A.D. 1861.

[359]In prosecution of this idea several valuable collections of Oriental MSS. were obtained, which still form part of the stores of the old Radcliffe Library. They consist of the Arabic, Persian, and Sanscrit MSS. collected by â€” Frazer and by Sale, the translator of the Koran, which were obtained (as we learn from Sharpe'sProlegomenato Hyde'sDissertationes, 1767, vol. i. p. xvii.) through Professor Thomas Hunt, at the suggestion of Dr. Gregory Sharpe; and of the collations of the MSS. of the Hebrew Old Test. by Dr. Kennicott (Librarian 1767-1783), together with his correspondence and miscellaneouscodices. The Sanscrit MSS. of Frazer and Sale are described in Prof. Aufrecht's catalogue. Other collections in the Radcliffe Library are the classical and historical (as well as medical) books of Dr. Frewin, a physician and Camden Professor of Anc. History; and the law books of Mr. Viner, founder of the Vinerian Professorship and Scholarships; together with the works of J. Gibbs, the justly famous architect of the building in which they were kept, and some coins bequeathed by Wise, the first Librarian. Two volumes of Clarendon MSS. were bought for the Library in 1780, but were united some years since to the mass of those papers preserved in the Bodleian. It was not until the year 1811 that the Library was specially assigned to Medicine and Natural History. (SeeReport on the transfer of the Radcliffe Library to the Univ. Museum, by Dr. Acland, 1861.)

[360]An account of this assignment and arrangement of the Radcliffe Library, as also of the transfer of the Ashmolean books to the Bodleian, appeared in theAthenÃ¦umfor Jan. 1865, p. 20.

One hundred and four volumes of Tamil MSS. were purchased; as well as four Samaritan MSS. of the Pentateuch, of the twelfth century, which had been brought to England by a native of Samaria.

The Syriac MSS. of the well-known Orientalist, Dr. Bernstein, were purchased by the Delegates of the Press, with a view to assisting in the great work of a Syriac Lexicon, upon which Mr. (now Dr.) Payne Smith was (and still is) engaged.

The printing of the Annual Catalogues of purchases was discontinued, after the issue of the Catalogue for this year. Written registers are now kept in the Library of all the books bought in the course of each year; and only a list of benefactors, with the statement of accounts, is annually printed for circulation in the University and amongst donors.

A large collection of British Essayists and Periodicals was presented by the late Rev. F. W. Hope, D.C.L., the munificent benefactor to the University Museum, the founder of the Professorship of Zoology, and the donor also of a large collection of engraved portraits and other prints[361]. The collection was one which had been formed by John Thomas Hope, Esq., the donor's father. It contains some 760 specimens of its class of literature, belonging chiefly to the eighteenth century. Special thanks for the gift were returned by Convocation, on Feb. 20. A catalogue, which had been drawn up for Mr. Hope by Mr. Jacob Henry Burn, containing notices in detail of the various publications, was printed at the University Press, in 1865, in an octavo volume.

A Hebrew MS. of the Pentateuch, probably of the thirteenth century, was bought for Â£32 10s.Some tracts relating to the period of the Great Rebellion were bought at the sale of Dr. Bandinel's extensive Caroline collection.

On March 4, the Curators accepted the gift of a bust of Rev. F. W. Robertson, late incumbent of Trinity Chapel, Brighton, which had been purchased by subscription. It is now placed in the Picture Gallery.

A large number of purchase-duplicates, which had accumulated during the course of many years, were removed from the Library and sold by auction, in London, by Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson, in May. Among them were some of great rarity. The sale, which lasted five days, produced Â£766 2s.6d.; of which Â£110 5s.were given for a specimen of the St. Alban's press, theRhetorica Novaof Gul. de Saona, printed in 1489. A second and smaller sale, containing many English works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, took place on April 12, 1865, at which a copy of Chettle'sKind-Harts Dreame(1593), produced Â£101, and Decker'sGuls Horne-Booke, 1609, Â£81. The proceeds of the whole sale amounted to Â£750 18s.6d.

The Rev. Alfred Hackman, M.A., Chaplain and Precentor of Ch. Ch., and P. C. of St. Paul's, Oxford, and an Assistant in the Library of twenty-five years' standing, was approved by Convocation, on April 12, as Mr. Coxe's successor in the Sub-librarianship; after a discussion, which led to the abrogation by Convocation, in February, of a provision in the Statutes forbidding the holding cure of souls in connection with that office or that of Head-librarian without special licence from the Curators.

