22605	----	booksmiths at http://www.eBookForge.net BOOKLOVERS, BIBLIOMANIACS AND BOOK CLUBS [Illustration] Book-Lovers Bibliomaniacs and Book Clubs By HENRY·H·HARPER Privately Printed At The Riverside Press Cambridge BOSTON MDCDIV COPYRIGHT 1904 BY H. H. HARPER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PREFATORY HAVING been asked to make a few remarks upon Book-loving, Book-buying, and Book Clubs,--not for publication before the great audience of readers, but for the exclusive use of the members of a private Book Club,--I venture thus to offer my views, hoping that in the light of my own personal experience I may be able to give a few useful hints and suggestions to those who may peruse the pages which follow. If this little tome, in which are recorded the reflections of one who for many years has mingled with publishers, booksellers, bibliophiles, collectors, and bibliomaniacs, should prove to be of any interest or service, and is found worthy of a small space in some sequestered nook in the library, where it may in silent repose behold its more worthy and resplendent companions, the fondest ambition of the author will be gratified beyond peradventure. THE AUTHOR. BOOKLOVERS, BIBLIOMANIACS AND BOOK CLUBS BOOK-collecting is undeniably one of the most engaging pursuits in which a refined and artistic taste may be indulged. From the earliest times, and even before the days of printing, this pleasant diversion has been pursued by persons of moderate means as well as by those of wealth and distinction, and every succeeding generation of book-collectors has exceeded its predecessors in numbers and in enthusiasm. The alluring influences of bibliophilism, or book-loving, have silently crept into thousands of homes, whether beautiful or humble; for the library is properly regarded as one of the most important features of home as well as mental equipment. In _The House Beautiful_ William C. Gannett emphasizes the importance of considering the library as foremost in furnishing a home. He says: "It means admission to the new marvels of science, if one chooses admission. It means an introduction to the noblest company that all the generations have produced, if we claim the introduction. Remembering this, how can one help wishing to furnish his house with some such furniture? A poet for a table piece! A philosopher upon the shelf! Browning or Emerson for a fireside friend! "A family's rank in thought and taste can well be gauged by the books and papers that lie upon the shelf or table of the library." Not many years ago, Mr. Howard Pyle said: "I sometimes think that we are upon the edge of some new era in which the art of beautifying books with pictures shall suddenly be uplifted into a higher and a different plane of excellence; when ornate printed colour and perfect reproduction shall truly depict the labour of the patient draughtsman who strives so earnestly to beautify the world in which he lives, and to lend a grace to the living therein." The prophecy is already fulfilled, and a modern book, in order to win favor among present-day bibliophiles, must embody an harmonious assimilation of many arts. The ardor of possessing books, commonly called bibliomania, also styled bibliophilism and "biblio"--whatever else that has suggested itself to the fruitful imaginations of dozens of felicitous writers upon the subject,--is described by Dibdin as a "disease which grows with our growth, and strengthens with our strength." Kings and queens have not been immune from this prevalent though harmless malady. The vast resources of Henry VII were employed in collecting a library of which a modern millionaire collector might be justly proud. Many specimens of his magnificent collection, bearing the royal stamp, are now to be found in the British Museum. Queen Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey were submissive victims of the bibliomania. It is worthy of note that while there were but few women book-collectors in the Elizabethan period, there are at the present time in our own country almost as many women as there are men engaged in this fascinating pursuit. As late as 1843, Dibdin remarks that "it is a remarkable circumstance, that the bibliomania has almost uniformly confined its attacks to the _male_ sex, and among people in the higher and middling classes of society. It has raged chiefly in palaces, castles, halls, and gay mansions, and those things which in general are supposed not to be inimical to health,--such as cleanliness, spaciousness, and splendour, are only so many inducements to the introduction and propagation of the bibliomania!" It should be remembered, however, that one possessing a fondness for books is not necessarily a bibliomaniac. There is as much difference between the inclinations and taste of a bibliophile and a bibliomaniac as between a slight cold and the advanced stages of consumption. Some one has said that "to call a bibliophile a bibliomaniac is to conduct a lover, languishing for his maiden's smile, to an asylum for the demented, and to shut him up in the ward for the incurables." _Biblio_ relates to books, and _mania_ is synonymous with madness, insanity, violent derangement, mental aberration, etc. A bibliomaniac, therefore, might properly be called an insane or crazy bibliophile. It is, however, a harmless insanity, and even in its worst stages it injures no one. Rational treatment may cure a bibliomaniac and bring him (or her) back into the congenial folds of bibliophilism, unless, perchance, the victim has passed beyond the curative stages into the vast and dreamy realms of extra-illustrating, or "grangerizing." People usually have a horror of insane persons, and one might well beware of indulging a taste for books, if there were any reasonable probability that this would lead to mental derangement. There could be furniture-maniacs, rug-maniacs, and china-maniacs just as well as book-maniacs, but people do not generally hesitate to purchase furniture, rugs, and china for fear of going crazy on the subject, and no more reason is there why rational persons should hesitate to make a collection of good books for a library, for fear of being called bibliomaniacs. In _Sesame and Lilies_ Ruskin says: "If a man spends lavishly on his library, you call him mad--a bibliomaniac. But you never call one a horse-maniac, though men ruin themselves every day by their horses, and you do not hear of people ruining themselves by their books." This is preëminently the age of collectors, and scarcely a week passes without the discovery of some new dementia in this direction. Only a few days ago I read of a new delirium which threatens disaster to the feline progeny; it may be called the _cat-tail mania_, seeing that its victims possess an insatiable desire for amputating and preserving the caudal appendages of all the neighborhood cats. A self-confessed member of this cult was recently arrested in one of the eastern States. There are several species of bibliophiles; there are _many_ species of bibliomaniacs. Some admire books for what they contain; others for their beautiful type, hand-made paper, artistic illustrations, ample margins, untrimmed edges, etc.; and there are others who attach more importance to the limited number of copies issued than to either the contents or workmanship. If a book is to attain any considerable commercial value and increase in worth year after year, it is of first importance that the number of copies issued be actually limited; and the greater the restriction the more likelihood that the monetary value will be steadily enhanced. But it must not be forgotten that the mere "limitation" will not of itself create a furore among judicious book-buyers; the book, or set of books, should rest upon some more secure basis of valuation than that of scarcity. Dibdin says in his _Bibliomania_, issued in 1811: "About twelve years ago I was rash enough to publish a small volume of poems, with my name affixed. They were the productions of my juvenile years; and I need hardly say at this period how ashamed I am of their authorship. The monthly and analytical reviews did me the kindness of just tolerating them, and of warning me not to commit any future trespass upon the premises of Parnassus. I struck off five hundred copies, and was glad to get rid of half of them as wastepaper; the remaining half has been partly destroyed by my own hands, and has partly mouldered away in oblivion amidst the dust of booksellers' shelves. My only consolation is that the volume is _exceedingly rare_!" The contents, first to be considered, should be worthy of preservation; next in importance is the selection of appropriate type, and the size and style of page, which should be determined by the nature of the work and the period in which it was written. The size of the book and the margins of the page must be carefully considered in order to harmonize with the text-page. In choosing illustrations it is important to determine whether they should be ornate and illustrative, or classic and emblematical in design. The paper should be handmade, to order, and of such correct size as not to lose the deckle edges in cutting; and the printing should be done in "forms" of not more than eight. The paper should be scientifically moistened before printing, and the ink allowed several weeks in which to dry before handling the printed sheets. The bindings should harmonize with interiors, and due care taken against over-decoration of the covers. These few technical hints will serve to acquaint the book-lover with some at least of the many important features which must be regarded in the preparation of a fine book,--a book fitted to demand and merit a place upon the library shelves of discriminating bibliophiles, and as well increase in demand and price whenever thereafter its copies may "turn up" for sale. Next in importance, after considering literary and mechanical fitness, and the limitation of the work, is the question of distribution; its scope, and the class of subscribers. The stock of a corporation, if limited to a reasonable number of shares and issued only to a few expert investors of high standing, and for tangible considerations, will obviously be considered a safer and more attractive investment than if it be scattered indiscriminately among a class of professional manipulators for stock-jobbing purposes. With such a stock where thus closely held for investment purposes, an order for a few shares may largely elevate its market value. But if the stock were issued in unlimited quantities, the monetary value would be entirely lost. Again, if the stock had no corporeal assets as a basis for its issue, the "limited and registered" clause could not sustain it in the market. So it is with books: if the number of copies issued be held within a reasonable constraint, consistent with the price charged per copy, and if they are subscribed for by book-lovers who prize them for their literary or historic value and luxurious appearance no less than for pecuniary values, they are not likely to find their way into the bookstalls, or to be "picked up" in auction rooms at less than their original price. This condition applies particularly to legitimate club editions and privately printed editions. If an edition of five hundred copies is widely distributed throughout the country, it is reasonable to assume that the speculative market therefor would be less apt to suffer from congestion than if the sale of the whole number of sets were confined to one locality. [Illustration] Passing now to those who, in one way or another, are to meet with and handle the completed book, we may begin with a class of _literary barnacles_ who stick about the libraries of their friends and of the public institutions, and feed their bibliophilistic appetites on what others have spent much time and money in collecting. These may perhaps more appropriately be called biblio-spongers, and are of all ranks in the community, many even owning beautiful homes, and having ample resources at command; but while enjoying the congenial atmosphere of a well-furnished library, and the delights of caressing the precious and wisely selected tomes of others, they are still of such temperaments that they would no more think of _buying_ books than would another of buying an opera-house in order to satisfy theatre-going propensities. These people should be taught that fine books, like friends, are not loanable or exchangeable chattels. They will argue that there is no use spending money for books, because they reside within easy reach of a public library where such books as they desire are readily obtainable, or perhaps suggest that "I have free access to my friend Smith's library; he scarcely ever uses it;" without reflecting that Smith would probably use it more, if his friends used it less. And yet such folk will still incur the needless expense of providing their own homes with chairs, unless, haply, such homes may chance to be within convenient reach of some park or public institution where _free_ seats are provided. Most of us are disposed to idealize a besotted bibliomaniac as a harmless being whose companionship and favor are neither to be courted nor particularly avoided,--a sort of shellfish basking on the bank of life's flow in whatever sunshine it may absorb, and paying little heed to the thoughts or actions of others. The following curious inscription which is found on an old copperplate print of the famous bibliomaniac, John Murray, will illustrate one of the varieties:-- Hoh Maister John Murray of Sacomb, The Works of old Time to collect was his pride, Till Oblivion dreaded his Care: Regardless of Friends, intestate he dy'd, So the Rooks and the Crows were his Heir. Mr. Nathan Haskell Dole, President of The Bibliophile Society, aptly describes a miserly bibliomaniac as a Victim of a frenzied passion, He is lean and lank and crusty; Naught he cares for dress or fashion And his rusty coat smells musty; while in characterizing the natural impulses of true bibliophilism, he says that Bibliophiles take pride in showing All the gems of their collections; They are generous in bestowing, They have genuine affections. Peignot says a bibliomaniac is one who has "a passion for possessing books; not so much to be instructed by them as to gratify the eye by looking on them." This presumption is about as reasonable as it would be to say that a man is a monomaniac because he gets married when he is in no special need of a house-servant, or body-guard. In his _Bibliomania_ Dibdin enumerates eight symptoms of this "darling passion or insanity," in the following order: "A passion for large-paper copies, uncut copies, extra-illustrated copies, unique copies, copies printed on vellum, first editions, true editions, and black-letter copies." The first of these should be omitted from the symptomatic category: it would be fallacy to assume that one is a maniac because one admires the ample margins and paramount qualities of these large-paper copies, which Dibdin himself says are "printed upon paper of a larger dimension and superior quality than the ordinary copies. The presswork and ink are always proportionately better in these copies, and the price of them is enhanced according to their beauty and rarity. . . . That a volume so published has a more pleasing aspect cannot be denied." He adds that "this symptom of the bibliomania is at the present day both general and violent." No wonder! And yet the charming Dr. Ferriar dips his pen in gall and writes the following satirical lines upon this highly commendable "weakness:"-- But devious oft, from every classic Muse, The keen collector, meaner paths will choose. And first the margin's breadth his soul employs, Pure, snowy, broad, the type of nobler joys. In vain might Homer roll the tide of song, Or Horace smile, or Tully charm the throng, If, crost by Pallas' ire, the trenchant blade Or too oblique or near the edge invade, The Bibliomane exclaims with haggard eye, "No margin!"--turns in haste, and scorns to buy. Dibdin ventures to further assert that "the day is not far distant when _females_ will begin to have as high a relish for large-paper copies of every work as their male rivals." If he could return to this sphere and behold the enormously increased number of women bibliophiles in our country at the present time, the subject would doubtless furnish him with a congenial theme for another of his rambling discourses, this time perhaps under the caption of _Bibliowomania_. He was far in advance of the age in which he lived; for although he had very little upon which to base the prediction, he yet prophesied that not many years would lapse before women would invade the fields of book-collecting and prove themselves valiant competitors in the market. This, in fact, is now common enough, and I myself have known of many instances in auction-rooms where a small army of rampant bibliomaniacs have been obliged to retreat and to abandon their pursuit of some coveted treasure, on finding it boldly covered by a _carte-blanche_ order from a feminine competitor. Women rarely appear in the book auction-room, but leave their orders to be executed through a trusted broker, and many a collector has found himself suddenly obliged to soar aloft to dizzy heights in quest of some prize, on being thus lifted and pursued by one of the representatives of an unseen and unknown member of the gentler sex. Many people suppose the term "uncut," characteristic of Dibdin's second "symptom," to signify that the leaves of such volume as may be concerned have never been severed, whether for convenience of reading or otherwise. "Uncut," however, in its technical sense does not imply that the sheets are folded and bound just as they came from the press. The leaves may all be cut, and the tops trimmed, and even gilded, without striking terror to the heart of the bibliomaniac. Dibdin, indeed, treats this last mentioned symptom in merely a superficial way and dismisses it with a few cursory remarks, viz: "It may be defined a passion to possess books of which the edges have never been sheared by the binder's tools." This definition is vague and unsatisfactory. Mr. Adrian H. Joline (_Diversions of a Booklover_, Harper & Bros., New York, 1903,--a charming book that should be read by every book-fancier) discourses upon the subject more intelligently; he observes that the word _uncut_ appears to be a stumbling-block to the unwary, and says: "The casual purchaser is sometimes deceived by it, for he thinks that it means that the leaves have not been severed by the paper-knife. I have read with much glee divers indignant letters in the very interesting 'Saturday Review' of one of our best New York journals, in which the barbarian writers have denounced the _uncut_, and have assailed in vigorous but misguided phrases those who prefer to have their books in that condition. Henry Stevens tells us that even such a famous collector as James Lenox, founder of the splendid library into whose magnificent mysteries so few of us dare to penetrate, was misled by the word _uncut_, and chided Stevens for buying an _uncut_ book whose pages were all open. He says: 'Again when his tastes had grown into the mysteries of _uncut_ leaves, he returned a very rare, early New England tract, expensively bound, because it did not answer the description of _uncut_ in the invoice, for the leaves had manifestly been cut open and read.' When it was explained to him that in England the term _uncut_ signified only that the edges were not _trimmed_, he shelved the rarity with the remark that he 'learned something every day.' . . . Perhaps the Caxton Club of Chicago is wise in describing its productions as 'with edges untrimmed.' Even a Philistine ought to be able to comprehend that description, although I once knew a man who supposed that a book 'bound in boards' had sides composed of planking." Dr. Ferriar's satirical lines in his _Second Maxim_ will find sympathizers among admirers of uncuts:-- Who, with fantastic pruning-hook, Dresses the borders of his book, Merely to ornament its look-- Amongst philosophers a fop is: What if, perchance, he thence discover Facilities in turning over, The virtuoso is a lover Of coyer charms in "uncut copies." I have been requested to "explain the reason, if there be any, for leaving leaf-edges fastened [unopened]--even in evanescent magazines--and why people keep books in this condition, without looking at the contents." The reason why the binder does not open all the leaves is that it involves additional labor and expense which the publisher usually does not care to incur, as it does not essentially add to the selling value. Indeed, some collectors hesitate to open the leaves of their books with the paper-knife, for fear that the selling price would be thereby depreciated. This is an entirely mistaken idea, though it prevails very generally among those who do not understand the real meaning of the term "uncut." Most booksellers prefer having the leaves of the volumes all opened, as many buyers and readers object to the nuisance of cutting them open. Some of the magazine publishers have modern folding machines equipped with blades for severing all the leaves. In fine book-making, however, most of the folding and cutting is done by hand. The third "symptom" defined by Dibdin, viz: "extra-illustrating," commonly called _grangerizing_, is really so far removed from the indicative stages of bibliomania as to render it entirely inappropriate as a proper single characteristic; it is the whole disease in its worst form. Fortunately, it is not a frequent infirmity among our present day bibliomaniacs. I cannot refrain from quoting Mr. William P. Cutter's vehement denunciation of the class of literary foragers who are thus affected. He observes that "this craze for 'extra-illustrating' seizes remorselessly the previously harmless bibliophile, and leads him to become a wicked despoiler and mutilator of books. The extra-illustrator is nearly always the person responsible for the decrepit condition of many of the books which 'unfortunately lack the rare portrait,' or have, 'as usual,' some valuable plate or map lacking. Were this professional despoiler, or his minions, the ruthless booksellers, to destroy the sad wrecks which result from their piratical depredations, all would be well. But they set these poor maimed hulks adrift again, to seek salvage from some deluded collector, or some impoverished or ignorant librarian. "It is curious that the very volume in which our reverend friend Dibdin so heartily condemns these inexcusable bandits, should be seized on as a receptacle for their ill-gotten prizes. May the spectre of Thomas Frognall Dibdin haunt the souls of these impious rascals, and torture them with never-ceasing visions of unobtainable and rare portraits, non-existent autographs, and elusive engravings in general! They even dare to profane your sacred work, the _Biblia_ of book-lovers, by the 'insertion' of crudities invented by their fiendish imagination. They have committed the 'unpardonable sin' of bibliophilism. Not only do they carry on this wicked work, but actually flaunt their base crimes in the face of their innocent brethren. Hearken to this:-- "DIBDIN, T.F. _Bibliomania._ London, 1811. Extended to five volumes, with extra printed titles, and having eight hundred engravings inserted, comprising views, old titles(!), vignettes, and six hundred and seventy-five portraits of authors, actors, poets, sovereigns, artists, prelates, &c., &c., 250 guineas." Limited space prevents me from making any remarks upon the other five "symptoms," none of which are of any special interest, except to collectors to whose eccentricities they particularly relate. As to "Autograph Editions," the craze for these continues without abatement. To me, this has always been one of the unsolved mysteries of the book-mania. I can readily appreciate how a collector would prize an author's inscribed copy of some choice edition, but why intelligent people should be allured into the belief that an author's stereotyped autograph displayed upon a front page gives any added value to a set of subscription books, will to me, I fear, forever remain a disentangled enigma. I was once applied to by an agent representing a $6000 "Autograph Edition" of Jean Jacques Rousseau. Having never seen Rousseau's autograph, I asked that it be shown me. "Oh," said the agent, "Rousseau himself don't sign the copies, but the set will be signed by the publishers." Would not a much less expensive and more expeditious way of obtaining publishers' autographs be found in writing a postal card of inquiry for the "prices and terms" on their publications? Gilpin has left the following quaint account of the eccentric old bibliomaniac, Henry Hastings, the uncompanionable neighbor of Anthony Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury. The accompanying pen-and-ink sketch represents Louis Maynelle's idealization of this interesting character; it was made especially for this volume:-- "Mr. Hastings was low of stature, but strong and active, of a ruddy complexion, with flaxen hair. His clothes were always of green cloth. His house was of the old fashion; in the midst of a large park, well stocked with deer, rabbits, and fish-ponds. He had a long narrow bowling green in it, and used to play with round sand bowls. Here too he had a banqueting room built, like a stand in a large tree. [Illustration] "He kept all sorts of hounds that ran buck, fox, hare, otter, and badger; and had hawks of all kinds, both long and short winged. His great hall was commonly strewed with marrow-bones, and full of hawk-perches, hounds, spaniels, and terriers. The upper end of it was hung with fox-skins of this and the last year's killing. Here and there a polecat was intermixed and hunter's poles in great abundance. The parlour was a large room, completely furnished in the same style. On a broad hearth, paved with brick, lay some of the choicest terriers, hounds and spaniels. One or two of the great chairs had litters of cats in them, which were not to be disturbed. Of these, three or four always attended him at dinner, and a little white wand lay by his trencher, to defend it if they were too troublesome. In the windows, which were very large, lay his arrows, cross-bows, and other accoutrements. The corners of the room were filled with his best hunting and hawking poles. His oyster table stood at the lower end of the room, which was in constant use twice a day, all the year round; for he never failed to eat oysters both at dinner and supper, with which the neighbouring town of Pool supplied him. "At the upper end of the room stood a small table with a double desk, one side of which held a church Bible; the other the _Book of Martyrs_. On different tables in the room lay hawks' hoods, bells, old hats with their crowns thrust in, full of pheasant eggs, tables, dice, cards, and store of tobacco pipes. At one end of this room was a door, which opened into a closet, where stood bottles of strong beer and wine, which never came out but in single glasses, which was the rule of the house, for he never exceeded himself nor permitted others to exceed. "Answering to this closet was a door into an old chapel, which had been long disused for devotion; but in the pulpit, as the safest place, was always to be found a cold chine of beef, a venison pasty, a gammon of bacon, or a great apple-pye, with thick crust, well baked. His table cost him not much, though it was good to eat at. His sports supplied all but beef and mutton, except on Fridays, when he had the best of fish. He never wanted a London pudding, and he always sang it in with 'My part lies therein-a.' He drank a glass or two of wine at meals; put syrup of gilly-flowers into his sack, and had always a tun glass of small beer standing by him, which he often stirred about with rosemary. He lived to be an hundred, and never lost his eyesight, nor used spectacles. He got on horseback without help, and rode to the death of the stag till he was past four-score." It is said of George Steevens, the famous Shakespearian collector, that he "lived in a retired and eligibly situated house, just on the rise of Hampstead Heath. It was paled in, and had immediately before it a verdant lawn skirted with a variety of picturesque trees. Here Steevens lived, embosomed in books, shrubs and trees, being either too coy or too unsociable to mingle with his neighbours. His habits were indeed peculiar: not much to be envied or imitated, as they sometimes betrayed the flights of a madman and sometimes the asperities of a cynic. His attachments were warm but fickle both in choice and duration. He would frequently part from one with whom he had lived on terms of close intimacy, without any assignable cause, and his enmities once fixed were immovable. There was indeed a kind of venom in his antipathies, nor would he suffer his ears to be assailed or his heart to relent in favour of those against whom he entertained animosities, however capricious and unfounded. In one pursuit only was he consistent: one object only did he woo with an inflexible attachment; and that object was Dame Drama." In Dibdin's Bibliomaniacal romance, "Philemon" is credited with the following narrative concerning one who was probably a bibliomaniac in all that the compound sense of the term implies:-- "You all know my worthy friend Ferdinand, a very _helluo librorum_. It was on a warm evening in summer, about an hour after sunset, that Ferdinand made his way towards a small inn or rather village alehouse that stood on a gentle eminence skirted by a luxuriant wood. He entered, oppressed with heat and fatigued, but observed, on walking up to the porch 'smothered with honeysuckles,' as I think Cowper expresses it, that everything around bore the character of neatness and simplicity. The hollyhocks were tall and finely variegated in blossom, the pinks were carefully tied up, and roses of all colours and fragrance stood around in a compacted form like a body-guard forbidding the rude foot of trespasser to intrude. Within, Ferdinand found corresponding simplicity and comfort. "The 'gude man' of the house was spending the evening with a neighbour, but poached eggs and a rasher of bacon, accompanied with a flagon of sparkling ale, gave our guest no occasion to doubt the hospitality of the house on account of the absence of its master. A little past ten, after reading some dozen pages in a volume of Sir Edgerton Brydges's _Censura Literaria_, which he happened to carry about him, and partaking pretty largely of the aforesaid eggs and ale, Ferdinand called for his candle and retired to repose. His bedroom was small but neat and airy; at one end and almost facing the window there was a pretty large closet with the door open; but Ferdinand was too fatigued to indulge any curiosity about what it might contain. "He extinguished his candle and sank upon his bed to rest. The heat of the evening seemed to increase. He became restless, and throwing off his quilt and drawing his curtain aside, turned towards the window to inhale the last breeze which yet might be wafted from the neighbouring heath. But no zephyr was stirring. On a sudden a broad white flash of lightning--nothing more than summer heat--made our bibliomaniac lay his head upon his pillow and turn his eyes in an opposite direction. The lightning increased; and one flash more vivid than the rest illuminated the interior of the closet and made manifest an old mahogany book-case stored with books. Up started Ferdinand and put his phosphoric treasures into action. He lit his match and trimmed his candle and rushed into the closet, no longer mindful of the heavens, which now were in a blaze with the summer heat. "The book-case was guarded both with glass and brass wires; and the key--nowhere to be found! Hapless man! for to his astonishment he saw _Morte d'Arthur_, printed by Caxton--_Richard Coeur de Lion_, by W. de Worde--_The Widow Edyth_, by Pynson--and, towering above the rest, a large-paper copy of the original edition of _Prince's Worthies of Devon_, while lying transversely at the top reposed John Weever's _Epigrams_! "'The spirit of Captain Cox is here revived,' exclaimed Ferdinand; while on looking above he saw a curious set of old plays with _Dido, Queen of Carthage_, at the head of them! What should he do? No key! No chance of handling such precious tomes till the morning light with the landlord returned! "He moved backwards and forwards with a hurried step, prepared his pocketknife to cut out the panes of glass and untwist the brazen wires; but a 'prick of conscience' made him desist from carrying his wicked design into execution. Ferdinand then advanced towards the window, and, throwing it open and listening to the rich notes of a concert of nightingales, forgot the cause of his torments--his situation reminded him of _The Churl and the Bird_--he rushed with renewed madness into the cupboard, then searched for the bell, but finding none, he made all sorts of strange noises. The landlady rose, and, conceiving robbers to have broken into the stranger's room, came and demanded the cause of the disturbance. "'Madam,' said Ferdinand, 'is there no possibility of inspecting the books in the cupboard? Where is the key?' "'Alack, sir,' rejoined the landlady, 'what is there that thus disturbs you in the sight of those books? Let me shut the closet-door and take away the key of it, and you will then sleep in peace.' "'Sleep in peace!' resumed Ferdinand; 'Sleep in wretchedness, you mean! I can have no peace unless you indulge me with the key of the book-case. To whom do such gems belong?' "'Sir, they are not stolen goods!' "'Madam, I ask pardon. I did not mean to question their being honest property, but'-- "'Sir, they are not mine or my husband's.' "'Who, madam, who is the lucky owner?' "'An elderly gentleman of the name of--sir, I am not at liberty to mention his name, but they belong to an elderly gentleman.' "'Will he part with them? Where does he live? Can you introduce me to him?' "The good woman soon answered all Ferdinand's rapid queries, but the result was by no means satisfactory to him. "He learnt that these uncommonly scarce and precious volumes belonged to an ancient gentleman whose name was studiously concealed, but who was in the habit of coming once or twice a week, during the autumn, to smoke his pipe and lounge over his books, sometimes making extracts from them and sometimes making observations in the margin with a pencil. Whenever a very curious passage occurred, he would take out a small memorandum book and put on a pair of large tortoise-shell spectacles with powerful magnifying glasses in order to insert this passage with particular care and neatness. He usually concluded his evening amusements by sleeping in the very bed in which Ferdinand had been lying. "Such intelligence only sharpened the curiosity and increased the restlessness of poor Ferdinand. He retired to his bibliomaniacal bed, but not to repose. The morning sunbeams, which irradiated the bookcase with complete effect, shone upon his pallid countenance and thoughtful brow. He rose at five, walked in the meadows till seven, returned and breakfasted, stole upstairs to take a farewell peep at his beloved _Morte d'Arthur_, sighed 'three times and more,' paid his reckoning, apologized for the night's adventure, told the landlady he would shortly come and visit her again and try to pay his respects to the anonymous old gentleman. "'Meanwhile,' said he, 'I will leave no bookseller's shop in the neighbourhood unvisited till I gain intelligence of his name and character.' "The landlady eyed him steadily, took a pinch of snuff with a significant air, and returning with a smile of triumph to her kitchen, thanked her stars that she had got rid of such a madman!" To return, however, to the subject more immediately in hand, it will be observed that the present age is more prolific of bibliophiles than any preceding one, and that the growing interest in collecting fine books is attended by a relatively increasing demand for a higher standard of excellency of manufacture. A few years ago, there were only two or three publishers in this country who "specialized" in fine editions, while at present there are no less than thirty publishing houses, large and small, and as many more "private presses" engaged in the production of beautiful books to appease the demands of book-buyers. Many of these are well established and conducted upon thoroughly honest business principles; some, unfortunately, are not. The publication and sale of books--especially the so-called "de luxe" editions--is, like some other branches of industry, beset with numerous evils; so many sharp practices, indeed, having been resorted to by a few conscienceless publishers, and by a certain class of unscrupulous agents, that buyers have become wary, not to say weary, of being made the victims of their deceptive inventions. It is indeed lamentable that a few such pestiferous schemers should thus bring a certain degree of reproach upon the entire publishing business. It is a common practice among these _soi-disant_ publishers--many of whom possess neither capital, credit, nor sense of honor--to buy some lot of etchings or old prints from a junk-shop, or second-hand dealer, at a trifling price, and thereupon work the same off on credulous admirers of rare prints for possibly a thousand times their real value. And it is a common practice for these insidious sharks further to prey upon unsuspecting book-buyers by obtaining publications of reputable houses and falsifying them by the insertion of spurious titles calculated to delude the buyer into the belief that there are "only fifty copies issued." Many of them are ostracized book-salesmen who have at some previous time enjoyed the confidence of their employers, but have been ex-communicated by all honest publishers and booksellers on account of dishonest proclivities. They are therefore set adrift to prey upon the public, and are a constant menace to both publishers and buyers. I shall pay my further respects to these counterfeiters later on when I come to the subject of Book Clubs; in the mean while, it need hardly be pointed out that reprehensible methods of this kind are uniformly condemned among all respectable publishers and book-dealers, and that buyers should cautiously discriminate against those who practice them. It is not surprising that even the honest publishers and dealers themselves are occasionally made the scapegoats of these obnoxious parasites; but the astute collector is rarely "caught" by their schemes; and after a book-buyer has passed the primary or "experience" stages of book-collecting, he (or she) is designated as a "dead one," in the common parlance of the underground trade here referred to. Fortunate, indeed, are the bibliophiles who have passed unscathed into the category of "dead ones." That my present condemnatory observations are not directed against that great majority of publishers, booksellers, and agents whose methods in business are founded upon sincerity and integrity, will, I take it, be clearly understood; and I am, indeed, forced partially to disagree with Mr. Joline in his vigorous and general proscription of "subscription book-agents," for experience shows that there are many worthy people of this class, however much they may suffer by the sins of some of their kind. An acquaintance once said to me that he would "_never buy another book_," because he had been "buncoed" by a book-agent, to whom he otherwise referred with an uncomplimentary adjective. But this did not convince me that his position was more logical than that of the man who declared he would never take another bath because a watch had been stolen from his pocket while he was in bathing at some beach resort. It is incomprehensible that any one could imagine that our paper currency system is fraudulent because there are a few "green-goods" men in the country, or because counterfeit bills appear every now and then. We read so much in the papers nowadays of the extravagant sums paid for rare books by our modern millionaire bibliomaniacs that one is apt to become somewhat panic-stricken upon experiencing the first symptoms of the bibliomania. While these more opulent victims of book-madness vie with one another in the auction-room, the rational bibliophile sits in the gallery and views with silent awe and amazement the scrimmage over some apparently trifling volume that wouldn't fetch ten cents, but for the fact that it is "unique," and that so and so paid a stupendous sum for it at some previous sale. Despair not, dear bibliophile, of never being able to join in the mad scramble for these "uniques;" nor need you feel that they are essential to the formation of a library. They possess no virtues perceptible to the ordinary bibliophile, and it requires all the eloquence of a Cicero to elucidate their charms when displaying them to friends. For after all, the chief point of interest in such books is their cost price, and this you may be obliged to refrain from mentioning for fear you will be accused of being mentally unbalanced. It is not necessary to squander a fortune in collecting a library, nor to be hasty in buying every book you come across. Better go slowly and select wisely; you will derive more enjoyment from it, and in later years have less to charge to "experience account." There are a few "busy" book-collectors who intrust the selection of their books to secretaries or librarians, and thus sacrifice the keenest enjoyment of this captivating pursuit. Of all absurdities, this seems the most insupportable. It would be far more sensible to have your secretary select your friends, because if you should happen not to like these, you could abandon them without ceremony or expense. Why not also attend the opera and your various social functions by proxy, through your secretary? If he were as good a courtier as he is "literary adviser," he might succeed in getting as much enjoyment out of the receptions and dinners as you would, if you were to attend in person. Then, think of the _time_ you would save! We frequently hear the remark: "I have no time to devote to my library. I am very fond of books, but haven't time to collect or read them." And yet seeing what may be done in this regard by care and system, and that the greatest readers have been the busiest men, it seems strange that persons of intelligence should thus express themselves; should admit such obvious fatuity of view and procedure. In referring to this class of book-buyers, Roswell Field says, "The book-lover, so-called, who lacks any of the thrills that go with the _establishment_ as well as the enjoyment of a library in all of its appointments has deprived himself of many of the most pleasurable literary and semi-literary emotions. That bibliophile never pats his horse or his dog. To him his books are merely tools of trade, accessories to knowledge, to be pawed over, thrown away and replaced by new copies when worn out. He glories in the fact that his books are his servants rather than his companions, and he affects to despise and laugh at the sentimental relation which others have established with their books. Look out for that man! He is not of us; he is not of the elect; there is as little of warmth and the genial glow of fellowship in his library as in the middle gallery of the catacombs in the Appian Way. His very books cry out against him; but he hears them not, for he is deaf as well as blind." One of the busiest men in New York City, whose name is familiar in financial circles throughout the civilized world, is one of the most voracious collectors of the age. He probably transacts more business in a day than half a dozen ordinarily busy men, and yet finds time to give his personal attention to every minute detail of his vast collections, to which are added hundreds, and probably thousands, of items every year. This is only one of many such examples among our busiest men. I have often heard persons lament in a pensive and apologetic sort of way, "Yes, I have a great weakness for fine books." The very presence of this mis-called weakness, however, is unmistakable proof of great mental strength, and those who suffer from it may find solace in the fact that the giants of commerce, leading statesmen, and great men of affairs in general are frequently thus afflicted all through the periods of their greatest activity and success. What can possibly afford a more agreeable relaxation from the toils and perplexities of the day than to recline in an easy chair before an open grate fire in the library, surrounded by the silently reposing tomes which record and preserve the noblest thoughts of past and present generations? Surely no enjoyment in the home or office can be more delectable and unfailing in assuaging the worry and solicitude of a strenuous life than the silent companionship of books. It is a noteworthy fact that a large percentage of the leading stock brokers, bankers, active statesmen, and sedulous lawyers are bibliophiles. I attribute this to the fact that all of these vocations are extremely taxing upon the nervous system, and those men who are busily engaged in them are, during the intermittent hours of rest and recreation, naturally inclined to seek the most enjoyable and refreshing diversions; for, as Horace says,-- . . . nunc veterum libris, nunc somno et inertibus horis Ducere sollicitae jocunda oblivia vitae. Along with old books, or a nap, and divine hours of leisure-- To taste thus forgetfulness--sweet, in the midst of life's troubles. In an article written for The Bibliophile Society's (1903) Year Book, Caroline Ticknor says, "The true book-lover loves his books for their helpfulness, for their companionship; but he regards them as well for their elegant settings." She also observes that "strange as the anomaly may seem, there are still many persons of ample means, and some education, who, although they would be horrified at the very thought of admitting to the home a cheap rug or vase, to destroy the harmony and bring discord and confusion into the luxuriance of the furnishings, yet will nonchalantly tolerate the incongruity of a miserable fragment of a library made up of the cheapest and meanest editions to be found in the market, such as would be scorned by those of the most limited means and plebeian tastes. These will be found inappropriately housed amid the most sumptuous surroundings. A single rug to adorn the floor, or a single vase resting on a mantle, will often be found to have cost ten times as much as the whole home library. And yet the intellects of these people have been nurtured and trained in their youth by the brilliant thoughts of ancient and modern writers! Even the favorite author, be it Shakespeare, Dickens, Longfellow, Tennyson, or some other, is frequently represented by a half dozen or so disconsolate-looking volumes, the remainder of the set either never having been bought, or else, if bought, thrown aside, or strewn around the attic, or abandoned as a child would discard a toy which afforded it no further amusement. "It is worthy of remark, however, that the enormously increased demand of late for beautiful books evinces the fact that cultured and wealthy people are growing to appreciate the importance not only of having a good library, but that its quality should embody a degree of estheticism to correspond with the surroundings." Many of the most delightful persons, well read and competent to discourse intelligently upon the merits of books and authors, have never experienced a single pulsation of true bibliophilism; they have never known the joy of possessing and admiring a beautiful book, and that the attachment one bears for such a treasure is wholly reciprocal. They have not learned that fine books, like human beings, are capable of mutual affection, and that it is not necessary to devour them in order to value their charms. "We do not gather books to read them, my Boeotian friend," says Mr. Joline; "the idea is a childish delusion. 'In early life,' says Walter Bagehot, 'there is an opinion that the obvious thing to do with a horse is to ride it; with a cake, to eat it; with a sixpence to spend it.' A few boyish persons carry this further, and think that the natural thing to do with a book is to read it. The mere reading of a rare book is a puerility, an idiosyncrasy of adolescence; it is the _ownership_ of the book which is the matter of distinction. The collector of coins does not accumulate his treasures for the purpose of ultimately spending them in the marketplace. The lover of postage-stamps, small as his horizon may be, does not hoard his colored bits of paper with the intent to employ them in the mailing of letters. When some one complained to Bedford that a book which he had bound did not shut properly, he exclaimed, 'Why, bless me, sir, you've been _reading_ it!'" Herrick says that "the truest owner of a library is he who has bought each book for the love he bears to it; who is happy and content to say, 'Here are my jewels, my choicest possessions!'" Seneca, the great Roman philologer, wrote: "If you are fond of books, you will escape the _ennui_ of life; you will neither sigh for evening, disgusted with the occupations of the day, nor will you live dissatisfied with yourself or unprofitable with others." "I am quite transported and comforted in the midst of my books," says the younger Pliny, who was an ardent book-fancier; "they give a zest to the happiest and assuage the anguish of the bitterest moments of existence. Therefore, whether distracted by the cares or losses of my family or my friends, I fly to my library as the only refuge in distress: here I learn to bear adversity with fortitude." Southey thus immortalizes his speechless, yet beloved, library companions: My never failing friends are they, With whom I converse day by day. Balfour is no less eloquent in paying worthy tribute to his library: "The world may be kind or hostile; it may seem to us to be hastening on the wings of enlightenment and progress to an imminent millennium, or it may weigh us down with the sense of insoluble difficulty and irremediable wrong; but whatever else it may be, so long as we have good health and a library, it can never be dull." "Bookes," said the immortal Milton, "demeane themselves as well as men. Books are not absolutely dead things, but doe contain a potencie of life in them to be as active as that soule was whose progeny they are: nay they do preserve as in a violl the purest efficacie and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. Unlesse warinesse be us'd, as good almost kill a Man as kill a good Book; who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's Image; but Hee who destroys a good Booke, kills reason itselfe, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye." In the garnering of book-treasures, some collectors are prompted wholly by mercenary motives--most of them, fortunately, are not. There are biblio-mercenaries of such sordid inclinations that they would readily part with almost any book in their possession,--even inscribed presentation copies!--if lightly tempted with money considerations. Verily, these parsimonious traders would barter their own souls, if they possessed any value. I am indebted to the Secretary of a well-known book club for the following facts, to confirm which I saw all the correspondence. A certain book-buyer joined the club some time ago, and subscribed for the first publication issued after he became a member. Upon receiving the work he wrote: "I consider them among the most beautiful examples of book-making that I have ever seen, and prize them above all other books in my library." Six months later he sold the copy to a book-agent for twice its original cost. He "passed" the next publication issued by the club, as it did not interest him, but appended a postscript to his letter, saying: "If any member wants an extra copy, I have no objection to one being issued upon my membership and turned over to him, provided I receive the increase in price." The following humorous incident is recorded in the (1903) Year Book of another prominent book club. It may be explained that the club issued a very elaborate and beautiful publication, printed upon deckle edge handmade paper, illustrated with remarque proof copperplate etchings on Japanese vellum, and in duplicate without remarque on Whatman paper: "One of the members upon receiving the first two volumes of the ---- publication, writes: 'The Society starts out by making the worst kind of a blunder. The man's picture in the front of the volume is put in twice and on _two kinds of paper_. I could excuse this error, but imagine my horror when upon turning to the back of the volume I found the _same mistake repeated_. This is too much.' He closed by expressing a desire to resign, saying that he did not know he 'was joining a faddists club,' and takes occasion to remark further that 'the books are cheaply finished, not even being trimmed and gilded;' also that he 'can buy better books in the stores, _with full gilt edges_, for less money.'" So much has been written about the vagaries of book-collectors and bibliomaniacs that the subject has long since become threadbare, and about the only unexplored field of labor left to the choice of him who would gain a hearing with the reader--if one can be found who is not already weary of reading what the wags think of his (or her) own peculiar whims--is to fall in with the spirit of the age and compile an "International Library of the World's Greatest Gibberish about Bibliomaniacs." We have the "World's Greatest" everything else in book-lore, and I shall not be surprised if some enterprising publisher gets out a "definitive" _de luxe_ edition of the "World's Greatest Dictionaries." Indeed, the Holy Bible itself has not escaped, for they are now making a "de luxe" edition, in fourteen volumes! to be sold by subscription. It will not be an "Autograph Edition," however. The freaks and fancies of capricious book-gatherers and bibliomaniacs have undergone so few changes in the last hundred years that modern writers on Bibliomania, after vainly searching the horizon for some new development in the way of symptoms of the disease, or characteristics of those afflicted, have wandered off into the verdure of adjacent fields to avoid repetition. Some of them, from sheer lack of anything new to say, have set upon each other in the most unflattering terms. Many of the writers on the delectable "Joys of a Book-buyer," or "Habits of a Bibliomaniac," etc., evidently appreciate the fact that these much persecuted human beings have other pastimes and habits than collecting books, and that they really inhabit the earth in all its civilized parts and partake unstintedly of its many pleasurable diversions. But again, there is another extreme, for I once read a book issued under the misleading title of "Pleasures of a Book-collector," or something of the sort, which might have been more appropriately called the "Pleasures of a Single Man," seeing that the work had more to do with the hero's hopeless love for a fair damsel, and his hours at clubs, cafés, and other places of amusement in which I had no special interest, than it did with the acquirement of literature. Thus, with the delusive idea that I was to be ushered into some of the secret enjoyments of the pleasing diversion of book-buying, I presently found myself more familiar with the habits, vices, and various unimportant matters of the author's conception--points, in short, having no bearing whatever upon the subject under consideration--than with the pleasures of a book-collector. The book was not badly written, nor wholly uninteresting; but if a man buys a ticket to the opera, he doesn't go prepared to see a cock-fight. For literary scoffers and malcontents who find fault with everything and everybody, who even scold publishers because their own books bring but meagre royalties, who fuss and fume over the harmless foibles of the very ones upon whom they depend for their audience, and like an ungrateful dog fasten their teeth in the charitable hand that offers them food, there can be but small sympathy. One is tempted to enlarge upon this familiar type, but here I am digressing from my subject, and am committing much the same offence as that of which I have elsewhere accused others. I have been asked to include within the scope of my article a few remarks about Book Clubs and Book Societies. In presuming to trespass upon sacred yet inviting ground of this character, I must be understood as approaching the subject with due reverence and apology. It is an indisputable fact that among the agencies that have contributed to the advancement and ennobling of the bookmaker's art in the past twenty years, the legitimate Book Club has been one of the most potential. We have only to refer to _Growell's American Book Clubs_ in order to learn of the many clubs and societies of this kind which have arisen in the past few years, with varying degrees of success and failure,--success, when intelligently conducted upon honest coöperative principles, and failure, if irrationally directed, without regard to the maxims upon which successful clubs are managed. The province of these worthy accessories in the world of fine bookmaking has not been free from invasion by sharks and charlatans, some of whom have succeeded for a time under the guise of honest and reciprocal motives. In this country there are private book clubs and societies that have won places of enviable distinction both here and abroad, and naturally among the foremost of these are the ones which have been pestered by "imitators." The following significant remarks are taken from the president's annual address to the members of an old and honored book club:-- "Fame brings its penalties, and during the last year many of us have suffered considerable annoyance, both individually and as members of the Club, through the exploitation of books advertised sometimes as publications of The ---- Club, and more often as publications of the ---- Society. These have usually been offered in connection with works of distinguished authors in numerous volumes, stated, as a rule, to be limited to a thousand copies, and described as the contents of the private library of a lady, which the agent declares to have been placed in his hands to dispose of as quickly as possible, regardless of cost. No widow's cruse, apparently, could be more unfailing in its supply than this 'private library.' While annoying, the device of a '---- Society,' though manifestly designed to confuse the public mind and trade on the reputation of this Club, can scarcely deceive our members or even the book-loving public. It, nevertheless, is an annoyance, and the more vexatious because scarcely calling for other remedy than exposure. "It is possible, however, that harm to the good name of the Club may be wrought through the advertisement, in an English newspaper, to which my attention has been drawn, of a so-called '---- Society of Great Britain,' which is declared to have been recently formed in conjunction with the '---- Society of the United States,' which is described as having been established in 1884, and to have occupied its own Club House since 1888, and to have published handsomely printed books for sale exclusively to the members. It is announced, however, that the '---- Society of Great Britain,' although intending to act in conjunction with the American society, 'will work upon somewhat different lines, at any rate at first.' It may well be that this cleverly deceptive advertisement will require some attention from us, either directly or through members resident abroad. "This, however, seems to be the only fly in our ointment, and we may congratulate ourselves that there is nothing more serious to disturb our enjoyment of the anniversary which we now celebrate." Another and more palpable fraud has been perpetrated in copying the name of The Bibliophile Society, but with a slight prefix, just enough to afford a loop-hole through which to escape legal prosecution. Not enough, however, to enable the public to distinguish between the spurious and the genuine, and even the members themselves have sometimes been deceived by unscrupulous agents representing their wares as the regular productions of the valid society. The audacious promoters of this so-called Society had the boldness not only to pilfer the name of the legitimate society, but also the name of its president, which was ostentatiously printed upon their letter heads, together with the name of Dr. Richard Garnett. Both of these gentlemen have recently published their denunciations through the columns of the press, and protested vigorously against this unauthorized use of their names. The _modus operandi_ of this pestiferous concern is to send numbered "complimentary certificates" throughout the country to persons whose names are obtainable from directories, and when acknowledgment cards are received from those who deign to accept the exalted compliment, they are forthwith called upon, usually by some "officer" of the Society,--sometimes the "President," but usually the "Treasurer," "Secretary," or "Registrar." Some time ago I was honored by a call from one of these circumventive "Treasurers," but happened to be conveniently busy at the time, and so made an appointment with him to meet me at my office the next day. Meanwhile, I prepared to have his statements reduced to writing by a stenographer, anticipating that it might be necessary to refresh my memory upon certain passages that I might fail to remember verbatim. The following is the substance of the "canvass" as taken by the stenographer in an adjoining room, the door of which was wide open:-- "I am the Treasurer of the ---- Society, with headquarters in London. By a special grant from the English Government, we have recently been permitted to extend our membership into this country, and three hundred life members are to be admitted under this enlargement of our constitutional privileges. It may interest you, first, to know something of the origin of this Society. It was organized in London about three hundred years ago by the Duke of Roxburghe [who was not born until more than a hundred years later], and was originally composed of about thirty members of the royal family. The original charter limited the membership to fifty members, and in less than a month the limit was reached. Through the powerful influence of the royal family the Society had easy access to all the great repositories of unpublished manuscripts, and the most valuable and interesting of them were selected for publication. These publications became so enormously valuable that it stimulated a desire on the part of others to join the Society, and particularly, some of the nobility of France and Germany. It was decided to increase the membership to three hundred, and to take in a few members from France, Germany, Italy, and Russia. The Society thrived for about a thousand years [this is either a stenographic error, or else he meant to say a hundred]; then there was a period of inactivity, and later on it was revived again, and the membership limit increased to five hundred. Last year we obtained permission to again increase the membership by taking in three hundred prominent people in America. I am over here to arrange for three vice-presidents,--two for the East and one for the West. I have a special commission to ask you to become one of the honorary vice-presidents and to offer you a life membership for less than half the regular fee, viz., $225.00; the usual fee for life membership is $500.00, but you get it for $225.00 on account of acting as our honorary vice-president for this territory. Of course you would have no regular duties to perform. You would sign all the membership certificates in your district, and in case of the death of any member, you would have the privilege of naming his successor. "The Society issues every year a volume giving all the price currents for the year, and keeps the members posted on the advance or decline in the value of all important publications. We also give you in confidence the ratings of various publishers, and print reports to members exposing all the frauds in the book business. Upon payment of the fee of $225.00, you receive all of this material free, for the balance of your life, and in addition all of the Society's regular publications, including the present one, consisting of ---- volumes [here he produced the customary specimen sheets]. You see this one work alone is worth the full amount you pay for life membership [here occurred a "special offer" of some sort, given in a low monotone which the stenographer was unable to hear; and I must confess that I was so stupefied by this astounding fabrication that I myself have not the faintest recollection of what this "special offer" consisted]. We are very anxious to have your name as our honorary vice-president here, because you will not only be an honor to the Society, but the Society will be an honor to you." Here my Treasurer friend produced a regular form of subscription contract for a set of books; but it contained no clause about life membership, or any other membership, and included no promise of anything further than the delivery of the books. The honor of such a vice-presidency being thrust upon me was indeed a thrilling sensation, and the story was told in a fluent, cohesive, and logical manner; so well, in fact, that had I not known in advance that it was purely imaginary from beginning to end, I could scarcely have avoided giving it full acceptance. But I had heard of the story before, and although partially prepared, it staggered me surprisingly. I afterwards learned that every one else canvassed by my interviewer was equally offered one of the "three vice-presidencies." There appears to be no defense for book clubs against these bogus impersonations. The injured club, or society, can sustain no claim for any special damage, because, as not offering its publications in the open market, it actually suffers no ascertainable loss of patronage. The principal damage results to those who are thus victimized in permitting themselves to be deluded into the belief that they are acquiring the valid editions of reputable clubs. When club publications come into the open market they are usually picked up with avidity by collectors, and they have thus grown into very general favor among book-lovers. Indeed, the high esteem in which they have come to be regarded offers a productive field for a few crafty publishers to ply their wily designs in. The audacity of these schemers carries them to such incredible measures that they sometimes buy sheet-stock from reputable publishing houses, change the name of the edition, and deliberately manufacture new titles on which they print the name of some book club or society. These counterfeits are sold to the unsuspecting book-buyer, who often imagines he has landed a prize. Later, he is likely to become disillusioned. There can be no doubt that the contemptible practice of thus mutilating and garbling books should be defined as a felony and made punishable by fine or imprisonment. Book-buyers, however, can in a measure help the situation and protect themselves by not dealing with such people; they should particularly remember that creditable book clubs _never_ employ soliciting agents, and rarely, if ever, offer their publications for sale outside of the membership. Any one, therefore, representing himself as an authorized agent of a book club may usually be branded as an impostor. Most book clubs print only such number of copies of each publication as are subscribed and paid for by members in advance, and the funds thus advanced are used to pay the cost of the edition. Notwithstanding the evils referred to, the book club is with us to stay, and the very fact that it is continually pestered by these hangers-on is conclusive proof of its potency and usefulness; features which insure its secure foundation in the community. Very few people are able to appreciate the amount of gratuitous labor performed by the officers and committees of private book clubs. It is erroneous to suppose that beautiful books are a purely natural offspring of the book club. The preparation of the material for publication and successfully following it through all the various stages of manufacture requires an enormous amount of detail work, as well as an accurate knowledge of bookmaking. The president of a prominent book club recently said, in his annual address to the members:-- "I wish that our members could be witnesses at the many conferences held by the Committee on Publications and by the Council; of the various experiments needed to settle upon the size and shape of the book, the size of its page and its margins, the style of type, the initial letters, head-bands, tail-pieces, engravings, etc. etc.; of the printer's endless proofs, the making of a special paper (which sometimes proves to be unsuited), and, finally, the style of binding. What material, color, and general make-up shall it have? If our members could thus follow the progress of the work from beginning to finish they would be reconciled to disappointment. At any rate it is through their subscriptions that these experiments can be undertaken, and it is by knowledge thus gained that the Club has won credit for the Arts and Crafts of our country, and made an honorable record even in other lands; so that to be a member of the Club has become an enviable distinction." Owing to the tricks and stratagem practiced in _manufacturing_ "de luxe" editions, some of our bibliophiles have taken matters of bookmaking into their own hands, with the result that they have organized clubs and societies, the members of which take much pleasure in introducing to their library companions each year one or two charming new acquaintances which come bearing the club's seal of endorsement. A true bibliophile always feels a just pride in shelving one of these book-treasures of his own club's production, and thereafter displaying it before his friends, with the interesting bit of information that "This is the latest production of _our Club_; it is issued _only for members_." For obviously an owner's interest in any work is increased many fold by the fact that he is a constituent part of the organization which produced the same: the relationship to the book in such a case is akin to the love of a parent for a child; and the owner of a fine library will not unusually regard his Club publications and privately printed books as the objects therein which are entitled to his fondest consideration. I have recently taken occasion to examine with considerable care the latest publications of the leading book clubs of this country, and to compare them with some of the first issues of these same clubs. The improvement in the later productions over the earlier ones astonished me. There were as good artists, editors, binders, type, paper, ink, and other accessories twenty years ago as we have now, and indeed it is doubtful if our modern printing presses show much improvement in the quality of work during that time; but it would seem that persistent effort along the lines of experimental work has been generously rewarded by a steady improvement in the general results now attained. Nor is the situation injured by a slight tinge of friendly rivalry among clubs, to lend an additional zest to their labors, and to whet the praiseworthy ambition of each to make every succeeding issue a little better than the last. There are many zealous bibliophiles who belong to two or three book clubs at once, finding it interesting to collect and compare the works produced by the several clubs. Many of our great scholars as well as leading publishers are members of these book clubs, and serve on the councils and various committees; so it must not be supposed by skeptics that their publications are in the slightest degree amateurish. They employ the best talent and materials; the councils and publication committees, as well, being composed of persons of unquestioned integrity, who possess an intelligent understanding of bookmaking. Some of these clubs (particularly those whose membership is largely local) have commodious quarters where the members may meet at all times, whether to discuss matters of common business interest, to exchange their latest jokes, or to generally discuss book-lore and other congenial topics. The social features of some of the book clubs are, however, reduced to the occasions of the annual meetings and dinners. The "Club-Room Question," in one of these organizations having a membership of five hundred, distributed in one hundred and sixty-seven cities and towns in this country and abroad, was recently reported upon by the Council as follows:-- The question of providing and maintaining club rooms and establishing a suitable library for the Society has been more or less discussed since its incorporation. The Council has not found that spacious and luxuriously furnished rooms are an important requisite in accomplishing the expressed purpose and limitations of the Society. These, according to Article I. of the Constitution and By-laws, are to be "the study and promotion of the arts pertaining to fine bookmaking and illustrating, and the occasional publication of specially designed and illustrated books, for distribution among its members at a minimum cost of production." Then, too, while our membership is entirely homogeneous in bibliomaniacal spirit, it is so scattered over such a vast expanse of territory that only a small percentage of the members would be able to enjoy club-room privileges; even those within easy reach of such rooms would probably not frequent them enough to justify any considerable expense in maintenance. It would be necessary, also, to change the present constitution (and to assess the members for annual dues in order to meet current expenses), should the club-room idea be carried out. This would be objectionable on various grounds, and amongst these, because a non-resident member might thus be paying an annual fee without receiving any corresponding benefit in return; a condition in such case which would be tantamount to his meeting an increased charge each year for the privilege of subscribing and paying for the Society's publications. Hence, the Council do not see their way to entertaining or recommending the club-room feature. But it is not supposed that the spirit of fellowship among our bibliophiles--naturally related as they are by a kindred interest--will in any degree suffer because of the lack of such facilities. A personal contact, however agreeable, does not seem essential. Certainly the many charming letters received from members whom we have never seen, go far to relieve the present lack in this regard, so far as the officers are concerned. As matters now stand, the Society has sufficiently comfortable quarters in one of the offices of the Treasurer, where the Council holds its meetings. These are found by experience to be quite ample for all practical purposes and present needs. Collectors of manuscripts and of unique copies often furnish the book clubs with valuable and otherwise unprocurable material to be printed for the members. Last year one collector alone furnished gratuitously to a society of which he is a member, many thousands of dollars' worth of unpublished manuscripts of interesting historical matter to be printed exclusively for its members. In this way much valuable material is preserved in print, when it would otherwise remain forever unpublished and unobtainable. During the past few years it has been my pleasant privilege to spend many hours of each week in concurrent labor with the Council in the preparation of the publications of The Bibliophile Society, in which Council I have had the honor to serve continuously since its organization. There is no pleasure more delectable, no joy more inspiring than that of devising books which prove a delight to the eye and a satisfaction to the artistic tastes of those who are competent to appreciate the qualities that should characterize a perfectly made book. I now realize as never before why it is that our busiest men of affairs, and scholars of renown, are actuated to serve so assiduously in this labor of love; for surely no amount of effort, however laborious, can be regarded as having been in any sense misguided or wasted when it elicits such approbation as expressed in the following letter from Charles A. Decker, Esq., a fellow member, of New York City:-- March 15th, 1904. MR. H. H. HARPER, Treasurer, The Bibliophile Society, Colonial Building, Boston, Mass. DEAR MR. HARPER:-- My stock of superlatives is insufficient to adequately express my appreciation of "André's Journal." Keats must have had a psychic sense which enabled him to see the latest issue by our Society, and he had this in view when he wrote the opening line of _Endymion_. (Is n't "A thing of beauty," &c., the opening line?) Such books as the Council has planned are an education to bibliophiles; the work is progressive, for each issue is finer than the one which preceded it. Can any book be finer than "André's Journal"? If so, I can't conceive it. Such noble types, the pages so perfectly balanced; the margins so broad; the paper of such beautiful texture; the ink so brilliantly black; the maps so marvelously reproduced; the etchings so artistically conceived and executed and the title page so beautifully engraved; then the binding--real vellum--so rich, simple, and in such perfect taste; even the box-cover is fitting in every sense. A perfect book, it seems to me. If there are any shortcomings, and you know them, don't tell me of them, that in my ignorance I may be content. Please thank all the members of the Council for me. Somebody must have spent many, many hours in arriving at a final judgment upon all the parts which make up such a beautiful whole. I have yet to enjoy the pleasure of _reading_ the "Journal," then I will be thankful to Mr. Bixby and to Senator Lodge. Yours sincerely, (Signed) CHARLES A. DECKER. Mr. Decker is one of the many pleasant and appreciative members of The Bibliophile Society whose personal acquaintance it has not been my good fortune to make, but from whom the Society has received many delightful and inspiring letters. The numerous communications thus received from all quarters have been placed before the Council, with the result that the individual interest of every worker has been greatly augmented in the Society's welfare. Indeed, I attribute no small measure of the success and the good name of the Society to the indirect influence of such words of encouragement and expressions of appreciation as have come from the members. I sincerely wish for health and continued success to our worthy Book Clubs, and regret that there are not more of them. Sit bona librorum . . . copia. HENRY H. HARPER. 
36764	----	generously made available by The Internet Archive.) IN THE TRACK OF THE BOOK-WORM by Irving Browne: thoughts, fancies and gentle gibes on Collecting and Collectors by one of them. DONE INTO A BOOK AT THE ROYCROFT PRINTING SHOP AT EAST AURORA, NEW YORK, U. S. A. MDCCCXCVII Copyrighted by The Roycroft Printing Shop 1897 Of this edition but five hundred and ninety copies were printed and types then distributed. Each copy is signed and numbered and this book is number 173 Irving Browne CHAPTERS. 1. Objects of Collection 9 2. Who Have Collected 11 3. Diverse Tastes 18 4. The Size of Books 21 5. Binding 25 6. Paper 32 7. Women as Collectors 36 8. The Illustrator 47 9. Book-Plates 66 10. The Book-Auctioneer 73 11. The Book-Seller 77 12. The Public Librarian 84 13. Does Book Collecting Pay 88 14. The Book-Worm's Faults 93 15. Poverty as a Means of Enjoyment 103 16. The Arrangement of Books 105 17. Enemies of Books 108 18. Library Companions 121 19. The Friendship of Books 133 BALLADS. 1. How a Bibliomaniac Binds his Books 26 2. The Bibliomaniac's Assignment of Binders 28 3. The Failing Books 33 4. Suiting Paper to Subject 34 5. The Sentimental Chambermaid 37 6. A Woman's Idea of a Library 42 7. The Shy Portraits 54 8. The Snatchers 71 9. The Stolid Auctioneer 75 10. The Prophetic Book 80 11. The Book-Seller 82 12. The Public Librarian 85 13. The Book-Worm does not care for Nature 97 14. How I go A-Fishing 99 15. The Book-Thief 111 16. The Smoke Traveler 112 17. The Fire in the Library 116 18. Cleaning the Library 117 19. Ode to Omar 119 20. My Dog 121 21. My Clocks 123 22. A Portrait 125 23. My Schoolmate 126 24. My Shingle 129 25. Solitaire 130 26. My Friends the Books 133 To book-worms all, of high or low degree, Whate'er of madness be their stages, And just as well unknown as known to me, I dedicate these trifling pages, In hope that when they turn them o'er They will not find the Track a bore. The Track of the Book-Worm. I. OBJECTS OF COLLECTION. Philosophers have made various and ingenious but incomplete attempts to form a succinct definition of the animal, Man. At first thought it might seem that a perfect definition would be, an animal who makes collections. But one must remember that the magpie does this. Yet this definition is as good as any, and comes nearer exactness than most. What has not the animal Man collected? Clocks, watches, snuff-boxes, canes, fans, laces, precious stones, china, coins, paper money, spoons, prints, paintings, tulips, orchids, hens, horses, match-boxes, postal stamps, miniatures, violins, show-bills, play-bills, swords, buttons, shoes, china slippers, spools, birds, butterflies, beetles, saddles, skulls, wigs, lanterns, book-plates, knockers, crystal balls, shells, penny toys, death-masks, tea-pots, autographs, rugs, armour, pipes, arrow heads, locks of hair and key locks, and hats (Jules Verne's "Tale of a Hat"), these are some of the most prominent subjects in search of which the animal Man runs up and down the earth, and spends time and money without scruple or stint. But all these curious objects of search fall into insignificance when compared with the ancient, noble and useful passion for collecting books. One of the wisest of the human race said, the only earthly immortality is in writing a book; and the desire to accumulate these evidences of earthly immortality needs no defense among cultivated men. II. WHO HAVE COLLECTED BOOKS. The mania for book-collecting is by no means a modern disease, but has existed ever since there were books to gather, and has infected many of the wisest and most potent names in history. Euripides is ridiculed by Aristophanes in "The Frogs" for collecting books. Of the Roman emperor, Gordian, who flourished (or rather did not flourish, because he was slain after a reign of thirty-six days) in the third century, Gibbon says, "twenty-two acknowledged concubines and a library of sixty thousand volumes attested the variety of his inclinations." This combination of uxorious and literary tastes seems to have existed in another monarch of a later period--Henry VIII.--the seeming disproportion of whose expenditure of 10,800 pounds for jewels in three years, during which he spent but 100 pounds for books and binding, is explained by the fact that he was indebted for the contents of his libraries to the plunder of monasteries. Henry printed a few copies of his book against Luther on vellum. Cicero, who possessed a superb library, especially rich in Greek, at his villa in Tusculum, thus describes his favorite acquisitions: "Books to quicken the intelligence of youth, delight age, decorate prosperity, shelter and solace us in adversity, bring enjoyment at home, befriend us out-of-doors, pass the night with us, travel with us, go into the country with us." Petrarch, who collected books not simply for his own gratification, but aspired to become the founder of a permanent library at Venice, gave his books to the Church of St. Mark; but the greater part of them perished through neglect, and only a small part remains. Boccaccio, anticipating an early death, offered his library to Petrarch, his dear friend, on his own terms, to insure its preservation, and the poet promised to care for the collection in case he survived Boccaccio; but the latter, outliving Petrarch, bequeathed his books to the Augustinians of Florence, and some of them are still shown to visitors in the Laurentinian Library. From Boccaccio's own account of his collection, one must believe his books quite inappropriate for a monastic library, and the good monks probably instituted an auto da fe for most of them, like that which befell the knightly romances in "Don Quixote." Perhaps the naughty story-teller intended the donation as a covert satire. The walls of the room which formerly contained Montaigne's books, and is at this day exhibited to pilgrims, are covered with inscriptions burnt in with branding-irons on the beams and rafters by the eccentric and delightful essayist. The author of "Ivanhoe" adorned his magnificent library with suits of superb armor, and luxuriated in demonology and witchcraft. The caustic Swift was in the habit of annotating his books, and writing on the fly-leaves a summary opinion of the author's merits; whatever else he had, he owned no Shakespeare, nor can any reference to him be found in the nineteen volumes of Swift's works. Military men seem always to have had a passion for books. To say nothing of the literary and rhetorical tastes of Cæsar, "the foremost man of all time," Frederick the Great had libraries at Sans Souci, Potsdam, and Berlin, in which he arranged the volumes by classes without regard to size. Thick volumes he rebound in sections for more convenient use, and his favorite French authors he sometimes caused to be reprinted in compact editions to his taste. The great Conde inherited a valuable library from his father, and enlarged and loved it. Marlborough had twenty-five books on vellum, all earlier than 1496. The hard-fighting Junot had a vellum library which sold in London for 1,400 pounds, while his great master was not too busy in conquering Europe not only to solace himself in his permanent libraries, and in books which he carried with him in his expeditions, but to project and actually commence the printing of a camp library of duodecimo volumes, without margins, and in thin covers, to embrace some three thousand volumes, and which he had designed to complete in six years by employing one hundred and twenty compositors and twenty-five editors, at an outlay of about 163,000 pounds. St. Helena destroyed this scheme. It is curious to note that Napoleon despised Voltaire as heartily as Frederick admired him, but gave Fielding and Le Sage places among his traveling companions; while the Bibliomaniac appears in his direction to his librarian: "I will have fine editions and handsome bindings. I am rich enough for that." The main thing that shakes one's confidence in the correctness of his literary taste is that he was fond of "Ossian." Julius Cæsar also formed a traveling library of forty-four little volumes, contained in an oak case measuring 16 by 11 by 3 inches, covered with leather. The books are bound in white vellum, and consist of history, philosophy, theology, and poetry, in Greek and Latin. The collector was Sir Julius Cæsar, of England, and this exquisite and unique collection is in the British Museum. The books were all printed between 1591 and 1616. Southey brought together fourteen thousand volumes, the most valuable collection which had up to that time been acquired by any man whose means and estate lay, as he once said of himself, in his inkstand. Time fails me to speak of Erasmus, De Thou, Grotius, Goethe, Bodley; Hans Sloane, whose private library of fifty thousand volumes was the beginning of that of the British Museum; the Cardinal Borromeo, who founded the Ambrosian Library at Milan with his own forty thousand volumes, and the other great names entitled to the description of Bibliomaniac. We must not forget Sir Richard Whittington, of feline fame, who gave 400 pounds to found the library of Christ's Hospital, London. The fair sex, good and bad, have been lovers of books or founders of libraries; witness the distinguished names of Lady Jane Gray, Catherine De Medicis, and Diane de Poictiers. It only remains to speak of the great opium-eater, who was a sort of literary ghoul, famed for borrowing books and never returning them, and whose library was thus made up of the enforced contributions of friends--for who would have dared refuse the loan of a book to Thomas de Quincey? The name of the unhappy man would have descended to us with that of the incendiary of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus. But the great Thomas was recklessly careless and slovenly in his use of books; and Burton, in the "Book-hunter," tells us that "he once gave in copy written on the edges of a tall octavo 'Somnium Scipionis,' and as he did not obliterate the original matter, the printer was rather puzzled, and made a funny jumble between the letter-press Latin and the manuscript English." I seriously fear that with him must be ranked the gentle Elia, who said: "A book reads the better which is our own, and has been so long known to us that we know the topography of its blots and dog's ears, and can trace the dirt in it to having read it at tea with buttered muffins, or over a pipe, which I think is the maximum." And yet a great degree of slovenliness may be excused in Charles because, according to Leigh Hunt, he once gave a kiss to an old folio Chapman's "Homer," and when asked how he knew his books one from the other, for hardly any were lettered, he answered: "How does a shepherd know his sheep?" The love of books displayed by the sensual Henry and the pugnacious Junot is not more remarkable than that of the epicurean and sumptuous Lucullus, to whom Pompey, when sick, having been directed by his physician to eat a thrush for dinner, and learning from his servants that in summer-time thrushes were not to be found anywhere but in Lucullus' fattening coops, refused to be indebted for his meal, observing: "So if Lucullus had not been an epicure, Pompey had not lived." Of him the veracious Plutarch says: "His furnishing a library, however, deserved praise and record, for he collected very many and choice manuscripts; and the use they were put to was even more magnificent than the purchase, the library being always open, and the walks and reading rooms about it free to all Greeks, whose delight it was to leave their other occupations and hasten thither as to the habitation of the Muses." It is not recorded that Socrates collected books--his wife probably objected--but we have his word for it that he loved them. He did not love the country, and the only thing that could tempt him thither was a book. Acknowledging this to Phædrus he says: "Very true, my good friend; and I hope that you will excuse me when you hear the reason, which is, that I am a lover of knowledge, and the men who dwell in the city are my teachers, and not the trees or the country. Though I do indeed believe that you have found a spell with which to draw me out of the city into the country, like a hungry cow before whom a bough or a bunch of fruit is waved. For only hold up before me in like manner a book, and you may lead me all round Attica, and over the wide world. And now having arrived, I intend to lie down, and do you choose any posture in which you can read best." III. DIVERSE TASTES. It is fortunate for the harmony of book-collectors that they do not all desire the same thing, just as it was fortunate for their young State that all the Romans did not want the same Sabine woman. Otherwise the Helenic battle of the books would be fiercer than it is. Thus there are bibliomaniacs who reprint rare books from their own libraries in limited numbers; authors, like Walpole, who print their own works, and whose fame as printers is better deserved than their reputation as writers; like Thackeray, who design the illustrations for their own romances, or, like Astor, who procure a single copy of their novel to be illustrated at lavish expense by artists; amateurs who bind their own books; lunatics who yearn for books wholly engraved, or printed only on one side of the leaf, or Greek books wholly in capitals, or others in the italic letter; or black-letter fanciers; or tall copy men; or rubricists, missal men, or first edition men, or incunabulists. One seeks only ancient books; another limited editions; another those privately printed; a fourth wants nothing but presentation copies; yet another only those that have belonged to famous men, and still another illustrated or illuminated books. There is a perfectly rabid and incurable class, of whom the most harmless are devoted to pamphlets; another, rather more dangerous, to incorrect or suppressed editions; and a third, stark mad, to play-bills and portraits. One patronizes the drama, one poetry, one the fine arts, another books about books and their collectors; and a very recherche class devote themselves to works on playing-cards, angling, magic, or chess, emblems, dances of death, or the jest books and facetiæ. Finally, there are those unhappy beings who run up and down for duplicates, searching for every edition of their favorite authors. In very recent days there has arisen a large class who demand the first editions of popular novelists like Dickens, Thackeray and Hawthorne, and will pay large prices for these issues which have no value except that of rarity. I can quite understand the enthusiasm of the collector over the beautiful first editions of the Greek and Latin classics, or for the first "Paradise Lost," or even for the ugly first folio "Shakespeare," and why he should prefer the comparatively rude first Walton's Angler to Pickering's edition, the handsomest of this century, with its monumental title page. But why a first edition of a popular novel should be more desirable than a late one, which is usually the more elegant, I confess I cannot understand. It is one of those things which, like the mystery of religion, we must take on trust. So when a bookseller tells me that a copy of the first issue of "The Scarlet Letter" has sold for seventy-five dollars, and that a copy of the second, with the same date, but put out six months later, is worth only seventy-five cents, I open my eyes but not my purse, especially when I consider that the second is greatly superior to the first on account of its famous preface of apology, and when I read of some one's bidding $1875 for a copy of Poe's worthless "Tamerlane," I am flattered by the reflection that there is one man in the world whom I believe to be eighteen hundred and seventy-five times as great a fool as I am! IV. THE SIZE OF BOOKS. Were I a despotic ruler of the universe I would make it a serious offense to publish a book larger than royal octavo. Books should be made to read, or at all events to look at, and in this view comfort and ease should be consulted. Any one who has ever undertaken to read a huge quarto or folio will sympathize with this view. The older and lazier the Book-Worm grows the more he longs for little books, which he can hold in one hand without getting a cramp, or at least support with arms in an elbow chair without fatigue. Darwin remorselessly split big books in two. Mr. Slater says in "Book Collecting:" "When the library at Sion College took fire the attendants, at the risk of their lives, rescued a pile of books from the flames, and it is said that the librarian wept when he found that the porters had taken it for granted that the value of a book was in exact proportion to its size." Few of us, I suspect, ever read our family Bible, and all of us probably groan when we lift out the unabridged dictionary. The "Century Dictionary" is a luxury because it is published in small and convenient parts. I cannot conceive any good in a big book except that the ladies may use it to press flowers or mosses in, or the nurses may put it in a chair to sit the baby on at table. I have heard of a gentleman who inherited a mass of folio volumes and arranged them as shelves for his smaller treasures, and of another who arranged his 12-mos on a stand made up of the seventeen volumes of Pinkerton's "Voyages" and Denon's "Egypt" for shelves. What reader would not prefer a dainty little Elzevir to the huge folio, Cæsar's "Commentaries," even with the big bull in it, and the wicker idol full of burning human victims? What can be more pleasing than the modern Quantin edition of the classics? Or, to speak of a popular book, take the "Pastels in Prose," the most exquisite book for the price ever known in the history of printing. The small book ought however to be easily legible. The health and comfort of the human eye should be consulted in the size of the type. Nothing can be worse in this regard than the Pickering diamond classics, if meant to be read; and it seems that there are too many of them to be intended as mere curiosities of printing. Let us approve the exit of the folio and the quarto, and applaud the modern tendency toward little and handy volumes. Large paper however is a worthy distinction when the subject is worth the distinction and the edition is not too large. Nothing raises the gorge of the true Book-Worm more than to see an issue on large paper of a row of histories, for example; and the very worst instance conceivable was a large paper Webster's "Unabridged Dictionary" issued some years ago. The book thus distinguished ought to be a classic, or peculiar for elegance, never a series, or stereotyped, the first struck off, and the issue ought not to be more than from fifty to one hundred copies; any larger issue is not worth the extra margin bestowed, and no experienced buyer will tolerate it. But if all these conditions are observed, the large paper copies bear the same relation to the small that a proof before letters of a print holds to the other impressions. Large margins are very pleasant in a library as well as in Wall Street, and much more apt to be permanent. There are some favorite books of which the possessor longs in vain for a large copy, as for instance, the Pickering "Walton and Cotton." A great deal of fun is made of the Book-Worm because of his desire for large paper and of his insistence on uncut edges, but his reasons are sound and his taste is unimpeachable. The tricks of the book-trade to catch the inexperienced with the bait of large paper are very amusing. "Strictly limited" to so many copies for England and so many for America, say a thousand in all, or else the number is not stated, and always described as an edition de luxe, and its looks are always very repulsive. But the bait is eagerly bitten at by a shoal of beings anxious to get one of these rarities--a class to one of whom I once found it necessary to explain that "uncut edges" does not mean leaves not cut open, and that he would not injure the value of his book by being able to read it, and was not bound to peep in surreptitiously like a maid-servant at a door "on the jar." I once knew a satirical Book-Worm who issued a pamphlet, "one hundred copies on large paper, none on small." There is no just distinction in an ugly large-paper issue, and sometimes it is not nearly so beautiful as the small, especially when the latter has uncut edges. The independence of the collector who prefers the small in such circumstances is to be commended and imitated. Too great inequality in uncut edges is also to be shunned as an ugliness. It seems that some French books are printed on paper of two different sizes, the effect of which is very grotesque, and the device is a catering to a very crude and extravagant taste. V. BINDING. The binding of books for several centuries has held the dignity of a fine art, quite independent of printing. This has been demonstrated by exhibitions in this country and abroad. But every collector ought to observe fitness in the binding which he procures to be executed. True fitness prevails in most old and fine bindings; seldom was a costly garb bestowed on a book unworthy of it. But in many a luxurious library we see a modern binding fit for a unique or rare book given to one that is comparatively worthless or common. Not to speak of bindings that are real works of art, many collectors go astray in dressing lumber in purple and fine linen--putting full levant morocco on blockhead histories and such stuff that perishes in the not using. It is a sad spectacle to behold a unique binding wasted on a book of no more value than a backgammon board. There are of course not a great many of us who can afford unique bindings, but those who cannot should at least observe propriety and fitness in this regard, and draw the line severely between full dress and demi-toilette, and keep a sharp eye to appropriateness of color. I have known several men who bound their books all alike. Nothing could be worse except one who should bind particular subjects in special styles, pace Mr. Ellwanger, who, in "The Story of My House," advises the Book-Worm to "bind the poets in yellow or orange, books on nature in olive, the philosophers in blue, the French classics in red," etc. I am curious to know what color this pleasant writer would adopt for the binding of his books by military men, such for example as "Major Walpole's Anecdotes." (p. 262). Ambrose Fermin Didot recommended binding the "Iliad" in red and the "Odyssey" in blue, for the Greek rhapsodists wore a scarlet cloak when they recited the former and a blue one when they recited the latter. The churchmen he would clothe in violet, cardinals in scarlet, philosophers in black. I have imagined HOW A BIBLIOMANIAC BINDS HIS BOOKS. I'd like my favorite books to bind So that their outward dress To every bibliomaniac's mind Their contents should express. Napoleon's life should glare in red, John Calvin's gloom in blue; Thus they would typify bloodshed And sour religion's hue. The prize-ring record of the past Must be in blue and black; While any color that is fast Would do for Derby track. The Popes in scarlet well may go; In jealous green, Othello; In gray, Old Age of Cicero, And London Cries in yellow. My Walton should his gentle art In Salmon best express, And Penn and Fox the friendly heart In quiet drab confess. Statistics of the lumber trade Should be embraced in boards, While muslin for the inspired Maid A fitting garb affords. Intestine wars I'd clothe in vellum, While pig-skin Bacon grasps, And flat romances, such as "Pelham," Should stand in calf with clasps. Blind-tooled should be blank verse and rhyme Of Homer and of Milton; But Newgate Calendar of Crime I'd lavishly dab gilt on. The edges of a sculptor's life May fitly marbled be, But sprinkle not, for fear of strife, A Baptist history. Crimea's warlike facts and dates Of fragrant Russia smell; The subjugated Barbary States In crushed Morocco dwell. But oh! that one I hold so dear Should be arrayed so cheap Gives me a qualm; I sadly fear My Lamb must be half-sheep. No doubt a Book-Worm so far gone as this could invent stricter analogies and make even the binder fit the book. So we should have THE BIBLIOMANIAC'S ASSIGNMENT OF BINDERS. If I could bring the dead to day, I would your soul with wonder fill By pointing out a novel way For bibliopegistic skill. My Walton, Trautz should take in hand, Or else I'd give him o'er to Hering; Matthews should make the Gospels stand A solemn warning to the erring. The history of the Inquisition, With all its diabolic train Of cruelty and superstition, Should fitly be arrayed by Payne. A book of dreams by Bedford clad, A Papal history by De Rome, Should make the sense of fitness glad In every bibliomaniac's home. As our first mother's folly cost Her sex so dear, and makes men grieve, So Milton's plaint of Eden lost Would be appropriate to Eve. Hayday would make "One Summer" be Doubly attractive to the view; While General Wolfe's biography Should be the work of Pasdeloup. For lives of dwarfs, like Thomas Thumb, Petit's the man by nature made, And when Munchasen strikes us dumb It is by means of Gascon aid. Thus would I the great binders blend In harmony with work before 'em, And so Riviere I would commend To Turner's "Liber Fluviorum." After all, whether one can afford a three-hundred or a three-dollar binding, the gentle Elia has said the last word about fitness of bindings when he observed: "To be strong-backed and neat-bound is the desideratum of a volume; magnificence comes after. This, when it can be afforded, is not to be lavished on all kinds of books indiscriminately. "Where we know that a book is at once both good and rare--where the individual is almost the species, 'We know not where is that Prometian torch That can its light relumine;' "Such a book for instance as the 'Life of the Duke of Newcastle' by his Duchess--no casket is rich enough, no casing sufficiently durable, to honor and keep safe such a jewel. "To view a well arranged assortment of block-headed encyclopoedias (Anglicana or Metropolitanas), set out in an array of Russia and Morocco, when a tithe of that good leather would comfortably reclothe my shivering folios, would renovate Parcelsus himself, and enable old Raymond Lully to look like himself again in the world. I never see these impostors but I long to strip them and warm my ragged veterans in their spoils." There spoke the true Book-Worm. What a pity he could not have sold a part of his good sense and fine taste to some of the affluent collectors of this period! Doubtless an experienced binder could give some amusing examples of mistakes in indorsing books with their names. One remains in my memory. A French binder, entrusted with a French translation of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," in two volumes, put "L'Oncle" on both, and numbered them "Tome 1," "Tome 2." Charles Cowden-Clarke tells of his having ordered Leigh Hunt's poems entitled "Foliage" to be bound in green, and how the book came home in blue. That would answer for the "blue grass" region of Kentucky. I have no patience with those disgusting realists who bind books in human or snake skin. In his charming book on the Law Reporters, Mr. Wallace says of Desaussures' South Carolina Reports: "When these volumes are found in their original binding most persons, I think, are struck with its peculiarity. The cause of it is, I believe, that it was done by negroes." What the "peculiarity" is he does not disclose. But book-binding seems to be an unwonted occupation for negro slaves. It was not often that they beat skins, although their own skins were frequently beaten. VI. PAPER. It is a serious question whether the art of printing has been improved except in facility. Is not the first printed book still the finest ever printed? But in one point I am certain that the moderns have fallen away, at least in the production of cheap books, and that is in the quality and finish of the paper. Not to speak of injurious devices to make the book heavy, the custom of calendering the paper, or making it smooth and shiny, practised by some important publishers, is bad for the eyes, and the result is not pleasant to look at. It is like the glare of the glass over the framed print. It is said to be necessary to the production of the modern "process" pictures. Even here however there is a just mean, for some of the modern paper is absurdly rough, and very difficult for a good impression of the types. Modern paper however has one advantage: Mr. Blades, in his pleasant "Enemies of Books," tells us "that the worm will not touch it," it is so adulterated. One hint I would give the publishers--allow us a few more fly leaves, so that we may paste in newspaper cuttings, and make memoranda and suggestions. It is predicted by some that our nineteenth century books--at least those of the last third--will not last; that the paper and ink are far inferior to those of preceding centuries, and that the destroying tooth of time will work havoc with them. No doubt the modern paper and the modern ink are inferior to those of the earlier ages of printing, when making a book was a fine art and a work of conscience, but whether the modern productions of the press will ultimately fade and crumble is a question to be determined only by a considerable lapse of time, which probably no one living will be qualified to pronounce upon. Take for what they are worth my sentiments respecting THE FAILING BOOKS. They say our books will disappear, That ink will fade and paper rot-- I sha'n't be here, So I don't care a jot. The best of them I know by heart, As for the rest they make me tired; The viler part May well be fired. Oh, what a hypocritic show Will be the bibliomaniac's hoard! Cheat as hollow As a backgammon board. Just think of Lamb without his stuffing, And the iconoclastic Howells, Who spite of puffing Is destitute of bowels. 