Chapter XX: Part V: =The Drawing Room.= (3)

All hail to the sovereign who, bred up in severe habits of reading and meditation, loved books and scholars to the very bottom of her heart! I consider ELIZABETH as a royal bibliomaniac of transcendent fame!--I see her, in imagination, wearing her favourite little _Volume of Prayers_,[325] the composition of Queen Catherine Parr, and Lady Tirwit, "bound in solid gold, and hanging by a gold chain at her side," at her morning and evening devotions--afterwards, as she became firmly seated upon her throne, taking an interest in the embellishments of the _Prayer Book_,[326] which goes under her own name; and then indulging her strong bibliomaniacal appetites in fostering the institution "for the erecting of _a Library and an Academy for the study of Antiquities and History_."[327] Notwithstanding her earnestness to root out all relics of the Roman Catholic religion (to which, as the best excuse, we must, perhaps, attribute the sad cruelty of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots), I cannot in my heart forbear to think but that she secured, for her own book-boudoir, one or two of the curious articles which the commissioners often-times found in the libraries that they inspected: and, amongst other volumes, how she could forbear pouncing upon "_A great Pricksong Book of parchment_"--discovered in the library of All Soul's College[328]--is absolutely beyond my wit to divine!

[Footnote 325: Of this curious little devotional volume the
reader has already had some account (p. 119, ante); but if
he wishes to enlarge his knowledge of the same, let him
refer to vol. lx. pt. ii. and vol. lxi. pt. i. of the
_Gentleman's Magazine_. By the kindness of Mr. John Nichols,
I am enabled to present the bibliomaniacal virtuoso with a
fac-simile of the copper-plate inserted in the latter volume
(p. 321) of the authority last mentioned. It represents the
GOLDEN COVER, or binding, of this precious manuscript. Of
the Queen's attachment to works of this kind, the following
is a pretty strong proof: "In the Bodl. library, among the
MSS. in mus. num. 235, are the _Epistles of St. Paul, &c._,
printed in an old black letter in 12o. which was _Queen
Elizabeth's own book_, and her own hand writing appears at
the beginning, viz.: "August. I walke many times into the
pleasant fieldes of the Holy Scriptures, where I plucke up
the goodliesome herbes of sentences by pruning: eate them by
reading: chawe them by musing: and laie them up at length in
the hie seate of memorie by gathering them together: that so
having tasted their sweetenes I may the lesse perceave the
bitterness of this miserable life." The covering is done in
needle work by the Queen [then princess] herself, and
thereon are these sentences, viz. on one side, on the
borders; CELVM PATRIA: SCOPVS VITÆ XPVS. CHRISTVS VIA.
CHRISTO VIVE. In the middle a heart, and round about it,
ELEVA COR SVRSVM IBI VBI E.C. [est Christus]. On the other
side, about the borders, BEATVS QVI DIVITIAS SCRIPTVRÆ
LEGENS VERBA VERTIT IN OPERA. In the middle a star, and
round it, VICIT OMNIA PERTINAX VIRTVS with E.C., _i.e._ as I
take it, ELISABETHA CAPTIVA, or [provided it refer to
Virtus] ELISABETHÆ CAPTIVÆ, she being, then, when she worked
this covering, a prisoner, if I mistake not, at Woodstock."
_Tit. Liv. For. Jul. vit. Henrici_ v., p. 228-229.

]

[Footnote 326: In the PRAYER-BOOK which goes by the name of
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S, there is a portrait of her Majesty
kneeling upon a superb cushion, with elevated hands, in
prayer. This book was first printed in 1575; and is
decorated with wood-cut borders of considerable spirit and
beauty; representing, among other things, some of the
subjects of Holbein's dance of death. The last impression is
of the date of 1608. Vide _Bibl. Pearson_; no. 635. The
presentation copy of it was probably printed UPON
VELLUM.[F]]

[Footnote 327: The famous John Dee entreated QUEEN MARY to
erect an institution similar [Transcriber's Note: 'to'
missing in original] the one above alluded to. If she
adopted the measure, Dee says that "her highnesse would have
a most NOTABLE LIBRARY, learning wonderfully be advanced,
the passing excellent works of our forefathers from rot and
worms preserved, and also hereafter continually the whole
realm may (through her grace's goodness) use and enjoy the
incomparable treasure so preserved: where now, no one
student, no, nor any one college, hath half a dozen of those
excellent jewels, but the whole stock and store thereof
drawing nigh to utter destruction, and extinguishing, while
here and there by private men's negligence (and sometimes
malice) many a famous and excellent author's book is rent,
burnt, or suffered to rot and decay. By your said
suppliant's device your Grace's said library might, in very
few years, most plentifully be furnisht, and that without
any one penny charge unto your Majesty, or doing injury to
any creature." In another supplicatory article, dated xv.
Jan. 1556, Dee advises copies of the monuments to be taken,
and the original, after the copy is taken, to be restored to
the owner. That there should be "allowance of all necessary
charges, as well toward the riding and journeying for the
recovery of the said worthy monuments, as also for the
copying out of the same, and framing of necessary stalls,
desks, and presses."--He concludes with proposing to make
copies of all the principal works in MS. "in the NOTABLEST
libraries beyond the sea"--"and as concerning all other
excellent authors printed, that they likewise shall be
gotten in wonderful abundance, their carriage only to be
chargeable." He supposes that three months' trial would shew
the excellence of his plan; which he advises to be instantly
put into practice "for fear of the spreading of it abroad
might cause many to hide and convey away their good and
ancient writers--which, nevertheless, were ungodly done, and
a certain token that such are not sincere lovers of good
learning." [In other words, not sound bibliomaniacs.] See
the Appendix to Hearne's edition of _Joh. Confrat. Monach.
de Reb. Glaston._ Dee's "supplication" met with no attention
from the bigotted sovereign to whom it was addressed. A
project for a similar establishment in Queen Elizabeth's
reign, when a Society of Antiquaries was first established
in this kingdom, may be seen in Hearne's _Collection of
Curious Discourses of Antiquaries_; vol. ii., p. 324,--when
this library was "to be entitled THE LIBRARY OF QUEEN
ELIZABETH, and the same to be well furnished with divers
ancient books, and rare monuments of antiquity," &c., edit.
1775.]

