1802. ] 
quires a right to enlarge or reftrain the 
fignification, and to transfer it from the 
proper to the figurative fenfe. The empire 
of ufe fometimes extends fo far as to efface 
all traces of the primitive fignification. 
The collaborators of St. Palaye care- 
fully read our old chronicles, our acroftical 
hiftorians, our ingenious, compofers of 
tales, our tender romancers; they read 
. them in the original manufcripts ; every 
word was noted; if exiffed at fuch an- 
epoch, written in fuch a manner, employed 
iz fuch a fenfe. Proceeding through the 
different ages, they arrived at our own 
times. The word ts preferved, {aid they, 
or elfe it is fuperannuated. In the. firft 
cale, ufé compofes it of certain letters, and 
gives it certain acceptations. i 
The extracts neceflary for the execution 
of fo great a work are complete; they 
have been depofited in the National Li- 
brary. 
Brequigny and other friends of St. 
Palaye wifhed the public to enjoy the 
fruit of his immenfe labours, Citizen 
Mouchet was employed to edit them under 
their infpection. The printing of the firft 
volume, which was to contain the letter 
A, was begun before the revolution; more 
than fix hundred pages proceeded from 
the preffes of the office in the Louvre. 
Citizen Camus read afterwards feveral 
articles of the Gloffary. He gave an ac- 
count to the Clafs of the care which the. 
Committee appointed by the Inftitute to 
fuperintend the'literary labours, was ex- 
erting for the completion of the printing 
of the firfi volume. It is by this method 
that they propofe to confult the public 
judgment with refpeét to the printing of 
the following volumes. 
Citizen Camus has alfo communicated 
the analyfis of a Memoir on the manu- 
f{cripts of Dom Berthereau, relative to.the 
-hiftory of the Crufades. This Memoir is 
the work of a /iterator whom our Colleague 
does not name, the author not having 
given him permiffion, but all the Clals 
eafily cueffed the name of the modeft 
writer, SYLVESTRE DE Sacy. The 
following is the objeét of his labours :— 
The Colle&tion of the Hittorians of 
France, begun by Dom Bouquet, a Bene- 
digtine, and continued by fome of his fra- 
ternity, is well-known. he fourteenth 
volume, edited by other members of the 
Congregation of St.Maur, is now printing 
under the dire€tion of the Inflitute. The 
Benedictines, in the courfe of their col- 
leétioh, arriving at the epoch of the Cru- 
fades, thought it was not fufficient to con- 
fult on this important époch the Greek 
.and Latin writers only, but that it was 
y 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
243 
likewife neceflary to perufe the Oriental 
manufcripts. Dom Berthereau applied. 
himfelf to this painful undertaking. He 
united the ftudy of the Arabic to the 
knowledge which he already had of many 
Oriental languages. The Congregation 
of St. Maur wihhed to facilitate the means . 
of his improving himfelf in that language, 
They retained an Arabian who happened — 
to be then at Paris, whom they penfioned 
to come and confer with Dom Berthereaus 
enable him to acquire the fpoken lan- 
guage, and affift him in tran{cribing ex- 
traéts from it. - Q 
The Legiflative Afflembly did not ob- 
ferve with indifference the labours of the 
Jearned Benedigtine. On the 2oth of Ja~- 
nuary, 1792, they voted him a gratuity 
of two thoufand livres. He died almoft 
fuddenly, and it was long feared that the 
numerous manufcripts which he had col- 
lected, and thofe of which he was the au- 
thor, were laft to letters. The Com- 
mittee «of the Inflitute, appointed to fu- 
perintend the literary labours, caufed 
prompt enquiries to be made, and came 
to the knowledge of the manufcripts, 
which were found to be in the hands of the 
heirs of Dom Berthereau. 
Thefe manufcripts have been confided 
to Citizen Sylveftre de Sacy, the man, 
without contradiction, the moft capable to 
appreciate their merit. It appears from 
his Memoir, that om Berthereau had ex- 
tracted from the Arabian authors what- 
ever he found in them interefting relative 
to the hiftory of the Crufades; that he 
had prepared fome original texts for print- 
ing, firlt collating them with a number of - 
manufcripts ; that he had made a Latin 
tranflation of them, accompanied with — 
fome notes; in a word, that the work 
only required revifion by the author, if 
death had not furprifed him ; that this,la- 
bour is a necefiary part of the colleCtion of 
the hiftorians of Fiance, and that it is 
complete with refpect to the object in view, 
viz..the knowledge of what the Arabian 
hifterians have faid, on the fubjeét of the 
Crufades. 
The Memoir of Citizen Sylveftre de 
Sacy has been communicated to the Mi- 
nifter of Interior, who, after having read 
it, has ordered the Committee of Super- 
intendance of the Labours, to expre({s to 
him the ufe it would be’ proper to make of 
it. If the object of this commiffion is ace 
complifhed, the public will not be fraf- 
trated of the refearches of Dom Berthereaus 
Thefe refearches will acquire a new value, 
when put into order, revifed and enriched 
with notes, by Citizen Sy!veltre de Sacy. 
List 
