A.D. 1655.

[119]The conditions imposed by the executors (which are printed in Gutch'sWood, ii. 943, and elsewhere) expressly stipulated that the books should be chained. As late as the year 1751 notices occur in the Librarian's account-books of the procuring additional chains for the Library. But the removal of them appears to have commenced as shortly afterwards as 1757, and in 1761 there was a payment for unchaining 1448 books at one halfpenny each. Several of the chains are still preserved loose, as relics.

[120]Ayliffe'sAncient and Present State of the Univ. of Oxford, 1714, vol. i. p. 462. Pointer, in hisOxoniensis Academia, 1749, p. 136, quotes the account of the Bodleian given by Ayliffe as having been written by Dr. Hudson, under whose name it is also found in Macky'sJourney through Englandvol. ii. The fire here mentioned was probably that which occurred about 1679 or 1680, in which the chambers called the Paper-Buildings were destroyed, where Selden's rooms were situated. At Lincoln's Inn some MSS. are now amongst Sir M. Hale's.

[121]This was never recovered, but a later edition, in 1609, was procured instead.

The stipends of the Librarian and Assistants at this time amounted jointly to £51 6s.8d.Of this it appears from the account for 1657 that the Librarian received £33 6s.8d., theSecond Keeper, then H. Stubbe, £10, and [the janitor] S. Rugleye (?), £8. A volume of curious tracts, published during the early part of the reign of Charles I, now marked 4oF. 2 Art. B. S., furnishes the name of a preceding janitor, by bearing the inscription,'Liber Thomæ Roch, defuncti, quondam janitoris bibliothecæ.' The janitor originally appointed by Bodley appears to be mentioned in the following passage in a letter from him to James: 'There is one Thomas Scott, Under-butler of Magdalen College, that hath made means unto me for the Porter's place, whom I propose to elect[122].'

John Evelyn appears in this year, as well as subsequently, as a donor of books. Nineteen MSS. were given by Peter Whalley, of Northamptonshire.

[122]Reliquæ Bodl.p. 263.

Cowley'sPoems. See1620.

In this year the gifts to the Library, which since 1640 had been but few, begin once more to increase in number. Five hundred gold and silver coins were given by Ralph Freke, of Hannington, Wilts, and a cabinet for their reception, 'auro gemmisque coruscum,' by his brother William. Amongst various other donations occur a copy of Caxton's Description of Britain, 1480, from Ralph Bathurst, M.D., Trinity College, and four Oriental MSS. from William Juxon, 'Londinensis olim Episc.' One entry in the Benefaction Register has been at one time carefully pasted over, and at another brought again to light; it is the record of a gift fromHugh Peters. 'Hugo Peters, serenissimo Britanniarum Protectori Olivero a sacris, pro sua inacademiam et rempubl. literariam benevolentia, codices insequentes Bibl. Bodleianæ dono dedit Maii iiiio, Anno CIƆ. IƆC. LVII;' viz. the great Dutch Bible with annotations, 'edit. ult. [scil. Hague, 1637]auro sericoque compacta,' and the Æthiopic Psalter of 1513. A leaf which followed this entry has been removed from the Register, probably because it contained some further particulars of Peters' gift, or possibly the record of the MSS. presented by the Protector himself in 1654[123]. The binding of silk and gold has now altogether disappeared, and the Bible is clad in a plain calf coat, with no note of its former condition or of its donor.

Francis Yonge, M.A. of Oriel College, the Sub-librarian, died in this year. In his place succeeded, through the influence of Dr. Owen, Dean of Ch. Ch., Henry Stubbe, M.A., the well-known violent and varying political writer, then a Student of that House. From the posts, however, of both Librarian and Student Stubbe was ejected in March, 1659, on account of the publication of his book entitled,A Light Shining out of Darkness, which was supposed to attack the Universities and clergy.

[123]See p.55.

