Books are sold, from the Hours of Nine in
the Morning till Twelve, and from Two till Six in the Evening.' There
were three thousand eight hundred and forty-four lots of printed books,
and four hundred and thirteen manuscripts in two hundred and forty-three
lots in the sale. A copy of the catalogue, marked with the prices, is
preserved in the British Museum. The printed books in the sale do not
appear to have been exceptionally choice or rare, but there were some
valuable manuscripts. A few of the most notable, together with the
prices they fetched, are given in the following list:--

_Biblia Sacra Antiquissima_, folio magno, vellum--six pounds, twelve
shillings; _Polychronicon vetus MS. per Radulphum Hygden, nunquam Latine
impressum_, vellum--eleven pounds; _Wicklif's Book of Postils or Sermons
in Old English_--seven pounds, two shillings and six pence; _Other
Discourses by him_--ten pounds, two shillings and six pence; _Wilhelmus
Malmesburiensis de gestis Regum Angliae_, vellum--seven pounds, three
shillings; _L'Histoire du Roy Arthur, avec des Figures d'orees_, folio
grand on vellum--three pounds, two shillings; _Le Chronique de Jean
Froissart des guerres de France et D'Angleterre_, folio grand, _avec des
belles Figures_, vellum--three pounds, nine shillings; _Norden .
Speculum Britanniae_--four pounds, seven shillings. It is not known to
whom these books belonged at the period of the sale, but it appears
probable they were the property of James Cecil, fourth Earl of Salisbury
(a descendant of Lord Burghley's younger son), who succeeded to the
title in 1683, and died in 1694. He was mixed up in the troubles of the
time, and was, says Macaulay, 'foolish to a proverb,' and the 'prey of
gamesters.' John Cecil, Earl of Exeter, from 1678 to 1700, who was
descended from Lord Burghley's elder son, was himself a book collector,
and therefore not likely to part with the library of his illustrious
ancestor.

The bindings of Lord Burghley's books are generally stamped with his
arms, which are sometimes encircled by the order of the Garter, but a
little volume preserved in the library of the British Museum simply
bears his name and that of his second wife, his affectionate companion
for forty-three years. Lord Burghley left an immense mass of papers,
which are now preserved at Hatfield House, the Record Office, the
British Museum, etc. Those in the British Museum, which consist of one
hundred and twenty-one folio volumes of sta