The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Cotton, Robert Bruce

COTTON, Sir Robert Bruce, an English antiquary, founder of the Cottonian library, born at Denton in Huntingdonshire, Jan. 22, 1570, died in London, May 6, 1631. He wrote many discourses and opinions upon matters of state policy, was knighted by James I. on his accession, and was a member of the first parliament of Charles I. He made a very valuable collection of ancient manuscripts, including many which had been scattered about the kingdom when Henry VIII. dissolved the monasteries. In 1629 he was arrested on a false suspicion of having written an obnoxious pamphlet, thrown into the tower, and his library was sequestrated. Though released, he was still denied access to his library; and to this deprivation he attributed the malady of which he died. His collection was augmented by his son and grandson, and, after having been partly destroyed by fire in 1731, was afterward transferred to the British museum. A catalogue of this library was published by the commissioners upon the public records in 1802.