Oliver Cromwell gave some
of the Barocci MSS. to the University of Oxford; and the preservation of
Usher's library at Trinity College, Dublin, was due to the public spirit
of the Cromwellian soldiers, officers and men having subscribed alike for
its purchase 'out of emulation to a former noble action of Queen
Elizabeth's army in Ireland.'
[Illustration: SIR ROBERT COTTON.]
Sir Robert Cotton began about 1588 to gather materials for a history of
England. With the help of Camden and Sir Henry Spelman he obtained nearly
a thousand volumes of records and documents; and these he arranged under
a system, by which they are still cited, in fourteen wainscot presses
marked with the names of the twelve Caesars, Cleopatra, and Faustina. He
was so rich in State Papers that, as Fuller said, 'the fountains were
fain to fetch water from the stream,' and the secretaries and clerks of
the Council were glad in many cases to borrow back valuable originals.
Sir Robert was at one time accused of selling secrets to the Spanish
ambassador, and various excuses were found for closing the library,
until at last it was declared to be unfit for public use on account of
its political contents. He often told his friends that this tyranny had
broken his heart, and shortly before his death in 1631 he informed the
Lords of the Council that their conduct was the cause of his mortal
malady. The library was restored to his son Sir Thomas: and in Sir John
Cotton's time the public made a considerable use of its contents; but it
seems to have been still a matter of favour, for Burnet complains that he
was refused admittance unless he could procure a recommendation from the
Archbishop and the Secretary of State.
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