Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-10

4 Ing the manuscripts, and to prevent ldleness
and interruption no one save the writer's were
permitted to enter the room. except the higher
officers OF the abbey. There was a special Off
Ger in charge of the writing room, who had to
provide all that was necessary for the work
desks. ink. parchment. pens, penknives, pumice
| stone for smoothing the surface Of the parch-
ment, avis to give guiding marks for ruling
| lines, reading frames to hold the books to be
/ copied, rulers and weights to keep down the
pages. The scribe himself was forbidden to
make any alteration in the text, even when the
| original which he was copying was obviously
wrong. Absolute silence was enjoined, and,
some method of communication being neces-
sary, signs were employed. For example, if a
scribe wanted a pagan work to refer to he
! scratched his ear suggestively in the manner of
a dog.
| BINDINGS IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
The bindings most commonly used for books
in the middle ages were Of leather fastened over
solid wooden boards. But the finest volumes
were clothed in ivory, silver or even gold. the
| sides being carved or worked into embossed
figures and set with jewels. The work done by
the scribes at the monasteries seems 20 have
been very cheap. In the year 1900 their pay
ordinarily about Is cents day. Some of
the remarks added by these hired writers at the
end of the copies OF books made by them are
very amusing. One of them says: "Nunc
scripsi totum; pro Christie da mihi potum' ~
which means. "Now that have written it all,
for Christ's sake, give me a drink"
When one reads OF a manuscript in gold or
silver il must be understood that the letters
and not the background are of those substances
Usually the effect of such colors was heightened
by previously dyeIng the whole leaves Of parch-
ment deep purple. On this tone the gold and
silver, as well as red and white paint showed
TO great advantage. The gold was laid on
with extraordinary care, SO as to produce the
glittering effect often seen in medieval illumi-
L.. l. -
more than 100 separate and delicate pieces OF
FURNISHED and shining gold. To begin with, a
peculiar light pink clay, fetched from the east
and much priced in monasteries, was placed on
the parchment. after the design had been drawn
IN outline. Then sizing was put on the sur
face, after which the gold leaf was laid on, and
finally the gold was FURNISHED by hand with
an agate.
The oldest writing in the world known about
IL an inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphies
preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Ok
ford 1t is on stone which was the cornice
over the door of tomb. The date of it is not
later than 1000 B. C. The Oldest piece of lit
erary composition in existence is q roll of
papyrus from Egypt, now, in the Louvre at
Paris 1t was written about $500 b. c. Oddly
enough. it is an ESSAY written by old man
the degenerate character OF the age and the
people as compared with previous epoch. So
1t would seem that this business of running
down the contemporary generation is by no
means new.
The showers of ashes and streams Of lava
which poured over the houses Of Herculaneum
aud PompeiI reduced the papyrus rolls in the
private libraries Of those cities TO black Jumps.
Nevertheless, when many of them were dug out
during the last century. it was found that not q
few of them could be unrolled and deciphered.
Fac SMILES OF them were taken Immediately
after the unrolling, which was fortunate mas
much as the originals quickly exhibited an in
clination to decay and fall to pieces.
DISCOVERY OF THE coDEX sINAIr1cUs.
Tho oldest known edition of the New Tesla
ment is called the ''Codex Sinaitcus." 1t was
written in Greek about 400 A. d. The story of
its discovery reads like a romance. In 1874
Constantine Tischendorf. the editor of the
Greek Testament, visited the Convent of st.
Catharine, at the foot of Mt. Sinai. In the
middle of the hallway, as he crossed it. he saw
basketball of old parchment leaves OIL their
way to b. burned and was told that two baskets
mad already gone. Looking at the leaves closely
he perceived that they were parts of the Old
Testament in Greek written in extremely
ancient handwriting. He was allowed to take
away forty three leaves; but the interest Of the
monks was aroused. and they not only stopped
the burning. but refused to part with any more
OF thu fragments. Tischendorf went back to
the convent later. but could obtain nothing
more. He had made ready for departure, when
the steward of the house. as a matter of curl
". o
bulky volume, which turned out to be the whole
OF the New Testament. with the Greek text of
the Epistle of Barnabas. much of which was
hitherto unknown. together with the greater
part of the Old Testament. which had SO long
been sought. In careless tone Tischendorf
asked if he might have it in his room for fur
ther inspection, and that night he spent In
copying out the Epistle of Barnabas. Finally
he hit upon the happy idea of asking for the
volume as gift to the Emperor of Russia. In
this way he secured 1t, and the manuscript is
now deposited at st. Petersburg.
In this connection mention should be made
of Constantine Slmonides, a Greek. who was
the greatest literary forger OF this century.
For many years he made business of selling
old manuscripts. He owned a large number OF
genuine manuscripts, and his stock in trade also
included many counterfeits. His custom was
to present first some genuine ones. and. when
his customer was off his guard, to sell him some
of the forgeries. England and Germany af-
forded the main field for his operations. At
length he was exposed and his peculiar industry
ceased to be profitable. He last appeared
prominently before the public in 1861. when he
boldly asserted that he himself had written the
whole of the .'Codex Sinaiticus." which Tischen-
dorf had brought from the Convent of st.
Catherine on Mount Sinai. OF course, the
| statement was received with incredulity; but
Simonides declared that, anticipating skepticism
on the part of scholars. he had placed certain
| private signs particular leaves of the book.
When pressed to specify these marks, he gave a
list of the leaves on which we're to be found his
| initials or monogram. The test seemed a fair
one and the manuscript at st. Petersburg was
carefully inspected. Every leaf designated by
| Simonides found to be imperfect at the part
| where the mark was to have been found De-
/ liberate mutiation by enemy. said his
| friends. But many thought that the willy
Greek had acquired through private sources a
| note of some imperfect leaves in the manu-
/ n