This year is remarkable for the number and variety of the collections
with which, during its course, the Library was enriched, comprehending
those of Rawlinson, Furney, St. Amand, and Ballard.
On April 6 died Richard Rawlinson, D.C.L., a Bishop among the
Non-jurors, notwithstanding that he passed in the world as a layman.
From the time of Bodley, Laud, and Selden, he was the greatest
benefactor the Library had known; and his only rivals since his own day
have been Gough and Douce. In point of numbers, his donation of MSS. far
exceeded all. From the short autobiographical notice of himself, given
in his own collections for a continuation of the _Athenæ Oxon._ (where
he has inserted a small portrait of himself, engraved, without his name,
by Van der Gucht), we learn the following particulars. He was born Jan.
3, 1689/90, in the Old Bailey, his father being Sir Thos. Rawlinson, who
was Lord Mayor of London in 1706. On March 9, 1707/8 (having been
previously at St. Paul's School and Eton), he was matriculated as a
commoner of St. John's College; but in consequence of the death of his
father in the same year, he became a gentleman-commoner in 1709; B.A.,
Oct. 10, 1711[220]; M.A., July 5, 1713; Governor of Bridewell and
Bethlehem Hospitals, 1713; F.R.S., 1714; ordained (among the Non-jurors)
Deacon, Sept. 21, and Priest, Sept. 23, 1716[221]. He then travelled
through the whole of England, except some of the northern parts, and in
1719 went into Normandy, where, while staying at Rouen, he received
from Oxford the degree of D.C.L. by diploma of June 30. Thence he went
to the Low Countries, where, in Sept., he was admitted into the
Universities of both Utrecht and Leyden, and returned into England in
Nov. On June 12 in the following year, he started on a longer journey,
which he extended through Holland, France, Germany, the whole of Italy,
and Sicily, to Malta; and returned on the death of his elder brother
Thomas, also a well-known book-collector, in 1726. During his six years'
travels, he had seen, he remarks, four Popes[222]. Admitted F.S.A. May
10, 1727. On March 25, 1728, he was consecrated Bishop, by Bishops
Gandy, Doughty, and Blackbourne, in Gandy's Chapel[223]. Appointed a
Governor of St. Bartholomew's Hospital in March, 1733. He resided at
London House, Aldersgate, so called from having been in early days a
mansion of the Bishops of London. During his lifetime he was a constant
benefactor to the Library; in the years 1733-4-5-7-8-9 and 1750, he is
entered in the great Register for special gifts of coins, books, and
pictures. Some hundreds of printed books, now in the gallery called
'_Jur._,' and elsewhere, were given by him at these times; while many of
the Holbeins and other valuable portraits in the Picture Gallery came
from him[224]. A few MSS. also came from him during his lifetime which
are now placed in the general Bodley collection. But at his death all
his collections came _en masse_[225]; collections formed abroad and at
home, the choice of book-auctions, the pickings of chandlers' and
grocers' waste-paper, everything, especially, in the shape of a MS.,
from early copies of Classics and Fathers to the well-nigh most recent
log-books of sailors' voyages[226]. Not a sale of MSS. occurred,
apparently, in London, during his time, at which he was not an
omnigenous purchaser; so that students of every subject now bury
themselves in his stores with great content and profit. But history in
all its branches, heraldry and genealogy, biography and topography, are
his specially strong points. The printed books bequeathed by him in
selection from his whole library (of which those in quarto and smaller
sizes are still called by his name) amounted to between 1800 and
1900[227], but the MSS. to upwards of 4800, besides a large number of
old charters and miscellaneous unsorted deeds.
The staff of the Library being very small at the time, as well as
ill-paid[228], and such an accession being completely overwhelming, the
officers appear to have contented themselves with duly entering the
printed books, while leaving the MSS. entirely neglected. About the
beginning of the present century some steps were taken towards a
Catalogue, and a portion were arranged and numbered; still later,
considerably more was done. But it was only on the accession of the
present Librarian to the Headship, that the full extent of Rawlinson's
collections was ascertained. Every corner of the Library was then
thoroughly examined, and cupboard after cupboard was found filled with
MSS. and papers huddled together in confusion, while, last not least, a
dark hole under a staircase, explored by the present writer on hands and
knees, afforded a rich 'take,' including many writings of Rawlinson's
Non-juring friends. The whole number of volumes thus brought to light
amounted to about 1300.
The classes into which the whole collection of MSS. is now divided are
the following:--
1. _Class A_: 500 volumes, chiefly of English history, with a few
theological books. Amongst these are the _Thurloe State Papers_, in
sixty-seven volumes, of which all of importance were published by Birch,
in seven vols. folio, in 1742. These papers were found after the
Revolution concealed in the ceiling of garrets in Lincoln's Inn, which
belonged to the rooms formerly occupied by Thurloe; and they still bear
too evident marks of the damp to which they were there exposed. They
passed through Lord Somers' and Sir Jos. Jekyll's hands into those of a
bookseller, Fletcher Gyles, from whom Rawlinson obtained them in 1751,
and who, as Rawlinson says, asked at first an 'immoderate price' for
them. Another series is that of _Miscellaneous Papers of Sam. Pepys_, in
twenty-five volumes, containing his correspondence, collections on
Admiralty business, &c.[229] These, together with many other volumes
which belonged to Pepys (including many curious dockyard account-books
of the times of Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth) were 'redeemed from
_thus et odores vendentibus_[230].' Of another acquisition Rawlinson
writes thus:--
'There was lately an auction here of Mr. Bridgeman's books,
curiosities, and MSS., who was formerly clerk of the Council to K.
