Transactions of the Royal and Antiquarian societies of London; but no English books since the commencement of the present war with Holland. The last addition to the library, were some magnificent folios, describing the antiquities, of Herculaneum, which were a present from the king of Spain. The books are principally bound in parchment, which is extremely white and pleasing to the eye; and they are mostly gilded and ornamented with much elegance and taste, the decorations being suitable to the subject of the book.
The library contains some good portraits of eminent Dutchmen: of Erasmus, at various periods of his life; of Grotius; and Janus Douse, who distinguished himself equally in arms and letters. During the siege of Leyden he was one of its bravest defenders, and his conduct on that occasion was so highly approved of by the Prince of Orange, that the government of the city was afterwards entrusted to his care. A portrait of Daniel Heinsius, and a miniature of Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein, whose
