Chapter XXI: Part V: =The Drawing Room.= (4)

[Footnote 334: There are few eminent characters of whom so
many, and such ably-executed, memoirs are extant as of SIR
ROBERT COTTON, KNT. In the present place we have nothing to
do with his academical studies, his philosophical, or
legislative, or diplomatic, labours: literature and _Book
Madness_ are our only subjects of discussion. Yet those who
may wish for more general, and possibly more interesting,
details, may examine the authorities referred to by Mr.
Planta in his very excellent _Catalogue of the MSS. in the
Cottonian Library_, 1802, folio. Sir Robert Cotton was
educated at Trinity-College, Cambridge. The number of
curious volumes, whether in the roman, gothic, or italic
type, which he in all probability collected during his
residence at the university, has not yet been ascertained;
but we know that, when he made his antiquarian tour with the
famous Camden, ("par nobile fratrum!") in his 29th year,
Cotton must have greatly augmented his literary treasures,
and returned to the metropolis with a sharpened appetite, to
devour every thing in the shape of a book. Respected by
three sovereigns, Elizabeth, James, and Charles, and admired
by all the literati in Europe, Sir Robert saw himself in as
eminent a situation as wealth, talents, taste, and integrity
can place an individual. His collection of books increased
rapidly; but MS. records, deeds, and charters, were the
chief objects of his pursuit. His mansion was noble, his
library extensive, and his own manners such as conciliated
the esteem of almost every one who approached him. Dr. Smith
has well described our illustrious bibliomaniac, at this
golden period of his life: "Ad Cottoni ædes, tanquam ad
communem reconditioris doctrinæ apothecam, sive ad novam
Academiam, quotquot animo paulo erectiori musis et gratiis
litaverint, sese recepere, nullam a viro humanissimo
repulsam passuri: quippe idem literas bonas promovendi
studium erat omni auctoramento longe potentius. Nec ista
obvia morum facilitas, qua omnes bonos eruditionisque
candidatos complexus est, quicquam reverentiæ qua vicissim
ille colebatur, detraxerat: potius, omnium, quos familiari
sermone, repititisque colloquiis dignari placuit, in se
amores et admirationem hac insigni naturæ benignitate
excitavit." Vit. Rob. Cottoni, p. xxiv., prefixed to the
_Catalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum Bibl. Cott._, 1696,
folio. Sir Robert was, however, doomed to have the evening
of his life clouded by one of those crooked and disastrous
events, of which it is now impossible to trace the correct
cause, or affix the degree of ignominy attached to it, on
the head of its proper author. Human nature has few blacker
instances of turpitude on record than that to which our
knight fell a victim. In the year 1615, some wretch
communicated to the Spanish ambassador "the valuable state
papers in his library, who caused them to be copied and
translated into the Spanish:" these papers were of too much
importance to be made public; and James the 1st had the
meanness to issue a commission "which excluded Sir Robert
from his own library." The storm quickly blew over, and the
sunshine of Cotton's integrity diffused around its wonted
brilliancy. But in the year 1629, another mischievous wretch
propagated a report that Sir Robert had been privy to a
treasonable publication: because, forsooth, the original
tract, from which this treasonable one had been taken, was,
in the year 1613, without the knowledge of the owner of the
library, introduced into the Cottonian collection. This
wretch, under the abused title of librarian, had, "for
pecuniary considerations," the baseness to suffer one or
more copies of the pamphlet of 1613 (writtten [Transcriber's
Note: written] at Florence by Dudley, Duke of
Northumberland, under a less offensive title) to be taken,
and in consequence printed. Sir Robert was therefore again
singled out for royal vengeance: his library was put under
sequestration; and the owner forbidden to enter it. It was
in vain that his complete innocence was vindicated. To
deprive such a man as COTTON of the ocular and manual
comforts of his library--to suppose that he could be happy
in the most splendid drawing room in Europe, without his
books--is to suppose what our experience of virtuous
bibliomaniacs will not permit us to accede to. In
consequence, Sir Robert declared to his friends, "that they
had broken his heart who had locked up his library from
him:" which declaration he solemnly repeated to the Privy
Council. In the year 1631, this great and good man closed
his eyes for ever upon mortal scenes; upon those whom he
gladdened by his benevolence, and improved by his wisdom.
Such was the man, of whom Gale has thus eloquently
spoken:--"quisquis bona fide Historiam nostram per omne ævum
explicare sataget, nullum laudatum Scriptorem à se
desiderari exoptarique posse, quem COTTONIANUS ille
incomparabilis thesaurus promptissime non exhibebit: Ea est,
et semper fuit, nobilis Domus ergo literatos
indulgentia--Hujus fores (ut illæ Musaram, apud Pindarum)
omnibus patent. Testes apello Theologos, Antiquarios,
Jurisconsultos, Bibliopolas; qui quidem omnes, ex Cottoniana
Bibliotheca, tanquam ex perenni, sed et communi fonte, sine
impensis et molestiâ, abundè hauserunt." _Rer. Anglic.
Script. Vet._, vol. i., præf., p. 3. The loss of such a
character--the deprivation of such a patron--made the whole
society of book-collectors tremble and turn pale. Men began
to look sharply into their libraries, and to cast a
distrustful eye upon those who came to consult and to copy:
for the spirit of COTTON, like the ghost of Hamlet's father,
was seen to walk, before cock-crow, along the galleries and
balconies of great collections, and to bid the owners of
them "remember and beware"!--But to return. The library of
this distinguished bibliomaniac continued under
sequestration some time after his death, and was preserved
entire, with difficulty, during the shock of the civil wars.
In the year 1712, it was removed to Essex House, in
Essex-street, Strand, where it continued till the year 1730,
when it was conveyed back to Westminster, and deposited in
Little Dean's Yard. In October, 1731, broke out that
dreadful fire, which Hearne (_Benedict. Abbat._, vol. i.,
præf. p. xvi.) so pathetically deplores; and in which the
nation so generally sympathized--as it destroyed and
mutilated many precious volumes of this collection. Out of
958 volumes, 97 were destroyed, and 105 damaged. In the year
1753 the library, to the honour of the age, and as the only
atonement which could be made to the injured name of Cotton,
as well as to the effectual _laying_ of his perturbed
spirit--was purchased by parliament, and transported within
the quiet and congenial abode of the BRITISH MUSEUM: and
here may it rest, unabused, for revolving ages! The
collection now contains 26,000 articles. Consult Mr.
Planta's neatly written preface to the catalogue of the
same; vide p. 39, 267, ante. And thus take we leave of the
ever-memorable bibliomaniac, Sir ROBERT COTTON, KNT.]

