A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany[68] The princ.i.p.al of these "tempting articles" were a fine first _Statius_ of 1502, _Asconius Pedia.n.u.s_, 1522. _Cicero de Officiis_, 1517, and _Leonicerus de Morbo Gallico_--with the leaf of errata: wanting in the copy in St. James's Place. But perhaps rarer than either, the _Laurentius Maoli_ and _Averrois_, each of 1497--intended for _presents_. But Mr. Stoeger had forgotten these intended presents--and _charged_ them at a good round sum. I considered his word as his bond--and told him that honest Englishmen were always in the habit of so considering the words of honest Germans. I threatened him with the return of the whole cargo, including even the beloved _Greek Hours_. Mr. Stoeger seemed amazed: hesitated: relented: and adhered to his original position. Had he done otherwise, I should doubtless have erased the epithet "honestissimus," in all the copies of the sale catalogue above alluded to, which might come within my notice, and placed a marginal emendation of "avidissimus."
[69] It may be a novel, and perhaps gratifying, sight to the reader to throw his eye over a list (of a few out of the fifty articles) like the following: _Flor. Kreutz.
Liber Moralizat. Biblic. Ulm_. 1474. Folio. Fine copy 11 _Biblia Vulg. Hist. Ital. Venet._ Giunta 1492. Fol. 8 _Horatius. Venet._ 1494. 4to. Fig. lig. incis. 11 _Cronica del rey don Iuan_. _Sevilla_. 1563. 4to. 11 _Breviarium. Teutonice_. 4to. In MEMBRANIS. A most beautiful and spotless book. It contains only the Pars Hyemalis of the cathedral service. 11 _Dictionarium Pauperum_. _Colon_. 1504. 8vo. 1 _Pars quart. Ind. Orient. Francof_. 1601. 5 30 _Fabulae aesopicae_. _Cura Brandt_. 1501. Folio.
Perhaps a matchless copy; in original binding of wood. Full of cuts 55 Thirteen different opuscula, at one florin each; many very curious and uncommon 13 The Lord's Prayer and Creed--in the German language--printed by "_Fricz Crewsner_," in 1472: folio: _broadside_. Perhaps UNIQUE 22
The florin, at the time of my residence at Munich, was about 1s. 9d.
[70] [However severely I may have expressed myself in a preceding page (105) of the general condition of this huge Inn, yet I cannot but gaze upon the subjoined view of it with no ordinary sensation of delight when I remember that the three-windowed room, on the first floor, to the right--close to the corner--was the room destined to be graced by the BOOK TREASURES above mentioned. This view may also serve as a general specimen of the frontage of the larger Inns in Bavaria.]
[Ill.u.s.tration]
[71] [All the _book-world_ has heard mention of THE LINCOLNE NOSEGAY, --a small handful of flowers, of choice hues, and vigorous stems, culled within the precincts of one of the n.o.blest cathedrals in Europe. Neither Covent Garden at home, nor the Marche aux Fleurs at Paris, could boast of such a posey. I learn, however, with something approaching to horror, that the Nosegay in question has been counterfeited. A _spurious_ edition (got up by some unprincipled speculator, and, I must add, bungling hand--for the typographical discrepancy is obvious) is abroad. Roxburghers, look well to your book-armouries! The foe may have crept into them, and exchanged your steel for painted wood.]
[72] There is something so hearty and characteristic in the Director's last letter to me, that I hope to be pardoned if I here subjoin a brief extract from it. "M. Scherer vient me quitter, et m'annoncer que votre depart est fixe pour demain. Jamais maladie--auxquelles, heureus.e.m.e.nt, je suis tres rarement expose--m'est survenu aussi mal-a-propos qu'a cette fois-ci. J'avois compte de jouir encore au moins quelques jours, apres mon retabliss.e.m.e.nt, de votre entretien, et jetter les fondemens d'une amitie collegiale pour la future. La nouvelle, que M. Scherer m'apporte, me desole. J'avois forme le plan de vous accompagner pour voir quelqu'uns de nos Inst.i.tutions remarquables, princ.i.p.alement _La Lithographie_, "Vana Somnia!" Votre resolution de quitter Munich plutot que je n'avois pense, detruit mes esperances. N'est-ce-pas possible que vous pa.s.siez par Munich a votre retour de Vienne? Utinam!
Combien de choses restent, sur lesquelles j'esperais de causer et de traiter avec vous! "I bono alite: pede fausto."
[Autograph]
[The author of this Letter is NO MORE!]
[73] See the note, p. 157 ante.
[74] This Engraving appears in the _aedes Althorpianae_, vol. i. p. 246.
On my return to England, it was necessary to keep up a correspondence with the amiable and intelligent character in question. I make no apology, either to the reader, or to the author of the Epistle, for subjoining a copy of one of these letters--premising, that it relates to fac-similes of several old copper cuts in the Public Library at Munich, as well as to his own engraving of the above-mentioned portrait. There is something throughout the whole of this letter so hearty, and so thoroughly original, that I am persuaded it will be perused with extreme gratification:
_Munich, 17 May, 1819._
Dear and Reverend Sir;
I am a good old fellow, and a pa.s.sable engraver; but a very bad Correspondent. You are a ... and minister of a religion which forgive all faults of mankind; and so I hope that you will still pardon me the r.e.t.a.r.dation of mine answer. I am now 65 years old, and have never had any sickness in mine life, but I have such an averseness against writing, that only the _sight_ of an ink-horn, pen and paper, make me feeling all sort of fevers of the whole medicinal faculty;--and so I pray that you would forgive me the brevity of mine letters. Following your order, I send you jointly the first proof prints of those plates still (already) finished. The plate of that beautiful head of an English artist, is not yet so far advanced; but in about six weeks you will have it--and during this time, I expect your answer and direction to whom I shall deliver the whole. I wish and hope heartily that the fac-similes and portraits would be correspondent with your expectation.
I hold it for necessary and interesting, to give you a true copy of that old print--"_Christ in the lap of G.o.d the Father_." You'll see that this print is cutten round, and carefully pasted upon another paper on a wooden band of a book: which proves not only a high respect for a precious antiquity, but likewise that this print is much older than the date of 1462--which is written in red ink, over the cutten outlines, of that antique print. You may be entirely a.s.sured of the fidelity of both fac-similes. Now I pray you heartily to remember my name to our dear Mr. Lewis, with my friendliest compliments, and told him that the work on _Lithography_ is now finished, and that he shall have it by the first occasion. In expectation of your honorable answer, I a.s.sure you of the highest consideration and respect of
Your most obedient humble Servant,
[Autograph]
[75] [This GRAPHIC WORTHY now _ceases to exist_. He died in his seventy-first year--leaving behind, the remembrance of virtues to be reverenced and of talents to be imitated.]
[76] [Another OBITUARY presses closely upon the preceding--but an Obituary which rends one's heart to dwell upon:--for a kinder, a more diligent, and more faithful Correspondent than was Mr. Nockher, it has never been my good fortune to be engaged with. Almost while writing the _above_ pa.s.sage, this unfortunate gentleman ... DESTROYED himself:--from embarra.s.sment of circ.u.mstances!]
LETTER VII.
FREYSING. LANDSHUT. ALToTING. SALZBURG. THE MONASTERY OF ST. PETER.
_Salzburg; Golden Ship, Aug. 23, 1818._
MY DEAR FRIEND;
If ever I wished for those who are dear to me in England, to be my companions during any part of this "_antiquarian_ and _picturesque_ tour,"
(for there are comparatively few, I fear, who would like to have been sharers of the "_bibliographical_" department of it) it has been on the route from Munich to this place: first, darting up to the north; and secondly, descending gradually to the south; and feasting my eyes, during the descent, upon mountains of all forms and heights, winding through a country at once cultivated and fertile, and varied and picturesque. Yes, my friend, I have had a glimpse, and even more than a glimpse, of what may be called ALPINE SCENERY: and have really forgotten Fust, Schoeffher, and Mentelin, while contemplating the snow-capt heights of the _Gredig_, _Walseberg_, and _Untersberg_:--to say nothing of the _Gross Klokner_, which raises its huge head and shoulders to the enormous height of 12,000 feet above the level of the sea.
These be glorious objects!--but I have only gazed; and, gazed at a distance of some twenty or thirty miles. Surrounded as I am, at this moment,--in one of the most marvellous and romantic spots in Europe--in the vicinity of lakes, mountain-torrents, trout-streams, and salt-mines,--how can you expect to hear any thing about MSS. and PRINTED BOOKS? They shall not, however, be _wholly_ forgotten; for as I always endeavour to make my narrative methodical, I must of necessity make mention of the celebrated library of INGOLDSTADT, (of which Seemiller has discoursed so learnedly in a goodly quarto volume,) now, with the University of the same place, transferred to LANDSHUT--where I slept on the first night of my departure from Munich.
