book ix

. p. 234):--'Sure I am, a great antiquarie lately deceased (rich as well in his state as learning) at the hearing hereof quitted all his intention of benefaction to Oxford or any place else, on suspition it would be diverted to other uses, on the same token that he merrily said, I think the best way for a man to perpetuate his memory is to procure the Pope to canonize him for a saint, for then he shall be sure to be remembred in their Calender; whereas otherwise I see all Protestant charity subject to the covetousness of posterity to devour it, and bury the donor thereof in oblivion.' And the name of this 'great antiquarie' was supplied in 1659 by the Puritan writer Henry Hickman, who, as a Demy of Magdalene College, had shared in the spoils. He, in the Appendix to his _Justification of the Fathers and Schoolmen_, gives (in answer to a passage in Heylin's _Examen Historicum_) a full account of the dividing of the gold, adding, 'which, as is said, did hinder Mr. John Selden from bestowing his library on the University.' And Wood (_Hist. and Antiq._ by Gutch, ii. 942) says that he had been told that this misappropriation was one reason of Selden's distaste at Oxford. From all this it is clear that Burnet's narrative gives a very inaccurate account of the matter.

It was in the year 1659 that the great mass of Selden's collection was forwarded by his executors. In the accounts for 1660 appear payments to Barlow of £20 'for his paines in procuring Mr. Selden's books,' and of £51 for his expenses thereon. The bringing the books from London cost about £34, and the providing chains for them £25 10_s._[119] Unfortunately, during the interval, many books had been lost which had been borrowed in London, and were never returned. (Life, in _Works_, I. lii.) And a part, which somehow was not sent to Oxford, afterwards altogether perished, 'for the fire of the Temple destroyed in one of their chambers eight chests full of the registers of abbeys, and other manuscripts relating to the history of England; tho' most of his law-books are still safe in Lincoln's Inn[120].' Some medical books were bequeathed to the College of Physicians. Some of the original deeds relating to the gift were bought for the Library in 1837 for £1 1_s._

About 8000 volumes were, in all, added to the Library by this gift, most of which bear Selden's well-known motto: 'περι παντος την ελευθεριαν.' Amongst them are some which belonged to Ben Jonson, Dr. Donne, and Sir Robert Cotton. The number of miscellaneous foreign works, in several European languages, is noticeable, many of which had been published but a short time before Selden's death. In curious contrast to the character of the greater part of his collection (rich in classics and science, theology and history, law and Hebrew literature) there occurs one volume (marked 4^o C. 32. Art. Seld.) which is priceless in the eyes of the lovers of old English black-letter tracts. It contains twenty-six tracts (most bearing the name of a previous possessor, one Thomas Newton) which are among the rarest of early popular tales and romances. As mere specimens of the collection may be mentioned, _Richard Cuer de Lyon_, _Syr Bevis of Hampton_ (unique edit.?), _Syr Degore_, _Syr Tryamoure_ (only two copies known), _Syr Eglamoure_ (unique?), _Dan Hew of Leicestre_ (unique?), _Battayle of Egyngecourt_ (unique?), _Mylner of Abyngton_ (unique?), _Wyl Bucke_, _&c._ Among the MSS. is one of Harding's _Chronicle_ (Arch. Seld. B. 10) which appears to have belonged to Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, from his arms being painted at the end, and which some have supposed was also a presentation copy to Edward IV. A curious map accompanies the description of Scotland (here given in prose, not, as in the printed editions, in verse), in which, next to Sutherland and Caithness, the author, who would have won Dr. Johnson's respect as being 'a good hater,' places 'Styx, the infernal flode,' and 'The palais of Pluto, King of hel, _neighbore to Scottz_.' This map was engraved for the first time in Gough's _British Topography_, vol. ii. pl. viii.; the description of it occupies pp. 579-583 in that volume. Another interesting volume is a copy of the Latin _Articles_ of 1562, printed by Reginald Wolfe in 1563, with the autograph signatures of the members of the Lower House of Convocation (Arch. Seld. A. 76). Fifty-four Greek MSS. are described in Mr. Coxe's Catalogue, vol. i. cols. 583-648.

