Some of these little illustrations show the conceptions as well as the manners of the age. In one of these old Bibles is a picture of six seigneurs (two famous bibliophiles among them), in full regalia (no grave clothes for them), cordially received by Saint Peter at the Gothic Gates of Paradise in the courteous days of the old regime. There is that magnificent jeweled Bible of Jean Sans Peur, Duc de Bourgoyne, decorated with his armorial bearings, which was given to him by some monks of his domain when he deigned to honor them with a visit; it contains a charming little picture of the presentation scene. [Illustration: _A Page from the Bible of Jean Sans Peur._] Those were royal days for bibliophiles; but a change was to come over the spirit of their dreams. Printing was invented and the democracy of letters set in,—jeweled bindings made way for calf, and collectors are diverted from painting to presses. Bibliophiles develop individual tastes and such a plebeian variety of them; it is akin to free speech—one doting on prayer-books, another on cook-books; one on pamphlets, another on palimpsests; one on school-books, another on Virgils; one on curiosities of literature, execrably illustrated books of travel in impossible lands and comedies of error generally; another on distant glimpses of dawning light, until within the order arises the confusion of Babel, one no longer understanding the language of another. But there is an early Episcopal prayer-book in the British Museum before which all the brotherhood right gallantly might bow. It was Lady Jane Grey’s companion in distress; she is said to have taken it with her to the scaffold, where she certainly carried its lessons. In it she wrote her last message to her father: “The Lord comfort Your Grace in this world wherein all creatures are only to be comforted.” Her story is almost too harrowing to recall. This studious young girl, just seventeen, is offered the English crown. Her common sense tells her to decline it. “His Grace,” always harsh, even for his day and generation, forces her to accept. In consequence, after a ten days’ reign, she is imprisoned in the Tower. While she is held there “His Grace” makes another false move; as a result of his idiocy Lady Jane and her young husband are condemned to death.