Equally celebrated for literary zeal, and yet more for bibliomaniacal enthusiasm, was the famous SIR THOMAS BODLEY; whose account of himself, in _Prince's Worthies of Devon_, and particularly in one of _Hearne's publications_,[335] can never be read without transport by an affectionate son of our Oxford _Alma Mater_. View this illustrious bibliomaniac, with his gentleman-like air, and expressive countenance, superintending, with the zeal of a Custom-house officer, the shipping, or rather _barging_, of his books for the grand library which is now called by his OWN NAME! Think upon his activity in writing to almost every distinguished character of the realm: soliciting, urging, arguing, entreating for their support towards his magnificent establishment; and, moreover, superintending the erection of the building, as well as examining the timbers, with the nicety of a master-carpenter!--Think of this; and when you walk under the grave and appropriately-ornamented roof, which tells you that you are within the precincts of the BODLEIAN LIBRARY, pay obeisance to the portrait of the founder, and hold converse with his gentle spirit that dwells therein!

[Footnote 335: There are few subjects--to the bibliomaniac
in general--and particularly to one, who, like the author of
this work, numbers himself among the dutiful sons of the
FAIR OXONIAN MOTHER--that can afford a higher gratification
than the history of the BODLEIAN LIBRARY, which, like
Virgil's description of fame,

"Soon grew from pigmy to gigantic size."

The reader is therefore here informed, as a necessary
preliminary piece of intelligence, that the present note
will be more monstrous than any preceding one of a similar
nature. Let him, however, take courage, and only venture to
dip his feet in the margin of the lake, and I make little
doubt but that he will joyfully plunge in, and swim across
it. Of the parentage, birth, and education of Bodley there
seems to be no necessity for entering into the detail. The
monument which he has erected to his memory is lofty enough
for every eye to behold; and thereupon may be read the
things most deserving of being known. How long the subject
of his beloved library had occupied his attention it is
perhaps of equal difficulty and unimportance to know; but
his determination to carry this noble plan into effect is
thus pleasingly communicated to us by his own pen: "when I
had, I say, in this manner, represented to my thoughts, my
peculiar estate, I resolved thereupon to possess my soul in
peace all the residue of my days; to take my full farewell
of state employments; to satisfy my mind with that
mediocrity of worldly living that I have of my own, and so
to retire me from the Court; which was the epilogue and end
of all my actions and endeavours, of any important note,
till I came to the age of fifty-three years."--"Examining
exactly, for the rest of my life, what course I might take;
and, having, as I thought, sought all the ways to the wood,
I concluded, at the last, to set up my staff AT THE LIBRARY
DOOR IN OXON, being thoroughly persuaded, in my solitude and
surcease from the commonwealth affairs, I could not busy
myself to better purpose than by reducing that place (which
then in every part lay ruinated and waste) to the public use
of Students." Prince's _Worthies of Devon_, p. 95, edit.
1810. Such being the reflections and determination of Sir
Thomas Bodley, he thus ventured to lay open his mind to the
heads of the University of Oxford:

"_To the Vice-Chancellor (Dr. Ravis) of Oxon; about
restoring the public library._

(This letter was published in a convocation holden March 2,
1597)

SIR,

Although you know me not, as I suppose, yet for the
farthering an offer, of evident utility, to your whole
university, I will not be too scrupulous in craving your
assistance. I have been always of a mind that, if God, of
his goodness, should make me able to do any thing, for the
benefit of posterity, I would shew some token of affection,
that I have ever more borne, to the studies of good
learning. I know my portion is too slender to perform, for
the present, any answerable act to my willing disposition:
but yet, to notify some part of my desire in that behalf, I
have resolved thus to deal. Where there hath been heretofore
a public library in Oxford, which, you know, is apparent by
the room itself remaining, and by your statute records, I
will take the charge and cost upon me to reduce it again to
his former use: and to make it fit and handsome, with seats,
and shelves, and desks, and all that may be needfull, to
stir up other men's benevolence, to help to furnish it with
books. And this I purpose to begin, as soon as timber can be
gotten, to the intent that you may reap some speedy profit
of my project. And where before, as I conceive, it was to be
reputed but a store of books of divers benefactors, because
it never had any lasting allowance, for augmentation of the
number, or supply of books decayed: whereby it came to pass
that, when those that were in being were either wasted or
embezelled, the whole foundation came to ruin:--to meet with
that inconvenience, I will so provide hereafter (if God do
not hinder my present design) as you shall be still assured
of a standing annual rent, to be disbursed every year in
buying of books, in officers' stipends, and other pertinent
occasions, with which provision, and some order for the
preservation of the place, and of the furniture of it, from
accustomed abuses, it may, perhaps, in time to come, prove a
notable treasure for the multitude of volumes; an excellent
benefit for the use and ease of students; and a singular
ornament in the University. I am, therefore, to intreat you,
because I will do nothing without their public approbation,
to deliver this, that I have signified, in that good sort,
that you think meet: and when you please to let me know
their acceptation of my offer, I will be ready to effect it
with all convenient expedition. But, for the better
effecting of it, I do desire to be informed whether the
University be sufficiently qualified, by licence of
Mortmain, or other assurance, to receive a farther grant of
any rent or annuity than they do presently enjoy. And, if
any instruments be extant of the ancient donations to their
former library, I would, with their good liking, see a
transcript of them: and likewise of such statutes as were
devised by the founders, or afterwards by others for the
usage of the books. Which is now as much as I can think on,
whereunto, at your good leisure, I would request your
friendly answer. And, if it lie in my ability to deserve
your pains in that behalf, although we be not yet
acquainted, you shall find me very forward. From London,
Feb. 23, 1597.