Gerard Langbaine, D.D., the learned Provost of Queen's College, died on Feb. 10 in this year. Twenty-one vols. of hisAdversaria, consisting chiefly of extracts from Bodleian MSS. and of notes concerning the arrangement of the books in the Library, were bought for £11. Nine other volumes were bequeathed by Ant. à Wood in 1695. They are all fully described by Mr. Coxe in vol. i. [cols. 877-888] of the General Catalogue of the MSS. of the Library, which appeared in 1853, as well as more briefly in Bernard's Catalogue. Besides obtaining his ownautograph collections by purchase, the Library became possessed by bequest from him of the very valuable MS. (e Mus. 86) on the history of Wickliffe and his followers, entitledFasciculi Zizaniorum, written by Thomas Walden. This was edited by the late Dr. Shirley in 1858, as part of the Master of the Rolls' Series of Chronicles. Dr. Shirley traced the volume to the hands of Bale and Usher, but was not aware of the way in which it came to the Library.

The effect which civil war and confusion had had upon literature may be commercially estimated by the fact that a gift of £5 from Joseph Maynard, B.D., of Exeter College, proved sufficient for the purchase of 28 printed volumes and 11 MSS., many of which were curious.

A crocodile, from Jamaica, was given by John Desborow, the republican Major-General, and brother-in-law to the Protector.

Thomas Hyde, M.A., of Queen's College, was appointed Under-keeper on the expulsion of Henry Stubbe.

Thomas Barlow, D.D. (who had been elected Provost of Queen's College in 1658), resigned the Librarianship on Sept. 25, in consequence of his appointment to the Margaret Professorship of Divinity. Thomas Lockey, B.D., Student of Ch. Ch., was elected in his place, on Sept. 28, by 102 votes to 80, over Mr. [John] Good, M.A., Balliol College[124].

A curious story is preserved by Wanley and Dr. Wallis, in memoranda, dated 1698-1701, on the fly-leaves of a copy of the rareIndex Librorum prohibitorumprinted at Madrid in 1612-14(4oU. 46. Th.), respecting the visit of a Roman Catholic priest to the Library during the period of Barlow's headship. In the course of conversation with Barlow, the priest denied that such a book as this Index had ever been printed at Madrid (there being various discrepancies between it and the Roman Index), whereupon this copy was produced, bearing the names of several inquisitors who had from time to time possessed it. The visitor was extremely surprised, and, being very desirous of purchasing it, offered any sum for it that might be demanded, with the intent (as the somewhat suspicious tellers of the tale suggest) to destroy it; but the Doctor was above corruption. The vigilance of the Librarians being aroused, the book was removed from an exposed place where it had formerly been kept, to a less accessible situation in the gallery, and securely chained. Wallis adds that one fly-leaf, containing some of the previous owners' names, had since then been torn out[125].

[124]Reg. Convoc. Ta. 27, p. 57.

[125]The memoranda are printed in Mendham'sLit. Policy of the Church of Rome, second edit., pp. 152-4, and in Bliss'Reliquiæ Hearnianæ, i. 12-14.

A legacy of £50 was paid which had been bequeathed some time previously by Alex. Ross, now-a-days best known as the Ross of Hudibrastic memory. It is singular that a copy of the old printed quarto catalogue of the Library was amongst the books purchased with this gift; which shows that, within forty years after publication, it had become scarce even in the Library itself.

Five Arabic and eight Chinese MSS. were given by William Thurston, a London merchant. By a mistaken arrangement of various other small gifts, Thurston now passes as the donor of forty Arabic, Persian, and Syriac MSS., instead of five. Several of these, at present all numbered alike as Thurston MSS., weregiven in 1684 by Jos. Taylor, LL.D., of St. John's College, one by Crewe, Bishop of Durham, in 1680, one by Benj. Polsted, a London African merchant, in 1678, one by Charles Robson, B.D., Queen's College, about 1630, and one is an Armenian poem of thanks for benefits received from the University, presented by the author, Jac. de Gregoriis, an Armenian priest, in 1674. One other volume (a mathematical MS. bought at Constantinople, by Const. Ravius, in 1641) was at one time, as it appears, abstracted from the Library, and was restored by means of Dr. Marshall, who, after the words 'Liber Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ Oxon.' has added the following note: 'quem ex Ratelbandi cujusdam bibliopolæ officina libraria, prope novum templum Amstelodami, redimendum pretio persoluto curavit Tho. Mareschallus, e Collegio Lincolniensi apud Oxonienses.'

