or
his own gratification. It is interesting to know that this bequest, now
one hundred and fifty years old, obsolete in some respects, is still
highly valued. Some writer says, that, if for no other reason, there
should be a new fire-proof building for the Public Library for the
better preservation of the Shakespeare collection and the Prince
Library. The valuable editions of Shakespeare arranged in glass cases in
the Bates Hall are no doubt familiar to many people, but it is possible
that the majority even of the daily visitors to this institution have no
definite knowledge of the Prince Library, which is found, on
examination, to contain a fund for the curious, as well as many things
of importance to the antiquarian.

This library was added to the Public Library twenty-four years ago, and
was originally a gift to the Old South Church. It is a collection which
should be treasured, not only by Bostonians and all New England people,
but is also of importance to the country at large, as it was, in a
limited sense, the forerunner of all public libraries in the land. It is
of a twofold nature,--an historical section, with the other devoted to
ecclesiastical works. Mr. Prince designed the ecclesiastical or Old
South collection, as he called it, for the use of the pastors and church
of which he was associate pastor forty years. This contained all the
Latin and Greek books, and all in oriental languages.

His will states: "That whereas I have been many years collecting a
number of books, pamphlets, maps, prints and manuscripts, either
published in New England or pertaining to its history and public
affairs, to which collection I have given the name of 'Ye New England
Library,' and have deposited in the steeple of the Old South Church; and
as I made this collection from a public view and desire that many
important transactions might be remembered, which otherwise would be
lost, I hereby bequeath the collection to the Old South Church forever,
to the end that this collection may be kept entire. I desire that this
collection be kept in a different department from the other books, and
that it may be so made that no person shall borrow any book or paper
therefrom, but that any person whom the pastors and deacons of the
church for the time being shall approve, may have access thereto, and
take copies therefrom."

The Prince catalogue states that, "at his death, the New England Library
was the most extensive of the kind that had e