"----he was very careful, and not without some charges, to

seek the monuments of former times; to know the religion of

the ancient fathers, and those especially which were of the

English church. Therefore in seeking up the Chronicles of

the Britons and English Saxons, which lay hidden every where

contemned and buried in forgetfulness, and through the

ignorance of the languages not well understanded, his own

especially, and his mens, diligence wanted not. And to the

end that these antiquities might last long, and be carefully

kept, he caused them, being brought into one place, _to be

well bound and trimly covered_. And yet, not so contented,

he endeavoured to set out in print certain of those ancient

monuments, whereof he knew very few examples to be extant;

and which he thought would be most profitable for the

posterity, to instruct them in the faith and religion of the

elders. [Orig. 'to instructe them in the faythe and religion

off the elders.] Hereupon, he caused the perpetual histories

of the English affairs, by _Mathæus Parisiensis_, once a

monk of Saint Alban's, and _Mathæus Florilegus_, a monk of

Saint Peter in Westminster, written in Latin, to be printed;

after he had diligently conferred them with the examples

which he could get in any place; to the end that, as

sincerely as might be, as the authors first left them, he

might deliver them into other men's hands. Lastly, that he

might not be unmindful of those monuments which, both in

antiquity, worthiness, and authority, excelled all other, or

rather wherewith none are to be compared (I mean the Holy

Scriptures) here he thought to do great good if, by his

number, he increased the _Holy Bibles_, which shortly would

be wanting to many churches, if this discommodity were not

provided for in time. Therefore it seemed good unto him,

first, with his learned servants, to examine thoroughly the

English translation; wherein he partly used the help of his

brethren bishops, and other doctors; with whom he dealt so

diligently in this matter that they disdained not to be

partners and fellows with him of his labor. And now all

their work is set out in very fair forms and letters of

print," &c. Sign. C. rect. & rev.

_His work De Antiquitate Ecclesiæ Britannicæ._

"----Much more praiseworthy is she (the 'Assyrian Queen of

Babylon,') than he, whosoever it was, that of late hath set

forth, to the hurt of christian men, certain rhapsodies and

shreds of the old forworn stories, almost forgotten--had he

not (Parker) now lately awakened them out of a dead sleep,

and newly sewed them together in one book printed; whose

glorious life promiseth not mountains of gold, as that silly

heathen woman's (the aforesaid Queen) tomb, but beareth

Christ in the brow, and is honested with this title in the

front, 'De Antiquitate,' &c." Sign. C. iiij. rev. The

satirical part, beginning with "To the Christian Reader,"

follows the biography from which these extracts have been

taken. It remains to observe, that our ARCHBISHOP was a

bibliomaniac of the very first order; and smitten with every

thing attached to a BOOK, to a degree beyond any thing

exhibited by his contemporaries. Parker did not scruple to

tell Cecil that he kept in his house "drawers of pictures,

wood-cutters, painters, limners, writers, and

book-binders,"--"one of these was LYLYE, an excellent

writer, that could counterfeit any antique writing. Him the

archbishop customarily used to make old books

compleat,"--&c. _Strype's Life of Parker_; pp. 415, 529.

Such was his ardour for book-collecting that he had agents

in almost all places, abroad and at home, for the purpose of

securing everything that was curious, precious, and rare:

and one of these, of the name of Batman (I suppose the

commentator upon Bartholomæus) "in the space of no more than

four years, procured for our archbishop to the number of

6700 books." _Id._ p. 528. The riches of his book bequests

to Cambridge are sufficiently described by Strype; pp. 501,

518, 519, 529, &c. The domestic habits and personal

appearance of PARKER are described by his biographer (p.

504) as being simple and grave. Notwithstanding his aversion

to wearing silk, to plays and jests, and hawks and hounds

(even when he was a young man), I take it for granted he

could have no inward dislike to the beautiful and

appropriate ceremony which marked his consecration, and

which is thus narrated by the lively pen of Fuller: "The

east part of the chapel of Lambeth was hung with tapestry,

the floor spread with red cloth, chairs and cushions are

conveniently placed for the purpose: morning prayers being

solemnly read by Andrew Peerson, the archbishop's chaplain,

Bishop Scory went up into the pulpit, and took for his text,

_The Elders which are among you I exhort, who also am an

elder; and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, &c._

Sermon ended, and the sacrament administered, they proceed

to the consecration. The ARCHBISHOP had his rochet on, with

HEREFORD; and the suffragan of Bedford, CHICHESTER, wore a

silk cope; and COVERDALE a plain cloth gown down to his

ancles. All things are done conformable to the book of

ordination: Litany sung; the Queen's patent for Parker's

consecration audibly read by Dr. Vale: He is presented: the

oath of supremacy tendered to him; taken by him; hands

reverently imposed on him; and all with prayers begun,

continued, concluded. In a word, though here was no

theatrical pomp to made it a popish pageant; though no

sandals, gloves, ring, staff, oil, pall, &c., were used upon

him--yet there was ceremony enough to clothe his

consecration with decency, though not to clog it with

superstition." _Church History_, b. ix., p. 60. But the

virtues of the primate, however mild and unostentatious,

were looked upon with an envious eye by the maligant

observer of human nature; and the spontaneous homage which

he received from some of the first noblemen in the realm was

thus lampooned in the satirical composition just before

noticed:

_Homage and Tribute paid to Archbishop Parker._

"The next is, what great tributes every made bishop paid

him. How they entertained his whole household or court, for

the time, with sumptuous feasting. How dearly they redeemed

their own cloaths, and carpets, at his chaplain's hands.

What fees were bestowed on his crucifer, marshall, and other

servants. All which plentiful bounty, or rather, he might

have said, largess, is shrunk up, he saith, to a small sum

of ten pounds, somewhat beside, but very small, bestowed, he

might have said cast away, upon the archbishop's family,

&c.--The same earl (of Gloucester) must be his steward and

chief cupbearer, the day of his inthronization: This is not

to be called gracious Lords, as the Lords of the earth, but

this is to be beyond all grace; and to be served of these

gracious Lords, and to be their Lord paramount. In this roll

of his noble tenants, the next are the Lord Strangways, the

Earl of Oxford, the Lord Dacy, all which (saith he) owe

service to that Archbishop. Then descendeth he to the gifts

that every his suffragan provincial bishop bestoweth on him,

in their life, and at their death: some their palfrey with

saddle and furniture; some their rings, and some their

seals. Among the rest, the Bishop of Rochester, who is there

called specially his chaplain, giveth him a brace of dogs.

These be trim things for prelates to give or receive;

especially of them to make such account as to print them

among such special prerogatives." Sign. D. iiij. v. Yet even

to this libel was affixed the following epitaph upon Parker;

which shews that truth "is great, and will prevail."

Matthew Parker liued sober and wise

Learned by studie, and continuall practise,

Louinge, true, off life uncontrold

The courte did foster him, both young and old.

Orderly he delt, the ryght he did defend,

He lyved unto God, to God he mad his ende.

Let us take leave of this amiable, erudite, and truly

exemplary, character, by contemplating his

features--according to the ensuing cut of Tyson's fac-simile

of the rare ancient print, prefixed to some of the copies of

the _Antiquity of the British Church_; premising that the

supposed original painting of Parker, at Benet College,

Cambridge, is nothing more than one of the aforesaid ancient

prints, delicately coloured: as a tasteful antiquary, of the

first authority, discovered, and mentioned to me.

[Illustration]]

PHIL. You have called the reign of Henry the Seventh the

AUGUSTAN-BOOK-AGE; but, surely, this distinction is rather due to the

æra of Queen Elizabeth?

LYSAND. Both periods merit the appellation. In Henry's time, the

invention of printing was of early growth; but the avidity of readers

considerable. The presses of Rome, Venice, and Paris, sent forth their

costly productions; and a new light, by such means, was poured upon

the darkened mind. Our own presses began to contribute to the

diffusion of this light; and, compared with the preceding part of the

fifteenth century, the reign of Henry VII. was highly distinguished

for its bibliomaniacal celebrity. Undoubtedly, the æra of Queen

Elizabeth was the GOLDEN AGE of Bibliomaniacism.

Do not let me forget, in my rambling method of treating of books and

book-men, the name and celebrity of the renowned DR. JOHN DEE. Let us

fancy we see him in his conjuring cap and robes--surrounded with

astrological, mathematical, and geographical instruments--with a

profusion of Chaldee characters inscribed upon vellum rolls--and with

his celebrated _Glass_ suspended by magical wires. Let us then follow

him into his study at midnight, and view him rummaging his books;

contemplating the heavens; making calculations; holding converse with

invisible spirits; writing down their responses: anon, looking into

his correspondence with _Count a Lasco_ and the emperors Adolphus and

Maximilian; and pronouncing himself, with the most heartfelt

complacency, the greatest genius of his age![332] In the midst of

these self-complacent reveries, let us imagine we see his wife and

little ones intruding; beseeching him to burn his books and

instruments; and reminding him that there was neither a silver spoon,

nor a loaf of bread, in the cupboard. Alas, poor DEE!--thou wert the

dupe of the people and of the Court: and, although Meric Casaubon has

enshrined thy conjurations in a pompous folio volume, thy name, I

fear, will only live in the memory of bibliomaniacs!

[Footnote 332: Those who are fond of copious biographical

details of astrologers and conjurers will read, with no

small pleasure and avidity, the long gossipping account of

DEE, which Hearne has subjoined to his edition of _John

Confrat. Monach. de rebus gestis Glaston._, vol. ii.; where

twelve chapters are devoted to the subject of our

philosopher's travels and hardships. Meric Casaubon--who put

forth a pompous folio volume of "_A true and faithful

relation of what passed for many yeers between Dr. John Dee

and some spirits_:" 1659--gravely assures us, in an

elaborate, learned, and rather amusing preface, that the

volume contains what "he thinks is not to be paralleled in

that kind by any book that hath been set out in any age to

read:" sign A. This is true enough; for such a farago of

incongruous, risible, and horrible events, are no where else

recorded. "None but itself can be its parallel." Casaubon

wrote a professed dissertation (1652, 8vo.) upon witches,

and nothing seemed to be too unpalatable for his credulity

to swallow. A compressed and rather interesting account of

Dee, who was really the weakest as well as the ablest

scholar and philosopher of his day, will be found in

Ashmole's _Theatrum Chemicum_, p. 480. From the substance of

these authorities, the reader is presented with the

following sketch. The first chapter in Hearne's publication,

which treats of the "entrance and ground plot of his first

studies," informs us that he had received his Latin

education in London and Chelmsford: that he was born in

July, 1527, and at 15 years of age was entered at the

University of Cambridge, 1542. In the three following years,

"so vehemently was he bent to study that, for those years,

he did inviolably keep this order; only to sleep 4 hours

every night; to allow to meat and drink (and some refreshing

after) 2 hours every day; and of the other 18 hours, all

(excepting the time of going to, and being at, divine

service) was spent in his studies and learning." In May,

1547, after having taken his Bachelor's decree, he went

abroad. "And after some months spent about the Low

Countries, he returned home, and brought with him the first

astronomer's staff in brass, that was made of Gemma Frisius

devising; the two great globes of Gerardus Mercator's

making, and the astronomer's ring of brass, as Gemma Frisius

had newly framed it." Dee's head now began to run wild upon

astronomy, or rather astrology; and the tremendous

assistance of the "occult art" was called in to give effect

to the lectures which he read upon it at home and abroad.

"He did set forth (and it was seen of the University) a

Greek comedy of Aristophanes, named, in Greek, [Greek:

eirênê], in Latin, _Pax_; with the performance of the

_Scarabæus_ his flying up to Jupiter's palace, with a man

and his basket of victuals on his back: whereat was great

wondering and many vain reports spread abroad of the means

how that was effected. In that college (Trinity, for he had

now left St. John's), by his advice and endeavours, was

their Christmas magistrate first named and confirmed an

EMPEROR." The first emperor of this sort, (whose _name_, it

must be confessed, is rather unpopular in a University) he

takes care to inform us, "was one Mr. Thomas _Dun_, a very

goodly man of person, stature, and complexion, and well

learned also." Dee afterwards ranks these things among "his

boyish attempts and exploits scholastical." In 1548 he was

made Master of Arts, and in the same year "went over beyond

the seas again, and never after that was any more student in

Cambridge." Abroad, almost every emperor and nobleman of

distinction, according to his own account, came to see and

hear him. "For recreation, he looked into the method of the

civil law, and profitted therein so much that, in

_Antinomiis_, imagined to be in the law, he had good hap to

find out (well allowed of) their agreements; and also to

enter into a plain and due understanding of diverse civil

laws, accounted very intricate and dark." At Paris, when he

gave lectures upon Euclid's elements, "a thing never done

publicly in any university in Christendom, his auditory in

Rhemes college was so great, and the most part elder than

himself, that the mathematical schools could not hold them;

for many were fain, without the schools, at the windows, to

be _Auditores et Spectatores_, as they could best help

themselves thereto. And by the first four principal

definitions representing to their eyes (which by imagination

only are exactly to be conceived) a greater wonder arose

among the beholders than of his _Aristophanes Scarabæus_

mounting up to the top of Trinity Hall, _ut supra_."

