Chap. IV. noted by a political revolution which ensued shortly BOOK II, wards; and, in order to turn his large opportunities to THE KING'S OR account, the King's Librarian modestly sought and in- 'GEORGIAN' ly obtained the best advice which that generation could LIBRARY. d him—the advice of Samuel JOHNSON. 1762, the fine Library of Joseph SMITH, who had British Consul at Venice during many years, was ht for the King. It cost about ten thousand pounds. had ransacked Italy for choice books, much as his mporary, Sir William HAMILTON, had ransacked that ry for choice vases. And he had been not less suc1 in his quest. In amassing early and choice editions e classics, and also the curiosities and rarities of th-century printing, he had been especially lucky. the same source, but at a later date, GEORGE THE › also obtained a fine gallery of pictures and a collecf coins and gems. For these he gave twenty thoupounds. For seven or eight years the shops and Dactylioth-ea Duses of English booksellers were also sedulously 1767; Lady ed, and large purchases were made from them. bour JOHNSON often assisted, actively, as well as by In en the suppression of the Jesuits in many parts of Smithiana; M. W. Book II, KING'S OR ture of every country may be best gathered on its native soil. And the studies of the learned are everywhere influ enced by peculiarities of government and of religion. In Italy you may, therefore, expect to meet with abundance of the works of the Canonists and the Schoolmen; in Germany with store of writers on the Feudal Laws; in Holland SUBSTANCE you will find the booksellers' shops swarming with the works of the Civilians. Of Canonists a few of the most eminent will suffice. Of the Schoolmen a liberal supply will be a valuable addition to the King's Library. The departments of Feudal and Civil Law you can hardly render too complete. In the Feudal Constitutions we see the origin of our property laws. Of the Civil Law it is not too much to say that it is a regal study. OF JOHNSON'S ADVICE ON THE COLLEC- THE KING'S In respect to standard books generally, continued JOHNSON, a Royal Library ought to have the earliest or most curious edition, the most sumptuous edition, and also the most useful one, which will commonly be one of the latest impressions of the book. As to the purchase of entire libraries in bulk, the Doctor inclined to think—even a century ago that the inconvenience would commonly almost overbalance the advantage, on the score of the excessive accumulation of duplicate copies. And then he added a remark which (long years afterwards) Sir Richard Colt HOARE profited by, and made a source of profit to our National Museum. I am told,' said JOHNSON, that scarcely a village of Italy wants its historian. And it will be of great use to collect, in every place, maps of the adjacent country, and plans of towns, buildings, and gardens. By this care you will form a more valuable body of geography than could otherwise be had.' On that point-as, indeed, on all the points about which Chap. IV. THE KING'S OR LIBRARY. gave advice-JOHNSON'S counsel bore excellent fruit. BOOK II, e body of geography' contained in the Georgian Library never, I think, been surpassed in any one Collection 'GEORGIAN' ade by a single Collector) in the world. It laid, subntially, the foundation of the noble assemblage of charts maps which now forms a separate Department of the seum, under the able superintendence of Mr. Richard ry MAJOR, who has done much for the advancement of graphical knowledge in many paths, but in none more -iently than in his Museum labours. REMARK ON MODERN IL LUSTRATED ike good counsel was given to BARNARD by the great cographer, in relation to the gathering of illustrated XS. He told the King's Librarian that he ought to diligently for old books adorned with woodcuts, use the designs were often those of great masters. When to this remark the Doctor added the words: JOHNSON'S ose old prints are such as cannot be made by any artist living,' he asserted what was undoubtedly true, if he ed that high praise to the best class of the works of h he was speaking. But his words carry in them also direct testimony of honour to GEORGE THE THIRD. If, e century which has passed since Samuel JOHNSON ssed with Frederick BARNARD the wisest means of ng a Royal Library, a great stride has been made by rts of design in Britain, a share of the merit belongs e patriotic old King. He was amongst the earliest in ominions to encourage British art with an open hand. was not only the founder of the Royal Academy, but st liberal patron to artists; and he did not limit his nage to those men alone who belonged to his own emy. If for a series of years the Royal Academy did Or Art, and did its work in a more narrow spirit of e than it ought to have done, the fault was not in the BOOK 11, KING'S OR LIBRARY. Bibliotheca Askeriana (1775). Literary Anecdotes of Eighteenth Century, vol. IV, p. 513 (183-). founder. And, of late years, the Academy itself has, in many ways, nobly vindicated its foundation and the aid it has received from the Public. Towards the foundation of the Academy, GEORGE THE THIRD gave, from his privy purse, more than five thousand pounds. To many of its members he was a genial friend, as well as a liberal patron. Many other institutions of public education shared his liberality. Some generous benefactions which he gave to the British Museum itself, in the earlier years of his reign, have been mentioned already. But there were a crowd of other gifts, both in the earlier and in the later years, of which the limits of this volume at present forbid me to make detailed mention. The Continental tour of Mr. BARNARD was very successful as to its main object. He obtained such rich accessions for the Library as raised it—especially in the various departments of Continental history and literature — much above all other Libraries in Britain. Within a few years of his return to England the very choice Collection which had been formed by Dr. Anthony ASKEW came into the market. For this Library, in bulk, the King offered ASKEW's representatives five thousand pounds. They thought they could make more of the Collection by an auction, but, in the event, obtained less than four thousand pounds. The Askew Library extended only to three thousand five hundred and seventy separate printed works, but it contained a large proportion of rare and choice books. The chief buyers at the sale were the Duke of LA VALLIÈRE and (through the agency of DE BURE) LEWIS THE SIXTEENTH. The King of England bought comparatively little, although on this occasion Mr. BARNARD could scarcely have withholden his hand on the Chap. IV. LIBRARY. e of the special injunctions which the King had formerly BOOK II, down for his guidance in such public competitions. or it deserves to be remembered that GEORGE THE GEORGIAN' RD's conscientious thoughtfulness for other people led early in his career as a Collector, to give to his rian a general instruction such as the servants of hy Collectors rarely receive. 'I do not wish you,' he to bid either against a literary man who wants books tudy, or against a known Collector of small means.' was very free to bid, on the other hand, against a Duke OXBURGHE or an Earl SPENCER. e King's kindness of nature was also shown in the ccess which he at all times afforded to scholars and nts in his own Library. To this circumstance we owe of the most interesting notices we have of his opinions hors and of books. * LOCALITIES the earliest years of the Royal Collectorship part of THE OLD brary was kept in the old palace at Kew, which has ince disappeared, the site of it being now a gorgeous LIBRARY. -bed. Afterwards, and on the acquisition for the , of Buckingham House, the chief part of the Colwas removed to Pimlico, and arranged in the handrooms of which a view appears, by way of vignette, titlee-pages of the sumptuously printed catalogue ed by BARNARD. It was at Buckingham House that ON's well-known conversation with the King took n February, 1767. en JOHNSON first began to use the Royal Collection it mansion for which the Trustees of the British Museum had ed to give £30,000 was sold, five years afterwards, to the King 00. It was purchased for the Queen as a jointure-house in lieu oper mansion, Somerset House, then devoted to public purposes. oyal princes and princesses were born in Buckingham House, eorge IV, and one, perhaps, of the younger children. |