The period of this distinguished nobleman was that in which book-collecting began to assume a fixed and important character in this country. Oxford saw a glimmering of civilization dawning in her obscured atmosphere. A short but dark night had succeeded the patriotic efforts of De Bury; whose curious volumes, bequeathed to Trinity College, had laid in a melancholy and deserted condition 'till they were kept company by those of COBHAM, Bishop of Worcester, REDE, Bishop of Chichester, and HUMPHREY the good Duke of Gloucester.[271]

Now began the fashion (and may it never fall to decay!) of making presents to public libraries:--but, during the short and splendid career of HENRY V., learning yielded to arms: the reputation of a scholar to that of a soldier. I am not aware of any thing at this period, connected with the subject of our discourse, that deserves particular mention; although we ought never to name this illustrious monarch, or to think of his matchless prowess in arms, without calling to mind how he adorned the rough character of a soldier by the manners of a prince, the feelings of a Christian, and, I had almost said, the devotion of a saint.

[Footnote 271: We will first notice COBHAM, Bishop of Worcester: who "having had a great desire to show some love to his mother the university of Oxford, began, about the year 1320, to build, or at least to make some reparations for _a Library_, over the old congregation house in the north church-yard of St. Mary's; but he dying soon after, before any considerable matter was done therein, left certain moneys for the carrying on of the work, and all his books, with others that had been lately procured, to be, with those belonging to the university (as yet kept in chests) reposed therein." Some controversy afterwards arising between the University and Oriel College, to which latter Cobham belonged, the books lay in dreary and neglected state till 1367; when a room having been built for their reception, it was settled that they "should be reposed and chained in the said room or solar; that the scholars of the University should have free ingress and regress, at certain times, to make proficiency in them; that certain of the said books, of greater price, should be sold, till the sum of _l._ 40 was obtained for them (unless other remedy could be found) with which should be bought an yearly rent of _l._ 3, for the maintenance of a chaplain, that should pray for the soul of the said bishop, and other benefactors of the University both living and dead, and have the custody or oversight of the said books, and of those in the ancient chest of books, and chest of rolls." Wood's _Hist. of the University of Oxford_, vol. ii., pt. ii., 911. Gutch's edit.

WILLIAM REDE, or READ, bishop of Chichester, "sometimes Fellow (of Merton College) gave a chest with _l._ 100 in gold in it, to be borrowed by the Fellows for their relief; bond being first given in by them to repay it at their departure from the college; or, in case they should die, to be paid by their executors: A.D. 1376. He also built, about the same time, _a Library_ in the college; being the first that the society enjoyed, and gave books thereunto." Wood's _History of the Colleges and Halls_, p. 15, Gutch's edit. In Mr. Nicholl's _Appendix to the History of Leicester_, p.

105, note 20, I find some account of this distinguished literary character, taken from Tanner's _Bibl. Britan._, p.

618. He is described, in both authorities, as being a very learned Fellow of Merton College, where he built and furnished _a noble library_; on the wall of which was painted his portrait, with this inscription: "GULIELMUS REDaeUS, EPISCOPUS CICESTRENSIS, MAGISTER IN THEOLOGIA, PROFUNDUS ASTRONOMUS, QUONDAM SOCIUS ISTIUS COLLEGII, QUI HANC LIBRARIAM FIERI FECIT." Many of Read's mathematical instruments, as well as his portrait, were preserved in the library when Harrison wrote his description of England, prefix'd to Holinshed's Chronicles; some of the former of which came into the possession of the historian. For thus writes Harrison: "William Read, sometime fellow of Merteine college in Oxford, doctor of divinitie, and the most profound astronomer that liued in his time, as appeareth by his collection, which some time I did possesse; his image is yet in the librarie there; and manie instruments of astronomie reserued in that house," &c. _Chronicles_ (1587), edit. 1807, vol. i., p. 237. In the year 1808, when I visited the ancient and interesting brick-floored library of Merton College, for the purpose of examining early printed books, I looked around in vain for the traces, however faded, of Read's portrait: nor could I discover a single vestige of the BIBLIOTHECA READIANA! The memory of this once celebrated bishop lives therefore only in what books have recorded of him; and this brief and _verbal picture_ of Read is here drawn--as was the more finished resemblance of Chaucer by the pencil, which Occleve has left behind--

=That thei that have of him lost thoute and mynde By this peinture may ageine him fynde.=

HUMPHREY, Duke of GLOUCESTER, "commonly called _the good_, was youngest brother to Henry V. and the first founder of the university library in Oxford, which was pillaged of the greater part of its books in the reign of Edward the Sixth."

