A document, belonging to the year 1419, and printed by Sir Francis

Palgrave, relates to the delivery into the King's Treasury of five

volumes, consisting of a Bible, a copy of the Book of Chronicles, a

treatise, De conceptione Beatae Mariae, a compendium of theology, and a

volume entitled Libellus de emendatione vitae. But in the following

year these manuscripts were given to the monastery at Sheen. In 1426 a

book described as Egesippus, another as Liber de observantia Papa, were

borrowed from the library in the Treasury by Cardinal Beaufort, and

there are subsequent notices of the return and re-loan of the same

volumes to the same borrower. It is interesting to note that a

manuscript called Hegesippus De Bello Judaico, etc., still in the Royal

library, is ascribed by Casley to the eleventh century, and may be

identified with the former of these two books.

In the following years entries occur of works on Civil Law, and of some

others being lent to the Master of King's College, Cambridge, and of

their subsequent presentation to that house, with the assent of the

Lords of the Council.

In the Wardrobe accounts of Edward IV. (Royal MS. 14, C 8), there are

entries relating to "the coveryng and garnyshing of the bookes of oure

saide Souverain Lorde the Kinge," which mark his possession in 1480 of

certain choice MSS., and the same document shows that these were bound

by Piers Bauduyn for the king. Among them were a Froissart, the

binding, gilding, and dressing of which cost 20S., and a Biblia

Historians (now marked 19 D 2 in the Royal library), bound and

ornamented for the same sum. On a fly-leaf is an inscription recording

its purchase for 100 marks by William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury,

after the battle of Poitiers. It had been taken as loot among the

baggage of the French king. On his death in 1397, the Earl of Salisbury

bequeathed it to his wife, who, in her will, ordered that it should be

sold for forty livres.

When the king went from London to Eltham his books went with him, and

some were put into "divers cofyns of fyrre," and others into his

carriage. They were bound in "figured cramoisie velvet, with rich laces

and tassels, with buttons of silk and gold, and with clasps bearing the

king's arms." The only reference to books in the will of Edward IV. is

in regard to such as appertained "to oure chapell," which he bequeathed

to his queen, such only being excepted "as we shall hereafter dispose

to goo to oure saide Collage of Wyndesore."*

* Add. MS., Transcript by Rymer, No. 4615.

Henry VII. stands between the Middle Ages and modern times, but his

additions to the Royal library consisted chiefly of Renaissance

literature. Notwithstanding his parsimony in most matters, his Privy

Purse Expenses contain a remarkable series of entries of payments for

books, for copying manuscripts, and for binding them. On one occasion

the sum of 23 pounds was spent on a single book, and there is an item

of 2 pounds paid to a clerk for copying The Amity of Flanders. He

bought a great number of romances in French as well as the grand series

of volumes printed on vellum by the famous Antoine Verard. Bacon

describes Henry VII. as "a prince, sad, serious, and full of thoughts

and secret observations, and full of notes and memorials of his own

hand . . . rather studious than learned, reading most books that were

of any worth, in the French tongue. Yet he understood the Latin."*

* Life and Rein of Henry VII, i., 637.

He had also a taste for finely illuminated books of devotion, and

presented a beautiful Missal to his daughter Margaret, Queen of Scots,

in which he inscribed his own name in enormous letters several times.

This book is now in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire. In the

Royal collection is another Missal which belonged to the same king,

written in a late Gothic hand.

Henry VII. was careful to have his children well instructed, and his

second son, being intended for the Church, received an education

fitting him for an ecclesiastical career. In his youth Henry VIII.

displayed considerable literary talent, posed as a patron of scholars,

and smiled benignly on such geniuses as Erasmus, More, Linacre, and

Grocyn; but in after years he was more keen to destroy other peoples'

libraries than to build up his own. The accounts of his Privy Purse

Expenses contain few entries of disbursements for books, and to take

one short period as a specimen, we find that the whole sum spent on his

library between 1530 and 1532, including not merely all moneys paid for

binding, but also an indefinite amount "to the taylour and skynner for

certeyn stuff, and workmanship for my lady Anne," was only 124 pounds,

16s. 3d. These figures become still more insignificant if we compare

them with those representing the money spent during the same period for

jewels alone, exclusive of plate, which amounted to the prodigious sum

of 10,800 pounds.

But although Henry VIII. did not buy books extensively, he sometimes

borrowed them, and several entries chronicle the lending of books to

him by monastic and other libraries, when he was pestering Christendom

for arguments in favour of his divorce from Katharine of Arragon.

Nevertheless, in spite of adverse circumstances, the Royal library had

been steadily growing in the course of ages, and had by this time

assumed notable proportions. Henry VIII. found himself the possessor of

a collection of books at Windsor, comprising 109 volumes in bindings of

velvet and leather, with silver and jewelled clasps; of another at

Westminster, consisting of Latin primers, some richly ornamented, of a

few Greek authors, Latin classics, and English chronicles, "bokes

written in tholde Saxon tongue." He had another library at Beaulieu

(now New Hall) in Essex, with about 60 volumes of Latin authors,

besides works of the Fathers, dictionaries, and histories. At

Beddington in Surrey he had many chronicles and romances, and "a greate

boke of parchment written and lymned with gold of graver's work--De

Confessione Amantis, which may be identified as the MS., now marked 18

C 22, in the Royal library. At Richmond was a small collection made by

his father, consisting chiefly of missals and romances. At St. James's

Palace were, among others, works described vaguely as "a boke of

parchment containing divers patterns; a white boke written on

parchment; one boke covered with green velvet contained in a wooden

case; a little boke covered with crimson velvet," and so on, a curious

method of cataloguing and utterly useless for the purpose of

identification after so long an interval. Here and there a distinctive

title occurs, such as the Foundation Book of Henry VIIth's Chapel.

All these different small collections together represented the Royal

library in the early part of the sixteenth century. Henry VIII. had the

greater number of the books removed to Greenwich, where there were

already some printed volumes and a few manuscripts. That part which

remained at Westminster was enriched with some of the spoils of the

monasteries, placed there perhaps by Leland to save them from

destruction.* Among these was a Latin Evangelia of the eleventh century

(1 D 3), which belonged to the monks of Rochester, and which had been

given to them by a certain Countess Goda, according to an inscription

in the book itself. From Christ Church, Canterbury, came a fine copy of

the gospels (1 A 1 8), presented to that monastery by King Athelstan,

and from St. Alban's several choice historical and theological works

from the pen of Matthew Paris.

* Edward's Memoirs of Libraries, i., 364 et seq.

It is a question whether the attention bestowed on the Royal library

during the reign of Edward VI. was an advantage to it or the reverse.

It is true that the energy of Sir John Cheke, and Roger Ascham, King's

librarian, secured for it the manuscripts that had belonged to Martin

Bucer; but on the other hand, the rabid intolerance of Edward's Council

deprived it of many of its valuable contents. On the 25th January 1550,

a so-called king's letter, sent from the Council Board, authorised

certain commissioners to make a descent upon all public and private

libraries, and to "cull out all superstitious books, as missals,

legends, and such like, and to deliver the garniture of the books,

being either gold or silver, to Sir Anthony Aucher.* The havoc thus

wrought was irremediable, and not even the king's own library was

spared the terrible perquisitions. But at the same time we cannot but

marvel that still so many of the condemned books should have escaped

the notice of the commissioners. In the same year the libraries at

Oxford were also "purged of a great part of Fathers and Schoolmen," and

great heaps of books set on fire in the market-place were watched with

delight by the younger members of the university, who named the

conflagration "Scotus's funeral."

* Council Book of Edward VI.

The short and troubled reign of Mary afforded no scope for literary

activity, and Elizabeth was far too busy outwitting her enemies abroad,

and controlling the factious tendencies of her friends at home, to be

able to cultivate her taste for books. Nevertheless, although in the

course of a hundred years the Royal library had suffered as much as it

had gained, it was even then a goodly sight. Paul Hentzner, the German

literary tourist, who visited it in 1598, says that it was "well stored

with Greek, Latin, and French books, bound in velvet of different

colours, although chiefly red, with clasps of gold and silver, the

corners of some being otherwise adorned with gold and precious

stones."* Perhaps the custodians vouchsafed him but a glance at these

outer splendours, for he tells us nothing of the treasures within, of

which all this magnificence was only the antechamber.

* P. Hentzner, Itnerarium Germaniae, Angliae, etc., p. 188.

But the golden age of the Royal library was in the reign of James I.,

and its greatest benefactor a youth who died at the age of eighteen. It

were idle to speculate on what might have been the future of Henry,

Prince of Wales, had he lived to fulfil the bright promise of his

boyhood. To a singularly well-balanced mind, he appears to have joined

an amiability of character that endeared him to all save the crotchety

doctrinaire who sat upon the throne. He loved hunting and hawking and

all healthy open-air pursuits no less than he loved books, and the

society of men, who were the history-makers of his day. He would visit

Sir Walter Raleigh in his prison in the Tower, and listen to his

brilliant projects for the future greatness of England in the

development of her colonies, and the annexation of still barbarous

lands, the fabulous wealth of which was the life-long dream of the

veteran explorer.

But Raleigh was not a mere dreamer, as his History of the World

shows--a work which, written during his long years of captivity, became

the text-book and standard authority for the next two hundred years.

Whatever his faults, and he had perhaps grave ones, it was his

misfortune to be in some ways in advance of the age in which he lived,

in consequence of which his finer qualities were misunderstood by most

of his contemporaries. Prince Henry was not, however, among their

number; he lent a fascinated ear to Raleigh's grand, patriotic schemes,

and had they both lived, the one to reign, the other to counsel and

guide, England might not only have been spared the most disgraceful

blot on her escutcheon, but have anticipated by more than two hundred

years her subsequent achievements. It was without doubt Sir Walter

Raleigh who inspired the young prince to take the Royal library under

his protection, and his pupil threw himself heart and soul into the

work, so that rightly or wrongly he has been considered its real

founder.

On the death of John, Lord Lumley, Prince Henry secured his fine

collection of MSS., by which means he more than made up for the loss

which the Royal library had sustained by his father's incomprehensible

warrant to Sir Thomas Bodley to choose any of the books in any of his

houses or libraries.*

* Reliquiae Bodleiana, p. 205.

Lord Lumley had not only been a diligent collector himself, but had

inherited a valuable library from his wife's father, Henry Fitzalan,

Earl of Arundel, who had begun to collect at the most propitious moment

for acquiring rare MSS., and had obtained a portion of Archbishop

Cranmer's library. The prince's Privy Purse Expenses have unfortunately

been destroyed, but one single entry of the year 16og, bearing

reference to his books, has survived: "To Mr. Holcock, for writing a

catalogue of the library which his Highness hade of my Lord Lumley, 68

pounds, 13s. 0d." This catalogue has unfortunately disappeared.

