Page 331 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

330 THIRD BOOK OF
r the two keepers, the secretaries, or rather the in­ terpreters, seven in nuber, who can speak the prin­ cipal languages of Europe, and who attend r the convenience of learned reigners; a double gallery of two hundred and twenty et long, opening into another of eight hundred, with various rooms, cabi­ nets, and apartments annexed, rm this noble collec­ tion. These galleries and apartments are all vaulted, and all painted, but with di erent e ect, because, by painters of di erent eras and talents. The paintings have all some re rence to literature, sacred or pro ne, and take in a vast scope of history and mythology.
2. The books are kept in cases ; and in the Vati­ can the traveller seeks in vain r that pompous dis­ play of volumes, which he may have seen and ad­ mired i other libraries. Their number has never been accurately stated: some con ne it to two hun­ dred thousand, others raise it to ur hundred thou­ sand, and many swell it to a million. The mean is probably the most accurate. But the superiority of this library arises, not om the quantity of printed books, but the mμltitude of its manuscripts, which are said to amount to more than fty thousand. Some of these manuscrjpts, of the hjghest antiquity, such as that of a Virgil of the h century, a Greek Bible of the sixth, a Terence of the same date, &c., were taken by the French, and sent to Paris.
3. The origin of this library is attributed by some to Pope Hilarius, in the h century; but although it is probable that long be(ore that period the Ro­ man Church must have possessed a considerable stock of books r the use of its clergy, yet the Popes may be supposed to have been too much occupied with the dangers and di culties of the times, to have