A.D. 1624.

[77]Reg. Conv. N. ff. 167, 169.

'Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, and then Lord Chancellor of England, would have borrowed Paulus Benius EugubinusDe dirimend. Controvers. de Grat. et Lib. Arb., but was deny'd[78].'

The first theft of a book from the Library occurred in this year. An account of it, with several others, will be found in a note to the year1654.

[78]Barlow's MS. Arg. against lending books out of the Library; seepost, sub anno1659.

Andrew James, of Newport, Isle of Wight, is recorded to have given 'duas capsulas in quibus asservantur scripta vetustissima, exotici et ignoti characteris, alia stylo, calamo alia, in corticibus exarata, ex orientalis Indiæ partibus allata[79].' An East India merchant, John Jourdain, gave four Arabic MSS., and Bacon'sWorkswere presented by Peter Ince, a bookseller at Chester. It appears from the Register that Joseph Barnes, the Oxford printer and publisher, died in this year, as he bequeathed a legacy of £5.

[79]At the end of the Barocci collection (numbered 245, 246, in the Catalogue of 1697) are two Javanese MSS., written on palm-leaves: the one written with a reed in the sacred or Pali character, preserved in a box; the other written with a style in the common character, and having the leaves tied together in the usual manner between two boards. As there does not seem to be any evidence for supposing that Barocci's collection included any Oriental MSS., it is possible that these were the writings 'ignotischaracteris' given two years previously by Andr. James.

Twenty-nine MSS., all of which, except three, are Greek, were given by Sir Thomas Roe, who had previously been ambassador in Turkey, and who afterwards sat, at the commencement of the Long Parliament, as Burgess for the University, in company with Selden. One of the three exceptions is an original copy of theSynodal Epistles of the Council of Basle, with the leaden seal attached; and another, a valuable Arabic MS. of the Apostolic Canons, &c., which is noticed at length by Selden in the second book of his treatise,De Synedriis Hebræorum. Roe proposed that his books should be permitted to be lent out for purposes of printing, on proper security being given; a proposition which was accepted by Convocation[80]. Special licence of borrowing Lord Pembroke's (the Barocci) and Roe's MSS. was granted by the donors themselves to Dr. Lindsell (afterwards Bishop of Peterborough and Hereford) and Patrick Young, the keeper of the King's Library at St. James's. The latter is found, from the Register of Readers, to have used his privilege as late as Feb. and March, 1647-8, various volumes of Pembroke's MSS. being then lent to him, together with some marked 'Archbp.', which were doubtless Laud's[81].

The copy of Bacon'sEssays(1625) which was presented by the author to the Duke of Buckingham, was given to the Library by Lewis Roberts, a merchant of London. It is now exhibited among the curiosities in the first glass case, as a specimen of binding, being clad in green velvet, embroidered with gold and silver thread, with the head of the duke worked in silk. The same donor also presented the copy of Bishop Williams' Funeral Sermon on James I, which had been given to the same duke by the author. Several other specimens of embroidered bindings are preserved in the Library, which are all, it is believed, comprehended in the following list[82]:—

1. A part of L. Tomson's version of the New Test., printed by Barker, in 16o(in 1578?), now marked MS.e Musæo, 242. This belonged to Queen Elizabeth, and is bound in a covering worked by herself, with various mottos,e.g.'Celum patria,' 'Scopus vitæ Xpũs,' &c. And on a fly-leaf occurs this note in her handwriting: 'August[ine?]. I walke manie times into the pleasant fieldes of the Holye Scriptures, where I plucke up the goodlie greene herbes of sentences by pruning, eate them by reading, chawe them by musing, and laie them up at length in the hie seate of memorie by gathering them together; that so hauing tasted thy sweetenes I may the lesse perceave the bitternes of this miserable life[83].'

2. Another of Elizabeth's bibliopegic achievements is the cover of her own translation from the French ofThe Miroir or Glasse of the synnefull Soule, executed when only eleven years old. She says that she translated it 'out of frenche ryme into englishe prose, joyning the sentences together as well as the capacitie of my symple witte and small lerning coulde extende themselves;' and prefixes a dedication, dated 'from Assherige, the laste daye of the yeare of our Lord God, 1544,' in which, 'to our moste noble and vertuous quene Katherin, Elizabeth her humble daughter wisheth perpetuall felicitie and everlasting ioye.' The volume consists of 63 small quarto leaves, and has the queen's initials K. P. embroidered within an ornamental border of gold and silver thread, on a ground of blue corded silk. It is numbered Cherry MS. 38.

3.Dialogue de la Vie et de la Mort, trans. from the Italian by J. Louveau, and printed in imitation of MS., second edit., 12o. Lyon, 1558. Red velvet, embroidered with gold and silver thread. A French inscription on a fly-leaf is in a handwriting resembling that of Queen Elizabeth. Bodl. MS., 660.

