ere more numerous and in a good style of art; it was,
in fact, as richly ornamented as a Romish missal, and was in excellent
preservation, except one miniature at the beginning, which had been
partially smeared over by the wet finger of some ancient sloven. Another
volume of the Gospels, in a very small, clear hand, bound in a kind of
silver filagree of the same date as the book, also excited my
admiration. Those who take an interest in literary antiquities of this
class are aware of the great rarity of an ornamental binding in a
Byzantine manuscript. This must doubtless have been the pocket volume of
some royal personage. To my great joy the librarian allowed me to take
these two books to the room of the agoumenos, who agreed to sell them to
me for I forget how many pieces of gold, which I counted out to him
immediately, and which he seemed to pocket with the sincerest
satisfaction. Never was any one more welcome to his money, although I
left myself but little to pay the expenses of my journey back to Corfu.
Such books as these would be treasures in the finest national collection
in Europe.

[Illustration]

We looked at the refectory, which also resembled that at Barlaam. The
kitchen, however, merits a detailed description. This very ancient
building, perched upon the extreme edge of the precipice, was square in
its plan, with a steep roof of stone, the top of which was open. Within,
upon a square platform of stone, there were four columns serving for the
support of the roof, which was arched all round, except in the space
between the tops of the columns, where it was open to the sky. This
platform was the hearth, where the fire was lit, whilst smaller fires of
charcoal might be lit all round against the wall, where there were stone
dressers for the purpose, so that in fact the building was all chimney
and fireplace; and when a great dinner was prepared on a feast-day the
principal difficulty must have been to have prevented the cook from
being roasted among the other meats. The whole of the arched roof was
thickly covered with lumps of soot, the accumulations probably of
centuries. The ancient kitchens at Glastonbury and at Stanton Harcourt
are constructed a good deal upon the same plan, but this is probably a
much earlier specimen of culinary architecture. The porch outside the
church is larger than ordinary, and extends, if I remember rightly,
along the side of that building which stands in the principal court, and