ledge were bereaved of their gift,
and the Bishop of his purpose.' An account of his library and its
confiscation is also to be found in a manuscript treatise concerning his
life and death, preserved among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum.
'He had ye notablest Library of Books in all England, two long
galleries full, the Books were sorted in stalls & a Register of ye
names of every Book at ye end of every stall. All these his Books, &
all his Hangings, plate, & vessels for Hawl, Chamber, Buttry, & Kitchin,
he gave long before his death to St Joh: College, by a Deed of gift, &
put them in possession thereof; & then by indenture did borrow all ye
sd: books & stuff, to have ye use of ym during his life, but at his
apprehension, the Lord Crumwell caused all to be confiscated, which he
gave to Moryson, Plankney of Chester, and other that were about him, &
so ye College was defrauded of all this gift.'

Erasmus represents Fisher as a man of the greatest integrity, of deep
learning, incredible sweetness of temper, and grandeur of soul; and Sir
Thomas More declared that there was 'in this realm no one man, in
wisdom, learning, and long approved vertue together, mete to be matched
and compared with him.'

An excellent portrait of Fisher is preserved among the Holbein drawings
at Windsor Castle, and others are to be found in several of the Colleges
of the University of Cambridge.

THOMAS CRANMER, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, 1489-1556

[Illustration]

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, the events of whose life are
so well known that it is not necessary to give an account of them here,
possessed a very fine library, both of manuscripts and printed books.
Many of the volumes it contained are still in existence, and fortunately
they can be identified without difficulty, as almost all of them bear
the Archbishop's name written, it is believed, by one of his
secretaries. As might be expected, the books are principally of a
theological nature, although copies of the Greek and Latin Classics, and
of works treating of historical, scientific, legal, medical, and
miscellaneous subjects are fairly numerous. Strype tells us 'that the
library was the storehouse of ecclesiastical writers of all ages: and
which was open for the use of learned men. Here old Latimer spent many
an hour; and found some books so remarkable, that once he thought fit to
mention one in a sermon before the King.' Strype adds that Cranmer both
an