced such a blood-stained harvest, in which the
+sickles are not laid aside nor as yet are the garners closed.' He found
+in his visitor 'a man of ardent mind and by no means unacquainted with
+literature.' He discovered indeed that Richard was on some points full of
+curious learning, and it occurred to him that one born and bred in
+Britain might know the situation of the long-lost island of Thule. 'But
+whether he was ashamed of his ignorance,' says Petrarch, 'or whether, as
+I will not suspect, he grudged information upon the subject, and whether
+he spoke his real mind or not, he only answered that he would tell me,
+but not till he had returned home to his books, of which no man had a
+more abundant supply.' The poet complains that the answer never came, in
+spite of many letters of reminder; 'and so my friendship with a Briton
+never taught me anything more about the Isle of Thule.'
+
+Richard was consecrated Bishop of Durham in 1333, after an amicable
+struggle between the Pope and the King as to the hand that should bestow
+the preferment. A few months afterwards he became High Treasurer, and in
+the same year was appointed Lord Chancellor. Within the next three years
+he was sent on several embassies to France to urge the English claims,
+and he afterwards went on the same business to Flanders and Brabant. He
+writes with a kind of rapture of his first expeditions to Paris; in
+later years he complained that the study of antiquities was superseding
+science, in which the doctors of the Sorbonne had excelled. 'I was sent
+first to the Papal Chair, and afterwards to the Court of France, and
+thence to other countries, on tedious embassies and in perilous times,
+bearing with me all the time that love of books which many waters could
+not extinguish.' 'Oh Lord of Lords in Zion!' he ejaculates, 'what a flood
+of pleasure rejoiced my heart when I reached Paris, the earthly Paradise.
+How I longed to remain there, and to my ardent soul how few and short
+seemed the days! There are the libraries in their chambers of spice, the
+lawns wherein every growth of learning blooms. There the meads of Academe
+shake to the footfall of the philosophers as they pace along: there are
+the peaks of Parnassus, and there is the Stoic Porch. Here you will find
+Aristotle, the overseer of learning, to whom belongs in his own right all
+the excellent knowledge that remains in this transitory world. Here
+Ptolemy weaves his cycles and epicycles, and here Gensachar tracks the
+planets' courses with his figures and charts. Here it was in very truth
+that with open treasure-chest and purse untied I scattered my money with
+a light heart, and ransomed the priceless volumes with my dust and
+dross.'
+
+He shows, as he himself confessed, an ecstatical love for his books.
+'These are the masters that teach without rods and stripes, without angry
+words, without demanding a fee in money or in kind: if you draw near,
+they sleep not: if you ask, they answer in full: if you are mistaken,
+they neither rail nor laugh at your ignorance.' 'You only, my books!' he
+cries, 'are free and unfettered: you only can give to all who ask and
+enfranchise all that serve you.' In his glowing periods they become
+transfigured into the wells of living water, the fatness of the olive,
+the sweetness of the vines of Engaddi; they seem to him like golden urns
+in which the manna was stored, like the fruitful tree of life and the
+four-fold river of Eden.
+
+[Illustration: SEAL OF RICHARD DE BURY.]
+
+Richard de Bury had more books than all the other bishops in England. He
+set up several permanent libraries in his manor-houses and at his palace
+in Auckland; the floor of his hall was always so strewed with manuscripts
+that it was hard to approach his presence, and his bedroom so full of
+books that one could not go in or out, or even stand still without
+treading on them. He has told us many particulars about his methods of
+collection. He had lived with scholars from his youth upwards; but it was
+not until he became the King's friend, and almost a member of his family,
+that he was able 'to hunt in the delightful coverts' of the clerical and
+monastic libraries. As Chancellor he had great facilities for 'dragging
+the books from their hiding-places'; 'a flying rumour had spread on all
+sides that we longed for books, and especially for old ones, and that it
+was easier to gain our favour by a manuscript than by gifts of coin.' As
+he had the power of promoting and deposing whom he pleased, the 'crazy
+quartos and tottering folios' came creeping in as gifts instead of the
+ordinary fees and New Year's presents. The book-cases of the monasteries
+were opened, and their caskets unclasped, and the volumes that had lain
+for ages in the sepulchres were roused by the light of day. 'I might have
+had,' he said, 'abundance of wealth in those days; but it was books, and
+not bags of gold, that I wanted; I preferred folios to florins, and loved
+a little thin pamphlet more than an overfed palfrey.' We know that he
+bought many books on his embassies to France and Flanders, besides his
+constant purchases at home. He tells us that the Friars were his best
+agents; they would compass sea and land to meet his desire. 'With such
+eager huntsmen, what leveret could lie hid? With such fishermen, what
+single little fish could escape the net, the hook, and the trawl?' He
+found another source of supply in the country schools, where the masters
+were always ready to sell their books; and in these little gardens and
+paddocks, as chances occurred, he culled a few flowers or gathered a few
+neglected herbs. His money secured the services of the librarians and
+bookstall-men on the Continent, who were afraid of no journey by land,
+and were deterred by no fury of the sea. 'Moreover,' he added, 'we always
+had about us a multitude of experts and copyists, with binders, and
+correctors, and illuminators, and all who were in any way qualified for
+the service of books.' He ends his chapter on book-collecting with a
+reference to an eastern tale, comparing himself to the mountain of
+loadstone that attracted the ships of knowledge by a secret force, while
+the books in their cargoes, like the iron bars in the story, were
+streaming towards the magnetic cliff 'in a multifarious flight.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ITALY--THE AGE OF PETRARCH.
+
+
+The enlightenment of an age of ignorance cannot be attributed to any
+single person; yet it has been said with some justice, that as the
+mediæval darkness lifted, one figure was seen standing in advance, and
+that Petrarch was rightly hailed as 'the harbinger of day.' His fame
+rests not so much on his poems as upon his incessant labours in the task
+of educating his countrymen. Petrarch was devoted to books from his
+boyhood. His youth was passed near Avignon, 'on the banks of the windy
+Rhone.' After receiving the ordinary instruction in grammar and rhetoric,
+he passed four years at Montpellier, and proceeded to study law at
+Bologna. 'I kept my terms in Civil Law,' he said, 'and made some
+progress; but I gave up the subject on becoming my own master, not
+because I disliked the Law, which no doubt is full of the Roman learning,
+but because it is so often perverted by evil-minded men.' He seems to
+have worked for a time under his friend Cino of Pistoia, and to have
+attended the lectures of the jurist Andrea, whose daughter Novella is
+said to have sometimes taken the class 'with a little curtain in front of
+her beautiful face.' While studying at Bologna, Petrarch made his first
+collection of books instead of devoting himself to the Law. His old
+father once paid him a visit and began burning the parchments on a
+funeral pile: the boy's supplications and promises saved the poor
+remainder. He tried hard to follow his father's practical advice, but
+always in vain; 'Nature called him in another direction, and it is idle
+to struggle against her.'
+
+On Petrarch's return to Avignon he obtained the friendship of Cardinal
+Colonna: and here the whole course of his life was fixed when he first
+saw Laura 'in a green dress embroidered with violets.' Her face was
+stamped upon his mind, and haunted him through all efforts at repose: and
+perhaps it is to her influence that he owed his rank among the lyrical
+poets and the crown bestowed at Rome. His whole life was thenceforth
+devoted to the service of the book. He declared that he had the
+writing-disease, and was the victim of a general epidemic. 'All the world
+is taking up the writer's part, which ought to be confined to a few: the
+number of the sick increases and the disease becomes daily more
+virulent.' A victim of the mania himself, he laughs at his own
+misfortune: yet it might have been better, he thought, to have been a
+labourer or a weaver at the loom. 'There are several kinds of
+melancholia: and some madmen will write books, just as others toss
+pebbles in their hands.' As for literary fame, it is but a harvest of
+thin air, 'and it is only fit for sailors to watch a breeze and to
+whistle for a wind.'
+
+Petrarch collected books in many parts of Europe. In 1329, when he was
+twenty-five years of age, he made a tour through Switzerland to the
+cities of Flanders. The Flemish schools had lost something of their
+ancient fame since the development of the University of Paris. Several
+fine collections of books were still preserved in the monasteries. The
+Abbey of Laubes was especially rich in biblical commentaries and other
+works of criticism, which were all destroyed afterwards in a fire, except
+a Vulgate of the eighth century that happened to be required for use at
+the Council of Trent. Petrarch described his visit to Liège in a letter
+to a friend; 'When we arrived I heard that there was a good supply of
+books, so I kept all my party there until I had one oration of Cicero
+transcribed by a colleague, and another in my own writing, which I
+afterwards published in Italy; but in that fair city of the barbarians it
+was very difficult to get any ink, and what I did procure was as yellow
+as saffron.'
+
+A few years afterwards he went from Avignon to Paris, and was astonished
+at the net-work of filthy lanes in the students' quarter. It was a
+paradise of books, all kept at fair prices by the University's decree;
+but the traveller declared that, except in 'the world's sink' at Avignon,
+he had never seen so dirty a place. At Rome he was dismayed to find that
+all the books were the prey of the foreigner. The English and French
+merchants were carrying away what had been spared by the Goths and
+Vandals. 'Are you not ashamed,' he cried to his Roman friends, 'are you
+not ashamed that your avarice should allow these strangers every day to
+acquire some remnant of your ancient majesty?'
+
+He used to pore over his manuscripts on the most incongruous occasions,
+like Pliny reading his critical notes at the boar-hunt. 'Whether I am
+being shaved or having my hair cut,' he wrote, 'and whether I am riding
+or dining, I either read or get some one to read to me.' Some of his
+favourite volumes are described in terms of delightful affection. He
+tells us how Homer and Plato sat side by side on the shelf,--the prince
+of poets by the prince of philosophers. He only knew the rudiments of
+Greek, and was forced to read the Iliad in the Latin version. 'But I
+glory,' he said, 'in the sight of my illustrious guests, and have at
+least the pleasure of seeing the Greeks in their national costume.'
+'Homer,' he adds, 'is dumb, or I am deaf; I am delighted with his looks;
+and as often as I embrace the silent volume I cry, "Oh illustrious bard,
+how gladly would I listen to thy song, if only I had not lost my hearing,
+through the death of one friend and the lamented absence of another!"'
+
+In his treatise on Fortune, Petrarch has left us a study on
+book-collecting in the form of a dialogue between his natural genius and
+his critical reason. He argues, as it were, in his own person against the
+imaginary opponent. A paraphrase will show the nature and the result of
+the contest.
+
+'_Petrarch._ I have indeed a great quantity of books.
+
+_Critic._ That gives me an excellent instance. Some men amass books for
+self-instruction and others from vanity. Some decorate their rooms with
+the furniture that was intended to be an ornament of the soul, as if it
+were like the bronzes and statues of which we were speaking. Some are
+working for their own vile ends behind their rows of books, and these are
+the worst of all, because they esteem literature merely as merchandise,
+and not at its real value; and this new fashionable infliction becomes
+another engine for the arts of avarice.
+
+_Pet._ I have a very considerable quantity of books.
+
+_Crit._ Well! it is a charming, embarrassing kind of luggage, affording
+an agreeable diversion for the mind.
+
+_Pet._ I have a great abundance of books.
+
+_Crit._ Yes, and a great abundance of hard work and a great lack of
+repose. You have to keep your mind marching in all directions, and to
+overload your memory. Books have led some to learning, and others to
+madness, when they swallow more than they can digest. In the mind, as in
+the body, indigestion does more harm than hunger; food and books alike
+must be used according to the constitution, and what is little enough for
+one is too much for another.
+
+_Pet._ But I have an immense quantity of books.
+
+_Crit._ Immense is that which has no measure, and without measure there
+is nothing convenient or decent in the affairs of men.
+
+_Pet._ I have an incalculable number of books.
+
+_Crit._ Have you more than Ptolemy, King of Egypt, accumulated in the
+library at Alexandria, which were all burned at one time? Perhaps there
+was an excuse for him in his royal wealth and his desire to benefit
+posterity. But what are we to say of the private citizens who have
+surpassed the luxury of kings? Have we not read of Serenus Sammonicus,
+the master of many languages, who bequeathed 62,000 volumes to the
+younger Gordian? Truly that was a fine inheritance, enough to sustain
+many souls or to oppress one to death, as all will agree. If Serenus had
+done nothing else in his life, and had not read a word in all those
+volumes, would he not have had enough to do in learning their titles and
+sizes and numbers and their authors' names? Here you have a science that
+turns a philosopher into a librarian. This is not feeding the soul with
+wisdom: it is the crushing it under a weight of riches or torturing it in
+the waters of Tantalus.
+
+_Pet._ I have innumerable books.
+
+_Crit._ Yes, and innumerable errors of ignorant authors and of the
+copyists who corrupt all that they touch.
+
+_Pet._ I have a good provision of books.
+
+_Crit._ What does that matter, if your intellect cannot take them in? Do
+you remember the Roman Sabinus who plumed himself on the learning of his
+slaves? Some people think that they must know what is in their own books,
+and say, when a new subject is started: 'I have a book about that in my
+library!' They think that this is quite sufficient, just as if the book
+were in their heads, and then they raise their eyebrows, and there is an
+end of the subject.
+
+_Pet._ I am overflowing with books.
+
+_Crit._ Why don't you overflow with talent and eloquence? Ah! but these
+things are not for sale, like books, and if they were I don't suppose
+there would be many buyers, for books do make a covering for the walls,
+but those other wares are only clothing for the soul, and are invisible
+and therefore neglected.
+
+_Pet._ I have books which help me in my studies.
+
+_Crit._ Take care that they do not prove a hindrance. Many a general has
+been beaten by having too many troops. If books came in like recruits one
+would not turn them away, but would stow them in proper quarters, and use
+the best of them, taking care not to bring up a force too soon which
+would be more useful on another occasion.
+
+_Pet._ I have a great variety of books.
+
+_Crit._ A variety of paths will often deceive the traveller.
+
+_Pet._ I have collected a number of fine books.
+
+_Crit._ To gain glory by means of books you must not only possess them
+but know them; their lodging must be in your brain and not on the
+book-shelf.
+
+_Pet._ I keep a few beautiful books.
+
+_Crit._ Yes, you keep in irons a few prisoners, who, if they could escape
+and talk, would have you indicted for wrongful imprisonment. But now
+they lie groaning in their cells, and of this they ever complain, that an
+idle and a greedy man is overflowing with the wealth that might have
+sustained a multitude of starving scholars.'
+
+Petrarch was in truth a careless custodian of his prisoners. He was too
+ready to lend a book to a friend, and his generosity on one occasion
+caused a serious loss to literature. The only known copy of a treatise by
+Cicero was awaiting transcription in his library; but he allowed it to be
+carried off by an old scholar in need of assistance: it was pledged in
+some unknown quarter, and nothing was ever heard again of the precious
+deposit.
+
+He returned to Avignon in 1337, and made himself a quiet home at
+Vaucluse. His letters are full of allusions to his little farm, to the
+poplars in the horse-shoe valley, and the river brimming out from the
+'monarch of springs.' In these new lawns of Helicon he made a new home
+for his books, and tried to forget in their company the tumults that had
+driven him from Italy. In 1340 he received offers of a laureate's crown
+from Rome, the capital of the world, and from Paris, 'the birth-place of
+learning.' 'I start to-day,' he wrote to Colonna, 'to receive my reward
+over the graves of those who were the pride of ancient Rome, and in the
+very theatre of their exploits.' The Capitol resounded to such cheers
+that its walls and 'antique dome' seemed to share in the public joy: the
+senator placed a chaplet on his brow, and old Stephen Colonna added a
+few words of praise amid the applause of the Roman people.
+
+At Parma, soon afterwards, Petrarch formed another library which he
+called his 'second Parnassus.' At Padua he busied himself in the
+education of an adopted son, the young John of Ravenna, who lived to be a
+celebrated professor, and was nicknamed 'the Trojan Horse,' because he
+turned out so many excellent Grecians. In a cottage near Milan the poet
+received a visit from Boccaccio, who was at that time inclined to
+renounce the world. He offered to give his whole library to Petrarch: he
+did afterwards send to his host a _Dante_ of his own copying, which is
+now preserved in the Vatican. The approach of a pestilence led Petrarch
+to remove his home to Venice: and here he was again visited by Boccaccio,
+this time in company with Leontio Pilato, a Calabrian Greek trading in
+books between Italy and Constantinople.
+
+Leontio was the translator of Homer, and expounded his poems from the
+Chair of Rhetoric at Florence. He was a man of forbidding appearance, and
+'more obdurate,' said Petrarch, 'than the rocks that he will encounter in
+his voyage': 'fearing that I might catch his bad temper, I let him go,
+and gave him a Terence to amuse him on the way, though I do not know what
+this melancholy Greek could have in common with that lively African.'
+Leontio was killed by lightning on his return voyage; and there was much
+anxiety until it could be ascertained that his literary stock-in-trade
+had been rescued from the hands of the sailors. It was not till the end
+of the century that Chrysoloras renewed the knowledge of the classics:
+but we may regard the austere Leontio as the chief precursor of the crowd
+of later immigrants, each with a gem, or bronze, or 'a brown Greek
+manuscript' for sale, and all eager to play their parts in the
+restoration of learning.
+
+Towards the end of his life Petrarch became tired of carrying his books
+about. When he broke up the libraries at Parma and Vaucluse he had formed
+the habit of travelling with bales of manuscripts in a long cavalcade;
+but he determined afterwards to offer the collection to Venice, on
+condition that it should be properly housed, and should never be sold or
+divided. The offer was accepted by the Republic, and the Palazzo Molina
+was assigned as a home for the poet and his books. Petrarch, however, had
+other plans for himself. He wished to be near Padua, where he held a
+canonry; and he accordingly built himself a cottage at Arquà, among the
+Euganean Hills, about ten miles from the city. A few olive-trees and a
+little vine-yard sufficed for the wants of his modest household; and
+there, as he wrote to his brother, broken in body but easy in his mind,
+he passed his time in reading, and prepared for his end. His only regret
+was that there was no monastery near in which he might see his beloved
+Gerard fulfilling his religious duties. He seems to have given up his
+love for fine books with other worldly vanities. He offers excuses for
+the plain appearance of a volume of 'St. Augustine' which he was sending
+as a present. 'One must not,' said he, 'expect perfect manuscripts from
+scholars who are engaged on better things. A general does not sharpen the
+soldiers' swords. Apelles did not cut out his own boards, or Polycletus
+his sheets of ivory; some humble person always prepares the material on
+which a higher mind is to be engaged. So is it with books: some polish
+the parchment, and others copy or correct the text; others again do the
+illumination, to use the common phrase; but a loftier spirit will disdain
+these menial occupations.' The scholar's books are often of a rough and
+neglected appearance, for abundance of anything makes the owner 'careless
+and secure'; it is the invalid who is particular about every breath of
+air, but the strong man loves the rough breeze. 'As to this book of the
+_Confessions_, its first aspect will teach you all about it. Quite new,
+quite unadorned, untouched by the corrector's fangs, it comes out of my
+young servant's hands. You will notice some defects in spelling, but no
+gross mistakes. In a word, you will perhaps find things in it which will
+exercise but not disturb your understanding. Read it then, and ponder
+upon it. This book, which would enflame a heart of ice, must set your
+ardent soul on fire.'
+
+On a summer night of the year 1374, Petrarch died peacefully at Arquà,
+alone in his library. His few remaining books were sold, and some of them
+may still be seen in Rome and Paris. Those which he had given to Venice
+suffered a strange reverse of fortune. How long the gift remained in the
+Palazzo Molina we cannot tell. We conjecture that it was discarded in the
+next century, before Bessarion presented his Greek books to the senate,
+and became the actual founder of the library of St. Mark. The antiquary
+Tomasini found Petrarch's books cast aside in a dark room behind the
+Horses of Lysippus. Some had crumbled into powder, and others had been
+glued into shapeless masses by the damp. The survivors were placed in the
+Libraria Vecchia, and are now in the Ducal Palace; but it was long before
+they were permitted to enter the building that sheltered the gift of
+Bessarion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+OXFORD--DUKE HUMPHREY'S BOOKS--THE LIBRARY OF THE VALOIS.
+
+
+The University Library at Oxford was a development of Richard de Bury's
+foundation. The monks of Durham had founded a hall, now represented by
+Trinity College, in which Richard had always taken a fatherly interest.
+He provided the ordinary texts and commentaries for the students, and was
+extremely anxious that they should be instructed in Greek and in the
+languages of the East. A knowledge of Arabic, he thought, was as
+necessary for the study of astronomy as a familiarity with Hebrew was
+requisite for the understanding of the Scriptures. The Friars had bought
+a good supply of Hebrew books when the Jews were expelled from England;
+Richard not only increased the available store, but supplied the means of
+using it. 'We have provided,' he said, 'a grammar in Greek and Hebrew for
+the scholars, with all the proper aids to instruct them in reading and
+writing those languages.' He formed the ambitious design of providing
+assistance to the whole University out of the books presented to the
+hall. The rules which he drew up were not unlike those already in use at
+the Sorbonne. Five students were chosen as wardens, of whom any three
+might be a quorum for lending the manuscripts. Any book, of which they
+possessed a duplicate, might be lent out on proper security: but copying
+was not allowed, and no volume was on any account to be carried beyond
+the suburbs. A yearly account was to be taken of the books in store, and
+of the current securities; and if any profit should come to the wardens'
+hands it was to be applied to the maintenance of the library.
+
+When the Bishop died some of his books went back to Durham; but the monks
+were generous towards the hall, and on several occasions sent fresh
+supplies to Oxford. It may also be observed that some of his best MSS.
+were returned to the Abbey of St. Alban's. He had bought about thirty
+volumes from a former abbot for fifty pounds weight of silver; but the
+monks had continually protested against a transaction which they believed
+to be illegal, and on Richard's death some of the books were given back,
+and others were purchased by Abbot Wentmore from his executors.
+
+De Bury's generous care for learning was imitated in several quarters. A
+few years after his death the Lady Elizabeth de Burgh made a bequest of a
+small but very costly library to her College of Clare Hall at Cambridge.
+Guy Earl of Warwick about the same time gave a collection of illuminated
+romances to the monks of Bordesley. John de Newton in the next generation
+divided his collection of classics, histories, and service-books, between
+St. Peter's College at Cambridge and the Minster at York, where he had
+acted for some years as treasurer. The lending-library at Durham Hall
+was the only provision for the public, with the exception of a few
+volumes kept in the 'chest with four keys' at St. Mary's. Thomas Cobham,
+Bishop of Worcester, had long been anxious to show his filial love for
+the University: as early as the year 1320 he had begun to prepare a room
+for a library 'over the old congregation-house in the north churchyard of
+St. Mary's'; and, though the work was left incomplete, he gave all his
+books by will to be placed at the disposal of the whole body of scholars.
+Owing to disputes that arose between the University and the College to
+which Cobham had belonged, the gift did not take effect until 1367. The
+University Library was established in the upper room, which was used as a
+Convocation House in later times; it is said not to have been completely
+furnished until the year 1409, more than eighty years after the date of
+the Bishop's benefaction. According to the first statute for the
+regulation of Cobham's Library, the best of the books were to be sold so
+as to raise a sum of £40, which according to the current rate of interest
+would produce a yearly income of £3 for the librarian; the other books,
+together with those from the University Chest, were to be chained to the
+desks for the general use of the students. It was soon found necessary to
+exclude the 'noisy rabble': and permission to work in the library was
+restricted to graduates of eight years' standing. Richard de Bury had
+warned the world in his chapter upon the handling of books, how hardly
+could a raw youth be made to take care of a manuscript; the student,
+according to the great bibliophile, would treat a book as roughly as if
+it were a pair of shoes, would stick in straws to keep his place, or
+stuff it with violets and rose-leaves, and would very likely eat fruit or
+cheese over one page and set a cup of ale on the other. An impudent boy
+would scribble across the text, the copyist would try his pen on a blank
+space, a scullion would turn the pages with unwashed hands, or a thief
+might cut out the fly-leaves and margins to use in writing his letters;
+'and all these various negligences,' he adds, 'are wonderfully injurious
+to books.'
+
+A generous benefactor gave a copy of De Lyra's 'Commentaries,' which was
+set upon a desk in St. Mary's Chancel for reference. A large gift of
+books came from Richard Courteney, the Chancellor of the University; and
+as a mark of gratitude he was allowed free access to the library during
+the rest of his life. Among the other benefactors whose good deeds are
+still commemorated we find King Henry IV., who helped to complete the
+library, his successor Henry V., who contributed to its endowment as
+Prince of Wales, and his brothers John Duke of Bedford and Humphrey Duke
+of Gloucester; and the roll of a later date includes the names of Edmund
+Earl of March, Philip Repington Bishop of Lincoln, and the munificent
+Archbishop Arundel.
+
+The good Duke Humphrey has been called 'the first founder of the
+University Library.' We know from the records of that time that his
+gifts were acknowledged to be 'an almost unspeakable blessing.' He sent
+in all about three hundred volumes during his life, which were placed in
+the chests of Cobham's Library as they arrived, to be transferred to the
+new Divinity Schools as soon as room could be made for the whole
+collection. He had intended to bequeath as many more by way of an
+additional endowment, but died intestate: and there was a considerable
+delay before the University could procure the fulfilment of his
+charitable design. When the books at last arrived 'the general joy knew
+no bounds'; and the title of 'Duke Humphrey's Library' was gratefully
+given to the whole assemblage of books which from several different
+quarters had come into the University's possession.
+
+The catalogue shows that the Duke's store had consisted mainly of the
+writings of the Fathers and Arabian works on science: there were a few
+classics, including a Quintilian, and Aristotle and Plato in Latin: the
+works of Capgrave and Higden were the only English chronicles; but the
+Duke was a devotee of the Italian learning, and his gifts to Oxford
+included more than one copy of the _Divina Commedia_, three separate
+copies of _Boccaccio_, and no less than seven of _Petrarch_.
+
+The fate of the libraries founded by De Bury and Duke Humphrey of
+Gloucester was to perish at the hands of the mob. Bishop Bale has told
+the sad story of the destruction of the monastic libraries. The books
+were used for tailors' measures, for scouring candlesticks and cleaning
+boots; 'some they sold to the grocers and soap-sellers'; some they sent
+across the seas to the book-binders, 'whole ships-full, to the wondering
+of foreign nations': he knew a merchant who bought 'two noble libraries'
+for 40_s._, and got thereby a store of grey paper for his parcels which
+lasted him for twenty years. The same thing happened at Oxford. The
+quadrangle of one College was entirely covered 'with a thick bed of torn
+books and manuscripts.' The rioters in the Protector Somerset's time
+broke into the 'Aungerville Library,' as De Bury's collection was called,
+and burnt all the books. Some of De Bury's books had been removed into
+Duke Humphrey's Library, and met the same fate at the Schools, with
+almost every other volume that the University possessed. So complete was
+the destruction that in 1555 an order was made to sell the desks and
+book-shelves, as if it were finally admitted that Oxford would never have
+a library again.
+
+Some few of the Duke's books escaped the general destruction. Of the
+half-dozen specimens in the British Museum three are known by the ancient
+catalogues to have been comprised in his gifts to the University. Two
+more remain at Oxford in the libraries of Oriel and Corpus Christi. We
+learn from Mr. Macray that only three out of the whole number of his MSS.
+are now to be found in the Bodleian. One of them contains the Duke's
+signature: another is of high interest as being a translation out of
+_Aristotle_ by Leonardo Aretino, with an original dedication to the
+Duke. The third is a magnificent volume of _Valerius Maximus_ prepared,
+as we know from the monastic annals, under the personal supervision of
+Abbot Whethamstede, the 'passionate bibliomaniac' of St. Alban's. It
+contains inscriptions, says Mr. Macray, recording its gift for the use of
+the scholars, with anathemas upon all who should injure it. 'If any one
+steals this book,' says the Abbot, 'may he come to the gallows or the
+rope of Judas.'
+
+[Illustration: THE DUKE OF BEDFORD PRAYING BEFORE ST. GEORGE. (_From the
+"Bedford Missal."_)]
+
+Many of the Duke of Gloucester's books had come to him from the library
+of the French Kings at the Louvre, which had been purchased and dispersed
+by John, Duke of Bedford. The Duke himself was in the habit of ordering
+magnificently illuminated books of devotion, which he gave as presents to
+his friends. The famous 'Bedford Missal' (really a Book of Hours) was
+offered by the Duchess in his name to Henry VI.; and Mr. Quaritch
+possesses another Book of Hours, which the Duke presented to Talbot, Earl
+of Shrewsbury, as a wedding gift. The House of Valois was always friendly
+to literature. King John, who fought at Creçy, began a small collection:
+he had the story of the Crusades, a tract on the game of chess, and a
+book containing a French version of _Livy_, which seems to have belonged
+afterwards to Duke Humphrey, and to have found its way later into the
+Abbey of St. Geneviève. His son Charles le Sage was the owner of about
+900 volumes, which he kept in his castle at the Louvre. The first
+librarian was Gilles Malet, who prepared a catalogue in 1373, which is
+still in existence. Another was compiled a few years afterwards by
+Antoine des Essars, and a third was made for Bedford when he purchased
+about 850 volumes out of the collection in the year 1423. These lists
+were so carefully executed that we can form a very clear idea of the
+library itself and the books in their gay bindings on the shelves. We are
+told that the King was so devoted to his '_Belle Assemblée_,' as
+Christina of Pisa calls it, that not only authors and booksellers, but
+the princes and nobles at the court, all vied in making offerings of
+finely illuminated manuscripts.
+
+They were arranged in the three rooms of the Library Tower. The wainscots
+were of Irish yew, and the ceilings of cypress. The windows were filled
+with painted glass, and the rooms were lit at night with thirty
+chandeliers and a great silver lamp. On entering the lowest room the
+visitor saw a row of book-cases low enough to be used as desks or tables.
+A few musical instruments lay about; one of the old lists tells us of a
+lute, and guitars inlaid with ivory and enamel, and 'an old rebec' much
+out of repair. There were 269 volumes in the book-cases. We will only
+mention a few of the most remarkable. There was Queen Blanche's Bible in
+red morocco, and another in white boards, Thomas Waley's rhymes from Ovid
+with splendid miniatures, and Richard de Furnival's _Bestiaire d'Amour_.
+One life of St. Louis stood in a '_chemise blanche_,' and another in
+cloth of gold. St. Gregory and Sir John Mandeville were clothed in indigo
+velvet. John of Salisbury had a silk coat and long girdle, and most of
+the Arabians were in tawny silk ornamented with white roses and wreaths
+of foliage. Some bindings are noticed as being in fine condition, and
+others as being shabby or faded. The clasps are minutely described. They
+would catch a visitor's eye as the books lay flat on the shelves: and we
+suppose that the librarian intended to show the best way of knowing the
+books apart rather than to dwell on their external attractions. The
+Oxford fashion was to catalogue according to the last word on the first
+leaf, or the first word over the page; but it was also a common custom to
+distinguish important volumes by such names as _The Red Book of the
+Exchequer_, or _The Black Book of Carnarvon_.
+
+We need not proceed to describe the other rooms. On the first floor there
+were 260 books, consisting for the most part of romances with miniature
+illuminations. One of these was the _Destruction de Thèbes_, which at one
+time belonged to the Duc de la Vallière, and is now in the National
+Library at Paris. The upper floor contained nearly six hundred volumes
+mostly concerned with astronomy and natural science.
+
+It appears from the memoranda in the lists that there had been a habit of
+lending books to public institutions and to members of the royal family
+from the time when the library was first established; and it is
+estimated that about two hundred of the books must have been saved in
+this way to form the beginning of a new library in the Louvre, which,
+after the expulsion of the English, began to attain some importance in
+the reign of Louis XI.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ITALY--THE RENAISSANCE.
+
+
+The study of the classics had languished for a time after the deaths of
+Petrarch and Boccaccio. It revived again upon the coming of Chrysoloras,
+who is said to have lighted in Italy 'a new and perpetual flame.' Poggio
+Bracciolini was one of his first pupils; and he became so distinguished
+in literature that the earlier part of the fifteenth century is known as
+the age of Poggio. Leonardo Aretino describes the enthusiasm with which
+the Italians made acquaintance with the ancient learning. 'I gave myself
+up to Chrysoloras,' he writes, 'and my passion for knowledge was so
+strong that the daily tasks became the material of my nightly dreams.' He
+told Cosmo de' Médici, when translating Plato's Dialogues, that they
+alone seemed to be infused with real life, while all other books passed
+by like fleeting and shadowy things.
+
+We are chiefly concerned with Poggio as the discoverer of long-lost
+treasures. He saved Quintilian and many other classics from complete
+extinction. 'Some of them,' said his friend Barbaro, 'were already dead
+to the world, and some after a long exile you have restored to their
+rights as citizens.' As a famous stock of pears had been named after an
+Appius or Claudius, so it was said that these new fruits of literature
+ought certainly to be named after Poggio.
+
+The sole remaining copy of an ancient work upon aqueducts was discovered
+by him in the old library at Monte Cassino, which had survived the
+assaults of Lombards and Saracens, but in that later age seemed likely to
+perish by neglect. We have the record of an earlier visit by Boccaccio,
+in which the carelessness of its guardians was revealed. The visitor, we
+are told, asked very deferentially if he might see the library. 'It is
+open, and you can go up,' said a monk, pointing to the ladder that led to
+an open loft. The traveller describes the filthy and doorless chamber,
+the grass growing on the window-sills, and the books and benches white
+with dust. He took down book after book, and they all seemed to be
+ancient and valuable; but from some of them whole sheets had been taken
+out, and in others the margins of the vellum had been cut off. All in
+tears at this miserable sight, Boccaccio went down the ladder, and asked
+a monk in the cloister how those precious volumes had come to such a
+pass; and the monk told him that the brothers who wanted a few pence
+would take out a quire of leaves to make a little psalter for sale, and
+used to cut off the margins to make 'briefs,' which they sold to the
+women.
+
+Poggio himself has described his discovery at the Abbey of St. Gall. 'By
+good fortune,' he says, 'we were at Constance without anything to do, and
+it occurred to us to go to the monastery about twenty miles off to see
+the place where the Quintilian was shut up.' The Abbey had been founded
+by the Irish missionaries who destroyed the idols of Suabia, when
+according to the ancient legend the mountain-demon vainly called on the
+spirit of the lake to join in resisting the foe. Its library had been
+celebrated in the ninth century, when the Hungarian terror fell upon
+Europe, and the barbarian armies in one and the same day 'laid in ashes
+the monastery of St. Gall and the city of Bremen on the shores of the
+Northern ocean'; but the books had been fortunately removed to the Abbey
+of Reichenau on an island in the Rhine. 'We went to the place,' said
+Poggio, 'to amuse ourselves and to look at the books. Among them we found
+the Quintilian safe and sound, but all coated with dust. The books were
+by no means housed as they deserved, but were all in a dark and noisome
+place at the foot of a tower, into which one would not cast a criminal
+condemned to death.' He describes the finding of several other rare MSS.,
+and says: 'I have copied them all out in great haste, and have sent them
+to Florence.'
+
+In 1418 he visited England in the train of Cardinal Beaufort. He said
+that he was unable to procure any transcripts, though he visited some of
+the principal libraries, and must have seen that the collection at the
+Grey Friars at least was 'well stocked with books.' He was more
+successful on the Continent, where he brought the _History_ of Ammianus
+out of a German prison into the free air of the republic of letters. He
+gave the original to Cardinal Colonna, and wrote to Aretino about
+transcripts: 'Niccolo has copied it on paper for Cosmo de' Médici: you
+must write to Carlo Aretino for another copy, or he might lend you the
+original, because if the scribe should be an ignoramus you might get a
+fable instead of a history.'
+
+Among the pupils of Chrysoloras, Guarini of Verona was esteemed the
+keenest philologist, and John Aurispa as having the most extended
+knowledge of the classics. Aurispa, says Hallam, came rather late from
+Sicily, but his labours were not less profitable than those of his
+predecessors; in the year 1423 he brought back from Greece considerably
+more than two hundred MSS. of authors hardly known in Italy; and the list
+includes books of Plato, of Pindar, and of Strabo, of which all knowledge
+had been lost in the West. Aurispa lectured for many years at Bologna and
+Florence, and ended his days at the literary Court of Ferrara. Philelpho
+was one of the most famous of the scholars who returned 'laden with
+manuscripts' from Greece. To recover a lost poem or oration was to go far
+on the road to fortune, and a very moderate acquaintance with the text
+was expected from the hero of the fortunate adventure. When he lectured
+on his new discoveries at Florence, where he had established himself in
+spite of the Médici, Philelpho according to his own account was treated
+with such deference on all sides that he was overwhelmed with
+bashfulness; 'All the citizens are turning towards me, and all the ladies
+and the nobles exalt my name to the skies.' He was the bitter enemy of
+Poggio, and of all who supported the reigning family of Florence. Poggio
+had the art of making enemies, though he was a courtier by profession and
+had been secretary to eight Popes. He raged against Philelpho in a flood
+of scurrilous pamphlets; Valla, the great Latin scholar, was violently
+attacked for a mere word of criticism, and Niccolo Perotti, the
+grammarian, paid severely for supporting his friend. Poggio was always in
+extremes. His eulogies in praise of Lorenzo de' Médici, and Niccolo
+Niccoli of Florence are perfect in grace and dignity; his invectives were
+as scurrilous as anything recorded in the annals of literature.
+
+Two generous benefactors preceded 'the father of his country' in
+providing libraries for Florence. Niccolo Niccoli by common consent was
+the great Mæcenas of his age; his passion for books was boundless, and he
+had gathered the best collection that had been seen in Italy for many
+generations. The public was free to inspect his treasures, and any
+citizen might either read or transcribe as he pleased; 'In one word,'
+wrote Poggio, 'I say that he was the wisest and the most benevolent of
+mankind.' By his will he appointed sixteen trustees, among whom was Cosmo
+de' Médici, to take charge of his books for the State. Some legal
+difficulty arose after his death, but Cosmo undertook to pay all
+liabilities if the management of the library were left to his sole
+discretion; and the gift of the 'Florentine Socrates' was eventually
+added to the books which Cosmo had purchased in Italy or had acquired in
+his Levantine commerce.
+
+Another citizen of Florence had rivalled the generosity of Niccoli. The
+Chancellor Coluccio Salutati was revered by his countrymen for the
+majestic flow of his prose and verse. It is true that Tiraboschi
+considered him to be 'as much like Virgil or Cicero as a monkey resembles
+a man.' Salutati showed his gratitude to Florence by endowing the city
+with his splendid library. But in this case also there were difficulties,
+and again the way was made smooth by the prompt munificence of the
+Médici. Cosmo himself bought up Greek books in the Levant, and was
+fortunate in securing some of the best specimens of Byzantine art. His
+brother Lorenzo, his son Pietro, and Lorenzo the Magnificent in the next
+generation, all laboured in their turn to adorn the Medicean collection.
+Politian the poet, and Mirandula, the Phoenix of his age, were the
+messengers whom the great Lorenzo sent out to gather the spoil; and he
+only prayed, he said, that they might find such a store of good books
+that he would be obliged to pawn his furniture to pay for them.
+
+On the flight of the reigning family the 'Médici books' were bought by
+the Dominicans at St. Mark's; and they rested for some years in
+Savonarola's home, stored in the gallery which holds the great
+choir-books illuminated by Frà Angelico and his companions. In the year
+1508 the monks were in pecuniary distress, and were forced to sell the
+books to Leo X., then Cardinal de' Médici. He took them to Rome to ensure
+their safety, but was always careful to keep them apart from the official
+assemblage in the Vatican; it is certain that he would have restored them
+to Florence, if he had lived a short time longer. The patriotic design
+was carried out by Clement VII., another member of that book-loving
+family, and their hereditary treasures at last found a permanent home in
+the gallery designed by Michelangelo.
+
+The 'Médici books' were catalogued by a humble bell-ringer, who lived to
+be a chief figure in the literary world. Thomas of Sarzana performed the
+task so well that his system became a model for librarians. While
+travelling in attendance on a Legate, the future Pope could never refrain
+from expensive purchases; to own books, we are told, was his ambition,
+'his pride, his pleasure, passion, and avarice'; and he was only saved
+from ruin by the constant help of his friends. When he succeeded to the
+tiara as Pope Nicholas V., his influence was felt through Christendom as
+a new literary force. He encouraged research at home, and gathered the
+records of antiquity from the ruined cities of the East, and 'the darkest
+monasteries of Germany and Britain.' His labours resulted in the
+restoration of the Vatican Library with an endowment of five thousand
+volumes; and he found time to complete the galleries for their reception,
+though he could never hope to finish the rest of the palace. A great part
+of his work was destroyed in 1527 by the rabble that 'followed the
+Bourbon' to the sack of Rome; but his institution survived the temporary
+disaster, and its losses were repaired by the energy of Sixtus V.
+
+Pope Nicholas had no sympathy with the niggardly spirit that would have
+kept the 'barbarians' in darkness. He opened his Greek treasure-house to
+the inspection of the whole western world. Looking back to the crowd
+round his chair at the Lateran or in his house near S^ta. Maria
+Maggiore, we recognise a number of familiar figures. Perotti is
+translating Polybius, and Aurispa explaining the Golden Verses; Guarini
+enlarges the world's boundaries by publishing the geography of Strabo. An
+old tract upon the Pope's munificence shows how the Eastern Fathers were
+restored to a place of honour. Basil and Cyril were translated, and the
+Pope obtained the _Commentary upon St. Matthew_, of which Erasmus made
+excellent use in his Paraphrase: it was the book of which Aquinas wrote
+that he would rather have a copy than be master of the city of Paris. The
+Pope desired very strongly to read Homer in Latin verse, and had procured
+a translation of the first book of the Iliad. Hearing that Philelpho had
+arrived in Rome, he hoped that the work might be finished by a
+master-hand, and to get a version of the whole Iliad and Odyssey he gave
+a large retaining fee, a palazzo, and a farm in the Campagna, and made a
+deposit of ten thousand pieces of gold to be paid on the completion of
+the contract.
+
+Joseph Scaliger, the supreme judge in his day of all that related to
+books, said that of all these men of the Italian renaissance he only
+envied three. One of course was Pico of Mirandula, a man of marvellous
+powers, who rose as a mere youth to the highest place as a philosopher
+and linguist. The next was Politian, equally renowned for hard
+scholarship and for the sweetness and charm of his voluminous poems. The
+third was the Greek refugee, Theodore of Gaza, so warmly praised by
+Erasmus for his versatile talent; no man, it was said, was so skilled in
+the double task of turning Greek books into Latin, and rendering Latin
+into Greek.
+
+We should feel inclined to bracket another name with those of the famous
+trio. George of Trebisond was a faithful expounder of the classics, the
+discoverer of many a lost treasure, and the author of a whole library of
+criticism. His life and labours were denounced in the once celebrated
+_Book of the Georges_. He was more than a lover of Aristotle, said his
+enemies: he was the enemy of the divine Plato, an apostate among the
+Greeks, who had even dared to oppose their patron Bessarion. The Cardinal
+Bessarion was complimented as 'the most Latin of the Greeks'; he might
+have ruled as Pope in Rome, some said, if it had not been for Perotti
+refusing to disturb him in the library. But George of Trebisond was
+vilified after Poggio's fashion, and called 'brute' and 'heretic,' and
+'more Turkish than the filthiest Turk,' with a hailstorm of still harder
+epithets. Yet he was certainly a very accurate scholar; and he showed a
+proper manly spirit when he boxed Poggio's ears in the Theatre of Pompey
+for reminding him of the cleverness expected from 'a starving Greek.' His
+life, one is glad to think, had a very peaceful end. The old man had a
+house at Rome in the Piazza Minerva: his tombstone, much defaced, is
+before the curtain as one enters the Church of S^ta. Maria. His son
+Andrea used to help him in his work, and launched a pamphlet now and
+again at Theodore of Gaza. The brilliant scholar fell into a second
+childhood, and might be seen muttering to himself as he rambled with
+cloak and long staff through the streets of Rome. The grand-daughter who
+took charge of him married Madalena, a fashionable poet; and Pope Leo X.
+delighted in hearing their anecdotes about old times, when George and
+Theodore fought their paper-wars, and wielded their pens in the battle of
+the books.
+
+Before leaving the subject of the libraries in the two great capitals, we
+ought to bestow a word or two upon those splendidly endowed institutions
+by which a few Florentine book-collectors have kept up the literary fame
+of their city, without pretending to emulate the splendour of the Médici,
+or the wealth of the Vatican, or the curious antiquities of St. Mark. We
+desire especially to say something in remembrance of the 'Riccardiana'
+which, from its foundation in the sixteenth century, has been famous for
+the value of its historical manuscripts. Among these are the journals of
+Frà Oderigo, an early traveller in the East, a treatise in Galileo's own
+writing, and a defence of Savonarola's policy in the handwriting of Pico
+of Mirandula. We may see a copy of Marshal Strozzi's will, discussing his
+plans of suicide, a history of the city composed and written out by
+Machiavelli, and a large and interesting series of Poggio's literary
+correspondence. The most celebrated of the librarians was Giovanni Lami,
+who in the last century kept up with such spirit a somewhat dangerous
+controversy with the Jesuits; but his monument at Santa Croce may have
+been owed less to his triumphs in argument than to his passionate
+devotion to books. His life was spent among them, and he died with a
+manuscript in his arms; and his memory is still preserved in Florence by
+the Greek collection with which he endowed the University.
+
+The Abbé Marucelli left his name to another Florentine library. He was a
+philanthropist as well as a bibliophile; and he gave the huge assemblage
+of books which he had gathered at Rome to the use of the students in the
+home of his boyhood. He wrote much, but was almost too modest to publish
+or preserve his works. Perhaps the most interesting portion of his gift
+consisted of a series of about a hundred large folios in which, like the
+Patriarch Photius, he had written in the form of notes the results of the
+reading of a life-time.
+
+[Illustration: ANTONIO MAGLIABECCHI.]
+
+The Magliabecchian Library maintains the remembrance of a portent in
+literature. Antonio Magliabecchi, the jeweller's shop-boy, became
+renowned throughout the world for his abnormal knowledge of books. He
+never at any time left Florence; but he read every catalogue that was
+issued, and was in correspondence with all the collectors and librarians
+of Europe. He was blessed with a prodigious memory, and knew all the
+contents of a book by 'hunting it with his finger,' or once turning over
+the pages. He was believed, moreover, to know the habitat of all the rare
+books in the world; and according to the well-known anecdote he replied
+to the Grand Duke, who asked for a particular volume: 'The only copy of
+this work is at Constantinople, in the Sultan's library, the seventh
+volume in the second book-case, on the right as you go in.' He has been
+despised as 'a man who lived on titles and indexes, and whose very pillow
+was a folio.' Dibdin declared that Magliabecchi's existence was confined
+to 'the parade and pacing of a library'; but, as a matter of fact, the
+old bibliomaniac lived in a kind of cave made of piles and masses of
+books, with hardly any room for his cooking or for the wooden cradle
+lined with pamphlets which he slung between his shelves for a bed. He
+died in 1714, in his eighty-second year, dirty, ragged, and as happy as a
+king; and certainly not less than eight thick volumes of sonnets and
+epigrams appeared at once in his praise. He left about 30,000 volumes of
+his own collecting, which he gave to the city upon condition that they
+should be always free to the public. The library that bears his name
+contains more than ten times that number. It includes about 60,000
+printed books and 2000 MSS. that once belonged to the Grand Dukes, and
+were kept in their Palatine Galleries. There have been many later
+additions; but the whole mass is now dedicated to the worthiest of its
+former possessors, and remains as a perpetual monument of the most
+learned and most eccentric of bookmen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+ITALIAN CITIES--OLYMPIA MORATA--URBINO--THE BOOKS OF CORVINUS.
+
+
+The memory of many great book-collectors has been preserved in the
+libraries established from ancient times in several of the Italian
+cities. There are two at Padua, of which the University Library may claim
+to have had the longer existence: but the 'Capitolina' can claim Petrarch
+as one of its founders, and may boast of the books on antiquities
+gathered by Pignoria, the learned commentator upon the remains of Rome
+and the historian of his native city of Padua. It may be worth noticing
+that there were several smaller collections in the churches, due to the
+industry of bookmen whose names have been forgotten. We hear of the books
+of St. Anthony and of Santa Giustina: and as to the library in the Church
+of St. John the tradition long prevailed that Sixtus of Sienna, a noted
+hunter after rare books, saw on its shelves a copy of the _Epistle to the
+Laodiceans_, and read it, and made copious extracts.
+
+Mantua received many of the spoils of Rome from Ludovico Gonzaga, which
+were lost in the later wars: the most famous acquisition was Bembo's
+tablet of hieroglyphics, which was interpreted by the patient skill of
+Lorenzo Pignoria. At Turin the King's Library contains some of the papers
+and drawings of Ligorio, who helped in the building of St. Peter's: but
+most of his books were taken to Ferrara, where he held an official
+appointment as antiquary. The University Library contains the collections
+of the Dukes of Savoy, including a quantity of Oriental MSS., and some of
+the precious volumes illuminated by the monks of Bobbio. The Père Jacob
+in his treatise upon famous libraries had some personal anecdote to
+record about the bookmen of each place that he visited. At Naples he saw
+the collection of the works of Pontanus, presented to the Dominicans by
+his daughter Eugenia; at Bologna he found a long roll of the Pentateuch,
+'written by Esdras'; and at Ferrara he described the tomb of Coelius, who
+was buried among his books, at his own desire, like a miser in the midst
+of his riches.
+
+Ferrara derived a special fame from the munificence of the House of Este
+and the memory of Olympia Morata. A long line of illustrious princes had
+built up 'an Athens in the midst of Boeotia.' Ariosto sang the praises of
+the literary Court, and Tasso's misfortunes were due to his eagerness in
+accepting its pleasures. The library of Lilio Giraldi was a meeting-place
+for the scholars of Italy, and it continued to be the pride of Ferrara
+when it passed to Cinthio Giraldi the poet. Renée of France, after the
+death of her husband, Duke Hercules, made Ferrara a city of refuge for
+Calvin and Marot and the fugitive Reformers from Germany. Olympia
+Morata, the daughter of a Protestant citizen, was chosen as the companion
+and instructress of the Princess Anna. They passed a quiet life among
+their books until a time of persecution arrived, when Olympia found a
+hope of safety in marrying Andrew Grundler of Schweinfurt. Her love for
+books appears in the letters written towards the close of her life. In
+1554 she tells Curio of the storming of Schweinfurt, where she lost her
+library: 'when I entered Heidelberg barefoot, with my hair down, and in a
+ragged borrowed gown, I looked like the Queen of the Beggars.' 'I hope,'
+she said, 'that with the other books you will send me the Commentary on
+Jeremiah.' Her friend answers that Homer and Sophocles are on their way:
+'and you shall have Jeremiah too, that you may lament with him the
+misfortunes of your husband's country.' Olympia replied from her
+death-bed, returning her warmest thanks for the books. 'Farewell,
+excellent Curio, and do not distress yourself when your hear of my death.
+I send you such of my poems as I have been able to write out since the
+storming of Schweinfurt; all my other writings have perished; I hope that
+you will be my Aristarchus and will polish the poems; and now again,
+Farewell.'
+
+The Ducal Library of Ferrara was transferred to Modena when the Duchy was
+added to the States of the Church. The collection at Modena is still
+famous for its illuminated MSS., and for the care bestowed by Muratori
+and Tiraboschi in their selection of printed books. The Court of Naples
+also might boast of some illustrious bibliophiles. Queen Joanna possessed
+one of those small _Livres d'Heures_ of 'microscopic refinement' which
+Mr. Middleton has classed among the 'greatest marvels of human skill.'
+René of Anjou, her unfortunate successor, found a solace for exile in his
+books, and showed in a Burgundian prison that he could paint a vellum as
+cleverly as a monkish scribe. Alfonso, the next King of Naples, was a
+collector in the strictest sense of the term. He would go off to Florence
+for bargains, and would even undertake a commission for a book-loving
+subject. Antonio Becatelli corresponded on these matters with his royal
+master. 'I have the message from Florence that you know of a fine Livy at
+the price of 125 crowns: I pray your Majesty to buy it for me and to send
+it here, and I will get the money together in the meantime. But I should
+like your Majesty's opinion on the point, whether Poggio or myself has
+chosen the better part. He has sold Livy, the king of books, written out
+by his own hand, to buy an estate near Florence; but I, to get my Livy,
+have put up all my property for sale by auction.' The books collected by
+Alfonso were at the end of the century carried off by Charles VIII., and
+were divided between the Royal Library at Fontainebleau and the separate
+collection of Anne of Brittany.
+
+A romantic interest has always attached to the library at Urbino. The
+best scholars in Europe used to assemble at the palace, where Duke
+Federigo made such a gathering of books 'as had not been seen for a
+thousand years,' in the hall where Emilia and the pale Duke Guidubaldo
+led the pleasant debates described in the 'Cortegiano.' Federigo, the
+most successful general in the Italian wars, had built a palace of
+delight in his rude Urbino, in which he hoped to set a copy of every book
+in the world. His book-room was adorned with ideal portraits by Piero
+della Francesca and Melozzo: it was very large and lofty, 'with windows
+set high against the Northern sky.' The catalogue of the books is still
+preserved in the Vatican. It shows the names of all the classics, the
+Fathers, and the mediæval schoolmen, many works upon Art, and almost all
+the Greek and Hebrew works that were known to exist. Among the more
+modern writers we find those whose works we have discussed, Petrarch and
+his friends, Guarini and Perotti, and Valla with his enemy Poggio; among
+the others we notice Alexander ab Alexandro, a most learned antiquarian
+from Naples, of whom Erasmus once said: 'He seems to have known
+everybody, but nobody knows who he is.' The chief treasure of the place
+was a Bible, illuminated in 1478 by a Florentine artist, which the Duke
+caused to be bound 'in gold brocade most richly adorned with silver.'
+'Shortly before he went to the siege of Ferrara,' says his librarian, 'I
+compared his catalogue with those that he had procured from other
+places, such as the lists from the Vatican, Florence, Venice, and Pavia,
+down to the University of Oxford in England, and I found that all except
+his own were deficient or contained duplicate volumes.' His son, Duke
+Guidubaldo, was a celebrated Greek scholar; and the eulogies of Bembo and
+Castiglione on his Duchess, Elizabeth Gonzaga, attest the literary
+distinction of her Court. Francesco, the third Duke, lost his dominions
+to Leo X.; but he showed his good taste in stipulating that the books
+were to be reserved as his personal effects. Some of the early-printed
+books are still in the palace at Urbino; others are at Castel Durante, or
+in the College of the Sapienza at Rome; and the splendid MSS. form one of
+the principal attractions of the Vatican.
+
+Among private collectors the name of Cardinal Domenico Capranica should
+be commemorated. Though continually engaged in war and diplomacy, he
+found time to surround himself with books. On his death in 1458 he gave
+his palace and library towards the endowment of a new College at Rome,
+and his plans were carried out with some alterations by his brother
+Angelo Capranica. Two Greeks of the imperial House of Lascaris took
+important places in the history of the Italian renaissance. Constantine
+had found a refuge at Milan after the conquest of his country, and here
+he became tutor to the Lady Hippolyta Sforza, and published a grammar
+which was the first book printed in Greek. He afterwards lectured at
+Messina, where he formed a large collection of MSS., which he bequeathed
+to the citizens. In a later age it was taken to Spain by Philip II. and
+placed on the shelves of the Escorial. John Lascaris belonged to a
+younger generation. He was protected by Leo X., and may be regarded as
+the true founder of the Greek College at Rome. In matters of literature
+he was the ambassador of Lorenzo de' Médici, and was twice sent to the
+Turkish Court in search of books. After the expulsion of the Médici, John
+Lascaris went to reside in Paris, where he gave lectures on poetry, and
+employed himself in securing Greek lecturers for a new College; and he
+was also engaged to help Budæus, who had been his pupil, in arranging the
+books at Fontainebleau.
+
+Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, had the largest library in Europe. It
+was credited with containing the impossible number of 50,000 volumes; its
+destruction during the Turkish wars is allowed to have been one of the
+chief misfortunes of literature. Matthias began his long reign of
+forty-two years in 1458, and during all that time he was adding to his
+collections at Buda. Some have derided Corvinus as a mere gormandiser
+with an appetite for all kinds of books. Some have blamed him for risking
+such inestimable treasures upon a dangerous frontier. It is admitted that
+he worked hard to dispel the thick darkness that surrounded the Hungarian
+people. He kept thirty scribes continually employed at Buda, besides four
+permitted to work at Florence by the courtesy of Lorenzo de' Médici. The
+whole library may be regarded as in some sense a Florentine colony.
+Fontius, the king's chief agent in the Levant, had been a well-known
+author in Florence: his Commentary upon Persius, once presented to
+Corvinus himself, is now in the library at Wolfenbüttel. Attavante, the
+pupil of Frà Angelico, was employed to illuminate the MSS. A good
+specimen of his work is the Breviary of St. Jerome at Paris, which came
+out of the palace at Buda and was acquired by the nation from the Duc de
+la Vallière. A traveller named Brassicanus visited Hungary in the reign
+of King Louis. He was enraptured with the grand palace by the river, the
+tall library buildings and their stately porticoes. He passes the
+galleries under review, and tells us of the huge gold and silver globes,
+the instruments of science on the walls, and an innumerable crowd of
+well-favoured and well-clad books. He felt, he assures us, as if he were
+in 'Jupiter's bosom,' looking down upon that 'heavenly scene.' He wished
+that he had brought away some picture or minute record; but we have his
+account of the books which he handled, the Greek orations that are now
+lost for ever, the history of Salvian saved by the King's good nature in
+presenting the book to his admiring visitor. The palace and library were
+destroyed when Buda was taken by the Turks. The Pasha in command refused
+an enormous sum subscribed for the rescue of the books. The janissaries
+tore off the metal coverings from the rarer MSS., and tossed the others
+aside; the only known copy of Heliodorus, from which all our editions of
+the tale of Chariclea are derived, was found in an open gutter. Some
+books were burned and others hacked and maimed, or trodden under foot;
+many were carried away into the neighbouring villages. About four hundred
+were piled up in a deserted tower, and were protected against all
+intrusion by the seal of the Grand Vizier. There were adventures still in
+store for the captives. Through the scattered villages Dr. Sambucus went
+up and down, recovering the strayed Corvinian books for the Emperor
+Rodolph, a strange Quixotic figure always riding alone, with swinging
+saddle-bags, and a great mastiff running on either side. Many a
+disappointed wayfarer was turned away from the lonely tower. At last
+Busbec the great traveller, because he was an ambassador from the
+Emperor, was allowed to enter a kind of charnel-house, and to see what
+had been the lovely gaily-painted vellums lying squalidly piled in heaps.
+To see them was a high favour; the visitor was not permitted to touch the
+remains; and it was not until 1686 that about forty of the maltreated
+volumes were rescued by force of arms and set in a a place of safety
+among the Emperor's books at Vienna.
+
+It has always been a favourite exercise to track the Corvinian MSS. into
+their scattered hiding-places. Some are in the Vatican, others at
+Ferrara, and some in their birth-place at Florence. It is said that some
+of them have never left their home in Hungary. Venice possesses a
+'History of the House of Corvinus,' and Jena has a work by Guarini with
+the King's insignia 'most delicately painted on the title.' The portraits
+of the King and Queen are on one of the examples secured by Augustus of
+Brunswick for his library at Wolfenbüttel. Mary of Austria, the widow of
+King Louis, presented two of the Corvinian books to the _Librairie de
+Bourgogne_ at Brussels; one was the Missal, full of Attavante's work, on
+which the Sovereigns of Brabant were sworn; the other was the 'Golden
+Gospels,' long the pride of the Escorial, but now restored to Belgium.
+
+Other scattered volumes from the library of Corvinus have been traced to
+various cities in France and Germany. There has been much controversy on
+the question whether any of them are to be found in England. Some think
+that examples might be traced among the Arundel MSS. in the British
+Museum. Thomas, Earl of Arundel, it is known, went on a book-hunting
+expedition to Heidelberg, where he bought some of the remnants of the
+Palatine collection. Passing on to Nuremberg he obtained about a hundred
+MSS. that had belonged to Pirckheimer, the first great German
+bibliophile; and these, according to some authorities, came out of the
+treasure-house at Buda. The Duke of Norfolk was persuaded by John Evelyn
+to place them in the Gresham Library, under the care of the Royal
+Society, and they afterwards became the property of the nation. Oldys
+the antiquary distinctly stated that these 'were the remnants of the King
+of Hungary'; 'they afterwards fell into the hands of Bilibald
+Pirckheimer.' The Senator of Nuremberg made the books his own in a very
+emphatic way: 'there is to be seen his head graved by Albert Dürer, one
+of the first examples of sticking or pasting of heads, arms, or cyphers
+into volumes.' Pirckheimer died in 1530, three years after the sack of
+Buda, and had the opportunity of getting some of the books. We cannot
+tell to what extent he succeeded, or whether William Oldys was right on
+the facts before him; but we know from Pirckheimer's own letters that he
+was the actual owner of at least some MSS. that 'came to him out of the
+spoils of Hungary.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+GERMANY--FLANDERS--BURGUNDY--ENGLAND.
+
+
+Almost immediately after the invention of printing in Germany there arose
+a vast public demand for all useful kinds of knowledge. The study of
+Greek was essential to those who would compete with the Italians in any
+of the higher departments of science, and great schools were established
+for the purpose by Dringeberg in a town of Alsace, and by Rudolf Lange at
+Münster. The Alsatian Academy had the credit of educating Rhenanus and
+Bilibald Pirckheimer. Lange filled his shelves with a quantity of
+excellent classics that he had purchased during a tour in Italy. Hermann
+Busch, the great critic, was taught in this school, and he used to say in
+after life that he often dreamed of Lange's house, and saw an altar of
+the Muses surrounded by the shadowy figures of ancient poets and orators.
+Busch was sent afterwards to Deventer, where he was the class-mate of
+Erasmus. Here one day, while the boys were at their themes, came Rudolf
+Agricola, the sturdy doctor from Friesland, who wanted to see a Germany
+'more Latin than Latium,' and had vowed to abate the 'Italian insolence.'
+The visitor told Erasmus that he was sure to be a great man, and patted
+the young Hermann on the head, saying that he had the look of a poet;
+and he is, indeed, still faintly remembered for the lines in which he
+celebrated the triumph of Reuchlin.
+
+Reuchlin had learned Greek at Paris and Poitiers; at Florence he studied
+the secrets of the Cabala with Mirandula; and he perfected his Hebrew at
+Rome, where he acted as an envoy from the Elector Palatine. Reuchlin for
+many years led a peaceful life at Tübingen, an oasis of freedom, in which
+he could print or read what he pleased. But in 1509 he was forced into a
+quarrel, which involved the whole question of the liberty of the press,
+and incidentally associated the cause of the Reformation with the
+maintenance of classical learning.
+
+In the year 1509 one Pfefferkorn, a monk who had been a convert from
+Judaism, obtained an imperial decree that all Hebrew books, except the
+Scriptures, should be destroyed. Reuchlin sprang forth to defend his
+beloved Cabala, and maintained that only those volumes ought to be burned
+which were proved to have a taint of magic or blasphemy. He was cited to
+answer for his heresy before the Grand Inquisitor at Cologne; and the
+world, at first indifferent, soon saw that the cause of the New Learning
+was at stake. In the summer of 1514 there was a notable gathering of
+Reformers at Frankfort Fair. We have nothing in our own days that quite
+resembles these mediæval marts; the annual concourse of merchants might
+perhaps be compared to one of our industrial exhibitions, or to some
+conjunction of all the trade of Leipsic and Nijni Novgorod. The Italians
+affected to believe that the Fair by the Main was chiefly taken up with
+the sale of mechanical contrivances; the Germans knew that their 'Attic
+mart' held streets of book-shops and publishers' offices. Henri Estienne
+saw Professors here from Oxford and Cambridge, from Louvain, and from
+Padua: there was a crowd of poets, historians, and men of science; and he
+declared that another Alexandrian Library might be bought in those
+seething stalls, if one laid out money like a king, or like a maniac, as
+others might say. In this German Athens a meeting was arranged between
+Reuchlin and Erasmus; they were joined at Frankfort by Hermann Busch, who
+brought with him the manuscript of his 'Triumph'; and perhaps it was not
+difficult to predict that the cause of the old books would be safe in the
+hands of Pope Leo X. They found themselves in company with that ferocious
+satirist, Ulric von Hutten, memorable for his threat to the citizens of
+Mainz, when they proposed to destroy his library, and he answered, 'If
+you burn my books, I will burn your town.' The Grand Inquisitor was
+utterly overwhelmed by his volume of Pasquinades, a work so witty that it
+was constantly attributed to Erasmus, and so carefully destroyed that
+Heinsius gave a hundred gold pieces for the copy which Count Hohendorf
+afterwards placed among the imperial rarities at Vienna. The satirist's
+volume of _Letters from Obscure Men_ completed the rout of the
+Inquisition; and we are told by the way that it saved the life of
+Erasmus by throwing him into a violent fit of laughter.
+
+We do not suppose that many Germans of that day loved books for their
+delicate appearance, or the damask and satin of their 'pleasant
+coverture.' Reuchlin may be counted among the bibliophiles, since he
+refused a large sum from the Emperor in lieu of a Hebrew Bible.
+Melanchthon's books were rough volumes in stamped pigskin, made valuable
+by his marginal notes. The library of Erasmus may be shown to have been
+somewhat insignificant by these words in his will: 'Some time ago I sold
+my library to John à Lasco of Poland, and according to the contract
+between us it is to be delivered to him on his paying two hundred florins
+to my heir; if he refuses to accede to this condition, or die before me,
+my heir is to dispose of the books as he shall think proper.' The
+principal bibliophiles in Germany were the wealthy Fuggers of Augsburg,
+of whom Charles V. used to say when he saw any display of magnificence,
+'I have a burgess at Augsburg who can do better than that.' These
+merchants were commonly believed to have discovered the philosopher's
+stone: they were in fact enriched by their trade with the East, and had
+found another fortune in the quicksilver of Almaden, by which the gold
+was extracted from the ores of Peru. Raimond Fugger amassed a noble
+library before the end of the fifteenth century. Ulric his successor was
+the friend of Henri Estienne, who proudly announced himself as printer to
+the Fuggers on many a title-page. Ulric spent so much money on books
+that his family at one time obtained a decree to restrain his
+extravagance. His library was said to contain as many books as there were
+stars in heaven. The original stock received a vast accession under his
+brother's will, and he purchased another huge collection formed by Dr.
+Achilles Gasparus. On his death he left the whole accumulated mass to the
+Elector Palatine, and the books thenceforth shared the fortunes of the
+Heidelberg Library. When Tilly took the city in 1622 the best part of the
+collection was offered to the Vatican, and Leo Allatius the librarian was
+sent to make the selection, and to superintend their transport to Rome.
+The Emperor Napoleon thought fit to remove some of the MSS. to Paris;
+but, on their being seized by the Allies in 1815, it was thought that
+prescription should not be pleaded by Rome: 'especially,' says Hallam,
+'when she was recovering what she had lost by the same right of
+spoliation'; and the whole collection of which the Elector had been
+deprived was restored to the library at Heidelberg.
+
+Flanders had been the home of book-learning in very early times. The
+Counts of Hainault and the Dukes of Brabant were patrons of literature
+when most of the princes of Europe were absorbed in the occupations of
+the chase. The Flemish monasteries preserved the literary tradition. At
+Alne, near Liège, the monks had a Bible which Archdeacon Philip, the
+friend of St. Bernard, had transcribed before the year 1140. We hear of
+another at Louvain, about a century later in date, with initials in blue
+and gold throughout, which had taken three years in copying. Deventer was
+known as 'the home of Minerva' before the days of St. Thomas à Kempis.
+The Forest of Soigny provided a retreat for learning in its houses of
+Val-Rouge and Val-Vert and the Sept-Fontaines. The Brothers of the Common
+Life had long been engaged in the production of books before they gave
+themselves to the labours of the printing-press at Brussels. Thomas à
+Kempis himself has described their way of living at Deventer. 'Much was I
+delighted,' he said, 'with the devout conversation, the irreproachable
+demeanour and humility of the brethren: I had never seen such piety and
+charity: they took no concern about what passed outside, but remained at
+home, employed in prayer and study, or in copying useful books.' This
+work at good books, he repeated, is the opening of the fountains of life:
+'Blessed are the hands of the copyists: for which of the world's writings
+would be remembered, if there had been no pious hand to transcribe them?'
+He himself during his stay at Deventer copied out a Bible, a Missal, and
+four of St. Bernard's works, and when he went to Zwolle he composed and
+wrote out a chronicle of the brotherhood.
+
+The Abbey of St. Bavon at Ghent was endowed with a great number of books
+by Rafael de Mercatellis, the reputed son of Philippe le Bon, Duke of
+Burgundy. As Abbot he devoted his life to increasing the splendour of
+his monastery. The illuminated MSS. survived the perils of war and the
+excesses of the Revolution, and are still to be seen in the University
+with the Abbot's signature on their glittering title-pages.
+
+A more important collection belonged to Louis de Bruges, Seigneur de La
+Gruthuyse. As titular Earl of Winchester he was in some degree connected
+with this country. When Edward IV. fled from England, and was chased by
+German pirates, this nobleman was Governor of Holland. He rescued the
+fugitives, and paid their expenses; and when Edward recovered his throne
+he rewarded his friend with a title and a charge on the Customs. The
+dignity carried no active privileges, and in 1499 it was surrendered to
+the King at Calais. The books of La Gruthuyse have been described as 'the
+bibliographical marvel of the age.' They were celebrated for their choice
+vellum, their delicate penmanship, and their exquisite illustrations.
+Louis de Bruges was the friend and patron of Colard Mansion, who printed
+in partnership with Caxton. Three copies are known of his work called the
+'Penitence of Adam.' One belonged to the Royal Library of France: another
+was borrowed from a monastery by the Duc d'Isenghien, an enthusiastic but
+somewhat unscrupulous collector, and this copy was sold at the Gaignat
+sale in 1769; the third was the property of M. Lambinet of Brussels, and
+is remarkable for the miniature in which Mansion is represented as
+offering the book to his patron in the garden of La Gruthuyse. After the
+death of Louis his books passed to his son Jean de Bruges; but most of
+them were soon afterwards acquired by Louis XII., who added them to the
+library at Blois, the insignia of La Gruthuyse being replaced by the arms
+of France. Others were bequeathed to Louis XIV. by the bibliophile
+Hippolyte de Béthune, who refused a magnificent offer from Queen
+Christina of Sweden in order that his books might remain in France. A
+fine copy of the _Forteresse du Foy_ belonged to Claude d'Urfé, whose
+library of 4000 books, 'all in green velvet,' was kept in his castle at
+La Bastie; when all the others were dispersed the Gruthuyse volume
+remained as an heirloom, and descended to Honoré d'Urfé, the dreariest of
+all writers of romance. In 1776 it belonged to the Duc de la Vallière,
+and was purchased for the French Government at one of his numerous sales.
+Some of the Flemish books remained in their original home. A volume of
+Wallon songs was discovered at Ghent in the last generation; and two
+other Gruthuyse books in the same language, from the great collection of
+M. Van Hulthem, are now deposited in the Burgundian Library at Brussels.
+
+The Dukes of Burgundy were of the book-loving race of the Valois. The
+brothers, Charles le Sage, Jean Duc de Berry, and Philippe le Hardi of
+Burgundy, were all founders of celebrated libraries. Philippe increased
+his store of books by his marriage with the heiress of Flanders; he kept
+a large staff of scribes at work, and made incessant purchases from the
+Lombard booksellers in Paris. Duke John, his successor, is remembered for
+his acquisition of a wonderful _Valerius Maximus_ from the librarian of
+the Sorbonne. But the collections of which the remnants are now preserved
+in Belgium were almost entirely the work of Duke Philippe le Bon. He kept
+his books in many different places. He had a library at Dijon, and
+another in Paris, a few volumes in the treasury at Ghent, a thousand
+volumes at Bruges, and nearly as many at Antwerp. It has been calculated
+that he possessed more than 3200 MSS. in all; and, if that figure is
+correct, the House of Bourgogne-Valois was in this respect almost the
+richest of the reigning families of Europe.
+
+Under Charles the Bold the libraries appear to have been left alone,
+except as regards a few characteristic additions. The Duchess Margaret
+was the patroness of her countryman Caxton, whose _Recuyell_, probably
+published at Bruges in 1474 during his partnership with Colard Mansion,
+was the first printed English book. The taste of the Duchess may answer
+for the appearance in the library of the _Moral Discourses_, and the
+elegant _Debates upon Happiness_. The _Cyropædia_ and the romance of
+_Quintus Curtius_ must be attributed to the warlike Duke. At Berne they
+have a relic of the fight where his men were shot down 'like ducks in the
+reeds.' It is a manuscript, with a note added to the following effect:
+'These military ordinances of the excellent and invincible Duke Charles
+of Burgundy were taken at Morat on the 14th of June 1476, being found in
+the pavilion of that excellent and potent prince.' When Charles was
+killed at Nancy in the following year his favourite _Cyropædia_ was found
+by the Swiss in his baggage. This volume was bought in 1833 by the Queen
+of the Belgians at a book-sale in Paris, and has now been restored to its
+original home at Brussels.
+
+After the death of Charles the Bold his library at Dijon was given by the
+French King to George de la Tremouille, the governor of the province. It
+passed to the family of Guy de Rocheford, and in the course of time many
+of the best works have found their way into the national collection. Mary
+of Burgundy retained the other libraries at Brussels. After her marriage
+with Maximilian her family treasures were for the most part dispersed in
+France, Germany, and Sweden, the needy prince being unable to resist the
+temptation of pilfering and pawning the books; but the generosity of
+Margaret of Austria, a great collector herself of fine copies and first
+editions, in some measure repaired the loss; and Mary of Austria, who
+became Regent in 1530, continued the work of restoration.
+
+The magnificence of the Burgundian Court and the commercial prosperity of
+the Low Countries led to a continuous demand for fine books among the
+other productions of luxury. We learn also by the Venetian Archives that
+throughout the fifteenth century books were being imported into England
+by the galleys that brought the produce of the East to our merchants in
+London and Southampton. There were as yet but slight signs of literary
+activity; but it has been well said that 'the seed was germinating in the
+ground'; and many foreign works were brought home from time to time by
+those who had studied or travelled in Italy. It was the fashion of the
+day to learn under Guarini at Ferrara; the list of his scholars includes
+the names of Robert Fleming, and Bishop William Gray, and the book-loving
+John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, whose virtue and learning became the
+object of William Caxton's celebrated eulogy. We may commemorate here the
+earlier labours of Lord Cobham, who caused Wicliffe's works to be copied
+at a great expense and to be conveyed for safety to Bohemia, and of Sir
+Walter Sherington, who early in the same century built a library at
+Glastonbury, and furnished it with 'fair books upon vellum.' Towards the
+end of the century learning began to flourish under the patronage of Lord
+Saye, and the accomplished Anthony Lord Rivers: and its future in this
+country was secure, when the English scholars began to flock towards
+Florence to hear the lectures of Chalcondylas and his successor Politian.
+Grocyn, our first Greek Professor, had drawn his learning from that
+source, and Linacre had sat there in a class with the children of Lorenzo
+de' Médici. Cardinal Pole and the Ciceronian De Longueil shared as
+students in those tasks and sports at Padua which were so vividly
+described by the English churchman in his record of their life-long
+friendship. Thomas Lilly, the master at St. Paul's, not only worked at
+Florence but went to perfect his Greek in the Isle of Rhodes. Sir Thomas
+More was the pupil of Grocyn, whom he seems to have excelled in
+scholarship. His affection for books is known by his son-in-law's careful
+biography. An anecdote cited by Dibdin preserves a record of the fate of
+his library. When the Chancellor was arrested, the officers were expected
+to listen to his talk with certain spies, on the chance that the prisoner
+might be led into a treasonable conversation; but, as Mr. Palmer said in
+his deposition, 'he was so busy trussing up Sir Thomas More's books in a
+sack that he took no heed to their talk'; and Sir Richard Southwell on
+the same occasion deposed, that 'being appointed only to look to the
+conveyance of the books, he gave no ear unto them.' Erasmus praised More
+as 'the most gentle soul ever framed by Nature.' He was astonished at his
+learning, and indeed at the high standard that had already been attained
+in England. 'It is incredible,' he said, 'what a thick crop of old books
+spreads out on every side: there is so much erudition, not of any
+ordinary kind, but recondite and accurate and antique, both in Greek and
+Latin, that you need not go to Italy except for the pleasure of
+travelling.' Hallam remarked that Erasmus was always ready with a
+compliment; but he admitted that before the year 1520 there were probably
+more scholars in England than in France, 'though all together they might
+not weigh as heavy as Budæus.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+FRANCE: EARLY BOOKMEN--ROYAL COLLECTORS.
+
+
+We shall take Budæus as our first example of the French bookmen in the
+period that followed the invention of printing. Of Guillaume Budé, to
+give him his original name, it was said that he knew Greek as minutely as
+the orators of the age of Demosthenes. If there was any real foundation
+for the compliment it must have consisted in the fact that the Frenchman
+had more acquaintance with the language than his instructor George of
+Sparta. Budæus is said to have paid a very large sum for a course of
+lectures on Homer, and to have been not a pennyworth the wiser at the
+end. Erasmus, who also learned of the Spartan, confessed that his tutor
+only 'stammered in Greek,' and that he seemed to have neither the desire
+nor the capacity for teaching. It is interesting to see how these
+students made the best of their bad materials. 'I have given my whole
+soul to Greek,' wrote Erasmus, 'and as soon as I get any money I shall
+buy books first, and then some clothes.' Budæus was known as 'the prodigy
+of France,' and even Scaliger allowed that his country would never see
+such a scholar again; and it is rather surprising that Erasmus should
+have compared his style unfavourably with that of Badius, the printer
+from Brabant.
+
+Budæus was the first to apply the historical method to the explanation of
+the Civil Law: with the assistance of Jean Grolier he brought out a very
+learned treatise on ancient weights and measures; and in publishing his
+commentaries on the Greek language he was said to have raised himself to
+'a pinnacle of philological glory.' One of the stories about his devotion
+to books may have been told of others, but is certainly characteristic of
+the man. A servant rushes in to say that the house is on fire; but the
+scholar answers, 'Tell my wife: you know that I never interfere with the
+household.' He was married twice over, he used to say, to the Muse of
+philology as well as to a mortal wife; but he confessed that he would
+never have got far with the first, if the second had not commanded in the
+library, always ready to look out passages and to hand down the necessary
+books.
+
+When Charles VIII. seized the royal library at Naples, a few of the best
+MSS. escaped his scrutiny, and these were sold by the dispossessed King
+to the Cardinal D'Amboise. A new school of illuminators at Rouen provided
+the Cardinal with a number of other splendid volumes. He lived till the
+year 1510, and was able to collect a second library of printed books. He
+divided the whole into two portions at his death, the French books
+passing to a relation and afterwards to the family of La Rochefoucauld,
+and the rest forming the foundation of a fine library long possessed by
+the Archbishops of Rouen.
+
+The Archbishop Juvenal des Ursins died in the middle of the fifteenth
+century. He is celebrated as a lover of good books, though only a single
+example of his choice survived into the present generation. It was a
+magnificent missal on vellum, filled with the choicest miniatures, and
+known as the best specimen of its class in the possession of Prince
+Soltikoff. It is only a few years ago that it entered the collection of
+M. Firmin-Didot, who paid 36,000 francs for it at the Prince's sale: in
+the year 1861 he gave it up to the City of Paris; but like so many of the
+great books of France it perished in the fires of the Commune.
+
+Jacques de Pars, the physician to Charles VII., bequeathed his scientific
+MSS. to the College of Medicine at Paris: and the value of his gift was
+manifested when the powerful Louis XI. was forbidden to take out a
+medical treatise for transcription unless he would pledge his silver
+plate and find collateral security for its safe return. Étienne Chevalier
+was one of the few servants of King Charles who were tolerated by King
+Louis. He became Chief Treasurer to Louis XI., and built a great mansion
+in the Rue de la Verrerie in Paris. The walls and ceilings were decorated
+with allegorical designs in honour of his friend Agnès Sorel, whose
+courage had led to the expulsion of the English invaders. The library was
+filled with choice MSS., illuminated for the most part by Jehan Foucquet,
+the famous miniaturist from Tours. Nicholas Chevalier, his descendant in
+the sixteenth century, was also illustrious as a bibliophile, and amidst
+his own printed folios and pedigrees rolled in blue velvet could still
+show the marvellous _Livre d'Heures_, of which all that now remains is a
+set of paintings hacked out from the text. M. Le Roux de Lincy has
+compiled a long and interesting list of the French bibliophiles who
+preceded the age of Grolier. We can only mention a few out of the number.
+Of the poets we have Charles, Duke of Orléans, the owner of eighty
+magnificent volumes preserved in the Castle of Blois, and Pierre Ronsard;
+and we may add the Abbé Philippe Desportes, renowned not less for a
+rivalry with Ronsard than for his sumptuous mode of living and the
+fortune expended on his library. To the statesmen may be added Florimond
+Robertet, the first of a long line of bibliophiles. Among the learned
+ladies of the sixteenth century we may choose Louise Labé, surnamed 'La
+Belle Cordière,' who made a collection of a new kind, composed entirely
+of works in French, Spanish, and Italian, and Charlotte Guillard, a
+printer as well as a book-collector, who published at her own expense a
+volume of the Commentaries of St. Jerome.
+
+The most important of the private collectors in this period was Arthur
+Gouffier, Seigneur de Boissy, another of the faithful followers of
+Charles VII. who were so fortunate as to gain the confidence of his
+jealous successor.
+
+He was a lover of fine bindings in the style rendered famous by Grolier.
+One of his books belonged to the late Baron Jérôme Pichon, the head of
+the French _Société des Bibliophiles_, and it is admitted that nothing
+even in Grolier's library could excel it in delicacy of execution. His
+son, Claude Gouffier, created Duc de Rouannais, was a collector of an
+essentially modern type. He bought autographs and historical portraits,
+as well as rare MSS. and good specimens of printing, and was careful to
+have his books well clothed in the fashionable painted binding. Claude
+Gouffier was tutor to the young Duc d'Angoulême, who came to the throne
+as Francis I.; and to him may be due his royal pupil's affection for the
+books bedecked with the salamander in flames and the silver
+_fleurs-de-lys_.
+
+Francis I. cared little for printed books in comparison with manuscript
+rarities; he added very few to the collection at Fontainebleau beyond
+what he received as presents from his mother, Queen Louise, and his
+sister Marguerite d'Angoulême. The royal library owed many of its finest
+manuscripts to the delicate taste of the princess who was compared to the
+'blossom of poetry' and praised as the 'Marguerite des Marguerites.' Its
+wealth was much increased by the confiscation of the property of the
+Constable de Bourbon; and it should be remembered that among the
+additions from this source were most of the magnificently illuminated
+manuscripts that had belonged to Jean Duc de Berri.
+
+The King was much attracted by the hope of making literary discoveries
+in the East; he obtained much information on the subject from John
+Lascaris, and despatched Pierre Gilles to make purchases in the Levantine
+monasteries. A similar commission was entrusted to Guillaume Postel, one
+of the greatest linguists that ever lived, but so crazy that he believed
+himself to be Adam born to live again, and so unfortunate that he could
+seldom keep out of a prison.
+
+The reign of Henri Deux is of great importance in the annals of
+bibliography. An ordinance was made in 1558, through the influence, as it
+is supposed, of Diane de Poitiers, by which every publisher was compelled
+to present copies of his books, printed on vellum and suitably bound, to
+the libraries at Blois and Fontainebleau, and such others as the King
+should appoint. About eight hundred volumes in the national collection
+represent the immediate results of this copy-tax; they are all marked
+with the ambiguous cypher, which might either represent the initials of
+the King and Queen or might indicate the names of Henri and Diane. Queen
+Catherine de Médici was an enthusiastic collector. When she arrived in
+France as a girl she brought with her from Urbino a number of MSS. that
+had belonged to the Eastern Emperors, and had been purchased by Cosmo de'
+Médici. She afterwards seized the whole library of Marshal Strozzi on the
+ground that they must be regarded as 'Médici books,' having been
+inherited at one time by a nephew of Leo X. On her death in 1589 she was
+found to have been possessed of about eight hundred Greek manuscripts,
+all of the highest rarity and value. There was some danger that they
+would be seized by her creditors; but the King was advised that such an
+assemblage could not be got together again in any country or at any cost.
+The library was made an heir-loom of the Crown: and at De Thou's
+suggestion the books were stripped of their rich coverings and disguised
+in an official costume.
+
+Diane de Poitiers, a true _chasseresse des bouquins_, was herself the
+daughter of a bibliophile. The Comte de St. Vallier loved books in
+Italian bindings, and there is a _Roman de Perceforest_ in the collection
+of the Duc d'Aumale, that bears the Saint Vallier arms and marks of
+ownership, though it was confidently believed to have been bound for
+Grolier when it belonged to King Louis-Philippe. Henri Deux and the
+Duchesse Diane kept a treasure of books between them in the magnificent
+castle of Anet: and after they were dead the books remained unknown and
+unnoticed in their hall until the death of the Princesse de Condé in the
+year 1723. The sale which then took place was a revelation of beauty. The
+books were in good condition, and were all clad in sumptuous bindings.
+There was a remarkable diversity in their contents, the Fathers and the
+poets standing side by side with treatises upon medicine and the
+management of a household, as if they had been acquired in great part by
+virtue of the tax upon the publishers. Most of them, we are told, were
+bought by the 'intrepid book-hunter' M. Guyon de Sardières, whose whole
+library in its turn was engulphed in the miscellaneous collections of the
+Duc de la Vallière. An article in the _Bibliophile Français_ contains a
+curious argument in favour of Diane de Poitiers, as being one of a band
+of devoted Frenchwomen who saved their country from foreign ideas. We are
+reminded of the patriotism of Agnès Sorel, and of the excellent influence
+of Gabrielle d'Estrées. The Duchesse d'Estampes, we are told, preserved
+Francis I. from the influence of the Italian renaissance, and prevented
+the subjugation of France 'by a Benvenuto or Da Vinci'; and in the same
+way, when Catherine de Médici was preparing to introduce other strange
+fashions, Diane came forward in her 'magical beauty' and saved the
+originality of her nation.
+
+The three sons of Catherine were all fond of books in their way. Francis
+_ii._ died before he had time to make any collection; if he had lived,
+Mary of Scotland, who shared his throne for a few weeks, might have led
+him into the higher paths of literature. Some of their favourite volumes
+have been preserved; the young King's books bear the dolphin or the arms
+of France; the Queen bound everything in black morocco emblasoned with
+the lion of Scotland. Charles IX. had a turn for literature, as beseemed
+the pupil of Bishop Amyot; he studied archæology in some detail, and
+purchased Grolier's cabinet of coins. He brought the library of
+Fontainebleau to Paris, where his father had made the beginning of a new
+collection out of the confiscated property of the Président Ranconnet,
+and gave the management of the whole to the venerable Amyot. His brother,
+the effeminate Henri Trois, cared much for bindings and little for books:
+it is said that he was somewhat of a book-binder himself, as his brother
+Charles had worked at the armourer's smithy, and as some of his
+successors were to take up the technicalities of the barber, the cook,
+and the locksmith. Being an extravagant idler himself, he passed laws
+against extravagance in his subjects; but though furs and heavy chains
+might be forbidden, he allowed gilt edges and arabesques on books, and
+only drew the line at massive gold stamps. His own taste combined the
+gloomy and the grotesque, his clothes and his bindings alike being
+covered with skulls and cross-bones, and spangles to represent tears,
+with other conventional emblems of sorrow.
+
+Louise of Lorraine, after the King's death, retired to the castle of
+Chenonceau: and the widowed queen employed her time, in that 'palace of
+fairy-land,' at forming a small cabinet of books. The catalogue describes
+about eighty volumes, mostly bound by Nicolas Eve; and the gay morocco
+covers in red, blue, and green, were decorated with brilliant arabesques,
+or sprinkled with golden lilies. Hardly any perfect specimens remain,
+even in the National Library. They were all bequeathed by the Queen to
+her niece the Duchesse de Vendôme; but in the hands of a later possessor
+they were put up for sale and dispersed, and have now for the most part
+disappeared.
+
+Henri Quatre is said to have fled to his books for consolation when
+abandoned by Gabrielle d'Estrées. Though no bibliophile himself, he was
+anxious that everything should be done that could promote the interests
+of literature. He intended to establish a magnificent library in the
+Collège de Cambray, but died before the plans were completed. The books
+at Blois, however, were brought to Paris and thrown open to deserving
+students; the library already transported from Fontainebleau and the MSS.
+of Catherine de Médici were removed to the Collège de Clermont, and
+placed under the guardianship of De Thou.
+
+Marguerite de Valois agreed with the King, if in nothing else, at least
+in a desire for the extension of knowledge. She was a most learned lady
+as well as a collector of exquisite books. No branch of science, sacred
+or profane, came amiss to the 'Reine Margot.' She may be regarded as the
+Queen of the 'Femmes Bibliophiles' who occupied so important a position
+in the history of the Court of France. In the domain of good taste she
+excels all competitors; as regards intellect we can hardly estimate the
+distance between Marguerite and the elegant collectors whom we
+distinguish according to the names of their book-binders. Anne of Austria
+is remembered for the lace-like patterns of Le Gascon; and Queen Marie
+Leczinska is famous for the splendour of her volumes bound by Padeloup.
+Even the libraries of the daughters of Louis Quinze, three diligent and
+well-instructed princesses, are only known apart by the colours of the
+moroccos employed by Derôme. The dull contents of the Pompadour's shelves
+would hardly be noticeable without her 'three castles,' or the 'ducal
+mantle,' by Biziaux; and no one but Louis Quinze himself would have
+praised the intelligent choice of Du Barry, or cast a look upon her
+collection of odd volumes and 'remainders,' if they had not been
+decorated like the rest of her furniture. In all the lists of these
+'ladies of old-time' by M. Guigard, by M. Quentin-Bauchart, or by M.
+Uzanne, it is difficult to find one who preferred the inside to the
+outside of the book. M. Uzanne, indeed, has contended that no female
+bibliophile ever felt the passion that inspired a Grolier or a De Thou:
+that Marie Antoinette herself may have caged thousands of books at the
+Trianon like birds in an aviary, without any real regard to their nature
+or the right way of using them; that these devotees of the book-chase
+were like an invalid master of hounds, keeping the pack in a gilded
+kennel without any exercise or any chance of practical work. We think
+that something perhaps might be said on the other side. The Duchesse de
+Berry in our own time possessed a serious collection, made under her own
+direction, in which might be found the _Livre d'Heures_ of Henri Deux,
+the prayer-book of Joanna of Naples, the best books of Marguerite de
+Valois and Marie Leczinska. The Princess Pauline Buonaparte was the
+owner of a well-selected library. But our best example is Madame
+Elisabeth, the ill-fated daughter of France, who was dragged from her
+books at Montreuil in the tumults of 1789. Only a short time before she
+had been absorbed in her simple collection. In the spring of 1786 she
+gave up her mornings to its arrangement. 'My library,' she wrote, 'is
+nearly finished: the desks are being put up, and you cannot imagine the
+fine effect of the books.' On September the 15th she writes to her friend
+again: 'Montreuil and its mistress get on as well as two sweethearts. I
+am writing in the small room at the end; the books are settled in their
+shelves, and my library is really a little gem.' On the 5th of October
+she was standing on the terrace by the library-window, when she saw a
+crowd coming along the Sèvres road, and heard the noise of pipes and
+drums; and on the same day she was forced to leave Montreuil, and never
+saw her books again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE OLD ROYAL LIBRARY--FAIRFAX--COTTON--HARLEY--THE UNIVERSITY OF
+CAMBRIDGE.
+
+
+Henry VII. was the founder of a royal collection which in time became a
+constituent portion of the library at the British Museum. Careful as he
+was of his money, the King endeavoured to buy every book published in
+French, and he acquired the whole of Vérard's series of classics, printed
+on vellum with initials in gold and gorgeous illuminations, in some of
+which the printer is shown presenting his books to the royal collector.
+Henry VIII. established the separate library which was long maintained at
+St. James's; he intended it mainly for the education of princes of the
+blood royal, and supplied it with a quantity of early-printed books and a
+miscellaneous gathering of wreckage from the monasteries. During several
+succeeding reigns there were 'studies' and galleries of books at
+Whitehall and Windsor Castle, at Greenwich and Oatlands, or wherever the
+Court might be held. It is said that in the time of Henry VIII. the best
+English collection belonged to Bishop Fisher. 'He had the notablest
+library,' said Fuller, 'two long galleries full, the books sorted in
+stalls, and a register of the name of each book at the end of its
+stall.' This great storehouse of knowledge the Bishop had intended to
+transfer to St. John's College at Cambridge; but on his disgrace it was
+seized by Thomas Cromwell and dispersed among his greedy retainers.
+
+Under the Protector Somerset the Protestant feeling ran high. Martin
+Bucer's manuscripts were bought for the young King; and the Reformer's
+printed books were divided between Archbishop Cranmer and the Duchess of
+Somerset. About the same time an order was issued in the name of Edward
+VI. for purging the King's library at Westminster of missals, legends,
+and other 'superstitious volumes'; and their 'garniture,' according to
+the fashion of the time, was bestowed as a perquisite upon a grasping
+courtier.
+
+[Illustration: BINDING EXECUTED FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH.]
+
+Queen Elizabeth was naturally fond of fine books. She had a small
+collection before she reached the throne, and became in due course the
+recipient of a number of splendid presentation volumes. There is a copy
+of a French poem in her praise in the public library at Oxford: its pages
+are full of exquisite portraits and designs, and on the sides there are
+'brilliant bosses composed of humming-birds' feathers.' As a child she
+had bound her books in needle-work, or in 'blue corded silk, with gold
+and silver thread,' in the style afterwards adopted by the sisters at
+Little Gidding in the time of Charles I. Her Testament, most carefully
+covered by her own handiwork, contains a note quoted by Mr. Macray in his
+'Annals of the Bodleian Library'; it refers to her walks in the field
+of Scripture, where she plucked up the 'goodlie greene herbes,' which she
+afterwards ate by her reading, 'and chawed by musing.' Her gallery at
+Whitehall made a gallant show of MSS. and classics in red velvet, with
+gilt clasps and jewelled sides, and all the French and Italian books
+standing by in morocco and gold. Archbishop Parker tried to induce her to
+establish a national library; but the Queen seems to have cared little
+about the plan. She allowed the Archbishop on his own behalf to seek out
+the books remaining from the suppressed monasteries: at another time he
+obtained leave to recover as many as he could find of Cranmer's books. He
+tracked some of them to the house of one Dr. Nevinson, who was forced to
+disgorge his treasures. Parker kept a staff of scribes and painters in
+miniature, and had his own press and fount of type. He published many
+scarce tracts to save them from oblivion. Others he ordered to be copied
+in manuscript, and these and all his ancient books he caused to be
+'trimly covered'; so that we may say with Dibdin, 'a more determined
+book-fancier existed not in Great Britain.' He gave some of his books to
+'his nurse Corpus Christi' at Cambridge, and some to the public library;
+and his gift to the College was compared to 'the sun of our English
+antiquity,' eclipsed only by the shadow of Cotton's palace of learning.
+
+One would like to fancy a symposium of the great men talking over their
+books, in the room where Ben Jonson was king, and where
+
+    'Mellifluous Shakespeare, whose enchanting quill
+    Commanded mirth and passion, was but Will.'
+
+Jonson's books, as was said of himself, were like the great Spanish
+galleons, bulky folios with '_Sum Ben Jonson_' boldly inscribed. We know
+little about Shakespeare's books, except that they probably went to the
+New Place and passed among the chattels to Susanna Hall and her husband.
+His Florio's version of Montaigne is in the British Museum, if the
+authenticity of his signature can be trusted. His neat Aldine Ovid is at
+the Bodleian, inscribed with his initials, and a note: 'this little booke
+of Ovid was given to me by W. Hall, who sayd it was once Will
+Shakspere's.'
+
+We would call to our meeting Gabriel Harvey with his new Italian books
+and pamphlets; and Spenser, if possible, should be there; Dr. Dee would
+tell the piteous story of his four thousand volumes, printed and
+unprinted, Greek, in French, and High-Dutch MSS., etc., and of forty
+years spent in gathering the books that were all on their way to the
+pawnshop. He might have told the fortunes of all the books with the help
+of his magical mirrors and crystals. Francis Bacon's store was to
+increase and multiply, to adorn the library at Cambridge and fill the
+shelves at Gray's Inn; Lord Leicester's books, with their livery of the
+'bear and ragged staff,' were to freeze for ages in the galleries at
+Lambeth. We should have Ascham inveighing against the ancients and their
+idle and blind way of living: 'in our father's time,' he says, 'nothing
+was read but books of feigned chivalry'; but Captain Cox would come forth
+to meet him, attired as in the tournament at Kenilworth, or in the
+picture which Dibdin has extracted from Laneham. 'Captain Cox came
+marching on, clean trussed and gartered above the knee, all fresh in a
+velvet cap: an odd man, I promise you: by profession a mason, and that
+right skilful and very cunning in fence.... As for King Arthur and Huon
+of Bourdeaux, ... the Fryar and the Boy, Elynor Rumming, and the
+Nut-brown Maid, with many more than I can rehearse, I believe he has them
+all at his fingers' ends.'
+
+James I., as became a 'Solomon,' was the master of many books; but not
+being a 'fancier' he gave them shabby coverings and scribbled idle notes
+on their margins. He is forgiven for being a pedant, since Buchanan said
+it was the best that could be made of him; it is difficult to be patient
+about his hint to the Dutch that it would be well to burn the old scholar
+Vorstius instead of making him a professor at Leyden. He seems to have
+done more harm than good to the libraries in his own possession. We know
+how he broke into a 'noble speech' when he visited Bodley at Oxford, with
+the librarian trembling lest the King should see a book by Buchanan, who
+had often whipped his royal pupil in days gone by: 'If I were not a King
+I would be an University-man, and if it was so that I must be a prisoner
+I would desire no other durance than to be chained in that library with
+so many noble authors.'
+
+The King gave Sir Thomas Bodley a warrant under the Privy Seal to take
+what books he pleased from any of the royal palaces and libraries;
+'howbeit,' said Bodley, 'for that the place at Whitehall is over the
+Queen's chamber, I must needs attend her departure from thence, whereof
+at present there is no certainty known: how I shall proceed for other
+places I have not yet resolved.'
+
+Prince Henry had a more refined taste. The dilettanti of the Prince's set
+took no part in the drunken antics of the Court, where Goring was master
+of the games, but Sir John Millicent 'made the best _extempore_ fool.'
+The Prince bought almost the whole of the monastic library originally
+formed by Henry Lord Arundel: about forty volumes had already been given
+by Lord Lumley to Oxford.
+
+There was some danger that the books at Whitehall would be destroyed in
+the fury of the Civil War; but almost all of them were saved by the
+personal exertions of Hugh Peters, when Selden had told him that there
+was not the like of these rare monuments in Christendom, outside the
+Vatican. Whitelocke was appointed their keeper, and to his deputy, John
+Dury, we owe the first English treatise on library management. Thomas,
+Lord Fairfax, did a similar good service at Oxford. When the city was
+surrended in 1646 the first thing that the General did was to place a
+guard of soldiers at the Bodleian. There was more hurt done by the
+Cavaliers, said Aubrey, in the way of embezzlement and cutting the chains
+off the books, than was ever done afterwards. Fairfax, he adds, was
+himself a lover of learning, and had he not taken this special care the
+library would have been destroyed; 'for there were ignorant senators
+enough who would have been content to have it so.' As a rule, we must
+admit that the Puritans were friendly to literature, with a very natural
+exception as to merely ecclesiastical records. Oliver Cromwell gave some
+of the Barocci MSS. to the University of Oxford; and the preservation of
+Usher's library at Trinity College, Dublin, was due to the public spirit
+of the Cromwellian soldiers, officers and men having subscribed alike for
+its purchase 'out of emulation to a former noble action of Queen
+Elizabeth's army in Ireland.'
+
+[Illustration: SIR ROBERT COTTON.]
+
+Sir Robert Cotton began about 1588 to gather materials for a history of
+England. With the help of Camden and Sir Henry Spelman he obtained nearly
+a thousand volumes of records and documents; and these he arranged under
+a system, by which they are still cited, in fourteen wainscot presses
+marked with the names of the twelve Cæsars, Cleopatra, and Faustina. He
+was so rich in State Papers that, as Fuller said, 'the fountains were
+fain to fetch water from the stream,' and the secretaries and clerks of
+the Council were glad in many cases to borrow back valuable originals.
+Sir Robert was at one time accused of selling secrets to the Spanish
+ambassador, and various excuses were found for closing the library,
+until at last it was declared to be unfit for public use on account of
+its political contents. He often told his friends that this tyranny had
+broken his heart, and shortly before his death in 1631 he informed the
+Lords of the Council that their conduct was the cause of his mortal
+malady. The library was restored to his son Sir Thomas: and in Sir John
+Cotton's time the public made a considerable use of its contents; but it
+seems to have been still a matter of favour, for Burnet complains that he
+was refused admittance unless he could procure a recommendation from the
+Archbishop and the Secretary of State. Anthony Wood gives a pleasant
+account of his visit: 'Posting off forthwith he found Sir John Cotton in
+his house, joining almost to Westminster Hall: he was then practising on
+his lute, and when he had done he came out and received Wood kindly, and
+invited him to dinner, and directed him to Mr. Pearson who kept the key.
+Here was another trouble; for the said Mr. Pearson being a lodger in the
+shop of a bookseller living in Little Britain, Wood was forced to walk
+thither, and much ado there was to find him.' The library was afterwards
+moved to Essex Street, and then to Ashburnham House in Little Dean's
+Yard, where the great fire took place in 1731, which some attributed to
+'Dr. Bentley's villainy.' Dean Stanley has told us how the Headmaster of
+Westminster, coming to the rescue, saw a figure issue from the burning
+house, 'in his dressing-gown, with a flowing wig on his head, and a huge
+volume under his arm.' This was Dr. Bentley the librarian, doing his best
+to save the Alexandrian MS. of the New Testament. Mr. Speaker Onslow and
+some of the other trustees worked hard in the crowd at pumping, breaking
+open the presses, and throwing the volumes out at a window. The
+destruction was lamentable; but wonders have been done in extending the
+shrivelled documents and rendering their ashes legible. The public use of
+the collection had been already regulated by Parliament when a
+comprehensive Act was passed in 1753, and the nation acquired under one
+title the Cottonian Library, Sir Hans Sloane's Museum, the Earl of
+Oxford's pamphlets and manuscripts, and all that remained of the ancient
+royal collections.
+
+Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, made a great purchase in 1705, and spent
+the next twenty years in building on that foundation. His son, Earl
+Edward, threw himself with zeal into the undertaking, and left at his
+death about 50,000 books, besides a huge body of manuscripts and an
+incredible number of pamphlets. We shall quote from the sketch by Oldys,
+who shared with Dr. Johnson the task of compiling the catalogue. 'The
+Earl had the rarest books of all countries, languages, and sciences':
+thousands of fragments, some a thousand years old: vellum books, of which
+some had been scraped and used again as 'palimpsests': 'a great
+collection of Bibles, and editions of all the first printed books,
+classics, and others of our own country, ecclesiastical as well as civil,
+by Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Berthelet, Rastall, Grafton, and the
+greatest number of pamphlets and English heads of any other person:
+abundance of ledgers, chartularies, etc., and original letters of eminent
+persons as many as would fill two hundred volumes; all the collections of
+his librarian Humphrey Wanley, of Stow, Sir Symonds D'Ewes, Prynne,
+Bishop Stillingfleet, John Bagford, Le Neve, and the flower of a hundred
+other libraries.'
+
+A few of these collections ought to be separately mentioned. Stow had
+died in great poverty, and indeed had been for many years a licensed
+beggar or bedesman; but in his youth he had been enabled by Parker's
+protection to make a good collection out of the spoils of the Abbeys;
+during the Elizabethan persecution he was nearly convicted of treason for
+being in possession of remnants of Popery, and found it very hard to
+convince the stern inquisitor that he was only a harmless antiquary. Sir
+Symonds D'Ewes had endeavoured by his will, which he modelled upon that
+of De Thou, to preserve undispersed through the ages to come the
+'precious library' bequeathed in a touching phrase 'to Adrian D'Ewes, my
+young son, yet lying in the cradle.' Notwithstanding all his bonds and
+penalties the event which he dreaded came to pass. Harley had advised
+Queen Anne to buy a collection that included so many precious documents
+and records: the Queen, wishing perhaps to rebuff her minister, said that
+it was indeed no merit in her to prefer arts to arms, 'but while the
+blood and honour of the nation was at stake in her wars she could not,
+till she had secured her living subjects an honourable peace, bestow
+their money upon dead letters'; and so, we are told, 'the Earl stretched
+his own purse, and gave £6000 for the library.' Peter Le Neve spent his
+life in gathering important papers about coat-armour and pedigrees. He
+had intended them for the use of his fellow Kings-at-Arms; but it was
+said that he had some pique against the Heralds' College, and so 'cut
+them off with a volume.' The rest went to the auction-room: 'The Earl of
+Oxford,' said Oldys, 'will have a sweep at it'; and we know that the cast
+was successful. As for John Bagford, the scourge of the book-world, we
+have little to say in his defence. In his audacious design of compiling a
+history of printing he mangled and mutilated about 25,000 volumes,
+tearing out the title pages and colophons and shaving the margins even of
+such priceless jewels of bibliography as the Bible of Gutenberg and those
+of 'Polyglott' Cardinal Ximènes. He cannot avoid conviction as a literary
+monster; yet his contemporaries regarded him as a miracle of erudition,
+and Mr. Pollard has lately put in a kindly plea in mitigation. We are
+reminded that Bagford made no money by his crimes, that he took
+walking-tours through Holland and Germany in search of bargains, and that
+he made 'a priceless collection of ballads.' It might be said also for a
+further plea that what one age regards as sport another condemns as
+butchery. The Ferrar family at Little Gidding were the inventors of
+'pasting-printing,' as they called their barbarous mode of embellishment;
+and Charles I. himself, in Laud's presence, called their largest
+scrap-book 'the Emperor of all books,' and 'the incomparablest book this
+will be, as ever eye beheld.' The huge volume made up for Prince Charles
+out of pictures and scraps of text was joyfully pronounced to be 'the
+gallantest greatest book in the world.' The practice of 'grangerising,'
+or stuffing out an author with prints and pages from other works, was
+even praised by Dibdin as 'useful and entertaining,' though in our own
+time it is rightly condemned as a malpractice.
+
+Next to Harley's library in importance was that of John Moore, Bishop of
+Ely, of which Burnet said that it was a treasure beyond what one would
+think the life and labour of a man could compass. Oldys has described it
+in his notes upon London libraries, which it is fair to remember were
+based on Bagford's labours, as regards the earlier entries. 'The Bishop,'
+he says, 'had a prodigious collection of books, written as well as
+printed on vellum, some very ancient, others finely illuminated. He had a
+Capgrave's Chronicle, books of the first printing at Maintz and other
+places abroad, as also at Oxford, St. Alban's, Westminster, etc.' There
+was some talk of uniting it with Harley's collection; but in 1715 it was
+bought by George I. for 6000 guineas, and was presented to the Public
+Library at Cambridge.
+
+The University had possessed a library from very early times. It owed
+much to the liberality of several successive Bishops of Durham. Theodore
+Beza and Lord Bacon were afterwards among its most distinguished
+benefactors. Bishop Hacket made a donation of nearly fifteen hundred
+volumes: and in 1647 a large collection of Eastern MSS., brought home
+from Italy by George Thomason, was added by an ordinance of the
+Commonwealth. But, until the royal gift of the Bishop of Ely's books, the
+University received no such extraordinary favour of fortune as came to
+the sister institution through the splendid beneficence of Bodley.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+BODLEY--DIGBY--LAUD--SELDEN--ASHMOLE.
+
+
+The University of Oxford still offers public thanks for Bodley's
+generosity upon his calendar-day. The ancient library of Duke Humphrey
+and his pious predecessors had, as we have seen, been plundered and
+devastated. But Sir Thomas Bodley, when retiring from office in 1597,
+conceived the idea of restoring it to prosperity again; 'and in a few
+years so richly endowed it with books, revenues, and buildings, that it
+became one of the most famous in the world.' Bodley has left us his own
+account of the matter:--'I concluded at the last to set up my staff at
+the library-door in Oxon. I found myself furnished with such four kinds
+of aids as, unless I had them all, I had no hope of success. For without
+some kind of knowledge, without some purse-ability to go through with the
+charge, without good store of friends to further the design, and without
+special good leisure to follow such a work, it could not but have proved
+a vain attempt.' When Méric Casaubon visited Oxford a few years
+afterwards he found the hall filled with books. 'Do not imagine,' he
+wrote, 'that there are as many MSS. here as in the royal library at
+Paris. There are a good many in England, though nothing to what our King
+possesses; but the number of printed books is wonderful, and increasing
+every year. During my visit to Oxford I passed whole days in this place.
+The books cannot be taken away, but it is open to scholars for seven or
+eight hours a day, and one may always see a number of them revelling at
+their banquet, which gave me no small pleasure.' Bodley was not one of
+those who like libraries to be open to all comers. 'A grant of such
+scope,' said his statute, 'would but minister an occasion of pestering
+all the room with their gazing; and the babbling and trampling up and
+down may disturb out of measure the endeavours of those that are
+studious. Admission, from the first, was granted only to graduates, and
+every one on his entrance had to take the oath against 'razing, defacing,
+cutting, noting, slurring, and mangling the books.'
+
+Sir Thomas was ably seconded by 'good Mr. James,' his first librarian,
+and by the bookseller John Bill, who collected for him at Frankfort and
+Lyons and other likely places on the Continent. The most minute rules
+were laid down for the protection of the books against embezzlement. The
+volumes were chained to the desks, and readers were entreated to fasten
+the clasps and strings, to untangle the chains, and to leave the books as
+they found them. Bodley was always enquiring about the store of chains
+and wires. 'I pray you write to John Smith,' he said to James, 'that I
+may be furnished against Easter with a thousand chains'; he hopes to
+bring enough for that number, 'if God send my books safe out of Italy.'