Edward Wright, the mathematician, and the learned Patrick Young were

both candidates for the post of librarian, and Wright was appointed

with a salary of 30 pounds a year.

Besides purchasing Lord Lumley's books, the young prince acquired the

entire collection of the erudite Welshman, William Morice, and an

unprecedented stir and activity began to animate the affairs of the

Royal library. Scholars saw in the Prince of Wales their future stay

and protector, and looked forward to his reign as to that of the first

English king in modern times, who would not merely patronise, but also

extend learning by his inherent love of, and zeal for, letters. But

this fair prospect was doomed to fade, even as they were contemplating

it, and the hope of England died in the very midst of all his literary

labours. The books which he had collected were mainly incorporated into

the Royal library, but many were dispersed after his death. Scattered

up and down the country may still be seen volumes in private

collections bearing the tell-tale conjoined names, "Tho.

Cantuariensis--Arundel--Lumley."

James I., aptly styled by Henry IV. of France "the wisest fool in

Christendom," dabbled in books as in most other things, but does not

appear to have succeeded in doing much harm to his library beyond the

suicidal carte blanche to Sir Thomas Bodley. He appointed Patrick Young

to be custodian of the different sections of it distributed throughout

the various royal palaces, and this really great scholar retained the

post till the Revolution.

That part of the collection which was lodged at Richmond went by the

name of Henry VIIth's library, and was shown to Johann Zingerling, a

German scholar who came to England while Patrick Young was librarian.

The only MS. which he singled out for mention was the Genealogia Regum

Anglia, ab Adamo, a roll of the fifteenth century (t4 B 8). The

Richmond collection was removed to Whitehall by Charles I., and the

Genealogia appears in a catalogue made after the Restoration.

The reign of Charles I. is almost barren of events in the Royal

library, save at the very, beginning, for the acquisition of one MS.,

which may, however, be regarded as the piece de resistance of the whole

collection. This was the famous Codex Alexandrinus, one of the three

oldest MSS. of the whole Bible in Greek. Before describing this

venerable codex, it will be well to relate what little is known of its

history. In 1624, Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, formally

presented it to James I., through his ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe.

Writing to Lord Arundel, in December of that year, Roe says: "One book

he (the Patriarch) hath given me to present his Majestie, but not yet

delivered, being the Bible intire, written by the hand of Tecla, the

protomartyr of the Greeks, that lived with St. Paul, which he doth aver

it to be authentical, and the greatest relique of the Greek Church." In

1626, he wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury: "The Patriarch also,

this New Year's tide, sent me the old Bible formerly presented to his

late Majesty, which he now dedicates to the king, and will send it with

an epistle. What estimation it may be of is above my skill, but he

values it as the greatest antiquity of the Greek Church. The letter is

very fair, a character I have never seen. It is entire, except the

beginning of St. Matthew. He doth testify under his hand that it was

written by the virgin Tecla, daughter of a famous Greek, called Stella

Hatutina, who founded the monastery in Egypt, upon Pharaoh's Tower, a

devout and learned maid, who was persecuted in Asia, and to whom

Gregory Nazianzen hath written many epistles. At the end whereof, under

the same hand, are the epistles of Clement. She died not long after the

Council of Nice. The book is very great, and hath antiquity enough at

sight; I doubt not his Majesty will esteem it for the hand by whom it

is presented."*

* Negotiations of Sir Thomas Roe, London, 1740.

Sir Thomas Roe certainly did not overestimate the value of the

manuscript, and it would be extremely interesting could we trace the

evidence by which it came to be believed that it was written by the

hand of St. Tecla. A note in Arabic at the foot of the first page of

Genesis says that it was "made an inalienable gift to the patriarchal

cell of Alexandria. Whoever shall remove it thence shall be accursed

and cut off. Written by Athanasius the humble."

* "Probably," says Sir Edward Maunde Thomson, "Athanasius, the Melchite

Patriarch, who was still living in 1308." Description of Ancient

Manuscripts in the British Museum.

Before his translation to Constantinople, Cyril Lucar had been

Patriarch of Alexandria, and possibly he himself risked the threatened

curse and excommunication in taking the Bible away with him, though his

deacon asserted that he had obtained it from Mount Athos.

But besides the above-mentioned note there is another also in Arabic,

with a Latin translation at the back of the table of books. This note

says: "Remember that this book was written by the hand of Tecla the

martyr." The tradition is recalled by Cyril Lucar at the beginning of

the manuscript. He states that the name of Tecla was originally to be

found inscribed at the end of the volume, but that when Christianity

practically became extinct in Egypt, the few remaining Christians and

their books were doomed, and for this reason the name was erased,

Tecla's memory and the legend being perpetuated notwithstanding.

Tregelles accounts for the tradition that St. Tecla was the writer of

the MS. by the supposition that the Arabic note was ignorantly added by

some scribe who had observed the name of Tecla written in the now

mutilated margin of the first leaf of the New Testament, which contains

the lesson appointed by the Greek Church for the feast of St. Tecla.

Sir Edward Thompson points out, however, that this would infer that in

the fourteenth century the Gospel of St. Matthew was in its present

mutilated state, and that then as now, the New Testament formed a

separate volume apart from the Old; and he shows that the Arabic

numeration of the leaves, which is of about the same age as the

inscription, is carried continuously through both Testaments, and by a

calculation of the numbers which have not been cut away in trimming the

edges, it appears that the twenty-five leaves which contained the

greater portion of St. Matthew were lost at a later period, the last

leaf of the Old Testament bearing the number 641, and the present first

leaf of the New Testament 667.

Cobet and other experts fixed the date of the two codices, the Codex

Sinaiticus and the Codex Alexandrinus, as not earlier than the fifth or

sixth century, the principal reason for assigning to them so late a

date being the generally accepted theory that uncials were not in use

until vellum had entirely superseded papyrus as the medium for precious

manuscripts. But the latest authority in this department, Mr. F. G.

Kenyon, has thrown light on the whole question of early Christian Greek

MSS., by the discovery of a large uncial round hand on a papyrus dated

Anno Domini 88.* Thus it is quite possible, palaeographically, that the

Codex Vaticanus, which has been hitherto supposed to date from the

fourth century, may be much older, and there is now no conclusive

evidence to prove that the Alexandrinus was not written by St. Tecla,

whatever the probabilities may be to the contrary.

* The Paleography of Greek Papyri, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1899.

The three above-named codices, the Vaticanus, the Sinaiticus, and the

Alexandrinus have certain points in common, but the MS. in the Royal

library is written in double columns, that of the Vatican in triple

columns, and the Codex Sinaiticus, some leaves of which are in the

public library at Leipzig, the main body of the work being in the

imperial library at St. Petersburg, in quadruple columns.

Besides being numerically imperfect, the leaves of the Codex

Alexandrinus have suffered from the clipping of the outer edges by the

binder, and several of its priceless pages have been otherwise spoiled

and mutilated.

The MS. is austere in its simplicity, being totally unadorned, save for

the red ink used in the opening lines of each book, and occasionally in

superscriptions and colophons. The letters are uncials (or capitals)

without break, their form proving that the book was written in Egypt.

Patrick Young was librarian when this celebrated codex was added to the

Royal library, and duly conscious of its value, he did his utmost to

get a facsimile of it printed. But the king could not be induced to

take up the matter. In 1644 Young prevailed on the assembly of divines

to present a petition to the House of Commons, praying "that the said

Bible may be printed, for the benefit of the Church, the advancement of

God's glory, and the honour of the kingdom." A committee was found to

confer with him on the subject, but nothing was done, owing to the

troubled state of the country.

During the Revolution and under the commonwealth the Royal library was

in extreme peril. Hugh Peters, successor to Young, although he belonged

to the iconoclastic faction, practically saved the books, but was

unable to protect the unique collection of medals and coins. After a

few months the custodianship was transferred to Ireton, and ultimately

a permanent librarian was appointed in the person of Bulstrode

Whitelocke, first commissioner of the Great Seal. He accepted the

office from patriotism and reverence for the antiquities which were in

such imminent danger, but he wrote deprecatingly:

"I knew the greatness of the charge, . . . yet being informed of a

design to have some of them (the books) sold, and transferred beyond

sea (which 1 thought would be a disgrace and damage to our nation, and

to all scholars therein), and fearing that in other hands they might be

more subject to embezzling . . . I did accept the trouble of being

library-keeper at St. James's, and therein was much persuaded by Mr.

Selden, who swore that if I did not undertake the charge of them, all

those rare monuments of antiquity, those choice books and MSS. would be

lost, and there were not the like of them except only in the Vatican,

in any other library in Christendom."

At the Restoration, Thomas Rosse was made royal librarian, but his

offices were already so numerous that he was unable to bestow much

attention on the books. Nevertheless, he revived the project of

printing the Alexandrian MS., and urged the king to interest himself in

bringing it about, saying that, although it would cost 200 pounds, it

would "appear glorious in history after your Majesty's death." "Pish,"

replied Charles II., characteristically, "I care not what they say of

me in history when I am dead," and there was an end of the matter till

our own day.

The year 1678 is noteworthy in the annals of the Royal library as the

period at which it acquired the series of valuable MSS. known as the

Theyer collection. They had been bought from Theyer's executors by

Robert Scott, a famous bookseller, who offered them to the king for

6841. He subsequently got them for 560 pounds. Next to the Alexandrian

Codex this is the most important addition to the library in

comparatively modern times. It consisted of 336 volumes, including l00

rare treatises, a whole series of Roger Bacon's works, and the

celebrated autograph collection formerly belonging to Cranmer, and long

mourned as lost. Many of these manuscripts could be traced back to the

library of Llanthony Abbey, having passed into Theyer's possession by

the marriage of one- of his ancestors with a sister of the last prior

of Llanthony. Nearly the whole of the Theyer collection is described in

the Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum of 1697, but without the least

hint that it then formed part of the Royal library. The great Richard

Bentley was at that time librarian, and was responsible for the amazing

omission, having prohibited any mention of the Royal library in that

work, his reason perhaps being the disgraceful condition into which the

books had fallen. Bentley was by far the most distinguished of the

royal librarians during any part of its history, and he would, no

doubt, have accomplished wonders if he had not been so outrageous a

pluralist, so busy a scholar, and so pugnacious a litigant. Not only

was he Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Regius Professor of

Divinity, Rector of Haddington, Rector of Wilburn, and Archdeacon of

Ely, but he was immersed in numberless lawsuits, and in classical

studies which would alone have sufficed to fill the whole life of an

ordinary man. What he, in spite of these multifarous occupations,

attempted to do for the Royal library at least testifies to the

grandeur of his conceptions and the boldness of his schemes. His

failure to place the library within the reach of students was as much

due to the stultifying effects of red-tapeism as to the disorganised

condition of the library itself.