A secret, but strong magnetic power, is pulling me yet more southerly, towards _Inspruck_ and _Italy_. No saint in the golden legend was ever more tortured by temptation, than I have been for the last twenty-four hours ...
with the desire of visiting those celebrated places. Thrice has some invisible being--some silver-tongued sylph--not mentioned, I apprehend, in the nomenclature of the Rosicrusian philosophy, whispered the word ...
"ROME ..." in mine ear--and thrice have I replied in the response...
"VIENNA!" I am therefore firmly fixed: immoveably resolved ... and every southerly attraction shall be deserted for the capital of Austria: having determined to mingle among the Benedictin and Augustin monks of _Chremsminster_, _St. Florian_, and _Molk_--and, in the bookish treasures of their magnificent establishments, to seek and obtain something which may repay the toil and expense of my journey.
But why do I talk of monastic delights only in _contemplation_? I have _realized_ them. I have paced the cloisters of St. Peter's, the mother-convent of Austria: have read inscriptions, and examined ornaments, upon tombstones, of which the pavement of these cloisters is chiefly composed: have talked bad Latin with the princ.i.p.al, and indifferently good French with the librarian--have been left alone in the library--made memoranda, or rather selected books for which a _valuable consideration_ has been proposed--and, in short, fancied myself to be thoroughly initiated in the varieties of the Bavarian and Austrian characters. Indeed, I have almost the conceit to affirm that this letter will be worth both postage and preservation.
Let me "begin at the beginning." On leaving Munich, I had resolved upon dining at Freysingen, or _Freysing_; as well to explore the books of Mr.
Mozler, living there--and one of the most "prying" of the bibliopolistic fraternity throughout Germany--as to examine, with all imaginable attention, the celebrated Church to which a monastery had been formerly attached--and its yet more celebrated _Crypt_. All my Munich friends exhorted me to descend into this crypt; and my curiosity had been not a little sharpened by the lithographic views of it (somewhat indifferently executed) which I had seen and purchased at Munich. Some of my Munich friends considered the crypt of Freysing to be coeval with Charlemagne.
This was, at least, a very romantic conjecture.
The morning was gray and chill, when we left the _Schwartzen Adler_; but as we approached Garching, the first stage, the clouds broke, the sun shone forth, and we saw Freysing, (the second stage) situated upon a commanding eminence, at a considerable distance. In our way to Garching, the river Iser and the plains of Hohenlinden lay to the right; upon each of which, as I gazed, I could not but think alternately of MOREAU and CAMPBELL. You will readily guess wherefore. The former won the memorable battle of Hohenlinden--fought in the depth of winter--by which the Austrians were completely defeated, and which led to the treaty of Luneville: and the latter (that is, our Thomas Campbell) celebrated that battle in an _Ode_--of which I never know how to speak in sufficient terms of admiration: an ode, which seems to unite all the fire of Pindar with all the elegance of Horace; of which, parts equal Gray in sublimity, and Collins in pathos.
We drove to the best, if not the only, Inn at Freysing; and, ordering a late dinner, immediately visited the cathedral;--not however without taking the shop of Mozler, the bookseller, in our way, and finding--to my misfortune--that the owner was absent on a journey; and his sister, the resident, perfectly ignorant of French. We then ascended towards the cathedral, which is a comparatively modern building; at least every thing _above_ ground is of that description. The CRYPT, however, more than answered my expectations. I should have no hesitation in calling it perfectly unique; as I have neither seen, nor heard, nor read of any thing the least resembling it. The pillars, which support the roof, have monsters crawling up their shafts--devouring one another, as one sees them in the margins of the earlier illuminated MSS.
