es, almost forgotten--had he
not (Parker) now lately awakened them out of a dead sleep,
and newly sewed them together in one book printed; whose
glorious life promiseth not mountains of gold, as that silly
heathen woman's (the aforesaid Queen) tomb, but beareth
Christ in the brow, and is honested with this title in the
front, 'De Antiquitate,' &c." Sign. C. iiij. rev. The
satirical part, beginning with "To the Christian Reader,"
follows the biography from which these extracts have been
taken. It remains to observe, that our ARCHBISHOP was a
bibliomaniac of the very first order; and smitten with every
thing attached to a BOOK, to a degree beyond any thing
exhibited by his contemporaries. Parker did not scruple to
tell Cecil that he kept in his house "drawers of pictures,
wood-cutters, painters, limners, writers, and
book-binders,"--"one of these was LYLYE, an excellent
writer, that could counterfeit any antique writing. Him the
archbishop customarily used to make old books
compleat,"--&c. _Strype's Life of Parker_; pp. 415, 529.
Such was his ardour for book-collecting that he had agents
in almost all places, abroad and at home, for the purpose of
securing everything that was curious, precious, and rare:
and one of these, of the name of Batman (I suppose the
commentator upon Bartholomaeus) "in the space of no more than
four years, procured for our archbishop to the number of
6700 books." _Id._ p. 528. The riches of his book bequests
to Cambridge are sufficiently described by Strype; pp. 501,
518, 519, 529, &c. The domestic habits and personal
appearance of PARKER are described by his biographer (p.
504) as being simple and grave. Notwithstanding his aversion
to wearing silk, to plays and jests, and hawks and hounds
(even when he was a young man), I take it for granted he
could have no inward dislike to the beautiful and
appropriate ceremony which marked his consecration, and
which is thus narrated by the lively pen of Fuller: "The
east part of the chapel of Lambeth was hung with tapestry,
the floor spread with red cloth, chairs and cushions are
conveniently placed for the purpose: morning prayers being
solemnly read by Andrew Peerson, the archbishop's chaplain,
Bishop Scory went up into the pulpit, and took for his text,
_