t a matter of _conscience_, as well as of character, with me, to
examine every thing in the shape of a library, and especially of a public
one, yet it must be admitted that the collection under consideration is
hardly worthy of a second visit: and accordingly I took both a first and a
final view of it.

From the Chapter I went to the COLLEGE LIBRARY. In other words, there is a
fine public school, or Lycee, or college, where a great number of lads and
young men are educated "according to art." The building is extensive and
well-situated: the play-ground is large and commodious; and there is a
well-cultivated garden "tempting with forbidden fruit." Into this garden I
strolled in search of the President of the College, who was not within
doors. I found him in company with some of the masters, and with several
young men either playing, or about to play, at skittles. On communicating
the object of my visit, he granted me an immediate passport to the
library--"mais, Monsieur, (added he) ce n'est rien: il y avoit autrefois
_quelque chose_: maintenant, ce n'est qu'un amas de livres tres
communs." I thanked him, and accompanied the librarian to the Library;
who absolutely apologized all the way for the little entertainment I
should receive. There was indeed little enough. The room may be about
eighteen feet square. Of the books, a great portion was in vellum
bindings, in wretched condition. Here was _Jay's Polyglot_, and the
matrimonial _Sanctius_ again! There was a very respectable sprinkling of
_Spanish and French Dictionaries_; some few not wholly undesirable
_Alduses_; and the rare Louvain edition of _Sir Thomas More's Works_,
printed in 1566, folio.[146] I saw too, with horror-mingled regret, a
frightfully imperfect copy of the _Service of Bayeux Cathedral_, printed
in the Gothic letter, UPON VELLUM. But the great curiosity is a small
brass or bronze crucifix, about nine inches high, standing upon the
mantlepiece; very ancient, from the character of the crown, which
savours of the latter period of Roman art--and which is the only crown,
bereft of thorns, that I ever saw upon the head of our Saviour so
represented. The eyes appear to be formed of a bright brown glass. Upon
the whole, as this is not a book, nor a fragment of an old illumination,
I will say nothing more about its age. I was scarcely three quarters of
an hour in the library; but was fully sensible of the politeness of my
attendant, and of the truth of his predic