CHRONICLE. 
Holland, 4,157,379 ; France, 
155,804 ; Spain, 1,547,423 ; Por- 
tugal, 1,030,445; Prussia, 
$92,715; Embden, 395,888 ; 
Sweden, 1,351,722; Norway, 
259,041 ; Denmark, 1,654,582 ; 
Hamburgh, 171,297; Bremen, 
95,758; Lubeck, 699,303; Ros- 
tock, 15,550; Wismar, 32,757 ; 
Leghorn, 100,539. 
Heidelberg, Dec. 4.—We can 
now communicate correct infor- 
mation on circumstances not only 
interesting to this University, but 
to the Literature of Germany. It 
is well known, that the Univer- 
sity of Heidelberg possessed, un- 
til the year 1622, a collection of 
books and MSS. the most consi- 
derable in Germany, and which, 
in Joseph Scaliger’s opinion, was 
at that time richer than even the 
Vatican library ; and that this ce- 
lebrated library, whose MSS. alone 
were valued at 80;000 crowns, 
was, in the above year, in conse- 
quence of the capture and plun- 
dering of the city by the army of 
general Tilly, sent as a present by 
duke Maximilian of Bavaria to 
Pope Gregory XV, and conveyed 
from Heidelberg to Rome by the 
famous scholar Leo Allatius.— 
This Heidelberg library, at least 
as much of it as actually reached 
Rome (for many of the manu- 
scripts were torn or dispersed 
mong private hands by the sack- 
ing of the city), formed since that 
time, under the name of Bibiio- 
theca Palatina, a particular divi- 
sion of the Vatican library ; and 
in most of the manuscripts there is 
‘still to be found, as a memorial of 
the fate by which they were torn 
from us, a leaf with the Bavarian 
arms, and the following inscrip- 
tion :—Sum de Bibliotheca quam, 
99 
Heidelberga capta, spolium fecit 
et Pape Gregorio XV. trophaum 
misit Maximilianus utriusque Ba- 
varie Dus et S. R. I. Elector 1623. 
Thirty-eight of these MSS. form- 
ing part of the 500 MSS. of the 
Vatican which the Papal Govern- 
ment ceded to the French repub- 
lic in 1797, by the treaty of To- 
lentino, were deposited in the na- 
tional Jibrary at Parisi We have 
long wished for the recovery of 
our lost treasures, and at last the 
opportunity presented itself on 
the general restoration last au- 
tumn of the works of art, of which 
the Frenchhadrobbed other coun- 
tries ; and this opportunity, which 
offered the prospect of recovering 
not only the thirty-eight Heidel- 
berg MSS. but the whole of the 
Bibliotheca Palatina —earried to 
Rome, was not left unimproved 
by our Government. As soon as 
it was ascertained that a reclama- 
tion of this kind would be readily 
attended to by the ministers of the 
allied powers, professor Wilken, 
protector of our university, was 
commissioned on the 2nd of Sep- 
tember, to proceed to Paris, in 
order to prosecute the claims. To 
the uncommonly active assistance 
of the Austrian minister, count 
Wessenberg, and the Prussian 
baron Humboldt, we have it to 
ascribe, that the Papal commis- 
sioners, the brothers Canova and. 
the abbate Marini, agreed with- 
out any difficulty to give up the 
38 MSS. to the university of Hei- 
delberg, the Pope’s approbation 
being first obtained; and that in 
the mean time, until this sanction, ~ 
the above MSS. should be placed 
in the hands of general Muffling, 
the governor of Paris, which.was 
accordingly done. That the Pa- 
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