often in silver devices, sometimes in gold, and not infrequently
in silver and gold, with splendid jewels and precious stones to
add their value to that of the precious
volume which they
adorned. The works of Justin, Seneca, Martial, Terence, and
Claudian were highly popular with the bibliophiles of early
times; and the writings of Ovid, Tully, Horace, Cato, Aristotle,
Sallust, Hippocrates, Macrobius, Augustine, Bede, Gregory,
Origen, etc. But for the veneration and love for books which the
monks of the mediaeval ages had, what would have been
preserved
to us of the classics of the Greeks and the Romans?
The same auspicious fate that prompted those bibliomaniacal monks
to hide away
manuscript treasures in the cellars of their
monasteries, inspired Poggio Bracciolini several centuries later
to hunt out and
invade those
sacred hiding-places, and these
quests were rewarded with finds whose value cannot be
overestimated. All that we have of the histories of Livy come to
us through Poggio's industry as a
manuscript-hunter; this same
worthy found and brought away from different monasteries a
perfect copy of Quintilian, a Cicero's
oration for Caecina, a
complete Tertullian, a Petronius Arbiter, and fifteen or twenty
other classics almost as
valuable as those I have named. From
German monasteries, Poggio's friend, Nicolas of Treves, brought
away twelve comedies of Plautus and a
fragment of Aulus Gellius.
Dear as their pagan books were to the monkish collectors, it was
upon their Bibles, their psalters, and their other religious
books that these mediaeval bibliomaniacs expended their choicest
art and their most
loving care. St. Cuthbert's ``Gospels,''
preserved in the British Museum, was written by Egfrith, a monk,
circa 720; Aethelwald bound the book in gold and precious stones,
and Bilfrid, a
hermit,
illuminated it by prefixing to each gospel
a beautiful
painting representing one of the Evangelists, and a
tessellated cross, executed in a most
elaborate manner. Bilfrid
also
illuminated the large capital letters at the
beginning of
the gospels. This precious
volume was still further enriched by
Aldred of Durham, who interlined it with a Saxon Gloss, or
version of the Latin text of St. Jerome.
``Of the exact pecuniary value of books during the middle ages,''
says Merryweather, ``we have no means of judging. The few
instances that have
accidentally been recorded are totally
inadequate to
enable us to form an opinion. The extravagant
estimate given by some as to the value of books in those days is
merely conjectural, as it
necessarily must be when we remember
that the price was guided by the
accuracy of the transcription,
the
splendor of the
binding (which was often
gorgeous to excess),
and by the beauty and
richness of the illuminations. Many of the
manuscripts of the middle ages are
magnificent in the extreme;
sometimes inscribed in
liquid gold on
parchment of the richest
purple, and adorned with illuminations of
exquisiteworkmanship.''
With such a veneration and love for books obtaining in the
cloister and at the
fireside, what pathos is revealed to us in
the supplication which invited God's
blessing upon the
belovedtomes: ``O Lord, send the
virtue of thy Holy Spirit upon these
our books; that cleansing them from all
earthly things, by thy
holy
blessing, they may mercifully
enlighten our hearts and give
us true understanding; and grant that by thy teachings they may
brightly
preserve and make full an
abundance of good works
according to thy will.''
