Luttrell Psalter

Not all poets' wives are pressed for money. Recently when Mrs. Alfred Noyes decided to lay her hands on an extra -L-30.000 ($150,000) or so, she knew exactly how to touch the money. She would sell an old manuscript left her by her grandfather. For years it had been displayed on loan at the British museum.

John Pierpont Morgan presently went to see Mrs. Noyes's heirloom: the famed Luttrell Psalter, an exquisitely illuminated manuscript psalmbook made in East Anglia about 1340 for rich Sir Geoffrey Luttrell. Reverently the financier turned the crackly pages, gravely he viewed an inset miniature of Sir Geoffrey with two ladies. Presently he laid the Psalter down, said that it ought not leave England.

Last week the British Museum was able to announce: that Mrs. Noyes had sold her manuscript privately for -L-32,476 ($157,500); that the money had been advanced by Mr. Morgan; that if the British Museum should raise -L-32,476 within a year and pay it to Mr. Morgan they could keep the Luttrell Psalter forever; that anyhow they can keep it for a year on loan.

If the British Museum can also raise $165,000 within a year and pay that to Mr. Morgan, they can also keep the famed Bedford Book of Hours, also purchased last week for the quiet, cultured gentleman whose office is at No. 23 Wall Street.