Part 3 (1/2)

[55] Hearne's _Job. Glaston._ ii. 637.

[56] _Reliquiae Bodl._ p. 314.

A.D. 1612.

Two large donations of MSS. were received during this year; the one from the Dean and Chapter of Windsor (in imitation of their brethren of Exeter), of 159 volumes, chiefly theological; and the other of a large collection of scientific treatises, chiefly astronomical and medical, about 120 in number, from Thomas Twine, M.D., of Lewes.

The agreement that was entered into by the Stationers' Company in 1610 having probably been found in some degree inoperative from the absence of any penalty upon non-fulfilment, the Company at the commencement of this year pa.s.sed the following ordinance, which made it obligatory on every one of their members to forward their books to the Library. It is here printed (for the first time) from the original, preserved in the University Archives, marked A. 27[57].

'_Vicesimo octavo Januarii 1611 nono regni regis Jacobi, at Stacners Hall, in Ave Mary Lane in London. Present, the Masters, Wardens, and a.s.sistants of the Company of Stacners._

'Forasmuch as this Companye out of their zeale to the advancement of learninge, and at the request of the right wors.h.i.+pfull Sir Thomas Bodley, Knight, founder of the presente publique library of the University of Oxford, beinge readye to manifeste their willinge desires to a worck of so great pietye and benifitt to the generall state of the Realme, did by their Indenture under their common seale dated the twelveth daye of December in the eight yeare of his Maj.^ts raigne of England, Fraunce and Ireland, and the foure and fort.i.th yere of his raigne of Scotland, for them and their successors, graunte and confirme vnto the Chauncellor, Maisters, and Schollers of the Universitie of Oxford, and to their successors for ever, That of all bookes after that from tyme to tyme to be printed in the said Company of Stacners, beinge newe books and coppies never printed before, or thoughe formerly printed yet newly augmented or enlarged, there should be freelie given one perfect Booke of every such booke (in quyers) of the first ympression thereof, towardes the furnis.h.i.+nge and increase of the said Library; Nowe therefore, to the intent the said graunte maie take due effect in the orderlie performance and execucn thereof, and that so good and G.o.dlie a worck and purpose maie not bee disappointed or defeated by any meanes, It is ordayned by this Company, that all and every printer and printers that from tyme to tyme hereafter shall either for hym- or themselves, or for any other, printe or cause to be printed any newe booke or coppie never printed before, or although formerly printed yet newly augmented or enlarged, shall within ten daies next after the finis.h.i.+nge of the first ympression thereof and the puttinge of the same to sale, bringe and deliver to the yonger warden of the said Company of Stacners for the tyme beinge one perfect booke thereof to be delivered over by the same Warden to the recited use to the handes of such person or persons as shalbe appoincted by the said Chauncellour, Maisters and Schollers for the tyme beinge to receive the same; And it is alsoe ordayned that every printer that at any tyme or tymes hereafter shall make default in performance hereof, shall for every such default forfeite and paie to the use of this Company treble the value of every booke that he shall leave undelivered contrarie to this ordenance; Out of the which forfeiture, upon the levyinge and payment thereof, there shalbe provided for the use of the said Librarye that booke for the not delivery whereof the said forfeiture shalbe had and paid. And to the intent all printers and others of this Company whome it shall concerne maie take notice of this ordenance, and that any of them shall not pretend ignorance thereof, It is ordeyned that once in every yere at some generall a.s.semblie and meetinge of the said Company upon some of their usuall quarter daies, or some other tyme in the yere at their discretion, this presente ordinance shalbe publiquely read in their Hall, as other their ordenances are accustomed to be read there

'John Haryson 'John Norton, Mr.

'Richard Field } Wardens 'Humphrey Lownes } 'Edward White 'Humfry Hooper 'Simon Waterson 'William Leake 'Robert Barker 'Thomas Mane 'Thomas Dawson 'John Standishe 'Thomas Adames 'John Haryson[58]

'Ri. Collins, Clerk of the Companie.

'Havinge lately byn entreated, as well by the said Sir Thomas Bodley, Knight, as by the Maister, Wardens, and a.s.sistants of the foresaid Company of Stacners, to take some spetiall notice of this their publique acte and graunte, and (in regard of our beinge of his Maiestyes highe Comission in ecclesiasticall causes) to testifie under our handes with what allowance and good likinge we have thought it meete to be received, Wee doe not onlie as of merrit comend it to posteritie for a singuler token of the fervent zeale of that Company to the furtherance of good learninge and for an exemplarie guift and graunt to the Schollers and Studients of the Universitye of Oxford, But withall we doe promise by subscribinge unto it, that if at any tyme hereafter occasion shall require that we should help to maynteyne the due and perpetuall execucn of the same, Wee will be readie to performe it, as farre as either of our selves thoroughe our present authoritie or by any whatsoeuer our further endeavours it maie be fitlye procured.

'G. Cant.

