e _Obituary_ of Richard Smith that he
died on April 10, 1666, and was 'buried out of Stationers' Hall (a poore
man).' The Rev. George Thomason, who was Canon of Lincoln from 1683 to
1712, is stated to have been his eldest son.

The number of separate printed tracts in the collection which Thomason
formed with such unwearied perseverance for twenty years is stated in an
Account of it,[39] printed about 1680, to consist of 'near Thirty
Thousand several sorts,' together with 'near one hundred several MS.
pieces that were never printed, all, or most of them on the King's
behalf, which no man durst then venture to publish without endangering
his Ruine,' and it is said that these were contained in 'above Two
Thousand bound Volumes.' Mr. Falconer Madan, however, in his admirable
paper on the Thomason Tracts in _Bibliographica_,[40] informs us that
after going carefully through the collection, and looking at every
title-page, he has come to the conclusion that the present number of
separate pieces is twenty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty-one in
print, and seventy-three in manuscript, comprised in about one thousand
nine hundred and eighty-three volumes.

All the tracts are arranged in chronological order, and from July 1642
to the end of the collection Thomason has placed the date of issue on
every piece when it is not printed on it, and has also endeavoured to
supply the place of printing when not given. These notes are sometimes
supplemented by others commenting on the opinions of the authors of the
tracts. There is a manuscript catalogue in twelve folio volumes,
compiled by Marmaduke Foster, and annotated and corrected by Thomason
himself.

The collection is not confined to tracts relating to the Civil War and
the Commonwealth; it also contains many works on other subjects. Among
these is a fine copy of the first edition of Walton's _Compleat Angler_,
which at the present time would realise nearly, if not quite, as large a
sum as the amount (three hundred pounds) given by King George III. for
the entire series.

The collection, which was commenced by Thomason in 1640, and continued
until 1661, was made by him under great difficulties. He was a staunch
Royalist, and the books appear to have been in constant danger of
falling into the hands of the Parliamentary army. We read in the Account
to which we have already referred that 'to prevent the Discovery of
them, when the Army was Northwards, he pack'd them up in seve