INTRODUCTION, 
vii 
be kept together, as an addition to the Cotto¬ 
nian Library. This offer was willingly accept¬ 
ed ; and a clause was inserted in the Act, order¬ 
ing the payment of the above mentioned sum to 
the parties above named; and that the collec¬ 
tion be disposed of according to the conditions 
of the purchase. 
This Library, consisting of upwards of 7,600 
volumes, many of them, as is usual in all MS. 
collections, containing a great number of separate 
articles, and upwards of 40,000 original rolls, 
charters, and other instruments, among which 
there are many of great antiquity, the whole 
chiefly relating to the political, parliamentary, 
and ecclesiastical history of Great Britain and 
Ireland, is now placed according to its destination. 
A general view of its contents is given in the 
preface of the catalogue of the Library, printed 
in the year 1759 > ln 2 volumes folio. 
In order to defray the expenses necessarily 
implied by these purchases, and to provide a 
proper Repository for the preservation of them, 
as well as a fund for the permanent support of the 
establishment. Parliament resolved to raise the 
sum of £ 100,000 by way of Lottery ; which ha¬ 
ving been drawn according to the provisions laid 
down 
