"Transcribed out of the originall with Mr. Russe.
"This Mr. Smyth was a Counsellor of the Temple."
It appears from this account that the box of scented wood ordered by the Curators in 1614 had never been provided, and that the cloak was already beginning to be neglected. Doubtless suspicion had been early excited as to the truth of the traveller"s story which had accompanied the gift, and which could scarcely have obtained real credence later than the days of Marco Polo or Sir John Mandeville. In the Ashmolean Museum a painting is preserved which represents the _Agnus Scythicus_ in its fabled state; a full-grown lamb poised on the top of a vegetable stalk, with its legs dependent in the air[365]. But the key to the mystery is attached in the label on the frame: "_Polypodium Barometz_. Linn." It is, in truth, only a large fern found in Tartary, of which the rhizoma is covered with the woolly fungus-like growth, found in greater or less degree on many species of ferns. If the plant be dug up and inverted, the roots being uppermost and the fronds pendent, a strong imagination might find some resemblance in the former to a wool-clad body, and in the latter to limbs, while some of the young fronds with their spiral convolutions might be compared to the horns of a ram, such as are duly represented in the painting mentioned above. A specimen of the plant may be seen in the greenhouses of the Botanic Garden, Oxford, where it is still known by the name which the fable imposed, _Agnus Scythicus_. So great is the woolly growth found upon one species of tree-fern in New Zealand, that (as the writer was informed by Mr. Baxter, the Keeper of the Botanic Garden) tons of it are yearly imported into this country for the purpose of stuffing cushions. A finer and silkier substance is found on a fern indigenous in Mexico.
[365] For acquaintance with this picture the author is indebted to Mr.
Rowell, whose scientific knowledge so well fits him for the post he worthily holds as Under-keeper of the Ashmolean Museum. In Tradescant"s Catalogue of the first contents of this Museum as formed by himself, published in 1656, occurs "a coat lyned with _Agnus Scythicus_," but it does not now exist in the collection.
APPENDIX B.
_List of Books printed on Vellum, which have been added to the Library since the year 1830[366]._
1460. _Clementis VIII Const.i.tutiones, c.u.m glossa Jo. Andreae._ Ed. Pr.
fol. Mogunt., Petr. Schoiffer de gernssheim. Bought in 1838 for 45_l._
1468. _Justiniani Inst.i.tutiones._ Ed. Pr. fol. Mogunt. per Petr.
Schoyffer de Gernssheym. Bought in 1834 for 52_l._ 10_s._
1476. _Historia Naturale da Plinio, trad, per Chr. Landino._ fol. Ven.
Nic. Janson. The borders at the commencement of each book, with the princ.i.p.al initial letters, are exquisitely painted and ill.u.s.trated with the portrait and arms of Ferdinand II of Sicily, to whom the work was dedicated, as well as those of -- Strozzi, for whom this copy was probably executed. Bequeathed by Mr. Douce. Exhibited in the gla.s.s case at the end of the Library.
1480. _Breviarium Eduense_, 4to. by order of Card. John Rolin, Bishop of Autun, "Symon de Vetericastro eius Secretarius, parisius hoc breviarium c.u.m pluribus similibus imprimi fecit." Bought in 1838 for 2_l._ 4_s._
1481. _Missale Parisiense._ Ed. Pr. fol. Par., Jo. de Prato et Desid.
huym. Bought in 1842 for 10_l._ 10_s._
1482. _Ordo Psalterii c.u.m hymnis et canticis suis._ Small 4to. Ven. per Nicolaum Girardenguz. From the Canonici collection.
1484. _Officium diurnum secundum morem monachorum congregationis Sancte Justine, ord. S. Benedicti._ 8vo. Ven. per Bern. de Benaliis (&c.).
Bought in 1843 for 1_l._ 14_s._
1493. _Pars hyemalis breviarii fratrum Observantialium, ord. S.
