authors adopted rather a singular custom, either to make their works sell after they were actually published, or, more probably, to create a disposition to purchase them when they should come into the hands of the booksellers. We learn from Theophrastus, Juvenal, Pliny, and Tacitus, (particularly from the last,) that a person who wished to bring his writings into notice, hired or borrowed a house, fitted up a room in it, hired forms, and circulated prospectuses, and read his productions before an audience, there and thus collected. Giraldus Cambrensis did the same in the middle ages, in order to make his works known.

Having thus given an account of the manner in which manuscripts were copied and increased in monasteries, &c. we shall now state the causes of their destruction and loss. Till the establishment of Monachism, Christianity, or rather its blind and bigoted professors, were hostile to the classics; -the monasteries in a great degree made up for this by the care they took and the copies they made of them. But one of the causes of their destruction arose, even in the monasteries. The high price of parchment at all times, and its firm and tough texture, tempted and enabled the ancients to erase what had been written on it, (especially, we may suppose, when the contents were of little moment,) in order to use it again for writing upon. A manuscript of this kind was called a Palimpsest. Cicero's self-love took the alarm when his friend Tribatius wrote a letter to him on such parchment. After praising him for his parsimony, he expresses his wonder what he had erased to write such a letter, except it were his law notes; "for I cannot think that you would efface my letter to substitute your own." This practice, in the dark and middle ages, became so prevalent, and was productive of such serious consequences, the most important documents often being destroyed to make way for trash, that the emperors of Germany, in their patents of nobility, with power to create imperial notaries, inserted a clause to the following effect: "On condition that they should not make use of old or erased parchment, but that it should be quite new." The parchment was generally erased but the monks had also a practice of taking out the writing by a chemical process; and sometimes they peeled off the surface of the parchment. They had recourse to these destructive prac

tices, not only when they wished to add to their stock of religious works, but also when they wanted to raise a sum of money. In this case, they erased the old writing-paying little regard to its value or rarity-wrote a legend or a psalter, and sold it to the common people. Though it had been long known that the writings of classical authors lay concealed and nearly obliterated beneath the literary rubbish of the monks-and this in numerous cases-for Montfaucon affirms that the greater part of the MSS. he had examined were of this description; yet no steps were taken to recover the original and more valuable writings, till Angelo Mai undertook the task: he has succeeded in recovering several works, the most important of which is a considerable portion of Cicero de Republica that had been erased, and replaced by St. Augustine's Commentary on the Psalms.

The conquest of Egypt by the Sara cens, which rendered it almost impracticable to procure papyrus paper, and the consequent high price of parchment, and temptation to erasure, were injurious to literature, not only in this respect, but by the alarm it gave to Europe. This event, their subsequent conquest of Spain, the Norman invasion of France, and the wars by which various parts of Europe were so long and dreadfully afflicted, afforded opportunities and pretexts for plundering the convents and cities, and thus caused the destruction and loss of a great number of valuable manuscripts.

We have already alluded, generally, to the facility with which books can be procured now, and the extreme difficulty even of ascertaining where they were to be found before the invention of printing; when that was ascertained, of gaining access to them, or a loan of them; and the high price at which they were then sold. We shall now give several instances of the truth of this general statement, for, in no other manner, can we so clearly point out and prove the very great advantages that literature and science have derived from the art of printing. The materials employed formerly to write upon-the cumbersome or perishable nature of some-the dearness of others--the length of time necessarily taken up, in writing books with the hand

the few places in which they were accumulated-the difficulty of access to them-their liability to destruction,

-and the practice of the monks' erasing the writing, have prepared our readers to anticipate their great rarity and value. We must premise, however, that though the facts we shall state will sufficiently prove the high price of manuscript books, yet we cannot gain a precise notion of the subject, because, in many cases, that arose in a great measure from the splendour of their illuminations, and cost of outward workmanship-and, setting aside this consideration, because it is not possible to ascertain exactly the comparative value of money in those ages, and in the present times. Where we have dates, we shall add the price of wheat, and the wages of labour-perhaps the best criteria for ascertaining the purchasing power of money, We shall begin with instances of the rarity of manuscripts, as it is shown in the anxiety to borrow them, and the conditions on which they were lent. We have already mentioned Richard of Bury. In his Philobiblion he devotes one entire chapter expressly to an enumeration of the conditions on which books were to be lent to strangers. In 1299, the Bishop of Winchester borrowed a Bible in two volumes folio, from a convent in that city, giving a bond drawn up in a most formal and solemn manner, for its due return. This Bible had been given to the convent by a former bishop, and in consideration of this gift, and 100 marks, the monks founded a daily mass for the soul of the donor. In the same century several Latin Bibles were given to the University of Oxford, on condition that the students who read them should deposit a cautionary pledge. And even after manuscripts were multiplied by the invention of linen paper, it was enacted by the statutes of St. Mary's College, at Oxford, in 1446, that "no scholar shall occupy a book in the library above one hour, or two hours at most, lest others should be hindered from the use of the same." Money was often lent on the deposit of a book; and there were public chests in the universities, and other places in which the books so deposited were kept. They were often particularly named and described in wills-generally left to a relation or friend, in fee, and for the term of his life, and afterwards to the library of some religious house. "When a book was bought," observes Mr. Warton, "the affair was of so much importance, that it was customary to assemble persons of consequence and character, and to make

