gly rare and
valuable manuscripts, of which some of the most notable were a famous
copy of the _Iliad_, a _Pontificale_ of Pope Innocent IV., and a very
interesting and curious collection of English Miracle-Plays acted at
Wakefield in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.[79] Of the copy of
the _Iliad_, Clarke in his _Repertorium Bibliographicum_ remarks:--'This
is the identical manuscript which was formerly in the possession of
Victorius and Salviati at Florence, the supposed loss of which had been
deplored for more than two centuries. Critics have unanimously assigned
to it a very remote period of antiquity. It is written upon vellum in a
very fair and legible hand, and the margins are replete with most
valuable and important scholia. Heyne has given a facsimile of it in his
Homer. It was purchased by the late Rev. Dr. Burney, whose entire
collection is now deposited in the British Museum.'

Towneley's books were sold after his death, in three portions, by Evans
of Pall Mall. The first sale took place on June 8th, 1814, and six
following days. It comprised nine hundred and five lots, which realised
five thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven pounds, four shillings. The
second sale occurred on June 19th, 1815, and nine following days, and
the seventeen hundred and three lots in it fetched two thousand seven
hundred and seven pounds, sixteen shillings. The third sale consisted
only of a few remaining books, which were disposed of in conjunction
with the library of Mr. Auditor Harley on May 22nd, 1817, and six
following days. Eleven hundred and twenty-seven pounds, two shillings
were obtained for the nine Caxtons; the _Troilus and Creside_, the _Life
of St. Katherine_, and the _Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers_
fetching the highest prices, viz. two hundred and fifty-two pounds, two
shillings, two hundred and thirty-one pounds, and one hundred and
eighty-nine pounds. Bochas's _Falle of Princis_ and Froissart's
_Cronycle_ realised twenty-seven pounds, sixteen shillings and sixpence,
and forty-two pounds; and the _Vitas Patrum_ and the _Kalender of
Shepeherdes_ fifty-three pounds, eleven shillings and nineteen pounds.
Eighty-five pounds were obtained for Henry Boece's _Hystory and
Croniklis of Scotland_, translated by Bellenden, and printed by Davidson
at Edinburgh in 1536; thirty-three pounds, sixteen shillings for
Ricraft's _Survey of England's Champions_, etc., London, 1647; and
forty-eight pounds, six shillings f