The altar beneath Our Lady's chapel was a confused ma.s.s of lumber and rubbish; but, if I were to select--from all the strange and gloomy receptacles, attached to places of religious worship, which I have seen since quitting the sh.o.r.es of my own country--any ONE SPOT, in preference to another, for the celebration of mysterious rites--it should be the CRYPT of the CATHEDRAL of FREYSING. And perhaps I should say that portions of it might be as old as the latter end of the eleventh century. From the foundation, we ascended to the very summit of the building; and from the top of the tower, had a most extensive and complete view of the plains of _Hohenlinden_, the rapid _Iser_, and the gray mist of Munich in the distance. I was much struck with a large bell, cast about fourscore years ago; the exterior of which was adorned by several inscriptions, and rather whimsical ornaments. Having gratified a curiosity of this kind, my companion and valet left me, for a stroll about the town; when I requested the guide (who could luckily talk a little bad French) to shew me the LIBRARY belonging to the monastery formerly attached to the cathedral. He told me that it was the mere relics of a library:--the very shadow of a shade.
Indeed it was quickly obvious that there were certain _hiatuses_ upon the shelves--which told their own tale pretty readily. The books, once occupying them, had been taken to Munich. The room is light, cheerful, and even yet well garnished with books: most of them being in white forel or vellum binding. There were Bibles, out of number, about the beginning of the sixteenth century; and an abundant sprinkling of glosses, decretals, canon law, and old fashioned scholastic lore of the same period.
Nevertheless, I was glad to have examined it; and do not know that I have visited many more desirable book-apartments since I left England. In my way to the inn, I took a more leisurely survey of the collection of Mr. Mozler: but his sister had not returned from vespers, and I was left absolutely alone--with the exception of a female servant; who, pointing to the book-room above stairs, as the supposed fittest place for my visit, betook herself to her culinary occupations. Since the sight of the premises of the younger Manoury at Caen,[77] I had never witnessed such a scene of darkness, lumber, and confusion:--yet I must do Mr. Mozler the justice to say, that there was much which might have repaid the toil of a minute examination. But I was pressed for time: and the appet.i.tes of my travelling companions might be sharpened so as to stand in need of an immediate attack upon the cotelette and wine.
We dined as expeditiously as ever the Trojans or Grecians did, on expecting a sally from the foe. The red wine was, I think, the most delicious I had then drank in Germany. A little before six, we left Freysing for _Moosburg_: a ten mile stage; but we had not got a quarter of a league upon our journey, when we discovered, to the right, somewhat in our rear, a more complete view of the Tyrolese mountains than we had yet seen. They appeared to be as huge monsters, with overtopping heads, disporting themselves in an element of their own--many thousand feet in the air! It was dusk when we changed horses at _Moosburg_: and the moon, then pretty far advanced towards the full, began to supply the light of which we stood so much in need. _Landshut_ was our next and final stage; but it was unlucky for the first view of a church, of which the tower is considered to be the highest in Bavaria, that we were to see it at such a moment. The air of the evening was mild, and the sky was almost entirely covered by thin flaky clouds, as we pushed on for Landshut. On our immediate approach to it, the valet told us that he well remembered the entrance of the French into Landshut, on Bonaparte's advance to Munich and Vienna. He was himself in the rear of the a.s.sault--attending upon his master, one of the French generals. He said, that the French entered the further end of the town from that where we should make our entrance; and that, having gained a considerable eminence, by a circuitous route, above the river, un.o.bserved, they rushed forward--bursting open the barriers--and charging the Austrians at the point of the bayonet. The contest was neither long nor sanguinary. A prudent surrender saved the town from pillage, and the inhabitants from slaughter.
On entering Landshut, without having caught any thing like a determined view of the princ.i.p.al church, we found the centre of the princ.i.p.al street entirely occupied by booths and stalls, for an approaching fair--to take place within a few following days. The line of wooden buildings could scarcely extend less than half a mile. We drove to the princ.i.p.al inn, which was s.p.a.cious and _tolerably_ clean; bespoke good beds, and found every appearance of comfort. I was resolved to devote the next day entirely to the PUBLIC LIBRARY--attached to the University, brought hither from Ingoldstadt. Of course I had been long acquainted with the general character of the early-printed books, from the valuable work of Seemiller;[78] and was resolved to make especial enquiry, in the first place, for the Aldine duodecimo of the _Greek Hours_, of which you have already heard so much. I carried with me a letter to Professor SIEBENKEES, the Head Librarian. In short, I antic.i.p.ated a day of bibliographical "joyaunce."
