Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-10-30
, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 80, 1878.
TIE BRITISH MUSEUM,

OCIOBEH
TIE BRITISH MUSEUM.
Ancient Books and Nlanuscripts-Thc
Relies os Twelve Hundred Years.
The following is IN extract from a
letter Of Hon. Joseph Medill's, pub
lished in the Chicago Tribune:
Monday and to-day "wednesday I
devoted to the British Museum. Mon
day a. m. I spent among the
BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS
in the great hall containing the libra-
ries of George Ill. and George Nv. and
the great Granville Library, donated
to the Museum, tog ther with the i'm
mense additions made thereto during
the. past forty years. I cannot under
take to name the rare things saw, but
will mention few. I saw the Maza-
rine Bible, from the press of Gutten-
berg and Faust, dated Mentz, 1455,
believed to be the first copy ever print
ed on movable types. It was beauti-
scores of printed books bearing date
before 1475 :; an original copy OF the
Tales Of Caunterburye," by Chaucer,
1476-only one other copy in existence.
I saw a copy Of the first
edition of Columbus letter or record of
his discovery of America, written eight
months thereafter, printed in Latin, in
Rome, 1893. I saw q copy of Shaks-
peare's "Romeo and Juliet" London,
1597,-hrst edition. Just look ut the
date! Also, of ''King Lear" 16O8,-
first edition, and "Merry Wives of
Windsor, r,"-first edition, 1919. Also,
copy of the first collected edition Of
Shakspeare's plays, 1923; all be-
queathed by David Garrick. I also
saw Shakspeare's autograph to deed
for the purchase OF piece of land, and
a mighty poor specimen of penmanship
it was. I saw the manuscript contract
of Milton and his publisher for stPar-
adise Lost" and Millions signature
thereto. Some Of the English manu-
scripts date back to A. d. 623.
There is also to be seen
the Bull of Pope Leo K, conferring
on Henry VIII. the title of ssDefender &C
of the Faith" There were letters in
French written by William the Con-
querer. There were autograph letters
Of all the noted historical characters,
as Kings, Queens, Princes, Dukes,
Earls, authors, composers, orators,
poets, statesmen, Generals, Admirals,
etc., produced by Great Britain and
Europe for thousand years past. 1
was perfectly bewildered with the mul.
titude of them. I saw the original
manuscript of the New Testament
"Codex Alexandrian," of A. D. $50, in
Greek, on parchment. I believe there
are only two older copies extant,-one
in the Vatican and one in st. Peters
burg. saw the Parliamentar records
since William the Conquerer, and the
original Magma Charta exto1ted from
King John lit was nearly faded out).
But I weary you with the enumeration.
The afternoon devoted to the gal
leries containing specimens of natural
history, and portion of the collection
ANTIQUITIES,
including the ancient coins and jeweled
ornaments. Some of the coins dated
back to the early days of Greece. No
jewelry store IN London or Paris can
equal in design or beauty of these spe.
cimens of jewelry. Indeed, the modern
ones are mere limitations of those of
Greece and Rome.
This afternoon was devoted to
ANCIENT sTATUARY,
which fills dozen great halls, some of
them 200 by 80 feet. The collection of
"Elgin Marbles" from Athens is i'm
mense. I never formed any concep.
tiOn of sculpture before. It is almest
lost art to the moderns. They can
not even copy the originals, much less
conceive originals to compare with
those produced by little Greece
The collection from Egypt is pro-
digious, shiploads of works
of art in marble and granite
Get black granite) and marble Of vari-
GUS colors. The Egyptian statuary ex.
ceeds that of Greece in size, running
into the super-collossal, and all of it is
constructed or cast after a peculiar
type, as shown in pictures. The Greek
statuary is bold, graceful, faithful to
life, wonderful. But nearly all of the
specimens, thousands in number, are
more or less broken or defaced-some
of them mere fragments. Vandals and
barbarians made sad havoc with them.
came away both days SO tired that
limba, eyes, and brain ached, and I was
one big ache from the top of my head
to tho 40lsssUfmy feet::~ I tell you ID il
the hardest KIND of work, this thing of
sight. seeing, if one goes at it deter
mined to fird out things, and look
deeper than the surface of guide book /
descriptions. Qnever look ut the lat
THE BRITISH MUSEUM LIBRARY
contains over l, 600, 600 volumes, and rs
many manuscripts and pamphlets. The
main reading-room is circular, like the:
Chicago Talk, but ten times as large,
being 40 feet in diameter by the same
in height, t,-being, in tact, a vast dome
or bowl. It contains 1901 of the
most-used and called-for volumes, but
none of the rare and curious old books.
There are stalls or seats and desks for,
perhaps, 500. readers, and they
are mostly full continually. Here
the books and = magazines are
made, and half these readers I
saw were authors. No books are loaned
ont, or allowed to be taken out uf the
OuAAVluA> AAO UOOho dA0 OA1dukcN OAl
the shelves very much as the Boston
and Washington Libraries. The guide
complained of the error Of having the
rooms too high, and of the enormous
amount Of ladder-work for the servants
in fetching and replacing books. In the
new rooms the shelves are not more
than or 9 feet high but the aisles
have iron gratings, so that you can see
up two or three stories and down as
many. In fact, the aisles are simply
gridirons. Two or three copies OF all
copyrighted books must he given to the
Grand Library.
Dress Plainly.
Some one has given the following
reasona why people should dress plain
ly on Sunday These reasons are as
valid any other day in the week:
It would lessen the burden of many
who now find it hard to maintain
their place in society.
1t would lessen the force of tempta-
tions which often lead men to barter
honesty and honor for display.
If there was less strife in dress ut
church people in moderate circum-