writes himself indifferently), was born in the province of York, by the consent of the best writers, about the year 735. It is consequently only by an obstinacy in error that many authors, and among them Bale, Reyner, Cave, and their followers, should have confounded him with another Albinus, mentioned by Bede in the Preface to his Ecclesiastical History, and lib. 5. c. 21. who succeeded Adrian as abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, in the year 710, and who so far from being "the favourite disciple of Bede," was, as we are assured by Bede himself, the disciple of Adrian at Canterbury (where Bede never taught), and coeval with the venerable historian, whose own death took place the year of Alchuine's birth, or not long afterwards.3

The education of Alchuine was superintended by Egbert, archbishop of York (who succeeded Wilfred in 731. or, according to others, 743.) and by Elbert, Egbert's successor in the see; and his proficiency was such, that before the death of the former (766), he had the joint charge of the school founded by that prelate, and many ecclesiastics came to avail themselves of the advantages of his tuition. On the decease of Elbert in 780, Alchuine was selected by Archbishop Eanbald to proceed to Rome to receive his pall, and on his return home the following year, he met with the emperor Charlemagne at Parma; and here it was, in all probability, he received an invitation from that monarch to enter his service, and take the lead in that glorious restoration of literature which under the auspices and example of Charlemagne was then commencing throughout the provinces of the empire. Having procured the consent of his sovereign and the archbishop,

Alchuine selected some of his pupils as followers (among whom was Fridugis alias Nathanael, whose name we shall meet with again), and returned to France in 782, as proved by the annals of the time.5 The emperor received him with open arms, and a school was established in the palace, in which the family of Charlemagne were themselves foremost in setting an example of studious attention to Alchuine's precepts and from that period the emperor honoured him as his preceptor and friend, and consulted him on every occasion. After a lapse of eight years Alchuine desired to revisit his native country, which was permitted, and the interval between the years 790 and 792, or beginning of the next, was passed in England.6 On his return, he was actively engaged in confuting the heresy of Elipand, Bishop of Toledo and Felix of Urgel, his disciple, and assisted for that purpose at the Council held at Frankfort in 794. In the year 796, on the death of Ithier, Abbat of St. Martin of Tours, Alchuine was nominated by the Emperor in his place, and employed himself assiduously in restoring the strict observance of the monastic duties, and in founding a school in the abbey,7 where the liberal arts were taught with such success as to produce in the succeeding century the most celebrated scholars in Europe. Here it was that Alchuine devoted himself most zealously to the composition of the works he has left us, but after the lapse of a few years he began to suffer from the infirmities of age and constitution, of which he often complains in his letters.8 On this account he excused himself from accompanying Charlemagne to Rome in 799 on the occasion of the Emperor's coronation, and the following

year he solicited and finally obtained leave to resign his pastoral charge, and to lead the short remainder of his life in pious and undisturbed seclusion.9 He continued at St. Martin's, until his death, which took place on Pentecost-day, 19th May 804, at the age of nearly seventy years. He was buried in the abbey-church, where an epitaph, composed by himself, was placed on his grave-stone.10

From the above succinct view of Alchuine's life and occupations, it is evident that he could not have commenced his recension of the Latin Bible so early as 778, as M. de SpeyrPassavant would have us believe. That the emperor Charlemagne had turned his attention to the subject before the arrival of Alchuine, has been inferred from his charge in the Capitulary of 789, "ut canonici libri tantum legantur in ecclesia,"ll and his express command in the same code, that none but men of perfect age should transcribe the Gospels, the Psalter, or a Missal, and that the scholars should especially be kept from corrupting the text, in reading or writing.12 Yet the first of these regulations is only an enforcement of a canon in the council of Laodicea, c. 59, and in reality implies nothing more than the rejection of the apocryphal books of the Old and New Testament. A more precise testimony occurs in in the letter addressed by Charlemagne to the religious readers subject to his government, prefixed to the Homiliarium collected by Paul Warnefrid (and subsequently, as it is generally believed, corrected by Alchuine), in which the Emperor declares; "Therefore because it is our care that the state of our churches should ever progress in improvement, we have la

66

boured by vigilant study to renovate the sources of literature, almost obliterated through the negligence of our forefathers, and by our example to invite to the study of the Sacred Scriptures. Among which things we have already, by the assistance of God, thoroughly corrected the whole of the books of the Old and New Testament, which had been corrupted by the ignorance of transcribers."13 The date of this letter is not known with certainty, but the Benedictines ascribed it to the year 788, adding however the qualifying clause, comme on croit."14 But this date would seem inadmissible from the evidence of Alchuine himself, who in the year 799, in a letter addressed to Gisla, sister of the Emperor, and Richtrudis, otherwise called Columba, describes himself as still deeply occupied in the emendation of the Old and New Testament, undertaken by order of Charlemagne.15 A copy of the Bible thus corrected, was completed under the eye of Alchuine before the close of the following year, and was destined as a present to Charlemagne on the day of his coronation as Emperor at Rome, the 25th Dec. A. D. 800. which was then accounted the first day of the year 801. The letter which accompanied the gift has been fortunately preserved, and is in the following terms: "After deliberating a long time what the devotion of my mind might find worthy of a present equal to the splendor of your Imperial Dignity and increase of your wealth, that the ingenuity of my mind might not become torpid in idleness, whilst others were offering various gifts of riches, and the messenger of my littleness come empty-handed before the face of your Sanctity, at length, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I found

