9 
MONTHLY 
MAGAZINE, 
No. 99. ] 
APRIL 1, 1803. 
| No. 3, of Von. 15. 
~ ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Some accounrT of all the MANUSCRIPTS 
in the LIBRARY of the late KING of 
FRANCE, now called the NATIONAL 
LIBRARY (BIBLIOTHEQUE NATION- 
ALE) wich relate (0 ENGLISH AFFAIRS 
or HISTORY. 
ih the year 1787, the Government of 
France fet an example to all Europe, 
well worthy of imitation, by publifhing, 
under the infpection of a Committee of 
the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, 
< AccounTs and ExrrRacrts of all the, 
Manuscripts inthe RoyaL Liprary.” 
An anxious wifh had long prevailed, that 
the immentfe ftores of information which 
are locked up in varicus libraries of Eu- 
rope, frequently inacceflible and unknown, 
fhould be communicated to the. public. 
‘The learned world have, however, to thank 
the French Government alone, for at- 
tempting the execution of fo great a na- 
tional object; and the tempeftuous whil- 
wind of the Revolution, though it may 
have retarded, has not occafioned the 
abandonment of the plan, which. pro- 
ceeds with equal vigour as before. Few 
countries can boaft. of more extenfive or 
more f{plendid repofitories of this kind 
than our own ; but the exertions of our 
rival neighbours feem not to have excited 
any emulation in thofe in whofe province 
it more immediately falls to promote the 
imitation of fo excellent an example. It 
is not neceflary here to difcufs to whom 
this important omiffion is to be attributed : 
but if it fhould appear to arife from the 
felifh and interefted views of thofe to 
whole care thefe national treafures are in- 
trufted, it is furely well worthy of public 
attention and interference. 
The Catalogue alludedto was begun in- 
the year 1785, by the command and under 
the aufpices of the late King of France, 
in order, as the Preface ftates, by the 
publication of many of the moft important 
manuf{cripts at lengili, and exact accounts 
and judicious extraéis from others of a 
Jefs interefting nature, to afford encou- 
ragement to the ftudy of the learned lan- 
guages, and .to inform and invite all 
Europe to participate in the advantages 
to be derived from thefe valuable mates, 
~Montuty Mac. No, 99. 
rials, which France pofleficd, for the elu- 
cidation of hiftory, and the promotion of 
general literature. 
The. performance of this great -under- 
taking was entrufted to the Academy of 
Belles-Lettres, Marfhal Prince de Beau- 
vau being then Prefident. Eight Acade- 
micians were accordingly feleéted, who 
thus divided their proportions of the lg« 
bour :—Three undertook to examine the 
Oriental Manufcripts; two, the Greek and 
Latin; and the remaining three, thofe re- 
lating to the Hiftory of France, and in 
general the Antignities of the Middle 
Age. An independent annual falary was 
allotted for thefe gentlemen, and the re- 
fult of their labours was to be fubmitted 
to the revifion and approbation of a com- 
mittee of other members of the Academy, 
to be annually chofen for that purpofe, 
who were then to dire& its publication, 
in the fame way as the other tranfactions 
of the Academy. 
But this truly noble plan was not con- 
fined to the manufcripts in the public Ii- 
braries. All the learned men in France 
were earneftly invited to communicate an 
account of every important manufcript, 
as well in the provincial as private col- 
leétions to which they might have accefs, 
‘Phe progrefs of this infant inftitution 
was watched with anxious care by the 
active and enlightened zeal of the Prefi- 
dent of the Academy, aided by the {pirit 
of the Baron de Breteuil, then Secretary 
of State, and fupported by ‘the foftering 
munificence of the Sovereign. The firft 
volume made its appearance in the year 
1787, and, in addition to an hiforical 
effay on the Oriental charafters in the 
Royal Pristing-houfe, the Greek cha- 
raters engraved by Garamont, in the 
reign of Francis the Firft, commonly 
called Grecs du Roi, anda lift of aJl the 
works which had been printed at Paris in 
Arabic, Syriac, Armenian, &c. contains 
an analyfis and extracts from 22 highly 
curious and valuable manufcripts. 
The only traét which this firft volume 
contains, immediately relating to Engiiih 
Hiltory, is intitled ** 4 Narrative of the 
Death of Richard II. King of England, in 
the Year 1399: and having been fice. 
quently quoted in Englifh, a. more brief 
Dd 24-75 notice 
eee Eee 