a formal record that they were present on the occasion." The same author adds, "Even so late as the year 1471, when Louis XI. of France borrowed the works of the Arabian physician Rhasis, from the faculty of medicine at Paris, he not only deposited, by way of pledge, a quantity of valuable plate, but was obliged to procure a nobleman to join with him as surety in a deed, by which he bound himself to return it under a considerable forfeiture." Long and violent altercations, and even lawsuits, sometimes took place in consequence of the disputed property of a book.

Books were so scarce in Spain in the tenth century, that several monasteries had among them only one copy of the Bible, of Jerome's Epistles, and of several other religious books; and monasteries had frequently only one missal. There are some curious instances given by Lupus, abbot of Ferrieris, of the extreme scarcity of classical manuscripts in the middle of the ninth century: he was much devoted to literature; and, from his letters, appears to have been indefatigable in his endeavours to find out such manuscripts, in order to borrow and copy them. In a letter to the Pope he earnestly requests of him a copy of Quintilian, and of a treatise of Cicero ; for, he adds, though we have some fragments of them, a complete copy is not to be found in France. In two other of his letters, he requests of a brother abbot the loan of several manuscripts, which he assures him shall be copied and returned as soon as possible by a faithful messenger. Another time he sent a special messenger to borrow a manuscript, promising that he would take very great care of it, and return it by a safe opportunity, and requesting the person who lent it to him, if he were asked to whom he had lent it, to reply, to some near relations of his own, who had been very urgent to borrow it. Another manuscript, which he seems to have prized much, and a loan of which had been so frequently requested, that he thought of banishing it somewhere that it might not be destroyed or lost, he tells a friend he may perhaps lend him, when he comes to see him, but that he will not trust it to the messenger who had been sent for it, though a monk, and trustworthy, because he was travelling on foot. We shall extract only one more instance of the scarcity of manuscripts from the letters of Lupus;

a nobleman of Bologne, desirous of purchasing a copy of Livy, which had been transcribed by the celebrated Poggio, was obliged to sell an estate for this purpose, and with the purchase money, Poggio bought another estate, near Florence. Archbishop Usher tells us, from the Register of William Alnwick, Bishop of Norwich, that in 1429, the price of one of Wickliffe's English New Testaments, was four marks and forty pence, or 27. 168. 8d., which, the Archishop observed, "is as much as will now (about 1630) buy forty new Testaments." Afterwards copies were multiplied so much, in consequence of the increase of Wickliffe's disciples, that the price fell to 20s., when the price of a Porteus or breviary was six marks. In 1468, 17. 6s. 8d. was lent on the security of a MS. of Petrus Comestor (a work already mentioned), deposited as a pledge. Wheat at this time was 68. 8d. a quarter; beef, 10s. the carcase; mutton, 18. 4d.; veal, 2s. 6d. ; pork, 28.; ale, 1d. a gallon. When Faust sold his Bibles at Paris (about 1460), the price of a parchment copy was reduced from four or five hundred to sixty, fifty, and forty crowns *. Other instances might be given of the extreme rarity and enormous price of books, in every country, and at all periods, previous to the invention of printing: but these are amply sufficient to prove the facilities which that discovery has given to the spread of literature and science, by removing this most serious and formidable impediment.

Had not sovereigns and rich individuals formed libraries to which men of learning had access, knowledge could not have advanced, even in the very slow manner in which it did; as they, in general, were too poor to purchase books, and had not sufficient leisure to find out where they were to be bought, or, while dispersed, where they were to be met with. The most celebrated libraries in ancient times, which may fairly be regarded as having contained a very large portion of the books then existing, were, 1. The Alexandrian Library

* The sapplying of books for divine service-Missal-Porteus, or Breviary-Manual, &c. originally fell upon the rector; as they were all written, and some of them beautifully illuminated, it was a very expensive duty. On the institution of vicars, the parishioners agreed to supply some of the books: Among them were the Antiphoners, two of which, in 1424, cost twenty-six marks, or 171. 6s. 8d. The vicars were at the expense of binding and preserving the books; also of finding the Porteus; the price of nis was about five or six marks.

