294 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
may at least give him credit for sincerity, oddly as his epitaph
may read.
The most notable provision in the Archbishop's will has
yet to come. Following the example of his predecessor, Dr.
Toby Mathew, who left his library to the city of Bristol, he gave
"unto the bayliffes and incorporation of Colchester all my librarie
of books provided that they prepare a decent room to sett them
up in, that the Clergie of the Town of Colchester and other
Divines may have free access for the reading and studieing of
them."
Within six months the Council had ordered "that the east
end of the Chamber over the Red rowe, called the Dutch Bay
Hall, was a convenient place, being repaired, to put the Library."
Apparently it was four years before they appointed a Librarian,
one William Hall, a barber, or more probably barber-surgeon,
with a stipend of 40s. per annum, to be paid by the Chamberlain
quarterly, provided he entered into a bond for £40, for making
good such books as should be lost or wanting.
The salary was not large, but it is a not uncommon illusion
that the custody of books is in itself meat and drink ! Anyhow,
sixteen years later, in a fit of praiseworthy economy, the salary
was halved, and in 1653 the books were given into the custody
of the Vicar of St. Peter's, with instructions to make a catalogue
—presumably at his own charge Morant's sarcasm at the
expense of the puritan self-sufficiency of the Magistrates is some-
what blunted when we find that the Royalist Corporation of
1664 bundled the books out of the Red Row, which they let,
and put them in the Grammar School, where they remained
for nearly a century, exposed to all the chances and changes
which can affect the life of books. Sad to say also, it was a
Church and Tory Corporation that refused to find the funds
necessary to bring to Colchester the fine library left them by
Bishop Compton in Queen Anne's reign. It was due to the
munificence of Mr. Charles Gray, antiquary, bibliophile and
philanthropist, that the Archbishop's books were, in 1749, suitably
housed in the Castle, whence they were removed to the Public
Library, and placed in a fire proof room, in 1894.
Lack of time prevents a detailed description of the library,
but its contents justify the 17th century adage "Clerus Anglie
stupor mundi"—Anglican learning is the wonder of the age :—