abolition of the Slave-trade. On the death of Archbishop Thomson, in 1890, several MSS. connected with his predecessor, Archbishop Sharp, and other members of his family, were purchased, including that of his life, published in 1825, and other books and papers of considerable interest.

In 1728, the Hon. and Rev. Henry Finch, Dean of York, gave by his will one hundred pounds to the Chapter for the use of the library. He also presented a copy of the first edition of Rymer's Fœdera, then a scarce and valuable book, in seventeen volumes.

In 1737, the Dean and Chapter came into possession of a large portion of the library of Marmaduke Fothergill. He was the eldest son of Thomas Fothergill of York, dyer, and was baptized in the Church of St. Dennis, Walmgate, on June 2nd, 1654. He was educated at St. Peter's School, then called the School in the Horse Fair, and graduated at St. Mary Magdalen College, Cambridge. For some years he was Vicar of Skipwith near York, but resigned that charge as he was unable to take the oaths of allegiance to William and Mary. The remainder of his life was passed at Pontefract in Yorkshire, and at Westminster, where he died and was buried. In Drake's Eboracum, pp. 379-80, there is an interesting sketch of his life. Fothergill was one of our earliest liturgical scholars, and made the history and composition of the Prayer Book of the Church of England his chief study. It was his intention probably to print the result of his enquiries, but this purpose was never carried into effect, but his MS. collections are preserved at York, and were largely used by the Rev. J. H. Blunt in his Annotated Book of Common Prayer. Mr. Fothergill died in Masham Street, Westminster, on September 9, 1731. I now give a copy of his will.

"In the name of God, Amen. I Marmaduke Fothergill in the parish of St. John the Evangelist in the City of Westminster, clerk, being well qualified in mind and memory do make this my last will and testament this seventeenth day of February, one thousand seven hundred and thirty, in form and manner following, and all written with my own hand. I give my soul to God, expecting Redemption by His only Son, my dear Saviour Jesus Christ, and my body to be buryed with daylight as privately and plainly as possibly by her whom I shall hereafter appoint my sole executrix. I give to my daughter Dorothea five hundred pounds, with all the books in her library and a moiety of all my furniture in my house, and of my plate, linnen and rings, provided that brother Dickson's scrutore and the two tables in my study and the two stands there shall by exchange of goods of equal value or equivalents are hereby devised to my son Marmaduke Fothergill, and the further sum of five hundred punds more at her mother's death, or when she shall attain the compleat number of twenty and one years of age, or which shall first happen, is hereby devised to her. I give all the residue of my estate to my son Marmaduke, and all the books in his study. And if either of my children shall dye before the age of twenty one years compleated, the survivor shall inherit the respective estates. I give my organ to be placed in the church of Skipwith whereof I was some time vicar, provided the said parish will remove the said organ from London to Skipwith, and maintain an organ there: and my chalise and pattin, silver, inclosed in a red leather cover, principally for the solempnization of private communion is hereby given to the same parish; and all my books whose catalogue is in a paper book distinguished from A to P. inclusively, written with my own hand, are hereby in trust to the vicars of Howden and Hemingbrough for a clerical (not a parochial) liberary for the Peculiar of that district, to be in the custody of the vicar of Skipith who shall not

lend any books out of that place, but all to be preserved in the comon library for the publick good of those that resort thither; and once a year the two vicars of Howden and Hemingbrough and other or others, as the founder of this library for the better preserving and perpetuateing the same foundation by himself, his heirs, executors, administrators or assigns, may increase the number of the trustees, at the same time, and shall visit the library; and the vicar of Skippith upon this visitation shall forthwith satisfy fully for all imbezlements and abuzes of books, and both the respective parties shall accquit themselves as they shall answer it before God's most just tribunall, prov'd the library may be built by others in the church yard of Skipwith. And of this my last will and testament I do constitute Ann my dear wife sole executrix, renouncing and declaring all former wills and testaments made by me to be null and void: and I do hereby charge her to discharge all my debts, legacies and funeral expences. And by reason of her plentifull jointure she is hereby debarr'd from all legaces, customs or other demands whatsoever and during my children's minorities respectively I do hereby appoint my dear wife, Tho: Fothergill of York, Esq. & Mr. Baldwin of Clements Inn trustees for the management of their estates, & do seal, publish and declare this to be my last will and testament the day and year above written.

Pr. 26 Jan. 1739-40.

MARM. FOTHERGILL.

