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 Godly 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 cum 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 title 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 passed 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 classes 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 classified 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] Reliquiæ 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 (8o. 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 Æsop, 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