X 
lOTRODUCTIOK. 
and important library of printed books and 
manuscripts, which had been gradually collected 
by the Sovereigns of these Realms, from Henry 
VII. down to William III.; since whose time 
it has been continued, and is still annually in¬ 
creasing, by the privilege annexed to it of being 
supplied with a copy of every publication entered 
in Stationers’ Hall. His Majesty was also pleased, 
at the same time, to transfer to the Museum, the 
reversion of the salary of ^300 a year, annexed 
to the patent office of King’s Librarian, which 
had been once held by the learned Dr. Bentley, 
and afterwards by his son; who transferred it to 
Claud Amyand, Esq., by whom it was retained 
till his decease in the year 1775 . 
Besides the books immediately collected by 
the Sovereigns, and principally by Henry VIII., 
from the opportunities which offered at the 
dissolution of the monasteries, this collection, 
which, at the time when the Museum Act 
passed, consisted of about 2000 MSS. and 
upwards of 9000 printed books, contains the 
library of Archbishop Cranmer, and those of 
Henry Fitzalan Earl of Arundel, and his son- 
in-law Richard Lord Lumley, of Sir John 
Morris, and of Isaac Casaubon; some of the 
volumes 
