Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598-A.D. 1867 Part 3

[55] Hearne's _Job. Glaston._ ii. 637.

[56] _Reliquiae Bodl._ p. 314.

A.D. 1612.

Two large donations of MSS. were received during this year; the one from the Dean and Chapter of Windsor (in imitation of their brethren of Exeter), of 159 volumes, chiefly theological; and the other of a large collection of scientific treatises, chiefly astronomical and medical, about 120 in number, from Thomas Twine, M.D., of Lewes.

The agreement that was entered into by the Stationers' Company in 1610 having probably been found in some degree inoperative from the absence of any penalty upon non-fulfilment, the Company at the commencement of this year pa.s.sed the following ordinance, which made it obligatory on every one of their members to forward their books to the Library. It is here printed (for the first time) from the original, preserved in the University Archives, marked A. 27[57].

'_Vicesimo octavo Januarii 1611 nono regni regis Jacobi, at Stacners Hall, in Ave Mary Lane in London. Present, the Masters, Wardens, and a.s.sistants of the Company of Stacners._

'Forasmuch as this Companye out of their zeale to the advancement of learninge, and at the request of the right wors.h.i.+pfull Sir Thomas Bodley, Knight, founder of the presente publique library of the University of Oxford, beinge readye to manifeste their willinge desires to a worck of so great pietye and benifitt to the generall state of the Realme, did by their Indenture under their common seale dated the twelveth daye of December in the eight yeare of his Maj.^ts raigne of England, Fraunce and Ireland, and the foure and fort.i.th yere of his raigne of Scotland, for them and their successors, graunte and confirme vnto the Chauncellor, Maisters, and Schollers of the Universitie of Oxford, and to their successors for ever, That of all bookes after that from tyme to tyme to be printed in the said Company of Stacners, beinge newe books and coppies never printed before, or thoughe formerly printed yet newly augmented or enlarged, there should be freelie given one perfect Booke of every such booke (in quyers) of the first ympression thereof, towardes the furnis.h.i.+nge and increase of the said Library; Nowe therefore, to the intent the said graunte maie take due effect in the orderlie performance and execucn thereof, and that so good and G.o.dlie a worck and purpose maie not bee disappointed or defeated by any meanes, It is ordayned by this Company, that all and every printer and printers that from tyme to tyme hereafter shall either for hym- or themselves, or for any other, printe or cause to be printed any newe booke or coppie never printed before, or although formerly printed yet newly augmented or enlarged, shall within ten daies next after the finis.h.i.+nge of the first ympression thereof and the puttinge of the same to sale, bringe and deliver to the yonger warden of the said Company of Stacners for the tyme beinge one perfect booke thereof to be delivered over by the same Warden to the recited use to the handes of such person or persons as shalbe appoincted by the said Chauncellour, Maisters and Schollers for the tyme beinge to receive the same; And it is alsoe ordayned that every printer that at any tyme or tymes hereafter shall make default in performance hereof, shall for every such default forfeite and paie to the use of this Company treble the value of every booke that he shall leave undelivered contrarie to this ordenance; Out of the which forfeiture, upon the levyinge and payment thereof, there shalbe provided for the use of the said Librarye that booke for the not delivery whereof the said forfeiture shalbe had and paid. And to the intent all printers and others of this Company whome it shall concerne maie take notice of this ordenance, and that any of them shall not pretend ignorance thereof, It is ordeyned that once in every yere at some generall a.s.semblie and meetinge of the said Company upon some of their usuall quarter daies, or some other tyme in the yere at their discretion, this presente ordinance shalbe publiquely read in their Hall, as other their ordenances are accustomed to be read there

'John Haryson 'John Norton, Mr.

'Richard Field } Wardens 'Humphrey Lownes } 'Edward White 'Humfry Hooper 'Simon Waterson 'William Leake 'Robert Barker 'Thomas Mane 'Thomas Dawson 'John Standishe 'Thomas Adames 'John Haryson[58]

'Ri. Collins, Clerk of the Companie.

