The old “Townley Gallery.” ] LONDON: TRÜBNER AND CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1870. (_All rights reserved._) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFATORY NOTE. For the materials of the earlier of the ‘Lives’ contained in this volume I have been chiefly indebted to the Collection of State Papers at the Rolls House; to the Privy-Council Registers at the Council Office; and to many manuscripts in the Cottonian, Harleian, Sloane, and Lansdowne Collections at the British Museum. HIGHGATE; _6th May, 1870_. _The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand._ ISAIAH, xxxii, 8. _Man’s only relics are his benefits; These, be there ages, be there worlds, between, Retain him in communion with his kind._ LANDOR (_Count Julian_). CONTENTS. BOOK THE FIRST. _EARLY COLLECTORS:—THE GATHERERS OF THE FOUNDATION COLLECTIONS._ CHAPTER I. _INTRODUCTION._ PAGE _Chronological Epochs in the Formation of the British Museum_ 5 CHAPTER II. _THE FOUNDER OF THE COTTONIAN LIBRARY._ _The Personal and Public Life of Sir Robert Cotton.—His Political Writings and Political Persecutions.—Sources and Growth of the Cottonian Library.—The Successors of Sir Robert Cotton.—History of the Cottonian Library, until its union with the Manuscript Library of Harley, and with the Museum and Miscellaneous Collections of Sloane.—Review of some recent Aspersions on the Character of the Founder_ 48 CHAPTER III. _THE CHIEF COLLECTOR AND THE AUGMENTORS OF THE OLD ROYAL AND PUBLIC LIBRARY AT ST. JAMES’._ _Life of Henry, Prince of Wales, son of James I, and virtual Founder of the ‘Royal Library.’—Its Augmentors and its Librarians.—Acquisition of the Library of the Theyers.—Incorporation with the Collections of Cotton and of Sloane_ 153 CHAPTER IV. _THE COLLECTOR OF THE ARUNDELIAN MSS._ _Political Exile and Foreign Travel under Elizabeth and under James.—Life of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel.—The Consolations of Connoisseurship.—Vicissitudes of the Arundel Museum.—The gifts of Henry Howard to the Royal Society_ 172 CHAPTER V. _THE COLLECTOR OF THE HARLEIAN MSS._