312 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 205. 



To answer, therefore (by anticipation), a Query 

 very likely to be made on this subject, I have to 

 state, that by "MS. Bal. Sloan." Tanner refers to 

 a manuscript work in two volumes, in Bale's hand- 

 writing, formerly in Sir Hans Sloane's collection, 

 and numbered 287, but presented by him to the 

 Bodleian Library ; as appears by a letter from 

 Hearne to Baker (in MS. Harl. 7031. f. 142,), 

 dated August 6, 1715, in which he writes : 



" We have Bale's accounts of the Carmelites, in two 

 volumes, being not long since given to our public 

 library by Dr. Sloane." 



In the original MS. Sloane Catalogue, the work 

 was thus entered : Joannes Balceus de Sanctis et 

 ilhistribus viris Ordinis Carmelitaj'um, et eorum 

 Scriptis : Joannis Balcei Annales Carmelilarum. 

 Another volume, partly, if not wholly, in Bale's 

 handwriting, relative to the Carmelite Order, 

 existed formerly in the Cottonian Library, under 

 the press-mark Otho, D. iv., but was almost en- 

 tirely destroyed in the fire which took place in 

 1731. 



By " MS. Bal. Glynn.," or (as more fully re- 

 ferred to under " Adamus Carthusiensis") "MS. 

 Bale penes D. Will. Glynn.," Tanner undoubtedly 

 means a printed copy of Bale's Scriptormn Illus- 

 trium Majoris BrytannicB Caialogtis, with marginal 

 notes in manuscript (probably by Bale himself) 

 which was preserved in the library of Sir William 

 Glynne, Bart., of Ambrosden. I learn this from 

 Tanner's original Memoranda for his Bibliotheca, 

 preserved In the Additional MSS. 6261. 6262., 

 British Museum ; in the former of which, if. 122 — 

 124., is a transcript of the " MS. notaj In margine 

 Balei, penes D. Will. Glynne." The Glynne MSS. 

 are described In the Catt. MSS.Avgliai, fol. 1697, 

 vol.11, pt. 1. p. 49. ; but the copy of Bale, here 

 mentioned, is not included among them. These 

 MSS. are said to be preserved at present In the 

 library of Christ Church College, Oxford ; and it 

 is somewhat singular, that no account of the 

 MSS. In this college should have been printed, 

 either in the folio Catalogue of 1697, or in the 

 valuable Catalogue of the MSS. In the college 

 libraries recently published. Perhaps some of the 

 correspondents of " IST. & Q." may communicate 

 information on this head. F. Madden. 



CHARLES FOX AND GIBBON, 



The following Is taken from the fly-leaves of my 

 copy of Gibbon's Rome, 1st vol. 1779, 8vo. : 



" The following anecdote and verses were written by 

 the late Charles James Fox in the first volume of his 

 Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 



" The author of this work declared publicly at 

 Brookes's (a gaming-Iiouse in St. James' Street), upon 

 the delivery of the Spanish Rescript in June, 1779, that 

 there was no salvation for this country unless six of the 



heads of the cabinet council were cut off and laid upon 

 tlie tables of both houses of parliament as examples; 

 and in less than a fortnight he accepted a place under 

 the same cabinet council. 



" On the Author's Promotion to the Board of 

 Trade in 1779. 



By the Right Hon. C. J. Fox. 



" King George in a fright 



Lest Gibbon should write 

 The story of Britain's disgrace, 



Tliought no means more sure 



His pen to secure 

 Than to give the historian a place. 



" But his caution is vain, 



'Tis the curse of his reign 

 That his projects should never succeed ; 



Tho' be wrote not a line, 



Yet a cause of decline 

 In our author's example we read. 



" His book well describes 



How corruption and bribes 

 O'erthrew the great empire of Rome; 



And his writings declare 



A degeneracy there. 

 Which his conduct exhibits at home." 



G.M.B. 



SAMUEL WILLIAMS. 



The obituary of the past week records the death 

 of Samuel William?, a self-taught artist, whose 

 pencil and graver have Illustrated very many of 

 the most popular works during the last forty years, 

 and to whose productions the modern school of 

 book-illustrations owes Its chief force and charac- 

 ter. Samuel Williams was born Feb. 23, 1788, at 

 Colchester in Essex ; and during his very earliest 

 years, his self-taught powers were remarkable, as 

 he could draw or copy with the greatest ease any- 

 thing he saw ; and he would get up at early dawn, 

 before tlie other members of the family were stir- 

 ring, to follow the bent of his genius. His boyish 

 talents attracted much notice, and, had he not 

 been very diflident, would have brought him be- 

 fore the world as a painter. In 1802, he was ap- 

 prenticed to Mr. J. Marsden, a printer In Col- 

 cliester, and thenceforward his pencil was destined 

 to be employed in illustrating books. Whilst yet 

 a lad, he etched on copper a frontispiece to a bro- 

 chure entitled the Coggeshall Volunteers; and 

 this was a remarkable production, as he had never 

 seen etching or engraving on copper ; and he 

 about the same time taught himself engraving on 

 wood, executing numerotis little cuts for Mr. 

 Marsden : amongst others, a frontispiece to a 

 History of Colchester, So much was his talent 

 seen by parties calling at his employer's, that Mr. 

 Crosby, a publisher of some note in his day, pro- 

 mised that, when his apprenticeship ended, he 