'Jo. London 'Jo. Benet 'Tho. Ridley 'Tho. Edwardes 'G. Newmane 'John Spenser 'Richard Moket 'R. Cov. & Lich.

'Jhon Boys 'Char. Fotherbye 'Martin Fotherby 'John Layfeilds 'Jo. Roffens 'George Montaigne (_sic_) 'Rob^t. Abbott 'Henr. Hickman 'John Dix 'Willm. FFerrand.'

[57] For the use of this doc.u.ment the author is indebted to the Keeper of the Archives, Rev. J. Griffiths, M.A.

[58] Probably the son of the John Haryson who signs above.

A.D. 1613.

The death of the Founder occurred on Jan. 28, after long suffering from stone, dropsy, and scurvy, for which he is said to have been mis-treated by a Dr. Hen. Atkins[59]. Two volumes of elegiac verses were thereupon issued by the University, of which one (_Bodleiomnema_) was written entirely by members of Merton College; the other (_Justa Funebria Ptolemaei Oxoniensis_) by members of the University in general. In the latter collection are Latin verses by Laud, then President of St.

John's, and Greek verses by Isaac Casaubon. Bodley was buried (according to his desire in his will) in the chapel of his old College, Merton, on March 29, with all the state of a public funeral. He bequeathed the greater part of his property for the building of the east wing of the Library and the completion of the Schools, appointing Sir John Bennett and Mr. William Hakewill his executors. The former, however, proved in some measure an unfaithful steward. When prosecuted in Parliament in 1621, for gross bribery in his office as Judge of the Prerogative Court, some of Bodley's money was still remaining in his hands, and was mentioned in the charges brought against him. For the due payment of a portion of this, by annual instalments of 150, the University, on June 28, 1624, accepted four bonds from him, witnessed by Thomas Coventreye, Matthew Bennet, and Henry Wigmore; only one of these appears to have been paid off, leaving an unpaid deficit of 450[60]. The entry of this debt is carried on, together with the loan made to King Charles I in 1642, in the Library accounts[61], from year to year up to 1782, when by order of the Curators the entries were discontinued. In the notice of the Library contributed (as it is said) by Dr. Hudson to Ayliffe's _Ancient and Present State of Oxford_ (vol. i. p. 460), it is stated that the Library estate falls miserably short by reason of 'the fraud of his [Bodley's] executor, the loan of a great sum of money to Charles I in his distress, and by the fire of London,' that event, doubtless, necessitating the rebuilding of the houses in Distaff Lane.

Bodley was charged by some of his contemporaries, and apparently with some justice, with sacrificing in his will the claims of relatives and friends too much to the interests of the Library. One Mr. John Chamberlain, a friend of Bodley, whose gossiping letters to Sir Dudley Carleton, Alice Carleton, and others, are preserved in the State Paper Office, does not spare his accusations on this head. In a letter dated Feb. 4, 1613, he says that Bodley has left legacies to great people, 7000 to the Library, and 200 to Merton College, but little to his brothers, his old servants, his friends, or the children of his wife, by whom he had all his wealth[62]. In another, dated June 23, 1613, he remarks that the executors cannot excuse Bodley of unthankfulness to many of his relatives and friends, he being 'so drunk with the applause and vanitie of his librarie that he made no conscience to rob Peter to pay Paul[63].' Some inferential corroboration of this is afforded by the following curious paper preserved among Rawlinson's gatherings (now in a vol. numbered Rawl. MS. Miscell., 1203), being no other than a pet.i.tion for relief addressed by the grand-nephew and grand-niece of Bodley in the year 1712 (as appears from the Library accounts) to the Heads of Houses and Curators of the Library, who appear both officially and individually to have been very parsimonious in their response:--

'To the Wors.h.i.+pful Mr. Vice-Chancellor and to all heads and governors of Colleges and Halls within the famous University of Oxon.

'The humble pet.i.tion of William Snos.h.i.+ll of East Lockinge in the county of Berks, labourer, and of Jane the wife of Thomas Hatton of Childrey in the county aforesaid, labourer, sister of the said William Snos.h.i.+ll,

'Humbly sheweth,

'That your Pet.i.tioners being the grand-children of the sister of Sir Thomas Bodley, the munificent founder of the Bodleian Library in your University, being now reduc'd to a poor and low estate, do with all humility make bold to represent their distrest condition to your consideration, hoping that out of your tender pity and commiseration, and that regard you have for the pious memory of so great a benefactor to your University, to whom your poor Pet.i.tioners are so nearly allied, you will be pleas'd to consider them as real objects of your charity and compa.s.sion, and thereby you will lay an eternal obligation on them of praying for your present and future happiness.

'William Snos.h.i.+ll 'Jane Hatton.

'We, whose names are subscribed to this Pet.i.tion, are well satisfied of the truth thereof.

'Thomas Paris, rector of Childrey 'John Holmes 'John Bell, vic. of Sparsholt 'John Aldworth, rector of East Lockinge 'Ralph Kedden, M.A., vicar of Denchworth, Berks.