+About the time of the King's visit he writes that he has sent a case of
+wires and clips by the carrier, 'which I make no doubt but you may in
+good time get fastened to your books.' His carefulness is shown by his
+directions for cleaning the room: 'I do desire that, after the library is
+well swept and the books cleansed from dust, you would cause the floor to
+be well washed and dried, and after rubbed with a little rosemary, for a
+stronger scent I should not like.' He often writes about his Continental
+purchases. John Bill, he says, had been at Venice, Florence, and Rome,
+and half a score other Italian cities, 'and hath bought us many books as
+he knew I had not, amounting to the sum of at least £400.' With regard to
+certain duplicates he says: 'the fault is mine and John Bill's, who
+dealing with multitudes must perforce make many scapes.' 'Jo. Bill hath
+gotten everywhere what the place would afford, for his commission was
+large, his leisure very good, and his payment sure at home.' The agent
+bought largely at Seville; 'but the people's usage towards all of our
+nation is so cruel and malicious that he was utterly discouraged.'
+
+[Illustration: SIR THOMAS BODLEY.]
+
+Sir Thomas Bodley would accept a very small contribution or the gift of a
+single volume of any respectable sort. But he would have no 'riff-raff,'
+as he told Dr. James, and would certainly have scorned the almanacs and
+play-books acquired after his death under a bequest from the melancholy
+Burton, and the ships' logs and 'pickings of chandlers' and grocers'
+papers' which were received long afterwards as part of Dr. Rawlinson's
+great donation. He was always grateful for a well-meant present. He
+writes to his librarian: 'Mr. Schoolmaster of Winton's gift of
+Melanchthon and Huss I do greatly esteem, and will thank him, if you
+will, by letter.' Some of the earliest gifts were of a splendid kind.
+Lord Essex sent three hundred folios, including a fine Budæus from the
+library of Jerome Osorio, captured at Faro in Portugal when the fleet was
+returning from Cadiz. Bodley himself gave a magnificent _Romance of
+Alexander_ that had belonged in 1466 to Richard Woodville, Lord Rivers.
+The librarian contributed about a hundred volumes, including early MSS.
+procured from Balliol and Merton by his persuasion. Merton College, for
+its own part, sent nearly two-score volumes of 'singular good books in
+folio.' Sir Henry Savile gave the 'Gospels' in Russian and the Greek
+'Commentaries on St. Augustine,' and William Camden out of his poverty
+brought a few manuscripts and ancient books. Lawrence Bodley, the
+founder's brother, came with thirty-seven 'very fair and new-bought works
+in folio, and Lord Lumley with forty volumes reserved out of the library
+sold to the Prince. Lord Montacute contributed the works of the Fathers,
+'in sixty-six costly great volumes, all bought of set purpose and fairly
+bound with his arms,' Mr. Gent a number of medical treatises, Sir John
+Fortescue five good Greek MSS. and forty other books. We only mention a
+few of the choicer specimens or note the reappearance of old friends
+described in earlier chapters. In 1602 there arrived from Exeter Bishop
+Leofric's vellum service-book, with several others that had lodged in its
+company since the days of Edward the Confessor. Next year came one of the
+exquisite 'Gospels' which Pope Gregory, as men said, had given to the
+missionary Augustine; the other had been included in Parker's gift to
+Corpus Christi. Sir Henry Wotton contributed a valuable Koran, to which
+in later years he added Tycho Brahés 'Astronomy' with the author's MS.
+notes. Thomas Allen gave a relic of St. Dunstan, containing the Saint's
+portrait drawn by himself, and one of Grostête's books that had been
+given by the Friars to Dr. Gascoigne. Mr. Allen gave in all twelve rare
+MSS. besides printed books, 'with a purpose to do more'; and Bodley
+commends him as a most careful provoker and solicitor of benefactions. He
+was the mathematician, or rather the cabalistical astrologer, who taught
+Sir Kenelm Digby, introducing that romantic giant to the art of ruling
+the stars, and how to melt and puff 'until the green dragon becomes the
+golden goose,' and all the other _arcana_ of alchemy.
+
+Digby was a good friend to the Bodleian. When quite a youth he cut down
+fifty great oaks to purchase a building-site near Exeter College. The
+laying of the foundation-stone in 1634 was amusingly described by Wood.
+The Heads of Houses were all assembled, and the University musicians 'had
+sounded a lesson on their wind-music,' standing on the leads at the west
+end of the library; but while the Vice-Chancellor was placing a piece of
+gold on the first stone, the earth fell in, and the scaffold broke, 'so
+that all those who were thereon, the Proctors, Principals of Halls, etc.,
+fell down all together one upon another, among whom the under-butler of
+Exeter College had his shoulder broken or put out of joint, and a
+scholar's arm bruised.' It was at this time that Digby made a generous
+gift of books, all tall copies in good bindings with his initials on the
+panels at the back. Among them were early works on science by Grostête
+and Roger Bacon, besides histories and chronicles. Many of these books
+had belonged to Thomas Allen, who gave them to Digby as a token of
+regard. Sir Kenelm wrote about them to Sir Robert Cotton, who was to
+thank Allen for his kindness: 'in my hands they will not be with less
+honourable memory of him than in any man's else.' He felt sure that Allen
+would have wished them to be freely used: 'all good things are the better
+the more they are communicated'; but the University was to be the
+absolute mistress, 'to dispose of them as she pleaseth.' Mr. Macray
+quotes another passage about two trunks of Arabic MSS. Digby had given
+them to Laud for St. John's College or the Bodleian, as he might prefer,
+but nothing had been heard about their arrival. He promised more books
+from his own library, which had been taken over to France after the Civil
+War broke out. The books, however, remained abroad, and were confiscated
+on Digby's death as being the chattels of an alien resident; but either
+by favour or purchase they soon became the property of the Earl of
+Bristol, and were afterwards sold by auction in London. Two volumes were
+purchased for the Bodleian in 1825 which must be regarded with the
+deepest interest. The 'Bacon' and 'Proclus' had belonged to the Oxford
+Friars, to Gascoigne, to the astrologer secluded in Gloucester Hall.
+Digby had written a note in each that it was the book of the University
+Library, as witnessed by his initials; but it had taken them many
+generations to make the last stage of their journey from his book-shelf
+to their acknowledged home at Oxford.
+
+It was chiefly through the generosity of Laud that the Bodleian obtained
+its wealth of Oriental learning. But it was not only in the East that the
+Archbishop devoted himself to book-collecting. Like Dr. Dee, he saw the
+value of Ireland as a hunting-ground, and employed his emissaries to
+procure painted service-books, the records of native princes, and the
+archives of the Anglo-Norman nobility. Among his most precious
+acquisitions was an Irish MS. containing the _Psalter of Cashel_,
+Cormac's still unpublished _Glossary_, and some of the poems ascribed to
+St. Patrick and St. Columba. On the Continent the armies of Gustavus
+Adolphus were ravaging the cities of Germany; and Laud's agents were
+always at hand to rescue the fair books and vellums from the Swedish
+pikemen. In this way he obtained the printed Missal of 1481 and a number
+of Latin MSS. from the College of Würzburg, and other valuable books from
+monasteries near Mainz and Eberbach in the Duchy of Baden. It appears by
+Mr. Macray's Annals that his gifts to the University between 1635 and
+1640 amounted to about thirteen hundred volumes, in more than twenty
+languages. To our minds the most attractive will always be the very copy
+of the 'Acts' perused by the Venerable Bede, and the 'Anglo-Saxon
+Chronicle' compiled in the Abbey of Peterborough. The men of Laud's age
+would perhaps have attached greater importance to the Eastern MSS.
+acquired by the Archbishop through Robert Huntingdon, the consul at
+Aleppo, or the Greek library of Francesco Barocci, which he persuaded
+William Earl of Pembroke to present to the University. In describing the
+Persian MSS. of his last gift, Laud specially mentioned one as containing
+a history of the world from the Creation to the end of the Saracen
+Empire, and as being of a very great value. He shows the greatest anxiety
+for the safety of the volumes: 'I would to God the place for them were
+ready, that they might be set up safe, and chained as the other books
+are.' He gave many books to St. John's College; and he retained a large
+collection in his Palace at Lambeth, which was bestowed on Hugh Peters
+after his death; it is satisfactory, however, to remember that 'the study
+of books' was recovered at the Restoration, and that Mr. Ashmole was
+appointed to examine the accounts of the fanatic.
+
+Laud was not the first to seek for the treasures of the East. Before his
+gifts began Sir Thomas Roe, who sat for Oxford with Selden, had presented
+to the Bodleian a number of MSS. acquired during his embassy to
+Constantinople. Joseph Scaliger, the restorer of Arabic learning in the
+West, had been especially interested in Samaritan literature, and had
+corresponded about a copy of the Pentateuch with one Rabbi Eleazar, 'who
+dwelt in Sichem'; and, though the papers fell into the hands of robbers,
+they were afterwards delivered to Peiresc. The traveller Minutius had
+returned with Coptic service-books, and Peiresc, captivated with a new
+branch of learning, established an agency for Eastern books at Smyrna.
+The Capucin Gilles de Loche averred that he had seen 8000 volumes in a
+monastery of the Nitrian Desert,'many of which seemed to be of the age of
+St. Anthony': he had pushed into Abyssinia and had heard the 'uncouth
+chaunts and clashing cymbals,' as Mr. Curzon heard them in a later age;
+and he had even cast his eyes on the _Book of Enoch_ with pallid figures
+and a shining black text; and Peiresc was so inflamed with a desire to
+buy it at any price that in the end he acquired it. The books seen by the
+Capucin in the Convent of the Syrians, stored 'in the vault beyond the
+oil-cellar,'have become our national property; and if there are not many
+of the age of St. Anthony we have at least the volume, completed by the
+help of a monk's note of the eleventh century, and originally written in
+the year 411 'at Ur of the Chaldees by the hand of a man named Jacob.'
+
+Much less attention seems to have been paid to the collection of Hebrew
+books than to those in Coptic and Arabic. Selden, it is true, gave to
+the University Library 'such of his Talmudical and Rabbinical books as
+were not already to be found there,' and purchases were made at the
+Crevenna sale in Amsterdam and at a sale during the present century of
+the MSS. of Matheo Canonici at Venice. The chief source from which the
+Bodleian was supplied was the collection formed before 1735 by David
+Oppenheimer, the Chief Rabbi at Prague. In the British Museum are the
+Hebrew books presented by Solomon da Costa in 1759. The donor's letter
+contained a few interesting details. There were three Biblical MSS. and a
+hundred and eighty printed books, all in very old editions: 'They were
+bound by order of King Charles II., and marked with his cypher, and were
+purchased by me in the days of my youth, and the particulars are they not
+written in the book that is found therewith?' They had been collected
+under the Commonwealth, and had afterwards been sent to the binder by
+King Charles; but as the bill was never paid they lay in the shop until
+the reign of George I., when they were sold to pay expenses, and so came
+into the possession of the excellent Solomon da Costa.
+
+The best antiquarian collections were those given to Oxford by Dr.
+Rawlinson in the last century, by Richard Gough in 1809, and by Mr. Douce
+in 1834. Mr. Macray has enumerated nearly thirty libraries which Richard
+Rawlinson had laid under contribution, and his list includes such
+headings as the Miscellaneous Papers of Samuel Pepys, the Thurloe State
+Papers, the remains of Thomas Hearne, and documents belonging to Gale and
+Michael Maittaire, Sir Joseph Jekyll, and Walter Clavell of the Temple.
+He cites a letter written by Rawlinson in 1741, as showing the curious
+accidents by which some of these documents were preserved: 'My agent last
+week met with some papers of Archbishop Wake at a chandler's shop: this
+is unpardonable in his executors, as all his MSS. were left to Christ
+Church; but _quære_ whether these did not fall into some servant's hands,
+who was ordered to burn them, and Mr. Martin Folkes ought to have seen
+that done.'
+
+Mr. Gough's collection related chiefly to English topography, Anglo-Saxon
+and Northern literature, and printed service-books; it is stated to
+contain more than 3700 volumes, all given by a generous bequest to form
+'an Antiquary's Closet.' Mr. Douce's large library contained a number of
+Missals and _Livres d'Heures_. Some of these are described as 'priceless
+gems rivalled only by the Bedford Missal,' especially one prayer-book
+illuminated for Leonora, Duchess of Urbino, another that belonged to
+Marie de Médici, and 'a Psalter on purple vellum, probably of the ninth
+century, which came from the old Royal Library of France.' Among the most
+important of the earlier benefactions was the gift of the Dodsworth
+Papers by Thomas Lord Fairfax. The archives of the Northern monasteries
+had been kept for a time in eight chests in St. Mary's Tower at York.
+Roger Dodsworth, Sir William Dugdale's colleague in the preparation of
+the Monasticon, made copies of many of these documents; and when the
+tower was blown up in the siege of 1644 he was one of the zealous
+antiquarians who saved the mouldering fragments on the breach. His whole
+store of archæological records became the property of Fairfax at his
+death. They are of great historical importance, but at one time they were
+strangely neglected. Wood says that all the papers were nearly spoiled in
+a damp season, when he obtained leave to dry them on the leads near the
+schools; but though it cost him a month's labour he undertook it with
+pleasure 'out of respect to the memory of Mr. Dodsworth.'
+
+The Ashmolean books were some years ago transferred to the Bodleian, but
+for several generations there was a strange assortment of antiquarian
+libraries gathered together in the Museum which Ashmole developed out of
+Madam Tradescant's 'closet of curiosities.' Here were the books of the
+shiftless John Aubrey, described by Wood as 'sometimes little better than
+crazed': and here, according to Wood's dying wish, lay his own books,
+'and papers and notes about two bushels full,' side by side with
+Dugdale's manuscripts. Dibdin quotes several extracts from Elias
+Ashmole's diary, to show the old book-hunter's prowess in the chase. He
+buys on one day Mr. Milbourn's books, and on the next all that Mr.
+Hawkins left; he sees Mrs. Backhouse of London about the purchase of her
+late husband's library. In 1667 he writes: 'I bought Mr. John Booker's
+study of books, and gave £140.' Being somewhat of an alchemist, he was
+glad to become the owner of Lilly's volumes on magic, and most of Dr.
+Dee's collection came into his hands through the kindness of his friend
+Mr. Wale. When Ashmole brought out his book upon the Order of the Garter
+he became the associate of the nobility; and we will leave him feasting
+at his house in South Lambeth, clad in a velvet gown, and wearing his
+great chain 'of philagreen links in great knobs,' with ninety loops of
+gold.
+
+In noticing the lawyers who have been eminent for their devotion to books
+we might go back to very early times. We ought at least to mention
+Sergeant William Fletewode, Recorder of London in the reign of Elizabeth,
+who bought a library out of Missenden Abbey, consisting mainly of the
+romances of chivalry; it was sold with its later additions in 1774 under
+the title of _Bibliotheca Monastico-Fletewodiana_. The Lord Chancellor
+Ellesmere in the same reign formed a collection of old English poetry,
+which became the foundation of a celebrated library belonging to the
+Dukes of Bridgewater and afterwards to the Marquis of Stafford. Sir
+Julius Cæsar, who was Master of the Rolls under James I., was 'often
+reflected upon' for his want of legal knowledge; but he collected a
+quantity of good MSS. which passed into the library of Mr. Carteret-Webb,
+after a narrow escape of being sold for £10 to a cheesemonger. They are
+now in the British Museum together with a box of exquisite miniature
+classics, with which he used to solace himself on a journey. Arthur, Earl
+of Anglesea, was another distinguished lawyer, who was famous for having
+acquired the finest specimens of books in 'all faculties, arts, and
+languages.'
+
+The great bulk of Selden's books were given by his executors to the
+Bodleian; but several chests of monastic manuscripts were sent to the
+Inner Temple, and perished in a fire. He passed his whole life as a
+scholar; and yet, it is said, he deplored the loss of his time, and
+wished that he had neglected what the world calls learning, and had
+rather 'executed the office of a justice of the peace.' Sir Matthew Hale
+should be remembered for his gift of MSS. to Lincoln's Inn. He made it a
+condition that they should never be printed; and the language of his will
+shows a certain dread of dealing lightly with the secrets of tenure and
+prerogative. 'My desire is that they be kept safe and all together in
+remembrance of me. They were fit to be bound in leather, and chained and
+kept in archives: they are a treasure not fit for every man's view, nor
+is every man capable of making use of them.'
+
+We shall close our account of the century with a few words about Dr.
+Bernard, a stiff, hard, and straightforward reader, whose library of
+medicine and general literature was sold by auction in 1698. 'Being a
+person who collected his books not for ostentation or ornament he seemed
+no more solicitous about their dress than his own'; and therefore, says
+the compiler of his catalogue, 'you'll find that a gilt back or a large
+margin was very seldom any inducement to him to buy. It was sufficient to
+him that he had the book.' 'The garniture of a book,' he would
+observe,'was apt to recommend it to a great part of our modern
+collectors'; he himself was not a mere nomenclator, and versed only in
+title-pages, 'but had made that just and laudable use of his books which
+would become all those that set up for collectors.' He was the possessor
+of thirteen fine Caxtons, which fetched altogether less than two guineas
+at his sale; the biddings seem to have been by the penny; and Mr. Clarke
+in his _Repertorium Bibliographicum_ observed that the penny at that time
+seems to have been more than the equivalent of our pound sterling in the
+purchase of black-letter rarities.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+GROLIER AND HIS SUCCESSORS.
+
+
+Jean Grolier, the prince of book-collectors, was born at Lyons in 1479.
+His family had come originally from Verona, but had long been naturalised
+in France. Several of his relations held civic offices; Étienne Grolier,
+his father, was in charge of the taxes in the district of Lyons, and was
+appointed treasurer of the Milanese territories at that time in the
+occupation of the French. Jean Grolier succeeded his father in both these
+employments. He was treasurer of Milan in 1510, when Pope Julius formed
+the league against the French, which was crushed at the Battle of
+Ravenna; and for nearly twenty years afterwards Grolier took a principal
+part in administering the affairs of the province. Young, rich, and
+powerful, a lover of the arts and a bountiful patron of learning, he
+became an object of almost superstitious respect to the authors and
+booksellers of Italy. He was eager to do all in his power towards
+improving the machinery and diffusing the products of science. He loved
+his books not only for what they taught but also as specimens of
+typography and artistic decoration. To own one or two examples from his
+library is to take high rank in the army of bookmen. The amateur of
+bindings need learn little more when he comprehends the stages of
+Grolier's literary passion, its fervent and florid beginnings, the
+majesty of its progress, and its austere simplicities in old age.
+
+Grolier was the personal friend of Gryphius, the printer of Lyons, and of
+all the members of the House of Aldus at Venice. Erasmus, who was revered
+by Grolier as his god-father in matters of learning, once paid a
+compliment to the treasurer, which was not far from the truth. 'You owe
+nothing to books,' he wrote, 'but they owe a good deal to you, because it
+is by your help that they will go down to posterity.' The nature of
+Grolier's relations with the Venetian publishers appears in his letters
+to Francis of Asola about the printing of a work by Budæus. He writes
+from Milan in the year 1519: 'I am thinking every day about sending you
+the "Budæus" for publication in your most elegant style. You must add to
+your former favours by being very diligent in bringing out my friend's
+book, of which I now send you the manuscript revised and corrected by the
+author. You must take the greatest care, dear Francis, to present it to
+the public in an accurate shape, and this indeed I must beg and implore.
+I want beauty and refinement besides; but this we shall get from your
+choice paper, unworn type, and breadth of margin. In a word, I want to
+have it in the same style as your "Politian." If all this extra luxury
+should put you to loss, I will make it good. I am most anxious that
+the manuscript should be followed exactly, without any change or
+addition; and so, my dear Francis, fare you well.' The book appeared with
+a dedication to Grolier himself, in which Francis of Asola recounts the
+many favours received by the elder Aldus in his lifetime, by himself, and
+by his father Andreas. The presentation copy was magnificently printed on
+vellum, with initials in gold and colours. Grolier inscribed it with his
+name and device, so that it became easy to verify its subsequent history.
+It appeared among the books of the Prince de Soubise, and belonged
+afterwards to the Count Macarthy, and in 1815 was bought by Mr. Payne and
+transferred to the Althorp Library.
+
+[Illustration: BINDING EXECUTED FOR GROLIER.]
+
+Grolier's books were generally stamped with the words '_et Amicorum_'
+immediately after his name, to indicate as we suppose that they were the
+common property of himself and his friends, although it has been
+suggested that he was referring to his possession of duplicates. Another
+of his marks was the use of some pious phrase, such as a wish that his
+portion might be in 'the land of the living,' which was either printed on
+the cover or written on a fly-leaf, if the volume were the gift of a
+friend. In the use of these distinctions he seems to have been preceded
+by Thomas Maioli, a book-collector of a family residing at Asti, of whom
+very little is known apart from his ownership of books in magnificent
+bindings. Grolier may have borrowed the phrase about his friends from a
+celebrated Flemish collector called Marcus Laurinus, or Mark Lauwrin of
+Watervliet, who was in constant correspondence with the Treasurer about
+their cabinets of medals and coins. Rabelais had a few valuable books,
+which he stamped with a similar design in Greek, and the Latin form
+occurs in many other libraries. We are inclined to refer the origin of
+the practice to a letter written by Philelpho in 1427, in which he tells
+his correspondent of the Greek proverb that all things are common among
+friends.
+
+Grolier's love of learning is shown by his own letters, and by the
+statements contained in the books that were so constantly dedicated to
+his name. To Beatus Rhenanus he wrote, with reference to an approaching
+visit: 'Oh, what a festal day, to be marked (as they say) with a pure
+white stone, when I am able to pay my humble duty to my own Rhenanus; and
+you see how great are my demands when you are entered as mine in my
+accounts.' As controller of the Milanese district he became the object of
+much adulation, for which his flatterers had to atone when the French
+occupation came to an end. The dedication of a certain dialogue affords
+an instance in point. Stefano Negri sent his book to Grolier in a
+splendid shape. The presentation copy on vellum may be seen at the
+British Museum among the treasures of the Grenville Library. The writer
+represents himself in the preface as going about in search of a patron.
+He sees Mercury descending from the clouds with a message from Minerva.
+'There is one man whom the Goddess holds dear, struggling like Ulysses
+through the flood of this stormy life: he is known as Grolier to the
+world.' Nay, what need have you, says the author, to sing the praises of
+that famous man? 'You must confess, even if you like it not, that he is
+most noble in his country and family, most wealthy in fortune, and most
+fair and beautiful in his bodily gifts.'
+
+As patron of all the arts the treasurer became the friend of Francino
+Gafori, the leader of the new school of music that was flourishing at
+Milan. Gafori seems to have been often in Grolier's company. He dedicated
+to the treasurer his work on the harmony of musical instruments, as well
+as the _Apologia_ in which he afterwards convicted the Bologna school of
+its errors. 'My work,' he says in his later book, 'is sound enough if
+soundly understood'; and he tells his rival that, though he may writhe
+with rage, the harmony of Gafori and the fame of Jean Grolier will live
+for ever. The introduction to his work upon harmony contains a few
+interesting details about Grolier's way of living at Milan. Gafori
+addresses his book in a dialogue, and vows that it shall never come home
+again if Grolier refuses to be the patron. A poetical friend adds a piece
+in which the Muses appear without their proper emblems, and even Apollo
+is bereft of his lyre. Gafori, they say, has taken away their harmonies
+and will not give them back. They are advised to make their way to the
+concert at Grolier's house, where the friend of the Muses sits among the
+learned doctors. An illustration shows Gafori sitting at his organ and
+the musicians with their wind-instruments at the end of the lofty hall.
+Gafori himself, in another preface, declares that his musical offspring
+can hardly be kept at home; they used to be too shy to go out, though all
+the musicians were awaiting them; now that they have Grolier's patronage
+they are all as bold as brass, and ready to rush through any danger to
+salute their generous friend. The history of the copy presented to
+Grolier is not without interest. After the great musician's death the
+treasurer gave it to Albisse, one of the King's secretaries: Albisse in
+1546 gave it to Rasse de Neux, a surgeon at Paris, who was devoted to
+curious books; in 1674 it entered the library of St. Germain-des-Prés,
+and was nearly destroyed more than a century afterwards in a great fire.
+During the Revolution it was added to the collection at the Convent des
+Célestins, and was afterwards deposited in the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal,
+where we suppose that it still remains.
+
+Grolier was fond of giving books to his friends. A commentary on the
+Psalms with his name and device, now in the National Library at Paris,
+bears an inscription showing that he had given it to a monk named Jacques
+Guyard. He presented a fine copy of Marcus Aurelius to his friend Eurialo
+Silvestri; and there are volumes bearing his name in conjunction with
+those of Maioli and Laurinus which indicate similar gifts. He is known to
+have presented several volumes to the President de Thou as a mark of
+gratitude for assistance during his later troubles. It is somewhat
+singular that Jacques-Auguste de Thou never succeeded in getting
+possession of these books, though they had always been kept in his
+father's library; and they were not, indeed, replaced in the 'Bibliotheca
+Thuana' until it had become the property of the Cardinal de Rohan. It is
+interesting to learn that a volume of Cicero was given by Grolier to the
+artistic printer, Geoffroy Tory of Bourges, who designed the lettering of
+his mottoes: they were of an antique or 'Roman' shape, and were in two
+sizes, and proportioned, as we are told, 'in the same ratio to each other
+as the body and face of a man.' Geoffroy Tory mentioned them in a letter
+of the year 1523. 'It was on the morrow of the Epiphany,' says the
+light-hearted artist, 'that after my slumbers were over, and in
+consciousness of a joyous repast, I lay day-dreaming in bed, and twisting
+the wheels of my memory round: I thought of a thousand little fancies
+both grave and gay, and then there came before my mind those antique
+letters that I used to make for my lord, Master Jean Grolier, the King's
+councillor, and a friend of the _Belles Lettres_ and of all men of
+learning, by whom he is loved and esteemed on both sides of the Alps.'
+
+Another testimony comes from Dr. Sambucus, who knew Grolier well when he
+was living in Paris, and used to be fond of inspecting his cabinet of
+coins. In the last year of Grolier's life he received a book on the
+subject with a dedication to himself by the worthy Doctor. Grolier was
+reminded in the preface of their long talks on antiquarian subjects, and
+of the kindness which Sambucus had received from the treasurer and the
+treasurer's father at Milan. 'During the last three years,' says
+Sambucus, 'I have been enriching my library, and I have added some very
+scarce coins to the cabinet that you used to admire.' He adds a few
+complaints about dealers and the tricks of the trade, which we need not
+repeat. 'And now farewell!' he ends, 'noble ornament of a noble race, by
+whose mouth nothing has ever been uttered that came not from the heart!'
+
+Some account of Grolier's career is to be found in De Thou's great
+history. He praised the 'incredible love of learning' that had earned for
+a mere youth the intimate friendship of Budæus. He showed with what
+administrative ability the Milanese territories were governed, and with
+what dignity Grolier filled the high office of Treasurer at home.
+
+Grolier, he says, built a magnificent mansion in the Rue de Bussy, which
+was known as the Hôtel de Lyon; in one of its halls he arranged the
+multitude of books 'so carefully, and with such a fine effect, that the
+library might have been compared to that which Pollio established in
+Rome'; and so great was the supply that, notwithstanding his many gifts
+to friends and various misfortunes which befell his collection, every
+important library in France was able after his death to show some of his
+grand bindings as its principal ornament. Grolier's old age was
+disturbed by imputations against his official conduct, and it seemed at
+one time as if his fortune were in considerable danger. 'He was so
+confident in his innocence,' said the historian,'that he would not seek
+help from his friends; but he might have fallen at last, if he had not
+been protected by my father the President, who always used his influence
+to help the weak against the strong and the scholar against the ignorance
+of the vulgar.' The old Treasurer kept his serene course of life until he
+reached his eighty-sixth year: he died at his Hôtel de Lyon, surrounded
+by his books, and was buried near the high altar in the Church of St.
+Germain-des-Prés.
+
+Upon Grolier's death his property was divided among his daughters'
+families. Some of the books were certainly sold; but the greater part of
+the library became the property of Méric de Vic, the old Treasurer's
+son-in-law. Méric was keeper of the seals to Louis XIII. His son
+Dominique became Archbishop of Auch. They were both fond of books, and
+took great care of Grolier's three thousand exquisite volumes, of which
+they were successively the owners. They lived in a large house in the Rue
+St. Martin, which had been built by Budæus, and here the books were kept
+until the great dispersion in the year 1676. 'They looked,' said
+Bonaventure d'Argonne, 'as if the Muses had taken the outsides into their
+charge, as well as the contents, they were adorned with such art and
+_esprit_, and looked so gay, with a delicate gilding quite unknown to
+the book-binders of our time.' The same visitor described the sale of
+1676. All Paris was to be seen at the Hôtel de Vic. 'Such a glorious
+collection ought all to have been kept together; but, as it was,
+everybody got some share of the spoil.' He bought some of the best
+specimens himself; and as he was only a poor monk of the Chartreuse the
+prices can hardly have run high. M. Le Roux de Lincy has traced the fate
+of the volumes dispersed at the sale. We hear, he says, of examples
+belonging to De Mesmes and Bigot, to Colbert and Lamoignon, Captain du
+Fay, the Count d'Hoym, and the Prince de Soubise. Some of the finest were
+purchased by Baron Hohendorf and were transferred about the year 1720 to
+the Imperial Library at Vienna. Yet they never rose to any high price
+until the Soubise sale towards the end of the last century, when the
+weight of the English competition for books began to be felt upon the
+Continent.
+
+M. de Lincy has traced the adventures of more than three hundred volumes,
+once in Grolier's ownership, but now for the most part in public
+libraries. The earlier possessors are classified according to the dates
+of their purchases. Of those who obtained specimens soon after the old
+Treasurer's death we may notice especially Paul Pétau the antiquarian, De
+Thou the historian, and Pithou the statesman and jurist. Perhaps we
+should add Jean Ballesdens, a collector of fine books and MSS., whose
+library at his death in 1677 contained nine of Grolier's books, and
+Pierre Séguier, to whom Ballesdens acted as secretary; and as Séguier was
+the personal friend of Grolier, he may have been the original recipient
+of some of the volumes in question.
+
+Pierre Séguier founded a library which became one of the sights of Paris.
+His grandson, Charles Séguier, the faithful follower of Richelieu, was
+celebrated for his devotion to books. He used to laugh at his own
+bibliomania. 'If you want to corrupt me' he would say, 'you can always do
+it by giving me a book.' His house in the Rue Bouloi served as
+headquarters for the French Academy before it gained a footing in the
+Louvre; and on Queen Christina's visit in 1646 one of her first literary
+excitements was to visit Chancellor Séguier's _salon_. The decorations
+were considered worthy of being engraved and published by Dorigny. The
+gallery stood between two large gardens. The ceilings were encrusted with
+mosaics on a gold ground with allegorical designs by Vouet. The upper
+story contained about 12,000 books, and as many more were ranged in the
+adjoining rooms, one large hall being devoted to diplomatic papers, Greek
+books from Mount Athos, and Oriental MSS. According to a description
+published in 1684 a large collection of porcelain was arranged on the
+walls above the book-cases and in cases set cross-wise on the floor: 'the
+china covered the whole cornice, with the prettiest effect in the world.'
+We are reminded of the lady's book-room which Addison described as
+something between a grotto and a library. Her books were arranged in a
+beautiful order; the quartos were fenced off by a pile of bottles that
+rose in a delightful pyramid; the octavos were bounded by tea-dishes of
+all shapes and sizes; 'and at the end of the folios were great jars of
+china placed one above the other in a very noble piece of architecture.'
+
+Among the purchasers at the later sale we may notice the witty Esprit
+Fléchier, who bought several of the lighter Latin poets, being a
+fashionable versifier himself and a dilettante in matters of binding and
+typography. In his account of the High Commission in Auvergne, appointed
+to examine into charges of feudal tyranny, the Abbé tells us how his
+reputation as a bibliophile was spread by a certain Père Raphael at all
+the watering-places, and how two learned ladies came to inspect his books
+and carried off his favourite Ovid. His library was removed to London and
+sold in the year 1725; and the occasion was of some importance as marking
+the beginning of the English demand for specimens from Grolier's library.
+
+Archbishop Le Tellier bought fifteen good examples, which he bequeathed
+in 1709, with all his other books, to the Abbey of St. Geneviève. His
+whole collection included about 50,000 volumes, mostly dealing with
+history and the writings of the Fathers. 'I have loved books from my
+boyhood,' he said, 'and the taste has grown with age.' He bought most of
+his collection during his travels in Italy, in England, and in Holland;
+but perhaps the best part of his store came from his tutor Antoine
+Faure, who left a thousand volumes to the Archbishop, to be selected at
+the legatee's discretion.
+
+The most valuable portion of Grolier's library was bought by his friend
+Henri de Mesmes. This included the long series of presentation copies,
+printed on vellum, and magnificently bound. De Mesmes was a collector
+with a love of curiosities of all kinds. He seems to have been equally
+fond of his early specimens of printing, his Flemish and Italian
+illuminations, and the Arabic and Armenian treatises procured by his
+agents in the East. His library became a valuable museum which was
+praised by all the writers of that age, except indeed by François Pithou,
+who called De Mesmes a literary grave-digger, and mourned over the burial
+of so many good books in those cold and gloomy sepulchres.
+
+There seems to have been little occasion for this outburst, since the
+library was open to all who could make a good use of it during the life
+of Henri de Mesmes and under his son and grandson. Henri de Mesmes the
+younger, its owner in the third generation, was renowned for his zeal in
+collecting; he is said to have even procured MSS. from the Court of the
+Great Mogul, dispatched by a French goldsmith at Delhi, who packed them
+in red cotton and stuffed them into the hollow of a bamboo for safer
+carriage. One of the finest things in his whole library was the Psalter
+which Louis IX. had given to Guillaume de Mesmes: it had come by some
+means into the library at Whitehall; but on the execution of Charles I.
+the French Ambassador had been able to secure it, and had restored it to
+the family of the original donee.
+
+The Norman family of Bigot rivalled the race of De Mesmes in their ardour
+for book-collecting. Jean Bigot in 1649 had a magnificent library of 6000
+volumes, partly inherited from his ancestors, and partly collected out of
+the monastic libraries at Fécamp and Mont St. Michel and other places in
+that neighbourhood. His son Louis-Emeric took the library as his share of
+the inheritance: its improvement became the occupation of his life; he
+made many expeditions after books in foreign countries, but when he was
+at home his library was the general _rendez-vous_ of all who were
+interested in literature. The books were left to Robert Bigot upon trusts
+that were intended to prevent their dispersion. A sale, however, took
+place in 1706, at which the monastic archives and most of the MSS. were
+purchased by the government.
+
+By some arrangement, of which the history is unknown, the head of the
+family of De Mesmes was persuaded to allow his books to be included in
+the Bigot sale. There seems to have been an attempt to disguise the
+transaction by tearing off the bindings and defacing the coats of arms.
+The strangest thing about the sale was the fact that no notice was taken
+of its containing the finest portion of Grolier's library. The splendid
+_Aldines_, on vellum, fell into the hands of an ignorant notary with a
+new room to furnish: and he thought fit to strip off all the bindings,
+that had been a marvel of Italian art, and to replace them with the gaudy
+coverings that were more suited to his _bourgeois_ desires.
+
+M. de Lincy remarks that Grolier's books were strangely neglected through
+a great part of the eighteenth century. At the very end of the period,
+Count Macarthy had the good taste to include a few of them in his
+collection of books upon vellum. Mr. Cracherode began, in 1793, to buy
+all the specimens that came into the market: and the library which he
+bequeathed to the British Museum contains no less than eighteen fine
+examples. Eight more were comprised in the magnificent bequest of Mr.
+Thomas Grenville's library in 1846. There has been a demand for these
+books in England for more than a century and a half. But when we look at
+the catalogues of Gaignat or La Vallière they seem to have been
+altogether disregarded. When Gaignat died in 1768 his collection was
+regarded as perfect; it was said that 'no one in the commonwealth of
+letters had ever brought together such a rich and admirable assembly.'
+Yet he only had one 'Grolier book,' a magnificent copy of Paolo Giovio's
+book on Roman Fishes, which passed to the Duc de la Vallière, and went
+for a few _livres_ at his sale. There were only two other specimens in
+the Duke's library; and they seem to have been treated with equal
+indifference. M. de Lincy was of opinion that the memory of Grolier was
+almost entirely forgotten, except in his native city of Lyons. The
+appearance of his books might be admired by an antiquary here and there;
+but the classics had gone out of fashion for a time, and the world gave
+its attention to old poetry, to mediæval romance, and even to 'books of
+_facetiæ_.'
+
+Grolier's reputation had mainly depended on his generous patronage of
+literature. Even the House of Aldus had rejoiced to be the clients of a
+new Mæcenas. The authors of that time were still too weak to go alone. In
+the absence of a demand for books it was essential to gain the favour of
+a great man who might open a way to fame and would at least provide a
+pension. We have all smiled at the adulations of an ancient preface and
+the arrogance which too often baulked the poor writer's hopes. D'Israeli
+reminds us that one of the Popes repaid the translation of a Greek
+treatise with a few pence that might just have paid for the binding, and
+of Cardinal Este receiving Ariosto's work with the question--'Where on
+earth all that rubbish had been collected?' This was but a temporary
+phase, and literature became free from the burden as soon as the public
+had learned to read. The Houses of Plantin and the Elzevirs required no
+help in selling out their cheap editions. A good dedication was still a
+feather in the patron's cap. Queen Christina considered that she was
+justly entitled to the patronage of her subjects' works: and Marshal
+Rantzau, when writers were scarce in Denmark, brought out an anonymous
+work for the purpose of introducing a preface in which his fame as a
+book-collector was glorified. But the patron's function was gradually
+restricted; and at last it was nearly confined to cases where a
+dedication repaid assistance given in producing an unsaleable book.
+
+The later renown of Grolier must rest on the fact that he invented a new
+taste. It would have been nothing to buy a few thousand Aldine books,
+even if the collection included all the first editions, the papers of all
+sizes, the copies with uncut edges, and specimens of the true misprints.
+The family of Aldus had a large library of this kind, which was dispersed
+at Rome by its inheritor in the third generation; but it never attracted
+much attention, and was generally believed to have been merged in a
+collection at Pisa. Grolier introduced a fashion depending for its
+success on a multiplicity of details. He bought books out of large
+editions just issuing from the press; but he chose out the specimen with
+the best printing, and the finest paper, if vellum were not forthcoming.
+The condition was perfect. Like the Count Macarthy he would have no dust
+or worm-holes: he was as microscopic in his views as the most accurate
+Parisian bibliophile. The binding was in the best Italian style: a
+general sobriety was relieved by the brilliancy of certain effects, by
+the purity of the design, perhaps above all by the perfection of the
+materials. The book was an object of interest, for its contents, or for
+historical or personal reasons; but it had also become an _objet d'art_,
+like a gem or a figure in porcelain. Grolier preserved his dignity as a
+bibliophile, and his true followers have not degenerated into collectors
+of _bric-à-brac_. It is sufficient to name such men as M. Renouard, the
+owner of many of Grolier's treasures, or M. Firmin-Didot 'the friend of
+all good books,' or the collections of Mr. Beckford and Baron Seillière
+which have been in our own time dispersed. No doubt there is a tendency,
+especially among French amateurs, to regard books as mere curiosities;
+and M. Uzanne has drawn an amusing picture of the book-hunter as a
+chrysalis in his library, destined to find his wings in a flight after
+mosaic bindings, autographs, original water-colours, or plates in early
+states.
+
+It is possible, however, to prevent the 'book-buying disease' from
+developing into a general collector's mania. With the world full of
+books, we must adopt some special variety for our admiration. One person
+will choose his library companions for their stateliness and splendid
+raiment, another for their flavour of antiquity, or the fine company that
+they kept in old times. Montaigne loved his friends on the shelf, because
+they always received him kindly and 'blunted the point of his grief.' He
+turned the volumes over in his round tower within any method or design;
+'at one while,' he says, 'I meditate, at another time I make notes, or
+dictate, as I walk up and down, such whimsies as meet you here.' He cared
+little about the look of their outsides, but thought a great deal about
+their readiness to divert him; 'it is the best _viaticum_ I have yet
+found out for this human pilgrimage, and I pity any man of understanding
+who is not provided with it.' We have omitted the best reason of all. One
+who has lived among his books will love them because they are his own.
+Marie Bashkirtseff expressed the matter well enough in a page of her
+journal:--'I have a real passion for my books, I arrange them, I count
+them, I gaze upon them: my heart rejoices in nothing but this heap of old
+books, and I like to stand off a little and look at them as if they were
+a picture.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+LATER COLLECTORS: FRANCE--ITALY--SPAIN.
+
+
+We have still to notice one or two of Grolier's contemporaries, who may
+be classed as great book-collectors of an old-fashioned type. They knew
+the whole history of 'the Book,' and were themselves the owners of
+exquisite treasures, which are now hoarded up as the choicest remains of
+antiquity. But their function was not so much to collect books as rare
+and curious objects as to undertake the duty of saving the records of
+past history from destruction. They did the work in their day which has
+now devolved upon the guardians of public and national libraries. No
+private person could now take their place; but the interests of
+literature could hardly have been protected in a former age without the
+personal labour and enthusiasm of Orsini and Pétau.
+
+Fulvio Orsini was born in 1529. He began life as a beggar, though for
+many years before his death he was the leader of Italian learning. A poor
+girl had been abandoned with her child and was forced to beg her bread in
+the streets of Rome. The boy obtained a place in the Lateran when he was
+only seven years old: the Canon Delfini recognised his precocious talents
+and undertook to find him a classical education. The student obtained
+some small preferment, and succeeded to his patron's appointment. His
+marvellous acquaintance with ancient books secured him a place as
+librarian to the Cardinal Farnese, and he received many offers of more
+lucrative employment: but he found that if he accepted he would have to
+live away from Rome; and he refused everything that could cause
+inconvenience to his mother, whose comfort was his constant care. On his
+death, in the year 1600, he bequeathed his vast collections to the
+Vatican, and the gift can only be compared to such important events as
+the arrival of the spoils of Urbino, or the great purchase of MSS. from
+the Queen of Sweden.
+
+Orsini has been ridiculed for having more books than he could read, and
+for an excessive devotion to the antique. 'Here is a library like an
+arsenal,' said the satirist, 'stored with all the requisites for any
+campaign. The owner buys all the books that come in his way: it is true
+that he will not read them; but he will have them magnificently bound,
+and ranged on the shelves with a mighty show, and there he will salute
+them several times a day, and will bring his friends and servants to make
+their acquaintance.' Orsini is rebuked for his admiration of a dusty
+manuscript. 'When one of these old parchments falls into his hands, he
+makes you examine the decayed leaves on which the eye can hardly trace
+any marks of an ancient pen. 'What is this treasure that we have here?'
+he cries, 'and oh! what joy, here we have the delight of mankind, and
+the world's desire, and pleasures not to be matched in Paradise!'
+'There,' says our satirist, 'you have the very portrait of Fulvio Orsini.
+Why, he once took a manuscript _Terence_, full of holes and mistakes, in
+writing to Cardinal Toletus, and told him that it was worth all the gold
+in the world'; and, to convince his Spanish Eminence, he said that the
+book was a thousand years' old. '_Est-il possible?_' replies the
+Cardinal, 'you don't say so. I can only say, my friend, I would rather
+have a book hot from the press than all the old parchments that the Sibyl
+had for sale.'
+
+Jacques Bongars, the faithful councillor and ambassador of Henri Quatre,
+was the owner of a remarkable library, consisting to a great extent of
+State papers and historical documents, which Bongars had special
+facilities for collecting during his official visits to Germany. He had
+studied law at Bourges under the learned Cujacius, of whom it is recorded
+that when his name was mentioned in the German lecture-rooms, every one
+present took off his hat. Bongars has described his excitement at
+purchasing the great lawyer's library. 'My chief care has been to seek
+out the books belonging to Cujas. I expect that you will have a fine
+laugh when you think of all that crowd that goes to Court as if it were a
+fair, to do their business together, and to try to get money out of the
+King, while a regular courtier like myself rushes off to this lonely spot
+to spend his fortune on books and papers, all in disorder and half eaten
+by the book-worms. You will be able to judge if I am an avaricious man.
+No trouble or expense is anything to me where books are concerned. Would
+to God that I were free, and had time to read them. I should not feel any
+envy then of M. de Rosny's wealth or the Persian's mountain of gold.'
+While residing at Strasburg he bought the manuscripts belonging to the
+Cathedral from some of the soldiers by whom the city was more than once
+pillaged during the wars of religion.
+
+About the year 1603 Bongars arranged with Paul Pétau for the joint
+purchase of a large collection of manuscripts, which had belonged to the
+Abbey of St. Bénoit-sur-Loire, and had been saved by the bailiff Pierre
+Daniel when the Abbey was plundered. The share of Bongars in this
+collection was transferred to Strasburg, and passed eventually with the
+rest of his books to the public library of the city of Berne.
+
+Paul Pétau was a man of universal accomplishments. He was the rival of
+Scaliger in the science of chronology; his doctrinal works are praised as
+'a monument of useful labour'; 'he solaced his leisure hours with Greek
+and Hebrew, as well as Latin verse,' and, according to Hallam's judgment,
+obtained in the last subject the general approbation of the critics. He
+formed a valuable museum of Greek, Roman, and Gaulish antiquities, with a
+cabinet of Frankish coins, to which Peiresc was a generous contributor.
+His library contained several books that had belonged to Grolier; but it
+was chiefly remarkable for its MSS., of which several were published by
+Sirmond and Du Chesne among other materials for the history of France.
+Many of them had been acquired from the collection of Greek and Hebrew
+books formed by Jean de Saint André, or out of the mass of chronicles,
+romances, and old French poems belonging to Claude Fauchet, and a large
+portion came, as we have seen, out of an ancient Benedictine Abbey. Paul
+Pétau's books of all kinds were left to his son Alexander. The printed
+books, comprising a number of finely illustrated works on archæology,
+were sold at the Hague in 1722; the sale included the old library
+inherited by Francis Mansard, and the MSS. relating to Roman antiquities
+that had been the property of Lipsius. A thousand splendid volumes on
+parchment, the pride of the elder Pétau, described by all who saw them in
+terms of glowing admiration, were sold in his son's lifetime to Queen
+Christina of Sweden. She had always intended to buy some great
+collection, and had thought among others of buying up those of Henri de
+Mesmes, of De Béthune, and the Cardinal Mazarin. She was delighted with
+her new acquisition, and carried it off to Rome, where she made a
+triumphal entry with her books amidst the popular rejoicings.
+
+Something may be learned about the Italian collectors in the age that
+followed Grolier's death, from the story of the strange wanderings of the
+manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci. Very little was known upon this subject
+until M. Arsène Houssaye found an account of what had happened among the
+papers of the Barnabite Mazenta, who died in the year 1635. 'It was
+about fifty years ago,' says the memorandum, written shortly before the
+old monk's death, 'that thirteen volumes of Leonardo's papers, all
+written backwards in his own way, fell into my hands. I was then studying
+law at Pisa, and one of my companions in the class-room was Aldus
+Manutius, renowned as a book-collector. We received a visit from one of
+his relations called Lelio Gavardi; he had been tutor in the household of
+Francesco Melzi, who was the pupil and also the heir of Leonardo.' Melzi
+treasured up every line and scrap of the great man's works at his
+country-house in Vaprio; but his sons did not care for art, and left the
+papers lying about in a lumber-room, so that Gavardi was able to help
+himself as he pleased. He brought thirteen volumes, well-known in the
+history of literature, as far as Florence at first, and then to Aldus at
+Pisa. 'I cried shame on him,' said Mazenta, 'and as I was going to Milan
+I undertook to return them to the Melzi family. There I saw Doctor
+Horatio Melzi, who was quite astonished at my taking so much trouble, and
+gave me the books for myself, saying that he had plenty more of the same
+sort in his garrets at home.' When Mazenta became a monk the thirteen
+volumes passed to his brothers, who talked so much about the matter that
+there was a rush of amateurs to Vaprio, and the Doctor was overwhelmed
+with offers for the great man's books and drawings. 'One of these
+rascals,' said Mazenta, 'was the sculptor Pompeo Leoni, who used to make
+the bronzes for the Escorial, and he pretended that he would obtain an
+appointment for Melzi at Milan, if he would get back the thirteen volumes
+for King Philip's new library in Spain. Leoni got possession of most of
+the books and kept them in his own cabinet. One of the volumes was
+presented by Mazenta's brother to the Ambrosian Library and may still be
+seen there, in company with the huge _Codice Atlantico_, which Leoni made
+up out of hundreds of separate fragments. At Leoni's death his collection
+was bought by Galeazzo Arcanati, the illustrious owner of an artistic and
+literary museum. He resisted the proposals of purchase that poured in
+from foreign Courts; our James I. is said to have offered three thousand
+gold doubloons for the great volume of designs; and on Arcanati's death
+the whole collection was transferred by his widow to the Ambrosiana. Some
+changes had been made in the distribution of the papers since Mazenta so
+easily acquired his thirteen books. The French took the same number away
+in 1796; but none of them ever returned, except the famous _Codice
+Atlantico_.
+
+In Spain there were but few persons interested in books before the
+foundation of the Escorial towards the end of the sixteenth century. We
+learn from Mariana that soon after the year 1580 a vast gallery in the
+palace was filled with books, mostly Greek MSS., which had been assembled
+from all parts of Europe; 'its stores,' he said, 'are more precious than
+gold: but it would be well if learned men had greater facilities for
+reading them; for what profit is there from learning if she is treated
+like a captive and traitor?' Arias Montanus, the first Orientalist of his
+age, was appointed librarian by the founder; he was the owner of an
+immense quantity of MSS. in Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic, many of which were
+used in his edition of the Antwerp Polyglott Bible, and these he
+bequeathed to the Escorial, while his printed books were left to the
+University of Seville.
+
+The first book was printed in Valencia as early as the year 1474; but the
+prospects of literature remained dark until the termination of the
+Moorish wars. On the capture of Granada it was thought necessary to
+obliterate the memory of the Koran, and scores of thousands of volumes,
+or a million as some say, were destroyed by Cardinal Ximènes in a
+celebrated _auto-da-fé_. About three hundred Arabic works on medicine
+were preserved for the new library which the Cardinal was founding in his
+University of Alcalà. The Cardinal spent vast sums in gathering materials
+for his Mozarabic Missal and the great Complutensian Polyglott. It is
+said that to avoid future criticism he gave his Hebrew originals to be
+used in the making of fireworks, just as Polydore Vergil was accused in
+our country of burning the monastic chronicles out of which he composed
+his history, and as many Italian writers were believed to have destroyed
+their classical authorities. When Petrarch lost his Cicero, it was
+thought that Alcionio might have stolen it for his treatise upon exile;
+but we should probably be right in rejecting all these stories together
+as mere calumnies and 'forgeries of jealousy.'
+
+Antonio Lebrixa, who worked under the Cardinal till his death in 1522,
+had done much to revive a knowledge of books, and may be regarded as the
+principal agent in the introduction of the new Italian learning. His
+pupil Ferdinand Nuñez, or Nonnius as he is often called, carried on the
+good work at Salamanca, and left his great library to the University.
+Diego Hurtado de Mendoza was one of the most distinguished students who
+ever followed the lectures there. As a poet he has been called the
+Spanish Sallust: as the author of the adventures of Lazarillo de Tormes
+he takes a high place among the lighter authors of romance; and as a
+patron of learning he will always be remembered for having enriched the
+Escorial with his transcripts from Mount Athos, and six chests of
+valuable MSS. which he received in return for ransoming from his
+captivity at Venice the son of Soliman the Magnificent. Great credit must
+also be given to Don Ferdinand Columbus for his good work at Seville. The
+son of the great Admiral and Donna Beatrix Enriquez was one of the most
+celebrated bibliophiles in Europe. He began making his collections very
+soon after his father's death. Between 1510 and 1537 he had visited Italy
+several times, and had travelled besides in England and France, in the
+Low Countries and in Germany, buying books wherever he went. His great
+object was to procure illuminated MSS. and early editions of romances and
+miracle-plays; but he was also fond of the classics, and his library at
+Seville is still possessed of many copies of Latin poets and orators
+which are full of his marginal notes. At Louvain he became acquainted
+with Nicholas Clénard, who was lecturing there on Greek and Hebrew, and
+was just commencing the Arabic studies by which his name became famous.
+Don Ferdinand had a commission to bring back professors for the
+University of Salamanca, where learning was beginning to revive; and
+Clénard was easily induced to visit a country which might contain the
+relics of Moorish culture. Ferrari, as we know, was very successful in
+the next generation in finding rare books in Spain for Borromeo's
+Ambrosian library. At Bruges, Don Ferdinand met Jean Vasée, a man just
+suited for an appointment as librarian, and he too was persuaded to
+accompany the traveller on his return. Don Ferdinand established a large
+library in his house at Seville. Clénard helped to arrange the books, and
+Vasée became librarian. The volumes amounted at least to fifteen thousand
+in number, though the exact amount remains unknown owing to discrepancies
+in the earliest catalogues.
+
+Don Ferdinand hoped that the library would be kept up by the family of
+Columbus. With that object he left it to his great-nephew Don Luis, with
+an annuity to provide for the expenses; if the legacy were refused, it
+was to pass to the Chapter of the Cathedral at Seville, with alternative
+provisions in favour of the Monastery of San Pablo. As events turned out,
+the succession was not taken up on behalf of his young kinsman, and after
+some litigation the Fernandina, or 'La Colombina' as it was afterwards
+called, was adjudged to the Chapter of Seville and placed in a room by
+the Moorish Aisle at the Giralda. Owing chiefly to the generosity of
+Queen Isabella and the Duc de Montpensier the library of 'La Colombina'
+has been restored to prosperity, although according to Mr. Ford it was
+long abandoned to 'the canons and book-worms.' It appears that in the
+middle of the last century three-quarters of the MSS. had been destroyed
+by rough usage or by the water dripping in from the gutters; the books
+were in charge of the men who swept the Church, and they allowed the
+school-children to play with the illustrated volumes and to tear out the
+miniatures and woodcuts. Mr. Harrisse has described with much detail the
+grandeur and the decline of this celebrated institution, and he gives
+reasons for supposing that it may have suffered even in recent years from
+the negligence of its guardians. It is satisfactory, however, to find
+that its most precious contents have passed safely through every period
+of danger; the library still contains some of the books of Christopher
+Columbus, and especially the _Imago Mundi_ with his marginal notes about
+the Portuguese discoveries, 'in all which things,' he writes 'I had my
+share.'
+
+[Illustration: J. A. DE THOU.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+DE THOU--PINELLI--PEIRESC.
+
+
+It was long a saying among the French that a man had never seen Paris who
+had not looked upon the books of Thuanus. The historian Jacques-Auguste
+de Thou held a leading place in literature, without pretending in any way
+to rival the greatness of Joseph Scaliger or the erudition of Isaac
+Casaubon. He was the master of a great store of personal and secret
+history collected in state papers and records; but he was also famous for
+the extent of his general scholarship, and for the patronage which he
+manifested towards all who laboured about books. He was himself a most
+fastidious collector. He never heard of the appearance of a valuable work
+without ordering three or four copies on the fine paper manufactured for
+his private use; and of any such book already issued he would order
+several sets of sheets to be taken to pieces in order to procure one
+perfect example. His library was not large. It consisted of about 8000
+printed books and 1000 manuscripts, chiefly upon historical subjects; but
+they were all well selected, well bound, and in perfect condition. There
+is a letter upon this subject by Henri Estienne the printer, in which the
+high reputation of De Thou's library is contrasted with Lucian's just
+invective against the illiterate book-hunter: 'The satirist would have
+honoured a man like you, so learned and so generous in your library: you
+choose your books with taste, and proportion the cost of binding to the
+price of the volume; and Lucian, I am sure, would have praised your
+carefulness in these respects.'
+
+In all matters connected with literature De Thou was helped by his friend
+'Pithoeus,' of whom it was said that no one knew any particular author as
+well as Pierre Pithou knew all the classics. By talent and hard work
+combined Pithou had 'distilled the quintessence of wisdom' out of the
+garnered stores of antiquity. Upon his death De Thou was inclined to give
+up his books and the work that had made life pleasant. He wrote in that
+strain to his associate Isaac Casaubon. 'On the loss of my incomparable
+friend, the partner of my cares and my counsellor in letters and
+politics, the web that I was weaving fell from my hand, and I should not
+have resumed my history were it not a tribute to the memory of one who
+has done so much for me.'
+
+De Thou's end was hastened by the death of his wife. Those who know the
+look of his books, stamped with a series of his family quarterings, will
+remember that he was first married to Marie Barbançon, and afterwards to
+Gasparde de la Chastre. 'I had always hoped and prayed,' he wrote at the
+commencement of his will, 'that my dearest Gaspara Chastræa would have
+outlived me.'
+
+Admonished by her loss to set his affairs in order he began to take
+special pains in providing for the future of his books. He anticipated
+the public spirit of Cardinal Richelieu, to whom the merit is often
+assigned of having been the first to bequeath the use of his library to
+scholars. The Cardinal was not particular about the methods by which he
+amassed his literary wealth: he is said to have increased his store by
+all the arts of cajolery, and even by bare intimidation; and he may have
+wished to make some amends by directing that 'persons of erudition'
+should have access to his books after his death. De Thou had an equal
+love of books, and showed perhaps a kinder feeling about the use of the
+treasures which his own care had accumulated. 'It is important,' he
+wrote, 'for my own family and for the cause of learning that the library
+should be kept together which I have been for more than forty years
+collecting, and I hereby forbid any division, sale, or dispersion
+thereof; I bequeath it to such of my sons as shall apply themselves to
+literature, and they shall hold it in common, but so that it shall be
+free to all scholars at home or abroad. I leave its custody to Pierre du
+Puy until my sons are grown up, and he shall have authority to lend out
+the MSS. under proper security for their safe return.'
+
+Pierre and Jacques du Puy, the 'two Puteani' as they were often called,
+were the sons of a distinguished bibliophile, Charles du Puy, who died in
+1594, and were themselves the leaders in a curious department of
+book-learning. Their father was the founder of a library enriched by his
+care with the best specimens of early printing and a few rare MSS. In the
+latter class he possessed an ancient bilingual copy of St. Paul's
+Epistles, a Livy in uncial characters, and the precious fragments of the
+Vatican Virgil, which he gave to Fulvio Orsini in his lifetime. 'On his
+death,' says M. Guigard, 'the bibliographical succession passed to Pierre
+and Jacques, his younger sons, the first a Councillor of State, the other
+Prior of St. Sauveur-les-Bray, and both employed as guardians of the
+books in the Royal Library. No two men were ever more ardently devoted to
+the interests of learning. They worked in concert at increasing and
+improving their father's library; but their chief object was to
+accumulate and preserve the obscurer materials of history. The
+_Collection Du Puy_, which has now became national property, comprised
+more than 800 volumes of fugitive pieces, memoirs, instructions,
+pedigrees, letters, and all the other miscellaneous documents that were
+classed by D'Israeli 'under the vague title of State Papers.' It has been
+said that the object of their 'Titanic labour' was to ease the way for
+the historian De Thou; but it is more likely that the brothers obeyed an
+instinct for the acquisition of secret history; 'life would have been too
+short to have decided on the intrinsic value of the manuscripts flowing
+down in a stream to the collectors.' The surviving brother bequeathed
+these State Papers to the Abbé de Thou (the fourth possessor of the
+'Bibliotheca Thuana') who sold them to Charron de Ménars; they were
+eventually purchased by Louis XVI., and were deposited in the Royal
+Library, where the printed books and certain other MSS. had been already
+received under a legacy from Jacques du Puy.
+
+When the historian died the brothers jointly undertook the trust that had
+fallen to Pierre. 'Among all the French scholars,' said Gassendi,'these
+two Puteani do most excel; and now, abiding with the sons of Thuanus,
+they sustain by all the means in their power the library and the students
+that have been committed to their care. François-Auguste de Thou, the
+historian's eldest son, became Grand-Master of the King's books; he added
+considerably to the 'Bibliotheca Thuana,' and his house became the
+meeting-place of the Parisian _savants_. A brilliant career was cruelly
+cut short by the malignity of Richelieu.
+
+The young Cinq-Mars was in a plot with the Queen and Gaston of Orléans to
+overthrow the Cardinal's power. His friend De Thou was aware of the
+design, but had taken no part in the conspiracy. The Cardinal arrested
+them both, and dragged them along the Rhone in a boat attached to his own
+barge; and De Thou was executed as a scapegoat, while most of the leaders
+saved their lives. The Cardinal died soon afterwards, without having
+confiscated the library; and it passed to Jacques-Auguste, the
+historian's younger son, who by a tardy act of grace had been restored
+to the civil rights enjoyed by his brother before his unjust conviction.
+He was by all accounts as great a book-collector as his father; and he
+had the good fortune to marry an heiress, Marie Picardet, who brought
+with her a large quantity of books from her father's house in Britanny.
+In the year 1677 the 'Bibliotheca Thuana' with all its additions passed
+to the Abbé Jacques-Auguste de Thou, who was soon afterwards compelled to
+part with it to the Président Charron de Ménars. St. Simon praised its
+new owner as a most worthy and honourable nonentity; but he had the sense
+to step into the breach and to save the 'Thuana' from destruction. When
+he sold the library to the Cardinal de Rohan, in 1706, he reserved the
+_Collection Du Puy_ for his daughters. It is believed that the Cardinal,
+through the cleverness of his secretary Oliva, obtained the historian's
+choice examples for less than the price of the binding. We must follow
+the career of the collection to its melancholy end. The Cardinal left it
+to his nephew the Prince de Soubise. The world knows him as the inventor
+of a sauce and as the general in one lost battle; but he had a higher
+fame among the booksellers for his prowess in the auction-room. He seems
+to have been the victim of a frenzy for books. He impressed them by
+crowds, and marshalled them in regiments and myriads. They all fell in
+1789 before the hammer of the auctioneer. Dibdin has described the
+catalogue. It was unostentatious and printed on indifferent material. He
+hoped, with his curious insistance on the point, that there were 'some
+few copies on large paper.' It is a mark of the changes in
+book-collecting that Dibdin praised the index as excellent, 'enabling us
+to discover any work of which we may be in want'; but it is now regarded
+as remarkable for its poverty, and especially for the extraordinary
+carelessness that left eight noble specimens from Grolier's library
+without the slightest mark of distinction.
+
+Gian-Vincenzio Pinelli was a celebrated man of letters whose library at
+Padua formed 'a perpetual Academy' for all the scholars of his day. Born
+at Naples in 1538, he spent the greater part of his long life at Padua,
+where he was sent to study the law; but the only sign of his professional
+labours appears to have been that he rigidly excluded all works on
+jurisprudence from his magnificent library. His books, says Hallam, were
+collected by the labours of many years: 'the catalogues of the Frankfort
+fairs and those of the principal booksellers in Italy were diligently
+perused, nor did any work of value appear from the press on either side
+of the Alps which he did not instantly add to his shelves.' Remembering
+the traditions of the age of Poggio, when the rarest classics might be
+found perishing in a garret or a cellar, Pinelli was always in the habit
+of visiting the dealers in old parchment and the brokers who carried off
+deeds and papers from sales, just as Dr. Rawlinson collected and gave to
+the Bodleian a mass of unsorted documents, including, as we have seen,
+even the logs of recent voyages, and the pickings of "grocers'
+waste-paper." In each case the industry of the collector was constantly
+rewarded by the discovery of valuable literary materials, which would
+have been lost under ordinary circumstances. The library of Pinelli was
+augmented by that of his friend Paul Aicardo, the two _literati_ having
+entered into an undertaking that the survivor should possess the whole
+fruit of their labours. On Pinelli's death, in 1601, his family
+determined to transfer his books to Naples. The Venetian government
+interfered on the ground that, though Pinelli had been allowed to copy
+the archives and registers of the State, it had never been intended that
+the information should be communicated to a foreign power. Their
+magistrate seized a hundred bales of books, of which fourteen were packed
+with MSS. On examination it appeared that there were about three hundred
+volumes of political commentaries, dealing with the affairs of all the
+Italian States; and it was arranged, by way of compromise, that these
+should remain at Padua in a repository under the charge of an official
+guardian. The rest of the library was despatched in three shiploads from
+Genoa. One vessel was captured by pirates, and the cargo was thrown
+overboard, only a few volumes being afterwards cast ashore. The other
+ships arrived safely at Naples; but it appears that the new proprietors
+had little taste for literature. The whole remaining stock was found some
+years afterwards in a mouldy garret, packed in ninety bales; and it was
+purchased at last for 3000 crowns by Cardinal Frederic Borromeo, who
+used it as the basis for the Ambrosian Library which he was at that time
+establishing in Milan. Another library was afterwards founded at Venice
+by members of the Pinelli family engaged in the Levantine trade. On the
+death of its last possessor, Maffeo Pinelli, in 1787, the collection was
+sold to a firm of English booksellers. It seems by Dibdin's account to
+have been in a poor condition, though Dr. Harwood declared that, 'there
+being no dust in Venice,' it had reposed for some centuries in excellent
+preservation. This immense body of books was re-sold in London two years
+afterwards at prices which barely covered the expenses incurred, though a
+large amount was obtained for a copy of the Polyglott Bible of Ximènes in
+six folio volumes printed upon vellum.
+
+The praises of the great Pinelli were spread abroad by Scaliger, De Thou,
+and Casaubon; but his memory, perhaps, has been best preserved by the
+ardent friendship of Peiresc. He was visited at Padua by the young
+philosopher in whose mind he found a reflection of his own; and it was
+generally agreed that the lamp of learning had passed into safe hands
+when it was yielded by Pinelli to the student from Provence. Nicolas
+Fabry de Peiresc belonged to an ancient family established near Aix. His
+father had been selected by Louis XII. to share the education of the
+Princess Renée. A man of learning himself, he spared no expense in the
+boy's instruction, who became celebrated even in his childhood for the
+strength of his precocious intellect. The most eminent professors in
+Italy combined to exalt 'the ripe excellence of his unripe years'; and
+when Pinelli died it was said that Peiresc had taken the helm of
+knowledge and was guiding the ship as he pleased. He explored at leisure
+the riches of Florence and Rome, and afterwards watched the rise of the
+'Ambrosiana' at Milan. A letter from Joseph Scaliger, who ruled literary
+Europe like a King, from his chair at Leyden, sent Peiresc off to Verona,
+where he hunted up evidence in support of the wild story that the
+Scaligers were the representatives of the Ducal line of La Scala.
+
+Julius Cæsar Scaliger, the father of the great philologist, had amused
+the world by claiming to be the son of Benedetto and Berenice della
+Scala, to have been a page of the Emperor Maximilian, and to have fought
+in the Battle of Ravenna; and he pretended that he had become a
+Cordelier, so as to rise to the Papal throne and expel the Venetians from
+his dominions. Peiresc was by no means a believer in this extraordinary
+romance; but he did his best to collect the coins, epitaphs, and
+pedigrees, which might please his learned correspondent. Crossing the
+Alps, we are told, 'he viewed the Lake of Geneva and made a tour through
+a multitude of books'; and returned to Aix with a library and cabinet of
+gems, 'thinking to himself that he would never see such plenty again.'
+When he visited Paris in 1605, his first object, he said, was to see the
+illustrious De Thou, to thank him for his kind letters, and to enquire
+for messages from Scaliger. 'I cannot express,' he repeats, 'how joyfully
+he entertained me.' De Thou took down his books for the visitor, and
+showed him the records under lock and key that contained the secrets of
+his history, 'opening his very heart, and brimful of a wonderful
+sincerity.' Next day Casaubon came in from the _Bibliothèque du Roi_, and
+showed much pleasure at being introduced to the traveller. His letters of
+a later date show his high esteem for Peiresc. 'I am eagerly waiting to
+hear what Scaliger will say about the antiques, but I foresee that you
+will have room to glean after his harvest.' On another occasion he wrote:
+'I do not know if you heard that the Duke of Urbino has sent me the
+Polybius, but I am indeed most beholden to you for the kindness.'
+
+Ten years afterwards Peiresc came to Paris again, wishing to explore the
+Oriental treasures in the library of De Mesmes, and to visit the huge
+collections in the houses of St. Victor and St. Germain. Here he gained
+the friendship of Pierre Séguier and the elegant Nicolas Rigault, and of
+Jérome Bignon, the first of a long dynasty of librarians. In England he
+saw the Bodleian, and talked with Savile, and admired Sir Robert Cotton
+as 'an honestly curious sort of man.' In Holland his chief business was
+to visit Scaliger, and we are told that he was careful not to ask about
+the treatise on squaring the circle, or to hint any doubt as to the truth
+of the Verona romance. Here at Leyden he read in the great library, soon
+to be endowed with Scaliger's books, and saw the room of which Heinsius
+so nobly said: 'In the very bosom of Eternity among all these illustrious
+souls I take my seat'; and at Louvain he could only lament the death of
+Justus Lipsius, whom he regarded as 'the light and the loadstar of
+wisdom.'
+
+Gassendi has left us an account of the library collected by Peiresc.
+Besides his acquisitions in the East, of which we have spoken elsewhere,
+the books came in crowds from his agents in France and Germany, and his
+scribes in the Vatican and Escorial. 'When any library was to be sold by
+public outcry, he took care to buy the best books, especially if they
+were of some neat edition that he did not already possess.' He bound them
+in red morocco with his cypher or initials in gold. One binder always
+lived in the house, and sometimes several were employed at once, 'when
+the books came rolling in on every side.' He would even bind up bits of
+old volumes and worm-eaten leaves; good books, he said, were so badly
+used by the vulgar, that he would try to have them prized at least for
+their beauty, and so perhaps they might escape the hands of the
+tobacconist and the grocer. A treatise published by Jerome Alexander
+contained a wonderful description of the establishment. 'Your house and
+library,' says the dedication, 'are a firmament wherein the stars of
+learning shine: the desks are lit with star-light and the books are in
+constellations: and you sit like the sun in the midst, embracing and
+giving light to them all.' Peiresc was anxious to circulate the book,
+which contained a rare treatise by Hesychius; but he took care to compose
+another dedication, which was printed and inserted without comment.
+
+Notwithstanding his profuse purchases he did not leave a large collection
+at his death. His friends complained that he lent 'a world of books' that
+were never returned, and that he was especially lavish of any works that
+could be replaced by purchase. 'About ten years after his death,' says
+his friend Lemontey, 'his relations brought his books to Paris, where I
+saw them in 1647; they formed a great company of volumes, most curiously
+bound. They ought to have been sold _en bloc_, but as the Genius of the
+library had fled, the Fates ordained that they should be torn asunder.'
+Most of the books were purchased for the Collège de Navarre. A great
+number of the MSS. were destroyed, though there are still a few volumes
+in the public library at Carpentras. These were purchased from Louis
+Thomassin, a member of Peiresc's family, by Don Malachi d'Inguimbert,
+librarian to Pope Clement XII., who founded the collection of Carpentras
+when he became Bishop of the diocese. There is a tradition that Peiresc's
+correspondence, containing many thousands of documents, was destroyed by
+his grand-niece, 'a kind of female Omar,' who insisted in using the
+papers for lighting fires and making trays for her silk-worms.
+
+Peiresc employed some of the most learned men of his time to collect for
+him in Italy. Jacques Gaffarel, who had been engaged in similar work for
+Richelieu, was his principal agent in Rome. At Padua he was so fortunate
+as to secure the services of the archæologist Tomasini. But his
+correspondence shows that the prince of librarians, Gabriel Naudé, was at
+once his agent, his adviser, and his friend; and it is from Naudé that we
+take the words of grief which remain as the scholar's memorial. 'Oh cruel
+Fate and bitter Death, thrust into the midst of our jollity! Was there
+ever a man, I pray you, more skilled in history and philology, more ready
+to assist the student, more endowed with wit and wealth and worth, the
+equipment of any man who, like Peiresc, is to hold the world of letters
+at his beck and call.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+FRENCH COLLECTORS--NAUDÉ TO RENOUARD.
+
+
+Gabriel Naudé was a Doctor of Medicine, and held an appointment at one
+time as physician in ordinary to Louis XIII. But even as a student he
+manifested that passion for books which furnished the real occupation of
+his life. Before taking his degree at Padua he was librarian to Henri de
+Mesmes, and afterwards to Cardinal Bagni at Rome. On his patron's death
+he was placed in charge of the great library which Cardinal Barberini was
+establishing in his palace in the Piazza of the Quattro Fontane. Some
+part of his time was spent in collecting books for Cardinal Richelieu,
+who offered Naudé the charge of his library in 1642; but, the Cardinal
+having died in that year, Naudé transferred his services to Mazarin. He
+inspired his employer with the desire of emulating the magnificence of
+Barberini and the patriotic generosity of Borromeo; and the librarian's
+keen scent for books and minute knowledge of their values were
+thenceforth utilised in the work of creating the _Bibliothèque Mazarine_.
+
+Richelieu had done things on a grand scale. He had confiscated to his own
+use the whole town-library at La Rochelle; and Naudé was anxious that
+Mazarin's great undertaking should begin with an acquisition _en bloc_. A
+provincial governor named Simeon Dubois had made a collection in the
+Limousin. His books had passed into the hands of Jean Descordes, a Canon
+of Limoges, who died in 1642 possessed of about 6000 volumes. Naudé
+prepared the catalogue, and persuaded the Cardinal to purchase the whole
+property by private contract. A few months afterwards the King gave him
+the State Papers collected by Antoine de Loménie. A great number of
+printed books were added under Naudé's superintendence, and in a short
+time the new library was opened to the public. Its regulations were
+framed in a very liberal spirit, as may be learned from the first of
+Naudé's rules: 'The library is to be open to all the world without the
+exception of any living soul; readers will be supplied with chairs and
+writing-materials, and the attendants will fetch all books required in
+any language or department of learning, and will change them as often as
+is necessary.'
+
+In reviewing the condition of the other great libraries, Naudé pointed
+out that there was nothing like an unrestrained admission except at the
+Bodleian, the Ambrosian, and the Angelica Library at Rome. The public had
+no rights at the Vatican, or the Laurentian, or the Library of St. Mark
+at Venice. It was just the same at Bologna, or Naples, or in the Duchy of
+Urbino. The same thing, he said, might be seen in other countries.
+Ximènes built a fine library at Alcalà, and there was a collection of
+the books of Nuñez at Salamanca; there were the Rantzaus at Copenhagen
+and the Fuggers at Augsburg; they had done everything for the use of
+scholars except making the libraries free. The French themselves had the
+King's Library, a vast accumulation at St. Victor's, and a rich bequest
+from De Thou; but the use of all this wealth of books was hampered by the
+most complicated restrictions. We can see that he was rejoicing in his
+own good work while he praised the stately Ambrosiana. 'Is it not
+astonishing,' he asks, 'that any one can go in when he likes, and stay as
+long as he cares to look about or to read or make extracts? All that he
+has to do is to sit at a desk and ask for any book that he wishes to
+study.'
+
+For some years after the new library was established Naudé travelled in
+quest of books over the greater part of Europe. He said that he would
+have ransacked Spain if Mazarin had not preferred an invasion by the
+regular army. He was the 'familiar spirit' of the auction-room, and it
+became a by-word that a visit from the great book-hunter was as bad as a
+storm in the book-shops. He boasted in his epigrams of exploits in
+Flanders, in Switzerland, and among the Venetian book-stalls. At Rome he
+bought books by the fathom; he skimmed the German shelves, and passed
+over into England to relieve the islanders of their riches. At Lyons he
+met Marshal Villeroi, who gave him a great portion of the books which
+Cardinal de Tournon had bequeathed to the Jesuits. We trace the result
+of his travels in his description of the libraries of Europe. Certain
+subjects, as he said, are in vogue at particular places, and we ought
+always to notice the book-fashions to show our respect for the feelings
+of mankind. 'For positive science we go to Rome or Florence or Naples,
+and for jurisprudence to Paris or Milan; France supplies us with history;
+and if we wanted scholastic lore we might go to Spain, or the colleges of
+Oxford and Cambridge.'
+
+In 1647 the Mazarine Library contained about 45,000 volumes, and Naudé in
+his joy proclaimed it as the eighth wonder of the world. The Parisians
+appeared to be delighted with the superb Loménie MSS. and the crowd of
+bright volumes in the Cardinal's ordinary livery. But in 1651 the
+Parliament got the upper hand of the 'Red Tyrant' in one of the unmeaning
+struggles of the Wars of the Fronde; the property of Mazarin was
+confiscated for a time, and the library was put up for sale. The list of
+Commissioners included the respectable names of Alexandre Pétau and
+Pierre Pithou; yet we are assured that the auction resembled a massacre,
+and that hardly any obstacle was placed in the way of the most impudent
+thefts. Naudé in vain petitioned against a decree which had fallen like a
+thunder-bolt on the 'wonderful work of his life.' 'Why will you not save
+this daughter of mine, this library that is the fairest and best-endowed
+in the world? Can you permit the public to be deprived of such a precious
+and useful treasure? Can you endure that this fair flower, which spreads
+its perfume through the world, should wither as you hold it in your
+hands?'
+
+Naudé spent his own small fortune in ransoming the books on medicine. He
+had worked hard to persuade Queen Christina to purchase the whole
+collection; but when it came to the point she only bought a few MSS.
+which were afterwards returned. The 'Pallas of the North,' was interested
+in Naudé's misfortunes. She invited him to take charge of the Royal
+Library at Stockholm, and here he rested for a while. He made
+acquaintance in Sweden with several celebrated men of letters; Descartes
+was a guest at the Court, and used to be ready to begin his metaphysical
+discourses at day-break. Naudé on one occasion delighted the young Queen
+by stepping a Greek dance with Professor Meibomius, who was just at that
+time bringing out his work upon the music of the ancients. The climate,
+or the excitement of that vivacious Court, began to disagree with Naudé's
+health; he resigned his appointment and returned to France, but died at
+Abbeville on his way to Paris, a few months before his patron's return to
+power. When the public library was established again the Cardinal
+purchased Naudé's private collection of 8000 books; and care was taken to
+preserve them apart, as a mark of distinction, in a gallery named after
+the famous librarian.
+
+The hereditary collections of Colbert and La Moignon were as much
+indebted to their librarians as the Mazarine to the labours of Naudé.
+The Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert was as celebrated for his books as for
+his finance: but the magnificence of the library was mainly due to its
+guardian Calcavi and his successor the venerable Baluze. Colbert's
+manuscripts are believed to have been the most valuable ever amassed by a
+person of private fortune. Among their eight thousand volumes were the
+choicest treasures from St. Martin's Abbey at Metz, including the _Book
+of Hours_ used by Charles the Great, and a Bible said to have been
+illuminated for Charles the Bald. There were about 50,000 printed books,
+almost all well-bound; and it was thought that the choicest Levantine
+moroccos had been secured for the Minister by an article in a treaty with
+the Sultan. Colbert died in 1683, and the library remained in his family
+for half a century afterwards. In 1728 the Marquis de Seignelaye sold the
+books, and began to sell a portion of the manuscripts; the world was
+alarmed at the idea of a general dispersion; the remaining manuscripts,
+however, were offered to Louis XV.; and there was great rejoicing when he
+wrote '_Bon, 300,000 livres_' on the letter received from the Marquis.
+
+The other famous library was amassed by 'an extraordinary family of
+book-collectors.' It was begun by Guillaume de la Moignon, who was
+President of the Parliament of Paris in 1658. His son Chrétien de la
+Moignon was as zealous a book-buyer as his father, and he secured the
+renown of their library by engaging the services of Adrien Baillet.
+Dibdin quoted passages from Baillet's biography that show the tenderness
+with which the family treated his 'crazy body and nervous mind': 'Madame
+La Moignon and her son always took a pleasure in anticipating his wishes,
+soothing his irritabilities, promoting his views, and speaking loudly and
+constantly of the virtues of his head and heart.' Baillet in his turn
+gave to his employers the credit of his best literary work. 'It was done
+for you,' he wrote, 'and in your house, and by one who is ever yours to
+command.' The library was much enlarged by its owner in the third
+generation; and by its union with the collection of M. Berryer, who died
+in 1762, it became 'one of the most splendid in Europe.' It was dispersed
+during the troubles of the Revolution, and a great portion was brought to
+London in 1791; but the works on jurisprudence were reserved, and were
+sold in Paris a few years afterwards.
+
+David Ancillon is perhaps best known as the defender of Luther and
+Calvin. But according to Bayle he was an indefatigable book-collector,
+and notable for having set the fashion of buying books in the first
+edition. Most people thought, said D'Israeli, that the first edition was
+only an imperfect essay, 'which the author proposes to finish after
+trying the sentiments of the literary world.' Bayle was on the side of
+Ancillon. There are cases, as he remarked, in which the second edition
+has never appeared; and at any rate the man who waits for the reprint
+shows 'that he loves a pistole better than knowledge.' Ancillon,
+however, always indulged himself with 'the most elegant edition,'
+whatever the first might have been; he considered that 'the less the eyes
+are fatigued in reading or work the more liberty the mind feels in
+judging of it.' It is easier to detect the merits in print than in
+manuscript: 'and so we see them more plainly in good paper and clear type
+than when the impression and paper are bad?' Some have thought it better
+to have many editions of a good book: 'among other things,' says our
+critic, 'we feel great satisfaction in tracing the variations.' Ancillon
+was naturally accused of an indiscriminate mania for collecting; and he
+confessed that he was to some extent infected with the 'book-disease.' It
+was said that he never left his books day or night, except when he went
+to preach to his humble congregation. He was convinced that some golden
+thought might be found in the dullest work. Ancillon remained in France
+as long as his religion was tolerated. He found a home across the Rhine
+after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; but from that time he had to
+be content with German editions, all his fine tall volumes having been
+destroyed by the 'Catholic' rioters at Metz.
+
+If Evelyn can be believed, the art of book-collecting had come to a very
+poor pass in France about the seventeenth century. It had been discovered
+that certain classes of books were the necessary furniture of every
+gentleman's library. If a man of quality built a mansion he would expect
+to find a book-room and a quantity of shelves; it was a simple matter
+further on to order so many yards of folios or octavos, all in red
+morocco, with the coat of arms stamped in gold. Such collections, said La
+Bruyère, are like a picture-gallery with a strong smell of leather: the
+owner is most polite in showing off 'the gold leaves, Etruscan bindings,
+and fine editions'; 'we thank him for his kindness, but care as little as
+himself to visit the tan-yard which he calls his library.' We must not
+forget the financier Bretonvilliers, who about the year 1657 determined
+to become a bibliophile, and so far succeeded that some of his local
+books on Lorraine were purchased for the National Library. He first built
+a Hôtel, not far from the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, with a large gallery
+in which with infinite pains he built up a magnificent book-case; the
+contents were of less importance; but he succeeded after a time in
+filling it with books stamped with his new device of an eagle holding the
+olive-branch.
+
+One or two of the more serious collectors may be noticed before we pass
+to the great age of Rothelin and La Vallière. Henri du Bouchet had
+gathered about eight thousand books, all very well chosen, according to
+the testimony of the Père Jacob; on his death in 1654 he bequeathed them
+to the Abbey of St. Victor on public trusts so that those who came after
+him might find a solace in what had been 'his dearest delight.' He
+requested that they might be free to students for three days in the week
+and for seven hours in the day; and his wishes were duly regarded until
+the great library of St. Victor was dispersed in 1791. The monks set up a
+tablet and bust in memory of the generous donor; and perceiving that the
+volumes were not emblazoned in the usual way they adopted the singular
+plan of inserting pieces of leather bearing his arms into holes cut in
+the ancient bindings.
+
+The Abbé Boisot was another of the scholars who lived entirely for books.
+While quite a young man he acquired a considerable library in his travels
+through Spain and Italy; and in 1664, during an official visit to
+Besançon, he was so fortunate as to acquire the MSS. of the Cardinal de
+Granvelle, who had been the confidential minister of the Emperor Charles
+V. Boisot wrote a delightful account of the adventures through which this
+collection had passed. 'At first,' he says, 'the servants used what they
+pleased, and then the neighbours' children helped themselves; when some
+packing-cases were wanted, the butler, to show his economy, sold the
+records contained in them to a grocer.' At last they were all tired of
+these 'useless old papers,' and determined to throw them away. Jules
+Chifflet, according to Guigard, was the means of saving the remainder. He
+examined a number of the documents and recognised their importance,
+though they were mostly in cipher; but he died before they could be
+sorted out. Boisot bought what he could from the heirs, and found a good
+many more MSS. in the neighbourhood. They passed with the rest of
+Boisot's books to the Abbey of St. Vincent at Besançon; and during the
+Revolution the whole collection became the property of the citizens and
+was transferred to the public library.
+
+The hereditary treasures of the Bouhier family were dispersed in the same
+way through several provincial libraries. The collection had begun in the
+reign of Louis XII., and something had been done in each generation
+afterwards by way of adding fine books and manuscripts. Étienne Bouhier
+had collected in all parts of Italy. Jean Bouhier in 1642 bought the
+accumulations of Pontus de Thyard, the learned Bishop of Châlons. His
+father's own library had been dispersed among his children; but Jean
+Bouhier succeeded in getting it together again, and added a large number
+of MSS. which he had gathered for the illustration of the history of
+Burgundy. The library became still more famous in the time of his
+grandson the President Jean Bouhier, who has been admired as the type of
+the true bibliophile. The bibliomaniac heaps up books from avarice or
+some animal instinct; he is a collector, it is said, 'without intelligent
+curiosity.' Bouhier used to read his books and make notes upon them; and
+it is said that he carried the practice to such excess as to deface with
+marginal scribblings the finest work of Henri Estienne and Antoine
+Vérard. A visitor to his library described the sober magnificence of the
+rosewood shelves with silken hangings in which the rare editions and
+long rows of manuscripts were ranged. In the next generation there was a
+startling change. The library had been left to Bouhier's son-in-law,
+Chartraire de Bourbonne: the grave offspring of Aldus and Gryphius found
+themselves in company with poets of the _talon rouge_ and muses of the
+_Opéra bouffe_. When the gay De Bourbonne died, the ill-assorted crowd
+passed to his son-in-law in his turn, and was transferred in 1784 to the
+Abbey of Clairvaux.
+
+We cannot name or classify the bibliophiles of the eighteenth century. It
+would be endless to describe them with the briefest of personal notes;
+how M. Barré loved out-of-the-way books and fugitive pieces, or Lambert
+de Thorigny a good history, or how Gabriel de Sartines, the policeman of
+the Parc aux Cerfs, had a marvellous collection about Paris. When Count
+Macarthy sold his books at Toulouse his catalogue contained a list of
+about ninety others, issued in the same century, from which his riches
+were derived. We can point to a few of the mightiest Nimrods. We see the
+serene Gaignat pass, and the bustling La Vallière; the Duc d'Estrées is
+recognised as a busy book-hunter, and there are the physicians Hyacinthe
+Baron and Falconnet whose keenness no prey could escape. We can
+distinguish the forms of the elegant '_bibliomanes_' to whom their books
+were as pictures or as jewels to be enclosed in a shrine; there is Count
+d'Hoym with a house full of treasures, and Boisset and Girardot de
+Préfond with their cabinets of marvels. If the crowds in the
+old-fashioned libraries are like the multitude at Babel, these tall
+volumes in crushed morocco and 'triple gold bands' remind us of what our
+antiquaries have said of books glimmering in their wire cases 'like
+eastern beauties peering through their jalousies.' We ought to say
+something of M. de Chamillard, best known in his public capacity as a
+good match for the King at billiards and as the minister who proposed the
+revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In private life Michael de Chamillard
+was a virtuoso with well-filled galleries and portfolios; and he had
+assembled a large company of books of fashionable appearance. But our
+real interest is not so much with the Minister of Billiards, as M. Uzanne
+described him, but rather with his wife and three daughters, who were all
+true female bibliophiles. The eldest daughter, the Marquise de Dreux, was
+wife of the Grand Master of the Ceremonies; but though his collection was
+gay and polite the Marquise insisted on a separate establishment for the
+books that she had discovered and bought and bound. The Duchesse de la
+Feuillade and the Duchesse de Lorges insisted, like their elder sister,
+on having libraries for their separate use. The minister's wife was
+celebrated for the splendour of her books, and marvellous prices have
+been paid for specimens of her earlier style. But 'little Madame de
+Chamillard' attached herself in all things to the Maintenon, and followed
+the uncrowned queen in abandoning the paths of vanity; she gave up the
+world, so far as gilt arabesques and crushed morocco were concerned, and
+dressed all her later acquisitions _à la Janséniste_, in plain leather
+with perhaps the thinnest line of blind-tooling for an ornament.
+
+Charles du Fay was a captain in the Guards, compelled by his misfortunes
+to confine himself to the battles of the book-sale. He lost a leg at the
+bombardment of Brussels in 1695; and though he was promoted to a company
+in the Guards, it became at last apparent that he could not serve on
+horseback. Du Fay, we are told, was fortunately fond of literature; and
+he devoted himself with eagerness to the task of collecting a magnificent
+library. History and Latin poetry had always been his favourite subjects,
+and it appears that he was already collecting fine examples in this
+department during his campaigns in Germany and Flanders.
+
+M. de Lincy commemorates the good taste that impelled Du Fay to buy
+several of Grolier's books, and records the industry with which he sought
+to remedy his defects of education. Professor Brochard, he says, was a
+learned man, with a good library of his own, who went to inspect the
+books gathered by Du Fay from all parts of Europe. The visitor expressed
+surprise that out of nearly four thousand volumes there should hardly be
+any in Greek. 'I have hardly retained a word of the language,' said Du
+Fay. 'Cato in his old age,' replied the Professor, 'did not hesitate for
+a moment to learn it; and a person quite ignorant of Greek can never know
+Latin well.' Du Fay was an easy good-natured man, and at once followed
+his friend's advice, beginning from that day to buy Greek books and to
+work at the language so as to be able to read them. His object, however,
+in forming a library was not so much to gather useful information as to
+set up a museum of literary rarities. The idea is in accordance with our
+modern taste, and perhaps with the common sense of mankind; but some of
+the old-fashioned collectors were angry with the poor epicure of
+learning. The Président Bouhier writes to Marais in 1725 on seeing a
+catalogue of the library: 'This savours more of bibliomania than
+scholarship.' Marais at once replied: 'Your judgment on Du Fay's
+catalogue is most excellent: it is not a library, but a shop full of
+curious book-specimens, made to sell and not to keep for one's self.'
+
+Many of Du Fay's books were bought by Count d'Hoym, who lived for many
+years at Paris as ambassador from Augustus of Poland and Saxony. The
+Count has been accused of showing bad manners at Court, and of bad faith
+in giving the trade secrets of Dresden to the factory at Sèvres; in
+bibliography at any rate, he was supreme among the amateurs, and his
+White Eagle of Poland appears upon no volume that is not among the best
+of its kind. He sat at one time at the feet of the Abbé de Rothelin; but
+he soon became his master's equal in matters of taste, and was accepted
+until his exile at Nancy as the arbiter of elegance among the Parisians.
+M. Guigard quotes from the dedication of a 'treasury' of French poetry a
+passage that indicates his high position: 'To the poets in this
+assemblage, whoever they be, it is a glory, Monseigneur, to enter your
+Excellency's library, so full, so magnificent, so well chosen, that it is
+justly accounted the prodigy of learning.'
+
+Charles d'Orléans, Abbé de Rothelin, had died in 1744, when most of his
+books became the property of the nation. In some respects he was the most
+distinguished of the book-collectors. His learning and wealth enabled him
+to make a collection of theology that has never been surpassed; and he
+had the good fortune to acquire the vast series of State Papers and the
+priceless mediæval MSS. collected by Nicolas Foucault. His special taste
+was for immaculate editions in splendid bindings; but nothing escaped his
+notice that was in any way remarkable or interesting.
+
+Paul Girardot de Préfond was a timber-merchant who fell into an apathetic
+state on retiring from active business. His physician, Hyacinthe Baron,
+was an eminent book-collector, and he advised the patient to take up the
+task of forming a library. So successful was the prescription that the
+merchant became renowned during the next half century for his superb
+bindings, his specimens from Grolier's stores, and the Delphin and
+Variorum classics which he procured from the library of Gascq de la
+Lande. On two occasions the sale of his surplus treasures made an
+excitement for the literary world. Some of his rarest books were sold in
+1757, and twelve years afterwards his Delphin series and the greater part
+of his general collection were purchased by Count Macarthy.
+
+Mérard de St. Just was another collector, whose exquisite taste is still
+gratefully remembered, though his small library has long been dispersed,
+and was indeed almost destroyed by a series of accidents before the
+outbreak of the great Revolution. 'My library,' he said, 'is very small,
+but it is too large for me to fill it with good books.' He would not have
+the first editions of the classics, because they were generally printed
+on bad paper which it was disagreeable to touch, with the exception of
+works produced by the Aldine Press. Nor would he buy mere curiosities,
+says Guigard, but left them to persons who cared for empty display, 'like
+one who proudly exhibits his patents of nobility without being able to
+point to any distinguished action of his ancestors.' He was the owner of
+many choice books that had belonged to Gaignat and Charron de Ménars, or
+had been bound for Madame de Pompadour, or to the undiscriminating Du
+Barry. In 1782, we are told, he despatched the best part of his library
+to America, but had the grief of learning soon afterwards that they had
+been captured at sea by the English. His philosophical temper was shown
+in his reply to the bad news: 'I have but one wish upon the subject; I
+hope that the person who gets this part of the booty will be able to
+comprehend the value of the treasure that has come to his hands.'
+
+The elder Mirabeau was a collector of another type. The 'friend of
+mankind' intended to gather together the best and largest library in the
+world. He cared nothing for the scarcity or the external adornments of a
+volume; but he had a huge appetite for knowledge, and he longed to have
+the means of referring to all that could illustrate the progress of the
+race. He did not live to attain any marked success in his gigantic
+design; but his library had at least the distinction of containing all
+the books of the Comte de Buffon, enriched with marginal notes in the
+naturalist's handwriting.
+
+A modest collection was formed a few years afterwards by Pierre-Louis
+Guinguené, who wrote a valuable work on the literary history of Italy. He
+is remembered as having published amid the terrors of 1791 an amusing
+essay on the authority of Rabelais 'in the matter of this present
+Revolution.' He led a peaceful life through all that troubled time, and
+succeeded in forming a very useful library containing about 3000 volumes;
+it was purchased for the British Museum on his death, and became the
+foundation of the great series of works on the French Revolution which
+has been brought together there.
+
+The long life of M. Antoine Renouard bridges over the space between the
+days of Mirabeau and the time when the _élégants_ of the Third Empire had
+invented a new bibliomania. Renouard had ordered bindings from the elder
+Derôme; in 1785 he bought a book at La Vallière's sale. In his
+_Epictetus_ there is the following note: 'Bought in May 1785, the first
+book printed on vellum that entered my library; rather luxurious for a
+young fellow of seventeen, but then all my little savings were devoted to
+acquiring books; parties of pleasure, and elegancies of toilette,
+everything was sacrificed to my beloved books; and at that time a brisk
+and brilliant business permitted expenses which were followed by hard
+years of privation; it was in my first youth that I found it easiest to
+spend money on my books.' Renouard began life as a manufacturer. His
+father made gauze stuffs, and kept a shop in the Rue Apolline. In 1787
+the Abbé le Blond, the librarian of the Collège Mazarin, heard that
+Molini had sold a fine Aldine Horace to a shopkeeper. 'The next day,'
+says Renouard, 'Le Blond came into my library. "Oh! I shall not have the
+book," he exclaimed, and when I looked round, he said, "I beg your
+pardon, I hoped to tempt you with a few _louis_ for your bargain, but I
+have given up the idea at once, and I only ask the double favour of
+seeing the book and of being allowed to make your acquaintance."'
+Renouard was the historian of the House of Aldus, and naturally became
+the possessor of some of Grolier's finest books. During his career as a
+bookseller he parted with most of them; and at the sale of his library in
+1854 the 'Lucretius,' the 'Virgil,' and the 'Erasmus,' were all that
+remained in his collection.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+LATER ENGLISH COLLECTORS.
+
+
+In describing the English collections of the eighteenth century we have
+the advantage of using the memoranda of William Oldys for the earlier
+part of the period. D'Israeli deplored the carelessness which led the
+'literary antiquary' to entrust his discoveries and reminiscences to the
+fly-leaves of notebooks, to 'parchment budgets,' and paper-bags of
+extracts. He expressed especial disappointment at the loss of the
+manuscript on London Libraries, with its anecdotes of book-collectors and
+remarks on booksellers and the first publishers of catalogues. The book
+has come to light since his time, having been discovered among the
+important collections bequeathed by Dr. William Hunter to the University
+of Glasgow; it was published by Mr. W. J. Thoms about the year 1862 in
+_Notes and Queries_, and was afterwards printed by him in a volume
+containing a diary and other 'choice notes' by Oldys and an interesting
+memoir of his life. 'In his own departments of learning,' says Mr. Thoms,
+'Oldys exhausted all the ordinary sources of information,' and adds that
+'his copious and characteristic accounts of men and books have endeared
+his memory to every lover of English literature.'
+
+Oldys had some special advantages as a collector of old English poetry.
+He knew, as no one else at that time knew, the value of the plays and
+pamphlets that encumbered the stalls; he had no competitor to fear 'clad
+in the invulnerable mail of the purse.' Oldys was born in 1696; he became
+involved, while quite a young man, in the disaster of the South Sea
+Bubble; and in 1724 he was obliged to leave London for a residence of
+some years in Yorkshire. Among the books that he abandoned was the first
+of his annotated copies of _Langbaine_, which he found afterwards in the
+hands of a miserly fellow, begrudging him even a sight of the notes.
+'When I returned,' he writes, 'I understood that my books had been
+dispersed; and afterwards, becoming acquainted with Mr. Thomas Coxeter, I
+found that he had bought my _Langbaine_ of a bookseller who was a great
+collector of plays and poetical books.' His autobiography shows that he
+soon restored his literary losses. His patron, Lord Oxford, for whom he
+afterwards worked as librarian, was anxious to buy everything that was
+rare. 'The Earl,' says Oldys, 'invited me to show him my collections of
+manuscripts, historical and political, which had been the Earl of
+Clarendon's, my collections of Royal Letters and other papers of State,
+together with a very large collection of English heads in sculpture.' Mr.
+Thoms quotes a note from the _Langbaine_ to show that Oldys had bought
+two hundred volumes 'at the auction of the Earl of Stamford's library at
+St. Paul's Coffee-house, where formerly most of the celebrated libraries
+were sold.' It was while Oldys was living in Yorkshire, under the
+patronage of Lord Malton, that he saw the end of the library of State
+Papers collected by Richard Gascoyne the antiquary. The noble owner of
+the MSS. had been advised to destroy the papers by a lawyer, Mr. Samuel
+Buck of Rotherham, 'who could not read one of those records any more than
+his lordship'; but he feared that they might contain legal secrets or
+disclose flaws in a title or, as Oldys said, 'that something or other
+might be found out one time or other by somebody or other.' Richard
+Gascoyne, he adds, possessed a vast and most valuable collection of
+deeds, evidences, and ancient records, which after his death, about the
+time of the Restoration, came to the family of the first Earl of
+Strafford. They were kept in the stone tower at Wentworth Woodhouse until
+1728, when Lord Malton 'burnt them all wilfully in one morning.' 'I saw
+the lamentable fire,' says Oldys, 'feed upon six or seven great chests
+full of the said deeds, some of them as old as the Conquest, and even the
+ignorant servants repining.... I did prevail to the preservation of some
+few old rolls and public grants and charters, a few extracts of escheats,
+and original letters of some eminent persons and pedigrees of others, but
+not the hundredth part of much better things that were destroyed.'
+
+One or two extracts from the 'diary and choice notes' will show the
+minute attention given by Oldys to everything concerned with books.
+Under the date of June 29th, 1737, we read: 'Saw Mr. Ames' old MSS. on
+vellum, entitled _Le Romant de la Rose_, which cost forty crowns at Paris
+when first written, as appears by the inscription at the end: it had been
+Bishop Burnet's book, his arms being pasted in it, and Mr. Rawlinson's,
+being mentioned in one of his catalogues; in the same catalogue also is
+mentioned Sir William Monson's collection, which Mr. West bought and lent
+me before the fatal fire happened at his chambers in the Temple.' Mr.
+Thorns adds that Sir William Monson, an Admiral of note in the reign of
+James I., formed considerable collections, principally about naval
+affairs. Under the date of August 8th, we read of a visit to Strype the
+historian. 'Invited by Dr. Harris to his brother's at Homerton, where old
+Mr. Strype is still alive, and has the remainder of his once rich
+collection of MSS., tracts, etc.' Dr. Knight's letter of a few months'
+earlier date was printed by Nichols in his _Literary Anecdotes_. 'I made
+a visit to old Father Strype when in town last: he is turned ninety, yet
+very brisk, and with only a decay of sight and memory.... He told me that
+he had great materials towards the life of the old Lord Burleigh and Mr.
+Foxe the martyrologist, which he wished he could have finished, but most
+of his papers are in "characters"; his grandson is learning to decipher
+them.' Under the dates of September 1st and 7th Oldys records that 'the
+Yelverton library is in the possession of the Earl of Sussex, wherein
+are many volumes of Sir Francis Walsingham's papers'; and a few days
+later, 'Dr. Pepusch offered me any intelligence or assistance from his
+ancient collections of music, for a history of that art and its
+professors in England; and as to dramatic affairs, he notes that the
+Queen's set of Plays had at first been thought too dear; but after Mrs.
+Oldfield the actress died, and they were reported to be his collection,
+then the Queen would have them at any rate.' When Oldys died his curious
+library was purchased by Thomas Davies, and was put up to auction in
+1762. The list of printed books comprises many literary treasures which
+in our days can hardly be procured, but at that time went for a song.
+'The manuscripts were not so many as might be expected from so
+indefatigable a writer'; it seems that Oldys had always been too generous
+with his gifts and loans.
+
+Among his notices of the London libraries we find an interesting account
+of the collection at Lambeth, then housed in the galleries above the
+cloisters. 'The oldest of the books were Dudley's, the Earl of Leicester,
+which from time to time have been augmented by several Archbishops of
+that See. It had a great loss in being deprived of Archbishop Sheldon's
+admirable collection of missals, breviaries, primers, etc., relating to
+the service of the Church, as also Archbishop Sancroft's.' The books and
+MSS. belonging to Sancroft had in part been deposited at Lambeth; but on
+his deprivation they were removed to Emmanuel College at Cambridge.
+Oldys added that there was another apartment for MSS., 'not only those
+belonging to the See, but those of the Lord Carew, who had been Deputy of
+Ireland, many of them relating to the state and history of that kingdom.'
+
+Archbishop Tenison had furnished another noble library near St. Martin's
+Lane 'with the best modern books in most faculties'; 'there any student
+might repair and make what researches he pleased'; and there too were
+deposited Sir James Ware's important Irish MSS. and many other portions
+of the Clarendon Collection, until offence was taken at their having been
+catalogued among the papers of the Archbishop.
+
+In Dulwich College there was another library to which Mr. Cartwright the
+actor gave a collection of plays and many excellent pictures; and 'here
+comes in,' says Oldys, 'the Queen's purchase of plays, and those by Mr.
+Weever the dancing-master, Sir Charles Cotterell, Mr. Coxeter, Lady
+Pomfret, and Lady Mary Wortley Montague'; and here we might mention the
+sad case of Mr. Warburton the herald, whose forte was to find out
+valuable English plays. Shortly before his death in 1759 he discovered
+that the cook had used up about fifty of the MSS. for covering pies, and
+that among them were 'twelve unpublished pieces by Massinger.' Something
+may be said too as to the older collections formed in London for the use
+of schools. At Westminster, it has been well said, Dean Williams
+'enlarged the boundaries of learning.' According to Hackett, he converted
+a waste room into a noble library, modelling it 'into a decent shape,'
+and furnishing it with a vast number of learned volumes. The best of them
+came from the library of Mr. Baker of Highgate, who throughout a very
+long life had been gathering 'the best authors of all sciences in their
+best editions.' Dean Colet had endowed St. Paul's School with
+philological works in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; but these were destroyed
+in the great fire, together with the whole library of the High Master.
+This was Mr. Samuel Cromleholme, who had the best set of neatly-bound
+classics in London; 'he was a great lover of his books, and their loss
+hastened the end of his life.' The shelves at Merchant Taylors and in the
+Mercers' Chapel were almost as well filled as those at St. Paul's; and
+Christ's Hospital at that time had a good plain library in the
+mathematical school, with globes and instruments, 'and ships with all
+their rigging for the instruction of lads designed for the sea.'
+
+In the College of Physicians was a fine collection 'in their own and the
+other faculties.' Selden bequeathed to it his 'physical books,' and it
+was enriched by a gift of the whole library of Lord Dorchester, 'the
+pride and glory of the College.' We can only mention a few of the
+libraries described by Oldys. The Jews, he says, had a collection at
+Bevis Marks relating to the Talmud and Mischna and their ceremonial
+worship: the French Protestants had another at the Savoy, and the Swedes
+another at their Church in Trinity Lane. The Baptists owned a great
+library in the Barbican. The Quakers had been for some years furnishing a
+library with all the works written by the Friends. John Whiting published
+the catalogue in 1708; 'and in my opinion,' says our critic, ''tis more
+accurately and perfectly drawn up than the Bodleian Library at Oxford is
+by Dr. Hyde, for the Quaker does not confound one man with another as the
+scholar does.' Francis Bugg, he adds, 'the scribbler against them,' had a
+better collection of their writings than any of the brethren; 'but I
+think I have read in some of his rhapsodies that he either gave or sold
+it to the library at Oxford.'
+
+Charles Earl of Sunderland was the greatest collector of his time. He
+bought the whole library of Hadrian Beverland, 'which was very choice of
+its kind,' and a great number of Pétau's books as mentioned before; 'no
+bookseller,' it was said, 'hath so many editions of the same book as he,
+for he hath all, especially of the classics.' Shortly before his death in
+1772 he commissioned Mr. Vaillant to buy largely at the sale of Mr.
+Freebairn's library. In Clarke's _Repertorium_ we are told how a fine
+Virgil was secured: 'and it was noted that when Mr. Vaillant had bought
+the printed Virgil at £46 he huzza'd out aloud, and threw up his hat for
+joy that he had bought it so cheap.' The great collection was afterwards
+taken to Blenheim, and has been dispersed in our time; 'the King of
+Denmark proffered the heirs £30,000 for it, and "Queen Zara" would have
+inclined them to part with it.' When the Earl of Sunderland died,
+Humphrey Wanley saw a good chance for the Harleian. 'I believe some
+benefit may accrue to this library, even if his relations will part with
+none of the works; I mean by his raising the price of books no higher
+now; so that in probability this commodity may fall in the market, and
+any gentleman be permitted to buy an uncommon old book for less than
+forty or fifty pounds.' If we listen to the Rev. Thomas Baker, the
+ejected Fellow who gave 4000 books to St. John's at Cambridge, we shall
+hear a complaint against Wanley. Lord Oxford's librarian when he saw a
+fine book, even in a public institution, used to say, 'It will be better
+in my lord's library.' Baker might have said, 'a plague on both your
+houses!' What he wrote was as follows:--'I begin to complain of the men
+of quality who lay out so much for books, and give such prices that there
+is nothing to be had for poor scholars, whereof I have felt the effects;
+when I bid a fair price for an old book, I am answered, "The quality will
+give twice as much," and so I have done.'
+
+The Earls of Pembroke were for several generations the patrons of
+learning. 'Thomas, the eighth Earl, was contemporary with those
+illustrious characters, Sunderland, Harley, and Mead, during the Augustan
+age of Britain'; he added a large number of classics and early printed
+books to the library at Wilton, and his successor Earl Henry still
+further improved it by adding the best works on architecture, on
+biographies, and books of numismatics; 'the Earl of Pembroke is stored
+with antiquities relating to medals and lives.'
+
+Lord Somers had the rare pieces in law and English history which have
+been published in a well-known series of tracts. Lord Carbury loved
+mystical divinity; the Earl of Kent was all for pedigrees and
+visitations; the Earl of Kinnoul made large collections in mathematics
+and civil law; and Lord Coleraine followed Bishop Kennett in forming 'a
+library of lives.'
+
+Richard Smith was remembered as having started in the pursuit of Caxtons
+in the days of Charles II.; the taste was despised when Oldys wrote, but
+it eventually grew into a mania. 'For a person of an inferior rank we
+never had a collector more successful. No day passed over his head in
+which he did not visit Moorfields and Little Britain or St. Paul's
+Churchyard, and for many years together he suffered nothing to escape him
+that was rare and remarkable.'
+
+Mr. John Bridges of Lincoln's Inn was another 'notorious book-collector.'
+When his books were sold in 1726 the prices ran so high that the world
+suspected a conspiracy on the part of the executors. Humphrey Wanley was
+disappointed in his commissions, and called it a roguish sale; of the
+vendors he remarked 'their very looks, according to what I am told, dart
+out harping-irons.' Tom Hearne went to Mr. Bridges' chambers to see the
+sale, and descanted upon the fine condition of the lots: 'I was told of a
+gentleman of All Souls that gave a commission of eight shillings for an
+Homer, but it went for six guineas; people are in love with good binding
+rather than good reading.' Some of the entries in the catalogue are of
+great interest. The first edition of Homer, printed at Florence in 1488
+on large paper, went for about a quarter of the price of an Aldine Livy.
+Lord Oxford secured a 'Lucian' in uncial characters, and a splendid
+Missal illuminated for Henry VII. There was a large-paper 'Politian' in
+two volumes, very carelessly described as 'finely bound by Grolier and
+his friends'; but the best of all was the MS. Horace, with an exquisite
+portrait of the poet, 'from the library of Matthias Corvinus, King of
+Hungary.'
+
+Dr. Mead was a collector of the same kind. All that was beautiful came
+naturally to this great man, of whom it was said that he lived 'in the
+full sunshine of human existence.' He was the owner of a very fine
+library, which he had 'picked up at Rome.' He had a great number of
+early-printed classics, which fetched high prices at his sale in 1754;
+his French books, according to Dibdin, and all his works upon the fine
+arts 'were of the first rarity and value,' and were sumptuously bound.
+His chief literary distinction rests on his edition of De Thou's
+'History' in seven folio volumes. He had received a large legacy from a
+brother, and spent it in the publication of a work 'from which nothing
+of exterior pomp and beauty should be wanting'; the ink and paper were
+procured from Holland; and Carte the historian was sent to France 'to
+rummage for MSS. of Thuanus.'
+
+Oldys has a few notes upon curious collections which he thought might be
+diverting to a 'satirical genius.' A certain Templar, he says, had a good
+library of astrology, witchcraft, and magic. Mr Britton, the small-coal
+man, had an excellent set of chemical books,'and a great parcel of music
+books, many of them pricked with his own hand.' The famous Dryden, and
+Mr. Congreve after him, had collected old ballads and penny story-books.
