A LETTER

Indeed, they always display the malignancy of their nature and frequently their own ignorance; and, as the Comic Poet The Roman playwright Terence, in the prologue to his play Andria. says, "they act by understanding so that they understand nothing." original: "faciunt intelligendo ut nihil intelligant." Others, who are Students of Truth and intent upon the origins of things, will borrow many aids from here, and will acknowledge what they have borrowed with grateful minds. If any have destined some undertaken Work for the press, these men will best of all perceive the utility of Catalogs: for nothing more pleasant can be imagined than if, while treating a certain subject, one happens upon new materials opportune to his purpose. The more Papers you have surveyed which seem to supply some help, the greater is the joy and confidence in writing; unless this is done, we are distracted by perpetual hesitation, and a certain conscious timidity breaks the force of both the speech and the argument. From these things it is gathered that great thanks are owed to those who throw open to Writers whatever is hidden away in the Archives of Libraries.

However, just as Catalogs bring joy to Writers, so they bring perfection to the writings themselves (especially in Historical argument): if indeed we call those things perfect to which nothing can ever be added. Certainly, if we were to review the Books written within the last hundred years (chiefly concerning our own affairs), many would be found mutilated and meager; they would have been much more accurate and full if a work of this kind had appeared in the last century. Henry Spelman Sir Henry Spelman (c. 1562–1641), an English antiquary. published the British Councils original: "Concilia Britannica."; William Dugdale, the English Monasticon original: "Monasticon Anglicanum"; a famous history of monasteries in England.; works that are, if any others are, noble and elaborate. Yet how great a variety of new things could be added from this literary storehouse! I name these Works as ornaments of the English people, and their Authors as men most skilled in English affairs; it is a wonder that, destitute of this kind of help, they were able to excel so greatly in both genres. This was because the Manuscript Codices (almost the only resources for both Institutions) lay unknown, partly in the Archives of Libraries and partly in the hands of private individuals. What then are we doing—we who enjoy the happiness denied to them—if we do not use this Treasury to increase their noble Undertakings?

Nor are Catalogs of Manuscripts greatly profitable only in increasing the writings of Modern men, but also in polishing the Ancient Greek and Latin authors. Most of their Works (partly through the ignorance of Scribes, and partly through the negligence of Printers) are so corrupted that the correct sense or reading could never have been established without a variety of Codices. Relying on that authority, the Manutius family, Estienne, Gryphius, Froben, and Commelin Famous families and individuals of the early printing era known for their scholarly editions of classics. published the Classics (as we call them) accurately enough; yet they would have published them much more correctly had not a great part of the Manuscripts lain in dust and on small shelves during that "infancy" of Literature. But as the Codices gradually came to light, we received the Writers corrected and amended by the labor of the Learned. For even Manuscript Books that are drowsily original: "oscitanter"; written carelessly or with many errors. transcribed are greatly useful for this purpose; indeed, from a false spelling we often gather the true reading. It would be desirable, meanwhile, if only the errors of Scribes appeared in Books, whether published or Manuscript, sacred or profane. But the Pontiff-followers original: "Pontificii"; a polemical term for Roman Catholics common in 17th-century Protestant scholarship. have studiously contaminated the Councils, the Church Fathers, and even the Holy Scripture: either mutilating them so they would not oppose their own opinions, or distorting them so they might stabilize their dogmas by their authority. This is truly the highest wickedness! Yet it is not to be detected by the Reformed except by the testimony of Manuscripts which have escaped from the hands of such Falsifiers. And just as testimony is more pressing and abundant the more Copies it rests upon, so without Catalogs of Manuscript Codices, the variety of Copies cannot be conveniently found. The Famous James Thomas James (c. 1571–1629), the first librarian of the Bodleian Library, who wrote against what he saw as Catholic corruptions of ancient texts. labored successfully in refuting the Pontiff-followers, as we understand from the Book he wrote separately on that matter. If he, in that scarcity of Codices, could deserve so nobly of the Church, then surely our age will not be seen to understand the benefit of Providence unless it proceeds to restore the Sacred Writers from such a great multitude of Manuscripts.