given before it in both kinds. Besides the principal church there is a
smaller one, not far from it, which is painted in the same manner as the
other. I unfortunately neglected to ascertain the dates of the
foundation of these two edifices.

The library contains about a thousand volumes, the far greater part of
which are printed books, mostly Venetian editions of ecclesiastical
works, but there are some fine copies of Aldine Greek classics. I did
not count the number of the manuscripts; they are all books of divinity
and the works of the fathers; there may be between one and two hundred
of them. I found one folio Bulgarian manuscript which I could not read,
and therefore was, of course, particularly anxious to purchase. As I saw
it was not a copy of the Gospels, I thought it might possibly be
historical: but the monks would not sell it. The only other manuscript
of value was a copy of the Gospels, in quarto, containing several
miniatures and illuminations of the eleventh century; but with this also
they refused to part, so it remains for some more fortunate collector.
It was of no use to the monks themselves, who cannot read either
Hellenic or ancient Greek; but they consider the books in their library
as sacred relics, and preserve them with a certain feeling of awe for
their antiquity and incomprehensibility. Our only chance is when some
worldly-minded Agoumenos happens to be at the head of the community, who
may be inclined to exchange some of the unreadable old books for such a
sum of gold or silver as will suffice for the repairs of one of their
buildings, the replenishing of the cellar, or some other equally
important purpose. At the time of my visit the march of intellect had
not penetrated into the heights of the monastery of St. Barlaam, and
the good old-fashioned Agoumenos was not to be overcome by any special
pleading; so I told him at last that I respected his prejudices, and
hoped he would follow the dictates of his conscience equally well in
more important matters. The worthy old gentleman therefore pitched the
two much-coveted books back into the dusty corner whence he had taken
them, and where to a certainty they will repose undisturbed until some
other bookworm traveller visits the monastery; and the sooner he comes
the better, as mice and mildew are actively at work.

In a room near the library some ancient relics are preserved in silver
shrines or boxes, of Byzantine workmanship: they are, however, n