This copy came from the monastery of St. Salvador; and the
original, roughly stamped, edges of the leaves are judiciously preserved in
the binding. Both copies have the _first_ volume upon _paper_. Indeed it
seems now clearly ascertained that it was never printed upon vellum.[78]
The copy of Henri II. measures twelve inches and a quarter, by eight and an
eighth.

PLUTARCHI OPUSCULA MORALIA. _Printed by Aldus_. 1509. Folio. 2 vols.
Another, delicious MEMBRANACEOUS treasure from the fine library of Henri
II. and Diane de Poictiers; in the good old original coverture, besprinkled
with interlaced D's and H's. It is in truth a lovely book--measuring ten
inches and five eighths, by seven inches and three eighths; but I suspect a
little cropt. Some of the vellum is also rather tawny--especially the first
and second leaves, and the first page of the text of Plutarch. These
volumes reminded me of the first Aldine Plato, also UPON VELLUM, in the
library of Dr. W. Hunter; but I question if the Plato be _quite_ so
beautiful a production.

EUSTATHIUS IN HOMERUM. 1542. Folio. 4 vols. Printed UPON VELLUM--and
probably unique. A set of matchless volumes--yet has the binder done them
great injustice, by the manner in which the backs are cramped or choked.
The exteriors, in blazing red morocco, are not in the very best taste. A
good deal of the vellum is also of too yellow a tint, but it is of a most
delicate quality.

ARISTOTELIS ETHICA NICHOMACHEA. Gr. This volume forms a part only of the
first Aldine edition of the Nichomachean ethics of Aristotle. The margins
are plentifully charged with the Scholia of Basil the Great, as we learn
from an original letter of "Constantinus Palaeocappa, grecus" to Henry the
Second--whose book it was, and who shewed the high sense he entertained of
the Scholia, by having the volume bound in a style of luxury and splendour
beyond any thing which I remember to have seen--as coming from his library.
The reverse of the first leaf exhibits a beautiful frame work, of silver
ornaments upon a black ground--now faded; with the initials and devices of
Henry and Diane de Poictiers. Their arms and supporters are at top. Within
this frame work is the original and beautifully written letter of
Constantine Palaeocappa. On the opposite page the text begins--surrounded by
the same brilliant kind of ornament; having an initial H of extraordinary
beauty. The words, designating the Scholia, are thus:

[Greek: META SCH