lU BOOK. 
Tryfely, clerk, canon, and prebendary, of Miltoun, in fee, 
and to the term of his life; and afterwards to be given up 
and reftored to the faid library, or the keepers of tlie fame, 
for the time being, faithfully, and without delay. Written 
with my own hand, A. D. 1421.’ When a book was bought, 
the affair was of fo much importance, that it was cuftont- 
ary to affemble perfons of confequence and character, and 
to make a formal record that they were prefent on this 
occafion. Among the royal manuferipts, in the book of 
the Sentences of Peter Lombard, an archdeacon of Lin¬ 
coln has left this entry : ‘ This book of the Sentences be¬ 
longs to mafler Robert archdeacon of Lincoln, which he 
bought of Geoffrey the chaplain, brother of Henry vicar 
of Northelkington, in the prefence of mafler Robert de 
Lee, mailer John of Lirling, Richard of Luda clerk, 
Richard the almoner, the faid Henry the vicar, and his 
clerk, and others: and the faid archdeacon gave the faid 
book to God and St. Ofwald, and to Peter abbot of Bar¬ 
ton, and the convent of Barden.’ The difputed property 
of a book often occafioned the mod violent altercations. 
Many claims appear to have been made to a manufeript of 
Matthew Paris, belonging to the lad-mentioned library ; 
in which John RufTel, bifliop of Lincoln, thus condition¬ 
ally defends or explains his right of poffellion : ‘ If this 
book can be proved to be or to have been the property of 
the exempt monadery of St. Alban in the diocefe of Lin¬ 
coln, I declare this to be my mind, that in that cafe I life 
‘it at prefent as a loan under favour of tfiofe monks who 
belong to the faid monadery. Otherwife, according to the 
condition under which this book came into my polfedion, 
I will that it diall belong to the college of the bleded 
Wincheder Mary at Oxford, of the foundation of William 
V/ykeham. Written with my own hand, at Buckdane, id 
Jan. A.D. 1488. Jo. Lincoln. Whoever dull obliterate 
or dedroy this writing, let him be anathema.’ About the 
ear 1225, Roger de Infula, dean of York, gave feveral 
.atin bibles to the univerdty of Oxford, with a condition 
that the dudents who perufed them (hould depodt a cau¬ 
tionary pledge. The library of that univerdty, before the 
year 1300, confided only of a few tracts, chained or kept 
in cheds in the choir of St. Mary’s church. In the year 
1327, the fcholars and citizens of Oxford ad'aulted and 
entirely pillaged the opulent Benedictine abbey of the 
neighbouring town of Abingdon. Among the books they 
found there, were one hundred pfalters, as many grayles, 
and forty initials, which undoubtedly belonged to the 
choir of the church: but bc-ddes thefe, there were only 
twenty-two codices, which I interpret books on common 
fubjedts. And although the invention of paper, at the 
dole of the eleventh century, contributed to multiply 
manuferipts, and confequently to facilitate knowledge, yet, 
even fo late as the reign of our Henry VI. I have dilco- 
vered the following remarkable indance of the inconveni¬ 
ences and impediments to dudy, which mud have been 
produced by a fcareity of books. It is in the datutes of 
St. Mary's college at Oxford, founded as a feminary to 
Ofeney-abbey in 1446 : ‘ Let no fcholar occupy a book in 
the library above one hour, or two hours at mod, fo that 
others be hindered from the ufc of the fame.’ The famous 
library edablilhed in the univerdty of Oxford, by that mu¬ 
nificent patron of literature Humphrey duke of Gloucedcr, 
contained only 600 volumes. About the commencement 
of the fourteenth century there were only four clafiics in 
the royal library of Paris. Thefe were one copy of Cicero, 
Ovid, Lucan, and Boethius. The red were chiefly books 
of devotion, which included but few of the fathers ; many 
treatifes of adrology, geomancy, chiromancy, and medi¬ 
cine, originally written in Arabic, and trandated into La¬ 
tin or French ; pandecls, chronicles, and romances. This 
collection was principally made by Charles V. who began 
his reign in 1365. This monarch was padionately fond of 
reading ; and it was the fadiion to feud him prefents of 
books from every part of the kingdom of France. Thefe 
he ordered to be elegantly transcribed and richly illumi¬ 
nated ) and he placed them in a tower of the Louvre, froiji 
