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cent collection of topics and manuscripts was arranged on open shelves. Dining at
the Selden End was reserved for the most august visitors to the university: James's
brother Charles II had been given the same treatment when he visited Oxford in
1663, again after touching for the King's Evil (Fig. 8).
Jamesenteredthelibraryfromtheeastsideandpausedbetweenthepairofgreat
globes, one terrestrial and the other celestial, commanding that end of the library
to receive a Latin oration of welcome and to allow his hand to be kissed - the king
touched rather than touching. He then turned to the terrestrial globe and pointed
out to one of his courtiers 'the passage between America and the back of China,
by which certaine ships had passage'. This report comes from Anthony Wood, the
bookish young man who found Selden's spectacles in his topics. Three decades
later he was still haunting the Bodleian Library. The passage the king pointed out
wasthefamousroutethatSpanishgalleonstooktocarrysilverfromAcapulcowest
across the Pacific to the San Bernardino Strait in the Philippine Islands, through
which they passed to reach the Spanish base at Manila. The return route along a
more northerly latitude was used to transport coveted Chinese manufactures east-
wards back to New Spain, completing the circuit that was arguably the driveshaft
for the world economy of the seventeenth century. Did James draw attention to the
Chinatradetodisplayhisknowledgeoftheworldingeneral,orwasittomakeref-
erence to something more particular? He did not elaborate, but simply proceeded
to the Selden End and took his seat in the chair of state.
Alargetableladenwithdelicacieslaybeforehim.Hesatdownandsampledthe
feast while a 'rabble' - this being Wood's contemptuous term for the crowd hover-
ingaroundhim-lookedonwithenvy.Afterthree-quartersofanhourofeatingand
drinking-heparticularly commended thewine-thekinggotupandleftthetable.
Immediately those in attendance launched themselves at the banquet table to grab
what they could. The scholars were quicker than the courtiers. The fastest grabber
was a physician from Magdalen College. 'Noted here for a scrambler', he was 'so
notorious', Wood wrote in his diary, that the other scholars who wanted a share of
the food 'flung things in his face'. There followed what can only be described as a
foodfight,theeffectsofwhichleftmanyawoman'sdresscoveredindessertstains.
Unable to make his way through the throng, James paused to watch the mêlée
for a few minutes. Only then did the crowd step back to open a path for him to-
wards the exit. As he was about to leave the library, he noticed the chaplain who
had preached at Christ Church the day before and praised him to the vice-chancel-
lor and the senior academics. The theme of his sermon, the king recalled, was the
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