INTRODUCTION. 
t 
of which 54 are so much damaged by a fire, 
which happened in the year 1731, as to be almost 
useless. We are thus brief in our account of 
this important library, as more ample informa¬ 
tion may easily be gathered from the prefaces 
to the catalogue compiled by Dr. Smyth and 
published in the year 1696; and the more 
enlarged one printed in 1802, by order of His 
Majesty. 
Besides these manuscripts, the collection con¬ 
tained also a considerable number of coins, chiefly 
Saxon and old English, and several Roman and 
British antiquities, which are now incorporated 
in their proper classes at the Museum. 
As an appendage to the Cottonian Library, 
there were likewise at the disposal of Parliament 
a collection of about 2,000 volumes of English, 
French, and Italian books, formed by Major 
Arthur Edwards, late of St. George, Hanover 
Square, and by his will, made in the year 1738, 
bequeathed to the Trustees of the Cottonian 
Library, together with the reversion of the sum 
of J£73^00, for the purpose of erecting a building 
or repository, properly adapted for the effective 
preservation 
Majoi Edwards* 
Library* 
