"Theatre of
the Empire of Great Britaine" (1611), Camden's "Remains concerning
Britain" (1657), "History of Queen Elizabeth" (in "A Complete History of
England," London, 1706), "Annals of King James I.", and "Britannia",
(1695), Sir Thomas Smith's "Commonwealth of England" (1633), Foxe's
"Ecclesiasticall Historie" (1597), Sir Walter Raleigh's "History of the
World" (1676), {35} Rushworth's "Historical Collections" (1659), Bacon's
"Life of Henry VII." (in "A Complete History of England," London, 1706),
Herbert's "King Henry VIII." (in "A Complete History of England," London,
1706), Heylyn's "Cosmographie" (1669), Clarendon's "History of the
Rebellion" (odd vols. of the 1706 edition), Bulstrode Whitelocke's
"Memorials of the English affairs" (1682), Burnet's "History of the
Reformation" (1681-83), Strype's "Annals of the Reformation" (1709),
Dugdale's "Monasticon Anglicanum" (odd vols.), and his "Antiquities of
Warwickshire" (1730), and Anthony a Wood's "Athenae Oxonienses"
(1691-92).

Other historical and geographical works are Munster's "Cosmographiae
Universalis" (Basel, 1559), the first detailed, scientific and popular
description of the world; Foresti's "Supplementum Supplementi
Chronicarum" (Venice, 1506), a universal history written by an Italian
monk and historian; Lonicerus' "Chronicorum Turcicorum in quibus Turcorum
origo" etc. (Frankfort, 1578); and Braun and Hogenberg's "Civitates Orbis
Terrarum" (Cologne, 1577-88), containing the earliest general collection
of topographical views of the chief cities of the world, including one of
Norwich.

The Rev. Joseph Brett in 1706 pointed out that the Library possessed
"very few Humanity Books, few or none of Law, Physick, Mathematicks, or
indeed of any science but Divinity," and it never became strong in these
subjects. It is weak in the ancient classics, but the following are some
of the authors represented: Aristotle, Cicero, Cornelius Nepos, Diogenes
Laertius, Euclid, Eutropius, Juvenal, Livy, Lucan, Plato, Pliny,
Plutarch, Seneca, Suetonius, and Tacitus. In English belles-lettres the
chief works are Chaucer's Works (London, 1721), Abraham Cowley's Works
(1668), Michael Drayton's "Poly-Olbion" (1613), Gower's "Confessio
Amantis" (London, 1554), and George Herbert's "The Temple and other
Sacred Poems" (1633).

The outstanding scientific works are Sir Isaac Newton's "Opticks" (1704),
Burnet's "Theory of the Earth" (1691), The Grete Herball (London: Peter
Treveris