[361]These engravings are deposited in the gallery of the Radcliffe, under the charge of a separate Keeper, the Rev. J. Treacher, M.A. They do not belong to the Bodleian.

Among the purchases made in this year were the following: Card. Ximenes' rare treatise entitledCrestia, printed at Valentia in 1483 (Â£25); Court-Rolls of Tamworth, Solihull, and other neighbouring places, obtained from Mr. Halliwell; and a collection, in three thick folio volumes, of placards, hand-bills, &c., relating to the town of Coventry, formed by Mr. W. Reader, a printer in that place.

Capt. Montagu Montagu, R.N., who died at Bath, on July 3 in this year, bequeathed a collection of about 700 volumes, in various branches of literature, which was received at the Library about the beginning of 1864. There are about ninety editions and versions of the Psalter, with works on Psalmody, including a metrical version by Capt. Montagu himself; a large number of editions of Anacreon, Horace, Juvenal, PhÃ¦drus, Petrarch, Boileau, and Fontaine'sFables; a few MSS. of Juvenal, Petrarch,&c. with a large series of autograph letters, chiefly obtained at Upcott's sale. There are, besides, a number of topographical and biographical works illustrated,more Sutherlandico, with additional engravings, together with many parcels of separate prints arranged for the same purpose. One item of particular interest which accompanied the collection is a small sketch of Napoleon I, in profile, admirably executed by the well-known Italian artist, Giuseppe Longhi. It now hangs, framed and glazed, in the Library, together with a letter from Longhi himself, in French, dated at Milan, June 4, 1828, in which he narrates the occasion on which it was taken. He attended, in 1801, at Lyons, as a member of the 'Consulte CisÃ lpine,' for the settling the affairs of the Republic of Italy, under the presidency of the First Consul. It happened that during the delivery of a long harangue, full of tedious flattery, Napoleon satvis-Ã -viswith the orator; and Longhi saw that an opportunity for exercising the cunning of his pencil had come. The light, which streamed in through the great window of the Church (!) where they were assembled, brought out the profile very clearly; there was little fear of being cut short by the speaker's suddenly ceasing his declamation, or of being interrupted by movement on the part of the unconscious subject of the operation, for the latter sat immersed in thought upon matters far away, while regarding the speaker with a pensive air; and so, while Napoleon sat pondering, Longhi sat sketching. And everybody, he declares with a pardonable pride, at Lyons and Paris, pronounced the likeness to be excellent. A small bust of Napoleon, now placed in the great window, came to the Library at the same time. A catalogue of Capt. Montagu's books, comprising forty octavo pages, was printed and circulated with the Annual Statement for 1864.

The chief acquisitions in manuscript books were various Hebrew volumes (for Â£159), and a series of letters to Malone from Dr. Johnson, Mrs. Siddons, and others; and in printed books, a perfect copy of Cromwell's Great Bible, printed by Grafton in 1539, which was bought of Mr. Fry, the well-known collector, for Â£100.

A sixth part of the general catalogue of MSS. was issued, containing the Syriac, Carshunic and Mendean MSS., in number 205, which had been drawn up by Rev. R. Payne Smith, M.A., and to which several facsimiles were appended. And the eighth part, containing the Sanscrit MSS., in number 854, appeared under the editorship of Theodore Aufrecht, M.A., now Professor of Sanscrit in the University of Edinburgh. A firstfasciculusof this had been issued in 1859.

