│City of London, where they may by the great confluence │ │ │of people be of most use.’... [See BOOK I, c. 6.] │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────┘ CLASS II.—=Primary Accession Collections.= =1757–1831=:— (I) =1757.= Old ‘ROYAL LIBRARY.’ [Sidenote: EPOCHS OF BRIT. MUSEUM GROWTH AND INCREASE.] _Restored_, by =Henry, Prince of Wales=, in the year 1609, by the purchase—and incorporation with the remnants of an ancient collection—of the Library of =John de Lumley, Lord Lumley= (Born _circa_ 1530; Restored in blood, as VIth Baron Lumley, in 1547: Died 1609); _Continued_ by =Charles I= and =Charles II=, =Kings of England, &c.=, from 1627 to 1683; _Given_ to the Nation by =King George the Second= in 1757. This OLD ROYAL LIBRARY, although, as above mentioned, it still contains fragments of the more ancient Collection of the Kings of England—and among them books which undoubtedly belonged to King HENRY THE SIXTH, if not to earlier Plantagenet kings—may fairly be regarded as of Prince HENRY’s foundation in the main. Lord LUMLEY’s Library (which the Prince bought in bulk) contained that of his father-in-law, Henry =Fitzalan=, Earl of Arundel, into which had passed a part of Archbishop =Cranmer’s= Library. But this conjoined Collection has not wholly passed to the British Museum. It suffered some losses after Prince HENRY’s death. On the other hand, it had acquired the collection of MSS. formed by the THEYERS (John and Charles), in which was included another part of the Library of CRANMER; as I shall shew hereafter. [See BOOK I, Chapter 3.] (II) =1759.= HEBREW LIBRARY (Printed and Manuscript) of DA COSTA. _Collected_ by =Solomon Da Costa=, formerly of Amsterdam, and chiefly between the years 1720 and 1727; _Given_ by the Collector, in 1759, to the Trustees of the British Museum ‘for inspection and service of the Public, as a small token of my esteem, reverence, love, and gratitude to this magnanimous Nation, and as a thanksgiving offering ... for numberless blessings which I have enjoyed under it.’ (From DA COSTA’s Letter to the Trustees.) A collection, small in extent, but of great intrinsic worth; and very memorable, both as the generous gift of a good man; and as instancing the co-operation (at the very outset) of the love of learning in a foreigner—and a Jew—with a like love in Britons, for a common object; national, indeed, but also much more than national. (III) =1762.= The THOMASON COLLECTION OF ENGLISH BOOKS and TRACTS, Printed and Manuscript. _Collected_ by =George Thomason= (Died 1666); _Purchased_ by =King George the Third=, in 1762, for presentation to the British Museum.