[Footnote 328: In Mr. Gutch's _Collectanea Curiosa_, vol.
ii., p. 275, we have a "Letter from Queen Elizabeth's high
commissioners, concerning the superstitious books belonging
to All Soul's College:" the "schedule" or list returned was
as follows:

Three mass books, old and new, and 2 portmisses
Item, 8 grailes, 7 antiphoners of parchment and bound
---- 10 Processionals old and new
---- 2 Symnalls
---- an old manual of paper
---- an Invitatorie book
---- 2 psalters--and one covered with a skin
---- _A great pricksong book of parchment_
---- One other pricksong book of vellum covered with a hart's
skyn
---- 5 other of paper bound in parchment
---- The Founder's mass-book in parchment bound in board
---- In Mr. Mill his hand an antiphoner and a legend
---- A portmisse in his hand two volumes, a manual, a
mass-book, and a processional.]

[Footnote F: The two following pages are appropriated to
copies of the frontispiece (of the edit. of 1608), and a
page of the work, from a copy in the possession of the
printer of this edition of the _Bibliomania_.

2 PARALIPOM 6.

=Domine Deus Israel, non est similis tui Deus in coelo & in
terra, qui pacta custodis & misericordiam cum seruis tuis,
qui ambulant coram te in toto corde suo.=]

=Lord, inlighten and instruct our mindes, that we may esteeme
euerie thing as it is worth, & yet not make the lesse
reckoning of thee, sith nothing can be made better then
thou. And secondly let us make account of man, then whome,
there is nothing more excellent among the things of this
world. Make vs to loue him next thee, either as likest our
selues, or as thy childe, and therefore our brother, or as
one ordayned to bee a member of one selfe same countrie with
vs.=

=And cause vs also euen heere, to resemble the heauenly
kingdome through mutual loue, where all hatred is quite
banished, and all is full of loue, and consequently full of
joy and gladnes.= Amen.

=Giue a sweete smell as incense, &c.=

=Eccles. 39.=

=Matthew xxvi. 26-29.=]]

LOREN. You are full of book anecdote of Elizabeth: but do you forget her schoolmaster, ROGER ASCHAM?

LYSAND. The master ought certainly to have been mentioned before his pupil. Old Roger is one of my most favourite authors; and I wish English scholars in general not only to read his works frequently, but to imitate the terseness and perspicuity of his style. There is a great deal of information in his treatises, respecting the manners and customs of his times; and as Dr. Johnson has well remarked, "his philological learning would have gained him honour in any country."[329] That he was an ardent bibliomaniac, his letters when upon the continent, are a sufficient demonstration.

[Footnote 329: ROGER ASCHAM is now, I should hope, pretty
firmly established among us as one of the very best
classical writers in our language. Nearly three centuries
are surely sufficient to consecrate his literary celebrity.
He is an author of a peculiar and truly original cast. There
is hardly a dull page or a dull passage in his lucubrations.
He may be thought, however, to have dealt rather harshly
with our old romance writers; nor do I imagine that the
original edition of his _Schoolmaster_ (1571), would be
placed by a _Morte d'Arthur_ collector alongside of his thin
black-letter quarto romances. Ascham's invectives against
the Italian school, and his hard-hearted strictures upon the
innocent ebullitions of Petrarch and Boccaccio, have been
noticed, with due judgment and spirit, by Mr. Burnet, in his
pleasing analysis of our philosopher's works. See _Specimens
of English Prose Writers_; vol. ii., p. 84. Our tutor's
notions of academical education, and his courteous treatment
of his royal and noble scholars, will be discoursed of anon;
meantime, while we cursorily, but strongly, applaud Dr.
Johnson's almost unqualified commendation of this able
writer; and while the reader may be slightly informed of the
elegance and interest of his epistles; let the bibliomaniac
hasten to secure Bennet's edition of Ascham's works (which
incorparates [Transcriber's Note: incorporates] the notes of
Upton upon the Schoolmaster, with the Life of, and remarks
upon Ascham, by Dr. Johnson), published in a handsome quarto
volume [1761]. This edition, though rather common and cheap,
should be carefully reprinted in an octavo volume; to
harmonize with the greater number of our best writers
published in the same form. But it is time to mention
something of the author connected with the subject of this
work. What relates to the BIBLIOMANIA, I here select from
similar specimens in his English letters, written when he
was abroad: "Oct. 4. at afternoon I went about the town [of
Bruxelles]. I went to the frier Carmelites house, and heard
their even song: after, I desired to see the LIBRARY. A
frier was sent to me, and led me into it. There was not one
good book but _Lyra_. The friar was learned, spoke Latin
readily, entered into Greek, having a very good wit, and a
greater desire to learning. He was gentle and honest," &c.
pp. 370-1. "Oct. 20. to Spira: a good city. Here I first saw
_Sturmius de Periodis_. I also found here _Ajax_, _Electra_,
and _Antigone_ of _Sophocles_, excellently, by my good
judgment, translated into verse, and fair printed this
summer by Gryphius. Your stationers do ill, that at least do
not provide you the register of all books, especially of old
authors," &c., p. 372. Again: "Hieronimus Wolfius, that
translated Demosthenes and Isocrates, is in this town. I am
well acquainted with him, and have brought him twice to my
lord's to dinner. He looks very simple. He telleth me that
one Borrheus, that hath written well upon Aristot. priorum,
&c., even now is printing goodly commentaries upon
Aristotle's Rhetoric. But Sturmius will obscure them all."
p. 381. These extracts are taken from Bennet's edition. Who
shall hence doubt of the propriety of classing Ascham among
the most renowned bibliomaniacs of the age?]

