the seventies told a visitor that his
"Lordship was as handsome as a saint."

In the lobby adjoining Byron's room are cases of autographs and
photographs of distinguished visitors, such as Mr. Howells, Longfellow,
Ruskin, Gladstone, King Edward VII when Prince of Wales, and so forth.
Also a holograph sonnet on the monastery by Bryant. Elsewhere are
various curiosities--dolls dressed in national costumes, medals,
Egyptian relics, and so forth. In one case is some manna which actually
fell from the skies in Armenia during a famine in 1833.

The chief room of the library contains not only its priceless MSS., but
a famous mummy which the experts put at anything from 2200 to 3500 years
old. Another precious possession is a Buddhist ritual on papyrus, which
an Armenian wandering in Madras discovered and secured. The earliest
manuscript dates from the twelfth century. In a central case are
illuminated books and some beautiful bindings; and I must put on record
that if ever there was a cicerone who displayed no weariness and
disdained merely mechanical interest in exhibiting for the thousandth
time his treasures, it is Father Vardan Hatzouni. But the room is so
pleasant that, were it not that one enjoys such enthusiasm and likes to
stimulate it by questions, it would be good merely to be in it without
too curiously examining its possessions.

Downstairs is a rather frigid little church, where an embroidered cloth
is shown, presented by Queen Margherita. The S. Lazzaro Armenians, I may
say, seem always to have attracted gifts, one of their great benefactors
being Napoleon III. They are so simple and earnest and unobtrusive--and,
I am sure, grateful--that perhaps it is natural to feel generous
towards them.

Finally we were shown to the printing-room, on our way to which, along
the cloisters from the church, we passed through a group of elderly
monks, cheerfully smoking and gossiping, who rose and made the most
courtly salutation. Here we saw the printing-presses, some of English
make, and then the books that these presses turn out. Two of these I
bought--the little pamphlet from which I have already quoted and a
collection of Armenian proverbs translated into English.

The garden is spreading and very inviting, and no sooner were we outside
the door than Father Hatzouni returned to some horticultural pursuit.
The walks are long and shady and the lagoon is lovely from every point;
and Venice is at once within a few minutes a