Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598-A.D. 1867 Part 2

II. 14) is the MS. of the Gospels, traditionally believed to be one of those two copies of the old Italic version sent by St. Gregory to St.

Augustine in Britain, which were preserved in St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury[37]; of which the other now exists among Archbp. Parker's MSS. in Corp. Chr. Coll. Cambr., No. 286. They are both written in quarto, in uncial letters and double columns. Their date may possibly be somewhat later than that which is traditionally a.s.signed; but at any rate they are certainly among what the historian Elmham calls 'primitiae librorum totius ecclesiae Anglicanae.' On the last fly-leaf of the Bodley MS. is the following list of English Priests' libraries. [OE: 'as bocas haue Salomon p[=rs]t. [-]is ecodspel t{r}aht. [&] emarty{r}luia [&] e (_erased_) [&] e aeglisce salte{r}e [&] e c{r}ranc [&] e tropere [&] wulf mer cild eatteleuaui ('Ad Te levavi.') [&] pistelari [&] e] (_erased_) [&] e imnere. [&] e capitelari. (_word erased_) [&] e spel boc. [&] Siga{r} p[=rs]t. elece boc [&] Blakehad boc.

[&] aeilmer e grete Sater. [&] e litle t{r}opere fo{r}beande. [&] e Donatum. XV bocas Ealfric aeilwine. G.o.dric. [&] Bealdewuine abb [&]

Freoden [&] hu-- (_torn_) [&] uregise.'] Several leaves are wanting at the beginning and one at the end; the book commences at S. Matt. iv.

14, and ends in S. John xxi. 16. It now numbers 172 leaves, besides the fly-leaf, and contains 29 lines in a column; the Cambridge MS. has 25 lines.

Two Russian MSS. were given in this year by John Mericke, English Consul in Russia, and a collection of Italian books by Sir Michael Dormer.

[37] Wanley, p. 172. Elmham's _Hist. Mon. S. Aug._ 1858, pp. 97, 8.

A.D. 1604.

On June 20, letters patent were granted by James I, styling the library by the founder's name, and licensing the University to hold lands, &c., in mortmain for its maintenance, to an amount not exceeding 200 marks _per annum_[38].

In the list of donors occur Sir Christopher Heydon, Sir Jerome Horsey (whose gift includes a MS. of the Gospels in Russian, and rolls containing forms of letters, &c., in the autograph of the Czar Ivan Basilides), Sir Ralph Winwood (17 Greek MSS.), Robert Barker the printer, and Sir Henry Wotton (a MS. of the Koran).

[38] Wood MS. F. 27.

A.D. 1605.

The bust of Bodley, which is seen in the large room, was sent by Sackville, Earl of Dorset, the Chancellor of the University. It attracted the notice of King James upon his entering the Library on the fourth day of his visit to Oxford in August of this year, who, upon reading its inscription, indulged in the very mild pun that the Founder should rather be called Sir Thomas G.o.dly than Bodly[39]. And, looking on the well-filled cases, he said he had often had proof from the University of the fruits of talent and ability, but had never before seen the garden where those fruits grew and whence they were gathered.

He examined various MSS. of the Holy Scriptures, and especially of the old English version, as well as of the Ethiopic, on the authority of which, 'more suo, summo c.u.m judicio disceptavit.' Then, taking up Gaguinus' treatise _De Puritate Conceptionis Virg. Mar._, printed at Paris in 1498, he remarked that the author had so written about purity as if he wished that it should only be found on the t.i.tle of his book; and said it had often been his desire that such objectionable writings (especially on religious subjects) could be altogether suppressed rather than be tolerated to the corruption of minds and manners. He admitted, however, that probably there was no disadvantage from their being stored up in collections of this kind. Moved to a wonderful temper of liberality, the king then offered to present from all the libraries of the royal palaces whatsoever precious and rare books Sir T. Bodley, on examination, might choose to carry away; and promised that the grant should be made under seal, lest any hindrance should arise. It appears[40] that this (somewhat hasty) grant was actually pa.s.sed under the Privy Seal about the beginning of November in the same year, and that Bodley expected to carry off a great many MSS. from Whitehall.