From the tutor of Elizabeth let us go to her prime minister, CECIL.[330] We have already seen how successfully this great man interposed in matters of religion; it remains to notice his zealous activity in the cause of learning. And of this latter who can possibly entertain a doubt? Who that has seen how frequently his name is affixed to Dedications, can disbelieve that Cecil was a LOVER OF BOOKS? Indeed I question whether it is inserted more frequently in a diplomatic document or printed volume. To possess all the presentation copies of this illustrious minister would be to possess an ample and beautiful library of the literature of the sixteenth century.

[Footnote 330: The reader, it is presumed, will not form his
opinion of the bibliomaniacal taste of this great man, from
the distorted and shameful delineation of his character,
which, as a matter of curiosity only, is inserted at p. 237,
ante. He will, on the contrary, look upon Cecil as a lover
of books, not for the sake of the numerous panegyrical
dedications to himself, which he must have so satisfactorily
perused, but for the sake of the good to be derived from
useful and ingenious works. With one hand, this great man
may be said to have wielded the courageous spirit, and
political virtue, of his country--and with the other, to
have directed the operations of science and literature.
Without reading the interesting and well-written life of
Cecil, in Mr. Macdiarmid's _Lives of British Statesmen_ (a
work which cannot be too often recommended, or too highly
praised), there is evidence sufficient of this statesman's
bibliomaniacal passion and taste, in the FINE OLD LIBRARY
which is yet preserved at Burleigh in its legitimate
form--and which, to the collector of such precious volumes,
must have presented a treat as exquisite as are the fresh
blown roses of June to him who regales himself in the
flowery fragrance of his garden--the production of his own
manual labour! Indeed Strypes tells us that Cecil's "library
was a very choice one:" his care being "in the preservation,
rather than in the private possession of (literary)
antiquities." Among other curiosities in it, there was a
grand, and a sort of presentation, copy of Archbishop
Parker's Latin work of the _Antiquity of the British
Church_; "bound costly, and laid in colours the arms of the
Church of Canterbury, empaled with the Archbishop's own
paternal coat." Read Strype's tempting description; _Life of
Parker_; pp. 415, 537. Well might Grafton thus address Cecil
at the close of his epistolary dedication of his
_Chronicles_: "and now having ended this work, and seeking
to whom I might, for testification of my special good-will,
present it, or for patronage and defence dedicate it, and
principally, for all judgment and correction to submit
it--among many, I have chosen your MASTERSHIP, moved thereto
by experience of your courteous judgment towards those that
travail to any honest purpose, rather helping and comforting
their weakness, than condemning their simple, but yet well
meaning, endeavours. By which, your accustomed good
acceptation of others, I am the rather boldened to beseech
your Mastership to receive this my work and me, in such
manner as you do those in whom (howsoever there be want of
power) there wanteth no point of goodwill and serviceable
affection." Edit. 1809, 4to. If a chronicler could talk
thus, a poet (who, notwithstanding the title of his poem,
does not, I fear, rank among Pope's bards, that "sail aloft
among _the Swans of Thames_,") may be permitted thus to
introduce Cecil's name and mansion:

Now see these Swannes the new and worthie seate
Of famous CICILL, treasorer of the land,
Whose wisedome, counsell skill of Princes state
The world admires, then Swannes may do the same:
The house itselfe doth shewe the owner's wit,
And may for bewtie, state, and every thing,
Compared be with most within the land,

Vallan's _Tale of Two Swannes_, 1590, 4to., reprinted in
_Leland's Itinerary_; vol. v. p. xiii, edit. 1770.]

But the book-loving propensities of Elizabeth's minister were greatly eclipsed by those of her favourite archbishop, PARKER:

clarum et venerabile nomen
Gentibus, et multum nostræ quod proderat urbi.

For my part, Lorenzo, I know of no character, either of this or of any subsequent period, which is more entitled to the esteem and veneration of Englishmen. Pious, diffident, frank, charitable, learned, and munificent, Parker was the great episcopal star of his age, which shone with undiminished lustre to the last moment of its appearance. In that warm and irritable period, when the Protestant religion was assailed in proportion to its excellence, and when writers mistook abuse for argument, it is delightful to think upon the mild and temperate course which this discreet metropolitan pursued! Even with such arrant bibliomaniacs as yourselves, Parker's reputation must stand as high as that attached to any name, when I inform you that of his celebrated work upon the "_Antiquity of the British Church_"[331] are only twenty copies supposed to have been printed. He had a private press, which was worked with types cast at his own expense; and a more determined book-fancier, and treasurer of ancient lore, did not at that time exist in Great Britain.

[Footnote 331: This is not the place to enter minutely into
a bibliographical account of the above celebrated work; such
account being with more propriety reserved for the history
of our _Typographical Antiquities_. Yet a word or two may be
here said upon it, in order that the bibliomaniac may not be
wholly disappointed; and especially as Ames and Herbert have
been squeamishly reserved in their comunications
[Transcriber's Note: communications] respecting the same.
The above volume is, without doubt, one of the scarcest
books in existence. It has been intimated by Dr. Drake, in
the preface of his magnificent reprint of it, 1729, fol.,
that only 20 copies were struck off: but, according to Stype
[Transcriber's Note: Strype], Parker tells Cecil, in an
emblazoned copy presented to him by the latter, that he had
not given the book to _four_ men in the whole realm: and
peradventure, added he, "it shall never come to sight
abroad, though some men, smelling of the printing of it,
were very desirous cravers of the same." _Life of Parker_,
p. 415. This certainly does not prove any thing respecting
the number of copies printed; but it is probable that Dr.
Drake's supposition is not far short of the truth. One thing
is remarkable: of all the copies known, no two are found to
accord with each other. The archbishop seems to have altered
and corrected the sheets as they each came from the press.
The omission of the Archbishop's own life in this volume, as
it contained the biography of 69 archbishops, exclusively of
himself, was endeavoured to be supplied by the publication
of a sharp satirical tract, entitled, "_The life off the 70
Archbishop of Canterbury, presenttye sittinge Englished, and
to be added to the 69 lately sett forth in Latin_," &c.,
12mo., 1574. After this title page there is another.
"_Histriola, a little storye of the acts and life of Mathew,
now Archbishoppe of Canterb._" This latter comprehends 17
leaves, and was written either by the archbishop himself, or
by his Chaplain Joscelyne; but whether it be at all like a
distinct printed folio tract, of twelve leaves and a half,
which was kept carefully undispersed in the archbishop's own
possession, 'till his death--being also a biography of
Parker--I am not able to ascertain. The following extracts
from it (as it is a scarce little volume) may be acceptable,

