1 1 nit \IUKS 



I.IItUAKIKS. 



IttMllM rf Itatv ! to Ur UM oolkoUd M mucb fur dinpUjr u UM. 

 TW uully confined to clinical and modern Latin literature, and 

 WtLt of lulr od France ; and even within t'.i..-.- limit, to cerUin 

 2*jM,-t> books which lure been lway considered library book.. 

 Tu Uus of eouno then an exception ; we have heard < an Ic 

 library at Palermo; l>ut they r rare. In hi excellent history of 

 Italian liurature, Tirabuachi, hiiuwlf the librarian <>f Modena, take* 

 particular notice of the progress ot libraries century by century. An 

 MhiMtsii description of the Italian libraries u the principal feature in 

 Valiry's ' Voyage en Italic.' The rule* of admission to the*) librahei 

 re \tm liberal than those which prevail in France ami C< riiiany, and 

 the number of days of doing U unusually large. There were in 1 -." 1 , 

 to JIflUdo ' Spanish Encyclopaedia, publUlied in that year, 



Mio libntriei iu Spain, containing altogether about G2<,200 

 TolnmeJ number for the whole country less Ulan U accilinn; 



aingle eoUectiona out of Spain. The three most interest inx were, 



. 



the naUoiial library at Madrid, containing, since it had i. .... 1 the 

 cuntnbutioiu of the conventual librariea, about 200,000 volumes ; the 



cuntnbutioiu of , 



library of the Eacurial, containing 21,000 volumes only <>f printed 

 Wrh- and 4000 of manuscript*). chiefly Arabic ; and the " Columbian " 

 or cathedral library of Seville, remarkable for possessing some works 

 which one* belonged to Columbus. The libraries of Portugal have 

 had no " golden age." In the report on the national library published 

 in 1844, a list which U given of the foreign purchases of seven yearn 

 occupies little more than four pages. The fate of one library in 

 Portugal DM been unique. In ISO/, when the royal family emigrated 

 to Brazil from the invasion of the French, the royal library sailed in 

 the same fleet, and now torus the imperial lil>rary at Kin Janeiro. It 

 was probably at the tune of its arrival in Brazil the largest library iu 

 juncricft. 



Prance is in many respect* a model to the rest of Europe with 

 regard to libraries. It contains a collection of the first magnitude in 

 UM capital : it has several others of only less importance both in the 

 capital and the provinces, and scattered over its surface it has many 

 collections of different degrees of interest freely accessible. This 

 description, which implies liiyh praise, is not applicable in all its parts 

 to any other country. The Hoyol Library of France dates its origin 

 back to the 15th century, before the invention of printing, but it did 

 not begin to be of real importance till the reign of Louis XIV. He U 

 said to have found about 6000 Volumes in it at the commencement of 

 his long reign, and to have left 70,000. Under Louis XIV. the col- 

 lection was not freely open to the public : the Italian minister of his 

 minority, Cardinal Maiarin. was far more advanced than his French 

 master in this respect The first library of 40,000 volumes, which 

 Matarin collected with the assistance and advice of his librarian, 

 treated, not as a private, but a public library. " From its 



door," says Saudi, in a dialogue be publi-hcd. " shall resound that cry 

 never yet heard in thf republic of letters ' Come, all ye who <1> 

 read, and freely enter in.' " It was this library which wa sold by 

 auction, In the course of the insurrection again.- 1 Mazarin, by order of 

 UM Parliament of Paris, who directed that part of the proceeds should 

 Le offered M a reward to whoever should capture the Cardinal dead or 

 aliv. The minister, after his triumph and return to undisputed 

 bower, collected a second library, which he left to the public at bin 

 death, and which is now kept in the KUO.- building with the library of 

 the Inotitute at Paris. It was probably the existence of this public 

 collection which led to the opening of the royal one, which took place 

 '.?, some years after the grandson of Louis, seafl on Hie throne 

 of .Spain, had already opened a public library at Madrid. It is difficult 

 iu trace with clearness the phases of publicity of the royal library 

 which has often apparently been less public than iu regulation* would 

 imply. The judicious liberality of the mini-ter Colbert, th- 

 with which accessions to the library from the exertions of 1' n.-h 

 ambassadors In foreign countries were looked upon, and a number ol 

 favourable circumstances, had gradually led, at the period of tie 

 lutinn, to the accumulation of a collection ' 

 appear* it was surpassed in mere numbers by that ot Xalu.-U. .. 

 UM most valuable ih Europe, and could only be rivalled in that 

 respect by the imperial collection at Vienna. In fou-i^n literature, 

 however, its deficiencies were in many renpeots remarkable in ' 

 and English especially. Great core Lad been bestowed, ami justly, in 

 amassing curious miuiusuripU from the furthest parts of Ania, ami 

 F.Minnont boasted that, " foi the lit.-r.it itary, atid of 



India, the king's library was i : ." but, 



it haa no set and it is doubtful if it lias now of the 'i.. n 

 ttsfatinc.' To* history of the library during the I 

 fully interesting. Many of the libniri.in-i were involved in the calamities 

 of thai dreadful period. Barthclemy, the author uf ' Anocharsis,' was 

 stnl to prison;, three others, Cam, Uin-y I tuple, and d'Ormciwoii 

 uffcrtd bj the guillot:; -ho colleague of Carra, o; 



