S. tam multa meam in gratiam deprompsit." Indeed,
Hearne had good occasion to speak well of the treasures of
Baker's "_scrinia_;" as the Appendix to his _Thomas de
Elmham_ alone testifies. Of Baker's abilities and private
worth, we have the testimonies of Middleton (_Origin of
Printing_, p. 5) and Warburton. The latter thus mentions
him: "Good old Mr. Baker, of St John's College, has indeed,
been very obliging. The people of St. John's almost adore
the man." _Masters's Life of Baker_, p. 94. This authority
also informs us that "Mr. Baker had, for many years before
his death, been almost a recluse, and seldom went farther
than the college walks, unless to a coffee-house in an
evening, after chapel, where he commonly spent an hour with
great chearfulness, conversing with a select number of his
friends and acquaintance upon literary subjects," p. 108.
Every thing the most amiable, and, I had almost said,
enviable, is here said of the virtues of his head and heart;
and that this venerable bibliomaniac should have reached his
80th year is at least a demonstration that tarrying amongst
folios and octavos, from morn till night (which Baker used
to do, in St. John's Library, for nearly 20 years together),
does not unstring the nerves, or dry up the juices, of the
human frame. Yet a little further extension of this note,
gentle reader, and then we bid adieu to Thomas Baker, of
ever respectable book-memory. Among the MSS., once the
property of Herbert, which I purchased at the late sale of
Mr. Gough's MSS., I obtained a volume full of extracts from
original letters between Baker and Ames; containing also the
_Will_ of the former, which is not inserted in Master's Life
of him, nor in the _Biographia Britannica_. The original
documents are in his Majesty's library, and were bought at
the sale of Mr. Tutet's books, A.D. 1786; no. 375. From
this will, as Herbert has copied it, the reader is presented
with the following strong proofs of the bibliomaniacal
"ruling passion, strong in death," of our illustrious
antiquary. But let us not omit the manly tone of piety with
which this Will commences. "In the name of God, Amen! I,
THOMAS BAKER, ejected Fellow of St. John's college,
Cambridge, do make my last will and testament, as follows:
First, I