_Archbishop Parker's early Studies and popular Preaching._

"But now, he being very well and perfectly instructed in the
liberal sciences, he applied all his mind to the study of
divinity, and to the reading of the volumes of the
ecclesiastical fathers; and that so earnestly that, in short
space of time, he bestowed his labour not unprofitably in
this behalf; for, after the space of four or five years, he,
issuing from his secret and solitary study into open
practice in the commonwealth, preached every where unto the
people with great commendation; and that in the most famous
cities and places of this realm, by the authority of King
Henry VIII., by whose letters patent this was granted unto
him, together with the license of the Archbishop of
Canterbury. In execution of this function of preaching, he
gained this commodity; that the fame of him came unto the
ears of King Henry," &c. Sign. A. iij. recto.

_His attention to Literature and Printing, &c._

"----he was very careful, and not without some charges, to
seek the monuments of former times; to know the religion of
the ancient fathers, and those especially which were of the
English church. Therefore in seeking up the Chronicles of
the Britons and English Saxons, which lay hidden every where
contemned and buried in forgetfulness, and through the
ignorance of the languages not well understanded, his own
especially, and his mens, diligence wanted not. And to the
end that these antiquities might last long, and be carefully
kept, he caused them, being brought into one place, _to be
well bound and trimly covered_. And yet, not so contented,
he endeavoured to set out in print certain of those ancient
monuments, whereof he knew very few examples to be extant;
and which he thought would be most profitable for the
posterity, to instruct them in the faith and religion of the
elders. [Orig. 'to instructe them in the faythe and religion
off the elders.] Hereupon, he caused the perpetual histories
of the English affairs, by _Mathæus Parisiensis_, once a
monk of Saint Alban's, and _Mathæus Florilegus_, a monk of
Saint Peter in Westminster, written in Latin, to be printed;
after he had diligently conferred them with the examples
which he could get in any place; to the end that, as
sincerely as might be, as the authors first left them, he
might deliver them into other men's hands. Lastly, that he
might not be unmindful of those monuments which, both in
antiquity, worthiness, and authority, excelled all other, or
rather wherewith none are to be compared (I mean the Holy
Scriptures) here he thought to do great good if, by his
number, he increased the _Holy Bibles_, which shortly would
be wanting to many churches, if this discommodity were not
provided for in time. Therefore it seemed good unto him,
first, with his learned servants, to examine thoroughly the
English translation; wherein he partly used the help of his
brethren bishops, and other doctors; with whom he dealt so
diligently in this matter that they disdained not to be
partners and fellows with him of his labor. And now all
their work is set out in very fair forms and letters of
print," &c. Sign. C. rect. & rev.

_His work De Antiquitate Ecclesiæ Britannicæ._

"----Much more praiseworthy is she (the 'Assyrian Queen of
Babylon,') than he, whosoever it was, that of late hath set
forth, to the hurt of christian men, certain rhapsodies and
shreds of the old forworn stories, almost forgotten--had he
not (Parker) now lately awakened them out of a dead sleep,
and newly sewed them together in one book printed; whose
glorious life promiseth not mountains of gold, as that silly
heathen woman's (the aforesaid Queen) tomb, but beareth
Christ in the brow, and is honested with this title in the
front, 'De Antiquitate,' &c." Sign. C. iiij. rev. The
satirical part, beginning with "To the Christian Reader,"
follows the biography from which these extracts have been
taken. It remains to observe, that our ARCHBISHOP was a
bibliomaniac of the very first order; and smitten with every
thing attached to a BOOK, to a degree beyond any thing
exhibited by his contemporaries. Parker did not scruple to
tell Cecil that he kept in his house "drawers of pictures,
wood-cutters, painters, limners, writers, and
book-binders,"--"one of these was LYLYE, an excellent
writer, that could counterfeit any antique writing. Him the
archbishop customarily used to make old books
compleat,"--&c. _Strype's Life of Parker_; pp. 415, 529.
Such was his ardour for book-collecting that he had agents
in almost all places, abroad and at home, for the purpose of
securing everything that was curious, precious, and rare:
and one of these, of the name of Batman (I suppose the
commentator upon Bartholomæus) "in the space of no more than
four years, procured for our archbishop to the number of
6700 books." _Id._ p. 528. The riches of his book bequests
to Cambridge are sufficiently described by Strype; pp. 501,
518, 519, 529, &c. The domestic habits and personal
appearance of PARKER are described by his biographer (p.
504) as being simple and grave. Notwithstanding his aversion
to wearing silk, to plays and jests, and hawks and hounds
(even when he was a young man), I take it for granted he
could have no inward dislike to the beautiful and
appropriate ceremony which marked his consecration, and
which is thus narrated by the lively pen of Fuller: "The
east part of the chapel of Lambeth was hung with tapestry,
the floor spread with red cloth, chairs and cushions are
conveniently placed for the purpose: morning prayers being
solemnly read by Andrew Peerson, the archbishop's chaplain,
Bishop Scory went up into the pulpit, and took for his text,
_The Elders which are among you I exhort, who also am an
elder; and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, &c._
Sermon ended, and the sacrament administered, they proceed
to the consecration. The ARCHBISHOP had his rochet on, with
HEREFORD; and the suffragan of Bedford, CHICHESTER, wore a
silk cope; and COVERDALE a plain cloth gown down to his
ancles. All things are done conformable to the book of
ordination: Litany sung; the Queen's patent for Parker's
consecration audibly read by Dr. Vale: He is presented: the
oath of supremacy tendered to him; taken by him; hands
reverently imposed on him; and all with prayers begun,
continued, concluded. In a word, though here was no
theatrical pomp to made it a popish pageant; though no
sandals, gloves, ring, staff, oil, pall, &c., were used upon
him--yet there was ceremony enough to clothe his
consecration with decency, though not to clog it with
superstition." _Church History_, b. ix., p. 60. But the
virtues of the primate, however mild and unostentatious,
were looked upon with an envious eye by the maligant
observer of human nature; and the spontaneous homage which
he received from some of the first noblemen in the realm was
thus lampooned in the satirical composition just before
noticed:

_Homage and Tribute paid to Archbishop Parker._

"The next is, what great tributes every made bishop paid
him. How they entertained his whole household or court, for
the time, with sumptuous feasting. How dearly they redeemed
their own cloaths, and carpets, at his chaplain's hands.
What fees were bestowed on his crucifer, marshall, and other
servants. All which plentiful bounty, or rather, he might
have said, largess, is shrunk up, he saith, to a small sum
of ten pounds, somewhat beside, but very small, bestowed, he
might have said cast away, upon the archbishop's family,
&c.--The same earl (of Gloucester) must be his steward and
chief cupbearer, the day of his inthronization: This is not
to be called gracious Lords, as the Lords of the earth, but
this is to be beyond all grace; and to be served of these
gracious Lords, and to be their Lord paramount. In this roll
of his noble tenants, the next are the Lord Strangways, the
Earl of Oxford, the Lord Dacy, all which (saith he) owe
service to that Archbishop. Then descendeth he to the gifts
that every his suffragan provincial bishop bestoweth on him,
in their life, and at their death: some their palfrey with
saddle and furniture; some their rings, and some their
seals. Among the rest, the Bishop of Rochester, who is there
called specially his chaplain, giveth him a brace of dogs.
These be trim things for prelates to give or receive;
especially of them to make such account as to print them
among such special prerogatives." Sign. D. iiij. v. Yet even
to this libel was affixed the following epitaph upon Parker;
which shews that truth "is great, and will prevail."

Matthew Parker liued sober and wise
Learned by studie, and continuall practise,
Louinge, true, off life uncontrold
The courte did foster him, both young and old.
Orderly he delt, the ryght he did defend,
He lyved unto God, to God he mad his ende.

Let us take leave of this amiable, erudite, and truly
exemplary, character, by contemplating his
features--according to the ensuing cut of Tyson's fac-simile
of the rare ancient print, prefixed to some of the copies of
the _Antiquity of the British Church_; premising that the
supposed original painting of Parker, at Benet College,
Cambridge, is nothing more than one of the aforesaid ancient
prints, delicately coloured: as a tasteful antiquary, of the
first authority, discovered, and mentioned to me.

]

PHIL. You have called the reign of Henry the Seventh the AUGUSTAN-BOOK-AGE; but, surely, this distinction is rather due to the æra of Queen Elizabeth?

LYSAND. Both periods merit the appellation. In Henry's time, the invention of printing was of early growth; but the avidity of readers considerable. The presses of Rome, Venice, and Paris, sent forth their costly productions; and a new light, by such means, was poured upon the darkened mind. Our own presses began to contribute to the diffusion of this light; and, compared with the preceding part of the fifteenth century, the reign of Henry VII. was highly distinguished for its bibliomaniacal celebrity. Undoubtedly, the æra of Queen Elizabeth was the GOLDEN AGE of Bibliomaniacism.

Do not let me forget, in my rambling method of treating of books and book-men, the name and celebrity of the renowned DR. JOHN DEE. Let us fancy we see him in his conjuring cap and robes--surrounded with astrological, mathematical, and geographical instruments--with a profusion of Chaldee characters inscribed upon vellum rolls--and with his celebrated _Glass_ suspended by magical wires. Let us then follow him into his study at midnight, and view him rummaging his books; contemplating the heavens; making calculations; holding converse with invisible spirits; writing down their responses: anon, looking into his correspondence with _Count a Lasco_ and the emperors Adolphus and Maximilian; and pronouncing himself, with the most heartfelt complacency, the greatest genius of his age![332] In the midst of these self-complacent reveries, let us imagine we see his wife and little ones intruding; beseeching him to burn his books and instruments; and reminding him that there was neither a silver spoon, nor a loaf of bread, in the cupboard. Alas, poor DEE!--thou wert the dupe of the people and of the Court: and, although Meric Casaubon has enshrined thy conjurations in a pompous folio volume, thy name, I fear, will only live in the memory of bibliomaniacs!

