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 men of his day the vice of hard drinking, he had the greatest aversion to gambling, and indeed in most respects his private life was singularly free from reproach. Nor to his credit should it be forgotten, that, though constantly scheming for the aggrandisement of himself and his family, he was not to be corrupted by money. He was the first minister who employed the press as a political engine. He was a lover of literature, and he liberally encouraged men of letters, though his favours to Defoe and others were certainly not honourable to their recipients. Harley made the first considerable purchase of books, which were to form the nucleus of the great library with which his name is imperishably connected, in August 1705. Within ten years from that date he had become the owner of some 2,500 manuscripts, including the collections of Foxe the martyrologist, Stow the author of the 'Survey,' Sir Simonds D'Ewes the famous antiquary, and of Charles, Lancaster herald. In 1721 the manuscript portion of his library consisted of six thousand volumes, besides fourteen thousand charters and five hundred rolls. In 1708 Humphrey Wanley commenced the compilation of the 'Catalogue,' and in his 'Diary' (Lansdowne MSS. 771, 772) will be found many interesting details as to the growth of the library while under his charge. Very large sums were spent by Harley in the bindings of his books. The chief binders whom he employed were Christopher Chapman of Duck Lane and Thomas Elliott, and the materials used included Morocco, Turkey, and Russia leather, doeskin, and velvet (cf. Notes and Queries, 1st ser. viii. 335;, Bibliographical Decameron, ii. 504). The library was further increased by Harley's son. [For the later history of the library see under, second .]

Harley wrote some very indifferent verses, which Macaulay describes as being 'more execrable than the bellman's;' three of these compositions are printed in Swift's 'Works' (xvi, 128-31, 191). The authorship of several pamphlets, including Defoe's 'Essay on Public Credit,' the same writer's 'Essay upon Loans,' and Sir Humphrey Mackworth's ' Vindication of the Rights of the Commons of England,' have been erroneously attributed to Harley. 'The Secret History of Arlus and Odulphus, Ministers of State to the Empress of Grandinsula, in which are discover'd the labour'd artifices formerly us'd for the removal of Arlus,' &c. [London], 1710, 8vo, has also been ascribed to Harley, but was most probably written by some one at his instigation. Some little correspondence between Harley and Pope will be found in Elwin and Courthope's 'Works of Alexander Pope,' 1872, viii. 180 et seq. The earliest letter, dated 21 Oct. 1721, is from Pope, announcing in fulsome terms that he has dedicated to Harley an edition of Parnell's poems.

Harley married twice, his first wife being Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Foley of Whitley Court, Worcestershire, by whom he had three children, viz. Edward, who succeeded him as the second earl and is separately noticed; Elizabeth, who married Peregrine Hyde Osborne, third duke of Leeds, in December 1712, and died in November 1713; and Abigail, who married George Henry Hay, seventh earl of Kinnoull, and died on 15 July 1750. Harley's second wife was Sarah, daughter of Simon Middleton of Hurst Hill, Edmonton, by whom he had no issue. His second wife survived him some years, and died on 17 June 1737 (Gent. Mag. vii. 371). Upon the death of Alfred, sixth earl of Oxford, on 19 Jan. 1853, the titles became extinct, and the family estates devolved on his sister, Lady Langdale, the widow of the master of the rolls [see ]. She resumed her maiden name of Harley, and dying on 1 Sept. 1872 devised the Oxford property, including the manors of Wigmore andBrampton Bryan, to Robert William Baker Harley, the present owner.

The portraits of Harley, the first earl, are numerous. There is one 'after Kneller' in the National Portrait Gallery, and another after the same master, taken when Harley was speaker, in the possession of Colonel Edward William Harcourt at Nuneham Park. Two portraits of Harley were exhibited at the Loan Collection of National Portraits in 1867, by the British Museum and the late Lady Langdale respectively (Catalogue, Nos. 98, 105). An engraving by Brown after the portrait of Harley by Kneller, then in the possession of the Hon. Thomas Harley Rodney, and now at Barrington Hall in the possession of Lord Rodney, appears in Drummond's 'Histories of Noble British Families '.(1842). An engraving by Vertue after Kneller is contained in Collins's 'Historical Collections' (1752), and other engravings will be found in Lodge's 'Portraits' and Park's edition of Walpole's 'Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors.' [The following authorities among others have been consulted: Swift's Works, 1814; Burnet's History of his own Time, 1833; Luttrell's Brief Relation of State Affairs, 1857; Bolingbroke's Works, 1754, and Correspondence, 1798; Macaulay's History of England, 1855, iv. 463–465, 467, 481–3, 691–3, 699–701, 746, v. 18, 150–1, 169; Wyon's Reign of Queen Anne, 1876; Earl Stanhope's Reign of Queen Anne, 1870; Lord Mahon's History of England, 1839, vols.