Library of Peterborough.

A church having been dedicated to St. Peter by the first Christian kings of Mercia at Medeshamstede, that place was thenceforward called Peterborough. The Monastery there begun in 655-6, and completed in 664, was utterly destroyed by the Danes in 870, but re-edified in 870 by S. Adelwold, Bishop of Winchester. From this time the Abbey continued in great magnificence till the general dissolution of the religious houses, when, happily escaping, it was converted into a Cathedral Church, and all its buildings were preserved. It is said that Henry VIII. was induced to spare this church for the sake of his Queen Catherine, whose mortal remains lie within its walls. By this means it continued entire till the second havoc of religious structures in the Great Rebellion, when the Cloisters, Chapter House, Library, Bishop’s Hall and Chapel, formerly belonging to the Abbot were utterly demolished; and the Chapel of our Lady adjoining to the Abbey, being much out of repair, was taken down by the townsmen, who prevailed to have the rest of the building made parochial, which for that end, they had repaired with great expense.⁠[52]⁠

John Chambers was the last Abbot of Peterborough. He surrendered the Abbey to the king A.D. 1539, and had a pension of 266l. 13s. 4d. per annum assigned him. Soon after, king Henry VIII. made the Abbey an Episcopal See, appointed by dotation dated 4 Sept. A.D. 1541: the said John Chambers, the first Bishop, who was consecrated 23 Oct. A.D. 1541. He died about the month of December A.D. 1556, and was buried in this Cathedral.⁠[53]⁠

The Library of the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough occupies a small chapel, with a carved oaken ceiling, over which is a stone roof, and around which are open shelves rising to the height of the room. This little chapel is said to owe its erection to an endeavour on the part of the architect of this elegant fabric, to conceal the defect of the middle arch in the façade of the building being smaller than the lateral ones. This expedient appears to satisfy the eye, while its situation in the portico of the temple, makes it an appropriate repository for the treasures of human learning. It appears, however, that the Library was not always kept in this place, for in a Journal of a Tour through the North of England and Scotland in 1704,⁠[54] the author, speaking of this Cathedral says, “In the east end beyond the altar is a good library.”

That our traveller’s epithet was not altogether misapplied it will be the object of the following pages to show, though of course the theological works of the fathers, and early controversialists must form a prominent feature in this hasty sketch.

An interleaved copy of the Catalogue of the Bodleian Library of 1674, in 2 folio volumes, lettered on the sides “Catalogus Bibliothecæ Ecclesiæ, Cathedralis Petroburgensis,” wherein the books of this Collection are marked with reference to the shelves, and the additions thereto inserted on the blank pages, is the only Catalogue at present extant of this Library. At the end of the manuscript additions to this Catalogue is the date of 1726. This clumsy expedient may probably be soon abandoned, as several lists of the books compiled by the late Librarian indicate an approach to a better method, though I regret to add this plan is still pursued in the noble Library of Trinity College in Cambridge.

Among the Works of Divinity in this Collection, those of the Fathers of the Church lay first claim to our notice. These are the works of S.S. Ambrose, Augustine, Athanasius, Bernard, Chrysostom, Cyprian, Jerome, Hilary, Isidore, Irenæus, Theodoret, and Theophylact.

Among the earlier Theologians, we may mention the Works of Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Bucer, Bullinger, Calvin, Bellarmine, Theodore Beza, Le Clerc, Erasmus, Gregory Nazianzen, Thomas à Kempis, and Pope Gregory; of Grotius, Luther, Melancthon, Peter Martyr, Origen, Socinus, Philo Judæus, Lactantius, Wolfius, and Zanchius, to which may be added, Arminii Opera Theologica, and Bulli Opera Omnia.

Of English Divines this Library possesses the Works of Bishop Andrews, Bilson, Boys, Bramhall, Barlow, Baxter, Samuel Clarke, Cranmer, Hall, Hacket, Hammond, Hody, Hoadley, Hooper, Hopkins, Kettlewell, Jackson, Pierce, Leslie, Reynolds, Stapleton, Sanderson, Jeremy Taylor, Tillotson, Waterland, Whiston, Whitaker, White, and Whitgift. To which may be added, Jewel’s Works of 1609 in folio; Burkitt’s Exposition of the New Testament; Pearson on the Creed; Mede on Daniel, Scott’s Christian Life; Nichols and Sparrow on the Common Prayer; Wake’s Catechism, and Epistles of the Apostolical Fathers; Wilkins on Natural Religion; Warburton’s Divine Legation; and the Whole Duty of Man.

