The Sun.
London, England, 1828-05-08 00:00:00

LIBRARIES OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

M. Schulz, professor at the -University of
Giessen, anti member of the Asiatic Society,quitted Paris in the middle of the slimmer Of
1826, for the purpose of making a Literary Tour
through, more especially, the Persian Empire.
The varied acquirements, and solid information
of this young scholar, and the zeal with which
he is animated,' says M. Saint Martin, ‘ leads
us to hope and expect that this journey will fur-
nish an abundant harvest of new and valuable
observations on the languages, literature, anti-
quities, geography, and history of the eastern
nations.' M. Saint Martin here gives an ex-
tract from some of the letters addressed to
him by M. Schulz, during his stay at Con-
stantinople. It contains many curious and in-
teresting :particulars, some details of manners,
and many facts of great interest to literature.
M. Saint Martin had expressed to M. Schulz, a
desire to possess an exact catalogue of all the
manuscripts contained in the various libraries of
Constantinople. The traveller made great eX--
ertions to execute this wish, but it was not with-.
out some difficulty that he succeeded. A short
time only had elapsed since a finnan had been
issued, forbidding any of the libraries of Constan-
t
tinople to sell either Arabic, Persian, or Tinkisti
manuscripts, to any but Mussulmans. The
dragoman or interpreter of the French embassy,
having solicited fir M. Schulz an entry into the
mosques, to which, as it is well known, most of
the libraries aro attached, the Reis-effendi gave a
very decided refusal ; saying at the same time,
that it was not the custom of the Porte to grant
such a permission to any but Ambassadors. The
young traveller, however, ;having made an ac •
quaintauce with several ulernas and others, who
overpowered him with kindness and attention,
was at length enabled, through their recommen-
dation and exertions, to examine, at his leisur6,
the richest and most splendid of these establish-
ments. M. Schulz expresses the most lively
gratitude for the politeness and attention which
he invariably received in his visits to these li-
braries.

He appears to find some difficulty in stating
the precise number of libraries in the vast cir-
cumference of Constantinople ; many of them
are almost unknown ; which are, nevertheless, as
rich in good works as the most celebrated. He
mentions thirty of the most considerable, which
he had visited at the time of his writing. It
would have required several months, merely to
copy the catalogue of the numerous manuscripts
which they contain ; he has therefore directed
his attention almost solely to the historians. lie
will, no doubt, amongst these, meet with very
many valuable works, the very names of which
are totally unknown in Europe, or which are
generally believed to be lost. In confining him.
self, thus, to one particular object, he has been
enabled to make an extensive catalogue, in the
Turkish language, of all the historical and geo-
graphical works to be met with in sixteen of the
principal libraries of Constantinople ; and
catalogue is now in the hands of M. Saint Martin_

M:Schulz has also made several extracts, from
four different historians ; neither of whom, as
he believes, are yet known in Europe. These
authors are Bin Alathim, Ibn Alasakir, Ibn
Aladim, and Ibn Khaldoun. The first is, ac-
cording to M. Schulz, an excellent Arabian his-
torian, and is held in great estimation through-
out the East. As to the works of Ibn Alasakir
and Ibn Aladim, on Damascus and Aleppo,
" they are," he says," productions in every re-
spect colossal. It is difficult to conceive how
one man could ever even copy, not to say com-
pose, a work of such gigantic magnitude as that
of Ibn Alasakir ; which makes eleven volumes
in folio, or which, according to calculation by no
means exaggerated, is composed of from twenty
to twenty-two thousand pages in folio, of the
smallest possible writing, that is to say, of a
million of lines, and from fifty to sixty millions
of letters ! According to this account, Ibil
Alasakir may, from the present moment, be re-
garded as one of the most voluminous writers of
any age or country ; for, according to our calcu-
lation, he has written, on the history of two cities,
exactly a hundred of our octavo volumes; and
to exist in any of the
Schulz has, however,
these sixty millions of letters seem to. be the ',,e
seven volumes folio.
plus ultra of what can possibly
man during the longest life. But the manuscript
occupied M. Schtilz•s
which has most particularly . -
attention during his stay at Constantinople, is the
be written by ~,,
3,,,,,.tin
itHinbo;rtsamtr nifebiserrtoufi haditaiti
eadlt)e,ccflilta,y,ri.endd
great work of Ibn
translatedkhaldo several chapters
Nelh.aillli
from it, on the history of the Berbers. And,
lastly, M. Schulz has sent M. St. Martin several
He has copied
very useful Armenian works, and to M. Lajard.
some engraved Persepolitan atones; one of
which, of the most exquisite workmanship, pre-
sents the remarkable combination of Greek cha-
racters, of a very ancient form, and much ante-
rior to the age of
Alexander, with the figure of
a winged lion, • 1
sum ar to that which is found on
the great bas-reliefs of
Persepolis.

Uldraltl
wasSh°e
nrral Meeting of the Shareholders in the Southwark-bridge
at which it was resolved
this
evening. Mr. Ilitoucitam, last night,
that a new Committee should be appointed, to investigate
NtilAIL101: -do:RTlaDvGer:::—On Tuesday a Ce.
Closely the affairs of the Company. An adjournment until
that day fortnight was then proposed and carried.
en Theilo,jtivCelyatholic Question, it appears, is to Mine
on presenting some petitions, stated as much, assigning that
as a reason for not making any remarks in support of them.
Previously to presenting such petitions, Mr. 13RotTobau
and Sir F. BURDETT (who brings forward the motion),
were for sonie time in close and earnest conversation. Mr.
• G. BAS Ec intimated that the discus.sien would last tic,)
, nights.--Morning PlytT.