At the beginning of January, a sale was held in London by Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson, of the stock of the late Mr. William Henry Elkins, a bookseller, of 41, Lombard Street. At this sale, the Library was the fortunate purchaser of what appears to be a genuineShakespeare Autograph. The book is Ovid'sMetamorphoses, printed by Aldus, at Venice, in October, 1502, in octavo; and on the title is the signature 'Wm. Shr.' in a hand bearing no resemblance whatever to that of the Ireland forgeries, but not unlike that of the signature attached to Shakespeare's will. Opposite to the title, on a leaf pasted down on the original binding of the book, is the note, most certainly a genuine memorandum of the date to which it professedly belongs, of which a faithful facsimile is given with that of the autographitself, in the accompanyinglithograph[362]. That the note itself is no forgery is admitted by all who have examined it; the volume, therefore, is certainly, by tradition, one which belonged to the poet. The only question is, whether the name may not have been forged in consequence of the existence of this note. To this, which is the opinion of some, it may fairly be replied, that, seeing no contracted form of Shakespeare's signature is known to exist, a forger would hardly have invented one for the occasion, but would have given the name in full; while, on the other hand, if the signature be real, what more natural than that a subsequent owner should record the tradition that the indefinite 'Shr.' of this unimportant title-page was no other than the very definite 'Shakspere' himself? The names mentioned in the note are names, as every one knows, connected with the poet's history.Hallwas the marriage name of his daughter Susannah, to whom he left his house in Henley Street; and one William Hall, a glover, appears from the Stratford Records printed by Mr. Halliwell, to have had a house in that street in 1660. He, doubtless, was the donor of the volume. Susannah Hall's daughter, Elizabeth, was married to a Thomas Nash, who died in 1647; but though he died without issue, the initials 'T. N.' may well stand for some member of the family who bore the same names. That, therefore, a Hall should possess the book, and subsequently give it to (most probably) a Nash, goes far to establish its genuineness as a Shakespeare relic. In a full account of the volume, supporting its pretensions, which appeared in theAthenÃ¦umfor Jan. 28, 1865 (p. 126), it was pointed out that the two references to the story of Baucis and Philemon, which are found in Shakespeare's Plays, show that he was not unacquainted with theMetamorphoses. To this may be added a better proof of his knowledge of Ovid's writings in the factthat two lines from theAmores(I. xv. 35, 36) form the motto to theVenus and Adonis. As the volume is somewhat dirty, and has a well-worn air, it may possibly have been used by Shakespeare during those school-keeping experiences of which Aubrey tells us; possibly, however, the wear and tear may be due to an older owner, who has plentifully interspersed his MS. notes in, apparently, a foreign hand, on many of the pages. Owing to a generally-entertained suspicion throughout the auction-room on the occasion of the sale of the volume, that the autograph must be a forgery, the Library became its possessor for the small sum of Â£9[363]!

Shakespeare Autograph[see text alternative]

[see text alternative]

A small volume, containing several papers in the handwriting of Luther, was bought for Â£45. The first edition of Coverdale's New Testament, printed at Antwerp, by Matthew Crom, in 1538, was added to the Biblical collection. Two interesting and important series of newspapers were obtained; the one, a set (not quite perfect) of theLondon Gazette, from 1669 to 1859, bought for Â£200[364]; and the other, a collection of London newspapers, from 1672 to 1737, arranged in chronological order in ninety-six volumes, obtained also for Â£200. This very curious collection had been formed by Mr. John Nichols; its escape from destruction by the disastrous fire at his printing-office in 1808, is mentioned at p. 99 of theGentleman's Magazinefor that year. It is accompanied by a MS. index, drawn up by Mr. Nichols himself. Many unknown contributions by Defoe to the journals of his time, have recently been traced in this series by a gentleman who has made a special study of the Defoe literature, Mr. W. Lee.

Considerable assistance in completing the Library sets of the Public and Private Acts of Parliament was afforded, in this year, by the late Mr. W. Salt.

Specimens of the first books printed in the Dyak language, which were issued at Singapore in 1862, were given by Rev. J. Rigaud, B.D., of Magdalene College.

On the appointment of Dr. Jacobson to the See of Chester, Mr. R. Payne Smith became his successor in the office of Regius Professor of Divinity. Professor Max MÃ¼ller, M.A., was thereupon nominated to take Mr. Smith's place as the Sub-librarian in special charge of the Oriental department, and the nomination was confirmed in Convocation on Nov. 7.

[362]The lithograph represents the lower half of the title-page.

[363]The purchase of it, as of a relic 'which there is little doubt is genuine,' is noticed in an article on Books and Book-collecting in theCornhill Magazinefor Oct. 1867, p. 496.

[364]The only portions of theLondon Gazettepreviously to be found in the Library, were of the reign of Charles II; and these only came by the transfer of the Ashmolean Library.

There is not much to notice under this year, save that theVulgaria quedam abs Terencio in Anglicam linguam traducta, printed at Oxford before 1483, was obtained, in a volume containing also two tracts printed by J. de Westphalia, at the sale of the library of Mr. Thomas Thomson, of Edinburgh, for Â£36. Although complete in itself, it appears to have formed a part of a larger work, as the signatures run from n. to q., in eights.

