It having come to WANLEY’S knowledge or belief, in the year 1703, that possibly arrangements might be made to obtain this library, for the Public, from the then possessor, he wrote to HARLEY in these terms:—‘Sir Symonds D’EWES being pleased to honour me with a peculiar kindness of esteem, I have taken the liberty of inquiring of him whether he will part with his library, and I find that he is not unwilling to do so. And that at a much easier rate than I could think for. I dare say that it would be a noble addition to the Cotton Library; perhaps the best that could be had anywhere at present.... If your Honour should judge it impracticable to persuade Her Majesty to buy them for the Cotton Library—in whose coffers such a sum as will buy them is scarcely conceivable—then, Sir, if you shall have a mind of them yourself I will take care that you shall have them cheaper than any other person whatsoever. I know that many have their eyes upon this collection.’ [Sidenote: Wanley to Harley; MS. Lansd. 841, fol. 63. (B. M.)] ‘I am desirous,’ he goes on to say, ‘to have this collection in town for the public good, and rather in a public place than in private hands; but, of all private gentlemen’s studies, first in yours. I have not spoken to anybody as yet, nor will not till I have your answer, that you may not be forestalled.’ HARLEY welcomed the overture thus made to him, and WANLEY, on his behalf, entered upon a negotiation which ended in the eventual acquisition of the whole of the D’EWES Manuscripts for the Harleian Collection. Soon afterwards, WANLEY became its librarian. In the course of this employment he watched diligently for other opportunities of a like sort; established an active correspondence with booksellers, both at home and abroad; and induced Lord OXFORD to send agents to the Continent to search for manuscripts. [Sidenote: HISTORY OF THE HARLEIAN LIBRARY, CONTINUED.] But the Earl had soon to meet an eager rival in the book-market, in the person of Lord SUNDERLAND, who in former years had been, by turns, his colleague and his opponent in the keener strife of politics. In their new rivalry, Lord SUNDERLAND had one considerable advantage. He cared little about money. If he succeeded in obtaining what he sought for, he rarely scrutinised the more or less of its cost. WANLEY was by nature a bargainer. He felt uneasy under the least suspicion that any bookseller or vendor was getting the better hand of him in a transaction. And he seems, in time, to have inoculated Lord OXFORD with a good deal of the same feeling. Some of the entries in his diary put this love of striking a good bargain in an amusing light.