Probably the full execution of his intentions was hindered, as he himself appears to have suspected might happen; at any rate, there is very little in the Library that tells of having come from the royal collections, except a few folio editions of the Fathers which once were in the possession of Hen. VIII, as his arms stamped upon the covers testify[41], and three or four MSS. which bear like evidence of having belonged to James I. Upon leaving the room, after spending considerable time in its examination, the king exclaimed that were he not King James he would be an University man; and that, were it his fate at any time to be a captive, he would wish to be shut up, could he but have the choice, in this place as his prison, to be bound with its chains, and to consume his days amongst its books as his fellows in captivity[42].

In this year appeared the first Catalogue of the Library, compiled by Thomas James. It is a quarto volume, published by Joseph Barnes at Oxford, consisting of 425 pages, with an Appendix of 230 more; the Preface is dated June 27. The book is dedicated to Henry, Prince of Wales[43]. It includes both printed books and MSS. arranged alphabetically under the four cla.s.ses of Theology, Medicine, Law, and Arts, with lists of expositors of Holy Scripture, commentators on Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Galen, and in Civil and Canon Law. The legal and medical lists were added at Bodley's special desire[44]. A continuation of this cla.s.sified index, embracing writers on Arts and Sciences, Geography and History, is to be found in Rawlinson MS.

_Miscell._ 730. It was drawn up by James, after his quitting the Library, for the use of young students in the faculty of Arts, in order to show his continued interest in them and in the place of his old occupation. In the preface he thus describes the arrangement of his book: 'Exhibeo, primo, libros distributos secundum facultates suas; secundo, dissectos in minutissimas portiones vel sectiones, idque alphabetice; tertio, habetis cognitos et exploratos auctores singulos qui de singulis subjectis vel generatim vel speciatim scripserunt libros, tractatus, epistolas; postremo, ne quid desit, habetis editiones certas, et maxime ex parte ex pluribus selectas et meliores, cito parabiles, digitos ad pluteos et pluteorum sectiones intendendo.' This volume came into Rawlinson's possession from Hearne, who notes in it: 'This MS. came out of the study of Dr. Anthony Hall, of Queen's College, Oxford, who married the widow of Dr. John Hudson, to whom this book once belong'd.'

[39] This would-be witticism is made the subject of a quatrain in the _Justa Funebria Bodlei_, p. 108.

[40] _Reliquiae Bodl._ pp. 205, 339.

[41] His arms also occur in several places in a Greek MS. now numbered Auct. E. I. 15. And there is one volume among Selden's books (8^o. A.

24, Art. Seld.) which appears to possess considerable interest as having come from the library of the many-wived king. It is a fine copy of aesop, with the _Batrachomyomachia_, &c., printed by Froben in 1518, which may be conjectured, from the binding, to have been a gift from Henry to Anne Boleyn. The cover is of embossed calf; on one side is the Tudor rose supported by angels, with the sun, moon, and four stars above, encircled by the lines:--

'Hec rosa virtutis de celo missa sereno, Eternum florens regia sceptra feret.'

Below are the initials A. H., conjoined with a knot. On the other side is a representation of the Annunciation, with the same initials repeated.

[42] The account of the king's visit is given in Sir J. Wake's _Rex Platonicus_, pp. 116-123.

[43] At the suggestion of Bodley, who thought that more reward was to be gained from the prince than from the king. (_Reliquiae Bodl._ 206.)

[44] _Reliquiae Bodl._ pp. 195, 256.

A.D. 1606.

Chinese literature began to make its appearance even at this early date.

Among the books bought with 20 given by Lady Kath. Sandys were, 'Octo volumina lingua Chinensi,' while two others, '_Excusa_ in regno et lingua Chinensi,' were bought, together with the donor's own 'Historie of Great Britaine,' with a gift of 5 from John Clapham.

A.D. 1610.