The first statutory obligation upon the Stationers' Company to deliver a copy of each book printed by them to this Library, together with that of Cambridge and the Royal Library, was imposed by the act of 14 Chas. II. c. 33, for two years, which was renewed from time to time until the passing of the Copyright Act of 8 Q. Anne.

The University was visited in September by Charles II and his Queen. And 'on Munday, September 28, about four in the afternoon, the University, being in their Formalities placed from Christ Church east-gate to the south gate of the publique Schooles, the King and Queen, the Duke and Dutches of Yorke, with the nobility and gentry attending, went to the Schooles, where the Chanceller, Vice-Chanceller and Heads of Houses received them, and invited them up to the Library; and Mr. Crew, the Senior Proctor, placed neer the globes, addrest himselfe to their Majesties in an oration upon his knees; which being ended, the King andQueen, with the Royal Family and nobility, were by our Chanceller, Vice-Chanceller, and the Heads of Houses, conducted to Selden's Library, and there entertained with a very sumptuous banquett[126].'

[126]Reg. Convoc. Ta. 27, p. 173.

James Lamb, of St. Mary Hall, D.D. and Canon of Westminster, died in this year. Nine MSS. volumes, written by him, consisting of collections for an Arabic Lexicon and Grammar, together with the book of Daniel, in Syriac, are preserved in the Library, and form a small separate collection under his name.

Thomas Lockey, D.D., resigned the Librarianship, on Nov. 29, 1665, in consequence of his appointment to a canonry of Ch. Ch. In the following year he gave some coins and the sum of £6 16s.In his place was elected, on Dec. 2, Thomas Hyde, M.A., of Queen's College, then Under-keeper. Upon Lockey's death, in 1680, books to the value of £16 15s.were bought out of his study.

Twenty MSS. were given by Sir Thos. Herbert, Bart. of York.

An East India merchant of London, one JohnKen, gave (with other MSS.) the first Gentoo[i.e. Sanscrit.]book which the Library possessed. It is noticeable what a real, although somewhat indiscriminating, interest the London merchants appear to have taken in the Library. Continual mention occurs not merely of books but of curiosities of all kinds, natural and artificial, which persons engaged in commerce, chiefly with the East Indies, sent as for a general repository. Most of these curiosities are now to be found, it is believed, in the Ashmolean Museum.

At some period between 1660 and 1667,i.e.during Clarendon's Chancellorship of the University, two volumes of MSS. notes and observations upon Josephus, by Sam. Petit, the Professor of Greek at Nismes (who died in 1643), are said by Moreri to have been purchased by Clarendon, for 150 louis d'or, and given to the University. But in Bernard's Catalogue the volumes are said to have been bought by the University 'ære suo.' Dr. T. Smith remarks, in his life of Bernard, that when the latter was preparing to edit Josephus, he used 'Sam. Petiti largis commentariis, longe antea in bibliothecæ Bodleianæ gazophylacium ex Gallia transvectis,' but found that they were filled only with notes from Rabbinical writers. They are now numbered Auct. F. infra, I. 1, 2. One other MS. was certainly given by Clarendon, during his Chancellorship. It is a GreekEvangelistariumof the fourteenth century, formerly the property of a monastery described as 'της παναγιας της αχειροποιητου,' which was given by Parthenius, Patriarch of Constantinople, to Heneage Finch, Earl of Winchelsea, when in Turkey, in 1661, as Ambassador from England, and subsequently given by Clarendon to the University. On the cover is a silver crucifix, of Byzantine work. It is now numbered Auct. D. infra II. 12.

John Davies, of Camberwell, the storekeeper at Deptford dockyard, caused a chair to be made out of the remains of the ship, 'The Golden Hind,' in which Sir F. Drake accomplished his voyage round the world, which had been kept at Deptford until the timber decayed, and presented it to the Library. It stands now in the Picture Gallery, beside a chair which is said (but on whatauthority is not known) to have belonged to Henry VIII[127], and bears a plate on which are inscribed some verses, in Latin and English, by Abraham Cowley. A good engraving of it is to be found in Lascelles' and Storer'sOxford, published in 1821[128], and in theLife of Drake, published in 1828.

