Groweth sed, and bloweth med And sprigth ye wdè nu: Awe beteth after lambe, Wel singes thu cuccu, For the benefit of the uninitiated in antiquarian lore, is the following literal rendering into modern English. Summer is come in, And bloweth mead, Ewe bleateth after lamb, Mayst thou never cease. The earliest specimen of illuminated manuscripts is the renowned Codex Argenteus; it is an extremely beautiful and costly volume in the quarto form;-its leaves, which are of vellum, are stained with a rich violet color, and the chirography executed in silver; from which circumstance it derives the latter part of its title. It is a most elaborate performance, and one of exceeding beauty and is further remarkable as being the only specimen extant of the parent tongue from which our own language as well as some of those of Northern Europe, including Germany, the Netherlands, &c., have descended. It exhibits a very close resemblance to printing also, although executed nearly ten centuries prior to its invention. This Codex was first found in the Benedictine Abbey of Werden, in Westphalia,* about 1587; it subsequently passed into the possession of Queen Christina of Sweden, then into that of Isaac Vossius, and finally was purchased by a northern Count, Gabriel de la Gardie, for £250, and by him presented to the University of Upsal. This copy is said to bear great analogy to the reading of the Vulgate; three editions of it have been printed. About the latter part of the seventh century, we find reference made by Bede to a magnificent copy of the Four Gospels having been done in letters of the purest gold, upon leaves of parchment, purpled in the ground, and colored variously upon the surface, for the decoration of the church at Ripon, at the instance of the famous Wilford: the chronicler speaks of it as a prodigy, and we may infer from this its rarity in those times. So costly a mode of producing manuscripts could not have become general in any age, accordingly we find these magnificent specimens were expressly executed for the nobles and princes of their times or the higher dignitaries of the Church. An instance of this is to be seen in the superb Prayer-book of a like description with the foregoing, with the addition of its binding, which was of pure ivory, studded with gems, and is yet extant, we believe, in the celebrated Colbertine library, founded by Charles the Bald. In the middle ages even the bishops bound books. With the monks it was a common employment. There were also trading binders, called Ligatores, and they who sold the covers were called Scrutarii. There are many missals now in existence with covers of solid silver gilt. Gold, relics, ivory, velvet, large bosses of brass, and other expensive adornments, were bestowed upon church books, and those intended for presents to royal and great personages. Some of these manuscript copies of the sacred Scriptures were, it is well known, further embellished with elaborately executed miniatures and paintings. To follow in the order of chronology, we next meet with the magnificent Bible, presented by his favorite preceptor Alcuin, librarian to the Archbishop of York,to the great Charlemagne after he had learned to read and write; (for although among the wisest men of his age, he even commenced his educa An ancient copy of a portion of the New Testament has been recently discovered at Rheims Cathedral, written in the Sclavonic language. It is said to be the identical copy, which, in former years was used in administering the oath to the kings of France, at their anointment and coronation. It is supposed to have been written between the 11th and 13th centuries. tional course at the tender age of 45.) This remarkable copy of the Bible was in folio size, richly bound in velvet; its embellishments were of the most superb description; its frontispiece being brilliantly ornamented with gold and colors, and its text relieved by emblematic devices, pictures, initial letters, &c. This curious relic which was in fine preservation, was sold by Evans in London, it may be remembered, in 1836, and produced the sum of £1500, or $7,500. The different libraries of Italy are said to comprise many curious specimens; in that of St. Mary at Florence, may be seen a superb copy of the entire New Testament, written on silk, including the liturgy, &c. At the end, the the following occurs in the Greek character,-"By the hand of the sinner and most unworthy mark; in the yeare of the worlde, 7840 ;"-id est,A.D., 1332. While we think of it, we may as well mention in passing, that the first genuine bibliomaniac known to history, was Richard Aungerville vel Richard de Bury, the author of the celebrated "Philoblion;" as a proof of whose great "love of books," in 1341, we find him purchasing of the Abbot of St. Albans, about 30 volumes, for which he gave in return fifty pounds weight of silver. In fact he bought books at any price, so great was his passion for them; and he is reported, on one occasion to have adopted, as his apology for his seeming prodigality and reluctance to part with his treasures, the divine axiom,-" buy the truth and sell it not." Some idea of the wonderful attainments of this great luminary of learning in an age of almost Cimmerian darkness, may be formed when it is stated, that his collection of books exceeded those of all the other English Bishops combined. Ingenious