From the accounts which Lord PRUDHOE, Mr. CURZON, and Mr. TATTAM had given of their visits to the Monastery of the Syrians, it was evident that but few of the manuscripts belonging to it had been removed since the time of ASSEMANI; and probable that no less a number than nearly two hundred volumes must be still remaining in the hands of the monks. Moreover, from several notes in the manuscripts ... already brought to England, it was certain that most of them must be of very considerable antiquity.... In several of these notices, MOSES of Tecrit states that, in the year 932, he brought into the convent from Mesopotamia about two hundred and fifty volumes. As there was no evidence whatever to show that even so many as one hundred of these MSS. had ever been taken away (for those which were procured for the Papal Library by the two ASSEMANI, added to those which Mr. CURZON and Mr. TATTAM had brought to England, do not amount to that number), there was sufficient ground for supposing that the Convent of the Syrians still possessed not fewer than about one hundred and fifty volumes, which, at the latest, must have been written before the tenth century. Application, accordingly, was made by the Trustees to the Treasury; a sum was granted to enable them to send again into Egypt, and Mr. TATTAM readily undertook the commission. [Sidenote: TREASURY GRANT, IN 1841, FOR FURTHER RESEARCHES.] The time was most opportune. Had much more delay been interposed, these manuscripts, which, perhaps, constitute the greatest accession of valuable literature which has been brought from the East into Europe since the taking of Constantinople, [Sidenote: _Quart. Review_, as before.] would, in all probability, have been now the pride of the Imperial Library at Paris. [Sidenote: MR. TATTAM’S EXPEDITION TO NITRIA IN 1842.] Mr. TATTAM thought he could work most effectively through the influence of a neighbouring Sheikh with the superior of the convent. By which means he obtained, after some delays, a promise that all the Syriac MSS. should be taken to the Sheikh’s house, and there bargained for. ‘My servant,’ he says, ‘had taken ten men and eight donkeys from the village; had conveyed them, and already bargained for them, which bargain I confirmed. That night we carried our boxes, paper, and string, and packed them all.... Before ten in the morning they were on their way to Alexandria.’ But, as will be seen in the sequel, the monks were too crafty for Mr. TATTAM to cope with. [Sidenote: TISCHENDORF’S VISIT IN 1844.]