Notwithstanding the tempting offers to cause him to be

domiciled in France and Germany, our astrologer, like a true

patriot, declined them all. The French king offered an

annual stipend of 200 French crowns; a Monsieur Babeu,

Monsieur de Rohan, and Monsieur de Monluc, offered still

greater sums, but were all refused. In Germany he was

tempted with the yearly salary of 3000 dollars; "and lastly,

by a messenger from the Russie or Muscovite Emperor,

purposely sent with a very rich present unto him at Trebona

castle, and with provision for the whole journey (being

above 1200 miles from the castle where he lay) of his coming

to his court at Moscow, with his wife, children, and whole

family, there to enjoy at his imperial hands 2000 lib.

sterling yearly stipend; and of his Protector yearly a

thousand rubles; with his diet also to be allowed him free

out of the emperor's own kitchen: and to be in dignity with

authority amongst the highest sort of the nobility there,

and of his Privy Counsellors."--But all this was heroically

declined by our patriotic philosopher. Lord Pembroke and

Lord Leicester introduced Dee to the notice of Q. Elizabeth,

before her coronation. At which time her Majesty used these

words--"_Where my brother hath given him a crown, I will

give him a noble!_" Before the accession of Elizabeth, he

was imprisoned on being accused of destroying Queen Mary by

enchantment. "The Queen Elizabeth herself became a prisoner

in the same place (Hampton Court) shortly afterwards; and

Dee had for bedfellow one Barthelet Green, who was

afterwards burnt." Dee himself was examined by Bishop

Bonner. On the deanery of Gloucester becoming void in 1564,

Dee was nominated to fill it: but the same deanery was

afterwards bestowed on Mr. Man, who was sent into Spain in

her Majesty's service. "And now this Lent, 1594, when it

became void again (says Dee), I made a motion for it, but I

came too late; for one that might spend 400 or 500 lib. a

year already, had more need of it than I belike; or else

this former gift was but words only to me, and the fruit

ever due to others, that can espy and catch better than I

for these 35 years could do." Mistris Blanche à Parry came

to his house with an offer from the Queen of "any

ecclesiastical dignity within her kingdom, being then, or

shortly becoming, void and vacant"--but "Dee's most humble

and thankful answer to her Majesty, by the same messenger,

was that _cura animarum annexa_ did terrifie him to deal

with." He was next promised to "have of her Majesty's gift

other ecclesiastical livings and revenues (without care of

souls annexed) as in her Majesty's books were rated at two

hundred pounds yearly revenue; of which her Majesty's gift

he never as yet had any one penny." In Oct. 1578, he had a

consultation with Mr. Doctor Bayly, her Majesty's physician,

"about her Majestie's grievous pangs and pains by reason of

the toothake and rheum," &c. "He set down in writing, with

hydrographical and geographical description, what he then

had to say or shew, as concerning her Majesty's title royal

to any foreign countries. Whereof two parchment great rolls

full written, of about XII WHITE VELLUM SKINS, were good

witnesses upon the table before the commissioners." Dee had

refused an hundred pounds for these calligraphical labours.

A list of his printed and unprinted works: the former 8

(ending with the year 1573), the latter 36 (ending with the

year 1592), in number. Anno 1563, Julii ultimo, the Earl of

Leicester and Lord Laskey invited themselves to dine with

Dee in a day or two; but our astrologer "confessed sincerely

that he was not able to prepare them a convenient dinner,

unless he should presently sell some of his plate or some of

his pewter for it. Whereupon," continues Dee, "her Majesty

sent unto me very royally within one hour after forty angels

of gold, from Sion; whither her Majesty was now come by

water from Greenwich." A little before Christmas, 1599, Dee

mentions a promise of another royal donation of

100_l._--"which intent and promise, some once or twice

after, as he came in her Majesty's sight, she repeated unto

him; and thereupon sent unto him _fifty pounds_ to keep his

Christmas with that year--but what, says he, is become of

the other fifty, truly I cannot tell! If her Majesty can, it

is sufficient; '_Satis, citò, modò, satis bene_, must I

say.'" In 1591, his patroness, the Countess of Warwick, made

a powerful diversion at Court to secure for him the

mastership of St. Cross, then filled by Dr. Bennet, who was

to be made a bishop.--The queen qualified her promise of

Dee's having it with a nota bene, _if he should be fit for

it_. In 1592, the Archbishop of Canterbury openly "affirmed

that the mastership of St. Crosse was a living most fit for

him; and the Lord Treasurer, at Hampton Court, lately to

himself declared, and with his hand very earnestly smitten

on his breast used these very words to him--'_By my faith_,

if her Majestie be moved in it by any other for you, I will

do what I can with her Majestie to pleasure you therein, Mr.

Dee.'" But it is time to gratify the BIBLIOMANIAC with

something more to his palate. Here followeth, therefore, as

drawn up by our philosopher himself, an account of

DEE'S LIBRARY:

"4000 _Volumes_--printed and unprinted--bound and

unbound--valued at 2000 _lib._

1 Greek, 2 French, and 1 High Dutch, volumes of MSS., alone

worth 533 _lib._ 40 years in getting these books together."

Appertaining thereto,

_Sundry rare and exquisitely made Mathematical Instruments._

_A radius Astronomicus_, ten feet long.

_A Magnet Stone, or Loadstone_; of great virtue--"which was

sold out of the library for _v shill._ and for it afterwards

(yea piece-meal divided) was more than xx _lib._ given in

money and value."

"_A great case or frame of boxes_, wherein some hundreds of

very rare evidences of divers Irelandish territories,

provinces, and lands, were laid up. Which territories,

provinces, and lands were therein notified to have been in

the hands of some of the ancient Irish princes. Then, their

submissions and tributes agreed upon, with seals appendant

to the little writings thereof in parchment: and after by

some of those evidences did it appear how some of those

lands came to the Lascies, the Mortuomars, the Burghs, the

Clares," &c.

"_A box of Evidences_ antient of some Welch princes and

noblemen--the like of Norman donation--their peculiar titles

noted on the forepart with chalk only, which on the poor

boxes remaineth." This box, with another, containing similar

deeds, were embezzled.

"One great bladder with about 4 pound weight, of a very

sweetish thing, like a brownish gum in it, artificially

prepared by thirty times purifying of it, hath more than I

could well afford him for 100 crownes; as may be proved by

witnesses yet living."

To these he adds his _three Laboratories_, "serving for

Pyrotechnia"--which he got together after 20 years' labour.

"All which furniture and provision, and many things already

prepared, is unduly made away from me by sundry meanes, and

a few spoiled or broken vessels remain, hardly worth 40

shillings." But one more feature in poor Dee's

character--and that is his unparalleled serenity and good

nature under the most griping misfortunes--remains to be

described: and then we may take farewell of him, with aching

hearts. In the 10th chapter, speaking of the wretched

poverty of himself and family--("having not one penny of

certain fee, revenue, stipend, or pension, either left him

or restored unto him,")--Dee says that "he has been

constrained now and then to send parcels of his little

furniture of plate to pawn upon usury; and that he did so

oft, till no more could be sent. After the same manner went

his wives' jewels of gold, rings, bracelets, chains, and

other their rarities, under the thraldom of the usurer's

gripes: 'till _non plus_ was written upon the boxes at

home." In the 11th chapter, he anticipates the dreadful lot

of being brought "to the stepping out of doors (his house

being sold). He, and his, with bottles and wallets

furnished, to become wanderers as homish vagabonds; or, as

banished men, to forsake the kingdom!" Again: "with bloody

tears of heart, he, and his wife, their seven children, and

their servant (seventeen of them in all), did that day make

their petition unto their honours," &c. Can human misery be

sharper than this--and to be the lot of a philosopher and

bibliomaniac?! But "VENIET FELICIUS ÆVUM."]

Of a wholly different cast of character and of reading was the

renowned CAPTAIN COX of Coventry. How many of Dee's magical books he

had exchanged for the pleasanter magic of _Old Ballads_ and

_Romances_, I will not take upon me to say; but that this said

bibliomaniacal Captain had a library, which, even from Master

Laneham's imperfect description of it,[333] I should have preferred

to the four thousand volumes of Dr. John Dee, is most nuquestionable

[Transcriber's Note: unquestionable].

[Footnote 333: Let us be introduced to the sprightly figure

and expression of character of this renowned Coventry

captain, before we speak particularly of his library.

"CAPTAIN COX (says the above-mentioned Master Laneham) came

marching on valiantly before, clean trust and gartered above

the knee, all fresh in a velvet cap (Master Golding a lent

it him), flourishing with his _ton_ sword; and another fence

master with him:" p. 39. A little before, he is thus

described as connected with his library: "And first, Captain

Cox; an odd man, I promise you: by profession a mason, and

that right skilful: very cunning in fens (fencing); and

hardy as Gawin; for his _ton_ sword hangs at his table's

end. Great oversight hath he in matters of story: for as for

_King Arthur's_ Book, _Huon of Bourdeaux_, the _Four Sons of

Aymon_, _Bevys of Hampton_, _The Squyre of Low Degree_, _The

Knight of Curtsy_, and the _Lady Fagnel_, _Frederick of

Gene_, _Syr Eglamour_, _Syr Tryamour_, _Syr Lamurell_, _Syr

Isenbras_, _Syr Gawyn_, _Olyver of the Castl_, _Lucres and

Eurialus_, _Virgil's Life_, _the Castl of Ladies_, _the

Widow Edyth_, _the King and the Tanner_, _Frier Rous_,

_Howleglas_, _Gargantua_, _Robin Hood_, _Adam Bel_, _Clim on

the Clough_, and _William of Cloudsley_, _the Churl and the

Burd_, _the Seaven Wise Masters_, _the Wife lapt in a

Morel's skin_, _the Sakful of Nuez_, _the Sergeaunt that

became a Fryar_, _Skogan_, _Collyn Cloout_, _the Fryar and

the Boy_, _Elynor Rumming_, and _the Nutbrooun Maid_, with

many more than I rehearse here. I believe he has them all at

his finger's ends," p. 36. The preceding is a list of the

worthy Captain's ROMANCES; some of which, at least in their

original shape, were unknown to Ritson: what would be the

amount of their present produce under the hammer of those

renowned black-letter-book auctioneers in King-street,

Covent Garden--? Speak we, in the next place, of the said

military bibliomaniac's collection of books in "PHILOSOPHY

MORAL and NATURAL." "Beside _Poetry_ and _Astronomy_, and

other hid sciences, as I may guess by the omberty of his

books: whereof part are, as I remember, _The Shepherd's

Kalendar_, _the Ship of Fools_, _Daniel's Dreams_, _the Book

of Fortune_, _Stans_, _puer ad mensam_, _the bye way to the

Spitl-house_, _Julian of Brainford's Testament_, _the Castle

of Love_, _the Booget of Demaunds_, _the Hundred Mery

Talez_, _the Book of Riddels_, _the Seaven Sorows of Wemen_,

_the Proud Wives' Pater-Noster_, _the Chapman of a

Penniworth of Wit_: Beside his AUNCIENT PLAYS; _Youth and

Charitee_, _Hikskorner_, _Nugize_, _Impacient Poverty_, and

herewith Doctor _Boord's Breviary of Health_. What should I

rehearse here, what a bunch of BALLADS AND SONGS, all

ancient?!--Here they come, gentle reader; lift up thine eyen

and marvel while thou dost peruse the same: _Broom Broom on

Hill_, _So wo iz me begon_, _trolly lo Over a Whinny Meg_,

_Hey ding a ding_, _Bony lass upon a green_, _My bony on

gave me a bek_, _By a bank az I lay_; and _two more_ he hath

fair wrapt up in parchment, and bound with a whipcord!" It

is no wonder that Ritson, in the historical essay prefixed

to his collection of _Scottish Songs_, should speak of some

of these ballads with a zest as if he would have sacrificed

half his library to untie the said "whipcord" packet. And

equally joyous, I ween, would my friend Mr. R.H. Evans, of

Pall-Mall, have been--during his editorial labours in

publishing a new edition of his father's collection of

Ballads--(an edition, by the bye, which gives us more of the

genuine spirit of the COXEAN COLLECTION than any with which

I am acquainted)--equally joyous would Mr. Evans have been

to have had the inspection of some of these 'bonny' songs.

The late Duke of Roxburgh, of never-dying bibliomaniacal

celebrity, would have parted with half the insignia of his

order of the Garter to have obtained _clean original copies_

of these fascinating effusions! But let us return, and take

farewell of Captain Cox, by noticing only the remaining

department of his library, as described by Laneham. "As for

ALMANACS of antiquity (a point for Ephemerides) I ween he

can shew from _Jasper Laet of Antwerp_, unto _Nostradam of

Frauns_, and thence unto our _John Securiz of Salisbury_. To

stay ye no longer herein (concludes Laneham) I dare say he

hath as fair a library of these sciences, and as many goodly

monuments both in prose and poetry, and at afternoon can

talk as much without book, as any innholder betwixt

Brentford and Bagshot, what degree soever he be." _A Letter

wherein part of the Entertainment untoo the Queenz Majesty

at Killingwoorth Castl in Warwick-Sheer, in this Soomerz

Progrest, 1575, is signefied_: Warwick, 1784, 8vo. O RARE

CAPTAIN COX!]

We now approach two characters of a more dignified cast; and who, in

every respect, must be denominated the greatest bibliomaniacs of the

age: I mean SIR ROBERT COTTON and SIR THOMAS BODLEY. We will touch

upon them separately.

The numerous relics which are yet preserved of the _Cottonian

Collection_, may serve to convey a pretty strong idea of its splendour

and perfection in its original shape. Cotton had all the sagacity and

judgment of Lord Coke, with a more beautifully polished mind, and a

more benevolent heart. As to books, and book men, he was the

Mecænas[334] of his day. His thirst for knowledge could never be

satiated; and the cultivation of the mind upon the foundation of a

good heart, he considered to be the highest distinction, and the most

permanent delight, of human beings. Wealth, pomp, parade, and titles,

were dissipated, in the pure atmosphere of his mind before the

invigorating sun of science and learning. He knew that the tomb which

recorded the _worth_ of the deceased had more honest tears shed upon

it than the pompous mausoleum which spoke only of his pedigree and

possessions. Accordingly, although he had excellent blood flowing in

his veins, Cotton sought connection with the good rather than with the

great; and where he found a cultivated understanding, and an honest

heart, there he carried with him his _Lares_, and made another's

abode his own.

[Footnote 334: There are few eminent characters of whom so

many, and such ably-executed, memoirs are extant as of SIR

ROBERT COTTON, KNT. In the present place we have nothing to

do with his academical studies, his philosophical, or

legislative, or diplomatic, labours: literature and _Book

Madness_ are our only subjects of discussion. Yet those who

may wish for more general, and possibly more interesting,

details, may examine the authorities referred to by Mr.