Bentley's first care on taking office was to enforce the Copyright Act,

which, although passed in 1663, had been carelessly ignored. By this

means about 1000 printed books were added to the collection, but no

bindings were provided, or shelves on which to put them. In a famous

controversy with Charles Boyle, who complained that difficulties were

placed in the way of his access to one of the royal manuscripts,

Bentley answered: "I will own that I have often said and lamented that

the library was not fit to be seen," and proceeding to exulpate

himself, he added: "If the room be too mean, and too little for the

books; if it be much out of repair; if the situation be inconvenient;

if the access to it be dishonourable, is the library- keeper to answer

for it?"

A proposal was made, during Bentley's tenure of office, to erect a

suitable building for the books, establishing it by Act of Parliament.

But nothing was done, and in the course of nineteen years the

collection was four times removed. In 1712 it migrated from the much

abused quarters at St. James's to Cotton House, and from thence to

Essex House in 1722. It was next lodged, together with the Cottonian

library at Ashburnham House, and after the disastrous fire in 1731,

from which the Cotton MSS. suffered so severely, it gained with them a

temporary refuge in the old Westminster dormitory.

Bentley resigned his office of librarian in 1724, in favour of his son,

another Richard Bentley; but Casley, who, as deputy custodian, had been

for many years the only working librarian, continued to fill that post.

In 1757, George II. presented the Royal library to the nation, handing

it over by Letters Patent to the custody of the trustees of the British

Museum, and thus its hitherto chequered career was turned into

prosperous channels. All that is henceforth left to desire is a

descriptive catalogue worthy of its unique contents.*

* The Royal Library must not be confused with the King's Library

belonging to George III., and presented to the British Museum by George

IV. The King's Library included, however, a few important MSS. which

had been retained by George II. when he made over the Royal collection

to the nation.

The Greek MSS. in the British Museum are not very numerous, but are

widely renowned. Of those in the Royal library the Codex Alexandrinus

is by far the most interesting, not only as being the one Greek MS. of

the whole Bible in the library, but also as surpassing all the other

existing Greek fragments of the Scriptures in point of antiquity. The

next earliest MS., containing the Books of Ruth, Kings, Esdras, Esther,

and the Maccabees (1 D 2), is of the thirteenth century. The Books of

Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon (1 A 15), are of the

fifteenth century. Nearest in antiquity to the Alexandrian Bible in the

British Museum is the Cotton MS. (Titus, C 15), the Codex Clarmontanus,

a purple-dyed fragment of the sixth century, written on vellum of so

subtle and delicate a texture that even experts have sometimes mistaken

it for Egyptian papyrus.

A few words will not be out of place here respecting the writing

materials of the ancients, and their custom of staining leaves of

vellum. Skins of animals were probably one of the most ancient mediums,

as being the most durable. There exists in the British Museum a ritual,

written on white leather, which dates from about the year 2000 B.C. But

the custom of writing on leather is known to have been much older

still. The commonest mode of keeping records in Assyria and Babylonia

was on prepared bricks, tiles, or cylinders of clay, baked after the

inscription had been impressed on them. But a wood-cut of an ancient

sculpture from Konyungik* illustrates scribes in the act of writing

down the number of heads and the amount of spoil taken in battle, on

rolls of leather, which the Egyptians used as early as the eighteenth

dynasty. At the close of the commercial intercourse between Assyria and

Egypt, rolls of leather may have been the only material employed for

writing on. Parchment, so prepared that both sides could be used, was

doubtless the development of this custom, but was a much later

invention. Together with the use of the rough skins, and of the more or

less carefully prepared surfaces of the leather, papyrus became one of

the most frequent vehicles for written words, and was used for some

time after the beginning of the Christian era. Leaves of palm or mallow

led up to the first forms of papyrus used--hence, perhaps, the word

leaf of a book. Bark was next pressed into the service of literature

and, it has often been suggested, possibly gave rise to the word book,

although it seems more likely that book was of runic origin and derived

from the beech-staves--Buch-staben, on which the runes were expressed.

* Nineveh and its Remains, by Sir Henry Layard, ii., 185.

Eventually vellum entirely took the place of papyrus, but papyrus was

used not only in Egypt, but in imperial Rome before vellum became

common, and even biblical manuscripts were written on rolls of this

material. It was, however, too fragile and perishable to remain the

receptacle of writing and illumination intended to last for all time,

and therefore, by the middle of the tenth century A.D. it was

altogether discarded. Only a few tattered fragments of the New

Testament written on papyrus are still extant.

The oldest manuscripts belonging to the Christian era were written on

the thinnest and whitest vellum. The parchment of later times is more

coarsely grained, and less well finished, manuscripts a thousand and

more years old showing no signs of decay or discoloration, unlike many

which date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Scrivener,

basing his authority on Tischendorf, observes that the Codex Sinaiticus

is made of the finest skins of antelopes, the leaves being so large

that a single animal could furnish but two of them. The Codex Vaticanus

is greatly admired for the beauty of the vellum; and the whiteness of

the Codex Alexandrinus can be seen by all who visit the British Museum,

although the exquisite thinness, softness, and delicacy of the texture

can only be appreciated by touching it. The beautiful fabric of the

Codex Clarmontanus has already been mentioned.

But not only was the vellum finer and more durable in the earliest days

of our era than at a comparatively recent date, but the ink was better,

and the colours used in illuminating were far more beautiful. The

ancients laid on the gold very thickly, and the ink which they prepared

is still black, so that the text can be easily read, while the ink used

in the Middle Ages is now generally of a greyish brown. Red ink is very

ancient, and often seen in early Egyptian papyri. The instrument for

writing on papyrus was the reed growing in the marshes formed by the

Tigris and the Euphrates, and on the banks of the Nile. It was also

used for writing on vellum, but quills, admirably adapted for this kind

of material, came gradually into use with parchment. By degrees the

roll form was abandoned for the codex or book form, as being more

convenient, the leaves being stitched into gatherings or quires; but

for a long time both forms were used together.

It is uncertain when the custom of staining the most precious MSS.

purple came into vogue, but it did not obtain after the tenth century.

St. Jerome and his contemporaries practised it, using letters stamped

rather than written, in silver and gold. Writing in gold ceased to be

common in the thirteenth century, and in silver when the fashion of

staining the vellum died out. The value of a manuscript does not depend

on its purple colour, but this is chiefly interesting as serving to

show one phase of the reverence paid to the Scriptures. It may also

help to fix the date of a MS.*

* Scrivener, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New

Testament, p. 23.

One of the most beautiful specimens of early paleographic art in the

Royal library is the Latin MS. of the gospels, known as the Evangelia

of King Canute (1 D 9). Westwood indeed considers that it will not bear

comparison with the Gospels of Trinity College, Cambridge, though he

admits that it exceeds them in interest owing to the Anglo-Saxon

entries relating to Canute at the beginning of St. Mark's Gospel.*

Wanley has described these entries as a certificate or testimonial of

Canute's reception into the family or society of the Church of Christ

at Canterbury. One leaf bears this inscription: "In the name of our

Lord Jesus Christ. Here is written Canute the King's name. He is our

beloved Lord worldwards, and our spiritual brother Godwards; and

Harold, this King's brother; Thorth, our brother; Kartoca, our brother;

Thuri, our brother." On the next leaf is a charter by the same king,

confirming the privileges of Christ Church, Canterbury. The book was

probably the gift of Canute to the monks of that house. There are no

miniatures, but an illuminated page with a grand border, heavily gilt,

contains small figures of the evangelists in medallions. Written in ink

at the bottom of the illuminated page is the name Lumley, showing that

the MS. formed part of that collection acquired by Prince Henry.

* Facsimiles of the Miniatures and Ornaments of Anglo-Saxon and Irish

MSS.

The Gospels of St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury (1 E 6), written in

England in the eighth century, are probably the remains of the

so-called Biblia Gregoriana. But if this codex was really among the

books sent by Pope Gregory to St.

Augustine, it must first have been sent to Rome from England, but

internal evidence points to a much later date. It contains four very

dark-purple or rather rose-coloured stained leaves, with inscriptions

in letters of gold and silver an inch long, the silver being oxidised

by age. It is one of the most precious examples of Anglo-Saxon

caligraphy and illumination now existing. The half-uncial letters of

English type are by different hands, and the miniatures are of

different dates, that of the Lion of St. Mark being probably of the

tenth century. It is also supposed that the missing verses at the

beginning of the gospels were all written on purple-stained vellum, and

that there may have been a miniature of the evangelist before each

gospel. An inscription on the fly-leaf states that it belonged to the

monastery of St. Augustine at Canterbury, and that it formed part of

that library in the fourteenth century.

The fine manuscript, designated 2A 20, is a book of prayers and lessons

on vellum, of the eighth century. It belonged to the Theyer collection,

and several notes are inserted in the handwriting of John Theyer. It is

very much stained and spoiled, the binder, as was so often the piteous

case, having barbarously cut off some of the edges, and with them a

portion of the marginal writing, to the great detriment of the book.

2 A 22 is a magnificent Latin Psalter of the twelfth century, the best

period of penmanship. Sir Edward Thompson draws attention to the fact

that this volume originated at Westminster, as may be inferred by the

prominence given in the calendars and prayers to St. Peter and St.

Edward, even without its identification with an entry in the Abbey

Inventory.* A further proof of this is furnished by the miniatures of

the two saints, one of which begins the series; the other leads up to

the beautiful Salvator Mundi. Between are St. George and St.

Christopher. Instead of being dispersed throughout the book, the

illustrations are all at the beginning and end, indicating by the

colourless faces, and by what for want of a better word may be styled

their Gothic outlines, that they are of English origin. Some of the

capital letters are very interesting. One of these quaintly represents

the Saviour of the world enthroned in glory, on a gold background. His

hand is raised in blessing, while a Benedictine monk, floating on the

wings of prayer, clasps a scroll, one end of which disappears under the

rainbow-hued throne. On the scroll are the words Domine, exandi

orationem mean. At the end of the Psalter are Litanies and other

prayers.

* English Illuminated MSS., pp. 34, 35.

The broad manner in which these illuminations are treated, with foliage

boldly designed, and animals of various kinds disporting themselves

among the branches, is indicative of the period. There is a striking

contrast between this large, bold treatment and the minute style of the

next century, although the period of transition occupied but a few

years. The change began with the development of the initial letter,

which was the starting-point of the border and of the miniature.

