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N inspecting the papers of a ON friend, lately deceased, in Oxford, I found a letter addressed to him from a correspondent in London, containing Anecdotes of the learned Joseph Sanford, of Baliol College, Oxford, well known for his profound learning, extensive library, and sin. gularity in dress; and who is a remarkable instance of neglected Biography; as, I believe, there is no account of him in any publication, except in the Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century," in which he is incidentally mentioned in the Correspondence of the Rev. Mr. Godwyn with Mr. Hutchins, the Historian of Dorsetshire; which work was not published at the time the following Letter was written. In a Note in the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. VIII. p. 260, he is said to have died Nov. 14, which is an error for Sept. 25, 1774, as authenticated by the following In scription on his Monument, in the Church of St. Mary Magdalen, in Oxford. Mr. Sanford wrote his name without a d; this trifle is mentioned, as his name is usually printed Sandford.

"Juxta hoc Marmor requiescit vir Reverendus Joseph Sanford, S. T. B. Collegii Ballousi

annos tantum non sexaginta Socius, felicioris Ingenii, Memoriæ, Judicii,

exemplum singularis; in republicâ literariâ esse primas meruit, modestus devitavit; ingenuo cuiq; consulenti se facile adjunxit studiorum simul adjutorem et ducem; ab eruditis in honore,

ab Academicis in veneratione habitus, ab amicis muitum desideratus, dié 25 Septembris decessit, anno Salutis 1774, ætatis 84." Yours, &c. W. H.

"DEAR SIR, "YOU have set me a longer task than you imagine, if I am to give you all that I recollect of Joseph Sanford. You seem to remember seeing him in au evening, walking his mile up and down Mr. Fletcher's shop, which was

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his constant practice, after he had taken tea at Horseman's Coffee-house, in the High-street; where he used to meet Mr. Cracherode, Dr. Smallwell, and other Christ-Church men, who

generally used to accompany him to and rendered Dr. Kennicott great asthe Turl. He was a profound scholar, sistance in his great work of the Hebrew Bible. When The Confessional was first published, he told Mr. Fletcher that he would not hear the last of that Book as long as he lived; and I am apt to think his opinions coincided with those of the Author of that celebrated work, for he did not take Holy Orders until he could not avoid it for preserving his Fellowship; and I have been told, that he never did any duty, not even in the Chapel of his College. On his appli cation to the Bishop for Ordination, he was introduced to the Chaplain, to whom he was a stranger, and who, as usual, told him he must examine him; and the first Question proposed was Quid Fides? to which Sanford replied in a loud tone (and increasing it at each answer), Quod non vides. The second question was Quid Spes? to which Sanford-Futura res. third was Quid Charitas? to which he roared out-In Mundo ruritas. Upon which the Chaplain, finding he had an extraordinary character to deal with, left him, and went to inform the Bishop of what had passed below, with a person he knew not what to make of, who had given in his name Joseph Sanford, of Baliol; which made the Bishop laugh, and exclaim, You examine him! why he is able to examine you, and our whole Bench! pray desire him to walk up :' when the Bishop made an apology for the Chaplain, and said, he was sorry Mr. Sanford had not applied to him in the first instance.

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"His rooms were in the middle stair-case, on the East side of the Quadrangle: he used to read at the end of a gallery, without fire, in the coldest weather. On every Friday, in all weathers, he never missed walking to some house, four or five miles off, on the banks of the Cherwell, where he used to dine on fish. I suppose there is no old servant left at Baliol, to tell you the name of the place.

"I do not know who succeeded to his property; but suppose his Nephew, a Dr. Sanford, who had been Fellow

of

of All Souls. His extensive Library he gave to Exeter College, by a nuncupative Will, witnessed by Mr. Fletcher. Dr. Eveleigh, of Oriel, who, I think, married a daughter of Dr. Sanford, presented a portrait of him to Exeter College; he is represented with a folio under his arm, which is the first edition of the Hebrew Bible, a book of the greatest rarity, which he bought for a trifle of David Wilson, a Bookseller in the Strand; and as soon as he had ascertained his treasure, he never laid the book down, but took it himself to his lodging, and the next morning set out for Oxford, although he had not finished the business which brought him to London, and kept the book in his hands the whole journey, until he safely lodged it in his room at Baliol: he was so much pleased with this acquisition, that on Mr. Fletcher's next visit to London, he sent a guinea by him to the Bookseller, in addition to what he had first paid him.-This is all I can send you at present; and which, perhaps, is more than you can get now from any one else."