James II, and register to the Ecclesiastical Commission. Here I laid
out some pence, and picked up some curiosities; the original
minute-book of the High Commission, the proceedings every session
with the names of those present, by which it appears that Bp. Sprat
was not so innocent as he would persuade us in his letter to the
Earl of Dorset to think, and that notwithstanding all his shiftings
he sat to the penultim. Session of that Court;' [Letters canvassing
the nobility, gentry, justices of the peace, &c., in favour of the
repeal of the Test;] '3 letters from the D. of Monmouth, two to the
King and one to the Queen, desiring an audience in which he would
give them such satisfaction, ... very pathetic, and deserved at
least some attention[231]; ... several volumes of treaties, ...
instructions to ambassadors. Very remarkable are those to Lord
Castlemain on his going to Rome, the King's two letters to the Pope,
a third of revocation, all personal and complement, but no embassy
of obedience. Copy-books of letters, private and public, wrote by K.
Charles and K. James II, from which might be collected such a fund
of true tho' secret history, that the prize is not to be
valued[232], and will, I hope, be a standing monument of great
events, and preserved in Bodley's repository, with the papers of Bp.
Turner and other great men at and since the year 1688[233].'
There are also some papers in this class and in Class C which belonged
to Archbp. Wake, about which Rawlinson writes, on June 24, 1741[234]:--
'My agent last week met with some papers of Archbp. Wake at a
chandler's shop; this is unpardonable in his executors, as all his
MSS. were left to Christ Church. But quære whether these did not
fall into some servant's hands who was ordered to burn them, and Mr.
Martin Folkes ought to have seen that done. They fell into the
curate's hands of St. George, Bloomsbury.'
2. _Class B_ numbers 520 volumes nominally, but really, including double
numbers, 534. They comprise heraldry and genealogy (including MSS. of
Sir Richard and Sir Thos. St. George, W. Wyrley, Guillim, Ryley, Glover,
Le Neve, and other heralds) English and Irish history, and topography,
including several monastic chartularies. Among the genealogical MSS. is
a remarkable collection of pedigrees, in twelve volumes, which the
present writer ascertained to have been compiled by Thomas Wilkinson,
Vicar of Laurence Waltham, Berks, between about 1647 and 1681. They are
arranged alphabetically, as far as the letter P in tolerable order and
regularity, but thenceforward only in a rough and incomplete state.
Unfortunately the handwriting is far from clear, and the ink has often
made it worse. Among the volumes relating to _Essex_, _Norfolk_,
_Suffolk_, &c., are twelve or thirteen which belonged to William Holman,
a voluminous collector for the first-mentioned county, who incorporated
the gatherings of Rev. John Ousley and Thos. Jekyll. Morant, the
historian of Essex, obtained the larger portion of Holman's books; some
are in the British Museum; and the remainder ('the refuse,' says Morant)
were bought by Rawlinson in 1752 for £10[235]. Besides the
above-mentioned volumes, there are a large number of Holman's MSS. which
are kept distinct, and which have been recently bound in fourteen folio
volumes, eleven quarto, and five octavo. Under _London_ are some
nineteen or twenty volumes of Diocesan papers which belonged to Bp. John
Robinson. They formed (with one volume in Class A and several in Class
C) a mass which are described by Rawlinson, as follows[236]:--
'I lately rescued from the grocers, chandlers, &c. a parcel of
papers once the property of Compton and Robinson, successively Bps.
of London. Amongst those of the first were original subscription and
visitation books, letters and conferences during the apprehensions
of Popery amongst the clergy of this diocese, remarkable
intelligences relating to Burnet and the Orange Court in Holland in
those extraordinary times before 1688[237], minutes of the
proceedings of the Commissioners for the Propagation of the Gospel,
and a great variety of other papers. Amongst those of Bp. Robinson,
numbers of originals relating to the transactions at the treaty of
Utrecht, copies of his own letters to Lord Bolingbroke, and
originals from Lord Bolingbroke, Lord Oxford, Electress and Elector
of Hanover, Ormonde, Strafford, Prior, &c.; letters from the Scots
deprived Bishops to Compton, and variety of State papers. They
belonged to one Mr. [Anth.] Gibbon, lately dead, who was private
secretary to both the afore-mentioned prelates.'
Under _Bucks_ are Rawlinson's own collections for a history of Eton
College, and under _Middlesex_ and _Oxon._ his parochial collections for
those counties. The _Irish_ MSS. include many of great antiquity and
value which formerly belonged to Sir James Ware, _e.g._ Tigernach's
Annals, Annals of Ulster, Lives of Saints, Dublin Chartularies, Arms of
Irish families, Irish poems, &c. Among them is the often noticed Life of
St. Columba by Magnus O'Donnell, written in 1532, which was bought by
Rawlinson at the Chandos sale for twenty-three shillings.
Of these two classes a Catalogue, in one volume quarto, was printed in
1862, which was compiled by the writer of this volume[238]. A full index
to the contents of all the MSS. has been made, which remains at present
unprinted, but may possibly at some time appear in conjunction with a
volume describing the contents of the succeeding class.
