garnished with numerous ornaments and utensils of gold
and silver; and among other costly treasures, William of Malmsbury tells
us that twenty pounds and sixty marks of gold was used in making a
coopertoria for a book of the Gospels.[312]

Would that I had it in my power to write the literary history of
Glastonbury Abbey; to know what the monks of old there transcribed would
be to acquire the history of learning in those times; for there was
little worth reading in the literature of the day that was not copied by
those industrious scribes. But if our materials will not enable us to do
this, we may catch a glimpse of their well stored shelves through the
kindness and care of William Britone the Librarian, who compiled a work
of the highest interest to the biographer. It is no less than a catalogue
of the books contained in the common library of the abbey in the year one
thousand two hundred and forty-eight. Four hundred choice volumes
comprise this fine collection;[313] and will not the reader be surprised
to find among them a selection of the classics, with the chronicles,
poetry, and romantic productions of the middle ages, besides an abundant
store of the theological writings of the primitive Church. But I have not
transcribed a large proportion of this list, as the extracts given from
other monastic catalogues may serve to convey an idea of their nature;
but I cannot allow one circumstance connected with this old document to
pass without remark. I would draw the reader's attention to the fine
bibles which commence the list, and which prove that the monks of
Glastonbury Abbey were fond and devoted students of the Bible. It begins
with--

Bibliotheca una in duobus voluminibus.
Alia Bibliotheca integra vetusta, set legibilis.
Bibliotheca integrae minoris litterae.
Dimidia pars Bibliothecae incipiens a Psalterio, vetusta.
Bibliotheca magna versificata.
Alia versificata in duobus voluminibus.
Bibliotheca tres versificata.[314]

But besides these, the library contained numerous detached books and many
copies of the Gospels, an ample collection of the fathers, and the
controversal writings of the middle ages; and among many others, the
following classics--

Aristotle.
Livy.
Orosius.
Sallust.
Donatus.
Sedulus.
Virgil's AEneid.
Virgil's Georgics.
Virgil's Bucolics.
AEsop.
Tully.
Boethius.
Plato.
Isagoge of Porphyry.
Prude