is, that ours is" bald and cacophonous," and "neither good enough nor bad enough." We are glad that we had finally sent our review of Mr. Poole to the press before we read this production, for otherwise we might have been accused of not giving his lucubrations that calm consideration which they deserve; we have been happily spared from this danger, and having acquitted our conscience towards him, we shall in the sequel of this article, as exclusively consider Mr. Freeman's History, as if that of Mr. Poole had never been written. THE DURHAM LIBRARIES, AND MR. BERIAH BOTFIELD. To the Editor of the Ecclesiologist. SIR,-I bave had lately an opportunity of examining the books in the Cathedral Library at Durham : and, perhaps, you would not think a very brief notice of them to be out of place in the Ecclesiologist. I mean, especially, of those which have reference to the rites and ceremonies of the earlier English Church. The whole subject of the Cathedral Libraries of England is well worth inquiry we are indeed entirely ignorant of the value of their contents. Their own private catalogues do not themselves contain a full account of the books, of which they profess to be catalogues: and therefore, by their very imperfection, serve to mislead and to deceive. Many a rare tract has been overlooked, or supposed not to be in the library of such and such a Cathedral, because it is not in its catalogue : whilst, perhaps, all the time, the book or tract sought for is reposing on the shelves, hidden with half a dozen others bound together in one volume. This is especially the case with the very rare and important 4to. tracts, Articles of Enquiry, and Articles of Visitation, or Forms of Prayer, or Controversial, &c., which were published during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The large sets of books, whether of history or theology, are not easily overlooked, neither are they the works usually searched for in such collections: and what we want now is, not so much a catalogue of such books, as an accurate and careful account and index of all the smaller and (as some ignorant people think) the less important books and tracts of the libraries. A mere index, like the Lambeth one, would be exceedingly useful; but the more detailed, of course the more benefit to the student. A trumpery book by a Mr. Beriah Botfield has lately been published, calling itself Notes on the Cathedral Libraries of England. I have seldom seen anything so trashy and bad. In typography splendid, and upon firstrate quality paper, with a sufficient margin, and initial letters, and a rubricated title, it has attractions which might easily open the most cautious man's pursestrings: but woe betide the unfortunate individual who has been deluded into the purchase of it, by its specious appearance. Dr. Dibdin, who with all his miserable deficiencies was yet useful and amusing, seems to have been Mr. Beriah Botfield's exemplar: but Dibdin did know something about books, and he knew also how to tell us of the best books in a library, whereas Mr. Botfield knows nothing either of the one or the other; and he copies only (though I am told himself a gentleman-like man) the vulgarity of Dibdin's wit, (so to call it,) without its playfulness. It would be hardly worth while to have noticed such a production, but it has an appearance: it lies on Cathedral library tables: "From the Author:" and, unhappily, more than all, it pretends to stop a gap and prevents others from doing what still, as much as ever it did, remains to be done. I do not trouble myself to expose it now in any detail: because I saw a sufficient account of its demerits given in the Irish Ecclesiastical Journal and in the Ecclesiastic, of September last, sufficient, that is, to warn people about it; though scarcely just towards its author: the reviews were too merciful. I shall have another word or too with Mr. Botfield presently. Yet, really, his own account of the room at Durham is so very charming, that I must give you a bit of it. He says that "it was, in former times, the refectory of the Monastery, and the walls which once resounded with the crash of monastic mastication, now echo the footsteps of the casual visitor or cloistered student." I was a casual visitor," but I heard no echo; and as to "the crash of mastication," we must wait until we dine with Mr. Beriah Botfield himself, to learn its horrors. I wonder, after all, whether that sentence is only fine writing? I had but a few hours to spare in examining this library. The printed books are kept in a long, handsome room, leading out of the cloisters : well lighted, and dry: and fairly arranged. They seem to be a good, useful, commonplace, collection, chiefly of theological works, in short, a good working library: perhaps, a very little more occasional dusting of the shelves, and windows, &c. would not be to be objected to. : But it was to the closet of MSS. that I directed my attention: there are between five and six hundred and, within the last four years, these manuscripts have been very carefully and strongly rebound, and put in clean and proper order. Great praise is indeed due to the Dean and Chapter for having done this: to so rich a body, the expense, about £600, was little, but by their example they have done much to awaken the regard of other Chapters to the same work. Where the expense is large, the rebinding can be done by degrees: as, for instance, it is now being done at Salisbury. Some years ago in that library, the MSS.