[The nation certainly never paid one farthing for this munificent present. The Russian Government offered, we believe, to purchase the library; and this is probably the origin of the statement in the note quoted by our correspondent.]
Replies.
HUGH HOLLAND AND HIS WORKS.
An accidental circumstance having led me to re-peruse the article entitled Hugh Holland and his works ([Vol. ii., p. 265.]), I feel myself called on, as a lover of facts, to notice some of the statements which it contains.
1. "He was born at Denbigh in 1558." He was born at Denbigh, but not in 1558. In 1625 he thus expressed himself:
"Why was the fatall spinster so vnthrifty?
To draw my third four yeares to tell and fifty!"
2. "In 1582 he matriculated at Baliol College, Oxford." He did not quit Westminster School till 1589. If he ever pursued his studies at Baliol College, it was some ten years afterwards.
3. "About 1590 he succeeded to a fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge." In 1589 he was elected from Westminster to a scholarship in Trinity College, Cambridge—not to a fellowship. At a later period of life, he may have succeeded to a fellowship.
4. "Holland published two works: 1. Monumenta sepulchralia Sancti Pauli, London, 1613, 4to. 2. A cypress garland etc., London, 1625, 4to." Hugh Holland was not the compiler of the first-named work: the initials H. H admit of another interpretation. This, however, is a very pardonable oversight. I could give about twenty authorities for ascribing the work to Hugh Holland.