And what
inspiration and cheer does every book-lover find in the
letter which that grand old bibliomaniac, Alcuin, addressed to
Charlemagne: ``I, your Flaccus, according to your admonitions
and good will,
administer to some in the house of St. Martin the
sweets of the Holy Scriptures; others I inebriate with the study
of ancient
wisdom; and others I fill with the fruits of
grammatical lore. Many I seek to
instruct in the order of the
stars which
illuminate the
glorious vault of heaven, so that they
may be made ornaments to the holy church of God and the court of
your
imperialmajesty; that the
goodness of God and your kindness
may not be
altogether unproductive of good. But in doing this I
discover the want of much, especially those
exquisite books of
scholastic
learning which I possessed in my own country, through
the industry of my good and most
devout master, Egbert. I
therefore
entreat your Excellence to permit me to send into
Britain some of our youths to
procure those books which we so
much desire, and thus
transplant into France the flowers of
Britain, that they may fructify and
perfume, not only the garden
at York, but also the Paradise of Tours, and that we may say in
the words of the song: `Let my
beloved come into his garden and
eat his pleasant fruit;' and to the young: `Eat, O friends;
drink, yea, drink abundantly, O
beloved;' or exhort in the words
of the
prophet Isaiah: `Every one that thirsteth to come to the
waters, and ye that have no money, come ye, buy and eat: yea,
come buy wine and milk, without money and without price.' ''
I was meaning to have somewhat to say about Alcuin, and had
intended to pay my respects to Canute, Alfred, the Abbot of St.
Albans, the Archbishop of Salzburg, the Prior of Dover, and
other mediaeval worthies, when Judge Methuen came in and
interrupted the thread of my
meditation. The Judge brings me
some verses done recently by a poet-friend of his, and he asks me
to give them a place in these memoirs as illustrating the
vanityof human confidence.
One day I got a missive
Writ in a
dainty hand,
Which made my manly bosom
With
vanity expand.
'T was from a ``young admirer''
Who asked me would I mind
Sending her ``favorite poem''
``In autograph, and signed.''
She craved the boon so sweetly
That I had been a churl
Had I repulsed the homage
Of this gentle, timid girl;
With bright illuminations
I decked the
manuscript,
And in my choicest paints and inks
My brush and pen I dipt.
Indeed it had been tedious
But that a flattered smile
Played on my
rugged features
And eased my toil the while.
I was
assured my poem
Would fill her with delight--
I fancied she was pretty--
I knew that she was bright!
And for a spell thereafter
That unknown damsel's face
With its
worshipful expression
Pursued me every place;
Meseemed to hear her whisper:
``O, thank you,
gifted sir,
For the
overwhelming honor
You so
graciously confer!''
But a
catalogue from Benjamin's
Disproves what things meseemed--
Dispels with
savage certainty
