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trati>e.->. It contains several first and early editions, 

 and many scarce and curious works; as the Mazarine 

 Bible, > entire as when it came from the press ; a 

 Breviary of U78, in folio, printed on fine vellum; 

 three volumes of Rudbcck's Atlantica, &c. A cata- 

 logue, in three folio volumes, enumerates the contents 

 of the library down to 1807. The funds for its sup- 

 port are ample, and its annual acquisitions are consi- 

 derable. It is conducted on liberal principles, and ac- 

 ce* to it has proved beneficial to the authors of various 

 literary works, published both in England and Scot- 

 land. This library is at present kept in eight apart- 

 ments, some of which are absolutely subterraneous. 

 Part of it, however, is about to be removed to a spa- 

 cious gallery, wherein the most essential requisites for 

 convenience and accommodation are overlooked ; the 

 cuntequencc of inconsiderately substituting a picture, 

 from some imaginary point of view, for a simple and 

 unoMentatious plan, suitable to the purpose for which 

 it was intended. The attornies or writers to the signet 

 of Edinburgh have a .library, computed at about 15,000 

 or 20,000 volume* ; of which there is a systematic ca- 

 talogue in a quarto volume. 



Tne library of the university of St. Andrew's con- 

 tain* about SO'.OOO volume*; that of Glasgow is small- 

 er ; *nd about 14,000 are in the library of King's col- 

 lege, Aberdeen. Among the manuscripts belonging to 

 the last are, a splendid copy of the Koran, said to be 

 the identical manuscript used by the late Tippoo Saib ; a 

 work on Hindoo theology, written on fine vellum, and 

 rolled on a piece of ivory, after the fashion of the volu- 

 mina of UM ancient* ; and a copy of tlie Shaster, in 

 Sanscrit, on the leave* of trees. 



The library of Trinity College, Dublin, consists of 

 above 40,000 printed volume*, and 1100 manuscripts, 

 in different language*, all contained in a fine gallery, 

 10 feet long, 41 broad, and 40 high. Among the 

 manuscripts there ii preserved the Gospel of St. Mat- 

 thew, along with other fragments of Scripture, written 

 in Greek capitals, ascribed by Mr. Barret to the sixth 

 century. The subjects of the remaining manuscripts 

 are much diversified. Many rrl.ite to Irish history, 

 particularly the troubles of 1641, concerning which 

 there are numerous original papers. Some are written 

 in the I-ntin language, which Irish characters are em- 

 ployed to express. 



According to a subsisting law, which is about to un- 

 dergo some modification, eleven libraries are entitled 

 to copy of every publication in the united kingdom. 

 These are, the royal library, British museum, Sion col- 

 lege, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Edin- 

 burp! 'rcw's, Glasgow, Aberdeen; the advo- 



cate*' library in Edinburgh, and that of Trinity college, 

 Dublin. 



Fn repect to eastern libraries, we shall briefly re- 

 mark, that they are, for the mot part, very limited. 

 There are 13 public libraries in Constantinople, none, 

 except perhaps the Turkish emperor's, exceeding 2000 

 nes, of which a catalogue was obtained, with great 

 difficulty, by the Abbe Toderini. Inspection of it as 

 printed by that author, will demonstrate of what Turk- 

 ih literature conists. The libraries have several at- 

 tendants with fixed salaries ; and in some of them arc 

 MO translations of British and continental publications 

 into the Turkish language. Until its publication, with 

 which we are not aware that Mr. Walpole is acquaint. 

 ted, several of the lost classics were supposed to be de- 

 posited here. Toderini Lctleratura Turcltescha, torn. ii. 

 p. 53. At Scringapatam, the library of Tippoo was 



ARY. 



727 



taken, consisting nearly of 2000 volumes, many of Library, 

 which are highly decorated. Stewart's Catalogue. There V "-"Y~~" ' 

 are considerable libraries in China and Japan, and also 

 in the capital of the kingdom of Ava. 



The Emperor Leopold and the Elector of Bavariacem- Library of 

 menced a library of music in the seventeenth century, mus 'c- 

 which Dr. Burney suggests should be done on a regu- 

 lar plan ; and gives a sketch of the arrangement to be 

 preserved. But the reader will find a more compre- 

 hensive and useful system in a German work, publish- 

 ed last year, 1817, at Leipsic, entitled Musical Litera- 

 ture, which is divided into 88 different branches, con- 

 taining a complete catalogue of all music, the number 

 and species of instruments for which it is composed, 

 the price, and place of publication. In 179*, a musical 

 library was instituted at Paris, but principally with a 

 view to instruction in the art. 



It is not enough that a vast assemblage of books Catalogues., 

 shall be collected together, they must be deposited in 

 suitable receptacles, and rendered useful and accessi- 

 ble, from a proper arrangement of their names in a ca- 

 talogue. Some libraries are contained in one large 

 apartment ; others as extensive in several of smaller 

 size, which seems preferable. As books consist of pe- 

 rishable materials, air and heat are essential to their pre- 

 servation. Where a library is already completed, its 

 contents may be deposited in different compartments 

 according to their subjects ; but this does not appear a 

 convenient distribution for one in a state of progres- 

 sive enlargement. There it will be more beneficially ef- 

 fected merely according to size, while the contents are 

 explained in catalogues, framed under a systematic 

 form. But although the utility of such catalogues be 

 indispensable, a? without them it is impossible to repress 

 exuberances in certain branches, or to supply deficient* 

 cies in others, the learned are not agreed on the best 

 and most comprehensive system ; whence the catalogues 

 of the greater number of libraries are prepared simply 

 according to the names of the authors of the various 

 works. The great difficulty seems to consist in fixing on 

 leading heads. Some of these are obvious, but some fre- 

 quently adopted are obscure : however, it is evident, 

 that any division separating printed treatises from those 

 in manuscript, or classifying books according to lan- 

 guage, must be defective. Bacon, Diderot, and other 

 learned men have maintained, that all human know- 

 ledge rests on three fundamental principles, memory, 

 reason, and imagination, by which latter we presume 

 invention is also to be understood ; that memory is the 

 source of history, reason of philosophy, and imagination 

 of poetry. It has been proposed to classify the cata- 

 logue of a library according to these and their subordi- 

 nate branches. By some authors, they have been far- 

 ther interpreted thu : 1. Memory, or history; 2. Rea- 

 son, philosophy or science ; 3. Imagination, poetry, li- 

 beral arts, mechanical arts. It has been also proposed, 

 to arrange a catalogue under the five branches, theo- 

 logy, jurisprudence, history, philosophy, and belles let- 

 tres, and such was the plan principally followed of late 

 in the national library at Paris. But in Britain, the 

 word philosophy is now of very doubtful interpretation ; 

 and belles lettres is so exceedingly vague and indefinite, 

 that miscellanies perhaps would be equally explicit. A 

 system less defective, though also in five parts, is pro- 

 posed by Debure, in theology, jurisprudence, sciences 

 and arts, belles lettres, history. This removes the great 

 difficulty of the plan of Bacon and Diderot, which places 

 works on sculpture and architecture along with those 

 of fable and romance; an arrangement quite repulsive 



