valuable collection was sold by auction in 1786. Among its many attractions was the Bedford Missal. A knowledge of the sale coming to the ears of George III., he sent for his bookseller, and expressed his intention to become the purchaser. The bookseller ventured to submit to his Majesty the probable high price it would bring. "How high?" asked the king. "Probably two hundred guineas," replied the bookseller. "Two hundred guineas for a missal!" exclaimed the Queen, who was present, and lifted her hands in astonishment. "Well, well, I'll have it still," said his majesty; "but since the Queen thinks two hundred guineas so enormous a price for a missal, I'll go no higher." The bidding for the royal library actually stopped at that point, and a celebrated collector, Mr. Edwards, became the purchaser by adding three pounds more. The same missal was afterwards sold at Mr. Edwards' sale, in 1815, and purchased by the Duke of Marlborough for the enormous sum of £637 15s. sterling.

Lord Kingsborough's Mexico.

The most costly undertaking of a literary character ever undertaken by a single individual is the magnificent work on "Mexico," by Lord Kingsborough. This stupendous work is said to have been produced at an enormous cost to the author. It is comprised in seven immense folio volumes, embellished by about one thousand colored illustrations. He spent more than $300,000 in its production, his enthusiasm carrying him so far that he ultimately died in debt.

Imperishable Prison Literature.

Bœthius composed his excellent "Consolations of Philosophy" in prison. Grotius wrote his "Commentary" while in prison. Cervantes, it is said, wrote that masterpiece of Spanish romance, "Don Quixote," on board one of the galleys, in Barbara. Sir Walter Raleigh compiled his "History of the World" in his prison-chamber in the Tower. Bunyan composed his immortal allegory in Bedford jail. Luther gave the Bible to Germany, having translated it in Wartburg castle.

Puffing their own Books.

Authors of the olden time used to puff their own works by affixing "taking titles" to them; such as "A right merrie and wittie interlude, verie pleasant to reade, &c.;" "A marvellous wittie treatise, &c.;" "A Delectable, Pithie and Righte Profitable Worke, &c."

Sibylline Books.

The Sibylline prophecies were of early Trojan descent, and the most celebrated of the Sibyls, or priestesses, plays an important part in the tales of Æneas. Her prophecies were supposed to be heard in dark caverns and apertures in rocks. They are thought by Varro to have been written upon palm leaves in Greek hexameters. They were largely circulated in the time of Crœsus, and the promises which they made of future empire to Æneas escaping from the flames of Troy into Italy, were remarkably realized by Rome. Of the nine books offered for sale by a Sibyl to Tarquinius Superbus, six were burnt, after which he purchased the remaining three for the price originally demanded for the nine. They were kept in a stone chest under ground in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, in the custody of certain officers, who only consulted the books at the special command of the Senate. Some Sibylline books appear to have been consulted until the tenth century.

Prophetic Almanacs.

The fame of the celebrated astrologer, Nostradamus, who prophesied minutely the death of Henry II. of France, the execution of Charles I. of England, the great fire of London, the Restoration, &c., gave such an impulse to predictions that, in 1579, Henry III. of France prohibited the insertion of any political prophecies in almanacs, a prohibition which was renewed by Louis XIII., in 1628. In the reign of Charles IX. a royal edict required every almanac to be stamped with the approval of the diocesan bishop. Prophetic almanacs still circulate to an incredible extent in the rural districts of France, and among the uneducated. The most popular of all these is the "Almanac Liègeois," a venerable remnant of superstition, first issued in 1636. It is a most convenient almanac for those who are unable to read, for by certain symbols attached to certain dates the most unlettered persons can follow its instructions. A rude representation of a phial announces the proper phase of the moon under which a draught of medicine should be taken; a pair of scissors points out the proper period for cutting hair; a lancet, for letting blood, &c.

Diaries.

Marcus Antonius' celebrated work, entitled "Of the Things which Concern Himself," would be a good definition of the use and purpose of a diary. Shaftesbury calls a diary "A Fault-book," intended for self-correction; and a Colonel Hardwood, in the reign of Charles I., kept a diary which, in the spirit of the times, he entitled "Slips, Infirmities and Passages of Providence." One old writer quaintly observes that "the ancients used to take their stomach-pill of self-examination every night. Some used little books or tablets, tied at their girdles, in which they kept a memorial of what they did, against their night-reckoning." We know that Titus, the delight of mankind, as he has been called, kept a diary of all his actions, and when at night he found that he had performed nothing memorable, he would exclaim: "Friends, we have lost a day." Edward VI. kept a diary, while that left by James II., so full of facts and reflections, furnished excellent material for history. Richard Baxter, author of one hundred and forty-five distinct works, left a diary extending from 1615 to 1648, which, when published, formed a folio of seven hundred closely-printed pages. Valuable diaries were also left by Whitelock and Henry Earl of Clarendon.

Literary Ingenuity.

Odo tenet mulum, madidam mappam tenet anna.

The above line is said, in an old book, to have "cost the inventor much foolish labor, for it is perfect verse, and every word is the very same both backward and forward."

Supposed to be a Genuine Island.

When the Utopia of Sir Thomas More was first published, it occasioned quite a complimentary blunder. This political romance represents a perfect but visionary republic, in an island supposed to have been newly discovered in America. As this was the age of discovery (says Granger), the learned Budæus, and others, took it for a genuine history, and considered it as highly expedient that missionaries should be sent thither, in order to convert so wise a nation to Christianity.

King of India's Library.

Dabshelim, King of India, had so numerous a library, that a hundred brachmans were scarcely sufficient to keep it in order, and it required a thousand dromedaries to transport it from one place to another. As he was not able to read all these books, he proposed to the brachmans to make extracts from them of the best and most useful of their contents. These learned personages went so heartily to work, that in less than twenty years they had compiled of all these extracts a little encyclopædia of twelve thousand volumes, which thirty camels could carry with ease. They presented them to the king, but what was their amazement to hear him say that it was impossible for him to read thirty camel-loads of books. They therefore reduced their extracts to fifteen, afterwards to ten, then to four, then to two dromedaries, and at last there remained only enough to load a mule