of printed books comprises many literary treasures which
in our days can hardly be procured, but at that time went for a song.
'The manuscripts were not so many as might be expected from so
indefatigable a writer'; it seems that Oldys had always been too generous
with his gifts and loans.

Among his notices of the London libraries we find an interesting account
of the collection at Lambeth, then housed in the galleries above the
cloisters. 'The oldest of the books were Dudley's, the Earl of Leicester,
which from time to time have been augmented by several Archbishops of
that See. It had a great loss in being deprived of Archbishop Sheldon's
admirable collection of missals, breviaries, primers, etc., relating to
the service of the Church, as also Archbishop Sancroft's.' The books and
MSS. belonging to Sancroft had in part been deposited at Lambeth; but on
his deprivation they were removed to Emmanuel College at Cambridge.
Oldys added that there was another apartment for MSS., 'not only those
belonging to the See, but those of the Lord Carew, who had been Deputy of
Ireland, many of them relating to the state and history of that kingdom.'

Archbishop Tenison had furnished another noble library near St. Martin's
Lane 'with the best modern books in most faculties'; 'there any student
might repair and make what researches he pleased'; and there too were
deposited Sir James Ware's important Irish MSS. and many other portions
of the Clarendon Collection, until offence was taken at their having been
catalogued among the papers of the Archbishop.

In Dulwich College there was another library to which Mr. Cartwright the
actor gave a collection of plays and many excellent pictures; and 'here
comes in,' says Oldys, 'the Queen's purchase of plays, and those by Mr.
Weever the dancing-master, Sir Charles Cotterell, Mr. Coxeter, Lady
Pomfret, and Lady Mary Wortley Montague'; and here we might mention the
sad case of Mr. Warburton the herald, whose forte was to find out
valuable English plays. Shortly before his death in 1759 he discovered
that the cook had used up about fifty of the MSS. for covering pies, and
that among them were 'twelve unpublished pieces by Massinger.' Something
may be said too as to the older collections formed in London for the use
of schools. At Westminster, it has been well said, Dean Williams
'enlarged the boundaries of learning.' According to Hackett, he converted
a waste room into a noble library, modelling i