' He felt sure that Allen
would have wished them to be freely used: 'all good things are the better
the more they are communicated'; but the University was to be the
absolute mistress, 'to dispose of them as she pleaseth.' Mr. Macray
quotes another passage about two trunks of Arabic MSS. Digby had given
them to Laud for St. John's College or the Bodleian, as he might prefer,
but nothing had been heard about their arrival. He promised more books
from his own library, which had been taken over to France after the Civil
War broke out. The books, however, remained abroad, and were confiscated
on Digby's death as being the chattels of an alien resident; but either
by favour or purchase they soon became the property of the Earl of
Bristol, and were afterwards sold by auction in London. Two volumes were
purchased for the Bodleian in 1825 which must be regarded with the
deepest interest. The 'Bacon' and 'Proclus' had belonged to the Oxford
Friars, to Gascoigne, to the astrologer secluded in Gloucester Hall.
Digby had written a note in each that it was the book of the University
Library, as witnessed by his initials; but it had taken them many
generations to make the last stage of their journey from his book-shelf
to their acknowledged home at Oxford.
It was chiefly through the generosity of Laud that the Bodleian obtained
its wealth of Oriental learning. But it was not only in the East that the
Archbishop devoted himself to book-collecting. Like Dr.
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