He states that a sum
of fifteen thousand francs had been offered for it, by a countryman of
our own; but I should not hesitate to class this tale among the
numberless idle reports which are current upon the continent, respecting
the riches and the folly of English travellers. The famous Bedford
Missal, at a time when the bibliomania was at its height[120], could
hardly fetch a larger sum; and this of Rouen is in no point of view,
except antiquity, to be put in competition with the English manuscript.
Its illuminations are certainly beautiful; but they are equalled by many
hundreds of similar works; and they are only three in number, the
_Resurrection_, the _Descent of the Holy Ghost_, and the _Death of the
Virgin_.--The volume appears to have been originally designed for the
use of the cathedral of Canterbury; as it contains the service used at
the consecration of our Anglo-Saxon sovereigns.
The Missal, which is also the object of M. Gourdin's dissertation, is
from the convent of Jumieges.
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