4. A Testament in 16o, printed by Norton and Bill in 1625. Very thick and clumsy embroidery: on one side, David, in a flowing wig, playing on the harp, with a dog, dragon-fly, &c.; on the other, Abraham, in a similar wig and with a falling collar, stopped in the sacrifice of his son. There is a tradition that this formed part of a waistcoat of Charles I; but it is not known on what evidence it rests, nor does the material seem likely to have been so employed. In the Douce collection. Exhibited in the glass case at the entrance of the Library.

5. Bible, 8oLond. 1639. Landscape, &c., worked in silk, with embroidery in gold and silver thread. Arch Bodl. D subt. 75.

6. Prayer-book, New Test., and Metrical Psalms, 1630-1, bound by the nuns of Little Gidding. Exhibited in the glass case. Bought in 1866 for £10[84].

7. New Testament, printed at Cambridge in 1628, in 16mo. This was the first edition printed there of any portion of the Authorized Version, and only the second of any English translation[85]. The binding of the Library copy (which was bought, in 1859, for five guineas) is covered with silver filigree work.

Among Dr. Rawlinson's multifarious collections is a volume of curious early specimens of worked samplers, humorously lettered on the back, 'Works of Learned Ladies.'

[80]'Reg. Conv. R. 1628. f. 6.' MS. note by Dr. P. Bliss.

[81]Seesub anno1635.

[82]A lady, whose name is not mentioned, but who is graced with the appellation of 'heroina,' is recorded to have given to the University the Life of our Blessed Lord depicted in needle-work, 'byssina et aurata textura,' which was duly presented in Convocation on July 9, 1636. [Reg. Conv. R. 24.] It is not now preserved in the Library.

[83]This note is printed and the book described in Hearne's Appendix toTiti Livii Forojul. Vit. Hen. V, and, from thence, in Ballard'sLives; but not very correctly in either case. Also in Bliss'Reliqq. Hearn.i. 104.

[84]In the life of Rich. Ferrar, junior, in Wordsworth'sEccl. Biogr.(third edit. vol. iv. p. 232) a note is quoted from a MS. stating that a copy of Ferrar'sWhole Law of God, bound by the nuns of Gidding in green velvet, was given to the University Library by Archbp. Laud. This is a mistake; the book in question was given by the Archbishop to the library of his own college, St. John's, where it still remains.

[85]The first was the Genevan Version, printed in 1591.

The extremely valuable series of Greek MSS., called from its collector the Barocci Collection, comprising 242 volumes, waspresented by Will. Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, and Chancellor of the University. The manner of its acquisition is recorded in Archbp. Usher's correspondence. In a letter from Dublin of Jan. 22, 1628-9, Usher says: 'That famous library of Giacomo Barocci, a gentleman of Venice, consisting of 242 manuscript volumes, is now brought into England by Mr. Featherstone the stationer[86].' He recommended that the King should buy it, and add to it the collection of Arabic MSS. which the Duke of Buckingham had bought of the heirs of Erpenius[87]. On April 13, 1629, Sir H. Bourgchier writing to Usher, tells him that the Earl of Pembroke has bought the collection, for the University of Oxford, at the price of £700, and that it consists of 250 volumes[88]. It was forwarded to the University with the following letter, which is here copied from the Convocation Register, R. 24 (f. 9b.):—

'Good Mr. Vice-Chancelor,'Understanding of an excellent collection of Greke manuscripts brought from Venice, and thincking that they would bee of more use to the Church in being kept united in some publick Librarye then scattered in particular hands; remembring the obligation I had to my mother the Universitie, first for breeding mee, after for the honor they did mee in making mee their Chancelor, I was glad of this occasion to repay some part of that great debt I owe her. And therefore I sent you downe the collection entire, which I pray present with my beste love to the Convocation house. And I shall unfaynedly remaine,'Your most assured freind,'PEMBROKE.'Greenewich, the 25th of May, 1629.'

'Good Mr. Vice-Chancelor,

'Understanding of an excellent collection of Greke manuscripts brought from Venice, and thincking that they would bee of more use to the Church in being kept united in some publick Librarye then scattered in particular hands; remembring the obligation I had to my mother the Universitie, first for breeding mee, after for the honor they did mee in making mee their Chancelor, I was glad of this occasion to repay some part of that great debt I owe her. And therefore I sent you downe the collection entire, which I pray present with my beste love to the Convocation house. And I shall unfaynedly remaine,

'Your most assured freind,'PEMBROKE.'Greenewich, the 25th of May, 1629.'

