To examine minutely the treasures of such a collection of prints—­whether in regard to ancient or modern art—­would demand the unremitted attention of the better part of a month; and in consequence, a proportionate quantity of time and paper in embodying the fruits of that attention.[24] There is only one other curiosity, just now, to which I shall call your attention.  It is the old wood cut of ST. CHRISTOPHER—­of which certain authors have discoursed largely.[25] They suppose they have an impression of it here—­ whereas that of Lord Spencer has been hitherto considered as unique.  His Lordship’s copy, as you well know, was obtained from the Buxheim monastery, and was first made public in the interesting work of Heineken.[26] The copy now under consideration is not pasted upon boards, as is Lord Spencer’s—­ forming the interior linings in the cover or binding of an old MS.—­but it is a loose leaf, and is therefore subject to the most minute examination, or to any conclusion respecting the date which may be drawn from the watermark.  Upon such a foundation I will never attempt to build an hypothesis, or to draw a conclusion; because the same water-mark of Bamberg and of Mentz, of Venice and of Rome, may be found within books printed both at the commencement and at the end of the fifteenth century.  But for the print—­as it is.  I have not only examined it carefully, but have procured, from M. Coeure, a fac-simile of the head only—­the most essential part—­and both the examination and the fac-simile convince me... that the St. Christopher in the Bibliotheque du Roi is NOT an impression from the same block which furnished the St. Christopher now in the library of St. James’s Place.

The general character of the figure, in the Royal Library here, is thin and feeble compared with that in Lord Spencer’s collection; and I am quite persuaded that M. Du Chesne,—­who fights his ground inch by inch, and reluctantly (to his honour, let me add) assents to any remarks which may make his own cherished St. Christopher of a comparatively modern date—­ will, in the end, admit that the Parisian impression is a copy of a later date—­and that, had an opportunity presented itself of comparing the two impressions with each other,[27] it would never have been received into the Library at the price at which it was obtained—­I think, at about 620 francs.  However, although it be not THE St. Christopher, it is a graphic representation of the Saint which may possibly be as old as the year 1460.

But we have tarried quite long enough, for the present, within the cabinet of Engravings.  Let us return:  ascend about a dozen more steps; and enter the LIBRARY OF MANUSCRIPTS.  As before, you are struck with the smallness of the first room; which leads, however, to a second of much larger dimensions—­then to a third, of a boudoir character; afterwards to a fourth and fifth, rather straitened—­and sixthly, and lastly, to one of a noble length and