was carried to Rome at the devolution of the duchy to the Holy See, but was rescued by Pope Clement XI. from the Vatican library, and restored to his native town, where it has long been used in the choir of the cathedral. [Footnote 124: "Sint tibi divitiæ; sint aurea vasa, talenta Plurima, servorum turbæ, gemmæque nitentes; Sint vestes variæ, pretiosa monilia, torques; Id totum hæc longe superat præclara supellex. Sint licet aurati niveo de marmore postes, Et variis placeant penetralia picta figuris; Sint quoque Trojanis circumdata moenia pannis, Et miro fragrent viridaria culta decore. Extra intusque domus regali fulgida luxu, Res equidem mutæ; sed BIBLIOTHECA parata est, Jussa loqui, facunda nimis, vel jussa tacere, Et prodesse potens, et delectare legentem. Tempora lapsa docet, venturaque plurima pandit, Explicat et cunctos coeli terræque labores."] [Illustration: _Alinari_ FIFTEENTH CENTURY COURT OF THE PALAZZO DUCALE, URBINO] Roscoe has well observed that "by no circumstance in the character of an individual is the love of literature so strongly evinced, as by the propensity for collecting together the writings of illustrious scholars, and compressing 'the soul of ages past' within the narrow limits of a library." But it is not easy now to appreciate the obstacles attending such a pursuit in the age of Federigo. The science of bibliography can scarcely be said to have existed before the invention of printing, in consequence of the extreme difficulty of becoming acquainted with works of which there were but few copies, and these widely scattered, perhaps scarcely known. Great outlay was required, either to search out or transcribe manuscripts, and even the laborious habits which then accompanied learning shrank from a task so beset by obstructions. Yet there was a bright exception in Thomas of Sarzana, whose learning supplied the knowledge, and whose elevation to the triple tiara as Nicholas V. procured him the opportunities, necessary for amassing a library. Not only did he found that of the Vatican, but he prepared for Cosimo _Pater patriæ_ a list of authors for the infant collection of S. Marco, at Florence, which, being recognised as a standard catalogue, was adopted by Count Federigo. The longer life allowed to the latter enabled him to outstrip these bibliomaniacs, and all contemporary accumulators, until the fame of his library stood unrivalled. Accordingly Ruscelli, in his _Imprese Illustri_, avers it to be "notorious that the earliest and most famous collection formed out of the ruins of antiquity was that of Urbino, from whence many excellent authors were edited, and copies supplied." Marsilio Ficino and Leandro Alberti, with others of equal weight, have borne similar testimony, the former from common report, the latter from ocular demonstration; but we shall content ourselves with quoting from two contemporaries, familiar with what they describe. To begin