I love thee, not 'cause thou art fair, Smoother than down, softer than air, Nor for those Cupids that do lie In either corner of thine eye; Will you then know what it may be? 'Tis--I love you 'cause you love me. J. BRUCE. 24th Oct. 1849 * * * * * NOTES UPON ANCIENT LIBRARIES. A knowledge of the intellectual acquirements of the middle ages must be mainly formed upon a consideration of the writings which directed them, or emanated from them. Unfortunately such materials are very imperfect, our knowledge of the existence of works often resting only upon their place in some loosely-entered catalogue--and of the catalogues themselves, the proportion still remaining must be small indeed. Under these circumstances the following documents, which are now for the first time printed, or even noticed, will be found to be of considerable interest. The first is, in modern language, a Power of Attorney, executed by the Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, appointing two of the monks of his church to be his procurators for the purpose of receiving from the convent of Anglesey, in Cambridgeshire[1], a book which had been lent to the late Rector of Terrington. Its precise date is uncertain, but it must be of about the middle of the thirteenth century (1244-1254), as Nicholas Sandwich, the Prior of Christ Church, was the second of four priors who presided between the years 1234 and 1274. "N. Prior Ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariensis discretis viris et religiosis Domino Priori de Anglesheya et ejusdem loci sacro conventui salutem in Domino. Cum sincera semper caritate noverit faternitas vestra nos constiuisse fratres Gauterum de Hatdfeld et Nicolaum de Grantebrigiense Ecclesiæ nostræ monachos latores precencium procuratores nostros ad exigendum et recipiendum librum qui intitulatur. Johannes Crisestomus de laude Apostoli. In quo etiam volumine continentur Hystoria vetus Britonum quæ Brutus appellatur et tractatus Roberti Episcopi Herfordiæ de compoto. Quæ quondam accommodavimus Magistro Laurentio de Sancto Nicholao tunc Rectori ecclesiæ de Tyrenton. Qui post decessum præfati Magistri L. penes vos morabatur et actenus moratur. In cujus rei testimonium has litteras patentes nostro sigillo signatas vobis transmittimus." The contents of the book which is the subject of this special embassy are of the character usually found to have formed the staple of monastic libraries, though the particular treatises included in it are not common.