Personally I have a very strong conviction on that subject. But in treating of it—in the ‘Postscript’ which closes the present volume—it has been my single and earnest aim to state, with the utmost impartiality I am able to attain, the leading arguments for maintaining the Museum in its full integrity; and also the leading arguments for severing the great Natural History Collections from the rapidly growing Libraries and from the vast Galleries of marbles, bronzes, pottery, medals, and prints. It is the business of writers to state and marshal the evidence. It is the business of Parliament to pronounce the judgment.
The main epochs in the History of the British Museum afford what may be looked upon almost as a ‘table of contents’ to the present volume. And they may be brought under the Reader’s eye in a way which will much facilitate the correct apprehension of the author’s plan. I exhibit them thus:—
Epochs of Brit. Museum growth and increase.
| Chronological List of the Dates, Founders, and Character, of the Component Collections, out of which the BRITISH MUSEUM has been formed or enlarged:— | |
|---|---|
| Class I.—Foundation Collections, 1570–1762. | Incorporated by the Act (A.D. 1753) 26 Geo. II, c. 22, entitled, ‘An Act for the Purchase of the Museum or Collection of Sir Hans Sloane and of the Harleian Collection of MSS.; and for providing one General Repository ... for the said Collections and for the Cottonian Library and additions thereto;’ Opened, for Public Use, on Monday the 15th January, 1759; and subsequently AUGMENTED, from time to time, by numerous additional Collections; and, MORE PARTICULARLY, by the following— |
| I. Cottonian Manuscripts, Coins, Medals, and other Antiquities. | |
| Collected by Sir Robert Cotton, Baronet (born in the year 1570; died 6 May, 1631). Given to the Nation by Sir John Cotton in 1700. Augmented during the Collector’s lifetime by the gifts of Arthur Agarde (1615), William Camden (1623), John Dee (1608), William Lambarde (1601), and others; and, after his death, by the acquisitions of Sir Thomas Cotton and Sir John Cotton, his descendants; and also by the Printed Library of Major Arthur Edwards, given in 1738. | |
| II. Old ‘Royal Library.’ | |
| Re-founded, or restored, by Henry, Prince of Wales (born in 1594; died 6 November, 1612). [See Class II, § 1.] | |
| III. Arundelian Manuscripts. | |
| Collected by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel and of Norfolk; Earl Marshal of England; K.G. (Born in 1586; succeeded as XXIIIrd Earl of Arundel in 1603; died 4 October, 1646.) [See Class II, § 33.] | |
| IV. Thomason Tracts (Printed and Manuscript). [See Class II, § 3.] | |
| V. Harleian Manuscripts. | |
| Collected by Robert Harley, Earl Of Oxford (born in 1661; died 21 May, 1724). Augmented by incorporation, at various times, of the Collections, severally, or of considerable portions of the Collections of Sir Humphrey Gilbert (died 1584), John Foxe (1581), Daniel Rogers (1590), John Stowe (1605), Sir Henry Savile (1622), Sampson Lennard (1633), Sir Henry Spelman (1641), Sir Symonds D’Ewes (1650), Sir James Ware (1666), William Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury (1693), Peter Séguier, Chancellor of France (1696), John Bagford (1716); and others. [See Book I, c. 5.] | |
| VI. ‘Sloane Museum’ of Natural History and of Antiquities; and Library of Manuscripts and Printed Books. | |
| Collected by William Courten [known during part of his life as ‘William Charleton’] (born in 1642; died 26 March, 1702); continued by Sir Hans Sloane, Baronet (born in 1660; died 11 January, 1752); bequeathed, by the Continuator, to the British Nation,—conditionally on the payment to his executors, by authority of Parliament, of the sum of £20,000,—in order that those his Collections—to use the words of his last Will—being things ‘tending many ways to the Manifestation of the Glory of God, the Confutation of Atheism and its consequences, the Use and Improvement of the Arts and Sciences, and benefit of Mankind, may remain together and not be separated, and that chiefly in or about the City of London, where they may by the great confluence of people be of most use.’... [See Book I, c. 6.] | |
Class II.—Primary Accession Collections.
1757–1831:—
(I)
1757. Old ‘Royal Library.’
Epochs of Brit. Museum growth and increase.
Restored, by Henry, Prince of Wales, in the year 1609, by the purchase—and incorporation with the remnants of an ancient collection—of the Library of John de Lumley, Lord Lumley (Born circa 1530; Restored in blood, as VIth Baron Lumley, in 1547: Died 1609); Continued by Charles I and Charles II, Kings of England, &c., from 1627 to 1683; Given to the Nation by King George the Second in 1757.