362
NOTES AND QUERIES. DO* s. n. NOV. 5, im
As a last resort a petition was sent to the
High Council (meeting of curators, 27 April,
1697) seeking to undo the contract on the
ground of Icesio ultra dimidium. A survey of
what had been delivered was now necessary,
and the task was undertaken with great
unwillingness by the three professors. It
was disagreeable work, as no fire was allowed
at any time in the library. The use of a
chafing-dish with coals to warm their hands
was granted as a special concession. The
printed books were left to be gone over by
booksellers.
The instructions were to ascertain
" whether and in how far what had been delivered agreed with the catalogue ; whether the books were complete or defective ; but also whether they had been already published ; whether they were better than the printed edition ; whether they had already been used and the emendations given to the light ; further taking notice of condition and age."
This inventory is still extant in the library archives, and some of its criticisms are decidedly captious. Thus the professors ad- mitted that the MS. Lucretius (V.L.fo.SO)was valuable, but stated that its worth was lessened by its having been already thoroughly collated and examined. Or again they belittle the illustrations in an early surgical MS.,
- Theodorici Chirurgia,' because, according to
them, " Figurae inutiles nee nisi solo colore conspicuae." A Vitruvius they declared twice bought, because the original MS. and a copy of the printed edition founded on it were both in the library.
The petition was, however, fruitless. Judgment was delivered against the curators on 20 December, 1704, and they were required to pay Vossius the whole sum of 33,000 f., with interest at 4 per cent., after deduction of what had been already paid. In the May following an agreement was come to by which Vossius consented to receive 1,620 f. instead of 2,119.8 f. still due to him, and to hand over one or two books which had been kept back. In this way the University at last, after fourteen years, entered into real possession of the library.
At first plans had been made for an annexe, but they were abandoned, and instead the room was rearranged. A double case was put up through the middle of the hall parallel to the walls, in which the Vossian library was placed. This part was railed off from the public. Tables for readers were pro- vided in the space between the rails and the walls, reading-desks were placed in the win- dows, and the original library seems to have been transferred to wall-cases protected by
gauze. For an illustration of the library a&
it was before these changes see Mr. J. W.
Clark's ' Care of Books/ p. 170. The middle
case was boarded up during the progress of
the lawsuit, and the library opened again to
readers in April, 1695, after having been
closed for four years and a half.
In conclusion I will just draw attention to- the points in which the account in the 'D.N.B.' differs from the above. It states that " 3,0001 was offered by the University of Oxford for the library in September, 1710, but on 10 October it was sold to Leyden for 36,000 florins," with a reference to 'Keliq. Hearn.,' i. 207. Surely there is some mistake here the date must be 1690. It will be seen also that the account I have followed gives the price as 33,000 florins, not 36,000. G. Vossius evidently used the Oxford offer simply as an estimate of the value of the library, and had no intention of letting England retain so fine a collection. Perhaps he would have got his money sooner if he had. W. K. B. PRIDEAUX.
BREWER'S
DICTIONARY OF PHRASE
AND FABLE.'
A FEW months ago, casually wishing to-
ascertain the life- dates of Stradivarius, I
consulted four works of reference. There was
a certain amount of nebulosity in the informa-
tion obtained. From the octet of dates, each
given without any indication of dubiety, I
gathered that this eminent violin-maker must
have been born four times at intervals during
a quarter of a century, and that he died in a
similarly remarkable fashion. An experience
like this illustrates the advisability of test-
ing such statements before placing too much
reliance on their accuracy. Dates are such
lifeless things ; Homer sometimes nods ; mis-
prints will occur ; and infallibility is beyond
expectation. I am not, therefore, prepared'
to say that the anachronisms to be found in
the last edition of Dr. Brewer's ' Dictionary
of Phrase and Fable ' are more numerous than
might be anticipated in a compilation dealing
with a great diversity of topics and not
professedly chronological.
To begin with hemerine errors, some instances may be found in an article in the above-named volume on 'Kings, etc., of England,' wherein 28 October, 1216, should be Friday, not Saturday; 8 March, 1702, O.S., Sunday, not Monday ; and the incompre- hensible date given for the termination of George I.'s reign, "Saturday, June llth, 1727 O.S., 1721 N.S.," resolves itself into a.
