presented to the cloister or library of a religious house. The prior and convent of Rochester declare, that they will every year pronounce the irrevocable sentence of damnation on him who shall purloin or conceal a Latin translation of Aristotle's PHYSICS, or even obliterate the title. Sometimes a book was given to a monastery on condition that the donor should have the use of it during his life: and sometimes to a private person, with the reservation that he who receives it should pray for the soul of his benefactor*. The gift of a book to Lincoln cathedral, by bishop Repingdon, in the year 1422, occurs in this form and under these curious circumstances. The memorial is written in Latin, with the bishop's own hand, which I will give in English, at the beginning of Peter's BREVIARY OF THE BIBLE. "I Philip of Repyndon, late bishop of Lincoln, give this book called Peter de Aureolis to the new library to be built within the church of Lincoln: reserving the use and possession of it to Richard Fryesby, clerk, canon and prebendary of Miltoun, in fee, and to the term of his life: and afterwards to be given up and restored to the said library, or the keepers of the same, for the time being, faithfully and without delay. Written with my own hand, A.D. 1422." When a book was bought, the affair was of so much importance, that it was customary to assemble persons of consequence and character, and to make a formal record that they were present on this occasion. Among the royal manuscripts, in the book of the SENTENCES of Peter Lombard, an archdeacon of Lincoln has left this entry". "This book of the SENTENCES belongs to master Roger, archdeacon of Lincoln, which he bought of MSS. Reg. 12 G. ii. [At the end of a MS. of the Golden Legend in Mr. Douce's possession is the following bequest: "Be hit remembryd that John Burton citizen and mercer of London, past oute of this lyfe the xx day of Novemb the yere of oure Lorde Mill'. cccclx. and the yere of kynge Henry the Sixte after the conquest xxxix. And the said John Burton bequethe to dame Kateryne Burton his dougter, a boke callyd Legenda scor.' the seyde Kateryne to have hit and to occupye to hir owne use and at hir owne liberte durynge hur lyfe, and after hur decesse to remayne to the prioresse and the covent of Halywelle for evˇmore, they to pray for the saide John Burton and Johne his wife and alle crystene soyles. And who that lettithe the execucion of this bequest he the lawe standeth."-PARK.] MSS. Reg. 8 G. fol. iii. Brit. Mus. " It is in Latin. u Geoffrey the chaplain, brother of Henry vicar of Northelkington, in the presence of master Robert de Lee, master John of Lirl ing, Richard of Luda, clerk, Richard the almoner, the said Henry the vicar and his clerk, and others: and the said archdeacon gave the said book to God and saint Oswald, and to Peter abbot of Barton, and the convent of Barden"." The disputed property of a book often occasioned the most violent altercations. Many claims appear to have been made to a manuscript of Matthew Paris, belonging to the last-mentioned library: in which John Russell, bishop of Lincoln, thus conditionally defends or explains his right of possession. "If this book can be proved to be or to have been the property of the exempt monastery of Saint Alban in the diocese of Lincoln, I declare this to be my mind, that, in that case, I use it at present as a loan under favour of those monks who belong to the said monastery. Otherwise, according to the condition under which this book came into my possession, I will that it shall belong to the college of the blessed Winchester Mary at Oxford, of the foundation of William Wykham. Written with my own hand at Bukdene, 1 Jun. A.D. 1488. Jo. LINCOLN. Whoever shall obliterate or destroy this writing, let him be anathema." About the year 1225, Roger de Insula, dean of York, gave several Latin bibles to the university of Oxford, with a condition that the students who perused them should deposit a cautionary pledge. 