An Account of the several Libraries public and private, in and about London, for the satisfaction of the Curious, whether Natives or Foreigners. (HARL. MSS. 5900.)

I such as
T is usual for Travellers (I mean

when they come to reside in any city or place of note, to make inquiry after the Libraries of learned men, and get information of the rare books, medals, paintings, statues, prints, and other pieces of antiquity, that are to be seen there, and who are the proprietors of them.

Having been abroad, and seen the several Cities and Universities in Holland, and the French having given large accounts of their Libraries at Paris, hath put me upon this subject, to give an account in print of our public and private Libraries. Nothing of this nature having been attempted here in England, only the two Universities, the Bodleian Library, and the Catalogue of MSS. in Colleges and Cathedral Churches, and those in private hands that would communicate them; I thought fit to inform the world that in London and

Westminster are not only abundance of rare printed books and MSS. but antiquities, as statues, medals, paintings, and many other curiosities, both in art and nature, which may vie with any city in Europe, Rome excepted. We are not addicted to extol our own country, as the French do; but we ought to let Foreigners know the vast quantities we have of this nature.

I shall not trouble the reader with an account of such great abundance we have of good books, and how well the Conventual Fryeries and Abbeys were furnished with them before the Reformation. My design is only to direct you to the place where they are to be seen; and I shall begin with our Public Records, and the several places where they are deposited.

First, in the Tower of London.— Those in Wakefield Tower deserve a critical inspection, especially since they are new modellized and have new cases. Those also in the White Tower contain vast number of records relating to monasteries, &c. several letters of Emperors, Kings, and Princes, Dukes, &c. in several parts, as Tartary, Barbary, Spain, France, Italy, &c. to our Kings in England, which are and will be in such order as to be very serviceable to the curious: the Building itself, which was à Chapel of the Palace, is built after a rare and uncommon manner, and by the Queen's generosity in time

For the Records at Westminster, there are, first, those in the Exche quer, in the custody of the Lord Treasurer. There are those two most antient books of Records of England, made in William the Conqueror's time, called Doomsday-book, one in 4to, containing the survey of Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk, the other in folio, being all the shires in England from Cornwall to the river Tine. This is well worth the seeing. There are also other antient and valuable records: see Powell's Repertory of Records, 4to, printed in 1631.

The Parliament Rolls are kept in a Stone Tower in the Old Palace-yard.

The Papers of State, from the beginning of Henry VIII. to this time, are kept over the Gate that goes to the Cockpit, and is called the PaperOffice; it was built by Henry VIII. and is one of the best pieces of work

in Europe for flint. It is reported Hans Holbein was the Architect.

Sir Robert Cotton's Library, founded by himself, and by many called the English Vatican, the storehouse to which all our Antiquaries and Historians have had recourse, to the great improvement of their performances. It is well furnisht with antient MSS. both in Divinity and History, especially English History, as also many antient Saxon MSS. charters, coins of gold, silver and copper; and in the drawer are many rare pieces of Roman antiquities not mentioned in the catalogue; as brass images, fibulas, lamps, rings, seals, weapons, and a great many other rarities taken notice of by few; many old relicks that belonged to monasteries in England at their dissolution, particularly one shewn for the hip of a griffin, with a silver loop; that altar-piece of old painting that belonged to the monastery of Great St. Bartholomew in London; the pictures of some of the Kings of England at length on board, the oldest that are to be seen; and in a large book are several noble designs for Interviews in the time of Henry VIII. I shall not treat of the excellency of these MSS. either for antiquity, beauty, and rich illuminations, curious writing, &c. but leave it for more able performers, such as the ingenious Mr. Humphrey Wanley: when the world thinks fit to give encouragement, it is not to be doubted but he would exhibit this our Cotton Library as nobly as Lambesius has done the Emperor's at Vienna. The antient Genesis there is worthy taking notice of in particular: it is one of the rarest MSS. in the world, and perhaps as old as any; it is in Greek capitals, with figures, and well deserves the observation of the curious. The house where these rare jewels are kept is the remaining part of the palace of our St. Edward the King, and is one of the oldest buildings of those times now to be seen.

In the great Cloyster of the Abbey of Westminster, is a well-furnisht Library, considering the time when it was erected, by Dr. Williams, Dean of Westminster and Bishop of Lincoln, who was a great promoter of learning: he purchased the books of the heirs of one Baker of Highgate. He founded it for public use, every day in Teriu time, from 9 to 12 and

from 2 to 4. The MSS. are kept in the inner part, though now many of them are consumed by a late fire. There I saw the rare book of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Coronation of our Kings. There is a manuscript catalogue in the library.