+The melancholy Burton, and Dr. Richard Rawlinson, and the learned Thomas
+Hearne, had all been as bad in their way. Mr. Secretary Pepys gave a
+great library to Magdalen College at Cambridge: but among the folios
+peeped out little black-letter ballads and 'penny merriments, penny
+witticisms, penny compliments, and penny godlinesses.' 'Mr. Robert
+Samber,' says Oldys, 'must need turn virtuoso too, and have his
+collection: which was of all the printed tobacco-papers he could anywhere
+light on.'
+
+For 'curiosity or dotage' none could beat Mr. Thomas Rawlinson, whose
+vast collections were dispersed in seventeen or eighteen auctions before
+the final sale in 1733. Mr. Heber in the present century is a modern
+example of the same kind. 'A book is a book,' he said: and he bought all
+that came in his way, by cart-loads and ship-loads, and in whole
+libraries, on which in some cases he never cast his eyes. The most
+zealous lovers of books have smiled at his duplicates, quadruplicates,
+and multiplied specimens of a single edition.
+
+Thomas Rawlinson, for all his continual sales, blocked himself out of
+house and home by his purchases: his set of chambers at Gray's Inn was so
+completely filled with books that his bed had to be moved into the
+passage. Some thought that he was the 'Tom Folio' of Addison's
+caricature, in which it was assumed that the study of bibliography was
+only fit for a 'learned idiot.' Hearne defended his friend from the
+charge of pedantry, and declared that the mistake could only be made by a
+'shallow buffoon.'
+
+Rawlinson had a miserly craving after good books. If he had twenty copies
+of a work he would always open his purse for 'a different edition, a
+fairer copy, a larger paper.' His covetousness increased as the mass of
+his library was multiplied: and as he lived, said Oldys, so he died,
+among dust and cobwebs, 'in his bundles, piles, and bulwarks of paper.'
+
+Upon Dr. Mead's death his place in the book-world was taken by Dr.
+Anthony Askew, who travelled far and wide in search of rare editions and
+large-paper copies. In describing the sale of his books in 1775 Dibdin
+almost lost himself in ecstasies over the magnificent folios, and the
+shining duodecimos 'printed on vellum and embossed with knobs of gold.'
+It has been said that with this sale commenced the new era in
+bibliography, during which such fabulous prices were given for fine
+editions of the classics; but the date should perhaps be carried back to
+Dr. Mead's time. Some credit for the new development should also be
+ascribed to Joseph Smith, who collected early-printed books and classics
+at Venice, while acting as English consul. His first library was
+purchased by George III. in 1762, and now forms the best part of the
+'King's Library' at the British Museum. His later acquisitions were sold
+in 1773 by public auction in London. Among other classical libraries of
+an old-fashioned kind we should notice the Osterley Park collection, only
+recently dispersed, which was formed by Bryan Fairfax; it was purchased
+_en bloc_ in 1756 by Mr. Francis Child, and passed from him to the family
+of the Earl of Jersey.
+
+Topham Beauclerc housed his thirty thousand volumes, as Walpole declared,
+in a building that reached halfway from London to Highgate; his
+collection was in two parts, of which the first was mainly classical, and
+the other was very rich in English antiquities and history. In 1783 was
+sold almost the last of the encyclopædic collections which used to fill
+the position now occupied by great public libraries. Mr. Crofts possessed
+a treasury of Greek and Roman learning; he was especially rich in
+philology, in Italian literature, in travels, in Scandinavian affairs;
+'under the shortest heads, some one or more rare articles occur, but in
+the copious classes literary curiosity is gratified, is highly feasted.'
+
+Dr. Johnson's books were dispersed in a four-days' sale in 1785. A copy
+of the interesting catalogue has lately been reprinted by The Club. The
+most valuable specimen, as a mere curiosity, would be the folio with
+which he beat the bookseller, but we suppose that very little on the
+whole was obtained for the 662 lots of learned volumes that had sprawled
+over his dusty floor. The Doctor had but little sympathy with the
+fashions that were beginning to prevail. He laughs in the _Rambler_ at
+'Cantilenus' with his first edition of _The Children in the Wood_, and
+the antiquary who despaired of obtaining one missing Gazette till it was
+sent to him 'wrapped round a parcel of tobacco.' 'Hirsutus,' we are
+told,'very carefully amassed all the English books that were printed in
+the black character'; the fortunate virtuoso had 'long since completed
+his Caxton, and wanted but two volumes of a perfect Pynson.' In our own
+day we can hardly realise the idea of such riches; but the 'Rambler'
+scouted the notion of slighting or valuing a book because it was printed
+in the Roman or Gothic type. John Ratcliffe of Bermondsey was one of
+these 'black-letter dogs.' He had some advantages of birth and position;
+for, being a chandler and grocer, he could buy these old volumes by
+weight in the course of his trade. He died in 1776, the master of a whole
+'galaxy of Caxtons'; his library is said to have held the essence of
+poetry, romance and history; it was more precious in flavour to the new
+_dilettanti_ than the copious English stores of James West, the judicious
+President of the Royal Society; it was far more refined than the 'omnium
+gatherum' scattered in 1788 on Major Pearson's death, or Dr. Farmer's
+ragged regiments of old plays and frowsy ballads, and square-faced
+broadsides 'bought for thrice their weight in gold.'
+
+M. Paris de Meyzieux was the owner of a splendid library. Dibdin has
+described his third sale, held in London during 1791, when the
+bibliomaniacs, it was said, used to cool themselves down with ice before
+they could face such excitement. Of himself he confessed that when he had
+seen the illuminations of Nicolas Jany, the snow-white 'Petrarch,' the
+'Virgil' on vellum, life had no more to offer: 'after having seen only
+these three books I hope to descend to my obscure grave in perfect peace
+and happiness.' The _Livre d'Heures_ printed for Francis I., which had
+belonged to the Duc de la Vallière, was bought by Sir Mark Sykes, and
+became one of his principal treasures at Sledmere.
+
+Mr. Robert Heathcote had a most elegant library, in which might be seen
+the tallest Elzevirs and several Aldine classics 'in the chaste costume
+of Grolier.' It is said that the books passed lightly into his hands 'in
+a convivial moment,' much to their former owner's regret. About the year
+1807 they passed into the miscellaneous crowd of Mr. Dent's books; and
+twenty years afterwards the whole collection was dispersed at a low
+price, when the book-mania was giving way for a time to an affection for
+cheap and useful literature.
+
+The fever was still high in 1810 when Mr. Heath's plain classics were
+snatched up at very extravagant terms. Colonel Stanley's library was
+typical of the taste of the day. His selection comprised rare Spanish and
+Italian poetry, novels and romances, 'De Bry's voyages complete, fine
+classics, and a singular set of _facetiæ_.' It was sold in 1813, a few
+weeks after the dispersal of Mr. John Hunter's very similar collection.
+This was immediately followed by an auction of Mr. Gosset's books, which
+lasted for twenty-three days: they seem to have chiefly consisted of
+divinity and curious works on philology. Mr. John Towneley's library was
+sold a few months afterwards. Mr. Towneley was the owner of a fine
+'Pontifical' of Innocent IV., and a missal by Giulio Clovio from the
+Farnese palace; his celebrated MS., known as the 'Towneley Iliad,' was
+bought by Dr. Charles Burney, and passed with the rest of his books to
+the British Museum. In 1816 Mr. Michael Wodhull died, after
+half-a-century spent in the steady collection of good books in the
+auctions of London and Paris: the recent sale of his library has made all
+the world familiar with his well-selected volumes, bound in russia by his
+faithful Roger Payne, and annotated on their fly-leaves with valuable
+memoranda of book-lore. We shall not repeat the story of Mr. Beckford's
+triumphant career, of the glories of Fonthill or the later splendours of
+the Hamilton Palace collection. We should note his purchase of Gibbon's
+books 'in order to have something to read on passing through Lausanne.'
+'I shut myself up,' said Mr. Beckford, 'for six weeks from early in the
+morning till night, only now and then taking a ride; the people thought
+me mad; I read myself nearly blind.' Beckford never saw the books again
+'after once turning hermit there.' He gave them to his physician, Dr.
+Scholl, and they were sold by auction in 1833; most of them were
+scattered about the world, but some are said to be still preserved at
+Lausanne in the public library.
+
+This period was marked by the rivalry between bibliophiles of high rank
+and great wealth, whose Homeric contests have been worthily described by
+Dibdin in his history of the Bibliomania. A note in one of the Althorp
+Caxtons records a more amicable arrangement. The book belonged to Mr.
+George Mason, at whose sale it was bought by the Duke of Roxburghe: 'The
+Duke and I had agreed not to oppose one another at the sale, but after
+the book was bought, to toss up who should win it, when I lost it; I
+bought it at the Roxburghe sale on the 17th of June, 1812, for £215 5s.'
+The Duke was chiefly interested in old English literature, Italian
+poetry, and romances of the Round Table; but we are told that shortly
+before his death he was 'in full pursuit of a collection of our dramatic
+authors.' It was at his sale that the Valdarfer Boccaccio was purchased
+by Lord Blandford, afterwards Duke of Marlborough, for £2260, a sum which
+at that time had never been reached as the price of a single volume. It
+passed into the great collection at White Knights, which then contained,
+in addition to some of the rarest English books, the 'Bedford Missal,'
+another missal given by Queen Louise to Marguerite d'Angoulême, and a
+volume of prayers from the hand of the caligrapher Nicolas Jany. On the
+17th of June, 1819, the White Knights library was sold on behalf of the
+owner's creditors; and the 'Boccaccio' found a safe home at Althorp,
+where George, Earl Spencer, had by fortunate purchases, by zeal in the
+pursuit of books, and by the aid of an accomplished librarian, formed
+that matchless collection which Renouard justly described as 'the finest
+private library in Europe.'
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+    Ælfric, Archbishop, 26.
+    Agricola, Rudolf, 87.
+    Aicardo, Paul, 176.
+    Aidan, 13, 17.
+    Albisse, 144.
+    Alexander ab Alexandro, 80.
+    Alfred, King, 25.
+    Allatius, Leo, 91.
+    Alphonso, Naples, 79.
+    Amboise, Cardinal de, 100.
+    Ancillon, David, 189.
+    Anne, Queen, 120, 121.
+    Anne of Austria, 108.
+    Anne of Brittany, 79.
+    Anselm, 27.
+    Apellicon, 3.
+    Arcanati, Galeazzo, 164.
+    Aretino, Carlo, 66.
+    Aretino, Leonardo, 59, 63, 65.
+    Argonne, Bonaventure d', 147, 148.
+    Aristotle, 3, 23, 33, 37, 57.
+    Arius, Montanus, 165.
+    Arundel, Archbishop, 56.
+    Arundel, Henry, Lord, 116.
+    Arundel, Thomas, Earl of, 85.
+    Ascham, Roger, 114.
+    Ashmole, Elias, 135, 136.
+    Askew, Anthony, Dr., 214.
+    Asser, 25.
+    Attavante, 83, 85.
+    Attalus, 2.
+    Aubrey, John, 135.
+    Augustus, 4.
+    Augustus of Brunswick, 85.
+    Aumale, Duc d', 105.
+    Aungerville (_see_ Bury, Richard de).
+    Aurispa, John, 66, 70.
+    Aquinas, Thomas, 70.
+
+    Bacon, Francis, 114.
+    Bacon, Roger, 30, 129.
+    Bagford, John, 120-122.
+    Bagni, 183.
+    Baillet, Adrian, 188, 189.
+    Baker (of Highgate), 207.
+    Baker, Rev. Thomas, 210.
+    Bale, Bishop, 57.
+    Ballesdens, Jean, 148, 149.
+    Baluze, Étienne, 188.
+    Barberini, Cardinal, 183.
+    Barocci, Francesco, 117, 131.
+    Baron, Hyacinthe, 194, 198.
+    Barré, M., 194.
+    Bashkirtseff, Marie, 157.
+    Basingstoke, John, 34.
+    Beauclerc, Topham, 215.
+    Becatelli, Antonio, 79.
+    Beckford, Wm., 156, 218, 219.
+    Bede, 21, 22, 131.
+    Bedford, John, Duke of, 56, 59, 60, 220.
+    Bentley, Dr., 118, 119.
+    Bernard, Dr., 137, 138.
+    Berri, Jean Duc de, 94, 103.
+    Berry, Duchesse de, 109.
+    Berryer, M., 189.
+    Bessarion, Cardinal, 52, 71.
+    Béthune, Hippolyte de, 94, 162.
+    Beza, Theodore, 123.
+    Bignon, Jérome, 179.
+    Bigot, Jean, 148, 152.
+    Bigot, Robert, 152.
+    Bigot, Louis, 152.
+    Bill, John, 125, 126.
+    Biscop, Benedict, 20, 21.
+    Blanche, Queen, 60.
+    Blandford, Lord, 219.
+    Boccaccio, 49, 63, 64.
+    Bodley, Lawrence, 127.
+    Bodley, Sir Thomas, 115, 116, 123-128.
+    Boethius, 7, 12.
+    Boisot, Abbé, 192, 194.
+    Bongars, Jacques, 160, 161.
+    Boniface, St., 22, 23.
+    Booker, John, 136.
+    Borromeo, Frederic, 177, 183.
+    Bouchet, Henri, 191, 192.
+    Bouhier, Étienne de, 192.
+    Bouhier, Jean de, 193.
+    Bouhier, President, 193, 197.
+    Bourbon, Charles de, 103.
+    Brassicanus, 84.
+    Bretonvilliers, 191.
+    Bridges, John, 211, 212.
+    Bridget, St., 13, 15.
+    Bristol, Earl of, 130.
+    Britton, Thomas, 213.
+    Brochard, Professor, 196.
+    Browne, Sir Thomas, 7.
+    Bruges, Jean de, 94.
+    Bruges, Louis de, 93-94.
+    Bruges, _See_ La Gruthuyse.
+    Bucer, Martin, 112.
+    Buchanan, George, 115.
+    Budæus, 82, 98-100, 140, 146, 147.
+    Buffon, 200.
+    Buonaparte, Pauline, 109.
+    Burgh, Elizabeth de, 54.
+    Burnet, Bishop, 205.
+    Burney, Dr. Charles, 218.
+    Burton, Robert, 126, 213.
+    Bury, Richard de, 28-29, 32-40, 53-58.
+    Busbec, Angere, 84.
+    Busch, Hermann, 87-89.
+
+    Cæsar, Julius, 2, 4.
+    Cæsar, Sir Julius, 136, 137.
+    Calcavi, 188.
+    Camden, William, 117, 127.
+    Canonici, Matheo, 133.
+    Capranica, Angelo, 81.
+    Capranica, Domenico, 81.
+    Carbury, Lord, 211.
+    Carew, Lord, 207.
+    Cartwright (the actor), 207.
+    Casaubon, Méric, 124.
+    Casaubon, Isaac, 169, 170, 177, 179.
+    Charron de Ménars, 173, 174, 199.
+    Chartraire de Bourbonne, 194.
+    Chevalier, Étienne, 101.
+    Chevalier, Nicolas, 102.
+    Chifflet, Jules, 192.
+    Child, Francis, 215.
+    Christina of Pisa, 60.
+    Christina (Queen of Sweden), 94, 149, 154, 159, 162, 187.
+    Chrysoloras, 50, 63, 66.
+    Cino da Pistoia, 41.
+    Cassiodorus, 12, 23.
+    Caxton, William, 93, 95, 97.
+    Ceolfrid of Jarrow, 21.
+    Chamillard, Madame de, 195.
+    Charles I., 112, 122, 152.
+    Charles II., 122, 133.
+    Charles V. (of France), 59, 60, 94.
+    Charles V. (Emperor), 192.
+    Charles VII. (of France), 101, 102.
+    Charles VIII. (of France), 79, 100.
+    Charles IX. (of France), 106, 107.
+    Charles the Bold, 95, 96.
+    Charles the Great, 20, 23.
+    Charles of Orléans, 102.
+    Clarendon, Earl of, 203, 207.
+    Clavell, Walter, 134.
+    Clement, VII., Pope, 69.
+    Clement, XII., Pope, 181.
+    Clénard, Nicolas, 167.
+    Cleopatra, 2.
+    Cobham, Bishop, 55.
+    Cobham, Lord, 97.
+    Coelius, 77.
+    Colbert, 148, 187, 188.
+    Coleraine, Lord, 211.
+    Colet, Dean, 208.
+    Columba, St., 13, 15-17, 130.
+    Columbus, Christopher, 168.
+    Columbus, Ferdinand, 166-168.
+    Condé, Princesse de, 105.
+    Congreve, 213.
+    Consentius, 10, 11.
+    Costa, Solomon da, 133.
+    Cotton, Sir John, 118.
+    Cotton, Sir Robert, 18, 113, 117, 118, 129, 178.
+    Cotton, Sir Thomas, 118.
+    Courteney, Richard, 56.
+    Cox, Captain, 115.
+    Coxeter, Thomas, 203, 207.
+    Cracherode, Clayton, 153.
+    Cranmer, Archbishop, 112, 113.
+    Crofts, Thomas, 215.
+    Cromleholme, Samuel, 208.
+    Cujacius, 160.
+    Cuthbert, St., 18.
+
+    Daniel, Bishop, 22.
+    Dee, Dr., 114, 130, 136.
+    Dent, John, 217.
+    Descordes, Jean, 184.
+    Des Essars, Antoine, 60.
+    Desportes, Philippe, 102.
+    D'Ewes, Sir Symonds, 120.
+    Diane de Poitiers, 104, 106.
+    Digby, Sir Kenelm, 128-30.
+    Dodsworth, Roger, 134-35.
+    Domitian, 4.
+    Dorchester, Lord, 208.
+    Douce, Francis, 133-34.
+    Dryden, 213.
+    Du Barry, 109, 199.
+    Dubois, Simeon, 184.
+    Dudley, Robert (Leicester), 114, 206.
+    Du Fay, Charles, 148, 196, 197.
+    Dugdale, Sir William, 135.
+    Dunstan, St., 25, 128.
+    Du Puy, Charles, 171, 172.
+    Du Puy, Jacques, 171, 173.
+    Du Puy, Pierre, 171, 173.
+    Dury, John, 116.
+
+    Eadburga, Abbess, 22.
+    Edward VI., 112.
+    Egbert of York, 23.
+    Elisabeth, Madame, 109.
+    Elizabeth, Queen, 112, 113.
+    Ellesmere, Lord, 136.
+    Erasmus, 71, 80, 87, 89, 90, 98, 99, 140.
+    Essex, Lord, 127.
+    Estienne, Henri, 89, 90, 169, 193.
+    Estrées, Duc d', 194.
+    Estrées, Gabrielle d', 106.
+    Eusebius, 6.
+    Evelyn, John, 85, 190.
+
+    Fairfax, Bryan, 215.
+    Fairfax, Lord, 116, 117, 134, 135.
+    Falconnet, Dr., 194.
+    Farmer, Dr., 217.
+    Farnese, Cardinal, 159.
+    Fauchet, Claude, 162.
+    Faure, Antoine, 151.
+    Ferrar, Nicholas, 121, 122.
+    Finnen, St., 16.
+    Firmin-Didot, 101, 156.
+    Fisher, Bishop, 111, 112.
+    Fitz-Ralph, Archbishop of Armagh, 31.
+    Fléchier, Esprit, 150.
+    Fleming, Robert, 97.
+    Fletewode, W., 136.
+    Folkes, Martin, 134.
+    Fontius, 83.
+    Foucault, Nicolas, 198.
+    Francis, St., 30, 31.
+    Francis, I., 163, 217.
+    Francis, II., 106, 107.
+    Freebairn, 209.
+    Fugger, Raimond, 90.
+    Fugger, Ulric, 90, 91, 185.
+
+    Gaffarel, Jacques, 182.
+    Gafori, Franc, 143, 144.
+    Gaignat, 93, 153, 194.
+    Gale, Thomas, 134.
+    Gascoigne, Dr., 34, 128, 130.
+    Gascoyne, Richard, 204.
+    Gascq de la Lande, 198.
+    Gasparus, Achilles, 91.
+    George of Trebisond, 71, 72.
+    Germanus, St., 11.
+    Gibbon, 218, 219.
+    Gilles, Pierre, 104.
+    Giraldi, Cinthio, 77.
+    Giraldi, Lilio, 77.
+    Girardot de Préfond, Paul, 194, 198.
+    Gloucester, Humphrey Duke of, 56-59, 124.
+    Gosset, 218.
+    Gouffier, Arthur, 102, 103.
+    Gouffier, Charles, 103.
+    Gough, Richard, 133, 134.
+    Granvelle, Cardinal de, 192.
+    Gray, William, 97.
+    Grenville, Thomas, 153.
+    Grolier, Étienne, 136, 146.
+    Grolier, Jean, 56, 100, 103, 106, 139, 162, 175, 196, 198, 201, 217.
+    Grostête, 30, 33, 34, 128, 129.
+    Guillard, Charlotte, 102.
+    Guinguené, Pierre-Louis, 200.
+    Guy Earl of Warwick, 54.
+    Guy de Rocheford, 96.
+    Guyon de Sardières, 106.
+
+    Hackett, Bishop, 123, 208.
+    Hale, Sir Matthew, 137.
+    Harley, Edward, 119, 203, 210, 212.
+    Harley, Robert, 119-122.
+    Harley, Gabriel, 114.
+    Hearne, Thomas, 134, 211-214.
+    Heath, Benjamin, 218.
+    Heathcote, Robert, 217.
+    Heber, Richard, 213.
+    Heinsius, Daniel, 89, 180.
+    Henri II., 104, 105, 109.
+    Henri III., 107.
+    Henri IV., 107.
+    Henry IV. (England), 56.
+    Henry V. (England), 56.
+    Henry VII. (England), 111, 112.
+    Henry VIII. (England), 111.
+    Henry, Prince, 116.
+    Hohendorf, Baron, 148.
+    Holkot, Robert, 35.
+    Hoym, Count d', 148, 194, 197.
+    Hunter, John, 218.
+    Hunter, William, 202.
+    Huntingdon, Robert, 131.
+    Hurtado de Mendoza, Diego, 166.
+    Hutten, Ulric von, 89.
+
+    Inguimbert, Don Malachi d', 181.
+
+    James I., 115-116, 126, 136.
+    James, Dr. Thomas, 125-127.
+    Jekyll, Sir Joseph, 134.
+    Jerome, St., 6, 14, 102.
+    Jersey, Earl of, 215.
+    Joanna II. (Naples), 79, 109.
+    John, Duke of Burgundy, 95.
+    John, King (France), 59.
+    John, Precentor, 22.
+    John of Ravenna, 49
+    Johnson, Samuel, 119, 215, 216.
+    Jonson, Ben, 114.
+    Jovian, 7.
+    Julian, Emperor, 6, 7.
+    Julius II., Pope, 139.
+    Juvenal des Ursins, 101.
+
+    Kennett, Bishop, 211.
+    Kinnoul, Earl of, 211.
+
+    Labé, Louise, 102.
+    Lambert de Thorigny, 194.
+    La Gruthuyse, Louis de, 93, 94.
+    Lami, Giovanni, 73.
+    Lamoignon, Chrétien de, 188, 189.
+    Lamoignon, G. de, 148, 187, 188.
+    Lanfranc, 27.
+    Langarad, 16.
+    Lange, Rudolf, 87.
+    Lascaris, Constantine, 81.
+    Lascaris, John, 81, 82, 104.
+    Laud, Archbishop, 129, 131.
+    Lauwrin, Mark, 142, 144.
+    La Vallière, Duc de, 61, 83, 94, 106, 153, 191, 194, 217.
+    Le Blond, Abbé, 201.
+    Lebrixa, Antonio, 166.
+    Leland, John, 34.
+    Le Neve, Peter, 120, 121.
+    Leo X., Pope, 69, 72, 81, 82, 89, 104.
+    Leo, the Philosopher, 9.
+    Leofric, Bishop, 26, 128.
+    Leoni, Pompeo, 164.
+    Leontio Pilato, 49, 50.
+    Le Tellier, Archbishop, 150, 151.
+    Ligorio, Piero, 77.
+    Lilly, William, 136.
+    Lipsius, Justus, 162, 180.
+    Loche, Gilles de, 132.
+    Loménie, Antoine de, 184.
+    Louis (of Hungary), 83, 85.
+    Louis IX., 151.
+    Louis XI., 62, 101.
+    Louis XII., 94, 177, 193.
+    Louis XIII., 183, 184.
+    Louis XIV., 94.
+    Louis XV., 109, 188.
+    Louis XVI., 173.
+    Louis-Philippe, 105.
+    Louise de Loraine, 107.
+    Louise de Savoie, 103, 220.
+    Lucian, 5, 170.
+    Lucullus, 4.
+    Lulla, Bishop, 22.
+    Lumley, Lord, 116, 127.
+
+    Macarthy, Count, 141, 153, 155, 194, 199.
+    Magliabecchi, Antonio, 74, 75.
+    Maintenon, Madame de, 195.
+    Maioli, Thomas, 141, 144.
+    Malton, Lord, 204.
+    Mansion, Colard, 93, 95.
+    Mansard, Francis, 162.
+    Margaret of Austria, 96.
+    Margaret of Burgundy, 95.
+    Marguerite d'Angoulême, 103, 220.
+    Marguerite de Valois, 108, 109.
+    Marie Antoinette, 109.
+    Marie Leczinska, Queen, 108, 109.
+    Mary of Austria, 85, 96.
+    Mary of Burgundy, 96.
+    Mary, Queen of Scots, 106, 107.
+    Marucelli, 73.
+    Mason, George, 219.
+    Matthias Corvinus, 82-86, 212.
+    Mazarin, Cardinal, 162, 183-187.
+    Mazenta, 163, 164.
+    Mead, Dr., 210, 212, 214.
+    Médici, Catherine de, 104-106, 108.
+    Médici, Cosmo de', 63, 66, 68, 104.
+    Médici, Lorenzo de', 67, 68, 82, 83, 97.
+    Médici, Marie de, 134.
+    Médici, Pietro de', 68.
+    Melanchthon, Philip, 90.
+    Melzi, Francesco, 163.
+    Mérard de St. Just, 199.
+    Mercatellis, Rafael de, 92, 93.
+    Mesmes, Guillaume, 151.
+    Mesmes, Henri, 184, 151.
+    Mesmes, Henri, junior, 151, 162, 179, 183.
+    Mesmes, Jean Antoine, 152.
+    Mesmes, Louis-Emeric, 152.
+    Mirabeau, Honoré de, 200.
+    Mirandula, Pico della, 68, 71, 73, 88.
+    Monson, Sir William, 205.
+    Montacute, Lord, 127.
+    Montaigne, 156.
+    Moore, John (Bishop), 122, 123.
+    Morata, Olympia, 77, 78.
+    More, Sir Thomas, 98.
+
+    Naudé, Gabriel, 182, 187.
+    Negri, Stefano, 142, 143.
+    Neleus, 3.
+    Nevinson, Dr., 113.
+    Newton, John de, 54.
+    Niccoli, Niccolo, 66, 68.
+    Nicholas V. (Pope), 69, 70.
+    Norfolk, Duke of, 85.
+    Nuñez, Ferdinand, 166, 185.
+
+    O'Donnell, David, 17.
+    O'Donnell, Sir Neal, 17.
+    Oldys, William, 86, 119, 121, 122, 202, 214.
+    Oppenheimer, David, 133.
+    Orsini, Fulvio, 158, 160, 172.
+    Osorio, Jerome, 127.
+
+    Palladius, 14.
+    Pamphilus, 6.
+    Paris de Meyzieux, 217.
+    Parker, Archbishop, 19, 113, 120, 128.
+    Pars, Jacques de, 101.
+    Patrick, St., 13-15, 130.
+    Paullus, Æmilius, 4.
+    Pearson, Major, 217.
+    Peiresc, Nicolas, 132, 161, 177-182.
+    Pembroke, Henry, Earl of, 211.
+    Pembroke, Thomas, Earl of, 210.
+    Pembroke, William, Earl of, 131.
+    Pepusch, John, 206.
+    Pepys, Samuel, 133, 213.
+    Pétau, Alexander, 162, 186.
+    Pétau, Paul, 148, 158, 161, 162, 209.
+    Peters, Hugh, 116, 131.
+    Petrarch, 35, 36, 41-63, 76, 80, 166.
+    Philelpho, 66, 67, 70, 142.
+    Philip II. (of Spain), 82, 164.
+    Philippe le Bon (Burgundy), 92, 95.
+    Philippe le Hardi (Burgundy), 94, 95.
+    Photius, 8, 9, 74.
+    Pichon, Jérôme, 103.
+    Pignoria Antonio, 76.
+    Pinelli, Gian-Vincenzio, 175-178.
+    Pinelli, Maffeo, 177.
+    Pirckheimer, 85-87.
+    Pithou, François, 151.
+    Pithou, Pierre, 148, 170, 186.
+    Poggio, 63-67, 72, 73, 79, 80, 175.
+    Politian, 68, 71, 97.
+    Pollio Asinius, 4, 146.
+    Polydore Vergil, 165.
+    Pompadour, Madame de, 109, 199.
+    Postel, Guillaume, 1, 104.
+    Prynne, 120.
+    Ptolemy (Philadelphia), 3, 46.
+
+    Rabelais, 142, 200.
+    Rameses, 2.
+    Ranconnet, 106, 107.
+    Rantzau, Marshal, 154, 155, 185.
+    Rasse de Neux, 144.
+    Ratcliffe, John, 216.
+    Rawlinson, Richard, 127, 133, 134, 175, 213.
+    Rawlinson, Thomas, 205, 213, 214.
+    René of Anjou, 79.
+    Renée, Princesse, 77, 177.
+    Renouard, Antoine, 156, 200, 201, 220.
+    Repington, Philip, 56.
+    Reuchlin, Johann, 88-90.
+    Rhenanus, Beatus, 87, 142.
+    Richelieu, Cardinal, 149, 171, 182.
+    Rigault, Nicolas, 179.
+    Rivers, Anthony, Lord, 97.
+    Rivers, Richard, Lord, 127.
+    Robertet, Florimond, 102.
+    Rodolph II., Emperor, 84.
+    Roe, Sir Thomas, 131.
+    Rohan, Cardinal de, 145, 174.
+    Ronsard, Pierre, 102.
+    Rothelin (Charles d'Orléans), 191, 197, 198.
+    Roxburghe, Duke of, 219.
+
+    Saint André, Jean de, 162.
+    Saint Vallier, Comte de, 105.
+    Salutati, 68.
+    Sambucus, Dr., 84, 145, 146.
+    Sammonicus Serenus, 46.
+    Sancroft, Archbishop, 206.
+    Sartines, Gabriel de, 194.
+    Savile, Sir Henry, 127, 179.
+    Savonarola, 68, 73.
+    Saye, Lord, 97.
+    Scaliger, Joseph, 71, 99, 132, 161, 169, 177, 178.
+    Séguier, Charles, 149.
+    Séguier, Pierre, 149, 179.
+    Seillière, Baron, 156.
+    Seignelaye, Marquis de, 188.
+    Selden, 116, 131-133, 137, 208.
+    Seneca, 5, 7.
+    Shakespeare, 114.
+    Sheldon, Archbishop, 206.
+    Sherington, Walter, 97.
+    Shrewsbury, 59.
+    Sidonius Apollinaris, 11.
+    Silvestri, Eurialo, 144.
+    Sixtus V., 70.
+    Sixtus of Sienna, 76.
+    Smith, Joseph, 215.
+    Smith, Richard, 211.
+    Soltikoff, Prince, 101.
+    Soubise, Prince de, 141, 148, 174.
+    Spelman, Sir Henry, 117.
+    Spencer, George, Earl, 220.
+    Spenser, 114.
+    Stafford, Marquis of, 136.
+    Stanley, Colonel, 218.
+    Stillingfleet, Bishop, 120.
+    Stowe, 120.
+    Strozzi, Marshal, 73, 104.
+    Strype, 205.
+    Sulla, 3.
+    Sunderland, Earl of, 209, 210.
+    Sussex, Earl of, 205.
+    Sykes, Sir Mark, 217.
+
+    Tenison, Archbishop, 207.
+    Theodore of Gaza, 71, 72.
+    Theodore of Tarsus, 18, 21.
+    Thomason, George, 123.
+    Thou, Abbé de, 173.
+    Thou, François de, 173.
+    Thou, Jacques-Auguste de, 105, 108, 109, 120, 145, 146, 148,
+            169-174, 177-179, 185, 212-213.
+    Thou, Jacques-Auguste de (junior), 173, 174.
+    Thyard, Pontus de, 193.
+    Tiptoft, John, 97.
+    Toletus, Cardinal, 160.
+    Tomasini, Giacomo, 52, 183.
+    Tory, Geoffroy, 145.
+    Tournon, Cardinal de, 186.
+    Towneley, John, 218.
+    Trajan, 4.
+    Tyrannion, 3.
+
+    Urbino, Elizabeth d', 81.
+    Urbino, Federigo d', 80.
+    Urbino, Francesco d', 81.
+    Urbino, Guidubaldo d', 80, 81.
+    Urbino, Leonora d', 134.
+    Urfé, Claude d', 94.
+    Urfé, Honors d', 94.
+    Usher, 117.
+
+    Van Hulthem, 94.
+    Vasée, Jean, 167.
+    Vendôme, Duchesse de, 107.
+    Vérard, Antoine, 111, 193.
+    Vic, Dominique, 147.
+    Vic, Méric de, 147.
+    Vinci, Leonardo da, 106, 162-164.
+    Vorstius, 115.
+
+    Wake, Archbishop, 134.
+    Walsingham, Sir Francis, 206.
+    Wanley, Humphrey, 120, 210, 211.
+    Ware, Sir James, 207.
+    Webb, Philip Carteret, 136.
+    West, James, 216.
+    Wentmore, Abbot, 54.
+    Whethamstede, Abbot, 59.
+    Whittington, Sir Richard, 31.
+    Wilfrid, St., 21, 22.
+    Williams, Dean, 208.
+    Wodhull, Michael, 218.
+    Wood, Anthony, 118, 128, 135.
+
+    Ximènes, Cardinal, 121, 165, 184.
+
+
+Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty, at the Edinburgh
+University Press.
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious punctuation and printing errors have been repaired.
+See the HTML edition of this text for the complete list of corrections.
+
+Accented characters have been made consistent to assist searching via
+the index:
+Medici -> Médici
+Francois -> François
+Ximenes -> Ximènes
+Etienne -> Étienne
+Orleans -> Orléans
+Derome -> Derôme
+Merard -> Mérard
+Meric -> Méric
+
+Hyphenation has been left as printed - inconsistencies are:
+shiploads, ship-loads
+birthplace, birth-place
+heirloom, heir-loom
+lifetime, life-time
+bookshops, book-shops
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Book-Collectors, by 
+Charles Isaac Elton and Mary Augusta Elton
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT BOOK-COLLECTORS ***
+
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Book-Collectors, by 
+Charles Isaac Elton and Mary Augusta Elton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Great Book-Collectors
+
+Author: Charles Isaac Elton and Mary Augusta Elton
+
+Release Date: July 29, 2006 [EBook #18938]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT BOOK-COLLECTORS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p>
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/01.jpg"><img src="./images/01_th.jpg" alt="The Great Book-Collectors: Charles &amp; Mary Elton" title="The Great Book-Collectors: Charles &amp; Mary Elton" /></a></p>
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p>
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/02.jpg"><img src="./images/02_th.jpg" alt="FABRI DE PEIRESC." title="FABRI DE PEIRESC." /></a></p><p class="figcenter">FABRI DE PEIRESC.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p>
+
+<h1>The Great Book-Collectors</h1>
+
+<h2>By Charles Isaac Elton</h2>
+
+<h3>Author of 'Origins of English History'</h3>
+<h3>'The Career of Columbus,' etc.</h3>
+
+<h2>&amp; Mary Augusta Elton</h2>
+
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/03.jpg"><img src="./images/03_th.jpg" alt="Title Page Engraving" title="Title Page Engraving" /></a></p>
+
+<h4>London</h4>
+
+<h4>Kegan Paul, Trench, Tr&uuml;bner &amp; Co., Ltd.</h4>
+
+<h5>MDCCCXCIII</h5>
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>Contents</h2>
+<div class="centered"><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents">
+<tr><th align="right">Chapter</th><th align="left">&nbsp;</th><th align="right">Page</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top">&nbsp;</td><td align="left"><a href="#List_of_Illustrations"><span class="smcap">List of Illustrations</span></a></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_vii">vii</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Classical</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Ireland&mdash;Northumbria</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">England</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Italy&mdash;The Age of Petrarch</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Oxford&mdash;Duke Humphrey's Books&mdash;The Library of the Valois</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Italy&mdash;The Renaissance</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Italian Cities&mdash;Olympia Morata&mdash;Urbino&mdash;The Books of Corvinus</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Germany&mdash;Flanders&mdash;Burgundy&mdash;England</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_87">87</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">France: Early Bookmen&mdash;Royal Collectors</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Old Royal Library&mdash;Fairfax&mdash;Cotton&mdash;Harley&mdash;The University of Cambridge</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bodley&mdash;Digby&mdash;Laud&mdash;Selden&mdash;Ashmole</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Grolier and his Successors</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Later Collectors: France&mdash;Italy&mdash;Spain</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">De Thou&mdash;Pinelli&mdash;Peiresc</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">French Collectors&mdash;Naud&eacute; to Renouard</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI</a></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Later English Collectors</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right" valign="top"></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#INDEX">Index</a></span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="List_of_Illustrations" id="List_of_Illustrations"></a>List of Illustrations</h2>
+
+<div class="centered"><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="List of Illustrations">
+<tr><th align="left">&nbsp;</th><th align="left">&nbsp;</th><th align="right">Page</th></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Portrait of Peiresc</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_ii"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">(From an engraving by Claude Mellan.)</td><td align="right" valign='bottom'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3"></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Initial Letter from the 'Gospels of St. Cuthbert</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3"></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Seal of Richard de Bury</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3"></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Portrait of the Duke of Bedford praying before St. George</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">(From the Book of Hours commonly known as the 'Bedford Missal.')</td><td align="right" valign='bottom'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3"></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Portrait of Magliabecchi</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">(From an engraving in the British Museum.)</td><td align="right" valign='bottom'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3"></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Binding executed for Queen Elizabeth</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">(English jeweller's-work on a cover of red velvet. From a copy of 'Meditationum Christianarum Libellus,' Lyons, 1570, in the British Museum.)</td><td align="right" valign='bottom'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3"></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Portrait of Sir Robert Cotton</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">(From an engraving by R. White after C. Jonson.)</td><td align="right" valign='bottom'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3"></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Portrait of Sir Thomas Bodley</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">(From an engraving in the British Museum.)</td><td align="right" valign='bottom'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3"></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Binding executed for Grolier</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">(From a copy of Silius Italicus, Venice, 1523, in the British Museum.)</td><td align="right" valign='bottom'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3"></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Portrait of De Thou</span></td><td align="right" valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">(From an engraving by Morin, after L. Ferdinand.)</td><td align="right" valign='bottom'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>CLASSICAL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In undertaking to write these few chapters on the
+lives of the book-collectors, we feel that we must move
+between lines that seem somewhat narrow, having
+regard to the possible range of the subject. We
+shall therefore avoid as much as possible the description
+of particular books, and shall endeavour to deal
+with the book-collector or book-hunter, as distinguished
+from the owner of good books, from librarians
+and specialists, from the merchant or broker of books
+and the book-glutton who wants all that he sees.</p>
+
+<p>Guillaume Postel and his friends found time to
+discuss the merits of the authors before the Flood.
+Our own age neglects the libraries of Shem, and casts
+doubts on the antiquity of the Book of Enoch. But
+even in writing the briefest account of the great book-collectors,
+we are compelled to go back to somewhat
+remote times, and to say at least a few words about the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+ancient book-stories from the far East, from Greece
+and Rome, from Egypt and Pontus and Asia. We
+have seen the brick-libraries of Nineveh and the
+copies for the King at Babylon, and we have heard
+of the rolls of Ecbatana. All the world knows how
+Nehemiah 'founded a library,' and how the brave
+Maccab&aelig;us gathered again what had been lost by
+reason of the wars. Every desert in the East seems
+to have held a library, where the pillars of some
+temple lie in the sand, and where dead men 'hang
+their mute thoughts on the mute walls around.' The
+Egyptian traveller sees the site of the book-room of
+Rameses that was called the 'Hospital for the Soul.'
+There was a library at the breast of the Sphinx, and
+another where Cairo stands, and one at Alexandria
+that was burned in Julius C&aelig;sar's siege, besides the
+later assemblage in the House of Serapis which Omar
+was said to have sacrificed as a tribute of respect for
+the Koran.</p>
+
+<p>Asia Minor was celebrated for her libraries. There
+were 'many curious books' in Ephesus, and rich stores
+of books at Antioch on the Orontes, and where the
+gray-capped students 'chattered like water-fowl' by
+the river at Tarsus. In Pergamus they made the
+fine parchment like ivory, beloved, as an enemy has
+said, by 'yellow bibliomaniacs whose skins take the
+colour of their food'; and there the wealthy race of
+Attalus built up the royal collection which Antony
+captured in war and sent as a gift to Cleopatra.</p>
+
+<p>It pleased the Greeks to invent traditions about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
+the books of Polycrates at Samos, or those of Pisistratus
+that were counted among the spoils of Xerxes:
+and the Athenians thought that the very same
+volumes found their way home again after the
+victories of Alexander the Great. Aristotle owned
+the first private library of which anything is actually
+recorded; and it is still a matter of interest to follow
+the fortunes of his books. He left them as a legacy
+to a pupil, who bequeathed them to his librarian
+Neleus: and his family long preserved the collection
+in their home near the ruins of Troy. One portion
+was bought by the Ptolemies for their great Alexandrian
+library, and these books, we suppose, must
+have perished in the war with Rome. The rest
+remained at home till there was some fear of their
+being confiscated and carried to Pergamus. They
+were removed in haste and stowed away in a cave,
+where they nearly perished in the damp. When the
+parchments were disinterred they became the property
+of Apellicon, to whom the saying was first
+applied that he was 'rather a bibliophile than a lover
+of learning.' While the collection was at Athens he
+did much damage to the scrolls by his attempt to
+restore their worm-eaten paragraphs. Sulla took
+the city soon afterwards, and carried the books to
+Rome, and here more damage was done by the careless
+editing of Tyrannion, who made a trade of copying
+'Aristotle's books' for the libraries that were
+rising on all sides at Rome.</p>
+
+<p>The Romans learned to be book-collectors in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
+gathering the spoils of war. When Carthage fell,
+the books, as some say, were given to native chieftains,
+the predecessors of King Jugurtha in culture
+and of King Juba in natural science: others say that
+they were awarded as a kind of compensation to the
+family of the murdered Regulus. Their preservation is
+attested by the fact that the Carthaginian texts were
+cited centuries afterwards by the writers who described
+the most ancient voyages in the Atlantic. When the
+unhappy Perseus was deprived of the kingdom of
+Macedonia, the royal library was chosen by &AElig;milius
+Paullus as the general's share of the plunder. Asinius
+Pollio furnished a great reading-room with the literary
+treasures of Dalmatia. A public library was established
+by Julius C&aelig;sar on the Aventine, and two
+were set up by Augustus within the precinct of the
+palace of the C&aelig;sars; and Octavia built another
+near the Tiber in memory of the young Marcellus.
+The gloomy Domitian restored the library at the
+Capitol, which had been struck and fired by lightning.
+Trajan ransacked the wealth of the world for his
+collection in the 'Ulpiana,' which, in accordance with
+a later fashion, became one of the principal attractions
+of the Therm&aelig; of Diocletian.</p>
+
+<p>The splendours of the private library began in the
+days of Lucullus. Enriched with the treasure of
+King Mithridates and all the books of Pontus, he
+housed his collection in such stately galleries, thronged
+with a multitude of philosophers and poets, that it
+seemed as if there were a new home for the Muses,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
+and a fresh sanctuary for Hellas. Seneca, a philosopher
+and a millionaire himself, inveighed against
+such useless pomp. He used to rejoice at the blow
+that fell on the arrogant magnificence of Alexandria.
+'Our idle book-hunters,' he said, 'know about nothing
+but titles and bindings: their chests of cedar and ivory,
+and the book-cases that fill the bath-room, are nothing
+but fashionable furniture, and have nothing to do with
+learning.' Lucian was quite as severe on the book-hunters
+of the age of the Antonines. The bibliophile
+goes book in hand, like the statue of Bellerophon
+with the letter, but he only cares for the choice vellum
+and bosses of gold. 'I cannot conceive,' said Lucian,
+'what you expect to get out of your books; yet you
+are always poring over them, and binding and tying
+them, and rubbing them with saffron and oil of cedar,
+as if they could make you eloquent, when by nature
+you are as dumb as a fish.' He compares the industrious
+dunce to an ass at a music-book, or to a monkey
+that remains a monkey still for all the gold on its
+jacket. 'If books,' he adds, 'have made you what
+you are, I am sure that you ought of all things to
+avoid them.'</p>
+
+<p>After the building of Constantinople a home for
+literature was found in the eastern cities; and, as the
+boundaries of the empire were broken down by the
+Saracen advance, learning gradually retired to the
+colleges and basilicas of the capital, and to the Greek
+monasteries of stony Athos, and Patmos, and the
+'green Erebinthus.' Among the Romans of the East<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
+we cannot discern many learned men, but we know
+that there was a multitude ready to assist in the preservation
+of learning. The figures of three or four
+true book-lovers stand out amid the crowd of <i>dilettanti</i>.
+St. Pamphilus was a student at the legal
+University of Beyrout before he was received into the
+Church: he devoted himself afterwards to the school
+of sacred learning which he established at C&aelig;sarea
+in Palestine. Here he gathered together about 30,000
+volumes, almost all consisting of the works of the
+Fathers. His personal labour was given to the works
+of Origen, in whose mystical doctrine he had become
+a proficient at Alexandria. The martyrdom of Pamphilus
+prevented the completion of his own elaborate
+commentaries. He left the library to the Church of
+C&aelig;sarea, under the superintendence of his friend
+Eusebius. St. Jerome paid a visit to the collection
+while he was still enrolled on the list of bibliophiles.
+He had bought the best books to be found at Tr&ecirc;ves
+and Aquileia; he had seen the wealth of Rome, and
+was on his way to the oriental splendour of Constantinople:
+it is from him that we first hear of the gold
+and silver inks and the Tyrian purple of the vellum.
+He declared that he had never seen anything to compare
+with the library of Pamphilus; and when he was
+given twenty-five volumes of Origen in the martyr's
+delicate writing, he vowed that he felt richer than if
+he had found the wealth of Cr&oelig;sus.</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor Julian was a pupil of Eusebius, and
+became reader for a time in the Church at C&aelig;sarea.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
+He was passionately fond of books, and possessed
+libraries at Antioch and Constantinople, as well as in
+his beloved 'Lutetia' on the island in the Seine. A
+sentence from one of his letters was carved over the
+door of his library at Antioch: 'Some love horses, or
+hawks and hounds, but I from my boyhood have
+pined with a desire for books.'</p>
+
+<p>It is said that another of his libraries was burned
+by his successor Jovian in a parody of Alexander's
+Feast. It is true, at any rate, that the book-butcher
+set fire to the books at Antioch as part of his revenge
+against the Apostate. One is tempted to dwell on
+the story of these massacres. In many a war, as an
+ancient bibliophile complained, have books been
+dispersed abroad, 'dismembered, stabbed, and mutilated':
+'they were buried in the earth or drowned in
+the sea, and slain by all kinds of slaughter.' 'How
+much of their blood the warlike Scipio shed: how
+many on the banishment of Boethius were scattered
+like sheep without a shepherd!' Perhaps the subject
+should be isolated in a separate volume, where the
+rude Omar, and Jovian, and the despoilers of the
+monasteries, might be pilloried. Seneca would be
+indicted for his insult to Cleopatra's books: Sir
+Thomas Browne might be in danger for his saying,
+that 'he could with patience behold the urn and
+ashes of the Vatican, could he with a few others
+recover the perished leaves of Solomon.' He might
+escape by virtue of his saving clause, and some
+excuse would naturally be found for Seneca; but the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
+rest might be treated like those Genoese criminals
+who were commemorated on marble tablets as 'the
+worst of mankind.'</p>
+
+<p>For several generations after the establishment of
+the Eastern Empire, Constantinople was the literary
+capital of the world and the main repository of the
+arts and sciences. Mr. Middleton has lately shown
+us in his work upon Illuminated Manuscripts that
+Persia and Egypt, as well as the Western Countries,
+'contributed elements both of design and technical
+skill which combined to create the new school of
+Byzantine art.' Constantinople, he tells us, became
+for several centuries the main centre for the production
+of manuscripts. Outside the domain of art we find
+little among the Romans of the East that can in any
+sense be called original. They were excellent at an
+epitome or a lexicon, and were very successful as
+librarians. The treasures of antiquity, as Gibbon has
+said, were imparted in such extracts and abridgments
+'as might amuse the curiosity without oppressing the
+indolence of the public.' The Patriarch Photius
+stands out as a literary hero among the commentators
+and critics of the ninth century. That famous book-collector,
+in analysing the contents of his library for
+an absent brother, became the preserver of many of
+the most valuable classics. As Commander of the
+Guard he led the life of a peaceful student: as
+Patriarch of Byzantium his turbulence rent the fabric
+of Christendom, and he was 'alternately excommunicated
+and absolved by the synods of the East<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+and West.' We owe the publication of the work
+called <i>The Myriad of Books</i> to the circumstance
+that he was appointed to an embassy at Bagdad.
+His brother wrote to remind him of their pleasant
+evenings in the library when they explored the
+writings of the ancients and made an analysis of their
+contents. Photius was about to embark on a dangerous
+journey, and he was implored to leave a record of
+what had been done since his brother had last taken
+part in the readings. The answer of Photius was the
+book already mentioned: he reviews nearly three
+hundred volumes of the historians and orators, the
+philosophers and theologians, the travellers and the
+writers of romance, and with an even facility 'abridges
+their narrative or doctrine and appreciates their style
+and character.'</p>
+
+<p>The great Imperial library which stood by St.
+Sophia had been destroyed in the reign of Leo the
+Iconoclast in the preceding age, and in an earlier
+conflagration more than half a million books are said
+to have been lost from the basilica. The losses by
+fire were continual, but were constantly repaired.
+Leo the Philosopher, who was educated under the care
+of Photius, and his son and successor Constantine,
+were renowned as the restorers of learning, and the
+great writers of antiquity were collected again by
+their zeal in the square hall near the Public Treasury.</p>
+
+<p>The boundaries of the realm of learning extended
+far beyond the limits of the Empire, and the Arabian
+science was equally famous among the Moors of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+Spain and in the further parts of Asia. We are told
+of a doctor refusing the invitation of the Sultan of
+Bokhara, 'because the carriage of his books would
+have required four hundred camels.' We know that
+the Ommiad dynasty formed the gigantic library at
+Cordova, and that there were at least seventy others
+in the colleges that were scattered through the kingdom
+of Granada. The prospect was very dark in
+other parts of Western Europe throughout the whole
+period of barbarian settlement. We shall not endeavour
+to trace the slight influences that preserved
+some knowledge of religious books at the Court of
+the Merovingian kings, or among the Visigoths and
+Ostrogoths and Burgundians. We prefer to pause
+at a moment preceding the final onslaught. The
+letters of Sidonius afford us a few glimpses of the
+literary condition of Southern Gaul soon after the
+invasion of Attila. The Bishop of Clermont gives us
+a delightful picture of his house: a verandah leads
+from the <i>atrium</i> to the garden by the lake: we pass
+through a winter-parlour, a morning-room, and a
+north-parlour protected from the heat. Every detail
+seems to be complete; and yet we hear nothing of a
+library. The explanation seems to be that the Bishop
+was a close imitator of Pliny. The villa in Auvergne
+is a copy of the winter-refuge at Laurentum, where
+Pliny only kept 'a few cases contrived in the wall for
+the books that cannot be read too often.' But when
+the Bishop writes about his friends' houses we find
+many allusions to their libraries. Consentius sits in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+a large book-room when he is composing his verses
+or 'culling the flowers of his music.' When he visited
+the Prefect of Gaul, Sidonius declared that he was
+whirled along in a stream of delights. There were
+all kinds of out-door amusements and a library filled
+with books. 'You would fancy yourself among a
+Professor's book-cases, or in a book-shop, or amid the
+benches of a lecture-room.' The Bishop considered
+that this library of the Villa Prusiana was as good as
+anything that could be found in Rome or Alexandria.
+The books were arranged according to subjects. The
+room had a 'ladies' side'; and here were arranged
+the devotional works. The illuminated volumes, as
+far as can now be judged, were rather gaudy than
+brilliant, as was natural in an age of decadence; but
+St. Germanus was a friend of the Bishop, and as we
+suppose of the Prefect, and his copy of the Gospels was
+in gold and silver letters on purple vellum, as may
+still be seen. By the gentlemen's seats were ranged
+the usual classical volumes, all the works of Varro,
+which now exist only in fragments, and the poets
+sacred and profane; behind certain cross-benches was
+the literary food of a lighter kind, more suited to the
+weaker vessels without regard to sex. Here every one
+found what would suit his own liking and capacity,
+and here on the day after their arrival the company
+worked hard after breakfast 'for four hours by the
+water clock.' Suddenly the door was thrown open,
+and in his uniform the head cook appeared and
+solemnly warned them all that their meal was served,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+and that it was as necessary to nourish the body as to
+stuff the mind with learning.</p>
+
+<p>When the barbarians were established through
+Gaul and Italy the libraries in the old country-houses
+must have been completely destroyed. Some faint
+light of learning remained while Boethius 'trimmed
+the lamp with his skilful hand'; some knowledge of
+the classics survived during the lives of Cassiodorus
+and Isidore of Seville. Some of the original splendour
+may have lingered at Rome, and perhaps in Ravenna.
+When Boethius was awaiting his doom in the tower
+at Pavia, his mind reverted to the lettered ease of his
+life before he had offended the fierce Theodoric. His
+philosophy found comfort in thinking that all the
+valuable part of his books was firmly imprinted on
+his soul; but he never ceased regretting the walls
+inlaid with ivory and the shining painted windows
+in his old library at Rome.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>IRELAND&mdash;NORTHUMBRIA.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The knowledge of books might almost have disappeared
+in the seventh century, when the cloud of
+ignorance was darkest, but for a new and remarkable
+development of learning in the Irish monasteries.</p>
+
+<p>This development is of special interest to ourselves
+from the fact that the church of Northumbria was
+long dependent on the Irish settlement at Iona. The
+Anglians taught by Paulinus very soon relapsed into
+paganism, and the second conversion of the North
+was due to the missionaries of the school of St.
+Columba. The power of Rome was established at
+the Council of Whitby; but in the days when Aidan
+preached at Lindisfarne the Northumbrians were
+still in obedience to an Irish rule, and were instructed
+and edified by the acts and lives of St. Patrick, of St.
+Brigit, and the mighty Columba.</p>
+
+<p>We shall quote some of the incidents recorded
+about the Irish books, a few legends of Patrick and
+dim traditions from the days of Columba, before
+noticing the rise of the English school.</p>
+
+<p>The first mention of the Irish books seems to be
+contained in a passage of &AElig;thicus. The cosmography
+ascribed to that name has been traced to very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+early times. It was long believed to have been
+written by St. Jerome; but in its present form, at
+least, the work contains entries of a much later date.
+The passage in which Ireland is mentioned may be
+even as late as the age of Columbanus, when Irish
+monks set up their churches at W&uuml;rzburg and on the
+shores of the Lake of Constance, or illuminated their
+manuscripts at Bobbio under the protection of
+Theodolind and her successors in Lombardy. A
+wandering philosopher is represented as visiting the
+northern regions: he remained for a while in the Isle
+of Saints and turned over the painted volumes; but
+he despised the native churchmen and called them
+'Doctors of Ignorance.' 'Here am I in Ireland, at
+the world's end, with much toil and little ease; with
+such unskilled labourers in the field the place is too
+doleful, and is absolutely of no good to me.'</p>
+
+<p>Palladius came with twelve men to preach to the
+Gael, and we are told that he 'left his books' at Cellfine.
+The legendary St. Patrick is made to pass into
+Ulster, and he finds a King who burns himself and
+his home 'that he may not believe in Patrick.' The
+Saint proceeds to Tara with eight men and a little
+page carrying the book-wallet; 'it was like eight
+deer with one fawn following, and a white bird on its
+shoulder.'</p>
+
+<p>The King and his chief Druid proposed a trial by
+ordeal. The King said, 'Put your books into the water.'
+'I am ready for that,' said Patrick. But the Druid
+said, 'A god of water this man adores, and I will not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+take part in the ordeal.' The King said, 'Put your
+books into the fire.' 'I am ready for that,' said
+Patrick. 'A god of fire once in two years this man
+adores, and I will not do that,' said the Druid.</p>
+
+<p>In the church by the oak-tree at Kildare St. Brigit
+had a marvellous book, or so her nuns supposed.
+The Kildare Gospels may have been illuminated as
+early as Columba's time. Gerard de Barri saw the
+book in the year 1185, and said that it was so
+brilliant in colouring, so delicate and finely drawn,
+and with such enlacements of intertwining lines that
+it seemed to be a work beyond the powers of mortal
+man, and to be worthy of an angel's skill; and,
+indeed, there was a strong belief that miraculous help
+had been given to the artist in his dreams.</p>
+
+<p>The 'Book of Durrow' called <i>The Gospels of St.
+Columba</i>, almost rivals the famous 'Book of Kells'
+with which Mr. Madan will doubtless deal in his
+forthcoming volume on Manuscripts. A native poet
+declared that when the Saint died in 597 he had
+illuminated 'three hundred bright noble books'; and
+he added that 'however long under water any book
+of the Saint's writing should be, not one single letter
+would be drowned.' Our authorities tell us that the
+Book of Durrow might possibly be one of the
+three hundred, 'as it bears some signs of being earlier
+in date than the Book of Kells.'</p>
+
+<p>St. Columba, men said, was passionately devoted
+to books. Yet he gave his Gospels to the Church at
+Swords, and presented the congregation at Derry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+with the volume that he had fetched from Tours,
+'where it had lain on St. Martin's breast a hundred
+years in the ground.' In one of the biographies there
+is a story about 'Langarad of the White Legs,' who
+dwelt in the region of Ossory. To him Columba came
+as a guest, and found that the sage was hiding all
+his books away. Then Columba left his curse upon
+them; 'May that,' quoth he, 'about which thou art so
+niggardly be never of any profit after thee'; and this
+was fulfilled, 'for the books remain to this day, and
+no man reads them.' When Langarad died 'all the
+book-satchels in Ireland that night fell down'; some
+say, 'all the satchels and wallets in the saint's house
+fell then: and Columba and all who were in his
+house marvelled at the noisy shaking of the books.'
+So then speaks Columba: 'Langarad in Ossory,'
+quoth he, 'is just now dead.' 'Long may it be ere that
+happens,' said Baithen. 'May the burden of that
+disbelief fall on him and not on thee,' said Columba.</p>
+
+<p>Another tradition relates to St. Finnen's book that
+caused a famous battle; and that was because of a
+false judgment which King Diarmid gave against
+Columba, when he copied St. Finnen's Psalter without
+leave. St. Finnen claimed the copy as being the
+produce of his original, and on the appeal to the
+court at Tara his claim was confirmed. King
+Diarmid decided that to every mother-book belongs
+the child-book, as to the cow belongs her calf; 'and
+so,' said the King, 'the book that you wrote, Columba,
+belongs to Finnen by right.' 'That is an unjust<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+judgment,' said Columba, 'and I will avenge it upon
+you.'</p>
+
+<p>Not long afterwards the Saint was insulted by the
+seizure and execution of an offender who had taken
+sanctuary and was clasped in his arms. Columba
+went over the wild mountains and raised the tribes
+of Tyrconnell and Tyrone, and defeated King
+Diarmid in battle. When the Saint went to Iona he
+left the copy of Finnen's Psalter to the head of the
+chief tribe in Tyrconnell. It was called the <i>Book
+of the Battle</i>, and if they carried it three times round
+the enemy, in the sun's course, they were sure to
+return victorious. The book was the property of
+the O'Donnells till the dispersion of their clan. The
+gilt and jewelled case in which it rests was made in
+the eleventh century: a frame round the inner shrine
+was added by Daniel O'Donnell, who fought in the
+Battle of the Boyne. A large fragment of the book
+remained in a Belgian monastery in trust for the
+true representative of the clan; and soon after
+Waterloo it was given up to Sir Neal O'Donnell, to
+whose family it still belongs. It is now shown at the
+Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. 'The fragment
+of the original <i>Book of the Battle</i>', says O'Curry,
+'is of small quarto form, consisting of fifty-eight
+leaves of fine vellum, written in a small, uniform, but
+rather hurried hand, with some slight attempts at
+illumination.'</p>
+
+<p>We have now to describe the great increase of
+books in Northumbria. In the year 635 Aidan set<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+up his quarters with a few Irish monks on the Isle
+of Lindisfarne, and his Abbey soon became one of
+the main repositories of learning.</p>
+
+<p>The book called <i>The Gospels of St. Cuthbert</i> was
+written in 688, and was regarded for nearly two
+centuries as the chief ornament of Lindisfarne. The
+monastery was burned by the Danes, and the servants
+of St. Cuthbert, who had concealed the 'Gospels' in
+his grave, wandered forth, with the Saint's body in
+an ark and the book in its chest, in search of a new
+place of refuge. They attempted a voyage to Ireland,
+but their ship was driven back by a storm. The book-chest
+had been washed overboard, but in passing up
+the Solway Firth they saw the book shining in its
+golden cover upon the sand. For more than a
+century afterwards the book shared the fortunes of a
+wandering company of monks: in the year 995 it
+was laid on St. Cuthbert's coffin in the new church at
+Durham; early in the twelfth century it returned to
+Lindisfarne. Here it remained until the dissolution
+of the monasteries, when its golden covers were torn
+off, and the book came bare and unadorned into the
+hands of Sir Robert Cotton, and passed with the
+rest of his treasures into the library of the British
+Museum.</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/04.jpg"><img src="./images/04_th.jpg" alt="INITIAL LETTER FROM THE GOSPELS OF ST. CUTHBERT." title="INITIAL LETTER FROM THE GOSPELS OF ST. CUTHBERT." /></a></p><p class="figcenter">INITIAL LETTER FROM THE GOSPELS OF ST. CUTHBERT.</p>
+
+<p>Theodore of Tarsus had been consecrated Archbishop
+of Canterbury in the year 669. He brought
+with him a large quantity of books for use in his new
+Greek school. These books were left by his will to
+the cathedral library, where they remained for ages<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+without disturbance. William Lambarde, the Kentish
+antiquary, has left an account of their appearance.
+He was speaking of Archbishop Parker,
+'whose care for the conservation of ancient monuments
+can never be sufficiently commended.' 'The
+reverend Father,' he added, 'showed me the <i>Psalter
+of David</i>, and sundry homilies in Greek, and Hebrew
+also, and some other Greek authors, beautifully
+written on thick paper with the name of this
+Theodore prefixed,' to whose library the Archbishop
+thought that they had belonged, 'being thereto led
+by a show of great antiquity.'</p>
+
+<p>The monks of Canterbury claimed to possess the
+books on pink vellum, with rubricated capitals, which
+Pope Gregory had sent to Augustine. One of these
+afterwards belonged to Parker, who gave it to Corpus
+Christi at Cambridge: the experts now believe that
+it was written in the eighth century 'in spite of the
+ancient appearance of the figure-painting.' Another
+is the <i>Psalter of St. Augustine</i>, now preserved among
+the Cottonian <span class="smcap">mss</span>. This is also considered to be a
+writing of the eighth century.</p>
+
+<p>In the Bodleian library there is a third example,
+written in quarto with large uncial letters in double
+columns, in much the same style as the book given
+by Parker to Corpus Christi. The Bodleian specimen
+is especially interesting as containing on the fly-leaf
+a list in Anglo-Saxon of the contents of the library
+of Solomon the Priest, with notes as to other small
+collections.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We have reached the period in which Northumbria
+became for a time the centre of Western culture.
+The supremacy of Rome, set up at the Council of
+Whitby, was fostered and sustained by the introduction
+of the Italian arts. Vast quantities of books
+were imported. Stately Abbeys were rising along
+the coast, and students were flocking to seek the
+fruits of the new learning in well-filled libraries and
+bustling schools. We may judge how bright the
+prospect seemed by the tone of Alcuin's letters to
+Charles the Great. He tells the Emperor of certain
+'exquisite books' which he had studied under Egbert
+at York. The schools of the North are compared to
+'a garden enclosed' and to the beds of spices: he
+asks that some of the young men may be sent over
+to procure books, so that in Tours as well as at York
+they may gather the flowers of the garden and share
+in the 'outgoings of Paradise.' A few years afterwards
+came the news of the harrying of Northumbria
+by the Vikings. The libraries were burned, and
+Northumbria was overwhelmed in darkness and
+slavery; and Alcuin wrote again, 'He who can hear
+of this calamity and not cry to God on behalf of his
+country, must have a heart not of flesh but of
+stone.'</p>
+
+<p>Benedict Biscop was our first English book-collector.
+The son of a rich Thane might have looked
+to a political career; he preferred to devote himself
+to learning, and would have spent his life in a Roman
+monastery if the Pope had not ordered him to return<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+to England in company with Theodore of Tarsus.
+His first expedition was made with his friend St.
+Wilfrid. They crossed in a ship provided by the
+King of Kent. Travelling together as far as Lyons,
+Wilfrid remained there for a time, and Benedict
+pushed on to Mont Cenis, and so to Rome, after
+a long and perilous journey. On a second visit he
+received the tonsure, and went back to work at
+Lindisfarne; but about two years afterwards he
+obtained a passage to Italy in a trading-vessel, and
+it was on this occasion that he received the Pope's
+commands. Four years elapsed before he was in
+Rome again: throughout the year 671 he was amassing
+books by purchase and by the gifts of his friends;
+and returning by Vienne he found another large store
+awaiting him which he had ordered on his outward
+journey. Benedict was able to set up a good library
+in his new Abbey at Wearmouth; but his zeal appears
+to have been insatiable. We find him for the fifth
+time at the mart of learning, and bringing home, as
+Bede has told us, 'a multitude of books of all kinds.'
+He divided his new wealth between the Church at
+Wearmouth and the Abbey at Jarrow, across the
+river. Ceolfrid of Jarrow himself made a journey to
+Rome with the object of augmenting Benedict's
+'most noble and copious store'; but he gave to the
+King of Northumbria, in exchange for a large landed
+estate, the magnificent 'Cosmography' which his predecessor
+had brought to Wearmouth.</p>
+
+<p>St. Wilfrid presented to his church at Ripon a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+<i>Book of the Gospels</i> on purple vellum, and a Bible
+with covers of pure gold inlaid with precious stones.
+John the Precentor, who introduced the Roman
+liturgy into this country, bequeathed a number of
+valuable books to Wearmouth. Bede had no great
+library of his own; it was his task 'to disseminate
+the treasures of Benedict.' But he must have possessed
+a large number of manuscripts while he was
+writing the Ecclesiastical History, since he has informed
+us that Bishop Daniel of Winchester and
+other learned churchmen in the South were accustomed
+to supply him constantly with records and
+chronicles.</p>
+
+<p>St. Boniface may be counted among the collectors,
+though he could carry but a modest supply of books
+through the German forests and the marshes of Friesland.
+As a missionary he found it useful to display
+a finely-painted volume. Writing to the Abbess
+Eadburga for a Missal, he asked that the parchment
+might be gay with colours,&mdash;'even as a glittering lamp
+and an illumination for the hearts of the Gentiles.'
+'I entreat you,' he writes again, 'to send me <i>St.
+Peters Epistle</i> in letters of gold.' He begged all his
+friends to send him books as a refreshment in the
+wilderness. Bishop Daniel is asked for the <i>Prophecies</i>
+'written very large.' Bishop Lulla is to send a cosmography
+and a volume of poems. He applies to
+one Archbishop for the works of Bede, 'who is the
+lamp of the Church,' and to the other for the Pope's
+<i>Answers to Augustine</i>, which cannot be found in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+Roman bookshops. Boniface was Primate of Germany;
+but he resigned his high office to work among
+the rude tribes of Friesland. We learn that he carried
+some of his choicest books with him on his last ill-fated
+expedition, when the meadow and the river-banks
+were strewn with the glittering service-books
+after the murder of the Saint and his companions.</p>
+
+<p>Egbert of York set up a large library in the Minster.
+Alcuin took charge of it after his friend's
+death, and composed a versified catalogue, of such
+merit as the nature of the task allowed. 'Here you
+may trace the footsteps of the Fathers; here you meet
+the clear-souled Aristotle and Tully of the mighty
+tongue; here Basil and Fulgentius shine, and Cassiodorus
+and John of the Golden Mouth.' As Alcuin
+was returning from book-buying at Rome he met
+Charles the Great at Parma. The Emperor persuaded
+the traveller to enter his service, and they
+succeeded by their joint efforts in producing a wonderful
+revival of literature. The Emperor had a fine
+private collection of <span class="smcap">mss.</span> adorned in the Anglo-Frankish
+style; and he established a public library,
+containing the works of the Fathers, 'so that the
+poorest student might find a place at the banquet of
+learning.' Alcuin presented to the Emperor's own
+collection a revised copy of the Vulgate illuminated
+under his personal supervision.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of Alcuin's career he retired to
+the Abbey of St. Martin at Tours, and there founded
+his 'Museum,' which was in fact a large establishment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+for the editing and transcription of books. Here he
+wrote those delightful letters from which we have
+already made an extract. To his friend Arno at
+Salzburg he writes about a little treatise on orthography,
+which he would have liked to have recited in
+person. 'Oh that I could turn the sentences into
+speech, and embrace my brother with a warmth that
+cannot be sent in a book; but since I cannot come
+myself I send my rough letters, that they may speak
+for me instead of the words of my mouth.' To the
+Emperor he sent a description of his life at Tours:
+'In the house of St. Martin I deal out the honey of
+the Scriptures, and some I excite with the ancient
+wine of wisdom, and others I fill full with the fruits
+of grammatical learning.'</p>
+
+<p>Very few book-lovers could be found in England
+while the country was being ravaged by the Danes.
+The Northern Abbeys were burned, and their
+libraries destroyed. The books at York perished,
+though the Minster was saved; the same fate befell
+the valuable collections at Croyland and Peterborough.
+The royal library at Stockholm contains the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'interesing'">interesting</ins>
+'Golden Gospels,' decorated in the same style as
+the <i>Book of Lindisfarne</i>, and perhaps written at the
+same place. An inscription of the ninth century
+shows that it was bought from a crew of pirates by
+Duke Alfred, a nobleman of Wessex, and was presented
+by him and his wife Werburga to the Church
+at Canterbury.</p>
+
+<p>It seems possible that literature was kept alive in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
+our country by King Alfred's affection for the old
+English songs. We know that he used to recite them
+himself and would make his children get them by
+heart. He was not much of a scholar himself, but he
+had all the learning of Mercia to help him. Archbishop
+Plegmund and his chaplains were the King's
+secretaries, 'and night and day, whenever he had
+time, he commanded these men to read to him.'
+From France came Provost Grimbald, a scholar and
+a sweet singer, and Brother John of Corbei, a paragon
+in all kinds of science. Asser came to the Court
+from his home in Wales: 'I remained there,' he says,
+'for about eight months, and all that time I used to
+read to him whatever books were at hand; for it was
+his regular habit by day and night, amidst all his other
+occupations, either to read to himself or to listen
+while others read to him.' St. Dunstan was an ardent
+admirer of the old battle-chaunts and funeral-lays.
+He was, it need hardly be said, the friend of all kinds
+of learning. The Saint was an expert scribe and a
+painter of miniatures; and specimens of his exquisite
+handiwork may still be seen at Canterbury and in the
+Bodleian at Oxford. He was the real founder of the
+Glastonbury library, where before his time only a few
+books had been presented by missionaries from Ireland.
+His great work was the establishment of the
+Benedictines in the place of the regular clergy: and
+the reform at any rate insured the rise of a number
+of new monasteries, each with its busy 'scriptorium,'
+out of which the library would grow. We must say<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+a word in remembrance of Archbishop &AElig;lfric, the
+author of a great part of our English Chronicle. He
+was trained at Winchester, where the illuminators, it
+is said, were 'for a while the foremost in the world.'
+He enacted that every priest should have at least a
+psalter and hymn-book and half a dozen of the most
+important service-books, before he could hope for
+ordination. His own library, containing many works
+of great value, was bequeathed to the Abbey of St.
+Alban's. We end the story of the Anglo-Saxon
+books with a mention of Leofric, the first Bishop of
+Exeter, who gave a magnificent donation out of his
+own library to the Cathedral Church. The catalogue
+is still extant, and some of the volumes are preserved
+at Oxford. There were many devotional works of
+the ordinary kind; there were 'reading-books for
+winter and summer,' and song-books, and especially
+'night-songs'; but the greatest treasure of all was the
+'great book of English poetry,' known as the Exeter
+Book, in which Cynewulf sang of the ruin of the
+'purple arch,' and set forth the Exile's Lament and
+the Traveller's Song.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>ENGLAND.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A more austere kind of learning came in with the
+Norman Conquest. Lanfranc and Anselm introduced
+at Canterbury a devotion to science, to the doctrines
+of theology and jurisprudence, and to the new discoveries
+which Norman travellers were bringing back
+from the schools at Salerno. Lanfranc imported a
+large quantity of books from the Continent. He
+would labour day and night at correcting the work of
+his scribes; and Anselm, when he succeeded to the
+See, used often to deprive himself of rest to finish the
+transcription of a manuscript. Lanfranc, we are told,
+was especially generous in lending his books: among
+a set which he sent to St. Alban's we find the names of
+twenty-eight famous treatises, besides a large number
+of missals and other service-books, and two 'Books of
+the Gospels,' bound in silver and gold, and ornamented
+with valuable jewels.</p>
+
+<p>A historian of our own time has said that England
+in the twelfth century was the paradise of scholars. Dr.
+Stubbs imagined a foreign student making a tour
+through the country and endeavouring to ascertain its
+proper place in the literary world. He would have
+seen a huge multitude of books, and 'such a supply<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+of readers and writers' as could not have been found
+elsewhere, except perhaps in the University of Paris.
+Canterbury was a great literary centre. At Winchester
+there was a whole school of historians; at
+Lincoln he might listen to Walter Map or learn at
+the feet of St. Hugh. 'Nothing is more curious than
+the literary activity going on in the monasteries;
+manuscripts are copied; luxurious editions are recopied
+and illuminated; there is no lack of generosity
+in lending or of boldness in borrowing; there is brisk
+competition and open rivalry.'</p>
+
+<p>The Benedictines were ever the pioneers of learning:
+the regular clergy were still the friends of their books,
+and 'delighted in their communion with them,' as the
+Philobiblon phrased it. We gather from the same
+source the lamentation of the books in the evil times
+that followed. The books complain that they are
+cast from their shelves into dark corners, ragged and
+shivering, and bereft of the cushions which propped
+up their sides. 'Our vesture is torn off by violent
+hands, so that our souls cleave to the ground, and our
+glory is laid in the dust.' The old-fashioned clergy
+had been accustomed to treat religious books with
+reverence, and would copy them out most carefully in
+the intervals of the canonical hours. The monks used
+to give even their time of rest to the decoration of
+the volumes which added a splendour to their monasteries.
+But now, it is complained, the Regulars even
+reject their own rule that books are to be asked for
+every day. They carry bows and arrows, or sword<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+and buckler, and play at dice and draughts, and give
+no alms except to their dogs. 'Our places are taken
+by hawks and hounds, or by that strange creature,
+woman, from whom we taught our pupils to flee as
+from an asp or basilisk. This creature, ever jealous
+and implacable, spies us out in a corner hiding behind
+some ancient cabinet, and she wrinkles her forehead
+and laughs us to scorn, and points to us as the only
+rubbish in the house; and she complains that we are
+totally useless, and recommends our being bartered
+away at once for fine caps and cambrics or silks, for
+double-dyed purple stuffs, for woollen and linen and
+fur.' 'Nay,' they add, 'we are sold like slaves or
+left as unredeemed pledges in taverns: we are given
+to cruel butchers to be slaughtered like sheep or
+cattle. Every tailor, or base mechanic may keep us
+shut up in his prison.' Worst of all was the abominable
+ingratitude that sold the illuminated vellums to
+ignorant painters, or to goldsmiths who only wanted
+these 'sacred vessels' as receptacles for their sheets of
+gold-leaf. 'Flocks and fleeces, crops and herds,
+gardens and orchards, the wine and the wine-cup, are
+the only books and studies of the monks.' They are
+reprehended for their banquets and fine clothes and
+monasteries towering on high like a castle in its bulwarks:
+'For such things as these,' the supplication
+continues, 'we, their books, are cast out of their hearts
+and regarded as useless lumber, except some few
+worthless tracts, from which they still pick out a
+mixture of rant and nonsense, more to tickle the ears<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+of their audience than to assuage any hunger of the
+soul.'</p>
+
+<p>A great religious revival began with the coming of
+the Mendicant Friars, who, according to the celebrated
+Grost&ecirc;te, 'illumined our whole country with the light
+of their preaching and learning.' The Franciscans
+and Dominicans reached England in 1224, and were
+established at Oxford within two years afterwards,
+where the Grey Friars of St. Francis soon obtained
+as great a predominance as the Dominicans or Black
+Friars had gained in the University of Paris. St. Francis
+himself had set his face against literature. Professor
+Brewer pointed out in the <i>Monumenta Franciscana</i>
+that his followers were expected to be poor in heart
+and understanding: 'total absolute poverty secured
+this, but it was incompatible with the possession of
+books or the necessary materials for study.' Even
+Roger Bacon, when he joined the Friars, was forbidden
+to retain his books and instruments, and was not
+allowed to touch ink or parchment without a special
+licence from the Pope. We may quote one or two of
+the anecdotes about the Saint. A brother was arguing
+with him on the text 'Take nothing with you on the
+way,' and asked if it meant 'absolutely nothing';
+'Nothing,' said the Saint, 'except the frock allowed
+by our rule, and, if indispensable, a pair of shoes.'
+'What am I to do?' said the brother: 'I have books
+of my own,' naming a value of many pounds of silver.
+'I will not, I ought not, I cannot allow it,' was the
+reply. A novice applied to St. Francis for leave to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+possess a psalter: but the Saint said, 'When you
+have got a psalter, then you'll want a breviary, and
+when you have got a breviary you will sit in a chair
+as great as a lord, and will say to some brother,
+Friar! go and fetch me my breviary!' And he
+laid ashes on his head, and repeated, 'I am your
+breviary! I am your breviary!' till the novice was
+dumbfounded and amazed; and then again the Saint
+said that he also had once been tempted to possess
+books, and he almost yielded to the request, but
+decided in the end that such yielding would be sinful.
+He hoped that the day would come when men would
+throw their books out of the window as rubbish.</p>
+
+<p>A curious change took place when the Mendicants
+got control of the schools. It was absolutely necessary
+that they should be the devourers of books if they
+were to become the monopolists of learning. In the
+century following their arrival, Fitz-Ralph, the Archbishop
+of Armagh, complained that his chaplains
+could not buy any books at Oxford, because they
+were all snapped up by the men of the cord and cowl:
+'Every brother who keeps a school has a huge collection,
+and in each Convent of Freres is a great and
+noble library.' The Grey Friars certainly had two
+houses full of books in School Street, and their
+brothers in London had a good library, which was in
+later times increased and richly endowed by Sir
+Richard Whittington, the book-loving Lord Mayor
+of London.</p>
+
+<p>There were some complaints that the Friars cared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+too much for the contents and too little for the condition
+of their volumes. The Carmelites, who arrived
+in England after the two greater Orders, had the
+reputation of being careful librarians, 'anxiously protecting
+their books against dust and worms,' and
+ranging the manuscripts in their large room at Oxford
+at first in chests and afterwards in book-cases. The
+Franciscans were too ready to give and sell, to lend
+and spend, the volumes that they were so keen to
+acquire. A Dominican was always drawn with a book
+in his hand; but he would care nothing for it, if it
+contained no secrets of science. Richard de Bury had
+much to say about the Friars in that treatise on the
+love of books, 'which he fondly named Philobiblon,'
+being a commendation of Wisdom and of the books
+wherein she dwells. The Friars, he said, had preserved
+the ancient stores of learning, and were always
+ready to procure the last sermon from Rome or the
+newest pamphlet from Oxford. When he visited
+their houses in the country-towns, and turned out
+their chests and book-shelves, he found such wealth
+as might have lain in kings' treasuries; 'in those
+cupboards and baskets are not merely the crumbs
+that fall from the table, but the shew-bread which is
+angel's food, and corn from Egypt and the choicest
+gilts of Sheba.' He gives the highest praise to the
+Preachers or Friars of the Dominican Order, as being
+most open and ungrudging, 'and overflowing with a
+with a kind of divine liberality.' But both Preachers
+and Minorites, or Grey Friars, had been his pupils,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+his friends and guests in his family, and they had
+always applied themselves with unwearied zeal to the
+task of editing, indexing, and cataloguing the volumes
+in the library. 'These men,' he cries, 'are the successors
+of Bezaleel and the embroiderers of the ephod
+and breast-plate: these are the husbandmen that sow,
+and the oxen that tread out the corn: they are the
+blowers of the trumpets: they are the shining Pleiades
+and the stars in their courses.'</p>
+
+<p>Brother Agnellus of Pisa was the first Franciscan
+missionary at Oxford, and the first Minister of the
+Order in this county. He set up a school for poor
+students, at which Bishop Grost&ecirc;te was the first reader
+or master; but we are told that he afterwards felt
+great regret when he found his Friars bestowing their
+time upon frivolous learning. 'One day, when he
+wished to see what proficiency they were making, he
+entered the school while a disputation was going on,
+and they were wrangling and debating about the
+existence of the Deity. "Woe is me! Woe is me!"
+he burst forth: "the simple brethren are entering
+heaven, and the learned ones are debating if there be
+one"; and he sent at once a sum of &pound;10 sterling to
+the Court to buy a copy of the Decretals, that the
+Friars might study them and give over their frivolities.'
+The great difficulty was to prevent the brethren from
+studying the doctrine of Aristotle, as it was to be
+found in vile Latin translations, instead of attending
+to Grost&ecirc;te, who was said to know 'a hundred thousand
+times more than Aristotle' on all his subjects.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+Grost&ecirc;te himself spent very large sums in importing
+Greek books. In this he was helped by John
+Basingstoke, who had himself studied at Athens, and
+who taught the Greek language to several of the
+monks at St. Alban's. Grost&ecirc;te upheld the eastern
+doctrines against the teaching of the Papal Court,
+and indeed was nicknamed 'the hammerer of the
+Romans.' He based many of his statements upon
+books which he valued as his choicest possessions;
+but some of them, such as the <i>Testament of the
+Patriarchs</i> and the <i>Decretals of Dionysius</i> are now
+admitted to be forgeries. On Grost&ecirc;te's death in
+1253 he bequeathed his library, rich in marginal
+commentaries and annotations, to the Friars for
+whom he had worked before he became Bishop and
+Chancellor. Some generations afterwards their successors
+sold many of the books to Dr. Gascoigne,
+who used to work on them at the Minorites' Library:
+and some of those which he bought found their way
+to the libraries of Balliol, Oriel, and Lincoln; the
+main body of Grost&ecirc;te's books was gradually dispersed
+by gifts and sales, and dwindled down to little
+or nothing; so that, when Leland paid his official
+visit after the suppression of the monasteries, he
+found very few books of any kind, but plenty of dust
+and cobwebs, 'and moths and beetles swarming over
+the empty shelves.'</p>
+
+<p>It has been said that Richard de Bury had not
+much depth of learning; and it has been a favourite
+theory for many years that his book might have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+been written for him by his secretary, the Dominican
+Robert Holkot. The matter is not very important,
+since it is certain, in spite of ancient and modern
+detractors, that Richard de Bury or 'Aungerville'
+was a most ardent bibliophile and a very devoted
+attendant in the 'Library of Wisdom.' He was the
+son of Sir Richard Aungerville, a knight of Suffolk;
+but in accordance with a fashion of the day he was
+usually called after his birthplace. He was born at
+Bury St. Edmunds in the year 1287: he was educated
+at Oxford, and afterwards took a prominent part in
+the civil troubles, taking the side of Queen Isabel and
+Edward of Windsor against the unfortunate Edward <span class="smcap">ii.</span>
+He was appointed tutor to the Prince, and soon afterwards
+became the receiver of his revenues in Wales.
+When the Queen fled to her own country, Richard
+followed with a large sum of money, collected by
+virtue of his office; and he had a narrow escape for
+his life, being chased by a troop of English lancers
+as far as Paris itself, where he lay concealed for a
+week in the belfry of the Minorites' Church. When
+his pupil came to the throne many lucrative offices
+were showered on his faithful friend. Richard became
+Cofferer and Treasurer of the Wardrobe, and for five
+years was Clerk of the Privy Seal; and during that
+period he was twice sent as ambassador to the Pope
+at Avignon, where he had the honour of becoming
+the friend of Petrarch.</p>
+
+<p>The poet has himself described his meeting with
+the Englishman travelling in such splendid fashion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+to lay before his Holiness his master's claims upon
+France. 'It was at the time,' says Petrarch, 'when
+the seeds of war were growing that produced such a
+blood-stained harvest, in which the sickles are not
+laid aside nor as yet are the garners closed.' He
+found in his visitor 'a man of ardent mind and by
+no means unacquainted with literature.' He discovered
+indeed that Richard was on some points full
+of curious learning, and it occurred to him that one
+born and bred in Britain might know the situation
+of the long-lost island of Thule. 'But whether he
+was ashamed of his ignorance,' says Petrarch, 'or
+whether, as I will not suspect, he grudged information
+upon the subject, and whether he spoke his real mind
+or not, he only answered that he would tell me, but
+not till he had returned home to his books, of which
+no man had a more abundant supply.' The poet
+complains that the answer never came, in spite of
+many letters of reminder; 'and so my friendship with
+a Briton never taught me anything more about the
+Isle of Thule.'</p>
+
+<p>Richard was consecrated Bishop of Durham in
+1333, after an amicable struggle between the Pope
+and the King as to the hand that should bestow the
+preferment. A few months afterwards he became
+High Treasurer, and in the same year was appointed
+Lord Chancellor. Within the next three years he
+was sent on several embassies to France to urge the
+English claims, and he afterwards went on the same
+business to Flanders and Brabant. He writes with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+a kind of rapture of his first expeditions to Paris; in
+later years he complained that the study of antiquities
+was superseding science, in which the doctors of the
+Sorbonne had excelled. 'I was sent first to the
+Papal Chair, and afterwards to the Court of France,
+and thence to other countries, on tedious embassies
+and in perilous times, bearing with me all the time
+that love of books which many waters could not
+extinguish.' 'Oh Lord of Lords in Zion!' he ejaculates,
+'what a flood of pleasure rejoiced my heart
+when I reached Paris, the earthly Paradise. How I
+longed to remain there, and to my ardent soul how
+few and short seemed the days! There are the
+libraries in their chambers of spice, the lawns wherein
+every growth of learning blooms. There the meads
+of Academe shake to the footfall of the philosophers
+as they pace along: there are the peaks of Parnassus,
+and there is the Stoic Porch. Here you will find
+Aristotle, the overseer of learning, to whom belongs
+in his own right all the excellent knowledge that
+remains in this transitory world. Here Ptolemy
+weaves his cycles and epicycles, and here Gensachar
+tracks the planets' courses with his figures and charts.
+Here it was in very truth that with open treasure-chest
+and purse untied I scattered my money with a
+light heart, and ransomed the priceless volumes with
+my dust and dross.'</p>
+
+<p>He shows, as he himself confessed, an ecstatical
+love for his books. 'These are the masters that teach
+without rods and stripes, without angry words, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>out
+demanding a fee in money or in kind: if you
+draw near, they sleep not: if you ask, they answer
+in full: if you are mistaken, they neither rail nor
+laugh at your ignorance.' 'You only, my books!'
+he cries, 'are free and unfettered: you only can give
+to all who ask and enfranchise all that serve you.'
+In his glowing periods they become transfigured into
+the wells of living water, the fatness of the olive, the
+sweetness of the vines of Engaddi; they seem to him
+like golden urns in which the manna was stored, like
+the fruitful tree of life and the four-fold river of Eden.</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/05.jpg"><img src="./images/05_th.jpg" alt="SEAL OF RICHARD DE BURY." title="SEAL OF RICHARD DE BURY." /></a></p><p class="figcenter">SEAL OF RICHARD DE BURY.</p>
+
+<p>Richard de Bury had more books than all the
+other bishops in England. He set up several permanent
+libraries in his manor-houses and at his palace
+in Auckland; the floor of his hall was always so
+strewed with manuscripts that it was hard to approach
+his presence, and his bedroom so full of books that
+one could not go in or out, or even stand still without
+treading on them. He has told us many particulars
+about his methods of collection. He had lived with
+scholars from his youth upwards; but it was not
+until he became the King's friend, and almost a
+member of his family, that he was able 'to hunt in
+the delightful coverts' of the clerical and monastic
+libraries. As Chancellor he had great facilities for
+'dragging the books from their hiding-places'; 'a
+flying rumour had spread on all sides that we longed
+for books, and especially for old ones, and that it
+was easier to gain our favour by a manuscript than
+by gifts of coin.' As he had the power of promoting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+and deposing whom he pleased, the 'crazy quartos
+and tottering folios' came creeping in as gifts instead
+of the ordinary fees and New Year's presents. The
+book-cases of the monasteries were opened, and their
+caskets unclasped, and the volumes that had lain for
+ages in the sepulchres were roused by the light of
+day. 'I might have had,' he said, 'abundance of
+wealth in those days; but it was books, and not bags
+of gold, that I wanted; I preferred folios to florins,
+and loved a little thin pamphlet more than an overfed
+palfrey.' We know that he bought many books
+on his embassies to France and Flanders, besides
+his constant purchases at home. He tells us that
+the Friars were his best agents; they would compass
+sea and land to meet his desire. 'With such eager
+huntsmen, what leveret could lie hid? With such
+fishermen, what single little fish could escape the net,
+the hook, and the trawl?' He found another source
+of supply in the country schools, where the masters
+were always ready to sell their books; and in these
+little gardens and paddocks, as chances occurred,
+he culled a few flowers or gathered a few neglected
+herbs. His money secured the services of the
+librarians and bookstall-men on the Continent, who
+were afraid of no journey by land, and were deterred
+by no fury of the sea. 'Moreover,' he added, 'we
+always had about us a multitude of experts and
+copyists, with binders, and correctors, and illuminators,
+and all who were in any way qualified for the
+service of books.' He ends his chapter on book-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>collecting
+with a reference to an eastern tale, comparing
+himself to the mountain of loadstone that
+attracted the ships of knowledge by a secret force,
+while the books in their cargoes, like the iron bars in
+the story, were streaming towards the magnetic cliff
+'in a multifarious flight.'</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>ITALY&mdash;THE AGE OF PETRARCH.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The enlightenment of an age of ignorance cannot
+be attributed to any single person; yet it has been
+said with some justice, that as the medi&aelig;val darkness
+lifted, one figure was seen standing in advance, and
+that Petrarch was rightly hailed as 'the harbinger of
+day.' His fame rests not so much on his poems as
+upon his incessant labours in the task of educating
+his countrymen. Petrarch was devoted to books
+from his boyhood. His youth was passed near
+Avignon, 'on the banks of the windy Rhone.' After
+receiving the ordinary instruction in grammar and
+rhetoric, he passed four years at Montpellier, and
+proceeded to study law at Bologna. 'I kept my
+terms in Civil Law,' he said, 'and made some progress;
+but I gave up the subject on becoming my
+own master, not because I disliked the Law, which
+no doubt is full of the Roman learning, but because
+it is so often perverted by evil-minded men.' He
+seems to have worked for a time under his friend
+Cino of Pistoia, and to have attended the lectures of
+the jurist Andrea, whose daughter Novella is said to
+have sometimes taken the class 'with a little curtain
+in front of her beautiful face.' While studying at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+Bologna, Petrarch made his first collection of books
+instead of devoting himself to the Law. His old
+father once paid him a visit and began burning the
+parchments on a funeral pile: the boy's supplications
+and promises saved the poor remainder. He tried
+hard to follow his father's practical advice, but
+always in vain; 'Nature called him in another direction,
+and it is idle to struggle against her.'</p>
+
+<p>On Petrarch's return to Avignon he obtained the
+friendship of Cardinal Colonna: and here the whole
+course of his life was fixed when he first saw Laura
+'in a green dress embroidered with violets.' Her face
+was stamped upon his mind, and haunted him through
+all efforts at repose: and perhaps it is to her influence
+that he owed his rank among the lyrical poets and
+the crown bestowed at Rome. His whole life was
+thenceforth devoted to the service of the book. He
+declared that he had the writing-disease, and was the
+victim of a general epidemic. 'All the world is
+taking up the writer's part, which ought to be confined
+to a few: the number of the sick increases and
+the disease becomes daily more virulent.' A victim
+of the mania himself, he laughs at his own misfortune:
+yet it might have been better, he thought, to
+have been a labourer or a weaver at the loom.
+'There are several kinds of melancholia: and some
+madmen will write books, just as others toss pebbles
+in their hands.' As for literary fame, it is but a
+harvest of thin air, 'and it is only fit for sailors to
+watch a breeze and to whistle for a wind.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Petrarch collected books in many parts of Europe.
+In 1329, when he was twenty-five years of age, he
+made a tour through Switzerland to the cities of
+Flanders. The Flemish schools had lost something
+of their ancient fame since the development of the
+University of Paris. Several fine collections of books
+were still preserved in the monasteries. The Abbey
+of Laubes was especially rich in biblical commentaries
+and other works of criticism, which were all
+destroyed afterwards in a fire, except a Vulgate of
+the eighth century that happened to be required for
+use at the Council of Trent. Petrarch described his
+visit to Li&egrave;ge in a letter to a friend; 'When we
+arrived I heard that there was a good supply of
+books, so I kept all my party there until I had one
+oration of Cicero transcribed by a colleague, and
+another in my own writing, which I afterwards
+published in Italy; but in that fair city of the
+barbarians it was very difficult to get any ink,
+and what I did procure was as yellow as saffron.'</p>
+
+<p>A few years afterwards he went from Avignon to
+Paris, and was astonished at the net-work of filthy
+lanes in the students' quarter. It was a paradise of
+books, all kept at fair prices by the University's
+decree; but the traveller declared that, except in
+'the world's sink' at Avignon, he had never seen so
+dirty a place. At Rome he was dismayed to find
+that all the books were the prey of the foreigner.
+The English and French merchants were carrying
+away what had been spared by the Goths and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+Vandals. 'Are you not ashamed,' he cried to his
+Roman friends, 'are you not ashamed that your
+avarice should allow these strangers every day to
+acquire some remnant of your ancient majesty?'</p>
+
+<p>He used to pore over his manuscripts on the most
+incongruous occasions, like Pliny reading his critical
+notes at the boar-hunt. 'Whether I am being shaved
+or having my hair cut,' he wrote, 'and whether I am
+riding or dining, I either read or get some one to read
+to me.' Some of his favourite volumes are described
+in terms of delightful affection. He tells us how
+Homer and Plato sat side by side on the shelf,&mdash;the
+prince of poets by the prince of philosophers. He
+only knew the rudiments of Greek, and was forced to
+read the Iliad in the Latin version. 'But I glory,'
+he said, 'in the sight of my illustrious guests, and
+have at least the pleasure of seeing the Greeks
+in their national costume.' 'Homer,' he adds, 'is
+dumb, or I am deaf; I am delighted with his looks;
+and as often as I embrace the silent volume I cry,
+"Oh illustrious bard, how gladly would I listen to
+thy song, if only I had not lost my hearing, through
+the death of one friend and the lamented absence of
+another!"'</p>
+
+<p>In his treatise on Fortune, Petrarch has left us
+a study on book-collecting in the form of a dialogue
+between his natural genius and his critical reason.
+He argues, as it were, in his own person against the
+imaginary opponent. A paraphrase will show the
+nature and the result of the contest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>'<i>Petrarch.</i> I have indeed a great quantity of books.</p>
+
+<p><i>Critic.</i> That gives me an excellent instance. Some
+men amass books for self-instruction and others from
+vanity. Some decorate their rooms with the furniture
+that was intended to be an ornament of the soul, as
+if it were like the bronzes and statues of which we
+were speaking. Some are working for their own vile
+ends behind their rows of books, and these are the
+worst of all, because they esteem literature merely as
+merchandise, and not at its real value; and this new
+fashionable infliction becomes another engine for the
+arts of avarice.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pet.</i> I have a very considerable quantity of books.</p>
+
+<p><i>Crit.</i> Well! it is a charming, embarrassing kind of
+luggage, affording an agreeable diversion for the mind.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pet.</i> I have a great abundance of books.</p>
+
+<p><i>Crit.</i> Yes, and a great abundance of hard work
+and a great lack of repose. You have to keep your
+mind marching in all directions, and to overload your
+memory. Books have led some to learning, and
+others to madness, when they swallow more than
+they can digest. In the mind, as in the body,
+indigestion does more harm than hunger; food and
+books alike must be used according to the constitution,
+and what is little enough for one is too much
+for another.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pet.</i> But I have an immense quantity of books.</p>
+
+<p><i>Crit.</i> Immense is that which has no measure, and
+without measure there is nothing convenient or
+decent in the affairs of men.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Pet.</i> I have an incalculable number of books.</p>
+
+<p><i>Crit.</i> Have you more than Ptolemy, King of Egypt,
+accumulated in the library at Alexandria, which were
+all burned at one time? Perhaps there was an excuse
+for him in his royal wealth and his desire to benefit
+posterity. But what are we to say of the private
+citizens who have surpassed the luxury of kings?
+Have we not read of Serenus Sammonicus, the
+master of many languages, who bequeathed 62,000
+volumes to the younger Gordian? Truly that was
+a fine inheritance, enough to sustain many souls or
+to oppress one to death, as all will agree. If Serenus
+had done nothing else in his life, and had not read
+a word in all those volumes, would he not have had
+enough to do in learning their titles and sizes and
+numbers and their authors' names? Here you have
+a science that turns a philosopher into a librarian.
+This is not feeding the soul with wisdom: it is the
+crushing it under a weight of riches or torturing it
+in the waters of Tantalus.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pet.</i> I have innumerable books.</p>
+
+<p><i>Crit.</i> Yes, and innumerable errors of ignorant
+authors and of the copyists who corrupt all that
+they touch.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pet.</i> I have a good provision of books.</p>
+
+<p><i>Crit.</i> What does that matter, if your intellect cannot
+take them in? Do you remember the Roman
+Sabinus who plumed himself on the learning of his
+slaves? Some people think that they must know
+what is in their own books, and say, when a new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+subject is started: 'I have a book about that in my
+library!' They think that this is quite sufficient,
+just as if the book were in their heads, and then they
+raise their eyebrows, and there is an end of the
+subject.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pet.</i> I am overflowing with books.</p>
+
+<p><i>Crit.</i> Why don't you overflow with talent and
+eloquence? Ah! but these things are not for sale,
+like books, and if they were I don't suppose there
+would be many buyers, for books do make a covering
+for the walls, but those other wares are only clothing
+for the soul, and are invisible and therefore neglected.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pet.</i> I have books which help me in my studies.</p>
+
+<p><i>Crit.</i> Take care that they do not prove a hindrance.
+Many a general has been beaten by having too many
+troops. If books came in like recruits one would not
+turn them away, but would stow them in proper
+quarters, and use the best of them, taking care not
+to bring up a force too soon which would be more
+useful on another occasion.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pet.</i> I have a great variety of books.</p>
+
+<p><i>Crit.</i> A variety of paths will often deceive the
+traveller.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pet.</i> I have collected a number of fine books.</p>
+
+<p><i>Crit.</i> To gain glory by means of books you must
+not only possess them but know them; their lodging
+must be in your brain and not on the book-shelf.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pet.</i> I keep a few beautiful books.</p>
+
+<p><i>Crit.</i> Yes, you keep in irons a few prisoners, who,
+if they could escape and talk, would have you indicted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+for wrongful imprisonment. But now they lie groaning
+in their cells, and of this they ever complain,
+that an idle and a greedy man is overflowing with
+the wealth that might have sustained a multitude
+of starving scholars.'</p>
+
+<p>Petrarch was in truth a careless custodian of his
+prisoners. He was too ready to lend a book to a
+friend, and his generosity on one occasion caused a
+serious loss to literature. The only known copy of
+a treatise by Cicero was awaiting transcription in
+his library; but he allowed it to be carried off by an
+old scholar in need of assistance: it was pledged in
+some unknown quarter, and nothing was ever heard
+again of the precious deposit.</p>
+
+<p>He returned to Avignon in 1337, and made himself
+a quiet home at Vaucluse. His letters are full of
+allusions to his little farm, to the poplars in the
+horse-shoe valley, and the river brimming out from
+the 'monarch of springs.' In these new lawns of
+Helicon he made a new home for his books, and
+tried to forget in their company the tumults that
+had driven him from Italy. In 1340 he received
+offers of a laureate's crown from Rome, the capital
+of the world, and from Paris, 'the birth-place of
+learning.' 'I start to-day,' he wrote to Colonna, 'to
+receive my reward over the graves of those who were
+the pride of ancient Rome, and in the very theatre of
+their exploits.' The Capitol resounded to such cheers
+that its walls and 'antique dome' seemed to share in
+the public joy: the senator placed a chaplet on his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+brow, and old Stephen Colonna added a few words
+of praise amid the applause of the Roman people.</p>
+
+<p>At Parma, soon afterwards, Petrarch formed another
+library which he called his 'second Parnassus.' At
+Padua he busied himself in the education of an
+adopted son, the young John of Ravenna, who lived
+to be a celebrated professor, and was nicknamed 'the
+Trojan Horse,' because he turned out so many excellent
+Grecians. In a cottage near Milan the poet
+received a visit from Boccaccio, who was at that time
+inclined to renounce the world. He offered to give his
+whole library to Petrarch: he did afterwards send to
+his host a <i>Dante</i> of his own copying, which is now preserved
+in the Vatican. The approach of a pestilence
+led Petrarch to remove his home to Venice: and here
+he was again visited by Boccaccio, this time in company
+with Leontio Pilato, a Calabrian Greek trading
+in books between Italy and Constantinople.</p>
+
+<p>Leontio was the translator of Homer, and expounded
+his poems from the Chair of Rhetoric at
+Florence. He was a man of forbidding appearance,
+and 'more obdurate,' said Petrarch, 'than the rocks
+that he will encounter in his voyage': 'fearing that
+I might catch his bad temper, I let him go, and gave
+him a Terence to amuse him on the way, though I
+do not know what this melancholy Greek could have
+in common with that lively African.' Leontio was
+killed by lightning on his return voyage; and there
+was much anxiety until it could be ascertained that
+his literary stock-in-trade had been rescued from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+hands of the sailors. It was not till the end of the
+century that Chrysoloras renewed the knowledge of
+the classics: but we may regard the austere Leontio
+as the chief precursor of the crowd of later immigrants,
+each with a gem, or bronze, or 'a brown
+Greek manuscript' for sale, and all eager to play
+their parts in the restoration of learning.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of his life Petrarch became tired
+of carrying his books about. When he broke up the
+libraries at Parma and Vaucluse he had formed the
+habit of travelling with bales of manuscripts in a long
+cavalcade; but he determined afterwards to offer the
+collection to Venice, on condition that it should be
+properly housed, and should never be sold or divided.
+The offer was accepted by the Republic, and the
+Palazzo Molina was assigned as a home for the poet
+and his books. Petrarch, however, had other plans
+for himself. He wished to be near Padua, where he
+held a canonry; and he accordingly built himself a
+cottage at Arqu&agrave;, among the Euganean Hills, about
+ten miles from the city. A few olive-trees and a
+little vine-yard sufficed for the wants of his modest
+household; and there, as he wrote to his brother,
+broken in body but easy in his mind, he passed his
+time in reading, and prepared for his end. His only
+regret was that there was no monastery near in which
+he might see his beloved Gerard fulfilling his religious
+duties. He seems to have given up his love for fine
+books with other worldly vanities. He offers excuses
+for the plain appearance of a volume of 'St. Augustine'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+which he was sending as a present. 'One must not,'
+said he, 'expect perfect manuscripts from scholars
+who are engaged on better things. A general does
+not sharpen the soldiers' swords. Apelles did not cut
+out his own boards, or Polycletus his sheets of ivory;
+some humble person always prepares the material
+on which a higher mind is to be engaged. So is
+it with books: some polish the parchment, and
+others copy or correct the text; others again do the
+illumination, to use the common phrase; but a loftier
+spirit will disdain these menial occupations.' The
+scholar's books are often of a rough and neglected
+appearance, for abundance of anything makes the
+owner 'careless and secure'; it is the invalid who is
+particular about every breath of air, but the strong
+man loves the rough breeze. 'As to this book of
+the <i>Confessions</i>, its first aspect will teach you all about
+it. Quite new, quite unadorned, untouched by the
+corrector's fangs, it comes out of my young servant's
+hands. You will notice some defects in spelling, but
+no gross mistakes. In a word, you will perhaps find
+things in it which will exercise but not disturb your
+understanding. Read it then, and ponder upon it.
+This book, which would enflame a heart of ice, must
+set your ardent soul on fire.'</p>
+
+<p>On a summer night of the year 1374, Petrarch died
+peacefully at Arqu&agrave;, alone in his library. His few
+remaining books were sold, and some of them may
+still be seen in Rome and Paris. Those which he
+had given to Venice suffered a strange reverse of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+fortune. How long the gift remained in the Palazzo
+Molina we cannot tell. We conjecture that it was
+discarded in the next century, before Bessarion presented
+his Greek books to the senate, and became
+the actual founder of the library of St. Mark. The
+antiquary Tomasini found Petrarch's books cast aside
+in a dark room behind the Horses of Lysippus.
+Some had crumbled into powder, and others had
+been glued into shapeless masses by the damp. The
+survivors were placed in the Libraria Vecchia, and
+are now in the Ducal Palace; but it was long before
+they were permitted to enter the building that
+sheltered the gift of Bessarion.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>OXFORD&mdash;DUKE HUMPHREY'S BOOKS&mdash;THE LIBRARY OF THE VALOIS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The University Library at Oxford was a development
+of Richard de Bury's foundation. The monks of
+Durham had founded a hall, now represented by Trinity
+College, in which Richard had always taken a fatherly
+interest. He provided the ordinary texts and commentaries
+for the students, and was extremely anxious
+that they should be instructed in Greek and in the
+languages of the East. A knowledge of Arabic, he
+thought, was as necessary for the study of astronomy
+as a familiarity with Hebrew was requisite for the
+understanding of the Scriptures. The Friars had
+bought a good supply of Hebrew books when the
+Jews were expelled from England; Richard not only
+increased the available store, but supplied the means
+of using it. 'We have provided,' he said, 'a grammar
+in Greek and Hebrew for the scholars, with all the
+proper aids to instruct them in reading and writing
+those languages.' He formed the ambitious design
+of providing assistance to the whole University out
+of the books presented to the hall. The rules which
+he drew up were not unlike those already in use at
+the Sorbonne. Five students were chosen as wardens,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+of whom any three might be a quorum for lending
+the manuscripts. Any book, of which they possessed
+a duplicate, might be lent out on proper security:
+but copying was not allowed, and no volume was on
+any account to be carried beyond the suburbs. A
+yearly account was to be taken of the books in store,
+and of the current securities; and if any profit should
+come to the wardens' hands it was to be applied to
+the maintenance of the library.</p>
+
+<p>When the Bishop died some of his books went back
+to Durham; but the monks were generous towards the
+hall, and on several occasions sent fresh supplies to
+Oxford. It may also be observed that some of his
+best <span class="smcap">mss.</span> were returned to the Abbey of St. Alban's.
+He had bought about thirty volumes from a former
+abbot for fifty pounds weight of silver; but the monks
+had continually protested against a transaction which
+they believed to be illegal, and on Richard's death
+some of the books were given back, and others were
+purchased by Abbot Wentmore from his executors.</p>
+
+<p>De Bury's generous care for learning was imitated
+in several quarters. A few years after his death the
+Lady Elizabeth de Burgh made a bequest of a small
+but very costly library to her College of Clare Hall
+at Cambridge. Guy Earl of Warwick about the same
+time gave a collection of illuminated romances to the
+monks of Bordesley. John de Newton in the next
+generation divided his collection of classics, histories,
+and service-books, between St. Peter's College at Cambridge
+and the Minster at York, where he had acted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+for some years as treasurer. The lending-library at
+Durham Hall was the only provision for the public,
+with the exception of a few volumes kept in the
+'chest with four keys' at St. Mary's. Thomas
+Cobham, Bishop of Worcester, had long been anxious
+to show his filial love for the University: as early as
+the year 1320 he had begun to prepare a room for a
+library 'over the old congregation-house in the north
+churchyard of St. Mary's'; and, though the work
+was left incomplete, he gave all his books by will to
+be placed at the disposal of the whole body of scholars.
+Owing to disputes that arose between the University
+and the College to which Cobham had belonged, the
+gift did not take effect until 1367. The University
+Library was established in the upper room, which
+was used as a Convocation House in later times; it
+is said not to have been completely furnished until
+the year 1409, more than eighty years after the date
+of the Bishop's benefaction. According to the first
+statute for the regulation of Cobham's Library, the
+best of the books were to be sold so as to raise a sum
+of &pound;40, which according to the current rate of interest
+would produce a yearly income of &pound;3 for the librarian;
+the other books, together with those from the
+University Chest, were to be chained to the desks for
+the general use of the students. It was soon found
+necessary to exclude the 'noisy rabble': and permission
+to work in the library was restricted to
+graduates of eight years' standing. Richard de Bury
+had warned the world in his chapter upon the handling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+of books, how hardly could a raw youth be made to
+take care of a manuscript; the student, according to
+the great bibliophile, would treat a book as roughly
+as if it were a pair of shoes, would stick in straws to
+keep his place, or stuff it with violets and rose-leaves,
+and would very likely eat fruit or cheese over one
+page and set a cup of ale on the other. An impudent
+boy would scribble across the text, the copyist would
+try his pen on a blank space, a scullion would turn
+the pages with unwashed hands, or a thief might cut
+out the fly-leaves and margins to use in writing his
+letters; 'and all these various negligences,' he adds,
+'are wonderfully injurious to books.'</p>
+
+<p>A generous benefactor gave a copy of De Lyra's
+'Commentaries,' which was set upon a desk in St.