The closing year of these memorials is distinguished by the acquisition of a volume described by Archdeacon Cotton, in hisTypographical Gazetteer, as being 'of the very highest rarity.' It is a fine copy of theBreviarium Illerdense, printed at Lerida, in Spain, in 1479, by Henry Botel. Besides being remarkable from its rarity, there is special interest attaching to the volume from the fact that it was printed at the sole expense of the bell-ringer of the cathedral! The colophon states that 'Antonius Palares, campanarum ejusdem ecclesiÃ¦ pulsator, propriisexpensis fieri fecit.' The volume was bought from Mr. Boone for Â£36.

A somewhat imperfect copy of the rare Bible printed at Edinburgh by Arbuthnot and Bassandyne in 1579, being the first edition printed in Scotland, was another purchase of the year; as were also two thick volumes of recent transcripts of the Stuart correspondence, preserved in the Imperial Library at Paris.

Within the last few years considerable attention has been paid by the Librarian to the formation of a series of editions of the English Bible. The number now collected is very large, and approaches very nearly to a complete gathering of every edition before 1800, which has any claim to regard either from date, imprint, variety of size, correctness, or incorrectness. Early Quaker tracts have also been largely collected, together with editions of Cotton Mather's works and those of John Bunyan.

A portrait of the Prince of Wales, in academic dress, painted by Sir J. Watson Gordon, was presented towards the close of the year to the University by the Prince, in memory of his academic days, and now hangs conspicuously at the entrance of the Picture Gallery, to which it forms the latest addition.

Prof. Max MÃ¼ller having resigned his Sub-librarianship on account of health, the Rev. J. W. Nutt, M.A., Fellow of All Souls' College, was approved by Convocation, on June 25, as his successor in the charge of the Oriental department.

The number of printedvolumesat present in the Library may be estimated at nearly 350,000. It was returned to Parliament, in 1848, as about 220,000; and with a view to this return a calculation as nearly accurate as possible was then made. An estimate has now been made of the additions received since that date; and from this it appears that some 79,500 volumes have been placed in the old Library and 45,000 in theCamera Radcliviana, making a total forthe whole collection of about 345,000 volumes. Within the same period about 5000 additional manuscripts have been obtained, making a total of nearly 25,000. The number was returned in 1848 as being about 21,000, but this appears to have been somewhat in excess of the fact. The proportion was singularly overestimated in 1819, for Clarke, in hisRepertorium Bibliographicumpublished in that year (p. 68), states that the Library contains upwards of 160,000 volumes, of which 30,000 are manuscripts! The annual rate of ordinary increase of printed books at present, apart, of course, from the accession of any entire collection or special purchase, may be reckoned at about 3000 volumes, exclusive of magazines, of which two-thirds come from Stationers' Hall under the provisions of the Copyright Act.

Floreat Bibliotheca.

Account of the Muscovite Cloak mentioned at p. 40. Extracted from vol. vi. of B. Twyne's Collections (among the University Archives), f. 97.

