h, if not the finest known, is at all events surpassed by none. His
strong religious feelings, and his sincere attachment to the
Established Church, as well as his mastery and knowledge of the English
Language, concurred in making him eager to possess the earliest, as well
as the rarest, editions of the translations of the Scriptures in the
vernacular tongue. He succeeded to a great extent; but what deserves
particular mention is the only known fragment of the New Testament in
English, translated by Tyndale and Roy, which was in the press of
Quentell, at Cologne, in 1525, when the printers were obliged to
interrupt the printing, and fly to escape persecution.

'The History of the British Empire, and whatever could illustrate any of
its different portions, were the subject of Mr. Grenville's unremitting
research, and he allowed nothing to escape him deserving to be
preserved, however rare and expensive. Hence his collection of works on
the Divorce of Henry VIII.; that of Voyages and Travels, either by
Englishmen, or to countries at some time more or less connected with
England, or possessed by her; that of contemporary works on the
gathering, advance, and defeat of the "Invincible Armada"; and that of
writings on Ireland,--are more numerous, more valuable, and more
interesting than in any other collection ever made by any person on the
same subjects. Among the Voyages and Travels, the collections of De Bry
and Hulsius are the finest in the world; no other library can boast of
four such fine books as the copies of Hariot's Virginia, in Latin,
German, French, and English of the De Bry series. And it was fitting
that in Mr. Grenville's library should be found one of the only two
copies known of the first edition of this work, printed in London in
1588, wherein an account is given of a colony which had been founded by
his family namesake, Sir Richard Grenville.

'Conversant with the language and literature of Spain, as well as with
that of Italy, the works of imagination by writers of those two
countries are better represented in his library than in any other out of
Spain and Italy; in some branches better even than in any single library
in the countries themselves. No Italian collection can boast of such a
splendid series of early editions of Ariosto's Orlando, one of Mr.
Grenville's favourite authors, nor, indeed, of such choice Romance
Poems. The copy of the first edition of Ariosto is not to be matched for
beauty; of th