Volume I Part 12 (1/2)
It is called ”_Notre-Dame de la bonne Delivrande_,” and is necessarily confined to the religion of the country. You have here, first of all, a reduced form of the original: probably about one-third--and it is the more appropriate, as it will serve to give you a very correct notion of the dressing out of the figures of the VIRGIN and CHILD which are meant to grace the altars of the chapels of the Virgin in most of the churches in Normandy. Is it possible that one spark of devotion can be kindled by the contemplation of an object so grotesque and so absurd in the House of G.o.d?
[Ill.u.s.tration: SAINTE MARIE, MeRE DE DIEU, priez pour nous]
To describe all the trumpery which is immediately around it, in the original, would be a waste of time; but below are two good figures to the right, and two wretched ones to the left. Beneath the whole, is the following _accredited_ consoling piece of intelligence:
L'AN 830, _des Barbares descendent dans les Gaules, ma.s.sacrent les Fideles, profanent et brulent les Eglises. Raoul, Duc de Normandie, se joint a eux; l'image de la Ste. Vierge demeure ensevelie sous les ruines de l'ancienne chapelle jusqu'au regne de Henri I. l'an 1331.
Beaudouin, Baron de Douvres, averti par son berger qu'un mouton de son troupeau fouillait toujours dans le meme endroit, fit ouvrir la terre, et trouva ce tresor cache depuis tant d'annees. Il fit porter processionnellement cette sainte image dans l'Eglise de Douvres: mais Dieu permit qu'elle fut transportee par un Ange dans l'endroit de la chapelle ou elle est maintenant reveree. C'est dans cette chapelle que, par l'intercession de Marie, les pecheurs recoivent leur conversion, les affliges leur consolation, les infirmes la sante, les captifs leur delivrance, que ceux qui sont en mer echappent aux tempetes et au naufrage, et que des miracles s'operent journellement sur les pieux Fideles_.
A word now for BIBLIOPOLISTS--including _Bouquinistes_, or venders of ”old and second-hand books.” The very morning following my arrival in Caen, I walked to the abbey of St. Stephen, before breakfast, and in the way thither stopped at a book stall, to the right,--and purchased some black letter folios: among which the French version of _Caesar's Commentaries,_ printed by Verard, in 1488, was the most desirable acquisition. It is reserved for Lord Spencer's library;[128] at a price which, freight and duty included, cannot reach the sum of twelve s.h.i.+llings of our money. Of venders of second hand and old books, the elder and younger MANOURY take a decisive lead. The former lives in the _Rue Froide_; the latter in the _Rue Notre Dame._ The father boasts of having upwards of thirty thousand volumes, but I much doubt whether his stock amount to one half of that number. He unhesitatingly asked me two _louis d'or_ for a copy of the _Vaudevires_ of OLIVIER Ba.s.sELIN, which is a modern, but privately printed, volume; and of which I hope to give you some amusing particulars by and by.
He also told me that he had formerly sold a paper copy of _Fust's Bible of 1462,_ with many of the illuminated initials cut out, to the library of the a.r.s.enal, at Paris, for 100 louis d'or. I only know that, if I had been librarian, he should not have had one half the money.
Now for Manoury the younger. Old and young are comparative terms: for be it known that the son is ”age de soixante ans.” Over his door you read an ancient inscription, thus:
”_Battu, perce, lie, Je veux changer de main_.”
