is way. He also declined the living of Bletchley in
Buckinghamshire. In 1729 he refused to be a candidate for the place of
Chief Keeper of the Bodleian Library. In his own words "he retired to
Edmund-Hall, and lived there very privately . . . furnishing himself with
Books, partly from his Study, and partly by the help of friends."

It is evident that his literary work was well remunerated, because a "sum
of money amounting to upwards of one thousand Pounds was found in his
Room after his decease." This statement, together with the date of his
death (10th June 1735), are clearly part of the design to conceal the
authorship of the biography.

In the following pages I have chosen what seem to me to be interesting
extracts from Hearne's Diary, which begins 4th July 1705, and concludes
1st June 1735. I shall give what especially illustrates the conditions
of life at Oxford from the beginning of the eighteenth century until the
date of the author's death.

There was plenty of barbarism remaining in Oxford life, for instance, 4th
September 1705:--

"The Book called _The Memorial_ was burnt last Saturday at the Sessions
house, by the hands of the common hang-man, and this week the same will
be done at the Royal Exchange and Palace-Yard, Westminster." In the same
month, however, we find pleasanter record, _e.g._, the first mention of
one who (though I think they never met) became his most valued
correspondent.

"Last night I was with Mr Wotton (who writ the _Essay on Ancient and
Modern Learning_) at the tavern. . . . Mr Wotton told me Mr Baker of St
John's College, Cambridge, had writ the history and antiquities of that
college; and that he is in every way qualified (being a very industrious
and judicious man) to write the hist. and antiq. of that university."

Thomas Baker, b. 1656, d. 1740, was a Fellow of St John's College,
Cambridge, but on the accession of George I. he would not take the oath
of allegiance and lost his Fellowship. The College, however, treated him
with consideration and he was allowed to remain as a _commoner-master_
until his death. He worked indefatigably, and gained the deserved
"reputation of being inferior to no living English scholar in his minute
and extended acquaintance with the antiquities of our national history"
(_Dict. Nat. Biog._).

There is often a pleasant irrelevance in Hearne's Diary. For instance:--

18_th Oct._ 1705.--"Mr Lesley was in the public library this afternoon,