arnjtfl in the library, endeavoured to commit Suicide, and thimel 

 Dot ki)l<l on the spot, died finally of the wonixU inlli.-ted. In the 

 height of all this, the Institution flourished, and th- num. r..mi acqui 

 sitions it mad* from Ule suppressed convents, rained it to the position 

 it still occupies, . I the lu-t library in Europe. Amid the storm 

 that raged around, one political fanatic, Hcnriot. proposed to bum tbi 

 wool* collection, and some courage and conduct MI r.i requisite to 

 nppr* and avert th* cxovul'iun of this and similar measures on a 



smaller scale, which were proposed a* a tribute to the popular aversion 

 o priestcraft and monarchy. At the some time proposals were occa- 

 sionally brought forward which were singularly judicious. In 

 Villar, deputy of I,a Mayenne, pres. i ition n rep 



vhich !; 'lit, among other things, as i 



,\ie purchase of the books prir nee, nud of 



hose printed from rear abroad, aid laid great stress' 



ni|Hirtancu of ei/.ing opportunities a.s they ueeurred, and of 

 regarding the suggestions of a false economy, which, he . ..i.l. i 

 soses does but multiply difficulties and lead to v:> : The 



Napoleonic |>eriod wax chiefly distinguished, in regard to the 1 

 jy its passion for enriching it by forei^' These trophies 



lad more or less completely to be restored when foreign 

 were in their turn twice masters of I'.ui-. Aftor the Restoration the 

 ibrary quietly preserved iU place at the head of European est 

 iienU, without much need to guard against rivalry, and the sub 

 little commentary but praise. During this time it was custom 

 speak of Von Proet, the librarian, as " the living catalogue," ami it 

 appeared to be quite unsuspected that there was need of any 

 After 1830, complaints began to arise that so little bad been done to 

 ivduce to order the chaotic m;is.s that had been thrown into the library 

 in the revolutionary times, ami the more orderly accumulation 

 that it was impossible to know what books were present in the I 

 and what deficient, and an agitation gradually aro> . ami 



complete catalogue. 1> iter, in the account of his journey 



to Paris, in 198, published in 1699, said, with i 'icity, 



"They work daily and hard at the catalogue, which they Intend to 

 print. .... They purpose to put it into the press this ye.ir, and to 

 finish it within a twelvemonth. They be^an to print in 17X">. and 

 have not finished in the l'i_' years that have elapsed since the visit of 

 Dr. Lister. Ten folio volumes of the work, perhaps the 1 

 volumes of a catalogue that have ever been printed, did but conn 

 the labour, and all intention of completing that edition of the cat. 

 bos now been abandoned for about a century. In 1855 came n 

 first volume of a new catalogue, commencing the division 'Hi 

 France.,' and six volumes of that division have DOW appeared, and one 

 volume of ' Medicine. In regard to foreign languages, the errors in 

 i>lume-s are far from unfrequent, and oversights of various 

 descriptions may be pointed out. Still the existence of a ] 

 logue of such extent oh so interesting a subject is a boon, and if it 

 proceeds as it has begun, all Europe will hail iU success. In 1858 a 

 commission, which was appointed by the French government to inquire 

 into the aflaiiu of the library, sent a commissioner to Kn^l.iml in the 

 person of M. Prosper McVimu'e, the celebrated novelist and archaeologist, 

 who in a report made on his return, eulogised highly v. 

 arrangements introduced at the British Museum during Mr. Pani/./i's 

 administration, which he recommended for adoption in France. In the 

 report of il. Houtand, the Minister of I'ubli.- Instruction, to the 

 Emperor of the French in IStiO, the re|>ort of the comraissio< 

 referred to as the < oasis of the future administration of the 



library, and at the same time the Kmpcior's attention is called 

 necessity of increased exertion to gave the great establishment of 

 France from the danger of being surpassed by its foi 

 The library may now be estimated to comprise about 880, GUI) volumes 

 the number given iu a former part of this article (col. 

 based on an ci!.<neous assumption of the imm'ner of pamphlet*, &c., as 

 735,000 inet< ."on. M. Kouland propo..e>, the 



incorporating, in the vast collection ! the books that it does 



jKissess which are to be found iu the other public i; 

 of the capital a uieaMire which he *upi>orts by the authority of the, 

 first Rapoleou. That he confines tin- proposal to the librai 

 Paris only, and except* the dc]>aitment.i, shows, however, that thu 

 minister anticipates opp< o objection ot any plausibilitj 



be opposed to the plan of including such books in the catalogue 4 

 plan which has already beta earned into effect in Hajot's catolo; 

 the four libraries of the French marine, in which the books in all the 

 four are given indiscriminately in one order of arrangement, with an 

 indication of the collections in which they exist, sometimes in one only 

 and sometimes in all the four. 



Ih addition to its great collection, Paris boasts ' other 



libraries of large extent. The M.-uariue library lias 

 that o: ...is officially returned in 181H as of 1 



printed volumes an uuscnptHj that uf the Arsenal is : 



contain more thari , unt..l volumes, and 6000 manuscripts, 



The library 'if the Arsenal is a special one, ano 



in Muropv In works of fiction and aniuvtn< nt. '1 1 re .:,: also a City 

 library and some minor 



The provii ',! of France are scattered thickly o\ 



country, and many of them are on a level in point of numliers and 

 value with th v libraries of Paris. That of Lyons is said to 



> about 1 -Jo, oim volumes of : '!;; that of Jtoueii in 



1855, was of 110,000 ; that ol , same year, IL''<,< 



Besaucon So. 'rasburg 180,000. Many of thews institutions 



have been largely augmented of late years, and they vary in com- 

 . .ui.l i it ii.' -hi-Iibr.il} <>nsist8 



in mod. TII I i of the art* 'and sciences ; that of Strosburg 



is rtin . iUalmml.i , iiuil publication 



the smaller libraries ara interesting from their history and historical 