This implies either (like Aladdin's old lamps for new) that he wishes to give new books in exchange for old ones, or that he can smarten up old ones by binding, or otherwise, and give them a renovated appearance. But the solution is immaterial: the inscription being as above. The interior of the younger Manoury's book repository almost appalled me. His front shop, and a corridor communicating with the back part of the house, are rank with moisture; and his books are consequently rotting apace. Upon my making as pitiable a statement as I was able of this melancholy state of things--and pleading with all my energies against the inevitable destruction which threatened the dear books--the obdurate bibliopolist displayed not one scintillation of sympathy. He was absolutely indifferent to the whole concern. In the back parlour, almost impervious to day-light, his daughter, and a stout and handsome bourgeoise, with rather an unusually elevated cauchoise, were regaling themselves with soup and herbs at dinner. I hurried through, in my way to the upper regions, with apologies for the intrusion; but was told that none were necessary--that I might go where, and stay as long, as I pleased--and that any explanation would be given to my interrogatories in the way of business. I expressed my obligations for such civility; and gaining an upper room, by the help of a chair, made a survey of its contents. What piles of interminable rubbis.h.!.+ I selected, as the only rational or desirable volume--half rotted with moisture--_Belon's Marine Fishes_, 1551, 4to; and placing six francs (the price demanded) upon the table, hurried back, through this sable and dismal territory, with a sort of precipitancy amounting to horrour. What struck me, as productive of a very extraordinary effect--was the cheerfulness and _gaiete de coeur_ of these females, in the midst of this region of darkness and desolation.
Manoury told me that the Revolution had deprived him of the opportunity of having the finest bookselling stock in France! His own carelessness and utter apathy are likely to prove yet more destructive enemies.
But let us touch a more ”spirit-stirring” chord in the book theme. Let us leave the _Bouquiniste_ for the PUBLIC LIBRARY: and I invite you most earnestly to accompany me thither, and to hear matters of especial import.
This library occupies the upper part of a fine large stone building, devoted to the public offices of government. The plan of the library is exceedingly striking; in the shape of a cross. It measures one hundred and thirty-four, by eighty, French feet; and is supposed, apparently with justice, to contain 20,000 volumes. It is proportionably wide and lofty. M.
HeBERT is the present chief librarian, having succeeded the late M.
Moysant, his uncle. Among the more eminent benefactors and Bibliomaniacs, attached to this library, the name of FRANCOIS MARTIN is singularly conspicuous. He was, from all accounts, and especially from the information of M. Hebert, one of the most raving of book-madmen: but he displayed, withal, a spirit of kindness and liberality towards his favourite establishment at Caen, which could not be easily shaken or subdued. He was also a man of letters, and evinced that most commendable of all literary propensities--a love of the LITERATURE OF HIS COUNTRY. He ama.s.sed a very large collection of books, which was cruelly pillaged during the Revolution; but the public library became possessed of a great number of them. In those volumes, formerly belonging to him, which are now seen, is the following printed inscription: ”_Franciscus Martin, Doctor Theologus Parisiensis, comparavit. Oretur pro co_.” He was head of the convent of Cordeliers, and Prefect of the Province: but his mode of collecting was not always that which a public magistrate would call _legitimate_. He sought books every where; and when he could not _buy_ them, or obtain them by fair means, he would _steal_ them, and carry them home in the sleeves of his gown! He flourished about a century ago; and, with very few exceptions, all the best conditioned books in the library belonged to this magisterial book-robber. Among them I noted down with singular satisfaction the Aldine edition of _Stepha.n.u.s de Urbibus_, 1502, folio--in its old vellum binding: seemly to the eye, and comfortable to the touch. Nor did his copy of the _Repertorium Statutorum Ordinis Cartusiensis_, printed by _Amerbach, at Basil_, in a glorious gothic character, 1510, folio, escape my especial notice--also the same Bibliomaniac's beautiful copy of the _Mentz Herbal_, of 1484, in 4to.
But the obliquities of Martin a.s.sume a less questionable aspect, when we contemplate a n.o.ble work, which he not only projected, but left behind ready for publication. It is thus ent.i.tled: _Athenae Normannorum veteres ac recentes, seu syllabus Auctorum qui oriundi e Normannia, &c._ It consists of one volume, in MS., having the authority of government, to publish it, prefixed. There is a short Latin preface, by Martin, followed by two pages of Latin verses beginning thus:
_In Auctorum Normannicorum Syllab.u.m.
Prolusio metrica.
En Syllabus prodit palam Contextus arte sedula Ex litteratae Neustriae Auctoribus celebribus._ &c. &c.
