LIBRARY. 



Library. Europe. But every sera lias produced learned and in- 

 **~~J~~~ quuitive men, by whom books were prized. Cassio- 

 dorus, minister of Theodore king of the Goths, retired 

 to monastery which he had built, and founded a li- 

 brary there for the use of the monks, about the year 

 550. Some time later, Charlemagne founded a library 

 nemr Lyons, which historians affirm contained books 

 bound in a magnificent manner. After this monasteries 

 almost exclusively possessed libraries ; and such col- 

 lection*, formed by the accessions of centuries, are still 

 to be een on the continent. 



Modrrn li- Our observations shall be confined chiefly to a few 

 kwles, of the more celebrated modern European libraries, for a 

 full account of them all would lead us into very copious 

 details. I^ouis Jacob, a Carmelite, who wrote on this 

 subject in the middle of the seventeenth century, en- 

 umerate* above 1100 libraries, ancient and modern. 

 Traitt det pin* belles BMiothetjtte*. Many of these, how- 

 ever, were contained in monasteries, now suppressed. 

 Ljkmrr of Among the libraries in Italy, a country always the seat 

 is* Vtunn. of literature and the arts, the Vatican at Rome is predo- 

 minant. ' Certain zealous authors have written, that St. 

 Peter the Apostle first established a library, belonging to 

 the Roman church, which, after augmentation by some 

 of the Pope*, was carried to Avignon, and then brought 

 back to the Vatican, their ordinary abode. But authen- 

 tic history prove*, that Nicholas IV. who was elected to 

 the papal chaJr in 1477, laid the foundation of this libra- 

 ry, and tupplicd it with many MSS. from Greece, and 

 that Sixtu* V. |tared no pains on its embellishment; nor 

 was it negleclea by any of the other* down to Pope Pius 

 V I. Some of its most valuable acquisitions came from 

 the collection of the Elector Palatine, which was taken 

 in I f'rfi by the Duke of Ravaria, who presented it to Ur- 

 ban VIII. Queen Chrirtina of Sweden also had collected 

 1900 manuM-ripts, which, on her decease, descended to 

 the chief of the Ottuboni family, afterwards Pope Alex- 

 ander VIII., who deposited them in the Vatic-mi. The 

 exact number of books found here is not known, as there 

 M no published catalogue of the library : b-it there are 

 10,000 volumes of manuscripts, and. having con.-isted 

 of manuscripts originally, trie printed books are said 

 not to be in equal proportion. Nevertheless they are 

 very numerous ; and the whole library is chiefly con- 

 tained in an immense gallery, 214 feet long, and 48 

 broad, and in other apartments superbly decorated by 

 the hands of eminent painters. A particular chamber is 

 called the Papyrus Room, from the quantity of wri- 

 ting* it contains on the Papyrus of the Egyptians. 

 Among the MSS. are preserved one of Virgil, written 

 in capitals, on 901 folio pages of vellum, supposed to 

 be of the seventh century : One of Terence, in 92 fo- 

 lio page*, also on vellum, with figures, as old as the 

 tenth century. Both these celebrated MSS. have been 

 published, but the reader must beware of considering 

 the printing of the former a fac-simile, such as we are 

 accustomedto publish in thin country, though general- 

 ly believed to be such, for there are only approxima- 

 tion* to it. In the Vatican are preserved a parchment 

 roll, 21 ? feet long, and 33 inches broad, containing the 

 Pentateuch, in Hebrew, written in the ninth century ; an 

 Arabic MSS. of the ninth century, of two of the evan- 

 gelists, on cotton paper ; a Coptic MS. on 279 folio 

 pages of vellum, of the Pentateuch, written in the tenth 

 century ; a M.S. of the laws of the Visigoths, of the 

 eighth century ; a copy of some of the works of Gre- 

 gory of Tour* , of the ninth ; and many other MSS. of 

 equal value and curiosity, such as Caesar's Commenta- 

 ries, of the twelfth century ; the Acts of the Apostles, 



723 



written in gold letters, presented by a Queen of Cy- Library, 

 prus to Pope Alexander VI., and the like. Pope Pius S-P ~Y-"*' 

