gave me the intelligence which closes the last note, for the
ensuing particulars relating to HUGH PETERS; which are taken
from the journals of the lower house: "Ao. 1643-4. March 8.
Ordered, that a study of books, to the value of 100_l._ out
of such books as are sequestered, be forthwith bestowed upon
Mr. PETERS." _Journals of the House of Commons_, vol. ii.,
p. 421. "Ao. 1644. 25 April. Whereas this House was formerly
pleased to bestow upon Mr. Peters books to the value of
100_l._, it is this day ordered that Mr. Recorder, Mr.
Whitlock, Mr. Hill, or two of them, do cause to be delivered
to Mr. Peters, to the value of 100_l._, books out of the
private and particular study of the ARCHBISHOP OF
CANTERBURY." _Id._, vol. iii., p. 469. "Ao. 1644. 26 Junij.
Dies publicæ Humiliationis. Mr. Peters made a large and full
relation of the state of the western counties, and of the
proceedings of my Lord General's army, since its coming
thither," &c. "Whereas, formerly, books to the amount of
100_l._ were bestowed upon Mr. Peters out of the
archbishop's private library, and whereas the said study is
appraised at above 40_l._ more than the 100_l._, it is
ordered this day that Mr. Peters shall have the whole study
of books freely bestowed upon him." _Id._ p. 544. "Ao. 1660.
May 16. Ordered, That all books and papers, heretofore
belonging to the library of the archbishop of Canterbury,
and now, or lately, in the hands of Mr. HUGH PETERS, be
forthwith secured." In Ashmole's life, before the first
volume of his Antiq. of Berkshire, it is said in Aug. 1660,
"Mr. Ashmole had a commission to examine that infamous
buffoon and trumpeter of rebellion, Hugh Peters, concerning
the disposal of the pictures, jewels, &c., belonging to the
royal family, which were committed chiefly to his care, and
sold and dispersed over Europe: which was soon brought to a
conclusion by the obstinacy or ignorance of their criminal,
who either would not, or was not able to, give the desired
satisfaction."]
LIS. This is extraordinary enough. But, if I well remember, you
mentioned, a short time ago, the name of BRAITHWAIT as connected with
that of Peacham. Now, as I persume [Transcriber's Note: presume]
Lorenzo has not tied down his guests to any rigid chronological rules,
in their literary chit-chat, so I presume you might revert to
Braithwait, without being taxed with any great violation of colloquial
order.
LYSAND. Nay, I am not aware of any _bookish_ anecdote concerning
Braithwait. He was mentioned with Peacham as being a like accomplished
character.[354] Some of his pieces are written upon the same subjects
as were Peacham's, and with great point and elegance. He seems,
indeed, to have had the literary credit and moral welfare of his
countrymen so much at stake that, I confess, I have a vast fondness
for his lucubrations. His "_English Gentlewoman_" might be reprinted
with advantage.
[Footnote 354: The talents of RICHARD BRAITHWAIT do not
appear to me to be so generally known and highly commended
as they merit to be. His _Nursery for Gentry_, 1651, 4to.
(with his portrait in an engraved frontispiece by Marshall),
is written with the author's usual point and spirit; but, as
I humbly conceive, is a less interesting performance than
his _English Gentleman_, 1633, 4to. (with a frontispiece by
Marshall), or _English Gentlewoman_, 1631, 4to. (also with a
frontispiece by the same artist). There is a terseness and
vigour in Braithwait's style which is superior to that of
his contemporary, Peacham; who seems to excel in a calm,
easy, and graceful manner of composition. Both these eminent
writers are distinguished for their scholastic and
gentlemanly attainments; but in the "divine art of poesy"
(in which light I mean here more particularly to display the
powers of Braithwait) Peacham has no chance of being
considered even as a respectable competitor with his
contemporary. Mr. George Ellis, in his pleasing _Specimens
of the early English Poets_, vol. iii., p. 103, has selected
two songs of Braithwait "from a work not enumerated by
Wood;" calling the author, "a noted wit and poet." His fame,
however, is not likely to "gather strength" from these
effusions. It is from some passages in _The Arcadian
Princesse_--a work which has been already, and more than
once, referred to, but which is too dislocated and
heterogeneous to recommend to a complete perusal--it is from
some passages in _this_ work that I think Braithwait shines
with more lustre as a poet than in any to which his name is
affixed. Take the following miscellaneous ones, by way of
specimens. They are sometimes a little faulty in rhyme and
melody: but they are never lame from imbecility.
----he has the happiest wit,
Who has discretion to attemper it.
And of all others, those the least doe erre,
Who in opinion are least singular.
Let Stoicks be to opposition given,
Who to extreames in arguments are driven;
Submit thy judgment to another's will
If it be good; oppose it mildly, ill.
_Lib._ iv., p. 7.
Strong good sense has been rarely exhibited in fewer lines
than in the preceding ones. We have next a vigorously drawn
character which has the frightful appellation of
_Uperephanos_, who still thought
That th' world without him would be brought to nought:
For when the dogge-starre raged, he used to cry,
"No other Atlas has the world but I.
I am that only _Hee_, supports the state;
Cements divisions, shuts up Janus' gate;
Improves the publike fame, chalks out the way
How princes should command, subjects obey.
Nought passeth my discovery, for my sense
Extends itself to all intelligence."
&c. &c. &c.
So well this story and this embleme wrought,
_Uperephanos_ was so humble brought,
As he on earth disvalu'd nothing more,
Than what his vainest humour priz'd before.
More wise, but lesse conceited of his wit;
More pregnant, but lesse apt to humour it;
More worthy, 'cause he could agnize his want;
More eminent, because less arragant.
In briefe, so humbly-morally divine,
He was esteem'd the _Non-such_ of his time.
_Id._, pp. 8, 11.
Another character, with an equally bizarre name, is drawn
with the same vigour:
_Melixos_; such a starved one,
As he had nothing left but skin and bone.
The shady substance of a living man,
Or object of contempt wheree'er he came.
Yet had hee able parts, and could discourse,
Presse moving reasons, arguments enforce,
Expresse his readings with a comely grace,
And prove himselfe a _Consul_ in his place!
_Id._, p. 12.
We have a still more highly-coloured, and indeed a terrific,
as well as original, picture, in the following animated
verses:
Next him, _Uptoomos_; one more severe,
Ne'er purple wore in this inferiour sphere:
Rough and distastefull was his nature still,
His life unsociable, as was his will.
_Eris_ and _Enio_ his two pages were,
His traine stern _Apuneia_ us'd to beare.
Terrour and thunder echo'd from his tongue,
Though weake in judgment, in opinion strong.
A fiery inflammation seiz'd his eyes,
Which could not well be temper'd any wise:
For they were bloud-shot, and so prone to ill,
As basiliske-like, where'ere they look, they kill.
No laws but Draco's with his humour stood,
For they were writ in characters of bloud.
His stomacke was distemper'd in such sort
Nought would digest; nor could he relish sport.
His dreames were full of melancholy feare,
Bolts, halters, gibbets, halloo'd in his eare:
Fury fed nature with a little food,
Which, ill-concocted, did him lesser good,
_Id._, p. 16.
But it is time to pause upon Braithwait. Whoever does not
see, in these specimens, some of the most powerful rhyming
couplets of the early half of the seventeenth century, if
not the model of some of the verses in Dryden's satirical
pieces, has read both poets with ears differently
constructed from those of the author of this book.]
As I am permitted to be desultory in my remarks, (and, indeed, I
craved this permission at the outset of them) I may here notice the
publication of an excellent _Catalogue of Books_, in 1658, 4to.;
which, like its predecessor, Maunsell's, helped to inflame the
passions of purchasers, and to fill the coffers of booksellers.
Whenever you can meet with this small volume, purchase it, Lisardo; if
it be only for the sake of reading the spirited introduction prefixed
to it.[355] The author was a man, whoever he may chance to be, of no
mean intellectual powers. But to return.
[Footnote 355: This volume, which has been rather fully
described by me in the edition of More's _Utopia_, vol. ii.,
p. 260, 284--where some specimens of the "Introduction," so
strongly recommended by Lysander, will be found--is also
noticed in the _Athenæum_, vol. ii., 601; where there is an
excellent analysis of its contents. Here, let me subjoin
only one short specimen: In praise of learning, it is said:
"Wise and learned men are the surest stakes in the hedge of
a nation or city: they are the best conservators of our
liberties: the hinges on which the welfare, peace, and
happiness, hang; the best public good, and only
commonwealth's men. These lucubrations, meeting with a true
and brave mind, can conquer men; and, with the basilisk,
kill envy with a look." Sign. E. 4. rect.]
Where sleep now the relics of DYSON'S Library, which supplied that
_Helluo Librorum_, Richard Smith, with "most of his rarities?"[356] I
would give something pretty considerable to have a correct list--but
more to have an unmolested sight--of this library, in its original
state: if it were merely to be convinced whether or not it contained a
copy of the _first edition of Shakespeare_, of larger dimensions, and
in cleaner condition, than the one in PHILANDER'S Collection!
[Footnote 356: "H. DYSON (says Hearne) a person of a very
strange, prying, and inquisitive genius, in the matter of
books, as may appear from many libraries; there being books,
chiefly in old English, almost in every library, that have
belonged to him, with his name upon them." _Peter Langtoft's
Chronicles_, vol. i., p. xiii. This intelligence Hearne
gleaned from his friend Mr. T. Baker. We are referred by the
former to the _Bibl. R. Smith_, p. 371, alias 401, No.
115, to an article, which confirms what is said of Smith's
"collecting most of his rarities out of the library of H.
Dyson." The article is thus described in Bibl. Smith,
_ibid._; "115 Six several catalogues of all such books,
touching the state ecclesiastical as temporal of the realm
of England, which were published upon several occasions, in
the reigns of K. Henry the viith and viiith, Philip and
Mary, Q. Elizabeth, K. James, and Charles I., collected by
Mr. H. Dyson: out of whose library was gathered, by Mr.
Smith, a great part of the rarities of this catalogue." A
catalogue of the books sold in the reign of Hen. VII. would
be invaluable to a bibliographer! Let me add, for the sake
of pleasing, or rather, perhaps, tantalising my good friend
Mr. Haleswood, that this article is immediately under one
which describes "_An Ancient MS. of Hunting_, IN VELLUM
(wanting something) _quarto_." I hear him exclaim--"Where is
this treasure now to be found?" Perhaps, upon the cover of a
book of Devotion!]
I have incidentally mentioned the name of RICHARD SMITH.[357] Such a
bibliomaniac deserves ample notice, and the warmest commendation. Ah,
my Lisardo! had you lived in the latter days of Charles II.--had you,
by accident, fallen into the society of this indefatigable
book-forager, while he pursued his book-rounds in _Little
Britain_--could you have listened to his instructive conversation, and
returned home with him to the congenial quiet and avocations of his
book-room--would you, however caressed St. James's, or even smiled
upon by the first Duchess in the land--have cared a rush for the
splendours of a Court, or concentrated your best comforts in a coach
drawn by six cream-coloured horses? Would you not, on the contrary,
have thought with this illustrious bibliomaniac, and with the sages of
Greece and Rome before him, that "in books is wisdom, and in wisdom is
happiness."
[Footnote 357: From the address To the Reader, prefixed to
the Catalogue of RICHARD SMITH'S books, which was put forth
by Chiswel the bookseller, in May 1682, 4to.--the
bibliomaniac is presented with the following interesting but
cramply written, particulars relating to the owner of them:
"Though it be needless to recommend what to all intelligent
persons sufficiently commend itself, yet, perhaps, it may
not be unacceptable to the ingenious to have some short
account concerning _This so much celebrated, so often
desired, so long expected, Library_, now exposed to sale.
The gentleman that collected it was a person infinitely
curious and inquisitive after books; and who suffered
nothing considerable to escape him, that fell within the
compass of his learning; for he had not the vanity of
desiring to be master of more than he knew how to use. He
lived to a very great age, and spent a good part of it
almost entirely in the search of books. Being as constantly
known every day to walk his rounds through the shops as he
sat down to meals, where his great skill and experience
enabled him to make choice of what was not obvious to every
vulgar eye. He lived in times which ministered peculiar
opportunities of meeting with books that are not every day
brought into publick light; and few eminent libraries were
bought where he had not the liberty to pick and choose. And
while others were forming arms, and new-modelling kingdoms,
_his_ great ambition was to become master of a good BOOK.
Hence arose, as that vast number of his books, so the
choiceness and rarity of the greatest part of them; and that
of all kinds, and in all sorts of learning," &c. "Nor was
the owner of them a meer idle possessor of so great a
treasure: for as he generally _collated_ his books upon the
buying of them (upon which account the buyer may rest pretty
secure of their being perfect) so he did not barely turn
over the leaves, but observed the defects of impressions,
and the ill arts used by many; compared the differences of
editions; concerning which, and the like cases, he has
entered memorable, and very useful, remarks upon very many
of the books under his own hand: Observations wherein,
certainly, never man was more diligent and industrious. Thus
much was thought fit to be communicated to publick notice,
by a gentleman who was intimately acquainted both with Mr.
Smith and his books. _This excellent library will be exposed
by auction, and the sale will begin on Monday the 15th day
of May next, at the auction house, known by the name of_ THE
SWAN, _in Great St. Bartholomew's Close, and there continue,
day by day, the five first days of every week, till all the
books be sold._" In this catalogue of Richard Smith's books,
the sharp-eyed bibliomaniac will discover twelve volumes
printed by CAXTON; which collectively, produced only the sum
of 3_l._ 7_s._ 5_d._ The price of each of these volumes has
been already given to the public (_Typog. Antiq._, vol i.,
p. cxxxii.) I suppose a thousand guineas would _now_ barely
secure perfect copies of them! The catalogue itself is most
barbarously printed, and the arrangement and description of
the volumes such as to damn the compiler "to everlasting
fame." A number of the most curious, rare, and intrinsically
valuable books--the very insertion of which in a
bookseller's catalogue would probably now make a hundred
bibliomaniacs start from their homes by star-light, in order
to come in for the _first pickings_--a number of volumes of
this description are huddled together in one lot, and all
these classed under the provoking running title of "_Bundles
of Books_," or "_Bundles of sticht Books_!" But it is time
to bid adieu to this matchless collection. Leaving the
virtuoso "to toil, from rise to set of sun" after W.
