Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/492

Ul NOTICES OF ARCILEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS. vices of former eminent custodians of the collection,- — Wharton, <Jibson, Wilkins, Ducarel, Todd, Maithuul (with whom when occupied by his duties tis Librarian, we have often tarried, onjoyini,' his shrewd wit, or profiting by his vai-ied learning), and Stubbs, the present Regius Pro- fessor of Modern Histe>ry at Oxford. Mr. Kei-shaw's "introductory " chapter, while perhaps presontin;j; but little new to the student in that fascinating department of ancient art, '• Illumination," and its distinctive schools, fuiuishes useful information to the general reader, who will learn from it that "illuminations, after a classical and oriental model" (of which the libraries of Rome, Florence, Milan, and Vienna possess splendid examples), were produced " during the early centuries of the Christian era;" that when the social and political convulsions of the Latin Empire constrained the "craft and mystery" of the scribe and the limner to seek "a new home and pro- tection in the greater tranquillity of Western Kurojie," tiiere arose the "celebrated and unicpie Anglo-Irish school of iUumination, which nourished from the sixth to the tenth century, simultaneously with the (so called) Anglo-Saxon school, and, on the Continent, with that of Charlemagne; that "the characteristics of all these schools remained iu greater or less force till the twelfth century, when their more special indications gradually distppeared, or were merged into the next succeed- ing style ; " and that in the three following centuries the monasteries maintained a regular establishment, including at least a staff of artists, copyists, and binders," for the production of illuminated books.^ ' In the Midtllo .Vges, books were gt-ne- nilly boiuul by monks. Charlemagne, by charter, in 7i)(>, gave to the abb(jt8 ami nionkn of Sithin an nnlimitetl right of huutini;, in order that the nkins of the (her hhoulil be used in making covers for their books. •* Thi-re were no less than seventeen hundred MS.S. in the Abbey of Peter- borough previous to its dissohition. Krwlerick Schlegel (Lectures on the Hirt- tory of Liteniture, Ancient and Modi-rn) shows th.it from the age of Cliailem;i;,'nf, M.S.S. were multiplied iu the Wdt with more profusion than at any period in the moht polihhed times of antiquity, ho that the writings of (Jn-ece and Homo were now Mtudiud anri commented upon in remote n-gions, which, had it not been for the va-st society of the Cliurrh, by meaiiH of commiiiiicaiion with Home, and the intercour-«i which was carried on b<--twi;en moniUiteries, th<-ir fame would have never reached. The learne<l Ma- billon, in his treatise on monastic Hliidies, calls att4!ntion to thi! immensi) manu.d laliour i'XerciHe<I by the CiHtcrciaiiM and ("artliuKiaiis in priMhi'-ing M.S.S. for tin? ] iiM:':, and in reviHing, correcting and (•ill/iting the works of the Kather<(. In illustrution rif this fact mity be mentioned the colluctiou of the Latin FntliurN on wllum, writlon in the mont Ijcaiitiful characters, and illuminated with exqui- site paintings, which is, or was in the Lil>raria Medicea in the cloister of St. Lorenzo at Florence, and the spU-ndid cliotal books and lUble, in twenty two voluiiio.s, of the t'aitliusian M<in;ustcry of I'Vrrara. Of tlie Abliot, ^^■illiam of Hir.schau, it is related that he procured copies of holy and profane books to be written out in beautiful letters, in which emi)loyment twelve monks of the house s;it daily engageil (Chron. Ilirsang . . ]ii71). I- ht.ites and legacies were often bequeathed for the bupport of the "scrip- torium " tif Abbeys. .S'(<- Areh. .lour. xx. p. :ir,r,. " The (;ifts of .Kthelwol.l. Kishop of Winchester, to tlu; Monastery of IVter- borough," liy Mr. Albert W ay , in which, at p. ytiti, are many curious particulars abciiit the looks pieni-uled by tho bishop. In Kngltnd, the library at I'eterborongll, above mentioned, w;is not alone. St. Osmond, ltisho)i of .Salisbury iu l07.S, formed a library there, which he liimself enricMiud with tiio works of his own hands, tr.ins- laling books for it, and even binding tliem iiiniHelf. The libiitrie.i of the Ort^y Friars, l.ondon, the .Mbey of L> ie('«ter, tin- I'rinryof ChriHt Chureli, ( 'anU'rl>ury, the Priory, I lover, ami those at Crow- laml and Wells, with many othcrH, con tiined n<ib' .Ileeii.ins, to which all