LIBRARIES. 



UBUAHIES. 



HI 



Vtr4. of Paris, and some of the choicest volumes in Uu- library of 

 King HCHF> Nil i KngUnd. now in the Britub Muwuin, are voltimee 

 OB. vUum. printed for the MID* VomnL The contemporary library of 

 tk* kings ^France is not so rich in specimens of the Paris pnnu-r. 

 In Franc*, index). * u> "ther countries, the boplu iu tin- 

 .BTirnl- appear not to bar* ranked in nich high estimation foi " library 

 books 7 a* than which war* in foreign language*, or were brought from 

 *und~wffv in Oraek or latin, or came from luly. It wai in 

 France, however, in 16 that the idea appears to have originated 

 which ha* sfasoe been imitated in every country- free or despotic, 

 monarchical or republican of levying a " royalty " tiim iMwksellers of 

 one or more copies of the work* they prints*. II. my II., in 1656, 

 imed an urdinance that a copy of every book issued in France should 

 be deposited in the Koyal Library. Had this order been always obeyed, 

 and had the books thus obtained been always preserved, a great good 

 would certainly have been effected ; but in all countries, free or despotic, 

 these orders have been often disobeyed a fate which they probably 

 share with all other order*, but in this case the effect of the disobedience, 

 lint sari of wearing out, becomes more perceptible with the lapse of 

 centuries. Without such a regulation, however, no very Urge asaem- 

 bbge of French literature would probably have been formed in France 

 at all, for the great collectors of libraries in that country, in the 16th 

 and 1 7th centuries, seem to have had their thoughts turned mure to 

 the acquisition of beautiful copies, on vellum or large paper, in mag- 

 nincent bindings, than to the formation of complete sets of the sources 

 of information in any branch of literature, knowledge, or history. It 

 U related of the great collection of the President De Thou, that the 

 owner, in some instances, supplied paper of his own to the printers of 

 a book for a peculiar copy to be struck oil', that he bought several copies 

 of a volume to pick out from many the best impression of particular 

 sheets, and finally that he bound his library no sumptuously that when 

 the collection came to be dispersed the books Were sold for less than 

 the cost of the binding. With all due appreciation of "a choice 

 Thuanus," those who do not regard a book merely as a piece of fur- 

 niture, must be permitted to smile at some of these particulars. The 

 age of Louis XIV. spread through a Urge portion of Europe a taste 

 for the French language and literature, which became so exclusive 

 and prevailed so long, that, as is well known, the library of Frederick 

 the Great consisted entirely of volumes in the French language. 

 This taste, however, was almost exclusively for books of the age 

 of Louis and after it, and led to no dispersion out of France of 

 the productions of an earlier period. Indeed, in France itself these 

 productions were looked upon with disregard till long after a fervour 

 had been awakened in England for Caxtons and Wynkyn de Wordes. As 

 the Eluabethan age preceded the age of Louis XIV., and as the English 

 Commonwealth preceded the French republic, so the age of enthusiasm 

 for black-letter in London preceded that age of enthusiasm for black- 

 letter which now prevails in Paris. The present period in France 

 is equivalent to the period of the Roxburgh sale in England ; and it 

 appears to have had an analogous effect in preventing, for a time, 

 French books from leaving France. Even when they have quitted the 

 country they have in general only passed into the hands of Frenchmen, 

 as. for instance, the library of U. Cigongne, which hag in this year 

 (I860: crossed the Channel to join the library of the Duke of Aumale, 

 at Twickenham. There is still hope of recovery of these for the great 

 library at Paris, but it has not always succeeded in obtaining the 

 rarities of ancient French literature which have been first discovered 

 in other parU of Europe. Until the year 1845, only five or six of the 

 rVanch farces of the 16th century were known to exist in different 

 libraries in France, and the best French bibliographers, even those 

 who gave their special attention to dramatic literature, had heard of no 

 more. In that year a volume was discovered at Augsburg, containing 

 nty four dramatic pieces of this peculiar kind, and it was BO], I by 

 Mr. AWier, the German bookseller, to the British Museum. The 

 French antiquaries could not at firet believe that the volume was 

 gstnih*, but all doubt has been removed by the publication of a 

 transcript from tUU unique and remarkable volume at Paris. 



The extent and variety of the literature of France in the 1 8th 

 century drew from Dr. Johnson the emphatic commendation that they 

 " bad a book upon everything." To the intrinsic interest of that 

 literature was added the fearful historical importance which it gained, 

 liy iu having been followed by the great revolution which, in some of 

 its phase*, aconed too plainly to prove that nations may, like individuals, 

 I subject to mrnUl aberration. The pamphlets of that period found 

 mot* than OM Thomaenn. and extensive collections of them exist in 

 the national libraries of both France and England. A large portion of 

 the- Muniteur ' of those yean has been sipoe twice reprinted in iu 

 rtjr.tr and is probably the only set of a newspaper that ever received 



I. ; ' 



JowJy intermingled with that of England throughout, that many of 



the valuable historical work* which have been issued upon it in France 



are dnireble additions to any great English library, and the Museum 



ought U. pnM Umn ali f he library at Paris, which has recently 



timed a catalogue, in many quarto volumes, of its collection of the 



r ranee, appears, in this department, to be very complete, so 



far a* French literature is concerned, but to have concerned itself but 



little with what bas been written upon France by foreigners. 



