VI 
INTRODUCTION* 
The Harleian 
Collection of 
Manuscripts. 
of ,£73000, when it devolved in the year 1773 , 
was placed in the public funds :* and the interest 
accruing from it was, conformably to the inten¬ 
tion of the testator, and the provisions of the Act 
of Parliament, ordered to be expended in the pur¬ 
chase of books, manuscripts, coins, and other 
curiosities; by which means considerable addi¬ 
tions have from time to time been made, and 
continue to be made to the general Repository. 
Parliament also, with the same liberal spirit 
of promoting the purposes of literature, caused 
an offer to be made to the Countess of Oxford, 
relict of Edward Ear! of Oxford, and the Duchess 
of Portland, their only daughter, for the purchase 
of the numerous and valuable Library of manu¬ 
scripts collected by the said Earl, and by Robert 
Earl of Oxford, his father. The sum offered was 
,£10,000; and the condition was annexed, that 
the Library, under the name of the Harleian 
Collection of Manuscripts, should be kept toge¬ 
ther. 
* This capital, which originally purchased j^ 7>933 Old South 
Sea Annuities, is now, by accumulation, and the addition of the 
sum of ^1,133, being the amount of lottery tickets granted by his 
present Majesty (vide p. xii), increased to <^12,440, 6s. gd of the 
same fund. 