Planta in his very excellent _Catalogue of the MSS. in the

Cottonian Library_, 1802, folio. Sir Robert Cotton was

educated at Trinity-College, Cambridge. The number of

curious volumes, whether in the roman, gothic, or italic

type, which he in all probability collected during his

residence at the university, has not yet been ascertained;

but we know that, when he made his antiquarian tour with the

famous Camden, ("par nobile fratrum!") in his 29th year,

Cotton must have greatly augmented his literary treasures,

and returned to the metropolis with a sharpened appetite, to

devour every thing in the shape of a book. Respected by

three sovereigns, Elizabeth, James, and Charles, and admired

by all the literati in Europe, Sir Robert saw himself in as

eminent a situation as wealth, talents, taste, and integrity

can place an individual. His collection of books increased

rapidly; but MS. records, deeds, and charters, were the

chief objects of his pursuit. His mansion was noble, his

library extensive, and his own manners such as conciliated

the esteem of almost every one who approached him. Dr. Smith

has well described our illustrious bibliomaniac, at this

golden period of his life: "Ad Cottoni ædes, tanquam ad

communem reconditioris doctrinæ apothecam, sive ad novam

Academiam, quotquot animo paulo erectiori musis et gratiis

litaverint, sese recepere, nullam a viro humanissimo

repulsam passuri: quippe idem literas bonas promovendi

studium erat omni auctoramento longe potentius. Nec ista

obvia morum facilitas, qua omnes bonos eruditionisque

candidatos complexus est, quicquam reverentiæ qua vicissim

ille colebatur, detraxerat: potius, omnium, quos familiari

sermone, repititisque colloquiis dignari placuit, in se

amores et admirationem hac insigni naturæ benignitate

excitavit." Vit. Rob. Cottoni, p. xxiv., prefixed to the

_Catalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum Bibl. Cott._, 1696,

folio. Sir Robert was, however, doomed to have the evening

of his life clouded by one of those crooked and disastrous

events, of which it is now impossible to trace the correct

cause, or affix the degree of ignominy attached to it, on

the head of its proper author. Human nature has few blacker

instances of turpitude on record than that to which our

knight fell a victim. In the year 1615, some wretch

communicated to the Spanish ambassador "the valuable state

papers in his library, who caused them to be copied and

translated into the Spanish:" these papers were of too much

importance to be made public; and James the 1st had the

meanness to issue a commission "which excluded Sir Robert

from his own library." The storm quickly blew over, and the

sunshine of Cotton's integrity diffused around its wonted

brilliancy. But in the year 1629, another mischievous wretch

propagated a report that Sir Robert had been privy to a

treasonable publication: because, forsooth, the original

tract, from which this treasonable one had been taken, was,

in the year 1613, without the knowledge of the owner of the

library, introduced into the Cottonian collection. This

wretch, under the abused title of librarian, had, "for

pecuniary considerations," the baseness to suffer one or

more copies of the pamphlet of 1613 (writtten [Transcriber's

Note: written] at Florence by Dudley, Duke of

Northumberland, under a less offensive title) to be taken,

and in consequence printed. Sir Robert was therefore again

singled out for royal vengeance: his library was put under

sequestration; and the owner forbidden to enter it. It was

in vain that his complete innocence was vindicated. To

deprive such a man as COTTON of the ocular and manual

comforts of his library--to suppose that he could be happy

in the most splendid drawing room in Europe, without his

books--is to suppose what our experience of virtuous

bibliomaniacs will not permit us to accede to. In

consequence, Sir Robert declared to his friends, "that they

had broken his heart who had locked up his library from

him:" which declaration he solemnly repeated to the Privy

Council. In the year 1631, this great and good man closed

his eyes for ever upon mortal scenes; upon those whom he

gladdened by his benevolence, and improved by his wisdom.

Such was the man, of whom Gale has thus eloquently

spoken:--"quisquis bona fide Historiam nostram per omne ævum

explicare sataget, nullum laudatum Scriptorem à se

desiderari exoptarique posse, quem COTTONIANUS ille

incomparabilis thesaurus promptissime non exhibebit: Ea est,

et semper fuit, nobilis Domus ergo literatos

indulgentia--Hujus fores (ut illæ Musaram, apud Pindarum)

omnibus patent. Testes apello Theologos, Antiquarios,

Jurisconsultos, Bibliopolas; qui quidem omnes, ex Cottoniana

Bibliotheca, tanquam ex perenni, sed et communi fonte, sine

impensis et molestiâ, abundè hauserunt." _Rer. Anglic.

Script. Vet._, vol. i., præf., p. 3. The loss of such a

character--the deprivation of such a patron--made the whole

society of book-collectors tremble and turn pale. Men began

to look sharply into their libraries, and to cast a

distrustful eye upon those who came to consult and to copy:

for the spirit of COTTON, like the ghost of Hamlet's father,

was seen to walk, before cock-crow, along the galleries and

balconies of great collections, and to bid the owners of

them "remember and beware"!--But to return. The library of

this distinguished bibliomaniac continued under

sequestration some time after his death, and was preserved

entire, with difficulty, during the shock of the civil wars.

In the year 1712, it was removed to Essex House, in

Essex-street, Strand, where it continued till the year 1730,

when it was conveyed back to Westminster, and deposited in

Little Dean's Yard. In October, 1731, broke out that

dreadful fire, which Hearne (_Benedict. Abbat._, vol. i.,

præf. p. xvi.) so pathetically deplores; and in which the

nation so generally sympathized--as it destroyed and

mutilated many precious volumes of this collection. Out of

958 volumes, 97 were destroyed, and 105 damaged. In the year

1753 the library, to the honour of the age, and as the only

atonement which could be made to the injured name of Cotton,

as well as to the effectual _laying_ of his perturbed

spirit--was purchased by parliament, and transported within

the quiet and congenial abode of the BRITISH MUSEUM: and

here may it rest, unabused, for revolving ages! The

collection now contains 26,000 articles. Consult Mr.

Planta's neatly written preface to the catalogue of the

same; vide p. 39, 267, ante. And thus take we leave of the

ever-memorable bibliomaniac, Sir ROBERT COTTON, KNT.]

Equally celebrated for literary zeal, and yet more for bibliomaniacal

enthusiasm, was the famous SIR THOMAS BODLEY; whose account of

himself, in _Prince's Worthies of Devon_, and particularly in one of

_Hearne's publications_,[335] can never be read without transport by

an affectionate son of our Oxford _Alma Mater_. View this illustrious

bibliomaniac, with his gentleman-like air, and expressive countenance,

superintending, with the zeal of a Custom-house officer, the shipping,

or rather _barging_, of his books for the grand library which is now

called by his OWN NAME! Think upon his activity in writing to almost

every distinguished character of the realm: soliciting, urging,

arguing, entreating for their support towards his magnificent

establishment; and, moreover, superintending the erection of the

building, as well as examining the timbers, with the nicety of a

master-carpenter!--Think of this; and when you walk under the grave

and appropriately-ornamented roof, which tells you that you are within

the precincts of the BODLEIAN LIBRARY, pay obeisance to the portrait

of the founder, and hold converse with his gentle spirit that dwells

therein!

[Footnote 335: There are few subjects--to the bibliomaniac

in general--and particularly to one, who, like the author of

this work, numbers himself among the dutiful sons of the

FAIR OXONIAN MOTHER--that can afford a higher gratification

than the history of the BODLEIAN LIBRARY, which, like

Virgil's description of fame,

"Soon grew from pigmy to gigantic size."

The reader is therefore here informed, as a necessary

preliminary piece of intelligence, that the present note

will be more monstrous than any preceding one of a similar

nature. Let him, however, take courage, and only venture to

dip his feet in the margin of the lake, and I make little

doubt but that he will joyfully plunge in, and swim across

it. Of the parentage, birth, and education of Bodley there

seems to be no necessity for entering into the detail. The

monument which he has erected to his memory is lofty enough

for every eye to behold; and thereupon may be read the

things most deserving of being known. How long the subject

of his beloved library had occupied his attention it is

perhaps of equal difficulty and unimportance to know; but

his determination to carry this noble plan into effect is

thus pleasingly communicated to us by his own pen: "when I

had, I say, in this manner, represented to my thoughts, my

peculiar estate, I resolved thereupon to possess my soul in

peace all the residue of my days; to take my full farewell

of state employments; to satisfy my mind with that

mediocrity of worldly living that I have of my own, and so

to retire me from the Court; which was the epilogue and end

of all my actions and endeavours, of any important note,

till I came to the age of fifty-three years."--"Examining

exactly, for the rest of my life, what course I might take;

and, having, as I thought, sought all the ways to the wood,

I concluded, at the last, to set up my staff AT THE LIBRARY

DOOR IN OXON, being thoroughly persuaded, in my solitude and

surcease from the commonwealth affairs, I could not busy

myself to better purpose than by reducing that place (which

then in every part lay ruinated and waste) to the public use

of Students." Prince's _Worthies of Devon_, p. 95, edit.

1810. Such being the reflections and determination of Sir

Thomas Bodley, he thus ventured to lay open his mind to the

heads of the University of Oxford:

"_To the Vice-Chancellor (Dr. Ravis) of Oxon; about

restoring the public library._

(This letter was published in a convocation holden March 2,

1597)

SIR,

Although you know me not, as I suppose, yet for the

farthering an offer, of evident utility, to your whole

university, I will not be too scrupulous in craving your

assistance. I have been always of a mind that, if God, of

his goodness, should make me able to do any thing, for the

benefit of posterity, I would shew some token of affection,

that I have ever more borne, to the studies of good

learning. I know my portion is too slender to perform, for

the present, any answerable act to my willing disposition:

but yet, to notify some part of my desire in that behalf, I

have resolved thus to deal. Where there hath been heretofore

a public library in Oxford, which, you know, is apparent by

the room itself remaining, and by your statute records, I

will take the charge and cost upon me to reduce it again to

his former use: and to make it fit and handsome, with seats,

and shelves, and desks, and all that may be needfull, to

stir up other men's benevolence, to help to furnish it with

books. And this I purpose to begin, as soon as timber can be

gotten, to the intent that you may reap some speedy profit

of my project. And where before, as I conceive, it was to be

reputed but a store of books of divers benefactors, because

it never had any lasting allowance, for augmentation of the

number, or supply of books decayed: whereby it came to pass

that, when those that were in being were either wasted or

embezelled, the whole foundation came to ruin:--to meet with

that inconvenience, I will so provide hereafter (if God do

not hinder my present design) as you shall be still assured

of a standing annual rent, to be disbursed every year in

buying of books, in officers' stipends, and other pertinent

occasions, with which provision, and some order for the

preservation of the place, and of the furniture of it, from

accustomed abuses, it may, perhaps, in time to come, prove a

notable treasure for the multitude of volumes; an excellent

benefit for the use and ease of students; and a singular

ornament in the University. I am, therefore, to intreat you,

because I will do nothing without their public approbation,

to deliver this, that I have signified, in that good sort,

that you think meet: and when you please to let me know

their acceptation of my offer, I will be ready to effect it

with all convenient expedition. But, for the better

effecting of it, I do desire to be informed whether the

University be sufficiently qualified, by licence of

Mortmain, or other assurance, to receive a farther grant of

any rent or annuity than they do presently enjoy. And, if

any instruments be extant of the ancient donations to their

former library, I would, with their good liking, see a

transcript of them: and likewise of such statutes as were

devised by the founders, or afterwards by others for the

usage of the books. Which is now as much as I can think on,

whereunto, at your good leisure, I would request your

friendly answer. And, if it lie in my ability to deserve

your pains in that behalf, although we be not yet

acquainted, you shall find me very forward. From London,

Feb. 23, 1597.

Your affectionate friend,

THO. BODLEY."

In the Easter following, "Mr. Bodley came to Oxford to view

the place on which he intended his bounty, and making them a

model of the design with the help of Mr. Saville, Warden of

Merton College, ordered that the room, or place of stowage,

for books, should be new planked, and that benches and

repositories fo [Transcriber's Note: for] books should be

set up." Wood's _Annals of the University_, vol. ii., pt.

ii., p. 920. The worthy founder then pursued his epistolary

intercourse with the Vice-Chancellor:

"_To Mr. Vice Chancellor._

SIR,

I find myself greatly beholden unto you for the speed that

you have used in proposing my offer to the whole University,

which I also hear by divers friends was greatly graced in

their meeting with your courteous kind speeches. And though

their answer of acceptance were over thankful and

respective; yet I take it unto me for a singular comfort,

that it came for that affection, whose thanks in that behalf

I do esteem a great deal more than they have reason to

esteem a far better offer. In which respect I have returned

my dutiful acknowledgement, which I beseech you to present,

when you shall call a convocation, about some matter of

greater moment. Because their letter was in _Latin_,

methought it did enforce me not to show myself a truant, by

attempting the like, with a pen out of practice: which yet I

hope they will excuse with a kind construction of my

meaning. And to the intent they may perceive that my good

will is as forward to perform as to promise, and that I

purpose to shew it to their best contentation, I do hold it

very requisite that some few should be deputed by the rest

of the House to consider, for the whole, of the fittest kind

of facture of desks, and other furniture; and when I shall

come to Oxford, which I determine, God willing, some time

before Easter, I will then acquaint the self same parties

with some notes of a platform, which I and Mr. Savile have

conceived here between us: so that, meeting altogether, we

shall soon resolve upon the best, as well for shew, and

stately form, as for capacity and strength, and commodity of

students. Of this my motion I would pray you to take some

notice in particular, for that my letter herewith to your

public assembly doth refer itself in part to your delivery

of my mind. My chiefest care is now, the while, how to

season my timber as soon as possible. For that which I am

offered by the special favour of Merton College, although it

were felled a great while since, yet of force it will

require, after time it is sawed, a convenient seasoning;

least by making too much haste, if the shelves and seats

should chance to warp, it might prove to be an eye sore, and

cost in a manner cast away. To gain some time in that

regard, I have already taken order for setting sawyers

a-work, and for procuring besides all other materials;

wherein my diligence and speed shall bear me witness of my

willingness to accomplish all that I pretend, to every man's

good liking. And thus I leave and commend you to God's good

tuition. From London, March 19, --97

Your assured to use in all your occasions,

THO. BODLEY."

Neither this nor the preceding letter are published in Mr.

Gutch's valuable edition of Wood's original text: but are to

be found, as well as every other information here subjoined,

in Hearne's edition of _Joh. Confrat. &c., de Reb.