The Royal MS. 1 D 1, a Latin Bible of the middle of the thirteenth

century, forms an excellent example of this development. It is written

on fine vellum, and in a perfect style of calligraphy. The paintings

are few if we except those connected with the initial letter, which

serves admirably to illustrate the growth of the border from its

pendants, cusps, and graceful finials, showing how the initial and

miniature came to be combined. Writing about this same MS. Sir Edward

Thompson says: "In the large initial we see the combination of the

miniature with the initial and partial border, a combination which is

typical of book decoration of the thirteenth century. In MSS. of

earlier periods the miniature was a painting which usually occupied a

page, independently of the text . . . or if inserted in the text it was

not connected with the decoration of the page. It was, in fact, an

illustration and nothing more. But now, while the miniature is still

employed in this manner, independently of the text, the miniature

initial also comes into common use, the miniature therein., however,

continuing to hold for some time a subordinate place, as a decoration

rather than as an illustrative feature. In course of time, with the

growth of the border, the two-fold function of the miniature, as a

means of illustration and also of decoration, is satisfied by allowing

it to occupy part or even the whole of a page as an independent

picture, but at the same time, set in the border, which has developed

from the pendent of the initial. This development of the border it is

extremely interesting to follow, and so regular is its growth, and so

remarkable are the national characteristics which it assumes, that the

period and place of origin of an illuminated MS. may often be

accurately determined from the details of its border alone." *

* English Illuminated MSS., p. 37.

The distinguished writer goes on to show that in tracing this

development one sees how the initials first terminate in simple buds or

cusps, and how, in the next stage, characteristic of the thirteenth

century, they put out little branches, the buds growing into leaves and

flowers, and how thus gradually the border comes to surround the whole

page.

The Royal MS. 2 B 3, commonly known as Queen Mary's Psalter, is a good

specimen of fourteenth century art. This is a large octavo volume of

320 leaves of vellum, almost everyone being magnificently illuminated

on both sides, with daintily executed drawings, lightly sketched, and

slightly tinted in green, brown, and violet. One richly-decorated page

represents the Last Judgement. At the top, a miniature within the

border shows forth the judge of all mankind. Angels with green-tipped

wings hover on either side. Before the Saviour as judge kneel the

Blessed Virgin and St. John, and on the other side is a group of monks.

The background is of pure gold. Underneath, enclosed in a blue and

white border, the dead rise to judgment. Angels blow long trumpets and

the graves open. Below this again is a lovely initial, with more

figures on a gold background. The letter begins the words of the Litany

Kyrie eleison. A drawing at the bottom of the page represents Saul

receiving the letter to Damascus for the persecution of the Christians.

This page, as elaborate and glowing with colour as it is rich in design

and fine in execution, is, however, not more striking than many others

in the same manuscript, which may, without too much praise, be

described as a gem of palaeographic art. A note on the last leaf

explains that the MS. was on the point of being carried beyond seas,

when a customs officer, one Baldwin Smith, in the port of London seized

and presented it to the Queen, in October 1553, the first year of her

reign.

The writer does not record whether the hapless owner was indemnified

for his loss. It was probably Queen Mary herself who caused the book to

be bound as we now see it, in the worn crimson velvet binding, with the

remains of large pomegranates embroidered at each corner, pomegranates

being her own badge.

The MS. 2 B 7 is an extremely beautiful piece of workmanship of the

fourteenth century. Its delicate outline drawings, mostly in mauve and

green, are reminiscent of the Guthlac roll. They represent mainly an

illustrated Martyrology of Saints, popular in England. 1 A 18 is the

copy of the Latin Gospels presented to Christ Church, Canterbury, by

King Athelstan, with the name Lumley on the first page of the Eusebian

canons, and Umfridus me fecit on a fly-leaf.

The beautiful French version of the Apocalypse, written in England

about 1330 (19 B R5), contains drawings of great refinement, though

scarcely to be compared with those which adorn Queen Mary's Psalter.

The very large Bible of the end of the fourteenth century measuring

twenty-four by Leventeen inches, is splendidly illuminated and

profusely adorned with miniatures.

But choice and variety are infinite, and to the devout lover of these

things, the Royal library resembles a goldmine with nuggets of immense

value lying in profusion wherever his adventurous footsteps lead him.

If his object be delight he will find that every step leads him there.

VI. THE HARLEIAN COLLECTION OF MANUSCRIPTS

When Robert Harley laid the foundation of his magnificent library in t

7o5, so many collectors were already in the field that the prospect of

getting together any large number of choice manuscripts did not seem

promising. But contrary to expectation, this very fact proved

fortunate, for whereas Cotton had built up his library, book by book,

laboriously, Harley had the advantage of forming his, to a great

extent, by the purchase of other well-known collections, either at the

death of their original owners, or after the manuscripts had passed

through successive hands. Of these larger acquisitions may be mentioned

the library which had belonged to the famous antiquary, Sir Symonds

D'Ewes, Cotton's friend; the greater number of the Graevius MSS.; the

23 bulky volumes of the Baker collection; many of the papers originally

belonging to Nicholas Charles, Lancaster Herald, which, at his death,

Camden had purchased for 690 pounds, and the collection of Stow, the

historian of London.

Charles's library consisted chiefly of epitaphs, drawings of monuments

and arms, and an historical catalogue of the officers of the College of

Arms. Some of these are now at the Herald's College, one of the

manuscripts is in the Lansdowne collection, and the others were bought

by Harley.

On Strype's death in 1737, the majority of the papers, collected by

Foxe the martyrologist, which had been in the annalist's possession,

also passed with others into Harley's hands; they form vols. 416 to

428, and vol. 590 of this collection. Some of Foxe's papers are in the

Lansdowne library.

By means of great exertion and a lavish expenditure, Harley became

within ten years the possessor of about 2500 old MSS., and in 1721 had

collected 6000 volumes, 1400 charters, and 500 rolls, besides about

350,000 pamphlets. His entire library afterwards numbered over 20,000

volumes.

Robert Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, was descended from an ancient

family, existing, it is pretended, in Shropshire at the time of the

Norman Conquest, and closely allied to the French family of de Harlai.

He was the eldest son of Sir Edward Harley, member for the county of

Hereford, in the Parliament which restored Charles I I.; was born in

1661, rose to a high position in public affairs, and was created, by

Queen Anne, a peer of the realm by the style and title of Baron

Wigmore, in the county of Hereford, Earl of Oxford, and Mortimer.* Soon

afterwards he was made Lord High Treasurer of Great Britain, and Prime

Minister. He was twice married--first to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas

Foley of Whitley Court, Worcestershire, by whom he had three

children--a son, Edward, who succeeded him, and two daughters. His

second wife was Sarah, daughter of Simon Middleton, of Hurst Hill,

Edmonton, who survived him some years.

* The Earldom of Mortimer was added, because, although Aubrey de Vere,

twentieth Earl of Oxford had died without leaving male issue in 1702,

it was necessary to guard against possible claimants among remote

descendants of the de Veres.

Swift drew attention to the circumstance that Robert Harley was

educated at Shilton, a private school in Oxfordshire, remarkable for

having produced at the same time a Lord High Treasurer (the Earl of

Oxford), a Lord High Chancellor (Lord Harcourt), a Lord Chief Justice

of the Common Pleas (Lord Trevor), and ten members of the House of

Commons, who were all contemporaries as well at school as in

Parliament. From both his father and grandfather he had inherited a

taste for books, and as Speaker of the House of Commons, had taken

considerable part in organising the Cottonian library when it was

bequeathed to the nation. It was on this occasion that his notice was

first drawn to Humphrey Wanley, who offered some valuable hints in

regard to the arrangement of the Cotton manuscripts, and subsequently

proved himself to be the model of librarians.

Humphrey Wanley was the son of a country parson; he had received a

university education, and had already achieved success and some fame as

a scholar by his catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon MSS., preserved in the

principal libraries of Great Britain. He would gladly have undertaken

the custody of the Cotton library vice Dr. Smith, and wrote to Robert

Nelson, a learned writer and philanthrophist, who apparently possessed

some influence with the government, to solicit his good offices in

procuring him that post. Nelson's answer, interpolated by a remark in

Wanley's beautiful, scholarly hand, is interesting as an illustration

of the rivalry that existed between the two foremost librarians of the

day.

"Were I as able to advise Mr. Wanley as I am desirous to offer what

might be most advantageous for his interest," wrote Nelson, "I should

immediately have answered your last letter which requires some queries

to be resolved before I can well determine how you ought to proceed.

For if there is any friendship between you and the Dr. [Smith] it will

give a different aspect to your endeavours to supplant him."

Here there is a mark in the original letter referring to a note written

across the margin by Wanley as follows:

"This is about the Cottonian Library, the custody whereof I did then,

and many years after, most ardently desire. As to friendship between

Dr. Thomas Smith [here meant] and me there was but little, his

conversation being not suitable to mine, by reason of his jealousies

and peevishness extreme. I always allowed the Doctor's pretensions to

be much better grounded than mine; but if he, being a non-juror, could

not swear to the Queen's government, or being much in years should

happen to decease, as he did after some time, I desired that employment

when the trustees should please to regulate that noble collection.

"Otherwise," continues Nelson, "I can see no reason why a man that is

qualified for an employment may not fairly offer himself as a candidate

for it, without injury to others that may pretend to it, and if you

should want success, it no way diminishes those qualifications you were

endowed with, for the discharge of the employment. If the Sir Robert

Cotton you mention be of the Post Office, I believe I can find a way of

applying to him,--I am your faithful friend and servant, Wanley's

ardent desire was not destined to be satisfied, but a still more

honourable position was in store for the distinguished scholar and man

of letters, for he not only became ultimately custodian of the Harleian

manuscripts, but as we shall presently see, he deserved by his zeal,

learning, and discrimination to be considered together with Lord

Oxford, the joint-founder of the Harleian library.

"Nelson.

"2nd October 1702."

Thus, it was entirely owing to Wanley that the D'Ewes collection,

purchased for 6000 pounds, was secured by Sir Robert Harley, and it

formed the basis of what is now one of our greatest national

collections of manuscripts. The acquisition of this celebrated library

was the determining point in Wanley's career and in that of the

Harleian library itself.

Sir Symonds D'Ewes, the antiquary, had by his will left all his books

and manuscripts to his grandson, another Sir Symonds, but without

antiquarian or literary tastes. Wanley, having discovered that

although, according to the antiquary's will, his collection might not

be dispersed, it might still possibly be bought, wrote to Harley and

suggested that he should be the purchaser:

"Sir Symonds D'Ewes, being pleased to honour me with a peculiar

kindness of esteem, I have taken the liberty of inquiring of him

whether he will part with his library; and I find that he is not

unwilling to do so, and that at a much easier rate than I could think

for. I dare say that it would be a noble addition to the Cotton

Library; perhaps the best that could be had anywhere at present . . . .

If your Honour should judge it impracticable to persuade Her Majesty to

buy them for the Cotton Library--in whose coffers such a sum as will

buy them is scarcely conceivable--then Sir, if you have a mind of them

yourself, I will take care that you shall have them cheaper than any

other person whatsoever. I know that many have their eyes on this

collection. I am desirous to have this collection in town for the

public good, and rather in a public place than in private hands, but of

all private gentlemen's studies first in yours. I have not spoken to

anybody as yet, nor will not till I have your answer, that you may not

be forestalled."