[Footnote 332: Those who are fond of copious biographical
details of astrologers and conjurers will read, with no
small pleasure and avidity, the long gossipping account of
DEE, which Hearne has subjoined to his edition of _John
Confrat. Monach. de rebus gestis Glaston._, vol. ii.; where
twelve chapters are devoted to the subject of our
philosopher's travels and hardships. Meric Casaubon--who put
forth a pompous folio volume of "_A true and faithful
relation of what passed for many yeers between Dr. John Dee
and some spirits_:" 1659--gravely assures us, in an
elaborate, learned, and rather amusing preface, that the
volume contains what "he thinks is not to be paralleled in
that kind by any book that hath been set out in any age to
read:" sign A. This is true enough; for such a farago of
incongruous, risible, and horrible events, are no where else
recorded. "None but itself can be its parallel." Casaubon
wrote a professed dissertation (1652, 8vo.) upon witches,
and nothing seemed to be too unpalatable for his credulity
to swallow. A compressed and rather interesting account of
Dee, who was really the weakest as well as the ablest
scholar and philosopher of his day, will be found in
Ashmole's _Theatrum Chemicum_, p. 480. From the substance of
these authorities, the reader is presented with the
following sketch. The first chapter in Hearne's publication,
which treats of the "entrance and ground plot of his first
studies," informs us that he had received his Latin
education in London and Chelmsford: that he was born in
July, 1527, and at 15 years of age was entered at the
University of Cambridge, 1542. In the three following years,
"so vehemently was he bent to study that, for those years,
he did inviolably keep this order; only to sleep 4 hours
every night; to allow to meat and drink (and some refreshing
after) 2 hours every day; and of the other 18 hours, all
(excepting the time of going to, and being at, divine
service) was spent in his studies and learning." In May,
1547, after having taken his Bachelor's decree, he went
abroad. "And after some months spent about the Low
Countries, he returned home, and brought with him the first
astronomer's staff in brass, that was made of Gemma Frisius
devising; the two great globes of Gerardus Mercator's
making, and the astronomer's ring of brass, as Gemma Frisius
had newly framed it." Dee's head now began to run wild upon
astronomy, or rather astrology; and the tremendous
assistance of the "occult art" was called in to give effect
to the lectures which he read upon it at home and abroad.
"He did set forth (and it was seen of the University) a
Greek comedy of Aristophanes, named, in Greek, [Greek:
eirênê], in Latin, _Pax_; with the performance of the
_Scarabæus_ his flying up to Jupiter's palace, with a man
and his basket of victuals on his back: whereat was great
wondering and many vain reports spread abroad of the means
how that was effected. In that college (Trinity, for he had
now left St. John's), by his advice and endeavours, was
their Christmas magistrate first named and confirmed an
EMPEROR." The first emperor of this sort, (whose _name_, it
must be confessed, is rather unpopular in a University) he
takes care to inform us, "was one Mr. Thomas _Dun_, a very
goodly man of person, stature, and complexion, and well
learned also." Dee afterwards ranks these things among "his
boyish attempts and exploits scholastical." In 1548 he was
made Master of Arts, and in the same year "went over beyond
the seas again, and never after that was any more student in
Cambridge." Abroad, almost every emperor and nobleman of
distinction, according to his own account, came to see and
hear him. "For recreation, he looked into the method of the
civil law, and profitted therein so much that, in
_Antinomiis_, imagined to be in the law, he had good hap to
find out (well allowed of) their agreements; and also to
enter into a plain and due understanding of diverse civil
laws, accounted very intricate and dark." At Paris, when he
gave lectures upon Euclid's elements, "a thing never done
publicly in any university in Christendom, his auditory in
Rhemes college was so great, and the most part elder than
himself, that the mathematical schools could not hold them;
for many were fain, without the schools, at the windows, to
be _Auditores et Spectatores_, as they could best help
themselves thereto. And by the first four principal
definitions representing to their eyes (which by imagination
only are exactly to be conceived) a greater wonder arose
among the beholders than of his _Aristophanes Scarabæus_
mounting up to the top of Trinity Hall, _ut supra_."
Notwithstanding the tempting offers to cause him to be
domiciled in France and Germany, our astrologer, like a true
patriot, declined them all. The French king offered an
annual stipend of 200 French crowns; a Monsieur Babeu,
Monsieur de Rohan, and Monsieur de Monluc, offered still
greater sums, but were all refused. In Germany he was
tempted with the yearly salary of 3000 dollars; "and lastly,
by a messenger from the Russie or Muscovite Emperor,
purposely sent with a very rich present unto him at Trebona
castle, and with provision for the whole journey (being
above 1200 miles from the castle where he lay) of his coming
to his court at Moscow, with his wife, children, and whole
family, there to enjoy at his imperial hands 2000 lib.
sterling yearly stipend; and of his Protector yearly a
thousand rubles; with his diet also to be allowed him free
out of the emperor's own kitchen: and to be in dignity with
authority amongst the highest sort of the nobility there,
and of his Privy Counsellors."--But all this was heroically
declined by our patriotic philosopher. Lord Pembroke and
Lord Leicester introduced Dee to the notice of Q. Elizabeth,
before her coronation. At which time her Majesty used these
words--"_Where my brother hath given him a crown, I will
give him a noble!_" Before the accession of Elizabeth, he
was imprisoned on being accused of destroying Queen Mary by
enchantment. "The Queen Elizabeth herself became a prisoner
in the same place (Hampton Court) shortly afterwards; and
Dee had for bedfellow one Barthelet Green, who was
afterwards burnt." Dee himself was examined by Bishop
Bonner. On the deanery of Gloucester becoming void in 1564,
Dee was nominated to fill it: but the same deanery was
afterwards bestowed on Mr. Man, who was sent into Spain in
her Majesty's service. "And now this Lent, 1594, when it
became void again (says Dee), I made a motion for it, but I
came too late; for one that might spend 400 or 500 lib. a
year already, had more need of it than I belike; or else
this former gift was but words only to me, and the fruit
ever due to others, that can espy and catch better than I
for these 35 years could do." Mistris Blanche à Parry came
to his house with an offer from the Queen of "any
ecclesiastical dignity within her kingdom, being then, or
shortly becoming, void and vacant"--but "Dee's most humble
and thankful answer to her Majesty, by the same messenger,
was that _cura animarum annexa_ did terrifie him to deal
with." He was next promised to "have of her Majesty's gift
other ecclesiastical livings and revenues (without care of
souls annexed) as in her Majesty's books were rated at two
hundred pounds yearly revenue; of which her Majesty's gift
he never as yet had any one penny." In Oct. 1578, he had a
consultation with Mr. Doctor Bayly, her Majesty's physician,
"about her Majestie's grievous pangs and pains by reason of
the toothake and rheum," &c. "He set down in writing, with
hydrographical and geographical description, what he then
had to say or shew, as concerning her Majesty's title royal
to any foreign countries. Whereof two parchment great rolls
full written, of about XII WHITE VELLUM SKINS, were good
witnesses upon the table before the commissioners." Dee had
refused an hundred pounds for these calligraphical labours.
A list of his printed and unprinted works: the former 8
(ending with the year 1573), the latter 36 (ending with the
year 1592), in number. Anno 1563, Julii ultimo, the Earl of
Leicester and Lord Laskey invited themselves to dine with
Dee in a day or two; but our astrologer "confessed sincerely
that he was not able to prepare them a convenient dinner,
unless he should presently sell some of his plate or some of
his pewter for it. Whereupon," continues Dee, "her Majesty
sent unto me very royally within one hour after forty angels
of gold, from Sion; whither her Majesty was now come by
water from Greenwich." A little before Christmas, 1599, Dee
mentions a promise of another royal donation of
100_l._--"which intent and promise, some once or twice
after, as he came in her Majesty's sight, she repeated unto
him; and thereupon sent unto him _fifty pounds_ to keep his
Christmas with that year--but what, says he, is become of
the other fifty, truly I cannot tell! If her Majesty can, it
is sufficient; '_Satis, citò, modò, satis bene_, must I
say.'" In 1591, his patroness, the Countess of Warwick, made
a powerful diversion at Court to secure for him the
mastership of St. Cross, then filled by Dr. Bennet, who was
to be made a bishop.--The queen qualified her promise of
Dee's having it with a nota bene, _if he should be fit for
it_. In 1592, the Archbishop of Canterbury openly "affirmed
that the mastership of St. Crosse was a living most fit for
him; and the Lord Treasurer, at Hampton Court, lately to
himself declared, and with his hand very earnestly smitten
on his breast used these very words to him--'_By my faith_,
if her Majestie be moved in it by any other for you, I will
do what I can with her Majestie to pleasure you therein, Mr.
Dee.'" But it is time to gratify the BIBLIOMANIAC with
something more to his palate. Here followeth, therefore, as
drawn up by our philosopher himself, an account of

