1805.] 
the Pope and Cardinals in Latin; while 
the Earl of Arundel, for what reafon we 
are not told, unlefs to convince them he 
was taking a ground of argument com- 
pleatly different from the bifhops, began 
an Englth {peech in this way :—“* We 
who are illiterate laymen do not underftand 
one word of what the bifhops have been 
faying to your holinefs.”’ 
But it is not fo clear as Dr. Henry 
feemed to imagine, that, had Henry II. 
pofleffed a lord of more profound attain- 
ments in his court he would have fent him 
on the embafly. 
From the time of Henry III. at leaf, 
the manners of our nobility took a change: 
and though the tumultuary flate of the na- 
tion, in the feudal times, found them too 
frequently employment widely different 
from the purfuit of letters, learning ne- 
ver was neglected. They who were edu- 
‘cated for the fervice of the church, ufually 
paffed their time of ftudy in fome prelate’s 
family ; while the more ingeniaus youth, 
and ‘thofe whofe fortune. or conneétions 
enabled them to form their minds to other 
pro(petts, finifhed their education in the 
univerfity of Paris; at that time the City 
of leiters, and the moft celebrated feat of 
learning Europe had to boaft. 
The {carcity of books had been diminith- 
ed by the gradual propagation of litera- 
ture.* 
(the originals of our prefent ftationers) 
arofe, whofe particular bufinefs it was to 
let owt books to hire;- and the scrRIP- 
ToRES, thofe induftrious men who were 
continually employed in. our monafteries 
for the tranfeription and multiplication of 
antient manufcripts, extended their fervices 
* The fearcity of ancient books, and the 
gradual propagation of letters have been am- 
ply treated by Mr. Warton, in the Hittory of 
Englith Poetry. Nor was the dearth of litera- 
ture in the darkeft ages by any means confined 
to Britain. In Spain, at the beginning of the 
tenth century, ‘‘ one and the fame copy of 
the bible, Saint Jerom’s Epiftles, and fome 
volumes of ecclefiaftical offices and martyrolo- 
gies often ferved feveral different monaf- 
teries.” The difputed property of a book 
at that time occafioned the moft violent alter- 
cations. The perufers of a volume aot their 
own, ufually depofited a cautionary pledge. 
The moft formidable anathemas were per- 
emptorily denounced againft thofe who fhould 
dare to alienate a book prefented to the cloifter, 
or library of a religious houfe. And the donor 
of one deemed the aétion fo truly meritorious 
that he ufually offered it upon the altar, 
+ In an ancient deed in the library of 
Penet-college, Cambridge, John de Wefen- 
The Antiquary. No. fT, ) 
About this time the ffationarit 
401 
to the benefit of private people.* The 
pay of acopier at a very early period, E 
have not been able to afcertain; but the 
expences attending the tranf{cription of 
books about 1468, are preferved among 
the Pafton Papers. (Fenn’s Pafton Let- 
ters, vol. ii, p. 12.) One or two extra&ts 
will amply ferve as {pecimens : 
eA little Book of Phyfiess cist iixxds 
6¢ For writing of the Coronacyon ; and other 
Treatifes of Knighthood, in that quire 
which containeth 43 leaves and more, 
acl Aue Fy ile’ a) a.3/ra:e)-ayel sin bo! si vhn oh GSTS 
s¢ Forde Regimine: Principum, which cone 
taineth 45 leaves, after 1 penny a leaf, 
which it is right well worth,... iijs. ixd.™ 
From the fame celle€tion too, it appears, 
in regard to illuminating, that for flourith- 
ing of capitals the /immer received a penny 
an hundred; for vignettes, or borders at 
the beginning of a book, twelve-pence a- 
piece; and for what are called ¢ pfaime 
letters,” four pence an hundred, For the 
writing a calendar, a fhilling; and for 
what are called five quires and two leaves 
of vellum, three fhillings and feven pence. 
IE fhall now cite a few infances where’ . 
private libraries are proved to have exifte 
at a very early pericd. | 
ham, occurs in 1357, as ffationarigs to the 
univerfity. It was his occupation or profef- 
fion to lend books and manufcripts, at a ftated 
and certain price, to fcholars and ftudents in 
order to read or copy them. By an appendix 
at the end of §* De claris Archygymnafi Bononi- 
enfis profcfforibus a feculo xi. ujgue ad feculum 
xiv.” publifhed in folio at Bologna, it appears 
that the demands of the ftationarii were fomee _ 
times immoderate, which occafioned their. 
being fettled and fixed by authority, 
* Thefe copiers or writing monks were 
diftinguifhed by the name of Antiguarii. Each 
abbey had its appropriate Scriptorium, where, 
not only regular copiers were employed, but 
the novitiates of the foundation inftruéted in 
the art of writing ; where they tranfcribed the 
fervice books for the choir; and where monks 
who had been refracory were frequently con- 
demned to the tranfcription of {ach portions of 
Chartularies, or other works, as might be 
deemed equivalent to their remiffnefS. In 
. fome monafteries the scrrPTORIUM was fo 
large as to be a feparate building: as at St. 
Albans, where one was built by Abbot Paulin. 
Here too the [/uminatores were employed, who 
ufually executed their works ina very high 
degree of talle and perfeétion. Many of the 
regilter and leiger-books of munafteries, which 
are yet exifting, are inftances of their accu- 
racy and correctnefs ; and the moft. beautiful 
Miffals now extant, are the wonderful per- 
formances of the religious, who are ufually 
1o indifcriminately ftigmatifed as ignorant and 
idle, 
: W. 
7 
