LIVES OF
THE FOUNDERS
OF THE
BRITISH MUSEUM;
WITH
NOTICES OF ITS CHIEF AUGMENTORS AND OTHER BENEFACTORS.
1570–1870.
BY EDWARD EDWARDS.
PART I.
LONDON:
TRÜBNER AND CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1870.
(_All rights reserved._)
PRINTED BY J. E. ADLARD, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE.
LIVES OF THE FOUNDERS, AND NOTICES OF SOME CHIEF BENEFACTORS AND
ORGANIZERS, OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
_COTTON—ARUNDEL—HARLEY—COURTEN—SLOANE—HAMILTON—CHARLES
TOWNELEY—PAYNE-KNIGHT—LANSDOWNE—BRIDGEWATER—KING GEORGE
III—BANKS—CRACHERODE—GRENVILLE—FELLOWS—LAYARD—CURETON—&c. &c. &c._
WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
MEMOIRS OF LIBRARIES: INCLUDING A HANDBOOK OF LIBRARY ECONOMY. 2 vols.
8vo. [With 8 steel plates; 36 woodcuts; 16 lithographic plates; and
4 illustrations in chromo-lithography.] 48s.
LIBRARIES, AND FOUNDERS OF LIBRARIES. 8vo. 18s.
COMPARATIVE TABLES OF SCHEMES WHICH HAVE BEEN PROPOSED FOR THE
CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. Fol. 5s.
SYNOPTICAL TABLES OF THE RECORDS OF THE REALM. WITH AN HISTORICAL
PREFACE. Fol. 9s.
CHAPTERS OF THE HISTORY OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY, &c. 8vo. 6s.
LIBER MONASTERII DE HYDA; _comprising a Chronicle of the Affairs of
England from the Settlement of the Saxons to Cnut; and a
Chartulary_; A.D. 455–1023. Edited by the Authority of the Lords
Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury, under the Direction of the
Master of the Rolls. 8vo. 10s. 6d.
THE LIFE OF SIR WALTER RALEGH; BASED ON CONTEMPORARY DOCUMENTS
PRESERVED IN THE ROLLS HOUSE, THE PRIVY COUNCIL OFFICE, HATFIELD
HOUSE, THE BRITISH MUSEUM, AND OTHER MANUSCRIPT REPOSITORIES,
BRITISH AND FOREIGN. Together with his LETTERS, now first Collected.
2 vols. 8vo. 32s.
EXMOUTH AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD, ANCIENT AND MODERN; BEING NOTICES,
HISTORICAL, BIOGRAPHICAL, AND DESCRIPTIVE, OF A CORNER OF SOUTH
DEVON. Crown 8vo. 5s.
FREE TOWN LIBRARIES, THEIR FORMATION, MANAGEMENT, AND HISTORY; IN
BRITAIN, FRANCE, GERMANY, AND AMERICA. Together with brief Notices
of Book-Collectors, and of the Respective Places of Deposit of their
Surviving Collections. 8vo. 21s.
[Illustration:
DALLASTYPE.
The first British Museum; formerly the residence of the Duke of
Montagu.
]
LIVES OF
THE FOUNDERS
OF THE
BRITISH MUSEUM;
WITH NOTICES OF ITS CHIEF AUGMENTORS AND OTHER BENEFACTORS.
1570–1870.
BY EDWARD EDWARDS.
[Illustration:
The old “Townley Gallery.”
]
LONDON:
TRÜBNER AND CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1870.
(_All rights reserved._)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PREFATORY NOTE.
For the materials of the earlier of the ‘Lives’ contained in this volume
I have been chiefly indebted to the Collection of State Papers at the
Rolls House; to the Privy-Council Registers at the Council Office; and
to many manuscripts in the Cottonian, Harleian, Sloane, and Lansdowne
Collections at the British Museum.
HIGHGATE; _6th May, 1870_.
_The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things
shall he stand._
ISAIAH, xxxii, 8.
_Man’s only relics are his benefits;
These, be there ages, be there worlds, between,
Retain him in communion with his kind._
LANDOR (_Count Julian_).
CONTENTS.
BOOK THE FIRST.
_EARLY COLLECTORS:—THE GATHERERS OF THE FOUNDATION COLLECTIONS._
CHAPTER I.
_INTRODUCTION._
PAGE
_Chronological Epochs in the Formation of the British Museum_ 5
CHAPTER II.