The editions of the Sacred Scriptures in this Library comprise the well-known Polyglott Bible of Walton, with the important adjunct of Castell’s Lexicon; the English Versions of 1540, 1551, and 1578, all in folio, together with the English Bible of 1599, interleaved, in three folio volumes; the Oxford Edition of 1685, in folio, and the Cambridge Edition of 1679, in 4to.

Of Latin Bibles I may here mention the

Biblia Latina, Castalionis. Basileæ, 1573.

Biblia Latina, Junii. 1596, 4to. and 1618, 4to. &

Biblia Latina. Antverpiæ, 1569, & Parisiis, 1528.

I also noticed the

Biblia Hebraica, Græca, et Latina. Heidelbergæ, 1599, folio.

The Biblia Hebraica. Venetiis, 1525. &

The Biblia Græca, juxta LXX, edente Grabe. Oxonii, 1707, in 2 volumes folio.

To which I may add, among other Editions of the New Testament, that edited by Mill at Oxford in 1707.

In this place it is right to notice the various Concordances, Harmonies, and Commentaries upon the Scriptures, as well as Confessions of Faith, found in this Library; though to specify them minutely would fatigue the reader.

It may suffice to mention more particularly Leigh’s Critica Sacra; Limborch’s Theologia Christiana; the Commentaries of Lyra; Cave’s Primitive Christianity; Cotelerii Patres Apostolici; Du Pin’s Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum; the Works of Ramus, Raynaudus, and Rivetus, and Calmet’s Dictionary of the Bible.

To Books of Homilies, and Catechisms, and various Rituals, may be added the Graduale Romanum, Parisiis, 1640; Durandi Rationale Divinorum Officiorum; Missale Romanum, Antverpiæ, 1686, cum figuris pulcherrimis, in folio, being a noble volume from the Press of the illustrious Plantin; and the Book of Common Prayer printed at Cambridge in 1669, in 4to.; to which may be added various editions of the Psalter.

In Ecclesiastical History, Reports of the various Councils, including the Acta Synodi, Dordracensis, and Brent’s History of the Council of Trent, are here found in juxta-position with Gibson’s Codex Juris Ecclesiastici et Civilis; the Codex Canonum of Beveridge; the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius by Hanmer; Brandt’s History of the Reformation in the Low Countries; the Codex and Institutiones of Justinian; the Legenda Aurea; and Hooker’s Ecclesiastical Polity.

Of Books relating to the Church affairs of Britain, this Library embraces Parker’s Antiquitates Ecclesiæ Britannicæ, Hanoviæ, 1605, folio; Bedæ Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum; Fox’s Acts and Monuments, London, 1583, 4to.; Godwin, de Præsulibus Angliæ, and the Catalogue of Bishops; Burnett’s History of the Reformation; Durell, Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ Vindiciæ; Heylin’s History of the Reformation; Inett’s Origines Anglicanæ; Stillingfleet’s Origines; Usser, Britannicæ Ecclesiæ Antiquitates, Eblanæ, 1639, and Wharton’s Anglia Sacra.

Of General History there are but few volumes in this Collection: of these the first in point of time and curiosity is the well-known Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493, in folio; to which Dibdin has devoted sixteen pages of the Spencer Catalogue. Next in point of interest as to time is the St. Albans’ Chronicle, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1520. To these may be added, Carionis Chronicon, and Robinsoni Annales Mundi.

Of Histories of different Countries we find on these shelves Asheton’s Turkish Chronicle; Blount’s Portugal; Grimstone’s Netherlands; Howel’s Germany; Mariana’s History of Spain; Scheffer’s Lapland; and Danett’s History of the Low Countries.

Of Voyages and Travels we find only those of Sandys, Thevenot, and Drake; Hakluyt’s Voyages, 1599, folio; Sir Thomas Herbert’s Travels in the East, 1630, folio; and Chardin’s Travels in Persia, 1686, and several Atlasses.

Chronological Works, which afford the most material aid to the historical student, occur less sparingly in this Collection, since it is found to contain only Cary’s Palæologia; Chronologia; Marshall and Lloyd’s Chronological Tables; and Helvici Chronologia.

