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Chap. I.

TION.

subject, not as a Prince. He, therefore, has a title to be Book I,
placed among the individual Collectors whose united efforts INTRODUC-
resulted-after long intervals of time-in the creation,
eventually, of a public institution second to none, of its
kind, in the world.

Prince HENRY's story is not the least curious of the
many life-stories which these pages have to tell. That
small span of barely eighteen years was eventful, as well
as full of promise. And it may very fitly be told next, in
order, after that of COTTON, who was not only his con-
temporary but his friend.

OF LORD

As the Royal Library was, in a certain degree, a Public THE MSS. Collection before the foundation of the Museum, so also ARUNDEL was the Arundelian Library of Manuscripts. It did not become part of the British Museum until nearly eighty years after the amalgamation of the Cottonian, Harleian, Sloanian, and Royal Collections into one integral body. But the munificent Earl who formed it had often made. it public, for the use of scholars, in his own lifetime. One or two of his descendants allowed it to fall into neglect. Before it left old Arundel House, in the Strand, it was exposed, more than once, to loss by petty thefts. But when, by another descendant, the injury was repaired, and the still choice collection given-at the earnest entreaty of another of our English worthies, John EVELYN-to the Royal Society, the Arundelian MSS., like the Library at Saint James' Palace, became (so far as a circle of literary men and of the cultivators of scientific inquiry were concerned) a public possession. Many of the Arundelian marbles had also become-by other acts of munificence worthy of the time-honoured name of HOWARD-to the Public at large, and without restriction, 'things of beauty,' and 'joys for ever.' Others of them, indeed, are—even in

BOOK I,
Chap. I.
INTRODUC-

TION.

these days-shut up at Wilton with somewhat of a narrow jealousy of the undistinguished multitude. But, by the liberality of the Dukes of MARLBOROUGH, the choice gems gathered by the Earl of ARUNDEL during his long travels on the Continent, and his widespread researches throughout the world, have long been made available to public enjoyment, in more ways than one. The varied narrative of that famous Collector's life may, perhaps, not unfitly be placed next after that of the best of the Stuart princes. ARUNDEL, like HENRY, was the friend of Sir Robert COTTON, and was proud of that distinction.

Undoubtedly, there is more than one point of view from which we may regard the preponderating share borne by private collectors in the ultimate creation of our national repository as matter of satisfaction, rather than matter of shame. It testifies to the strength amongst us-even at times deeply tinged with civil discord-of public and patriotic feeling. Nor is this all. It testifies, negatively, but not less strongly, to a conscientious sense of responsibility, on the part of those who have administered British rule in conquered countries, and in remote dependencies of the Crown. Few readers of such a book as this are likely to be altogether unacquainted with national museums and national libraries which have been largely enriched by the strong hand of the spoiler. Into some such collections it is impossible for portions, of the people at whose aggregate expense they are maintained to enter, without occasional feelings of disgust and humiliation. There are, it is true, a few trophies of successful war in our own Museum. But there is nothing in its vast stores which, to any visitor of any nationality whatever, can bring back memories of ruthless and insolent spoliation.

Chap. I.

TION..

That narrowness of conception, however, which has made BOOK I, some publicists to regard the slenderness of the contributions INTRODUC of the Nation at large, when contrasted with the extent of those of individuals, as if it were a cause for boasting, is visibly, and very happily, on the decline. It is coming to be recognised, more implicitly with every year that passes, that whatever can be done by the action of Parliament, or of the Government, for the real promotion of public civilisation,-in the amplest and deepest meaning of that word, is but the doing of the People themselves, by the use of the most effective machinery they have at hand; rather than the acceptance of a boon conferred upon them, extraneously and from above.

If that salient characteristic in the past history of our BRITISH MUSEUM is very far from affording any legitimate cause of boasting to the publicist, it affords an undeniable advantage to the narrator of the history itself. It not only broadens the range of his subject, by placing at its threshold the narrative of several careers which will be found to combine, at times, romantic adventure and political intrigue with public service of a high order; but it binds up, inseparably, the story of the quiet growth of an institution in London with occasional glimpses at the progress, from age to age, of geographical and scientific discovery, of archæological exploration, and of the most varied labours for the growth of human learning, throughout the world.

As an organized establishment, the BRITISH MUSEUM is but little more than a century old. The history of its component parts extends over three centuries. That history embraces a series of systematic researches,-scientific, literary, and archæological,-the account of which (whatsoever the needful brevity of its treatment in these

Book I,
Chap. I.
INTRODUC-

TION.

SITY OF THE

MUSEUM
COLLEC-
TIONS.

pages) must be told clumsily, indeed, if it be found to lack a very wide and general interest for all classes of readers-one class only excepted.

Even the least thoughtful among those visitors who can THE DIVER be said to frequent the Museum-as distinguished from the mere holiday guests, who come only in crowds, little favourable to vision; to say nothing of thought—will occasionally have had some faint impression or other of the great diversity and wonderful combination of effort which must have been employed in bringing together the Collections they look upon. Every part and almost every age of the world has contributed something; and that something includes the most characteristic productions and choicest possessions of every part. Almost every man of British birth who,-during many centuries,-has won conspicuous fame as a traveller, as an archæologist, or as a discoverer, has helped, in one way or other, to enrich those collections. They bear their own peculiar testimony to nearly every step which has been taken either in the maritime and colonial enterprise, or in the political growth, of the British empire. Nor is their testimony a whit less cogent to the power of that feeling of international brotherhood, in matters of learning and science, which grows with their growth, and waxes stronger with their strength.

To the remarkable career of the first of those four primary Collectors, whose lifelong pursuits converged, eventually, in the foundation of an institution, of the full scope of which only one of the four had even a mental glimpse -and SLOANE's glimpse was obviously but a very dim one-the attention of the reader has now to be turned. Sir Robert COTTON's employments in political

Book I,

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 COTTON'S

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 Corron'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

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