New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-08-22
ROMANCE OF LITERARY DISCO VERY.
From Tenn ole Bar

IutefestIng
queathed to us was discovered amid heap OF re1nse
and rubbish near Milan by Bishop of Lodi, carry
IN the fifteenth century: aud the only vaiuaoie
manuscript of Dloscorides was, when found In
similar state $50 thoroughly riddled with insects"
writes Lambecius It that one would have scarcely
stopped to pick il up in the streets had one seen IL
lying there" Had the insects been able 10 ENJOY
hearter meal the botany of the ancienrs would
have been almost a blank to U.S. LIvy-or. rather,
what remains Of him dor ont of 142 books we have,
alas only 35)-was picked up piecemeal. thus
part of the fourth decade was found In
the cathedral church of st. Martin at May
ence; another portion. containing books al 10
A IN an Out-of-the-way coroner In Swltzef-
land while part of book 81 was found lurk-
ing under the writing of another manuscript IN the
Vatican. One Of Horaces Odes book ". ode - was
found sticking 10 an early impression Of CIeero's
"Ofices," though not of course unique Impression,
still the earliest we have. Part of the Odyssey" OF
Homer, j. e.. three hundred lines OF book Is,
was found grasped in the hands of a mummy at
Monfalout. very singular discovery III the
fifteenth century created for the moment the I'M
preston that the lost books OF Livy were on the
point of turning up again. The tutor of French
nobleman. the Marquis de ROnvIlle CHANGED to be
playing tennis. In the course of the game he
noticed that his racquet bat was made OF parchment
which was covered with writing He had the
curiosity 10 attempt to declpher II. and IN short
time he discovered thar 1t was piece OF historical
Latin prose. He was good and widely read
scholar he saw that the style the style of Lvy,
and as soon found that the fragment was evidently
part of the lost books He instantly hurried off to
the racquet-maker. Bur all was in vain, the man
could Only tell him that he had fallen in with a
mass of parchment, and that al the parchment had
long since been used up'-had passed into racquet
bats.
For the preservation of the celebrated digest of
the Emperor JustInlan Indebted to some
Pisan soldiers who came upon 1t amid the debris of
q city which they had bcsieged aud taken in Ca
labrla and the preservation OF the EthIoplca'
of 1ellodorus. Christian bishop of the fourth
tury is little short OF miraculous. During the sack
OF 0ien IN i223 common soldier saw Tin; manu-
tramped under the feet OF his comrades who were
intent on plundcTDg the houses. Noticing, how
ever, that 1t richly bound, he picked it and
conveyed it into Germany. where it shortly
afterward printed, and became one OF the most
popular romances of modern times. Not less sim
GUAR was the rescue of the works of Agobard
learned prelate of the ninth century, VINO has left
some valuable details about the times in which he
lived scholar named Masso CHANGED one after
noon to enter a bOOkblndeTs shop III Paris. Motto
ing that the man about TO cut up mass of
manuscript, he begged leave TO inspect it. He soon
saw its value, and saved the good bishop from
oblivion. Before leave ancient literature TO
come TO more modern times, we must notice two
other curious methods OF discovery. Not many
years ago Cardinal Mai. the eminent Italian
scholar. had observed that behind the writing of
many medi1val manuscripts there were traces OF
former letters. 1t occurred 10 HIM that a. parch
ment was by means abundant during the middle
ages It was Just poss bic that the monks may have
possessed themselves of pagan manuscripts, Ge-
lberately erased the compositions inscribed on
them, and used ne parchment for their own pur-
poses His suspicious were soon confirmed A
microscopic examination enabled him not only
discern, but even IN many cases TO declpher, the
original letters, and thus arose some OF the most
interesting literary discoveries OF modern days |
Behind the letters OF history of the Council of
Chalcedon he discovered The epistes of Fronto and
some Of the Orations OF Symmachus aud behind the
letters of commentary OF saint Augustine on the |
Psalms he made the glorious discovery of
at least Onethird OF the long lost work of Cicero
the " De RepubiIca' ii work which up to the |
time OF Mai's discovery was only known ~ us by |
one long fragment and two or three isolated scraps
In times when great works were unique il was. |
we regret to say, by no means uncommon for the |
possessor of manuscript to transcube whole |
passages and, destroying the original, 10 make |
them pass for his own. Thus Leonardo Arctino, be-
lIeyng himself to he the sole possessor OF a |
history of the Gothic War, by ProcopuS, trans
for tie original author Thus there is good
reason TO believe that Petrns Alcyomus
transcribed INTO treatise OF his own whole para
graphs from the " DE Gloria" Of Cicero, and then
made away with it that his base plagiarism might |
not be detected
Everyone knows how Sir Robert Cotton rescued |
the original manuscript f Magma Charta from the |
hands oil a common tailor who was cutting II up for |
patterns. As THIS copy was certainly not unique, |
we should only have had to regret the loss of
rosty. The valuable collection Of the IhurlOe |
state papers wOud probably have remained a secret
10 the world had II not been for the tumbng III of !
