o not only paid his debts, but in
1755 procured for him the office of Norroy King-at-Arms, which congenial
post he held for six years. He died at his rooms in Heralds' College on
the 15th of April 1761, and was buried in the church of St. Benet,
Paul's Wharf. A portrait of him will be found in the _European Magazine_
for November 1796. The principal works by Oldys are a _Life of Sir
Walter Raleigh_, prefixed to an edition of his _History of the World_,
printed in 1736; _The British Librarian_, published anonymously in
1738; and _The Harleian Miscellany_, published in 1744-46. He also
annotated _England's Parnassus_, and two copies of Langbaine's _Account
of the early Dramatick Poets_. One of these copies was purchased by Dr.
Birch at the sale of Oldys's books for one guinea, and was bequeathed by
him to the British Museum. Twenty-two of the lives in _Biographia
Britannica_ were from his pen, and in addition to the works already
mentioned he wrote a few minor ones on bibliographical and medical
subjects. Oldys's library was not a large one, but it contained some
very interesting and scarce books. After his death it was purchased by
Thomas Davies, the bookseller, author of _Memoirs of the Life of
Garrick_, and was sold by him in 1762. The title of the sale catalogue
reads: 'A Catalogue of the Libraries of the late William Oldys, Esq.,
Norroy King-at-Arms (author of _The Life of Sir Walter Raleigh_); the
Rev. Mr. Emms of Yarmouth, and Mr. Wm. Rush, which will begin to be sold
on Monday, April 12 [1762] by Thomas Davies.' The books were disposed of
for extremely low prices.

JOHN RATCLIFFE, -1776

Nothing appears to be known of the parentage and birth of John
Ratcliffe, the collector, who for some years kept a chandler's shop in
Southwark, where he seems to have amassed a sufficient competency to
enable him to retire from business and devote the remainder of his life
to the acquisition of old books. It is said that his passion for
collecting them arose from the perusal of some of the volumes which were
purchased by him for the purpose of wrapping his wares in. Ratcliffe
kept his library at his house in East Lane, Bermondsey, where, Nichols
informs us in his _Literary Anecdotes_, 'he used to give Coffee and
Chocolate every Thursday morning to Book and Print Collectors; Dr.
Askew, Messrs. Beauclerk, Bull, Croft, Samuel Gillam, West, etc., used
to attend, when he would produce some of his fine purchases.' Nichols
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