Note 950 — Chapter X

The last editor of Wood’s Athenæ Oxonienses bears witness to having seen chronicles and other books mutilated, as he conceives, by the protestant visitors of the university under Edward, What is most, he says, to the discredit of Cox (afterwards bishop of Ely), was his unwearied diligence in destroying the ancient manuscripts and other books in the public and private libraries at Oxford. The savage barbarity with which he executed this hateful office can never be forgotten, &c., p. 478. One book only of the famous library of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, bequeathed to Oxford, escaped mutilation. This is a Valerius Maximus. But as Cox was really a man of considerable learning, we may ask whether there is evidence to lay these Vandal proceedings on him rather than on his colleagues.