of the monastic and other
public libraries, he received a very wide and unqualified commission to
search all the libraries in the department of _Calvados_, and to bring home
to Caen all the treasures he might discover. He set forth upon this mission
with truly public spirited ideas: resolving (says his nephew) to do for
Normandy what Dugdale and Dodsworth had done for England--and a _Monasticum
Neustriacum_ was the commendable object of his ambition. He promised much,
and perhaps did more than he promised. His curious collection (exclusively
of the cart-loads of books which were sent to Caen) was shewn to his
countrymen; but the guillotine was now the order of the day--when Moysant
"resolved to visit England, and submit to the English nobility the plan of
his work, as that nation always attached importance to the preservation of
the monuments, or literary materials, of the middle ages."--He knew
(continues the nephew) how proud the English were of their descent from the
Norman nobles, and it was only to put them in possession of the means of
preserving the unquestionable proofs of their origin. Moysant accordingly
came over with his wife, and they were both quickly declared emigrants;
their return was interdicted; and our bibliomaniac learnt, with
heart-rending regret, that they had resolved upon the sale of the national
property in France. He was therefore to live by his wits; having spiritedly
declined all offer of assistance from the English government. In this
dilemma he published a work entitled "_Bibliotheque des Ecrivains Francais,
ou choix des meilleurs morceaux en prose et en vers, extraits de leurs
ouvrages_,"--a collection, which was formed with judgment, and which was
attended with complete success. The first edition was in four octavo
volumes, in 1800; the second, in six volumes 1803; a third edition, I
think, followed, with a pocket dictionary of the English and French
languages. It was during his stay amongst us that he was deservedly
admitted a member of the Society of Antiquaries; but he returned to France
in 1802, before the appearance of the second edition of his _Bibliotheque_;
when, hawk-like, soaring or sailing in suspense between the
book-atmospheres of Paris and Caen, he settled within the latter place--and
again perched himself (at the united call of his townsmen) upon the chair
destined for the PUBLIC LIBRARIAN! It was to give order, method, and
freedom of access, to the enormous mass of books, wh