The books having some time since begun to crowd the room provided for them, so that James, in his Preface to the Catalogue of 1605, said there already seemed to be more need of a Library for the books than books for the Library, the Founder commenced in this year an extension of his building. On July 16 the first stone was laid of the eastern wing, and of the Proscholium, or vestibule of the Divinity School, beneath; which were completed by 1612, as in that year several donations were placed in the new room[45]. An inscription in gold letters, in the front of this building, commemorates Bodley's work; having become barely legible, it has recently been restored to its pristine l.u.s.tre by the care of the present Librarian. The n.o.ble east window contains some very curious and interesting relics in stained gla.s.s which were presented to the Library (with numerous other fragments, which adorn some of the other windows in the Library and partly fill two of those in the Picture Gallery[46]), in 1797, by Alderman William Fletcher of Oxford, a zealous local antiquary and Churchman of the good old school. The three princ.i.p.al fragments represent: 1. Henry II, stripped naked, and suffering flagellation with birch rods, at the hands of two monks, before the shrine of Thomas a Becket. 2. The marriage (as supposed) of Henry VI with Margaret of Anjou, representing, says Dr. Rock[47], that portion of the ceremony which took place at the Church door; formerly in a window of Rollright Church, Oxfords.h.i.+re. There is no evidence, however, to connect this representation with Henry VI, and it has been conjectured to describe his marriage chiefly from its corresponding in some very small degree to a representation of that event, formerly at Strawberry Hill, and described and engraved in Walpole's _Anecdotes of Painting_, i. 36. It is probably of an earlier date. 3. The doing homage by William, King of Scotland, with his abbots and barons, to Henry II in York Minster in 1171. Of the first of these, two coloured engravings, and of the second, one, are found in a copy of Gutch's Wood, which came to the Library from the same donor, Alderman Fletcher, in 1818, ill.u.s.trated with very numerous and curious engravings and drawings, as well as enriched with some MS. notes, and bound in seven large quarto volumes[48].

The large coats of arms appear to have been inserted in 1716, as in the accounts for that year we find, 'For paynted armes in the Library window, 5.' But one coat of arms was put up in the year 1771, (_q. v._)

It was in this year that the Library began to be enlarged with the gift of copies of all works published by the members of the Stationers'

Company, in pursuance of an agreement made with them by Bodley, which became the precursor of the obligations of the Copyright Acts. On Dec.

12 the Company made a grant of one perfect copy of every book printed by them, on condition that they should have liberty to borrow the books thus given, if needed for reprinting, and also to examine, collate, and copy the books which were given by others. An order of the Star-Chamber was made July 11, 1637, in confirmation of this grant[49]. The proposal of such an agreement emanated from the Librarian James; but in the effecting it Bodley says that he met with 'many rubs and delays[50].'

Ayliffe say[51] that the agreement was very well observed until about 1640. He should rather have said 'about 1630,' for in that year, in a paper of notes made by the Librarian for the use of Archbishop Laud, as Chancellor of the University (in which the mention of a gift of books by Fetherston, a London bookseller, fixes the date), complaint is made that the Company were very negligent in sending their books, and it is suggested that a message from the Chancellor might quickly remedy that neglect[52]. In 1642, Verneuil, the Sub-Libraria[53], complained in the Preface to his _Nomenclator, &c_, of the neglect which had then begun; mentioning the names of several benefactors, he adds: 'These have beene more courteous than the Stationers of London, who by indenture are bound to give the Library a copy of every booke they print.' In the Visitation Order-Book, under the year 1695, is the following 'memorandum' by Hyde, then Head Librarian: 'That in November, 1695, a copy of the indenture between Sir Thomas Bodley and the Company of Stationers, as also a copy of their By-Law to inforce their particular members to complyance, was sent up to the Master of the Company to be communicated and publicly read to the Company once every year, as is in the indenture expressed.

The originall was also some years agon carryed up and shewed to the Master and Wardens, because some of them used to raile at the unjustness of the Act of Parliament in forcing them to give a copy of each book to the Bodleian Library; and therefore we shewed them that we had also another antecedent right to a copy of each book printed by any member in their Company. The Indenture mentions only the giving of books new printed, but the By-law mentions books both new-printed and also reprinted with additions[54]. We have been told that Sir Thomas Bodley gave to the Company 50 pounds worth of plate when they entred into this Indenture. But its not mentioned in our counter-part. Every book is to be delivered to the junior Warden within 10 dayes after its off from the press, and we are to appoint somebody to demand them of him. The obligation is upon every printer to give books; it were to be wished it had been upon every proprietor; for the proprietor must give them to us.'

[45] It is probably to aid given for the erection of this structure that the following pa.s.sage refers: 'To the building Bodley's Library at Oxford a considerable sum was contributed by the Bishop of London, being his share of the moneys paid into court for commutation of penance.'

