ite intermit the study of them,
grievously though they have mulcted me,--were it only that I am
instructed against such moroseness by the example of King Telephus
of the Mysians, who refused not to be cured in the end by the
weapon that had wounded him. As to that book you possess, _On the
Manner of Holding Parliaments_, I have caused the marked
passages of it to be either amended, or, if they were doubtful,
confirmed, by reference to the MS. in the possession of the
illustrious Lord Bradshaw, and also to the Cotton MS., as you will
see from your little paper returned herewith. In compliance with
your desire to know whether also the autograph of this book is
extant in the Tower of London, I sent one to inquire of the Herald
who has the custody of the Deeds, and with whom I am on familiar
terms. His answer is that no copy of that book is extant among
those records. For the help you offer me in return in procuring
literary material I am very much obliged. I want, of the Byzantine
Historians, _Theophanis Chronographia_ (folio: Greek and
Latin), _Constantini Manassis Breviarium Historicum_, with
_Codini Excerpta de Antiquitatibus Constantinopolitanis_
(folio: Greek and Latin), _Anastasii Bibliothecarii Historia et
Vitae Romanorum Pontificum_ (folio); to which be so good as to
add, from the same press, _Michael Glycas_, and _Joannes
Cinnamus_, the continuator of Anna Comnena, if they are now out.
I do not ask you to get them as cheap as you can, both because
there is no need to put a very frugal man like yourself in mind of
that, and because they tell me the price of these books is fixed
and known to all. MR. STOUPE has undertaken the charge of the money
for you in cash, and also to see about the most convenient mode of
carriage. That you may have all you wish, and all you aspire after,
is my sincere desire. Farewell.

"Westminster: March 24, 1656-7."

Of the French scholar to whom this letter was addressed there is an
excellent notice in Bayle. "EMERIC BIGOT," says Bayle, "one of the
most learned and most honest men of the seventeenth century, was a
native of Rouen, and of a family very distinguished in the legal
profession. He was born in 1626. The love of letters drew him aside
from public employments; his only occupation was in books and the
acquisition of knowledge; he augmented marvellously the library which
had been left him by his father. Once every week