Among the ancient libraries that of Lucullus is mentioned by Plutarch in terms of the highest praise. The number of volumes was immense, and they were written in elegant hands. The use he made of them was still more honorable to him than the possession of so much literary treasure. The library of Lucullus was open to all; the Greeks who were at Rome repaired with pleasure to his galleries and porticos, as to the retreat of the muses, and there spent whole days in conversation upon subjects of literature, delighted to retire to such a scene from other pursuits. Lucullus himself, who was a perfect master of the Greek language often joined and conferred with these learned men in their walks.
There were several other libraries at Rome, the chief of which was the Ulpian library, instituted by Trajan, which Dioclesian annexed as an ornament to his baths. One of the most elegant was that of Serenus Samonicus, preceptor of the Emperor Gordian. It is said to have contained not less than 60,000 volumes, and that the room in which they were deposited was paved with gilded marble. The walls were ornamented with glass and ivory; and the shelves, cases, presses, and desks, made of ebony and silver. There were libraries in the capital, in the Temple of Peace, and in the house of Tiberius. Many private persons had good libraries particularly in their country villas. The Roman libraries were in general adorned with statues and pictures, particularly of ingenious and learned men.
Learning and the arts received a fatal blow by the destruction of the heathen temples, in the reign of Constantine. The devastations then committed, are depicted in the strongest and most lively colours by Mr. Gibbon, in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Many valuable libraries perished by the Barbarians of the north, who invaded Italy in the fourth and fifth centuries. By these rude hands perished the library of Perseus, king of Macedon, which Paulus Æmilius brought to Rome with its captive owner; as did also that noble library, just mentioned, established for the use of the public by Asinius Pollio, which was collected from the spoils of all the enemies he had subdued, and was much enriched by him at a great expense. The libraries of Cicero and Lucullus met with the same fate, and those of Julius Cæsar, of Augustus, Vespasian, and Trajan also perished, together with that of the Emperor Gordian.
KING CHARLES THE FIRST.
The Journey of Prince Charles (afterwards Charles the First) and the Duke of Buckingham to Spain, was considered at the time to be such a piece of knight-errantry as scarcely any age could parallel. Spanheim in his history of Louisa-Juliana, Electress Palatine, mother of the king of Bohemia, says “that never Prince was more obliged to a sister, than king Charles I. was to the queen of Bohemia; since it was only the consideration of her and her children, who were then the next heirs after him to the Crown of England, that prevailed with the Court of Spain to permit him ever to see England again.”
Charles the First, though of abstemious habits kept a splendid and hospitable table, at the beginning of his reign. Of this trait in his character, hitherto unnoticed, the following account affords a sufficient proof.
There were daily in his court eighty six tables, well furnished each meal, whereof the king’s table had twenty-eight dishes; the queen’s twenty-four; four other tables sixteen dishes each; three other ten dishes each; twelve other had seven dishes each; seventeen other tables had each of them five dishes; three other had four each; thirty-two other tables had each three dishes; and thirteen other had each two dishes; in all about five hundred dishes each meal, with bread, beer, wine, and all other things necessary. All which was provided, mostly by the several purveyors, who, by commission, legally and regularly authorized, did receive those provisions at a moderate price, such as had been formerly agreed upon in the several counties of England, which price, (by reason of the value of money much altered) was become low, yet a very inconsiderable burthen to the kingdom in general, but thereby was greatly supported the royal dignity in the eyes of strangers as well as subjects.
The English nobility and gentry, according to the king’s example, were excited to keep a proportionable hospitality in their several country mansions, the husbandmen encouraged to breed cattle, all tradesmen to a cheerful industry; and there was then a free circulation of money throughout the whole body of the kingdom. There was spent yearly in the king’s house of gross meat fifteen hundred oxen, seven thousand sheep, twelve hundred veals, three hundred porkers, four hundred storks or young beefs, six thousand eight hundred lambs, three hundred flitches of bacon, and twenty-six hams; also one hundred and forty dozen of geese, two hundred and fifty dozen of capons, four hundred and seventy dozen of hens, seven hundred and fifty dozen of pullets, one thousand four hundred and seventy dozen of chickens; for bread three thousand six hundred bushels of wheat: and for drink six hundred tuns of wine, and one thousand seven hundred tuns of beer; moreover of butter forty six thousand six hundred and forty pounds, together with fish and fowl, venison, fruit and spice proportionably.