dissolved, the book was brought to M. Chardin, a bookseller and a
bibliomaniac. He sold it, some twenty-five years ago, to a Russian
gentleman, from whom it was obtained, at Moscow, by the Grand Duke
Nicholas.[33] The late King of France, through his ambassador, the Count de
Noailles, obtained it from the Grand Duke--who received, in return, from
his Majesty, a handsome present of two Sèvre vases. It is now therefore
safely and judiciously lodged in the Royal Library of France. It is in
wooden covers, wrapped in red velvet. The vellum is singularly soft, and of
its original pure tint.

HISTORICAL PARAPHRASE OF THE BIBLE. Lat. and Fr. Folio. If any MS. of the
sacred text were to be estimated according to the _number of the
illuminations_ which it contained, the present would unquestionably claim
precedence over every other. In short, this is the MS. of which Camus, in
the _Notices et Extraits des MSS. de la Bibliothèque Nationale_, vol. vi.
p. 106, has given not only a pretty copious account, but has embellished
that account with fac-similes--one large plate, and two others--each
containing four subjects of the illuminations. After an attentive survey of
the various styles of art observable in these decorations, I am not
disposed to allow the antiquity of the MS. to go beyond the commencement of
the XVth century. A sight of the frontispiece causes a re-action of the
blood in a lover of genuine large margins. The book is cropt--not _quite_
to the quick!... but then this frontispiece displays a most delicate and
interesting specimen of graphic art. It is executed in a sort of gray
tone:--totally destitute of other colour. According to Camus, there are
upwards of five thousand illuminations; and a similar work, in his
estimation, could not _now_ be executed under 100,000 francs.

A SIMILAR MS. This consists but of one volume, of a larger size, of 321
leaves. It is also an historical Bible. The illuminations are arranged in a