I
am writing in the small room at the end; the books are settled in their
shelves, and my library is really a little gem.' On the 5th of October
she was standing on the terrace by the library-window, when she saw a
crowd coming along the Sevres road, and heard the noise of pipes and
drums; and on the same day she was forced to leave Montreuil, and never
saw her books again.
CHAPTER X.
THE OLD ROYAL LIBRARY--FAIRFAX--COTTON--HARLEY--THE UNIVERSITY OF
CAMBRIDGE.
Henry VII. was the founder of a royal collection which in time became a
constituent portion of the library at the British Museum. Careful as he
was of his money, the King endeavoured to buy every book published in
French, and he acquired the whole of Verard's series of classics, printed
on vellum with initials in gold and gorgeous illuminations, in some of
which the printer is shown presenting his books to the royal collector.
Henry VIII. established the separate library which was long maintained at
St. James's; he intended it mainly for the education of princes of the
blood royal, and supplied it with a quantity of early-printed books and a
miscellaneous gathering of wreckage from the monasteries. During several
succeeding reigns there were 'studies' and galleries of books at
Whitehall and Windsor Castle, at Greenwich and Oatlands, or wherever the
Court might be held. It is said that in the time of Henry VIII. the best
English collection belonged to Bishop Fisher. 'He had the notablest
library,' said Fuller, 'two long galleries full, the books sorted in
stalls, and a register of the name of each book at the end of its
stall.
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