The Earl was willing that the MSS. should, if necessary, beallowed to be borrowed. And, in pursuance of this expressed wish, Patrick Young had, in 1648, the use of various MSS. from this collection, as we find from a memorandum at the end of the Register of Readers in 1648-9. But one MS. suffered in consequence considerable injury[89]. A further portion of the collection (consisting of 22 Greek MSS. and 2 Russian), which had been retained by the Earl, was subsequently purchased by Oliver Cromwell, and given by him to the Library in 1654. There they still bear the Protector's name; but, strange to say, no entry of the gift appears in the Benefaction Book[90]. These are all fully described in the first volume of the general Catalogue of MSS., published by Rev. H. O. Coxe in 1853. A Catalogue of the Barocci and Roe MSS., by Dr. Peter Turner, of Merton College, beautifully written, filling 38 folio leaves, is bound up among Selden's printed books, marked AA. 1. Med. Seld.

On Aug. 27, the Library was visited for the first time by King Charles and his Queen, little anticipating under what circumstances that visit would be repeated. He was received with an oration by the Public Orator, Strode, a copy of which is preserved in Smith MS. xxvi. 26, and which, in the exaggerated style of the Court-adulation of the time, began with words that sound blasphemously in our ears, 'Excellentissime Vice-Deus.' From the Library the King ascended to the leads of the Schools; and there discussed the proposed removal of some mean houses in Cat Street, which then intervened between the Schools and St. Mary's Church. A plan of the ground and buildings was made at his desire, which was sent up to him at London.

[86]In the following year Mr. Henry Featherstone, bookseller in London, gave to the Library a number of Hebrew books.

[87]Parr'sLife of Usher, Letters, p. 400.

[88]Ibid.Quoted in Sir H. Ellis'Letters of Eminent Literary Men, Camden Soc., 1843. p. 130.

[89]Seesub anno1654.

[90]Richard Cromwell proposed at one time to perpetuate his own name in the Library, together with his father's, by sending a collection of the addresses which had been made to him, in order to show the temper of the nation, and the readiness of the greatest persons 'to compliment people on purpose for secular interest.'Reliquiæ Hearn.i. 263.

Charles Robson, B.D., of Queen's College, who had been Chaplain to the Merchants at Aleppo, gave a fine Syriac MS. of the Four Gospels, which he had brought from the East; it is now numbered Bodl. Orient. 361. Another MS. of his gift has been by some mistake placed amongst the Thurston MSS., No. 13.

William Burton, the historian of Leicestershire, gave the original MSS. of Leland'sItinerary(together with a transcript of some parts) and of hisCollectanea; the former filling seven volumes in quarto[91], and the latter (including the bookDe Scriptoribus Britannicis) four in folio. TheCollectanea, after the death of Leland, had been in the possession of Sir John Cheke, to whom Edward VI entrusted the custody of Leland's papers; on his going into exile in the reign of Queen Mary, he gave them to Humphrey Purefoy, Esq., whose son, Thomas Purefoy, presented them to Burton in the year 1612. TheItinerarywas first published by Hearne in 1710, in 9 vols.; theCollectaneain 1715, in 6 vols.; theDe Scriptoribus, by Ant. Hall, in 1709. The MS. of theItineraryis much stained and injured by damp; but it is no longer in the perishable condition described by Hearne. There are, besides, three transcripts of it in the Library; one, of part of the book (Bodl. 470) is a copy (mentioned above) which was made for Burton, and sent by him to Rouse, with a letter dated 'Lindley, Leic. 17 July, 1632,' in which he describes it as being 'written, though not with so fine a letter, yet with a judicioushand.' He says that another part is 'now (as I heere) in the hands of Doctor Burton, Archdeacon of Gloucester, which he received by loane from a freind of mine, but never yet restored; the which, I thinke, upon request he will impart unto you;' and adds, 'Some more partes there were of thisItinerary, but through the negligence of him to whom they were first lent, are embesiled and gone.' He undertakes to send the three parts of theCollectaneaand the bookDe Scriptt. Angliæ, according to promise, as soon as he has done using them. Another copy, made by Burton himself in 1628, was given to Dr. W. Stukeley by Thomas Allen, Esq., lord of Finchley, in June, 1758, and finally came to the Library with Gough's collection. It is now numbered Gough, General Topog. 2. It is injured by damp at the beginning, but has been repaired by Stukeley. The third copy is a later transcript, also in Gough's collection, and numbered General Topog. 1.

[91]An eighth volume of theItinerarywas given by Charles King, M.A. of Ch. Ch. some time subsequently, having been lent by Burton and not recovered at the time of his own gift.

