The Great Book-Collectors | Page 7

the hands of Sir Robert Cotton, and passed with the rest
of his treasures into the library of the British Museum.
[Illustration: INITIAL LETTER FROM THE GOSPELS OF ST.
CUTHBERT.]
Theodore of Tarsus had been consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in
the year 669. He brought with him a large quantity of books for use in
his new Greek school. These books were left by his will to the
cathedral library, where they remained for ages without disturbance.
William Lambarde, the Kentish antiquary, has left an account of their
appearance. He was speaking of Archbishop Parker, 'whose care for the
conservation of ancient monuments can never be sufficiently
commended.' 'The reverend Father,' he added, 'showed me the Psalter
of David, and sundry homilies in Greek, and Hebrew also, and some
other Greek authors, beautifully written on thick paper with the name
of this Theodore prefixed,' to whose library the Archbishop thought
that they had belonged, 'being thereto led by a show of great antiquity.'
The monks of Canterbury claimed to possess the books on pink vellum,
with rubricated capitals, which Pope Gregory had sent to Augustine.
One of these afterwards belonged to Parker, who gave it to Corpus
Christi at Cambridge: the experts now believe that it was written in the
eighth century 'in spite of the ancient appearance of the figure-painting.'
Another is the Psalter of St. Augustine, now preserved among the
Cottonian MSS. This is also considered to be a writing of the eighth
century.
In the Bodleian library there is a third example, written in quarto with
large uncial letters in double columns, in much the same style as the
book given by Parker to Corpus Christi. The Bodleian specimen is
especially interesting as containing on the fly-leaf a list in Anglo-Saxon
of the contents of the library of Solomon the Priest, with notes as to
other small collections.
We have reached the period in which Northumbria became for a time
the centre of Western culture. The supremacy of Rome, set up at the
Council of Whitby, was fostered and sustained by the introduction of

the Italian arts. Vast quantities of books were imported. Stately Abbeys
were rising along the coast, and students were flocking to seek the
fruits of the new learning in well-filled libraries and bustling schools.
We may judge how bright the prospect seemed by the tone of Alcuin's
letters to Charles the Great. He tells the Emperor of certain 'exquisite
books' which he had studied under Egbert at York. The schools of the
North are compared to 'a garden enclosed' and to the beds of spices: he
asks that some of the young men may be sent over to procure books, so
that in Tours as well as at York they may gather the flowers of the
garden and share in the 'outgoings of Paradise.' A few years afterwards
came the news of the harrying of Northumbria by the Vikings. The
libraries were burned, and Northumbria was overwhelmed in darkness
and slavery; and Alcuin wrote again, 'He who can hear of this calamity
and not cry to God on behalf of his country, must have a heart not of
flesh but of stone.'
Benedict Biscop was our first English book-collector. The son of a rich
Thane might have looked to a political career; he preferred to devote
himself to learning, and would have spent his life in a Roman
monastery if the Pope had not ordered him to return to England in
company with Theodore of Tarsus. His first expedition was made with
his friend St. Wilfrid. They crossed in a ship provided by the King of
Kent. Travelling together as far as Lyons, Wilfrid remained there for a
time, and Benedict pushed on to Mont Cenis, and so to Rome, after a
long and perilous journey. On a second visit he received the tonsure,
and went back to work at Lindisfarne; but about two years afterwards
he obtained a passage to Italy in a trading-vessel, and it was on this
occasion that he received the Pope's commands. Four years elapsed
before he was in Rome again: throughout the year 671 he was amassing
books by purchase and by the gifts of his friends; and returning by
Vienne he found another large store awaiting him which he had ordered
on his outward journey. Benedict was able to set up a good library in
his new Abbey at Wearmouth; but his zeal appears to have been
insatiable. We find him for the fifth time at the mart of learning, and
bringing home, as Bede has told us, 'a multitude of books of all kinds.'
He divided his new wealth between the Church at Wearmouth and the
Abbey at Jarrow, across the river. Ceolfrid of Jarrow himself made a

journey to Rome with the object of augmenting Benedict's