+Mary's Chancel for reference. A large gift of books
+came from Richard Courteney, the Chancellor of the
+University; and as a mark of gratitude he was allowed
+free access to the library during the rest of his life.
+Among the other benefactors whose good deeds are
+still commemorated we find King Henry <span class="smcap">iv.</span>, who
+helped to complete the library, his successor Henry <span class="smcap">v.</span>,
+who contributed to its endowment as Prince of
+Wales, and his brothers John Duke of Bedford and
+Humphrey Duke of Gloucester; and the roll of a
+later date includes the names of Edmund Earl of
+March, Philip Repington Bishop of Lincoln, and the
+munificent Archbishop Arundel.</p>
+
+<p>The good Duke Humphrey has been called 'the
+first founder of the University Library.' We know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+from the records of that time that his gifts were
+acknowledged to be 'an almost unspeakable blessing.'
+He sent in all about three hundred volumes during
+his life, which were placed in the chests of Cobham's
+Library as they arrived, to be transferred to the new
+Divinity Schools as soon as room could be made for
+the whole collection. He had intended to bequeath
+as many more by way of an additional endowment,
+but died intestate: and there was a considerable
+delay before the University could procure the fulfilment
+of his charitable design. When the books at
+last arrived 'the general joy knew no bounds'; and
+the title of 'Duke Humphrey's Library' was gratefully
+given to the whole assemblage of books which
+from several different quarters had come into the
+University's possession.</p>
+
+<p>The catalogue shows that the Duke's store had
+consisted mainly of the writings of the Fathers and
+Arabian works on science: there were a few classics,
+including a Quintilian, and Aristotle and Plato in
+Latin: the works of Capgrave and Higden were the
+only English chronicles; but the Duke was a devotee
+of the Italian learning, and his gifts to Oxford included
+more than one copy of the <i>Divina Commedia</i>,
+three separate copies of <i>Boccaccio</i>, and no less than
+seven of <i>Petrarch</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The fate of the libraries founded by De Bury and
+Duke Humphrey of Gloucester was to perish at the
+hands of the mob. Bishop Bale has told the sad
+story of the destruction of the monastic libraries.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+The books were used for tailors' measures, for scouring
+candlesticks and cleaning boots; 'some they sold to
+the grocers and soap-sellers'; some they sent across
+the seas to the book-binders, 'whole ships-full, to the
+wondering of foreign nations': he knew a merchant
+who bought 'two noble libraries' for 40<i>s.</i>, and got thereby
+a store of grey paper for his parcels which lasted
+him for twenty years. The same thing happened at
+Oxford. The quadrangle of one College was entirely
+covered 'with a thick bed of torn books and manuscripts.'
+The rioters in the Protector Somerset's time
+broke into the 'Aungerville Library,' as De Bury's
+collection was called, and burnt all the books. Some
+of De Bury's books had been removed into Duke
+Humphrey's Library, and met the same fate at the
+Schools, with almost every other volume that the
+University possessed. So complete was the destruction
+that in 1555 an order was made to sell the desks
+and book-shelves, as if it were finally admitted that
+Oxford would never have a library again.</p>
+
+<p>Some few of the Duke's books escaped the general
+destruction. Of the half-dozen specimens in the
+British Museum three are known by the ancient
+catalogues to have been comprised in his gifts to the
+University. Two more remain at Oxford in the
+libraries of Oriel and Corpus Christi. We learn from
+Mr. Macray that only three out of the whole number
+of his <span class="smcap">mss.</span> are now to be found in the Bodleian. One
+of them contains the Duke's signature: another is
+of high interest as being a translation out of <i>Aristotle</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+by Leonardo Aretino, with an original dedication to
+the Duke. The third is a magnificent volume of
+<i>Valerius Maximus</i> prepared, as we know from the
+monastic annals, under the personal supervision of
+Abbot Whethamstede, the 'passionate bibliomaniac'
+of St. Alban's. It contains inscriptions, says Mr.
+Macray, recording its gift for the use of the scholars,
+with anathemas upon all who should injure it. 'If
+any one steals this book,' says the Abbot, 'may he
+come to the gallows or the rope of Judas.'</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/06.jpg"><img src="./images/06_th.jpg" alt="THE DUKE OF BEDFORD PRAYING BEFORE ST. GEORGE." title="THE DUKE OF BEDFORD PRAYING BEFORE ST. GEORGE." /></a></p>
+<p class="figcenter">THE DUKE OF BEDFORD PRAYING BEFORE ST. GEORGE.</p>
+<p class="figcenter">(<i>From the "Bedford Missal."</i>)</p>
+
+<p>Many of the Duke of Gloucester's books had come
+to him from the library of the French Kings at the
+Louvre, which had been purchased and dispersed by
+John, Duke of Bedford. The Duke himself was in
+the habit of ordering magnificently illuminated books
+of devotion, which he gave as presents to his friends.
+The famous 'Bedford Missal' (really a Book of
+Hours) was offered by the Duchess in his name
+to Henry <span class="smcap">vi.</span>; and Mr. Quaritch possesses another
+Book of Hours, which the Duke presented to
+Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, as a wedding gift. The
+House of Valois was always friendly to literature.
+King John, who fought at Cre&ccedil;y, began a small
+collection: he had the story of the Crusades, a tract
+on the game of chess, and a book containing a French
+version of <i>Livy</i>, which seems to have belonged afterwards
+to Duke Humphrey, and to have found its
+way later into the Abbey of St. Genevi&egrave;ve. His
+son Charles le Sage was the owner of about 900
+volumes, which he kept in his castle at the Louvre.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+The first librarian was Gilles Malet, who prepared a
+catalogue in 1373, which is still in existence. Another
+was compiled a few years afterwards by
+Antoine des Essars, and a third was made for
+Bedford when he purchased about 850 volumes out
+of the collection in the year 1423. These lists were
+so carefully executed that we can form a very clear
+idea of the library itself and the books in their gay
+bindings on the shelves. We are told that the
+King was so devoted to his '<i>Belle Assembl&eacute;e</i>,' as
+Christina of Pisa calls it, that not only authors and
+booksellers, but the princes and nobles at the court,
+all vied in making offerings of finely illuminated
+manuscripts.</p>
+
+<p>They were arranged in the three rooms of the
+Library Tower. The wainscots were of Irish yew,
+and the ceilings of cypress. The windows were filled
+with painted glass, and the rooms were lit at night
+with thirty chandeliers and a great silver lamp. On
+entering the lowest room the visitor saw a row of
+book-cases low enough to be used as desks or tables.
+A few musical instruments lay about; one of the old
+lists tells us of a lute, and guitars inlaid with ivory
+and enamel, and 'an old rebec' much out of repair.
+There were 269 volumes in the book-cases. We will
+only mention a few of the most remarkable. There
+was Queen Blanche's Bible in red morocco, and
+another in white boards, Thomas Waley's rhymes
+from Ovid with splendid miniatures, and Richard de
+Furnival's <i>Bestiaire d'Amour</i>. One life of St. Louis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+stood in a '<i>chemise blanche</i>,' and another in cloth of
+gold. St. Gregory and Sir John Mandeville were
+clothed in indigo velvet. John of Salisbury had a
+silk coat and long girdle, and most of the Arabians
+were in tawny silk ornamented with white roses and
+wreaths of foliage. Some bindings are noticed as
+being in fine condition, and others as being shabby
+or faded. The clasps are minutely described. They
+would catch a visitor's eye as the books lay flat on
+the shelves: and we suppose that the librarian intended
+to show the best way of knowing the books
+apart rather than to dwell on their external attractions.
+The Oxford fashion was to catalogue according to
+the last word on the first leaf, or the first word over
+the page; but it was also a common custom to
+distinguish important volumes by such names as <i>The
+Red Book of the Exchequer</i>, or <i>The Black Book of
+Carnarvon</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We need not proceed to describe the other rooms.
+On the first floor there were 260 books, consisting
+for the most part of romances with miniature illuminations.
+One of these was the <i>Destruction de
+Th&egrave;bes</i>, which at one time belonged to the Duc de
+la Valli&egrave;re, and is now in the National Library at
+Paris. The upper floor contained nearly six hundred
+volumes mostly concerned with astronomy and natural
+science.</p>
+
+<p>It appears from the memoranda in the lists that
+there had been a habit of lending books to public
+institutions and to members of the royal family from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+the time when the library was first established; and
+it is estimated that about two hundred of the books
+must have been saved in this way to form the beginning
+of a new library in the Louvre, which, after the
+expulsion of the English, began to attain some importance
+in the reign of Louis <span class="smcap">xi</span>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>ITALY&mdash;THE RENAISSANCE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The study of the classics had languished for a time
+after the deaths of Petrarch and Boccaccio. It revived
+again upon the coming of Chrysoloras, who is said to
+have lighted in Italy 'a new and perpetual flame.'
+Poggio Bracciolini was one of his first pupils; and
+he became so distinguished in literature that the
+earlier part of the fifteenth century is known as the age
+of Poggio. Leonardo Aretino describes the enthusiasm
+with which the Italians made acquaintance with the
+ancient learning. 'I gave myself up to Chrysoloras,'
+he writes, 'and my passion for knowledge was so
+strong that the daily tasks became the material of
+my nightly dreams.' He told Cosmo de' M&eacute;dici,
+when translating Plato's Dialogues, that they alone
+seemed to be infused with real life, while all other
+books passed by like fleeting and shadowy things.</p>
+
+<p>We are chiefly concerned with Poggio as the discoverer
+of long-lost treasures. He saved Quintilian
+and many other classics from complete extinction.
+'Some of them,' said his friend Barbaro, 'were already
+dead to the world, and some after a long exile you
+have restored to their rights as citizens.' As a
+famous stock of pears had been named after an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+Appius or Claudius, so it was said that these new
+fruits of literature ought certainly to be named after
+Poggio.</p>
+
+<p>The sole remaining copy of an ancient work upon
+aqueducts was discovered by him in the old library
+at Monte Cassino, which had survived the assaults of
+Lombards and Saracens, but in that later age seemed
+likely to perish by neglect. We have the record of
+an earlier visit by Boccaccio, in which the carelessness
+of its guardians was revealed. The visitor, we are
+told, asked very deferentially if he might see the
+library. 'It is open, and you can go up,' said a
+monk, pointing to the ladder that led to an open
+loft. The traveller describes the filthy and doorless
+chamber, the grass growing on the window-sills, and
+the books and benches white with dust. He took
+down book after book, and they all seemed to be
+ancient and valuable; but from some of them whole
+sheets had been taken out, and in others the margins
+of the vellum had been cut off. All in tears at this
+miserable sight, Boccaccio went down the ladder, and
+asked a monk in the cloister how those precious
+volumes had come to such a pass; and the monk
+told him that the brothers who wanted a few pence
+would take out a quire of leaves to make a little
+psalter for sale, and used to cut off the margins to
+make 'briefs,' which they sold to the women.</p>
+
+<p>Poggio himself has described his discovery at the
+Abbey of St. Gall. 'By good fortune,' he says, 'we
+were at Constance without anything to do, and it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+occurred to us to go to the monastery about twenty
+miles off to see the place where the Quintilian was
+shut up.' The Abbey had been founded by the Irish
+missionaries who destroyed the idols of Suabia, when
+according to the ancient legend the mountain-demon
+vainly called on the spirit of the lake to join in resisting
+the foe. Its library had been celebrated in the
+ninth century, when the Hungarian terror fell upon
+Europe, and the barbarian armies in one and the same
+day 'laid in ashes the monastery of St. Gall and the
+city of Bremen on the shores of the Northern ocean';
+but the books had been fortunately removed to the
+Abbey of Reichenau on an island in the Rhine. 'We
+went to the place,' said Poggio, 'to amuse ourselves
+and to look at the books. Among them we found
+the Quintilian safe and sound, but all coated with
+dust. The books were by no means housed as they
+deserved, but were all in a dark and noisome place
+at the foot of a tower, into which one would not cast
+a criminal condemned to death.' He describes the
+finding of several other rare <span class="smcap">mss.</span>, and says: 'I have
+copied them all out in great haste, and have sent
+them to Florence.'</p>
+
+<p>In 1418 he visited England in the train of Cardinal
+Beaufort. He said that he was unable to procure
+any transcripts, though he visited some of the
+principal libraries, and must have seen that the collection
+at the Grey Friars at least was 'well stocked
+with books.' He was more successful on the Continent,
+where he brought the <i>History</i> of Ammianus out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+of a German prison into the free air of the republic
+of letters. He gave the original to Cardinal Colonna,
+and wrote to Aretino about transcripts: 'Niccolo has
+copied it on paper for Cosmo de' M&eacute;dici: you must
+write to Carlo Aretino for another copy, or he might
+lend you the original, because if the scribe should be
+an ignoramus you might get a fable instead of a
+history.'</p>
+
+<p>Among the pupils of Chrysoloras, Guarini of
+Verona was esteemed the keenest philologist, and
+John Aurispa as having the most extended knowledge
+of the classics. Aurispa, says Hallam, came
+rather late from Sicily, but his labours were not less
+profitable than those of his predecessors; in the year
+1423 he brought back from Greece considerably
+more than two hundred <span class="smcap">mss.</span> of authors hardly
+known in Italy; and the list includes books of Plato,
+of Pindar, and of Strabo, of which all knowledge had
+been lost in the West. Aurispa lectured for many
+years at Bologna and Florence, and ended his days
+at the literary Court of Ferrara. Philelpho was one
+of the most famous of the scholars who returned
+'laden with manuscripts' from Greece. To recover
+a lost poem or oration was to go far on the road to
+fortune, and a very moderate acquaintance with the
+text was expected from the hero of the fortunate
+adventure. When he lectured on his new discoveries
+at Florence, where he had established himself in spite
+of the M&eacute;dici, Philelpho according to his own account
+was treated with such deference on all sides that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+was overwhelmed with bashfulness; 'All the citizens
+are turning towards me, and all the ladies and the
+nobles exalt my name to the skies.' He was the
+bitter enemy of Poggio, and of all who supported the
+reigning family of Florence. Poggio had the art of
+making enemies, though he was a courtier by profession
+and had been secretary to eight Popes. He
+raged against Philelpho in a flood of scurrilous
+pamphlets; Valla, the great Latin scholar, was
+violently attacked for a mere word of criticism, and
+Niccolo Perotti, the grammarian, paid severely for
+supporting his friend. Poggio was always in extremes.
+His eulogies in praise of Lorenzo de' M&eacute;dici,
+and Niccolo Niccoli of Florence are perfect in grace
+and dignity; his invectives were as scurrilous as anything
+recorded in the annals of literature.</p>
+
+<p>Two generous benefactors preceded 'the father of
+his country' in providing libraries for Florence.
+Niccolo Niccoli by common consent was the great
+M&aelig;cenas of his age; his passion for books was
+boundless, and he had gathered the best collection
+that had been seen in Italy for many generations.
+The public was free to inspect his treasures, and any
+citizen might either read or transcribe as he pleased;
+'In one word,' wrote Poggio, 'I say that he was the
+wisest and the most benevolent of mankind.' By his
+will he appointed sixteen trustees, among whom was
+Cosmo de' M&eacute;dici, to take charge of his books for
+the State. Some legal difficulty arose after his death,
+but Cosmo undertook to pay all liabilities if the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+management of the library were left to his sole discretion;
+and the gift of the 'Florentine Socrates'
+was eventually added to the books which Cosmo had
+purchased in Italy or had acquired in his Levantine
+commerce.</p>
+
+<p>Another citizen of Florence had rivalled the
+generosity of Niccoli. The Chancellor Coluccio
+Salutati was revered by his countrymen for the
+majestic flow of his prose and verse. It is true that
+Tiraboschi considered him to be 'as much like Virgil
+or Cicero as a monkey resembles a man.' Salutati
+showed his gratitude to Florence by endowing the
+city with his splendid library. But in this case also
+there were difficulties, and again the way was made
+smooth by the prompt munificence of the M&eacute;dici.
+Cosmo himself bought up Greek books in the Levant,
+and was fortunate in securing some of the best
+specimens of Byzantine art. His brother Lorenzo,
+his son Pietro, and Lorenzo the Magnificent in the
+next generation, all laboured in their turn to adorn
+the Medicean collection. Politian the poet, and
+Mirandula, the Ph&oelig;nix of his age, were the
+messengers whom the great Lorenzo sent out to
+gather the spoil; and he only prayed, he said, that
+they might find such a store of good books that he
+would be obliged to pawn his furniture to pay for
+them.</p>
+
+<p>On the flight of the reigning family the 'M&eacute;dici
+books' were bought by the Dominicans at St. Mark's;
+and they rested for some years in Savonarola's home,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+stored in the gallery which holds the great choir-books
+illuminated by Fr&agrave; Angelico and his companions.
+In the year 1508 the monks were in
+pecuniary distress, and were forced to sell the
+books to Leo <span class="smcap">x.</span>, then Cardinal de' M&eacute;dici. He
+took them to Rome to ensure their safety, but was
+always careful to keep them apart from the official
+assemblage in the Vatican; it is certain that he
+would have restored them to Florence, if he had lived
+a short <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'time time'">time</ins> longer. The patriotic design was
+carried out by Clement <span class="smcap">vii.</span>, another member
+of that book-loving family, and their hereditary
+treasures at last found a permanent home in the
+gallery designed by Michelangelo.</p>
+
+<p>The 'M&eacute;dici books' were catalogued by a humble
+bell-ringer, who lived to be a chief figure in the
+literary world. Thomas of Sarzana performed the
+task so well that his system became a model for
+librarians. While travelling in attendance on a
+Legate, the future Pope could never refrain from
+expensive purchases; to own books, we are told, was
+his ambition, 'his pride, his pleasure, passion, and
+avarice'; and he was only saved from ruin by the
+constant help of his friends. When he succeeded to
+the tiara as Pope Nicholas <span class="smcap">v.</span>, his influence was
+felt through Christendom as a new literary force.
+He encouraged research at home, and gathered the
+records of antiquity from the ruined cities of the East,
+and 'the darkest monasteries of Germany and
+Britain.' His labours resulted in the restoration of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+the Vatican Library with an endowment of five thousand
+volumes; and he found time to complete the
+galleries for their reception, though he could never
+hope to finish the rest of the palace. A great part of
+his work was destroyed in 1527 by the rabble that
+'followed the Bourbon' to the sack of Rome; but his
+institution survived the temporary disaster, and its
+losses were repaired by the energy of Sixtus <span class="smcap">v</span>.</p>
+
+<p>Pope Nicholas had no sympathy with the
+niggardly spirit that would have kept the 'barbarians'
+in darkness. He opened his Greek treasure-house
+to the inspection of the whole western world.
+Looking back to the crowd round his chair at the
+Lateran or in his house near S<sup>ta.</sup> Maria Maggiore,
+we recognise a number of familiar figures. Perotti
+is translating Polybius, and Aurispa explaining the
+Golden Verses; Guarini enlarges the world's boundaries
+by publishing the geography of Strabo. An
+old tract upon the Pope's munificence shows how the
+Eastern Fathers were restored to a place of honour.
+Basil and Cyril were translated, and the Pope
+obtained the <i>Commentary upon St. Matthew</i>, of which
+Erasmus made excellent use in his Paraphrase: it
+was the book of which Aquinas wrote that he would
+rather have a copy than be master of the city of
+Paris. The Pope desired very strongly to read
+Homer in Latin verse, and had procured a translation
+of the first book of the Iliad. Hearing that Philelpho
+had arrived in Rome, he hoped that the work might
+be finished by a master-hand, and to get a version of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+the whole Iliad and Odyssey he gave a large retaining
+fee, a palazzo, and a farm in the Campagna, and
+made a deposit of ten thousand pieces of gold to be
+paid on the completion of the contract.</p>
+
+<p>Joseph Scaliger, the supreme judge in his day of
+all that related to books, said that of all these men of
+the Italian renaissance he only envied three. One of
+course was Pico of Mirandula, a man of marvellous
+powers, who rose as a mere youth to the highest
+place as a philosopher and linguist. The next was
+Politian, equally renowned for hard scholarship and
+for the sweetness and charm of his voluminous poems.
+The third was the Greek refugee, Theodore of Gaza,
+so warmly praised by Erasmus for his versatile
+talent; no man, it was said, was so skilled in the
+double task of turning Greek books into Latin, and
+rendering Latin into Greek.</p>
+
+<p>We should feel inclined to bracket another name
+with those of the famous trio. George of Trebisond
+was a faithful expounder of the classics, the discoverer
+of many a lost treasure, and the author of
+a whole library of criticism. His life and labours
+were denounced in the once celebrated <i>Book of
+the Georges</i>. He was more than a lover of Aristotle,
+said his enemies: he was the enemy of the
+divine Plato, an apostate among the Greeks, who
+had even dared to oppose their patron Bessarion.
+The Cardinal Bessarion was complimented as 'the
+most Latin of the Greeks'; he might have ruled
+as Pope in Rome, some said, if it had not been for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
+Perotti refusing to disturb him in the library. But
+George of Trebisond was vilified after Poggio's fashion,
+and called 'brute' and 'heretic,' and 'more Turkish
+than the filthiest Turk,' with a hailstorm of still
+harder epithets. Yet he was certainly a very accurate
+scholar; and he showed a proper manly spirit
+when he boxed Poggio's ears in the Theatre of
+Pompey for reminding him of the cleverness expected
+from 'a starving Greek.' His life, one is glad
+to think, had a very peaceful end. The old man had
+a house at Rome in the Piazza Minerva: his tombstone,
+much defaced, is before the curtain as one
+enters the Church of S<sup>ta.</sup> Maria. His son Andrea
+used to help him in his work, and launched a pamphlet
+now and again at Theodore of Gaza. The
+brilliant scholar fell into a second childhood, and
+might be seen muttering to himself as he rambled
+with cloak and long staff through the streets of
+Rome. The grand-daughter who took charge of
+him married Madalena, a fashionable poet; and
+Pope Leo <span class="smcap">x.</span> delighted in hearing their anecdotes
+about old times, when George and Theodore fought
+their paper-wars, and wielded their pens in the battle
+of the books.</p>
+
+<p>Before leaving the subject of the libraries in the
+two great capitals, we ought to bestow a word or two
+upon those splendidly endowed institutions by which
+a few Florentine book-collectors have kept up the
+literary fame of their city, without pretending to
+emulate the splendour of the M&eacute;dici, or the wealth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+of the Vatican, or the curious antiquities of St. Mark.
+We desire especially to say something in remembrance
+of the 'Riccardiana' which, from its foundation
+in the sixteenth century, has been famous for the value
+of its historical manuscripts. Among these are the
+journals of Fr&agrave; Oderigo, an early traveller in the
+East, a treatise in Galileo's own writing, and a defence
+of Savonarola's policy in the handwriting of
+Pico of Mirandula. We may see a copy of Marshal
+Strozzi's will, discussing his plans of suicide, a history
+of the city composed and written out by Machiavelli,
+and a large and interesting series of Poggio's literary
+correspondence. The most celebrated of the librarians
+was Giovanni Lami, who in the last century kept up
+with such spirit a somewhat dangerous controversy
+with the Jesuits; but his monument at Santa Croce
+may have been owed less to his triumphs in argument
+than to his passionate devotion to books. His
+life was spent among them, and he died with a manuscript
+in his arms; and his memory is still preserved
+in Florence by the Greek collection with which he
+endowed the University.</p>
+
+<p>The Abb&eacute; Marucelli left his name to another
+Florentine library. He was a philanthropist as well
+as a bibliophile; and he gave the huge assemblage
+of books which he had gathered at Rome to the use
+of the students in the home of his boyhood. He
+wrote much, but was almost too modest to publish or
+preserve his works. Perhaps the most interesting
+portion of his gift consisted of a series of about a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+hundred large folios in which, like the Patriarch
+Photius, he had written in the form of notes the
+results of the reading of a life-time.</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/07.jpg"><img src="./images/07_th.jpg" alt="ANTONIO MAGLIABECCHI." title="ANTONIO MAGLIABECCHI." /></a></p>
+<p class="figcenter">ANTONIO MAGLIABECCHI.</p>
+
+<p>The Magliabecchian Library maintains the remembrance
+of a portent in literature. Antonio Magliabecchi,
+the jeweller's shop-boy, became renowned
+throughout the world for his abnormal knowledge
+of books. He never at any time left Florence; but
+he read every catalogue that was issued, and was in
+correspondence with all the collectors and librarians
+of Europe. He was blessed with a prodigious
+memory, and knew all the contents of a book by
+'hunting it with his finger,' or once turning over the
+pages. He was believed, moreover, to know the
+habitat of all the rare books in the world; and according
+to the well-known anecdote he replied to the
+Grand Duke, who asked for a particular volume:
+'The only copy of this work is at Constantinople, in
+the Sultan's library, the seventh volume in the second
+book-case, on the right as you go in.' He has been
+despised as 'a man who lived on titles and indexes,
+and whose very pillow was a folio.' Dibdin declared
+that Magliabecchi's existence was confined to 'the
+parade and pacing of a library'; but, as a matter of
+fact, the old bibliomaniac lived in a kind of cave
+made of piles and masses of books, with hardly any
+room for his cooking or for the wooden cradle lined
+with pamphlets which he slung between his shelves
+for a bed. He died in 1714, in his eighty-second
+year, dirty, ragged, and as happy as a king; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+certainly not less than eight thick volumes of sonnets
+and epigrams appeared at once in his praise. He
+left about 30,000 volumes of his own collecting, which
+he gave to the city upon condition that they should
+be always free to the public. The library that bears
+his name contains more than ten times that number.
+It includes about 60,000 printed books and 2000 <span class="smcap">mss.</span>
+that once belonged to the Grand Dukes, and were kept
+in their Palatine Galleries. There have been many
+later additions; but the whole mass is now dedicated
+to the worthiest of its former possessors, and remains
+as a perpetual monument of the most learned and
+most eccentric of bookmen.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>ITALIAN CITIES&mdash;OLYMPIA MORATA&mdash;URBINO&mdash;THE BOOKS OF CORVINUS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The memory of many great book-collectors has
+been preserved in the libraries established from
+ancient times in several of the Italian cities. There
+are two at Padua, of which the University Library
+may claim to have had the longer existence: but the
+'Capitolina' can claim Petrarch as one of its founders,
+and may boast of the books on antiquities gathered
+by Pignoria, the learned commentator upon the remains
+of Rome and the historian of his native city
+of Padua. It may be worth noticing that there
+were several smaller collections in the churches, due
+to the industry of bookmen whose names have been
+forgotten. We hear of the books of St. Anthony and
+of Santa Giustina: and as to the library in the Church
+of St. John the tradition long prevailed that Sixtus
+of Sienna, a noted hunter after rare books, saw on its
+shelves a copy of the <i>Epistle to the Laodiceans</i>, and
+read it, and made copious extracts.</p>
+
+<p>Mantua received many of the spoils of Rome from
+Ludovico Gonzaga, which were lost in the later wars:
+the most famous acquisition was Bembo's tablet of
+hieroglyphics, which was interpreted by the patient<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+skill of Lorenzo Pignoria. At Turin the King's Library
+contains some of the papers and drawings of Ligorio,
+who helped in the building of St. Peter's: but most of
+his books were taken to Ferrara, where he held an
+official appointment as antiquary. The University
+Library contains the collections of the Dukes of
+Savoy, including a quantity of Oriental <span class="smcap">mss.</span>, and
+some of the precious volumes illuminated by the
+monks of Bobbio. The P&egrave;re Jacob in his treatise
+upon famous libraries had some personal anecdote
+to record about the bookmen of each place that he
+visited. At Naples he saw the collection of the works
+of Pontanus, presented to the Dominicans by his
+daughter Eugenia; at Bologna he found a long roll
+of the Pentateuch, 'written by Esdras'; and at Ferrara
+he described the tomb of C&oelig;lius, who was buried
+among his books, at his own desire, like a miser in
+the midst of his riches.</p>
+
+<p>Ferrara derived a special fame from the munificence
+of the House of Este and the memory of
+Olympia Morata. A long line of illustrious princes
+had built up 'an Athens in the midst of B&oelig;otia.'
+Ariosto sang the praises of the literary Court, and
+Tasso's misfortunes were due to his eagerness in
+accepting its pleasures. The library of Lilio Giraldi
+was a meeting-place for the scholars of Italy, and it
+continued to be the pride of Ferrara when it passed
+to Cinthio Giraldi the poet. Ren&eacute;e of France, after
+the death of her husband, Duke Hercules, made
+Ferrara a city of refuge for Calvin and Marot and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+the fugitive Reformers from Germany. Olympia
+Morata, the daughter of a Protestant citizen, was
+chosen as the companion and instructress of the
+Princess Anna. They passed a quiet life among
+their books until a time of persecution arrived, when
+Olympia found a hope of safety in marrying Andrew
+Grundler of Schweinfurt. Her love for books appears
+in the letters written towards the close of her life. In
+1554 she tells Curio of the storming of Schweinfurt,
+where she lost her library: 'when I entered Heidelberg
+barefoot, with my hair down, and in a ragged
+borrowed gown, I looked like the Queen of the
+Beggars.' 'I hope,' she said, 'that with the other
+books you will send me the Commentary on Jeremiah.'
+Her friend answers that Homer and Sophocles are
+on their way: 'and you shall have Jeremiah too,
+that you may lament with him the misfortunes of
+your husband's country.' Olympia replied from her
+death-bed, returning her warmest thanks for the
+books. 'Farewell, excellent Curio, and do not
+distress yourself when your hear of my death. I
+send you such of my poems as I have been able
+to write out since the storming of Schweinfurt; all
+my other writings have perished; I hope that you
+will be my Aristarchus and will polish the poems;
+and now again, Farewell.'</p>
+
+<p>The Ducal Library of Ferrara was transferred to
+Modena when the Duchy was added to the States of
+the Church. The collection at Modena is still famous
+for its illuminated <span class="smcap">mss.</span>, and for the care bestowed by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+Muratori and Tiraboschi in their selection of printed
+books. The Court of Naples also might boast of
+some illustrious bibliophiles. Queen Joanna possessed
+one of those small <i>Livres d'Heures</i> of 'microscopic
+refinement' which Mr. Middleton has classed among
+the 'greatest marvels of human skill.' Ren&eacute; of
+Anjou, her unfortunate successor, found a solace for
+exile in his books, and showed in a Burgundian
+prison that he could paint a vellum as cleverly as a
+monkish scribe. Alfonso, the next King of Naples,
+was a collector in the strictest sense of the term. He
+would go off to Florence for bargains, and would
+even undertake a commission for a book-loving
+subject. Antonio Becatelli corresponded on these
+matters with his royal master. 'I have the message
+from Florence that you know of a fine Livy at the
+price of 125 crowns: I pray your Majesty to buy it
+for me and to send it here, and I will get the money
+together in the meantime. But I should like your
+Majesty's opinion on the point, whether Poggio or
+myself has chosen the better part. He has sold
+Livy, the king of books, written out by his own
+hand, to buy an estate near Florence; but I, to get
+my Livy, have put up all my property for sale by
+auction.' The books collected by Alfonso were at
+the end of the century carried off by Charles <span class="smcap">viii.</span>,
+and were divided between the Royal Library at
+Fontainebleau and the separate collection of Anne
+of Brittany.</p>
+
+<p>A romantic interest has always attached to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+library at Urbino. The best scholars in Europe
+used to assemble at the palace, where Duke Federigo
+made such a gathering of books 'as had not been
+seen for a thousand years,' in the hall where Emilia
+and the pale Duke Guidubaldo led the pleasant
+debates described in the 'Cortegiano.' Federigo, the
+most successful general in the Italian wars, had built
+a palace of delight in his rude Urbino, in which he
+hoped to set a copy of every book in the world. His
+book-room was adorned with ideal portraits by Piero
+della Francesca and Melozzo: it was very large and
+lofty, 'with windows set high against the Northern
+sky.' The catalogue of the books is still preserved
+in the Vatican. It shows the names of all the
+classics, the Fathers, and the medi&aelig;val schoolmen,
+many works upon Art, and almost all the Greek and
+Hebrew works that were known to exist. Among
+the more modern writers we find those whose works
+we have discussed, Petrarch and his friends, Guarini
+and Perotti, and Valla with his enemy Poggio;
+among the others we notice Alexander ab Alexandro,
+a most learned antiquarian from Naples, of whom
+Erasmus once said: 'He seems to have known everybody,
+but nobody knows who he is.' The chief
+treasure of the place was a Bible, illuminated in 1478
+by a Florentine artist, which the Duke caused to
+be bound 'in gold brocade most richly adorned
+with silver.' 'Shortly before he went to the siege of
+Ferrara,' says his librarian, 'I compared his catalogue
+with those that he had procured from other places,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+such as the lists from the Vatican, Florence, Venice,
+and Pavia, down to the University of Oxford in
+England, and I found that all except his own were
+deficient or contained duplicate volumes.' His son,
+Duke Guidubaldo, was a celebrated Greek scholar;
+and the eulogies of Bembo and Castiglione on his
+Duchess, Elizabeth Gonzaga, attest the literary distinction
+of her Court. Francesco, the third Duke,
+lost his dominions to Leo <span class="smcap">x.</span>; but he showed his
+good taste in stipulating that the books were to be
+reserved as his personal effects. Some of the early-printed
+books are still in the palace at Urbino;
+others are at Castel Durante, or in the College of the
+Sapienza at Rome; and the splendid <span class="smcap">mss.</span> form one
+of the principal attractions of the Vatican.</p>
+
+<p>Among private collectors the name of Cardinal
+Domenico Capranica should be commemorated.
+Though continually engaged in war and diplomacy,
+he found time to surround himself with books. On
+his death in 1458 he gave his palace and library
+towards the endowment of a new College at Rome,
+and his plans were carried out with some alterations
+by his brother Angelo Capranica. Two Greeks of
+the imperial House of Lascaris took important places
+in the history of the Italian renaissance. Constantine
+had found a refuge at Milan after the conquest of his
+country, and here he became tutor to the Lady
+Hippolyta Sforza, and published a grammar which
+was the first book printed in Greek. He afterwards
+lectured at Messina, where he formed a large collec<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>tion
+of <span class="smcap">mss.</span>, which he bequeathed to the citizens.
+In a later age it was taken to Spain by Philip <span class="smcap">ii.</span>
+and placed on the shelves of the Escorial. John
+Lascaris belonged to a younger generation. He
+was protected by Leo <span class="smcap">x.</span>, and may be regarded as
+the true founder of the Greek College at Rome. In
+matters of literature he was the ambassador of
+Lorenzo de' M&eacute;dici, and was twice sent to the
+Turkish Court in search of books. After the expulsion
+of the M&eacute;dici, John Lascaris went to reside in
+Paris, where he gave lectures on poetry, and employed
+himself in securing Greek lecturers for a new College;
+and he was also engaged to help Bud&aelig;us, who had
+been his pupil, in arranging the books at Fontainebleau.</p>
+
+<p>Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, had the
+largest library in Europe. It was credited with
+containing the impossible number of 50,000 volumes;
+its destruction during the Turkish wars is allowed to
+have been one of the chief misfortunes of literature.
+Matthias began his long reign of forty-two years in
+1458, and during all that time he was adding to his
+collections at Buda. Some have derided Corvinus as
+a mere gormandiser with an appetite for all kinds of
+books. Some have blamed him for risking such
+inestimable treasures upon a dangerous frontier. It
+is admitted that he worked hard to dispel the thick
+darkness that surrounded the Hungarian people.
+He kept thirty scribes continually employed at Buda,
+besides four permitted to work at Florence by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+courtesy of Lorenzo de' M&eacute;dici. The whole library
+may be regarded as in some sense a Florentine
+colony. Fontius, the king's chief agent in the
+Levant, had been a well-known author in Florence:
+his Commentary upon Persius, once presented to
+Corvinus himself, is now in the library at Wolfenb&uuml;ttel.
+Attavante, the pupil of Fr&agrave; Angelico, was
+employed to illuminate the <span class="smcap">mss</span>. A good specimen
+of his work is the Breviary of St. Jerome at Paris,
+which came out of the palace at Buda and was
+acquired by the nation from the Duc de la Valli&egrave;re.
+A traveller named Brassicanus visited Hungary in
+the reign of King Louis. He was enraptured with
+the grand palace by the river, the tall library buildings
+and their stately porticoes. He passes the
+galleries under review, and tells us of the huge gold
+and silver globes, the instruments of science on the
+walls, and an innumerable crowd of well-favoured
+and well-clad books. He felt, he assures us, as if he
+were in 'Jupiter's bosom,' looking down upon that
+'heavenly scene.' He wished that he had brought
+away some picture or minute record; but we have
+his account of the books which he handled, the Greek
+orations that are now lost for ever, the history of
+Salvian saved by the King's good nature in presenting
+the book to his admiring visitor. The palace and
+library were destroyed when Buda was taken by the
+Turks. The Pasha in command refused an enormous
+sum subscribed for the rescue of the books. The
+janissaries tore off the metal coverings from the rarer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+<span class="smcap">mss.</span>, and tossed the others aside; the only known
+copy of Heliodorus, from which all our editions of
+the tale of Chariclea are derived, was found in an
+open gutter. Some books were burned and others
+hacked and maimed, or trodden under foot; many
+were carried away into the neighbouring villages.
+About four hundred were piled up in a deserted
+tower, and were protected against all intrusion by the
+seal of the Grand Vizier. There were adventures
+still in store for the captives. Through the scattered
+villages Dr. Sambucus went up and down, recovering
+the strayed Corvinian books for the Emperor
+Rodolph, a strange Quixotic figure always riding
+alone, with swinging saddle-bags, and a great mastiff
+running on either side. Many a disappointed wayfarer
+was turned away from the lonely tower. At
+last Busbec the great traveller, because he was an
+ambassador from the Emperor, was allowed to enter
+a kind of charnel-house, and to see what had been the
+lovely gaily-painted vellums lying squalidly piled in
+heaps. To see them was a high favour; the visitor
+was not permitted to touch the remains; and it was
+not until 1686 that about forty of the maltreated
+volumes were rescued by force of arms and set in a
+a place of safety among the Emperor's books at
+Vienna.</p>
+
+<p>It has always been a favourite exercise to track
+the Corvinian <span class="smcap">mss.</span> into their scattered hiding-places.
+Some are in the Vatican, others at Ferrara, and some
+in their birth-place at Florence. It is said that some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+of them have never left their home in Hungary.
+Venice possesses a 'History of the House of Corvinus,'
+and Jena has a work by Guarini with the King's
+insignia 'most delicately painted on the title.' The
+portraits of the King and Queen are on one of the
+examples secured by Augustus of Brunswick for his
+library at Wolfenb&uuml;ttel. Mary of Austria, the widow
+of King Louis, presented two of the Corvinian books
+to the <i>Librairie de Bourgogne</i> at Brussels; one was
+the Missal, full of Attavante's work, on which the
+Sovereigns of Brabant were sworn; the other was
+the 'Golden Gospels,' long the pride of the Escorial,
+but now restored to Belgium.</p>
+
+<p>Other scattered volumes from the library of Corvinus
+have been traced to various cities in France and
+Germany. There has been much controversy on the
+question whether any of them are to be found in
+England. Some think that examples might be
+traced among the Arundel <span class="smcap">mss.</span> in the British
+Museum. Thomas, Earl of Arundel, it is known,
+went on a book-hunting expedition to Heidelberg,
+where he bought some of the remnants of the Palatine
+collection. Passing on to Nuremberg he obtained
+about a hundred <span class="smcap">mss.</span> that had belonged to Pirckheimer,
+the first great German bibliophile; and these, according
+to some authorities, came out of the treasure-house
+at Buda. The Duke of Norfolk was persuaded
+by John Evelyn to place them in the Gresham
+Library, under the care of the Royal Society, and
+they afterwards became the property of the nation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+Oldys the antiquary distinctly stated that these 'were
+the remnants of the King of Hungary'; 'they afterwards
+fell into the hands of Bilibald Pirckheimer.'
+The Senator of Nuremberg made the books his own
+in a very emphatic way: 'there is to be seen his head
+graved by Albert D&uuml;rer, one of the first examples of
+sticking or pasting of heads, arms, or cyphers into
+volumes.' Pirckheimer died in 1530, three years
+after the sack of Buda, and had the opportunity of
+getting some of the books. We cannot tell to what
+extent he succeeded, or whether William Oldys was
+right on the facts before him; but we know from
+Pirckheimer's own letters that he was the actual owner
+of at least some <span class="smcap">mss.</span> that 'came to him out of the
+spoils of Hungary.'</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>GERMANY&mdash;FLANDERS&mdash;BURGUNDY&mdash;ENGLAND.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Almost immediately after the invention of printing
+in Germany there arose a vast public demand for all
+useful kinds of knowledge. The study of Greek was
+essential to those who would compete with the Italians
+in any of the higher departments of science, and great
+schools were established for the purpose by Dringeberg
+in a town of Alsace, and by Rudolf Lange at M&uuml;nster.
+The Alsatian Academy had the credit of educating
+Rhenanus and Bilibald Pirckheimer. Lange filled
+his shelves with a quantity of excellent classics that
+he had purchased during a tour in Italy. Hermann
+Busch, the great critic, was taught in this school, and
+he used to say in after life that he often dreamed of
+Lange's house, and saw an altar of the Muses surrounded
+by the shadowy figures of ancient poets and
+orators. Busch was sent afterwards to Deventer,
+where he was the class-mate of Erasmus. Here one
+day, while the boys were at their themes, came Rudolf
+Agricola, the sturdy doctor from Friesland, who
+wanted to see a Germany 'more Latin than Latium,'
+and had vowed to abate the 'Italian insolence.' The
+visitor told Erasmus that he was sure to be a great
+man, and patted the young Hermann on the head,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+saying that he had the look of a poet; and he is,
+indeed, still faintly remembered for the lines in which
+he celebrated the triumph of Reuchlin.</p>
+
+<p>Reuchlin had learned Greek at Paris and Poitiers;
+at Florence he studied the secrets of the Cabala with
+Mirandula; and he perfected his Hebrew at Rome,
+where he acted as an envoy from the Elector Palatine.
+Reuchlin for many years led a peaceful life at
+T&uuml;bingen, an oasis of freedom, in which he could
+print or read what he pleased. But in 1509 he was
+forced into a quarrel, which involved the whole question
+of the liberty of the press, and incidentally associated
+the cause of the Reformation with the maintenance
+of classical learning.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1509 one Pfefferkorn, a monk who had
+been a convert from Judaism, obtained an imperial
+decree that all Hebrew books, except the Scriptures,
+should be destroyed. Reuchlin sprang forth to defend
+his beloved Cabala, and maintained that only those
+volumes ought to be burned which were proved to
+have a taint of magic or blasphemy. He was cited
+to answer for his heresy before the Grand Inquisitor
+at Cologne; and the world, at first indifferent, soon
+saw that the cause of the New Learning was at stake.
+In the summer of 1514 there was a notable gathering
+of Reformers at Frankfort Fair. We have nothing
+in our own days that quite resembles these medi&aelig;val
+marts; the annual concourse of merchants might perhaps
+be compared to one of our industrial exhibitions,
+or to some conjunction of all the trade of Leipsic and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+Nijni Novgorod. The Italians affected to believe
+that the Fair by the Main was chiefly taken up with
+the sale of mechanical contrivances; the Germans
+knew that their 'Attic mart' held streets of book-shops
+and publishers' offices. Henri Estienne saw
+Professors here from Oxford and Cambridge, from
+Louvain, and from Padua: there was a crowd of poets,
+historians, and men of science; and he declared that
+another Alexandrian Library might be bought in
+those seething stalls, if one laid out money like a
+king, or like a maniac, as others might say. In this
+German Athens a meeting was arranged between
+Reuchlin and Erasmus; they were joined at Frankfort
+by Hermann Busch, who brought with him the
+manuscript of his 'Triumph'; and perhaps it was not
+difficult to predict that the cause of the old books
+would be safe in the hands of Pope Leo <span class="smcap">x</span>. They
+found themselves in company with that ferocious
+satirist, Ulric von Hutten, memorable for his threat
+to the citizens of Mainz, when they proposed to
+destroy his library, and he answered, 'If you burn my
+books, I will burn your town.' The Grand Inquisitor
+was utterly overwhelmed by his volume of Pasquinades,
+a work so witty that it was constantly attributed
+to Erasmus, and so carefully destroyed that
+Heinsius gave a hundred gold pieces for the copy
+which Count Hohendorf afterwards placed among
+the imperial rarities at Vienna. The satirist's volume
+of <i>Letters from Obscure Men</i> completed the rout of
+the Inquisition; and we are told by the way that it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+saved the life of Erasmus by throwing him into a
+violent fit of laughter.</p>
+
+<p>We do not suppose that many Germans of that day
+loved books for their delicate appearance, or the
+damask and satin of their 'pleasant coverture.'
+Reuchlin may be counted among the bibliophiles,
+since he refused a large sum from the Emperor in
+lieu of a Hebrew Bible. Melanchthon's books were
+rough volumes in stamped pigskin, made valuable by
+his marginal notes. The library of Erasmus may be
+shown to have been somewhat insignificant by these
+words in his will: 'Some time ago I sold my library to
+John &agrave; Lasco of Poland, and according to the contract
+between us it is to be delivered to him on his paying
+two hundred florins to my heir; if he refuses to
+accede to this condition, or die before me, my heir is
+to dispose of the books as he shall think proper.'
+The principal bibliophiles in Germany were the wealthy
+Fuggers of Augsburg, of whom Charles <span class="smcap">v.</span> used to
+say when he saw any display of magnificence, 'I
+have a burgess at Augsburg who can do better than
+that.' These merchants were commonly believed to
+have discovered the philosopher's stone: they were
+in fact enriched by their trade with the East, and had
+found another fortune in the quicksilver of Almaden,
+by which the gold was extracted from the ores of Peru.
+Raimond Fugger amassed a noble library before the
+end of the fifteenth century. Ulric his successor was
+the friend of Henri Estienne, who proudly announced
+himself as printer to the Fuggers on many a title-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>page.
+Ulric spent so much money on books that his
+family at one time obtained a decree to restrain his
+extravagance. His library was said to contain as
+many books as there were stars in heaven. The
+original stock received a vast accession under his
+brother's will, and he purchased another huge collection
+formed by Dr. Achilles Gasparus. On his death
+he left the whole accumulated mass to the Elector
+Palatine, and the books thenceforth shared the
+fortunes of the Heidelberg Library. When Tilly
+took the city in 1622 the best part of the collection
+was offered to the Vatican, and Leo Allatius the
+librarian was sent to make the selection, and to
+superintend their transport to Rome. The Emperor
+Napoleon thought fit to remove some of the <span class="smcap">mss</span>. to
+Paris; but, on their being seized by the Allies in
+1815, it was thought that prescription should not be
+pleaded by Rome: 'especially,' says Hallam, 'when
+she was recovering what she had lost by the same
+right of spoliation'; and the whole collection of which
+the Elector had been deprived was restored to the
+library at Heidelberg.</p>
+
+<p>Flanders had been the home of book-learning in
+very early times. The Counts of Hainault and the
+Dukes of Brabant were patrons of literature when
+most of the princes of Europe were absorbed in the
+occupations of the chase. The Flemish monasteries
+preserved the literary tradition. At Alne, near Li&egrave;ge,
+the monks had a Bible which Archdeacon Philip, the
+friend of St. Bernard, had transcribed before the year<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+1140. We hear of another at Louvain, about a century
+later in date, with initials in blue and gold throughout,
+which had taken three years in copying. Deventer
+was known as 'the home of Minerva' before the days
+of St. Thomas &agrave; Kempis. The Forest of Soigny
+provided a retreat for learning in its houses of Val-Rouge
+and Val-Vert and the Sept-Fontaines. The
+Brothers of the Common Life had long been engaged
+in the production of books before they gave themselves
+to the labours of the printing-press at Brussels.
+Thomas &agrave; Kempis himself has described their way of
+living at Deventer. 'Much was I delighted,' he said,
+'with the devout conversation, the irreproachable
+demeanour and humility of the brethren: I had never
+seen such piety and charity: they took no concern
+about what passed outside, but remained at home,
+employed in prayer and study, or in copying useful
+books.' This work at good books, he repeated, is the
+opening of the fountains of life: 'Blessed are the
+hands of the copyists: for which of the world's
+writings would be remembered, if there had been no
+pious hand to transcribe them?' He himself during
+his stay at Deventer copied out a Bible, a Missal, and
+four of St. Bernard's works, and when he went to
+Zwolle he composed and wrote out a chronicle of the
+brotherhood.</p>
+
+<p>The Abbey of St. Bavon at Ghent was endowed
+with a great number of books by Rafael de Mercatellis,
+the reputed son of Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy.
+As Abbot he devoted his life to increasing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+splendour of his monastery. The illuminated <span class="smcap">mss</span>.
+survived the perils of war and the excesses of the
+Revolution, and are still to be seen in the University
+with the Abbot's signature on their glittering title-pages.</p>
+
+<p>A more important collection belonged to Louis de
+Bruges, Seigneur de La Gruthuyse. As titular Earl
+of Winchester he was in some degree connected with
+this country. When Edward <span class="smcap">iv.</span> fled from England,
+and was chased by German pirates, this nobleman
+was Governor of Holland. He rescued the
+fugitives, and paid their expenses; and when Edward
+recovered his throne he rewarded his friend with a
+title and a charge on the Customs. The dignity
+carried no active privileges, and in 1499 it was
+surrendered to the King at Calais. The books of La
+Gruthuyse have been described as 'the bibliographical
+marvel of the age.' They were celebrated for
+their choice vellum, their delicate penmanship, and
+their exquisite illustrations. Louis de Bruges was
+the friend and patron of Colard Mansion, who printed
+in partnership with Caxton. Three copies are known
+of his work called the 'Penitence of Adam.' One
+belonged to the Royal Library of France: another
+was borrowed from a monastery by the Duc d'Isenghien,
+an enthusiastic but somewhat unscrupulous
+collector, and this copy was sold at the Gaignat sale
+in 1769; the third was the property of M. Lambinet
+of Brussels, and is remarkable for the miniature in
+which Mansion is represented as offering the book<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+to his patron in the garden of La Gruthuyse. After
+the death of Louis his books passed to his son Jean de
+Bruges; but most of them were soon afterwards
+acquired by Louis <span class="smcap">xii.</span>, who added them to the
+library at Blois, the insignia of La Gruthuyse being
+replaced by the arms of France. Others were
+bequeathed to Louis <span class="smcap">xiv.</span> by the bibliophile Hippolyte
+de B&eacute;thune, who refused a magnificent offer
+from Queen Christina of Sweden in order that his
+books might remain in France. A fine copy of the
+<i>Forteresse du Foy</i> belonged to Claude d'Urf&eacute;, whose
+library of 4000 books, 'all in green velvet,' was
+kept in his castle at La Bastie; when all the others
+were dispersed the Gruthuyse volume remained as an
+heirloom, and descended to Honor&eacute; d'Urf&eacute;, the
+dreariest of all writers of romance. In 1776 it belonged
+to the Duc de la Valli&egrave;re, and was purchased
+for the French Government at one of his numerous
+sales. Some of the Flemish books remained in their
+original home. A volume of Wallon songs was
+discovered at Ghent in the last generation; and two
+other Gruthuyse books in the same language, from
+the great collection of M. Van Hulthem, are now
+deposited in the Burgundian Library at Brussels.</p>
+
+<p>The Dukes of Burgundy were of the book-loving
+race of the Valois. The brothers, Charles le Sage,
+Jean Duc de Berry, and Philippe le Hardi of Burgundy,
+were all founders of celebrated libraries. Philippe
+increased his store of books by his marriage with the
+heiress of Flanders; he kept a large staff of scribes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+at work, and made incessant purchases from the
+Lombard booksellers in Paris. Duke John, his
+successor, is remembered for his acquisition of a
+wonderful <i>Valerius Maximus</i> from the librarian of
+the Sorbonne. But the collections of which the
+remnants are now preserved in Belgium were almost
+entirely the work of Duke Philippe le Bon. He kept
+his books in many different places. He had a library
+at Dijon, and another in Paris, a few volumes in the
+treasury at Ghent, a thousand volumes at Bruges,
+and nearly as many at Antwerp. It has been calculated
+that he possessed more than 3200 <span class="smcap">mss.</span> in all;
+and, if that figure is correct, the House of Bourgogne-Valois
+was in this respect almost the richest of the
+reigning families of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Under Charles the Bold the libraries appear to have
+been left alone, except as regards a few characteristic
+additions. The Duchess Margaret was the patroness
+of her countryman Caxton, whose <i>Recuyell</i>, probably
+published at Bruges in 1474 during his partnership
+with Colard Mansion, was the first printed English
+book. The taste of the Duchess may answer for the
+appearance in the library of the <i>Moral Discourses</i>,
+and the elegant <i>Debates upon Happiness</i>. The <i>Cyrop&aelig;dia</i>
+and the romance of <i>Quintus Curtius</i> must
+be attributed to the warlike Duke. At Berne they
+have a relic of the fight where his men were shot
+down 'like ducks in the reeds.' It is a manuscript,
+with a note added to the following effect: 'These
+military ordinances of the excellent and invincible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+Duke Charles of Burgundy were taken at Morat on
+the 14th of June 1476, being found in the pavilion of
+that excellent and potent prince.' When Charles was
+killed at Nancy in the following year his favourite
+<i>Cyrop&aelig;dia</i> was found by the Swiss in his baggage.
+This volume was bought in 1833 by the Queen of the
+Belgians at a book-sale in Paris, and has now been
+restored to its original home at Brussels.</p>
+
+<p>After the death of Charles the Bold his library at
+Dijon was given by the French King to George de la
+Tremouille, the governor of the province. It passed
+to the family of Guy de Rocheford, and in the course
+of time many of the best works have found their way
+into the national collection. Mary of Burgundy
+retained the other libraries at Brussels. After her
+marriage with Maximilian her family treasures were
+for the most part dispersed in France, Germany,
+and Sweden, the needy prince being unable to resist
+the temptation of pilfering and pawning the books;
+but the generosity of Margaret of Austria, a great
+collector herself of fine copies and first editions, in
+some measure repaired the loss; and Mary of Austria,
+who became Regent in 1530, continued the work of
+restoration.</p>
+
+<p>The magnificence of the Burgundian Court and the
+commercial prosperity of the Low Countries led to a
+continuous demand for fine books among the other
+productions of luxury. We learn also by the Venetian
+Archives that throughout the fifteenth century books
+were being imported into England by the galleys<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+that brought the produce of the East to our merchants
+in London and Southampton. There were as yet
+but slight signs of literary activity; but it has been
+well said that 'the seed was germinating in the
+ground'; and many foreign works were brought home
+from time to time by those who had studied or
+travelled in Italy. It was the fashion of the day to
+learn under Guarini at Ferrara; the list of his
+scholars includes the names of Robert Fleming, and
+Bishop William Gray, and the book-loving John
+Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, whose virtue and learning
+became the object of William Caxton's celebrated
+eulogy. We may commemorate here the earlier
+labours of Lord Cobham, who caused Wicliffe's works
+to be copied at a great expense and to be conveyed
+for safety to Bohemia, and of Sir Walter Sherington,
+who early in the same century built a library at
+Glastonbury, and furnished it with 'fair books upon
+vellum.' Towards the end of the century learning
+began to flourish under the patronage of Lord Saye,
+and the accomplished Anthony Lord Rivers: and
+its future in this country was secure, when the English
+scholars began to flock towards Florence to hear the
+lectures of Chalcondylas and his successor Politian.
+Grocyn, our first Greek Professor, had drawn his
+learning from that source, and Linacre had sat there
+in a class with the children of Lorenzo de' M&eacute;dici.
+Cardinal Pole and the Ciceronian De Longueil shared
+as students in those tasks and sports at Padua which
+were so vividly described by the English churchman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+in his record of their life-long friendship. Thomas
+Lilly, the master at St. Paul's, not only worked at
+Florence but went to perfect his Greek in the Isle of
+Rhodes. Sir Thomas More was the pupil of Grocyn,
+whom he seems to have excelled in scholarship. His
+affection for books is known by his son-in-law's careful
+biography. An anecdote cited by Dibdin preserves
+a record of the fate of his library. When the
+Chancellor was arrested, the officers were expected to
+listen to his talk with certain spies, on the chance
+that the prisoner might be led into a treasonable conversation;
+but, as Mr. Palmer said in his deposition,
+'he was so busy trussing up Sir Thomas More's books
+in a sack that he took no heed to their talk'; and
+Sir Richard Southwell on the same occasion deposed,
+that 'being appointed only to look to the conveyance
+of the books, he gave no ear unto them.' Erasmus
+praised More as 'the most gentle soul ever framed by
+Nature.' He was astonished at his learning, and indeed
+at the high standard that had already been
+attained in England. 'It is incredible,' he said, 'what
+a thick crop of old books spreads out on every side:
+there is so much erudition, not of any ordinary kind,
+but recondite and accurate and antique, both in Greek
+and Latin, that you need not go to Italy except for the
+pleasure of travelling.' Hallam remarked that Erasmus
+was always ready with a compliment; but he admitted
+that before the year 1520 there were probably
+more scholars in England than in France, 'though all
+together they might not weigh as heavy as Bud&aelig;us.'</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>FRANCE: EARLY BOOKMEN&mdash;ROYAL COLLECTORS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>We shall take Bud&aelig;us as our first example of the
+French bookmen in the period that followed the
+invention of printing. Of Guillaume Bud&eacute;, to give
+him his original name, it was said that he knew Greek
+as minutely as the orators of the age of Demosthenes.
+If there was any real foundation for the compliment
+it must have consisted in the fact that the Frenchman
+had more acquaintance with the language than his
+instructor George of Sparta. Bud&aelig;us is said to have
+paid a very large sum for a course of lectures on
+Homer, and to have been not a pennyworth the wiser
+at the end. Erasmus, who also learned of the
+Spartan, confessed that his tutor only 'stammered in
+Greek,' and that he seemed to have neither the desire
+nor the capacity for teaching. It is interesting to see
+how these students made the best of their bad
+materials. 'I have given my whole soul to Greek,'
+wrote Erasmus, 'and as soon as I get any money I
+shall buy books first, and then some clothes.' Bud&aelig;us
+was known as 'the prodigy of France,' and even
+Scaliger allowed that his country would never see
+such a scholar again; and it is rather surprising that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+Erasmus should have compared his style unfavourably
+with that of Badius, the printer from Brabant.</p>
+
+<p>Bud&aelig;us was the first to apply the historical method
+to the explanation of the Civil Law: with the assistance
+of Jean Grolier he brought out a very learned
+treatise on ancient weights and measures; and in
+publishing his commentaries on the Greek language
+he was said to have raised himself to 'a pinnacle of
+philological glory.' One of the stories about his
+devotion to books may have been told of others, but
+is certainly characteristic of the man. A servant
+rushes in to say that the house is on fire; but the
+scholar answers, 'Tell my wife: you know that I
+never interfere with the household.' He was married
+twice over, he used to say, to the Muse of philology
+as well as to a mortal wife; but he confessed that he
+would never have got far with the first, if the second
+had not commanded in the library, always ready to
+look out passages and to hand down the necessary
+books.</p>
+
+<p>When Charles <span class="smcap">viii.</span> seized the royal library at
+Naples, a few of the best <span class="smcap">mss.</span> escaped his scrutiny,
+and these were sold by the dispossessed King to the
+Cardinal D'Amboise. A new school of illuminators
+at Rouen provided the Cardinal with a number of
+other splendid volumes. He lived till the year 1510,
+and was able to collect a second library of printed
+books. He divided the whole into two portions at
+his death, the French books passing to a relation and
+afterwards to the family of La Rochefoucauld, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
+the rest forming the foundation of a fine library long
+possessed by the Archbishops of Rouen.</p>
+
+<p>The Archbishop Juvenal des Ursins died in the
+middle of the fifteenth century. He is celebrated as a
+lover of good books, though only a single example of
+his choice survived into the present generation. It
+was a magnificent missal on vellum, filled with the
+choicest miniatures, and known as the best specimen
+of its class in the possession of Prince Soltikoff. It is
+only a few years ago that it entered the collection of
+M. Firmin-Didot, who paid 36,000 francs for it at the
+Prince's sale: in the year 1861 he gave it up to the
+City of Paris; but like so many of the great books of
+France it perished in the fires of the Commune.</p>
+
+<p>Jacques de Pars, the physician to Charles <span class="smcap">vii.</span>,
+bequeathed his scientific <span class="smcap">mss.</span> to the College of
+Medicine at Paris: and the value of his gift was
+manifested when the powerful Louis <span class="smcap">xi.</span> was forbidden
+to take out a medical treatise for transcription
+unless he would pledge his silver plate and find
+collateral security for its safe return. &Eacute;tienne
+Chevalier was one of the few servants of King Charles
+who were tolerated by King Louis. He became
+Chief Treasurer to Louis <span class="smcap">xi.</span>, and built a great
+mansion in the Rue de la Verrerie in Paris. The
+walls and ceilings were decorated with allegorical
+designs in honour of his friend Agn&egrave;s Sorel, whose
+courage had led to the expulsion of the English invaders.
+The library was filled with choice <span class="smcap">mss.</span>,
+illuminated for the most part by Jehan Foucquet, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+famous miniaturist from Tours. Nicholas Chevalier,
+his descendant in the sixteenth century, was also
+illustrious as a bibliophile, and amidst his own printed
+folios and pedigrees rolled in blue velvet could still
+show the marvellous <i>Livre d'Heures</i>, of which all that
+now remains is a set of paintings hacked out from the
+text. M. Le Roux de Lincy has compiled a long and
+interesting list of the French bibliophiles who preceded
+the age of Grolier. We can only mention a
+few out of the number. Of the poets we have Charles,
+Duke of Orl&eacute;ans, the owner of eighty magnificent
+volumes preserved in the Castle of Blois, and Pierre
+Ronsard; and we may add the Abb&eacute; Philippe Desportes,
+renowned not less for a rivalry with Ronsard
+than for his sumptuous mode of living and the fortune
+expended on his library. To the statesmen may be
+added Florimond Robertet, the first of a long line of
+bibliophiles. Among the learned ladies of the sixteenth
+century we may choose Louise Lab&eacute;, surnamed
+'La Belle Cordi&egrave;re,' who made a collection of a new
+kind, composed entirely of works in French, Spanish,
+and Italian, and Charlotte Guillard, a printer as well
+as a book-collector, who published at her own expense
+a volume of the Commentaries of St. Jerome.</p>
+
+<p>The most important of the private collectors in this
+period was Arthur Gouffier, Seigneur de Boissy,
+another of the faithful followers of Charles <span class="smcap">vii.</span> who
+were so fortunate as to gain the confidence of his
+jealous successor.</p>
+
+<p>He was a lover of fine bindings in the style ren<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>dered
+famous by Grolier. One of his books belonged
+to the late Baron J&eacute;r&ocirc;me Pichon, the head of the
+French <i>Soci&eacute;t&eacute; des Bibliophiles</i>, and it is admitted that
+nothing even in Grolier's library could excel it in
+delicacy of execution. His son, Claude Gouffier,
+created Duc de Rouannais, was a collector of an
+essentially modern type. He bought autographs
+and historical portraits, as well as rare <span class="smcap">mss.</span> and good
+specimens of printing, and was careful to have his
+books well clothed in the fashionable painted binding.
+Claude Gouffier was tutor to the young Duc
+d'Angoul&ecirc;me, who came to the throne as Francis <span class="smcap">i.</span>;
+and to him may be due his royal pupil's affection
+for the books bedecked with the salamander in flames
+and the silver <i>fleurs-de-lys</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Francis <span class="smcap">i.</span> cared little for printed books in comparison
+with manuscript rarities; he added very few
+to the collection at Fontainebleau beyond what he
+received as presents from his mother, Queen Louise,
+and his sister Marguerite d'Angoul&ecirc;me. The royal
+library owed many of its finest manuscripts to the
+delicate taste of the princess who was compared to
+the 'blossom of poetry' and praised as the 'Marguerite
+des Marguerites.' Its wealth was much increased by
+the confiscation of the property of the Constable de
+Bourbon; and it should be remembered that among
+the additions from this source were most of the
+magnificently illuminated manuscripts that had belonged
+to Jean Duc de Berri.</p>
+
+<p>The King was much attracted by the hope of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+making literary discoveries in the East; he obtained
+much information on the subject from John Lascaris,
+and despatched Pierre Gilles to make purchases in
+the Levantine monasteries. A similar commission
+was entrusted to Guillaume Postel, one of the greatest
+linguists that ever lived, but so crazy that he believed
+himself to be Adam born to live again, and so unfortunate
+that he could seldom keep out of a prison.</p>
+
+<p>The reign of Henri Deux is of great importance
+in the annals of bibliography. An ordinance was
+made in 1558, through the influence, as it is supposed,
+of Diane de Poitiers, by which every publisher was
+compelled to present copies of his books, printed on
+vellum and suitably bound, to the libraries at Blois
+and Fontainebleau, and such others as the King
+should appoint. About eight hundred volumes in
+the national collection represent the immediate results
+of this copy-tax; they are all marked with the ambiguous
+cypher, which might either represent the
+initials of the King and Queen or might indicate the
+names of Henri and Diane. Queen Catherine de
+M&eacute;dici was an enthusiastic collector. When she
+arrived in France as a girl she brought with her
+from Urbino a number of <span class="smcap">mss.</span> that had belonged to
+the Eastern Emperors, and had been purchased by
+Cosmo de' M&eacute;dici. She afterwards seized the whole
+library of Marshal Strozzi on the ground that they
+must be regarded as 'M&eacute;dici books,' having been
+inherited at one time by a nephew of Leo <span class="smcap">x.</span>
+On her death in 1589 she was found to have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+possessed of about eight hundred Greek manuscripts,
+all of the highest rarity and value. There was some
+danger that they would be seized by her creditors;
+but the King was advised that such an assemblage
+could not be got together again in any country or
+at any cost. The library was made an heir-loom of
+the Crown: and at De Thou's suggestion the books
+were stripped of their rich coverings and disguised
+in an official costume.</p>
+
+<p>Diane de Poitiers, a true <i>chasseresse des bouquins</i>,
+was herself the daughter of a bibliophile. The Comte
+de St. Vallier loved books in Italian bindings, and
+there is a <i>Roman de Perceforest</i> in the collection of the
+Duc d'Aumale, that bears the Saint Vallier arms and
+marks of ownership, though it was confidently believed
+to have been bound for Grolier when it belonged
+to King Louis-Philippe. Henri Deux and
+the Duchesse Diane kept a treasure of books between
+them in the magnificent castle of Anet: and after
+they were dead the books remained unknown and
+unnoticed in their hall until the death of the Princesse
+de Cond&eacute; in the year 1723. The sale which then
+took place was a revelation of beauty. The books
+were in good condition, and were all clad in sumptuous
+bindings. There was a remarkable diversity in
+their contents, the Fathers and the poets standing side
+by side with treatises upon medicine and the management
+of a household, as if they had been acquired in
+great part by virtue of the tax upon the publishers.
+Most of them, we are told, were bought by the 'in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>trepid
+book-hunter' M. Guyon de Sardi&egrave;res, whose
+whole library in its turn was engulphed in the miscellaneous
+collections of the Duc de la Valli&egrave;re. An
+article in the <i>Bibliophile Fran&ccedil;ais</i> contains a curious
+argument in favour of Diane de Poitiers, as being one
+of a band of devoted Frenchwomen who saved their
+country from foreign ideas. We are reminded of
+the patriotism of Agn&egrave;s Sorel, and of the excellent
+influence of Gabrielle d'Estr&eacute;es. The Duchesse
+d'Estampes, we are told, preserved Francis <span class="smcap">i.</span> from
+the influence of the Italian renaissance, and prevented
+the subjugation of France 'by a Benvenuto or Da
+Vinci'; and in the same way, when Catherine de
+M&eacute;dici was preparing to introduce other strange
+fashions, Diane came forward in her 'magical beauty'
+and saved the originality of her nation.</p>
+
+<p>The three sons of Catherine were all fond of
+books in their way. Francis <i>ii.</i> died before he had
+time to make any collection; if he had lived, Mary
+of Scotland, who shared his throne for a few weeks,
+might have led him into the higher paths of literature.
+Some of their favourite volumes have been preserved;
+the young King's books bear the dolphin or the arms of
+France; the Queen bound everything in black morocco
+emblasoned with the lion of Scotland. Charles <span class="smcap">ix.</span>
+had a turn for literature, as beseemed the pupil
+of Bishop Amyot; he studied arch&aelig;ology in some
+detail, and purchased Grolier's cabinet of coins.
+He brought the library of Fontainebleau to Paris,
+where his father had made the beginning of a new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+collection out of the confiscated property of the Pr&eacute;sident
+Ranconnet, and gave the management of the
+whole to the venerable Amyot. His brother, the
+effeminate Henri Trois, cared much for bindings and
+little for books: it is said that he was somewhat of
+a book-binder himself, as his brother Charles had
+worked at the armourer's smithy, and as some of his
+successors were to take up the technicalities of the
+barber, the cook, and the locksmith. Being an extravagant
+idler himself, he passed laws against extravagance
+in his subjects; but though furs and heavy
+chains might be forbidden, he allowed gilt edges and
+arabesques on books, and only drew the line at massive
+gold stamps. His own taste combined the
+gloomy and the grotesque, his clothes and his
+bindings alike being covered with skulls and cross-bones,
+and spangles to represent tears, with other
+conventional emblems of sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>Louise of Lorraine, after the King's death, retired to
+the castle of Chenonceau: and the widowed queen
+employed her time, in that 'palace of fairy-land,' at
+forming a small cabinet of books. The catalogue
+describes about eighty volumes, mostly bound by
+Nicolas Eve; and the gay morocco covers in red,
+blue, and green, were decorated with brilliant arabesques,
+or sprinkled with golden lilies. Hardly any
+perfect specimens remain, even in the National
+Library. They were all bequeathed by the Queen
+to her niece the Duchesse de Vend&ocirc;me; but in the
+hands of a later possessor they were put up for sale<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+and dispersed, and have now for the most part disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Henri Quatre is said to have fled to his books for
+consolation when abandoned by Gabrielle d'Estr&eacute;es.
+Though no bibliophile himself, he was anxious that
+everything should be done that could promote the
+interests of literature. He intended to establish a
+magnificent library in the Coll&egrave;ge de Cambray, but
+died before the plans were completed. The books at
+Blois, however, were brought to Paris and thrown
+open to deserving students; the library already
+transported from Fontainebleau and the <span class="smcap">mss.</span> of
+Catherine de M&eacute;dici were removed to the Coll&egrave;ge
+de Clermont, and placed under the guardianship of
+De Thou.</p>
+
+<p>Marguerite de Valois agreed with the King, if in
+nothing else, at least in a desire for the extension of
+knowledge. She was a most learned lady as well as
+a collector of exquisite books. No branch of science,
+sacred or profane, came amiss to the 'Reine Margot.'
+She may be regarded as the Queen of the 'Femmes
+Bibliophiles' who occupied so important a position in
+the history of the Court of France. In the domain
+of good taste she excels all competitors; as regards
+intellect we can hardly estimate the distance between
+Marguerite and the elegant collectors whom we
+distinguish according to the names of their book-binders.
+Anne of Austria is remembered for the
+lace-like patterns of Le Gascon; and Queen Marie
+Leczinska is famous for the splendour of her volumes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+bound by Padeloup. Even the libraries of the
+daughters of Louis Quinze, three diligent and well-instructed
+princesses, are only known apart by the
+colours of the moroccos employed by Der&ocirc;me. The
+dull contents of the Pompadour's shelves would hardly
+be noticeable without her 'three castles,' or the 'ducal
+mantle,' by Biziaux; and no one but Louis Quinze
+himself would have praised the intelligent choice of
+Du Barry, or cast a look upon her collection of odd
+volumes and 'remainders,' if they had not been decorated
+like the rest of her furniture. In all the lists of
+these 'ladies of old-time' by M. Guigard, by M.
+Quentin-Bauchart, or by M. Uzanne, it is difficult to
+find one who preferred the inside to the outside of the
+book. M. Uzanne, indeed, has contended that no
+female bibliophile ever felt the passion that inspired a
+Grolier or a De Thou: that Marie Antoinette herself
+may have caged thousands of books at the Trianon
+like birds in an aviary, without any real regard to
+their nature or the right way of using them; that
+these devotees of the book-chase were like an invalid
+master of hounds, keeping the pack in a gilded
+kennel without any exercise or any chance of
+practical work. We think that something perhaps
+might be said on the other side. The Duchesse de
+Berry in our own time possessed a serious collection,
+made under her own direction, in which might be
+found the <i>Livre d'Heures</i> of Henri Deux, the prayer-book
+of Joanna of Naples, the best books of Marguerite
+de Valois and Marie Leczinska. The Princess<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+Pauline Buonaparte was the owner of a well-selected
+library. But our best example is Madame Elisabeth,
+the ill-fated daughter of France, who was dragged
+from her books at Montreuil in the tumults of 1789.
+Only a short time before she had been absorbed in
+her simple collection. In the spring of 1786 she gave
+up her mornings to its arrangement. 'My library,'
+she wrote, 'is nearly finished: the desks are being
+put up, and you cannot imagine the fine effect of the
+books.' On September the 15th she writes to her
+friend again: 'Montreuil and its mistress get on as
+well as two sweethearts. I am writing in the small
+room at the end; the books are settled in their
+shelves, and my library is really a little gem.' On
+the 5th of October she was standing on the terrace
+by the library-window, when she saw a crowd coming
+along the S&egrave;vres road, and heard the noise of pipes
+and drums; and on the same day she was forced to
+leave Montreuil, and never saw her books again.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE OLD ROYAL LIBRARY&mdash;FAIRFAX&mdash;COTTON&mdash;HARLEY&mdash;THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Henry <span class="smcap">vii.</span> was the founder of a royal collection
+which in time became a constituent portion of
+the library at the British Museum. Careful as he
+was of his money, the King endeavoured to buy every
+book published in French, and he acquired the whole
+of V&eacute;rard's series of classics, printed on vellum with
+initials in gold and gorgeous illuminations, in some
+of which the printer is shown presenting his books
+to the royal collector. Henry <span class="smcap">viii.</span> established the
+separate library which was long maintained at St.
+James's; he intended it mainly for the education
+of princes of the blood royal, and supplied it with a
+quantity of early-printed books and a miscellaneous
+gathering of wreckage from the monasteries. During
+several succeeding reigns there were 'studies' and
+galleries of books at Whitehall and Windsor Castle,
+at Greenwich and Oatlands, or wherever the Court
+might be held. It is said that in the time of
+Henry <span class="smcap">viii.</span> the best English collection belonged to
+Bishop Fisher. 'He had the notablest library,' said
+Fuller, 'two long galleries full, the books sorted in
+stalls, and a register of the name of each book at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+end of its stall.' This great storehouse of knowledge
+the Bishop had intended to transfer to St. John's
+College at Cambridge; but on his disgrace it was
+seized by Thomas Cromwell and dispersed among
+his greedy retainers.</p>
+
+<p>Under the Protector Somerset the Protestant feeling
+ran high. Martin Bucer's manuscripts were
+bought for the young King; and the Reformer's
+printed books were divided between Archbishop
+Cranmer and the Duchess of Somerset. About the
+same time an order was issued in the name of
+Edward <span class="smcap">vi.</span> for purging the King's library at Westminster
+of missals, legends, and other 'superstitious
+volumes'; and their 'garniture,' according to the
+fashion of the time, was bestowed as a perquisite
+upon a grasping courtier.</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/08.jpg"><img src="./images/08_th.jpg" alt="BINDING EXECUTED FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH." title="BINDING EXECUTED FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH." /></a></p>
+<p class="figcenter">BINDING EXECUTED FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH.</p>
+
+<p>Queen Elizabeth was naturally fond of fine books.
+She had a small collection before she reached the throne,
+and became in due course the recipient of a number
+of splendid presentation volumes. There is a copy of
+a French poem in her praise in the public library at
+Oxford: its pages are full of exquisite portraits and
+designs, and on the sides there are 'brilliant bosses
+composed of humming-birds' feathers.' As a child
+she had bound her books in needle-work, or in
+'blue corded silk, with gold and silver thread,' in the
+style afterwards adopted by the sisters at Little
+Gidding in the time of Charles <span class="smcap">i.</span> Her Testament,
+most carefully covered by her own handiwork,
+contains a note quoted by Mr. Macray in his 'Annals<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+of the Bodleian Library'; it refers to her walks in
+the field of Scripture, where she plucked up the
+'goodlie greene herbes,' which she afterwards ate by
+her reading, 'and chawed by musing.' Her gallery
+at Whitehall made a gallant show of <span class="smcap">mss.</span> and
+classics in red velvet, with gilt clasps and jewelled
+sides, and all the French and Italian books standing
+by in morocco and gold. Archbishop Parker tried
+to induce her to establish a national library; but the
+Queen seems to have cared little about the plan.
+She allowed the Archbishop on his own behalf to
+seek out the books remaining from the suppressed
+monasteries: at another time he obtained leave to
+recover as many as he could find of Cranmer's books.
+He tracked some of them to the house of one Dr.
+Nevinson, who was forced to disgorge his treasures.
+Parker kept a staff of scribes and painters in miniature,
+and had his own press and fount of type. He
+published many scarce tracts to save them from
+oblivion. Others he ordered to be copied in manuscript,
+and these and all his ancient books he caused
+to be 'trimly covered'; so that we may say with
+Dibdin, 'a more determined book-fancier existed not
+in Great Britain.' He gave some of his books to
+'his nurse Corpus Christi' at Cambridge, and some
+to the public library; and his gift to the College was
+compared to 'the sun of our English antiquity,'
+eclipsed only by the shadow of Cotton's palace of
+learning.</p>
+
+<p>One would like to fancy a symposium of the great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+men talking over their books, in the room where Ben
+Jonson was king, and where</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'Mellifluous Shakespeare, whose enchanting quill<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Commanded mirth and passion, was but Will.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Jonson's books, as was said of himself, were like
+the great Spanish galleons, bulky folios with '<i>Sum
+Ben Jonson</i>' boldly inscribed. We know little about
+Shakespeare's books, except that they probably went
+to the New Place and passed among the chattels to
+Susanna Hall and her husband. His Florio's version
+of Montaigne is in the British Museum, if the authenticity
+of his signature can be trusted. His neat Aldine
+Ovid is at the Bodleian, inscribed with his initials, and
+a note: 'this little booke of Ovid was given to me by
+W. Hall, who sayd it was once Will Shakspere's.'</p>
+
+<p>We would call to our meeting Gabriel Harvey
+with his new Italian books and pamphlets; and
+Spenser, if possible, should be there; Dr. Dee
+would tell the piteous story of his four thousand
+volumes, printed and unprinted, Greek, in French,
+and High-Dutch <span class="smcap">mss.</span>, etc., and of forty years
+spent in gathering the books that were all on their
+way to the pawnshop. He might have told the
+fortunes of all the books with the help of his magical
+mirrors and crystals. Francis Bacon's store was to
+increase and multiply, to adorn the library at Cambridge
+and fill the shelves at Gray's Inn; Lord
+Leicester's books, with their livery of the 'bear and
+ragged staff,' were to freeze for ages in the galleries
+at Lambeth. We should have Ascham inveighing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
+against the ancients and their idle and blind way of
+living: 'in our father's time,' he says, 'nothing was
+read but books of feigned chivalry'; but Captain
+Cox would come forth to meet him, attired as in the
+tournament at Kenilworth, or in the picture which
+Dibdin has extracted from Laneham. 'Captain Cox
+came marching on, clean trussed and gartered above
+the knee, all fresh in a velvet cap: an odd man, I
+promise you: by profession a mason, and that right
+skilful and very cunning in fence.... As for King
+Arthur and Huon of Bourdeaux, ... the Fryar and
+the Boy, Elynor Rumming, and the Nut-brown Maid,
+with many more than I can rehearse, I believe he has
+them all at his fingers' ends.'</p>
+
+<p>James <span class="smcap">i.</span>, as became a 'Solomon,' was the
+master of many books; but not being a 'fancier' he
+gave them shabby coverings and scribbled idle notes
+on their margins. He is forgiven for being a pedant,
+since Buchanan said it was the best that could be
+made of him; it is difficult to be patient about his
+hint to the Dutch that it would be well to burn the
+old scholar Vorstius instead of making him a professor
+at Leyden. He seems to have done more harm
+than good to the libraries in his own possession.
+We know how he broke into a 'noble speech'
+when he visited Bodley at Oxford, with the librarian
+trembling lest the King should see a book by
+Buchanan, who had often whipped his royal pupil in
+days gone by: 'If I were not a King I would be an
+University-man, and if it was so that I must be a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+prisoner I would desire no other durance than to be
+chained in that library with so many noble authors.'</p>
+
+<p>The King gave Sir Thomas Bodley a warrant
+under the Privy Seal to take what books he pleased
+from any of the royal palaces and libraries; 'howbeit,'
+said Bodley, 'for that the place at Whitehall is over
+the Queen's chamber, I must needs attend her
+departure from thence, whereof at present there is
+no certainty known: how I shall proceed for other
+places I have not yet resolved.'</p>
+
+<p>Prince Henry had a more refined taste. The
+dilettanti of the Prince's set took no part in the
+drunken antics of the Court, where Goring was master
+of the games, but Sir John Millicent 'made the best
+<i>extempore</i> fool.' The Prince bought almost the whole
+of the monastic library originally formed by Henry
+Lord Arundel: about forty volumes had already
+been given by Lord Lumley to Oxford.</p>
+
+<p>There was some danger that the books at Whitehall
+would be destroyed in the fury of the Civil War;
+but almost all of them were saved by the personal
+exertions of Hugh Peters, when Selden had told him
+that there was not the like of these rare monuments
+in Christendom, outside the Vatican. Whitelocke
+was appointed their keeper, and to his deputy, John
+Dury, we owe the first English treatise on library
+management. Thomas, Lord Fairfax, did a similar
+good service at Oxford. When the city was surrended
+in 1646 the first thing that the General did
+was to place a guard of soldiers at the Bodleian.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
+There was more hurt done by the Cavaliers, said
+Aubrey, in the way of embezzlement and cutting the
+chains off the books, than was ever done afterwards.
+Fairfax, he adds, was himself a lover of learning, and
+had he not taken this special care the library would
+have been destroyed; 'for there were ignorant
+senators enough who would have been content
+to have it so.' As a rule, we must admit that the
+Puritans were friendly to literature, with a very
+natural exception as to merely ecclesiastical records.
+Oliver Cromwell gave some of the Barocci <span class="smcap">mss.</span> to
+the University of Oxford; and the preservation of
+Usher's library at Trinity College, Dublin, was due
+to the public spirit of the Cromwellian soldiers,
+officers and men having subscribed alike for its
+purchase 'out of emulation to a former noble action
+of Queen Elizabeth's army in Ireland.'</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/09.jpg"><img src="./images/09_th.jpg" alt="SIR ROBERT COTTON." title="SIR ROBERT COTTON." /></a></p>
+<p class="figcenter">SIR ROBERT COTTON.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Robert Cotton began about 1588 to gather
+materials for a history of England. With the help of
+Camden and Sir Henry Spelman he obtained nearly
+a thousand volumes of records and documents; and
+these he arranged under a system, by which they are
+still cited, in fourteen wainscot presses marked with
+the names of the twelve C&aelig;sars, Cleopatra, and
+Faustina. He was so rich in State Papers that, as
+Fuller said, 'the fountains were fain to fetch water
+from the stream,' and the secretaries and clerks of
+the Council were glad in many cases to borrow
+back valuable originals. Sir Robert was at one time
+accused of selling secrets to the Spanish ambassador,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+and various excuses were found for closing the library,
+until at last it was declared to be unfit for public
+use on account of its political contents. He often
+told his friends that this tyranny had broken his
+heart, and shortly before his death in 1631 he informed
+the Lords of the Council that their conduct was the
+cause of his mortal malady. The library was restored
+to his son Sir Thomas: and in Sir John Cotton's time
+the public made a considerable use of its contents;
+but it seems to have been still a matter of favour, for
+Burnet complains that he was refused admittance
+unless he could procure a recommendation from the
+Archbishop and the Secretary of State. Anthony
+Wood gives a pleasant account of his visit: 'Posting
+off forthwith he found Sir John Cotton in his house,
+joining almost to Westminster Hall: he was then
+practising on his lute, and when he had done he came
+out and received Wood kindly, and invited him to
+dinner, and directed him to Mr. Pearson who kept
+the key. Here was another trouble; for the said Mr.
+Pearson being a lodger in the shop of a bookseller
+living in Little Britain, Wood was forced to walk
+thither, and much ado there was to find him.' The
+library was afterwards moved to Essex Street, and
+then to Ashburnham House in Little Dean's Yard,
+where the great fire took place in 1731, which some
+attributed to 'Dr. Bentley's villainy.' Dean Stanley
+has told us how the Headmaster of Westminster,
+coming to the rescue, saw a figure issue from the
+burning house, 'in his dressing-gown, with a flowing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+wig on his head, and a huge volume under his arm.'
+This was Dr. Bentley the librarian, doing his best to
+save the Alexandrian <span class="smcap">ms.</span> of the New Testament.
+Mr. Speaker Onslow and some of the other trustees
+worked hard in the crowd at pumping, breaking open
+the presses, and throwing the volumes out at a
+window. The destruction was lamentable; but
+wonders have been done in extending the shrivelled
+documents and rendering their ashes legible. The
+public use of the collection had been already regulated
+by Parliament when a comprehensive Act was passed
+in 1753, and the nation acquired under one title the
+Cottonian Library, Sir Hans Sloane's Museum, the
+Earl of Oxford's pamphlets and manuscripts, and all
+that remained of the ancient royal collections.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, made a great
+purchase in 1705, and spent the next twenty years in
+building on that foundation. His son, Earl Edward,
+threw himself with zeal into the undertaking, and left
+at his death about 50,000 books, besides a huge body
+of manuscripts and an incredible number of pamphlets.
+We shall quote from the sketch by Oldys, who shared
+with Dr. Johnson the task of compiling the catalogue.
+'The Earl had the rarest books of all countries,
+languages, and sciences': thousands of fragments,
+some a thousand years old: vellum books, of which
+some had been scraped and used again as 'palimpsests':
+'a great collection of Bibles, and editions of
+all the first printed books, classics, and others of our
+own country, ecclesiastical as well as civil, by Caxton,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Berthelet, Rastall,
+Grafton, and the greatest number of pamphlets and
+English heads of any other person: abundance of
+ledgers, chartularies, etc., and original letters of
+eminent persons as many as would fill two hundred
+volumes; all the collections of his librarian Humphrey
+Wanley, of Stow, Sir Symonds D'Ewes, Prynne,
+Bishop Stillingfleet, John Bagford, Le Neve, and the
+flower of a hundred other libraries.'</p>
+
+<p>A few of these collections ought to be separately
+mentioned. Stow had died in great poverty, and
+indeed had been for many years a licensed beggar or
+bedesman; but in his youth he had been enabled by
+Parker's protection to make a good collection out of
+the spoils of the Abbeys; during the Elizabethan
+persecution he was nearly convicted of treason for
+being in possession of remnants of Popery, and found
+it very hard to convince the stern inquisitor that he
+was only a harmless antiquary. Sir Symonds D'Ewes
+had endeavoured by his will, which he modelled upon
+that of De Thou, to preserve undispersed through the
+ages to come the 'precious library' bequeathed in a
+touching phrase 'to Adrian D'Ewes, my young son,
+yet lying in the cradle.' Notwithstanding all his
+bonds and penalties the event which he dreaded came
+to pass. Harley had advised Queen Anne to buy a
+collection that included so many precious documents
+and records: the Queen, wishing perhaps to rebuff
+her minister, said that it was indeed no merit in her
+to prefer arts to arms, 'but while the blood and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+honour of the nation was at stake in her wars she
+could not, till she had secured her living subjects an
+honourable peace, bestow their money upon dead
+letters'; and so, we are told, 'the Earl stretched his
+own purse, and gave &pound;6000 for the library.' Peter
+Le Neve spent his life in gathering important papers
+about coat-armour and pedigrees. He had intended
+them for the use of his fellow Kings-at-Arms; but it
+was said that he had some pique against the Heralds'
+College, and so 'cut them off with a volume.' The
+rest went to the auction-room: 'The Earl of Oxford,'
+said Oldys, 'will have a sweep at it'; and we know
+that the cast was successful. As for John Bagford,
+the scourge of the book-world, we have little to say
+in his defence. In his audacious design of compiling
+a history of printing he mangled and mutilated about
+25,000 volumes, tearing out the title pages and colophons
+and shaving the margins even of such priceless
+jewels of bibliography as the Bible of Gutenberg and
+<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'those'">those</ins> of 'Polyglott' Cardinal Xim&egrave;nes. He cannot
+avoid conviction as a literary monster; yet his contemporaries
+regarded him as a miracle of erudition,
+and Mr. Pollard has lately put in a kindly plea in
+mitigation. We are reminded that Bagford made no
+money by his crimes, that he took walking-tours
+through Holland and Germany in search of bargains,
+and that he made 'a priceless collection of ballads.'
+It might be said also for a further plea that what one
+age regards as sport another condemns as butchery.
+The Ferrar family at Little Gidding were the inven<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>tors
+of 'pasting-printing,' as they called their barbarous
+mode of embellishment; and Charles <span class="smcap">i.</span> himself,
+in Laud's presence, called their largest scrap-book
+'the Emperor of all books,' and 'the incomparablest
+book this will be, as ever eye beheld.' The huge
+volume made up for Prince Charles out of pictures
+and scraps of text was joyfully pronounced to be 'the
+gallantest greatest book in the world.' The practice
+of 'grangerising,' or stuffing out an author with prints
+and pages from other works, was even praised by
+Dibdin as 'useful and entertaining,' though in our
+own time it is rightly condemned as a malpractice.</p>
+
+<p>Next to Harley's library in importance was that of
+John Moore, Bishop of Ely, of which Burnet said that
+it was a treasure beyond what one would think the
+life and labour of a man could compass. Oldys has
+described it in his notes upon London libraries,
+which it is fair to remember were based on Bagford's
+labours, as regards the earlier entries. 'The Bishop,'
+he says, 'had a prodigious collection of books, written
+as well as printed on vellum, some very ancient,
+others finely illuminated. He had a Capgrave's
+Chronicle, books of the first printing at Maintz and
+other places abroad, as also at Oxford, St. Alban's,
+Westminster, etc.' There was some talk of uniting
+it with Harley's collection; but in 1715 it was bought
+by George <span class="smcap">i.</span> for 6000 guineas, and was presented to
+the Public Library at Cambridge.</p>
+
+<p>The University had possessed a library from very
+early times. It owed much to the liberality of several<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+successive Bishops of Durham. Theodore Beza and
+Lord Bacon were afterwards among its most distinguished
+benefactors. Bishop Hacket made a donation
+of nearly fifteen hundred volumes: and in 1647 a
+large collection of Eastern <span class="smcap">mss.</span>, brought home from
+Italy by George Thomason, was added by an ordinance
+of the Commonwealth. But, until the royal gift
+of the Bishop of Ely's books, the University received
+no such extraordinary favour of fortune as came to
+the sister institution through the splendid beneficence
+of Bodley.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>BODLEY&mdash;DIGBY&mdash;LAUD&mdash;SELDEN&mdash;ASHMOLE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The University of Oxford still offers public thanks
+for Bodley's generosity upon his calendar-day. The
+ancient library of Duke Humphrey and his pious
+predecessors had, as we have seen, been plundered
+and devastated. But Sir Thomas Bodley, when
+retiring from office in 1597, conceived the idea of
+restoring it to prosperity again; 'and in a few years
+so richly endowed it with books, revenues, and
+buildings, that it became one of the most famous in
+the world.' Bodley has left us his own account of
+the matter:&mdash;'I concluded at the last to set up my
+staff at the library-door in Oxon. I found myself
+furnished with such four kinds of aids as, unless I had
+them all, I had no hope of success. For without
+some kind of knowledge, without some purse-ability
+to go through with the charge, without good store of
+friends to further the design, and without special
+good leisure to follow such a work, it could not but
+have proved a vain attempt.' When M&eacute;ric Casaubon
+visited Oxford a few years afterwards he found the
+hall filled with books. 'Do not imagine,' he wrote,
+'that there are as many <span class="smcap">mss.</span> here as in the royal
+library at Paris. There are a good many in England,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+though nothing to what our King possesses; but the
+number of printed books is wonderful, and increasing
+every year. During my visit to Oxford I passed
+whole days in this place. The books cannot be taken
+away, but it is open to scholars for seven or eight
+hours a day, and one may always see a number of
+them revelling at their banquet, which gave me no
+small pleasure.' Bodley was not one of those who
+like libraries to be open to all comers. 'A grant of
+such scope,' said his statute, 'would but minister an
+occasion of pestering all the room with their gazing;
+and the babbling and trampling up and down may
+disturb out of measure the endeavours of those that
+are studious. Admission, from the first, was granted
+only to graduates, and every one on his entrance had
+to take the oath against 'razing, defacing, cutting,
+noting, slurring, and mangling the books.'</p>
+
+<p>Sir Thomas was ably seconded by 'good Mr.
+James,' his first librarian, and by the bookseller John
+Bill, who collected for him at Frankfort and Lyons
+and other likely places on the Continent. The most
+minute rules were laid down for the protection of the
+books against embezzlement. The volumes were
+chained to the desks, and readers were entreated to
+fasten the clasps and strings, to untangle the chains,
+and to leave the books as they found them. Bodley
+was always enquiring about the store of chains and
+wires. 'I pray you write to John Smith,' he said to
+James, 'that I may be furnished against Easter with
+a thousand chains'; he hopes to bring enough for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+that number, 'if God send my books safe out of Italy.'
+About the time of the King's visit he writes that he
+has sent a case of wires and clips by the carrier,
+'which I make no doubt but you may in good time
+get fastened to your books.' His carefulness is shown
+by his directions for cleaning the room: 'I do desire
+that, after the library is well swept and the books
+cleansed from dust, you would cause the floor to be
+well washed and dried, and after rubbed with a little
+rosemary, for a stronger scent I should not like.' He
+often writes about his Continental purchases. John
+Bill, he says, had been at Venice, Florence, and Rome,
+and half a score other Italian cities, 'and hath bought
+us many books as he knew I had not, amounting to
+the sum of at least &pound;400.' With regard to certain
+duplicates he says: 'the fault is mine and John Bill's,
+who dealing with multitudes must perforce make
+many scapes.' 'Jo. Bill hath gotten everywhere what
+the place would afford, for his commission was large,
+his leisure very good, and his payment sure at home.'
+The agent bought largely at Seville; 'but the people's
+usage towards all of our nation is so cruel and
+malicious that he was utterly discouraged.'</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/10.jpg"><img src="./images/10_th.jpg" alt="SIR THOMAS BODLEY." title="SIR THOMAS BODLEY." /></a></p>
+<p class="figcenter">SIR THOMAS BODLEY.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Thomas Bodley would accept a very small
+contribution or the gift of a single volume of any
+respectable sort. But he would have no 'riff-raff,' as
+he told Dr. James, and would certainly have scorned
+the almanacs and play-books acquired after his death
+under a bequest from the melancholy Burton, and
+the ships' logs and 'pickings of chandlers' and grocers'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+papers' which were received long afterwards as part
+of Dr. Rawlinson's great donation. He was always
+grateful for a well-meant present. He writes to his
+librarian: 'Mr. Schoolmaster of Winton's gift of
+Melanchthon and Huss I do greatly esteem, and will
+thank him, if you will, by letter.' Some of the earliest
+gifts were of a splendid kind. Lord Essex sent three
+hundred folios, including a fine Bud&aelig;us from the
+library of Jerome Osorio, captured at Faro in Portugal
+when the fleet was returning from Cadiz. Bodley
+himself gave a magnificent <i>Romance of Alexander</i>
+that had belonged in 1466 to Richard Woodville,
+Lord Rivers. The librarian contributed about a
+hundred volumes, including early <span class="smcap">mss.</span> procured from
+Balliol and Merton by his persuasion. Merton
+College, for its own part, sent nearly two-score
+volumes of 'singular good books in folio.' Sir Henry
+Savile gave the 'Gospels' in Russian and the Greek
+'Commentaries on St. Augustine,' and William
+Camden out of his poverty brought a few manuscripts
+and ancient books. Lawrence Bodley, the founder's
+brother, came with thirty-seven 'very fair and new-bought
+works in folio, and Lord Lumley with forty
+volumes reserved out of the library sold to the Prince.
+Lord Montacute contributed the works of the Fathers,
+'in sixty-six costly great volumes, all bought of set
+purpose and fairly bound with his arms,' Mr. Gent a
+number of medical treatises, Sir John Fortescue five
+good Greek <span class="smcap">mss.</span> and forty other books. We only
+mention a few of the choicer specimens or note the re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>appearance
+of old friends described in earlier chapters.
+In 1602 there arrived from Exeter Bishop Leofric's
+vellum service-book, with several others that had
+lodged in its company since the days of Edward the
+Confessor. Next year came one of the exquisite
+'Gospels' which Pope Gregory, as men said, had given
+to the missionary Augustine; the other had been included
+in Parker's gift to Corpus Christi. Sir Henry
+Wotton contributed a valuable Koran, to which in
+later years he added Tycho Brah&eacute;s 'Astronomy'
+with the author's <span class="smcap">ms.</span> notes. Thomas Allen gave
+a relic of St. Dunstan, containing the Saint's portrait
+drawn by himself, and one of Grost&ecirc;te's books that
+had been given by the Friars to Dr. Gascoigne.
+Mr. Allen gave in all twelve rare <span class="smcap">mss.</span> besides printed
+books, 'with a purpose to do more'; and Bodley
+commends him as a most careful provoker and
+solicitor of benefactions. He was the mathematician,
+or rather the cabalistical astrologer, who taught Sir
+Kenelm Digby, introducing that romantic giant to
+the art of ruling the stars, and how to melt and puff
+'until the green dragon becomes the golden goose,'
+and all the other <i>arcana</i> of alchemy.</p>
+
+<p>Digby was a good friend to the Bodleian. When
+quite a youth he cut down fifty great oaks to purchase
+a building-site near Exeter College. The laying of
+the foundation-stone in 1634 was amusingly described
+by Wood. The Heads of Houses were all assembled,
+and the University musicians 'had sounded a lesson
+on their wind-music,' standing on the leads at the west<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
+end of the library; but while the Vice-Chancellor was
+placing a piece of gold on the first stone, the earth
+fell in, and the scaffold broke, 'so that all those who
+were thereon, the Proctors, Principals of Halls, etc.,
+fell down all together one upon another, among whom
+the under-butler of Exeter College had his shoulder
+broken or put out of joint, and a scholar's arm bruised.'
+It was at this time that Digby made a generous gift
+of books, all tall copies in good bindings with his
+initials on the panels at the back. Among them were
+early works on science by Grost&ecirc;te and Roger Bacon,
+besides histories and chronicles. Many of these
+books had belonged to Thomas Allen, who gave them
+to Digby as a token of regard. Sir Kenelm wrote
+about them to Sir Robert Cotton, who was to thank
+Allen for his kindness: 'in my hands they will not be
+with less honourable memory of him than in any
+man's else.' He felt sure that Allen would have
+wished them to be freely used: 'all good things are
+the better the more they are communicated'; but
+the University was to be the absolute mistress, 'to
+dispose of them as she pleaseth.' Mr. Macray quotes
+another passage about two trunks of Arabic <span class="smcap">mss.</span>
+Digby had given them to Laud for St. John's College
+or the Bodleian, as he might prefer, but nothing had
+been heard about their arrival. He promised more
+books from his own library, which had been taken
+over to France after the Civil War broke out. The
+books, however, remained abroad, and were confiscated
+on Digby's death as being the chattels of an alien<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
+resident; but either by favour or purchase they soon
+became the property of the Earl of Bristol, and were
+afterwards sold by auction in London. Two volumes
+were purchased for the Bodleian in 1825 which must
+be regarded with the deepest interest. The 'Bacon'
+and 'Proclus' had belonged to the Oxford Friars, to
+Gascoigne, to the astrologer secluded in Gloucester
+Hall. Digby had written a note in each that it was
+the book of the University Library, as witnessed by
+his initials; but it had taken them many generations
+to make the last stage of their journey from his book-shelf
+to their acknowledged home at Oxford.</p>
+
+<p>It was chiefly through the generosity of Laud that
+the Bodleian obtained its wealth of Oriental learning.
+But it was not only in the East that the Archbishop
+devoted himself to book-collecting. Like Dr. Dee, he
+saw the value of Ireland as a hunting-ground, and
+employed his emissaries to procure painted service-books,
+the records of native princes, and the archives of
+the Anglo-Norman nobility. Among his most precious
+acquisitions was an Irish <span class="smcap">ms.</span> containing the <i>Psalter of
+Cashel</i>, Cormac's still unpublished <i>Glossary</i>, and some
+of the poems ascribed to St. Patrick and St. Columba.
+On the Continent the armies of Gustavus Adolphus
+were ravaging the cities of Germany; and Laud's
+agents were always at hand to rescue the fair books
+and vellums from the Swedish pikemen. In this way
+he obtained the printed Missal of 1481 and a number
+of Latin <span class="smcap">mss.</span> from the College of W&uuml;rzburg, and
+other valuable books from monasteries near Mainz<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>
+and Eberbach in the Duchy of Baden. It appears by
+Mr. Macray's Annals that his gifts to the University
+between 1635 and 1640 amounted to about thirteen
+hundred volumes, in more than twenty languages.
+To our minds the most attractive will always be the
+very copy of the 'Acts' perused by the Venerable
+Bede, and the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' compiled in
+the Abbey of Peterborough. The men of Laud's age
+would perhaps have attached greater importance to
+the Eastern <span class="smcap">mss.</span> acquired by the Archbishop through
+Robert Huntingdon, the consul at Aleppo, or the
+Greek library of Francesco Barocci, which he persuaded
+William Earl of Pembroke to present to the University.
+In describing the Persian <span class="smcap">mss.</span> of his last gift, Laud
+specially mentioned one as containing a history of the
+world from the Creation to the end of the Saracen
+Empire, and as being of a very great value. He shows
+the greatest anxiety for the safety of the volumes:
+'I would to God the place for them were ready, that
+they might be set up safe, and chained as the other
+books are.' He gave many books to St. John's
+College; and he retained a large collection in his
+Palace at Lambeth, which was bestowed on Hugh
+Peters after his death; it is satisfactory, however, to
+remember that 'the study of books' was recovered at
+the Restoration, and that Mr. Ashmole was appointed
+to examine the accounts of the fanatic.</p>
+
+<p>Laud was not the first to seek for the treasures of
+the East. Before his gifts began Sir Thomas Roe,
+who sat for Oxford with Selden, had presented to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
+Bodleian a number of <span class="smcap">mss.</span> acquired during his embassy
+to Constantinople. Joseph Scaliger, the restorer
+of Arabic learning in the West, had been especially
+interested in Samaritan literature, and had corresponded
+about a copy of the Pentateuch with one
+Rabbi Eleazar, 'who dwelt in Sichem'; and, though
+the papers fell into the hands of robbers, they were
+afterwards delivered to Peiresc. The traveller
+Minutius had returned with Coptic service-books, and
+Peiresc, captivated with a new branch of learning,
+established an agency for Eastern books at Smyrna.
+The Capucin Gilles de Loche averred that he had
+seen 8000 volumes in a monastery of the Nitrian
+Desert,'many of which seemed to be of the age of St.
+Anthony': he had pushed into Abyssinia and had heard
+the 'uncouth chaunts and clashing cymbals,' as Mr.
+Curzon heard them in a later age; and he had even
+cast his eyes on the <i>Book of Enoch</i> with pallid figures
+and a shining black text; and Peiresc was so inflamed
+with a desire to buy it at any price that in the end he
+acquired it. The books seen by the Capucin in the
+Convent of the Syrians, stored 'in the vault beyond
+the oil-cellar,'have become our national property; and
+if there are not many of the age of St. Anthony we
+have at least the volume, completed by the help of a
+monk's note of the eleventh century, and originally
+written in the year 411 'at Ur of the Chaldees by the
+hand of a man named Jacob.'</p>
+
+<p>Much less attention seems to have been paid to the
+collection of Hebrew books than to those in Coptic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
+and Arabic. Selden, it is true, gave to the University
+Library 'such of his Talmudical and Rabbinical books
+as were not already to be found there,' and purchases
+were made at the Crevenna sale in Amsterdam and
+at a sale during the present century of the <span class="smcap">mss.</span> of
+Matheo Canonici at Venice. The chief source from
+which the Bodleian was supplied was the collection
+formed before 1735 by David Oppenheimer, the Chief
+Rabbi at Prague. In the British Museum are the
+Hebrew books presented by Solomon da Costa in
+1759. The donor's letter contained a few interesting
+details. There were three Biblical <span class="smcap">mss.</span> and a hundred
+and eighty printed books, all in very old editions:
+'They were bound by order of King Charles <span class="smcap">ii.</span>, and
+marked with his cypher, and were purchased by me
+in the days of my youth, and the particulars are they
+not written in the book that is found therewith?'
+They had been collected under the Commonwealth,
+and had afterwards been sent to the binder by King
+Charles; but as the bill was never paid they lay
+in the shop until the reign of George <span class="smcap">i.</span>, when they
+were sold to pay expenses, and so came into the
+possession of the excellent Solomon da Costa.</p>
+
+<p>The best antiquarian collections were those given
+to Oxford by Dr. Rawlinson in the last century,
+by Richard Gough in 1809, and by Mr. Douce in
+1834. Mr. Macray has enumerated nearly thirty
+libraries which Richard Rawlinson had laid under
+contribution, and his list includes such headings as the
+Miscellaneous Papers of Samuel Pepys, the Thurloe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
+State Papers, the remains of Thomas Hearne, and
+documents belonging to Gale and Michael Maittaire,
+Sir Joseph Jekyll, and Walter Clavell of the Temple.
+He cites a letter written by Rawlinson in 1741, as
+showing the curious accidents by which some of these
+documents were preserved: 'My agent last week
+met with some papers of Archbishop Wake at a
+chandler's shop: this is unpardonable in his executors,
+as all his <span class="smcap">mss.</span> were left to Christ Church; but <i>qu&aelig;re</i>
+whether these did not fall into some servant's hands,
+who was ordered to burn them, and Mr. Martin
+Folkes ought to have seen that done.'</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gough's collection related chiefly to English
+topography, Anglo-Saxon and Northern literature,
+and printed service-books; it is stated to contain
+more than 3700 volumes, all given by a generous
+bequest to form 'an Antiquary's Closet.' Mr. Douce's
+large library contained a number of Missals and
+<i>Livres d'Heures</i>. Some of these are described as
+'priceless gems rivalled only by the Bedford
+Missal,' especially one prayer-book illuminated for
+Leonora, Duchess of Urbino, another that belonged
+to Marie de M&eacute;dici, and 'a Psalter on purple
+vellum, probably of the ninth century, which came
+from the old Royal Library of France.' Among the
+most important of the earlier benefactions was the
+gift of <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'the the'">the</ins> Dodsworth Papers by Thomas Lord
+Fairfax. The archives of the Northern monasteries
+had been kept for a time in eight chests in St. Mary's
+Tower at York. Roger Dodsworth, Sir William<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
+Dugdale's colleague in the preparation of the
+Monasticon, made copies of many of these documents;
+and when the tower was blown up in the
+siege of 1644 he was one of the zealous antiquarians
+who saved the mouldering fragments on the breach.
+His whole store of arch&aelig;ological records became the
+property of Fairfax at his death. They are of great
+historical importance, but at one time they were
+strangely neglected. Wood says that all the papers
+were nearly spoiled in a damp season, when he
+obtained leave to dry them on the leads near the
+schools; but though it cost him a month's labour he
+undertook it with pleasure 'out of respect to the
+memory of Mr. Dodsworth.'</p>
+
+<p>The Ashmolean books were some years ago transferred
+to the Bodleian, but for several generations
+there was a strange assortment of antiquarian libraries
+gathered together in the Museum which Ashmole
+developed out of Madam Tradescant's 'closet of
+curiosities.' Here were the books of the shiftless
+John Aubrey, described by Wood as 'sometimes
+little better than crazed': and here, according to
+Wood's dying wish, lay his own books, 'and papers
+and notes about two bushels full,' side by side with
+Dugdale's manuscripts. Dibdin quotes several
+extracts from Elias Ashmole's diary, to show the
+old book-hunter's prowess in the chase. He buys on
+one day Mr. Milbourn's books, and on the next all
+that Mr. Hawkins left; he sees Mrs. Backhouse of
+London about the purchase of her late husband's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
+library. In 1667 he writes: 'I bought Mr. John
+Booker's study of books, and gave &pound;140.' Being
+somewhat of an alchemist, he was glad to become
+the owner of Lilly's volumes on magic, and most of
+Dr. Dee's collection came into his hands through the
+kindness of his friend Mr. Wale. When Ashmole
+brought out his book upon the Order of the Garter he
+became the associate of the nobility; and we will
+leave him feasting at his house in South Lambeth,
+clad in a velvet gown, and wearing his great chain
+'of philagreen links in great knobs,' with ninety loops
+of gold.</p>
+
+<p>In noticing the lawyers who have been eminent
+for their devotion to books we might go back to very
+early times. We ought at least to mention Sergeant
+William Fletewode, Recorder of London in the
+reign of Elizabeth, who bought a library out of
+Missenden Abbey, consisting mainly of the romances
+of chivalry; it was sold with its later additions in
+1774 under the title of <i>Bibliotheca Monastico-Fletewodiana</i>.
+The Lord Chancellor Ellesmere in
+the same reign formed a collection of old English
+poetry, which became the foundation of a celebrated
+library belonging to the Dukes of Bridgewater and
+afterwards to the Marquis of Stafford. Sir Julius
+C&aelig;sar, who was Master of the Rolls under James <span class="smcap">i.</span>,
+was 'often reflected upon' for his want of legal
+knowledge; but he collected a quantity of good <span class="smcap">mss.</span>
+which passed into the library of Mr. Carteret-Webb,
+after a narrow escape of being sold for &pound;10 to a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
+cheesemonger. They are now in the British Museum
+together with a box of exquisite miniature classics,
+with which he used to solace himself on a journey.