Your affectionate friend,

THO. BODLEY."

In the Easter following, "Mr. Bodley came to Oxford to view
the place on which he intended his bounty, and making them a
model of the design with the help of Mr. Saville, Warden of
Merton College, ordered that the room, or place of stowage,
for books, should be new planked, and that benches and
repositories fo [Transcriber's Note: for] books should be
set up." Wood's _Annals of the University_, vol. ii., pt.
ii., p. 920. The worthy founder then pursued his epistolary
intercourse with the Vice-Chancellor:

"_To Mr. Vice Chancellor._

SIR,

I find myself greatly beholden unto you for the speed that
you have used in proposing my offer to the whole University,
which I also hear by divers friends was greatly graced in
their meeting with your courteous kind speeches. And though
their answer of acceptance were over thankful and
respective; yet I take it unto me for a singular comfort,
that it came for that affection, whose thanks in that behalf
I do esteem a great deal more than they have reason to
esteem a far better offer. In which respect I have returned
my dutiful acknowledgement, which I beseech you to present,
when you shall call a convocation, about some matter of
greater moment. Because their letter was in _Latin_,
methought it did enforce me not to show myself a truant, by
attempting the like, with a pen out of practice: which yet I
hope they will excuse with a kind construction of my
meaning. And to the intent they may perceive that my good
will is as forward to perform as to promise, and that I
purpose to shew it to their best contentation, I do hold it
very requisite that some few should be deputed by the rest
of the House to consider, for the whole, of the fittest kind
of facture of desks, and other furniture; and when I shall
come to Oxford, which I determine, God willing, some time
before Easter, I will then acquaint the self same parties
with some notes of a platform, which I and Mr. Savile have
conceived here between us: so that, meeting altogether, we
shall soon resolve upon the best, as well for shew, and
stately form, as for capacity and strength, and commodity of
students. Of this my motion I would pray you to take some
notice in particular, for that my letter herewith to your
public assembly doth refer itself in part to your delivery
of my mind. My chiefest care is now, the while, how to
season my timber as soon as possible. For that which I am
offered by the special favour of Merton College, although it
were felled a great while since, yet of force it will
require, after time it is sawed, a convenient seasoning;
least by making too much haste, if the shelves and seats
should chance to warp, it might prove to be an eye sore, and
cost in a manner cast away. To gain some time in that
regard, I have already taken order for setting sawyers
a-work, and for procuring besides all other materials;
wherein my diligence and speed shall bear me witness of my
willingness to accomplish all that I pretend, to every man's
good liking. And thus I leave and commend you to God's good
tuition. From London, March 19, --97

Your assured to use in all your occasions,

THO. BODLEY."

Neither this nor the preceding letter are published in Mr.
Gutch's valuable edition of Wood's original text: but are to
be found, as well as every other information here subjoined,
in Hearne's edition of _Joh. Confrat. &c., de Reb.
Glaston._, vol. ii., pp. 612 to 645. We will next peruse the
curious list of the first benefactors to the Bodleian
Library.

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

_My Lord Chamberlain_: 100 volumes, all in a manner new
bound, with his arms, and a great part in folio.

_The Lord Montacute_: 66 costly great volumes, in folio; all
bought of set purpose, and fairly bound with his arms.

_The Lord Lumley_: 40 volumes in folio.

_Sir Robert Sidney_: 102 new volumes in folio, to the value
of one hundred pounds, being all very fair, and especially
well bound with his arms.

_Merton College_: 38 volumes of singular good books in
folio, &c.

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

_Mr. William Gent_: 100 volumes at the least.

_Mr. Lawrence Bodley_: 37 very fair and new bought books in
folio. (There were seven other donations--in money, from 4
to 10_l._)

Another list of benefactors; read in Convocation, July 17,
1601.

_Sir John Fortescue, Knt._: 47 volumes: of which there are 5
Greek MSS. of singular worth.

_Mr. Jo. Crooke_: Recorder of the City of London: 27 good
volumes; of which 25 are in folio.

_Mr. Henry Savile_: all the Greek interpreters upon
Aust(in).

_Mr. William Gent, of Glocester Hall_: 160 volumes; of which
there are 50 in folio.

_Mr. Thomas Allen, of do._, hath given 12 rare MSS., with a
purpose to do more, and hath been ever a most careful
provoker and solicitor of sundry great persons to become
benefactors.

_Mr. William Camden_, by his office _Clarentius_: 7 volumes;
of which 4 are manuscripts.