'Mr. Smyth's Relation of the Tartar Lambskinne garment in Bodleiana, Oxon.'Sir Rich. Lee, knight, about the later ende of the raigne of the late Qu. Elizabeth, being by her Maiestie sent ambassador into Russia, amongest other novelties of the cuntry found by the information of the inhabitants, that in Tartaria, a cuntrie neere adioyning to Muscovia and Russia, and vnder the gouernement of the Emperour of Russia, there did some yeres growe out of the ground certaine livinge creatures in the shape of lambes, bearinge wooll vppon them, very like to the lambes of England, in this manner; viz., a stalke like the stalke of an hartichocke did growe vp out of the ground, and vppon the toppe thereof a budd, which by degrees did growe into the shape of a lambe, and became a liuinge creature, resting vppon the stalke by the navell; and as soone as it did come to life, it would eate of the grasse growinge round about it, and when it had eaten vp the grasse within its reach it would die. And then the people of the cuntry as they finde these lambes doe flea of their skins, which they preserue and keepe, esteeminge them to bee of excellent vse and vertue, especially against the plague and other noysome diseases of those cuntries.'Vppon this information, Sir Rich. Lee was very desirous to haue some of the skyns of these Tartar lambes for his money, which at that time was not to be gotten for money; for that whensoeuer any of those lambes were at any time found, it was very rarely; and then also when they were found, they were presented to the Emperor, or to some other great man of the cuntrie, as a present of great worthe.'At this time the Emperour had a gowne or longe cloake, made after the fashion of that cuntrie with the skins of those Tartar lambes; which garment the then Duke, and since Kinge, of Swethland was very desirous to haue and offered great summes of money for, but could by no meanes obtayne his desire.'At this time also Sir Rich. Lee had an agatt of so great biggenesse that he made thereof a pestle and a morter, whiche the Emperour hauinge notice of, was desirous to haue for his money. Sir Rich. Lee, vnderstandinge thereof, sent it to the Emperour as a present from him, which the Emperour would not accept as a gift, neither would he haue it but for his money. Sir Richard, beinge willinge the Emperour should haue the pestle and the morter, yet lothe to playe the marchant at that time, did therefore deliuer this pestle and morter, into the hands and custodie of the Emperour's physitian to beate his physicke in it for the Emperour; which manner of giuinge this pestle and morter did so please the Emperour, as that he caused secret enquirie to be made whether there were any thinge in those cuntries which Sir Richard was desirous to haue, and by that means had notice that Sir Richard had endeuoured to haue gotten some of their lambeskyns. Wherevppon the Emperour, after Sir Richard had taken his leaue of him, and had receaued a great gift of him as an Ambassador, and was departed one dayes iourney toward England, the Emperour sent after him the before mentioned garment so made with their Tartar lambeskyns as aforesaide, and with it some fewe skynnes loose, and gaue them all vnto him freelie.'Sir Richard Lee, travaylinge homewards, came to the Kinge of Swethlandes court, who demaunded of him of diverse thinges of the cuntrie of Muscovia; and, amongest other thinges, asked him whether he had seene the aforesaid garment, and he answered, that he had not only seene it, but had it in his possession; whereat the Kinge of Swethland admired, sayinge he had longe laboured to get it for loue or money, but could neuer obtayne it.'Sir Rich. Lee in this iourney had not onely gotten this garment and Tartar lambeskyns, but diverse other rich furres and other rarities of great price; the greatest part whereof the Queene tooke of him, and promised him recompence for them, which she neuer performed; which was partly the cause that he concealed this garment from her duringe her life. And when Sir Rich. Lee died himselfe, he by his will gaue it to the Library in Oxford, to be kept as a monument there, beinge, as he conceiued, the fittest place for a jewell of so great worth and Ã¦stimation as that is or ought to be.'Sir Rich. Lee was the neere kinseman of my wife; by reason whereof, I was very familiarly acquaynted with him; and vppon conference had with him about his trauayles at sundry times, I had the true relation of all the premisses from his owne mouthe. And I comminge to Oxford to the Act, and findinge this garment in Sir Tho. Bodley's studdie or closet, without any expression made of the raritie or worthof this garment, did discouer so much as I haue herein written to Mr. Russe, the Keeper of the Library; at whose request I haue sett it downe, in writinge. And in testimonie of the truthe thereof, I haue herevnto subscribed my name, the 13th of July, 1624.'EDWARD SMYTHE.'Transcribed out of the originall with Mr. Russe.'This Mr. Smyth was a Counsellor of the Temple.'

'Mr. Smyth's Relation of the Tartar Lambskinne garment in Bodleiana, Oxon.

'Sir Rich. Lee, knight, about the later ende of the raigne of the late Qu. Elizabeth, being by her Maiestie sent ambassador into Russia, amongest other novelties of the cuntry found by the information of the inhabitants, that in Tartaria, a cuntrie neere adioyning to Muscovia and Russia, and vnder the gouernement of the Emperour of Russia, there did some yeres growe out of the ground certaine livinge creatures in the shape of lambes, bearinge wooll vppon them, very like to the lambes of England, in this manner; viz., a stalke like the stalke of an hartichocke did growe vp out of the ground, and vppon the toppe thereof a budd, which by degrees did growe into the shape of a lambe, and became a liuinge creature, resting vppon the stalke by the navell; and as soone as it did come to life, it would eate of the grasse growinge round about it, and when it had eaten vp the grasse within its reach it would die. And then the people of the cuntry as they finde these lambes doe flea of their skins, which they preserue and keepe, esteeminge them to bee of excellent vse and vertue, especially against the plague and other noysome diseases of those cuntries.

'Vppon this information, Sir Rich. Lee was very desirous to haue some of the skyns of these Tartar lambes for his money, which at that time was not to be gotten for money; for that whensoeuer any of those lambes were at any time found, it was very rarely; and then also when they were found, they were presented to the Emperor, or to some other great man of the cuntrie, as a present of great worthe.

'At this time the Emperour had a gowne or longe cloake, made after the fashion of that cuntrie with the skins of those Tartar lambes; which garment the then Duke, and since Kinge, of Swethland was very desirous to haue and offered great summes of money for, but could by no meanes obtayne his desire.