Sherwin's "extra rare and fine" portrait of the collector,
which will cost him hard upon ten pounds (see _Sir William
Musgrave's Catalogue of English Portraits_, p. 92, no.
82), and to seize, if it be in his power, a copy of the
catalogue itself, "with the prices and purchasers' names"
(vide _Bibl. Lort._, no. 1354). I proceed to attend upon
Lysander: not, however, without informing him that Strype
(_Life of Cranmer_, p. 368), as well as Hearne (_Liber Niger
Scaccarii_, vol. ii., p. 542), has condescended to notice
the famous library of this famous collector of books,
RICHARD SMITH!]
LIS. In truth I should have done even more than what your barren
imagination has here depicted. Smith's figure, his address, his
conversation, his library--
LOREN. Enough--peace! There is no end to Lisardo's _fruitful_
imagination. We are surfeited with the richness of it. Go on, dear
Lysander; but first, satisfy a desire which I just now feel to be
informed of the period when _Sales of Books, by Auction_, were
introduced into this country.
LYSAND. You take _that_ for granted which remains [Transcriber's Note:
missing 'to' in original] be _proved_: namely, my ability to gratify
you in this particular. Of the precise period when this memorable
revolution in the sale of books took place I have no means of being
accurately informed: but I should think not anterior to the year 1673,
or 1674; for, in the year 1676, to the best of my recollection, the
catalogue of the Library of Dr. SEAMAN was put forth; to which is
prefixed an address to the reader, wherein the custom of selling books
by auction is mentioned as having been but of recent origin in our
country.[358] It was, however, no sooner introduced than it caught
the attention, and pleased the palates, of bibliomaniacs exceedingly:
and Clavel, a bookseller, who published useful catalogues of books to
be sold in his own warehouse, retorted in sharp terms upon the folly
and extravagance which were exhibited at book auctions. However,
neither Clavel nor his successors, from that period to the present,
have been able to set this custom aside, nor to cool the fury of
book-auction bibliomaniacs--who, to their eternal shame be it said,
will sometimes, from the hot and hasty passions which are stirred up
by the poisonous miasmata floating in the auction-room, give a sum
twice or thrice beyond the real value of the books bidden for! Indeed,
I am frequently amused to see the vehemence and rapture with which a
dirty little volume is contended for and embraced--while a respectable
bookseller, like PORTIUS, coolly observes across the table--"I have a
better copy on sale at one third of the price!"
[Footnote 358: A part of the address "To the Reader," in the
catalogue above-mentioned by Lysander, being somewhat of a
curiosity, is here reprinted in its unadulterated
[Transcriber's Note: remainder of sentence missing in
original]
"Reader,
"It hath not been usual here in England to make _Sale of
Books by way of Auction or who will give most for them_: But
it having been practised in other countreys to the advantage
both of buyers and sellers, it was therefore conceived (for
the encouragement of learning) to publish the sale of these
books this manner of way; and it is hoped that this will not
be unacceptable to schollers: and therefore, methought it
convenient to give an advertisement concerning the manner of
proceeding therein. _First_, That having this catalogue of
the books, and their editions, under their several heads and
numbers, it will be more easie for any person of quality,
gentleman, or others, to depute any one to buy such books
for them as they shall desire, if their occasions will not
permit them to be present at the auction themselves." The
_second_ clause is the usual one about _differences_
arising. The _third_, about discovering the imperfections of
the copies before they are taken away. The _fourth_, that
the buyers are to pay for their purchases within one month
after the termination of the auction. The _fifth_, that the
sale is to begin "punctually at 9 o'clock in the morning,
and two in the afternoon; and this to continue daily until
all the books be sold; wherefore it is desired that the
gentlemen, or those deputed by them, may be there precisely
at the hours appointed, lest they should miss the
opportunity of buying those books which either themselves or
their friends desire." As this is the earliest auction
catalogue which I have chanced to meet with, the _present_
reader may probably be pleased with the following specimens,
selected almost at random of the prices which were given for
books at a public sale, in the year 1676.
_In Folio._ PHILOLOGISTS.
_s._ _d._
Pet. Heylyn's Cosmographie, Lond. 1652. 14 0
Io. Stow's Annals, or Chronicles of England,
&c. ibid., 1631. 15 0
Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxon, 1638. 6 0
Geo. Withers, his Emblems; illustrated with brass
figures, 1635. 8 6
Os. Gabelhower's book called the Dutch Physic,
Dort, 1579. 3 0
p. 12.
_In Quarto._ PHILOLOGIE.
The Royal Passage of her Majesty, from the }
tower to Whitehall, Lond., 1604. }
The Vision of the Goddesses, a mask by the }
Queen and her Ladies, 1604. }
King James his Entertainment through the city }
of London, ibid. }
A particular Entertainment of the Queen and }
Prince, 1608. }
The magnificent Entertainment of King James, }
Queen Anne, and Prince Henry Frederick, 1604. }
Her Majesties speech to both Houses of }
Parliament, 1604. } _s._ _d._
Vox Coeli, or News from Heaven, 1624. } 5 0
An experimental Discovery of the Spanish }
Practises, 1623. }
Tho. Scotts aphorisms of State, or secret }
articles for the re-edifying the Romish }
Church, 1624. }
The Tongue Combat between two English }
Souldiers, 1621. }
Votivæ Angliæ, or the Desires and Wishes of }
England, 1624. }
A book of Fishing, with hook and line, and }
other instruments, 1600. }
p. 63.
Now a-days, the last article alone would pr duce
[Transcriber's Note: produce]--shall I say _nine_ times the
sum of the whole? But once more:
_In Octavo._ PHILOLOGISTS.
Rob. Crowley's Confutation and Answer to a }
wicked ballade of the abuse of the }
sacrament of the altar, 1548. }
Philargyne, or Covetousness of Great Britain, }
1551. }
A Confutation of 13 articles of Nicol Sharton's, }
1551. }
The Voice of the last Trumpet, blown by the }
seventh angel, 1550. } _s._ _d._
Rob. Crowley's four last things. } 3 2
A petition against the oppressors of the poor }
of this realm, 1550. }
A supplication of the poor Commons, 1550. }
Piers Plowman Exhortation to the Parliament, }
and a New-Year's gift, 1550. }
The Hurt of Sedition to the Commonwealth, 1549. }
To continue the _History of Book Auctions_, a little
further. Two years after the preceding sale, namely, in
1678, were sold the collections of Dr. MANTON, Dr. WORSLEY,
and others. In the address to the Reader, prefixed to
Manton's catalogue, it would seem that this was the
"_fourth_ triall" of this mode of sale in our own country.
The conditions and time of sale the same as the preceding;
and because one Briggs, and not one Cooper, drew up the
same, Cooper craves the reader's "excuse for the mistakes
that have happened; and desires that the saddle may be laid
upon the right horse." In this collection there is a more
plentiful sprinkling of English books; among which,
Dugdale's Warwickshire, 1656, was sold for 1_l._ 6_s._; and
Fuller's Worthies for the same sum. The "Collections of
Pamphlets, bound together in Quarto," were immense. Dr.
Worsley's collection, with two others, was sold two months
afterwards; namely, in May, 1678: and from the address "To
the Reader," it would appear that Dr. Manton's books brought
such high prices as to excite the envy of the trade.
Worsley's collection was sold at 9 and 2, the usual hours
"at the house over against the hen and chickens, in
Pater-Noster Row." The venders thus justify themselves at
the close of their address: "We have only this to add in
behalf of ourselves; that, forasmuch as a report has been
spread that we intend to use indirect means to advance the
prices, we do affirm that it is a groundless and malicious
suggestion of some of our own trade, envious of our
undertaking: and that, to avoid all manner of suspicion of
such practice, we have absolutely refused all manner of
commissions that have been offered us for buying (some of
them without limitation): and do declare that the company
shall have nothing but candid and ingenuous dealing from
JOHN DUNMORE.
RICHARD CHISWEL."
At this sale, the Shakspeare of 1632 brought 16_s._; and of
1663, 1_l._ 8_s._
In the November and December of the same year were sold by
auction the books of VOET, SANGAR, and others, and from the
preface to each catalogue it would seem that the sale of
books by auction was then but a recent, yet a very
successful, experiment; and that even collections from
abroad were imported, in order to be disposed of in a like
manner.]
LIS. From what you say, it would appear to be wiser to lay out one's
money at a bookseller's than at a book-auction?
LYSAND. Both methods must of necessity be resorted to: for you cannot
find with the one what you may obtain at the other. A distinguished
collector, such as the late Mr. Reed, or Mr. Gough, or Mr. Joseph
Windham, dies, and leaves his library to be sold by auction for the
benefit of his survivors. Now, in this library so bequeathed, you have
the fruits of book-labour, collected for a long period, and cultivated
in almost every department of literature. A thousand radii are
concentrated in such a circle; for it has, probably, been the object
of the collector's life to gather and to concentrate these radii. In
this case, therefore, you must attend the auction; you must see how
such a treasure is scattered, like the Sibylline leaves, by the winds
of fate. You must catch at what you want, and for what you have been
a dozen years, perhaps, in the pursuit of. You will pay dearly for
these favourite volumes; but you have them, and that is comfort
enough; and you exclaim, as a consolation amidst all the agony and
waste of time which such a contest may have cost you,--"Where, at what
bookseller's, are such gems now to be procured?" All this may be well
enough. But if I were again to have, as I have already had, the power
of directing the taste and applying the wealth of a young
collector--who, on coming of age, wisely considers books of at least
as much consequence as a stud of horses--I would say, go to Mr. Payne,
or Mr. Evans, or Mr. Mackinlay, or Mr. Lunn, for your Greek and Latin
Classics; to Mr. Dulau, or Mr. Deboffe, for your French; to Mr.
Carpenter, or Mr. Cuthell, for your English; and to Mr. White for your
Botany and rare and curious books of almost every description. Or, if
you want delicious copies, in lovely binding, of works of a sumptuous
character, go and drink coffee with Mr. Miller, of Albemarle
Street--under the warm light of an Argand lamp--amidst a blaze of
morocco and russia coating, which brings to your recollection the view
of the Temple of the Sun in the play of Pizarro! You will also find,
in the vender of these volumes, courteous treatment and "gentlemanly
notions of men and things." Again, if you wish to speculate deeply in
books, or to stock a newly-discovered province with what is most
excellent and popular in our own language, hire a vessel of 300 tons'
burthen, and make a contract with Messrs. Longman, Hurst, and Co., who
are enabled, from their store of _quires_, which measure 50 feet in
height, by 40 in length, and 20 in width, to satisfy all the wants of
the most craving bibliomaniacs. In opposition to this pyramid, enter
the closet of Mr. Triphook, jun., of St. James's Street--and resist,
if it be in your power to resist, the purchase of those clean copies,
so prettily bound, of some of our rarest pieces of black-letter
renown!
LOREN. From this digression, oblige us now by returning to our
bibliomaniacal history.
LYSAND. Most willingly. But I am very glad you have given me an
opportunity of speaking, as I ought to speak, of some of our most
respectable booksellers, who are an ornament to the cause of THE
BIBLIOMANIA.
We left off, I think, with noticing that renowned book-collector,
Richard Smith. Let me next make honourable mention of a "_par nobile
fratrum_" that ycleped are NORTH. The "Lives" of these men, with an
"Examen" (of "Kennet's History of England"), were published by a
relative (I think a grandson) of the same name; and two very amusing
and valuable quarto volumes they are! From one of these Lives, we
learn how pleasantly the LORD KEEPER used to make his meals upon some
one entertaining Law-volume or another: how he would breakfast upon
_Stamford_,[359] dine upon _Coke_, and sup upon _Fitzherbert_, &c.;
and, in truth, a most insatiable book appetite did this eminent judge
possess. For, not satisfied ("and no marvel, I trow") with the
foregoing lean fare, he would oftentimes regale himself with a
well-served-up course of the _Arts_, _Sciences_, and the
_Belles-Lettres_!
[Footnote 359: These are the words of LORD KEEPER NORTH'S
Biographer: "There are of Law-Books, institutions of various
sorts, and reports of cases (now) almost innumerable. The
latter bear most the controversial law, and are read as
authority such as may be quoted: and I may say the gross of
law lecture lies in them. But to spend weeks and months
wholly in them, is like horses in a string before a loaden
waggon. They are indeed a careful sort of reading, and
chiefly require common-placing, and that makes the work go
on slowly. His LORDSHIP therefore used to mix some
institutionary reading with them, as after a fulness of the
reports in a morning, about noon, to take a repast in
_Stamford_, _Compton_, or the Lord _Coke's_ Pleas of the
Crown and Jurisdiction of Courts, _Manwood_ of the Forest
Law, _Fitzherbert's_ Natura Brevium; and also to look over
some of the Antiquarian Books, as _Britton_, _Bracton_,
_Fleta_, _Fortescue_, _Hengham_, _the old Tenures
Narrationes Novæ_, the old _Natura Brevium_, and the
Diversity of Courts. These, at times, for change and
refreshment, being books all fit to be known. And those
that, as to authority, are obsoleted, go rounder off-hand,
because they require little common-placing, and that only as
to matter very singular and remarkable, and such as the
student fancies he shall desire afterwards to recover. And,
besides all this, the day afforded him room for a little
History, especially of England, modern books, and
Controversy in Print, &c. In this manner he ordered his own
studies, but with excursions into _Humanity_ and _Arts_,
beyond what may be suitable to the genius of every young
student in the law." _Life of Lord Keeper Guildford_, pp.
18, 19. _North's Lives_, edit. 1754, 4to.]
His brother, Dr. JOHN NORTH, was a still greater _Helluo Librorum_;
"his soul being never so staked down as in an old bookseller's shop."