and exquisitely beautiful as are the illuminated Mss. and missals of the monks and scribes, we find they sometimes discovered an equal degree of patient assiduity in the fabrication of colossal volumes. Erasmus mentions the "Secunda Secundea" of Thomas Aquinas, as being so ponderous, "that no man could carry it about, much less get it into his head." Froissart, the chronicler, presented to Richard II., a volume richly illuminated and engrossed by his own hand, gorgeously enclosed in crimson velvet cover, surmounted with silver and gold ornaments: he was well requited for his toil however, by a massive goblet of silver, filled with 100 nobles. According to Wharton, two finely illuminated MS. copies of his Chroniclers' yet exist in the British Museum; this appears to be incorrect, however, as we learn from the preface of the new and magnificent fac-simile edition of the celebrated copy of 1460-80 executed for Philip de Comines, the historian, of that two volumes only are comprised in the Harleian Collection of the British Museum, the remaining two being in the Bibliothèque Royale. By the way, speaking of this edition, we may add, that the colors of the miniatures, as well as the curious and elaborate borderings of the illuminated pages, exhibit surprising freshness and brilliancy, and indeed, as the delighted eye traverse these skilfully-wrought productions of the ancient limners, or conns over the thrilling story of the heroic doings it records, traced out in the quaint gothic character scarcely less characteristic of those times ;-we cannot but frankly confess our indebtedness to the illuminations of these so-called dark ages. One of the most celebrated books in the annals of bibliography, is the richly illuminated Missal, executed for John, Duke of Bedford, Regent of France under Henry VI., by him it was presented to that King, in 1430. This rare volume is eleven inches long, seven and a half wide, and two and a half thick, contains fifty-nine large miniatures which nearly occupy the whole page, and above a thousand small ones in circles of about an inch and a half diameter, displayed in brilliant borders of golden foliage with variegated flowers, &c.: at the bottom of every page are two lines in blue and gold letters, which explain the subject of each miniature. This relic, after passing through various hands, descended to the Duchess of Portland, whose valuable collection was sold at auction, in 1786. Among the many attractions was the Bedford Missal; a knowledge of the sale coming to the ears of George III. he sent for his bookseller and expressed his intention to become the purchaser; the bookseller ventured to submit to his majesty the probable high price it would fetch: "How high," exclaimed the King; "Probably two hundred guineas," replied the bookseller. "Two hundred guineas for a Mis sal," exclaimed the Queen, who was present and lifted her hands up with astonishment. "Well, well," said his Majesty, "I'll have it still, but since the Queen thinks two hundred guineas so enormous a price for a Missal I'll go no further." The biddings for the Royal Library did actually stop at that point; a celebrated collector, Mr. Edwards, became the purchaser by adding three pounds more. The same Missal was afterwards sold at Mr. Edward's sale in 1815, and purchased by the Duke of Marlborough for the enormous sum of £637 15s. sterling. Amongst the numerous, rare, and costly relics contained in the library of the Vatican, is the magnificent Latin bible of the Duke of Urbino; it consists of two large folios embellished by numerous figures and landscapes in the ancient arabesque, and is considered a wonderful monument of art; there are also, by the way, some autograph MSS. of Petrarch's Rime,' which evince to what an extent he elaborated his versification. The mutilated parchment scroll thirty-two feet in length, literally covered with beautiful miniatures, representing the history of Joshua ornamenting a Greek MSS. bearing date about the seventh century, is, perhaps, the greatest literary curiosity of the Vatican. The Menologus, or Greek Calendar, illustrated by four hundred rich and brilliant miniatures, representing the martyrdom of the saints of the Greek Church; with views of the churches, monasteries and basilics, is also curious as presenting specimens of the painting of the Byzantium school at the close of the tenth century. It contains also a fine copy of the Acts of the Apostles in letters of gold, presented by Charlotte, queen of Cyprus, to Innocent VIII.; an edition of Dante exquisitely illuminated with miniature paintings by the Florentine school; these pictures are of about the ordinary size of modern miniatures on ivory, but far surpassing them in delicacy of finish. The curious Mexican calendar unfolds and stretches to a prodigious extent; it is not of human skin, however, like the two horrible Mexican MSS., of the Dresden and Vienna libraries, described by Humboldt. The immense and valuable accumulation of literary treasures contained in the private library of the late Duke of Sussex affords many choice and rare specimens of beautiful bibliography. We can refer but to a few. It contains a Hebrew and Chaldaic pentateuch of the thirteenth century, is one of the richest illuminated Hebrew MSS. in existence; the paintings are said to be of wonderful beauty. In the theological