Government would commission another Hardy to do for English Literature what the Deputy-Keeper of the Public Records is now doing for English History-- give us a list of the MSS. and early printed books of it! What time and trouble such a Catalogue would save! But to return to John Russell and his Boke. He describes himself at the beginning and end of his treatise as Usher and Marshal to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, delighting in his work in youth, quitting it only when compelled by crooked age, and then anxious to train up worthy successors in the art and mystery of managing a well-appointed household. A man evidently who knew his work in every detail, and did it all with pride; not boastful, though upholding his office against rebellious cooks[3], putting them down with imperial dignity, “we may allow and disallow; our office is the chief!” A simple-minded religious man too,--as the close of his Treatise shows,--and one able to appreciate the master he served, the “prynce fulle royalle,” the learned and munificent Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, the patron of Lydgate, Occleve, Capgrave, Withamstede, Leonard Aretine, Petrus Candidus, Petrus de Monte, Tito Livio, Antoyne de Beccara, &c. &c., the lover of Manuscripts, the first great donor to the Oxford University Library which Bodley revived[4], “that prince peerless,” as Russell calls him, a man who, with all his faults, loved books and authors, and shall be respected by us as he was by Lydgate. But our business is with the Marshal, not the Master, and we will hear what John Russell says of himself in his own verse, an vssher{e} y Am / ye may behold{e} / to a prynce of high{e} degre, þat enioyeth{e} to enforme & teche / all{e} þo thatt wille thrive & thee, Of suche thyng{es} as her{e}-aft{ur} shall{e} be shewed by my diligence To them þat nought Can / w{i}t{h}-owt gret exsperience; Therfor{e} yf any mañ þ{a}t y mete with{e}, þat for fawt of necligence, y wyll{e} hym enforme & teche, for hurtyng{e} of my Conscience. To teche vertew and co{n}nyng{e}, me thynketh hit charitable, for moche youth{e} in co{n}nyng{e} / is bareñ & full{e} vnable. (l. 3-9.) At the end of his Boke he gives us a few more details about himself and his work in life: Now good soñ, y haue shewed the / & brought þe in vre, to know þe Curtesie of court / & these þow may take in cur{e}, In pantry / botery / or celler{e} / & in kervyng{e} a-for{e} a sovereyn{e} demewr{e}, A sewer / or a m{er}shall{e}: in þes science / y suppose ye byñ sewr{e}, Which in my dayes y lernyd with{e} a prynce full{e} royall{e}, with whom̅ vscher{e} in chambur was y, & m{er}shalle also in hall{e}, vnto whom̅ all{e} þese officer{es} for{e}seid / þey eu{er} ente{n}de shall{e}, Evir to fulfill{e} my co{m}maundement wheñ þat y to þem call{e}: