But we have tarried quite long enough, for the present, within the cabinet
of Engravings. Let us return: ascend about a dozen more steps; and enter
the LIBRARY OF MANUSCRIPTS. As before, you are struck with the smallness of
the first room; which leads, however, to a second of much larger
dimensions--then to a third, of a boudoir character; afterwards to a fourth
and fifth, rather straitened--and sixthly, and lastly, to one of a noble
length and elevation of ceiling--worthy in all respects of the glorious
treasures which it contains. Let me, however, be more explicit. In the very
first room you have an earnest of all the bibliomaniacal felicity which
these MSS. hold out. Look to the left--upon entering--and view, perhaps
lost in a very ecstacy of admiration--the _Romances_ ... of all sizes and
character, which at first strike you! What _Launcelot du Lacs, Tristans,
Leonnois, Arturs, Ysaises_, and feats of the _Table Ronde_, stand closely
wedged within the brass-wired doors that incircle this and every other
apartment! _Bibles, Rituals, Moralities_, ... next claim your attention.
You go on--_History, Philosophy, Arts and Sciences_ ... but it is useless
to indulge in these rhapsodies. The fourth apartment, of which I spake,
exhibits specimens of what are seen more plentifully, but not of more
curious workmanship, in the larger room to which it leads. Here glitter,
behind glazed doors, old volumes of devotion bound in ivory, or gilt, or
brass, studded with cameos and precious stones; and covered with figures of
all characters and ages--some of the XIIth--and more of the immediately
following centuries. Some of these bindings (among which I include
_Diptychs_) may be as old as the eleventh--and they have been even carried
up to the tenth century.

Let us however return quickly back again; and begin at the beginning. The
first room, as I before observed, has some of the most exquisitely
illuminated, as well as some of the most ancient MSS., in the whole