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Chap. I.

TION.

life (unofficial as they were), and the powerful influence BOOKI which he exerted upon statesmen much abler than himself, INTRODUC will be found, it is hoped, to give not a little of historical interest to his biography, quite additional to that which belongs to his pursuits as a studious Collector, and as the most famous of all the literary antiquaries who occur throughout our English story.

To the conspicuous merits which belong to Sir Robert COTTON as a politician of no mean acumen, and as,-in the event, the real Founder of the British Museum, are added the still higher distinctions of an eminently generous spirit and a faithful heart. His openhandedness in giving was constant and princely. His firmness in friendship is testified by the fact that although (in a certain point of view) he was the courtier both of JAMES THE FIRST and of CHARLES The First, he nevertheless stood persistently and unflinchingly by the side of ELIOT, and of the men who worked with ELIOT, in the period of their deepest court disgrace. By the best of the Parliamentarian leaders he was both reverenced and loved. And he reciprocated their feeling.

RECENT

ATTACKS ON
SIR ROBERT

MEMORY.

My personal pleasure in the task of writing the life of such a man as he was is much enhanced by a strong conviction that certain recent attacks upon his memory COTTON'S are based upon fallacious evidence, shallow presumptions, and hasty judgments. It is my hope to be able to shew to the Reader, conclusively, that COTTON was worthy of the cordial regard and the high esteem in which he was uniformly held by men who stood free of all bias from political and party connexion-such, for example, as William CAMDEN, who spoke of him, almost with dying lips, as the dearest of all my friends,'-as well as by those great Parliamentarian leaders whose estimate of him may, perhaps, be thought-by hasty readers-to rest partly, if

BOOK I,
Chap. I.

INTRODUC

TION.

not mainly, on the eminent political service which he was able to render them.

When these pages shall come from the Press just three hundred years will have elapsed since Sir Robert COTTON'S birth. Our English proto-collector was born in the year 1570. The year 1870 will, in all probability, witness the definite solution of a knotty problem as to the future of the great institution of which he was the primary and central founder.

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COTTON may be regarded as the English proto-collector,' in a point of view other than that which concerns the British Museum. No Library in the United Kingdom can, I think, shew an integral Collection,' still extant, the formation of which-as a Collection-can be traced to an earlier date than that of the collection of the Cottonian Manuscripts.

Whether the BRITISH MUSEUM shall continue to be the great national repository for Science, as well as for Literature and Antiquities, is a question which is fast ripening for decision; and it is one which ought to be interesting to all Britons. It is also, and very eminently, one of those questions of which it is literally—and not sarcastically-to be affirmed that there is much to be said on both sides.'

Personally I have a very strong conviction on that subject. But in treating of it—in the 'Postscript' which closes the present volume-it has been my single and earnest aim to state, with the utmost impartiality I am able to attain, the leading arguments for maintaining the Museum in its full integrity; and also the leading arguments for severing the great Natural History Collections

Chap. I.

from the rapidly growing Libraries and from the vast Gal- Book I,
leries of marbles, bronzes, pottery, medals, and prints. It INTRODUC-
is the business of writers to state and marshal the evidence. TION.
It is the business of Parliament to pronounce the judg-

ment.

The main epochs in the History of the British Museum
afford what may be looked upon almost as a 'table of con-
tents' to the present volume. And they may be brought
under the Reader's eye in a way which will much facilitate
the correct apprehension of the author's plan. I exhibit

them thus:-

141

Book I,
Chap. I.
INTRODUC-

TION.

EPOCHS
OF BRIT.
MUSEUM

GROWTH AND

INCREASE.

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE DATES, FOUNDERS, AND

OF WHICH THE BRITISH MUSEUM
CLASS I.-Foundation Collections,

I. COTTONIAN MANUSCRIPTS, COINS, MEDALS,
Collected by Sir Robert Cotton, Baronet (born in the year
Nation by Sir John Cotton in 1700. Augmented during
Arthur Agarde (1615), William Camden (1623),
Lambarde (1601), and others; and, after his death, by the
Sir John COTTON, his descendants; and also by the Printed Library
given in 1738.

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II. OLD ROYAL LI-
Re-founded, or restored, by Henry, Prince of Wales
1612). [See CLASS II, § 1.]

III. ARUNDELIAN

Collected by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel
England; K.G. (Born in 1586; succeeded as XXIIIrd Earl of
1646.) [See CLASS II, § 33.]

IV. THOMASON TRACTS (Printed and Manuscript).

V. HARLEIAN
Collected by Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford (born
mented by incorporation, at various times, of the Collections,
of the Collections of Sir Humphrey Gilbert (died
Rogers (1590), John Stowe (1605), Sir Henry
nard (1633), Sir Henry Spelman (1641), Sir
James Ware (1666), William Sancroft, Archbishop
guier, Chancellor of France (1696), John Bagford (1716);

VI. SLOANE MUSEUM' OF NATURAL HISTORY AND OF

OF MANUSCRIPTS AND PRINTED
Collected by William Courten [known during part of his
1642; died 26 March, 1702); continued by Sir Hans ¦
died 11 January, 1752); bequeathed, by the Continuator, to the
payment to his executors, by authority of Parliament, of the
his Collections--to use the words of his last Will,-being things
'tion of the Glory of GOD, the Confutation of Atheism and its
'ment of the Arts and Sciences, and benefit of Mankind, may
' and that chiefly in or about the City of London, where they
'be of most use.'
[See Book I, c. 6.]

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CHARACTER, OF THE COMPONENT COLLECTIONS, OUT

HAS BEEN FORMED OR ENLARGED :—

1570-1762.

AND OTHER ANTIQUITIES.

1570; died 6 May, 1631). Given to the the Collector's lifetime by the gifts of John Dee (1608), William acquisitions of Sir Thomas COTTON and of Major Arthur Edwards,

BRARY.'

(born in 1594; died 6 November,

MANUSCRIPTS.

and of Norfolk; Earl Marshal of Arundel in 1603; died 4 October,

[See CLASS II, § 3.] MANUSCRIPTS.

INCORPORATED by the Act (A.D. 1753) 26 GEO. II, c. 22, enPurchase of the Mutitled, 'An Act for the seum or Collection of Sir Hans Sloane and of the Harleian Collection of MSS.; and for proAug-viding one General Repository..for the said Collections and for the additions thereto;" Cottonian Library and

in 1661; died 21 May, 1724).
severally, or of considerable portions
1584), John Foxe (1581), Daniel
Savile (1622), Sampson Len-
Symonds D'Ewes (1650), Sir
of Canterbury (1693), Peter Se-
and others. [See Book I, c. 5.]
ANTIQUITIES; AND LIBRARY
Books.

life as 'William CHARLETON'] (born in
Sloane, Baronet (born in 1660;
British Nation,-conditionally on the
sum of £20,000,-in order that those
tending many ways to the Manifesta-
consequences, the Use and Improve-
remain together and not be separated,
may by the great confluence of people

Opened, for Public Use, on Monday the 15th January, 1759; and subsequently AUGMENTED, from time to time, by numerous additional Collections; and, MORE PARTICU LARLY, by the following—

Primary

Вook I,
Chap. I.
INTRODUC-

TION.

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