I may here mention Bayle’s Dictionary; Cluvierius, Geography; and Prideaux’s Marmora Oxoniensia, as all affording helps to History.

Of Heraldry, whose language though limited is distinct, we find in this Library, Leigh’s Accidence of Armoury, of 1597; Bolton’s Elements of Armories, 1610, 4to.; and Boswell’s Accidence of Armory, 1672, 4to.; works which were all written when the art of Blazon was extensively cultivated as a science.

A large paper copy of Sparke’s Historia S. Cœnobii Burgensis Scriptores, Londini, 1723, folio, and a copy of Gunton’s Peterborough Cathedral, enriched with the Manuscript Notes of Bishop Kennett, are taken under the especial protection of the dean and chapter of that see.

In the Library, however, is left a small paper copy of Sparke’s Collection, which leads me to mention Twysden’s Historiæ Anglicanæ Scriptores Decem, and other works relating to the History of England.

Among these we find the Chronicles of Baker and Cooper; Echard’s History of England, and three editions of Camden’s Britannia, by the author in 1590, 8vo., by Holland in 1610, folio, and by Gibson in 1695, in folio; Blome’s Britannia, 1673; Ogilby’s Britannia; Whitelock’s Memorials, 1709, folio; Clarendon’s History of the Great Rebellion; Weldon’s Life of Charles I.; May’s History of the Parliament of 1647; Bates’ Elenchus Motuum Nuperorum in Angliâ, edited by Skinner, referring to the same period in Dugdale’s View of the late Troubles, 1681, and Leycester’s rare Commonwealth, also deposited in this chamber.

To these may be added Daniell’s History of England, including his graphic account of the Wars of the Roses; Wyat’s Rebellion, by Proctor; Barnes’ History of Edward III.; Herbert’s Life of Henry VIII. 1649; Cox’s History of Ireland; Lloyd’s History of Wales; Kennett’s History of England, London, 1719, in 3 volumes folio, and his Historical Register of 1728, in folio;⁠[55] Stafford’s Pacata Hibernica; Sheringham, de Origine Gentis Anglorum; Polydori Vergilii Historia Anglicana; Tyrrell’s History of England; and Sir William Temple’s Introduction to the History of England.

I may here also notice Warner’s Albion’s England; Camden’s Remains concerning Britain; and Yarranton’s England’s Improvement by Sea and Land, &c.

Of Local Histories of England, this Collection comprehends, Bentham’s Ely; Bridges’ Northamptonshire; Peck’s Stamford; Ayliffe’s Oxford; Gunton’s Peterborough; Bentley’s Halifax; Hill’s Hereford Cathedral, London, 1717, 8vo.; Lewis’ Isle of Thanet; Fitz Stephens’ Survey of London; Lambarde’s Perambulation of Kent; Morton’s Natural History of Northamptonshire; Somner’s Roman Ports and Forts in Kent; Some Account of the Scarborough Spaw in 1667; Willis’ Cathedrals; and Wright’s Rutland.

Connected with English History, and therefore deserving of a passing remark are, Barwick’s Life of Barwick; Knight’s Life of Colet; the Life of Wallace; and Le Neve’s Monumenta; Fasti Anglicani, and Lives of P— Q—; Nevyllus de furoribus Norfolcensium Ketto duce; Bernard’s Life of Usher; Sacheverell’s Tryal; Sir Philip Warwick’s Discourse of Governments; and the Records of the Kingdom published by the authority of Parliament.

Pursuing the path of English Literature we meet with the Philosophical and Theological Works of Sir Thomas More, including the edition of his English Works in 1557, and the folio tome of his Latin productions.

To these I may add Baconi Opera Omnia, Francofurti, 1660, folio; Boyle’s Works, abridged by Boulton; Barclay’s Apology; the Remains of Parsons, Bishop of Peterborough; the Works of Charles the First, together with the famous Εικων Βασιλικη; and Coverdale’s Letters of the Martyrs, 1614.

Of English Poesy the chaplet to be woven is but small; the curious reader may however cull such flowers as the Works of Chaucer and of Milton; Heywood’s Spider and Flie, 1536; Churchyard’s Challenge; and the Vision of Pierce Plowman, may yield.