The idea of making parochial libraries, for reference or for loan, developed itself in the first half century after the Restoration. Barnabas Oley was in favour of the scheme, and helped it in his will. Dr. Bray gave the movement a strong impetus, and others took it up, among whom was Fothergill. His wish was to form a clerical library, but only for reference, for the peculiars of Howden and Hemingbrough, which formerly belonged to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Durham. He proposed to find the books, and left it to others to provide a receptacle for them, which was to be built in the churchyard of his old parish of Skipwith, not far from Selby. I cannot think that the choice was a wise one. Skipwith is an out of the way village, the clergy to be benefited by the gift were few in number and widely scattered, and less likely to avail themselves of the library than those of almost every other district in Yorkshire. The result was that there was never even the shadow of a chance of the money being collected to construct the library, and the project fell to the ground immediately. If the building had been erected, and the books placed in it, we may perhaps guess what the result would have been from the fate of a large collection of books which was bequeathed to the next parish of Bubwith, about the year 1750. A list of these is in existence, properly engrossed on parchment, with a view to their preservation. Some thirty years ago I saw a number of these books in a cupboard in the vestry in a tattered and neglected condition. Within the last five years a new vicar of Bubwith has been appointed, and I asked him about the books. His answer was that there were no books at all. On enquiring into the matter at my request, he found that it had been the custom to use them as fuel to light the vestry fire, and the sole remnant of some six or seven hundred volumes were some six or eight, which he picked up in the village, and wisely offered to the Dean and Chapter of York for preservation in their library.

Mr. Fothergill's books were duly brought from Westminster to York, but the Vicar of Skipwith and his friends were unable to provide the

necessary room for their reception. Accordingly, on November 25th, 1737, Mrs. Dorothy Fothergill, the widow of Marmaduke, entered into a formal agreement with the Dean and Chapter of York, by which her husband's library, containing 1,500 volumes, was made over to them, and it has been preserved and valued in York to the present day.

A catalogue, drawn up by Fothergill himself, came with the books. It was written in a ledger-like folio volume, bound in vellum, and secured with a clasp. The title is as follows:-'Catalogus Librorum hujus Bibliothecæ per Marm. Fothergill donatorem parochia de-in perpetuum secundum Statutum in hac causâ editum et provisum,

The following Classification is adopted :-A. Biblia—B. Patres— C. Catechismi-D. Concionatores-E. Liturgia-F. Theologici-G. Classici-H. Legales-I. Philosophi-J. Lexicographi-L. Poete-M. Historici -N. Geographici-O. Grammatici-P. Aspidologici.

This is followed by a general Alphabetical Catalogue.

The Collection contains a large number of simple and useful books of reference, such as Grammars, Dictionaries and Manuals, which would be of use in a country village. Added to these, however, there is an invaluable series of Liturgical MSS. and books, among which are many of the Service books in use in the Church of England prior to the Reformation, with many works in illustration of them which give a tone and a character to the whole library. Great care has been taken to continue this series of Liturgical Works, and it is hoped that this duty will be regarded as a perpetual obligation. Fothergill chose as his motto, 'Fortiter et suaviter,' and his MS. notes throughout his library are numerous, but he did not consider sufficiently the places in which they were made. Many a title-page is disfigured by his somewhat unscholarlike hand.

Several hundreds of the books in Fothergill's library bear the name of John Price, Joannes Pricæus,' and must have been collected by him. Anthony & Wood calls him 'the greatest critick of his time.' He was born in 1600, and died at Rome in 1676, having become a Roman Catholic. He was a servant of Lord Strafford and a friend of Archbishop Ussher, and retired to Italy during our Civil War, where he became a professor in the University of Pisa. He was a scholar of renown, and an author of considerable repute.

A portrait of Fothergill came with his books, and is preserved in the Library.

Soon after the commencement of the present century, under the energetic management of Dean Markham, Archdeacon Eyre, and other members of the Chapter, it was resolved to move the Library from its old home close to the South Transept of the Minster to a new and better position. The place selected was the ancient chapel of the Archiepiscopal Palace near the present Deanery. It was built in the 13th century by Archbishop Gray, and is a fine specimen of first-pointed architecture. Its appearance about the year 1800 is well shown by the pencils of Halfpenny and Cave. In 1803, the west window was restored, and a door inserted in the wall beneath it to serve as the principal entrance. In 1808-9, a new roof was

put upon the building, and much of the carving was recut, but scarcely in the character of the original, of which a few specimens only have been preserved. In 1810, the present oak floor was laid and the light gallery was erected. It is much to be regretted that these changes involved the blocking up of the beautiful lancet-windows on two sides of the building. About the same time, the west window was filled with pattern glass made by Jacob Wright, of Leeds, somewhat after the style of the Five Sisters in the Minster. In this are inserted the coats of arms of the Archbishop Dean, and the Members of the Chapter, each of whom contributed the sum of three guineas as the cost of his own armorial bearing. The arms of the Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV) are also inserted as an acknowledgment of his kindness in giving to the Dean and Chapter a number of leaves from Medieval Service Books with some rich illuminations.

