CAMBRIDGE, MASS. THE FOUNDERS OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM: WITH NOTICES OF ITS CHIEF AUGMENTORS AND OTHER BENEFACTORS. 1570-1870. BY EDWARD EDWARDS. The old "Townley Gallery." LONDON: NEW YORK: J. W. BOUTON, 706, BROADWAY. (All rights reserved.) PREFATORY NOTE. 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. 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). 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 |