HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. [189 



In January 1679, his Chambers in the Temple were consumed 

 by an accidental fire, which destroyed the noble library which he 

 had been collecting for thirty-three years, together with 9000 coins, 

 and a vast collection of seals, charters, and antiquities. His gold 

 medals, and his MSS. escaped, being at his house in Lambeth. 



On the 15th of May 1679, the first stone of the Ashmolean Mu- 

 seum was laid on the west side of the Theatre in Oxford : the build- 

 ing was finished in March 1682, and in 1683 Dr. Ashmole sent 

 thither his collection of rarities. 



In the beginning of 1685, he was invited by the Magistrates and 

 the Dean of Lichfield to become a candidate for the representation 

 of that city in Parliament, and he probably would have been 

 elected without opposition, but King James sent an intimation to 

 him that he wished another individual to be returned, on which Dr. 

 Ashmole not only declined the honour intended by his fellow-citi- 

 zens, but successfully exerted his influence in favour of Mr. Lew- 

 son, the person nominated and approved by his Majesty. 



On the demise of Sir William Dugdale, the office of Garter 

 King at Arms was a second time offered to Dr. Ashmole, and 

 again declined by him. From this time he spent the remainder of 

 his life in honourable retirement, and died on the 18th of May 

 1692, in the 76th year of his age; after having witnessed a re- 

 markable variety of political vicissitudes in his native land, parti- 

 cularly the dethronement and death of Charles I. ; the usurpation 

 of Oliver Cromwell ; the restoration of Charles II. ; the abdica- 

 tion of James II.; and the final re-establishment of the Protes- 

 tant religion, and th v e British constitution, by the glorious Revolu- 

 tion of 1688, which placed William III. on the throne. 



His remains were interred in Lambeth church on the 26th of 

 May 1692, and a tombstone of black marble, with an encomiastic 

 Latin inscription, placed over his grave. 



On a general view of the life of Elias Ashmole, his character 

 will be found irreproachable, his learning considerable, and not- 

 withstanding his early predilection for the absurdities of astrology 

 and alchymy, his subsequent attention to the antiquities of his 

 country, entitle him to respect. His liberality to indigent men 

 of letters may also be mentioned to his praise, particularly the care 

 he took in the education of Dr. George Smalridge. 



Dr. Ashmole's published and unpublished works, including trans- 

 lations, are seventeen in number : 



1. "Fasciculus Chemicus; or Chemical Collection, expressing 



a B 