[109] As Aubrey (_Lives_, with _Letters by Eminent Persons_, ii. 532) has preserved a story that Selden on his death-bed refused, through Hobbes' persuasion, to see a clergyman (Mr Johnson) who was coming 'to assoile him,' it is worth while to print the following notice of his death from Rawlinson MS. B. clviii. fol. 75, a volume containing a collection of biographical anecdotes, &c., written in a rather clumsy copyist's hand, about the beginning of the last century: 'Mr. Selden upon his death-bed disclaimed all Hobbisme and the like wicked and Atheisticall opinions, commanded that neither Mr. Hobbs nor Capt. Rossingham should be admitted to him, confessed his sins, and desired absolution, which was given him by Archbp. Usher; but amongst other things he much deplored the loss of his time in studying of things more curious than usefull, and wished that he [had] rather executed the office of a justice of peace than spent his time in that which the world calls learning.'

[110] See also Aubrey's _Lives_, _ut supra_, ii. 536.

[111] Nichols (_Lit. Anecd._ i. 333) gives another and very different story, for which he produces no authority. He says that Selden had actually sent his library to Oxford during his lifetime, but hearing that they had lent out a book _without sufficient caution_, he sent for it back again.

[112] Twells' Life of Pococke, in Pococke's _Theol. Works_, 1740, vol. i. p. 43.

[113] Reg. Conv. T. p. 251. It is added, as an additional reason for the concession, 'porro spes sit virum in rem nostram academicam optime affectum, hanc ei extra ordinem gratiam factam abunde olim compensaturum.'

[114] A copy also exists of this paper made by Hearne with a view to publication, and, as appears from a short preface by him, from a double motive; firstly, to prevent persons taking offence in his own day at refusals; secondly, to afford warning to persons with 'fanatical consciences,' who seem to have thought there was no harm done in carrying books away secretly, provided they returned them again. Unfortunately 'consciences' such as these still exist, and there is reason for quoting, with a present application, the words with which the warm-hearted Hearne concludes: 'Let these men consider seriously how they will answer this before God, and withall assure themselves that if they be found out, they will, besides the punishment like to come upon them hereafter (without an earnest, hearty repentance) be expos'd to all that infamy and disgrace which the Statute enjoyns to be inflicted upon such notorious offenders.' (Misc. MSS. papers relating to the Library.)

The first actual theft of a book occurred in 1624. At the Visitation on Nov. 9, the Curators drew up a formal document, publishing and denouncing the deed, and exhorting the unknown doer to a timely repentance. A copy of it is preserved in volume 23 of Bryan Twyne's Collections, in the University Archives (p. 683), and runs as follows:--

'Cum in hac visitatione nostra anniversaria Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ, post diligentem et religiosam status ejus pro officii nostri ratione examinationem factam, compertum sit volumen unum (Jod. Nahumus. Conc. in Evangelia Dominicalia. Han. 1604. N. 1. 3[121]) in classe Theologica, catenâ abscissum et sacrilegâ nebulonis alicujus manu surreptum esse; Cumque ex fideli Bibliothecarii relatione (pensatis loci atque temporis circumstantis) constet, non nisi a jurato aliquo facinus hoc detestabile perpetratum esse;--

'Nos Curatores, quorum fidei et inspectioni Bibliothecæ cura speciali nomine a Nobilissimo Fundatore concredita est, insolentis facti indignitate moti et perculsi, quamvis liber parabilis, exigui et pretii et usus sit, ne tamen lenti plus quam par est, et frigidi in causa tanti momenti videamur, post maturam deliberationem, programmate affixo, facinus publicandum duximus;--

'Impense rogantes omnes et singulos cujuscunque ordinis et loci genuinos Academia alumnos, ut sicubi librum offendant, sive in privatis musæis, sive in bibliopolarum officinis, restituendum curent, unaque operam nobiscum conferant, ut, si fieri possit, hoc propudium hominis, Bibliothecarum pestis et tenebrio sacrilegus, e latibulis suis in lucem extrahatur; denique, odium et indignationem suam contribuant, saltem ut publicæ infamiæ tuba miser experrectus, misericordiam divinam tempestive imploret, conspecta vel Bibliothecæ porta posthæc attonitus resiliat, nec tanti putet libri contemptibilis acquisitionem ut animam pro qua mortuus est Christus ineptissime periclitari sinat.

