at Alcionio might have stolen it for his treatise upon exile;
but we should probably be right in rejecting all these stories together
as mere calumnies and 'forgeries of jealousy.'

Antonio Lebrixa, who worked under the Cardinal till his death in 1522,
had done much to revive a knowledge of books, and may be regarded as the
principal agent in the introduction of the new Italian learning. His
pupil Ferdinand Nunez, or Nonnius as he is often called, carried on the
good work at Salamanca, and left his great library to the University.
Diego Hurtado de Mendoza was one of the most distinguished students who
ever followed the lectures there. As a poet he has been called the
Spanish Sallust: as the author of the adventures of Lazarillo de Tormes
he takes a high place among the lighter authors of romance; and as a
patron of learning he will always be remembered for having enriched the
Escorial with his transcripts from Mount Athos, and six chests of
valuable MSS. which he received in return for ransoming from his
captivity at Venice the son of Soliman the Magnificent. Great credit must
also be given to Don Ferdinand Columbus for his good work at Seville. The
son of the great Admiral and Donna Beatrix Enriquez was one of the most
celebrated bibliophiles in Europe. He began making his collections very
soon after his father's death. Between 1510 and 1537 he had visited Italy
several times, and had travelled besides in England and France, in the
Low Countries and in Germany, buying books wherever he went. His great
object was to procure illuminated MSS. and early editions of romances and
miracle-plays; but he was also fond of the classics, and his library at
Seville is still possessed of many copies of Latin poets and orators
which are full of his marginal notes. At Louvain he became acquainted
with Nicholas Clenard, who was lecturing there on Greek and Hebrew, and
was just commencing the Arabic studies by which his name became famous.
Don Ferdinand had a commission to bring back professors for the
University of Salamanca, where learning was beginning to revive; and
Clenard was easily induced to visit a country which might contain the
relics of Moorish culture. Ferrari, as we know, was very successful in
the next generation in finding rare books in Spain for Borromeo's
Ambrosian library. At Bruges, Don Ferdinand met Jean Vasee, a man just
suited for an appointment as librarian, and he too was persuaded to
accompany the traveller on h