bly declined at his decease, it was not from the want of Imperial patronage for letters, since his successors, even down to Constantine, were known to extend a genial influence towards men of learning and the interests of li

terature.

The early collectors discovered a singular fancy for seclusion in determining the site of their libraries, and also in their contrivances for arranging the books for easy reference. Leland has something on this point, which we subjoin, although a little divested of his Gothic phraseology. 'One thing,' he says 'I liked extremely in one of the towers; that was a study called Paradise, where was a closet in the middle of eight squares latticed' abrate;' and at the top of every square was a desk lodged to set books on, on coffers within them, and these secured or joined hard to the top of the closet; and yet by pulling one or all would come down breast-high in rabbets (or grooves), and serve for desks to lay books on.'

Such a process seems to conflict with our modern ideas of convenience, and yet be it remembered, even after the invention of Printing, when such caution was less needed, it was a frequent custom to chain books to their shelves, allowing only a sufficient length to extend to the reading desk: this is surely not allowing much for the honesty of the book readers of those days.

In the primitive state of book-collecting, says D'Israeli, in his "Amenities of Literature," a singular evidence of the bibliographical passion was sometimes apparent in the monastic libraries. Not deeming a written catalogue, which might not often be opened, sufficiently attractive to remind them of their lettered stores, the monks inscribed verses on their windows to indicate the books they possessed, and over these inscriptions they placed the portraits of the authors. Thus they could not look through their windows without being reminded of their volumes; and the very portraits of authors, illuminated by the light of heaven, might rouse the curiosity which many a barren title would repel.

The most important, as well as ancient of the Italian libraries, was styled the Lateran, in the imperial city. It was subsequently transferred to the hill called the Vatican, during the Pontificate of Martin the Sixth-the site ever

since designated as the residence of the Papal see-Nicholas V., like his renowned successor, Leo X., was a distinguished patron of learning, and a man of extensive erudition; to him may be assigned the honor of laying the foundation of the magnificent collection of literary treasures which has so long continued to impart splendor to the papal palace. Long prior to the revival of letters in Europe, this library became the resort of all the learned, a fact not surprising, since it contained by far the richest collection of ancient manuscripts extant. The first catalogue of the various Greek, Hebrew, and Latin manuscripts of the Vatican collection was published among the early productions of the German press at Augsburg: several subsequent editions have also been printed. But we must linger a moment longer to notice some of the chief objects of virtu in this magnificent library.

At the present day it comprises 23,580 manuscripts, according to the best authority, written in the various oriental and classic tongues; and 387,000 printed volumes. The first literary curiosity is seen in the entrance hall, being a fine papyrus enclosed in a glass case, descriptive of the Funeral rites of the Egyptians. Passing down the great hall you enter the immense double gallery, celebrated for the effect of its perspective; it is here one is surrounded by some of the first treasures extant. It being simply our purpose to notice some of its literary curiosities, we shall not allude to any others with which every niche and corner of this magnificent pile is so rife. Among the most valuable manuscripts are the following:-The Bible of the 6th century, in capital letters, comprising the oldest version of the Septuagint, and the first Greek version of the New Testament; a Virgil of the 4th century, illuminated with 50 miniatures, and a Terence also with illuminations-both from the collection of the Duke of Urbino;-a Seneca, a Pliny of later dates, and other classics. Here are all the Homilies of St. Gregory, of 1063, and the Four Gospels, 1128-both Byzantine manuscripts of great interesta Greek version of the Acts, written in gold, presented to Innocent VIII. by Charlotte, Queen of Cyprus;-a large Hebrew Bible richly illuminated,

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for which the Jews of Venice offered its weight in gold, with several other manuscripts, finely illuminated; parchment scroll of a Greek manuscript of the 7th century, 32 feet long with miniatures, &c., and the Codex Mexicanus of immense length;-Autographs of Dante, Tasso, Petrarch, and the annals of Cardinal Baronius, in 2 volumes. There are also to be found there several manuscripts of Luther and one of Melancthon, 1556. Among the printed books we find some of the most rare known to be extant.

Literature sustained a severe and irreparable loss, by the destruction of the libraries at Buda, in 1686, founded by Corvinus, King of Hungary. Cardinal Bozmanni vainly tried to rescue their literary treasures from the rapacity of Ottoman barbarianism, by the tempting offer of 200,000 pieces of imperial coin. Some few only of their precious relics exist in the imperial collection at Vienna and the public library of Brussels; these are two exquisitely finished manuscripts, which once graced the Hungarian collection. The first is a Latin Evangelistarium, written in letters of gold upon the finest vellum, and not inaptly styled The Golden Book.' It had become the property of Philip II. of Spain, who preserved it in the Escurial under lock and key, which was exhibited to visiters with great ceremony, by torch light. The other is a magnificent Missal gorgeously illuminated.