Not content with a superficial survey of whatever he inspected, he
seems to have been as intimately acquainted with all the book-selling
fraternity of _Little-Britain_ as was his contemporary, Richard Smith;
and to have entered into a conspiracy with ROBERT SCOTT[360]--the most
renowned book vender in this country, if not in Europe--to deprive
all bibliomaniacs of a chance of procuring rare and curious volumes,
by sweeping every thing that came to market, in the shape of a book,
into their own curiously-wrought and widely-spread nets. Nay, even
Scott himself was sometimes bereft of all power, by means of the
potent talisman which this learned Doctor exercised--for the latter,
"at one lift," would now and then sweep a whole range of shelves in
Scott's shop of every volume which it contained. And yet how
whimsical, and, in my humble opinion, ill-founded, was Dr. North's
taste in matters of typography! Would you believe it, Lisardo, he
preferred the meagre classical volumes, printed by the _Gryphii_, in
the italic letter, to the delicate and eye-soothing lustre of the
_Elzevir_ type--?
[Footnote 360: "Now he began to look after books, and to lay
the foundation of a competent library. He dealt with Mr.
ROBERT SCOTT, of _Little-Britain_, whose sister was his
grandmother's woman; and, upon that acquaintance he
expected, and really had from him, useful information of
books and their editions. This Mr. Scott was, in his time,
the greatest librarian in Europe; for, besides his stock in
England, he had warehouses in Francfort, Paris, and other
places, and dealt by factors. After he was grown old, and
much worn by multiplicity of business, he began to think of
his ease and to leave off. Whereupon he contracted with one
Mills, of St. Paul's Church-yard, near £10,000 deep, and
articled not to open his shop any more. But Mills, with his
auctioneering, Atlasses, and projects, failed, whereby poor
Scott lost above half his means: but he held to his contract
of not opening his shop, and when he was in London (for he
had a country house), passed most of his time at his house
amongst the rest of his books; and his reading (for he was
no mean scholar) was the chief entertainment of his time. He
was not only an expert bookseller, but a very conscientious
good man; and when he threw up his trade, Europe had no
small loss of him. Our Doctor, at one lift, bought of him a
whole set of Greek Classics in folio, of the best editions.
This sunk his stock at that time; but afterwards, for many
years of his life, all that he could (as they say) rap or
run, went the same way. But the progress was small; for such
a library as he desired, compared with what the pittance of
his stock would purchase, allowing many years to the
gathering, was of desperate expectation. He was early
sensible of a great disadvantage to him in his studies, by
the not having a good library in his reach; and he used to
say that a man could not be a scholar at the second-hand:
meaning, that learning is to be had from the original
authors, and not from any quotations, or accounts in other
books, for men gather with divers views, and, according to
their several capacities, often perfunctorily, and almost
always imperfectly: and through such slight reading, a
student may know somewhat, but not judge of either author or
subject. He used to say _an old author could not be
unprofitable_; for although in their proper time they had
little or no esteem, yet, in after times, they served to
interpret words, customs, and other matters, found obscure
in other books; of which A. Gellius is an apt instance. He
courted, as a fond lover, all _best editions, fairest
character, best bound and preserved_. If the subject was in
his favour (as the Classics) he cared not how many of them
he had, even of the same edition, if he thought it among the
best, either _better bound_, _squarer cut_, _neater covers_,
or some such qualification caught him. He delighted in the
small editions of the Classics, by Seb. Gryphius; and divers
of his acquaintance, meeting with any of them, bought and
brought them to him, which he accepted as choice presents,
although perhaps he had one or two of them before. He said
that the _black italic_ character agreed with his eye sight
(which he accounted but weak) better than any other print,
the old Elzevir not excepted, whereof the characters seemed
to him more blind and confused than those of the other.
Continual use gives men a judgment of things comparatively,
and they come to fix on that as most proper and easy which
no man, upon cursory view, would determine. _His soul was
never so staked down as in an old bookseller's shop_; for
having (as the statutes of the college required) taken
orders, he was restless till he had compassed some of that
sort of furniture as he thought necessary for his
profession. He was, for the most part, his own factor, and
seldom or never bought by commission; which made him lose
time in turning over vast numbers of books, and he was very
hardly pleased at last. I have borne him company at shops
for hours together, and, minding him of the time, he hath
made a dozen proffers before he would quit. By this care and
industry, at length, he made himself master of a very
considerable library, wherein the choicest collection was
_Greek_." There is some smartness in the foregoing
observations. The following, in a strain of equal interest,
affords a lively picture of the _bookselling trade_ at the
close of the 17th century: "It may not be amiss to step a
little aside, to reflect on the vast change in the trade of
books, between that time and ours. Then, _Little-Britain_
was a plentiful and perpetual emporium of learned authors;
and men went thither as to a market. This drew to the place
a mighty trade; the rather because the shops were spacious,
and the learned gladly resorted to them, where they seldom
failed to meet with agreeable conversation. And the
booksellers themselves were knowing and conversible men,
with whom, for the sake of bookish knowledge, the greatest
wits were pleased to converse. And we may judge the time as
well spent there, as (in latter days) either in tavern or
coffee-house: though the latter hath carried off the spare
hours of most people. But now this emporium is vanished, and
trade contracted into the hands of two or three persons,
who, to make good their monopoly, ransack, not only their
neighbours of the trade that are scattered about town, but
all over England, aye, and beyond sea too, and send abroad
their circulators, and, in that manner, get into their hands
all that is valuable. The rest of the trade are content to
take their refuse, with which, and the fresh scum of the
press, they furnish one side of a shop, which serves for the
sign of a bookseller, rather than a real one; but, instead
of selling, dealing as factors, and procure what the country
divines and gentry send for; of whom each hath his book
factor, and, when wanting any thing, writes to his
bookseller, and pays his bill. And it is wretched to
consider what pickpocket work, with help of the press, these
demi-booksellers make. They crack their brains to find out
selling subjects, and keep hirelings in garrets, at hard
meat, to write and correct by the great (qu. groat); and so
puff up an octavo to a sufficient thickness, and there's six
shillings current for an hour and a half's reading, and
perhaps never to be read or looked upon after. One that
would go higher must take his fortune at blank walls, and
corners of streets, or repair to the sign of Bateman, Innys,
and one or two more, where are best choice and better
pennyworth's. I might touch other abuses, as bad paper,
incorrect printing, and false advertising; all which, and
worse, is to be expected, if a careful author is not at the
heels of them." Life of the Hon. and Rev. Dr. John North.
_North's Lives_, edit. 1744, 4to., p. 240, &c. At page 244,
there is a curious account of the doctor's amusing himself
with keeping spiders in a glass case--feeding them with
bread and flies--and seeing these spiders afterwards quarrel
with, and destroy, each other--"parents and offspring!"]
LIS. "_De gustibus_--" you know the rest. But these Norths were brave
bibliomaniacs! Proceed, we are now advancing towards the threshold of
the eighteenth century; and the nearer you come to it, the greater is
the interest excited.
LYSAND. Take care that I don't conclude with the memorable
catalogue-burning deed of your father! But I spare your present
feelings.
All hail to the noble book-spirit by which the _Lives of
Oxford-Athenians_, and the _Antiquities of Oxford University_, are
recorded and preserved beyond the power of decay![361] All hail to
thee, OLD ANTHONY A-WOOD! May the remembrance of thy researches,
amidst thy paper and parchment documents, stored up in chests, pews,
and desks, and upon which, alas! the moth was "feeding sweetly," may
the remembrance of these thy laborious researches always excite
sensations of gratitude towards the spirit by which they were
directed! Now I see thee, in imagination, with thy cautious step, and
head bowing from premature decay, and solemn air, and sombre visage,
with cane under the arm, pacing from library to library, through
gothic quadrangles; or sauntering along the Isis, in thy way to some
neighbouring village, where thou wouldst recreate thyself with "pipe
and pot." Yes, Anthony! while the _Bodleian_ and _Ashmolean_
collections remain--or rather as long as Englishmen know how to value
that species of literature by which the names and actions of their
forefathers are handed down to posterity, so long shall the memory of
thy laudable exertions continue unimpaired!
[Footnote 361: The name and literary labours of ANTHONY WOOD
are now held in general, and deservedly high, respect: and
it is somewhat amusing, though not a little degrading to
human nature, to reflect upon the celebrity of that man who,
when living, seems to have been ridiculed by the proud and
flippant, and hated by the ignorant and prejudiced, part of
his academical associates. The eccentricities of Wood were
considered heretical; and his whims were stigmatized as
vices. The common herd of observers was unable to discover,
beneath his strange garb, and coarse exterior, all that
acuteness of observation, and retentiveness of memory, as
well as inflexible integrity, which marked the intellectual
character of this wonderful man. But there is no necessity
to detain and tantalize the reader by this formal train of
reasoning, when a few leading features of Wood's person,
manners, and habits of study, &c., have been thus pleasingly
described to us by Hearne, in the life of him prefixed to
the genuine edition of the _History and Antiquities (or
Annals) of the University of Oxford_. "He was equally
regardless of envy or fame, out of his great love to truth,
and therefore 'twas no wonder he took such a liberty of
speech, as most other authors, out of prudence, cunning, or
design, have usually declined. And indeed, as to his
language, he used such words as were suitable to his
profession. It is impossible to think that men, who always
converse with old authors, should not learn the dialect of
their acquaintance--an antiquary retains an old word, with
as much religion as an old relick. And further, since our
author was ignorant of the rules of conversation, it is no
wonder he uses so many severe reflections, and adds so many
minute passages of men's lives. I have been told that it was
usual with him, for the most part, to rise about four
o'clock in the morning, and to eat hardly any thing till
night; when, after supper, he would go into some by-alehouse
in town, or else to one in some village near, and there by
himself take his _pipe and pot_," &c. "But so it is that,
notwithstanding our author's great merits, he was but little
regarded in the University, being observed to be more
clownish than courteous, and always to go in an old
antiquated dress. Indeed he was a mere scholar, and
consequently must expect, from the greatest number of men,
disrespect; but this notwithstanding, he was always a true
lover of his mother, the University, and did more for her
than others care to do that have received so liberally from
her towards their maintenance, and have had greater
advantages of doing good than he had. Yea, his affection was
not at all alienated, notwithstanding his being so hardly
dealt with as to be expelled; which would have broken the
hearts of some. But our author was of a most noble spirit,
and little regarded whatever afflictions he lay under,
whilst he was conscious to himself of doing nothing but what
he could answer. At length after he had, by continual
drudging, worn out his body, he left this world contentedly,
by a stoppage of his urine, anno domini 1695, and was buried
in the east corner of the north side of St. John's Church,
adjoyning to Merton College, and in the wall is a small
monument fixed, with these words:
H.S.E.
ANTONIUS WOOD, ANTIQUARIUS.
_ob. 28 Nov._ AO. 1695, æt. 64."
In his person, he was of a large robust make, tall and thin,
and had a sedate and thoughtful look, almost bordering upon
a melancholy cast. Mr. Hearne says, in his _Collectanea
MSS._, that though he was but sixty-four years of age when
he died, he appeared to be above fourscore; that he used
spectacles long before he had occasion for them, that he
stooped much when he walked, and generally carried his stick
under his arm, seldom holding it in his hand. As to the
manner of his life, it was solitary and ascetic. The
character which Gassendus gives of Peireskius, may, with
propriety, be used as descriptive of Mr. Wood's. "As to the
care of his person, cleanliness was his chief object, he
desiring no superfluity or costliness, either in his habit
or food. His house was furnished in the same manner as his
table; and as to the ornament of his private apartment, he
was quite indifferent. Instead of hangings, his chamber was
furnished with the prints of his particular friends, and
other men of note, with vast numbers of commentaries,
transcripts, letters, and papers of various kinds. His bed
was of the most ordinary sort; his table loaded with papers,
schedules, and other things, as was also every chair in the
room. He was a man of strict sobriety, and by no means
delicate in the choice of what he eat. Always restrained by
temperance, he never permitted the sweet allurements of
luxury to overcome his prudence." Such, as is here
represented, was the disposition of Mr. WOOD: of so retired
a nature as seldom to desire or admit a companion at his
walks or meals; so that he is said to have dined alone in
his chamber for thirty years together. Mr. Hearne says that
it was his custom to "go to the booksellers at those hours
when the greater part of the University were at their
dinners," &c. And at five leaves further, in a note, we find
that, "when he was consulting materials for his _Athenæ
Oxon._, he would frequently go to the booksellers, and
generally give money to them, purposely to obtain titles of
books from them; and 'twas observed of him that he spared no
charges to make that work as compleat and perfect as
possible." _Hearne's Coll. MSS. in Bodl. Lib._, vol. ix., p.
185. The following letter, describing Wood's last illness,
and the disposition of his literary property, is
sufficiently interesting to be here, in part, laid before
the reader: it was written by Mr. (afterwards Bishop) Tanner
to Dr. Charlett.
"Honoured Master,
Yesterday, at dinner-time, Mr. Wood sent for me; when I
came, I found Mr. Martin and Mr. Bisse of Wadham (college)
with him, who had (with much ado) prevailed upon him to set
about looking over his papers, so to work we went, and
continued tumbling and separating some of his MSS. till it
was dark. We also worked upon him so far as to sign and
declare that sheet of paper, which he had drawn up the day
before, and called it _his will_; for fear he should not
live till night. He had a very bad night of it last night,
being much troubled with vomiting. This morning we three
were with him again, and Mr. Martin bringing with him the
form of a will, that had been drawn up by Judge Holloway, we
writ his will over again, as near as we could, in form of
law. He has given to the University, to be reposited in the
_Museum Ashmol._, all his MSS., not only those of his own
collection, but also all others which he has in his
possession, except some few of Dr. Langbain's Miscellanea,
which he is willing should go to the public library. He has
also given all his printed books and pamphlets to the said
musæum which are not there already. This benefaction will
not, perhaps, be so much valued by the University as it
ought to be, because it comes from Anthony Wood; but truly
it is a most noble gift, his collection of MSS. being
invaluable, and his printed books, most of them, not to be
found in town," &c. This letter is followed by other
accounts yet more minute and touching, of the last mortal
moments of poor old Anthony! It now remains to say a few
words about his literary labours. A short history of the
editions of the _Athenæ Oxonienses_ (vide p. 45, ante) has
already been communicated to the reader. We may here observe
that his _Antiquities of the University_ shared a similar
fate; being garbled in a Latin translation of them, which
was put forth under the auspices of Bishop Fell: 1676, fol.,
in 2 vols. Wood's own MS. was written in the English
language, and lay neglected till towards the end of the 18th
century, when the Rev. Mr. Gutch conferred a real benefit
upon all the dutiful sons of ALMA MATER, by publishing the
legitimate text of their venerable and upright historian;
under the title of _The History and Antiquities of the
Colleges and Halls_, 1786, 4to., with a supplemental volume
by way of _Appendix_, 1790, 4to., containing copious indexes
to the two. Then followed the Annals of the University at
large, viz. _The History and Antiquities of the University
of Oxford_; 1792, 4to., in two volumes; the latter being
divided into _two_ parts, or volumes, with copious indexes.
