But, however that may have been, if it is
possible that M Michelet [Footnote: "_If M. Michelet can be
accurate_"--However, on consideration, this statement does not depend
on Michelet. The bibliographer Barbier has absolutely _specified_
sixty in a separate dissertation, _soixante traductions_ among
those even that have not escaped the search. The Italian translations
are said to be thirty. As to mere editions, not counting the early MSS.
for half a century before printing was introduced, those in Latin
amount to 2000, and those in French to 1000. Meantime it is very clear
to me that this astonishing popularity so entirely unparalleled in
literature, could not have existed except in Roman Catholic times, nor
subsequently have lingered in any Protestant land. It was the denial of
Scripture fountains to thirsty lands which made this slender rill of
Scripture truth so passionately welcome.] can be accurate in saying
that there are no less than sixty French versions (not editions,
observe, but separate versions) existing of the "De Imitatione," how
prodigious must have been the adaptation of the book to the religious
heart of the fifteenth century! Excepting the Bible, but excepting
_that_ only in Protestant lands, no book known to man has had the
same distinction. It is the most marvellous bibliographical fact on
record.
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