The Bologna University Library comprises 80,000 volumes, and 4000 manuscripts; amongst other curiosities it includes a Lactantius of the 5th century-four Evangelists in Armenian, 12th century-the Image of Michael Apostolius, a Greek exile, and protegée of Cardinal Bessarion. Cardinal Mezzofanti commenced his brilliant career at this institution-the reigning pontiff, Gregory VI., raised him from an Abbé to the highest honors in his gift. He presents another illustrious instance of the omnipotence of genius over contending circumstances-from the obscurest origin he has made himself master of 43 languages, and is conversant with the best literature of most of them. Byron speaks of him, it may be remembered, in the following eulogistic strain, "I do not recollect a single foreign literary

character that I wished to see twice, except, perhaps, Mezzofanti, who is a prodigy of language, a Briareus of the parts of speech, a walking library : who ought to have lived at the time of the tower of Babel, as universal interpreter,-a real miracle, and without pretension too.'

The collection at Ferrara, comprising 80,000 volumes and 1000 manuscripts, derives its principal notoriety from some of the MSS. of Tasso and Ariosto: the latter are preserved in an apartment where the poet's arm chair, designed by himself, is deposited. The Gerusalemme exhibits the corrections of the ill-fated author during his cruel incarceration.

The library at Sienna, the oldest in Europe, contains, among numerous relics, some of the MS. letters of the poet Metastasio: and we should mention that in the twelfth century, the Moors possessed about seventy public libraries,—that of Cordova contained 250,000 volumes. The renowned Constantinopolitan collection, founded in 1767, by Sultan Mustapha, is contained in a cruciform building; over the principal entrance, the inscription in Arabic reads: "Enter in Peace." Of the Koran, says a late writer of this library, there are seventeen MS. copies, and about 650 works on the Mohammedan faith; on mystic subjects fortyseven; on philosophy eighty-six, logic and philosophy, 343; and on medicine thirty. So much for the famous library of the Seraglio! The luxurious Turks can manage very well, it appears, to dispense with the classics: unless, indeed, they have immured these sainted spoils of the Cæsars in some of the subterranean recesses of the Seraglio.

We have alluded to the merciless. annihilation of libraries in early times, but it must not be forgotten that along with the overthrow of the monasteries,. an act of a similar kind was perpetrated in the times of the English reformation, and books, to a prodigious amount, were sacrificed to party zeal. Bayle, in his lament of this, says, "those who purchased religious houses, took the libraries as part of the booty; some portions they sold to the grocers, and others they sent over sea to the bookbinders in ship loads.' "I know one · merchant," he continues, "who bought two noble libraries for fifty shillings. each!"

The most extensive library extant, is the famous Bibliothèque du Roi, at Paris. Its origin dates from a very early period. King John, in 1364, collected six volumes on science and history, and four on religion, to which his son Charles, surnamed the Wise, added more than 900 volumes-at that time a princely collection; which were deposited in a tower of the Louvre. Under the administration of Colbert, in 1666, these treasures were augmented beyond all precedent, and removed to a house in the rue Vivienne, and rendered accessible to the public. This library has gradually attained that splendor and magnificence which have so long rendered it the first in Europe. It is estimated that the entire collection of printed volumes, including pamphlets, cannot be much less than 700,000, and 80,000 MSS. A psalter, the most ancient printed book with a date, executed at Mentz, in 1457, and the Mazarin Bible, printed in 1456, with cut metal types, constitute perhaps the leading typographical curiosities in this library. The MSS. include numerous specimens in Persian, Indian, Arabic, Chinese, &c., besides the Greek and Latin languages. These MSS. are principally enclosed under glass cases. The Cabinet of Engravings, consisting of about 1,600,000 plates, is contained in 6,500 portfolios; there are also 300,000 maps and drawings. It contains, besides, a pair of splendid globes nineteen feet in diameter; with many choice specimens on vellum, editiones principes, and the incunabula of the typographic art; these are, however, hid from vulgar gaze in upper rooms, among masses of learned lumber, uncatalogued and unbound, in dire confusion piled! There are about forty other public libraries in the French capital, most of which, like the above, are accessible to the public. The most important are the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, comprising 200,000 volumes; that of St. Geneviève a similar number; and the Mazarin Library, which includes a little over half that amount. The German States abound with institutions of the kind—such as Frankfort, Hanover, Dusseldorf, and Stuttgart: they are usually attached to the Universities, as in the instances of Heidelberg, Leipzig, and Gottingen, which last comprises 200,000 volumes.