[127]The style of moulding on the back seems to point to a somewhat later date.

[128]A description, including a copy of the verses, and illustrated by a woodcut, is also to be found in vol. xxix. (1837) of theMirror, p. 8, copied from theNautical Magazine.

Thirteen Oriental MSS. (chiefly in their possessor's own writing) were bought from the heirs of Samuel Clarke, M.A., of Merton College, printer to the University and Esquire Bedel of Law, who died Dec. 17, 1669. He was greatly distinguished as an Orientalist, and assisted in the production of Walton's Polyglott. A list of his MSS. is given in Bernard's Catalogue, and another, by Prof. Nicoll,Ath. Oxon.iii. 885. He himself gave four printed Arabic books in 1663.

Upon the death of Meric Casaubon, on July 14, the Library became possessed, by his bequest, of sixty-one volumes of theAdversaria(chiefly consisting of notes on Greek criticism) of his father, Isaac Casaubon, who died in 1614. From these Jo. Christ. Wolf made some extracts when visiting the Library in 1709, which he published in the following year at Hamburgh, under the title ofCasauboniana, with a preface giving some account of all previous collections ofAna, and with copious notes. The MSS. are catalogued in Mr. Coxe's first volume, cols. 825-850.

Thomas, Lord Fairfax, to whose care the Library had been indebted for preservation in 1646, bequeathed to it on his decease,in November, 1671, twenty-eight very valuable MSS., including several early English books (Chaucer, Gower, Wickliffe's Bible, &c.) and works relating to the history of England, Scotland (Elphinston[129]), and Ireland (Keating). But besides these, he gave that invaluable collection of genealogical MSS. known to all pedigree-hunters by the name of their indefatigable compiler, Roger Dodsworth, to whom he had allowed an annuity of £40 during his life, in order to enable him the better to prosecute his researches. This collection numbers 161 volumes (bound in 86) in folio and quarto[130], and consists of extracts bearing chiefly on the family and ecclesiastical history of Yorkshire and the North of England, with an innumerable mass of pedigrees, from all the authentic records within Dodsworth's reach, including many which were destroyed when the Tower of St. Mary, at York, was blown up during the siege of that city in June, 1644. He appears to have commenced this wonderful series of notes about the year 1618, and not to have ceased before 1652, dying, in the seventieth year of his age, in August, 1654. Besides the very full catalogue of his MSS. which is given by Bernard (pp. 187-233), an extremely useful and original synopsis of their contents, prefaced with an account of Dodsworth's life and labours, and drawn up by Mr. Joseph Hunter, is to be found in the Report of the Record Commission for 1837; which was reprinted by Mr. Hunter, in an octavo volume, in 1838, together with a list of the contents of the Red Book of the Exchequer, and a Catalogue of the MSS. in Lincoln's Inn. After the MSS. were brought to the Library, they became in some way exposed to the damp, 'andwere in danger of being spoiled by a wet season.' Fortunately the danger was perceived by Ant. à Wood, who obtained leave of the Vice-Chancellor to dry them, which he accomplished by spreading them out in the sun upon the leads of the Schools' quadrangle. This cost him a month's labour, which, he says, he underwent with pleasure out of respect to the memory of Dodsworth, and care to preserve whatever might advantage the commonwealth of learning. The MSS. to this day give abundant proof, by their stains and tender condition, that, had it not been for Wood's unselfish labour, they would probably soon have perished. Some part of the collection appears to have been sent to the Library as late as 1684, for in the accounts of that year there is an entry of 4s.10d.as having been paid for the 'carriage of Dodsworth's MSS.'

An interesting volume, written by the donor of these MSS., Fairfax, and entitled by him 'The Employment of my Solitude,' being metrical versions of the Psalms, with other poems, was bought, in 1858, for £36 10s., at the sale of the library of Dr. Bliss, who had purchased it at the Duke of Sussex's sale. It is described in Archdeacon Cotton's List of Bibles.

