For nearly a century some of the most precious of the injured MSS. remained as the fire had left them. But in 1824, by the care of Mr. Forshall, the then Keeper of the MSS. in the British Museum, a commencement was made towards their restoration, which his successor, Sir F. Madden, zealously and successfully continued. Nearly three hundred volumes have been repaired, and more or less completely restored, (a considerable number of which were previously regarded as beyond all hope of recovery) to a state of legibility.[[23]]
The calamity of 1731 brought about what may, in a sense, be termed a partial compensation, by inducing Major Arthur Edwards to make an important bequest, with the view of precluding its recurrence. |The bequest of Arthur Edwards.| Owing to the protraction of a life interest in the legacy—the terms of which will be cited in describing that eventual Act of Incorporation which created the British Museum—it did not become available until other arrangements had made its application to building purposes needless. It was, consequently, and in pursuance of the Testator’s contingent instructions, appropriated to the purchase of books in the manner, and with results, which will be spoken of in a subsequent chapter. Major Edwards also bequeathed his own collection of about 2,000 volumes of printed books, by way of addition to the Cottonian Library of MSS. These, however, were not actually incorporated with the Museum collections until the year 1769.
For several years, Bentley conjoined the Keepership of the Cottonian with that of the Royal Library. His predecessors in the office were Dr. Thomas Smith (hitherto the only biographer of the Founder,) and William Hanbury, who had married a descendant of the Founder. |The Keepers of the Cottonian Library.| Dr. Smith was less eminent as a scholar—though his learning was great—but far more estimable as a man, than was his successor in the Keepership, the imperious and covetous Master of Trinity. For conscience sake, Smith had given up both a good fellowship and a good living, at the Revolution. Literature profited by the loss of Divinity. He died in May, 1710. Hanbury—by a very undesirable plurality—was a Trustee as well as Keeper. That he was not, in either capacity, strictly faithful to the spirit of the Trust confided to him seems to be established by incidents which I find recorded in the MS. Diary of Humphrey Wanley. The reader will observe that it is possible to reconcile Wanley’s statement with the supposition that the MSS. alienated had never actually been made part of the Cottonian Library, though it is as plain as sunlight that a really faithful trustee would have made them part of it. As it turned out, the sale of them did no actual and eventual mischief. On December 2nd, 1724, says Wanley, ‘I had a conversation with Mr. Hanbury, who owned that he hath still in his possession many original and valuable papers given him by his wife’s brother, Sir John Cotton, which now lie in different places. These papers and whatever else happens to be among them—as books, rolls, &c.—he hath agreed to put into my hands for my Lord’s [Oxford’s] use. |Wanley’s Diary, MS., ii, 40 (B.M.).| I have promised that he shall be very well paid and considered for the same.’
Wanley had already recorded a previous visit in which Hanbury had delivered ‘for my Lord Oxford’s use, a small but curious parcel of old letters,’ adding: ‘I believe he expects a gratuity for them.’ On the last day of December he received another parcel; and on the 4th January, 1725, he again writes: ‘Mr. Hanbury gave me another parcel of letters written to Sir Robert Cotton.’
Without endorsing the violent diatribe of Lord Oxford (the second of the Harleian Earls) against Hanbury’s successor—as the almost wilful destroyer of part of the Cotton MSS.—it must be admitted that there is conclusive evidence that neglect of duty on Dr. Bentley’s part was a moving agent in the disaster. Under his nominal keepership the practical duties of Cottonian Librarian were discharged by an industrious and otherwise meritorious deputy, David Casley.
The Project of 1707 for uniting the Cottonian, Royal, and Arundel, Libraries.
There were many projects for making Sir Robert Cotton’s noble collections, both in literature and antiquities, the foundation of a ‘British Museum,’ before a feasible and successful project was hit upon. |Sloane to Charlett, 7 April, 1707. (Bodleian Library, Oxford).| It is curious to note that one of these schemes embraced, as the groundwork of the projected national Museum, the collections of Sir Robert Cotton, of Prince Henry, and of Lord Arundel; and that some particulars of the plan were narrated—to a country correspondent—by Sir Hans Sloane, almost fifty years before his own conditional bequest gave occasion and means for the eventual union of the collections so spoken of with the vast gatherings of all kinds, in literature and in science, to the procuring of which so large a portion of his own useful and laborious life was to be devoted.
When that occasion came, two of the then Cottonian Trustees framed a Petition to Parliament in which they expressed their acknowledgments for ‘seasonable and necessary care’ of the Cotton Library. They alleged that it had remained ‘almost useless’ to the Public, during many years, for want of a fixed and convenient building to receive it; that it had been exposed to many dangers by frequent removals, and had once run the hazard of ‘a total destruction by fire.’ If, said they, the loss which the Public then sustained proved to be less than had been feared, the Public owed the obligation ‘to a great member of this House’ [of Commons] ‘who powerfully interposed and assisted in its preservation.’ The allusion is to the Right Hon. Arthur Onslow, the then Speaker, who afterwards became one of the first Trustees of the Museum established by the Act of 1753.
Petition of Samuel Burroughs and Thos. Hart; MS. in Cottonian ‘Appendix’ (B. M.).
The Petitioners proceed to state that their most earnest wishes are accomplished by seeing a Library, famed throughout Europe, with the generous gifts of Major Edwards annexed thereto, placed out of all further dangers from neglect, and that they rejoice to perceive that the Museum of their own Founder is about to be enlarged by other rare and valuable collections. ‘We are,’ say they, ‘fully persuaded that an edifice raised upon such a stately plan will, by degrees, be stored with benefactions and become a common Cabinet for preserving with safety all curiosities and whatsoever is choice or excellent in its kind. Moreover, being a new institution for the service of the learned world it will be an honour to the Nation, an ornament long wanted in this great city, and a distinguished event in the history of our times.’ |Heretofore, p. 3.| Then follows the passage which I have prefixed, by way of motto, to this first division of the volume now in the reader’s hands.