The D'Ewes collection was a curiously miscellaneous one, containing

much trivial matter side by side with learned treatises, transcripts of

important cartularies, monastic registers, public and private muniments

of the most varied description. A list of them is to be found in the

Harleian MS. 775. No subject seems to have been void of interest for

the great antiquary: he treasured up his school exercises as carefully

as he did any ancient Greek or Roman charter, or mediaeval paleographic

gem.

With the purchase of this rich medley of books begins Wanley's term of

office as librarian to Lord Oxford, which continued till his death in

1726. By his knowledge and literary acumen the librarian supplied what

was lacking in his patron, for like Sir Robert Cotton, Harley, despite

his love of books, was by no means a scholar or man of letters. Even

the insignificant pamphlets, once ascribed to his pen, have since been

proved to be the work of others. His verses, some of which were printed

in the sixteenth volume of Swift's works, were condemned by Macaulay as

being "more execrable than the bellman's." But with Wanley at his side

he surpassed even Cotton as a collector, for the librarian possessed an

intimate acquaintanceship with the contents of every foreign library of

note, and Harley was always ready to spend in princely fashion whenever

Wanley considered that a manuscript was worth buying. On the sumptuous

bindings with which he adorned these acquisitions he expended as much

as 18,000 pounds. His principal binders were Thomas Elliott and

Christopher Chapman, of Duck Lane, who called forth some severe remarks

in Wanley's Diary, on the subject of their negligence and extravagant

prices. On inspecting Mr. Elliott's bill he finds him "exceeding dear

in all the works of Morocco, Turkey, and Russia leather, besides those

of velvet," and he is constantly reprimanding both book-binders for

their "negligence in executing my Lord's work."

Perhaps the best-merited praise that has ever been bestowed on the

founder of this celebrated library is Macaulay's tribute to his

"sincere kindness for men of genius." And, however much the first Earl

of Oxford may have transgressed politically (he is accused of having

been unscrupulous, weak, and incapable as a minister), his services to

literature in the protection which he accorded to the learned, have won

for him a high place in the estimation of his countrymen. Even as a

politician he acquired some literary fame, as being the first minister

who employed the Press for ministerial purposes; and it redounds to his

honour that, amid the cares and passions of public life, and aims more

or less worthy of a statesman, he occupied his scanty leisure with the

altogether laudable endeavour to gather together under his own roof for

the benefit of students and scholars as much as possible of the lore

and erudition of past ages.

The correspondence between Harley and Defoe, preserved at Welbeck

Abbey, and now published by the Historical MSS. Commission, reveals the

intimate relations which existed for public purposes between these two

remarkable men.

Of Edward, second Earl of Oxford, much praise and very little blame

have been recorded. He has been quaintly described as " indeed rich but

thankful, charitable without ostentation, and that in so good-natured a

way as never to give pain to the person whom he obliged in that

respect." He was, in truth, indolent and extravagant, faults which did

not, however, detract from his popularity. He was the prey of

adventurers, and the providence of impecunious poets such as Pope and

Swift. All the literati of the day were allowed access to his library.

Oldys drew therefrom the materials for his Life of Sir Walter Raleigh;

Joseph Ames and Samuel Palmer had recourse to it in their black-letter

studies. Pope was his adored friend and kept up a lively correspondence

with him; Swift was always welcome at his table. He had many tastes, of

which book-collecting was not the least expensive, and of the fortune

of 500,000 pounds which his wife brought him, the greater part is said

to have been sacrificed to "indolence, good-nature, and want of worldly

wisdom."

In 1740 he was obliged to sell his estate of Wimpole, in order to clear

off a debt of 100,000 pounds, a sacrifice which failed to appease his

creditors, and a prey to carking care, he found the downward path from

conviviality to inebriety a rapid one.

It was during the lifetime of the second Lord Oxford that the Rev.

Thomas Baker bequeathed his works in manuscript to the Harleian

library. A memorandum prefixed to these papers states that, in

consideration of one guinea (to satisfy

an original copy of Baston's verses on the battle of Bannockburn; a

fine one of the Chronicle of Mailros; the Life of King David, written

by the Abbot of Rievaulx; copies of charters between Scottish and

French kings; and transcripts overlooked by Rymer and John Harding

touching the lordship of England over Scotland. A contemporaneous

document relates to the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to the Dauphin,

and there are various letters from the same queen. We also notice Papal

Bulls, enjoining the Scottish bishops to render obedience to the

Archbishop of York as their metropolitan, and the king's recognition of

that archbishop's rights; besides many other important papers too

numerous to mention. Wales and Ireland are also well represented.

But like the Cottonian, the Harleian library spread its borders far

beyond the limits of British history. As early as 1697 it had been

Wanley's opinion that it would conduce very much to the welfare of

learning in this country if some fit person or persons were sent abroad

to make it their business to visit the libraries of France, Italy, and

Germany, and to give a good account of the most valued manuscripts in

them. "The Papists," he adds in his memorandum to this effect, "are

communicative enough, for love or money, of any book that does not

immediately concern their controversies with Protestants,"* a somewhat

cryptic utterance which Wanley does not concern himself to explain,

controversy not being one of the sciences to which his attention was

turned. But his letter of instructions to Mr. Andrew Hay, who was

commissioned by Lord Oxford 1720 to proceed to France and Italy in

order to purchase MSS. for him, shows such an intimate knowledge of the

contents of the great continental libraries, that long as it is we

cannot forbear transcribing the whole:--

"Mr. Andrew Hay, you being upon your departure towards France and Italy

by my noble Lord's order, I give you this commission, not now expecting

that you can execute every part of it in this journey, but yet hoping

that you will dispatch those articles which are of the greatest

importance, and put the others into a proper posture against the time

of your next return thither.

*Marl. MS., Harl. M.S., vol. 5911, f. 2.

"In Paris Fr. Bernard Montfaucon has some Coptic, Syriac, and other

MSS. worth the buying. Among them is an old leaf of the Greek

Septuagint, written in uncial or capital letters. Buy these and the

leaden book he gave to Cardinal Bouillon if he can procure it for you

or direct you to it. In the archives of the Cistercian monastery of

Clervaulx, I am told there are some original letters or epistles

written by the hand of St. Hierome upon phylira or bark. One or more of

these will be acceptable if not too outrageously valued. The Duke of

Savoy has many Greek MSS., as also the Egyptian board or table of Isis,

adorned with hieroglyphics, being those which have been explained by

Pignorius, Richerus, etc. Let me have some account of these.

"At Venice buy a set of the Greek liturgical books printed there--I

mean a set of the first edition if they may be had; if not let us have

the other. Buy also Thomassini Bibliothecae Venetae in 40. Get a

catalogue of Mr. Smith's MSS. there, and inquire how matters go about

Giustiniani's Greek MSS. In the bookseller's shops, etc., you may

frequently pick up Greek MSS., which the Greeks bring from the Morea

and other parts of the Levant. Remember to get the fragments of Greek

MSS. you left with the bookseller who bought Maffeo's library. The

family of Moscardi at Verona have many valuable antiquities, and among

the rest four instruments of the Emperor Theodosius, junior [now

imperfect] written upon phylira. These must be bought, and especial

care taken of them, etc. The first begins 'dem relectis'; the second

'ius vir in ast'; the third 'ius vir in'; the fourth 'ni Siciliensis.'

At Florence, the Dominicans or Franciscans have a large collection of

Greek MSS. You may see them and get a catalogue of them if you can. Buy

Ernstius or some other catalogue of the Grand Duke's MSS.

"At Milan in the Ambrosian Library is a very ancient Catullus, part of

Josephus in Latin, written upon bark; a Samaritan Pentateuch in octavo,

part of the Syriac Bible in the ancient or Estrangele characters;

divers Greek MSS. in capital letters, being parts of the Bible, with

other books of great antiquity, both Greek and Latin. You may look upon

them and send me some account.

"At Monza [about ten miles from Milan] is an imperfect Antiphonarium

Gregorii Papae. It is all written upon purplecoloured parchment, with

capital letters of gold. Buy this if you can.

"The family of Septata at Milan have a Latin writing upon bark. Buy

this if it will be parted with.

"In the archives of the Church of Ravenna are divers instruments

written upon bark. You may see them.

"At Rome the Greek monks of St. Basil have very many old Greek MSS.

written in capitals, particularly a book of the four Gospels, and some

pieces of St. Gregory Nazianzen upon St. Paul's Epistles. Buy as many

as you can, for I hear they are poor, and therefore, they may sell the

cheaper. They have likewise a Greek charter of Roger, King of Sicily,

in five pieces, with some other instruments in Greek, written upon bark

or vellum. Buy these also if you can.

"The Fathers of the Oratory at Rome have many very ancient MSS., both

Greek and Latin. See them at least, even supposing that they will not

sell. In the Cathedral library at Pisa are many ancient MSS. Let me

have some account of these also.

"The monks of Bovio, near, if not in Pavia, have many very ancient

MSS., and among the rest a book of the Gospels in Latin, wherein St.

Luke is written Lucanus. They have many old deeds in their archives.

Buy what you can.

"At Cava [about a day's journey from Naples], is a Benedictine

monastery. In the archives or treasury is a Greek deed of Roger, King

of Sicily, with his golden seal appendant. Buy this if you can. In the

library are some old MSS.; see these at least, if you cannot buy.

"At Naples, in the library of the Augustin Friars of St. John de

Carbonara is a Greek MS. of the Gospels [or of homilies upon the

Gospels] all written in capitals, with letters of gold upon purple

parchment. This must be bought. There is also a Dioscorides in Greek

capitals, being a large work with figures of the planets, etc. This

must also be bought. There is also a good number of other ancient MSS.,

both Greek and Latin. Among the latter is an Hieronimus de Scriptoribus

Ecclesiasticis, in Saxon letters, and the Gospels in Latin, where St.

Luke is called Lucanus. Buy of these what you can.

"If the Greek MSS. of the monastery of St. Saviour, near Messina in

Sicily, or any of them do remain there yet, or in that neighbourhood,

as it is probable they may, they will doubtless come exceeding cheap.

You will inquire, however, how this matter stands.

"Pray Sir, all along in your journey endeavour to secure what Greek

MSS. and Latin classical MSS. you can, provided they come at reasonable

prices, and let me be favoured with an account of your proceedings as

often as may be convenient."

And he adds:

"Mr. Hay, in executing this commission, my noble Lord cannot give you

positive directions how to bid upon every occasion, by reason of this

his great distance from those parts, and must therefore rely upon your

fidelity, your prudence, your usual dexterity in business, and your

personal affection to him. You will be sure always to buy as cheap as

you can, for I foresee that some of the things his Lordship chiefly

wants or is desirous of, will not come for a small matter. In most of

the monasteries you will be able to buy for ready money; but it may be

at a cheaper rate with the Greek monks at St. Basil's monastery at

Rome, whose MSS. are good, and themselves in want.