what it would be competent for me to offer, and fitting for your Prudence to accept. For to me inquiring and considering, nothing appeared more worthy of your Peaceful Honour than the gifts of the Sacred Scriptures, which, by the dictation of the Holy Spirit and mediation of Christ-God, are written with the pen of celestial grace for the salvation of mankind, and which knit together in the sanctity of one glorious body, and diligently emended, I have sent to your Royal Authority by this your son and faithful servant, so that with full hands we may assist in the delightful service of your Dignity."16 From another letter 17 we learn, that the messenger was Nathanael, whose real name was Fridugis, a native of the same province as Alchuine, and his favorite pupil, whom he selected to succeed him as abbat of Tours, and who afterwards became abbat of St. Bertin, and Chancellor to Louis le Débonaire.18

The facts, therefore, of Alchuine's having received Charlemagne's commands to undertake a recension of Jerome's, vulgar Latin text of the Bible, and having caused a copy to be written for the Emperor's own use, stand undisputed on the authority of Alchuine himself. But the same facts are corroborated by the testimonies of other writers. Angelom, monk of Luxeu in Burgundy, who wrote a Commentary on Genesis before the year 830, and who therefore must have been a contemporary of Alchuine, declares he saw and diligently examined the Bible which Alchuine had corrected for Charlemagne ;19 and Sigebert of Gemblou, an historian who flourished at the close of the 11th cen

It

century (ob. 1113.), expressly states, that Alchuine "jussu Imperatoris correxit divinam Bibliothecam. "20 would appear also that copies of the text so emended were caused to be made by various ecclesiastics and persons of rank under the superintendance of Alchuine himself, who wrote verses to be prefixed or annexed to each copy. Thus we have a poem, "In Codicem [Bibliorum] jussu Gerfridi Episcopi scriptum;" 21 another, " In sacrum Codicem jussu Ave scriptum ;"22 and a third, "In sacrum Codicem cura Radonis Abbatis Monasterii S. Vedasti scriptum; "23 not to mention at present the poems in two Bibles of St. Paul and the Vallicella library at Rome, as well as in the MS. purchased for the British Museum.

It only remains under this head to notice the errors of those writers who have represented Alchuine as retiring to the abbey of St. Martin at Tours in the year 801, when in fact that was the year in which he relinquished the abbacy. M. Peignot takes occasion from the above date to infer, that it was impossible for Alchuine to have copied with his own hand the entire Bible in the short space of time intervening between his arrival at the abbey in 801, and his death in 804.24 But this objection is founded upon wrong premises; for it is very evident, and capable of demonstration from Alchuine's own Epistles, that he was almost constantly resident at Tours from the year of his appointment in 796.25

Let us now turn to the history of the Bible in the Museum, as stated by M. de Speyr-Passavant. He asserts that it is expressly mentioned by Charlemagne in his Testament ;26 that it

was subsequently given to the Benedictine abbey of Pruem in the diocese of Treves, by the emperor Lothair, grandson of Charlemagne, who assumed the monastic habit and died there in 856. [855.]; and that on the dissolution of this convent in 1576, and the appropriation of its revenues to the Elector of Treves, the Benedictines conveyed to Switzerland, and deposited it in the monastery of MoutierGrand- Val, near Basle, the Chapter of which was then transferred to Delémont. It remained in their possession until the year 1793, when, on the occupation of the episcopal territory of Basle by the French troops, the possessions of the monks were sold, and the Bible became the property of M. Bennot, Vicepresident of the Tribunal at Delémont, from whom, on the 19th March 1822, it was purchased by M. de Speyr-Passavant.

In the notices of this Bible, inserted by the late proprietor in the French Journals, 1829, there are many discrepancies from the above account, which shew how M. de Speyr-Passavant progressively made up his story concerning it. With regard to its being mentioned by Charlemagne in his Testament, it is an impudent fiction (which I am sorry to observe is admitted also into Mr. Evans's Sale Catalogue, and thence copied into the Gent. Mag. Vol. V. p. 531. N. S.); for the only passage in which Charlemagne speaks of his library, is as follows: "Similiter et de libris, quorum magnam in bibliotheca sua copiam congregavit, statuit, ut ab his qui eos habere vellent, justo pretio fuissent redempti, pretiumque in pauperes erogatum." Baluzii Capit. i. 490. This will easily and naturally account for the dispersion of Charlemagne's library after his decease. It is certainly true, that the emperor