These works, which are now getting scarce, should be in
every philological, as well as topographical, collection. In
order to compensate the reader for the trouble of wading
through the preceding tremendous note, I here present him
with a wood-cut facsimile of a copper-plate print of Wood's
portrait, which is prefixed to his Life, 1772, 8vo. If he
wishes for more curious particulars respecting Wood's
literary labours, let him take a peep into _Thomæ Caii
Vindic. Antiq. Acad. Oxon._: 1730, 8vo., vol. i., pp. xl.
xliii. _Edit. Hearne._ Wood's study, in the Ashmolean
museum, is yet to be seen. It is filled with curious books,
which, however, have not hitherto been catalogued with
accuracy. Ritson has availed himself, more successfully than
any antiquary in poetry, of the book treasures in this
museum.
[Illustration]]
A very few years after the death of this distinguished character, died
Dr. FRANCIS BERNARD;[362] a stoic in bibliography. Neither beautiful
binding, nor amplitude of margin, ever delighted his eye or rejoiced
his heart: for he was a stiff, hard, and straight-forward reader--and
learned, in Literary History, beyond all his contemporaries. His
collection was copious and excellent; and although the compiler of the
catalogue of his books sneers at any one's having "an entire
collection in physic," (by the bye, I should have told you that
Bernard was a _Doctor of Medicine_,) yet, if I forget not, there are
nearly 150 pages in this said catalogue which are thickly studded with
"_Libri Medici_," from the folio to the duodecimo size. Many very
curious books are afterwards subjoined; and some precious _bijous_, in
English Literature, close the rear. Let Bernard be numbered among the
most learned and eminent bibliomaniacs.
[Footnote 362: I do not know that I could produce a better
recipe for the cure of those who are affected with the worst
symptoms of the BOOK-MANIA, in the _present day_, than by
shewing them how the same symptoms, upwards of a _century
ago_, were treated with ridicule and contempt by a collector
of very distinguished fame, both on account of his literary
talents and extensive library. The following copious extract
is curious on many accounts; and I do heartily wish that
foppish and tasteless collectors would give it a very
serious perusal. At the same time, all collectors possessed
of common sense and liberal sentiment will be pleased to see
their own portraits so faithfully drawn therein. It is taken
from the prefatory address,
"TO THE READER.
The character of the person whose collection this was, is so
well known, that there is no occasion to say much of him,
nor to any man of judgment that inspects the catalogue of
the collection itself. Something, however, it becomes us to
say of both; and this I think may with truth and modesty
enough be said, that as few men knew books, and that part of
learning which is called _Historia Litteraria_, better than
himself, so there never yet appeared in England so choice
and valuable a catalogue to be thus disposed of as this
before us: more especially of that sort of books which are
out of the common course, which a man may make the business
of his life to collect, and at last not to be able to
accomplish. A considerable part of them being so little
known, even to many of the learned buyers, that we have
reason to apprehend this misfortune to attend the sale, that
there will not be competitors enough to raise them up to
their just and real value. Certain it is this library
contains not a few which never appeared in any auction here
before; nor indeed, as I have heard him say, for ought he
knew, (and he knew as well as any man living) _in any
printed catalogue in the world_."--"We must confess that,
being a person who collected his books for use, and not for
ostentation or ornament, he seemed no more solicitous about
_their_ dress than _his own_; and therefore you'll find that
a _gilt back_, or a _large margin_, was very seldom any
inducement to him to buy. 'Twas sufficient that he had the
book." "Though considering that he was so unhappy as to want
heirs capable of making that use of them which he had done,
and that therefore they were to be dispersed after this
manner; I have heard him condemn his own negligence in that
particular; observing, that the garniture of a book was as
apt to recommend it to a great part of our _modern
collectors_ (whose learning goes not beyond the edition, the
title-page, and the printer's name) as the intrinsic value
could. But that he himself was not a mere nomenclator, and
versed only in title-pages, but had made that just and
laudable use of his books which would become all those that
set up for collectors, I appeal to the Literati of his
acquaintance, who conversed most frequently with him; how
full, how ready, and how exact he was in answering any
question that was proposed to him relating to learned men,
or their writings; making no secret of any thing that he
knew, or any thing that he had; being naturally one of the
most communicative men living, both of his knowledge and his
books."--"And give me leave to say this of him, upon my own
knowledge; that he never grudged his money in procuring, nor
his time or labour in perusing, any book which he thought
could be any ways instructive to him, and having the
felicity of a memory always faithful, always officious,
which never forsook him, though attacked by frequent and
severe sickness, and by the worst of diseases, old age, his
desire of knowledge attended him to the last; and he pursued
his studies with equal vigour and application to the very
extremity of his life." It remains to add a part of the
title of the catalogue of the collection of this
extraordinary bibilomaniac [Transcriber's Note:
bibliomaniac]: "_A Catalogue of the Library of the late
learned_ DR. FRANCIS BERNARD, _Fellow of the College of
Physicians, and Physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital,
&c._," 1698, 8vo. The English books are comprised in 1241
articles; and, among them, the keen investigator of ancient
catalogues will discover some prime rarities.]
Having at length reached the threshold, let us knock at the door, of
the eighteenth century. What gracious figures are those which approach
to salute us? They are the forms of BISHOPS FELL and MORE:[363]
prelates, distinguished for their never ceasing admiration of
valuable and curious works. The former is better known as an editor;
the latter, as a collector--and a collector, too, of such multifarious
knowledge, of such vivid and just perceptions, and unabating
activity--that while he may be hailed as the _Father of_ =black-letter=
_Collectors_ in this country, he reminds us of his present successor
in the same see; who is not less enamoured of rare and magnificent
volumes, but of a different description, and whose library assumes a
grander cast of character.
[Footnote 363: As I have already presented the public with
some brief account respecting BISHOP FELL, and sharpened the
appetites of Grangerites to procure rather a rare portrait
of the same prelate (See _Introd. to the Classics_, vol. i.,
89), it remains only to add, in the present place, that
Hearne, in his _Historia Vitæ et Regni Ricardi II._, 1729,
8vo., p. 389, has given us a curious piece of information
concerning this eminent bibliomaniac, which may not be
generally known. His authority is Anthony Wood. From this
latter we learn that, when Anthony and the Bishop were
looking over the _History and Antiquities of the University
of Oxford_, to correct it for the press, Fell told Wood that
"WICLIFFE was a grand dissembler; a man of little
conscience; and what he did, as to religion, was more out of
vain glory, and to obtain unto him a name, than out of
honesty--or to that effect." Can such a declaration, from
such a character, be credited? BISHOP MORE has a stronger
claim on our attention and gratitude. Never has there
existed an episcopal bibliomaniac of such extraordinary
talent and fame in the walk of _Old English Literature_!--as
the reader shall presently learn. The bishop was admitted of
Clare Hall, Cambridge, in 1662. In 1691, he became Bishop of
Norwich; and was translated to Ely in 1707; but did not
survive the translation above seven years. How soon and how
ardently the passion for collecting books possessed him it
is out of my present power to make the reader acquainted.
But that More was in the zenith of his bibliomaniacal
reputation while he filled the see of Norwich is
unquestionable; for thus writes Strype: "The Right Reverend,
the Lord Bishop of Norwich, the possessor of a great and
curious collection of MSS. and other ancient printed pieces
(little inferior to MSS. in regard of their scarceness) hath
also been very considerably assistant to me as well in this
present work as in others;" &c. Preface (sign. a 2) to _Life
of Aylmer_, 1701, 8vo. Burnet thus describes his fine
library when he was Bishop of Ely. "This noble record was
lent me by my reverend and learned brother, Dr. MORE, Bishop
of Ely, who has gathered together a most valuable treasure,
both of printed books and manuscripts, beyond what one can
think that the life and labour of one man could have
compassed; and which he is as ready to communicate, as he
has been careful to collect it." _Hist. of the Reformation_,
vol. iii., p. 46. It seems hard to reconcile this testimony
of Burnet with the late Mr. Gough's declaration, that "The
bishop collected his library by plundering those of the
clergy in his diocese; some he paid with sermons or more
modern books; others only with '_quid illiterati cum
libris_.'" On the death of More, his library was offered to
Lord Oxford for 8000_l._; and how that distinguished and
truly noble collector could have declined the purchase of
such exquisite treasures--unless his own shelves were
groaning beneath the weight of a great number of similar
volumes--is difficult to account for. But a public-spirited
character was not wanting to prevent the irreparable
dispersion of such book-gems: and that patriotic character
was GEORGE I.!--who gave 6000_l._ for them, and presented
them to the public library of the University of Cambridge!--
"These are imperial works, and worthy kings!"
And here, benevolent reader, the almost unrivalled
_Bibliotheca Moriana_ yet quietly and securely reposes. Well
do I remember the congenial hours I spent (A.D. 1808) in the
_closet_ holding the most precious part of Bishop More's
collection, with my friend the Rev. Mr. ----, tutor of one
of the colleges in the same University, at my
right-hand--(himself "greatly given to the study of books")
actively engaged in promoting my views, and increasing my
extracts--but withal, eyeing me sharply "ever and anon"--and
entertaining a laudable distrust of a keen book-hunter from
a rival University! I thank my good genius that I returned,
as I entered, with clean hands! My love of truth and of
bibliography compels me to add, with a sorrowful heart, that
not only is there no printed catalogue of Bishop More's
books, but even the FINE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY
remains unpublished in print! In this respect they really do
"order things better in France." Why does such indifference
to the cause of general learning exist--and in the 19th
century too? Let me here presume to submit a plan to the
consideration of the syndics of the press; provided they
should ever feel impressed with the necessity of informing
the literati, of other countries as well as our own, of the
book treasures contained in the libraries of Cambridge. It
is simply this. Let the books in the Public Library form the
substratum of the _Catalogue Raisonné_ to be printed in
three or more quarto volumes. If, in any particular
department, there be valuable editions of a work which are
_not_ in the public, but in another, library--ex. gr. in
Trinity, or St. John's--specify this edition in its
appropriate class; and add _Trin. Coll., &c._--If this copy
contain notes of Bentley, or Porson, add "_cum notis
Bentleii_," _&c._: so that such a catalogue would present,
not only _every_ volume in the _Public Library_, but _every
valuable_ edition of a work in the whole University. Nor is
the task so Herculean as may be thought. The tutors of the
respective colleges would, I am sure, be happy, as well as
able, to contribute their proportionate share of labour
towards the accomplishment of so desirable and invaluable a
work.]
The opening of the 18th century was also distinguished by the death of
a bibliomaniac of the very first order and celebrity. Of one, who had,
no doubt, frequently discoursed largely and eloquently with Luttrell,
(of whom presently) upon the rarity and value of certain editions of
old _Ballad Poetry_: and between whom presents of curious black-letter
volumes were, in all probability, frequently passing. I allude to the
famous SAMUEL PEPYS;[364] Secretary to the Admiralty.
[Footnote 364: "_The Maitland Collection of Manuscripts_ was
ever in the collector's (Sir Richard Maitland's)
family."--"His grandson was raised to the dignity of Earl of
Lauderdale." "The Duke of Lauderdale, a descendant of the
collector's grandson, presented the Maitland Collection,
along with other MSS., to SAMUEL PEPYS, Esq. Secretary of
the Admiralty to Charles II. and James II. Mr. Pepys was one
of the earliest collectors of rare books, &c. in England;
and the duke had no taste for such matters; so either from
friendship, or some point of interest, he gave them to Mr.
Pepys,"--who "dying 26 May, 1703, in his 71st year, ordered,
by will, the PEPYSIAN LIBRARY at Magdalen College,
Cambridge, to be founded, in order to preserve his very
valuable collection entire. It is undoubtedly the most
curious in England, those of the British Museum excepted;
and is kept in excellent order." Mr. Pinkerton's preface, p.
vii., to _Ancient Scottish Poems from the Maitland
Collection, &c._, 1786, 8vo., 2 vols. I wish it were in my
power to add something concerning the parentage, birth,
education, and pursuits of the extraordinary collector of
this extraordinary collection; but no biographical work,
which I have yet consulted, vouchsafes even to mention his
name. His merits are cursorily noticed in the _Quarterly
Review_, vol. iv., p. 326-7. Through the medium of a friend,
I learn from Sir Lucas Pepys, Bart., that our illustrious
bibliomaniac, his great uncle, was President of the Royal
Society, and that his collection at Cambridge contains a
_Diary_ of his life, written with his own hand. But it is
high time to speak of the black-letter gems contained in the
said collection. That the PEPYSIAN COLLECTION is at once
choice and valuable cannot be disputed; but that access to
the same is prompt and facile, is not quite so indisputable.
There is a MS. catalogue of the books, by Pepys himself,
with a small rough drawing of a view of the interior of the
library. The books are kept in their original (I think
walnut-wood) presses: and cannot be examined unless in the
presence of a fellow.--Such is the nice order to be
observed, according to the bequest, that every book must be
replaced where it was taken from; and the loss of a single
volume causes the collection to be confiscated, and
transported to Benet-college library. Oh, that there were
_an act of parliament_ to regulate bequests of this
kind!--that the doors to knowledge might, by a greater
facility of entrance, be more frequently opened by students;
and that the medium between unqualified confidence and
unqualified suspicion might be marked out and followed. Are
these things symptomatic of an iron or a brazen age! But the
bibliomaniac is impatient for a glance at the 'forementioned
black-letter treasures!--Alas, I have promised more than I
can perform! Yet let him cast his eye upon the first volume
of the recent edition of _Evans' Collection of Old Ballads_
(see _in limine_, p. ix.) and look into the valuable notes
of _Mr. Todd's Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer_,--in
which latter, he will find no bad specimen of these
_Pepysian gems_, in the exultation of my friend, the author,
over another equally respected friend--in consequence of his
having discovered, among these treasures, a strange, merry,
and conceited work, entitled "_Old Meg of Herefordshire for
a Mayd-Marian; and Hereford Town for a Morris-daunce, &c._,"
1609, 4to., p. 273. EX UNO DISCE OMNES. The left-handed
critic, or anti-black-letter reader, will put a wicked
construction upon the quotation of this motto in capital
letters: let him: he will repent of his folly in due time.]