+Arthur, Earl of Anglesea, was another distinguished
+lawyer, who was famous for having acquired the
+finest specimens of books in 'all faculties, arts, and
+languages.'</p>
+
+<p>The great bulk of Selden's books were given by
+his executors to the Bodleian; but several chests of
+monastic manuscripts were sent to the Inner Temple,
+and perished in a fire. He passed his whole life as a
+scholar; and yet, it is said, he deplored the loss of
+his time, and wished that he had neglected what the
+world calls learning, and had rather 'executed the
+office of a justice of the peace.' Sir Matthew Hale
+should be remembered for his gift of <span class="smcap">mss.</span> to Lincoln's
+Inn. He made it a condition that they should never
+be printed; and the language of his will shows a
+certain dread of dealing lightly with the secrets of
+tenure and prerogative. 'My desire is that they be
+kept safe and all together in remembrance of me.
+They were fit to be bound in leather, and chained
+and kept in archives: they are a treasure not fit for
+every man's view, nor is every man capable of making
+use of them.'</p>
+
+<p>We shall close our account of the century with a
+few words about Dr. Bernard, a stiff, hard, and
+straightforward reader, whose library of medicine
+and general literature was sold by auction in 1698.
+'Being a person who collected his books not for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
+ostentation or ornament he seemed no more solicitous
+about their dress than his own'; and therefore, says
+the compiler of his catalogue, 'you'll find that a gilt
+back or a large margin was very seldom any inducement
+to him to buy. It was sufficient to him that he
+had the book.' 'The garniture of a book,' he would
+observe,'was apt to recommend it to a great part of
+our modern collectors'; he himself was not a mere
+nomenclator, and versed only in title-pages, 'but had
+made that just and laudable use of his books which
+would become all those that set up for collectors.' He
+was the possessor of thirteen fine Caxtons, which
+fetched altogether less than two guineas at his sale;
+the biddings seem to have been by the penny; and
+Mr. Clarke in his <i>Repertorium Bibliographicum</i> observed
+that the penny at that time seems to have
+been more than the equivalent of our pound sterling
+in the purchase of black-letter rarities.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>GROLIER AND HIS SUCCESSORS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Jean Grolier, the prince of book-collectors, was
+born at Lyons in 1479. His family had come
+originally from Verona, but had long been naturalised
+in France. Several of his relations held civic offices;
+&Eacute;tienne Grolier, his father, was in charge of the
+taxes in the district of Lyons, and was appointed
+treasurer of the Milanese territories at that time in
+the occupation of the French. Jean Grolier succeeded
+his father in both these employments. He
+was treasurer of Milan in 1510, when Pope Julius
+formed the league against the French, which was
+crushed at the Battle of Ravenna; and for nearly
+twenty years afterwards Grolier took a principal part
+in administering the affairs of the province. Young,
+rich, and powerful, a lover of the arts and a bountiful
+patron of learning, he became an object of almost
+superstitious respect to the authors and booksellers
+of Italy. He was eager to do all in his power
+towards improving the machinery and diffusing
+the products of science. He loved his books not
+only for what they taught but also as specimens of
+typography and artistic decoration. To own one or
+two examples from his library is to take high rank<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
+in the army of bookmen. The amateur of bindings
+need learn little more when he comprehends the
+stages of Grolier's literary passion, its fervent and
+florid beginnings, the majesty of its progress, and its
+austere simplicities in old age.</p>
+
+<p>Grolier was the personal friend of Gryphius, the
+printer of Lyons, and of all the members of the
+House of Aldus at Venice. Erasmus, who was
+revered by Grolier as his god-father in matters of
+learning, once paid a compliment to the treasurer,
+which was not far from the truth. 'You owe nothing
+to books,' he wrote, 'but they owe a good deal to
+you, because it is by your help that they will go
+down to posterity.' The nature of Grolier's relations
+with the Venetian publishers appears in his letters to
+Francis of Asola about the printing of a work by
+Bud&aelig;us. He writes from Milan in the year 1519:
+'I am thinking every day about sending you the
+"Bud&aelig;us" for publication in your most elegant style.
+You must add to your former favours by being very
+diligent in bringing out my friend's book, of which I
+now send you the manuscript revised and corrected
+by the author. You must take the greatest care,
+dear Francis, to present it to the public in an accurate
+shape, and this indeed I must beg and implore. I
+want beauty and refinement besides; but this we
+shall get from your choice paper, unworn type, and
+breadth of margin. In a word, I want to have it in
+the same style as your "Politian." If all this extra
+luxury should put you to loss, I will make it good.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
+I am most anxious that the manuscript should be
+followed exactly, without any change or addition;
+and so, my dear Francis, fare you well.' The book
+appeared with a dedication to Grolier himself, in
+which Francis of Asola recounts the many favours
+received by the elder Aldus in his lifetime, by himself,
+and by his father Andreas. The presentation
+copy was magnificently printed on vellum, with
+initials in gold and colours. Grolier inscribed it
+with his name and device, so that it became easy to
+verify its subsequent history. It appeared among
+the books of the Prince de Soubise, and belonged
+afterwards to the Count Macarthy, and in 1815 was
+bought by Mr. Payne and transferred to the Althorp
+Library.</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/11.jpg"><img src="./images/11_th.jpg" alt="BINDING EXECUTED FOR GROLIER." title="BINDING EXECUTED FOR GROLIER." /></a></p>
+<p class="figcenter">BINDING EXECUTED FOR GROLIER.</p>
+
+<p>Grolier's books were generally stamped with the
+words '<i>et Amicorum</i>' immediately after his name, to
+indicate as we suppose that they were the common
+property of himself and his friends, although it has
+been suggested that he was referring to his possession
+of duplicates. Another of his marks was the use of
+some pious phrase, such as a wish that his portion
+might be in 'the land of the living,' which was either
+printed on the cover or written on a fly-leaf, if the
+volume were the gift of a friend. In the use of these
+distinctions he seems to have been preceded by
+Thomas Maioli, a book-collector of a family residing
+at Asti, of whom very little is known apart from his
+ownership of books in magnificent bindings. Grolier
+may have borrowed the phrase about his friends from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
+a celebrated Flemish collector called Marcus Laurinus,
+or Mark Lauwrin of Watervliet, who was in constant
+correspondence with the Treasurer about their cabinets
+of medals and coins. Rabelais had a few valuable
+books, which he stamped with a similar design in
+Greek, and the Latin form occurs in many other
+libraries. We are inclined to refer the origin of the
+practice to a letter written by Philelpho in 1427, in
+which he tells his correspondent of the Greek proverb
+that all things are common among friends.</p>
+
+<p>Grolier's love of learning is shown by his own
+letters, and by the statements contained in the books
+that were so constantly dedicated to his name. To
+Beatus Rhenanus he wrote, with reference to an
+approaching visit: 'Oh, what a festal day, to be
+marked (as they say) with a pure white stone, when
+I am able to pay my humble duty to my own
+Rhenanus; and you see how great are my demands
+when you are entered as mine in my accounts.' As
+controller of the Milanese district he became the
+object of much adulation, for which his flatterers
+had to atone when the French occupation came to
+an end. The dedication of a certain dialogue
+affords an instance in point. Stefano Negri sent his
+book to Grolier in a splendid shape. The presentation
+copy on vellum may be seen at the British
+Museum among the treasures of the Grenville Library.
+The writer represents himself in the preface as going
+about in search of a patron. He sees Mercury
+descending from the clouds with a message from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
+Minerva. 'There is one man whom the Goddess
+holds dear, struggling like Ulysses through the flood
+of this stormy life: he is known as Grolier to the
+world.' Nay, what need have you, says the author,
+to sing the praises of that famous man? 'You must
+confess, even if you like it not, that he is most noble
+in his country and family, most wealthy in fortune,
+and most fair and beautiful in his bodily gifts.'</p>
+
+<p>As patron of all the arts the treasurer became the
+friend of Francino Gafori, the leader of the new school
+of music that was flourishing at Milan. Gafori seems
+to have been often in Grolier's company. He dedicated
+to the treasurer his work on the harmony of
+musical instruments, as well as the <i>Apologia</i> in which
+he afterwards convicted the Bologna school of its
+errors. 'My work,' he says in his later book, 'is
+sound enough if soundly understood'; and he tells
+his rival that, though he may writhe with rage, the
+harmony of Gafori and the fame of Jean Grolier will
+live for ever. The introduction to his work upon
+harmony contains a few interesting details about
+Grolier's way of living at Milan. Gafori addresses
+his book in a dialogue, and vows that it shall never
+come home again if Grolier refuses to be the patron.
+A poetical friend adds a piece in which the Muses
+appear without their proper emblems, and even
+Apollo is bereft of his lyre. Gafori, they say, has
+taken away their harmonies and will not give them
+back. They are advised to make their way to the
+concert at Grolier's house, where the friend of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
+Muses sits among the learned doctors. An illustration
+shows Gafori sitting at his organ and the
+musicians with their wind-instruments at the end of
+the lofty hall. Gafori himself, in another preface,
+declares that his musical offspring can hardly be
+kept at home; they used to be too shy to go out,
+though all the musicians were awaiting them; now
+that they have Grolier's patronage they are all as
+bold as brass, and ready to rush through any danger
+to salute their generous friend. The history of the
+copy presented to Grolier is not without interest.
+After the great musician's death the treasurer gave
+it to Albisse, one of the King's secretaries: Albisse
+in 1546 gave it to Rasse de Neux, a surgeon at Paris,
+who was devoted to curious books; in 1674 it entered
+the library of St. Germain-des-Pr&eacute;s, and was nearly
+destroyed more than a century afterwards in a great
+fire. During the Revolution it was added to the
+collection at the Convent des C&eacute;lestins, and was afterwards
+deposited in the Biblioth&egrave;que de l'Arsenal,
+where we suppose that it still remains.</p>
+
+<p>Grolier was fond of giving books to his friends. A
+commentary on the Psalms with his name and device,
+now in the National Library at Paris, bears an
+inscription showing that he had given it to a monk
+named Jacques Guyard. He presented a fine copy
+of Marcus Aurelius to his friend Eurialo Silvestri;
+and there are volumes bearing his name in conjunction
+with those of Maioli and Laurinus which indicate
+similar gifts. He is known to have presented several<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
+volumes to the President de Thou as a mark of
+gratitude for assistance during his later troubles. It
+is somewhat singular that Jacques-Auguste de Thou
+never succeeded in getting possession of these books,
+though they had always been kept in his father's
+library; and they were not, indeed, replaced in the
+'Bibliotheca Thuana' until it had become the property
+of the Cardinal de Rohan. It is interesting to learn
+that a volume of Cicero was given by Grolier to the
+artistic printer, Geoffroy Tory of Bourges, who
+designed the lettering of his mottoes: they were of
+an antique or 'Roman' shape, and were in two sizes,
+and proportioned, as we are told, 'in the same ratio
+to each other as the body and face of a man.'
+Geoffroy Tory mentioned them in a letter of the year
+1523. 'It was on the morrow of the Epiphany,' says
+the light-hearted artist, 'that after my slumbers were
+over, and in consciousness of a joyous repast, I lay
+day-dreaming in bed, and twisting the wheels of my
+memory round: I thought of a thousand little fancies
+both grave and gay, and then there came before my
+mind those antique letters that I used to make for
+my lord, Master Jean Grolier, the King's councillor,
+and a friend of the <i>Belles Lettres</i> and of all men of
+learning, by whom he is loved and esteemed on both
+sides of the Alps.'</p>
+
+<p>Another testimony comes from Dr. Sambucus, who
+knew Grolier well when he was living in Paris, and
+used to be fond of inspecting his cabinet of coins.
+In the last year of Grolier's life he received a book<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
+on the subject with a dedication to himself by the
+worthy Doctor. Grolier was reminded in the preface
+of their long talks on antiquarian subjects, and of the
+kindness which Sambucus had received from the
+treasurer and the treasurer's father at Milan. 'During
+the last three years,' says Sambucus, 'I have been
+enriching my library, and I have added some very
+scarce coins to the cabinet that you used to admire.'
+He adds a few complaints about dealers and the
+tricks of the trade, which we need not repeat. 'And
+now farewell!' he ends, 'noble ornament of a noble
+race, by whose mouth nothing has ever been uttered
+that came not from the heart!'</p>
+
+<p>Some account of Grolier's career is to be found in
+De Thou's great history. He praised the 'incredible
+love of learning' that had earned for a mere youth
+the intimate friendship of Bud&aelig;us. He showed with
+what administrative ability the Milanese territories
+were governed, and with what dignity Grolier filled
+the high office of Treasurer at home.</p>
+
+<p>Grolier, he says, built a magnificent mansion in the
+Rue de Bussy, which was known as the H&ocirc;tel de
+Lyon; in one of its halls he arranged the multitude
+of books 'so carefully, and with such a fine effect, that
+the library might have been compared to that which
+Pollio established in Rome'; and so great was the
+supply that, notwithstanding his many gifts to friends
+and various misfortunes which befell his collection,
+every important library in France was able after his
+death to show some of his grand bindings as its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
+principal ornament. Grolier's old age was disturbed
+by imputations against his official conduct, and it
+seemed at one time as if his fortune were in considerable
+danger. 'He was so confident in his innocence,'
+said the historian,'that he would not seek help from
+his friends; but he might have fallen at last, if he
+had not been protected by my father the President,
+who always used his influence to help the weak
+against the strong and the scholar against the ignorance
+of the vulgar.' The old Treasurer kept his
+serene course of life until he reached his eighty-sixth
+year: he died at his H&ocirc;tel de Lyon, surrounded by
+his books, and was buried near the high altar in the
+Church of St. Germain-des-Pr&eacute;s.</p>
+
+<p>Upon Grolier's death his property was divided
+among his daughters' families. Some of the books
+were certainly sold; but the greater part of the
+library became the property of M&eacute;ric de Vic, the old
+Treasurer's son-in-law. M&eacute;ric was keeper of the
+seals to Louis <span class="smcap">xiii.</span> His son Dominique became
+Archbishop of Auch. They were both fond of books,
+and took great care of Grolier's three thousand exquisite
+volumes, of which they were successively the
+owners. They lived in a large house in the Rue St.
+Martin, which had been built by Bud&aelig;us, and here
+the books were kept until the great dispersion in the
+year 1676. 'They looked,' said Bonaventure d'Argonne, 'as
+if the Muses had taken the outsides into
+their charge, as well as the contents, they were
+adorned with such art and <i>esprit</i>, and looked so gay,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
+with a delicate gilding quite unknown to the book-binders
+of our time.' The same visitor described the
+sale of 1676. All Paris was to be seen at the H&ocirc;tel
+de Vic. 'Such a glorious collection ought all to
+have been kept together; but, as it was, everybody
+got some share of the spoil.' He bought some of
+the best specimens himself; and as he was only a
+poor monk of the Chartreuse the prices can hardly
+have run high. M. Le Roux de Lincy has traced
+the fate of the volumes dispersed at the sale. We
+hear, he says, of examples belonging to De Mesmes
+and Bigot, to Colbert and Lamoignon, Captain du
+Fay, the Count d'Hoym, and the Prince de Soubise.
+Some of the finest were purchased by Baron Hohendorf
+and were transferred about the year 1720 to the
+Imperial Library at Vienna. Yet they never rose to
+any high price until the Soubise sale towards the end
+of the last century, when the weight of the English
+competition for books began to be felt upon the
+Continent.</p>
+
+<p>M. de Lincy has traced the adventures of more
+than three hundred volumes, once in Grolier's ownership,
+but now for the most part in public libraries.
+The earlier possessors are classified according to the
+dates of their purchases. Of those who obtained
+specimens soon after the old Treasurer's death we may
+notice especially Paul P&eacute;tau the antiquarian, De Thou
+the historian, and Pithou the statesman and jurist.
+Perhaps we should add Jean Ballesdens, a collector
+of fine books and <span class="smcap">mss.</span>, whose library at his death in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
+1677 contained nine of Grolier's books, and Pierre
+S&eacute;guier, to whom Ballesdens acted as secretary; and
+as S&eacute;guier was the personal friend of Grolier, he may
+have been the original recipient of some of the
+volumes in question.</p>
+
+<p>Pierre S&eacute;guier founded a library which became one
+of the sights of Paris. His grandson, Charles S&eacute;guier,
+the faithful follower of Richelieu, was celebrated for
+his devotion to books. He used to laugh at his own
+bibliomania. 'If you want to corrupt me' he would
+say, 'you can always do it by giving me a book.'
+His house in the Rue Bouloi served as headquarters
+for the French Academy before it gained a footing
+in the Louvre; and on Queen Christina's visit in 1646
+one of her first literary excitements was to visit
+Chancellor S&eacute;guier's <i>salon</i>. The decorations were
+considered worthy of being engraved and published
+by Dorigny. The gallery stood between two large
+gardens. The ceilings were encrusted with mosaics
+on a gold ground with allegorical designs by Vouet.
+The upper story contained about 12,000 books, and
+as many more were ranged in the adjoining rooms,
+one large hall being devoted to diplomatic papers,
+Greek books from Mount Athos, and Oriental <span class="smcap">mss.</span>
+According to a description published in 1684 a large
+collection of porcelain was arranged on the walls
+above the book-cases and in cases set cross-wise on
+the floor: 'the china covered the whole cornice, with
+the prettiest effect in the world.' We are reminded
+of the lady's book-room which Addison described as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>
+something between a grotto and a library. Her books
+were arranged in a beautiful order; the quartos were
+fenced off by a pile of bottles that rose in a delightful
+pyramid; the octavos were bounded by tea-dishes of
+all shapes and sizes; 'and at the end of the folios
+were great jars of china placed one above the other
+in a very noble piece of architecture.'</p>
+
+<p>Among the purchasers at the later sale we may
+notice the witty Esprit Fl&eacute;chier, who bought several
+of the lighter Latin poets, being a fashionable versifier
+himself and a dilettante in matters of binding and
+typography. In his account of the High Commission
+in Auvergne, appointed to examine into charges of
+feudal tyranny, the Abb&eacute; tells us how his reputation
+as a bibliophile was spread by a certain P&egrave;re Raphael
+at all the watering-places, and how two learned ladies
+came to inspect his books and carried off his favourite
+Ovid. His library was removed to London and
+sold in the year 1725; and the occasion was of some
+importance as marking the beginning of the English
+demand for specimens from Grolier's library.</p>
+
+<p>Archbishop Le Tellier bought fifteen good examples,
+which he bequeathed in 1709, with all his
+other books, to the Abbey of St. Genevi&egrave;ve. His
+whole collection included about 50,000 volumes,
+mostly dealing with history and the writings of the
+Fathers. 'I have loved books from my boyhood,'
+he said, 'and the taste has grown with age.' He
+bought most of his collection during his travels in
+Italy, in England, and in Holland; but perhaps the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
+best part of his store came from his tutor Antoine
+Faure, who left a thousand volumes to the Archbishop,
+to be selected at the legatee's discretion.</p>
+
+<p>The most valuable portion of Grolier's library was
+bought by his friend Henri de Mesmes. This included
+the long series of presentation copies, printed
+on vellum, and magnificently bound. De Mesmes
+was a collector with a love of curiosities of all kinds.
+He seems to have been equally fond of his early
+specimens of printing, his Flemish and Italian
+illuminations, and the Arabic and Armenian treatises
+procured by his agents in the East. His library
+became a valuable museum which was praised by all
+the writers of that age, except indeed by Fran&ccedil;ois
+Pithou, who called De Mesmes a literary grave-digger,
+and mourned over the burial of so many good books
+in those cold and gloomy sepulchres.</p>
+
+<p>There seems to have been little occasion for this
+outburst, since the library was open to all who could
+make a good use of it during the life of Henri de
+Mesmes and under his son and grandson. Henri de
+Mesmes the younger, its owner in the third generation,
+was renowned for his zeal in collecting; he is
+said to have even procured <span class="smcap">mss.</span> from the Court of the
+Great Mogul, dispatched by a French goldsmith at
+Delhi, who packed them in red cotton and stuffed
+them into the hollow of a bamboo for safer carriage.
+One of the finest things in his whole library was the
+Psalter which Louis <span class="smcap">ix.</span> had given to Guillaume
+de Mesmes: it had come by some means into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
+the library at Whitehall; but on the execution of
+Charles <span class="smcap">i.</span> the French Ambassador had been able
+to secure it, and had restored it to the family of the
+original donee.</p>
+
+<p>The Norman family of Bigot rivalled the race of
+De Mesmes in their ardour for book-collecting. Jean
+Bigot in 1649 had a magnificent library of 6000
+volumes, partly inherited from his ancestors, and
+partly collected out of the monastic libraries at F&eacute;camp
+and Mont St. Michel and other places in that
+neighbourhood. His son Louis-Emeric took the
+library as his share of the inheritance: its improvement
+became the occupation of his life; he made
+many expeditions after books in foreign countries, but
+when he was at home his library was the general
+<i>rendez-vous</i> of all who were interested in literature.
+The books were left to Robert Bigot upon trusts that
+were intended to prevent their dispersion. A sale,
+however, took place in 1706, at which the monastic
+archives and most of the <span class="smcap">mss.</span> were purchased by the
+government.</p>
+
+<p>By some arrangement, of which the history is
+unknown, the head of the family of De Mesmes was
+persuaded to allow his books to be included in the
+Bigot sale. There seems to have been an attempt to
+disguise the transaction by tearing off the bindings
+and defacing the coats of arms. The strangest thing
+about the sale was the fact that no notice was taken
+of its containing the finest portion of Grolier's library.
+The splendid <i>Aldines</i>, on vellum, fell into the hands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
+of an ignorant notary with a new room to furnish:
+and he thought fit to strip off all the bindings, that
+had been a marvel of Italian art, and to replace them
+with the gaudy coverings that were more suited to
+his <i>bourgeois</i> desires.</p>
+
+<p>M. de Lincy remarks that Grolier's books were
+strangely neglected through a great part of the
+eighteenth century. At the very end of the period,
+Count Macarthy had the good taste to include a few
+of them in his collection of books upon vellum. Mr.
+Cracherode began, in 1793, to buy all the specimens
+that came into the market: and the library which he
+bequeathed to the British Museum contains no less
+than eighteen fine examples. Eight more were
+comprised in the magnificent bequest of Mr. Thomas
+Grenville's library in 1846. There has been a demand
+for these books in England for more than a century
+and a half. But when we look at the catalogues of
+Gaignat or La Valli&egrave;re they seem to have been
+altogether disregarded. When Gaignat died in 1768
+his collection was regarded as perfect; it was said
+that 'no one in the commonwealth of letters had ever
+brought together such a rich and admirable assembly.'
+Yet he only had one 'Grolier book,' a magnificent
+copy of Paolo Giovio's book on Roman Fishes, which
+passed to the Duc de la Valli&egrave;re, and went for a few
+<i>livres</i> at his sale. There were only two other
+specimens in the Duke's library; and they seem to
+have been treated with equal indifference. M. de
+Lincy was of opinion that the memory of Grolier was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
+almost entirely forgotten, except in his native city of
+Lyons. The appearance of his books might be
+admired by an antiquary here and there; but the
+classics had gone out of fashion for a time, and the
+world gave its attention to old poetry, to medi&aelig;val
+romance, and even to 'books of <i>faceti&aelig;</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>Grolier's reputation had mainly depended on his
+generous patronage of literature. Even the House of
+Aldus had rejoiced to be the clients of a new M&aelig;cenas.
+The authors of that time were still too weak to go
+alone. In the absence of a demand for books it was
+essential to gain the favour of a great man who might
+open a way to fame and would at least provide a
+pension. We have all smiled at the adulations of an
+ancient preface and the arrogance which too often
+baulked the poor writer's hopes. D'Israeli reminds
+us that one of the Popes repaid the translation of a
+Greek treatise with a few pence that might just have
+paid for the binding, and of Cardinal Este receiving
+Ariosto's work with the question&mdash;'Where on earth all
+that rubbish had been collected?' This was but a
+temporary phase, and literature became free from the
+burden as soon as the public had learned to read.
+The Houses of Plantin and the Elzevirs required no
+help in selling out their cheap editions. A good
+dedication was still a feather in the patron's cap.
+Queen Christina considered that she was justly
+entitled to the patronage of her subjects' works: and
+Marshal Rantzau, when writers were scarce in
+Denmark, brought out an anonymous work for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
+purpose of introducing a preface in which his fame
+as a book-collector was glorified. But the patron's
+function was gradually restricted; and at last it was
+nearly confined to cases where a dedication repaid
+assistance given in producing an unsaleable book.</p>
+
+<p>The later renown of Grolier must rest on the fact
+that he invented a new taste. It would have been
+nothing to buy a few thousand Aldine books, even if
+the collection included all the first editions, the papers
+of all sizes, the copies with uncut edges, and specimens
+of the true misprints. The family of Aldus had a large
+library of this kind, which was dispersed at Rome by
+its inheritor in the third generation; but it never
+attracted much attention, and was generally believed
+to have been merged in a collection at Pisa. Grolier
+introduced a fashion depending for its success on a
+multiplicity of details. He bought books out of large
+editions just issuing from the press; but he chose out
+the specimen with the best printing, and the finest
+paper, if vellum were not forthcoming. The condition
+was perfect. Like the Count Macarthy he would
+have no dust or worm-holes: he was as microscopic
+in his views as the most accurate Parisian bibliophile.
+The binding was in the best Italian style: a general
+sobriety was relieved by the brilliancy of certain
+effects, by the purity of the design, perhaps above all
+by the perfection of the materials. The book was an
+object of interest, for its contents, or for historical or
+personal reasons; but it had also become an <i>objet
+d'art</i>, like a gem or a figure in porcelain. Grolier<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
+preserved his dignity as a bibliophile, and his true
+followers have not degenerated into collectors of
+<i>bric-&agrave;-brac</i>. It is sufficient to name such men as
+M. Renouard, the owner of many of Grolier's treasures,
+or M. Firmin-Didot 'the friend of all good books,'
+or the collections of Mr. Beckford and Baron Seilli&egrave;re
+which have been in our own time dispersed. No
+doubt there is a tendency, especially among French
+amateurs, to regard books as mere curiosities; and
+M. Uzanne has drawn an amusing picture of the
+book-hunter as a chrysalis in his library, destined to
+find his wings in a flight after mosaic bindings,
+autographs, original water-colours, or plates in early
+states.</p>
+
+<p>It is possible, however, to prevent the 'book-buying
+disease' from developing into a general collector's
+mania. With the world full of books, we must adopt
+some special variety for our admiration. One person
+will choose his library companions for their stateliness
+and splendid raiment, another for their flavour
+of antiquity, or the fine company that they kept in
+old times. Montaigne loved his friends on the shelf,
+because they always received him kindly and 'blunted
+the point of his grief.' He turned the volumes over
+in his round tower within any method or design;
+'at one while,' he says, 'I meditate, at another time
+I make notes, or dictate, as I walk up and down, such
+whimsies as meet you here.' He cared little about
+the look of their outsides, but thought a great deal
+about their readiness to divert him; 'it is the best<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>
+<i>viaticum</i> I have yet found out for this human pilgrimage,
+and I pity any man of understanding who
+is not provided with it.' We have omitted the best
+reason of all. One who has lived among his books
+will love them because they are his own. Marie
+Bashkirtseff expressed the matter well enough in a
+page of her journal:&mdash;'I have a real passion for my
+books, I arrange them, I count them, I gaze upon
+them: my heart rejoices in nothing but this heap of
+old books, and I like to stand off a little and look at
+them as if they were a picture.'</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>LATER COLLECTORS: FRANCE&mdash;ITALY&mdash;SPAIN.</h3>
+
+
+<p>We have still to notice one or two of Grolier's
+contemporaries, who may be classed as great book-collectors
+of an old-fashioned type. They knew the
+whole history of 'the Book,' and were themselves the
+owners of exquisite treasures, which are now hoarded
+up as the choicest remains of antiquity. But their
+function was not so much to collect books as rare
+and curious objects as to undertake the duty of saving
+the records of past history from destruction. They
+did the work in their day which has now devolved
+upon the guardians of public and national libraries.
+No private person could now take their place; but
+the interests of literature could hardly have been protected
+in a former age without the personal labour
+and enthusiasm of Orsini and P&eacute;tau.</p>
+
+<p>Fulvio Orsini was born in 1529. He began life as
+a beggar, though for many years before his death he
+was the leader of Italian learning. A poor girl had
+been abandoned with her child and was forced to beg
+her bread in the streets of Rome. The boy obtained
+a place in the Lateran when he was only seven years
+old: the Canon Delfini recognised his precocious
+talents and undertook to find him a classical educa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>tion.
+The student obtained some small preferment,
+and succeeded to his patron's appointment. His
+marvellous acquaintance with ancient books secured
+him a place as librarian to the Cardinal Farnese, and
+he received many offers of more lucrative employment: but
+he found that if he accepted he would
+have to live away from Rome; and he refused everything
+that could cause inconvenience to his mother,
+whose comfort was his constant care. On his death,
+in the year 1600, he bequeathed his vast collections to
+the Vatican, and the gift can only be compared to
+such important events as the arrival of the spoils of
+Urbino, or the great purchase of <span class="smcap">mss.</span> from the Queen
+of Sweden.</p>
+
+<p>Orsini has been ridiculed for having more books
+than he could read, and for an excessive devotion to
+the antique. 'Here is a library like an arsenal,' said
+the satirist, 'stored with all the requisites for any
+campaign. The owner buys all the books that come
+in his way: it is true that he will not read them; but
+he will have them magnificently bound, and ranged
+on the shelves with a mighty show, and there he will
+salute them several times a day, and will bring
+his friends and servants to make their acquaintance.'
+Orsini is rebuked for his admiration of a
+dusty manuscript. 'When one of these old parchments
+falls into his hands, he makes you examine
+the decayed leaves on which the eye can hardly trace
+any marks of an ancient pen. 'What is this treasure
+that we have here?' he cries, 'and oh! what joy, here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>
+we have the delight of mankind, and the world's
+desire, and pleasures not to be matched in Paradise!'
+'There,' says our satirist, 'you have the very portrait
+of Fulvio Orsini. Why, he once took a manuscript
+<i>Terence</i>, full of holes and mistakes, in writing to
+Cardinal Toletus, and told him that it was worth all
+the gold in the world'; and, to convince his Spanish
+Eminence, he said that the book was a thousand
+years' old. '<i>Est-il possible?</i>' replies the Cardinal,
+'you don't say so. I can only say, my friend, I would
+rather have a book hot from the press than all the
+old parchments that the Sibyl had for sale.'</p>
+
+<p>Jacques Bongars, the faithful councillor and ambassador
+of Henri Quatre, was the owner of a remarkable
+library, consisting to a great extent of State
+papers and historical documents, which Bongars had
+special facilities for collecting during his official visits
+to Germany. He had studied law at Bourges under
+the learned Cujacius, of whom it is recorded that
+when his name was mentioned in the German lecture-rooms,
+every one present took off his hat. Bongars
+has described his excitement at purchasing the great
+lawyer's library. 'My chief care has been to seek out
+the books belonging to Cujas. I expect that you
+will have a fine laugh when you think of all that
+crowd that goes to Court as if it were a fair, to do
+their business together, and to try to get money out
+of the King, while a regular courtier like myself rushes
+off to this lonely spot to spend his fortune on books
+and papers, all in disorder and half eaten by the book-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>worms.
+You will be able to judge if I am an avaricious
+man. No trouble or expense is anything to me
+where books are concerned. Would to God that I were
+free, and had time to read them. I should not feel
+any envy then of M. de Rosny's wealth or the Persian's
+mountain of gold.' While residing at Strasburg he
+bought the manuscripts belonging to the Cathedral
+from some of the soldiers by whom the city was more
+than once pillaged during the wars of religion.</p>
+
+<p>About the year 1603 Bongars arranged with Paul
+P&eacute;tau for the joint purchase of a large collection of
+manuscripts, which had belonged to the Abbey of St.
+B&eacute;noit-sur-Loire, and had been saved by the bailiff
+Pierre Daniel when the Abbey was plundered. The
+share of Bongars in this collection was transferred to
+Strasburg, and passed eventually with the rest of his
+books to the public library of the city of Berne.</p>
+
+<p>Paul P&eacute;tau was a man of universal accomplishments.
+He was the rival of Scaliger in the science
+of chronology; his doctrinal works are praised as 'a
+monument of useful labour'; 'he solaced his leisure
+hours with Greek and Hebrew, as well as Latin
+verse,' and, according to Hallam's judgment, obtained
+in the last subject the general approbation of the
+critics. He formed a valuable museum of Greek,
+Roman, and Gaulish antiquities, with a cabinet of
+Frankish coins, to which Peiresc was a generous contributor.
+His library contained several books that
+had belonged to Grolier; but it was chiefly remarkable
+for its <span class="smcap">mss.</span>, of which several were published by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>
+Sirmond and Du Chesne among other materials for
+the history of France. Many of them had been
+acquired from the collection of Greek and Hebrew
+books formed by Jean de Saint Andr&eacute;, or out of
+the mass of chronicles, romances, and old French
+poems belonging to Claude Fauchet, and a large
+portion came, as we have seen, out of an ancient
+Benedictine Abbey. Paul P&eacute;tau's books of all kinds
+were left to his son Alexander. The printed books,
+comprising a number of finely illustrated works on
+arch&aelig;ology, were sold at the Hague in 1722; the
+sale included the old library inherited by Francis
+Mansard, and the <span class="smcap">mss.</span> relating to Roman antiquities
+that had been the property of Lipsius. A thousand
+splendid volumes on parchment, the pride of the
+elder P&eacute;tau, described by all who saw them in terms
+of glowing admiration, were sold in his son's lifetime
+to Queen Christina of Sweden. She had always intended
+to buy some great collection, and had thought
+among others of buying up those of Henri de Mesmes,
+of De B&eacute;thune, and the Cardinal Mazarin. She was
+delighted with her new acquisition, and carried it off
+to Rome, where she made a triumphal entry with her
+books amidst the popular rejoicings.</p>
+
+<p>Something may be learned about the Italian collectors
+in the age that followed Grolier's death, from
+the story of the strange wanderings of the manuscripts
+of Leonardo da Vinci. Very little was known
+upon this subject until M. Ars&egrave;ne Houssaye found
+an account of what had happened among the papers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>
+of the Barnabite Mazenta, who died in the year 1635.
+'It was about fifty years ago,' says the memorandum,
+written shortly before the old monk's death, 'that
+thirteen volumes of Leonardo's papers, all written
+backwards in his own way, fell into my hands. I
+was then studying law at Pisa, and one of my companions
+in the class-room was Aldus Manutius, renowned
+as a book-collector. We received a visit
+from one of his relations called Lelio Gavardi; he
+had been tutor in the household of Francesco Melzi,
+who was the pupil and also the heir of Leonardo.'
+Melzi treasured up every line and scrap of the great
+man's works at his country-house in Vaprio; but his
+sons did not care for art, and left the papers lying
+about in a lumber-room, so that Gavardi was able to
+help himself as he pleased. He brought thirteen
+volumes, well-known in the history of literature, as
+far as Florence at first, and then to Aldus at Pisa.
+'I cried shame on him,' said Mazenta, 'and as I was
+going to Milan I undertook to return them to the
+Melzi family. There I saw Doctor Horatio Melzi,
+who was quite astonished at my taking so much
+trouble, and gave me the books for myself, saying
+that he had plenty more of the same sort in his
+garrets at home.' When Mazenta became a monk
+the thirteen volumes passed to his brothers, who
+talked so much about the matter that there was a
+rush of amateurs to Vaprio, and the Doctor was
+overwhelmed with offers for the great man's books
+and drawings. 'One of these rascals,' said Mazenta,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>
+'was the sculptor Pompeo Leoni, who used to make
+the bronzes for the Escorial, and he pretended that
+he would obtain an appointment for Melzi at Milan,
+if he would get back the thirteen volumes for King
+Philip's new library in Spain. Leoni got possession
+of most of the books and kept them in his own
+cabinet. One of the volumes was presented by
+Mazenta's brother to the Ambrosian Library and
+may still be seen there, in company with the huge
+<i>Codice Atlantico</i>, which Leoni made up out of
+hundreds of separate fragments. At Leoni's death
+his collection was bought by Galeazzo Arcanati,
+the illustrious owner of an artistic and literary
+museum. He resisted the proposals of purchase
+that poured in from foreign Courts; our James <span class="smcap">i.</span>
+is said to have offered three thousand gold doubloons
+for the great volume of designs; and on
+Arcanati's death the whole collection was transferred
+by his widow to the Ambrosiana. Some changes had
+been made in the distribution of the papers since
+Mazenta so easily acquired his thirteen books. The
+French took the same number away in 1796; but
+none of them ever returned, except the famous
+<i>Codice Atlantico</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In Spain there were but few persons interested in
+books before the foundation of the Escorial towards the
+end of the sixteenth century. We learn from Mariana
+that soon after the year 1580 a vast gallery in the
+palace was filled with books, mostly Greek <span class="smcap">mss.</span>,
+which had been assembled from all parts of Europe;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>
+'its stores,' he said, 'are more precious than gold:
+but it would be well if learned men had greater
+facilities for reading them; for what profit is there
+from learning if she is treated like a captive and
+traitor?' Arias Montanus, the first Orientalist of
+his age, was appointed librarian by the founder; he
+was the owner of an immense quantity of <span class="smcap">mss.</span> in
+Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic, many of which were used
+in his edition of the Antwerp Polyglott Bible, and
+these he bequeathed to the Escorial, while his printed
+books were left to the University of Seville.</p>
+
+<p>The first book was printed in Valencia as early as
+the year 1474; but the prospects of literature remained
+dark until the termination of the Moorish
+wars. On the capture of Granada it was thought
+necessary to obliterate the memory of the Koran,
+and scores of thousands of volumes, or a million as
+some say, were destroyed by Cardinal Xim&egrave;nes in a
+celebrated <i>auto-da-f&eacute;</i>. About three hundred Arabic
+works on medicine were preserved for the new library
+which the Cardinal was founding in his University of
+Alcal&agrave;. The Cardinal spent vast sums in gathering
+materials for his Mozarabic Missal and the great
+Complutensian Polyglott. It is said that to avoid
+future criticism he gave his Hebrew originals to be
+used in the making of fireworks, just as Polydore
+Vergil was accused in our country of burning the
+monastic chronicles out of which he composed his
+history, and as many Italian writers were believed
+to have destroyed their classical authorities. When<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
+Petrarch lost his Cicero, it was thought that Alcionio
+might have stolen it for his treatise upon exile; but we
+should probably be right in rejecting all these stories
+together as mere calumnies and 'forgeries of jealousy.'</p>
+
+<p>Antonio Lebrixa, who worked under the Cardinal
+till his death in 1522, had done much to revive a
+knowledge of books, and may be regarded as the
+principal agent in the introduction of the new Italian
+learning. His pupil Ferdinand Nu&ntilde;ez, or Nonnius
+as he is often called, carried on the good work at
+Salamanca, and left his great library to the University.
+Diego Hurtado de Mendoza was one of the
+most distinguished students who ever followed the
+lectures there. As a poet he has been called the
+Spanish Sallust: as the author of the adventures of
+Lazarillo de Tormes he takes a high place among
+the lighter authors of romance; and as a patron of
+learning he will always be remembered for having
+enriched the Escorial with his transcripts from Mount
+Athos, and six chests of valuable <span class="smcap">mss.</span> which he
+received in return for ransoming from his captivity at
+Venice the son of Soliman the Magnificent. Great
+credit must also be given to Don Ferdinand Columbus
+for his good work at Seville. The son of the great
+Admiral and Donna Beatrix Enriquez was one of
+the most celebrated bibliophiles in Europe. He
+began making his collections very soon after his
+father's death. Between 1510 and 1537 he had visited
+Italy several times, and had travelled besides in
+England and France, in the Low Countries and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
+Germany, buying books wherever he went. His
+great object was to procure illuminated <span class="smcap">mss.</span> and
+early editions of romances and miracle-plays; but he
+was also fond of the classics, and his library at Seville
+is still possessed of many copies of Latin poets and
+orators which are full of his marginal notes. At
+Louvain he became acquainted with Nicholas
+Cl&eacute;nard, who was lecturing there on Greek and
+Hebrew, and was just commencing the Arabic studies
+by which his name became famous. Don Ferdinand
+had a commission to bring back professors for the
+University of Salamanca, where learning was beginning
+to revive; and Cl&eacute;nard was easily induced to
+visit a country which might contain the relics of
+Moorish culture. Ferrari, as we know, was very
+successful in the next generation in finding rare
+books in Spain for Borromeo's Ambrosian library. At
+Bruges, Don Ferdinand met Jean Vas&eacute;e, a man just
+suited for an appointment as librarian, and he too
+was persuaded to accompany the traveller on his
+return. Don Ferdinand established a large library
+in his house at Seville. Cl&eacute;nard helped to arrange
+the books, and Vas&eacute;e became librarian. The volumes
+amounted at least to fifteen thousand in number,
+though the exact amount remains unknown owing to
+discrepancies in the earliest catalogues.</p>
+
+<p>Don Ferdinand hoped that the library would be
+kept up by the family of Columbus. With that
+object he left it to his great-nephew Don Luis, with
+an annuity to provide for the expenses; if the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
+legacy were refused, it was to pass to the Chapter of
+the Cathedral at Seville, with alternative provisions
+in favour of the Monastery of San Pablo. As events
+turned out, the succession was not taken up on behalf
+of his young kinsman, and after some litigation the
+Fernandina, or 'La Colombina' as it was afterwards
+called, was adjudged to the Chapter of Seville and
+placed in a room by the Moorish Aisle at the Giralda.
+Owing chiefly to the generosity of Queen Isabella
+and the Duc de Montpensier the library of 'La
+Colombina' has been restored to prosperity, although
+according to Mr. Ford it was long abandoned to 'the
+canons and book-worms.' It appears that in the
+middle of the last century three-quarters of the <span class="smcap">mss.</span>
+had been destroyed by rough usage or by the water
+dripping in from the gutters; the books were in
+charge of the men who swept the Church, and they
+allowed the school-children to play with the illustrated
+volumes and to tear out the miniatures and woodcuts.
+Mr. Harrisse has described with much detail
+the grandeur and the decline of this celebrated institution,
+and he gives reasons for supposing that it
+may have suffered even in recent years from the
+negligence of its guardians. It is satisfactory, however,
+to find that its most precious contents have
+passed safely through every period of danger; the
+library still contains some of the books of Christopher
+Columbus, and especially the <i>Imago Mundi</i> with
+his marginal notes about the Portuguese discoveries,
+'in all which things,' he writes 'I had my share.'</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/12.jpg"><img src="./images/12_th.jpg" alt="J. A. DE THOU." title="J. A. DE THOU." /></a></p>
+<p class="figcenter">J. A. DE THOU.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>DE THOU&mdash;PINELLI&mdash;PEIRESC.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was long a saying among the French that a man
+had never seen Paris who had not looked upon the
+books of Thuanus. The historian Jacques-Auguste
+de Thou held a leading place in literature, without
+pretending in any way to rival the greatness of
+Joseph Scaliger or the erudition of Isaac Casaubon.
+He was the master of a great store of personal and
+secret history collected in state papers and records;
+but he was also famous for the extent of his general
+scholarship, and for the patronage which he manifested
+towards all who laboured about books. He
+was himself a most fastidious collector. He never
+heard of the appearance of a valuable work without
+ordering three or four copies on the fine paper manufactured
+for his private use; and of any such book
+already issued he would order several sets of sheets to
+be taken to pieces in order to procure one perfect
+example. His library was not large. It consisted of
+about 8000 printed books and 1000 manuscripts,
+chiefly upon historical subjects; but they were all
+well selected, well bound, and in perfect condition.
+There is a letter upon this subject by Henri Estienne
+the printer, in which the high reputation of De Thou's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>
+library is contrasted with Lucian's just invective
+against the illiterate book-hunter: 'The satirist would
+have honoured a man like you, so learned and so
+generous in your library: you choose your books
+with taste, and proportion the cost of binding to the
+price of the volume; and Lucian, I am sure, would
+have praised your carefulness in these respects.'</p>
+
+<p>In all matters connected with literature De Thou
+was helped by his friend 'Pith&oelig;us,' of whom it was
+said that no one knew any particular author as well
+as Pierre Pithou knew all the classics. By talent and
+hard work combined Pithou had 'distilled the quintessence
+of wisdom' out of the garnered stores of
+antiquity. Upon his death De Thou was inclined to
+give up his books and the work that had made life
+pleasant. He wrote in that strain to his associate
+Isaac Casaubon. 'On the loss of my incomparable
+friend, the partner of my cares and my counsellor in
+letters and politics, the web that I was weaving
+fell from my hand, and I should not have
+resumed my history were it not a tribute to the
+memory of one who has done so much for me.'</p>
+
+<p>De Thou's end was hastened by the death of his
+wife. Those who know the look of his books,
+stamped with a series of his family quarterings, will
+remember that he was first married to Marie Barban&ccedil;on,
+and afterwards to Gasparde de la Chastre. 'I had
+always hoped and prayed,' he wrote at the commencement
+of his will, 'that my dearest Gaspara Chastr&aelig;a
+would have outlived me.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Admonished by her loss to set his affairs in order
+he began to take special pains in providing for the
+future of his books. He anticipated the public
+spirit of Cardinal Richelieu, to whom the merit is
+often assigned of having been the first to bequeath the
+use of his library to scholars. The Cardinal was not
+particular about the methods by which he amassed
+his literary wealth: he is said to have increased his
+store by all the arts of cajolery, and even by bare
+intimidation; and he may have wished to make some
+amends by directing that 'persons of erudition'
+should have access to his books after his death. De
+Thou had an equal love of books, and showed
+perhaps a kinder feeling about the use of the treasures
+which his own care had accumulated. 'It is important,'
+he wrote, 'for my own family and for the
+cause of learning that the library should be kept together
+which I have been for more than forty years
+collecting, and I hereby forbid any division, sale, or
+dispersion thereof; I bequeath it to such of my sons
+as shall apply themselves to literature, and they shall
+hold it in common, but so that it shall be free to all
+scholars at home or abroad. I leave its custody to
+Pierre du Puy until my sons are grown up, and he
+shall have authority to lend out the <span class="smcap">mss.</span> under
+proper security for their safe return.'</p>
+
+<p>Pierre and Jacques du Puy, the 'two Puteani' as they
+were often called, were the sons of a distinguished
+bibliophile, Charles du Puy, who died in 1594, and
+were themselves the leaders in a curious department<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>
+of book-learning. Their father was the founder
+of a library enriched by his care with the best
+specimens of early printing and a few rare <span class="smcap">mss.</span> In
+the latter class he possessed an ancient bilingual
+copy of St. Paul's Epistles, a Livy in uncial
+characters, and the precious fragments of the Vatican
+Virgil, which he gave to Fulvio Orsini in his lifetime.
+'On his death,' says M. Guigard, 'the bibliographical
+succession passed to Pierre and Jacques, his younger
+sons, the first a Councillor of State, the other Prior
+of St. Sauveur-les-Bray, and both employed as
+guardians of the books in the Royal Library. No
+two men were ever more ardently devoted to the
+interests of learning. They worked in concert at
+increasing and improving their father's library; but
+their chief object was to accumulate and preserve
+the obscurer materials of history. The <i>Collection Du
+Puy</i>, which has now became national property, comprised
+more than 800 volumes of fugitive pieces,
+memoirs, instructions, pedigrees, letters, and all the
+other miscellaneous documents that were classed by
+D'Israeli 'under the vague title of State Papers.'
+It has been said that the object of their 'Titanic
+labour' was to ease the way for the historian De
+Thou; but it is more likely that the brothers obeyed
+an instinct for the acquisition of secret history; 'life
+would have been too short to have decided on the
+intrinsic value of the manuscripts flowing down in a
+stream to the collectors.' The surviving brother
+bequeathed these State Papers to the Abb&eacute; de Thou<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
+(the fourth possessor of the 'Bibliotheca Thuana') who
+sold them to Charron de M&eacute;nars; they were
+eventually purchased by Louis <span class="smcap">xvi.</span>, and were deposited
+in the Royal Library, where the printed
+books and certain other <span class="smcap">mss.</span> had been already
+received under a legacy from Jacques du Puy.</p>
+
+<p>When the historian died the brothers jointly undertook
+the trust that had fallen to Pierre. 'Among all
+the French scholars,' said Gassendi,'these two Puteani
+do most excel; and now, abiding with the sons of
+Thuanus, they sustain by all the means in their
+power the library and the students that have been
+committed to their care. Fran&ccedil;ois-Auguste de Thou,
+the historian's eldest son, became Grand-Master of
+the King's books; he added considerably to the
+'Bibliotheca Thuana,' and his house became the
+meeting-place of the Parisian <i>savants</i>. A brilliant
+career was cruelly cut short by the malignity of
+Richelieu.</p>
+
+<p>The young Cinq-Mars was in a plot with the Queen
+and Gaston of Orl&eacute;ans to overthrow the Cardinal's
+power. His friend De Thou was aware of the design,
+but had taken no part in the conspiracy. The
+Cardinal arrested them both, and dragged them along
+the Rhone in a boat attached to his own barge; and
+De Thou was executed as a scapegoat, while most of
+the leaders saved their lives. The Cardinal died soon
+afterwards, without having confiscated the library;
+and it passed to Jacques-Auguste, the historian's
+younger son, who by a tardy act of grace had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>
+restored to the civil rights enjoyed by his brother
+before his unjust conviction. He was by all accounts
+as great a book-collector as his father; and he had
+the good fortune to marry an heiress, Marie Picardet,
+who brought with her a large quantity of books from
+her father's house in Britanny. In the year 1677 the
+'Bibliotheca Thuana' with all its additions passed to
+the Abb&eacute; Jacques-Auguste de Thou, who was soon
+afterwards compelled to part with it to the Pr&eacute;sident
+Charron de M&eacute;nars. St. Simon praised its new
+owner as a most worthy and honourable nonentity;
+but he had the sense to step into the breach and to
+save the 'Thuana' from destruction. When he sold
+the library to the Cardinal de Rohan, in 1706, he
+reserved the <i>Collection Du Puy</i> for his daughters. It
+is believed that the Cardinal, through the cleverness
+of his secretary Oliva, obtained the historian's choice
+examples for less than the price of the binding. We
+must follow the career of the collection to its melancholy
+end. The Cardinal left it to his nephew the
+Prince de Soubise. The world knows him as the
+inventor of a sauce and as the general in one lost
+battle; but he had a higher fame among the booksellers
+for his prowess in the auction-room. He seems
+to have been the victim of a frenzy for books. He
+impressed them by crowds, and marshalled them in
+regiments and myriads. They all fell in 1789 before
+the hammer of the auctioneer. Dibdin has described
+the catalogue. It was unostentatious and printed on
+indifferent material. He hoped, with his curious in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>sistance
+on the point, that there were 'some few copies
+on large paper.' It is a mark of the changes in book-collecting
+that Dibdin praised the index as excellent,
+'enabling us to discover any work of which we may be
+in want'; but it is now regarded as remarkable for its
+poverty, and especially for the extraordinary carelessness
+that left eight noble specimens from Grolier's
+library without the slightest mark of distinction.</p>
+
+<p>Gian-Vincenzio Pinelli was a celebrated man of
+letters whose library at Padua formed 'a perpetual
+Academy' for all the scholars of his day. Born at
+Naples in 1538, he spent the greater part of his long
+life at Padua, where he was sent to study the law; but
+the only sign of his professional labours appears to
+have been that he rigidly excluded all works on
+jurisprudence from his magnificent library. His
+books, says Hallam, were collected by the labours of
+many years: 'the catalogues of the Frankfort fairs
+and those of the principal booksellers in Italy were
+diligently perused, nor did any work of value appear
+from the press on either side of the Alps which he
+did not instantly add to his shelves.' Remembering
+the traditions of the age of Poggio, when the rarest
+classics might be found perishing in a garret or a
+cellar, Pinelli was always in the habit of visiting the
+dealers in old parchment and the brokers who carried
+off deeds and papers from sales, just as Dr. Rawlinson
+collected and gave to the Bodleian a mass of unsorted
+documents, including, as we have seen, even the logs
+of recent voyages, and the pickings of "grocers'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
+waste-paper." In each case the industry of the collector
+was constantly rewarded by the discovery of
+valuable literary materials, which would have been
+lost under ordinary circumstances. The library of
+Pinelli was augmented by that of his friend Paul
+Aicardo, the two <i>literati</i> having entered into an
+undertaking that the survivor should possess the
+whole fruit of their labours. On Pinelli's death, in
+1601, his family determined to transfer his books to
+Naples. The Venetian government interfered on the
+ground that, though Pinelli had been allowed to copy
+the archives and registers of the State, it had never
+been intended that the information should be communicated
+to a foreign power. Their magistrate
+seized a hundred bales of books, of which fourteen
+were packed with <span class="smcap">mss.</span> On examination it appeared
+that there were about three hundred volumes of
+political commentaries, dealing with the affairs of all
+the Italian States; and it was arranged, by way of
+compromise, that these should remain at Padua in a
+repository under the charge of an official guardian.
+The rest of the library was despatched in three
+shiploads from Genoa. One vessel was captured
+by pirates, and the cargo was thrown overboard,
+only a few volumes being afterwards cast ashore.
+The other ships arrived safely at Naples; but it
+appears that the new proprietors had little taste for
+literature. The whole remaining stock was found
+some years afterwards in a mouldy garret, packed in
+ninety bales; and it was purchased at last for 3000<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>
+crowns by Cardinal Frederic Borromeo, who used it as
+the basis for the Ambrosian Library which he was at
+that time establishing in Milan. Another library was
+afterwards founded at Venice by members of the
+Pinelli family engaged in the Levantine trade. On
+the death of its last possessor, Maffeo Pinelli, in 1787,
+the collection was sold to a firm of English booksellers.
+It seems by Dibdin's account to have been in a poor
+condition, though Dr. Harwood declared that, 'there
+being no dust in Venice,' it had reposed for some
+centuries in excellent preservation. This immense
+body of books was re-sold in London two years afterwards
+at prices which barely covered the expenses
+incurred, though a large amount was obtained for a
+copy of the Polyglott Bible of Xim&egrave;nes in six folio
+volumes printed upon vellum.</p>
+
+<p>The praises of the great Pinelli were spread abroad
+by Scaliger, De Thou, and Casaubon; but his memory,
+perhaps, has been best preserved by the ardent friendship
+of Peiresc. He was visited at Padua by the
+young philosopher in whose mind he found a reflection
+of his own; and it was generally agreed that the
+lamp of learning had passed into safe hands when it
+was yielded by Pinelli to the student from Provence.
+Nicolas Fabry de Peiresc belonged to an ancient
+family established near Aix. His father had been
+selected by <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Louise'">Louis</ins> <span class="smcap">xii.</span> to share the education
+of the Princess Ren&eacute;e. A man of learning himself,
+he spared no expense in the boy's instruction, who
+became celebrated even in his childhood for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>
+strength of his precocious intellect. The most
+eminent professors in Italy combined to exalt 'the
+ripe excellence of his unripe years'; and when Pinelli
+died it was said that Peiresc had taken the helm of
+knowledge and was guiding the ship as he pleased.
+He explored at leisure the riches of Florence and
+Rome, and afterwards watched the rise of the 'Ambrosiana'
+at Milan. A letter from Joseph Scaliger,
+who ruled literary Europe like a King, from his chair
+at Leyden, sent Peiresc off to Verona, where he
+hunted up evidence in support of the wild story that
+the Scaligers were the representatives of the Ducal
+line of La Scala.</p>
+
+<p>Julius C&aelig;sar Scaliger, the father of the great philologist,
+had amused the world by claiming to be the
+son of Benedetto and Berenice della Scala, to have
+been a page of the Emperor Maximilian, and to have
+fought in the Battle of Ravenna; and he pretended
+that he had become a Cordelier, so as to rise to the
+Papal throne and expel the Venetians from his
+dominions. Peiresc was by no means a believer in
+this extraordinary romance; but he did his best to
+collect the coins, epitaphs, and pedigrees, which
+might please his learned correspondent. Crossing
+the Alps, we are told, 'he viewed the Lake of Geneva
+and made a tour through a multitude of books'; and
+returned to Aix with a library and cabinet of gems,
+'thinking to himself that he would never see such
+plenty again.' When he visited Paris in 1605, his
+first object, he said, was to see the illustrious De<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>
+Thou, to thank him for his kind letters, and to
+enquire for messages from Scaliger. 'I cannot
+express,' he repeats, 'how joyfully he entertained
+me.' De Thou took down his books for the visitor,
+and showed him the records under lock and key that
+contained the secrets of his history, 'opening his very
+heart, and brimful of a wonderful sincerity.' Next
+day Casaubon came in from the <i>Biblioth&egrave;que du Roi</i>,
+and showed much pleasure at being introduced to
+the traveller. His letters of a later date show his
+high esteem for Peiresc. 'I am eagerly waiting to
+hear what Scaliger will say about the antiques, but
+I foresee that you will have room to glean after his
+harvest.' On another occasion he wrote: 'I do not
+know if you heard that the Duke of Urbino has sent
+me the Polybius, but I am indeed most beholden to
+you for the kindness.'</p>
+
+<p>Ten years afterwards Peiresc came to Paris again,
+wishing to explore the Oriental treasures in the
+library of De Mesmes, and to visit the huge collections
+in the houses of St. Victor and St. Germain.
+Here he gained the friendship of Pierre S&eacute;guier and
+the elegant Nicolas Rigault, and of J&eacute;rome Bignon,
+the first of a long dynasty of librarians. In England
+he saw the Bodleian, and talked with Savile, and
+admired Sir Robert Cotton as 'an honestly curious
+sort of man.' In Holland his chief business was to
+visit Scaliger, and we are told that he was careful
+not to ask about the treatise on squaring the circle,
+or to hint any doubt as to the truth of the Verona<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
+romance. Here at Leyden he read in the great
+library, soon to be endowed with Scaliger's books,
+and saw the room of which Heinsius so nobly said:
+'In the very bosom of Eternity among all these
+illustrious souls I take my seat'; and at Louvain he
+could only lament the death of Justus Lipsius, whom
+he regarded as 'the light and the loadstar of
+wisdom.'</p>
+
+<p>Gassendi has left us an account of the library
+collected by Peiresc. Besides his acquisitions in the
+East, of which we have spoken elsewhere, the books
+came in crowds from his agents in France and
+Germany, and his scribes in the Vatican and Escorial.
+'When any library was to be sold by public outcry,
+he took care to buy the best books, especially if they
+were of some neat edition that he did not already
+possess.' He bound them in red morocco with his
+cypher or initials in gold. One binder always lived
+in the house, and sometimes several were employed
+at once, 'when the books came rolling in on every
+side.' He would even bind up bits of old volumes
+and worm-eaten leaves; good books, he said, were
+so badly used by the vulgar, that he would try to
+have them prized at least for their beauty, and so
+perhaps they might escape the hands of the tobacconist
+and the grocer. A treatise published by Jerome
+Alexander contained a wonderful description of the
+establishment. 'Your house and library,' says the
+<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'dedication are'">dedication, 'are</ins> a firmament wherein the stars of learning
+shine: the desks are lit with star-light and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
+books are in constellations: and you sit like the sun
+in the midst, embracing and giving light to them all.'
+Peiresc was anxious to circulate the book, which
+contained a rare treatise by Hesychius; but he took
+care to compose another dedication, which was printed
+and inserted without comment.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding his profuse purchases he did not
+leave a large collection at his death. His friends
+complained that he lent 'a world of books' that were
+never returned, and that he was especially lavish of
+any works that could be replaced by purchase. 'About
+ten years after his death,' says his friend Lemontey,
+'his relations brought his books to Paris, where I
+saw them in 1647; they formed a great company of
+volumes, most curiously bound. They ought to have
+been sold <i>en bloc</i>, but as the Genius of the library had
+fled, the Fates ordained that they should be torn
+asunder.' Most of the books were purchased for the
+Coll&egrave;ge de Navarre. A great number of the <span class="smcap">mss.</span>
+were destroyed, though there are still a few volumes
+in the public library at Carpentras. These were
+purchased from Louis Thomassin, a member of
+Peiresc's family, by Don Malachi d'Inguimbert,
+librarian to Pope Clement <span class="smcap">xii.</span>, who founded the
+collection of Carpentras when he became Bishop
+of the diocese. There is a tradition that Peiresc's
+correspondence, containing many thousands of documents,
+was destroyed by his grand-niece, 'a kind of
+female Omar,' who insisted in using the papers for
+lighting fires and making trays for her silk-worms.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Peiresc employed some of the most learned men
+of his time to collect for him in Italy. Jacques
+Gaffarel, who had been engaged in similar work for
+Richelieu, was his principal agent in Rome. At
+Padua he was so fortunate as to secure the services
+of the arch&aelig;ologist Tomasini. But his correspondence
+shows that the prince of librarians, Gabriel
+Naud&eacute;, was at once his agent, his adviser, and his
+friend; and it is from Naud&eacute; that we take the words
+of grief which remain as the scholar's memorial. 'Oh
+cruel Fate and bitter Death, thrust into the midst of
+our jollity! Was there ever a man, I pray you, more
+skilled in history and philology, more ready to assist
+the student, more endowed with wit and wealth and
+worth, the equipment of any man who, like Peiresc,
+is to hold the world of letters at his beck and call.'</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>FRENCH COLLECTORS&mdash;NAUD&Eacute; TO RENOUARD.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Gabriel Naud&eacute; was a Doctor of Medicine, and
+held an appointment at one time as physician in
+ordinary to Louis <span class="smcap">xiii.</span> But even as a student
+he manifested that passion for books which furnished
+the real occupation of his life. Before taking his
+degree at Padua he was librarian to Henri de
+Mesmes, and afterwards to Cardinal Bagni at Rome.
+On his patron's death he was placed in charge of the
+great library which Cardinal Barberini was establishing
+in his palace in the Piazza of the Quattro Fontane.
+Some part of his time was spent in collecting books
+for Cardinal Richelieu, who offered Naud&eacute; the charge
+of his library in 1642; but, the Cardinal having died
+in that year, Naud&eacute; transferred his services to Mazarin.
+He inspired his employer with the desire of emulating
+the magnificence of Barberini and the patriotic
+generosity of Borromeo; and the librarian's keen
+scent for books and minute knowledge of their values
+were thenceforth utilised in the work of creating the
+<i>Biblioth&egrave;que Mazarine</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Richelieu had done things on a grand scale. He
+had confiscated to his own use the whole town-library<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>
+at La Rochelle; and Naud&eacute; was anxious that Mazarin's
+great undertaking should begin with an acquisition
+<i>en bloc</i>. A provincial governor named Simeon Dubois
+had made a collection in the Limousin. His books
+had passed into the hands of Jean Descordes, a Canon
+of Limoges, who died in 1642 possessed of about 6000
+volumes. Naud&eacute; prepared the catalogue, and persuaded
+the Cardinal to purchase the whole property
+by private contract. A few months afterwards the
+King gave him the State Papers collected by Antoine
+de Lom&eacute;nie. A great number of printed books were
+added under Naud&eacute;'s superintendence, and in a short
+time the new library was opened to the public. Its
+regulations were framed in a very liberal spirit, as
+may be learned from the first of Naud&eacute;'s rules: 'The
+library is to be open to all the world without the
+exception of any living soul; readers will be supplied
+with chairs and writing-materials, and the attendants
+will fetch all books required in any language or
+department of learning, and will change them as often
+as is necessary.'</p>
+
+<p>In reviewing the condition of the other great
+libraries, Naud&eacute; pointed out that there was nothing
+like an unrestrained admission except at the Bodleian,
+the Ambrosian, and the Angelica Library at Rome.
+The public had no rights at the Vatican, or the
+Laurentian, or the Library of St. Mark at Venice.
+It was just the same at Bologna, or Naples, or in the
+Duchy of Urbino. The same thing, he said, might
+be seen in other countries. Xim&egrave;nes built a fine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>
+library at Alcal&agrave;, and there was a collection of the
+books of Nu&ntilde;ez at Salamanca; there were the
+Rantzaus at Copenhagen and the Fuggers at Augsburg;
+they had done everything for the use of
+scholars except making the libraries free. The
+French themselves had the King's Library, a vast
+accumulation at St. Victor's, and a rich bequest from
+De Thou; but the use of all this wealth of books was
+hampered by the most complicated restrictions. We
+can see that he was rejoicing in his own good work
+while he praised the stately Ambrosiana. 'Is it not
+astonishing,' he asks, 'that any one can go in when he
+likes, and stay as long as he cares to look about or to
+read or make extracts? All that he has to do is to sit
+at a desk and ask for any book that he wishes to
+study.'</p>
+
+<p>For some years after the new library was established
+Naud&eacute; travelled in quest of books over the
+greater part of Europe. He said that he would have
+ransacked Spain if Mazarin had not preferred an
+invasion by the regular army. He was the 'familiar
+spirit' of the auction-room, and it became a by-word
+that a visit from the great book-hunter was as bad as a
+storm in the book-shops. He boasted in his epigrams
+of exploits in Flanders, in Switzerland, and among
+the Venetian book-stalls. At Rome he bought books
+by the fathom; he skimmed the German shelves, and
+passed over into England to relieve the islanders of
+their riches. At Lyons he met Marshal Villeroi, who
+gave him a great portion of the books which Cardinal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
+de Tournon had bequeathed to the Jesuits. We trace
+the result of his travels in his description of the
+libraries of Europe. Certain subjects, as he said, are
+in vogue at particular places, and we ought always to
+notice the book-fashions to show our respect for the
+feelings of mankind. 'For positive science we go to
+Rome or Florence or Naples, and for jurisprudence
+to Paris or Milan; France supplies us with history;
+and if we wanted scholastic lore we might go to
+Spain, or the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge.'</p>
+
+<p>In 1647 the Mazarine Library contained about
+45,000 volumes, and Naud&eacute; in his joy proclaimed it
+as the eighth wonder of the world. The Parisians
+appeared to be delighted with the superb Lom&eacute;nie
+<span class="smcap">mss.</span> and the crowd of bright volumes in the Cardinal's
+ordinary livery. But in 1651 the Parliament got the
+upper hand of the 'Red Tyrant' in one of the unmeaning
+struggles of the Wars of the Fronde; the
+property of Mazarin was confiscated for a time, and
+the library was put up for sale. The list of Commissioners
+included the respectable names of Alexandre
+P&eacute;tau and Pierre Pithou; yet we are assured
+that the auction resembled a massacre, and that
+hardly any obstacle was placed in the way of the
+most impudent thefts. Naud&eacute; in vain petitioned
+against a decree which had fallen like a thunder-bolt
+on the 'wonderful work of his life.' 'Why will you
+not save this daughter of mine, this library that is the
+fairest and best-endowed in the world? Can you permit
+the public to be deprived of such a precious and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
+useful treasure? Can you endure that this fair flower,
+which spreads its perfume through the world, should
+wither as you hold it in your hands?'</p>
+
+<p>Naud&eacute; spent his own small fortune in ransoming
+the books on medicine. He had worked hard to persuade
+Queen Christina to purchase the whole collection;
+but when it came to the point she only bought
+a few <span class="smcap">mss.</span> which were afterwards returned. The
+'Pallas of the North,' was interested in Naud&eacute;'s
+misfortunes. She invited him to take charge of the
+Royal Library at Stockholm, and here he rested for a
+while. He made acquaintance in Sweden with several
+celebrated men of letters; Descartes was a guest at
+the Court, and used to be ready to begin his metaphysical
+discourses at day-break. Naud&eacute; on one
+occasion delighted the young Queen by stepping a
+Greek dance with Professor Meibomius, who was
+just at that time bringing out his work upon the music
+of the ancients. The climate, or the excitement of
+that vivacious Court, began to disagree with Naud&eacute;'s
+health; he resigned his appointment and returned to
+France, but died at Abbeville on his way to Paris, a
+few months before his patron's return to power.
+When the public library was established again the
+Cardinal purchased Naud&eacute;'s private collection of
+8000 books; and care was taken to preserve them
+apart, as a mark of distinction, in a gallery named
+after the famous librarian.</p>
+
+<p>The hereditary collections of Colbert and La
+Moignon were as much indebted to their librarians as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
+the Mazarine to the labours of Naud&eacute;. The Minister
+Jean-Baptiste Colbert was as celebrated for his books
+as for his finance: but the magnificence of the library
+was mainly due to its guardian Calcavi and his successor
+the venerable Baluze. Colbert's manuscripts
+are believed to have been the most valuable ever
+amassed by a person of private fortune. Among
+their eight thousand volumes were the choicest
+treasures from St. Martin's Abbey at Metz, including
+the <i>Book of Hours</i> used by Charles the Great, and a
+Bible said to have been illuminated for Charles the
+Bald. There were about 50,000 printed books, almost
+all well-bound; and it was thought that the choicest
+Levantine moroccos had been secured for the
+Minister by an article in a treaty with the Sultan.
+Colbert died in 1683, and the library remained in his
+family for half a century afterwards. In 1728 the
+Marquis de Seignelaye sold the books, and began
+to sell a portion of the manuscripts; the world was
+alarmed at the idea of a general dispersion; the
+remaining manuscripts, however, were offered to
+Louis <span class="smcap">xv.</span>; and there was great rejoicing when he
+wrote '<i>Bon, 300,000 livres</i>' on the letter received
+from the Marquis.</p>
+
+<p>The other famous library was amassed by 'an extraordinary
+family of book-collectors.' It was begun
+by Guillaume de la Moignon, who was President of
+the Parliament of Paris in 1658. His son Chr&eacute;tien
+de la Moignon was as zealous a book-buyer as his
+father, and he secured the renown of their library by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
+engaging the services of Adrien Baillet. Dibdin
+quoted passages from Baillet's biography that show
+the tenderness with which the family treated his
+'crazy body and nervous mind': 'Madame La
+Moignon and her son always took a pleasure in anticipating
+his wishes, soothing his irritabilities, promoting
+his views, and speaking loudly and constantly
+of the virtues of his head and heart.' Baillet in his
+turn gave to his employers the credit of his best
+literary work. 'It was done for you,' he wrote, 'and
+in your house, and by one who is ever yours to command.'
+The library was much enlarged by its owner
+in the third generation; and by its union with the
+collection of M. Berryer, who died in 1762, it became
+'one of the most splendid in Europe.' It was dispersed
+during the troubles of the Revolution, and a
+great portion was brought to London in 1791; but
+the works on jurisprudence were reserved, and were
+sold in Paris a few years afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>David Ancillon is perhaps best known as the
+defender of Luther and Calvin. But according to
+Bayle he was an indefatigable book-collector, and
+notable for having set the fashion of buying books in
+the first edition. Most people thought, said D'Israeli,
+that the first edition was only an imperfect essay,
+'which the author proposes to finish after trying
+the sentiments of the literary world.' Bayle was on
+the side of Ancillon. There are cases, as he remarked,
+in which the second edition has never appeared; and
+at any rate the man who waits for the reprint shows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
+'that he loves a pistole better than knowledge.'
+Ancillon, however, always indulged himself with 'the
+most elegant edition,' whatever the first might have
+been; he considered that 'the less the eyes are
+fatigued in reading or work the more liberty the mind
+feels in judging of it.' It is easier to detect the merits
+in print than in manuscript: 'and so we see them more
+plainly in good paper and clear type than when the
+impression and paper are <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'bad?'">bad?'</ins> Some have thought
+it better to have many editions of a good book:
+'among other things,' says our critic, 'we feel great
+satisfaction in tracing the variations.' Ancillon was
+naturally accused of an indiscriminate mania for
+collecting; and he confessed that he was to some
+extent infected with the 'book-disease.' It was said
+that he never left his books day or night, except
+when he went to preach to his humble congregation.
+He was convinced that some golden thought might
+be found in the dullest work. Ancillon remained in
+France as long as his religion was tolerated. He
+found a home across the Rhine after the revocation
+of the Edict of Nantes; but from that time he had to
+be content with German editions, all his fine tall
+volumes having been destroyed by the 'Catholic'
+rioters at Metz.</p>
+
+<p>If Evelyn can be believed, the art of book-collecting
+had come to a very poor pass in France about the
+seventeenth century. It had been discovered that
+certain classes of books were the necessary furniture of
+every gentleman's library. If a man of quality built a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>
+mansion he would expect to find a book-room and a
+quantity of shelves; it was a simple matter further
+on to order so many yards of folios or octavos, all in
+red morocco, with the coat of arms stamped in gold.
+Such collections, said La Bruy&egrave;re, are like a picture-gallery
+with a strong smell of leather: the owner is
+most polite in showing off 'the gold leaves, Etruscan
+bindings, and fine editions'; 'we thank him for his
+kindness, but care as little as himself to visit the tan-yard
+which he calls his library.' We must not forget
+the financier Bretonvilliers, who about the year 1657
+determined to become a bibliophile, and so far succeeded
+that some of his local books on Lorraine were
+purchased for the National Library. He first built a
+H&ocirc;tel, not far from the Cathedral of Notre-Dame,
+with a large gallery in which with infinite pains he
+built up a magnificent book-case; the contents were
+of less importance; but he succeeded after a time in
+filling it with books stamped with his new device of
+an eagle holding the olive-branch.</p>
+
+<p>One or two of the more serious collectors may be
+noticed before we pass to the great age of Rothelin
+and La Valli&egrave;re. Henri du Bouchet had gathered
+about eight thousand books, all very well chosen,
+according to the testimony of the P&egrave;re Jacob; on his
+death in 1654 he bequeathed them to the Abbey
+of St. Victor on public trusts so that those who
+came after him might find a solace in what had been
+'his dearest delight.' He requested that they might
+be free to students for three days in the week and for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
+seven hours in the day; and his wishes were duly
+regarded until the great library of St. Victor was dispersed
+in 1791. The monks set up a tablet and bust
+in memory of the generous donor; and perceiving
+that the volumes were not emblazoned in the usual
+way they adopted the singular plan of inserting pieces
+of leather bearing his arms into holes cut in the
+ancient bindings.</p>
+
+<p>The Abb&eacute; Boisot was another of the scholars who
+lived entirely for books. While quite a young man
+he acquired a considerable library in his travels
+through Spain and Italy; and in 1664, during an
+official visit to Besan&ccedil;on, he was so fortunate as to
+acquire the <span class="smcap">mss.</span> of the Cardinal de Granvelle, who
+had been the confidential minister of the Emperor
+Charles <span class="smcap">v.</span> Boisot wrote a delightful account of
+the adventures through which this collection had
+passed. 'At first,' he says, 'the servants used what
+they pleased, and then the neighbours' children helped
+themselves; when some packing-cases were wanted,
+the butler, to show his economy, sold the records
+contained in them to a grocer.' At last they were all
+tired of these 'useless old papers,' and determined to
+throw them away. Jules Chifflet, according to
+Guigard, was the means of saving the remainder.
+He examined a number of the documents and recognised
+their importance, though they were mostly in
+cipher; but he died before they could be sorted out.
+Boisot bought what he could from the heirs, and
+found a good many more <span class="smcap">mss.</span> in the neighbourhood.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
+They passed with the rest of Boisot's books to the
+Abbey of St. Vincent at Besan&ccedil;on; and during the
+Revolution the whole collection became the property
+of the citizens and was transferred to the public
+library.</p>
+
+<p>The hereditary treasures of the Bouhier family were
+dispersed in the same way through several provincial
+libraries. The collection had begun in the reign of
+Louis <span class="smcap">xii.</span>, and something had been done in each
+generation afterwards by way of adding fine books
+and manuscripts. &Eacute;tienne Bouhier had collected in
+all parts of Italy. Jean Bouhier in 1642 bought the
+accumulations of Pontus de Thyard, the learned
+Bishop of Ch&acirc;lons. His father's own library had been
+dispersed among his children; but Jean Bouhier
+succeeded in getting it together again, and added a
+large number of <span class="smcap">mss.</span> which he had gathered for the
+illustration of the history of Burgundy. The library
+became still more famous in the time of his grandson
+the President Jean Bouhier, who has been admired
+as the type of the true bibliophile. The bibliomaniac
+heaps up books from avarice or some animal instinct;
+he is a collector, it is said, 'without intelligent
+curiosity.' Bouhier used to read his books and make
+notes upon them; and it is said that he carried the
+practice to such excess as to deface with marginal
+scribblings the finest work of Henri Estienne and
+Antoine V&eacute;rard. A visitor to his library described
+the sober magnificence of the rosewood shelves with
+silken hangings in which the rare editions and long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>
+rows of manuscripts were ranged. In the next
+generation there was a startling change. The library
+had been left to Bouhier's son-in-law, Chartraire de
+Bourbonne: the grave offspring of Aldus and Gryphius
+found themselves in company with poets of the <i>talon
+rouge</i> and muses of the <i>Op&eacute;ra bouffe</i>. When the gay
+De Bourbonne died, the ill-assorted crowd passed to
+his son-in-law in his turn, and was transferred in 1784
+to the Abbey of Clairvaux.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot name or classify the bibliophiles of the
+eighteenth century. It would be endless to describe
+them with the briefest of personal notes; how M. Barr&eacute;
+loved out-of-the-way books and fugitive pieces, or
+Lambert de Thorigny a good history, or how Gabriel
+de Sartines, the policeman of the Parc aux Cerfs, had
+a marvellous collection about Paris. When Count
+Macarthy sold his books at Toulouse his catalogue contained
+a list of about ninety others, issued in the same
+century, from which his riches were derived. We can
+point to a few of the mightiest Nimrods. We see
+the serene Gaignat pass, and the bustling La Valli&egrave;re;
+the Duc d'Estr&eacute;es is recognised as a busy book-hunter,
+and there are the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'physicans'">physicians</ins> Hyacinthe Baron and
+Falconnet whose keenness no prey could escape. We
+can distinguish the forms of the elegant '<i>bibliomanes</i>'
+to whom their books were as pictures or as
+jewels to be enclosed in a shrine; there is Count
+d'Hoym with a house full of treasures, and Boisset
+and Girardot de Pr&eacute;fond with their cabinets of
+marvels. If the crowds in the old-fashioned libraries<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>
+are like the multitude at Babel, these tall volumes in
+crushed morocco and 'triple gold bands' remind us of
+what our antiquaries have said of books glimmering in
+their wire cases 'like eastern beauties peering through
+their jalousies.' We ought to say something of
+M. de Chamillard, best known in his public capacity
+as a good match for the King at billiards and as the
+minister who proposed the revocation of the Edict of
+Nantes. In private life Michael de Chamillard was
+a virtuoso with well-filled galleries and portfolios;
+and he had assembled a large company of books of
+fashionable appearance. But our real interest is not
+so much with the Minister of Billiards, as M. Uzanne
+described him, but rather with his wife and three
+daughters, who were all true female bibliophiles. The
+eldest daughter, the Marquise de Dreux, was wife of
+the Grand Master of the Ceremonies; but though his
+collection was gay and polite the Marquise insisted
+on a separate establishment for the books that she
+had discovered and bought and bound. The Duchesse
+de la Feuillade and the Duchesse de Lorges insisted,
+like their elder sister, on having libraries for their
+separate use. The minister's wife was celebrated for
+the splendour of her books, and marvellous prices
+have been paid for specimens of her earlier style.
+But 'little Madame de Chamillard' attached herself
+in all things to the Maintenon, and followed the uncrowned
+queen in abandoning the paths of vanity;
+she gave up the world, so far as gilt arabesques and
+crushed morocco were concerned, and dressed all her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
+later acquisitions <i>&agrave; la Jans&eacute;niste</i>, in plain leather with
+perhaps the thinnest line of blind-tooling for an
+ornament.</p>
+
+<p>Charles du Fay was a captain in the Guards, compelled
+by his misfortunes to confine himself to the
+battles of the book-sale. He lost a leg at the bombardment
+of Brussels in 1695; and though he was
+promoted to a company in the Guards, it became at
+last apparent that he could not serve on horseback.
+Du Fay, we are told, was fortunately fond of literature;
+and he devoted himself with eagerness to the
+task of collecting a magnificent library. History and
+Latin poetry had always been his favourite subjects,
+and it appears that he was already collecting fine
+examples in this department during his campaigns
+in Germany and Flanders.</p>
+
+<p>M. de Lincy commemorates the good taste that
+impelled Du Fay to buy several of Grolier's books,
+and records the industry with which he sought to
+remedy his defects of education. Professor Brochard,
+he says, was a learned man, with a good library of
+his own, who went to inspect the books gathered
+by Du Fay from all parts of Europe. The visitor
+expressed surprise that out of nearly four thousand
+volumes there should hardly be any in Greek.
+'I have hardly retained a word of the language,'
+said Du Fay. 'Cato in his old age,' replied the
+Professor, 'did not hesitate for a moment to learn
+it; and a person quite ignorant of Greek can never
+know Latin well.' Du Fay was an easy good-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>natured
+man, and at once followed his friend's
+advice, beginning from that day to buy Greek books
+and to work at the language so as to be able to read
+them. His object, however, in forming a library was
+not so much to gather useful information as to set
+up a museum of literary rarities. The idea is in
+accordance with our modern taste, and perhaps with
+the common sense of mankind; but some of the old-fashioned
+collectors were angry with the poor epicure
+of learning. The Pr&eacute;sident Bouhier writes to Marais
+in 1725 on seeing a catalogue of the library: 'This
+savours more of bibliomania than scholarship.' Marais
+at once replied: 'Your judgment on Du Fay's catalogue
+is most excellent: it is not a library, but a
+shop full of curious book-specimens, made to sell
+and not to keep for one's self.'</p>
+
+<p>Many of Du Fay's books were bought by Count
+d'Hoym, who lived for many years at Paris as ambassador
+from Augustus of Poland and Saxony.
+The Count has been accused of showing bad manners
+at Court, and of bad faith in giving the trade secrets
+of Dresden to the factory at S&egrave;vres; in bibliography
+at any rate, he was supreme among the amateurs,
+and his White Eagle of Poland appears upon no
+volume that is not among the best of its kind. He
+sat at one time at the feet of the Abb&eacute; de Rothelin;
+but he soon became his master's equal in matters of
+taste, and was accepted until his exile at Nancy as
+the arbiter of elegance among the Parisians. M. Guigard
+quotes from the dedication of a 'treasury' of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>
+French poetry a passage that indicates his high
+position: 'To the poets in this assemblage, whoever
+they be, it is a glory, Monseigneur, to enter your
+Excellency's library, so full, so magnificent, so well
+chosen, that it is justly accounted the prodigy of
+learning.'</p>
+
+<p>Charles d'Orl&eacute;ans, Abb&eacute; de Rothelin, had died in
+1744, when most of his books became the property
+of the nation. In some respects he was the most
+distinguished of the book-collectors. His learning
+and wealth enabled him to make a collection of theology
+that has never been surpassed; and he had the
+good fortune to acquire the vast series of State Papers
+and the priceless medi&aelig;val <span class="smcap">mss.</span> collected by Nicolas
+Foucault. His special taste was for immaculate
+editions in splendid bindings; but nothing escaped
+his notice that was in any way remarkable or interesting.</p>
+
+<p>Paul Girardot de Pr&eacute;fond was a timber-merchant
+who fell into an apathetic state on retiring from
+active business. His physician, Hyacinthe Baron,
+was an eminent book-collector, and he advised the
+patient to take up the task of forming a library. So
+successful was the prescription that the merchant
+became renowned during the next half century for
+his superb bindings, his specimens from Grolier's
+stores, and the Delphin and Variorum classics which
+he procured from the library of Gascq de la Lande.
+On two occasions the sale of his surplus treasures
+made an excitement for the literary world. Some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
+of his rarest books were sold in 1757, and twelve
+years afterwards his Delphin series and the greater
+part of his general collection were purchased by
+Count Macarthy.</p>
+
+<p>M&eacute;rard de St. Just was another collector, whose
+exquisite taste is still gratefully remembered, though
+his small library has long been dispersed, and was indeed
+almost destroyed by a series of accidents before
+the outbreak of the great Revolution. 'My library,' he
+said, 'is very small, but it is too large for me to fill
+it with good books.' He would not have the first
+editions of the classics, because they were generally
+printed on bad paper which it was disagreeable to
+touch, with the exception of works produced by the
+Aldine Press. Nor would he buy mere curiosities,
+says Guigard, but left them to persons who cared for
+empty display, 'like one who proudly exhibits his
+patents of nobility without being able to point to
+any distinguished action of his ancestors.' He was
+the owner of many choice books that had belonged
+to Gaignat and Charron de M&eacute;nars, or had been
+bound for Madame de Pompadour, or to the undiscriminating
+Du Barry. In 1782, we are told, he despatched
+the best part of his library to America, but
+had the grief of learning soon afterwards that they had
+been captured at sea by the English. His philosophical
+temper was shown in his reply to the bad news: 'I
+have but one wish upon the subject; I hope that the
+person who gets this part of the booty will be able
+to comprehend the value of the treasure that has
+come to his hands.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The elder Mirabeau was a collector of another type.
+The 'friend of mankind' intended to gather together
+the best and largest library in the world. He cared
+nothing for the scarcity or the external adornments
+of a volume; but he had a huge appetite for knowledge,
+and he longed to have the means of referring to all
+that could illustrate the progress of the race. He did
+not live to attain any marked success in his gigantic
+design; but his library had at least the distinction of
+containing all the books of the Comte de Buffon, enriched
+with marginal notes in the naturalist's handwriting.</p>
+
+<p>A modest collection was formed a few years afterwards
+by Pierre-Louis Guinguen&eacute;, who wrote a valuable
+work on the literary history of Italy. He is remembered
+as having published amid the terrors of 1791
+an amusing essay on the authority of Rabelais 'in
+the matter of this present Revolution.' He led a
+peaceful life through all that troubled time, and succeeded
+in forming a very useful library containing
+about 3000 volumes; it was purchased for the British
+Museum on his death, and became the foundation of
+the great series of works on the French Revolution
+which has been brought together there.</p>
+
+<p>The long life of M. Antoine Renouard bridges over
+the space between the days of Mirabeau and the time
+when the <i>&eacute;l&eacute;gants</i> of the Third Empire had invented
+a new bibliomania. Renouard had ordered bindings
+from the elder Der&ocirc;me; in 1785 he bought a book at
+La Valli&egrave;re's sale. In his <i>Epictetus</i> there is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>
+following note: 'Bought in May 1785, the first book
+printed on vellum that entered my library; rather
+luxurious for a young fellow of seventeen, but then
+all my little savings were devoted to acquiring books;
+parties of pleasure, and elegancies of toilette, everything
+was sacrificed to my beloved books; and at that
+time a brisk and brilliant business permitted expenses
+which were followed by hard years of privation; it
+was in my first youth that I found it easiest to spend
+money on my books.' Renouard began life as a
+manufacturer. His father made gauze stuffs, and
+kept a shop in the Rue Apolline. In 1787 the
+Abb&eacute; le Blond, the librarian of the Coll&egrave;ge Mazarin,
+heard that Molini had sold a fine Aldine Horace to a
+shopkeeper. 'The next day,' says Renouard, 'Le
+Blond came into my library. "Oh! I shall not have
+the book," he exclaimed, and when I looked round,
+he said, "I beg your pardon, I hoped to tempt you
+with a few <i>louis</i> for your bargain, but I have given
+up the idea at once, and I only ask the double favour
+of seeing the book and of being allowed to make your
+acquaintance."' Renouard was the historian of the
+House of Aldus, and naturally became the possessor
+of some of Grolier's finest books. During his career
+as a bookseller he parted with most of them; and at
+the sale of his library in 1854 the 'Lucretius,' the
+'Virgil,' and the 'Erasmus,' were all that remained in
+his collection.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>LATER ENGLISH COLLECTORS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In describing the English collections of the
+eighteenth century we have the advantage of using
+the memoranda of William Oldys for the earlier part
+of the period. D'Israeli deplored the carelessness
+which led the 'literary antiquary' to entrust his discoveries
+and reminiscences to the fly-leaves of notebooks,
+to 'parchment budgets,' and paper-bags of
+extracts. He expressed especial disappointment at
+the loss of the manuscript on London Libraries, with
+its anecdotes of book-collectors and remarks on booksellers
+and the first publishers of catalogues. The
+book has come to light since his time, having been
+discovered among the important collections bequeathed
+by Dr. William Hunter to the University of Glasgow;
+it was published by Mr. W. J. Thoms about the year
+1862 in <i>Notes and Queries</i>, and was afterwards printed
+by him in a volume containing a diary and other
+'choice notes' by Oldys and an interesting memoir of
+his life. 'In his own departments of learning,' says Mr.
+Thoms, 'Oldys exhausted all the ordinary sources
+of information,' and adds that 'his copious and characteristic
+accounts of men and books have endeared
+his memory to every lover of English literature.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Oldys had some special advantages as a collector of
+old English poetry. He knew, as no one else at that
+time knew, the value of the plays and pamphlets that
+encumbered the stalls; he had no competitor to fear
+'clad in the invulnerable mail of the purse.' Oldys
+was born in 1696; he became involved, while quite a
+young man, in the disaster of the South Sea Bubble;
+and in 1724 he was obliged to leave London for a
+residence of some years in Yorkshire. Among the
+books that he abandoned was the first of his annotated
+copies of <i>Langbaine</i>, which he found afterwards in
+the hands of a miserly fellow, begrudging him even a
+sight of the notes. 'When I returned,' he writes, 'I
+understood that my books had been dispersed; and
+afterwards, becoming acquainted with Mr. Thomas
+Coxeter, I found that he had bought my <i>Langbaine</i>
+of a bookseller who was a great collector of plays and
+poetical books.' His autobiography shows that he
+soon restored his literary losses. His patron, Lord
+Oxford, for whom he afterwards worked as librarian,
+was anxious to buy everything that was rare. 'The
+Earl,' says Oldys, 'invited me to show him my collections
+of manuscripts, historical and political, which
+had been the Earl of Clarendon's, my collections of
+Royal Letters and other papers of State, together
+with a very large collection of English heads in
+sculpture.' Mr. Thoms quotes a note from the
+<i>Langbaine</i> to show that Oldys had bought two
+hundred volumes 'at the auction of the Earl of
+Stamford's library at St. Paul's Coffee-house, where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>
+formerly most of the celebrated libraries were sold.'
+It was while Oldys was living in Yorkshire, under
+the patronage of Lord Malton, that he saw the end
+of the library of State Papers collected by Richard
+Gascoyne the antiquary. The noble owner of the
+<span class="smcap">mss.</span> had been advised to destroy the papers by
+a lawyer, Mr. Samuel Buck of Rotherham, 'who
+could not read one of those records any more than
+his lordship'; but he feared that they might contain
+legal secrets or disclose flaws in a title or, as Oldys
+said, 'that something or other might be found out one
+time or other by somebody or other.' Richard
+Gascoyne, he adds, possessed a vast and most valuable
+collection of deeds, evidences, and ancient records,
+which after his death, about the time of the Restoration,
+came to the family of the first Earl of Strafford.
+They were kept in the stone tower at Wentworth
+Woodhouse until 1728, when Lord Malton 'burnt
+them all wilfully in one morning.' 'I saw the lamentable
+fire,' says Oldys, 'feed upon six or seven great
+chests full of the said deeds, some of them as old as
+the Conquest, and even the ignorant servants repining.... I
+did prevail to the preservation of some few
+old rolls and public grants and charters, a few extracts
+of escheats, and original letters of some eminent
+persons and pedigrees of others, but not the hundredth
+part of much better things that were destroyed.'</p>
+
+<p>One or two extracts from the 'diary and choice
+notes' will show the minute attention given by Oldys<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>
+to everything concerned with books. Under the date
+of June 29th, 1737, we read: 'Saw Mr. Ames' old
+<span class="smcap">mss.</span> on vellum, entitled <i>Le Romant de la Rose</i>, which
+cost forty crowns at Paris when first written, as appears
+by the inscription at the end: it had been
+Bishop Burnet's book, his arms being pasted in it,
+and Mr. Rawlinson's, being mentioned in one of his
+catalogues; in the same catalogue also is mentioned
+Sir William Monson's collection, which Mr. West
+bought and lent me before the fatal fire happened at
+his chambers in the Temple.' Mr. Thorns adds that
+Sir William Monson, an Admiral of note in the reign
+of James <span class="smcap">i.</span>, formed considerable collections, principally
+about naval affairs. Under the date of August
+8th, we read of a visit to Strype the historian. 'Invited
+by Dr. Harris to his brother's at Homerton,
+where old Mr. Strype is still alive, and has the remainder
+of his once rich collection of <span class="smcap">mss.</span>, tracts,
+etc.' Dr. Knight's letter of a few months' earlier
+date was printed by Nichols in his <i>Literary Anecdotes</i>.
+'I made a visit to old Father Strype when in town
+last: he is turned ninety, yet very brisk, and with
+only a decay of sight and memory.... He told me
+that he had great materials towards the life of the
+old Lord Burleigh and Mr. Foxe the martyrologist,
+which he wished he could have finished, but most of
+his papers are in "characters"; his grandson is learning
+to decipher them.' Under the dates of September
+1st and 7th Oldys records that 'the Yelverton
+library is in the possession of the Earl of Sussex,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>
+wherein are many volumes of Sir Francis Walsingham's
+papers'; and a few days later, 'Dr. Pepusch
+offered me any intelligence or assistance from his
+ancient collections of music, for a history of that
+art and its professors in England; and as to
+dramatic affairs, he notes that the Queen's set of
+Plays had at first been thought too dear; but after
+Mrs. Oldfield the actress died, and they were reported
+to be his collection, then the Queen would have them
+at any rate.' When Oldys died his curious library
+was purchased by Thomas Davies, and was put up
+to auction in 1762. The list of printed books comprises
+many literary treasures which in our days can
+hardly be procured, but at that time went for a song.
+'The manuscripts were not so many as might be expected
+from so indefatigable a writer'; it seems that
+Oldys had always been too generous with his gifts
+and loans.</p>
+
+<p>Among his notices of the London libraries we
+find an interesting account of the collection at Lambeth,
+then housed in the galleries above the cloisters.
+'The oldest of the books were Dudley's, the Earl of
+Leicester, which from time to time have been augmented
+by several Archbishops of that See. It had
+a great loss in being deprived of Archbishop
+Sheldon's admirable collection of missals, breviaries,
+primers, etc., relating to the service of the Church, as
+also Archbishop Sancroft's.' The books and <span class="smcap">mss.</span>
+belonging to Sancroft had in part been deposited at
+Lambeth; but on his deprivation they were removed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>
+to Emmanuel College at Cambridge. Oldys added
+that there was another apartment for <span class="smcap">mss.</span>, 'not only
+those belonging to the See, but those of the Lord
+Carew, who had been Deputy of Ireland, many of
+them relating to the state and history of that kingdom.'</p>
+
+<p>Archbishop Tenison had furnished another noble
+library near St. Martin's Lane 'with the best modern
+books in most faculties'; 'there any student might
+repair and make what researches he pleased'; and
+there too were deposited Sir James Ware's important
+Irish <span class="smcap">mss.</span> and many other portions of the Clarendon
+Collection, until offence was taken at their having
+been catalogued among the papers of the Archbishop.</p>
+
+<p>In Dulwich College there was another library to
+which Mr. Cartwright the actor gave a collection of
+plays and many excellent pictures; and 'here comes
+in,' says Oldys, 'the Queen's purchase of plays, and
+those by Mr. Weever the dancing-master, Sir Charles
+Cotterell, Mr. Coxeter, Lady Pomfret, and Lady
+Mary Wortley Montague'; and here we might mention
+the sad case of Mr. Warburton the herald, whose
+forte was to find out valuable English plays. Shortly
+before his death in 1759 he discovered that the cook
+had used up about fifty of the <span class="smcap">mss.</span> for covering pies,
+and that among them were 'twelve unpublished
+pieces by Massinger.' Something may be said too as
+to the older collections formed in London for the use
+of schools. At Westminster, it has been well said,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>
+Dean Williams 'enlarged the boundaries of learning.'
+According to Hackett, he converted a waste room
+into a noble library, modelling it 'into a decent
+shape,' and furnishing it with a vast number of
+learned volumes. The best of them came from the
+library of Mr. Baker of Highgate, who throughout
+a very long life had been gathering 'the best authors
+of all sciences in their best editions.' Dean Colet
+had endowed St. Paul's School with philological
+works in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; but these were
+destroyed in the great fire, together with the whole
+library of the High Master. This was Mr. Samuel
+Cromleholme, who had the best set of neatly-bound
+classics in London; 'he was a great lover of his
+books, and their loss hastened the end of his life.'
+The shelves at Merchant Taylors and in the Mercers'
+Chapel were almost as well filled as those at St.
+Paul's; and Christ's Hospital at that time had a
+good plain library in the mathematical school, with
+globes and instruments, 'and ships with all their
+rigging for the instruction of lads designed for the
+sea.'</p>
+
+<p>In the College of Physicians was a fine collection
+'in their own and the other faculties.' Selden
+bequeathed to it his 'physical books,' and it was enriched
+by a gift of the whole library of Lord
+Dorchester, 'the pride and glory of the College.'
+We can only mention a few of the libraries described
+by Oldys. The Jews, he says, had a collection at
+Bevis Marks relating to the Talmud and Mischna and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>
+their ceremonial worship: the French Protestants
+had another at the Savoy, and the Swedes another
+at their Church in Trinity Lane. The Baptists
+owned a great library in the Barbican. The Quakers
+had been for some years furnishing a library with
+all the works written by the Friends. John Whiting
+published the catalogue in 1708; 'and in my opinion,'
+says our critic, ''tis more accurately and perfectly
+drawn up than the Bodleian Library at Oxford is by
+Dr. Hyde, for the Quaker does not confound one
+man with another as the scholar does.' Francis Bugg,
+he adds, 'the scribbler against them,' had a better
+collection of their writings than any of the brethren;
+'but I think I have read in some of his rhapsodies
+that he either gave or sold it to the library at
+Oxford.'</p>
+
+<p>Charles Earl of Sunderland was the greatest collector
+of his time. He bought the whole library of
+Hadrian Beverland, 'which was very choice of its
+kind,' and a great number of P&eacute;tau's books as mentioned
+before; 'no bookseller,' it was said, 'hath so
+many editions of the same book as he, for he hath all,
+especially of the classics.' Shortly before his death in
+1772 he commissioned Mr. Vaillant to buy largely at
+the sale of Mr. Freebairn's library. In Clarke's
+<i>Repertorium</i> we are told how a fine Virgil was
+secured: 'and it was noted that when Mr. Vaillant
+had bought the printed Virgil at &pound;46 he huzza'd out
+aloud, and threw up his hat for joy that he had
+bought it so cheap.' The great collection was after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>wards
+taken to Blenheim, and has been dispersed in
+our time; 'the King of Denmark proffered the heirs
+&pound;30,000 for it, and "Queen Zara" would have inclined
+them to part with it.' When the Earl of
+Sunderland died, Humphrey Wanley saw a good
+chance for the Harleian. 'I believe some benefit
+may accrue to this library, even if his relations
+will part with none of the works; I mean by his
+raising the price of books no higher now; so that in
+probability this commodity may fall in the market,
+and any gentleman be permitted to buy an uncommon
+old book for less than forty or fifty pounds.'
+If we listen to the Rev. Thomas Baker, the ejected
+Fellow who gave 4000 books to St. John's at Cambridge,
+we shall hear a complaint against Wanley.
+Lord Oxford's librarian when he saw a fine book, even
+in a public institution, used to say, 'It will be better in
+my lord's library.' Baker might have said, 'a plague
+on both your houses!' What he wrote was as
+follows:&mdash;'I begin to complain of the men of quality
+who lay out so much for books, and give such prices
+that there is nothing to be had for poor scholars,
+whereof I have felt the effects; when I bid a fair
+price for an old book, I am answered, "The quality
+will give twice as much," and so I have done.'</p>
+
+<p>The Earls of Pembroke were for several generations
+the patrons of learning. 'Thomas, the eighth Earl,
+was contemporary with those illustrious characters,
+Sunderland, Harley, and Mead, during the Augustan
+age of Britain'; he added a large number of classics<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>
+and early printed books to the library at Wilton, and
+his successor Earl Henry still further improved it by
+adding the best works on architecture, on biographies,
+and books of numismatics; 'the Earl of Pembroke is
+stored with antiquities relating to medals and lives.'</p>
+
+<p>Lord Somers had the rare pieces in law and English
+history which have been published in a well-known
+series of tracts. Lord Carbury loved mystical
+divinity; the Earl of Kent was all for pedigrees and
+visitations; the Earl of Kinnoul made large collections
+in mathematics and civil law; and Lord
+Coleraine followed Bishop Kennett in forming 'a
+library of lives.'</p>
+
+<p>Richard Smith was remembered as having started
+in the pursuit of Caxtons in the days of Charles <span class="smcap">ii.</span>;
+the taste was despised when Oldys wrote, but
+it eventually grew into a mania. 'For a person
+of an inferior rank we never had a collector more
+successful. No day passed over his head in which he
+did not visit Moorfields and Little Britain or St. Paul's
+Churchyard, and for many years together he suffered
+nothing to escape him that was rare and remarkable.'</p>
+
+<p>Mr. John Bridges of Lincoln's Inn was another
+'notorious book-collector.' When his books were
+sold in 1726 the prices ran so high that the world
+suspected a conspiracy on the part of the executors.
+Humphrey Wanley was disappointed in his commissions,
+and called it a roguish sale; of the vendors
+he remarked 'their very looks, according to what I
+am told, dart out harping-irons.' Tom Hearne went to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>
+Mr. Bridges' chambers to see the sale, and descanted
+upon the fine condition of the lots: 'I was told of a
+gentleman of All Souls that gave a commission of
+eight shillings for an Homer, but it went for six
+guineas; people are in love with good binding rather
+than good reading.' Some of the entries in the
+catalogue are of great interest. The first edition of
+Homer, printed at Florence in 1488 on large paper,
+went for about a quarter of the price of an Aldine
+Livy. Lord Oxford secured a 'Lucian' in uncial
+characters, and a splendid Missal illuminated for
+Henry <span class="smcap">vii.</span> There was a large-paper 'Politian' in
+two volumes, very carelessly described as 'finely
+bound by Grolier and his friends'; but the best of
+all was the <span class="smcap">ms.</span> Horace, with an exquisite portrait of
+the poet, 'from the library of Matthias Corvinus,
+King of Hungary.'</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Mead was a collector of the same kind. All
+that was beautiful came naturally to this great man, of
+whom it was said that he lived 'in the full sunshine
+of human existence.' He was the owner of a very
+fine library, which he had 'picked up at Rome.' He
+had a great number of early-printed classics, which
+fetched high prices at his sale in 1754; his French
+books, according to Dibdin, and all his works upon
+the fine arts 'were of the first rarity and value,' and
+were sumptuously bound. His chief literary distinction
+rests on his edition of De Thou's 'History' in
+seven folio volumes. He had received a large legacy
+from a brother, and spent it in the publication of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>
+work 'from which nothing of exterior pomp and
+beauty should be wanting'; the ink and paper were
+procured from Holland; and Carte the historian was
+sent to France 'to rummage for <span class="smcap">mss.</span> of Thuanus.'</p>
+
+<p>Oldys has a few notes upon curious collections
+which he thought might be diverting to a 'satirical
+genius.' A certain Templar, he says, had a good
+library of astrology, witchcraft, and magic. Mr
+Britton, the small-coal man, had an excellent set of
+chemical books,'and a great parcel of music books,
+many of them pricked with his own hand.' The
+famous Dryden, and Mr. Congreve after him, had collected
+old ballads and penny story-books. The melancholy
+Burton, and Dr. Richard Rawlinson, and the
+learned Thomas Hearne, had all been as bad in their
+way. Mr. Secretary Pepys gave a great library to
+Magdalen College at Cambridge: but among the folios
+peeped out little black-letter ballads and 'penny
+merriments, penny witticisms, penny compliments,
+and penny godlinesses.' 'Mr. Robert Samber,' says
+Oldys, 'must need turn virtuoso too, and have his
+collection: which was of all the printed tobacco-papers
+he could anywhere light on.'</p>
+
+<p>For 'curiosity or dotage' none could beat Mr.
+Thomas Rawlinson, whose vast collections were dispersed
+in seventeen or eighteen auctions before the
+final sale in 1733. Mr. Heber in the present century
+is a modern example of the same kind. 'A book is a
+book,' he said: and he bought all that came in his way,
+by cart-loads and ship-loads, and in whole libraries, on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
+which in some cases he never cast his eyes. The
+most zealous lovers of books have smiled at his
+duplicates, quadruplicates, and multiplied specimens
+of a single edition.</p>
+
+<p>Thomas Rawlinson, for all his continual sales,
+blocked himself out of house and home by his purchases:
+his set of chambers at Gray's Inn was so
+completely filled with books that his bed had to be
+moved into the passage. Some thought that he was
+the 'Tom Folio' of Addison's caricature, in which it
+was assumed that the study of bibliography was only
+fit for a 'learned idiot.' Hearne defended his friend
+from the charge of pedantry, and declared that the
+mistake could only be made by a 'shallow buffoon.'</p>
+
+<p>Rawlinson had a miserly craving after good books.
+If he had twenty copies of a work he would always
+open his purse for 'a different edition, a fairer copy, a
+larger paper.' His covetousness increased as the
+mass of his library was multiplied: and as he lived,
+said Oldys, so he died, among dust and cobwebs, 'in
+his bundles, piles, and bulwarks of paper.'</p>
+
+<p>Upon Dr. Mead's death his place in the book-world
+was taken by Dr. Anthony Askew, who travelled far
+and wide in search of rare editions and large-paper
+copies. In describing the sale of his books in 1775
+Dibdin almost lost himself in ecstasies over the magnificent
+folios, and the shining duodecimos 'printed
+on vellum and embossed with knobs of gold.' It has
+been said that with this sale commenced the new
+era in bibliography, during which such fabulous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>
+prices were given for fine editions of the classics; but
+the date should perhaps be carried back to Dr. Mead's
+time. Some credit for the new development should
+also be ascribed to Joseph Smith, who collected early-printed
+books and classics at Venice, while acting as
+English consul. His first library was purchased by
+George <span class="smcap">iii.</span> in 1762, and now forms the best part of
+the 'King's Library' at the British Museum. His
+later acquisitions were sold in 1773 by public auction
+in London. Among other classical libraries of an
+old-fashioned kind we should notice the Osterley Park
+collection, only recently dispersed, which was formed
+by Bryan Fairfax; it was purchased <i>en bloc</i> in 1756
+by Mr. Francis Child, and passed from him to the
+family of the Earl of Jersey.</p>
+
+<p>Topham Beauclerc housed his thirty thousand
+volumes, as Walpole declared, in a building that
+reached halfway from London to Highgate; his collection
+was in two parts, of which the first was mainly
+classical, and the other was very rich in English
+antiquities and history. In 1783 was sold almost the
+last of the encyclop&aelig;dic collections which used to
+fill the position now occupied by great public libraries.
+Mr. Crofts possessed a treasury of Greek and Roman
+learning; he was especially rich in philology, in
+Italian literature, in travels, in Scandinavian affairs;
+'under the shortest heads, some one or more rare
+articles occur, but in the copious classes literary
+curiosity is gratified, is highly feasted.'</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Johnson's books were dispersed in a four-days'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>
+sale in 1785. A copy of the interesting catalogue
+has lately been reprinted by The Club. The most
+valuable specimen, as a mere curiosity, would be the
+folio with which he beat the bookseller, but we suppose
+that very little on the whole was obtained for
+the 662 lots of learned volumes that had sprawled
+over his dusty floor. The Doctor had but little
+sympathy with the fashions that were beginning to
+prevail. He laughs in the <i>Rambler</i> at 'Cantilenus'
+with his first edition of <i>The Children in the Wood</i>,
+and the antiquary who despaired of obtaining one
+missing Gazette till it was sent to him 'wrapped round
+a parcel of tobacco.' 'Hirsutus,' we are told,'very
+carefully amassed all the English books that were
+printed in the black character'; the fortunate virtuoso
+had 'long since completed his Caxton, and wanted
+but two volumes of a perfect Pynson.' In our own
+day we can hardly realise the idea of such riches;
+but the 'Rambler' scouted the notion of slighting or
+valuing a book because it was printed in the Roman
+or Gothic type. John Ratcliffe of Bermondsey was
+one of these 'black-letter dogs.' He had some advantages
+of birth and position; for, being a chandler
+and grocer, he could buy these old volumes by weight
+in the course of his trade. He died in 1776, the
+master of a whole 'galaxy of Caxtons'; his library
+is said to have held the essence of poetry, romance
+and history; it was more precious in flavour to the
+new <i>dilettanti</i> than the copious English stores of
+James West, the judicious President of the Royal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>
+Society; it was far more refined than the 'omnium
+gatherum' scattered in 1788 on Major Pearson's
+death, or Dr. Farmer's ragged regiments of old plays
+and frowsy ballads, and square-faced broadsides
+'bought for thrice their weight in gold.'</p>
+
+<p>M. Paris de Meyzieux was the owner of a splendid
+library. Dibdin has described his third sale, held in
+London during 1791, when the bibliomaniacs, it was
+said, used to cool themselves down with ice before
+they could face such excitement. Of himself he
+confessed that when he had seen the illuminations
+of Nicolas Jany, the snow-white 'Petrarch,' the 'Virgil'
+on vellum, life had no more to offer: 'after having
+seen only these three books I hope to descend to my
+obscure grave in perfect peace and happiness.' The
+<i>Livre d'Heures</i> printed for Francis <span class="smcap">i.</span>, which had
+belonged to the Duc de la Valli&egrave;re, was bought by
+Sir Mark Sykes, and became one of his principal
+treasures at Sledmere.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Robert Heathcote had a most elegant library,
+in which might be seen the tallest Elzevirs and
+several Aldine classics 'in the chaste costume of
+Grolier.' It is said that the books passed lightly into
+his hands 'in a convivial moment,' much to their former
+owner's regret. About the year 1807 they passed
+into the miscellaneous crowd of Mr. Dent's books;
+and twenty years afterwards the whole collection
+was dispersed at a low price, when the book-mania
+was giving way for a time to an affection for cheap
+and useful literature.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The fever was still high in 1810 when Mr. Heath's
+plain classics were snatched up at very extravagant
+terms. Colonel Stanley's library was typical of the
+taste of the day. His selection comprised rare
+Spanish and Italian poetry, novels and romances,
+'De Bry's voyages complete, fine classics, and a
+singular set of <i>faceti&aelig;</i>.' It was sold in 1813, a few
+weeks after the dispersal of Mr. John Hunter's very
+similar collection. This was immediately followed
+by an auction of Mr. Gosset's books, which lasted for
+twenty-three days: they seem to have chiefly consisted
+of divinity and curious works on philology.