'Twould make me laugh to see the stare Of mousing bibliomaniac fond At pages bare As Overreach's bond. Those empty titles will displease The earnest student seeking knowledge,-- Barren degrees, Like these of Western College. That common stuff, "Excelsior," In poetry so lacking, I care not for-- 'Tis only fit for packing. It has occurred to me that publishers might appeal to bibliomaniacal tastes by paying a little more attention to their paper, and I have thrown a few suggestions on this point into rhyme, so that they may be readily committed to memory: SUITING PAPER TO SUBJECT. Printers the paper should adapt Unto the subject of the book, Thus making buyers wonder-rapt Before they at the contents look. Thus Beerbohm's learned book on Eggs On a laid paper he should print, But Motley's "Dutch Republic" begs Rice paper should its matter hint. That curious problem of what Man Inhabited the Iron Mask Than Whatman paper never can A more suggestive medium ask. The "Book of Dates," by Mr. Haydon, Should be on paper calendered; That Swift on Servants be arrayed on A hand-made paper is inferred. Though angling-books have never been Accustomed widely to appear On fly-paper, 'twould be no sin To have them wormed from front to rear. The good that authors thus may reap I'll not pursue to tedium, But hint, for books on raising sheep Buckram is just the medium. VII. WOMEN AS COLLECTORS. Women collect all sorts of things except books. To them the book-sense seems to be denied, and it is difficult for them to appreciate its existence in men. To be sure, there have been a few celebrated book-collectors among the fair sex, but they have usually been rather reprehensible ladies, like Diane de Poictiers and Madame Pompadour. Probably Aspasia was a collector of MSS. Lady Jane Grey seems to have been a virtuous exception, and she was cruelly "cropped." I am told that there are a few women now-a-days who collect books, and only a few weeks ago a lady read, before a woman's club in Chicago, a paper on the Collection and Adornment of Books, for which occasion a fair member of the club solicited me to write her something appropriate to read, which of course I was glad to do. But this was in Chicago, where the women go in for culture. In thirty years' haunting of the book-shops and print-shops of New York, I have never seen a woman catching a cold in her head by turning over the large prints, nor soiling her dainty gloves by handling the dirty old books. Women have been depicted in literature in many different occupations, situations and pleasures, but in all the literature that I have read I can recall only one instance in which she is imagined a book-buyer. This is in "The Sentimental Journey," and in celebrating the unique instance let me rise to a nobler strain and sing a song of THE SENTIMENTAL CHAMBERMAID. When you're in Paris, do not fail To seek the Quai de Conti, Where in the roguish Parson's tale, Upon the river front he Bespoke the pretty chambermaid Too innocent to be afraid. On this book-seller's mouldy stall, Crammed full of volumes musty, I made a bibliophilic call And saw, in garments rusty, The ancient vender, queer to view, In breeches, buckles, and a queue. And while to find that famous book, "Les Egaremens du Coeur," I dilligently undertook, I suddenly met her; She held a small green satin purse, And spite of Time looked none the worse. I told her she was known to Fame Through ministerial Mentor, And though I had not heard her name, That this should not prevent her From listening to the homage due To one to Sentiment so true. She blushed; I bowed in courtly fashion; In pockets of my trousers Then sought a crown to vouch my passion, Without intent to rouse hers; But I had left my purse 'twould seem-- And then I woke--'twas but a dream! The heart will wander, never doubt, Though waking faith it keep; That is exceptionally stout Which strays but in its sleep; And hearts must always turn to her Who loved, "Les Egaremens du Coeur." M. Uzanne, in "The Book-Hunter in Paris," avers that "the woman of fashion never goes book-hunting," and he puts the aphorism in italics. He also says that the occasional woman at the book-stalls, "if by chance she wants a book, tries to bargain for it as if it were a lobster or a fowl." Also that the book-stall keepers are always watchful of the woman with an ulster, a water-proof, or a muff. These garments are not always impervious to books, it seems. The imitative efforts of women at "extra-illustrating" are usually limited to buying a set of photographs at Rome and sticking them into the cracks of "The Marble Faun," and giving it away to a friend as a marked favor. Poor Hawthorne! he would wriggle in his grave if he could see his fair admirers doing this. Mr. Blades certainly ought to have included women among the enemies of books. They generally regard the husband's or father's expenditure on books as so much spoil of their gowns and jewels. We book-men are up to all the tricks of getting the books into the house without their knowing it. What joy and glee when we successfully smuggle in a parcel from the express, right under our wife's nose, while she is busy talking scandal to another woman in the drawing-room! The good creatures make us positively dishonest and endanger our eternal welfare. How we "hustle around" in their absence, when the embargo is temporarily raised; and when the new purchases are detected, how we pretend that they are old, and wonder that they have not seen them before, and rattle away in a fevered, embarrassed manner about the scarcity and value of the surreptitious purchases, and how meanly conscious we are all the time that the pretense is unavailing and the fair despots see right through us. God has given them an instinct that is more than a match for our acknowledged superior intellect. And the good wife smiles quietly but satirically, and says, in the form in that case made and provided, "My dear, you'll certainly ruin yourself buying books!" with a sigh that agitates a very costly diamond necklace reposing on her shapely bosom; or she archly shakes at us a warning finger all aglow with ruby and sapphire, which she has bought on installments out of the house allowance. Fortunate for us if the library is not condemned to be cleaned twice a year. These beloved objects ought to deny themselves a ring, or a horse, or a gown, or a ball now and then, to atone for their mankind's debauchery in books; but do they? They ought to encourage the Bibliomania, for it keeps their husbands out of mischief, away from "that horrid club," and safe at home of evenings. The Book-Worm is always a blameless being. He never has to hie to Canada as a refuge. He is "absolutely pure," like all the baking powders. The gentle Addison, in "The Spectator," thus described a woman's library: "The very sound of a lady's library gave me a great curiosity to see it; and as it was some time before the lady came to me, I had an opportunity of turning over a great many of her books, which were ranged together in a very beautiful order. At the end of the folios (which were finely bound and gilt) were great jars of china placed one above another in a very noble piece of architecture. The quartos were separated from the octavos by a pile of smaller vessels, which rose in a delightful pyramid. The octavos were bounded by tea-dishes of all shapes, colors, and sizes, which were so disposed on a wooden frame that they looked like one continued pillar indented with the finest strokes of sculpture, and stained with the greatest variety of dyes. That part of the library which was designed for the reception of plays and pamphlets, and other loose papers, was inclosed in a kind of square, consisting of one of the prettiest grotesque works that I ever saw, and made up of scaramouches, lions, mandarins, monkeys, trees, shells, and a thousand other odd figures in china ware. In the midst of the room was a little Japan table with a quire of gilt paper upon it, and on the paper a silver snuff-box made in shape of a little book. I found there were several other counterfeit books upon the upper shelves, which were carved in wood, and served only to fill up the number, like fagots in the muster of a regiment. I was wonderfully pleased with such a mixed kind of furniture as seemed very suitable both to the lady and the scholar, and did not know at first whether I should fancy myself in a grotto or in a library". If so great a favorite with the fair sex could say such satirical things of them, I may be permitted to have my own idea of A WOMAN'S IDEA OF A LIBRARY. I do not care so much for books, But Libraries are all the style, With fine "editions de luxe" One's formal callers to beguile; With neat dwarf cases round the walls, And china teapots on the top, The empty shelves concealed by falls Of India silk that graceful drop. A few rare etchings greet the view, Like "Harmony" and "Harvest Moon;" An artist's proof on satin too By what's-his-name is quite a boon. My print called "Jupiter and Jo" Is very rarely seen, but then Another copy I can show Inscribed with "Jupiter and 10." A fisher boy in marble stoops On pedestal in window placed, And one of Rogers' lovely groups Is through the long lace curtains traced. And then I make a painting lean Upon a white and gilded easel, Illustrating that famous scene Of Joseph Andrews and Lady Teazle. Of course my shelves the works reveal Of Plutarch, Rollin, and of Tupper, While Bowdler's Shakespeare and "Lucille" Quite soothe one's spirits after supper. And when I visited dear Rome I bought a lot of photographs, And had them mounted here at home, And though my dreadful husband laughs, I've put them in "The Marble Faun," And envious women vainly seek At Scribner's shop, from early dawn, To find a volume so unique. And monthly here, in deep surmise, Minerva's bust above us frowning, A club of women analyze The works of Ibsen and of Browning. In the charming romance, "Realmah," the noble African prince prescribes monogamy to his subjects, but he allows himself three wives; one is a State wife, to sit by his side on the throne, help him receive embassadors, and preside at court dinners; another a household wife, to rule the kitchen and the homely affairs of the palace; the third is a love-wife, to be cherished in his heart and bear him children. Why would it not be fair to the Book-Worm to concede him a Book-wife, who should understand and sympathize with him in his eccentricity, and who should care more for rare and beautiful books than for diamonds, laces, Easter bonnets and ten-button gloves? In regard to women's book-clubs, a recent writer, Mr. Edward Sanford Martin, in "Windfalls of Observation," observes: "If a man wants to read a book he buys it, and if he likes it he buys six more copies and gives (not all the same day, of course) to six women whose intelligence he respects. But if a club of fifteen girls determine to read a book, do they buy fifteen copies? No. Do they buy five copies? No. Do they buy--No, they don't buy at all; they borrow a copy. It doesn't lie in womankind to spend money for books unless they are meant to be a gift for some man." Mr. Martin is a little too hard here, for I have been told of such clubs which sometimes bought one copy. To be sure they always bully the bookseller into letting them have it at cost on account of the probable benefit to his trade. But it is true that no normally organized woman will forego a dollar's worth of ribbon or gloves for a dollar's worth of book. I have sometimes read aloud to a number of women while they were sewing, but I do it no more, for just as I got to a point where you ought to be able to hear a pin drop, I always have heard some woman whisper, "Lend me your eighty cotton." A story was told me of the first meeting of a Browning Club in a large city in Ohio. My informant was a young lady from the East, who was present, and my readers can safely rely on the correctness of the narration. The club was composed of young ladies from sixteen to twenty-five years of age, all of the "first families." It was thought best to take an easy poem for the first meeting, and so one of them read aloud, "The Last Ride Together". After the reading there was a moment's silence, and then one observed that she would like to know whether they took that ride on horseback or in a "buggy." Another silence, and then an artless young bud ventured the remark that she thought it must have been in a buggy, because if it was on horseback he could not have got his arm around her. I once thought of sending this anecdote to Mr. Browning, but was warned that he was destitute of the sense of humor, especially at his own expense, and so desisted. "Ah, that our wives could only see How well the money is invested In these old books, which seem to be By them, alas! so much detested." But the wives are not always unwise in their opposition to their husband's book-buying. There is nothing more pitiful than to see the widow of a poor clergyman or lawyer trying to sell his library, and to witness her disappointment at the shrinkage of value which she had been taught and accustomed to regard as so great. A woman who has a true and wise sympathy with her husband's book-buying is an adored object. I recollect one such, who at her own suggestion gave up the largest and best room in her house to her husband's books, and received her callers and guests in a smaller one--she also received her husband's blessing. VIII. THE ILLUSTRATOR. The popular notion of the Illustrator, as the term is used by the Book-Worm, is that he buys many valuable books containing pictures and spoils them by tearing the pictures out, and from them constructs another valuable book with pictures. We smile to read this in the newspapers. If it were strictly true it would be a very reprehensible practice. But generally the books compelled to surrender their prints to the Illustrator are good for nothing else. To lament over them is as foolish as to grieve over the grape-skins out of which has been pressed the luscious Johannisburger, or to mourn over the unsightly holes which the porcelain-potter has made in the clay-bank. Even among Book-Worms the Illustrator, or the "Grangerite," as the term of reproach is, has come in for many hard knocks in recent years. John Hill Burton set the tune by his merry satire in "The Book-Hunter," in which he portrays the Grangerite illustrating the pious Watts' stanzas, beginning, "How doth the little busy bee." In his first edition Mr. Burton mentioned among "great writers on bees," whose portrait would be desirable, Aristarchus, meaning probably Aristomachus. This mistake is not corrected in the last edition, but the name is omitted altogether. Mr. Beverly Chew "drops into poetry" on the subject, and thus apostrophises the Grangerite: "Ah, ruthless wight, Think of the books you've turned to waste, With patient skill." Mr. Henri Pere Du Bois thus describes the ordinary result: "Of one hundred books extended by the insertion of prints which were not made for them, ninety-nine are ruined; the hundredth book is no longer a book; it is a museum. An imperfect book, built with the spoils of a thousand books; a crazy quilt made of patches out of gowns of queens and scullions." So Burton compares the Grangerite to Genghis Kahn. Mr. Lang declares the Grangerites are "book ghouls, and brood, like the obscene demons of Arabian superstition, over the fragments of the mighty dead." I would like to show Mr. Lang how I have treated his "Letters to Dead Authors" and "Old Friends" by illustration. He would probably feel, with Æsop's lawyer, that "circumstances alter cases," although he says "no book deserves the honor". So a reviewer in "The Nation" stigmatises Grangerism as "a vampire art, maiming when it does not murder" (I did not know that vampires "maim" their victims) "and incapable of rising beyond canibalism" (not that they feed on one another, but when critics get excited their metaphors are apt to become mixed). "G. W. S.," of the New York "Tribune," speaks of the achievement of the Illustrators as "colossal vulgarities." Mr. Percy Fitzgerald observes: "The pitiless Grangerite slaughters a book for a few pictures, just as an epicure has had a sheep killed for the sweetbread". These are very choice hard words. There is much extravagance, but some justice in all this criticism. As a question of economics I do not find any great difference between a Book-worm who spends thousands of dollars in constructing one attractive book from several not attractive, and one who spends a thousand dollars in binding a book, or for an example of a famous old binder. If there is any difference it is in favor of the Grangerite, who improves the volume for the intelligent purposes of the reader, as against the other who merely caters to "the lust of the eye". I am willing to concede that the Grangerite is sometimes guilty of some gross offenses against good taste and good sense. The worst of these is when he extends the text of the volume itself to a larger page in order to embrace large prints. This is grotesque, for it spoils the very book. He is also blamable when he squanders valuable prints and time and patience on mere book lumber, such as long rows of histories; and when he stuffs and crams his book; and when his pictures are not of the era of the events or of the time of life of the persons described; and when they are too large or too small to be in just proportion to the printed page; and when the book is so heavy and cumbersome that no one can handle it with comfort or convenience. Above all he is blamable, in my estimation, when he entrusts the selection of prints to an agent. Such agency is frequently very unsatisfactory, and at all events the Illustrator misses the sport of the hunt. Few men would entrust the furnishing or decorating of a house, the purchase of a horse, or the selection of a wife to a third person, and the delicate matter of choosing prints for a book is essentially one to be transacted in person. The danger of any other procedure in the case of a wife was illustrated by Cromwell's agency for Henry Eighth in the affair of Anne of Cleves, the "Flanders mare." But when it is properly done, it seems to me that the very best thing the Book-Worm ever does is to illustrate his books, because this insures his reading them, at least with his fingers. Not always, for a certain chronicler of collections of privately illustrated books in this country narrates, how "relying upon the index" of a book, which he illustrated, he inserted a portrait of Sam Johnson, the famous, whereas "the text called for Sam Johnson, an eccentric dramatic writer," etc. His binder, he says, laughed at him for being ignorant that there "two Sam Johnsons" (there are four in the biographical dictionaries, one of whom was an early president of King's College in New York). But if done personally and conscientiously it is a means of valuable culture. As one of the oldest survivors of the genus Illustrator in this country, I have thus assumed to offer an apology and defense for my much berated kind. And now let me make a few suggestions as to what seems to me the most suitable mode of the pursuit. In illustrating there seem to be two methods, which may be described as the literal or realistic, and imaginative. The first consists simply in the insertion of portraits, views and scenes appropriate to the text. A pleasing variety may be imparted to this method by substituting for a mere portrait a scene in the life of the celebrity in question. For example, if Charles V. and Titian are mentioned together, it would be interesting to insert a picture representing the historical incident of the emperor picking up and handing the artist a brush which he had dropped--and one will have an interesting hunt to find it. But I am more an adherent of the romantic school, which finds excellent play in the illustration of poetry. For example, in the poem, "Ennui," in "The Croakers," for the line, "The fiend, the fiend is on me still," I found, after a search of some years, a picture of an imp sitting on the breast of a man in bed with the gout. In the same stanza are the lines, "Like a cruel cat, that sucks a child to death," and for this I have a print from a children's magazine, of a cat squatting on the breast of a child in a cradle. Now I would like "a Madagascar bat," which rhymes to "cat" in the poem. "And like a tom-cat dies by inches," is illustrated by a picture of a cat caught by the paw in a steel trap. "Simon" was "a gentleman of color," the favorite pastry cook and caterer of New York half a century ago--before the days of Mr. Ward McAllister. "The Croaker" advises him to "buy an eye-glass and become a dandy and a gentleman." This is illustrated by a rare and fine print of a colored gentleman, dressed in breeches, silk stockings, and ruffled shirt, scanning an overdressed lady of African descent through an eye-glass. "The ups and downs of politics" is illustrated by a Cruikshank print, the upper part of which shows a party making an ascension in a balloon and the lower part a party making a descent in a diving-bell, and entitled "the ups and downs of life." To illustrate the phrase, "seeing the elephant," take the print of Pyrrhus trying to frighten his captive, Fabricus, by suddenly drawing the curtains of his tent and showing him an elephant with his trunk raised in a baggage-smashing attitude. For "The Croakers" there are apt illustrations also of the following queer subjects: Korah, Dathan and Abiram; Miss Atropos, shut up your Scissors; Albany's two Steeples high in Air, Reading Cobbett's Register, Bony in His Prison Isle, Giant Wife, Beauty and The Beast, Fly Market, Tammany Hall, The Dove from Noah's Ark, Rome Saved by Geese, Cæsar Offered a Crown, Cæsar Crossing the Rubicon, Dick Ricker's Bust, Sancho in His Island Reigning, The Wisest of Wild Fowl, Reynold' Beer House, A Mummy, A Chimney Sweep, The Arab's Wind, Pygmalion, Danae, Highland Chieftain with His Tail On, Nightmare, Shaking Quakers, Polony's Crazy Daughter, Bubble-Blowing, First Pair of Breeches, Banquo's Ghost, Press Gang, Fair Lady With the Bandaged Eye, A Warrior Leaning on His Sword, A Warrior's Tomb, A Duel, and A Street Flirtation. As the charm of illustrating consists in the hunt for the prints, so the latter method is the more engrossing because the game is the more difficult to run down. Portraits, views and scenes are plenty, but to find them properly adaptable is frequently difficult. Some things which one would suppose readily procurable are really hard to find. For example, it was a weary chase to get a treadmill, and so of a drum-major, although the latter is now not uncommon: and although I know it exists, I have not attained unto a bastinado. Sirens and mermaids are rather retiring, and when Vedder depicted the Sea-Serpent he conferred a boon on Illustrators. "God's Scales," in which the mendicant weighs down the rich man, is a rarity. Milton leaving his card on Galileo in prison is among my wants, although I have seen it. As to scarce portraits, let me sing a song of THE SHY PORTRAITS. Oh, why do you elude me so-- Ye portraits that so long I've sought? That somewhere ye exist, I know-- Indifferent, good, and good for naught. Lucrezia, of the poisoned cup, Why do you shrink away by stealth? To view your "mug" with you I'd sup, And even dare to drink your health. Oh! why so coy, Godiva fair? You're covered by your shining tresses, And I would promise not to stare At sheerest of go-diving dresses. Come out, old Bluebeard; don't be shy! You're not so bad as Froude's great hero; Xantippe, fear no law gone by When scolds were ducked in ponds at zero. Not mealy-mouthed was Mrs. Behn, And prudish was satiric Jane, But equally they both shun men, As if they bore the mark of Cain. George Barrington, you may return To country which you "left for good;" Psalmanazar, I would not spurn Your language when 'twas understood. Jean Grolier, you left many books-- They come so dear I must ignore 'em-- But there's no evidence of your looks For us surviving "amicorum." This country's overrun by grangers-- I'm ignorant of their christian names But my afflicted eyes are strangers To one I want whom men call James. There's Heber, man of many books-- You're far more modest than the Bishop; I'm curious to learn your looks, And care for nothing shown at his shop. And oh! that wondrous, pattern child! His truthfulness, no one can match it; Dear little George! I'm almost wild To find a wood-cut of his hatchet. Show forth your face, Anonymous, Whose name is in the books I con Most frequently; so famous thus, Will you not come to me anon? By way of jest I have inserted an anonymous portrait opposite an anonymous poem, and was once gravely asked by an absent-minded friend if it really was the portrait of the author. One however will probably look in vain for portraits of "Quatorze" and "Quinze," for which a print seller of New York once had an inquiry, and I have been told of a collector who returned Arlington because of the cut on his nose, and Ogle because of his damaged eye. But there is more sport in hunting for a dodo than a rabbit. It is also a pleasant thing to lay a picture occasionally in a book without setting out to illustrate it regularly, so that it may break upon one as a surprise when he takes up the book years afterward. It is a grateful surprise to find in Ruskin's "Modern Painters" a casual print from Roger's "Italy," and in Hamerton's books some sporadic etchings by Rembrandt or Hayden. It is like discovering an unexpected "quarter" in the pocket of an old waistcoat. For example, in "With Thackeray in America," Mr. Eyre Crowe tells how the second number of the first edition of "The Newcomes" came to the author when he was in Paris, and how he found fault with Doyle's illustration of the games of the Charterhouse boys. He says: "The peccant accessory which roused the wrath of the writer was the group of two boys playing at marbles on the left of the spectator. 'Why,' said the irate author, 'they would as soon thought of cutting off their heads as play marbles at the Charterhouse!' This woodcut was, I noticed, suppressed altogether in subsequent editions." Now in my copy--not being the possessor of the first edition--I have made a reference to Mr. Crowe's passage, and supplied the suppressed cut from an early American copy which cost me twenty-five cents. How many of the first edition men know of the interesting fact narrated by Mr. Crowe? The Illustrator ought always at least to insert the portrait of the author whenever it has been omitted by the publisher. Second: What to illustrate. The Illustrator should not be an imitator or follower, but should strive after an unhackneyed subject. A man is not apt to marry the woman who flings herself at his head; he loves the excitement of courting; and so there is not much amusement in utilizing common pictures, but the charm consists in hunting for scarce ones. It is very natural to tread in others' tracks, and easy, because the market affords plenty of material for the common subjects. Shakespeare and Walton and Boswell's Johnson, and a few other things of that sort, have been done to death, and there is fairer scope in something else. Biographies of Painters, Elia's Essays, Sir Thomas Browne's "Religio Medici" and "Urn Burial," "Childe Harold," Horace, Virgil, the Life of Bayard, or of Vittoria Colonna, or Philip Sidney, and Sappho are charming subjects, and not too common. A ponderous or voluminous work lends itself less conveniently to the purpose than a small book in one or two volumes. Great quartos and folios are mere mausoleums or repositories for expensive prints, too huge to handle, and too extensive for any one ever to look through, and therefore they afford little pleasure to the owners or their guests. An illustrated Shakespeare in thirty volumes is theoretically a very grand object, but I should never have the heart to open it, and as for histories, I should as soon think of illustrating a dictionary. Walton is a lovely subject, but I would adopt a small copy and keep it within two or three volumes. After all there is nothing so charming as a single little illustrated volume, like "Ballads of Books," compiled by Brander Matthews; Andrew Lang's "Letters to Dead Authors," or "Old Friends," Friswell's "Varia," the "Book of Death," "Melodies and Madrigals," "The Book of Rubies," Winter's "Shakespeare's England." A gentleman who published, a good many years ago, a monograph of privately illustrated books in this country, spoke of the work that I had done in this field, and criticised me for my "apparent want of method," "eccentricity," "madness," "vagaries," "omnivorousness," and "lack of speciality or system," and finally, although he blamed me for having illustrated pretty much everything, he also blamed me for not having illustrated any "biographical works." This criticism seems not only inconsistent, but without basis, for one man may not dictate to another what he shall prefer to illustrate for his own amusement, any more than what sort of a house or pictures he shall buy or what complexion or stature his wife shall have. The author also did me the honor to spell my name wrong, and did the famous Greek amatory poet the honor of mentioning among my illustrated work, "Odes to Anacreon." Would that I could find that book! I offer these suggestions with diffidence, and with no intention to impose my taste upon others. If the Illustrator can get or make something absolutely unique he is a fortunate man. For example, I know one, stigmatized as eccentric, who has illustrated a printed catalogue of his own library with portraits of the authors, copies of prints in the books, and duplicates of engraved title-pages; also one who has illustrated a collection in print or in manuscript of his own poems; also one who has illustrated a Life of Hercules, written by himself, printed by one of his own family, and adorned with prints from antique gems and other subjects; and even a lawyer who has illustrated a law book written by himself, in which he has found place for prints so diverse and apparently out of keeping as Jonah and the whale, John Brown, a man pacing the floor in a nightgown with a crying baby, a "darkey" shot in a melon-patch, an elephant on the rampage, Cupid, Hudibras writing a letter, Joanna Southcote, Launce and his dog, a dog catching a boy going over a wall, Dr. Watts, Robinson Crusoe, Barnum in the form of a hum-bug, Jacob Hall the rope dancer, Lord Mayor's procession, Raphael discoursing to Adam, gathering sea-weed, Artemus Ward, a whale ashore, a barber-shop, Gilpin's ride, King Lear, St. Lawrence on his gridiron, Charles Lamb, Terpsichore, and a child tumbling into a well. The owner of such a book may be sure that it is unique, as the man was certain his coat of arms was genuine, because he made it himself. Third: the Illustrator should not be in a hurry. There are three singular things about the hunt for pictures. One is, the moment you have your book bound, no matter how many years you may have waited, some rare picture you wanted is sure to turn up. Hence the reluctance of the Illustrator to commit himself to binding, a reluctance only paralleled by that of the lover to marry the woman he had courted for ten years, because then he would have no place to spend his evenings. (I have had books "in hand" for twenty years). Another is, when you have found your rare picture you are pretty certain to find one or two duplicates. Prints, like accidents or crimes, seem to come in cycles and schools. I have known a man to search in vain in thirty print-shops in London, and coming home find what he wanted in a New York print-shop, and two copies at that. The third is, that you are continually coming very near the object without quite attaining it. Thus one may get Lady Godiva alone, and the effigy of Peeping Tom on the corner of an old house at Coventry, but to procure the whole scene is, so far as I know, out of the question. It would seem that Mr. Anthony Comstock has put his ban on it. So one will find it difficult to get "God's scales," in which wealth and poverty are weighed against each other, but I have had other scales thrust at me, such as those in which the emblems of love are weighed against those of religion, and a king against a beggar, but even the latter is not the precise thing, for in these days there are poor kings and rich beggars. One opinion in which all illustrators agree seems sound, and that is, that photographs are not to be tolerated. Photography is the most misrepresentative of arts. But an exception may be indulged in the case of those few celebrities who are too modest to allow themselves to be engraved, and of whom photography furnishes the only portraiture. A photographic copy of a rare portrait in oil is also admissible. Some also exclude wood-cuts. I am not such a purist as that. They are frequently the only means of illustrating a subject, and small and fine wood-cuts form charming head and tail pieces and marginal adornments. One who eschews wood-cuts must forego such interesting little subjects as Washington and his little hatchet, God's scales, the skeleton in the closet, and many of those which I have particularized. I flatter myself that I have made the margins of a good many books very interesting by means of small wood-cuts, of which our modern magazines provide an abundant and exquisite supply. These furnish a copious source of specific illustration. With their zeal illustrators are sometimes apt to be anachronistic. Every book ought to be illustrated in the spirit and costume of its time. The book should not be stuffed too full of prints; let a better proportion be preserved between the text and the illustrations than Falstaff observed between his bread and his sack. The prints should not be so numerous as to cause the text to be forgotten, as in the case of a tedious sermon. Probably nearly every collector expects that his treasures will be dispersed at his death, if not sooner. But it is a serious question to the illustrator, what will become of these precious objects upon which he has spent so much time, thought and labor, and for which he has expended so much money. He never cares and rarely knows, and if he knows he never tells, how much they have cost, but he may always be certain that they will never fetch their cost. Let us not indulge in any false dreams on this subject. The time may have been when prints were cheap and when the illustrator may have been able to make himself whole or even reap a profit, but that day I believe has gone by. One can hardly expect that his family will care for these things; the son generally thinks the Book-Worm a bore, and the wife of one's bosom and the daughter of one's heart usually affect more interest than they feel, and if they kept such objects would do so from a sense of duty alone, as the ancient Romans preserved the cinerary urns of their ancestors. For myself, I have often imagined my grandson listlessly turning over one of my favorite illustrated volumes, and saying, "What a funny old duffer grandad must have been!" Such a book-club, as the "Grolier," of New York, is a fortunate avenue of escape from these evils. There one might deposit at least some of his peculiar treasures, certain that they would receive good care, be regarded with permanent interest, and keep alive his memory. To augment his books by inserting prints is ordinarily just the one thing which the Book-Worm can do to render them in a deeper sense his own, and to gain for himself a peculiar proprietorship in them. Generally he cannot himself bind them, but by this means he may render himself a coadjutor of the author, and place himself on equal terms with the printer and the binder. After he has illustrated a favorite book once, it is an enjoyable occupation for the Book-Worm to do it over again, in a different spirit and with different pictures. "Second thoughts are best," it has been said, and I have more than once improved my subject by a second treatment. There is another form of illustration, of which I have not spoken, and that is the insertion of clippings from magazines and newspapers in the fly leaves. Sometimes these are of intense interest. My own Dickens, Thackeray and Hawthorne, in particular have their porticoes and posterms plentifully supplied with material of this sort. The latest contribution of this kind is to "Martin Chuzzlewit," and consists in the information that a western American "land-shark" has recently swindled people by selling them swamp-lots, attractively depicted on a map and named Eden. In my Pepys I have laid Mr. Lang's recent letter to the diarist. So on a fly leaf of Hawthorne's Life it is pleasing to see a cut of his little red house at Lenox, now destroyed by fire. IX. BOOK-PLATES. A rather modern form of book-spoliation has arisen in the collection of book-plates. These are literally derived "ex libris," and the business cannot be indulged, as a general thing, without in some sense despoiling books. It cannot be denied that it is a fascinating pursuit. So undoubtedly is the taking of watches or rings or other "articles of bigotry or virtue," on the highway. But somehow there is something so essentially personal in a book-plate, that it is hard to understand why other persons than the owners should become possessed by a passion for it. Many years ago when Burton, the great comedian, was in his prime, he used to act in a farce called "Toodles"--at all events, that was his name in the play--and he was afflicted with a wife who had a mania for attending auctions and buying all kinds of things, useful or useless, provided that they only seemed cheap. One day she came home with a door-plate, inscribed, "Thompson"--"Thompson with a p," as Toodles wrathfully described it; and this was more than Toodles could stand. He could not see what possible use there could ever be in that door-plate for the Toodles family. In those same days, there used to be displayed on the door of a modest house, on the east side of Broadway, in the city of New York, somewhere about Eighth Street, a silver door-plate inscribed, "Mr. Astor." This appertained to the original John Jacob. In those days I frequently remarked it, and thought what a prize it would be to Mrs. Toodles or some collector of door-plates. Now I can understand why one might acquire a taste for collecting book-plates of distinguished men or famous book-collectors, just as one collects autographs; but why collect hundreds and thousands of book-plates of undistinguished and even unknown persons, frequently consisting of nothing more than family coats-of-arms, or mere family names? I must confess that I share to a certain extent in Mr. Lang's antipathy to this species of collecting, and am disposed to call down on these collectors Shakespeare's curse on him who should move his bones. But I cannot go with Mr. Lang when he calls these well-meaning and by no means mischevious persons some hard names. In some localities it is quite the vogue to take off the coffin-plate from the coffin--all the other silver "trimmings," too, for that matter--and preserve it, and even have it framed and hung up in the home of the late lamented. There may be a sense of proprietorship in the mourners, who have bought and paid for it, and see no good reason for burying it, that will justify this practice. At all events it is a family matter. The coffin plate reminds the desolate survivors of the person designated, who is shelved forever in the dust. But what would be said of the sense or sanity of one who should go about collecting and framing coffin-plates, cataloguing them, and even exchanging them? Book-worms penetrate to different distances in books. Some go no further than the title page; others dig into the preface or bore into the table of contents; a few begin excavations at the close, to see "how it comes out." But that Worm is most easily satisfied who never goes beyond the inside of the front cover, and passes his time in prying off the book-plates. I think I have heard of persons who collect colophons. These go to work in the reverse direction, and are even more reprehensible than the accumulators of book-plates, because they inevitably ruin the book. A book-plate is appropriate, sometimes ornamental, even beautiful, in its intended place in the proprietor's book. Out of that, with rare exceptions, it strikes one like the coffin-plate, framed and hanging on the wall. It gives additional value and attractiveness to a book which one buys, but it ought to remain there. If one purchases books once owned by A, B and C--undistinguished persons, or even distinguished--containing their autographs, he does not cut them out to form a collection of autographs. If the name is not celebrated, the autograph has no interest or value; if famous, it has still greater interest and value by remaining in the book. So it seems to me it should be in respect to book-plates. Let Mr. Astor's door-plate stay on his front door, and let the energetic Mrs. Toodles content herself in buying something less invididual and more adaptable. A book-plate really is of no value except to the owner, as the man says of papers which he has lost. It cannot be utilized to mark the possessions of another. In this respect it is of inferior value to the door-plate, for possibly another Mr. Astor might arise, to whom the orignal door-plate might be sold. A Boston newspaper tells of a peddler of door-plates who contracted to sell a Salem widow a door-plate; and when she gave him her name to be engraved on it, gave only her surname, objecting to any first name or initials, observing: "I might get married again, and if my initials or first name were on the plate, it would be of no use. If they are left off, the plate could be used by my son." Thus much about collecting book-plates. One word may be tolerated about the character of one's own book-plate. To my taste, mere coats-of-arms with mottoes are not the best form. They simply denote ownership. They might well answer some further purpose, as for example to typify the peculiar tastes of the proprietor in respect to his books. A portrait of the owner is not objectionable, indeed is quite welcome in connection with some device or motto pertaining to books and not to mere family descent. But why, although a collector may have a favorite author, like Hawthorne or Thackeray, for example, should he insert his portrait in his book-plate, as is often done? Mr. Howells would writhe in his grave if he knew that somebody had stuck Thackeray's portrait or Scott's in "Silas Lapham," and those Calvinists who think that the "Scarlet Letter" is wicked, would pronounce damnation on the man who should put the gentle Hawthorne's portrait in a religious book. To be sure, one might have a variety of book-plates, with portraits appropriate to different kinds of books--Napoleon's for military, Calvin for religious, Walton's for angling and a composite portrait of Howells-James for fiction of the photographic school; but this would involve expense and destroy the intrinsic unity desirable in the book-plate. So let the portrait, if any, be either that of the proprietor or a conventional image. If I were to relax and allow a single exception it would be in favor of dear Charles Lamb's portrait in "Fraser's," representing him as reading a book by candle light. (For the moment this idea pleases me so much that I feel half inclined to eat all my foregoing words on this point, and adopt it for myself. At any rate, I hereby preempt the privilege.) I have referred to Mr. Lang's antipathy to book-plate collectors, and while, as I have observed, he goes to extravagant lengths in condemning their pursuit, still it may be of interest to my readers to know just what he says about them, and so I reproduce below a ballad on the subject, with (the material for) which he kindly supplied me when I solicited his mild expression of opinion on the subject: THE SNATCHERS. The Romans snatched the Sabine wives; The crime had some extenuation, For they were leading lonely lives And driven to reckless desperation. Lord Elgin stripped the Grecian frieze Of all its marbles celebrated, So our art-students now with ease Consult the figures overrated. Napoleon stole the southern pictures And hung them up to grace the Louvre; And though he could not make them fixtures, They answered as an art-improver. Bold men ransack an Egyptian tomb, And with the mummies there make free; Such intermeddling with Time's womb May aid in archeology. So Cruncher dug up graves in haste, To sell the corpses to the doctors; This trade was not against his taste, Though Misses "flopped," and vowed it shocked hers. The modern snatcher sponges leaves And boards of books to crib their labels; Most petty, trivial of thieves, Surpassing all we read in fables. He pastes them in a big, blank book To show them to some rival fool, And I pronounce him, when I look, An almost idiotic ghoul. X. THE BOOK-AUCTIONEER. There is one figure that stands in a very unpleasant relation to books. If anybody has any curiosity to know what I consider the most undesirable occupation of mankind, I will answer candidly--that of an auctioneer of private libraries. It does not seem to have fallen into disrepute like that of the headsman or hangman, and perhaps it is as unpleasantly essential as that of the undertaker. But it generally thrives on the unhappiness of those who are compelled to part with their books, on the rivalries of the rich, and the strifes of the trade. It was urged against Mr. Cleveland, on his first canvass for the Presidency, that when he was sheriff he had hanged a murderer. For my own part, I admired him for performing that solemn office himself rather than hiring an underling to do it. But if he had been a book-auctioneer, I might have been prejudiced against him. Not so ignoble and inhuman perhaps as that of the slave-seller, still the business must breed a sort of callousness which is abhorrent to the genial Book-Worm. How I hate the glib rattle of his tongue, the mouldiness of his jests and the transparency of his puffery! I should think he would hate himself. It must be worse than acting Hamlet or Humpty Dumpty a hundred consecutive nights. Dante had no punishment for the Book-Worm in hell, if I remember right, but if he deserved any pitiless reprobation, it would be found in compelling him to cry off books to all eternity. Grant that the auctioneer is a person of sensibility and acquainted with good books, then his calling must give him many a pang as he observes the ignorance and carelessness of his audience. It is better and more fitting that he should know little of his wares. He ought to be well paid for his work, and he is--no man gets so much for mere talk except the lawyer, and perhaps not even he. I do not so much complain of his favoritism. When there is something especially desirable going, I frequently fail to catch his eye, and my rival gets the prize. But in this he is no worse than the Speaker. On the other hand he sometimes loads me up with a thing that I do not want, and in possession of which I would be unwilling to be found dead, pretending that I winked at him--a species of imposition which it is impolitic to resent for fear of being entirely ignored. These discretionary favors are regarded as a practical joke and must not be declined. But what I do complain of is his commercial stolidity, surpassing that of Charles Surface when he sold the portraits of his ancestors. The "bete noir" of the book trade is THE STOLID AUCTIONEER. Let not a sad ghost From the scribbling host Revisit this workaday sphere; He'll find in the sequel All talents are equal When they come to the auctioneer. Not a whit cares he What the book may be, Whether missal with glorious show, A folio Shakespeare, Or an Elzevir, Or a Tupper, or E. P. Roe. Without any qualms He knocks down the Psalms, Or the chaste Imitatio, And takes the same pains To enhance his gains With a ribald Boccaccio. He rattles them off, Not stopping to cough, He shows no distinction of person; One minute's enough For similar stuff Like Shelley and Ossian Macpherson. A Paradise Lost Is had for less cost Than a bulky "fifteener" in Greek, And Addison's prose Quite frequently goes For a tenth of a worthless "unique." This formula stale Of his will avail For an epitaph meet for his rank, When dropping his gavel He falls in the gravel, "Do I hear nothing more?--gone--to--? I speak feelingly, but I think it is pardonable. I once went through an auction sale of my own books, and while I lost money on volumes on which I had bestowed much thought, labor and expense, I made a profit on Gibbon's "Decline and Fall" in tree-calf. I do not complain of the loss; what I was mortified by was the profit. But the auctioneer was not at all abashed; in fact he seemed rather pleased, and apparently regarded it as a feather in his cap. I have always suspected that the shameless purchaser was Silas Wegg. XI. THE BOOKSELLER. Considering his importance in modern civilization, it is singular that so little has been recorded of the Bookseller in literature. Shakespeare has a great deal to say of books of various kinds, but not a word, I believe, of the Bookseller. It is true that Ursa Major gave a mitigated growl of applause to the booksellers, if I recollect my Boswell right, and he condescended to write a life of Cave, but bookseller in his view meant publisher. It is true that Charles Knight wrote a book entitled "Shadows of the Old Booksellers," but here too the characters were mainly publishers, and his account of them is indeed shadowy. The chief thing that I recall about any of the booksellers thus celebrated is that Tom Davies had "a pretty wife," which is probably the reason why Doctor Johnson thought Tom would better have stuck to the stage. So far as I know, the most vivid pen-pictures of booksellers are those depicting the humble members of the craft, the curb-stone venders. They are much more picturesque than their more affluent brethren who are used to the luxury of a roof. Rummaging over the contents of an old stall, at a half book, half old iron shop in Ninety-four alley, leading from Wardour street to Soho, yesterday, I lit upon a ragged duodecimo, which has been the strange delight of my infancy; the price demanded was sixpence, which the owner (a little squab duodecimo of a character himself) enforced with the assurance that his own mother should not have it for a farthing less. On my demurring to this extraordinary assertion, the dirty little vender reinforced his assertion with a sort of oath, which seemed more than the occasion demanded. "And now," said he, "I have put my soul to it." Pressed by so solemn an asseveration, I could no longer resist a demand which seemed to set me, however unworthy, upon a level with his nearest relations; and depositing a tester, I bore away the battered prize in triumph. --Essays of Elia. Monsieur Uzanne, who has treated of the elegancies of the Fan, the Muff, and the Umbrella, has more recently given the world a quite unique series of studies among the bookstalls and the quays of Paris--"The Book Hunter in Paris"--and this too one finds more entertaining than any account of Quaritch's or Putnam's shop would be. I must bear witness to the honesty and liberality of booksellers. When one considers the hundreds of catalogues from which he has ordered books at a venture, even from across the ocean, and how seldom he has been misled or disappointed in the result, one cannot subscribe to a belief in the dogma of total depravity. I remember some of my booksellers with positive affection. They were such self-denying men to consent to part with their treasures at any price. And as a rule they are far more careless than ordinary merchants about getting or securing their pay. To be sure it is rather ignoble for the painter of a picture, or the chiseller of a statue, or the vender of a fine book, to affect the acuteness of tradesmen in the matter of compensation. The excellent bookseller takes it for granted, if he stoops to think about it, that if a man orders a Caxton or a Grolier he will pay for it, at his convenience. It was this unthinking liberality which led a New York bookseller to give credit to a distinguished person--afterwards a candidate for the Presidency--to a considerable amount, and to let the account stand until it was outlawed, and his sensibilities were greviously shocked, when being compelled to sue for his due, his debtor pleaded the statute of limitations! His faith was not restored even when the acute buyer left a great sum of money by his will to found a public library, and the legacy failed through informality. I have only one complaint to make against booksellers. They should teach their clerks to recognize The Book-Worm at a glance. It is very annoying, when I go browsing around a book-shop, to have an attendant come up and ask me, who have bought books for thirty years, if he can "show me anything"--just as if I wanted to see anything in particular--or if "anybody is waiting on me"--when all I desire is to be let alone. Some booksellers, I am convinced, have this art of recognition, for they let me alone, and I make it a rule always to buy something of them, but never when their employees are so annoyingly attentive. I do not object to being watched; it is only the implication that I need any assistance that offends me. It is easy to recognize the Book-Worm at a glance by the care with which he handles the rare books and the indifference with which he passes the standard authors in holiday bindings. Once I had a bookseller who had a talent for drawing, which he used to exercise occasionally on the exterior of an express package of books. One of these wrappings I have preserved, exhibiting a pen-and-ink drawing of a war-ship firing a big gun at a few small birds. Perhaps this was satirically intended to denote the pains and time he had expended on so small a sale. But I will now immortalize him. The most striking picture of a bookseller that I recall in all literature is one drawn by M. Uzanne, in the charming book mentioned above, which I will endeavor to transmute and transmit under the title of THE PROPHETIC BOOK. "La Croix," said the Emperor, "cease to beguile; These bookstalls must go from my bridges and quays; No longer shall tradesmen my city defile With mouldering hideous scarecrows like these." While walking that night with the bibliophile, On the Quai Malaquais by the Rue de Saints Peres, The Emperor saw, with satirical smile, Enkindling his stove, in the chill evening air, With leaves which he tore from a tome by his side, A bookseller ancient, with tremulous hands; And laying aside his imperial pride, "What book are you burning?" the Emperor demands. For answer Pere Foy handed over the book, And there as the headlines saluted his glance, Napoleon read, with a stupefied look, "Account of the Conquests and Victories of France." The dreamer imperial swallowed his ire; Pere Foy still remained at his musty old stand, Till France was environed by sword and by fire, And Germans like locusts devoured the land. Doubtless the occupation of bookseller is generally regarded as a very pleasant as well as a refined one. But there is another side, in the estimation of a true Book-Worm, and it is not agreeable to him to contemplate the life of THE BOOK-SELLER. He stands surrounded by rare tomes Which find with him their transient homes, He knows their fragrant covers; He keeps them but a week or two, Surrenders then their charming view To bibliomaniac lovers. An enviable man, you say, To own such wares if but a day, And handle, see and smell; But all the time his spirit shrinks, As wandering through his shop he thinks He only keeps to sell. The man who buys from him retains His purchase long as life remains, And then he doesn't mind If his unbookish eager heirs, Administering his affairs, Shall throw them to the wind. Or if in life he sells, in sooth, 'Tis parting with a single tooth, A momentary pain; Booksellers, like Sir Walter's Jew, Must this keen suffering renew, Again and yet again. And so we need not envy him Who sells us books, for stark and grim Remains this torture deep. This Universalistic hell-- Throughout this life he's bound to sell; He has, but cannot keep. XII. THE PUBLIC LIBRARIAN. There is one species of the Book-Worm which is more pitiable than the Bookseller, and that is the Public Librarian, especially of a circulating library. He is condemned to live among great collections of books and exhibit them to the curious public, and to be debarred from any proprietorship in them, even temporary. But the greater part this does not grieve a true Book-Worm, for he would scorn ownership of a vast majority of the books which he shows, but on the comparatively rare occasions when he is called on to produce a real book (in the sense of Bibliomania), he must be saddened by the reflection that it is not his own, and that the inspection of it is demanded of him as a matter of right. I have often observed the ill concealed reluctance with which the librarian complies with such a request; how he looks at the demandant with a degree of surprise, and then produces the key of the repository where the treasure is kept under guard, and heaving a sigh delivers the volume with a grudging hand. It was this characteristic which led me in my youth, before I had been inducted into the delights of Bibliomania and had learned to appreciate the feelings of a librarian, to define him as one who conceives it to be his duty to prevent the public from seeing the books. I owe a good old librarian an apology for having said this of him, and hereby offer my excuses to one whose honorable name is recorded in the Book of Life. Much is to be forgiven to the man who loves books, and yet is doomed to deal out books that perish in the using, which no human being would ever read a second time nor "be found dead with." These are the true tests of a good book, especially the last. Shelley died with a little Æschylus on his person, which the cruel waves spared, and when Tennyson fell asleep it was with a Shakespeare, open at "Cymbeline." One may be excused for reading a good deal that he never would re-read, but not for owning it, nor for owning a good deal which he would feel ashamed to have for his last earthly companion. But now for my tribute to THE PUBLIC LIBRARIAN. His books extend on every side, And up and down the vistas wide His eye can take them in; He does not love these books at all, Their usefulness in big and small He counts as but a sin. And all day long he stands to serve The public with an aching nerve; He views them with disdain-- The student with his huge round glasses, The maiden fresh from high school classes, With apathetic brain; The sentimental woman lorn, The farmer recent from his corn, The boy who thirsts for fun, The graybeard with a patent-right, The pedagogue of school at night, The fiction-gulping one. They ask for histories, reports, Accounts of turf and prize-ring sports, The census of the nation; Philosophy and science too, The fresh romances not a few, Also "Degeneration." "They call these books!" he said, and throws Them down in careless heaps and rows Before the ticket-holder; He'd like to cast them at his head, He wishes they might strike him dead, And with the reader moulder. But now as for the shrine of saint He seeks a spot whence sweet and faint A leathery smell exudes, And there behind the gilded wires For some loved rarity inquires Which common gaze eludes. He wishes Omar would return That vulgar mob of books to burn, While he, like Virgil's hero, Would shoulder off this precious case To some secluded private place With temperature at zero. And there in that Seraglio Of books not kept for public show, He'd feast his glowing eyes, Forgetting that these beauties rare, Morocco-clad and passing fair, Are but the Sultan's prize. But then a tantalizing sense Invades expectancy intense, And with extorted moan, "Unhappy man!" he sighs, "condemned To show such treasure and to lend-- I keep, but cannot own!" XIII. DOES BOOK COLLECTING PAY. We now come to the sordid but serious consideration whether books are a "good investment" in the financial sense. The mind of every true Book-Worm should revolt from this question, for none except a bookseller is pardonable for buying books with the design of selling them. Booksellers are a necessary evil, as purveyors for the Book-Worm. I regard them as the old woman regarded the thirty-nine articles of faith; when inquired of by her bishop what she thought of them, she said, "I don't know as I've anything against them." So I don't know that I have anything against booksellers, although I must concede that they generally have something against me. As no well regulated man ever grudges expense on the house that forms his home, or on its adornment, and rarely cares or even reflects whether he can get his money back, so it is with the true bibliomaniac. He never intends to part with his books any more than with his homestead. Then again the use and enjoyment of books ought to count for something like interest on the capital invested. Many times, directly or indirectly, the use of a library is worth even more than the interest on the outlay. It is singular how expenditure in books is regarded as an extravagance by the business world. One may spend the price of a fine library in fast or showy horses, or in travel, or in gluttony, or in stock speculations eventuating on the wrong side of his ledger, and the money-grubbing community think none the worse of him. But let him expend annually a few thousands in books, and these sons of Mammon pull long faces, wag their shallow heads, and sneeringly observe, "screw loose somewhere," "never get half what he has paid for them," "too much of a Book-Worm to be a sharp business man." A man who boldly bets on stocks in Wall Street is a gallant fellow, forsooth, and excites the admiration of the business community (especially of those who thrive on his losses) even when he "comes out at the little end of the horn." As Ruskin observes, we frequently hear of a bibliomaniac, never of a horse-maniac. It is said there is a private stable in Syracuse, New York, which has cost several hundred thousand dollars. The owner is regarded as perfectly sane and the building is viewed with great pride by the public, but if the owner had expended as much on a private library his neighbors would have thought him a lunatic. If a man in business wants to excite the suspicion of the sleek gentlemen who sit around the discount board with him, or yell like lunatics at the stock exchange with him, or talk with him about the tariff or free silver, or any other subject on which no two men ever agree unless it is for their interest, let it leak out that he has put a few thousand dollars into a Mazarine Bible, or a Caxton, or a first folio Shakespeare or some other rare book. No matter if he can afford it, most of his associates regard him as they do a Bedlamite who goes about collecting straws. Fortunate is he if his wife does not privately call on the family attorney and advise with him about putting a committee over the poor man. But if we must regard book-buying in a money sense, and were to admit that books never sell for as much as they cost, it is no worse in respect to books than in respect to any other species of personal property. What chattel is there for which the buyer can get as much as he paid, even the next day? When it is proposed to transform the seller himself into the buyer of the same article, we find that the bull of yesterday is converted into the bear of to-day. Circumstances alter cases. I have bought a good many books and "objects of bigotry and virtue," and have sold some, and the nearest I ever came to getting as much as I paid was in the case of a rare print, the seller of which, after the lapse of several years, solicited me to let him have it again, at exactly what I paid for it, in order that he might sell it to some one else at an advance. I declined his offer with profuse thanks, and keep the picture as a curiosity. So I should say, as a rule, that books are not a good financial investment in the business sense, and speaking of most books and most buyers. Give a man the same experience in buying books that renders him expert in buying other personal property, the mere gross objects of trade, and let him set out with the purpose of accumulating a library that shall be a remunerative financial investment, and he may succeed, indeed, has often succeeded, certainly to the extent of getting back his outlay with interest, and sometimes making a handsome profit. But this needs experience. Just as one must build at least two houses before he can exactly suit himself, so he must collect two libraries before he can get one that will prove a fair investment in the vulgar sense of trade. I dare say that one will frequently pay more for a fine microscope or telescope than he can ever obtain for it if he desires or is pressed to sell it, but who would or should stop to think of that? The power of prying into the mysteries of the earth and the wonders of the heavens should raise one's thoughts above such petty considerations. So it should be in buying that which enables one to converse with Shakespeare or Milton or scan the works of Raphael or Durer. When the pioneer on the western plains purchases an expensive rifle he does not inquire whether he can sell it for what it costs; his purpose is to defend his house against Indians and other wild beasts. So the true book-buyer buys books to fight weariness, disgust, sorrow and despair; to loose himself from the world and forget time and all its limitations and besetments. In this view they never cost too much. And so when asked if book-collecting pays, I retort by asking, does piety pay? "Honesty is the best policy" is the meanest of maxims. Honesty ought to be a principle and not a policy; and book-collecting ought to be a means of education, refinement and enjoyment, and not a mode of financial investment. XIV. THE BOOK-WORM'S FAULTS. This is not a case of "Snakes in Iceland," for the Book-Worm has faults. One of his faults is his proneness to regard books as mere merchandise and not as vehicles of intellectual profit, that is to say, to be read. Too many collectors buy books simply for their rarity and with too little regard to the value of their contents. The Circassian slave-dealer does not care whether his girls can talk sense or not, and too many men buy books with a similar disregard to their capacity for instructing or entertaining. It seems to me that a man who buys books which he does not read, and especially such as he cannot read, merely on account of their value as merchandise, degrades the noble passion of bibliomania to the level of a trade. When I go through such a library I think of what Christ said to the traders in the Temple. Another fault is his lack of independence and his tendency to imitate the recognized leaders. He is too prone to buy certain books simply because another has them, and thus even rare collections are apt to fall into a tiresome routine. The collector who has a hobby and independence to ride it is admirable. Let him addict himself to some particular subject or era or "ana," and try to exhaust it, and before he is conscious he will have accumulated a collection precious for its very singularity. It strikes me that the best example of this idea that I have ever heard of is the attempt, in which two collectors in this country are engaged, to acquire the first or at least one specimen of every one of the five hundred fifteenth century printers. If this should ever succeed, the great libraries of all the world would be eager for it, and the undertaking is sufficiently arduous to last a lifetime. Sometimes out of this fault, sometimes independently of it, arises the fault by which book collecting degenerates into mere rivalry--the vulgar desire of display and ambition for a larger or rarer or costlier accumulation than one's neighbor has. The determination not to be outdone does not lend dignity or worth to the pursuit which would otherwise be commendable. During the late civil war in this country the chaplain of a regiment informed his colonel, who was not a godly person, that there was a hopeful revival of religion going on in a neighboring and rival regiment, and that forty men had been converted and baptized. "Dashed if I will submit to that," said the swearing colonel: "Adjutant, detail fifty men for baptism instantly!" So Mr. Roe, hearing that Mr. Doe has acquired a Caxton or other rarity of a certain height, and absolutely flawless except that the corners of the last leaf have been skillfully mended and that six leaves are slightly foxed, cannot rest night or day for envy, but is like the troubled sea until he can find a copy a sixteenth of an inch taller, the corners of whose leaves are in their pristine integrity, and over whose brilliant surface the smudge of the fox has not been cast, and then how high is his exaltation! Not that he cares anything for the book intrinsically, but he glories in having beaten Doe. Now if any speaks to him of Doe's remarkable copy, he can draw out his own and create a surprise in the bosom of Doe's adherent. The laurels of Miltiades no longer deprive him of rest. He has overcome in this trivial and childish strife concerning size and condition, and he holds the champion's belt for the present. He not only feels big himself but he has succeeded in making Doe feel small, which is still better. I don't know whether there will be any book-collecting in Mr. Bellamy's Utopia, but if there is, it will not be disfigured by such meanness, but collectors will go about striving to induce others to accept their superior copies and everything will be as lovely as in Heine's heaven, where geese fly around ready cooked, and if one treads on your corn it conveys a sensation of exquisite delight. It has been several times remarked by moralists that human nature is selfish. One of course does not expect another to relinquish to him his place in a "queue" at a box-office or his turn at a barber's shop, but in the noble and elegant pursuit of book-collecting it would be well to emulate the politeness of the French at Fontenoy, and hat in hand offer our antagonist the first shot. But I believe the only place where the Book-Worm ever does that is the auction room. I no sooner come into the library, but I bolt the door to me, excluding lust, ambition, avarice, and all such vices, whose nurse is idleness, the mother of ignorance, and melancholy herself, and in the very lap of eternity, among so many divine souls, I take my seat with so lofty a spirit and sweet content, that I pity all our great ones and rich men that know not this happiness. --Heinsius. The modern Book-Worm is not the simple and absent-minded creature who went by this name a century ago or more. He is no mere antiquarian, Dryasdust or Dominie Sampson, but he is a sharp merchant, or a relentless broker, or a professional railroad wrecker, or a keen lawyer, or a busy physician, or a great manufacturer--a wide awake man of affairs, quite devoid of the conventional innocency and credulity which formerly made the name of Book-Worm suggestive of a necessity for a guardian or a committee in lunacy. No longer does he inquire, as Becatello inquired of Alphonso, King of Naples, which had done the better--Poggius, who sold a Livy, fairly writ in his own hand, to buy a country home near Florence, or he, who to buy a Livy had sold a piece of land? No longer is the scale turned in the negotiation of a treaty between princes by the weight of a rare book, as when Cosimo dei Medici persuaded King Alphonso of Naples to a peace by sending him a codex of Livy. No longer does the Book-Worm sit in his modest book-room, absorbed in his adored volumes, heedless of the waning lamp and the setting star, of hunger and thirst, unmindful of the scent of the clover wafted in at the window, deaf to the hum of the bees and the low of the kine, blind to the glow of sunsets and the soft contour of the blue hills, and the billowy swaying of the wheat field before the gentle breath of the south. No longer can it be said that THE BOOK-WORM DOES NOT CARE FOR NATURE. I feel no need of nature's flowers-- Of flowers of rhetoric I have store; I do not miss the balmy showers-- When books are dry I o'er them pore. Why should I sit upon a stile And cause my aged bones to ache, When I can all the hours beguile With any style that I would take? Why should I haunt a purling stream, Or fish in miasmatic brook? O'er Euclid's angles I can dream, And recreation find in Hook. Why should I jolt upon a horse And after wretched vermin roam, When I can choose an easier course With Fox and Hare and Hunt at home? Why should I scratch my precious skin By crawling through a hawthorne hedge, When Hawthorne, raking up my sin, Stands tempting on the nearest ledge? No need that I should take the trouble To go abroad to walk or ride, For I can sit at home and double Quite up with pain from Akenside. The modern Book-Worm deals in sums of six figures; he keeps an agent "on the other side;" he cables his demands and his decisions; his name flutters the dovecotes in the auction-room; to him is proffered the first chance at a rarity worth a King's ransom; too busy to potter in person with such a trifle as the purchase of a Mazarine Bible, he hires others to do the hunting and he merely receives the game; the tiger skin and the elephant's tusk are laid at his feet to order, but he misses all the joy and ardor of the hunt. How different is all this from Sir Thomas Urquhart's account of his own library, of which he says: "There were not three works therein which were not of mine own purchase, and all of them together, in the order wherein I had ranked them, compiled like to a complete nosegay of flowers, which in my travels I had gathered out of the gardens of sixteen several kingdoms." Another fault of the Book-Worm is the affectation of collecting books on subjects in which he takes no practical interest, simply because it is the fashion or the books are intrinsically beautiful. Many a man has a fine collection on Angling, for example, who hardly knows how to put a worm on a hook, much less attach a fly. I fear I am one of these hypocritical creatures, for this is HOW I GO A-FISHING. Tis sweet to sit in shady nook, Or wade in rapid crystal brook, Impervious in rubber boots, And wary of the slippery roots, To snare the swift evasive trout Or eke the sauntering horn-pout; Or in the cold Canadian river To see the glorious salmon quiver, And them with tempting hook inveigle, Fit viand for a table regal; Or after an exciting bout To snatch the pike with sharpened snout; Or with some patient ass to row To troll for bass with motion slow. Oh! joy supreme when they appear Splashing above the water clear, And drawn reluctantly to land Lie gasping on the yellow sand! But sweeter far to read the books That treat of flies and worms and hooks, From Pickering's monumental page, (Late rivalled by the rare Dean Sage), And Major's elder issues neat, To Burnand's funny "Incompleat." I love their figures quaint and queer, Which on the inviting page appear, From those of good Dame Juliana, Who lifts a fish and cries hosanna, To those of Stothard, graceful Quaker, Of fishy art supremest maker, Whose fisherman, so dry and neat, Would never soil a parlor seat. I love them all, the books on angling, And far from cares and business jangling, Ensconced in cosy chimney-corner, Like the traditional Jack Horner, I read from Walton down to Lang, And hum that song the Milkmaid sang. I get not tired nor wet nor cross, Nor suffer monetary loss-- If fish are shy and will not bite, And shun the snare laid in their sight-- In order home at night to bring A fraudulent, deceitful string, And thus escape the merry jeers Of heartless piscatory peers; Nor have to listen to the lying Of fishermen while fish are frying, Who boast of draughts miraculous Which prove too large a draught on us. I spare the rod, and rods don't break; Nor fish in sight the hook forsake; My lines ne'er snap like corset laces; My lines are fallen in pleasant places. And so in sage experience ripe, My fishery is but a type. XV. POVERTY AS A MEANS OF ENJOYMENT IN COLLECTING. Poor collectors are not only not at a disadvantage in enjoyment, but they have a positive advantage over affluent rivals. If I were rich, probably I should not throw my money away just to experience this superiority, but it nevertheless exists. I do not envy, but I commiserate my brother collector who has plenty of money. He who only has to draw his check to obtain his desire fails to reach the keenest bliss of the pursuit. If diamonds were as common as cobble stones there would be no delight in picking them up. To constitute a bibliomaniac in the true sense, the love of books must combine with a certain limitation of means for the gratification of the appetite. The consciousness of some extravagance must be always present in his mind; there must be a sense of sacrifice in the attainment; in a rich man the disease cannot exist; he cannot enter the kingdom of the Bibliomaniac's heaven. There is the same difference of sensation between the acquirement of books by a wealthy man and by him of slender purse, that there is between the taking of fish in a net and the successful result of a long angling pursuit after one especially fat and evasive trout. When a prince kills his preserved game, with keepers to raise it for him and to hand him guns ready loaded, so that all he has to do is to squint and pull the trigger, this is not hunting; it is mere vulgar butchery. What knows he of the joys of the tramper in the forest, who stalks the deer, or scares up smaller game, singly, and has to work hard for his bag? We read in Dibdin's sumptuous pages of the celebrated contest between the Duke of Devonshire and the Marquis of Blandford for the possession of the Valdarfar Decameron; we read with admiration, but we also read of the immortal battle of Elia with the little squab-keeper of the old book-stall in Ninety-four alley, over the ownership of a ragged duodecimo for a sixpence; we read with affection. So we read Leigh Hunt's confession that when he "cut open a new catalogue of old books, and put crosses against dozens of volumes in the list, out of the pure imagination of buying them, the possibility being out of the question." Poverty hath her victories no less renowned than wealth. To haunt the book-stores, there to see a long-desired work in luxurious and tempting style, reluctantly to abandon it for the present on account of the price; to go home and dream about it, to wonder, for a year, and perchance longer, whether it will ever again greet your eyes; to conjecture what act of desperation you might in heat of passion commit toward some more affluent man in whose possession you should thereafter find it; to see it turn up again in another book-shop, its charms slightly faded, but yet mellowed by age, like those of your first love, met in later life--with this difference, however, that whereas you crave those of the book more than ever, you are generally quite satisfied with yourself for not having, through the greenness of youth, yielded untimely to those of the lady; to ask with assumed indifference the price, and learn with ill-dissembled joy that it is now within your means; to say you'll take it; to place it beneath your arm, and pay for it (or more generally order it "charged"); to go forth from that room with feelings akin to those of Ulysses when he brought away the Palladium from Troy; to keep a watchful eye on the parcel in the railway coach on your way home, or to gloat over the treasures of its pages, and wonder if the other passengers have any suspicion of your good fortune; and finally to place the volume on your shelf, and thenceforth to call it your own--this is indeed a pleasure denied to the affluent, so keen as to be akin to pain, and only marred by the palling which always follows possession and the presentation of your book-seller's account three months afterwards. XVI. THE ARRANGEMENT OF BOOKS. There was a time when I loved to see my books arranged with a view to uniformity of height and harmony of color without respect to subjects. That time I regard as my vealy period. That was the time when we admired "Somnambula," and when the housewife used to have all the pictures hung on the same level, and to buy vases in pairs exactly alike and put them on either side of the parlor clock, which was generally surmounted by a prancing Saracen or a weaving Penelope. Granting that a collection is not extensive enough to demand a strict arrangement by subjects, I like to see a little artistic confusion--high and low together here and there, like a democratic community; now and then some giants laid down on their sides to rest; the shelves not uniformly filled out as if the owner never expected to buy any more, and alongside a dainty Angler a book in red or blue cloth with a white label--just as childred in velvet and furs sit next a newsboy, or a little girl in calico with a pigtail at Sunday School, or as beggars and princes kneel side by side on the cathedral pavement. It is good to have these "swell" books rub up against the commoners, which though not so elegant are frequently a great deal brighter. At a country funeral I once heard the undertaker say to the bearers, "size yourselves off." There is no necessity or artistic gain in such a ceremony in a library, and a departure from stiff uniformity is quite agreeable. Then I do not care to have the book cases all of the same height, nor even of the same kind of wood, nor to have them all "dwarfs," with bric-a-brac on the top. I would rather have more books on top. In short, it is pleasant to have the collection remind one in a way of Topsy--not that it was "born," but "growed" and is expected to grow more. There is a modern notion of considering a library as a room rather than as a collection of books, and of making the front drawing-room the library, which is heretical in the eyes of a true Book-Worm. This is probably an invention of the women of the house to prevent any additions to the books without their knowledge, and to discourage book-buying. We have surrendered too much to our wives in this; they demand book cases as furniture and to serve as shelves, without any regard to the interior contents or whether there are any, except for the color of the bindings and the regularity of the rows. All of us have thus seen "libraries" without books worthy the name, and book-cases sometimes with exquisite silk curtains, carefully and closely drawn, arousing the suspicion that there were no books behind them. My ideal library is a room given up to books, all by itself, at the top or in the rear of the house, where "company" cannot break through and say to me, "I know you are a great man to buy books--have you seen that beautiful limited holiday edition of Ben Hur, with illustrations?" XVII. ENEMIES OF BOOKS. Mr. Blades regards as "Enemies of Books" fire, water, gas, heat, dust and neglect, ignorance and bigotry, the worm, beetles, bugs and rats, book-binders, collectors, servants and children. He does not include women, borrowers, or thieves. Perhaps he considers them rather as enemies of the book-owners. The worm is not always to be considered an enemy to authors, although he may be to books. James Payn, in speaking of the recent discovery, in the British Museum, of a copy on papyrus of the humorous poems of the obscure Greek poet, Herodles, says: "The humorous poems of Herodles possess, however, the immense advantage of being 'seriously mutilated by worms'; wherever therefore an hiatus occurs, the charitable and cultured mind will be enabled to conclude that (as in the case of a second descent upon a ball supper) the 'best things' have been already devoured." It was doubtless to guard against thieves that the ancient books were chained up in the monasteries, but the practice was effectual also against borrowers. De Bury, in his "Philobiblon" has a chapter entitled "A Provident Arrangement by which his Books may be lent to Strangers," in which the utmost leniency is to lend duplicate books upon ample security. Not to adopt the harsh judgment of an ancient author, who says, "to lend a book is to lose it, and borrowing but a hypocritical pretense for stealing," we may conclude, in a word, that to lend a book is like the Presidency of the United States, to be neither desired nor refused. Collectors are not so much exposed to the ravages of thieves as book-sellers are, and a book-thief ought to be regarded with leniency for his good taste and his reliance on the existence of culture in others. After all, it is one's own fault if he lends a book. One should as soon think of lending one of his children, unless he has duplicate or triplicate daughters. It would be difficult to foretell what would happen to a man who should propose to borrow a rare book. Perhaps death by freezing would be the safest prediction. Although Grolier stamped "et amicorum" on his books, that did not mean that he would lend them, but only that his friends were free of them at his house. It is amusing to note, in Mr. Castle's monograph on Book-Plates, how many of them indicate a stern purpose not to lend books. Mr. Gosse regards book-plates as a precaution not only against thieves, but against borrowers. He observes of the man who does not adopt a book-plate: "Such a man is liable to great temptations. He is brought face to face with that enemy of his species, the borrower, and does not speak with him in the gate. If he had a book-plate he would say, 'Oh! certainly I will lend you this volume, if it has not my book-plate in it; of course one makes it a rule never to lend a book that has.' He would say this and feign to look inside the volume, knowing right well that this safeguard against the borrower is there already." One may make a gift of a book to a friend, but there is as much difference between giving a book and lending one as there is between indorsing a note and giving the money. I have considerable respect for and sympathy with a good honest book-thief. He holds out no false hopes and makes no false pretences. But the borrower who does not return adds hypocrisy and false pretences to other crime. He ought to be committed to the State prison for life, and put at keeping the books of the institution. In a buried temple in Cnidos, in 1857, Mr. Newton found rolls of lead hung up, on which were inscribed spells devoting enemies to the infernal gods for sundry specified offenses, among which was the failure to return a borrowed garment. On which Agnes Repplier says: "Would that it were given to me now to inscribe, and by inscribing doom, all those who have borrowed and failed to return our books; would that by scribbling some strong language on a piece of lead we could avenge the lamentable gaps on our shelves, and send the ghosts of the wrong-doers howling dismally into the eternal shades of Tartarus." I have spoken of a certain amount of sympathy as due from a magnanimous book-owner toward a pilferer of such wares. This is always on the condition that he steals to add to his own hoard and not for mere pecuniary gain. The following is suggested as a Christian mode of dealing with THE BOOK-THIEF. Ah, gentle thief! I marked the absent-minded air With which you tucked away my rare Book in your pocket. 'Twas past belief-- I saw you near the open case, But yours was such an honest face I did not lock it. I knew you lacked That one to make your set complete, And when that book you chanced to meet You recognized it. And when attacked By rage of bibliophilic greed, You prigged that small Quantin Ovide, Although I prized it. I will not sue, Nor bring your family to shame By giving up your honored name To heartless prattle. I'll visit you, And under your unwary eyes Secrete and carry off the prize, My ravished chattel. It greatly rejoices me to observe that Mr. Blades does not include tobacco among the enemies of books. In one sense tobacco may be ranked as a book-enemy, for self-denial in this regard may furnish a man with a good library in a few years. I have known a very pretty collection made out of the ordinary smoke-offerings of twenty years. Undoubtedly there are libraries so fine that smoking in them would be discountenanced, but mine is not impervious to the pipe or cigar, and I entertain the pleasing fancy that tobacco-smoke is good for books, disinfects them, and keeps them free from the destroying worm. As I do not myself smoke, I like to see my friends taking their ease in my book-room, with the "smoke of their torment ascending" above my modest volumes. I know how they feel, without incurring the expense, and so to them I indite and dedicate THE SMOKE TRAVELLER. When I puff my cigarette, Straight I see a Spanish girl, Mantilla, fan, coquettish curl, Languid airs and dimpled face, Calculating fatal grace; Hear a twittering serenade Under lofty balcony played; Queen at bull-fight, naught she cares What her agile lover dares; She can love and quick forget. Let me but my meerschaum light, I behold a bearded man, Built upon capacious plan, Sabre-slashed in war or duel, Gruff of aspect but not cruel, Metaphysically muddled, With strong beer a little fuddled, Slow in love and deep in books, More sentimental than he looks, Swears new friendships every night. Let me my chibouk enkindle,-- In a tent I'm quick set down With a Bedouin lean and brown, Plotting gain of merchandise, Or perchance of robber prize; Clumsy camel load upheaving, Woman deftly carpet weaving; Meal of dates and bread and salt, While in azure heavenly vault Throbbing stars begin to dwindle. Glowing coal in clay dudheen Carries me to sweet Killarney, Full of hypocritic blarney; Huts with babies, pigs and hens Mixed together; bogs and fens; Shillalahs, praties, usquebaugh, Tenants defying hated law, Fair blue eyes with lashes black, Eyes black and blue from cudgel-thwack,-- So fair, so foul, is Erin green. My nargileh once inflamed, Quick appears a Turk with turban, Girt with guards in palace urban, Or in house by summer sea Slave-girls dancing languidly; Bow-string, sack and bastinado, Black boats darting in the shadow; Let things happen as they please, Whether well or ill at ease, Fate alone is blessed or blamed. With my ancient calumet I can raise a wigwam's smoke, And the copper tribe invoke,-- Scalps and wampum, bows and knives, Slender maidens, greasy wives, Papoose hanging on a tree, Chieftains squatting silently, Feathers, beads and hideous paint, Medicine-man and wooden saint,-- Forest-framed the vision set. My cigar breeds many forms-- Planter of the rich Havana, Mopping brow with sheer bandanna; Russian prince in fur arrayed; Paris fop on dress parade; London swell just after dinner; Wall Street broker--gambling sinner; Delver in Nevada mine; Scotch laird bawling "Auld Lang Syne;" Thus Raleigh's weed my fancy warms. Life's review in smoke goes past. Fickle fortune, stubborn fate, Right discovered all too late, Beings loved and gone before, Beings loved but friends no more, Self-reproach and futile sighs, Vanity in birth that dies, Longing, heart-break, adoration,-- Nothing sure in expectation Save ash-receiver at the last. In the early history of New England, when the town of Deerfield was burned by the Indians, Captain Dunstan, who was the father of a large family, deeming discretion the better part of valor, made up his mind to run for it and to take one child (as a sample, probably), that being all he could safely carry on his horse. But on looking about him, he could not determine which child to take, and so observing to his wife, "All or none," he set her and the baby on the horse, and brought up the rear on foot with his gun, and fended off the redskins and brought the whole family into safety. Such is the tale, and in the old primer there was a picture of the scene--although I do not understand that it was taken from the life, and the story reflects small credit on the character of the aborigines for enterprise. I have often conjectured which of my books I would save in case of fire in my library, and whether I should care to rescue any if I could not bring off all. Perhaps the problem would work itself out as follows: THE FIRE IN THE LIBRARY. Twas just before midnight a smart conflagration Broke out in my dwelling and threatened my books; Confounded and dazed with a great consternation I gazed at my treasures with pitiful looks. "Oh! which shall I rescue?" I cried in deep feeling; I wished I were armed like Briareus of yore, While sharper and sharper the flames kept revealing The sight of my bibliographical store. "My Lamb may remain to be thoroughly roasted, My Crabbe to be broiled and my Bacon to fry, My Browning accustomed to being well toasted, And Waterman Taylor rejoicing to dry." At hazard I grasped at the rest of my treasure, And crammed all pockets with dainty eighteens; I packed up a pillow case, heaping good measure, And turned me away from the saddest of scenes. But slowly departing, my face growing sadder, At leaving old favorites behind me so far, A feminine voice from the foot of the ladder Cried, "Bring down my Cook-Book and Harper's Bazar!" It has been hereinbefore intimated that women may be classed among the enemies of books. There is at least one time of the year when every Book-Worm thinks so, and that is the dread period of house-cleaning--sometimes in the spring, sometimes in the autumn, and sometimes, in the case of excessively finical housewives, in both. That is the time looked forward to by him with apprehension and looked back upon with horror, because the poor fellow knows what comes of CLEANING THE LIBRARY. With traitorous kiss remarked my spouse, "Remain down town to lunch to-day, For we are busy cleaning house, And you would be in Minnie's way." When I came home that fateful night, I found within my sacred room The wretched maid had wreaked her spite With mop and pail and witch's broom. The books were there, but oh how changed! They startled me with rare surprises, For they had all been rearranged, And less by subjects than by sizes. Some volumes numbered right to left, And some were standing on their heads, And some were of their mates bereft, And some behind for refuge fled. The women brave attempts had made At placing cognate books together;-- They looked like strangers close arrayed Under a porch in stormy weather. She watched my face--that spouse of mine-- Some approbation there to glean, But seeing I did not incline To praise, remarked, "I've got it clean." And so she had--and also wrong; She little knew--she was but thirty-- I entertained a preference strong To have it right, though ne'er so dirty. That wife of mine has much good sense, To chide her would have been inhuman, And it would be a great expense To graft the book-sense on a woman. Such are my reflections when I consider a fire in my own little library. But when I regard the great and growing mass of books with which the earth groans, and reflect how few of them are necessary or original, and how little the greater part of them would be missed, I sometimes am led to believe that a general conflagration of them might in the long run be a blessing to mankind, by the stimulation of thought and the deliverance of authors from the influence of tradition and the habit of imitation. When I am in this mood I incline to think that much is ODE TO OMAR. Omar, who burned (or did not burn) The Alexandrian tomes, I would erect to thee an urn Beneath Sophia's domes. So many books I can't endure-- The dull and commonplace, The dirty, trifling and obscure, The realistic race. Would that thy exemplary torch Could bravely blaze again, And many manufactories scorch Of book-inditing men. The poets who write "dialect," Maudlin and coarse by turns, Most ardently do I expect Thou'lt wither up with Burns. All the erratic, yawping class Condemn with judgment stern, Walt Whitman's awful "Leaves of Grass" With elegant Swinburne. Of commentators make a point, The carping, blind, and dry; Rend the "Baconians" joint by joint, And throw them on to fry. Especially I'd have thee choke Law libraries in sheep With fire derived from ancient Coke, And sink in ashes deep. Destroy the sheep--don't save my own-- I weary of the cram, The misplaced diligence I've shown-- But kindly spare my Lamb. Fear not to sprinkle on the pyre The woes of "Esther Waters"; They'll only make the flame soar higher, And warn Eve's other daughters. But 'ware of Howells and of James, Of Trollope and his rout; They'd dampen down the fiercest flames And put your fire out. XVIII. LIBRARY COMPANIONS. As a rule I do not care for any constant human companion in my library, but I do not object to a cat or a small dog. That picture of Montaigne, drawn by himself, amusing his cat with a garter, or that other one of Doctor Johnson feeding oysters to his cat Hodge, is a very pleasing one. In my library hangs Durer's picture of St. Jerome in his cell, busy with his writing, and a dog and a lion quietly dozing together in the foreground. As I am no saint I have never been able to keep a lion in my library for any great length of time, but I have maintained a dog there. Lamb even contended that his books were the better for being dog's-eared, but I do not go so far as that. Nor do I pretend that his presence will prevent the books from becoming foxed. Here is a portrait of MY DOG. He is a trifling, homely beast, Of no use, or the very least; To shake imaginary rat Or bark for hours at china cat; To lie at head of stairs and start, Like animated, woolly dart, Upon a non-existent foe; Or on hind legs like monkey go, To beg for sugar or for bone; Never content to be alone; To bask for hours in the sun. Rolled up till head and tail are one; Usurping all the softest places And keeping them with doggish graces; To sneak between the housemaid's feet And scour unnoticed on the street; Wag indefatigable tail; Cajole with piteous human wail; To dance with dainty dandy air When nicely parted is his hair, And look most ancient and dejected When it has been too long neglected; To sleep upon my book-den rug And dream of battle with a pug; To growl with counterfeited rabies; To be more trouble than twin babies;-- These are the qualities and tricks That in my heart his image fix; And so in cursory, doggerel rhyme I celebrate him in his time, Nor wait his virtues to rehearse In cold obituary verse. There is one other speaking companion that I would tolerate in my library, and that is a clock. I have a number of clocks in mine, and if it were not for their unanimous and warning voice I might forget to go to bed. Perhaps my reader would like to hear an account of MY CLOCKS. Five clocks adorn my domicile And give me occupation, For moments else inane I fill With their due regulation. Four of these clocks, on each Lord's Day, As regular as preaching, I wind and set, so that they may The flight of time be teaching. My grandfather's old clock is chief, With foolish moon-faced dial; Procrastination is a thief It always brings to trial. Its height is as the tallest men, Its pendulum beats slow, And when its awful bell booms ten, Young men get up and go. Another clock is bronze and gilt, Penelope sits on it, And in her fingers holds a quilt-- How strange 'tis not a bonnet! Memorial of those weary years When she the web unravelled, While Ithacus choked down his fears And slow from Ilium travelled. Ceres upon the third, with spray Of grain, in classic gown, Seems sadly to recall the day Proserpine sank down, With scarcely time to say good-bye, Unto the world of Dis; And keeps account, with many a sigh, Of harvest time in this. Another clock is rococo, Of Louis Sept or Seize, With many a dreadful furbelow An artist's hair to raise, Suggestions of a giddy court, With fan and boufflant bustle, When silken trains made gallant sport And o'er the floor did rustle. The fourth was brought, in foolish trust From Alpland far away, A baby clock, and so it must Be tended every day. Importunate and trivial thing! Thou katydid of clocks! Defying all my skill to bring Right time from out thy box. With works of wood and face of brass On which queer cherubs play, The tedious hours thou well dost pass, And none thy chirp gainsay. Among the silent companions in my study are the effigies of the four greatest geniuses of modern times in the realms of literature, art, music and war--a print of Shakespeare; one of Michael Angelo's corrugated face with its broken nose; a bust of Beethoven, resembling a pouting lion; and a print of Napoleon at St. Helena, representing him dressed in a white duck suit, with a broad-brimmed straw hat, and sitting looking seaward, with those unfathomable eyes, a newspaper lying in his lap. Unhappy faces all except the first--his cheerful, probably because he has effected an arrangement with an otherwise idle person, named Bacon, to do all his work for him. But there is another portrait, at which I look oftener, the original of which probably takes more interest in me, but is unknown to every visitor to my study. I myself have not seen her in half a century. I call it simply A PORTRAIT. A gentle face is ever in my room, With features fine and melancholy eyes, Though young, a little past life's freshest bloom, And always with air of sad surmise. A great white cap almost conceals her hair, A collar broad falls o'er her shoulders slender; The fashion of a bygone age an air Of quaintness to her simple garb doth render. Those hazel eyes pursue me as I move And seem to watch my busy toiling pen; They hold me with an anxious yearning love, As if she dwelt upon the earth again. My mother's portrait! fifty years ago, When I was but a heedless happy boy, The influence of her being ceased to flow, And she laid down life's burden and its joy. And now as I sit pondering o'er my books, So vainly seeking a receding rest, I read the wonder in her steadfast looks: "Is this my son who lay upon my breast?" And when for me there is an end of time, And this unsatisfying work is done, If I shall meet thee in thy peaceful clime, Young mother, wilt thou know thy gray-haired son? There is one other work of art which adorns my library--a medallion by a dear friend of mine, an eminent sculptor, the story of which I will put into his mouth. He calls the face MY SCHOOLMATE. The snows have settled on my head But not upon my heart, And incidents of years long fled From out my memory start. My hand is cunning to contrive The shapes my brain invents, And keep in marble forms alive That which my soul contents; And I have wife, and children tall, Grandchildren cluster near, And sweet the applause of men doth fall On my undeafened ear. But still my mind will backward turn For half a century, And without reasoning will yearn For sight or news of thee, Thou playmate of my boyhood days, When life was all aglow, When the sweetest thing was thy girlish praise, As I drew thee o'er the snow To the old red school-house by the road, Where we learned to spell and read, When thou wert all my fairy load And I was thy prancing steed. Oh! thou wert simple then and fair. Artless and unconstrained, With quaintly knotted auburn hair From which the wind refrained, And from thine earnest steady eyes Shone out a nature pure, Formed by kind Heaven, a man's best prize, To love and to endure. Oh! art thou still in life and time, Or hast thou gone before? And hath thy lot been like to mine, Or pinched and bare and sore? And didst thou marry, or art thou Still of the spinster tribe? Perchance thou art a widow now, Steeled against second bribe? Do grandsons round thy hearthstone play, Or dost thou end thy race? And could that auburn hair grow gray, And wrinkles line thy face? I cannot make thee old and plain-- I would not if I could-- And I recall thee without stain, Simply and sweetly good; And I have carved thy pretty head And hung it on my wall, And to all men let it be said, I like it best of all; For on a far-off snowy road, Before I had learned to read, Thou wert all my fairy load And I was thy prancing steed! I have reserved my queerest library companion till the last. It is not a book, although it is good for nothing but to read. It is not an autograph, although it is simply the name of an individual. It is my office sign which I have cherished, as a memento of busier days. Some singular reflections are roused when I gaze at MY SHINGLE. My shingle is battered and old, No longer deciphered with ease, So I've taken it in from the cold, And fastened it up on a frieze. A long generation ago, With feelings of singular pride I regarded its glittering show, And pointed it out to my bride. Companions of youth have grown few, Its loves and aversions are faint; No spirit to make friends anew-- An old enemy seems like a saint. My clients have paid the last fee For passage in Charon's sad boat, Imposing no duty on me Save to utter this querelous note; And still as I toil in life's mills, In loneliness growing profound, To attend on the proof of their wills And swear that their wits were quite sound! So I work with the scissors and pen, And to show of old courage a spark, I must utter a jest now and then, Like whistling of boys in the dark. I tack my old friend on the wall, So that infantile grandson of mine May not think, if my life he recall, That I died without making a sign. When at court on the great judgment day With penitent suitors I mingle, May my guilt be washed cleanly away, Like that on my faded old shingle! Of course my chief occupation in my library is reading and writing. To be sure, I do a good deal of thinking there. But there is another occupation which I practice to a great extent, which does not involve reading or writing at all, nor thinking to any considerable degree. That is playing solitaire. I play only one kind of this and that I have played for many years. It requires two packs of cards, and requires building on the aces and kings, and so I have them tacked down on a lap-board to save picking out and laying down every time. This particular game is called "St. Elba," probably because Napoleon did not play it, and it can be "won" once in about sixty trials. I do not care for card-playing with others, but I have certain reasons for liking SOLITAIRE. I like to play cards with a man of sense, And allow him to play with me, And so it has grown a delight intense To play solitaire on my knee. I love the quaint form of the sceptered king, The simplicity of the ace, The stolid knave like a wooden thing, And her majesty's smirking face. Diamonds, aces, and clubs and spades-- Their garb of respectable black A moiety brilliant of red invades, As they mingle in motley pack. Independent of anyone's signal or leave, Relieved from the bluffing of poker, I've no apprehension of ace up a sleeve, And fear no superfluous joker. I build up and down; all the cards I hold, And the game is always fair, For I am honest, and so is my old Companion at solitaire. Let kings condescend to the lower grades, Queens glitter with diamonds rare, Knaves flourish their clubs, and peasants wield spades, But give me my solitaire. XIX. THE FRIENDSHIP OF BOOKS. To many peaceful men of the legal robe the companionship of books is inexpressibly dear. What a privilege it is to summon the greatest and most charming spirits of the past from their graves, and find them always willing to talk to us! How delightful to go to our well-known book-shelves, lay hands on our favorite authors--even in the dark, so well do we know them--take any volume, open it at any page, and in a few minutes lose all sense and remembrance of the real world, with its strife, its bitterness, its disappointments, its hollowness, its unfaithfulness, its selfishness, in the pictures of an ideal world! The real world, do we say? Which is the real world, that of history or that of fiction? In this age of historic doubt and iconoclasm, are not the heroes of our favorite romances much more real than those of history? Captain Ed'ard Cuttle, mariner, is much more real to us than Captain Joseph Cook; Cooper's Two Admirals than the great Nelson; Leather-Stocking than the yellow-haired Custer; Henry Esmond than any of the Pretenders; Hester Prynne and Becky Sharp than Catherine of Russia or Aspasia or Lucrezia; Sidney Carton than Philip Sidney. Even the kings and heroes who have lived in history live more vividly for us in romance. We know the crooked Richard and the crafty Louis XI. most familiarly, if not most accurately, through Shakespeare and Scott; and where in history do we get so haunting a picture of the great Napoleon and Waterloo as in Victor Hugo's wondrous but inaccurate chapter? Happy is the man who has for his associates David, Solomon, Job, Paul, and John, in spite of the assaults of modern criticism upon the Scriptures! No one can shake our faith in Don Quixote, although the accounts of the Knight "without fear and without reproach" are so short and vague. There is no doubt about the travels of Christian, although those of Stanley may be questioned. The Vicar of Wakefield is a much more actual personage than Peter who preached the Crusades. Sir Roger de Coverley and his squire life are much more probable to us than Sir William Temple in his gardens. There is no character in romance who has not or might not have lived, but we are thrown into grave doubts of the saintly Washington and the devilish Napoleon depicted three quarters of a century ago. We cast history aside in scepticism and disgust; we cling to romance with faith and delight. "The things that are seen are temporal; the things that are not seen are eternal." So let the writer hereof sing a song in praise of MY FRIENDS THE BOOKS. Friends of my youth and of my age Within my chamber wait, Until I fondly turn the page And prove them wise and great. At me they do not rudely glare With eye that luster lacks, But knowing how I hate a stare, Politely turn their backs. They never split my head with din, Nor snuffle through their noses, Nor admiration seek to win By inartistic poses. If I should chance to fall asleep, They do not scowl or snap, But prudently their counsel keep Till I have had my nap. And if I choose to rout them out Unseasonably at night, They do not chafe nor curse nor pout, But rise all clothed and bright. They ne'er intrude with silly say, They never scold nor worry; They ne'er suspect and ne'er betray, They're never in a hurry. Anacreon never gets quite full, Nor Horace too flirtatious; Swift makes due fun of Johnny Bull, And Addison is gracious. Saint-Simon and Grammont rehearse Their tales of court with glee; For all their scandal I'm no worse,-- They never peach on me. For what I owe Montaigne, no dread To meet him on the morrow; And better still, it must be said, He never wants to borrow. Paul never asks, though sure to preach, Why I don't come to church; Though Dr. Johnson strives to teach, I do not fear his birch. My Dickens never is away Whene'er I choose to call; I need not wait for Thackeray In chill palatial hall. I help to bring Amelia to, Who always is a-fainting; I love the Oxford graduate who Explains great Turner's painting. My memory is full of graves Of friends in days gone by; But Time these sweet companions saves,-- These friends who never die! SO HERE ENDETH "IN THE TRACK OF THE BOOK-WORM." PRINTED BY ME, ELBERT HUBBARD, AT THE ROYCROFT SHOP IN EAST AURORA, N. Y., U. S. A., AND COMPLETED THIS TWENTY-SIXTH DAY OF JUNE, MDCCCXCVII. 
21630	----	BIBLIOMANIA IN THE MIDDLE AGES BY F. SOMNER MERRYWEATHER _With an Introduction by_ CHARLES ORR Librarian of Case Library NEW YORK MEYER BROTHERS & COMPANY 1900 Copyright, 1900 By Meyer Bros. & Co. Louis Weiss & Co. Printers.... 118 Fulton Street ... New York Bibliomania in the Middle Ages OR SKETCHES OF BOOKWORMS, COLLECTORS, BIBLE STUDENTS, SCRIBES AND ILLUMINATORS _From the Anglo-Saxon and Norman Periods to the Introduction of Printing into England, with Anecdotes Illustrating the History of the Monastic Libraries of Great Britain in the Olden Time by_ F. Somner Merryweather, _with an Introduction by_ Charles Orr, _Librarian of Case Library._ INTRODUCTION. In every century for more than two thousand years, many men have owed their chief enjoyment of life to books. The bibliomaniac of today had his prototype in ancient Rome, where book collecting was fashionable as early as the first century of the Christian era. Four centuries earlier there was an active trade in books at Athens, then the center of the book production of the world. This center of literary activity shifted to Alexandria during the third century B. C. through the patronage of Ptolemy Soter, the founder of the Alexandrian Museum, and of his son, Ptolemy Philadelphus; and later to Rome, where it remained for many centuries, and where bibliophiles and bibliomaniacs were gradually evolved, and from whence in time other countries were invaded. For the purposes of the present work the middle ages cover the period beginning with the seventh century and ending with the time of the invention of printing, or about seven hundred years, though they are more accurately bounded by the years 500 and 1500 A. D. It matters little, however, since there is no attempt at chronological arrangement. About the middle of the present century there began to be a disposition to grant to mediæval times their proper place in the history of the preservation and dissemination of books, and Merryweather's _Bibliomania in the Middle Ages_ was one of the earliest works in English devoted to the subject. Previous to that time, those ten centuries lying between the fall of the Roman Empire and the revival of learning were generally referred to as the Dark Ages, and historians and other writers were wont to treat them as having been without learning or scholarship of any kind. Even Mr. Hallam,[1] with all that judicial temperament and patient research to which we owe so much, could find no good to say of the Church or its institutions, characterizing the early university as the abode of "indigent vagabonds withdrawn from usual labor," and all monks as positive enemies of learning. The gloomy survey of Mr. Hallam, clouded no doubt by his antipathy to all things ecclesiastical, served, however, to arouse the interest of the period, which led to other studies with different results, and later writers were able to discern below the surface of religious fanaticism and superstition so characteristic of those centuries, much of interest in the history of literature; to show that every age produced learned and inquisitive men by whom books were highly prized and industriously collected for their own sakes; in short, to rescue the period from the stigma of absolute illiteracy. If the reader cares to pursue the subject further, after going through the fervid defense of the love of books in the middle ages, of which this is the introduction, he will find outside of its chapters abundant evidence that the production and care of books was a matter of great concern. In the pages of _Mores Catholici; or Ages of Faith_, by Mr. Kenelm Digby,[2] or of _The Dark Ages_, by Dr. S. R. Maitland,[3] or of that great work of recent years, _Books and their Makers during the Middle Ages_, by Mr. George Haven Putnam,[4] he will see vivid and interesting portraits of a great multitude of mediæval worthies who were almost lifelong lovers of learning and books, and zealous laborers in preserving, increasing and transmitting them. And though little of the mass that has come down to us was worthy of preservation on its own account as literature, it is exceedingly interesting as a record of centuries of industry in the face of such difficulties that to workers of a later period might have seemed insurmountable. A further fact worthy of mention is that book production was from the art point of view fully abreast of the other arts during the period, as must be apparent to any one who examines the collections in some of the libraries of Europe. Much of this beauty was wrought for the love of the art itself. In the earlier centuries religious institutions absorbed nearly all the social intellectual movements as well as the possession of material riches and land. Kings and princes were occupied with distant wars which impoverished them and deprived literature and art of that patronage accorded to it in later times. There is occasional mention, however, of wealthy laymen, whose religious zeal induced them to give large sums of money for the copying and ornamentation of books; and there were in the abbeys and convents lay brothers whose fervent spirits, burning with poetical imagination, sought in these monastic retreats and the labor of writing, redemption from their past sins. These men of faith were happy to consecrate their whole existence to the ornamentation of a single sacred book, dedicated to the community, which gave them in exchange the necessaries of life. The labor of transcribing was held, in the monasteries, to be a full equivalent of manual labor in the field. The rule of St. Ferreol, written in the sixth century, says that, "He who does not turn up the earth with the plough ought to write the parchment with his fingers." Mention has been made of the difficulties under which books were produced; and this is a matter which we who enjoy the conveniences of modern writing and printing can little understand. The hardships of the _scriptorium_ were greatest, of course, in winter. There were no fires in the often damp and ill-lighted cells, and the cold in some of the parts of Europe where books were produced must have been very severe. Parchment, the material generally used for writing upon after the seventh century, was at some periods so scarce that copyists were compelled to resort to the expedient of effacing the writing on old and less esteemed manuscripts.[5] The form of writing was stiff and regular and therefore exceedingly slow and irksome. In some of the monasteries the _scriptorium_ was at least at a later period, conducted more as a matter of commerce, and making of books became in time very profitable. The Church continued to hold the keys of knowledge and to control the means of productions; but the cloistered cell, where the monk or the layman, who had a penance to work off for a grave sin, had worked in solitude, gave way to the apartment specially set aside, where many persons could work together, usually under the direction of a _librarius_ or chief scribe. In the more carefully constructed monasteries this apartment was so placed as to adjoin the calefactory, which allowed the introduction of hot air, when needed. The seriousness with which the business of copying was considered is well illustrated by the consecration of the _scriptorium_ which was often done in words which may be thus translated: "Vouchsafe, O Lord, to bless this work-room of thy servants, that all which they write therein may be comprehended by their intelligence and realized in their work." While the work of the scribes was largely that of copying the scriptures, gospels, and books of devotion required for the service of the church, there was a considerable trade in books of a more secular kind. Particularly was this so in England. The large measure of attention given to the production of books of legends and romances was a distinguishing feature of the literature of England at least three centuries previous to the invention of printing. At about the twelfth century and after, there was a very large production and sale of books under such headings as chronicles, satires, sermons, works of science and medicine, treatises on style, prose romances and epics in verse. Of course a large proportion of these were written in or translated from the Latin, the former indicating a pretty general knowledge of that language among those who could buy or read books at all. That this familiarity with the Latin tongue was not confined to any particular country is abundantly shown by various authorities. Mr. Merryweather, whose book, as has been intimated, is only a defense of bibliomania itself as it actually existed in the middle ages, gives the reader but scant information as to processes of book-making at that time. But thanks to the painstaking research of others, these details are now a part of the general knowledge of the development of the book. The following, taken from Mr. Theodore De Vinne's _Invention of Printing_, will, we think, be found interesting: "The size most in fashion was that now known as the demy folio, of which the leaf is about ten inches wide and fifteen inches long, but smaller sizes were often made. The space to be occupied by the written text was mapped out with faint lines, so that the writer could keep his letters on a line, at even distance from each other and within the prescribed margin. Each letter was carefully drawn, and filled in or painted with repeated touches of the pen. With good taste, black ink was most frequently selected for the text; red ink was used only for the more prominent words, and the catch-letters, then known as the rubricated letters. Sometimes texts were written in blue, green, purple, gold or silver inks, but it was soon discovered that texts in bright color were not so readable as texts in black. "When the copyist had finished his sheet he passed it to the designer, who sketched the border, pictures and initials. The sheet was then given to the illuminator, who painted it. The ornamentation of a mediæval book of the first class is beyond description by words or by wood cuts. Every inch of space was used. Its broad margins were filled with quaint ornaments, sometimes of high merit, admirably painted in vivid colors. Grotesque initials, which, with their flourishes, often spanned the full height of the page, or broad bands of floriated tracery that occupied its entire width, were the only indications of changes of chapter or subject. In printer's phrase the composition was "close-up and solid" to the extreme degree of compactness. The uncommonly free use of red ink for the smaller initials was not altogether a matter of taste; if the page had been written entirely in black ink it would have been unreadable through its blackness. This nicety in writing consumed much time, but the mediæval copyist was seldom governed by considerations of time or expense. It was of little consequence whether the book he transcribed would be finished in one or in ten years. It was required only that he should keep at his work steadily and do his best. His skill is more to be commended than his taste. Many of his initials and borders were outrageously inappropriate for the text for which they were designed. The gravest truths were hedged in the most childish conceits. Angels, butterflies, goblins, clowns, birds, snails and monkeys, sometimes in artistic, but much oftener in grotesque and sometimes in highly offensive positions are to be found in the illuminated borders of copies of the gospels and writings of the fathers. "The book was bound by the forwarder, who sewed the leaves and put them in a cover of leather or velvet; by the finisher, who ornamented the cover with gilding and enamel. The illustration of book binding, published by Amman in his Book of Trades, puts before us many of the implements still in use. The forwarder, with his customary apron of leather, is in the foreground, making use of a plow-knife for trimming the edges of a book. The lying press, which rests obliquely against the block before him, contains a book that has received the operation of backing-up from a queer shaped hammer lying upon the floor. The workman at the end of the room is sewing together the sections of a book, for sewing was properly regarded as a man's work, and a scientific operation altogether beyond the capacity of the raw seamstress. The work of the finisher is not represented, but the brushes, the burnishers, the sprinklers and the wheel-shaped gilding tools hanging against the wall leave us no doubt as to their use. There is an air of antiquity about everything connected with this bookbindery which suggests the thought that its tools and usages are much older than those of printing. Chevillier says that seventeen professional bookbinders found regular employment in making up books for the University of Paris, as early as 1292. Wherever books were produced in quantities, bookbinding was set apart as a business distinct from that of copying. "The poor students who copied books for their own use were also obliged to bind them, which they did in a simple but efficient manner by sewing together the folded sheets, attaching them to narrow parchment bands, the ends of which were made to pass through a cover of stout parchment at the joint near the back. The ends of the bands were then pasted down under the stiffening sheet of the cover, and the book was pressed. Sometimes the cover was made flexible by the omission of the stiffening sheet; sometimes the edges of the leaves were protected by flexible and overhanging flaps which were made to project over the covers; or by the insertion in the covers of stout leather strings with which the two covers were tied together. Ornamentation was entirely neglected, for a book of this character was made for use and not for show. These methods of binding were mostly applied to small books intended for the pocket; the workmanship was rough, but the binding was strong and serviceable." The book of Mr. Merryweather, here reprinted, is thought worthy of preservation in a series designed for the library of the booklover. Its publication followed shortly after that of the works of Digby and Maitland, but shows much original research and familiarity with early authorities; and it is much more than either of these, or of any book with which we are acquainted, a plea in defense of bibliomania in the middle ages. Indeed the charm of the book may be said to rest largely upon the earnestness with which he takes up his self-imposed task. One may fancy that after all he found it not an easy one; in fact his "Conclusion" is a kind of apology for not having made out a better case. But this he believes he has proven, "that with all their superstition, with all their ignorance, their blindness to philosophic light--the monks of old were hearty lovers of books; that they encouraged learning, fostered it, and transcribed repeatedly the books which they had rescued from the destruction of war and time; and so kindly cherished and husbanded them as intellectual food for posterity. Such being the case, let our hearts look charitably upon them; and whilst we pity them for their superstition, or blame them for their pious frauds, love them as brother men and workers in the mines of literature." Of the author himself little can be learned. A diligent search revealed little more than the entry in the London directory which, in various years from 1840 to 1850, gives his occupation as that of bookseller, at 14 King Street, Holborn. Indeed this is shown by the imprint of the title-page of _Bibliomania_, which was published in 1849. He published during the same year _Dies Dominicæ_, and in 1850 _Glimmerings in the Dark_, and _Lives and Anecdotes of Misers_. The latter has been immortalized by Charles Dickens as one of the books bought at the bookseller's shop by Boffin, the Golden Dustman, and which was read to him by the redoubtable Silas Wegg during Sunday evenings at "Boffin's Bower."[6] FOOTNOTES: [1] Hallam, Henry. "Introduction to the Literature of Europe." 4 vols. London. [2] Digby, Kenelm. "Mores Catholici; or Ages of Faith." 3 vols. London, 1848. [3] Maitland, S. R. "The Dark Ages; a Series of Essays Intended to Illustrate the State of Religion and Literature in the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries." London, 1845. [4] Putnam, George Haven. "Books and their Makers during the Middle Ages; a Study of the Conditions of the Production and Distribution of Literature from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the Close of the Seventeenth Century." [5] Lacroix, Paul. "Arts of the Middle Ages." Our author, however (_vide_ page 58, _note_), quotes the accounts of the Church of Norwich to show that parchments sold late in the thirteenth century at about 1 d. per sheet; but Putnam and other writers state that up to that time it was a very costly commodity. [6] Dickens's Mutual Friend. CHAPTER I. _Introductory Remarks--Monachism--Book Destroyers--Effects of the Reformation on Monkish Learning, etc._ In recent times, in spite of all those outcries which have been so repeatedly raised against the illiterate state of the dark ages, many and valuable efforts have been made towards a just elucidation of those monkish days. These labors have produced evidence of what few anticipated, and some even now deny, viz., that here and there great glimmerings of learning are perceivable; and although debased, and often barbarous too, they were not quite so bad as historians have usually proclaimed them. It may surprise some, however, that an attempt should be made to prove that, in the olden time in "merrie Englande," a passion which Dibdin has christened Bibliomania, existed then, and that there were many cloistered bibliophiles as warm and enthusiastic in book collecting as the Doctor himself. But I must here crave the patience of the reader, and ask him to refrain from denouncing what he may deem a rash and futile attempt, till he has perused the volume and thought well upon the many facts contained therein. I am aware that many of these facts are known to all, but some, I believe, are familiar only to the antiquary--the lover of musty parchments and the cobwebbed chronicles of a monastic age. I have endeavored to bring these facts together--to connect and string them into a continuous narrative, and to extract from them some light to guide us in forming an opinion on the state of literature in those ages of darkness and obscurity; and here let it be understood that I merely wish to give a fact as history records it. I will not commence by saying the Middle Ages were dark and miserably ignorant, and search for some poor isolated circumstance to prove it; I will not affirm that this was pre-eminently the age in which real piety flourished and literature was fondly cherished, and strive to find all those facts which show its learning, purposely neglecting those which display its unlettered ignorance: nor let it be deemed ostentation when I say that the literary anecdotes and bookish memoranda now submitted to the reader have been taken, where such a course was practicable, from the original sources, and the references to the authorities from whence they are derived have been personally consulted and compared. That the learning of the Middle Ages has been carelessly represented there can be little doubt: our finest writers in the paths of history have employed their pens in denouncing it; some have allowed difference of opinion as regards ecclesiastical policy to influence their conclusions; and because the poor scribes were monks, the most licentious principles, the most dismal ignorance and the most repulsive crimes have been attributed to them. If the monks deserved such reproaches from posterity, they have received no quarter; if they possessed virtues as christians, and honorable sentiments as men, they have met with no reward in the praise or respect of this liberal age: they were monks! superstitious priests and followers of Rome! What good could come of them? It cannot be denied that there were crimes perpetrated by men aspiring to a state of holy sanctity; there are instances to be met with of priests violating the rules of decorum and morality; of monks revelling in the dissipating pleasures of sensual enjoyments, and of nuns whose frail humanity could not maintain the purity of their virgin vows. But these instances are too rare to warrant the slanders and scurrility that historians have heaped upon them. And when we talk of the sensuality of the monks, of their gross indulgences and corporeal ease, we surely do so without discrimination; for when we speak of the middle ages thus, our thoughts are dwelling on the sixteenth century, its mocking piety and superstitious absurdity; but in the olden time of monastic rule, before monachism had burst its ancient boundaries, there was surely nothing physically attractive in the austere and dull monotony of a cloistered life. Look at the monk; mark his hard, dry studies, and his midnight prayers, his painful fasting and mortifying of the flesh; what can we find in this to tempt the epicure or the lover of indolence and sloth? They were fanatics, blind and credulous--I grant it. They read gross legends, and put faith in traditionary lies--I grant it; but do not say, for history will not prove it, that in the middle ages the monks were wine bibbers and slothful gluttons. But let not the Protestant reader be too hastily shocked. I am not defending the monastic system, or the corruption of the cloister--far from it. I would see the usefulness of man made manifest to the world; but the measure of my faith teaches charity and forgiveness, and I can find in the functions of the monk much that must have been useful in those dark days of feudal tyranny and lordly despotism. We much mistake the influence of the monks by mistaking their position; we regard them as a class, but forget from whence they sprang; there was nothing aristocratic about them, as their constituent parts sufficiently testify; they were, perhaps, the best representatives of the people that could be named, being derived from all classes of society. Thus Offa, the Saxon king, and Cædman, the rustic herdsman, were both monks. These are examples by no means rare, and could easily be multiplied. Such being the case, could not the monks more readily feel and sympathize with all, and more clearly discern the frailties of their brother man, and by kind admonition or stern reproof, mellow down the ferocity of a Saxon nature, or the proud heart of a Norman tyrant? But our object is not to analyze the social influence of Monachism in the middle ages: much might be said against it, and many evils traced to the sad workings of its evil spirit, but still withal something may be said in favor of it, and those who regard its influence in _those days alone_ may find more to admire and defend than they expected, or their Protestant prejudices like to own. But, leaving these things, I have only to deal with such remains as relate to the love of books in those times. I would show the means then in existence of acquiring knowledge, the scarcity or plentitude of books, the extent of their libraries, and the rules regulating them; and bring forward those facts which tend to display the general routine of a literary monk, or the prevalence of Bibliomania in those days. It is well known that the great national and private libraries of Europe possess immense collections of manuscripts, which were produced and transcribed in the monasteries, during the middle ages, thousands there are in the rich alcoves of the Vatican at Rome, unknown save to a choice and favored few; thousands there are in the royal library of France, and thousands too reposing on the dusty shelves of the Bodleian and Cottonian libraries in England; and yet, these numbers are but a small portion--a mere relic--of the intellectual productions of a past and obscure age.