d of letters
at his beck and call.'

CHAPTER XV.

FRENCH COLLECTORS--NAUDE TO RENOUARD.

Gabriel Naude was a Doctor of Medicine, and held an appointment at one
time as physician in ordinary to Louis XIII. But even as a student he
manifested that passion for books which furnished the real occupation of
his life. Before taking his degree at Padua he was librarian to Henri de
Mesmes, and afterwards to Cardinal Bagni at Rome. On his patron's death
he was placed in charge of the great library which Cardinal Barberini was
establishing in his palace in the Piazza of the Quattro Fontane. Some
part of his time was spent in collecting books for Cardinal Richelieu,
who offered Naude the charge of his library in 1642; but, the Cardinal
having died in that year, Naude transferred his services to Mazarin. He
inspired his employer with the desire of emulating the magnificence of
Barberini and the patriotic generosity of Borromeo; and the librarian's
keen scent for books and minute knowledge of their values were
thenceforth utilised in the work of creating the _Bibliotheque Mazarine_.

Richelieu had done things on a grand scale. He had confiscated to his own
use the whole town-library at La Rochelle; and Naude was anxious that
Mazarin's great undertaking should begin with an acquisition _en bloc_. A
provincial governor named Simeon Dubois had made a collection in the
Limousin. His books had passed into the hands of Jean Descordes, a Canon
of Limoges, who died in 1642 possessed of about 6000 volumes. Naude
prepared the catalogue, and persuaded the Cardinal to purchase the whole
property by private contract. A few months afterwards the King gave him
the State Papers collected by Antoine de Lomenie. A great number of
printed books were added under Naude's superintendence, and in a short
time the new library was opened to the public. Its regulations were
framed in a very liberal spirit, as may be learned from the first of
Naude's rules: 'The library is to be open to all the world without the
exception of any living soul; readers will be supplied with chairs and
writing-materials, and the attendants will fetch all books required in
any language or department of learning, and will change them as often as
is necessary.'

In reviewing the condition of the other great libraries, Naude pointed
out that there was nothing like an unrestrained admission except at the
Bodleian, the Ambrosian, and the Angelica Library at Rome. The public