he mouth of his judge of 'wicked servant.'

"Fearing to incur which sentence, I, a man unworthy and almost without
name, offer gratuitously to all desirous with humility to learn, that
which the divine condescension, which giveth to all men liberally and
upbraideth not, gratuitously conceded to me: and I admonish them that in
me they acknowledge the goodness, and admire the generosity of God; and
I would persuade them to believe that if they also add their labor, the
same gifts are within their reach.

"Wherefore, gentle son, whom God has rendered perfectly happy in this
respect, that those things are offered to thee gratis, which many,
plowing the sea waves with the greatest danger to life, consumed by the
hardship of hunger and cold, or subjected to the weary servitude of
teachers, and altogether worn out by the desire of learning, yet acquire
with intolerable labor, covet with greedy looks this 'BOOK OF VARIOUS
ARTS,' read it through with a tenacious memory, embrace it with an
ardent love.

"Should you carefully peruse this, you will there find out whatever
Greece possesses in kinds and mixtures of various colors; whatever
Tuscany knows of in mosaic-work, or in variety of enamel; whatever
Arabia shows forth in work of fusion, ductility, or chasing; whatever
Italy ornaments with gold, in diversity of vases and sculpture of gems
or ivory; whatever France loves in a costly variety of windows; whatever
industrious Germany approves in work of gold, silver, copper, and iron,
of woods and of stones.

"When you shall have re-read this often, and have committed it to your
tenacious memory, you shall thus recompense me for this care of
instruction, that as often as you shall have successfully made use of my
work, you pray for me for the pity of Omnipotent God, who knows that I
have written these things, which are here arranged, neither through love
of human approbation, nor through desire of temporal reward, nor have I
stolen anything precious or rare through envious jealousy, nor have I
kept back anything reserved served for myself alone; but in
augmentation of the honor and glory of His name, I have consulted the
progress and hastened to aid the necessities of many men."--_Ib._ pp.
xlvii.-li.

* * *

109. There is perhaps something in the naive seriousness with which
these matters of empiricism, to us of so small importance, are regarded
by the good monk, which may at first tempt the reader to a smi