+Mr. John Towneley's library was sold a few months
+afterwards. Mr. Towneley was the owner of a fine
+'Pontifical' of Innocent <span class="smcap">iv.</span>, and a missal by Giulio
+Clovio from the Farnese palace; his celebrated <span class="smcap">ms.</span>,
+known as the 'Towneley Iliad,' was bought by Dr.
+Charles Burney, and passed with the rest of his
+books to the British Museum. In 1816 Mr. Michael
+Wodhull died, after half-a-century spent in the steady
+collection of good books in the auctions of London
+and Paris: the recent sale of his library has made
+all the world familiar with his well-selected volumes,
+bound in russia by his faithful Roger Payne, and
+annotated on their fly-leaves with valuable memoranda
+of book-lore. We shall not repeat the story of
+Mr. Beckford's triumphant career, of the glories of
+Fonthill or the later splendours of the Hamilton
+Palace collection. We should note his purchase of
+Gibbon's books 'in order to have something to read<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>
+on passing through Lausanne.' 'I shut myself up,'
+said Mr. Beckford, 'for six weeks from early in the
+morning till night, only now and then taking a ride;
+the people thought me mad; I read myself nearly
+blind.' Beckford never saw the books again 'after
+once turning hermit there.' He gave them to his
+physician, Dr. Scholl, and they were sold by auction
+in 1833; most of them were scattered about the
+world, but some are said to be still preserved at
+Lausanne in the public library.</p>
+
+<p>This period was marked by the rivalry between
+bibliophiles of high rank and great wealth, whose
+Homeric contests have been worthily described by
+Dibdin in his history of the Bibliomania. A note
+in one of the Althorp Caxtons records a more
+amicable arrangement. The book belonged to Mr.
+George Mason, at whose sale it was bought by the
+Duke of Roxburghe: 'The Duke and I had agreed
+not to oppose one another at the sale, but after the
+book was bought, to toss up who should win it, when
+I lost it; I bought it at the Roxburghe sale on the
+17th of June, 1812, for &pound;215 5s.' The Duke was
+chiefly interested in old English literature, Italian
+poetry, and romances of the Round Table; but we
+are told that shortly before his death he was 'in full
+pursuit of a collection of our dramatic authors.' It
+was at his sale that the Valdarfer Boccaccio was
+purchased by Lord Blandford, afterwards Duke of
+Marlborough, for &pound;2260, a sum which at that time
+had never been reached as the price of a single<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>
+volume. It passed into the great collection at White
+Knights, which then contained, in addition to some of
+the rarest English books, the 'Bedford Missal,' another
+missal given by Queen Louise to Marguerite d'Angoul&ecirc;me,
+and a volume of prayers from the hand of the
+caligrapher Nicolas Jany. On the 17th of June,
+1819, the White Knights library was sold on behalf
+of the owner's creditors; and the 'Boccaccio' found a
+safe home at Althorp, where George, Earl Spencer,
+had by fortunate purchases, by zeal in the pursuit of
+books, and by the aid of an accomplished librarian,
+formed that matchless collection which Renouard
+justly described as 'the finest private library in
+Europe.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2>
+
+<ul><li>&AElig;lfric, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li>
+<li>Agricola, Rudolf, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
+<li>Aicardo, Paul, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</li>
+<li>Aidan, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li>
+<li>Albisse, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li>
+<li>Alexander ab Alexandro, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
+<li>Alfred, King, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li>
+<li>Allatius, Leo, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li>
+<li>Alphonso, Naples, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li>
+<li>Amboise, Cardinal de, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
+<li>Ancillon, David, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
+<li>Anne, Queen, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>
+<li>Anne of Austria, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li>
+<li>Anne of Brittany, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li>
+<li>Anselm, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li>
+<li>Apellicon, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li>
+<li>Arcanati, Galeazzo, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+<li>Aretino, Carlo, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li>
+<li>Aretino, Leonardo, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li>
+<li>Argonne, Bonaventure d', <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
+<li>Aristotle, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>
+<li>Arius, Montanus, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
+<li>Arundel, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>
+<li>Arundel, Henry, Lord, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li>
+<li>Arundel, Thomas, Earl of, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li>
+<li>Ascham, Roger, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
+<li>Ashmole, Elias, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+<li>Askew, Anthony, Dr., <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li>
+<li>Asser, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li>
+<li>Attavante, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li>
+<li>Attalus, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li>
+<li>Aubrey, John, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>
+<li>Augustus, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li>
+<li>Augustus of Brunswick, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li>
+<li>Aumale, Duc d', <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li>
+<li>Aungerville (<i>see</i> <a href="#Page_222">Bury, Richard de</a>).</li>
+<li>Aurispa, John, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
+<li>Aquinas, Thomas, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Bacon, Francis, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
+<li>Bacon, Roger, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+<li>Bagford, John, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>-<a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>
+<li>Bagni, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+<li>Baillet, Adrian, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
+<li>Baker (of Highgate), <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>
+<li>Baker, Rev. Thomas, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li>
+<li>Bale, Bishop, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>
+<li>Ballesdens, Jean, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li>
+<li>Baluze, &Eacute;tienne, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
+<li>Barberini, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+<li>Barocci, Francesco, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+<li>Baron, Hyacinthe, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li>
+<li>Barr&eacute;, M., <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
+<li>Bashkirtseff, Marie, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li>
+<li>Basingstoke, John, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
+<li>Beauclerc, Topham, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+<li>Becatelli, Antonio, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li>
+<li>Beckford, Wm., <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li>
+<li>Bede, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+<li>Bedford, John, Duke of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.</li>
+<li>Bentley, Dr., <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li>
+<li>Bernard, Dr., <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li>
+<li>Berri, Jean Duc de, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></li>
+<li>Berry, Duchesse de, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
+<li>Berryer, M., <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
+<li>Bessarion, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>
+<li>B&eacute;thune, Hippolyte de, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>
+<li>Beza, Theodore, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li>
+<li>Bignon, J&eacute;rome, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
+<li>Bigot, Jean, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+<li>Bigot, Robert, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+<li>Bigot, Louis, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+<li>Bill, John, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>
+<li>Biscop, Benedict, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
+<li>Blanche, Queen, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>
+<li>Blandford, Lord, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li>
+<li>Boccaccio, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
+<li>Bodley, Lawrence, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+<li>Bodley, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>-<a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li>
+<li>Boethius, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li>
+<li>Boisot, Abb&eacute;, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
+<li>Bongars, Jacques, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
+<li>Boniface, St., <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li>
+<li>Booker, John, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+<li>Borromeo, Frederic, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+<li>Bouchet, Henri, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+<li>Bouhier, &Eacute;tienne de, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+<li>Bouhier, Jean de, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>
+<li>Bouhier, President, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.</li>
+<li>Bourbon, Charles de, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li>
+<li>Brassicanus, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+<li>Bretonvilliers, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li>
+<li>Bridges, John, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li>
+<li>Bridget, St., <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</li>
+<li>Bristol, Earl of, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+<li>Britton, Thomas, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li>
+<li>Brochard, Professor, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li>
+<li>Browne, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</li>
+<li>Bruges, Jean de, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+<li>Bruges, Louis de, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>-<a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+<li>Bruges, <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_186">La Gruthuyse</a>.</li>
+<li>Bucer, Martin, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>
+<li>Buchanan, George, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>
+<li>Bud&aelig;us, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>-<a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li>
+<li>Buffon, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>
+<li>Buonaparte, Pauline, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
+<li>Burgh, Elizabeth de, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+<li>Burnet, Bishop, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+<li>Burney, Dr. Charles, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li>
+<li>Burton, Robert, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li>
+<li>Bury, Richard de, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>-<a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-<a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>-<a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li>
+<li>Busbec, Angere, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+<li>Busch, Hermann, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>-<a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>C&aelig;sar, Julius, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li>
+<li>C&aelig;sar, Sir Julius, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
+<li>Calcavi, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
+<li>Camden, William, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+<li>Canonici, Matheo, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
+<li>Capranica, Angelo, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
+<li>Capranica, Domenico, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
+<li>Carbury, Lord, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>
+<li>Carew, Lord, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>
+<li>Cartwright (the actor), <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>
+<li>Casaubon, M&eacute;ric, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
+<li>Casaubon, Isaac, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
+<li>Charron de M&eacute;nars, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li>
+<li>Chartraire de Bourbonne, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
+<li>Chevalier, &Eacute;tienne, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
+<li>Chevalier, Nicolas, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+<li>Chifflet, Jules, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+<li>Child, Francis, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+<li>Christina of Pisa, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>
+<li>Christina (Queen of Sweden), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
+<li>Chrysoloras, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li>
+<li>Cino da Pistoia, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</li>
+<li>Cassiodorus, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li>
+<li>Caxton, William, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+<li>Ceolfrid of Jarrow, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
+<li>Chamillard, Madame de, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.</li>
+<li>Charles <span class="smcap">i.</span>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+<li>Charles <span class="smcap">ii.</span>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
+<li>Charles <span class="smcap">v.</span> (of France), <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+<li>Charles <span class="smcap">v.</span> (Emperor), <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+<li>Charles <span class="smcap">vii.</span> (of France), <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></li>
+<li>Charles <span class="smcap">viii.</span> (of France), <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
+<li>Charles <span class="smcap">ix.</span> (of France), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>
+<li>Charles the Bold, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li>
+<li>Charles the Great, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li>
+<li>Charles of Orl&eacute;ans, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+<li>Clarendon, Earl of, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>
+<li>Clavell, Walter, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
+<li>Clement, <span class="smcap">vii.</span>, Pope, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+<li>Clement, <span class="smcap">xii.</span>, Pope, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>
+<li>Cl&eacute;nard, Nicolas, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>
+<li>Cleopatra, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li>
+<li>Cobham, Bishop, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li>
+<li>Cobham, Lord, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+<li>C&oelig;lius, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>
+<li>Colbert, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
+<li>Coleraine, Lord, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>
+<li>Colet, Dean, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</li>
+<li>Columba, St., <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>-<a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+<li>Columbus, Christopher, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li>
+<li>Columbus, Ferdinand, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>-<a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li>
+<li>Cond&eacute;, Princesse de, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li>
+<li>Congreve, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li>
+<li>Consentius, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li>
+<li>Costa, Solomon da, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
+<li>Cotton, Sir John, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li>
+<li>Cotton, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>
+<li>Cotton, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li>
+<li>Courteney, Richard, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>
+<li>Cox, Captain, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>
+<li>Coxeter, Thomas, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>
+<li>Cracherode, Clayton, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>
+<li>Cranmer, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li>
+<li>Crofts, Thomas, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+<li>Cromleholme, Samuel, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</li>
+<li>Cujacius, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li>
+<li>Cuthbert, St., <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Daniel, Bishop, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
+<li>Dee, Dr., <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+<li>Dent, John, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li>
+<li>Descordes, Jean, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li>
+<li>Des Essars, Antoine, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>
+<li>Desportes, Philippe, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+<li>D'Ewes, Sir Symonds, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>
+<li>Diane de Poitiers, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+<li>Digby, Sir Kenelm, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>-<a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li>
+<li>Dodsworth, Roger, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>-<a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>
+<li>Domitian, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li>
+<li>Dorchester, Lord, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</li>
+<li>Douce, Francis, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>-<a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
+<li>Dryden, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li>
+<li>Du Barry, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li>
+<li>Dubois, Simeon, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li>
+<li>Dudley, Robert (Leicester), <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+<li>Du Fay, Charles, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.</li>
+<li>Dugdale, Sir William, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>
+<li>Dunstan, St., <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li>
+<li>Du Puy, Charles, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li>
+<li>Du Puy, Jacques, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li>
+<li>Du Puy, Pierre, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li>
+<li>Dury, John, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Eadburga, Abbess, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
+<li>Edward <span class="smcap">vi.</span>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>
+<li>Egbert of York, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li>
+<li>Elisabeth, Madame, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
+<li>Elizabeth, Queen, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li>
+<li>Ellesmere, Lord, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+<li>Erasmus, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+<li>Essex, Lord, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+<li>Estienne, Henri, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>
+<li>Estr&eacute;es, Duc d', <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
+<li>Estr&eacute;es, Gabrielle d', <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+<li>Eusebius, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li>
+<li>Evelyn, John, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Fairfax, Bryan, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+<li>Fairfax, Lord, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>
+<li>Falconnet, Dr., <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
+<li>Farmer, Dr., <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li>
+<li>Farnese, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>
+<li>Fauchet, Claude, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></li>
+<li>Faure, Antoine, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+<li>Ferrar, Nicholas, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>
+<li>Finnen, St., <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>
+<li>Firmin-Didot, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>
+<li>Fisher, Bishop, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>
+<li>Fitz-Ralph, Archbishop of Armagh, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</li>
+<li>Fl&eacute;chier, Esprit, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>
+<li>Fleming, Robert, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+<li>Fletewode, W., <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+<li>Folkes, Martin, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
+<li>Fontius, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+<li>Foucault, Nicolas, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li>
+<li>Francis, St., <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</li>
+<li>Francis, <span class="smcap">i.</span>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li>
+<li>Francis, <span class="smcap">ii.</span>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>
+<li>Freebairn, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li>
+<li>Fugger, Raimond, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+<li>Fugger, Ulric, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Gaffarel, Jacques, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li>
+<li>Gafori, Franc, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li>
+<li>Gaignat, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
+<li>Gale, Thomas, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
+<li>Gascoigne, Dr., <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+<li>Gascoyne, Richard, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</li>
+<li>Gascq de la Lande, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li>
+<li>Gasparus, Achilles, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li>
+<li>George of Trebisond, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
+<li>Germanus, St., <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li>
+<li>Gibbon, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li>
+<li>Gilles, Pierre, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>
+<li>Giraldi, <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Cynthio'">Cinthio</ins>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>
+<li>Giraldi, Lilio, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>
+<li>Girardot de Pr&eacute;fond, Paul, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li>
+<li>Gloucester, Humphrey Duke of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>-<a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
+<li>Gosset, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li>
+<li>Gouffier, Arthur, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li>
+<li>Gouffier, Charles, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li>
+<li>Gough, Richard, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
+<li>Granvelle, Cardinal de, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+<li>Gray, William, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+<li>Grenville, Thomas, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>
+<li>Grolier, &Eacute;tienne, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
+<li>Grolier, Jean, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li>
+<li>Grost&ecirc;te, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+<li>Guillard, Charlotte, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+<li>Guinguen&eacute;, Pierre-Louis, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>
+<li>Guy Earl of Warwick, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+<li>Guy de Rocheford, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li>
+<li>Guyon de Sardi&egrave;res, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Hackett, Bishop, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</li>
+<li>Hale, Sir Matthew, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
+<li>Harley, Edward, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li>
+<li>Harley, Robert, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>
+<li>Harley, Gabriel, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
+<li>Hearne, Thomas, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>-<a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li>
+<li>Heath, Benjamin, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li>
+<li>Heathcote, Robert, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li>
+<li>Heber, Richard, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li>
+<li>Heinsius, Daniel, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>
+<li>Henri <span class="smcap">ii.</span>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
+<li>Henri <span class="smcap">iii.</span>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>
+<li>Henri <span class="smcap">iv.</span>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>
+<li>Henry <span class="smcap">iv.</span> (England), <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>
+<li>Henry <span class="smcap">v.</span> (England), <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>
+<li>Henry <span class="smcap">vii.</span> (England), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>
+<li>Henry <span class="smcap">viii.</span> (England), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li>
+<li>Henry, Prince, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li>
+<li>Hohendorf, Baron, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
+<li>Holkot, Robert, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>
+<li>Hoym, Count d', <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.</li>
+<li>Hunter, John, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li>
+<li>Hunter, William, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li>
+<li>Huntingdon, Robert, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+<li>Hurtado de Mendoza, Diego, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>
+<li>Hutten, Ulric von, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Inguimbert, <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Don Malachid'">Don Malachi d'</ins>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>James <span class="smcap">i.</span>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>-<a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+<li>James, Dr. Thomas, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>-<a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+<li>Jekyll, Sir Joseph, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
+<li>Jerome, St., <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+<li>Jersey, Earl of, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+<li>Joanna <span class="smcap">ii.</span> (Naples), <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
+<li>John, Duke of Burgundy, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+<li>John, King (France), <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
+<li>John, Precentor, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
+<li>John of Ravenna, 49</li>
+<li>Johnson, Samuel, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li>
+<li>Jonson, Ben, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
+<li>Jovian, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</li>
+<li>Julian, Emperor, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</li>
+<li>Julius <span class="smcap">ii.</span>, Pope, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li>
+<li>Juvenal des Ursins, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Kennett, Bishop, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>
+<li>Kinnoul, Earl of, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Lab&eacute;, Louise, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+<li>Lambert de Thorigny, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
+<li>La Gruthuyse, Louis de, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+<li>Lami, Giovanni, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>
+<li>Lamoignon, Chr&eacute;tien de, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
+<li>Lamoignon, G. de, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
+<li>Lanfranc, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li>
+<li>Langarad, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>
+<li>Lange, Rudolf, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
+<li>Lascaris, Constantine, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
+<li>Lascaris, John, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>
+<li>Laud, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+<li>Lauwrin, Mark, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li>
+<li>La Valli&egrave;re, Duc de, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li>
+<li>Le Blond, Abb&eacute;, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li>
+<li>Lebrixa, Antonio, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>
+<li>Leland, John, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
+<li>Le Neve, Peter, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>
+<li>Leo <span class="smcap">x.</span>, Pope, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>
+<li>Leo, the Philosopher, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li>
+<li>Leofric, Bishop, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li>
+<li>Leoni, Pompeo, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+<li>Leontio Pilato, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li>
+<li>Le Tellier, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+<li>Ligorio, Piero, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>
+<li>Lilly, William, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+<li>Lipsius, Justus, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>
+<li>Loche, Gilles de, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>
+<li>Lom&eacute;nie, Antoine de, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li>
+<li>Louis (of Hungary), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li>
+<li>Louis <span class="smcap">ix.</span>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+<li>Louis <span class="smcap">xi.</span>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
+<li>Louis <span class="smcap">xii.</span>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>
+<li>Louis <span class="smcap">xiii.</span>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li>
+<li>Louis <span class="smcap">xiv.</span>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+<li>Louis <span class="smcap">xv.</span>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
+<li>Louis <span class="smcap">xvi.</span>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li>
+<li>Louis-Philippe, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li>
+<li>Louise de Loraine, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>
+<li>Louise de Savoie, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.</li>
+<li>Lucian, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li>
+<li>Lucullus, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li>
+<li>Lulla, Bishop, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
+<li>Lumley, Lord, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Macarthy, Count, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li>
+<li>Magliabecchi, Antonio, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
+<li>Maintenon, Madame de, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.</li>
+<li>Maioli, Thomas, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li>
+<li>Malton, Lord, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</li>
+<li>Mansion, Colard, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+<li>Mansard, Francis, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>
+<li>Margaret of Austria, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li>
+<li>Margaret of Burgundy, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+<li>Marguerite d'Angoul&ecirc;me, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.</li>
+<li>Marguerite de Valois, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
+<li>Marie Antoinette, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
+<li>Marie Leczinska, Queen, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
+<li>Mary of Austria, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li>
+<li>Mary of Burgundy, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li>
+<li>Mary, Queen of Scots, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>
+<li>Marucelli, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></li>
+<li>Mason, George, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li>
+<li>Matthias Corvinus, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-<a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li>
+<li>Mazarin, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>-<a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
+<li>Mazenta, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+<li>Mead, Dr., <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li>
+<li>M&eacute;dici, Catherine de, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li>
+<li>M&eacute;dici, Cosmo de', <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>
+<li>M&eacute;dici, Lorenzo de', <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+<li>M&eacute;dici, Marie de, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
+<li>M&eacute;dici, Pietro de', <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li>
+<li>Melanchthon, Philip, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+<li>Melzi, Francesco, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>
+<li>M&eacute;rard de St. Just, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li>
+<li>Mercatellis, Rafael de, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</li>
+<li>Mesmes, Guillaume, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+<li>Mesmes, Henri, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+<li>Mesmes, Henri, junior, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+<li>Mesmes, Jean Antoine, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+<li>Mesmes, Louis-Emeric, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+<li>Mirabeau, Honor&eacute; de, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>
+<li>Mirandula, Pico della, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</li>
+<li>Monson, Sir William, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+<li>Montacute, Lord, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+<li>Montaigne, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>
+<li>Moore, John (Bishop), <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li>
+<li>Morata, Olympia, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li>
+<li>More, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Naud&eacute;, Gabriel, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
+<li>Negri, Stefano, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li>
+<li>Neleus, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li>
+<li><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Nevison'">Nevinson</ins>, Dr., <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li>
+<li>Newton, John de, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+<li>Niccoli, Niccolo, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li>
+<li>Nicholas <span class="smcap">v.</span> (Pope), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
+<li>Norfolk, Duke of, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li>
+<li>Nu&ntilde;ez, Ferdinand, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>O'Donnell, David, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Donnell, Sir Neal, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li>
+<li>Oldys, William, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li>
+<li><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Oppenheim'">Oppenheimer</ins>, David, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
+<li>Orsini, Fulvio, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li>
+<li>Osorio, Jerome, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Palladius, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li>
+<li>Pamphilus, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li>
+<li>Paris de Meyzieux, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li>
+<li>Parker, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li>
+<li>Pars, Jacques de, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
+<li>Patrick, St., <a href="#Page_13">13</a>-<a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+<li>Paullus, &AElig;milius, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li>
+<li>Pearson, Major, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li>
+<li>Peiresc, Nicolas, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>-<a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li>
+<li>Pembroke, Henry, Earl of, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>
+<li>Pembroke, Thomas, Earl of, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li>
+<li>Pembroke, William, Earl of, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+<li>Pepusch, John, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+<li>Pepys, Samuel, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li>
+<li>P&eacute;tau, Alexander, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
+<li>P&eacute;tau, Paul, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li>
+<li>Peters, Hugh, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+<li>Petrarch, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>-<a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>
+<li>Philelpho, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li>
+<li>Philip <span class="smcap">ii.</span> (of Spain), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+<li>Philippe le Bon (Burgundy), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+<li>Philippe le Hardi (Burgundy), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+<li>Photius, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>
+<li>Pichon, J&eacute;r&ocirc;me, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li>
+<li>Pignoria Antonio, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>
+<li>Pinelli, Gian-Vincenzio, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>-<a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>
+<li>Pinelli, Maffeo, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li>
+<li>Pirckheimer, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
+<li>Pithou, Fran&ccedil;ois, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+<li>Pithou, Pierre, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></li>
+<li>Poggio, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>-<a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>
+<li>Politian, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+<li>Pollio Asinius, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
+<li>Polydore Vergil, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
+<li>Pompadour, Madame de, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li>
+<li>Postel, Guillaume, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>
+<li>Prynne, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>
+<li>Ptolemy (Philadelphia), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Rabelais, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>
+<li>Rameses, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li>
+<li>Ranconnet, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>
+<li>Rantzau, Marshal, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>
+<li>Rasse de Neux, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li>
+<li>Ratcliffe, John, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li>
+<li>Rawlinson, Richard, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li>
+<li>Rawlinson, Thomas, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li>
+<li>Ren&eacute; of Anjou, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li>
+<li>Ren&eacute;e, Princesse, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li>
+<li>Renouard, Antoine, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.</li>
+<li>Repington, Philip, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>
+<li>Reuchlin, Johann, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+<li>Rhenanus, Beatus, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li>
+<li>Richelieu, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li>
+<li>Rigault, Nicolas, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
+<li>Rivers, Anthony, Lord, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+<li>Rivers, Richard, Lord, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+<li>Robertet, <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Florimonde'">Florimond</ins>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+<li><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Rodolf'">Rodolph</ins> <span class="smcap">ii.</span>, Emperor, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+<li>Roe, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+<li>Rohan, Cardinal de, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li>
+<li>Ronsard, Pierre, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+<li>Rothelin (Charles d'Orl&eacute;ans), <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li>
+<li>Roxburghe, Duke of, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Saint Andr&eacute;, Jean de, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>
+<li>Saint Vallier, Comte de, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li>
+<li>Salutati, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li>
+<li>Sambucus, Dr., <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
+<li>Sammonicus Serenus, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li>
+<li>Sancroft, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+<li>Sartines, Gabriel de, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
+<li>Savile, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
+<li>Savonarola, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>
+<li>Saye, Lord, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+<li>Scaliger, Joseph, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>
+<li>S&eacute;guier, Charles, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li>
+<li>S&eacute;guier, Pierre, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
+<li>Seilli&egrave;re, Baron, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>
+<li>Seignelaye, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
+<li>Selden, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>-<a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</li>
+<li>Seneca, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</li>
+<li>Shakespeare, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
+<li>Sheldon, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+<li><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Sherrington'">Sherington</ins>, Walter, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+<li><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Shewsbury'">Shrewsbury</ins>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
+<li>Sidonius Apollinaris, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li>
+<li>Silvestri, Eurialo, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li>
+<li>Sixtus <span class="smcap">v.</span>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
+<li>Sixtus of Sienna, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>
+<li>Smith, Joseph, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+<li>Smith, Richard, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>
+<li>Soltikoff, Prince, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
+<li>Soubise, Prince de, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li>
+<li>Spelman, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li>
+<li>Spencer, George, Earl, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.</li>
+<li>Spenser, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
+<li>Stafford, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+<li>Stanley, Colonel, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li>
+<li>Stillingfleet, Bishop, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>
+<li>Stowe, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>
+<li>Strozzi, Marshal, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>
+<li>Strype, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+<li>Sulla, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li>
+<li>Sunderland, Earl of, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li>
+<li>Sussex, Earl of, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+<li>Sykes, Sir Mark, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul><li>Tenison, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></li>
+<li>Theodore of Gaza, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
+<li>Theodore of Tarsus, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
+<li>Thomason, George, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li>
+<li>Thou, Abb&eacute; de, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li>
+<li>Thou, Fran&ccedil;ois de, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li>
+<li>Thou, Jacques-Auguste de, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-<a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>-<a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>-<a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li>
+<li>Thou, Jacques-Auguste de (junior), <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li>
+<li>Thyard, Pontus de, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>
+<li>Tiptoft, John, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+<li>Toletus, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li>
+<li>Tomasini, Giacomo, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+<li>Tory, Geoffroy, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>
+<li>Tournon, Cardinal de, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
+<li>Towneley, John, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li>
+<li>Trajan, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li>
+<li>Tyrannion, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li></ul>
+
+<ul><li>Urbino, Elizabeth d', <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
+<li>Urbino, Federigo d', <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
+<li>Urbino, Francesco d', <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
+<li>Urbino, <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Guidobaldo d''">Guidubaldo d'</ins>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
+<li>Urbino, Leonora d', <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
+<li>Urf&eacute;, Claude d', <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+<li>Urf&eacute;, Honors d', <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+<li>Usher, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li></ul>
+
+<ul><li>Van Hulthem, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+<li>Vas&eacute;e, Jean, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>
+<li>Vend&ocirc;me, Duchesse de, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>
+<li>V&eacute;rard, Antoine, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>
+<li>Vic, Dominique, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li>
+<li>Vic, M&eacute;ric de, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li>
+<li>Vinci, Leonardo da, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>-<a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+<li>Vorstius, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li></ul>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Wake, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
+<li>Walsingham, Sir Francis, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+<li>Wanley, Humphrey, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>
+<li>Ware, Sir James, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>
+<li>Webb, Philip Carteret, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+<li>West, James, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li>
+<li>Wentmore, Abbot, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+<li>Whethamstede, Abbot, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
+<li>Whittington, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</li>
+<li>Wilfrid, St., <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
+<li>Williams, Dean, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</li>
+<li>Wodhull, Michael, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li>
+<li>Wood, Anthony, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Xim&egrave;nes, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<h5>Printed by T. and A. <span class="smcap">Constable</span>, Printers to Her Majesty,
+at the Edinburgh University Press.</h5>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3>
+
+<p>Obvious punctuations errors have been repaired.</p>
+
+<p>Accented characters have been made consistent to assist searching via
+the index:</p>
+<ul><li>Medici -> M&eacute;dici</li>
+<li>Francois -> Fran&ccedil;ois</li>
+<li>Ximenes -> Xim&egrave;nes</li>
+<li>Etienne -> &Eacute;tienne</li>
+<li>Orleans -> Orl&eacute;ans</li>
+<li>Derome -> Der&ocirc;me</li>
+<li>Merard -> M&eacute;rard</li>
+<li>Meric -> M&eacute;ric </li></ul>
+
+<p>Hyphenation has been left as printed - inconsistencies are:</p>
+<ul><li>shiploads, ship-loads</li>
+<li>birthplace, birth-place</li>
+<li>heirloom, heir-loom</li>
+<li>lifetime, life-time</li>
+<li>bookshops, book-shops</li></ul>
+
+<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under
+the corrections.
+Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins
+title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Book-Collectors, by 
+Charles Isaac Elton and Mary Augusta Elton
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT BOOK-COLLECTORS ***
+
+***** This file should be named 18938-h.htm or 18938-h.zip *****
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,6103 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Book-Collectors, by
+Charles Isaac Elton and Mary Augusta Elton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Great Book-Collectors
+
+Author: Charles Isaac Elton and Mary Augusta Elton
+
+Release Date: July 29, 2006 [EBook #18938]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT BOOK-COLLECTORS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Great Book-Collectors Charles & Mary Elton]
+
+[Illustration: FABRI DE PEIRESC.]
+
+
+
+
+The Great Book-Collectors
+
+By Charles Isaac Elton
+
+Author of 'Origins of English History'
+'The Career of Columbus,' etc.
+
+& Mary Augusta Elton
+
+[Illustration]
+
+London
+
+Kegan Paul, Trench, Truebner & Co., Ltd.
+
+MDCCCXCIII
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+                                                              PAGE
+
+CHAPTER I.
+CLASSICAL                                                       1
+
+CHAPTER II.
+IRELAND--NORTHUMBRIA                                           13
+
+CHAPTER III.
+ENGLAND                                                        27
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+ITALY--THE AGE OF PETRARCH                                     41
+
+CHAPTER V.
+OXFORD--DUKE HUMPHREY'S BOOKS--THE LIBRARY OF THE VALOIS       53
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+ITALY--THE RENAISSANCE                                         63
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+ITALIAN CITIES--OLYMPIA MORATA--URBINO--THE BOOKS OF CORVINUS  76
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+GERMANY--FLANDERS--BURGUNDY--ENGLAND                           87
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+FRANCE: EARLY BOOKMEN--ROYAL COLLECTORS                        99
+
+CHAPTER X.
+THE OLD ROYAL LIBRARY--FAIRFAX--COTTON--HARLEY--THE
+                       UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE                111
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+BODLEY--DIGBY--LAUD--SELDEN--ASHMOLE                          124
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+GROLIER AND HIS SUCCESSORS                                    139
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+LATER COLLECTORS: FRANCE--ITALY--SPAIN                        158
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+DE THOU--PINELLI--PEIRESC                                     169
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+FRENCH COLLECTORS--NAUDE TO RENOUARD                          183
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+LATER ENGLISH COLLECTORS                                      202
+
+INDEX                                                         221
+
+
+
+
+List of Illustrations
+
+
+PORTRAIT OF PEIRESC                                    _Frontispiece_
+  (From an engraving by Claude Mellan.)
+
+INITIAL LETTER FROM THE 'GOSPELS OF ST. CUTHBERT'                 18
+
+SEAL OF RICHARD DE BURY                                           38
+
+PORTRAIT OF THE DUKE OF BEDFORD PRAYING BEFORE ST. GEORGE         59
+  (From the Book of Hours commonly known as the 'Bedford Missal.')
+
+PORTRAIT OF MAGLIABECCHI                                          74
+  (From an engraving in the British Museum.)
+
+BINDING EXECUTED FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH                             112
+  (English jeweller's-work on a cover of red velvet. From a
+  copy of 'Meditationum Christianarum Libellus,' Lyons,
+  1570, in the British Museum.)
+
+PORTRAIT OF SIR ROBERT COTTON                                    117
+  (From an engraving by R. White after C. Jonson.)
+
+PORTRAIT OF SIR THOMAS BODLEY                                    126
+  (From an engraving in the British Museum.)
+
+BINDING EXECUTED FOR GROLIER                                     141
+  (From a copy of Silius Italicus, Venice, 1523, in the British
+  Museum.)
+
+PORTRAIT OF DE THOU                                              168
+  (From an engraving by Morin, after L. Ferdinand.)
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+CLASSICAL.
+
+
+In undertaking to write these few chapters on the lives of the
+book-collectors, we feel that we must move between lines that seem
+somewhat narrow, having regard to the possible range of the subject. We
+shall therefore avoid as much as possible the description of particular
+books, and shall endeavour to deal with the book-collector or
+book-hunter, as distinguished from the owner of good books, from
+librarians and specialists, from the merchant or broker of books and the
+book-glutton who wants all that he sees.
+
+Guillaume Postel and his friends found time to discuss the merits of the
+authors before the Flood. Our own age neglects the libraries of Shem, and
+casts doubts on the antiquity of the Book of Enoch. But even in writing
+the briefest account of the great book-collectors, we are compelled to go
+back to somewhat remote times, and to say at least a few words about the
+ancient book-stories from the far East, from Greece and Rome, from Egypt
+and Pontus and Asia. We have seen the brick-libraries of Nineveh and the
+copies for the King at Babylon, and we have heard of the rolls of
+Ecbatana. All the world knows how Nehemiah 'founded a library,' and how
+the brave Maccabaeus gathered again what had been lost by reason of the
+wars. Every desert in the East seems to have held a library, where the
+pillars of some temple lie in the sand, and where dead men 'hang their
+mute thoughts on the mute walls around.' The Egyptian traveller sees the
+site of the book-room of Rameses that was called the 'Hospital for the
+Soul.' There was a library at the breast of the Sphinx, and another where
+Cairo stands, and one at Alexandria that was burned in Julius Caesar's
+siege, besides the later assemblage in the House of Serapis which Omar
+was said to have sacrificed as a tribute of respect for the Koran.
+
+Asia Minor was celebrated for her libraries. There were 'many curious
+books' in Ephesus, and rich stores of books at Antioch on the Orontes,
+and where the gray-capped students 'chattered like water-fowl' by the
+river at Tarsus. In Pergamus they made the fine parchment like ivory,
+beloved, as an enemy has said, by 'yellow bibliomaniacs whose skins take
+the colour of their food'; and there the wealthy race of Attalus built up
+the royal collection which Antony captured in war and sent as a gift to
+Cleopatra.
+
+It pleased the Greeks to invent traditions about the books of Polycrates
+at Samos, or those of Pisistratus that were counted among the spoils of
+Xerxes: and the Athenians thought that the very same volumes found their
+way home again after the victories of Alexander the Great. Aristotle
+owned the first private library of which anything is actually recorded;
+and it is still a matter of interest to follow the fortunes of his books.
+He left them as a legacy to a pupil, who bequeathed them to his librarian
+Neleus: and his family long preserved the collection in their home near
+the ruins of Troy. One portion was bought by the Ptolemies for their
+great Alexandrian library, and these books, we suppose, must have
+perished in the war with Rome. The rest remained at home till there was
+some fear of their being confiscated and carried to Pergamus. They were
+removed in haste and stowed away in a cave, where they nearly perished in
+the damp. When the parchments were disinterred they became the property
+of Apellicon, to whom the saying was first applied that he was 'rather a
+bibliophile than a lover of learning.' While the collection was at Athens
+he did much damage to the scrolls by his attempt to restore their
+worm-eaten paragraphs. Sulla took the city soon afterwards, and carried
+the books to Rome, and here more damage was done by the careless editing
+of Tyrannion, who made a trade of copying 'Aristotle's books' for the
+libraries that were rising on all sides at Rome.
+
+The Romans learned to be book-collectors in gathering the spoils of war.
+When Carthage fell, the books, as some say, were given to native
+chieftains, the predecessors of King Jugurtha in culture and of King Juba
+in natural science: others say that they were awarded as a kind of
+compensation to the family of the murdered Regulus. Their preservation is
+attested by the fact that the Carthaginian texts were cited centuries
+afterwards by the writers who described the most ancient voyages in the
+Atlantic. When the unhappy Perseus was deprived of the kingdom of
+Macedonia, the royal library was chosen by AEmilius Paullus as the
+general's share of the plunder. Asinius Pollio furnished a great
+reading-room with the literary treasures of Dalmatia. A public library
+was established by Julius Caesar on the Aventine, and two were set up by
+Augustus within the precinct of the palace of the Caesars; and Octavia
+built another near the Tiber in memory of the young Marcellus. The gloomy
+Domitian restored the library at the Capitol, which had been struck and
+fired by lightning. Trajan ransacked the wealth of the world for his
+collection in the 'Ulpiana,' which, in accordance with a later fashion,
+became one of the principal attractions of the Thermae of Diocletian.
+
+The splendours of the private library began in the days of Lucullus.
+Enriched with the treasure of King Mithridates and all the books of
+Pontus, he housed his collection in such stately galleries, thronged with
+a multitude of philosophers and poets, that it seemed as if there were a
+new home for the Muses, and a fresh sanctuary for Hellas. Seneca, a
+philosopher and a millionaire himself, inveighed against such useless
+pomp. He used to rejoice at the blow that fell on the arrogant
+magnificence of Alexandria. 'Our idle book-hunters,' he said, 'know about
+nothing but titles and bindings: their chests of cedar and ivory, and the
+book-cases that fill the bath-room, are nothing but fashionable
+furniture, and have nothing to do with learning.' Lucian was quite as
+severe on the book-hunters of the age of the Antonines. The bibliophile
+goes book in hand, like the statue of Bellerophon with the letter, but he
+only cares for the choice vellum and bosses of gold. 'I cannot conceive,'
+said Lucian, 'what you expect to get out of your books; yet you are
+always poring over them, and binding and tying them, and rubbing them
+with saffron and oil of cedar, as if they could make you eloquent, when
+by nature you are as dumb as a fish.' He compares the industrious dunce
+to an ass at a music-book, or to a monkey that remains a monkey still for
+all the gold on its jacket. 'If books,' he adds, 'have made you what you
+are, I am sure that you ought of all things to avoid them.'
+
+After the building of Constantinople a home for literature was found in
+the eastern cities; and, as the boundaries of the empire were broken down
+by the Saracen advance, learning gradually retired to the colleges and
+basilicas of the capital, and to the Greek monasteries of stony Athos,
+and Patmos, and the 'green Erebinthus.' Among the Romans of the East we
+cannot discern many learned men, but we know that there was a multitude
+ready to assist in the preservation of learning. The figures of three or
+four true book-lovers stand out amid the crowd of _dilettanti_. St.
+Pamphilus was a student at the legal University of Beyrout before he was
+received into the Church: he devoted himself afterwards to the school of
+sacred learning which he established at Caesarea in Palestine. Here he
+gathered together about 30,000 volumes, almost all consisting of the
+works of the Fathers. His personal labour was given to the works of
+Origen, in whose mystical doctrine he had become a proficient at
+Alexandria. The martyrdom of Pamphilus prevented the completion of his
+own elaborate commentaries. He left the library to the Church of Caesarea,
+under the superintendence of his friend Eusebius. St. Jerome paid a visit
+to the collection while he was still enrolled on the list of
+bibliophiles. He had bought the best books to be found at Treves and
+Aquileia; he had seen the wealth of Rome, and was on his way to the
+oriental splendour of Constantinople: it is from him that we first hear
+of the gold and silver inks and the Tyrian purple of the vellum. He
+declared that he had never seen anything to compare with the library of
+Pamphilus; and when he was given twenty-five volumes of Origen in the
+martyr's delicate writing, he vowed that he felt richer than if he had
+found the wealth of Croesus.
+
+The Emperor Julian was a pupil of Eusebius, and became reader for a time
+in the Church at Caesarea. He was passionately fond of books, and
+possessed libraries at Antioch and Constantinople, as well as in his
+beloved 'Lutetia' on the island in the Seine. A sentence from one of his
+letters was carved over the door of his library at Antioch: 'Some love
+horses, or hawks and hounds, but I from my boyhood have pined with a
+desire for books.'
+
+It is said that another of his libraries was burned by his successor
+Jovian in a parody of Alexander's Feast. It is true, at any rate, that
+the book-butcher set fire to the books at Antioch as part of his revenge
+against the Apostate. One is tempted to dwell on the story of these
+massacres. In many a war, as an ancient bibliophile complained, have
+books been dispersed abroad, 'dismembered, stabbed, and mutilated': 'they
+were buried in the earth or drowned in the sea, and slain by all kinds of
+slaughter.' 'How much of their blood the warlike Scipio shed: how many on
+the banishment of Boethius were scattered like sheep without a shepherd!'
+Perhaps the subject should be isolated in a separate volume, where the
+rude Omar, and Jovian, and the despoilers of the monasteries, might be
+pilloried. Seneca would be indicted for his insult to Cleopatra's books:
+Sir Thomas Browne might be in danger for his saying, that 'he could with
+patience behold the urn and ashes of the Vatican, could he with a few
+others recover the perished leaves of Solomon.' He might escape by virtue
+of his saving clause, and some excuse would naturally be found for
+Seneca; but the rest might be treated like those Genoese criminals who
+were commemorated on marble tablets as 'the worst of mankind.'
+
+For several generations after the establishment of the Eastern Empire,
+Constantinople was the literary capital of the world and the main
+repository of the arts and sciences. Mr. Middleton has lately shown us in
+his work upon Illuminated Manuscripts that Persia and Egypt, as well as
+the Western Countries, 'contributed elements both of design and technical
+skill which combined to create the new school of Byzantine art.'
+Constantinople, he tells us, became for several centuries the main centre
+for the production of manuscripts. Outside the domain of art we find
+little among the Romans of the East that can in any sense be called
+original. They were excellent at an epitome or a lexicon, and were very
+successful as librarians. The treasures of antiquity, as Gibbon has said,
+were imparted in such extracts and abridgments 'as might amuse the
+curiosity without oppressing the indolence of the public.' The Patriarch
+Photius stands out as a literary hero among the commentators and critics
+of the ninth century. That famous book-collector, in analysing the
+contents of his library for an absent brother, became the preserver of
+many of the most valuable classics. As Commander of the Guard he led the
+life of a peaceful student: as Patriarch of Byzantium his turbulence rent
+the fabric of Christendom, and he was 'alternately excommunicated and
+absolved by the synods of the East and West.' We owe the publication of
+the work called _The Myriad of Books_ to the circumstance that he was
+appointed to an embassy at Bagdad. His brother wrote to remind him of
+their pleasant evenings in the library when they explored the writings of
+the ancients and made an analysis of their contents. Photius was about to
+embark on a dangerous journey, and he was implored to leave a record of
+what had been done since his brother had last taken part in the readings.
+The answer of Photius was the book already mentioned: he reviews nearly
+three hundred volumes of the historians and orators, the philosophers and
+theologians, the travellers and the writers of romance, and with an even
+facility 'abridges their narrative or doctrine and appreciates their
+style and character.'
+
+The great Imperial library which stood by St. Sophia had been destroyed
+in the reign of Leo the Iconoclast in the preceding age, and in an
+earlier conflagration more than half a million books are said to have
+been lost from the basilica. The losses by fire were continual, but were
+constantly repaired. Leo the Philosopher, who was educated under the care
+of Photius, and his son and successor Constantine, were renowned as the
+restorers of learning, and the great writers of antiquity were collected
+again by their zeal in the square hall near the Public Treasury.
+
+The boundaries of the realm of learning extended far beyond the limits of
+the Empire, and the Arabian science was equally famous among the Moors
+of Spain and in the further parts of Asia. We are told of a doctor
+refusing the invitation of the Sultan of Bokhara, 'because the carriage
+of his books would have required four hundred camels.' We know that the
+Ommiad dynasty formed the gigantic library at Cordova, and that there
+were at least seventy others in the colleges that were scattered through
+the kingdom of Granada. The prospect was very dark in other parts of
+Western Europe throughout the whole period of barbarian settlement. We
+shall not endeavour to trace the slight influences that preserved some
+knowledge of religious books at the Court of the Merovingian kings, or
+among the Visigoths and Ostrogoths and Burgundians. We prefer to pause at
+a moment preceding the final onslaught. The letters of Sidonius afford us
+a few glimpses of the literary condition of Southern Gaul soon after the
+invasion of Attila. The Bishop of Clermont gives us a delightful picture
+of his house: a verandah leads from the _atrium_ to the garden by the
+lake: we pass through a winter-parlour, a morning-room, and a
+north-parlour protected from the heat. Every detail seems to be complete;
+and yet we hear nothing of a library. The explanation seems to be that
+the Bishop was a close imitator of Pliny. The villa in Auvergne is a copy
+of the winter-refuge at Laurentum, where Pliny only kept 'a few cases
+contrived in the wall for the books that cannot be read too often.' But
+when the Bishop writes about his friends' houses we find many allusions
+to their libraries. Consentius sits in a large book-room when he is
+composing his verses or 'culling the flowers of his music.' When he
+visited the Prefect of Gaul, Sidonius declared that he was whirled along
+in a stream of delights. There were all kinds of out-door amusements and
+a library filled with books. 'You would fancy yourself among a
+Professor's book-cases, or in a book-shop, or amid the benches of a
+lecture-room.' The Bishop considered that this library of the Villa
+Prusiana was as good as anything that could be found in Rome or
+Alexandria. The books were arranged according to subjects. The room had a
+'ladies' side'; and here were arranged the devotional works. The
+illuminated volumes, as far as can now be judged, were rather gaudy than
+brilliant, as was natural in an age of decadence; but St. Germanus was a
+friend of the Bishop, and as we suppose of the Prefect, and his copy of
+the Gospels was in gold and silver letters on purple vellum, as may still
+be seen. By the gentlemen's seats were ranged the usual classical
+volumes, all the works of Varro, which now exist only in fragments, and
+the poets sacred and profane; behind certain cross-benches was the
+literary food of a lighter kind, more suited to the weaker vessels
+without regard to sex. Here every one found what would suit his own
+liking and capacity, and here on the day after their arrival the company
+worked hard after breakfast 'for four hours by the water clock.' Suddenly
+the door was thrown open, and in his uniform the head cook appeared and
+solemnly warned them all that their meal was served, and that it was as
+necessary to nourish the body as to stuff the mind with learning.
+
+When the barbarians were established through Gaul and Italy the libraries
+in the old country-houses must have been completely destroyed. Some faint
+light of learning remained while Boethius 'trimmed the lamp with his
+skilful hand'; some knowledge of the classics survived during the lives
+of Cassiodorus and Isidore of Seville. Some of the original splendour may
+have lingered at Rome, and perhaps in Ravenna. When Boethius was awaiting
+his doom in the tower at Pavia, his mind reverted to the lettered ease of
+his life before he had offended the fierce Theodoric. His philosophy
+found comfort in thinking that all the valuable part of his books was
+firmly imprinted on his soul; but he never ceased regretting the walls
+inlaid with ivory and the shining painted windows in his old library at
+Rome.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+IRELAND--NORTHUMBRIA.
+
+
+The knowledge of books might almost have disappeared in the seventh
+century, when the cloud of ignorance was darkest, but for a new and
+remarkable development of learning in the Irish monasteries.
+
+This development is of special interest to ourselves from the fact that
+the church of Northumbria was long dependent on the Irish settlement at
+Iona. The Anglians taught by Paulinus very soon relapsed into paganism,
+and the second conversion of the North was due to the missionaries of the
+school of St. Columba. The power of Rome was established at the Council
+of Whitby; but in the days when Aidan preached at Lindisfarne the
+Northumbrians were still in obedience to an Irish rule, and were
+instructed and edified by the acts and lives of St. Patrick, of St.
+Brigit, and the mighty Columba.
+
+We shall quote some of the incidents recorded about the Irish books, a
+few legends of Patrick and dim traditions from the days of Columba,
+before noticing the rise of the English school.
+
+The first mention of the Irish books seems to be contained in a passage
+of AEthicus. The cosmography ascribed to that name has been traced to
+very early times. It was long believed to have been written by St.
+Jerome; but in its present form, at least, the work contains entries of a
+much later date. The passage in which Ireland is mentioned may be even as
+late as the age of Columbanus, when Irish monks set up their churches at
+Wuerzburg and on the shores of the Lake of Constance, or illuminated their
+manuscripts at Bobbio under the protection of Theodolind and her
+successors in Lombardy. A wandering philosopher is represented as
+visiting the northern regions: he remained for a while in the Isle of
+Saints and turned over the painted volumes; but he despised the native
+churchmen and called them 'Doctors of Ignorance.' 'Here am I in Ireland,
+at the world's end, with much toil and little ease; with such unskilled
+labourers in the field the place is too doleful, and is absolutely of no
+good to me.'
+
+Palladius came with twelve men to preach to the Gael, and we are told
+that he 'left his books' at Cellfine. The legendary St. Patrick is made
+to pass into Ulster, and he finds a King who burns himself and his home
+'that he may not believe in Patrick.' The Saint proceeds to Tara with
+eight men and a little page carrying the book-wallet; 'it was like eight
+deer with one fawn following, and a white bird on its shoulder.'
+
+The King and his chief Druid proposed a trial by ordeal. The King said,
+'Put your books into the water.' 'I am ready for that,' said Patrick. But
+the Druid said, 'A god of water this man adores, and I will not take
+part in the ordeal.' The King said, 'Put your books into the fire.' 'I am
+ready for that,' said Patrick. 'A god of fire once in two years this man
+adores, and I will not do that,' said the Druid.
+
+In the church by the oak-tree at Kildare St. Brigit had a marvellous
+book, or so her nuns supposed. The Kildare Gospels may have been
+illuminated as early as Columba's time. Gerard de Barri saw the book in
+the year 1185, and said that it was so brilliant in colouring, so
+delicate and finely drawn, and with such enlacements of intertwining
+lines that it seemed to be a work beyond the powers of mortal man, and to
+be worthy of an angel's skill; and, indeed, there was a strong belief
+that miraculous help had been given to the artist in his dreams.
+
+The 'Book of Durrow' called _The Gospels of St. Columba_, almost rivals
+the famous 'Book of Kells' with which Mr. Madan will doubtless deal in
+his forthcoming volume on Manuscripts. A native poet declared that when
+the Saint died in 597 he had illuminated 'three hundred bright noble
+books'; and he added that 'however long under water any book of the
+Saint's writing should be, not one single letter would be drowned.' Our
+authorities tell us that the Book of Durrow might possibly be one of the
+three hundred, 'as it bears some signs of being earlier in date than the
+Book of Kells.'
+
+St. Columba, men said, was passionately devoted to books. Yet he gave his
+Gospels to the Church at Swords, and presented the congregation at Derry
+with the volume that he had fetched from Tours, 'where it had lain on St.
+Martin's breast a hundred years in the ground.' In one of the biographies
+there is a story about 'Langarad of the White Legs,' who dwelt in the
+region of Ossory. To him Columba came as a guest, and found that the sage
+was hiding all his books away. Then Columba left his curse upon them;
+'May that,' quoth he, 'about which thou art so niggardly be never of any
+profit after thee'; and this was fulfilled, 'for the books remain to this
+day, and no man reads them.' When Langarad died 'all the book-satchels in
+Ireland that night fell down'; some say, 'all the satchels and wallets in
+the saint's house fell then: and Columba and all who were in his house
+marvelled at the noisy shaking of the books.' So then speaks Columba:
+'Langarad in Ossory,' quoth he, 'is just now dead.' 'Long may it be ere
+that happens,' said Baithen. 'May the burden of that disbelief fall on
+him and not on thee,' said Columba.
+
+Another tradition relates to St. Finnen's book that caused a famous
+battle; and that was because of a false judgment which King Diarmid gave
+against Columba, when he copied St. Finnen's Psalter without leave. St.
+Finnen claimed the copy as being the produce of his original, and on the
+appeal to the court at Tara his claim was confirmed. King Diarmid decided
+that to every mother-book belongs the child-book, as to the cow belongs
+her calf; 'and so,' said the King, 'the book that you wrote, Columba,
+belongs to Finnen by right.' 'That is an unjust judgment,' said Columba,
+'and I will avenge it upon you.'
+
+Not long afterwards the Saint was insulted by the seizure and execution
+of an offender who had taken sanctuary and was clasped in his arms.
+Columba went over the wild mountains and raised the tribes of Tyrconnell
+and Tyrone, and defeated King Diarmid in battle. When the Saint went to
+Iona he left the copy of Finnen's Psalter to the head of the chief tribe
+in Tyrconnell. It was called the _Book of the Battle_, and if they
+carried it three times round the enemy, in the sun's course, they were
+sure to return victorious. The book was the property of the O'Donnells
+till the dispersion of their clan. The gilt and jewelled case in which it
+rests was made in the eleventh century: a frame round the inner shrine
+was added by Daniel O'Donnell, who fought in the Battle of the Boyne. A
+large fragment of the book remained in a Belgian monastery in trust for
+the true representative of the clan; and soon after Waterloo it was given
+up to Sir Neal O'Donnell, to whose family it still belongs. It is now
+shown at the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. 'The fragment of the
+original _Book of the Battle_', says O'Curry, 'is of small quarto form,
+consisting of fifty-eight leaves of fine vellum, written in a small,
+uniform, but rather hurried hand, with some slight attempts at
+illumination.'
+
+We have now to describe the great increase of books in Northumbria. In
+the year 635 Aidan set up his quarters with a few Irish monks on the
+Isle of Lindisfarne, and his Abbey soon became one of the main
+repositories of learning.
+
+The book called _The Gospels of St. Cuthbert_ was written in 688, and was
+regarded for nearly two centuries as the chief ornament of Lindisfarne.
+The monastery was burned by the Danes, and the servants of St. Cuthbert,
+who had concealed the 'Gospels' in his grave, wandered forth, with the
+Saint's body in an ark and the book in its chest, in search of a new
+place of refuge. They attempted a voyage to Ireland, but their ship was
+driven back by a storm. The book-chest had been washed overboard, but in
+passing up the Solway Firth they saw the book shining in its golden cover
+upon the sand. For more than a century afterwards the book shared the
+fortunes of a wandering company of monks: in the year 995 it was laid on
+St. Cuthbert's coffin in the new church at Durham; early in the twelfth
+century it returned to Lindisfarne. Here it remained until the
+dissolution of the monasteries, when its golden covers were torn off, and
+the book came bare and unadorned into the hands of Sir Robert Cotton, and
+passed with the rest of his treasures into the library of the British
+Museum.
+
+[Illustration: INITIAL LETTER FROM THE GOSPELS OF ST. CUTHBERT.]
+
+Theodore of Tarsus had been consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in the
+year 669. He brought with him a large quantity of books for use in his
+new Greek school. These books were left by his will to the cathedral
+library, where they remained for ages without disturbance. William
+Lambarde, the Kentish antiquary, has left an account of their appearance.
+He was speaking of Archbishop Parker, 'whose care for the conservation of
+ancient monuments can never be sufficiently commended.' 'The reverend
+Father,' he added, 'showed me the _Psalter of David_, and sundry homilies
+in Greek, and Hebrew also, and some other Greek authors, beautifully
+written on thick paper with the name of this Theodore prefixed,' to whose
+library the Archbishop thought that they had belonged, 'being thereto led
+by a show of great antiquity.'
+
+The monks of Canterbury claimed to possess the books on pink vellum, with
+rubricated capitals, which Pope Gregory had sent to Augustine. One of
+these afterwards belonged to Parker, who gave it to Corpus Christi at
+Cambridge: the experts now believe that it was written in the eighth
+century 'in spite of the ancient appearance of the figure-painting.'
+Another is the _Psalter of St. Augustine_, now preserved among the
+Cottonian MSS. This is also considered to be a writing of the eighth
+century.
+
+In the Bodleian library there is a third example, written in quarto with
+large uncial letters in double columns, in much the same style as the
+book given by Parker to Corpus Christi. The Bodleian specimen is
+especially interesting as containing on the fly-leaf a list in
+Anglo-Saxon of the contents of the library of Solomon the Priest, with
+notes as to other small collections.
+
+We have reached the period in which Northumbria became for a time the
+centre of Western culture. The supremacy of Rome, set up at the Council
+of Whitby, was fostered and sustained by the introduction of the Italian
+arts. Vast quantities of books were imported. Stately Abbeys were rising
+along the coast, and students were flocking to seek the fruits of the new
+learning in well-filled libraries and bustling schools. We may judge how
+bright the prospect seemed by the tone of Alcuin's letters to Charles the
+Great. He tells the Emperor of certain 'exquisite books' which he had
+studied under Egbert at York. The schools of the North are compared to 'a
+garden enclosed' and to the beds of spices: he asks that some of the
+young men may be sent over to procure books, so that in Tours as well as
+at York they may gather the flowers of the garden and share in the
+'outgoings of Paradise.' A few years afterwards came the news of the
+harrying of Northumbria by the Vikings. The libraries were burned, and
+Northumbria was overwhelmed in darkness and slavery; and Alcuin wrote
+again, 'He who can hear of this calamity and not cry to God on behalf of
+his country, must have a heart not of flesh but of stone.'
+
+Benedict Biscop was our first English book-collector. The son of a rich
+Thane might have looked to a political career; he preferred to devote
+himself to learning, and would have spent his life in a Roman monastery
+if the Pope had not ordered him to return to England in company with
+Theodore of Tarsus. His first expedition was made with his friend St.
+Wilfrid. They crossed in a ship provided by the King of Kent. Travelling
+together as far as Lyons, Wilfrid remained there for a time, and Benedict
+pushed on to Mont Cenis, and so to Rome, after a long and perilous
+journey. On a second visit he received the tonsure, and went back to work
+at Lindisfarne; but about two years afterwards he obtained a passage to
+Italy in a trading-vessel, and it was on this occasion that he received
+the Pope's commands. Four years elapsed before he was in Rome again:
+throughout the year 671 he was amassing books by purchase and by the
+gifts of his friends; and returning by Vienne he found another large
+store awaiting him which he had ordered on his outward journey. Benedict
+was able to set up a good library in his new Abbey at Wearmouth; but his
+zeal appears to have been insatiable. We find him for the fifth time at
+the mart of learning, and bringing home, as Bede has told us, 'a
+multitude of books of all kinds.' He divided his new wealth between the
+Church at Wearmouth and the Abbey at Jarrow, across the river. Ceolfrid
+of Jarrow himself made a journey to Rome with the object of augmenting
+Benedict's 'most noble and copious store'; but he gave to the King of
+Northumbria, in exchange for a large landed estate, the magnificent
+'Cosmography' which his predecessor had brought to Wearmouth.
+
+St. Wilfrid presented to his church at Ripon a _Book of the Gospels_ on
+purple vellum, and a Bible with covers of pure gold inlaid with precious
+stones. John the Precentor, who introduced the Roman liturgy into this
+country, bequeathed a number of valuable books to Wearmouth. Bede had no
+great library of his own; it was his task 'to disseminate the treasures
+of Benedict.' But he must have possessed a large number of manuscripts
+while he was writing the Ecclesiastical History, since he has informed us
+that Bishop Daniel of Winchester and other learned churchmen in the South
+were accustomed to supply him constantly with records and chronicles.
+
+St. Boniface may be counted among the collectors, though he could carry
+but a modest supply of books through the German forests and the marshes
+of Friesland. As a missionary he found it useful to display a
+finely-painted volume. Writing to the Abbess Eadburga for a Missal, he
+asked that the parchment might be gay with colours,--'even as a
+glittering lamp and an illumination for the hearts of the Gentiles.' 'I
+entreat you,' he writes again, 'to send me _St. Peters Epistle_ in
+letters of gold.' He begged all his friends to send him books as a
+refreshment in the wilderness. Bishop Daniel is asked for the
+_Prophecies_ 'written very large.' Bishop Lulla is to send a cosmography
+and a volume of poems. He applies to one Archbishop for the works of
+Bede, 'who is the lamp of the Church,' and to the other for the Pope's
+_Answers to Augustine_, which cannot be found in the Roman bookshops.
+Boniface was Primate of Germany; but he resigned his high office to work
+among the rude tribes of Friesland. We learn that he carried some of his
+choicest books with him on his last ill-fated expedition, when the meadow
+and the river-banks were strewn with the glittering service-books after
+the murder of the Saint and his companions.
+
+Egbert of York set up a large library in the Minster. Alcuin took charge
+of it after his friend's death, and composed a versified catalogue, of
+such merit as the nature of the task allowed. 'Here you may trace the
+footsteps of the Fathers; here you meet the clear-souled Aristotle and
+Tully of the mighty tongue; here Basil and Fulgentius shine, and
+Cassiodorus and John of the Golden Mouth.' As Alcuin was returning from
+book-buying at Rome he met Charles the Great at Parma. The Emperor
+persuaded the traveller to enter his service, and they succeeded by their
+joint efforts in producing a wonderful revival of literature. The Emperor
+had a fine private collection of MSS. adorned in the Anglo-Frankish
+style; and he established a public library, containing the works of the
+Fathers, 'so that the poorest student might find a place at the banquet
+of learning.' Alcuin presented to the Emperor's own collection a revised
+copy of the Vulgate illuminated under his personal supervision.
+
+Towards the end of Alcuin's career he retired to the Abbey of St. Martin
+at Tours, and there founded his 'Museum,' which was in fact a large
+establishment for the editing and transcription of books. Here he wrote
+those delightful letters from which we have already made an extract. To
+his friend Arno at Salzburg he writes about a little treatise on
+orthography, which he would have liked to have recited in person. 'Oh
+that I could turn the sentences into speech, and embrace my brother with
+a warmth that cannot be sent in a book; but since I cannot come myself I
+send my rough letters, that they may speak for me instead of the words of
+my mouth.' To the Emperor he sent a description of his life at Tours: 'In
+the house of St. Martin I deal out the honey of the Scriptures, and some
+I excite with the ancient wine of wisdom, and others I fill full with the
+fruits of grammatical learning.'
+
+Very few book-lovers could be found in England while the country was
+being ravaged by the Danes. The Northern Abbeys were burned, and their
+libraries destroyed. The books at York perished, though the Minster was
+saved; the same fate befell the valuable collections at Croyland and
+Peterborough. The royal library at Stockholm contains the interesting
+'Golden Gospels,' decorated in the same style as the _Book of
+Lindisfarne_, and perhaps written at the same place. An inscription of
+the ninth century shows that it was bought from a crew of pirates by Duke
+Alfred, a nobleman of Wessex, and was presented by him and his wife
+Werburga to the Church at Canterbury.
+
+It seems possible that literature was kept alive in our country by King
+Alfred's affection for the old English songs. We know that he used to
+recite them himself and would make his children get them by heart. He was
+not much of a scholar himself, but he had all the learning of Mercia to
+help him. Archbishop Plegmund and his chaplains were the King's
+secretaries, 'and night and day, whenever he had time, he commanded these
+men to read to him.' From France came Provost Grimbald, a scholar and a
+sweet singer, and Brother John of Corbei, a paragon in all kinds of
+science. Asser came to the Court from his home in Wales: 'I remained
+there,' he says, 'for about eight months, and all that time I used to
+read to him whatever books were at hand; for it was his regular habit by
+day and night, amidst all his other occupations, either to read to
+himself or to listen while others read to him.' St. Dunstan was an ardent
+admirer of the old battle-chaunts and funeral-lays. He was, it need
+hardly be said, the friend of all kinds of learning. The Saint was an
+expert scribe and a painter of miniatures; and specimens of his exquisite
+handiwork may still be seen at Canterbury and in the Bodleian at Oxford.
+He was the real founder of the Glastonbury library, where before his time
+only a few books had been presented by missionaries from Ireland. His
+great work was the establishment of the Benedictines in the place of the
+regular clergy: and the reform at any rate insured the rise of a number
+of new monasteries, each with its busy 'scriptorium,' out of which the
+library would grow. We must say a word in remembrance of Archbishop
+AElfric, the author of a great part of our English Chronicle. He was
+trained at Winchester, where the illuminators, it is said, were 'for a
+while the foremost in the world.' He enacted that every priest should
+have at least a psalter and hymn-book and half a dozen of the most
+important service-books, before he could hope for ordination. His own
+library, containing many works of great value, was bequeathed to the
+Abbey of St. Alban's. We end the story of the Anglo-Saxon books with a
+mention of Leofric, the first Bishop of Exeter, who gave a magnificent
+donation out of his own library to the Cathedral Church. The catalogue is
+still extant, and some of the volumes are preserved at Oxford. There were
+many devotional works of the ordinary kind; there were 'reading-books for
+winter and summer,' and song-books, and especially 'night-songs'; but the
+greatest treasure of all was the 'great book of English poetry,' known as
+the Exeter Book, in which Cynewulf sang of the ruin of the 'purple arch,'
+and set forth the Exile's Lament and the Traveller's Song.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+ENGLAND.
+
+
+A more austere kind of learning came in with the Norman Conquest.
+Lanfranc and Anselm introduced at Canterbury a devotion to science, to
+the doctrines of theology and jurisprudence, and to the new discoveries
+which Norman travellers were bringing back from the schools at Salerno.
+Lanfranc imported a large quantity of books from the Continent. He would
+labour day and night at correcting the work of his scribes; and Anselm,
+when he succeeded to the See, used often to deprive himself of rest to
+finish the transcription of a manuscript. Lanfranc, we are told, was
+especially generous in lending his books: among a set which he sent to
+St. Alban's we find the names of twenty-eight famous treatises, besides a
+large number of missals and other service-books, and two 'Books of the
+Gospels,' bound in silver and gold, and ornamented with valuable jewels.
+
+A historian of our own time has said that England in the twelfth century
+was the paradise of scholars. Dr. Stubbs imagined a foreign student
+making a tour through the country and endeavouring to ascertain its
+proper place in the literary world. He would have seen a huge multitude
+of books, and 'such a supply of readers and writers' as could not have
+been found elsewhere, except perhaps in the University of Paris.
+Canterbury was a great literary centre. At Winchester there was a whole
+school of historians; at Lincoln he might listen to Walter Map or learn
+at the feet of St. Hugh. 'Nothing is more curious than the literary
+activity going on in the monasteries; manuscripts are copied; luxurious
+editions are recopied and illuminated; there is no lack of generosity in
+lending or of boldness in borrowing; there is brisk competition and open
+rivalry.'
+
+The Benedictines were ever the pioneers of learning: the regular clergy
+were still the friends of their books, and 'delighted in their communion
+with them,' as the Philobiblon phrased it. We gather from the same source
+the lamentation of the books in the evil times that followed. The books
+complain that they are cast from their shelves into dark corners, ragged
+and shivering, and bereft of the cushions which propped up their sides.
+'Our vesture is torn off by violent hands, so that our souls cleave to
+the ground, and our glory is laid in the dust.' The old-fashioned clergy
+had been accustomed to treat religious books with reverence, and would
+copy them out most carefully in the intervals of the canonical hours. The
+monks used to give even their time of rest to the decoration of the
+volumes which added a splendour to their monasteries. But now, it is
+complained, the Regulars even reject their own rule that books are to be
+asked for every day. They carry bows and arrows, or sword and buckler,
+and play at dice and draughts, and give no alms except to their dogs.
+'Our places are taken by hawks and hounds, or by that strange creature,
+woman, from whom we taught our pupils to flee as from an asp or basilisk.
+This creature, ever jealous and implacable, spies us out in a corner
+hiding behind some ancient cabinet, and she wrinkles her forehead and
+laughs us to scorn, and points to us as the only rubbish in the house;
+and she complains that we are totally useless, and recommends our being
+bartered away at once for fine caps and cambrics or silks, for
+double-dyed purple stuffs, for woollen and linen and fur.' 'Nay,' they
+add, 'we are sold like slaves or left as unredeemed pledges in taverns:
+we are given to cruel butchers to be slaughtered like sheep or cattle.
+Every tailor, or base mechanic may keep us shut up in his prison.' Worst
+of all was the abominable ingratitude that sold the illuminated vellums
+to ignorant painters, or to goldsmiths who only wanted these 'sacred
+vessels' as receptacles for their sheets of gold-leaf. 'Flocks and
+fleeces, crops and herds, gardens and orchards, the wine and the
+wine-cup, are the only books and studies of the monks.' They are
+reprehended for their banquets and fine clothes and monasteries towering
+on high like a castle in its bulwarks: 'For such things as these,' the
+supplication continues, 'we, their books, are cast out of their hearts
+and regarded as useless lumber, except some few worthless tracts, from
+which they still pick out a mixture of rant and nonsense, more to tickle
+the ears of their audience than to assuage any hunger of the soul.'
+
+A great religious revival began with the coming of the Mendicant Friars,
+who, according to the celebrated Grostete, 'illumined our whole country
+with the light of their preaching and learning.' The Franciscans and
+Dominicans reached England in 1224, and were established at Oxford within
+two years afterwards, where the Grey Friars of St. Francis soon obtained
+as great a predominance as the Dominicans or Black Friars had gained in
+the University of Paris. St. Francis himself had set his face against
+literature. Professor Brewer pointed out in the _Monumenta Franciscana_
+that his followers were expected to be poor in heart and understanding:
+'total absolute poverty secured this, but it was incompatible with the
+possession of books or the necessary materials for study.' Even Roger
+Bacon, when he joined the Friars, was forbidden to retain his books and
+instruments, and was not allowed to touch ink or parchment without a
+special licence from the Pope. We may quote one or two of the anecdotes
+about the Saint. A brother was arguing with him on the text 'Take nothing
+with you on the way,' and asked if it meant 'absolutely nothing';
+'Nothing,' said the Saint, 'except the frock allowed by our rule, and, if
+indispensable, a pair of shoes.' 'What am I to do?' said the brother: 'I
+have books of my own,' naming a value of many pounds of silver. 'I will
+not, I ought not, I cannot allow it,' was the reply. A novice applied to
+St. Francis for leave to possess a psalter: but the Saint said, 'When
+you have got a psalter, then you'll want a breviary, and when you have
+got a breviary you will sit in a chair as great as a lord, and will say
+to some brother, Friar! go and fetch me my breviary!' And he laid ashes
+on his head, and repeated, 'I am your breviary! I am your breviary!' till
+the novice was dumbfounded and amazed; and then again the Saint said that
+he also had once been tempted to possess books, and he almost yielded to
+the request, but decided in the end that such yielding would be sinful.
+He hoped that the day would come when men would throw their books out of
+the window as rubbish.
+
+A curious change took place when the Mendicants got control of the
+schools. It was absolutely necessary that they should be the devourers of
+books if they were to become the monopolists of learning. In the century
+following their arrival, Fitz-Ralph, the Archbishop of Armagh, complained
+that his chaplains could not buy any books at Oxford, because they were
+all snapped up by the men of the cord and cowl: 'Every brother who keeps
+a school has a huge collection, and in each Convent of Freres is a great
+and noble library.' The Grey Friars certainly had two houses full of
+books in School Street, and their brothers in London had a good library,
+which was in later times increased and richly endowed by Sir Richard
+Whittington, the book-loving Lord Mayor of London.
+
+There were some complaints that the Friars cared too much for the
+contents and too little for the condition of their volumes. The
+Carmelites, who arrived in England after the two greater Orders, had the
+reputation of being careful librarians, 'anxiously protecting their books
+against dust and worms,' and ranging the manuscripts in their large room
+at Oxford at first in chests and afterwards in book-cases. The
+Franciscans were too ready to give and sell, to lend and spend, the
+volumes that they were so keen to acquire. A Dominican was always drawn
+with a book in his hand; but he would care nothing for it, if it
+contained no secrets of science. Richard de Bury had much to say about
+the Friars in that treatise on the love of books, 'which he fondly named
+Philobiblon,' being a commendation of Wisdom and of the books wherein she
+dwells. The Friars, he said, had preserved the ancient stores of
+learning, and were always ready to procure the last sermon from Rome or
+the newest pamphlet from Oxford. When he visited their houses in the
+country-towns, and turned out their chests and book-shelves, he found
+such wealth as might have lain in kings' treasuries; 'in those cupboards
+and baskets are not merely the crumbs that fall from the table, but the
+shew-bread which is angel's food, and corn from Egypt and the choicest
+gilts of Sheba.' He gives the highest praise to the Preachers or Friars
+of the Dominican Order, as being most open and ungrudging, 'and
+overflowing with a with a kind of divine liberality.' But both Preachers
+and Minorites, or Grey Friars, had been his pupils, his friends and
+guests in his family, and they had always applied themselves with
+unwearied zeal to the task of editing, indexing, and cataloguing the
+volumes in the library. 'These men,' he cries, 'are the successors of
+Bezaleel and the embroiderers of the ephod and breast-plate: these are
+the husbandmen that sow, and the oxen that tread out the corn: they are
+the blowers of the trumpets: they are the shining Pleiades and the stars
+in their courses.'
+
+Brother Agnellus of Pisa was the first Franciscan missionary at Oxford,
+and the first Minister of the Order in this county. He set up a school
+for poor students, at which Bishop Grostete was the first reader or
+master; but we are told that he afterwards felt great regret when he
+found his Friars bestowing their time upon frivolous learning. 'One day,
+when he wished to see what proficiency they were making, he entered the
+school while a disputation was going on, and they were wrangling and
+debating about the existence of the Deity. "Woe is me! Woe is me!" he
+burst forth: "the simple brethren are entering heaven, and the learned
+ones are debating if there be one"; and he sent at once a sum of L10
+sterling to the Court to buy a copy of the Decretals, that the Friars
+might study them and give over their frivolities.' The great difficulty
+was to prevent the brethren from studying the doctrine of Aristotle, as
+it was to be found in vile Latin translations, instead of attending to
+Grostete, who was said to know 'a hundred thousand times more than
+Aristotle' on all his subjects. Grostete himself spent very large sums
+in importing Greek books. In this he was helped by John Basingstoke, who
+had himself studied at Athens, and who taught the Greek language to
+several of the monks at St. Alban's. Grostete upheld the eastern
+doctrines against the teaching of the Papal Court, and indeed was
+nicknamed 'the hammerer of the Romans.' He based many of his statements
+upon books which he valued as his choicest possessions; but some of them,
+such as the _Testament of the Patriarchs_ and the _Decretals of
+Dionysius_ are now admitted to be forgeries. On Grostete's death in 1253
+he bequeathed his library, rich in marginal commentaries and annotations,
+to the Friars for whom he had worked before he became Bishop and
+Chancellor. Some generations afterwards their successors sold many of the
+books to Dr. Gascoigne, who used to work on them at the Minorites'
+Library: and some of those which he bought found their way to the
+libraries of Balliol, Oriel, and Lincoln; the main body of Grostete's
+books was gradually dispersed by gifts and sales, and dwindled down to
+little or nothing; so that, when Leland paid his official visit after the
+suppression of the monasteries, he found very few books of any kind, but
+plenty of dust and cobwebs, 'and moths and beetles swarming over the
+empty shelves.'
+
+It has been said that Richard de Bury had not much depth of learning; and
+it has been a favourite theory for many years that his book might have
+been written for him by his secretary, the Dominican Robert Holkot. The
+matter is not very important, since it is certain, in spite of ancient
+and modern detractors, that Richard de Bury or 'Aungerville' was a most
+ardent bibliophile and a very devoted attendant in the 'Library of
+Wisdom.' He was the son of Sir Richard Aungerville, a knight of Suffolk;
+but in accordance with a fashion of the day he was usually called after
+his birthplace. He was born at Bury St. Edmunds in the year 1287: he was
+educated at Oxford, and afterwards took a prominent part in the civil
+troubles, taking the side of Queen Isabel and Edward of Windsor against
+the unfortunate Edward II. He was appointed tutor to the Prince, and soon
+afterwards became the receiver of his revenues in Wales. When the Queen
+fled to her own country, Richard followed with a large sum of money,
+collected by virtue of his office; and he had a narrow escape for his
+life, being chased by a troop of English lancers as far as Paris itself,
+where he lay concealed for a week in the belfry of the Minorites' Church.
+When his pupil came to the throne many lucrative offices were showered on
+his faithful friend. Richard became Cofferer and Treasurer of the
+Wardrobe, and for five years was Clerk of the Privy Seal; and during that
+period he was twice sent as ambassador to the Pope at Avignon, where he
+had the honour of becoming the friend of Petrarch.
+
+The poet has himself described his meeting with the Englishman travelling
+in such splendid fashion to lay before his Holiness his master's claims
+upon France. 'It was at the time,' says Petrarch, 'when the seeds of war
+were growing that produced such a blood-stained harvest, in which the
+sickles are not laid aside nor as yet are the garners closed.' He found
+in his visitor 'a man of ardent mind and by no means unacquainted with
+literature.' He discovered indeed that Richard was on some points full of
+curious learning, and it occurred to him that one born and bred in
+Britain might know the situation of the long-lost island of Thule. 'But
+whether he was ashamed of his ignorance,' says Petrarch, 'or whether, as
+I will not suspect, he grudged information upon the subject, and whether
+he spoke his real mind or not, he only answered that he would tell me,
+but not till he had returned home to his books, of which no man had a
+more abundant supply.' The poet complains that the answer never came, in
+spite of many letters of reminder; 'and so my friendship with a Briton
+never taught me anything more about the Isle of Thule.'
+
+Richard was consecrated Bishop of Durham in 1333, after an amicable
+struggle between the Pope and the King as to the hand that should bestow
+the preferment. A few months afterwards he became High Treasurer, and in
+the same year was appointed Lord Chancellor. Within the next three years
+he was sent on several embassies to France to urge the English claims,
+and he afterwards went on the same business to Flanders and Brabant. He
+writes with a kind of rapture of his first expeditions to Paris; in
+later years he complained that the study of antiquities was superseding
+science, in which the doctors of the Sorbonne had excelled. 'I was sent
+first to the Papal Chair, and afterwards to the Court of France, and
+thence to other countries, on tedious embassies and in perilous times,
+bearing with me all the time that love of books which many waters could
+not extinguish.' 'Oh Lord of Lords in Zion!' he ejaculates, 'what a flood
+of pleasure rejoiced my heart when I reached Paris, the earthly Paradise.
+How I longed to remain there, and to my ardent soul how few and short
+seemed the days! There are the libraries in their chambers of spice, the
+lawns wherein every growth of learning blooms. There the meads of Academe
+shake to the footfall of the philosophers as they pace along: there are
+the peaks of Parnassus, and there is the Stoic Porch. Here you will find
+Aristotle, the overseer of learning, to whom belongs in his own right all
+the excellent knowledge that remains in this transitory world. Here
+Ptolemy weaves his cycles and epicycles, and here Gensachar tracks the
+planets' courses with his figures and charts. Here it was in very truth
+that with open treasure-chest and purse untied I scattered my money with
+a light heart, and ransomed the priceless volumes with my dust and
+dross.'
+
+He shows, as he himself confessed, an ecstatical love for his books.
+'These are the masters that teach without rods and stripes, without angry
+words, without demanding a fee in money or in kind: if you draw near,
+they sleep not: if you ask, they answer in full: if you are mistaken,
+they neither rail nor laugh at your ignorance.' 'You only, my books!' he
+cries, 'are free and unfettered: you only can give to all who ask and
+enfranchise all that serve you.' In his glowing periods they become
+transfigured into the wells of living water, the fatness of the olive,
+the sweetness of the vines of Engaddi; they seem to him like golden urns
+in which the manna was stored, like the fruitful tree of life and the
+four-fold river of Eden.
+
+[Illustration: SEAL OF RICHARD DE BURY.]
+
+Richard de Bury had more books than all the other bishops in England. He
+set up several permanent libraries in his manor-houses and at his palace
+in Auckland; the floor of his hall was always so strewed with manuscripts
+that it was hard to approach his presence, and his bedroom so full of
+books that one could not go in or out, or even stand still without
+treading on them. He has told us many particulars about his methods of
+collection. He had lived with scholars from his youth upwards; but it was
+not until he became the King's friend, and almost a member of his family,
+that he was able 'to hunt in the delightful coverts' of the clerical and
+monastic libraries. As Chancellor he had great facilities for 'dragging
+the books from their hiding-places'; 'a flying rumour had spread on all
+sides that we longed for books, and especially for old ones, and that it
+was easier to gain our favour by a manuscript than by gifts of coin.' As
+he had the power of promoting and deposing whom he pleased, the 'crazy
+quartos and tottering folios' came creeping in as gifts instead of the
+ordinary fees and New Year's presents. The book-cases of the monasteries
+were opened, and their caskets unclasped, and the volumes that had lain
+for ages in the sepulchres were roused by the light of day. 'I might have
+had,' he said, 'abundance of wealth in those days; but it was books, and
+not bags of gold, that I wanted; I preferred folios to florins, and loved
+a little thin pamphlet more than an overfed palfrey.' We know that he
+bought many books on his embassies to France and Flanders, besides his
+constant purchases at home. He tells us that the Friars were his best
+agents; they would compass sea and land to meet his desire. 'With such
+eager huntsmen, what leveret could lie hid? With such fishermen, what
+single little fish could escape the net, the hook, and the trawl?' He
+found another source of supply in the country schools, where the masters
+were always ready to sell their books; and in these little gardens and
+paddocks, as chances occurred, he culled a few flowers or gathered a few
+neglected herbs. His money secured the services of the librarians and
+bookstall-men on the Continent, who were afraid of no journey by land,
+and were deterred by no fury of the sea. 'Moreover,' he added, 'we always
+had about us a multitude of experts and copyists, with binders, and
+correctors, and illuminators, and all who were in any way qualified for
+the service of books.' He ends his chapter on book-collecting with a
+reference to an eastern tale, comparing himself to the mountain of
+loadstone that attracted the ships of knowledge by a secret force, while
+the books in their cargoes, like the iron bars in the story, were
+streaming towards the magnetic cliff 'in a multifarious flight.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ITALY--THE AGE OF PETRARCH.
+
+
+The enlightenment of an age of ignorance cannot be attributed to any
+single person; yet it has been said with some justice, that as the
+mediaeval darkness lifted, one figure was seen standing in advance, and
+that Petrarch was rightly hailed as 'the harbinger of day.' His fame
+rests not so much on his poems as upon his incessant labours in the task
+of educating his countrymen. Petrarch was devoted to books from his
+boyhood. His youth was passed near Avignon, 'on the banks of the windy
+Rhone.' After receiving the ordinary instruction in grammar and rhetoric,
+he passed four years at Montpellier, and proceeded to study law at
+Bologna. 'I kept my terms in Civil Law,' he said, 'and made some
+progress; but I gave up the subject on becoming my own master, not
+because I disliked the Law, which no doubt is full of the Roman learning,
+but because it is so often perverted by evil-minded men.' He seems to
+have worked for a time under his friend Cino of Pistoia, and to have
+attended the lectures of the jurist Andrea, whose daughter Novella is
+said to have sometimes taken the class 'with a little curtain in front of
+her beautiful face.' While studying at Bologna, Petrarch made his first
+collection of books instead of devoting himself to the Law. His old
+father once paid him a visit and began burning the parchments on a
+funeral pile: the boy's supplications and promises saved the poor
+remainder. He tried hard to follow his father's practical advice, but
+always in vain; 'Nature called him in another direction, and it is idle
+to struggle against her.'
+
+On Petrarch's return to Avignon he obtained the friendship of Cardinal
+Colonna: and here the whole course of his life was fixed when he first
+saw Laura 'in a green dress embroidered with violets.' Her face was
+stamped upon his mind, and haunted him through all efforts at repose: and
+perhaps it is to her influence that he owed his rank among the lyrical
+poets and the crown bestowed at Rome. His whole life was thenceforth
+devoted to the service of the book. He declared that he had the
+writing-disease, and was the victim of a general epidemic. 'All the world
+is taking up the writer's part, which ought to be confined to a few: the
+number of the sick increases and the disease becomes daily more
+virulent.' A victim of the mania himself, he laughs at his own
+misfortune: yet it might have been better, he thought, to have been a
+labourer or a weaver at the loom. 'There are several kinds of
+melancholia: and some madmen will write books, just as others toss
+pebbles in their hands.' As for literary fame, it is but a harvest of
+thin air, 'and it is only fit for sailors to watch a breeze and to
+whistle for a wind.'
+
+Petrarch collected books in many parts of Europe. In 1329, when he was
+twenty-five years of age, he made a tour through Switzerland to the
+cities of Flanders. The Flemish schools had lost something of their
+ancient fame since the development of the University of Paris. Several
+fine collections of books were still preserved in the monasteries. The
+Abbey of Laubes was especially rich in biblical commentaries and other
+works of criticism, which were all destroyed afterwards in a fire, except
+a Vulgate of the eighth century that happened to be required for use at
+the Council of Trent. Petrarch described his visit to Liege in a letter
+to a friend; 'When we arrived I heard that there was a good supply of
+books, so I kept all my party there until I had one oration of Cicero
+transcribed by a colleague, and another in my own writing, which I
+afterwards published in Italy; but in that fair city of the barbarians it
+was very difficult to get any ink, and what I did procure was as yellow
+as saffron.'
+
+A few years afterwards he went from Avignon to Paris, and was astonished
+at the net-work of filthy lanes in the students' quarter. It was a
+paradise of books, all kept at fair prices by the University's decree;
+but the traveller declared that, except in 'the world's sink' at Avignon,
+he had never seen so dirty a place. At Rome he was dismayed to find that
+all the books were the prey of the foreigner. The English and French
+merchants were carrying away what had been spared by the Goths and
+Vandals. 'Are you not ashamed,' he cried to his Roman friends, 'are you
+not ashamed that your avarice should allow these strangers every day to
+acquire some remnant of your ancient majesty?'
+
+He used to pore over his manuscripts on the most incongruous occasions,
+like Pliny reading his critical notes at the boar-hunt. 'Whether I am
+being shaved or having my hair cut,' he wrote, 'and whether I am riding
+or dining, I either read or get some one to read to me.' Some of his
+favourite volumes are described in terms of delightful affection. He
+tells us how Homer and Plato sat side by side on the shelf,--the prince
+of poets by the prince of philosophers. He only knew the rudiments of
+Greek, and was forced to read the Iliad in the Latin version. 'But I
+glory,' he said, 'in the sight of my illustrious guests, and have at
+least the pleasure of seeing the Greeks in their national costume.'
+'Homer,' he adds, 'is dumb, or I am deaf; I am delighted with his looks;
+and as often as I embrace the silent volume I cry, "Oh illustrious bard,
+how gladly would I listen to thy song, if only I had not lost my hearing,
+through the death of one friend and the lamented absence of another!"'
+
+In his treatise on Fortune, Petrarch has left us a study on
+book-collecting in the form of a dialogue between his natural genius and
+his critical reason. He argues, as it were, in his own person against the
+imaginary opponent. A paraphrase will show the nature and the result of
+the contest.
+
+'_Petrarch._ I have indeed a great quantity of books.
+
+_Critic._ That gives me an excellent instance. Some men amass books for
+self-instruction and others from vanity. Some decorate their rooms with
+the furniture that was intended to be an ornament of the soul, as if it
+were like the bronzes and statues of which we were speaking. Some are
+working for their own vile ends behind their rows of books, and these are
+the worst of all, because they esteem literature merely as merchandise,
+and not at its real value; and this new fashionable infliction becomes
+another engine for the arts of avarice.
+
+_Pet._ I have a very considerable quantity of books.
+
+_Crit._ Well! it is a charming, embarrassing kind of luggage, affording
+an agreeable diversion for the mind.
+
+_Pet._ I have a great abundance of books.
+
+_Crit._ Yes, and a great abundance of hard work and a great lack of
+repose. You have to keep your mind marching in all directions, and to
+overload your memory. Books have led some to learning, and others to
+madness, when they swallow more than they can digest. In the mind, as in
+the body, indigestion does more harm than hunger; food and books alike
+must be used according to the constitution, and what is little enough for
+one is too much for another.
+
+_Pet._ But I have an immense quantity of books.
+
+_Crit._ Immense is that which has no measure, and without measure there
+is nothing convenient or decent in the affairs of men.
+
+_Pet._ I have an incalculable number of books.
+
+_Crit._ Have you more than Ptolemy, King of Egypt, accumulated in the
+library at Alexandria, which were all burned at one time? Perhaps there
+was an excuse for him in his royal wealth and his desire to benefit
+posterity. But what are we to say of the private citizens who have
+surpassed the luxury of kings? Have we not read of Serenus Sammonicus,
+the master of many languages, who bequeathed 62,000 volumes to the
+younger Gordian? Truly that was a fine inheritance, enough to sustain
+many souls or to oppress one to death, as all will agree. If Serenus had
+done nothing else in his life, and had not read a word in all those
+volumes, would he not have had enough to do in learning their titles and
+sizes and numbers and their authors' names? Here you have a science that
+turns a philosopher into a librarian. This is not feeding the soul with
+wisdom: it is the crushing it under a weight of riches or torturing it in
+the waters of Tantalus.
+
+_Pet._ I have innumerable books.
+
+_Crit._ Yes, and innumerable errors of ignorant authors and of the
+copyists who corrupt all that they touch.
+
+_Pet._ I have a good provision of books.
+
+_Crit._ What does that matter, if your intellect cannot take them in? Do
+you remember the Roman Sabinus who plumed himself on the learning of his
+slaves? Some people think that they must know what is in their own books,
+and say, when a new subject is started: 'I have a book about that in my
+library!' They think that this is quite sufficient, just as if the book
+were in their heads, and then they raise their eyebrows, and there is an
+end of the subject.
+
+_Pet._ I am overflowing with books.
+
+_Crit._ Why don't you overflow with talent and eloquence? Ah! but these
+things are not for sale, like books, and if they were I don't suppose
+there would be many buyers, for books do make a covering for the walls,
+but those other wares are only clothing for the soul, and are invisible
+and therefore neglected.
+
+_Pet._ I have books which help me in my studies.
+
+_Crit._ Take care that they do not prove a hindrance. Many a general has
+been beaten by having too many troops. If books came in like recruits one
+would not turn them away, but would stow them in proper quarters, and use
+the best of them, taking care not to bring up a force too soon which
+would be more useful on another occasion.
+
+_Pet._ I have a great variety of books.
+
+_Crit._ A variety of paths will often deceive the traveller.
+
+_Pet._ I have collected a number of fine books.
+
+_Crit._ To gain glory by means of books you must not only possess them
+but know them; their lodging must be in your brain and not on the
+book-shelf.
+
+_Pet._ I keep a few beautiful books.
+
+_Crit._ Yes, you keep in irons a few prisoners, who, if they could escape
+and talk, would have you indicted for wrongful imprisonment. But now
+they lie groaning in their cells, and of this they ever complain, that an
+idle and a greedy man is overflowing with the wealth that might have
+sustained a multitude of starving scholars.'
+
+Petrarch was in truth a careless custodian of his prisoners. He was too
+ready to lend a book to a friend, and his generosity on one occasion
+caused a serious loss to literature. The only known copy of a treatise by
+Cicero was awaiting transcription in his library; but he allowed it to be
+carried off by an old scholar in need of assistance: it was pledged in
+some unknown quarter, and nothing was ever heard again of the precious
+deposit.
+
+He returned to Avignon in 1337, and made himself a quiet home at
+Vaucluse. His letters are full of allusions to his little farm, to the
+poplars in the horse-shoe valley, and the river brimming out from the
+'monarch of springs.' In these new lawns of Helicon he made a new home
+for his books, and tried to forget in their company the tumults that had
+driven him from Italy. In 1340 he received offers of a laureate's crown
+from Rome, the capital of the world, and from Paris, 'the birth-place of
+learning.' 'I start to-day,' he wrote to Colonna, 'to receive my reward
+over the graves of those who were the pride of ancient Rome, and in the
+very theatre of their exploits.' The Capitol resounded to such cheers
+that its walls and 'antique dome' seemed to share in the public joy: the
+senator placed a chaplet on his brow, and old Stephen Colonna added a
+few words of praise amid the applause of the Roman people.
+
+At Parma, soon afterwards, Petrarch formed another library which he
+called his 'second Parnassus.' At Padua he busied himself in the
+education of an adopted son, the young John of Ravenna, who lived to be a
+celebrated professor, and was nicknamed 'the Trojan Horse,' because he
+turned out so many excellent Grecians. In a cottage near Milan the poet
+received a visit from Boccaccio, who was at that time inclined to
+renounce the world. He offered to give his whole library to Petrarch: he
+did afterwards send to his host a _Dante_ of his own copying, which is
+now preserved in the Vatican. The approach of a pestilence led Petrarch
+to remove his home to Venice: and here he was again visited by Boccaccio,
+this time in company with Leontio Pilato, a Calabrian Greek trading in
+books between Italy and Constantinople.
+
+Leontio was the translator of Homer, and expounded his poems from the
+Chair of Rhetoric at Florence. He was a man of forbidding appearance, and
+'more obdurate,' said Petrarch, 'than the rocks that he will encounter in
+his voyage': 'fearing that I might catch his bad temper, I let him go,
+and gave him a Terence to amuse him on the way, though I do not know what
+this melancholy Greek could have in common with that lively African.'
+Leontio was killed by lightning on his return voyage; and there was much
+anxiety until it could be ascertained that his literary stock-in-trade
+had been rescued from the hands of the sailors. It was not till the end
+of the century that Chrysoloras renewed the knowledge of the classics:
+but we may regard the austere Leontio as the chief precursor of the crowd
+of later immigrants, each with a gem, or bronze, or 'a brown Greek
+manuscript' for sale, and all eager to play their parts in the
+restoration of learning.
+
+Towards the end of his life Petrarch became tired of carrying his books
+about. When he broke up the libraries at Parma and Vaucluse he had formed
+the habit of travelling with bales of manuscripts in a long cavalcade;
+but he determined afterwards to offer the collection to Venice, on
+condition that it should be properly housed, and should never be sold or
+divided. The offer was accepted by the Republic, and the Palazzo Molina
+was assigned as a home for the poet and his books. Petrarch, however, had
+other plans for himself. He wished to be near Padua, where he held a
+canonry; and he accordingly built himself a cottage at Arqua, among the
+Euganean Hills, about ten miles from the city. A few olive-trees and a
+little vine-yard sufficed for the wants of his modest household; and
+there, as he wrote to his brother, broken in body but easy in his mind,
+he passed his time in reading, and prepared for his end. His only regret
+was that there was no monastery near in which he might see his beloved
+Gerard fulfilling his religious duties. He seems to have given up his
+love for fine books with other worldly vanities. He offers excuses for
+the plain appearance of a volume of 'St. Augustine' which he was sending
+as a present. 'One must not,' said he, 'expect perfect manuscripts from
+scholars who are engaged on better things. A general does not sharpen the
+soldiers' swords. Apelles did not cut out his own boards, or Polycletus
+his sheets of ivory; some humble person always prepares the material on
+which a higher mind is to be engaged. So is it with books: some polish
+the parchment, and others copy or correct the text; others again do the
+illumination, to use the common phrase; but a loftier spirit will disdain
+these menial occupations.' The scholar's books are often of a rough and
+neglected appearance, for abundance of anything makes the owner 'careless
+and secure'; it is the invalid who is particular about every breath of
+air, but the strong man loves the rough breeze. 'As to this book of the
+_Confessions_, its first aspect will teach you all about it. Quite new,
+quite unadorned, untouched by the corrector's fangs, it comes out of my
+young servant's hands. You will notice some defects in spelling, but no
+gross mistakes. In a word, you will perhaps find things in it which will
+exercise but not disturb your understanding. Read it then, and ponder
+upon it. This book, which would enflame a heart of ice, must set your
+ardent soul on fire.'
+
+On a summer night of the year 1374, Petrarch died peacefully at Arqua,
+alone in his library. His few remaining books were sold, and some of them
+may still be seen in Rome and Paris. Those which he had given to Venice
+suffered a strange reverse of fortune. How long the gift remained in the
+Palazzo Molina we cannot tell. We conjecture that it was discarded in the
+next century, before Bessarion presented his Greek books to the senate,
+and became the actual founder of the library of St. Mark. The antiquary
+Tomasini found Petrarch's books cast aside in a dark room behind the
+Horses of Lysippus. Some had crumbled into powder, and others had been
+glued into shapeless masses by the damp. The survivors were placed in the
+Libraria Vecchia, and are now in the Ducal Palace; but it was long before
+they were permitted to enter the building that sheltered the gift of
+Bessarion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+OXFORD--DUKE HUMPHREY'S BOOKS--THE LIBRARY OF THE VALOIS.
+
+
+The University Library at Oxford was a development of Richard de Bury's
+foundation. The monks of Durham had founded a hall, now represented by
+Trinity College, in which Richard had always taken a fatherly interest.
+He provided the ordinary texts and commentaries for the students, and was
+extremely anxious that they should be instructed in Greek and in the
+languages of the East. A knowledge of Arabic, he thought, was as
+necessary for the study of astronomy as a familiarity with Hebrew was
+requisite for the understanding of the Scriptures. The Friars had bought
+a good supply of Hebrew books when the Jews were expelled from England;
+Richard not only increased the available store, but supplied the means of
+using it. 'We have provided,' he said, 'a grammar in Greek and Hebrew for
+the scholars, with all the proper aids to instruct them in reading and
+writing those languages.' He formed the ambitious design of providing
+assistance to the whole University out of the books presented to the
+hall. The rules which he drew up were not unlike those already in use at
+the Sorbonne. Five students were chosen as wardens, of whom any three
+might be a quorum for lending the manuscripts. Any book, of which they
+possessed a duplicate, might be lent out on proper security: but copying
+was not allowed, and no volume was on any account to be carried beyond
+the suburbs. A yearly account was to be taken of the books in store, and
+of the current securities; and if any profit should come to the wardens'
+hands it was to be applied to the maintenance of the library.
+
+When the Bishop died some of his books went back to Durham; but the monks
+were generous towards the hall, and on several occasions sent fresh
+supplies to Oxford. It may also be observed that some of his best MSS.
+were returned to the Abbey of St. Alban's. He had bought about thirty
+volumes from a former abbot for fifty pounds weight of silver; but the
+monks had continually protested against a transaction which they believed
+to be illegal, and on Richard's death some of the books were given back,
+and others were purchased by Abbot Wentmore from his executors.
+
+De Bury's generous care for learning was imitated in several quarters. A
+few years after his death the Lady Elizabeth de Burgh made a bequest of a
+small but very costly library to her College of Clare Hall at Cambridge.
+Guy Earl of Warwick about the same time gave a collection of illuminated
+romances to the monks of Bordesley. John de Newton in the next generation
+divided his collection of classics, histories, and service-books, between
+St. Peter's College at Cambridge and the Minster at York, where he had
+acted for some years as treasurer. The lending-library at Durham Hall
+was the only provision for the public, with the exception of a few
+volumes kept in the 'chest with four keys' at St. Mary's. Thomas Cobham,
+Bishop of Worcester, had long been anxious to show his filial love for
+the University: as early as the year 1320 he had begun to prepare a room
+for a library 'over the old congregation-house in the north churchyard of
+St. Mary's'; and, though the work was left incomplete, he gave all his
+books by will to be placed at the disposal of the whole body of scholars.
+Owing to disputes that arose between the University and the College to
+which Cobham had belonged, the gift did not take effect until 1367. The
+University Library was established in the upper room, which was used as a
+Convocation House in later times; it is said not to have been completely
+furnished until the year 1409, more than eighty years after the date of
+the Bishop's benefaction. According to the first statute for the
+regulation of Cobham's Library, the best of the books were to be sold so
+as to raise a sum of L40, which according to the current rate of interest
+would produce a yearly income of L3 for the librarian; the other books,
+together with those from the University Chest, were to be chained to the
+desks for the general use of the students. It was soon found necessary to
+exclude the 'noisy rabble': and permission to work in the library was
+restricted to graduates of eight years' standing. Richard de Bury had
+warned the world in his chapter upon the handling of books, how hardly
+could a raw youth be made to take care of a manuscript; the student,
+according to the great bibliophile, would treat a book as roughly as if
+it were a pair of shoes, would stick in straws to keep his place, or
+stuff it with violets and rose-leaves, and would very likely eat fruit or
+cheese over one page and set a cup of ale on the other. An impudent boy
+would scribble across the text, the copyist would try his pen on a blank
+space, a scullion would turn the pages with unwashed hands, or a thief
+might cut out the fly-leaves and margins to use in writing his letters;
+'and all these various negligences,' he adds, 'are wonderfully injurious
+to books.'
+
+A generous benefactor gave a copy of De Lyra's 'Commentaries,' which was
+set upon a desk in St. Mary's Chancel for reference. A large gift of
+books came from Richard Courteney, the Chancellor of the University; and
+as a mark of gratitude he was allowed free access to the library during
+the rest of his life. Among the other benefactors whose good deeds are
+still commemorated we find King Henry IV., who helped to complete the
+library, his successor Henry V., who contributed to its endowment as
+Prince of Wales, and his brothers John Duke of Bedford and Humphrey Duke
+of Gloucester; and the roll of a later date includes the names of Edmund
+Earl of March, Philip Repington Bishop of Lincoln, and the munificent
+Archbishop Arundel.
+
+The good Duke Humphrey has been called 'the first founder of the
+University Library.' We know from the records of that time that his
+gifts were acknowledged to be 'an almost unspeakable blessing.' He sent
+in all about three hundred volumes during his life, which were placed in
+the chests of Cobham's Library as they arrived, to be transferred to the
+new Divinity Schools as soon as room could be made for the whole
+collection. He had intended to bequeath as many more by way of an
+additional endowment, but died intestate: and there was a considerable
+delay before the University could procure the fulfilment of his
+charitable design. When the books at last arrived 'the general joy knew
+no bounds'; and the title of 'Duke Humphrey's Library' was gratefully
+given to the whole assemblage of books which from several different
+quarters had come into the University's possession.
+
+The catalogue shows that the Duke's store had consisted mainly of the
+writings of the Fathers and Arabian works on science: there were a few
+classics, including a Quintilian, and Aristotle and Plato in Latin: the
+works of Capgrave and Higden were the only English chronicles; but the
+Duke was a devotee of the Italian learning, and his gifts to Oxford
+included more than one copy of the _Divina Commedia_, three separate
+copies of _Boccaccio_, and no less than seven of _Petrarch_.
+
+The fate of the libraries founded by De Bury and Duke Humphrey of
+Gloucester was to perish at the hands of the mob. Bishop Bale has told
+the sad story of the destruction of the monastic libraries. The books
+were used for tailors' measures, for scouring candlesticks and cleaning
+boots; 'some they sold to the grocers and soap-sellers'; some they sent
+across the seas to the book-binders, 'whole ships-full, to the wondering
+of foreign nations': he knew a merchant who bought 'two noble libraries'
+for 40_s._, and got thereby a store of grey paper for his parcels which
+lasted him for twenty years. The same thing happened at Oxford. The
+quadrangle of one College was entirely covered 'with a thick bed of torn
+books and manuscripts.' The rioters in the Protector Somerset's time
+broke into the 'Aungerville Library,' as De Bury's collection was called,
+and burnt all the books. Some of De Bury's books had been removed into
+Duke Humphrey's Library, and met the same fate at the Schools, with
+almost every other volume that the University possessed. So complete was
+the destruction that in 1555 an order was made to sell the desks and
+book-shelves, as if it were finally admitted that Oxford would never have
+a library again.
+
+Some few of the Duke's books escaped the general destruction. Of the
+half-dozen specimens in the British Museum three are known by the ancient
+catalogues to have been comprised in his gifts to the University. Two
+more remain at Oxford in the libraries of Oriel and Corpus Christi. We
+learn from Mr. Macray that only three out of the whole number of his MSS.
+are now to be found in the Bodleian. One of them contains the Duke's
+signature: another is of high interest as being a translation out of
+_Aristotle_ by Leonardo Aretino, with an original dedication to the
+Duke. The third is a magnificent volume of _Valerius Maximus_ prepared,
+as we know from the monastic annals, under the personal supervision of
+Abbot Whethamstede, the 'passionate bibliomaniac' of St. Alban's. It
+contains inscriptions, says Mr. Macray, recording its gift for the use of
+the scholars, with anathemas upon all who should injure it. 'If any one
+steals this book,' says the Abbot, 'may he come to the gallows or the
+rope of Judas.'
+
+[Illustration: THE DUKE OF BEDFORD PRAYING BEFORE ST. GEORGE. (_From the
+"Bedford Missal."_)]
+
+Many of the Duke of Gloucester's books had come to him from the library
+of the French Kings at the Louvre, which had been purchased and dispersed
+by John, Duke of Bedford. The Duke himself was in the habit of ordering
+magnificently illuminated books of devotion, which he gave as presents to
+his friends. The famous 'Bedford Missal' (really a Book of Hours) was
+offered by the Duchess in his name to Henry VI.; and Mr. Quaritch
+possesses another Book of Hours, which the Duke presented to Talbot, Earl
+of Shrewsbury, as a wedding gift. The House of Valois was always friendly
+to literature. King John, who fought at Crecy, began a small collection:
+he had the story of the Crusades, a tract on the game of chess, and a
+book containing a French version of _Livy_, which seems to have belonged
+afterwards to Duke Humphrey, and to have found its way later into the
+Abbey of St. Genevieve. His son Charles le Sage was the owner of about
+900 volumes, which he kept in his castle at the Louvre. The first
+librarian was Gilles Malet, who prepared a catalogue in 1373, which is
+still in existence. Another was compiled a few years afterwards by
+Antoine des Essars, and a third was made for Bedford when he purchased
+about 850 volumes out of the collection in the year 1423. These lists
+were so carefully executed that we can form a very clear idea of the
+library itself and the books in their gay bindings on the shelves. We are
+told that the King was so devoted to his '_Belle Assemblee_,' as
+Christina of Pisa calls it, that not only authors and booksellers, but
+the princes and nobles at the court, all vied in making offerings of
+finely illuminated manuscripts.
+
+They were arranged in the three rooms of the Library Tower. The wainscots
+were of Irish yew, and the ceilings of cypress. The windows were filled
+with painted glass, and the rooms were lit at night with thirty
+chandeliers and a great silver lamp. On entering the lowest room the
+visitor saw a row of book-cases low enough to be used as desks or tables.
+A few musical instruments lay about; one of the old lists tells us of a
+lute, and guitars inlaid with ivory and enamel, and 'an old rebec' much
+out of repair. There were 269 volumes in the book-cases. We will only
+mention a few of the most remarkable. There was Queen Blanche's Bible in
+red morocco, and another in white boards, Thomas Waley's rhymes from Ovid
+with splendid miniatures, and Richard de Furnival's _Bestiaire d'Amour_.
+One life of St. Louis stood in a '_chemise blanche_,' and another in
+cloth of gold. St. Gregory and Sir John Mandeville were clothed in indigo
+velvet. John of Salisbury had a silk coat and long girdle, and most of
+the Arabians were in tawny silk ornamented with white roses and wreaths
+of foliage. Some bindings are noticed as being in fine condition, and
+others as being shabby or faded. The clasps are minutely described. They
+would catch a visitor's eye as the books lay flat on the shelves: and we
+suppose that the librarian intended to show the best way of knowing the
+books apart rather than to dwell on their external attractions. The
+Oxford fashion was to catalogue according to the last word on the first
+leaf, or the first word over the page; but it was also a common custom to
+distinguish important volumes by such names as _The Red Book of the
+Exchequer_, or _The Black Book of Carnarvon_.
+
+We need not proceed to describe the other rooms. On the first floor there
+were 260 books, consisting for the most part of romances with miniature
+illuminations. One of these was the _Destruction de Thebes_, which at one
+time belonged to the Duc de la Valliere, and is now in the National
+Library at Paris. The upper floor contained nearly six hundred volumes
+mostly concerned with astronomy and natural science.
+
+It appears from the memoranda in the lists that there had been a habit of
+lending books to public institutions and to members of the royal family
+from the time when the library was first established; and it is
+estimated that about two hundred of the books must have been saved in
+this way to form the beginning of a new library in the Louvre, which,
+after the expulsion of the English, began to attain some importance in
+the reign of Louis XI.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ITALY--THE RENAISSANCE.
+
+
+The study of the classics had languished for a time after the deaths of
+Petrarch and Boccaccio. It revived again upon the coming of Chrysoloras,
+who is said to have lighted in Italy 'a new and perpetual flame.' Poggio
+Bracciolini was one of his first pupils; and he became so distinguished
+in literature that the earlier part of the fifteenth century is known as
+the age of Poggio. Leonardo Aretino describes the enthusiasm with which
+the Italians made acquaintance with the ancient learning. 'I gave myself
+up to Chrysoloras,' he writes, 'and my passion for knowledge was so
+strong that the daily tasks became the material of my nightly dreams.' He
+told Cosmo de' Medici, when translating Plato's Dialogues, that they
+alone seemed to be infused with real life, while all other books passed
+by like fleeting and shadowy things.
+
+We are chiefly concerned with Poggio as the discoverer of long-lost
+treasures. He saved Quintilian and many other classics from complete
+extinction. 'Some of them,' said his friend Barbaro, 'were already dead
+to the world, and some after a long exile you have restored to their
+rights as citizens.' As a famous stock of pears had been named after an
+Appius or Claudius, so it was said that these new fruits of literature
+ought certainly to be named after Poggio.
+
+The sole remaining copy of an ancient work upon aqueducts was discovered
+by him in the old library at Monte Cassino, which had survived the
+assaults of Lombards and Saracens, but in that later age seemed likely to
+perish by neglect. We have the record of an earlier visit by Boccaccio,
+in which the carelessness of its guardians was revealed. The visitor, we
+are told, asked very deferentially if he might see the library. 'It is
+open, and you can go up,' said a monk, pointing to the ladder that led to
+an open loft. The traveller describes the filthy and doorless chamber,
+the grass growing on the window-sills, and the books and benches white
+with dust. He took down book after book, and they all seemed to be
+ancient and valuable; but from some of them whole sheets had been taken
+out, and in others the margins of the vellum had been cut off. All in
+tears at this miserable sight, Boccaccio went down the ladder, and asked
+a monk in the cloister how those precious volumes had come to such a
+pass; and the monk told him that the brothers who wanted a few pence
+would take out a quire of leaves to make a little psalter for sale, and
+used to cut off the margins to make 'briefs,' which they sold to the
+women.
+
+Poggio himself has described his discovery at the Abbey of St. Gall. 'By
+good fortune,' he says, 'we were at Constance without anything to do, and
+it occurred to us to go to the monastery about twenty miles off to see
+the place where the Quintilian was shut up.' The Abbey had been founded
+by the Irish missionaries who destroyed the idols of Suabia, when
+according to the ancient legend the mountain-demon vainly called on the
+spirit of the lake to join in resisting the foe. Its library had been
+celebrated in the ninth century, when the Hungarian terror fell upon
+Europe, and the barbarian armies in one and the same day 'laid in ashes
+the monastery of St. Gall and the city of Bremen on the shores of the
+Northern ocean'; but the books had been fortunately removed to the Abbey
+of Reichenau on an island in the Rhine. 'We went to the place,' said
+Poggio, 'to amuse ourselves and to look at the books. Among them we found
+the Quintilian safe and sound, but all coated with dust. The books were
+by no means housed as they deserved, but were all in a dark and noisome
+place at the foot of a tower, into which one would not cast a criminal
+condemned to death.' He describes the finding of several other rare MSS.,
+and says: 'I have copied them all out in great haste, and have sent them
+to Florence.'