Park's edit. of the _Royal and Noble Authors_; vol. i., 198.

"As for the books which he gave (says Wood) they were very many, more by far than authors report; for whereas 'tis said he gave 129, you shall find anon that they were more than treble the number." The Duke's first gift, in 1439, of one hundred and twenty-nine treatises, was worth, according to Wood, a thousand pounds. All his book presents, "amounting to above 600 (mostly treating of divinity, physic, history, and humanity) which were from several parts of the world obtained, were transmitted to the university, and for the present laid up in chests in Cobham's library. The catalogue also of them which were then sent, and the indentures for the receipt of the said books, were laid up in the chest called _Cista Librorum et Rotulorum_." _History_ (or Annals) _of the University of Oxford_; vol. ii., pt. ii., 914.

Gutch's edit. Consult also the recent and very amusing _History of the same University_, by Mr. A. Chalmers, vol.

ii., p. 459. Leland has not forgotten this distinguished bibliomaniac; for he thus lauds him in roman verse:

Tam clari meminit viri togata Recte Gallia; tum chorus suavis Cygnorum Isidis ad vadum incolentm Cui magnum numerum dedit BONORUM LIBRORUM, statuitque sanctiori Divinus studio scholae theatrum; Nostro quale quidem videtur esse Magnum tempore, forsan et futuro

_Cygn. Cant._ Vide Lelandi Itinerarium Cura Hearne; edit. 1770, vol. ix., p. 17.]

The reign of his successor, HENRY VI., was the reign of trouble and desolation. It is not to be wondered that learning drooped, and religion "waxed faint," 'midst the din of arms and the effusion of human blood. Yet towards the close of this reign some attempt was made to befriend the book cause; for the provost and fellows of Eton and Cambridge petitioned the king to assist them in increasing the number of books in their libraries;[272] but the result of this petition has never, I believe, been known.

[Footnote 272: In the manuscript history of Eton College, in the British Museum (_MSS. Donat._ 4840, p. 154.), the Provost and Fellows of Eton and Cambridge are stated, in the 25th of Henry the Sixth, to have petitioned the king that, as these new colleges were not sufficiently seised of books for divine service, and for their libraries, he would be pleased to order one of his chaplains, Richard Chestre, "to take to him such men as shall be seen to him expedient in order to get knowledge where such bookes may be found, paying a reasonable price for the same, and that the sayd men might have the first choice of such bookes, ornaments, &c., before any man, and in especiall of all manner of bookes, ornaments, and other necessaries as now _late were perteynyng to the Duke of Gloucester_, and that the king would particular(ly) cause to be employed herein John Pye his stacioner of London." For this anecdote I am indebted to Sir H. Ellis. See also the interesting note in Warton's _Hist. Engl. Poet._, diss. ii., sign. f. 2.]

I had nearly passed through the reign of Henry the Sixth without noticing the very meritorious labours of a sort of precursor of Dean Colet; I mean, SIR WALTER SHERINGTON. He was a most assiduous bibliomaniac;[273] and, in the true spirit of ancient monachism, conceived that no cathedral could be perfect without a library.

Accordingly, he not only brought together an extraordinary number of curious books, but framed laws or regulations concerning the treatment of the books, and the hours of perusing them; which, if I can trust to my memory, are rather curious, and worth your examination. They are in Hearne's edition of the Antiquities of Glastonbury, composed in our own language.

[Footnote 273: "Over the east quadrant of this (great) cloyster (on the north side of this church) was a fayre librarie, builded at the costes and charges of (Sir) WALTAR SHERINGTON, chancellor of the duchie of Lancaster, in the raigne of Henrie the 6. which hath beene well furnished with faire written books IN VELLEM: but few of them now do remaine there." _Antiquities of Glastonbury_; Hearne's edit.

1722; p. 308.