Archd. Hale's Notes to the _Register of Worcester_ (Camden Soc. 1855), p. cxxviii. Aid was also given by the Crown, for on May 3, 1611, an order was issued by the Lord Treasurer to the officers of the woods at Stow, Shotover, &c., near Oxford, to deliver to Sir T. Bodley, for enlarging the Library, the timber which was to have been employed for making the Thames navigable to Oxford, a work which did not proceed.

(_Calendar of State Papers_, Dom. Series, 1611-18, p. 28.)

[46] See also under 1818.

[47] _Church of our Fathers_, i. 421.

[48] Mr. Fletcher died in 1826, at the age of eighty-seven, and was buried (in a stone coffin traditionally said to be that of Fair Rosamond) in the church of the village where he was born, Yarnton, near Oxford. His tomb is remarkable as exhibiting, before Architectural and Ecclesiological societies had been thought of, an antic.i.p.ation of better days in monumental design than had yet appeared; a bra.s.s, upon a high altar-tomb, represents him clad in his aldermanic gown, with his hands clasped in prayer. A bust of him is in the Picture Gallery.

[49] Rushworth, iii. 315.

[50] _Reliquiae Bodl._ p. 350.

[51] _Univ. of Oxford_, i. 460.

[52] _Calendar of State Papers_, 1635-6, p. 65.

[53] See _sub anno_ 1647.

[54] See _sub anno_ 1612.

A.D. 1611.

The permanent endowment of the Library was commenced by the Founder in this year, by the purchase, from Lord Norreys, of the manor of Hendons by Maidenhead, worth annually 91 10s.; to which he added 'certain tenements in London,' producing an annual rent of 40. From the former, now called Hindhay farm, in the parishes of Bray and Cookham, Berks, the Library receives an annual rent, at the present time, of about 220; the latter, which consisted of houses situated in Distaff Lane, were sold in 1853, and the produce invested in 3455 10_s._ 3 per cent. Consols.

The first book which came from the Stationers' Company, in pursuance of the Indenture made in Dec. 1610, was an anonymous catechetical work printed in this year by Felix Kingston for Thomas Man, ent.i.tled, 'Christian Religion substantially, methodicallie, plainlie, and profitablie treatised.' It is now numbered 4^o R. 34 Th., and a note in Bodley's own handwriting records its presentation.

Twenty Arabic, Persian, and other MSS., were presented by -- Pindar, Consul at Aleppo of the Company of English Merchants, whom Bodley three years previously had requested to procure such books[55].

Among other minor matters which called forth the care of Bodley, was the providing a bell for the purpose of giving notice when the Library was about to be closed. After it had been placed in the Library some accident appears to have happened to it, since we read in one of his letters to James[56], 'As touching the bell, I would have it cast again, and if my friends think it good, made somewhat better.' In 1655 a bell-rope was bought at the price of 1_s._ 4_d._ Of late years, however, the Founder's bell had altogether disappeared, and the fact of its very existence was unknown, while a small hand-bell, suggestive of a m.u.f.fin-man, and, more recently, a hand-bell taken from a Chinese temple at Tien-tsin, and presented by Col. Rigaud, supplied its place. But in July, 1866, in the course of moving some boxes and rubbish buried under some stairs, a mouldy bell of considerable size was dragged to light, which proved to be the missing bell of the Founder. It was immediately put by the Librarian into the hands of Messrs. White, of Appleton, Berks, who fitted it with a frame and wheel; and now, restored to a conspicuous place in the great room, it daily thunders forth an unmistakeable signal for departure. Around it, in gold letters, runs the inscription:--'Sir Thomas Bodley gave this bell, 1611.' The bell-founder's initials, W. S., are accompanied by the device of a crown between three bells.

Another relic of Bodley's furniture is a ma.s.sy iron chest, fastened with three locks, two of which are enormous padlocks, for the preservation of the moneys of the Library, of which the keys used to be in the custody of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors. This is now exhibited in the Picture Gallery, on account of the extreme beauty of the ironwork of the locks, which covers in its intricate ramifications the whole of the inside of the lid. On the outside are painted the arms of the University (with the older motto 'Sapientiae et Faelicitatis') and of Bodley.