pired,
out of a fund known as the Droits of the Admiralty. On the completion of
the bargain, George IV. addressed to Lord Liverpool a letter, dated
January 15th, 1823, in which occur the following words: 'The King, my
late revered and excellent father, having formed during a long series of
years a most valuable and extensive library, consisting of about 120,000
volumes, I have resolved to present this collection to the British
Nation.' This letter, printed in letters of gold, is preserved in the
British Museum. In addition to the first edition of the Mentz Psalter;
the Aldine Virgil of 1505, the Second Shakespeare folio which once
belonged to Charles I., four Caxtons forming part of the collection,
viz., _The Doctrinal of Sapience_, on parchment, _The Fables of AEsop_,
_The Fayts of Arms_, and the _Recueil des Histoires de Troye_, with a
few other volumes, were retained at Windsor.

Of the sons of George III., the Duke of Sussex alone appears to have
inherited his father's love of collecting books, and he formed a
magnificent library in his apartments at Kensington Palace. The
collection consisted of more than fifty thousand volumes, twelve
thousand of which were theological. It included a very considerable
number of early Hebrew and other rare manuscripts, and about one
thousand editions of the Bible. An elaborate catalogue of a portion of
it, entitled _Bibliotheca Sussexiana_, was compiled by Dr. T.J.
Pettigrew, the Duke's librarian, in two volumes, the first of which was
printed in 1827, and the second in 1839.

After the Duke's death his books were sold by auction by Evans of Pall
Mall. They were disposed of in six sales, the first of which took place
in July 1844, and the last in August 1845; and they occupied altogether
sixty-one days. The number of lots was fourteen thousand one hundred and
seven, and the total amount realised nineteen thousand one hundred and
forty-eight pounds.

The Duke of York possessed a good library, which was sold by Sotheby in
May 1827, but it consisted almost entirely of modern books, and the Duke
could hardly be considered a collector.

On his succession to the throne William IV., as he remarked, found
himself the only sovereign in Europe not possessed of a library, and
speedily took steps to acquire one. He did more than this, for in July
1833 he caused a special codicil to his will to be drawn up which sets
forth that 'Whereas His Majesty hath made considerable additions to the
R