discoursed largely.[25] They suppose they have an impression of it here--
whereas that of Lord Spencer has been hitherto considered as unique. His
Lordship's copy, as you well know, was obtained from the Buxheim monastery,
and was first made public in the interesting work of Heineken.[26] The copy
now under consideration is not pasted upon boards, as is Lord Spencer's--
forming the interior linings in the cover or binding of an old MS.--but it
is a loose leaf, and is therefore subject to the most minute examination,
or to any conclusion respecting the date which may be drawn from the
_watermark_. Upon _such_ a foundation I will never attempt to build an
hypothesis, or to draw a conclusion; because the same water-mark of Bamberg
and of Mentz, of Venice and of Rome, may be found within books printed both
at the commencement and at the end of the fifteenth century. But for the
print--as it _is_. I have not only examined it carefully, but have
procured, from M. Coeuré, a fac-simile of the head only--the most essential
part--and both the examination and the fac-simile convince me... that the
St. Christopher in the Bibliothèque du Roi is NOT an impression from the
_same block_ which furnished the St. Christopher now in the library of St.
James's Place.

The general character of the figure, in the Royal Library here, is thin and
feeble compared with that in Lord Spencer's collection; and I am quite
persuaded that M. Du Chesne,--who fights his ground inch by inch, and
reluctantly (to his honour, let me add) assents to any remarks which may
make his own cherished St. Christopher of a comparatively modern date--
will, in the end, admit that the Parisian impression is a _copy_ of a later
date--and that, had an opportunity presented itself of comparing the two
impressions with each other,[27] it would never have been received into the
Library at the price at which it was obtained--I think, at about 620
francs. However, although it be not THE St. Christopher, it is a graphic
representation of the Saint which may possibly be as old as the year 1460.