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PREFATORY NOTE.

3

FOR the materials of the earlier of the 'Lives' contained in this volume I have been chiefly indebted to the Collection of State Papers at the Rolls House; to the PrivyCouncil Registers at the Council Office; and to many manuscripts in the Cottonian, Harleian, Sloane, and Lansdowne Collections at the British Museum.

HIGHGATE; 6th May, 1870.

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The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by

liberal things shall he stand.

ISAIAH, xxxii, 8.

Man's only relics are his benefits ;

These, be there ages, be there worlds, between,

Retain him in communion with his kind.

LANDOR (Count Julian).

1

CONTENTS.

BOOK THE FIRST.

EARLY COLLECTORS: THE GATHERERS

OF THE FOUNDATION COLLECTIONS.

CHAPTER I..

INTRODUCTION.

Chronological Epochs in the Formation of the British Museum

CHAPTER II.

THE FOUNDER OF THE COTTONIAN LIBRARY.

The Personal and Public Life of Sir Robert Cotton.-His Political

Writings and Political Persecutions.-Sources and Growth of the

Cottonian Library.-The Successors of Sir Robert Cotton.-History

of the Cottonian Library, until its union with the Manuscript

Library of Harley, and with the Museum and Miscellaneous

Collections of Sloane.-Review of some recent Aspersions on the

Character of the Founder

PAGE

. 5

48

CHAPTER III.

THE CHIEF COLLECTOR AND THE AUGMENTORS OF THE

OLD ROYAL AND PUBLIC LIBRARY AT ST. JAMES'.

Life of Henry, Prince of Wales, son of James I, and virtual Founder

of the Royal Library.'-Its Augmentors and its Librarians.-

Acquisition of the Library of the Theyers.-Incorporation with the

Collections of Cotton and of Sloane

153

CHAPTER IV.

THE COLLECTOR OF THE ARUNDELIAN MSS.

Political Exile and Foreign Travel under Elizabeth and under James.

-Life of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel.-The Consolations

of Connoisseurship.-Vicissitudes of the Arundel Museum.-The

gifts of Henry Howard to the Royal Society

CHAPTER V.

THE COLLECTOR OF THE HARLEIAN MSS.

The Harley Family.—Parliamentary and Official Career of Robert

Harley, Earl of Oxford.-The Party Conflicts under Queen Anne.

-Robert Harley and Jonathan Swift.-Harley and the Court of

the Stuarts.-Did Harley conspire to restore the Pretender?—

History of the Harleian Library.-The Life and Correspondence

of Humphrey Wanley

CHAPTER VI.

THE FOUNDERS OF THE SLOANE MUSEUM.

Flemish Exiles in England.—The Adventures, Mercantile and Colonial

Enterprises, and Vicissitudes of the Courtens.-William Courten

and his Collections.-The Life and Travels of Sir Hans Sloane.—

His acquisition of Courten's Museum.-Its Growth under the new

Possessor.-History of the Sloane Museum and Library, and of

their purchase by Parliament

PAGE

172

. 203

247

BOOK THE SECOND.

THE ORGANIZERS, AND EARLY

AUGMENTORS.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

Househunting. The Removal of the Sloane Museum from Chelsea.—

Montagu House, and its History.-The Early Trustees and Officers.

-The Museum Regulations.-Early Helpers in the Foundation

and Increase of the British Museum.-Epochs in the Growth of the

Natural History Collections.-Experiences of Inquiring Visitors

in the years 1765-1784

PAGE

317

CHAPTER II.

A GROUP OF CLASSICAL ARCHEOLOGISTS AND

EXPLORERS.

Sir William Hamilton and his Pursuits and Employments in Italy.—

The Acquisitions of the French Institute of Egypt, and the capture

of part of them at Alexandria.—Charles Towneley and his Collec-

tion of Antiquities.-The Researches of the Earl of Elgin in Greece.

-The Collections and Writings of Richard Payne Knight

346

CHAPTER III.

A GROUP OF BOOK-LOVERS AND PUBLIC BENEFACTORS.

Notices of some early Donors of Books.-The Life and Collections of

Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode.-William Petty, first Marquess of

Lansdowne, and his Library of Manuscripts.-The Literary Life

and Collections of Dr. Charles Burney.-Francis Hargrave and

his Manuscripts.-The Life and Testamentary Foundations of

Francis Henry Egerton, Ninth Earl of Bridgewater

413

CHAPTER IV.

THE KING'S OR GEORGIAN' LIBRARY;-ITS COLLECTOR,

AND ITS DONOR.

Notices of the Literary Tastes and Acquirements of King George the

Third.-His Conversations with Men of Letters.-History of his

Library and of its Transfer to the British Nation by George the

Fourth

464