_THE FOUNDER OF THE COTTONIAN LIBRARY._
_The Personal and Public Life of Sir Robert Cotton.—His Political
Writings and Political Persecutions.—Sources and Growth of the
Cottonian Library.—The Successors of Sir Robert Cotton.—History
of the Cottonian Library, until its union with the Manuscript
Library of Harley, and with the Museum and Miscellaneous
Collections of Sloane.—Review of some recent Aspersions on the
Character of the Founder_ 48
CHAPTER III.
_THE CHIEF COLLECTOR AND THE AUGMENTORS OF THE OLD ROYAL AND PUBLIC
LIBRARY AT ST. JAMES’._
_Life of Henry, Prince of Wales, son of James I, and virtual
Founder of the ‘Royal Library.’—Its Augmentors and its
Librarians.—Acquisition of the Library of the
Theyers.—Incorporation with the Collections of Cotton and of
Sloane_ 153
CHAPTER IV.
_THE COLLECTOR OF THE ARUNDELIAN MSS._
_Political Exile and Foreign Travel under Elizabeth and under
James.—Life of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel.—The Consolations
of Connoisseurship.—Vicissitudes of the Arundel Museum.—The
gifts of Henry Howard to the Royal Society_ 172
CHAPTER V.
_THE COLLECTOR OF THE HARLEIAN MSS._
_The Harley Family.—Parliamentary and Official Career of Robert
Harley, Earl of Oxford.—The Party Conflicts under Queen
Anne.—Robert Harley and Jonathan Swift.—Harley and the Court of
the Stuarts.—Did Harley conspire to restore the
Pretender?—History of the Harleian Library.—The Life and
Correspondence of Humphrey Wanley_ 203
CHAPTER VI.
_THE FOUNDERS OF THE SLOANE MUSEUM._
_Flemish Exiles in England.—The Adventures, Mercantile and
Colonial Enterprises, and Vicissitudes of the Courtens.—William
Courten and his Collections.—The Life and Travels of Sir Hans
Sloane.—His acquisition of Courten’s Museum.—Its Growth under
the new Possessor.—History of the Sloane Museum and Library, and
of their purchase by Parliament_ 247
BOOK THE SECOND.
_THE ORGANIZERS, AND EARLY AUGMENTORS._
CHAPTER I.
_INTRODUCTORY._
_Househunting.—The Removal of the Sloane Museum from
Chelsea.—Montagu House, and its History.—The Early Trustees and
Officers.—The Museum Regulations.—Early Helpers in the
Foundation and Increase of the British Museum.—Epochs in the
Growth of the Natural History Collections.—Experiences of
Inquiring Visitors in the years 1765–1784_ 317
CHAPTER II.
_A GROUP OF CLASSICAL ARCHÆOLOGISTS AND EXPLORERS._
_Sir William Hamilton and his Pursuits and Employments in
Italy.—The Acquisitions of the French Institute of Egypt, and
the capture of part of them at Alexandria.—Charles Towneley and
his Collection of Antiquities.—The Researches of the Earl of
Elgin in Greece.—The Collections and Writings of Richard Payne
Knight_ 346
CHAPTER III.
_A GROUP OF BOOK-LOVERS AND PUBLIC BENEFACTORS._
_Notices of some early Donors of Books.—The Life and Collections
of Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode.—William Petty, first Marquess of
Lansdowne, and his Library of Manuscripts.—The Literary Life and
Collections of Dr. Charles Burney.—Francis Hargrave and his
Manuscripts.—The Life and Testamentary Foundations of Francis
Henry Egerton, Ninth Earl of Bridgewater_ 413
CHAPTER IV.
_THE KING’S OR ‘GEORGIAN’ LIBRARY;—ITS COLLECTOR, AND ITS DONOR._
_Notices of the Literary Tastes and Acquirements of King George
the Third.—His Conversations with Men of Letters.—History of his
Library and of its Transfer to the British Nation by George the
Fourth_ 464
CHAPTER V.
_THE FOUNDER OF THE BANKSIAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY._
_The Life, Travels, and Social Influence, of Sir Joseph Banks.—The
Royal Society under his Presidency.—His Collections and their
acquisition by the Trustees of the British Museum.—Notices of
some other contemporaneous accessions_ 487
BOOK THE THIRD.
_LATER AUGMENTORS AND BENEFACTORS._
1829–1870.
CHAPTER I.
_GENERAL VIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM, UNDER THE
ADMINISTRATION, AS PRINCIPAL-LIBRARIAN, OF JOSEPH PLANTA._
_Notices of the Life of Joseph Planta, third
Principal-Librarian.—Improvements in the Internal Economy of the
Museum introduced or recommended by Mr. Planta.—His labours for
the enlargement of the Collections—and on the Museum
Publications and Catalogues.—The Museum Gardens and the Duke of
Bedford_ 515