Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-03-22
The Ashburnham Papers.

CorrexDondeRce Neqo York Mail and Espress
One of the questions most frequently
put TO a literary man Just now is, ''Will
the British Museum purchase the Ash
burnham collection of manuscripts and
bOOks?" To this | can say with certainty
that the Trustees and Mr.. Garnet, the
Head Librarian, are more than willing,
and it is universally hoped that the nation
will not deem the sum of 100, 900 too high
for so many treasures. Some of us can,
perhaps, remember L cannOt) the fuss
made. thirty-fve years ago, when the
Duke of Buckingham announced his in
tentiOn Of selling by auction the Stowe
collection. 1t is certain that proposals
were mace then for securing the whole
for our great national library. but they
were frustrated by the ready offer
of wealthy peer, who wanted
the books for his library, and
bought them. 9250,000 would not be an
eXOrbitant price to pay for the Ashburn-
ham manuscripts, part of which, through
the kindness of Mr.. Garnet, | have just
visited and seen. To give a detailed ac-
count of them would be quite impossible
now, for it will take Mr.. Maundi Thomp-
son and his assistant two years to put
them in anything like order. About a
quarter in the manuscript department of
the British Museum, and the bare men,
ton of the names of the principal treas
ures will suffice to show you that it is
one of the collections of the world. First
Of all, noticed a superb set of forty-four
Anglo-SaXon characters, ranging from
the seventh to the eleventh century; then
that registers of Hyde Abbey, also Anglo
Saxon, and full of rough illustrations in
outline, among them il portrait of
Queen Allgytha and of her husband, the
famous King Canute. Next was a superb
Passionate of the twelfth century. The
cover of this is of silver, with very fine
cruciiiX in the centre. There is reason to
believe that it was on this identical missal
that the Kings and Queens Of England
pronounced their coronation oaths before
the Reformation. 1t is very beautifully
Illuminated and in perfect preservation.
Then comes the ''wonder of the whole
collection" the marvellous "BOok OF
We Hours of Cure Most Blessede
Laydie," which Mary Stuart held in
her hands as she went to execution.
1t is a wonder in every sense. being
Illuminated with scores Of the most
exquisite little hand painted pictures |
ever saw. 1t is bound in black velvet and
silver. The English chronicles are nu-
merOus, among them being the original
texts of Monmouth. William Of Newbury,
early copies of the Brute chronicle and of
Beda, fifteenth century chartularies OF
the hospital of st. Thomas, with an ac-
count of their property in and near Lon
don: chartularies of Durham of the four
teenth century, of Pipewell and st.
NeOts; the wardrobe books of Edward
and Edward III these books are most
curious, especially to those interested
in costume J; the original diary Of Claren-
don: two portfolios of State papers; Queen
EIizabeth's private note books, eight in
number, and never published; many
early manuscripts of Chaucer, Piers,
PIowman, and of the mystery plays.
Then in Italian MSS. we have three books
illustrated by Botticelli and one by Peru
ginO; manuscripts in the handwriting of
| Marco Polo, MacchiaYelli, and several in
that of Leonardo da Vinci, and no less
than twenty-seven early copies Of Dante's
ssDivina Commedia." The French MSS.
are equally fine, and the s'Lives of the
Saints, which once upon a time belonged
to the Abbey of Fontevrault, is simply
indescribabiy beautiful, There are a few
Arabic and Oriental MSS. and one or
two early Latin, but the bulk are Eng
lish. from the eighth to the eight
zenith century. One very curious little
book is Napoleon's note book, which was
left at st. Helena. The first Ms. bought
| by Lord Ashburnham was Wyclln Bible
| and the last this very note book. or the
thousands of other MSS. and rare books l
| cannot, of cOurses give you any idea; but
all l can say is this, If the collection
leaves the country it viii be very great
disgrace. The sum demanded by the
Ashburnhams is much less than the sale
| room value-less than the price of an IRON
| clad, and surely the richest country in
the world can well afford to purchase it.
| If this collection is dispersed, strange as
it may seem, it will profit little the pur-
! chasers. Its value to the museum prin-
| cipally consists in the fact that it fills up
existing vacancies. For instance, almost
| all the wardrobe books of our kings are
| in the library. Well, the two of Edward
| /. and II. are wanting, and they are in the
Ashburnham lot, and so it is with the
| chronicles and other books.