St. James's Library, founded by Henry VIII. well furnished with curious MSS. collected by Jo. Leland, and others, at the dissolution of the Abbies. There are books in all languages, and all sorts of printed books, well worthy any man's seeing. There is great variety of the first printed books, both in vellum and paper in all volumes. The catalogue of the MSS. is printed in the General Catalogue of the MSS. in England. This Library was first founded for the use of the Princes of the blood, and so continues. But our Kings had not only their books kept here, but had studies and libraries at several palaces, Whitehall, Hampton-court, Nonsuch, Windsor, Oatland, Greenwich, &c. But this at St. James's was the chiefest, and hath been much made use of by learned men. He that can obtain the sight of it will be extremely pleased with the keeping of this li brary. It would much redound to the honour of England, if all learned foreigners did see it when they come hither.

Prince Henry caused a piece of ground near Leicester-fields to be walled in for the exercise of arms, which he much delighted in; a house was built at one end for an armory, and a well-furnisht library of all such books as related to arms, chivalry, military affairs, incamping, for tification, &c. the best that could be got in the kind in all languages, at the charge of the Prince, who had a particular learned man for a librarian, whose name I have forgot. It was called the Artillery Ground, and remained till the Restoration of King Charles II.; and then it fell into the hands of the Lord Gerrard, who let the ground out to build on.

In the church-yard of St. Martin'sin-the-fields, the then incumbent, Dr. Tenison, built a noble structure extremely well-contrived for the placing of books and the lights. It was begun and finished in the year 1683, at the said Doctor's charge, now Archbishop of Canterbury, and by him furnished with the best modern books

in all faculties, perhaps the best of its kind in England. The studious of all parts may have free access there to study, giving their names and places of abode to his Grace.

At Lambeth Palace, over the Cloysters, is a well-furnisht Library. The oldest books there I find to have belonged to the Lord Dudley, Earl of Leicester. From time to time they have been augmented by several Archbishops. It was a great loss to have it deprived of Archbishop Sheldon's, the best in England in its kind, for missals, breviaries, psalters, primers, &c. relating to the service of the Church. So also of Archbishop Sancroft's. In another apartment for MSS. only, are those belonging to the See of Canterbury, and those that were Lord Cary's, Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, many of them relating to the history of that kingdom.

Gray's Inn hath a library for the use of the Society and students of the house, mostly consisting of books relating to the law and history; first founded by the Lord Verulam.

Lincoln's-inn hath a good Library of the Law, much augmented by the addition of the Lord Chief Justice Hales, who gave it by will to the Society they are an admirable collection relating to the Laws of this nation; many of them are MSS. of his own handwriting.

In the Middle Temple is a considerable Library for common and civil law, English historians, &c. Constant attendance is given there at studyinghours; Wa. Williams, esq. is the present librariau. Sir Creswell Leving printed a Catalogue thereof, but would not suffer it to be made public, printing but a very few, which he gave to his friends.

In Guildhall, in the City, is the Treasury of their Records, Charters, Laws, Privileges, Acts of Common Council, &c. Their paper-books in the Chamberlain's office are very antient; those for the most part are in the keeping of the City Town Clerk. There is great variety, worthy the observation of the curious.

In the days of Edward VI. in the Chapel adjoining to the Guildhall, called my Lord Maior's chapell, was a Library very well furnisht, being all MSS. Stow says, the Duke of Somerset borrowed them, with a design never to return them but fur

nisht his own study in his pompous house in the Strand: they were five cart-loads. Thus the City at that time had a public library; besides many others within the walls, as at Grey Fryers in Newgate-street, was a good library of MSS. to which Whittington was a benefactor.

The White Fryers spared for no cost for books, and so their collection must be great and good; and Bale, one of their fraternity, said, there was no book to be sold but they had their emissaries to procure it for them; and indeed the Carmelites ingrossed all they could lay their hands on, and I believe other Orders did the same; so that a layman, though he were both able and willing to purchase, had but few fell into his hands; so that books and learning were only to be found in monasteries.

