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Minor Queries with Answers.
"_The Basilics._"--What is the manuscript called the "Basilics" in the
following passage, which occurs in a cotemporary MS., "Memoirs of the Life
of the Right Hon. John Lord Scudamore, Viscount Sligo in Ireland," in the
library of P. Howard, Esq., at Corby Castle? Is it known where it is now
preserved?
Have these memoirs been printed? Lord S. was born in 1600, and was
ambassador to France when this circumstance occurred.
"There having been intelligence given to his Excellence by that
renowned person, and his then great acquaintance, Mons. Grotius, lieger
in Paris for the crown of Sweden, of a very valuable manuscript of many
volumes, being the body of the civil law in Greek, commonly called the
'Basilics,' in the hands of the heirs of the famous lawyer lately
deceased, Petrus Faber,--desirous to enrich his country with this
treasure, he transacted and agreed with the possessors for the price of
it, which was no less than 500l. But when it should have been
delivered, and the money was ready to be paid down, Cardinal Richelieu
(the great French minister of state at that time) having notice of the
transaction interposed, and forbad the going on upon the contract, as
thinking it would have been a diminution to their nation to permit such
a prize to come into the hands of strangers, and by their charge and
labour be communicated to the world."