[7] The barbarians, who so frequently convulsed the more civilized portions of Europe, found a morbid pleasure in destroying those works which bore evidence to the mental superiority of their enemies. In England, the Saxons, the Danes, and the Normans were each successively the destroyers of literary productions. The Saxon Chronicle, that invaluable repository of the events of so many years, bears ample testimony to numerous instances of the loss of libraries and works of art, from fire, or by the malice of designing foes. At some periods, so general was this destruction, so unquenchable the rapacity of those who caused it, that instead of feeling surprised at the manuscripts of those ages being so few and scanty, we have cause rather to wonder that so many have been preserved. For even the numbers which escaped the hands of the early and unlettered barbarians met with an equally ignominious fate from those for whom it would be impossible to hold up the darkness of their age as a plausible excuse for the commission of this egregious folly. These men over whose sad deeds the bibliophile sighs with mournful regret, were those who carried out the Reformation, so glorious in its results; but the righteousness of the means by which those results were effected are very equivocal indeed. When men form themselves into a faction and strive for the accomplishment of one purpose, criminal deeds are perpetrated with impunity, which, individually they would blush and scorn to do; they feel no direct responsibility, no personal restraint; and, such as possess fierce passions, under the cloak of an organized body, give them vent and gratification; and those whose better feelings lead them to contemplate upon these things content themselves with the conclusion, that out of evil cometh good. The noble art of printing was unable, with all its rapid movements, to rescue from destruction the treasures of the monkish age; the advocates of the Reformation eagerly sought for and as eagerly destroyed those old popish volumes, doubtless there was much folly, much exaggerated superstition pervading them; but there was also some truth, a few facts worth knowing, and perhaps a little true piety also, and it would have been no difficult matter to have discriminated between the good and the bad. But the careless grants of a licentious monarch conferred a monastery on a court favorite or political partizan without one thought for the preservation of its contents. It is true a few years after the dissolution of these houses, the industrious Leland was appointed to search and rummage over their libraries and to preserve any relic worthy of such an honor; but it was too late, less learned hands had rifled those parchment collections long ago, mutilated their finest volumes by cutting out with childish pleasure the illuminations with which they were adorned; tearing off the bindings for the gold claps which protected the treasures within,[8] and chopping up huge folios as fuel for their blazing hearths, and immense collections were sold as waste paper. Bale, a strenuous opponent of the monks, thus deplores the loss of their books: "Never had we bene offended for the losse of our lybraryes beynge so many in nombre and in so desolate places for the moste parte, yf the chief monuments and moste notable workes of our excellent wryters had bene reserved, yf there had bene in every shyre of Englande but one solemyne library to the preservacyon of those noble workers, and preferrement of good learnynges in oure posteryte it had bene yet somewhat. But to destroye all without consyderacion, is and wyll be unto Englande for ever a most horryble infamy amonge the grave senyours of other nations. A grete nombre of them whych purchased those superstycyose mansyons reserved of those lybrarye bokes, some to serve theyr jakes, some to scoure theyr candelstyckes, and some to rubbe theyr bootes; some they solde to the grossers and sope sellers, and some they sent over see to the bokebynders,[9] not in small nombre, but at tymes _whole shippes ful_. I know a merchant man, whyche shall at thys tyme be nameless, that boughte the contents of two noble lybraryes for xl shyllyngs pryce, a shame is it to be spoken. Thys stuffe hathe he occupyed in the stide of graye paper for the space of more than these ten years, and yet hath store ynough for as many years to come. A prodyguose example is this, and to be abhorred of all men who love theyr natyon as they shoulde do."[10] However pernicious the Roman religion might have been in its practice, it argues little to the honor of the reformers to have used such means as this to effect its cure; had they merely destroyed those productions connected with the controversies of the day, we might perhaps have excused it, on the score of party feeling; but those who were commissioned to visit the public libraries of the kingdom were often men of prejudiced intellects and shortsighted wisdom, and it frequently happened that an ignorant and excited mob became the executioners of whole collections.[11] It would be impossible now to estimate the loss. Manuscripts of ancient and classic date would in their hands receive no more respect than some dry husky folio on ecclesiastical policy; indeed, they often destroyed the works of their own party through sheer ignorance. In a letter sent by Dr. Cox to William Paget, Secretary, he writes that the proclamation for burning books had been the occasion of much hurt. "For New Testaments and Bibles (not condemned by proclamation) have been burned, and that, out of parish churches and good men's houses. They have burned innumerable of the king's majesties books concerning our religion lately set forth."[12] The ignorant thus delighted to destroy that which they did not understand, and the factional spirit of the more enlightened would not allow them to make one effort for the preservation of those valuable relics of early English literature, which crowded the shelves of the monastic libraries; the sign of the cross, the use of red letters on the title page, the illuminations representing saints, or the diagrams and circles of a mathematical nature, were at all times deemed sufficient evidence of their popish origin and fitness for the flames.[13] When we consider the immense number of MSS. thus destroyed, we cannot help suspecting that, if they had been carefully preserved and examined, many valuable and original records would have been discovered. The catalogues of old monastic establishments, although containing a great proportion of works on divine and ecclesiastical learning, testify that the monks did not confine their studies exclusively to legendary tales or superstitious missals, but that they also cultivated a taste for classical and general learning. Doubtless, in the ruin of the sixteenth century, many original works of monkish authors perished, and the splendor of the transcript rendered it still more liable to destruction; but I confess, as old Fuller quaintly says, that "there were many volumes full fraught with superstition which, notwithstanding, might be useful to learned men, except any will deny apothecaries the privilege of keeping poison in their shops, when they can make antidotes of them. But besides this, what beautiful bibles! Rare fathers! Subtle schoolmen! Useful historians! Ancient! Middle! Modern! What painful comments were here amongst them! What monuments of mathematics all massacred together!"[14] More than a cart load of manuscripts were taken away from Merton College and destroyed, and a vast number from the Baliol and New Colleges, Oxford;[15] but these instances might be infinitely multiplied, so terrible were those intemperate outrages. All this tends to enforce upon us the necessity of using considerable caution in forming an opinion of the nature and extent of learning prevalent during those ages which preceded the discovery of the art of printing. FOOTNOTES: [7] The sad page in the Annals of Literary History recording the destruction of books and MSS. fully prove this assertion. In France, in the year 1790, 4,194,000 volumes were burnt belonging to the suppressed monasteries, about 25,000 of these were manuscripts. [8] "About this time (Feb. 25, 1550) the Council book mentions the king's sending a letter for the purging his library at Westminster. The persons are not named, but the business was to cull out all superstitious books, as missals, legends, and such like, and to deliver the garniture of the books, being either gold or silver, to Sir Anthony Aucher. These books were many of them plated with gold and silver and curiously embossed. This, as far as we can collect, was the superstition that destroyed them. Here avarice had a very thin disguise, and the courtiers discovered of what spirit they were to a remarkable degree."--Collier's Eccle. History, vol. ii. p. 307. [9] Any one who can inspect a library of ancient books will find proof of this. A collection of vellum scraps which I have derived from these sources are very exciting to a bibliomaniac, a choice line so abruptly broken, a monkish or classical verse so cruelly mutilated! render an inspection of this odd collection, a tantalizing amusement. [10] Bale's Leland's Laboryouse Journey, Preface. [11] The works of the Schoolmen, viz.: of P. Lombard, T. Aquinas, Scotus and his followers and critics also, and such that had popish scholars in them they cast out of all college libraries and private studies.--_Wood's Hist. Oxon._, vol. i. b. 1. p. 108. And "least their impiety and foolishness in this act should be further wanting, they brought it to pass that certain rude young men should carry this great spoil of books about the city on biers, which being so done, to set them down in the common market place, and then burn them, to the sorrow of many, as well as of the Protestants as of the other party. This was by them styled 'the funeral of Scotus the Scotists.' So that at this time and all this king's reign was seldom seen anything in the universities but books of poetry, grammar, idle songs, and frivolous stuff."--_Ibid., Wood is referring to the reign of Edward VI._ [12] Wood's Hist. Oxon, b. i. p. 81. [13] "Gutch has printed in his 'Collectiana' an order from the Queen's commissioners to destroy all capes, vestments, albes, missals, books, crosses, and such other idolatrous and superstitious monuments whatsoever.'--vol. ii. p. 280." [14] Fuller's Church History, b. vi. p. 335. [15] Wood's Oxon, vol. i. b. i. p. 107 CHAPTER II. _Duties of the monkish librarian.--Rules of the library.--Lending books.--Books allowed the monks for private reading.--Ridiculous signs for books.--How the libraries were supported.--A monkish blessing on books, etc._ In this chapter I shall proceed to inquire into the duties of the monkish amanuensis, and show by what laws and regulations the monastic libraries were governed. The monotonous habits of a cloistered bibliophile will, perhaps, appear dry and fastidious, but still it is curious and interesting to observe how carefully the monks regarded their vellum tomes, how indefatigably they worked to increase their stores, and how eagerly they sought for books. But besides being regarded as a literary curiosity, the subject derives importance by the light it throws on the state of learning in those dark and "bookless" days, and the illustrations gleaned in this way fully compensate for the tediousness of the research. As a bibliophile it is somewhat pleasing to trace a deep book passion growing up in the barrenness of the cloister, and to find in some cowled monk a bibliomaniac as warm and enthusiastic in his way as the renowned "Atticus," or the noble Roxburghe, of more recent times. It is true we can draw no comparison between the result of their respective labors. The hundreds, which in the old time were deemed a respectable if not an extensive collection, would look insignificant beside the ostentatious array of modern libraries. But the very tenor of a monastic life compelled the monk to seek the sweet yet silent companionship of books; the rules of his order and the regulations of his fraternity enforced the strictest silence in the execution of his daily and never-ceasing duties. Attending mass, singing psalms, and midnight prayers, were succeeded by mass, psalms and prayers in one long undeviating round of yearly obligations; the hours intervening between these holy exercises were dull and tediously insupportable if unoccupied. Conversation forbidden, secular amusements denounced, yet idleness reproached, what could the poor monk seek as a relief in this distress but the friendly book; the willing and obedient companion of every one doomed to lonely hours and dismal solitude? The pride and glory of a monastery was a well stored library, which was committed to the care of the armarian, and with him rested all the responsibility of its preservation. According to the Consuetudines Canonicorum Regularium, it was his duty to have all the books of the monastery in his keeping catalogued and separately marked with their proper names.[16] Some of these old catalogues have been preserved, and, viewed as bibliographical remains of the middle ages, are of considerable importance; indeed, we cannot form a correct idea of the literature of those remote times without them. Many productions of authors are recorded in these brief catalogues whose former existence is only known to us by these means. There is one circumstance in connexion with them that must not be forgotten: instead of enumerating all the works which each volume contained, they merely specified the first, so that a catalogue of fifty or a hundred volumes might probably have contained nearly double that number of distinct works. I have seen MSS. formerly belonging to monasteries, which have been catalogued in this way, containing four or five others, besides the one mentioned. Designed rather to identify the book than to describe the contents of each volume, they wrote down the first word or two of the second leaf--this was the most prevalent usage; but they often adopted other means, sometimes giving a slight notice of the works which a volume contained; others took the precaution of noting down the last word of the last leaf but one,[17] a great advantage, as the monkish student could more easily detect at a glance whether the volume was perfect. The armarian was, moreover, particularly enjoined to inspect with scrupulous care the more ancient volumes, lest the moth-worms should have got at them, or they had become corrupt or mutilated, and, if such were the case, he was with great care to restore them. Probably the armarian was also the bookbinder to the monastery in ordinary cases, for he is here directed to cover the volumes with tablets of wood, that the inside may be preserved from moisture, and the parchment from the injurious effects of dampness. The different orders of books were to be kept separate from one another, and conveniently arranged; not squeezed too tight, lest it should injure or confuse them, but so placed that they might be easily distinguished, and those who sought them might find them without delay or impediment.[18] Bibliomaniacs have not been remarkable for their memory or punctuality, and in the early times the borrower was often forgetful to return the volume within the specified time. To guard against this, many rules were framed, nor was the armarian allowed to lend the books, even to neighboring monasteries, unless he received a bond or promise to restore them within a certain time, and if the person was entirely unknown, a book of equal value was required as a security for its safe return. In all cases the armarian was instructed to make a short memorandum of the name of the book which he had lent or received. The "great and precious books" were subject to still more stringent rules, and although under the conservation of the librarian, he had not the privilege of lending them to any one without the distinct permission of the abbot.[19] This was, doubtless, practised by all the monastic libraries, for all generously lent one another their books. In a collection of chapter orders of the prior and convent of Durham, bearing date 1235, it is evident that a similar rule was observed there, which they were not to depart from except at the desire of the bishop.[20] According to the constitutions for the government of the Abingdon monastery, the library was under the care of the Cantor, and all the writings of the church were consigned to his keeping. He was not allowed to part with the books or lend them without a sufficient deposit as a pledge for their safe return, except to persons of consequence and repute.[21] This was the practice at a much later period. When that renowned bibliomaniac, Richard de Bury, wrote his delightful little book called _Philobiblon_, the same rules were strictly in force. With respect to the lending of books, his own directions are that, if any one apply for a particular volume, the librarian was to carefully consider whether the library contained another copy of it; if so, he was at liberty to lend the book, taking care, however, that he obtained a security which was to exceed the value of the loan; they were at the same time to make a memorandum in writing of the name of the book, and the nature of the security deposited for it, with the name of the party to whom it was lent, with that of the officer or librarian who delivered it.[22] We learn by the canons before referred to, that the superintendence of all the writing and transcribing, whether in or out of the monastery, belonged to the office of the armarian, and that it was his duty to provide the scribes with parchment and all things necessary for their work, and to agree upon the price with those whom he employed. The monks who were appointed to write in the cloisters he supplied with copies for transcription; and that no time might be wasted, he was to see that a good supply was kept up. No one was to give to another what he himself had been ordered to write, or presume to do anything by his own will or inclination. Nor was it seemly that the armarian even should give any orders for transcripts to be made without first receiving the permission of his superior.[23] We here catch a glimpse of the quiet life of a monkish student, who labored with this monotonous regularity to amass his little library. If we dwell on these scraps of information, we shall discover some marks of a love of learning among them, and the liberality they displayed in lending their books to each other is a pleasing trait to dwell upon. They unhesitatingly imparted to others the knowledge they acquired by their own study with a brotherly frankness and generosity well becoming the spirit of a student. This they did by extensive correspondence and the temporary exchange of their books. The system of loan, which they in this manner carried on to a considerable extent, is an important feature in connection with our subject; innumerable and interesting instances of this may be found in the monastic registers, and the private letters of the times. The cheapness of literary productions of the present age render it an absolute waste of time to transcribe a whole volume, and except with books of great scarcity we seldom think of borrowing or lending one; having finished its perusal we place it on the shelf and in future regard it as a book of reference; but in those days one volume did the work of twenty. It was lent to a neighboring monastery, and this constituted its publication; for each monastery thus favored, by the aid perhaps of some half dozen scribes, added a copy to their own library, and it was often stipulated that on the return of the original a correct duplicate should accompany it, as a remuneration to its author. Nor was the volume allowed to remain unread; it was recited aloud at meals, or when otherwise met together, to the whole community. We shall do well to bear this in mind, and not hastily judge of the number of students by a comparison with the number of their books. But it was not always a mere single volume that the monks lent from their library. Hunter has printed[24] a list of books lent by the Convent of Henton, A. D. 1343, to a neighboring monastery, containing twenty volumes. The engagement to restore these books was formally drawn up and sealed. In the monasteries the first consideration was to see that the library was well stored with those books necessary for the performance of the various offices of the church, but besides these the library ought, according to established rules, to contain for the "edification of the brothers" such as were fit and needful to be consulted in common study. The Bible and great expositors; _Bibliothecæ et majores expositores_, books of martyrs, lives of saints, homilies, etc.;[25] these and other large books the monks were allowed to take and study in private, but the smaller ones they could only study in the library, lest they should be lost or mislaid. This was also the case with respect to the rare and choice volumes. When the armarian gave out books to the monks he made a note of their nature, and took an exact account of their number, so that he might know in a moment which of the brothers had it for perusal.[26] Those who studied together were to receive what books they choose; but when they had satisfied themselves, they were particularly directed to restore them to their assigned places; and when they at any time received from the armarian a book for their private reading, they were not allowed to lend it to any one else, or to use it in common, but to reserve it especially for his own private reading. The same rule extended to the singers, who if they required books for their studies, were to apply to the abbot.[27] The sick brothers were also entitled to the privilege of receiving from the armarian books for their solace and comfort; but as soon as the lamps were lighted in the infirmary the books were put away till the morning, and if not finished, were again given out from the library.[28] In the more ancient monasteries a similar case was observed with respect to their books. The rule of St. Pacome directed that the utmost attention should be paid to their preservation, and that when the monks went to the refectory they were not to leave their books open, but to carefully close and put them in their assigned places. The monastery of St. Pacome contained a vast number of monks; every house, says Mabillon, was composed of not less than forty monks, and the monastery embraced thirty or forty houses. Each monk, he adds, possessed his book, and few rested without forming a library; by which we may infer that the number of books was considerable.[29] Indeed, it was quite a common practice in those days, scarce as books were, to allow each of the monks one or more for his private study, besides granting them access to the library. The constitutions of Lanfranc, in the year 1072, directed the librarian, at the commencement of Lent, to deliver a book to each of the monks for their private reading, allowing them a whole year for its perusal.[30] There is one circumstance connected with the affairs of the library quite characteristic of monkish superstition, and bearing painful testimony to their mistaken ideas of what constituted "good works." In Martene's book there is a chapter, _De Scientia et Signis_--degrading and sad; there is something withal curious to be found in it. After enjoining the most scrupulous silence in the church, in the refectory, in the cloister, and in the dormitory, at all times, and in all seasons; transforming those men into perpetual mutes, and even when "actually necessary," permitting only a whisper to be articulated "in a low voice in the ear," _submissa voce in aure_, it then proceeds to describe a series of fantastic grimaces which the monks were to perform on applying to the armarian for books. The general sign for a book, _generali signi libri_, was to "extend the hand and make a movement as if turning over the leaves of a book." For a missal the monk was to make a similar movement with a sign of the cross; for the gospels the sign of the cross on the forehead; for an antiphon or book of responses he was to strike the thumb and little finger of the other hand together; for a book of offices or gradale to make the sign of a cross and kiss the fingers; for a tract lay the hand on the abdomen and apply the other hand to the mouth; for a capitulary make the general sign and extend the clasped hands to heaven; for a psalter place the hands upon the head in the form of a crown, such as the king is wont to wear.[31] Religious intolerance was rampant when this rule was framed; hot and rancorous denunciation was lavished with amazing prodigality against works of loose morality or heathen origin; nor did the monks feel much compassion--although they loved to read them--for the old authors of antiquity. Pagans they were, and therefore fit only to be named as infidels and dogs, so the monk was directed for a secular book, "which some pagan wrote after making the general sign to scratch his ear with his hand, just as a dog itching would do with his feet, because infidels are not unjustly compared to such creatures--_quia nec immerito infideles tali animanti contparantur_."[32] Wretched bigotry and puny malice! Yet what a sad reflection it is, that with all the foul and heartburning examples which those dark ages of the monks afford, posterity have failed to profit by them--religious intolerance, with all its vain-glory and malice, flourishes still, the cankering worm of many a Christian blossom! Besides the duties which we have enumerated, there were others which it was the province of the armarian to fulfil. He was particularly to inspect and collate those books which, according to the decrees of the church, it was unlawful to possess different from the authorized copies; these were the bible, the gospels, missals, epistles, collects graduales, antiphons, hymns, psalters, lessions, and the monastic rules; these were always to be alike even in the most minute point.[33] He was moreover directed to prepare for the use of the brothers short tables respecting the times mentioned in the capitulary for the various offices of the church, to make notes upon the matins, the mass, and upon the different orders.[34] In fact, the monkish amanuensis was expected to undertake all those matters which required care and learning combined. He wrote the letters of the monastery, and often filled the office of secretary to my Lord Abbot. In the monasteries of course the services of the librarian were unrequited by any pecuniary remuneration, but in the cathedral libraries a certain salary was sometimes allowed them. Thus we learn that the amanuensis of the conventual church of Ely received in the year 1372 forty-three shillings and fourpence for his annual duties;[35] and Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, in the tenth century, gave considerable landed possessions to a monk of that church as a recompense for his services as librarian.[36] In some monasteries, in the twelfth century, if not earlier, they levied a tax on all the members of the community, who paid a yearly sum to the librarian for binding, preserving, and purchasing copies for the library. One of these rules, bearing date 1145, was made by Udon, Abbot of St. Père en Vallée à Chantres, and that it might be more plausibly received, he taxed himself as well as all the members of his own house.[37] The librarian sometimes, in addition to his regular duties, combined the office of precentor to the monastery.[38] Some of their account-books have been preserved, and by an inspection of them, we may occasionally gather some interesting and curious hints, as to the cost of books and writing materials in those times. As may be supposed, the monkish librarians often became great bibliophiles, for being in constant communication with choice manuscripts, they soon acquired a great mania for them. Posterity are also particularly indebted to the pens of these book conservators of the middle ages; for some of the best chroniclers and writers of those times were humble librarians to some religious house. Not only did the bibliophiles of old exercise the utmost care in the preservation of their darling books, but the religious basis of their education and learning prompted them to supplicate the blessing of God upon their goodly tomes. Although I might easily produce other instances, one will suffice to give an idea of their nature: "O Lord, send the virtue of thy Holy Spirit upon these our books; that cleansing them from all earthly things, by thy holy blessing, they may mercifully enlighten our hearts and give us true understanding; and grant that by thy teaching, they may brightly preserve and make full an abundance of good works according to thy will."[39] FOOTNOTES: [16] Cap. xxi. Martene de Antiquis Ecclesiæ Ritibus, tom. iii. p. 262. [17] See Catalogue of Hulne Abbey, Library MS. Harleian. No. 3897. [18] Martene de Antiq. Eccle. Rit., tom. iii. p. 263. [19] _Ibid._ Ingulphus tells us that the same rule was observed in Croyland Abbey.--_Apud Gale_, p. 104. [20] Marked b. iv. 26. Surtee Publications, vol. i. p. 121. [21] Const. admiss. Abbat, et gubernatione Monast. Abendum Cottonian M.S. Claudius, b. vi. p. 194. [22] Philobiblon, 4to. _Oxon_, 1599, chap. xix. [23] Martene de Ant. Eccl. Ribibus, tom. iii. p. 263. For an inattention to this the Council of Soissons, in 1121, ordered some transcripts of Abelard's works to be burnt, and severely reproved the author for his unpardonable neglect.--_Histoire Littéraire de la France_, tom. ix. p. 28. [24] Catalogues of Monastic Libraries, pp. 16, 17. [25] Const. Canon. Reg. ap. Martene, tom. iii. p. 263. [26] _Ibid._ [27] _Ibid._, tom. iii. cap. xxxvi. pp. 269, 270. [28] Martene, tom. iii. p. 331. For a list of some books applied to their use, see MS. Cot. Galba, c. iv. fo. 128. [29] Mabillon, Traité des Etudes Monastiques, 4to. _Paris_ 1691, cap. vi. p. 34. [30] Wilkin's Concil. tom. i. p. 332. [31] Stat. pro Reform. ordin. Grandimont. ap. Martene cap. x. [32] _Ibid._, tom. iv. pp. 289, 339. [33] Const. Canon. Reg. ap. Martene, tom. iii. p. 263. [34] _Ibid._, cap. xxi. p. 263. [35] Stevenson's Supple. to Bentham's Hist. of the Church of Ely, p. 51. [36] Thomas' Survey of the Church of Worcester, p. 45. [37] Mabillon. Annal. tom. vi. pp. 651 and 652. Hist. Litt. de la France, ix. p. 140. [38] They managed the pecuniary matters of the fraternity. William of Malmsbury was precentor as well as librarian to his monastery. [39] Martene de Antiq. Eccl. Ritibus ii. p. 302. CHAPTER III. _Scriptoria and the Scribes.--Care in copying.--Bible reading among the monks.--Booksellers in the middle ages.--Circulating libraries.--Calligraphic art, etc._ As the monasteries were the schools of learning, so their occupants were the preservers of literature, and, as Herault observes, had they not taken the trouble to transcribe books, the ancients had been lost to us for ever; to them, therefore, we owe much. But there are many, however, who suppose that the monastic establishments were hotbeds of superstition and fanaticism, from whence nothing of a useful or elevated nature could possibly emanate. They are too apt to suppose that the human intellect must be altogether weak and impotent when confined within such narrow limits; but truth and knowledge can exist even in the dark cells of a gloomy cloister, and inspire the soul with a fire that can shed a light far beyond its narrow precincts. Indeed, I scarce know whether to regret, as some appear to do, that the literature and learning of those rude times was preserved and fostered by the Christian church; it is said, that their strict devotion and religious zeal prompted them to disregard all things but a knowledge of those divine, but such is not the case; at least, I have not found it so; it is true, as churchmen, they were principally devoted to the study of divine and ecclesiastical lore; but it is also certain that in that capacity they gradually infused the mild spirit of their Master among the darkened society over which they presided, and among whom they shone as beacons of light in a dreary desert. But the church did more than this. She preserved to posterity the profane learnings of Old Greece and Rome; copied it, multiplied it, and spread it. She recorded to after generations in plain, simple language, the ecclesiastical and civil events of the past, for it is from the terse chronicles of the monkish churchmen that we learn now the history of what happened then. Much as we may dislike the monastic system, the cold, heartless, gloomy ascetic atmosphere of the cloister, and much as we may deplore the mental dissipation of man's best attributes, which the system of those old monks engendered, we must exercise a cool and impartial judgment, and remember that what now would be intolerable and monstrously inconsistent with our present state of intellectuality, might at some remote period, in the ages of darkness and comparative barbarism, have had its virtues and beneficial influences. As for myself, it would be difficult to convince me, with all those fine relics of their deeds before me, those beauteous fanes dedicated to piety and God, those libraries so crowded with their vellum tomes, so gorgeously adorned, and the abundant evidence which history bears to their known charity and hospitable love, that these monks and their system was a scheme of dismal barbarism; it may be so, but my reading has taught me different; but, on the other hand, although the monks possessed many excellent qualities, being the encouragers of literature, the preservers of books, and promulgators of civilization, we must not hide their numerous and palpable faults, or overlook the poison which their system of monachism _ultimately_ infused into the very vitals of society. In the early centuries, before the absurdities of Romanism were introduced, the influence of the monastic orders was highly beneficial to our Saxon ancestors, but in after ages the Church of England was degraded by the influence of the fast growing abominations of Popedom. She drank copiously of the deadly potion, and became the blighted and ghostly shadow of her former self. Forgetting the humility of her divine Lord, she sought rather to imitate the worldly splendor and arrogance of her Sovereign Pontiff. The evils too obviously existed to be overlooked; but it is not my place to further expose them; a more pleasing duty guides my pen; others have done all this, lashing them painfully for their oft-told sins. Frail humanity glories in chastizing the frailty of brother man. But we will not denounce them here, for did not the day of retribution come? And was not justice satisfied? Having made these few preliminary remarks, let us, in a brief manner, inquire into the system observed in the cloisters by the monks for the preservation and transcription of manuscripts. Let us peep into the quiet cells of those old monks, and see whether history warrants the unqualified contempt which their efforts in this department have met with. In most monasteries there were two kinds of Scriptoria, or writing offices; for in addition to the large and general apartment used for the transcription of church books and manuscripts for the library, there were also several smaller ones occupied by the superiors and the more learned members of the community, as closets for private devotion and study. Thus we read, that in the Cistercian orders there were places set apart for the transcription of books called Scriptoria, or cells assigned to the scribes, "separate from each other," where the books might be transcribed in the strictest silence, according to the holy rules of their founders.[40] These little cells were usually situated in the most retired part of the monastery, and were probably incapable of accommodating more than one or two persons;[41] dull and comfortless places, no doubt, yet they were deemed great luxuries, and the use of them only granted to such as became distinguished for their piety, or erudition. We read that when David went to the Isle of Wight, to Paulinus, to receive his education, he used to sup in the Refectory, but had a Scriptorium, or study, in his cell, being a famous scribe.[42] The aged monks, who often lived in these little offices, separate from the rest of the scribes, were not expected to work so arduously as the rest. Their employment was comparatively easy; nor were they compelled to work so long as those in the cloister.[43] There is a curious passage in Tangmar's Life of St. Bernward, which would lead us to suspect that private individuals possessed Scriptoria; for, says he, there are Scriptoria, not only in the monasteries, but in other places, in which are conceived books equal to the divine works of the philosophers.[44] The Scriptorium of the monastery in which the general business of a literary nature was transacted, was an apartment far more extensive and commodious, fitted up with forms and desks methodically arranged, so as to contain conveniently a great number of copyists. In some of the monasteries and cathedrals, they had long ranges of seats one after another, at which were seated the scribes, one well versed in the subject on which the book treated, recited from the copy whilst they wrote; so that, on a word being given out by him, it was copied by all.[45] The multiplication of manuscripts, under such a system as this, must have been immense; but they did not always make books, _fecit libros_, as they called it, in this wholesale manner, but each monk diligently labored at the transcription of a separate work. The amount of labor carried on in the Scriptorium, of course, in many cases depended upon the revenues of the abbey, and the disposition of the abbot; but this was not always the case, as in some monasteries they undertook the transcription of books as a matter of commerce, and added broad lands to their house by the industry of their pens. But the Scriptorium was frequently supported by resources solely applicable to its use. Laymen, who had a taste for literature, or who entertained an esteem for it in others, often at their death bequeathed estates for the support of the monastic Scriptoria. Robert, one of the Norman leaders, gave two parts of the tythes of Hatfield, and the tythes of Redburn, for the support of the Scriptorium of St. Alban's.[46] The one belonging to the monastery of St. Edmundsbury was endowed with two mills,[47] and in the church of Ely there is a charter of Bishof Nigellus, granting to the Scriptorium of the monastery the tythes of Wythessey and Impitor, two parts of the tythes of the Lordship of Pampesward, with 2s. 2d., and a messuage in Ely _ad faciendos et emandandos libros_.[48] The abbot superintended the management of the Scriptorium, and decided upon the hours for their labor, during which time they were ordered to work with unremitting diligence, "not leaving to go and wander in idleness," but to attend solely to the business of transcribing. To prevent detraction or interruption, no one was allowed to enter except the abbot, the prior, the sub-prior, and the armarian,[49] as the latter took charge of all the materials and implements used by the transcribers, it was his duty to prepare and give them out when required; he made the ink and cut the parchment ready for use. He was strictly enjoined, however, to exercise the greatest economy in supplying these precious materials, and not to give more copies "nec artavos, nec cultellos, nec scarpellæ, nec membranes," than was actually necessary, or than he had computed as sufficient for the work; and what the armarian gave them the monks were to receive without contradiction or contention.[50] The utmost silence prevailed in the Scriptorium; rules were framed, and written admonitions hung on the walls, to enforce the greatest care and diligence in copying exactly from the originals. In Alcuin's works we find one of these preserved; it is a piece inscribed "_Ad Musæum libros scribentium_;" the lines are as follows: "Hic sideant sacræ scribentes famina legis, Nec non sanctorum dicta sacrata Patrum, Hæc interserere caveant sua frivola verbis, Frivola nec propter erret et ipsa manus: Correctosque sibi quærant studiose libellos, Tramite quo recto penna volantis eat. Per cola distinquant proprios, et commata sensus, Et punctos ponant ordine quosque suo. Ne vel falsa legat, taceat vel forte repente, Ante pios fratres, lector in Ecclesia. Est opus egregium sacros jam scribete libros, Nec mercede sua scriptor et ipse caret. Fodere quam vites, melius est scribere libros, Ille suo ventri serviet, iste animæ. Vel nova, vel vetera poterit proferre magister Plurima, quisque legit dicta sacrata Patrum."[51] Other means were resorted to besides these to preserve the text of their books immaculate, it was a common practice for the scribe at the end of his copy, to adjure all who transcribed from it to use the greatest care, and to refrain from the least alteration of word or sense. Authors more especially followed this course, thus at the end of some we find such injunctions as this. "I adjure you who shall transcribe this book, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by his glorious coming, who will come to judge the quick and the dead, that you compare what you transcribe and diligently correct it by the copy from which you transcribe it--this adjuration also--and insert it in your copy."[52] The Consuetudines Canonicorum, before referred to, also particularly impressed this upon the monks, and directed that all the brothers who were engaged as scribes, were not to alter any writing, although in their own mind they might think it proper, without first receiving the sanction of the abbot, "_on no account were they to commit so great a presumption_."[53] But notwithstanding that the scribes were thus enjoined to use the utmost care in copying books, doubtless an occasional error crept in, which many causes might have produced, such as bad light, haste, a little drowsiness, imperfect sight, or even a flickering lamp was sufficient to produce some trivial error; but in works of importance the smallest error is of consequence, as some future scribe puzzled by the blunder, might, in an attempt to correct, still more augment the imperfection; to guard against this, with respect to the Scriptures, the most critical care was enforced. Monks advanced in age were alone allowed to transcribe them, and after their completion they were read--revised--and reread again, and it is by that means that so uniform a reading has been preserved, and although slight differences may here and there occur, there are no books which have traversed through the shadows of the dark ages, that preserve their original text so pure and uncorrupt as the copies of the Scriptures, the fathers of the church, and the ancient writings of the classic authors; sometimes, it is true, a manuscript of the last order is discovered possessing a very different reading in some particular passage; but these appear rather as futile emendations or interpolations of the scribe than as the result of a downright blunder, and are easily perceivable, for when the monkish churchmen tampered with ancient copies, it generally originated in a desire to smooth over the indecencies of the heathen authors, and so render them less liable to corrupt the holy contemplations of the devotee; and while we blame the pious fraud, we cannot but respect the motive that dictated it. But as regards the Scriptures, we talk of the carelessness of the monks and the interpolations of the scribes as if these were faults peculiar to the monastic ages alone; alas! the history of Biblical transmission tells us differently, the gross perversions, omissions, and errors wrought in the holy text, proclaim how prevalent these same faults have been in the ages of _printed literature_, and which appear more palpable by being produced amidst deep scholars, and surrounded with all the critical acumen of a learned age. Five or six thousand of these gross blunders, or these wilful mutilations, protest the unpleasant fact, and show how much of human grossness it has acquired, and how besmeared with corruption those sacred pages have become in passing through the hands of man, and the "revisings" of sectarian minds. I am tempted to illustrate this by an anecdote related by Sir Nicholas L'Estrange of Hunstanton, and preserved in a MS. in the Harlein collection.--"Dr. Usher, Bish. of Armath, being to preach at Paules Crosse and passing hastily by one of the stationers, called for a Bible, and had a little one of the London edition given him out, but when he came to looke for his text, that very verse was omitted in the print: which gave the first occasion of complaint to the king of the insufferable negligence, and insufficience of the London printers and presse, and bredde that great contest that followed, betwixt the univers. of Cambridge and London stationers, about printing of the Bibles."[54] Gross and numerous indeed were the errors of the corrupt bible text of that age, and far exceeding even the blunders of monkish pens, and certainly much less excusable, for in those times they seldom had a large collection of codices to compare, so that by studying their various readings, they could arrive at a more certain and authentic version. The paucity of the sacred volume, if it rendered their pens more liable to err, served to enforce upon them the necessity of still greater scrutiny. On looking over a monastic catalogue, the first volume that I search for is the Bible; and, I feel far more disappointment if I find it not there, than I do at the absence of Horace or Ovid--there is something so desolate in the idea of a Christian priest without the Book of Life--of a minister of God without the fountain of truth--that however favorably we may be prone to regard them, a thought will arise that the absence of this sacred book may perhaps be referred to the indolence of the monkish pen, or to the laxity of priestly piety. But such I am glad to say was not often the case; the Bible it is true was an expensive book, but can scarcely be regarded as a rare one; the monastery was indeed poor that had it not, and when once obtained the monks took care to speedily transcribe it. Sometimes they only possessed detached portions, but when this was the case they generally borrowed of some neighboring and more fortunate monastery, the missing parts to transcribe, and so complete their own copies. But all this did not make the Bible less loved among them, or less anxiously and ardently studied, they devoted their days, and the long hours of the night, to the perusal of those pages of inspired truth,[55] and it is a calumny without a shadow of foundation to declare that the monks were careless of scripture reading; it is true they did not apply that vigor of thought, and unrestrained reflection upon it which mark the labors of the more modern student, nor did they often venture to interpret the hidden meaning of the holy mysteries by the powers of their own mind, but were guided in this important matter by the works of the fathers. But hence arose a circumstance which gave full exercise to their mental powers and compelled the monk in spite of his timidity to think a little for himself. Unfortunately the fathers, venerable and venerated as they were, after all were but men, with many of the frailties and all the fallabilities of poor human nature; the pope might canonize them, and the priesthood bow submissively to their spiritual guidance, still they remained for all that but mortals of dust and clay, and their bulky tomes yet retain the swarthiness of the tomb about them, the withering impress of humanity. Such being the case we, who do not regard them quite so infallible, feel no surprise at a circumstance which sorely perplexed the monks of old, they unchained and unclasped their cumbrous "Works of the Fathers," and pored over those massy expositions with increasing wonder; surrounded by these holy guides, these fathers of infallibility, they were like strangers in a foreign land, did they follow this holy saint they seemed about to forsake the spiritual direction of one having equal claims to their obedience and respect; alas! for poor old weak tradition, those fabrications of man's faulty reason were found, with all their orthodoxy, to clash woefully in scriptural interpretation. Here was a dilemma for the monkish student! whose vow of obedience to patristical guidance was thus sorely perplexed; he read and re-read, analyzed passage after passage, interpreted word after word; and yet, poor man, his laborious study was fruitless and unprofitable! What bible student can refrain from sympathizing with him amidst these torturing doubts and this crowd of contradiction, but after all we cannot regret this, for we owe to it more than my feeble pen can write, so immeasurable have been the fruits of this little unheeded circumstance. It gave birth to many a bright independent declaration, involving pure lines of scripture interpretation, which appear in the darkness of those times like fixed stars before us; to this, in Saxon days, we are indebted for the labors of Ælfric and his anti-Roman doctrines, whose soul also sympathized with a later age by translating portions of the Bible into the vulgar tongue, thus making it accessible to all classes of the people. To this we are indebted for all the good that resulted from those various heterodoxies and heresies, which sometimes disturbed the church during the dark ages; but which wrought much ultimate good by compelling the thoughts of men to dwell on these important matters. Indeed, to the instability of the fathers, as a sure guide, we may trace the origin of all those efforts of the human mind, which cleared the way for the Reformation, and relieved man from the shackles of these spiritual guides of the monks. But there were many cloistered Christians who studied the bible undisturbed by these shadows and doubts, and who, heedless of patristical lore and saintly wisdom, devoured the spiritual food in its pure and uncontaminating simplicity--such students, humble, patient, devoted, will be found crowding the monastic annals, and yielding good evidence of the same by the holy tenor of their sinless lives, their Christian charity and love. But while so many obtained the good title of an "_Amator Scripturarum_," as the bible student was called in those monkish days, I do not pretend to say that the Bible was a common book among them, or that every monk possessed one--far different indeed was the case--a copy of the Old and New Testament often supplied the wants of an entire monastery, and in others, as I have said before, only some detached portions were to be found in their libraries. Sometimes they were more plentiful, and the monastery could boast of two or three copies, besides a few separate portions, and occasionally I have met with instances where besides several _Biblia Optima_, they enjoyed Hebrew codices and translations, with numerous copies of the gospels. We must not forget, however, that the transcription of a Bible was a work of time, and required the outlay of much industry and wealth. "Brother Tedynton," a monk of Ely, commenced a Bible in 1396, and was several years before he completed it. The magnitude of the undertaking can scarcely be imagined by those unpractised in the art of copying, but when the monk saw the long labor of his pen before him, and looked upon the well bound strong clasped volumes, with their clean vellum folios and fine illuminations, he seemed well repaid for his years of toil and tedious labor, and felt a glow of pious pleasure as he contemplated his happy acquisition, and the comfort and solace which he should hereafter derive from its holy pages! We are not surprised then, that a Bible in those days should be esteemed so valuable, and capable of realizing a considerable sum. The monk, independent of its spiritual value, regarded it as a great possession, worthy of being bestowed at his death, with all the solemnity of a testamentary process, and of being gratefully acknowledged by the fervent prayers of the monkish brethren. Kings and nobles offered it as an appropriate and generous gift, and bishops were deemed benefactors to their church by adding it to the library. On its covers were written earnest exhortations to the Bible student, admonishing the greatest care in its use, and leveling anathemas and excommunications upon any one who should dare to purloin it. For its greater security it was frequently chained to a reading desk, and if a duplicate copy was lent to a neighboring monastery they required a large deposit, or a formal bond for its safe return.[56] These facts, while they show its value, also prove how highly it was esteemed among them, and how much the monks loved the Book of Life. But how different is the picture now--how opposite all this appears to the aspect of bible propagation in our own time. Thanks to the printing-press, to bible societies, and to the benevolence of God, we cannot enter the humblest cottage of the poorest peasant without observing the Scriptures on his little shelf--not always read, it is true--nor always held in veneration as in the old days before us--its very plentitude and cheapness takes off its attraction to irreligious and indifferent readers, but to poor and needy Christians what words can express the fulness of the blessing. Yet while we thank God for this great boon, let us refrain from casting uncharitable reflections upon the monks for its comparative paucity among them. If its possession was not so easily acquired, they were nevertheless true lovers of the Bible, and preserved and multiplied it in dark and troublous times. Our remarks have hitherto applied to the monastic scribes alone; but it is necessary here to speak of the secular copyists, who were an important class during the middle ages, and supplied the functions of the bibliopole of the ancients. But the transcribing trade numbered three or four distinct branches. There were the Librarii Antiquarii, Notarii, and the Illuminators--occasionally these professions were all united in one--where perseverance or talent had acquired a knowledge of these various arts. There appears to have been considerable competition between these contending bodies. The notarii were jealous of the librarii, and the librarii in their turn were envious of the antiquarii, who devoted their ingenuity to the transcription and repairing of old books especially, rewriting such parts as were defective or erased, and restoring the dilapidations of the binding. Being learned in old writings they corrected and revised the copies of ancient codices; of this class we find mention as far back as the time of Cassiodorus and Isidore.[57] "They deprived," says Astle, "the poor librarii, or common scriptores, of great part of their business, so that they found it difficult to gain a subsistence for themselves and their families. This put them about finding out more expeditious methods of transcribing books. They formed the letters smaller, and made use of more conjugations and abbreviations than had been usual. They proceeded in this manner till the letters became exceedingly small and extremely difficult to be read."[58] The fact of there existing a class of men, whose fixed employment or profession was solely confined to the transcription of ancient writings and to the repairing of tattered copies, in contradistinction to the common scribes, and depending entirely upon the exercise of their art as a means of obtaining a subsistence, leads us to the conclusion that ancient manuscripts were by no means so very scarce in those days; for how absurd and useless it would have been for men to qualify themselves for transcribing these antiquated and venerable codices, if there had been no probability of obtaining them to transcribe. The fact too of its becoming the subject of so much competition proves how great was the demand for their labor.[59] We are unable, with any positive result, to discover the exact origin of the secular scribes, though their existence may probably be referred to a very remote period. The monks seem to have monopolized for some ages the "_Commercium Librorum_,"[60] and sold and bartered copies to a considerable extent among each other. We may with some reasonable grounds, however, conjecture that the profession was flourishing in Saxon times; for we find several eminent names in the seventh and eighth centuries who, in their epistolary correspondence, beg their friends to procure transcripts for them. Benedict, Bishop of Wearmouth, purchased most of his book treasures at Rome, which was even at that early period probably a famous mart for such luxuries, as he appears to have journeyed there for that express purpose. Some of the books which he collected were presents from his foreign friends; but most of them, as Bede tells us, were _bought_ by himself, or in accordance with his instructions, by his friends.[61] Boniface, the Saxon missionary, continually writes for books to his associates in all parts of Europe. At a subsequent period the extent and importance of the profession grew amazingly; and in Italy its followers were particularly numerous in the tenth century, as we learn from the letters of Gerbert, afterwards Silvester II., who constantly writes, with the cravings of a bibliomaniac, to his friends for books, and begs them to get the scribes, who, he adds, in one of his letters, may be found in all parts of Italy,[62] both in town and in the country, to make transcripts of certain books for him, and he promises to reimburse his correspondent all that he expends for the same. These public scribes derived their principal employment from the monks and the lawyers; from the former in transcribing their manuscripts, and by the latter in drawing up their legal instruments. They carried on their avocation at their own homes like other artisans; but sometimes when employed by the monks executed their transcripts within the cloister, where they were boarded, lodged, and received their wages till their work was done. This was especially the case when some great book was to be copied, of rarity and price; thus we read of Paulinus, of St. Albans, sending into distant parts to obtain proficient workmen, who were paid so much per diem for their labor; their wages were generously supplied by the Lord of Redburn.[63] The increase of knowledge and the foundation of the universities gave birth to the booksellers. Their occupation as a distinct trade originated at a period coeval with the foundation of these public seminaries, although the first mention that I am aware of is made by Peter of Blois, about the year 1170. I shall have occasion to speak more hereafter of this celebrated scholar, but I may be excused for giving the anecdote here, as it is so applicable to my subject. It appears, then, that whilst remaining in Paris to transact some important matter for the King of England, he entered the shop of "a public dealer in books"--for be it known that the archdeacon was always on the search, and seldom missed an opportunity of adding to his library--the bookseller, Peter tells us, offered him a tempting collection on Jurisprudence; but although his knowledge of such matters was so great that he did not require them for his own use, he thought they might be serviceable to his nephew, and after bargaining a little about the price he counted down the money agreed upon and left the stall; but no sooner was his back turned than the Provost of Sexeburgh came in to look over the literary stores of the stationer, and his eye meeting the recently sold volume, he became inspired with a wish to possess it; nor could he, on hearing it was bought and paid for by another, suppress his anxiety to obtain the treasure; but, offering more money, actually took the volume away by force. As may be supposed, Archdeacon Peter was sorely annoyed at this behavior; and "To his dearest companion and friend Master Arnold of Blois, Peter of Blois Archdeacon of Bath sent greeting," a long and learned letter, displaying his great knowledge of civil law, and maintaining the illegality of the provost's conduct.[64] The casual way in which this is mentioned make it evident that the "_publico mangone Librorum_" was no unusual personage in those days, but belonged to a common and recognized profession. The vast number of students who, by the foundation of universities, were congregated together, generated of course a proportionate demand for books, which necessity or luxury prompted them eagerly to purchase: but there were poor as well as rich students educated in these great seminaries of learning, whose pecuniary means debarred them from the acquisition of such costly luxuries; and for this and other cogent reasons the universities deemed it advantageous, and perhaps expedient, to frame a code of laws and regulations to provide alike for the literary wants of all classes and degrees. To effect this they obtained royal sanction to take the trade entirely under their protection, and eventually monopolized a sole legislative power over the _Librarii_. In the college of Navarre a great quantity of ancient documents are preserved, many of which relate to this curious subject. They were deposited there by M. Jean Aubert in 1623, accompanied by an inventory of them, divided into four parts by the first four letters of the alphabet. In the fourth, under D. 18, there is a chapter entitled "Des Libraires Appretiateurs, Jurez et Enlumineurs," which contains much interesting matter relating to the early history of bookselling.[65] These ancient statutes, collected and printed by the University in the year 1652,[66] made at various times, and ranging between the years 1275 and 1403, give us a clear insight into the matter. The nature of a bookseller's business in those days required no ordinary capacity, and no shallow store of critical acumen; the purchasing of manuscripts, the work of transcription, the careful revisal, the preparation of materials, the tasteful illuminations, and the process of binding, were each employments requiring some talent and discrimination, and we are not surprised, therefore, that the avocation of a dealer and fabricator of these treasures should be highly regarded, and dignified into a profession, whose followers were invested with all the privileges, freedoms and exemptions, which the masters and students of the university enjoyed.[67] But it required these conciliations to render the restrictive and somewhat severe measures, which she imposed on the bookselling trade, to be received with any degree of favor or submission. For whilst the University of Paris, by whom these statutes were framed, encouraged and elevated the profession of the librarii, she required, on the other hand, a guarantee of their wealth and mental capacity, to maintain and to appreciate these important concessions; the bookseller was expected indeed to be well versed in all branches of science, and to be thoroughly imbued with a knowledge of those subjects and works of which he undertook to produce transcripts.[68] She moreover required of him testimonials to his good character, and efficient security, ratified by a solemn oath of allegiance,[69] and a promise to observe and submit to all the present and future laws and regulations of the university. In some cases, it appears that she restricted the number of librarii, though this fell into disuse as the wants of the students increased. Twenty-four seems to have been the original number,[70] which is sufficiently great to lead to the conclusion that bookselling was a flourishing trade in those old days. By the statutes of the university, the bookseller was not allowed to expose his transcripts for sale, without first submitting them to the inspection of certain officers appointed by the university, and if an error was discovered, the copies were ordered to be burnt or a fine levied on them, proportionate to their inaccuracy. Harsh and stringent as this may appear at first sight, we shall modify our opinion, on recollecting that the student was in a great degree dependent upon the care of the transcribers for the fidelity of his copies, which rendered a rule of this nature almost indispensable; nor should we forget the great service it bestowed in maintaining the primitive accuracy of ancient writers, and in transmitting them to us through those ages in their original purity.[71] In these times of free trade and unrestrained commercial policy, we shall regard less favorably a regulation which they enforced at Paris, depriving the bookseller of the power of fixing a price upon his own goods. Four booksellers were appointed and sworn in to superintend this department, and when a new transcript was finished, it was brought by the bookseller, and they discussed its merits and fixed its value, which formed the amount the bookseller was compelled to ask for it; if he demanded of his customer a larger sum, it was deemed a fraudulent imposition, and punishable as such. Moreover, as an advantage to the students, the bookseller was expected to make a considerable reduction in his profits in supplying them with books; by one of the laws of the university, his profit on each volume was confined to four deniers to student, and six deniers to a common purchaser. The librarii were still further restricted in the economy of their trade, by a rule which forbade any one of them to dispose of his entire stock of books without the consent of the university; but this, I suspect, implied the disposal of the stock and trade together, and was intended to intimate that the introduction of the purchaser would not be allowed, without the cognizance and sanction of the university.[72] Nor was the bookseller able to purchase books without her consent, lest they should be of an immoral or heretical tendency; and they were absolutely forbidden to buy any of the students, without the permission of the rector. But restricted as they thus were, the book merchants nevertheless grew opulent, and transacted an important and extensive trade; sometimes they purchased parts and sometimes they had whole libraries to sell.[73] Their dealings were conducted with unusual care, and when a volume of peculiar rarity or interest was to be sold, a deed of conveyance was drawn up with legal precision, in the presence of authorized witnesses. In those days of high prices and book scarcity, the poor student was sorely impeded in his progress; to provide against these disadvantages, they framed a law in 1342, at Paris, compelling all public booksellers to keep books to lend out on hire. The reader will be surprised at the idea of a circulating library in the middle ages! but there can be no doubt of the fact, they were established at Paris, Toulouse, Vienna, and Bologne. These public librarians, too, were obliged to write out regular catalogues of their books and hang them up in their shops, with the prices affixed, so that the student might know beforehand what he had to pay for reading them. I am tempted to give a few extracts from these lists: St. Gregory's Commentaries upon Job, for reading 100 pages, 8 sous. St. Gregory's Book of Homilies, 28 pages for 12 deniers. Isidore's De Summa bona, 24 pages, 12 deniers. Anselm's De Veritate de Libertate Arbitrii, 40 pages, 2 sous. Peter Lombard's Book of Sentences, 3 sous. Scholastic History, 3 sous. Augustine's Confessions, 21 pages, 4 deniers. Gloss on Matthew, by brother Thomas Aquinas, 57 pages, 3 sous. Bible Concordance, 9 sous. Bible, 10 sous.[74] This rate of charge was also fixed by the university, and the students borrowing these books were privileged to transcribe them if they chose; if any of them proved imperfect or faulty, they were denounced by the university, and a fine imposed upon the bookseller who had lent out the volume. This potent influence exercised by the universities over booksellers became, in time, much abused, and in addition to these commercial restraints, they assumed a still less warrantable power over the original productions of authors; and became virtually the public censors of books, and had the power of burning or prohibiting any work of questionable orthodoxy. In the time of Henry the Second, a book was published by being read over for two or three successive days, before one of the universities, and if they approved of its doctrines and bestowed upon it their approbation, it was allowed to be copied extensively for sale. Stringent as the university rules were, as regards the bookselling trade, they were, nevertheless, sometimes disregarded or infringed; some ventured to take more for a book than the sum allowed, and, by prevarication and secret contracts, eluded the vigilance of the laws.[75] Some were still bolder, and openly practised the art of a scribe and the profession of a bookseller, without knowledge or sanction of the university. This gave rise to much jealousy, and in the University of Oxford, in the year 1373, they made a decree forbidding any person exposing books for sale without her licence.[76] Now, considering all these usages of early bookselling, their numbers, their opulence, and above all, the circulating libraries which the librarii established, can we still retain the opinion that books were so inaccessible in those ante-printing days, when we know that for a few sous the booklover could obtain good and authenticated copies to peruse, or transcribe? It may be advanced that these facts solely relate to universities, and were intended merely to insure a supply of the necessary books in constant requisition by the students, but such was not the case; the librarii were essentially public _Librorum Venditores_, and were glad to dispose of their goods to any who could pay for them. Indeed, the early bibliomaniacs usually flocked to these book marts to rummage over the stalls, and to collect their choice volumes. Richard de Bury obtained many in this way, both at Paris and at Rome. Of the exact pecuniary value of books during the middle ages, we have no means of judging. The few instances that have accidentally been recorded are totally inadequate to enable us to form an opinion. The extravagant estimate given by some as to the value of books in those days is merely conjectural, as it necessarily must be, when we remember that the price was guided by the accuracy of the transcription, the splendor of the binding, which was often gorgeous to excess, and by the beauty and richness of the illuminations.[77] Many of the manuscripts of the middle ages are magnificent in the extreme. Sometimes they inscribed the gospels and the venerated writings of the fathers with liquid gold, on parchment of the richest purple,[78] and adorned its brilliant pages with illuminations of exquisite workmanship. The first specimens we have of an attempt to embellish manuscripts are Egyptian. It was a common practice among them at first to color the initial letter of each chapter or division of their work, and afterwards to introduce objects of various kinds into the body of the manuscript. The splendor of the ancient calligraphical productions of Greece,[79] and the still later ones of Rome, bear repeated testimony that the practice of this art had spread during the sixth century, if not earlier, to these powerful empires. England was not tardy in embracing this elegant art. We have many relics of remote antiquity and exquisite workmanship existing now, which prove the talent and assiduity of our early Saxon forefathers. In Ireland the illuminating art was profusely practised at a period as early as the commencement of the seventh century, and in the eighth we find it holding forth eminent claims to our respect by the beauty of their workmanship, and the chastity of their designs. Those well versed in the study of these ancient manuscripts have been enabled, by extensive but minute observation, to point out their different characteristics in various ages, and even to decide upon the school in which a particular manuscript was produced. These illuminations, which render the early manuscripts of the monkish ages so attractive, generally exemplify the rude ideas and tastes of the time. In perspective they are wofully deficient, and manifest but little idea of the picturesque or sublime; but here and there we find quite a gem of art, and, it must be owned, we are seldom tired by monotony of coloring, or paucity of invention. A study of these parchment illustrations afford considerable instruction. Not only do they indicate the state of the pictorial art in the middle ages, but also give us a comprehensive insight into the scriptural ideas entertained in those times; and the bible student may learn much from pondering on these glittering pages; to the historical student, and to the lover of antiquities, they offer a verdant field of research, and he may obtain in this way many a glimpse of the manners and customs of those old times which the pages of the monkish chroniclers have failed to record. But all this prodigal decoration greatly enhanced the price of books, and enabled them to produce a sum, which now to us sounds enormously extravagant. Moreover, it is supposed that the scarcity of parchment limited the number of books materially, and prevented their increase to any extent; but I am prone to doubt this assertion, for my own observations do not help to prove it. Mr. Hallam says, that in consequence of this, "an unfortunate practice gained ground of erasing a manuscript in order to substitute another on the same skin. This occasioned, probably, the loss of many ancient authors who have made way for the legends of saints, or other ecclesiastical rubbish."[80] But we may reasonably question this opinion, when we consider the value of books in the middle ages, and with what esteem the monks regarded, in spite of all their paganism, those "heathen dogs" of the ancient world. A doubt has often forced itself upon my mind when turning over the "crackling leaves" of many ancient MSS., whether the peculiarity mentioned by Montfaucon, and described as parchment from which former writing had been erased, may not be owing, in many cases, to its mode of preparation. It is true, a great proportion of the membrane on which the writings of the middle ages are inscribed, appear rough and uneven, but I could not detect, through many manuscripts of a hundred folios--all of which evinced this roughness--the unobliterated remains of a single letter. And when I have met with instances, they appear to have been short writings--perhaps epistles; for the monks were great correspondents, and, I suspect, kept economy in view, and often carried on an epistolary intercourse, for a considerable time, with a very limited amount of parchment, by erasing the letter to make room for the answer. This, probably, was usual where the matter of their correspondence was of no especial importance; so that, what our modern critics, being emboldened by these faint traces of former writing, have declared to possess the classic appearance of hoary antiquity, may be nothing more than a complimentary note, or the worthless accounts of some monastic expenditure. But, careful as they were, what would these monks have thought of "paper-sparing Pope," who wrote his Iliad on small pieces of refuse paper? One of the finest passages in that translation, which describes the parting of Hector and Andromache, is written on part of a letter which Addison had franked, and is now preserved in the British Museum. Surely he could afford, these old monks would have said, to expend some few shillings for paper, on which to inscribe that for which he was to receive his thousand pounds. But far from the monastic manuscripts displaying a scantiness of parchment, we almost invariably find an abundant margin, and a space between each line almost amounting to prodigality; and to say that the "vellum was considered more precious than the genius of the author,"[81] is absurd, when we know that, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a dozen skins of parchment could be bought for sixpence; whilst that quantity written upon, if the subject possessed any interest at all, would fetch considerably more, there always being a demand and ready sale for books.[82] The supposition, therefore, that the monastic scribes erased _classical_ manuscripts for the sake of the material, seems altogether improbable, and certainly destitute of proof. It is true, many of the classics, as we have them now, are but mere fragments of the original work. For this, however, we have not to blame the monks, but barbarous invaders, ravaging flames, and the petty animosities of civil and religious warfare for the loss of many valuable works of the classics. By these means, one hundred and five books of Livy have been lost to us, probably forever. For the thirty which have been preserved, our thanks are certainly due to the monks. It was from their unpretending and long-forgotten libraries that many such treasures were brought forth at the revival of learning, in the fifteenth century, to receive the admiration of the curious, and the study of the erudite scholar. In this way Poggio Bracciolini discovered many inestimable manuscripts. Leonardo Aretino writes in rapturous terms on Poggio's discovery of a perfect copy of Quintillian. "What a precious acquisition!" he exclaims, "what unthought of pleasure to behold Quintillian perfect and entire!"[83] In the same letter we learn that Poggio had discovered Asconius and Flaccus in the monastery of St. Gall, whose inhabitants regarded them without much esteem. In the monastery of Langres, his researches were rewarded by a copy of Cicero's Oration for Cæcina. With the assistance of Bartolomeo di Montepulciano, he discovered Silius Italicus, Lactantius, Vegetius, Nonius Marcellus, Ammianus Marcellus, Lucretius, and Columella, and he found in a monastery at Rome a complete copy of Turtullian.[84] In the fine old monastery of Casino, so renowned for its classical library in former days, he met with Julius Frontinus and Firmicus, and transcribed them with his own hand. At Cologne he obtained a copy of Petronius Arbiter. But to these we may add Calpurnius's Bucolic,[85] Manilius, Lucius Septimus, Coper, Eutychius, and Probus. He had anxious hopes of adding a perfect Livy to the list, which he had been told then existed in a Cistercian Monastery in Hungary, but, unfortunately, he did not prosecute his researches in this instance with his usual energy. The scholar has equally to regret the loss of a perfect Tacitus, which Poggio had expectations of from the hands of a German monk. We may still more deplore this, as there is every probability that the monks actually possessed the precious volume.[86] Nicolas of Treves, a contemporary and friend of Poggio's, and who was infected, though in a slight degree, with the same passionate ardor for collecting ancient manuscripts, discovered, whilst exploring the German monasteries, twelve comedies of Plautus, and a fragment of Aulus Gellius.[87] Had it not been for the timely aid of these great men, many would have been irretrievably lost in the many revolutions and contentions that followed; and, had such been the case, the monks, of course, would have received the odium, and on their heads the spleen of the disappointed student would have been prodigally showered. FOOTNOTES: [40] Martene Thesaurus novus Anecdot. tom. iv. col. 1462. [41] See Du Cange in Voc., vol. vi. p. 264. [42] Anglia Sacra, ii. 635. Fosbrooke Brit. Monach., p. 15. [43] Martene Thes. Nov. Anec. tom. iv. col. 1462. Stat. Ord. Cistere, anni 1278, they were allowed for "_Studendum vel recreandum_." [44] Hildesh. episc apud Leibuit., tom. i. Script. Brunsvic, p. 444. I am indebted to Du Cange for this reference. [45] King's Munimenta Antiqua. Stevenson's Suppl. to Bentham, p. 64. [46] Matt Paris, p. 51. [47] Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry, p. cxiv. Regest. Nig. St. Edmund. Abbat. [48] Stevenson's Sup. to Bentham's Church of Norwich, 4to. 1817, p. 51. [49] Martene de Ant. Eccl. Ritib., cap. xxi. tom. iii. p. 263. [50] _Ibid._ [51] Alcuini Opera, tom. ii. vol. i. p. 211. Carmin xvii. [52] Preface to Ælfric's Homilies MS. Lansdowne, No. 373, vol. iv. in the British Museum. [53] Const. Can. Reg. ap. Martene, tom. iii. p. 263. [54] MS. Harl. 6395, anecdote 348.--I am indebted to D'Israeli for the reference, but not for the extract. [55] The monks were strictly enjoined by the monastic rules to study the Bible unceasingly. The Statutes of the Dominican order are particularly impressive on this point, and enforce a constant reading and critical study of the sacred volume, so as to fortify themselves for disputation; they were to peruse it continually, and apply to it before all other reading _semper ante aliam lectionem_. _Martene Thesan. Nov. Anecdot._, tom. iv. col. 1932. See also cols. 1789, 1836, 1912, 1917, 1934. [56] About the year 1225 Roger de Insula, Dean of York, gave several copies of the bible to the University of Oxford, and ordered that those who borrowed them for perusal should deposit property of equal value as a security for their safe return.--_Wood's Hist. Antiq. Oxon._ ii. 48. [57] Muratori Dissert. Quadragesima tertia, vol. iii. column 849. [58] Astle's Origin of Writing, p. 193.--See also Montfaucon Palæographia Græca, lib. iv. p. 263 et 319. [59] In the year 1300 the pay of a common scribe was about one half-penny a day, see Stevenson's Supple. to Bentham's Hist. of the Church of Ely. p. 51. [60] In some orders the monks were not allowed to sell their books without the express permission of their superiors. According to a statute of the year 1264 the Dominicans were strictly prohibited from selling their books or the rules of their order.--_Martene Thesaur. Nov. Anecdot._ tom. iv. col. 1741, et col. 1918. [61] Vita Abbat. Wear. Ed. Ware, p. 26. His fine copy of the Cosmographers he bought at Rome.--_Roma Benedictus emerat._ [62] Nosti quot Scriptores in Urbibus aut in Agris Italiæ passim habeantur.--Ep. cxxx. See also Ep. xliv. where he speaks of having purchased books in Italy, Germany and Belgium, at considerable cost. It is the most interesting Bibliomanical letter in the whole collection. [63] Cottonian MS. in the Brit. Mus.--_Claudius_, E. iv. fo. 105, b. [64] Epist. lxxi. p. 124, Edit. 4to. His words are--"Cum Dominus Rex Anglorum me nuper ad Dominum Regum Francorum nuntium distinasset, libri Legum venales Parisius oblati sunt mihi ab illo B. publico mangone librorum: qui cum ad opus cujusdam mei nepotis idoner viderentur conveni cum eo de pretio et eos apud venditorem dismittens, ei pretium numeravi; superveniente vero C. Sexburgensi Præposito sicut audini, plus oblulit et licitatione vincens libros de domo venditories per violentiam absportauit." [65] Chevillier, Origines de l'Imprimerie de Paris, 4to. 1694, p. 301. [66] "Actes concernant le pouvoir et la direction de l'Université de Paris sur les Ecrivains de Livres et les Imprimeurs qui leur ont succédé comme aussi sur les Libraires Relieurs et Enlumineurs," 4to. 1652, p. 44. It is very rare, a copy was in Biblioth. Teller, No. 132, p. 428. A statute of 1275 is given by Lambecii Comment. de Augus. Biblioth. Cæsarea Vendobon, vol. ii. pp. 252-267. The booksellers are called "Stationarii or Librarii;" _de Stationariis, sive Librariis ut Stationarus, qui vulgo appellantur_, etc. See also _Du Cange_, vol. vi. col. 716. [67] Chevillier, p. 301, to whom I am deeply indebted in this branch of my inquiry. [68] Hist. Lit. de la France, tom. ix. p. 84. Chevillier, p. 302. [69] The form of oath is given in full in the statute of 1323, and in that of 1342, Chevillier. [70] Du Breuil, Le Théâtre des Antiq. de Paris, 4to. 1612, p. 608. [71] _Ibid._, Hist. Lit. de la France, tom. ix. p. 84. [72] Chevillier, p. 303. [73] Martene Anecd. tom. i. p. 502. Hist. Lit. de la France, ix. p. 142. [74] Chevillier, 319, who gives a long list, printed from an old register of the University. [75] Chevillier, 303. [76] Vet. Stat. Universit. Oxoniæ, D. fol. 75. Archiv. Bodl. [77] The Church of Norwich paid £22, 9s. for illuminating a Graduale and Consuetudinary in 1374. [78] Isidore Orig., cap. ii.--Jerome, in his Preface to Job, writes, "_Habeant qui volunt veteres libros, vel in membranes purpurus auro argentique colore purpuros aurum liquiscit in literis._" Eddius Stephanus in his Life of St. Wilfrid, cap xvi., speaks of "Quatuor Evangeliæ de auro purissimo in membranis de purpuratis coloratis pro animæ suæ remidis scribere jusset." Du Cange, vol. iv. p. 654. See also Mabillon Act. Sanct., tom. v. p. 110, who is of opinion that these purple MSS. were only designed for princes; see Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique, and Montfaucon Palæog. Græc., pp. 45, 218, 226, for more on this subject. [79] See a Fragment in the Brit. Mus. engraved in Shaw's Illuminated Ornaments, plate 1. [80] Middle Ages, vol. ii. p. 437. Mr. Maitland, in his "Dark Ages," enters into a consideration of this matter with much critical learning and ingenuity. [81] D'Israeli Amenities of Lit., vol. i. p. 358. [82] The Precentor's accounts of the Church of Norwich contain the following items:--1300, 5 _dozen parchment_, 2_s._ 6_d._, 40 lbs. of ink, 4_s._ 4_d._, 1 gallon of vini decrili, 3_s._, 4 lbs. of corporase, 4 lbs. of galls, 2 lbs. of gum arab, 3_s._ 4_d._, to make ink. I dismiss these facts with the simple question they naturally excite: that if parchment was so _very scarce_, what on earth did the monk want with all this ink? [83] Leonardi Aretini Epist. 1. iv. ep. v. [84] Mehi Præfatio ad vit Ambrosii Traversarii, p. xxxix. [85] Mehi Præf., pp. xlviii.--xlix. [86] A MS. containing five books of Tacitus which had been deemed lost was found in Germany during the pontificate of Leo X., and deposited in the Laurentian library at Florence.--_Mehi Præf._ p. xlvii. See Shepard's Life of Poggio, p. 104, to whom I am much indebted for these curious facts. [87] Shepard's Life of Poggio, p. 101. CHAPTER IV. _Canterbury Monastery.--Theodore of Tarsus.--Tatwine.--Nothelm.--St. Dunstan.--Ælfric.--Lanfranc.--Anselm.--St. Augustine's books.--Henry de Estria and his Catalogue.--Chiclely.--Sellinge.--Rochester.--Gundulph, a Bible Student.--Radulphus.--Ascelin of Dover.--Glanvill, etc._ In the foregoing chapters I have endeavored to give the reader an insight into the means by which the monks multiplied their books, the opportunities they had of obtaining them, the rules of their libraries and scriptoria, and the duties of a monkish librarian. I now proceed to notice some of the English monastic libraries of the middle ages, and by early records and old manuscripts inquire into their extent, and revel for a time among the bibliomaniacs of the cloisters. On the spot where Christianity--more than twelve hundred years ago--first obtained a permanent footing in Britain, stands the proud metropolitan cathedral of Canterbury--a venerable and lasting monument of ancient piety and monkish zeal. St. Augustine, who brought over the glad tidings of the Christian faith in the year 596, founded that noble structure on the remains of a church which Roman Christians in remote times had built there. To write the literary history of its old monastery would spread over more pages than this volume contains, so many learned and bookish abbots are mentioned in its monkish annals. Such, however, is beyond the scope of my present design, and I have only to turn over those ancient chronicles to find how the love of books flourished in monkish days; so that, whilst I may here and there pass unnoticed some ingenious author, or only casually remark upon his talents, all that relate to libraries or book-collecting, to bibliophiles or scribes, I shall carefully record; and, I think, from the notes now lying before me, and which I am about to arrange in something like order, the reader will form a very different idea of monkish libraries than he previously entertained. The name that first attracts our attention in the early history of Canterbury Church is that of Theodore of Tarsus, the father of Anglo-Saxon literature, and certainly the first who introduced bibliomania into this island; for when he came on his mission from Rome in the year 668 he brought with him an extensive library, containing many Greek and Latin authors, in a knowledge of which he was thoroughly initiated. Bede tells us that he was well skilled in metrical art, astronomy, arithmetic, church music, and the Greek and Latin languages.[88] At his death[89] the library of Christ Church Monastery was enriched by his valuable books, and in the time of old Lambarde some of them still remained. He says, in his quaint way, "The Reverend Father Mathew, nowe Archbishop of Canterburie, whose care for the conservation of learned monuments can never be sufficiently commended, shewed me, not long since, the Psalter of David, and sundrie homilies in Greek; Homer also and some other Greeke authors beautifully wrytten on thicke paper, with the name of this Theodore prefixed in the fronte, to whose librarie he reasonably thought, being thereto led by shew of great antiquitie that they sometimes belonged."[90] Tatwine was a great book lover, if not a bibliomaniac. "He was renowned for religious wisdom, and notably learned in Sacred Writ."[91] If he wrote the many pieces attributed to him, his pen must have been prolific and his reading curious and diversified. He is said to have composed on profane and sacred subjects, but his works were unfortunately destroyed by the Danish invaders, and a book of poems and one of enigmas are all that have escaped their ravages. The latter work, preserved in our National Library, contains many curious hints, illustrative of the manners of those remote days.[92] Nothelm, or the Bold Helm, succeeded this interesting author; he was a learned and pious priest of London. The bibliomaniac will somewhat envy the avocation of this worthy monk whilst searching over the rich treasures of the Roman archives, from whence he gleaned much valuable information to aid Bede in compiling his history of the English Church.[93] Not only was he an industrious scribe but also a talented author, if we are to believe Pits, who ascribes to him several works, with a Life of St. Augustine.[94] It is well known that St. Dunstan was an ingenious scribe, and so passionately fond of books, that we may unhesitatingly proclaim him a bibliomaniac. He was a native of Wessex, and resided with his father near Glastonbury Abbey, which holy spot many a legendary tale rendered dear to his youthful heart. He entered the Abbey, and devoted his whole time to reading the wondrous lives and miracles of ascetic men till his mind became excited to a state of insanity by the many marvels and prodigies which they unfolded; so that he acquired among the simple monks the reputation of one holding constant and familiar intercourse with the beings of another world. On his presentation to the king, which was effected by the influence of his uncle Athelm, Archbishop of Canterbury, he soon became a great favorite, but excited so much jealousy there, that evil reports were industriously spread respecting him. He was accused of practising magical arts and intriguing with the devil. This induced him to retire again into the seclusion of a monastic cell, which he constructed so low that he could scarcely stand upright in it. It was large enough, however, to hold his forge and other apparatus, for he was a proficient worker in metals, and made ornaments, and bells for his church. He was very fond of music, and played with exquisite skill upon the harp.[95] But what is more to our purpose, his biographer tells us that he was remarkably skilful in writing and illuminating, and transcribed many books, adorning them with beautiful paintings, whilst in this little cell.[96] One of them is preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. On the front is a painting of St. Dunstan kneeling before our Saviour, and at the top is written "_Pictura et Scriptura hujus pagine subtas visi est de propria manu sei Dunstani_."[97] But in the midst of these ingenious pursuits he did not forget to devote many hours to the study of the Holy Scriptures, as also to the diligent transcription and correction of copies of them,[98] and thus arming himself with the sacred word, he was enabled to withstand the numerous temptations which surrounded him. Sometimes the devil appeared as a man, and at other times he was still more severely tempted by the visitations of a beautiful woman, who strove by the most alluring blandishments to draw that holy man from the paths of Christian rectitude. In the tenth century such eminent virtues could not pass unrewarded, and he was advanced to the Archbishopric of Canterbury in the year 961, but his after life is that of a saintly politician, and displays nothing that need be mentioned here. In the year 969,[99] Ælfric, abbot of St. Alban's, was elected archbishop of Canterbury. His identity is involved in considerable doubt by the many contemporaries who bore that name, some of whom, like him, were celebrated for their talent and erudition; but, leaving the solution of this difficulty to the antiquarian, we are justified in saying that he was of noble family, and received his education under Ethelwold, at Abingdon, about the year 960. He accompanied his master to Winchester, and Elphegus, bishop of that see, entertained so high an opinion of Ælfric's learning and capacity, that he sent him to superintend the recently founded monastery of Cerne, in Devonshire. He there spent all his hours, unoccupied by the duties of his abbatical office, in the transcription of books and the nobler avocations of an author. He composed a Latin Grammar, a work which has won for him the title of "_The Grammarian_," and he greatly helped to maintain the purity of the Christian church by composing a large collection of homilies, which became exceedingly popular during the succeeding century, and are yet in existence. The preface to these homilies contain several very curious passages illustrative of the mode of publication resorted to by the monkish authors, and on that account I am tempted to make the following extracts: "I, Ælfric, the scholar of Ethelwold, to the courteous and venerable Bishop Sigeric, in the Lord. "Although it may appear to be an attempt of some rashness and presumption, yet have I ventured to translate this book out of the Latin writers, especially those of the 'Holy Scriptures,' into our common language; for the edification of the ignorant, who only understand this language when it is either read or heard. Wherefore I have not used obscure or unintelligible words, but given the plain English. By which means the hearts, both of the readers and of the hearers, may be reached more easily; because they are incapable of being otherwise instructed, than in their native tongue. Indeed, in our translation, we have not ever been so studious to render word for word, as to give the true sense and meaning of our authors. Nevertheless, we have used all diligent caution against deceitful errors, that we may not be found seduced by any heresy, nor blinded by any deceit. For we have followed these authors in this translation, namely, St. Austin of Hippo, St. Jerome, Bede, Gregory, Smaragdus, and sometimes Haymo, whose authority is admitted to be of great weight with all the faithful. Nor have we only expounded the treatise of the gospels;... but have also described the passions and lives of the saints, for the use of the unlearned of this nation. We have placed forty discourses in this volume, believing this will be sufficient for one year, if they be recited entirely to the faithful, by the ministers of the Lord. But the other book which we have now taken in hand to compose will contain those passions or treatises which are omitted in this volume." ... "Now, if any one find fault with our translation, that we have not always given word for word, or that this translation is not so full as the treatise of the authors themselves, or that in handling of the gospels we have run them over in a method not exactly conformable to the order appointed in the church, let him compose a book of his own; by an interpretation of deeper learning, as shall best agree with his understanding, this only I beseech him, that he may not pervert this version of mine, which I hope, by the grace of God, without any boasting, I have, according to the best of my skill, performed with all diligence. Now, I most earnestly entreat your goodness, my most gentle father Sigeric, that you will vouchsafe to correct, by your care, whatever blemishes of malignant heresy, or of dark deceit, you shall meet with in my translation, and then permit this little book to be ascribed to your authority, and not to the meanness of a person of my unworthy character. Farewell in the Almighty God continually. Amen."[100] I have before alluded to the care observed by the scribes in copying their manuscripts, and the moderns may deem themselves fortunate that they did so; for although many interpolations, or emendations, as they called them, occur in monkish transcripts, on the whole, their integrity, in this respect, forms a redeeming quality in connexion with their learning. In another preface, affixed to the second collection of his homilies, Ælfric thus explains his design in translating them: "Ælfric, a monk and priest, although a man of less abilities than are requisite for one in such orders, was sent, in the days of King Æthelred, from Alphege, the bishop and successor of Æthelwold, to a monastery which is called Cernel, at the desire of Æthelmer, the Thane, whose noble birth and goodness is everywhere known. Then ran it in my mind, I trust, through the grace of God, that I ought to translate this book out of the Latin tongue into the English language not upon presumption of great learning, but because I saw and heard much error in many English books, which ignorant men, through their simplicity, esteemed great wisdom, and because it grieved me that they neither knew, nor had the gospel learning in their writing, except from those men that understood Latin, and those books which are to be had of King Alfred's, which he skilfully translated from Latin into English."[101] From these extracts we may gain some idea of the state of learning in those days, and they would seem, in some measure, to justify the opinion, that the laity paid but little attention to such matters, and I more anxiously present the reader with these scraps, because they depict the state of literature in those times far better than a volume of conjecture could do. It is not consistent with my design to enter into an analysis of these homilies. Let the reader, however, draw some idea of their nature from the one written for Easter Sunday, which has been deemed sufficient proof that the Saxon Church ever denied the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation; for he there expressly states, in terms so plain that all the sophistry of the Roman Catholic writers cannot pervert its obvious meaning, that the bread and wine is only typical of the body and blood of our Saviour. To one who has spent much time in reading the lives and writings of the monkish theologians, how refreshing is such a character as that of Ælfric's. Often, indeed, will the student close the volumes of those old monastic writers with a sad, depressed, and almost broken heart; so often will he find men who seem capable of better things, who here and there breathe forth all the warm aspirations of a devout and Christian heart, bowed down and grovelling in the dust, as it were, to prove their blind submission to the Pope, thinking, poor fellows!--for from my very heart I pity them--that by so doing they were preaching that humility so acceptable to the Lord. Cheering then, to the heart it is to find this monotony broken by such an instance, and although we find Ælfric occasionally diverging into the paths of papistical error, he spreads a ray of light over the gloom of those Saxon days, and offers pleasing evidence that Christ never forsook his church; that even amidst the peril and darkness of those monkish ages there were some who mourned, though it might have been in a monastery, submissive to a Roman Pontiff, the depravity and corruption with which the heart of man had marred it. To still better maintain the discipline of the church, he wrote a set of canons, which he addressed to Wulfin, or Wulfsine, bishop of Sherbourne. With many of the doctrines advocated therein, the protestant will not agree; but the bibliophile will admit that he gave an indication of his love of books by the 21st Canon, which directs that, "Before a priest can be ordained, he must be armed with the sacred books, for the spiritual battle, namely, a Psalter, Book of Epistles, Book of Gospels, the Missal Book, Books of Hymns, the Manual, or Euchiridion, the Gerim, the Passional, the Pænitential, and the Lectionary, or Reading Book; these the diligent priest requires, and let him be careful that they are all accurately written, and free from faults."[102] About the same time, Ælfric wrote a treatise on the Old and New Testaments, and in it we find an account of his labors in Biblical Literature. He did more in laying open the holy mysteries of the gospel to the perusal of the laity, by translating them into the Saxon tongue, than any other before him. He gave them, in a vernacular version, the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Esther, Job, Judith, two Books of Maccabees, and a portion of the Book of Kings, and it is for these labors, above all others, that the bible student will venerate his name, but he will look, perhaps, anxiously, hopefully, to these early attempts at Bible propagation, and expect to observe the ecclesiastical orders, at least, shake off a little of their absurd dependence on secondary sources for biblical instruction. But, no; they still sadly clung to traditional interpretation; they read the Word of God mystified by the fathers, good men, many of them, devout and holy saints, but why approach God through man, when we have His own prescription, in sweet encouraging words, to come, however humble or lowly we may be, to His throne, and ask with our own lips for those blessings so needful for the soul. Ælfric, in a letter addressed to Sigwerd, prefixed to his Treatise on the Old and New Testament, thus speaks of his biblical labors: "Abbot Elfricke greeteth friendly, Sigwerd at last Heolon. True it is I tell thee that very wise is he who speaketh by his doings; and well proceedeth he doth with God and the world who furnisheth himselfe with good works. And very plaine it is in holy scripture, that holy men employed in well doing were in this world held in good reputation, and as saints now enjoy the kingdom of heaven, and the remembrance of them continueth for ever, because of their consent with God and relying on him, carelesse men who lead their life in all idleness and so end it, the memory of them is forgotten in holy writ, saving that the Old Testament records their ill deeds and how they were therefore comdemned. Thou hast oft entreated me for English Scripture .... and when I was with thee great mone thou madest that thou couldst get none of my writings. Now will I that thou have at least this little, since knowledge is so acceptable to thee, and thou wilt have it rather than be altogether without my books...... God bestoweth sevenfold grace on mankind, (whereof I have already written in another English Treatise,) as the prophet Isaiah hath recorded in the book of his prophesie." In speaking of the remaining books of the Pentateuch, he does so in a cursory manner, and excuses himself because he had "written thereof more at large." "The book which Moses wrote, called the book of Joshua, sheweth how he went with the people of Israel unto Abraham's country, and how he won it, and how the sun stood still while he got the victory, and how he divided the land; this book also I turned into English for prince Ethelverd, wherein a man may behold the great wonders of God really fulfilled." ...... "After him known it is that there were in the land certaine judges over Israel, who guided the people as it is written in the book of Judges ..... of this whoso hath desire to hear further, may read it in that English book which I translated concerning the same." ..... "Of the book of Kings, I have translated also some part into English," "the book of Esther, I briefly after my manner translated into English," and "The Widow Judith who overcame Holophernes, the Syrian General, hath her book also, among these, concerning her own victory and _Englished according to my skill for your example_, that ye men may also defend your country by force of arms, against the invasion of a foreign host." "Two books of Machabeus, to the glory of God, I have turned also into English, and so read them, you may if you please, for your instruction." And at the end we find him again admonishing the scribes to use the pen with faithfulness. "Whosoever," says he, "shall write out this book, let him write it according to the copy, and for God's love correct it, that it be not faulty, less he thereby be discredited, and I shent."[103] This learned prelate died on the 16th of November, 1006, after a life spent thus in the service of Christ and the cause of learning; by his will he bequeathed to the Abbey of St. Alban's, besides some landed possessions, his little library of books;[104] he was honorably buried at Abingdon, but during the reign of Canute, his bones were removed to Canterbury. Passing on a few years, we come to that period when a new light shone upon the lethargy of the Saxons; the learning and erudition which had been fostering in the snug monasteries of Normandy, hitherto silent--buried as it were--but yet fast growing to maturity, accompanied the sword of the Norman duke, and added to the glory of the conquering hero, by their splendid intellectual endowments. All this emulated and roused the Saxons from their slumber; and, rubbing their laziness away, they again grasped the pen with the full nerve and energy of their nature; a reaction ensued, literature was respected, learning prospered, and copious work flowed in upon the scribes; the crackling of parchment, and the din of controversy bespoke the presence of this revival in the cloisters of the English monasteries; books, the weapons spiritual of the monks, libraries, the magazines of the church militant were preserved, amassed, and at last deemed indispensable.[105] Such was the effect on our national literature of that gushing in of the Norman conquerors, so deeply imbued with learning, so polished, and withal so armed with classical and patristic lore were they. Foremost in the rank we find the learned Lanfranc, that patron of literature, that indefatigable scribe and anxious book collector, who was endowed with an erudition far more deep and comprehensive than any other of his day. He was born at Pavia, in 1005, and received there the first elements of his education;[106] he afterwards went to Bologna, and from thence to Avranches, where he undertook the education of many celebrated scholars of that century, and instructed them in sacred and secular learning, _in sacris et secularibus erudivi literis_.[107] Whilst proceeding on a journey to Rome he was attacked by some robbers, who maltreated and left him almost dead; in this condition he was found by some peasants who conveyed him to the monastery of Bec; the monks with their usual hospitable charity tended and so assiduously nourished him in his sickness, that on his recovery he became one of their fraternity. A few years after, he was appointed prior and founded a school there, which did immense service to literature and science; he also collected a great library which was renowned and esteemed in his day,[108] and he increased their value by a critical revisal of their text. He was well aware that in works so voluminous as those of the fathers, the scribes through so many generations could not be expected to observe an unanimous infallibility; but knowing too that even the most essential doctrines of the holy and catholic church were founded on patristical authority, he was deeply impressed with the necessity of keeping their writings in all their primitive integrity; an end so desirable, well repaid the tediousness of the undertaking, and he cheerfully spent much time in collecting and comparing codices, in studying their various readings or erasing the spurious interpolations, engendered by the carelessness or the pious frauds of monkish scribes.[109] He lavished his care in a similar manner on the Bible: considering the far distant period from which that holy volume has descended to us, it is astounding that the vicissitudes, the perils, the darkness of near eighteen hundred years, have failed to mar the divinity of that sacred book; not all the blunders of nodding scribes could do it, not all the monkish interpolations, or the cunning of sectarian pens could do it, for in all times the faithful church of Christ watched over it with a jealous care, supplied each erasure and expelled each false addition. Lanfranc was one of the most vigilant of these Scripture guards, and his own industry blest his church with the bible text, purified from the gross handmarks of human meddling. I learn, from the Benedictines of St. Maur, that there is still preserved in the Abbey of St. Martin de Sécz, the first ten conferences of Cassian corrected by the efficient hand of this great critical student, at the end of the manuscript these words are written, "_Hucusque ago Lanfrancus correxi_."[110] The works of St. Ambrose, on which he bestowed similar care, are preserved in the library of St. Vincent du Mans.[111] When he was promoted to the See of Canterbury, he brought with him a copious supply of books, and spread the influence of his learning over the English monasteries; but with all the cares inseparably connected with the dignity of Primate of England, he still found time to gratify his bookloving propensities, and to continue his critical labors; indeed he worked day and night in the service of the church, _servitio Ecclesiæ_, and in correcting the books which the scribes had written.[112] From the profusion of his library he was enabled to lend many volumes to the monks, so that by making transcripts, they might add to their own stores--thus we know that he lent to Paulen, Abbot of St. Albans, a great number, who kept his scribes hard at work transcribing them, and built a scriptorium for the transaction of these pleasing labors; but more of this hereafter. Anselm, too, was a renowned and book-loving prelate, and if his pride and haughtiness wrought warm dissensions and ruptures in the church, he often stole away to forget them in the pages of his book. At an early age he acquired this fondness for reading, and whilst engaged as a monkish student, he applied his mind to the perusal of books with wonderful perseverance, and when some favorite volume absorbed his attention, he could scarce leave it night or day.[113] Industry so indefatigable ensured a certain success, and he became eminent for his deep and comprehensive learning; his epistles bear ample testimony to his extensive reading and intimate acquaintance with the authors of antiquity;[114] in one of his letters he praises a monk named Maurice, for his success in study, who was learning _Virgil_ and some other old writers, under Arnulph the grammarian. All day long Anselm was occupied in giving wise counsel to those that needed it; and a great part of the night _pars maxima noctis_ he spent in correcting his darling volumes, and freeing them from the inaccuracies of the scribes.[115] The oil in the lamp burnt low, still that bibliomaniac studiously pursued his favorite avocation. So great was the love of book-collecting engrafted into his mind, that he omitted no opportunity of obtaining them--numerous instances occur in his epistles of his begging the loan of some volume for transcription;[116] in more than one, I think, he asks for portions of the Holy Scriptures which he was always anxious to obtain to compare their various readings, and to enable him with greater confidence to correct his own copies. In the early part of the twelfth century, the monks of Canterbury transcribed a vast number of valuable manuscripts, in which they were greatly assisted by monk Edwine, who had arrived at considerable proficiency in the calligraphical art, as a volume of his transcribing, in Trinity college, Cambridge, informs us;[117] it is a Latin Psalter, with a Saxon gloss, beautifully illuminated in gold and colors; at the end appears the figure of the monkish scribe, holding the pen in his hand to indicate his avocation, and an inscription extols his ingenuity in the art.[118] Succeeding archbishops greatly enriched the library at Canterbury. Hubert Walter, who was appointed primate in 1191, gave the proceeds of the church of Halgast to furnish books for the library;[119] and Robert Kildwardly, archbishop in 1272, a man of great learning and wisdom, a remarkable orator and grammarian, wrote a great number of books, and was passionately fond of collecting them.[120] I learn from Wanley, that there is a large folio manuscript in the library of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, written about the time of Henry V. by a monk of St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, containing the history of Christ Church; this volume proves its author to have been something of a bibliophile, and that is why I mention it, for he gives an account of some books then preserved, which were sent over by Pope Gregory to St. Augustine; these precious volumes consisted of a Bible in two volumes, called "Biblia Gregorian," beautifully written, with some of the leaves tinted with purple and rose-color, and the capital letters rubricated. This interesting and venerable MS. so immediately connected with the first ages of the Christian church of Britain, was in existence in the time of James I., as we learn by a passage in a scarce tract entitled "A Petition Apologetical," addressed by the Catholics to his majesty, where, as a proof that we derive our knowledge of Scripture originally from the church of Rome; they say, "The very original Bible, the self-same _Numero_ which St. Gregory sent in with our apostle, St. Augustine, being as yet reserved by God's special providence, as testimony that what Scriptures we have, we had them from Rome."[121] He next mentions two Psalters, one of which I have seen; it is among the manuscripts in the Cotton collection,[122] and bears full evidence of its great antiquity. This early gem of biblical literature numbers 160 folios; it contains the Roman Psalter, with a Saxon interlinear translation, written on stout vellum, in a clear, bold hand. On opening the volume, we find the first page enriched with a dazzling specimen of monkish skill--it is a painting of our Saviour pointing with his right hand to heaven, and in his left holding the sacred book; the corners are occupied with figures of animals, and the whole wrought on a glittering ground work, is rendered still more gorgeous by the contrast which the purple robes of Jesus display; on the reverse of this fine illumination there is a beautiful tesselated ornament, interwoven with animals, flowers, and grotesque figures, around which are miniatures of our Saviour, David, and some of the apostles. In a line at the bottom the word CATVSVIR is inscribed. Very much inferior to this in point of art is the illumination, at folio 31, representing David playing his harp, surrounded by a musical coterie; it is probably the workmanship of a more modern, but less skilful scribe of the Saxon school. The smaller ornaments and initial letters throughout the manuscript display great intricacy of design. The writer next describes two copies of the Gospels, both now in the Bodleian Collection at Oxford. A Passionarium Sanctorum, a book for the altar, on one side of which was the image of our Saviour wrought in gold, and lastly, an exposition of the Epistles and Gospels; the monkish bookworm tells us that these membraneous treasures were the most ancient books in all the churches of England.