_Mr. Thomas James, of New College_: 100 volumes: almost all
in folio, and sundry good manuscripts. With about 50 other
donations, chiefly in money.

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

A yet larger, and more complete, list will be found in Mr.
Gutch's publication of Wood's text. Let us next observe how
this distinguished bibliomaniac seized every
opportunity--laying embargoes upon barges and carriages--for
the conveyance of his book-treasures. The ensuing is also in
Mr. Gutch's work:

"_To the Right W. Mr. D. King, Dean of Christ-Church, and
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxon, or, in his
absence, to his Deputies there._

(Read in Convocation, July 8, 1608.)

SIR,

I have sent down, by a western barge, all the books that I
have of this year's collection, which I have requested Mr.
James, and other of my friends, to see safely brought from
Burcote, and placed in the library. Sir Francis Vere hath
sent me this year his accustomed annual gift of ten pounds.
The Lady Mary Vere, wife to Sir Horace Vere, in the time of
her widowhood (for so she is desired it should be recorded),
being called Mrs. Hoby, of Hales, in Gloucestershire, hath
given twenty pound. (He then enumerates about 15 other
donations, and thus goes on:) Thus I thought meet to observe
my yearly custom, in acquainting the University with the
increase of their store: as my care shall be next, and that
very shortly, to endow them with that portion of revenue and
land that I have provided, whensoever God shall call me, for
the full defraying of any charge that, by present
likelihood, the conservation of the books, and all needful
allowances to the keeper and others, may from time to time
require. I will send you, moreover, a draught of certain
statutes, which I have rudely conceived about the employment
of that revenue, and for the government of the library: not
with any meaning that they should be received, as orders
made by me (for it shall appear unto you otherwise) but as
notes and remembrances to abler persons, whom hereafter you
may nominate (as I will also then request you) to consider
of those affairs, and so frame a substantial form of
government, sith that which is a foot is in many thinges
defective for preservation of the library: for I hold it
altogether fitting that the University Convocation should be
always possessed of an absolute power to devise any
statutes, and of those to alter as they list, when they find
an occasion of evident utility. But of these and other
points, when I send you my project, I will both write more
of purpose, and impart unto you freely my best cogitations,
being evermore desirous, whatsoever may concern your public
good, to procure and advance it so, to the uttermost of my
power: as now in the meanwhile, reminding unto you my
fervent affection, I rest for any service,

Your most assured, at commandment,

THO. BODLEIE.

London, June 30, 1608."

In a letter to his "dearest friends, Doctor Kinge,
Vice-Chancellor, the Doctors, Proctors, and the rest of the
Convocation House in Oxon," (16th June, 1609) after telling
them how he had secured certain landed property for the
payment of the salaries and other expenses attendant upon
the library, Sir Thomas thus draws to a conclusion: "Now
because I presuppose that you take little pleasure in a
tedious letter, having somewhat besides to impart unto you,
I have made it known by word to Mr. Vicechancellor, who, I
know, will not fail to acquaint you with it: as withall I
have intreated him to supply, in my behalf, all my negligent
omissions, and defective form of thanks, for all your public
honours, entertainments, letters, gifts, and other graces
conferred upon me, which have so far exceeded the compass of
my merits that, where before I did imagine that nothing
could augment my zealous inclination to your general good,
now methinks I do feel it (as I did a great while since) was
very highly augmented: insomuch as I cannot but shrive
myself thus freely and soothly unto you. That, albeit, among
a number of natural imperfections, I have least of all
offended in the humour of ambition, yet now so it is, that I
do somewhat repent me of my too much niceness that way: not
as carried with an appetite to rake more riches to myself
(wherein, God is my witness, my content is complete) but
only in respect of my greedy desire to make a livelier
demonstration of the same that I bear to my COMMON MOTHER,
than I have hitherto attained sufficient ability to put in
execution. With which unfeigned testification of my devotion
unto you, and with my daily fervent prayers for the endless
prosperity of your joint endeavours, in that whole
institution of your public library, I will close up this
letter, and rest, as I shall ever,

Yours, in all loving and dutiful affection,

THOMAS BODLEY.

London, May 31, 1609."

The following, which is also in Mr. Gutch's publication,
shews the laudable restlessness, and insatiable ambition, of
our venerable bibliomaniac, in ransacking foreign libraries
for the completion of his own.

"_To the Right Worshipfull Mr. D. Singleton, Vicechancellor
of the University of Oxon._

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

SIR,

About some three years past, I made a motion, here in
London, to Mr. Pindar, Consul of the Company of English
Merchants at Aleppo (a famous port in the Turk's dominions)
that he would use his best means to procure me some books in
the Syriac, Arabic, Turkish, and Persian tongues, or in any
other language of those Eastern nations: because I make no
doubt but, in process of time, by the extraordinary
diligence of some one or other student, they may be readily
understood, and some special use made of their kind of
learning in those parts of the world: and where I had a
purpose to reimburse all the charge that might grow
thereupon, he sent of late unto me 20 several volumes in the
foresaid tongues, and of his liberal disposition hath
bestowed them freely on the library. They are manuscripts
all (for in those countries they have no kind of printing)
and were valued in that place at a very high rate. I will
send them, ere be long, praying you the while to notify so
much unto the University, and to move them to write a letter
of thanks, which I will find means to convey to his hands,
being lately departed from London to Constantinople. Whether
the letter be indited in Latin or English, it is not much
material, but yet, in my conceit, it will do best to him in
English."