'At this time also Sir Rich. Lee had an agatt of so great biggenesse that he made thereof a pestle and a morter, whiche the Emperour hauinge notice of, was desirous to haue for his money. Sir Rich. Lee, vnderstandinge thereof, sent it to the Emperour as a present from him, which the Emperour would not accept as a gift, neither would he haue it but for his money. Sir Richard, beinge willinge the Emperour should haue the pestle and the morter, yet lothe to playe the marchant at that time, did therefore deliuer this pestle and morter, into the hands and custodie of the Emperour's physitian to beate his physicke in it for the Emperour; which manner of giuinge this pestle and morter did so please the Emperour, as that he caused secret enquirie to be made whether there were any thinge in those cuntries which Sir Richard was desirous to haue, and by that means had notice that Sir Richard had endeuoured to haue gotten some of their lambeskyns. Wherevppon the Emperour, after Sir Richard had taken his leaue of him, and had receaued a great gift of him as an Ambassador, and was departed one dayes iourney toward England, the Emperour sent after him the before mentioned garment so made with their Tartar lambeskyns as aforesaide, and with it some fewe skynnes loose, and gaue them all vnto him freelie.

'Sir Richard Lee, travaylinge homewards, came to the Kinge of Swethlandes court, who demaunded of him of diverse thinges of the cuntrie of Muscovia; and, amongest other thinges, asked him whether he had seene the aforesaid garment, and he answered, that he had not only seene it, but had it in his possession; whereat the Kinge of Swethland admired, sayinge he had longe laboured to get it for loue or money, but could neuer obtayne it.

'Sir Rich. Lee in this iourney had not onely gotten this garment and Tartar lambeskyns, but diverse other rich furres and other rarities of great price; the greatest part whereof the Queene tooke of him, and promised him recompence for them, which she neuer performed; which was partly the cause that he concealed this garment from her duringe her life. And when Sir Rich. Lee died himselfe, he by his will gaue it to the Library in Oxford, to be kept as a monument there, beinge, as he conceiued, the fittest place for a jewell of so great worth and Ã¦stimation as that is or ought to be.

'Sir Rich. Lee was the neere kinseman of my wife; by reason whereof, I was very familiarly acquaynted with him; and vppon conference had with him about his trauayles at sundry times, I had the true relation of all the premisses from his owne mouthe. And I comminge to Oxford to the Act, and findinge this garment in Sir Tho. Bodley's studdie or closet, without any expression made of the raritie or worthof this garment, did discouer so much as I haue herein written to Mr. Russe, the Keeper of the Library; at whose request I haue sett it downe, in writinge. And in testimonie of the truthe thereof, I haue herevnto subscribed my name, the 13th of July, 1624.

'EDWARD SMYTHE.'Transcribed out of the originall with Mr. Russe.'This Mr. Smyth was a Counsellor of the Temple.'

It appears from this account that the box of scented wood ordered by the Curators in 1614 had never been provided, and that the cloak was already beginning to be neglected. Doubtless suspicion had been early excited as to the truth of the traveller's story which had accompanied the gift, and which could scarcely have obtained real credence later than the days of Marco Polo or Sir John Mandeville. In the Ashmolean Museum a painting is preserved which represents theAgnus Scythicusin its fabled state; a full-grown lamb poised on the top of a vegetable stalk, with its legs dependent in the air[365]. But the key to the mystery is attached in the label on the frame: 'Polypodium Barometz. Linn.' It is, in truth, only a large fern found in Tartary, of which the rhizoma is covered with the woolly fungus-like growth, found in greater or less degree on many species of ferns. If the plant be dug up and inverted, the roots being uppermost and the fronds pendent, a strong imagination might find some resemblance in the former to a wool-clad body, and in the latter to limbs, while some of the young fronds with their spiral convolutions might be compared to the horns of a ram, such as are duly represented in the painting mentioned above. A specimen of the plant may be seen in the greenhouses of the Botanic Garden, Oxford, where it is still known by the name which the fable imposed,Agnus Scythicus. So great is the woolly growth found upon one species of tree-fern in New Zealand, that (as the writer was informed by Mr. Baxter, the Keeper of the Botanic Garden) tons of it are yearly imported into this country for the purpose of stuffing cushions. A finer and silkier substance is found on a fern indigenous in Mexico.