[129]A transcript of Elphinston's Chronicle is to be found among the Jones MSS.

[130]No. 20 is a volume of Camden's Collections, formerly in the Cotton Library, Julius B. x., from whence Dodsworth must have borrowed it, and whither, with an obliviousness too common in book-borrowers, he must have forgotten to return it. And No. 161 was given to the Library by Mr. Fras. Drake, the historian of York, in 1736.

In this year appeared the thirdCatalogus impressorum Librorum Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ, in one folio volume, divided into two parts of 478 and 272 pages respectively. It is dedicated to Archbishop Sheldon, by Hyde the Librarian, not without reason, as being printed in that Theatre which the Archbishop had so lately built. The Keeper, in this dedication, speaks very feelingly of the daily weariness of mind and body which the compilation of the Catalogue had cost him, and tells how his very hours for refreshment had been spent among books alone, and how(mirabile dictu!) he actually had not shrunk even from the inclemency of winter[131]. In his preface he says that, on his entrance into office, he reckoned that the work of a new catalogue would occupy him for two, or at most three, years; six, however, had been spent in compilation and transcription, one in revision and enlargement, and, lastly, two in the actual printing. Yet, says he, he never withdrew his neck from the yoke, and postponed all considerations of bodily health. People little know, he proceeds, what it is to accomplish a work of this kind. What is easier, say they, than to look at the beginning of a book and to copy out its title? They judge only from one or two weeks' work in some little library of their own. But, what with careful examining of volumes of pamphlets (which of itself was labour perfectly exhausting), what with distinguishing synonymous authors and works, and identifying metonymous ones, unravelling anagrammatical names and those derived from places, and the like, the poor man declares he endured the greatest torment of mind ('maximo animi cruciatu') as well as waste of precious time. It is clear, from these pathetic lamentations, that Hyde had no great love for Bibliography for its own sake. But, after all his complaints, it is actually asserted by Hearne that he 'did not do much in the work besides writing the dedication and preface[132]!' Hearne attributes the real compilation of the Catalogue to Emmanuel Prichard, or Pritchard, of Hart Hall, the janitor, who examined every book in the whole library, and wrote out the Catalogue, in two volumes, with his own hand. Hearne repeats this assertion frequently; it is found,e.g., in his preface to theChroniconDunstap.p. xii., and in hisAutobiography(1772, p. 11), where he adds that he was well informed of this by Dr. Mill and others. If this be true, the inditing such a preface, while totally suppressing Prichard's name, does little credit to Hyde.

Frequent mention of this Emmanuel Prichard is found between 1686 and 1699 as being employed upon the MSS., and as engaged in taking an account of duplicates and arranging Bishop Barlow's books. In 1687, £20 were paid him for 'writing a Catalogue of MSS.' Probably this was the list upon which Hearne asserts that the index to the Bodleian MSS., in Bernard's Catalogue, was founded[133]. Hearne describes him[134]as being 'a very industrious, usefull man.' Although a member of Hart Hall, he never took any degree; but wore a civilian's gown. He died in the Hall about 1704, aged upwards of 70, and was buried in St. Peter's-in-the-East. He left £200 to the Vice-Principal of Hart Hall, which was partly spent in building a library-room[135].

[131]Of the 'hyemis inclementia' before the present system of warming the Library was introduced, several of the present staff of officers can speak as feelingly as Hyde. The writer remembers, in particular, one winter when, in consequence of the roof being under repair, the thermometer fell some eleven degrees below freezing point!

[132]MS. Diary, 1714, vol. ii. p. 193.

[133]Reliquiæ Hearn.ii. 591. But see p.116,infra.

[134]MS. Diary, li. 193.

[135]Hearne'sMS. Diary, ciii. 38.

