COTTON, Sir ROBERT BRUCE, a distinguished English antiquary, founder of the Cottonian library, now in the British museum, was born at Denton, Huntingdonshire, 22d Jan., 1570. He was educated at Cambridge, and soon after taking his degree of MLA. in his 16th year, he commenced these archaeological pursuits which have made his name famous, and proved of such immense value to British historians. The disso lution of the monasteries about half a century before, dispersed many valuable collec tions of manuscripts into private hands, and C. hunted up and purchased these wherever practicable. On account of his eminent abilities and great knowledge, he was frequently consulted by ministers of state on difficult constitutional points and int( rnational ques tions. In 1600, at the request of queen Elizabeth, who desired to have the views of the society of antiquaries on the matter, he wrote A Brief Abstract of the Question of Precedency between England and Spain. King James, by whom he was made a knight, employed him to vindicate the conduct Of his mother, Mary queen of Scots, and also to examine whether the Roman Catholics, on account of whom some alarm was then felt in the nation, should be imprisoned or put to death. C. took the most humane view of the matter. His intimacy with the earl of Somerset led him to be suspected of com plicity in the death of sir Thomas Overbury, and in consequence he was imprisoned for about five months. In 1629, a tract entitled A Prert how a Prince may make him self an Absolute Tyrant, was obtained from his library, the tendency of which was con sidered dangerous to the liberty of the state. His library was accordingly declared unfit for public inspection, and he himself was denied all use of it. Ilis heart being bound
i up in his library, he pined and died in less than two years after, on 6th May, 1631.
The COTTONIAN LIBRARY, which now forms so important a part of the British museum, was, after the death of sir Robert C.'s son and grandson, who augmented it considerably, invested in trustees for the use of the public. In 1730, the library was removed to Ashburnham house, Westminster, where the royal collection was; and in the following year a fire occurred in the house, in which about 114 out of the 958' 3IS.. volumes of which the library consisted were reported as "lost, burned, or entirely destroyed; and 98 damaged so as to be defective." Fortunately, however. under the care and intelligence of skillful keepers, a great number of these injured volumes have been restored, so that the library now consists of nearly 900 volumes, of which. says Mr. Edwards in his Memoirs of Libraries, 200 are state papers of the highest value. They include a vast series relating to the diplomatic intercourse between. Eng land and almost every state of Europe, extending from the reign of Edward HE to that of James I.; and of these documents, no small proportion consists of the original letters of sovereigns and of statesmen. Even those papers which are not original have a high degree of authority, as being, for the most part, coeval transcripts." The Cotumiau library was transferred to the British museum (q.v.) in 1757. In addition to the MSS., the Cottonian collection consists of many valuable coins and antiquities.