BOOK III, Chap. V. THE FOUNDER OF THE GRENVILLE LIBRARY. Library contains a copy of the first edition, which, if not the finest known, is at all events surpassed by none. His strong religious feelings and his sincere attachment to the Established Church, as well as his knowledge and mastery of the English language, concurred in making him eager to possess the earliest as well as the rarest editions of the translations of the Scriptures in the vernacular tongue. He succeeded to a great extent; but what deserves particular mention is the only known fragment of the New Testament in English, translated by TYNDALE and Roy, which was in the press of QUENTELL, at Cologne, in 1525, when the translators were obliged to interrupt the printing, and fly to 1847, passim. escape persecution. Panizzi's Report, in the Annual Returns of The History of the British Empire, and whatever could illustrate any of its different portions, were the subject of Mr. GRENVILLE's unremitting research, and he allowed nothing to escape him deserving to be preserved, however rare and expensive. Hence his collection of works on the Divorce of HENRY VIII; that of Voyages and Travels, either by Englishmen, or to countries at some time more or less connected with England, or possessed by her; that of contemporary works on the gathering, advance, and defeat of the "Invincible Armada;" and that of writings on Ireland; are more numerous, more valuable, and more interesting, than in any other collection ever made by any person on the same subjects. Among the Voyages and Travels, the collections of DE BRY and HULSIUS are the finest in the world; no other Library can boast of four such fine books as the copies of HARIOT'S Virginia, in Latin, German, French, and English, of the DE BRY series. And it was fitting that in Mr. GRENVILLE'S Library should be found one of the only two copies known of the first edition of this work, printed in London in 1588, wherein an account is given of a colony which had been founded by his BOOK III, family namesake, Sir Richard GRENVILLE. Chap. V. THE FOUNDER OF THE LIBRARY. 'Conversant with the Language and Literature of Spain, as well as with that of Italy, the works of imagination by GRENVILLE writers of those two countries are better represented in his Library than in any other out of Spain and Italy; in some branches better even than in any single Library in the countries themselves. No Italian collection can boast of such a splendid series of early editions of ARIOSTO's Orlando, one of Mr. GRENVILLE's favourite authors, nor, indeed, of such choice Romance Poems. The copy of the first edition of ARIOSTO is not to be matched for beauty; of that of Rome, 1533, even the existence was hitherto unknown. A perfect copy of the first complete edition of the Morgante Maggiore, of 1482, was also not known to exist before Mr. GRENVILLE Succeeded in procuring his. Among the Spanish Romances, the copy of that of Tirant lo Blanch, printed at Valencia, in 1490, is as fine, as clean, and as white, as when it first issued from the press; and no second copy of this edition of a work professedly translated from English into Portuguese, and thence into Valencian, is known to exist except in the Library of the Sapienza, at Rome. 'But where there is nothing common, it is almost depreciating a collection to enumerate a few articles as rare. It is a marked feature of this Library, that Mr. Grenville did not collect mere bibliographical rarities. He never aimed at having a complete set of the editions from the press of CAXTON or ALDUS; but Chaucer and Gower by CAXTON were readily purchased, as well as other works which were desirable on other accounts, besides that of having issued from the press of that printer; and, when possible, select copies were procured. Some of the rarest, BOOK III, FOUNDER OF THE GRENVILLE and these the finest, Aldine editions were purchased by him, for the same reasons. The Hora in Greek, printed by ALDUS in 16°, in 1497, is a volume which, from its language, size, and rarity, is of the greatest importance for the literary and religious history of the time when it was printed. It is therefore in Mr. GRENVILLE'S Library. The Virgil of 1501 is not only an elegant book, but it is the first book printed with that peculiar Italic, known as Aldine, and the first volume which ALDUS printed, "forma enchiridii," as he called it, being expressly adapted to give poor scholars the means of purchasing for a small sum the works of the classical writers. This also is, therefore, among Mr. GRENVILLE's books; and of one of the two editions of Virgil, both dated the same year, 1514, he purchased a Large paper copy, because it was the more correct of the two. 