Then again in Holland, similar im

munities are conferred on the grave occupants of the cities of Amsterdam, Leyden, and the Hague, by their libraries. The Royal Library at Berlin contains 320,000 volumes, that of Vienna 300,000, and that of Milan 200,000; while the Imperial collection of St. Petersburg, containing many ancient and valuable MSS., comprises 400,000 volumes. The library at Munich is estimated as containing 600,000 volumes-according to other authorities even more; but as such statistics are seldom found of unimpeachable accuracy, it is hopeless to attempt arriving at exact precision on this point.

Besides the Royal Library of Stockholm, Sweden boasts eleven other provincial conservatories of learning, two of which are attached to the Universities of Upsala and Lund. Copenhagen also possesses three public libraries,— the largest, called the King's, containing 400,000 volumes, that of the University 100,000, and a smaller one. The Royal Library of Stockholm contains 8000 volumes, and is very valuable. It contains the largest book ever made; it is a yard long, eighteen inches. wide, and of the same thickness. It is a sort of encyclopædia, and its contents were written with a pen by a person condemned to die, and who wished to propitiate his judges by some extraordinary work. There is also in this library a curious collection of letters from Charles XII. to his sister; and likewise the identical Latin Bible which belonged to the great reformer, Luther, and on the margin of which are the nu-merous notes made by that illustriousman. It was printed at Lyons, 1521, in folio. Denmark has seven similar institutions, although of inferior extent, and even Iceland is not destitute of its archives of Sclavonic and Norse literature.

The names of some of the founders of the earlier European collections, have been forgotten, or perhaps were never known; some, however, have preserved their identity with the character of their libraries: thus, Cecil's library was considered unique for its fine collection of books on history, Walsingham's for policy, Arundel's for heraldry, Cotton's for antiquity, and Usher's for divinity. The Elizabethan age was prominently distinguished, as it is well known, for its eminent collectors; but

we must resume the chronological order of our notices, and the next great library we meet with, is the Bodleian, at Oxford.

Sir Thomas Bodley, from whom it derives its name, died about 1612: he was knighted by King James, in 1605, when he was declared founder of the library. So many interesting particulars are connected with the rise and growth of this magnificent collection, that we must award to it something more than a passing notice. It will be remembered that prior to the times of Bodley, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, in the reign of Edward VI., bequeathed to the University his rich collection of MSS., amounting, according to some authorities, to 600 in number: a sumptuous library in those days. The mistaken zeal of the times, however, which looked with suspicion upon everything that bore even an external resemblance to the theology of the Latin Church, was, sad to relate, instrumental in the destruction of nearly the whole. Only one specimen at present remains, a MS. in folio, of Valerius Maximus, enriched with the most elegant decorations; excepting, also, a MS. commentary on Genesis, by John Capgrave, which is in the Oriel College, Oxford; and one or two others in the British Museum. Subsequently to the death of Bodley, the Earl of Pembroke added the most valuable collection of Greek MSS., by Francis Baroccio, a Venetian, the most extensive that ever came into England at any one time; further MSS. of a like character were afterward placed in the collection by Sir Thomas Roe, then Ambassador to Constantinople. Sir Kenelm Digby procured numerous Oriental MSS., and other curious works from Germany, amounting in all to about 200, which he also included; and the excellent collection of Archbishop Laud, and that of the learned John Selden, are both deposited in this library. Besides these munificent benefactors, some half dozen others, of scarcely inferior celebrity, have added to the riches of this costly collection: and the University have further purchased, from time to time, many other private libraries. A curious incident occurred respecting the final disposition of the books of Selden: having been refused the loan of some MSS. from the University on one occasion, he altered his design of bequeathing his collection to the Oxford,

in favor of the society of the Inner Temple, provided they erected a proper building for its reception; this, however, his brethren of the law refused to comply with, and the result was its destination in the Bodleian; on conditions, however, that the "bookes bee forever heerafter kept together in one distincte pile and body, under the name of Mr. Selden's library," &c. On removing the books, several pair of silver spectacles were found among them, a proof of the abstraction and intense devotion of their owner to his favorite pursuit. The unique collection bequeathed by Richard Gough, which came to the Bodleian in 1812, is considered the most perfect series of English topographical works ever formed, especially in its prints, drawings, and MS. notes by eminent antiquaries. In this year, that of Edward Malone was added, and in 1834, that of the celebrated Francis Douce. A catalogue of this extremely valuable collection has recently appeared in London, printed in three folio volumes. The entire amount of volumes in the Bodleian collection is estimated at between 6 and 700,000, and 35,000 MSS. Since the year 1780, a fund of £400 per annum has been established for the purchase of books, in addition to the Act of Parliament, which awards to the several public libraries of England the right, gratuitously, to a copy of every new work published in the United Kingdom.