Glaston._, vol. ii., pp. 612 to 645. We will next peruse the

curious list of the first benefactors to the Bodleian

Library.

_My Lord of Essex_: about 300 volumes: greater part in

folio.

_My Lord Chamberlain_: 100 volumes, all in a manner new

bound, with his arms, and a great part in folio.

_The Lord Montacute_: 66 costly great volumes, in folio; all

bought of set purpose, and fairly bound with his arms.

_The Lord Lumley_: 40 volumes in folio.

_Sir Robert Sidney_: 102 new volumes in folio, to the value

of one hundred pounds, being all very fair, and especially

well bound with his arms.

_Merton College_: 38 volumes of singular good books in

folio, &c.

_Mr. Philip Scudamor_: 50 volumes: greatest part in folio.

_Mr. William Gent_: 100 volumes at the least.

_Mr. Lawrence Bodley_: 37 very fair and new bought books in

folio. (There were seven other donations--in money, from 4

to 10_l._)

Another list of benefactors; read in Convocation, July 17,

1601.

_Sir John Fortescue, Knt._: 47 volumes: of which there are 5

Greek MSS. of singular worth.

_Mr. Jo. Crooke_: Recorder of the City of London: 27 good

volumes; of which 25 are in folio.

_Mr. Henry Savile_: all the Greek interpreters upon

Aust(in).

_Mr. William Gent, of Glocester Hall_: 160 volumes; of which

there are 50 in folio.

_Mr. Thomas Allen, of do._, hath given 12 rare MSS., with a

purpose to do more, and hath been ever a most careful

provoker and solicitor of sundry great persons to become

benefactors.

_Mr. William Camden_, by his office _Clarentius_: 7 volumes;

of which 4 are manuscripts.

_Mr. Thomas James, of New College_: 100 volumes: almost all

in folio, and sundry good manuscripts. With about 50 other

donations, chiefly in money.

To Dr. Raves, Vice-Chanc. (Read in Convoc. May 10, 1602.)

A yet larger, and more complete, list will be found in Mr.

Gutch's publication of Wood's text. Let us next observe how

this distinguished bibliomaniac seized every

opportunity--laying embargoes upon barges and carriages--for

the conveyance of his book-treasures. The ensuing is also in

Mr. Gutch's work:

"_To the Right W. Mr. D. King, Dean of Christ-Church, and

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxon, or, in his

absence, to his Deputies there._

(Read in Convocation, July 8, 1608.)

SIR,

I have sent down, by a western barge, all the books that I

have of this year's collection, which I have requested Mr.

James, and other of my friends, to see safely brought from

Burcote, and placed in the library. Sir Francis Vere hath

sent me this year his accustomed annual gift of ten pounds.

The Lady Mary Vere, wife to Sir Horace Vere, in the time of

her widowhood (for so she is desired it should be recorded),

being called Mrs. Hoby, of Hales, in Gloucestershire, hath

given twenty pound. (He then enumerates about 15 other

donations, and thus goes on:) Thus I thought meet to observe

my yearly custom, in acquainting the University with the

increase of their store: as my care shall be next, and that

very shortly, to endow them with that portion of revenue and

land that I have provided, whensoever God shall call me, for

the full defraying of any charge that, by present

likelihood, the conservation of the books, and all needful

allowances to the keeper and others, may from time to time

require. I will send you, moreover, a draught of certain

statutes, which I have rudely conceived about the employment

of that revenue, and for the government of the library: not

with any meaning that they should be received, as orders

made by me (for it shall appear unto you otherwise) but as

notes and remembrances to abler persons, whom hereafter you

may nominate (as I will also then request you) to consider

of those affairs, and so frame a substantial form of

government, sith that which is a foot is in many thinges

defective for preservation of the library: for I hold it

altogether fitting that the University Convocation should be

always possessed of an absolute power to devise any

statutes, and of those to alter as they list, when they find

an occasion of evident utility. But of these and other

points, when I send you my project, I will both write more

of purpose, and impart unto you freely my best cogitations,

being evermore desirous, whatsoever may concern your public

good, to procure and advance it so, to the uttermost of my

power: as now in the meanwhile, reminding unto you my

fervent affection, I rest for any service,

Your most assured, at commandment,

THO. BODLEIE.

London, June 30, 1608."

In a letter to his "dearest friends, Doctor Kinge,

Vice-Chancellor, the Doctors, Proctors, and the rest of the

Convocation House in Oxon," (16th June, 1609) after telling

them how he had secured certain landed property for the

payment of the salaries and other expenses attendant upon

the library, Sir Thomas thus draws to a conclusion: "Now

because I presuppose that you take little pleasure in a

tedious letter, having somewhat besides to impart unto you,

I have made it known by word to Mr. Vicechancellor, who, I

know, will not fail to acquaint you with it: as withall I

have intreated him to supply, in my behalf, all my negligent

omissions, and defective form of thanks, for all your public

honours, entertainments, letters, gifts, and other graces

conferred upon me, which have so far exceeded the compass of

my merits that, where before I did imagine that nothing

could augment my zealous inclination to your general good,

now methinks I do feel it (as I did a great while since) was

very highly augmented: insomuch as I cannot but shrive

myself thus freely and soothly unto you. That, albeit, among

a number of natural imperfections, I have least of all

offended in the humour of ambition, yet now so it is, that I

do somewhat repent me of my too much niceness that way: not

as carried with an appetite to rake more riches to myself

(wherein, God is my witness, my content is complete) but

only in respect of my greedy desire to make a livelier

demonstration of the same that I bear to my COMMON MOTHER,

than I have hitherto attained sufficient ability to put in

execution. With which unfeigned testification of my devotion

unto you, and with my daily fervent prayers for the endless

prosperity of your joint endeavours, in that whole

institution of your public library, I will close up this

letter, and rest, as I shall ever,

Yours, in all loving and dutiful affection,

THOMAS BODLEY.

London, May 31, 1609."

The following, which is also in Mr. Gutch's publication,

shews the laudable restlessness, and insatiable ambition, of

our venerable bibliomaniac, in ransacking foreign libraries

for the completion of his own.

"_To the Right Worshipfull Mr. D. Singleton, Vicechancellor

of the University of Oxon._

(Read in Convocation, Nov. 9, 1611.)

SIR,

About some three years past, I made a motion, here in

London, to Mr. Pindar, Consul of the Company of English

Merchants at Aleppo (a famous port in the Turk's dominions)

that he would use his best means to procure me some books in

the Syriac, Arabic, Turkish, and Persian tongues, or in any

other language of those Eastern nations: because I make no

doubt but, in process of time, by the extraordinary

diligence of some one or other student, they may be readily

understood, and some special use made of their kind of

learning in those parts of the world: and where I had a

purpose to reimburse all the charge that might grow

thereupon, he sent of late unto me 20 several volumes in the

foresaid tongues, and of his liberal disposition hath

bestowed them freely on the library. They are manuscripts

all (for in those countries they have no kind of printing)

and were valued in that place at a very high rate. I will

send them, ere be long, praying you the while to notify so

much unto the University, and to move them to write a letter

of thanks, which I will find means to convey to his hands,

being lately departed from London to Constantinople. Whether

the letter be indited in Latin or English, it is not much

material, but yet, in my conceit, it will do best to him in

English."

(The remainder of this letter is devoted to a scheme of

building the public schools at Oxford; in which Sir Thomas

found a most able and cheerful coadjutor, in one, _Sir Jo.

Benet_; who seems to have had an extensive and powerful

connection, and who set the scheme on foot, "like a true

affected son to his ANCIENT MOTHER, with a cheerful

propension to take the charge upon him without groaning.")

In April 1585, Queen Elizabeth granted Sir Thomas "a

passport of safe conveyance to Denmark"; and wrote a letter

to the King of Denmark of the same date, within two days.

She wrote, also, a letter to Julius, Duke of Brunswick of

the same date: in which the evils that were then besetting

the Christian world abroad were said to be rushing suddenly,

as "from the Trojan Horse." "These three letters (observes

Mr. Baker to his friend Hearne) are only copies, but very

fairly wrote, and seem to have been duplicates kept by him

that drew the original letters."

We will peruse but two more of these Bodleian epistles,

which Hearne very properly adds as an amusing appendix, as

well to the foregoing, as to his _Reliquiæ Bodleianæ_ (1703,

8vo). They are written to men whose names must ever be held

in high veneration by all worthy bibliomanacs.

"_Sir Tho. Bodley to Sir Robert Cotton._ (_Ex. Bibl.

Cotton._)

SIR,

I was thrice to have seen you at your house, but had not the

hap to find you at home. It was only to know how you hold

your old intention for helping to furnish the University

Library: where I purpose, God willing, to place all the

books that I have hitherto gathered, within these three

weeks. And whatsoever any man shall confer for the storing

of it, such order is taken for a due memorial of his gift as

I am persuaded he cannot any way receive a greater

contentment of any thing to the value otherwise bestowed.

Thus much I thought to signify unto you: and to request you

to hear how you rest affected.

Yours, to use in any occasion,

THO. BODLEY.

From my house, June 6."

"_Sir Henry Savile to Sir R(obert) C(otton)._

SIR,

I have made Mr. Bodley acquainted with your kind and

friendly offer, who accepteth of it in most thankful manner:

and if it pleaseth you to appoint to-morrow at afternoon, or

upon Monday or Tuesday next, at some hour likewise after

dinner, we will not fail to be with you at your house for

that purpose. And remember I give you fair warning that if

you hold any book so dear as that you would be loth to have

him out of your sight, set him aside before hand. For my own

part, I will not do that wrong to my judgment as to chuse of

the worst, if better be in place: and, beside, you would

account me a simple man.

But to leave jesting, we will any of the days come to you,

leaving, as great reason is, your own in your own power

freely to retain or dispose. True it is that I have raised

some expectation of the quality of your gift in Mr. Bodley,

whom you shall find a gentleman in all respects worthy of

your acquaintance. And so, with my best commendations, I

commit you to God. This St. Peter's day.

Your very assured friend,

HENRY SAVILE."

It only remains now to indulge the dutiful sons of ALMA

MATER with a fac-simile wood-cut impression of the profile

of the venerable founder of the Bodleian Library, taken from

a print of a medal in the _Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum

Angliæ, &c._, 1697, fol.; but whether it have any

resemblance to the bust of him, "carved to the life by an

excellent hand at London, and shortly after placed in a

niche in the south wall of the same library," with the

subjoined inscription, I cannot at this moment recollect.

[Illustration:

THOMAS SACKVILLUS DORSET, COMES,

SUMMUS ANGLIÆ THESAURAR. ET

HUJUS ACAD. CANCELLAR.

THOMÆ BODLEIO EQUITI AURATO

QUI BIBLIOTHECAM HANC INSTITUIT

HONORIS CAUSA P.P.]

The library of Sir Thomas Bodley, when completed, formed the

figure of a T: it was afterwards resolved, on the books

accumulating, and the benefactions increasing, to finish it

in the form of an H; in which state it now remains. Sir

Kenelm Digby, like a thorough bred bibliomaniac, "gave fifty

very good oaks, to purchase a piece of ground of Exeter

College, laying on the north west side of the library; on

which, and their own ground adjoining, they might erect the

future fabric." The laying of the foundation of this

erection is thus described by Wood; concluding with a

catastrophe, at which I sadly fear the wicked reader will

smile. "On the thirteenth of May, being Tuesday, 1634, the

Vice-chancellor, Doctors, Heads of Houses, and Proctors, met

at St. Mary's church about 8 of the clock in the morning;

thence each, having his respective formalities on came to

this place, and took their seats that were then erected on

the brim of the foundation. Over against them was built a

scaffold, where the two proctors, with divers masters,

stood. After they were all settled, the University

Musicians, who stood upon the leads at the west end of the

library, sounded a lesson on their wind music. Which being

done, the singing men of Christ-Church, with others, sang a

lesson, after which the senior Proctor, Mr. Herbert Pelham,

of Magdalen College, made an eloquent oration: that being

ended also, the music sounded again, and continued playing

till the Vice-Chancellor went to the bottom of the

foundation to lay the first stone in one of the south

angles. But no sooner had he deposited a piece of gold on

the said stone, according to the usual manner in such

ceremonies, but the earth fell in from one side of the

foundation, and the scaffold that was thereon broke and fell

with it; so that all those that were thereon, to the number

of a hundred at least, namely, the Proctors, Principals of

Halls, Masters, and some Bachelaurs, fell down all together,

one upon another, into the foundation; among whom, the under

butler of Exeter College had his shoulder broken or put out

of joint, and a scholar's arm bruised." "The solemnity being

thus concluded with such a sad catastrophe, the breach was

soon after made up and the work going chearfully forward,

was in four years space finished." _Annals of the University

of Oxford_; vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 939. Gutch's edition. We

will take leave of SIR THOMAS BODLEY, and of his noble

institution, with the subjoined representation of the

University's Arms--as painted upon the ceiling of the

library, in innumerable compartments; hoping that the period

is not very remote when a _History of the Bodleian Library_,

more ample and complete than any thing which has preceded

it, will appear prefixed to a _Catalogue of the Books_, like

unto that which is hinted at p. 74, ante, as "an urgent

desideratum."

[Illustration: DOMINVS ILLVMINATIO MEA]]

LIS. Alas, you bring to my mind those precious hours that are gone by,

never to be recalled, which I wasted within this glorious palace of

Bodley's erection! How I sauntered, and gazed, and sauntered again.--

PHIL. Your case is by no means singular. But you promise, when you

revisit the library, not to behave so naughtily again?

LIS. I was not then a convert to the BIBLIOMANIA! Now, I will

certainly devote the leisure of six autumnal weeks to examine

minutely some of the precious tomes which are contained in it.

LYSAND. Very good. And pray favour us with the result of your profound

researches: as one would like to have the most minute account of the

treasures contained within those hitherto unnumbered volumes.

PHIL. As every sweet in this world is balanced by its bitter, I wonder

that these worthy characters were not lampooned by some sharp-set

scribbler--whose only chance of getting perusers for his work, and

thereby bread for his larder, was by the novelty and impudence of his

attacks. Any thing new and preposterous is sure of drawing attention.