The literature of Germany U now with that of Francs, the richest 



literature of the continent It is one of the many fortunate circum- 

 stances which attach to the English language, that it stands midway 

 between the two modem languages that contain the greatest am.. nut 

 of learning that a person acquainted with English is by that circum- 

 stance half-acquainted with French and half with The 

 history of the cultivation of the German language is striking. 

 Singularly rich in capabilities, spoken by a great, powerful, and 

 enlightened nation in the centre of Europe, it was for centuries 

 neglected at home and despised abroad. It was not till about 

 that it emerged into cultivation by native (genius, and not till half a 

 century later that it became an object of liberal study with foreigners. 

 It is now iu England the language that is most cultivated after French ; 

 it is studied in France and Italy, and is even penetrating into Spain. 

 Always renowned for learning, its learning till about 1750 was chiefly 

 couched in Latin, and the mcwt ardent patriot could not imagine that 

 its literature stood on a level with that of several foreign nations. At 

 present, not to read German prose is to be excluded from one of the 

 main sources of liberal information ; and not to read German poetry 

 to be shut out from the enjoyment of some of the happiest pro- 

 ductions of genius. Professor Porson, in the early part of this century, 

 produced a laugh by the observation that " life was not long enough 

 to learn German " but the laugh which is now excited by it is at 

 Person's expense. 



Germany has always been remarkable for its numerous and extensive 

 libraries, for the diligence, perseverance, and minute attention of its 

 book-collectors, and for the admirable arrangements of its book-trade, in 

 which by the agency of a book metropolis, Frankfort or Leipzig, the 

 most active circulation has always been carried on between the heart 

 and the extremities. It might therefore have been anticipated with 

 some confidence, that in Germany complete collections of German 

 literature would be found to exist. This is far from being the case. 

 We frequently hear at the present day of collections of early German 

 literature in private hands which contain works not in the public 

 libraries. A few years ago the collection of Herr Von Meusebach, 

 consisting of 36,000 German volumes, was bought in a mass for the 

 library at Berlin and the acquisition was spoken of as one that was 

 absolutely necessary to place the German department in a satisfactory 

 condition, and as giving the library at Berlin a superiority over those of 

 Munich and Vienna. When in 1845, a large selection from the col- 

 lection of Kuppitach, a bookseller at Vienna, was bought for the British 

 Museum, it soon turned out that some of the books thus acquired were 

 unique, and a reprint bas since been issued in Germany of one of the 

 works of Fischort, a German humorist of the 16th century, from the 

 Museum copy. In the catalogue of the Museum issued in 1813-1'.'. the 

 names of Goethe, Herder, and Leasing do not occur ; and Schiller is 

 mentioned only in connection with an English translation of the 

 ' Ghost-seer.' The presentation of the library of George III. first 

 brought to the Museum a creditably extensive collection of German 

 literature and history, for which it probably was partly indebted to 

 the taste of his German queen. That collection has since been 

 increased at least twenty-fold. The Museum has acquired more than 

 thirty-thousand German volumes in the course of the last ten years. 

 Much as the literature of Germany is cultivated in Russia and the 

 north, and large as are the libraries of Petersburg and Copenhagen, 

 the German library of the British Museum is now probably the finest 

 out of Germany. 



With Gorman the series of languages closes, of which specimens may 

 be expected to be found in the shops of foreign booksellers in London 

 or in the foreign circulating libraries of the metropolis. The other 

 modern languages of Europe do not make their appearance in England 

 in ordinary literary commerce, and are not taught as a branch of educa- 

 tion. With Dutch or Danish, or Swedish, it can hardly be expected 

 that it will ever be otherwise; but Russia with its sixty-live million* 

 of speakers, and the growing importance of its empire, may probably in 

 the next generation play the same part that German has done in this. 

 In the meantime the arguments that have been tim-d with respect to 

 augmentations of tli.- national library, may be applied with increased 

 force to the uiuusu im: it with the best literature of these 



languages. One of the great purposes of a national library is to assist 

 the student. The nation does not merely provide books for the 

 amuseu .cation of the many, but also i... flic instruction of 



the studious few, that through the medium of those few the gre.it 

 of the public may receive a benefit not otli. las Attainable. A score 

 of men who read Dutch or Danish, may, by having access to ample 

 stores of Dutch and Danish literature, be enabled to keep an eye on all 

 that has interest or importance for the English public, anil "bring it 

 effectually forward. 



h is a language that has stores of much interest, both in 

 recent times, in the relations of its early voyagers, and in the large 

 body of information on rec<> ing i(H empire in the East. 



There are also long sets of tracts <>i <>t the 17th century, 



bearing on the commerce of the East and V and on the 



striking political events of that century in which Holland M > ^racc-i'ully 

 terminated iU long struggle with England l.y wilding us the vindi- 

 cator of English liberty. The Hutch have many libraries, but none of 

 remarkable extent, and they have bestowed little n the 



collection and preservation of their own literature. The largest assem- 

 blage of the Dutch drama in existence hag somehow found its way to the 



