entrusted with the MS.—­M.  Lechner as interpreter, my own valet, as interpreter between myself and M. Lechner, who could not speak French very fluently—­all assembled at the Cheval Rouge:  with the CODEX EBNERIANUS, bound in massive silver, lying upon the table between us.  It is a small, thick quarto volume; written in the cursive Greek character, upon soft and fair coloured vellum, and adorned with numerous illuminations in a fine state of preservation.  Its antiquity cannot surely be carried beyond the XIIth century.  On the outside of one of the covers, is a silver crucifix.  Upon the whole, this precious book, both from its interior and exterior attractions, operated upon me infinitely more powerfully than the ivory-handled knives, gilt-studded daggers, gorgeous scraps of painting, or antique-looking prints ... of the Baron Derschau.

We soon commenced an earnest conversation; all four of us frequently being upon our legs, and speaking, at the same time.  The price was quickly fixed by the owner of the MS.; but not so readily consented to by the proposed purchaser.  It was 120 louis d’or.  I adhered to the offer of 100:  and we were each inflexible in our terms.  I believe indeed, that if my 100 louis d’or could have been poured from a bag upon the table, as “argent-comptant,” the owner of the MS. could not have resisted the offer:  but he seemed to think that, if paper currency, in the shape of a bill, were resorted to, it would not be prudent to adopt that plan unless the sum of 120l. were written upon the instrument.  The conference ended by the MS. being carried back to be again deposited in the family where it had so long taken up its abode.  It is, however, most gratifying for me to add, that its return to its ancient quarters was only temporary; and that it was destined to be taken from them, for ever, by British spirit and British liberality.  When Mr. John Payne visited Germany, in the following year, I was anxious to give him some particulars about this MS. and was sanguine enough to think that a second attempt to carry it off could not fail to be successful.  The house of Messrs. Payne and Foss, so long and justly respected throughout Europe, invested their young representative with ample powers for negotiation—­and the Codex Ebnerianus, after having been purchased by the representative in question, for the sum first insisted upon by the owner—­now reposes upon the richly furnished shelves of the BODLEIAN LIBRARY—­where it is not likely to repose in vain; and from whence no efforts, by the most eminently successful bibliographical diplomatist in Europe, can dislodge it.