With the King at Oxford: A Tale of the Great RebellionChurch, Alfred John
History
With the King at Oxford: A Tale of the Great Rebellion
Church, Alfred John
Great Britain -- History -- Civil War, 1642-1649 -- Fiction
Sir Thomas Bodley's Library, then, is a spacious building, of which
the main chamber lies east and west, having ten windows on either
side, and furnished in most goodly sort with shelves and other needful
appurtenances. The chief glory of this chamber is the roof, divided
into squares, on each of which are painted the arms of the University,
being the open Bible with the seven seals, of which St. John speaks in
the Revelation (but others take it of the seven liberal arts), and the
words, "DOMINUS ILLUMINATIO MEA."[8] On the bosses that are between
each compartment are painted the arms of Sir Thomas Bodley himself. At
the east end of this chamber is the bust of the pious founder, Sir
Thomas Bodley, who has been dead at this present time of writing
(1651) eight-and-thirty years. Of this bust King James I., visiting
the Library three years after his coming to the throne, said, having
read the well-merited praises that have been inscribed there, "Verily,
his name should be _Godley_ rather than Bodley." The wit of this
saying is indeed but indifferent, but it has what all wit does not
possess, that is to say, truth. To this chamber has been added at the
eastern end what may be called a picture gallery, also furnished with
bookshelves, which occupies the whole of the upper story of the
quadrangle.
[8] "The Lord is my Light."
So much of the building, but of the precious things which it contains
I cannot profess to speak. Of printed books there must be near upon
thirty thousand, a number which it staggers the mind only to conceive;
but as for reading them, not the life-time of Methuselah himself would
suffice.[9] Of manuscripts also there is a great store, some of them
being most uncommonly rare and precious, as, for example, to mention
one only out of many, is a manuscript of the Gospels, sent by St.
Gregory to St. Augustine, his missionary to this realm of England, a
treasure long preserved in St. Augustine's Abbey in the City of
Canterbury, and given to this Library some fifty years since by Sir
Robert Cotton. In this temple of the Muses, then, to speak the
language of Paganism, I was accustomed to spend many hours; at the
first, while I was as yet an undergraduate, by favour and
recommendation of Master Webberley, of whom I have before spoken, and
afterwards, having been admitted to the degree of Bachelor, of my own
right. 'Tis rich in books of that classical learning which I have
always, so far as it has been possible for me, especially followed,
and most conveniently ordered for students, to whom indeed it is
specially commended by the courtesy of its officers.[10] 'Twas indeed
but little visited by readers in my time, the Muses having been driven
out both there and elsewhere by the tumult of arms. Yet there were
some faithful students who seemed not to care one jot who ruled the
realm so that they were not disturbed in this their peculiar province;
as for me, my young blood permitted me not to reach so serene a
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