To tell what little can here be told of the history and character of the Grenville Library in other words than in those well-considered and appropriate words which were employed by the man who had had so much delightful intercourse with the Collector himself, and to whom belongs a part of the merit of the gift, would be an impertinence. [Sidenote: PANIZZI’S ACCOUNT OF SOME OF THE CHOICEST BOOKS IN THE GRENVILLE LIBRARY.] In his report on the accessions of the year 1847, Mr. PANIZZI wrote thus:—‘It would naturally be expected that one of the editors of the “Adelphi _Homer_” would lose no opportunity of collecting the best and rarest editions of the Prince of Poets. ÆSOP, a favourite author of Mr. GRENVILLE, occurs in his Library in its rarest forms; there is no doubt that the series of editions of this author in that Library is unrivalled. The great admiration which Mr. GRENVILLE felt for Cardinal XIMENES, even more on account of the splendid edition of the Polyglot _Bible_ which that prelate caused to be printed at Alcala, than of his public character, made him look upon the acquisition of the _Moschus_, a book of extreme rarity, as a piece of good fortune. Among the extremely rare editions of the Latin Classics, in which the Grenville Library abounds, the unique complete copy of AZZOGUIDI’S first edition of _Ovid_ is a gem well deserving particular notice, and was considered on the whole, by Mr. GRENVILLE himself, the boast of his collection. The Aldine _Virgil_ of 1505, the rarest of the Aldine editions of this poet, is the more welcome to the Museum as it serves to supply a lacuna; the copy mentioned in the Catalogue of the Royal Collection not having been transferred to the National Library. ‘The rarest editions of English Poets claimed and obtained the special attention of Mr. GRENVILLE. Hence we find him possessing not only the first and second edition of CHAUCER’S _Canterbury Tales_ by CAXTON, but the only copy known of an hitherto undiscovered edition of the same work printed in 1498, by WYNKYN DE WORDE. Of SHAKESPEARE’S collected Dramatic Works, the Grenville Library contains a copy of the first edition, which, if not the finest known, is at all events surpassed by none. His strong religious feelings and his sincere attachment to the Established Church, as well as his knowledge and mastery of the English language, concurred in making him eager to possess the earliest as well as the rarest editions of the translations of the Scriptures in the vernacular tongue. [Sidenote: Panizzi’s _Report_, in the _Annual Returns_ of 1847, passim.] He succeeded to a great extent; but what deserves particular mention is the only known fragment of the _New Testament_ in English, translated by TYNDALE and ROY, which was in the press of QUENTELL, at Cologne, in 1525, when the translators were obliged to interrupt the printing, and fly to escape persecution.