In the Register of Benefactions, on a page faintly headed in pencil with this date, is entered a gift from Christopher, Lord Hatton, 'Homiliarum Saxonicarum 4 volumina antiqua.' The donor was consequently the second baron, and first viscount, Hatton, who succeeded his father Christopher (a firm royalist, and close friend of Clarendon, as well as antiquarian, and friend of Dodsworth) in 1670, and died in 1706. Possibly this gift may have been made through the influence of his uncle, Capt. Charles Hatton, who appears to have been much interested in Anglo-Saxon studies, who himself gave three MSS. to the Library, and several of whose letters to Dr. Charlett in 1694-1707 are preserved in vol. xxxiii. of Ballard's MSS. Strange to say, these volumesof Homilies (written shortly after the Norman Conquest) are now among the Junian MSS., Nos. 22, 23, 24, 99, and their appearance in that collection is accounted for by Wanley (Cat.p. 45, where they are fully described) by a story which, he says, was often told him by Hyde, viz. that, immediately upon the arrival of the MSS. at the Library, they were lent to Dr. Marshall, who most probably in turn lent them to Junius; that, Marshall dying soon after, Junius kept them until his own death, when they returned to the Library with his own books, by his bequest. Junius himself frequently refers to them under the description ofCodices Hattoniani.

The Library also contains a collection of 112 miscellaneous and valuable MSS., 'ex Codicibus Hattonianis,' of the presentation of which no record has been found[136], but which doubtless came about the same time from the same donor. Some precious Anglo-Saxon volumes form the special feature of this collection. Amongst them are, King Alfred's translation of Gregory'sPastoral Care, of which the king designed to send a copy to each Cathedral Church in the kingdom, this being the copy sent to Worcester (No. 20); the translation by Werfrith, Bishop of Worcester, of Gregory'sDialogues, with King Alfred's preface (No. 76); and a version of the Four Gospels, written about the time of Henry II (No. 65).

Henry Justell, afterwards Librarian at St. James's, sent to the University from France, through Dr. Hickes, three very precious MSS. of the seventh century, written in uncial characters, containing the Acts of the Council of Ephesus, the Canons of Carthage, Nicæa, Chalcedon, &c., which had been used by his father Christopher Justell in hisBibliotheca Juris Canonici veteris, 1661. They are now numbered,e Mus.100-102. Several other MSS. givenat the same time are preserved in the same series. In return for this valuable gift Justell was created D.C.L. by diploma.

[136]The Register has evidently been kept very irregularly and imperfectly during the time that Barlow and Hyde held the headship.

The wonderful collection of Early English poetry known as 'the Vernon MS.,' was presented 'soon after the Civil Wars' by Col. Edward Vernon, of Trinity College, who had been an officer in the royal army. One who bore the same name, doubtless the same person, of North Aston, Oxon, was created D.C.L. Aug. 6, 1677; it was probably therefore about that time that the MS. was presented. The volume is described in Bernard's Catalogue, 1697, p. 181, as being a 'vast massy manuscript;' and very correctly. Its measurements are these: length of page, 22-1/2 inches; length of written text, 17-1/2 inches; breadth of page, 15 inches; breadth of written text, 12-1/2 inches. It is written in triple columns, on 412 leaves of stout vellum; and having been clad of late years in a proportionate russia binding, is altogether a Goliath among books. In date it is of the early part of the fourteenth century. Its first article bears the titles of 'Salus Animæ' and 'Sowle-Hele,' and its chief contents are Lives of the Saints, Hampole'sPrick of Conscience, Grosteste'sCastle of Love, Hampole'sPerfect Living, the treatise onContemplative Life, theMirror of S. Edmund, theAbbey of the Holy Ghost, andPiers Plowman; besides a multitude of smaller pieces, several of which have been recently copied with a view to publication by the Early English Text Society[137]. Fifty copies of a brief list of the contents (numbering altogether 161 articles) were printed by J. O. Halliwell, Esq., in 1848. A MS., similar in size and contents, was presented to the British Museum a few years ago by Sir John Simeon; it is, apparently, the work of the same scribe as the Bodleian book.

[137]This Society has also just issued Part 1. of Piers Plowman from this MS., edited by W. W. Skeat, M.A. (Oct. 1867).

