llection to his son, Sir John Cotton, who, having
declined an offer for it of sixty thousand pounds from Louis XIV. in
1700, expressed his intention of practically giving it to the nation;
and in the same year an Act was passed, enacting that on the death of
Sir John (he died in 1702), Cotton House, together with the collection,
should be vested in trustees, but at the same time continue in his
family and name, and not be sold or otherwise disposed of. It was
further ordered that the library should be kept and preserved for public
use and advantage, and that a room should be provided for it, with 'a
convenient way, passage, and resort to the same, at the will and
discretion of the heirs of the family.' Obstacles, however, occurred in
carrying out these directions, principally on account of the difficulty
of access to the library, and the unsuitableness of the room in which it
was deposited, it being described as 'a narrow little room, damp, and
improper for preserving the books and papers.' An agreement was
therefore made, by virtue of an Act of Parliament (5 Anne, cap. 30),
with Sir John Cotton, grandson of the Sir John Cotton who died in 1702,
for the purchase of the inheritance of the house where the library was
deposited for the sum of four thousand five hundred pounds; and it was
further provided that the library should continue to be settled in
trustees, and a convenient room built in part of the grounds for its
accommodation. This, however, was not done, and the dilapidated
condition of Cotton House soon necessitated the removal of the
collection, which was taken to Essex House, Essex Street, Strand, where
it remained until 1730, when it was conveyed to Ashburnham House in
Little Dean's Yard, Westminster, which was purchased by the Crown to
receive it, together with the royal MSS. Here, on the 23rd of October
1731, the disastrous fire broke out in which one hundred and fourteen
manuscripts were burnt, lost, or entirely spoiled, and ninety-eight
damaged, but many of these have been cleverly restored. Those which were
saved were placed in a new building designed for the dormitory of
Westminster School, where they remained until they were transferred to
the British Museum in 1757, having been included in the Act under which
the Museum was founded in 1753.

[Illustration: SIR ROBERT COTTON. From an engraving by R. White.]

The Cottonian Collection originally consisted of 958 volumes. A
catalogue of it was compiled b