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bad leisure or means necessary r the rmation of libraries. That several volumes had been collected at an ea y period seems, however, certain, as it is equally so, that Pope Zachary augmented their num­ ber very considerably about the middle of the eighth century. Nicholas V established the library in the Vatican, and enlarged the collection; while Calixtus III is said to have enriched it with many volumes, saved from the libraries of Constantinople, at the taking of that city. From this period it continued in a regular progression, receiving almost every year vast additions, sometimes even of whole libraries,
(as those of the elector.palatine, of the dukes of Ur­ bino, of queen Christina), owing not only to the ­ vour of the Ponti and various princes, but to the well-directed zeal of its librarians, many of whom have been men, both of eminent talents, and of high rank and extensive in uence.
4. The French invasion, which brought with it so many evils, and, like a blast om hell, checked the prosperity of Italy in every branch and in every province, not only put a stop to the increase of the Vatican library, but by plundering it of some of its most valuable manuscripts, lowered its reputation, and undid at once the labour and exertion of ages. The galleries of the libraries open into various apart­ ments, lled wi anti ities, medals, &c. One, in particular, is consecrated to the monuments of Christian antiquity, and contains a singular and un­
paralleled collection of instruments of torture, em­ ployed in the rst persecutions; as also the diptychs of communion with the great churches, monumental inscriptions, &c., a collection highly interesting to
1 the ecclesiastical historian and enlightened Christian. EusT CE.
READING LESSONS.