The Sun.
London, England, 1815-12-30 00:00:00

performed lb 'ilia asto;.;ishnient tof nailons. witki;
Loitis might hare reduced to :it.:bjection, hods not his
mode atina prescribed limits to his valour.
'nee French Parnassus, by Ttton dtt
participates wit h 'the globes.of Col onelli in the
respect ,ind homage paid by provincial atmtteurs.
This montonvit, of which the design appears to
me to he mean, and tile execution feeble, is at
least plarcd very cou%enently in one of the gal-
leries belonging to this temple of the Mnses.
1". The detneaeour of the studious untie, '-Mello
ii;4esthe library habituAlly as his cabinet for pile-
suing- the occepations of learning, is entirely dif-
ferent from that of ,the persons• I. have described.
Eeonotnictd of-the time which he has it lit his
power to pess there,.he is to he seen iii the Court
-;-It the moment the clock strik'cts ten. The doors
are ()petted, he mounts the stairs with rapidity,
runs• ecrow the rooms with the air of one ac-
qoeinted witli the localities, and specs icy essanees
his:arcustoined stetion in the ;,;al pry. where the ii.-
hrarians Sit. The plat, of his operations :treal-.
rcady digeeted ; he does not•hesiiete about lellet
lie has to a,,k for, and often !,-,oes to take it
himself from the Fbelf On Vviii:ll laedeposited it
yesterday. -.Seated near a table, upon which he
arranges his papers, with his suutl-box open at his
etlow, (it: reads, takes notes, and four whole
flours -elapse without his having ever raised his
e:,i'esto look aroond at those who ate similarly
4iccatipir.d at the same table, or his Laving dko-
ecred that the temp, tenure of the atmosphere is
six degrees below zero in this pl ice, where a
spark of fire never yet penetrated.
" Tio•re are here, es in other places, and per
hank, inure here than ate elsewhere to he found,
originals to be noticed, a i(1. cos:combs 'to observe.
What is that person doing ail alone at-yonder ta-
ble, ist the middle of twenty volumes inioked with
little slips of written peper,—that near) in a li.tht
coloured green coat, who wipes la brow as if he
was toiling to excavate the eatt, or Sawing mar-
ble.? He is compiling, bat with ntuch greater ease
than the Abbe Troblet : the laler infused the lit=
tle wit which he possessed into that whivit he
borrowed from others ; hat the Irian ia the green
coat disburses nothing from his own capital—he
trades only on the property of other peopie; - No-
body can plunder with more unblushing holm-
(knee, audit might justly be ,mist of hito; that he
))lakes a havoc among good bons He has peblished
twenty volumes, ill accomplishing whiele he has
cut to pieces three or tour. bundled : and thus
qualified, he fiercely asserts hi title to be consi-
tiered a man of letters, and is a member of many
learned societies.
" If I . set small Value upon this liter try ma-
nceevre, I do not estimate tree atom more highly
that dusty commentator whose ctit cal .reseaudi,,s
qrc directvi sidely to the inaintcuanceot sonie very
ale,ttr,l paradoees, HtbiliC,ZlZ • a tneltitude of
quotntions, which nobody would be et the trouble
of erifying. Ile is at this moment, to the incal-
culable glory of learniug, finishing a New+ in four
Aminmes quarto, in %%Lich t.e provts tir:l4 Mon -
tai::ne is not the author of the Etsays, and that
the translation of Amyot is the production of Jean •
(14,! Matulcne. rFerv.e-cm tfies,c two literary har-
pies, I observe it Writer of ballads, %vhcr is en-
gaged io quest of couplets anions. the enignre's
in
the old Metente. &lathe furrhe.e. off- is a lade tO-
- writer, who is endeavour-mg to eollect tl
feud of Pleas, situivions, anti of characters
tram Din fe and '...-,;eudert, itt order to mix them op
,together in new romances. At the other cud of
the table, I pereeive two lads flaily,oeenpied,
by
order of their employers. in making exiraetc from
FrerOn, Litignef, and Destantamese which eir-
mils+ ante ne,y probably account for the periOdi..
cii re-apptarance, as ;Tidied to 3tICH or -such
um tragedy or cone dy, cif particular Vouches of
criticism which were originally levelled at 11140.pc,
la" illetrontanit, and to her equally distant pro-
ductions.
" I seldom visit the lihrary, without going into
the Cabinet of Medals. This magiefieent
collee-
enriched by victory. is at (Anis period the
most comphee in Europe. The love of order, and-
the learned rt-seatch of the Alibi.; Barthelemy, fol-
lowed up by his laborious successors, leavesns
nothing more to wish for io the metbodical,ar-
ranee'etent of so t est a number of medals and en-
eteived stones, except a proof of the teal utility,
or even of the ttdstence of this nnuti-nnatical sci-
erec, \vith which„ I an afraid, we are yet only
acqtrainted by eame. I shall he ready to alter my
opinion, '‘vbenext r it shall he sliewn to we that a
single doubtful point tit history lots heel% eloeitlat-
ed by the help or study of medal:, during* the two
hundred-years in which a class of our learned men
have been exclusively occupied with this branch
of archeology. On my last visit, at the moment
I entered, two celebrated antiTiariallS were dis-
puting upon a brags' medal, the impression of
which being effaced, left the field free for conjec-
tures. One of them maintained that this medal
belonged to the third year of the reign of Tibe-
rius, the other held that it had been souck itmlee
the reign Of Vcspasiane a third savant unexpect-
edly dropped in, arid on reference to him, he pro-
nounced that it wits a Spittienne medal, represent-
ing.the amours of Pasiphw. The debate waxed
hot, when a Citizen of Salamanca, who was by
chance preSent, having cast his eyes upon the me-
dal, declared that it was a Spanish Nurredi.
" "1. he apartment in which the manuscripts are
deposited, inspires me with peculiar veneration.
I never contemplate the numeroos parchments
with which it • is surrounded, without imagniing
that they possihly • envelope the fame of t\venty
men of genius, who want nothing but the appli-
cation of a little good fortune, address., or pa-
lience, to lead to the discovery of the writing on
which their immortality is founded. For a con-
siderable period, a hope of this kind leeuned to
have taken possession of the world, if we might
judge by the windier of investigators whom we
Met in the manuscript romp, and who grew pole
in *examination of old parehMents; from-which;
after six Months labour, they often gathered no
other trait than the exact knowledge of the era
at whichsopie:convent of Capuchins was founded,
or the date of the earliest privileges Of tiothe
fraWrnity of renitents,
," I also teeneraJly look into 'the Cabinet: of
rt;init's-witen Igo to the library. I. there oliserVe,
romad a large table covered et hit -gYeett
young artists, who came to study the works of the
great masters, and acquire ideas of new Gown.