_Regulations concerning Sherington's Library._

"Quodque dicta libraria, hostiis ipsius per praefatos capellanos custodes ejusdem, et eorum successores, aut alterum ipsorum, apertis singulis diebus profestis annuatim a festo Nativ. beat. Mar. Virg. usque festum Annunciacionis ejusdem, ob ortu solis, donec hora nona post altam missam de servicio diei in dicta ecclesia cathedrali finiatur: et iterum ab hora prima post meridiem usque ad finem completorii in eadem ecclesia cathedrali, vel saltem usque ad occasum solis per eosdem, seu eorum alterum, sic continue diligenter custodiatur. Et eciam singulis diebus profestis annuatim, ab eodem festo Annunciacionis beatae Mariae Virginis usque ad praedictum festum nativitatis ejusdem, ab hora diei sexta, donec hora nona post altam missam in dicta ecclesia cathedrali, et iterum ab hora prima post meridiem quosque completorium in eadem ecclesia cathedrali finiatur, per praefatos capellanos, seu eorum alterum et successores suos custodes dictae librariae debite et diligenter aperta, custodiatur, nisi causa racionabilis hoc fieri impediat. Ita quod nullum dampnum eidem librariae aut in libris, aut in hostiis, seruris vel fenestris vitreis ejusdem, ex negligencia dictorum capellanorum aut successorum suorum custodum dictae librariae evenire contingat. Et si quid dampnum hujusmodi in praemissis, seu aliquo praemissorum, per negligenciam ipsorum capellanorum, seu eorum alterius, aut successorum suorum quoque modo imposterum evenerit, id vel ipsa dampnum aut dampna recompensare, emendare et satisfacere, tociens quociens contigerit, de salariis seu stipendiis suis propriis, auctoritate et judicio dictorum Decani et Capituli, debeant et teneantur, ut est justum.

Ceteris vero diebus, noctibus et temporibus hostia praedicta, cum eorum seruris et clavibus, omnino sint clausa et secure serata." _Id._: p. 193.]

We now enter upon the reign of an active and enterprising monarch; who, though he may be supposed to have cut his way to the throne by his sword, does not appear to have persecuted the cause of learning; but rather to have looked with a gracious eye upon its operations by means of the press. In the reign of EDWARD IV., our venerable and worthy Caxton fixed the first press that ever was set to work in this country, in the abbey of Westminster. Yes, Lorenzo; now commenced more decidedly, the aera of BIBLIOMANIA! Now the rich, and comparatively poor, began to build them small _Book Rooms_ or _Libraries_. At first, both the architecture and furniture were sufficiently rude, if I remember well the generality of wood cuts of ancient book-boudoirs:--a few simple implements only being deemed necessary; and a three-legged stool, "in fashion square or round," as Cowper[274] says, was thought luxury sufficient for the hard student to sit upon. Now commenced a general love and patronage of books: now (to borrow John Fox's language) "tongues became known, knowledge grew, judgment increased, BOOKS WERE DISPERSED, the scripture was read, stories were opened, times compared, truth discerned, falsehood detected, and with finger pointed (at)--and all, THROUGH THE BENEFIT OF PRINTING."[275]

[Footnote 274: The entire passage is worth extraction: as it well describes many an old stool which has served for many a studious philosopher:

"Joint stools were then created: on three legs Upborne they stood. Three legs upholding firm A massy slab, in fashion square or round.

On such a stool immortal Alfred sat, And sway'd the sceptre of his infant realms.

And such in ancient halls and mansions drear May still be seen; but perforated sore, And drilled in holes, the solid oak is found, By worms voracious eating through and through."

_Task_: b. i., v. 19, &c.

It had escaped the amiable and sagacious author of these verses that such tripodical seats were frequently introduced into OLD BOOK-ROOMS; as the subjoined print--which gives us also a curious picture of one of the libraries alluded to by Lysander--may serve to shew:

[Illustration: _Revelaciones Sancte Birgitte; ed. 1521, sign. z. 3 rev._]]

[Footnote 275: _Book of Martyrs_, vol. i., p. 927; edit.

1641.]

LIS. Now you have arrived at this period, pray concentrate your anecdotes into a reasonable compass. As you have inveigled us into the printing-office of Caxton, I am fearful, from your strong attachment to him, that we shall not get over the threshhold of it, into the open air again, until midnight.

