176 



LETTERS FROM PROFESSOR CARLYLE 



ancestors, and such their influence with the Ministers of the Porte)) 

 that they must have been brought to light. From these authorities, 

 my Lord, I did not imagine that I should be able to find any thing 

 valuable in the Khasne, but still I feel a great mortification in being 

 debarred examining it, as, after all, I cannot but be conscious that the 

 re infeda rediit must be attached to my mission. I have, however, 

 my Lord, been more successful in my literary inquiries in other quar- 

 ters. I have examined and taken a catalogue of the MSS. in the 

 library belonging to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, the largest I believe 

 in the empire, and have even obtained permission to carry a few of 

 those which I judged most valuable to England. The rest consisting 

 of 130, are made up chiefly of homilies, books of offices, and contro- 

 versial writings against the Roman church. I have likewise examined 

 the libraries (if such they may be called) contained in the convents 

 of the Prince's Islands, as well as those in Constantinople, and have 

 been able (and I assure Your Lordship, I have not stolen even one) to 

 obtain twenty-nine Greek MSS. containing the Gospels or Epistles. 

 We have only gotten three MSS. on profane literature, viz. a Liba- 

 nius, an Eutropius (with a continuation), and a history of the siege 

 of Thessalonica by the Latins, in the time of Count Baldwin. Most 

 of the MSS. are upon vellum, and some undoubtedly very ancient. 

 Nor have I, my Lord, been less fortunate in my Arabic acquisitions, 

 having ransacked the Bazars at Constantinople so frequently, that I 

 think I have obtained all the valuable books in this language that the 

 shops contained; at least, all those whose price was not too great 

 for me to attempt the purchase. My Arabian MSS. amount to nearly 

 100, picked out of at least forty times that number *, and consisting 

 (as far as my knowledge enabled me to form a judgment) of some 

 of the best Historians, Biographers, Natural Historians, Geographers, 

 and Poets, in the language. So that, upon the whole, my Lord, I 



* " An European, who wishes to buy Arabic, Turkish, and Persian MSS.," says 

 Niebuhr, " 6nds no where such good opportunities as at Constantinople," 



