[1] James (M. R.), lxxiv.
Section III
On one occasion, after spending much time in searching
wills and in examining catalogues without finding a
reference to an interesting book--to either an ancient or a
medieval classic the writer well remembers the little
shock of pleasure he felt when, in a single half-hour, he
noted Piers Plowman in one brief unpromising will, and
six English books among the relics of a mason. Nearly
all the libraries of private persons and of academies are
depressing in character. Rarely can be found a bright
human book gleaming like a diamond in the dust. Score
after score of decreta, decretales, Sextuses, and Clementines,
and chestsful of the dreariest theological disquisition impress
upon the weary searcher the fact that academic libraries
were usually even more dryasdust than monastic collections,
and he begins to understand how prosperous law
may be as a calling, and to have an inkling of what is
known, in classic phrase, as a good plain Scotch education.
Between an academic library and a monastic collection
there were differences of character and in the beauty and
value of the manuscripts.
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