Among the men, the memories of whom throw a l.u.s.tre upon Caen,[129] was the famous SAMUEL BOCHART; at once a botanist, a scholar, and a critic of distinguished celebrity. He was a native of Rouen, and his books (many of them replete with valuable ms. notes) are among the chief treasures of the public library, here. Indeed there is a distinct catalogue of them, and the funds left by their ill.u.s.trious owner form the princ.i.p.al support of the library establishment. Bochart's portrait, with those of many other benefactors to the library, adorns the walls; suspended above the books: affording a very agreeable coup-d'oeil. Indeed the princ.i.p.al division of the library, the further end of which commands a pleasant prospect, is worthy of an establishment belonging to the capital of an empire. The kindness of M. Hebert, and of his a.s.sistant, rendered my frequent sojournings therein yet more delectable. The portrait of his uncle, M.
MOYSANT, is among the ornaments of the chief room. Though Moysant was large of stature, his lungs were feeble, and his const.i.tution was delicate. At the age of nineteen, he was appointed professor of grammar and rhetoric in the college of Lisieux. He then went to Paris, and studied under Beau and Batteux; when, applying himself more particularly to the profession of physic, he returned to Caen, in his thirtieth year, and put on the cap of Doctor of medicine; but he wanted either nerves or stamina for the successful exercise of his profession. He had cured a patient, after painful and laborious attention, of a very serious illness; but his patient chose to take liberties too soon with his convalescent state. He was imprudent: had a relapse; and was hurried to his grave. Moysant took it seriously to heart, and gave up his business in precipitancy and disgust.
In fact, he was of too sanguine and irritable a temperament for the display of that cool, cautious, and patient conduct, which it behoveth all young physicians to adopt, ere they can possibly hope to attain the honours or the wealth of the _Halfords_ and _Matons_ of the day! Our Moysant returned to the study of his beloved belles-lettres. At that moment, luckily, the Society of the Jesuits was suppressed; and he was called by the King, in 1763, to fill the chair of Rhetoric in one of the finest establishments of that body at Caen. He afterwards successively became perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, and Vice-President of the Society of Agriculture.
He was next dubbed by the University, Dean of the faculty of arts, and was selected to p.r.o.nounce the public oration upon the marriage of the unfortunate Louis XVI. with Marie Antoinette. He was now a marked and distinguished public character. The situation of PUBLIC LIBRARIAN was only wanting to render his reputation complete, and _that_ he instantly obtained upon the death of his predecessor. With these occupations, he united that of instructing the English (who were always in the habit of visiting Caen,) in the French language; and he obtained, in return, from some of his adult pupils, a pretty good notion of the laws and liberties of Old England.
The Revolution now came on: when, like many of his respectable brethren, he hailed it at first as the harbinger of national reformation and prosperity.
But he had soon reason to find that he had been deceived. However, in the fervour of the moment, and upon the suppression of the monastic and other public libraries, he received a very wide and unqualified commission to search all the libraries in the department of _Calvados_, and to bring home to Caen all the treasures he might discover. He set forth upon this mission with truly public spirited ideas: resolving (says his nephew) to do for Normandy what Dugdale and Dodsworth had done for England--and a _Monastic.u.m Neustriac.u.m_ was the commendable object of his ambition. He promised much, and perhaps did more than he promised. His curious collection (exclusively of the cart-loads of books which were sent to Caen) was shewn to his countrymen; but the guillotine was now the order of the day--when Moysant ”resolved to visit England, and submit to the English n.o.bility the plan of his work, as that nation always attached importance to the preservation of the monuments, or literary materials, of the middle ages.”