PHIL. Order, order, Lisardo! This is downright rudeness. I appeal to the chair!--

LORENZ. Lisardo is unquestionably reprehensible. His eagerness makes him sometimes lose sight of good breeding.

LYSAND. I was going to mention some _Vellum_ and _Presentation_ copies--but I shall hurry forward.

LIS. Nay, if you love me, omit nothing about "vellum and presentation copies." Speak at large upon these glorious subjects.

LYSAND. Poor Lisardo!--we must build an iron cage to contain such a book-madman as he promises to become!

PHIL. Proceed, dear Lysander, and no longer heed these interruptions.

LYSAND. Nay, I was only about to observe that, as Caxton is known to have printed _upon vellum_,[276] it is most probable that one of his presentation copies of the romances of _Jason and Godfrey of Boulogne_ (executed under the patronage of Edward IV.), might have been printed in the same manner. Be this as it may, it seems reasonable to conclude that Edward the Fourth was not only fond of books, as objects of beauty or curiosity, but that he had some affection for literature and literary characters; for how could the firm friend and generous patron of TIPTOFT, EARL of WORCESTER--with whom this monarch had spent many a studious, as well as jovial, hour--be insensible to the charms of intellectual refinement! Pause we here for one moment--and let us pour the juice of the blackest grape upon the votive tablet, consecrated to the memory of this illustrious nobleman! and, as Caxton has become so fashionable[277] among us, I will read to you, from yonder beautiful copy of his English edition of "_Tully upon Friendship_," a part of our printer's affecting eulogy upon the translator:--"O good blessed Lord God, what great loss was it of that noble, virtuous, and well-disposed lord! When I remember and advertise his life, his science, and his virtue, me thinketh God not displeased over a great loss of such a man, considering his estate and cunning,"

&c. "At his death every man that was there, might learn to die and take his (own) death patiently; wherein I hope and doubt not, but that God received his soul into his everlasting bliss. For as I am informed he right advisedly ordained all his things, as well for his last will of worldly goods, as for his soul's health; and patiently, and holily, without grudging, in charity, to fore that he departed out of this world: which is gladsome and joyous to hear."--What say you to this specimen of Caxtonian eloquence?

[Footnote 276: Consult the recent edition of the _Typographical Antiquities_ of our own country: vol. i., p.

56, 137, 268.]

[Footnote 277: As a proof of the ardour with which the books printed by him are now sought after, the reader shall judge for himself--when he is informed that an imperfect copy of the _Golden Legend_, one of Caxton's commonest productions, produced at a book sale, a few months ago, the sum of _twenty-seven_ guineas!]

LIS. It has a considerable merit; but my attention has been a good deal diverted, during your appropriate recital of it, to the beautiful condition of the copy. Thrice happy Lorenzo! what sum will convey this volume to my own library!

LOREN. No offer, in the shape of money, shall take it hence. I am an enthusiast in the cause of Tiptoft; and am always upon the watch to discover any volume, printed by Caxton, which contains the composition of the hapless Earl of Worcester! Dr. Henry has spoken so handsomely of him, and Mr. Park, in his excellent edition of Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors,[278] has made his literary character so interesting that, considering the dearth of early good English authors,[279] I know of no other name that merits greater respect and admiration.

[Footnote 278: Vol i., p. 200, &c. _History of Great Britain_, by Dr. Henry, vol. x., p. 143, &c.]

[Footnote 279: "In the library of Glastonbury abbey, in 1248, there were but four books in Engleish, &c. We have not a single historian, in Engleish prose, before the reign of Richard the Second; when John Treviza translateed the Polychronicon of Randal Higden. Boston of Bury, who seems to have consulted all the monasterys in Engleland, does not mention one author who had written in Engleish; and Bale, at a lateer period, has, comparatively, but an insignificant number: nor was Leland so fortunate as to find above two or three Engleish books, in the monastick and other librarys, which he rummage'd, and explore'd, under the king's commission." Ritson's Dissertation on Romance and Minstrelsy: prefixed to his _Ancient Engleish Metrical Romancees_, vol. i., p. lxxxi.]

