‘By the bequest of Mr. GRENVILLE’S Library, the collection of books printed on vellum now at the Museum, and comprising those formerly presented by GEORGE II, GEORGE III, and Mr. CRACHERODE, is believed to surpass that of any other National Library, except the King’s Library at Paris, of which VAN PRAET justly speaks with pride, and all foreign competent and intelligent judges with envy and admiration. In justice to the Grenville Library, the list of all its vellum books ought to be here inserted. As this cannot be done, some only of the most remarkable shall be mentioned. These are—the Greek _Anthology_ of 1494; the _Book of Hawking_ of JULIANA BERNERS of 1496; the first edition of the _Bible_, known as the “Mazarine Bible,” printed at Mentz about 1454; the Aldine _Dante_ of 1502; the first _Rationale_ of DURANDUS of 1459; the first edition of FISHER _On the Psalms_, of 1508; the Aldine _Horace_, _Juvenal_, _Martial_, and _Petrarca_, of 1501; the _Livy_ of 1469; the _Primer of Salisbury_, printed in Paris in 1531; the _Psalter_ of 1457, which supplies the place of the one now at Windsor, which belonged to the Royal Collection before it was transferred to the British Museum; the _Sforziada_, by SIMONETA, of 1490, a most splendid volume even in so splendid a Library; the _Theuerdank_ of 1517; the _Aulus Gellius_ and the _Vitruvius_ of Giunta, printed in 1515, &c. &c. Of this identical copy of _Vitruvius_, formerly Mr. DENT’S, the author of the _Bibliographical Decameron_ wrote, “Let the enthusiastic admirers of a genuine vellum Junta—of the amplest size and in spotless condition—resort to the choice cabinet of Mr. DENT for such a copy of this edition of Vitruvius and Frontinus.” [Sidenote: Panizzi’s _Report to Parliament_, as above.] The _Aulus Gellius_ is in its original state, exactly as it was when presented to LORENZO DE’ MEDICI, afterwards Duke of Urbino, to whom the edition was dedicated.’ CHAPTER VI. OTHER BENEFACTORS OF RECENT DAYS.—CREATION OF THE NEW DEPARTMENT OF BRITISH AND MEDIÆVAL ANTIQUITIES AND ETHNOGRAPHY. ‘Amidst tablets and stones, inscribed with the straight and angular characters of the Runic alphabet, and similar articles which the vulgar might have connected with the exercise of the forbidden arts, ... were disposed, in great order, several of those curious stone axes, formed of green granite, which are often found in these Islands.... There were, moreover, to be seen amid the strange collection stone sacrificial knives ... and the brazen implements called Celts, the purpose of which has troubled the repose of so many antiquaries.’—_The Pirate_, c. xxviii.