9 B. ix. 1. * Written in Latin. Cod. MSS. Reg. 14 C. vii. 2. fol. In this manuscript is written by Matthew Paris in his own hand, Hunc Librum dedit frater Matthaeus Parisiensis-Perhaps, deo et ecclesia S. Albani, since erased. y Wood, Hist. Antiq. Univ. Oxon. ii. 48. col. 1. It was common to lend money on the deposit of a book. There were public chests in the universities, and perhaps some other places, for receiving the books so deposited; many of which still remain, with an insertion in the blank pages, containing the conditions of the pledge. I will throw together a few instances in this note. In Pe The library of that university, ter Comestor's SCHOLASTICAL HISTORY, "Cautio Thomæ Wybaurn excepta in Cista de Chichele, A. D. 1468, 20 die mens. Augusti. Et est liber M. Petri, &c. Et jacet pro xxvis. viiid." Mus. Brit. MSS. Reg. 2 C. fol. i. In a PSALTER cum glossa, "A.D. 1326, Iste Liber impignoratur Mag. Jacobo de Ispania canonico S. l'auli London, per fratrem Willielmum de Rokesle de ordine et conventu Prædicatorum Londonie, pro xxs. quem idem frater Willielmus recepit mutuo de predicto Jacobo ad opus predicti conventus, solvendos in quindena S. Michaelis proxime ventura. Condonatur quia pauper." Ibid. 3 E. vii. fol. In Bernard's HOMELIES before the year 1300, consisted only of a few tracts, chained or kept in chests in the choir of St. Mary's church". In the year 1327, the scholars and citizens of Oxford assaulted and entirely pillaged the opulent Benedictine abbey of the neighbouring town of Abingdon. Among the books they found there, were one hundred psalters, as many grayles, and forty missals, which undoubtedly belonged to the choir of the church: but besides these, there were only twenty-two CODICES, which I interpret books on common subjects. And although the invention of paper, at the close of the eleventh century, contributed to multiply manuscripts, and consequently to facilitate knowledge, yet even so late as the reign of our Henry the Sixth, I have discovered the following remarkable instance of the inconveniencies and impediments to study, which must have been produced by a scarcity of books. It is in the sta ON THE CANTICLES, "Cautio Thome Myllyng imposita ciste de Rodbury, 10 die Decemb. A.D. 1491. Et jacet pro xxs." Ibid. 6 C. ix. These pledges, among other particulars, shew the prices of books in the middle ages, a topic which I shall touch upon below. Z Registr. Univ. Oxon. C. 64. a. a Wood, Hist. ut supr. i. 163. col. 1. Leland mentions this library, but it is just before the dissolution of the monastery, "Cum excuterem pulverem et blattas Abbandunensis bibliothecæ: " Script. Brit. p. 238. See also J. Twyne, Comm. de Reb. Albionic. lib. ii. p. 130. edit. Lond. 1590. I have mentioned the libraries of many monasteries below. See also what is said of the libraries of the Mendicant Friars, SECT. ix. p. 128. infr. That of Grey Friars in London was filled with books at the cost of five hundred and fifty-six pounds in the year 1432. Leland, Coll. i. 109. In the year 1482, the library of the abbey of Leicester contained eight large stalls which were filled with books. Gul. Charyte, Registr. Libror. et Jocal. omnium in monast. S. Mar. de pratis prope Lecestriam. MSS. Bibl. Bodl. Laud. I. 75. fol. membr. See f. 139. There is an account of the library of Dover priory, MSS. Bibl. Bodl. Arch. B. 24. Leland says, that the library of Norwich priory was "bonis refertissima libris." Script. Brit. p. 247. See also Leland's account of St. Austin's library at Canterbury, ibid. p. 299. Concerning which, compare Liber Thoma Sprotti d'e libraria S. Augustini Cantuariæ, MSS. C. C. C. Oxon. 125. And Bibl. Cotton. Brit. Mus. JUL. C. vi. 4. And Leland, Coll. iii. 10. 120. Leland, who was librarian to Henry the Eighth, removed a large quantity of valuable manuscripts from St. Austin's Canterbury and from other monasteries at the dissolution, to that king's library at Westminster. See Script. Brit. ETHELSTANUS. And MSS. Reg. 1 A. xviii. For the sake of connection I will observe, that among our cathedral libraries of secular canons, that of the church of Wells was most magnificent: it was built about the year 1420, and contained twenty-five windows on either side. Leland, Coll. i. p. 109. in which state, I believe, it continues at present. Nor is it quite foreign to the subject of this note to add, that king Henry the Sixth intended a library at Eton college, fifty-two feet long, and twenty-four broad and another at King's college in Cambridge of the same breadth, but one hundred and two feet in length. Ex Testam. dat. xii. Mar. 1447. : tutes of St. Mary's college at Oxford, founded as a seminary to Oseney abbey in the year 1446. "Let no scholar occupy a book in the library above one hour, or two hours at most; so that others shall be hindered from the use of the same." The famous library established in the university of Oxford, by that munificent patron of literature Humphrey duke of Gloucester, contained only six hundred volumes. About the commencement