Book III, Chap. II. HISTORY

OF THE MUSEUM UNDER SIR

H. ELLIS.

PAUCITY OF ENGLISH DOCUMENTS IN THE ARCHIVES

AT POMARD.

the cartons in the second room contained collections of a comparatively recent date, apparently the manuscripts of the Baron's father. Some of these were terriers of lands, others were marked "Pays Etrangers," "Monumens Généalogiques;" "Pièces Historiques;" "Parlement;" "Histoire de l'Eglise."

'Of the great collection of charters (and it appeared to me to be larger than all the collection of charters at present in the British Museum put together), I am bound to say that I believe them to have formed almost the entire muniments of the Earls of BLOIS, containing whatever related to their concern in the wars of Europe in the middle ages, to their prædial possessions, their granting out of property and privileges, sales, feudal or public acts, quittances of money for military services, letters patents, expenses of household, and every act, material or immaterial, likely to be found in the archives of one of the greatest houses of England.

'I looked in vain, however, for anything illustrative of English history, except in a single bundle, tied in paper, which seemed unconnected with the cartons, and was not, as far as I could find, in any of the MS. catalogues. This bundle was entitled, in a modern hand, "Documens relatifs à l'occupation de la France par les Anglais, 1400." It consists of about one hundred vellum instruments, one or two, or perhaps more, so far in the form of letters that they were official announcements; such as the Duke of ORLEANS in England in 1437, that he had obtained safe conducts for his Chancellor and Premier Écuyer d'écurie. Amongst these are various orders of payment and acquittances for money, and several relate to Charles, Duke of ORLEANS, whilst prisoner in England after the fight of Agincourt. There is a payment to the Earl of SUFFOLK; another to

Chap. II.

OF THE

H. ELLIS.

persons fighting against the English; a payment for the BOOK III, deliverance of the Duc d'ANGOULEME whilst a prisoner in HISTORY England in 1412; various orders of John, Duke of BED- MUSEUM FORD, the Bastard of Salisbury, the Duke of EXETER, &C., UNDER SIR to persons in the care of military posts under them; the Duke of BEDFORD concerning musters; HENRY; THE FIFTH's acquittance to the parishioners of certain villages for payments on account of the war; various grants of the same King for services in the wars; a grant to Sir William BOURCHIER of the estates of the Earl of Eu, dated at Mantes in his seventh year; and an order for a confirmation to be made out of the different grants of the Kings of England and Dukes, of Normandy to the House of Lepers at Dieppe.'

When Sir Henry ELLIS had completed at Pomard that rough examination of the Collection which he thus described on his return to Paris, his first inquiry of the owner was, of course, about price. M. de JoUrsanvault was embarrassed. To Sir Thomas CROFT he had already said that he hoped to get sixty thousand francs. ELLIS had noticed, as the Baron drove him from Beaune into the court-yard of the old chateau, that its appearance denoted wealth in past rather than in present days, but he could hardly have been prepared for the effect of altered circumstances in turning a gentleman into a chapman. In the evening the anticipated sixty thousand francs had grown into a hundred and ten thousand. Nor was this the only demand. The Duke of WELLINGTON must use his credit at Paris to transform the Baron into a Count (without any stipulation for an entailed estate by way of 'majorat '); and if the task should be beyond the powers even of the conqueror of NAPOLEON, then M. de JOURSAN VAULT was to receive, from the English Government, authority to import

BOOK III, Chap. II. HISTORY

OF THE MUSEUM UNDER SIR H. ELLIS.

into England five hundred pipes of Beaune wine, grown upon his own estate, free of all customs duties, and for his own profit.

Sir Henry (who with great good sense had already taken precaution that his position at the British Museum should not be known to his host at Pomard, in the hope of precluding any exaggeration of terms) remonstrated against the burden of such a demand, but all entreaty was vain. The Baron was bent on having-in addition to his £4400— either a step in nobility, or, at the least, a handsome remission of customs duty. The Trustees, in the end, declined to treat.

When it came to Sir Harris NICOLAS's knowledge that ELLIS's journey to Pomard was apparently to have no result in the way of bringing historical manuscripts into England, he felt angry as well as disappointed. It was his earnest belief-whether right or wrong-that a valuable occasion had been somewhat trifled with. He told the story,* and

*After stating that Mr. Ellis had made needless proclamation at Paris of the object of his journey, Sir Harris Nicolas proceeds thus:'Not contented with this injudicious and useless development of the objects in view, the learned gentleman himself pompously announced wherever he went that he was the "Chief Librarian of the British Museum," sent specially to treat for these manuscripts, thus making a public affair of what should have been kept private. The effect of this folly may easily be imagined. Long before the "Chief Librarian" reached Pomard, the French newspapers expressed their indignation that historical muniments should be sold to the British Government, inferring that England must be anxious to possess the records in question, when the purchase of them was made an official business.