Now it was a convincing proof to me, my dear friends, that the
indulgence of a PASSION FOR BOOKS is perfectly compatible with any
situation, however active and arduous. For while this illustrious
bibliomaniac was sending forth his messengers to sweep every
bookseller's shop from the Tweed to Penzance, for the discovery of old
and almost unknown ballads--and while his name rung in the ears of
rival collectors--he was sedulous, in his professional situation, to
put the _Navy of Old England_ upon the most respectable footing; and
is called the _Father_ of that system which, carried into effect by
British hearts of oak, has made the thunder of our cannon to be heard
and feared on the remotest shores. Nor is it a slight or common
coincidence that a spirit of book-collecting, which stimulated the
_Secretary_ of the Admiralty at the opening of the 18th century,
should, at the close of it, have operated with equal or greater force
in a _First Lord_ of the same glorious department of our
administration. But we shall speak more fully of this latter
character, and of his matchless collection, in a future stage of our
discussion.
While we are looking round us at this period, we may as well slightly
notice the foundation of the _Blenheim Library_. The DUKE OF
MARLBOROUGH[365] was resolved that no naval commander, or person
connected with the navy, should eclipse himself in the splendour of
book-collecting: but it was to PRINCE EUGENE that Marlborough was
indebted for his taste in this particular; or rather the English
commander was completely bitten with the bibliomaniacal disease in
consequence of seeing Eugene secure rare and magnificent copies of
works, when a city or town was taken: and the German Prince himself
expatiates upon the treasures of his library, with a rapture with
which none but the most thorough-bred bibliomaniacs can ever
adequately sympathise.
[Footnote 365: The LIBRARY AT BLENHEIM is one of the
grandest rooms in Europe. The serpentine sheet of water,
which flows at some little distance, between high banks of
luxuriant and moss-woven grass, and is seen from the
interior, with an overhanging dark wood of oaks, is
sufficient to awaken the finest feelings that ever animated
the breast of a bibliomaniac. The books are select and
curious, as well as numerous; and although they may be
eclipsed, in both these particulars, by a few rival
collections, yet the following specimen is no despicable
proof of the ardour with which MARLBOROUGH, the founder of
the Library, pushed forward his bibliomaniacal spirit. I am
indebted to Mr. Edwards for this interesting list of the
ANCIENT CLASSICS PRINTED UPON VELLUM IN THE BLENHEIM LIBRARY.
Apoll. Rhodius 1496
Augustinus, _de Civ. Dei_ _Spiræ_ 1470
A. Gellius, _Romæ_ 1469
Aug. _de Civ. Dei_ _Jenson_ 1475
Biblia Moguntina 1462
Bonifacii Decretalia 1465
Ciceronis _Rhetorica_ _Jens_ 1470
---- _Epist. Fam._ _Spiræ_ 1469
---- _Officia_ _Mogunt_ 1465
---- ---- 1466
---- _Tuscul. Ques._ _Jenson_ 1472
_Clementis Const._ _Mogunt_ 1460
---- _Fust. s.a._
Durandus 1459
Horatius Landini 1482
---- Epist. 1480
Justinian _Mogunt_ 1468
Lactantius _A Rot_ 1471
Lucian _Florent_ 1496
Petrarca _Spira_ 1470
Plinius _Jenson_ 1472
Quintilian _Campani_ 1470
Sallustius _Spira_ 1470
V. Maximus, s.a.
Virgilius _Spira_ 1470
The present MARQUIS OF BLANDFORD inherits, in no small
degree, the book-collecting spirit of his illustrious
ancestor. He is making collections in those departments of
literature in which the Blenheim Library is comparatively
deficient; and his success has already been such as to lead
us to hope for as perfect a display of volumes printed by
_Caxton_ as there is of those executed by foreign printers.
The Marquis's collection of _Emblems_ is, I believe, nearly
perfect: of these, there are a few elegantly printed
catalogues for private distribution. Lysander, above,
supposes that Marlborough caught the infection of the
_book-disease_ from PRINCE EUGENE; and the supposition is,
perhaps, not very wide of the truth. The library of this
great German prince, which is yet entire, (having been
secured from the pillage of Gallic Vandalism, when a certain
emperor visited a certain city) is the proudest feature in
the public library at Vienna. The books are in very fine old
binding, and, generally of the largest dimensions. And,
indeed, old England has not a little to boast of (at least,
so bibliomaniacs must always think) that, from the recently
published _Memoirs of Eugene_ (1811, 8vo., p. 185), it would
appear that the prince "bought his fine editions of books AT
LONDON:"--he speaks also of his "excellent French, Latin,
and Italian works, well bound"--as if he enjoyed the
"arrangment" of _them_, as much as the contemplation of his
"cascades, large water-spouts, and superb basins." _Ibid._
Whether Eugene himself was suddenly inflamed with the ardour
of buying books, from some lucky spoils in the pillaging of
towns--as Lysander supposes--is a point which may yet admit
of fair controversy. For my own part, I suspect the German
commander had been straying, in his early manhood, among the
fine libraries in _Italy_, where he might have seen the
following exquisite _bijous_--
_In St. Mark's, at Venice._
Apuleius 1469 }
Aulus Gellius 1469 } PRINTED UPON VELLUM.
Petrarca 1479 }
_In the Chapter House at Padua._
Ciceronis _Epist. ad Atticum_ _Jenson_ 1470 }
Quintilian _Jenson_ 1471 }
Macrobius 1472 }
Solinus _Jenson_ 1473 } PRINTED UPON VELLUM.
Catullus 1472 }
Plautus 1472 }
Ovidii Opera _Bonon._ 1471 }
The public is indebted to Mr. Edwards for the timely supply
of the foregoing bibliographical intelligence.]
Ever ardent in his love of past learning, and not less voracious in
his bibliomaniacal appetites, was the well known NARCISSUS LUTTRELL.
Nothing--if we may judge from the spirited sketch of his book
character, by the able editor[366] of Dryden's works--nothing would
seem to have escaped his Lynx-like vigilance. Let the object be what
it would (especially if it related to _poetry_) let the volume be
great or small, or contain good, bad, or indifferent warblings of the
muse--his insatiable craving had "stomach for them all." We may
consider his collection as the fountain head of those copious streams
which, after fructifying the libraries of many bibliomaniacs in the
first half of the eighteenth century, settled, for a while, more
determinedly, in the curious book-reservoir of a Mr. WYNNE--and hence,
breaking up, and taking a different direction towards the collections
of Farmer, Steevens, and others, they have almost lost their identity
in the innumerable rivulets which now inundate the book-world.
[Footnote 366: "In this last part of his task, the editor
(Walter Scott) has been greatly assisted by free access to a
valuable collection of fugitive pieces of the reigns of
Charles II., James II., William III., and Queen Anne. This
curious collection was made by NARCISSUS LUTTRELL, Esq.,
under whose name the Editor usually quotes it. The
industrious collector seems to have bought every poetical
tract, of whatever merit, which was hawked through the
streets in his time, marking carefully the price and date of
the purchase. His collection contains the earliest editions
of many of our most excellent poems, bound up, according to
the order of time, with the lowest trash of Grub-street. It
was dispersed on Mr. Luttrell's death," &c. Preface to _The
Works of John Dryden_, 1808: vol. i., p. iv. Mr. James
Bindley and Mr. Richard Heber are then mentioned, by the
editor, as having obtained a great share of the Luttrell
collection, and liberally furnished him with the loan of the
same, in order to the more perfect editing of Dryden's
Works. But it is to the persevering book-spirit of Mr.
EDWARD WYNNE, as Lysander above intimates, that these
notorious modern bibliomaniacs are indebted for the
preservation of most of the choicest relics of the
_Bibliotheca Luttrelliana_. Mr. Wynne lived at Little
Chelsea; and built his library in a room which had the
reputation of having been LOCKE'S _study_. Here he used to
sit, surrounded by innumerable books--a "great part being
formed by an eminent and curious collector in the last
century"--viz. the aforesaid Narcissus Luttrell. (See the
title to the Catalogue of his Library.) His books were sold
by auction in 1786; and, that the reader may have some faint
idea of the treasures contained in the _Bibliotheca
Wynniana_, he is presented with the following extracts:
LOT 2 A parcel of pamphlets on poetry, 8vo. £2 0_s._ 0_d._
3 Do. Tragedies and Comedies, 4to. and 8vo. 3 13 6
4 Do. Historical and Miscellaneous, 4to. and 8vo. 1 1 0
5 Poetical, Historical, and Miscellaneous, folio 1 4 0
11 Do. giving an account of horrid Murders, Storms,
Prodigies, Tempests, Witchcraft, Ghosts, Earthquakes, &c.,
_with frontispieces_ and _cuts_, 4to. and 8vo. 1606 1 14 0
12 Do. Historical and Political, English and Foreign, from
1580 to 1707 2 0 0
13 Do. consisting of Petitions, Remonstrances, Declarations,
and other political matters, from 1638 to 1660, during the
great Rebellion, and the whole of the Protectorate: _a very
large parcel, many of them with cuts_. Purchased by the
present Marquis of Bute 7 7 0
14 Do. of single sheets, giving an account of the various
sieges in Ireland in 1695-6; and consisting likewise of
Elegies, Old Ballads, accounts of Murders, Storms, Political
Squibs, &c. &c., _many of them with curious plates_, from
1695 to 1706. Purchased by the same 6 16 6
Lots 23-4 comprised a great number of "_Old Poetry and
Romances_," which were purchased by Mr. Baynes for 7_l._
9_s._ Lot 376 comprehended a "_Collection of Old
Plays--Gascoigne, White, Windet, Decker, &c._," 21 vols.:
which were sold for 38_l._ 17_s._ Never, to be sure, was a
precious collection of English History and Poetry so
wretchedly detailed to the public, in an auction catalogue!
It should be noticed that a great number of poetical tracts
was disposed of, previous to the sale, to Dr. FARMER, who
gave not more than forty guineas for them. The Doctor was
also a determined purchaser at the sale, and I think the
ingenious Mr. Waldron aided the illustrious commentator of
Shakspeare with many a choice volume. It may be worth adding
that Wynne was the author of an elegant work, written in the
form of dialogues, entitled _Eunomus_, or _Discourses upon
the Laws of England_, 4 vols., 8vo. It happened to be
published at the time when Sir William Blackstone's
_Commentaries on the Laws of England_ made their appearance;
and, in consequence, has seen only three editions: the
latter being published in 1809, 2 vols., 8vo.]
Why have I delayed, to the present moment, the mention of that
illustrious bibliomaniac, EARL PEMBROKE? a patron of poor scholars,
and a connoisseur, as well as collector, of every thing the most
precious and rare in the book-way. Yet was his love of _Virtû_ not
confined to objects in the shape of volumes, whether printed or in
MS.: his knowledge of statues and coins was profound;[367] and his
collection of these, such as to have secured for him the admiration
of posterity.
[Footnote 367:
[Illustration]
The reader will find an animated eulogy on this great
nobleman in Walpole's _Anecdotes of Painters_, vol. iv.,
227; part of which was transcribed by Joseph Warton for his
variorum edition of Pope's works, and thence copied into the
recent edition of the same by the Rev. W.L. Bowles. But
PEMBROKE deserved a more particular notice. Exclusively of
his fine statues and architectural decorations, the Earl
contrived to procure a great number of curious and rare
books; and the testimonies of Maittaire (who speaks indeed
of him with a sort of rapture!) and Palmer show that the
productions of Jenson and Caxton were no strangers to his
library. _Annales Typographici_, vol. i., 13. edit. 1719.
_History of Printing_, p. 5. "There is nothing that so
surely proves the pre-eminence of virtue more than the
universal admiration of mankind, and the respect paid it by
persons in opposite interests; and, more than this, it is a
sparkling gem which even time does not destroy: it is hung
up in the Temple of Fame, and respected for ever."
_Continuation of Granger_, vol. i., 37, &c. "He raised
(continues Mr. Noble) a collection of antiques that were
unrivalled by any subject. His learning made him a fit
companion for the literati. Wilton will ever be a monument
of his extensive knowledge; and the princely presents it
contains, of the high estimation in which he was held by
foreign potentates, as well as by the many monarchs he saw
and served at home. He lived rather as a primitive
christian; in his behaviour, meek; in his dress, plain:
rather retired, conversing but little." Burnet, in the
_History of his own Times_, has spoken of the Earl with
spirit and propriety. Thus far the first edition of the
Bibliomania. From an original MS. letter of Anstis to Ames
(in the possession of Mr. John Nichols) I insert the
following memoranda, concerning the book celebrity of Lord
Pembroke. "I had the book of Juliana Barnes (says Anstis)
printed at St. Albans, 1486, about hunting, which was
afterwards reprinted by W. de Worde at Westminster,
1496--but the EARL OF PEMBROKE would not rest till he got it
from me." From a letter to Lewis (the biographer of Caxton)
by the same person, dated Oct. 11, 1737, Anstis says that
"the Earl of Pembroke would not suffer him to rest till he
had presented it to him." He says also that "he had a later
edition of the same, printed in 1496, _on parchment_, by W.
de Worde, which he had given away: but he could send to the
person who had it." From another letter, dated May 8, 1740,
this "person" turns out to be the famous JOHN MURRAY; to
whom we are shortly to be introduced. The copy, however, is
said to be "imperfect; but the St. Albans book, a fair
folio." In this letter, Lord Pembroke's library is said to
hold "the greatest collection of the first books printed in
England." Perhaps the reader will not be displeased to be
informed that in the _Antiquities of Glastonbury_, published
by Hearne, 1722, p. LVIII, there is a medal, with the
reverse, of one of the Earl's ancestors in Queen Elizabeth's
time, which had escaped Evelyn. It was lent to Hearne by Sir
Philip Sydenham, who was at the expense of having the plate
engraved.]
