The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1907-08-17

|of Rome, but this cannot be done un-
less some mention is made of the VAT
lean Library. in which have been in
corporated from time 10 time several
private collections of books and MAN.
uscripts
The Vatican Library was first form
eel by Nicolas V. u447-55), who alone
collected 5000 manuscripts. and if was
increased by Sixtus w. and Sixtus V.
Q475-15SS). In 1923 the library was
Increased by the gift of the Bibliothe-
ca Palatina OF Heidelberg. raptured nv
Illly from Maxmillian of Bavaria: in
1857 by the Bibliotheca Urbina found
ed by Federico da Montefeltro: in 1890
by the Alexandrina. which belonged to
Queen Christina of Sweden: in 1746 by
the Ottohoniana. purchased by Otto
boni. Duke Of fiano.
The library consists of over 10000
Greek. Latin and Oriental manuscripts
and about 100000 volumes. Among its
treasures are manuscript Of the
Greek Testament of the NTH century.
Virgil of the filth century. a Terence
of the fourth. the palimpsest of The
Republic" manuscripts by st. Thomas
Apuinas and Petrarch, by Henry VIII.
of England. etc.
The first person in Rome to own a
private library was Cardinal Vitellozzi
under the pontificate of Paul w, but
1t had heen the fashion in Rome, as far
back as the fifteenth century, for no
BILE families to collect in their palaces
books and manuscripts besides objects
ut art. statuary and paintings. Still
such collections could not be consider
ed as Libraries. ....
The household Of every nobleman Of
rank in the Middle Ages. especially if
he was nephew of Pope. was a real
court, with chamberlains, servants ami
men at arms. and no establishment
was considered complete unless, be-
sides n chaplain, an auditor, secretar-
les and a lawyer some literary person.
ages, known as literati, who were
versed in the four principal languages
of the world. namely. Hebrew, Greek,
Latin and Italian, were attached to II.
lhese llterati wrote the letters of their
master and kept the archives of the
house. they wrote poetry. kept dairies
and acted as interpreters; in shorr.
they attended to everything and any
thing which required knowledge Of
reading and writing.
Gradually they became librarians. It
was the custom to keep deeds and le-
gal acts, letters of ambassadors. re-
ports and instructions in the upper
floors of Roman palaces. which were
generally well lighted and free from
dampness. Here the litteratl worked
and here every book or manuscript
was brought up for safekeeping.
Gradually these archives, for such
they were in the beginning. became H.
brares. The master of the house
might belong to one of the sixty con-
script families of Rome who were
privileged to erect colored canopy or
sort of throne in one Of the principal
rooms of their palaces. and he might
therefore rank as a Roman prince. In
such case he was likely to hold some
post of Importance in the Papal Court.
The archives of the family would
then include all the documents relat-
ing to the office held in the Papal
Court. and hence private libraries be-
came public or state archives. and
many of them are considered as such
to this very day. Generally the collec- +
tions contained in the libraries of pri- Z
vate noble families are carefully cata-
logued and indexed, and this is ex-
planned by the fact that at the death
of the owner they passed to the male
heir who succeeded to the family title.
The wealth and Importance of the
private libraries Of Rome is consider