department of Latin MSS., there are no less than sixteen copies of the "Vulgate," on vellum, besides various copies of distinct portions of the greater and lesser Prophets. Two of these MS. Bibles are furnished with very numerous illustrations, one having nearly one hundred, and the other upwards of one hundred miniatures in gold and colors. Another, having forty-four illuminated drawings, one of which, attached to the 1st chapter of Genesis, represents Adam digging and Eve spinning, is a very choice MS. A "Book of the Hours or Offices of the Roman Catholic Church," a MS. of the fifteenth century, presents one of the most exquisitely illuminated works of the kind. Of the French MSS. it is sufficient to notice "La Bible Moralizée," a beautifully executed MS. of the fifteenth century, and in which, amidst innumerable illuminated letters and figures, there are eighteen miniatures in chiaroscuro of truly beautiful art. An ancient Italian MS., entitled "Historia del Vecchio Testamento," is very curious and beautiful, and has 519 miniatures. The Duke's rich collection of biblical bibliography surpasses any thing of the kind extant; it comprises something like 6000 or 7000 different editions of the sacred Scriptures, being in fact a copy of almost every rare and beautiful edition of the Bible that has ever appeared, together with a copy of all the first editions that have been published in most of the different languages of the earth. Among them is one that belonged to Elizabeth, embroidered with her own hands in silver upon velvet; another, in Arabic, which had belonged to Tippoo Saib, wrapped in its original coverings. Should the costly collection come to the hammer, such a scramble will ensue among the black letter bibliomaniacs as is quite awful to contemplate. Our thoughts here naturally revert to the celebrated scarcely less delectable as semblage of literary treasures collected by the indefatigable Horace Walpole at his superb mansion at Strawberry Hill, at the recent auction of this magnificent library. The gross amount of proceeds of this sale are given at £37,298 7s. 3d.! Among the numerous objects of virtu which graced these literary spoils, we find a magnificent missal perfectly unique, and superbly illuminated, being enriched with splendid miniatures by Raffaelle, set in pure gold and enamelled, and richly adorned with turqoises, rubies, &c. The sides are formed of two matchless cornelians, with an intaglio of the crucifixion, and another scripture subject; the clasp is set with a large garnet, &c. This precious relic was executed expressly for Claude, queen of France; it was bought by the Earl Waldegrave at 115 guineas. Another curious and costly specimen of bibliography was a sumptuous volume, pronounced by the Cognoscenti as one of the most wonderful works of art extant, containing the Psalms of David written on vellum, embellished by twenty-one inimitable illuminations by Don Julio Clovio, surrounded by exquisite scroll borders of the purest arabesque of unrivalled brilliancy and harmony. Its binding is of corresponding splendour. Its date is about 1537. This little gem produced from the purse of the above named collector the sum of 420 guineas! Queen Victoria purchased some few of the relics, among others, the celebrated silver clock originally presented by that monster-monarch Henry VII. to the unfortunate Anne Boleyn on her marriage; it was knock ed down at 100 guineas. Queen Elizabeth, it appears from Dibdin was a bibliomaniac of transcendant fame; her "Oone Gospell Booke, garnished on th' onside with the crucifir," &c., is a precious object to the virtuoso. It was the composition of Queen Catherine Parr, and was enclosed in solid gold, and hanging by a gold chain at her side was the frequent companion of the "Virgin queen." In her own hand writing at the beginning of the volume the following quaint lines appear: "I walke many times into the pleasannt fieldes of the Holie Scriptures, where I plucke up the goodlie some herbes of sentences by pruning; eate them by readinge; chawe them by musing; and laye them up at length in ye hie seate of memorie by gathering them together; that, so having tasted their sweetenesse, I may the lesse perceave the bitternesse of this miserable life." This was penned by the queen probably while she was in captivity at Woodstock, as the spirit it breathes affords a singular contrast to the towering haughtiness of her ordinary deportment and expression of character. The MS. of the Evangelists, which was originally used at the inauguration of Henry I., and down to Edward VI., is yet extant in the library of a gentleman in Norfolk. It is written on vellum, bound in oaken boards an inch thick, fastened together with thongs of leather and brass bosses, it is surrounded by a gilt crucifix which the several kingly lips have kissed in token of submission to their coronation oath. There is said to be in Charleston, a very extraordinary literary curiositya Hebrew Prayer Book, 1357 years old-it is a ponderous tome, beautifully written on fine parchment. In our own city is a folio MS. copy of the gospels in Syriac, written in the Estrongelo character, and arranged in lessons for the liturgy of the Jacobite Syrian Church. Its date is unknown, although from its whole appearance it must be of great antiquity. It is in the possession of the American Bible Society, and