unfasten the clasps, or turn the leaves of a book. Nor let a
crying child admire the pictures in the capital letters, lest he
soil the parchment with wet fingers; for a child instantly
touches whatever he sees. Moreover, the laity, who look at a
book turned upside down just as if it were open in the right way,
are utterly unworthy of any communion with books. Let the clerk
take care also that the smutty scullion reeking from his stewpots
does not touch the lily leaves of books, all unwashed, but he who
walketh without blemish shall minister to the precious volumes.
And, again, the cleanliness of decent hands would be of great
benefit to books as well as scholars, if it were not that the
itch and pimples are characteristic of the clergy.

Whenever defects are noticed in books, they should be promptly
repaired, since nothing spreads more quickly than a tear and a
rent which is neglected at the time will have to be repaired
afterwards with usury.

Moses, the gentlest of men, teaches us to make bookcases most
neatly, wherein they may be protected from any injury: Take, he
says, this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of
the covenant of the Lord your God. O fitting place and
appropriate for a library, which was made of imperishable
shittim-wood, and was all covered within and without with gold!
But the Saviour also has warned us by His example against all
unbecoming carelessness in the handling of books, as we read in
S. Luke. For when He had read the scriptural prophecy of
Himself in the book that was delivered to Him, He did not give it
again to the minister, until He had closed it with his own most
sacred hands. By which students are most clearly taught that in