of the fourteenth century, there were only four classics in the royal library at Paris. These were one copy of Cicero, Ovid, Lucan, and Boethius. The rest were chiefly books of devotion, which included but few of the fathers: many treatises of astrology, geomancy, chiromancy, and medicine, originally written in Arabic, and translated into Latin or French: pandects, chronicles, and romances. This collection was principally made by Charles the Fifth, who began his reign in 1365. This monarch was passionately fond of reading, and it was the fashion to send him presents of books from every part of the kingdom of France. These he ordered to be elegantly transcribed, and richly illuminated; and he placed them in a tower of the Louvre, from thence called la toure de la libraire. The whole consisted of nine hundred volumes. They were deposited in three chambers; which, on this occasion, were wainscotted with Irish oak, and cieled with cypress curiously carved. The windows were of painted glass, fenced with iron bars and copper wire. The English became masters of Paris in the year 1425. On which event the duke of Bedford, regent of France, sent his whole library, then consisting of only eight hundred and fifty-three volumes, and valued at two thousand two hundred and twenty-three livres, into England; where perhaps they became the ground-work of duke Humphrey's library just mentioned. Even so late as the year was not opened till the year 1480. Ibid. p. 50. col. i. b"Nullus occupet unum librum, vel occupari faciat, ultra unam horam et duas ad majus: sic quod cæteri retrahantur a visu et studio ejusdem." Statut. Coll. S. Mariæ pro Oseney. De LIBRARIA. f. 21. MSS. Rawlins. Bibl. Bodl. Oxon. • Wood, ubi supr. ii. 49. col. ii. VOL. 1. It d See M. Boivin, Mem. Lit. ii. p. 747. 4to. Who says, that the regent presented to his brother in law Humphrey duke of Gloucester a rich copy of a translation of Livy into French, which had been presented to the king of France. h 1471, when Louis the Eleventh of France borrowed the works of the Arabian physician Rhasis, from the faculty of medicine at Paris, he not only deposited by way of pledge a quantity of valuable plate, but was obliged to procure a nobleman to join with him as surety in a deed, by which he bound himself to return it under a considerable forfeituref. The excessive prices of books'in the middle ages, afford numerous and curious proofs. I will mention a few only. In the year 1174, Walter prior of St. Swithin's at Winchester, afterwards elected abbot of Westminster, a writer in Latin of the lives of the bishops who were his patrons, purchased of the canons of Dorchester in Oxfordshire, Bede's Homilies, and Saint Austin's Psalter, for twelve measures of barley, and a pall on which was embroidered in silver the history of Saint Birinus converting a Saxon king". Among the royal manuscripts in the British Museum there is COMESTOR'S SCHOLASTIC HISTORY in French; which, as it is recorded in a blank page at the beginning, was taken from the king of France at the battle of Poitiers; and being purchased by William Montague earl of Salisbury for one hundred mars, was ordered to be sold by the last will of his countess Elizabeth for forty livres. About the * See Bury's PHILOBIBLON, mentioned at large below. De modo communicandi studentibus libros nostros. cap. xix. f Robertson's Hist. Charles V. vol. i. p. 281. edit. 8vo.' William Giffard and Henry de Blois, bishops of Winchester. Registr. Priorat. S. Swithin. Winton. ut supr. MS. quatern. "Pro duodecim mens. (or mod.) ordei, et una palla brusdata in argento cum historia sancti Birini convertentis ad fidem Kynegylsum regem Gewyseorum: necnon Oswaldi regis Northumbranorum suscipientis de fonte Kynegylsum." Gewyseorum is the West Saxons. This history, with others of Saint Birinus, is represented on the antient font of Norman workmanship in Winchester cathedral: on the windows of the abbey-church of Dorchester near Oxford: and in the western front and windows of Lincoln cathedral. With all which churches Birinus was connected. He was buried MSS. 19 D ii. LA BIBLE HYSTORIAUS, OU LES HISTORIES ESCOLASTRES. The transcript is of the fourteenth century. This is the entry, "Cest livre fust pris oue le roy de France a la bataille de Peyters: et le bon counte de Saresbirs William Montagu la achata pur cent mars, et le dona a sa compaigne Elizabeth la bone countesse, que dieux assoile.-Lequele lyvre le dite countesse assigna a ses executours de le rendre pur xl. livres." |