(The remainder of this letter is devoted to a scheme of
building the public schools at Oxford; in which Sir Thomas
found a most able and cheerful coadjutor, in one, _Sir Jo.
Benet_; who seems to have had an extensive and powerful
connection, and who set the scheme on foot, "like a true
affected son to his ANCIENT MOTHER, with a cheerful
propension to take the charge upon him without groaning.")

In April 1585, Queen Elizabeth granted Sir Thomas "a
passport of safe conveyance to Denmark"; and wrote a letter
to the King of Denmark of the same date, within two days.
She wrote, also, a letter to Julius, Duke of Brunswick of
the same date: in which the evils that were then besetting
the Christian world abroad were said to be rushing suddenly,
as "from the Trojan Horse." "These three letters (observes
Mr. Baker to his friend Hearne) are only copies, but very
fairly wrote, and seem to have been duplicates kept by him
that drew the original letters."

We will peruse but two more of these Bodleian epistles,
which Hearne very properly adds as an amusing appendix, as
well to the foregoing, as to his _Reliquiæ Bodleianæ_ (1703,
8vo). They are written to men whose names must ever be held
in high veneration by all worthy bibliomanacs.

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

SIR,

I was thrice to have seen you at your house, but had not the
hap to find you at home. It was only to know how you hold
your old intention for helping to furnish the University
Library: where I purpose, God willing, to place all the
books that I have hitherto gathered, within these three
weeks. And whatsoever any man shall confer for the storing
of it, such order is taken for a due memorial of his gift as
I am persuaded he cannot any way receive a greater
contentment of any thing to the value otherwise bestowed.
Thus much I thought to signify unto you: and to request you
to hear how you rest affected.

Yours, to use in any occasion,

THO. BODLEY.

From my house, June 6."

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

SIR,

I have made Mr. Bodley acquainted with your kind and
friendly offer, who accepteth of it in most thankful manner:
and if it pleaseth you to appoint to-morrow at afternoon, or
upon Monday or Tuesday next, at some hour likewise after
dinner, we will not fail to be with you at your house for
that purpose. And remember I give you fair warning that if
you hold any book so dear as that you would be loth to have
him out of your sight, set him aside before hand. For my own
part, I will not do that wrong to my judgment as to chuse of
the worst, if better be in place: and, beside, you would
account me a simple man.

But to leave jesting, we will any of the days come to you,
leaving, as great reason is, your own in your own power
freely to retain or dispose. True it is that I have raised
some expectation of the quality of your gift in Mr. Bodley,
whom you shall find a gentleman in all respects worthy of
your acquaintance. And so, with my best commendations, I
commit you to God. This St. Peter's day.

Your very assured friend,

HENRY SAVILE."

It only remains now to indulge the dutiful sons of ALMA
MATER with a fac-simile wood-cut impression of the profile
of the venerable founder of the Bodleian Library, taken from
a print of a medal in the _Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum
Angliæ, &c._, 1697, fol.; but whether it have any
resemblance to the bust of him, "carved to the life by an
excellent hand at London, and shortly after placed in a
niche in the south wall of the same library," with the
subjoined inscription, I cannot at this moment recollect.

THOMAS SACKVILLUS DORSET, COMES,
SUMMUS ANGLIÆ THESAURAR. ET
HUJUS ACAD. CANCELLAR.
THOMÆ BODLEIO EQUITI AURATO
QUI BIBLIOTHECAM HANC INSTITUIT
HONORIS CAUSA P.P.]

The library of Sir Thomas Bodley, when completed, formed the
figure of a T: it was afterwards resolved, on the books
accumulating, and the benefactions increasing, to finish it
in the form of an H; in which state it now remains. Sir
Kenelm Digby, like a thorough bred bibliomaniac, "gave fifty
very good oaks, to purchase a piece of ground of Exeter
College, laying on the north west side of the library; on
which, and their own ground adjoining, they might erect the
future fabric." The laying of the foundation of this
erection is thus described by Wood; concluding with a
catastrophe, at which I sadly fear the wicked reader will
smile. "On the thirteenth of May, being Tuesday, 1634, the
Vice-chancellor, Doctors, Heads of Houses, and Proctors, met
at St. Mary's church about 8 of the clock in the morning;
thence each, having his respective formalities on came to
this place, and took their seats that were then erected on
the brim of the foundation. Over against them was built a
scaffold, where the two proctors, with divers masters,
stood. After they were all settled, the University
Musicians, who stood upon the leads at the west end of the
library, sounded a lesson on their wind music. Which being
done, the singing men of Christ-Church, with others, sang a
lesson, after which the senior Proctor, Mr. Herbert Pelham,
of Magdalen College, made an eloquent oration: that being
ended also, the music sounded again, and continued playing
till the Vice-Chancellor went to the bottom of the
foundation to lay the first stone in one of the south
angles. But no sooner had he deposited a piece of gold on
the said stone, according to the usual manner in such
ceremonies, but the earth fell in from one side of the
foundation, and the scaffold that was thereon broke and fell
with it; so that all those that were thereon, to the number
of a hundred at least, namely, the Proctors, Principals of
Halls, Masters, and some Bachelaurs, fell down all together,
one upon another, into the foundation; among whom, the under
butler of Exeter College had his shoulder broken or put out
of joint, and a scholar's arm bruised." "The solemnity being
thus concluded with such a sad catastrophe, the breach was
soon after made up and the work going chearfully forward,
was in four years space finished." _Annals of the University
of Oxford_; vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 939. Gutch's edition. We
will take leave of SIR THOMAS BODLEY, and of his noble
institution, with the subjoined representation of the
University's Arms--as painted upon the ceiling of the
library, in innumerable compartments; hoping that the period
is not very remote when a _History of the Bodleian Library_,
more ample and complete than any thing which has preceded
it, will appear prefixed to a _Catalogue of the Books_, like
unto that which is hinted at p. 74, ante, as "an urgent
desideratum."

