A.D. 1620
At the beginning of May, James resigned the office of Librarian, but not as Wood says, on account of his promotion to the Subdeanery of Wells, since that took place in the year 1614. His appointment to the rectory of Mongeham, Kent (also mentioned by Wood), was in 1617. He continued, however, to reside in Oxford, and dying there in August, 1629, was buried in New College Chapel.
On the 9th of the same month of May, John Rouse, M.A., Fellow of Oriel, was elected James’ successor. No account of him is given by Wood, possibly from dislike of his Puritanical principles, and of his continuing to hold office during the usurpation. He appears to have discharged his trust in the Library with faithfulness, and, at least, to have deserved some mention at the historiographer’s hands for the Appendix to the Catalogue which he issued in the year 1635 (q.v.)69 He is best known as the friend of Milton, who, on Rouse’s application to him for a copy of his Poems both English and Latin, published in 1645, in the place of one previously given by Milton which had been lost, sent the volume, together with a long autograph Latin Ode, dated Jan. 23, 1646 (-7), and bearing the following title: ‘Ad Joannem Rousium, Oxoniensis Academiæ Bibliothecarium, de libro poematum amisso quem ille sibi denuo mitti postulabat, ut cum aliis nostris in Bibliotheca publica reponeret, Ode Joannis Miltonj70.’ The volume is now numbered 8o. M. 168 Art. A facsimile of a considerable portion of the Ode (which Cowper translated into English, and which is said to have been the last of Milton’s Latin poetical effusions) is given in plate xvii. of Sam. Leigh Sotheby’s sumptuous volume, entitled Ramblings in the Elucidation of the Autograph of Milton, 4o. Lond. 1861; and at p. 120 there is a facsimile in full of Milton’s inscription in another volume (4o. F. 56 Th.) which contains a collection of the political and polemical treatises published by him in the years 1641-5. This latter inscription, which gives a list of the contents of the volume, is addressed as follows: ‘Doctissimo viro proboque librorum æstimatori Joanni Rousio, Oxoniensis academiæ Bibliothecario, gratum hoc sibi fore testanti, Joannes Miltonius opuscula hæc sua in Bibliothecam antiquissimam atque celeberrimam adsciscenda libens tradit, tanquam in memoriæ perpetuæ Fanum, emeritamque, uti sperat, invidiæ calumniæque vacationem; si Veritati, Bonoque simul Eventui satis litatum sit.’ Warton tells the almost incredible story, in his edition of Milton’s Poems, that about the year 1720 these two volumes were thrown out into a heap of duplicates, from which Nathaniel Crynes, who afterwards bequeathed his own collection to the Library71, was permitted to pick out what he pleased for himself; fortunately, however, he was too good a royalist and churchman to choose anything that bore the name of Milton, and so the books, despised and rejected on both sides, by mere chance remained in the place of their original deposit! Such an incident, if true, goes far to justify the charges of ignorance and neglect of the Library which Hearne in his Diary constantly brings against Hudson, the Librarian at that time, and those whom he employed.
The second edition of the Catalogue was issued by James, shortly after his resignation of his office, with a Dedication to Prince Charles, and a Preface dated June 30. It consists of 539 quarto pages, in double columns. It abandons the classified arrangement of the former Catalogue, and adopts that (followed ever since) of one alphabet of names. James, in his Preface, gives as his reason for this course, the frequent difficulty (already experienced even in so small a collection) of deciding to what class a book should be assigned, and the inconvenience resulting from division of the works of the same author. He points out the value of the Library to foreigners, who can there consult 16,000 volumes for six hours a day, excepting Sundays and holidays72. As instances of the copiousness of its stores, he mentions that there are to be found above 100 folio and quarto volumes on Military Art, in Greek, Latin, and other languages; and that there are 3000 or 4000 books in French, Italian, and Spanish. He notes that heretical and schismatical books are not to be read without leave of the Vice-Chancellor and Regius Professor of Divinity; and makes some remarks on the method of keeping a Common-place-book. He gives as the reason for his quitting his post, his severe sufferings from stone and paralysis73.
