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.

proto-col

COTTON may be regarded as the English lector,' 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 carnest 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 INTRODUCis 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 contents' 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:

BOOK I,
Chap. I.
INTRODUC-

TION.

EPOCHS
OF BRIT.
MUSEUM

GROWTH AND

INCREASE.

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE DATES, FOUNDERS, AI

OF WHICH THE BRITISH MUSEU CLASS I.-Foundation Collection

I. COTTONIAN MANUSCRIPTS, COINS, MEDAL Collected by Sir Robert Cotton, Baronet (born in the ye Nation by Sir John Cotton in 1700. Augmented duri Arthur Agarde (1615), William Camden (162 Lambarde (1601), and others; and, after his death, by t Sir John COTTON, his descendants; and also by the Printed Libra given in 1738.

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

III. ARUNDELIA

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

IV. THOMASON TRACTS (Printed and Manuscrip

V. HARLE

Collected by Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford (b mented by incorporation, at various times, of the Collection of the Collections of Sir Humphrey Gilbert (di Rogers (1590), John Stowe (1605), Sir Hen nard (1633), Sir Henry Spelman (1641), S James Ware (1666), William Sancroft, Archbish guier, Chancellor of France (1696), John Bagford (1714

VI. SLOANE MUSEUM' OF NATURAL HISTORY AND

OF MANUSCRIPTS AND PRINT Collected by William Courten [known during part of 1642; died 26 March, 1702); continued by Sir Har died 11 January, 1752); bequeathed, by the Continuator, to payment to his executors, by authority of Parliament, of t his Collections-to use the words of his last Will,-being thin 'tion of the Glory of GoD, the Confutation of Atheism and 'ment of the Arts and Sciences, and benefit of Mankind, m ' and that chiefly in or about the City of London, where th 'be of most use.' [See Book I, c. 6.]

Book I,
Chap. I.
INTRODUC-

TION.

CLASS II-Primary Accession Collections.

1757-1831:

(1)

EPOCHS
OF BRIT.

MUSEUM

INCREASE.

1757. Old ROYAL LIBRARY.'

Restored, by Henry, Prince of Wales, in the year 1609, by the purchase-and incorporation with the remGROWTH AND nants of an ancient collection-of the Library of John de Lumley, Lord Lumley (Born circa 1530; Restored in blood, as VIth Baron Lumley, in 1547: Died 1609); Continued by Charles I and Charles II, Kings of England, &c., from 1627 to 1683; Given to the Nation by King George the Second in 1757.

This OLD ROYAL LIBRARY, although, as above mentioned, it still contains fragments of the more ancient Collection of the Kings of England-and among them books which undoubtedly belonged to King HENRY THE SIXTH, if not to earlier Plantagenet kings-may fairly be regarded as of Prince HENRY'S foundation in the main. Lord LUMLEY'S Library (which the Prince bought in bulk) contained that of his father-in-law, Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, into which had passed a part of Archbishop Cranmer's Library. But this conjoined Collection has not wholly passed to the British Museum. It suffered some losses after Prince HENRY's death. On the other hand, it had acquired the collection of MSS. formed by the THEYERS (John and Charles), in which was included another part of the Library of CRANMER; as I shall shew hereafter.

[See Book I, Chapter 3.]