Three of the greatest book collectors of the eighteenth century were Bishop Moore, the Earl of Sunderland, and the Earl of Oxford. Bishop Moore’s fine library, which consisted of about thirty thousand volumes, was offered in 1714 to Harley, Earl of Oxford, for £8000, but the latter did not accept the offer because the bishop insisted that the earl should pay the money at once, although he was not to receive the books till the collector’s death. He would not really have had long to wait, for the bishop died on July 31st of the same year. The library, mainly through the influence of Lord Townshend, was purchased for £6000 by George I., who presented it to the University of Cambridge. This presentation gave rise to two well-known epigrams, which have been frequently misquoted. Dr. Trapp, the first Professor of Poetry at Oxford, expressed the disgust of his University in these lines-- “Contrary methods justly George applies To govern his two Universities; To Oxford sent a troop of horse; for why? That learned body wanted Loyalty. To Cambridge he sent books, as well discerning How much that loyal body wanted learning.” Sir William Browne, the physician, put the Cambridge case in a form which extorted praise from the Oxonian Samuel Johnson-- “Contrary methods justly George applies To govern his two Universities; And so to Oxford sent a troop of horse, For Tories hold no argument but force. To Cambridge Ely’s learned troops are sent, For Whigs admit no force but argument.”[4] When Lord Treasurer Harley recommended Queen Anne to purchase Sir Symonds d’Ewes’ manuscripts as the richest collection in England after Sir Robert Cotton’s, and to present them to a public library, the Queen answered, “It was no virtue for her, a woman, to prefer, as she did, arts to arms; but while the blood and honour of a nation were at stake in her wars, she could not, till she had secured her _living_ subjects an honourable peace, bestow their money upon _dead_ letters.” Thereupon the Lord Treasurer bought the collection himself for £6000.[5] The whole collection of the Harleian MSS. (one of the greatest treasures of the British Museum Library), which consists of 7639 volumes, exclusive of 14,236 original rolls, charters, deeds, and other legal instruments, was purchased by Government for £10,000, or only £4000 more than the Earl of Oxford gave for Sir Symonds d’Ewes’ manuscripts alone. The Earl of Sunderland’s fine library was for several years housed in the mansion which formerly stood on the site of the Albany in Piccadilly. It was removed to Blenheim in 1749, where it remained till the great sale of 1881-83. Oldys reports that the King of Denmark offered Lord Sunderland’s heirs £30,000 for the library,[6] and that the great Duchess Sarah of Marlborough was in favour of the offer being accepted, but it was not.