+
+In 1418 he visited England in the train of Cardinal Beaufort. He said
+that he was unable to procure any transcripts, though he visited some of
+the principal libraries, and must have seen that the collection at the
+Grey Friars at least was 'well stocked with books.' He was more
+successful on the Continent, where he brought the _History_ of Ammianus
+out of a German prison into the free air of the republic of letters. He
+gave the original to Cardinal Colonna, and wrote to Aretino about
+transcripts: 'Niccolo has copied it on paper for Cosmo de' Medici: you
+must write to Carlo Aretino for another copy, or he might lend you the
+original, because if the scribe should be an ignoramus you might get a
+fable instead of a history.'
+
+Among the pupils of Chrysoloras, Guarini of Verona was esteemed the
+keenest philologist, and John Aurispa as having the most extended
+knowledge of the classics. Aurispa, says Hallam, came rather late from
+Sicily, but his labours were not less profitable than those of his
+predecessors; in the year 1423 he brought back from Greece considerably
+more than two hundred MSS. of authors hardly known in Italy; and the list
+includes books of Plato, of Pindar, and of Strabo, of which all knowledge
+had been lost in the West. Aurispa lectured for many years at Bologna and
+Florence, and ended his days at the literary Court of Ferrara. Philelpho
+was one of the most famous of the scholars who returned 'laden with
+manuscripts' from Greece. To recover a lost poem or oration was to go far
+on the road to fortune, and a very moderate acquaintance with the text
+was expected from the hero of the fortunate adventure. When he lectured
+on his new discoveries at Florence, where he had established himself in
+spite of the Medici, Philelpho according to his own account was treated
+with such deference on all sides that he was overwhelmed with
+bashfulness; 'All the citizens are turning towards me, and all the ladies
+and the nobles exalt my name to the skies.' He was the bitter enemy of
+Poggio, and of all who supported the reigning family of Florence. Poggio
+had the art of making enemies, though he was a courtier by profession and
+had been secretary to eight Popes. He raged against Philelpho in a flood
+of scurrilous pamphlets; Valla, the great Latin scholar, was violently
+attacked for a mere word of criticism, and Niccolo Perotti, the
+grammarian, paid severely for supporting his friend. Poggio was always in
+extremes. His eulogies in praise of Lorenzo de' Medici, and Niccolo
+Niccoli of Florence are perfect in grace and dignity; his invectives were
+as scurrilous as anything recorded in the annals of literature.
+
+Two generous benefactors preceded 'the father of his country' in
+providing libraries for Florence. Niccolo Niccoli by common consent was
+the great Maecenas of his age; his passion for books was boundless, and he
+had gathered the best collection that had been seen in Italy for many
+generations. The public was free to inspect his treasures, and any
+citizen might either read or transcribe as he pleased; 'In one word,'
+wrote Poggio, 'I say that he was the wisest and the most benevolent of
+mankind.' By his will he appointed sixteen trustees, among whom was Cosmo
+de' Medici, to take charge of his books for the State. Some legal
+difficulty arose after his death, but Cosmo undertook to pay all
+liabilities if the management of the library were left to his sole
+discretion; and the gift of the 'Florentine Socrates' was eventually
+added to the books which Cosmo had purchased in Italy or had acquired in
+his Levantine commerce.
+
+Another citizen of Florence had rivalled the generosity of Niccoli. The
+Chancellor Coluccio Salutati was revered by his countrymen for the
+majestic flow of his prose and verse. It is true that Tiraboschi
+considered him to be 'as much like Virgil or Cicero as a monkey resembles
+a man.' Salutati showed his gratitude to Florence by endowing the city
+with his splendid library. But in this case also there were difficulties,
+and again the way was made smooth by the prompt munificence of the
+Medici. Cosmo himself bought up Greek books in the Levant, and was
+fortunate in securing some of the best specimens of Byzantine art. His
+brother Lorenzo, his son Pietro, and Lorenzo the Magnificent in the next
+generation, all laboured in their turn to adorn the Medicean collection.
+Politian the poet, and Mirandula, the Phoenix of his age, were the
+messengers whom the great Lorenzo sent out to gather the spoil; and he
+only prayed, he said, that they might find such a store of good books
+that he would be obliged to pawn his furniture to pay for them.
+
+On the flight of the reigning family the 'Medici books' were bought by
+the Dominicans at St. Mark's; and they rested for some years in
+Savonarola's home, stored in the gallery which holds the great
+choir-books illuminated by Fra Angelico and his companions. In the year
+1508 the monks were in pecuniary distress, and were forced to sell the
+books to Leo X., then Cardinal de' Medici. He took them to Rome to ensure
+their safety, but was always careful to keep them apart from the official
+assemblage in the Vatican; it is certain that he would have restored them
+to Florence, if he had lived a short time longer. The patriotic design
+was carried out by Clement VII., another member of that book-loving
+family, and their hereditary treasures at last found a permanent home in
+the gallery designed by Michelangelo.
+
+The 'Medici books' were catalogued by a humble bell-ringer, who lived to
+be a chief figure in the literary world. Thomas of Sarzana performed the
+task so well that his system became a model for librarians. While
+travelling in attendance on a Legate, the future Pope could never refrain
+from expensive purchases; to own books, we are told, was his ambition,
+'his pride, his pleasure, passion, and avarice'; and he was only saved
+from ruin by the constant help of his friends. When he succeeded to the
+tiara as Pope Nicholas V., his influence was felt through Christendom as
+a new literary force. He encouraged research at home, and gathered the
+records of antiquity from the ruined cities of the East, and 'the darkest
+monasteries of Germany and Britain.' His labours resulted in the
+restoration of the Vatican Library with an endowment of five thousand
+volumes; and he found time to complete the galleries for their reception,
+though he could never hope to finish the rest of the palace. A great part
+of his work was destroyed in 1527 by the rabble that 'followed the
+Bourbon' to the sack of Rome; but his institution survived the temporary
+disaster, and its losses were repaired by the energy of Sixtus V.
+
+Pope Nicholas had no sympathy with the niggardly spirit that would have
+kept the 'barbarians' in darkness. He opened his Greek treasure-house to
+the inspection of the whole western world. Looking back to the crowd
+round his chair at the Lateran or in his house near S^ta. Maria
+Maggiore, we recognise a number of familiar figures. Perotti is
+translating Polybius, and Aurispa explaining the Golden Verses; Guarini
+enlarges the world's boundaries by publishing the geography of Strabo. An
+old tract upon the Pope's munificence shows how the Eastern Fathers were
+restored to a place of honour. Basil and Cyril were translated, and the
+Pope obtained the _Commentary upon St. Matthew_, of which Erasmus made
+excellent use in his Paraphrase: it was the book of which Aquinas wrote
+that he would rather have a copy than be master of the city of Paris. The
+Pope desired very strongly to read Homer in Latin verse, and had procured
+a translation of the first book of the Iliad. Hearing that Philelpho had
+arrived in Rome, he hoped that the work might be finished by a
+master-hand, and to get a version of the whole Iliad and Odyssey he gave
+a large retaining fee, a palazzo, and a farm in the Campagna, and made a
+deposit of ten thousand pieces of gold to be paid on the completion of
+the contract.
+
+Joseph Scaliger, the supreme judge in his day of all that related to
+books, said that of all these men of the Italian renaissance he only
+envied three. One of course was Pico of Mirandula, a man of marvellous
+powers, who rose as a mere youth to the highest place as a philosopher
+and linguist. The next was Politian, equally renowned for hard
+scholarship and for the sweetness and charm of his voluminous poems. The
+third was the Greek refugee, Theodore of Gaza, so warmly praised by
+Erasmus for his versatile talent; no man, it was said, was so skilled in
+the double task of turning Greek books into Latin, and rendering Latin
+into Greek.
+
+We should feel inclined to bracket another name with those of the famous
+trio. George of Trebisond was a faithful expounder of the classics, the
+discoverer of many a lost treasure, and the author of a whole library of
+criticism. His life and labours were denounced in the once celebrated
+_Book of the Georges_. He was more than a lover of Aristotle, said his
+enemies: he was the enemy of the divine Plato, an apostate among the
+Greeks, who had even dared to oppose their patron Bessarion. The Cardinal
+Bessarion was complimented as 'the most Latin of the Greeks'; he might
+have ruled as Pope in Rome, some said, if it had not been for Perotti
+refusing to disturb him in the library. But George of Trebisond was
+vilified after Poggio's fashion, and called 'brute' and 'heretic,' and
+'more Turkish than the filthiest Turk,' with a hailstorm of still harder
+epithets. Yet he was certainly a very accurate scholar; and he showed a
+proper manly spirit when he boxed Poggio's ears in the Theatre of Pompey
+for reminding him of the cleverness expected from 'a starving Greek.' His
+life, one is glad to think, had a very peaceful end. The old man had a
+house at Rome in the Piazza Minerva: his tombstone, much defaced, is
+before the curtain as one enters the Church of S^ta. Maria. His son
+Andrea used to help him in his work, and launched a pamphlet now and
+again at Theodore of Gaza. The brilliant scholar fell into a second
+childhood, and might be seen muttering to himself as he rambled with
+cloak and long staff through the streets of Rome. The grand-daughter who
+took charge of him married Madalena, a fashionable poet; and Pope Leo X.
+delighted in hearing their anecdotes about old times, when George and
+Theodore fought their paper-wars, and wielded their pens in the battle of
+the books.
+
+Before leaving the subject of the libraries in the two great capitals, we
+ought to bestow a word or two upon those splendidly endowed institutions
+by which a few Florentine book-collectors have kept up the literary fame
+of their city, without pretending to emulate the splendour of the Medici,
+or the wealth of the Vatican, or the curious antiquities of St. Mark. We
+desire especially to say something in remembrance of the 'Riccardiana'
+which, from its foundation in the sixteenth century, has been famous for
+the value of its historical manuscripts. Among these are the journals of
+Fra Oderigo, an early traveller in the East, a treatise in Galileo's own
+writing, and a defence of Savonarola's policy in the handwriting of Pico
+of Mirandula. We may see a copy of Marshal Strozzi's will, discussing his
+plans of suicide, a history of the city composed and written out by
+Machiavelli, and a large and interesting series of Poggio's literary
+correspondence. The most celebrated of the librarians was Giovanni Lami,
+who in the last century kept up with such spirit a somewhat dangerous
+controversy with the Jesuits; but his monument at Santa Croce may have
+been owed less to his triumphs in argument than to his passionate
+devotion to books. His life was spent among them, and he died with a
+manuscript in his arms; and his memory is still preserved in Florence by
+the Greek collection with which he endowed the University.
+
+The Abbe Marucelli left his name to another Florentine library. He was a
+philanthropist as well as a bibliophile; and he gave the huge assemblage
+of books which he had gathered at Rome to the use of the students in the
+home of his boyhood. He wrote much, but was almost too modest to publish
+or preserve his works. Perhaps the most interesting portion of his gift
+consisted of a series of about a hundred large folios in which, like the
+Patriarch Photius, he had written in the form of notes the results of the
+reading of a life-time.
+
+[Illustration: ANTONIO MAGLIABECCHI.]
+
+The Magliabecchian Library maintains the remembrance of a portent in
+literature. Antonio Magliabecchi, the jeweller's shop-boy, became
+renowned throughout the world for his abnormal knowledge of books. He
+never at any time left Florence; but he read every catalogue that was
+issued, and was in correspondence with all the collectors and librarians
+of Europe. He was blessed with a prodigious memory, and knew all the
+contents of a book by 'hunting it with his finger,' or once turning over
+the pages. He was believed, moreover, to know the habitat of all the rare
+books in the world; and according to the well-known anecdote he replied
+to the Grand Duke, who asked for a particular volume: 'The only copy of
+this work is at Constantinople, in the Sultan's library, the seventh
+volume in the second book-case, on the right as you go in.' He has been
+despised as 'a man who lived on titles and indexes, and whose very pillow
+was a folio.' Dibdin declared that Magliabecchi's existence was confined
+to 'the parade and pacing of a library'; but, as a matter of fact, the
+old bibliomaniac lived in a kind of cave made of piles and masses of
+books, with hardly any room for his cooking or for the wooden cradle
+lined with pamphlets which he slung between his shelves for a bed. He
+died in 1714, in his eighty-second year, dirty, ragged, and as happy as a
+king; and certainly not less than eight thick volumes of sonnets and
+epigrams appeared at once in his praise. He left about 30,000 volumes of
+his own collecting, which he gave to the city upon condition that they
+should be always free to the public. The library that bears his name
+contains more than ten times that number. It includes about 60,000
+printed books and 2000 MSS. that once belonged to the Grand Dukes, and
+were kept in their Palatine Galleries. There have been many later
+additions; but the whole mass is now dedicated to the worthiest of its
+former possessors, and remains as a perpetual monument of the most
+learned and most eccentric of bookmen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+ITALIAN CITIES--OLYMPIA MORATA--URBINO--THE BOOKS OF CORVINUS.
+
+
+The memory of many great book-collectors has been preserved in the
+libraries established from ancient times in several of the Italian
+cities. There are two at Padua, of which the University Library may claim
+to have had the longer existence: but the 'Capitolina' can claim Petrarch
+as one of its founders, and may boast of the books on antiquities
+gathered by Pignoria, the learned commentator upon the remains of Rome
+and the historian of his native city of Padua. It may be worth noticing
+that there were several smaller collections in the churches, due to the
+industry of bookmen whose names have been forgotten. We hear of the books
+of St. Anthony and of Santa Giustina: and as to the library in the Church
+of St. John the tradition long prevailed that Sixtus of Sienna, a noted
+hunter after rare books, saw on its shelves a copy of the _Epistle to the
+Laodiceans_, and read it, and made copious extracts.
+
+Mantua received many of the spoils of Rome from Ludovico Gonzaga, which
+were lost in the later wars: the most famous acquisition was Bembo's
+tablet of hieroglyphics, which was interpreted by the patient skill of
+Lorenzo Pignoria. At Turin the King's Library contains some of the papers
+and drawings of Ligorio, who helped in the building of St. Peter's: but
+most of his books were taken to Ferrara, where he held an official
+appointment as antiquary. The University Library contains the collections
+of the Dukes of Savoy, including a quantity of Oriental MSS., and some of
+the precious volumes illuminated by the monks of Bobbio. The Pere Jacob
+in his treatise upon famous libraries had some personal anecdote to
+record about the bookmen of each place that he visited. At Naples he saw
+the collection of the works of Pontanus, presented to the Dominicans by
+his daughter Eugenia; at Bologna he found a long roll of the Pentateuch,
+'written by Esdras'; and at Ferrara he described the tomb of Coelius, who
+was buried among his books, at his own desire, like a miser in the midst
+of his riches.
+
+Ferrara derived a special fame from the munificence of the House of Este
+and the memory of Olympia Morata. A long line of illustrious princes had
+built up 'an Athens in the midst of Boeotia.' Ariosto sang the praises of
+the literary Court, and Tasso's misfortunes were due to his eagerness in
+accepting its pleasures. The library of Lilio Giraldi was a meeting-place
+for the scholars of Italy, and it continued to be the pride of Ferrara
+when it passed to Cinthio Giraldi the poet. Renee of France, after the
+death of her husband, Duke Hercules, made Ferrara a city of refuge for
+Calvin and Marot and the fugitive Reformers from Germany. Olympia
+Morata, the daughter of a Protestant citizen, was chosen as the companion
+and instructress of the Princess Anna. They passed a quiet life among
+their books until a time of persecution arrived, when Olympia found a
+hope of safety in marrying Andrew Grundler of Schweinfurt. Her love for
+books appears in the letters written towards the close of her life. In
+1554 she tells Curio of the storming of Schweinfurt, where she lost her
+library: 'when I entered Heidelberg barefoot, with my hair down, and in a
+ragged borrowed gown, I looked like the Queen of the Beggars.' 'I hope,'
+she said, 'that with the other books you will send me the Commentary on
+Jeremiah.' Her friend answers that Homer and Sophocles are on their way:
+'and you shall have Jeremiah too, that you may lament with him the
+misfortunes of your husband's country.' Olympia replied from her
+death-bed, returning her warmest thanks for the books. 'Farewell,
+excellent Curio, and do not distress yourself when your hear of my death.
+I send you such of my poems as I have been able to write out since the
+storming of Schweinfurt; all my other writings have perished; I hope that
+you will be my Aristarchus and will polish the poems; and now again,
+Farewell.'
+
+The Ducal Library of Ferrara was transferred to Modena when the Duchy was
+added to the States of the Church. The collection at Modena is still
+famous for its illuminated MSS., and for the care bestowed by Muratori
+and Tiraboschi in their selection of printed books. The Court of Naples
+also might boast of some illustrious bibliophiles. Queen Joanna possessed
+one of those small _Livres d'Heures_ of 'microscopic refinement' which
+Mr. Middleton has classed among the 'greatest marvels of human skill.'
+Rene of Anjou, her unfortunate successor, found a solace for exile in his
+books, and showed in a Burgundian prison that he could paint a vellum as
+cleverly as a monkish scribe. Alfonso, the next King of Naples, was a
+collector in the strictest sense of the term. He would go off to Florence
+for bargains, and would even undertake a commission for a book-loving
+subject. Antonio Becatelli corresponded on these matters with his royal
+master. 'I have the message from Florence that you know of a fine Livy at
+the price of 125 crowns: I pray your Majesty to buy it for me and to send
+it here, and I will get the money together in the meantime. But I should
+like your Majesty's opinion on the point, whether Poggio or myself has
+chosen the better part. He has sold Livy, the king of books, written out
+by his own hand, to buy an estate near Florence; but I, to get my Livy,
+have put up all my property for sale by auction.' The books collected by
+Alfonso were at the end of the century carried off by Charles VIII., and
+were divided between the Royal Library at Fontainebleau and the separate
+collection of Anne of Brittany.
+
+A romantic interest has always attached to the library at Urbino. The
+best scholars in Europe used to assemble at the palace, where Duke
+Federigo made such a gathering of books 'as had not been seen for a
+thousand years,' in the hall where Emilia and the pale Duke Guidubaldo
+led the pleasant debates described in the 'Cortegiano.' Federigo, the
+most successful general in the Italian wars, had built a palace of
+delight in his rude Urbino, in which he hoped to set a copy of every book
+in the world. His book-room was adorned with ideal portraits by Piero
+della Francesca and Melozzo: it was very large and lofty, 'with windows
+set high against the Northern sky.' The catalogue of the books is still
+preserved in the Vatican. It shows the names of all the classics, the
+Fathers, and the mediaeval schoolmen, many works upon Art, and almost all
+the Greek and Hebrew works that were known to exist. Among the more
+modern writers we find those whose works we have discussed, Petrarch and
+his friends, Guarini and Perotti, and Valla with his enemy Poggio; among
+the others we notice Alexander ab Alexandro, a most learned antiquarian
+from Naples, of whom Erasmus once said: 'He seems to have known
+everybody, but nobody knows who he is.' The chief treasure of the place
+was a Bible, illuminated in 1478 by a Florentine artist, which the Duke
+caused to be bound 'in gold brocade most richly adorned with silver.'
+'Shortly before he went to the siege of Ferrara,' says his librarian, 'I
+compared his catalogue with those that he had procured from other
+places, such as the lists from the Vatican, Florence, Venice, and Pavia,
+down to the University of Oxford in England, and I found that all except
+his own were deficient or contained duplicate volumes.' His son, Duke
+Guidubaldo, was a celebrated Greek scholar; and the eulogies of Bembo and
+Castiglione on his Duchess, Elizabeth Gonzaga, attest the literary
+distinction of her Court. Francesco, the third Duke, lost his dominions
+to Leo X.; but he showed his good taste in stipulating that the books
+were to be reserved as his personal effects. Some of the early-printed
+books are still in the palace at Urbino; others are at Castel Durante, or
+in the College of the Sapienza at Rome; and the splendid MSS. form one of
+the principal attractions of the Vatican.
+
+Among private collectors the name of Cardinal Domenico Capranica should
+be commemorated. Though continually engaged in war and diplomacy, he
+found time to surround himself with books. On his death in 1458 he gave
+his palace and library towards the endowment of a new College at Rome,
+and his plans were carried out with some alterations by his brother
+Angelo Capranica. Two Greeks of the imperial House of Lascaris took
+important places in the history of the Italian renaissance. Constantine
+had found a refuge at Milan after the conquest of his country, and here
+he became tutor to the Lady Hippolyta Sforza, and published a grammar
+which was the first book printed in Greek. He afterwards lectured at
+Messina, where he formed a large collection of MSS., which he bequeathed
+to the citizens. In a later age it was taken to Spain by Philip II. and
+placed on the shelves of the Escorial. John Lascaris belonged to a
+younger generation. He was protected by Leo X., and may be regarded as
+the true founder of the Greek College at Rome. In matters of literature
+he was the ambassador of Lorenzo de' Medici, and was twice sent to the
+Turkish Court in search of books. After the expulsion of the Medici, John
+Lascaris went to reside in Paris, where he gave lectures on poetry, and
+employed himself in securing Greek lecturers for a new College; and he
+was also engaged to help Budaeus, who had been his pupil, in arranging the
+books at Fontainebleau.
+
+Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, had the largest library in Europe. It
+was credited with containing the impossible number of 50,000 volumes; its
+destruction during the Turkish wars is allowed to have been one of the
+chief misfortunes of literature. Matthias began his long reign of
+forty-two years in 1458, and during all that time he was adding to his
+collections at Buda. Some have derided Corvinus as a mere gormandiser
+with an appetite for all kinds of books. Some have blamed him for risking
+such inestimable treasures upon a dangerous frontier. It is admitted that
+he worked hard to dispel the thick darkness that surrounded the Hungarian
+people. He kept thirty scribes continually employed at Buda, besides four
+permitted to work at Florence by the courtesy of Lorenzo de' Medici. The
+whole library may be regarded as in some sense a Florentine colony.
+Fontius, the king's chief agent in the Levant, had been a well-known
+author in Florence: his Commentary upon Persius, once presented to
+Corvinus himself, is now in the library at Wolfenbuettel. Attavante, the
+pupil of Fra Angelico, was employed to illuminate the MSS. A good
+specimen of his work is the Breviary of St. Jerome at Paris, which came
+out of the palace at Buda and was acquired by the nation from the Duc de
+la Valliere. A traveller named Brassicanus visited Hungary in the reign
+of King Louis. He was enraptured with the grand palace by the river, the
+tall library buildings and their stately porticoes. He passes the
+galleries under review, and tells us of the huge gold and silver globes,
+the instruments of science on the walls, and an innumerable crowd of
+well-favoured and well-clad books. He felt, he assures us, as if he were
+in 'Jupiter's bosom,' looking down upon that 'heavenly scene.' He wished
+that he had brought away some picture or minute record; but we have his
+account of the books which he handled, the Greek orations that are now
+lost for ever, the history of Salvian saved by the King's good nature in
+presenting the book to his admiring visitor. The palace and library were
+destroyed when Buda was taken by the Turks. The Pasha in command refused
+an enormous sum subscribed for the rescue of the books. The janissaries
+tore off the metal coverings from the rarer MSS., and tossed the others
+aside; the only known copy of Heliodorus, from which all our editions of
+the tale of Chariclea are derived, was found in an open gutter. Some
+books were burned and others hacked and maimed, or trodden under foot;
+many were carried away into the neighbouring villages. About four hundred
+were piled up in a deserted tower, and were protected against all
+intrusion by the seal of the Grand Vizier. There were adventures still in
+store for the captives. Through the scattered villages Dr. Sambucus went
+up and down, recovering the strayed Corvinian books for the Emperor
+Rodolph, a strange Quixotic figure always riding alone, with swinging
+saddle-bags, and a great mastiff running on either side. Many a
+disappointed wayfarer was turned away from the lonely tower. At last
+Busbec the great traveller, because he was an ambassador from the
+Emperor, was allowed to enter a kind of charnel-house, and to see what
+had been the lovely gaily-painted vellums lying squalidly piled in heaps.
+To see them was a high favour; the visitor was not permitted to touch the
+remains; and it was not until 1686 that about forty of the maltreated
+volumes were rescued by force of arms and set in a a place of safety
+among the Emperor's books at Vienna.
+
+It has always been a favourite exercise to track the Corvinian MSS. into
+their scattered hiding-places. Some are in the Vatican, others at
+Ferrara, and some in their birth-place at Florence. It is said that some
+of them have never left their home in Hungary. Venice possesses a
+'History of the House of Corvinus,' and Jena has a work by Guarini with
+the King's insignia 'most delicately painted on the title.' The portraits
+of the King and Queen are on one of the examples secured by Augustus of
+Brunswick for his library at Wolfenbuettel. Mary of Austria, the widow of
+King Louis, presented two of the Corvinian books to the _Librairie de
+Bourgogne_ at Brussels; one was the Missal, full of Attavante's work, on
+which the Sovereigns of Brabant were sworn; the other was the 'Golden
+Gospels,' long the pride of the Escorial, but now restored to Belgium.
+
+Other scattered volumes from the library of Corvinus have been traced to
+various cities in France and Germany. There has been much controversy on
+the question whether any of them are to be found in England. Some think
+that examples might be traced among the Arundel MSS. in the British
+Museum. Thomas, Earl of Arundel, it is known, went on a book-hunting
+expedition to Heidelberg, where he bought some of the remnants of the
+Palatine collection. Passing on to Nuremberg he obtained about a hundred
+MSS. that had belonged to Pirckheimer, the first great German
+bibliophile; and these, according to some authorities, came out of the
+treasure-house at Buda. The Duke of Norfolk was persuaded by John Evelyn
+to place them in the Gresham Library, under the care of the Royal
+Society, and they afterwards became the property of the nation. Oldys
+the antiquary distinctly stated that these 'were the remnants of the King
+of Hungary'; 'they afterwards fell into the hands of Bilibald
+Pirckheimer.' The Senator of Nuremberg made the books his own in a very
+emphatic way: 'there is to be seen his head graved by Albert Duerer, one
+of the first examples of sticking or pasting of heads, arms, or cyphers
+into volumes.' Pirckheimer died in 1530, three years after the sack of
+Buda, and had the opportunity of getting some of the books. We cannot
+tell to what extent he succeeded, or whether William Oldys was right on
+the facts before him; but we know from Pirckheimer's own letters that he
+was the actual owner of at least some MSS. that 'came to him out of the
+spoils of Hungary.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+GERMANY--FLANDERS--BURGUNDY--ENGLAND.
+
+
+Almost immediately after the invention of printing in Germany there arose
+a vast public demand for all useful kinds of knowledge. The study of
+Greek was essential to those who would compete with the Italians in any
+of the higher departments of science, and great schools were established
+for the purpose by Dringeberg in a town of Alsace, and by Rudolf Lange at
+Muenster. The Alsatian Academy had the credit of educating Rhenanus and
+Bilibald Pirckheimer. Lange filled his shelves with a quantity of
+excellent classics that he had purchased during a tour in Italy. Hermann
+Busch, the great critic, was taught in this school, and he used to say in
+after life that he often dreamed of Lange's house, and saw an altar of
+the Muses surrounded by the shadowy figures of ancient poets and orators.
+Busch was sent afterwards to Deventer, where he was the class-mate of
+Erasmus. Here one day, while the boys were at their themes, came Rudolf
+Agricola, the sturdy doctor from Friesland, who wanted to see a Germany
+'more Latin than Latium,' and had vowed to abate the 'Italian insolence.'
+The visitor told Erasmus that he was sure to be a great man, and patted
+the young Hermann on the head, saying that he had the look of a poet;
+and he is, indeed, still faintly remembered for the lines in which he
+celebrated the triumph of Reuchlin.
+
+Reuchlin had learned Greek at Paris and Poitiers; at Florence he studied
+the secrets of the Cabala with Mirandula; and he perfected his Hebrew at
+Rome, where he acted as an envoy from the Elector Palatine. Reuchlin for
+many years led a peaceful life at Tuebingen, an oasis of freedom, in which
+he could print or read what he pleased. But in 1509 he was forced into a
+quarrel, which involved the whole question of the liberty of the press,
+and incidentally associated the cause of the Reformation with the
+maintenance of classical learning.
+
+In the year 1509 one Pfefferkorn, a monk who had been a convert from
+Judaism, obtained an imperial decree that all Hebrew books, except the
+Scriptures, should be destroyed. Reuchlin sprang forth to defend his
+beloved Cabala, and maintained that only those volumes ought to be burned
+which were proved to have a taint of magic or blasphemy. He was cited to
+answer for his heresy before the Grand Inquisitor at Cologne; and the
+world, at first indifferent, soon saw that the cause of the New Learning
+was at stake. In the summer of 1514 there was a notable gathering of
+Reformers at Frankfort Fair. We have nothing in our own days that quite
+resembles these mediaeval marts; the annual concourse of merchants might
+perhaps be compared to one of our industrial exhibitions, or to some
+conjunction of all the trade of Leipsic and Nijni Novgorod. The Italians
+affected to believe that the Fair by the Main was chiefly taken up with
+the sale of mechanical contrivances; the Germans knew that their 'Attic
+mart' held streets of book-shops and publishers' offices. Henri Estienne
+saw Professors here from Oxford and Cambridge, from Louvain, and from
+Padua: there was a crowd of poets, historians, and men of science; and he
+declared that another Alexandrian Library might be bought in those
+seething stalls, if one laid out money like a king, or like a maniac, as
+others might say. In this German Athens a meeting was arranged between
+Reuchlin and Erasmus; they were joined at Frankfort by Hermann Busch, who
+brought with him the manuscript of his 'Triumph'; and perhaps it was not
+difficult to predict that the cause of the old books would be safe in the
+hands of Pope Leo X. They found themselves in company with that ferocious
+satirist, Ulric von Hutten, memorable for his threat to the citizens of
+Mainz, when they proposed to destroy his library, and he answered, 'If
+you burn my books, I will burn your town.' The Grand Inquisitor was
+utterly overwhelmed by his volume of Pasquinades, a work so witty that it
+was constantly attributed to Erasmus, and so carefully destroyed that
+Heinsius gave a hundred gold pieces for the copy which Count Hohendorf
+afterwards placed among the imperial rarities at Vienna. The satirist's
+volume of _Letters from Obscure Men_ completed the rout of the
+Inquisition; and we are told by the way that it saved the life of
+Erasmus by throwing him into a violent fit of laughter.
+
+We do not suppose that many Germans of that day loved books for their
+delicate appearance, or the damask and satin of their 'pleasant
+coverture.' Reuchlin may be counted among the bibliophiles, since he
+refused a large sum from the Emperor in lieu of a Hebrew Bible.
+Melanchthon's books were rough volumes in stamped pigskin, made valuable
+by his marginal notes. The library of Erasmus may be shown to have been
+somewhat insignificant by these words in his will: 'Some time ago I sold
+my library to John a Lasco of Poland, and according to the contract
+between us it is to be delivered to him on his paying two hundred florins
+to my heir; if he refuses to accede to this condition, or die before me,
+my heir is to dispose of the books as he shall think proper.' The
+principal bibliophiles in Germany were the wealthy Fuggers of Augsburg,
+of whom Charles V. used to say when he saw any display of magnificence,
+'I have a burgess at Augsburg who can do better than that.' These
+merchants were commonly believed to have discovered the philosopher's
+stone: they were in fact enriched by their trade with the East, and had
+found another fortune in the quicksilver of Almaden, by which the gold
+was extracted from the ores of Peru. Raimond Fugger amassed a noble
+library before the end of the fifteenth century. Ulric his successor was
+the friend of Henri Estienne, who proudly announced himself as printer to
+the Fuggers on many a title-page. Ulric spent so much money on books
+that his family at one time obtained a decree to restrain his
+extravagance. His library was said to contain as many books as there were
+stars in heaven. The original stock received a vast accession under his
+brother's will, and he purchased another huge collection formed by Dr.
+Achilles Gasparus. On his death he left the whole accumulated mass to the
+Elector Palatine, and the books thenceforth shared the fortunes of the
+Heidelberg Library. When Tilly took the city in 1622 the best part of the
+collection was offered to the Vatican, and Leo Allatius the librarian was
+sent to make the selection, and to superintend their transport to Rome.
+The Emperor Napoleon thought fit to remove some of the MSS. to Paris;
+but, on their being seized by the Allies in 1815, it was thought that
+prescription should not be pleaded by Rome: 'especially,' says Hallam,
+'when she was recovering what she had lost by the same right of
+spoliation'; and the whole collection of which the Elector had been
+deprived was restored to the library at Heidelberg.
+
+Flanders had been the home of book-learning in very early times. The
+Counts of Hainault and the Dukes of Brabant were patrons of literature
+when most of the princes of Europe were absorbed in the occupations of
+the chase. The Flemish monasteries preserved the literary tradition. At
+Alne, near Liege, the monks had a Bible which Archdeacon Philip, the
+friend of St. Bernard, had transcribed before the year 1140. We hear of
+another at Louvain, about a century later in date, with initials in blue
+and gold throughout, which had taken three years in copying. Deventer was
+known as 'the home of Minerva' before the days of St. Thomas a Kempis.
+The Forest of Soigny provided a retreat for learning in its houses of
+Val-Rouge and Val-Vert and the Sept-Fontaines. The Brothers of the Common
+Life had long been engaged in the production of books before they gave
+themselves to the labours of the printing-press at Brussels. Thomas a
+Kempis himself has described their way of living at Deventer. 'Much was I
+delighted,' he said, 'with the devout conversation, the irreproachable
+demeanour and humility of the brethren: I had never seen such piety and
+charity: they took no concern about what passed outside, but remained at
+home, employed in prayer and study, or in copying useful books.' This
+work at good books, he repeated, is the opening of the fountains of life:
+'Blessed are the hands of the copyists: for which of the world's writings
+would be remembered, if there had been no pious hand to transcribe them?'
+He himself during his stay at Deventer copied out a Bible, a Missal, and
+four of St. Bernard's works, and when he went to Zwolle he composed and
+wrote out a chronicle of the brotherhood.
+
+The Abbey of St. Bavon at Ghent was endowed with a great number of books
+by Rafael de Mercatellis, the reputed son of Philippe le Bon, Duke of
+Burgundy. As Abbot he devoted his life to increasing the splendour of
+his monastery. The illuminated MSS. survived the perils of war and the
+excesses of the Revolution, and are still to be seen in the University
+with the Abbot's signature on their glittering title-pages.
+
+A more important collection belonged to Louis de Bruges, Seigneur de La
+Gruthuyse. As titular Earl of Winchester he was in some degree connected
+with this country. When Edward IV. fled from England, and was chased by
+German pirates, this nobleman was Governor of Holland. He rescued the
+fugitives, and paid their expenses; and when Edward recovered his throne
+he rewarded his friend with a title and a charge on the Customs. The
+dignity carried no active privileges, and in 1499 it was surrendered to
+the King at Calais. The books of La Gruthuyse have been described as 'the
+bibliographical marvel of the age.' They were celebrated for their choice
+vellum, their delicate penmanship, and their exquisite illustrations.
+Louis de Bruges was the friend and patron of Colard Mansion, who printed
+in partnership with Caxton. Three copies are known of his work called the
+'Penitence of Adam.' One belonged to the Royal Library of France: another
+was borrowed from a monastery by the Duc d'Isenghien, an enthusiastic but
+somewhat unscrupulous collector, and this copy was sold at the Gaignat
+sale in 1769; the third was the property of M. Lambinet of Brussels, and
+is remarkable for the miniature in which Mansion is represented as
+offering the book to his patron in the garden of La Gruthuyse. After the
+death of Louis his books passed to his son Jean de Bruges; but most of
+them were soon afterwards acquired by Louis XII., who added them to the
+library at Blois, the insignia of La Gruthuyse being replaced by the arms
+of France. Others were bequeathed to Louis XIV. by the bibliophile
+Hippolyte de Bethune, who refused a magnificent offer from Queen
+Christina of Sweden in order that his books might remain in France. A
+fine copy of the _Forteresse du Foy_ belonged to Claude d'Urfe, whose
+library of 4000 books, 'all in green velvet,' was kept in his castle at
+La Bastie; when all the others were dispersed the Gruthuyse volume
+remained as an heirloom, and descended to Honore d'Urfe, the dreariest of
+all writers of romance. In 1776 it belonged to the Duc de la Valliere,
+and was purchased for the French Government at one of his numerous sales.
+Some of the Flemish books remained in their original home. A volume of
+Wallon songs was discovered at Ghent in the last generation; and two
+other Gruthuyse books in the same language, from the great collection of
+M. Van Hulthem, are now deposited in the Burgundian Library at Brussels.
+
+The Dukes of Burgundy were of the book-loving race of the Valois. The
+brothers, Charles le Sage, Jean Duc de Berry, and Philippe le Hardi of
+Burgundy, were all founders of celebrated libraries. Philippe increased
+his store of books by his marriage with the heiress of Flanders; he kept
+a large staff of scribes at work, and made incessant purchases from the
+Lombard booksellers in Paris. Duke John, his successor, is remembered for
+his acquisition of a wonderful _Valerius Maximus_ from the librarian of
+the Sorbonne. But the collections of which the remnants are now preserved
+in Belgium were almost entirely the work of Duke Philippe le Bon. He kept
+his books in many different places. He had a library at Dijon, and
+another in Paris, a few volumes in the treasury at Ghent, a thousand
+volumes at Bruges, and nearly as many at Antwerp. It has been calculated
+that he possessed more than 3200 MSS. in all; and, if that figure is
+correct, the House of Bourgogne-Valois was in this respect almost the
+richest of the reigning families of Europe.
+
+Under Charles the Bold the libraries appear to have been left alone,
+except as regards a few characteristic additions. The Duchess Margaret
+was the patroness of her countryman Caxton, whose _Recuyell_, probably
+published at Bruges in 1474 during his partnership with Colard Mansion,
+was the first printed English book. The taste of the Duchess may answer
+for the appearance in the library of the _Moral Discourses_, and the
+elegant _Debates upon Happiness_. The _Cyropaedia_ and the romance of
+_Quintus Curtius_ must be attributed to the warlike Duke. At Berne they
+have a relic of the fight where his men were shot down 'like ducks in the
+reeds.' It is a manuscript, with a note added to the following effect:
+'These military ordinances of the excellent and invincible Duke Charles
+of Burgundy were taken at Morat on the 14th of June 1476, being found in
+the pavilion of that excellent and potent prince.' When Charles was
+killed at Nancy in the following year his favourite _Cyropaedia_ was found
+by the Swiss in his baggage. This volume was bought in 1833 by the Queen
+of the Belgians at a book-sale in Paris, and has now been restored to its
+original home at Brussels.
+
+After the death of Charles the Bold his library at Dijon was given by the
+French King to George de la Tremouille, the governor of the province. It
+passed to the family of Guy de Rocheford, and in the course of time many
+of the best works have found their way into the national collection. Mary
+of Burgundy retained the other libraries at Brussels. After her marriage
+with Maximilian her family treasures were for the most part dispersed in
+France, Germany, and Sweden, the needy prince being unable to resist the
+temptation of pilfering and pawning the books; but the generosity of
+Margaret of Austria, a great collector herself of fine copies and first
+editions, in some measure repaired the loss; and Mary of Austria, who
+became Regent in 1530, continued the work of restoration.
+
+The magnificence of the Burgundian Court and the commercial prosperity of
+the Low Countries led to a continuous demand for fine books among the
+other productions of luxury. We learn also by the Venetian Archives that
+throughout the fifteenth century books were being imported into England
+by the galleys that brought the produce of the East to our merchants in
+London and Southampton. There were as yet but slight signs of literary
+activity; but it has been well said that 'the seed was germinating in the
+ground'; and many foreign works were brought home from time to time by
+those who had studied or travelled in Italy. It was the fashion of the
+day to learn under Guarini at Ferrara; the list of his scholars includes
+the names of Robert Fleming, and Bishop William Gray, and the book-loving
+John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, whose virtue and learning became the
+object of William Caxton's celebrated eulogy. We may commemorate here the
+earlier labours of Lord Cobham, who caused Wicliffe's works to be copied
+at a great expense and to be conveyed for safety to Bohemia, and of Sir
+Walter Sherington, who early in the same century built a library at
+Glastonbury, and furnished it with 'fair books upon vellum.' Towards the
+end of the century learning began to flourish under the patronage of Lord
+Saye, and the accomplished Anthony Lord Rivers: and its future in this
+country was secure, when the English scholars began to flock towards
+Florence to hear the lectures of Chalcondylas and his successor Politian.
+Grocyn, our first Greek Professor, had drawn his learning from that
+source, and Linacre had sat there in a class with the children of Lorenzo
+de' Medici. Cardinal Pole and the Ciceronian De Longueil shared as
+students in those tasks and sports at Padua which were so vividly
+described by the English churchman in his record of their life-long
+friendship. Thomas Lilly, the master at St. Paul's, not only worked at
+Florence but went to perfect his Greek in the Isle of Rhodes. Sir Thomas
+More was the pupil of Grocyn, whom he seems to have excelled in
+scholarship. His affection for books is known by his son-in-law's careful
+biography. An anecdote cited by Dibdin preserves a record of the fate of
+his library. When the Chancellor was arrested, the officers were expected
+to listen to his talk with certain spies, on the chance that the prisoner
+might be led into a treasonable conversation; but, as Mr. Palmer said in
+his deposition, 'he was so busy trussing up Sir Thomas More's books in a
+sack that he took no heed to their talk'; and Sir Richard Southwell on
+the same occasion deposed, that 'being appointed only to look to the
+conveyance of the books, he gave no ear unto them.' Erasmus praised More
+as 'the most gentle soul ever framed by Nature.' He was astonished at his
+learning, and indeed at the high standard that had already been attained
+in England. 'It is incredible,' he said, 'what a thick crop of old books
+spreads out on every side: there is so much erudition, not of any
+ordinary kind, but recondite and accurate and antique, both in Greek and
+Latin, that you need not go to Italy except for the pleasure of
+travelling.' Hallam remarked that Erasmus was always ready with a
+compliment; but he admitted that before the year 1520 there were probably
+more scholars in England than in France, 'though all together they might
+not weigh as heavy as Budaeus.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+FRANCE: EARLY BOOKMEN--ROYAL COLLECTORS.
+
+
+We shall take Budaeus as our first example of the French bookmen in the
+period that followed the invention of printing. Of Guillaume Bude, to
+give him his original name, it was said that he knew Greek as minutely as
+the orators of the age of Demosthenes. If there was any real foundation
+for the compliment it must have consisted in the fact that the Frenchman
+had more acquaintance with the language than his instructor George of
+Sparta. Budaeus is said to have paid a very large sum for a course of
+lectures on Homer, and to have been not a pennyworth the wiser at the
+end. Erasmus, who also learned of the Spartan, confessed that his tutor
+only 'stammered in Greek,' and that he seemed to have neither the desire
+nor the capacity for teaching. It is interesting to see how these
+students made the best of their bad materials. 'I have given my whole
+soul to Greek,' wrote Erasmus, 'and as soon as I get any money I shall
+buy books first, and then some clothes.' Budaeus was known as 'the prodigy
+of France,' and even Scaliger allowed that his country would never see
+such a scholar again; and it is rather surprising that Erasmus should
+have compared his style unfavourably with that of Badius, the printer
+from Brabant.
+
+Budaeus was the first to apply the historical method to the explanation of
+the Civil Law: with the assistance of Jean Grolier he brought out a very
+learned treatise on ancient weights and measures; and in publishing his
+commentaries on the Greek language he was said to have raised himself to
+'a pinnacle of philological glory.' One of the stories about his devotion
+to books may have been told of others, but is certainly characteristic of
+the man. A servant rushes in to say that the house is on fire; but the
+scholar answers, 'Tell my wife: you know that I never interfere with the
+household.' He was married twice over, he used to say, to the Muse of
+philology as well as to a mortal wife; but he confessed that he would
+never have got far with the first, if the second had not commanded in the
+library, always ready to look out passages and to hand down the necessary
+books.
+
+When Charles VIII. seized the royal library at Naples, a few of the best
+MSS. escaped his scrutiny, and these were sold by the dispossessed King
+to the Cardinal D'Amboise. A new school of illuminators at Rouen provided
+the Cardinal with a number of other splendid volumes. He lived till the
+year 1510, and was able to collect a second library of printed books. He
+divided the whole into two portions at his death, the French books
+passing to a relation and afterwards to the family of La Rochefoucauld,
+and the rest forming the foundation of a fine library long possessed by
+the Archbishops of Rouen.
+
+The Archbishop Juvenal des Ursins died in the middle of the fifteenth
+century. He is celebrated as a lover of good books, though only a single
+example of his choice survived into the present generation. It was a
+magnificent missal on vellum, filled with the choicest miniatures, and
+known as the best specimen of its class in the possession of Prince
+Soltikoff. It is only a few years ago that it entered the collection of
+M. Firmin-Didot, who paid 36,000 francs for it at the Prince's sale: in
+the year 1861 he gave it up to the City of Paris; but like so many of the
+great books of France it perished in the fires of the Commune.
+
+Jacques de Pars, the physician to Charles VII., bequeathed his scientific
+MSS. to the College of Medicine at Paris: and the value of his gift was
+manifested when the powerful Louis XI. was forbidden to take out a
+medical treatise for transcription unless he would pledge his silver
+plate and find collateral security for its safe return. Etienne Chevalier
+was one of the few servants of King Charles who were tolerated by King
+Louis. He became Chief Treasurer to Louis XI., and built a great mansion
+in the Rue de la Verrerie in Paris. The walls and ceilings were decorated
+with allegorical designs in honour of his friend Agnes Sorel, whose
+courage had led to the expulsion of the English invaders. The library was
+filled with choice MSS., illuminated for the most part by Jehan Foucquet,
+the famous miniaturist from Tours. Nicholas Chevalier, his descendant in
+the sixteenth century, was also illustrious as a bibliophile, and amidst
+his own printed folios and pedigrees rolled in blue velvet could still
+show the marvellous _Livre d'Heures_, of which all that now remains is a
+set of paintings hacked out from the text. M. Le Roux de Lincy has
+compiled a long and interesting list of the French bibliophiles who
+preceded the age of Grolier. We can only mention a few out of the number.
+Of the poets we have Charles, Duke of Orleans, the owner of eighty
+magnificent volumes preserved in the Castle of Blois, and Pierre Ronsard;
+and we may add the Abbe Philippe Desportes, renowned not less for a
+rivalry with Ronsard than for his sumptuous mode of living and the
+fortune expended on his library. To the statesmen may be added Florimond
+Robertet, the first of a long line of bibliophiles. Among the learned
+ladies of the sixteenth century we may choose Louise Labe, surnamed 'La
+Belle Cordiere,' who made a collection of a new kind, composed entirely
+of works in French, Spanish, and Italian, and Charlotte Guillard, a
+printer as well as a book-collector, who published at her own expense a
+volume of the Commentaries of St. Jerome.
+
+The most important of the private collectors in this period was Arthur
+Gouffier, Seigneur de Boissy, another of the faithful followers of
+Charles VII. who were so fortunate as to gain the confidence of his
+jealous successor.
+
+He was a lover of fine bindings in the style rendered famous by Grolier.
+One of his books belonged to the late Baron Jerome Pichon, the head of
+the French _Societe des Bibliophiles_, and it is admitted that nothing
+even in Grolier's library could excel it in delicacy of execution. His
+son, Claude Gouffier, created Duc de Rouannais, was a collector of an
+essentially modern type. He bought autographs and historical portraits,
+as well as rare MSS. and good specimens of printing, and was careful to
+have his books well clothed in the fashionable painted binding. Claude
+Gouffier was tutor to the young Duc d'Angouleme, who came to the throne
+as Francis I.; and to him may be due his royal pupil's affection for the
+books bedecked with the salamander in flames and the silver
+_fleurs-de-lys_.
+
+Francis I. cared little for printed books in comparison with manuscript
+rarities; he added very few to the collection at Fontainebleau beyond
+what he received as presents from his mother, Queen Louise, and his
+sister Marguerite d'Angouleme. The royal library owed many of its finest
+manuscripts to the delicate taste of the princess who was compared to the
+'blossom of poetry' and praised as the 'Marguerite des Marguerites.' Its
+wealth was much increased by the confiscation of the property of the
+Constable de Bourbon; and it should be remembered that among the
+additions from this source were most of the magnificently illuminated
+manuscripts that had belonged to Jean Duc de Berri.
+
+The King was much attracted by the hope of making literary discoveries
+in the East; he obtained much information on the subject from John
+Lascaris, and despatched Pierre Gilles to make purchases in the Levantine
+monasteries. A similar commission was entrusted to Guillaume Postel, one
+of the greatest linguists that ever lived, but so crazy that he believed
+himself to be Adam born to live again, and so unfortunate that he could
+seldom keep out of a prison.
+
+The reign of Henri Deux is of great importance in the annals of
+bibliography. An ordinance was made in 1558, through the influence, as it
+is supposed, of Diane de Poitiers, by which every publisher was compelled
+to present copies of his books, printed on vellum and suitably bound, to
+the libraries at Blois and Fontainebleau, and such others as the King
+should appoint. About eight hundred volumes in the national collection
+represent the immediate results of this copy-tax; they are all marked
+with the ambiguous cypher, which might either represent the initials of
+the King and Queen or might indicate the names of Henri and Diane. Queen
+Catherine de Medici was an enthusiastic collector. When she arrived in
+France as a girl she brought with her from Urbino a number of MSS. that
+had belonged to the Eastern Emperors, and had been purchased by Cosmo de'
+Medici. She afterwards seized the whole library of Marshal Strozzi on the
+ground that they must be regarded as 'Medici books,' having been
+inherited at one time by a nephew of Leo X. On her death in 1589 she was
+found to have been possessed of about eight hundred Greek manuscripts,
+all of the highest rarity and value. There was some danger that they
+would be seized by her creditors; but the King was advised that such an
+assemblage could not be got together again in any country or at any cost.
+The library was made an heir-loom of the Crown: and at De Thou's
+suggestion the books were stripped of their rich coverings and disguised
+in an official costume.
+
+Diane de Poitiers, a true _chasseresse des bouquins_, was herself the
+daughter of a bibliophile. The Comte de St. Vallier loved books in
+Italian bindings, and there is a _Roman de Perceforest_ in the collection
+of the Duc d'Aumale, that bears the Saint Vallier arms and marks of
+ownership, though it was confidently believed to have been bound for
+Grolier when it belonged to King Louis-Philippe. Henri Deux and the
+Duchesse Diane kept a treasure of books between them in the magnificent
+castle of Anet: and after they were dead the books remained unknown and
+unnoticed in their hall until the death of the Princesse de Conde in the
+year 1723. The sale which then took place was a revelation of beauty. The
+books were in good condition, and were all clad in sumptuous bindings.
+There was a remarkable diversity in their contents, the Fathers and the
+poets standing side by side with treatises upon medicine and the
+management of a household, as if they had been acquired in great part by
+virtue of the tax upon the publishers. Most of them, we are told, were
+bought by the 'intrepid book-hunter' M. Guyon de Sardieres, whose whole
+library in its turn was engulphed in the miscellaneous collections of the
+Duc de la Valliere. An article in the _Bibliophile Francais_ contains a
+curious argument in favour of Diane de Poitiers, as being one of a band
+of devoted Frenchwomen who saved their country from foreign ideas. We are
+reminded of the patriotism of Agnes Sorel, and of the excellent influence
+of Gabrielle d'Estrees. The Duchesse d'Estampes, we are told, preserved
+Francis I. from the influence of the Italian renaissance, and prevented
+the subjugation of France 'by a Benvenuto or Da Vinci'; and in the same
+way, when Catherine de Medici was preparing to introduce other strange
+fashions, Diane came forward in her 'magical beauty' and saved the
+originality of her nation.
+
+The three sons of Catherine were all fond of books in their way. Francis
+_ii._ died before he had time to make any collection; if he had lived,
+Mary of Scotland, who shared his throne for a few weeks, might have led
+him into the higher paths of literature. Some of their favourite volumes
+have been preserved; the young King's books bear the dolphin or the arms
+of France; the Queen bound everything in black morocco emblasoned with
+the lion of Scotland. Charles IX. had a turn for literature, as beseemed
+the pupil of Bishop Amyot; he studied archaeology in some detail, and
+purchased Grolier's cabinet of coins. He brought the library of
+Fontainebleau to Paris, where his father had made the beginning of a new
+collection out of the confiscated property of the President Ranconnet,
+and gave the management of the whole to the venerable Amyot. His brother,
+the effeminate Henri Trois, cared much for bindings and little for books:
+it is said that he was somewhat of a book-binder himself, as his brother
+Charles had worked at the armourer's smithy, and as some of his
+successors were to take up the technicalities of the barber, the cook,
+and the locksmith. Being an extravagant idler himself, he passed laws
+against extravagance in his subjects; but though furs and heavy chains
+might be forbidden, he allowed gilt edges and arabesques on books, and
+only drew the line at massive gold stamps. His own taste combined the
+gloomy and the grotesque, his clothes and his bindings alike being
+covered with skulls and cross-bones, and spangles to represent tears,
+with other conventional emblems of sorrow.
+
+Louise of Lorraine, after the King's death, retired to the castle of
+Chenonceau: and the widowed queen employed her time, in that 'palace of
+fairy-land,' at forming a small cabinet of books. The catalogue describes
+about eighty volumes, mostly bound by Nicolas Eve; and the gay morocco
+covers in red, blue, and green, were decorated with brilliant arabesques,
+or sprinkled with golden lilies. Hardly any perfect specimens remain,
+even in the National Library. They were all bequeathed by the Queen to
+her niece the Duchesse de Vendome; but in the hands of a later possessor
+they were put up for sale and dispersed, and have now for the most part
+disappeared.
+
+Henri Quatre is said to have fled to his books for consolation when
+abandoned by Gabrielle d'Estrees. Though no bibliophile himself, he was
+anxious that everything should be done that could promote the interests
+of literature. He intended to establish a magnificent library in the
+College de Cambray, but died before the plans were completed. The books
+at Blois, however, were brought to Paris and thrown open to deserving
+students; the library already transported from Fontainebleau and the MSS.
+of Catherine de Medici were removed to the College de Clermont, and
+placed under the guardianship of De Thou.
+
+Marguerite de Valois agreed with the King, if in nothing else, at least
+in a desire for the extension of knowledge. She was a most learned lady
+as well as a collector of exquisite books. No branch of science, sacred
+or profane, came amiss to the 'Reine Margot.' She may be regarded as the
+Queen of the 'Femmes Bibliophiles' who occupied so important a position
+in the history of the Court of France. In the domain of good taste she
+excels all competitors; as regards intellect we can hardly estimate the
+distance between Marguerite and the elegant collectors whom we
+distinguish according to the names of their book-binders. Anne of Austria
+is remembered for the lace-like patterns of Le Gascon; and Queen Marie
+Leczinska is famous for the splendour of her volumes bound by Padeloup.
+Even the libraries of the daughters of Louis Quinze, three diligent and
+well-instructed princesses, are only known apart by the colours of the
+moroccos employed by Derome. The dull contents of the Pompadour's shelves
+would hardly be noticeable without her 'three castles,' or the 'ducal
+mantle,' by Biziaux; and no one but Louis Quinze himself would have
+praised the intelligent choice of Du Barry, or cast a look upon her
+collection of odd volumes and 'remainders,' if they had not been
+decorated like the rest of her furniture. In all the lists of these
+'ladies of old-time' by M. Guigard, by M. Quentin-Bauchart, or by M.
+Uzanne, it is difficult to find one who preferred the inside to the
+outside of the book. M. Uzanne, indeed, has contended that no female
+bibliophile ever felt the passion that inspired a Grolier or a De Thou:
+that Marie Antoinette herself may have caged thousands of books at the
+Trianon like birds in an aviary, without any real regard to their nature
+or the right way of using them; that these devotees of the book-chase
+were like an invalid master of hounds, keeping the pack in a gilded
+kennel without any exercise or any chance of practical work. We think
+that something perhaps might be said on the other side. The Duchesse de
+Berry in our own time possessed a serious collection, made under her own
+direction, in which might be found the _Livre d'Heures_ of Henri Deux,
+the prayer-book of Joanna of Naples, the best books of Marguerite de
+Valois and Marie Leczinska. The Princess Pauline Buonaparte was the
+owner of a well-selected library. But our best example is Madame
+Elisabeth, the ill-fated daughter of France, who was dragged from her
+books at Montreuil in the tumults of 1789. Only a short time before she
+had been absorbed in her simple collection. In the spring of 1786 she
+gave up her mornings to its arrangement. 'My library,' she wrote, 'is
+nearly finished: the desks are being put up, and you cannot imagine the
+fine effect of the books.' On September the 15th she writes to her friend
+again: 'Montreuil and its mistress get on as well as two sweethearts. I
+am writing in the small room at the end; the books are settled in their
+shelves, and my library is really a little gem.' On the 5th of October
+she was standing on the terrace by the library-window, when she saw a
+crowd coming along the Sevres road, and heard the noise of pipes and
+drums; and on the same day she was forced to leave Montreuil, and never
+saw her books again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE OLD ROYAL LIBRARY--FAIRFAX--COTTON--HARLEY--THE UNIVERSITY OF
+CAMBRIDGE.
+
+
+Henry VII. was the founder of a royal collection which in time became a
+constituent portion of the library at the British Museum. Careful as he
+was of his money, the King endeavoured to buy every book published in
+French, and he acquired the whole of Verard's series of classics, printed
+on vellum with initials in gold and gorgeous illuminations, in some of
+which the printer is shown presenting his books to the royal collector.
+Henry VIII. established the separate library which was long maintained at
+St. James's; he intended it mainly for the education of princes of the
+blood royal, and supplied it with a quantity of early-printed books and a
+miscellaneous gathering of wreckage from the monasteries. During several
+succeeding reigns there were 'studies' and galleries of books at
+Whitehall and Windsor Castle, at Greenwich and Oatlands, or wherever the
+Court might be held. It is said that in the time of Henry VIII. the best
+English collection belonged to Bishop Fisher. 'He had the notablest
+library,' said Fuller, 'two long galleries full, the books sorted in
+stalls, and a register of the name of each book at the end of its
+stall.' This great storehouse of knowledge the Bishop had intended to
+transfer to St. John's College at Cambridge; but on his disgrace it was
+seized by Thomas Cromwell and dispersed among his greedy retainers.
+
+Under the Protector Somerset the Protestant feeling ran high. Martin
+Bucer's manuscripts were bought for the young King; and the Reformer's
+printed books were divided between Archbishop Cranmer and the Duchess of
+Somerset. About the same time an order was issued in the name of Edward
+VI. for purging the King's library at Westminster of missals, legends,
+and other 'superstitious volumes'; and their 'garniture,' according to
+the fashion of the time, was bestowed as a perquisite upon a grasping
+courtier.
+
+[Illustration: BINDING EXECUTED FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH.]
+
+Queen Elizabeth was naturally fond of fine books. She had a small
+collection before she reached the throne, and became in due course the
+recipient of a number of splendid presentation volumes. There is a copy
+of a French poem in her praise in the public library at Oxford: its pages
+are full of exquisite portraits and designs, and on the sides there are
+'brilliant bosses composed of humming-birds' feathers.' As a child she
+had bound her books in needle-work, or in 'blue corded silk, with gold
+and silver thread,' in the style afterwards adopted by the sisters at
+Little Gidding in the time of Charles I. Her Testament, most carefully
+covered by her own handiwork, contains a note quoted by Mr. Macray in his
+'Annals of the Bodleian Library'; it refers to her walks in the field
+of Scripture, where she plucked up the 'goodlie greene herbes,' which she
+afterwards ate by her reading, 'and chawed by musing.' Her gallery at
+Whitehall made a gallant show of MSS. and classics in red velvet, with
+gilt clasps and jewelled sides, and all the French and Italian books
+standing by in morocco and gold. Archbishop Parker tried to induce her to
+establish a national library; but the Queen seems to have cared little
+about the plan. She allowed the Archbishop on his own behalf to seek out
+the books remaining from the suppressed monasteries: at another time he
+obtained leave to recover as many as he could find of Cranmer's books. He
+tracked some of them to the house of one Dr. Nevinson, who was forced to
+disgorge his treasures. Parker kept a staff of scribes and painters in
+miniature, and had his own press and fount of type. He published many
+scarce tracts to save them from oblivion. Others he ordered to be copied
+in manuscript, and these and all his ancient books he caused to be
+'trimly covered'; so that we may say with Dibdin, 'a more determined
+book-fancier existed not in Great Britain.' He gave some of his books to
+'his nurse Corpus Christi' at Cambridge, and some to the public library;
+and his gift to the College was compared to 'the sun of our English
+antiquity,' eclipsed only by the shadow of Cotton's palace of learning.
+
+One would like to fancy a symposium of the great men talking over their
+books, in the room where Ben Jonson was king, and where
+
+    'Mellifluous Shakespeare, whose enchanting quill
+    Commanded mirth and passion, was but Will.'
+
+Jonson's books, as was said of himself, were like the great Spanish
+galleons, bulky folios with '_Sum Ben Jonson_' boldly inscribed. We know
+little about Shakespeare's books, except that they probably went to the
+New Place and passed among the chattels to Susanna Hall and her husband.
+His Florio's version of Montaigne is in the British Museum, if the
+authenticity of his signature can be trusted. His neat Aldine Ovid is at
+the Bodleian, inscribed with his initials, and a note: 'this little booke
+of Ovid was given to me by W. Hall, who sayd it was once Will
+Shakspere's.'
+
+We would call to our meeting Gabriel Harvey with his new Italian books
+and pamphlets; and Spenser, if possible, should be there; Dr. Dee would
+tell the piteous story of his four thousand volumes, printed and
+unprinted, Greek, in French, and High-Dutch MSS., etc., and of forty
+years spent in gathering the books that were all on their way to the
+pawnshop. He might have told the fortunes of all the books with the help
+of his magical mirrors and crystals. Francis Bacon's store was to
+increase and multiply, to adorn the library at Cambridge and fill the
+shelves at Gray's Inn; Lord Leicester's books, with their livery of the
+'bear and ragged staff,' were to freeze for ages in the galleries at
+Lambeth. We should have Ascham inveighing against the ancients and their
+idle and blind way of living: 'in our father's time,' he says, 'nothing
+was read but books of feigned chivalry'; but Captain Cox would come forth
+to meet him, attired as in the tournament at Kenilworth, or in the
+picture which Dibdin has extracted from Laneham. 'Captain Cox came
+marching on, clean trussed and gartered above the knee, all fresh in a
+velvet cap: an odd man, I promise you: by profession a mason, and that
+right skilful and very cunning in fence.... As for King Arthur and Huon
+of Bourdeaux, ... the Fryar and the Boy, Elynor Rumming, and the
+Nut-brown Maid, with many more than I can rehearse, I believe he has them
+all at his fingers' ends.'
+
+James I., as became a 'Solomon,' was the master of many books; but not
+being a 'fancier' he gave them shabby coverings and scribbled idle notes
+on their margins. He is forgiven for being a pedant, since Buchanan said
+it was the best that could be made of him; it is difficult to be patient
+about his hint to the Dutch that it would be well to burn the old scholar
+Vorstius instead of making him a professor at Leyden. He seems to have
+done more harm than good to the libraries in his own possession. We know
+how he broke into a 'noble speech' when he visited Bodley at Oxford, with
+the librarian trembling lest the King should see a book by Buchanan, who
+had often whipped his royal pupil in days gone by: 'If I were not a King
+I would be an University-man, and if it was so that I must be a prisoner
+I would desire no other durance than to be chained in that library with
+so many noble authors.'
+
+The King gave Sir Thomas Bodley a warrant under the Privy Seal to take
+what books he pleased from any of the royal palaces and libraries;
+'howbeit,' said Bodley, 'for that the place at Whitehall is over the
+Queen's chamber, I must needs attend her departure from thence, whereof
+at present there is no certainty known: how I shall proceed for other
+places I have not yet resolved.'
+
+Prince Henry had a more refined taste. The dilettanti of the Prince's set
+took no part in the drunken antics of the Court, where Goring was master
+of the games, but Sir John Millicent 'made the best _extempore_ fool.'
+The Prince bought almost the whole of the monastic library originally
+formed by Henry Lord Arundel: about forty volumes had already been given
+by Lord Lumley to Oxford.
+
+There was some danger that the books at Whitehall would be destroyed in
+the fury of the Civil War; but almost all of them were saved by the
+personal exertions of Hugh Peters, when Selden had told him that there
+was not the like of these rare monuments in Christendom, outside the
+Vatican. Whitelocke was appointed their keeper, and to his deputy, John
+Dury, we owe the first English treatise on library management. Thomas,
+Lord Fairfax, did a similar good service at Oxford. When the city was
+surrended in 1646 the first thing that the General did was to place a
+guard of soldiers at the Bodleian. There was more hurt done by the
+Cavaliers, said Aubrey, in the way of embezzlement and cutting the chains
+off the books, than was ever done afterwards. Fairfax, he adds, was
+himself a lover of learning, and had he not taken this special care the
+library would have been destroyed; 'for there were ignorant senators
+enough who would have been content to have it so.' As a rule, we must
+admit that the Puritans were friendly to literature, with a very natural
+exception as to merely ecclesiastical records. Oliver Cromwell gave some
+of the Barocci MSS. to the University of Oxford; and the preservation of
+Usher's library at Trinity College, Dublin, was due to the public spirit
+of the Cromwellian soldiers, officers and men having subscribed alike for
+its purchase 'out of emulation to a former noble action of Queen
+Elizabeth's army in Ireland.'
+
+[Illustration: SIR ROBERT COTTON.]
+
+Sir Robert Cotton began about 1588 to gather materials for a history of
+England. With the help of Camden and Sir Henry Spelman he obtained nearly
+a thousand volumes of records and documents; and these he arranged under
+a system, by which they are still cited, in fourteen wainscot presses
+marked with the names of the twelve Caesars, Cleopatra, and Faustina. He
+was so rich in State Papers that, as Fuller said, 'the fountains were
+fain to fetch water from the stream,' and the secretaries and clerks of
+the Council were glad in many cases to borrow back valuable originals.
+Sir Robert was at one time accused of selling secrets to the Spanish
+ambassador, and various excuses were found for closing the library,
+until at last it was declared to be unfit for public use on account of
+its political contents. He often told his friends that this tyranny had
+broken his heart, and shortly before his death in 1631 he informed the
+Lords of the Council that their conduct was the cause of his mortal
+malady. The library was restored to his son Sir Thomas: and in Sir John
+Cotton's time the public made a considerable use of its contents; but it
+seems to have been still a matter of favour, for Burnet complains that he
+was refused admittance unless he could procure a recommendation from the
+Archbishop and the Secretary of State. Anthony Wood gives a pleasant
+account of his visit: 'Posting off forthwith he found Sir John Cotton in
+his house, joining almost to Westminster Hall: he was then practising on
+his lute, and when he had done he came out and received Wood kindly, and
+invited him to dinner, and directed him to Mr. Pearson who kept the key.
+Here was another trouble; for the said Mr. Pearson being a lodger in the
+shop of a bookseller living in Little Britain, Wood was forced to walk
+thither, and much ado there was to find him.' The library was afterwards
+moved to Essex Street, and then to Ashburnham House in Little Dean's
+Yard, where the great fire took place in 1731, which some attributed to
+'Dr. Bentley's villainy.' Dean Stanley has told us how the Headmaster of
+Westminster, coming to the rescue, saw a figure issue from the burning
+house, 'in his dressing-gown, with a flowing wig on his head, and a huge
+volume under his arm.' This was Dr. Bentley the librarian, doing his best
+to save the Alexandrian MS. of the New Testament. Mr. Speaker Onslow and
+some of the other trustees worked hard in the crowd at pumping, breaking
+open the presses, and throwing the volumes out at a window. The
+destruction was lamentable; but wonders have been done in extending the
+shrivelled documents and rendering their ashes legible. The public use of
+the collection had been already regulated by Parliament when a
+comprehensive Act was passed in 1753, and the nation acquired under one
+title the Cottonian Library, Sir Hans Sloane's Museum, the Earl of
+Oxford's pamphlets and manuscripts, and all that remained of the ancient
+royal collections.
+
+Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, made a great purchase in 1705, and spent
+the next twenty years in building on that foundation. His son, Earl
+Edward, threw himself with zeal into the undertaking, and left at his
+death about 50,000 books, besides a huge body of manuscripts and an
+incredible number of pamphlets. We shall quote from the sketch by Oldys,
+who shared with Dr. Johnson the task of compiling the catalogue. 'The
+Earl had the rarest books of all countries, languages, and sciences':
+thousands of fragments, some a thousand years old: vellum books, of which
+some had been scraped and used again as 'palimpsests': 'a great
+collection of Bibles, and editions of all the first printed books,
+classics, and others of our own country, ecclesiastical as well as civil,
+by Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Berthelet, Rastall, Grafton, and the
+greatest number of pamphlets and English heads of any other person:
+abundance of ledgers, chartularies, etc., and original letters of eminent
+persons as many as would fill two hundred volumes; all the collections of
+his librarian Humphrey Wanley, of Stow, Sir Symonds D'Ewes, Prynne,
+Bishop Stillingfleet, John Bagford, Le Neve, and the flower of a hundred
+other libraries.'
+
+A few of these collections ought to be separately mentioned. Stow had
+died in great poverty, and indeed had been for many years a licensed
+beggar or bedesman; but in his youth he had been enabled by Parker's
+protection to make a good collection out of the spoils of the Abbeys;
+during the Elizabethan persecution he was nearly convicted of treason for
+being in possession of remnants of Popery, and found it very hard to
+convince the stern inquisitor that he was only a harmless antiquary. Sir
+Symonds D'Ewes had endeavoured by his will, which he modelled upon that
+of De Thou, to preserve undispersed through the ages to come the
+'precious library' bequeathed in a touching phrase 'to Adrian D'Ewes, my
+young son, yet lying in the cradle.' Notwithstanding all his bonds and
+penalties the event which he dreaded came to pass. Harley had advised
+Queen Anne to buy a collection that included so many precious documents
+and records: the Queen, wishing perhaps to rebuff her minister, said that
+it was indeed no merit in her to prefer arts to arms, 'but while the
+blood and honour of the nation was at stake in her wars she could not,
+till she had secured her living subjects an honourable peace, bestow
+their money upon dead letters'; and so, we are told, 'the Earl stretched
+his own purse, and gave L6000 for the library.' Peter Le Neve spent his
+life in gathering important papers about coat-armour and pedigrees. He
+had intended them for the use of his fellow Kings-at-Arms; but it was
+said that he had some pique against the Heralds' College, and so 'cut
+them off with a volume.' The rest went to the auction-room: 'The Earl of
+Oxford,' said Oldys, 'will have a sweep at it'; and we know that the cast
+was successful. As for John Bagford, the scourge of the book-world, we
+have little to say in his defence. In his audacious design of compiling a
+history of printing he mangled and mutilated about 25,000 volumes,
+tearing out the title pages and colophons and shaving the margins even of
+such priceless jewels of bibliography as the Bible of Gutenberg and those
+of 'Polyglott' Cardinal Ximenes. He cannot avoid conviction as a literary
+monster; yet his contemporaries regarded him as a miracle of erudition,
+and Mr. Pollard has lately put in a kindly plea in mitigation. We are
+reminded that Bagford made no money by his crimes, that he took
+walking-tours through Holland and Germany in search of bargains, and that
+he made 'a priceless collection of ballads.' It might be said also for a
+further plea that what one age regards as sport another condemns as
+butchery. The Ferrar family at Little Gidding were the inventors of
+'pasting-printing,' as they called their barbarous mode of embellishment;
+and Charles I. himself, in Laud's presence, called their largest
+scrap-book 'the Emperor of all books,' and 'the incomparablest book this
+will be, as ever eye beheld.' The huge volume made up for Prince Charles
+out of pictures and scraps of text was joyfully pronounced to be 'the
+gallantest greatest book in the world.' The practice of 'grangerising,'
+or stuffing out an author with prints and pages from other works, was
+even praised by Dibdin as 'useful and entertaining,' though in our own
+time it is rightly condemned as a malpractice.
+
+Next to Harley's library in importance was that of John Moore, Bishop of
+Ely, of which Burnet said that it was a treasure beyond what one would
+think the life and labour of a man could compass. Oldys has described it
+in his notes upon London libraries, which it is fair to remember were
+based on Bagford's labours, as regards the earlier entries. 'The Bishop,'
+he says, 'had a prodigious collection of books, written as well as
+printed on vellum, some very ancient, others finely illuminated. He had a
+Capgrave's Chronicle, books of the first printing at Maintz and other
+places abroad, as also at Oxford, St. Alban's, Westminster, etc.' There
+was some talk of uniting it with Harley's collection; but in 1715 it was
+bought by George I. for 6000 guineas, and was presented to the Public
+Library at Cambridge.
+
+The University had possessed a library from very early times. It owed
+much to the liberality of several successive Bishops of Durham. Theodore
+Beza and Lord Bacon were afterwards among its most distinguished
+benefactors. Bishop Hacket made a donation of nearly fifteen hundred
+volumes: and in 1647 a large collection of Eastern MSS., brought home
+from Italy by George Thomason, was added by an ordinance of the
+Commonwealth. But, until the royal gift of the Bishop of Ely's books, the
+University received no such extraordinary favour of fortune as came to
+the sister institution through the splendid beneficence of Bodley.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+BODLEY--DIGBY--LAUD--SELDEN--ASHMOLE.
+
+
+The University of Oxford still offers public thanks for Bodley's
+generosity upon his calendar-day. The ancient library of Duke Humphrey
+and his pious predecessors had, as we have seen, been plundered and
+devastated. But Sir Thomas Bodley, when retiring from office in 1597,
+conceived the idea of restoring it to prosperity again; 'and in a few
+years so richly endowed it with books, revenues, and buildings, that it
+became one of the most famous in the world.' Bodley has left us his own
+account of the matter:--'I concluded at the last to set up my staff at
+the library-door in Oxon. I found myself furnished with such four kinds
+of aids as, unless I had them all, I had no hope of success. For without
+some kind of knowledge, without some purse-ability to go through with the
+charge, without good store of friends to further the design, and without
+special good leisure to follow such a work, it could not but have proved
+a vain attempt.' When Meric Casaubon visited Oxford a few years
+afterwards he found the hall filled with books. 'Do not imagine,' he
+wrote, 'that there are as many MSS. here as in the royal library at
+Paris. There are a good many in England, though nothing to what our King
+possesses; but the number of printed books is wonderful, and increasing
+every year. During my visit to Oxford I passed whole days in this place.
+The books cannot be taken away, but it is open to scholars for seven or
+eight hours a day, and one may always see a number of them revelling at
+their banquet, which gave me no small pleasure.' Bodley was not one of
+those who like libraries to be open to all comers. 'A grant of such
+scope,' said his statute, 'would but minister an occasion of pestering
+all the room with their gazing; and the babbling and trampling up and
+down may disturb out of measure the endeavours of those that are
+studious. Admission, from the first, was granted only to graduates, and
+every one on his entrance had to take the oath against 'razing, defacing,
+cutting, noting, slurring, and mangling the books.'
+
+Sir Thomas was ably seconded by 'good Mr. James,' his first librarian,
+and by the bookseller John Bill, who collected for him at Frankfort and
+Lyons and other likely places on the Continent. The most minute rules
+were laid down for the protection of the books against embezzlement. The
+volumes were chained to the desks, and readers were entreated to fasten
+the clasps and strings, to untangle the chains, and to leave the books as
+they found them. Bodley was always enquiring about the store of chains
+and wires. 'I pray you write to John Smith,' he said to James, 'that I
+may be furnished against Easter with a thousand chains'; he hopes to
+bring enough for that number, 'if God send my books safe out of Italy.'
+About the time of the King's visit he writes that he has sent a case of
+wires and clips by the carrier, 'which I make no doubt but you may in
+good time get fastened to your books.' His carefulness is shown by his
+directions for cleaning the room: 'I do desire that, after the library is
+well swept and the books cleansed from dust, you would cause the floor to
+be well washed and dried, and after rubbed with a little rosemary, for a
+stronger scent I should not like.' He often writes about his Continental
+purchases. John Bill, he says, had been at Venice, Florence, and Rome,
+and half a score other Italian cities, 'and hath bought us many books as
+he knew I had not, amounting to the sum of at least L400.' With regard to
+certain duplicates he says: 'the fault is mine and John Bill's, who
+dealing with multitudes must perforce make many scapes.' 'Jo. Bill hath
+gotten everywhere what the place would afford, for his commission was
+large, his leisure very good, and his payment sure at home.' The agent
+bought largely at Seville; 'but the people's usage towards all of our
+nation is so cruel and malicious that he was utterly discouraged.'
+
+[Illustration: SIR THOMAS BODLEY.]
+
+Sir Thomas Bodley would accept a very small contribution or the gift of a
+single volume of any respectable sort. But he would have no 'riff-raff,'
+as he told Dr. James, and would certainly have scorned the almanacs and
+play-books acquired after his death under a bequest from the melancholy
+Burton, and the ships' logs and 'pickings of chandlers' and grocers'
+papers' which were received long afterwards as part of Dr. Rawlinson's
+great donation. He was always grateful for a well-meant present. He
+writes to his librarian: 'Mr. Schoolmaster of Winton's gift of
+Melanchthon and Huss I do greatly esteem, and will thank him, if you
+will, by letter.' Some of the earliest gifts were of a splendid kind.
+Lord Essex sent three hundred folios, including a fine Budaeus from the
+library of Jerome Osorio, captured at Faro in Portugal when the fleet was
+returning from Cadiz. Bodley himself gave a magnificent _Romance of
+Alexander_ that had belonged in 1466 to Richard Woodville, Lord Rivers.
+The librarian contributed about a hundred volumes, including early MSS.
+procured from Balliol and Merton by his persuasion. Merton College, for
+its own part, sent nearly two-score volumes of 'singular good books in
+folio.' Sir Henry Savile gave the 'Gospels' in Russian and the Greek
+'Commentaries on St. Augustine,' and William Camden out of his poverty
+brought a few manuscripts and ancient books. Lawrence Bodley, the
+founder's brother, came with thirty-seven 'very fair and new-bought works
+in folio, and Lord Lumley with forty volumes reserved out of the library
+sold to the Prince. Lord Montacute contributed the works of the Fathers,
+'in sixty-six costly great volumes, all bought of set purpose and fairly
+bound with his arms,' Mr. Gent a number of medical treatises, Sir John
+Fortescue five good Greek MSS. and forty other books. We only mention a
+few of the choicer specimens or note the reappearance of old friends
+described in earlier chapters. In 1602 there arrived from Exeter Bishop
+Leofric's vellum service-book, with several others that had lodged in its
+company since the days of Edward the Confessor. Next year came one of the
+exquisite 'Gospels' which Pope Gregory, as men said, had given to the
+missionary Augustine; the other had been included in Parker's gift to
+Corpus Christi. Sir Henry Wotton contributed a valuable Koran, to which
+in later years he added Tycho Brahes 'Astronomy' with the author's MS.
+notes. Thomas Allen gave a relic of St. Dunstan, containing the Saint's
+portrait drawn by himself, and one of Grostete's books that had been
+given by the Friars to Dr. Gascoigne. Mr. Allen gave in all twelve rare
+MSS. besides printed books, 'with a purpose to do more'; and Bodley
+commends him as a most careful provoker and solicitor of benefactions. He
+was the mathematician, or rather the cabalistical astrologer, who taught
+Sir Kenelm Digby, introducing that romantic giant to the art of ruling
+the stars, and how to melt and puff 'until the green dragon becomes the
+golden goose,' and all the other _arcana_ of alchemy.
+
+Digby was a good friend to the Bodleian. When quite a youth he cut down
+fifty great oaks to purchase a building-site near Exeter College. The
+laying of the foundation-stone in 1634 was amusingly described by Wood.
+The Heads of Houses were all assembled, and the University musicians 'had
+sounded a lesson on their wind-music,' standing on the leads at the west
+end of the library; but while the Vice-Chancellor was placing a piece of
+gold on the first stone, the earth fell in, and the scaffold broke, 'so
+that all those who were thereon, the Proctors, Principals of Halls, etc.,
+fell down all together one upon another, among whom the under-butler of
+Exeter College had his shoulder broken or put out of joint, and a
+scholar's arm bruised.' It was at this time that Digby made a generous
+gift of books, all tall copies in good bindings with his initials on the
+panels at the back. Among them were early works on science by Grostete
+and Roger Bacon, besides histories and chronicles. Many of these books
+had belonged to Thomas Allen, who gave them to Digby as a token of
+regard. Sir Kenelm wrote about them to Sir Robert Cotton, who was to
+thank Allen for his kindness: 'in my hands they will not be with less
+honourable memory of him than in any man's else.' He felt sure that Allen
+would have wished them to be freely used: 'all good things are the better
+the more they are communicated'; but the University was to be the
+absolute mistress, 'to dispose of them as she pleaseth.' Mr. Macray
+quotes another passage about two trunks of Arabic MSS. Digby had given
+them to Laud for St. John's College or the Bodleian, as he might prefer,
+but nothing had been heard about their arrival. He promised more books
+from his own library, which had been taken over to France after the Civil
+War broke out. The books, however, remained abroad, and were confiscated
+on Digby's death as being the chattels of an alien resident; but either
+by favour or purchase they soon became the property of the Earl of
+Bristol, and were afterwards sold by auction in London. Two volumes were
+purchased for the Bodleian in 1825 which must be regarded with the
+deepest interest. The 'Bacon' and 'Proclus' had belonged to the Oxford
+Friars, to Gascoigne, to the astrologer secluded in Gloucester Hall.
+Digby had written a note in each that it was the book of the University
+Library, as witnessed by his initials; but it had taken them many
+generations to make the last stage of their journey from his book-shelf
+to their acknowledged home at Oxford.
+
+It was chiefly through the generosity of Laud that the Bodleian obtained
+its wealth of Oriental learning. But it was not only in the East that the
+Archbishop devoted himself to book-collecting. Like Dr. Dee, he saw the
+value of Ireland as a hunting-ground, and employed his emissaries to
+procure painted service-books, the records of native princes, and the
+archives of the Anglo-Norman nobility. Among his most precious
+acquisitions was an Irish MS. containing the _Psalter of Cashel_,
+Cormac's still unpublished _Glossary_, and some of the poems ascribed to
+St. Patrick and St. Columba. On the Continent the armies of Gustavus
+Adolphus were ravaging the cities of Germany; and Laud's agents were
+always at hand to rescue the fair books and vellums from the Swedish
+pikemen. In this way he obtained the printed Missal of 1481 and a number
+of Latin MSS. from the College of Wuerzburg, and other valuable books from
+monasteries near Mainz and Eberbach in the Duchy of Baden. It appears by
+Mr. Macray's Annals that his gifts to the University between 1635 and
+1640 amounted to about thirteen hundred volumes, in more than twenty
+languages. To our minds the most attractive will always be the very copy
+of the 'Acts' perused by the Venerable Bede, and the 'Anglo-Saxon
+Chronicle' compiled in the Abbey of Peterborough. The men of Laud's age
+would perhaps have attached greater importance to the Eastern MSS.
+acquired by the Archbishop through Robert Huntingdon, the consul at
+Aleppo, or the Greek library of Francesco Barocci, which he persuaded
+William Earl of Pembroke to present to the University. In describing the
+Persian MSS. of his last gift, Laud specially mentioned one as containing
+a history of the world from the Creation to the end of the Saracen
+Empire, and as being of a very great value. He shows the greatest anxiety
+for the safety of the volumes: 'I would to God the place for them were
+ready, that they might be set up safe, and chained as the other books
+are.' He gave many books to St. John's College; and he retained a large
+collection in his Palace at Lambeth, which was bestowed on Hugh Peters
+after his death; it is satisfactory, however, to remember that 'the study
+of books' was recovered at the Restoration, and that Mr. Ashmole was
+appointed to examine the accounts of the fanatic.
+
+Laud was not the first to seek for the treasures of the East. Before his
+gifts began Sir Thomas Roe, who sat for Oxford with Selden, had presented
+to the Bodleian a number of MSS. acquired during his embassy to
+Constantinople. Joseph Scaliger, the restorer of Arabic learning in the
+West, had been especially interested in Samaritan literature, and had
+corresponded about a copy of the Pentateuch with one Rabbi Eleazar, 'who
+dwelt in Sichem'; and, though the papers fell into the hands of robbers,
+they were afterwards delivered to Peiresc. The traveller Minutius had
+returned with Coptic service-books, and Peiresc, captivated with a new
+branch of learning, established an agency for Eastern books at Smyrna.
+The Capucin Gilles de Loche averred that he had seen 8000 volumes in a
+monastery of the Nitrian Desert,'many of which seemed to be of the age of
+St. Anthony': he had pushed into Abyssinia and had heard the 'uncouth
+chaunts and clashing cymbals,' as Mr. Curzon heard them in a later age;
+and he had even cast his eyes on the _Book of Enoch_ with pallid figures
+and a shining black text; and Peiresc was so inflamed with a desire to
+buy it at any price that in the end he acquired it. The books seen by the
+Capucin in the Convent of the Syrians, stored 'in the vault beyond the
+oil-cellar,'have become our national property; and if there are not many
+of the age of St. Anthony we have at least the volume, completed by the
+help of a monk's note of the eleventh century, and originally written in
+the year 411 'at Ur of the Chaldees by the hand of a man named Jacob.'
+
+Much less attention seems to have been paid to the collection of Hebrew
+books than to those in Coptic and Arabic. Selden, it is true, gave to
+the University Library 'such of his Talmudical and Rabbinical books as
+were not already to be found there,' and purchases were made at the
+Crevenna sale in Amsterdam and at a sale during the present century of
+the MSS. of Matheo Canonici at Venice. The chief source from which the
+Bodleian was supplied was the collection formed before 1735 by David
+Oppenheimer, the Chief Rabbi at Prague. In the British Museum are the
+Hebrew books presented by Solomon da Costa in 1759. The donor's letter
+contained a few interesting details. There were three Biblical MSS. and a
+hundred and eighty printed books, all in very old editions: 'They were
+bound by order of King Charles II., and marked with his cypher, and were
+purchased by me in the days of my youth, and the particulars are they not
+written in the book that is found therewith?' They had been collected
+under the Commonwealth, and had afterwards been sent to the binder by
+King Charles; but as the bill was never paid they lay in the shop until
+the reign of George I., when they were sold to pay expenses, and so came
+into the possession of the excellent Solomon da Costa.
+
+The best antiquarian collections were those given to Oxford by Dr.
+Rawlinson in the last century, by Richard Gough in 1809, and by Mr. Douce
+in 1834. Mr. Macray has enumerated nearly thirty libraries which Richard
+Rawlinson had laid under contribution, and his list includes such
+headings as the Miscellaneous Papers of Samuel Pepys, the Thurloe State
+Papers, the remains of Thomas Hearne, and documents belonging to Gale and
+Michael Maittaire, Sir Joseph Jekyll, and Walter Clavell of the Temple.
+He cites a letter written by Rawlinson in 1741, as showing the curious
+accidents by which some of these documents were preserved: 'My agent last
+week met with some papers of Archbishop Wake at a chandler's shop: this
+is unpardonable in his executors, as all his MSS. were left to Christ
+Church; but _quaere_ whether these did not fall into some servant's hands,
+who was ordered to burn them, and Mr. Martin Folkes ought to have seen
+that done.'
+
+Mr. Gough's collection related chiefly to English topography, Anglo-Saxon
+and Northern literature, and printed service-books; it is stated to
+contain more than 3700 volumes, all given by a generous bequest to form
+'an Antiquary's Closet.' Mr. Douce's large library contained a number of
+Missals and _Livres d'Heures_. Some of these are described as 'priceless
+gems rivalled only by the Bedford Missal,' especially one prayer-book
+illuminated for Leonora, Duchess of Urbino, another that belonged to
+Marie de Medici, and 'a Psalter on purple vellum, probably of the ninth
+century, which came from the old Royal Library of France.' Among the most
+important of the earlier benefactions was the gift of the Dodsworth
+Papers by Thomas Lord Fairfax. The archives of the Northern monasteries
+had been kept for a time in eight chests in St. Mary's Tower at York.
+Roger Dodsworth, Sir William Dugdale's colleague in the preparation of
+the Monasticon, made copies of many of these documents; and when the
+tower was blown up in the siege of 1644 he was one of the zealous
+antiquarians who saved the mouldering fragments on the breach. His whole
+store of archaeological records became the property of Fairfax at his
+death. They are of great historical importance, but at one time they were
+strangely neglected. Wood says that all the papers were nearly spoiled in
+a damp season, when he obtained leave to dry them on the leads near the
+schools; but though it cost him a month's labour he undertook it with
+pleasure 'out of respect to the memory of Mr. Dodsworth.'
+
+The Ashmolean books were some years ago transferred to the Bodleian, but
+for several generations there was a strange assortment of antiquarian
+libraries gathered together in the Museum which Ashmole developed out of
+Madam Tradescant's 'closet of curiosities.' Here were the books of the
+shiftless John Aubrey, described by Wood as 'sometimes little better than
+crazed': and here, according to Wood's dying wish, lay his own books,
+'and papers and notes about two bushels full,' side by side with
+Dugdale's manuscripts. Dibdin quotes several extracts from Elias
+Ashmole's diary, to show the old book-hunter's prowess in the chase. He
+buys on one day Mr. Milbourn's books, and on the next all that Mr.
+Hawkins left; he sees Mrs. Backhouse of London about the purchase of her
+late husband's library. In 1667 he writes: 'I bought Mr. John Booker's
+study of books, and gave L140.' Being somewhat of an alchemist, he was
+glad to become the owner of Lilly's volumes on magic, and most of Dr.
+Dee's collection came into his hands through the kindness of his friend
+Mr. Wale. When Ashmole brought out his book upon the Order of the Garter
+he became the associate of the nobility; and we will leave him feasting
+at his house in South Lambeth, clad in a velvet gown, and wearing his
+great chain 'of philagreen links in great knobs,' with ninety loops of
+gold.
+
+In noticing the lawyers who have been eminent for their devotion to books
+we might go back to very early times. We ought at least to mention
+Sergeant William Fletewode, Recorder of London in the reign of Elizabeth,
+who bought a library out of Missenden Abbey, consisting mainly of the
+romances of chivalry; it was sold with its later additions in 1774 under
+the title of _Bibliotheca Monastico-Fletewodiana_. The Lord Chancellor
+Ellesmere in the same reign formed a collection of old English poetry,
+which became the foundation of a celebrated library belonging to the
+Dukes of Bridgewater and afterwards to the Marquis of Stafford. Sir
+Julius Caesar, who was Master of the Rolls under James I., was 'often
+reflected upon' for his want of legal knowledge; but he collected a
+quantity of good MSS. which passed into the library of Mr. Carteret-Webb,
+after a narrow escape of being sold for L10 to a cheesemonger. They are
+now in the British Museum together with a box of exquisite miniature
+classics, with which he used to solace himself on a journey. Arthur, Earl
+of Anglesea, was another distinguished lawyer, who was famous for having
+acquired the finest specimens of books in 'all faculties, arts, and
+languages.'
+
+The great bulk of Selden's books were given by his executors to the
+Bodleian; but several chests of monastic manuscripts were sent to the
+Inner Temple, and perished in a fire. He passed his whole life as a
+scholar; and yet, it is said, he deplored the loss of his time, and
+wished that he had neglected what the world calls learning, and had
+rather 'executed the office of a justice of the peace.' Sir Matthew Hale
+should be remembered for his gift of MSS. to Lincoln's Inn. He made it a
+condition that they should never be printed; and the language of his will
+shows a certain dread of dealing lightly with the secrets of tenure and
+prerogative. 'My desire is that they be kept safe and all together in
+remembrance of me. They were fit to be bound in leather, and chained and
+kept in archives: they are a treasure not fit for every man's view, nor
+is every man capable of making use of them.'
+
+We shall close our account of the century with a few words about Dr.
+Bernard, a stiff, hard, and straightforward reader, whose library of
+medicine and general literature was sold by auction in 1698. 'Being a
+person who collected his books not for ostentation or ornament he seemed
+no more solicitous about their dress than his own'; and therefore, says
+the compiler of his catalogue, 'you'll find that a gilt back or a large
+margin was very seldom any inducement to him to buy. It was sufficient to
+him that he had the book.' 'The garniture of a book,' he would
+observe,'was apt to recommend it to a great part of our modern
+collectors'; he himself was not a mere nomenclator, and versed only in
+title-pages, 'but had made that just and laudable use of his books which
+would become all those that set up for collectors.' He was the possessor
+of thirteen fine Caxtons, which fetched altogether less than two guineas
+at his sale; the biddings seem to have been by the penny; and Mr. Clarke
+in his _Repertorium Bibliographicum_ observed that the penny at that time
+seems to have been more than the equivalent of our pound sterling in the
+purchase of black-letter rarities.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+GROLIER AND HIS SUCCESSORS.
+
+
+Jean Grolier, the prince of book-collectors, was born at Lyons in 1479.
+His family had come originally from Verona, but had long been naturalised
+in France. Several of his relations held civic offices; Etienne Grolier,
+his father, was in charge of the taxes in the district of Lyons, and was
+appointed treasurer of the Milanese territories at that time in the
+occupation of the French. Jean Grolier succeeded his father in both these
+employments. He was treasurer of Milan in 1510, when Pope Julius formed
+the league against the French, which was crushed at the Battle of
+Ravenna; and for nearly twenty years afterwards Grolier took a principal
+part in administering the affairs of the province. Young, rich, and
+powerful, a lover of the arts and a bountiful patron of learning, he
+became an object of almost superstitious respect to the authors and
+booksellers of Italy. He was eager to do all in his power towards
+improving the machinery and diffusing the products of science. He loved
+his books not only for what they taught but also as specimens of
+typography and artistic decoration. To own one or two examples from his
+library is to take high rank in the army of bookmen. The amateur of
+bindings need learn little more when he comprehends the stages of
+Grolier's literary passion, its fervent and florid beginnings, the
+majesty of its progress, and its austere simplicities in old age.
+
+Grolier was the personal friend of Gryphius, the printer of Lyons, and of
+all the members of the House of Aldus at Venice. Erasmus, who was revered
+by Grolier as his god-father in matters of learning, once paid a
+compliment to the treasurer, which was not far from the truth. 'You owe
+nothing to books,' he wrote, 'but they owe a good deal to you, because it
+is by your help that they will go down to posterity.' The nature of
+Grolier's relations with the Venetian publishers appears in his letters
+to Francis of Asola about the printing of a work by Budaeus. He writes
+from Milan in the year 1519: 'I am thinking every day about sending you
+the "Budaeus" for publication in your most elegant style. You must add to
+your former favours by being very diligent in bringing out my friend's
+book, of which I now send you the manuscript revised and corrected by the
+author. You must take the greatest care, dear Francis, to present it to
+the public in an accurate shape, and this indeed I must beg and implore.
+I want beauty and refinement besides; but this we shall get from your
+choice paper, unworn type, and breadth of margin. In a word, I want to
+have it in the same style as your "Politian." If all this extra luxury
+should put you to loss, I will make it good. I am most anxious that
+the manuscript should be followed exactly, without any change or
+addition; and so, my dear Francis, fare you well.' The book appeared with
+a dedication to Grolier himself, in which Francis of Asola recounts the
+many favours received by the elder Aldus in his lifetime, by himself, and
+by his father Andreas. The presentation copy was magnificently printed on
+vellum, with initials in gold and colours. Grolier inscribed it with his
+name and device, so that it became easy to verify its subsequent history.
+It appeared among the books of the Prince de Soubise, and belonged
+afterwards to the Count Macarthy, and in 1815 was bought by Mr. Payne and
+transferred to the Althorp Library.
+
+[Illustration: BINDING EXECUTED FOR GROLIER.]
+
+Grolier's books were generally stamped with the words '_et Amicorum_'
+immediately after his name, to indicate as we suppose that they were the
+common property of himself and his friends, although it has been
+suggested that he was referring to his possession of duplicates. Another
+of his marks was the use of some pious phrase, such as a wish that his
+portion might be in 'the land of the living,' which was either printed on
+the cover or written on a fly-leaf, if the volume were the gift of a
+friend. In the use of these distinctions he seems to have been preceded
+by Thomas Maioli, a book-collector of a family residing at Asti, of whom
+very little is known apart from his ownership of books in magnificent
+bindings. Grolier may have borrowed the phrase about his friends from a
+celebrated Flemish collector called Marcus Laurinus, or Mark Lauwrin of
+Watervliet, who was in constant correspondence with the Treasurer about
+their cabinets of medals and coins. Rabelais had a few valuable books,
+which he stamped with a similar design in Greek, and the Latin form
+occurs in many other libraries. We are inclined to refer the origin of
+the practice to a letter written by Philelpho in 1427, in which he tells
+his correspondent of the Greek proverb that all things are common among
+friends.
+
+Grolier's love of learning is shown by his own letters, and by the
+statements contained in the books that were so constantly dedicated to
+his name. To Beatus Rhenanus he wrote, with reference to an approaching
+visit: 'Oh, what a festal day, to be marked (as they say) with a pure
+white stone, when I am able to pay my humble duty to my own Rhenanus; and
+you see how great are my demands when you are entered as mine in my
+accounts.' As controller of the Milanese district he became the object of
+much adulation, for which his flatterers had to atone when the French
+occupation came to an end. The dedication of a certain dialogue affords
+an instance in point. Stefano Negri sent his book to Grolier in a
+splendid shape. The presentation copy on vellum may be seen at the
+British Museum among the treasures of the Grenville Library. The writer
+represents himself in the preface as going about in search of a patron.
+He sees Mercury descending from the clouds with a message from Minerva.
+'There is one man whom the Goddess holds dear, struggling like Ulysses
+through the flood of this stormy life: he is known as Grolier to the
+world.' Nay, what need have you, says the author, to sing the praises of
+that famous man? 'You must confess, even if you like it not, that he is
+most noble in his country and family, most wealthy in fortune, and most
+fair and beautiful in his bodily gifts.'
+
+As patron of all the arts the treasurer became the friend of Francino
+Gafori, the leader of the new school of music that was flourishing at
+Milan. Gafori seems to have been often in Grolier's company. He dedicated
+to the treasurer his work on the harmony of musical instruments, as well
+as the _Apologia_ in which he afterwards convicted the Bologna school of
+its errors. 'My work,' he says in his later book, 'is sound enough if
+soundly understood'; and he tells his rival that, though he may writhe
+with rage, the harmony of Gafori and the fame of Jean Grolier will live
+for ever. The introduction to his work upon harmony contains a few
+interesting details about Grolier's way of living at Milan. Gafori
+addresses his book in a dialogue, and vows that it shall never come home
+again if Grolier refuses to be the patron. A poetical friend adds a piece
+in which the Muses appear without their proper emblems, and even Apollo
+is bereft of his lyre. Gafori, they say, has taken away their harmonies
+and will not give them back. They are advised to make their way to the
+concert at Grolier's house, where the friend of the Muses sits among the
+learned doctors. An illustration shows Gafori sitting at his organ and
+the musicians with their wind-instruments at the end of the lofty hall.
+Gafori himself, in another preface, declares that his musical offspring
+can hardly be kept at home; they used to be too shy to go out, though all
+the musicians were awaiting them; now that they have Grolier's patronage
+they are all as bold as brass, and ready to rush through any danger to
+salute their generous friend. The history of the copy presented to
+Grolier is not without interest. After the great musician's death the
+treasurer gave it to Albisse, one of the King's secretaries: Albisse in
+1546 gave it to Rasse de Neux, a surgeon at Paris, who was devoted to
+curious books; in 1674 it entered the library of St. Germain-des-Pres,
+and was nearly destroyed more than a century afterwards in a great fire.
+During the Revolution it was added to the collection at the Convent des
+Celestins, and was afterwards deposited in the Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal,
+where we suppose that it still remains.
+
+Grolier was fond of giving books to his friends. A commentary on the
+Psalms with his name and device, now in the National Library at Paris,
+bears an inscription showing that he had given it to a monk named Jacques
+Guyard. He presented a fine copy of Marcus Aurelius to his friend Eurialo
+Silvestri; and there are volumes bearing his name in conjunction with
+those of Maioli and Laurinus which indicate similar gifts. He is known to
+have presented several volumes to the President de Thou as a mark of
+gratitude for assistance during his later troubles. It is somewhat
+singular that Jacques-Auguste de Thou never succeeded in getting
+possession of these books, though they had always been kept in his
+father's library; and they were not, indeed, replaced in the 'Bibliotheca
+Thuana' until it had become the property of the Cardinal de Rohan. It is
+interesting to learn that a volume of Cicero was given by Grolier to the
+artistic printer, Geoffroy Tory of Bourges, who designed the lettering of
+his mottoes: they were of an antique or 'Roman' shape, and were in two
+sizes, and proportioned, as we are told, 'in the same ratio to each other
+as the body and face of a man.' Geoffroy Tory mentioned them in a letter
+of the year 1523. 'It was on the morrow of the Epiphany,' says the
+light-hearted artist, 'that after my slumbers were over, and in
+consciousness of a joyous repast, I lay day-dreaming in bed, and twisting
+the wheels of my memory round: I thought of a thousand little fancies
+both grave and gay, and then there came before my mind those antique
+letters that I used to make for my lord, Master Jean Grolier, the King's
+councillor, and a friend of the _Belles Lettres_ and of all men of
+learning, by whom he is loved and esteemed on both sides of the Alps.'
+
+Another testimony comes from Dr. Sambucus, who knew Grolier well when he
+was living in Paris, and used to be fond of inspecting his cabinet of
+coins. In the last year of Grolier's life he received a book on the
+subject with a dedication to himself by the worthy Doctor. Grolier was
+reminded in the preface of their long talks on antiquarian subjects, and
+of the kindness which Sambucus had received from the treasurer and the
+treasurer's father at Milan. 'During the last three years,' says
+Sambucus, 'I have been enriching my library, and I have added some very
+scarce coins to the cabinet that you used to admire.' He adds a few
+complaints about dealers and the tricks of the trade, which we need not
+repeat. 'And now farewell!' he ends, 'noble ornament of a noble race, by
+whose mouth nothing has ever been uttered that came not from the heart!'
+
+Some account of Grolier's career is to be found in De Thou's great
+history. He praised the 'incredible love of learning' that had earned for
+a mere youth the intimate friendship of Budaeus. He showed with what
+administrative ability the Milanese territories were governed, and with
+what dignity Grolier filled the high office of Treasurer at home.
+
+Grolier, he says, built a magnificent mansion in the Rue de Bussy, which
+was known as the Hotel de Lyon; in one of its halls he arranged the
+multitude of books 'so carefully, and with such a fine effect, that the
+library might have been compared to that which Pollio established in
+Rome'; and so great was the supply that, notwithstanding his many gifts
+to friends and various misfortunes which befell his collection, every
+important library in France was able after his death to show some of his
+grand bindings as its principal ornament. Grolier's old age was
+disturbed by imputations against his official conduct, and it seemed at
+one time as if his fortune were in considerable danger. 'He was so
+confident in his innocence,' said the historian,'that he would not seek
+help from his friends; but he might have fallen at last, if he had not
+been protected by my father the President, who always used his influence
+to help the weak against the strong and the scholar against the ignorance
+of the vulgar.' The old Treasurer kept his serene course of life until he
+reached his eighty-sixth year: he died at his Hotel de Lyon, surrounded
+by his books, and was buried near the high altar in the Church of St.
+Germain-des-Pres.
+
+Upon Grolier's death his property was divided among his daughters'
+families. Some of the books were certainly sold; but the greater part of
+the library became the property of Meric de Vic, the old Treasurer's
+son-in-law. Meric was keeper of the seals to Louis XIII. His son
+Dominique became Archbishop of Auch. They were both fond of books, and
+took great care of Grolier's three thousand exquisite volumes, of which
+they were successively the owners. They lived in a large house in the Rue
+St. Martin, which had been built by Budaeus, and here the books were kept
+until the great dispersion in the year 1676. 'They looked,' said
+Bonaventure d'Argonne, 'as if the Muses had taken the outsides into their
+charge, as well as the contents, they were adorned with such art and
+_esprit_, and looked so gay, with a delicate gilding quite unknown to
+the book-binders of our time.' The same visitor described the sale of
+1676. All Paris was to be seen at the Hotel de Vic. 'Such a glorious
+collection ought all to have been kept together; but, as it was,
+everybody got some share of the spoil.' He bought some of the best
+specimens himself; and as he was only a poor monk of the Chartreuse the
+prices can hardly have run high. M. Le Roux de Lincy has traced the fate
+of the volumes dispersed at the sale. We hear, he says, of examples
+belonging to De Mesmes and Bigot, to Colbert and Lamoignon, Captain du
+Fay, the Count d'Hoym, and the Prince de Soubise. Some of the finest were
+purchased by Baron Hohendorf and were transferred about the year 1720 to
+the Imperial Library at Vienna. Yet they never rose to any high price
+until the Soubise sale towards the end of the last century, when the
+weight of the English competition for books began to be felt upon the
+Continent.
+
+M. de Lincy has traced the adventures of more than three hundred volumes,
+once in Grolier's ownership, but now for the most part in public
+libraries. The earlier possessors are classified according to the dates
+of their purchases. Of those who obtained specimens soon after the old
+Treasurer's death we may notice especially Paul Petau the antiquarian, De
+Thou the historian, and Pithou the statesman and jurist. Perhaps we
+should add Jean Ballesdens, a collector of fine books and MSS., whose
+library at his death in 1677 contained nine of Grolier's books, and
+Pierre Seguier, to whom Ballesdens acted as secretary; and as Seguier was
+the personal friend of Grolier, he may have been the original recipient
+of some of the volumes in question.
+
+Pierre Seguier founded a library which became one of the sights of Paris.
+His grandson, Charles Seguier, the faithful follower of Richelieu, was
+celebrated for his devotion to books. He used to laugh at his own
+bibliomania. 'If you want to corrupt me' he would say, 'you can always do
+it by giving me a book.' His house in the Rue Bouloi served as
+headquarters for the French Academy before it gained a footing in the
+Louvre; and on Queen Christina's visit in 1646 one of her first literary
+excitements was to visit Chancellor Seguier's _salon_. The decorations
+were considered worthy of being engraved and published by Dorigny. The
+gallery stood between two large gardens. The ceilings were encrusted with
+mosaics on a gold ground with allegorical designs by Vouet. The upper
+story contained about 12,000 books, and as many more were ranged in the
+adjoining rooms, one large hall being devoted to diplomatic papers, Greek
+books from Mount Athos, and Oriental MSS. According to a description
+published in 1684 a large collection of porcelain was arranged on the
+walls above the book-cases and in cases set cross-wise on the floor: 'the
+china covered the whole cornice, with the prettiest effect in the world.'
+We are reminded of the lady's book-room which Addison described as
+something between a grotto and a library. Her books were arranged in a
+beautiful order; the quartos were fenced off by a pile of bottles that
+rose in a delightful pyramid; the octavos were bounded by tea-dishes of
+all shapes and sizes; 'and at the end of the folios were great jars of
+china placed one above the other in a very noble piece of architecture.'
+
+Among the purchasers at the later sale we may notice the witty Esprit
+Flechier, who bought several of the lighter Latin poets, being a
+fashionable versifier himself and a dilettante in matters of binding and
+typography. In his account of the High Commission in Auvergne, appointed
+to examine into charges of feudal tyranny, the Abbe tells us how his
+reputation as a bibliophile was spread by a certain Pere Raphael at all
+the watering-places, and how two learned ladies came to inspect his books
+and carried off his favourite Ovid. His library was removed to London and
+sold in the year 1725; and the occasion was of some importance as marking
+the beginning of the English demand for specimens from Grolier's library.
+
+Archbishop Le Tellier bought fifteen good examples, which he bequeathed
+in 1709, with all his other books, to the Abbey of St. Genevieve. His
+whole collection included about 50,000 volumes, mostly dealing with
+history and the writings of the Fathers. 'I have loved books from my
+boyhood,' he said, 'and the taste has grown with age.' He bought most of
+his collection during his travels in Italy, in England, and in Holland;
+but perhaps the best part of his store came from his tutor Antoine
+Faure, who left a thousand volumes to the Archbishop, to be selected at
+the legatee's discretion.
+
+The most valuable portion of Grolier's library was bought by his friend
+Henri de Mesmes. This included the long series of presentation copies,
+printed on vellum, and magnificently bound. De Mesmes was a collector
+with a love of curiosities of all kinds. He seems to have been equally
+fond of his early specimens of printing, his Flemish and Italian
+illuminations, and the Arabic and Armenian treatises procured by his
+agents in the East. His library became a valuable museum which was
+praised by all the writers of that age, except indeed by Francois Pithou,
+who called De Mesmes a literary grave-digger, and mourned over the burial
+of so many good books in those cold and gloomy sepulchres.
+
+There seems to have been little occasion for this outburst, since the
+library was open to all who could make a good use of it during the life
+of Henri de Mesmes and under his son and grandson. Henri de Mesmes the
+younger, its owner in the third generation, was renowned for his zeal in
+collecting; he is said to have even procured MSS. from the Court of the
+Great Mogul, dispatched by a French goldsmith at Delhi, who packed them
+in red cotton and stuffed them into the hollow of a bamboo for safer
+carriage. One of the finest things in his whole library was the Psalter
+which Louis IX. had given to Guillaume de Mesmes: it had come by some
+means into the library at Whitehall; but on the execution of Charles I.
+the French Ambassador had been able to secure it, and had restored it to
+the family of the original donee.
+
+The Norman family of Bigot rivalled the race of De Mesmes in their ardour
+for book-collecting. Jean Bigot in 1649 had a magnificent library of 6000
+volumes, partly inherited from his ancestors, and partly collected out of
+the monastic libraries at Fecamp and Mont St. Michel and other places in
+that neighbourhood. His son Louis-Emeric took the library as his share of
+the inheritance: its improvement became the occupation of his life; he
+made many expeditions after books in foreign countries, but when he was
+at home his library was the general _rendez-vous_ of all who were
+interested in literature. The books were left to Robert Bigot upon trusts
+that were intended to prevent their dispersion. A sale, however, took
+place in 1706, at which the monastic archives and most of the MSS. were
+purchased by the government.
+
+By some arrangement, of which the history is unknown, the head of the
+family of De Mesmes was persuaded to allow his books to be included in
+the Bigot sale. There seems to have been an attempt to disguise the
+transaction by tearing off the bindings and defacing the coats of arms.