'Havinge lately byn entreated, as well by the said Sir Thomas Bodley, Knight, as by the Maister, Wardens, and a.s.sistants of the foresaid Company of Stacners, to take some spetiall notice of this their publique acte and graunte, and (in regard of our beinge of his Maiestyes highe Comission in ecclesiasticall causes) to testifie under our handes with what allowance and good likinge we have thought it meete to be received, Wee doe not onlie as of merrit comend it to posteritie for a singuler token of the fervent zeale of that Company to the furtherance of good learninge and for an exemplarie guift and graunt to the Schollers and Studients of the Universitye of Oxford, But withall we doe promise by subscribinge unto it, that if at any tyme hereafter occasion shall require that we should help to maynteyne the due and perpetuall execucn of the same, Wee will be readie to performe it, as farre as either of our selves thoroughe our present authoritie or by any whatsoeuer our further endeavours it maie be fitlye procured.

'G. Cant.

'Jo. London 'Jo. Benet 'Tho. Ridley 'Tho. Edwardes 'G. Newmane 'John Spenser 'Richard Moket 'R. Cov. & Lich.

'Jhon Boys 'Char. Fotherbye 'Martin Fotherby 'John Layfeilds 'Jo. Roffens 'George Montaigne (_sic_) 'Rob^t. Abbott 'Henr. Hickman 'John Dix 'Willm. FFerrand.'

[57] For the use of this doc.u.ment the author is indebted to the Keeper of the Archives, Rev. J. Griffiths, M.A.

[58] Probably the son of the John Haryson who signs above.

A.D. 1613.

The death of the Founder occurred on Jan. 28, after long suffering from stone, dropsy, and scurvy, for which he is said to have been mis-treated by a Dr. Hen. Atkins[59]. Two volumes of elegiac verses were thereupon issued by the University, of which one (_Bodleiomnema_) was written entirely by members of Merton College; the other (_Justa Funebria Ptolemaei Oxoniensis_) by members of the University in general. In the latter collection are Latin verses by Laud, then President of St.

John's, and Greek verses by Isaac Casaubon. Bodley was buried (according to his desire in his will) in the chapel of his old College, Merton, on March 29, with all the state of a public funeral. He bequeathed the greater part of his property for the building of the east wing of the Library and the completion of the Schools, appointing Sir John Bennett and Mr. William Hakewill his executors. The former, however, proved in some measure an unfaithful steward. When prosecuted in Parliament in 1621, for gross bribery in his office as Judge of the Prerogative Court, some of Bodley's money was still remaining in his hands, and was mentioned in the charges brought against him. For the due payment of a portion of this, by annual instalments of 150, the University, on June 28, 1624, accepted four bonds from him, witnessed by Thomas Coventreye, Matthew Bennet, and Henry Wigmore; only one of these appears to have been paid off, leaving an unpaid deficit of 450[60]. The entry of this debt is carried on, together with the loan made to King Charles I in 1642, in the Library accounts[61], from year to year up to 1782, when by order of the Curators the entries were discontinued. In the notice of the Library contributed (as it is said) by Dr. Hudson to Ayliffe's _Ancient and Present State of Oxford_ (vol. i. p. 460), it is stated that the Library estate falls miserably short by reason of 'the fraud of his [Bodley's] executor, the loan of a great sum of money to Charles I in his distress, and by the fire of London,' that event, doubtless, necessitating the rebuilding of the houses in Distaff Lane.

Bodley was charged by some of his contemporaries, and apparently with some justice, with sacrificing in his will the claims of relatives and friends too much to the interests of the Library. One Mr. John Chamberlain, a friend of Bodley, whose gossiping letters to Sir Dudley Carleton, Alice Carleton, and others, are preserved in the State Paper Office, does not spare his accusations on this head. In a letter dated Feb. 4, 1613, he says that Bodley has left legacies to great people, 7000 to the Library, and 200 to Merton College, but little to his brothers, his old servants, his friends, or the children of his wife, by whom he had all his wealth[62]. In another, dated June 23, 1613, he remarks that the executors cannot excuse Bodley of unthankfulness to many of his relatives and friends, he being 'so drunk with the applause and vanitie of his librarie that he made no conscience to rob Peter to pay Paul[63].' Some inferential corroboration of this is afforded by the following curious paper preserved among Rawlinson's gatherings (now in a vol. numbered Rawl. MS. Miscell., 1203), being no other than a pet.i.tion for relief addressed by the grand-nephew and grand-niece of Bodley in the year 1712 (as appears from the Library accounts) to the Heads of Houses and Curators of the Library, who appear both officially and individually to have been very parsimonious in their response:--

'To the Wors.h.i.+pful Mr. Vice-Chancellor and to all heads and governors of Colleges and Halls within the famous University of Oxon.

