FLOOR.] 
THE MANUSCRIPT SALOON. 
15 
Dryden, Swift, Prior, Addison, Byron; Pitt, Burke, Fox; Washing- 
ton, Franklin ; Marlborough, Wellington, and Nelson. The letter of 
Nelson is addressed to Lady Hamilton, and was written on the eve of 
the battle of Trafalgar, 21 October, 1805. It was found open and 
unfinished at his death. 
Two frames containing autographs of English and Foreign Sove- 
reigns. The English series extends from Edward IV. to George III., 
and includes letters of Queens Katharine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, 
and Lady Jane Grey, and also Mary Queen of Scots. The Foreign 
series commences with the Emperor Charles V., and includes 
Philip II. of Spain ; Francis I., Queen Catherine de' Medici, 
Henry IV., Louis XIV., Louis XVI., and Napoleon I. of France ; 
Gustavus Adolphus and Charles XII., of Sweden; Peter the Great 
and Catherine II., of Kussia; and Frederic the Great of Prussia. 
Adjoining these frames, at right angles, are : — 
Two frames containing autographs, generally of modern date, which 
have been recently acquired. Among them are specimens of the 
handwriting of Dr. Donne, Jeremy Taylor, George Whitefield, 
Thomas Gray, Shelley, Sidney Smith; Wilkie, Turner; Handel, 
Haydn, Beethoven, Meyerbeer, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Spohr, 
Kossini, and Jenny Lind. 
In the centre of the Room are three table-cases containing 
illuminated and other manuscripts. 
In the " Centre Table Case " are exhibited Manuscripts in Oriental 
languages. There are specimens of Sanskrit, Pali, Cingalese, 
Javanese, Batta, Kannadi, Armenian, and Chinese, written on paper, 
palm, and other leaves, bark, metal plates, or ivory ; and volumes of 
finely written and ornamented books in Arabic and Persian. 
The "South Table Case" contains specimens of mediaeval 
bindings in metal set with gems, ivory, enamel, stamped or cut 
leather, and needle-worked embroidery, executed in different countries 
of Europe, from the ninth to the present century. 
The " North Table Case " contains illuminated and other manu- 
scripts of European workmanship, which have been acquired in recent 
times. They are thus arranged : — 
First Compartment. — (1.) The "Instituta Coenobiorum ; ' of Joannes 
Cassianus, written in Spain, in Visigothic characters, in the ninth 
century; with coloured initials of interlaced and other patterns. 
(2.) The Psalter, in Latin, written in Flanders about the year 1300, 
with miniatures and illuminated initials and borders. (3.) The 
Psalter, in Latin, written in Lombardic characters of the twelfth 
century, and finely illuminated. 
Second Compartment. — (4.) An " Exultet " Pioll, containing the 
service for the benediction of the Paschal Candle on Easter Eve ; 