the ceiling Of some old chambers In LincOln's Inn
where those documents had for some reason or
other been concealed In the secret drawer of ~
chest the curious manuscripts of DIR. Dee the occult
lurked unsuspec ted for years. Many
Of the charming letters OF Lady Mary Moniagu, lei
ters which are among the most delightful compost
tons penned. and which have long taken their
place among English classics, were found in the
false bottom OF old trunk. Lord Herbert of
autobiography was all but lost 10 the
world. IL known that when Lord Herbert
lied there were two copies OF the work, one written
with bis own hand, and one transcribed by an |
But neither of them could he found. |
At last III the midst of mass of wOrm-eaten, |
nOuldy old papers at Ignore In MontCOmeryshire |
gentleman came upon the original copy. Several
caves had been torn out. many Others had been
stained Dv damp as TO De all but illegible. Enough
:Oud be decIphered, however, to snow the value of
the work. The only hope was that If the duplicete
could be secured. it might supply the acunn OF the
original. But years rolled by and 10 duplicate
uIned up In 1897 an estate belonging to the Her
,erts was sold. Some few books, pictures and |
lumber were stored away In an attic. too worthless
apparently, for the purchaser to take away-and 10
lred duplicate. And thus did English literature
itself of one of the most interesting autObi-
graphies it can boast. Indeed, the late Lord Lyt-
on used to say that there was no single book. of
his KIND at least, that he treasured highly Still
more romantic was the discovery OF Luthers
Table Talk
In the year 1926 German gentleman named
jasbarus van Spar was engaged IN building n new
Ouse. the foundation of which was based "A cot
age which had formerly belonged to his grand
ather. In the course OF their excavations the work
zen upon a small square parcel wrapped in
trong linen cloth. which mad been carefully plas-
cred all over with beeswax. On opening and ex-
mining the parcel, "a volume was discovered And |
hls volume Luthers work, the only copy in ex- |
'tence IL bad evidently been buried by Van
par's grandfather to escape the penalty Of an
diet issued by Rudolph III. ut the lnstigafIon OF |
ope Gregory Kill, making IL death for any one to
ossess the work. he loss of this book would
OF only have deprived us OF a work which is in
self singularly Interesting but we should never |
ave Understood the character OF the great refOrncr
ali so well, never have known his rich humor hIs |
Irowd, genial spirit. his Observation-Disclosures, never
ave known what he was when surrounded by his !
lmy aud his friends. A mans pnblIc life il | :
Dor test of ms private WORTH and letters are a poor
Institute Tor the records of familiar conversation
"a Ia bel Al on |
ne of the canIOs of the " Paradise" was drawn |
ON its lurking place ut had slipped behind d win.
Nv silD consequence of an intimation received
a dream.
"AND He DIDS'T SEEM TO LIKE lT.n-Newlv-
arried Husband NncunrNl: i" Wen. dear. Ihrre