writing under the works of Ephraem.  It was very illegible, but a chemical preparation applied in 1834-5 revivified it to a certain extent.  It has been diligently collated by eminent scholars, and in 1842 Tischendorf printed an edition of it page for page and line for line.  Of the two hundred and nine leaves contained in this manuscript, one hundred and forty-five belong to the New Testament, containing not quite two-thirds of the sacred text.  The order of the books is the same as in the Alexandrine codex. See No. (4), PLATE III.

Besides the abovenamed four manuscripts, a few others may be briefly noticed.

An interesting palimpsest of great critical value is the Codex Dublinensis rescriptus, Dublin palimpsest manuscript, in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, designated by the letter Z. It contains with other writings thirty-two leaves of the gospel by Matthew.  They were edited, as far as legible, in 1801, by Dr. John Barrett, Fellow of Trinity College.  In 1853 Dr. Tregelles made a new and thorough examination of the manuscript, and, by the aid of a chemical process, brought all that exists of the gospel text to a legible condition.  This manuscript is assigned to the sixth century.  Its letters are written in a singularly bold style, which unites the three qualities of ease, elegance, and symmetry.

A celebrated bilingual manuscript (in this case Graeco-Latin, containing the Greek and Latin texts) is the Codex Bezae, Beza’s manuscript, called also Codex Cantabrigiensis, Cambridge manuscript, from the place of its deposit, which is the public library of the University of Cambridge, England.  It is designated by the letter D, and contains the four gospels and Acts of the Apostles in Greek and Latin on opposite pages, stichometrically written.  The account of Theodore Beza, its former possessor, was that he found it during the French civil wars in 1562, in the monastery of St. Irenaeus, at Lyons.  In 1581 he sent it as a present to the University of Cambridge.  The interest felt in this manuscript arises in great part from the very peculiar character of its readings.  “The text of this codex,” says Bleek (Introduc. to New Test., sec. 270), “presents much that is peculiar—­many additions and alterations that have even an apocryphal character, but are yet not uninteresting.  Its native country is the West, and more definitely the south of Gaul.” See No. (5), PLATE IV.

Among the fragments of manuscripts of high antiquity is one called Codex purpureus, Purple manuscript. Four leaves of this are in the Cotton Library in the British Museum, six in the Vatican, two in the Imperial Library at Vienna.  The manuscript to which they belonged was written in silver letters (the names of God and Christ in gold) on purple vellum.  The writing is in two columns with large and round letters.