Preface.

The History and Antiquities of the Cathedral Churches of England have been so often described, and so profusely illustrated that little remains to be accomplished in that direction. But these descriptions are in many instances ancillary to the illustrations, and while the minutest details are given of the Church itself, little or no mention occurs of the literary treasures contained within its precincts. The reason of this is obvious. The Antiquarian would naturally dwell with complacency on those stately fabrics which, thanks to the piety of earlier years, still adorn the cities of our land. The Historian will recount with satisfaction those venerable foundations by which the light of knowledge and the blessings of religion were diffused in a less enlightened age than that in which we have the happiness to live. Moreover these Collections, though belonging to public bodies, are, strictly speaking, of a private character, being of limited accessibility and restricted use.

The Library of the Dean and Chapter is chiefly available for the use of the Clergy of the Cathedral Church, and under proper regulations becomes a convenient place of study for the clerical student or the lettered divine. The Libraries thus preserved have, as might be expected, great similarity of character. They often combine in a peculiar manner the learning of the middle ages, with the literature of a later date. Chiefly embracing theological subjects, they contain no small amount of classical lore, and a large proportion of historical research. Among much that is obsolete there is more that is valuable, and amid much that is trifling there is more that is important.

The contents of these Libraries have hitherto been known only to those who have had access to their shelves, but thanks to the courtesy of those entrusted with their custody, I have in every instance carefully perused the Catalogue, and minutely examined every volume which I have ventured to describe. This I have done at various times and different intervals, occasionally revisiting the same Collection whenever the opportunity of doing so occurred, but often hurried in my examination from unwillingness to encroach upon the time or avocations of those to whose kindness I have been indebted for the prosecution of these enquiries. No one can be more sensible than myself of the imperfections and omissions of a work compiled under such circumstances, and I shall feel deeply indebted to any one who will undertake to correct the one or to supply the other. None but those who have been accustomed to exact the most scrupulous accuracy from themselves can rightly estimate the difficulty of its attainment by others. Just as those who are most sensible of their own deficiencies most readily make allowance for the failings of others.

“There is a philosophy in the aridity of Bibliography which few bibliographers have discovered; there is a chronology of ideas as well as facts, and the date of an opinion is far more interesting than any on the Colophons.”⁠[1]⁠

This may be safely admitted, provided the date can be ascertained with sufficient accuracy to render permanent the interest it may inspire. But this it must be conceded is a point of no small difficulty, since “opinions and feelings are long silently propagated before they can assume the lasting form of published works.”

“Those revolutions in public opinion which are silently operating, without yet manifesting any overt acts, can only be detected in those histories of mankind which are furnished by themselves—Books! These are the precursors or the recorders of whatever is passing in Europe.”⁠[2]⁠

Those who laudably endeavour to resuscitate the defunct literature of a past age may best defend their pursuit in the language of the ingenious and lamented Leyden. “However injudicious our ancient authors may be reckoned in the selection of their materials, and the arrangement of their topics; however defective in the arts of composition or polish of style, they can never divest themselves of the manners and habits of thinking familiar to the age in which they lived. It is this circumstance which stamps a real value on the rudest compositions of an early period; a value which continually increases with their antiquity.”

If the true test of the value of a book be, where can you learn what it will teach you? and if the answer be nowhere, then we may safely concede both merit and value. Such I am far from presuming to be the characteristic of the present work; but assuredly no where else can be found any collected account of the Ecclesiastical Libraries, attached to the Cathedrals of England, and forming not the least interesting portion of their several Capitular possessions.

The Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in possession of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester, Exeter, Wells, Lichfield, Durham, Worcester, Westminster, are enumerated in the third volume of Hickes’ Thesaurus, entitled Antiquæ Litteraturæ Septentrionalis liber alter, seu Humphredi Wanleii Librorum Vett. Septentrionalium, qui in Angliæ Bibliothecis extant, necnon multorum Vett. Codd. Septentrionalium alibi extantium Catalogus Historico-Criticus, Oxonii, 1705, folio.

In the same author’s Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ in unum collecti, &c. Oxoniæ, 1698, folio, we find Catalogues of the Manuscripts preserved in the Chapter Houses of York, Durham, Carlisle, Worcester, Salisbury, Westminster, Winchester, Lichfield, Hereford, Exeter, and Canterbury, affording abundant evidence of the diligence and accuracy of Humphrey Wanley.

In Clarke’s Repertorium Bibliographicum there is some account of the most celebrated British Libraries, London, 1819, 8vo. including Notices of the Archiepiscopal Library, Lambeth Palace, the Cathedral Library of Canterbury, the Christ Church Library at Oxford, and the Manuscripts in the Chapter House at Westminster.

I have purposely omitted from this Work all mention of the Parochial Libraries of England, such as those of Wimborne Minster in Dorsetshire; Halifax in Yorkshire; Castleton in Derbyshire; Langley in Buckinghamshire; Tong and Whitchurch in Shropshire. The latter in particular is a beautiful Library, purchased by a former Countess of Bridgewater from one of the Prestons, and left as an heirloom to the living. The late Francis Henry, Earl of Bridgewater, left all his books in augmentation of this Library, and also bequeathed several sums of money for founding other Libraries of a similar kind at Middle, Ellesmere, and other places. I have reluctantly excluded the Library at Bamborough Castle, in Northumberland, so interesting as containing a vellum copy of the Book of Troy, by Pynson; as well as the Libraries of Sion College; Archbishop Tenison’s; the Dissenters, in Red Cross Street; and the Baptist Museum, at Bristol. To go beyond these would be to describe the Libraries of the British Museum; the London and Royal Institutions, the London Library, and those of the different learned and Scientific Societies, and of the Clubs of London. All these are foreign to my purpose, which embraces only Libraries of a strictly ecclesiastical character. I have introduced the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth as belonging to the Primate, and the Library of the Dean and Chapter of St. George’s, at Windsor, as appertaining to the Sovereign Head of the English Church.

I have chosen to designate these Collections as Cathedral Libraries, because with the above exception, the only Capitular Library described in this volume which is not at present in connection with a See, is the venerable foundation of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. This from its connection with the ancient Palace of Westminster must always be regarded as classic ground in the History and Antiquities of England.

I have added no index to this book, because the work itself is little more than an index to the contents of the Collections which it professes to describe, and a mere repetition of proper names would have added to the bulk without increasing the utility of the volume. Hasty as these notes may have been, and confessedly imperfect as they are, they may yet serve to excite if not to satisfy the awakened interest in the Curiosities of English Literature.

“Without doubt,” says Richard de Bury in his Philobiblon, translated by Inglis, quoting Seneca in his Epistles, “Leisure without letters is death, and the Sepulture of the living man;” so we justly conclude from a converse meaning, “that to be employed with Literature and Books is life.”

Norton Hall, 5 March, 1849.