DEPARTMENT OF MSS. 31 



His Majesty the King graciously presented to the Depart- 

 ment two charred papyrus rolls from Herculaneuin, which 

 originally formed part of the gift of the Neapolitan Govern- 

 ment to H.R.H. George, Prince of M^ales, in 1803-6. Five 

 rolls from the same collection were presented to the British 

 Museum by H.M. Queen Victoria in 18G5 ; the rest were 

 destroyed in unsuccessful attempts to open them. Of the two 

 rolls now presented, one has been opened, and contains portions 

 of the work of Epicurus, De Natura ; the other is unopened. 



Another notable donation of Greek papyri consists of 

 twenty-two papyri from Oxyrhynchus (Behnesa) presented 

 by the Egypt Exploration Fund. These MSS. (the texts of 

 which have been published by Dr. B. P. Grenfell and Dr. A. 

 S. Hunt, the discoverers) include several literary works of 

 great interest, notably (1) a fragment containing Sayings of 

 our Lord, probably from the same collection (though not the 

 same MS.) as the fragment published in 3 897, and including 

 the introductory paragraph, which appears to assign the 

 authorship of the collection to- Thomas and another apostle ; 

 (2) considerable portions of an Epitome of Livy, differing 

 from that hitherto known and coveiing books 37-40 (the 

 complete text of which books is extant) and 48-55 (the text 

 of which is lost) ; this MS., which can be assigned to the 

 3rd century, is also of great palteographical value, early dated 

 Latin MSS. being extremely rare ; (3) a large part of the 

 Epistle to the Hebrews (ii. 14-v. 5, x. 8-xi. 13, xi. 28-xii. 17), 

 written on the back of the Livy, late in the 3rd or early in 

 the 4th century ; its text agrees in the main with that of the 

 Codex Vaticanus where that is extant, and it is consequently 

 important as indicating the probable text of that MS. in the 

 latter part of the Epistle, where it is defective ; (4) about 

 five columns of lyric poetry which may be assigned with 

 confidence to Pindar, including an ode to be sung by a chorus 

 of maidens, a class of Pindar's works not hitherto extant ; 

 (5) a vellum leaf of a life of Alcibiades, written in a fine 

 hand of about the 5th century. The rest of the donation 

 includes a number of non-literary documents in good condition, 

 of historical and palseographical importance. 



The Department has also acquired by purchase a large 

 collection of Greek papyri, including a few literary fragments 

 of minor interest, but consisting mainly of miscellaneous 

 documents of the Eoman and Byzantine periods, which will 

 furnish material for a future volume of the Catalogue of 

 Papyri, and will contribute their share to the increasing 

 knowledge of these periods which is being denved from the 

 many publications of such texts now proceeding from all 

 civilised countries, and in which the publications of this 

 Department have taken an important part. 



Among other purchases the most important historically 

 is a large collection of Wollesley Papers, now divided into 

 forty-eight volumes. It chiefly consists of the political 



