Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598-A.D. 1867. William Dunn Macray

century later, on Nov. 8, 1693, the order was in a certain degree renewed: it was then enjoined 'that no one be permitted to transcribe any manuscript, but such as have a right to study in the Library.' The revival, however, was not due to any revived fear of foreigners; the following reason is given in a letter of information on Library matters from Dr. Hyde to Hudson, his successor, written on the latter's appointment in 1701:—'Some in the University have been very troublesome in pressing that their Servitors may transcribe manuscripts for them, though not sworn to the Library, nor yet capable of being sworn; wherefore the Curators made an order (as you will find in the Book of Orders in the Archives) "that none were capable of transcribing, except those who had the right of studying in the Library," viz. Batchelors[103].' But no doubt this order also soon became dormant, even if it were not definitely repealed.

[102] Neal's History of the Puritans, i. 688.

[103] Walker's Letters of Eminent Men, 1813, vol. i. p. 175.

A.D. 1642.

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      'The Kinge, Jul. 11, 1642, had £500 out of Sir Th. Bodlyes Chest, as appeares by Dr. Chaworthes acquittance in the same box.' (Barlow's Library Accounts for 1657. MS.) This loan was, of course, never repaid. It is regularly carried on in the Annual Accounts up to the year 1782.

      Nov. 30. 'At night the Library doore was allmost broken open. Suspitio de incendio, &c.' (Brian Twyne's Musterings of the Univ., in Hearne's Chron. Dunst. p. 757.)

      It must have been about the close of this year or beginning of the next, while the king was in winter quarters at Oxford, that the visit was paid to the Library, which is the subject of the following well-known anecdote. It is here quoted from the earliest authority in which it is found, viz. Welwood's Memoirs, Lond. 1700. pp. 105–107:—

      'The King being at Oxford during the Civil Wars, went one day to see the Publick Library, where he was show'd among other Books, a Virgil nobly printed and exquisitely bound. The Lord Falkland, to divert the King, would have his Majesty make a trial of his fortune by the Sortes Virgilianæ, which everybody knows was an usual kind of augury some ages past. Whereupon the King opening the book, the period which happen'd to come up was that part of Dido's imprecation against Æneas, which Mr. Dryden translates thus:—

      "Yet let a race untam'd, and haughty foes,

       His peaceful entrance with dire arts oppose,

       Oppress'd with numbers in th' unequal field,

       His men discourag'd, and himself expell'd,

       Let him for succour sue from place to place,

       Torn from his subjects, and his son's embrace.

       First let him see his friends in battel slain,

       And their untimely fate lament in vain:

       And when at length the cruel war shall cease,

       On hard conditions may he buy his peace.

       Nor let him then enjoy supreme command,

       But fall untimely by some hostile hand,

       And lye unburi'd in the common sand."

      (Æneid, iv. 88.)

      It is said K. Charles seem'd concerned at this accident, and that the Lord Falkland observing it, would likewise try his own fortune in the same manner; hoping he might fall upon some passage that could have no relation to his case, and thereby divert the King's thoughts from any impression the other might have upon him. But the place that Falkland stumbled upon was yet more suited to his destiny than the other had been to the King's, being the following expressions of Evander upon the untimely death of his son Pallas, as they are translated by the same hand:—

      "O Pallas, thou hast fail'd thy plighted word,

       To fight with reason, not to tempt the sword.

       I warned thee, but in vain, for well I knew

       What perils youthful ardor would pursue;

       That boiling blood would carry thee too far,

       Young as thou wert in dangers, raw to war.

       Oh! curst essay of arms, disastrous doom,

       Prelude of bloody fields and fights to come."

      (Æneid, xi. 220.)'

      There is no copy of Virgil now in the Library amongst those which it possessed previously to 1642, which is 'exquisitely bound' as well as 'nobly printed;' it is not therefore possible to fix on the particular volume which the King consulted.

A.D. 1645.

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A small slip of paper, carefully preserved, is the memorial of an interesting incident connected with the last days in Oxford of the Martyr-King whose history is so indissolubly united with that of the place. Amidst all the darkening anxieties which filled the three or four months preceding the surrender of himself to the Scots, King Charles appears to have snatched some leisure moments for refreshment in quiet reading. His own library was no longer his; but there was one close at hand which could more than supply it. So, to the Librarian Rous, (the friend of Milton, but whose anti-monarchical tendencies, we may be sure, had always hitherto been carefully concealed) there came, on Dec. 30, an order, 'To the Keeper of the University Library, or to his deputy,' couched in the following terms: 'Deliver unto the bearer hereof, for the present use of his Majesty, a book intituled, Histoire universelle du Sieur D'Aubigné, and this shall be your warrant;' and the order was one which the Vice-Chancellor had subscribed with his special authorization, 'His Majestyes use is in commaund to us. S. Fell, Vice Can.' But the Librarian had sworn to observe the Statutes which, with no respect of persons, forbad such a removal of a book; and so, on the reception of Fell's order, Rous 'goes to the King; and shews him the Statutes, which being read, the King would not have the booke, nor permit it to be taken out of the Library, saying it was fit that the will and statutes of the pious founder should be religiously observed[104].'

      Perhaps a little of the hitherto undeveloped Puritan spirit may have helped to enliven the conscience of the Librarian, who, had he been a Cavalier, might have possibly found something in the exceptional circumstances of the case, to excuse a violation of the rule; but, as the matter stood, it reflects, on the one hand, the highest credit both on Rous's honesty and courage, and shows him to have been fit for the place he held, while, on the other hand, the King's acquiescence in the refusal does equal credit to his good-sense and good-temper. We shall see that this occurrence formed a precedent for a like refusal to the Protector in 1654 by Rous's successor, when Cromwell showed equal good feeling and equal respect for law.

[104] Bp. Barlow's Argument against Lending Books. MS.

A.D. 1646.

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'When Oxford was surrendered (24^o Junii, 1646) the first thing Generall Fairfax did was to set a good guard of soldiers to preserve the Bodleian Library. 'Tis said there was more hurt donne by the Cavaliers (during their garrison) by way of embezzilling and cutting off chaines of bookes then there was since. He was a lover of learning, and had he not taken this special care, that noble library had been utterly destroyed, for there were ignorant