A singular motto stamped upon the binding of two books, and it may be of more, within a border of cornucopiæ, &c., attracts the attention of the reader. The books are, vols. i. ii. of Du Chesne'sHistoriæ Francorum Scriptores, 1636 (A. 2. 9. 10. Jur.), and Halloix'sEcclesiæ Orientalis Scriptores, 1633 (G. 2. 3. Th.); the motto is, 'Coronasti annum bonitatis Tuæ, Ps. 65. Annuo reditu quinque librarum Margaretæ Brooke.' An explanation is found in an entry in the Benefaction-Register under the year 1632 or 1633, where we read as follows: 'D. Margareta Brooke, vidua, quondam uxor Ducis Brooke, de Temple-Combe in comitatu Somerset, armigeri defuncti, donavit centum libras, quibus perquisitus est annuus reditus quinque librarum ad coemendos libros in usum bibliothecæ in perpetuum.' Probably the books thus stamped were the first that were bought after the final settlement of thegift. The rent arises from land at Wick-Risington, in Gloucestershire, and the sum duly appears to this day in the annual accounts of the Library. In 1655, the then Librarian, Barlow, makes a memorandum in his accounts that the University had not paid over this rent for several years; in consequence of his calling attention to this neglect, the arrears were paid up in 1658. At the same time the rents of the houses in Distaff Lane were heavily in arrear.

A (second) gift from Sir Henry Wotton consisted of the copy of Tycho Brahe'sAstronomiæ instaurandæ mechanica, 1598, which the author gave to Grimani, Doge of Venice, containing several additional pages in MS. with two autograph epigrams; and also of a MS. of theActa Concilii Constantiensis, which had formerly belonged to Card. Bembi, now numberede Musæo, 25.

In this year Sir Kenelm Digby gave a collection of 238 MSS. (including five rolls) all on vellum, uniformly bound, and stamped with his arms, which still form a distinct series. They are, for the most part, of the highest interest and importance, especially with reference to the early history of science in England. Amongst them are works by Roger Bacon, Grosteste, Will. Reade, John Eschyndon or Ashton, Roger of Hereford, Richard Wallingford, Simon Bredon, Thomas of New-market, and many others. They also comprise much relating to the general history of England, and are almost entirely the work of English scribes. Many of them had previously belonged to Thomas Allen, of Gloucester Hall, who himself was a liberal donor to the Library. [Seep.19.] Two additional MSS., which formerly belonged to Digby, and which each contain his inscription, 'Hic est liber publicæ Bibliothecæ academiæ Oxoniensis, K.D.,' were purchased in 1825. One of these,R. Baconis opuscula, was bought for £51; the other, a Latintranslation, by W. de Morbeck, of Proclus' Commentary on Plato, for £31 10s.They are uniformly bound with the rest of the series, and are numbered 235 and 236 respectively.

The donor stipulated that his MSS. should not be strictly confined to use within the walls of the Library. Archbishop Laud says, in the letter in which, as Chancellor, he announced the gift to the University, 'hee will not subiect these manuscripts to the strictnes of Sir Thomas Bodley's statutes[92], but will haue libertie given for any man of woorth, that wilbee at the paines and charge to print any of these bookes, to haue them oute of the Librarye vpon good caution giuen; but to that purpose and noe other[93].' But he afterwards left the University at liberty to deal as it pleased with his MSS. in this particular, as well as in all other questions that might arise concerning his books. In a letter to Dr. Langbaine, dated Nov. 7, 1654, he says: 'The absolute disposition of them in all occurrences dependeth wholly and singly of the University; for she knoweth best what will be most for her service and advantage, and she is absolute mistress to dispose of them as she pleaseth[94].' He mentions in the same letter two trunks of Arabic MSS. which he gave to Archbp. Laud to send to the University or to St. John's College, but he never heard whether they reached their destination or no. He promises also to send over some more MSS. from France when he has returned thither; since, when the troubles of the Rebellion drove him into exile, he had carried his library with him. Upon the Restoration, however, and his own return to England, he unfortunately left his books behind; and after his death they were confiscated by the French King as belonging to an alien, and subsequently sold. Doubtless the two MSS. acquired in 1825 were among those to which his letter refers.

The first stone of the western end of the Library, with the Convocation House beneath, was laid on May 13, 1634; it was fitted up with shelves and ready for use by 1640. Selden's books were placed here in 1659. The hideous great west window is a monument of the bad taste of the time; it is much to be hoped that it may some day be replaced by a window more worthy of its conspicuous position, and affording a less marked contrast with its opposite neighbour, the noble east window erected by Bodley himself.

[92]See under1654-9.

[93]Reg. Conv. R. 24, 102. From MS. note by Dr. Bliss.

[94][Walker's]Letters by Eminent Persons, from the Bodl. and Ashm., 1813, vol. i. pp. 2, 3.

