10 On Monday I went againe to the Scholes to heare the severall faculties, & in the Afternoone tarried out the whole Act in St. Maries. The long speeches of the Proctors: The V: Chancelors, the severall Professars, Creation of Doctors, by the Cap, ring, Kisse &c: those Ceremonies not as yet wholy abolish'd, but retaining the antient Ceremonies & Institution: Dr. Kendals (now Inceptor amongst others) performing his Act incomparably well, concluded it with an excellent Oration, abating his Presbyterian animositie, which he with-held not even against that Learned & pious divine Dr. Hammond: The Act was closd, with the Spech of the V: Chancellor. There being but 4 In Theologie, 3 in Medicine, which was thought a considerable matter, the times consider'd: I din'd at on[e] Monsieur Fiats, a student at Excester Coll: & supped at a magnificent Entertainement in Waddum Hall, invited by my excellent & deare Friend Dr. Wilkins, then Warden [now Bishop of Chester]: on the Eleventh was the Latine Sermon which I could not be at, invited, being taken-up at All-Soules, where we had Music, voices & Theorbes perform’d by some ingenious Scholars, where after dinner I visited that miracle of a Youth, Mr. Christopher Wren, nephew to Bishop of Elie: then Mr. Barlow [since Bishop of Lincoln] Bibliothe[c]arius of the Bodlean Library, my most learned friend, who shewd me, together with my Wife, The rarities of that famous place, Manuscrip[t]s, Medails & other Curiosities. Amongst the MSS an old English Bible[*]It was a manuscript copy of Wycliffe's translation: 'And thei wenten doun bothe into the watir, Filip and the gelding, and Filip baptiside hym': Acts viii. 38. For the possible manuscripts see Wycliffite Versions of the Holy Bible. Ed. Josiah Forshall and Sir Frederic Madden. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1850, vol. 1, pp. xlvi-xlvii. (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 106, n. 5). wherein the Eunuch mention'd to be baptizd by Philip, is cald the Gelding, & Philip & the Gelding went down into the Water &c, also the Original Acta of the Council of Basil, 900 years since, with the Bulla or leaden Affix, which has a silken Chord, passing thro every parchment: likewise a MS: of Ven: Beades[*]Possibly Bede's Commentary on the Proverbs (MS. Bodl. 819), a ninth-century manuscript given to the library in 1602: Macray, pp. 27-8. (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 107, n. 1). of 800 years antiquity: together with the old Ritual secundum Usum Sarum,[*]The Catalogus impressorum librorum, 1674, gives three copies: fol., Paris, 1555; 4to, Rouen, 1621 (error for 1521); and a third without place or date. For the bibliography of the work see Missale ad usum ... ecclesicae Sarum, ed. F. H. Dickinson, 1883, introd. (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 107, n. 2). exceeding voluminous: Then amongst the nicer curiosities: The Proverbial Solaman written in French, by a Lady every Chapter of a severall Character, or hand, the most exquisitely imaginable[*]The manuscript is in French; it was written by Esther Inglis (Langlois), 1571-1624, wife of Bartholomew Kello. It is dated 1599 and was given to the library in 1620: Macray, p. 62. (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 107, n. 3): An Hieroglypical Table, or Carta folded up like a Map, I suppose it painted on Asses hide, extreamely rare[*]Said by Macray to be Mexican; perhaps Arch. Bodl. A. 75: Macray, pp. 109, 466. (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 107, n. 4).: but what is most illustrious, were the no lesse than 1000 MSS: in 19 Languages, espe[c]ialy Oriental, furnishing that new part of the Library, built by A: Bishop Lawd[*]The western wing (Selden end) of the library was built in 1634-40 during Laud's chancellorship of the university and was at first called 'Laud's library'; he does not appear to have contributed towards its cost, but the collection of manuscripts given by him to the library in 1635-40 (1,299 manuscripts in eighteen languages) was originally kept here with the Digby and Pembroke MSS.: Macray, pp. 81, 83-8; A. Wood, History ... of the University of Oxford, ed. Gutch, 1792-6, ii. 939-42. (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 107, n. 5): some of Sir Kenhelme Digby,[*]Digby gave 238 manuscripts to the library in 1634: Macray, pp. 78-81. (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 107, n. 6) & the Earle of Pembroch[*]William Herbert, third earl of Pembroke, 1580-1630,gave 242 Greek manuscripts (the Barocci Collection) to the library in 1629: Macray, pp. 68-72. (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 107, n. 7): In the Closset of the Tower,[*]Perhaps the 'Archive of the School Tower': J. Pointer, Oxoniensis Academia, 1749, p. 143; cf. p. 141; and 'the closett' in Wood, Life and Times, iv. 57; see also R. W. T. Gunther, Early science in Oxford, 1923, sqq., iii. 252-3. (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 107, n. 8) they shew,Josephs parti colourd Coate[*]This object is mentioned under this name by a traveller in 1638, in the library accounts for 1662, and by Monconys in 1663: Gunther, iii. 253; Macray, pp. 129, 131 (quoting Monconys, ii. 52-3). Macray identifies it as a coat of 'Tartar lamb' brought from Russia and given to the library in 1615: Macray, pp. 51, 413-4 (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 107, n. 9). A Muscovian Ladys Whip,[*]Cf. 'Russia Whips' in the 'Musaeum': Pointer, p. 159 (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 107, n. 10) some Indian Weapons, Urnes, Lamps: &c: but the rarest, is the Whole Alcoran written in one large sheete of Calico, which is made up in a Priests Vesture or Cape after the Turkish, & the Arabic Character so exquisitely written, as no printed letter comes neere it[*]A Turkish vestment of linen given by Richard Davydge in 1653 (MS. Bodl. Or. 162): Macray, p. 108. (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 108, n. 1): Also a rolle of Magical Charmes or Periapta,[*] For periapta see above, ii. 236. This roll is not traceable (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 108, n. 2) divers Talismans, some Medails: Then I led my Wife into the Convocation house finely Wainscoted; The Divinity Schole & gothic Carv’d roofe; the Physick Or Anatomie Schole,[*]This occupied the western half of the first floor of the south side of the School's quadrangle; since 1789 it has formed part of the Bodleian: Gunther, iii. 252; Macray, p. 272; for its contents c. 1680 see Gunther iii 260-3. The order of Evelyn's visits to the various parts of the School's building probably differed from that of his notices. (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 108, n. 4) adorn’d with some rarities of natural things; but nothing extraordinary, save the Skin of a Jaccal, a rarely Colour’d Jacatroo, or prodigious large Parot,[*]In former editions of the diary this word was printed 'jacatoo'. This was its only recorded ocurrence and the OED recorded suggests an error for cacatoo, cockatoo. The word as now printed is not recorded elsewhere; the resemblance to the place-name Jacatra (in Java) is perhaps worth noting. Gunther suggests macaw: iii. 261 (Diary, ed. de Beer, vol. 3, p. 108, n. 5) two humming birds, not much bigger than our humble bee: which indeede I had not seene before that I remember. &c.