DEE'S LIBRARY:

"4000 _Volumes_--printed and unprinted--bound and
unbound--valued at 2000 _lib._

1 Greek, 2 French, and 1 High Dutch, volumes of MSS., alone
worth 533 _lib._ 40 years in getting these books together."

Appertaining thereto,

_Sundry rare and exquisitely made Mathematical Instruments._

_A radius Astronomicus_, ten feet long.

_A Magnet Stone, or Loadstone_; of great virtue--"which was
sold out of the library for _v shill._ and for it afterwards
(yea piece-meal divided) was more than xx _lib._ given in
money and value."

"_A great case or frame of boxes_, wherein some hundreds of
very rare evidences of divers Irelandish territories,
provinces, and lands, were laid up. Which territories,
provinces, and lands were therein notified to have been in
the hands of some of the ancient Irish princes. Then, their
submissions and tributes agreed upon, with seals appendant
to the little writings thereof in parchment: and after by
some of those evidences did it appear how some of those
lands came to the Lascies, the Mortuomars, the Burghs, the
Clares," &c.

"_A box of Evidences_ antient of some Welch princes and
noblemen--the like of Norman donation--their peculiar titles
noted on the forepart with chalk only, which on the poor
boxes remaineth." This box, with another, containing similar
deeds, were embezzled.

"One great bladder with about 4 pound weight, of a very
sweetish thing, like a brownish gum in it, artificially
prepared by thirty times purifying of it, hath more than I
could well afford him for 100 crownes; as may be proved by
witnesses yet living."

To these he adds his _three Laboratories_, "serving for
Pyrotechnia"--which he got together after 20 years' labour.
"All which furniture and provision, and many things already
prepared, is unduly made away from me by sundry meanes, and
a few spoiled or broken vessels remain, hardly worth 40
shillings." But one more feature in poor Dee's
character--and that is his unparalleled serenity and good
nature under the most griping misfortunes--remains to be
described: and then we may take farewell of him, with aching
hearts. In the 10th chapter, speaking of the wretched
poverty of himself and family--("having not one penny of
certain fee, revenue, stipend, or pension, either left him
or restored unto him,")--Dee says that "he has been
constrained now and then to send parcels of his little
furniture of plate to pawn upon usury; and that he did so
oft, till no more could be sent. After the same manner went
his wives' jewels of gold, rings, bracelets, chains, and
other their rarities, under the thraldom of the usurer's
gripes: 'till _non plus_ was written upon the boxes at
home." In the 11th chapter, he anticipates the dreadful lot
of being brought "to the stepping out of doors (his house
being sold). He, and his, with bottles and wallets
furnished, to become wanderers as homish vagabonds; or, as
banished men, to forsake the kingdom!" Again: "with bloody
tears of heart, he, and his wife, their seven children, and
their servant (seventeen of them in all), did that day make
their petition unto their honours," &c. Can human misery be
sharper than this--and to be the lot of a philosopher and
bibliomaniac?! But "VENIET FELICIUS ÆVUM."]

Of a wholly different cast of character and of reading was the renowned CAPTAIN COX of Coventry. How many of Dee's magical books he had exchanged for the pleasanter magic of _Old Ballads_ and _Romances_, I will not take upon me to say; but that this said bibliomaniacal Captain had a library, which, even from Master Laneham's imperfect description of it,[333] I should have preferred to the four thousand volumes of Dr. John Dee, is most nuquestionable [Transcriber's Note: unquestionable].