"I beseech God to bless and prosper you all along in this so long a

journey, and to bring you back again with safety and good success; and

you may be sure that you will be more welcome to but very few than to,

good Sir, your very hearty well-wisher and most humble servant,

"Humphrey Wanly.

"26th April 1720."*

* Printed in the Preface to the Catalogue of the Harleian MSS.

Mr. Hay's expedition was not entirely successful. Some of the

manuscripts mentioned in the above letter, which Wanley insisted "must

be bought," are clearly not in the Harleian collection, and notably the

Greek and Latin MSS. written in letters of gold upon purple parchment.

For this library contains among its choicest treasures no manuscript

entirely written upon purple vellum, the Codex Aureus being only

partially thus stained. As we have already seen, during the early ages

of Christianity, the Greeks and Romans were in the habit of writing

their most precious books in letters of gold and silver on

purple-stained vellum, that colour being the distinguishing sign of

royalty and greatness. Purple was only worn by princes, and in this

manner of distinguishing the Scriptures was shown the high degree of

reverence in which they were held. The practice was continued during

the fifth and three following centuries, although it was so little

known in England that when, towards the end of the seventh century, St.

Wilfrid, Archbishop of York, gave a copy of the Gospels ornamented in

this manner to York Minster, his biographer described the book as a

thing almost miraculous. Manuscripts entirely composed of leaves of

purple vellum are of the greatest rarity, and many are described by

palaeographers as purple-stained when they are only partially so. The

age of a manuscript may sometimes be determined among other

characteristics by the fineness and whiteness of the vellum, and

sometimes by its purple colour. The MSS. numbered 2788, 2820, and 2821

in the Harleian library are described by Astle as purple-stained,

whereas they are only thus painted in places intended to receive the

golden letters. Frequently, only the most important parts, such as the

title-pages, prefaces, or a few pages at the beginning of each gospel

or the Canon of the Mass, were written on vellum which had been

prepared in this manner.

Wanley, as may be seen from the foregoing letter, added to his

knowledge of manuscripts a certain fondness for driving a bargain. He

was extremely desirous of obtaining the treasures which he describes so

accurately, but he was almost as much bent on getting them cheap as on

getting them at all. This may have been the result of solicitude for

his patron's pocket, for Lord Oxford was ruining himself to enrich his

library; but at all events in this matter nature and grace seem to have

gone amicably hand in hand. Wanley's only comment on the death of the

Earl of Sunderland in 1722 is to the effect that it will make rare old

books more accessible from the fact of their being less in demand, " so

that any gentleman may be permitted to buy an uncommon old book for

less than forty or fifty pounds."

Number 2788 is the wonderful Codex Aureus or Golden Gospels. Its

acquisition by Lord Oxford is chronicled in Wanley's Diary in the year

1720. On the 14th May he wrote:

"Yesterday Mr. Vaillant (a bookseller) brought me a specimen of the

characters of that Latin MS. of the Gospels, which is to be sold at the

approaching auction of Menare's books at the Hague. These characters

are all uncials, gilded over with gold, and appear to be formed in very

elegant manner. Among them I observe A, G, V, M and E so shaped, which

is not commonly seen in the body or text of old MSS., although frequent

in the title or Rubrics. In my opinion this most ancient and valuable

book should be purchased at any rate."

Lord Oxford gave orders for the Golden Manuscript to be secured, and

commissioned Mr. Vaillant to buy it with all secrecy and prudence.

There are several entries in Wanley's Diary concerning the negotiations

for this purchase, and on the 27th June all was brought to a happy

conclusion.

"This day the Codex Aureus Latinus was cleared out of the king's

warehouse, and delivered into my custody." On the 29th its solemn entry

into the Harleian library is recorded, and on the 13th July of the

following year, we find that "Mr. Elliot, having clothed the Codex

Aureus in my Lord's morocco leather, took the same home this day, in

order to work upon it with his best tools, which he can do with much

more conveniency at his own house than here." Wanley makes a note of

this circumstance because of his "speedy journey to Oxford in case any

ill accident should happen."

This celebrated MS. is written throughout in gold letters upon vellum,

with the exception of the first lines of chapters in the Gospels and

the first lines of the subsidiary articles, which are in red ink. The

paintings of the four evangelists are extremely interesting, and the

title-pages are stained purple. This codex is described by Sir Edward

Maunde Thompson as French, of the time of Charlemagne, and we may add

that its position in the Harleian may be compared to that of the Durham

or Lindisfarne Gospels in the Cottonian library.

The manuscripts numbered 2820 and 2821 are further examples of

partially purple-stained vellum, in imitation of earlier work. They are

of German workmanship of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The

execution of the miniatures is condemned by Sir Edward Thompson as

"very rude" and "hard," but with all deference to so great an authority

we must put in a plea for them, on the score of their extreme naivete

and candour.

A mediaeval roll of immense interest, one of the greatest treasures of

this collection, consists of a series of beautiful outline drawings,

known as the Guthlac Roll, representing scenes from the life of St.

Guthlac. These drawings, which are of the twelfth century, are

contained in eighteen rondeaux, intended, perhaps, as a design for a

stained-glass window in honour of the saint at Croyland. They quaintly

describe, in exquisite delicacy of form and colour, how the young

Guthlac, after taking leave of his parents, renounces the profession of

arms, and receives the tonsure at the hands of Bishop Hedda. Then,

sailing away in a boat to Croyland, he builds an oratory with the help

of two companions, Becelin and Tatwin, and an angel converses with him.

No sooner is he launched on his new career of prayer, good works, and

bodily mortification, than demons assail him, carry him to the roof of

his oratory, and scourge him with knotted cords. But he scares them

away with the white scourge given to him by St. Bartholomew. He is then

ordained priest, instructs Ethelbald in the Christian religion, and

prophecies that he will be king. The last six rondeaux show forth the

death of Guthlac, the burial of his body by his sister Pega, his

appearing to Ethelbald and his attendants who are weeping round his

tomb, and his blissful state in heaven among the benefactors of

Croyland Abbey.

Reference has already been made to Wanley's Diary,* a chronicle of the

purchases made by Lord Oxford during the greater part of Wanley's

custodianship, and of the principal events which happened in the

library. It begins on the 2nd March 1714, when Wanley had been

librarian for about six years. Many of the entries are exceedingly

curious, as demonstrating the energy with which old manuscripts were

traced, discovered, and purchased, and the tact and discretion

employed, in order to induce their owners to part with them. A fine

manuscript of part of Bede's Ecclesiastical History in Saxon, and two

other valuable Saxon MSS. -- King Alfred's translation of Ossian and a

copy of Aelfrick's Grammar--were discovered in private hands, besides

the Psalterium Gallicanum of St. Jerome "with the * and ./., written

about the time of the last King Ethelred, with the Litany and some

prayers, being one of the most beautiful books that can be seen."

* Lansdowne MSS., 771, 772.

There was, moreover, a constant movement in the library itself. All

those who had any kind of manuscript for sale came to Wanley, and he

notifies in his diary the arrival of books in Chinese, Armenian,

Samaritan, Hebrew, Chaldee, Aethiopic and Arabic (both in Asiatic and

African letters), in Persian, Turkish, Russian, Greek (ancient and

modern), Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Provencal, High German, Low

German, Flemish, Anglo-Saxon, English, Welsh, and Irish, in all about

940 manuscripts,

"Which is," he remarks, "a great parcel, besides which my Lord hath got

many other MSS. remaining at Wimpole . . . . My Lord hath not only

other MSS. in this room, written in almost all those [languages] above

enumerated, but also in those that follow, which I call to mind on the

sudden-viz., Chinese, Japanese, Sanscrit or Hanscrit, Malabaric,

Syriac, in the Nestorian, as well as in the common characters (some few

specimens of Coptic letters), Slavonian, Wallachian, Hungarian,

Courlandish, Francic or old Teutonic, Biscayan, Portuguese." On another

occasion, a person who had some books for sale, which he was anxious

that Lord Oxford should buy, offered Wanley a douceur, in the hope that

the librarian would press their purchase, "not knowing," he says

simply, "the kind of man I am." Wanley refused the bribe, but advised

his patron to buy the books, which he did.

At another time--

"A French sort of droll came to my lodging, saying he was sent to me by

Mr. Bu-Pis, of Long Acre. He pulled out a 40 paper MS., dedicated to

Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, treating of Geomancy, and other like

nonsense, being written mostly in German. Monsieur stumped up the value

of it, and often swore it was the finest thing in the world. I asked

him the price of it, and looked grum and gravely, which he saw with

satisfaction; but as soon as his answer of fifty guineas was out, I

replied that was the book mine he should have it for the hundredth part

of a quart d'ecu. The droll would, however, have made remonstrances,

but I would hear none; il ne vaut rien being my word. So I waited on

him downstairs, which he took as a piece of ceremony; but indeed it was

to see him out of the house without stealing something."

One of the most important negotiations chronicled by Wanley relates to

the purchase of the Graevius MSS. in 1724-25. Johann Graevius was a

German classical scholar, born in 1632, and chiefly known by his

Thesaurus Antiquitatum Romanorum, and his Antiquitatum et Historianum

Italia, in 45 volumes. His library, one of the most remarkable in

Europe, was sold at his death in 1703 to the elector, Johann Wilhelm,

for 6000 Reichsthaler. The elector presented all the printed books in

this collection to the University of Heidelberg, but kept the

manuscripts, 110 in number, in his own library at Dusseldorf They were

accounted such treasures, that travellers, interested in antiquities,

were taken to see them. The German scholar Uffenbach, who visited the

elector's library in VI I, says of them:

"Among the few MSS. that were shown to me, the most remarkable was a

beautiful old quarto codex of Horace, which Graevius once lent to Mr.

Bentley, who could not be prevailed on to restore it till forced into

it by the threat that the elector would appeal to the Queen. There were

several volumes of autograph letters from learned men, collected by

Graevius, and several very beautiful breviaries, among which was one in

duodecimo, bound in silver, and containing as many beautiful figures as

I have ever seen in such books. Mr. Le Roy also showed me the 'Officia

Ciceronis,' printed by Scheffer in 1466--namely the books De Amicitia

et Senectute."

The above books, together with others not mentioned by Uffenbach,

subsequently found their way into the Harleian library, and have been

identified by Mr. A. C. Clark, who has made a careful study of them

aided by the dates written in Wanley's hand on the first page.*

* See his interesting paper in the "Classical Review," October 1891,

The Library of J. G. Gravius.

The manner of their disappearance from the elector's library

illustrates the more than questionable dealings to which

book-collectors were often subjected at the hands of their librarians.