+The strangest thing about the sale was the fact that no notice was taken
+of its containing the finest portion of Grolier's library. The splendid
+_Aldines_, on vellum, fell into the hands of an ignorant notary with a
+new room to furnish: and he thought fit to strip off all the bindings,
+that had been a marvel of Italian art, and to replace them with the gaudy
+coverings that were more suited to his _bourgeois_ desires.
+
+M. de Lincy remarks that Grolier's books were strangely neglected through
+a great part of the eighteenth century. At the very end of the period,
+Count Macarthy had the good taste to include a few of them in his
+collection of books upon vellum. Mr. Cracherode began, in 1793, to buy
+all the specimens that came into the market: and the library which he
+bequeathed to the British Museum contains no less than eighteen fine
+examples. Eight more were comprised in the magnificent bequest of Mr.
+Thomas Grenville's library in 1846. There has been a demand for these
+books in England for more than a century and a half. But when we look at
+the catalogues of Gaignat or La Valliere they seem to have been
+altogether disregarded. When Gaignat died in 1768 his collection was
+regarded as perfect; it was said that 'no one in the commonwealth of
+letters had ever brought together such a rich and admirable assembly.'
+Yet he only had one 'Grolier book,' a magnificent copy of Paolo Giovio's
+book on Roman Fishes, which passed to the Duc de la Valliere, and went
+for a few _livres_ at his sale. There were only two other specimens in
+the Duke's library; and they seem to have been treated with equal
+indifference. M. de Lincy was of opinion that the memory of Grolier was
+almost entirely forgotten, except in his native city of Lyons. The
+appearance of his books might be admired by an antiquary here and there;
+but the classics had gone out of fashion for a time, and the world gave
+its attention to old poetry, to mediaeval romance, and even to 'books of
+_facetiae_.'
+
+Grolier's reputation had mainly depended on his generous patronage of
+literature. Even the House of Aldus had rejoiced to be the clients of a
+new Maecenas. The authors of that time were still too weak to go alone. In
+the absence of a demand for books it was essential to gain the favour of
+a great man who might open a way to fame and would at least provide a
+pension. We have all smiled at the adulations of an ancient preface and
+the arrogance which too often baulked the poor writer's hopes. D'Israeli
+reminds us that one of the Popes repaid the translation of a Greek
+treatise with a few pence that might just have paid for the binding, and
+of Cardinal Este receiving Ariosto's work with the question--'Where on
+earth all that rubbish had been collected?' This was but a temporary
+phase, and literature became free from the burden as soon as the public
+had learned to read. The Houses of Plantin and the Elzevirs required no
+help in selling out their cheap editions. A good dedication was still a
+feather in the patron's cap. Queen Christina considered that she was
+justly entitled to the patronage of her subjects' works: and Marshal
+Rantzau, when writers were scarce in Denmark, brought out an anonymous
+work for the purpose of introducing a preface in which his fame as a
+book-collector was glorified. But the patron's function was gradually
+restricted; and at last it was nearly confined to cases where a
+dedication repaid assistance given in producing an unsaleable book.
+
+The later renown of Grolier must rest on the fact that he invented a new
+taste. It would have been nothing to buy a few thousand Aldine books,
+even if the collection included all the first editions, the papers of all
+sizes, the copies with uncut edges, and specimens of the true misprints.
+The family of Aldus had a large library of this kind, which was dispersed
+at Rome by its inheritor in the third generation; but it never attracted
+much attention, and was generally believed to have been merged in a
+collection at Pisa. Grolier introduced a fashion depending for its
+success on a multiplicity of details. He bought books out of large
+editions just issuing from the press; but he chose out the specimen with
+the best printing, and the finest paper, if vellum were not forthcoming.
+The condition was perfect. Like the Count Macarthy he would have no dust
+or worm-holes: he was as microscopic in his views as the most accurate
+Parisian bibliophile. The binding was in the best Italian style: a
+general sobriety was relieved by the brilliancy of certain effects, by
+the purity of the design, perhaps above all by the perfection of the
+materials. The book was an object of interest, for its contents, or for
+historical or personal reasons; but it had also become an _objet d'art_,
+like a gem or a figure in porcelain. Grolier preserved his dignity as a
+bibliophile, and his true followers have not degenerated into collectors
+of _bric-a-brac_. It is sufficient to name such men as M. Renouard, the
+owner of many of Grolier's treasures, or M. Firmin-Didot 'the friend of
+all good books,' or the collections of Mr. Beckford and Baron Seilliere
+which have been in our own time dispersed. No doubt there is a tendency,
+especially among French amateurs, to regard books as mere curiosities;
+and M. Uzanne has drawn an amusing picture of the book-hunter as a
+chrysalis in his library, destined to find his wings in a flight after
+mosaic bindings, autographs, original water-colours, or plates in early
+states.
+
+It is possible, however, to prevent the 'book-buying disease' from
+developing into a general collector's mania. With the world full of
+books, we must adopt some special variety for our admiration. One person
+will choose his library companions for their stateliness and splendid
+raiment, another for their flavour of antiquity, or the fine company that
+they kept in old times. Montaigne loved his friends on the shelf, because
+they always received him kindly and 'blunted the point of his grief.' He
+turned the volumes over in his round tower within any method or design;
+'at one while,' he says, 'I meditate, at another time I make notes, or
+dictate, as I walk up and down, such whimsies as meet you here.' He cared
+little about the look of their outsides, but thought a great deal about
+their readiness to divert him; 'it is the best _viaticum_ I have yet
+found out for this human pilgrimage, and I pity any man of understanding
+who is not provided with it.' We have omitted the best reason of all. One
+who has lived among his books will love them because they are his own.
+Marie Bashkirtseff expressed the matter well enough in a page of her
+journal:--'I have a real passion for my books, I arrange them, I count
+them, I gaze upon them: my heart rejoices in nothing but this heap of old
+books, and I like to stand off a little and look at them as if they were
+a picture.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+LATER COLLECTORS: FRANCE--ITALY--SPAIN.
+
+
+We have still to notice one or two of Grolier's contemporaries, who may
+be classed as great book-collectors of an old-fashioned type. They knew
+the whole history of 'the Book,' and were themselves the owners of
+exquisite treasures, which are now hoarded up as the choicest remains of
+antiquity. But their function was not so much to collect books as rare
+and curious objects as to undertake the duty of saving the records of
+past history from destruction. They did the work in their day which has
+now devolved upon the guardians of public and national libraries. No
+private person could now take their place; but the interests of
+literature could hardly have been protected in a former age without the
+personal labour and enthusiasm of Orsini and Petau.
+
+Fulvio Orsini was born in 1529. He began life as a beggar, though for
+many years before his death he was the leader of Italian learning. A poor
+girl had been abandoned with her child and was forced to beg her bread in
+the streets of Rome. The boy obtained a place in the Lateran when he was
+only seven years old: the Canon Delfini recognised his precocious talents
+and undertook to find him a classical education. The student obtained
+some small preferment, and succeeded to his patron's appointment. His
+marvellous acquaintance with ancient books secured him a place as
+librarian to the Cardinal Farnese, and he received many offers of more
+lucrative employment: but he found that if he accepted he would have to
+live away from Rome; and he refused everything that could cause
+inconvenience to his mother, whose comfort was his constant care. On his
+death, in the year 1600, he bequeathed his vast collections to the
+Vatican, and the gift can only be compared to such important events as
+the arrival of the spoils of Urbino, or the great purchase of MSS. from
+the Queen of Sweden.
+
+Orsini has been ridiculed for having more books than he could read, and
+for an excessive devotion to the antique. 'Here is a library like an
+arsenal,' said the satirist, 'stored with all the requisites for any
+campaign. The owner buys all the books that come in his way: it is true
+that he will not read them; but he will have them magnificently bound,
+and ranged on the shelves with a mighty show, and there he will salute
+them several times a day, and will bring his friends and servants to make
+their acquaintance.' Orsini is rebuked for his admiration of a dusty
+manuscript. 'When one of these old parchments falls into his hands, he
+makes you examine the decayed leaves on which the eye can hardly trace
+any marks of an ancient pen. 'What is this treasure that we have here?'
+he cries, 'and oh! what joy, here we have the delight of mankind, and
+the world's desire, and pleasures not to be matched in Paradise!'
+'There,' says our satirist, 'you have the very portrait of Fulvio Orsini.
+Why, he once took a manuscript _Terence_, full of holes and mistakes, in
+writing to Cardinal Toletus, and told him that it was worth all the gold
+in the world'; and, to convince his Spanish Eminence, he said that the
+book was a thousand years' old. '_Est-il possible?_' replies the
+Cardinal, 'you don't say so. I can only say, my friend, I would rather
+have a book hot from the press than all the old parchments that the Sibyl
+had for sale.'
+
+Jacques Bongars, the faithful councillor and ambassador of Henri Quatre,
+was the owner of a remarkable library, consisting to a great extent of
+State papers and historical documents, which Bongars had special
+facilities for collecting during his official visits to Germany. He had
+studied law at Bourges under the learned Cujacius, of whom it is recorded
+that when his name was mentioned in the German lecture-rooms, every one
+present took off his hat. Bongars has described his excitement at
+purchasing the great lawyer's library. 'My chief care has been to seek
+out the books belonging to Cujas. I expect that you will have a fine
+laugh when you think of all that crowd that goes to Court as if it were a
+fair, to do their business together, and to try to get money out of the
+King, while a regular courtier like myself rushes off to this lonely spot
+to spend his fortune on books and papers, all in disorder and half eaten
+by the book-worms. You will be able to judge if I am an avaricious man.
+No trouble or expense is anything to me where books are concerned. Would
+to God that I were free, and had time to read them. I should not feel any
+envy then of M. de Rosny's wealth or the Persian's mountain of gold.'
+While residing at Strasburg he bought the manuscripts belonging to the
+Cathedral from some of the soldiers by whom the city was more than once
+pillaged during the wars of religion.
+
+About the year 1603 Bongars arranged with Paul Petau for the joint
+purchase of a large collection of manuscripts, which had belonged to the
+Abbey of St. Benoit-sur-Loire, and had been saved by the bailiff Pierre
+Daniel when the Abbey was plundered. The share of Bongars in this
+collection was transferred to Strasburg, and passed eventually with the
+rest of his books to the public library of the city of Berne.
+
+Paul Petau was a man of universal accomplishments. He was the rival of
+Scaliger in the science of chronology; his doctrinal works are praised as
+'a monument of useful labour'; 'he solaced his leisure hours with Greek
+and Hebrew, as well as Latin verse,' and, according to Hallam's judgment,
+obtained in the last subject the general approbation of the critics. He
+formed a valuable museum of Greek, Roman, and Gaulish antiquities, with a
+cabinet of Frankish coins, to which Peiresc was a generous contributor.
+His library contained several books that had belonged to Grolier; but it
+was chiefly remarkable for its MSS., of which several were published by
+Sirmond and Du Chesne among other materials for the history of France.
+Many of them had been acquired from the collection of Greek and Hebrew
+books formed by Jean de Saint Andre, or out of the mass of chronicles,
+romances, and old French poems belonging to Claude Fauchet, and a large
+portion came, as we have seen, out of an ancient Benedictine Abbey. Paul
+Petau's books of all kinds were left to his son Alexander. The printed
+books, comprising a number of finely illustrated works on archaeology,
+were sold at the Hague in 1722; the sale included the old library
+inherited by Francis Mansard, and the MSS. relating to Roman antiquities
+that had been the property of Lipsius. A thousand splendid volumes on
+parchment, the pride of the elder Petau, described by all who saw them in
+terms of glowing admiration, were sold in his son's lifetime to Queen
+Christina of Sweden. She had always intended to buy some great
+collection, and had thought among others of buying up those of Henri de
+Mesmes, of De Bethune, and the Cardinal Mazarin. She was delighted with
+her new acquisition, and carried it off to Rome, where she made a
+triumphal entry with her books amidst the popular rejoicings.
+
+Something may be learned about the Italian collectors in the age that
+followed Grolier's death, from the story of the strange wanderings of the
+manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci. Very little was known upon this subject
+until M. Arsene Houssaye found an account of what had happened among the
+papers of the Barnabite Mazenta, who died in the year 1635. 'It was
+about fifty years ago,' says the memorandum, written shortly before the
+old monk's death, 'that thirteen volumes of Leonardo's papers, all
+written backwards in his own way, fell into my hands. I was then studying
+law at Pisa, and one of my companions in the class-room was Aldus
+Manutius, renowned as a book-collector. We received a visit from one of
+his relations called Lelio Gavardi; he had been tutor in the household of
+Francesco Melzi, who was the pupil and also the heir of Leonardo.' Melzi
+treasured up every line and scrap of the great man's works at his
+country-house in Vaprio; but his sons did not care for art, and left the
+papers lying about in a lumber-room, so that Gavardi was able to help
+himself as he pleased. He brought thirteen volumes, well-known in the
+history of literature, as far as Florence at first, and then to Aldus at
+Pisa. 'I cried shame on him,' said Mazenta, 'and as I was going to Milan
+I undertook to return them to the Melzi family. There I saw Doctor
+Horatio Melzi, who was quite astonished at my taking so much trouble, and
+gave me the books for myself, saying that he had plenty more of the same
+sort in his garrets at home.' When Mazenta became a monk the thirteen
+volumes passed to his brothers, who talked so much about the matter that
+there was a rush of amateurs to Vaprio, and the Doctor was overwhelmed
+with offers for the great man's books and drawings. 'One of these
+rascals,' said Mazenta, 'was the sculptor Pompeo Leoni, who used to make
+the bronzes for the Escorial, and he pretended that he would obtain an
+appointment for Melzi at Milan, if he would get back the thirteen volumes
+for King Philip's new library in Spain. Leoni got possession of most of
+the books and kept them in his own cabinet. One of the volumes was
+presented by Mazenta's brother to the Ambrosian Library and may still be
+seen there, in company with the huge _Codice Atlantico_, which Leoni made
+up out of hundreds of separate fragments. At Leoni's death his collection
+was bought by Galeazzo Arcanati, the illustrious owner of an artistic and
+literary museum. He resisted the proposals of purchase that poured in
+from foreign Courts; our James I. is said to have offered three thousand
+gold doubloons for the great volume of designs; and on Arcanati's death
+the whole collection was transferred by his widow to the Ambrosiana. Some
+changes had been made in the distribution of the papers since Mazenta so
+easily acquired his thirteen books. The French took the same number away
+in 1796; but none of them ever returned, except the famous _Codice
+Atlantico_.
+
+In Spain there were but few persons interested in books before the
+foundation of the Escorial towards the end of the sixteenth century. We
+learn from Mariana that soon after the year 1580 a vast gallery in the
+palace was filled with books, mostly Greek MSS., which had been assembled
+from all parts of Europe; 'its stores,' he said, 'are more precious than
+gold: but it would be well if learned men had greater facilities for
+reading them; for what profit is there from learning if she is treated
+like a captive and traitor?' Arias Montanus, the first Orientalist of his
+age, was appointed librarian by the founder; he was the owner of an
+immense quantity of MSS. in Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic, many of which were
+used in his edition of the Antwerp Polyglott Bible, and these he
+bequeathed to the Escorial, while his printed books were left to the
+University of Seville.
+
+The first book was printed in Valencia as early as the year 1474; but the
+prospects of literature remained dark until the termination of the
+Moorish wars. On the capture of Granada it was thought necessary to
+obliterate the memory of the Koran, and scores of thousands of volumes,
+or a million as some say, were destroyed by Cardinal Ximenes in a
+celebrated _auto-da-fe_. About three hundred Arabic works on medicine
+were preserved for the new library which the Cardinal was founding in his
+University of Alcala. The Cardinal spent vast sums in gathering materials
+for his Mozarabic Missal and the great Complutensian Polyglott. It is
+said that to avoid future criticism he gave his Hebrew originals to be
+used in the making of fireworks, just as Polydore Vergil was accused in
+our country of burning the monastic chronicles out of which he composed
+his history, and as many Italian writers were believed to have destroyed
+their classical authorities. When Petrarch lost his Cicero, it was
+thought that Alcionio might have stolen it for his treatise upon exile;
+but we should probably be right in rejecting all these stories together
+as mere calumnies and 'forgeries of jealousy.'
+
+Antonio Lebrixa, who worked under the Cardinal till his death in 1522,
+had done much to revive a knowledge of books, and may be regarded as the
+principal agent in the introduction of the new Italian learning. His
+pupil Ferdinand Nunez, or Nonnius as he is often called, carried on the
+good work at Salamanca, and left his great library to the University.
+Diego Hurtado de Mendoza was one of the most distinguished students who
+ever followed the lectures there. As a poet he has been called the
+Spanish Sallust: as the author of the adventures of Lazarillo de Tormes
+he takes a high place among the lighter authors of romance; and as a
+patron of learning he will always be remembered for having enriched the
+Escorial with his transcripts from Mount Athos, and six chests of
+valuable MSS. which he received in return for ransoming from his
+captivity at Venice the son of Soliman the Magnificent. Great credit must
+also be given to Don Ferdinand Columbus for his good work at Seville. The
+son of the great Admiral and Donna Beatrix Enriquez was one of the most
+celebrated bibliophiles in Europe. He began making his collections very
+soon after his father's death. Between 1510 and 1537 he had visited Italy
+several times, and had travelled besides in England and France, in the
+Low Countries and in Germany, buying books wherever he went. His great
+object was to procure illuminated MSS. and early editions of romances and
+miracle-plays; but he was also fond of the classics, and his library at
+Seville is still possessed of many copies of Latin poets and orators
+which are full of his marginal notes. At Louvain he became acquainted
+with Nicholas Clenard, who was lecturing there on Greek and Hebrew, and
+was just commencing the Arabic studies by which his name became famous.
+Don Ferdinand had a commission to bring back professors for the
+University of Salamanca, where learning was beginning to revive; and
+Clenard was easily induced to visit a country which might contain the
+relics of Moorish culture. Ferrari, as we know, was very successful in
+the next generation in finding rare books in Spain for Borromeo's
+Ambrosian library. At Bruges, Don Ferdinand met Jean Vasee, a man just
+suited for an appointment as librarian, and he too was persuaded to
+accompany the traveller on his return. Don Ferdinand established a large
+library in his house at Seville. Clenard helped to arrange the books, and
+Vasee became librarian. The volumes amounted at least to fifteen thousand
+in number, though the exact amount remains unknown owing to discrepancies
+in the earliest catalogues.
+
+Don Ferdinand hoped that the library would be kept up by the family of
+Columbus. With that object he left it to his great-nephew Don Luis, with
+an annuity to provide for the expenses; if the legacy were refused, it
+was to pass to the Chapter of the Cathedral at Seville, with alternative
+provisions in favour of the Monastery of San Pablo. As events turned out,
+the succession was not taken up on behalf of his young kinsman, and after
+some litigation the Fernandina, or 'La Colombina' as it was afterwards
+called, was adjudged to the Chapter of Seville and placed in a room by
+the Moorish Aisle at the Giralda. Owing chiefly to the generosity of
+Queen Isabella and the Duc de Montpensier the library of 'La Colombina'
+has been restored to prosperity, although according to Mr. Ford it was
+long abandoned to 'the canons and book-worms.' It appears that in the
+middle of the last century three-quarters of the MSS. had been destroyed
+by rough usage or by the water dripping in from the gutters; the books
+were in charge of the men who swept the Church, and they allowed the
+school-children to play with the illustrated volumes and to tear out the
+miniatures and woodcuts. Mr. Harrisse has described with much detail the
+grandeur and the decline of this celebrated institution, and he gives
+reasons for supposing that it may have suffered even in recent years from
+the negligence of its guardians. It is satisfactory, however, to find
+that its most precious contents have passed safely through every period
+of danger; the library still contains some of the books of Christopher
+Columbus, and especially the _Imago Mundi_ with his marginal notes about
+the Portuguese discoveries, 'in all which things,' he writes 'I had my
+share.'
+
+[Illustration: J. A. DE THOU.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+DE THOU--PINELLI--PEIRESC.
+
+
+It was long a saying among the French that a man had never seen Paris who
+had not looked upon the books of Thuanus. The historian Jacques-Auguste
+de Thou held a leading place in literature, without pretending in any way
+to rival the greatness of Joseph Scaliger or the erudition of Isaac
+Casaubon. He was the master of a great store of personal and secret
+history collected in state papers and records; but he was also famous for
+the extent of his general scholarship, and for the patronage which he
+manifested towards all who laboured about books. He was himself a most
+fastidious collector. He never heard of the appearance of a valuable work
+without ordering three or four copies on the fine paper manufactured for
+his private use; and of any such book already issued he would order
+several sets of sheets to be taken to pieces in order to procure one
+perfect example. His library was not large. It consisted of about 8000
+printed books and 1000 manuscripts, chiefly upon historical subjects; but
+they were all well selected, well bound, and in perfect condition. There
+is a letter upon this subject by Henri Estienne the printer, in which the
+high reputation of De Thou's library is contrasted with Lucian's just
+invective against the illiterate book-hunter: 'The satirist would have
+honoured a man like you, so learned and so generous in your library: you
+choose your books with taste, and proportion the cost of binding to the
+price of the volume; and Lucian, I am sure, would have praised your
+carefulness in these respects.'
+
+In all matters connected with literature De Thou was helped by his friend
+'Pithoeus,' of whom it was said that no one knew any particular author as
+well as Pierre Pithou knew all the classics. By talent and hard work
+combined Pithou had 'distilled the quintessence of wisdom' out of the
+garnered stores of antiquity. Upon his death De Thou was inclined to give
+up his books and the work that had made life pleasant. He wrote in that
+strain to his associate Isaac Casaubon. 'On the loss of my incomparable
+friend, the partner of my cares and my counsellor in letters and
+politics, the web that I was weaving fell from my hand, and I should not
+have resumed my history were it not a tribute to the memory of one who
+has done so much for me.'
+
+De Thou's end was hastened by the death of his wife. Those who know the
+look of his books, stamped with a series of his family quarterings, will
+remember that he was first married to Marie Barbancon, and afterwards to
+Gasparde de la Chastre. 'I had always hoped and prayed,' he wrote at the
+commencement of his will, 'that my dearest Gaspara Chastraea would have
+outlived me.'
+
+Admonished by her loss to set his affairs in order he began to take
+special pains in providing for the future of his books. He anticipated
+the public spirit of Cardinal Richelieu, to whom the merit is often
+assigned of having been the first to bequeath the use of his library to
+scholars. The Cardinal was not particular about the methods by which he
+amassed his literary wealth: he is said to have increased his store by
+all the arts of cajolery, and even by bare intimidation; and he may have
+wished to make some amends by directing that 'persons of erudition'
+should have access to his books after his death. De Thou had an equal
+love of books, and showed perhaps a kinder feeling about the use of the
+treasures which his own care had accumulated. 'It is important,' he
+wrote, 'for my own family and for the cause of learning that the library
+should be kept together which I have been for more than forty years
+collecting, and I hereby forbid any division, sale, or dispersion
+thereof; I bequeath it to such of my sons as shall apply themselves to
+literature, and they shall hold it in common, but so that it shall be
+free to all scholars at home or abroad. I leave its custody to Pierre du
+Puy until my sons are grown up, and he shall have authority to lend out
+the MSS. under proper security for their safe return.'
+
+Pierre and Jacques du Puy, the 'two Puteani' as they were often called,
+were the sons of a distinguished bibliophile, Charles du Puy, who died in
+1594, and were themselves the leaders in a curious department of
+book-learning. Their father was the founder of a library enriched by his
+care with the best specimens of early printing and a few rare MSS. In the
+latter class he possessed an ancient bilingual copy of St. Paul's
+Epistles, a Livy in uncial characters, and the precious fragments of the
+Vatican Virgil, which he gave to Fulvio Orsini in his lifetime. 'On his
+death,' says M. Guigard, 'the bibliographical succession passed to Pierre
+and Jacques, his younger sons, the first a Councillor of State, the other
+Prior of St. Sauveur-les-Bray, and both employed as guardians of the
+books in the Royal Library. No two men were ever more ardently devoted to
+the interests of learning. They worked in concert at increasing and
+improving their father's library; but their chief object was to
+accumulate and preserve the obscurer materials of history. The
+_Collection Du Puy_, which has now became national property, comprised
+more than 800 volumes of fugitive pieces, memoirs, instructions,
+pedigrees, letters, and all the other miscellaneous documents that were
+classed by D'Israeli 'under the vague title of State Papers.' It has been
+said that the object of their 'Titanic labour' was to ease the way for
+the historian De Thou; but it is more likely that the brothers obeyed an
+instinct for the acquisition of secret history; 'life would have been too
+short to have decided on the intrinsic value of the manuscripts flowing
+down in a stream to the collectors.' The surviving brother bequeathed
+these State Papers to the Abbe de Thou (the fourth possessor of the
+'Bibliotheca Thuana') who sold them to Charron de Menars; they were
+eventually purchased by Louis XVI., and were deposited in the Royal
+Library, where the printed books and certain other MSS. had been already
+received under a legacy from Jacques du Puy.
+
+When the historian died the brothers jointly undertook the trust that had
+fallen to Pierre. 'Among all the French scholars,' said Gassendi,'these
+two Puteani do most excel; and now, abiding with the sons of Thuanus,
+they sustain by all the means in their power the library and the students
+that have been committed to their care. Francois-Auguste de Thou, the
+historian's eldest son, became Grand-Master of the King's books; he added
+considerably to the 'Bibliotheca Thuana,' and his house became the
+meeting-place of the Parisian _savants_. A brilliant career was cruelly
+cut short by the malignity of Richelieu.
+
+The young Cinq-Mars was in a plot with the Queen and Gaston of Orleans to
+overthrow the Cardinal's power. His friend De Thou was aware of the
+design, but had taken no part in the conspiracy. The Cardinal arrested
+them both, and dragged them along the Rhone in a boat attached to his own
+barge; and De Thou was executed as a scapegoat, while most of the leaders
+saved their lives. The Cardinal died soon afterwards, without having
+confiscated the library; and it passed to Jacques-Auguste, the
+historian's younger son, who by a tardy act of grace had been restored
+to the civil rights enjoyed by his brother before his unjust conviction.
+He was by all accounts as great a book-collector as his father; and he
+had the good fortune to marry an heiress, Marie Picardet, who brought
+with her a large quantity of books from her father's house in Britanny.
+In the year 1677 the 'Bibliotheca Thuana' with all its additions passed
+to the Abbe Jacques-Auguste de Thou, who was soon afterwards compelled to
+part with it to the President Charron de Menars. St. Simon praised its
+new owner as a most worthy and honourable nonentity; but he had the sense
+to step into the breach and to save the 'Thuana' from destruction. When
+he sold the library to the Cardinal de Rohan, in 1706, he reserved the
+_Collection Du Puy_ for his daughters. It is believed that the Cardinal,
+through the cleverness of his secretary Oliva, obtained the historian's
+choice examples for less than the price of the binding. We must follow
+the career of the collection to its melancholy end. The Cardinal left it
+to his nephew the Prince de Soubise. The world knows him as the inventor
+of a sauce and as the general in one lost battle; but he had a higher
+fame among the booksellers for his prowess in the auction-room. He seems
+to have been the victim of a frenzy for books. He impressed them by
+crowds, and marshalled them in regiments and myriads. They all fell in
+1789 before the hammer of the auctioneer. Dibdin has described the
+catalogue. It was unostentatious and printed on indifferent material. He
+hoped, with his curious insistance on the point, that there were 'some
+few copies on large paper.' It is a mark of the changes in
+book-collecting that Dibdin praised the index as excellent, 'enabling us
+to discover any work of which we may be in want'; but it is now regarded
+as remarkable for its poverty, and especially for the extraordinary
+carelessness that left eight noble specimens from Grolier's library
+without the slightest mark of distinction.
+
+Gian-Vincenzio Pinelli was a celebrated man of letters whose library at
+Padua formed 'a perpetual Academy' for all the scholars of his day. Born
+at Naples in 1538, he spent the greater part of his long life at Padua,
+where he was sent to study the law; but the only sign of his professional
+labours appears to have been that he rigidly excluded all works on
+jurisprudence from his magnificent library. His books, says Hallam, were
+collected by the labours of many years: 'the catalogues of the Frankfort
+fairs and those of the principal booksellers in Italy were diligently
+perused, nor did any work of value appear from the press on either side
+of the Alps which he did not instantly add to his shelves.' Remembering
+the traditions of the age of Poggio, when the rarest classics might be
+found perishing in a garret or a cellar, Pinelli was always in the habit
+of visiting the dealers in old parchment and the brokers who carried off
+deeds and papers from sales, just as Dr. Rawlinson collected and gave to
+the Bodleian a mass of unsorted documents, including, as we have seen,
+even the logs of recent voyages, and the pickings of "grocers'
+waste-paper." In each case the industry of the collector was constantly
+rewarded by the discovery of valuable literary materials, which would
+have been lost under ordinary circumstances. The library of Pinelli was
+augmented by that of his friend Paul Aicardo, the two _literati_ having
+entered into an undertaking that the survivor should possess the whole
+fruit of their labours. On Pinelli's death, in 1601, his family
+determined to transfer his books to Naples. The Venetian government
+interfered on the ground that, though Pinelli had been allowed to copy
+the archives and registers of the State, it had never been intended that
+the information should be communicated to a foreign power. Their
+magistrate seized a hundred bales of books, of which fourteen were packed
+with MSS. On examination it appeared that there were about three hundred
+volumes of political commentaries, dealing with the affairs of all the
+Italian States; and it was arranged, by way of compromise, that these
+should remain at Padua in a repository under the charge of an official
+guardian. The rest of the library was despatched in three shiploads from
+Genoa. One vessel was captured by pirates, and the cargo was thrown
+overboard, only a few volumes being afterwards cast ashore. The other
+ships arrived safely at Naples; but it appears that the new proprietors
+had little taste for literature. The whole remaining stock was found some
+years afterwards in a mouldy garret, packed in ninety bales; and it was
+purchased at last for 3000 crowns by Cardinal Frederic Borromeo, who
+used it as the basis for the Ambrosian Library which he was at that time
+establishing in Milan. Another library was afterwards founded at Venice
+by members of the Pinelli family engaged in the Levantine trade. On the
+death of its last possessor, Maffeo Pinelli, in 1787, the collection was
+sold to a firm of English booksellers. It seems by Dibdin's account to
+have been in a poor condition, though Dr. Harwood declared that, 'there
+being no dust in Venice,' it had reposed for some centuries in excellent
+preservation. This immense body of books was re-sold in London two years
+afterwards at prices which barely covered the expenses incurred, though a
+large amount was obtained for a copy of the Polyglott Bible of Ximenes in
+six folio volumes printed upon vellum.
+
+The praises of the great Pinelli were spread abroad by Scaliger, De Thou,
+and Casaubon; but his memory, perhaps, has been best preserved by the
+ardent friendship of Peiresc. He was visited at Padua by the young
+philosopher in whose mind he found a reflection of his own; and it was
+generally agreed that the lamp of learning had passed into safe hands
+when it was yielded by Pinelli to the student from Provence. Nicolas
+Fabry de Peiresc belonged to an ancient family established near Aix. His
+father had been selected by Louis XII. to share the education of the
+Princess Renee. A man of learning himself, he spared no expense in the
+boy's instruction, who became celebrated even in his childhood for the
+strength of his precocious intellect. The most eminent professors in
+Italy combined to exalt 'the ripe excellence of his unripe years'; and
+when Pinelli died it was said that Peiresc had taken the helm of
+knowledge and was guiding the ship as he pleased. He explored at leisure
+the riches of Florence and Rome, and afterwards watched the rise of the
+'Ambrosiana' at Milan. A letter from Joseph Scaliger, who ruled literary
+Europe like a King, from his chair at Leyden, sent Peiresc off to Verona,
+where he hunted up evidence in support of the wild story that the
+Scaligers were the representatives of the Ducal line of La Scala.
+
+Julius Caesar Scaliger, the father of the great philologist, had amused
+the world by claiming to be the son of Benedetto and Berenice della
+Scala, to have been a page of the Emperor Maximilian, and to have fought
+in the Battle of Ravenna; and he pretended that he had become a
+Cordelier, so as to rise to the Papal throne and expel the Venetians from
+his dominions. Peiresc was by no means a believer in this extraordinary
+romance; but he did his best to collect the coins, epitaphs, and
+pedigrees, which might please his learned correspondent. Crossing the
+Alps, we are told, 'he viewed the Lake of Geneva and made a tour through
+a multitude of books'; and returned to Aix with a library and cabinet of
+gems, 'thinking to himself that he would never see such plenty again.'
+When he visited Paris in 1605, his first object, he said, was to see the
+illustrious De Thou, to thank him for his kind letters, and to enquire
+for messages from Scaliger. 'I cannot express,' he repeats, 'how joyfully
+he entertained me.' De Thou took down his books for the visitor, and
+showed him the records under lock and key that contained the secrets of
+his history, 'opening his very heart, and brimful of a wonderful
+sincerity.' Next day Casaubon came in from the _Bibliotheque du Roi_, and
+showed much pleasure at being introduced to the traveller. His letters of
+a later date show his high esteem for Peiresc. 'I am eagerly waiting to
+hear what Scaliger will say about the antiques, but I foresee that you
+will have room to glean after his harvest.' On another occasion he wrote:
+'I do not know if you heard that the Duke of Urbino has sent me the
+Polybius, but I am indeed most beholden to you for the kindness.'
+
+Ten years afterwards Peiresc came to Paris again, wishing to explore the
+Oriental treasures in the library of De Mesmes, and to visit the huge
+collections in the houses of St. Victor and St. Germain. Here he gained
+the friendship of Pierre Seguier and the elegant Nicolas Rigault, and of
+Jerome Bignon, the first of a long dynasty of librarians. In England he
+saw the Bodleian, and talked with Savile, and admired Sir Robert Cotton
+as 'an honestly curious sort of man.' In Holland his chief business was
+to visit Scaliger, and we are told that he was careful not to ask about
+the treatise on squaring the circle, or to hint any doubt as to the truth
+of the Verona romance. Here at Leyden he read in the great library, soon
+to be endowed with Scaliger's books, and saw the room of which Heinsius
+so nobly said: 'In the very bosom of Eternity among all these illustrious
+souls I take my seat'; and at Louvain he could only lament the death of
+Justus Lipsius, whom he regarded as 'the light and the loadstar of
+wisdom.'
+
+Gassendi has left us an account of the library collected by Peiresc.
+Besides his acquisitions in the East, of which we have spoken elsewhere,
+the books came in crowds from his agents in France and Germany, and his
+scribes in the Vatican and Escorial. 'When any library was to be sold by
+public outcry, he took care to buy the best books, especially if they
+were of some neat edition that he did not already possess.' He bound them
+in red morocco with his cypher or initials in gold. One binder always
+lived in the house, and sometimes several were employed at once, 'when
+the books came rolling in on every side.' He would even bind up bits of
+old volumes and worm-eaten leaves; good books, he said, were so badly
+used by the vulgar, that he would try to have them prized at least for
+their beauty, and so perhaps they might escape the hands of the
+tobacconist and the grocer. A treatise published by Jerome Alexander
+contained a wonderful description of the establishment. 'Your house and
+library,' says the dedication, 'are a firmament wherein the stars of
+learning shine: the desks are lit with star-light and the books are in
+constellations: and you sit like the sun in the midst, embracing and
+giving light to them all.' Peiresc was anxious to circulate the book,
+which contained a rare treatise by Hesychius; but he took care to compose
+another dedication, which was printed and inserted without comment.
+
+Notwithstanding his profuse purchases he did not leave a large collection
+at his death. His friends complained that he lent 'a world of books' that
+were never returned, and that he was especially lavish of any works that
+could be replaced by purchase. 'About ten years after his death,' says
+his friend Lemontey, 'his relations brought his books to Paris, where I
+saw them in 1647; they formed a great company of volumes, most curiously
+bound. They ought to have been sold _en bloc_, but as the Genius of the
+library had fled, the Fates ordained that they should be torn asunder.'
+Most of the books were purchased for the College de Navarre. A great
+number of the MSS. were destroyed, though there are still a few volumes
+in the public library at Carpentras. These were purchased from Louis
+Thomassin, a member of Peiresc's family, by Don Malachi d'Inguimbert,
+librarian to Pope Clement XII., who founded the collection of Carpentras
+when he became Bishop of the diocese. There is a tradition that Peiresc's
+correspondence, containing many thousands of documents, was destroyed by
+his grand-niece, 'a kind of female Omar,' who insisted in using the
+papers for lighting fires and making trays for her silk-worms.
+
+Peiresc employed some of the most learned men of his time to collect for
+him in Italy. Jacques Gaffarel, who had been engaged in similar work for
+Richelieu, was his principal agent in Rome. At Padua he was so fortunate
+as to secure the services of the archaeologist Tomasini. But his
+correspondence shows that the prince of librarians, Gabriel Naude, was at
+once his agent, his adviser, and his friend; and it is from Naude that we
+take the words of grief which remain as the scholar's memorial. 'Oh cruel
+Fate and bitter Death, thrust into the midst of our jollity! Was there
+ever a man, I pray you, more skilled in history and philology, more ready
+to assist the student, more endowed with wit and wealth and worth, the
+equipment of any man who, like Peiresc, is to hold the world of letters
+at his beck and call.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+FRENCH COLLECTORS--NAUDE TO RENOUARD.
+
+
+Gabriel Naude was a Doctor of Medicine, and held an appointment at one
+time as physician in ordinary to Louis XIII. But even as a student he
+manifested that passion for books which furnished the real occupation of
+his life. Before taking his degree at Padua he was librarian to Henri de
+Mesmes, and afterwards to Cardinal Bagni at Rome. On his patron's death
+he was placed in charge of the great library which Cardinal Barberini was
+establishing in his palace in the Piazza of the Quattro Fontane. Some
+part of his time was spent in collecting books for Cardinal Richelieu,
+who offered Naude the charge of his library in 1642; but, the Cardinal
+having died in that year, Naude transferred his services to Mazarin. He
+inspired his employer with the desire of emulating the magnificence of
+Barberini and the patriotic generosity of Borromeo; and the librarian's
+keen scent for books and minute knowledge of their values were
+thenceforth utilised in the work of creating the _Bibliotheque Mazarine_.
+
+Richelieu had done things on a grand scale. He had confiscated to his own
+use the whole town-library at La Rochelle; and Naude was anxious that
+Mazarin's great undertaking should begin with an acquisition _en bloc_. A
+provincial governor named Simeon Dubois had made a collection in the
+Limousin. His books had passed into the hands of Jean Descordes, a Canon
+of Limoges, who died in 1642 possessed of about 6000 volumes. Naude
+prepared the catalogue, and persuaded the Cardinal to purchase the whole
+property by private contract. A few months afterwards the King gave him
+the State Papers collected by Antoine de Lomenie. A great number of
+printed books were added under Naude's superintendence, and in a short
+time the new library was opened to the public. Its regulations were
+framed in a very liberal spirit, as may be learned from the first of
+Naude's rules: 'The library is to be open to all the world without the
+exception of any living soul; readers will be supplied with chairs and
+writing-materials, and the attendants will fetch all books required in
+any language or department of learning, and will change them as often as
+is necessary.'
+
+In reviewing the condition of the other great libraries, Naude pointed
+out that there was nothing like an unrestrained admission except at the
+Bodleian, the Ambrosian, and the Angelica Library at Rome. The public had
+no rights at the Vatican, or the Laurentian, or the Library of St. Mark
+at Venice. It was just the same at Bologna, or Naples, or in the Duchy of
+Urbino. The same thing, he said, might be seen in other countries.
+Ximenes built a fine library at Alcala, and there was a collection of
+the books of Nunez at Salamanca; there were the Rantzaus at Copenhagen
+and the Fuggers at Augsburg; they had done everything for the use of
+scholars except making the libraries free. The French themselves had the
+King's Library, a vast accumulation at St. Victor's, and a rich bequest
+from De Thou; but the use of all this wealth of books was hampered by the
+most complicated restrictions. We can see that he was rejoicing in his
+own good work while he praised the stately Ambrosiana. 'Is it not
+astonishing,' he asks, 'that any one can go in when he likes, and stay as
+long as he cares to look about or to read or make extracts? All that he
+has to do is to sit at a desk and ask for any book that he wishes to
+study.'
+
+For some years after the new library was established Naude travelled in
+quest of books over the greater part of Europe. He said that he would
+have ransacked Spain if Mazarin had not preferred an invasion by the
+regular army. He was the 'familiar spirit' of the auction-room, and it
+became a by-word that a visit from the great book-hunter was as bad as a
+storm in the book-shops. He boasted in his epigrams of exploits in
+Flanders, in Switzerland, and among the Venetian book-stalls. At Rome he
+bought books by the fathom; he skimmed the German shelves, and passed
+over into England to relieve the islanders of their riches. At Lyons he
+met Marshal Villeroi, who gave him a great portion of the books which
+Cardinal de Tournon had bequeathed to the Jesuits. We trace the result
+of his travels in his description of the libraries of Europe. Certain
+subjects, as he said, are in vogue at particular places, and we ought
+always to notice the book-fashions to show our respect for the feelings
+of mankind. 'For positive science we go to Rome or Florence or Naples,
+and for jurisprudence to Paris or Milan; France supplies us with history;
+and if we wanted scholastic lore we might go to Spain, or the colleges of
+Oxford and Cambridge.'
+
+In 1647 the Mazarine Library contained about 45,000 volumes, and Naude in
+his joy proclaimed it as the eighth wonder of the world. The Parisians
+appeared to be delighted with the superb Lomenie MSS. and the crowd of
+bright volumes in the Cardinal's ordinary livery. But in 1651 the
+Parliament got the upper hand of the 'Red Tyrant' in one of the unmeaning
+struggles of the Wars of the Fronde; the property of Mazarin was
+confiscated for a time, and the library was put up for sale. The list of
+Commissioners included the respectable names of Alexandre Petau and
+Pierre Pithou; yet we are assured that the auction resembled a massacre,
+and that hardly any obstacle was placed in the way of the most impudent
+thefts. Naude in vain petitioned against a decree which had fallen like a
+thunder-bolt on the 'wonderful work of his life.' 'Why will you not save
+this daughter of mine, this library that is the fairest and best-endowed
+in the world? Can you permit the public to be deprived of such a precious
+and useful treasure? Can you endure that this fair flower, which spreads
+its perfume through the world, should wither as you hold it in your
+hands?'
+
+Naude spent his own small fortune in ransoming the books on medicine. He
+had worked hard to persuade Queen Christina to purchase the whole
+collection; but when it came to the point she only bought a few MSS.
+which were afterwards returned. The 'Pallas of the North,' was interested
+in Naude's misfortunes. She invited him to take charge of the Royal
+Library at Stockholm, and here he rested for a while. He made
+acquaintance in Sweden with several celebrated men of letters; Descartes
+was a guest at the Court, and used to be ready to begin his metaphysical
+discourses at day-break. Naude on one occasion delighted the young Queen
+by stepping a Greek dance with Professor Meibomius, who was just at that
+time bringing out his work upon the music of the ancients. The climate,
+or the excitement of that vivacious Court, began to disagree with Naude's
+health; he resigned his appointment and returned to France, but died at
+Abbeville on his way to Paris, a few months before his patron's return to
+power. When the public library was established again the Cardinal
+purchased Naude's private collection of 8000 books; and care was taken to
+preserve them apart, as a mark of distinction, in a gallery named after
+the famous librarian.
+
+The hereditary collections of Colbert and La Moignon were as much
+indebted to their librarians as the Mazarine to the labours of Naude.
+The Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert was as celebrated for his books as for
+his finance: but the magnificence of the library was mainly due to its
+guardian Calcavi and his successor the venerable Baluze. Colbert's
+manuscripts are believed to have been the most valuable ever amassed by a
+person of private fortune. Among their eight thousand volumes were the
+choicest treasures from St. Martin's Abbey at Metz, including the _Book
+of Hours_ used by Charles the Great, and a Bible said to have been
+illuminated for Charles the Bald. There were about 50,000 printed books,
+almost all well-bound; and it was thought that the choicest Levantine
+moroccos had been secured for the Minister by an article in a treaty with
+the Sultan. Colbert died in 1683, and the library remained in his family
+for half a century afterwards. In 1728 the Marquis de Seignelaye sold the
+books, and began to sell a portion of the manuscripts; the world was
+alarmed at the idea of a general dispersion; the remaining manuscripts,
+however, were offered to Louis XV.; and there was great rejoicing when he
+wrote '_Bon, 300,000 livres_' on the letter received from the Marquis.
+
+The other famous library was amassed by 'an extraordinary family of
+book-collectors.' It was begun by Guillaume de la Moignon, who was
+President of the Parliament of Paris in 1658. His son Chretien de la
+Moignon was as zealous a book-buyer as his father, and he secured the
+renown of their library by engaging the services of Adrien Baillet.
+Dibdin quoted passages from Baillet's biography that show the tenderness
+with which the family treated his 'crazy body and nervous mind': 'Madame
+La Moignon and her son always took a pleasure in anticipating his wishes,
+soothing his irritabilities, promoting his views, and speaking loudly and
+constantly of the virtues of his head and heart.' Baillet in his turn
+gave to his employers the credit of his best literary work. 'It was done
+for you,' he wrote, 'and in your house, and by one who is ever yours to
+command.' The library was much enlarged by its owner in the third
+generation; and by its union with the collection of M. Berryer, who died
+in 1762, it became 'one of the most splendid in Europe.' It was dispersed
+during the troubles of the Revolution, and a great portion was brought to
+London in 1791; but the works on jurisprudence were reserved, and were
+sold in Paris a few years afterwards.
+
+David Ancillon is perhaps best known as the defender of Luther and
+Calvin. But according to Bayle he was an indefatigable book-collector,
+and notable for having set the fashion of buying books in the first
+edition. Most people thought, said D'Israeli, that the first edition was
+only an imperfect essay, 'which the author proposes to finish after
+trying the sentiments of the literary world.' Bayle was on the side of
+Ancillon. There are cases, as he remarked, in which the second edition
+has never appeared; and at any rate the man who waits for the reprint
+shows 'that he loves a pistole better than knowledge.' Ancillon,
+however, always indulged himself with 'the most elegant edition,'
+whatever the first might have been; he considered that 'the less the eyes
+are fatigued in reading or work the more liberty the mind feels in
+judging of it.' It is easier to detect the merits in print than in
+manuscript: 'and so we see them more plainly in good paper and clear type
+than when the impression and paper are bad?' Some have thought it better
+to have many editions of a good book: 'among other things,' says our
+critic, 'we feel great satisfaction in tracing the variations.' Ancillon
+was naturally accused of an indiscriminate mania for collecting; and he
+confessed that he was to some extent infected with the 'book-disease.' It
+was said that he never left his books day or night, except when he went
+to preach to his humble congregation. He was convinced that some golden
+thought might be found in the dullest work. Ancillon remained in France
+as long as his religion was tolerated. He found a home across the Rhine
+after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; but from that time he had to
+be content with German editions, all his fine tall volumes having been
+destroyed by the 'Catholic' rioters at Metz.
+
+If Evelyn can be believed, the art of book-collecting had come to a very
+poor pass in France about the seventeenth century. It had been discovered
+that certain classes of books were the necessary furniture of every
+gentleman's library. If a man of quality built a mansion he would expect
+to find a book-room and a quantity of shelves; it was a simple matter
+further on to order so many yards of folios or octavos, all in red
+morocco, with the coat of arms stamped in gold. Such collections, said La
+Bruyere, are like a picture-gallery with a strong smell of leather: the
+owner is most polite in showing off 'the gold leaves, Etruscan bindings,
+and fine editions'; 'we thank him for his kindness, but care as little as
+himself to visit the tan-yard which he calls his library.' We must not
+forget the financier Bretonvilliers, who about the year 1657 determined
+to become a bibliophile, and so far succeeded that some of his local
+books on Lorraine were purchased for the National Library. He first built
+a Hotel, not far from the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, with a large gallery
+in which with infinite pains he built up a magnificent book-case; the
+contents were of less importance; but he succeeded after a time in
+filling it with books stamped with his new device of an eagle holding the
+olive-branch.
+
+One or two of the more serious collectors may be noticed before we pass
+to the great age of Rothelin and La Valliere. Henri du Bouchet had
+gathered about eight thousand books, all very well chosen, according to
+the testimony of the Pere Jacob; on his death in 1654 he bequeathed them
+to the Abbey of St. Victor on public trusts so that those who came after
+him might find a solace in what had been 'his dearest delight.' He
+requested that they might be free to students for three days in the week
+and for seven hours in the day; and his wishes were duly regarded until
+the great library of St. Victor was dispersed in 1791. The monks set up a
+tablet and bust in memory of the generous donor; and perceiving that the
+volumes were not emblazoned in the usual way they adopted the singular
+plan of inserting pieces of leather bearing his arms into holes cut in
+the ancient bindings.
+
+The Abbe Boisot was another of the scholars who lived entirely for books.
+While quite a young man he acquired a considerable library in his travels
+through Spain and Italy; and in 1664, during an official visit to
+Besancon, he was so fortunate as to acquire the MSS. of the Cardinal de
+Granvelle, who had been the confidential minister of the Emperor Charles
+V. Boisot wrote a delightful account of the adventures through which this
+collection had passed. 'At first,' he says, 'the servants used what they
+pleased, and then the neighbours' children helped themselves; when some
+packing-cases were wanted, the butler, to show his economy, sold the
+records contained in them to a grocer.' At last they were all tired of
+these 'useless old papers,' and determined to throw them away. Jules
+Chifflet, according to Guigard, was the means of saving the remainder. He
+examined a number of the documents and recognised their importance,
+though they were mostly in cipher; but he died before they could be
+sorted out. Boisot bought what he could from the heirs, and found a good
+many more MSS. in the neighbourhood. They passed with the rest of
+Boisot's books to the Abbey of St. Vincent at Besancon; and during the
+Revolution the whole collection became the property of the citizens and
+was transferred to the public library.
+
+The hereditary treasures of the Bouhier family were dispersed in the same
+way through several provincial libraries. The collection had begun in the
+reign of Louis XII., and something had been done in each generation
+afterwards by way of adding fine books and manuscripts. Etienne Bouhier
+had collected in all parts of Italy. Jean Bouhier in 1642 bought the
+accumulations of Pontus de Thyard, the learned Bishop of Chalons. His
+father's own library had been dispersed among his children; but Jean
+Bouhier succeeded in getting it together again, and added a large number
+of MSS. which he had gathered for the illustration of the history of
+Burgundy. The library became still more famous in the time of his
+grandson the President Jean Bouhier, who has been admired as the type of
+the true bibliophile. The bibliomaniac heaps up books from avarice or
+some animal instinct; he is a collector, it is said, 'without intelligent
+curiosity.' Bouhier used to read his books and make notes upon them; and
+it is said that he carried the practice to such excess as to deface with
+marginal scribblings the finest work of Henri Estienne and Antoine
+Verard. A visitor to his library described the sober magnificence of the
+rosewood shelves with silken hangings in which the rare editions and
+long rows of manuscripts were ranged. In the next generation there was a
+startling change. The library had been left to Bouhier's son-in-law,
+Chartraire de Bourbonne: the grave offspring of Aldus and Gryphius found
+themselves in company with poets of the _talon rouge_ and muses of the
+_Opera bouffe_. When the gay De Bourbonne died, the ill-assorted crowd
+passed to his son-in-law in his turn, and was transferred in 1784 to the
+Abbey of Clairvaux.
+
+We cannot name or classify the bibliophiles of the eighteenth century. It
+would be endless to describe them with the briefest of personal notes;
+how M. Barre loved out-of-the-way books and fugitive pieces, or Lambert
+de Thorigny a good history, or how Gabriel de Sartines, the policeman of
+the Parc aux Cerfs, had a marvellous collection about Paris. When Count
+Macarthy sold his books at Toulouse his catalogue contained a list of
+about ninety others, issued in the same century, from which his riches
+were derived. We can point to a few of the mightiest Nimrods. We see the
+serene Gaignat pass, and the bustling La Valliere; the Duc d'Estrees is
+recognised as a busy book-hunter, and there are the physicians Hyacinthe
+Baron and Falconnet whose keenness no prey could escape. We can
+distinguish the forms of the elegant '_bibliomanes_' to whom their books
+were as pictures or as jewels to be enclosed in a shrine; there is Count
+d'Hoym with a house full of treasures, and Boisset and Girardot de
+Prefond with their cabinets of marvels. If the crowds in the
+old-fashioned libraries are like the multitude at Babel, these tall
+volumes in crushed morocco and 'triple gold bands' remind us of what our
+antiquaries have said of books glimmering in their wire cases 'like
+eastern beauties peering through their jalousies.' We ought to say
+something of M. de Chamillard, best known in his public capacity as a
+good match for the King at billiards and as the minister who proposed the
+revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In private life Michael de Chamillard
+was a virtuoso with well-filled galleries and portfolios; and he had
+assembled a large company of books of fashionable appearance. But our
+real interest is not so much with the Minister of Billiards, as M. Uzanne
+described him, but rather with his wife and three daughters, who were all
+true female bibliophiles. The eldest daughter, the Marquise de Dreux, was
+wife of the Grand Master of the Ceremonies; but though his collection was
+gay and polite the Marquise insisted on a separate establishment for the
+books that she had discovered and bought and bound. The Duchesse de la
+Feuillade and the Duchesse de Lorges insisted, like their elder sister,
+on having libraries for their separate use. The minister's wife was
+celebrated for the splendour of her books, and marvellous prices have
+been paid for specimens of her earlier style. But 'little Madame de
+Chamillard' attached herself in all things to the Maintenon, and followed
+the uncrowned queen in abandoning the paths of vanity; she gave up the
+world, so far as gilt arabesques and crushed morocco were concerned, and
+dressed all her later acquisitions _a la Janseniste_, in plain leather
+with perhaps the thinnest line of blind-tooling for an ornament.
+
+Charles du Fay was a captain in the Guards, compelled by his misfortunes
+to confine himself to the battles of the book-sale. He lost a leg at the
+bombardment of Brussels in 1695; and though he was promoted to a company
+in the Guards, it became at last apparent that he could not serve on
+horseback. Du Fay, we are told, was fortunately fond of literature; and
+he devoted himself with eagerness to the task of collecting a magnificent
+library. History and Latin poetry had always been his favourite subjects,
+and it appears that he was already collecting fine examples in this
+department during his campaigns in Germany and Flanders.
+
+M. de Lincy commemorates the good taste that impelled Du Fay to buy
+several of Grolier's books, and records the industry with which he sought
+to remedy his defects of education. Professor Brochard, he says, was a
+learned man, with a good library of his own, who went to inspect the
+books gathered by Du Fay from all parts of Europe. The visitor expressed
+surprise that out of nearly four thousand volumes there should hardly be
+any in Greek. 'I have hardly retained a word of the language,' said Du
+Fay. 'Cato in his old age,' replied the Professor, 'did not hesitate for
+a moment to learn it; and a person quite ignorant of Greek can never know
+Latin well.' Du Fay was an easy good-natured man, and at once followed
+his friend's advice, beginning from that day to buy Greek books and to
+work at the language so as to be able to read them. His object, however,
+in forming a library was not so much to gather useful information as to
+set up a museum of literary rarities. The idea is in accordance with our
+modern taste, and perhaps with the common sense of mankind; but some of
+the old-fashioned collectors were angry with the poor epicure of
+learning. The President Bouhier writes to Marais in 1725 on seeing a
+catalogue of the library: 'This savours more of bibliomania than
+scholarship.' Marais at once replied: 'Your judgment on Du Fay's
+catalogue is most excellent: it is not a library, but a shop full of
+curious book-specimens, made to sell and not to keep for one's self.'
+
+Many of Du Fay's books were bought by Count d'Hoym, who lived for many
+years at Paris as ambassador from Augustus of Poland and Saxony. The
+Count has been accused of showing bad manners at Court, and of bad faith
+in giving the trade secrets of Dresden to the factory at Sevres; in
+bibliography at any rate, he was supreme among the amateurs, and his
+White Eagle of Poland appears upon no volume that is not among the best
+of its kind. He sat at one time at the feet of the Abbe de Rothelin; but
+he soon became his master's equal in matters of taste, and was accepted
+until his exile at Nancy as the arbiter of elegance among the Parisians.
+M. Guigard quotes from the dedication of a 'treasury' of French poetry a
+passage that indicates his high position: 'To the poets in this
+assemblage, whoever they be, it is a glory, Monseigneur, to enter your
+Excellency's library, so full, so magnificent, so well chosen, that it is
+justly accounted the prodigy of learning.'
+
+Charles d'Orleans, Abbe de Rothelin, had died in 1744, when most of his
+books became the property of the nation. In some respects he was the most
+distinguished of the book-collectors. His learning and wealth enabled him
+to make a collection of theology that has never been surpassed; and he
+had the good fortune to acquire the vast series of State Papers and the
+priceless mediaeval MSS. collected by Nicolas Foucault. His special taste
+was for immaculate editions in splendid bindings; but nothing escaped his
+notice that was in any way remarkable or interesting.
+
+Paul Girardot de Prefond was a timber-merchant who fell into an apathetic
+state on retiring from active business. His physician, Hyacinthe Baron,
+was an eminent book-collector, and he advised the patient to take up the
+task of forming a library. So successful was the prescription that the
+merchant became renowned during the next half century for his superb
+bindings, his specimens from Grolier's stores, and the Delphin and
+Variorum classics which he procured from the library of Gascq de la
+Lande. On two occasions the sale of his surplus treasures made an
+excitement for the literary world. Some of his rarest books were sold in
+1757, and twelve years afterwards his Delphin series and the greater part
+of his general collection were purchased by Count Macarthy.
+
+Merard de St. Just was another collector, whose exquisite taste is still
+gratefully remembered, though his small library has long been dispersed,
+and was indeed almost destroyed by a series of accidents before the
+outbreak of the great Revolution. 'My library,' he said, 'is very small,
+but it is too large for me to fill it with good books.' He would not have
+the first editions of the classics, because they were generally printed
+on bad paper which it was disagreeable to touch, with the exception of
+works produced by the Aldine Press. Nor would he buy mere curiosities,
+says Guigard, but left them to persons who cared for empty display, 'like
+one who proudly exhibits his patents of nobility without being able to
+point to any distinguished action of his ancestors.' He was the owner of
+many choice books that had belonged to Gaignat and Charron de Menars, or
+had been bound for Madame de Pompadour, or to the undiscriminating Du
+Barry. In 1782, we are told, he despatched the best part of his library
+to America, but had the grief of learning soon afterwards that they had
+been captured at sea by the English. His philosophical temper was shown
+in his reply to the bad news: 'I have but one wish upon the subject; I
+hope that the person who gets this part of the booty will be able to
+comprehend the value of the treasure that has come to his hands.'
+
+The elder Mirabeau was a collector of another type. The 'friend of
+mankind' intended to gather together the best and largest library in the
+world. He cared nothing for the scarcity or the external adornments of a
+volume; but he had a huge appetite for knowledge, and he longed to have
+the means of referring to all that could illustrate the progress of the
+race. He did not live to attain any marked success in his gigantic
+design; but his library had at least the distinction of containing all
+the books of the Comte de Buffon, enriched with marginal notes in the
+naturalist's handwriting.
+
+A modest collection was formed a few years afterwards by Pierre-Louis
+Guinguene, who wrote a valuable work on the literary history of Italy. He
+is remembered as having published amid the terrors of 1791 an amusing
+essay on the authority of Rabelais 'in the matter of this present
+Revolution.' He led a peaceful life through all that troubled time, and
+succeeded in forming a very useful library containing about 3000 volumes;
+it was purchased for the British Museum on his death, and became the
+foundation of the great series of works on the French Revolution which
+has been brought together there.
+
+The long life of M. Antoine Renouard bridges over the space between the
+days of Mirabeau and the time when the _elegants_ of the Third Empire had
+invented a new bibliomania. Renouard had ordered bindings from the elder
+Derome; in 1785 he bought a book at La Valliere's sale. In his
+_Epictetus_ there is the following note: 'Bought in May 1785, the first
+book printed on vellum that entered my library; rather luxurious for a
+young fellow of seventeen, but then all my little savings were devoted to
+acquiring books; parties of pleasure, and elegancies of toilette,
+everything was sacrificed to my beloved books; and at that time a brisk
+and brilliant business permitted expenses which were followed by hard
+years of privation; it was in my first youth that I found it easiest to
+spend money on my books.' Renouard began life as a manufacturer. His
+father made gauze stuffs, and kept a shop in the Rue Apolline. In 1787
+the Abbe le Blond, the librarian of the College Mazarin, heard that
+Molini had sold a fine Aldine Horace to a shopkeeper. 'The next day,'
+says Renouard, 'Le Blond came into my library. "Oh! I shall not have the
+book," he exclaimed, and when I looked round, he said, "I beg your
+pardon, I hoped to tempt you with a few _louis_ for your bargain, but I
+have given up the idea at once, and I only ask the double favour of
+seeing the book and of being allowed to make your acquaintance."'
+Renouard was the historian of the House of Aldus, and naturally became
+the possessor of some of Grolier's finest books. During his career as a
+bookseller he parted with most of them; and at the sale of his library in
+1854 the 'Lucretius,' the 'Virgil,' and the 'Erasmus,' were all that
+remained in his collection.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+LATER ENGLISH COLLECTORS.
+
+
+In describing the English collections of the eighteenth century we have
+the advantage of using the memoranda of William Oldys for the earlier
+part of the period. D'Israeli deplored the carelessness which led the
+'literary antiquary' to entrust his discoveries and reminiscences to the
+fly-leaves of notebooks, to 'parchment budgets,' and paper-bags of
+extracts. He expressed especial disappointment at the loss of the
+manuscript on London Libraries, with its anecdotes of book-collectors and
+remarks on booksellers and the first publishers of catalogues. The book
+has come to light since his time, having been discovered among the
+important collections bequeathed by Dr. William Hunter to the University
+of Glasgow; it was published by Mr. W. J. Thoms about the year 1862 in
+_Notes and Queries_, and was afterwards printed by him in a volume
+containing a diary and other 'choice notes' by Oldys and an interesting
+memoir of his life. 'In his own departments of learning,' says Mr. Thoms,
+'Oldys exhausted all the ordinary sources of information,' and adds that
+'his copious and characteristic accounts of men and books have endeared
+his memory to every lover of English literature.'
+
+Oldys had some special advantages as a collector of old English poetry.
+He knew, as no one else at that time knew, the value of the plays and
+pamphlets that encumbered the stalls; he had no competitor to fear 'clad
+in the invulnerable mail of the purse.' Oldys was born in 1696; he became
+involved, while quite a young man, in the disaster of the South Sea
+Bubble; and in 1724 he was obliged to leave London for a residence of
+some years in Yorkshire. Among the books that he abandoned was the first
+of his annotated copies of _Langbaine_, which he found afterwards in the
+hands of a miserly fellow, begrudging him even a sight of the notes.
+'When I returned,' he writes, 'I understood that my books had been
+dispersed; and afterwards, becoming acquainted with Mr. Thomas Coxeter, I
+found that he had bought my _Langbaine_ of a bookseller who was a great
+collector of plays and poetical books.' His autobiography shows that he
+soon restored his literary losses. His patron, Lord Oxford, for whom he
+afterwards worked as librarian, was anxious to buy everything that was
+rare. 'The Earl,' says Oldys, 'invited me to show him my collections of
+manuscripts, historical and political, which had been the Earl of
+Clarendon's, my collections of Royal Letters and other papers of State,
+together with a very large collection of English heads in sculpture.' Mr.
+Thoms quotes a note from the _Langbaine_ to show that Oldys had bought
+two hundred volumes 'at the auction of the Earl of Stamford's library at
+St. Paul's Coffee-house, where formerly most of the celebrated libraries
+were sold.' It was while Oldys was living in Yorkshire, under the
+patronage of Lord Malton, that he saw the end of the library of State
+Papers collected by Richard Gascoyne the antiquary. The noble owner of
+the MSS. had been advised to destroy the papers by a lawyer, Mr. Samuel
+Buck of Rotherham, 'who could not read one of those records any more than
+his lordship'; but he feared that they might contain legal secrets or
+disclose flaws in a title or, as Oldys said, 'that something or other
+might be found out one time or other by somebody or other.' Richard
+Gascoyne, he adds, possessed a vast and most valuable collection of
+deeds, evidences, and ancient records, which after his death, about the
+time of the Restoration, came to the family of the first Earl of
+Strafford. They were kept in the stone tower at Wentworth Woodhouse until
+1728, when Lord Malton 'burnt them all wilfully in one morning.' 'I saw
+the lamentable fire,' says Oldys, 'feed upon six or seven great chests
+full of the said deeds, some of them as old as the Conquest, and even the
+ignorant servants repining.... I did prevail to the preservation of some
+few old rolls and public grants and charters, a few extracts of escheats,
+and original letters of some eminent persons and pedigrees of others, but
+not the hundredth part of much better things that were destroyed.'
+
+One or two extracts from the 'diary and choice notes' will show the
+minute attention given by Oldys to everything concerned with books.
+Under the date of June 29th, 1737, we read: 'Saw Mr. Ames' old MSS. on
+vellum, entitled _Le Romant de la Rose_, which cost forty crowns at Paris
+when first written, as appears by the inscription at the end: it had been
+Bishop Burnet's book, his arms being pasted in it, and Mr. Rawlinson's,
+being mentioned in one of his catalogues; in the same catalogue also is
+mentioned Sir William Monson's collection, which Mr. West bought and lent
+me before the fatal fire happened at his chambers in the Temple.' Mr.
+Thorns adds that Sir William Monson, an Admiral of note in the reign of
+James I., formed considerable collections, principally about naval
+affairs. Under the date of August 8th, we read of a visit to Strype the
+historian. 'Invited by Dr. Harris to his brother's at Homerton, where old
+Mr. Strype is still alive, and has the remainder of his once rich
+collection of MSS., tracts, etc.' Dr. Knight's letter of a few months'
+earlier date was printed by Nichols in his _Literary Anecdotes_. 'I made
+a visit to old Father Strype when in town last: he is turned ninety, yet
+very brisk, and with only a decay of sight and memory.... He told me that
+he had great materials towards the life of the old Lord Burleigh and Mr.
+Foxe the martyrologist, which he wished he could have finished, but most
+of his papers are in "characters"; his grandson is learning to decipher
+them.' Under the dates of September 1st and 7th Oldys records that 'the
+Yelverton library is in the possession of the Earl of Sussex, wherein
+are many volumes of Sir Francis Walsingham's papers'; and a few days
+later, 'Dr. Pepusch offered me any intelligence or assistance from his
+ancient collections of music, for a history of that art and its
+professors in England; and as to dramatic affairs, he notes that the
+Queen's set of Plays had at first been thought too dear; but after Mrs.
+Oldfield the actress died, and they were reported to be his collection,
+then the Queen would have them at any rate.' When Oldys died his curious
+library was purchased by Thomas Davies, and was put up to auction in
+1762. The list of printed books comprises many literary treasures which
+in our days can hardly be procured, but at that time went for a song.
+'The manuscripts were not so many as might be expected from so
+indefatigable a writer'; it seems that Oldys had always been too generous
+with his gifts and loans.
+
+Among his notices of the London libraries we find an interesting account
+of the collection at Lambeth, then housed in the galleries above the
+cloisters. 'The oldest of the books were Dudley's, the Earl of Leicester,
+which from time to time have been augmented by several Archbishops of
+that See. It had a great loss in being deprived of Archbishop Sheldon's
+admirable collection of missals, breviaries, primers, etc., relating to
+the service of the Church, as also Archbishop Sancroft's.' The books and
+MSS. belonging to Sancroft had in part been deposited at Lambeth; but on
+his deprivation they were removed to Emmanuel College at Cambridge.
+Oldys added that there was another apartment for MSS., 'not only those
+belonging to the See, but those of the Lord Carew, who had been Deputy of
+Ireland, many of them relating to the state and history of that kingdom.'
+
+Archbishop Tenison had furnished another noble library near St. Martin's
+Lane 'with the best modern books in most faculties'; 'there any student
+might repair and make what researches he pleased'; and there too were
+deposited Sir James Ware's important Irish MSS. and many other portions
+of the Clarendon Collection, until offence was taken at their having been
+catalogued among the papers of the Archbishop.
+
+In Dulwich College there was another library to which Mr. Cartwright the
+actor gave a collection of plays and many excellent pictures; and 'here
+comes in,' says Oldys, 'the Queen's purchase of plays, and those by Mr.
+Weever the dancing-master, Sir Charles Cotterell, Mr. Coxeter, Lady
+Pomfret, and Lady Mary Wortley Montague'; and here we might mention the
+sad case of Mr. Warburton the herald, whose forte was to find out
+valuable English plays. Shortly before his death in 1759 he discovered
+that the cook had used up about fifty of the MSS. for covering pies, and
+that among them were 'twelve unpublished pieces by Massinger.' Something
+may be said too as to the older collections formed in London for the use
+of schools. At Westminster, it has been well said, Dean Williams
+'enlarged the boundaries of learning.' According to Hackett, he converted
+a waste room into a noble library, modelling it 'into a decent shape,'
+and furnishing it with a vast number of learned volumes. The best of them
+came from the library of Mr. Baker of Highgate, who throughout a very
+long life had been gathering 'the best authors of all sciences in their
+best editions.' Dean Colet had endowed St. Paul's School with
+philological works in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; but these were destroyed
+in the great fire, together with the whole library of the High Master.
+This was Mr. Samuel Cromleholme, who had the best set of neatly-bound
+classics in London; 'he was a great lover of his books, and their loss
+hastened the end of his life.' The shelves at Merchant Taylors and in the
+Mercers' Chapel were almost as well filled as those at St. Paul's; and
+Christ's Hospital at that time had a good plain library in the
+mathematical school, with globes and instruments, 'and ships with all
+their rigging for the instruction of lads designed for the sea.'
+
+In the College of Physicians was a fine collection 'in their own and the
+other faculties.' Selden bequeathed to it his 'physical books,' and it
+was enriched by a gift of the whole library of Lord Dorchester, 'the
+pride and glory of the College.' We can only mention a few of the
+libraries described by Oldys. The Jews, he says, had a collection at
+Bevis Marks relating to the Talmud and Mischna and their ceremonial
+worship: the French Protestants had another at the Savoy, and the Swedes
+another at their Church in Trinity Lane. The Baptists owned a great
+library in the Barbican. The Quakers had been for some years furnishing a
+library with all the works written by the Friends. John Whiting published
+the catalogue in 1708; 'and in my opinion,' says our critic, ''tis more
+accurately and perfectly drawn up than the Bodleian Library at Oxford is
+by Dr. Hyde, for the Quaker does not confound one man with another as the
+scholar does.' Francis Bugg, he adds, 'the scribbler against them,' had a
+better collection of their writings than any of the brethren; 'but I
+think I have read in some of his rhapsodies that he either gave or sold
+it to the library at Oxford.'
+
+Charles Earl of Sunderland was the greatest collector of his time. He
+bought the whole library of Hadrian Beverland, 'which was very choice of
+its kind,' and a great number of Petau's books as mentioned before; 'no
+bookseller,' it was said, 'hath so many editions of the same book as he,
+for he hath all, especially of the classics.' Shortly before his death in
+1772 he commissioned Mr. Vaillant to buy largely at the sale of Mr.
+Freebairn's library. In Clarke's _Repertorium_ we are told how a fine
+Virgil was secured: 'and it was noted that when Mr. Vaillant had bought
+the printed Virgil at L46 he huzza'd out aloud, and threw up his hat for
+joy that he had bought it so cheap.' The great collection was afterwards
+taken to Blenheim, and has been dispersed in our time; 'the King of
+Denmark proffered the heirs L30,000 for it, and "Queen Zara" would have
+inclined them to part with it.' When the Earl of Sunderland died,
+Humphrey Wanley saw a good chance for the Harleian. 'I believe some
+benefit may accrue to this library, even if his relations will part with
+none of the works; I mean by his raising the price of books no higher
+now; so that in probability this commodity may fall in the market, and
+any gentleman be permitted to buy an uncommon old book for less than
+forty or fifty pounds.' If we listen to the Rev. Thomas Baker, the
+ejected Fellow who gave 4000 books to St. John's at Cambridge, we shall
+hear a complaint against Wanley. Lord Oxford's librarian when he saw a
+fine book, even in a public institution, used to say, 'It will be better
+in my lord's library.' Baker might have said, 'a plague on both your
+houses!' What he wrote was as follows:--'I begin to complain of the men
+of quality who lay out so much for books, and give such prices that there
+is nothing to be had for poor scholars, whereof I have felt the effects;
+when I bid a fair price for an old book, I am answered, "The quality will
+give twice as much," and so I have done.'
+
+The Earls of Pembroke were for several generations the patrons of
+learning. 'Thomas, the eighth Earl, was contemporary with those
+illustrious characters, Sunderland, Harley, and Mead, during the Augustan
+age of Britain'; he added a large number of classics and early printed
+books to the library at Wilton, and his successor Earl Henry still
+further improved it by adding the best works on architecture, on
+biographies, and books of numismatics; 'the Earl of Pembroke is stored
+with antiquities relating to medals and lives.'
+
+Lord Somers had the rare pieces in law and English history which have
+been published in a well-known series of tracts. Lord Carbury loved
+mystical divinity; the Earl of Kent was all for pedigrees and
+visitations; the Earl of Kinnoul made large collections in mathematics
+and civil law; and Lord Coleraine followed Bishop Kennett in forming 'a
+library of lives.'
+
+Richard Smith was remembered as having started in the pursuit of Caxtons
+in the days of Charles II.; the taste was despised when Oldys wrote, but
+it eventually grew into a mania. 'For a person of an inferior rank we
+never had a collector more successful. No day passed over his head in
+which he did not visit Moorfields and Little Britain or St. Paul's
+Churchyard, and for many years together he suffered nothing to escape him
+that was rare and remarkable.'
+
+Mr. John Bridges of Lincoln's Inn was another 'notorious book-collector.'
+When his books were sold in 1726 the prices ran so high that the world
+suspected a conspiracy on the part of the executors. Humphrey Wanley was
+disappointed in his commissions, and called it a roguish sale; of the
+vendors he remarked 'their very looks, according to what I am told, dart
+out harping-irons.' Tom Hearne went to Mr. Bridges' chambers to see the
+sale, and descanted upon the fine condition of the lots: 'I was told of a
+gentleman of All Souls that gave a commission of eight shillings for an
+Homer, but it went for six guineas; people are in love with good binding
+rather than good reading.' Some of the entries in the catalogue are of
+great interest. The first edition of Homer, printed at Florence in 1488
+on large paper, went for about a quarter of the price of an Aldine Livy.
+Lord Oxford secured a 'Lucian' in uncial characters, and a splendid
+Missal illuminated for Henry VII. There was a large-paper 'Politian' in
+two volumes, very carelessly described as 'finely bound by Grolier and
+his friends'; but the best of all was the MS. Horace, with an exquisite
+portrait of the poet, 'from the library of Matthias Corvinus, King of
+Hungary.'
+
+Dr. Mead was a collector of the same kind. All that was beautiful came
+naturally to this great man, of whom it was said that he lived 'in the
+full sunshine of human existence.' He was the owner of a very fine
+library, which he had 'picked up at Rome.' He had a great number of
+early-printed classics, which fetched high prices at his sale in 1754;
+his French books, according to Dibdin, and all his works upon the fine
+arts 'were of the first rarity and value,' and were sumptuously bound.
+His chief literary distinction rests on his edition of De Thou's
+'History' in seven folio volumes. He had received a large legacy from a
+brother, and spent it in the publication of a work 'from which nothing
+of exterior pomp and beauty should be wanting'; the ink and paper were
+procured from Holland; and Carte the historian was sent to France 'to
+rummage for MSS. of Thuanus.'
+
+Oldys has a few notes upon curious collections which he thought might be
+diverting to a 'satirical genius.' A certain Templar, he says, had a good
+library of astrology, witchcraft, and magic. Mr Britton, the small-coal
+man, had an excellent set of chemical books,'and a great parcel of music
+books, many of them pricked with his own hand.' The famous Dryden, and
+Mr. Congreve after him, had collected old ballads and penny story-books.
+The melancholy Burton, and Dr. Richard Rawlinson, and the learned Thomas
+Hearne, had all been as bad in their way. Mr. Secretary Pepys gave a
+great library to Magdalen College at Cambridge: but among the folios
+peeped out little black-letter ballads and 'penny merriments, penny
+witticisms, penny compliments, and penny godlinesses.' 'Mr. Robert
+Samber,' says Oldys, 'must need turn virtuoso too, and have his
+collection: which was of all the printed tobacco-papers he could anywhere
+light on.'
+
+For 'curiosity or dotage' none could beat Mr. Thomas Rawlinson, whose
+vast collections were dispersed in seventeen or eighteen auctions before
+the final sale in 1733. Mr. Heber in the present century is a modern
+example of the same kind. 'A book is a book,' he said: and he bought all
+that came in his way, by cart-loads and ship-loads, and in whole
+libraries, on which in some cases he never cast his eyes. The most
+zealous lovers of books have smiled at his duplicates, quadruplicates,
+and multiplied specimens of a single edition.
+
+Thomas Rawlinson, for all his continual sales, blocked himself out of
+house and home by his purchases: his set of chambers at Gray's Inn was so
+completely filled with books that his bed had to be moved into the
+passage. Some thought that he was the 'Tom Folio' of Addison's
+caricature, in which it was assumed that the study of bibliography was
+only fit for a 'learned idiot.' Hearne defended his friend from the
+charge of pedantry, and declared that the mistake could only be made by a
+'shallow buffoon.'
+
+Rawlinson had a miserly craving after good books. If he had twenty copies
+of a work he would always open his purse for 'a different edition, a
+fairer copy, a larger paper.' His covetousness increased as the mass of
+his library was multiplied: and as he lived, said Oldys, so he died,
+among dust and cobwebs, 'in his bundles, piles, and bulwarks of paper.'
+
+Upon Dr. Mead's death his place in the book-world was taken by Dr.
+Anthony Askew, who travelled far and wide in search of rare editions and
+large-paper copies. In describing the sale of his books in 1775 Dibdin
+almost lost himself in ecstasies over the magnificent folios, and the
+shining duodecimos 'printed on vellum and embossed with knobs of gold.'
+It has been said that with this sale commenced the new era in
+bibliography, during which such fabulous prices were given for fine
+editions of the classics; but the date should perhaps be carried back to
+Dr. Mead's time. Some credit for the new development should also be
+ascribed to Joseph Smith, who collected early-printed books and classics
+at Venice, while acting as English consul. His first library was
+purchased by George III. in 1762, and now forms the best part of the
+'King's Library' at the British Museum. His later acquisitions were sold
+in 1773 by public auction in London. Among other classical libraries of
+an old-fashioned kind we should notice the Osterley Park collection, only
+recently dispersed, which was formed by Bryan Fairfax; it was purchased
+_en bloc_ in 1756 by Mr. Francis Child, and passed from him to the family
+of the Earl of Jersey.
+
+Topham Beauclerc housed his thirty thousand volumes, as Walpole declared,
+in a building that reached halfway from London to Highgate; his
+collection was in two parts, of which the first was mainly classical, and
+the other was very rich in English antiquities and history. In 1783 was
+sold almost the last of the encyclopaedic collections which used to fill
+the position now occupied by great public libraries. Mr. Crofts possessed
+a treasury of Greek and Roman learning; he was especially rich in
+philology, in Italian literature, in travels, in Scandinavian affairs;
+'under the shortest heads, some one or more rare articles occur, but in
+the copious classes literary curiosity is gratified, is highly feasted.'
+
+Dr. Johnson's books were dispersed in a four-days' sale in 1785. A copy
+of the interesting catalogue has lately been reprinted by The Club. The
+most valuable specimen, as a mere curiosity, would be the folio with
+which he beat the bookseller, but we suppose that very little on the
+whole was obtained for the 662 lots of learned volumes that had sprawled
+over his dusty floor. The Doctor had but little sympathy with the
+fashions that were beginning to prevail. He laughs in the _Rambler_ at
+'Cantilenus' with his first edition of _The Children in the Wood_, and
+the antiquary who despaired of obtaining one missing Gazette till it was
+sent to him 'wrapped round a parcel of tobacco.' 'Hirsutus,' we are
+told,'very carefully amassed all the English books that were printed in
+the black character'; the fortunate virtuoso had 'long since completed
+his Caxton, and wanted but two volumes of a perfect Pynson.' In our own
+day we can hardly realise the idea of such riches; but the 'Rambler'
+scouted the notion of slighting or valuing a book because it was printed
+in the Roman or Gothic type. John Ratcliffe of Bermondsey was one of
+these 'black-letter dogs.' He had some advantages of birth and position;
+for, being a chandler and grocer, he could buy these old volumes by
+weight in the course of his trade. He died in 1776, the master of a whole
+'galaxy of Caxtons'; his library is said to have held the essence of
+poetry, romance and history; it was more precious in flavour to the new
+_dilettanti_ than the copious English stores of James West, the judicious
+President of the Royal Society; it was far more refined than the 'omnium
+gatherum' scattered in 1788 on Major Pearson's death, or Dr. Farmer's
+ragged regiments of old plays and frowsy ballads, and square-faced
+broadsides 'bought for thrice their weight in gold.'
+
+M. Paris de Meyzieux was the owner of a splendid library. Dibdin has
+described his third sale, held in London during 1791, when the
+bibliomaniacs, it was said, used to cool themselves down with ice before
+they could face such excitement. Of himself he confessed that when he had
+seen the illuminations of Nicolas Jany, the snow-white 'Petrarch,' the
+'Virgil' on vellum, life had no more to offer: 'after having seen only
+these three books I hope to descend to my obscure grave in perfect peace
+and happiness.' The _Livre d'Heures_ printed for Francis I., which had
+belonged to the Duc de la Valliere, was bought by Sir Mark Sykes, and
+became one of his principal treasures at Sledmere.
+
+Mr. Robert Heathcote had a most elegant library, in which might be seen
+the tallest Elzevirs and several Aldine classics 'in the chaste costume
+of Grolier.' It is said that the books passed lightly into his hands 'in
+a convivial moment,' much to their former owner's regret. About the year
+1807 they passed into the miscellaneous crowd of Mr. Dent's books; and
+twenty years afterwards the whole collection was dispersed at a low
+price, when the book-mania was giving way for a time to an affection for
+cheap and useful literature.
+
+The fever was still high in 1810 when Mr. Heath's plain classics were
+snatched up at very extravagant terms. Colonel Stanley's library was
+typical of the taste of the day. His selection comprised rare Spanish and
+Italian poetry, novels and romances, 'De Bry's voyages complete, fine
+classics, and a singular set of _facetiae_.' It was sold in 1813, a few
+weeks after the dispersal of Mr. John Hunter's very similar collection.
+This was immediately followed by an auction of Mr. Gosset's books, which
+lasted for twenty-three days: they seem to have chiefly consisted of
+divinity and curious works on philology. Mr. John Towneley's library was
+sold a few months afterwards. Mr. Towneley was the owner of a fine
+'Pontifical' of Innocent IV., and a missal by Giulio Clovio from the
+Farnese palace; his celebrated MS., known as the 'Towneley Iliad,' was
+bought by Dr. Charles Burney, and passed with the rest of his books to
+the British Museum. In 1816 Mr. Michael Wodhull died, after
+half-a-century spent in the steady collection of good books in the
+auctions of London and Paris: the recent sale of his library has made all
+the world familiar with his well-selected volumes, bound in russia by his
+faithful Roger Payne, and annotated on their fly-leaves with valuable
+memoranda of book-lore. We shall not repeat the story of Mr. Beckford's
+triumphant career, of the glories of Fonthill or the later splendours of
+the Hamilton Palace collection. We should note his purchase of Gibbon's
+books 'in order to have something to read on passing through Lausanne.'
+'I shut myself up,' said Mr. Beckford, 'for six weeks from early in the
+morning till night, only now and then taking a ride; the people thought
+me mad; I read myself nearly blind.' Beckford never saw the books again
+'after once turning hermit there.' He gave them to his physician, Dr.
+Scholl, and they were sold by auction in 1833; most of them were
+scattered about the world, but some are said to be still preserved at
+Lausanne in the public library.
+
+This period was marked by the rivalry between bibliophiles of high rank
+and great wealth, whose Homeric contests have been worthily described by
+Dibdin in his history of the Bibliomania. A note in one of the Althorp
+Caxtons records a more amicable arrangement. The book belonged to Mr.
+George Mason, at whose sale it was bought by the Duke of Roxburghe: 'The
+Duke and I had agreed not to oppose one another at the sale, but after
+the book was bought, to toss up who should win it, when I lost it; I
+bought it at the Roxburghe sale on the 17th of June, 1812, for L215 5s.'
+The Duke was chiefly interested in old English literature, Italian
+poetry, and romances of the Round Table; but we are told that shortly
+before his death he was 'in full pursuit of a collection of our dramatic
+authors.' It was at his sale that the Valdarfer Boccaccio was purchased
+by Lord Blandford, afterwards Duke of Marlborough, for L2260, a sum which
+at that time had never been reached as the price of a single volume. It
+passed into the great collection at White Knights, which then contained,
+in addition to some of the rarest English books, the 'Bedford Missal,'
+another missal given by Queen Louise to Marguerite d'Angouleme, and a
+volume of prayers from the hand of the caligrapher Nicolas Jany. On the
+17th of June, 1819, the White Knights library was sold on behalf of the
+owner's creditors; and the 'Boccaccio' found a safe home at Althorp,
+where George, Earl Spencer, had by fortunate purchases, by zeal in the
+pursuit of books, and by the aid of an accomplished librarian, formed
+that matchless collection which Renouard justly described as 'the finest
+private library in Europe.'
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+    AElfric, Archbishop, 26.
+    Agricola, Rudolf, 87.
+    Aicardo, Paul, 176.
+    Aidan, 13, 17.
+    Albisse, 144.
+    Alexander ab Alexandro, 80.
+    Alfred, King, 25.
+    Allatius, Leo, 91.
+    Alphonso, Naples, 79.
+    Amboise, Cardinal de, 100.
+    Ancillon, David, 189.
+    Anne, Queen, 120, 121.
+    Anne of Austria, 108.
+    Anne of Brittany, 79.
+    Anselm, 27.
+    Apellicon, 3.
+    Arcanati, Galeazzo, 164.
+    Aretino, Carlo, 66.
+    Aretino, Leonardo, 59, 63, 65.
+    Argonne, Bonaventure d', 147, 148.
+    Aristotle, 3, 23, 33, 37, 57.
+    Arius, Montanus, 165.
+    Arundel, Archbishop, 56.
+    Arundel, Henry, Lord, 116.
+    Arundel, Thomas, Earl of, 85.
+    Ascham, Roger, 114.
+    Ashmole, Elias, 135, 136.
+    Askew, Anthony, Dr., 214.
+    Asser, 25.
+    Attavante, 83, 85.
+    Attalus, 2.
+    Aubrey, John, 135.
+    Augustus, 4.
+    Augustus of Brunswick, 85.
+    Aumale, Duc d', 105.
+    Aungerville (_see_ Bury, Richard de).
+    Aurispa, John, 66, 70.
+    Aquinas, Thomas, 70.
+
+    Bacon, Francis, 114.
+    Bacon, Roger, 30, 129.
+    Bagford, John, 120-122.
+    Bagni, 183.
+    Baillet, Adrian, 188, 189.
+    Baker (of Highgate), 207.
+    Baker, Rev. Thomas, 210.
+    Bale, Bishop, 57.
+    Ballesdens, Jean, 148, 149.
+    Baluze, Etienne, 188.
+    Barberini, Cardinal, 183.
+    Barocci, Francesco, 117, 131.
+    Baron, Hyacinthe, 194, 198.
+    Barre, M., 194.
+    Bashkirtseff, Marie, 157.
+    Basingstoke, John, 34.
+    Beauclerc, Topham, 215.
+    Becatelli, Antonio, 79.
+    Beckford, Wm., 156, 218, 219.
+    Bede, 21, 22, 131.
+    Bedford, John, Duke of, 56, 59, 60, 220.
+    Bentley, Dr., 118, 119.
+    Bernard, Dr., 137, 138.
+    Berri, Jean Duc de, 94, 103.
+    Berry, Duchesse de, 109.
+    Berryer, M., 189.
+    Bessarion, Cardinal, 52, 71.
+    Bethune, Hippolyte de, 94, 162.
+    Beza, Theodore, 123.
+    Bignon, Jerome, 179.
+    Bigot, Jean, 148, 152.
+    Bigot, Robert, 152.
+    Bigot, Louis, 152.
+    Bill, John, 125, 126.
+    Biscop, Benedict, 20, 21.
+    Blanche, Queen, 60.
+    Blandford, Lord, 219.
+    Boccaccio, 49, 63, 64.
+    Bodley, Lawrence, 127.
+    Bodley, Sir Thomas, 115, 116, 123-128.
+    Boethius, 7, 12.
+    Boisot, Abbe, 192, 194.
+    Bongars, Jacques, 160, 161.
+    Boniface, St., 22, 23.
+    Booker, John, 136.
+    Borromeo, Frederic, 177, 183.
+    Bouchet, Henri, 191, 192.
+    Bouhier, Etienne de, 192.
+    Bouhier, Jean de, 193.
+    Bouhier, President, 193, 197.
+    Bourbon, Charles de, 103.
+    Brassicanus, 84.
+    Bretonvilliers, 191.
+    Bridges, John, 211, 212.
+    Bridget, St., 13, 15.
+    Bristol, Earl of, 130.
+    Britton, Thomas, 213.
+    Brochard, Professor, 196.
+    Browne, Sir Thomas, 7.
+    Bruges, Jean de, 94.
+    Bruges, Louis de, 93-94.
+    Bruges, _See_ La Gruthuyse.
+    Bucer, Martin, 112.
+    Buchanan, George, 115.
+    Budaeus, 82, 98-100, 140, 146, 147.
+    Buffon, 200.
+    Buonaparte, Pauline, 109.
+    Burgh, Elizabeth de, 54.
+    Burnet, Bishop, 205.
+    Burney, Dr. Charles, 218.
+    Burton, Robert, 126, 213.
+    Bury, Richard de, 28-29, 32-40, 53-58.
+    Busbec, Angere, 84.
+    Busch, Hermann, 87-89.
+
+    Caesar, Julius, 2, 4.
+    Caesar, Sir Julius, 136, 137.
+    Calcavi, 188.
+    Camden, William, 117, 127.
+    Canonici, Matheo, 133.
+    Capranica, Angelo, 81.
+    Capranica, Domenico, 81.
+    Carbury, Lord, 211.
+    Carew, Lord, 207.
+    Cartwright (the actor), 207.
+    Casaubon, Meric, 124.
+    Casaubon, Isaac, 169, 170, 177, 179.
+    Charron de Menars, 173, 174, 199.
+    Chartraire de Bourbonne, 194.
+    Chevalier, Etienne, 101.
+    Chevalier, Nicolas, 102.
+    Chifflet, Jules, 192.
+    Child, Francis, 215.
+    Christina of Pisa, 60.
+    Christina (Queen of Sweden), 94, 149, 154, 159, 162, 187.
+    Chrysoloras, 50, 63, 66.
+    Cino da Pistoia, 41.
+    Cassiodorus, 12, 23.
+    Caxton, William, 93, 95, 97.
+    Ceolfrid of Jarrow, 21.
+    Chamillard, Madame de, 195.
+    Charles I., 112, 122, 152.
+    Charles II., 122, 133.
+    Charles V. (of France), 59, 60, 94.
+    Charles V. (Emperor), 192.
+    Charles VII. (of France), 101, 102.
+    Charles VIII. (of France), 79, 100.
+    Charles IX. (of France), 106, 107.
+    Charles the Bold, 95, 96.
+    Charles the Great, 20, 23.
+    Charles of Orleans, 102.
+    Clarendon, Earl of, 203, 207.
+    Clavell, Walter, 134.
+    Clement, VII., Pope, 69.
+    Clement, XII., Pope, 181.
+    Clenard, Nicolas, 167.
+    Cleopatra, 2.
+    Cobham, Bishop, 55.
+    Cobham, Lord, 97.
+    Coelius, 77.
+    Colbert, 148, 187, 188.
+    Coleraine, Lord, 211.
+    Colet, Dean, 208.
+    Columba, St., 13, 15-17, 130.
+    Columbus, Christopher, 168.
+    Columbus, Ferdinand, 166-168.
+    Conde, Princesse de, 105.
+    Congreve, 213.
+    Consentius, 10, 11.
+    Costa, Solomon da, 133.
+    Cotton, Sir John, 118.
+    Cotton, Sir Robert, 18, 113, 117, 118, 129, 178.
+    Cotton, Sir Thomas, 118.
+    Courteney, Richard, 56.
+    Cox, Captain, 115.
+    Coxeter, Thomas, 203, 207.
+    Cracherode, Clayton, 153.
+    Cranmer, Archbishop, 112, 113.
+    Crofts, Thomas, 215.
+    Cromleholme, Samuel, 208.
+    Cujacius, 160.
+    Cuthbert, St., 18.
+
+    Daniel, Bishop, 22.
+    Dee, Dr., 114, 130, 136.
+    Dent, John, 217.
+    Descordes, Jean, 184.
+    Des Essars, Antoine, 60.
+    Desportes, Philippe, 102.
+    D'Ewes, Sir Symonds, 120.
+    Diane de Poitiers, 104, 106.
+    Digby, Sir Kenelm, 128-30.
+    Dodsworth, Roger, 134-35.
+    Domitian, 4.
+    Dorchester, Lord, 208.
+    Douce, Francis, 133-34.
+    Dryden, 213.
+    Du Barry, 109, 199.
+    Dubois, Simeon, 184.
+    Dudley, Robert (Leicester), 114, 206.
+    Du Fay, Charles, 148, 196, 197.
+    Dugdale, Sir William, 135.
+    Dunstan, St., 25, 128.
+    Du Puy, Charles, 171, 172.
+    Du Puy, Jacques, 171, 173.
+    Du Puy, Pierre, 171, 173.
+    Dury, John, 116.
+
+    Eadburga, Abbess, 22.
+    Edward VI., 112.
+    Egbert of York, 23.
+    Elisabeth, Madame, 109.
+    Elizabeth, Queen, 112, 113.
+    Ellesmere, Lord, 136.
+    Erasmus, 71, 80, 87, 89, 90, 98, 99, 140.
+    Essex, Lord, 127.
+    Estienne, Henri, 89, 90, 169, 193.
+    Estrees, Duc d', 194.
+    Estrees, Gabrielle d', 106.
+    Eusebius, 6.
+    Evelyn, John, 85, 190.
+
+    Fairfax, Bryan, 215.
+    Fairfax, Lord, 116, 117, 134, 135.
+    Falconnet, Dr., 194.
+    Farmer, Dr., 217.
+    Farnese, Cardinal, 159.
+    Fauchet, Claude, 162.
+    Faure, Antoine, 151.
+    Ferrar, Nicholas, 121, 122.
+    Finnen, St., 16.
+    Firmin-Didot, 101, 156.
+    Fisher, Bishop, 111, 112.
+    Fitz-Ralph, Archbishop of Armagh, 31.
+    Flechier, Esprit, 150.
+    Fleming, Robert, 97.
+    Fletewode, W., 136.
+    Folkes, Martin, 134.
+    Fontius, 83.
+    Foucault, Nicolas, 198.
+    Francis, St., 30, 31.
+    Francis, I., 163, 217.
+    Francis, II., 106, 107.
+    Freebairn, 209.
+    Fugger, Raimond, 90.
+    Fugger, Ulric, 90, 91, 185.
+
+    Gaffarel, Jacques, 182.
+    Gafori, Franc, 143, 144.
+    Gaignat, 93, 153, 194.
+    Gale, Thomas, 134.
+    Gascoigne, Dr., 34, 128, 130.
+    Gascoyne, Richard, 204.
+    Gascq de la Lande, 198.
+    Gasparus, Achilles, 91.
+    George of Trebisond, 71, 72.
+    Germanus, St., 11.
+    Gibbon, 218, 219.
+    Gilles, Pierre, 104.
+    Giraldi, Cinthio, 77.
+    Giraldi, Lilio, 77.
+    Girardot de Prefond, Paul, 194, 198.
+    Gloucester, Humphrey Duke of, 56-59, 124.
+    Gosset, 218.
+    Gouffier, Arthur, 102, 103.
+    Gouffier, Charles, 103.
+    Gough, Richard, 133, 134.
+    Granvelle, Cardinal de, 192.
+    Gray, William, 97.
+    Grenville, Thomas, 153.
+    Grolier, Etienne, 136, 146.
+    Grolier, Jean, 56, 100, 103, 106, 139, 162, 175, 196, 198, 201, 217.
+    Grostete, 30, 33, 34, 128, 129.
+    Guillard, Charlotte, 102.
+    Guinguene, Pierre-Louis, 200.
+    Guy Earl of Warwick, 54.
+    Guy de Rocheford, 96.
+    Guyon de Sardieres, 106.
+
+    Hackett, Bishop, 123, 208.
+    Hale, Sir Matthew, 137.
+    Harley, Edward, 119, 203, 210, 212.
+    Harley, Robert, 119-122.
+    Harley, Gabriel, 114.
+    Hearne, Thomas, 134, 211-214.
+    Heath, Benjamin, 218.
+    Heathcote, Robert, 217.
+    Heber, Richard, 213.
+    Heinsius, Daniel, 89, 180.
+    Henri II., 104, 105, 109.
+    Henri III., 107.
+    Henri IV., 107.
+    Henry IV. (England), 56.
+    Henry V. (England), 56.
+    Henry VII. (England), 111, 112.
+    Henry VIII. (England), 111.
+    Henry, Prince, 116.
+    Hohendorf, Baron, 148.
+    Holkot, Robert, 35.
+    Hoym, Count d', 148, 194, 197.
+    Hunter, John, 218.
+    Hunter, William, 202.
+    Huntingdon, Robert, 131.
+    Hurtado de Mendoza, Diego, 166.
+    Hutten, Ulric von, 89.
+
+    Inguimbert, Don Malachi d', 181.
+
+    James I., 115-116, 126, 136.
+    James, Dr. Thomas, 125-127.
+    Jekyll, Sir Joseph, 134.
+    Jerome, St., 6, 14, 102.
+    Jersey, Earl of, 215.
+    Joanna II. (Naples), 79, 109.
+    John, Duke of Burgundy, 95.
+    John, King (France), 59.
+    John, Precentor, 22.
+    John of Ravenna, 49
+    Johnson, Samuel, 119, 215, 216.
+    Jonson, Ben, 114.
+    Jovian, 7.
+    Julian, Emperor, 6, 7.
+    Julius II., Pope, 139.
+    Juvenal des Ursins, 101.
+
+    Kennett, Bishop, 211.
+    Kinnoul, Earl of, 211.
+
+    Labe, Louise, 102.
+    Lambert de Thorigny, 194.
+    La Gruthuyse, Louis de, 93, 94.
+    Lami, Giovanni, 73.
+    Lamoignon, Chretien de, 188, 189.
+    Lamoignon, G. de, 148, 187, 188.
+    Lanfranc, 27.
+    Langarad, 16.
+    Lange, Rudolf, 87.
+    Lascaris, Constantine, 81.
+    Lascaris, John, 81, 82, 104.
+    Laud, Archbishop, 129, 131.
+    Lauwrin, Mark, 142, 144.
+    La Valliere, Duc de, 61, 83, 94, 106, 153, 191, 194, 217.
+    Le Blond, Abbe, 201.
+    Lebrixa, Antonio, 166.
+    Leland, John, 34.
+    Le Neve, Peter, 120, 121.
+    Leo X., Pope, 69, 72, 81, 82, 89, 104.
+    Leo, the Philosopher, 9.
+    Leofric, Bishop, 26, 128.
+    Leoni, Pompeo, 164.
+    Leontio Pilato, 49, 50.
+    Le Tellier, Archbishop, 150, 151.
+    Ligorio, Piero, 77.
+    Lilly, William, 136.
+    Lipsius, Justus, 162, 180.
+    Loche, Gilles de, 132.
+    Lomenie, Antoine de, 184.
+    Louis (of Hungary), 83, 85.
+    Louis IX., 151.
+    Louis XI., 62, 101.
+    Louis XII., 94, 177, 193.
+    Louis XIII., 183, 184.
+    Louis XIV., 94.
+    Louis XV., 109, 188.
+    Louis XVI., 173.
+    Louis-Philippe, 105.
+    Louise de Loraine, 107.
+    Louise de Savoie, 103, 220.
+    Lucian, 5, 170.
+    Lucullus, 4.
+    Lulla, Bishop, 22.
+    Lumley, Lord, 116, 127.
+
+    Macarthy, Count, 141, 153, 155, 194, 199.
+    Magliabecchi, Antonio, 74, 75.
+    Maintenon, Madame de, 195.
+    Maioli, Thomas, 141, 144.
+    Malton, Lord, 204.
+    Mansion, Colard, 93, 95.
+    Mansard, Francis, 162.
+    Margaret of Austria, 96.
+    Margaret of Burgundy, 95.
+    Marguerite d'Angouleme, 103, 220.
+    Marguerite de Valois, 108, 109.
+    Marie Antoinette, 109.
+    Marie Leczinska, Queen, 108, 109.
+    Mary of Austria, 85, 96.
+    Mary of Burgundy, 96.
+    Mary, Queen of Scots, 106, 107.
+    Marucelli, 73.
+    Mason, George, 219.
+    Matthias Corvinus, 82-86, 212.
+    Mazarin, Cardinal, 162, 183-187.
+    Mazenta, 163, 164.
+    Mead, Dr., 210, 212, 214.
+    Medici, Catherine de, 104-106, 108.
+    Medici, Cosmo de', 63, 66, 68, 104.
+    Medici, Lorenzo de', 67, 68, 82, 83, 97.
+    Medici, Marie de, 134.
+    Medici, Pietro de', 68.
+    Melanchthon, Philip, 90.
+    Melzi, Francesco, 163.
+    Merard de St. Just, 199.
+    Mercatellis, Rafael de, 92, 93.
+    Mesmes, Guillaume, 151.
+    Mesmes, Henri, 184, 151.
+    Mesmes, Henri, junior, 151, 162, 179, 183.
+    Mesmes, Jean Antoine, 152.
+    Mesmes, Louis-Emeric, 152.
+    Mirabeau, Honore de, 200.
+    Mirandula, Pico della, 68, 71, 73, 88.
+    Monson, Sir William, 205.
+    Montacute, Lord, 127.
+    Montaigne, 156.
+    Moore, John (Bishop), 122, 123.
+    Morata, Olympia, 77, 78.
+    More, Sir Thomas, 98.
+
+    Naude, Gabriel, 182, 187.
+    Negri, Stefano, 142, 143.
+    Neleus, 3.
+    Nevinson, Dr., 113.
+    Newton, John de, 54.
+    Niccoli, Niccolo, 66, 68.
+    Nicholas V. (Pope), 69, 70.
+    Norfolk, Duke of, 85.
+    Nunez, Ferdinand, 166, 185.
+
+    O'Donnell, David, 17.
+    O'Donnell, Sir Neal, 17.
+    Oldys, William, 86, 119, 121, 122, 202, 214.
+    Oppenheimer, David, 133.
+    Orsini, Fulvio, 158, 160, 172.
+    Osorio, Jerome, 127.
+
+    Palladius, 14.
+    Pamphilus, 6.
+    Paris de Meyzieux, 217.
+    Parker, Archbishop, 19, 113, 120, 128.
+    Pars, Jacques de, 101.
+    Patrick, St., 13-15, 130.
+    Paullus, AEmilius, 4.
+    Pearson, Major, 217.
+    Peiresc, Nicolas, 132, 161, 177-182.
+    Pembroke, Henry, Earl of, 211.
+    Pembroke, Thomas, Earl of, 210.
+    Pembroke, William, Earl of, 131.
+    Pepusch, John, 206.
+    Pepys, Samuel, 133, 213.
+    Petau, Alexander, 162, 186.
+    Petau, Paul, 148, 158, 161, 162, 209.
+    Peters, Hugh, 116, 131.
+    Petrarch, 35, 36, 41-63, 76, 80, 166.
+    Philelpho, 66, 67, 70, 142.
+    Philip II. (of Spain), 82, 164.
+    Philippe le Bon (Burgundy), 92, 95.
+    Philippe le Hardi (Burgundy), 94, 95.
+    Photius, 8, 9, 74.
+    Pichon, Jerome, 103.
+    Pignoria Antonio, 76.
+    Pinelli, Gian-Vincenzio, 175-178.
+    Pinelli, Maffeo, 177.
+    Pirckheimer, 85-87.
+    Pithou, Francois, 151.
+    Pithou, Pierre, 148, 170, 186.
+    Poggio, 63-67, 72, 73, 79, 80, 175.
+    Politian, 68, 71, 97.
+    Pollio Asinius, 4, 146.
+    Polydore Vergil, 165.
+    Pompadour, Madame de, 109, 199.
+    Postel, Guillaume, 1, 104.
+    Prynne, 120.
+    Ptolemy (Philadelphia), 3, 46.
+
+    Rabelais, 142, 200.
+    Rameses, 2.
+    Ranconnet, 106, 107.
+    Rantzau, Marshal, 154, 155, 185.
+    Rasse de Neux, 144.
+    Ratcliffe, John, 216.
+    Rawlinson, Richard, 127, 133, 134, 175, 213.
+    Rawlinson, Thomas, 205, 213, 214.
+    Rene of Anjou, 79.
+    Renee, Princesse, 77, 177.
+    Renouard, Antoine, 156, 200, 201, 220.
+    Repington, Philip, 56.
+    Reuchlin, Johann, 88-90.
+    Rhenanus, Beatus, 87, 142.
+    Richelieu, Cardinal, 149, 171, 182.
+    Rigault, Nicolas, 179.
+    Rivers, Anthony, Lord, 97.
+    Rivers, Richard, Lord, 127.
+    Robertet, Florimond, 102.
+    Rodolph II., Emperor, 84.
+    Roe, Sir Thomas, 131.
+    Rohan, Cardinal de, 145, 174.
+    Ronsard, Pierre, 102.
+    Rothelin (Charles d'Orleans), 191, 197, 198.
+    Roxburghe, Duke of, 219.
+
+    Saint Andre, Jean de, 162.
+    Saint Vallier, Comte de, 105.
+    Salutati, 68.
+    Sambucus, Dr., 84, 145, 146.
+    Sammonicus Serenus, 46.
+    Sancroft, Archbishop, 206.
+    Sartines, Gabriel de, 194.
+    Savile, Sir Henry, 127, 179.
+    Savonarola, 68, 73.
+    Saye, Lord, 97.
+    Scaliger, Joseph, 71, 99, 132, 161, 169, 177, 178.
+    Seguier, Charles, 149.
+    Seguier, Pierre, 149, 179.
+    Seilliere, Baron, 156.
+    Seignelaye, Marquis de, 188.
+    Selden, 116, 131-133, 137, 208.
+    Seneca, 5, 7.
+    Shakespeare, 114.
+    Sheldon, Archbishop, 206.
+    Sherington, Walter, 97.
+    Shrewsbury, 59.
+    Sidonius Apollinaris, 11.
+    Silvestri, Eurialo, 144.
+    Sixtus V., 70.
+    Sixtus of Sienna, 76.
+    Smith, Joseph, 215.
+    Smith, Richard, 211.
+    Soltikoff, Prince, 101.
+    Soubise, Prince de, 141, 148, 174.
+    Spelman, Sir Henry, 117.
+    Spencer, George, Earl, 220.
+    Spenser, 114.
+    Stafford, Marquis of, 136.
+    Stanley, Colonel, 218.
+    Stillingfleet, Bishop, 120.
+    Stowe, 120.
+    Strozzi, Marshal, 73, 104.
+    Strype, 205.
+    Sulla, 3.
+    Sunderland, Earl of, 209, 210.
+    Sussex, Earl of, 205.
+    Sykes, Sir Mark, 217.
+
+    Tenison, Archbishop, 207.
+    Theodore of Gaza, 71, 72.
+    Theodore of Tarsus, 18, 21.
+    Thomason, George, 123.
+    Thou, Abbe de, 173.
+    Thou, Francois de, 173.
+    Thou, Jacques-Auguste de, 105, 108, 109, 120, 145, 146, 148,
+            169-174, 177-179, 185, 212-213.
+    Thou, Jacques-Auguste de (junior), 173, 174.
+    Thyard, Pontus de, 193.
+    Tiptoft, John, 97.
+    Toletus, Cardinal, 160.
+    Tomasini, Giacomo, 52, 183.
+    Tory, Geoffroy, 145.
+    Tournon, Cardinal de, 186.
+    Towneley, John, 218.
+    Trajan, 4.
+    Tyrannion, 3.
+
+    Urbino, Elizabeth d', 81.
+    Urbino, Federigo d', 80.
+    Urbino, Francesco d', 81.
+    Urbino, Guidubaldo d', 80, 81.
+    Urbino, Leonora d', 134.
+    Urfe, Claude d', 94.
+    Urfe, Honors d', 94.
+    Usher, 117.
+
+    Van Hulthem, 94.
+    Vasee, Jean, 167.
+    Vendome, Duchesse de, 107.
+    Verard, Antoine, 111, 193.
+    Vic, Dominique, 147.
+    Vic, Meric de, 147.
+    Vinci, Leonardo da, 106, 162-164.
+    Vorstius, 115.
+
+    Wake, Archbishop, 134.
+    Walsingham, Sir Francis, 206.
+    Wanley, Humphrey, 120, 210, 211.
+    Ware, Sir James, 207.
+    Webb, Philip Carteret, 136.
+    West, James, 216.
+    Wentmore, Abbot, 54.
+    Whethamstede, Abbot, 59.
+    Whittington, Sir Richard, 31.
+    Wilfrid, St., 21, 22.
+    Williams, Dean, 208.
+    Wodhull, Michael, 218.
+    Wood, Anthony, 118, 128, 135.
+
+    Ximenes, Cardinal, 121, 165, 184.
+
+
+Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty, at the Edinburgh
+University Press.
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious punctuation and printing errors have been repaired.
+See the HTML edition of this text for the complete list of corrections.
+
+Accented characters have been made consistent to assist searching via
+the index:
+Medici -> Medici
+Francois -> Francois
+Ximenes -> Ximenes
+Etienne -> Etienne
+Orleans -> Orleans
+Derome -> Derome
+Merard -> Merard
+Meric -> Meric
+
+Hyphenation has been left as printed - inconsistencies are:
+shiploads, ship-loads
+birthplace, birth-place
+heirloom, heir-loom
+lifetime, life-time
+bookshops, book-shops
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Book-Collectors, by
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