]

LIS. Alas, you bring to my mind those precious hours that are gone by, never to be recalled, which I wasted within this glorious palace of Bodley's erection! How I sauntered, and gazed, and sauntered again.--

PHIL. Your case is by no means singular. But you promise, when you revisit the library, not to behave so naughtily again?

LIS. I was not then a convert to the BIBLIOMANIA! Now, I will certainly devote the leisure of six autumnal weeks to examine minutely some of the precious tomes which are contained in it.

LYSAND. Very good. And pray favour us with the result of your profound researches: as one would like to have the most minute account of the treasures contained within those hitherto unnumbered volumes.

PHIL. As every sweet in this world is balanced by its bitter, I wonder that these worthy characters were not lampooned by some sharp-set scribbler--whose only chance of getting perusers for his work, and thereby bread for his larder, was by the novelty and impudence of his attacks. Any thing new and preposterous is sure of drawing attention. Affirm that you see a man standing upon one leg, on the pinnacle of Saint Paul's[336]--or that the ghost of Inigo Jones had appeared to you, to give you the extraordinary information that Sir Christopher Wren had stolen the whole of the plan of that cathedral from a design of his own--and do you not think that you would have spectators and auditors enough around you?

[Footnote 336: This is now oftentimes practised by some wag,
in his "_Walke in Powles_." Whether the same anecdote is
recorded in the little slim pamphlet published in 1604,
4to., under the same title--not having the work--(and indeed
how should I? vide _Bibl. Reed_, no. 2225, _cum
pretiis_!) I cannot take upon me to determine.]

LIS. Yes, verily: and I warrant some half-starved scrivener of the Elizabethan period drew his envenomed dart to endeavour to perforate the cuticle of some worthy bibliomaniacal wight.

LYSAND. You may indulge what conjectures you please; but I know of no anti-bibliomaniacal satirist of this period. STUBBES did what he could, in his "_Anatomy of Abuses_,"[337] to disturb every social and harmless amusement of the age. He was the forerunner of that snarling satirist, Prynne; but I ought not thus to cuff him, for fear of bringing upon me the united indignation of a host of black-letter critics and philologists. A _large and clean_ copy of his sorrily printed work is among the choicest treasures of a Shakspearian virtuoso.

[Footnote 337: "THE ANATOMIE OF ABUSES: _contayning a
discoverie, or briefe summarie of such notable vices and
imperfections as now raigne in many Christian Countreyes of
the Worlde: but (especiallie) in a very famous Ilande called
Ailgna_:" &c. Printed by Richard Jones, 1583, small 8vo.
Vide Herbert's _Typographical Antiquities_, vol. iii., p.
1044, for the whole title. Sir John Hawkins, in his _History
of Music_, vol iii., 419, calls this "a curious and very
scarce book;" and so does my friend, Mr. Utterson; who
revels in his morocco-coated copy of it--"_Exemplar olim
Farmerianum!_" But let us be candid; and not sacrifice our
better judgments to our book-passions. After all, Stubbes's
work is a caricatured drawing. It has strong passages, and a
few original thoughts; and, is moreover, one of the very few
works printed in days of yore which have running titles to
the subjects discussed in them. These may be recommendations
with the bibliomaniac; but he should be informed that this
volume contains a great deal of puritanical cant, and
licentious language; that vices are magnified in it in order
to be lashed, and virtues diminished that they might not be
noticed. Stubbes equals Prynne in his anathemas against
"Plays and Interludes:" and in his chapters upon "Dress" and
"Dancing" he rakes together every coarse and pungent phrase
in order to describe "these horrible sins" with due
severity. He is sometimes so indecent that, for the credit
of the age, and of a virgin reign, we must hope that every
virtuous dame threw the copy of his book, which came into
her possession, behind the fire. This may reasonably account
for its present rarity. I do not discover it in the
catalogues of the libraries of _Pearson_, _Steevens_, or
_Brand_; but see _Bibl. Wright_, no. 1390.]

But admitting even that Stubbes had drawn his arrow to the head, and grazed the skin of such men as Bodley and Cotton, the wound inflicted by this weapon must have been speedily closed and healed by the balsamic medicine administered by ANDREW MAUNSELL, in his _Catalogue of English Printed Books_.[338] This little thin folio volume afforded a delicious treat to all honest bibliomaniacs. It revived the drooping spirits of the despondent; and, like the syrup of the renowned Dr. Brodum, circulated within the system, and put all the generous juices in action. The niggardly collector felt the influence of rivalship; he played a deeper stake at book-gambling; and hastened, by his painfully acquired knowledge of what was curious and rare in books, to anticipate the rustic collector--which latter, putting the best wheels and horses to his carriage, rushed from the country to the metropolis, to seize, at Maunsell's shop, a choice copy of _Cranmer's Bible, or Morley's Canzonets_.[339]

