d, but may be of
like Use for any Children_ (1646), widely used for many years, in New
England, for the religious instruction of children.

See the quaint sketch by Cotton Mather, John Cotton's grandson, in
_Magnalia_ (London, 1702), and a sketch by Cotton's contemporary and
friend, Rev. Samuel Whiting, printed in Alexander Young's _Chronicles
of the First Planters of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay from 1623 to
1636_ (Boston, 1846); also A. W. McClure's _The Life of John Cotton_
(Boston, 1846), a chapter in Arthur B. Ellis's _History of the First
Church in Boston_ (Boston, 1881), and a chapter in Williston Walker's
_Ten New England Leaders_ (New York, 1901). (W. WR.)

COTTON, SIR ROBERT BRUCE, Bart. (1571-1631), English antiquary, the
founder of the Cottonian library, born at Denton in Huntingdonshire on
the 22nd of January 1571, was a descendant, as he delighted to boast, of
Robert Bruce. He was educated at Westminster school under William Camden
the antiquary, and at Jesus College, Cambridge. His antiquarian tastes
were early displayed in the collection of ancient records, charters and
other manuscripts, which had been dispersed from the monastic libraries
in the reign of Henry VIII.; and throughout the whole of his life he was
an energetic collector of antiquities from all parts of England and the
continent. His house at Westminster had a garden going down to the river
and occupied part of the site of the present House of Lords. It was the
meeting-place in the last years of Elizabeth's reign of the antiquarian
society founded by Archbishop Parker. In 1600 Cotton visited the north
of England with Camden in search of Pictish and Roman monuments and
inscriptions. His reputation as an expert in heraldry led to his being
asked by Queen Elizabeth to discuss the question of precedence between
the English ambassador and the envoy of Spain, then in treaty at Calais.
He drew up an elaborate paper establishing the precedence of the English
ambassador. On the accession of James I. he was knighted, and in 1608 he
wrote a _Memorial on Abuses in the Navy_, that resulted in a navy
commission, of which he was made a member. He also presented to the king
an historical _Inquiry into the Crown Revenues_, in which he speaks
freely about the expenses of the royal household, and asserts that
tonnage and poundage are only to be levied in war time, and to "proceed
out of good will, not of duty." In this paper he su