L I B 



721 



L I B 



F rr . 



Exports. Import*. 



Codilla. Cochineal. 



Iron. Indigo. 



Tallow. Twist. 



Wax. Wire. 



Buck skins. 

 Calfskins. 

 Goat skin*. 

 Horse hide*. 

 Ox and cow hides. 

 Sheep skins. 

 Sailcloth. 

 Ravenduck. 



The wheat is superior to that from the Russian ports, 

 and is commonly kiln-dried The other grains are sent 

 chiefly to Holland, Spain, and Portugal. Flax, which 

 ia of an inferior quality, comes principally from Li- 

 thuania. The hemp is like the pas*-hemp of Riga. 

 Hide* and skins are both cheap and good at Libau. 

 The merchants store it in vaults till it is purchased by 

 the country people, who bring supplies of Russian pro. 

 duce. 



The annual export* of Libau, are, 



Rye 10,000 lasts. 



Wheat 2,000 ditto. 



Barley, &c. ... 4,000 ditto. 



Oat* 2,000 ditto. 



Flax 15,000 poods. 



Hemp 17,000 ditto. 



Crushing linseed . 1,000 barrels. 

 Sowing linseed . . 10,000 ditto. 

 Hides and skin* . . 18,000 decker. 



In the year 1800, there arrived at Libau 117 vessels, 

 and there set out 111. The value of the exports had 

 been 1,065,699 ruble*, and that of the exports, 620,537. 

 North Lat 46 SI' 36", and East Long. 20 55' 20". 

 See Catteau de Cal lev i lie's Tableau de la Mer Baltiijue, 

 tom.il p. 305. Paris 1812; and Rordansz's European 

 Comment. 



LIBEL See LAW, Vol. XII. p. 656, 687. 



LIBRARY. The obvious advantage of preserving 

 written language, led to the formation of books, any 

 CMwiderable assemblage of which constitutes a library. 

 At the period of the Spanish invasion, emblems or pic- 

 ture* were employed by the South American nations 

 instead of writing, for they were unacquainted with 

 letters ; but in Yucatan and Honduras, there were 

 book* made of the leaves of trees; and " in the province 

 of Mexico they had a library, histories, and calendars, 

 wherein they painted such things as had proper figures, 

 in their natural representations, and such as had none, 

 with other characters, and thus they represented what- 

 ever they pleased." Hrrrara, Decade ii. Book ix. ch. 4. 

 This most be considered as a library in its earliest 

 itajjr ; for all which are described to have belonged to 

 the ancient*, were composed of books, or rolls, resem- 

 bling tho*e of the modem*. 



Annexed to the edifice forming the sepulchre of 

 Qcymantluai, one of the ancient kings ot Egypt, was a 

 library, inscribed with these words, " Food for the 

 mind," and sculptures on the walls, represented " a 

 judge, with the image of truth hanging from his neck, 

 and many book* lying before him." Diodorui Siculus, 

 cap. ii. One of the most celebrated libraries in 

 the world was founded at Alexandria, 283 years ante- 

 rior to the Christian a>ra, by Ptolemy Philadelphus, who 

 .r it -the book* belonging to Aristotle, first 

 bequeathed by that philosopher to Theophrastus : and 



VOL. XII. PART II. 



here also the version of the Septuagiut was preserved. Library. 

 No expence was spared on the collection, which at y 'Y"-' 

 length amounted to 500,000 volumes according to Jo. 

 sephus, or 700,000, according to Aulus Gellius and Am- 

 naianus Marcellinus; but after subsisting 244 years, it 

 was burnt accidentally during the expedition of Ctesar 

 to Egypt, though the ancients disagree as to the pre- 

 cise cause of the conflagration. Seneca affirms that the 

 Alexandrian library was rather to be considered a pom. 

 pous spectacle for the public than a place for the studies 

 of the learned : De Iranquillilale aniwi, cap. 9. Another 

 library was collected at Alexandria, which was partly 

 extant in the time of Tertullian, and one of great ex- 

 tent is said to have been burnt by the Mahometans in 

 the year 6^1 or 650, by the Caliph Omar. 



A library is supposed to have been kept in the temple j ews . 

 of Jerusalem ; and the Jewish authors speak of " the 

 multitude of books." 



In scripture, it is written, that a search was made Persians. 

 " in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were 

 laid up in Babylon," for a decree by Cyrus to build a 

 temple at Jerusalem ; but it was found at Achmetha in 

 Media: Ezra, ch. v. 17. vi. 1,2. It docs not appear to 

 us as to some a'uthors, that the house of the rolls was a 

 library belonging to the Persians, or any thing else 

 than the archives of the kingdom. 



Pisistratus founded a public library in Athens, which Greeks. 

 was carried to Persia by Xerxes, and brought back by 

 Seleucus Nicanor, plundered by Sylla, and restored by 

 Hadrian. Eumenes the son of Attalus collected a li- 

 brary of 200,000 volumes at Pergamus, according to 

 Strabo and Plutarch, which the latter says, Calvisius, a 

 retainer of Caesar's, accused Mark Antony of having 

 given to Cleopatra : In Fit. Anton. 



Many authors have written concerning the libraries 

 of Greece, and various conjectures have been formed 

 where the remains of the ancient historians may be ex. 

 pected still to exist : The subject has been renewed 

 lately by the Rev. Mr. Walpole, in the following obser. 

 vations published in Dr. Clarke's Travels : 



"As many manuscripts had been collected, at vast 

 cxpence, in Greece for the library at Buda, (destroyed 

 by the Turks in 1256,) we ought not to omit mention- 

 ing it. Alexander Brassicanus had seen in it the whole 

 of Hyperides with Scholia, the works of many of the 

 Greek fathers, and of the classical writers. From this 

 library issued parts of Pulybius and Diodorus Siculus. 

 A manuscript of Helioiionts, from which was taken the 

 first edition of the ^Ethiopia, was found by a soldier, 

 and brought to Vincentius Obsopaus: it belonged to 

 this library. Nearfder thus speaks of the collection : 

 <Ex media Grsecia inasstimandis sumptibus emerat Mat- 

 thias Corvinus rex.' Ej>itt. p. 10. 



" There is no doubt that Constantinople and Athos 

 have contributed the greatest number of the manu- 

 scripts we possess in different parts of Europe. There 

 were monasteries full of learned men at Byzantium, to 

 a late period ; and every monastery had its library. 

 The Turks, on their conquest, did not occasion that 

 indiscriminate destruction which idle declamation has 

 sometimes imputed to them. Mahomet the Second se- 

 cured the library of the Greek Emperors, which was 

 preserved by his successors, until it was destroyed by 

 Amurat IV. At Byzantium, Constant ine Lascaris tran- 

 scribed many of those works which were afterwards 

 placed in the Madrid Library. In this city were pro- 

 cured those manuscripts which were left to the Escu-, 

 rial Library by Hurtatio de Mendoaa; and which had 

 been presented to him by Soliman the Second. Ptisse- 

 4 Y 