[123] A good and liberal monk, named Henry De Estria, who was elected prior in the year 1285, devoted both his time and wealth to the interests of his monastery, and is said to have expended £900 in repairing the choir and chapter-house.[124] He wrote a book beginning, "_Memoriale Henerici Prioris Monasteri Xpi Cantuariæ_,"[125] now preserved in the Cotton collection; it contains the most extensive monastic catalogue I had ever seen, and sufficiently proves how Bibliomania flourished in that noble monastery. It occupies no less than thirty-eight treble-columned folio pages, and contains the titles of more than three thousand works. To attempt to convey to the reader an idea of this curious and sumptuous library, without transcribing a large proportion of its catalogue, I am afraid will be a futile labor; but as that would occupy too much space, and to many of my readers be, after all, dry and uninteresting, I shall merely give the names of some of the most conspicuous. Years indeed it must have required to have amassed a collection so brilliant and superb in those days of book scarcity. Surprise and wonder almost surpass the admiration we feel at beholding this proud testimonial of monkish industry and early bibliomania. Many a choice scribe, and many an _Amator Librorum_ must have devoted his pen and purse to effect so noble an acquisition. Like most of the monastic libraries, it possessed a great proportion of biblical literature--copies of the Bible whole and in parts, commentaries on the same, and numerous glossaries and concordances show how much care the monks bestowed on the sacred writings, and how deeply they were studied in those old days. In patristic learning the library was unusually rich, embracing the most eminent and valuable writings of the Fathers, as may be seen by the following names, of whose works the catalogue enumerates many volumes: Augustine. Ambroise. Anselm. Alcuin. Aldelm. Benedict. Bernard. Bede. Beranger. Chrysostom. Eusebius. Fulgentius. Gregory. Hillarius. Isidore. Jerome. Lanfranc. Origen. Much as we may respect them for all this, our gratitude will materially increase when we learn how serviceable the monks of Canterbury were in preserving the old dead authors of Greece and Rome. We do not, from the very nature of their lives being so devoted to religion and piety, expect this; and knowing, too, what "heathen dogs" the monks thought these authors of idolatry, combined with our notion, that they, far from being the conservers, were the destroyers, of classic MSS., for the sake, as some tell us, of the parchment on which they were inscribed, we are somewhat staggered in our opinion to find in their library the following brilliant array of the wise men of the ancient world: Aristotle, Boethius, Cicero, Cassiodorus, Donatus, Euclid, Galen, Justin, Josephus, Lucan, Martial, Marcianus, Macrobius, Orosius, Plato, Priscian, Prosper, Prudentius, Suetonius, Sedulus, Seneca, Terence, Virgil, Etc., etc. Nor were they mere fragments of these authors, but, in many cases, considerable collections; of Aristotle, for instance, they possessed numerous works, with many commentaries upon him. Of Seneca a still more extensive and valuable one; and in the works of the eloquent Tully, they were also equally rich. Of his _Paradoxa, de Senectute, de Amiticia_, etc., and _his Offices_, they had more copies than one, a proof of the respect and esteem with which he was regarded. In miscellaneous literature, and in the productions of the middle age writers, the catalogue teems with an abundant supply, and includes: Rabanus Maurus, Thomas Aquinas, Peter Lombard, Athelard, William of Malmsbury, John of Salisbury, Girald Barry, Thomas Baldwin, Brutus, Robert Grosetete, Gerlandus, Gregory Nazianzen, History of England, Gesti Alexandri Magni, Hystoria Longobardos, Hystoriæ Scholasticæ, Chronicles _Latine et Anglice_, Chronographia Necephori. But I trust the reader will not rest satisfied with these few samples of the goodly store, but inspect the catalogue for himself. It would occupy, as I said before, too much space to enumerate even a small proportion of its many treasures, which treat of all branches of literature and science, natural history, medicine, ethics, philosophy, rhetoric, grammar, poetry, and music; each shared the studious attention of the monks, and a curious "_Liber de Astronomia_" taught them the rudiments of that sublime science, but which they were too apt to confound with its offspring, astrology, as we may infer, was the case with the monks of Canterbury, for their library contained a "_Liber de Astroloebus_," and the "Prophesies of Merlin." Many hints connected with the literary portion of a monastic life may sometimes be found in these catalogues. It was evidently usual at Christ Church Monastery to keep apart a number of books for the private study of the monks in the cloister, which I imagine they were at liberty to use at any time.[126] A portion of the catalogue of monk Henry is headed "_Lib. de Armariole Claustre_,"[127] under which it is pleasing to observe a Bible, in two volumes, specified as for the use of the infirmary, with devotional books, lives of the fathers, a history of England, the works of Bede, Isidore, Boethius, Rabanus Maurus, Cassiodorus, and many others of equal celebrity. In another portion of the manuscript, we find a list of their church books, written at the same time;[128] it affords a brilliant proof of the plentitude of the gospels among them; for no less than twenty-five copies are described. We may judge to what height the art of bookbinding had arrived by the account here given of these precious volumes. Some were in a splendid coopertoria of gold and silver, and others exquisitely ornamented with figures of our Saviour and the four Evangelists.[129] But this extravagant costliness rendered them attractive objects to pilfering hands, and somewhat accounts for the lament of the industrious Somner, who says that the library was "shamefully robbed and spoiled of them all."[130] Our remarks on the monastic library at Canterbury are drawing to a close. Henry Chiclely, archbishop in 1413, an excellent man, and a great promoter of learning, rebuilt the library of the church, and furnished it with many a choice tome.[131] His esteem for literature was so great, that he built two colleges at Oxford.[132] William Sellinge, who was a man of erudition, and deeply imbued with the book-loving mania, was elected prior in 1472. He is said to have studied at Bonania, in Italy; and, during his travels, he gathered together "all the ancient authors, both Greek and Latine, he could get," and returned laden with them to his own country. Many of them were of great rarity, and it is said that a Tully _de Republica_ was among them. Unfortunately, they were all burnt by a fire in the monastery.[133] I have said enough, I think, to show that books were eagerly sought after, and deeply appreciated, in Canterbury cloisters during the middle ages, and when the reader considers that these facts have been preserved from sheer accident, and, therefore, only enable us to obtain a partial glimpse of the actual state of their library, he will be ready to admit that bibliomania existed then, and will feel thankful, too, that it did, for to its influence, surely, we are indebted for the preservation of much that is valuable and instructive in history and general literature.[134] We can scarcely leave Kent without a word or two respecting the church of the Rochester monks. It was founded by King Ethelbert, who conferred upon it the dignities of an episcopal see, in the year 600; and, dedicating it to St. Andrew, completed the good work by many donations and emoluments. The revenues of the see were always limited, and it is said that its poverty caused it to be treated with kind forbearance by the ecclesiastical commissioners at the period of the Reformation. I have not been able to meet with any catalogue of its monastic library, and the only hints I can obtain relative to their books are such as may be gathered from the recorded donations of its learned prelates and monks. In the year 1077, Gundulph, a Norman bishop, who is justly celebrated for his architectural talents, rebuilt the cathedral, and considerable remains of this structure are still to be seen in the nave and west front, and display that profuse decoration united with ponderous stability, for which the Norman buildings are so remarkable. This munificent prelate also enriched the church with numerous and costly ornaments; the encouragement he gave to learning calls for some notice here. Trained in one of the most flourishing of the Norman schools, we are not surprised that in his early youth he was so studious and inquisitive after knowledge as to merit the especial commendation of his biographer.[135] William of Malmsbury, too, highly extols him "for his abundant piety," and tells us that he was not inexperienced in literary avocations; he was polished and courageous in the management of judicial affairs, and a close, devoted student of the divine writings;[136] as a scribe he was industrious and critical, and the great purpose to which he applied his patience and erudition was a careful revisal of the Holy Scriptures. He purged the sacred volume of the inadvertencies of the scribes, and restored the purity of the text; for transcribing after transcribing had caused some errors and diversity of readings to occur, between the English and foreign codices, in spite of all the pious care of the monastic copyists; this was perplexing, an uniformity was essential and he undertook the task;[137] labors so valuable deserve the highest praise, and we bestow it more liberally upon him for this good work than we should have done had he been the compiler of crude homilies or the marvellous legends of saints. The high veneration in which Gundulph held the patristic writings induced him to bestow his attention in a similar manner upon them, he compared copies, studied their various readings and set to work to correct them. The books necessary for these critical researches he obtained from the libraries of his former master, Bishop Lanfranc, St. Anselm, his schoolfellow, and many others who were studying at Bec, but besides this, he corrected many other authors, and by comparing them with ancient manuscripts, restored them to their primitive beauty. Fabricius[138] notices a fine volume, which bore ample testimony to his critical erudition and dexterity as a scribe. It is described as a large Bible on parchment, written in most beautiful characters, it was proved to be his work by this inscription on its title page, "_Prima pars Bibliæ per bona memoriæ Gundulphum Rossensem Episcopum_." This interesting manuscript, formerly in the library of the monks of Rochester, was regarded as one of their most precious volumes. An idea of the great value of a Bible in those times may be derived from the curious fact that the bishop made a decree directing "excommunication to be pronounced against whosoever should take away or conceal this volume, or who should even dare to conceal the inscription on the front, which indicated the volume to be the property of the church of Rochester." But we must bear in mind that this was no ordinary copy, it was transcribed by Gundulph's own pen, and rendered pure in its text by his critical labors. But the time came when anathemas availed nought, and excommunication was divested of all terror. "Henry the Eighth," the "Defender of the Faith," frowned destruction upon the monks, and in the tumult that ensued, this treasure was carried away, anathema and all. Somehow or other it got to Amsterdam, perhaps sent over in one of those "shippes full," to the bookbinders, and having passed through many hands, at last found its way into the possession of Herman Van de Wal, Burgomaster of Amsterdam; since then it was sold by public auction, but has now I believe been lost sight of.[139] Among the numerous treasures which Gundulph gave to his church, he included a copy of the Gospels, two missals and a book of Epistles.[140] Similar books were given by succeeding prelates; Radolphus, a Norman bishop in 1108, gave the monks several copies of the gospels beautifully adorned.[141] Earnulphus, in the year 1115, was likewise a benefactor in this way; he bestowed upon them, besides many gold and silver utensils for the church, a copy of the gospels, lessons for the principal days, a benedictional, or book of blessings, a missal, handsomely bound, and a capitular.[142] Ascelin, formerly prior of Dover, and made bishop of Rochester, in the year 1142, gave them a Psalter and the Epistles of St. Paul, with a gloss.[143] He was a learned man, and excessively fond of books; a passion which he had acquired no doubt in his monastery of Dover which possessed a library of no mean extent.[144] He wrote a commentary on Isaiah, and gave it to the monastery; Walter, archdeacon of Canterbury, who succeeded Ascelin, gave a copy of the gospels bound in gold, to the church;[145] and Waleran, elected bishop in the year 1182, presented them with a glossed Psalter, the Epistles of Paul, and the Sermons of Peter.[146] Glanvill, bishop in the year 1184, endeavored to deprive the monks of the land which Gundulph had bestowed upon them; this gave to rise to many quarrels[147] which the monks never forgave; it is said that he died without regret, and was buried without ceremony; yet the curious may still inspect his tomb on the north side of the altar, with his effigies and mitre lying at length upon it.[148] Glanvill probably repented of his conduct, and he strove to banish all animosity by many donations; and among other treasures, he gave the monks the five books of Moses and other volumes.[149] Osbern of Shepey, who was prior in the year 1189, was a great scribe and wrote many volumes for the library; he finished the Commentary of Ascelin, transcribed a history of Peter, a Breviary for the chapel, a book called _De Claustra animæ_, and wrote the great Psalter which is chained to the choir and window of St. Peter's altar.[150] Ralph de Ross, and Heymer de Tunebregge,[151] also bestowed gifts of a similar nature upon the monks; but the book anecdotes connected with this monastic fraternity are remarkably few, barren of interest, and present no very exalted idea of their learning.[152] FOOTNOTES: [88] Bede, iv. cap. ii. [89] He died in 690, and was succeeded by Bertwold, Abbot of Reculver, _Saxon Chronicle, Ingram_, p. 57. Bede speaks of Bertwold as "well learned in Scripture and Ecclesiastical Literature."--_Eccl. Hist._ b. v. c. viii. [90] Preambulation of Kent, 4to. 1576, p. 233. Parker's Ant. Brit. p. 80. [91] He was consecrated on the 10th of June, 731, Bede, v. c. xxiii. [92] M.S. Reg. 12, c. xxiii. I know of no other copy. Leland says that he saw a copy at Glastonbury. [93] Bede's Eccl. Hist. Prologue. [94] Pitseus Angliæ Scrip. 1619, p. 141. Dart's Hist. Canterbury, p. 102. [95] Cottonian MS. Cleopatra, B. xiii. fo. 70. [96] W. Malm, de Vita, Dunst. ap. Leland, Script. tom. 1. p. 162. Cotton. MS. Fanstin, B. 13. [97] Strutt's Saxon. Antiq. vol. 1, p. 105, plate xviii. See also Hicke's Saxon Grammar, p. 104. [98] MS. Cotton., Cleop. b. xiii. fo. 69. Mabd. Acta Sancto. vii. 663. [99] Saxon Chron. by Ingram, 171. [100] Landsdowne MS. in Brit. Mus. 373, vol. iv. [101] Landsdowne MS. in Brit. Mus. 373, vol. iv. [102] Can. 21, p. 577, vol. i. [103] Lisle's Divers Ancient Monuments in the Saxon Tongue, 4to. Lond. 1638, p. 43. [104] MS. Cottonian Claudius, b. vi. p. 103; Dart's Hist. of Cant. p. 112.; Dugdale's Monast., vol. i. p. 517. [105] There was an old saying, and a true one, prevalent in those days, that a monastery without a library was like a castle without an armory, _Clastrum sine armario, quasi castrum sine armamentario_. See letter of Gaufredi of St. Barbary to Peter Mangot, _Martene Thes. Nov. Anecd._, tom. i. col. 511. [106] Mabillon, Act. S., tom. ix. p. 659. [107] Ep. i. ad Papæ Alex. [108] Vita Lanfr., c. vi. "_Effulsit eo majistro, obedientia coactu, philosophicarum ac divinarum litterarum bibliotheca, etc._" Opera p. 8. Edit. folio, 1648. [109] "Et quia scripturæ scriptorum vitio erant ninium corruptæ, omnes tam Veteris, quam Novi Testamenti libros; necnon etiam scriptæ sanctorum patrum secundum orthodoxam fidem studuit corrigere." Vita Lanfr. cap. 15, ap. Opera, p. 15. [110] Hist. Litt. de la France, vol. vii. p. 117. [111] _Ibid._ "Il rendit de même service à trois écrits de S. Ambrose l'Hexameron, l'apologie de David et le traité des Sacrements, tels qu'on les voit à la bibliothèque de St. Vincent du Mans." [112] _Ibid._ [113] Malmsb. de Gest. Pontif. b. i. p. 216. [114] See Epist. 16. Lib. i. [115] Edmer. Vit. Anselm, apud Anselm Opera.--_Edit. Benedict_, 1721, b. i. p. 4. [116] Epp. 10-20, lib. i. and 24 b. ii. [117] Codic. fol. first class, a dextr. Sc. Med. 5. [118] Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry. Dissert, ii. [119] Dart's Canterb. p. 132. Dugdale's Monast. vol. i. p. 85. [120] There is, or was, in St. Peter's college, Cambridge, a MS. volume of 21 books, which formerly belonged to this worthy Bibliophile.--_Dart_, p. 137. [121] Petition Apol. 4to. 1604, p. 17. [122] Brit. Mus. Vesp. A. i. [123] Wanley Librorum Vett Septentrionalium fol. Oxon, 1705, p. 172. [124] Dugdale's Monast. Angl. vol. i. p. 112. [125] MS. Cot. Galba. E. iv. [126] See what has been said on this subject in the previous chapter. [127] MS. Galla, E. iv. fol. 133. [128] MS. fol. 122. [129] _Textus Magnus auro coopertus et gemmis ornatus, cum majistate in media, et 4 Evangelistis in 4 Angulis. Ibid._ [130] Somner Antiq. Cant. 4to. 1640, p. 174, he is speaking of books in general. [131] Duck Vita Chich. p. 104. [132] Dugdale, vol. i. p. 86. Dart, p. 158, and Somner Ant. Cant. 174. [133] Somner, 294 and 295; see also Leland Scriptor. He was well versed in the Greek language, and his monument bears the following line: "Doctor theologus Selling Græca atque Latina, Linqua perdoctus."--See Warton's Hist. Poet., ii. p. 425. [134] There is a catalogue written in the sixteenth century, preserved among the Cotton MS., containing the titles of seventy books belonging to Canterbury Library. It is printed in Leland Collect. vol. iv. p. 120, and in Dart's Hist. Cant. Cath.; but they differ slightly from the Cott. MS. Julius, c. vi. 4, fol. 99. [135] Monachus Roffensis de Vita Gundulphi, 274. [136] Will. Malms. de Gest. Pont. Ang. ap Rerum. Ang. Script, 133. [137] Histoire Littéraire de Fr., tom. vii. p. 118. [138] Biblioth. Latine, b. vii. p. 519. [139] Hist. Litt. de Fr., tom. ix. p. 373. [140] Thorpe Regist. Roffens, fol. 1769, p. 118. [141] Wharton Angl. Sacr., tom. 1, p. 342. [142] Thorpe Regist. Rof., p. 120. Dugdale's Monast., vol. 1, p. 157. [143] Thorpe Reg. Rof., p. 121. [144] A catalogue of this library is preserved among the Bodleian MSS. No. 920, containing many fine old volumes. I am not aware that it has been ever printed. [145] "Textum Evangeliorum aureum." Reg. Rof., p. 121. [146] _Ibid._, p. 121. [147] Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. 1, p. 156. [148] Wharton's Ang. Sac, tom. 1, p. 346. [149] Thorpe Reg. Rof., p. 121. [150] Thorpe Reg. Rof., 121. Dugdale's Monast., vol. i. p. 158. [151] Reg. Rof., pp. 122, 123. [152] In a long list of gifts by Robert de Hecham, I find "librum Ysidore ethimologiarum possuit in armarium claustri et alia plura fecit."--_Thorpe Reg. Rof._, p. 123. CHAPTER V. _Lindesfarne.--St. Cuthbert's Gospels.--Destruction of the Monastery.--Alcuin's Letter on the occasion.--Removal to Durham.--Carelepho.--Catalogue of Durham Library.--Hugh de Pusar.--Anthony Bek.--Richard de Bury and his Philobiblon, etc._ The Benedictine monastery of Lindesfarne, or the Holy Island, as it was called, was founded through the instrumentality of Oswald, the son of Ethelfrith, king of Northumberland, who was anxious for the promulgation of the Christian faith within his dominions. Aidan, the first bishop of whom we have any distinct account, was appointed about the year 635. Bede tells us that he used frequently to retire to the Isle of Farne, that he might pray in private and be undisturbed.[153] This small island, distant about nine miles from the church of Lindesfarne, obtained great celebrity from St. Cuthbert, who sought that quiet spot and led there a lonely existence in great continence of mind and body.[154] In 685 he was appointed to the see of Lindesfarne, where, by his pious example and regular life, he instructed many in their religious duties. The name of this illustrious saint is intimately connected with a most magnificent specimen of calligraphical art of the eighth century, preserved in the British Museum,[155] and well known by the name of the Durham Book, or Saint Cuthbert's Gospels; it was written some years after the death of that Saint, in honor of his memory, by Egfrith, a monk of Lindesfarne, who was made bishop of that see in the year 698. At Egfrith's death in 721, his successor, Æthilwald, most beautifully bound it in gold and precious stones, and Bilfrid, a hermit, richly illuminated it by prefixing to each gospel a beautiful painting representing one of the Evangelists, and a tesselated cross, executed in a most elaborate manner. He also displayed great skill by illuminating the large capital letters at the commencement of each gospel.[156] Doubtless, the hermit Bilfrid was an eminent artist in his day. Aldred, the Glossator, a priest of Durham, about the year 950, still more enriched this precious volume by interlining it with a Saxon Gloss, or version of the Latin text of St. Jerome, of which the original manuscript is a copy.[157] It is therefore, one of the most venerable of those early attempts to render the holy scriptures into the vernacular tongue, and is on that account an interesting relic to the Christian reader, and, no doubt, formed the choicest volume in the library of Lindesfarne.[158] But imperfectly, indeed, have I described the splendid manuscript which is now lying, in all its charms, before me. And as I mark its fine old illuminations, so bright in color, and so chaste in execution, the accuracy of its transcription, and the uniform beauty of its calligraphy, my imagination carries me back to the quiet cloister of the old Saxon scribe who wrote it, and I can see in Egfrith, a bibliomaniac, of no mean pretensions, and in Bilfrid, a monkish illuminator, well initiated in the mysteries of his art. The manuscript contains 258 double columned folio pages, and the paintings of the Evangelists each occupy an entire page. We learn the history of its production from a very long note at the end of the manuscript, written by the hand of the glossator.[159] But sad misfortunes were in store for the holy monks, for about 793, or a little earlier, when Highbald was abbot, the Danes burnt down the monastery and murdered the ecclesiastics; "most dreadful lightnings and other prodigies," says Simeon of Durham, "are said to have portended the impending ruin of this place; on the 7th of June they came to the church of Lindesfarne, miserably plundered all places, overthrew the altars, and carried away all the treasures of the church, some of the monks they slew, some they carried away captives, some they drowned in the sea, and others much afflicted and abused they turned away naked."[160] Fortunately some of the poor monks escaped, and after a short time returned to their old spot, and with religious zeal set about repairing the damage which the sacred edifice had sustained; after its restoration they continued comparatively quiet till the time of Eardulfus, when the Danes in the year 875, again invaded England and burned down the monastery of Lindesfarne. The monks obtained some knowledge of their coming and managed to effect their escape, taking with them the body of St. Cuthbert, which they highly venerated, with many other honored relics; they then set out with the bishop Eardulfus and the abbot Eadrid at their head on a sort of pilgrimage to discover some suitable resting place for the remains of their saint; but finding no safe locality, and becoming fatigued by the irksomeness of the journey, they as a last resource resolved to pass over to Ireland. For this purpose they proceeded to the sea, but no sooner were they on board the ship than a terrific storm arose, and had it not been for the fond care of their patron saint, a watery grave would have been forever their resting place; but, as it was, their lives were spared, and the holy bones preserved to bless mankind, and work wondrous miracles in the old church of the Saxon monks. Nevertheless, considerable damage was sustained, and the fury of the angry waves forced them back again to the shore. The monks deeming this an indication of God's will that they should remain, decided upon doing so, and leaving the ship, they agreed to proceed on their way rejoicing, and place still greater trust in the mercy of God and the miraculous influence of St. Cuthbert's holy bones; but some whose reliance on Divine providence appears not so conspicuous, became dissatisfied, and separated from the rest till at last only seven monks were left besides their bishop and abbot. Their relics were too numerous and too cumbersome to be conveyed by so small a number, and they knew not how to proceed; but one of the seven whose name was Hanred had a vision, wherein he was told that they should repair to the sea, where they would find a book of Gospels adorned with gold and precious stones, which had been lost out of the ship when they were in the storm; and that after that he should see a bridle hanging on a tree, which he should take down and put upon a horse that would come to him, which horse he should put to a cart he would also find, to carry the holy body, which would be an ease to them. All these things happening accordingly, they travelled with more comfort, following the horse, which way soever he should lead. The book above mentioned was no ways damaged by the water, and is still preserved in the library at Durham,[161] where it remained till the Reformation, when it was stript of its jewelled covering, and after passing through many hands, ultimately came into the possession of Sir Robert Cotton, in whose collection, as we have said before, it is now preserved in the British Museum. I cannot refrain, even at the risk of incurring some blame for my digression, presenting the reader with a part of a letter full of fraternal love, which Alcuin addressed to the monks of Lindesfarne on this sad occasion. "Your dearest fraternity," says he, "was wont to afford me much joy. But now how different! though absent, I deeply lament the more your tribulations and calamities; the manner in which the Pagans contaminate the sanctuaries of God, and shed the blood of saints around the altar, devastating the joy of our house, and trampling on the bodies of holy men in the temple of God, as though they were treading on a dunghill in the street. But of what effect is our wailing unless we come before the altars of Christ and cry, 'Spare me, O Lord! spare thy people, and take not thine inheritance from them;' nor let the Pagans say, 'Where is the God of the Christians?' Besides who is to pacify the churches of Britain, if St. Cuthbert cannot defend them with so great a number of saints? Nevertheless do not trouble the mind about these things, for God chasteneth all the sons whom he receiveth, and therefore perhaps afflicts you the more, because he the more loveth you. Jerusalem, the delightful city of God, was lost by the Chaldean scourge; and Rome, the city of the holy Apostles and innumerable martyrs, was surrounded by the Pagans and devastated. Well nigh the whole of Europe is evacuated by the scourging sword of the Goths or the Huns. But in the same manner in which God preserved the stars to illuminate the heavens, so will He preserve the churches to ornament, and in their office to strengthen and increase the Christian religion."[162] Thus it came to pass that Eardulphus was the last bishop of Lindesfarne and the first of Cunecacestre, or Chester-upon-the-Street, to which place his see was removed previous to its final settlement at Durham. After a succession of many bishops, some recorded as learned and bookish by monkish annalists, and nearly all benefactors in some way to their church, we arrive at the period when Aldwine was consecrated bishop of that see in the year 990. The commotions of his time made his presidency a troubled and harassing one. Sweyn, king of Denmark, and Olauis, king of Norway, invaded England, and spreading themselves in bodies over the kingdom, committed many and cruel depredations; a strong body of these infested the northern coast, and approached the vicinity of Chester-on-the-Street. This so alarmed Aldwine, that he resolved to quit his church--for the great riches and numerous relics of that holy place were attractive objects to the plundering propensities of the invaders. Carrying, therefore, the bones of St. Cuthbert with them--for that box of mortal dust was ever precious in the sight of those old monks--and the costly treasures of the church, not forgetting their books, the monks fled to Ripon, and the see, which after similar adversities their predecessors one hundred and thirteen years ago had settled at Chester, was forever removed. It is true three or four months after, as Symeon of Durham tells us, they attempted to return, but when they reached a place called Werdelan, "on the east and near unto Durham," they could not move the bier on which the body of St. Cuthbert was carried, although they applied their united strength to effect it. The superstition, or perhaps simplicity, of the monks instantly interpreted this into a manifestation of divine interference, and they resolved not to return again to their old spot. And we are further told that after three days' fasting and prayer, the Lord vouchsafed to reveal to them that they should bear the saintly burden to Durham, a command which they piously and cheerfully obeyed. Having arrived there, they fixed on a wild and uncultivated site, and making a simple oratory of wattles for the temporary reception of their relics, they set zealously to work--for these old monks well knew what labor was--to cut down wood, to clear the ground, and build an habitation for themselves. Shortly after, in the wilderness of that neglected spot, the worthy bishop Aldwine erected a goodly church of stone to the honor of God, and as a humble tribute of gratitude and love; and so it was that Aldwine, the last bishop of Chester-on-the-Street, was the first of Durham. When William Carelepho, a Norman monk, was consecrated bishop, the church had so increased in wealth and usefulness, that fresh wants arose, more space was requisite, and a grander structure would be preferable; the bishop thereupon pulled the old church of Aldwine down and commenced the erection of a more magnificent one in its place, as the beauty of Durham cathedral sufficiently testifies even now; and will not the lover of artistic beauty award his praise to the Norman bishop--those massive columns and stupendous arches excite the admiring wonder of all; built on a rocky eminence and surrounded by all the charms of a romantic scenery, it is one of the finest specimens of architecture which the enthusiasm of monkish days dedicated to piety and to God. Its liberal founder however did not live to see it finished, for he died in the year 1095, two years after laying its foundation stone. His bookloving propensities have been honorably recorded, and not only was he fond of reading, but kept the pens of the scribes in constant motion, and used himself to superintend the transcription of manuscripts, as the colophon of a folio volume in Durham library fully proves.[163] The monkish bibliophiles of his church received from him a precious gift of about 40 volumes, containing among other valuable books Prosper, Pompeii, Tertullian, and a great Bible in two volumes.[164] It would have been difficult perhaps to have found in those days a body of monks so "bookish" as those of Durham; not only did they transcribe with astonishing rapidity, proving that there was no want of vellum there, but they must have bought or otherwise collected a great number of books; for the see of Durham, in the early part of the 12th century, could show a library embracing nearly 300 volumes.[165] Nor let the reader imagine that the collection possessed no merit in a literary point of view, or that the monks cared for little else save legends of saints or the literature of the church; the catalogue proves them to have enjoyed a more liberal and a more refined taste, and again display the cloistered students of the middle ages as the preservers of classic learning. This is a point worth observing on looking over the old parchment catalogues of the monks; for as by their Epistles we obtain a knowledge of their intimacy with the old writers, and the use they made of them, so by their catalogues we catch a glimpse of the means they possessed of becoming personally acquainted with their beauties; by the process much light may be thrown on the gloom of those long past times, and perhaps we shall gain too a better view of the state of learning existing then. But that the reader may judge for himself, I extract the names of some of the writers whom the monks of Durham preserved and read: Alcuin. Ambrose. Aratores. Anselm. Augustine. Aviany. Bede. Boethius. Bernard. Cassian. Cassiodorus. Claudius. Cyprian. Donatus. Esop. Eutropius. Galen. Gregory. Haimo. Horace. Homer. Hugo. Juvenal. Isidore. Josephus. Lucan. Marcianus. Maximian. Orosius. Ovid. Prudentius. Prosper. Persius. Priscian. Peter Lombard. Plato. Pompeius Trogus. Quintilian. Rabanus. Solinus. Servius. Statius. Terence. Tully. Theodulus. Virgil. Gesta Anglorum. Gesta Normanorum. Hugh de Pussar,[166] consecrated bishop in 1153, is the next who attracts our attention by his bibliomanical renown. He possessed perhaps the finest copy of the Holy Scriptures of any private collector; and he doubtless regarded his "_unam Bibliam in_ iv. _magnis voluminibus_," with the veneration of a divine and the fondness of a student. He collected what in those times was deemed a respectable library, and bequeathed no less than sixty or seventy volumes to the Durham monks, including his great Bible, which has ever since been preserved with religious care; from a catalogue of them we learn his partiality for classical literature; a Tully, Sedulus, Priscian, and Claudius, are mentioned among them.[167] Anthony Bek, who was appointed to the see in the year 1283, was a most ambitious and haughty prelate, and caused great dissensions in his church. History proves how little he was adapted for the responsible duties of a bishop, and points to the field of battle or civil pomp as most congenial to his disposition. He ostentatiously displayed the splendor of a Palatine Prince, when he contributed his powerful aid to the cause of his sovereign, in the Scottish war, by a retinue of 500 horse, 1000 foot, 140 knights, and 26 standard bearers,[168] rendered doubly imposing in those days of saintly worship and credulity, by the patronage of St. Cuthbert, under whole holy banner they marched against a brave and noble foe. His arbitrary temper caused sad quarrels in the cloister, which ultimately gave rise to a tedious law proceeding between him and the prior about the year 1300;[169] from a record of this affair we learn that the bishop had borrowed some books from the library which afterwards he refused to return; there was among them a Decretal, a history of England, a Missal, and a volume called "The book of St. Cuthbert, in which the secrets of the monastery are written," which was alone valued at £200,[170] probably in consideration of the important and delicate matters contained therein. These proceedings were instituted by prior Hoton, who was fond of books, and had a great esteem for learning; he founded a college at Oxford for the monkish students of his church.[171] On more than one occasion he sent parcels of books to Oxford; in a list of an early date it appears that the monks of Durham sent at one time twenty volumes, and shortly after fifteen more, consisting principally of church books and lives of saints.[172] The numbers thus taken from their library the monks, with that love of learning for which they were so remarkable, anxiously replaced, by purchasing about twenty volumes, many of which contained a great number of small but choice pieces.[173] Robert de Graystane, a monk of Durham, was elected bishop by the prior and chapter, and confirmed on the 10th of November, 1333, but the king, Edward III., wishing to advance his treasurer to that see, refused his sanction to the proceeding; monk Robert was accordingly deposed, and Richard Angraville received the mitre in his stead. He was consecrated on the 19th of December in the same year, by John Stratford, archbishop of Canterbury, and installed by proxy on the 10th of January, 1334. Angraville, Aungerville, or as he is more commonly called Richard de Bury, is a name which every bibliophile will honor and esteem; he was indeed a bibliomaniac of the first order, and a sketch of his life is not only indispensable here, but cannot fail to interest the book-loving reader. But before entering more at large into his bookish propensities and talents, it will be necessary to say something of his early days and the illustrious career which attended his political and ecclesiastical life. Richard de Bury, the son of Sir Richard Angraville, was born, as his name implies, at Bury St. Edmunds, in Suffolk, in the year 1287.[174] Great attention was paid to the instruction of his youthful mind by his maternal uncle, John de Willowby, a priest, previous to his removal to Oxford. At the university he obtained honorable distinction, as much for his erudition and love of books as for the moral rectitude of his behavior. These pleasing traits were the stepping stones to his future greatness, and on the strength of them he was selected as one fully competent to undertake the education of Edward Prince of Wales, afterwards the third king of that name; and to Richard de Bury "may be traced the love for literature and the arts displayed by his pupil when on the throne. He was rewarded with the lucrative appointment of treasurer of Gascony."[175] When Edward, the prince of Wales, was sent to Paris to assume the dominion of Guienne, which the king had resigned in his favor, he was accompanied by queen Isabella, his mother, whose criminal frailty, and afterwards conspiracy, with Mortimer, aroused the just indignation of her royal husband; and commenced those civil dissensions which rendered the reign of Edward II. so disastrous and turbulent. It was during these commotions that Richard de Bury became a zealous partizan of the queen, to whom he fled, and ventured to supply her pecuniary necessities from the royal revenues; for this, however, he was surrounded with imminent danger; for the king, instituting an inquiry into these proceedings, attempted his capture, which he narrowly escaped by secreting himself in the belfry of the convent of Brothers Minor at Paris.[176] When the "most invincible and most magnificent king" Edward III. was firmly seated upon the throne, dignity and power was lavishly bestowed on this early bibliomaniac. In an almost incredible space of time he was appointed cofferer to the king, treasurer of the wardrobe, archdeacon of Northampton, prebendary of Lincoln, Sarum, Litchfield, and shortly afterwards keeper of the privy seal, which office he held for five years. During this time he twice undertook a visit to Italy, on a mission to the supreme pontiff, John XXII., who not only entertained him with honor and distinction, but appointed him chaplain to his principal chapel, and gave him a bull, nominating him to the first vacant see in England. He acquired whilst there an honor which reflected more credit than even the smiles of his holiness--the brightest of the Italian poets, Petrarch of never dying fame--bestowed upon him his acquaintance and lasting friendship. De Bury entered Avignon for the first time in the same year that Petrarch took up his residence there, in the house of Colonna, bishop of Lombes: two such enlightened scholars and indefatigable book collectors, sojourning in the same city, soon formed an intimacy.[177] How interesting must their friendly meetings have been, and how delightful the hours spent in Petrarch's library, which was one of great extent and rarity; and it is probable too that De Bury obtained from the poet a few treasures to enrich his own stores; for the generosity of Petrarch was so excessive, that he could scarcely withhold what he knew was so dearly coveted. His benevolence on one occasion deprived him and posterity of an inestimable volume; he lent some manuscripts of the classics to his old master, who, needing pecuniary aid, pawned them, and Cicero's books, _De Gloria_, were in this manner irrecoverably lost.[178] Petrarch acted like a true lover of learning; for when the shadows of old age approached, he presented his library, full of rare and ancient manuscripts, many of them enriched by his own notes, to the Venetian Senate, and thus laid the foundation of the library of Saint-Marc; he always employed a number of transcribers, who invariably accompanied him on his journeys, and he kept horses to carry his books.[179] His love of reading was intense. "Whether," he writes in one of his epistles, "I am being shaved, or having my hair cut, whether I am riding on horseback or taking my meals, I either read myself or get some one to read to me; on the table where I dine, and by the side of my bed, I have all the materials for writing."[180] With the friendship of such a student, how charming must have been the visit of the English ambassador, and how much valuable and interesting information must he have gleaned by his intercourse with Petrarch and his books. At Rome Richard de Bury obtained many choice volumes and rare old manuscripts of the classics; for at Rome indeed, at that time, books had become an important article of commerce, and many foreign collectors besides the English bibliomaniac resorted there for these treasures: to such an extend was this carried on, that the jealousy of Petrarch was aroused, who, in addressing the Romans, exclaims: "Are you not ashamed that the wrecks of your ancient grandeur, spared by the inundation of the barbarians, are daily sold by your miscalculating avarice to foreigners? And that Rome is no where less known and less loved than at Rome?"[181] The immense ecclesiastical and civil revenues which Aungraville enjoyed, enabled him whilst in Italy to maintain a most costly and sumptuous establishment: in his last visit alone he is said to have expended 5,000 marks, and he never appeared in public without a numerous retinue of twenty clerks and thirty-six esquires; an appearance which better became the dignity of his civil office, than the Christian humility of his ecclesiastical functions. On his return from this distinguished sojourn, he was appointed, as we have said before, through the instrumentality of Edward III., to the bishopric of Durham. But not content with these high preferments, his royal master advanced him to still greater honor, and on the 28th of September, 1334, he was made Lord Chancellor of England, which office he filled till the 5th of June, 1335, when he exchanged it for that of high treasurer. He was twice appointed ambassador to the king of France, respecting the claims of Edward of England to the crown of that country. De Bury, whilst negociating this affair, visited Antwerp and Brabant for the furtherance of the object of his mission, and he fully embraced this rare opportunity of adding to his literary stores, and returned to his fatherland well laden with many choice and costly manuscripts; for in all his perilous missions he carried about with him, as he tells us, that love of books which many waters could not extinguish, but which greatly sweetened the bitterness of peregrination. Whilst at Paris he was especially assiduous in collecting, and he relates with intense rapture, how many choice libraries he found there full of all kinds of books, which tempted him to spend his money freely; and with a gladsome heart he gave his dirty lucre for treasures so inestimable to the bibliomaniac. Before the commencement of the war which arose from the disputed claims of Edward, Richard de Bury returned to enjoy in sweet seclusion his bibliomanical propensities. The modern bibliophiles who know what it is to revel in the enjoyment of a goodly library, luxuriant in costly bindings and rich in bibliographical rarities, who are fully susceptible to the delights and exquisite sensibilities of that sweet madness called bibliomania, will readily comprehend the multiplied pleasures of that early and illustrious bibliophile in the seclusion of Auckland Palace; he there ardently applied his energies and wealth to the accumulation of books; and whilst engaged in this pleasing avocation, let us endeavor to catch a glimpse of him. Chambre, to whom we are indebted for many of the above particulars, tells us that Richard de Bury was learned in the governing of his house, hospitable to strangers, of great charity, and fond of disputation with the learned, but he principally delighted in a multitude of books, _Iste summe delectabatur multitudine librorum_,[182] and possessed more books than all the bishops put together, an assertion which requires some modification, and must not be too strictly regarded, for book collecting at that time was becoming a favorite pursuit; still the language of Chambre is expressive, and clearly proves how extensive must have been his libraries, one of which he formed in each of his various palaces, _diversis maneriis_. So engrossed was that worthy bishop with the passion of book collecting, that his dormitory was strewed _jucebant_ with them, in every nook and corner choice volumes were scattered, so that it was almost impossible for any person to enter without placing his feet upon some book.[183] He kept in regular employment no small assemblage of antiquaries, scribes, bookbinders, correctors, illuminators, and all such persons who were capable of being useful in the service of books, _librorum servitiis utiliter_.[184] During his retirement he wrote a book, from the perusal of which the bibliomaniac will obtain a full measure of delight and instruction. It is a faithful record of the life and experience of this bibliophile of the olden time. He tells us how he collected his vellum treasures--his "crackling tomes" so rich in illuminations and calligraphic art!--how he preserved them, and how he would have others read them. Costly indeed must have been the book gems he amassed together; for foreign countries, as well as the scribes at home, yielded ample means to augment his stores, and were incessantly employed in searching for rarities which his heart yearned to possess. He completed his Philobiblon at his palace at Auckland on the 24th of January, 1344.[185] We learn from the prologue to this rare and charming little volume how true and genuine a bibliomaniac was Richard de Bury, for he tells us there, that a vehement love _amor excitet_ of books had so powerfully seized all the faculties of his mind, that dismissing all other avocations, he had applied the ardor of his thoughts to the acquisition of books. Expense to him was quite an afterthought, and he begrudged no amount to possess a volume of rarity or antiquity. Wisdom, he says, is an infinite treasure _infinitus thesaurus_, the value of which, in his opinion, was beyond all things; for how, he asks, can the sum be too great which purchases such vast delight. We cannot admire the purity of his Latin so much as the enthusiasm which pervades it; but in the eyes of the bibliophile this will amply compensate for his minor imperfections. When expatiating on the value of his books he appears to unbosom, as it were, all the inward rapture of love. A very _helluo librorum_--a very Maliabechi of a collector, yet he encouraged no selfish feeling to alloy his pleasure or to mingle bitterness with the sweets of his avocation. His knowledge he freely imparted to others, and his books he gladly lent. This is apparent in the Philobiblon; and his generous spirit warms his diction--not always chaste--into a fluent eloquence. His composition overflows with figurative expressions, yet the rude, ungainly form on which they are moulded deprive them of all claim to elegance or chastity; but while the homeliness of his diction fails to impress us with an idea of his versatility as a writer, his chatty anecdotal style rivets and keeps the mind amused, so that we rise from the little book with the consciousness of having obtained much profit and satisfaction from its perusal. Nor is it only the bibliomaniac who may hope to taste this pleasure in devouring the sweet contents of the Philobiblon; for there are many hints, many wise sayings, and many singular ideas scattered over its pages, which will amuse or instruct the general reader and the lover of olden literature. We observe too that Richard de Bury, as a writer, was far in advance of his age, and his work manifests an unusual freedom and independence of mind in its author; for although living in monkish days, when the ecclesiastics were almost supreme in power and wealth, he was fully sensible of the vile corruptions and abominations which were spreading about that time so fearfully among some of the cloistered devotees--the spotless purity of the primitive times was scarce known then--and the dark periods of the middle ages were bright and holy, when compared with the looseness and carnality of those turbulent days. Richard de Bury dipped his pen in gall when he spoke of these sad things, and doubtless many a revelling monk winced under the lashing words he applied to them; not only does he upbraid them for their carelessness in religion, but severely reprimands their inattention to literature and learning. "The monks," he says, "in the present day seem to be occupied in emptying cups, not in correcting codices, _Calicibus epotandis, non codicibus emendandis_, which they mingle with the lascivious music of Timotheus, and emulate his immodest manners, so that the sportive song _cantus ludentis_, and not the plaintive hymn, proceeds from the cells of the monks. Flocks and fleeces, grain and granaries, gardens and olives, potions and goblets, are in this day lessons and studies of the monks, except some chosen few."[186] He speaks in equally harsh terms of the religious mendicants. He accuses them of forgetting the words and admonitions of their holy founder, who was a great lover of books. He wishes them to imitate the ancient members of that fraternity, who were poor in spirit, but most rich in faith. But it must be remembered, that about this time the mendicant friars were treated with undeserved contempt, and much ill feeling rose against them among the clergy, but the clergy were somewhat prejudiced in their judgment. The order of St. Dominic, which a century before gloried in the approbation of the pope, and in the enjoyment of his potential bulls, now winced under gloomy and foreboding frowns. The sovereign Pontiff Honorius III. gratefully embraced the service of these friars, and confirmed their order with important privileges. His successor, Gregory IX., ratified these favors to gain their useful aid in propping up the papal power, and commanded the ecclesiastics by a bull to receive these "well-beloved children and preaching friars" of his, with hospitality and respect. Thus established, they were able to bear the tossings to and fro which succeeding years produced; but in Richard de Bury's time darker clouds were gathering--great men had severely chastized them with their pens and denounced them in their preachings. Soon after a host of others sprang up--among the most remarkable of whom were Johannes Poliaco, and Fitzralph, Archbishop of Armagh, who was a dear friend and chaplain of Richard de Bury's and many learned disputations were carried on between them.[187] The celebrated oration of Fitzralph's, cited in the presence of the pope, was a powerful blow to the mendicant friars--an examination of the matter has rather perplexed than cleared the subject, and I find it difficult which side to favor, the clergy seem to denounce the begging friars more from envy and interested motives, for they looked with extreme jealousy at the encroachments they had made upon their ecclesiastical functions of confession, absolution, etc., so profitable to the church in those days. In these matters the church had hitherto reserved a sole monopoly, and the clergy now determined to protect it with all the powers of oratorial denunciation; but, looking beyond this veil of prejudice, I am prone to regard them favorably, for their intense love of books, which they sought for and bought up with passionate eagerness. Fitzralph, quite unintentionally, bestows a bright compliment upon them, and as it bears upon our subject and illustrates the learning of the time, I am tempted to give a few extracts; he sorely laments the decrease of the number of students in the university of Oxford; "So," says he, "that yet in my tyme, in the universitie of Oxenford, were thirty thousand Scolers at ones; and now beth unnethe[188] sixe thousand."[189] All the blame of this he lays to the friars, and accuses them of doing "more grete damage to learning." "For these orders of beggers, for endeless wynnynges that thei geteth by beggyng of the forseide pryvyleges of schriftes and sepultures and othere, thei beth now so multiplyed in conventes and in persons. That many men tellith that in general studies unnethe, is it founde to sillynge a profitable book of ye faculte of art, of dyvynyte, of lawe canon, of phisik, other of lawe civil, but alle bookes beth y-bougt of Freres, so that en ech convent of Freres is a noble librarye and a grete,[190] and so that ene rech Frere that hath state in scole, siche as thei beth nowe, hath an hughe librarye. And also y-sent of my Sugettes[191] to scole thre other foure persons, and hit is said me that some of them beth come home azen for thei myst nougt[192] finde to selle ovn goode Bible; nother othere couenable[193] books." This strange accusation proves how industriously the friars collected books, and we cannot help regarding them with much esteem for doing so. Richard de Bury fully admits his obligations to the mendicants, from whom he obtained many choice transcripts. "When indeed," says he, "we happened to turn aside to the towns and places where the aforesaid paupers had convents, we were not slack in visiting their chests and other repositories of books, for there, amidst the deepest poverty, we found the most exalted riches treasured up; there, in their satchells and baskets, we discovered not only the crumbs that fell from the master's table for the little dogs, but indeed the shew bread without leaven, the bread of angels, containing in itself all that is delectable;" and moreover, he says, that he found these friars "not selfish hoarders, but meet professors of enlightened knowledge."[194] In the seventh chapter of his work, he deplores the sad destruction of books by war and fire, and laments the loss of the 700,000 volumes, which happened in the Alexandrian expedition; but the eighth chapter is the one which the bibliomaniac will regard with the greatest interest, for Richard de Bury tells us there how he collected together his rich and ample library. "For although," he writes, "from our youth we have ever been delighted to hold special and social communion with literary men and lovers of books, yet prosperity attending us, having obtained the notice of his majesty the king, and being received into his own family, we acquired a most ample facility of visiting at pleasure and of hunting, as it were, some of the most delightful covers, the public and private libraries _privatas tum communes_, both of the regulars and seculars. Indeed, while we performed the duties of Chancellor and Treasurer of the most invincible and ever magnificently triumphant king of England, Edward III., of that name after the conquest, whose days may the Most High long and tranquilly deign to preserve. After first inquiring into the things that concerned his court, and then the public affairs of his kingdom, an easy opening was afforded us, under the countenance of royal favor, for freely searching the hiding places of books. For the flying fame of our love had already spread in all directions, and it was reported not only that we had a longing desire for books, and _especially for old ones_, but that any one could more easily obtain our favors by quartos than by money.[195] Wherefore, when supported by the bounty of the aforesaid prince of worthy memory, we were enabled to oppose or advance, to appoint or discharge; crazy quartos and tottering folios, precious however in our sight as well as in our affections, flowed in most rapidly from the great and the small, instead of new year's gift and remunerations, and instead of presents and jewels. Then the cabinets of the most noble monasteries _tunc nobilissimos monasterios_ were opened, cases were unlocked, caskets were unclasped and sleeping volumes _soporata volumina_ which had slumbered for long ages in their sepulchres were roused up, and those that lay hid in dark places _in locis tenebrosis_ were overwhelmed with the rays of a new light. Books heretofore most delicate now become corrupted and abominable, lay lifeless, covered indeed with the excrements of mice and pierced through with the gnawing of worms; and those that were formerly clothed with purple and fine linen were now seen reposing in dust and ashes, given over to oblivion and the abode of moths. Amongst these, nevertheless, as time served, we sat down more voluptuously than the delicate physician could do amidst his stores of aromatics, and where we found an object of love, we found also an assuagement. Thus the sacred vessel of science came into the power of our disposal, some being given, some sold, and not a few lent for a time. Without doubt many who perceived us to be contented with gifts of this kind, studied to contribute these things freely to our use, which they could most conveniently do without themselves. We took care, however, to conduct the business of such so favorably, that the profit might accrue to them; justice suffered therefore no detriment." Of this, however, a doubt will intrude itself upon our minds, in defiance of the affirmation of my Lord Chancellor; indeed, the paragraph altogether is unfavorable to the character of so great a man, and fully proves the laxity of opinion, in those days of monkish supremacy, on judicial matters; but we must be generous, and allow something for the corrupt usages of the age, but I cannot omit a circumstance clearly illustrative of this point, which occurred between the bibliomanical Chancellor and the abbot of St. Alban's, the affair is recorded in the chronicle of the abbey, and transpired during the time Richard de Bury held the privy seal; in that office he appears to have favored the monks of the abbey in their disputes with the townspeople of St. Alban's respecting some possessions to which the monks tenaciously adhered and defended as their rightful property. Richard de Wallingford, who was then abbot, convoked the elder monks _convocatis senioribus_, and discussed with them, as to the most effectual way to obtain the goodwill and favor of de Bury; after due consideration it was decided that no gift was likely to prove so acceptable to that father of English bibliomania as a present of some of their choice books, and it was at last agreed to send four volumes, "that is to say Terence, a Virgil, a Quintilian, and Jerome against Ruffinus," and to sell him many others from their library; this they sent him intimation of, and a purchase was ultimately agreed upon between them. The monks sold to that rare collector, thirty-two choice tomes _triginta duos libros_, for the sum of fifty pounds of silver _quinginta libris argenti_.[196] But there were other bibliophiles and bookworms than Richard de Bury in old England then; for many of the brothers of St. Alban's who had nothing to do with this transaction, cried out loudly against it, and denounced rather openly the policy of sacrificing their mental treasures for the acquisition of pecuniary gain, but fortunately the loss was only a temporary one, for on the death of Richard de Bury many of these volumes were restored to the monks, who in return became the purchasers from his executors of many a rare old volume from the bishop's library.[197] To resume our extracts from the Philobiblon, De Bury proceeds to further particulars relative to his book-collecting career, and becomes quite eloquent in detailing these circumstances; but from the eighth chapter we shall content ourselves with one more paragraph. "Moreover," says he, "if we could have amassed cups of gold and silver, excellent horses, or no mean sums of money, we could in those days have laid up abundance of wealth for ourselves. But we regarded books not pounds, and valued codices more than florens, and preferred paltry pamphlets to pampered palfreys.[198] In addition to this we were charged with frequent embassies of the said prince of everlasting memory, and owing to the multiplicity of state affairs, we were sent first to the Roman chair, then to the court of France, then to the various other kingdoms of the world, on tedious embassies and in perilous times, carrying about with us that fondness for books, which many waters could not extinguish."[199] The booksellers found Richard de Bury a generous and profitable customer, and those residing abroad received commissions constantly from him. "Besides the opportunities," he writes, "already touched upon, we easily acquired the notice of the stationers and librarians, not only within the provinces of our native soil, but of those dispersed over the kingdoms of France, Germany, and Italy."[200] Such was bibliomania five hundred years ago! and does not the reader behold in it the very type and personification of its existence now? does he not see in Richard de Bury the prototype of a much honored and agreeable bibliophile of our own time? Nor has the renowned "Maister Dibdin" described his book-hunting tours with more enthusiasm or delight; with what a thrill of rapture would that worthy doctor have explored those monastic treasures which De Bury found hid in _locis tenebrosis_, antique Bibles, rare Fathers, rich Classics or gems of monkish lore, enough to fire the brain of the most lymphatic bibliophile, were within the grasp of the industrious and eager Richard de Bury--that old "Amator Librorum," like his imitators of the present day, cared not whither he went to collect his books--dust and dirt were no barriers to him; at every nook and corner where a stationer's stall[201] appeared, he would doubtless tarry in defiance of the cold winds or scorching sun, exploring the ancient tomes reposing there. Nor did he neglect the houses of the country rectors; and even the humble habitations of the rustics were diligently ransacked to increase his collections, and from these sources he gleaned many rude but pleasing volumes, perhaps full of old popular poetry! or the wild Romances of Chivalry which enlivened the halls and cots of our forefathers in Gothic days. We must not overlook the fact that this Treatise on the Love of Books was written as an accompaniment to a noble and generous gift. Many of the parchment volumes which De Bury had collected in his "_perilous embassies_," he gave, with the spirit of a true lover of learning, to the Durham College at Oxford, for the use of the Students of his Church. I cannot but regret that the names of these books, _of which he had made a catalogue_,[202] have not been preserved; perhaps the document may yet be discovered among the vast collections of manuscripts in the Oxonian libraries; but the book, being written for this purpose, the author thought it consistent that full directions should be given for the preservation and regulation of the library, and we find the last chapter devoted to this matter; but we must not close the Philobiblon without noticing his admonitions to the students, some of whom he upbraids for the carelessness and disrespect which they manifest in perusing books. "Let there," says he, with all the veneration of a passionate booklover, "be a modest decorum in opening and closing of volumes, that they may neither be unclasped with precipitous haste, nor thrown aside after inspection without being duly closed."[203] Loving and venerating a book as De Bury did, it was agony to see a volume suffering under the indignities of the ignorant or thoughtless student whom he thus keenly satirizes: "You will perhaps see a stiffnecked youth lounging sluggishly in his study, while the frost pinches him in winter time; oppressed with cold his watery nose drops, nor does he take the trouble to wipe it with his handkerchief till it has moistened the book beneath it with its vile dew;" nor is he "ashamed to eat fruit and cheese over an open book, or to transfer his empty cup from side to side; he reclines his elbow on the volume, turns down the leaves, and puts bits of straw to denote the place he is reading; he stuffs the book with leaves and flowers, and so pollutes it with filth and dust." With this our extracts from the Philobiblon must close; enough has been said and transcribed to place the Lord Chancellor of the puissant King Edward III. among the foremost of the bibliomaniacs of the past, and to show how valuable were his efforts to literature and learning; indeed, like Petrarch in Italy was Richard De Bury in England: both enthusiastic collectors and preservers of ancient manuscripts, and both pioneers of that revival of European literature which soon afterwards followed. In the fourteenth century we cannot imagine a more useful or more essential person than the bibliomaniac, for that surely was the harvest day for the gathering in of that food on which the mind of future generations were to subsist. And who reaped so laboriously or gleaned so carefully as those two illustrious scholars? Richard de Bury was no unsocial bookworm; for whilst he loved to seek the intercourse of the learned dead, he was far from being regardless of the living. Next to his clasped vellum tomes, nothing afforded him so much delight as an erudite disputation with his chaplains, who were mostly men of acknowledged learning and talent; among them were "Thomas Bradwardyn, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury; and Richard Fitz-Raufe, afterwards Archbishop of Armagh; Walter Burley, John Maudyt, Robert Holcote, Richard of Kilwington, all Doctors in Theology, _omnes Doctores in Theologia_; Richard Benworth, afterwards Bishop of London, and Walter Segraffe, afterwards Bishop of Chester;"[204] with these congenial spirits Richard de Bury held long and pleasing conversations, doubtless full of old bookwisdom and quaint Gothic lore, derived from still quainter volumes; and after meals I dare say they discussed the choice volume which had been read during their repast, as was the pious custom of those old days, and which was not neglected by De Bury, for "his manner was at dinner and supper time to have some good booke read unto him."[205] And now in bidding farewell to the illustrious Aungraville--for little more is known of his biography--let me not forget to pay a passing tribute of respect to his private character, which is right worthy of a cherished remembrance, and derives its principal lustre from the eminent degree in which he was endowed with the greatest of Christian virtues, and which, when practised with sincerity, covereth a multitude of sins; his charity, indeed, forms a delightful trait in the character of that great man; every week he distributed food to the poor; eight quarters of wheat _octo quarteria frumenti_, and the fragments from his own table comforted the indigent of his church; and always when he journeyed from Newcastle to Durham, he distributed twelve marks in relieving the distresses of the poor; from Durham to Stockton eight marks; and from the same place to his palace at Aukeland five marks; and and when he rode from Durham to Middleham he gave away one hundred shillings.[206] Living in troublous times, we do not find his name coupled with any great achievement in the political sphere; his talents were not the most propitious for a statesman among the fierce barons of the fourteenth century; his spirit loved converse with the departed great, and shone more to advantage in the quite closet of the bibliomaniac, or in fulfilling the benevolent duties of a bishop. Yet he was successful in all that the ambition of a statesman could desire, the friend and confidant of his king; holding the highest offices in the state compatible with his ecclesiastical position, with wealth in abundance, and blessed with the friendship of the learned and the good, we find little in his earthly career to darken the current of his existence, or to disturb the last hours of a life of near three score years. He died lamented, honored, and esteemed, at Aukeland palace, on the fourteenth of April, in the year 1345, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, and was buried with all due solemnity before the altar of the blessed Mary Magdalene, at the south angle of the church of Durham. His bones are now mingled with the dust and gone, but his memory is engraven on tablets of life; the hearts of all bibliomaniacs love and esteem his name for the many virtues with which it was adorned, and delight to chat with his choice old spirit in the Philobiblon, so congenial to their bookish souls. No doubt the illustrious example of Richard de Bury tended materially to spread far and wide the spirit of bibliomania. It certainly operated powerfully on the monks of Durham, who not only by transcribing, but at the cost of considerable sums of money, greatly increased their library. A catalogue of the collection, taken some forty years after the death of De Bury, is preserved to this day at Durham, and shows how considerably they augmented it during a space of two hundred years, or from the time when the former list was written. If the bibliomaniac can obtain a sight of this ancient catalogue, he will dwell over it with astonishment and delight--immaculate volumes of Scripture--fathers and classics bespeak its richness and extent, and Robert of Langchester, the librarian who wrote it, with pious preference places first on the list the magnificent Bible which bishop Hugo gave them many years before. This rare biblical treasure, then the pride and glory of the collection, is now in the Durham Library; but to look upon that fair manuscript will make the blood run cold--barbarous desecration has been committed by some bibliopegistical hand; the splendid illuminations so rich and spirited, which adorned the beauteous tomes, dazzled an ignorant mind, who cut them out and robbed it of half its interest and value. From near 600 volumes which the list enumerates, I cannot refrain from naming two or three. I have searched over its biblical department in vain to discover mention of the celebrated "Saint Cuthbert's Gospels." It is surprising they should have forgotten so rich a gem, for although four copies of the Gospels appear, not one of them answers to its description; two are specified as "_non glos_;" it could not have been either of those, another, the most interesting of the whole, is recorded as the venerable Bede's own copy! What bibliophile can look unmoved upon those time-honored pages, without indeed all the warmth of his booklove kindling forth into a very frenzy of rapture and veneration! So fairly written, and so accurately transcribed, it is one of the most precious of the many gems which now crowd the shelves of the Durham Library, and is well worth a pilgrimage to view it.[207] But this cannot be St. Cuthbert's Gospels, and the remaining copy is mentioned as "_Quarteur Evangelum_," fol. ii. "_se levantem_;" now I have looked at the splendid volume in the British Museum, to see if the catchword answered to this description, but it does not; so it cannot be this, which I might have imagined without the trouble of a research, for if it was, they surely would not have forgotten to mention its celebrated coopertoria. Passing a splendid array of Scriptures whole and in parts, for there was no paucity of sacred volumes in that old monkish library, and fathers, doctors of the Church, schoolmen, lives of saints, chronicles, profane writers, philosophical and logical treatises, medical works, grammars, and books of devotion, we are particularly struck with the appearance of so many fine classical authors. Works of Virgil (including the Æneid), Pompeius Trogus, Claudius, Juvenal, Terence, Ovid, Prudentius, Quintilian, Cicero, Boethius, and a host of others are in abundance, and form a catalogue rendered doubly exciting to the bibliophile by the insertion of an occasional note, which tells of its antiquity,[208] rarity, or value. In some of the volumes a curious inscription was inserted, thundering a curse upon any who would dare to pilfer it from the library, and for so sacrilegious a crime, calling down upon them the maledictions of Saints Maria, Oswald, Cuthbert, and Benedict.[209] A volume containing the lives of St. Cuthbert, St. Oswald, and St. Aydani, is described as "_Liber speciales et preciosus cum signaculo deaurato_." Thomas Langley, who was chancellor of England and bishop of Durham in the year 1406, collected many choice books, and left some of them to the library of Durham church; among them a copy of Lyra's Commentaries stands conspicuous; he also bequeathed a number of volumes to many of his private friends. There are few monastic libraries whose progress we can trace with so much satisfaction as the one now under consideration, for we have another catalogue compiled during the librarianship of John Tyshbourne, in the year 1416,[210] in which many errors appearing in the former ones are carefully corrected; books which subsequent to that time had been lost or stolen are here accounted for; many had been sent to the students at Oxford, and others have notes appended, implying to whom the volume had been lent; thus to a "_Flores Bernardi_," occurs "_Prior debit, I Kempe Episcopi Londoni_." It is, next to Monk Henry's of Canterbury, one of the best of all the monkish catalogues I have seen; not so much for its extent, as that here and there it fully partakes of the character of a catalogue _raisonné_; for terse sentences are affixed to some of the more remarkable volumes, briefly descriptive of their value; a circumstance seldom observable in these early attempts at bibliography. In taking leave of Durham library, need I say that the bibliomaniacs who flourished there in the olden time, not only collected their books with so much industry, but knew well how to use them too. The reader is doubtless aware how many learned men dwelled in monkish time within those ancient walls; and if he is inquisitive about such things has often enjoyed a few hours of pleasant chat over the historic pages of Symeon of Durham,[211] Turgot and Wessington,[212] and has often heard of brothers Lawrence,[213] Reginald,[214] and Bolton; but although unheeded now, many a monkish bookworm, glorying in the strict observance of Christian humility, and so unknown to fame, lies buried beneath that splendid edifice, as many monuments and funeral tablets testify and speak in high favor of the great men of Durham. If the reader should perchance to wander near that place, his eye will be attracted by many of these memorials of the dead; and a few hours spent in exploring them will serve to gain many additional facts to his antiquarian lore, and perhaps even something better too. For I know not a more suitable place, as far as outward circumstances are concerned, than an old sanctuary of God to prepare the mind and lead it to think of death and immortality. We read the names of great men long gone; of wealthy worldlings, whose fortunes have long been spent; of ambitious statesmen and doughty warriors, whose glory is fast fading as their costly mausoleums crumble in the hands of time, and whose stone tablets, green with the lichens' hue, manifest how futile it is to hope to gain immortality from stone, or purchase fame by the cold marble trophies of pompous grief; not that on their glassy surface the truth is always faithfully mirrored forth, even when the thoughts of holy men composed the eulogy; the tombs of old knew as well how to lie as now, and even ascetic monks could become too warm in their praises of departed worth; for whilst they blamed the great man living, with Christian charity they thought only of his virtues when they had nothing but his body left, and murmured long prayers, said tedious masses, and kept midnight vigils for his soul. For had he not shown his love to God by his munificence to His Church on earth? _Benedicite_, saith the monks. FOOTNOTES: [153] Bede's Eccles. Hist., B. iii. c. xvi. [154] Bede, B. iv. c. xxvii. [155] Marked Nero, D. iv. in the Cottonian collection. [156] The illuminations are engraved in Strutt's _Horda_. [157] There is prologue to the Canons and Prefaces of St. Jerome and Eusebius, and also a beautiful calendar written in compartments, elaborately finished in an architectural style. [158] He also transcribed the Durham Ritual, recently printed by the Surtee Society; when Alfred wrote this volume he was with bishop Alfsige, p. 185, 8vo. _Lond._ 1840. [159] For an account of this rare gem of Saxon art, see _Selden Præf. ad. Hist. Angl._ p. 25. _Marshall Observat. in Vers. Sax. Evang._, 491. _Dibdin's Decameron, p._ lii. _Smith's Bibl. Cotton. Hist. et Synop._, p. 33. [160] Simeon of Durham translated by Stevens, p. 87. [161] Simeon of Durham, by Stevens. [162] Ep. viii. [163] Tertia Quinquagina Augustini, marked B. ii. 14. [164] Surtee publications, vol. i. p. 117. [165] This catalogue is preserved at Durham, in the library of the Dean and Chapter, marked B. iv. 24. It is printed in the Surtee publications, vol. i. p. 1. [166] "King Stephen was vncle vnto him."--_Godwin's Cat. of Bishops_, 511. [167] He died in 1195.--Godwin, p. 735. He gave them also another Bible in two volumes; a list of the whole is printed in the Surtee publications, vol. i. p. 118. [168] Surtee's Hist, of Durham, vol. i. p. xxxii. "He was wonderfull rich, not onely in ready money but in lands also, and temporall revenues. For he might dispend yeerely 5000 marks."--_Godwin's Cat. Eng. Bish._ 4to. 1601, p. 520. [169] Robert de Graystane's ap. Wharton's Angl. Sacr. p. 748, tom. i.--_Hutchinson's Durham_, vol. i. p. 244. [170] Surtee publ. vol. i. p. 121. [171] Raine's North Durham, p. 85. [172] Surtee public. vol. 1. p. 39-40. [173] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 41. [174] Chambre Contin. Hist. Dunelm. apud Wharton Angliæ Sacra, tom. i. p. 765. [175] Lord Campbell's Lives of the Lord Chancellors, vol. i. p. 219. [176] Absconditus est in Campanili fratrum minorum.--_Chambre ap. Wharton_, tom. i. p. 765. [177] In one of his letters Petrarch speaks of De Bury as _Virum ardentis ingenii_, Pet. ep. 1-3. [178] Epist. Seniles, lib. xvi. ep. 1. [179] Foscolo's Essays on Petrarch, p. 151. [180] Foscolo's Essays on Petrarch, p. 156. Famil. ep. lxxii. [181] Hortatio ad Nicol. Laurent Petrar., Op. vol. i. p. 596. [182] _Apud Wharton Ang. Sac._ tom. i. p. 765. [183] _Ibid._ [184] MS. Harleian, No. 3224, fo. 89, b. [185] There are two MSS. of the Philobiblon in the British Museum, which I quote in giving my Latin Extracts. The first is in the Cotton collection, marked Appendix iv. fol. 103. At the end are these lines, _Ric. de Aungervile cognominato de Bury, Dunelm. Episc. Philobiblon completum in Manerio de Auckland, d. 24 Jan. 1344_, fol. 119, b. The other is in the Harleian Collection, No. 3224, both are in fine preservation. The first printed edition appeared at Cologne, 1473, in 4to., without pagination, signatures, or catchwords, with 48 leaves, 26 lines on a full page; for some time, on account of its excessive rarity, which kept it from the eyes of book-lovers, bibliographers confused it with the second edition printed by John and Conrad Hüst, at Spires, in 1483, 4to. which, like the first, is without pagination, signatures, or catchwords, but it has only 39 pages, with 31 lines on a full page. Two editions were printed in 1500, 4to. at Paris, but I have only seen one of them. A fifth edition was printed at Oxford by T. J(ames), 4to. 1599. In 1614 it was published by Goldastus in 8vo. at Frankfort, with a _Philologicarium Epistolarum Centuria una_. Another edition of this same book was printed in 1674, 8vo. at Leipsic, and a still better edition appeared in 1703 by Schmidt, in 4to. The Philobiblon has recently been translated by Inglis, 8vo. _Lond._ 1834, with much accuracy and spirit, and I have in many cases availed myself of this edition, though I do not always exactly follow it. [186] "Greges et Vellera, Fruges et honea, Porri et Olera, Potus et Patera rectiones sunt hodie et studio monachorum."--MS. Harl. 2324, fol. 79, a; MS. Cot. ap. iv. fo. 108, a. [187] Wharton Ang. Sac., tom. i. p. 766, he is called _Ricardus Fitz-Rause postomodum Archiepiscopus Armachanus_. [188] Scarcely. [189] Translated by Trevisa, MS. Harleian, No. 1900, fol. 11, b. [190] The original is _grandis et nobilis libraria_. [191] Chaplain. [192] Could not. [193] Profitable. [194] Philobiblon, transl. by Inglis, p. 56. [195] "Curiam deinde vero Rem. publicam Regni sui Cacellarii, viz.: est ac Thesaurii fugeremur officiis, patescebat nobis aditus faciles regal favoris intuitu, ad libros latebras libere perscruta tandas amoris quippe nostri fama volatitis jam ubiqs. percreluit tam qs. libros _et maxime veterum_ ferabatur cupidite las vestere posse vero quemlibet nostrum per quaternos facilius quam per pecuniam adipisa favorem."--MS. Harl. fo. 85, a. MS. Cott. 110, b. [196] MS. Cottonian Claudius, E. iv. fol. 203, b. _Warton's Hist. of Poetry, Dissert. ii._; and _Hallam's_ Middle Ages, vol. ii. p. 611. Both notice this circumstance as a proof of the scarcity of books in De Bury's time. [197] _Ibid._ Among the MSS. in the Royal Library, there is a copy of John of Salisbury's _Ententicus_ which contains the following note, "Hunc librum fecit dominus Symon abbas S. Albani, quem postea venditum domino _Ricardo_ de Bury. Episcope Dunelmensi emit Michael abbas S. Albani ab executoribus prædicti episcopi, A. D. 1345." Marked 13 D. iv. 3. The same abbot expended a large sum in buying books for the library, but we shall speak more of Michael de Wentmore by and bye. [198] "Sed revera libros non libras maluimus, Codicesque plus quam florenos, ac pampletos exiguos incrussatis proetulimus palafridis."--MS. Harl. fo. 86, a. MS. Cott. fo. 111, a. [199] Inglis's Translation, p. 53. [200] Inglis's Translation, p. 58. [201] The Stationers or Booksellers carried on their business on open Stalls.--_Hallam, Lit. Europe_, vol. i. p. 339. It is pleasing to think that the same temptations which allure the bookworm now, in his perambulations, can claim such great antiquity, and that through so many centuries, bibliophiles and bibliopoles remain unaltered in their habits and singularities; but alas! this worthy relic of the middle ages I fear is passing into oblivion. Plate-glass fronts and bulky expensive catalogues form the bookseller's pride in these days of speed and progress, and offer more splendid temptations to the collector, but sad obstacles to the hungry student and black-letter bargain hunters. [202] _Philob._ xix. [203] Inglis, p. 96. "In primis quidam circa claudenda et apienda volumina, sit matura modestia; ut nec præcipiti festinatione solvantur, nec inspectione finita, sina clausura debita dimittantur." _MS. Harl._ fol. 103. [204] _Chambre ap. Wharton_, tom. i. p. 766. [205] Godwin Cat. of Bish. 525. [206] _Chambre ap. Wharton_, tom. i. p. 766. [207] It is marked A, ii. 16, and described in the old MS. catalogue as _De manus Bedæ_, ii. fol. _Baptizatus_. [208] The attractive words "_Est vetus Liber_" often occur. [209] From a volume of Thomas Aquinas, the following is transcribed: "Lib. Sti. Cuthberti de Dunelm, ex procuratione fratis Roberti de Graystane quem qui aliena verit maledictionem Sanctorum Mariæ, Oswaldi, Cuthberti et Benedicti incurrat." See _Surtee publications_, vol. i. p. 35, where other instances are given. [210] Surtee publ. vol. i. p. 85. [211] He wrote The Chronicle of Durham Monastery in 1130. [212] His book on the Rights and Privileges of Durham Church is in the Cottonian Library, marked _Vitellius_, A, 9. [213] Lawrence was elected prior in 1149, "a man of singular prudence and learning, as the many books he writ manifest." _Dugdale's Monast._ vol. 1. p. 230. [214] Wrote the Life and Miracles of St. Cuthbert, the original book is in the Durham Library. CHAPTER VI. _Croyland Monastery.--Its Library increased by Egebric.--Destroyed by Fire.--Peterborough.--Destroyed by the Danes.--Benedict and his books.--Anecdotes of Collectors.--Catalogue of the Library of the Abbey of Peterborough.--Leicester Library, etc._ The low marshy fens of Lincolnshire are particularly rich in monastic remains; but none prove so attractive to the antiquary as the ruins of the splendid abbey of Croyland. The pen of Ingulphus has made the affairs of that old monastery familiar to us; he has told us of its prospering and its misfortunes, and we may learn moreover from the pages of the monk how many wise and virtuous men, of Saxon and Norman days, were connected with this ancient fabric, receiving education there, or devoting their lives to piety within its walls. It was here that Guthlac, a Saxon warrior, disgusted with the world, sought solitude and repose; and for ten long years he led a hermit's life in that damp and marshy fen; in prayer and fasting, working miracles, and leading hearts to God, he spent his lonely days, all which was rewarded by a happy and peaceful death, and a sanctifying of his corporeal remains--for many wondrous miracles were wrought by those holy relics. Croyland abbey was founded on the site of Guthlac's hermitage, by Ethelred, king of Mercia. Many years before, when he was striving for the crown of that kingdom, his cousin, Crobrid, who then enjoyed it, pursued him with unremitting enmity; and worn out, spiritless and exhausted, the royal wanderer sought refuge in the hermit's cell. The holy man comforted him with every assurance of success; and prophesied that he would soon obtain his rights without battle or without bloodshed;[215] in return for these brighter prospects, and these kind wishes, Ethelred promised to found a monastery on that very spot in honor of God and St. Guthlac, which promise he faithfully fulfilled in the year 716, and "thus the wooden oratory was followed by a church of stone." Succeeding benefactors endowed, and succeeding abbots enriched it with their learning; and as years rolled by so it grew and flourished till it became great in wealth and powerful in its influence. But a gloomy day approached--the Danes destroyed that noble structure, devastating it by fire, and besmearing its holy altars with the blood of its hapless inmates. But zealous piety and monkish perseverance again restored it, with new and additional lustre; and besides adding to the splendor of the edifice, augmented its internal comforts by forming a library of considerable importance and value. We may judge how dearly they valued a _Bibliotheca_ in those old days by the contribution of one benevolent book-lover--Egebric, the second abbot of that name, a man whom Ingulphus says was "far more devoted to sacred learning and to the perusal of books than skilled in secular matters,"[216] gladdened the hearts of the monks with a handsome library, consisting of forty original volumes in various branches of learning, and more than one hundred volumes of different tracts and histories,[217] besides eighteen books for the use of the divine offices of the church. Honor to the monk who, in the land of dearth, could amass so bountiful a provision for the intellect to feed upon; and who encouraged our early literature--when feeble and trembling by the renewed attacks of rapacious invaders--by such fostering care. In the eleventh century Croyland monastery was doomed to fresh misfortunes; a calamitous fire, accidental in its origin, laid the fine monastery in a heap of ruins, and scattered its library in blackened ashes to the winds.[218] A sad and irreparable loss was that to the Norman monks and to the students of Saxon history in modern times; for besides four hundred Saxon charters, deeds, etc., many of the highest historical interest and value beautifully illuminated in gold (_aureis pictures_) and written in Saxon characters,[219] the whole of the choice and ample library was burnt, containing seven hundred volumes, besides the books of divine offices--the Antiphons and Grailes. I will not agonize the bibliophile by expatiating further on the sad work of destruction; but is he not somewhat surprised that in those bookless days seven hundred volumes should have been amassed together, besides a lot of church books and Saxon times? Ingulphus, who has so graphically described the destruction of Croyland monastery by the Danes in 870, has also given the particulars of their proceedings at the monastery of Peterborough, anciently called Medeshamstede, to which they immediately afterwards bent their steps. The monks, on hearing of their approach, took the precaution to guard the monastery by all the means in their power; but the quiet habits of monastic life were ill suited to inspire them with a warlike spirit, and after a feeble resistance, their cruel enemies (whom the monks speak of in no gentle terms, as the reader may imagine), soon effected an entrance; in the contest however Tulla, the brother of Hulda, the Danish leader, was slain by a stone thrown by one of the monks from the walls; this tended to kindle the fury of the besiegers, and so exasperated Hulda that it is said he killed with his own hand the whole of the poor defenceless monks, including their venerable abbot. The sacred edifice, completely in their hands, was soon laid waste; they broke down the altars, destroyed the monuments, and--much will the bibliophile deplore it--set fire to their immense library "_ingens bibliotheca_," maliciously tearing into pieces all their valuable and numerous charters, evidences, and writings. The monastery, says the historian, continued burning for fifteen days.[220] This seat of Saxon learning was left buried in its ruins for near one hundred years, when Athelwold, bishop of Winchester, in the year 966, restored it; but in the course of time, after a century of peaceful repose, fresh troubles sprang up. When Turoldus, a Norman, who had been appointed by William the Conqueror, was abbot, the Danes again paid them a visit of destruction. Hareward de Wake having joined a Danish force, proceeded to the town of Peterborough; fortunately the monks obtained some intelligence of their coming, which gave Turoldus time to repair to Stamford with his retinue. Taurus, the Sacrist, also managed to get away, carrying with him some of their treasures, and among them a text of the Gospels, which he conveyed to his superior at Stamford, and by that means preserved them. On the arrival of the Danes, the remaining monks were prepared to offer a somewhat stern resistance, but without effect; for setting fire to the buildings, the Danes entered through the flames and smoke, and pillaged the monastery of all its valuable contents; and that which they could not carry away, they destroyed: not even sparing the shrines of holy saints, or the miracle-working dust contained therein. The monks possessed a great cross of a most costly nature, which the invaders endeavored to take away, but could not on account of its weight and size; however, they broke off the gold crown from the head of the crucifix, and the footstool under its feet, which was made of pure gold and gems; they also carried away two golden biers, on which the monks carried the relics of their saints; with nine silver ones. There was certainly no monachal poverty here, for their wealth must have been profuse; besides the above treasures, they took twelve crosses, made of gold and silver; they also went up to the tower and took away a table of large size and value, which the monks had hid there, trusting it might escape their search; it was a splendid affair, made of gold and silver and precious stones, and was usually placed before the altar. But besides all this, they robbed them of that which those poor monkish bibliophiles loved more than all. Their library, which they had collected with much care, and which contained many volumes, was carried away, "with many other precious things, the like of which were not to be found in all England."[221] The abbot and those monks who fortunately escaped, afterwards returned, sad and sorrowful no doubt; but trusting in their Divine Master and patron Saint, they ultimately succeeded in making their old house habitable again, and well fortified it with a strong wall, so that formerly it used to be remarked that this building looked more like a military establishment than a house of God. Eminently productive was the monastery of Peterborough in Saxon bibliomaniacs. Its ancient annals prove how enthusiastically they collected and transcribed books. There were few indeed of its abbots who did not help in some way or other to increase their library. Kenulfus, who was abbot in the year 992, was a learned and eloquent student in divine and secular learning. He much improved his monastery, and greatly added to its literary treasures.[222] But the benefactors of this place are too numerous to be minutely specified here. Hugo Candidus tells us, that Kinfernus, Archbishop of York, in 1056, gave them many valuable ornaments; and among them a fine copy of the Gospels, beautifully adorned with gold. This puts us in mind of Leofricus, a monk of the abbey, who was made abbot in the year 1057. He is said to have been related to the royal family, a circumstance which may account for his great riches. He was a sad pluralist, and held at one time no less than five monasteries, viz. Burton, Coventy, Croyland, Thorney, and Peterborough.[223] He gave to the church of Peterborough many and valuable utensils of gold, silver, and precious stones, and a copy of the Gospels bound in gold.[224] But in all lights, whether regarded as an author or a bibliophile, great indeed was Benedict, formerly prior of Canterbury, and secretary to Thomas à Becket,[225] of whom it is supposed he wrote a life. He was made abbot of Peterborough in the year 1177; he compiled a history of Henry II. and king Richard I.;[226] he is spoken of in the highest terms of praise by Robert Swapham for his profound wisdom and great erudition in secular matters.[227] There can be no doubt of his book-loving passion; for during the time he was abbot he transcribed himself, and ordered others to transcribe, a great number of books. Swapham has preserved a catalogue of them, which is so interesting that I have transcribed it entire. The list is entitled: DE LIBRIS EJUS. Plurimos quoque libros 3 scribere fecit, quorum nomina subnotantur. Vetus et Novum Testamentum in uno volumine. Vetus et Novum Testamentum in 4 volumina. Quinque libri Moysi glosati in uno volumine. Sexdecim Prophetæ glosati in uno volumine. Duodecim minores glosati Prophetæ in uno volumine. Liber Regum glosatus, paralipomenon glosatus. Job, Parabolæ Solomonis et Ecclesiastes, Cantica Canticorum glosati in uno volumine. Liber Ecclesiasticus et Liber Sapientiæ glosatus in uno volumine. Tobyas, Judith, Ester et Esdras, glosati in uno volumine. Liber Judicum glosatus. Scholastica hystoria. Psalterium glosatum. Item non glosatum. Item Psalterium. Quatuor Evangelia glosata in uno volumine. Item Mathæus et Marcus in uno volumine. Johannes et Lucas in uno volumine. Epistolæ Pauli glosatæ Apocalypsis et Epistolæ Canonicæ glosata in uno volumine. Sententiæ Petri Lombardi. Item Sententiæ ejusdem. Sermones Bernardi Abbatis Clarevallensis. Decreta Gratiani. Item Decreta Gratiani. Summa Ruffini de Decretis. Summa Johannes Fuguntini de Decretis. Decretales Epistolæ. Item Decretales Epistolæ. Item Decretales Epistolæ cum summa sic incipiente; Olim. Institutiones Justiniani cum autenticis et Infortiatio Digestum vetus. Tres partes cum digesto novo. Summa Placentini. Totum Corpus Juris in duobus voluminibus. Arismetica. Epistolæ Senecæ cum aliis Senecis in uno volumine. Martialis totus et Terentius in uno volumine. Morale dogma philosophorum. Gesta Alexandri et Liber Claudii et Claudiani. Summa Petri Heylæ de Grammatica, cum multis allis rebus in uno volumine. Gesta Regis Henrica secunda et Genealogiæ ejus. Interpretatione Hebraicorum nominum. Libellus de incarnatione verbi. Liber Bernardi Abbatis ad Eugenium papam. Missale. Vitæ Sancti Thomæ Martyris.[228] Miracula ejusdem in quinque voluminibus. Liber Richardi Plutonis, qui dicitur, unde Malum Meditationes Anselmi. Practica Bartholomæi cum multis allis rebus in uno volumine. Ars Physicæ Pantegni, et practica ipsius in uno volumine. Almazor et Diascoridis de virtutibus herbarum. Liber Dinamidiorum et aliorum multorum in uno volumine. Libellus de Compoto. Sixty volumes! perhaps containing near 100 separate works, and all added to the library in the time of one abbot; surely this is enough to controvert the opinion that the monks cared nothing for books or learning, and let not the Justin, Seneca, Martial, Terence, and Claudian escape the eye of the reader, those monkish bookworms did care a little, it would appear, for classical literature. But what will he say to the fine Bibles that crown and adorn the list? The two complete copies of the _Vetus et Novum Testamentum_, and the many glossed portions of the sacred writ, reflect honor upon the Christian monk, and placed him conspicuously among the bible students of the middle ages; proving too, that while he could esteem the wisdom of Seneca, and the vivacity of Terence, and feel a deep interest in the secular history of his own times, he did not lose sight of the fountain of all knowledge, but gave to the Bible his first care, and the most prominent place on his library shelf. Besides the books which the abbots collected for the monastery, they often possessed a private selection for their own use; there are instances in which these collections were of great extent; some of which we shall notice, but generally speaking they seldom numbered many volumes. Thus Robert of Lyndeshye, who was abbot of Peterborough in 1214, only possessed six volumes, which were such as he constantly required for reference or devotion; they consisted of a Numerale Majestri W. de Montibus cum alliis rebus; Tropi Majestri Petri cum diversis summis; Sententiæ Petri Pretanensis; Psalterium Glossatum; Aurora; Psalterium;[229] Historiale. These were books continually in requisition, and which he possessed to save the trouble of constantly referring to the library. His successor, abbot Holdernesse, possessed also twelve volumes,[230] and Walter of St. Edmundsbury Abbot, in 1233, had eighteen books, and among them a fine copy of the Bible for his private study. Robert of Sutton in 1262, also abbot of Peterborough, possessed a similar number, containing a copy of the Liber Naturalium Anstotelis; and his successor, Richard of London, among ten books which formed his private library, had the Consolation of Philosophy, a great favorite in the monasteries. In the year 1295 William of Wodeforde, collected twenty volumes, but less than that number constituted the library of Adam de Botheby, who was abbot of Peterborough many years afterwards, but among them I notice a Seneca, with thirty-six others contained in the same volume.[231] Abbot Godfrey, elected in the year 1299, was a great benefactor to the church, as we learn from Walter de Whytlesse, who gives a long list of donations made by him; among a vast quantity of valuables, "he gave to the church _two Bibles_, one of which was written in France," with about twenty other volumes. In the war which occurred during his abbacy, between John Baliol of Scotland and Edward I. of England, the Scots applied to the pope for his aid and council; his holiness deemed it his province to interfere, and directed letters to the king of England, asserting that the kingdom of Scotland appertained to the Church of Rome; in these letters he attempt to prove that it was opposed to justice, and, what he deemed of still greater importance, to the interests of the holy see, that the king of England should not have dominion over the kingdom of Scotland. The pope's messengers on this occasion were received by abbot Godfrey; Walter says that "He honorably received two cardinals at Peterborough with their retinues, who were sent by the pope to make peace between the English and the Scotch, and besides cheerfully entertaining them with food and drink, gave them divers presents; to one of the cardinals, named Gaucelin, he gave a certain psalter, beautifully written in letters of gold and purple, and marvellously illuminated, _literis aureis et assuris scriptum et mirabiliter luminatum_.[232] I give this anecdote to show how splendidly the monks inscribed those volumes designed for the service of the holy church. I ought to have mentioned before that Wulstan, archbishop of York, gave many rare and precious ornaments to Peterborough, nor should I omit a curious little book anecdote related of him. He was born at Jceritune in Warwickshire, and was sent by his parents to Evesham, and afterwards to Peterborough, where he gave great indications of learning. His schoolmaster, who was an Anglo-Saxon named Erventus, was a clever calligraphist, and is said to have been highly proficient in the art of illuminating; he instructed Wulstan in these accomplishments, who wrote under his direction a sacramentary and a psalter, and illuminated the capitals with many pictures painted in gold and colors; they were executed with so much taste that his master presented the sacramentary to Canute, and the psalter to his queen."[233] From these few facts relative to Peterborough Monastery, the reader will readily perceive how earnestly books were collected by the monks there, and will be somewhat prepared to learn that a catalogue of 1,680 volumes is preserved, which formerly constituted the library of that fraternity of bibliophiles. This fine old catalogue, printed by Gunton in his history of the abbey, covers fifty folio pages; it presents a faithful mirror of the literature of its day, and speaks well for the bibliomanical spirit of the monks of Peterborough. Volumes of patristic eloquence and pious erudition crowd the list; chronicles, poetry, and philosophical treatises are mingled with the titles of an abundant collection of classic works, full of the lore of the ancient world. Although the names may be similar to those which I have extracted from other catalogues, I must not omit to give a few of them; I find works of-- Augustine. Ambrose. Albinus. Cassiodorus. Gregory. Cyprian. Seneca. Prosper. Tully. Bede. Basil. Lanfranc. Chrysostom. Jerome. Eusebius. Boethius. Isidore. Origin. Dionysius. Cassian. Bernard. Anselm. Alcuinus. Honorius. Donatus. Macer. Persius. Virgil. Isagoge of Porphry. Aristotle. Entyci Grammatica. Socrates. Ovid. Priscian. Hippocrates. Horace. Sedulus. Theodulus. Sallust. Macrobius. Cato. Prudentius. But although they possessed these fine authors and many others equally choice, I am not able to say much for the biblical department of their library, I should have anticipated a goodly store of the Holy Scriptures, but in these necessary volumes they were unusually poor. But I suspect the catalogue to have been compiled during the fifteenth century, and I fear too, that in that age the monks were growing careless of Scripture reading, or at least relaxing somewhat in the diligence of their studies; perhaps they devoured the attractive pages of Ovid, and loved to read his amorous tales more than became the holiness of their priestly calling.[234] At any rate we may observe a marked change as regards the prevalence of the Bible in monastic libraries between the twelfth and the fifteenth century. It is true we often find them in those of the later age; but sometimes they are entirely without, and frequently only in detached portions.[235] I may illustrate this by a reference to the library of the Abbey of St. Mary de la Pré at Leicester, which gloried in a collection of 600 volumes, of the choicest and almost venerable writers. It was written in the year 1477, by William Chartye,[236] prior of the abbey, and an old defective and worn out Bible, _Biblie defect et usit_, with some detached portions, was all that fine library contained of the Sacred Writ. The bible _defect et usit_ speaks volumes to the praise of the ancient monks of that house, for it was by their constant reading and study, that it had become so thumbed and worn; but it stamps with disgrace the affluent monks of the fifteenth century, who, while they could afford to buy, in the year 1470,[237] some thirty volumes with a Seneca, Ovid, Claudian, Macrobius, Æsop, etc., among them, and who found time to transcribe twice as many more, thought not of restoring their bible tomes, or adding one book of the Holy Scripture to their crowded shelves. But alas! monachal piety was waxing cool and indifferent then, and it is rare to find the honorable title of an _Amator Scripturarum_ affixed to a monkish name in the latter part of the fifteenth century. FOOTNOTES: [215] Gough's Hist. Croyland in Bibl. Top. Brit. xi. p. 3. [216] Inguph. in Gale's Script. tom. i. p. 53. [217] "Debit iste Abbas Egebricus communi bibliothecæ clanstralium monachorum magna volumina diversorum doctorum originalia numero quadraginta; minora vero volumina de diversæ tractatibus et historiis, quæ numerum centenarium excedibant." Ingul. p. 53. [218] The fire occurred in 1091. Ingulphus relates with painful minuteness the progress of the work of destruction, and enumerates all the rich treasures which those angry flames consumed. I should have given a longer account of this event had not the Rev. Mr. Maitland already done so in his interesting work on the "_Dark Ages_." [219] Gale's Remin. Ang. Scrip. i. p. 98. [220] Ingulph. ap. Gale i. p. 25. [221] See Gunter's Peterborough, suppl. 263. [222] Hugo Candid, p. 31; Tamer Bib. Brit. et Hib. p. 175. Candidus says, "Flos literaris disciplina, torrens eloquentiæ, decus et norma rerum divinarum et secularium." [223] Hugo Candid. ap. Sparke, Hist. Ang. Scrip. p. 41. Gunter's Peterboro, p. 15, ed. 1686. [224] Hugo Candid. p. 42. [225] Leland de Scrip. Brit. p. 217. [226] Published by Hearne, 2 vol. 8vo. _Oxon._ 1735. [227] Rt. Swap. ap. Sparke, p. 97. "Erat. enin literarum scientiæ satis imbutus; regulari disciplina optime instructus; sapientia seculari plenissime eruditus." [228] Swapham calls this "Egregium volumen," p. 98. [229] Now preserved in the library of the Society of Antiquaries. [230] Gunter, Peterborough, p. 29. [231] Ibid, p. 37. [232] Walter de Whytlesse apud Sparke, p. 173. [233] Gunter's Hist. of Peterborough, p. 259. [234] At any rate, we find about thirty volumes of Ovid's works enumerated, and several copies of "de Arte Amandi," and "de Remedis Amoris." [235] Let the reader examine Leland's Collect., and the Catalogues printed in Hunter's Tract on Monastic Libraries. See also Catalogue of Canterbury Library, MS. Cottonian Julius, c. iv. 4., in the British Museum. [236] Printed by Nichols, in Appendix to Hist. of Leicester, from a MS. Register. It contains almost as fine a collection of the classics and fathers as that at Peterborough, just noticed, Aristotle, Virgil, Plato, Ovid, Cicero, Euclid, Socrates, Horace, Lucan, Seneca, etc., etc. are among them, pp. 101 to 108. It is curious that Leland mentions only six MSS. as forming the library at the time he visited the Abbey of Leicester, all its fine old volumes were gone. He only arrived in time to pick up the crumbs. [237] At least during the time of William Charteys priorship. See Nichols, p. 108. CHAPTER VII. _King Alfred an "amator librorum" and an author._ The latter part of the tenth century was a most memorable period in the annals of monkish bibliomania, and gave birth to one of the brightest scholars that ever shone in the dark days of our Saxon forefathers. King Alfred, in honor of whose talents posterity have gratefully designated the Great, spread a fostering care over the feeble remnant of native literature which the Danes in their cruel depredations had left unmolested. The noble aspirations of this royal student and patron of learning had been instilled into his mind by the tender care of a fond parent. It was from the pages of a richly illuminated little volume of Saxon poetry, given to him by the queen as a reward for the facility with which he had mastered its contents, that he first derived that intense love of books which never forsook him, though the sterner duties of his after position frequently required his thoughts and energies in another channel. Having made himself acquainted with this little volume, Alfred found a thirst for knowledge grow upon him, and applied his youthful mind to study with the most zealous ardor; but his progress was considerably retarded, because he could not, at that time, find a Grammaticus capable of instructing him,[238] although he searched the kingdom of the West Saxons. Yet he soon acquired the full knowledge of his own language, and the Latin it is said he knew as well, and was able to use with a fluency equal to his native tongue; he could comprehend the meaning of the Greek, although perhaps he was incapable of using it to advantage. He was so passionately fond of books, and so devoted to reading, that he constantly carried about him some favorite volume which, as a spare moment occurred, he perused with the avidity of an _helluo librorum_. This pleasing anecdote related by Asser[239] is characteristic of his natural perseverance. When he ascended the throne, he lavished abundant favors upon all who were eminent for their literary acquirements; and displayed in their distribution the utmost liberality and discrimination. Asser, who afterwards became his biographer, was during his life the companion and associate of his studies, and it is from his pen we learn that, when an interval occurred inoccupied by his princely duties, Alfred stole into the quietude of his study to seek comfort and instruction from the pages of those choice volumes, which comprised his library. But Alfred was not a mere bookworm, a devourer of knowledge without purpose or without meditation of his own, he thought with a student's soul well and deeply upon what he read, and drew from his books those principles of philanthropy, and those high resolves, which did such honor to the Saxon monarch. He viewed with sorrow the degradation of his country, and the intellectual barrenness of his time; the warmest aspiration of his soul was to diffuse among his people a love for literature and science, to raise them above their Saxon sloth, and lead them to think of loftier matters than war and carnage. To effect this noble aim, the highest to which the talents of a monarch can be applied, he for a length of time devoted his mind to the translation of Latin authors into the vernacular tongue. In his preface to the Pastoral of Gregory which he translated, he laments the destruction of the old monastic libraries by the Danes. "I saw," he writes, "before alle were spoiled and burnt, how the churches throughout Britain were filled with treasures and books,"[240] which must have presented a striking contrast to the illiterate darkness which he tells us afterwards spread over his dominions, for there were then very few _paucissimi_ who could translate a Latin epistle into the Saxon language. When Alfred had completed the translation of Gregory's Pastoral, he sent a copy to each of his bishops accompanied with a golden stylus or pen,[241] thus conveying to them the hint that it was their duty to use it in the service of piety and learning. Encouraged by the favorable impression which this work immediately caused, he spared no pains to follow up the good design, but patiently applied himself to the translation of other valuable books which he rendered into as pleasing and expressive a version as the language of those rude times permitted. Besides these literary labors he also wrote many original volumes, and became a powerful orator, a learned grammarian, an acute philosopher, a profound mathematician, and the prince of Saxon poesy; with these exalted talents he united those of an historian, an architect, and an accomplished musician. A copious list of his productions, the length of which proves the fertility of his pen, will be found in the Biographica Britannica,[242] but names of others not there enumerated may be found in monkish chronicles; of his Manual, which was in existence in the time of William of Malmsbury, not a fragment has been found. The last of his labors was probably an attempt to render the psalms into the common language, and so unfold that portion of the Holy Scriptures to our Saxon ancestors. Alfred, with the assistance of the many learned men whom he had called to his court, restored the monasteries and schools of learning which the Danes had desecrated, and it is said founded the university of Oxford, where he built three halls, in the name of the Holy Trinity; for the doctors of divinity, philosophy, and grammar. The controversy which this subject has given rise to among the learned is too long to enter into here, although the matter is one of great interest to the scholar and to the antiquary. In the year 901, this royal bibliophile, "the victorious prince, the studious provider for widows, orphanes, and poore people, most perfect in Saxon poetrie, most liberall endowed with wisdome, fortitude, justice, and temperance, departed this life;"[243] and right well did he deserve this eulogy, for as an old chronicle says, he was "a goode clerke and rote many bokes, and a boke he made in Englysshe, of adventures of kynges and bataylles that had bene wne in the lande; and other bokes of gestes he them wryte, that were of greate wisdome, and of good learnynge, thrugh whych bokes many a man may him amende, that well them rede, and upon them loke. And thys kynge Allured lyeth at Wynchestre."[244] FOOTNOTES: [238] Flor. Vigorn. sub. anno. 871. Brompton's Chron. in Alferi, p. 814. [239] Asser de Alfredi Gestis., Edit. Camden i. p. 5. William Malmsbury, b. ii. c. iv. [240] Preface to Pastoral. [241] Much controversy has arisen as to the precise meaning of this word. _Hearne_ renders this passage "with certain macussus or marks of gold the purest of his coin," which has led some to suppose gold coinage was known among the Saxons. _William of Malmsbury_ calls it a golden style in which was a maucus of gold. "In Alfred's Preface it is called an Æstel of fifty macuses."--_V. Asser a Wise_, 86 to 175; but the meaning of that word is uncertain. The stylus properly speaking was a small instrument formerly used for writing on waxen tablets, and made of iron or bone, see _Archæologia_, vol. ii. p. 75. But waxen tablets were out of use in Alfred's time. The Æstel or style was most probably an instrument used by the scribes of the monasteries, if it was not actually a pen. I am more strongly disposed to consider it so by the evidence of an ancient MS. illumination of Eadwine, a monk of Canterbury, in Trinity Coll. Camb.; at the end of this MS. the scribe is represented with a _metal pen in his hand_. [242] Vol. i. pp. 54, 55. [243] Stowe's Annals, 4to. 1615, p. 105. [244] Cronycle of Englonde with the Fruyte of Tymes, 4to. 1515. CHAPTER VIII. _Benedict Biscop and his book tours.--Bede.--Ceolfrid.--Wilfrid.--Boniface the Saxon Missionary--His love of books.--Egbert of York.--Alcuin.--Whitby Abbey.--Cædmon.--Classics in the Library of Withby.--Rievall Library.--Coventry.--Worcester.--Evesham.--Thomas of Marleberg, etc._ The venerable Bede enables us to show that in the early Saxon days the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow possessed considerable collections of books. Benedict Biscop, the most enthusiastic bibliomaniac of the age, founded the monastery of Wearmouth in the year 674, in honor of the "Most Holy Prince of the Apostles." His whole soul was in the work, he spared neither pains or expense to obtain artists of well known and reputed talent to decorate the holy edifice; not finding them at home, he journeyed to Gaul in search of them, and returned accompanied by numerous expert and ingenious workmen. Within a year the building was sufficiently advanced to enable the monks to celebrate divine service there. He introduced glass windows and other ornaments into his church, and furnished it with numerous books of all descriptions, _innumerabilem librorum omnis generis_. Benedict was so passionately fond of books that he took five journeys to Rome for the purpose of collecting them. In his third voyage he gathered together a large quantity on divine erudition; some of these he bought, or received them as presents from his friends, _vel amicorum dono largitos retulit_. When he arrived at Vienne on his way home, he collected others which he had commissioned his friends to purchase for him.[245] After the completion of his monastery he undertook his fourth journey to Rome; he obtained from the Pope many privileges for the abbey, and returned in the year 680, bringing with him many more valuable books; he was accompanied by John the Chantor, who introduced into the English churches the Roman method of singing. He was also a great _amator librorum_, and left many choice manuscripts to the monks, which Bede writes "were still preserved in their library." It was about this time that Ecgfrid[246] gave Benedict a portion of land on the other side of the river Wire, at a place called Jarrow; and that enterprising and industrious abbot, in the year 684, built a monastery thereon. No sooner was it completed, than he went a fifth time to Rome to search for volumes to gratify his darling passion. This was the last, but perhaps the most successful of his foreign tours, for he brought back with him a vast quantity of sacred volumes and curious pictures.[247] How deeply is it to be regretted that the relation of the travels which Ceolfrid his successor undertook, and which it is said his own pen inscribed, has been lost to us forever. He probably spoke much of Benedict in the volume and recorded his book pilgrimages. How dearly would the bibliomaniac revel over those early annals of his science, could his eye meet those venerable pages--perhaps describing the choice tomes Benedict met with in his Italian tours, and telling us how, and what, and where he gleaned those fine collections; sweet indeed would have been the perusal of that delectable little volume, full of the book experience of a bibliophile in Saxon days, near twelve hundred years ago! But the ravages of time or the fury of the Danes deprived us of this rare gem, and we are alone dependent on Bede for the incidents connected with the life of this great man; we learn from that venerable author that Benedict was seized with the palsy on his return, and that languishing a few short years, he died in the year 690; but through pain and suffering he often dwelt on the sweet treasures of his library, and his solemn thoughts of death and immortality were intermixed with many a fond bookish recollection. _His most noble and abundant library which he brought from Rome_ he constantly referred to, and gave strict injunctions that the monks should apply the utmost care to the preservation of that rich and costly treasure, in the collection of which so many perils and anxious years were spent.