342
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vm. NOV. i, 1913.
Although any attempt to expand mate-
rially this meagre list, by endeavouring
to locate such contents of this whilom
" great collection " as still exist, may seem
futile, it is yet possible to present partial,
if not plenary additions thereto.
" It would have been a pleasant thing [observes Burton again] to look upon the actual collection of manuscripts which awakened so much recorded zeal and tenderness in the great ecclesiastic of five hundred years ago ; but in later troubles they became dispersed, and all that seems to be known of their whereabouts is, that some of them are in the library of Balliol." P. 203.
It is clear from the above that three points are gained in this investigation : a surmise as to the Bodleian, and two statements regarding the B.M. and Balliol. Let me examine their worth in the further light of either corroborative or adverse criticism.
I take the Bodleian first. Bishop Creigh- ton writes in the ' D.N.B.' :
" Richard de Bury's library at Oxford was dispersed at the dissolution of the monasteries, when Durham College shared the fate of the monastic foundation to which it was annexed. Some of the books went to the Bodleian, some to Balliol College, and some to Dr. George Owen of Godstow, who purchased Durham College from Edward VI. (Camden, 'Brit.,' 1772, p. 310)."
Camden's words (Cough's edition, 1806) are :
" The Bishop at his death, 1345, left his volu- minous library to this college [Durham, Oxford], . . . .At the dissolution some of the books of this admirable collection were removed to the Public Library, some to Balliol College, and some came to Dr. George Owen, physician of Godstow, who bought the said College of Edward VI."
These passages, while confirming two prior points, advance the inquiry by two others : Dr. Owen and the Oxford Public Library. There is yet another from Edward Edwards's " Memoirs of Libraries ' (1859, vol. i. p. 586), written, curiously enough, in the city in which I write and in which the author's library is housed (Free Reference Library) :
" Trinity library [Oxford] occupies the same building which formerly contained the books
of April in that year " (p. 58). What the " colo- phon " says is : " Completus est autem tractatus iste in manerio nostro de Aukeland xxiiij" die Januarii Anno Domini Millesimo trecentesimo quadra gesimo quarto ?etatis nostrse quinquagesimo octavo precise complete, pontificatus vero nostri anno undecimo finiente." The work was there- fore completed not three but fifteen months before its author's death. The mistake is all the more singular since the year is in letters, not numerals, and " quarto " is certainly not "quinto." Once again, it is good to verify quotations 1 " My lord Symon " was Abbot from 1167 to 1183.
given by Richard of Bury to the scholars of this
house then called Durham College, for themselves,,
and for the students of the University at large.
None of the gifts of the author of ' Philobiblon '
are now to be seen in their original abode. Some
were early removed to Duke Humphrey's Library,.
and shared its fate A few are said to be still
preserved in the Library of Balliol (Gough, addi- tions to Camden's ' Britannia,' ii. 23)."
It has always been a puzzle to me why these good authors Kitchin, Burton, Ed- wards did not spare themselves (and their readers) their unsatisfactory and roundabout " may have," " seems to be," and " said to be " by the purchase of a possible certainty through the penny post. The expenditure of time and trouble involved would have been infinitesimal compared with the com- pleteness that would have accrued to their utterances. I submit, therefore, an attempt to remedy, even thus late in the day, a defect that should have been rectified half a century ago. Here are the tabulated results of my quest, for which I am much beholden to the courtesy of the gentlemen named.
A. The Bodleian. Mr. F. Madan writes under date 19 July :
" It was E. C. Thomas who, in his edition of the ' Philobiblon,' showed that Richard de Bury neither sent a library to Oxford, nor (probably) had a library at the time of his death to send. We ourselves possess only one MS. which belonged to him, namely, Bodleian MS. Laud Misc. 363 (Latin theological pieces by St. Anselm and others ). We once also possessed the original Episcopal Register of Bishop Bury 1338-42, but in 1820 we restored it to Durham ! Dean Kitchin's ' may have ' need not be taken to imply that anything * probably did.' Coxe's Catalogue of the College MSS. (at Oxford) does not show any which belonged to Bury, but the Librarian of Balliol might be able to write with authority on the point, about his own MSS."
I add some further words of Thomas's which, together with those above, call for a word of comment :
" The traditional account of the library is that the Bishop's books were sent in his life- time or after his death to the house of the Durham Benedictines at Oxford, and there remained until the dissolution of the College by Henry VIII., when they were dispersed, some going into Duke Humphrey's (the University) Library, others to Balliol College, and the remainder passing into the hands of Dr. George Owen, who purchased the site of the dissolved College. That a library belonging to the College was then dispersed is probable enough, but it is far from clear that it contained any of De Bury's books (Gutch's ' Wood,' ii.)."
The location of the two Bodleian MSS., while it confirms the surmise and statements recorded above, seems to me to justify " the traditional account " of at least an indirect