[365]For acquaintance with this picture the author is indebted to Mr. Rowell, whose scientific knowledge so well fits him for the post he worthily holds as Under-keeper of the Ashmolean Museum. In Tradescant's Catalogue of the first contents of this Museum as formed by himself, published in 1656, occurs 'a coat lyned withAgnus Scythicus,' but it does not now exist in the collection.

List of Books printed on Vellum, which have been added to the Library since the year 1830[366].

1460.Clementis VIII Constitutiones, cum glossa Jo. AndreÃ¦.Ed. Pr. fol. Mogunt., Petr. Schoiffer de gernssheim. Bought in 1838 for 45l.

1468.Justiniani Institutiones.Ed. Pr. fol. Mogunt. per Petr. Schoyffer de Gernssheym. Bought in 1834 for 52l.10s.

1476.Historia Naturale da Plinio, trad, per Chr. Landino.fol. Ven. Nic. Janson. The borders at the commencement of each book, with the principal initial letters, are exquisitely painted and illustrated with the portrait and arms of Ferdinand II of Sicily, to whom the work was dedicated, as well as those of â€” Strozzi, for whom this copy was probably executed. Bequeathed by Mr. Douce. Exhibited in the glass case at the end of the Library.

1480.Breviarium Eduense, 4to. by order of Card. John Rolin, Bishop of Autun, 'Symon de Vetericastro eius Secretarius, parisius hoc breviarium cum pluribus similibus imprimi fecit.' Bought in 1838 for 2l.4s.

1481.Missale Parisiense.Ed. Pr. fol. Par., Jo. de Prato et Desid. huym. Bought in 1842 for 10l.10s.

1482.Ordo Psalterii cum hymnis et canticis suis.Small 4to. Ven. per Nicolaum Girardenguz. From the Canonici collection.

1484.Officium diurnum secundum morem monachorum congregationis Sancte Justine, ord. S. Benedicti.8vo. Ven. per Bern. de Benaliis (&c.). Bought in 1843 for 1l.14s.

1493.Pars hyemalis breviarii fratrum Observantialium, ord. S. Benedicti, per Germaniam.8vo.impensis Georii StÅchs ex Sulczbach, civis Nurembergensis. Bought in 1841 for 14s.

S. A.A small duodecimo book of prayers, in German, without any title; with woodcuts. Printed with the types of Hans SchÃ¶nsperger, of Augsburg. Bequeathed by Mr. Douce.

1500, Aug. 14.Heures a lusage de[Tours; the name left blank]. 8vo. Paris, pour Anthoine Verard. With illuminations. Bought in 1844 for 6l.

1502.Breviarium secundum regulam beati Hysidori.Fol. Toleti, jussu Card. Fr. Ximenes, per Petr. Hagembach. Bought in 1853 for 200l.See p.280.

1505.Breviarium secundum usum Herford.8vo. Rothom., per Inghilbertum Haghe. Bequeathed by Gough.

1514.Le Chevalier de la tour et le guidon des guerres; par Geoffroy de la Tour-Landry.Fol. Par., pour Guill. Eustace. Bequeathed by Mr. Douce.

1522.Libri quattuor magnorum Prophetarum; his adduntur Threni, &c. 12mo. Par., Petrus Vidoveus. Given by Rawlinson.

1529.S. Joannes Chrysostomus in omnes Epistolas S. Pauli; Gr. 3 vols. fol. Ven. Bought in 1843 for 45l.

1629.Rituale monasticum secundum consuetudinem congregationis VallisumbrosÃ¦.Fol. Florent. Bought in 1843 for 7l.17s.6d.

1642.Bibliotheca EliotÃ¦.Eliotis Librarie.Londini, anno Verbi incarnati M.D.XLII. A fragment, consisting of title, Proheme to Henry VIII in English, address to the reader in Latin, and table of errata; in all, five leaves.

1859.Rotulus Clonensis, ex orig. in Registro Eccl. Cath. Clonensis, editus cura Ric. Caulfield.The first book printed at Cork on vellum, and the only one so printed. Given by Dr. Caulfield in 1865.

1861.The Souldier's Pocket Bible; an exact reprint of the original edition of 1643, with a prefatory note by George Livermore. 12mo. Cambridge [U.S.], printed for private distribution. This copy was given by Mr. Livermore to Archd. Cotton, and by him to the Library. It was reprinted from a copy in the possession of the editor; only one other is known to exist.