3. _Class C_ comprehends 989 MSS. of very miscellaneous character, but
chiefly consisting of law, history and theology, with a few medical
works. Among the theological portion are papers of John Dury, the
zealous labourer for union amongst Protestants in the time of Charles I,
papers of Bedell and Usher, some volumes of John Lewis of Margate[239],
and some interesting Service-books of English use, including a
Pontifical given to Salisbury Cathedral by Bp. Roger de Martivale
between 1315-1329, and an early Oseney book. Several volumes consist of
papers of Dr. Chamberlaine (author of _Notitia Angliæ_) and Mr. Henry
Newman, secretaries of the Societies for the Propagation of the Gospel,
and Promoting Christian Knowledge, which, Rawlinson mentions in a
letter, dated April 28, 1744, (Ballard MS. ii.) that he had then
recently purchased. Some seventeen or eighteen volumes came from the
library of Bp. Turner of Ely (together with others in the classes called
_Miscellaneous_ and _Letters_), containing papers of himself and his
brother, Dr. Thomas Turner, Dean of Canterbury. These were obtained by
Rawlinson in 1742, who in them became master, as he says, of a
considerable treasure for ten guineas[240].' Early English poets are
represented by Lydgate, Rolle of Hampole, William of Nassyngton, and
others[241]; and one volume contains a few Welsh verses. A catalogue
exists in MS. The volumes relating to English history in classes A and C
are noticed in the return printed in the Record Commission Report for
1800, pp. 348-353.
4. The class entitled _Miscellaneous_ numbers about 1400 volumes, and
includes the greater part of those which were discovered in 1861. They
are so entirely miscellaneous that it is impossible to give in a few
lines a real idea of their nature. History, travels, biography, and
religious controversy largely prevail. There are papers of Sir Thos.
Browne, Dr. Dee, Maittaire, Peter Le Neve, Ashmole[242], John Dunton,
and Bagford, with a very large mass of _Hearniana_. Of the Non-jurors,
there are papers of Grascome, Gandy, Spinckes, Hickes, Fitzwilliams,
Howell, and Dean Granville. Some nine or ten volumes are occupied with
the accounts of the Royal Surveyor of Works from 1532 to 1545. The
Church-wardens' accounts of Sutterton, Lincolnshire, from 1493 to 1536,
and of St. Peter's, Cornhill, from 1664 to 1689, are also found
here[243]. There is a large series of Italian MSS. (amongst other
foreign books, chiefly French) which bear on English history, as
containing copies of reports made to Rome by Papal agents and to Venice
by ambassadors, together with the proceedings at many conclaves. These
were bought by Rawlinson at Sir Jos. Jekyll's sale of the Somers' MSS.
in 1739, for £3 15_s._[244] There is also a mass of papers of J. J.
Zamboni, Venetian Resident in England, and a friend of Maittaire. A
considerable number of autograph signatures, barbarously cut out from
various books, by Thomas Rawlinson, were found in loose papers; these
have now been mounted and bound in two volumes. There are not, however,
many of interest among them, except several of Ben Jonson.
5. In _Letters_ there are upwards of 100 volumes, comprising all the
multifarious correspondence of Hearne with Anstis, Bagford, Baker,
Barnes, Dodwell, Smith, &c., the correspondence of Rawlinson, Dr. Thomas
Turner, and Bishop Francis Turner, Philip Lord Wharton, and Sir Edm.
Warcupp. One volume contains a few letters by Dryden, Pope, Edw. Young,
&c. There is also a series of letters in three vols. relating to Dr.
John Polyander, of Kerckhoven, Professor of Divinity at Leyden, and
eight or nine volumes of Vossius' correspondence, being the originals
from which the folio volume published at London in 1691 was printed.
6. The class of _Poetry_ contains 221 volumes, including Chaucer,
Hoccleve, Lydgate, Capgrave (Life of St. Catherine), and Rolle of
Hampole, with Piers Plowman and the Romance of Parthenope of Blois (both
imperfect). The majority are miscellaneous poems and plays of the
seventeenth century. One volume, containing the words of anthems with
the composers' names, is supposed to be the Chapel-book used by Charles
I.
Of the three last-mentioned classes, a brief MS. list was drawn up with
great neatness and accuracy by Dr. Bliss, in 1812 (reaching in the case
of the _Miscell._ only as far as No. 407); an index, in continuation, to
all the later additions is now in process of formation.
7. Of _Sermons_ there are about 200 volumes; many of which are by
Non-jurors, including three by Rawlinson himself. Ten volumes are by
Dan. Price, Dean of St. Asaph, 1696-1706; and one volume is said to
contain unpublished sermons by Leighton, apparently from notes taken by
some auditor at the time of delivery. These have been copied for
publication in a proposed new edition (under the care of Rev. W. West,
of Nairn, N.B.) of Leighton's whole works.
8. A selection of Biblical and Classical MSS., with a few others,
amounting to 199, are placed in the case marked '_Auctarium_,' G.
Amongst these are a few Greek volumes, with critical _Adversaria_ of
Maittaire, Josh. Lasher, and J. G. Grævius. Early copies of Statius,
Ovid, Virgil, &c. form part of the classics; while among the Biblical
MSS. is a grand eighth-century copy (written in rounded minuscules, in
the same style as the Rushworth book) of the Gospels of St. Luke and St.
John, and a beautiful eleventh-century Psalter with the commentary of
St. Bruno. One other fine book is a Psalter written for Ch. Ch.