[Footnote 338: This Catalogue, the first publication of the
kind ever put forth in this country, is complete in two
parts; 1595, folio: first part containing 123 pages,
exclusive of three preliminary epistles: the second, 27
pages; exclusive of three similar introductory pieces. The
_first part_ is devoted entirely to Divinity: and in the
dedicatory epistle to Queen Elizabeth, Maunsell tells her
majesty that he thought it "worth his poor labour to collect
a catalogue of the divine books, so mightily increased in
her reign; whereby her majesty's most faithful and loving
subjects may be put in remembrance of the works of so
excellent authors," &c. The second part is devoted to a
brief account of books in the remaining branches of
literature, arts, sciences, &c. Maunsell promised to follow
it up by a _third_ part; but a want of due encouragement
seems to have damped the bibliographical ardour of the
compiler; for this third part never appeared: a circumstance
which, in common with the late Mr. Steevens, all
bibliomaniacs may "much lament." See the _Athenæum_, vol i.,
155; also Herbert's _Typographical Antiquities_, vol ii., p.
1137. A copy of this volume has found its way into the
Advocates' Library at Edinburgh; _Cat. Adv. Libr._, vol ii.,
p. 99. Ruddiman, who was formerly the librarian of this
latter valuable collection, had probably read Hearne's
commendation of it:--namely, that it was "a very scarce, and
yet a very useful, book." _Bened. Abbat._, vol. i., p. LIV.
Mr. Heber possesses a curious copy of it, which was formerly
Herbert's, with the margins filled with his MS. addenda.]

[Footnote 339: "Of the translation appointed to bee read in
churches, in Kinge Henry the 8, his daies," printed in the
largest volume, 1539. "THO. MORLEY, Bachiler of Musique, and
one of her Maiestie's Royal Chappell, _his Conzonets_, or
little short songes to three voyces. Prin. by Tho. Est.
1593. 4to." See p. 10., pt. i., p. 17, pt. ii., of
_Maunsell's Catalogue_; but let the reader consult p. 248,
ante, concerning this "largest volume" of the Holy
Scriptures.]

Let us, however, not forget that we have reached the reign of JAMES I.; a monarch who, like Justinian, affected to be "greatly given to study of books;"[340] and who, according to Burton's testimony, wished he had been chained to one of the shelves of the Bodleian library.[341] Of all literary tastes, James had the most strange and sterile. Let us leave him to his _Demonology_; but notice, with the respect that it merits, the more rational and even elegantly cultivated mind of his son PRINCE HENRY;[342] of whose passion for books there are some good evidences upon record. We will next proceed to the mention of a shrewd scholar and bibliomaniac, and ever active voyager, ycleped THOMAS CORYATE, the _Peregrine of Odcombe_. This facetious traveller, who was as quaint and original a writer as old Tom Fuller, appears (when he had time and opportunity) to have taken special notice of libraries; and when he describes to us his "worm eaten" copy of _Josephus's Antiquities_,[343] "written in ancient Longobard characters in parchment," one cannot but indulge a natural wish to know something of the present existence of a MS. which had probably escaped Oberthür, the last laborious editor of Josephus.

[Footnote 340: "Greatly gyuen to study of bokys:" _Rastell's
Chronicle, or Pastyme of People_, p. 28, edit. 1811, 4to.]

[Footnote 341: The passage is somewhere in Burton's _Anatomy
of Mechanoly_. But I cannot just now, put my finger upon
it.]

[Footnote 342: The works of KING JAMES I. (of England) were
published in rather a splendid folio volume in the year
1616. Amongst these, his _Demonology_ is the "opus maximum."
Of his son PRINCE HENRY, there is, in this volume, at the
top of one of the preliminary pieces, a very pretty half
length portrait; when he was quite a boy. A charming whole
length portrait of the same accomplished character, when he
was a young man, engraved by Paas, may be seen in the first
folio edition of Drayton's _Polyolbion_: but this, the
reader will tell me, is mere Grangerite information. Proceed
we, therefore, to a pithy, but powerful, demonstration of
the bibliomaniacal character of the said Prince Henry. "In
the paper office, there is a book, No. 24, containing
Prince Henry's privy-purse expences, for one year," &c. The
whole expense of one year was 1400_l._ Among other charges,
the following are remarkable:

£ _s._ _d._

17th October, paid to a Frenchman, that
presented _a book_ 4 10 0

20th October, paid Mr. Holyoak for writing a
_Catalogue of the Library_ which the Prince
had of Lord Lumley 8 13 4
&c. &c. &c.

_Apology for the Believers in the Shakspeare-Papers_, 1797,
8vo., p. 233.]

[Footnote 343: Look, gentle reader, at the entire ungarbled
passage--amongst many similar ones which may be adduced--in
vol. i., p. 116, of his "_Crudities_"--or Travels: edit.
1776, 8vo. Coryat's [Transcriber's Note: alternative
spelling] talents, as a traveller, are briefly, but
brilliantly, described in the _Quarterly Review_, vol. ii.,
p. 92.]

Let me here beseech you to pay due attention to the works of HENRY PEACHAM, when they come across you. The first edition of that elegantly written volume, "_The Compleat Gentleman_," was published I believe in the reign of James I., in the year 1622.

LOREN. I possess not only this, but every subsequent copy of it, and a fair number of copies of his other works. He and BRAITHWAIT were the "par nobile fratrum" of their day.

PHIL. I have often been struck with some curious passages in Peacham, relating to the Education of Youth[344] in our own country; as I find, from them, that the complaint of _severity of discipline_ still continued, notwithstanding the able work of Roger Ascham, which had recommended a mild and conciliatory mode of treatment.