Affirm that you see a man standing upon one leg, on the pinnacle of

Saint Paul's[336]--or that the ghost of Inigo Jones had appeared to

you, to give you the extraordinary information that Sir Christopher

Wren had stolen the whole of the plan of that cathedral from a design

of his own--and do you not think that you would have spectators and

auditors enough around you?

[Footnote 336: This is now oftentimes practised by some wag,

in his "_Walke in Powles_." Whether the same anecdote is

recorded in the little slim pamphlet published in 1604,

4to., under the same title--not having the work--(and indeed

how should I? vide _Bibl. Reed_, no. 2225, _cum

pretiis_!) I cannot take upon me to determine.]

LIS. Yes, verily: and I warrant some half-starved scrivener of the

Elizabethan period drew his envenomed dart to endeavour to perforate

the cuticle of some worthy bibliomaniacal wight.

LYSAND. You may indulge what conjectures you please; but I know of no

anti-bibliomaniacal satirist of this period. STUBBES did what he

could, in his "_Anatomy of Abuses_,"[337] to disturb every social and

harmless amusement of the age. He was the forerunner of that snarling

satirist, Prynne; but I ought not thus to cuff him, for fear of

bringing upon me the united indignation of a host of black-letter

critics and philologists. A _large and clean_ copy of his sorrily

printed work is among the choicest treasures of a Shakspearian

virtuoso.

[Footnote 337: "THE ANATOMIE OF ABUSES: _contayning a

discoverie, or briefe summarie of such notable vices and

imperfections as now raigne in many Christian Countreyes of

the Worlde: but (especiallie) in a very famous Ilande called

Ailgna_:" &c. Printed by Richard Jones, 1583, small 8vo.

Vide Herbert's _Typographical Antiquities_, vol. iii., p.

1044, for the whole title. Sir John Hawkins, in his _History

of Music_, vol iii., 419, calls this "a curious and very

scarce book;" and so does my friend, Mr. Utterson; who

revels in his morocco-coated copy of it--"_Exemplar olim

Farmerianum!_" But let us be candid; and not sacrifice our

better judgments to our book-passions. After all, Stubbes's

work is a caricatured drawing. It has strong passages, and a

few original thoughts; and, is moreover, one of the very few

works printed in days of yore which have running titles to

the subjects discussed in them. These may be recommendations

with the bibliomaniac; but he should be informed that this

volume contains a great deal of puritanical cant, and

licentious language; that vices are magnified in it in order

to be lashed, and virtues diminished that they might not be

noticed. Stubbes equals Prynne in his anathemas against

"Plays and Interludes:" and in his chapters upon "Dress" and

"Dancing" he rakes together every coarse and pungent phrase

in order to describe "these horrible sins" with due

severity. He is sometimes so indecent that, for the credit

of the age, and of a virgin reign, we must hope that every

virtuous dame threw the copy of his book, which came into

her possession, behind the fire. This may reasonably account

for its present rarity. I do not discover it in the

catalogues of the libraries of _Pearson_, _Steevens_, or

_Brand_; but see _Bibl. Wright_, no. 1390.]

But admitting even that Stubbes had drawn his arrow to the head, and

grazed the skin of such men as Bodley and Cotton, the wound inflicted

by this weapon must have been speedily closed and healed by the

balsamic medicine administered by ANDREW MAUNSELL, in his _Catalogue

of English Printed Books_.[338] This little thin folio volume afforded

a delicious treat to all honest bibliomaniacs. It revived the drooping

spirits of the despondent; and, like the syrup of the renowned Dr.

Brodum, circulated within the system, and put all the generous juices

in action. The niggardly collector felt the influence of rivalship; he

played a deeper stake at book-gambling; and hastened, by his painfully

acquired knowledge of what was curious and rare in books, to

anticipate the rustic collector--which latter, putting the best wheels

and horses to his carriage, rushed from the country to the metropolis,

to seize, at Maunsell's shop, a choice copy of _Cranmer's Bible, or

Morley's Canzonets_.[339]

[Footnote 338: This Catalogue, the first publication of the

kind ever put forth in this country, is complete in two

parts; 1595, folio: first part containing 123 pages,

exclusive of three preliminary epistles: the second, 27

pages; exclusive of three similar introductory pieces. The

_first part_ is devoted entirely to Divinity: and in the

dedicatory epistle to Queen Elizabeth, Maunsell tells her

majesty that he thought it "worth his poor labour to collect

a catalogue of the divine books, so mightily increased in

her reign; whereby her majesty's most faithful and loving

subjects may be put in remembrance of the works of so

excellent authors," &c. The second part is devoted to a

brief account of books in the remaining branches of

literature, arts, sciences, &c. Maunsell promised to follow

it up by a _third_ part; but a want of due encouragement

seems to have damped the bibliographical ardour of the

compiler; for this third part never appeared: a circumstance

which, in common with the late Mr. Steevens, all

bibliomaniacs may "much lament." See the _Athenæum_, vol i.,

155; also Herbert's _Typographical Antiquities_, vol ii., p.

1137. A copy of this volume has found its way into the

Advocates' Library at Edinburgh; _Cat. Adv. Libr._, vol ii.,

p. 99. Ruddiman, who was formerly the librarian of this

latter valuable collection, had probably read Hearne's

commendation of it:--namely, that it was "a very scarce, and

yet a very useful, book." _Bened. Abbat._, vol. i., p. LIV.

Mr. Heber possesses a curious copy of it, which was formerly

Herbert's, with the margins filled with his MS. addenda.]

[Footnote 339: "Of the translation appointed to bee read in

churches, in Kinge Henry the 8, his daies," printed in the

largest volume, 1539. "THO. MORLEY, Bachiler of Musique, and

one of her Maiestie's Royal Chappell, _his Conzonets_, or

little short songes to three voyces. Prin. by Tho. Est.

1593. 4to." See p. 10., pt. i., p. 17, pt. ii., of

_Maunsell's Catalogue_; but let the reader consult p. 248,

ante, concerning this "largest volume" of the Holy

Scriptures.]

Let us, however, not forget that we have reached the reign of JAMES

I.; a monarch who, like Justinian, affected to be "greatly given to

study of books;"[340] and who, according to Burton's testimony, wished

he had been chained to one of the shelves of the Bodleian

library.[341] Of all literary tastes, James had the most strange and

sterile. Let us leave him to his _Demonology_; but notice, with the

respect that it merits, the more rational and even elegantly

cultivated mind of his son PRINCE HENRY;[342] of whose passion for

books there are some good evidences upon record. We will next proceed

to the mention of a shrewd scholar and bibliomaniac, and ever active

voyager, ycleped THOMAS CORYATE, the _Peregrine of Odcombe_. This

facetious traveller, who was as quaint and original a writer as old

Tom Fuller, appears (when he had time and opportunity) to have taken

special notice of libraries; and when he describes to us his "worm

eaten" copy of _Josephus's Antiquities_,[343] "written in ancient

Longobard characters in parchment," one cannot but indulge a natural

wish to know something of the present existence of a MS. which had

probably escaped Oberthür, the last laborious editor of Josephus.

[Footnote 340: "Greatly gyuen to study of bokys:" _Rastell's

Chronicle, or Pastyme of People_, p. 28, edit. 1811, 4to.]

[Footnote 341: The passage is somewhere in Burton's _Anatomy

of Mechanoly_. But I cannot just now, put my finger upon

it.]

[Footnote 342: The works of KING JAMES I. (of England) were

published in rather a splendid folio volume in the year

1616. Amongst these, his _Demonology_ is the "opus maximum."

Of his son PRINCE HENRY, there is, in this volume, at the

top of one of the preliminary pieces, a very pretty half

length portrait; when he was quite a boy. A charming whole

length portrait of the same accomplished character, when he

was a young man, engraved by Paas, may be seen in the first

folio edition of Drayton's _Polyolbion_: but this, the

reader will tell me, is mere Grangerite information. Proceed

we, therefore, to a pithy, but powerful, demonstration of

the bibliomaniacal character of the said Prince Henry. "In

the paper office, there is a book, No. 24, containing

Prince Henry's privy-purse expences, for one year," &c. The

whole expense of one year was 1400_l._ Among other charges,

the following are remarkable:

£ _s._ _d._

17th October, paid to a Frenchman, that

presented _a book_ 4 10 0

20th October, paid Mr. Holyoak for writing a

_Catalogue of the Library_ which the Prince

had of Lord Lumley 8 13 4

&c. &c. &c.

_Apology for the Believers in the Shakspeare-Papers_, 1797,

8vo., p. 233.]

[Footnote 343: Look, gentle reader, at the entire ungarbled

passage--amongst many similar ones which may be adduced--in

vol. i., p. 116, of his "_Crudities_"--or Travels: edit.

1776, 8vo. Coryat's [Transcriber's Note: alternative

spelling] talents, as a traveller, are briefly, but

brilliantly, described in the _Quarterly Review_, vol. ii.,

p. 92.]

Let me here beseech you to pay due attention to the works of HENRY

PEACHAM, when they come across you. The first edition of that

elegantly written volume, "_The Compleat Gentleman_," was published I

believe in the reign of James I., in the year 1622.

LOREN. I possess not only this, but every subsequent copy of it, and a

fair number of copies of his other works. He and BRAITHWAIT were the

"par nobile fratrum" of their day.

PHIL. I have often been struck with some curious passages in Peacham,

relating to the Education of Youth[344] in our own country; as I

find, from them, that the complaint of _severity of discipline_ still

continued, notwithstanding the able work of Roger Ascham, which had

recommended a mild and conciliatory mode of treatment.

[Footnote 344: The HISTORY of the EDUCATION OF YOUTH in this

country might form an amusing little octavo volume. We have

_Treatises_ and _Essays_ enough upon the subject; but a

narrative of its first rude efforts, to its present, yet not

perfected, form, would be interesting to every parent, and

observer of human nature. My present researches only enable

me to go back as far as Trevisa's time, towards the close of

the 14th century; when I find, from the works of this Vicar

of Berkeley, that "every friar that had _state in school_,

such as they were then, had an HUGE LIBRARY." _Harl. MSS._,

no. 1900. But what the particular system was, among

youth, which thus so highly favoured the BIBLIOMANIA, I have

not been able to ascertain. I suspect, however, that

knowledge made but slow advances; or rather that its

progress was almost inverted; for, at the end of the

subsequent century, our worthy printer, Caxton, tells us

that he found "but few who could write in their registers

the occurrences of the day." _Polychronicon; prol. Typog.

Antiquit._, vol. i., 148. In the same printer's prologue to

_Catho Magnus_ (_Id._, vol. i., 197) there is a melancholy

complaint about the youth of London; who, although, when

children, they were "fair, wise, and prettily bespoken--at

the full ripening, they had neither kernel nor good corn

found in them." This is not saying much for the academic or

domestic treatment of young gentlemen, towards the close of

the 15th century. At the opening of the ensuing century, a

variety of elementary treatises, relating to the education

of youth, were published chiefly under the auspices of Dean

Colet, and composed by a host of learned grammarians, of

whom honourable mention has been made at page 218, ante.

These publications are generally adorned with a rude

wood-cut; which, if it be copied from truth, affords a

sufficiently striking proof of the severity of the ancient

discipline: for the master is usually seated in a large

arm-chair, with a tremendous rod across his knees; and the

scholars are prostrate before him, either on the ground upon

bended knees, or sitting upon low benches. Nor was this

rigid system relaxed in the middle of the same (xvith)

century; when Roger Ascham composed his incomparable

treatise, intitled the "_Schoolmaster_;" the object of which

was to decry the same severity of discipline. This able

writer taught his countrymen the value of making the road to

knowledge smooth and inviting, by smiles and remunerations,

rather than by stripes and other punishments. Indeed, such

was the stern and Draco-like character which schoolmasters

of this period conceived themselves authorized to assume

that neither rank, nor situation, nor sex, were exempt from

the exercise of their tyranny. Lady Jane Grey tells Ascham

that her former teacher used to give her "pinches, and

cuffs, and bobs," &c. The preface to the Schoolmaster

informs us that two gentlemen, who dined with Ascham at

Cecil's table, were of opinion that NICOLAS UDAL, then head

master of Eaton School, "was the best schoolmaster of their

time, and the _greatest beater_!" Bishop Latimer, in his

fourth sermon (edit. 1562, fol. 15 to 18), has drawn such a

picture of the Londoners of this period that the philosopher

may imagine that youths, who sprung from such parents,

required to be ruled with a rod of iron. But it has been the

fashion of all writers, from the age of St. Austin

downwards, to depreciate the excellences, and magnify the

vices, of the times in which they lived. Ludovicus Vives,

who was Latimer's contemporary, has attacked both

schoolmasters and youths, in an ungracious style; saying of

the former that "some taught Ovid's books of love to their

scholars, and some make expositions and expounded the

vices." He also calls upon the young women, in the language

of St. Jerome, "to avoid, as a mischief or poison of

chastity, young men with heads bushed and trimmed; and sweet

smelling skins of outlandish mice." _Instruction of a

Christian Woman_; edit. 1592, sign. D 3, rect. &c. I am not

aware of any work of importance, relating to the education

of youth, which appeared till the publication of the

_Compleat Gentleman_ by HENRY PEACHAM: an author, who richly

deserves all the handsome things above said of him in the

text. His chapters "_Of the Duty of Masters_," and "_Of the

Duty of Parents_," are valuable upon many accounts: inasmuch

as they afford curious anecdotes of the system of academic

and domestic education then pursued, and are accompanied

with his own sagacious and candid reflections. Peacham was

an _Aschamite_ in respect to lenity of discipline; as the

following extracts, from the foregoing work, (edit. 1661)

will unequivocally prove. Peacham first observes upon the

different modes of education: "But we see on the contrary,

out of the master's carterly judgment, like horses in a

team, the boys are set to draw all alike, when some one or

two prime and able wits in the school, [Greek: auto

didaktoi] (which he culs out to admiration if strangers

come, as a costardmonger his fairest pippins) like fleet

hovnds go away with the game, when the rest need helping

over a stile a mile behind: hence, being either quite

discouraged in themselves, or taken away by their friends

(who for the most part measure their learning by the form

they set in), they take leave of their books while they

live," &c. p. 23. "Some affect, and severer schools enforce,

a precise and tedious strictness, in long keeping the

schollers by the walls: as from before six in the morning,

till twelve or past: so likewise in the afternoon. Which,

beside the dulling of the wit and dejecting the spirit (for,

"otii non minus quam negotii ratio extare debet") breeds in

him, afterwards, a kind of hate and carelessness of study

when he comes to be "sui juris," at his own liberty (as

experience proves by many, who are sent from severe schools

unto the universities): withall over-loading his memory, and

taking off the edge of his invention, with over heavy tasks,

in themes, verses," &c., p. 25. "Nor is it my meaning that I

would all masters to be tyed to one method, no more than all

the shires of England to come up to London by one highway:

there may be many equally alike good. And since method, as

one saith, is but [Greek: odopoiêtikê], let every master, if

he can, by pulling up stiles and hedges, make a more near

and private way to himself; and in God's name say, with the

divinest of poets,

_deserta per avia dulcis

Raptat amor. Juvat ire iugis, quâ nulla priorum_

CASTALIAM _molli divertitur orbita clivo._

(Georg. libi. iij.)

