drawings of buildings long since destroyed, and more than
1,500 engravings of various places in the county, among them being some
300 relating to Birmingham, 200 to Coventry, 200 to Warwick Castle, 200
to Kenilworth Castle, and more than 100 to Stratford-on-Avon. The
thousand portraits of Warwickshire Worthies, more rare and valuable
still, included no less than 267 distinct portraits of Shakespeare,
every one from a different block or plate. There was, in fact,
everything about Warwickshire which successive generations of learned
and generous collectors could secure. Among other treasures were
hundreds of Acts of Parliament, all pedigrees, pamphlets, &c., about the
Earls of Warwick and the town of Warwick; the original vellum volume
with the installation of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to the Order
of St. Michael, with his own autograph; volumes of rare, curious
autographs of county interest; county poll books, newspapers and
magazines; all the rare Civil War pamphlets relating to the Warwickshire
incidents; ancient deeds, indulgences, charters, seals, rubbings of
brasses long lost or worn away, medals, coins, hundreds in number; and
rare and invaluable volumes, like the Duc de Nortombria's "Arcano de
Mare," and two fine copies of Dugdale's Warwickshire; besides hundreds
of books, engravings, caricatures, pamphlets and tracts. The catalogue
of this precious collection had only recently been completed, but even
that was burnt, so that there is nothing left to show the full extent of
the loss sustained. The only salvage consisted of three books, though
most providentially one of the three was the splendid Cartulary of the
Priory of St. Anne, at Knowle, a noble vellum folio, richly illuminated
by some patient scribe four centuries ago, and preserving not only the
names of the benefactors of the Priory, and details of its possessions,
but also the service books of the Church, with the ancient music and
illuminated initials, as fresh and perfect as when first written. Of
almost inestimable value, it has now an acquired interest in the fact of
its being, so to speak, all that remains of all the great Staunton
collection. The Cervantes Library, which had taken him a quarter of a
century to gather together, was presented by Mr. William Bragge. For
many years, even in a busy life, Mr. Bragge, in his visits to Spain and
his travels all over Europe, had been able to collect nearly all the
known editions, not only of "Don Quixo