ry and it

imo, in octavo, in quarto, in folio, clad in calf, sheep, morocco leather, in parchment and in pigskin. The light fell through six windows on this silent assembly extended from one end of the hall to the oth

ith look and breath inhaled all

recious collections that I have my doubts, sir, if any other private library prevails over this, which is inferior in France only to the Mazarin and the Royal. I dare say, seeing all these Greek and Latin MSS. closely pressed together in this single corner, one may, after the Bodleian, the

ompared to me, indolent shepherds of a vile herd of sheep-like books. I concede that the Benedictines are diligent, but they have no high spirit and their libraries reveal the mediocrity of the souls by whom they have been collected. My gallery, sir, is not on the pattern of others. The works I have got together form a whole which doubtless will procure me knowledge.

e offered his snuf

olite," said M.

looks wander over the le

SS., who seem to converse together. I see ten or twelve venerable ones under shreds of purple and gold figured silks, their

.' One place is empty, that of 'Slow Waters,' a precious treatise, which Mosa?de studies at present. Mosa?de, as I have already said to you, gentlemen, is in my house, occupied with the discovery of the deepest secrets contained in the scriptures of t

, to transcribe and put into Latin some Greek MSS. of inestimable value. I confide in your knowledg

ng me specia

n you have received. For, you have been brought up, so to say, in the flames, under the

, he took up an armful of MSS.

t is a book of Zosimus the Panopolitan, which was thought to be

on which Greek letters traced with a brush were hardly visible, "are unheard-of revelat

together the MSS. of Synesius, Bishop of Ptolemy, of Olympiodorus and Stephanus, which I discovered at Ravenna, in

of Zosimus and, with the help of a magnifying glass commenced to deci

ing his head

r and, truly, M. d'Asterac is a pretty good gatherer of clouds. Truth is in God alone, never forget it, my boy. But this is really the book 'Jmoreth' written by Zosimus the Panopolitan for his sister Theosebia. What a glory and what a delight to read this unique MS. rediscovered by a kind of prodigy! I'll give it my days and night watches. How I pity, my boy, the ignorant fellows whom idleness drives into debauchery! What a miserable life they lead! What is a woman i