--He knew (continues the nephew) how proud the English were of their descent from the Norman n.o.bles, and it was only to put them in possession of the means of preserving the unquestionable proofs of their origin. Moysant accordingly came over with his wife, and they were both quickly declared emigrants; their return was interdicted; and our bibliomaniac learnt, with heart-rending regret, that they had resolved upon the sale of the national property in France. He was therefore to live by his wits; having spiritedly declined all offer of a.s.sistance from the English government. In this dilemma he published a work ent.i.tled ”_Bibliotheque des Ecrivains Francais, ou choix des meilleurs morceaux en prose et en vers, extraits de leurs ouvrages_,”--a collection, which was formed with judgment, and which was attended with complete success. The first edition was in four octavo volumes, in 1800; the second, in six volumes 1803; a third edition, I think, followed, with a pocket dictionary of the English and French languages. It was during his stay amongst us that he was deservedly admitted a member of the Society of Antiquaries; but he returned to France in 1802, before the appearance of the second edition of his _Bibliotheque_; when, hawk-like, soaring or sailing in suspense between the book-atmospheres of Paris and Caen, he settled within the latter place--and again perched himself (at the united call of his townsmen) upon the chair destined for the PUBLIC LIBRARIAN! It was to give order, method, and freedom of access, to the enormous ma.s.s of books, which the dissolution of the monastic libraries had caused to be acc.u.mulated at Caen, that Moysant and his colleagues now devoted themselves with an a.s.siduity as heroic as it was unintermitting. But the health of our generalissimo, which had been impaired during his residence in England, began to give way beneath such a pressure of fatigue and anxiety. Yet it pleased Providence to prolong his life till towards the close of the year 1813: when he had the satisfaction of viewing his folios, quartos, octavos, and duodecimos, arranged in regular succession, and fair array; when his work was honestly done; and when future visitors had only to stretch forth their hands and gather the fruit which he had placed within their reach. His death (we are told)[130]
was gentle, and like unto sleep. Religion had consoled him in his latter moments; and after having reposed upon its efficacy, he waited with perfect composure for the breathing of his last sigh! Let the name of MOYSANT be mentioned with the bibliomaniacal honours which, are doubtless its due!...
From Librarians, revert we to books: to the books in the PUBLIC LIBRARY of Caen. The oldest printed volume contained in it, and which had been bound with a MS, on the supposition of its being a ma.n.u.script also, is Numeister's impression of _Aretinus de Bella adversus Gothos_, 1470, folio; the first book from the press of the printer. I undeceived M. Hebert, who had supposed it to be a MS. The lettering is covered with horn, and the book is bound in boards; ”all proper.” The oldest _Latin Bible_ they possess, is of the date of 1485; but there is preserved one volume of Sweynheym and Pannartz's impression of _De Lyra's Commentary upon the Bible_, of the date of 1471-2, which luckily contains the list of books printed by those printers in their memorable supplicatory letter to Pope Sixtus IV. The earliest Latin Cla.s.sic appears to be the _Juvenal_ of 1474, with the _Commentary of Calderinus_, printed at Rome; unless a dateless impression of _Lucan_, in the earliest type of Gering, with the verses placed at a considerable distance from each other, claim chronological precedence. There is also a _Valerius Maximus_ of 1475, by Caesaris and Stol, but without their names. It is a large copy, soiled at the beginning.
Of the same date is Gering's impression of the _Legenda Sanctorum_; and among the Fifteeners I almost coveted a very elegant specimen of _Jehan du Pre's_ printing (with a device used by him never before seen by me,) of an edition of _La Vie des Peres_, 1494, folio, in its original binding. I collected, from the written catalogue, that they had only FORTY-FIVE works printed in the FIFTEENTH CENTURY; and of these, none were of first-rate quality.
