Note 16 — ANNALS OF THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY.

Bodley appears to have been altogether an accomplished linguist. James, in the preface to the first Catalogue of 1605, after speaking of his proficiency in the classical languages, adds, 'Linguas vero exoticas, veluti Italicam, Gallicam, Hispanicam, Hebræam præcipue, cæterarum omnium parentem, tam perfecte callet, ut illo neminem fere scientiorem invenies.' And in one of four letters addressed to him on the interpretation of passages in the Old Testament, which are printed among the Epistles of J. Drusius, De Quæsitis (1595, p. 40), Drusius says, 'Vere dicam, Bodlæe, et intelligis optime litteras Hebræas, et amas unice earum peritos.' The same volume contains also one letter to his brothers, Laurence, Miles, and Josias, on the Pastor of Hermas.