Selections from his diary 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.