to search out or
transcribe manuscripts, and even the laborious habits which then
accompanied learning shrank from a task so beset by obstructions. Yet
there was a bright exception in Thomas of Saranza, whose learning
supplied the knowledge, and whose elevation to the triple tiara as
Nicholas V. procured him the opportunities necessary for amassing a
library. Not only did he found that of the Vatican, but he prepared for
Cosimo, _Pater patrie_, a list of authors for the infant collection of
S. Marco, at Florence, which, being recognised as a standard catalogue,
was adopted by Count Federigo. The longer life allowed to the latter
enabled him to outstrip these bibliomaniacs, and all contemporary
accumulators, until the fame of his library stood unrivalled.
Accordingly Ruscelli, in his _Imprese Illustri_, avers it to be
"notorious that the earliest and most famous collection formed out of
the ruins of antiquity was that of Urbino, from whence many excellent
authors were edited, and copies supplied."'[66]

* * * * *

'In no respect did he look to expense; and whenever he learned the
existence of any desirable book in Italy, or abroad, he sent for it
without heeding the cost. His librarian, Vespasiano, wrote, "It is now
above fourteen years since he began to make this collection, and he has
ever since at Urbino, Florence, and elsewhere, thirty-four transcribers,
and has resorted to every means requisite for amassing a famous and
excellent library."'[67]

* * * * *

'To the right and left of the carriage entrance into the great
courtyard, are two handsome saloons, each about forty-five feet by
twenty-two, and twenty-three in height. That on the left contained the
famous library of manuscripts collected by Count Federigo; the
corresponding one received the printed books, which, gradually purchased
by successive dukes, became under the last sovereign, a copious
collection. Baldi, in his description of the palace, printed in
Bianchini's work, dwells on the judicious adaptation of the former, its
windows set high against the northern sky, admitting a subdued and
steady light which invited to study; its air cool in summer, temperate
in winter; its walls conveniently shelved; the character and objects of
the place fittingly set forth in a series of rude hexameters inscribed
on the cornices. Adjoining was a closet fitted up with inlaid and gilded
panelling, beneath