LIBRARY. G0(j 
ing to Diodorus, had a library built in his palace, with 
this infcription over the door; 'f'YXHS IATPEION, “ Phy¬ 
tic for the Mind.” Nor were the Ptolemies, who reigned 
in the fame country, lefs curious and magnificent in books. 
The Scripture alfo fpeaks of a library of the kings of 
Perfia, Ezra v. 17. vi. 1. which fome imagine to have con- 
fifted of the hiftorians of that nation, and of memoirs of 
the affairs of ftafe; but, in effect, it appears rather to have 
been a depofitory of laws, charters, and ordinances of the 
kings. The Hebrew text calls it the houfe of treafures, 
and afterwards the houfe of the rolls, where the treafures 
were laid up. We may, with more juftice, call that a 
library , mentioned in the fecond book of Efdvas to have 
been built by Nehemiah, and in which were preferved 
the books of the prophets, and of David, and the letters 
of their kings. 
The firft who erefted a library at Athens was the ty¬ 
rant Pififtratus ; and yet Strabo refers the honour of it to 
Ariftotle. That of Pififtratus was tranfported by Xerxes 
into Perfia, and was afterwards brought back by Seleucus 
Nicanor to Athens. Long after, it was plundered by 
Sylla, and re-eftablifhed by Hadrian. Plutarch fays, that 
tinder Eumenes there was a library at Pergamus, contain¬ 
ing aoo,ooo books. Tyrannian, a celebrated grammarian, 
contemporary with Pompey, had a library of 30,000 vo¬ 
lumes. That of Ptolemy Philadelphia, according to Au- 
lus Gellius, contained 700,000, all in rolls, burnt by Cas¬ 
par's foldiers. See vol. i. p. 273, 274. 
Conftantine, and his fucceffors, erected a magnificent 
one at Conftantinople; which in the eighth century con¬ 
tained 300,000 volumes, all burnt by order of Leo Ifau- 
rus; and, among the reft, one wherein the Iliad and 
Odyffey were written in letters of gold, on the guts of a 
ferpent. 
The moll celebrated libraries of ancient Rome, were 
the Ulpian and the Palatine. They alfo boalt much of 
the libraries of Paulus AEmilius, who conquered Perfeus; 
of Lucilius Lucullus, of Afinius Poliio, Atticus, Julius 
Severus, Domitius Serenus, Pamphilius Martyr, and the 
emperors Gordian and Trajan. 
Anciently, every large church had its library; as ap¬ 
pears by the writings of St. Jerome, Anaftafius, and others. 
Pope Nicholas laid the firft foundation of that of the Va¬ 
tican, in 14-50. It was deftroyed by the conftable Bour¬ 
bon, in the facking of Rome, and reftored by pope Six¬ 
tus V. and lias been confiderably enriched with the ruins 
of that of Heidelburg, plundered by count Tilly in 1622. 
One of the mod complete libraries in Europe, was faid to 
be that erefted at Florence by Cofmo de Medicis, over 
the gate whereof is written Labor absque Laeore; 
though it has been fince exceeded by that of the French 
king begun by Francis I. augmented by Richelieu, Col¬ 
bert, &c. and now fo much enriched by the fpoils of Ve¬ 
nice, Florence, Rome, and all Italy, befides Holland, that 
it is fcarcely in the power of words to convey an idea of 
its value. This library is open every morning from ten 
till two; during which time every perfon who has accefs 
to it is indulged with the ufe of whatever books or manu¬ 
fcripts he requires. 
The emperor’s library at Vienna, according to Lambe- 
cius, confifts of 80,000 volumes, and 15,940 curious me¬ 
dals. 
The Bodleian library at Oxford, built on the foundation 
of that of duke Humphrey, exceeds that of any univer- 
fity in Europe, and even thole of all the fovereigns of 
Europe, except the emperor’s and the French king’s, which 
are each of them older by one hundred years. It was firft 
opened in 1602, and has fince found a-great number of 
benefaftors ; particularly fir Robert Cotton, fir H. Savil, 
archbifhop Laud, fir Kenelm Digby, Mr. Allen, Dr. Po- 
cocke, Mr. Selden, and others. The Vatican, the Medi- 
cean, that of Beffarion at Venice, and thofejuft mentioned, 
exceed the Bodleian in Greek manufcripts; which yet 
outdoes them all in Oriental manufcripts. As to printed 
books, the Ambroftan at Milan, and that of Wolfenbut- 
'YOI..XII. No. 856. 
tie, are two of the mod famous, and yet both inferior to 
the Bodleian. 