While this nobleman was the general theme of literary praise there
lived a _Bibliomaniacal Triumvirate_ of the names of BAGFORD, MURRAY,
and HEARNE: a triumvirate, perhaps not equalled, in the mere love of
book-collecting, by that which we mentioned a short time ago. At the
head, and the survivor of these three,[368] was Thomas Hearne; who,
if I well remember, has been thus described by Pope, in his Dunciad,
under the character of Wormius:
But who is he, in closet close ypent,
Of sober face, with learned dust besprent?
Right well mine eyes arede the myster wight,
On parchment scraps y-fed, and WORMIUS hight.
[Footnote 368: The former bibliomaniacal triumvirate is
noticed at p. 217, ante. We will now discuss the merits of
the above, _seriatim_. And first of JOHN BAGFORD, "by
profession a bookseller; who frequently travelled into
Holland and other parts, in search of scarce books and
valuable prints, and brought a vast number into this
kingdom, the greater part of which were purchased by the
Earl of Oxford. He had been in his younger days a shoemaker;
and for the many curiosities wherewith he enriched the
famous library of Dr. John More, Bishop of Ely, his Lordship
got him admitted into the Charter House. He died in 1716,
aged 65; after his death, Lord Oxford purchased all his
collections and papers for his library: these are now in the
Harleian collection in the British Museum. In 1707 were
published, in the Philosophical transactions, his Proposals
for a General History of Printing."--Bowyer and Nichol's
_Origin of Printing_, pp. 164, 189, note. It has been my
fortune (whether good or bad remains to be proved) not only
to transcribe, and cause to be reprinted, the slender
Memorial of Printing in the Philosophical Transactions,
drawn up by Wanley for Bagford, but to wade through
_forty-two_ folio volumes, in which Bagford's materials for
a History of Printing are incorporated, in the British
Museum: and from these, I think I have furnished myself with
a pretty correct notion of the collector of them. Bagford
was the most hungry and rapacious of all book and print
collectors; and, in his ravages, he spared neither the most
delicate nor costly specimens. He seems always to have
expressed his astonishment at the most common productions;
and his paper in the Philosophical Transactions betrays such
simplicity and ignorance that one is astonished how my Lord
Oxford, and the learned Bishop of Ely, could have employed
so credulous a bibliographical forager. A modern collector
and lover of _perfect_ copies, will witness, with
shuddering, among Bagford's immense collection of
title-pages in the Museum, the frontispieces of the
Complutensian Polyglot, and Chauncy's History of
Hertfordshire, torn out to illustrate a History of Printing.
His enthusiasm, however, carried him through a great deal of
laborious toil; and he supplied in some measure, by this
qualification, the want of other attainments. His whole mind
was devoted to book-hunting; and his integrity and diligence
probably made his employers overlook his many failings. His
handwriting is scarcely legible, and his orthography is
still more wretched; but if he was ignorant, he was humble,
zealous, and grateful; and he has certainly done something
towards the accomplishment of that desirable object, an
accurate GENERAL HISTORY OF PRINTING. The preceding was
inserted in the _first edition_ of this work. It is
incumbent on me to say something more, and less declamatory,
of so extraordinary a character; and as my sources of
information are such as do not fall into the hands of the
majority of readers, I trust the prolixity of what follows,
appertaining to the aforesaid renowned bibliomaniac, will be
pardoned--at least by the lover of curious biographical
memoranda. My old friend, Tom Hearne, is my chief authority.
In the preface to that very scarce, but rather curious than
valuable, work, entitled _Guil. Roper Vita D. Thomæ Mori_,
1716, 8vo., we have the following brief notice of Bagford:
§. ix. "Epistolas et Orationes excipit Anonymi Scriptoris
chronicon; quod idcirco Godstovianum appellare visum est,
quia in illud forte fortuna inciderim, quum, anno MDCCXV.
una cum JOANNÆ BAGFORDIO, amico egregio ad rudera Prioratûs
de Godstowe juxta Oxoniam animi recreandi gratia,
perambularem. De illo vero me prius certiorem fecerat ipse
Bagfordius, qui magno cum nostro moerore paullo post
Londini obiit, die nimirum quinto Maij anno MDCCXVI. quum
jam annum ætatis sexagessimum quintum inplerisset, ut è
litteris intelligo amici ingenio et humanitate ornati
Jacobei Sothebeii, junioris, qui, si quis alius, è
familiaribus erat Bagfordii. Virum enimvero ideo mihi quam
maxime hâc occasione lugendum est, quod amicum probitate et
modestia præditum amiserim, virumque cum primis diligentem
et peritum intercidisse tam certum sit quam quod
certissimum. Quamvis enim artes liberales nunquam
didicisset, vi tamen ingenii ductus, eruditus plane evasit;
et, ut quod verum est dicam, incredibile est quam feliciter
res abstrusas in historiis veteribus explicaverit, nodosque
paullo difficiliores ad artis typographicæ incunabula
spectantes solverit et expedierit. Expertus novi quod
scribo. Quotiescunque enim ipsum consului (et quidem id
sæpissime faciendum erat) perpetuo mihi aliter atque
exspectaveram satisfecit, observationis itidem nonnunquam
tales addens, quales antea neque mihi neque viris longe
doctioribus in mentem venerant. Quidni itaque virum magnum
fuisse pronunciarem, præcipue quum nostra sententia illi
soli magni sint censendi, qui recte agant, et sint vere boni
et virtute præditi?"--_Præf._ pp. xxi., ii. In Hearne's
perface [Transcriber's Note: preface] to _Walter
Hemingford's_ history, Bagford is again briefly introduced:
"At vero in hoc genere fragmenta colligendi omnes quidem
alios (quantum ego existimare possum) facile superavit
JOANNES BAGFORDIUS, de quo apud Hemingum, &c. Incredibile
est, quanta usus sit diligentia in laciniis veteribus
coacervandis. Imo in hoc labore quidem tantum versari
exoptabat quantum potuit, tantum autem re vera versabatur,
quantum ingenio (nam divino sane fruebatur) quantum mediocri
doctrina (nam neque ingenue, neque liberaliter, unquam fuit
educatus) quantum usu valuit," p. ciii. The reader here
finds a reference to what is said of Bagford, in the
_Hemingi Wigornensis Chartularium_; which, though copious,
is really curious and entertaining, and is forthwith
submitted to his consideration. "It was therefore very
laudable in my friend, Mr. J. BAGFORD (who I think was born
in Fetter-lane, London) to employ so much of his time as he
did in collecting remains of antiquity. Indeed he was a man
of a very surprising genius, and had his education (for he
was first a shoe-maker, and afterwards for some time a
book-seller) been equal to his natural genius, he would have
proved a much greater man than he was. And yet, without this
education, he was certainly the greatest man in the world in
his way. I do not hear of any monument erected to his
memory, but 'twas not without reason that a worthy
gentleman, now living in London, designed the following
epitaph for him:
Hic. Sitvs. JOANNES. BAGFORDIVS.
Antiquarivs. Penitvs. Britannvs.
Cujvs. Nuda. Solertia. Aliorvm.
Vicit. Operosam. Diligentiam.
Obiit. Maii. v. A.D. M.DCC.XVI.
Ætatis [LXV.]
Viri. Simplicis. Et. Sine. Fvco.
Memoria. Ne. Periret.
Hunc. Lapidem. Posvit....
"'Tis very remarkable that, in collecting, his care did not
extend itself to books and to fragments of books only; but
even to the very _Covers_, and to _Bosses_ and _Clasps_; and
all this that he might, with greater ease, compile the
History of Printing, which he had undertaken, but did not
finish. In this noble work he intended a Discourse about
_Binding Books_ (in which he might have improved what I have
said elsewhere about the ancient Æstels) and another about
the _Art of making Paper_, in both which his observations
were very accurate. Nay, his skill _in paper_ was so
exquisite that, at first view, he could tell the place
where, and the time when, any paper was made, though at
never so many years' distance. I well remember that, when I
was reading over a famous book of collections (written by
John Lawerne, Monk of Worcester, and now preserved) in the
Bodleian Library, Mr. Bagford came to me (as he would often
come thither on purpose to converse with me about
curiosities) and that he had no sooner seen the book, but he
presently described the time when, and the place where, the
paper of which it consists, was made. He was indefatigable
in his searches, and was so ambitious of seeing what he had
heard of, relating to his noble design, that he had made
several journies into Holland to see the famous books there.
Nor was he less thirsty after other antiquities, but, like
old John Stow, was for seeing himself, if possible (although
he travelled on foot), what had been related to him.
Insomuch that I cannot doubt, but were he now living, he
would have expressed a very longing desire of going to
Worcester, were it for no other reason but to be better
satisfied about the famous monumental stones mentioned by
Heming (_Chart, Wigorn._, p. 342), as he often declared a
most earnest desire of walking with me (though I was
diverted from going) to Guy's Cliff by Warwick, when I was
printing that most rare book called, _Joannis Rossi
Antiquarii Warwicensis Historia Regum Angliæ_. And I am apt
to think that he would have shewed as hearty an inclination
of going to Stening in Sussex, that being the place
(according to Asser's Life of Ælfred the Great) where K.
Ethelwulph (father of K. Alfred) was buried, though others
say it was at Winchester," &c. "Mr. BAGFORD was as
communicative as he was knowing: so that some of the chief
curiosities in some of our best libraries are owing to him;
for which reason it was that the late _Bishop of Ely_, Dr.
MORE (who received so much from him), as an instance of
gratitude, procured him a place in the Charter-House. I wish
all places were as well bestowed. For as Mr. Bagford was,
without all dispute, a very worthy man, so, being a despiser
of money, he had not provided for the necessities of old
age. He never looked upon those as true philosophers that
aimed at heaping up riches, and, in that point, could never
commend that otherwise great man, Seneca, who had about two
hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling, at use in
Britain; the loan whereof had been thrust upon the Britains,
whether they would or no. He would rather extol such men as
a certain rector near Oxford, whose will is thus put down in
writing, by Richard Kedermister, the last abbot but one of
Winchcomb (_Leland Collect._ vol. vi., 168), in the margin
of a book (I lately purchased) called _Hieronymi Cardinalis
Vitas Patrum_, Lugd. MCCCCCII. 4to. Nihil habeo, nihil
debeo, benedicamus Domino. Testamentum cujusdam rectoris,
juxta Oxoniam decedentis circiter annum salutis, 1520." "Nor
was Mr. Bagford versed only in our own old writers, but in
those likewise of other countries, particularly the Roman.
His skill in that part of the Roman history that immediately
relates to Britain is sufficiently evident from his curious
letter, printed at the beginning of Leland's Collectanea.
That he might be the better acquainted with the Roman
stations, and the several motions of the soldiers from one
place to another, he used to pick up coins, and would, upon
occasion, discourse handsomely, and very pertinently, about
them; yet he would keep none, but would give them to his
friends, telling them (for he was exemplarily modest and
humble) that he had neither learning nor sagacity enough to
explain and illustrate them, and that therefore it was more
proper they should be in the possession of some able
persons. He would have done any thing to retrieve a Roman
author, and would have given any price for so much as a
single fragment (not yet discovered) of the learned
commentaries, written by Agrippina, mother to Nero, touching
the fortunes of her house, which are (as I much fear) now
utterly lost, excepting the fragment or two cited out of
them by Pliny the elder and Cornelius Tacitus; as he would
also have stuck at no price for a grammar _printed at
Tavistock_, commonly called =The long Grammar=. When he went
abroad he was never idle, but if he could not meet with
things of a better character, he would divert himself with
looking over _Ballads_, and he was always mightily pleased
if he met with any that were old. Anthony à Wood made good
collections, with respect to ballads, but he was far outdone
by Mr. Bagford. Our modern ballads are, for the most part,
romantic; but the old ones contain matters of fact, and were
generally written by good scholars. In these old ones were
couched the transactions of our great heroes: they were a
sort of Chronicles. So that the wise founder of New College
permitted them to be sung, by the fellows of that college,
upon extraordinary days. In those times, the poets thought
they had done their duty when they had observed truth, and
put the accounts they undertook to write, into rhythm,
without extravagantly indulging their fancies. Nobody knew
this better than Mr. Bagford; for which reason he always
seemed almost ravished when he happened to light upon old
rhythms, though they might not, perhaps, be so properly
ranged under the title of ballads," &c., pp. 656-663. Being
unable to furnish a portrait of Bagford (although I took
some little trouble to procure one) I hope the reader--if
his patience be not quite exhausted--will endeavour to
console himself, in lieu thereof, with a specimen of
Bagford's epistolary composition; which I have faithfully
copied from the original among the _Sloanian MSS._, no.
4036, in the British Museum. It is written to Sir Hans
Sloane.
_From my Lodgings_, July 24, 1704.
WORTHY SIR,
Since you honoured me with your good company for seeing
printing and card-making, I thought it my duty to explain
myself to you per letter on this subject. Till you had seen
the whole process of card-making, I thought I could not so
well represent it unto you by writing--for this I take to be
the first manner of printing. In this short discouse
[Transcriber's Note: discourse] I have explained myself when
I design to treat of it in the famous subject of the Art of
Printing. It hath been the labour of several years past, and
if now I shall have assistance to midwife it into the world,
I shall be well satisfied for the sake of the curious. For
these 10 years past I have spared no cost in collecting
books on this subject, and likewise drafts of the effigies
of our famous printers, with other designs that will be
needful on this subject. If this short account of the design
of the whole shall give you any satisfaction, I shall esteem
my pains well bestowed. Hitherto, I have met with no
encouragement but from three reverend gentlemen of Bennet
College in Cambridge, who generously, of their own accord,
gave me 10 pound each, which is all I ever received of any
person whatsoever. It may indeed be imputed to my own
neglect, in not acquainting the learned with my design, but
modesty still keeps me silent. I hope your goodness will
pardon my impertinence. I shall be ready at all times to
give you any satisfaction you desire on this subject, who
am,
Honoured Sir,
Your most humble Servant to command,
JO. BAGFORD.