On June 4, King James presented the folio edition of his Works as edited by Bishop Montague. The book (now marked B. 14. 17. Theol.) contains the following presentation inscription, written and signed by Sir R. Naunton:—
‘Jacobus Dei gratia Magnæ Britanniæ, Franciæ et Hiberniæ Rex, fidei defensor, &c. Postquam decrevisset publici juris facere quæ sibi erat commentatus, ne videretur vel palam pudere literarum quas privatim amaverat, vel eorum seu opinioni seu invidiæ cedere qui Regis Majestatem literis dictitabant imminui, vel Christiani Orbis et in eo Principum judicia expavescere, quorum maxime intererat vera esse omnia quæ scripsit; circumspicere etiam cœpit certum aliquod libro suo domicilium, locum, si fieri possit, semotum a fato, æternitati et paci sacrum. Ecce commodum sua se obtulit Academia, illa pæne orbi notior quam Cantabrigiæ, ubi exulibus Musis jam olim melius est quam in patria, ubi a codicibus famæ nuncupatis tineæ absterrentur legentium manibus, sycophantæ scribentium ingeniis. In hoc immortali literarum sacrario, inter monumenta clarorum virorum, quos quantum dilexit studiorum participatione satis indicavit, in bibliotheca publica, lucubrationes has suas Deo Opt. Max., Cui ab initio devotæ erant, æternum consecrat, in venerando Almæ Matris sinu, unde contra seculorum rubiginem fidam illi custodiam promittit, et contra veritatis hostes stabile patrocinium.’
The book, which was carried to Oxford by a special deputation, consisting of Patrick Young, the Librarian at St. James’s (to whom £20 was given by the University for his pains), and others, was received by the University with great ceremony. A Convocation was held in St. Mary’s Church, on May 29, at which an oration was delivered by Rich. Gardiner, the Deputy-Orator, and at which a letter of thanks was approved (which is printed in Wood’s Annals, ii. 336); from thence the Vice-Chancellor, attended by 24 doctors in their scarlet robes, and a mixed multitude of others, carried it in solemn procession to the Library, where the keeper, Rouse, ‘made a verie prettie speech,’ says Patrick Young, ‘and placed it in archivis... with a great deale of respect74.’ The King was greatly pleased with the formality and flattery with which his works were received, and the more so ‘because Cambridge received them without extraordinary respect75.’
Another gift in this year, presented by Thomas Nevile, K.B., eldest son of Sir H. Nevile, Knt., is thus described in the Register: ‘Elegantissimum libellum diversa scripturæ genera continentem, manu Esteris Anglicæ, characteribus exquisitis conscriptum.’ This is, doubtless, the MS. of the Book of Proverbs, dated 1599, in which every chapter, as well as the dedication to the Earl of Essex, is written in a different style of caligraphy, which is now exhibited in the glass case nearest the entrance to the Library. It is an extremely beautiful specimen of the handiwork of Mrs. Esther Inglis, of whose skill the Library possesses another and smaller specimen (Bodl. 987), consisting of some French verses by Guy de Faur, Sieur de Pybrac, written for Dr. Joseph Hall (afterwards the Bishop of Norwich), in 1617. These are described in the account of Mrs. Inglis, in Ballard’s Memoirs of British Ladies. A third specimen of her work is in the Library of Ch. Ch.: it is a Psalter in French, presented to Queen Elizabeth in 1599, bound in embroidered crimson velvet, set with pearls76.
The Douay Bible of 1609 was presented by Sir Rich. Anderson, and a Persian MS. of the Liturgy of the Greek Church by Sir Thos. Roe. The first architectural model also was given in this year; but unfortunately it is not now extant. Its description is as follows: ‘Clemens Edmonds, eques auratus, consilio Regis ab epistolis, donavit egregium παραδειγμα quinque columnarum, nunc primum inventum, secundum formam rusticam, ex alabastrite singulari artificio confectum.’
Notes
69 One fact to his credit is indeed mentioned by Wood in the Fasti, under the year 1648, viz. that he prevented the then Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Reynolds, and the Proctors from breaking open Bodley’s chest in search of money, by assuring them that there was nothing in it. Hearne (MS. Diary, vol. xii. p. 13) says that Rouse inserted a portrait of Sir Thos. Bodley, done at his own charge, in the window of the room which he occupied on the west side of Oriel College.
70 Cowley followed Milton’s example by inserting an Ode, in this case in English, in a folio copy of his Poems (numbered C. 2. 21. Art.), which he gave June 26, 1656. It is printed exactly from the original in Reliquiæ Hearn. ii. 921-3.
72 At this time there were only two other public libraries in Europe, both later in date than the Bodleian, viz. that of Angelo Rocca at Rome, opened in 1604, and the Ambrosian at Milan, opened in 1609. The fourth public library was that of Card. Mazarin at Paris, opened in 1643. Evidence of the consequent appreciation by foreigners of the advantages of the Bodleian Library is given under the year 1641.
73 An Appendix to James’ Catalogue was printed in 1635, q. v.
74 Nichols’ Progresses of James I, vol. iii. p. 1105. Rouse’s speech (with the letter) is printed in Hearne’s Titus Liv. Forojul. p. 198.
75 Letter from J. Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton, June 28, 1620: Calendar of State Papers, 1619-23, p. 157.
76 An account of Mrs. Esther Inglis, and of all her known existing MSS., is preparing for publication by David Laing, Esq., LL.D., of Edinburgh.