'Oct. [6?]--56. John Dury, Library-Keeper at St. James's, to the Council of State. The books and manuscripts will be utterly spoiled if not immediately looked after, as they lie upon the floor in confused heaps, so that not only the rain and dust, but the rats, mice, and other vermin can easily get at them, and none of these inconveniences can be prevented, unless you order the trustees for sale of the late King's goods to deliver me the keys.
'The trustees long since made a catalogue of the books, and an inventory of the medals, so that there is nothing more left for them to do, and they might therefore be also desired to deliver up such catalogues and inventory; if there should be anything to complete, I am willing to assist them therein, so that the work may not linger, and the library be utterly spoiled, and remain useless to the public.' [One page.]
This is the last entry we have concerning Durie as a librarian. His translation (published in 1652) of 'Mr. Milton's book written in answer to the late King's book,' _i.e._ 'Eiconoclastes,' was brought to a completion, and there is an Order in Council that no custom duty should be charged upon its export. Then we have Durie's petition for his fee for the translation, and then he goes off to Sweden with Whitelocke, his rooms at St. James's are assigned to another, and our interest in him sensibly wanes.
The title-page of Durie's tiny pamphlet runs as follows:--'The | Reformed | Librarie-Keeper | with a supplement to the | Reformed School, | as subordinate to Colleges in | Universities. | By | John Durie | whereunto is added | I. An idea of Mathematicks. II. The description of one of the chiefest | Libraries which is in Germanie, erected | and ordered by one of the most Learned | Princes in Europe. | London | Printed by William Du-Gard, and are | to bee sold by Robert Littleberrie at the | sign of the Unicorn in Little | Britain. 1650.'
The supplement to the Reformed School comes first, and our tract is preceded by a false title of its own:--'The | Reformed | Librarie-Keeper. | By | John Durie | [Device of Fleur-de-Lys.] London | Printed by William Du-Gard, | Anno Dom. 1650.' The two letters are preceded by Hartlib's preface, and followed by the two appendices mentioned on the title-page, neither of which, in all likelihood, is by Durie himself. Of the two letters only the first is here reprinted, the second being a mere feeble repetition of it clothed in religious phraseology. The one here given is to some extent marred by Durie's riding to death of the metaphor of 'trading' for exchange of information. Despite this fault, it is full of excellent sense, and shows throughout a lofty sense of the functions of a librarian. I reprint it here as it stands, with a careful retention of the original spelling and punctuation:--