1866.×¡×¤×¨ ×ª×’×ŸSepher Taghin:Liber Coronularum, ex unico bibl. Paris. cod. MS. a B. Goldberg descriptum, nunc primum edidit, adjectis ad calcem libri aliquot exceptis ex alio codice ejusdem bibl. inedito, J. J. L. Barges, S. Theol. facult. Paris. doctor. 8vo. Lut. Par.

1867.×ž×¢×©×” × ×ž×™×Edited by Dr. B. Goldberg, from Pococke MS. 238. 8vo. Paris. The only vellum copy printed. Bought for 3l.

N. D. Geological Map of the Environs of Oxford; by C. P. Stacpoole. Bought in 1850 for 1l.3s.

The following vellum-printedHorÃ¦were all bequeathed by Mr. Douce:â€”

1498.Les heures a lusaige de Rome.4to. Par., pour Simon Vostre.

â€”â€” â€”â€” 4to. Par., per Gillet Hardouyn.

1498.Hore secundum usum Sarum.8vo. Par., per Phil. Pigouchet.

1499.Officium B. M. V. in usum Romane ecclesie.8vo. Lugd. Bon. de boninis.

1501.Hore Virg. Mar. secundum usum Romanum.8vo. Par., Thielman Kerver.

[1501.]Les heures a lusaige de Rome.8vo. Par., Simon Vostre.

1502. â€”â€” By the same printer.

1504. â€”â€” 8vo. Par., Anth. Chappiel.

1505.Officium B. M. V. in usum Rom. eccl.8vo. Ven., Lucantonius de Giunta.

1508.Hore secundum usum Romanum.8vo. Par., Thielman Kerver.

â€”â€” â€”â€” 8vo. Par., Guill. Anabat.

1511. â€”â€” 8vo. Par., Theilman Kerver.

[1512.]Les heures a lusaige de Rome.8vo. Par., per Joh. de Brie.

[1512.]Heures a lusaige de Sens.4to. Par., Jehan de brye.

1514.Orationes et hore in usum Romanum.4to. (Aug. Vind.) per Jo. SchÃ¶nsperger.

â€”â€” Another edition by the same printer in the same year, but without name or date.

1517.HorÃ¦ ad usum Romanum.8vo. Par., Thielman Kerver.

1522.HorÃ¦ secundum usum Romanum.4to. Par., Thielman Kerver.

[1522.]Les heures a lusaige de Rome.8vo. Par., par Germ. Hardouyn.

1526.HorÃ¦ secundum usum Romanum.8vo. Par., Thielman Kerver.

1527.Hore in laudem B. V. Marie, secundum consuetudinem ecclesie Parisiensis.8vo. Par.,per Sim. du bois.

[1528.]HorÃ¦, secundum usum Romanum, cum multis suffragiis et orationibus de novo additis.8vo. Par., Germ. Hardouyn.

1529.HorÃ¦ in laudem, B. Mar., secundum usum Romanum.8vo. Par., apud Gotofr. Torinum.

S. A.Hore B. Marie.8vo. M. E. Jehannot.

S. A.Hore secundum usum Romanum.8vo. Par., G. Hardouyn.

â€”â€” Another edition by the same printer.

S. A.Les heures a lusaige de Rome.4to. Par., per Guill. Godar.

S. A.Hore secundum usum Sarum.4to. Rich. Pynson.

S. A.Les heures a lusaige Dangiers.8vo. [Par.] Simon Vostre.

S. A.Heures a l'usaige de Soissons.8vo. [Par.] Simon Vostre.

S. A.Heures de nostre dame en Francoys et en Latin.4to. Par., Anth. Verard.

S. A.Heures.8vo. Par., Anth. Verard.

[366]Supplemental to the list appended to Archdeacon Cotton'sTypographical Gazetteerin 1831. That numbered 180 separate books; the present additions amount to fifty-four, of which all but nineteen are in the Douce collection.

List of MSS. formerly in the possession of Cathedrals, Monasteries, Colleges, and Churches in England, Scotland, and Ireland[367].

[Many of Laud's MSS. came from a Carthusian Monastery near Mentz, and from the Monastery of Eberbach, in the Duchy of Baden. It is worth mentioning that No. 233 amongst his Miscellaneous MSS. belonged to John Lydgate, and No. 576 to John Foxe. Several others had been previously in the possession of Archbp. Usher, and of Lindsell, Bishop of Peterborough.

No. 76 of Digby's MSS. was bought by Dr. John Dee, at London, May 18, 1556, 'ex bibliotheca Joh. Lelandi.']

Back to Index Next