[Footnote 333: Let us be introduced to the sprightly figure
and expression of character of this renowned Coventry
captain, before we speak particularly of his library.
"CAPTAIN COX (says the above-mentioned Master Laneham) came
marching on valiantly before, clean trust and gartered above
the knee, all fresh in a velvet cap (Master Golding a lent
it him), flourishing with his _ton_ sword; and another fence
master with him:" p. 39. A little before, he is thus
described as connected with his library: "And first, Captain
Cox; an odd man, I promise you: by profession a mason, and
that right skilful: very cunning in fens (fencing); and
hardy as Gawin; for his _ton_ sword hangs at his table's
end. Great oversight hath he in matters of story: for as for
_King Arthur's_ Book, _Huon of Bourdeaux_, the _Four Sons of
Aymon_, _Bevys of Hampton_, _The Squyre of Low Degree_, _The
Knight of Curtsy_, and the _Lady Fagnel_, _Frederick of
Gene_, _Syr Eglamour_, _Syr Tryamour_, _Syr Lamurell_, _Syr
Isenbras_, _Syr Gawyn_, _Olyver of the Castl_, _Lucres and
Eurialus_, _Virgil's Life_, _the Castl of Ladies_, _the
Widow Edyth_, _the King and the Tanner_, _Frier Rous_,
_Howleglas_, _Gargantua_, _Robin Hood_, _Adam Bel_, _Clim on
the Clough_, and _William of Cloudsley_, _the Churl and the
Burd_, _the Seaven Wise Masters_, _the Wife lapt in a
Morel's skin_, _the Sakful of Nuez_, _the Sergeaunt that
became a Fryar_, _Skogan_, _Collyn Cloout_, _the Fryar and
the Boy_, _Elynor Rumming_, and _the Nutbrooun Maid_, with
many more than I rehearse here. I believe he has them all at
his finger's ends," p. 36. The preceding is a list of the
worthy Captain's ROMANCES; some of which, at least in their
original shape, were unknown to Ritson: what would be the
amount of their present produce under the hammer of those
renowned black-letter-book auctioneers in King-street,
Covent Garden--? Speak we, in the next place, of the said
military bibliomaniac's collection of books in "PHILOSOPHY
MORAL and NATURAL." "Beside _Poetry_ and _Astronomy_, and
other hid sciences, as I may guess by the omberty of his
books: whereof part are, as I remember, _The Shepherd's
Kalendar_, _the Ship of Fools_, _Daniel's Dreams_, _the Book
of Fortune_, _Stans_, _puer ad mensam_, _the bye way to the
Spitl-house_, _Julian of Brainford's Testament_, _the Castle
of Love_, _the Booget of Demaunds_, _the Hundred Mery
Talez_, _the Book of Riddels_, _the Seaven Sorows of Wemen_,
_the Proud Wives' Pater-Noster_, _the Chapman of a
Penniworth of Wit_: Beside his AUNCIENT PLAYS; _Youth and
Charitee_, _Hikskorner_, _Nugize_, _Impacient Poverty_, and
herewith Doctor _Boord's Breviary of Health_. What should I
rehearse here, what a bunch of BALLADS AND SONGS, all
ancient?!--Here they come, gentle reader; lift up thine eyen
and marvel while thou dost peruse the same: _Broom Broom on
Hill_, _So wo iz me begon_, _trolly lo Over a Whinny Meg_,
_Hey ding a ding_, _Bony lass upon a green_, _My bony on
gave me a bek_, _By a bank az I lay_; and _two more_ he hath
fair wrapt up in parchment, and bound with a whipcord!" It
is no wonder that Ritson, in the historical essay prefixed
to his collection of _Scottish Songs_, should speak of some
of these ballads with a zest as if he would have sacrificed
half his library to untie the said "whipcord" packet. And
equally joyous, I ween, would my friend Mr. R.H. Evans, of
Pall-Mall, have been--during his editorial labours in
publishing a new edition of his father's collection of
Ballads--(an edition, by the bye, which gives us more of the
genuine spirit of the COXEAN COLLECTION than any with which
I am acquainted)--equally joyous would Mr. Evans have been
to have had the inspection of some of these 'bonny' songs.
The late Duke of Roxburgh, of never-dying bibliomaniacal
celebrity, would have parted with half the insignia of his
order of the Garter to have obtained _clean original copies_
of these fascinating effusions! But let us return, and take
farewell of Captain Cox, by noticing only the remaining
department of his library, as described by Laneham. "As for
ALMANACS of antiquity (a point for Ephemerides) I ween he
can shew from _Jasper Laet of Antwerp_, unto _Nostradam of
Frauns_, and thence unto our _John Securiz of Salisbury_. To
stay ye no longer herein (concludes Laneham) I dare say he
hath as fair a library of these sciences, and as many goodly
monuments both in prose and poetry, and at afternoon can
talk as much without book, as any innholder betwixt
Brentford and Bagshot, what degree soever he be." _A Letter
wherein part of the Entertainment untoo the Queenz Majesty
at Killingwoorth Castl in Warwick-Sheer, in this Soomerz
Progrest, 1575, is signefied_: Warwick, 1784, 8vo. O RARE
CAPTAIN COX!]

We now approach two characters of a more dignified cast; and who, in every respect, must be denominated the greatest bibliomaniacs of the age: I mean SIR ROBERT COTTON and SIR THOMAS BODLEY. We will touch upon them separately.

The numerous relics which are yet preserved of the _Cottonian Collection_, may serve to convey a pretty strong idea of its splendour and perfection in its original shape. Cotton had all the sagacity and judgment of Lord Coke, with a more beautifully polished mind, and a more benevolent heart. As to books, and book men, he was the Mecænas[334] of his day. His thirst for knowledge could never be satiated; and the cultivation of the mind upon the foundation of a good heart, he considered to be the highest distinction, and the most permanent delight, of human beings. Wealth, pomp, parade, and titles, were dissipated, in the pure atmosphere of his mind before the invigorating sun of science and learning. He knew that the tomb which recorded the _worth_ of the deceased had more honest tears shed upon it than the pompous mausoleum which spoke only of his pedigree and possessions. Accordingly, although he had excellent blood flowing in his veins, Cotton sought connection with the good rather than with the great; and where he found a cultivated understanding, and an honest heart, there he carried with him his _Lares_, and made another's abode his own.