Lothaire, previous to his death, granted by charter to the Superior of Pruem various reliques and costly articles, and, among other things, he specifies a copy of the Gospels, ornamented with ivory, chrystal, gold, and gems, and a Bible, with figures and large capital letters of gold at the beginning of each book.27 But there is not the slightest authority, as far as I know, to identify the volume of M. de SpeyrPassavant with the one given by Lothaire to the monks of Pruem; and I am equally at a loss (although I have consulted very many volumes to ascertain the fact) to learn on what grounds the late proprietor asserts this Bible to have been conveyed from Pruem to Grand-Val. M. de Speyr-Passavant's Album has been consulted in vain for corroboration of these positive assertions, and I much fear that they form a portion of the many passages in his pamphlet emanating solely from the inventive brain of the author himself. The truth is, that the only document upon which this superstructure rests, is an Act of Proprietorship drawn up by the Chapter of Grand-Val, and inserted on the verso of the last leaf of the Bible itself, as follows: "Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis. Sanctus Germanus et Randoabdus veri hujus libri posessores, (sic) et ab eorum Collegio et Ecclesia prædictum librum nunquam alienandum, neque alio transportandum statuere unanimi consensu R.dus admodum et Venerabilis Dnus Jo. Henricus Mollifer, Prepositus, Paulus des Boys, Archidiaconus, etc. omnes capitulares."

Now it appears from a manuscript History of Grand-Val, quoted by M. de Speyr-Passavant in his Album, that Mollifer was chosen Prepositus in 1589, and died in 1607; which fixes the date of the document in question to the interval between those years.28

The subsequent history of the Bible may be briefly traced. After its purchase by M. de Speyr-Passavant, and its restoration by his care to a more perfect state of conservation, 29 it was shewn to several persons at Geneva, Lausanne, Berne, Fribourg, &c; and the proprietor, by the encouragement of the Chevalier d'Horrer, Chargé d'Affaires of France in Switzerland, was induced to take it to Paris, in December 1828, with the intention of disposing of it to the French Government. Here he remained till about May 1830, and during that period used every effort in his power to induce the King, his Ministers, the Administrateurs of the Bibliothèque du Roi, &c. &c. to purchase the MS.first at the price of 60,000 francs, then at 48,000 fr. then at 42,000 fr.; but the price seemed to the French Government so excessive, that in spite of the proprietor's petitions, letters, addresses, and applications, repeated one after the other with unwearied perseverance, it was finally resolved not to buy the Bible, which was taken back to Basle. During the above period also M. Peignot published his Letters to M. Amanton, wherein he (very justly) questioned the extravagant terms in which the Paris Journals had noticed M. de Speyr-Passavant's MS. but was subsequently induced by the false statements of the proprietor to change his sentiments, and the "Description de la Bible," appeared in October 1829, dedicated to this very M. Peignot, of whose recantation the owner of the volume gladly availed himself, as a powerful argument in favour of his own views. But with all the professions of M. de Speyr-Passavant, that the Bible was reserved more particularly for the acquisition of "la Belle France," he had very early turned his eyes towards England also, and before 30th Apr. 1829 had offered

29 See "Description," p. 4.

MR. URBAN,

it for sale to Lord Stuart de Rothesay, English ambassador at Paris. In December 1829 the same offer was made to H. R. H. the Duke of Sussex. Thus the affair rested, and the Bible, unsold, remained in the proprietor's hands. At length, in October 1834, he again awoke from his lethargy, and at the same time dispatched letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, H. R. H. the Duke of Sussex, and the "right laudable Lord Viscount Althorp," in England; to Baron Reiffenberg, in Belgium, and to the Bishop of Beauvais in France, offering his MS. to each, and protesting he had given him or his country the preference! On the change of Ministry in France, application was once more made, but without success, in January 1835; and again, through the medium of the Marquis de Chateaugiron, in May the same year. Having totally failed in France, in January 1836 he set out for England, for the purpose of submitting his Bible to the Trustees of the British Museum. Much correspondence took place; at first he asked 12,000l. for it, then 8,000l., then 6,500l. which he declared was an immense sacrifice!!! At length, finding he could not part with his MS. on terms so absurd, he resolved to sell it if possible by auction, and accordingly, on the 27th April 1836, the Bible was knocked down by Mr. Evans for the sum of 1,500l.but for the proprietor himself, as there was not one real bidding for it. This result having brought M. de SpeyrPassavant in some measure to his senses, overtures were made to him on the part of the Trustees of the Museum, and the Manuscript finally became the property of the nation for the (comparatively) moderate sum of 750l.

I shall here close this portion of my remarks, and reserve for another communication the description of the Bible itself. F. M.

Sept. 12.

I FORWARD you a drawing, taken in the autumn of last year, of the Church of Nateley Scures, Hampshire. The want of a county history will not

allow me to avail myself of the labours of abler topographers to illustrate its early history; but I have little doubt that the merits of the structure will be sufficient to recommend the