Francis Douce (1757-1834), antiquary and collector, was the youngest son of Francis and Ellen Douce and grandson of Thomas and Elizabeth Douce. He was educated for mercantile pursuits and subsequently for the Bar, but his tastes were from the first literary and antiquarian. He married in 1799, and was for a short time (about 1807-1811) Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum, where he took part in the preparation of the Lansdowne and Harleian Catalogues. In 1823 he came into a considerable property as residuary legatee of Nollekens the sculptor, and thenceforward freely indulged his propensity for collecting manuscripts, books connected with English literature, especially Shakespeare, and curiosities of every description. He formed a very large library, of which illuminated books of Hours, French romances, and early English literature, were especial features of the manuscript part. His chief published works were the Illustrations of Shakespeare (1807) and the Dance of Death (1833). Further details are given in the Dictionary of National Biography. Douce and his collections are discussed in Bodleian Quarterly Record, 7 (1932-1934), 359-382, in A. N. L. Munby, Connoisseurs and medieval miniatures 1750-1850 (Oxford, 1972), 35-56, and in The Douce legacy [exhibition catalogue] (Bodleian Library, Oxford, 1984).