With sweet love rapt, I now by deserts pass,

And over hills where never track of yore:

Descending easily, yet remembered was,

That led the way to CASTALIE before.

(Peacham.)

But instead of many good, they have infinite bad; and go

stumbling from the right, as if they went blindfold for a

wager. Hence cometh the shifting of the scholler from master

to master; who, poor boy (like a hound among a company of

ignorant hunters hollowing every deer they see), misseth the

right, begetteth himself new labour, and at last, by one of

skill and well read, beaten for his paines," pp. 29, 30.

Peacham next notices the extreme severity of discipline

exercised in some schools. "I knew one, who in winter would

ordinarily, in a cold morning, whip his boys over for no

other purpose than to get himself a heat: another beats them

for swearing, and all the while sweares himself with

horrible oaths. He would forgive any fault saving that! I

had, I remember, myself (neer St. Alban's in Hertfordshire,

where I was born) a master, who, by no entreaty, would teach

any scholler he had farther than his father had learned

before him; as if he had only learned but to read English,

the son, though he went with him seven years, should go no

further: his reason was, they would then prove saucy rogues,

and controle their fathers! Yet these are they that

oftentimes have our hopefull gentry under their charge and

tuition, to bring them up in science and civility!" p. 27.

This absurd system is well contrasted with the following

account of the lenity observed in some of the schools on the

continent: "In Germany the school is, and as the name

imports, it ought to be, merely, LUDUS LITERARIUS, a very

pastime of learning, where it is a rare thing to see a rod

stirring: yet I heartily wish that our children of England

were but half so ready in writing and speaking Latin, which

boys of ten and twelve years old will do so roundly, and

with so neat a phrase and style, that many of our masters

would hardly mend them; having only for their punishment,

shame; and for their reward, praise," p. 24. "Wherefore I

cannot but commend the custome of their schools in the

Low-countries, where for the avoyding of this tedious

sitting still, and with irksome poring on the book all day

long, after the scholler hath received his lecture, he

leaveth the school for an houre, and walkes abroad with one

or two of his fellows, either into the field or up among the

trees upon the rampire, as in ANTWERP, BREDA, VTRECHT, &c.,

when they confer and recreate themselves till time calls

them in to repeat, where perhaps they stay an hour; so

abroad again, and thus at their pleasure the whole day," p.

26. Thus have we pursued the _History of the Education of

Boys_ to a period quite modern enough for the most

superficial antiquary to supply the connecting links down to

the present times. Nor can we conclude this prolix note

without observing upon two things which are remarkable

enough: first, that in a country like our own--the

distinguishing characteristics of whose inhabitants are

gravity, reserve, and good sense--lads should conduct

themselves with so much rudeness, flippancy, and tyranny

towards each other--and secondly, that masters should, in

too many instances, exercise a discipline suited rather to a

government of despotism and terror than to a land of liberty

and social comfort! But all human improvement, and human

happiness, is progressive. Speramus meliora!]

LYSAND. But you must not believe every thing that is said in favour of

_Continental_ lenity of discipline, shewn to youth, if the testimony

of a modern newspaper may be credited!----

LIS. What your newspaper may hold forth I will not pretend to enter

into.

LYSAND. Nay, here is the paragraph; which I cut out from "_The

Observer_," and will now read it to you. "A German Magazine recently

announced the death of a schoolmaster in Suabia, who, for 51 years,

had superintended a large institution with old fashioned severity.

From an average, inferred by means of recorded observations, one of

the ushers had calculated that, in the course of his exertions, he had

given _911,500 canings, 121,000 floggings, 209,000 custodes, 136,000

tips with the ruler, 10,200 boxes on the ear, and 22,700 tasks by

heart_. It was further calculated that he had made _700 boys stand on

peas, 6000 kneel on a sharp edge of wood, 5000 wear the fool's cap,

and 1,700 hold the rod_. How vast (exclaims the journalist) the

quantity of human misery inflicted by a single perverse educator!"

Now, my friends, what have you to say against the _English_ system of

education?

PHIL. This is only defending bad by worse.

LIS. Where are we digressing? What are become of our bibliomaniacal

heroes?

LYSAND. You do right to call me to order. Let us turn from the birch,

to the book, history.

Contemporaneous with Peacham, lived that very curious collector of

ancient popular little pieces, as well as lover of "sacred secret soul

soliloquies," the renowned _melancholy_ composer, ycleped ROBERT

BURTON;[345] who, I do not scruple to number among the most marked

bibliomaniacs of the age; notwithstanding his saucy railing against

Frankfort book-fairs. We have abundance of testimony (exclusive of the

fruits of his researches, which appear by his innumerable marginal

references to authors of all ages and characters) that this original,

amusing, and now popular, author was an arrant book-hunter; or, as old

Anthony hath it, "a devourer of authors." Rouse, the Librarian of

Bodleian, is said to have liberally assisted Burton in furnishing him

with choice books for the prosecution of his extraordinary work.

[Footnote 345: I suppose Lysander to allude to a memorandum

of Hearne, in his _Benedictus Abbas_, p. iv., respecting

ROBERT BURTON being a collector of "ancient popular little

pieces." From this authority we find that he gave "a great

variety" of these pieces, with a multitude of books, of the

best kind, to the "Bodleian Library."--One of these was that

"opus incomparabile," the "_History of Tom Thumb_," and the

other, the "_Pleasant and Merry History of the Mylner of

Abingdon_." The expression "sacred secret soul soliloquies"

belongs to Braithwait: and is thus beautifully interwoven in

the following harmonious couplets:

----No minute but affords some tears.

No walks but private solitary groves

Shut from frequent, his contemplation loves;

No treatise, nor discourse, so sweetly please

As sacred-secret soule soliloquies.

_Arcadian Princesse_, lib. 4, p. 162.

And see, gentle reader, how the charms of solitude--of

"walking alone in some solitary grove, betwixt wood and

water, by a brook-side, to meditate upon some delightsome

and pleasant subject" are depicted by the truly original

pencil of this said Robert Burton, in his _Anatomy of

Melancholy_, vol. i., p. 126, edit. 1804. But our theme is

Bibliomania. Take, therefore, concerning the same author,

the following: and then hesitate, if thou canst, about his

being infected with the BOOK-DISEASE. "What a catalogue of

new books all this year, all this age (I say) have our

Frank-furt marts, our domestic marts, brought out! Twice a

year, 'Proferunt se nova ingenia et ostentant;' we stretch

our wits out! and set them to sale: 'Magno conatu nihil

agimus,' &c. 'Quis tam avidus librorum helluo,' who can read

them? As already, we shall have a vast chaos and confusion

of books; we are oppressed with them; our eyes ake with

reading, our fingers with turning," &c. This is painting _ad

vivum_--after the life. We see and feel every thing

described. Truly, none but a thorough master in

bibliomaniacal mysteries could have thus thought and

written! See "_Democritus to the Reader_," p. 10; perhaps

the most highly finished piece of dissection in the whole

_anatomical work_.]

About this period lived LORD LUMLEY; a nobleman of no mean reputation

as a bibliomaniac. But what shall we say to Lord Shaftesbury's

eccentric neighbour, HENRY HASTINGS? who, in spite of his hawks,

hounds, kittens, and oysters,[346] could not for [Transcriber's Note:

extraneous 'for'] forbear to indulge his book propensities though in a

moderate degree! Let us fancy we see him, in his eightieth year, just

alighted from the toils of the chase, and listening, after dinner,

with his "single glass" of ale by his side, to some old woman with

"spectacle on nose" who reads to him a choice passage out of John

Fox's _Book of Martyrs_! A rare old boy was this Hastings. But I

wander--and may forget another worthy, and yet more ardent,

bibliomaniac, called JOHN CLUNGEON, who left a press, and some books

carefully deposited in a stout chest, to the parish church at

Southampton. We have also evidence of this man's having _erected a

press_ within the same; but human villany has robbed us of every relic

of his books and printing furniture.[347] From Southampton, you must

excuse me if I take a leap to London; in order to introduce you into

the wine cellars of one JOHN WARD; where, I suppose, a few choice

copies of favourite authors were sometimes kept in a secret recess by

the side of the oldest bottle of hock. We are indebted to Hearne for a

brief, but not uninteresting, notice of this _vinous_ book

collector.[348]

[Footnote 346: Of the bibliomaniacal spirit of LORD LUMLEY

the reader has already had some slight mention made at pages

273, 281, ante. Of HENRY HASTINGS, Gilpin has furnished us

with some anecdotes which deserve to be here recorded. They

are taken from Hutchin's _Hist. of Dorsetshire_, vol. ii.,

p. 63. "Mr. HASTINGS was low of stature, but strong and

active, of a ruddy complexion, with flaxen hair. His cloaths

were always of green cloth. His house was of the old

fashion; in the midst of a large park, well stocked with

deer, rabbits, and fish-ponds. He had a long narrow bowling

green in it, and used to play with round sand bowls. Here

too he had a banquetting room built, like a stand in a large

tree. He kept all sorts of hounds, that ran buck, fox, hare,

otter, and badger; and had hawks of all kinds, both long and

short winged. His great hall was commonly strewed with

marrow-bones, and full of hawk-perches, hounds, spaniels,

and terriers. The upper end of it was hung with fox-skins of

this and the last year's killing. Here and there a pole-cat

was intermixed, and hunter's poles in great abundance. The

parlour was a large room, completely furnished in the same

style. On a broad hearth, paved with brick, lay some of the

choicest terriers, hounds, and spaniels. One or two of the

great chairs had litters of cats in them, which were not to

be disturbed. Of these, three or four always attended him at

dinner, and a little white wand lay by his trencher, to

defend it, if they were too troublesome. In the windows,

which were very large, lay his arrows, cross-bows, and other

accoutrements. The corners of the room were filled with his

best hunting and hawking poles. His oyster table stood at

the lower end of the room, which was in constant use twice a

day, all the year round; for he never failed to eat oysters

both at dinner and supper, with which the neighbouring town

of Pool supplied him. At the upper end of the room stood a

small table with a double desk; one side of which held a

CHURCH BIBLE: the other the BOOK OF MARTYRS. On different

tables in the room lay hawks'-hoods, bells, old hats, with

their crowns thrust in, full of pheasant eggs, tables, dice,

cards, and store of tobacco pipes. At one end of this room

was a door, which opened into a closet, where stood bottles

of strong beer and wine; which never came out but in single

glasses, which was the rule of the house, for he never

exceeded himself, nor permitted others to exceed. Answering

to this closet was a door into an old chapel; which had been

long disused for devotion; but in the pulpit, as the safest

place, was always to be found a cold chine of beef, a

venison pasty, a gammon of bacon, or a great apple-pye, with

thick crust, well baked. His table cost him not much, though

it was good to eat at. His sports supplied all but beef and

mutton, except on Fridays, when he had the best of fish. He

never wanted a London pudding, and he always sang it in with

"_My part lies therein-a_." He drank a glass or two of wine

at meals; put syrup of gilly-flowers into his sack, and had

always a tun glass of small beer standing by him, which he

often stirred about with rosemary. He lived to be an

hundred, and never lost his eyesight, nor used spectacles.

He got on horseback without help, and rode to the death of

the stag till he was past fourscore." Gilpin's _Forest

Scenery_, vol. ii., pp. 23, 26. I should add, from the same

authority, that Hastings was a neighbour of Anthony Ashley

Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, with whom (as was likely

enough) he had no cordial agreement.]

[Footnote 347: "In the northern chapel which is parted from

the side aile by a beautiful open Gothic screen, is a

handsome monument to the memory of the lord Chancellor

Wriothesly, and a _large and costly standing chest_, carved

and inlaid, and stated, by an inscription on its front, to

have been given, _with the books in it_, by JOHN CLUNGEON.

The inscription is as follows:

"John, the sonne of John Clungeon of this towne, Alderman,

_erected this presse_ and gave certain books, who died, anno

1646.

"The books are, however, now gone, and the surplices, &c.

are kept in the chest." See a tasteful and elegantly printed

little volume, entitled "_A Walk through Southampton_;" by

Sir H.C. Englefield, Bart. 1801, 8vo., p. 64.]

[Footnote 348: Ward is described by Hearne as being "a

citizen and vintner of London," and "a lover of

antiquity's." He had a copy of the _Chartulary of

Dunstaple_, in MS., which was put by Wanley into the

Harleian collection. The following entry is too much of a

characteristic trait, not to be gratifying to the palate of

a thorough bred bibliomaniac; it relates to the said

Chartulary:--"also this vellum, at both ends of the booke,

was then added, put in, and inserted, at the costs of the

said Mr. (JOHN) WARD, in the said yeare of our Lord, 1655,

_s._ _d._

binding and claspes 4 00

vellum 4 00"

_Annals of Dunstaple Priory_, vol. i., p. xxx., note.]

LIS. If Master Cox, "by profession a mason," and living in the

country, could have collected such a cabinet of romances and

ballads--why should not a wine merchant, living in the metropolis,

have turned his attention to a similar pursuit, and have been even

more successful in the objects of it?