'The humble pet.i.tion of William Snos.h.i.+ll of East Lockinge in the county of Berks, labourer, and of Jane the wife of Thomas Hatton of Childrey in the county aforesaid, labourer, sister of the said William Snos.h.i.+ll,

'Humbly sheweth,

'That your Pet.i.tioners being the grand-children of the sister of Sir Thomas Bodley, the munificent founder of the Bodleian Library in your University, being now reduc'd to a poor and low estate, do with all humility make bold to represent their distrest condition to your consideration, hoping that out of your tender pity and commiseration, and that regard you have for the pious memory of so great a benefactor to your University, to whom your poor Pet.i.tioners are so nearly allied, you will be pleas'd to consider them as real objects of your charity and compa.s.sion, and thereby you will lay an eternal obligation on them of praying for your present and future happiness.

'William Snos.h.i.+ll 'Jane Hatton.

'We, whose names are subscribed to this Pet.i.tion, are well satisfied of the truth thereof.

'Thomas Paris, rector of Childrey 'John Holmes 'John Bell, vic. of Sparsholt 'John Aldworth, rector of East Lockinge 'Ralph Kedden, M.A., vicar of Denchworth, Berks.

'(_Mem._) The Curators gave the Pet.i.tioners the sum of four pounds out of Sir Thomas Bodley's chest. Dr. Altham, Hebrew professor, and Dr. Hudson, Library-keeper, gave, each of them, ten s.h.i.+llings.'

An alphabetical catalogue was prepared in this year by James, but was not printed. The MS, in two small hand-books, remains in the Library. It was ordered by the Curators, at the Visitation on Nov. 13, that 6_s._ 8_d._ be paid quarterly to the Bedel of the Stationers' Company as a gratuity for his trouble. MSS. were received from Edw. James, B.D., who had been a contributor already in the year 1601.

[59] _Calendar of State Papers_, 1611-18, p. 137.

[60] A full account of Bennet's defalcations is given by B. Twyne, from the University Registers, in vol. vi. (pp. 120-4) of his _Collectanea_, now in the Univ. Archives. See also _Parliam. Hist._ vol. v. p. 462.

[61] These accounts, as now preserved, unfortunately only commence at the year 1653, and there is a hiatus from 1661 to 1676, both inclusive.

[62] _Calendar of State Papers_, 1611-18, p. 169.

[63] _Ibid._ p. 187.

A.D. 1614.

Various orders were made by the Curators at the Visitation on Nov. 10, which are prefixed to the small MS. 'hand-catalogues' made at that time for the use of those authorities. They resolve that the catalogues of newly-published works issued at Frankfort in each spring and summer shall be examined by them within one week after their arrival. They make an attempt to obtain possession of a gift of the Founder's giving, which had never yet reached the place of its intended deposit. In 1609 it had been reported to Convocation that there was about to be sent to the Library by Sir T. Bodley 'toga ex lana agni Tartarici ???f?t??, magni quidam valoris, ei data (ut in publica Bibliotheca conservetur) ab Richardo Lee, milite, qui eandem dono recepit ab augustissimo Imperatore Muscoviae[64].' But the precious cloak had never yet arrived; the Curators therefore resolve 'quod literae scribantur ad exequutores domini Fundatoris pro illo pretioso pallio ex zoophyto confecto, et legato ad nos per Ric. Leigh, militem, olim legatum apud Imperatorem Russiae, et quod in cista ex ligno bene olenti, ad eam finem comparanda, reponatur in archivis, munita sera affabre facta; clavis permaneat semper apud Vice-Cancellarium vel ejus deputatum, nec cuiquam illud inspiciendi vel contrectandi potestas esto, nisi in praesentia eorundem.' At this Visitation Joseph Barnes, the Oxford printer, appeared and promised to give a copy of every book which he might print. Complaint was made that the London Stationers had already begun to fail in the fulfilment of their agreement.

On Aug. 29 the King visited the Library on his way to Woodstock, and, asking for Fulke's _Annotations on the Rhemish New Test._, pointed out the remarks at Rom. x. 15, on the calling of ministers; 'deprehendit calumnias et imposturas quorundam pontificiorum de ordine et vocatione ministrorum[65].' In 1620 the editions of 1601 and 1617 of these _Annotations_ were both in the Library, as appears from the Catalogue of that year, but in Hyde's Catalogue, published in 1674, only the edition of 1633 is found. This is one out of various instances which prove that, by a great miscalculation of literary value, later editions of a writer's works were thought to supersede so entirely the earlier, that the latter could be advantageously parted with. The Library has, however, since become re-possessed of the earlier editions, that of 1601 having been presented in 1824, and that of 1617 having been bought more recently. But the most remarkable example of this mistaken alienation of books occurs with reference to the first folio edition of Shakespeare.

