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had opened at York. Alcuin was in all respects the most learned man of the age in which he lived; he was an orator, historian, poet, mathematician, and divine: the fame of his learning induced Charlemagne to invite him to his court; by his assistance, that emperor founded, enriched, and in structed the universities of Tours and Paris. In 794 he was one of the fathers of the synod of Francfort, and died at his abbey at Tours in 804. In his epistle to Charlemagne, he mentions, with great respect, his master Egbert, and the noble library which he had founded. (See bishop Tanner's

Bibl. Brit.)

"Towards the latter end of the same century, flourished our great king Alfred, who engaged the learned Grimbald, and other foreigners of distinguished abilities, in his service: he founded the university of Oxford, and restored learning in England.

"There were in the times of the Saxons several valuable libraries in this island: amongst others, those at Canterbury and Durham, and in the abbies of St. Alban and Glastonbury, were the most considerable.

"About the middle of the eighth century, pope Zachary, who was a Greek of much erudition, placed a library in the church of St. Peter at Rome.

"The library at Fulda, near Hesse Cassel, was founded by Pepin, in the pontificate of pope Zachary, in which many ancient manuscripts are still preserved. Charlemagne, and his son Lewis the Pious, added much to this library; the former of these princes had a noble library at Barba, near Lyons

"There were a few learned men in different parts of Europe from the time of Charlemagne till the general restoration of learning in the fifteenth century; but it would exceed the limits of our design to mention even all those of our own country; and therefore we must refer our readers to Cave's Historia Literaria, bishop Nicolson's Historical Library, and to bishop Tanner's Bibliotheca Britannica : however, it may not be improper briefly to mention a few of them.

"Ingulphus tells us in his History, that he studied grammar at Westminster, and that he was afterward sent to Oxford, where he read the works of Aristotle, and the rhetoric of Cicero. This writer says, that the Confessor's queen Edgitha was admirable for her beauty, her literary accomplishments, and her virtue. He relates, that many a time when a boy, he met the queen as he was coming from school, who would dispute with him concerning his verses, that she had a peculiar pleasure to pass from grammar to logic, in which she had been instructed, and that she frequently ordered one of her attendants to give him two or three pieces of money, or to be carried to the royal pantry, and treated with a repast.

"John of Salisbury, who lived in the reigns of Stephen and Henry the Second, appears to have been very conversant in the Latin classics, as also in grammar and philosophy. There were other respectable writers of the eleventh century; an account of whom may be seen in lord Lyttelton's Life of Henry the Second, vol. iii. and in the Philolo gical Inquiries of the late Mr. Harris. "Several

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"Several writers of good repute flourished in this country in the twelfth century; amongst others, William of Malmesbury is said to have been a learned man, as well as an historian; and Simeon of Durham was reckoned one of the most learned men of that age.

"Matthew Paris flourished in the thirteenth century; he was remarkable for his learning and ingenuity; he was skilled in divinity, architecture, mathematics, history, and painting; he was a good poet and orator, for the age in which he lived.

"Geoffrey Chaucer lived in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: he was not only an excellent scholar, but a mathematician, as well as a poet. After he had finished his studies at Oxford, he travelled inte foreign parts in search of knowledge; on his return to England he became a student in the Inner Temple, and in his latter days wrote his Treatise on the Astrolabe, which was much esteemed. Many eminent writers are necessarily omitted; but it is sufficient for the present design to have shewn that the lamp of learning was prevented from being entirely extinguished by a few great men who succeeded each other. "The taking of Constantinople, by the Turks, in the beginning of the fifteenth century, as has been already related, was an event which contributed to the general restoration of learning; at that time many learned Greeks fled for protection into Italy and Germany, where they were kind. ly received, and where they diffused science with great success. Amongst others, were Theodore Gaza,Emanuel Chrysoloras, George

Trebizonde, Lascaris, Besarion, and John Argyropilus, appointed preceptor to Laurence de Medicis, by his father Cosmo.

"In a short time after this event, the inhabitants of the western parts of Europe made great progress in all branches of literature, and the invention or introduction of printing, which soon followed, completed the triumph of learning over barbarism and ignorance.

"Much praise is due to the sovereigns who reigned in this and the following century, whose ge. nerous patronage of letters and learned men greatly contributed to the restoration of science. Learning, like a tender plant, requires the cheering rays of royal sunshine.