 VI. added a superb collection of engravings to the li- 

 brary, which also possesses numerous curiosities, accu- 

 mulated by purchase ami donation, Massi Catalogue In- 

 dicalif. During the progress of the late usurpations of 

 the French, they demanded 500 valuable MSS. from the 

 library of the Vatican, along with early printed works, 

 and 5000 or 6000 medals, which were delivered to their 

 commissioners at Rome, in July 1797: Bibliotlieca. 

 Valicana, p. 136, 146. This library is divided into three 

 portions ; one is public, whither all may resort on two 

 days of the week ; another is of more difficult access, 

 and the third is reserved for the reception of only 

 very few persons. There are besides several extensive 

 libraries in Rome, as the Barberini, containing about 

 50,000 printed book", and some thousands of manuscripts, 

 The Colonna library, distinguished by about 400 vo 

 lumes of books and engravings of the fifteenth century ; 

 and the library of the Roman College, wherein is contain- 

 ed the library and museum of the celebrated Kireher j 

 Vasi Ilineraire, p. 552. The remaining libraries in Italy 

 are numerous; as at Bologna, Florence, Milan, Mantua, 

 Pisa, Venice, and elsewhere. The Medicean library at 

 Florence is deposited in a spacious edifice, designed by 

 Michael Angelo. It consists of above Q0,000 printed 

 volumes, andSOOO valuable manuscripts. The latter have 

 been described in a catalogue of eleven folio volumes, by 

 Assemanni, Biscioni, and Bantlini : and 3000 volumes, 

 printed in the fifteenth century, are also described in two 

 folio volumes by one of these authors : Camliiagt Guida, 

 p. 47, 16*. In the library of St. Mark at Venice, there 

 is a copy of the evangelist of thut name, which is affirm- 

 ed to have been written by himself. Pope Julius III. 

 is said to have ordered 12,000 Hebrew manuscripts 

 to be destroyed at Cremona, because that language 

 was written by a people hostile to Christianity. Gallois, 

 BUiliotheques de I' Europe, p. 23. 



The literature of Spain is exceedingly restricted, and Libraries in 

 the whole nation can boast of very few libraries truly va- s P' n - 

 luablc ; for the importance and extent of a collection are 

 to be separately appreciated. The library of the Escu- 

 rial, however, contains about 130,000 volumes, of which 

 4300 are manuscripts, said to constitute its more inte- 

 resting part. A fortress belonging to the Emperor of 

 Morocco had been taken, wherein 4000 Arabic MSS. 

 were found, and carried to Paris for sale, but not 

 being prized there, they were transported to Madrid, 

 and about 3000 selected by the command of Philip II. 

 Most of the library was destroyed by fire in 1671, when 

 a large proportion of the Arabic MSS. perished. In 

 1760 and 1770, Michael Casiri, a learned ecclesiastic, 

 published a catalogue, in two folio volumes, of 1805 

 that had escaped, to which he added as many as 

 make 1851 in whole: Bililiolhtca Arabico-Hispano Es- 

 curialensis. Besides those which are extremely cu- 

 rious, there are MSS. in various other languages : as- 

 one of the four evangelists, written in gold letters, on 

 160 leaves, supposed to be 700 or 800 years old a 

 treatise by St. Augustine, de baptismo parmdoruwtj said 

 to be in his own hand the original works of St. The- 

 resa and a parchment roll, containing an original 

 Greek MSS. of St. Basil. The library of the Escurial 

 was founded by Charles V. There are three public 

 libraries in Madrid, besides those in monasteries ; the- 

 Royal Library, that of San Isidro, and the library of 

 the Duke de Medina Sidonia. The first consists of 

 about 200,000 volumes, according to the librarian, but 

 judging by the space they occupy, this number, i- 