Cathedral, Dublin, by the care of Stephen Derby, Prior, about A.D.
1360-80, with remarkable miniatures illustrating Psalms xxxix, liii,
lxix, lxxxi, and xcviii.
9. Of _Missals_, _Horæ_, and other Service-books, there are (besides
those which are scattered in Classes C and G Auct.) about 130. These
(most of which are of French origin, bought out of the library of Nic.
Jos. Foucault[245], of Flemish, or of Italian) are now incorporated with
a large collection of Liturgical books, which are called _Canon.
Liturg._, from their having formed part of the Canonici collection
purchased in 1818.
10. A small collection of _Statutes_, comprising sixty-five volumes, is
kept distinct. They consist of the Statutes of various Colleges at
Oxford and Cambridge, of the Cathedrals of Lichfield, Hereford,
Worcester, Chester, Manchester, Canterbury, Exeter, and the Abbey of
Westminster; of the Order of the Garter (various copies); of Hospitals
at Croydon, Chipping-Barnet, and Chichester; of the Gresham Charities,
together with the Charters of London and Bristol; Statutes made by the
Chapter of Paris for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre there in 1421, and
an eighteenth-century transcript of the Statutes of the College at
Bayeux. But the volume of most interest in this class is the rare
printed volume of the Statutes of Thame School, issued in 1575. Of this,
only five other copies are known, one kept at the School itself, a
second in the custody of the Warden of New College (the Visitor of the
School), a third in the Royal Library, Brit. Mus., and the fourth and
fifth, both on vellum, in the possession of the Earl of Abingdon and in
the Grenville Library, Brit. Mus. Rawlinson's copy, which wants the
title, has in it the book-plate of John, Duke of Newcastle.
11. Of the MSS. of Dr. Thomas Smith, the Non-juror, of Magd. Coll.,
Oxford, there are 139 volumes, which (with the exception of a few
bequeathed by Smith himself) came into Rawlinson's hands together with
the rest of Hearne's collections. They are noticed above, under the year
1735.
12. Besides the multitude of books, scattered throughout every class of
Rawlinson's library, which belonged to Hearne or were written by him,
there are about 150 small duodecimo volumes of Hearne's daily diary and
note-books, commencing in July, 1705, and ending on June 4, 1735, the
last actual entry being on June 1, and his decease occurring on June 10.
The character of this diary is well known from the two volumes of
Extracts published by Dr. Bliss in 1857, with the title, _Reliquiæ
Hearnianæ_. But it must not be supposed that these volumes comprehend
all that deserves publication; the diary throughout is full of like
curious personal history and anecdote, antiquarian gleanings and amusing
gossip, mixed, of course, with a good deal of occasional acrimony
against those with whom Hearne came in collision either from
differences in academic or literary matters, or from their being
friends of the 'Elector of Hanover.' There is scarcely a subject falling
within its writer's scope of observation on which this Diary may not be
consulted; and as it is written in his usual plain and neat hand, with
an index to each volume, it is fortunately easy for reference. Hearne
bequeathed all his MSS., and books with MSS. notes, to Mr. William
Bedford, son of the well-known bishop among the Non-jurors, Hilkiah
Bedford; the legatee died on July 11, 1747, and Rawlinson bought them of
his widow for £105. Hence it was that they came finally to the place
where Hearne would himself have rejoiced to see them deposited. The
autobiographical sketch of Hearne's own life, which Huddesford published
in 1772, in conjunction with the lives of Leland and Wood, is preserved
among the _Miscellaneous_ MSS. Of this Rawlinson says, in a letter dated
June 19, 1740[246]: 'Tom's own life was so low and poor a performance
that I recommended it to Bedford to burn.' On account, probably, of the
numerous reflections which the Diary contained on living persons,
Rawlinson ordered in his bequest that it should not be open to
inspection until after the lapse of seven years. He laid also the same
restraint upon the use of his own papers noticed in the next paragraph.
13. Large collections were made by Rawlinson for a continuation of
Wood's _Athenæ Oxon._ These contain much valuable biographical
information, derived in very many cases from the actual information of
the persons noticed, letters from many of whom are inserted. There are,
in all, twenty-five volumes, folio and quarto; among the folios there
are two series of notices arranged alphabetically, and one volume (also
alphabetical) of notices of Cambridge men admitted _ad eundem_; the
quartos contain 1331 notices, numbered but not arranged in any other
order, with one general alphabetical index. These collections, together
with Hearne's Diaries, and Rawlinson's Non-jurors' Papers, and notes of
his own Travels, were included in a fourth and last codicil, dated Feb.
14, 1755, which directed that all these papers should be kept locked up
during a period of seven years. By the same codicil also were conveyed
numerous engravings by Vertue, portraits of Englishmen, some paintings,
and a collection of Roman, Persian, Italian, and English medals[247].
Some of the Italian medals, particularly a fine set in copper of the
members of the House of Medici, are now exhibited in a case in the
Picture Gallery[248]. By a codicil of June 17, 1752, Rawlinson had
previously bequeathed a series of medals of Popes, of which he remarks,
'as they are, I take them to be one of the most complete collections now
in Europe;' together with twenty shillings _per annum_ for enlarging and
continuing the set[249].
