Highways and Byways in Cambridge and ElyConybeare, John William Edward
History
Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely
Conybeare, John William Edward
Cambridgeshire (England) -- Description and travel; Isle of Ely (England) -- Description and travel
A retort (in which the humour is a trifle less spontaneous) was
speedily penned by Sir William Browne, who specialised on epigrams and
left prizes for their encouragement which are still annually awarded:
"The King to Oxford sent a troop of horse,
For Tories own no argument but Force.
With equal skill to Cambridge books he sent;
For Whigs admit no force but Argument."]
The Library is open only to Members of the University (Masters of Arts
having the privilege of taking out not more than ten books at a time)
and such ladies as are fortunate enough to find a place on the
admission list. For this it is needful that two Masters of Arts should
certify that the lady is, to their personal knowledge, seriously
engaged in some branch of study or research. And even when admitted,
she finds herself under disabilities, being forbidden to occupy any
seat except in one room (the oriel window of which is visible from our
standpoint at the gate of King's). Ordinary visitors may only enter
under the escort of an M.A., who may take in six at a time.
[Illustration: _Old Gate of King's College._]
Those who have the good hap to be thus inducted, will, besides the new
books, probably be most impressed by the long range of volumes forming
the catalogue, and by the densely packed shelves of long-forgotten
fiction in the "Novel Room." But the real treasures of the Library are
to be found in Cockerell's Building. Here, in a range of cases, are to
be seen our best Manuscripts, including a Thirteenth Century life of
Edward the Confessor, the illustrations in which were found useful as
a precedent even at the coronation of his latest namesake on the
British Throne. At the extreme end, in a separate case, is the crown
of all, one of the earliest manuscripts of the Gospels, dating from
the Fifth Century. Only four others of equal authority are known, one
in the British Museum, one in the Vatican Library, one at Paris, and
one at St. Petersburg. Ours is known as "D" or "Codex Bezae," from
being the gift of the celebrated Calvinist divine Theodore Beza, who
procured it from a soldier after the sack of its early home, the
Monastery of St. Irenaeus at Lyons, in the Sixteenth Century. It is
noteworthy for containing passages not found in any other Codex, one
of which may be read (in Greek and Latin) on the single leaf here
exposed to view. It narrates how our Lord, "seeing a certain man
working on the Sabbath, said unto him: Man, if thou art doing this
with Knowledge thou art blessed, but if without Knowledge thou art
cursed."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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