shall pay over the rents, issues, and profits thereof, as and when received, to the Trustees for the time being of the LOVERS AND British Museum aforesaid, to be laid out and applied by Book II, Chap. III. BOOK PUBLIC BENEFAC TORS. Will of Francis Henry, Earl of Bridgewater. (Official copy.) such last-mentioned Trustees in the service and for the continued augmentation of the said Collection of Manuscripts; and from and after the decease of the survivor of them my said Trustees hereinafter appointed, I give and devise the said house, land, tenements, hereditaments and appurtenances, unto and for the use of the proprietor or proprietors of the Manor and Estate of Ashridge, his heirs and assigns for ever. And as to all the rest, residue and remainder of my real and personal estate and effects, of every nature and kind soever and wheresoever situate, not herein before disposed of, or availably so, for the purposes intended, I give, devise, and bequeath the same to my said Trustees, upon trust that they my said Trustees do pay over and transfer the same to the said Trustees of the British Museum, and do otherwise render the same available for the service of and towards maintaining, preserving, keeping up, improving, augmenting, and extending, as opportunities may offer, my said Collection of Manuscripts so deposited in the British Muscum as aforesaid, in the most advantageous manner, according to their judgment and discretion.' The eccentricity of which I have spoken showed itself in the successive changes of detail and other modifications which these bequests underwent before the testator's death. What with the Will and its many codicils, the documents, collectively, came to be of a kind which might task the acumen of a FEARNE or a St. LEONARDS. But the drift of the Will was undisturbed. The restrictions as to the underletting of the Whitchurch estate, and the like, were now limited by codicils to a prescribed term of years after BOOK II, Chap. III. Book PUBLIC BENEFAC TORS. e testator's death ; power was given to the Museum ustees to sell, also after a certain interval, the landed estate queathed for the purchase of manuscripts, should it be LOVERS AND med conducive to the interest of the Library so to do; an additional sum of five thousand pounds was given the Trustees for the further increase of the Collection Manuscripts, and for the reward of its keeper, in lieu of residuary interest in the testator's personal estate. On the 10th of March, 1832, the Trustees resolved that yearly proceeds of the last-named bequest should be I to the Librarians in charge of the MSS., but that their nary salaries, on the establishment, should be diminished 1835-6). like amount. Minutes of (printed in Trustees; Parliamentary Paper of OF THE MSS.; he Manuscripts bequeathed by Lord BRIDGEWATER CHARACTER prise a considerable collection of the original letters of EGERTON Kings, Queens, Statesmen, Marshals, and Diplomatists, rance; another valuable series of original letters and rs of the authors and scientific men of France and of ; many papers of Italian Statesmen; and a portion of onor's own private correspondence. The latter series apers includes, amongst others, letters by Andres, sse de Villoisin, the Prince of Aremberg, Auger, ier, the Duke of Blacas, Bodoni, Boissonade, Bonpland, a, Cuvier, Ginguené, Humboldt, Valckenaer, and nti. Some of these are merely letters of compliment. s---and, in an especial degree, those of D'Ansse de sin, of Boissonade, of Ginguené, of Humboldt, and of nti-contain much interesting matter on questions of ology, art, and history. ADDITIONS e earliest additions to the Egerton Collection were AND OF THE by the Trustees in May, 1832. In the selection of for purchase the Trustees, with great propriety, have FROM 1832 a preference—on the whole; not exclusively--to that TO 1870. BOOK II, Chap. III. BOOK LOVERS AND PUBLIC THE HARDI MAN MSS. ARCHEO LOGY AND TION OF LORD class of documents of which the donor's own Collection was Meanwhile, the example set by Lord Bridgewater had incited one of those many liberal-minded Trustees of the AUGMENTA- British Museum who have become its benefactors by augmentation, as well as by faithful guardianship, to follow it in exactly the same track. Charles LONG, Lord Farnborough, bequeathed (in 1838) the sum of two thousand LORD FAEN- eight hundred and seventy-two pounds in Three per Consols, specifically as an augmentation of the Bridgewater BRIDGEWATER'S GIFT BY THAT OF BOROUGH, 1838. These form the Egerton MSS. 215 to 262 inclusive. cent. Book PUBLIC TORS. 1. Lord FARNBOROUGH's bequest now produces eighty- BOOK II, pounds a year; Lord BRIDGEWATER'S, about four Cap. III. dred and ninety pounds a year. Together, therefore, LOVERS AND yield five hundred and seventy pounds, annually, for BENEFACmprovement of the National Collection of Manuscripts. 1850 and 1852, an extensive series of German Albums any of them belonging to celebrated scholars-was ired. These are now Egerton MSS. 1179' to '1499,' sive, and 1540' to 1607.' A curious collection of s relating to the Spanish Inquisition was also obtained 850. In 1857, the important historical collection, 1704-1756. n as 'the Bentinck Papers,' was purchased from Tycho 1772. MSEN, of Oldenburgh. In the following year, another of Spanish State Papers, and also the Irish Manus of Henry MONCK MASON ;-in 1860, a further of 'Bentinck Papers;'-and in 1861, an extensive tion of the Correspondence of POPE and of Bishop BURTON, were successively acquired. Egerton MSS. Ib. 1758 2047-2064. these large accumulations of the materials of history added, in the succeeding years, other important cols of English correspondence, and of autograph MSS. ous authors; and also a choice collection of Spanish Portuguese Manuscripts brought together by Count NTE, and abounding with historical information. To addition was made last year (1869) of other like Egerton MSS. , amongst which are notable some Venetian Relazioni; of Cardinals Carlo CARAFFA and Flavio ORSINI; and Ib. 2077letters of Antonio PEREZ. In 1869, there was also 2084. ed, by means of the conjoined Egerton and Farnh funds, a curious parcel of papers relating to the 16.2087ffairs of the Corporation and trade of Dover, from ar 1387 to 1678; together with some other papers 1b. 2086; tive of the cradle-years of our Indian empire. 2099. BOOK II, Chap. III. Book LOVERS AND PUBLIC TORS, THE BYRON EGERTON (1867). Amongst the latest accessions obtained from the Bridgewater fund are some MSS. from the hand of a famous English poet of the last generation. These have now an additional, and special, interest in English eyes, from a recent lamentable occurrence. The pen of a slanderer has MSS' IN THE aimed at gaining a sort of celebrity, more enduring than anything of its own proper production could hope to secure, by attempting to affix on BYRON and on Augusta LEIGHafter both the great poet and the affectionate sister have lain many years in their several graves, and can no longer rebut the slander--the stain of an enormous guilt. Some, however, are yet alive, by whom the calumny can, and will, be conclusively exposed. Meanwhile, the slanderer's poor aim will, probably, have been reached--but in an unexpected and unenviable way. OTHER BENE FACTIONS OF LORD BRIDGE WATEE. 'The link Thou formest in his fortunes, bids us think Of thy poor malice, naming thee with scorn.' Very happily, the calumniating pen was not held in any Much more might, and not unfitly, be said in illustration of the historical and literary value of those manuscript accessions to the National Library which, in these later years, have accrued out of the proceeds of Lord BRIDGEWATER'S gift. Enough, however, has been stated, to serve by way of sample. Nor were these the only literary bequests and foundations of the last Earl of BRIDGEWATER. He bequeathed, as heirlooms, two considerable Libraries, rich both in theology and in history-to the respective rectors, for ever, of the parishes of Middle and of Whitchurch. These, I learn— from MS. correspondence now before me-are of great |