thence called La Touvc de la Ubrairt, The whole confided 
of 900 volumes. They were depodted in three chambers 
which on this accadon were wainfeotted with Irilh oak, 
and ceiled with cyprefs curioudy carved. The windows 
were of painted glafs, fenced w ith iron bars and copper 
wire. The Englidi became maders of Paris in 1425 ; oa 
which event the duke of Bedford, regent of France, fent 
the whole library, then confiding of only 853 volumes, 
and valued at 2223 livres, into England ; where perhaps 
they became the ground-work of duke Humphrey’s library 
juft mentioned. Even fo late as the year 1471, when 
Louis XL of France borrowed the works of the Arabian 
phyfician Rhads from the faculty of medicine at Paris, he 
not only depodted, by way of pledge, a quantity of valu¬ 
able plate, but was obliged to procure a nobleman to join 
with him as furety in a deed, by which he bound himfelf 
to return it under a conliderable forfeiture. The exceflive 
prices of books in the middle ages adbrd numerous and 
curious proofs. I will mention a few only. In the yeat 
1174, Walter, prior of St. Swithin’s at Wincheder, after¬ 
wards defied abbot of Wedminfter, a writer in Latin ot 
the lives of the bidiops who were his patrons, purchafed 
of the monks of Dorcheder in Oxfordlhire, Bede’s Homi¬ 
lies and St. Audin’s Pfalter, for twelve meafures of "bar¬ 
ley, and a pall, on which was embroidered ip diver the 
hidory of St. Birinus converting a Saxon king. Among 
the royal manuferipts in the Britidi mu feu m, there is 
Comedor’s Scholadic Hidory, in French; which, as it is 
recorded in a blank page at the beginning, was taken from 
the king of France at the battle of Poiftiers; and, being 
purchafed by William Montague earl of Salifbury for one 
hundred marks, was ordered to be fold by the lad will 
of his countefs Elizabeth for forty livres. About the 
year 1400, a copy of John of Meun’s Roman de la Roze 
was fold before the palace-gate at Paris for forty crowns, 
or 33I. 6s. 6d.” 
The fcareity and great value of books, from the feventh 
to the eleventh century, as deferibed above by Mr. War- 
ton, feeins to have been wholly occafioned by the univer- 
fal ignorance which prevailed during that period. After 
the Saracens conquered Egypt in the feventh century, the 
communication with that country, as to Europe, &c. was 
almod entirely broken od', and what are called the dark 
ages then commenced. The Egyptian papyrus was now no 
longer to be had, which was the grand fubditute for pa¬ 
per, fo that writing could not be praftifed nor encouraged. 
But, in the eleventh century, when the art of making pa¬ 
per was difeovered, manuferipts began to increafe; learn* 
ing and the liberal arts were again introduced into Europe, 
and the fciences hereby greatly facilitated. The drd in¬ 
troduction of printed books, feems to have been between 
the years 14-50 and 1440; lee the article Printing : and 
the earlied indance of a book printed with a permidion 
from government, is commonly fuppofed to occur in the 
year 1480. The book was printed at Heidelberg, intitled 
Kofce te ipfum, and accompanied with feveral folemn at- 
tedations in its favour. Many centuries, however, before 
the invention of printing, books were forbidden by diffe¬ 
rent governments, and even condemned to the flames. A 
variety of proofs can be produced that this was the cafe 
among both the ancient Greeks and Romans. At Athens 
the works of Protagoras were prohibited ; and all the co¬ 
pies of them which could be collefted were burnt by the 
public crier. At Rome the writings of Numa, which 
had been found in his grave, were, by order af the fenate, 
condemned to the fire, becaufe they were contrary to the 
religion which he had introduced. As tlfe populace at 
Rome were in times of public calamity more addifted to 
fuperdition than feemed proper to tire government, an or¬ 
der was iflued that all fuperftitious and aftrological books 
fliould be delivered into the hands of the prastor. This 
order was often repeated;, and the emperor Augudus 
caufed more than twenty thouland. of thefe books to be 
burnt at one time. Under the fame emperor the latiricai 
works of Labienus were condemned to the fire, which was 
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