Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598-A.D. 1867 Part 13

[158] These were left in MS. at Hyde's death, and have never been published.

[159] _i.e._ the Ashmolean Museum.

[160] Hyde was greatly mistaken here, as a calculation made by Hearne in 1714 (_q.v._) showed that the Library had then little more than doubled since 1620.

[161] _Reliqq. Hearn._ ii. 616.

[162] For an account of Hearne's Appendix, see 1738.

A.D. 1702.

A considerable number of printed books were given by Steph. Penton, B.D., and a collection of 500 coins was bequeathed about this time by Tim. Nourse, of Univ. Coll.

A.D. 1704.

The name of John Locke appears in the Register, as the donor of his own works (which he gave at Hudson's request), together with some others, including, with an honourable fairness, those of Bishop Stillingfleet written in controversy with himself. As Locke's expulsion from Ch. Ch., in 1684, by royal mandate, for political reasons, is sometimes, with an injustice which he himself would doubtless have warmly repudiated, represented as if it had been the act of Oxford itself, it is worth while to quote the language in which this gift from him, twenty years afterwards, is recorded, and recorded, too, by the pen of the earnest and conscientious Jacobite, Thomas Hearne: 'Joannes Lock, generosus, et hujus Academiae olim alumnus, praeter Opera ab ipso edita, ob ingenii elegantiam, doctrinae varietatem, et philosophicam subtilitatem, omnibus suspicienda (_here follow the t.i.tles of his own works_), insuper ex suo in optimas artes amore, animoque ad supellectilem literariam augendam propenso, Bibliothecae huic dono dedit libros sequentes;' _scil._ Churchill's _Voyages and Travels_, 4 vols., 1704, Stillingfleet's _Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity_, Stillingfleet's _Answer to Locke_, and Rob. Boyle's _History of the Air_. Locke desired, in a codicil to his will, that in compliance with a second request from Hudson, all his anonymous works should also be sent to the Library[163].

William Ray, formerly consul at Smyrna, presented about 600 coins, chiefly Greek, which E. Lhwyd (who reported their number to be about 2000) said he had been told had been collected at Smyrna by his cook[164]. But the Benefaction Register records that they were obtained by Ray from the widow of one 'domini Dan. Patridge,' who had himself intended to present them to the University. They were put in order, and a Catalogue made of them, some years afterwards, by Hearne, who intended to have given the Catalogue to the Library, 'had not,' he says, 'the ill usage he afterwards met with there obliged him to alter his mind[165].'

Ray also gave a Turkish almanac.

[163] Lord King's _Life of Locke_, edit. 1830, vol. ii. p. 51.

[164] Walker's _Letters by Eminent Persons_, i. 137.

[165] _Life_, p. 13, in _Lives of Leland, Hearne, and Wood_, 1772.

A.D. 1706.

The supposed original MS. of _The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety_, by the author of _The Whole Duty of Man_, was given by Mr.

Keble, the London bookseller. It is now numbered Bodl. MS. 21. Dr.

Aldrich was of opinion that it is not in the author's own hand, but copied in a disguised hand by Bishop Fell. Hearne thought it to be in a disguised hand of Sancroft's; but the resemblance is very slight indeed[166].

[166] See _Letters by Eminent Persons_, vol. ii. pp. 133-4.

A.D. 1707.

Six volumes of Archbishop Usher's _Collectanea_, with two or three other MSS. which had belonged to him, were given to the Library by James Tyrrell, the historian, who was the archbishop's grandson. He had placed them previously in the hands of Dr. Mill, for use by him in his edition of the Greek Test., and it was about a week before Mill's death, June 21, 1707, that they were transferred, together with a gift from Mill of various printed books, to the Library[167]. They are now placed among the Rawlinson Miscellaneous MSS., 1065-1074, and one volume containing various readings in the Gr. Test., is numbered Auct. T. v. 30. Other volumes of his MSS. Collections in the Library are Barlow, 10 and 13; _e Musaeo_, 46 and 47; Rawl. Misc. 225, 280; Rawl. Letters, 89, and Rawlinson C. 849, 850, which last were given to Hearne by Tyrrell.

Hearne has printed some extracts at the end of _Gul. Neubrig._ iii. 804.

Six Samaritan and other MSS. which belonged to Usher are now in the cla.s.s called _Bodl. Orient._

By the bequest of Dr. Humphrey Hody the Library acquired some 400 or 500 volumes, being all those in his own collection which were wanting here, together with his MSS. _Collectanea_. These last, amounting to twenty-three volumes, are now numbered Bodl. Addit. 1. D. 1-4, 2. B.

1-16, 2. C. 1-3.

Thomas, Archbishop of Gocthan, in Armenia, visited England on an errand which seems to have justly excited great sympathy and attention.

Sensible of the low condition of his fellow-countrymen, through their want of means of instruction, and being earnestly anxious to do something towards their elevation, he had spent some forty years in travels through Europe and Asia for the purpose of procuring books, establis.h.i.+ng printing-presses, educating young men, and obtaining help for the furtherance of his Christian and patriotic projects. His first printing establishment, at Ma.r.s.eilles, was ruined by the mismanagement and fraud of those to whom it was entrusted. He then, for ten years, carried on a press at Amsterdam, where he printed, in Armenian, the New Testament, the Prayers and Hymns of the Church, a translation of Thomas a Kempis, and several other theological works, together with some in geography, history, and science. But troubles and trials again overtook him; disputes and law-suits involved him in debt; one hundred books, which he s.h.i.+pped for Armenia in 1698, were taken at sea, and so never reached their destination. And so, poor and sorrowful, in extreme old age, the Archbishop came to England to seek for help, recommended by Dr.