That great national monument of literature, the British Museum, was indebted for its origin to the munificence of Sir Hans Sloane, an eminent physician, who died in 1752; by whose will the British nation were made proprietors of the splendid museum which he had formed at a cost of £50,000, on condition that the government re-imbursed his executors in the sum of £20,000, and would purchase a house sufficiently commodious to contain it. This was readily acceded to, and the whole establishment completed for the sum of £85,000. Several other highly important collections were added, such as that of Sir Robert Cotton, Major Edwards, the Harleian MSS., Sir Wm. Hamilton's invaluable collection of Greek vases; another of antique marble, by Townly, for which the English parliament paid £20,000; the magnificent MSS. of the Marquis of Landsdowne, purchased for £4925; the celebrated Elgin marbles from

Athens, at £35,000! Dr. Burney's great classical library, which cost £13,500, as well as other collections. George II. also gave the whole library of printed books and MSS., which had been accumulated by the successive monarchs from the times of Henry VII. to William III. And George III. presented the collection of political books and pamphlets published during the interregnum from 1640 to 1660, comprising above 30,000 in number, besides several curious MSS. That sovereign also contributed the two finest mummies in Europe, and other objects of national interest. In 1803 the government deposited in the Museum many Egyptian antiquities, which were acquired from the French by the capitulation of Alexandria. In 1826 a most valuable and extensive library, formed under the superintendence of that King, was presented by his successor, George IV., for which a new and splendid building has been erected; it is preserved intact. Mr. R. P. Knight also gave a collection of 5205 valuable Greek coins, and the Rev. W. H. Carr, 35 ancient pictures: while Mr. White bestowed £30,000 towards building the library room; numerous grants were also made by other individuals. The gift of George IV. is of the most unparalleled munificence, the books being superbly bound, and in most instances large paper editions, amounting to full 250,000 volumes. The entire collection of the Library of the British Museum is estimated at not less than 400,000. The annual Parliamentary grant to the Museum ranges between £16,000 and £20,000. It is impossible to attempt an enumeration of the several literary treasures which grace this magnificent establishment, but one we will mention; it is a curious Book of Indentures, which was made between Henry VII. and the abbot and convent of St. Peter's Westminster, for the celebration of certain masses to be performed in chapel, since designated by the name of that illustrious prince, then intended to be built. The cover is of Genoese crimson velvet, edged with crimson silk and gold thread, with tassels of the same at the corners, the whole surmounted with the royal arms superbly wrought and gilt, &c. A tremendous catalogue of the books, MSS. and other relics contained in the Bri

tish Museum, has been commencedthe 1st volume in folio has just been printed, but as it only includes the items under the first letter it bids fair to last something like 30 years in its completion. But half our pleasing task is done; most of the royal residences possess their private libraries, as also those of the nobility and gentry of England, and other countries; yet it is impossible even to glance at these in the restricted compass of our present sketch: we must content ourselves therefore with simply naming a few of the leading public institutions.

Cambridge University, with its library, although of admitted inferiority with its sister college of Oxford, boasts an equal antiquity and celebrity. There are also the well-known libraries of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, St. Andrews, and Dublin. In the firstnamed, the Advocates' library contains about 150,000 volumes; that of the University, 100,000; and the Signet library, half that amount. Besides the foregoing, almost every town and county of Great Britain possesses its valuable depository of literary wealth: such as Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Halifax, Bristol, Plymouth, Norwich, Newcastle, Bath, Hull, &c. Indeed, we ought to have written, they each possess several such institutions in the first place cited, besides the College library, which forms part of the ancient Chetham Hospital, and comprises about 30,000 volumes, Manchester has, like the other cities named, several minor establishments where books are easily accessible to the public. And in the "Great Metropolis " they cluster, as may be supposed, in far greater numbers; there are, next in order to the British Museum, Sion College library, containing about 100,000 volumes; the library of the Royal Institution, in Albemarle Street, with about 30 to 40,000 volumes, principally antiquarian; the Royal Asiatic, rich in Oriental literature; the archi-episcopal library of Lambeth; that of the London Institution, of which the wellknown autograph-collector, Upcott, is librarian, containing some 50,000 volumes; Dr. Williams' library in Redcross Street, established in 1729, rich in works on Divinity; and the Russell Institution. We might enumerate a dozen other of subordinate importance, and one hundred or more literary socie