14. Finally (as regards MSS.), Rawlinson left a mass of ancient
charters, five hundred of which were catalogued by Mr. Coxe some years
ago, and of vellum deeds and documents of all kinds, chiefly of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He left, also, all the
copper-plates containing engravings of some of his ancient documents and
other curiosities, as well as a large number of impressions from these
plates. Many of these impressions were sold at the sale of Bodleian
duplicates in 1862. The copper-plates were added to his bequest by a
second codicil, dated July 25, 1754, in which he desired that
impressions should be taken from them, to be sold in one volume for the
use and benefit of the University. A last item in Rawlinson's
miscellaneous gifts (besides various bas-reliefs, figures, a Jewish
vessel, Muscovite cup, &c.) was a large collection of matrices of
ancient conventual and personal seals, chiefly foreign; together with
impressions of seals, ancient and modern, in metal and wax, 'most of
which,' it is said in the Will (p. 4), 'were of the collection of Mr.
Charles Christian, the celebrated seal engraver.' The wax impressions
are now exhibited in the Picture Gallery.
Distinct from Rawlinson's other printed books is a curious series of
Almanacs, in 175 volumes, extending from 1607 to 1747, which were sent
to the Library in 1752. Some volumes in continuation, from 1747 to 1768,
were given by Sir Rob. H. Inglis, Bart., in 1846[250]. Another series,
between 1571 and 1663, is in the Ashmole collection.
By his second codicil, of July 25, 1754, Rawlinson bequeathed a fee-farm
rent of £4 _per annum_ to the Under-librarian, in consideration of his
taking charge of the MSS., but clogged with the strange conditions that
he should not be a doctor in any faculty, married, or in Holy
Orders[251]. The receipt of this sum is entered in the Accounts for
1756, but in no subsequent year.
The following is an alphabetical list of the principal libraries from
which Rawlinson's MSS. were collected, with the dates (so far as
ascertained) at which these libraries were dispersed:--
Acton (Oliver), of Bridewell Hosp.
Bacon (Thos. Sclater), 1737.
Bridgeman (Will. & Rich.), 1742.
Chandos (Duke of), 1747.
Clarendon (Henry, Earl of). Through _Chandos_.
Clavell (Walter), 1742.
Compton (Bishop). See p. 175.
Foucault (Nic. Jos.), 'Comes Consistorianus[252],' 1721.
Gale (Samuel), 1755.
Graves (Rich.), of Mickleton. Through _Hearne_.
Halifax (Montagu, Earl of), 1715.
Hearne (Thomas), 1747.
Holman (William). See p. 174.
Jekyll (Sir Joseph), 1739.
Le Neve (Peter), 1731.
Maittaire (Mich.), 1748.
Mead (Richard, M.D.), 1754-5.
Murray (John), 1749.
Oxford (Harley, Earl of), 1743-5.
Pepys (Samuel). See p. 172.
Pole (Francis), 175-.
Powle (Henry), in 1689 Speaker of House of Commons.
Rawlinson (Thomas), 1734.
Robinson (Bishop). See p. 175.
St. George (Sir Thomas).
Somers (Lord). Through _Jekyll_.
Spelman (Sir Henry).
Spinckes (Rev. Nathan), 1727.
Turner (Bishop). See p. 176.
Usher (Archbishop). Through _Hearne_.
Wake (Archbp.). See p. 174.
Ware (Sir James). Through _Clarendon_ and _Chandos_.
Whiston (William).
On July 15, a bequest of printed books and MSS. was received from Rev.
Richard Furney, M.A., Archdeacon of Surrey (who had been schoolmaster at
Gloucester, 1719-1724, and who died in 1753,) by the hands of the Rev.
John Noel, of Oriel College. The printed books (nineteen in all)
consisted almost entirely of early editions of classics. The MSS. (six
folio volumes) are thus described in a list made by the Librarian,
Humphrey Owen, at the time of their receipt:--
'1, 2, 3 and 4 contain collections relating to the history and
antiquities of the city, church and county of Gloucester. 5, 6, a
fair copy, seemingly prepared for the press, of the history and
antiquities of the said city, church and county, by the Arch-deacon
himself, or some friend of his from whom these papers came into his
hands.'
The gift comprised also two ancient brass seals, and eighteen original
deeds, amongst which is the original confirmation charter granted to
Gloucester Abbey, by Burgred King of Mercia, in 862. This remarkable
deed (which is not printed in Kemble's _Codex_) is in admirable
preservation, is written in seventeen lines, with five lines containing
seventeen signatures, and measures sixteen inches in width and ten and
one-third in length. There are also original grants to the abbey from
Hen. II and Stephen, and a confirmation, 29 Edw. I, of Magna Charta,
which has a magnificent impression of the beautiful great seal. The
deeds are noticed in the Report on the Public Records for 1800, p. 354.
