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

on f. 208, but in a hand apparently not that of any part of the book:—

      'Laus tibi sit Christe, quoniam liber explicit iste.

Nomen scriptoris est Thomas Plenus Amoris[25].'

The earliest owner's name occurring in the volume is that of 'Richart de Widevelle, seigneur de Rivières,' recorded in an inscription on the cover at the end, which proceeds to say that 'le dist Seigneur acetast le dist liure lan de grace mille cccclxvi. le premier jour de lan a Londres.' Rivers' own autograph follows ('Ryverys'), with some words in French, written in a perfectly frantic scrawl. Subsequent owners were 'Gyles Strangwayes' and 'Jaspere Ffylolle' (whose signatures are engraved by Dibdin, ubi supra), and 'Thomas Smythe[26].'

[1] When Duke Humphrey's Library was completed, and the books were removed thither, this upper room took the place of that beneath it as the Convocation House, 'in which upper room,' says Hearne, 'was brave painted glass containing the arms of the benefactors, which painted glass continued till the times of the late rebellion.' (Bliss, Reliquiæ Hearnianæ, ii. 693.)

[2] The original treasure-chest, from which all academic money-grants are still said to be made, is preserved in the Bursary of Corpus Christi College, in which college it was kept in accordance with the statutes of the University, tit. xx. § 1.

[3] The Bishop's Bibliomania is thus noticed by a contemporary, W. de Chambre, in his Continuatio Hist. Dunelm. (Hist. Dunelm. Scriptt. tres; Surtees Society, 1839, p. 130):—'Iste summe delectabatur in multitudine librorum. Plures enim libros habuit, sicut passim dicebatur, quam omnes Pontifices Angliæ. Et præter eos quos habuit in diversis maneriis suis, repositos separatim, ubicunque cum sua familia residebat, tot libri jacebant sparsim in camera qua dormivit, quod ingredientes vix stare poterant vel incedere nisi librum aliquem pedibus conculcarent.' The bedroom of the late centenarian President of Magdalene College, Dr. Routh, was in this respect just like Bishop Bury's; and as the latter sent his library from Durham to be in some sort a nucleus for an University Library at Oxford, so the former bequeathed his to Durham that it might assist the development of the University Library there.

[4] Philobiblion, cap. xix.

[5] His love of literature was evinced by the motto which, according to Leland, was frequently written by him in his books: 'Moun bien mondain.' (Hearne's MS. Diary, xxxvi. 199.) Hearne, in his esteem for the memory of this 'religious, good, and learned Prince,' quaintly says that he used, whenever he saw his handwriting in the Bodleian Library (where it occurs several times), 'to show a sort of particular respect' to it. (Preface to Langtoft, p. xx.) Was this 'sort of respect' a reverential kiss, such as that with which (as Warton in his Companion to the Guide tells us) he saluted the pavement of sheeps' trotters, supposed by him to be a Roman tesselated floor?

[6] Register of Convoc. F., ff. 53^b, 54^b. The subsequent gifts are entered in the same Register as follows:—

      1. Last day of Feb., 1440. A letter to thank the Duke for 126 volumes brought by John Kyrkeby. (f. 57^b.)

      2. Nov. 10, 1441. Letter acknowledging ten books (Treatises of Augustine, Rabanus, &c.,) received through Will. Say, proctor, and John Kyrkeby. (ff. 59^b−60.)

      3. Jan. 25, 1443. Letter of thanks for 139 volumes. (f. 63.)

      4. Oct. 1443. Letter for another gift, number of volumes not specified. (f. 66.)

      5. Feb. 25, 1443 (-4?). Catalogue of 135 volumes. (ff. 67–68^b.)

      6. Feb. 1446. Letter of thanks for another gift, not specified. (f. 75^b.)

      [7] 'Nemo illos [libros] sine admiratione conspicit, cunctis una voce testantibus, se nunquam libros tanta claritate conspicuos, tanta gravitate refertos vidisse. … Et ut per hoc, si quid maximo addi possit, tantæ munificentiæ gloria fiat illustrior, optamus sacram et celebrem scientiarum sedem reparari, ubi honorificentius et ad utilitatem studentium multo commodius libri vestri, ab aliis segregati, collocentur. Jam enim si quis, ut fit, uni libro inhæreat, aliis studere volentibus ad tres vel quatuor pro vicinitate colligationis præcludit accessum. Itaque locus huic rei nobis maxime videtur idoneus ubi venerabilis vir, modo Cancellarius noster, semper reverendus pater amantissimus Magister Thomas Chace, spectabilem novarum Scolarum fabricam ad cætera suæ virtutis testimonia insigni mensura ab humo erexit, quam nos cito, quoad exigua suppetebat facultas, promovimus. Hic locus, propterea quod a strepitu sæculari removetur, Bibliotecæ admodum videtur conveniens, cujus fundationis titulum, si Magnanimitati vestræ acceptabilis fuerit, cum omni devotione offerrimus.' Register F. ff. 71^b, 72. We find from an entry on the latter page that on January 13, 1444 (-5), 'liber Platonis in Phedro' (sic) was lent by Convocation to the Duke.

[8] They were not received by August, 1450, on the 28th of which month a letter was written from Convocation to Thomas Bokelonde, Esq., and John Summerset, M.D., on the subject. (Register F. ff. 88^b−9.)

[9] It contains inscriptions recording its gift by Whethamstede 'ad usum scolarium studencium Oxoniæ,' with anathemas upon those who should alienate it, or destroy, were it but its title: 'Si quis rapiat, raptim titulumve retractet, vel Judæ laqueum vel furcas sensiat.'

[10] Two treatises on the Canticles, by Gilbert Porret and Musca, were contained in the Duke's first gift to Oxford. (Anstey, vol. ii. p. 759.)

[11] Wood MS. F. 27. (Bodl. Libr.)

[12] A sale of a collection of (apparently) these forfeited pledges, or else of books deposited as securities for loans of money, took place in the year 1546. On Jan. 18, 1545–6, the following decree passed Convocation: 'Decretum est authoritate Convocationis Magnæ ut cistæ in domo inferiori sub domo Congregationis, et omnes libri pro pignoribus jacentes, aut etiam alii in eadem domo inventi, venderentur, secundum arbitrium quinque in eadem Convocatione eligendorum. Electi itaque sunt et a Vice-Cancellario admissi ibidem, Doctor Standishe, Mr. Parret, procurator, Mr. Slythers, Mr. Symonds, et Mr. Wattsone.' Reg. I. 107^b.

[13] Wood MS. F. 27.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Ibid. fol. 94^a.

[16] Bodley appears to have been altogether an accomplished linguist. James, in the preface to the first Catalogue of 1605, after speaking of his proficiency in the classical languages, adds, 'Linguas vero exoticas, veluti Italicam, Gallicam, Hispanicam, Hebræam præcipue, cæterarum omnium parentem, tam perfecte callet, ut illo neminem fere scientiorem invenies.' And in one of four letters addressed to him on the interpretation of passages in the Old Testament, which are printed