"The greatest discoveries and improvements in arts, sciences, and literature, have ever owed their establishment to the encou ragement and protection of princes, who participated in the honour of those discoveries, and thereby ac quired more real glory than could have accrued to them by the most extensive conquests.

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Many of the advantages pro ceeding from the taking of Con stantinople, and from the circumstances which attended it, will ap pear, from a short account of the principal manuscript libraries which have been formed since that event.

"The chair of St. Peter was in the fifteenth and sixteenth centu ties filled by several pontiffs, who successively protected learning and learned men. Nicholas V., Pius II., Leo X., Clement VII., and Sixtus V., will be remembered with gratitude by posterity, for the patronage they afforded to literature,

The first of these may be considered

considered as the founder of the Vatican library at Rome; the others were considerable benefactors to it, and by their industry and influence greatly enriched that inestimable repository; and many of the succeeding pontiffs have, with great success, followed their example.

"The Vatican library is divided into three parts. The first is public, and every one has access to it, at different hours upon certain days; the second is kept with more privacy, and the third is only to be seen by persons of certain distinctions, or by those who have express permission for that purpose this is called the sanctuary of the Vatican.

"Several libraries were formed at Rome, as that in the church of St. Peter, those of the fathers of St. Basil, and the Dominicans of Sancta Maria Sopra Minerva; and those in the palaces of Ottoboni, Chiggi, Barbarini, and Al

tieri.

"Libraries were also formed in other parts of Italy; in the royal palace and university of Turin; the noble library of the great-duke at Florence; and those of the Laurentian, Benedictine, and Dominican monasteries in the same city. Large collections of manus scripts were also placed in the following libraries; namely, in the convents of St. Severini, Monte Cassini, Monte Oliveto, and St. John de Carbonara, at Naples; the ducal palace at Modena; the Ambrosian college of Milan; the ducal palace at Parma; St. Mark's at Venice; the canons regular at Bologna; those in Padua, Genoa, and in other places in Italy.

"The sciences became so generally admired, that all the princes

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in Europe endeavoured to promote them in their respective dominions. Philip II. of Spain founded the Escurial library, in which he deposited that of Muley Cydam, king of Fez and Morocco, which contained upwards of four thousand volumes in the Arabic language; he also brought into Spain many manuscripts, which were found in several seminaries of literature in Africa, to which were added a fine collection of eastern manuscripts, as well as a great number of Greek and Latin, which are very valuable. This library suffered much by lightning in 1670, but it has since been greatly augmented by the kings of Spain.

"The library at Salamanca contains a great number of Greek manuscripts, which Ferdinanda Nonius bequeathed to that university. At Alcala is the valuable library collected by cardinal Ximenes.

"Francis the First laid the foundation of the royal library at Paris, which has been continually increasing. Cardinal Fleury, and the great Colbert, spared neither pains nor expense to enrich it. This library is inestimable, and contains a great number of manuscripts in almost every language. For particulars concerning this treasure of learning, the reader is referred to the catalogue of father Montfauçon, and to Mons. Galvis's treatise on French libraries; a new edition of which is wanted, with accounts of those that have changed places and possessors. The Jesuits had, in different parts of France, many fine libraries; some account of what is become of them would be useful. There were many noble libraries in France, but our limits will not

permit

permit us to pay them the attention they deserve; therefore the reader is referred to the second volume of Montfaucon's Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum, published at Paris in 1739.

"The emperor Maximilian the First followed the example of the other princes in Europe, and in the year 1480 founded the Imperial library at Vienna, which he enriched with a vast number of manuscripts taken from the monasteries in his Austrian dominions, and with such other manuscript collections as could be made by the German literati.

"This inestimable repository of literary treasures was further increased by the acquisition of the once celebrated Buda library; it has from time to time been augmented with many other considerable libraries, and lately with a great number of valuable and curious manuscripts, which were preserved in the colleges and houses of the Jesuits within the Imperial dominions. In the latter end of the last century, M. Lambecius published at Vienna a catalogue of such manuscripts as were then deposited in the Imperial library; but an additional one, of the accessions to it since his time, would be very useful; as would a cataogue of those manuscripts that are preserved in the library at Brussels, founded by the late empress-qucen, in which is deposited several of those lately belonging to the Jesuits in the Austrian Netherlands. The other principal libraries in Germany are those of the king of Prussia, the elector of Bavaria, the duke of Wolfenbuttel, the duke of Wirtemberg, the duke of Saxe-Gotha; that at Strasburgh, founded by bishop Otho in the sixteenth century ;

and those at Anhalt, Helmstadt, Tubingen, Jena, Lavingen, and Ratisbon. There are at Liege the libraries of St. James and St. Benedict, and some MSS. in the cathedral at Cologne.

"Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, possessed himself of the royal libraries formerly at Prague and Dresden, which his daughter, queen Christina, carried with her to Rome, and they are now preserved in the Vatican; as is likewise the noble library which was formerly at Heidelberg.

"The most considerable manuscript libraries in the Netherlands were lately those of the Carmelites at Bruges; of the Benedictines, the Dominicans, and Car melites at Ghent; the Jesuits at Antwerp, which with the magnificent library of printed books was, on the dissolution of that order, purchased from the late emperor by the abbot of Tongerloo, near Louvain, for about two thousand four hundred pounds sterling; the public library, and those in several of the colleges at Louvain; those of Middleburgh, Tongeren, Utrecht, and Zutphen; and those at Harderwick and Leyden; in which two last are a great number of oriental manuscripts. A. Sanderus, a monk of Affligem, near Brussels, published a catalogue of the manuscripts in the different libraries of the LowCountries, in 2 vols. 4to. Lisle 1641, 1643, to which the reader is referred.

"The northern parts of Europe are not without literary treasures. There are two considerable libraries at Copenhagen; one in the university, and the other in the city; which last was founded by Henry Rantzau, a Danish gentleman. There are still remaining

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some manuscripts in the library at Stockholm, which was founded by Christina, queen of Sweden. "Poland has two considerable libraries, one at Wilna, enriched by several kings of Poland, as we are told by Cromer and Bozius. The other is at Cracow. "The duke of Holstein Gottorp hath a curious manuscript library.

"There were but few valuable manuscripts in Russia till the reign of Peter the Great, who founded many universities, and settled a large fund for a library at Petersburgh, which is well furnished.

"The royal library at Petershoff is most splendid, and the late empress spared neither pains nor expense to enrich her country with ancient marbles, pictures, medals, manuscripts, and what ever is magnificent.

"There were several collections of manuscripts in England before the general restoration of science in Europe, which had at different times been brought hither by those who had travelled into foreign countries; these were chiefly preserved in the two universities, in the cathedral churches, and religious houses: but in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries several valuable libraries were formed in England. In the reign of king Henry VI., Humphry, duke of Gloucester, made a collection of MSS. for his library at Oxford. King Edward IV. and Henry VII. greatly assisted the cause of learning, by the encouragement they gave to the art of printing in England, and by purchasing such books as were printed in other countries. William Warham, archbishop of Canterbury, purchased maný valuable Greek MSS. which had been brought hither by the

prelates and others who came to this country, after the taking of Constantinople by the Turks. King Henry VIII. may justly be called the founder of the royal library, which was enriched with the MSS. selected from those of the religious houses, by that celebrated antiquary, John Leland. Matthew Parker, archbishop of Canterbury, enriched the college of Corpus Christi, in Cambridge, with a great number of ancient and curious MSS.

"In the reign of queen Eliza, beth, sir Thomas Bodley greatly increased the public library at Oxford, which is now called by his name. This great benefactor to mankind in general, and to his country in particular, quitted the court, and applied himself wholly to the purchasing of books and MSS. both at home and abroad: by these means, he had the satisfaction of furnishing that library with one thousand two hundred and ninety-four MSS. and, by the subsequent liberality of many great and illustrious persons, has been since increased to more than eight thousand volumes, including the MSS. given by Thomas Tanner, bishop of Norwich, and the valuable library bequeathed by the will of Dr. Richard Rawlinson.

"Considerable augmentations were made to the libraries of the several colleges in the two universities, as also to those of our cathedral churches, the palace at Lambeth, the inns of court, the college of arms and others; catalogues of which were published at Oxford in 1697, under the title of Catalogus Manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ.

"Bodley's great contemporary, sir Robert Cotton, is also entitied to the gratitude of posterity

for

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