_For the Worthy Sir Hans Slone_ [Transcriber's Note:
Sloane].
And now it only remains to close the whole of this
BAGFORDIANA by the following unique communication. One of
Bagford's friends sent him this letter with the subjoined
device:--"_For my Lovinge friend Mr. Jno. Bagford._--You
having shewed me so many rebuses, as I was returning home, I
thought of one for you--a bagge, and below that, a fourd or
passable water." (_Harl. MS._, no. 5910.)
[Illustration]
I wish it were in my power to collect information, equally
acceptable with the foregoing, respecting the above-named
JOHN MURRAY; but Hearne, who was his intimate friend, has
been very sparing in his anecdotes of him, having left us
but a few desultory notices, written chiefly in the Latin
language. The earliest mention of him that I find is the
following: "Verum illud præcipue mentionem meretur, quod
mutuo accepi, schedula una et altera jam excusa, á JOANNE
MURARIO Londinensi, rei antiquariæ perscrutatore diligenti,
cui eo nomine gratias ago." "Denique subdidi descriptionem
fenestrarum depictarum ecclesiæ parochialis de Fairford in
agro Glocestriensi, è schedula quam mutuo sumpsi ab amico
supra laudato Johanne Murrario, qui per literas etiam
certiorem me fecit è codice quodam vetusto MS. fuisse
extractum. Neque dubito quin hic idem fuerit Codex quem olim
in ecclesia de Fairford adservatum surripuisse nebulonem
quempiam mihi significavit ecclesiæ ædituus, vir simplex,
necnon ætate et scientia venerandus." Præf: p. XXII. _Guil.
Roperi Vita Thomæ Mori_, 1716, 8vo., edit. Hearne. There is
another slight mention of Murray, by Hearne, in the latter's
edition of _Thom. Caii. Vindic. Antiq. Acad. Oxon_, vol.
ii., 803-4--where he discourses largely upon the former's
copy of _Rastel's Pastyme of People_: a book which will be
noticed by me very fully on a future occasion. At present,
it may suffice to observe that a perfect copy of it is
probably the rarest English book in existence. There is a
curious copper plate print of Murray, by Vertue, in which
our bibliomaniac's right arm is resting upon some books
entitled "_Hearne's Works, Sessions Papers, Tryals of
Witches_." Beneath is this inscription:
_Hoh Maister John Murray of Sacomb,
The Works of old Time to collect was his pride,
Till Oblivion dreaded his Care:
Regardless of Friends, intestate he dy'd,
So the Rooks and the Crows were his Heir._
G.N.
Of the above-mentioned THOMAS BRITTON, I am enabled to
present a very curious and interesting account, from a work
published by Hearne, of no very ordinary occurrence, and in
the very words of Hearne himself. It is quite an unique
picture. "Before I dismiss this subject, I must beg leave to
mention, and to give a short account of, one that was
intimately acquainted with Mr. Bagford, and was also a great
man, though of but ordinary education. The person I mean is
Mr. THOS. BRITTON, the famous _Musical Small Coal Man_, who
was born at or near Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire.
Thence he went to London, where he bound himself apprentice
to a small coal man in St. John Baptist's Street. After he
had served his full time of seven years, his master gave him
a sum of money not to set up. Upon this, Tom went into
Northamptonshire again, and after he had spent his money, he
returned again to London, set up the _small coal trade_
(notwithstanding his master was still living) and withall,
he took a stable, and turned it into a house, which stood
the next door to the little gate of St. John's of Jerusalem,
next Clerkenwell Green. Some time after he had settled here,
he became acquainted with Dr. Garenciers, his near
neighbour, by which means he became an excellent chymist,
and perhaps, he performed such things in that profession, as
had never been done before, with little cost and charge, by
the help of a moving elaboratory, that was contrived and
built by himself, which was much admired by all of that
faculty that happened to see it; insomuch that a certain
gentleman in Wales was so much taken with it that he was at
the expense of carrying him down into that country, on
purpose to build him such another, which Tom performed to
the gentleman's very great satisfaction, and for the same he
received of him a very handsome and generous gratuity.
Besides his great skill in chymistry, he was as famous for
his knowledge in the _Theory of Music_; in the practical
part of which Faculty he was likewise very considerable. He
was so much addicted to it that he pricked with his own hand
(very neatly and accurately), and left behind him, a
valuable collection of music, mostly pricked by himself,
which was sold upon his death for near a hundred pounds. Not
to mention the excellent collection of PRINTED BOOKS, that
he also left behind him, both of chemistry and music.
Besides these books that he left behind him, he had, some
years before his death, sold by auction a _noble collection
of books_, most of them in the _Rosacrucian Faculty_ (of
which he was a great admirer): whereof there is a printed
catalogue extant (as there is of those that were sold after
his death), which I have often looked over with no small
surprize and wonder, and particularly for the great number
of MSS. in the before mentioned faculties that are specified
in it. He had, moreover, a considerable collection of
musical instruments, which were sold for fourscore pounds
upon his death, which happened in September 1714, being
upwards of threescore years of age; and (he) lyes buried in
the church-yard of Clerkenwell, without monument or
inscription: being attended to his grave, in a very solemn
and decent manner, by a great concourse of people,
especially of such as frequented the Musical club, that was
kept up for many years at his own charges (he being a man of
a very generous and liberal spirit) at his own little cell.
He appears by the print of him (done since his death) to
have been a man of an ingenuous countenance and of a
sprightly temper. It also represents him as a comely person,
as indeed he was; and withal, there is a modesty expressed
in it every way agreeable to him. Under it are these verses,
which may serve instead of an epitaph:
Tho' mean thy rank, yet in thy humble cell
Did gentle peace and arts unpurchas'd dwell;
Well pleas'd Apollo thither led his train,
And music warbled in her sweetest strain.
Cyllenius, so, as fables tell, and Jove,
Came willing guests to poor PHILEMON'S grove.
Let useless pomp behold, and blush to find
So low a station, such a liberal mind.
In short, he was an extraordinary and very valuable man,
much admired by the gentry; even those of the best quality,
and by all others of the more inferior rank, that had any
manner of regard for probity, sagacity, diligence, and
humility. I say humility, because, though he was so much
famed for his knowledge, and might, therefore, have lived
very reputably without his trade, yet he continued it to his
death, not thinking it to be at all beneath him. Mr. BAGFORD
and he used frequently to converse together, and when they
met _they seldom parted very soon_. Their conversation was
very often about OLD MSS. and the havock made of them. They
both agreed to retrieve what fragments of antiquity they
could, and, upon that occasion, they would frequently divert
themselves in talking of OLD CHRONICLES, which both loved to
read, though, among our more late Chronicles printed in
English, Isaackson's was what they chiefly preferred for a
general knowledge of things; a book which was much esteemed
also by those two eminent Chronologers, Bishop Lloyd and Mr.
Dodwell. By the way, I cannot but observe that Isaackson's
Chronicle is really, for the most part, Bishop Andrews's;
Isaackson being amanuensis to the bishop." _Hemingi
Chartular. Eccles. Wigornien._, vol. ii., 666-9, Edit.
Hearne. See also, _Robert of Glocester's Chronicle_, vol.
i., p. LXXII. We will close our account of this perfectly
_unique_ bibliomaniac by subjoining the title of the
_Catalogue of his Books_; for which I am indebted to the
ever-active and friendly assistance of Mr. Heber. The volume
is so rare that the late Mr. Reed told Mr. H. he had never
seen another copy: but another has recently been sold, and
is now in the curious collection of Mr. R. Baker. "The
Library of Mr. THOMAS BRITTON, Small-coal man, Deceas'd:
who, at his own charge, kept up a Concort of Musick above 40
years, in his little Cottage. Being a curious Collection of
every Ancient and Uncommon book in Divinity, History,
Physick, Chemistry, Magick, &c. Also a Collection of MSS.
chiefly on vellum. _Which will be sold by auction at Paul's
Coffee House, &c., the 24th day of January, 1714-15, at Five
in the Evening._ By Thomas Ballard, Esq., 8vo., p. 30.
Containing 102 articles in folio--274 in 4to.--664 in
octavo--50 pamphlets--and 23 MSS." A few of the works, in
octavo, were sufficiently amatory. The third and last
character above mentioned, as making this illustrious
bibliomaniacal triumvirate complete, is THOMAS HEARNE. That
Pope, in the verses which Lysander has quoted, meant this
distinguished antiquary seems hardly to be questioned; and
one wonders at the Jesuitical note of Warburton, in striving
to blow the fumes of the poet's satire into a different
direction. They must settle upon poor Hearne's head: for
WANLEY'S antiquarian talents were equally beyond the touch
of satire and the criticism of the satirist. Warton has,
accordingly, admitted that HEARNE was represented under the
character of WORMIUS; and he defends the character of Hearne
very justly against the censures of Pope. His eulogy will be
presently submitted to the reader. Gibbon, in his
_Posthumous Works_, vol. ii., 711, has aimed a deadly blow
at the literary reputation of Hearne; and an admirer of this
critic and historian, as well as an excellent judge of
antiquarian pursuits, has followed up Gibbon's mode of
attack in a yet more merciless manner. He calls him "Thomas
Hearne, of black-letter memory, _carbone notandus_"--"a
weaker man (says he) never existed, as his prefaces, so
called, lamentably show." He continues in this hard-hearted
strain: but I have too much humanity to make further
extracts. He admits, however, the utility of most of
Hearne's publications--"of which he was forced to publish a
few copies, at an extravagant subscription." The remarks of
this (anonymous) writer, upon the neglect of the cultivation
of ENGLISH HISTORY, and upon the want of valuable editions
of OUR OLD HISTORIANS, are but too just, and cannot be too
attentively perused. See _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. 58,
pt. 1, 196-8 (A.D. 1788). Thus far in deterioration of poor
Hearne's literary fame. Let us now listen to writers of a
more courteous strain of observation. Prefixed to Tanner's
_Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica_, there is a preface, of
which Dr. Wilkins is the reputed author. The whole of
Hearne's publications are herein somewhat minutely
criticised, and their merits and demerits slightly
discussed. It is difficult to collect the critic's summary
opinion upon Hearne's editorial labours; but he concludes
thus: "Quia autem leporis est mortuis insultare leonibus,
cineres celeberrimi hujus et olim mihi amicissimi viri
turbare, neutiquam in animum inducere possum," p. xlvii. Mr.
Gough, in his _British Topography_, vol. ii., p. 579, calls
Hearne an "acute observer;" but, unluckily, the subject to
which the reader's attention is here directed discovers our
antiquary to have been in error. J. Warton, in the passage
before alluded to, observes: "In consideration of the many
very accurate and very elegant editions which Hearne
published of our valuable old chronicles, which shed such a
light on English history, he (Hearne) ought not to have been
so severely lashed as in these bitter lines," (quoted in the
text, p. 327, ante) _Pope's Works_, edit. Bowles; vol. v.,
232. Let the reader consult also Dr. Pegge's _Anonymiana_,
in the passages referred to, in the truly valuable index
attached to it, concerning Hearne. Thus much, I submit, may
be fairly said of our antiquary's labours. That the greater
part of them are truly useful, and absolutely necessary for
a philological library, must on all sides be admitted. I
will mention only the _Chronicles of Langtoft and Robert of
Gloucester_; _Adam de Domerham, de rebus Glastoniensibus_;
_Gulielmus Neubrigensis_; _Forduni Scotichronicon_; and all
his volumes appertaining to _Regal Biography_:--these are,
surely, publications of no mean importance. Hearne's
prefaces and appendices are gossiping enough; sometimes,
however, they repay the labour of perusal by curious and
unlooked-for intelligence. Yet it must be allowed that no
literary cook ever enriched his dishes with such little
piquant sauce, as did Hearne: I speak only of their
_intrinsic_ value, for they had a very respectable
exterior--what Winstanley says of Ogilvey's publications
being, applicable enough to Hearne's;--they were printed on
"special good paper, and in a very good letter." We will now
say a few words relative to Hearne's habits of study and
living--taken from his own testimony. In the preface
prefixed to _Roper's Life of Sir Thomas More_, p. xix.
(edit. 1716), he describes himself "as leading the life of
an ascetic." In the preface to the _Annals of Dunstable
Priory_, his bibliographical diligence is evinced by his
saying he had "turned over every volume in the Bodleian
Library." In one of his prefaces (to which I am not able
just now to refer) he declares that he was born--like our
British tars--"for action:" and indeed his activity was
sufficiently demonstrated; for sometimes he would set about
transcribing for the press papers which had just been put
into his hands. Thus, in the _Antiquities of Glastonbury_,
p. 326, he writes, "the two following old evidences were
lent me _to-day_ by my friend the Hon. Benedict Leonard
Calvert, Esq." His excessive regard to fidelity of
transcription is, among many other evidences that may be
brought forward, attested in the following passage: "Have
taken particular care (saith Mr. Harcourt, in his letter to
me from Aukenvyke, Sep. 25, 1734) in the copying; well
knowing your exactness." _Benedict Abbas_, vol ii., 870. But
this servility of transcription was frequently the cause of
multiplying, by propagating, errors. If Hearne had seen the
word "faith" thus disjointed--"fay the"--he would have
adhered to this error, for "faythe." As indeed he has
committed a similar one, in the _Battle of Agincourt_, in
the appendix to Thomas de Elmham: for he writes "breth
reneverichone"--instead of "brethren everichone"--as Mr.