The books were moved into the new library in May, 1810, the Dean and Messrs. Bulmer and Dallin, vicars-choral, superintending the work. The old library was then made a storehouse for the MS. books, papers, and evidences belonging to the Dean and Chapter, which had previously been deposited in what Dean Markham calls "the old Record room at the east end of Belfrey Church," which is now used as the Vestry. After a while these evidences, etc., were removed to the wall-presses in Archbishop Zouche's chapel in the Minister, and the old library was filled with the Records of the Consistory Court of York and the Registers and Muniments of the Archbishops. The latter remain in a portion of this building at the present time, but the Wills have been removed to a new repository in Duncombe Street.

In addition to this care for the fabric of the library, the important question of endowment was not forgotten. Prior to this time a small sum was spent annually upon a library-keeper; but, with the exception of an occasional gift, there was no regular fund whatever for the purchase of books. In 1808 the Dean and Chapter appropriated to the use of the library one sixth part of the profits of the lease of the Rectory of Bubwith, which yielded the sum of £80. per annum. Out of this a small stipend was paid to one of the Vicars Choral who had the charge of the library, and a certain number of books was purchased. Among these were many of the best editions of the Fathers, which were easily obtainable after the dispersion of the French Monastic libraries in consequence of the Revolution; a fair series of the Latin and Greek Classics; and many of the collected editions of the Works of English divines. Frequent gifts also were made.

In 1816, York was visited by Dr. Dibdin, the learned and eccentric bibliomaniac, on one of his book-hunting expeditions. He had been spending some time at Sledmere under the roof of Sir M. M. Sykes, and halted at York, where he was the guest of Archdeacon Eyre, then one of the Canonsin-residence. Dibdin arrived late in the evening, and his host lost no time in speaking about the Minster library, telling him that he had stumbled upon an odd volume of old black-letter tracts, which, said he to me, "you

ought to see before you think of quitting York." Dibdin thus describes what took place.

"What was to be done? (N.B.-I had secured a place in a conveyance northerly, at six o'clock the next morning). - What was to be done? Daylight had long subsided; and nothing could possibly be achieved before six the next morning. The kindness of my host readily supplied an expedient. Let us seek the sexton.' 'With all my heart, and a brace (not of pistols) but of lanterns will accomplish our purpose.' To the sexton we went-traversing the minster-close. We obtained the key of the outward-library door, retraced the minster-close, and as my friend applied the key to the door of the library, the minster-clock struck ten! What a moment for the hunting, not of the Romish Fox,' but of blackletter morceaux! We entered; and the light of our lanterns led us instinctively, as it were, to the remote recess of a chubby quarto tome, lettered Seneca Miscellanea, which, as the reader may imagine, I opened with sufficient eagerness, and found it nearly filled with a number of Seneca's Moral pieces, chiefly printed by Cæsaris and Stol; but (ay, what a 'but' was this!) at the end were the two Caxtonian picces, designated by the titles The Horse, the Shepe and the Goose, and The Chorle and the Birde. The gothic book-room, at that solemn hour, re-echoed with ejaculations of delight, not exclusively my own. With the exception of the copies of these same tracts in the public library at Cambridge, I know of no other copies, or copy. Who, in future, would be deterred, though the clock should strike midnight, from exploring Cathedral libraries in quest of Caxtonian game?"

Dr. Dibdin tried in vain to prevail upon the Dean and Chapter to sell to him these two Caxtons with several other choice books, for Lord Spencer's library. He offered a large sum of money, which Dean Markham "strenuously refused." The Dean, in his Note-book, begs his successor to be firm in rejecting such seductive offers. The Dean and Chapter very wisely sent a number of their more choice books to Charles Lewis, to be bound under Dibdin's supervision, and on the fly-leaves of many of them there is a note in pencil by the Doctor in which he gives his opinion as to the rarity of the volume, or the beauty of the copy.

In 1819, the library received a number of books under the Will of Mrs. Mary Burgh, widow of William Burgh, Esq., who died in York in 1808. Mr. Burgh wrote several works in the Unitarian controversy, for which the University of Oxford gave him an honorary degree. The Dean and Chapter allowed him full use of their library during the compilation of his works, and it was as an acknowledgment of this attention that his widow put the following clause in her will. She bequeathed to her husband's sisters "all my books not disposed of by bequest or otherwise, unless the Dean of York, Doctor Markham, to whom I desire the offer to be made, should chuse to accept of any of them on religious or theological subjects for the York Minster library." The selection of books was made by Mr. William Gray on behalf of Mrs. Burgh's representatives, and Mr. Dallin, the librarian, for the Dean and Chapter. The books were miscellaneous in character, and none were of any special value.

There was a wish about this time to add a Museum to the library, but this was given up when the Yorkshire Philosophical Society came into existence. Among the objects which came into the possession of the Dean and Chapter and were transferred, was a small inscribed altar to the Dea