x Bohemiae_." In the Litany, we read (of the
_latter_) in the address to the Deity, "_Vt famulu tuu_ HERMANNV
_in tua misericordia confidente, confortare et regere dignter:_" so
that there is no doubt about the age of the MS. In the representations of
the episcopal dresses, the tops of the mitres are depressed--another
confirmation of the date of the book.

The initial letters, and especially the B before the Psalms, are at once
elegant and elaborate. Among the subjects described, the _Descent into
Hell_, or rather the Place of Torment, is singularly striking and
extraordinary. The text of the MS. is written in a large bold gothic
letter. This volume has been recently bound in red morocco, and cruelly cut
in the binding.

Of course, here are some specimens of illuminated _Hours_, both in
manuscript and print. In the former, I must make you acquainted with a
truly beautiful volume; upon the fly leaf of which we read as follows: "I 3
F, RT, lo _Fortitudo Eius Rhodum tenuit Amadeus Graff^{9} Sauoia_." Below,
"_Biblioth: Sem: Mergenth_:" then, a long German note, of which I
understood not one word, and as M. Le Bret was not near me, I could not
obtain the solution of it. But although I do not understand one word of
this note, I do understand that this is one of the very prettiest, and most
singularly illuminated Missals, which any library can possess: broad
margins: vellum, white as snow in colour, and soft as that of Venice in
touch! The text is written in a tall, close, gothic character--between, as
I should conceive, the years 1460 and 1480. The _drolleries_ are
delightfully introduced and executed. The initial letters are large and
singular; the subject being executed within compartments of gothic
architecture. The figures, of which these subjects are composed, are very
small; generally darkly shaded, and highly relieved. They are numerous. Of
these initial letters, the fifth to the ninth, inclusively, are striking:
the sixth being the most curious, and the ninth the most elaborate. The
binding of this volume seems to be of the sixteenth century. This is as it
should be.

But, more precious than either, or than both, or than three times as many
of the preceding illuminated volumes--in the estimation of our friend * * *
would be a MS. of which the title runs thus: "_Libri Duo de Vita_ S.
WILLIBROORDI _Archiepiscopi autore humili de vita_ ALCUINI _cum prefat. ad
Beonradum Archiepiscopum. Liber secundus metrice scriptus