Among the MSS., I was much struck with the beautiful penmans.h.i.+p of a work, in three folio volumes, of the middle of the sixteenth century, ent.i.tled; _Divertiss.e.m.e.ns touchant le faict de la guerre, extraits des livres de Polybe, Frontin, Vegece, Cornazzan, Machiavel, et autres bons autheurs.”_ It has no illuminations, but the scription is beautiful. A _Breviary of the Church Service of Lisieux_, of the fifteenth century, has some pretty but common illuminations. It is not however free from injury. Of more intrinsic worth is a MS. ent.i.tled _Du Costentin_, (a district not far from Caen,) with the following prefix in the hand-writing of Moysant. ”Ces memoires sont de M. Toustaint de Billy, cure du Mesnil au-parc, qui avoit travaille toute sa vie a l'histoire du Cotentin. Ils sont rares et m'ont ete accordes par M. Jourdan, Notaire, auquel ils appartenoient. Le p. (Pere) le Long et Mons. Teriet de fontette ne les out pas connu. Moysantz.” It is a small folio, in a neat hand-writing. Another MS., or rather a compound of ms. and printed leaves, of yet considerably more importance, in 3 folio volumes, is ent.i.tled _Le Moreri des Normans, par Joseph Andrie Guiat de Rouen:_ on the reverse of the t.i.tle, we read, ”_Supplement au Dictionnaire de Moreri pour ce qui concerne la province de Normandie, et ses ill.u.s.tres_.” A short preface follows; then an ode ”aux Grands Hommes de Normandie.” It is executed in the manner of a dictionary, running in alphabetical order. The first volume extends to the letter I, and is ill.u.s.trated with sc.r.a.ps from newspapers, and a few portraits. It is written pretty fully in double columns. The portrait and biography of _Bouzard_ form an admirable specimen of biographical literary memoirs. The second volume goes to Z. The third volume is ent.i.tled ”_Les trois Siecles palinodiques, ou Histoire Generale des Palinods de Rouen, Dieppe, &c._--by the same hand, with an equal quant.i.ty of matter. It is right that such labours should be noticed, for the sake of all future BLISS-like editors of provincial literature. There is another similar work, in 2 folio ms. volumes, relating to _Coutance_.
Before we again touch upon printed books, but of a later period, it may be right to inform you that the treasures of this Library suffered materially from the commotions of the Calvinists. Those hot-headed interpreters of scripture destroyed every thing in the shape of ornament or elegance attached to book-covers; and piles of volumes, however sacred, or unexceptionable on the score of good morals, were consigned to the fury of the flames. Of the remaining volumes which I saw, take the following very rapid sketch. Of _Hours_, or _Church Services_, there is a prodigiously fine copy of an edition printed by _Vostre_, in 4to., upon paper, without date. It is in the original ornamented cover, or binding, with a forest of rough edges to the leaves--and doubtless the finest copy of the kind I ever saw. Compared with this, how inferior, in every respect is a cropt copy of _Kerver's_ impression of a similar work, printed upon vellum! This latter is indeed a very indifferent book; but the rough usage it has met with is the sole cause of such inferiority. I was well pleased with a fair, sound copy of the _Speculum Stultorum_, in 4to., bl. letter, in hexameter and pentameter verses, without date. Nor did I examine without interest a rare little volume ent.i.tled ”_Les Origines de quelques Coutumes anciennes, et de plusieurs facons de parler triviales. Avec un vieux Ma.n.u.scrit en vers, touchant l'Origine des Chevaliers Bannerets_; printed at Caen in 1672, 12mo.: a curious little work. They have a fine (royal) copy of _Walton's Polyglot_, with an excellent impression of the head; and a large paper copy of _Stephen's Greek Glossary_; in old vellum binding, with a great number of ms. notes by Bochart. Also a fine large paper _Photius_ of 1654, folio.
But among their LARGE PAPERS, few volumes tower with greater magnificence than do the three folios of _La Sainte Bible_, printed by the Elzevirs at Amsterdam, in 1669. They are absolutely fine creatures; of the stateliest dimensions and most attractive forms. They also pretend that their large paper copy of the first edition of _Huet's Praeparatio Evangelica_, in folio, is unique. Probably it is, as the author presented it to the Library himself. The _Basil Eustathius_ of 1559, in 3 volumes folio, is as glorious a copy as is Mr. Grenville's of the Roman edition of 1542.[131] It is in its pristine membranaceous attire--the vellum lapping over the fore-edges, in the manner of Mr. Heber's copy of the first Aldine Aristotle,--most comfortable to behold! There is a fine large paper copy of _Montaigne's Essays_, 1635, folio, containing two t.i.tles and a portrait of the author.