'It was the merit of the work, the elegance of the volume, the "genuine" condition of the copy, &c., which together determined Mr. GRENVILLE to purchase books printed on vellum, of which he collected nearly a hundred. He paid a very large sum for a copy of the Furioso of 1532, not because it was "on ugly vellum," as he very properly designated it, but because, knowing the importance of such an edition of such a work, and never having succeeded in procuring it on paper, he would rather have it on expensive terms and "ugly vellum," than not at all. 'By the bequest of Mr. GRENVILLE's Library, the collection of books printed on vellum now at the Museum, and comprising those formerly presented by GEORGE II, GEORGE III, and Mr. CRACHERODE, is believed to surpass that of any other National Library, except the King's Library at Paris, of which VAN PRAET justly speaks with pride, and all foreign competent and intelligent judges with envy and admiration. In justice Chap. V. FOUNDER OF THE LIBRARY. to the Grenville Library, the list of all its vellum books Book III, ought to be here inserted. As this cannot be done, some THE only of the most remarkable shall be mentioned. These are-the Greek Anthology of 1494; the Book of Hawking GRENVILLE of JULIANA BERNERS of 1496; the first edition of the Bible, known as the "Mazarine Bible," printed at Mentz about 1454; the Aldine Dante of 1502; the first Rationale of DuRANDUS of 1459; the first edition of FISHER On the Psalms, of 1508; the Aldine Horace, Juvenal, Martial, and Petrarca, of 1501; the Livy of 1469; the Primer of Salisbury, printed in Paris in 1531; the Psalter of 1457, which supplies the place of the one now at Windsor, which belonged to the Royal Collection before it was transferred to the British Museum; the Sforziada, by SIMONETA, of 1490, a most splendid volume even in so splendid a Library; the Theuerdank of 1517; the Aulus Gellius and the Vitruvius of Giunta, printed in 1515, &c. &c. Of this identical copy of Vitrivius, formerly Mr. DENT's, the author of the Bibliographical Decameron wrote, "Let the enthusiastic admirers of a genuine vellum Junta―of the amplest size and in spotless condition-resort to the choice cabinet of Mr. DENT for such a copy of this edition of Vitruvius and Frontinus." The Aulus Gellius is in its original state, exactly as it was Panizzi's when presented to LORENZO DE' MEDICI, afterwards Duke Report to of Urbino, to whom the edition was dedicated.' Parliament, as above. CHAPTER VI. OTHER BENEFACTORS OF RECENT -- DAYS. — CREATION OF THE NEW DEPARTMENT OF BRITISH AND MEDIEVAL ANTIQUITIES AND ETHNOGRAPHY. 'Amidst tablets and stones, inscribed with the straight and angular characters of the Runic alphabet, and similar articles which the vulgar might have connected with the exercise of the forbidden arts, . . . . . were disposed, in great order, several of those curious stone axes, formed of green granite, which are often found in these Islands. .. There were, moreover, to be seen amid the strange collection stone sacrificial knives . . . and the brazen implements called Celts, the purpose of which has troubled the repose of so many antiquaries.'-The Pirate, c. xxviii. A Museum of Antiquities-not of one People or period only, but of all races and all times-exhibits a vast comparative scheme of the material productions of man. We are thus enabled to follow the progress of the Fine and Useful Arts, contemporaneously through a long period of time, tracing their several lines backwards till they converge at one vanishing point of the unknown Past.' C. T. NEWTON (Letter to Col. Mure, 1853). Scantiness of the Notices of some Contributors to the NaturalHistory Collections, and its cause.-The Duke of BLACAS and his Museum of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Hugh CUMING and his Travels and Collections in South America.-John RUTTER CHORLEY, and his Collection of Spanish Plays and Spanish Poetry.— George WITT and his Collections illustrative of the History of Obscure Superstitions.-The Ethnographical Museum of Henry CHRISTY, and its History.—Colonial Archeologists and British Consuls: The History of the WOODHOUSE Collection, and of its transmittal to the |