gems from the abundant
treasures of this splendid collection, but the following are a few of
the most interesting and valuable of the manuscripts:

A Legal Instrument of Donation from Johannes, the Primicerius, or
Captain of a company of soldiers, to the Church of Ravenna; written on
papyrus, probably about A.D. 580-600, at Ravenna. Five feet four inches
long by eleven and a half inches broad.

The Four Gospels in Syriac, in the original Peshitto version, written on
vellum about 550.

St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, _Epistolae et Opuscula_, written in the
seventh or eighth century in rude Merovingian characters, often mixed
with uncial letters. One of the oldest manuscripts in existence of this
Father of the Church.

The Four Gospels in Latin, written about 850.

A Textus or Book of the Gospels, probably written at the Benedictine
monastery of St. Gall, Switzerland, in the ninth or tenth century. In
the centre of the upper cover, which is intended to be used as a pax at
Mass, is an ivory panel of the Crucifixion, with figures of the Virgin
Mary and St. John the Evangelist. The border is of gilt copper engraved
with a floriated pattern, and studded with silver bosses and jewels; at
the corners are Limoges enamel plaques with the four Evangelists. The
ivory carving is of the tenth or eleventh century, the border early
thirteenth.

The New Testament in Syriac: the Gospels of the Peshitto version, and
the remaining books of the Heraclean version, written about 1000.
Remarkable as being the only complete Syriac New Testament of any
antiquity in any library in Europe.

The Old Testament in Latin, written by a German scribe in the eleventh
century. The upper cover consists of a carved ivory panel of the
thirteenth century, with a border of silver gilt, decorated with
filigree work and figures in _repousse_, and enriched with crystals _en
cabochon_.

St. Beatus, _Commentarius in Apocalypsim_, written in Spain about 1150;
with one hundred and ten very large miniatures and a circular map of
the world.

_Bible Historiee_, executed in the south of France about 1250; a series
of full-page paintings on a background of burnished gold, representing
scenes from the Book of Genesis.

_Psalterium_, written in Paris about 1260. This volume belonged at one
time to Joan of Navarre, Queen Consort of Henry IV., King of England,
whose autograph is on one of the blank leaves.

_Roman de la Rose_, written for, and presented to, C