Third Volume.[309]—Original binding, with the title: 'Cæsaris liber tertius.' The text begins thus:—
'On the twenty-seventh day of February, one thousand five hundred XX, the King being in his park of Congnac, seeing that the splendour of his entry was like to be marred by the inclemency of the weather, took shelter in the house of the labyrinth, having with him monsieur l'Admiral and the young and discreet Sieur de la Rochepot. At the entrance to the lower room he feels and hears so violent a wind that it seems to him "quam spiritu vehementi" the lofty trees fall to the earth as on Friday the ninth day of March one thousand VᶜᶜXX in divers places about Paris.'
The result of all this uproar is the appearance of Julius Cæsar. François I questions him as to what he did after pacifying Gaul. Whereupon Cæsar replies:—
'I tell you that, after divers victories won by me, so high an opinion of me and so great renown were spread among the barbarian peoples, that ambassadors were sent to me by the nations beyond the Rhine, who in the name of their cities promised to give hostages to me and to obey my commands. But, for that I was in haste to go thence, I bade them return to me in the summer season. Thereafter I led my legions to winter quarters in the land of Touraine and in the duchy of Madame your mother. And that done, I went hence to Italy.'
This volume is supplied with two maps: one, of Aquitaine, is at the beginning, the other, of Bretagne, at the end of the volume, which contains also no less than twelve large miniatures. The King, in hunting costume, figures again and again in them. The execution is as careful, and the paintings of the same type, as in the two earlier volumes. All the miniatures and the maps are signed with a G, and some of them are dated 1520. On folio 52, the painter's name is written in full: 'Godefroy.'
The former owner of this fine manuscript writes to me: 'I cannot furnish you with any interesting information concerning the manuscript of the "Commentaires de César." It was given to me, only the slightest importance being attached to the gift, by a resident of Tours, who owned no books, and who had kept it for forty years in his closet. To tell you how it came into my hands would be the more difficult because that person has long been dead. The volume was delivered to me in very bad condition. I employed Duru to repair the back and to rebind it, leaving intact the covers, which were of the original sixteenth-century binding. A small engraving, which resembled niello-work, but was recognized as the work of Étienne de Laulne, an engraver of Orléans, was at the beginning of the book.'
Obliged, in 1850, by circumstances which it is needless to detail, although they were to his honour, to part with this precious volume, its owner sent it to Paris, to M. Techener, for sale on commission. He wanted 2000 francs for it, and first of all the bookseller offered it to the Bibliothèque Nationale. The Conservatoire of that great collection could not find that amount in its annual credit of 80,000 francs, and it renewed the old joke which had temporarily banished the second volume. Unfortunately one does not meet every day, to repair its errors, generous booksellers like M. Debure, or those who have it in their power to be as generous as he; and M. Techener, who was richer than our rich collection of books for the purpose of purchasing this manuscript, was not rich enough to present it to that collection. He advertised it in the 'Bulletin du Bibliophile' for 1850 (no. 1222), for 3000 francs. During a whole year, artists and curious folk (I was among the latter) were at liberty to examine it at leisure and to lament the advent of English dealers who threatened every moment to take it from us. At last, Monseigneur le Duc d'Aumale added it to his treasures of printed books and manuscripts, and, although in England, one may say now that it belongs to France. Indeed, it may be that M. Debure's example will be followed some day, and that this third volume will come to join the second on the shelves of our magnificent department of manuscripts, awaiting the time when the fortunate result of negotiations with the British Museum shall permit the consummation of the work by means of exchanges.[310]
Godefroy's facile talent could not fail to be fruitful of results, and some of his works may be found in several collections. The Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal owns one of them, the 'Triomphes de Pétrarque,' which seems, in view of the exuberance of the subjects, the exaggeration of the artist's defects, and the laxness of execution, to be of later date than the 'Commentaires de César'; and, whether because the artist had visited Italy, or because, the better to interpret the poet's ideas, he sought inspiration in Italian works, it is certain that he is less French in the illustrations of this manuscript than in the others. He is more perfect, too, in the art of composition, his distances are more accurately measured, his groups are more in harmony with one another; in a word, he displays an inspiration, or resources, altogether new: such, for example, as the device of cutting off the figures in the foreground at the waist, by means of rising ground, whereby he is able to give them strongly proportioned frames without filling up his whole picture.
I will describe this manuscript briefly. It is a small octavo volume of ten leaves (not including the covers), written on fine parchment. It is about 10 centimetres in height by 8 in width. It was rebound in the eighteenth century, in lemon-colored morocco.