In this year Rouse issued an Appendix to the Catalogue published in 1620, consisting of 208 pages in quarto, in double columns, and containing, as he says, about 1500 authors. James, on the title-page of his Catalogue in 1620, speaks of an Appendix accompanying that issue; hence, probably, it is that the words 'Editio secunda' are placed on the title of the Appendix of 1635. But, strange to say, no copy of the earlier Appendix can now be found existing in the Library. At the end of the later one is added [by John Verneuil, then Sub-Librarian,] an anonymous enlarged edition (which was also sold separately) of James'Catalogus interpretum S. Script, in Bibl. Bodl., with an Appendix of authors who had written on theSentencesand theSumma, on the Sunday-Gospels, on Cases of Conscience, on the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and the Decalogue. A book giving an account of all the copies of the Catalogue sold between 1620-47, with the names of the purchasers, still exists, the latter part being in the handwriting of Verneuil; but some leaves have been torn out at the year 1635. It appears from this book that the price of James' Catalogue was 2s.8d., that of the Catalogue of Interpreters 6d., of the Appendix 2s., and of the whole series complete 5s.

The Register for these years presents a connected series of benefactions on the part of Archbishop Laud.

On May 22, 1635, he sent to the Library the first instalment of his magnificent gifts of MSS. which consisted of 462 volumes and five rolls. Among these were 46 Latin MSS., 'e Collegio Herbipolensi [Würtzburg] in Germania sumpti A.D. 1631, cum Suecorum Regis exercitus per universam fere Germaniam grassarentur.' Laud directs, in his letter of gift, that none of the books shall on any account be taken out of the Library, 'nisi solum ut typis mandentur, et sic publici et juris et utilitatis fiant,' upon sufficient security, to be approved by the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors; the MS., in such cases, being immediately after printing restored to its place in the Library[95]. This permission was acted upon in the year 1647-8, when Patrick Young, the Librarian of the Royal Library at St. James's, was allowed to have the use of several volumes[96].

In 1636, 181 MSS. formed the Archbishop's second gift, which were accompanied by five cabinets of coins in gold, silver, and brass, with a list arranged chronologically; an Arabic astrolabe, of brass[97]; two idols, one Egyptian, the other from the West Indies; and the fine bust of King Charles I, 'singulari artificio ex purissimo ære conflatam,' which is now placed under the arch opening into the central portion of the Library. This beautiful work of art is believed by Mr. John Bruce, the learned Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries, who is engaged in researches into the life and productions of Hubert Le Sœur, the artist of the statue at Charing Cross, to be, (as well as the bust given by Laudto St. John's College,) a specimen of the skill of that famous craftsman. The existing arrangements of the Library being found insufficient for such large accessions, the lower end was fitted up in 1638-9 for the reception of Laud's books, for the cost of which £300 was voted by Convocation[98]. In the following year, 555 more MSS. were received, together with a magical wand or staff, and some additional coins. The wand is of dark polished wood, 2 feet 9 inches long, with a grotesquely-carved figure at the head, apparently of Mexican workmanship: it is now kept in one of the Sub-Librarians' studies. The last gift from the munificent Chancellor of the University came in the next year, 1640, and consisted of no more than 81 MSS.; for troubles were beginning to gather now around the head of the Archbishop, and the Library at Oxford felt the blows which were levelled at Lambeth. This was accompanied with the following touching letter:—

'Viris mihi amicissimis Doctori Potter, Vice-Cancellario, reliquisque Doctoribus, Procuratoribus, necnon singulis in domo Convocationis intra almam Universitatem Oxon. congregatis.'Non datur scribendi otium. Hoc tamen quale quale est arripio lubens, ut pauca ad vos transmittam, adhuc florentes Academici. Tempora adsunt plusquam difficillima, nec negotia quæ undique urgent faciliora sunt. Quin et quo loco res Ecclesiæ sint nemo non videt. Horum malorum fons non unus est; unus tamen, inter alios, furor est eorum qui sanam doctrinam non sustinentes (quod olim observavit S. Hilarius) corruptam desiderant. Inter eos qui hoc œstro perciti sunt quam difficile sit vivere, mihi plus satis innotescit, cui (Deo gratias!) idem est vivere et officium facere.'Sed mittenda hæc sunt, nec enim quo fata ducunt datur scire. Nec mitiora redduntur tempora aut tutiora querimoniis. Interimvelim sciatis me omnia vobis fausta et felicia precari, quo tuti sitis felicesque, dum hic inter sphæras superiores stellæ cujuslibet magnitudinis vix motum suum tenent, aut præ nubium crassitie debile lumen emittunt.'Dum sic fluctuant omnia, statui apud me in tuto (id est, apud vos spero) MS. quædam, temporum priorum monumenta, deponere. Pauca sunt, sed prioribus similia, si non æqualia, et talia quæ, non obstantibus temporum difficultatibus, in usum vestrum parare non destiti. Sunt vero inter hæc Hebraica sex, Græca undecim, Arabica tringinta quatuor, Latina viginti et unum, Italica duo, Anglicana totidem, Persica quinque, quorum unum, folio digestum ampliori, historiam continet ab orbe condito ad finem imperii Saracenici, et est proculdubio magni valoris. Hæc per vos in Bibliothecam Bodleianam (nomen veneror, nec superstitiose) reponenda, et cæteris olim meis apponenda, cupio, et sub eisdem legibus quibus priora dedi. Non opus est multis donum hoc nostrum nimis exile ornare, nec id in votis meis unquam fuit. Hoc obnixe et quotidie a DEO Opt. Max. summis votis peto, ut Academia semper floreat, in ea Religio et Pietas et quicquid doctrinam decorare potest in altum crescat, ut tempestatibus quæ nunc omnia perflant sedatis, tuto possitis et vobis et studiis et, præ omnibus,Deofrui. Quæ vota semper erunt'fidelissimi et amantissimi Cancellarii vestri,'W. CANT.[99]'Dat. ex ædibus meis'Lambethanis, 6toNov. 1640.'