There is a curious correspondence preserved in the Bodleian library,

consisting of autograph letters which passed between Buchels, the

elector's librarian at Dusseldorf, and Zamboni, the resident at the

court of Great Britain for the Landgraf of Hessen Darmstadt. In

appearance the correspondence is innocent enough: Zamboni has

manuscripts for sale on behalf of persons abroad. But there is far more

than meets the eye, and the letters contain almost beyond doubt the

disguised and detailed account of how the elector was robbed of his

manuscripts, and how Zamboni defrauded the fraudulent librarian

Buchels. Indeed the whole history of the Graevius manuscripts seems to

be one of peculation, until they came into Lord Oxford's possession.

Graevius himself was by no means irreproachable in the matter of

restoring borrowed books; Buchels, a Latin scholar and bibliograph of

some merit, had a suspicious tendency to appropriate his master's

goods; and Zamboni, had he lived in these days, would certainly have

been prosecuted for criminal bankruptcy, if, indeed, the greater part

of the transaction were not considered too dishonest to risk exposure.

Buchels, in writing to Zamboni, 13th August 1717, maintains an air of

mystery about the books which he offers to him for sale, professing to

get them from various monasteries, and describing the difficulties

which he has in obtaining them. There are English dealers about, too,

who raise the price of everything. By degrees he sends lists of what he

has to dispose of, and shelters himself behind a mysterious friend, who

is obliged to sell such and such a manuscript. Sometimes this friend is

travelling about, sometimes he is in the country, but he is always the

source of difficulties. But Zamboni is not deceived to the extent to

which Buchels wishes to deceive him, and he knows full well that the

manuscripts offered to him all formed part of the Codices Graeviani,

and he tells Wanley so, but does not of course mention Buchels.

Meanwhile there is much bargaining between Buchels and Zamboni; but it

is certain, from the correspondence in the Bodleian library, that

Zamboni never paid for the MSS. which he sold to Lord Oxford in

anything but promises. The bills which he gave were never met, and if

the elector was the loser, his librarian cannot be said to have

profited by the fraud which he undoubtedly committed.

Wanley's part in the transaction, a strictly honourable one, is fully

recorded in the Diary. On the 26th December 1724, he wrote:--

"The last night Mr. Mattaire came to me and said that he had seen

Signor Zamboni, and nine MSS. which are lately come to him from

Italy--that they will soon be sent to his house without being shown to

any other, and that then I shall see them forthwith. And further, that

this Signor expects a little parcel of Greek MSS., not yet arrived."

Three weeks later he again wrote:--

"This morning I went to Mr. Mattaire, with whom I saw fifteen old Latin

MSS., or fragments of MSS., belonging now to Signor Zamboni, but

formerly to the Dutch Professor Graevius.

He opened a negotiation, and after some months wrote thus:--

"Signor Zamboni, sending a very kind letter to me, desiring to visit

me, either here or at my lodgings, I desired he would please to call

here, my lodgings being out of order, by reason of my maid's being

married yesterday. Signor Zamboni came hither about 2, and I showed him

many more of my Lord's MSS. to his great satisfaction. At length he

desired that I would go along with him to an ordinary, where he was to

dine with some foreign persons of distinction. I complied with his

request, as thinking I might do my Lord some service; and after dinner

was over, and the rest of the company gone, he assured me that as to

the price of the MSS. which he hath sent hither, he will leave it

entirely to my regulation, and accept of whatever I shall think an

equitable price for them; only, he desires a dispatch as speedy as may

be, lest the owner should send for them back. He further said that the

owner chiefly values the two volumes of learned men's Letters, the

Saxon Spieghel, and the Prayerbook of Solyman the Magnificent."

Three days later, 27 September 1725, the Diary further records:--

"Yesterday Signor Zamboni came to me, and was entertained to his own

content and satisfaction. He conferred with me about the MSS. here in

my custody, and will stand to my award, between my Lord and him. He

says that as to the things my Lord formerly had of him, that he was no

gainer, but that in one of the parcels, he of himself lowered the price

twenty pounds less than his commission ran for. I hope I shall be able

to separate the two volumes of Letters, the Saxon Spieghel and

Solyman's Prayer-book, although they are very curious and valuable

things, and so my Lord may have the others very cheap. This done, I

believe that the same Letters and two MSS. may in time fall into my

Lord's hands at a price far lower than they are now held up at. Signor

Zamboni, who proves to be a good-natured and is [I believe] an honest

gentleman, mentioned 4000 more original Letters in the possession of

his correspondent, which may soon be brought over into England."

On the 2nd October he added:--

"I waited on Signor Zamboni yesterday, who is daily teased by his Dutch

correspondent about the chest of MSS. lying here."

There was a further delay of nearly a fortnight, and then Wanley wrote

to the rogue Zamboni to the effect that Lord Oxford had at last seen

many of his manuscripts, which he was not unwilling to buy at a

reasonable price, and that he would willingly forego the two volumes of

letters, the Saxon Spieghel and Sultan Solyman's Prayerbook, "if held

up too dear." He asked for the Greek MS. of Hesiod which he formerly

saw among them, but which had since been withdrawn. Ultimately he sent

back some of the books for which "this most greedy Signor" asked "the

most horrible price." Wanley's hope that they might subsequently come

to the library for less money was fulfilled as far as the letters were

concerned; these are now to be found in volumes 4933 4934 4935 and

4936. Among them are a few other letters which were already in the

Harleian library when the Dusseldorf manuscripts were purchased. Wanley

had them all bound up together.

The manuscripts bought by Wanley from Zamboni number eighty-four, and

comprise nearly all the important books mentioned in the Graevius

catalogue. The Hesiod is the only valuable Greek MS. missing, and the

principal Latin MS. of this collection, which did not pass into the

Harleian library, is a Terence. It is also to be regretted that Wanley

did not secure the prayers of Solyman and the celebrated Saxon

Spieghel. Of the eighty-four other MSS., two have a special historical

interest: the Cicero (2682) and the Quintilian (2664), both of which

can be traced to the Cathedral library at Cologne.

Graevius borrowed the Cicero in 1663 from the authorities, but never

returned it. The elector, Johann Wilhelm, bought it among other books

which were sold at his death. It consists of a folio of 192 leaves of

coarse vellum written in a German hand of the latter part of the

eleventh century, and has been the subject of much learned criticism.

It was collated by Mr. A. C. Clark, but until he identified it as one

of the books that had formed part of the Graevius collection, very

little attention had been paid to it. There is no trace of it before

the sixteenth century, beyond the fact that its first collator was

Modius of Cologne, who was allowed to use the Cathedral library, to

which the Cicero then belonged. The acquisition of these manuscripts

was the last important purchase made by Wanley; he died a few months

later, aged fifty-three.

Besides the above-mentioned treasures from the Dusseldorf library the

Harleian possesses, among other Greek classical manuscripts, some that

are unique in character. Sir Edward Thompson, in his "Catalogue of

Ancient Greek MSS. in the British Museum," calls attention to three in

the Harleian collection which appear to him to be of superior merit.

These are: (1) The Greek-Latin glossary of the seventh century. This

manuscript is of singular interest both for language and palaeography,

and consists of 277 leaves of vellum varying in thickness, some of it

being very coarse. At the end, on a fly-leaf is some scribbling in what

is described as "a Merovingian hand." (2) The Greek MS. of the ninth or

tenth century, imperfect in the beginning, and in several other places,

described by Wanley as the Codex Prusensis. The initial letters, some

of which are ornamented, are generally red. (3) A volume numbered 5694

in the catalogue, and containing a part of Lucian's works, on 134

leaves of fine vellum of the tenth century. On the second fly-leaf are

these words in an Italian fifteenth-century hand: "Libro de Jo.

Chalceopylus, Constantinopolitanus," and at the bottom of the page,

"Antonii Seripandi ex Henrici Casolle amici optimi munere." Wanley says

that this MS. was supposed to have been carried from the old imperial

library at Constantinople to the monastery of Bobi near Naples. He

considered it "the finest old Greek classical MS. now in England." The

library of Seripandus was preserved in the Augustinian monastery of St.

John of Carbonara at Naples, but a part of it was sold to Jan de Witt,

who took it to Holland, and this manuscript was among the number, and

was included in the sale catalogue of De Witt's library in 1701. It was

bought by Jan van der Mark of Utrecht, and on this account it is

described in the Amsterdam edition of the work as the Codex Marcianus.

Later on it came into the possession of John Bridges of

Northamptonshire, who sold it to the second Lord Oxford.

The earliest Latin MS. in the Harleian library is a copy of the four

Gospels of the sixth or seventh century--No. 1775. It was bought by the

founder of the library from Jean Aymon, who stole it, together with

eight other manuscripts, from the Bibliothique Royale in Paris, in

1707. It still bears on folio 2 its original press-mark. Another MS. in

Lord Oxford's possession having been identified as one of these, was

restored to its rightful owners in 1729. This relic of early Christian

times consists of 35 leaves of the Epistles of St. Paul, the canonical

Epistle, and the Apocalypse, written in gold letters on vellum. The

adventure through which it found itself in the Harleian library

together with the precious No. 1775, may be thus briefly related:

Jean Aymon was a renegade French priest who had retired to the Hague,

married, and become a Lutheran pastor. He enjoyed a considerable

reputation for learning and piety among the Dutch; but wearying of his

monotonous, uneventful life, he resolved on returning to France under

pretext of offering to Monsieur Clement, the king's sub-librarian, a

certain book which he had discovered. He accordingly wrote to Clement

asking him to procure him a passport, in order that he might present

the book in question, and reveal some important matters to the king.

Clement obtained the passport, and Aymon returned to France, where, in

order to ingratiate himself with the librarian, he declared that he

wished to be restored in religion. He was advised to retire for a time

to the seminary of Foreign Missions, in order to study his position and

to prepare for his rehabilitation as a priest. But he complained

bitterly of the treatment which he received at the seminary, and paid

frequent visits to Clement, who, with astounding simplicity, allowed

him to remain for hours, often quite alone, in the Royal library. Here

he employed himself in making selections from priceless manuscripts,

sometimes cutting out pages from the middle of a volume where the theft

would be less easily detected. When he had gathered in a considerable

harvest, he cleverly obtained another passport, and escaped back to the

Hague with his ill-gotten gains. He accounted for his absence by saying

that he had been to seek documents, important for the defence of

religion, and made no secret of having brought back rich trophies. It

was thus through public rumour that Clement first became aware that the

king's library had been robbed. But Aymon's method of pilfering had so

far succeeded that it was some time before it could be ascertained what

number of manuscripts he had carried off. By degrees, however, the list

was completed and sent to Holland. The Abbe Bignon was the king's

librarian at the time when it was discovered that one at least of the

stolen treasures was in the Harleian library. As soon as Edward, Lord

Oxford became aware of the fact, he hastened to restore it, and

received in exchange a very polite acknowledgement of his courtesy from

Cardinal Fleury on behalf of the king.*

* L. V. Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits de la Bibliotheque Imperiale.