I was not disappointed in my expectations. The day was as beautiful without, as I found it profitable within doors. The Professor was all kindness, and was pleased to claim a long and intimate acquaintance with me, through certain works which need not be here mentioned: but it would be the height of affectation _not_ to avow the satisfaction I felt in witnessing a thoroughly cut-open, and tolerably well-thumbed copy, of the _Bibl. Spenceriana_ lying upon his table. I instantly commenced the examination of the library, while the Professor as readily offered his services of a.s.sistance. "Where are your _Aldine Greek Hours_ of 1497?"
observed I. "Alas, Sir, that book exists no longer here!"--replied the Professor, in a melancholy tone of voice, and with an expression of countenance which indicated more than was meant by his _words_.
"Nevertheless, (rejoined I) Seemiller describes it as having been at Ingoldstadt." "He does so--but in the conveyance of the books from thence hither, it has _somehow_ disappeared."[79] Again the Professor _looked_ more significantly than he _spake_. "What is invisible cannot be seen"--observed I--"and therefore allow me to take notes of what is before my eyes." "Most willingly and cheerfully. Here is every thing you wish. The more you write, the greater will be my satisfaction; although, after Paris and Munich, there is scarcely any thing worthy of particular description.
But ere you begin your labours, allow me to introduce you to the several rooms in which the books are contained."
I expressed great pleasure in complying with the Professor's request, and followed him into every apartment. This library, my dear friend, is placed in one of the prettiest situations imaginable. Some meandering branches of the Iser intersect and fertilize considerable tracts of meadow land; equally rich in colour and (as I learnt) in produce: and terminated by some gently swelling hills, quite in the vicinity of the town. The whole had a perfectly English aspect. The rooms were numerous, and commanded a variety of views. They were well lighted by side windows, and the shelves and wainscots were coloured chiefly in white. One small hexagonal closet, or cabinet, on the first floor--(as is indeed the whole suite of apartments) caught my fancy exceedingly, and won my very heart. The view before it, or rather from three of its six sides, was exhilirating in the extreme. "Here Mr. Professor, quoth I, (gently laying hold of his left arm) here will I come, and, if in any spot, put together my materials for a _third_ edition of the BIBLIOMANIA." The worthy Professor, for a little moment, thought me serious--and quickly replied "By all means do so: and you shall be accommodated with every thing necessary for carrying so laudable a design into execution." It was a mere bibliomaniacal vision:[80] dissipated the very moment I had quitted the apartment for another.
I shall now give you the result of my examination of a few of the rarer and early-printed books in the PUBLIC LIBRARY of Landshut. And first of Ma.n.u.sCRIPTS. An _Evangelistarium_, probably of the tenth century, is worth particular notice; if it be only on the score of its scription--which is perfectly beautiful: the most so of any, of such a remote period, which I have ever seen. It is a folio volume, bound in wood, with a stamped parchment cover of about the end of the fifteenth century. They possess a copy of the _oldest written Laws of Bavaria_; possibly of the twelfth--but certainly of the thirteenth century. It is a duodecimo MS. inlaid in a quarto form. No other MS. particularly struck my fancy, in the absence of all that was Greek or Roman: but a very splendid _Polish Missal_, in 8vo.
which belonged to Sigismund, King of Poland, in the sixteenth century, seemed worthy of especial notice. The letters are graceful and elegant; but the style of art is heavy, although not devoid of effect. The binding is crimson velvet, with bra.s.s k.n.o.bs, and a central metallic ornament--apparently more ancient than the book itself. This latter may have been possibly taken from another volume.
Of the _Printed Books_--after the treasures of this kind seen (as the Professor intimated) at Paris and Munich--there was comparatively very little which claimed attention. They have a cropt and stained copy of Mentelin's _German Bible_, but quite perfect: two copies of the _supposed_ first _German Bible_, for one of which I proposed an exchange in a copy of the B.S. and of the _aedes Althorpianae_ as soon as this latter work should be published. The proposition was acceded to on the part of the Head Librarian, and it will be forwarded to the honest and respectable firm of John and Arthur Arch, booksellers; who, previously to my leaving England, had requested me to make something like a similar purchase for them--should a fine copy of this German Bible present itself for sale.[81]
Here I saw Mentelin's edition of the _De Civitate Dei_ of _St. Austin_: and a good sound copy of the very rare edition of _Mammotrectus_, printed by _Helias de Helie_, in 1470: a beautiful copy of _Martin Brand's Psalter_ of 1486, printed at Leipsic, in 4to. in a large square gothic type; and a duplicate copy of the Leipsic Psalter of the preceding year, printed by _Conrad Kachelovez_, in 4to. which latter I obtained for the library in St.