[248] We all know the force of example, and are not surprised that the sweet mania which ruled so potently over the mind of Benedict, spread itself around the crowned head of royalty. Perhaps book collecting was beginning to make "a stir," and the rich and powerful among the Saxons were regarding strange volumes with a curious eye. Certain it is that Egfride, or Ælfride, the proud king of Northumbria,[249] fondly coveted a beautiful copy of the geographer's (_codice mirandi operis_), which Benedict numbered among his treasures; and so eagerly too did he desire its possession, that he gave in exchange a portion of eight hides of land, near the river Fresca, for the volume; and Ceolfrid, Benedict's successor, received it. How useful must Benedict's library have been in ripening the mind that was to cast a halo of immortality around that old monastery, and to generate a renown which was long to survive the grey walls of that costly fane; for whilst we now fruitlessly search for any vestiges of its former being, we often peruse the living pages of Bede the venerable with pleasure and instruction, and we feel refreshed by the breath of piety and devotion which they unfold; yet it must be owned the superstition of Rome will sometimes mar a devout prayer and the simplicity of a Christian thought. But all honor to his manes and to his memory! for how much that is admirable in the human character--how much sweet and virtuous humility was hid in him, in the strict retirement of the cloister. The writings of that humble monk outlive the fame of many a proud ecclesiastic or haughty baron of his day; and well they might, for how homely does his pen record the simple annals of that far distant age. Much have the old monks been blamed for their bad Latin and their humble style; but far from upbraiding, I would admire them for it; for is not the inelegance of diction which their unpretending chronicles display, sufficiently compensated by their charming simplicity. As for myself, I have sometimes read them by the blaze of my cheerful hearth, or among the ruins of some old monastic abbey,[250] till in imagination I beheld the events which they attempt to record, and could almost hear the voice of the "_goode olde monke_" as he relates the deeds of some holy man--in language so natural and idiomatic are they written. But as we were saying, Bede made ample use of Benedict's library; and the many Latin and Greek books, which he refers to in the course of his writings, were doubtless derived from that source.[251] Ceolfrid, the successor of Benedict, "a man of great zeal, of acute wisdom, and bold in action," was a great lover of books, and under his care the libraries of Wearmouth and Jarrow became nearly doubled in extent; of the nature of these additions we are unable to judge, but probably they were not contemptible.[252] Wilfrid, bishop of Northumbria, was a dear and intimate friend of Biscop's, and was the companion of one of his pilgrimages to Rome. In his early youth he gave visible signs of a heart full of religion and piety, and he sought by a steady perusal of the Holy Scriptures, in the little monastery of Lindesfarne, to garnish his mind with that divine lore with which he shone so brightly in the Saxon church. It was at the court of Ercenbyrht, king of Kent, that he met with Benedict Biscop; and the sympathy which their mutual learning engendered gave rise to a warm and devoted friendship between them. Both inspired with an ardent desire to visit the apostolic see, they set out together for Rome;[253] and it was probably by the illustrious example of his fellow student and companion, that Wilfrid imbibed that book-loving passion which he afterwards displayed on more than one occasion. On his return from Rome, Alfred of Northumbria bestowed upon him the monastery of Rhypum[254] in the year 661, and endowed it with certain lands. Peter of Blois records, in his life of Wilfrid, that this "man of God" gave the monastery a copy of the gospels, a library, and many books of the Old and New Testament, with certain tablets made with marvellous ingenuity, and ornamented with gold and precious stones.[255] Wilfrid did not long remain in the monastery of Ripon, but advanced to higher honors, and took a more active part in the ecclesiastical affairs of the time.[256] But I am not about to pursue his history, or to attempt to show how his hot and imperious temper, or the pride and avarice of his disposition, wrought many grievous animosities in the Saxon church; or how by his prelatical ambition he deservedly lost the friendship of his King and his ecclesiastical honors.[257] About this time, and contemporary with Bede, we must not omit one who appears as a bright star in the early Christian church. Boniface,[258] the Saxon missionary, was remarked by his parents to manifest at an early age signs of that talent which in after years achieved so much, and advanced so materially the interests of piety and the cause of civilization. When scarcely four years old his infant mind seemed prone to study, which growing upon him as he increased in years, his parent placed him in the monastery of Exeter. His stay there was not of long duration, for he shortly after removed to a monastery in Hampshire under the care of Wybert. In seclusion and quietude he there studied with indefatigable ardor, and fortified his mind with that pious enthusiasm and profound erudition, which enabled him in a far distant country to render such service to the church. He was made a teacher, and when arrived at the necessary age he was ordained priest. In the year 710, a dispute having occurred among the western church of the Saxons, he was appointed to undertake a mission to the archbishop of Canterbury on the subject. Pleased perhaps with the variety and bustle of travel, and inspired with a holy ambition, he determined to attempt the conversion of the German people, who, although somewhat acquainted with the gospel truths, had nevertheless deviated materially from the true faith, and returned again to their idolatry and paganism. Heedless of the danger of the expedition, but looking forward only to the consummation of his fond design, he started on his missionary enterprise, accompanied by one or two of his monkish brethren. He arrived at Friesland in the year 716, and proceeded onwards to Utrecht; but disappointments and failures awaited him. The revolt of the Frieslanders and the persecution then raging there against the Christians, dissipated his hopes of usefulness; and with a heavy heart, no doubt, Boniface retraced his steps, and re-embarked for his English home. Yet hope had not deserted him--his philanthropic resolutions were only delayed for a time; for no sooner had the dark clouds of persecution passed away than his adventurous spirit burst forth afresh, and shone with additional lustre and higher aspirations. After an interval of two years we find him again starting on another Christian mission. On reaching France he proceeded immediately to Rome, and procured admission to the Pope, who, ever anxious for the promulgation of the faith and for the spiritual dominion of the Roman church, highly approved of the designs of Boniface, and gave him letters authorizing his mission among the Thuringians; invested with these powers and with the pontifical blessing, he took his departure from the holy city, well stored with the necessary ornaments and utensils for the performance of the ecclesiastical rites, besides a number of books to instruct the heathens and to solace his mind amidst the cares and anxieties of his travels. After some few years the fruits of his labor became manifest, and in 723 he had baptized vast multitudes in the true faith. His success was perhaps unparalleled in the early annals of the church, and remind us of the more recent wonders wrought by the Jesuit missionaries in India.[259] Elated with these happy results, far greater than even his sanguine mind had anticipated, he sent a messenger to the Pope to acquaint his holiness of these vast acquisitions to his flock, and soon after he went himself to Rome to receive the congratulations and thanks of the Pontiff; he was then made bishop, and entrusted with the ecclesiastical direction of the new church. After his return, he spent many years in making fresh converts and maintaining the discipline of the faithful. But all these labors and these anxieties were terminated by a cruel and unnatural death; on one of his expeditions he was attacked by a body of pagans, who slew him and nearly the whole of his companions, but it is not here that a Christian must look for his reward--he must rest his hopes on the benevolence and mercy of his God in a distant and far better world. He who would wish to trace more fully these events, and so catch a glimpse of the various incidents which touch upon the current of his life, must not keep the monk constantly before his mind, he must sometimes forget him in that capacity and regard him as a _student_, and that too in the highest acceptation of the term. His youthful studies, which I have said before were pursued with unconquerable energy, embraced grammar, poetry, rhetoric, history, and the exposition of the Holy Scriptures; the Bible, indeed, he read unceasingly, and drew from it much of the vital truth with which it is inspired; but he perhaps too much tainted it with traditional interpretation and patristical logic. A student's life is always interesting; like a rippling stream, its unobtrusive gentle course is ever pleasing to watch, and the book-worms seems to find in it the counterpart of his own existence. Who can read the life and letters of the eloquent Cicero, or the benevolent Pliny, without the deepest interest; or mark their anxious solicitude after books, without sincere delight. Those elegant epistles reflect the image of their private studies, and so to behold Boniface in a student's garb, to behold his love of books and passion for learning, we must alike have recourse to his letters. The epistolary correspondence of the middle ages is a mirror of those times, far more faithful as regards their social condition than the old chronicles and histories designed for posterity; written in the reciprocity of friendly civilities, they contain the outpourings of the heart, and enable us to peep into the secret thoughts and motives of the writer; "for out of the fulness of the hearth the mouth speaketh." Turning over the letters of Boniface, we cannot but be forcibly struck with his great knowledge of Scripture; his mind seems to have been quite a concordance in itself, and we meet with epistles almost solely framed of quotations from the sacred books, in substantiation of some principle, or as grounds for some argument advanced. These are pleasurable instances, and convey a gentle hint that the greater plenitude of the Bible has not, in all cases, emulated us to study it with equal energy; there are few who would now surpass the Saxon bishop in biblical reading. Most students have felt, at some period or other, a thirst after knowledge without the means of assuaging it--have felt a craving after books when their pecuniary circumstances would not admit of their acquisition, such will sympathize with Boniface, the student in the wilds of Germany, who, far from monastic libraries, sorely laments in some of his letters this great deprivation, and entreats his friends, sometimes in most piteous terms, to send him books. In writing to Daniel, Bishop of Winchester, he asks for copies, and begs him to send the book of the six prophets, clearly and distinctly transcribed, and in large letters because his sight he says was growing weak; and because the book of the prophets was much wanted in Germany, and could not be obtained except written so obscurely, and the letters so confusedly joined together, as to be scarcely readable _ac connexas litteras discere non possum_.[260] To "Majestro Lul" he writes for the productions of bishop Aldhelm, and other works of prose, poetry, and rhyme, to console him in his peregrinations _ad consolationem peregrinationis meæ_.[261] With Abbess Eadburge he frequently corresponded, and received from her many choice and valuable volumes, transcribed by her nuns and sometimes by her own hands; at one period he writes in glowing terms and with a grateful pen for the books thus sent him, and at another time he sends for a copy of the Gospels. "Execute," says he, "a glittering lamp for our hands, and so illuminate the hearts of the Gentiles to a study of the Gospels and to the glory of Christ; and intercede, I pray thee, with your pious prayers for these pagans who are committed by the apostles to our care, that by the mercy of the Saviour of the world they may be delivered from their idolatrous practices, and united to the congregation of mother church, to the honor of the Catholic faith, and to the praise and glory of His name, who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."[262] All this no doubt the good abbess faithfully fulfilled; and stimulated by his friendship and these encouraging epistles, she set all the pens in her monastery industriously to work, and so gratified the Saxon missionary with those book treasures, which his soul so ardently loved; certain it is, that we frequently find him thanking her for books, and with famishing eagerness craving for more; one of his letters,[263] full of gratitude, he accompanies with a present of a silver graphium, or writing instrument, and soon after we find him thus addressing her: "To the most beloved sister, Abbess Eadburge, and all now joined to her house and under her spiritual care. Boniface, the meanest servant of God, wisheth eternal health in Christ." "My dearest sister, may your assistance be abundantly rewarded hereafter in the mansions of the angels and saints above, for the kind presents of books which you have transmitted to me. Germany rejoices in their spiritual light and consolation, because they have spread lustre into, the dark hearts of the German people; for except we have a lamp to guide our feet, we may, in the words of the Lord, fall into the snares of death. Moreover, through thy gifts I earnestly hope to be more diligent, so that my country may be honored, my sins forgiven, and myself protected from the perils of the sea and the violence of the tempest; and that He who dwells on high may lightly regard my transgression, and give utterance to the words of my mouth, that the Gospel may have free course, and be glorified among men to the honor of Christ."[264] Writing to Egbert, Archbishop of York, of whose bibliomaniacal character and fine library we have yet to speak, Boniface thanks that illustrious collector for the choice volumes he had kindly sent him, and further entreats Egbert to procure for him transcripts of the smaller works _opusculi_ and other tracts of Bede, "who, I hear," he writes, "has, by the divine grace of the Holy Spirit, been permitted to spread such lustre over your country."[265] These, that kind and benevolent prelate sent to him with other books, and received a letter full of gratitude in return, but with all the boldness of a hungry student still asking for more! especially for Bede's Commentary on the Parables of Solomon.[266] He sents to Archbishop Nothelm for a copy of the Questions of St. Augustine to Pope Gregory, with the answers of the pope, which he says he could not obtain from Rome; and in writing to Cuthbert, also Archbishop of Canterbury, imploring the aid of his earnest prayers, he does not forget to ask for books, but hopes that he may be speedily comforted with the works of Bede, of whose writings he was especially fond, and was constantly sending to his friends for transcripts of them. In a letter to Huetberth he writes for the "most sagacious dissertations of the monk Bede,"[267] and to the Abbot Dudde he sends a begging message for the Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Romans and to the Corinthians[268] by the same. In a letter to Lulla, Bishop of Coena, he deplores the want of books on the phenomena and works of nature, which, he says, were _omnio incognitum_ there, and asks for a book on Cosmography;[269] and on another occasion Lulla supplied Boniface with many portions of the Holy Scriptures, and Commentaries upon them.[270] Many more of his epistles might be quoted to illustrate the Saxon missionary as an "_amator librorum_," and to display his profound erudition. In one of his letters we find him referring to nearly all the celebrated authors of the church, and so aptly, that we conclude he must have had their works on his desk, and was deeply read in patristical theology. Boniface has been fiercely denounced for his strong Roman principles, and for his firm adherence to the interests of the pope.[271] Of his theological errors, or his faults as a church disciplinarian, I have nothing here to do, but leave that delicate question to the ecclesiastical historian, having vindicated his character from the charge of ignorance, and displayed some pleasing traits which he evinced as a student and book-collector. It only remains to be mentioned, that many of the membranous treasures, which Boniface had so eagerly searched for and collected from all parts, were nearly lost forever. The pagans, who murdered Boniface and his fellow-monks, on entering their tents, discovered little to gratify their avarice, save a few relics and a number of books, which, with a barbarism corresponding with their ignorance, they threw into the river as useless; but fortunately, some of the monks, who had escaped from their hands, observing the transaction, recovered them and carried them away in safety with the remains of the martyred missionary, who was afterwards canonized Saint Boniface. The must remarkable book collector contemporary with Boniface, was Egbert of York, between whom, as we have seen, a bookish correspondence was maintained. This illustrious prelate was brother to King Egbert, of Northumbria, and received his education under Bishop Eata, at Hexham, about the year 686. He afterwards went on a visit to the Apostolic See, and on his return was made Archbishop of York.[272] He probably collected at Rome many of the fine volumes which comprised his library, and which was so celebrated in those old Saxon days; and which will be ever renowned in the annals of ancient bibliomania. The immortal Alcuin sang the praises of this library in a tedious lay; and what glorious tomes of antiquity he there enumerates! But stay, my pen should tarry whilst I introduce that worthy bibliomaniac to my reader, and relate some necessary anecdotes and facts connected with his early life and times. Alcuin was born in England, and probably in the immediate vicinity of York; he was descended from affluent and noble parents; but history is especially barren on this subject, and we have no information to instruct us respecting the antiquity of his Saxon ancestry. But if obscurity hangs around his birth, so soon as he steps into the paths of learning and ranks with the students of his day, we are no longer in doubt or perplexity; but are able from that period to his death to trace the occurrences of his life with all the ease that a searcher of monkish history can expect. He had the good fortune to receive his education from Egbert, and under his care he soon became initiated into the mysteries of grammar, rhetoric, and jurisprudence; which were relieved by the more fascinating study of poetry, physics, and astronomy.[273] So much was he esteemed by his master the archbishop, that he entrusted him with a mission to Rome, to receive from the hands of the Pope his pall; on his return he called at Parma, where he had an interview with Charles the Great; who was so captivated with his eloquence and erudition that he eagerly entreated him to remain, and to aid in diffusing throughout his kingdom the spirit of that knowledge which he had so successfully acquired in the Saxon monasteries. But Alcuin was equally anxious for the advancement of literature in his own country; and being then on a mission connected with his church, he could do no more than hold out a promise of consulting his superiors, to whose decisions he considered himself bound to submit. During the dominion of Charles, the ecclesiastical as well as the political institutions of France, were severely agitated by heresy and war: the two great questions of the age--the Worship of Images and the Nature of Christ--divided and perplexed the members of a church which had hitherto been permitted to slumber in peace and quietude. The most prominent of the heretics was Felix, Bishop of Urgel, who maintained in a letter to Elipand, Bishop of Toledo, that Christ was only the Son of God by adoption. It was about the time of the convocation of the Council of Frankfort, assembled to consider this point, that Alcuin returned to France at the earnest solicitation of Charlemagne. When the business of the council was terminated, and peace was somewhat restored, Alcuin began to think of returning to his native country; but England at that time was a land of bloodshed and tribulation, in the midst of which it would be vain to hope for retirement or the blessings of study; after some deliberation, therefore, Alcuin resolved to remain in France, where there was at least a wide field for exertion and usefulness. He communicates his intention in a letter to Offa, King of Mercia. "I was prepared," says he, "to come to you with the presents of King Charles, and to return to my country; but it seemed more advisable to me for the peace of my nation to remain abroad; not knowing what I could have done among those persons with whom no man can be secure or able to proceed in any laudable pursuit. See every holy place laid desolate by pagans, the altars polluted by perjury, the monasteries dishonored by adultery, the earth itself stained with the blood of rulers and of princes."[274] After the elapse of many years spent in the brilliant court of Charles, during which time it surpassed in literary greatness any epoch that preceded it, he was permitted to seek retirement within the walls of the abbey of St. Martin's at Tours. But in escaping from the bustle and intrigue of public life he did not allow his days to pass away in an inglorious obscurity; but sought to complete his earthly career by inspiring the rising generation with an honorable and christian ambition. His cloistered solitude, far from weakening, seems to have augmented the fertility of his genius, for it was in the quiet seclusion of this monastery that Alcuin composed the principal portion of his works; nor are these writings an accumulation of monastic trash, but the fruits of many a solitary hour spent in studious meditation. His method is perhaps fantastic and unnatural; but his style is lively, and often elegant. His numerous quotations and references give weight and interest to his writings, and clearly proves what a fine old library was at his command, and how well he knew the use of it. But for the elucidation of his character as a student, or a bibliomaniac, we naturally turn to the huge mass of his epistles which have been preserved; and in them we find a constant reference to books which shew his intimacy with the classics as well as the patristical lore of the church. In biblical literature he doubtless possessed many a choice and venerable tome; for an indefatigable scripture reader was that great man. In a curious little work of his called "_Interrogationes et Responsiones sui Liber Questionorum in Genesim_," we find an illustration of his usefulness in spreading the knowledge he had gained in this department of learning. It was written expressly for his pupil and dearest brother (_carissime frater_), Sigulf, as we learn from a letter which accompanies it. He tells him that he had composed it "that he might always have near him the means of refreshing his memory when the more ponderous volumes of the sacred Scriptures were not at his immediate call."[275] Perhaps of all his works this is the least deserving of our praise; the good old monk was apt to be prolix, if not tedious, when he found the _stylus_ in his hand and a clean skin of parchment spread invitingly before him. But as this work was intended as a manual to be consulted at any time, he was compelled to curb this propensity, and to reduce his explications to a few concise sentences. Writing under this restraint, we find little bearing the stamp of originality, not because he had nothing original to say, but because he had not space to write it in; I think it necessary to give this explanation, as some critics upon the learning of that remote age select these small and ill-digested writings as fair specimens of the literary capacity of the time, without considering why they were written or compiled at all. But as a scribe how shall we sufficiently praise that great man when we take into consideration the fine Bible which he executed for Charlemagne, and which is now fortunately preserved in the British Museum. It is a superb copy of St. Jerome's Latin version, freed from the inaccuracies of the scribes; he commenced it about the year 778, and did not complete it till the year 800, a circumstance which indicates the great care he bestowed upon it. When finished he sent it to Rome by his friend and disciple, Nathaniel, who presented it to Charlemagne on the day of his coronation: it was preserved by that illustrious monarch to the last day of his life. Alcuin makes frequent mention of this work being in progress, and speaks of the labor he was bestowing upon it.[276] We, who blame the monks for the scarcity of the Bible among them, fail to take into consideration the immense labor attending the transcriptions of so great a volume; plodding and patience were necessary to complete it. The history of this biblical gem is fraught with interest, and well worth relating. It is supposed to have been given to the monastery of Prum in Lorraine by Lothaire, the grandson of Charlemagne, who became a monk of that monastery. In the year 1576 this religious house was dissolved, but the monks preserved the manuscript, and carried it into Switzerland to the abbey of Grandis Vallis, near Basle, where it reposed till the year 1793, when, on the occupation of the episcopal territory of Basle by the French, all the property of the abbey was confiscated and sold, and the MS. under consideration came into the possession of M. Bennot, from whom, in 1822, it was purchased by M. Speyr Passavant, who brought it into general notice, and offered it for sale to the French Government at the price of 60,000 francs; this they declined, and its proprietor struck of nearly 20,000 francs from the amount; still the sum was deemed exorbitant, and with all their bibliomanical enthusiasm, the conservers of the Royal Library allowed the treasure to escape. M. Passavant subsequently brought it to England, where it was submitted to the Duke of Sussex, still without success. He also applied to the trustees of the British Museum, and Sir F. Madden informs us that "much correspondence took place; at first he asked 12,000_l._ for it; then 8,000_l._, and at last 6,500_l._, which he declared an _immense sacrifice!!_ At length, finding he could not part with his MS. on terms so absurd, he resolved to sell it if possible by auction; and accordingly, on the 27th of April, 1836, the Bible was knocked down by Mr. Evans for the sum of 1,500_l._, but for the proprietor himself, as there was not one real bidding for it. This result having brought M. Speyr Passavant in some measure to his senses, overtures were made to him on the part of the trustees to the British Museum, and the manuscript finally became the property of the nation, for the comparatively small sum of 750_l._" There can be no doubt as to the authenticity of this precious volume, the verses of Alcuin's, found in the manuscript, sufficiently prove it, for he alone could write-- "Is Carolus qui jam Scribe jussit eum." . . . . . . . "Hæc Dator Æternus cunctorum Christe bonorum, Munera de donis accipe sancta tuis, Quæ Pater Albinus devoto pectore supplex Nominus ad laudem obtulit ecce tui." Other proofs are not wanting of Alcuin's industry as a scribe, or his enthusiasm as an _amator librorum_. Mark the rapture with which he describes the library of York Cathedral, collected by Egbert: "Illic invenies veterum vestigia Patrum, Quidquid habet pro se Latio Romanus in orbe, Græcia vel quidquid transmisit Clara Latinis. Hebraicus vel quod populus bibet imbre superno Africa lucifluo vel quidquid lumine sparsit. Quod Pater Hieronymus quod sensit Hilarius, atque Ambrosius Præsul simul Augustinus, et ipse Sanctus Athanasius, quod Orosius, edit avitus: Quidquid Gregorius summus docet, et Leo Papa; Basilius quidquid, Fulgentius atque coruscant Cassiodorus item, Chrysostomus atque Johannes: Quidquid et Athelmus docuit, quid Beda Magister, Quæ Victorinus scripsêre, Boetius; atque Historici veteres, Pompeius, Plinius, ipse Acer Aristoteles, Rhetor quoque Tullius ingens; Quidquoque Sedulius, vel quid canit ipse Invencus, Alcuinus, et Clemens, Prosper, Paulinus, Arator. Quid Fortunatus, vel quid Lactantius edunt; Quæ Maro Virgilius, Statius, Lucanus, et auctor Artis Grammaticæ, vel quid scripsêre magistri; Quid Probus atque Focas, Donatus, Priscian usve, Sevius, Euticius, Pompeius, Commenianus, Invenies alios perplures, lector, ibidem Egregios studiis, arte et sermone magistros Plurima qui claro scripsêre volumina sensu: Nomina sed quorum præsenti in carmine scribi Longius est visum, quam plectri postulet usus."[277] Often did Alcuin think of these goodly times with a longing heart, and wish that he could revel among them whilst in France. How deeply would he have regretted, how many tears would he have shed over the sad destruction of that fine library, had he have known it; but his bones had mingled with the dust when the Danes dispersed those rare gems of ancient lore. If the reader should doubt the ardor of Alcuin as a book-lover, let him read the following letter, addressed to Charlemagne, which none but a bibliomaniac could pen. "I, your Flaccus, according to your admonitions and good-will, administer to some in the house of St. Martin, the sweets of the Holy Scriptures, _Sanctarum mella Scripturarum_: others I inebriate with the study of ancient wisdom; and others I fill with the fruits of grammatical lore. Many I seek to instruct in the order of the stars which illuminate the glorious vault of heaven; so that they may be made ornaments to the holy church of God and the court of your imperial majesty; that the goodness of God and your kindness may not be altogether unproductive of good. But in doing this I discover the want of much, especially those exquisite books of scholastic learning, which I possessed in my own country, through the industry of my good and most devout master (Egbert). I therefore intreat your Excellence to permit me to send into Britain some of our youths to procure those books which we so much desire, and thus transplant into France the flowers of Britain, that they may fructify and perfume, not only the garden at York, but also the Paradise of Tours; and that we may say, in the words of the song, '_Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruit_;' and to the young, '_Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink, abundantly, O beloved_;' or exhort, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, '_every one that thirsteth to come to the waters, and ye that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat: yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price_.' "Your Majesty is not ignorant how earnestly we are exhorted throughout the Holy Scriptures to search after wisdom; nothing so tends to the attainment of a happy life; nothing more delightful or more powerful in resisting vice; nothing more honorable to an exalted dignity; and, according to philosophy, nothing more needful to a just government of a people. Thus Solomon exclaims, '_Wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it_.' It exalteth the humble with sublime honors. '_By wisdom kings reign and princes decree justice: by me princes rule; and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. Blessed are they that keep my ways, and blessed is the man that heareth me._' Continue, then, my Lord King, to exhort the young in the palaces of your highness to earnest pursuit in acquiring wisdom; that they may be honored in their old age, and ultimately enter into a blessed immortality. I shall truly, according to my ability, continue to sow in those parts the seeds of wisdom among your servants; remembering the command, '_In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand._' In my youth I sowed the seeds of learning in the prosperous seminaries of Britain; and now, in my old age, I am doing so in France without ceasing, praying that the grace of God may bless them in both countries."[278] Such was the enthusiasm, such the spirit of bibliomania, which actuated the monks of those _bookless_ days; and which was fostered with such zealous care by Alcuin, in the cloisters of St. Martin of Tours. He appropriated one of the apartments of the monastery for the transcription of books, and called it the _museum_, in which constantly were employed a numerous body of industrious scribes: he presided over them himself, and continually exhorted them to diligence and care; to guard against the inadvertencies of unskilful copyists, he wrote a small work on orthography. We cannot estimate the merits of this essay, for only a portion of it has been preserved; but in the fragment printed among his works, we can see much that might have been useful to the scribes, and can believe that it must have tended materially to preserve the purity of ancient texts. It consists of a catalogue of words closely resembling each other, and consequently requiring the utmost care in transcribing.[279] In these pleasing labors Alcuin was assisted by many of the most learned men of the time, and especially by Arno, Archbishop of Salzburgh, in writing to whom Alcuin exclaims, "O that I could suddenly translate my _Abacus_, and with my own hands quickly embrace your fraternity with that warmth which cannot be compressed in books. Nevertheless, because I cannot conveniently come, I send more frequently my unpolished letters (_rusticitatis meæ litteras_) to thee, that they may speak for me instead of the words of my mouth." This Arno, to whom he thus affectionately writes, was no despicable scholar; he was a true lover of literature, and proved himself something of an _amator librorum_, by causing to be transcribed or bought for his use, 150 volumes,[280] but about this period the bookloving mania spread far and wide--the Emperor himself was touched with the enthusiasm; for, besides his choice private collections,[281] he collected together the ponderous writings of the holy fathers, amounting to upwards of 200 volumes, bound in a most sumptuous manner, and commanded them to be deposited in a public temple and arranged in proper order, so that those who could not purchase such treasures might be enabled to feast on the lore of the ancients. Thus did bibliomania flourish in the days of old. But I must not be tempted to remain longer in France, though the names of many choice old book collectors would entice me to do so. When I left England, to follow the steps of Alcuin, I was speaking of York, which puts me in mind of the monastery of Whitby,[282] in the same shire, on the banks of the river Eske. It was founded by Hilda, the virgin daughter of Hereric, nephew to King Edwin, about the year 680, who was its first abbess. Having put her monastery in regular order, Hilda set an illustrious example of piety and virtue, and particularly directed all under her care to a constant reading of the holy Scriptures. After a long life of usefulness and zeal she died deeply lamented by the Saxon Church,[283] an event which many powerful miracles commemorated. In the old times of the Saxons the monastery of Whitby was renowned for its learning; and many of the celebrated ecclesiastics of the day received their instruction within its walls. The most interesting literary anecdote connected with the good lady Hilda's abbacy, is the kind reception she gave to the Saxon poet Cædmon, whose paraphrase of the Book of Genesis has rendered his name immortal. He was wont to make "pious and religious verses, so that whatever was interpreted to him out of Scripture, he soon after put the same into poetical expression of much sweetness and humility in English, which was his native language. By his verses the minds of many were often excited to despise the world and to aspire to heaven. Others after him attempted in the English nation to compose religious poems, but none could ever compare with him, _for he did not learn the art of poetry from man but from God_."[284] He was indeed, as the venerable Bede says, a poet of nature's own teaching: originally a rustic herdsman, the sublime gift was bestowed upon him by inspiration, or as it is recorded, in a dream. As he slept an unknown being appeared, and commanded him to sing. Cædmon hesitated to make the attempt, but the apparition retorted, "Nevertheless, thou shalt sing--sing the origin of things." Astonished and perplexed, our poet found himself instantaneously in possession of the pleasing art; and, when he awoke, his vision and the words of his song were so impressed upon his memory, that he easily repeated them to his wondering companions.[285] He hastened at day-break to relate these marvels and to display his new found talents to the monks of Whitby, by whom he was joyfully received, and as they unfolded the divine mysteries, "The good man," says Bede, "listened like a clean animal ruminating; and his song and his verse were so winsome to hear, that his teachers wrote them down, and learned from his mouth."[286] Some contend that an ancient manuscript in the British Museum is the original of this celebrated paraphrase.[287] It is just one of those choice relics which a bibliomaniac loves to handle, but scarcely perhaps bears evidence of antiquity so remote. It is described in the catalogue as, "The substance of the Book of Genesis, with the Acts of Moses and Joshua, with brief notes and annotations, part in Latin and part in Saxon by Bede and others." The notes, if by Bede, would tend to favor the opinion that it is the original manuscript, or, at any rate, coeval with the Saxon bard. The volume, as a specimen of calligraphic art, reflects honor upon the age, and is right worthy of Lady Hilda's monastery. There are 312[288] fine velum pages in this venerable and precious volume, nearly every one of which dazzles with the talent of the skilful illuminator. The initial letters are formed, with singular taste and ingenuity, of birds, beasts, and flowers. To give an idea of the nature of these pictorial embellishments--which display more splendor of coloring than accuracy of design--I may describe the singular illumination adorning the sixth page, which represents the birth of Eve. Adam is asleep, reclining on the grass, which is depicted as so many inverted cones; and, if we may judge from the appearance of our venerable forefather, he could not have enjoyed a very comfortable repose on that memorable occasion, and the grass which grew in the Garden of Paradise must have been of a very stubborn nature when compared with the earth's verdure of the present day; for the weight of Adam alters not the position of the tender herb, which supports his huge body on their extreme summits. As he is lying on the left side Eve is ascending from a circular aperture in his right; nor would the original, if she bore any resemblance to her monkish portraiture, excite the envy or the admiration of the present age, or bear comparison with her fair posterity. Her physiognomy is anything but fascinating, and her figure is a repulsive monstrosity, _adorned_ with a profusion of luxurious hair of a brilliant blue! It is foreign to our subject to enter into any analysis of the literary beauties of this poem; let it suffice that Cædmon, the old Saxon herdsman, has been compared to our immortal Milton; and their names have been coupled together when speaking of a poet's genius.[289] But on other grounds Cædmon claims a full measure of our praise. Not only was he the "Father of Saxon poetry," but to him also belongs the inestimable honor of being the first who attempted to render into the vulgar tongue the beauties and mysteries of the Holy Scriptures; he unsealed what had hitherto been a sealed book; his paraphrase is the first translation of the holy writ on record. So let it not be forgotten that to this Milton of old our Saxon ancestors were indebted for this invaluable treasure. We are unable to trace distinctly the formation of the monastic library of Whitby. But of the time of Richard, elected abbot in the year 1148, a good monk, and formerly prior of Peterborough, we have a catalogue of their books preserved. I would refer the reader to that curious list,[290] and ask him if it does not manifest by its contents the existence of a more refined taste in the cloisters than he gave the old monks credit for. It is true, the legends of saints abound in it; but then look at the choice tomes of a classic age, whose names grace that humble catalogue, and remember that the studies of the Whitby monks were divided between the miraculous lives of holy men, and the more pleasing pages of the "Pagan Homer," the eloquence of Tully, and the wit of Juvenal, of whose subject they seemed to have been fond; for they read also the satires of Persius. I extract the names of some of the authors contained in this monkish library: Ambrose. Hugo. Theodolus. Aratores. Bernard. Avianus. Gratian. Odo. Gilda. Maximianus. Eusebius. Plato. Homer. Cicero. Juvenal. Persius. Statius. Sedulus. Prosper. Prudentius. Boethius. Donatus. Rabanus Maurus. Origen. Priscian. Gregory Nazianzen. Josephus. Bede. Gildas. Isidore. Ruffinus. Guido on Music. Diadema Monachorum. Come, the monks evidently read something besides their _Credo_, and transcribed something better than "monastic trash." A little taste for literature and learning we must allow they enjoyed, when they formed their library of such volumes as the above. I candidly admit, that when I commenced these researches I had no expectations of finding a collection of a hundred volumes, embracing so many choice works of old Greece and Rome. It is pleasant, however, to trace these workings of bibliomania in the monasteries; and it is a surprise quite agreeable and delicious in itself to meet with instances like the present. At a latter period the monastery of Rievall, in Yorkshire, possessed an excellent library of 200 volumes. This we know by a catalogue of them, compiled by one of the monks about the middle of the fourteenth century, and now preserved in the library of Jesus College, Cambridge.[291] A transcript of this manuscript was made by Mr. Halliwell, and published in his "Reliqua Antiqua,"[292] from which it may be seen that the Rievall monastery contained at that time many choice and valuable works. The numerous writings of Sts. Augustine, Bernard, Anselm, Cyprian, Origin, Haimo, Gregory, Ambrose, Isidore, Chrysostom, Bede, Aldhelm, Gregory Nazienzen, Ailred, Josephus, Rabanus Maurus, Peter Lombard, Orosius, Boethius, Justin, Seneca, with histories of the church of Britain, of Jerusalem, of King Henry, and many others equally interesting and costly, prove how industriously they used their pens, and how much they appreciated literature and learning. But in the fourteenth century the inhabitants of the monasteries were very industrious in transcribing books at a period coeval with the compilation of the Rievall catalogue, a monk of Coventry church was plying his pen with unceasing energy; John de Bruges wrote with his own hand thirty-two volumes for the library of the benedictine priory of St. Mary. The reader will see that there is little among them worthy of much observation. The MS. begins, "These are the books which John of Bruges, monk of Coventry, wrote for the Coventry church. Any who shall take them away from the church without the consent of the convent, let him be anathema."[293] In primis, ymnarium in grossa littera. Halmo upon Isaiah. A Missal for the Infirmary. A Missal. Duo missalia domini Prioris Rogeris, scilicet collectas cum secretis et postcommunione. A Benedictional for the use of the same prior. Another Benedictional for the use of the convent. Librum cartarum. Martyrologium, Rule of St. Benedict and Pastoral, in one volume. Liber cartarum. A Graduale, with a Tropario, and a Processional. Psaltar for Prior Roger. Palladium de Agricultura. Librum experimentorum, in quo ligatur compotus Helprici. A book containing Compotus manualis et Merlin, etc. An Ordinal for the Choir. Tables for the Martyrology. Kalendarium mortuorum. Ditto. Table of Responses. Capitular. Capitular for Prior Roger. A Reading Book. A book of Decretals. Psalter for the monks in the infirmary. Generationes Veteris et Novi Testamenti; ante scholasticam hystoriam et ante Psalterium domini Anselmi. Pater noster. An Ordinal. Tables for Peter Lombard's Sentences. Tables for the Psalter. Book of the Statutes of the Church. Verses on the praise of the blessed Mary. The priory of St. Mary's was founded by Leofricke, the celebrated Earl of Mercia and his good Lady Godiva, in the year 1042. "Hollingshead says that this Earl Leofricke was a man of great honor, wise, and discreet in all his doings. His high wisdome and policie stood the realme in great steed whilst he lived.... He had a noble ladie to his wife named Gudwina, at whose earnest sute he made the citie of Couentrie free of all manner of toll except horsses, and to haue that toll laid downe also, his foresaid wife rode naked through the middest of the towne without other couerture, saue onlie her haire. Moreouer partlie moued by his owne deuotion and partlie by the persuasion of his wife, he builded or beneficiallie augmented and repared manie abbeies and churches as the saide abbie or priorie at Couentrie--the abbeies of Wenlocke, Worcester, Stone, Evesham, and Leot, besides Hereford." The church of Worcester, which the good Earl had thus "beneficiallie augmented," the Saxon King Offa had endowed with princely munificence before him. In the year 780, during the time of Abbot Tilhere, or Gilhere, Offa gave to the church Croppethorne, Netherton, Elmlege Cuddeshe, Cherton, and other lands, besides a "large Bible with two clasps, made of the purest gold."[294] In the tenth century the library of Exeter Church was sufficiently extensive to require the preserving care of an amanuensis; for according to Dr. Thomas, Bishop Oswald granted in the year 985 three hides of land at Bredicot, one yardland at Ginenofra, and seven acres of meadow at Tiberton, to Godinge a monk, on condition of his fulfilling the duties of a librarian to the see, and transcribing the registers and writings of the church. It is said that the scribe Godinge wrote many choice books for the library.[295] I do not find any remarkable book donation, save now and then a volume or two, in the annals of Worcester Church; nor have I been able to discover any old parchment catalogue to tell of the number or rarity of their books; for although probably most monasteries had one compiled, being enjoined to do so by the regulations of their order, they have long ago been destroyed; for when we know that fine old manuscripts were used by the bookbinders after the Reformation, we can easily imagine how little value would be placed on a mere catalogue of names. But to return again to Godiva, that illustrious lady gave the monks, after the death of her lord, many landed possessions, and bestowed upon them the blessings of a library.[296] Thomas Cobham, who was consecrated Bishop of Worcester in the year 1317, was a great "_amator librorum_," and spent much time and money in collecting books. He was the first who projected the establishment of a public library at Oxford, which he designed to form over the old Congregation House in the churchyard of St. Mary's, but dying soon after in the year 1327, the project was forgotten till about forty years after, when I suppose the example of the great bibliomaniac Richard de Bury drew attention to the matter; for his book treasures were then "deposited there, and the scholars permitted to consult them on certain conditions."[297] Bishop Carpenter built a library for the use of the monastery of Exeter Church, in the year 1461, over the charnal house; and endowed it with £10 per annum as a salary for an amanuensis.[298] But the books deposited there were grievously destroyed during the civil wars; for on the twenty-fourth of September, 1642, when the army under the Earl of Essex came to Worcester, they set about "destroying the organ, breaking in pieces divers beautiful windows, wherein the foundation of the church was lively historified with painted glass;" they also "rifled the library, with the records and evidences of the church, tore in pieces the Bibles and service books pertaining to the quire."[299] Sad desecration of ancient literature! But the reader of history will sigh over many such examples. The registers of Evesham Monastery, near Worcester, speak of several monkish bibliophiles, and the bookish anecdotes relating to them are sufficiently interesting to demand some attention here. Ailward, who was abbot in the year 1014, gave the convent many relics and ornaments, and what was still better a quantity of books.[300] He was afterwards promoted to the see of London, over which he presided many years; but age and infirmity growing upon him, he was anxious again to retire to Evesham, but the monks from some cause or other were unwilling to receive him back; at this he took offence, and seeking in the monastery of Ramsey the quietude denied him there, he demanded back all the books he had given them.[301] His successor Mannius was celebrated for his skill in the fine arts, and was an exquisite worker in metals, besides an ingenious scribe and illuminator. He wrote and illuminated with his own hand, for the use of his monastery, a missal and a large Psalter.[302] Walter, who was abbot in the year 1077, gave also many books to the library,[303] and among the catalogue of sumptuous treasures with which Reginald, a succeeding abbot, enriched the convent, a great textus or gospels, with a multitude of other books, _multa alia libros_, are particularly specified.[304] Almost equally liberal were the choice gifts bestowed upon the monks by Adam (elected A. D. 1161); but we find but little in our way among them, except a fine copy of the "Old and New Testament with a gloss." No mean gift I ween in those old days; but one which amply compensated for the deficiency of the donation in point of numbers. But all these were greatly surpassed by a monk whom it will be my duty now to introduce; and to an account of whose life and bibliomanical propensities, I shall devote a page or two. Like many who spread a lustre around the little sphere of their own, and did honor, humbly and quietly to the sanctuary of the church in those Gothic days, he is unknown to many; and might, perhaps, have been entirely forgotten, had not time kindly spared a document which testifies to his piety and book-collecting industry. The reader will probably recollect many who, by their shining piety and spotless life, maintained the purity of the Christian faith in a church surrounded by danger and ignorance, and many a bright name, renowned for their virtue or their glory of arms, who flourished during the early part of the thirteenth century; but few have heard of a good and humble monk named Thomas of Marleberg. Had circumstances designed him for a higher sphere, had affairs of state, or weighty duties of an ecclesiastical import, been guided by his hand, his name would have been recorded with all the flourish of monkish adulation; but the learning and the prudence of that lowly monk was confined to the little world of Evesham; and when his earthly manes were buried beneath the cloisters within the old convent walls, his name and good deeds were forgotten by the world, save in the hearts of his fraternity. "But past is all his fame. The very spot Where many a time he triumph'd, is forgot." In a manuscript in the Cotton Library there is a document called "The good deeds of Prior Thomas," from which the following facts have been extracted.[305] From this interesting memorial of his labors, we learn that Thomas had acquired some repute among the monks for his great knowledge of civil and canon law; so that when any difficulty arose respecting the claims or privileges of the monastery, or when any important matter was to be transacted, his advice was sought and received with deference and respect. Thus three years after his admission the bishop of Worcester intimated his intention of paying the monastery a visitation; a practice which the bishops of that see had not enforced since the days of abbot Alurie. The abbot and convent however considered themselves free from the jurisdiction of the bishop; and acting on the advice of Thomas of Marleberg, they successfully repulsed him. The affair was quite an event, and seems to have caused much sensation among them at the time; and is mentioned to show with what esteem Thomas was regarded by his monkish brethren. After a long enumeration of "good works" and important benefactions, such as rebuilding the tower and repairing the convent, we are told that "In the second year of Randulp's abbacy, Thomas, then dean, went with him to Rome to a general council, where, by his prudence and advice, a new arrangement in the business of the convent rents was confirmed, and many other useful matters settled." Here I am tempted to refer to the _arrangements_, for they offer pleasing illustrations of the monk as an "_amator librorum_." Mark how his thoughts dwelt--even when surrounded by those high dignitaries of the church, and in the midst of that important council--on the library and the scriptorium of his monastery. "_To the Prior belongs the tythes of Beningar the both great and small, to defray the expenses of procuring parchment, and to procure manuscripts for transcription._" And in another clause it is settled that "_To the Office of the Precentor belongs the Manner of Hampton, from which he will receive five shillings annually, besides ten and eightpence from the tythes of Stokes and Alcester, with which he is to find all the ink and parchment for the Scribes of the Monastery, colours for illuminating, and all that is necessary for binding the books_."[306] Pleasing traits are these of his bookloving passion; and doubtless under his guidance the convent library grew and flourished amazingly. But let us return to the account of his "good works." "Returning from Rome after two years he was elected sacrist. He then made a reading-desk behind the choir,[307] which was much wanted in the church, and appointed stated readings to be held near the tomb of Saint Wilsius.... Leaving his office thus rich in good works, he was then elected prior. In this office he buried his predecessor, Prior John, in a new mausoleum; and also John, surnamed Dionysius; of the latter of whom Prior Thomas was accustomed to say, 'that he had never known any man who so perfectly performed every kind of penance as he did for more than thirty years, in fasting and in prayer; in tears and in watchings; in cold and in corporeal inflictions; in coarseness and roughness of clothing, and in denying himself bodily comforts, far more than any other of the brethren; all of which he rather dedicated in good purposes and to the support of the poor." Thus did many an old monk live, practising all this with punctilious care as the essence of a holy life, and resting upon the fallacy that these cruel mortifyings of the flesh would greatly facilitate the acquisition of everlasting ease and joy in a better world; as if God knew not, better than themselves, what chastisements and afflictions were needful for them. We may sigh with pain over such instances of mistaken piety and fanatical zeal in all ages of the church; yet with all their privations, and with all their macerations of the flesh, there was a vast amount of human pride mingled with their humiliation. But He who sees into the hearts of all--looking in his benevolence more at the intention than the outward form, may perhaps sometimes find in it the workings of a true christian piety, and so reward it with his love. Let us trust so in the charity of our faith, and proceed to notice that portion of the old record which is more intimately connected with our subject. We read that "Thomas had brought with him to the convent, on his entering, many books, of both canon and civil law; as well as the books by which he had regulated the schools of Oxford and Exeter before he became a monk. He likewise had one book of Democritus; and the book of Antiparalenion, a gradual book, according to Constantine; Isidore's Divine Offices, and the Quadrimum of Isidore; Tully's de Amicitia; Tully de Senectute et de Paradoxis; Lucan, Juvenal, and many other authors, _et multos alios auctores_, with a great number of sermons, with many writings on theological questions; on the art and rules of grammar and the book of accents. After he was prior he made a great breviary, better than any at that time in the monastery, with Haimo, on the Apocalypse, and a book containing the lives of the patrons of the church of Evesham; with an account of the deeds of all the good and bad monks belonging to the church, in one volume. He also wrote and bound up the same lives and acts in another volume separately. He made also a great Psalter, _magnum psalterium_, superior to any contained in the monastery, except the glossed ones. He collected and wrote all the necessary materials for four antiphoners, with their musical notes, himself; except what the brothers of the monastery transcribed for him. He also finished many books that William of Lith, of pious memory, commenced--the Marterologium, the Exceptio Missæ, and some excellent commentaries on the Psalter and Communion of the Saints in the old antiphoners. He also bought the four Gospels, with glosses, and Isaiah and Ezekiel, also glossed;[308] the Pistillæ upon Matthew; some Allegories on the Old Testament; the Lamentations of Jeremiah, with a gloss; the Exposition of the Mass, according to Pope Innocent; and the great book of Alexander Necham, which is called _Corrogationes Promethea de partibus veteris testamenti et novæ_.... He also caused to be transcribed in large letters the book concerning the offices of the abbey, from the Purification of St. Mary to the Feast of Easter; the prelections respecting Easter; Pentecost, and the blessings at the baptismal fonts. He also caused a volume, containing the same works, to be transcribed, but in a smaller hand; all of which the convent had not before. He made also the tablet for the locutory in the chapel of St. Anne, towards the west. After the altar of St. Mary in the crypts had been despoiled by thieves of its books and ornaments, to the value of ten pounds, he contributed to their restoration." Thomas was equally liberal in other matters. His whole time and wealth were spent in rebuilding and repairing the monastery and adding to its comforts and splendor. He had a great veneration for antiquity, and was especially anxious to restore those parts which were dilapidated by time; the old inscriptions on the monuments and altars he carefully re-inscribed. It is recorded that he renewed the inscription on the great altar himself, without the aid of a book, _sine libro_; which was deemed a mark of profound learning in my lord abbot by his monkish surbordinates. With this I conclude my remarks on Thomas of Marleberg, leaving these extracts to speak for him. It is pleasing to find that virtue so great, and industry so useful met with its just reward; and that the monks of Evesham proved how much they appreciated such talents, by electing him their abbot, in 1229, which, for seven years he held with becoming piety and wisdom. The annals of the monastery[309] testify that "In the year of our Lord one thousand three hundred and ninety-two, and the fifteenth of the reign of King Richard the Second, on the tenth calends of May, died the venerable Prior Nicholas Hereford, of pious memory, who, as prior of the church of Evesham, lived a devout and religious life for forty years." He held that office under three succeeding abbots, and filled it with great honor and industry. He was a dear lover of books, and spent vast sums in collecting together his private library, amounting to more than 100 volumes; some of these he wrote with his own hand, but most of them he bought _emit_. A list of these books is given in the Harleian Register, and many of the volumes are described as containing a number of tracts, bound up in one, _cum aliis tractatibus in eodem volumine_. Some of these display the industry of his pen, and silently tell us of his Christian piety. Among those remarkable for their bulk, it is pleasurable to observe a copy of the Holy Scriptures, which was doubtless a comfort to the venerable prior in the last days of his green old age; and which probably guided him in the even tenor of that _devout and religious life_, for which he was so esteemed by the monks of Evesham. He possessed also some works of Bernard Augustin, and Boethius, whose Consolation of Philosophy few book-collectors of the middle ages were without. To many of the books the prices he gave for them, or at which they were then valued, are affixed: a "_Summa Prædicantium_" is valued at eight marks, and a "_Burley super Politices_" at seven marks. We may suspect monk Nicholas of being rather a curious collector in his way, for we find in his library some interesting volumes of popular literature. He probably found much pleasure in perusing his copy of the marvelous tale of "Beufys of Hampton," and the romantic "Mort d'Arthur," both sufficiently interesting to relieve the monotonous vigils of the monastery. But I must not dwell longer on the monastic bibliophiles of Evesham, other libraries and bookworms call for some notice from my pen. FOOTNOTES: [245] "Rediens autem, ubi Viennam pervenit, eruptitios sibi quos apud amicos commendaverat, recepit." p. 26. _Vit. Abbat. Wear. 12mo. edit. Ware._ [246] The youngest son of Oswy, or Oswis, king of Northumbria, who succeeded his father in the year 670, Alfred his elder brother being for a time set aside on the grounds of his illegitimacy; yet Alfred was a far more enlightened and talented prince than Ecgfrid, and much praised in Saxon annals for his love of learning. [247] "Magnâ quidem copiâ voluminum sacrorum; sed non minori sicut et prius sanctorum imaginum numere detatus." _Vit. Abb._ p. 38. [248] "Bibliothecam, quam de Roma nobillissimam copiosessimanque advenaret ad instructionem ecclesiæ necessariam sollicite servari integram, nec per incuriam foedari aut passim dissipari præcepit." [249] Bede says that he was "learned in Holy Scriptures." Dr. Henry mentions this anecdote in his _Hist. of England_, vol. ii. p. 287, 8vo. ed. which has led many secondary compilers into a curious blunder, by mistaking the king here alluded to for Alfred the Great: even Didbin, in his Bibliomania, falls into the same error although he suspected some mistake; he calls him _our immortal Alfrid_, p. 219, and seems puzzled to account for the anachronism, but does not take the trouble to enquire into the matter; Heylin's little Help to History would have set him right, and shown that while Alfrede king of Northumberland reigned in 680, Alfred king of England lived more than two centuries afterwards, pp. 25 and 29. [250] The reader may perhaps smile at this, but it has long been my custom to carry some 8vo. edition of a monkish writer about me, when time or opportunity allowed me to spend a few hours among the ruins of the olden time. I recall with pleasure the recollection of many such rambles, and especially my last--a visit to Netley Abbey. What a sweet spot for contemplation; surrounded by all that is lovely in nature, it drives our old prejudices away, and touches the heart with piety and awe. Often have I explored its ruins and ascended its crumbling parapets, admiring the taste of those Cistercian monks in choosing so quiet, romantic, and choice a spot, and one so well suited to lead man's thoughts to sacred things above. [251] Bede, _Vit. Abb. Wear._ p. 46. [252] The fine libraries thus assiduously collected were destroyed by the Danes; that of Jarrow in the year 793, and that of Wearmouth in 867. [253] Emer, Vita. ap. Mab. Act. SS. tom. iii. 199. [254] Bede's Eccles. Hist. b. iii. c. xxv. [255] "Idemque vir Dei quatuor Evangelica et Bibliothecam pluresque libros Novi et Veteris Testamenti cum tabulis tectis auro purissimo et pretiosis gemmis mirabili artificio fabricatis ad honorem Dei." Dugdale's Monast. vol. ii. p. 133. [256] In 665 he was raised to the episcopacy of all Northumbria. [257] He was deprived of his bishopric in the year 678, and the see was divided into those of York and Hexham. But for the particulars of his conduct see _Soame's Anglo. Sax. Church_, p. 63, with _Dr. Lingard's Ang. Sax. Church_, vol. i. p. 245; though without accusing either of misrepresentation, I would advise the reader to search (if he has the opportunity), the original authorities for himself, it is a delicate matter for a Roman or an English churchman to handle with impartiality. [258] His Saxon name was Winfrid, or Wynfrith, but he is generally called Boniface, Archbishop of Mentz. [259] The mere act of baptizing constitutes "_conversion_" in Jesuitical phraseology; and thousands were so converted in a few days by the followers of Ignatius. A similar process was used in working out the miracles of the Saxon missionary. He was rather too conciliating and too anxious for a "converting miracle," to be over particular; but it was all for the good of the church papal, to whom he was a devoted servant; the church papal therefore could not see the fault. [260] Ep. iii. p. 7, Ed. 4to.--_Moguntiæ_, 1629. [261] Ep. iv. p. 8. [262] Ep. xiii. [263] Ep. vii. p. 11. [264] Ep. xiv. See also Ep. xxviii. p. 40. [265] Ep. viii. p. 12. [266] Ep. lxxxv. p. 119. [267] Ep. ix. p. 13. [268] Ep. xxii. p. 36. [269] Ep. xcix. p. 135. [270] Ep. cxi. p. 153. [271] The accusation is not a groundless one. Foxe, in his _Acts and Monuments_, warmly upbraids him; and Aikins in his _Biog. Dict._, has acted in a similar manner. But the best guides are his letters--they display his faults and his virtues too. [272] This was in the year 731. _Goodwin_ says he "sate 36 years, and died an. 767." He says, "This man by his owne wisedome, and the authority of his brother, amended greatly the state of his church and see. He procured the archiepiscopall pall to be restored to his churche againe, and erected a famous library at York, which he stored plentifully with an infinite number of excellent bookes." p. 441. [273] De Pontificibus et Sanctis Ecclesiæ Eboracensis. [274] Alcuini Oper., tom. i. vol. 1, p. 57, translated in Sharpe's William of Malmsbury, p. 73. [275] Opera, tom. i. p. 305. [276] In a letter to Gisla, sister to the emperor, he writes "Totius forsitan evangelii Johannis expositionem direxissem vobis, si me non occupasset Domini Regis præceptum in emendatione Veteri Novique Testamenti."--_Opera_, tom. i. vol. 7, p. 591. [277] Alcuini, ap. Gale, tom. iii. p. 730. [278] Alcuini, Oper. tom. i. p. 52. Ep. xxxviii. It was written about 796. [279] He was also very careful in instructing the scribes to punctuate with accuracy, which he deemed of great importance. See Ep. lxxxv. p. 126. [280] Necrolog. MS. Capituli, Metropolitani Salisburgensis, _apud_ Froben, tom. i. p. lxxxi. [281] Charlemagne founded several libraries;--see _Koeler, Dissert. de Biblio. Caroli Mog._ published in 1727. Eginhart mentions his private collection, and it is thus spoken of in the emperor's will; "Similiter et de libris, quorum magna in bibliotheca sua copiam congregavit: statuit ut ab iis qui eos habere uellet, justo pretio redimeretur, pretin in pauperes erogaretur." Echin. Vita Caroli, p. 366, edit. 24mo. 1562. Yet we cannot but regret the dispersion of this imperial library. [282] Formerly called _Streaneshalch_. [283] At the age of 66, _Bede_, b. iv. cxxiii. [284] Bede, b. iv. c. xxiv. [285] John de Trevisa says, "Cædmon of Whitaby was inspired of the Holy Gost, and made wonder poisyes an Englisch, meiz of al the Storyes of Holy Writ." _MS. Harleian_, 1900, fol. 43, a. [286] Ibid. [287] Cottonian Collection marked _Claudius_, B. iv. There is another MS. in the Bodleian (_Junius_ XI.) It was printed by Junius in 1655, in 4to. Sturt has engraved some of the illuminations in his _Saxon Antiquities_, and they were also copied and published by J. Greene, F. A. S., in 1754, in fifteen plates. [288] It is unfortunately imperfect at the end, and wants folio 32. [289] Take the following as an instance of the similarity of thought between the two poets. Sharon Turner thus renders a portion of Satan's speech from the Saxon of Cædmon: "Yet why should I sue for his grace? Or bend to him with any obedience? I may be a God as he is. Stand by me strong companions." _Hist. Anglo Sax._ vol. ii. p. 314. The idea is with Milton: . . . . . . . . To bow to one for grace With suppliant knee, and deify his power, Who from the terror of this arm so late Doubted his empire; that were low indeed! That were an ignominy, and shame beneath This downfall! _Paradise Lost_, b. i. [290] He will find it in Charlton's History of Whitby, 4to. 1779, p. 113. [291] Marked MS. N. B. 17. [292] Wright and Halliwell's Rel. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 180. [293] It is printed in Hearne's History of Glastonbury, from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, Ed. _Oxon_, 1722, _Appendix_ x. p. 291. [294] Bibliothecam optimam cum duobus armillis ex auro purissimo fabricatis.--_Heming. Chart_, p. 95. [295] Thomas's Survey, of Worcester Church, 4to. 1736, p. 46. The Scriptorium of the monastery was situated in the cloisters, and a Bible in Bennet College, Cambridge, was written therein by a scribe named Senatus, as we learn from a note printed in Nasmith's Catalogue, which proves it to have been written during the reign of Henry II. It is a folio MS. on vellum, and a fine specimen of the talent of the expert scribe.--See _Nasmith's Catalogus Libr. MSS._, 4to. _Camb._ 1777, p. 31. [296] Since writing the above, which I gave on the authority of Green (_Hist. of Worc._ vol. i. p. 79), backed with the older one of Thomas (_Survey Ch. Worc._ p. 70), I have had the opportunity of consulting the reference given by them (_Heming, Chart._ p. 262), and was somewhat surprised to find the words "_Et bibliothecam, in duobus partibus divisam_," the foundation of this pleasing anecdote. "_Bibliothecam_," however, was the Latin for a Bible in the middle ages: so that in fact the Lady Godiva gave them a Bible divided into two parts, or volumes. [297] Chalmer's Hist. of the Colleges of Oxford, p. 458. Wood's Hist. Antiq. of Oxon, lib. ii. p. 48. [298] Green's Hist. Worc. p. 79. [299] Sir W. Dugdale's View of the Troubles in England, _Folio_, p. 557. We can easily credit the destruction of the organ and painted windows, so obnoxious to Puritan piety; but with regard to the _Bibles_, we may suspect the accuracy of the Royalist writer, col. 182. [300] Symeon Dunelm. Tweyed. Script. x. [301] Habingdon, MSS. Godwin de Præf, p. 231. [302] Tindal's Hist. of Evesham, p. 248. [303] _Ibid._ p. 250. [304] MS. Harl., No. 3763, p. 180. [305] MS. Cot. Vesp. b. xxiv. It is printed in Latin in _Nash's Worcestershire_, vol. i. p. 419, and translated in _Tindal's Hist. of Worcs._ p. 24, all of which I have used with _Dugdale's Monast._ vol. ii. p. 5. [306] _MS. Cottonian Augustus II._ No. 11. "Ex his debet invenire præcentor incaustum omnibus scriptoribus monasterii; et Pergamenum ad brevia, et colores ad illuminandum, et necessaria ad legandum libros." See _Dugdale's Monast._ vol. ii. p. 24. [307] After the elapse of so many years, the research of the antiquarian has brought this desk to light; an account of it will be found in the Archeologia, vol. xvii. p. 278. [308] "Emit etiam quator evangelia glosata, et Yaiam et Ezechielem glossatos." [309] Harleian MSS., No. 3763. CHAPTER IX. _Old Glastonbury Abbey.--Its Library.--John of Taunton.--Richard Whiting.--Malmsbury.--Bookish Monks of Gloucester Abbey.--Leofric of Exeter and his private library.--Peter of Blois. Extracts from his letters.--Proved to have been a great classical student, etc., etc._ The fame of Glastonbury Abbey will attract the steps of the western traveller; and if he possess the spirit of an antiquary, his eye will long dwell on those mutilated fragments of monkish architecture. The bibliophile will regard it with still greater love; for, in its day, it was one of the most eminent repositories of those treasures which it is his province to collect. For more than ten hundred years that old fabric has stood there, exciting in days of remote antiquity the veneration of our pious forefathers, and in modern times the admiration of the curious. Pilgrim! tread lightly on that hallowed ground! sacred to the memory of the most learned and illustrious of our Saxon ancestry. The bones of princes and studious monks closely mingle with the ruins which time has caused, and bigotry helped to desecrate. Monkish tradition claims, as the founder of Glastonbury Abbey, St. Joseph of Arimathea, who, sixty-three years after the incarnation of our Lord, came to spread the truths of the Gospel over the island of Britain. Let this be how it may, we leave it for more certain data. After, says a learned antiquary, its having been built by St. Davis, Archbishop of Menevia, and then again restored by "twelve well affected men in the north;" it was entirely pulled down by Ina, king of the West Saxons, who "new builded the abbey of Glastonburie[310] in a fenny place out of the way, to the end the monks mought so much the more give their mindes to heavenly thinges, and chiefely use the contemplation meete for men of such profession. This was the fourth building of that monasterie."[311] The king completed his good work by erecting a beautiful chapel, garnished with numerous ornaments and utensils of gold and silver; and among other costly treasures, William of Malmsbury tells us that twenty pounds and sixty marks of gold was used in making a coopertoria for a book of the Gospels.[312] Would that I had it in my power to write the literary history of Glastonbury Abbey; to know what the monks of old there transcribed would be to acquire the history of learning in those times; for there was little worth reading in the literature of the day that was not copied by those industrious scribes. But if our materials will not enable us to do this, we may catch a glimpse of their well stored shelves through the kindness and care of William Britone the Librarian, who compiled a work of the highest interest to the biographer. It is no less than a catalogue of the books contained in the common library of the abbey in the year one thousand two hundred and forty-eight. Four hundred choice volumes comprise this fine collection;[313] and will not the reader be surprised to find among them a selection of the classics, with the chronicles, poetry, and romantic productions of the middle ages, besides an abundant store of the theological writings of the primitive Church. But I have not transcribed a large proportion of this list, as the extracts given from other monastic catalogues may serve to convey an idea of their nature; but I cannot allow one circumstance connected with this old document to pass without remark. I would draw the reader's attention to the fine bibles which commence the list, and which prove that the monks of Glastonbury Abbey were fond and devoted students of the Bible. It begins with-- Bibliotheca una in duobus voluminibus. Alia Bibliotheca integra vetusta, set legibilis. Bibliotheca integræ minoris litteræ. Dimidia pars Bibliothecæ incipiens à Psalterio, vetusta. Bibliotheca magna versificata. Alia versificata in duobus voluminibus. Bibliotheca tres versificata.[314] But besides these, the library contained numerous detached books and many copies of the Gospels, an ample collection of the fathers, and the controversal writings of the middle ages; and among many others, the following classics-- Aristotle. Livy. Orosius. Sallust. Donatus. Sedulus. Virgil's Æneid. Virgil's Georgics. Virgil's Bucolics. Æsop. Tully. Boethius. Plato. Isagoge of Porphyry. Prudentius. Fortuanus. Persius. Pompeius. Isidore. Smaragdius. Marcianus. Horace. Priscian. Prosper. Aratores. Claudian. Juvenal. Cornutus. I must not omit to mention that John de Taunton, a monk and an enthusiastic _amator librorum_, and who was elected abbot in the year 1271, collected forty choice volumes, and gave them to the library, _dedit librario_, of the abbey; no mean gift, I ween, in the thirteenth century. They included-- Questions on the Old and New Law. St. Augustine upon Genesis. Ecclesiastical Dogmas. St. Bernard's Enchiridion. St. Bernard's Flowers. Books of Wisdom, with a Gloss. Postil's upon Jeremiah and the lesser Prophets. Concordances to the Bible. Postil's of Albertus upon Matthew, and the Lamentations of Jeremiah and others, in one volume. Postil's upon Mark. Postil's upon John, with a Discourse on the Epistles throughout the year. Brother Thomas Old and New Gloss. Morabilius on the Gospels and Epistles. St. Augustine on the Trinity. Epistles of Paul glossed. St. Augustine's City of God. Kylwardesby upon the Letter of the Sentences. Questions concerning Crimes. Perfection of the Spiritual Life. Brother Thomas' Sum of Divinity, in four volumes. Decrees and Decretals. A Book of Perspective. Distinctions of Maurice. Books of Natural History, in two volumes. Book on the Properties of Things.[315] Subsequent to this, in the time of one book-loving abbot, an addition of forty-nine volumes was made to the collection by his munificence and the diligence of his scribes; and time has allowed the modern bibliophile to gaze on a catalogue of these treasures. I wish the monkish annalist had recorded the life of this early bibliomaniac, but unfortunately we know little of him. But they were no mean nor paltry volumes that he transcribed. It is with pleasure I see the catalogue commenced by a copy of the Holy Scriptures; and the many commentaries upon them by the fathers of the church enumerated after it, prove my Lord Abbot to have been a diligent student of the Bible. Nor did he seek God alone in his written word; but wisely understood that his Creator spoke to him also by visible works; and probably loved to observe the great wisdom and design of his God in the animated world; for a Pliny's Natural History stands conspicuous on the list, as the reader will perceive. THE BIBLE. Pliny's Natural History. Cassiodorus upon the Psalms. Three great Missals. Two Reading Books. A Breviary for the Infirmary. Jerome upon Jeremiah and Isaiah. Origen upon the Old Testament. Origen's Homilies. Origen upon the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans. Jerome upon the Epistles to the Galatians, to Ephesians, to Titus, and to Philemon. Lives of the Fathers. Collations of the Fathers. Breviary for the Hospital. An Antiphon. Pars una Moralium. Cyprian's Works. Register. Liber dictus Paradisus. Jerome against Jovinian. Ambrose against Novatian. Seven Volumes of the Passions of the Saints for the circle of the whole year. Lives of the Cæsars. Acts of the Britons. Acts of the English. Acts of the Franks. Pascasius. Radbert on the Body and Blood of the Lord. Book of the Abbot of Clarevalle _de Amando Deo_. Hugo de S. Victore de duodecim gradibus Humilitatis et de Oratione. Physiomania Lapedarum et Liber Petri Alsinii in uno volumine. Rhetoric, two volumes. Quintilian _de Causes_, in one volume. Augustine upon the Lord's Prayer and upon the Psalm _Miserero mei Deus_. A Benedictional. Decreta Cainotensis Episcopi. Jerome upon the Twelve Prophets, and upon the Lamentations of Jeremiah. Augustine upon the Trinity. Augustine upon Genesis. Isidore's Etymology. Paterius. Augustine on the Words of our Lord. Hugo on the Sacraments. Cassinus on the Incarnation of our Lord. Anselm's _Cui Deus Homo_.[316] The reader, I think, will allow that the catalogue enumerates but little unsuitable for a christian's study; he may not admire the principles contained in some of them, or the superstition with which many of them are loaded; but after all there were but few volumes among them from which a Bible reading monk might not have gleaned something good and profitable. These books were transcribed about the end of the thirteenth century, after the catalogue of the monastic library mentioned above was compiled. Walter Taunton, elected in the year 1322, gave to the library several volumes; and his successor, Adam Sodbury,[317] elected in the same year, increased it with a copy of the whole Bible,[318] a Scholastic history, Lives of Saints, a work on the Properties of Things, two costly Psalters, and a most beautifully bound Benedictional. But doubtless many a bookworm nameless in the page of history, dwelled within those walls apart from worldly solicitude and strife; relieving what would otherwise have been an insupportable monotony, with sweet converse, with books, or the avocations of a scribe. Well, years rolled on, and this fair sanctuary remained in all its beauty, encouraging the trembling christian, and fostering with a mother's care the literature and learning of the time. Thus it stood till that period, so dark and unpropitious for monkish ascendency, when Protestant fury ran wild, and destruction thundered upon the heads of those poor old monks! A sad and cruel revenge for enlightened minds to wreck on mistaken piety and superstitious zeal. How widely was the fine library scattered then. Even a few years after its dissolution, when Leland spent some days exploring the book treasures reposing there, it had been broken up, and many of them lost; yet still it must have been a noble library, for he tells us that it was "scarcely equalled in all Britain;" and adds, in the spirit of a true bibliomaniac, that he no sooner passed the threshold than the very sight of so many sacred remains of antiquity struck him with awe and astonishment. The reader will naturally wish that he had given us a list of what he found there; but he merely enumerates a selection of thirty-nine, among which we find a Grammatica Eriticis, formerly belonging to Saint Dunstan; a life of Saint Wilfrid; a Saxon version of Orosius, and the writings of William of Malmsbury.[319] The antiquary will now search in vain for any vestige of the abbey library; even the spot on which it stood is unknown to the curious. No christian, let his creed be what it may, who has learnt from his master the principles of charity and love, will refuse a tear to the memory of Richard Whiting, the last of Glastonbury's abbots. Poor old man! Surely those white locks and tottering limbs ought to have melted a Christian heart; but what charity or love dwelt within the soul of that rapacious monarch? Too old to relinquish his long cherished superstitions; too firm to renounce his religious principles, Whiting offered a firm opposition to the reformation. The fury of the tyrant Henry was aroused, and that grey headed monk was condemned to a barbarous death. As a protestant I blush to write it, yet so it was; after a hasty trial, if trial it can be called, he was dragged on a hurdle to a common gallows erected on Torr Hill, and there, in the face of a brutal mob, with two of his companion monks, was he hung! Protestant zeal stopped not here, for when life had fled they cut his body down, and dividing it into quarters, sent one to each of the four principal towns; and as a last indignity to that mutilated clay, stuck his head on the gate of the old abbey, over which he had presided with judicious care in the last days of his troubled life. It was Whiting's wish to bid adieu in person to his monastery, in which in more prosperous times he had spent many a quiet hour; it is said that even this, the dying prayer of that poor old man, they refused to grant.[320] On viewing the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, so mournful to look upon, yet so splendid in its decay, we cannot help exclaiming with Michael Dayton,-- "On whom for this sad waste, should justice lay the crime." Whilst in the west we cannot pass unnoticed the monastery of Malmsbury, one of the largest in England, and which possessed at one time an extensive and valuable library; but it was sadly ransacked at the Reformation, and its vellum treasures sold to the bakers to heat their stoves, or applied to the vilest use; not even a catalogue was preserved to tell the curious of a more enlightened age, what books the old monks read there; but perhaps, and the blood runs cold as the thought arises in the mind, a perfect Livy was among them, for a rare _amator librorum_ belonging to this monastery, quotes one of the lost Decades.[321] I allude to William of Malmsbury, one of the most enthusiastic bibliomaniacs of his age. From his youth he dwelt within the abbey walls, and received his education there. His constant study and indefatigable industry in collecting and perusing books, was only equalled by his prudence and by his talents; he soon rose in the estimation of his fellow monks, who appointed him their librarian, and ultimately offered him the abbacy, which he refused with Christian humility, fearing too, lest its contingent duties would debar him from a full enjoyment of his favorite avocation; but of his book passion let William of Malmsbury speak for himself: "A long period has elapsed since, as well through the care of my parents as my own industry, I became familiar with books. This pleasure possessed me from my childhood; this source of delight has grown with my years; indeed, I was so instructed by my father, that had I turned aside to other pursuits, I should have considered it as jeopardy to my soul, and discredit to my character. Wherefore, mindful of the adage, 'covet what is necessary,' I constrained my early age to desire eagerly that which it was disgraceful not to possess. I gave indeed my attention to various branches of literature, but in different degrees. Logic, for instance, which gives arms to eloquence, I contented myself with barely learning: medicine, which ministers to the health of the body, I studied with somewhat more attention. But now, having scrupulously examined the various branches of ethics, I bow down to its majesty, because it spontaneously inverts itself to those who study it, and directs their minds to moral practice, history more especially; which by a certain agreeable recapitulation of past events, excites its readers by example, to frame their lives to the pursuit of good or to aversion from evil. When, therefore, at my own expense I had procured some historians of foreign nations, I proceeded during my domestic leisure, to inquire if anything concerning our own country could be found worthy of handing down to posterity. Hence it arose, that not content with the writings of ancient times, I began myself to compose, not indeed to display my learning, which is comparatively nothing, but to bring to light events lying concealed in the confused mass of antiquity. In consequence, rejecting vague opinions, I have studiously sought for chronicles far and near, though I confess I have scarcely profited anything by this industry; for perusing them all I still remained poor in information, though I ceased not my researches as long as I could find anything to read."[322] Having read this passage, I think my readers will admit that William of Malmsbury well deserves a place among the bibliomaniacs of the middle ages. As an historian his merit is too generally known and acknowledged to require an elucidation here. He combines in most cases a strict attention to fact, with the rare attributes of philosophic reflection, and sometimes the bloom of eloquence. But simplicity of narrative constitute the greatest and sometimes the only charm in the composition of the monkish chroniclers. William of Malmsbury aimed at a more ambitious style, and attempted to adorn, as he admits himself, his English history with Roman art; this he does sometimes with tolerable elegance, but too often at the cost of necessary detail. Yet still we must place him at the head of the middle age historians, for he was diligent and critical, though perhaps not always impartial; and in matters connected with Romish doctrine, his testimony is not always to be relied upon without additional authority; his account of those who held opinions somewhat adverse to the orthodoxy of Rome is often equivocal; we may even suspect him of interpolating their writings, at least of Alfric, whose homilies had excited the fears of the Norman ecclesiastics. His works were compiled from many sources now unknown; and from the works of Bede, the Saxon chronicles, and Florilegus, he occasionally transcribes with little alteration. But is it not distressing to find that this talented author, so superior in other respects to the crude compilers of monkish history, cannot rise above the superstition of the age? Is it not deplorable that a mind so gifted could rely with fanatical zeal upon the verity of all those foul lies of Rome called "Holy" miracles; or that he could conceive how God would vouchsafe to make his saints ridiculous in the eyes of man, by such gross absurdities as tradition records, but which Rome deemed worthy of canonization; but it was then, as now, so difficult to conquer the prejudices of early teaching. With all our philosophy and our science, great men cannot do it now; even so in the days of old; they were brought up in the midst of superstition; sucked it as it were from their mother's breast, and fondly cradled in its belief; and as soon as the infant mind could think, parental piety dedicated it to God; not, however, as a light to shine before men, but as a candle under a bushel; for to serve God and to serve monachism were synonymous expressions in those days. The west of England was honored by many a monkish bibliophile in the middle ages. The annals of Gloucester abbey record the names of several. Prior Peter, who became abbot in the year 1104, is said to have enclosed the monastery with a stone wall, and greatly enriched it with many books "_copia librorum_."[323] A few years after (A. D. 1113), Godeman the Prior was made abbot, and the Saxon Chronicle records that during his time the tower was set on fire by lightning and the whole monastery was burnt; so that all the valuable things therein were destroyed except a "few books and three priest's mass-hackles."[324] Abbot Gamage gave many books to the library in the year 1306;[325] and Richard de Stowe, during the same century, gave the monks a small collection in nine or ten volumes; a list of them is preserved in an old manuscript.[326] But earlier than this in the eleventh century, a bishop of Exeter stands remarkable as an _amator librorum_. Leofric, the last bishop of Crediton, and "sometime lord chancellor of England,"[327] received permission from Edward the Confessor to translate the seat of his diocese to the city of Exeter in the year 1050. "He was brought up and studied in _Lotharingos_," says William of Malmsbury,[328] and he manifested his learning and fondness for study by collecting books. Of the nature of his collections we are enabled to judge by the volumes he gave to the church of Exeter. The glimpse thus obtained lead us to consider him a curious book-collector; and it is so interesting to look upon a catalogue of a bishop's private library in that early time, and to behold his tastes and his pursuits reflected and mirrored forth therein, that I am sure the reader will be gratified by its perusal.[329] After enumerating some broad lands and a glittering array of sumptuous ornaments, he is recorded to have given to the church "Two complete mass books; 1 Collectarium; 2 Books of Epistles (_Pistel Bec_[330]); 2 complete _Sang Bec_; 1 Book of _night sang_; 1 Book _unus liber_, a Breviary or Tropery; 2 Psalters; 3 Psalters according to the Roman copies; 2 Antiphoners; A precious book of blessings; 3 others; 1 Book of Christ _in English_; 2 Summer Reading bec; 1 Winter ditto; Rules and Canons; 1 Martyrology; 1 Canons in Latin; 1 Confessional _in English_; 1 Book of Homilies and Hymns for Winter and Summer; 1 Boethius on the Consolation of Philosophy, _in English_ (King Alfred's translation); 1 Great Book of Poetry in English; 1 Capitular; 1 Book of very ancient nocturnal _sangs_; 1 Pistel bec; 2 Ancient ræding bec; 1 for the use of the priest; also the following books in Latin, viz., 1 Pastoral of Gregory; 1 Dialogues of Gregory; 1 Book of the Four Prophets; 1 Boethius Consolation of Philosophy; 1 Book of the offices of Amalar; 1 Isagoge of Porphyry; 1 Passional; 1 book of Prosper; 1 book of Prudentius the Martyr; 1 Prudentius; 1 Prudentius (_de Mrib._); 1 other book; 1 Ezechael the Prophet; 1 Isaiah the Prophet; 1 Song of Songs; 1 Isidore Etymology; 1 Isidore on the New and Old Testament; 1 Lives of the Apostles; 1 Works of Bede; 1 Bede on the Apocalypse; 1 Bede's Exposition on the Seven Canonical Epistles; 1 book of Isidore on the Miracles of Christ; 1 book of Orosius; 1 book of Machabees; 1 book of Persius; 1 Sedulus; 1 Avator; 1 book of Statius with a gloss." Such were the books forming a part of the private library of a bishop of Exeter in the year of grace 1073. Few indeed when compared with the vast multitudes assembled and amassed together in the ages of printed literature. But these sixty or seventy volumes, collected in those times of dearth, and each produced by the tedious process of the pen, were of an excessive value, and mark their owner as distinctly an _amator librorum_, as the enormous piles heaped together in modern times would do a Magliabechi. Nor was Leofric an ordinary collector; he loved to preserve the idiomatic poetry of those old Saxon days; his ancient _sang bec_, or song books, would now be deemed a curious and precious relic of Saxon literature. One of these has fortunately escaped the ravages of time and the fate of war. "The great boc of English Poetry" is still preserved at Exeter--one of the finest relics of Anglo Saxon poetry extant. Mark too those early translations which we cannot but regard with infinite pleasure, and which satisfactorily prove that the Gospels and Church Service was at least partly read and sung in the Saxon church in the common language of the people; let the Roman Catholics say what they will.[331] But without saying much of his church books, we cannot but be pleased to find the Christian Boethius in his library with Bede, Gregory, Isidore, Prosper, Orosius, Prudentius, Sedulus, Persius and Statius; these are authors which retrieve the studies of Leofric from the charge of mere monastic lore. But good books about this time were beginning to be sought after with avidity. The Cluniac monks, who were introduced into England about the year 1077, more than one hundred and sixty years after their foundation, gave a powerful impetus to monastic learning; which received additional force by the enlightened efforts of the Cistercians, instituted in 1098, and spread into Britain about the year 1128. These two great branches of the Benedictine order, by their great love of learning, and by their zeal in collecting books, effected a great change in the monkish literature of England. "They were not only curious and attentive in forming numerous libraries, but with indefatigable assiduity transcribed the volumes of the ancients, _l'assiduité infatigable à transcrire les livres des anciens_, say the Benedictines of St. Maur,"[332] who perhaps however may be suspected of regarding their ancient brethren in rather too favorable a light. But certain it is, that the state of literature became much improved, and the many celebrated scholars who flourished in the twelfth century spread a taste for reading far and wide, and by their example caused the monks to look more eagerly after books. Peter of Blois, Archdeacon of London, is one of the most pleasing instances of this period, and his writings have even now a freshness and vivacity about them which surprise as they interest the reader. This illustrious student, and truly worthy man, was born at Blois in the early part of the twelfth century. His parents, who were wealthy and noble, were desirous of bestowing upon their son an education befitting their own rank; for this purpose he was sent to Paris to receive instruction in the general branches of scholastic knowledge. He paid particular attention to poetry, and studied rhetoric with still greater ardor.[333] But being designed for the bar, he left Paris for Bologna, there to study civil law; and succeeded in mastering all the dry technicalities of legal science. He then returned to Paris to study scholastic divinity,[334] in which he became eminently proficient, and was ever excessively fond. He remained at Paris studying deeply himself, and instructing others for many years. About the year 1167 he went with Stephen, Count de Perche, into Sicily, and was appointed tutor to the young King William II., made keeper of his private seal, and for two years conducted his education.[335] Soon after leaving Sicily, he was invited by Henry II. into England,[336] and made Archdeacon of Bath. It was during the time he held that office that he wrote most of these letters, from which we obtain a knowledge of the above facts, and which he collected together at the particular desire of King Henry; who ever regarded him with the utmost kindness, and bestowed upon him his lasting friendship. I know not a more interesting or a more historically valuable volume than these epistolary collections of Archdeacon Peter. They seem to bring those old times before us, to seat us by the fire-sides of our Norman forefathers, and in a pleasant, quiet manner enter into a gossip on the passing events of the day; and being written by a student and an _amator librorum_, they moreover unfold to us the state of learning among the ecclesiastics at least of the twelfth century; and if we were to take our worthy archdeacon as a specimen, they possessed a far better taste for these matters than we usually give them credit for. Peter of Blois was no ordinary man; a churchman, he was free from the prejudices of churchmen--a visitant of courts and the associate of royalty, he was yet free from the sycophancy of a courtier--and when he saw pride and ungodliness in the church, or in high places, he feared not to use his pen in stern reproof at these abominations. It is both curious and extraordinary, when we bear in mind the prejudices of the age, to find him writing to a bishop upon the looseness of his conduct, and reproving him for his inattention to the affairs of his diocese, and upbraiding another for displaying an unseemly fondness for hunting,[337] and other sports of the field; which he says is so disreputable to one of his holy calling, and quotes an instance of Pope Nicholas suspending and excluding from the church Bishop Lanfred for a similar offence; which he considers even more disgraceful in Walter, Lord Bishop of Winchester, to whom he is writing, on account of his advanced age; he being at that time eighty years old. We are constantly reminded in reading his letters that we have those of an indefatigable student before us; almost every page bears some allusion to his books or to his studies, and prove how well and deeply read he was in Latin literature; not merely the theological writings of the church, but the classics also. In one of his letters he speaks of his own studies, and tells us that when he learnt the art of versification and correct style, he did not spend his time on legends and fables, but took his models from Livy, Quintus Curtius, Trogus Pompeius, Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius, and other classics; in the same letter he gives some directions to the Archdeacon of Nantes, who had undertaken the education of his nephews, as to the manner of their study. He had received from the archdeacon a flattering account of the progress made by one of them named William, to which he thus replies--"You speak," says he, "of William--his great penetration and ingenious disposition, who, without grammar or the authors of science, which are both so desirable, has mastered the subtilties of logic, so as to be esteemed a famous logician, as I learn by your letter. But this is not the foundation of a correct knowledge--these subtilties which you so highly extol, are manifoldly pernicious, as Seneca truly affirms,--_Odibilius nihil est subtilitate ubi est soloe subtilitas_. What indeed is the use of these things in which you say he spends his days--either at home, in the army, at the bar, in the cloister, in the church, in the court, or indeed in any position whatever, except, I suppose, the schools?" Seneca says, in writing to Lucalius, "_Quid est, inquit acutius arista et in quo est utiles!_"[338] In many letters we find him quoting the classics with the greatest ease, and the most appropriate application to his subject; in one he refers to Ovid, Persius, and Seneca,[339] and in others, when writing in a most interesting and amusing manner of poetic fame and literary study, he extracts from Terence, Ovid, Juvenal, Horace, Plato, Cicero, Valerius Maximus, Seneca, etc.[340] In another, besides a constant use of Scripture, which proves how deeply read too he was in Holy Writ, he quotes with amazing prodigality from Juvenal, Frontius, Vigetius, Dio, Virgil, Ovid, Justin, Horace, and Plutarch.[341] Indeed, Horace was a great favorite with the archdeacon, who often applied some of his finest sentences to illustrate his familiar chat and epistolary disquisitions.[342] It is worth noticing that in one he quotes the Roman history of Sallust, in six books, which is now lost, save a few fragments; the passage relates to Pompey the Great.[343] We can scarcely refrain from a smile at the eagerness of Archdeacon Peter in persuading his friends to relinquish the too enticing study of frivolous plays, which he says can be of no service to the interest of the soul;[344] and then, forgetting this admonition, sending for tragedies and comedies himself, that he might get them transcribed.[345] This puts one in mind of a certain modern divine, whose conduct not agreeing with his doctrine, told his hearers not to do as he did, but as he told them. It appears also equally ludicrous to find him upbraiding a monk, named Peter of Blois, for studying the pagan authors: "the foolish old fables of Hercules and Jove," their lies and philosophy;[346] when, as we have seen, he read them so ravenously, and so greatly borrowed from them himself. But then we must bear in mind that the archdeacon had also well stored his mind with Scripture, and certainly always deemed _that_ the first and most important of all his studies, which was perhaps not the case with the monk to whom he writes. In some of his letters we have pleasing pictures of the old times presented to us, and it is astonishing how homely and natural they read, after the elapse of 700 years. In more than one he launches out in strong invectives against the lawyers, who in all ages seems to have borne the indignation of mankind; Peter accuses them of selling their knowledge for hire, to the direct perversion of all justice; of favoring the rich and oppressing the poor.[347] He reproves Reginald, Archdeacon of Salisbury, for occupying his time with falconry, instead of attending to his clerical duties; and in another, a most interesting letter, he gives a description of King Henry II., whose character he extols in panegyric terms, and proves how much superior he was in learning to William II. of Sicily. He says that "Henry, as often as he could breathe from his care and solicitudes, he was occupied in secret reading; or at other times joined by a body of clergy, would try to solve some elaborate question _quæstiones laborat evolvere_."[348] Frequently we find him writing about books, begging transcripts, eagerly purchasing them; and in one of his letters to Alexander, Abbot of Jenniege, _Gemiticensem_, he writes, apologizing, and begging his forgiveness for not having fulfilled his promise in returning a book which he had borrowed from his library, and begs that his friend will yet allow him to retain it some days longer.[349] The last days of a scholar's life are not always remarkable, and we know nothing of those of Archdeacon Peter; for after the death of Henry II., his intellectual worth found no royal mind to appreciate it. The lion-hearted Richard thought more of the battle axe and crusading than the encouragement of literature or science; and Peter, like many other students, grown old in their studies, was left in his age to wander among his books, unmolested and uncared for. With the friendship of a few clerical associates, and the archdeaconry of London, which by the bye was totally unproductive,[350] he died, and for many ages was forgotten. But a student's worth can never perish; a time is certain to arrive when his erudition will receive its due reward of human praise. We now, after a slumber of many hundred years, begin to appreciate his value, and to entertain a hearty friendship and esteem for the venerable Archdeacon Peter. FOOTNOTES: [310] See Speed's Chron. p. 228. Samme's Antiq. p. 578. [311] Stowe's Annales, 4to. 1605, p. 97. See also Hearne's Hist. Glastonbury. [312] _Will. Malm. ap. Gale Script._ 311.--Coopertoria Librorum Evangelii. For many other instances of binding books in gold, and sometimes with costly gems, I refer the reader to _Du Cange_ verb-Capsæ, and to _Mr. Maitland's Dark Ages_. [313] Warton says, that this library was at the time the "_richest in England_." In this, however, he was mistaken. [314] John of Glast. p. 423. [315] John of Glastonbury Edt., Hearne, Oxon, 1726, p. 451. Steven's Additions to Dugdale, vol. i. p. 447. [316] Printed in _Tanner's Notitia Monastica_, 8vo. Edit. 1695, p. 75, and in _Hearne's History of Glastonbury_, p. 141; but both these works are scarce, and I have thought it worth reprinting; the reader will perceive that I have given some of the items in English--the original of course is in Latin. [317] John of Glas. p. 262. [318] Librario dedit. bibliam preciosam.--_John of Glast._ p. 262. [319] Among them was a "Dictionarum Latine et Saxonicum."--_Leland Collect._ iii. p. 153. [320] Leland, in his MSS. preserved in the Bodleian Library, calls Whiting "_Homo sane candidissimus et amicus meus singularis_," but he afterwards scored the line with his pen. See _Arch Bodl._ A. Dugdale Monast. vol. i. p. 6. [321] See Hume's Hist. Engl.; Moffat's Hist. of Malmsbury, p. 223, and Will. Malms. Novellæ Hist. lib. ii.; Sharpe's translation, p. 576. [322] William of Malmsbury, translated by the Rev. J. Sharpe, 4to. _Lond._ 1815, p. 107. [323] MS. _Cottonian Domit._ A. viii. fol. 128 b. [324] Saxon Chron. by Ingram, p. 343. [325] Dugdale's _Monastica_, vol. i. p. 534. Leland gives a list of the books he found there, but they only number about 20 volumes. See _Collect._ vol. iv. p. 159. [326] MS. Harleian, No. 627, fol. 8 a. "Liber Geneseos versificatus" probably Cædmon's Paraphrase was among them, and Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy. [327] Godwin Cat. of Bishops, p. 317. [328] Will. of Malms. de Gestis Pont. Savile Script. fol. 1601, p. 256, _apud Lotharingos altus et doctus_. [329] I use a transcript of the Exeter MS. collated by Sir F. Madden. _Additional MSS._ No. 9067. It is printed in Latin and Saxon from a old MS. In the Bodl. Auct. D. 2. 16. fol. 1 a; in Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. ii. p. 257, which varies a little from the Exeter transcript. [330] Bec is the plural of boc, a book. [331] See _Dr. Lingard's Hist. Anglo Sax. Church_, vol. i. p. 307, who cannot deny this entirely; see also _Lappenberg Hist. Eng._ vol. i. p. 202, who says that the mass was read partially in the Saxon tongue. _Hallam_ in his _Supplemental Notes_, p. 408, has a good note on the subject. [332] Hist. Litt. de la France, ix. p. 142. [333] Pet. Blesensis Opera, 4to. Mogunt. 1600. Ep. lxxxix. [334] Ep. xxvi. [335] Ep. lxvi. [336] Ep. cxxvii. [337] Ep. lvi. Yet we find that Charlemagne, in the year 795, granted the monks of the monastery of St. Bertin, in the time of Abbot Odlando, the privilege of hunting in his forests for the purpose of procuring leather to bind their books. "Odlando Abbate hujus loci abbas nonus, in omni bonitate suo prædecessori Hardrado coæqualis anno primo sui regiminis impetravit à rege Carolo privilegium venandi in silvis nostris et aliis ubicumque constitutis, ad volumina librorum tegænda, et manicas et zonas habendas. Salvis forestis regiis, quod sic incipit. Carolus Dei gratia Rex Francorum et Longobardorum ac patricius Romanorum, etc., data Septimo Kal. Aprilis, anno xxvi. regni nostri." Martene Thasaurus Nov. Anecdotorum iii. 498. _Warton_ mentions a similar instance of a grant to the monks of St. Sithin, _Dissert._ ii. _prefixed to Hist. of Eng. Poetry_, but he quotes it with some sad misrepresentations, and refers to _Mabillon De re Diplomatica_, 611. Mr. Maitland, in his _Dark Ages_, has shown the absurdity of Warton's inferences from the fact, and proved that it was to the servants, or _eorum homines_, that Charlemagne granted this uncanonical privilege, p. 216. But I find no such restriction in the case I have quoted above. Probably, however, it was thought needless to express what might be inferred, or to caution against a practice so uncongenial with the christian duties of a monk. [338] Ep. ci. p. 184. He afterwards quotes Livy, Tacitus, and many others. [339] Ep. xiv. He was fond of Quintus Curtius, and often read his history with much pleasure. Ep. ci. p. 184. [340] Ep. lxxvii. p. 81. [341] Ep. xciv. [342] Ep. xcii. and also lxxii. which is redundant with quotations from the poets. [343] Ep. xciv. p. 170. [344] Ep. lvii. [345] Ep. xii. [346] Ep. lxxvi. p. 132. [347] Ep. cxl. p. 253. [348] Ep. lxvi. p. 115. [349] Ep. xxxvii. p. 68. [350] Ep. cli. CHAPTER X. _Winchester famous for its Scribes.--Ethelwold and Godemann.--Anecdotes.--Library of the Monastery of Reading.--The Bible.--Library of Depying Priory.--Effects of Gospel Reading.--Catalogue of Ramsey Library.--Hebrew MSS.--Fine Classics, etc.--St. Edmund's Bury.--Church of Ely.--Canute, etc._ In the olden time the monks of Winchester[351] were renowned for their calligraphic and pictorial art. The choice book collectors of the day sought anxiously for volumes produced by these ingenious scribes, and paid extravagant prices for them. A superb specimen of their skill was executed for Bishop Ethelwold; that enlightened and benevolent prelate was a great patron of art and literature, and himself a grammaticus and poet of no mean pretensions. He did more than any other of his time to restore the architectural beauties which were damaged or destroyed by the fire and sword of the Danish invaders. His love of these undertakings, his industry in carrying them out, and the great talent he displayed in their restoration, is truly wonderful to observe. He is called by Wolstan, his biographer, "a great builder of churches, and divers other works."[352] He was fond of learning, and very liberal in diffusing the knowledge which he acquired; and used to instruct the young by reading to them the Latin authors, translated into the Saxon tongue. "He wrote a Saxion version of the Rule of Saint Benedict, which was so much admired, and so pleased King Edgar, that he granted to him the manor of Sudborn,[353] as a token of his approbation." Among a number of donations which he bequeathed to this monastery, twenty volumes are enumerated, embracing some writings of Bede and Isidore.[354] As a proof of his bibliomanical propensities, I refer the reader to the celebrated Benedictional of the Duke of Devonshire; that rich gem, with its resplendent illuminations, place it beyond the shadow of a doubt, and prove Ethelwold to have been an _amator librorum_ of consummate taste. This fine specimen of Saxon ingenuity is the production of a cloistered monk of Winchester, named Godemann, who transcribed it at the bishop's special desire, as we learn, from the following lines:-- "_Presentem Biblum iusset prescribere Presul. Wintoniæ Dus que fecerat esse Patronum Magnus Æthelwoldus._"[355] Godemann, the scribe, entreats the prayers of his readers, and wishes "all who gaze on this book to ever pray that after the end of the flesh I may inherit health in heaven: this is the fervent prayer of the scribe, the humble Godemann." This talented illuminator was chaplain to Ethelwold, and afterwards abbot of Thorney.[356] The choice Benedictional in the public library of Rouen is also ascribed to his elegant pen, and adds additional lustre of his artistic fame.[357] Most readers have heard of Walter, (who was prior of St. Swithin in 1174,) giving twelve measures of barley and a pall, on which was embroidered in silver the history of St. Berinus converting a Saxon king, for a fine copy of Bede's Homilies and St. Austin's Psalter;[358] and of Henry, a monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Hyde, near there, who transcribed, in the year 1178, Terence, Boethius, Seutonius and Claudian; and richly illuminated and bound them, which he exchanged with a neighboring bibliophile for a life of St. Christopher, St. Gregory's Pastoral Care, and four Missals.[359] Nicholas, Bishop of Winchester, left one hundred marks and a Bible, with a fine gloss, in two large volumes, to the convent of St. Swithin. John de Pontissara, who succeeded that bishop in the year 1282, borrowed this valuable manuscript to benefit and improve his biblical knowledge by a perusal of its numerous notes. So great was their regard for this precious gift, that the monks demanded a bond for its return; a circumstance which has caused some doubt as to the plenitude of the Holy Scriptures in the English Church during that period; at least among those who have only casually glanced at the subject. I may as well notice that the ancient Psalter in the Cottonian Library[360] was written about the year 1035, by the "most humble brother and monk Ælsinus," of Hyde Abbey. The table prefixed to the volume records the deaths of other eminent scribes and illuminators, whose names are mingled with the great men of the day;[361] showing how esteemed they were, and how honorable was their avocation. Thus under the 15th of May we find "_Obitus Ætherici mº picto_;" and again, under the 5th of July, "_Obit Wulfrici mº pictoris_." Many were the choice transcripts made and adorned by the Winchester monks. The monastery of Reading, in Berkshire, possessed during the reign of Henry the Third a choice library of a hundred and fifty volumes. It is printed in the Supplement to the History of Reading, from the original prefixed to the Woollascot manuscripts. But it is copied very inaccurately, and with many grievous omissions; nevertheless it will suffice to enable us to gain a knowledge of the class of books most admired by the monks of Reading; and the Christian reader will be glad to learn that the catalogue opens, as usual, with the Holy Scriptures. Indeed no less than four fine large and complete copies of the Bible are enumerated. The first in two volumes; the second in three volumes; the third in two, and the fourth in the same number which was transcribed by the _Cantor_, and kept in the cloisters for the use of the monks. But in addition to these, which are in themselves quite sufficient to exculpate the monks from any charge of negligence of Bible reading, we find a long list of separate portions of the Old and New Testament; besides many of the most important works of the Fathers, and productions of mediæval learning, as the following names will testify:-- Ambrose. Augustine. Basil. Bede. Cassidorus. Eusebius. Gregory. Hilarius. Jerome. Josephus. Lombard. Macrobius. Origen. Plato. Prosper. Rabanus Maurus. They possessed also the works of Geoffry of Monmouth; the _Vita Karoli et Alexandri et gesta Normannorum_; a "Ystoria Rading," and many others equally interesting; and among the books given by Radbert of Witchir, we find a Juvenal, the Bucolics and Georgics of Virgil, and the "Ode et Poetria et Sermone et Epistole Oratii." But certainly the most striking characteristic is the fine biblical collection contained in their library, which is well worthy our attention, if not our admiration: not but that we find them in other libraries much less extensive. In those monasteries whose poverty would not allow the purchase of books in any quantity, and whose libraries could boast but of some twenty or thirty volumes, it is scarcely to be expected that they should be found rich in profane literature; but it is deeply gratifying to find, as we generally do, the Bible first on their little list; conveying a proof by this prominence, in a quiet but expressive way, how highly they esteemed that holy volume, and how essential they deemed its possession. Would that they had profited more by its holy precepts! We find an instance of this, and a proof of their fondness for the Bible, in the catalogue of the books in Depying Priory,[362] in Lincolnshire; which, containing a collection of twenty-three volumes, enumerates a copy of the Bible first on the humble list. The catalogue is as follows:-- These are the books in the library of the monks of Depying.