In the Supplemental Catalogue of 1635, the folio of 1623 duly appears; but in the Catalogue of 1674 we find only the third edition, that of 1664, which doubtless had been thought to be sufficient as well as best; upon its arrival, therefore, from Stationers' Hall, the precious volume of 1623 was probably regarded as little more than waste-paper. Nor was it until the year 1821, when Malone's collection was received, that a copy was again possessed by the Library[66].

[64] 'Reg. Conv. K. f. 43,' MS. note by Dr. P. Bliss. Bodley mentions in a letter to James his expectation of exhibiting the 'lamb's-wool-gown'

to the King. _Reliqq. Bodl._ 173. An account of this marvellous garment will be found in the Appendix.

[65] Wood's _Hist._ vol. ii. p. 319.

[66] The extraordinary _fancy_ prices sometimes given for books, and their variations, are particularly exemplified in the case of the first folio Shakespeare. In 1778 Stevens said it was 'usually valued at seven or eight' guineas. (_Shakespeare_, second edit. vol. i. p. 239.) At the Roxburghe sale (a sufficiently bibliomaniacal one) in 1812 a copy was sold for 100; in 1864 Miss Burdett Coutts gave for Mr. G. Daniel's specially fine copy, 716 2_s._; while in July, 1867, a copy belonging to a Mr. -- Smith was sold for 410. In Dec. 1867 another copy was on sale at Mr. Beet's, the bookseller, to which the owner very discreetly attached in his catalogue no specific sum.

A.D. 1615.

Richard Connock, auditor and solicitor to Prince Henry of Wales, gave a MS. book of _Horae_[67], which had formerly belonged to Mary I, and afterwards to Prince Henry. The donor, in a note prefixed, records that he gives the volume, 'not for the religion it contains, but for the pictures and former royall owners' sake.' It is a volume of the early part of the fifteenth century, in small quarto, containing 224 leaves, and ornamented with very beautiful illuminated borders and exquisite drawings in _camaieu gris_. Among these is one of the martyrdom of Becket, which, doubtless in consequence of the book being in the possession of the Princess Mary, has entirely escaped the defacement and obliteration ordered by her father to be made in all Service-books where the office for S. Thomas of Canterbury occurred. The following inscription (nearly effaced at its close by over-much handling in former years), addressed by Mary to one of her ladies, whose name does not appear, to whom probably she presented the book, occurs in the blank portion of one of the leaves:--

'Geate you such riches as when the shype is broken, may swyme away wythe the Master. For dyverse chances take away the goods of fortune; but the goods of the soule whyche bee only the trewe goods, nother fyer nor water can take away. Yf you take labour and payne to doo a vertuous thyng, the labour goeth away, and the vertue remaynethe. Yf through pleasure you do any vicious thyng, the pleasure goeth away and the vice remaynethe. Good Madame, for my sake remembre thys.

'Your lovyng mystres, 'Marye Princesse.'

This inscription (which does so much credit to its writer) was first printed by Hearne at the end of _t.i.ti Livii Forojulien. Vita Hen. V._ (p. 228) and last, in Bliss' _Reliquiae Hearn._ i. 105. Mr. c.o.xe has noted (from _Alstedii Systema Mnemonic.u.m_, 1610, i. 705) that the latter part is taken directly and literally from Musonius, while indirectly it comes from an oration by Cato[68]. Probably the first part may be traced to some similar source.

Another autograph inscription by Mary while Princess is found in a small book (Laud MS. Miscell. i.) of private prayers in Latin and English, which belonged to Jane Wriothesley, wife of Thomas Earl of Southampton, and which she seems to have employed as a kind of alb.u.m. At f. 45^a are these lines, which appear to form a triplet, although not written in metrical form by the Princess:--

'Good Madame, I do desyer you most hartly to pray, That in prosperyte and adversyte I may Have grace to keep the trewe way.

'Your lovyng frend, to my ... [power?]'

Unfortunately the conclusion, with the signature, has been cut off. A couplet, signed by Queen Katherine Parr, has an equal, and most regal, disregard of the restraints of metrical rhythm (f. 8^b.):--

'Madam, althowe I have differred writtyng in your booke, I am no lesse your frend than you do looke.