Page:The Harveian oration 1905.djvu/48

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44
THE HARVEIAN ORATION.

most heartily thank the several donors for their gifts to the library, and cordially invite others to follow their example.

General Benefactors.

Under this group I include those who have made contributions to the funds of the College, without specifying any particular purpose to which they should be applied, or who have been conspicuous by their general benefactions.

Sir W. Paddy, who was twice President, in 1609 and 1618, bequeathed £30 to the College in 1634 Dr. Baldwin Hamey, Senior, left a similar sum after his death in 1640.

It is to Dr. Baldwin Hamey, Junior, however, whose bust and portrait look down upon us, that the College owes a special debt of gratitude, and he has been described by our former Harveian Librarian, the late Dr. William Munk, as "the most munificent of all the benefactors of the College." In the first place, he saved the original College building in Amen Corner from being sold to pay the exactions levied in the City of London, and himself "became the purchaser of the house and garden, and afterwards gave it in perpetuity to his colleagues."

Further, Hamey contributed liberally to the fund for rebuilding the College after the Great Fire of 1666; and "at his own sole cost, amounting to some hundreds of pounds, wainscoted the Cœnaculum with fine Spanish oak with fluted pilasters ornamented with