all writers of romance. In 1776 it belonged to the Duc de la Valliere,
and was purchased for the French Government at one of his numerous sales.
Some of the Flemish books remained in their original home. A volume of
Wallon songs was discovered at Ghent in the last generation; and two
other Gruthuyse books in the same language, from the great collection of
M. Van Hulthem, are now deposited in the Burgundian Library at Brussels.

The Dukes of Burgundy were of the book-loving race of the Valois. The
brothers, Charles le Sage, Jean Duc de Berry, and Philippe le Hardi of
Burgundy, were all founders of celebrated libraries. Philippe increased
his store of books by his marriage with the heiress of Flanders; he kept
a large staff of scribes at work, and made incessant purchases from the
Lombard booksellers in Paris. Duke John, his successor, is remembered for
his acquisition of a wonderful _Valerius Maximus_ from the librarian of
the Sorbonne. But the collections of which the remnants are now preserved
in Belgium were almost entirely the work of Duke Philippe le Bon. He kept
his books in many different places. He had a library at Dijon, and
another in Paris, a few volumes in the treasury at Ghent, a thousand
volumes at Bruges, and nearly as many at Antwerp. It has been calculated
that he possessed more than 3200 MSS. in all; and, if that figure is
correct, the House of Bourgogne-Valois was in this respect almost the
richest of the reigning families of Europe.

Under Charles the Bold the libraries appear to have been left alone,
except as regards a few characteristic additions. The Duchess Margaret
was the patroness of her countryman Caxton, whose _Recuyell_, probably
published at Bruges in 1474 during his partnership with Colard Mansion,
was the first printed English book. The taste of the Duchess may answer
for the appearance in the library of the _Moral Discourses_, and the
elegant _Debates upon Happiness_. The _Cyropaedia_ and the romance of
_Quintus Curtius_ must be attributed to the warlike Duke. At Berne they
have a relic of the fight where his men were shot down 'like ducks in the
reeds.' It is a manuscript, with a note added to the following effect:
'These military ordinances of the excellent and invincible Duke Charles
of Burgundy were taken at Morat on the 14th of June 1476, being found in
the pavilion of that excellent and potent prince.' When Charles was
killed at Nancy in the following year his favourite _Cyropaedi