Report to the Right honourable the master of the rolls upon the documents in the archives and public libraries of Venice / by Thomas Duffus Hardy.
- Thomas Duffus Hardy
- Date:
- 1866
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report to the Right honourable the master of the rolls upon the documents in the archives and public libraries of Venice / by Thomas Duffus Hardy. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
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![eloquent Fathers oi the Church, which are now dedicated to most safe Fathers, who have maintained the real seat of ancient wisdom and eloquence ; wherefore the dedication was very suitably theirs, and became them better than it did anybody else. Touching the words, Potentissimi Magnos Britannne Regis, Domini sui, amicis carissimis, he said that of this he had no doubt whatever, as his Majesty was in truth the most sure friend of the State, and the most anxious of any sovereign for her utmost exaltation and welfare ; that he loves the Republic by reason of the good under- standing and luutual good-will subsisting between them, and on every other account likewise. In the next place, the person who dedicates the work is under such great obligations to the Signory, as mentioned by me ; and presents it with such devoted affection that greater can be felt by no one ; and the thing itself is so complete, and after much time and labour is brought to such a pitch as to render it very worthy of being willingly accepted and graciously received by your Serenity, as I beseech you to do for my own honour likewise, it being my wish in all matters to demonstrate and prove to you my devotion, this gentleman being, moreover, my kinsman, and very dear and beloved relation [dipendente], as already stated by me. I do not believe that any book of an earlier date of pre- sentation to St. Mark's Library, by any foreigner north of the Alps, can be found there now than this, the gift of Sir Henry Savile, and printed for him at Eton, of which college he was then (in 1613) the Provost; but in Mr. Brown's Calendar it will be seen that 90 years previously, another English ambassador and distinguished man of letters, Richard Pace, raised his voice in the Venetian College Hall in favour of Greek literature; for on that day he obtained there from the Signory, for Nicolaus Leouicus Thomeus, a patent for the copyright of his Latin trans- lation of Aristotle the Stagirite, which he, Leonicus, dedicated to Reginald Pole, in date of Padua, Pridie Calendas Sextiles, 1524. These facts, coupled with the demand made by Cardinal Wolsey for permission to have copies of certain Greek MSS. be- queathed to St. Mark's Library by Cardinal Pessarion, will have convinced the Signory of the attention paid to classical literature by Englishmen in the 16th and 17th centuries. Sir Henry Savile's present was acknowledged by a gift from the State, of which the following record is preserved also in Esposizioni Principi:— The Doge returned very loving thanks for all this to the ambassador (Sir Dudley Carleton), who said, ' I have another ' private letter in my hand from my relation, Sir Henry Savile, ' who requests me to return most humble thanks to your Serenity ' for the favour done him, and he says your munificence has far ' exceeded his deserts, and that he shall constantly wear the ' medal given him by your Serenity as long as he lives, and that ' being now far advanced in years, he has determined to bequeath](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21021284_0029.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