The
flattering dreams I dreamed;
For that poor ``favorite poem,''
Done and signed in autograph,
Is listed in ``Cheap Items''
At a dollar-and-a-half.
The End
- volume [´vɔlju:m, ´vɑljəm] n.卷;书籍;体积;容量 (初中英语单词)
- invade [in´veid] vt.侵入;打扰;充满 (初中英语单词)
- sacred [´seikrid] a.神圣的;庄严的 (初中英语单词)
- valuable [´væljuəbəl, -jubəl] a.有价值的,贵重的 (初中英语单词)
- fragment [´frægmənt] n.碎片;破片;断片 (初中英语单词)
- painting [´peintiŋ] n.绘画;(油)画;着色 (初中英语单词)
- elaborate [i´læbərət, -reit] a.精心设计的 (初中英语单词)
- beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始,开端;起源 (初中英语单词)
- enable [i´neibəl] vt.使能够;赋予权力 (初中英语单词)
- splendor [´splendə] n.壮丽 =splendour (初中英语单词)
- magnificent [mæg´nifisənt] a.壮丽的;豪华的 (初中英语单词)
- liquid [´likwid] n.液体 a.流动的 (初中英语单词)
- blessing [´blesiŋ] n.祝福 (初中英语单词)
- virtue [´və:tʃu:] n.美德;贞操;长处 (初中英语单词)
- preserve [pri´zə:v] v.保藏 n.保藏物 (初中英语单词)
- abundance [ə´bʌndəns] n.丰富,充裕 (初中英语单词)
- wisdom [´wizdəm] n.智慧,聪明,才智 (初中英语单词)
- instruct [in´strʌkt] vt.教育;指导;通知 (初中英语单词)
- glorious [´glɔ:riəs] a.光荣的;辉煌的 (初中英语单词)
- imperial [im´piəriəl] a.帝国的;庄严的 (初中英语单词)
- majesty [´mædʒisti] n.壮丽;崇高;尊严 (初中英语单词)
- goodness [´gudnis] n.优良;美德;精华 (初中英语单词)
- altogether [,ɔ:ltə´geðə] ad.完全;总而言之 (初中英语单词)
- learning [´lə:niŋ] n.学习;学问;知识 (初中英语单词)
- procure [prə´kjuə] v.获得;完(达)成;实现 (初中英语单词)
- perfume [´pə:fju:m, pə´fju:m] n.香味 vt.使发香 (初中英语单词)
- paradise [´pærədais] n.天堂;乐园 (初中英语单词)
- beloved [bi´lʌvd] a.为....所爱的 n.爱人 (初中英语单词)
- prophet [´prɔfit] n.预言家;先知;提倡者 (初中英语单词)
- vanity [´væniti] n.虚荣;自负;空虚 (初中英语单词)
- savage [´sævidʒ] a.野蛮的 n.蛮人 (初中英语单词)
- manuscript [´mænjuskript] a.手抄的 n.手稿 (高中英语单词)
- loving [´lʌviŋ] a.爱的,有爱情的 (高中英语单词)
- hermit [´hə:mit] n.隐士 (高中英语单词)
- necessarily [´nesisərili] ad.必定,必然地 (高中英语单词)
- accuracy [´ækjurəsi] n.准确(性);精密度 (高中英语单词)
- gorgeous [´gɔ:dʒəs] a.华丽的;宜人的 (高中英语单词)
- earthly [´ə:θli] a.地球的;世俗的 (高中英语单词)
- inspiration [,inspi´reiʃən] n.鼓舞;灵感;启发 (高中英语单词)
- administer [əd´ministə] vt.管理;支配;执行 (高中英语单词)
- illuminate [i´lju:mineit] vt.照明;阐明 (高中英语单词)
- exquisite [ik´skwizit] a.精巧的;敏锐的 (高中英语单词)
- archbishop [,ɑ:tʃ´biʃəp] n.大主教 (高中英语单词)
- dainty [´deinti] a.秀丽的 n.美味 (高中英语单词)
- rugged [´rʌgid] a.不平的;粗犷的 (高中英语单词)
- catalogue [´kætəlɔg] n.一览表 v.编目,归类 (高中英语单词)
- flattering [´flætəriŋ] a.谄媚的;奉承的 (高中英语单词)
- martial [´mɑ:ʃəl] a.战争的;象军人的 (英语四级单词)
- binding [´baindiŋ] a.捆绑的 n.捆绑(物) (英语四级单词)
- parchment [´pɑ:tʃmənt] n.羊皮纸(文稿) (英语四级单词)
- enlighten [in´laitn] vt.启发,开导 (英语四级单词)
- entreat [in´tri:t] vt.恳求,恳请 (英语四级单词)
- excellence [´eksələns] n.优秀;杰出;优点 (英语四级单词)
- meditation [,medi´teiʃən] n.熟虑;默想 (英语四级单词)
- gifted [´giftid] a.有天赋的,有才华的 (英语四级单词)
- overwhelming [,əuvə´welmiŋ] a.压倒的;势不可挡的 (英语四级单词)
- graciously [´greiʃəsli] ad.仁慈地,和蔼庄重地 (英语四级单词)
- oration [ə´reiʃən] n.演说;引语 (英语六级单词)
- accidentally [,æksi´dentəli] ad.偶然地 (英语六级单词)
- richness [´ritʃnis] n.富饶;富裕;华美 (英语六级单词)
- fireside [´faiəsaid] n.炉边;家;家庭生活 (英语六级单词)
- devout [di´vaut] a.虔诚的;热心的 (英语六级单词)
- transplant [træns´plɑ:nt, -plænt] vt.移植(种);迁移 (英语六级单词)
- assured [ə´ʃuəd] a.确实的 n.被保险人 (英语六级单词)
- worshipful [´wə:ʃipfəl] a.虔敬的;崇拜的 (英语六级单词)