'Viris mihi amicissimis Doctori Potter, Vice-Cancellario, reliquisque Doctoribus, Procuratoribus, necnon singulis in domo Convocationis intra almam Universitatem Oxon. congregatis.

'Non datur scribendi otium. Hoc tamen quale quale est arripio lubens, ut pauca ad vos transmittam, adhuc florentes Academici. Tempora adsunt plusquam difficillima, nec negotia quæ undique urgent faciliora sunt. Quin et quo loco res Ecclesiæ sint nemo non videt. Horum malorum fons non unus est; unus tamen, inter alios, furor est eorum qui sanam doctrinam non sustinentes (quod olim observavit S. Hilarius) corruptam desiderant. Inter eos qui hoc œstro perciti sunt quam difficile sit vivere, mihi plus satis innotescit, cui (Deo gratias!) idem est vivere et officium facere.

'Sed mittenda hæc sunt, nec enim quo fata ducunt datur scire. Nec mitiora redduntur tempora aut tutiora querimoniis. Interimvelim sciatis me omnia vobis fausta et felicia precari, quo tuti sitis felicesque, dum hic inter sphæras superiores stellæ cujuslibet magnitudinis vix motum suum tenent, aut præ nubium crassitie debile lumen emittunt.

'Dum sic fluctuant omnia, statui apud me in tuto (id est, apud vos spero) MS. quædam, temporum priorum monumenta, deponere. Pauca sunt, sed prioribus similia, si non æqualia, et talia quæ, non obstantibus temporum difficultatibus, in usum vestrum parare non destiti. Sunt vero inter hæc Hebraica sex, Græca undecim, Arabica tringinta quatuor, Latina viginti et unum, Italica duo, Anglicana totidem, Persica quinque, quorum unum, folio digestum ampliori, historiam continet ab orbe condito ad finem imperii Saracenici, et est proculdubio magni valoris. Hæc per vos in Bibliothecam Bodleianam (nomen veneror, nec superstitiose) reponenda, et cæteris olim meis apponenda, cupio, et sub eisdem legibus quibus priora dedi. Non opus est multis donum hoc nostrum nimis exile ornare, nec id in votis meis unquam fuit. Hoc obnixe et quotidie a DEO Opt. Max. summis votis peto, ut Academia semper floreat, in ea Religio et Pietas et quicquid doctrinam decorare potest in altum crescat, ut tempestatibus quæ nunc omnia perflant sedatis, tuto possitis et vobis et studiis et, præ omnibus,Deofrui. Quæ vota semper erunt

'fidelissimi et amantissimi Cancellarii vestri,'W. CANT.[99]'Dat. ex ædibus meis'Lambethanis, 6toNov. 1640.'

The collection, which contains in the whole nearly 1300 MSS., comprises works in very many languages: Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Armenian, Ethiopic, Chinese, Russian, Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, Irish, Anglo-Saxon, and English are all represented. It is impossible, in the limits of this survey, to point out many of the treasures withwhich the collection abounds; but that which is pre-eminently styled 'Codex Laudianus' (numbered Laud, Gr. 35) must not, of course, be omitted. It is a MS. of the Acts of the Apostles, in quarto, consisting of 227 leaves, and containing the text in both Greek and Latin, in parallel columns. Its date has been variously fixed by critics, from the sixth to the eighth century; Mr. Coxe places it towards the end of the seventh century, with whom Dr. Tischendorf, who examined it in 1865, and for whom some photographs of portions were executed, is believed to coincide. Some leaves are wanting at the end, commencing at chap. xxvi. 29. It is the only MS. known to be extant which contains the peculiar readings (in number 74) cited by Bede in his Commentary as existing in the copy which he used; it has consequently been conjectured, with much reason, that this was the very MS. which he possessed. It was published by Thomas Hearne in 1715, printed in capitals corresponding line for line with the MS., but not with entire correctness; only 120 copies were printed, and it is therefore one of the rarest in the series of his works. A very fairly engraved facsimile of one verse (vii. 2) is to be found in Horne'sIntroduction.

