A singular motto stamped upon the binding of two books, and it may be of
more, within a border of cornucopiæ, &c., attracts the attention of the
reader. The books are, vols. i. ii. of Du Chesne's _Historiæ Francorum
Scriptores_, 1636 (A. 2. 9. 10. Jur.), and Halloix's _Ecclesiæ
Orientalis Scriptores_, 1633 (G. 2. 3. Th.); the motto is, 'Coronasti
annum bonitatis Tuæ, Ps. 65. Annuo reditu quinque librarum Margaretæ
Brooke.' An explanation is found in an entry in the Benefaction-Register
under the year 1632 or 1633, where we read as follows: 'D. Margareta
Brooke, vidua, quondam uxor Ducis Brooke, de Temple-Combe in comitatu
Somerset, armigeri defuncti, donavit centum libras, quibus perquisitus
est annuus reditus quinque librarum ad coemendos libros in usum
bibliothecæ in perpetuum.' Probably the books thus stamped were the
first that were bought after the final settlement of the gift. The rent
arises from land at Wick-Risington, in Gloucestershire, and the sum duly
appears to this day in the annual accounts of the Library. In 1655, the
then Librarian, Barlow, makes a memorandum in his accounts that the
University had not paid over this rent for several years; in consequence
of his calling attention to this neglect, the arrears were paid up in
1658. At the same time the rents of the houses in Distaff Lane were
heavily in arrear.
A (second) gift from Sir Henry Wotton consisted of the copy of Tycho
Brahe's _Astronomiæ instaurandæ mechanica_, 1598, which the author gave
to Grimani, Doge of Venice, containing several additional pages in MS.
with two autograph epigrams; and also of a MS. of the _Acta Concilii
Constantiensis_, which had formerly belonged to Card. Bembi, now
numbered _e Musæo_, 25.