Francis Junius, born at Heidelberg in 1589, who had passed a large part of his life in England as librarian to that Howard Earl of Arundel who collected the marbles which go under his name at Oxford, as well as the MSS. similarly entitled, which are preserved in the British Museum and at Heralds' College, bequeathed to the Library, on his decease at Windsor in this year, all his Anglo-Saxon MSS. and his own life-long collections bearing on the philology of the Northern nations. Amongst these are some English relics of the greatest value and importance. The book of metrical Homilies on the Dominical Gospels, compiled by an Augustinian monk named Ormin, who thence called his bookOrmulum('þiss boc iss nemmnedd Orrmulum, Forrþi þatt Orrm itt wrohte') is one of the chief of these. Its date is conjectured to be the 13th century. It is written on parchment, on folio leaves, very long and very narrow (averaging 20 inches by 8) in a very broad and rude hand, with many additions inserted on extra parchment scraps. Twenty-seven leaves appear to be wanting. The whole work was first published in 2 vols., at the University Press in 1852, under the editorship of R. M. White, D.D., formerly Professor of Anglo-Saxon. Cædmon's metrical paraphrase of Genesis and other parts of Holy Scripture, illustrated with numerous curious drawings, is another of the gems of this collection. The MS. is of the end of the tenth century, but the work itself is now generally believed to be, in the main, the production of the earliest English poet, the Cædmon noticed by Bede (iii. 24), who died towards the close of the seventh century, and not, as Hickes conjectured, of some later writer of the same name. The MS. first came to light in the hands of Archbp. Usher, by whom it was given to Junius. The latter published it at Amsterdam in 1655, and it was re-edited by Mr. Benj. Thorpe in 1832; several Englishand German translations have also appeared. Many of the drawings were engraved and published in 1754, as illustrations of the manners and buildings of the Anglo-Saxons; and the whole of them have been engraved in vol. xxiv. of theArchæologia, with some remarks by Sir H. Ellis. MS. 121 is an extremely valuable collection of the Canons of the Anglo-Saxon Church, written in the tenth century, which belonged to Worcester Cathedral; and there are four valuable volumes of Homilies, which appear, however, to have been part of Lord Hatton's gift to the Library. (See under1675[138].) Besides books, Junius left to the University six founts of Gothic, Saxon, and other types, together with the moulds and matrices.

Fifty-five MSS. and printed books, chiefly Oriental, were purchased in this year from the library of Dr. Thomas Greaves, Deputy-professor of Arabic, who died May 22, 1676. It appears from the list in Bernard's Catalogue that sixty-five volumes were purchased, but that ten of these were never sent. With Greaves' own books were obtained also the MSS. of Richard James, of Corpus Christi College, nephew of Thomas James, the first Librarian, which had come into the possession of his friend Greaves upon his death in Dec. 1638. These amount to forty-three volumes, entirely written by James himself, in a large bold hand; they consist chiefly ofCollectaneabearing on the history of England from various MSS. Chronicles, Registers, and early writers, particularly with reference to the corruption of the Church andclergy before the Reformation, and in opposition to Becket. A full list of their contents, drawn up by Tanner, is given at pp. 248-253 of Bernard's Catalogue. The price paid for the books bought out of Greaves' library was £55.

Fifteen shillings were paid, as appears from the accounts for the year, for the carriage of a whale from Lechlade, which, strange to say, had been caught in the Severn, and was presented by William Jordan, an apothecary at Gloucester[139]. Ten shillings were also paid for a 'sea elephant.'

[138]Parts of MSS. 4 and 5, which had been stolen from the Library, were recovered, in 1720, in the manner recorded in the following entry in the Benefaction Book: 'Vir doctissimus Joannes Georgius Eckardus, bibliothecæ Brunsvicensis præfectus, pro singulari sua humanitate, folia quammulta MSS. Dictionarii Fr. Junii, continentia sc. litteras F. et S., a nequissimo quodam Dano jam olim surrepta, propriis sumptibus redemit et Bibl. Bodl. ultro restituit.' Some further portions of Junius' papers (including some which had formerly been in the Library) are recorded to have been given in 1753 by the Provost and Fellows of Queen's College.