PHIL. I know not; particularly as we have, at the present day, some

commercial characters--whose dealings in trade are as opposite to

books as frogs are to roast beef--absolute madmen in search after

black-letter, large paper, and uncut copies! But proceed, Lysander.

LYSAND. Such was the influence of the _Book Mania_ about, or rather a

little before, this period that even the sacred retirement of a

monastery, established upon Protestant principles, and conducted by

rules so rigid as almost to frighten the hardiest ascetic, even such a

spot was unable to resist the charms of book-collecting and

book-embellishment. How St. Jerome or St. Austin would have lashed the

FERRAR FAMILY[349] for the gorgeous decorations of their volumes, and

for devoting so much precious time and painful attention to the art

and mystery of Book-binding! Yes, Lisardo; it is truly curious to

think upon the _Little Gidding Monastery_--near which, perhaps, were

----"rugged rocks, that holy knees had worn--"

and to imagine that the occupiers of such a place were infected--nay,

inflamed--with a most powerful ardour for curious, neat, splendid,

and, I dare venture to affirm, matchless copies of the several volumes

which they composed! But I will now hasten to give very different

evidence of the progress of this disease, by noticing the labours of a

bibliomaniac of first rate celebrity; I mean ELIAS ASHMOLE:[350] whose

museum at Oxford abundantly proves his curious and pertinacious

spirit in book-collecting. His works, put forth under his own

superintendence, with his name subjoined, shew a delicate taste, an

active research, and, if we except his _Hermetical_ propensities, a

fortunate termination. His "opus maximum" is the _Order of the

Garter_; a volume of great elegance both in the composition and

decorations. Your copy of it, I perceived, was upon _large paper_; and

cost you--

[Footnote 349: It remains here to make good the above

serious charges brought against the ancient and worthy

family of the FERRARS; and this it is fully in my power to

do, from the effectual aid afforded me by Dr. Wordsworth, in

the fifth volume of his _Ecclesiastical Biography_; where

the better part of Dr. Peckard's Life of Nicholas Ferrar is

published, together with some valuable and original addenda

from the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth. Be it, however,

known to Dr. Wordsworth, and the reviewer of the

Ecclesiastical Biography in the _Quarterly Review_, vol.

iv., pp. 93, 103, that Hearne had previously published a

copious and curious account of the monastery at Little

Gidding in the supplement to his _Thom. Caii. Vind.

Antiquit. Oxon._, 1730, 8vo., vol. ii.: which, as far as I

have had an opportunity of examining Dr. Wordsworth's

account, does not appear to have been known to this latter

editor. We will now proceed to the bibliomaniacal anecdotes

of NICHOLAS FERRAR, SENIOR AND JUNIOR. "Amongst other

articles of instruction and amusement, Mr. FERRAR (senior)

entertained an ingenious _Book-binder_ who taught the

family, females as well as males, the whole art and skill of

_book-binding_, gilding, lettering, and what they called

pasting-printing, by the use of the rolling press. By this

assistance he composed a full harmony, or concordance, of

the four evangelists, _adorned with many beautiful

pictures_, which required more than a year for the

composition, and was divided into 150 heads or chapters."

There is then a minute account of the mechanical process (in

which the nieces assisted) how, by means of "great store of

the best and strongest white paper, nice knives and

scissars, pasting and rolling-press" work--the arduous task

was at length accomplished: and Mary Collet, one of Mr.

Ferrar's nieces, put the grand finishing stroke to the

whole, by "doing a deed"--which has snapt asunder the

threads of Penelope's web for envy:--"She bound the book

entirely, ALL WROUGHT IN GOLD, in a new and most elegant

fashion." The fame of this book, or concordance, as it was

called, reached the ears of Charles I., who "intreated"

(such was his Majesty's expression) to be favoured with a

sight of it. Laud and Cousins, who were then chaplains in

waiting, presented it to the King; who "after long and

serious looking it over, said, 'This is indeed a most

valuable work, and in many respects to be presented to the

greatest prince upon earth: for the matter it contains is

the richest of all treasures. The laborious composure of it

into this excellent form of _an Harmony_, the judicious

contrivance of the method, the curious workmanship in so

neatly cutting out and disposing the text, _the nice laying

of these costly pictures, and the exquisite art expressed in

the binding_, are, I really think, not to be equalled. I

must acknowledge myself to be, indeed, greatly indebted to

the family for THIS JEWEL: and whatever is in my power I

shall, at any time, be ready to do for any of them.'"

_Eccles. Biogr._, vol. v., 172-8. This was spoken, by

Charles, in the true spirit of a Book-Knight! Cromwell, I

suppose, would have shewn the same mercy to this treasure as

he did to the madonnas of Raffaelle--thrown it behind the

fire, as idolatrous! The nephew emulated and eclipsed the

bibliomaniacal celebrity of his uncle. At the age of

twenty-one, he executed three books (or "works" as they are

called) of uncommon curiosity and splendour. Archbishop

Laud, who had a keen eye and solid judgment for things of

this sort (as the reader will find in the following pages)

undertook to introduce young Ferrars to the King. The

introduction is told in such a pleasing style of _naiveté_,

and the manual dexterity of the young bibliomaniac is so

smartly commended by Charles, that I cannot find it in my

heart to abridge much of the narrative. "When the king saw

the Archbishop enter the room, he said, 'What have you

brought with you those _rarities_ and _jewels_ you told me

of?' 'Yea, sire,' replied the bishop; 'here is the YOUNG

GENTLEMAN and his works.' So the bishop, taking him by the

hand, led him up to the king. He, falling down on his knees,

the king gave him his hand to kiss, bidding him rise up. The

box was opened, and NICHOLAS FERRAR, first presented to the

king that book made for the prince; who taking it from him,

looking well on the outside, which was _all green velvet,

stately and richly gilt all over, with great broad strings,

edged with gold lace, and curiously bound_, said, 'Here is a

fine book for Charles, indeed! I hope it will soon make him

in love with what is within it, for I know it is good,' &c.

And lo! here are also store of _rare pictures_ to delight

his eye with! &c., &c. Then, turning him to the Lord of

Canterbury, he said, 'Let this young gentleman have your

letters to the princes to-morrow, to Richmond, and let him

carry this present. It is a good day, you know, and a good

work would be done upon it.' So he gave Nicholas Ferrar the

book; who, carrying it to the box, took out of it a very

large paper book, which was the FOURTH WORK, and laid it on

the table before the king. 'For whom,' said the king, 'is

this model?' 'For your majesty's eyes, if you please to

honour it so much.' 'And that I will gladly do,' said the

king, 'and never be weary of such sights as I know you will

offer unto me.' The king having well perused the title page,

beginning, 'The Gospel of our Lord and blessed Saviour,

Jesus Christ, in eight several languages,' &c., said unto

the lords, 'You all see that one good thing produceth

another. Here we have more and more rarities; from print now

to pen. These are fair hands, well written, and as well

composed.' Then replied the Lord of Canterbury, 'When your

majesty hath seen all, you will have more and more cause to

admire.' 'What!' said the king, 'is it possible we shall

behold yet more rarities?' then said the bishop to Nicholas

Ferrar, 'Reach the other piece that is in the box:' and this

we call the FIFTH WORK; the title being _Novum Testamentum,

&c., in viginti quatuor linguis, &c._ The king, opening the

book, said, 'Better and better. This is the largest and

fairest paper that ever I saw.' Then, reading the

title-page, he said, 'What is this? What have we here? The

incomparablest book this will be, as ever eye beheld. My

lords, come, look well upon it. This finished, must be the

EMPEROR OF ALL BOOKS. It is the crown of all works. It is an

admirable masterpiece. The world cannot match it. I believe

you are all of my opinion.' The lords all seconded the king,

and each spake his mind of it. 'I observe two things amongst

others,' said the king, 'very remarkable, if not admirable.

The first is, how is it possible that a young man of

twenty-one years of age (for he had asked the Lord of

Canterbury before, how old Nicholas Ferrar was) should ever

attain to the understanding and knowledge of more languages

than he is of years; and to have the courage to venture upon

such an Atlas work, or Hercules labour. The other is also of

high commendation, to see him write so many several

languages, so well as these are, each in its proper

character. Sure so few years had been well spent, some men

might think, to have attained only to the _writing_ thus

fairly, of these twenty-four languages!' All the lords

replied his majesty had judged right; and said, except they

had seen, as they did, the young gentleman there, and the

book itself, all the world should not have persuaded them to

the belief of it." _Ecclesiastical Biography_, vol. v., pp.

216, 220. But whatever degree of credit or fame of young

FERRARS might suppose to have been attached to the execution

of these "pieces," his emulation was not damped, nor did his

industry slacken, 'till he had produced a specimen of much

greater powers of book-decoration. His appetite was that of

a giant; for he was not satisfied with any thing short of

bringing forth a volume of such dimensions as to make the

bearer of it groan beneath its weight--and the beholders of

it dazzled with its lustre, and astonished at its amplitude.

Perhaps there is not a more curious book-anecdote upon

record than the following. "Charles the 1st, his son

Charles, the Palsgrave, and the Duke of Lennox, paid a visit

to the monastery of Little Gidding, in Huntingdonshire--the

abode of the Ferrars."--"Then, the king was pleased to go

into the house, and demanded where the GREAT BOOK was, that

he had heard was made for Charles's use. It was soon brought

unto him; and the _largeness_ and _weight_ of it was such

that he that carried it seemed to be _well laden_. Which the

duke, observing, said, 'Sir, one of your strongest guard

will but be able to carry this book.' It being laid on the

table before the king, it was told him that, though it were

then fairly bound up in _purple velvet_, that the outside

was not fully finished, as it should be, for the prince's

use and better liking. 'Well,' said the king, 'it is very

well done.' So he opened the book, the prince standing at

the table's end, and the Palsgrave and Duke on each side of

the king. The king read the title page and frontispice all

over very deliberately; and well viewing the form of it, how

adorned with _a stately garnish of pictures, &c._, and the

curiousness of the writing of it, said, 'Charles, here is a

book that contains excellent things. This will make you both

wise and good.' Then he proceeded to turn it over, leaf by

leaf, and took exact notice of all in it: and it being _full

of pictures of sundry mens cuts_, he could tell the

palsgrave, who seemed also to be knowing in that kind, that

this and this, and that and that, were of such a man's

graving and invention. The prince all the while greatly eyed

all things; and seemed much to be pleased with the book. The

king having spent some hours in the perusal of it, and

demanding many questions was occasion as, concerning the

contrivement, and having received answers to all he

demanded, at length said, 'It was only _a jewel for a

Prince_, and hoped CHARLES would make good use of it: and I

see and find, by what I have myself received formerly from

this good house, that they go on daily in the prosecution of

these excellent pieces. They are brave employments of their

time.' The Palsgrave said to the prince, 'Sir, your father

the king is master of the goodliest ship in the world, and I

may now say you will be master of the GALLANTEST GREATEST

BOOK in the world: for I never saw _such paper_ before; and

believe there is no book of this largeness to be seen in

Christendom.' 'The paper and the book in all conditions,'

said the king, 'I believe it not to be matched. Here hath

also in this book not wanted, you see, skill, care, nor

cost.' 'It is a most admirable piece,' replied the Duke of

Richmond. So the king, closing the book, said, 'Charles,

this is yours.' He replied, 'But, Sir, shall I not now have

it with me?' Reply was made by one of the family, 'If it

please your highness, the book is not _on the outside so

finished_ as it is intended for you, but shall be, with all

expedition, done, and you shall have it.' 'Well,' said the

king, 'you must content yourself for a

while.'"--_Ecclesiastical Biography_, vol. v., p. 237.]

[Footnote 350: In the year 1774, was published an octavo

volume, containing the lives of WILLIAM LILLY the

astrologer, and ELIAS ASHMOLE the antiquary: two of the

greatest _cronies_ of their day. The particulars of

Ashmole's life are drawn from his own _Diary_, in which is

detailed every thing the most minute and ridiculous; while

many of the leading features in his character, and many

interesting occurrences in his life, are wholly suppressed.

The editor has not evinced much judgment in causing

posterity to be informed when Ashmole's "_great and little

teeth ached, or were loose_:" when his "_neck break forth,

occasioned by shaving his beard with a bad razor_" (p. 312);

when "_his maid's bed was on fire, but he rose quickly

(thanking God) and quenched it_" (p. 313); and when he

"_scratched the right-side of his buttocks, &c., and applied

pultices thereunto, made of white bread crums, oil of roses,

and rose leaves_;" (p. 363--and see particularly the long

and dismal entries at p. 368.) All this might surely have

been spared, without much injury to the reputation of the

sufferer. Yet, in some other minute entries, we glean

intelligence a little more interesting. At p. 324, we find

that Ashmole had quarrelled with his wife; and that "Mr.

Serjeant Maynard observed to the Court that there were 800

sheets of depositions on his wife's part, and not one word

proved against him of using her ill, or ever giving her a

bad or provoking word:" at page 330, we find Ashmole

accompanying his heraldic friend Dugdale, in his

"visitations" of counties; also that "his picture was drawn

by Le Neve in his herald's coat:" Loggan afterwards drew it

in black lead: p. 352. But here again (p. 353) we are

gravely informed that "_his tooth, next his fore tooth in

his upper jaw, was very loose, and he easily pulled it out,

and that one of his middle teeth in his lower jaw, broke out

while he was at dinner_." He sat (for the last time) for "a

second picture to Mr. Ryley," p. 379. Ashmole's intimacy

with Lilly was the foundation of the former's (supposed)

profundity in alchemical and astrological studies. In this

Diary we are carefully told that "Mr. Jonas Moore brought

and acquainted him with Mr. William Lilly, on a Friday

night, on the 20th of November," p. 302. Ashmole was then

only 26 years of age; and it will be readily conceived how,

at this susceptible period, he listened with rapture to his

master's exposition of the black art, and implicitly adopted

the recipes and maxims he heard delivered. Hence the pupil

generally styled himself _Mercuriophilus Anglicus_, at the

foot of most of his title-pages: and hence we find such

extraordinary entries, in the foresaid diary, as the

following: "This night (August 14, 1651) about one of the

clock, I fell ill of a surfeit, occasioned by drinking

_water after Venison_. I was greatly oppressed in my

stomach; and next day Mr. Saunders, _the astrologian_, sent

me a piece of briony-root to hold in my hand; and within a

quarter of an hour my stomach was freed from that great

oppression," p. 314. "Sep. 27, 1652, I came to Mr. John

Tompson's, who dwelt near Dove Bridge; he used a call, and

had responses in a soft voice," p. 317. At p. 318 is

narrated the commencement of his acquaintance with the

famous Arise Evans, a Welsh prophet: whose "_Echo from

Heaven_," &c., 2 parts, 1652, 12mo., is a work noticed by

Warburton, and coveted by bibliomaniacs. Yet one more

quack-medicine entry: "March 11, 1681. I took early in the

morning a good dose of Elixir, and hung three spiders about

my neck, and they drove my ague away--Deo gratias!" p. 359.