Another famous MS. (No. 636) is a copy of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which ends at the year 1154, and appears to have been written in, and to have belonged to, the abbey of Peterborough, from its containing many additions relating thereto. And a third treasure calling for special mention is an Irish vellum MS. (No. 610), which contains the Psalter of Cashel, Cormac's Glossary, Poems attributed to SS. Columb-kill and Patrick, &c.[100]The Greek MSS. of the collection are fully described in vol. i. of theCatal. Codd. Bibl. Bodl., by Mr. H. O. Coxe, published in 1853; the Latin, Biblical, and Classical, with the Miscellaneous, in Part I of the second volume, published by the same gentleman in 1858; the Oriental, in the various Catalogues of Uri, Nicoll, Pusey, Dillmann, and Payne Smith.

One of the Würtzburg books rescued from the Swedish soldiery is a magnificent Missal printed on vellum by Jeorius Ryser in 1481, with illuminated initials. On a fly-leaf is the following note: '1481, Johannes Kewsch,vicarius in ecclesia Herb[ipolensi] hunc librum comparavit propriis expensis, et pro omnibus, scil. pergameno, impressura, rubricatione, illinatura, et ligatione, xviii. flor.' Then follows a bequest, in his own hand, in 1486, of the book to the successive vicars of St. Bartholomew, which is repeated at the end of the 'Canon Missæ.' In the latter place four subsequent possessors, from 1565 to 1580, have written their names, the last of them adding, 'Omnis arbor qui non facit fructum bonum excidetur et in ignem mittetur.' The Library reference is now Auct. i. Q. i. 7.

[95]Reg. Conv. R. 24. f. 109b. MS. note by Dr. P. Bliss.

[96]Entry at the end of the Register of Readers, 1638-9.

[97]This was given to Laud by Selden, 'vir omni eruditionis genere instructissimus,' as Laud styles him in his letter of gift on June 16. Reg. Conv. R. 24. f. 128.

[98]Reg. Conv. R. 24. 156b. 169b. The agreements with one Thomas Richardson for the work are found there.

[99]Reg. Conv. R. 24b, 182b.

[100]Four volumes of the miscellaneous collection on Irish affairs made by Sir G. Carew, afterwards Earl of Totness, are also to be found here. A list of their contents, as of those of the other volumes preserved at Lambeth and in University College, is printed in Mr. T. Duffus Hardy'sReport to the Master of the Rolls on the Carte and Carew Papers, 8o, Lond. 1864.

A Bachelor of Arts and Fellow of St. John's College, one Abraham Wright, published the results of his lighter reading in the Bodleian in a little volume printed by Leonard Lichfield, which he entitled,Delitiæ Delitiarum, sive Epigrammatum ex optimis quibusque hujus et novissimi seculi Poetis in amplissima illa Bibliotheca Bodleiana, et pene omnino alibi extantibus,ανθολογια.

On Jan. 25, 1639-40, died Robert Burton, of Ch. Ch., 'Democritus junior,' and bequeathed out of his large library whateverhe possessed which was wanting in the Bodleian. A list of the Latin books thus acquired is given in the Benefaction Book, followed by this sentence: 'Porro [d. d.] comœdiarum, tragediarum, et schediasmatum ludicrorum (præsertim idiomate vernaculo) aliquot centurias, quas propter multitudinem non adjecimus.' These latter were just the classes of books the admission of which the Founder had almost prohibited, viz., 'almanacks, plays, and an infinite number that are daily printed.' Even if 'some little profit might be reaped (which God knows is very little) out of some of our play-books, the benefit thereof,' said he, 'will nothing near countervail the harm that the scandal will bring upon the Library, when it shall be given out that we stuffed it full of baggage books[101].' In consequence of this well-meant but mistaken resolution, the Library was bare of just those books which Burton's collection could afford, and which now form some of its rarest and most curious divisions. In his own address 'To the Reader' of hisAnatomy of Melancholyhe very fully describes the nature of his own gatherings. 'I hear new news every day; and those ordinary rumours of war, plagues, fires, inundations, thefts, murders, massacres, meteors, comets, spectrums, prodigies, apparitions, of towns taken, cities besieged in France, Germany, Turkey, Persia, Poland, &c. * * * * are daily brought to our ears; new books every day, pamphlets, currantoes, stories (&c.). Now come tidings of weddings, maskings, mummeries, entertainments, jubilees, embassies, tilts and tournaments, trophies, triumphs, revels, sports, plays; then again, as in a new shifted scene, treasons, cheating tricks, robberies, enormous villainies, in all kinds, funerals, burials, death of princes, new discoveries, expeditions; now comical, then tragical matters.' His books are chiefly to be found in the classes marked 4oArt. (particularly under letter L), Theol., and Art. BS. Amongst his smaller books is one of the only two known copies ofthe edition ofVenus and Adonisin 1602. He is specially mentioned also in the preface to Verneuil'sNomenclator, 1642, as being (together with Mr. Kilby of Linc. Coll., Mr. Prestwich, of All Souls', and Mr. Francis Wright, of Merton) a donor of Commentaries and Sermons. Besides his books, he bequeathed £100, with which an annual payment of £5 was obtained. For some time, however, this payment was subsequently lost; for in Barlow's Accounts for 1655, after mentioning the receipt of £40 paid by one Mr. Thomas Smith, occurs this 'Memorandum:—that the £40 above mentioned amongst theReceptais a part of an £100 given to the Library by Mr. Rob. Burton of Ch. Ch. It was first lent to Mr. Thomas Smith, and he (by bond) was to pay to the Library £5 per annum. He breaking, or very much decay'd in his estate, and deade, this £40 was payd in by his executors, £50 more is to be payd us by University Coll. (it was owinge to Mr. Smith, and his executors assigned it over to us), and Dr. Langbaine hath in his keepinge a bond of one Spencer for £10 more.' The latter was paid in 1658, as appears from an entry, 'Recept. a Dno. Spicer (sic) et Hopkins, ex syngrapha;' but the former was still unpaid in 1660.