* * * * *
By the death on Sept. 5, 1754, of James St. Amand, Esq.[253] (formerly
of Lincoln College), a bequest of books, MSS., coins, &c. which had been
made by a will dated Nov. 9, 1749, accrued to the Library, being
received in the year 1755. The books consist chiefly of the then modern
editions of the classics, and of the writings of modern Latin scholars;
such of them as the Library did not need, were to go to Lincoln
College. The MSS., sixty-eight in number, comprise various papers
relating to the history chiefly of the Low Countries[254], together with
notes and indices by St. Amand himself to Theocritus and other Greek
poets, Horace, &c. They are described by Mr. Coxe, in vol. i. of the
Catalogue of MSS., cols. 889-908. The main part of the residue of his
property was bequeathed to Christ's Hospital, together with a picture of
his grandfather James St. Amand, done in miniature and set in gold, with
the singular proviso that the picture should be exhibited, and the part
of the will relating to these bequests be read, at the first annual
court of the Hospital, and also that the picture be shown annually to
the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, if required. Should a refusal to show the
picture be persistently made, or any of the conditions of the will be
avoided, then all the residue was to be given to the University, first
to increase the stipend of the chief Librarian to £120 and of the second
Librarian to £70, but only so long as both of them were unmarried, and
then to be devoted to the purchasing of books and MSS., specially of
classic authors.
Many of his books have a book-plate, which the author has ascertained to
be that of Dr. Arthur Charlett; being the initials A. C., interlaced
with the same repeated in an inverse way, surrounded by piles of books,
and with the motto, 'Animus si æquus, quod petis hîc est.'
* * * * *
By the bequest of George Ballard (the author of the _Memoirs of Learned
Ladies_), who died on June 24, the Library became enriched with
forty-four volumes of Letters, chiefly addressed, by ecclesiastical and
literary personages of all ranks, to Dr. Arthur Charlett, Master of
University College, between the reigns of James II and George I. For the
biographical and bibliographical history of the time these letters
possess great interest and value; it was from them that the _Letters by
Eminent Persons_, published in 1813, by Rev. John Walker, M.A., Fellow
of New College, were chiefly drawn. No printed catalogue of them has yet
appeared, but the Library possesses a MS. index to the contents of each
volume, and a more complete and minute index has been recently
commenced[255]. Besides the Letters, Ballard bequeathed some other MSS.,
in number twenty-three, among which is a volume of various voyages and
expeditions, 1589-1634; Sir Edm. Warcupp's autograph account of the
treaty in the Isle of Wight;[256] a dialogue between a tutor and his
pupil, by Lord Herbert, of Cherbury; the second book of the
_Supplication of Soules_, by Sir Thos. More, a precious little volume of
103 closely-written duodecimo pages, entirely in the handwriting of the
great Chancellor; the _Universitie's Musterings_, by Brian Twyne;
collections by Ant. à Wood; a small volume of Gloucestershire notes,
supposed by Guillim; and several volumes written by Mr. Elstob and his
sister. An extract from Ballard's will, with a list of his MSS., is in
the Register marked 'C.'
Ballard was originally a stay-maker or mantua-maker at Campden,
Gloucestershire; but, following the study of antiquities with great
ardour, became well known and highly esteemed amongst all of like
pursuits. At the age of forty-four he was appointed one of the eight
clerks of Magdalen College, being matriculated Dec. 15, 1750, but never
took any degree. He bequeathed to the College Library some of his books
which were there wanting. The fullest account of him will be found in
vol. ii. of _A Register of St. Mary Magd. College_, by J. R. Bloxam,
D.D., pp. 95-102, 1857. Some letters from him are printed in Nichols'
_Lit. Hist._ iv. 206-226.
The very valuable MS. of the letters of Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London
(which are of great importance for the illustration of the history of
Thomas à Becket), now numbered _E. Musæo_ 247, was given by Sir Thomas
Cave, Bart. It is described in the Benefaction Book as 'liber
rarissimus; per totam Angliam unum hoc tantum modo exstat exemplar.' The
letters were first printed by Dr. Giles, together with the Lives of
Becket, in his series of _Patres Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ_, in 1845.
[220] This date is from the _Register of Graduates_; Rawlinson says,
Mich. Term, 1710.
[221] By Bishop Jeremy Collier, in Mr. Laurence's Chapel on College
Hill, London. (See a communication from the present writer in _Notes and
Queries_, 3rd series, iii. 244.) He appears to have endeavoured to
conceal from the world his clerical character. In a letter to T.
Rawlins, of Pophills, Warw. in 1736, he requests him not to address him
as _Rev._ (Ballard's MSS. ii. 6.) Some volumes of Sermons in his
handwriting are among his MSS. His writing is of a very broad, rude, and
clumsy character; and it is singular that his brother Thomas wrote a
hand very similar. Richard usually signs only with his initials,
separated by a cross, 'R + R.'
[222] The small note-books kept on his journeys, containing epitaphs,
inscriptions, accounts of places visited, &c., are preserved (but,
unfortunately, in an imperfect series) among his Miscellaneous MSS.
[223] See _Notes and Queries_, 3rd series, i. 225.
[224] Two beautiful miniature portraits of James Edward, son of James
II, and his wife Clementina Sobieski, which could not, probably, at the
time be safely exhibited, have recently been exhumed by the Librarian
from the obscurity to which they had been consigned, and are now hung in
the Picture Gallery. In Feb. 1749/50, Rawlinson sent Kelly's 'Holy
Table,' a marble slab, covered with astrological figures (engraved in
Dr. Dee's _Actions with Spirits_), which, he says, had been subsequently
in the possession of Lilly. It is now in the Ashmolean Museum.
[225] By the terms of his will, dated June 2, 1752, and printed in 1755,
he bequeathed all his MSS. of every kind (excepting private papers and
letters) to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University, to
be placed in the Bodleian Library, or in such other place as they should
deem most proper, for the use and benefit of the University, and of all
other persons, properly and with leave resorting thereto with a view to
the public good; and to be kept separate and apart from every other
collection. With these he gave also all his books printed on vellum or
silk (of which latter kind there are two or three small specimens), all
his deeds and charters, and all his printed books containing any MSS.
notes, together with various antiquities and miscellaneous curiosities.