Evans has properly printed it, in his recent edition of his
father's _Collection of Old Ballads_, vol. ii., 334. But
this may be thought trifling. It is certainly not here meant
to justify capriciousness of copying; but surely an obvious
corruption of reading may be restored to its genuine state:
unless, indeed, we are resolved to consider antiquity and
perfection as synonymous terms. But there are some traits in
Hearne's character which must make us forgive and forget
this blind adherence to the errors of antiquity. He was so
warm a lover of every thing in the shape of a BOOK that, in
the preface to _Alured of Beverley_, pp. v. vi., he says
that he jumped almost out of his skin for joy, on reading a
certain MS. which Thomas Rawlinson sent to him ("vix credi
potest qua voluptate, qua animi alacritate, perlegerim,"
&c.). Similar feelings possessed him on a like occasion:
"When the pious author (of the _Antiquities of Glastonbury_)
first put it (the MS.) into my hands, I read it over with as
much delight as I have done anything whatsoever upon the
subject of antiquity, and I was earnest with him to print
it," p. lxxviii. Hearne's horror of book-devastations is
expressed upon a variety of occasions: and what will
reconcile him to a great portion of _modern_ readers--and
especially of those who condescend to read this account of
him--his attachment to the black-letter was marvelously
enthusiastic! Witness his pathetic appeal to the English
nation, in the 26th section of his preface to _Robert of
Gloucester's Chronicle_, where he almost predicts the
extinction of "right good" literature, on the disappearance
of the _black-letter_! And here let us draw towards the
close of these HEARNEANA, by contemplating a wood-cut
portrait of this illustrious Bibliomaniac; concerning whose
life and works the reader should peruse the well-known
volumes published at Oxford in 1772, 8vo.: containing the
biographical memoirs of Leland, Bale, Hearne, and Wood.
[Illustration: OBIIT MDCCXXXV: ÆTATIS SUÆ LVII.
_Deut. xxxii: 7. Remember the days of old._]
The library of Hearne was sold in February, 1736, by Osborne
the book-seller; "the lowest price being marked in each
book." The title-page informs us of what all bibliomaniacs
will be disposed to admit the truth, that the collection
contained "a very great variety of uncommon books, and
scarce ever to be met withal," &c. There is, at bottom, a
small wretched portrait of Hearne, with this well known
couplet subjoined:
Pox on't quoth _Time_ to _Thomas Hearne_,
Whatever I _forget_ you learn.
Let the modern collector of Chronicles turn his eye towards
the 15th page of this catalogue--nos. 384, 390--and see
what "compleat and very fair" copies of these treasures were
incorporated in Hearne's extensive library!]
A little volume of book chit-chat might be written upon the marvellous
discovesies [Transcriber's Note: discoveries] and voluminous
compilations of Bagford and Hearne: and to these, we may add another
_unique_ bibliomaniac, who will go down to posterity under the
distinguished, and truly enviable, title of "_The Musical Small-Coal
Man_;" I mean, master THOMAS BRITTON. Yes, Lisardo; while we give to
the foregoing characters their full share of merit and praise; we
admit that Bagford's personal activity and manual labour have hardly
been equalled--while we allow John Murray to have looked with sharper
eyes after black-letter volumes than almost any of his predecessors
or successors--while we grant Thomas Hearne a considerable portion of
scholarship, an inflexible integrity, as well as indefatigable
industry, and that his works are generally interesting, both from the
artless style in which they are composed, and the intrinstic utility
of the greater part of them, yet let our admiration be [Transcriber's
Note: superfluous 'be'] "be screwed to its sticking place," when we
think upon the wonderous genius of the aforesaid Thomas Britton; who,
in the midst of his coal cellars, could practise upon "fiddle and
flute," or collate his curious volumes; and throwing away, with the
agility of a harlequin, his sombre suit of business-cloths, could put
on his velvet coat and bag-wig, and receive his concert visitors, at
the stair-head, with the politeness of a Lord of the Bedchamber!
LOREN. In truth, a marvellous hero was this _Small-Coal Man_! Have you
many such characters to notice?
LYSAND. Not many of exactly the same stamp. Indeed, I suspect that
Hearne, from his love of magnifying the simple into the marvellous,
has a little caricatured the picture. But Murray seems to have been a
quiet unaffected character; passionately addicted to old books of
whatever kind they chanced to be; and, in particular, most
enthusiastically devoted to a certain old English Chronicle, entitled
_Rastell's Pastime of (the) People_.
PHIL. I observed a notification of the re-appearance of this Chronicle
in some of the Magazines or Reviews: but I hope, for the benefit of
general readers, the orthography will be modernized.
LOREN. I hope, for the sake of consistency with former similar
publications,[369] the ancient garb will not be thrown aside. It would
be like--what Dr. Johnson accuses Pope of having committed--"clothing
Homer with Ovidian graces."
[Footnote 369: The ANCIENT CHONICLES of the history of our
country are in a progressive state of being creditably
reprinted, with a strict adherence to the old phraseology.
Of these Chronicles, the following have already made their
appearance: HOLINSHED, 1807, 4to., 6 vols.; HALL, 1809,
4to.; GRAFTON, 1809, 4to., 2 vols.; FABIAN, 1811, 4to. This
latter is not a mere reprint of the first edition of Fabian,
but has, at the bottom, the various readings of the
subsequent impressions. The index is copious and valuable.
Indeed, all these re-impressions have good indexes. The
public will hear, with pleasure, that ARNOLD, HARDING, and
LORD BERNERS' translation of FROISSARD, and RASTELL, are
about to bring up the rear of these popular Chroniclers.]
LYSAND. Much may be said on both sides of the question. But why are we
about to make learned dissertations upon the old English Chronicles?
LIS. Proceed, and leave the old chroniclers to settle the matter
themselves. Who is the next bibliomaniac deserving of particular
commendation?
LYSAND. As we have sometimes classed our bibliomaniacs in tribes, let
me now make you acquainted with another _Trio_, of like renown in the
book-way: I mean Anstis, Lewis, and Ames. Of these in their turn.
ANSTIS[370] stands deservedly the first in the list; for he was, in
every respect, a man of thorough benevolent character, as well as a
writer of taste and research. I do not know of any particulars
connected with his library that merit a distinct recital; but he is
introduced here from his connection with the two latter
bibliographers. LEWIS[371] is known to us, both as a topographer and
bibliographical antiquary. His _Life of Caxton_ has been reprinted
with additions and corrections; and, in particular, his edition of
_Wicliffe's New Testament_ has been recently put forth by the Rev. Mr.
Baber, in a handsome quarto volume, with valuable emendations. Lewis
was a sharp censurer of Hearne, and was somewhat jealous of the
typographical reputation of Ames. But his integrity and moral
character, as well as his love of rare and curious books, has secured
for him a durable reputation. Of AMES, and here--though a little out
of order--I may add HERBERT--the public has already heard probably
"more than enough." They were both, undoubtedly, men of extraordinary
mental vigour and bodily activity in the darling pursuit which they
cultivated.[372] Indeed, Herbert deserves high commendation; for while
he was rearing, with his own hands, a lofty pyramid of typographical
fame, he seems to have been unconscious of his merits; and, possessing
the most natural and diffident character imaginable, he was always
conjuring up supposed cases of vanity and arrogance, which had no
foundation whatever but in the reveries of a timid imagination. His
_Typographical Antiquities_ are a mass of useful, but occasionally
uninteresting, information. They are as a vast plain, wherein the
traveller sees nothing, immediately, which is beautiful or inviting;
few roses, or cowslips, or daisies; but let him persevere, and walk
only a little way onward, and he will find, in many a shelter'd
recess, "flowers of all hue," and herbs of all qualities: so that
fragrance and salubrity are not wanting in this said plain, which has
been thus depicted in a style so marvellously metaphorical!
[Footnote 370: The reader will be pleased to consult the
account of Earl Pembroke, p. 325, ante, where he will find a
few traits of the bibliomaniacal character of ANSTIS. He is
here informed, from the same authority, that when Anstis
"acquainted BAGFORD that he would find in Rymer a commission
granted to Caxton, appointing him ambassador to the Duchess
of Burgundy, he (Bagford) was transported with joy." Of
HEARNE he thus speaks: "I am ashamed that Mr. Hearne hath
made so many mistakes about the translation of _Boetius,
printed at Tavistock_; which book I had, and gave it to the
Duke of Bedford." But in another letter (to Lewis) Anstis
says, "I lent this book to one Mr. Ryder, who used me
scurvily, by presenting it, without my knowledge, to the
Duke of Bedford." There are some curious particulars in this
letter about the abbey of Tavistock. Anstis's _Order of the
Garter_ is a valuable book; and will one day, I
prognosticate, retrieve the indifferent credit it now
receives in the book-market. The author loved rare and
curious volumes dearly; and was, moreover, both liberal and
prompt in his communications. The reader will draw his own
conclusions on Anstis's comparative merit with Lewis and
Ames, when he reaches the end of the second note after the
present one.]
[Footnote 371: Concerning the Rev. JOHN LEWIS, I am enabled
to lay before the reader some particulars now published for
the first time, and of a nature by no means uninteresting to
the lovers of literary anecdote. His printed works, and his
bibliographical character, together with his conduct towards
Ames, have been already sufficiently described to the
public: _Typographical Antiquities_, vol. i., 30-3. And
first, the aforesaid reader and lovers may peruse the
following extract from an original letter by Lewis to Ames:
"I have no other design, in being so free with you, than to
serve you, by doing all I can to promote your credit and
reputation. I take it, that good sense and judgment,
attended with care and accuracy in making and sorting a
collection, suits every one's palate: and that they must
have none at all who are delighted with trifles and play
things fit only for fools and children: such, for the most
part, as THOMAS HEARNE dished out for his chaps, among whom
I was so silly as to rank myself." Again, to the same
person, he thus makes mention of LORD OXFORD and Hearne: "I
can truly say I never took ill any thing which you have
written to me: but heartily wish you well to succeed in the
execution of your projects. I han't sense to see, by the
death of Lord Oxford, how much more you are likely to make
your account better. But time will shew. I don't understand
what you mean by his having a love to surprize people with
his vast communications. Dr. R(awlinson, qu.?) tells me he
knew nobody who had so free a use of his Lordship's rarities
as T. Hearne, a sure proof of the exactness and solidity of
his Lordship's judgment. But Hearne answered, perhaps, his
Lordship's design of making the world have a very great
opinion of his collections, and setting an inestimable value
on them. And this Hearne attempted; but his daubing is, I
think, too coarse, and the smoke of his incense troublesome
and suffocating." But it is to the loan of a copy of Lewis's
folio edition of the _History of the Translations of the
Bible_, belonging to my friend Mr. G.V. Neunburg, that I am
indebted for the following further, and more interesting,
particulars. This valuable copy, illustrated with some rare
prints, and charged with numerous MS. memoranda, contains
some original letters to Lewis by the famous Dr. White
Kennet, Bishop of Peterborough: from which these extracts
are taken. "Jan. 23, 1720-1. Dear Sir; I thank you for your
kind acceptance of the advice to my clergy: well meant, I
pray God well applied. I have wisht long to see your _Life
of Wiclif_, and shall now impatiently expect it. I am not
surprised that a man of dignity, near you, should be jealous
of publishing an impartial account of that good old
evangelical author, &c. I have a mighty veneration for
Wicliff, and am the more angry with Mr. Russell for
deceiving the world in his promise of the Bible, after
proposals given and money taken. But he has in other
respects behaved so very basely that, forgiving him, I have
done with him for ever. I would not have you discouraged, by
an ungrateful world, or by a sharp bookseller. Go on, and
serve truth and peace what you can, and God prosper your
labours." Signed "Wh. Peterbor." "Feb. 20, 1720-1. You
perceive your own unhappiness in not being able to attend
the press. I cannot but importune you to revise the whole,
to throw the additions and corrections into their proper
places, to desire all your friends and correspondents to
suggest any amendments, or any new matter; in order to
publish a new correct edition that will be a classic in our
history, &c.--If the booksellers object against a second
edition till the full disposal of the first, I hope we may
buy them off with subscription for a new impression; wherein
my name should stand for six copies, and better example I
hope would be given by more able friends. I pray God bless
your labours and reward them." Several letters follow, in
which this amiable prelate and learned antiquary sends Lewis
a good deal of valuable information for his proposed second
edition of the Life of Wicliffe; but which was never put to
press. One more extract only from the Bishop of
Peterborough, and we bid farewell to the Rev. John Lewis: a
very respectable bibliomaniac. "Rev. Sir; In respect to you
and your good services to the church and our holy religion,
I think fit to acquaint you that, in the _Weekly Journal_,
published this day, Oct. 28 (1721), by _Mr. Mist_, there is
a scandalous advertisement subscribed M. Earbury, beginning
thus: 'Whereas a pretended _Vindication of John Wickliffe_
has been published under the name of one Lewis of Margate,
by the incitement, as the preface asserts, of the Archbishop
of Canterbury, and in the same I am injuriously reflected
upon as a scurrilous writer, this is to inform the public
that I shall reserve the author for a more serious whipping
in my leisure hours, and in the meantime give him a short
correction for his benefit, if he has grace and sense to
take it'--and ending thus--'Why does this author persuade
the world the late Archbishop of Canterbury could have any
veneration for the memory of one who asserts God ought to
obey the devil; or that he could be desirous to open the
impure fountains from whence the filth of Bangorianism has
been conveyed to us? M. EARBURY." "I confess (proceeds the
bishop) I don't know that, in the worst of causes, there has
appeared a more ignorant, insolent, and abandoned writer
than this Matth. Earbury. Whether you are to answer, or not
to answer, the F. according to his folly, I must leave to
your discretion. Yet I cannot but wish you would revise the
Life of Wickliffe; and, in the preface, justly complain of
the spiteful injuries done to his memory, and, through his
sides, to our Reformation. I have somewhat to say to you on
that head, if you think to resume it. I am, in the mean
time, your affectionate friend and brother, WH. PETESBOR."]
[Footnote 372: It is unnecessary for me to add any thing
here to the copious details respecting these eminent
bibliomaniacs, AMES and HERBERT, which have already been
presented to the public in the first volume of the new
edition of the _Typographical Antiquities_ of our own
country. See also p. 66, ante; and the note respecting the
late GEORGE STEEVENS, post.]
By mentioning Herbert in the present place, I have a little inverted
the order of my narrative. A crowd of distinguished bibliomaniacs, in
fancy's eye, is thronging around me, and demanding a satisfactory
memorial of their deeds.
LOREN. Be not dismayed, Lysander. If any one, in particular, looks
"frowningly" upon you, leave him to me, and he shall have ample
satisfaction.
LYSAND. I wish, indeed, you would rid me of a few of these
book-madmen. For, look yonder, what a commanding attitude THOMAS
BAKER[373] assumes!