founded by Ptolemy Soter, who reigned about 300 B. C. His successors enlarged it; one of them seized all books imported into Egypt, giving copies of them, made by his orders, and at his expense, to the proprietors in a similar manner he got from the Athenians, the originals of Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, returning them only copies, and giving them fifteen talents in exchange, upwards of £3000. This library suffered much during the first Alexandrine war; and was afterwards totally destroyed by the Calif Omar in A. D. 642. 2. The library founded by Pisistratus at Athens. This and the other libraries of this city, continued to flourish till after the time of Justinian. 3. Julius Cæsar projected a library at Rome, which was to be, strictly speaking, public; but his assassination frustrated the design: and the first public library was erected by Asi nius Pollio, in the reign of Augustus. This emperor also founded two public libraries, the Octavian and the Palatine -the latter survived till the time of Gregory the Great, about the end of the sixth century. 4. But the most extensive and splendid of the libraries at Rome, was the Ulpian, founded by Trajan: it is believed that, at the suggestion of Pliny the younger, this emperor commanded all the books that were found in the conquered cities to be placed in this library. Most of the principal cities throughout the Roman empire, at this time, had public libraries. The desolation of the western empire by the barbarians destroyed or dispersed most of the books in them, so that, in this part of the world, after this period, and during the dark ages, monasteries almost exclusively possessed libraries. In the eastern empire it was different: both Constantinople and Alexandria preserved theirs, till the Turks obtained possession of these cities. The library of the former was founded by Constantine, and enlarged by succeeding emperors, especially by Julian and Theodosius the younger.

Dr. Henry, after mentioning Alfred's purchase of one book, for an estate of "At this eight hides of land, observesrate none but kings, bishops, and abbots, could be possessed of any books: which is the reason that there were then no schools but in kings' palaces, bishops' sees, or monasteries!" It is generally believed that there were no public schools

in Rome till three hundred years after its foundation; parents teaching their children the little they knew. Even after the establishment of schools, private education at home was common. The teachers were generally slaves or freed men; and a slave always accompanied the boys of rank to school, carrying a box, containing books, paper, tablets, and instruments for writing. In learning their letters they were instructed by another boy, or usher*. Homer was taught to the Greek boys, and Virgil to the Roman. They were moved to different schools, according to their proficiency: being taught to read and write in one, and arithmetic, by calculi or counters, in a separate school. The porticoes of temples were common places for schools. In an ancient bas-relief,

published by Winkelman, the education of two children of rank is represented: one about twelve years old holds a double tablet, long, and fastened by a hinge. The master, half naked, like the ancient philosophers, holds a roll (volumen), and is addressing the child. Some of the table-books must have been large; for, in Plautus, a schoolboy, seventeen years old, is represented as breaking his master's head with one. From the origin of monasteries till the close of the tenth century, there were no schools in Europe, except those belonging to monasteries or episcopal churches. At the beginning of the eleventh century, they were opened in most of the cities of Italy and France, by qualified persons among both the laity and clergy. But though their general introduction and establishment must be assigned to this period, yet it is certain that Charlemagne founded several in his dominions; and long before his reign St. Augustin was an usher in a school. His business was to preside over the dress, morals, gait, &c., of his pupils, and to sit with them in a kind of anti-school, separated from the principal school by a curtain. Here they said their lessons to the usher, before they went to the master; when the curtain was drawn back. In the middle ages, there were distinct schools for clerks, for laymen, and for girls; and two hundred children at a time are represented as learning their letters. Itinerant schoolmasters were also common. The whole of the education, however, even of those of the highest

See Dodwell's Greece, for further proofs of a system of education in ancient Greece, similar to that of Bell and Lancaster. (Vol. ii. p. 37.)

ranks, seldom went beyond reading and writing, and the more simple rules of arithmetic. Parochial grammar schools, in villages, were. established in the fifteenth century. The following ac. count of their origin is given by Mr. Fosbroke: "To prevent the growth of Wickliffism, it had been made penal to put children to private teachers; and the consequent incessant influx to only a few schools, rendered, in 1447, grammar learning so low, that several clergymen in London petitioned parliament for leave to set up schools in their respective churches, in order to check seminaries, conducted by illiterate men. Thus commenced grammar schools, properly so called."

CHAPTER IV.

Restorers of Literature, and Discoverers of Manuscripts, in the Middle AgesFirst steps towards the Art of Printing-Invention of that Art-Early History-Introduction of it into the Kingdoms of Continental Europe. Ir is generally the fate of discoveries that are made prematurely, and under unfavourable circumstances, either to be strangled in their birth, or to struggle through a very short and useless existence. Had the art of printing been invented during the deepest ignorance and gloom of the dark ages, its value and importance would not have been appreciated, and it might gradually have sunk into neglect and total oblivion. Books were indeed excessively rare and dear; but very few sought for them, for few had the curiosity or ability to read, and fewer the money to purchase them. After the tenth century, literature began to revive; paper from linen rags was invented; a tendency to commerce appeared. This caused a gradual accumulation of capital, and rendered necessary some attention to learning. Then succeeded the agitation of men's minds, which preceded the Reformation, and which could not be set at rest but by reading and inquiry. The monks themselves, so far as they contributed to the perusal of legends and miraculous stories, were the unconscious instruments of that spreading desire for knowledge, which ushered in the in