His MS. and printed music he bequeathed to the Music School. Of the
Musical library preserved in this room, a MS. Catalogue was made a few
years ago by Rev. Robert Hake, M.A., then Chaplain of New College, now
Precentor of Canterbury.
[226] _Apropos_ of log-books, it may be mentioned that whereas it
appears from the eighth Report of the Deputy-Keeper of the Records, p.
26, 1847, that the earliest log among the Admiralty Records is of the
year 1673, there are several of about the same date and a little earlier
to be found in Rawlinson's collection.
[227] Among the printed books are two copies of Archbp. Parker's rare
_De Antiq. Eccl. Brit._, 1572. One of these is the identical copy
described by Strype in his _Life of Parker_, and which was then in the
possession of Bp. Fleetwood of Ely; the other (which was given to the
Library by Jos. Sanford, B.D., Balliol Coll., in 1753) was presented to
Rich. Cosin by John Parker, the Archbishop's eldest son, Jan. 5, 1593.
Owen, the Librarian, notes on the cover that Dr. Rawlinson tells him
this copy was bought at the sale of the library of his brother, Thos.
Rawlinson, by the Earl of Oxford, for £40. A collection of the original
broadsides proclamations issued during the whole of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, in beautiful condition, forms a remarkable and splendid
volume; the collection is complete, except that a few proclamations, of
which printed copies are wanting, are supplied in MS. As far as the year
1577 they are printed by Richard Jugge, sometimes alone and sometimes in
conjunction with John Cawood; thenceforward they are printed by the two
Barkers, first by Christopher, and afterwards by Robert. They appear to
have been collected in the reign of James I. A printed chronological
table of contents is prefixed, together with a portrait of the Queen,
engraved by Fr. Delaram, with six lines of verse by 'Jo. Davies, Heref.'
At the year 1559 a leaf is inserted containing the arms of Q. Mary of
Scotland quartering those of England (the assumption of which by Mary
gave irreconcileable offence to Q. Eliz.), beautifully painted, with the
note, 'Sent out of Fraunce, in July, 1559,' and these lines below:--
'The armes of Marie Queene Dolphines of ffraunce,
The nobillest Lady in earth for till aduaunce:
Off Scotland queene, and of Ingland also,
Off Ireland als, God haith providit so.'
This leaf is one of two copies executed for Cecil and Q. Eliz. Two,
probably unique, 'red-letter' books are also among the rarities of
Rawlinson's printed collection. The one is a Sermon on Ps. iv. 7,
preached before Charles I at Oxford by Josias Howe, B.D., of Trinity
College. It is printed entirely in red, and has no title. It was bought,
included in a volume of miscellaneous sermons, out of Dr. Charlett's
library, by Hearne, who says in a MS. note that only thirty copies were
printed. A description of it is given by Dr. Bliss in his _Reliquiæ
Hearn._ vol. ii. pp. 960-1, where Hearne's note is printed in full. The
other is a volume entitled, _The Bloody Court; or, the Fatal Tribunal_,
being an account of the trial and execution of Charles I. The lengthy
title is printed by Dr. Bliss, _ubi supra_. Some few of Rawlinson's
printed books came to the Library among Gough's, in 1809.
[228] The salaries being miserably insufficient, the recognised duties
of the officers appear to have been simply the cataloguing the few books
that were received in ordinary course, and attending upon the readers.
Consequently for any other work, for arranging or cataloguing any new
collections, &c., special payments were always made. A somewhat amusing
instance of this occurs under the year 1722, when the Librarian craved
payment for making with his own hand certain new hand-lists, &c., but was
refused. However, he carried on his claim from year to year until it was
admitted to the amount of £5 15_s._ 6_d._ in 1725. And as the funds were
insufficient to defray in this way the extra cost of cataloguing such a
collection as Rawlinson's, hence, doubtless, came the neglect which it
experienced. Such work was so clearly understood to form no part of the
Librarians' regular duties, that Rawlinson says, in a letter to Owen,
Apr. 15, 1751 (MS. C. 989), 'I think large benefactors should pay the
expense of entries into the Bodleian, as their books are useless till so
entered.'
[229] It was chiefly from these that the two volumes published in 1841
under the title of _Life, Journals, and Correspondence of S. Pepys_ were
compiled. Unfortunately the editor, or his copyist, appears to have been
sometimes unable to read the MSS., and at other times very careless; his
book therefore abounds with errors. The following is one of the worst,
as it libels the memory of a statesman who deserved better treatment:
Sir R. Southwell is represented as saying in a letter to Pepys (vol. i.
p. 282) that he has lost his health 'by sitting many years at the
_sack_-bottle,' whereas the poor man had lost it by sitting many years
'at the _inck_-bottle.' A line or two farther on, Southwell's occupation
with 'some care and much sorrow,' is changed into 'love, care and much
sorrow.' Certain '_Novelles_,' or newspapers, which Mr. Hill sends to
Pepys are explained (vol. ii. p. 135) to have been the _Novellæ_ of
Justinian! Throughout the book proper names are frequently made to
become anything but proper to their owners.
[230] Letter from Rawlinson to T. Rawlins, Jan. 25, 1749/50; Ballard MS.
ii. 115.