He may also derive instruction from Puttenham’s Art of English Poetry, published in 1589 in 4to. a work of which the original is still the most esteemed edition.

Herbs, which savour of the Physic Garden next invite the hand of the Collector, who may here behold Arnoldi Herbolarium, in 4to.; Ascham’s Herbal of 1550, in 8vo.; Andrew Borde’s Breviary of Health, &c.; Culpepper’s Physical Directory; Lite’s History of Plants; and Tusser’s Husbandry, with that of Barnaby Googe.

I may here notice a copy of Bartholomæus de Proprietatibus Rerum, printed at London in 1635, in folio.

The Classical authors contained in this Library are not remarkable either for their rarity or value.

I remarked however a very fine copy of Casaubon’s Polybius; the Works of Aristotle, edited by Du Val and Erasmus; Aristophanis Comœdiæ, printed at Basle in 1542, and at Franckfort in 1544; Antoninus, Gatakeri; Athenæus, Dalecampii; Epictetus, Uptoni; Barnes’ Euripides; Florus, Grævii; Galeni Opera, Venetiis, apud Aldum, 1525; Geoponica, by Needham; Hesiodus, Robinsoni, Oxonii, 1737, 4to.; Herodotus, edited by Stephens and by Gale; Quintus Curtius, Basileæ, 1545; Diogenes Laertius, Meibomii; and Dionysius Halicarnassensis, Hudsoni.

I also noticed Longinus, by Pearce; Homerus Spondani, Basileæ, 1583; Horatius, Delphini; Iamblichus, edited by Gale; Isocratis Epistolæ, Venetiis, 1499, folio; Juvenalis Satyræ, Venetiis, 1548, folio; and Antverpiæ, 1552, 8vo.; Planti Comœdiæ, 1530; the Aldine Statius; Thucydides Hudsoni; Xenophontis Opera Stephani; and the Corpus Poetarum Latinorum, printed at London, in 1603.

If to the Works already enumerated, be added various editions of Cæsar, Cicero, Æsop, Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius, of Demosthenes, Hippocrates, Josephus, Ovid, Persius, Philostratus, Plutarch, Lucian, Lucretius, Lucan, Livy, Quintilian, Sallust, and Silius Italicus, of Seneca, Sophocles, Suetonius, Tacitus, Terence, Virgil, and Valerius Maximus; the classical scholar may form a tolerably correct notion of the value of this department of the Library of the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough.

In this place I may venture to insert the English versions of the classics which also find a place on these shelves. Of these, Appian in English, London, 1578, 4to.; Phaer’s Virgil; and Chapman’s Homer, are the most remarkable.

I may here briefly enumerate Buxtorf’s Hebrew Lexicon; Du Fresne’s Glossary; Eliot’s Bibliotheca, 1545; Hickes’ Thesaurus Septentrionalis; the Lexica of Hoffmanni and Scapula; Littleton’s, Rider’s, and Stephens’ English Dictionary; with some other Works of like nature, as constituting the Etymological riches of this Collection.

Here also it may be proper to notice Bentley’s Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris; Whittinton’s Grammatical Tracts; some Pieces of the learned Vossius, and the Works of Picus of Mirandula.

In Bibliography, the only works which fell under my observation were the Acta Eruditorum; Balei Scriptores Rerum Britannicarum, Basileæ, 1559; Fabricii Bibliotheca Latina; Cave’s Historia Literaria; Catalogus Librorum ab inventâ Typographiâ ad annum 1500, excusorum, Amstelodami, 1688, 4to.; Clavel’s Catalogue of English Books from 1660 to 1680; Sixti Senensis Bibliotheca Sancta; and Stanley’s History of Philosophy.

In English Literature, this collection is lamentably deficient, though it possesses the Works of Locke, Isaac Barrow’s Mathematical Works; Cumberland’s Origines Gentium, &c.; Hale’s Remains; the Works of Cartwright, Ridley, Hobbes, and Rogers; Sprat’s History of the Royal Society; Numerous Sermons, and many political as well as polemical Tracts.

Of Law Books, I only remarked Bracton de Legibus Anglorum; Fortescue de Laudibus Legum Angliæ; Suarez de Legibus; and a few of the Statutes themselves.