The effect of all this parade upon the owner of the manuscripts was a natural one; he fancied he had erred in his estimate of their value, and that, as they seemed to be objects of national importance to another Government, he resolved to make that Government pay at a much higher rate, for what they manifested such extraordinary anxiety to obtain, than a private individual. On the "Chief Librarian's" arrival at Pomard, he discovered that the Baron could speak little English; and

treasured up the memory, and both the story and the nar-
rator's personal reminiscences of the transaction had their
share in bringing about the parliamentary enquiry into the
affairs of the British Museum.

BOOK III,
HISTORY

Chap. II.

OF THE MUSEUM UNDER SIR H. ELLIS.

THE PARLIA-
INQUIRY

MENTARY

INTO
MUSEUM
AFFAIRS OF
1835 AND

Originally, and immediately, that inquiry was proposed
to the House of Commons by Mr. Benjamin HAWES, then
M.P. for Lambeth, at the instance of a Mr. John MILLARD,
who had been employed, for some years, on an Index of
MSS., and whose employment (upon very good grounds)
had been discontinued. Sir Harris NICOLAS also brought 1836.
his influence to bear. Mr. HAWES, personally, had a very
earnest intention to benefit the Public by the inquiry. But
his own pursuits in life were not such as to have given him
the literary qualifications necessary for conducting it.
With not less wisdom than modesty, when he had carried
his motion for a Select Committee, he waived his claim to
its chairmanship. The Committee chose for that office Mr.
SOTHERON ESTCOURT. The burden of examination, on
the Baron, as he has since asserted, discovered that the "Chief
Librarian" could speak less French; hence it was with great difficulty
that the latter could understand that the Baron had become so enlight-
ened about his treasures as to expect, not merely double the price he
originally asked for them, but as our Government had interfered on the
subject, he wished it to advance one step further, by inducing his Most
Christian Majesty to raise his Barony into a Comté. Such terms were
out of the question; and after spending two or three hours only in ex-
amining the Collection, but which required at least as many weeks, the
"Chief Librarian " returned to England re infecta, and made his report
to the Trustees, who refused to purchase the Collection, but offered to
buy a few documents, which the owner, of course, declined. Thus, highly
valuable documents are lost to the Museum and to the country, in conse-
quence, solely and entirely, of the absurd measures adopted for their
acquisition.'-NICOLAS, Observations on the State of Historical Literature
in England, pp. 78-80. My long and observant acquaintance with Sir
H. Nicolas justifies me in adding to this extract-in which there are
such obvious exaggerations of statement-that I am convinced he was
writing from insufficient and inaccurate information. He was incapable
of wilful misstatement.

BOOK III, Chap. II. HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM UNDER SIR H. ELLIS.

behalf of the Trustees, was borne-it need not be said how ably-by men of no less mark than Sir Robert Harry INGLIS and the late Earl of DERBY, then Lord Stanley.

One of the best results of the appointment of that Committee of 1835-36 was the opportunity it gave to Mr. BABER and to Mr. PANIZZI of advocating the claims of the National Library to largely increased liberality on the part of Parliament. The latter, in particular, did it with an earnestness, and with a vivacity and felicity of argument and of illustration, which I believe won for him the respect of every person who enjoyed (as I did) the pleasure of listening to his examination. I do not think that anybody in that Committee Room of 1836 thought his arguments a whit the weaker for being expressed by ' a foreigner.' But it chances to be within my knowledge that pressure was put upon Mr. Hawes, as a conspicuous member of the Committee, to induce him to put questions to a certain witness with the view of enabling that witness to attack the Trustees for appointing a foreigner to an important office in the Museum. The ludicrous absurdity of an objection on that score-in relation to a great establishment of Literature and Science-was not, it seems, felt in those days as it would assuredly be felt in the present day. The absurdity did not strike the mind of Mr. HAWES, but, to his great credit, he steadfastly refused to admit of any impeachment in the Committee of a choice which he believed had been most fitly made in all other respects.*

* I was myself present at an interview (in Lambeth), when the most urgent influence was used with Mr. Hawes to induce him to attack Mr. Panizzi's original appointment as an 'Assistant-Librarian'; and I heard him express a strong approval of it, on the ground of the obvious qualifications and abilities of the individual officer-though himself sharing the opinion that in such appointments Englishmen should have the preference.