[Footnote 344: The HISTORY of the EDUCATION OF YOUTH in this
country might form an amusing little octavo volume. We have
_Treatises_ and _Essays_ enough upon the subject; but a
narrative of its first rude efforts, to its present, yet not
perfected, form, would be interesting to every parent, and
observer of human nature. My present researches only enable
me to go back as far as Trevisa's time, towards the close of
the 14th century; when I find, from the works of this Vicar
of Berkeley, that "every friar that had _state in school_,
such as they were then, had an HUGE LIBRARY." _Harl. MSS._,
no. 1900. But what the particular system was, among
youth, which thus so highly favoured the BIBLIOMANIA, I have
not been able to ascertain. I suspect, however, that
knowledge made but slow advances; or rather that its
progress was almost inverted; for, at the end of the
subsequent century, our worthy printer, Caxton, tells us
that he found "but few who could write in their registers
the occurrences of the day." _Polychronicon; prol. Typog.
Antiquit._, vol. i., 148. In the same printer's prologue to
_Catho Magnus_ (_Id._, vol. i., 197) there is a melancholy
complaint about the youth of London; who, although, when
children, they were "fair, wise, and prettily bespoken--at
the full ripening, they had neither kernel nor good corn
found in them." This is not saying much for the academic or
domestic treatment of young gentlemen, towards the close of
the 15th century. At the opening of the ensuing century, a
variety of elementary treatises, relating to the education
of youth, were published chiefly under the auspices of Dean
Colet, and composed by a host of learned grammarians, of
whom honourable mention has been made at page 218, ante.
These publications are generally adorned with a rude
wood-cut; which, if it be copied from truth, affords a
sufficiently striking proof of the severity of the ancient
discipline: for the master is usually seated in a large
arm-chair, with a tremendous rod across his knees; and the
scholars are prostrate before him, either on the ground upon
bended knees, or sitting upon low benches. Nor was this
rigid system relaxed in the middle of the same (xvith)
century; when Roger Ascham composed his incomparable
treatise, intitled the "_Schoolmaster_;" the object of which
was to decry the same severity of discipline. This able
writer taught his countrymen the value of making the road to
knowledge smooth and inviting, by smiles and remunerations,
rather than by stripes and other punishments. Indeed, such
was the stern and Draco-like character which schoolmasters
of this period conceived themselves authorized to assume
that neither rank, nor situation, nor sex, were exempt from
the exercise of their tyranny. Lady Jane Grey tells Ascham
that her former teacher used to give her "pinches, and
cuffs, and bobs," &c. The preface to the Schoolmaster
informs us that two gentlemen, who dined with Ascham at
Cecil's table, were of opinion that NICOLAS UDAL, then head
master of Eaton School, "was the best schoolmaster of their
time, and the _greatest beater_!" Bishop Latimer, in his
fourth sermon (edit. 1562, fol. 15 to 18), has drawn such a
picture of the Londoners of this period that the philosopher
may imagine that youths, who sprung from such parents,
required to be ruled with a rod of iron. But it has been the
fashion of all writers, from the age of St. Austin
downwards, to depreciate the excellences, and magnify the
vices, of the times in which they lived. Ludovicus Vives,
who was Latimer's contemporary, has attacked both
schoolmasters and youths, in an ungracious style; saying of
the former that "some taught Ovid's books of love to their
scholars, and some make expositions and expounded the
vices." He also calls upon the young women, in the language
of St. Jerome, "to avoid, as a mischief or poison of
chastity, young men with heads bushed and trimmed; and sweet
smelling skins of outlandish mice." _Instruction of a
Christian Woman_; edit. 1592, sign. D 3, rect. &c. I am not
aware of any work of importance, relating to the education
of youth, which appeared till the publication of the
_Compleat Gentleman_ by HENRY PEACHAM: an author, who richly
deserves all the handsome things above said of him in the
text. His chapters "_Of the Duty of Masters_," and "_Of the
Duty of Parents_," are valuable upon many accounts: inasmuch
as they afford curious anecdotes of the system of academic
and domestic education then pursued, and are accompanied
with his own sagacious and candid reflections. Peacham was
an _Aschamite_ in respect to lenity of discipline; as the
following extracts, from the foregoing work, (edit. 1661)
will unequivocally prove. Peacham first observes upon the
different modes of education: "But we see on the contrary,
out of the master's carterly judgment, like horses in a
team, the boys are set to draw all alike, when some one or
two prime and able wits in the school, [Greek: auto
didaktoi] (which he culs out to admiration if strangers
come, as a costardmonger his fairest pippins) like fleet
hovnds go away with the game, when the rest need helping
over a stile a mile behind: hence, being either quite
discouraged in themselves, or taken away by their friends
(who for the most part measure their learning by the form
they set in), they take leave of their books while they
live," &c. p. 23. "Some affect, and severer schools enforce,
a precise and tedious strictness, in long keeping the
schollers by the walls: as from before six in the morning,
till twelve or past: so likewise in the afternoon. Which,
beside the dulling of the wit and dejecting the spirit (for,
"otii non minus quam negotii ratio extare debet") breeds in
him, afterwards, a kind of hate and carelessness of study
when he comes to be "sui juris," at his own liberty (as
experience proves by many, who are sent from severe schools
unto the universities): withall over-loading his memory, and
taking off the edge of his invention, with over heavy tasks,
in themes, verses," &c., p. 25. "Nor is it my meaning that I
would all masters to be tyed to one method, no more than all
the shires of England to come up to London by one highway:
there may be many equally alike good. And since method, as
one saith, is but [Greek: odopoiêtikê], let every master, if
he can, by pulling up stiles and hedges, make a more near
and private way to himself; and in God's name say, with the
divinest of poets,

_deserta per avia dulcis
Raptat amor. Juvat ire iugis, quâ nulla priorum_
CASTALIAM _molli divertitur orbita clivo._

(Georg. libi. iij.)

With sweet love rapt, I now by deserts pass,
And over hills where never track of yore:
Descending easily, yet remembered was,
That led the way to CASTALIE before.

(Peacham.)