Of Miscellaneous Literature, there only remains for me to notice the Works of Agricola, Ariosto, Petrarch, Machiavel, and Tasso, of Buchanan, Bossuet, and Puffendorf, together with Boezio, della Consolazione Filosofie, Florence, 1584; Hyde, Religio Veterum Persarum; Jovii Vitæ Virorum Illustrium; and Platina, Vitæ Pontificum.

In conclusion I would direct the attention of the bibliopolist to a specimen of a printer but little known, being the Provinciale of Lyndewode, printed at London by Andree Brocard, in 1597, folio, in double columns of the gothic letter; though the fortuitous similarity of name may serve only to remind the votary of fashion of the bright illusion of the dance, while still before his mental eye

The important changes effected at the Reformation, were by no means so disastrous to existing interests as is now commonly imagined, since, in many instances the abbot of the ancient hierarchy became the bishop of the reformed church. At Peterborough, the beneficial effects of the sweeping measures of ecclesiastical reform under our Eighth Henry, were felt in so especial a manner, that the town was at once elevated to the rank and importance of a city in consequence of the conversion of the ancient monastery into the cathedral see.

The remains, however, of the Conventual Library probably suffered more from the rude hands of Cromwell’s soldiery, than from the previous transition from the desks of the monks to the shelves of the clergy.

The books are chiefly theological, consisting of the fathers and early controversialists, and adorned by a folio Missal from the press of Plantin.

On the shelves of the Library of this Cathedral, there still remain some interesting memorials of the Monastic Collection. Among these I particularly noticed the Bible in Manuscript, finely illuminated, and the Four Gospels, by Clement of Lanthony in 4to.

To these may be added, Manuscripts of the Works of Saints Augustine, and Bernard; some Books of Homilies; the Liber Sententiarum Latinè, in 4to.; and the Constitutiones Provinciales, in 8vo.

The most valuable and interesting Record connected with the Church of Peterborough is the Lieger Book of the Church, a Chronicle composed by Hugo surnamed Candidus, a Monk of that Monastery, but usually ascribed to Robert Swapham,⁠[56] a Monk of the same Church. This book was rescued from destruction by the soldiers of Cromwell’s army April 22, 1643, by Mr. Humfrey Austin, then chaunter of the Church, who redeemed it by the help of ten shillings “for that old Latine Bible,” as he called it, given to the ruffian who was carrying it away.⁠[57]⁠

The Books which had survived the dissolution of the Monastery, perished in the Great Rebellion, and but few of them have been preserved to our own times. The Catalogue printed in Gunton’s History of the Church of Peterburgh, London, 1686, in folio, under the title of “Matricularium Librariæ Monasterii Burgi Sancti Petri, paucis libris non examinatis,” is therefore of much importance, as shewing the nature and extent of the monastic Library of Peterborough in its original state.

“I shall here present,” says our author, “an Ancient Catalogue of a Library in this Monastery, which, having no date annexed to it, must be left to conjecture when it might be taken. The marginal illustrations I have taken out of Bellarmine Pitseus, and Trithemius, and affixed them thereunto.”

This Catalogue occupies 26 leaves, extending from pp. 173 to 224 of the Appendix. Its contents are chiefly the moral and devotional writings of the fathers, commentators, and early schoolmen, the canon-law, the Latin Classics, with some pieces of Aristotle, a few chronicles, and legends.

Leland’s Notice of the Library of this House, in his Collectanea, is either very imperfect, or it must have lost many of its books previous to his visitation. He enumerates only fifteen works, of which the following only are historical; Passio Sanctorum Wolfadi et Rufini filiorum Regis Wolpheri; Vita S. Eustachii carmine heroico; Liber Epistolarum Gulielmi de Semperingham; Vita Gisleni Episcopi Græci; Vita Felicis eleganti carmine scripta; and Freculphi Historia.

The last article in the Catalogue printed by Gunton, after an enumeration of some works in the romance language, is a “Computatio annorum ab initio mundi usque ad tempore Edwardi filii Regis Edwardi;” probably Edward the Second; in which case the compilation of this Catalogue could not have been earlier than 1317.

Dr. White Kennett, Dean and afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, contributed fifteen hundred volumes to form an antiquarian and historical Library for his Cathedral Church. The Catalogue of this Collection is entitled “Index Librorum aliquot Vetustorum quos in commune bonum congessit W. K. Decan. Petriburg. MDCCXII.”⁠[58]⁠