National Republican., 1883-03-08
TIE AsnnuRNHAM PArERs.
An Account of the Extremely Valuable
Collection Now offered 90 the British
Esoyas,n,.ns
Cone.pondence M rort Van and Erpress.

Government.
Coryespgndence Neo Tort Mail and Express
One Of tho questions most frequently put to
literary man just now is, "Will the British
museum purchase the Ashburnham collection
of manuscripts and books ?" To this can
say with certainty that the trustees and Mr..
Garnet, the head librarian, arc more than
willing and IL is universally hoped that
the nation will not deem the sum of
G150,000 too high for so many treasures.
Some of us can perhaps remember Il
cannot) the fuss made thrty-flve years ago,
when the Duke of Buckingham announced
his intention Of selling by auction the
Stowe collection. It is certain that proposals
were made then for securing the whole for our
great national library, but they were frus-
trated by tho ready ohcr Of q wealthy peer
who wanted the books for his library, and
! bought them e250,000 would not be an ok
orbitant price TO pay Tor the Ashburnham
manuscripts part of which, through the
kindness of Mr.. Garnet 1 have just
visited and seen. To give q detailed ac-
count Of them would be quite impossible
now, for IL will take Mr.. Maundi Thompson
and his assistants two years to put them in
anything like order. About quarter arc in
the manuscript department of the British mu
scum, and the bare mention of the names OF
the principal treasures will suffice to show you
that it is one of the collections of the world.
First of all, noticed superb set OF fOrty-iOur
Anglo.SaNon characters, ranging from the sew
cnth TO the eleventh century; then that regis
tors Of Hyde Abbey, also Anglo-SaXon, and full
of rough illustrations in outline, among them
portrait ofQuGcn Ailgytha aud OF her husband,
the famous King Canutc. Next was a superb
Passionate of the twelfth century; the cover
Of this Is of silver, with very fine crucihx
in the center. There is reason TO believe that
IL was on this identical missal that the kings
I aud nf I'm, nd Yrn,.nnVpa1 hair
nation oaths before the reformation. 1t is
very beautifully illuminated and in per-
feet preservation. Then comes the "won-
der of the whole collection" tho mary
clous "Book of ye Hours of Oure Most
Blessedc Laydie," which Mary Stuart held in
her hand as she went to execution. II is q
wonder in every sense, being illuminated with
scores of the most exquisite little hand painted
pictures | ever saw. 1t is bound in black vel
vet and silver. The English chronicles are
numerous, among them being the original
texts Of Monmouth, William of Nowbury,
carly copies of the Brute chronicle and of
! Beda, fifteenth century chartuaricS Of the
hospital Of st. Thomas, with an account of
their property in and near London; chartu-
| arles of Durham of the fourteenth century, of
| Pipcwell and st. Ncots; the wardrobe books
Of Edward / and Edward III (thcse books are
most curious, especially to those interested in
Costumo); the original diary of Clarendon /;
] TWO pOrllOllOS Ol btuIS papcISi queen IllGd-
| beth's private note books, eight i'll number,
and never published; many early manuscripts
of Chaucer, Piers Plowman, and of the mys-
| terry plays Then in Italian MSS. We have
three books illustrated by Botticelli, and one
! by Perugino; manuscripts in the handwriting
ofMarco Polo, Macchiavelli, and several in that
of Leonardo da Vinc, and no less than twenty
seven early copies of Dante's ''Divina Com
media" The French MSS. are equally fine,
and the Lives of the Saints" which once
upon time belonged to tho Abbey Of Fon-
| tevraut, is simply indescribably beautiful.
There are n few Arabic and Oriental MSS.
and one or two early Latin, but the bulk
are English, from the eighth to the
eighteenth 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 WycliH
| Bible and the last this very note book. OF
the thousands of other MSS. and rare books
| cannot, of course, give you any idea ;
but all l can say is this, ii the collection
leaves the country it will bo very great
disgrace. The sum demanded by tho Ash
burnhams Is much lesss than tho sale
room value-less than the price Of an iron
clad, and surely the richest country in the
world can well afford to purchase 1t. If this
collection is dispersed, strange as it may seem,
it will profit little the purchasers Its value
TO the museum principally consists in the fact
that it fills up existing vacancies. For in
stance, almost all the wardrobe books of our
kings are in the library. Well, the two OF
Edward l and ii are wanting, and they are
in the Ashbunham lot, and so it is with the
chronicles and other books.