Benedicti, per Germaniam._ 8vo. impensis Georii Stochs ex Sulczbach, civis Nurembergensis. Bought in 1841 for 14_s._
_S. A._ A small duodecimo book of prayers, in German, without any t.i.tle; with woodcuts. Printed with the types of Hans Schonsperger, of Augsburg.
Bequeathed by Mr. Douce.
1500, Aug. 14. _Heures a lusage de_ [_Tours_; the name left blank]. 8vo.
Paris, pour Anthoine Verard. With illuminations. Bought in 1844 for 6_l._
1502. _Breviarium secundum regulam beati Hysidori._ Fol. Toleti, jussu Card. Fr. Ximenes, per Petr. Hagembach. Bought in 1853 for 200_l._ See p. 280.
1505. _Breviarium secundum usum Herford._ 8vo. Rothom., per Inghilbertum Haghe. Bequeathed by Gough.
1514. _Le Chevalier de la tour et le guidon des guerres; par Geoffroy de la Tour-Landry._ Fol. Par., pour Guill. Eustace. Bequeathed by Mr.
Douce.
1522. _Libri quattuor magnorum Prophetarum; his adduntur Threni_, &c.
12mo. Par., Petrus Vidoveus. Given by Rawlinson.
1529. _S. Joannes Chrysostomus in omnes Epistolas S. Pauli_; Gr. 3 vols.
fol. Ven. Bought in 1843 for 45_l._
1629. _Rituale monastic.u.m secundum consuetudinem congregationis Vallisumbrosae._ Fol. Florent. Bought in 1843 for 7_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._
1642. _Bibliotheca Eliotae._ _Eliotis Librarie._ Londini, anno Verbi incarnati M.D.XLII. A fragment, consisting of t.i.tle, Proheme to Henry VIII in English, address to the reader in Latin, and table of errata; in all, five leaves.
1859. _Rotulus Clonensis, ex orig. in Registro Eccl. Cath. Clonensis, editus cura Ric. Caulfield._ The first book printed at Cork on vellum, and the only one so printed. Given by Dr. Caulfield in 1865.
1861. _The Souldier"s Pocket Bible_; an exact reprint of the original edition of 1643, with a prefatory note by George Livermore. 12mo.
Cambridge [U.S.], printed for private distribution. This copy was given by Mr. Livermore to Archd. Cotton, and by him to the Library. It was reprinted from a copy in the possession of the editor; only one other is known to exist.
1866. ??? ??? _Sepher Taghin_: Liber Coronularum, ex unico bibl.
Paris. cod. MS. a B. Goldberg descriptum, nunc primum edidit, adjectis ad calcem libri aliquot exceptis ex alio codice ejusdem bibl. inedito, J. J. L. Barges, S. Theol. facult. Paris. doctor. 8vo. Lut. Par.
1867. ???? ???? Edited by Dr. B. Goldberg, from Poc.o.c.ke MS. 238.
8vo. Paris. The only vellum copy printed. Bought for 3_l._
_N. D. Geological Map of the Environs of Oxford_; by C. P. Stacpoole.
Bought in 1850 for 1_l._ 3_s._
The following vellum-printed _Horae_ were all bequeathed by Mr. Douce:--
1498. _Les heures a lusaige de Rome._ 4to. Par., pour Simon Vostre.
---- ---- 4to. Par., per Gillet Hardouyn.
1498. _h.o.r.e secundum usum Sarum._ 8vo. Par., per Phil. Pigouchet.
1499. _Officium B. M. V. in usum Romane ecclesie._ 8vo. Lugd. Bon. de boninis.
1501. _h.o.r.e Virg. Mar. secundum usum Romanum._ 8vo. Par., Thielman Kerver.
[1501.] _Les heures a lusaige de Rome._ 8vo. Par., Simon Vostre.
1502. ---- By the same printer.
1504. ---- 8vo. Par., Anth. Chappiel.
1505. _Officium B. M. V. in usum Rom. eccl._ 8vo. Ven., Lucantonius de Giunta.
1508. _h.o.r.e secundum usum Romanum._ 8vo. Par., Thielman Kerver.