In 1725 Wanley enumerated the Greek MSS. in the Harleian collection as

173. Among the illuminated ones, that which bears the number 1810

demands special attention. It is an Evangelia executed in Greece in the

twelfth century, and written in black and red characters on the finest

vellum. Some of the miniatures have suffered woefully, the paint having

cracked in parts, but the faces are still full of beauty and life. One

of the least damaged represents the death of the Blessed Virgin. The

apostles surround the bed on which she lies extended; the aged St.

Peter lifts up his hands in an attitude of grief; St. John is leaning

over her left side; another bends forward and embraces her feet. In a

lozenge-shaped medallion on a gold background our Lord holds her soul

in His arms, in the form of a little child. A crowd of people form the

background, and a figure at the head of the bed swings a censer. Three

women contemplate the scene from a small window.

Another remarkable miniature, the last in the volume, is a good deal

cracked, but still extremely interesting for the force and delicacy of

touch which it displays. Our Lord appears to the apostles after His

Resurrection. St. Thomas is in the act of placing his finger in the

wounded side. The print of the nails is seen in the hands and feet. Sir

Edward Thompson distinguishes this manuscript with his by no means

frequent encomium, "very good."

The Greek Evangelium of the ninth or tenth century (5787), with its

ornamental initials and borders, and St. Jerome's Latin version of the

Psalter (2793), with a preface addressed to Sophronius, and written in

a tenth-century hand, should not be passed over.

Another Psalter (2904), executed in England at the end of the tenth or

beginning of the eleventh century, has a fine drawing of the

Crucifixion, and grand initial letters. Westwood, in his Facsimiles and

Miniatures, considers this drawing to be the finest of the kind, and

the initial B (Beatus vir qui non abiit in consilio impiorum), the

noblest with which he is acquainted. This manuscript has most of the

characteristics of the later Anglo-Saxon school-the hunched-up

shoulders to express grief, the attenuated lower limbs, and the manner

in which prominence is given to the central figure by drawing the

others much smaller. On a scroll which St. John holds are the words,

"Hic est discipulis qui testimonii perhibet." The arrangement of

Pilate's superscription--"Hic est Nazaren IHC rex judaeor"--is unusual

but not without precedent.

The Harleian library contains no fewer than 300 MSS. of the Bible or

parts of the Bible, written and illuminated between the seventh and the

fourteenth centuries. Of the later copies we may note one of the whole

Bible, written in the thirteenth century, and described in the

"Catalogue of Ancient MSS. in the British Museum," as remarkable; and a

Psalter, written before 1339, splendidly illuminated, and further

interesting as having belonged to Philippa of Hainault, and as bearing

the arms of England without those of France.

There is also a fine series of Talmudical and Rabbinical books; nearly

200 volumes of Fathers of the Church, as well as liturgical books of

the different Latin and Greek rites.

The polite literature of the Middle Ages is admirably represented,

among other examples by the famous Roman de la Rose, with its brilliant

fourteenth-century miniatures, its wonderful figures gorgeously

dressed, its broad borders richly decorated with fruit, birds, insects,

and flowers, of which the rose is the most salient feature. One

fascinating miniature shows--

Comment Narcissus se mira

A la fontaine et souspira";

and after a long but delightful pilgrimage by flowery meads and limpid

streams, amid curious mediaeval gardens

"La conclusion du rommant

Est que vous voiez ez lemant

Qui prent la rose a son plaisir

En qui estait tout son desir."

This glimpse of the treasures of the Harleian library will at least

account for the great celebrity it attained within a comparatively

short time of its foundation. Wanley was careful to enter into his

Diary the names of visitors, and any interesting details connected with

them, and their motives for an inspection. On the 15th January 1719/20

he observed:--

"Dr.Fiddes came, and communicated to me his intention of writing the

life of Cardinal Wolsey at large; and desired me to transcribe for him

all such materials in this library as I should find for his purpose. I

showed him divers things here, and gave him notice of many others in

the Cottonian library, etc., but as to transcribing for him, begged his

excuse, etc."

On the 22nd December 1721,

"Mr. Bowles, the Bodleian library-keeper, came, and I spent most of the

time showing him some of the rarities here, to his great wonder and

satisfaction."

And on the 28th

"Mr. Bowles came and saw more of the rarities here."

Two more visits from Mr. Bowles are chronicled, when he saw "yet more

of the curious books, papers, and parchments here"; and shortly after

Wanley wrote, "many come and tarry long." A visit from David Casley,

keeper of the Cottonian and Royal libraries, on the 4th November 1725,

is suggestive of a certain amount of friction between the two rival

librarians. It is nearly the last entry in Wanley's record:--

"Mr. Casley came to collate my Lord's MSS. of Titus Livius for Mr.

D'Orville, by my Lord's order. I am civil to him, but when just now he

offered me a South Sea bond as security to let him carry one of the

said MSS. home to collate it there, I would by no means hearken to such

a proposal."

Perhaps Wanley would have regarded him with still greater suspicion if

he had known that Casley was to be his successor in cataloguing the

MSS. which he kept with so jealous a care. The talents of the two men

were very different, as the catalogue itself shows. That part of it for

which Wanley was responsible contains a description and an abstract of

each manuscript. Casley, whose knowledge of the age of manuscripts has

never been surpassed, contented himself with fixing their dates without

any reference to their contents.

The work of building up the library does not seem to have flagged or

deteriorated after Wanley's death. The search for precious MSS. was

still actively carried on, and copies of a large collection of

original, royal, and other letters and State Papers in the Lansdowne

library furnish us with an example of Lord Oxford's unabated zeal in

the pursuit of books. Appended to these papers is a note written on the

first leaf by Mr. J. West, and dated 2nd May 1742:--

"Mem. I went with Edward, Earl of Oxford, to view these MSS. at a

barber's shop next door to the Bull Head Tavern, in Lincoln's Inn

Fields, when we were carried up two pair of stairs, and an old woman

asked 300 pounds for the MSS., which was thought exorbitant, but which

would have been given, if she would have declared any lawful title to

us as owner of them."

After Casley, Hocker, deputy-keeper of the records in the Tower,

undertook to continue the catalogue, but only completed it as far as

the number 7355. When the collection was brought to the British Museum,

after the death of the second Lord Oxford, Dr. Brown, Professor of

Arabic at Oxford, and Dr. Kennicott, Fellow of Exeter College, added

titles to such of the Arabic and Hebrew MSS. as needed them. Gomez, a

learned Jew, was employed to do the same for the rabbinical books that

were without titles. In 1800 the Rev. Robert Nares was appointed to

continue and revise the catalogue. In a letter to Bishop Percy, dated

British Museum, 19th January 1801, Nares wrote:--

"I am just now deep in old MSS., correcting all that part of the

Harleian catalogue which was left unfinished by Humphrey Wanley, and

very imperfectly executed by Mr. Casley."

The work done by Nares was supplemented by Stebbing Shaw, and Douce.

The Rev. T. Hartwell Horne added a series of indexes, and published the

catalogue in 1812.*

* Nichol's Literary Illustrations, vol. vii., p. 591.

On the death of Edward, Earl of Oxford, in 1741, his widow,* who is

described as a "dull, worthy woman," cared to retain few of her

husband's treasures. His various curiosities were sold by auction; his

printed books, pamphlets, and engravings were disposed of to Thomas

Osborne, a bookseller of Gray's Inn, for 13,000 pounds--several

thousand pounds less than the cost of their bindings. A selection of

scarce pamphlets found in the library was made by Oldys, and printed in

8 volumes, in 1746, under the title of the "Harleian Miscellany." Dr.

Samuel Johnson wrote a preface to this work. The best edition of the

"Harleian Miscellany" is that of Thomas Park, in 10 volumes, published

between 1808-13.

* She was Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles, only daughter of John,

fourth Earl of Clare, created Duke of Newcastle.

There still remained the precious manuscripts, and it had been the wish

of Lord Oxford that books so carefully collected might not be

dispersed. In accordance with this wish, Lady Oxford sold them to the

nation in 1753 for the inconsiderable sum of 10,000 pounds. They then

consisted of 7639 volumes, besides 14,236 original rolls, charters,

deeds, and other documents, and these were removed to the British

Museum, where they found a safe and suitable resting-place.

But although fortunately the Harleian MSS. have been preserved from the

fate of so many choice volumes in the Cottonian library, they have

suffered to some extent from the carelessness or dishonesty of

borrowers. The second Lord Oxford was generous to a fault in lending,

with the inevitable result. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, the only one of

his literary friends whom Lady Oxford tolerated,* wrote the following

letter to her husband from Avignon in 1745, at the time when probably,

the MSS. having been removed to the British Museum, attention was

directed to the fact that some were missing:--

"I perfectly remember carrying back the manuscript you mention, and

delivering it to Lord Oxford. I never failed returning to himself all

the books he lent me. It is true I showed it to the Duchess of

Montague, but we read it together, and I did not even leave it with

her. I am not surprised in that vast quantity of manuscripts, some

should be lost or mislaid, particularly knowing Lord Oxford to be

careless of them, easily lending and as easily forgetting he had done

it. I remember I carried him once one very finely illuminated that when

I delivered he did not recollect he had lent it to me, though it was

but a few days before. Wherever this is, I think you had need be in no

pain about it."**

* "It is a common remark that people of brilliant parts often have no

objection to relax or REST their understandings in the society of those

whose intellects are a little more obtuse. Here was an instance: the

gods never made anybody less poetical than Lady Oxford; and yet Lady

Mary Wortley, though in general not over tolerant to her inferior's

incapacity, appears upon the whole to have loved nobody so well. And

there was an exception equally striking in her favour; for Lady Oxford,

heartily detesting most of the wits who surrounded her husband, yet

admired Lady Mary with all her might-pretty much as the parish clerk

reverences the rector for his Greek and Hebrew. Lady Bute confessed

that she sometimes got into sad disgrace by exclaiming, 'Dear mama! how

can you be so fond of that stupid woman?' which never failed to bring

upon her a sharp reprimand and a lecture against rash judgments, ending

with 'Lady Oxford is not shining, but she has much more in her than

such giddy things as you and your companions can discern."*-- The

Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, edited by her

great-grandson, Lord Whamcliffe, 2nd ed., vol. i., p. 66. Introduction.

** Letters, vol. ii., p. 147.

Two years after the removal of the Harleian library to the British

Museum, Lady Oxford died, leaving an only daughter, Margaret Cavendish,

married to William Bentinck, second Duke of Portland. She was the

"noble, lovely little Peggy" sung by Prior. As she had inherited none

of her father's and grandfather's tastes, it was fitting that the grand

collection of MSS., for the sake of which they had impoverished

themselves, should enrich an innumerable multitude of scholars and

students of all nations and for all time.