Mar. 3. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



161 



BOOKS BURNT. 



(^Concluded from p. 121.) 



About 1534, Bp. Tonstall purchased through a 

 merchant of Antwerp many copies of Tyndale's 

 Translation of the New Testament, which were 

 publicly burnt in Cheapside. 



In 1554, Queen Mary burnt with her own hands 

 a memorial which had been presented to her, ad- 

 vising unconstitutional measures. 



1554. The lower house of Convocation pre- 

 sented a petition which contained a clause for 

 condemning heretical books. 



1555. Convocation condemned all heretical 

 books. [In this reign all documents were burnt 

 or erased which contained anything against the 

 see of Rome, or religious houses.] 



1567. The dead bodies of Bucer and Fagius 

 were disinterred at Cambridge, and with many 

 heretical books were all burnt in one fire. 



1558. It was ordered by proclamation that who- 

 ever received certain heretical writings and did 

 not at once burn them, without either reading 

 them or showing them to others, was to be im- 

 mediately executed by martial law. 



The Books of Convocation perished in the' Fire 

 of London.* 



Dr. Thomas Goodwin lost half his library in 

 the Fire of London. 



The library at Oxford is said to have been 

 set on fire by the soldiers of Cromwell. 



Charles II. burnt the Solemn League and 

 Covenant by the hands of the hangman, and the 

 Scotch in revenge burnt the Acts of Supremacy, 

 &c. 



De Laune's Plea was burnt in 1684, and its 

 author thrown into prison, where he died. 



Drake's Memorial of the Church of England, 

 4to., 1705, was presented at the Old Bailey, 

 Aug. 31st, and ordered to be burnt both there 

 and at the Royal Exchange by the common hang- 



[* On this flaming topic Pepvs has a note or two: 

 « Sept. 26, 1666. By Mr. Dugdale I hear the great loss of 

 books in St. Paul's Churchyard, and at their Hall also, 

 which they value at about 150,000/. ; some booksellers 

 being wholly undone, and among others, they say, my 

 poor Kirton. And Mr. Crumlum, all his books and house- 

 hold stuff burned. His father [\Vm. Dugdale] hath lost 

 above 1000/. in books ; one book, newly printed, a Dis- 

 course, it seems, of Courts." [This was the Origines Ju- 

 ridiciales.'] Again, "Oct. 5. Mr. Kirton's kinsman, my 

 bookseller, come in my way ; and so I am told b}' him 

 that Mr. Kirton is utterly undone, and made 2000Z. or 

 3000/. worse than nothing, from being worth 7000/. or 

 8000/. He do believe there is above 150,000/. of books 

 burned; all the great booksellers almost undone: not 

 only these, but their warehouses at their Hall and under 

 Christ Church, and elsewhere, being all burned. A great 

 want, therefore, there will be of books, specially Latin 

 books and foreign books ; and, among others, the Poly- 

 glottes and new Bible, which he believes vrill be pre- 

 sently worth 40/. a piece."] 



man. The order was executed in the presence of 

 a great multitude of people, and the court of 

 aldermen returned thanks to the jury for their 

 loyalty upon the occasion. 



The pleasant story of Sir Isaac Newton and his 

 dog Diamond, who overthrew a candle among his 

 papers, is too well known to need particular narra- 

 tion. 



So also that of Wm. Cowper, Bishop of Lin- 

 coln (?)* His wife burnt the results of eight 

 years' studies to deter him from study. He 

 meekly bore his loss, and set at work at once to 

 repair it. 



The Cotton Library was partly burnt in 1731, 

 Oct. 25. 



In the riots of 1780, Earl Mansfield's papers 

 were burnt by the mob. 



In 1791, at the Birmingham riots, many valu- 

 able books and papers were burnt in the houses 

 of Dr. Priestley, Mr. Ryland, Mr. Hutton, &c. 



Dobree relates, in his preface to Porson's Ari- 

 stophanica, p. 2., that some of Porson's annotated 

 books, &c. were consumed by fire about 1797. 



Bp. Burnet's Pastoral Letter, published in 1689, 

 was three years later condemned by the parlia- 

 ment and consigned to the flames. 



The same parliament which burnt Burnet's 

 book pronounced a similar sentence upon a pam- 

 phlet by Charles Blount, entitled Kir^ William 

 and Queen Mary Conquerors, &c., 1693. 



De Foe's Shortest Way with the Dissenters was 

 burnt by order of the Commons, made 25th Feb. 

 1702-3. De Foe says : 



" I have heard a bookseller in King James's time saj', 

 that if he would have a book sell, he would have it burnt 

 by the hands of the common hangman." — Essay on 

 Projects, p. 173. 



The Polyglott Bible of Messrs. Bagster was 

 partly burnt, and a complete copy of the quarto 

 edition cannot be had. This happened, I believe, 

 when the premises were burnt, March 2, 1822. 



Many books have been burnt in this way, as the 

 following list of fires will prove : 



At the printing-office of S. Hamilton, Falcon 

 Court, Fleet Street, Feb. 2, 1803. Damage 80,000^. 



At Smeeton's printing-office, St. ^Martin's Lane, 

 May 27, 1809. 



In Conduit Street, July 8, 1809, Mr. Windham 

 was fatally injured in his endeavour to save Mr. 

 North's library and MSS. 



At Mr.' Paris, printer's, Tooke's Court, July 20, 

 1810. 



Gillet's printing-office burnt, Salisbury Square, 

 1805 and 1810. 



Library of Mr. C. Boon, Berkeley Square, burnt, 

 Feb. 11, 1816. 



Architectural Library of Mr. Taylor burnt, 

 Holborn, Nov." 23, 1822. 



* Query Galloway ? 