It seems that Ashmole always punctually kept "_The

Astrologer's Feast_;" and that he had such celebrity as a

curer of certain diseases, that Lord Finch the Chancellor

"sent for him to cure him of his rheumatism. He dined there,

but would not undertake the cure," p. 364. This was behaving

with a tolerable degree of prudence and good sense. But let

not the bibliomaniac imagine that it is my wish to degrade

honest old Elias Ashmole, by the foregoing delineation of

his weaknesses and follies. The ensuing entries, in the said

Diary, will more than counterbalance any unfavourable effect

produced by its precursors; and I give them with a full

conviction that they will be greedily devoured by those who

have been lucky enough to make good purchases of the entire

libraries of deceased characters of eminence. In his 37th

year, Ashmole "bought of Mr. Milbourn all his books and

mathematical instruments;" and the day after (N.B. "8

o'clock, 39 min. post merid.") "he bought Mr. Hawkins's

books," p. 312. In the ensuing year he "agreed with Mrs.

Backhouse, of London, for her deceased husband's books," p.

313. He now became so distinguished as a successful

bibliomaniac that Seldon and Twysden sought his

acquaintance; and "Mr. Tredescant and his wife told him that

they had been long considering upon whom to bestow their

_closet of curiosities_, and at last had resolved to give it

unto him," p. 326. Having by this time (A.D. 1658) commenced

his famous work upon _The Order of the Garter_, he was

introduced to Charles II.: kissed hands, and was appointed

by the king "to make a description of his medals, and had

them delivered into his hands, and _Henry the VIIIth's

closet_ assigned for his use," p. 327. In this same year

came forth his "_Way to Bliss_;" 4to.: a work so invincibly

dull that I despair of presenting the reader with any thing

like entertainment even in the following heterogeneous

extract: "When our natural heat, the life of this little

world, is faint and gone, the body shrinks up and is

defaced: but bring again heat into the parts, and likewise

money into the bankrupt's coffers, and they shall be both

lusty, and flourish again as much as ever they did. But how

may this heat be brought again? To make few words, even as

she is kept and held by due _meat_ and _motion_; for if she

faint, and falleth for want of them only, then give her

them, and she shall recover herself again. Meat is the bait

that draws her down: motion comes after, like a _Gad-Bee_,

to prick her forward; but the work is performed in this

order. First this meat, which is that fine and æthereal oyl

often above-described, by the exceeding piercing swifteness,

divides, scatters, and scowres away the gross and foul dregs

and leavings which, for want of the tillage of heat, had

overgrown in our bodies, and which was cast, like a blockish

stay-fish in the way, to stay the free course of the ship of

life: these flying out of all sides, abundantly pluck up all

the old leavings of hair, nails, and teeth, by the roots,

and drive them out before them: in the mean while, our

medicine makes not onely clear way and passage for life, if

she list to stir and run her wonted race (which some think

enough of this matter), but also scattereth all about her

due and desired meat, and first moisture to draw her

forward. By which means our life, having gotten both her

full strength and liveliness, and returned like the sun in

summer into all our quarters, begins to work afresh as she

did at first; (for being the same upon the same, she must

needs do the same) knitting and binding the weak and loose

joynts and sinews, watering and concocting all by good

digestion; and then the idle parts like leaves shall, in

this hot summer, spring and grow forth afresh, out of this

new and young temper of the body: and all the whole face and

shew shall be young again and flourishing," pp. 119, 120.

With such a farrago of sublime nonsense were our worthy

forefathers called upon to be enlightened and amused! But I

lose sight of Ashmole's _book-purchases_. That he gave away,

as well as received, curious volumes, is authenticated by

his gift of "five volumes of Mr. Dugdale's works to the

Temple Library:" p. 331. "Again: I presented the public

library at Oxford with three folio volumes, containing a

description of the Consular and Imperial coins there, which

I had formerly made and digested, being all fairly

transcribed with my own hand," p. 332. But mark well: "My

first boatful of books, which were carried to Mrs.

Tredescant's, were brought back to the Temple:" also, (May

1667) "I bought Mr. John Booker's study of books, and gave

140_l._ for them," p. 333. In the same year that his _Order

of the Garter_ was published, his "good friend Mr. Wale sent

him Dr. DEE'S original books and papers," p. 339. But he yet

went on buying: "Nil actum reputans, dum quid superesset

agendum:" for thus journalises our super-eminent

bibliomaniac:--(June 12, 1681) "I bought Mr. Lilly's library

of books of his widow, for fifty pounds," p. 360. In August,

1682, Ashmole went towards Oxford, "to see the building

prepared to receive his rarities;" and in March, 1683, "the

last load of his rarities was sent to the barge." In July,

1687, he received a parcel of books from J.W. Irnhoff, of

Nurembergh, among which was his _Excellentium Familiarum in

Gallia Genealogia_: p. 379. But it is time to put an end to

this unwieldly note: reserving the account of Ashmole's

_Order of the Garter_, and _Theatrum Chemicum_, for the

ensuing one--and slightly informing the reader, of what he

may probably be apprized, that our illustrious bibliomaniac

bequeathed his museum of curiosities and library of books to

his beloved ALMA MATER OXONIENSIS--having first erected a

large building for their reception. It is justly said of

him, in the inscription upon his tombstone,

DURANTE MUSÆO ASHMOLEANO OXON.

NUNQUAM MORITURUS.

A summer month might be profitably passed in the Ashmolean

collection of Books! Let us not despair that a complete

_Catalogue Raisonné_ of them may yet be given.]

LOREN. Not eight guineas--although you were about to say _fourteen_!

LYSAND. Even so. But it must have been obtained in the golden age of

book-collecting?

LOREN. It was obtained, together with an uncut copy of his _Theatrum

Chemicum_,[351] by my father, at the shop of a most respectable

bookseller, lately living, at Mews-Gate, and now in Pall-Mall--where

the choicest copies of rare and beautiful books are oftentimes to be

procured, at a price much less than the extravagant ones given at

book-sales. You observed it was bound in blue morocco--and by that

Coryphæus of book-binders, the late ROGER PAYNE!

[Footnote 351: First let us say a few words of the THEATRUM

CHEMICUM BRITANNICUM, as it was the anterior publication. It

contains a collection of ancient English poetical pieces

relating to Alchemy, or the "Hermetique Mysteries;" and was

published in a neat quarto volume, in 1652; accompanied with

a rich sprinkling of plates "cut in brass," and copious

annotations, at the end, by Ashmole himself. Of these

plates, some are precious to the antiquary; for reasons

which will be given by me in another work. At present, all

that need be said is that a fine tall copy of it brings a

fair sum of money. I never heard of the existence of a

_large paper_ impression. It went to press in July 1651; and

on the 26th of January following, "the first copy of it was

sold to the Earl of Pembroke:" see the Diary, pp. 313-315.

In May, 1658, Ashmole made his first visit to the Record

Office in the Tower, to collect materials for his work of

"THE ORDER OF THE GARTER." In May following, Hollar

accompanied the author to Windsor, to take views of the

castle. In the winter of 1665, Ashmole composed a "good part

of the work at Roe-Barnes (the plague increasing)." In May,

1672, a copy of it was presented to King Charles II.: and in

June, the following year, Ashmole received "his privy-seal

for 400_l._ out of the custom of paper, which the king was

pleased to bestow upon him for the same." This, it must be

confessed, was a liberal remuneration. But the author's

honours increased and multiplied beyond his most sanguine

expectations. Princes and noblemen, abroad and at home, read

and admired his work; and Ashmole had golden chains placed

round his neck, and other superb presents from the greater

part of them; one of which (from the Elector of

Brandenburgh) is described as being "composed of ninety

links, of philagreen links in great knobs, most curious

work," &c. In short, such was the golden harvest which

showered down upon him on all sides, on account of this

splendid publication, that "he made a feast at his house in

South Lambeth, in honour to his benefactors of the work of

THE GARTER." I hope he had the conscience to make HOLLAR his

Vice-President, or to seat him at his right hand; for this

artist's _Engravings_, much more than the author's

composition, will immortalize the volume. Yet the

artist--died in penury! These particulars relating to this

popular work, which it was thought might be amusing to the

lover of fine books, have been faithfully extracted from the

'forementioned original and amusing Diary. _The Order of the

Garter_ was originally sold for 1_l._ 10_s._ See _Clavel's

Catalogue_, 1675, p. 31.]

LYSAND. I observed it had a "glorious aspect," as bibliographers term

it.

LIS. But what has become of Ashmole all this while?

LYSAND. I will only further remark of him that, if he had not suffered

his mind to wander in quest of the puzzling speculations of alchemy

and astrology--which he conceived himself bound to do in consequence,

probably, of wearing John Dee's red velvet night cap--he might have

mingled a larger portion of common sense and sound practical

observations in his writings.

But a truce to worthy old Elias. For see yonder the bibliomaniacal

spirit of ARCHBISHOP LAUD pacing your library! With one hand resting

upon a folio,[352] it points, with the other, to your favourite print

of the public buildings of the University of Oxford--thereby reminding

us of his attachment, while living, to literature and fine books, and

of his benefactions to the Bodleian Library. Now it "looks frowningly"

upon us; and, turning round, and shewing the yet reeking gash from

which the life-blood flowed, it flits away--

Par levibus ventis, volucrique simillima somno!

[Footnote 352: ARCHBISHOP LAUD, who has [Transcriber's Note:

was] beheaded in the year 1644, had a great fondness for

sumptuous decoration in dress, books, and ecclesiastical

establishments; which made him suspected of a leaning

towards the Roman Catholic religion. His life has been

written by Dr. Heylin, in a heavy folio volume of 547 pages;

and in which we have a sufficiently prolix account of the

political occurrences during Laud's primacy, but rather a

sparing, or indeed no, account of his private life and

traits of domestic character. In Lloyd's _Memoirs of the

Sufferers_ from the year 1637 to 1660 inclusive (1668, fol.)

are exhibited the articles of impeachment against the

Archbishop; and, amongst them, are the following

bibliomaniacal accusations. "Art. 5. Receiving a _Bible_,

with a crucifix embroidered on the cover of it by a lady.

Art. 6. A book of popish pictures, _two Missals_,

Pontificals, and Breviaries, which he made use of as a

scholar. Art. 7. His (own) admirable _Book of Devotion_,

digested according to the ancient way of canonical hours,

&c. Art. 19. _The book of Sports_, which was published first

in King James his reign, before he had any power in the

church; and afterward in King Charles his reign, before he

had the chief power in the church," &c., pp. 235-237. But if

Laud's head was doomed to be severed from his body in

consequence of these his bibliomaniacal frailties, what

would have been said to the fine copy of one of the

_Salisbury Primers or Missals_, printed by Pynson UPON

VELLUM, which once belonged to this archbishop, and is now

in the library of St. John's College, Oxford?! Has the

reader ever seen the same primate's copy of the _Aldine

Aristophanes_, 1498, in the same place? 'Tis a glorious

volume; and I think nearly equals my friend Mr. Heber's

copy, once Lord Halifax's, of the same edition. Of Laud's

benefactions to the Bodleian Library, the bibliographer will

see ample mention made in the _Catalogus Librorum

Manuscriptorum Angliæ, Hiberniæ_, &c., 1697, folio. The

following, from Heylin, is worth extracting: "Being come

near the block, he (Laud) put off his doublet, &c., and

seeing through the chink of the boards that some people were

got under the scaffold, about the very place where the block

was seated, he called to the officer for some dust to stop

them, or to remove the people thence; saying, it was no part

of his desire 'that his blood should fall upon the heads of

the people.' Never did man put off mortality with a better

courage, nor look upon his bloody and malicious enemies with

more christian charity." _Cyprianus Anglicus_; or the _Life

and Death of Laud_; 1668, fol.; p. 536. In the Master's

library at St. John's, Oxford, they shew the velvet cap

which it is said Laud wore at his execution; and in which

the mark of the axe is sufficiently visible. The archbishop

was a great benefactor to this college. Mr. H. Ellis, of the

Museum, who with myself were "quondam socii" of the same

establishment, writes me, that "Among what are called the

king's pamphlets in the British Museum, is a fragment of a

tract, without title, of fifty-six pages only, imperfect;

beginning, 'A briefe examination of a certaine pamphlet

lately printed in Scotland, and intituled _Ladensium

Autocatacrisis_,' &c., 'The Cantabarians Self-Conviction.'

On the blank leaf prefixed, is the following remark in a

hand of the time. 'This Briefe Examen following, was found

in the Archbishop's (Laud?) Library, wher the whole

impression of these seauen sheets was found, but nether

beginning nor ending more then is hearein contained. May

11th, 1644.' This work, (continues Mr. Ellis,) which is a

singular and valuable curiosity, is in fact a personal

vindication of Archbishop Laud, not only from the slanders

of the pamphlet, but from those of the times in general: and

from internal evidence could have been written by no one but

himself. It is in a style of writing beyond that of the

ordinary productions of the day."]

Peace, peace, thou once "lofty spirit"--peace to thy sepulchre--always

consecrated by the grateful student who has been benefited by thy

bounty!

Perhaps Laud should have been noticed a little earlier in this list of

bibliomanical heroes; but, having here noticed him, I cannot refrain

from observing to you that the notorious HUGH PETERS revelled in some

of the spoils of the archbishop's library; and that there are, to the

best of my recollection, some curious entries on the journals of the

House of Commons relating to the same.[353]