The king’s library, at St. James’s, was founded by 
Henry, eldeft fon of James I. and made up partly of books, 
and partly of manufcripts, with many other curiofities, 
for the advancement of learning. It has received many 
additions from the libraries of Ilaac Cafaubon and others. 
The Cottonian library originally con filled of 958 vo¬ 
lumes of original charters, grants, infh uments, letters of 
fovereign princes, tranfaftions between this and other 
kingdoms and ftates, genealogies, hiftories, regifters of 
monafteries, remains of Saxon laws, the book of Genefis, 
thought to be the molt ancient Greek copy extant, and 
faid to have been written by Origen in the fecond centu¬ 
ry, and the curious Alexandrian copy or manufcript 
in Greek capitals. This library is kept in the Britifk 
Mufeum, with the large and valuable library of fir Hans 
Sloane, amounting to upwards of 42,000 volumes, &c. 
There are many public libraries belonging to the feve- 
ral colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, and the univerfities 
in North Britain. It has been remarked, that the univer- 
fity of Cambridge lias of late-years become unufually ft rich 
in enforcing the laws relative to the ufe of books in the 
public library. Even a member of the fenate may not 
take a manufcript to his room, without a grace; and no 
member of the univerfity can now read in the library, 
who is not alfo a member of the fenate, unlefs accompa¬ 
nied by one who is. Thefe circumftances may, perhaps, 
bring to fome people’s remembrance the waggery of a cer¬ 
tain clergyman at the reformation. He was preaching 
againft the Romifh church for denying the people the free 
ufe of the Scriptures, and exclaimed, “ See here,” opening 
the book wide, “a divine book, able to make you wife 
unto falvation ; but,” continued he, (clafping the book, 
faft, and holding it up in his hand,) “you are allowed 
only to admire it; you muft not read it.” Others may 
vindicate this ftriftnefs of the univerfity, on the principle 
by which Bentley, when king’s librarian, vindicated his 
refufal of the ufe of a manufcript to Boyle ; “A manufcript 
is of no further fervice, when you have fqueezed out the 
juice.” 
The principal public libraries in London, befides that of 
the Mufeum, are thofe of the College of Heralds, of the 
College of Phyficians, of Doftors Commons, to which 
every bifhop, at the time of his confecration, gives at 
leaft 20I. fometimes 50I. for the purchafe of books; thofe 
of Gray’s Inn, Lincoln’s Inn, (fee vol. xi. p. 80.) Inner 
Temple,and MiddleTemple; that of Lambeth, founded by 
archbifhop Bancroft in 1610, for the ufe of fucceeding arch- 
bifliops of Canterbury, and increafed by the benefaftions 
of archbifhops Abbot, Sheldon, and Tennifon, and faid 
to confilt of at leaft 15,000 printed books, and 617 volumes 
in manufcript; that of Red-Crofs flreet, founded by Dr. 
Daniel Williams, a prefbyterian divine, and fince enriched 
by many private benefaftions ; that of the Royal Society, 
called the Arundelian or Norfolk library, becaufe the 
principal part of the colledtion formerly belonged to the 
family of Arundel, and was given to the fociety by Henry 
Howard, afterwards duke of Norfolk, in 1666, which li¬ 
brary lias been increafed by the valuable colleftion of 
Francis Alton, efq. in 1715, and is continually increafing 
by the numerous benefaftions of the works of its learned 
members, and others ; that of St. Paul’s, of Sion college ; 
the Queen’s library, erefted by Queen Caroline in 1737 ; 
and the Surgeons library, kept in their neuly-erefted hall 
in Linccln’s-Inn fquarej the Weftminfter library, the li¬ 
brary of the Royal Inftitution, incorporated in 1800; the 
library.of the London Inftitution, eftablifhed in 1805; 
thofe of the Surrey Inftitution and Ruffell Inftitution, 
&c. See. 
Where a library is erefted in any parifh, it (hall be pre¬ 
ferved for the ufes direfted by the founder; and incum¬ 
bents and minifters of parifhes, &c. are to give fecurity 
for it, and make catalogues of the books, See. None of 
the books fiiall be alienable without confentof the bifhop, 
7 Q and 