[363] The Bible. The first part of the Morals of Pope St. Gregory. The second part of the Morals by the same. Book of Divine Offices. Gesta Britonorum. Tracts of Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, on Confession, with other compilations. Martyrologium, with the Rules of St. Benedict; Passion of St. James, with other books. Constitutions of Pope Benedict. History of the Island of Ely. Hugucio de dono fratris Johannis Tiryngham. Homilies of the blessed Gregory. Constitutions of Pope Clement XII. Book of the Virtues and Vices. Majester Historiarum. Sacramentary given by Master John Swarby, Rector of the Church of St. Guthlac. One great Portoforium for the use of the Brothers. Two ditto. Two Psalters for the use of the Brothers. Three Missals for the use of the Brothers. There is not much in this scanty collection, the loss of which we need lament; nor does it inspire us with a very high notion of the learning of the monks of Depying Priory. Yet how cheering it is to find that the Bible was studied in this little cell; and I trust the monk often drew from it many words of comfort and consolation. Where is the reader who will not regard these instances of Bible reading with pleasure? Where is the Christian who will not rejoice that the Gospel of Christ was read and loved in the turbulent days of the Norman monarchs? Where is the philosopher who will affirm that we owe nothing to this silent but effectual and fervent study? Where is he who will maintain that the influence of the blessed and abundant charity--the cheering promises, and the sweet admonitions of love and mercy with which the Gospels overflow--aided nothing in the progress of civilization? Where is the Bible student who will believe that all this reading of the Scriptures was unprofitable because, forsooth, a monk preached and taught it to the multitude? Let the historian open his volumes with a new interest, and ponder over their pages with a fresh spirit of inquiry; let him read of days of darkness and barbarity; and as he peruses on, trace the origin of the light whose brightness drove the darkness and barbarity away. How much will he trace to the Bible's influence; how often will he be compelled to enter a convent wall to find in the gospel student the one who shone as a redeeming light in those old days of iniquity and sin; and will he deny to the Christian priest his gratitude and love, because he wore the cowl and mantle of a monk, or because he loved to read of saints whose lives were mingled with lying legends, or because he chose a life which to us looks dreary, cold, and heartless. Will he deny him a grateful recollection when he reads of how much good he was permitted to achieve in the Church of Christ; of how many a doubting heart he reassured; of how many a soul he fired with a true spark of Christian love; when he reads of how the monk preached the faith of Christ, and how often he led some wandering pilgrim into the path of vital truth by the sweet words of the dear religion which he taught; when he reads that the hearts of many a Norman chief was softened by the sweetness of the gospel's voice, and his evil passions were lulled by the hymn of praise which the monk devoutly sang to his Master in heaven above. But speaking of the existence of the Bible among the monks puts me in mind of the Abbey of Ramsey and its fine old library of books, which was particularly rich in biblical treasures. Even superior to Reading, as regards its biblical collection, was the library of Ramsey. A portion of an old catalogue of the library of this monastery has been preserved, apparently transcribed about the beginning of the fourteenth century, during the warlike reign of Richard the Second. It is one of the richest and most interesting relics of its kind extant, at least of those to be found in our own public libraries; and a perusal of it will not fail to leave an impression on the mind that the monks were far wealthier in their literary stores than we previously imagined. Originally on two or three skins, it is now torn into five separate pieces,[364] and in other respects much dilapidated. The writing also in some parts is nearly obliterated, so as to render the document scarcely readable. It is much to be regretted that this interesting catalogue is but a portion of the original; in its complete form it would probably have described twice as many volumes; but a fragment as it is, it nevertheless contains the titles of more than _eleven hundred books_, with the names of many of their donors attached. A creditable and right worthy testimonial this, of the learning and love of books prevalent among the monks of Ramsey Monastery. More than seven hundred of this goodly number were of a miscellaneous nature, and the rest were principally books used in the performance of divine service. Among these there were no less than seventy Breviaries; thirty-two Grails; twenty-nine Processionals; and one hundred Psalters! The reader will regard most of these as superstitious and useless; nor should I remark upon them did they not show that books were not so scarce in those times as we suppose; as this prodigality satisfactorily proves, and moreover testifies to the unceasing industry of the monkish scribes. We who are used to the speed of the printing press and its fertile abundance can form an opinion of the labor necessary to transcribe this formidable array of papistical literature. Four hundred volumes transcribed with the plodding pen! each word collated and each page diligently revised, lest a blunder or a misspelt syllable should blemish those books so deeply venerated. What long years of dry tedious labor and monotonous industry was here! But the other portion of the catalogue fully compensates for this vast proportion of ecclesiastical volumes. Besides several _Biblia optima in duobus voluminibus_, or complete copies of the Bible, many separate books of the inspired writers are noted down; indeed the catalogue lays before us a superb array of fine biblical treasures, rendered doubly valuable by copious and useful glossaries; and embracing many a rare Hebrew MS. Bible, _bibliotheca hebraice_, and precious commentary. I count no less than twenty volumes in this ancient language. But we often find Hebrew manuscripts in the monastic catalogues after the eleventh century. The Jews, who came over in great numbers about that time, were possessed of many valuable books, and spread a knowledge of their language and literature among the students of the monasteries. And when the cruel persecution commenced against them in the thirteenth century, they disposed of their books, which were generally bought up by the monks, who were ever hungry after such acquisitions. Gregory, prior of Ramsey, collected a great quantity of Hebrew MSS. in this way, and highly esteemed the language, in which he became deeply learned. At his death, in the year 1250, he left them to the library of his monastery.[365] Nor was my lord prior a solitary instance; many others of the same abbey, inspired by his example and aided by his books, studied the Hebrew with equal success. Brother Dodford, the Armarian, and Holbeach, a monk, displayed their erudition in writing a Hebrew lexicon.[366] The library of Ramsey was also remarkably rich in patristic lore. They gloried in the possession of the works of Ambrose, Augustine, Anselm, Basil, Boniface, Bernard, Gregory, and many others equally voluminous. But it was not exclusively to the study of such matters that these monks applied their minds, they possessed a taste for other branches of literature besides. They read histories of the church, histories of England, of Normandy, of the Jews; and histories of scholastic philosophy, and many old chronicles which reposed on their shelves. In science they appear to have been equally studious, for the catalogue enumerates works on medicine, natural history, philosophy, mathematics, logic, dialects, arithmetic and music! Who will say after this that the monks were ignorant of the sciences and careless of the arts? The classical student has perhaps ere this condemned them for their want of taste, and felt indignant at the absence of those authors of antiquity whose names and works he venerates. But the monks, far from neglecting those precious volumes, were ever careful of their preservation; they loved Virgil, Horace, and even Ovid, "heathen dogs" as they were, and enjoyed a keen relish for their beauties. I find in this catalogue the following choice names of antiquity occur repeatedly:-- Aristotle. Arian. Boethius. Claudius. Dionysius. Donatus. Horace. Josephus. Justin. Lucan. Martial. Macrobius. Orosius. Ovid. Plato. Priscian. Prudentius. Seneca. Sallust. Solinus. Terence. Virgil. Here were rich mines of ancient eloquence, and fragrant flowers of poesy to enliven and perfume the dull cloister studies of the monks. It is not every library or reading society even of our own time that possess so many gems of old. But other treasures might yet be named which still further testify to the varied tastes and literary pursuits of these monastic bibliophiles; but I shall content myself with naming Peter of Blois, the Sentences of Peter Lombard, of which they had several copies, some enriched with choice commentaries and notes, the works of Thomas Aquinas and others of his class, a "Liber Ricardi," Dictionaries, Grammars, and the writings of "Majestri Robi Grostete," the celebrated Bishop of Lincoln, renowned as a great _amator librorum_ and collector of Grecian literature. I might easily swell this notice out to a considerable extent by enumerating many other book treasures in this curious collection: but enough has been said to enable the reader to judge of the sort of literature the monks of Ramsey collected and the books they read; and if he should feel inclined to pursue the inquiry further, I must refer him to the original manuscript, promising him much gratification for his trouble.[367] It only remains for me to say that the Vandalism of the Reformation swept all traces of this fine library away, save the broken, tattered catalogue we have just examined. But this is more than has been spared from some. The abbey of St. Edmunds Bury[368] at one time must have enjoyed a copious library, but we have no catalogue that I am aware of to tell of its nature, not even a passing notice of its well-stored shelves, except a few lines in which Leland mentions some of the old manuscripts he found therein.[369] But a catalogue of their library in the flourishing days of their monastery would have disclosed, I imagine, many curious works, and probably some singular writings on the "_crafft off medycyne_," which Abbot Baldwin, "_phesean_" to Edward the Confessor,[370] had given the monks, and of whom Lydgate thus speaks-- "Baldewynus, a monk off Seynt Denys, Gretly expert in crafft of medycyne; Full provydent off counsayl and right wys, Sad off his port, functuons off doctryne; After by grace and influence devyne, Choose off Bury Abbot, as I reede The thyrdde in order that did ther succeade."[371] We may equally deplore the loss of the catalogue of the monastery of Ely, which, during the middle ages, we have every reason to suppose possessed a library of much value and extent. This old monastery can trace its foundation back to a remote period, and claim as its foundress, Etheldredæ,[372] the daughter of Anna, King of the East Angles, she was the wife of King Ecgfrid,[373] with whom she lived for twelve long years, though during that time she preserved the glory of perfect virginity, much to the annoyance of her royal spouse, who offered money and lands to induce that illustrious virgin to waver in her resolution, but without success. Her inflexible determination at length induced her husband to grant her oft-repeated prayer; and in the year 673 she retired into the seclusion of monastic life,[374] and building the monastery of Ely, devoted her days to the praise and glory of her heavenly King. Her pure and pious life caused others speedily to follow her example, and she soon became the virgin-mother of a numerous progeny dedicated to God. A series of astounding miracles attended her monastic life; and sixteen years after her death, when her sister, the succeeding abbess, opened her wooden coffin to transfer her body to a more costly one of marble, that "holy virgin and spouse of Christ" was found entirely free from corruption or decay.[375] A nunnery, glorying in so pure a foundress, grew and flourished, and for "two hundred years existed in the full observance of monastic discipline;" but on the coming of the Danes in the year 870, those sad destroyers of religious establishments laid it in a heap of ruins, in which desolate condition it remained till it attracted the attention of the celebrated Ethelwold, who under the patronage of King Edgar restored it; and endowing it with considerable privileges appointed Brithnoth, Prior of Winchester, its first abbot.[376] Many years after, when Leoffin was abbot there, and Canute was king, that monarch honored the monastery of Ely with his presence on several occasions. Monkish traditions say, that on one of these visits as the king approached, he heard the pious inmates of the monastery chanting their hymn of praise; and so melodious were the voices of the devotees, that his royal heart was touched, and he poured forth his feelings in a Saxon ballad, commencing thus: "Merry sang the monks of Ely, When Canute the king was sailing by; Row ye knights near the land, And let us hear these monks song."[377] It reads smoother in Strutt's version; he renders it "Cheerful sang the monk of Ely, When Canute the king was passing by; Row to the shore knights, said the king, And let us hear these churchmen sing."[378] In addition to the title of a poet, Canute has also received the appellation of a bibliomaniac. Dibdin, in his bibliomania, mentions in a cursory manner a few monkish book collectors, and introduces Canute among them.[379] The illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels in the Danish tongue, now in the British Museum, he writes, "and once that monarch's own book leaves not the shadow of a doubt of his bibliomanical character!" I cannot however allow him that title upon such equivocal grounds; for upon examination, the MS. turns out to be in the Theotisc dialect, possessing no illuminations of its own, and never perhaps once in the hands of the royal poet.[380] From the account books of Ely church we may infer that the monks there enjoyed a tolerable library; for we find frequent entries of money having been expended for books and materials connected with the library; thus in the year 1300 we find that they bought at one time five dozen parchment, four pounds of ink, eight calf and four sheep-skins for binding books; and afterwards there is another entry of five dozen vellum and six pair of book clasps, a book of decretals for the library, 3s., a Speculum Gregor, 2s., and "_Pro tabula Paschalis fac denova et illuminand_," 4s.[381] They frequently perhaps sent one of the monks to distants parts to purchase or borrow books for their library; a curious instance of this occurs under the year 1329, when they paid "the precentor for going to Balsham to enquire for books, 6s. 7d." The bookbinder two weeks' wages, 4s.; twelve iron chains to fasten books, 4s.; five dozen vellum, 25s. 8d. In the year 1396, they paid their librarian 53s. 4d., and a tunic for his services during one year.[382] Nigel, Bishop of Ely, by endowing the Scriptorium, enabled the monks to produce some excellent transcripts; they added several books of Cassiodorus, Bede, Aldelem, Radbert, Andres, etc., to the library;[383] and they possessed at one time no less than thirteen fine copies of the Gospels, which were beautifully bound in gold and silver.[384] FOOTNOTES: [351] Those learned in such matters refer the foundation of Winchester cathedral and monastery to a remote period. An old writer says that it was "built by King Lucius, who, abolishing Paganisme, embraced Christ the first yere of his reigne, being the yeere of our Lord 180."--_Godwin's Cat._ p. 157. See also _Usher de Primordiis_. fo. 126. [352] "Ecclesiarum ac diversorum operum magnus ædificator, et dum esset abbas et dum esset episcopus."--_Wolstan. Vita Æthelw. ap. Mabillon Actæ S. S. Benedict, Sæc._ v. p. 614. [353] Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. p. 614. [354] MS. belonging to the Society of Antiquaries, No. 60, fo. 34. See Dugdale Monast. vol. i. p. 382. He gave to the monks of Abingdon a copy of the Gospels cased in silver, ornamented with gold and precious stones. [355] _Archæologia_, vol. xxiv. p. 22; and _Dibdin's_ delightful "_Decameron_," vol. i. p. lix. [356] Wuls. Act. S. S. Benedict. p. 616. [357] Archæolog. vol. xxiv. [358] Regist. Priorat. S. Swithin Winton.--_Warton_ II, _Dissert._ [359] _Ibid._ [360] _Marked Titus_, D. 27. [361] It is called "_Calendarium, in quo notantur dies obitus plurimorum monachorum, abbatum, etc.; temp. regum Anglo-Saxonum_." [362] It was a little cell dependant on the Abbey of Thorney. [363] MS. _Harleian_, No. 3658, fo. 74, b. It will be found printed in _Dugdale's Monasticon_, vol. iv. p. 167. The catalogue was evidently written about the year 1350. [364] Cottonian Charta, 11-16. I am sorry to observe so little attention paid to this curious fragment, which, insignificant as it may appear to some, is nevertheless quite a curiosity of literature in its way. Its tattered condition calls for the care of Sir Frederick Madden. [365] Leland Script. Brit. p. 321, and MSS. Bibl. Lambeth, Wharton, L. p. 661. Libris Prioris Gregorii de Ramsey, _Prima pars Bibliothecæ Hebraice_, etc. Warton Dissert ii. Eng. Poetry. [366] Bale, iv. 41, et ix. 9. Leland. Scrip. Brit. p. 452. [367] Ailward, Bishop of London, gave many books to the library of Ramsey monastery, _Hoveden Scrip. post. Bedam._ 1596, fol. 252. Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. ii. [368] In the year 1327, the inhabitants of Bury besieged the abbey, wounded the monks, and "bare out of the abbey all the gold, silver ornaments, _bookes, charters, and other writings_." Stowe Annals, p. 353. [369] He particularly notices a Sallust, a very ancient copy, _vetustis simus_. [370] And also to Lanfranc, he was elected in the year 1065. [371] Harleian MS. No. 2278. [372] Or Atheldryth. [373] The youngest son of Osway, King of Northumbria; he succeeded to the throne on the death of his father in the year 670. [374] She seems to have been principally encouraged in this fanatical determination by Wilfrid; probably this was one of the causes of Ecgfrid's displeasure towards him. So highly was the purity of the body regarded in the early Saxon church, that Aldhelm wrote a piece in its praise, in imitation of the style of Sedulius, but in most extravagant terms. Bede wrote a poem, solely to commemorate the chastety of Etheldreda. "Let Maro wars in loftier numbers sing I sound the praises of our heavenly King; Chaste is my verse, nor Helen's rape I write, Light tales like these, but prove the mind as light." _Bede's Eccl. Hist. by Giles_, b. iv. c. xx. [375] Bede's Eccl. Hist. b. iv. c. xx. [376] Saxon Chronicle translated by Ingram, p. 118. Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. p. 458. [377] Sharon Turner's Hist. of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. p. 288. [378] Strutt's Saxon Antiquities, vol. i. p. 83. [379] _Dibdin's Bibliomania_, p. 228. [380] Dibdin alludes to the "Harmony of the Four Gospels," preserved among the Cotton MSS. _Caligula_, A. vii. and described as "_Harmonia Evangeliorum, lingua Francica capitulis, 71, Liber quondam (dicit Jamesius) Canuti regis_." See also Hicke's Gram. Franco-Theotisca, p. 6. But there is no ground for the supposition that it belonged to Canute; and the several fine historical illuminations bound up with it are evidently of a much later age. [381] An entry occurs of 6s. 8d. for writing two processionals. [382] Stevenson's Suppl. to Bentham's church of Ely, p. 52. "It is worth notice," says Stevenson, "that in the course of a few years, about the middle of the 14th century, the precentor purchased upwards of seventy dozen parchment and thirty dozen vellum." [383] Spelman Antiquarii Collectanea, vol. iii. p. 273. Nigel, who was made bishop in 1133, was plundered by some of King Stephen's soldiers, and robbed of his own copy of the Gospels which he had adorned with many sacred relics; see _Anglia Sacra_, i. p. 622. [384] _Warton's Anglia Sacra_, it is related that William Longchamp, bishop in 1199, sold them to raise money towards the redemption of King Richard, _pro Regis Ricardi redemptione_, tom. i. 633. Dugd. Monast. i. p. 463. CHAPTER XI. _St. Alban's.--Willigod.--Bones of St. Alban.--Eadmer.--Norman Conquest.--Paul and the Scriptorium.--Geoffry de Gorham.--Brekspere the "Poor Clerk".--Abbot Simon and his "multis voluminibus".--Raymond the Prior.--Wentmore.--Whethamstede.--Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester.--Lydgate.--Guy, Earl of Warwick._ The efficacy of "Good Works" was a principle ever inculcated by the monks of old. It is sad to reflect, that vile deeds and black intentions were too readily forgiven and absolved by the Church on the performance of some _good deed_; or that the monks should dare to shelter or to gloss over those sins which their priestly duty bound them to condemn, because forsooth some wealthy baron could spare a portion of his broad lands or coffered gold to extenuate them. But this forms one of the dark stains of the monastic system; and the monks, I am sorry to say, were more readily inclined to overlook the blemish, because it proved so profitable to their order. And thus it was, that the proud and noble monastery of St. Alban's was endowed by a murderer's hand, and built to allay the fierce tortures of an assassin's conscience. Ethelbert, king of the East Angles, fell by the regal hand of Offa, king of Mercia; and from the era of that black and guilty deed many a fine monastery dates its origin and owes its birth. St. Alban's was founded, as its name implies, in honor of the English protomartyr, whose bones were said to have been discovered on that interesting site, and afterwards preserved with veneration in the abbey. In the ancient times, the building appears to have covered a considerable space, and to have been of great magnitude and power; for ruins of its former structure mark how far and wide the foundation spreads. "The glorious king Offa," as the monks in their adulation style him, richly endowed the monastery on its completion, as we learn from the old chronicles of the abbey; and a succession of potent sovereigns are emblazoned on the glittering parchment, whose liberalty augmented or confirmed these privileges.[385] Willigod, the first abbot, greatly enriched the monastery, and bestowed especial care upon the relics of St. Alban. It is curious to mark how many perils those shrivelled bones escaped, and with what anxious care the monks preserved them. In the year 930, during the time of Abbot Eadfrid, the Danes attacked the abbey, and after many destroying acts broke open the repository, and carried away some of the bones of St. Alban into their own country.[386] The monks took greater care than ever of the remaining relics; and their anxiety for their safety, and the veneration with which they regarded them, is curiously illustrated by an anecdote of Abbot Leofric, elected in the year 1006. His abbacy was, therefore, held in troubled times; and in the midst of fresh invasions and Danish cruelties. Fearing lest they should a second time reach the abbey, he determined to protect by stratagem what he could not effect by force. After hiding the genuine bones of St. Alban in a place quite secure from discovery, he sent an open message to the Abbot of Ely, entreating permission to deposit the holy relics in his keeping; and offering, as a plausible reason, that the monastery of Ely, being surrounded by marshy and impenetrable bogs, was secure from the approaches of the barbarians. He accompanied this message with some false relics--the remains of an old monk belonging to the abbey enclosed in a coffin--and sent with them a worn antiquated looking mantle, pretending that it formerly belonged to Amphibalus, the master of St. Alban.[387] The monks of Ely joyfully received these precious bones, and displayed perhaps too much eagerness in doing so. Certain it is, that when the danger was past and the quietude of the country was restored, Leofric, on applying for the restitution of these "holy relics," found some difficulty in obtaining them; for the Abbot of Ely attempted by equivocation and duplicity to retain them. After several ineffectual applications, Leofric was compelled, for the honor of his monastery, to declare the "pious fraud" he had practised; which he proved by the testimony of several monks of his fraternity, who were witnesses of the transaction. It is said, that Edward the Confessor was highly incensed at the conduct of the Abbot of Ely. I have stated elsewhere, that the learned and pious Ælfric gave the monastery many choice volumes. His successor, Ealdred, abbot, about the year 955, was quite an antiquary in his way; and no spot in England afforded so many opportunities to gratify his taste as the site of the ancient city of Verulam. He commenced an extensive search among the ruins, and rescued from the earth a vast quantity of interesting and valuable remains. He stowed all the stone-work and other materials which were serviceable in building away, intending to erect a new edifice for the monks: but death prevented the consummation of these designs. Eadmer, his successor, a man of great piety and learning, followed up the pursuit, and made some important accessions to these stores. He found also a great number of gold and silver ornaments, specimens of ancient art, some of them of a most costly nature, but being idols or figures connected with heathen mythology, he cared not to preserve them. Matthew Paris is prolix in his account of the operations and discoveries of this abbot; and one portion of it is so interesting, and seems so connected with our subject, that I cannot refrain from giving it to the reader. "The abbot," he writes, "whilst digging out the walls and searching for the ruins which were buried in the earth in the midst of the ancient city, discovered many vestiges of the foundation of a great palace. In a recess in one of the walls he found the remains of a library, consisting of a number of books and rolls; and among them a volume in an unknown tongue, and which, although very ancient, had especially escaped destruction. This nobody in the monastery could read, nor could they at that time find any one who understood the writing or the idiom; it was exceedingly ancient, and the letters evidently were most beautifully formed; the inscriptions or titles were written in gold, and encircled with ornaments; bound in oak with silken bands, which still retained their strength and beauty; so perfectly was the volume preserved. But they could not conceive what the book was about; at last, after much search and diligent inquiry, they found a very feeble and aged priest, named Unwon, who was very learned in writings _literis bene eruditum_, and imbued with the knowledge of divers languages. He knew directly what the volume was about, and clearly and fluently read the contents; he also explained the other _Codices_ found in the same library _in eodem Almariolo_ of the palace with the greatest ease, and showed them to be written in the characters formerly in use among the inhabitants of Verulam, and in the language of the ancient Britons. Some, however, were in Latin; but the book before-mentioned was found to be the history of Saint Alban, the English proto-martyr, according to that mentioned by Bede, as having been daily used in the church. Among the other books were discovered many contrivances for the invocation and idolatrous rites of the people of Verulam, in which it was evident that Phoebus the god Sol was especially invoked and worshipped; and after him Mercury, called in English Woden, who was the god of the merchants. The books which contained these diabolical inventions they cast away and burnt; but that precious treasure, the history of Saint Alban, they preserved, and the priest before-mentioned was appointed to translate the ancient English or British into the vulgar tongue.[388] By the prudence of the Abbot Eadmer, the brothers of the convent made a faithful copy, and diligently explained it in their public teaching; they also translated it into Latin, in which it is now known and read; the historian adds that the ancient and original copy, which was so curiously written, instantaneously crumbled into dust and was destroyed for ever."[389] Although the attention of the Saxon abbots was especially directed to literary matters, and to the affairs connected with the making of books, we find no definite mention of a Scriptorium, or of manuscripts having been transcribed as a regular and systematic duty, till after the Norman conquest. That event happened during the abbacy of Frederic, and was one which greatly influenced the learning of the monks. Indeed, I regard the Norman conquest as a most propitious event for English literature, and one which wrought a vast change in the aspect of monastic learning; the student of those times cannot fail to perceive the revolution which then took place in the cloisters; visibly accomplished by the installation of Norman bishops and the importation of Norman monks, who in the well regulated monasteries of France and Normandy had been initiated into a more general course of study, and brought up in a better system of mental training than was known here at that time. But poor Frederic, a conscientious and worthy monk, suffered severely by that event, and was ultimately obliged to seek refuge in the monastery of Ely to evade the displeasure of the new sovereign; but his earthly course was well nigh run, for three days after, death released him from his worldly troubles, and deprived the conqueror of a victim. Paul, the first of the Norman abbots, was appointed by the king in the year 1077. He was zealous and industrious in the interest of the abbey, and obtained the restitution of many lands and possessions of which it had been deprived; he rebuilt the old and almost ruined church, and employed for that purpose many of the materials which his predecessors had collected from the ruins of Verulam; and even now, I believe, some remnants of these Roman tiles, etc., may be discerned. He moreover obtained many important grants and valuable donations; among others a layman named Robert, one of the Norman leaders, gave him two parts of the tythes of his domain at Hatfield, which he had received from the king at the distribution. "This he assigned," says Matthew Paris, "to the disposal of Abbot Paul, who was a lover of the Scriptures, for the transcription of the necessary volumes for the monastery. He himself indeed was a learned soldier, and a diligent hearer and lover of Scripture; to this he also added the tythes of Redburn, appointing certain provisions to be given to the scribes; this he did out of "charity to the brothers that they may not thereby suffer, and that no impediment might be offered to the writers." The abbot thereupon sought and obtained from afar many renowned scribes, to write the necessary books for the monastery. And in return for these abundant favors, he presented, as a suitable gift to the warlike Robert, for the chapel in his palace at Hatfield, two pair of vestments, a silver cup, a missal, and the other needful books (_missale cum aliis libris necessariis_). Having thus presented to him the first volumes produced by his liberality, he proceeded to construct a scriptorium, which was set apart (_præelectos_) for the transcription of books; Lanfranc supplied the copies. They thus procured for the monastery twenty-eight notable volumes (_volumina notabilia_), also eight psalters, a book of collects, a book of epistles, a volume containing the gospels for the year, two copies of the gospels complete, bound in gold and silver, and ornamented with gems; besides ordinals, constitutions, missals, troapries, collects, and other books for the use of the library."[390] Thus blessed, we find the monks of St. Albans for ages after constantly acquiring fresh treasures, and multiplying their book stores by fruitful transcripts. There is scarce an abbot, whose portrait garnishes the fair manuscript before me, that is not represented with some goodly tomes spread around him, or who is not mentioned as a choice "_amator librorum_," in these monkish pages. It is a singular circumstance, when we consider how bookless those ages are supposed to have been, that the illuminated portraits of the monks are most frequently depicted with some ponderous volume before them, as if the idea of a monk and the study of a book were quite inseparable. During my search among the old manuscripts quoted in this work, this fact has been so repeatedly forced upon my attention that I am tempted to regard it as an important hint, and one which speaks favorably for the love of books and learning among the cowled devotees of the monasteries. Passing Richard de Albani, who gave them a copy of the gospels, a missal written in letters of gold, an other precious volumes whose titles are unrecorded,[391] we come to Geoffry, a native of Gorham, who was elected abbot in the year 1119. He had been invited over to England (before he became a priest) by his predecessor, to superintend the school of St. Albans; but he delayed the voyage so long, that on his arrival he found the appointment already filled; on this he went to Dunstable, where he read lectures, and obtained some pupils. It was during his stay there that he wrote the piece which has obtained for him so much reputation. _Ubi quendam ludum de Sancta Katarinæ quem miracula vulgariter appellamus fecit_, says the Cotton manuscripts, on the vellum page of which he is portrayed in the act of writing it.[392] Geoffry, from this passage, is supposed to be the first author of dramatic literature in England; although the title seems somewhat equivocal, from the casual manner in which his famous play of St. Catherine is thus mentioned by Matthew Paris. Of its merits we are still less able to form an opinion; for nothing more than the name of that much talked of miracle play has been preserved. We may conclude, however, that it was performed with all the paraphernalia of scenery and characteristic costume; for he borrowed of the sacrist of St. Albans some copes for this purpose. On the night following the representation the house in which he resided was burnt; and, says the historian, all his books, and the copes he had borrowed were destroyed. Rendered poor indeed by this calamity, and somewhat reflecting upon himself for the event, he assumed in sorrow and despair the religious habit, and entered the monastery of St. Albans; where by his deep study, his learning and his piety, he so gained the hearts of his fraternity, that he ultimately became their abbot. He is said to have been very industrious in the transcription of books; and he "made a missal bound in gold, _auro ridimitum_, and another in two volumes; both incomparably illuminated in gold, and written in a clear and legible hand; also a precious Psalter similarly illuminated; a book containing the Benedictions and the Sacraments; a book of Exorcisms, and a Collectaria."[393] Geoffry was succeeded by Ralph de Gobium in the year 1143: he was a monk remarkable for his learning and his bibliomanical pursuits. He formerly remained some time in the services of Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, and gained the esteem of that prelate. His book-loving passion arose from hearing one "Master Wodon, of Italy, expound the doctrines of the Holy Scriptures." He from that time became a most enthusiastic _amator librorum_; and collected, with great diligence, an abundant multitude of books.[394] The matters in which he was concerned, his donations to the monastery, and the anecdotes of his life, are all unconnected with my subject; so that I am obliged to pass from this interesting monk, an undoubted bibliophile, from sheer want of information. I cannot but regret that the historian does not inform us more fully of his book collecting pursuits; but he is especially barren on that subject, although he highly esteems him for prosecuting that pleasing avocation. He died in the year 1151, in the fourteenth of King Stephen, and was followed by Robert de Gorham, who is also commemorated as a bibliophile in the pages of the Cotton manuscripts; and to judge from his portrait, and the intensity with which he pores over his volume, he was a hard and devoted student. He ordered the scribes to make a great many books; indeed, adds Paris the historian, who was himself somewhat of an _amator librorum_, "more by far than can be mentioned."[395] From another source we learn that these books were most sumptuously bound.[396] During the days of this learned abbot a devout and humble clerk asked admission at the abbey gate. Aspiring to a holy life, he ardently hoped, by thus spending his days in monastic seclusion, to render his heart more acceptable to God. Hearing his prayer, the monks conducted him into the presence of my Lord Abbot, who received him with compassionate tenderness, and kindly questioned him as to his qualifications for the duties and sacred responsibilities of the monkish priesthood; for even in those dark ages they looked a little into the learning of the applicant before he was admitted into their fraternity. But alas! the poor clerk was found wofully deficient in this respect, and was incapable of replying to the questions of my Lord Abbot, who thereupon gently answered, "My son, tarry awhile, and still exercise thyself in study, and so become more perfect for the holy office." Abashed and disappointed, he retired with a kindling blush of shame; and deeming this temporary repulse a positive refusal he left his fatherland, and started on a pilgrimage to France.[397] And who was this poor, humble, unlettered clerk? Who this simple layman, whose ignorance rendered him an unfit _socius_ for the plodding monks of old St. Albans Abbey? No less than the English born Nicholas Brekespere, afterwards his Holiness Adrian IV., Pope of Rome, Vicar-apostolic and successor of St. Peter! Yes; still bearing in mind the kind yet keen reproof of the English abbot, on his arrival in a foreign land he studied with all the depth and intensity of despair, and soon surpassed his companions in the pursuit of knowledge; and became so renowned for learning, and for his prudence, that he was made Canon of St. Rufus. His sagacity, moreover, caused him to be chosen, on three separate occasions, to undertake some important embassies to the apostolic see; and at length he was elected a cardinal. So step by step he finally became elevated to the high dignity of the popedom. The first and last of England's sons who held the keys of Peter. These shadows of the past--these shreds of a forgotten age--these echoes of five hundred years, are full of interest and instruction. For where shall we find a finer example--a more cheering instance of what perseverance will accomplish--or a more satisfactory result of the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties? Not only may these curious facts cheer the dull student now, and inspire him with that energy so essential to success, but these whisperings of old may serve as lessons for ages yet to come. For if _we_ look back upon those dark days with such feelings of superiority, may not the wiser generations of the future regard _us_ with a still more contemptuous, yet curious eye? And when they look back at our Franklins, and our Johnsons, in astonishment at such fine instances of what perseverance could do, and what energy and plodding industry could accomplish, even when surrounded with the difficulties of _our_ ignorance; how much more will they praise this bright example, in the dark background of the historical tableaux, who, without even our means of obtaining knowledge--our libraries or our talent--rose by patient, hard and devoted study, from Brekespere the humble clerk--the rejected of St. Albans--to the proud title of Vicar-apostolic of Christ and Pope of Rome! Simon, an Englishman, a clerk and a "man of letters and good morals," was elected abbot in the year 1167. All my authorities concur in bestowing upon him the honor and praise appertaining to a bibliomaniac. He was, says one, an especial lover of books, _librorum amator speciales_: and another in panegyric terms still further dubs him an _amator scripturarum_. All this he proved, and well earned the distinction, by the great encouragement he gave to the collecting and transcribing of books. The monkish pens he found moving too slow, and yielding less fruit than formerly. He soon, however, set them hard at work again; and to facilitate their labors, he added materially to the comforts of the Scriptorium by repairing and enlarging it; "and always," says the monk from whom I learn this, "kept two or three most choice scribes in the Camera (Scriptorium,) who sustained its reputation, and from whence an abundant supply of the most excellent books were continually produced.[398] He framed some efficient laws for its management, and ordered that, in subsequent times, every abbot should keep and support one able scribe at least. Among the 'many choice books and authentic volumes,' _volumina authentica_, which he by this care and industry added to the abbey library, was included a splendid copy of the Old and New Testament, transcribed with great accuracy and beautifully written--indeed, says the manuscript history of that monastery, so noble a copy was nowhere else to be seen.[399] But besides this, Abbot Simon gave them all those precious books which he had been for a 'long time' collecting himself at great cost and patient labor, and having bound them in a sumptuous and marvellous manner,[400] he made a library for their reception near the tomb of Roger the Hermit.[401] He also bestowed many rich ornaments and much costly plate on the monastery; and by a long catalogue of good deeds, too ample to be inserted here, he gained the affections and gratitude of his fraternity, who loudly praised his virtues and lamented his loss when they laid him in his costly tomb. There is a curious illumination of this monkish bibliophile in the Cotton manuscript. He is represented deeply engaged with his studies amidst a number of massy volumes, and a huge trunk is there before him crammed with rough old fashioned large clasped tomes, quite enticing to look upon."[402] After Simon came Garinus, who was soon succeeded by one John. Our attention is arrested by the learned renown of this abbot, who had studied in his youth at Paris, and obtained the unanimous praise of his masters for his assiduous attention and studious industry. He returned with these high honors, and was esteemed in grammar a Priscian, in poetry an Ovid, and in physic equal to Galen.[403] With such literary qualifications, it was to be expected the Scriptorium would flourish under his government, and the library increase under his fostering care. Our expectations are not disappointed; for many valuable additions were made during his abbacy, and the monks over whom he presided gave many manifestations of refinement and artistic talent, which incline us to regard the ingenuity of the cloisters in a more favorable light. Raymond, his prior, was a great help in all these undertakings. His industry seems to have been unceasing in beautifying the church, and looking after the transcription of books. With the assistance of Roger de Parco, the cellarer, he made a large table very handsome, and partly fabricated of metal. He wrote two copies of the Gospels, and bound them in silver and gold adorned with various figures. Brother Walter of Colchester, with Randulph, Gubium and others, produced some very handsome paintings comprising the evangelists and many holy saints, and hung them up in the church. "As we have before mentioned, by the care and industry of the lord Raymond, many noble and useful books were transcribed and given to the monastery. The most remarkable of these was a Historia Scholastica, with allegorics, a most elegant book--_liber elegantissimus_ exclaims my monkish authority."[404] This leads me to say something more of my lord prior, for the troubles which the conscientious conduct of old Raymond brought upon himself-- "Implores the passing tribute of a sigh." Be it known then that William de Trompington succeeded to the abbacy on the death of John; but he was a very different man, without much esteem for learning; and thinking I am afraid far more of the world and heaven or the _Domus Dei_. Alas! memoirs of bad monks and worldly abbots are sometimes found blotting the holy pages of the monkish annals. _Domus Dei est porta coeli_, said the monks; and when they closed the convent gates they did not look back on the world again, but entered on that dull and gloomy path with a full conviction that they were leaving all and following Christ, and so acting in accordance with his admonitions; but those who sought the convent to forget in its solitude their worldly cares and worldly disappointments, too often found how futile and how ineffectual was that dismal life to eradicate the grief of an overburdened heart, or to subdue the violence of misguided temper. The austerity of the monastic rules might tend to conquer passion or moderate despair, but there was little within those walls to drive painful recollections of the outward world away; for at every interval between their holy meditations and their monkish duties, images of the earth would crowd back upon their minds, and wring from their ascetic hearts tributes of anguish and despair; and so we find the writings and letters of the old monks full of vain regrets and misanthropic thoughts, but sometimes overflowing with the most touching pathos of human misery. Yet the monk knew full well what his duty was, and knew how sinful it was to repine or rebel against the will of God. If he vowed obedience to his abbot, he did not forget that obedience was doubly due to Him; and strove with all the strength that weak humanity could muster, to forget the darkness of the past by looking forward with a pious hope and a lively faith to the brightness and glory of the future. By constant prayer the monk thought more of his God, and gained help to strengthen the faith within him; and by assiduous and devoted study he disciplined his heart of flesh--tore from it what lingering affection for the world remained, and deserting all love of earth and all love of kin, purged and purified it for his holy calling, and closed its portals to render it inaccessible to all sympathy of blood. If a thought of those shut out from him by the monastic walls stole across his soul and mingled with his prayer, he started and trembled as if he had offered up an unholy desire in the supplication. To him it was a proof that his nature was not yet subdued; and a day of study and meditation, with a fast unbroken till the rays of the morrow's sun cast their light around his little cell, absolved the sin, and broke the tie that bound him to the world without. If this violence was experienced in subduing the tenderest of human sympathy; how much more severe was the conflict of dark passions only half subdued, or malignant depravity only partially reformed. These dark lines of human nature were sometimes prominent, even when the monk was clothed in sackcloth and ashes; and are markedly visible in the life of William de Trompington. But let not the reader think that he was appointed with the hearty suffrages of the fraternity, he was elected at the recommendation of the "king," a very significant term in those days of despotic rule, at which choice became a mere farce. "Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh;" and the monks soon began to perceive with regret and trembling the worldly ways of the new abbot, which he could not hide even under his abbatical robes. In a place dedicated to holy deeds and heavenly thoughts, worldly conduct or unbridled passion strikes the mind as doubly criminal, and loads the heart with dismay and suffering; at least so my lord Prior regarded it, whose righteous indignation could no longer endure these manifestations of a worldly mind. So he gently remonstrated with his superior, and hinted at the impropriety of such conduct. This was received not in Christian fellowship, but with haughty and passionate displeasure; and from that day the fate of poor Raymond was irrevocably sealed. The abbot thinking to suppress the dissatisfaction which was now becoming general and particularly inconvenient, sent him a long distance off to the cell of Tynmouth in Northumberland, where all were strangers to him. Nor could the tears of the old man turn the heart of his cruel lord, nor the rebellious murmurings of the brothers avail. Thank God such cases are not very frequent; and the reader of monkish annals will not find many instances of such cold and unfeeling cruelty to distress his studies or to arouse his indignation. But obedience was a matter of course in the monastery; it was one of the most imperative duties of the monk, and if not cheerfully he was compelled to manifest alacrity in fulfilling even the most unpleasant mandate. But I would have forgiven this transaction on the score of _expediency_ perhaps, had not the abbot heaped additional insults and cruelties upon the aged offender; but his books which he had transcribed with great diligence and care, he forcibly deprived him of, _violenter spoliatum_, and so robbed him, as his historian says, of all those things which would have been a comfort and solace to his old age.[405] The books which the abbot thus became dishonestly possessed of--for I cannot regard it in any other light--we are told he gave to the library of the monastery; and he also presented some books to more than one neighboring church.[406] But he was not bookworm himself, and dwelt I suspect with greater fondness over his wealthy rent roll than on the pages of the fine volumes in the monastic library. The monks, however, amidst all these troubles retained their love of books; indeed it was about this time that John de Basingstoke, who had studied at Athens, brought a valuable collection of Greek books into England, and greatly aided in diffusing a knowledge of that language into this country. He was deacon of Saint Albans, and taught many of the monks Greek; Nicholas, a chaplain there, became so proficient in it, that he was capable of greatly assisting bishop Grostete in translating his Testament of the twelve patriarchs into Latin.[407] Roger de Northone, the twenty-fourth abbot of Saint Albans, gave "many valuable and choice books to the monastery," and among them the commentaries of Raymond, Godfrey, and Bernard, and a book containing the works and discourses of Seneca. His bibliomaniacal propensities, and his industry in transcribing books, is indicated by an illumination representing this worthy abbot deeply engrossed with his ponderous volumes.[408] I have elsewhere related an anecdote of Wallingford, abbot of St. Albans, and the sale of books effected between him and Richard de Bury. It appears that rare and munificent collector gave many and various noble books, _multos et varios libros nobiles_, to the monastery of St. Albans whilst he was bishop of Durham.[409] Michael de Wentmore succeeded Wallingford, and proved a very valuable benefactor to the monastery; and by wise regulations and economy greatly increased the comforts and good order of the abbey. He gave many books, _plures libros_, to the library, besides two excellent Bibles,[410] one for the convent and one for the abbot's study, and to be kept especially for his private reading; an ordinal, very beautiful to look upon, being sumptuously bound.[411] Indeed, so _multis voluminibus_ did he bestow, that he expended more than 100_l._ in this way, an immense sum in those old days, when a halfpenny a day was deemed fair wages for a scribe.[412] Wentmore was succeeded by Thomas de la Mare, a man of singular learning, and remarkable as a patron of it in others; it was probably by his direction that John of Tynmouth wrote his Sanctilogium Britannæ, for that work was dedicated to him. A copy, presented by Thomas de la Mare to the church of Redburn, is in the British Museum, much injured by fire, but retaining at the end the following lines: "Hunc librum dedet Dominus Thomas de la Mare, Albas monasterii S. Albani Anglorum Proto martyris Deo et Ecclesiæ B. Amphibali de Redburn, ut fratris indem in cursu existentus per ejus lecturam poterint coelestibus instrui, et per Sanctorum exempla virtutibus insignixi."[413] But there are few who have obtained so much reputation as John de Whethamstede, perhaps the most learned abbot of this monastery. He was formerly monk of the cell at Tynmouth, and afterwards prior of Gloucester College at Oxford, from whence he was appointed to the government of St. Albans. Whethamstede was a passionate bibliomaniac, and when surrounded with his books he cared little, or perhaps from the absence of mind so often engendered by the delights of study, he too frequently forgot, the important affairs of his monastery, and the responsible duties of an abbot; but absorbed as he was with his studies, Whethamstede was not a mere ..... "Bookful blockhead ignorantly read With loads of learned lumber in his head." It is true he was an inveterate reader, amorously inclined towards vellum tomes and illuminated parchments; but he did not covet them like some collectors for the mere pride of possessing them, but gloried in feasting on their intellectual charms and delectable wisdom, and sought in their attractive pages the means of becoming a better Christian and a wiser man. But he was so excessively fond of books, and became so deeply engrossed with his book-collecting pursuits, that it is said some of the monks showed a little dissatisfaction at his consequent neglect of the affairs of the monastery; but these are faults I cannot find the heart to blame him for, but am inclined to consider his conduct fully redeemed by the valuable encouragement he gave to literature and learning. Generous to a fault, abundant in good deeds and costly expenditure, he became involved in pecuniary difficulties, and found that the splendor and wealth which he had scattered so lavishly around his monastery, and the treasures with which he had adorned the library shelves, had not only drained his ample coffers, but left a large balance unsatisfied. Influenced by this circumstance, and the murmurings of the monks, and perhaps too, hoping to obtain more time for study and book-collecting, he determined to resign his abbacy, and again become a simple brother. The proceedings relative to this affair are curiously related by a contemporary, John of Amersham.[414] In Whethamstede's address to the monks on this occasion, he thus explains his reasons for the step he was about to take. After a touching address, wherein he intimates his determination, he says,[415] "Ye have known moreover how, from the first day of my appointment even until this day, assiduously and continually without any intermission I have shown singular solicitude in four things, to wit, in the erection of conventual buildings, _in the writing of books_, in the renewal of vestments, and in the acquisition of property. And perhaps, by reason of this solicitude of mine, ye conceive that I have fallen into debt; yet that you may know, learn and understand what is in this matter the certain and plain truth, and when ye know it ye may report it unto others, know ye for certain, yea, for most certain, that for all these things about which, and in which I have expended money, I am not indebted to any one living more than 10,000 marks; but that I wish freely to acknowledge this debt, and so to make satisfaction to every creditor, that no survivor of any one in the world shall have to demand anything from my successor." The monks on hearing this declaration were sorely affected, and used every persuasion to induce my lord abbot to alter his determination, but without success; so that they were compelled to seek another in whom to confide the government of their abbey. Their choice fell upon John Stokes, who presided over them for many years; but at his death the love and respect which the brothers entertained for Whethamstede, was manifested by unanimously electing him again, an honor which he in return could not find the heart to decline. But during all this time, and after his restoration, he was constantly attending to the acquisition of books, and numerous were the transcripts made under his direction by the scribes and enriched by his munificence, for some of the most costly copies produced in that century were the fruits of their labor; during his time there were more volumes transcribed than in that of any other abbot since the foundation of the abbey, says the manuscript from whence I am gleaning these details, and adds that the number of them exceeded eighty-seven. He commenced the transcription of the great commentary of Nicholas de Lyra upon the whole Bible, which had then been published some few years. "Det Deus, ut in nostris felicem habere valeat consummacionem,"[416] exclaims the monk, nor will the reader be surprised at the expression, if he for one moment contemplates the magnitude of the undertaking. But not only was Whethamstede remarkable as a bibliomaniac--he claims considerable respect as an author. Some of his productions were more esteemed in his own time than now; being compilations and commentaries more adapted as a substitute for other books, than valuable as original works. Under this class I am inclined to place his Granarium, a large work in five volumes; full of miscellaneous extracts, etc., and somewhat partaking of the encyclopediac form; his Propinarium, in two volumes, also treating of general matters; his Pabularium and Palearium Poetarium, and his Proverbiarium, or book of Proverbs; to which may be added the many pieces relating to the affairs of the monastery. But far different must we regard many of his other productions, which are more important in a literary point of view, as calling for the exercise of a refined and cultivated mind, and no small share of critical acumen. Among these I must not forget to include his Chronicle,[417] which spreading over a space of twenty years, forms a valuable historical document. The rest are poetical narratives, embracing an account of Jack Cade's insurrection--the battles of Ferrybridge, Wakefield, and St. Albans.[418] A Cottonian manuscript contained a catalogue of the books which this worthy abbot compiled, or which were transcribed under his direction: unfortunately it was burnt, with many others forming part of that inestimable collection.[419] From another source we learn the names of some of them, and the cost incurred in their transcription.[420] Twenty marks were paid for copying his Granarium, in four volumes; forty shillings for his Palearium; the same for a Polycraticon of John of Salisbury; five pounds for a Boethius, with a gloss; upwards of six pounds for "a book of Cato," enriched with a gloss and table; and four pounds for Gorham upon Luke. Whethamstede ordered a Grael to be written so beautifully illuminated, and so superbly bound, as to be valued at the enormous sum of twenty pounds: but let it be remembered that my Lord Abbot was a very epicure in books, and thought a great deal of choice bindings, tall copies, immaculate parchment, and brilliant illuminations, and the high prices which he freely gave for these book treasures evince how sensible he was to the joys of bibliomania; nor am I inclined to regard the works thus attained as "mere monastic trash."[421] The finest illumination in the Cotton manuscript is a portrait of Abbot Whethamstede, which for artistic talent is far superior to any in the volume. Eight folios are occupied with an enumeration of the "good works" of this liberal monk: among the items we find the sum of forty pounds having been expended on a reading desk, and four pounds for writing four Antiphoners.[422] He displayed also great liberality of spirit in his benefactions to Gloucester College, at Oxford, besides great pecuniary aid. He built a library there, and gave many valuable books for the use of the students, in which he wrote these verses: Fratribus Oxonioe datur in minus liber iste, Per patrem pecorem prothomartyris Angligenorum: Quem si quis rapiat ad partem sive reponat, Vel Judæ loqueum, vel furcas sentiat; Amen. In others he wrote-- Discior ut docti fieret nova regia plebi Culta magisque deæ datur hic liber ara Minerva, Hic qui diis dictis libant holocausta ministrias. Et cirre bibulam sitiunt præ nectare lympham, Estque librique loci, idem datur, actor et unus.[423] If we estimate worth by comparison, we must award a large proportion to this learned abbot. Living in the most corrupt age of the monastic system, when the evils attendant on luxurious ease began to be too obvious in the cloister, and when complaints were heard at first in a whispering murmur, but anon in a stern loud voice of wroth and indignant remonstrance--when in fact the progressive, inquiring spirit of the reformation was taking root in what had hitherto been regarded as a hard, dry, stony soil. This coming tempest, only heard as yet like the lulling of a whisper, was nevertheless sufficiently loud to spread terror and dismay among the cowled habitants of the monasteries. That quietude and mental ease so indispensable to study--so requisite for the growth of thought and intellectuality, was disturbed by these distant sounds, or dissipated by their own indolence. And yet in the midst of all this, rendered still more anxious and perplexing by domestic troubles and signs of discontent and insubordination among the monks. Whethamstede found time, and what was better the spirit, for literary and bibliomanical pursuits. Honor to the man, monk though he be, who oppressed with these vicissitudes and cares could effect so much, and could appreciate both literature and art. Contemporary with him we are not surprised that he gained the patronage and friendship of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, to whom he dedicated many of his own performances, and greatly aided in collecting those treasures which the duke regarded with such esteem. It is said that noble collector frequently paid a friendly visit to the abbey to inspect the work of the monkish scribes, and perhaps to negociate for some of those choice vellum tomes for which the monks of that monastery were so renowned. But we must not pass the "good duke" without some slight notice of his "ryghte valiant deedes," his domestic troubles and his dark mysterious end. Old Foxe thus speaks of him in his Actes and Monuments: "Of manners he seemed meeke and gentle, louing the commonwealth, a supporter of the poore commons, of wit and wisdom, discrete and studious, well affected to religion and a friend to verity, and no lesse enemy to pride and ambition, especially in haughtie prelates, which was his undoing in this present evil world. And, which is seldom and rare in such princes of that calling, he was both learned himselfe and no lesse given to studie, and also a singular favourer and patron to those who were studious and learned."[424] To which I cannot refrain from adding the testimony of Hollingshed, who tells us that "The ornaments of his mind were both rare and admirable; the feats of chiualrie by him commensed and atchiued valiant and fortunate; his grauitie in counsell and soundnesse of policie profound and singular; all which with a traine of other excellent properties linked together, require a man of manifold gifts to aduance them according to their dignitie. I refer the readers unto Maister Foxe's booke of Actes and Monuments. Onelie this I ad, that in respect of his noble indowments and his demeanor full of decencie, which he dailie used, it seemeth he might wel haue giuen this prettie poesie:" "Virtute duce non sanguine nitor."[425] But with all these high qualities, our notions of propriety are somewhat shocked at the open manner in which he kept his mistress Eleanor Cobham; but we can scarcely agree in the condemnation of the generality of historians for his marrying her afterwards, but regard it rather as the action of an honorable man, desirous of making every reparation in his power.[426] But the "pride of birth" was sorely wounded by the espousals; and the enmity of the aristocracy already roused, now became deeply rooted. Eleanor's disposition is represented as passionate and unreasonable, and her mind sordid and oppressive. Be this how it may, we must remember that it is from her enemies we learn it; and if so, unrelenting persecution and inveterate malice were proceedings ill calculated to soothe a temper prone to violence, or to elevate a mind undoubtedly weak. But the vindictive and haughty cardinal Beaufort was the open and secret enemy of the good duke Humphrey; for not only did he thwart every public measure proposed by his rival, but employed spies to insinuate themselves into his domestic circle, and to note and inform him of every little circumstance which malice could distort into crime, or party rage into treason. This detestable espionage met with a too speedy success. The duke, who was especially fond of the society of learned men, retained in his family many priests and clerks, and among them one Roger Bolingbroke, "a famous necromancer and astronomer." This was a sufficient ground for the enmity of the cardinal to feed upon, and he determined to annihilate at one blow the domestic happiness of his rival. He arrested the Duchess, Bolingbroke, and a witch called Margery Gourdimain, or Jourdayn, on the charge of witchcraft and treason. He accused the priest and Margery of making, and the duchess for having in her possession, a waxen figure, which, as she melted it before a slow fire, so would the body of the king waste and decay, and his marrow wither in his bones. Her enemies tried her, and of course found her and her companions guilty, though without a shred of evidence to the purpose. The duchess was sentenced to do penance in St. Paul's and two other churches on three separate days, and to be afterwards imprisoned in the Isle of Man for life. Bolingbroke, who protested his innocence to the last, was hung and quartered at Tyburn; and Margery, the witch of Eye, as she was called, was burnt at Smithfield. But the black enmity of the cardinal was sorely disappointed at the effect produced by this persecution. He reasonably judged that no accusation was so likely to arouse a popular prejudice against duke Humphrey as appealing to the superstition of the people who in that age were ever prone to receive the most incredulous fabrications; but far different was the impression made in the present case. The people with more than their usual sagacity saw through the flimsy designs of the cardinal and his faction; and while they pitied the victims of party malice, loved and esteemed the good duke Humphrey more than ever. But the intriguing heart of Beaufort soon resolved upon the most desperate measures, and shrunk not from staining his priestly hands with innocent and honorable blood. A parliament was summoned to meet at St. Edmunds Bury, in Suffolk, on the 10th of February, 1447, at which all the nobility were ordered to assemble. On the arrival of Duke Humphrey, the cardinal arrested him on a groundless charge of high treason, and a few days after he was found dead in his bed, his enemies gave out that he had died of the palsy; but although his body was eagerly shown to the sorrowing multitude, the people believed that their friend and favorite had been foully murdered, and feared not to raise their voice in loud accusations at the Suffolk party; "sum sayed that he was smouldered betwixt two fetherbeddes,"[427] and others declared that he had suffered a still more barbarous death. Deep was the murmuring and the grief of the people, for the good duke had won the love and esteem of their hearts; and we can fully believe a contemporary who writes-- "Compleyne al Yngland thys goode Lorde's deth."[428] Perhaps none suffered more by his death than the author and the scholar; for Duke Humphrey was a munificent patron of letters, and loved to correspond with learned men, many of whom dedicated their works to him, and received ample encouragement in return.[429] Lydgate, who knew him well, composed some of his pieces at the duke's instigation. In his Tragedies of Ihon Bochas he thus speaks of him: "Duke of Glocester men this prynce call, And not withstandyng his estate and dignitie, His courage neuer dothe appall To study in bokes of antiquitie; Therein he hath so great felicitie, Virtuously him selfe to occupye, Of vycious slouthe, he hath the maistry. And for these causes as in his entent To shewe the untrust of all worldly thinge, He gave to me in commandment As him seemed it was ryghte well fittynge That I shoulde, after my small cunning, This boke translate, him to do pleasaunce, To shew the chaung of worldly variaunce. And with support of his magnificence Under the wynges of his correction, Though that I lacke of eloquence I shall proceede in this translation. Fro me auoydyng all presumption, Louyly submittying every houre and space, My rude language to my lorde's grace. Anone after I of eutencion, With penne in hande fast gan me spede, As I coulde in my translation, In this labour further to procede, My Lorde came forth by and gan to take hede; This mighty prince right manly and right wise Gaue me charge in his prudent auyle. That I should in euery tragedy, After the processe made mencion, At the ende set a remedy, With a Lenuoy, conveyed by reason; And after that, with humble affection, To noble princes lowly it dyrect, By others fallying them selues to correct. And I obeyed his biddyng and pleasaunce Under support of his magnificence, As I coulde, I gan my penne aduaunce, All be I was barrayne of eloquence, Folowing mine auctor in substance and sétence, For it sufficeth playnly unto me, So that my lorde my makyng take in gre."[430] Lydgate often received money whilst translating this work, from the good duke Humphrey, and there is a manuscript letter in the British Museum in which he writes-- "Righte myghty prynce, and it be youre wille, Condescende leyser for to take, To se the contents of thys litel bille, Whiche whan I wrote my hand felt qquake."[431] Duke Humphrey gave a noble instance of his great love of learning in the year 1439, when he presented to the University of Oxford one hundred and twenty-nine treatises, and shortly after, one hundred and twenty-six _admirandi apparatus_; and in the same year, nine more. In 1443, he made another important donation of one hundred and thirty volumes, to which he added one hundred and thirty-five more,[432] making in all, a collection of five hundred and thirty-eight volumes. These treasures, too, had been collected with all the nice acumen of a bibliomaniac, and the utmost attention was paid to their outward condition and internal purity. Never, perhaps, were so many costly copies seen before, dazzling with the splendor of their illuminations, and rendered inestimable by the many faithful miniatures with which they were enriched. A superb copy of Valerius Maximus is the only relic of that costly and noble gift, a solitary but illustrious example of the membraneous treasures of that ducal library.[433] But alas! those very indications of art, those exquisite illuminations, were the fatal cause of their unfortunate end; the portraits of kings and eminent men, with which the historical works were adorned; the diagrams which pervaded the scientific treatises, were viewed by the zealous reformers of Henry's reign, as damning evidence of their Popish origin and use; and released from the chains with which they were secured, they were hastily committed to the greedy flames. Thus perished the library of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester! and posterity have to mourn the loss of many an early gem of English literature.[434] But in the fourteenth century many other honorable examples occur of lay collectors. The magnificent volumes, nine hundred in number, collected by Charles V. of France, a passionate bibliomaniac, were afterwards brought by the duke of Bedford into England. The library then contained eight hundred and fifty-three volumes, so sumptuously bound and gorgeously illuminated as to be valued at 2,223 livres![435] This choice importation diffused an eager spirit of inquiry among the more wealthy laymen. Humphrey, the "good duke," received some of these volumes as presents, and among others, a rich copy of Livy, in French.[436] Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, also collected some choice tomes, and possessed an unusually interesting library of early romances. He left the whole of them to the monks of Bordesley Abbey in Worcestershire, about the year 1359.[437] As a specimen of a private library in the fourteenth century, I am tempted to extract it. "A tus iceux, qe ceste lettre verront, ou orrount, Gwy de Beauchamp, Comte de Warr. Saluz en Deu. Saluz nous aveir baylé e en la garde le Abbé e le Covent de Bordesleye, lessé à demorer a touz jours touz les Romaunces de sonz nomes; ceo est assaveyr, un volum, qe est appelé Tresor. Un volum, en le quel est le premer livere de Lancelot, e un volum del Romaunce de Aygnes. Un Sauter de Romaunce. Un volum des Evangelies, e de Vie des Seins. Un volum, qe p'le des quatre principals Gestes de Charles, e de dooun, e de Meyace e de Girard de Vienne e de Emery de Nerbonne. Un volum del Romaunce Emmond de Ageland, e deu Roy Charles dooun de Nauntoyle. E le Romaunce de Gwyoun de Nauntoyl. E un volum del Romaunce Titus et Vespasien. E un volum del Romaunce Josep ab Arimathie, e deu Seint Grael. E un volum, qe p'le coment Adam fust eniesté hors de paradys, e le Genesie. E un volum en le quel sount contenuz touns des Romaunces, ceo este assaveir, Vitas patrum au comencement; e pus un Comte de Auteypt; e la Vision Seint Pol; et pus les Vies des xii. Seins. E le Romaunce de Willame de Loungespe. E Autorites des Seins humes. E le Mirour de Alme. Un volum, en le quel sount contenuz la Vie Seint Pére e Seint Pol, e des autres liv. E un volum qe est appelé l'Apocalips. E un livere de Phisik, e de Surgie. Un volum del Romaunce de Gwy, e de la Reygne tut enterement. Un volum del Romaunce de Troies. Un volum del Romaunce de Willame de Orenges e de Teband de Arabie. Un volum del Romaunce de Amase e de Idoine. Un volum del Romaunce de Girard de Viene. Un volum del Romaunce deu Brut, e del Roy Costentine. Un volum de le enseignemt Aristotle enveiez au Roy Alisaundre. Un volum de la mort ly Roy Arthur, e de Mordret. Un volum en le quel sount contenuz les Enfaunces de Nostre Seygneur, coment il fust mené en Egipt. E la Vie Seint Edwd. E la Visioun Seint Pol. La Vengeaunce n're Seygneur par Vespasien a Titus, e la Vie Seint Nicolas, qe fust nez en Patras. E la Vie Seint Eustace. E la Vie Seint Cudlac. E la Passioun n're Seygneur. E la Meditacioun Seint Bernard de n're Dame Seint Marie, e del Passioun sour deuz fiz Jesu Creist n're Seignr. E la Vie Seint Eufrasie. E la Vie Seint Radegounde. E la Vie Seint Juliane. Un volum, en le quel est aprise de Enfants et lumière à Lays. Un volum del Romaunce d'a Alisaundre, ove peintures. Un petit rouge livere, en le quel sount contenuz mons diverses choses. Un volum del Romaunce des Mareschans, e de Ferebras e de Alisaundre. Les queus livres nous grauntons par nos heyrs e par nos assignes qil demorront en la dit Abbeye, etc." FOOTNOTES: [385] See a fine manuscript in the Cotton collection marked Nero D. vii., and another marked Claudius E. iv., both of which I have consulted. [386] Matthew Paris' Edit. Wats, tom. i. p. 39. [387] "Asserens ad cantelam, ipsum fuisse beati Amphibali, beate Albini magistri, caracellam."--Mat. Paris, p. 44. [388] Abjectis igitur et combustis libris, in quibus commenta diaboli continabantur. [389] MS. Cottonian, E. iv. fo. 101; Mat. Paris, Edit. Wat. i. p. 41. [390] MS. Cottanian Claudius, E. iv. fo. 105 b., and MS. Cott. Nero, D. vii. fo. 13, b. [391] He was elected in 1093.--See MS. Cott. Claud. E. iv. fo. 107. [392] Got. MS. Claud. E. iv. fo. 108. [393] MS. Cot. Nero, D. vii. fo. 15, a; and MS. Cot. Claud. e. iv. [394] Cot. MS. Claud. E. iv. fo. 113. "Ex tunc igitur amator librorum et adquisiter sedulus multio voluminibus habundavit." [395] Fecit etiam scribi libros plurimos; quos longum esset enarrare.--_Mat. Paris Edit. Wat._ p. 89. [396] Cot. MS. Nero D. vii. fo. 16, a. [397] MS. Claud. E. iv. fo. 114, a. [398] MS. Cot. Claud. E. iv. fo. 125 b. [399] _Ibid._ [400] MS. Cot. Nero D. vii. fo. 16 a. [401] MS. Cot. Claud. iv. fo. 124. [402] Claud. E. iv. fo. 124. [403] "In grammatica Priscianus, in metrico Ovidius, in physica censori potuit Galenus." _MS. Cot. Claud._ E. iv. f. 129, b. _Matt. Paris' Edit. Wat._ p. 103. [404] MS. Cot. Claud. E. iv. fo. 131. b. [405] MS. Cot. Claud. E. iv. fol. 135 b. [406] Ibid. fol. 141. [407] MS. Reg. Brit. Mus. 4 D. viii. 4. Wood's Hist. Oxon. 1-82, and Matt. Paris. Turner's Hist. of Eng. vol. iv. p. 180. [408] MS. Cot. Nero, D. vii. fol. 19 a. [409] Ibid. fol. 86. [410] Duos bonas biblias. [411] MS. Cot. Claud. E. iv. fo. 229 b. [412] MS. Cot. Nero D. vii. fo. 20 b. [413] MS. Cot. Tiberius, E. i. [414] MS. Cot. Claud. D. i. fo. 165, "Acta Johannis Abbatis per Johannem Agmundishamensem monachum S. Albani." [415] Gibson's Hist. Monast. Tynmouth, vol. ii. p. 62, whose translation I use in giving the following extract. If the reader refers to Mr. Gibson's handsome volumes, he will find much interesting and curious matter from John of Amersham relative to this matter. [416] Otterb. cxvi.; see also MS. Cot. Nero. vii. fo. 32 a. [417] Otterbourne Hist. a Hearne, _edit._ Oxon, 1732, tom. i. 2. [418] Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, vol. ii. pt. 11, p. 205. For a list of his works see Bale; also Pits. p. 630, who enumerates more than thirty. [419] Marked Otho, b. iv. [420] MS. Arundel. Brit. Mus. clxiii. c. A curious Register, "per magistrum Johannem Whethamstede et dominum Thoman Ramryge," fo. 74, 75. Upwards of fifty volumes are specified, with the cost of each. [421] Julius Cæsar was among them.--Cot. MS. Claud. d. i. fo. 156. [422] MS. Cod. Nero, D. vii. fo. 28 a. He "enlarged the abbot's study," fo. 29, which most monasteries possessed. Whethamstede had a study also at his manor at Tittinhanger, and had inscribed on it these lines: "Ipse Johannis amor Whethamstede ubique proclamor Ejus et alter honor hic lucis in auge reponer." See also MS. Cot. Claud. D. i. fo. 157, for an account of his many donations. [423] Weever's Funerall Monuments, p. 562 to 567. I have forgotten to mention before that Whethamstede built a new library for the abbey books, and expended considerably more than £120 upon the building. [424] Foxe's Actes and Monuments, folio, Lond. 1576, p. 679. [425] Holingshed Chronicle, fol. 1587, vol. ii. p. 627. [426] See Stowe, p. 367. [427] Leland Collect. vol. i. p. 494. [428] MS. Harleian, No. 2251, fol. 7 b. [429] Capgrave's Commentary on Genesis, in Oriel College, Cod. MSS. 32, is dedicated to him. Aretine's Trans. Aristotle's Politics, MS. Bodl. D. i. 8-10. Pet. de Monte de Virt. de Vit. MS. Norvic. More, 257. Bibl. publi Cantab. Many others are given in Warton's Hist. of Poetry, 4to. vol. ii. pp. 48-50. [430] Tragedies of Ihon Bochas. Imp. at London, by John Wayland, fol. 38 b. [431] MS. Harleian, No. 2251, fol. 6. Lydgate received one hundred shillings for translating the Life of St. Alban into English verse for Whethamstede. [432] See Wood's Hist. and Antiq. of Oxford, vol. ii. p. 914. [433] MSS. Bodl. N. E. vii. ii. Warton, vol. ii. p. 45. I find in the Arundel Register in the British Museum (MSS. Arund. clxiii. c.) that a fine copy of Valerius, in two volumes, with a gloss, was transcribed in the time of Whethamstede at St. Albans, at the cost of £6 13 4, probably the identical copy. [434] There are many volumes formerly belonging to duke Humphrey, in the public libraries, a fine volume intitled "Tabulas Humfridi ducis Glowcester in Judicus artis Geomantie," is in the Brit. Mus., MSS. Arund. 66, fo. 277, beautifully written and illuminated with excessive margins of the purest vellum. See also MSS. Harl. 1705. Leland says, "Humfredus multaties scripsit in frontispiecis librorum suorum, _Moun bien Mondain_," Script. vol. iii. 58. [435] Bouvin, Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscrip., ii. 693. [436] _Ibid._ [437] Printed in Todd's Illustrations to Gower and Chaucer, 8vo. p. 161, from a copy by Arch Sancroft, from Ashmole's Register of the Earl of Ailesbury's Evidences, fol. 110. Lambeth, MSS., No. 577. fol. 18 b. CHAPTER XII. _The Dominicans.--The Franciscans and the Carmelites.--Scholastic Studies.--Robert Grostest.--Libraries in London.--Miracle Plays.--Introduction of Printing into England.--Barkley's Description of a Bibliomaniac_. The old monastic orders of St. Augustine and St. Benedict, of whose love of books we have principally spoken hitherto, were kept from falling into sloth and ignorance in the thirteenth century by the appearance of several new orders of devotees. The Dominicans,[438] the Franciscans,[439] and the Carmelites were each renowned for their profound learning, and their unquenchable passion for knowledge; assuming a garb of the most abject poverty, renouncing all love of the world, all participation in its temporal honors, and refraining to seek the aggrandizement of their order by fixed oblations or state endowments, but adhering to a voluntary system for support, they caused a visible sensation among all classes, and wrought a powerful change in the ecclesiastical and collegiate learning of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; and by their devotion, their charity, their strict austerity, and by their brilliant and unconquerable powers of disputation, soon gained the respect and affections of the people.[440] Much as the friars have been condemned, or darkly as they have been represented, I have no hesitation in saying that they did more for the revival of learning, and the progress of English literature, than any other of the monastic orders. We cannot trace their course without admiration and astonishment at their splendid triumphs and success; they appear to act as intellectual crusaders against the prevailing ignorance and sloth. The finest names that adorn the literary annals of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the most prolific authors who flourished during that long period were begging friars; and the very spirit that was raised against them by the churchmen, and the severe controversal battles which they had between them, were the means of doing a vast amount of good, of exposing ignorance in high places, and compelling those who enjoyed the honors of learning to strive to merit them, by a studious application to literature and science; need I do more than mention the shining names of Duns Scotus, of Thomas Aquinas, of Roger Bacon, the founder of experimental philosophy, and the justly celebrated Robert Grostest, the most enlightened ecclesiastic of his age.[441] We may not admire the scholastic philosophy which the followers of Francis and Dominic held and expounded; we may deplore the intricate mazes and difficulties which a false philosophy led them to maintain, and we may equally deplore the waste of time and learning which they lavished in the vain hope of solving the mysteries of God, or in comprehending a loose and futile science. Yet the philosophy of the schoolmen is but little understood, and is too often condemned without reason or without proof; for those who trouble themselves to denounce, seldom care to read them; their ponderous volumes are too formidable to analyze; it is so much easier to declaim than to examine such sturdy antagonists; but we owe to the schoolmen far more than we are apt to suppose, and if it were possible to scratch their names from the page of history, and to obliterate all traces of their bulky writings from our libraries and from our literature, we should find our knowledge dark and gloomy in comparison with what it is. But the mendicant orders did not study and uphold the scholastic philosophy without improving it; the works of Aristotle, of which it is said the early schoolmen possessed only a vitiated translation from the Arabic,[442] was, at the period these friars sprung up, but imperfectly understood and taught. Michael Scot, with the assistance of a learned Jew,[443] translated and published the writings of the great philosopher in Latin, which greatly superseded the old versions derived from the Saracen copies. The mendicant friars having qualified themselves with a respectable share of Greek learning, then taught and expounded the Aristotelian philosophy according to this new translation, and opened a new and proscribed field[444] for disputation and enquiry; their indomitable perseverance, their acute powers of reasoning, and the splendid popularity which many of the disciples of St. Dominic and St. Francis were fast acquiring, caused students to flock in crowds to their seats of learning, and all who were inspired to an acquaintance with scholastic philosophy placed themselves under their training and tuition.[445] No religious order before them ever carried the spirit of inquiry to such an extent as they, or allowed it to wander over such an unbounded field. The most difficult and mysterious questions of theology were discussed and fearlessly analyzed; far from exercising that blind and easy credulity which mark the religious conduct of the old monastic orders, they were disposed to probe and examine every article of their faith. To such an extent were their disputations carried, that sometimes it shook their faith in the orthodoxy of Rome, and often aroused the pious fears of the more timid of their own order. Angell de Pisa, who founded the school of the Franciscans or Grey Friars at Oxford, is said to have gone one day into his school, with a view to discover what progress the students were making in their studies; as he entered he found them warm in disputation, and was shocked to find that the question at issue was "_whether there was a God_;" the good man, greatly alarmed, cried out, "Alas, for me! alas, for me! simple brothers pierce the heavens and the learned dispute whether there be a God!" and with great indignation ran out of the house blaming himself for having established a school for such fearful disputes; but he afterwards returned and remained among his pupils, and purchased for ten marks a corrected copy of the decretals, to which he made his students apply their minds.[446] This school was the most flourishing of those belonging to the Franciscans; and it was here that the celebrated Robert Grostest[447], bishop of Lincoln, read lectures about the year 1230. He was a profound scholar, thoroughly conversant with the most abstruse matters of philosophy, and a great Bible reader.[448] He possessed an extensive knowledge of the Greek, and translated, into Latin, Dionysius the Areopagite, Damascenus, Suida's Greek Lexicon, a Greek Grammar, and, with the assistance of Nicholas, a monk of St. Alban's, the History of the Twelve Patriarchs. He collected a fine library of Greek books, many of which he obtained from Athens. Roger Bacon speaks of his knowledge of the Greek, and says, that he caused a vast number of books to be gathered together in that tongue.[449] His extraordinary talent and varied knowledge caused him to be deemed a conjuror and astrologer by the ignorant and superstitious; and his enemies, who were numerous and powerful, did not refuse to encourage the slanderous report. We find him so represented by the poet Gower:-- "For of the grete clerk Grostest, I rede how redy that he was Upon clergye, and bede of bras, To make and forge it, for to telle Of suche thynges as befelle, And seven yeres besinesse. Ye ladye, but for the lackhesse Of 'a halfe a mynute of an houre, Fro fyrst that he began laboure, Ye lost al that he had do."[450] The Franciscan convent at Oxford contained two libraries, one for the use of the graduates and one for the secular students, who did not belong to their order, but who were receiving instruction from them. Grostest gave many volumes to these libraries, and at his death he bequeathed to the convent all his books, which formed no doubt a fine collection. "To these were added," says Wood, "the works of Roger Bacon, who, Bale tells us, writ an hundred Treatises. There were also volumes of other writers of the same order, which, I believe, amounted to no small number. In short, I guess that these libraries were filled with all sorts of erudition, because the friars of all orders, and chiefly the Franciscans, used so diligently to procure all monuments of literature from all parts, that wise men looked upon it as an injury to laymen, who, therefore, found a difficulty to get any books. Several books of Grostest and Bacon treated of astronomy and mathematics, besides some relating to the Greek tongue. But these friars, as I have found by certain ancient manuscripts, bought many Hebrew books of the Jews who were disturbed in England. In a word, they, to their utmost power, purchased whatsoever was anywhere to be had of singular learning."[451] Many of the smaller convents of the Franciscan order possessed considerable libraries, which they purchased or received as gifts from their patrons.[452] There was a house of Grey Friars at Exeter,[453] and Roger de Thoris, Archdeacon of Exeter, gave or lent them a library of books in the year 1266, soon after their establishment, reserving to himself the privilege of using them, and forbade the friars from selling or parting with them. The collection, however, contained less than twenty volumes, and was formed principally of the scriptures and writings of their own order. "Whosoever," concludes the document, "shall presume hereafter to separate or destroy this donation of mine, may he incur the malediction of the omnipotent God! dated on the day of the purification, in the year of our Lord MCCLXVI."[454] The library of the Grey Friars in London was of more than usual magnificence and extent. It was founded by the celebrated Richard Whittington. Its origin is thus set forth in an old manuscript in the Cottonian library:[455] "In the year of our Lord, 1421, the worshipful Richard Whyttyngton, knight and mayor of London, began the new library and laid the first foundation-stone on the 21st day of October; that is, on the feast of St. Hilarion the abbot. And the following year before the feast of the nativity of Christ, the house was raised and covered; and in three years after, it was floored, whitewashed, glazed,[456] adorned with shelves, statues, and carving, and furnished with books: and the expenses about what is aforesaid amount to £556:16:9; of which sum, the aforesaid Richard Whyttyngton paid £400, and the residue was paid by the reverend father B. Thomas Winchelsey and his friends, to whose soul God be propitious.--Amen." Among some items of money expended, we find, "for the works of Doctor de Lyra contained in two volumes, now in the chains,[457] 100 marks, of which B. John Frensile remitted 20s.; and for the Lectures of Hostiensis, now lying in the chains, 5 marks."[458] Leland speaks in the most enthusiastic terms of this library, and says, that it far surpassed all others for the number and antiquity of its volumes. John Wallden bequeathed as many manuscripts of celebrated authors as were worth two thousand pounds.[459] The library of the Dominicans in London was also at one time well stored with valuable books. Leland mentions some of those he found there, and among them some writings of Wicliff;[460] indeed those of this order were renowned far and wide for their love of study; look at the old portraits of a Dominican friar, and you will generally see him with the pen in one hand and a book in the other; but they were more ambitious in literature than the monks, and aimed at the honors of an author rather than at those of a scribe; but we are surprised more at their fertility than at their style or originality in the mysteries of bookcraft. Henry Esseburn diligently read at Oxford, and devoted his whole soul to study, and wrote a number of works, principally on the Bible; he was appointed to govern the Dominican monastery at Chester; "being remote from all schools, he made use of his spare hours to revise and polish what he had writ at Oxford; having performed the same to his own satisfaction, he caused his works to be fairly transcribed, and copies of them to be preserved in several libraries of his order."[461] But they did not usually pay so much attention to the duties of transcribing. The Dominicans were fond of the physical sciences, and have been accused of too much partiality for occult philosophy. Leland tells us that Robert Perserutatur, a Dominican, was over solicitous in prying into the secrets of philosophy,[462] and lays the same charge to many others. The Carmelites were more careful in transcribing books than the Dominicans, and anxiously preserved them from dust and worms; but I can find but little notice of their libraries; the one at Oxford was a large room, where they arranged their books in cases made for that purpose; before the foundation of this library, the Carmelites kept their books in chests, and doubtless gloried in an ample store of manuscript treasures.[463] But in the fifteenth century we find the Mendicant Friars, like the order religious sects, disregarding those strict principles of piety which had for two hundred years so distinguished their order. The holy rules of St. Francis and St. Dominic were seldom read with much attention, and never practised with severity; they became careless in the propagation of religious principles, relaxed in their austerity, and looked with too much fondness on the riches and honors of the world.[464] This diminution in religious zeal was naturally accompanied by a proportionate decrease in learning and love of study. The sparkling orator, the acute controversialist, or the profound scholar, might have been searched for in vain among the Franciscans or the Dominicans of the fifteenth century. Careless in literary matters, they thought little of collecting books, or preserving even those which their libraries already contained; the Franciscans at Oxford "sold many of their books to Dr. Thomas Gascoigne, about the year 1433,[465] which he gave to the libraries of Lincoln, Durham, Baliol, and Oriel. They also declining in strictness of life and learning, sold many more to other persons, so that their libraries declined to little or nothing."[466] We are not therefore surprised at the disappointment of Leland, on examining this famous repository; his expectations were raised by the care with which he found the library guarded, and the difficulty he had to obtain access to it: but when he entered, he did not find one-third the number of books which it originally contained; but dust and cobwebs, moths and beetles he found in abundance, which swarmed over the empty shelves.[467] The mendicant friars have rendered themselves famous by introducing theatrical representations[468] for the amusement and instruction of the people. These shows were usually denominated miracles, moralities, or mysteries, and were performed by the friars in their convents or on portable stages, which were wheeled into the market places and streets for the convenience of the spectators. The friars of the monastery of the Franciscans at Coventry are particularly celebrated for their ingenuity in performing these pageants on Corpus Christi day; a copy of this play or miracle is preserved in the Cottonian Collection, written in old English rhyme. It embraces the transactions of the Old and New Testament, and is entitled _Ludus Corpus Christi_. It commences-- A PLAIE CALLED CORPUS CHRISTI.[469] Now gracyous God groundyd of all goodnesse, As thy grete glorie neuyr begynnyng had; So you succour and save all those that sytt and sese, And lystenyth to our talkyng with sylens stylle and sad, For we purpose no pertly stylle in his prese The pepyl to plese with pleys ful glad, Now lystenyth us lowly both mar and lesse Gentyllys and 3emaury off goodly lyff lad, þis tyde, We call you shewe us that we kan, How that þis werd fyrst began, And howe God made bothe worlde and man If yt ye wyll abyde. These miracles were intended to instruct the more ignorant, or those whose circumstances placed the usual means of acquiring knowledge beyond their reach; but as books became accessible, they were no longer needed; the printing press made the Bible, from which the plots of the miracle plays were usually derived, common among the people, and these gaudy representations were swept away by the Reformation; but they were temporarily revived in Queen Mary's time, with the other abominations of the church papal, for we find that "in the year 1556 a goodly stage play of the Passion of Christ was presented at the Grey Friers in London on Corpus Christi day," before the Lord Mayor and citizens;[470] but we have nothing here to do with anecdotes illustrating a period so late as this. We have now arrived at the dawn of a new era in learning, and the slow, plodding, laborious scribes of the monasteries were startled by the appearance of an invention with which their poor pens had no power to compete. The year 1472 was the last of the parchment literature of the monks, and the first in the English annals of printed learning; but we must not forget that the monks with all their sloth and ignorance, were the foremost among the encouragers of the early printing press in England; the monotony of the dull cloisters of Westminster Abbey was broken by the clanking of Caxton's press; and the prayers of the monks of old St. Albans mingled with the echoes of the pressman's labor. Little did those barefooted priests know what an opponent to their Romish rites they were fostering into life; their love of learning and passion for books, drove all fear away; and the splendor of the new power so dazzled their eyes that they could not clearly see the nature of the refulgent light just bursting through the gloom of ages. After the invention of the printing art, bibliomania took some mighty strides; and many choice collectors, full of ardor in the pursuit, became renowned for the vast book stores they amassed together. But some of their names have been preserved and good deeds chronicled by Dibdin, of bibliographical renown; so that a chapter is not necessary here to extol them. We may judge how fashionable the avocation became by the keen satire of Alexander Barkley, in his translation of Brandt's _Navis Stultifera_ or Shyp of Folys,[471] who gives a curious illustration of a bibliomaniac; and thus speaks of those collectors who amassed their book treasures without possessing much esteem for their contents. "That in this ship the chiefe place I gouerne, By this wide sea with fooles wandring, The cause is plain & easy to discerne Still am I busy, bookes assembling, For to have plentie it is a pleasaunt thing In my conceyt, to have them ay in hand, But what they meane do I not understande. "But yet I have them in great reverence And honoure, sauing them from filth & ordure By often brushing & much diligence Full goodly bounde in pleasaunt couerture Of Damas, Sattin, or els of velvet pure I keepe them sure, fearing least they should be lost, For in them is the cunning wherein I me boast. "But if it fortune that any learned man Within my house fall to disputation, I drawe the curtaynes to shewe my bokes them, That they of my cunning should make probation I love not to fall in alterication, And while the commen, my bokes I turne and winde For all is in them, and nothing in my minde. "Ptolomeus the riche caused, longe agone, Over all the worlde good bookes to be sought, Done was his commandement--anone These bokes he had, and in his studie brought, Which passed all earthly treasure as he thought, But neverthelesse he did him not apply Unto their doctrine, but lived unhappily. "Lo, in likewise of bookes I have store, But fewe I reade and fewer understande, I folowe not their doctrine nor their lore, It is ynough to beare a booke in hande. It were too muche to be in such a bande, For to be bounde to loke within the booke I am content on the fayre coveryng to looke. "Why should I studie to hurt my wit therby, Or trouble my minde with studie excessiue. Sithe many are which studie right busely, And yet therby thall they never thrive The fruite of wisdome can they not contriue, And many to studie so muche are inclinde, That utterly they fall out of their minde. "Eche is not lettred that nowe is made a lorde, Nor eche a clerke that hath a benefice; They are not all lawyers that pleas do recorde, All that are promoted are not fully wise; On suche chaunce nowe fortune throwes her dice That though we knowe but the yrishe game, Yet would he have a gentleman's name. "So in like wise I am in suche case, Though I nought can, I would be called wise, Also I may set another in my place, Whiche may for me my bokes exercise, Or els I shall ensue the common guise, And say concedo to euery argument, Least by much speache my latin should be spent. "I am like other Clerkes, which so frowardly them gyde, That after they are once come unto promotion, They give them to pleasure, their study set aside, Their auarice couering with fained deuotion; Yet dayly they preache and have great derision Against the rude laymen, and all for couetise, Through their owne conscience be blended with that vice. "But if I durst truth plainely utter and expresse, This is the speciall cause of this inconvenience, That greatest of fooles & fullest of lewdness, Having least wit and simplest science, Are first promoted, & have greatest reverence; For if one can flatter & bear a hauke on his fist, He shall be made Parson of Honington or of Elist. "But he that is in study ay firme and diligent, And without all favour preacheth Christe's love, Of all the Cominalite nowe adayes is sore shent, And by estates threatned oft therfore. Thus what anayle is it to us to study more, To knowe ether Scripture, truth, wisdome, or virtue, Since fewe or none without fauour dare them shewe. "But O noble Doctours, that worthy are of name, Consider oure olde fathers, note well their diligence, Ensue ye to their steppes, obtayne ye suche fame As they did living; and that, by true prudence Within their heartes, thy planted their science, And not in pleasaunt bookes, but noue to fewe suche be, Therefore to this ship come you & rowe with me. "The Lennoy of Alexander Barclay, Translatour, exhorting the fooles accloyed with this vice, to amende their foly. "Say worthie Doctours & Clerkes curious, What moneth you of bookes to have such number, Since diuers doctrines through way contrarious, Doth man's minde distract and sore encomber. Alas blinde men awake, out of your slumber; And if ye will needes your bookes multiplye, With diligence endeuor you some to occupye."[472] FOOTNOTES: [438] Thirteen Dominicans were sent into England in the year 1221; they held their first provincial council in England in 1230 at Oxford, three years before St. Dominic was canonized by pope Gregory. [439] Four clercs and five laymen of the Franciscan order were sent into England in 1224; ten years afterwards we find their disciples spreading over the whole of England. [440] Edward the Second regarded them with great favor, and wrote several letters to the pope in their praise; he says in one, "Desiderantes itaque, pater sancte ordinis fratrum prædicatorum Oxonii, ubi religionis devotio, et honestatis laudabilis decer viget, per quem etiam honor universitatis Oxoniensis, et utilitas ibidem studentium, etc." Dugdale's Monast. vol. vi. p. 1492. [441] A list of celebrated authors who flourished in England, and who were members of the Dominican Order, will be found in _Steven's Monasticon_, vol. ii. p. 193, more than 80 names are mentioned. A similar list of authors of the Franciscan order will be found at p. 97 of vol. i. containing 122 names; and of the Carmelite authors, vol. ii. p. 160, specifying 137 writers; a great proportion of their works are upon the Scriptures. [442] Dr. Cave says, "In scholis Christianis pene unice regnavit scholastica theologia, advocata in subsidium Aristotelis philosophia, eaque non ex Græcis fontibus _sed ex turbidis Arabum lacunis, ex versionibus male factis, male intellectis, hansta_." _Hist. Liter._, p. 615. But I am not satisfied that this has been proved, though often affirmed. [443] It was probably the work of Andrew the Jew. _Meiners_, ii. p. 664. [444] At a council held at Paris in the year 1209, the works of Aristotle were proscribed and ordered to be burnt. _Launvius de Varia Aristotelis fortuna_. But in spite of the papal mandate the friars revived its use. Richard Fizacre, an intimate friend of Roger Bacon, was so passionately fond of reading Aristotle, that he always carried one of his works in his bosom. _Stevens Monast._, vol. ii. p. 194. [445] See what has been said of the Mendicants at p. 79. [446] Steven's additions to Dugdale's Monasticon from the MSS. of Anthony a Wood in the library at Oxford, vol. i. p. 129. Agnell himself was "_a man of scarce any erudition_."--_Ibid._ [447] He is spoken of under a multitude of names, sometimes Grosthead, Grouthead, etc. A list of them will be found in Wood's Oxford by Gutch, vol. i. p. 198. [448] He gives strict injunctions as to the study of the Scriptures in his _Constitutiones_.--See Pegge's Life of Grostest, p. 315. [449] Utilitate Scientiarum, cap. xxxix. [450] De Confess. Amantis, lib. iv. fo. 70, _Imprint_. Caxton _at Westminster_, 1483. The bishop is said to have taken a journey from England to Rome one night on an infernal horse.--Pegge's Life of Grostest, p. 306. [451] Stephen's additions to Dugdale's Monasticon from Anthony a Wood's MSS. vol. i. p. 133. [452] The Mendicant orders, unlike the monks, were not remarkable for their industry in transcribing books: their roving life was unsuitable to the tedious profession of a scribe. [453] Leland's Itin. vol. iii. p. 59. [454] Oliver's Collections relating to the Monasteries in Devon, 8vo. 1820, appendix lxii. [455] Cottonian MSS. Vittel, F. xii. 13. fol. 325, headed "_De Fundacione Librarie_." [456] The library was 129 feet long and 31 feet broad, and most beautifully fitted up.--_Lelandi Antiquarii Collectanea_, vol. i. p. 109. [457] This refers to the custom then prevalent of chaining their books, especially their choice ones, to the library shelf, or to a reading desk. [458] MS. _ibid._ fo. o. 325 b. [459] Script. Brit. p. 241, and Collectanea, iii. 52. [460] Leland's Collect. vol. iii. p. 51. He found in the priory of the Dominicans at Cambridge, among other books, a _Biblia in lingua vernacula_. [461] Steven's Monast. vol. ii. p. 194. [462] His works were of the impressions of the Air--of the Wonder of the Elements--of Ceremonial Magic--of the Mysteries of Secrets--and the Correction of Chemistry. [463] Sieben's Monast. vol. i. p. 183, from the MSS. of Anthony a Wood, who says, "What became of them (their books) at the dissolution unless they were carried into the library of some college, I know not." [464] They obtained much wealth by the sale of pardons and indulgences. Margaret Est, of the convent of Franciscans, ordered her letters of pardon and absolution, to partake of the indulgences of the convent, to be returned as soon she was buried. _Bloomfield's Hist. of Norfolk_, vol. ii. p. 565. [465] And among others of St. Augustine's books, _De Civitate Dei_, with many notes in the margins, by Grostest. _Wood's Hist. Oxon_, p. 78. [466] Anthony a Wood in Steven's Monast. vol. i. p. 133. [467] Script. Brit. p. 286. [468] Le Boeuf gives an instance of one being represented as early as the eleventh century, in which Virgil was introduced. _Hallam's Lit. of Europe_, vol. i. p. 295. The case of Geoffry of St. Albans is well known, and I have already mentioned it. [469] MS. Cottonian Vespasian, D. viii. fo. 1. Codex Chart. 225 folios, written in the fifteenth century. Sir W. Dugdale, in his Hist. of Warwick, p. 116, mentions this volume; and Stevens, in his Monast. has printed a portion of it. Mr. Halliwell has printed them with much care and accuracy. [470] MS. Cottonian Vitel. E. 5. _Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry_, vol. iii. p. 326. [471] The original was written in 1494. [472] Ship of Fooles, folio 1570, Imprynted by Cawood, fol. 1. CHAPTER XIII. _Conclusion._ We have traversed through the darkness of many long and dreary centuries, and with the aid of a few old manuscripts written by the monks in the _scriptoria_ of their monasteries, caught an occasional glimpse of their literary labors and love of books; these parchment volumes being mere monastic registers, or terse historic compilations, do not record with particular care the anecdotes applicable to my subject, but appear to be mentioned almost accidentally, and certainly without any ostentatious design; but such as they are we learn from them at least one thing, which some of us might not have known before--that the monks of old, besides telling their beads, singing psalms, and muttering their breviary, had yet one other duty to perform--the transcription of books. And I think there is sufficient evidence that they fulfilled this obligation with as much zeal as those of a more strictly monastic or religious nature. It is true, in casting our eye over the history of their labors, many regrets will arise that they did not manifest a little more taste and refinement in their choice of books for transcribing. The classical scholar will wish the holy monks had thought more about his darling authors of Greece and Rome; but the pious puritan historian blames them for patronizing the romantic allurements of Ovid, or the loose satires of Juvenal, and throws out some slanderous hint that they must have found a sympathy in those pages of licentiousness, or why so anxious to preserve them? The protestant is still more scandalized, and denounces the monks, their books, scriptorium and all together as part and parcel of popish craft and Romish superstition. But surely the crimes of popedom and the evils of monachism, that thing of dry bones and fabricated relics, are bad enough; and the protestant cause is sufficiently holy, that we may afford to be honest if we cannot to be generous. What good purpose then will it serve to cavil at the monks forever? All readers of history know how corrupt they became in the fifteenth century; how many evils were wrought by the craft of some of them, and how pernicious the system ultimately waxed. We can all, I say, reflect upon these things, and guard against them in future; but it is not just to apply the same indiscriminate censure to all ages. Many of the purest Christians of the church, the brightest ornaments of Christ's simple flock, were barefooted cowled monks of the cloister; devout perhaps to a fault, with simplicity verging on superstition; yet nevertheless faithful, pious men, and holy. Look at all this with an eye of charity; avoid their errors and manifold faults: but to forget the loathsome thing our minds have conjured up as the type of an ancient monk. Remember they had a few books to read, and venerated something more than the dry bones of long withered saints. Their God was our God, and their Saviour, let us trust, will be our Saviour. I am well aware that many other names might have been added to those mentioned in the foregoing pages, equally deserving remembrance, and offering pleasing anecdotes of a student's life, or illustrating the early history of English learning; many facts and much miscellaneous matter I have collected in reference to them; but I am fearful whether my readers will regard this subject with sufficient relish to enjoy more illustrations of the same kind. Students are apt to get too fond of their particular pursuit, which magnifies in importance with the difficulties of their research, or the duration of their studies. I am uncertain whether this may not be my own position, and wait the decision of my readers before proceeding further in the annals of early bibliomania. Moreover as to the simple question--Were the monks booklovers? enough I think as been said to prove it, but the enquiry is far from exhausted; and if the reader should deem the matter still equivocal and undecided, he must refer the blame to the feebleness of my pen, rather than to the barrenness of my subject. But let him not fail to mark well the instances I have given; let him look at Benedict Biscop and his foreign travels after books; at Theodore and the early Saxons of the seventh century; at Boniface, Alcuin, Ælfric, and the numerous votaries of bibliomania who flourished then. Look at the well stored libraries of St. Albans, Canterbury, Ramsey, Durham, Croyland, Peterborough, Glastonbury, and their thousand tomes of parchment literature. Look at Richard de Bury and his sweet little work on biographical experience; at Whethamstede and his industrious pen; read the rules of monastic orders; the book of Cassian; the regulations of St. Augustine; Benedict Fulgentius; and the ancient admonitions of many other holy and ascetic men. Search over the remnants and shreds of information which have escaped the ravages of time, and the havoc of cruel invasions relative to these things. Attend to the import of these small still whisperings of a forgotten age; and then, letting the eye traverse down the stream of time, mark the great advent of the Reformation; that wide gulf of monkish erudition in which was swallowed "whole shyppes full" of olden literature; think well and deeply over the huge bonfires of Henry's reign, the flames of which were kindled by the libraries which monkish industry had transcribed. A merry sound no doubt, was the crackling of those "popish books" for protestant ears to feed upon! Now all these facts thought of collectively--brought to bear one upon another--seem to favor the opinion my own study has deduced from them; that with all their superstition, with all their ignorance, their blindness to philosophic light--the monks of old were hearty lovers of books; that they encouraged learning, fostered and transcribed repeatedly the books which they had rescued from the destruction of war and time; and so kindly cherished and husbanded them as intellectual food for posterity. Such being the case, let our hearts look charitably upon them; and whilst we pity them for their superstition, or blame them for their "pious frauds," love them as brother men and workers in the mines of literature; such a course is far more honorable to the tenor of a christian's heart, than bespattering their memory with foul denunciations. Some may accuse me of having shown too much fondness--of having dwelt with a too loving tenderness in my retrospection of the middle ages. But in the course of my studies I have found much to admire. In parchment annals coeval with the times of which they speak, my eyes have traversed over many consecutive pages with increasing interest and with enraptured pleasure. I have read of old deeds worthy of an honored remembrance, where I least expected to find them. I have met with instances of faith as strong as death bringing forth fruit in abundance in those sterile times, and glorying God with its lasting incense. I have met with instances of piety exalted to the heavens--glowing like burning lava, and warming the cold dull cloisters of the monks. I have read of many a student who spent the long night in exploring mysteries of the Bible truths; and have seen him sketched by a monkish pencil with his ponderous volumes spread around him, and the oil burning brightly by his side. I have watched him in his little cell thus depicted on the ancient parchment, and have sympathized with his painful difficulties in acquiring true knowledge, or enlightened wisdom, within the convent walls; and then I have read the pages of his fellow monk--perhaps, his book-companion; and heard what _he_ had to say of that poor lonely Bible student, and have learnt with sadness how often truth had been extinguished from his mind by superstition, or learning cramped by his monkish prejudices; but it has not always been so, and I have enjoyed a more gladdening view on finding in the monk a Bible teacher; and in another, a profound historian, or pleasing annalist. As a Christian, the recollection of these cheering facts, with which my researches have been blessed, are pleasurable, and lead me to look back upon those old times with a student's fondness. But besides piety and virtue, I have met with wisdom and philanthropy; the former, too profound, and the latter, too generous for the age; but these things are precious, and worth remembering; and how can I speak of them but in words of kindness? It is these traits of worth and goodness that have gained my sympathies, and twined round my heart, and not the dark stains on the monkish page of history; these I have always striven to forget, or to remember them only when I thought experience might profit by them; for they offer a terrible lesson of blood, tyranny and anguish. But this dark and gloomy side is the one which from our infancy has ever been before us; we learnt it when a child from our tutor; or at college, or at school; we learnt it in the pages of our best and purest writers; learnt that in those old days nought existed, but bloodshed, tyranny, and anguish; but we never thought once to gaze at the scene behind, and behold the workings of human charity and love; if we had, we should have found that the same passions, the same affections, and the same hopes and fears existed then as now, and our sympathies would have been won by learning that we were reading of brother men, fellow Christians, and fellow-companions in the Church of Christ. We have hitherto looked, when casting a backward glance at those long gone ages of inanimation, with the severity of a judge upon a criminal; but to understand him properly we must regard them with the tender compassion of a parent; for if our art, our science, and our philosophy exalts us far above them, is that a proof that there was nothing admirable, nothing that can call forth our love on that infant state, or in the annals of our civilization at its early growth? But let it not be thought that if I have striven to retrieve from the dust and gloom of antiquity, the remembrance of old things that are worthy; that I feel any love for the superstition with which we find them blended. There is much that is good connected with those times; talent even that is worth imitating, and art that we may be proud to learn, which is beginning after the elapse of centuries to arrest the attention of the ingenious, and the love of these, naturally revive with the discovery; but we need not fear in this resurrection of old things of other days, that the superstition and weakness of the middle ages; that the veneration for dry bones and saintly dust, can live again. I do not wish to make the past assume a superiority over the present; but I think a contemplation of mediæval art would often open a new avenue of thought and lead to many a pleasing and profitable discovery; I would too add the efforts of my feeble pen to elevate and ennoble the fond pursuit of my leisure hours. I would say one word to vindicate the lover of old musty writings, and the explorer of rude antiquities, from the charge of unprofitableness, and to protect him from the sneer of ridicule. For whilst some see in the dry studies of the antiquary a mere inquisitiveness after forgotten facts and worthless relics; I can see, nay, have felt, something morally elevating in the exercise of these inquiries. It is not the mere fact which may sometimes be gained by rubbing off the parochial whitewash from ancient tablets, or the encrusted oxide from monumental brasses, that render the study of ancient relics so attractive; but it is the deductions which may sometimes be drawn from them. The light which they sometimes cast on obscure parts of history, and the fine touches of human sensibility, which their eulogies and monodies bespeak, that instruct or elevate the mind, and make the student's heart beat with holier and loftier feelings. But it is not my duty here to enter into the motives, the benefits, or the most profitable manner of studying antiquity; if it were, I would strive to show how much superior it is to become an original investigator, a practical antiquary, than a mere borrower from others. For the most delightful moments of the student's course is when he rambles personally among the ruins and remnants of long gone ages; sometimes painful are such sights, even deeply so; but never to a righteous mind are they unprofitable, much less exerting a narrowing tendency on the mind, or cramping the gushing of human feeling; for cold, indeed, must be the heart that can behold strong walls tottering to decay, and fretted vaults, mutilated and dismantled of their pristine beauty; that can behold the proud strongholds of baronial power and feudal tyranny, the victims of the lichen or creeping parasites of the ivy tribe; cold, I say, must be the heart that can see such things, and draw no lesson from them. INDEX. Adam de Botheby, Abbot of Peterborough, 145. Adam, Abbot of Evesham, 196. Adrian IV., Pope of Rome, Anecdote of, 259, 260. Ælfric, Archbishop of Canterbury, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73. Ælfride, King of Northumbria, 160, 163. Ælsinus, the Scribe, 232. Ailward's Gift of Books to Evesham Monastery, 195. Albans, Abbey of St.--_See_ St. Albans. Alcuin, Verses by, 33, 179, 180. Letters of, 98, 175, 181. His Bible, 177. Love of Books, 173, 176, 182. Aldred, the Glossator, 95. Aldwine, Bishop of Lindesfarne, 99. Alfred the Great, 151. Angell de Pisa, a Franciscan Friar, 291. Angraville.--_See_ Richard de Bury. Anselm, 77, 78. Antiquarii, 42, 43. Arno, Archbishop of Salzburgh, Library of, 183, 184. Armarian, Duties of the Monkish, 13. Aristotle; Translation used by the Schoolmen, 290. Ascelin, Prior of Dover, 90. Augustine, St., his copy of the Bible and other books, 79. Baldwin, Abbot of, St. Edmund's Bury, 242. Bale on the destruction of books at the Reformation, 8. Barkley's description of a Bibliomaniac, 301, 302, 303, 304. Basingstoke and his Greek books, 267. Bede the Venerable, 129, 162, 163, 170, 243. Bek, Anthony, Bishop of Durham, 104. Benedict, Abbot of Peterborough, and his books, 142, 143. Benedict, Biscop of Wearmouth, and his book tours, 157, 158. Bible among the Monks in the middle ages, 79, 89, 101, 104, 129, 144, 163, 177, 193, 194, 196, 207, 208, 211, 212, 233, 234, 237, 260, 261. Bible, Monkish care in copying the, 36, 177. Bible, errors in printed copies, 36. Bible, Translations of, 71, 72, 156, 185, 296, _note_. Bible, Illustrations of the scarcity of the, in the middle ages, 40, 41, 89, 148, 231. Bible, Students in the middle ages, 36, 71, 75, 88, 104, 144, 163, 168, 177, 184. Bilfrid the Illuminator, 95. Binding, costly, 54, 85, 93, 246, 247, 258, 261, 262, 263, 273. Blessing--Monkish blessing on Books, 25. Boniface the Saxon Missionary, 45, 164, 165, 166, 167. Books allowed the Monks for private reading, 20. Books-Destroyers, 6, 7, 8, 9, 195, 282. Books sent to Oxford by the Monks of Durham, 105. Book-Stalls, Antiquity of, 123. Booksellers in the middle ages, 46, 47. Britone the Librarian--his catalogue of books in Glastonbury Abbey, 208. Bruges, John de, a Monk of Coventry, and his books, 191. Cædmon, the Saxon Poet, 185. Canterbury Monastery, etc., 61. Canute, the Song of, 244. Care in transcribing, 33, 68. Carelepho, Bishop of Durham, 101. Carmelite, 287, 297. Carpenter, Bishop, built and endowed a library in Exeter Church, 194. Catalogues of Monastic libraries, 10, 14, 82, 83, 102, 129, 130, 142, 147, 179, 180, 190, 191, 208, 209, 210, 211, 219, 220, 237. Catalogue of the books of Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, 283, 284, 285. Charles V. of France--his fine Library. Charlemagne's Bible, 177, his Library, 184. Chartey's, William, Catalogue of the Library of St. Mary's at Leicester, 148. Chiclely, Henry, Archbishop of Canterbury, 86. Cistercian Monks in England, 221. Classics among the Monks in the middle ages, 60, 84, 87, 101, 102, 116, 122, 129, 148, 190, 200, 208, 225, 226, 232, 233, 240. Classics, Monkish opinion of the, 23, 227. Classics found in Monasteries at the revival of learning, 58, 59, 60. Cluniac Monks in England, 221. Cobham, Eleanor Duchess of Gloucester, 277, 278. Cobham, Bishop, founded the Library at Oxford, 194. Collier on the destruction of books, 8. Converting Miracles, 166. Coventry Church, 191. Coventry Miracles, 299. Croyland Monastery, Library of, 135. Cuthbert's Gospels, 93, 129. Danes in England, 95, 138, 139, 140. Daniel, Bishop of Winchester, 168. De Bury.--_See_ Richard de Bury. De Estria and his Catalogue of Canterbury Library, 81. Depying Priory, Catalogue of the Library of, 234. Dover Library, 90. Dunstan, Saint, 64, 65. Eadburge--Abbess, transcribes books for Boniface, 169, 170. Eadfrid, Abbot of St. Albans, 249. Eadmer, Abbot of St. Albans, 251, 252. Ealdred, Abbot of St. Albans, 250. Eardulphus, or Eurdulphus, Bishop of Lindesfarne, 96. Ecgfrid and his Queen, 242. Edmunds Bury, St., 241. Edwine the Scribe, 79. Effects of Gospel Reading, 236. Effects of the Reformation on Monkish learning, 8. Egbert, Archbishop of York, 170, 173, his Library, 179, 180. Egebric, Abbot of Croyland, his gift of books to the Library, 137. Egfrith, Bishop of Lindesfarne, 93. Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester, 277, 278. Ethelbert, 87. Etheldredæ founds the Monastery of Ely, 243. Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester his love of Architecture, 229, 244, his fine Benedictional, 230. Ely Monastery, 243, 244. Extracts from the Account Books of, 245. Erventus the Illuminator, 147. Esseburn, Henry, 296. Evesham Monastery, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204. Fathers, Veneration for the, 38, 39. Frederic, Abbot of St. Albans, 253. Franciscan Library at Oxford, 294. Friars, Mendicant, 115, 116, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294. Geoffry de Gorham, Abbot of St. Albans, 255, 256. Gerbert, extract from a letter of, 45. Gift of books to Richard de Bury by the Monks of St. Albans, 121. Glanvill, Bishop of Rochester, 91. Glastonbury Abbey, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214. Gloucester Abbey, 218. Godeman, Abbot of Gloucester, 218. Godemann the Scribe, 231, 232. Godfrey, Abbot of Peterborough, 145, 146. Godinge the Librarian to Exeter Church, 193, 194. Godiva, Lady and her good deeds, 193, 194. Gospels, notices of among the Monks in the middle ages, 86, 89, 90, 91, 92, 129, 139, 140, 141, 142, 169, 196, 217, 221, 244, 245, 246, _note_, 255, 262. Graystane, Robert de, 105. Grostest, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, 292, 293. Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester, 87. Guthlac, St., of Croyland, 135. Guy, Earl of Warwick, his gift of books to Bordesley Abbey, 283, 284, 285. Hebrew Manuscripts among the Monks, 238, 293, 294. Henry the Second of England, 223, 227. Henry de Estria and his Catalogue of Canterbury Library, 81. Henry, a Monk of Hyde Abbey, 231, 232. Hilda, 184. Holdernesse, Abbot of Peterborough, 145. Hoton, Prior of Durham, 105. Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, 79. Hunting practised by the Monks and Churchmen, 224. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 275. His domestic troubles, 277, 278, 279. His death, 279. Lydgate's Verses upon, 280, 281. His Gift of Books to Oxford, 281, 282, 283. Illuminated MSS., 54. Ina, King of the West Saxons, 206. Jarrow, 157. John de Bruges of Coventry Church, 191. John, Prior of Evesham, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204. John of Taunton, a Monk of Glastonbury, his Catalogue of Books, 208. Kenulfus, Abbot of Peterborough, 141. Kinfernus, Archbishop of York, gift of the Gospels to Peterborough Monastery, 141. Kildwardly, Archbishop of Canterbury, 79. Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, 75. Langley, Thomas, 131. Laws of the Universities over booksellers, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52. Lending books, system of among the Monks, 17, 20; by the booksellers, 52. Leoffin, Abbot of Ely, 244. Leofric, Abbot of St. Albans, 249. Leofric, Bishop of Exeter, 218; his Private Library, 219. Leofricke, Earl of Mercia, 192. Leofricus, Abbot of Peterborough, 141. Leicester, Abbey of St. Mary de la Pré, at, 148, 149. Libraries in the middle ages.--_See_ Catalogues. Libraries, how supported, 24, 25, 79, 198, 199. Librarii, or booksellers, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49. Lindesfarne, 93. Livy, the lost decades of, 214. Lul, Majestro, 168, 169. Lulla, Bishop of Coena, 171. Lydgate's Verses on Baldwin, Abbot of St. Edmunds Bury, 242; on Duke Humphrey, 280, 281. Malmsbury Monastery, 214. Malmsbury, William of, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219. Mannius, Abbot of Evesham, his skill in illuminating, 195. Manuscripts, Ancient, described, 78, 79, 186, 187. Manuscripts, Collections of, 5. Marleberg, Thomas of, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202. Medeshamstede, 139. Mendicant Friars, 115, 116, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294. Michael de Wentmore, Abbot of St. Albans, and his _multis voluminibus_, 268. Milton and Cædmon compared, 188. Monachism, 29, 36, 307, 308, 309. Monastic training, 263, 264, 265. Monks, the preservers of books, 29. Nicholas, of St. Albans, 267, 292. Nicholas Brekspere, 259, 260. Nicholas Hereford, of Evesham, 203, 204. Nigel, Bishop of Ely, 244, 245, 246. Norman Conquest. Effect of the, 74. Northone, Abbot of St. Albans, 267. Nothelm, Archbishop of Canterbury, 64, 171. Offa, King, 4, 192, 247. Alcuin's Letter to, 175. Osbern, of Shepey, 91. Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, 24, 193. Paul or Paulinus, of St. Albans, 77, 253. Peter of Blois, Archdeacon of London, 47, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228. Peter, Abbot of Gloucester, 218. Peterborough Monastery, 138. Library, 147, 148. Petrarch, 107, 108, 109. Philobiblon, by Richard de Bury, 112. Prior John, of Evesham, 199. Puritans destroy the Library in Worcester Church, 194. Purple Manuscripts, 54. Pusar, Hugh de, Bishop of Durham, 103. Radolphus, Bishop of Rochester, 90. Ralph de Gobium, Abbot of St. Albans, 257, 258. Ramsey Abbey, 237. Hebrew MSS. at Ramsey, 239. Classics, 240. Raymond, Prior of St. Albans, 262, 263. Reading Abbey. Library of, 233. Reginald, Archdeacon of Salisbury, reproved for his love of falconry, 227. Reginald, of Evesham, 196. Richard de Albini, 255. Richard de Bury, 17, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 268. Richard de Stowe, 218. Richard of London, 145. Richard Wallingford, Abbot of St. Albans, 121. Richard Whiting, the last Abbot of Glastonbury, 213, 214. Ridiculous signs for books.--_See_ signs. Rievall Monastery, library of, 190, 191, 192. Robert de Gorham, Abbot of St. Albans, 257, 258. Robert, of Lyndeshye, 144. Robert, of Sutton, 145. Roger de Northone, 267. Roger de Thoris, Archdeacon of Exeter. Gift of books to the Friars at Exeter, 294, 295. Rhypum Monastery; gift of books to, 163. Scarcity of Parchment, 56, 57, 245, 246. Scholastic Philosophy, 289. Scribes, Monkish, 44. Scriptoria, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 198, 199, 253, 254. Sellinge, William, Prior of Canterbury, 86. Signs for books used by the Monks, 22, 23. Simon, Abbot of St. Albans, 260. St. Alban's Abbey, 120, 121, 247, _et seq._ St. Joseph, of Arimathea, 206. St. Mary's, at Coventry, 191, 192. St. Mary's de la Pré, at Leicester. Library of, 149. Stylus or pen, 154. Tatwine, Archbishop of Canterbury, 63. Taunton, John of, 208. Taunton, William of, 211. Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 62. Thomas de la Mare, Abbot of St. Albans, 268. Thomas of Marleberg, Prior of Evesham, 197. Trompington, William de, Abbot of St. Albans, 265, 266. Tully's de Republica, 86. Valerius Maximus, Duke Humphrey's copy of, 282. Value of books in the middle ages, 54, 203, 204, 245, 273, 282, 283, 295. Verses written in books by Whethamstede, 274. Verulam, ruins of, excavated by Eadmer, of St. Albans, 250. Waleran, Bishop of Rochester, 91. Walter, Bishop of Rochester, 91. Walter, Bishop of Winchester, fond of hunting, 224, 225. Walter, of Evesham, 196. Walter, of St. Edmunds Bury, 145. Walter, Prior of St. Swithin, 231. Wearmouth, Monastery of, 157. Wentmore, Abbot of St. Albans, 268. Whethamstede, Abbot of St. Albans, 268, 269; his works, 272; gift of books to Gloucester college, 274. Whitby Abbey, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189. Wilfrid, 162, 163, 243. Willigod, Abbot of St. Albans, 248. William, of Wodeforde, 145. Winchester, famous for his Scribes, 168, 229, 230, 231, 232. Worcester, Church of, 192. Wulstan, Archbishop of York, 147. York Cathedral Library, 179, 180. Transcriber's Notes 1. Footnotes 293, 386 are not anchored in the page image. A best guess has been made as to their anchor point. 2. Refer to the image for the black letter poems as the yogh/ezh & thorn/h characters are difficult to distinguish. Other internet sources show vastly different interpretations for the text of 'A Plaie called Corpus Christi'. 3. Hyphenation has been left as printed - inconsistencies are: bookloving, book-loving booklover, book-lover bookworms, book-worms goodwill, good-will halfpenny, half-penny protomartyr, proto-martyr reread, re-read 4. Punctuation, particularly in footnotes has been standardised. 5. Spelling inconsistencies between proper names in the text and index entries have been standardised. The original spelling has been noted. Inconsistencies in the spelling of proper names within the text have been left as printed. 6. Numerous quotation marks have been added to the text. Please see the HTML version for details of where they have been added. 7. Other corrections which have been made are: Footnote 21, "gubernnatione" changed to "gubernatione" Page 86, "Chicleley" changed to "Chiclely" Page 91, "Shebey" changed to "Shepey" Footnote 134, "Catherbury" changed to "Canterbury" Page 113, "biblomaniac" changed to "bibliomaniac" Page 138, "Madeshamsted" changed to "Medeshamstede" Page 152, "descrimination" changed to "discrimination" Page 218, "Godemon" changed to "Godeman" Footnote 367, "Alward" changed to "Ailward" Page 257, "Gebium" changed to "Gobium" Page 312, "mediævel" changed to "mediæval" Page 315, "Salzburg" changed to "Salzburgh" Page 317, "Ecfrid" changed to "Ecgfrid" Page 319, "Kernulfus" changed to "Kenulfus" Page 319, "Leofin" changed to "Leoffin" Page 319, 322, "Pre" changed to "Pré" Page 320, "Marlebergh" changed to "Marleberg" Page 321, "Ryphum" changed to "Rhypum" Page 321, "Sellynge" changed to "Sellinge" Page 322, "Tatwyne" changed to "Tatwine" Page 322, "Tharsus" changed to "Tarsus" Page 322, "Wodeford" changed to "Wodeforde" 
