twice that sum could be taken!... and in fact the book must never leave its present quarters—­no ... not even for the noble collection in behalf of which I pleaded so earnestly.”  M. Ranner’s manner was so positive, and his voice so sonorous,—­that I dreaded the submission of any contre-projet ... and accordingly left him in the full and unmolested enjoyment of his beloved Decameron printed by Adam de Michaelibus.

M. Ranner shewed me a sound, fair copy of the first Florentine Homer of 1488; but cropt, with red edges to the leaves.  But I was most pleased with a sort of cupboard, or closet-fashioned recess, filled with the first and subsequent editions of all the pieces written by Melancthon, I was told that there were more than eight hundred of such pieces.  These, and a similar collection from the pens of Luther and Eckuis at Landshut,[171] would, as I conceive, be invaluable repertories for the History of the Reformation upon the Continent.  Although I examined many shelves of books, for two successive days, in the Public Library of Nuremberg, I am not conscious of having found any thing more deserving of detail than what has been already submitted to the reader.

Of all edifices, more especially deserving of being visited at Nuremberg, the CITADEL is doubtless the most curious and ancient, as well as the most remarkable.  It rises to a considerable height, close upon the outer walls of the town, within about a stone’s throw of the end of Albrecht Durer Strasse—­or the street where ALBERT DURER lived—­and whose house is not only yet in existence, but still the object of attraction and veneration with every visitor of taste, from whatever part of the world he may chance to come.  The street running down, is the street called (as before observed) after Albert Durer’s own name; and the well, seen about the middle of it, is a specimen of those wells—­built of stone—­which are very common in the streets of Nuremberg.  The house of Albert Durer is now in a very wretched, and even unsafe condition.  The upper part is supposed to have been his study.  The interior is so altered from its original disposition, as to present little or nothing satisfactory to the antiquary.  It would be difficult to say how many coats of whitewash have been bestowed upon the rooms, since the time when they were tenanted by the great character in question.

Passing through this street, therefore, you turn to the right, and continue onwards, up a pretty smart ascent; when the entrance to the citadel, by the side of a low wall—­in front of an old tower—­presents itself to your attention.  It was before breakfast that my companion and self visited this interesting interior, over every part of which we were conducted by a most loquacious cicerone, who spoke the French language very fluently, and who was pleased to express his extreme gratification upon finding that his visitors were Englishmen.  The tower,