LYSAND. True; and this nobleman's attention to the acquisition of fine and useful books, when he was abroad, for the benefit of his own country,[280] gives him a distinguished place in the list of BIBLIOMANIACS. I dare say Lisardo would give some few hundred guineas for his bust, executed by Flaxman, standing upon a pedestal composed of the original editions of his works, bound in grave-coloured morocco by his favourite Faulkener?[281]

[Footnote 280: Dr. Henry's _History of Great Britain_; _ibid._: from which a copious note has been given in the new edition of our _Typographical Antiquities_; vol. i., p. 127, &c.]

[Footnote 281: Henry Faulkener, no. 4, George Court, near the Adelphi, in the Strand. An honest, industrious, and excellent book-binder: who, in his mode of re-binding ancient books is not only scrupulously particular in the preservation of that important part of a volume, the margin; but, in his ornaments of tooling, is at once tasteful and exact. Notwithstanding these hard times, and rather a slender bodily frame, and yet more slender purse--with five children, and the prospect of five more--honest Mr.

Faulkener is in his three-pair-of-stairs confined workshop by five in the morning winter and summer, and oftentimes labours 'till twelve at night. Severer toil, with more uniform good humour and civility in the midst of all his embarrassments, were never perhaps witnessed in a brother of the ancient and respectable craft of _Book-binding_!]

LIS. I entreat you not to inflame my imagination by such tantalizing pictures! You know this must ever be a fiction: the most successful bibliomaniac never attained to such human happiness.

PHIL. Leave Lisardo to his miseries, and proceed.

LYSAND. I have supposed Edward to have spent some jovial hours with this unfortunate nobleman. It is thought that our monarch and he partook of the superb feast which was given by the famous NEVELL, archbishop of York, at the inthronization of the latter; and I am curious to know of what the library of such a munificent ecclesiastical character was composed! But perhaps this feast itself[282] is one of Lisardo's fictions.

[Footnote 282: Lysander is perfectly correct about the feast which was given at the archbishop's inthronization; as the particulars of it--"out of an old paper roll in the archives of the Bodleian library," are given by Hearne in the sixth volume of _Leland's Collectanea_, p. 1-14: and a most extraordinary and amusing bill of fare it is. The last twenty dinners given by the Lord Mayors at Guildhall, upon the first day of their mayoralties, were only _sandwiches_--compared with such a repast! What does the reader think of 2000 chickens, 4000 pigeons, 4000 coneys, 500 "and mo," stags, bucks, and roes, with 4000 "pasties of venison colde?"--and these barely an 18th part of the kind of meats served up! At the high table our amiable EARL of WORCESTER was seated, with the Archbishop, three Bishops, the Duke of Suffolk, and the Earl of Oxford. The fictitious archiepiscopal feast was the one intended to be given by NEVELL to Edward IV.; when the latter "appointed a day to come to hunt in More in Hertfordshire, and make merry with him." Nevell made magnificent preparations for the royal visit; but instead of receiving the monarch as a guest, he was saluted by some of his officers, who "arrested him for treason," and imprisoned him at Calais and Guisnes. The cause of this sudden, and apparently monstrous, conduct, on the part of Edward, has not been told by Stow (_Chronicles_, p. 426; edit. 1615), nor by Godwyn, (_Catalogue of the Bishops of England_, p. 481, edit. 1601): both of whom relate the fact with singular naivete. I have a strong suspicion that Nevell was so far a bibliomaniac as to have had a curious collection of _astrological books_; for "there was greate correspondency betweene this Archbishop and the Hermetique philosophers of his time; and this is partly confirmed to me from Ripley's dedication of his '_Medulla_'

to him, ann. 1746; as also the presentation of Norton's '_Ordinall_,'" &c. Thus writes Ashmole, in his _Theatrum Chemicum_, p. 455.]

Enough has probably been said of Edward. We will stop, therefore, but a minute, to notice the completion of the HUMPHREY LIBRARY, and the bibliomaniacal spirit of master RICHARD COURTNEY,[283] during the same reign; and give but another minute to the mention of the statute of RICHARD III. in protection of English printers,[284] when we reach the AUGUSTAN BOOK-AGE, in the reign of HENRY VII.