[101]Reliquiæ Bodl.p. 278.

The famous 'Guy Fawkes' Lantern,' which is to this day such an object of interest in the Picture Gallery to most sight-seers, was presented to the University by Robert Heywood, M.A., Brasenose College, who had been Proctor in 1639. It came into his possession from his being the son of a Justice of the Peace who assisted in searching the cellars of the Parliament House, and arrested Fawkes with the lantern in his hand. In 1640 this Justice Heywood was wounded by a Roman Catholic when, while still holding office as a Justice for Westminster, he was engaged in proposingthe oaths to the recusants of that city[102]. The following inscription is attached to it, engraved upon a brass plate: 'Lāterna illa ipsa, qua usus est et cum qua deprehensus Guido Faux in crypta subterranea, ubi domo Parlamenti difflandæ operam dabat. Ex dono Rob. Heywood, nuper Academiæ Procuratoris, Apr. 4, 1641.' From being for many years exposed to the handling of every visitor, it became much broken; but it has now for a long time been secured from further injury by being enclosed in a glass case.

In May an order was made by the Curators that no strangers should have the use of any MSS. without finding sureties for the safety of the same, in consequence of a suspicion that whole pages had been in some cases abstracted. Hereupon a very earnest, and, in sooth, indignant, remonstrance was presented to the 'Curatores vigilantissimi' by the strangers then residing in Oxford 'studiorum causa.' The original document is preserved in Wood MS. F. 27, and is signed by eleven persons from Prussia and other parts of Germany, six Danes, and one Englishman (John Wyberd), a medical student. Some of these visitors are found, by reference to the Register of Readers, to have been students for a considerable time; the Baron ab Eulenberg, for instance, having been admitted on Jan. 18, 1638-9, and one Ven, a Dane, in 1633. The memorialists say that there is not even the very slightest ground for attributing such an offence to any of them, and that the Librarian himself candidly confesses that it has never been proved to him that strangers have ever done anything of the kind; they urge the difficulty of their finding sponsors for their honesty when they themselves are strangers and foreigners; they appeal to Bodley's own statutes as providing sufficiently for the contingency by ordering the Librarian to number the pages of a MS. before giving it out, and toexamine it when returned; they fortify their arguments by abundant references to the civil law; they upbraid those who,—'internecino exterorum atque advenarum odio æstuantes (O celebratam Britanniæ hospitalitatem!),'—have originated the calumny; and, finally, warn the Curators against giving occasion for suspicion to the learned men of the whole world that 'doctos Angliæ viros, priscæ hospitalitatis immemores, majori exterorum quam Athenienses Megarensium odio flagrare.' The memorial is endorsed: 'De hac re amplius deliberandum censebant Præfecti ult. Maii, 1641;' and no doubt the obnoxious order was soon repealed. Half a century later, on Nov. 8, 1693, the order was in a certain degree renewed: it was then enjoined 'that no one be permitted totranscribeany manuscript, but such as have a right to study in the Library.' The revival, however, was not due to any revived fear of foreigners; the following reason is given in a letter of information on Library matters from Dr. Hyde to Hudson, his successor, written on the latter's appointment in 1701:—'Some in the University have been very troublesome in pressing that their Servitors may transcribe manuscripts for them, though not sworn to the Library, nor yet capable of being sworn; wherefore the Curators made an order (as you will find in the Book of Orders in the Archives) "that none were capable of transcribing, except those who had the right of studying in the Library," viz. Batchelors[103].' But no doubt this order also soon became dormant, even if it were not definitely repealed.

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