[231] The same volume (now A. 139^b) also contains Monmouth's
acknowledgment, written and signed by himself on the day of his
execution, that Charles II had declared that he was never married to his
mother; witnessed by Bishops Turner and Ken, together with Tenison and
Hooper. This is now exhibited in the glass case at the entrance to the
Library.
[232] In his delight at his new purchase, Rawlinson seems to have
exaggerated the interest of these volumes.
[233] Letter to T. Rawlins, Feb. 24, 1742/3; Ballard MS. ii. 78.
[234] To the same; _Ibid._ 59.
[235] Gough, _Brit. Topogr._ i. 370, 345.
[236] Letter, June 24, 1741; Ballard MS. ii. 59.
[237] Including some letters from Ken while Chaplain to Princess Mary.
These papers of Compton are in class C.
[238] For the description of the contents of three of the Irish volumes,
the author was indebted to an experienced Irish scholar, Standish Hayes
O'Grady, Esq.
[239] A volume of collections by him relating to the early versions of
the Bible was bought in 1858 for five guineas.
[240] Ballard MS. ii. 87.
[241] One curious volume is described by Sir F. Madden in his preface to
_Syr Gawayne_, printed by the Roxburghe Club in 1839.
[242] With relation to these Rawlinson says, in a letter dated Feb. 25,
1736-7, that he had bought, about two years since, some of Ashmole's
papers from his heirs, including some of Dugdale's (Ballard MS. ii. 11).
[243] For Parish Registers, see under 1821.
[244] Two MS. volumes of the Relations of Venetian Residents in various
countries were given to the Library by Will. Gent, in 1600, and Sir
Rich. Spencer, in 1603.
[245] From this library Rawlinson also obtained some French editions of
the _Horæ_, printed on vellum.
[246] Ballard MS. ii. 41.
[247] The clock, still in use in the Library, made by Robinson in
Gracechurch Street, was one of the items comprised in this codicil,
where it is described as a 'table clock,' then in the custody of Mr.
John King, a bookseller, in Moorfields.
[248] These were bought, 'very cheap,' at Mrs. Kennon's sale, Feb. 24,
1755, by a dealer named Angel Carmey, who sold them to Rawlinson for £10
10_s._ Carmey's letter conveying his offer of sale is preserved in
Rawlinson's copy of the sale catalogue.
[249] It does not appear, however, that this sum was ever paid.
[250] A curious, and probably unique, little 'Almanacke for XII yere,
after the latytude of Oxenforde,' printed in 48^o (measuring two and
a-half inches by one and three-quarters), by Wynkyn de Worde, 'in the
fletestrete,' in 1508, was presented by David Laing, LL.D., the eminent
Librarian to the Writers to the Signet, Edinburgh, in 1842. The Library
also possesses two copies of a sheet Almanack, by Simon Heuringius, for
1551, printed by John Turck, at London; and other almanacs for 1564,
1567, and 1569. A volume containing five almanacs for the year 1589 was
bought in 1857.
[251] With the same perverse eccentricity he ordered that the recipients
of his endowments for the Keepership of the Ashmolean Museum and the
Professorship of Anglo-Saxon, should be unmarried (in the former case
only M.A. or B.C.L.), not a native of Scotland, Ireland, or the
Plantations, nor a son of such native, nor, in the case of the Museum,
even educated in Scotland, and not a member of either the Royal Society
or the Society of Antiquaries.
[252] Autobiographical memoirs by Foucault, extending to 1719, were
published under the editorship of F. Baudry, 4^o. Paris, 1862, in the
French Government series of _Documents inédits sur l'Histoire de
France_. The editor remarks in the preface (p. xli.), 'On ignore en
quelles mains la bibliothèque de Foucault passa après sa mort [1721]. Le
P. Le Long nous apprend seulement qu'elle fut vendue, et probablement
dispersée.'
[253] A record of his birth and baptism is entered in a family register
kept by his father on the fly-leaves of a splendid copy of the folio
Prayer-Book of 1662. He was the second son; born in Covent Garden, Apr.
7, 1687; bapt. Apr. 21, by Dr. Patrick, the sponsors being Major-Gen.
Werden, Sir Peter Apsley and the Countess of Bath. Prince George of
Denmark was one of the sponsors to his elder brother, George. He had
also a sister, Martha.
[254] Amongst these is a large collection of MS. news-letters written
from various places abroad about the years 1637-1642; one of these,
containing particulars of movements of the Swedish and Imperialist
armies, is printed, as a specimen, in _Letters by Eminent Persons_,
1813, vol. i. pp. 15-17.
[255] References to many particulars relative to Thoresby, Bishop
Gibson, White Kennett and Hickes (with a few others) are given in J.
Nichols' notes to the _Letters of Archbp. Nicolson_ (2 vols. 1809), an
interesting and varied biographical miscellany, but which is guilty of
the capital crime of omitting an index.
[256] This ought, apparently, to have reached the Library much sooner,
through the hands of Dr. Charlett; since it has the following
inscription on the fly-leaf: 'Given by the Hon^ble. S^r. Edmund Warcup
(being all writ w^th his own hand at y^e Isle of Wight at y^e Treaty)
to the Public Library in Oxford, to be placed there when I thought
fitting.
'AR. CHARLETT.
'Univ. Coll.
Nov. 25, 97.'