LAST YEARS OF THE SCHOLAR. 303 



Although prohibited from printing, Jerome wrote in- 

 dustriously, as it would seem, to the very last month of 

 his life, during the whole six years of his residence in 

 Rome. He carried on to the end his third and last trea- 

 tise On His Own Books, which is very long, for towards 

 the close of it he became garrulous, and not only played 

 the part of analyst and critic on himself as a writer, but 

 discoursed very cleverly and much at large upon the 

 several branches of study and the principal styles of com- 

 position, adding his opinions on book-writing, with 

 much sound and shrewd advice to authors. He supplied 

 them also at the same time with a practical example of 

 good conduct, for when he had been three years in Rome, 

 and was engaging himself upon the final revision of the 

 labour of his life, he burnt no less than one hundred and 

 seventy of his books 1 which he thought useless, after 

 extracting from them what was good. Yet, after all, he 

 said, that he left behind him 2 one hundred and thirty-one 

 works printed, and one hundred and eleven in manuscript, 

 not twenty of which have seen the light. 



His sick mind turned sometimes with loathing even 

 from his dearest labour. Thus he sat down one day 

 towards the end of his life, and told how yesterday he 

 supped quite cheerfully, and after supper was seized with 



1 De Vita Propria, cap. xlv. 



3 Dialog, cum Facio. Op. Tom. i. p. 639. 



