2''^ S. VIII. Deo. 10. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



473 



that year being taken for the date of the book, 

 particulnrly if the lower part of the leaf were 

 torn away. I also find, from a passage in p. 609., 

 that the book was printed, so far as that page, in 

 1562. Dr. Dibdin, writing in 1836, says of the 

 first edition : — 



" I believe that the only known perfect copies are in the 

 libraries of the Rt. Hon. Thomas Grenville and T. Wilkes 

 [John VVilks], Esq., M.P. The latter had belonged to 

 the late Mr. Hurd, and was purchased at the sale of his 

 libraiy for 25/. (^Reminiscences of a Literary Life, p. 843.) 



The copy recently belonging to Mr. Darling's 

 Ecclesiastical Library was sold, I believe, for a 

 much larger sum ; but I am not aware who is its 

 present possessor. I have, however, now heard 

 of at least nine or ten perfect copies of the first 

 edition. Besides those already mentioned in 

 " N. & Q." there is one in the Library of Christ 

 Church, Oxford, among the books of Archbishop 

 Wake. 



Second edition, 1570. There are at Oxford 

 copies of this edition in the libraries of Oriel, 

 Lincoln, Magdalen, St. John's, and N^ew Col- 

 leges ; and one in the Cathedral Library at York. 

 In private hands, one in the possession of Mr. 

 Oflfor at Hackney. Mr. Pocock has mentioned 

 his Imperfect copy in p. 335. 



Third edition, 1576. " Mr. Heber possessed a 

 fine copy of this edition bound In one volume in 

 its primitive stamped binding." (Dibdin's Ames, 

 iv. 140.) At Oxford there are copies at Christr 

 Church and Wadham. 



Fourth edition, 1583. This is In the library of 

 All Souls College, Oxford. 



Fifth edition, 1596 — 7. A " magnificent copy " 

 of this edition, in the Duke of Devonshire's 

 library at Chatsworth, is mentioned by Dibdin, 

 in Ames's Typog. Antiq. Iv. 182. There Is one 

 In the library of the Rev. Dr. Maitland at Glou- 

 cester. At Oxford it is to be found at Merton 

 and Brazeuose. 



Sixth edition, IQIO. Mr. Offor has a very 

 fine copy of this, which formerly belonged to 

 Mr. Sharon Turner. At Oxford it Is In the libra- 

 ries of University and Wadham Colleges. 



Seventh edition, 1632. Mr. Ofibr has this per- 

 fect, in three volumes. At Oxford it is in the 

 libraries. of Exeter and Jesus. 



Eighth edition, 1641. Of this, besides the 

 copies already mentioned, I have heard of one in 

 the York Subscription Library, one In the Chet- 

 ham Library at Manchester, Imperfect copies In 

 the Chetham Libraries at Turton and Gorton; 

 and one in_the library of George Ormerod, Esq. 

 at Sedbury Park. At Oxford it is In the libraries 

 of Balliol, Queen's, Christ Church, and Magdalen 

 Hall. 



With respect to A. B. ll.'s Inquiry (p. 334.) 

 regarding the framework border, dated 1574, 

 "applied to the " Continuation " in the edition of 



1641, I apprehend the answer must be that it was 

 engraved for some other work — perhaps a Bible, 

 printed in 1574. I am able to inform him posi- 

 tively that it had been used for Fulke's New Tes- 

 tament, printed in 1589. 



To the list of public libraries whicli possess 

 only the edition of 1684, I have to add those of 

 Corpus and Trinity Colleges, Oxford ; Lincoln's 

 Lin and the Inner Temple ; Dr. Williams's li- 

 brary in Redcross Street, and Archbishop Marsh's 

 at Dublin. It Is also at Oxford in the libraries of 

 Queen's, Christchurch, Wadham, and Worcester. 



Of the few copies still remaining in churches, 

 I have heard only of those — 



At Noi'thwold in Norfolk : of the last folio 

 edition of 1684. It is in the worst possible state, 

 and one of the three volumes has but a few leaves 

 remaining. Each volume retains the staple with 

 part of the chain by which it was formerly at- 

 tached to a desk. 



At Lessingham in the same county remains In 

 the chancel the hutch, surmounted by a desk, 

 that was made to contain the Book of Maj-tyrs. 

 This remarkable piece of church furniture is re- 

 presented in the Gentleman's Magazine for Feb. 

 1846, accompanied by a letter from the late Mr. 

 Dawson Turner. I have not, however, learned 

 of what edition the copy is. 



At St. Cuthbert's, Wells, co. Somerset, is a 

 mutilated copy In three volumes, of the edition of 

 1632. These also have part of their chains re- 

 maining on their covers, but they are now put 

 aside in the vestry. 



At Chelsea, Middlesex. 



At Apethorp, co. Northampton.- 



At Arreton, I. Wight, in 3 vols. 



At Stratford- on- Avon. 



The dates of these copi-es I have not yet learned, 

 but shall feel obliged by being informed. But 

 the dates already given show that the book was 

 placed in churches, not only in the reign of Eliz- 

 abeth, but throughout the seventeenth century. 

 This would be done either by the zeal of indi- 

 viduals, or at the voluntary cost of the parish- 

 ioners, not by any authoritative injunction. It 

 was' a symbol of religious opinion; as, for ex- 

 ample, in the libellous description of the estab- 

 lishment at Little Gidding, entitled The Ar- 

 minian Nunnery, we find this passage : — 



" For another show, that they would not be accounted 

 Popish, they have gotten the Book of Martyrs in the 

 Chapel; but few or none are suffered to read therein, but 

 only it is there (I say) kept for a show." 



How untrue an aspersion, however, this was, is 

 proved by various passages in the Life of Nicholas 

 Ferrar by his brother, which state how both that 

 remarkable man and his venerable mother es- 

 teemed the Booh of Martyrs next to the Holy 

 Scriptures : and how, every Sunday evening, in 

 their community at Little Gidding, after supper. 