JO. PRIDEAUX, Vice-Canc. et S. Theol. Professor Regius. THO. CLAYTON, Medic. Professor Regius. DANIEL EASTCOT, Procurator Sen. RICARDUS HILL, Procurator Jun. EDOARDUS MEETKERKIUS, Ling. Hebr. Professor Regius. JOHANNES SOUTH, Græcæ Linguæ Prælector Regius.'

More serious abstractions, however, than such as these, have lately (_i.e._ within the last twenty or thirty years) been practised. It has recently been discovered that two extremely rare tracts by Thomas Churchyard, his _Epitaph of Sir P. Sidney_, and _Feast full of sad Cheere_, have been cut out of the volume of tracts in which they were bound up. May it be hoped that Book-lovers, as well as lovers of honesty, will remember this, should unknown copies suddenly come to light? Another book, mentioned by Warton as being in Tanner's collection, _The Children of the Chapel Stript and Whipt_, is also not forthcoming; but no trace of its actual existence at any time within the walls of the Library has, as yet, been found. As in the course of making a new General Catalogue of the whole library, every separate volume and tract is now conspicuously stamped with the name of its _locale_, it is hoped that depredations of this character will be entirely checked.

Two instances, however, in which 'consciences' have been sufficiently awakened to make restitution of stolen goods, have occurred within the last twenty years. In 185- (exact year forgotten), on a day on which a Convocation had been held on some exciting subject, which had consequently brought up country voters from all parts, the present writer happened to notice that a small book had been laid in a shelf of folios near the Library door. Taking it up, he found it to be a rare volume of tracts by J. Preston and T. Goodwin, printed at Amsterdam, and bearing a Library reference. On proceeding to restore it to its place, that place was found to be occupied by another book; this, of course, led to further examination, and it was then discovered that the former volume had been missing for so many years, that at last, all hope of its recovery being abandoned, its place had been filled up. The old register-books of readers were then ransacked, and at length an entry was found of the delivery of this book to a reader, who was still living at the time of this Convocation, on Feb. 14, 1807. A quarto volume was also found about the same time thrust in amongst other quartos in a shelf near the door, but the particulars of this case have been forgotten.

A third case of recovery, but of a different kind, occurred in 1851. In the year 1789 the Library was visited by Hen. E. G. Paulus, of Jena, afterwards the too-well-known author of the _Leben Jesu_, who copied from Pococke MS. 32 (a small octavo volume) an Arabic translation of Isaiah made, in Hebrew characters, by R. Saadiah, which he published in the following year, transposed into Arabic characters. Thenceforward the MS. was lost from the Library, although no direct evidence of the manner of its disappearance appears to have been obtained. But after the death of Paulus in the year 1850, a bookseller at Breslau, to whom the volume had in some way been offered, entered into communication with the Librarian, Dr. Bandinel, and the result was that the missing MS. was at length restored, _clothed in an entirely different German binding_, and with all trace of its original ownership removed, to its right place. The abstraction of this MS. 'by an Oriental professor,' and its recovery, are mentioned, without further particulars, by Dr. Pusey, in his Evidence printed in the _University Report upon the Recommendations of the University Commissioners_, 1853. p. 171.

[115] Bodley frequently in his letters expresses his positive determination not to allow books to be removed from the Library by any means. He mentions the having connived at first at Sir H. Savile's having a book for a very short space of time, because he was like to become a very great benefactor; but declares that after the making the Statutes neither he nor any one else shall be allowed the same liberty upon any occasion whatsoever. (_Reliquiæ Bodl._ pp. 176, 264.) And in another letter he says, in reference to a particular application, 'The sending of any book out of the Library may be assented to by no means, neither is it a matter that the University or Vice-Chancellor are to deal in. It cannot stand with my publick resolution with the University, and my denial made to the Bishop of Glocester and the rest of the Interpreters [_i.e._ the Translators of the Authorized Version of the Bible] in their assembly in Christ Church, who requested the like at my hands for one or two books.' (_Ibid._ p. 207.) In 1636 the University refused leave to Archbishop Laud to borrow Rob. Hare's MS. _Liber Privilegiorum Universitatis_ (compiled in 1592), when the Archbishop was prosecuting his claim to visit the two Universities as Metropolitan. But the refusal was doubtless rather from jealousy respecting their immunities (as Wood says) than from regard to the rules of the Library (Huber's _English Universities_, by F. Newman, vol. ii. p. 45.) However, the book was at last produced before the Council. (Wood's _Hist. and Antiq._, by Gutch, vol. ii. p. 403.)

