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 Quixote," but of all the other works of
Cervantes. Not only editions, but translations into any and every
language were eagerly sought; and, after cherishing his treasures for
many years, Mr. Bragge was so impressed with the Shakespeare Library
that he generously offered his unrivalled collection of the great
contemporary author to the town of which he is a native, and in which he
afterwards came to live. The collection extended from editions published
in 1605 down to our own days, and included many very rare and very
costly illustrated volumes, which can never be replaced. All the known
translations were among the thousand volumes, and all the works were in
the choicest condition, but only ten survived the fire.--From the
Lending Library about 10,000 volumes were rescued, and as there were
nearly 4,000 in the hands of readers, the loss here was comparatively