cret
history collected in state papers and records; but he was also famous for
the extent of his general scholarship, and for the patronage which he
manifested towards all who laboured about books. He was himself a most
fastidious collector. He never heard of the appearance of a valuable work
without ordering three or four copies on the fine paper manufactured for
his private use; and of any such book already issued he would order
several sets of sheets to be taken to pieces in order to procure one
perfect example. His library was not large. It consisted of about 8000
printed books and 1000 manuscripts, chiefly upon historical subjects; but
they were all well selected, well bound, and in perfect condition. There
is a letter upon this subject by Henri Estienne the printer, in which the
high reputation of De Thou's library is contrasted with Lucian's just
invective against the illiterate book-hunter: 'The satirist would have
honoured a man like you, so learned and so generous in your library: you
choose your books with taste, and proportion the cost of binding to the
price of the volume; and Lucian, I am sure, would have praised your
carefulness in these respects.'

In all matters connected with literature De Thou was helped by his friend
'Pithoeus,' of whom it was said that no one knew any particular author as
well as Pierre Pithou knew all the classics. By talent and hard work
combined Pithou had 'distilled the quintessence of wisdom' out of the
garnered stores of antiquity. Upon his death De Thou was inclined to give
up his books and the work that had made life pleasant. He wrote in that
strain to his associate Isaac Casaubon. 'On the loss of my incomparable
friend, the partner of my cares and my counsellor in letters and
politics, the web that I was weaving fell from my hand, and I should not
have resumed my history were it not a tribute to the memory of one who
has done so much for me.'

De Thou's end was hastened by the death of his wife. Those who know the
look of his books, stamped with a series of his family quarterings, will
remember that he was first married to Marie Barbancon, and afterwards to
Gasparde de la Chastre. 'I had always hoped and prayed,' he wrote at the
commencement of his will, 'that my dearest Gaspara Chastraea would have
outlived me.'

Admonished by her loss to set his affairs in order he began to take
special pains in providing for the future of his books. He anticipated
the public spirit o