—very fine ones-were in a disgraceful state: now, by a few at a time, the Chapter are having them repaired and bound. As to our present case, Durham, it is quite a treat to be in the manuscript closet: to see such books, and in so desirable a condition. I shall now give you a very short account of two or three of these MSS., which will enable you to form some judgment of the value and interest of the whole collection. Bound in one volume with two collections of Homilies, [B. III. xi. folio.] is a fragment of an Antiphonarium of English use, of the twelfth, or early in the thirteenth century. The notation is of the ancient character: some lections are inserted with the antiphons, responses, &c. B. IV. 40, is a perfect copy of a Mariale; of about the year 1450. The first chapters, are 1. Abstinentia Mariæ. 2. Advocata nostra est Maria. 3. Adjutrix nostra est Maria. 4. Amigdalus dicitur Maria, etc. There are altogether one hundred and forty-five chapters and at the beginning, this: "Liber Sancti Cuthberti de Dunelm. ex dono dompni Johannis de Manbe assignatus communi armariolo Dunelm. quem qui alienaverit, maledictionem Dei possideat hic et in futurum. Amen.' : I do not notice now the very valuable and important manuscript, [A. iv. 19] called the Durham Ritual, because it has been carefully edited and published by the Surtees Society. It is at least as early as the end of the ninth century. But a MS. Hymnal [B. iii. 32] is of scarcely less interest: the catalogue states it to be of the eleventh century; and perhaps it may be even earlier, of the end of the tenth century. The text is Latin, with an interlinear Anglo-Saxon version. There is not any notation. The book is a small folio, of fifty-five leaves, written in double columns. At the beginning is a leaf from another and contemporary manuscript, containing a duplicate of the first two, and part of the third, hymns. The first hymns in the volume are: Lux beata Trinitas. Deus Creator omnium. Primo dierum omnium. Æterne rerum conditor. Nocte surgentes vigilemus omnes. At the beginning of the first hymn, in a circle of about two inches in diameter, is a pen-and-ink drawing in thin lines, of a female saint holding a torch in each hand. The initials are large and plain, but written in coloured ink. I am glad to understand that the Surtees Society has promised to print this book soon; and one more acceptable, with its Anglo-Saxon version, could scarcely be given to the world. By the way, the Surtees Society has deserved already, by its publications, our best thanks: the works which they have printed have been well edited, and valuable in themselves. us hope that they will not be induced to publish any common or trifling books, such as translations, (for example,) because some of their members want to be amused. We have known such things proposed before now. But the Surtees Society has a reputation, and I hope it will keep it. Let One of the most curious and valuable books in the collection is a quarto volume [B. iv. 24.] of miscellaneous tracts bound together. It begins with a catalogue of the Durham Library in the middle of the twelfth century, in a contemporary hand. Some of these books are still among the manuscripts of the cathedral. The library at that time, judging from this catalogue, was tolerably large: more than four hundred volumes. Among them were several Bibles, and parts of the Scriptures; works of the fathers, S. Gregory, S. Ambrose, Origen, S. Augustine, S. Anselm, &c. Several of the works of Venerable Bede: (and, I may observe, a copy of Cassiodorus on the Psalter, which is now in the Library, and which is said to have been written by S. Bede himself, It is at any rate a very early manuscript.) There were also various books of canons, decretals, and canon law. Of classics, Sallust, Virgil, Ovid, Persius, &c. In service books the catalogue is deficient: it could not be but that the Church had many more than this list contains. It specifies, however, two new lectionaries and two old ones; a breviary of Bishop Ranulph in two volumes many psalters, chiefly the former property of individuals, whose names are given: "Breviarium parvum itinerarium;" and three Hymnals. There are at the end seven books, Libri Thomæ prioris," of which one is a Gradual. Thomas was prior in 1162. The English or Anglo-Saxon books were "Omeliaria vetera duo. Unum novum. Elfledes Boc. Historia Anglorum Anglice. Liber Paulini Anglicus. Liber de Nativitate Sanctæ Mariæ Anglicus. Cronica duo Anglica." The catalogue occupies two leaves only, and at the end of it is the following, giving us some important information on a point, concerning which we know but little. "Hii sunt libri qui leguntur ad collationem. Vitæ Patrum. Diadema Monachorum. Effrem cum vitis Egiptiorum, Paradisus. Speculum. Dialogus. Pastoralis eximius Liber. Ysidorus de summo bono. Prosper de contemplativa vita. Liber Odonis, Johannes Cassianus. Decem Collationes." These last, the Collations were either short