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HISTORICAL VIEW OP THE

guard these sanctuaries from spoliation. In the librariesattached to these institutions, the manuscripts of theancient writers were at least preserved from the violenceof military plunder, and the wanton devastation of hostileincursions. The works of the philosophers, and the pre-cious records of the mathematical and astronomical dis-coveries of past ages, might here at least have reposed inundisturbed security from external injury. But, unfor-tunately, they were not safe from destruction of anotherkind; and there can be no doubt that numbers of theseinvaluable remains of antiquity perished in. supplyingmaterials to the monkish transcribers, who ruthlesslyerased the pages of ancient science and literature toinsert the legends of the saints. In process of time,probably, they would all have met with this ignoble fate;but before that period could arrive, the dawn of a brighterage had begun to appear: and a few individuals aroseamong the monastic orders superior to the general cha-racter of their brethren, who were at least sufficientlyaware of the value of some of the treasures containedin these repositories, to rescue them from such unworthyand barbarous destruction.

The mere act of preservation of these precious re-mains of antiquity, is one which must entitle those whoperformed it to the gratitude of posterity, and wouldalone suffice to give them a claim to the title of enlight-ened and discriminating men, superior to the generalintelligence of their contemporaries. But between abare apprehension that these volumes possessed somevalue, and the taste and ability requisite to appreciatejustly their contents, there was, doubtless, a considerableinterval. And, indeed, where such taste existed, therewere still many difficulties in the way of its cultivation ;for the work of completely laying open the treasures ofancient science, much time and much subsidiary know-ledge were necessary. The repositories of these valuablestores were to be made accessible; the knowledge of thelanguage in which they were written was to be ac-quired ; the manuscripts were to be decyphered; and