-^0 MOUNT ATHOS. 
CHAP. Codices have so often escaped observation is, 
'■- . that the manuscripts in all the Greek monasteries 
Se"Ma°nu- ^^^^ ^^^'^ considercd by their possessors as 
scripts be- gQ much lumbcr : and although they some- 
ing over- 
looked. times refuse to part with them without 
an order from the Patriarch or the Capudan 
Pasha, they generally consign them as a heap 
of rubbish in a corner of their hook-rooms, 
allowing only to printed volumes a place upon 
the shelves. " Every monastery," says the 
Consul Rycaut\ " hath its library of books, 
which are kept in a lofty tower, under the 
custody of one whom they call ^ksvo^vXukoc, 
who also is their steward, receives their money, 
and renders an account of all their expenses : 
but we must not imagine that these libraries 
are conserved in that order as ours are in the 
parts of Christendom; that they are ranked 
and compiled in method on shelves, with labels 
of the contents ; or that they are brushed and 
kept clean, like the libraries of our colleges: 
but they are piled one on the other, without 
order or method, covered with dust, and 
exposed to the worm." The monks of Mount 
Athos are as ignorant and as avaricious as their 
(l) " Present state of the Greek KaH Armenian Ch.\ixch&s," p. £60. 
Lond. 1679. 