was presented by Dr. Grant, the missionary among the Nestorians of Persia. The same institution possesses a choice collection of oriental and early English editions of the Scriptures. In the State Library at Harrisburg, are also several literary curiosities: one vol. bearing date as early as 1532; and a fine copy of Elliott's Indian Bible, printed at Cambridge, in 4to., 1680, very scarce and now unreadable, the people in whose dialect it was originally rendered, having become long since extinct. The reader may remember to have heard of the renowned copy of the Koran; probably without a parallel, at least as to its size in the annals of letters. The task of transcribing seems to have devolved on a devotee of the prophet, styled Gholam Mohgoodeen; it might be perused by a linguist without the aid of glasses assuredly, for the characters are described as three inches long; the book itself being a foot thick, and its other dimensions something like five feet by three. The binding was literally "in boards." It was the labor of six years. As a set-off to the foregoing, we might refer to the no less curious piece of paper, once presented to Queen Bess, comprising the Decalogue Creed and Lord's prayer, all beautifully written in the compass of a finger-nail. Glasses were required here, and by their aid it is said the queen could easily read the extremely minute characters. The Iliad was once written on vellum so small that a nut-shell contained it; and an Italian monk wrote the Acts and gospel, in compass of a farthing! Even Schloss' Thumb Almanac hardly comes up to these. Printing by blocks was an extension of the art of seal engraving, which had been carried to great perfection in broad seals. The first printed sheets were worked only on one side of the paper, and the impressions produced by a plane and mallet. The ordinary printing-press it may be remembered, was first made by Bleau, at Amsterdam; the first types cast in England, by Caslon in 1720, and the printing-machine originally suggested by Nicholson in 1790, who also invented the rollers for inking the types. Stereotype printing was first used in England and Holland in 1804. "It is curious," observes an ingenious author," how writing has had to struggle against power. At first the feudal baron was ashamed of being able to write, and the signing his name, was like putting on his armour, a service to be done by his inferior." The invention of printing was in the time of Jack Cade, (1461,) denounced as contrary to the well-being of the state, and a conspiracy against "the king his crown and dignity, &c." To print a large folio was, however, more easily executed than a duodecimo;-a crime of less enormity from the inverse ratio of its extent; the reverse indeed of our own day, for we have a decided preference for the shortest method over the former ponderous and circuitous one of the olden time. Antoine Zarot, an eminent printer at Milan, about 1470, was the first on record who printed the Missal. Among other works his execution in colors of the celebrated Missale Romanum in folio, afforded a beautiful specimen of the art. The MS. copy seems to have been of a most dazzling description, its original date was мCCCCX.; every leaf is appropriately ornamented with miniatures surrounded with exquisitely elaborated borders; and its almost innumerable initials which are richly illuminated in gold and colors, render it unsurpassed by any known production of its class. It has been estimated at 250 guineas. The Complutensian Polyglott, otherwise known as Cardinal Ximenes, deserves a passing notice among the renowned books of by-gone times. This prodigious work was commenced under the auspices of the above named prelate in 1502, and for 15 years the labor was continued without intermission; its entire cost amounted to 50,000 golden crowns! Arnas Guillen de Brocar was the celebrated printer of this stupendous work. Of the four large vellum copies, one is said to be in the Vatican, another in the Escurial, and a third was bought by Herbets at the sale of the McCarthy library for 600 guineas. According to Gonzales, a Spanish historian, the earliest printed book of the " New World" was executed by Joannes Paulus in 1549—a folio, entitled "ordinationes legumque collectiones pro conventu juridico Mexicano.' About 1572 we meet with another splendid production—the Spanish Polyglott, printed by Christopher Plantin. A most magnificent copy upon vellum, in the original binding, was sold in London some five and twenty years since for one thousund guineas! and enormous as was this price, the copy was actually wanting three out of the ten volumes-those being in the Bibliotheque Royale. One of the scarcest books in the language-for there are, according to Dibdin, but two known copies extant is a little black letter tome of 1586, entitled, "A Discourse of Englishe Poetrie," &c., one of which was sold in the Duke of Roxburgh's collection for £64. We might amuse the reader by citing a few of the quaint and alliterative titles of some of the books of these times. Take the following for instance: "A Footpath to Felicitie," "Guide to Godlinesse," "Swarme of Bees," "Plante of Pleasure and Grove of Graces,"-1586. These were most rife in the days of Cromwell;-there were many bordering closely on the ludicrous, such as the one styled, "A Pair of Bellows to Blow off the Dust |