John c.o.c.kburn, the English Minister at Amsterdam. He was well received by the Archbishops, and Sharp, of York, procured him an interview with the Queen, who gave him some a.s.sistance. Then, recommended by Bishop Compton[168], of London, he came to Oxford. What he received in the way of the help which he most of all needed, deponent sayeth not; let us hope it was not small. What he received in the way of honour, and what he did to cause the introduction of his name in these _Annals_, Hearne tells, in his own interesting way, in his _Diary_[169]:--

'May 24. Last night came to Oxon one of the Armenian Patriarchs. He is Patriarch of the Holy Cross in Gogthan (near Mount Ararat) in Greater Armenia. He subscribes himself in his speech to the Queen in the last month, by translation, Thomas. The next day he was attended to the publick Library by Dr. Charlett, Pro-Vice-Chancellor. At the entrance, Dr. Hudson, the Keeper, made him a handsome complement in Latin; but the Patriarch, being about 90 years of age, and understanding no Latin, nor Greek, nor any European language but Italian, took but little notice of any thing. He afterwards was carried to Dr. Charlett's lodgings, where he was treated.

'May 29. This day was a Convocation in the Theatre, when the Archbishop of the Holy Cross in Gocthan was created Doctor of Divinity, and his nephew, Luke Nurigian, and Mr. c.o.c.kburn, son of Dr. c.o.c.kburn, were created Masters of Arts. The day before, the Archbishop presented to the publick Library several books in Armenian which he has caused to be printed. Mr. Wyatt, the orator, spoke a speech in his commendation, and presented him, the Queen having been pleased to let us be without a Professor. During the Convocation, several papers printed at the Theatre were given to the Doctors, n.o.blemen, and some others, ent.i.tled, _Reverendissimi in Christo Patris Thomae, Archiepiscopi Sanctae Crucis in Gocthan Perso-Armeniae, peregrinationis suae in Europam, pietatis et literarum promovendarum caussa susceptae, brevis narratio; una c.u.m dicti Archiepiscopi ad serenissimam Magnae Britanniae Reginam oratiuncula ejusque responso. Accedunt de eodem Archiepiscopo testimonia ampla et praeclara._ Printed upon two sheets, folio[170].'

In another volume of memoranda[171], Hearne adds the following notice of one of the books given by the Archbishop: 'Amongst other books which he gave to the Bodleian Library is a History, at the beginning of which the Archbishop's nephew put the following memorandums: "_Historia Nationis Armeniae, a Moise Ch.o.r.enensi grammatico, doctore Armeno_. Amst. 1695.

Maii 28, 1707, Bibliothecae Bodleianae dono dedit reverendiss. Thomas Archiep. S. Crucis in Majori Armenia. Per manum ejusd. reverendiss.

nepotis, Lucae Nurigianidis." Underneath which is written, at the motion of Dr. Charlett, and by the direction of the said Archbishop's nephew: "Auctorem istius libri floruisse traditur seculo quarto post Christum."'

The book is now numbered, 8^o V. 134 Th.

[167] Hearne's _MS. Diary_, xv. 24.

[168] And by the good Robert Nelson (_Letters by Eminent Persons_, i.

167, 9), who had also obtained ten guineas for him from the Christian Knowledge Society (Secretan's _Life of Nelson_, pp. 113-4).

[169] Vol xiv. pp. 64, 68.

[170] A copy of this tract is in V. 1. 1. Jur.

[171] Rawlinson MS. C. 876. p. 44.

A.D. 1709.

In this year the first Copyright Act was pa.s.sed, which required the depositing of copies of all works entered at Stationers' Hall at nine libraries in England and Scotland. This number was increased upon the Union with Ireland to eleven, but finally reduced to five (British Museum; Oxford; Cambridge; Advocates' Library, Edinburgh; and Trinity College, Dublin) by 5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 110.

A.D. 1710.

Dr. Richard Middleton Ma.s.sey, formerly of Brasenose College, gave (with a few other books) a very curious and valuable series of Registers of the Parliamentary Committee for augmentation of poor vicarages, from 1645 to 1652, in eight folio volumes, with one earlier volume containing a list of livings in the diocese of Norwich, with their values and inc.u.mbents. To local antiquaries these proceedings are full of interest, while their historical and biographical value is equally great. They are now numbered Bodl. MSS. 322-330. Of the printed books given by Dr.

Ma.s.sey, most of those in octavo were placed at the end of Bishop Barlow's books, in the shelves marked _D. Linc._

Three thousand pounds were offered by the University for the library of Isaac Vossius, but refused. But the books were shortly afterwards sold to the University of Leyden for the same sum[172].

[172] _Reliquiae Hearn._ i. 205, 6.

A.D. 1711.

A watch which had belonged to Dudley, Earl of Leicester, is said to have been presented by Mr. Ralph Howland, of Maidenhead.

Grabe's _Adversaria_. See 1724.

A.D. 1712.

'July 19, Died Mr. Joseph Crabb, Under-keeper of the Bodleian Library, having kept in ever since this day sennight. He died of a rheumatism, occasion'd by a careless sort of life. He was, however, an honest harmless man. He was buried on Monday night following (between 7 and 8 o'cl.) in Haly-well Churchyard, very privately. Upon his coffin was put, _I. C. ag. 38. 1712_; but I heard him say some time since he was 39 years old[173].' He is described in the following caustic terms by Zach.

Conr. Uffenbach, in a letter written in 1713, and printed in his _Commercium Epistolic.u.m_[174]:--