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made of an illuminated volume of the Gospels, bound in plates of gold and silver, and richly adorned with precious stones.* Facts, of the order just cited, are not to be deemed so much proofs of the scarcity of books, as of the extreme value of certain volumes, arising from the precious materials of which they were composed, and the labour bestowed upon illuminating and adorning them. Still, books plainly written, and without ornament, must have been far from numerous, and therefore very valuable; as is evident from the catalogues of monastic libraries, which were almost the only collections having any pretension to that name.

It will not be uninteresting to the reader to be informed what were the kinds of books which these libraries contained. In the abbey of Centule, we find Homer, Cicero, Josephus, Pliny, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Philo, Eusebius, Origen, Augustin, Jerome, Gregory, Isidore, Hilary, Chrysostom, Cassiodorus, Fulgentius, Bede, beside several authors of lesser note, together with a number of service books. After enumerating these works, the writer of the chronicle speaks of them as the aliment of celestial life, feeding the soul with sweetness, so that, in Centule, the saying was fulfilled, "Love the study of books, and you will not love the practice of vice."

Few of the classical writers are found in

*D'Achery, Spic. tom. ii. p. 306.

+ D'Achery, Spic. vol. ii.

these catalogues; for, in general, during the former part of the middle ages, no attention was paid to the study of them, even by those who made pretensions to literary taste and acquirements, though a few writers may be found, even at that period, who discover some acquaintance with them; but, at a subsequent era, a taste for classical studies revived, and, after the eleventh century, a large number of transcripts from classic authors were made by the monks of the Benedictine order. Yet, as we are indebted to the western monasteries for the preservation of the Latin classics, it is quite plain that there must have been throughout the middle ages, in some or other of them, enough of value set upon these works to induce the monks to copy them.

But the most interesting part of the catalogue is, that which relates to the Scriptures. At the commencement of the list of books we find, "One entire Bible, containing seventy-two books, in one volume; also, a Bible divided into fourteen volumes ;" and then the Commentaries of Jerome on many of the books of Scripture. In other catalogues, also, parts of the Bible, and even the whole of it, may be found included. A whole copy of the Scriptures, however, was rare, but detached portions of the sacred volume were much less so. In a list of monastic treasures, belonging to the abbey of Fontenelle, the following item occurs. "The four Evangelists, on purple vellura, which Augesius (the abbot) ordered to be written in the

Roman letter, of which he completed Matthew, Luke, and John, but death coming, (interveniente morte ejusdem,) the rest remained imperfect." There is something touching in this simple record of the abbot's purpose thus cut off by the stroke of mortality, reminding us all of the possibility of our being taken away in the midst of plans more characteristic of modern times, but which, nevertheless, may be not so worthy of our spiritual and immortal

nature.

Of course it will be understood that the Bibles, and parts of Bibles found in the monasteries of the west, were not written in the original languages, but were copies of the Latin version. To the Greek monasteries we owe the preservation of Grecian literature. The convents, which covered, with picturesque beauty, the sides of Mount Athos, were the chief scenes of these learned labours. Not only were the manuscripts of the Iliad of Homer copied within sight of the very sea once traversed by the black and hollow ships which he describes, but the epistles of Paul were also transcribed on the shores of the same waters, over which he sailed on his errands of Divine mercy.

The multiplying of manuscripts and the collecting of books, whether sacred or profane, during these times of ignorance, were owing no doubt to the taste for learning which was cherished by a few, who had influence sufficient to engage others in the manual depart

ments of literary occupation. Such men as Bede, Alcuin, and Raban Maurus, were enthusiastic lovers of books, and would do everything in their power to imbue others with the same feeling. They are distinguished names, shining out as stars of peculiar brilliancy during that season of gloom; but there were other men, whose names are preserved only in the obscure records of monasteries, long since dissolved, who seem to have been most diligent students. An amusing instance of a love for reading, occurs in the records of the abbey of St. Benignus, in the eleventh century. "The abbot Halinard," says the writer, was so fond of reading that, even on a journey, he often carried a little book in his hand, and refreshed his mind by perusing it on horseback."* An abbot riding on horseback, with a book in his hand, would certainly be no fitting type of the generality of ecclesiastics at that time; all the more honour, then, to him and others like-minded, for their strong literary predilections. They were persons who finely exemplified "the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties," and we, in the present day, may derive, from their simple histories, a stimulus to renewed ardour and perseverance in the cultivation of the mind: for if they, with all their disadvantages, thus laboured to furnish themselves with knowledge, how much more ought we, in these times, to do so, when the means of literary acquisition are so widely diffused.

The benevolence of the church has been

* D'Achery, Spic., tom. ii. p. 392.

already noticed. In monasteries especially was this virtue displayed. If we are to believe what is said in the Chronicle of the Abbey of Centule, the brotherhood there actually impoverished themselves, and brought the establishment into a very critical position by their extreme liberality and simple-heartedness; but admitting, as perhaps the reader will be inclined to do, that it is quite possible the generosity of the brethren is a trifle overrated, and that, even when some deduction is made from the statement, the case of Centule was not a common one; yet it must be confessed that there is sufficient evidence extant to induce a belief that benevolence was not an uncommon virtue in these fraternities. Peculiar kindness was shown in monasteries to travellers who sought their hospitality; and it was the injunction of Benedict to his followers, that they should prefer to render service to the poor brethren of Christ rather than to pay attention to the wealthy sons of this world. The xenodochium, or guest-house, within the precincts of each monastery, stood open to receive all visitors who came, as well as to yield support to a certain number of paupers; and though such an institution was liable to great abuse, and this system of relief altogether was open to objection, yet, doubtless, it supplied desirable assistance to many of the aged, the sick, and the weary-offered a useful place of sojourn to the traveller, who found no inns to go to, as in modern times, and proceeded from a kind

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