Mr. Bowles, the Librarian, died at Shaftesbury, the place of his birth,
and was buried there on Nov. 25. On Dec. 2, Mr. Robert Fysher, B.M.,
Fellow of Oriel College, was elected his successor by 100 votes to 85
over Francis Wise, the Under-librarian. Mr. John Bilstone, M.A.,
Chaplain of All Souls' and Janitor of the Library, was also a candidate,
but retired before the election, in the hope of securing Wise's return.
As Wise held Hearne's old place, and was regarded by him as an usurper,
and as Bilstone held in his possession the new keys which Bowles
originally procured to render Hearne's old ones useless, the latter
consequently regarded them both with great disfavour, and rejoiced
greatly at the result of the election. His account of it is printed in
the _Reliqq. Hearn._ vol. ii. p. 712.
Forty-two MS. volumes came to the Library by the bequest of the widow of
Mr. Francis Cherry, of Shottesbrooke, Berks, the early patron and
constant friend of Hearne[199]. Cherry himself died Sept. 23, 1713, and
Hearne says that he had intended to give his MSS. to his old _protégée_.
They are not, for the most part, of very great value, but among them are
various volumes by Dodwell; and a book written and bound by Q. Eliz. is
described above, under the year 1628. Hearne was greatly annoyed at a
paper of his own, containing reasons for taking the oath of allegiance,
which he had written in 1700, coming into the Library amongst these
books; he endeavoured in vain (although now in these days his legal
right would be at once recognized) to recover it, and it was published,
to his still greater annoyance, by the Whigs, under the editorship of
Mr. Bilstone, the janitor. An account of Hearne's endeavours to regain
it, together with a notice of Mrs. Cherry's bequest and of the MSS., is
to be found in Dr. Bliss' Appendix to his _Reliqq. Hearn._ ii. 899-906.
In the Register of Readers admitted by favour occurs, under date of
April 19, the name of 'C. Wesley, Ædis Xti alumn.,' written in a neat
and clear hand. The name of his great brother is not found in any
register extending over the period of his stay in Oxford. At this time
the Library appears to have been almost entirely forsaken. Between
1730-1740 it rarely happens that above one or two books are registered
to readers in a day, while often for whole days together not a single
entry occurs; and since, in the register for this period, the books are
noted down by three hands, it can hardly be possible that the blanks are
due to the negligence of librarians (as might have been supposed were
the same handwriting found throughout) rather than to the lack of
students.
[199] In the Benefaction Register they are erroneously entered as coming
by the bequest of Mr. Cherry himself.