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the inmates of these secluded abodes sought out and carefully kept 

 copies of the sacred Scriptures, and of what are called the classical 

 productions of Greece and Rome. There, and there only, were these 

 deposits protected from the assaults of ignorant barbmsm. "There 

 Homer and Aristotle were obliged to shroud their heads from the rage 

 of gothic ignorance, and there the sacred records of divine truth were 

 preserved, Hke treasure hid in the earth, in troublesome times — safe, but 

 unenjoyed."* 



Although the greater part of the inmates resigned themselves to 

 luxurious repose, or to the bare performance of the devotional tasks of 

 the day — there were found, in almost all monasteries, individuals who were 

 skilled in the copying, illuminating, and binding of manuscripts. In 

 some of the larger and more favoured establishments, where the superior 

 was animated by a love of learning or by the encouragement of a lay 

 patron, a very considerable multiplication of books took place. And, 

 although the persons thus employed very frequently bestowed their 

 labour upon works suited to the taste of the age — such as the legends 

 of saints, and treatises upon astrology and scholastic divinity — they 

 were frequently engaged in rescuing from destruction the more precious 

 monuments of antient genius. A monastery thus fortunately circum- 

 stanced, was provided with a separate apartment called the Scriptorium ^ 

 in which books were completed for the church service, for the library 

 attached to the community, or for any individual who was minded to 

 employ a portion of his wealth in the acquisition of literary treasures. 

 This apartment was situated within the enclosure of the convent, but at 

 a distance from the other buildings, so as not to be affected by noise or 

 disturbance ; and no one was allowed to intrude upon the writers except 

 the abbot, the prior, the sub-prior, and the armarius or store- 

 keeper. Here some of the younger monks, having been previously 

 taught to write with correctness and elegance, were employed by order 

 of the abbot in making fair copies of such books as he prescribed. It 

 was the business of the armarius to furnish them with parchment, ink, 

 reeds or pens, and the other necessary implements. A large annual sum 

 was paid in some monasteries appropriated to the Scriptorium. In 

 many cases the tithes of the parishes or villages were thus applied. 

 Amongst the various denominations of Csenobites, the Carthusians, 

 who by the rules of their order were prevented from going abroad, 

 appear to have placed a peculiar stress on the occupation of copying 

 books. In their own statutes they declare, •' We teach all who enter 

 our society, if possible, to wTite. For we think that books ought to bo 

 preserved with the greatest care, as the continual repast of our souls ; 



• Dr. Aikin's Essays. 



