The Sun.
London, England, 1823-09-13 00:00:00

THE CofrON7IAN MANUSCREPTS.

TilfFrefao.: to the Cottonian Catalogue, priuted
under the direction of the_RoYal Commissioners
ors Pu'ulic Recorda;'beaVS,arople. testlinony.to
the conviction of the .-ParliaMent, as well as of.
Sir ItotteeT COTTON'S SpC.Ce.;OT, of the
.value
and importance of this Library. The Parliament,
by its Act in 1700, rendered justice to the me-
mory olSir Robert cOtton,,for forming his col-
lection of, nianuicripts, ~papers, records, &c. by
declaring- it to he cc of great use and service
for the knoWledge and preservation of our
Constitution in Church and State, and getie.
rally esteemed the hest of its kind now any where
extant." In 1703, IMattliew Hutton, John
Anstis, and Humphrey Wanley, three of the most
eminent' antiquaries of those days, investigated
it; and they.represented " many of the volumes
to he in a :,tate of decay, and the place where
the library was kept not altogether calculated
for, its preservation." The library still remained
in Cotton-house, Westminster, vyltich was pur-
cintsed by Parliameut for 4,5001.; and the col-
lection, in 1712, was removed, to ,EsSex„ House,
Esse%-street, Strand, where ircontinuad till 1730,
wlienit Was conveyed beck to Westriainster,, and.
deposited hu a house in Little Dean's yard, pur
chased by the Crown of Lord Ashburnham.-
Shortly afterwards, October 2:3; 1731, .a
broke out in. this 'house,. which destroyed several
and damaged. many
,of tin mtmuscripts; and
had .nearly „proved fatal to the whole library.
—The trustees '<particularly Mr. Speake47.on;••
sloWs-.Wha personally assisted rfsMiftall
that could saved.. front the ilattit,s7.-has..•
tened. to the spot'. What could be savedavere
depoSitek,itt-, a new building, designeci for
Dormitory of Westminster School ; and ..even.Ci
Nally, in 17831 the will of Sir Hans yt.onne 1104,1'1
in; induce'd the Parliament to purchase'
lection, the British Museum Was Asta:hdratid.,;,
and this library removed thither.: .The librat:Y;
which originally conSisted'of-958';voltinies. was lar
the fire reduced. to 861 volumes, of. ‘vhich.
they Were removed to ti*riozp 3etrip 10:5
were damaged hondles,':dOo.44 a
of the 'volumes in biudingi not' paged at
all; and few indeed were, paged with accuracy.
several of thetn. -there were
that leaves had been purloined ; and some had-
been bound. up with Much irregularity and dis-
order.. The number of articles enterecl Dr.
Smith's catalogue9 made in 1696, &les not much
exceed 6,200, Which it has been found is not a
fourth part of the.conteots of these 861 .volumes.
,The., OW' Omissions were in Stutz Papers. ditd
colleCtiotiss of small detached Tracts, of which
there are no fewer than 170 volutnes. Most of
these were entered as single articles ; whereas,
upon. an average,. each vointhe contains 'at least
one hundred distinct pieres. About 80. of these
volumes Sir William Dugdale found in hiotce
bundles, and caused' to be bound. up, .but with-
out any. order as to the persons, -tune, or trintftfr.
They have hitherto been tittle used, because
little known, awl almost inaccessible from the
want of proper calendars. They 'hare no* been
regularly paged -{chiefly under the direction of
Mr. Planta), of the old. paging accurately aster-
tained ; several of the volumes and parts of
voluMei of State -Papers have been arranged; and.
some of the shrivelled MSS. on 'vellum have been
restored, " though not without great care, and•
dexterity." The. Preface,states,that Mr, i?lanta,
has thus succeeded in restoring 51 volumes of the
185-valumes of darnagedMSS. which are now bonod
in 44 volumes; and that though several of them may
be defective, especially where parts had been
consumed or defaced by fire, yet upon the
whole leatill be' found that much tisefixl arils
authediChiformation is still :preserved it
The remaining; Glhumi les appeared to Mr. i?lauttt
to be liTetrievable, and most of them o ,scare
tracts and fragments of little or no importance.
They are eonteined in 62-caSes, The- cup-lOgae
thus prepnred and uo* printed contain abnttt
`6,000 articles; and a short description trf such
catalogue WillsheW; that it is of a very coanplete
and satisfactory character, Particular pailis were
taken to discover the true authors of anon ymons
or pseudanymous works, in ,many
especially• in anonymous poems, the firet lines
have been transcribed, in the catalogue. 'Notice-
is taken of three works that have been ptibUShed;
and references are made to the titles of the pint-
lications, or to toe conectioui in: which they are
edited. If endeavours to ascertain the dig:es oc.
the Letters-and" State .Papers (which -in -tip, last
and preceding century were too.often'otiistted)
proved unavailing, approximations, with to larks.
of interrogation,
are inserted. 'Tye folio of each_
article is entered'; and the mimher of the ::folios
of each volume-IS noted•hoth in the catatogue,arid
at the end of each volume, if not to prevent all
aor
~ta.acsiti to lay it open w de-
volume, the material
furthert.o(lcti%tliiii.ctirit,u,iit,.tiiiiiesa tf_%i,:)trirtiit,tlt
en
anti
its
.prior'
to
the:filteett.century,: when it could be•ascertainett
with any degree of prohability, is likewise de-
' scribed in this elaborate catalogue.