homilies, or portions of Scripture, appointed for stated fasts or festivals during the year. The "Liber Collationum" itself is a most rare service-book: I know no example of one of English use, except that which formerly belonged to the Abbey of Ford in Devonshire, and which is in Mr. Maskell's collection now in the British Museum. In this same volume, on the reverse of a blank leaf, (fol. 4,) is the following form: "Ego, frater N. presbyter vel diaconus promitto stabilitatem meam et conversionem morum meorum et obedientiam secundum regulam sancti Benedicti coram Deo et sanctis ejus, in hoc monasterio quod est constructum in honore sanctæ Mariæ semper virginis et sancti Cuthberti præsulis, in præsentia domni N." This also in a hand of the twelfth century. In the fifth and sixth portions of the same volume are a calendar of the eleventh or early in the twelfth century, and a contemporary Martyrology. This last, except additions, seems to be the same as the Martyrology of Venerable Bede. The rest of the volume is made up of very ancient transcripts of agreements between the monks of Durham, and of other monasteries: the Gospels to be read " in capitulo” through the year; the constitutions of Lanfranc; some Epistles; and the rule of S. Benedict, with an Anglo-Saxon version; and some rules "de officiis divinis celebrandis.” Between the second and fourth leaves is sewn in a small slip of vellum, with the following curious memorandum: it has been thought to be a forgery; but if so, it is an early one; for the writing is not later than about 1200. "Anno ab incarnatione domini Mo. Čo. LXXV., quo rex Henricus major recepit ligantias et fidelitates de Scottis apud Eboracum, Dufgal, filius Sumerledi, et Stephanus capellanus suus, et Adam de Stanford receperunt fraternitatem Ecclesiæ nostræ ad pedes sancti Cuthberti, in vigilia sancti Bartholomæi. Etidem Dufgal obtulit ibi duos anulos aureos sancto Cuthberto, et promisit se singulis annis, quamdiu vixerit, daturum conventui unam marcam, sive in denariis, sive in equivalentia." I remember to have observed only one Missal of English use; [A. iij. 32.] and I had no time to examine it sufficiently to ascertain of what Church it was. It is a manuscript of about the year 1420, folio, and in the old white calf binding: almost the only manuscript of the collection now remaining in that state. It is imperfect in the calendar: but apparently has no other imperfections. There is a large, but not well executed, illumination of the Crucifixion on the reverse of the leaf preceding the Canon. If I am not mistaken, this manuscript, although it has many of the occasional masses, has not the Service at Marriage. At the end, in a later hand, is the office of the Transfiguration. And, which is the most remarkable thing in the volume, on the last leaf, is a Mass of the Name of JESUS: with a long rubric, containing, among other matters, a list of indulgences to those who venerate the Holy Name, or hear or say the Mass, granted by Popes John XX., Boniface VI., Robert, Bishop of Sarum in 1411, Thomas Spofford, of Hereford, and John, of Bangor. The MS. A. iv. 25, sm. 8vo., is a curious volume: containing a number of Latin prayers and meditations: written about the year 1470. On the reverse of fol. 9, is the following to the Guardian Angel : "Myn angel that art to me ysend Towards the end of the book are prayers with English rubrics: of which this is an example; fol. 94. Thys prayer folowyng ys for hem y been in disese or haue fryndis disesed or in preson, or fallen in som gret syn to pray GoD delyuer hem well ought, as the good Duke Neemie prayed for hem yt weyr in the captiuite of Babylone, the wych wyren delyuered. Oratio. Quæso, Domine, Deus cæli, etc." Stitched into one of the leaves, there is a small illumination, of a contemporary date, like those commonly found in the Horæ before the Office of Commendation it is curious, because evidently by the hand of a beginner, and very rudely drawn. There is another volume here of much interest: a number of old religious treatises in English: written about the year 1420. [A. iv. 22, 8vo.] It is unhappily imperfect at the beginning and end. The contents are: 1. An Exposition of the LORD's Prayer. 2. The Lettings of Prayer. 3. Of Charity. 4. Of Adam and Eve. 5. Of Prophecy. 6. Observations collected out of Scripture. 7. Of the Creed. The catalogue by Mr. Rud says at the end of its notice of this MS. " Quære, an Wiclefi fuerit?" a curious example of that habit of thought, and amount or deficiency of information, which could not conceive the existence of any English religious book, unless written by Wicklif, until the sixteenth century, or of any English prayers before the Prymers of Henry VIII., or the Prayer-books of Edward VI. Of the tracts mentioned above I may add, that the Exposition of the LORD'S Prayer is divided into the seven petitions, or "axings;" and the twelve lettings of prayer are these: namely, 1. The sin of him that prayeth. 2. The doubt of him that prayeth. 3. Asking not that that ought to be asked. 4. The unworthiness of him for whom we pray. 5. The multitude of evil thoughts. 6. Despising of God's law. 7. Hardness of soul. 8. Encreasing of sins. 9. Suggestion of the devil, that with |