[116] 'Μυριοβιβλος, num. 131' [Barocci].

[117] These were gold coins, of the value of fifteen shillings, which derived their name from bearing a star on the reverse which resembled the rowel of a spur.

[118] A few of these coins are still preserved in an ancient chest in the same room where they were of old deposited. Here is also carefully preserved a very large and valuable collection of early charters, including all which belonged to the Hospital of St. John Bapt. upon the site of which the College was built, and to several suppressed priories which were annexed to the College, reaching back to the twelfth century. Of these the author of this volume is engaged in preparing a MS. catalogue, for the use of the College.

[119] The conditions imposed by the executors (which are printed in Gutch's _Wood_, 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's _Ancient and Present State of the Univ. of Oxford_, 1714, vol. i. p. 462. Pointer, in his _Oxoniensis 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's _Journey through England_ vol. 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.

A.D. 1655.

The stipends of the Librarian and Assistants at this time amounted jointly to £51 6_s._ 8_d._ Of this it appears from the account for 1657 that the Librarian received £33 6_s._ 8_d._, the Second 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 4^o _F. 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.

A.D. 1656.

Cowley's _Poems_. See 1620.

A.D. 1657.

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 from _Hugh Peters_. 'Hugo Peters, serenissimo Britanniarum Protectori Olivero a sacris, pro sua in academiam et rempubl. literariam benevolentia, codices insequentes Bibl. Bodleianæ dono dedit Maii iiii^o, 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.

A.D. 1658.

Gerard Langbaine, D.D., the learned Provost of Queen's College, died on Feb. 10 in this year. Twenty-one vols. of his _Adversaria_, 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 own autograph 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, entitled _Fasciculi 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.

A.D. 1659.

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

A.D. 1660.

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 rare _Index Librorum prohibitorum_ printed at Madrid in 1612-14 (4^o U. 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. T^a. 27, p. 57.

[125] The memoranda are printed in Mendham's _Lit. Policy of the Church of Rome_, second edit., pp. 152-4, and in Bliss' _Reliquiæ Hearnianæ_, i. 12-14.

A.D. 1662.

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., were given 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.

A.D. 1663.

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 and Queen, 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. T^a. 27, p. 173.

A.D. 1664.

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.

A.D. 1665.

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 16_s._ 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 15_s._ were bought out of his study.

A.D. 1666.

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

An East India merchant of London, one John Ken, 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 Greek _Evangelistarium_ of 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.

A.D. 1668.

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 what authority 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's _Oxford_, published in 1821[128], and in the _Life 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 the _Mirror_, p. 8, copied from the _Nautical Magazine_.

A.D. 1670.

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.

A.D. 1671.

Upon the death of Meric Casaubon, on July 14, the Library became possessed, by his bequest, of sixty-one volumes of the _Adversaria_ (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 of _Casauboniana_, with a preface giving some account of all previous collections of _Ana_, and with copious notes. The MSS. are catalogued in Mr. Coxe's first volume, cols. 825-850.

A.D. 1673.

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, 'and were 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 4_s._ 10_d._ 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 10_s._, 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.

A.D. 1674.

In this year appeared the third _Catalogus 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 the _Chronicon Dunstap._ p. xii., and in his _Autobiography_ (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's _MS. Diary_, ciii. 38.

A.D. 1675.

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 volumes of 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 of _Codices 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's _Pastoral 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's _Dialogues_, 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 his _Bibliotheca Juris Canonici veteris_, 1661. They are now numbered, _e Mus._ 100-102. Several other MSS. given at 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.

A.D. 1677.

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's _Prick of Conscience_, Grosteste's _Castle of Love_, Hampole's _Perfect Living_, the treatise on _Contemplative Life_, the _Mirror of S. Edmund_, the _Abbey of the Holy Ghost_, and _Piers 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