Sion College was founded by the will of Thomas White, Vicar of St. Duostan in the West, for the use of Divines and others in and about London. They are a body corporate, by charter, 1630. Great part of the books were destroyed in the fire in 1666; some of them were saved by the industry of the librarian John Spencer; and since that rebuilt, and the library furnished with many good books by the Viscountess Camden 1643, Lord Berkeley, and John Lawson M. D. of late, and is an object well deserving of pious benefactors that are lovers of learning, it being a place very conveniently situated out of the noise of coaches, carts, and waggons, and the only public library within the walls of the city of London; a large convenient spacious room, capable of containing many thousands of volumes; and it were to be wisht there were made a compleat collection of Bibles, especially in the English tongue; as also of our Latin and English historians; for persons generally give to public libraries books of shew only and of no value, such as they do not know how to dispose of.

We have some other small libraries within the walls of the City, one founded by Dean Colet, founder of St. Paul's School, for the use of the Scholars there, since re-built by the Company of Mercers. They had many good books both MSS. and printed, in grammatical, in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and which filled their library; but they were destroy

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ed in the late dreadfull fire, with those of the upper master's, Mr. Cromle holme, which was an excellent collection of the best editions of the Classics, printed by Aldus, Junti, Gryphius, Stephens, Elzevirs, &c. neatly bound, and at the time were the best private one in and about London; the loss of them shortened his days, for he spared no cost to procure them from all parts of Europe. Since the library hath been furnisht with all sorts of lexicons, dictionaries, and grammars, in Hebrew, Chaldie, Greek and Latin, for the use of the Upper School.

[To be continued.]

Mr. URBAN, Adderbury, Aug. 12. N the various Numismatic works I have perused, I do not remem ber to have seen any notice taken of the temporary disappearance of Coins which were formerly known, not only to have existed in cabinets, but also to have been engraven. Of such temporary disappearance I shall give a few instances, both in the Roman and Saxon series, from the plates in Speed's History of England. In the former, we find the gold of Pescennius Niger, and Allectus; in the lat ter, the fine Penny of Alfred, bearing on its Reverse the Monogram of London, and that of Beorhtric, King of the West Saxons. Of the gold of Pesceunius Niger, a specimen was found in Warwickshire about three years ago. This was, for a short time, in the possession of a friend of mine, who informed me into whose cabinet it passed; but the name has now escaped my recollection. A second is in the Royal Cabinet at Paris; which, till the discovery of the Warwickshire coin, was, I believe, deemed unique. Of Allectus, a gold specimen was formerly in the collection of Dr. Mead; and others, I conceive, are known, as the coin is not reckoned of quite prime rarity.

The curious and interesting monogram penny of Alfred is now, I believe, in the rich collection of T. Dimsdale, esq.; and that of Beorhtric (which is still unique) in the matchless cabinet of the late Dr. Hunter, at Glasgow. All the abovementioned Coins, as appears from Speed, were, at the time of the pub lication of his History, in the pos

session of Sir Robert Cotton; after which period, they seem to have disappeared, and not to have seen the light again, till within a little more than the last half century. I think it highly probable, that from the recently increased industry of nu mismatic antiquaries, more specimens of all of them may be in existence, (even in this country only) than I have here enumerated. Some of your Correspondents will perhaps be kind enough to supply the deficiency.

Now I am on the subject of Coins, Mr. Urban will possibly allow me to solicit the attention of his numerous Readers to the following address. I have now, for nearly 20 years, been hours, in the formation of a series actively employed, during my leisure of Saxon and English pennies, from the earliest period of the Heptarchy to the present time. From Egbert, inclusive, to Geo. III. this series is entirely complete; as is also that of the Heptarchic princes, with the exception of the following sovereigns, viz. Ethelbert I. Eadbert, and Beldred, of Kent: Beornwulf, Ludica, and the 2 Ceolwulfs, of Mercia: Regnald and Eric, of Northumberland :together with those princes, of whom Mr. Pinkerton says, either that their Coins are "unique," or that "not more than two of them are known.”

Now, as it is my intention, ultimately, to offer my whole collection, and the splendid cabinet containing it (the most complete and beautiful, perhaps, in Great Britain) to some public Literary Institution, worthy of so great and valuable an acquisition, (who possesses pennies of either of I beg to say, that if any gentleman the kings, above stated to be wanting to my series) will be kind enough to oblige me with them, in any manner most agreeable to himself, I shall feel myself infinitely obliged by the communication, and will most cheerfully do every thing in my power to repay the kindness. As the solicitation is tendered entirely on motives of prospective public utility, I trust it will have a correspondent influence with those to whom it is more immediately applicable.

With many thanks for your kind indulgence on the present, as well as former occasions, I am, Mr. Urban, Yours, &c. W.WOOLSTON.

Mr.

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