[139]In the Benefaction Book this gift is assigned to the year 1672.

Sir W. Dugdale gave copies of his own works. Two hundred coins were given by Dr. George Hickes.

In this year John Rushworth, of Lincoln's Inn, the historian of the Long Parliament, was a member of the Parliament held at Oxford. Probably it may have been at this time that he presented to the Library one of its most preciousκειμηλια, called, from its donor, 'Codex Rushworthianus.' (Auct. D. 2. 19.) In 1665, Junius mentions it in the Preface to hisGlossarium Gothicum, as being then still in Rushworth's own hands[140]. It is a MS. of the Latin Gospels, written by an Irish scribe, Mac-Regol, (who records his name on the last leaf, 'Macregol dipincxit hoc evangelium,' &c.,) and glossed with an interlinear Anglo-Saxon version by Owun and by Færmen, a priest at Harewood. The volume is traditionally reported to have been in Bede's possession, but since the Irish annals record the death of Mac Riagoil, a scribe and abbot of Birr in 820, the volume must be about a century too late. It has beenpublished in full, together with the Lindisfarne Gospels, by the Surtees Society in 3 vols., under the editorship of Rev. J. Stevenson and George Waring, Esq., M.A. A description is given in Prof. Westwood'sPalæographia Sacra Pictoria.

Nine shillings were paid for the carriage of a mummy from London, probably one of those which are now in the Ashmolean Museum. It was given by Aaron Goodyear, a Turkey merchant, who gave also a model of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and various little images, and in 1684 more than forty coins.

[140]It is strange that no entry of the gift of this priceless volume is found in the Register of Benefactions, any more than of that of the Vernon MS.

Richard Davis, M.A., of Sandford, Oxon, gave the portrait of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, a book of Russian laws, and the Runic Calendar or Clog Almanack, now exhibited in the glass case at the entrance of the Library. The latter is thus described in the Register: 'Calendarium ligneum, tam materia quam usu perpetuum, unius ligni quadrati angulis incisum, more antiquo.'

Dr. John Morris, Regius Professor of Hebrew, who died in 1648, bequeathed five pounds annually to the University, to be paid to some Master of Arts of Ch. Ch., chosen by the Dean, for a speech 'in Schola Linguarum,' in honour of Sir Thomas Bodley, 'and as a panegyric and encouragement of the Hebrew studies,' on Nov. 8, in the presence of the Visitors of the Library after the conclusion of the annual visitation. The bequest was to take effect after the death of his wife, which happened on Nov. 11, 1681; and on Oct. 6, 1682, Convocation fixed 3 p.m. as the hour for delivery of the Speech on the Visitation-day.

The Speeches are continued annually, although, probably for want of public notice, only scantily attended, none but those actually interested in the Visitation of the Library, together with the speaker's friends, being generally aware of it. If provisionwere made for the deposit of the Speeches in the Library after delivery, they would no doubt form an interesting and accurate record of its growth, and of many passing events which, for want of such a record, are soon forgotten. Only one speech appears to be preserved in the Library: it is that delivered on Nov. 8, 1701, by Edmund Smith, M.A., of Ch. Ch., and is very beautifully written in imitation of typography. But in this case nothing is recorded of the history of the preceding year, the speech being simply a panegyric of the Founder. It has been printed among Smith'sWorks, a pamphlet of 103 pages dignified with that name, of which the third edition appeared at London in 1719[141]. Dr. Rawlinson appears to have endeavoured to compile a list of the Speakers; for Bishop Tanner, in a letter to him dated Oct. 11, 1735, from Ch. Ch., says he will enquire them out, if he can, but that they are not entered upon the Chapter books, since they are not appointed by the Chapter, but privately by the Dean or Hebrew Professor, and paid by the Vice-Chancellor, in whose accounts alone their names are probably entered[142].

The names of the Speakers up to the year 1690 are given in Wood'sAthenæ(ii. 127) as follows. They were all M.A., and Students of Ch. Ch.:—

The following list from 1706 to 1734 has been gathered out of Hearne's MS. Diary:—

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