22607	----	and the booksmiths at http://www.eBookForge.net Transcriber's Note: Some typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected. A complete list follows the text. Words in Greek in the original are transliterated and placed between +plus signs+. Words italicized in the original are surrounded by _underscores_. THE BOOK-HUNTER IN LONDON. [Illustration] [Illustration: '_His soul was never so staked down as in a bookseller's shop._' ROGER NORTH.] THE BOOK-HUNTER IN LONDON Historical and other Studies of Collectors and Collecting _WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS_ BY W. ROBERTS _Author of 'The Earlier History of English Bookselling,' 'Printers' Marks,' etc._ LONDON ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 1895 CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE xiii INTRODUCTION xv EARLY BOOK-HUNTING 1 BOOK-HUNTING AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF PRINTING 12 FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW 44 BOOK-AUCTIONS AND SALES 98 BOOKSTALLS AND BOOKSTALLING 149 SOME BOOK-HUNTING LOCALITIES 168 WOMEN AS BOOK-COLLECTORS 259 BOOK THIEVES, BORROWERS, AND KNOCK-OUTS 274 SOME HUMOURS OF BOOK-CATALOGUES 293 SOME MODERN COLLECTORS 299 INDEX 323 [Illustration] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE 'HIS SOUL WAS NEVER SO STAKED DOWN AS IN A BOOKSELLER'S SHOP.'--ROGER NORTH _Frontispiece_ IN A SCRIPTORIUM 2 LAMBETH PALACE LIBRARY 5 ROMAN BOOKS AND WRITING MATERIALS 11 EARL OF ARUNDEL'S BADGE 16 SIR ROBERT COTTON 21 SIR JULIUS CÆSAR'S TRAVELLING LIBRARY 22 ARCHBISHOP USHER 26 WOTTON HOUSE IN 1840 28 MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD 29 SIR HANS SLOANE'S MONUMENT 30 LITTLE BRITAIN IN 1550 33 CHARLES, THIRD EARL OF SUNDERLAND 37 LONDON HOUSE, ALDERSGATE STREET, 1808 40 ST. BERNARD'S SEAL 43 MR. AUSTIN DOBSON 45 WILLIAM BECKFORD, BOOK-COLLECTOR 48 GEORGE JOHN, EARL SPENCER 51 JOHN, DUKE OF ROXBURGHE, BOOK-COLLECTOR 52 A CORNER IN THE ALTHORP LIBRARY 53 MICHAEL WODHULL, BOOK-COLLECTOR 57 GEORGE NICOL, THE KING'S BOOKSELLER 60 THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN, BIBLIOGRAPHER 63 REV. C. MORDAUNT CRACHERODE, M.A., BOOK-COLLECTOR 65 J. O. HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS 71 CANONBURY TOWER, GEORGE DANIEL'S RESIDENCE 73 SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE 76 LAMB'S COTTAGE AT COLEBROOK ROW, ISLINGTON 77 WILLIAM HAZLITT 78 THOMAS HILL, AFTER MACLISE 79 SAMUEL ROGERS'S HOUSE IN ST. JAMES'S PLACE 81 SAMUEL ROGERS 82 ALEXANDER DYCE, BOOK-COLLECTOR 83 W. J. THOMS, BOOK-COLLECTOR 88 HOLLINGBURY COPSE, THE RESIDENCE OF THE LATE MR. HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS 91 JOHN DUNTON, BOOK-AUCTIONEER IN 1698 101 SAMUEL BAKER, THE FOUNDER OF SOTHEBY'S 102 SAMUEL LEIGH SOTHEBY 104 MR. E. G. HODGE, OF SOTHEBY'S 105 A FIELD-DAY AT SOTHEBY'S 106 KEY TO THE CHARACTERS IN THE 'FIELD-DAY AT SOTHEBY'S' 107 R. H. EVANS, BOOK-AUCTIONEER, 1812 109 JOHN WALKER, BOOK-AUCTIONEER, 1776 112 STAIRCASE AT PUTTICK AND SIMPSON'S 113 THE LATE HENRY STEVENS, OF VERMONT 115 MR. JAMES CHRISTIE, 'THE SPECIOUS ORATOR' 117 BENJAMIN HEATH, BOOK-COLLECTOR, 1738 123 SPECIMEN OF TYPE OF THE MAZARIN BIBLE 125 A CORNER IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM 127 ALDUS, FROM A CONTEMPORARY MEDAL 129 THE FIFTY-SEVEN ALTHORP CAXTONS 134 FROM 'GAME AND PLAY OF CHESSE,' BY CAXTON 135 SPECIMEN OF THE TYPE OF 'THE BOKE OF ST. ALBANS' 137 SPECIMEN PAGE OF TYNDALE'S TESTAMENT, 1526 138 JOHN MURRAY, OF SACOMB, BOOK-HUNTER 139 TITLE-PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF 'THE COMPLEAT ANGLER' 144 FROM THE 'PILGRIM'S PROGRESS,' PART II. 145 CORNELIUS WALFORD, BOOK-COLLECTOR 152 THE SOUTH SIDE OF HOLYWELL STREET 153 EXETER 'CHANGE IN 1826 154 A BARROW IN WHITECHAPEL 155 A BOOK-BARROW IN FARRINGDON ROAD 158 A FEW TYPES IN FARRINGDON ROAD 159 HENRY LEMOINE, AUTHOR AND BOOKSELLER 161 THE LATE EDMUND HODGSON, BOOK-AUCTIONEER 164 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, 1606. FROM THE CRACE COLLECTION 169 THOMAS BRITTON, 'THE SMALL-COAL MAN,' COLLECTOR OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND MSS. 173 DUKE STREET, LITTLE BRITAIN, FORMERLY CALLED DUCK LANE 175 CHARLES LAMB, AFTER D. MACLISE 177 OLD HOUSES IN MOORFIELDS 178 JONES AND CO. (SUCCESSORS TO LACKINGTON) 180 INTERIOR OF LACKINGTON'S SHOP 181 LACKINGTON'S HALFPENNY 182 THE POULTRY IN 1550 184 THE OLD MANSION HOUSE, CHEAPSIDE 185 GILBERT AND FIELD'S SHOP IN COPTHALL COURT 186 E. GEORGE'S (LATE GLADDING'S) SHOP, WHITECHAPEL ROAD 188 MIDDLE ROW, HOLBORN, 1865 195 WILLIAM DARTON, BOOKSELLER 197 INTERIOR OF DARTON'S SHOP, HOLBORN HILL 198 JAMES WESTELL'S, 114, OXFORD STREET 200 SALKELD'S SHOP--'IVY HOUSE'--IN CLAPHAM ROAD 203 JOHN BAGFORD, SHOEMAKER AND BOOK-DESTROYER 204 MR. TREGASKIS'S SHOP--'THE CAXTON HEAD'--IN HOLBORN 205 DAY'S CIRCULATING LIBRARY IN MOUNT STREET 207 PATERNOSTER ROW ON A BANK HOLIDAY 209 JOHN EVELYN, BOOK-COLLECTOR 212 NEWBERY'S SHOP IN ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD 213 CHARLES TILT'S SHOP 221 BUTCHER ROW, 1798 224 CHARLES HUTT'S HOUSE IN CLEMENT'S INN PASSAGE 226 MR. WILLIAM D. REEVES, BOOKSELLER 227 MESSRS. HILL AND SON'S SHOP IN HOLYWELL STREET 231 MESSRS. SOTHERAN'S SHOP IN PICCADILLY 233 HONEST TOM PAYNE 239 HENRY G. BOHN, BOOKSELLER 243 JOHN H. BOHN 244 MR. F. S. ELLIS 245 A CORNER AT ELLIS AND ELVEY'S 246 WESTMINSTER HALL WHEN OCCUPIED BY BOOKSELLERS AND OTHERS 247 JOHN HATCHARD (1768-1849) 252 JAMES TOOVEY, BOOKSELLER 253 JAMES TOOVEY'S SHOP, PICCADILLY 254 BERNARD QUARITCH, THE NAPOLEON OF BOOKSELLERS 256 QUEEN ELIZABETH'S GOLDEN MANUAL OF PRAYERS (FRONT COVER) 262 QUEEN ELIZABETH'S GOLDEN MANUAL OF PRAYERS (BACK COVER) 263 THE FRONTISPIECE TO 'THE LADIES' LIBRARY' OF STEELE 266 ELIZABETH PINDAR'S BOOKPLATE 267 THE ESHTON HALL LIBRARY 269 'EARNING HIS DINNER' 275 THE KING'S LIBRARY, BRITISH MUSEUM 276 'STEALS A BOOK, PLACES IT IN A NOVELETTE, AND WALKS AWAY' 280 'HE HAD PLACED THE BOOK IN HIS POCKET. SOMEONE HAD RELIEVED HIM OF IT' 282 THE LATE HENRY HUTH, BOOK-COLLECTOR 300 MR. HENRY H. GIBBS, BOOK-COLLECTOR 302 MR. R. COPLEY CHRISTIE, BOOK-COLLECTOR 303 THE LATE FREDERICK LOCKER-LAMPSON 312 PORTRAIT BOOKPLATE OF MR. JOSEPH KNIGHT 313 'AN ORDER FROM MR. GLADSTONE' 315 PORTRAIT BOOKPLATE OF MR. H. S. ASHBEE 316 MR. T. J. WISE, BOOK-COLLECTOR 317 MR. CLEMENT SHORTER'S BOOKPLATE 318 MR. A. BIRRELL, BOOK-COLLECTOR 319 FACSIMILE OF TITLE-PAGE, 'PILGRIM'S PROGRESS,' FIRST EDITION 321 [Illustration: _Roman Book-box._] PREFACE. _'THE Book-hunter in London' is put forth as a contribution to the fascinating history of book-collecting in the metropolis; it does not pretend to be a complete record of a far-reaching subject, which a dozen volumes would not exhaust; the present work, however, is the first attempt to deal with it in anything like a comprehensive manner, but of how far or in what degree this attempt is successful the reader himself must decide._ _The task itself has been an exceedingly pleasant one to the author, and it only remains for him to thank, collectively, the large number of friends and acquaintances who have so cordially favoured him with advice and information on so many points. In only a couple of quite unimportant instances has he experienced anything approaching churlishness. The geniality and courtesy of the book-collector are proverbial, but specimens of a different type are evidently to be found here and there._ _As regards the chapter on Modern Collectors, the author's object has been to deal with a representative selection of the bibliophiles of to-day. To aim at anything like completeness in this section of the book would be highly undesirable, having regard to a proportionate representation of the subject as a whole. Completeness, moreover, would be an impossibility, even in a volume devoted entirely to modern men._ _The greatest possible care has been taken to prevent inaccuracy of any kind, but whilst freedom from error is a consummation which every author desires, it is also one of which few can boast. The reader will be doing the author a favour by informing him of any mistake which may be detected in the following pages. An omission in the account of Stewart, the founder of Puttick's, may be here made good: he had the privilege of selling David Garrick's choice library in 1823. The author regrets to learn that Purcell (p. 165), a very intelligent bookseller, died some months ago._ _'The Book-hunter in London' is the outcome not only of material which has been accumulating for many years past, from published and unpublished sources, but also of a long and pleasant intercourse with the leading book-collectors and booksellers in London, not to mention a vigorous and constant prosecution of one of the most pleasant and instructive of hobbies. The author has freely availed himself of the information in the works of Dibdin, Nichols, and other writers on the subject, but their statements have been verified whenever possible, and acknowledgements have been made in the proper places to the authorities laid under contribution._ _W. R._ 86, GROSVENOR ROAD, S.W. INTRODUCTION. IT would be quite as great a fallacy to assume that a rich man is also a wise one, as to take for granted that he who has accumulated a large library is necessarily a learned man. It is a very curious fact, but none the less a fact, that just as the greatest men have the shortest biographies, so have they been content with the smallest libraries. Shakespeare, Voltaire, Humboldt, Comte, Goethe had no collection of books to which the term library could fairly be applied. But though each preferred to find in Nature and in Nature's handiworks the mental exercise which less gifted men obtain from books, that did not prevent them from being ardent book-lovers. Shakespeare--to mention one only--must have possessed a Plutarch, a Stowe, a Montaigne, and a Bible, and probably half a dozen other books of less moment. And yet, with this poor show, he was as genuine a book-lover as Ben Jonson or my Lord Verulam. Lord Burleigh, Grotius, and Bonaparte are said to have carried their libraries in their pockets, and doubtless Shakespeare could have carried his under his arm. If all great men have not been book-collectors in the manner which is generally understood by the phrase, it is certain that they have, perhaps without a single exception, been book-lovers. They appear, for the most part, to have made a constant companion of some particularly favourite book; for instance, St. Jerome slept with a copy of Aristotle under his pillow; Lord Clarendon had a couple of favourites, Livy and Tacitus; Lord Chatham had a good classical library, with an especial fondness for Barrow; Leibnitz died in a chair with the 'Argenis' of Barclay in his hand; Kant, who never left his birthplace, Königsburg, had a weakness in the direction of books of travel. 'Were I to sell my library,' wrote Diderot, 'I would keep back Homer, Moses, and Richardson.' Sir W. Jones, like many other distinguished men, loved his Cæsar. Chesterfield, agreeing with Callimachus, that 'a great book is a great evil,' and with La Fontaine-- 'Les longs ouvrages me font peur Loin j'épuiser une matière Il faut n'en prendre que la fleur'-- hated ponderous, prosy, pedantic tomes. Garrick had an extensive collection on the history of the stage, but Shakespeare was his only constant friend. Gibbon was a book-collector more in the sense of a man who collects books as literary tools than as a bibliophile. But it is scarcely necessary just now to enter more fully into the subject of great men who were also book-lovers. Sufficient it is, perhaps, to know that they have all felt the blessedness of books, for, as Washington Irving in one of his most lofty sentences has so well put it, 'When all that is worldly turns to dross around us, these [the comforts of a well-stored library] only retain their steady value; when friends grow cold, and the converse of intimates languishes into vapid civility and commonplace, _these_ only continue the unaltered countenance of happier days, and cheer us with that true friendship which never deceived hope nor deserted sorrow.' It is infinitely easier to name those who have collected books in this vast and unwieldy London of ours, than it is to classify them. To adopt botanical phraseology, the _genus_ is defined in a word or two, but the species, the varieties, the hybrids, and the seedlings, how varied and impossible their classification! Most men have bought books, some have read a few, and others many; but beyond this rough grouping together we shall not attempt anything. One thing, however, the majority of book-collectors agree in, and that is in regarding their own generation as a revolution--they have, as Butler has described it in his picture of an antiquary, 'a great value for that which is past and gone, like the madman that fell in love with Cleopatra.' Differing in many, and often material, points as one book-collector does from another, the entire passion for collecting may be said to focus itself into two well-defined grooves. A man either collects books for his own intellectual profit, or out of pure ostentatious vanity. In the ensuing pages there will be found ample and material facts in regard to the former, so that we may say here all that we have to say regarding the latter. The second type of book-enthusiast has two of the most powerful factors in his apparently reckless career--his own book-greed, and the bookseller who supplies and profits by him. 'What do you think of my library?' the King of Spain once asked Bautru, the French wit, as he showed him the collection at the Escurial, at that time in the charge of a notoriously ignorant librarian. 'Your Majesty's library is very fine,' answered Bautru, bowing low; 'but your Majesty ought to make the man who has charge of it an officer of the Treasury.' 'And why?' queried the King. 'Because,' replied Bautru, 'the librarian of your Majesty seems to be a man who never touches that which is confided to him.' There are many varieties of the ignorant collector type. The most fruitful source is the _nouveau riche_. Book-collecting is greatly a matter of fashion; and most of us will remember what Benjamin Franklin said of this prevailing vice: 'There are numbers that, perhaps, fear less the being in hell, than out of the fashion.' The enterprising individual who, on receipt of a catalogue of medical books, wired to the bookseller, 'What will you take for the lot?' and on a price being quoted, again telegraphed, 'Send them along,' was clearly a person who wished to be fashionable. Another characteristically amusing illustration of this type of book-collector is related by an old-established second-hand bookseller, who had bought at a country sale some two or three hundred volumes in a fair condition. But they were principally old sermons, or, what is worse, theology and political economy. He placed a sample lot outside his shop, leaving the bulk of the stock untouched. The little parcel attracted the attention of a stylishly dressed man, who entered the shop and said, 'I'll take these books, and, say, have you any more of this kind with this shield onto them?' pointing to the bookplate attached, which bore the arms and name of a good old county family. 'That box, sir, is full of books from the same house, and probably every book has the same bookplate, but I have not yet had time to examine them.' 'What's yer figger for them, any way? See here, I start back to Chicago to-morrow, and I mean to take these books right back along. I'm goin' to start a libery thar, and these books will just fit me, name and all. Just you sort out all that have that shield and name, and send them round to the Langham at seven sharp. I'll be round to settle up; but see, now, don't you send any without that name-plate, for that's my name, too, and I reckon this old hoss with the daggers and roosters might have been related to me some way.' 'I remember,' says the Marquis d'Argenson, in his 'Mémoires,' 'once paying a visit to a well-known bibliomaniac, who had just purchased an extremely scarce volume, quoted at a fabulous price. Having been graciously permitted by its owner to inspect the treasure, I ventured innocently to remark that he had probably bought it with the philanthropic intention of having it reprinted. "Heaven forbid!" he exclaimed in a horrified tone; "how could you suppose me capable of such an act of folly! If I were, the book would be no longer scarce, and would have no value whatever. Besides," he added, "I doubt, between ourselves, if it be worth reprinting." "In that case," said I, "its rarity appears to be its only attraction." "Just so," he complacently replied; "and that is quite enough for me."' Another type which borders dangerously near to that which we have been describing is the collector who, not necessarily ignorant, collects for himself alone. The motto which Grolier adopted and acted upon--'Io Grolierii et amicorum'--might have been a very safe principle to go upon in the sixteenth century, but it would most certainly fail in the nineteenth, when one's dearest friends are the most unmitigated book-thieves. But perhaps even the too frequent loss of books is an evil to be preferred to the egoistical meanness of the selfish collector. Balzac gives in his 'Cousin Pons' a vivid delineation of such a person. The hero is a poor drudging music-teacher and orchestra-player, who has invested every franc of his hard-won earnings in the collecting of exquisite paintings, prints, bric-à-brac, and other rare mementoes of the eighteenth century. Despised by all, even by his kindred, trodden upon as a nobody, slow, patient, and ever courageous, he unites to a complete technical knowledge a marvellous intuition of the beautiful, and his treasures are for him pride, bliss, and life. There is no show in this case, no desire for show, no ambition of the despicable shoddy-genteel sort--a more than powerful creation of fiction. A strikingly opposite career of selfishness is suggested by the fairly well-known story of Don Vincente, the friar bookseller of Barcelona, who, in order to obtain a volume which a rival bookseller, Paxtot, had secured at an auction, set fire one night to Paxtot's shop, and stole the precious volume--a supposed unique copy of the 'Furs e ordinacions fetes per los gloriosos reys de Arago als regnicoes del regne de Valencia,' printed by Lambert Palmart, 1482. When the friar was brought up for judgment, he stolidly maintained his innocence, asserting that Paxtot had sold it to him after the auction. Further inquiry resulted in the discovery that Don Vincente possessed a number of books which had been purchased from him by customers who were shortly afterwards found assassinated. It was only after receiving a formal promise that his library should not be dispersed, but preserved in its integrity, that he determined to make a clean breast of it, and confess the details of the crimes that he had committed. In cross-examination, Don Vincente spurned the suggestion that he was a thief, for had he not given back to his victims the money which they had paid him for the books? 'And it was solely for the sake of books that you committed these murders?' asked the judge. 'Books! yes, books! Books are the glory of God!' Vincente's counsel, in defence of his client, in this desperate strait maintained that there might exist several copies of the books found in his possession, and that it was out of the question to condemn, on his own sham avowal, a man who appeared to be half cracked. The counsel for the prosecution said that that plea could not be urged in the case of the book printed by Lambert Palmart, as but one copy of that was in existence. But the prisoner's counsel retorted by putting in evidence attested affirmation that a second copy was in France. Up to this moment Vincente had maintained an imperturbable calm; but on hearing his counsel's plea he burst into tears. In the end, Don Vincente was condemned to be strangled, and when asked if he had anything more to urge, all he could utter, sobbing violently, was, 'Ah! your worship, _my copy was not unique_!' Cousin Pons and Don Vincente are extreme instances of bibliomaniacs to whom the possession of a book was the supreme happiness of life. The man of Fiction and the man of Fact were at one in this passion of acquisitiveness. Don Vincente was compelled by hunger--_mala suada fames_--to become a book _seller_; and if it became a general rule for book-collectors to become booksellers there would, we venture to think, be a very material increase in police-court and, perhaps, criminal cases generally. Mr. G. A. Sala tells us an amusing story of the late Frederick Guest Tomlins, a historian and journalist of repute. In the autumn of his life Tomlins decided to set up as a bookseller. He purposed to deal chiefly in mediæval literature, in which he was profoundly versed. The venture was scarcely successful. A customer entered his shop one day and asked for a particular book, as marked in the catalogue. 'I had really no idea it was there,' meditatively remarked Mr. Tomlins, as he ascended a ladder to a very high shelf and pulled out a squabby little tome. Then he remained about five-and-twenty minutes on the ladder absorbed in the perusal of the volume, when the customer, growing impatient, began to rap on the counter with his stick. Thereupon Mr. Tomlins came down the ladder. 'If you think,' he remarked, with calm severity, to the intending purchaser, 'that any considerations of vile dross will induce me to part with this rare and precious little volume, you are very much mistaken. It is like your impudence. Be off with you!' A not altogether dissimilar anecdote is related by Lord Lytton in that curious novel 'Zanoni,' in which one of the characters is an old bookseller who, after years of toil, succeeded in forming an almost perfect library of works on occult philosophy. Poor in everything but a genuine love for the mute companions of his old age, he was compelled to keep open his shop, and trade, as it were, in his own flesh. Let a customer enter, and his countenance fell; let him depart empty-handed, and he would smile gaily, oblivious for a time of bare cupboard and inward cravings. _À propos_ of a literary man turning bookseller, the experiment has often been tried, but it has generally failed. Second-hand bookselling seems to be a frequent experiment after the failures of other trades and callings. We have known grocers, greengrocers, coal-dealers, pianoforte-makers, printers, bookbinders, cheap-jacks, in London, adopt the selling of books as a means of livelihood. Sometimes--and several living examples might be cited--the experiment is a success, but frequently a failure. The knowledge of old books is not picked up in a month or a year. The misfortune which seems to dog the footsteps of many men in every move they make, does not fail to pursue them in bookselling. Some of them might almost say with Fulmer, in Cumberland's 'West Indian' (1771): 'I have beat through every quarter of the compass . . . I have blustered for prerogatives, I have bellowed for freedom, I have offered to serve my country, I have engaged to betray it . . . I have talked treason, writ treason. . . . And here I set up as a bookseller, but men leave off reading, and if I were to turn butcher I believe they'd leave off eating.' There can be no doubt about the fact that Englishmen as a rule do not attach sufficient importance to book-buying. If the better-class tradesman, or professional man, spends a few pounds at Christmas or on birthday occasions, he feels that he has become a patron of literature. How many men, who are getting £1,000 a year, spend £1 per month on books? The library of the average middle-class person is in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the cruelest possible commentary on his intelligence, and, as a matter of fact, if it contains a couple of volumes worthy of the name of books, their presence is more often than not an accidental one. A few volumes of the _Sunday at Home_, the _Leisure Hour_, _Cassell's Magazine_, or perhaps a few other monthly periodicals, carefully preserved during the twelve months of their issue, and bound up at the end of the year--with such stuff as this is the average Englishman's bookcase filled. Mark Pattison has gone so far as to declare that while the aggregate wealth of the United Kingdom is many times more than it was one hundred and fifty years ago, the circle of book-buyers, of the lovers of literature, is certainly not larger, if it be not absolutely smaller. It may be urged that a person with £1,000 per annum as income usually spends £100 in rent, and that the accommodation which can be got for that amount does not permit of one room being devoted to library purposes. This may be true, but this explanation is not a valid excuse, for a set of shelves, 13 feet by 10 feet 6 inches, placed against a wall will accommodate nearly one thousand octavo volumes--the genius of the world can be pressed into a hundred volumes. An American has advised his readers to 'own all the books you can, use all the books you own, and as many more as you can get.' The advice is good, and it is well to remember that by far the majority of great book-collectors have lived to a ripe old age. The companionship of books is unquestionably one of the greatest antidotes to the ravages of time, and study is better than all medical formulas for the prolongation of life. The man who has resolved upon getting together a collection of first-class books may not unreasonably be appalled at the difficulties which stand in the way. And what, indeed, it may be asked, will become of the hundreds and thousands of books which are now all the fashion? How many will survive the levelling process of the next half a score of years, and how few will be known, except to bibliographers, half a century hence? The lessons of the past would aid us in arriving at some sort of conclusion as regards the future, if we were inclined to indulge in speculation of this vain character. It will, however, be interesting to point out that of the 1,300 books printed before the beginning of the sixteenth century, not more than 300 are of any importance to the book-collector. Of the 50,000 published in the seventeenth century, not more than perhaps fifty are now held in estimation; and of the 80,000 published in the eighteenth century not more than 300 are considered worth reprinting, and not more than 500 are sought after. In a curious little book, 'L'An 2440, rêvue s'il en fut jamais,' published in Paris a century ago, there is a very quaint description of the process by which, in an improved state of society, men would apply themselves not to multiply books, but to gather knowledge. The sages of the political millennium exhibited their stores of useful learning in a cabinet containing a few hundred volumes. All the lumber of letters had perished, or was preserved only in one or two public libraries for the gratification of a few harmless dreamers that were tolerated in their laborious idleness. This pleasant little picture, drawn by M. L. S. Mercier, of the state of things five centuries hence, is in strong contrast to the painful plethora of books of the present day. Dr. Ingleby, the famous Shakespearian scholar, is credited with the idea of establishing a society for the purpose of procuring books which no one else would buy; but this society (the 'Syncretic Book-club') could not have had any success if the vast quantities of unsaleable rubbish which one meets with on every hand are to be taken into account. Doubtless Dr. Ingleby would have included in his scope such books as Lord Lonsdale's 'Memoir of the Reign of James II.,' 1803, which fifty years ago sold for 5-1/2 guineas, but which, within the past few months, has declined to two shillings! There was a time when even old and unsaleable books had a commercial value. Before the cheapening of paper, a second-hand bookseller had always the paper-mill to fall back on, and the price then paid, £1 10s. per cwt., was one inducement to dispose of folios and quartos which remained year in and year out without a purchaser. The present price of waste-paper is half a crown a hundredweight, so that the bookseller is now practically shut out of this poor market. Indeed, an enterprising bibliopole was lately offering 'useful old books,' etc., at 3s. 6d. per cwt., free on the rails, provided not less than six hundredweight is bought. 'To young beginners,' he states, 'these lots are great bargains'; but whether he means young beginners in literature or young beginners in trade, is an open question. In either case, 'useful old books' at the price of waste-paper are a novelty. There is a certain amount of danger in the wholesale destruction of books, for posterity may place a high value, literary and commercial, on the very works which are now consigned to the paper-mill. Unfortunately, posterity will not pay booksellers' rent of to-day. Just as those books which have the largest circulation are likely to become the rarest, so do those which were at one time most commonly met with often, after the lapse of a few decades, become difficult to obtain. In one of his 'Echoes' notes, Mr. G. A. Sala tells us that, in the course of forty years' bookstall-hunting, he has known a great number of books once common become scarce and costly--_e.g._, Lawrence's 'Lectures on Man'; Walker's 'Analysis of Beauty'; Millingen's 'Curiosities of Medical Experience'; Beckford's 'Vathek' in French; Jeremy Bentham's works; and Harris's 'Hermes.' Possibly the disappearance of these and many other books may be attributed to certain definite causes. For example, in the early years of this century one of the commonest books at 1s. or 1s. 6d. was Theobald's 'Shakespeare Restored'; but fifty years later it was a very rare book. The interest in Shakespeare and his editors had become quite wide-spread in literary circles, and literature in any way bearing on the subject found ready purchasers. Just as the disappearance of certain books sends their prices up considerably in the market, so the unexpected appearance of others has just the reverse effect. Until quite recently one of the scarcest of the first editions of the writings of Charles Dickens was a thin octavo pamphlet of seventy-one pages, entitled 'The Village Coquettes: a Comic Opera. In two Acts. London: Richard Bentley, 1836.' So rare was this book that very few collectors could boast the possession of it, and an uncut example might always be sold for £30 or £40. About a year before his death, Dickens was asked by Mr. Locker-Lampson whether he had a copy; his reply was: 'No, and if I knew it was in my house, and if I could not get rid of it in any other way, I would burn the wing of the house where it was'--the words, no doubt, being spoken in jest. Not long since, a mass of waste-paper from a printer's warehouse was returned to the mills to be pulped, and would certainly have been destroyed had not one of the workmen employed upon the premises caught sight of the name of 'Charles Dickens' upon some of the sheets. The whole parcel was carefully examined, and the searchers were rewarded by the discovery of nearly a hundred copies of 'The Village Coquettes,' in quires, clean and unfolded. These were passed into the market, and the price at once fell to about £5. The most curious things turn up sometimes in a similar manner. A little sixpenny bazaar book ('Two Poems,' by Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, 1854) was for a long time extremely rare, as much as £3 or £4 being paid for it when it occurred for sale. Suddenly it appeared in a bookseller's catalogue at 2s., and as every applicant could have as many as he wanted, it then leaked out that the bookseller, Mr. Herbert, had purchased about 100 copies with books which he purposed sending to the mill. Even 'remainders' sometimes turn out to be little gold-mines. The late Mr. Stibbs bought the 'remainder' of Keats's 'Endymion' at 4d. per copy. We do not know what he realized by this investment, but their value for some years has been £4 and upwards. [Illustration: _The late Henry Stevens, of Vermont._] The subject of book-finds is one about which a volume might be written. Every 'special' collector has his fund of book-hunting anecdotes and incidents, for, where the rarity of a well-known book is common property, there is not usually much excitement in running it to earth. The fun may be said to begin when two or three people are known to be on the hunt after a rare and little-known volume, whose interest is of a special character. To take, as an illustration, one of the most successful book-hunters of modern times, the late Henry Stevens, of Vermont. Until Mr. Stevens created the taste for Americana among his fellow-countrymen, very few collectors considered the subject worth notice. And yet, in the space of a quarter of a century, he unearthed more excessively rare and unique items than the wildest dreamer could have supposed to exist. Books and pamphlets which were to be had for the proverbial old song when he first came to this country quickly became the objects of the keenest competition in the saleroom, and invariably found buyers at extravagant prices. As an illustration, although not an American item, we may mention that when a copy of the Mazarin Bible was offered at Sotheby's in 1847, the competitors were an agent of Mr. James Lenox (Stevens' client) and Sir Thomas Phillipps in person; the latter went to £495, but the agent went £5 better, and secured the prize at the then unheard-of price of £500. At first Mr. Lenox declined to take the book, but eventually altered his mind, wisely as it proved, for although at long intervals copies are being unearthed, the present value of Mr. Lenox's copy cannot be much short of £4,000. During 1854 and 1855 Mr. Stevens bought books to the value of over 50,000 dollars for Mr. Lenox, and on reviewing the invoices of these two years, 'I am confident,' says Mr. Stevens, 'that, if the same works were now' (1887) 'to be collected, they would cost more than 250,000 dollars. But can so much and so many rare books ever be collected again in that space of time?' In December, 1855, Mr. Stevens offered Mr. Lenox in one lump about forty Shakespeare quartos, all in good condition, and some of them very fine, for £500, or, including a fair set of the four folios, £600, an offer which was accepted, and it may be doubted whether such a set could now be purchased for £6,000. Mr. Lenox was for over ten years desirous of obtaining a perfect copy of 'The Bay Psalter,' printed by Stephen Daye at Cambridge, New England, 1640, the first book printed in what is now the United States, and had given Mr. Stevens a commission of £100 for it. After searching far and wide, the long-lost 'Benjamin' was discovered in a lot at the sale of Pickering's stock at Sotheby's in 1855. 'A cold-blooded coolness seized me, and advancing towards the table behind Mr. Lilly, I quietly bid, in a perfectly neutral tone, "Sixpence"; and so the bids went on, increasing by sixpences, until half a crown was reached and Mr. Lilly had loosened the string. Taking up this very volume, he turned to me and remarked, "This looks a rare edition, Mr. Stevens; don't you think so? I do not remember having seen it before," and raised the bid to 5s. I replied that I had little doubt of its rarity, though comparatively a late edition of the Psalms, and at the same time gave Mr. Wilkinson a sixpenny nod. Thenceforward a "spirited competition" arose between Mr. Lilly and myself, until finally the lot was knocked down to Stevens for 19s.' The volume had cost the late Mr. Pickering 3s. It became Mr. Lenox's property for £80. Twenty-three years later another copy was bought by Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt for 1,200 dollars. In a letter to Justin Windsor, the late J. Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps gave some very curious and interesting information respecting book-collecting in the earlier half of the present century. 'About the year 1836,' he wrote, 'when I first began hunting for old books at the various stalls in our famous London city, black-letter ones and rare prints were "plenty as blackberries," and I have often found such things in unlikely places and amidst a mass of commonplace rubbish, exposed for sale in boxes labelled, "These books and pamphlets 6d. or 1s. each," outside an old bookseller's window, where another notice informed the passer-by that "Libraries were purchased or books bought;" and thus plainly showed how such now indeed rarities came into the possession of an ignorant bibliopole. It was not, however, till about 1840 that I turned my attention to the more special work of collecting Shakespeare quartos, in which, I may say, I have been very successful. It was at one of George Chalmers' sales that I first bought one or two, and after that I hunted for them in all parts of the country, and met with considerable success, often buying duplicates, and even triplicates, of the same edition and play. At one time I possessed no less than three copies of the very rare quarto edition of "Romeo and Juliet," 1609, and sometimes even had four copies of more than one of the other quartos. Not so very long before this period, old Jolley, the well-known collector, picked up a Caxton at Reading, and a "Venus and Adonis," 1594, at Manchester, in a volume of old tracts, for the ignoble sum of 1s. 3d. Jolley was a wealthy orange-merchant of Farringdon Street, London, and entertained me often with many stories of similar fortunate finds of rare books, which served to whet my appetite only the more. But I was soon stopped in my book-hunting career by the appearance all at once on the scene of a number of buyers with much longer purses than my own, and thus I was driven from a market I had derived so much pleasure from with great regret. Some time afterwards circumstances rendered it desirable that I should part with a large number of my book-treasures by auction and to the British Museum; but even then I retained enough to be instrumental in founding the first Shakespearian library in Scotland, by presenting to the University of Edinburgh, amongst other rarities, nearly fifty copies of original quartos of Shakespeare's plays, printed before the Restoration, and to keep sufficient myself of the rarest and most valuable examples.' Sometimes the notes of a former possessor have a considerable literary interest, as, for example, the copy of Stowe's 'Survey of London,' 1618, presented to the Penzance Library by the late J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, who has written, under date December 24, 1867, the following note: 'This is a favourite book of mine. I like to read of London as it was, with the bright Thames crowded with fish, and its picturesque architecture. . . . I should not have discarded this volume for any library, had I not this day picked up a beautiful _large paper_ copy of it, the only one in that condition I ever saw or heard of.' As an illustration of the enhanced value possessed by books having notes written in them by their owners, it may be mentioned that when the great Mr. Fox's furniture was sold by auction after his death in 1806, amongst the books there happened to be the first volume of Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall,' which apparently had been given by the author to Fox, who wrote on the fly-leaf this note: 'The author at Brooks' said there was no salvation for this country, until six heads of the principal persons in the administration were laid on the table. Eleven days after, this same gentleman accepted a place of "lord of trade" under those very ministers, and has acted with them ever since.' This peculiarly nasty little note sent the value of the odd volume up to £3 3s. Gibbon, writing in his 'Autobiography' of Fox, says, 'I admired the powers of a superior man, as they are blended in his attractive character with the softness and simplicity of a child,' an opinion which he might have modified if he had lived to read the foregoing note. When Canning's books, for the most part of an exceedingly commonplace and uninteresting character, came under the hammer at Christie's in 1828, the competition was extremely keen for all volumes which bore the great statesman's autograph, and as most of the books contained more or less elaborate indications of Canning's proprietorship, his executors received nearly double the sum which they could reasonably expect. Similar illustrations occur every year at book-auctions. The idiosyncrasies of collectors might make quite as long a chapter as that of books which have belonged to famous persons, and it is for the same reason that we have to deal briefly with each. It is curious that almost as soon as book-collecting became at all general, the 'faddy' man came into existence. Dr. John Webster, of Clitheroe, who died June 18, 1682, aged seventy-two, for example, had a library which was rich in books of romance, and what was then termed 'the black art'; but Webster was the author of a rare volume on witchcraft, so that his books were his literary tools--just as, a century later, John Rennie, the distinguished civil engineer, made a speciality of mathematical books, of which he had a collection nearly complete in all languages. Dr. Benjamin Moseley's library, which was sold by Stewart in March, 1814, was composed for the most part of books on astrology, magic, and facetiæ. The Rev. F. J. Stainforth, whose library was sold at Sotheby's in 1867, collected practically nothing but books written by or relating to women; he aimed to secure not only every book, but every edition of such books. He was a most determined book-hunter, and when Holywell Street was at its lowest moral ebb, this eccentric gentleman used to visit all the bookshops almost daily, his inquiry being, 'Have you any women for me to-day?' Mr. Stainforth, who died in September, 1866, was for many years curate of Camden Church, Camberwell, and was from 1851 incumbent of All Hallow's, Staining, the stipend of which was about £560, and the population about 400. 'Bless my books--all my Bible books, all my _hocus pocus_, and all my _leger-de-main_ books, and all my other books, whether particularly mentioned at this time or not,' was the prayer of a Scotsman of about a century and a quarter ago, and so perhaps the Rev. Mr. Stainforth thought, if he did not utter occasionally some such petition.[xxix-A] Half a century ago one of the most inveterate frequenters of book-auctions was a certain Dr. G., of diminutive stature, on account of an awkward deviation of the spine. At that time the appearance of a private purchaser at a sale was a very rare event, and one which, when it occurred, invariably met with a more or less hostile reception from the fraternity. Dr. G.'s first appearance produced a good deal of sensation. The hunchback, it is true, was rather shabbily dressed, but 'l'habit ne fait pas le moine,' and is certainly no trustworthy index to the pockets of the wearer. Excitement reached fever-heat when a Wynkyn de Worde was put up and persistently contested for by the doctor, who ran it up against the booksellers present (some of whom quickly desisted from the fun for fear of burning their fingers), one of whom, far exceeding his commission, obstinately refused to give in until the book was knocked down to him to his own dismay, and the delight and ironical compliments of his colleagues. After this _contretemps_ the doctor had it pretty much his own way; his name was duly entered on the sale catalogue, and his address was known. The next day our bookseller, sobered by reflection, called on the doctor, confessed his sin of the previous day, humbly asked for absolution, and offered him the book at an immense loss on the sale price. 'If you were,' replied the doctor, 'to bring the book at my door for nothing, I would take it with a pair of tongs and drop it into the gutter.' It was a puzzle to everyone what the little doctor did with all his purchases, which were limited chiefly to classical books. At his death, however, it transpired that he bought for the various Universities of the United Kingdom. The doctor's son, a poor curate, entered his late father's library for the first time, and found there a mass of books, which occupied nearly a month in selling, and realized, to his delight, a large sum of money. The contempt with which Dr. G. received the bookseller's proposal is peculiarly typical of the book-collector. If he cannot obtain what he wants just exactly when he wants it, he does not care about it. The book-collector is doubtless too prone to despise everything which is not quite in his line, forgetting that all branches of literature contribute in some degree, greater or lesser, to the bulk of human knowledge. No man can be universal, even if he had the wealth of a dozen Rothschilds, or the mental vigour and versatility of a hundred Gladstones. The book-hunter has, however, his good traits, which sometimes require a good deal of finding, it is true. We need not dwell at great length on his apparently unconquerable habit of beating down the prices, for the custom is too well known to require much explanation; but a view of the other side of the picture is only fair. A few years ago a well-known bookseller catalogued a copy of the 'Book of Job' at a very low figure. A wealthy collector, whose purchases were generally closed on the judgment of a distinguished bookman, asked to have the copy sent on approval. It was despatched; but came back within a few days. No explanation was volunteered: when, however, the collector came into the shop a short time after, he was asked why he had returned the book. His answer was to the effect that he could not persuade himself that the illustrations were really by Blake, particularly as the price asked was so low. A week or so after this a distinguished art-critic, hearing of the whereabouts of this copy, asked to have it on approval: in sending it the bookseller enclosed a note to the effect that some doubt had been expressed as to the genuineness of the plates. In a few days came a cheque from the man of art for £10 over and above the catalogue price, and a note to the effect that the illustrations were not only unquestionably by Blake, but in the finest possible state. Last summer a certain bookseller sold, after some considerable amount of haggling, a very fine Missal for £65, which was £5 less than its catalogue price. A few weeks after the purchaser called and paid the additional £5, explaining that a friend of his had taken a violent fancy to the book, and begged to be allowed to possess it at £70. Another honest book-collector, discovering that he had bought a book considerably cheaper than an example had been sold at Sotheby's, and £2 less than Mr. Quaritch had asked for a similar copy, sent his bookseller a present of a parcel of books to make up the difference in the two amounts. With these few introductory and perhaps desultory pages, the reader is invited to the more solid feast provided for his delectation in the following pages. FOOTNOTES: [xxix-A] Mr. Stainforth's collection ranged over 300 years, and, amid much utter rubbish, there were a few things of considerable rarity, notably one of only three complete copies known of T. Bentley's 'Monument of Matrones,' 1582, formerly in the libraries of Herbert, Woodhouse, Heber and Bliss. It included two autograph letters of the Right Hon. T. Grenville, and realized £63; Anne Bradstreet's 'Tenth Muse lately sprung up in America,' 1650, £12 10s.; and a copy of Dame Juliana Berners' 'Booke of Hauking,' etc., £13. Nearly fifty items appear under the name of Aphra Behn; whilst there are twenty-one editions of Jane Porter's 'Poems,' which realized the grand total of 14s. The library comprised 3,076 lots (representing, perhaps, twenty times that number of volumes), and realized the total of £792 5s. [Illustration] THE BOOK-HUNTER IN LONDON EARLY BOOK-HUNTING. THOSE who have studied the earlier phases of English history will readily understand that the terms book-hunting in England and book-hunting in London are by no means synonymous. The passion for books had manifested itself in various and remote parts of this country long before London had developed into a place of importance; when, indeed, it was battling from without and within with conflicts which seemed to predict complete annihilation. But the growth of London is essentially typical of the growth of the nation, and of the formation of the national character. When it was laying the foundation of its future greatness London had no thought of intellectual pursuits, even if Londoners themselves had any conception of an intellectual life. For any trace of such unthought-of, and perhaps, indeed, unheard-of, articles as books, we must go to localities far remote from London--to spots where, happily, the strife and din of savage warfare scarcely made themselves heard. The monasteries were the sole repositories of literature; to the monk alone had the written book any kind of intelligence, any species of pleasure. To him it was as essential as the implements of destruction to the warrior, or the plough to the husbandman. The one had no sympathy, no connection, with the other, only in so far that the events which transpired in the battlefield had to be recorded in the _scriptorium_. Although London was a place of importance at a very early stage of the Roman occupation, it was not in any sense an intellectual centre for centuries after that period. [Illustration: _In a Scriptorium._] Indeed, it might be laid down as a general principle that the farther the seeker went from London the more likelihood there was of meeting with books. To Northumbria, from the end of the sixth to the end of the seventh century, we shall have to look for the record of book-buying, for during that period books were imported in very considerable quantities; abbeys arose all along the coast, and scholars proportionately increased. In a letter to Charlemagne, Alcuin speaks of certain 'exquisite books' which he studied under Egbert at York. At Wearmouth, Benedict Biscop (629-690) was amassing books with all the fury of half a dozen ordinary bibliomaniacs. He collected everything, and spared no cost. At York, Egbert had a fine library in the minster. St. Boniface, the Saxon missionary, was a zealous collector. There were also collections--and consequently collectors--of books at places less remote from London--such as Canterbury, Salisbury, Glastonbury, and even St. Albans; but of London itself there is no mention. Scarcely any such thing as book-hunting or book-selling could possibly have existed in London before the accession of Alfred, who, among the several ways in which he encouraged literature, is said to have given an estate to the author of a book on cosmography. Doubtless, it was after the rebuilding of the city by Alfred that, in the famous letter to Wulfseg, Bishop of London, he takes a retrospective view of the times in which they lived, as affording 'churches and monasteries filled with libraries of excellent books in several languages.' Bede describes London, even at the beginning of the eighth century, as a great market which traders frequented by land and sea; and from a passage in Gale we learn that books were brought into England for sale as early as 705. With the reconstruction of London, the wise government, and the enthusiastic love for letters which animated the great Saxon King, the commerce of the capital not only increased with great rapidity, but the commerce in books between England and other countries, particularly from such bibliopolic centres as Paris and Rome, began to assume very considerable proportions. If, as is undoubtedly the case, books were continually being imported, it follows that they found purchasers. By the beginning of the eleventh century there were many private and semi-private collections of books in or near London. The English book-collectors of the seventh century include Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, Benedict, Abbot of Wearmouth, and Bede; those of the eighth century, Ina, King of the West Saxons, and Alcuin, Abbot of Tours; whilst the tenth century included, in addition to Alfred, Scotus Erigena, Athelstan, and St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury. But it cannot be said, with due regard to truth, that London was in any sense a seat of learning, or a popular resort for learned men, until well on into the thirteenth century. Doubtless many consignments of books passed through the city on the way to their respective destinations. Edward I. may be regarded as the first English monarch who took any interest in collecting books; most of his, however, were service books. They are mentioned in the Wardrobe Accounts (1299-1300) of this King, and are only eleven in number. These he may have purchased in 1273 in France, through which he passed on his way home from Palestine. But it is much more probable that he had no thought of books when hurrying home to claim the crown of his father. Contemporary with Edward was another book-collector of a very different type, an abbot of Peterborough, Richard of London, who had a 'private library' of ten books, including the 'Consolation of Philosophy,' which he may have formed in London. But quite the most interesting book-collector (so far as we are concerned just now) of this period is Richard de Gravesend, Bishop of London. A minute catalogue of this collection is among the treasures of St. Paul's Cathedral, and has been privately printed. In this case, the price of each book is affixed to its entry; the total number of volumes is one hundred, their aggregate value being £116 14s. 6d., representing, according to Milman's estimate, £1,760 of our present money. Twenty-one Bibles and parts of Bibles were valued at £19 5s. Twenty-two volumes in this collection deal with canon and civil law, four with ecclesiastical history, and about an equal number with what may be designated science and arts, the rest being of a theological character. The entries run thus: 'Tractatus fr'is Dertti'i de proprietatibus rerum. Libellus instructionum. Liber Avicennæ. Liber naturalis.' The two last-named are respectively the highest and lowest priced items in the list--for books of a single volume only--the 'Liber Avicennæ' being valued at the very high figure of £5, and the 'Liber Naturalis' at 3s. A Bible in thirteen volumes is valued at £10; and a 'little Bible' at £1. The total value of the property of this Bishop was scheduled at about £3,000. In spite of civil strife and foreign complications, the taste for literature made great strides during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, with the very natural consequence of an increased demand for, and supply of, books. And the curious thing is that book-collecting was gradually passing away from the monks, and becoming exceedingly popular with the laity. 'Flocks and fleeces, crops and herds, gardens and orchards, the wine of the winecup, are the only books and studies of the monks.' The Franciscans, who (like the Dominicans) came to England in 1224, were expressly forbidden 'the possession of books or the necessary materials for study.' When Roger Bacon joined this order, he was deprived of his books. St. Francis himself, it seems, was once 'tempted to possess books'--by honest means, let us hope, although the point is not quite clear--and he almost yielded to the temptation, but finally decided that it would be sinful. The plague of books seems to have troubled this poor saint's soul, for he hoped that the day would come when men would throw their books out of the window as rubbish. [Illustration: _Lambeth Palace Library._] In proof of the theory that laymen at a very early period became book-collectors, the most interesting example which we can quote is that of Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who died in 1315, and who bequeathed his library to Bordesley Abbey, Worcestershire, where it had already been deposited during his lifetime. Beginning with this preamble, 'A tus iceux qe ceste lettre verront ou orrount. Guy de Beauchamp, Comte de Warr. Saluz en Deu. Nous avoir bayle e en lagarde le Abbé e le covent de Bordesleye, lesse a demorer a touz jours les Romaunces de souz nomes; ces est assaveyr,' the bequest recites, with great minuteness, a remarkably interesting list of books. This list ('escrites ou Bordesleye le premer jour de may, le an du regñ le Roy Edw{d} trentime quart') is in the Lambeth Library, but it is reprinted by Todd in his 'Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer,' pp. 161, 162. This list is of more than ordinary interest, chiefly because the collection formed by a layman gives us a very good insight into the class of books which the early nobility of England read, or, at all events, collected. Religious books, of course, formed the background of the library, but there were many romances, such, for instance, as those of King Arthur, of 'Josep alb Arimathie e deu Seint Grael,' of 'Troies,' etc. There was also a book 'De Phisik et de Surgie.' This collection contained between forty and fifty volumes, in which was included pretty nearly the entire range of human knowledge as it then extended. It is well to remember in connection with this bequest that, at the same time, or, more correctly, in 1300, the academical library of Oxford consisted of a few tracts kept in chests under St. Mary's Church. With the greatest book-collector of this period, Richard de Bury (1287-1345), the author of the 'Philobiblon,' unfortunately, we have little to do, as his book expeditions appear to have been confined almost entirely to foreign countries. He collected books from every source open to him, and wrote of his passion with a warmth of eloquence of which even Cicero might have been proud. His most important book transaction, which comes within the purview of the present volume, relates to the gift by an Abbot of St. Albans of four volumes to De Bury, then Clerk of the Privy Seal, viz., Terence, Virgil, Quintilian, and Hieronymus against Rufinus. In addition to these, the Abbot sold him thirty-two other books for fifty pounds of silver. When De Bury became Bishop this 'gift' troubled his conscience, and he restored several of the books which had come into his possession in a perfectly honest and legitimate manner, whilst others were secured from the Bishop's executors. One of the volumes acquired in the latter manner is now in the British Museum. It is a large folio MS. on the works of John of Salisbury, and bears upon it a note to the effect that it was written by Simon (Abbot of St. Albans, 1167-1183), and another to the following effect: 'Hunc librum venditum Domino Ricardo de Biry Episcopo Dunelmensi emit Michael Abbas Sancti Albani ab executoribus predicti episcopi anno Domini millesimo ccc{o} xlv{to} circa purificationem Beate Virginis.' The catalogue of the library of the Benedictine monastery of Christ Church, Canterbury, in the Cottonian Collection, British Museum, and printed for the first time at length in Edward's 'Memoirs of Libraries' (i. 122-235), is a remarkable list of the most extensive collection of books at that time in this country. It was formed at the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth century. This library was well furnished with works in science and history, and particularly so with the classics--Aristotle, Cicero, Lucan, Plato, Suetonius, Seneca, Terence, and Virgil. The extreme probability is that London was the highway through which the greater part of this and other early libraries passed. If, early in the fifteenth century, the book-hunter in London possessed few opportunities of purchasing books, he would have found several very good libraries which were open to his inspection. There was, for example, a very considerable collection in the Franciscan monastery, which once stood on the site now occupied by Christ's Hospital, Newgate Street. The first stone of this monastery was laid in October, 1421, amid much pomp, by the then Lord Mayor, Sir Richard Whittington, who gave £400 in books. It was covered in before the winter of 1422, and completed in three years, and furnished with books. From Stow's 'Survey' we learn that one hundred marks were expended on the transcription of the works of Nicholas de Lira, to be chained in the library, and of which cost John Frensile remitted 20s. One of the chained books, 'The Lectures of Hostiensis,' cost five marks. From another source we learn that a Carmelite friar named John Wallden bequeathed to this library as many MSS. as were worth 2,000 pieces of gold. Anthony à Wood refers to the oft-repeated charge of the book-covetousness of the mendicant friars, which, in fact, was carried to such an extreme 'that wise men looked upon it as an injury to laymen, who therefore found a difficulty to get any books.' Of the same period, there is a very curious anecdote in Rymer's 'Foedera' about taking off the duty upon six barrels of books sent by a Roman cardinal to the Prior of the conventual church of St. Trinity, Norwich. These barrels, which lay at the Custom-house, were imported duty free. Neither the book-hunger of the mendicant friars, nor the difficulties which surrounded the importation of books, appears to have militated greatly against the growing passion. We have the name, and only the name, of a very famous book-hunter--John of Boston--of the first decade of the fifteenth century, whose labours, however, have been completely blotted out of existence by the dispersed monasteries. But there were many other collectors whose memories have been handed down to us in a more tangible form, even if their collections of books are almost as abstract and indefinite as that of John of Boston. During the first quarter of the fifteenth century, we have quite a considerable little group of royal book-collectors--Henry IV., Henry V., and his brothers, John, Duke of Bedford, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. The last-named was undoubtedly the most enthusiastic bibliophile of the four, but whilst his extensive gifts of books to the University of Oxford may be said to have formed the foundation of the library there, they were in the following century destroyed by the mob. A few examples of his gifts are now preserved in the British Museum and at Oxford. His books were estimated at a very high figure, the value placed on 120 of them (out of the total of 600) being no less than £1,000. The memory of the Duke of Bedford's library is best perpetuated by the famous Bedford Missal, or Book of Hours, perhaps the most splendid example of fifteenth-century illustration. It is now in the British Museum, where it has been since 1852. The history of this missal, perhaps the most interesting in existence, is too well known to be dealt with here (see p. 109). Henry V. was undoubtedly fond of books. Rymer refers to two petitions to the Council after the King's death for the return of valuable books of history, borrowed by him of the Countess of Westmoreland, and of the priory of Christ Church, Canterbury, and not returned, though one of them had been directed to be delivered to its owner by the King's last will. The elegantly illuminated copy of Lydgate's 'Hystory, Sege, and Destruccion of Troye,' 1513, in the Bodleian, is doubtless the copy which Lydgate gave to Henry V. At Cambridge there is the MS. of a French translation of Cardinal Bonaventure's 'Life of Christ,' with the note 'this wasse sumtyme Kinge Henri the fifeth his booke,' etc. Henry VI. does not appear to have cared for books, and it is not surprising, what with wars abroad and excessive taxation, plague and famine at home, that literary tastes received a severe check. We get several glimpses of the dearth of books. In the MS. history of Eton College, in the British Museum, the Provost and Fellows of Eton and Cambridge are stated, 25 Henry VI., to have petitioned the King that he would be pleased to order one of his chaplains, Richard Chestre, 'to take to him such men as shall be seen to him expedient in order to get knowledge where such bookes [for Divine service] may be found, paying a reasonable price for the same, and that the sayd men might have the choice of such bookes, ornaments, and other necessaries as now late were perteynyng to the Duke of Gloucester, and that the king would particular[ly] cause to be employed herein John Pye--his stacioner of London.' Book-importation by the galleys that brought the produce of the East to London and Southampton had assumed very considerable proportions during the fifteenth century; but the uncertainties which attended it were not at all favourable to its full development. Book-production was still progressing in the immediate neighbourhood of London. At St. Albans, for example, over eighty were transcribed under Whethamstede during this reign, a number which is peculiarly interesting when the degeneracy of the monasteries is remembered. Neither Edward IV. nor Richard III. seems to have availed himself of the increasing plenty of books. The library of the former was a very unimportant affair. From the Wardrobe Account of this King (1480) we get a few highly interesting facts concerning book-binding, gildings, and garnishing: 'For vj unces and iij quarters of silk to the laces and tassels for garnysshing of diverse Bookes, price the unce xiiij_d._--vij_s._ x_d._ ob.; for the making of xvj laces and xvj tassels made of the said vj unces and iij of silke, price in grete ij_s._ vii_d._' These moneys were paid to Alice Claver, a 'sylk-woman.' And again 'to Piers Bauduyn, stacioner, for bynding, gilding and dressing of a booke called "Titus Livius," xx_s._; for bynding, gilding and dressing of a booke of the Holy Trinitie, xvj_s._; for bynding, gilding and dressing of a booke called "Frossard," xvj_s._; for bynding, gilding and dressing of a booke called the Bible, xvj_s._; for bynding, gilding and dressing of a booke called "Le Gouvernement of Kinges and Princes," xvj_s._; for bynding and dressing of the three smalle bookes of Franche, price in grete vj_s._ viiij_d._; for the dressing of ij bookes whereof oon is called "La Forteresse de Foy" and the other called the "Book of Josephus," iij_s._ iiij_d._; and for bynding, gilding and dressing a booke called the "Bible Historial," xx_s._' The only incident which calls for special mention in the two next short reigns is a law, 1 Richard III., 1483, by which it was enacted that if any of the printers or sellers of printed books--the 'great plenty' of which came from 'beyond the sea'--'vend them at too high and unreasonable prices,' then the Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, or any of the chief justices of the one bench or the other, were to regulate the prices. [Illustration: _Roman Books and Writing Materials._] [Illustration] BOOK-HUNTING AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF PRINTING. I. THE introduction of printing into this country by Caxton during the latter half of the fifteenth century had very little immediate effect on book-collecting. The operations of the press were slow, its patrons few, and its work controlled by one man. The reproduction of MSS. was essentially a slow process, but when these transcriptions were finished, they rarely failed to find a purchaser. Caxton, like Sweynheim and Pannartz at Subiaco, soon learned the seriousness of over-printing an edition. Collectors were few, and the introduction of printing did not very materially add to their number. London, however, soon became a recognised centre of the trade in books, and Henry VII. patronized, in his curious fashion, the collecting of them. He read, according to Bacon, 'most books that were of any worth in the French tongue,' and one of the most commendable actions of this King was the purchase of the noble series of vellum copies of the works printed at Paris by Antoine Vérard, now in the British Museum--an act by which he may be said to have laid the foundation of our great national library. The value of books at this period is not without interest; but we must confine ourselves to one or two facts relating to Caxton's books. At his death in 1492, a copy of the 'Golden Legend' was valued at 6s. 8d. in the books of the Westminster churchwarden. From a note by Dibdin, it would seem that the price of Caxtons towards the end of the reign of Henry VII. was as follows: 'Godfray of Boulogne' (imperfect), ii_s._ Virgil's 'Æneid' (perfect), xij_d._ 'Fait of Arms and Chivalry' (perfect), ij_s._ viij_d._ 'Chastising of God's Children,' viij_d._ Henry VIII. was undoubtedly a book-lover as well as a book-collector. He established a library at St. James's. But perhaps it is rather as a book-disperser that Henry is entitled to notice in this place. The dissolution of the monasteries is the genesis of book-collecting in London. The first move in this respect is entitled 'An Act that all religious houses under the yearly revenue of £200 shall be dissolved and given to the King and his heirs,' and is dated 1535 (27 Henry VIII., cap. 28, ii. 134). The second is dated 1539. Whatever advantages in a general way the dissolution of the monasteries may have had, its consequences, so far as regards the libraries, which the monks considered as among their most cherished possessions, were disastrous beyond measure. Indeed, we have no conception of our losses. Addressing himself to Edward VI. in 1549, John Bale, afterwards Bishop of Ossory, who had but little love for Popery of any description, writes in this strain: 'Avarice was the other dispatcher which hath made an end both of our libraries and books . . . to the no small decay of the commonwealth. A great number of them who purchased those superstitious mansions [monasteries], reserved of these Library-books, some . . . to scour their candlesticks, and some to rub their boots; some they sold to the grocers and soap-sellers, and some they sent over sea to the bookbinders, not in small numbers, but at times whole shipsfull, to the wondering of the foreign nations. Yea, the universities of this realm are not all clear in this detestable fact. But cursed is that belly which seeketh to be fed with so ungodly gains, and so deeply shameth his natural country. I know a merchantman, which shall at this time be nameless, that bought the contents of two noble Libraries for forty shillings price: a shame it is to be spoken. This stuff hath he occupied in the stead of gray paper by the space of more than these ten years; and yet he hath store enough for as many years to come. . . . Our posterity may well curse this wicked fact of our age, this unreasonable spoil of England's most noble antiquities, unless they be stayed in time.' Fuller, in his 'Church History of Britain,' quotes Bale's lamentation, and adds his own testimony on the same subject: 'As brokers in Long Lane, when they buy an old suit buy the linings together with the outside, so it was considered meet that such as purchased the buildings of monasteries should in the same grant have the Libraries (the stuffing thereof) conveyed unto them. And now these ignorant owners, so long as they might keep a ledger-book or terrier by direction thereof to find such straggling acres as belonged unto them, they cared not to preserve any other monuments. The covers of books, with curious brass bosses and clasps, intended to protect, proved to betray them, being the baits of covetousness. And so many excellent authors, stripped out of their cases, were left naked, to be buried or thrown away. . . . What soul can be so frozen as not to melt into anger thereat? What heart, having the least spark of ingenuity, is not hot at this indignity offered to literature? I deny not but that in this heap of books there was much rubbish; legions of lying legends, good for nothing but fuel . . . volumes full fraught with superstition, which, notwithstanding, might be useful to learned men; except any will deny apothecaries the privilege of keeping poison in their shops, when they can make antidotes of them. But, beside these, what beautiful Bibles, rare Fathers, subtile Schoolmen, useful Historians--ancient, middle, modern; what painful Comments were here amongst them! What monuments of mathematics all massacred together; seeing every book with a cross was condemned for Popish; with circles for conjuring.' The calamities bewailed in such picturesque language by Bale and Fuller would have been much more serious but for the labours of one of our earliest antiquaries and book-lovers, John Leland. 'The laboryouse Journey and serche of Johan Leylande for Englandes Antiquities geven of hym as a newe yeares gyfte to kynge Henry the viii in the xxxvij yeare of his Reygne,' 1549, is a remarkable publication, of great interest to the book-hunter and the antiquary. But the fruits of Leland's researches cannot now be fully known, for he was too intent on accumulating material to draw up an adequate inventory. Much that he preserved from destruction is now in the British Museum, and some is in the Bodleian at Oxford. Some of the fragments which he had saved from the general destruction had been placed in the King's own library in Westminster. The dissolution of the monasteries had among its many effects the creation, so to speak, of a large number of collectors. One of the most famous of the early sixteenth-century collectors, Sir Thomas More, however, died (in 1535) before he could have availed himself of the many treasures scattered to all quarters of the earth. Dibdin records a bibliomaniacal anecdote which is well worth repeating here, as it shows how More's love of books had infected even those who came to seize upon him to carry him to the Tower, and to endeavour to inveigle him into treasonable expressions: 'While Sir Richard Southwell and Mr. Palmer weare bussie in trussinge upp his bookes, Mr. Riche, pretending,' etc., 'whereupon Mr. Palmer, on his deposition, said, that he was soe bussie ab{t} the trussinge upp Sir Tho. Moore's bookes in a sacke, that he tooke no heed of there talke.' Henry, Earl of Arundel, was not slow to seize upon the advantages which the dissolution placed before everyone. At Nonsuch, in Surrey, he formed a library, which is described in a biography of him, written shortly after his death, as 'righte worthye of remembrance.' Besides his numerous MSS. and printed books, he acquired a considerable portion of the library of Cranmer, which was dispersed at the death of the Archbishop. His books passed to his son-in-law, Lord Lumley, at whose decease they were purchased by Henry, Prince of Wales, and are now in the British Museum. The Earl of Arundel's books are handsomely bound, and are known by his badge of the white horse and oak branch which generally occurs on the covers. [Illustration: _Earl of Arundel's Badge._] In Jeremy Collier's 'Ecclesiastical History' (vol. ii. 307) we get a glimpse of book-matters in London in the middle of the sixteenth century. At the end of February, 1550, we learn that the Council book mentions the King's sending a letter for the purging of the library at Westminster. The persons are not named, but the business was to cull out all superstitious books, as missals, legends, and such-like, and to deliver the garniture of the books, either gold or silver, to Sir Anthony Archer. These books were many of them plated with gold and silver and curiously embossed. This, as far as we can collect, was the superstition that destroyed them. 'Here avarice had a very thin disguise, and the courtiers discovered of what spirit they were to a remarkable degree.' Here is another picture of an almost contemporaneous event, equally vivid in its suggestiveness: 'John Tyndale, the translator's brother, and Thomas Patmore, merchants, were condemned to do penance by riding with their faces to their horses' tails, with their books fastened thick about them, pinned, or tacked, to their gowns or clokes, to the Standard in Cheap; and there with their own hands to fling them into the fire, kindled on purpose to burn them.' As a book-collecting period the sixteenth century, from the accession of Henry VIII.--when books became the organs of the passions of mankind--to the death of Elizabeth, is full of intense interest. The old order had changed; the world itself had made an entirely fresh start. Men and events of the previous two or three centuries were almost as antique then as they are to-day, and perhaps in many respects they were infinitely less clearly understood. As the century grew in age, so the number of book-collectors increased. The hobby became first a passion with the few, and then the fashion with the many. Henry VIII. was perhaps a passive rather than an active collector, with a distinct leaning in favour of beautiful books. His three children, who followed him on the throne of England, were collectors of books, and the majority of their purchases must have been made in London. Many of these books have, at some time or other, drifted from private hands into the sale-rooms, but perhaps the majority of those now existing are to be found within the walls of our public institutions. For example, at the sale of Dr. Askew's MSS., in 1775, a very interesting item was purchased by a Mr. Jackson, a Quaker, and a dealer in wine and spirits, with whom book-collecting was a passion. The MS. proved to be in the handwriting of Edward VI.; it was in French, and dealt with his opinion of his right to the title of Supreme Head of the Church. At Jackson's sale the MS. became the property of the British Museum. As another illustration, we may refer to the copy of the 'Flores Historiarum per Matthæum Westmonasteriensem,' etc., 1570, in the British Museum (Cracherode Collection) which is the identical one presented by Archbishop Parker (by whose authority it was published) to Queen Elizabeth. It afterwards fell into the hands of Francis, Earl of Bedford, who bequeathed it, with the furniture of a little study, to his secretary. It was subsequently in the possession of Ritson. And yet again, in the Eton College Library, there is a copy of the 'Missale Romanum,' printed at Paris by Hardouyn, 1530, which belonged to Mary, with a sentence in her handwriting; this volume afterwards came into the possession of Mary of Este, Queen of James II., and subsequently into the hands of a London bookseller, from whom it was purchased for fifty-three shillings by Bishop Fleetwood, and presented to the college library. Indeed, a large volume might be compiled on the Adventures of Some Famous Books. Interesting and important as is the phase of book-collecting which relates to royal personages, it falls into insignificance beside that of men who have achieved greatness through their own abilities. The books collected by Thomas Cranmer, for example, quite overshadow in interest anything which the whole reign of the Tudors could produce. It has been well said that his knowledge of books was wide, and his opportunities for acquiring them unrivalled. Cranmer was a generous collector, for his library was quite open for the use of learned men. Latimer spent 'many an hour' there, and has himself told us that he met with a copy of Dionysius 'in my Lord of Canterbury's library.' We have already seen that many of Cranmer's books passed into the possession of the Earl of Arundel, but many were 'conveyed and stolen awaie.' Cranmer's books have found an enthusiastic historian in Prebendary Burbidge, who has almost rehabilitated the great ecclesiastic's library in the first part of Mr. Quaritch's 'Dictionary of English Book-collectors.' Another book-collector of a very different type was amassing an extensive library at a somewhat later period than Cranmer: Dr. Dee, the famous necromancer, had collected '4,000 volumes, printed and unprinted, bound and unbound, valued at 2,000 lib.,' of which one Greek, two French and one High Dutch volumes of MSS. alone were 'worth 533 lib.' It occupied forty years to form this library. Most of his books passed into the possession of Elias Ashmole--who was another collector with an insatiable appetite--and now form a part of the Ashmolean Museum. Some of Dee's singular MSS. were found, long after his death, in the secret drawer of a chest, which had passed through many hands undiscovered. Reverting for a moment to Ashmole, he himself tells us that he gave 'five volumes of Mr. Dugdale's' works to the Temple Library. And further: 'My first boatful of books, which were carried to Mrs. Tradescant's, were brought back to the Temple.' In May, 1667, he bought Mr. John Booker's study of books, and gave £140 for them. In 1681 he bought 'Mr. Lilly's library of books of his widow, for £50.' A very distinguished book-collector of the Elizabethan period was Sir Francis Drake, the great Admiral. It did not seem to be at all known that the distinguished naval hero was also a bibliophile until 1883, when the collection of books was brought from the old residence of the Drakes, Nutwell Court, Lympstone, Devon, to Sotheby's. The sale comprised 1,660 lots, representing several thousand volumes, the total being £3,276 17s. 6d. It was especially rich in books and old tracts of the early seventeenth century relating to the English voyages to America, and some of these realized very high figures. Although the library was undoubtedly founded by Drake, it was evidently continued by his descendants. Bacon, Baron of Verulam, was a distinguished book-collector, as the shelves of his chambers in Gray's Inn would have testified. Archbishop Parker, than whom 'a more determined book-fancier never existed in Great Britain,' and Gabriel Harvey, the friend of Spenser, and the object of Tom Nash's withering scorn, were among the most inveterate book-collectors of Elizabethan London. Had Harvey--whose books usually contain his autograph on the title-page, and not a few of which were given him by Spenser--studied his books less, and the proper study of mankind a little more, he might have shown his talents off to a better advantage than in his conflicts with Nash. In the Bodleian there is a set of old tales and romances which Spenser lent Harvey, taking as a hostage, apparently, Harvey's copy of Lucian in four volumes. Harvey had a very poor opinion of such 'foolish' books, but he does not seem to have returned them to their rightful owner. The fire which destroyed Ben Jonson's MSS. undoubtedly consumed many of his printed books, but examples from his library, with 'Sum Ben Jonson' inscribed, are sometimes met with. Shakespeare may have had a library, but we have no evidence that he possessed even a copy of his own plays in quarto. The Elizabethan poets and dramatists were prodigious contributors to the press, but very poor patrons of booksellers. From various sources we get some highly-coloured and unflattering pictures of the typical booksellers of the period. Tom Nash has limned for us a vivid little portrait in 'Pierce Penilesse' (1592), in which he declares that if he were to paint Sloth, 'I swear that I would draw it like a stationer that I know, with his thumb under his girdle, who, if ever a man come to his stall to ask him for a book, never stirs his head, or looks upon him, but stands stone still, and speaks not a word, only with his little finger points backward to his boy, who must be his interpreter; and so all day, gaping like a dumb image, he sits without motion, except at such times as he goes to dinner or supper, for then he is as quick as other three, eating six times every day.' II. From start to finish the Stuart dynasty ruled England for close on three-quarters of a century. That book-collecting should have existed at all under it is a marvel. But the hobby no longer depended upon the patronage of courts and courtiers. From the Wise Fool, James I., to the Foolish Fool, the second James, collectors pursued their hobby in London and out of it. James I. began to collect books at a very early age, and a list of his library was published for the first time in the _Athenæum_ in 1893. It has, however, but little interest to us in this place, for doubtless most of the books were imported into Scotland from the great book centre, Paris. The library which he acquired after his accession to the throne of England is of little consequence, for he was not the person to purchase books when he had the means, and doubtless many of his bookish possessions were gifts. In the library at Eton College there is his copy of Captain John Smith's 'History of Virginia,' 1624, which was rescued by Storer from a dirty bookseller's shop in Derby, and the existence of many others might be traced. It is certain that 'he gave them shabby coverings, and scribbled idle notes on their margins.' Had his son Henry lived, he might have developed into a respectable book-collector. We know for certain that he 'paid a Frenchman that presented a book, £4 10s.'; and that he paid 'Mr. Holyoak for writing a catalogue of the library which the Prince had of Lord Lumley, £8 13s. 4d.' Charles II., like his forbears, was not a book-buyer, and so far as he is concerned we must content ourselves with repeating a little anecdote after Dibdin, who refers to an 'old and not incurious library at Workingham, in Suffolk,' where there was a very fine ruled copy of Hayes's Bible, published at Cambridge, 1674, in two volumes folio; on the fly-leaf it contains the following memorandum: 'N.B.--This Bible belonged to K. Charles IId. and [was] given by him to Duke Lauderdale and sold by auction w{th} y{e} rest of his Books.' In a comparatively modern hand, below, is written in pencil: 'Hark ye, my friends, that on this Bible look, Marvel not at the fairness of the Book; No soil of fingers, nor such ugly things, Expect to find, Sirs, for it _was the King's_.' [Illustration: _Sir Robert Cotton._] The most distinguished Metropolitan book-collector of the period was Sir Robert Cotton, who began as early as 1588, and who had assistance from such antiquaries as William Camden and Sir Henry Spelman. This library, after being closed on account of the treasonable character of the documents contained in it, passed into the possession of Cotton's son, Sir Thomas, whose house was almost adjoining Westminster Hall. Anthony à Wood gives a curious account of a visit he paid it, when he found its owner practising on the lute. The key of the library was in the possession of one Pearson, who lodged with a bookseller in Little Britain. Wood was 'forced to walk thither, and much ado there was to find him.' This library was removed to Essex Street, and again back to Westminster to Ashburnham House in Little Dean's Yard, where it suffered greatly from a fire in 1731, and what remains of it is now in the British Museum. Sir Thomas Bodley was another collector, but few of his accumulations appear to have come from London. The extraordinary collection of pamphlets got together by Tomlinson, and now stored in the British Museum, is too well known to need more than a passing reference. It is not so generally known that Narcissus Luttrell was a very voracious collector of broadsides, tracts, and so forth. To nearly every one of the items he affixed the price he paid for it. In 1820, at the Bindley sale, this extraordinary collection, ranging in date from 1640 to 1688, and comprising twelve volumes, realized the then large amount of £781. [Illustration: _Sir Julius Cæsar's Travelling Library._] Sir Julius Cæsar, Master of the Rolls under James I., was a book-collector of the right sort, and his box of charming little editions of the classics, with which he used to solace himself on a journey, is now in the safe keeping of the British Museum. Sir Julius was born in 1557, and died in April, 1636; he possessed a fine collection of highly interesting manuscripts, which had the narrowest possible escape from being destroyed at the latter part of the last century. The collection was rescued in time by Samuel Paterson, the auctioneer, and it is now in the British Museum. Robert Burton (the author of the 'Anatomy of Melancholy') was, like Luttrell, also a great collector of tracts, and his library, now in the Bodleian, is peculiarly rich in historical, political, and poetical pamphlets, and in miscellaneous accounts of murders, monsters, and accidents. He seems to have purchased and preserved a copy of everything that came out. 'There is no nation,' says Johnson, 'in which it is so necessary as in our own to assemble the small tracts and fugitive pieces.' 'The writers of these' frequently have opportunities 'of inquiring from living witnesses, and of copying their representations from the life, and preserve a multitude of particular incidents which are forgotten in a short time, or omitted in formal relations, and yet afford light in some of the darkest scenes of state.' 'From pamphlets,' says the same writer, 'are to be learned the progress of every debate, and of every opinion.' And he compares the impression produced on the mind of him who shall consult these tracts, and of another that refers merely to formal historians, to the _difference of him who hears of a victory, and him who sees the battle_. Archbishop Laud collected from far and wide. John Selden, like Laud, had a distinct weakness for learned books, and consequently could have found little to satisfy his cravings in London. Selden, when disturbed, put his spectacles into the book he was busy with by way of marking the place; and after his death numbers of volumes were found with these curious book-markers. John Felton, who murdered Buckingham, was also a book-collector in a small way. In Lilly's catalogue for 1863 there was a copy of Peacham's 'Compleat Gentleman,' 1622, with the following on the fly-leaf: 'John Felton, vicessimo secundo die Junii, 1622.' A few glances, at this point, at the more material phases of book-collecting may not be without interest. The following is one of the earliest bookseller's statements of accounts with which we are acquainted. It was rendered to 'the Right Honourable the Lord Conway,' on May 31, 1638, by Henry Seile, whose shop was at the sign of the Tiger's Head, Fleet Street: 1 Nash's Ha' wee you to Saffron Walden 00 02 06 1 Greene's Arcadia } { 1 Farewell to Folly } { 1 Tullies' Love } These nine Bookes { 1 Lady Fitzwater's Nightingale } were delivered to { 00 10 0 1 Mamilia } your Lordship at { 1 Never too Late } Xs. { 1 Groatesworth of Wit } { 1 Mourning Garment } { 1 Peers pennylesse supplication } { In a letter addressed to Evelyn by Dr. Cosin (afterwards Bishop of Durham) during his exile, and dated July 18, 1651, we get a delightful glimpse of two book-lovers doing 'a deal.' Mr. Evelyn was apparently a man who could drive a bargain with Hebraic shrewdness. 'Truly, sir,' expostulated mildly the excited ecclesiastic, 'I thought I had prevented any further motion of abatement by the large offer that I made to you. . . . If you consider their number, I desire you would be pleased to consider likewise, that they are a choice number, and a company of the best selected books among them all. . . . There is in your note Pliny's "Natural History" in English, priced at 36s., which is worth £3; Camden's "Errors," priced at 5s. 6d., for which I have seen £1 given; Paulus Jovius at £1, which sells now in Paris at 4 pistoles; and Pol. Virgil at 10s., which sells here for £10; William of Malmesbury at 15s., for which they demand here £30, and Asser Menev, etc., at 14s., which they will not part with here nor elsewhere abroad for £20.' It is highly probable that the book-market was never so bad in London as during this period; for, in addition to the above illustration, and at about the same time, Isaac Vossius came over to this country with a quantity of literary property, some of which had belonged to his learned father, in the hopes of selling it; but he 'carried them back into Holland,' where 'a quicker mercate' was expected. III. [Illustration: _Archbishop Usher._] _Sic transit gloria mundi_ might well be the motto of a History of Book-Collectors, for in by far the majority of cases great private libraries have been formed in one generation by genuine bookworms, only to be scattered in the next by needy legatees or in consequence of impoverished estates. There can be no doubt that several famous libraries have derived their origin from the mere vanity of emulating a fashionable pursuit. Into this matter, however, it is not necessary for us to enter, except to hazard the suggestion that if the money had not been spent in that direction it would doubtless have been squandered in some less worthy and enduring manner. One of the most interesting and valuable contributions to the history of private collections of the seventeenth century is embedded in the long and entertaining letter which John Evelyn addressed to Mr. Pepys in August, 1689. This letter is so accessible that it may seem superfluous to quote any part of it; but a few of the leading points are necessary to the proper sequence of our story. 'The Bishop of Ely has a very well-stored library, but the very best is what Dr. Stillingfleet has at Twickenham, ten miles out of town. . . . Our famous lawyer, Sir Edward Coke, purchased a very choice library of Greek and other MSS., which were sold him by Dr. Meric Casaubon, son of the learned Isaac; and these, together with his delicious villa, Durdens, came into the possession of the present Earl of Berkeley from his uncle, Sir Robert Cook. . . . I have heard that Sir Henry Savill was master of many precious MSS., and he is frequently celebrated for it by the learned Valesius, almost in every page of that learned man's Annotations on Eusebius, and the Ecclesiastical Historians published by him. The late Mr. Hales, of Eton, had likewise a very good library; and so had Dr. Cosin, late Bishop of Duresme [and afterwards of Durham], a considerable part of which I had agreed with him for myself during his exile abroad, as I can show under his own hand; but his late daughter, since my Lady Garret, thought I had not offered enough, and made difficulty in delivering them to me till near the time of his Majesty's restoration, and after that the Dean, her father, becoming Bishop of that opulent See, bestowed them on the library there. But the Lord Primate Usher was inferior to none I have named among the clergy for rare MSS., a great part of which, being brought out of Ireland, and left his son-in-law, Sir Timothy Tyrill, was disposed of to give bread to that incomparable Prelate during the late fanatic war. Such as remained yet at Dublin were preserved, and by a public purse restored and placed in the college library of that city. . . . I forbear to name the late Earl of Bristol's and his kinsman's, Sir Kenelm Digby's, libraries, of more pompe than intrinsic value, as chiefly consisting of modern poets, romances, chymical, and astrological books. . . . As for those of Sir Kenelm, the catalogue was printed and most of them sold in Paris, as many better have lately been in London. The Duke of Lauderdale's[27:A] is yet entire, choicely bound, and to be sold by a friend of mine, to whom they are pawned; but it comes far short of his relation's, the Lord Maitland's, which was certainly the noblest, most substantial and accomplished library that ever passed under the speare, and heartily it grieved me to behold its limbs, like those of the chaste Hippolytus, separated and torn from that so well chosen and compacted a body. The Earl of Anglesey's, and several others since, by I know not what invidious fate, passed the same fortune, to whatever influence and constellation now reigning malevolent to books and libraries, which can portend no good to the future age.' [Illustration: _Wotton House in 1840._] It is interesting to note that of the several libraries enumerated by Evelyn three have become, partly or wholly, public property. That of Dr. John Moore, Bishop of Ely, was purchased after his death by George I. for £6,000, and presented to the University of Cambridge, where it now is.[27:B] Evelyn himself was, as will have been gathered, an ardent book-collector. He began forming a library very early in life, whilst that of his brother came to him by bequest. At the time of his death he had a very extensive collection of books at Wotton, which has been considerably augmented by his successors. In the early part of the present century William Upcott, of the London Institution, drew up a complete catalogue. Upcott's appearance on the scene synchronized with the disappearance of a number of volumes from the Evelyn Library; it has been suggested that Lady Evelyn presented them to him 'or something of that sort,' although the circumstance has never been officially explained. Certain it is that a large number of books formerly in the possession of the diarist have at times appeared in the auction-room. The most important which occurred during the last few years are two beautifully-written MSS., the work of Richard Hoare, one having the title 'Instructions Oeconomiques,' 1648, with a dedication 'To the present mistress of my youth, the hopeful companion of my riper years, and the future nurse of my old age, Mrs. May Evelyn, my deare wife,' etc. The second was a book of Private Devotions, 1650. Evelyn was also unfortunate in his lifetime, inasmuch as the Duke of Lauderdale 'came to my house, under pretence of a visit,' but in reality to borrow 'for a few days' certain valuable MSS., which this aristocratic thief never returned. So, too, he lent Burnet a quantity of MS. material for his 'History of the Reformation,' which, like other borrowed books, never came back. A large number of first editions of the works of J. Evelyn, together with some books from his library, illustrated with his autograph notes, occurred in the sale of the library of the late Arthur Davis, of Deptford and East Farleigh, July, 1857, many of which were doubtless purloined at some time or other. [Illustration: _Magdalen College, Oxford._] Of all the seventeenth-century book-collectors, perhaps the most interesting is that other diarist, Samuel Pepys. Samuel was not a man of great learning, but his wit, his knowledge of the world, and his humanity were unbounded. He welcomed almost anything in the shape of a book, from a roguish French novel to a treatise on medals, from a loose Restoration play to a maritime pamphlet, and from lives of the saints to books on astrology or philosophy. Not a great man, perhaps, but one of the most delightful and entertaining that one could wish. The Secretary's 'Diary' is full of allusions to men and events of bookish interest, and gives frequent illustrations of his amiable passion for book-collecting. Fortunately, we have not to grope in the dark to get an accurate portrait of the genial Samuel as a book-collector, for his entire library is preserved, almost in the same state as he left it, at Magdalen College, Oxford, 'as curious a medley of the grave and gay' as any person of catholic tastes could wish for. The library consists of almost 3,000 volumes, preserved in eleven mahogany bookcases. The books are all arranged in double rows, the small ones in front being sufficiently low to permit of the titles of the back row of larger ones being easily read. The library is a remarkably accurate reflection of the tastes of the founder. In addition to what is termed ordinary useful books, there are many rarities, including no less than nine Caxtons, and several from the press of Wynkyn de Worde and Pynson. The celebrated collection of ballads, commenced by Selden and continued by Pepys, is second only in importance to the famous Roxburghe collection now in the British Museum. The manuscripts of various kinds form a very valuable part of this celebrated collection. [Illustration: _Sir Hans Sloane's Monument._] John Bagford, the biblioclast (1675-1716), also finishes us, like Evelyn, with a list of book-collectors who were contemporaneous with him. Besides Bishop Moore, already mentioned, there were Sir Hans Sloane, Lords Carbery (Duke of Kent), Pembroke, Somers, Sunderland, and Halifax. Among the commoners who emulated their 'betters' were Messrs. Huckle, Chichely, Bridges, Walter Clavell, Rawlinson, Slaughter, Topham, Wanley, Captain Hatton, 'Right Hon. Secretary Harley,' and Dr. Salmon, whose collection is said to have consisted of 1,700 folios. Edwards, in his most valuable work on libraries, mentions yet a third list, which is anonymous, and is apparently almost contemporaneous with Bagford's. The list is introduced with the remark that 'the laudable emulation which is daily increasing amongst the nobility of England, vying with each other in the curiosities and other rich furniture of their respective libraries, gives cheerful hope of having the long-hidden monuments of ancient times raised out of their present dust and rubbish,' and then makes special mention of the libraries of the Duke of Kent, Lords Derby, Denbigh, Longueville, Willoughby de Broke, Sunderland, Somers, and Halifax. When good Mr. Evelyn described Sir Kenelm Digby's library as 'of more pomp than intrinsic value,' and as 'chiefly consisting of modern poets, romances, chemical and astrological books,' he did not contemplate the future possibility of such despised trifles becoming fashionable and in greater request than the accumulations of the collectors to whom the classics were daily food. As Edwards has pointed out, the portion which Digby gave to the Bodleian was in reality the fruit of the researches of his tutor, Thomas Allen. The portion which was of his own collecting, and consequently the only portion which accurately mirrored his own tastes, he took with him to France when driven into exile. When he died there, it apparently passed into the possession of Digby, Earl of Bristol, on whose account it was sold in London in 1680, fifteen years after its owner's death. The catalogue enumerated 3,878 items, of which 69 were manuscripts, the total of the sale being £904 4s. Among the most famous of the seventeenth-century collectors were the two brothers Francis, Baron Guilford, Lord Keeper (1637-1685), and Dr. John North, master of Trinity College (1645-1683). Of these two there are some very entertaining facts in Roger North's 'Lives of the Norths' (1742-44). Dr. John North, we are told, 'very early in his career began to look after books and to lay the foundation of a competent library . . . buying at one lift a whole set of Greek classics in folio, in best editions. This sunk his stock [of money] for the time; but afterwards for many years of his life all that he could (as they say) rap or run went the same way. But the progress was small, for such a library as he desired, compared with what the pittance of his stock would purchase, allowing many years to the gathering, was of desperate expectation. . . . He courted, as a fond lover, all best editions, fairest characters, best-bound and preserved. . . . He delighted in the small editions of the classics by Seb. Gryphius, and divers of his acquaintance, meeting with any of them, bought and brought them to him, which he accepted as choice presents, although, perhaps, he had one or two of them before. . . . His soul was never so staked down as in an old bookseller's shop. . . . He was for the most part his own factor, and seldom or never bought by commission, which made him lose time in turning over vast numbers of books, and he was very hardly pleased at last. I have borne him company in shops for many hours together, and, minding him of the time, he hath made a dozen proffers before he would quit. By this care and industry, at length he made himself master of a very considerable library, wherein the choicest collection was Greek.' At his death the collection came to his brother, the Lord Keeper. As with Dr. John North, book-hunting was the consuming passion of the life of a very different man--Richard Smyth or Smith (of whom there is a very fine and rare engraving by W. Sherwin), one of the Secondaries or Under-Sheriffs from 1644 to 1655. Having sufficient wealth, he resigned his municipal appointment, which was worth £700 a year, in order to devote himself entirely to book-hunting. Anthony à Wood describes him as 'infinitely curious and inquisitive after books,' and states that 'he was constantly known every day to walk his rounds amongst the booksellers' shops (especially in Little Britain).' Richard Chiswell, the bookseller who drew up a catalogue of Smith's books, which subsequently came into his possession _en bloc_, tells us that his skill and experience enabled him 'to make choice of such books that were not obvious to every man's eye. . . . He lived in times which ministered peculiar opportunities of meeting with books that were not every day brought into public light, and few eminent libraries were bought where he had not the liberty to pick and choose. Hence arose, as that vast number of his books, so the choiceness and rarity of the greatest part of them, and that of all kinds, and in all sorts of learning.' This collection was sold by auction in May, 1682, the catalogue of it occupying 404 closely-printed pages in large quarto. There were fourteen Caxtons, 'the aggregate produce' of which was £3 14s. 7d.; the 'Godfrey of Bulloigne' selling for 18s., 'being K. Edwarde the IVth's owne booke,' and the 'Booke of Good Manners,' for 2s.; the highest price in the entire sale being given for Holinshed's 'Chronicle,' 'with the addition of many sheets that were castrated, being . . . not allowed to be printed,' £7. Smith left an interesting and valuable obituary list of certain of his bibliopolic friends (which is reprinted in _Willis' Current Notes_, February, 1853), one of whom, according to him, was 'buried at St. Bartholomew's, without wine or wafers, only gloves and rosemary.' [Illustration: _Little Britain in 1550._] Dr. Francis Bernard, chief physician to James II., was an indefatigable book-hunter; being 'a person who collected his books, not for ostentation or ornament, he seemed no more solicitous about their dress than his own, and, therefore, you'll find that a gilt back or a large margin was very seldom an inducement for him to buy. 'Twas sufficient for him that he had the book.' His library was sold in 1698, and realized the then enormous sum of £2,000. John Bridges, of Lincoln's Inn, the historian of Northamptonshire, was a collector who read as well as bought books; his collection was sold at auction in 1726, when 4,313 lots realized £4,001. Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, was a collector with comprehensive tastes and almost unlimited means. His collection is now in the British Museum, and is computed to have numbered about 26,000 volumes, on the binding of only a portion of which he is said to have expended £18,000, besides a mass of 350,000 pamphlets. Thomas Baker (1625-1690) bequeathed a portion of his library to St. John's College, Cambridge, notwithstanding the fact that he was ejected therefrom. He was an unceasing collector, but his finances were scanty, and, worst of all, he had to contend with collectors of greater wealth, or 'purse-ability' as Bodley calls it. Writing to Humfrey Wanley, he says: 'I begin to complain of the men of quality who lay out so much for books, and give such prices that there is nothing to be had for poor scholars, whereof I have found the effects. When I bid a fair price for an old book, I am answered, the "quality" will give twice as much, and so I have done. I have had much ado to pick up a few old books at tolerable prices, and despair of any more.' About 2,000 of his books went to St. John's College, and the others were sold by auction, many bearing the inscription 'Thomas Baker, socius ejectus,' etc. The library of another collector who, like Baker, had more of the kicks than of the ha'pence of this life, Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), may be mentioned briefly in this paragraph, for both were men of great learning. Hearne's collection was sold in February, 1736, by Osborne the bookseller, 'the lowest price being marked in each book.' On the title-page of the catalogue, and beneath a poor portrait of Hearne, is the well-known couplet: 'Quoth Time to Thomas Hearne, "Whatever I forget, you learn."' Humphrey Dyson is another book-collector of this period, and is described by Hearne as 'a very curious man in collecting books.' The Wesleys were book-lovers and readers, but have perhaps but little claim to rank as collectors _pur sang_. However, it is interesting to point out that Lilly's catalogue for 1863 included a copy of Purcell's 'Orpheus Britannicus,' 1706, with an inscription on the fly-leaf: 'C. Wesley, junior. The valuable gift of his much-honor'd Father.' The Restoration poets, like those of the Elizabethan period, had a sufficiently hard fight to keep themselves in food; books were luxuries which they could only venture to enjoy at long and uncertain intervals. Dryden and Congreve, however, appear to have been addicted to the pleasant pastime. An exceedingly interesting copy of Spenser's 'Works,' folio, 1679, was once in the possession of Mr. F. S. Ellis. On the fly-leaf occurred this note: 'The corrections made in this book are of Mr. Dryden's own handwriting. J. Tonson.' The volume occurred in an auction, where its value was not detected. The 'corrections,' Mr. Ellis states, extend through the whole of the volume, and bear witness to the care and diligence with which Dryden had studied Spenser's poems. Several of the notes are in explanation of the text, but for the most part are careful and curious corrections of the text and press. The pedigree of this volume is well established by its having in the cover the bookplate of Thomas Barrett, of Lee, celebrated by Dibdin as a 'bibliomaniacal and tasteful gentleman.' Though Barrett died in 1757, his library was not dispersed till a few years since. Izaak Walton was a collector, and took the wise precaution of writing his autograph in each volume, as the very interesting score of examples now at Salisbury prove. His friend, Charles Cotton, of cheerful memory, was much more of a book-collector, although from the 'Angler' it would seem that his whole library was contained in his hall window. Like Walton, Cotton wrote his autograph in most of his books, which occur in the auction-room at irregular intervals. The extent or variety of the Cotton correction may be gathered from the following 'epigram' which Sir Aston Cokaine wrote (1658) 'To my Cousin, Mr. Charles Cotton the Younger': 'D'Avila, Bentivoglio, Guicciardine, And Machiavil, the subtle Florentine, In their originals I have read through, Thanks to your library, and unto you, The prime historians of later times; at least In the Italian tongue allow'd the best. When you have more such books, I pray vouchsafe Me their perusal, I'll return them safe. Yet for the courtesy, the recompense That I can make you will be only thanks. But you are noble-soul'd, and had much rather Bestow a benefit than receive a favour.' [Illustration: _Charles, Third Earl of Sunderland._] One of the most remarkable collections of books ever made by a private individual was that known as the Sunderland Library. It was formed, not only in the short space of twelve years, but at a time when many books, now of almost priceless value, and scarcely to be had at any price, were comparatively common, and certainly not costly. Neither money nor pains was spared, 'and the bibliographical ardour of the founder soon began to be talked of in the bookshops of the chief cities of Europe.' The founder, Charles, third Earl of Sunderland, lived at Althorp, his town house being in Piccadilly, on the site of which the Albany now stands. At the latter place this library was lodged for several years. In Macky's 'Journey through England,' 1724, Sunderland House is there described as being separated from the street of Piccadilly 'by a wall with large grown trees before the gate. . . . The greatest beauty of this palace is the library, running from the house into the garden; and I must say is the finest in Europe, both for the disposition of the apartments, and of the books. The rooms, divided into five apartments, are fully 150 feet long, with two stories of windows, and a gallery runs round the whole in the second story for the taking down books. No nobleman in any nation hath taken greater care to make his collection complete, nor does he spare any cost for the most valuable and rare books. Besides, no bookseller in Europe hath so many editions of the same book as he, for he hath all, especially of the classicks.' The founder of this famous library died on April 19, 1722. Evelyn has left a few very interesting facts concerning this collection. Under the date March 10, 1695, we read: 'I din'd at the Earl of Sunderland's with Lord Spencer. My Lord shew'd me his library, now again improv'd by many books bought at the sale of Sir Charles Scarborough, an eminent physician, which was the very best collection, especially of mathematical books, that was I believe in Europe, once design'd for the King's library at St. James's, but the Queen dying, who was the greate patroness of the designe, it was let fall, and the books were miserably dissipated.' Four years later, April, 1699, we have another entry, to the effect that Lord Spencer purchased 'an incomparable library,' until now the property of 'a very fine scholar, whom from a child I have known,' whose name does not transpire [? Hadrian Beverland], but in whose library were many 'rare books . . . that were printed at the first invention of that wonderful art.' In reference to Macky's incidental allusion to the Earl of Sunderland's indifference to cost in forming his library, Wanley confirms this. Writing in December, 1721, the diarist observes that the books in Mr. Freebairn's library 'in general went low, or rather at vile rates, through a combination of the booksellers against the sale. Yet some books went for unaccountably high prices, which were bought by Mr. Vaillant, the bookseller, who had an unlimited commission from the Earl of Sunderland.' Among the items was an edition of Virgil, printed by Zarothus _circa_ 1475: 'It was noted that when Mr. Vaillant had bought the printed Virgil at £46, he huzza'd out aloud, and threw up his hat, for joy that he had bought it so cheap.' When this famous book-collector died, Wanley observes that 'by reason of his decease some benefit may accrue to this library [Lord Oxford's], even in case his relations will part with none of his books. I mean, _by his raising the price of books no higher now_; so that, in probability, this commodity may fall in the market; and any gentleman be permitted to buy an uncommon old book for less than forty or fifty pounds.' The third son of this famous book-collector, Charles, fifth Earl of Sunderland, and second Duke of Marlborough, greatly enlarged the collection formed by his father; and it was removed to Blenheim probably in 1734. This famous library remained practically intact until it came under the hammer at Puttick and Simpson's, occupying fifty-one days in the dispersal at intervals from December 1, 1881, to March 22, 1883, the total being £55,581 6s. It is stated that the library originally cost about £30,000. Dr. David Williams, who from 1688 to the end of his life was minister of a Presbyterian congregation which met at Hand Alley, Bishopsgate Street, was a contemporary book-collector and book-hunter. His special line was theology, and his library, which absorbed that of Dr. Bates, once Rector of St. Dunstan's-in-the-East, is still preserved intact, and is now, to a certain degree, a free library. Archbishop Tenison was another great book-hunter of this period, and his library was preserved more or less intact until 1861, when it was dispersed at Sotheby's, under an order of the Charity Commissioners. The brothers Thomas and Richard Rawlinson were, probably, the most omnivorous collectors of the earlier part of the last century. Everything in the shape of a book was welcomed. The former (1681-1725), whose 'C. & P.' (collated and perfect) appears on the frontispiece, title-page, or fly-leaf of books, when he lived in Gray's Inn, had so filled his set of four rooms with books that he was obliged to sleep in the passage. He is said to be the original study for the 158th _Tatler_, in which 'Tom Folio' and other _soi-disant_ scholars are trounced. 'He has a greater esteem for Aldus and Elzevir than for Virgil and Horace.' It is very doubtful whether Addison (who wrote this particular _Tatler_) really had Thomas Rawlinson in mind, whom he describes as 'a learned idiot.' Swift has declared that some know books as they do lords; learn their titles exactly, and then brag of their acquaintance. But neither description is applicable to Rawlinson, who, for all that, may have known much more about Aldus or the Elzevirs than about Virgil or Horace. With a pretty taste for epithets, in which our forefathers sometimes indulged, Hearne has defended his friend from Addison's sarcasms by declaring that the mistake could only have been made by a 'shallow buffoon.' That Rawlinson was a bibliomaniac there can be no question, for if he had a score copies of one book, he would purchase another for the mere gratification of possessing it. When he removed to the large mansion in Aldersgate Street, which had been the palace of the Bishops of London, and which he shared with his brother, 'the books still continued to be better lodged than their owner.' He died, at the comparatively early age of forty-four, as he had lived, among dust and cobwebs, 'in his bundles, piles and bulwarks of paper.' The catalogue of his huge mass of books was divided into nine parts; the sale of the MSS. alone occupied sixteen days. Richard Rawlinson (died 1755) survived his brother thirty years, and continued to collect books with all his brother's enthusiasm, but without his sheer book-greed. His MSS. are at Oxford, and the extent and richness of his accumulations may be gathered from the fact that the collector laid nearly thirty libraries under contribution. His printed books were sold in 1756 by Samuel Baker (now Sotheby's), the sale occupying forty-nine days, and the total amounting to £1,155 1s.; a second sale included 20,000 pamphlets, and a third sale consisted of prints. [Illustration: _London House, Aldersgate Street, 1808._] Among the wisest and most distinguished book-collectors of the first half of the last century is Dr. Richard Mead (1673-1754), a physician by profession, but a bibliophile by instinct, and whom Dr. Johnson described as having 'lived more in the broad sunshine of life than almost any other man.' As Dr. Mead's fine library was 'picked up at Rome,' it scarcely comes within our purview; but it may be mentioned that so long as this fine collection remained intact in London, it was _ipso facto_ a free library; it was especially rich in the classics, sciences and history. The first part was sold by Samuel Baker in 1754, and the second in the following year, the 6,592 lots occupying fifty-seven days, the total of the books being £5,496 15s. Dr. Mead's mantle descended to his great friend and pupil, Dr. Anthony Askew (1722-1774), who had an exceedingly fine library; his career as a collector began in Paris in 1749, and nearly all his choicest treasures appear to have been gathered on the Continent, and chiefly it seems by Joseph Smith, the English Consul at Venice. Askew's first library was purchased by George III. in 1762, and now forms an integral part of the British Museum. His subsequent accumulations were dispersed in two sections, the books in 1775, and the MSS. ten years later. We shall have occasion to refer again to the Askew sale. Dr. Richard Farmer appears to have imbibed his taste for book-collecting from Askew, and became an indefatigable haunter of the London and country bookstalls, his special line being Early English literature, then scarcely at all appreciated; it is stated that the collection, which cost him less than £500, realized, when sold by auction by King in 1798, upwards of £2,000. Dr. Farmer is better remembered by posterity as a Shakespearian critic or commentator. He was a Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's, and appears to have had what Dibdin describes as 'his foragers, his jackalls, and his _avant-couriers_,' who picked up for him every item of interest in his particular lines. As becomes the true bibliophile, he was peculiarly indifferent to his dress, but he was a scholar of great abilities. A glance at a priced copy of his sale catalogue is enough to turn any book-lover green with envy. For example, his copy of Richard Barnfield's 'Encomion of Lady Pecunia, or the Praise of Money' (1598), sold for 19s., Malone being the purchaser. That copy is now in the Bodleian. In 1882, the Ouvry copy of the same book realized 100 guineas! A copy of Milton's 'Paradise Lost' (1667), with the first title-page, sold for 11s.; a volume of twelve poems, chiefly printed by Wynkyn de Worde and Pynson, realized 25 guineas. Each item would probably realize the amount paid for the whole, should they again occur for sale, which is most unlikely. Both his friends, George Steevens and Isaac Reed, were equally zealous collectors, and each had a strong weakness for the same groove of collecting. The library of Steevens was sold, also by King, in 1800, and the 1,943 items realized £2,740 15s.; whilst that of Reed, sold seven years later, contained 8,957 articles, and realized £4,387. Both Steevens and Isaac Reed call for a much more extended notice than it is possible to give them here. Many of Steevens' books realized twenty times the amount which he paid for them. Steevens, who was born in 1736, resided in a retired house 'just on the rise of Hampstead Heath,' so Dibdin tells us, the house being formerly known as the Upper Flask Tavern, to which 'Richardson sends Clarissa in one of her escapes from Lovelace.' Here, as Dibdin further tells us, Steevens lived, embosomed in books, shrubs, and trees. 'His habits were indeed peculiar; not much to be envied or imitated, as they sometimes betrayed the flights of a madman, and sometimes the asperities of the cynic. His attachments were warm, but fickle, both in choice and duration.' Several of his letters are printed in Dibdin's 'Bibliomania' (edit. 1842), in which will also be found a long series of extracts from the sale catalogue of his library. There were nearly fifty copies of the first or early quartos of the Shakespearian plays, which were knocked down at prices varying from 5s. to, in a few instances, over £20. The first, second, third and fourth folios realized £22, £18 18s., £8 8s., and £2 12s. 6d., respectively! Isaac Reed was in many ways a remarkable man. He was the son of a baker in the parish of St. Dunstan's-in-the-West. Born in 1742, he commenced professional life as a solicitor, which he soon abandoned for the more congenial pursuit of literature. His knowledge of English literature was unbounded, and the dispersal of his remarkable library was one of the wonders of the year 1807. He was for over forty years a diligent collector, and few days passed in that period which did not witness an addition to his library. He died at his chambers in Staple Inn. 'I have been almost daily at a book-auction,' writes Malone--'the library of the late Mr. Reed, the last Shakespearian, except myself, where my purse has been drained as usual. But what I have purchased are chiefly books of my own trade. There is hardly a library of this kind now left, except my own and Mr. Bindley's, neither of us having the least desire to succeed the other in his peculiar species of literary wealth.' [Illustration: _St. Bernard's Seal._] FOOTNOTES: [27:A] In Hearne's 'Diary,' published by the Oxford Historical Society, there is a very quaint note about the Duke of Lauderdale, who is described as 'a Curious Collector of Books, and when in London would very often go to y{e} Booksellers shops and pick up w{t} curious Books he could meet with; but y{t} in his Elder years he lost much of his Learning by minding too much Politicks.' [27:B] At the Cambridge University Library there are some very interesting diaries of this famous book-lover, styled 'Father of Black Letter Collectors,' chiefly relating to the purchases of books. All the more important facts have been published in the pages of the _Bibliographer_. [Illustration] FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW. I. IN few phases of human action are the foibles and preferences of individuals more completely imbricated than in that of book-collecting. Widely different as were the book-hunters' fancies at the beginning and at the end of the eighteenth century, yet it would not be possible to draw a hard and fast line. For the greater part of that time the classics of every description and of every degree of unimportance held their own. Reluctant, therefore, to abandon the chief stimulant of their earlier book-hunting careers, many collectors still took a keen interest in their _primi pensieri_. But their real passion found a vent in other and less beaten directions. In addition to this, during the eighteenth century a large number of small working libraries were formed by men who _used_ books. Henry Fielding, Goldsmith, Dr. Johnson, David Hume, Smollett, Gibbon, Pope, and many others, are essentially figures in the history of book-hunting in London, but they had neither the means nor, so far as we are aware, the inclination to indulge in book-collecting as a mere fashionable hobby. Mr. Austin Dobson has lately published an interesting account of Fielding's library, in which he proves not only that Fielding had been a fervent student of the classics in his youth and that he remained a voracious reader through life, but that he made good use of a large collection of Greek and Latin authors, which was sold at his death. [Illustration: _Mr. Austin Dobson._ From a photograph by E. C. Porter, Ealing.] The eighteenth century may be regarded as the Augustan age so far as book-hunting in London is concerned. A large percentage of the most famous collections were either formed, or the collectors themselves were either born or died, in that period. The Beckford and Hamilton, the Heber, the Sunderland, the Althorp, and the King's Library, all had their origins prior to 1800. Richard Heber (1773-1833), with all his vast knowledge, learning, and accomplishments, was a bibliomaniac in the more unpleasant sense of the word. No confirmed drunkard, no incurable opium-eater, ever had less self-control than Heber had. To him, to see a book was to possess it. Cicero has said that the heart into which the love of gold has entered is shut to every other feeling. Heber was very wealthy, so that with him the love of books blinded him to almost everything else. He began to collect when at Oxford, chiefly classics for the purpose of study. He is said to have caught the disease from Bindley, the veteran collector, who began book-hunting early in the last century. Having one day accidentally met with a copy of Henry Peacham's 'Valley of Varietie,' 1638, which professed to give 'rare passages out of antiquity,' etc., he showed it to Bindley, who described it as 'rather a curious book.' Why such an incident should have set Heber on his terrible career history telleth not. Under the name of 'Atticus,' Dibdin, who knew Heber well, has described him in this fashion: 'Atticus unites all the activity of De Witt and Lomenie, with the retentiveness of Magliabechi, and the learning of Le Long. . . . Yet Atticus doth sometimes sadly err. He has now and then an ungovernable passion to possess more copies of a book than there were ever parties to a deed or stamina to a plant; and therefore, I cannot call him a "duplicate" or a triplicate collector. . . . But he atones for this by being liberal in the loan of his volumes. The learned and curious, whether rich or poor, have always free access to his library.' Heber's own explanation of this plurality of purchase was cast somewhat in this fashion: 'Why, you see, sir, no man can comfortably do without _three_ copies of a book. One he must have for his show copy, and he will probably keep it at his country house. Another he will require for his own use and reference; and unless he is inclined to part with this, which is very inconvenient, or risk the injury of his best copy, he must needs have a third at the service of his friends.' The late Mr. Edward Solly was also a pluralist in the matter of books, and had even six or seven copies of a large number of works. He justified himself on the plea that he liked to have one to read, one to make notes in, another with notes by a previous owner, one in a choice binding, a 'tall' copy, a short ditto, and so forth. So far, however, as Heber is concerned, no one could be more generous than he in lending books. This might be proved from a dozen different sources, including the lengthy introduction 'To Richard Heber, Esq.,' to the sixth canto of Scott's 'Marmion': 'But why such instances to you, Who, in an instant, can renew Your treasured hoards of various lore, And furnish twenty thousand more? Hoards, not like theirs whose volumes rest Like treasures in the Franch'mont chest, While gripple owners still refuse To others what they cannot use: Give them the priest's whole century, They shall not spell you letters three; Their pleasure in the books the same The magpie takes in pilfer'd gem. Thy volumes, open as thy heart, Delight, amusement, science, art, To every ear and eye impart; Yet who of all who thus employ them, Can, like their owner's self, enjoy them?' In addition to this reference, Scott, in one of his letters, speaks of 'Heber the magnificent, whose library and cellar are so superior to all others in the world.' Frequent mention is made of Heber in the notes to the Waverley novels. At one period of his life Heber was a Member of Parliament, and throughout his career it seems that he found recreation from the sport of collecting in the sport of the fields. He has been known to take a journey of four or five hundred miles to obtain a rare volume, 'fearful to trust to a mere commission.' He bought by all methods, in all places, and at all times, a single purchase on one occasion being an entire library of 30,000 volumes. Curiously enough, he disliked large-paper copies, on account of the space they filled. When he died, he had eight houses full of books--two in London, one in Oxford, and others at Paris, Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent, besides smaller collections in Germany. When sold, the number of lots was 52,000, and of volumes about 147,000, and the total amount realized £57,000, or about two-thirds of the original expenditure. The sale, which commenced in 1834, lasted over several years, and the catalogue alone comprises six thick octavo volumes. He is described as a tall, strong, well-made man. Writing to Sir Egerton Brydges, the Rev. A. Dyce observes concerning Heber's death: 'Poor man! He expired at Pimlico,[47:A] in the midst of his rare property, without a friend to close his eyes, and from all I have heard I am led to believe that he died broken-hearted. He had been ailing some time, but took no care of himself, and seemed, indeed, to court death. Yet his ruling passion was strong to the last. The morning he died he wrote out some memoranda for Thorpe about books which he wished to be purchased for him' (Fitzgerald, 'The Book-Fancier,' p. 230). In noticing Scott's edition of Dryden, and in alluding to the help which Scott obtained from Heber and Bindley, the _Edinburgh Review_ speaks of the two as 'gentlemen in whom the love of collecting, which is an amusement to others, assumes the dignity of a virtue, because it gives ampler scope to the exercise of friendship, and of a generous sympathy with the common cause of literature.' [Illustration: _William Beckford, Book-collector._] William Beckford (1761-1844) and the tenth Duke of Hamilton (1767-1852), for several reasons, may be bracketed together as book-collectors. Each was a remarkable man in several respects. William Beckford, the author of 'Vathek' and the owner of Fonthill, was a universal collector. No less enthusiastic in amassing pictures and objects of art than books, he never scrupled to sell anything and everything except his books, which he dearly loved. A man who could draw eulogy from Byron could not have been an ordinary person. Fonthill and its treasures were announced for sale in September, 1822, the auctioneer being James Christie, the catalogue being in quarto size, and comprising ninety-five pages. The auction, however, did not take place, but the collection was sold _en masse_ to a Mr. John Farquhar for £330,000, Beckford reserving, however, some of his choicest books, pictures, and curiosities. In the following year the whole collection was dispersed by Phillips, the auctioneer, the sale occupying thirty-seven days. With the money he received from Farquhar, Beckford purchased annuities and land near Bath. He united two houses in the Royal Crescent by a flying gallery extending over the road, and his dwelling became one vast library. He added to his collection up to his last days, and obtained many books at Charles Nodier's sale. Beckford was one of the greatest book-enthusiasts that ever lived. His passion was more particularly for Aldines, and other early books bearing the insignia of celebrities, such as Frances I., Henri et Diane, and De Thou, and especially of choice old morocco bindings by Desseuil, Padeloup, and Derome. He was especially strong in old French and Italian books, generically classified as _facetiæ_. Beckford would read for days and weeks at a stretch, with no more recreation than an occasional ride. That he read his books there is ample testimony, for at his sale one lot comprised seven folio volumes of transcripts from the autograph notes written by him on the fly-leaves of the various works in his library. For example, to the copy of Peter Beckford's 'Familiar Letters from Italy,' 1805, he concludes five pages of notes with, 'This book has at least some merit. The language is simple; an ill-natured person might add, and the thoughts not less so.' In Brasbridge's 'Fruits of Experience,' 1824, he writes: 'They who like hog-wash--and there are amateurs for anything--will not turn away disappointed or disgusted with this book, but relish the stale, trashy anecdotes it contains, and gobble them up with avidity.' After Beckford's death, Henry G. Bohn offered £30,000 for the whole library; but Beckford's second daughter, who married the Duke of Hamilton, refused to sanction the sale. It, however, came under the hammer at Sotheby's, 1881-1884, in four parts of twelve days each, the net result being £73,551 18s. The tenth Duke of Hamilton was one of the most distinguished bibliophiles of his time, and commenced purchasing whilst yet Marquis of Douglas. A large portion of his library was collected in Italy and various parts of the Continent, whilst the collection of Greek and Latin manuscripts which he obtained when on a diplomatic mission to Russia formed an unrivalled series of monuments of early art. In 1810 he married Susanna Beckford, and at her father's death the whole of his splendid library came into his possession. The two collections, however, were kept quite distinct. The Hamilton collection of printed books was sold at Sotheby's in May, 1884, the eight days realizing £12,892 12s. 6d. The most important feature of the library, however, was the magnificent collection of MSS. which the Prussian Government secured by private treaty--through the intermediary, it is understood, of the Empress Frederick--for £70,000. In May, 1889, those which the authorities decided not to retain for the Royal Museum at Berlin were transferred to Messrs. Sotheby's, and ninety-one lots realized the total of £15,189 15s. 6d. The gems of the collection were a magnificent volume of the Golden Gospels in Latin of the eighth century, formerly a gift to Henry VIII., which sold for £1,500--a London bookseller once offered £5,000 for this book--and a magnificent MS. of Boccaccio, 'Les Illustres Malheureux,' on vellum, 321 leaves, decorated with eighty-four exquisite miniatures, which sold for £1,700. It may be mentioned that a large number of the Beckford and Hamilton books were purchased through the late H. G. Bohn. [Illustration: _George John, Earl Spencer._] The Althorp Library, now in the possession of Mrs. Rylands, of Manchester, was formed by George John, Earl Spencer (1758-1834), between 1790 and 1820. Until its recent removal from Althorp it was the finest private library in existence. In 1790 Lord Spencer acquired the very fine and select library of Count Rewiczki, the Emperor Joseph's Ambassador in London, for about £2,500, and for the next thirty years the Earl was continually hunting after books in the sale-rooms and booksellers' shops. The story of the Althorp Library has been so repeatedly told, from the time of its first librarian, the devil-hunting Thomas Frognall Dibdin--whose flatulent and sycophantic records are not to be taken as mirroring the infinitely superior intellect and taste of his employer--down to the present day, that any further description is almost superfluous. Besides this, the library is one which will soon be open to all. We may, however, mention a point which is of great interest in the study of books as an investment. It may reasonably be doubted whether the Althorp Library cost its founder much over £100,000; it is generally understood that the price paid for it in 1892 was not far short of £250,000. [Illustration: _John, Duke of Roxburghe, Book-collector._] Contemporaneously with the formation of the Althorp Collection, the Duke of Roxburghe built a library, which was one of the finest and most perfect ever got together. The Duke turned book-hunter through a love affair, it is said. He was to have been married to the eldest daughter of the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; but when this lady's sister was selected as a wife for George III., the proposed marriage was deemed impolitic, and consequently the Duke remained single. The Duke himself is said to have traced his passion for books to the famous dinner given by his father, the second Duke, at which Lords Oxford and Sunderland were present, and at which the celebrated copy of the Valdarfer Boccaccio was produced. The history of this incident is told in our chapter on Book-sales, and need not be here more specifically referred to. The Duke was a mighty hunter, not only of books, but of deer and wild swans. So far as books are concerned, his great specialities were Old English literature, Italian poetry, and romances of the Round Table; and as the first and last of these have increased in value as years have gone by, it will be seen that the Duke was wise in his generation. Indeed, we have it on the best authority that the aggregate outlay on the Roxburghe Library did not exceed £4,000, whilst in the course of little more than twenty years it produced over £23,397, the sale taking place in June, 1812. The Duke of Roxburghe and Lord Spencer were not averse to a little understanding of the nature of a 'knock-out,' for in one of the Althorp Caxtons Lord Spencer has written: 'The Duke and I had agreed not to oppose one another at the [George Mason] sale, but after the book [a Caxton] was bought, to toss up who should win it, when I lost it. I bought it at the Roxburghe sale on the 17 of June, 1812, for £215 5s.' [Illustration: _A corner in the Althorp Library._] Yet another distinguished book-collector of the same period calls for notice. George III. formed a splendid library out of his own private purse and at a cost of £130,000. This library is now a part of the British Museum. A library such as that of George III. gives very little idea of a man's real tastes for books. The King availed himself of the accumulated wisdom, not only of Barnard (who was his librarian for nearly half a century), but of three or four other experts, among whom was Dr. Johnson. The King's everyday tastes, however, may be gathered from the subjoined list of books, which he wished to have on his visit to Weymouth in 1795. He desired what he called 'a closet library' for a watering-place; he wrote to his bookseller for the following works: the Bible; the 'Whole Duty of Man'; the 'Annual Register,' 25 volumes; Rapin's 'History of England,' 21 volumes, 1757; Millot's 'Elémens de l'Histoire de France,' 1770; Voltaire's 'Siècles' of Louis XIV. and Louis XV.; Blackstone's 'Commentaries,' 4 volumes; R. Burn's 'Justice of Peace and Parish Officer,' 4 volumes; an abridgment of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary; Boyer's 'Dictionnaire François et Anglais'; Johnson's 'Poets,' 68 volumes; Dodsley's 'Poems,' 11 volumes; Nichols' 'Poems,' 8 volumes; Steevens' 'Shakespeare'; 'Oeuvres' of Destouches, 5 volumes; and the 'Works' of Sir William Temple, 4 volumes; of Addison, 4 volumes, and Swift, 24 volumes. These books can scarcely be regarded as light literature, and, if anything, calculated to add to the deadly dulness of a seaside retreat at the end of the last century. However, the selection is George III.'s, and must be respected as such. The number of men who were prowling about London during the middle and latter part of the last century after books is only less great than the variety of tastes which they evinced. We have, for example, two such turbulent spirits as John Horne Tooke and John Wilkes, M.P. Parson Horne's (he subsequently assumed the name of his patron, William Tooke) collection did not, as Dibdin has observed, contain a single edition of the Bible; but it included seven examples of Wynkyn de Worde's press and many other rare books. Eight hundred and thirteen lots realized the then high amount of £1,250 when sold at King and Lochée's in 1813. John Wilkes' books were sold at Sotheby's in 1802. If less notorious, many equally enthusiastic book-collectors were hunting the highways and byways of London. Here, for example, is a little anecdote relative to one of these: When the splendid folio edition of Cæsar's 'Commentaries,' by Clarke, published for the express purpose of being presented to the great Duke of Marlborough, came under the hammer at the sale (in 1781) of Topham Beauclerk's library for £44, it was accompanied by an anecdote relating to the method in which it had been acquired. Upon the death of an officer to whom the book belonged, his mother, being informed that it was of some value, wished to dispose of it, and, being told that Mr. Topham Beauclerk (who is said to have but once departed from his inflexible rule of never lending a book) was a proper person to offer it to, she waited on him for that purpose. He asked what she required for it, and, being answered £4 4s., took it without hesitation, though unacquainted with the real value of the book. Being desirous, however, of information with respect to the nature of the purchase he had made, he went to an eminent bookseller's, and inquired what he would give for such a book. The bookseller replied £17 17s. Mr. Beauclerk went immediately to the person who sold him the book, and, telling her that she had been mistaken in its value, not only gave her the additional 13 guineas, but also generously bestowed a further gratuity on her. Few bargain-hunters would have felt called upon to act as Beauclerk[55:A] did. Here is another anecdote of a contemporary book-hunter: Nichols states that Mr. David Papillon (who died in 1762), a gentleman of fortune and literary taste, as well as a good antiquary, contracted with Osborne to furnish him with £100 worth of books, at 3d. apiece. The only conditions were, that they should be perfect, and that there should be no duplicate. Osborne was highly pleased with his bargain, and the first great purchase he made, he sent Mr. Papillon a large quantity; but in the next purchase he found he could send but few, and the next still fewer. Not willing, however, to give up, he sent books worth 5s. apiece, and at last was forced to go and beg to be let off the contract. Eight thousand books would have been wanted! An interesting collector, at once the type of a country gentleman and of a true bibliophile, was Sir John Englis Dolben (1750-1837), of Finedon Hall, Northamptonshire. He was educated at Westminster School, proceeding thence to Christ Church in 1768. Previously to his final retirement into the country, he lingered with much affection about the haunts of his youthful studies. He carried so many volumes about with him in his numerous and capacious pockets that he appeared like a walking library, and his memory, particularly in classical quotations, was equally richly stored. This is one side of the picture. This is the other side, in which we get a view of the man-about-town collector in the person of Alexander Dalrymple (1737-1808), the hydrographer to the Admiralty and to the East India Company: 'His yellow antiquarian chariot seemed to be immovably fixed in the street, just opposite the entrance-door of the long passage leading to the sale-room of Messrs. King and Lochée, in King Street, Covent Garden; and towards the bottom of the table, in the sale-room, Mr. Dalrymple used to sit, a cane in his hand, his hat always upon his head, a thin, slightly-twisted queue, and silver hairs that hardly shaded his temple. . . . His biddings were usually silent, accompanied by the elevation and fall of his cane, or by an abrupt nod of the head.' [Illustration: _Michael Wodhull, Book-collector._] The Osterley Park Library, sold by order of the seventh Earl of Jersey at Sotheby's in 1885, was commenced in the last century, the original founder being Bryan Fairfax, who died in 1747. His books came into the hands of Alderman Child, who was not only a book-collector, but inherited Lord Mavor Child's books. The fifth Earl of Jersey married Mr. Child's grand-daughter in 1804. Two mighty hunters of the old school may be here briefly mentioned--John Towneley and Michael Wodhull, the poet, both of whose collections were dispersed in several portions, partly at the beginning of the present century, and partly within quite recent times. The founder of the 'Bibliotheca Towneleiana' was for a long period of years an ardent collector, his favourite studies being English history, topography, and portraits. The great gem of his collection was the splendid 'Vita Christi,' gorgeously ornamented with full-page paintings, and with miniatures superbly executed in colours, heightened with gold, by Giulio Clovio, in the finest style of Italian art. This MS. was executed for Alexander, Cardinal Farnese, and presented to Pope Paul III. It was purchased abroad by a Mr. Champernoun for an inconsiderable sum, and cost Mr. Towneley 400 guineas. At its sale in 1883 it realized £2,050. Two portions of the Towneley Library were dispersed by Evans in 1814-15 (seventeen days), and realized over £8,597, and other portions were sold in 1816 and 1817. Towneley himself died in May, 1813, aged eighty-two. The remainder of his extensive collection was sold at Sotheby's in 1883 (ten days). Wodhull, who died November 10, 1816, aged seventy-six, had two sales during his lifetime, first in 1801 (chiefly duplicates), and secondly in 1803 (chiefly Greek and Roman classics). He, however, reserved for himself a library of about 4,000, which, passing into the possession of Mr. F. E. Severne, M.P., was sold at Sotheby's in January, 1886, and realized a total of £11,973 4s. 6d. He is the Orlando of Dibdin's 'Bibliomania.' The Greek and Roman classics formed the chief attraction of this _post-mortem_ sale, which is generally regarded as one of the most important of its kind held during recent years. Most of the prizes were picked up in France after 1803, and it was during one of his book-hunting expeditions in Paris that Wodhull was detained by Napoleon. Two other 'fashionable' or titled collectors may be here grouped together. The fine library formed by William, Marquis of Lansdowne was dispersed by Leigh and Sotheby in thirty-one days, beginning with January 6, 1806, the 6,530 lots realizing £6,701 2s. 6d. The highest amount paid for a single lot was for a very rare collection of tracts, documents, and pamphlets, in over 280 volumes, illustrating the history of the French Revolution, together with forty-nine volumes relative to the transactions in the Low Countries between the years 1787 and 1792, and their separation from the House of Austria. Wynkyn de Worde's 'Rycharde Cure de Lyon,' 1528, sold for £47 5s.; and a curious collection of 'Masks' and 'Triumphs,' of the early seventeenth century, mostly by Ben Jonson, realized £40. As a book-collector Sir Mark Masterman Sykes is a much better remembered figure in the annals of book-hunting than that of the Marquis of Lansdowne. The Sykes library contained a number of the _editiones principes_ of the classics, some on vellum, and also a number of Aldines in the most perfect condition. There were also many highly curious and very rare pieces of early English poetry. The collection was sold at Evans's in 1824, and the gems of the collection were a copy of the Mazarin Bible, and the Latin Psalter, 1459, to which full reference is made in a subsequent chapter. II. The history of literature, it is said, teaches us to consider its decline only as the development of a great principle of succession by which the treasures of the mind are circulated and equalized; as shoots by which the stream of improvement is forcibly directed into new channels, to fertilize new soils and awaken new capabilities. The history of book-collecting teaches us a similar lesson. The love which so often amounted to a positive passion for the exquisite productions of the Age of Illuminated Manuscripts, all but died with the introduction of the printing-press, which in reality was but a continuation of the old art in a new form. And so on, down through the successive decades and generations of the past four centuries, the decline--but not the death, for such a term cannot be applied to any phase of book-collecting--of one particular aspect of the hobby has synchronized with the birth of several others, sometimes more worthy, and at others less. An exhaustive inquiry into the various and manifold changes through which the human mind passed alone might account for these various developments, which it is not the intention of the present writer on this occasion to analyze. The rise and progress of what Sir Egerton Brydges calls 'the black-letter mania' gave the death-blow to the long-cherished school of poetry of which Pope may be taken as the most distinguished exponent. 'Men of loftier taste and bolder fancy early remonstrated against this chilling confinement of the noblest, the most aspiring, and most expansive of all the Arts. . . . It was not till the commotion of Europe broke the chain of indolence and insipid effeminacy that the stronger passions of readers required again to be stimulated and exercised and soothed, and that the minor charms of correctness were sacrificed to the ardent efforts of uncontrolled and unfearing genius. The authors of this class began to look back for their materials to an age of hazardous freedom, and copious and untutored eloquence: an age in which the world of words and free and native ideas was not contracted and blighted by technical critics and cold and fastidious scholars.' To abandon the abstract for the more matter-of-fact details of sober history, the mania to which Brydges alludes may be said to date itself from the spring of 1773. The occasion was the sale in London of the library of James West, President of the Royal Society. George Nicol, the bookseller, was an extensive purchaser at this sale for the King, for whom, indeed, he acted in a similar capacity up to the last. Nicol told Dibdin 'with his usual pleasantry and point, that he got abused in the public papers, by Almon and others, for having purchased nearly the whole of the Caxtonian volumes in this collection for his Majesty's library. It was said abroad that a Scotchman had lavished away the King's money in buying old black-letter books.' The absurdity of this report was soon proved at subsequent sales. Dibdin adds, as a circumstance highly honourable to the King, that 'his Majesty, in his directions to Mr. Nicol, forbade any competition with those purchasers who wanted books of science and _belles lettres_ for their own progressive or literary pursuits; thus using the power of his purse in a manner at once merciful and wise.' [Illustration: _George Nicol, the King's Bookseller._] The impetus which book-collecting, and more particularly the section to which we have just referred, received by the dispersal of the West Library gathered in force as time went on, reaching its climax with the Roxburghe sale thirty-nine years afterwards. The enthusiasm culminated in a club--the Roxburghe, which still flourishes. The warfare (at Roxburghe House, St. James's Square), as Mr. Silvanus Urban has recorded, was equalled only by the courage and gallantry displayed on the plains of Salamanca about the same period. 'As a pillar, or other similar memorial, could not be conveniently erected to mark the spot where so many bibliographical champions fought and conquered, another method was adopted to record their fame, and perpetuate this brilliant epoch in literary annals. Accordingly, a phalanx of the most hardy veterans has been enrolled under the banner of the far-famed Valdarfer's Boccaccio of 1471. . . . The first anniversary meeting of this noble band was celebrated at the St. Alban's Tavern [St. Alban's Street, now Waterloo Place] on Thursday, June 17, 1813, being the memorable day on which the before-mentioned Boccaccio was sold for £2,260. The chair was taken by Earl Spencer (perpetual president of the club), supported by Lords Morpeth and Gower, and the following gentlemen,[61:A] viz., Sir E. Brydges, Messrs. W. Bentham, W. Bolland, J. Dent, T. F. Dibdin (vice-president), Francis Freeling, Henry Freeling, Joseph Hazlewood, Richard Heber, Thomas C. Heber, G. Isted, R. Lang, J. H. Markland, J. D. Phelps, T. Ponton, junior, J. Towneley, E. V. Utterson, and R. Wilbraham. Upon the cloth being removed, the following appropriate toasts were delivered from the chair: 1. The cause of Bibliomania all over the world. 2. The immortal memory of Christopher Valdarfer, the printer of the Boccaccio of 1471. 3. The immortal memory of William Caxton, first English printer. 4. The immortal memory of Wynkyn de Worde. 5. The immortal memory of Richard Pynson. 6. The immortal memory of Julian Notary. 7. The immortal memory of William Faques. 8. The immortal memory of the Aldine family. 9. The immortal memory of the Stephenses. 10. The immortal memory of John, Duke of Roxburghe. 'After these the health of the noble president was proposed, and received by the company standing, with three times three. Then followed the health of the worthy vice-president (proposed by Mr. Heber), which, it is scarcely necessary to observe, was drunk with similar honours. . . . The president was succeeded in the chair by Lord Gower, who, at midnight, yielded to Mr. Dent; and that gentleman gave way to the Prince of Bibliomaniacs, Mr. Heber. Though the night, or rather the morning, wore apace, it was not likely that a seat so occupied would be speedily deserted; accordingly, the "regal purple stream" ceased not to flow till "Morning oped her golden gates," or, in plain terms, till past four o'clock.' Such is a brief account of the Roxburghe Club, which is limited to thirty-one members, one black ball being fatal to the candidate who offers himself for a vacancy, and each member in his annual turn has to print a book or pamphlet, and to present to his fellow-members a copy. Before making any further reference to the _personnel_ of the Roxburghe Club, we quote, from a literary journal of 1823, the following trenchant paragraph, _à propos_ of a similar club in Scotland: 'BIBLIOMANIA.--This most ridiculous of all the affectations of the day has lately exhibited another instance of its diffusion, in the establishment of a _Roxburghe[62:A] Club_ in Edinburgh. Its object, we are told, "is the republication of scarce and valuable tracts, especially poetry."--"Republication!" In what manner? Commonsense forbid that the system of the London Roxburghe Club be adopted. Of this there are some four-and-twenty members or so, who dine together a certain number of times in the year, and each member in his turn republishes some old tract at his own expense. There are just so many copies printed as there are members of the club, and one copy is presented to each. It is evident that no sort of good can be effected by this system, and, indeed, there has not yet resulted any benefit to the literature of the country from the Roxburghe Club. They have not published a single book of any conceivable merit. The truth is that the members, for the most part, are a set of persons of no true taste, of no proper notion of learning and its uses--very considerable persons in point of wealth, but very _so-so_ in point of intellect.' [Illustration: _Thomas Frognall Dibdin, Bibliographer._] The primary aim and object of the Roxburghe Club were clearly enough indicated in the first list of members, for the association of men with kindred tastes is at all times a highly commendable one. The Roxburghe Club might have sustained its _raison d'être_, if it had drawn the line at such men as Thomas Frognall Dibdin and Joseph Hazlewood. The foregoing extract from the _Museum_ of 1823 exactly indicates the position which the club at that time held in public estimation. It had degenerated into a mere drinking and gormandizing association, alike a disgrace to its more respectable members and an insult to the nobleman whose name it was dragging through the mire. Those who have an opportunity of consulting the _Athenæum_ for 1834 will find, in the first four issues of January, one of the most scathing exposures to which any institution has ever been subjected. Hazlewood had died, and his books came into the sale-room. Never had the adage of 'Dead men tell no tales' been more completely falsified. Hazlewood, who does not seem to have been unpleasantly particular in telling the truth when living, told it with a vengeance after his death; for among his papers there was a bundle entitled 'Roxburghe Revels,' which Thorpe purchased for £40, the editor of the _Athenæum_ being the under-bidder. A few days afterwards, and for the weighty consideration of a £10 note profit, the lot passed into the hands of Mr. Dilke, and the articles to which we have referred followed.[64:A] If anything could have made the deceased Joseph turn in his grave, it would have been the attention which he received at the unsparing hands of Mr. Dilke. The excellent Mr. Dibdin survived the exposure several years. The castigation proved beneficial to the club; and if its revelries were no less boisterous than heretofore, it at all events circulated among its members books worthy of the name of Roxburghe, and edited in a scholarly manner. The club still flourishes, with the Marquis of Salisbury as its president, and the list of its members will be found in our chapter on 'Modern Collectors.' [Illustration: _Rev. C. Mordaunt Cracherode, M.A., Book-collector._] One of the mighty book-hunters of the last century was the Rev. Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode (whose father went out as a commander of marines in Anson's ship, and whose share in the prize-money made him a wealthy man), who died on April 6, 1799, in his seventieth year. His splendid library now forms a part of the British Museum. It contains the most choice copies in classical and Biblical literature, and many of these are on vellum. His collection of editions of the fifteenth century Mr. Cracherode used modestly to call a 'specimen' one; 'they form perhaps the most perfect _collana_ or necklace ever strung by one man.' Several of the books formerly belonged to Grolier. His library was valued at £10,000 at or about the time of his death; it would probably now realize considerably over ten times that amount if submitted to auction. The value of his prints was placed at £5,000. Cracherode was an excellent scholar, and an amiable; his passion for collecting was strong even in death, for whilst he was at the last extremity his agent was making purchases for him. He was one of the most constant habitués of Tom Payne's, and at his final visit he put an Edinburgh Terence in one pocket and a large-paper Cebes in the other. His house was in Queen Square, Westminster, overlooking St. James's Park. Reverting once more to the change which had been effected in the fancies of book-collectors, James Bindley, whose library was sold after his decease in 1819, and James Perry, who died in 1821, may be regarded as typical collectors of the transition period. Both are essentially London book-hunters--the former was an official in the Stamp Office, and the latter was, _inter alia_, the editor of the _Morning Chronicle_. Bindley, to whom John Nichols dedicated his 'Literary Anecdotes,' was a book-hunter who made very practical use of his scholarly tastes and ample means. He haunted the bookstalls and shops with the pertinacity of a tax-gatherer, and if his original expenditure were placed by the side of the total which his collection of books brought after his death, no more convincing arguments in favour of book-hunting could possibly be needed. Bindley is the 'Leontes' of Dibdin's 'Bibliographical Decameron,' and his collection of poetical rarities of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was one of the most remarkable which had ever been got together. Not many of the items had cost him more than a few shillings each, and they realized almost as many pounds as he had paid shillings. Perry was a journalist first and a book-collector afterwards, but in many respects there was a great similarity in the tastes of the two rival bibliophiles. Perry's was the more extensive collection--it was sold in four parts, 1822-23--and perhaps on the whole much more generally interesting. Evans, the auctioneer, described it as 'an extraordinary assemblage of curious books, Early English poetry, old tracts and miscellaneous literature.' The _cheval de bataille_ of the fourth part consisted of 'a most Curious, Interesting and Extraordinarily Extensive Assemblage of Political and Historical Pamphlets of the Last and Present Century.' This collection was comprised in thirty-five bundles. Perry made a speciality of facetiæ, pamphlets on the French Revolution, and Defoe's works, but the two cornerstones of his library were a copy of the Mazarin Bible and a First Folio Shakespeare. Among the many book-collectors whose careers link the past century with the present, few are more worthy of notice than Francis Douce, who died in the spring of 1834, aged seventy-seven. He was for a short time Keeper of the MSS. in the British Museum. His fortune was much increased by being left one of the residuary legatees of Nollekens, the sculptor--to the extent, in fact, of £50,000. Dibdin, who was for many years a near neighbour and intimate friend at Kensington, describes Douce's library as 'eminently rich and curious . . . not a book but what had its fly-leaf written upon. In short, no man ever lived so much with, and so entirely for, his books as did he.' Douce is the Prospero of the 'Bibliomania.' His books he bequeathed to the Bodleian, and his MSS. to the British Museum, the stipulation in the latter case being that they are not to be opened until 1900! In manners and appearance Douce was singular and strange, rough to strangers, but gentle and kind to those who knew him intimately. He was of the old school as regards dress, wearing as he did a little flaxen wig, an old-fashioned square-cut coat, with what M. Jacob calls 'quarto pockets.' Several of his letters are printed in Dibdin's 'Literary Recollections.' Two other distinguished book-collectors, contemporary with Douce, and, like him, benefactors to the Bodleian, may be mentioned here--Richard Gough (1739-1809), the antiquary; and Edmond Malone (1741-1812), the Shakespearian scholar. Gough's gift consisted of the topographical portion of his library; the remainder, comprising 4,373 lots, realizing the total of £3,552, came under the hammer at Leigh and Sotheby's in 1810, realizing what were then considered very fancy prices (a selection of which are given in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, lxxx., part ii.). The Malone collection, which became the property of the Bodleian through the influence of Lord Sunderlin in 1815, comprised what the collector himself describes as 'the most curious, valuable, and extensive collection ever assembled of ancient English plays and poetry.' It would probably be impossible now to form another such collection. Malone told Caldwell, who repeats the remarkable fact, that he had procured every dramatic piece mentioned by Langbaine, excepting four or five--the advantage, observes that gentleman, of living in London. The number of volumes amounts to about 3,200. As his biographer, Sir James Prior, has pointed out, his collection in the Bodleian remains distinct, and is creditable 'alike to the industry, taste, and patience by which it was brought together.' And further: 'None of his predecessors have attempted what he accomplished. Few of his successors have, on most points, added materially to our knowledge.' Yet a third benefactor to the Bodleian may be conveniently mentioned here. Thomas Caldecott, who was born in 1744, and died in 1833, was a Fellow of New College, Oxford, and afterwards a Bencher of the Middle Temple. He resided chiefly at Dartford, and formed a choice library of black-letter books, and the productions of the Elizabethan period. He attacked with considerable asperity and ability Shakespearian commentators, such as Steevens and Malone; and his rivals did not spare his edition of two of Shakespeare's plays when they came out. He presented the gems of his library, the Shakespeare quartos, to the Bodleian; but the remainder of his books, including many excessively rare and several unique pieces, came up for sale at Sotheby's in 1833, and realized a total of £1,210 6s. 6d. The splendid library of John Dent, of Hertford Street, sold by Evans in 1827, producing the sum of £15,040, had a curious history. The nucleus of it was formed towards the close of the last century by Haughton James, who, in a moment of conviviality, and without a due consideration of its true value, transferred it to Robert Heathcote,[68:A] who made several additions, and from whose possession it passed about 1807 into that of John Dent. The sale of the Dent library is described by Dibdin as exhibiting the 'first grand melancholy symptoms of the decay of the Bibliomania.' The chief attraction was the Sweynheym and Pannartz Livy, 1469, on vellum, which fell (in more senses than one) under the hammer for £262, Dent having paid £903 for it at Sir Mark Sykes' sale. Both the purchasers, Payne and Foss, and Dibdin, made strenuous efforts to persuade the Earl of Spencer to purchase it, but unsuccessfully; it subsequently became the property of Grenville, and passed with his collection into the British Museum. Dent is the Pontevallo of the 'Bibliomania,' and Baroccio of the 'Bibliographical Decameron,' and does not seem to have been an altogether amiable specimen of the fraternity. Canning used to say that he once found Dent deep in the study of an open book which was upside down! A much more genial bibliomaniac, Sir William Bolland, calls for notice; he was one of the original members of the Roxburghe Club, which, in fact, was first suggested at a dinner-party at his house, June 4, 1812. He died May 14, 1840, aged sixty-eight, and his library, which comprised 2,940 lots, and realized £3,019, was sold by Evans, and included many choice books. One of the greatest bargains which this distinguished collector secured during his career became his property through the medium of Benjamin Wheatley, who purchased a bundle of poetical tracts from the Chapter Library at Lincoln for 80 guineas. When the inevitable sale came, one of these trifles, 'The Rape of Lucrece,' alone realized 100 guineas. George Chalmers (1742-1825), who is described as 'the most learned and the most celebrated of all the antiquaries and historians of Scotland,' was also one of the giant book-collectors of the present century, and differed from the majority of collectors in being a prolific and versatile author. At his death his nephew became the possessor of his extensive library, but on the death of the nephew the books were placed in the hands of Evans, who sold them in two parts, September, 1841, and February, 1842, and realized over £4,100. The second part was very rich in Shakespeariana, and included the 'Sonnets,' 1609, £105; 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' 1600 (second edition), £105; and many other important items. In the first part of the sale, Marlowe's 'Tragedie of Richard, Duke of York,' 1595 (believed to be unique), sold for £131; and the only perfect copy then known of Patrick Hannay's 'Nightingale,' 1622, from the libraries of Bindley, Perry, Sykes and Rice, £13 5s. The third part of Chalmers' library, which consisted for the most part of works relative to Scotland, particularly in illustration of the History of Printing in that Country, was also sold by Evans in 1842. Among other book-collectors of this period we may mention particularly the Rev. Henry Joseph Thomas Drury, whose library was rich in classics, all for the most part finely bound; it came under the hammer at Evans's in 1827 (4,729 lots); Dr. Isaac Gosset, who died in 1812, in his sixty-eighth year, and whose library, comprising 5,740 lots, realized £3,141 7s. 6d. at Leigh and Sotheby's in 1813; the Rev. Jonathan Boucher (1738-1804), Vicar of Epsom, who, like George Chalmers, for many years resided in America, was, also like him, an inveterate book-collector to whom everything in the shape of a book was welcome: his sale occupied Leigh and Sotheby thirty-nine days, in 1806, the total being over £4,510. III. The history of the second and third quarters of the present century makes mention of very few collectors of the first rank. Among the more important of those whose libraries came under the hammer within that period, we may specially refer to the following: William Upcott, who started early in life as an assistant to R. H. Evans, but who in 1806 became sub-librarian of the London Institution. He was one of the first to take up autograph-collecting, of which, indeed, he has been termed the pioneer. He certainly collected with great advantage and knowledge, and his vast accumulations were sold at Sotheby's in four batches during 1846, he having died in September, 1845; John Hugh Smyth Piggott, whose library, in three portions, was sold at the same place, 1847-54; W. Y. Ottley, the prolific writer of books on art, 1849; W. Holgate, of the Post Office, whose library included a number of Shakespeariana, June, 1846; Hanrott, 1857; Sir Thomas Bernard, 1855; Isaac D'Israeli, the author of 'Curiosities of Literature,' in 1849, and his unsparing critic, Bolton Corney, in 1871; S. W. Singer, in four parts, 1860; J. Orchard Halliwell (afterwards Halliwell-Phillipps), in 1856, 1857, and 1859; and the Rev. Dr. Hawtrey, part of whose books were sold, far below their worth, in 1853, and the rest nine years later. Many of the foregoing were literary men, who aimed rather at getting together a useful library than one of rarities. The sale of all such libraries makes a very sorry show beside that of the more ostentatious collections. For instance, the books which Macaulay used with such brilliant effect, and including among them an extraordinary number of tracts, many excessively rare, only realized £426 15s. 6d., when sold in 1863 in 1,011 lots. Douglas Jerrold's little library, sold in August, 1859, in 307 lots, only fetched £173 3s. In very strong contrast to these is the remarkable little library, formed between 1820 and 1830 by Henry Perkins, of Hanworth Park, Feltham, a member of the brewing firm. This collection comprised only 865 lots, but when sold at Sotheby's in June, 1873, the total was found to be close on £26,000! There was a copy each of the 42-line and 40-line Gutenberg Bible--the former is now in the Huth Library, and the latter in the Ashburnham Library; several other very early printed Bibles, including Coverdale's, Matthews', and Cranmer's, two works printed by Caxton, with many other important books were sold. [Illustration: _J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps._] The late George Daniel (who was born about 1790) may be regarded as the connecting link between the collectors of the early part of the present century and those of to-day. When, for example, Perry and Bindley left off, Daniel commenced. There was no great rush after Shakespeare quartos in the earlier part of the present century, and book-collecting for a time ceased to be the pet hobby of wealthy members of the peerage. When George Daniel, a critic and bibliographer of exceptional abilities, began to collect, he soon made Shakespeare, as well as the earlier English poets, objects of solicitude. He resided for many years in the historic old red-brick tower at Canonbury.[72:A] The sale of Daniel's extraordinary collection was held at Sotheby's in July, 1864, when a First Folio, one of the finest in the world--now in the possession of Baroness Burdett-Coutts--sold for £716 2s., and when twenty of the Shakespeare quartos realized a total of about £3,000. [Illustration: _Canonbury Tower, George Daniel's Residence._] George Daniel is now remembered by but few book-collectors. Mr. W. Carew Hazlitt knew him very well, and describes him as a retired accountant, whose idiosyncrasy consisted of _rares morçeaux_, _bonnes bouches_, uniques--copies of books with a _provenance_, or in jackets made for them by Roger Payne--nay, in the original parchment or paper wrapper, or in a bit of real mutton which certain men call sheep. He was a person of literary tastes, and had written books in his day. But his chief celebrity was as an acquirer of those of others, provided always that they were old enough or rare enough. An item never passed into his possession without at once _ipso facto_ gaining new attributes, almost invariably worded in a holograph memorandum on the fly-leaf. Daniel was in the market at a fortunate and peculiar juncture, just when prices were depressed, about the time of the great Heber sale. His marvellous gleanings came to the hammer precisely when the quarto Shakespeare, the black-letter romance, the unique book of Elizabethan verse, had grown worth ten times their weight in sovereigns. Sir William Tite, J. O. Halliwell, and Henry Huth were to the front. It was in 1864. What a wonderful sight it was! No living man had ever witnessed the like. Copies of Shakespeare, printed from the prompters' MSS. and published at fourpence, fetched £300 or £400. I remember old Joseph Lilly, when he had secured the famous Ballads, which came from the Tollemaches of Helmingham Hall, holding up the folio volume in which they were contained in triumph as someone whom he knew entered the room. Poor Daniel! he had no mean estimate of his treasures--what he had was always better than what you had. Books, prints, autographs--it was all the same. I met him one morning in Long Acre. I had bought a very fine copy of Taylor, the Water Poet. "Oh, yes, sir," he said, "I saw it; but not quite so fine as mine." He went up to Highgate to look through the engravings of Charles Matthews the elder. They were all duplicates--of course inferior ones. "Damn him, sir!" cried Matthews afterwards to a friend; "I should like him to have had a duplicate of my wooden leg." John Payne Collier, who was born a year before Daniel, but who lived until 1883, was a collector with very similar tastes. He had been a reporter on the _Morning Chronicle_, and in all probability imbibed some of his book-collecting zeal from Perry. His book-buying and literary career commenced, according to his own account, in 1804 or 1805, when his father took him into the shop of Thomas Rodd, senior, on which occasion he purchased his 'first Old English book of any value,' namely, Wilson's 'Art of Logic,' printed by Grafton, 1551; from this he ascertained that 'Ralf Roister Doister' was an older play than 'Gammer Gurton's Needle,' and also that it was by Nicholas Udal, Master of Eton School. When in Holland, in the winter of 1813-14, Collier purchased among other books an imperfect copy of Tyndale's 'Gospel of St. Matthew,' to which, as he says in his 'Diary,' 'the date of 1526 [1525] has been assigned, and which seems to be the very earliest translation into English of any portion of the New Testament. Many years afterwards--I think in the spring of 1832--I happened to show it to Rodd, the learned bookseller. I was at that time ignorant on the subject, and Rodd offered me books to the value of two or three pounds for it. I gladly accepted them.' This fragment, for which Collier paid a florin, was sold to Mr. Grenville by Rodd for £50, and is now in the British Museum. Writing in the _Athenæum_, January 31, 1852, he gives an account of the origin of events which led to one of the fiercest literary quarrels of modern times: 'A short time before the death of the late Mr. Rodd, of Newport Street [_i.e._ early in 1849], I happened to be in his shop when a considerable parcel of books arrived from the country. He told me that they had been bought for him at an auction--I think in Bedfordshire. . . . He unpacked them in my presence . . . and there were two which attracted my attention, one being a fine copy of Florio's "Italian Dictionary," of the edition of 1611, and the other a much-thumbed, abused, and imperfect copy of the Second Folio of Shakespeare, 1632. The first I did not possess, and the last I was willing to buy, inasmuch as I apprehended it would add some missing leaves to a copy of the same impression which I had had for some time on my shelves. As was his usual course, Mr. Rodd required a very reasonable price for both; for the first I remember I gave 12s. and for the last only £1 10s. . . . On the outside of one of the covers was inscribed, "Tho. Perkins, his booke."' Collier was vexed at finding that the volume contained no leaves which would help him in completing the volume he already had. He had employed another person to do the collating, and it was not until some considerable time after, and on examining thoroughly the volume himself, that he discovered it to contain a large series of emendations, which Collier included in his 'Notes and Emendations to the Text of Shakespeare's Plays,' 1853, which set the whole town by the ears. Collier's library was dispersed at Sotheby's in 1884; it was an unusually interesting sale, and included many very rare and curious books. [Illustration: _Samuel Taylor Coleridge._ From the Portrait by G. Dawe, R.A., 1812.] Southey, Coleridge, Charles Lamb, Wordsworth, and William Hazlitt were book-collectors of a type which deserves a niche to itself. Writing to Coleridge in 1797, Lamb says: 'I have had thoughts of turning Quaker, and have been reading, or am, rather, just beginning to read, a most capital book, good thoughts in good language, William Penn's "No Cross, no Crown." I like it immensely.' Lamb's ideas of book-marking are to be found in his correspondence with Coleridge, in which he states that a book reads the better when the topography of its plots and notes is thoroughly mastered, and when we 'can trace the dirt in it, to having read it at tea with buttered muffins, or over a pipe.' Lamb's library consisted for the most part of tattered volumes in a dreadful state of repair. Lamb, like Young, the poet, dog-eared his books to such an extent that many of them would hardly close at all. From the correspondence of Bernard Barton we get a glimpse at Lamb's cottage in Colebrook Row, Islington--a white house with six good rooms. 'You enter without passage into a cheerful dining-room, all studded over and rough with old books.' Barton also writes: 'What chiefly attracted me was a large old book-case full of books. I could but think how many long walks must have been taken to bring them home, for there were but few that did not bear the mark of having been bought at many a bookstall--brown, dark-looking books, distinguished by those white tickets which told how much their owner had given for each.' [Illustration: _Lamb's Cottage at Colebrook Row, Islington._] In an edition of Donne [? 1669] which belonged to Lamb, Coleridge scrawled: 'I shall die soon, my dear Charles Lamb, and then you will not be vexed that I have be-scribbled your book. S. T. C., 2nd May, 1811.' Lamb was too good-natured to be a book-collector. On one occasion William Hazlitt[77:A] sent Martin Burney to Lamb to borrow Wordsworth's 'Excursion,' and Lamb being out, Burney took it, a high-handed proceeding which involved the borrower in a blowing-up. Coleridge at another time helped himself to Luther's 'Table-Talk,' and this also called forth a great outcry. A copy of Chapman's Homer, which passed through the hands of Wordsworth and S. T. Coleridge, eventually turned up in one of Lilly's catalogues. This identical copy is noticed in an account of Rydal Mount which appeared in the first volume of _Once a Week_. Coleridge, of course, has made a number of notes in it, and in one of these he describes the translation as 'an exquisite poem, spite of its frequent and perverse quaintness and harshnesses, which are, however, amply repaid by almost unexampled sweetness and beauty of language.' [Illustration: _William Hazlitt._] The difference between a bibliophile and a bibliomaniac has been described as between one who adorns his mind, and the other his book-cases. Of the bibliomaniac as here characterized, we can suggest no better type than Thomas Hill, the original of Poole's 'Paul Pry,' and of Hull in Hook's novel, 'Gilbert Gurney.' Devoid as Hill was of intellectual endowments, he managed to obtain and secure the friendship of many eminent men--of Thomas Campbell, the poet, Matthews and Liston, the comedians, Hook, Dubois, John and Leigh Hunt, James and Horace Smith, John Taylor, editor of the _Sun_, Horace Twiss, Baron Field, Sir George Rose, Barnes, subsequently editor of the _Times_, Cyrus Redding, and many others. That he was kind-hearted and hospitable nearly everyone has testified, and his literary parties at his Sydenham Tusculum were quite important events, in spite of the ponderosity of his well-worn stories. During the more acute stages of bibliomania in this country at the latter part of the last century and the beginning of this, 'when the Archaica, Heliconia, and Roxburghe Clubs were outbidding each other for old black-letter works . . . when books, in short, which had only become scarce because they were always worthless, were purchased upon the same principle as that costly and valueless coin, a Queen Anne's farthing,' Hill had been a constant collector of rare and other books which were in demand. That he knew nothing of the insides of his books is very certain; but he knew how much each copy would bring at an auction, and how much it had brought at all previous sales. When the bibliomania had reached its height, Messrs. Longman and Co. determined upon embarking in such a lucrative branch of the trade; they applied to Hill for advice and assistance, offering to begin by the purchase of his entire collection, a proposition which he embraced with alacrity. He drew up a _catalogue raisonné_ of his books, affixing his price for each volume. The collection was despatched in three or four trunks to Paternoster Row, and he received in payment the acceptances of the firm for as many thousand pounds. From some cause or other, the purchasers soon repented of their bargain, but the only terms which Horace Smith could obtain for the Longmans was an extension in the term of payment. Hill declared that the collection was worth double the price he had been paid for it. For many years Hill assisted Perry, of the _Morning Chronicle_, in making selections of rare books for his fine library at Tavistock House, particularly in the department of facetiæ. After leaving Sydenham, Hill took chambers in James Street, Adelphi, where he resided until his death. The walls of his rooms were completely hidden by books, and his couch was 'enclosed in a lofty circumvallation of volumes piled up from the carpet.' He was never married, had no relations, and even his age was a source of mystery to his friends. James Smith once said to him: 'The fact is, Hill, the register of your birth was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, and you take advantage of the accident to conceal your real age.' Hook went further by suggesting that he might originally have been one of the little hills recorded as skipping in the Psalms. Hill died in 1840, his age being placed at eighty-three years. Horace Smith said 'he could not believe that Hill was dead, and he could not insult a man he had known so long; Hill would reappear.' [Illustration: _Thomas Hill, after Maclise._] Samuel Rogers, the banker poet, was also a book-collector, but not in the sense of one who aims at number. His house at 22, St. James's Place, overlooking Green Park, was for over half a century--he had removed here from the Temple about 1803--one of the most celebrated meeting-places of literature and art in London. Byron, in his 'Diary,' says, 'If you enter his house--his drawing-room, his library--you of yourself say, This is not the dwelling of a common mind. There is not a gem, a coin, a book, thrown aside on his chimney-piece, his sofa, his table, that does not bespeak an almost fastidious elegance in the possessor.' A writer in the _Athenæum_ of December 29, 1855, a few days after the poet's death, describes the library as 'lined with bookcases surmounted by Greek vases, each one remarkable for its exquisite beauty of form. Upon the gilt lattice-work of the bookcases are lightly hung in frames some of the finest original sketches by Raphael, Michelangelo, and Andrea del Sarto; and finished paintings by Angelico da Fiesole, and Fouquet of Tours.' Among the treasures of the library were the MSS. of Gray, in their perfect calligraphy, and the famous agreement between Milton and the publisher Simmonds, for the copyright of 'Paradise Lost.' [Illustration: _Samuel Rogers's House in St. James's Place._] [Illustration: Sam{l} Rogers] Tom Moore the poet, and his friend and fellow-countryman, Thomas Crofton Croker, were both book-collectors. The library of the former was, in 1855, presented by his widow to the Royal Irish Academy, 'as a memorial of her husband's taste and erudition.' Croker's books, which were dispersed after his death, contain an exceedingly curious book-plate, either indicating the possessor's residence, 'Rosamond's Bower, Fulham,' or '3, Gloucester Road, Old Brompton,' the various learned societies to which he belonged, with the additional information that he was founder and president (1828-1848) of the Society of Novimagus. Charles Dickens, Thackeray, W. Harrison Ainsworth (the collection of the last was sold at Sotheby's in 1882, and realized £469 19s. 6d.), and Charles Lever were not book-collectors in the usual sense of the word. [Illustration: _Alexander Dyce, Book-collector._] Among the more notable literary men who were also book-collectors of this period, whose libraries are still preserved intact, are Alexander Dyce and John Forster. Their collections, now at South Kensington, are perhaps more particularly notable for the extraordinary number of books which were once the property of famous men. Mr. Dyce, who was born in Edinburgh, June, 1798, and died in 1869, bequeathed to the Museum 14,000 books, whilst the library of his friend and executor, John Forster (1812-1876), contained upwards of 18,000 books, in addition to a number of autographs, pictures, etc. The more interesting books of a 'personal' nature in these two libraries are the following: Drayton's 'Battaile of Agincourt,' 1627, a presentation copy to Sir Henry Willoughby, with inscription in Drayton's autograph; a French cookery-book, with Gray's autograph on the title; Ben Jonson's copy (with his autograph) of the first collected edition of Marston's plays, 1633; a copy of Steele's 'Christian Hero,' with some verses in his autograph addressed to Dr. Ellis, Head-master of the Charterhouse when Steele was at school. Sheridan's plays include a presentation copy of 'The Rivals,' with an inscription to David Garrick. The foregoing are all in the Dyce Collection. [Illustration: Ben: Jonson] [Illustration: To My Lord Tutour D{r}. Ellis With Secret impulse thus do Streams return To that Capacious Ocean whence they're born: Oh Would but Fortune come w{th}. bounty fraught Proportion'd to y{e} mind w{ch}. thou hast taught! Till then let these unpolish'd leaves impart The Humble Offering of a Gratefull Heart Rich{d}. Steele] [Illustration: David Garrick Esq{r}. From The Author.] That of John Forster includes a copy of Addison's 'Travels in Italy,' with an autograph inscription by the author: 'To Dr. Jonathan Swift, the most Agreeable Companion, the Truest Friend, and the Greatest Genius of his age, this Book is presented by his most Humble Servant the Author.' Among the many books on America, there is one with John Locke's autograph. The copy of the fourth edition of Byron's 'English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,' 1811, is that which was given by the author to Leigh Hunt, and contains the poet's autograph and many corrections; a presentation copy of Flatman's 'Poems and Songs,' 1682, to Izaak Walton, who has inscribed his autograph in it; Gay's copy of Horace; some proof-sheets of Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets;' a copy of Keats's 'Lamia,' 1820, with an autograph inscription and a sonnet 'On the Grasshopper and the Cricket,' also in the poet's handwriting; Gray's copy of Locke's 'Essay concerning Human Understanding,' a copy of the 'Dunciad,' 1729, with the inscription 'Jonath: Swift, 1729, amicissimi autoris donum'; and Isaac Newton's copy of Wheare's 'Method and Order of Reading Histories,' 1685. [Illustration: John Locke] [Illustration: Izaak Walton July 3{o} 1682 given me, by the author.] [Illustration: E Libris I. Newton.] Apropos of books of distinguished ownership, the collecting of them sometimes takes an eccentric turn; for example, the third Lord Holland brought together all the various copies (now at Holland House) upon which he could lay hands of Fox's 'History of the Reign of James II.,' which belonged to distinguished people, and amongst these former owners were Sir James Mackintosh, Sir Philip Francis, C. E. Jerningham, Rogers, and General Fitzpatrick; and as many of the copies contained MS. notes, the interest of the collection will be readily understood. A brief review of the principal book-collectors whose libraries--formed for the most part by men who lived in London--have been dispersed during the past dozen years will not be without interest; those which have been already referred to are, of course, omitted here. James Comerford, F.S.A., by profession a notary public, who inherited from his father a love of books, and also a considerable collection, had an exceedingly fine library, which consisted for the most part of topographical works, many of them on large paper with proof-plates. He was in his seventy-sixth year when he died, and his books, which were sold at Sotheby's in November, 1882 (thirteen days), realized a total of £8,327 13s. Frederic Ouvry, who died in June, 1881, was partner in the firm of Farrer, Ouvry, and Co., of Lincoln's Inn; he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1848, and for twenty years was the society's treasurer, and succeeded Earl Stanhope as president. He was a man of considerable means, and formed one of the most interesting and most choice of modern libraries. Many of his books fetched far higher sums than he had paid for them; for example, Drummond of Hawthornden's 'Forth Fasting,' 1617, cost him in 1858 £8 15s.--at his sale it fetched £60; and Lodge's 'Rosalynd,' 1598, advanced from £5 10s. to £63. Mr. Ouvry was an intimate friend of both Mr. Gladstone and Charles Dickens; a copy of the former's 'Gleanings of Past Years' was a presentation one from the author, and had the following inscription, 'Frederic Ouvry, Esq., from W. E. G., in memory of the work we have done together for fourteen years in full harmony of thought and act.' There were 177 autograph letters from Dickens, which sold for £150. The four folio Shakespeares sold for £420, £46, £116, £28; a copy of the first edition of Spenser's 'Faërie Queene,' 1590-96, £33; a copy of Daniel's 'Delia,' 1592, with corrections, supposed to be by the author, £88. The total of the six days' sale was £6,169 2s. A very remarkable library came under the hammer at Sotheby's on March 21-25, 1884, when the unique collection of the late Francis Bedford, the eminent binder, was sold. The beauty of the bindings was naturally the most striking feature of the library, but there were many books which were rare or historically interesting apart from their coverings. For example, there was the identical Prayer-Book that was found in the pocket of Charles I. immediately after his execution; a copy of the Breeches Bible printed in Scotland, 1579; one of the Pearl Bible, 1653; a very fine copy of the 'Chronicon Nurembergense,' 1493. Bedford's own _chef d'oeuvre_, a magnificent copy of Rogers' 'Italy' and 'Poems,' in olive morocco, super extra, realized £116, whilst the total of the five days' sale was £4,867 6s. 6d. Among the more notable collections sold during 1885-7, that of the late Leonard Laurie Hartley, at Puttick's, may be mentioned, containing as it did some important books. Mr. Hartley has been described as a voracious collector, and would buy almost anything the dealers offered him, and almost at any price; hence he speedily became known as a good client, and doubtless paid 'through the nose' for very many articles. The extraordinarily extensive collection of books and manuscripts formed by the late Sir Thomas Phillipps (who died in 1867), of Middle Hill, Worcestershire, and Thirlestaine House, Cheltenham, commenced selling at Sotheby's in 1886, and the supply is not yet by any means exhausted. Up to March, 1895, seven portions had been dispersed, the total being £15,766. Perhaps the most interesting item in this vast collection was the original autograph manuscript of Sir Walter Scott's 'Life of Swift,' which realized £230 in June, 1893. During 1886 and 1887 the collections of two of the most genuine book-hunters that ever lived came under the hammer. Professor Edward Solly's extensive library of about 40,000 volumes, and comprising many rare books on Defoe, Pope, Swift, Dryden, Samuel Butler, Johnson, Gray, Cobbett, Paine, and also books of topography, biography, history, travel, antiquities, bibliography, etc., only realized the total of £1,544 13s. 6d. (November, 1886). The equally interesting library of the late W. J. Thoms, founder of _Notes and Queries_, and Deputy-Librarian of the House of Lords, realized two months after Mr. Solly's sale £1,094 9s. Mr. Thoms' library was considerably smaller than that of his friend Mr. Solly, but they ran on very similar lines, Mr. Thoms' being particularly strong in quaint and out-of-the-way books relating to Pope, Junius, George IV., Queen Caroline, Princess Olive of Cumberland, Reynard the Fox, and Longevity. The first part of the library of another indefatigable book-hunter, Cornelius Walford, came under the hammer at the same place (Sotheby's) in February, 1887. Some interesting books were included in the four days' sale of the library of Sir William Hardy, F.S.A., late Deputy-Keeper of the Public Records (December, 1886), but the books were chiefly first editions of modern authors. [Illustration: _W. J. Thoms, Book-collector._ Founder of _Notes and Queries_.] But the two great collections of books, equally celebrated in their way, with, however, little in common, which give to the year 1887 a most special importance, were those of the Earl of Crawford, and the first portion of the late James T. Gibson Craig's (of Edinburgh), both of which were dispersed in June, each occupying Messrs. Sotheby ten days in the dispersal. The Crawford sale of 2,146 lots realized a total of £19,073 9s. 6d., or an average of over £8 17s. per lot, whilst the Gibson Craig sale of 2,927 lots produced only £6,803 8s., or an average of a little over £2 6s. The former included, however, a perfect copy of the Mazarin or Gutenberg Bible, which realized £2,650, and a copy of Fust and Schoeffer's Bible, 1462, which sold for £1,025. Coverdale's Bible realized £226, and Tyndale's Bible £255, whilst Tyndale's New Testament, printed at Antwerp by Emperour, brought £230. The celebrated block-book, the Apocalypse of St. John, generally regarded as the second attempt in xylographic printing, realized £500. Sir Philip Sidney's 'Arcadia,' 1590, first edition, sold for £93. (It may be here mentioned that the second portion of the Crawford library was sold in June, 1889, when 1,105 lots realized £7,324 4s. 6d.--three Caxtons produced a total of £588; Cicero, 'Old Age,' 1481, etc., £320; Higden's 'Policronicon,' 1482, £33; and 'Christine of Pisa,' 1489, £235.) The Gibson Craig collection was essentially a modern one, and included a number of finely illustrated books. One of the chief rarities was a copy of the first edition of 'Robinson Crusoe,' which fetched £50. There were also a number of autograph letters and MSS. of Sir Walter Scott, the most important of which was the MS. of the 'Chronicles of the Canongate,' £141. The second and third portions of the Gibson Craig library were sold in March and November, 1888, the total of the three sales being £15,509 4s. 6d. The library of the Earl of Aylesford was sold at Christie's, March 6-16, 1888; and in June and November of the same year, the extensive collection of the late R. S. Turner, of the Albany, occupied Messrs. Sotheby twenty-eight days, 7,568 lots realizing a total of over £16,000. A previous sale of 774 items of his books occurred in France in 1878, and realized 319,100 francs. Turner's books included many exceedingly choice volumes bound by the most eminent craftsmen, such as Clovis Eve, Deseuil, Bozet, Derome, Padeloup, Capé, Trautz-Bauzonnet, Roger Payne, Bedford, and Rivière. Turner was born in 1819, and died in June, 1887. Perhaps the great book sensation of 1888 occurred in the sale at Christie's when a portion of the library of the late Lord Chancellor Hardwicke ('The Wimpole Library') was sold, and when a dozen tracts relating to America, bound together in a quarto volume, realized the unheard-of sum of £555. In the same sale also there were three Caxtons: the 'Game and Play of Chesse,' 1475-76, first edition, but not quite perfect, £260; and 'The Myrrour of the Worlde;' and Tullius 'De Amicitia,' both imperfect, in one volume, £60. We can only briefly allude here to some of the more important collections which have been sold in London during the past six years. In the majority of instances they were the possession of deceased individuals, who for the most part lived out of London. In February, 1889, the Hopetoun House Library, the property of the Right Hon. the Earl of Hopetoun, was sold at Sotheby's, 1,263 lots realizing £6,117 6s., the most important items in the sale being a copy of the Gutenberg-Fust Latin Bible, 1450-55, £2,000, and the _editio princeps_ Virgil, 1469, £590. The library of Mr. John Mansfield Mackenzie, of Edinburgh, sold at the same place in the following March (2,368 lots = £7,072), was one of the most important collections dispersed in recent years; it was especially rich in first editions of modern writers, in _curious_ books, and in literature relating to the drama; it included an exceedingly extensive series of Cruikshankiana, many of which realized prices which have not since been maintained. The most important lots in the sale of a selection from the library of the Duke of Buccleuch, at Sotheby's, March 25-27, 1889, were five Caxtons, viz.: 'Dictes and Sayengis of the Philosophirs,' 1477, first edition, £650; 'The Chronicles of England,' first edition, 1480, £470; the same, second edition, 1482, £45; Higden's 'Descripcion of Britayne,' 1480, £195; and the 'Royal Book, or Book for a King' (? 1487), £365. [Illustration: _Hollingbury Copse, the Residence of the late Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps._] Many interesting items occurred in the sale (July, 1889) of the library of the late J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps (one of the most distinguished of London book-hunters), which occurred a few months after the venerable owner's death. The amount realized for 1,291 lots was £2,298 10s. 6d.; and among them were several Shakespeare quartos, in all instances slightly imperfect. By far the most important feature of the Shakespearian rarities, drawings and engravings, preserved at Hollingbury Copse, near Brighton--'that quaint wigwam on the Sussex Downs which had the honour of sheltering more record and artistic evidences connected with the personal history of the great dramatist than are to be found in any other of the world's libraries'--still remains intact, according to the late owner's direction. It was offered to the Corporation of Birmingham for £7,000, but without avail. The collection comprises early engraved portraits of Shakespeare, authentic personal relics, documentary evidences respecting his estates and individuals connected with his biography, and artistic illustrations of localities connected with his personal history. The most important of the several hundred items is perhaps the unique early proof of the famous Droeshout portrait, for which Halliwell-Phillipps gave £100, and for which an American collector offered him £1,000. A calendar of this extraordinary assembly was very carefully edited by Mr. E. E. Baker, F.S.A., in 1891, and the collection is still intact. Writing in June, 1887, Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps himself tells us that for nearly half a century he had been an ardent Shakespearian collector, 'being most likely the only survivor of the little band who attended the sale of the library of George Chalmers somewhere about the year 1840. But for a long time, attempting too much in several directions with insufficient means, and harassed, moreover, by a succession of lawsuits, including two in the Court of Torture--I mean Chancery--I was unable to retain my accumulations; and thus it came to pass that bookcase full after bookcase full were disposed of, some by private contract, many under the vibrations of the auctioneer's hammer. This state of affairs continued till February, 1872, but since that period, by a strict limitation of my competitive resources to one subject--the Life of Shakespeare--I have managed to jog along without parting with a single article of any description.' A much more important collection of Shakespeariana than that which appeared in the Halliwell-Phillipps sale came under the hammer at the same place a few days afterwards, when the late Frederick Perkins's library was dispersed (2,086 lots realized £8,222 7s.). The sale, in fact, was the most important in this respect since that of George Daniel in 1864, to which, however, the Perkins Collection was considerably inferior. Mr. Perkins had spent many years of search and a large sum of money in collecting early editions of Shakespeare, but during the past thirty years not only has their value gone up in an appalling degree, but they are for the most part positively unprocurable. Under these depressing conditions, Mr. Perkins managed nevertheless to obtain eighteen first or very early quarto editions of Shakespeare's plays; and poor as is this show when compared with that of George Daniel, it is doubtful whether a sale so extensive from the particular point of view under consideration as that of Mr. Perkins can be expected until well into the next century. The highest price was paid for 'The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth,' 1600, £225; 'Romeo and Juliet,' 1599, fetched £164; the 'Merchant of Venice,' 1600 (printed by J. Roberts), £121; 'Henry V.,' 1608, third edition, £99. The First Folio fetched £415. The dispersals of book-collections in 1890 included a few of considerable note. The exceedingly extensive one, for example, of the late Sir Edward Sullivan, Bart., Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was highly interesting as illustrating a phase of book-collecting which is now all but obsolete. It was rich in the classics, which three-quarters of a century ago would have created the greatest excitement. It occupied twenty-one days (May-June), when 6,919 lots realized a total of £10,982 3s.--a highly satisfactory result, when the general depreciation in the market value of the classics is considered. The extensive library of Mr. Thomas Gaisford (2,218 lots, £9,182 15s. 6d.), which was sold in April, 1890, included not only some fine editions of the classics, but a remarkable series of Blake's works, first editions of Keats, Byron, Shelley, Swinburne, the four folio editions of Shakespeare, and a few quartos, notably the 'Merry Wives of Windsor,' 1602, £385; 'Love's Labour Lost,' 1598, £140; and 'Much Adoe about Nothing,' 1600, £130, all first editions. Some very interesting and rare Shakespeare items occurred also in the sale of the library of the late Frederick William Cosens, 1890, _e.g._, 'Merchant of Venice,' 1600, £270; and the 'Poems,' 1640, £61. The dramatic library of the late Frank Marshall (Sotheby's, June, 1890, £2,187 14s. 6d.), and the angling books of the late Francis Francis (Puttick's, July, 1890), were interesting collections in the way of special books. The most noteworthy collections dispersed in 1891 included the Walton Hall library of the late Edward Hailstone, who was D.L. of the West Riding, Yorkshire (sold in February and April, 5,622 lots, £8,991 5s. 6d.), among which were many books of an exceedingly curious character; and the 'Lakelands' library of the late W. H. Crawford, of Lakelands, co. Cork (3,428 lots, £21,255 19s. 6d.), remarkable on account of its copy of the Valdarfer Boccaccio, 1471, £230; a copy (? unique) of Caviceo, 'Dialogue treselegant intitule le Peregrin,' 1527, on vellum, with the arms of France, £355; the Landino edition of Dante, 1481, with the engravings by Bacio Baldini from the designs by Botticelli, £360; Shakespeare's 'Lucrece,' 1594, £250, and 'Merchant of Venice,' 1600, £111; and the 'Legenda Aurea,' printed by Caxton, 1483, £465. The topographical and general library of the late Lord Brabourne was sold in May, 1891, also at Sotheby's; whilst the remainder of this library was sold at Puttick's in June, 1893. The collections scattered in 1892 included few of note, but we may mention those of the late Joshua H. Hutchinson, G. B. Anderson, and R. F. Cooke (a partner in the firm of John Murray, the eminent publisher) as including many first editions of modern authors; whilst those of John Wingfield Larking and Edwin Henry Lawrence, F.S.A., included a number of rare books, as may be gathered from the fact that the library of the former comprised 946 lots, which realized £3,925 13s., and that of the latter, 860 lots, £7,409 3s. The most interesting collection sold in 1893 was the selected portions from the books, MSS., and letters collected by William Hazlitt, his son, and his grandson; of the first importance in another direction was the sale of the Bateman heirlooms (books and MSS.). The late Rev. W. E. Buckley, M.A., formerly Fellow and Tutor of Brasenose College, Oxford, and late Rector of Middleton-Cheney, Banbury, and vice-president of the Roxburghe Club, was a veritable Heber in a small way. Besides the enormous quantity of books sold in two portions (twenty-two days in all) in February, 1893, and April, 1894, several vanloads were disposed of locally, as not being worth the cost of carriage to London. His library must have comprised nearly 100,000 volumes, of which only a small proportion had any commercial importance. He managed, however, in his long career, to pick up a few bargains, notably the Columbus 'Letter' ('Epistola Christofori Colom.,' four leaves, 1493, with which was bound up Vespucci, 'Mundus novus Albericus Vesputius,' etc., 1503, also four leaves), which cost him less than £5, and which realized £315; he also possessed a first edition of Goldsmith's 'Vicar of Wakefield,' 1766, £39 10s.; Keats's 'Poems,' first edition, 1817, in the original boards, £23 10s.; Fielding's 'Tom Jones,' 1749, first edition, uncut, in the original boards, £69. The two portions of the Buckley library sold at Sotheby's realized £9,420 9s. 6d. The smallest, as well as the choicest, library sold in 1894 (June 11) comprised the most select books from the collection of Mr. Birket Foster, the distinguished artist. The first, second, third, and fourth folio Shakespeares sold for £255, £56, £130, and £25 respectively; the quarto editions of the great dramatist included 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' 1600, large copy, £122; 'Merchant of Venice,' 1600, £146; 'King Lear,' 1608, £100. Mr. Foster also possessed John Milton's copy of 'Lycophronis Alexandra,' which realized £90; an incomplete copy of Caxton's 'Myrrour of the World,' 1491, £77. The valuable and interesting dramatic and miscellaneous library of the late Frederick Burgess, of the Moore and Burgess minstrels, was sold at Sotheby's, in May-June, 1894, and included many choice editions of modern authors. The late Prince Louis-Lucien Bonaparte was a giant among book-collectors, but his books were almost exclusively philological. Mr. Victor Collins, who has compiled an 'Attempt' at a catalogue, in which there are no less than 13,699 entries, states that 'as a young man the Prince was fond of chemistry, and on one occasion he was desirous of reading a chemical work that happened to exist only in Swedish. He learned Swedish for the purpose, and this gave him a taste for languages, very many of which he studied. His object in forming the library was to discover, rather perhaps to show, the relationship of all languages to each other. Nor was it only distinct languages he included in his plan, but their dialects, their corruptions, even slang, thieves' slang--slang of all kinds. In carrying out his idea the Prince had of course the advantages of exceptional abilities, and, until the fall of the Empire, of unlimited money. Some of the bindings are very beautiful. As to the printing, the Prince for long had a fully-fitted printing-office on the basement floor of his house in Norfolk Terrace, Bayswater. The Prince being a Senator of France, a cousin of Louis Napoleon, and a well-known philologist, people brought him all sorts of interesting books. Therefore it is not surprising to find that the library includes rare works not present, for instance, in the British Museum. There are three early German Bibles which Mr. Gladstone, visiting the Prince once, thought should be presented to the British Museum. To the best of Mr. Gladstone's knowledge, one of the three did not exist anywhere else, and either of the three would be worth about £500. They are remarkable specimens of early German printing, and are profusely illustrated.' Mr. Collins calculates that there are at least 25,000 volumes in the collection, and that fully thirty alphabets are spread through them. This extraordinary collection, like the Shakespearian one formed by Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, is still awaiting a purchaser (see the _Times_, July 25, 1895). The collection, also a special one, of a recently-deceased book-collector may be mentioned here, and for the following particulars we are indebted to Mr. Elliot Stock: 'Edmund Waterton, the son of Charles Waterton, the naturalist, lived at first at Walton Hall, his father's residence. He sold this, and bought a house at Deeping, Waterton, where his ancestors formerly lived. He had a large old library, a great part of which he inherited from his father. His great pleasure was in his "Imitatio Christi" collection. He succeeded in gathering together some 1,500 different editions, printed and MS. He had given commissions to booksellers all over Europe to send him any edition they might meet with, and one of the pleasures of his life was to see the foreign packets come by post. I sent him a seventeenth-century edition which I came across accidentally for his acceptance on "spec." It turned out it was one he had been looking for for a long time, and his letter describing his glee when it was brought up to his bedroom in the morning with his breakfast was very comic. He kept an oblong volume like a washing-book, with all the editions he knew of, some thousands in all, and his delight in ticking one more off the lengthy _desiderata_ was like that of a schoolboy marking off the "days to the holidays." Edmund Waterton had a number of rare books besides those in his "Imitation" collection; notably a very tall First Folio Shakespeare, with contemporary comments made by some ancestor, who had also made good some of the missing pages in MS. He was a lineal descendant of Sir Thomas More, on his mother's side, and possessed Sir T. More's clock, which still went when I stayed with him. It was apparently the same clock that hangs on the wall at the back of Holbein's celebrated picture of Sir Thomas More and his family. Waterton had one of the longest and clearest pedigrees in the country, tracing back to Saxon times without break; his family were Catholics, and seem to have lost most of their property in the troublous times of the Reformation. Anyone who was interested in the "Imitation," whether as a collector or not, always met with kindness, and almost affection, from him. The first time I met him--which arose from my making the facsimile of the Brussels MS.--he showed his confidence and goodwill by lending me, for several days, his oblong record of editions to look over.' Mr. Waterton's collection of the 'Imitation' came under the hammer at Sotheby's in January, 1895, in two lots. The first comprised six manuscripts and 762 printed editions, ancient and modern, in various languages, of this celebrated devotional work, arranged in languages in chronological order. It realized £101. The second lot comprised a collection of 437 printed editions, a few of which were not included in the former, and sold for the equally absurd amount of £43. The British Museum had the first pick of this collection, and the authorities were enabled to fill up a large number of gaps in their already extensive series of editions. The six MSS. and over 250 printed editions passed into the possession of Dr. Copinger, of Manchester, through Messrs. Sotheran, of the Strand, who, indeed, purchased the two 'lots' when offered at Sotheby's. [Illustration] FOOTNOTES: [47:A] 'In a small gloomy house within the gates of Elliot's Brewery, between Brewer Street, Pimlico, and York Street, Westminster.'--Wheatley's edition of Cunningham's 'London.' [55:A] The library of Beauclerk (who is better remembered as an intimate friend of Dr. Johnson than as a book-collector) comprised 30,000 volumes, was sold by Paterson in 1781, and occupied fifty days. It was a good collection of classics, poetry, the drama, books of prints, voyages, travels, and history. [61:A] Among the absentees were his Grace the Duke of Devonshire, who was prevented attending the anniversary by indisposition, the Marquis of Blandford, and Sir M. M. Sykes, Bart. [62:A] The name really employed was Bannatyne. [64:A] Thorpe suspected this, and secured the volume, thinking to do his friends of the Roxburghe Club a good turn. Writing to Dibdin, Thorpe said: 'I bought it for £40 against the editor of the _Athenæum_, who, if he got it, would have shown the club up finely larded.' But Dibdin did not jump at paying so heavy a price for silence, and Thorpe wisely consoled himself with Mr. Dilke's £50. [68:A] Heathcote dispersed two portions of his books at Sotheby's, first in April, 1802, and secondly in May, 1808. Some of the books which Dent obtained for him, with additions, were sold at the same place in April, 1808. [72:A] This famous old place possesses a literary history which would fill a fairly long chapter. Among those who have lived here we may mention Ephraim Chambers, whose 'Cyclopædia' is the parent of a numerous offspring; John Newbery lived here for some time, and it was during his tenancy that Goldsmith found a refuge here from his creditors, and wrote 'The Deserted Village' and 'The Vicar of Wakefield'; William Woodfall had lodgings in this historic tower; and Washington Irving, early in the present century, threw around it a halo of romance and interest which it had not previously possessed. [77:A] Hazlitt was a good deal of a book-borrower. In his 'Conversations with Northcote' he speaks of having been obliged to pay five shillings for the loan of 'Woodstock' at a regular bookseller's shop, as he could not procure it at the circulating libraries. [Illustration] BOOK-AUCTIONS AND SALES. I. IT is perhaps to be regretted that the late Adam Smith did not make an inquiry into the subject of Books and their Prices. The result, if not as exhaustive as the 'Wealth of Nations,' would have been quite as important a contribution to the science of social economy. In a general way, books are subject, like other merchandise, to the laws of supply and demand. But, as with other luxuries, the demand fluctuates according to fashion rather than from any real, tangible want. The want, for example, of the edition of Chaucer printed by Caxton, or of the Boccaccio by Valdarfer, is an arbitrary rather than a literary one, for the text of neither is without faults, or at all definitive. To take quite another class of books as an illustration: the demand for first editions of Dickens, Thackeray, Ruskin, and others, is perhaps greater than the supply; but we do not read these first editions any more than the Caxton Chaucer or the Valdarfer Boccaccio; we can get all the good we want out of the fiftieth edition. We do not, however, feel called upon to anticipate the labours and inquiries of the future Adam Smith; it must suffice us to indicate some of the more interesting prices and fashions in book-fancies which have prevailed during the last two centuries or so in London. The sale of books by auction dates, in this country at all events, from the year 1676, when William Cooper, a bookseller of considerable learning, who lived at the sign of the Pelican, in Little Britain, introduced a custom which had for many years been practised on the Continent. The full title of this interesting catalogue is in Latin--a language long employed by subsequent book-auctioneers--and runs as follows: CATALOGUS | VARIORUM ET INSIGNIUM | LIBRORUM | INSTRUCTISSIMÆ BIBLIOTHECA | CLARISSIMI DOCTISSIMIQ VIRI--LAZARI SEAMAN, S. T. D. | QUORUM AUCTIO HABEBITUR LONDINI | IN ÆDIBUS DEFUNCTI IN AREA ET VICULO | WARWICENSI. OCTOBRIS ULTIMO | CURA GULIELMI COOPER BIBLIOPOLÆ | LONDINI. { GRUIS IN CÆMETARIO } { ED. BREWSTER } { PAULINO } APUD { & } AD INSIGNE { PELICANI IN } 1676. { GUIL. COOPER. } { VICO VULGARITER } { DICTO } { LITTLE BRITAIN. } As will be seen from the foregoing, Cooper had no regular auction-rooms, for in this instance Dr. Seaman's books were sold at his own house in Warwick Court. Mr. John Lawler, in _Booklore_, December, 1885, points out an error first made by Gough (in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, and extensively copied since), who states that the sale occurred at Cooper's house in Warwick Lane. In his preface 'To the Reader,' Cooper makes an interesting announcement, by way of apology. 'It hath not been,' he says, 'usual here in England to make sale of books by way of Auction, or who will give most for them; but it having been practised in other Countreys to the advantage of Buyers and Sellers, it was therefore conceived (for the encouragement of learning) to publish the sales of these books in this manner of way; and it is hoped that this will not be Unacceptable to Schollars; and therefore we thought it convenient to give an advertisement concerning the manner of Proceeding therein.' The second sale, comprising the library of Mr. Thomas Kidner, was held by Cooper three months after, _i.e._, February 6, 1676-77. On February 18, 1677-78, the third sale by auction was held, and this, as Mr. Lawler has pointed out, is the first 'hammer'[100:A] auction, and was held at a coffee-house--'in vico vulgo dicto, Bread St. in Ædibus Ferdinandi stable coffipolæ ad insigne capitis Turcæ,' the auctioneer in this case being Zacharius Bourne, whilst the library was that of the Rev. W. Greenhill, author of a 'Commentary on Ezekiel,' and Rector of Stepney, Middlesex. The fourth sale was that of Dr. Thomas Manton's library, in March, 1678. From 1676 to 1682, no less than thirty sales were held, and these included, in addition to the four already mentioned, the libraries of Brooke, Lord Warwick, Sir Kenelm Digby (see p. 120), Dr. S. Charnock, Dr. Thomas Watson, John Dunton, the crack-brained bookseller, Dr. Castell, the author of the 'Heptaglotton,' Dr. Thomas Gataker, and others. The business of selling by auction was so successful that several other auctioneers adopted it, including such well-known booksellers as Richard Chiswell and Moses Pitt. At a very early period a suspicion got about that the books were 'run up' by those who had a special interest in them, and accordingly the vendors of Dr. Benjamin Worsley's sale, in May, 1678, emphatically denied this imputation, which they described as 'a groundless and malicious suggestion of some of our own trade envious of our undertaking.' In addition to this statement, they refused to accept any 'commissions' to buy at this sale. [Illustration: _John Dunton, Book-auctioneer in 1698._] The dispersal of books by auction developed in many ways. It soon became, for example, one means of getting rid of the bookseller's heavy stock, of effecting what is now termed a 'rig.' Its popularity was extended to the provinces, for from 1684 and onwards Edward Millington[101:A] visited the provinces, selecting fair times for preference, taking with him large quantities of books, which he sold at auction, and this doubtless was another method of distributing works which were more or less still-born. John Dunton (who, the Pretender said, was the first man he would hang when he became King) took a cargo of books to Ireland in 1698, and most of these he sold by auction in Dublin. This visit was not welcomed by the Irish booksellers, and one of its numerous results was 'The Dublin Scuffle,' which is still worth reading. Dunton's receipts amounted to £1,500. It was said that Dunton had 'done more service to learning by his three auctions than any single man that had come into Ireland for the previous three hundred years.' [Illustration: _Samuel Baker, the Founder of Sotheby's._] It may be pointed out that the early auction catalogues are of the 'thinnest' possible nature. The books were usually arranged according to subjects, but each lot, irrespective of its importance, was confined to a single line. The sales were at first usually held from eight o'clock in the morning until twelve, and again from two o'clock till six, a day's sale therefore occupying eight hours. Mr. Lawler calculates that the average number of lots sold would be about sixty-six. The early hour at which the sales began was soon dropped, and eventually the time of starting became noon, and from that to one or even two o'clock. It is quite certain that, up to ten shillings, penny and twopenny bids were accepted. The sales were chiefly held at the more noteworthy coffee-houses. Dr. King, in his translation (?) of Sorbière's 'Journey to London,' 1698, says: 'I was at an auction of books at Tom's Coffee-house, near Ludgate, where were about fifty people. Books were sold with a great deal of trifling and delay, as with us, but very cheap. Those excellent authors, Mounsieur Maimbourg, Mounsieur Varillas, Monsieur le Grand, tho' they were all guilt on the back and would have made a very considerable figure in a gentleman's study, yet, after much tediousness, were sold for such trifling sums that I am asham'd to name 'em.' [Illustration: _Samuel Leigh Sotheby._] [Illustration: _Mr. E. G. Hodge, of Sotheby's._] It is curious to note the evolution of the book-auctioneer from the bookseller. Besides the names already quoted, John Whiston, Thomas Wilcox, Thomas and Edward Ballard, Sam Bathoe, Sam Paterson, Sam Baker, and George Leigh, were all booksellers as well as book-auctioneers. Of these the firm established by Samuel Baker in 1744 continues to flourish in Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge. The earlier auctioneers with whom books were a special feature, but who did not sell books except under the hammer, include Cock (under the Great Piazza, Covent Garden), Langford (who succeeded to Cock's business), Gerard, James Christie, Greenwood, Compton, and Ansell. [Illustration: _A Field-day at Sotheby's._ (Reduced, by kind permission, from a full-page engraving in the _Graphic_.)] [Illustration: _Key to the Characters in the 'Field-day at Sotheby's.'_ 1. Mr. G. S. Snowden 2. Mr. E. Daniell 3. Mr. Railton 4. Mr. J. Rimell 5. Mr. E. G. Hodge 6. Mr. J. Toovey 7. Mr. B. Quaritch 8. Mr. G. J. Ellis 9. Mr. J. Roche 10. Mr. Reeves 11. Lord Brabourne 12. Mr. W. Ward 13. Mr. Leighton 14. Mr. E. W. Stibbs 15. Mr. H. Sotheran 16. Mr. Westell 17. Mr. Walford 18. Henry 19. Mr. Dobell 20. Mr. Robson 21. Mr. Dykes Campbell 22. Palmer's boy 23. Dr. Neligan 24. Mr. C. Hindley 25. Earl of Warwick 26. Mr. Molini 27. Mr. H. Stevens 28. Mr. F. Locker-Lampson 29. Mr. E. Walford] The firm of Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge is, by nearly half a century, the _doyen_ of London auctioneers. One hundred and fifty years is a long life for one firm, but Sotheby's can claim an unbroken record of that length of time. The founder of the house was Samuel Baker, who started as a bookseller and book-auctioneer in York Street, Covent Garden, in 1744. At the latter part of his career, Baker, who retired in 1777 and died in the following year, took into partnership George Leigh, and, at a later date, his nephew, John Sotheby, whose son Samuel also joined the firm. Writing in 1812, Richard Gough observes in reference to Leigh: 'This genuine disciple of the _elder Sam_ [Baker] is still at the head of his profession, assisted by a _younger Sam_ [Sotheby]; and of the Auctioneers of Books may not improperly be styled _facile princeps_. His pleasant disposition, his skill, and his integrity are as well known as his famous _snuff-box_, described by Mr. Dibdin as having a not less imposing air than the remarkable periwig of Sir Fopling of old, which, according to the piquant note of Dr. Warburton, usually made its entrance upon the stage in a sedan chair, brought in by two chairmen, with infinite satisfaction to the audience. When a high price book is balancing between £15 and £20, it is a fearful sign of its reaching an additional sum if Mr. Leigh should lay down his hammer and delve into this said crumple-horn-shaped snuff-box.' The style of the firm was for many years Leigh, Sotheby and Son. In 1803-4 a removal to 145, Strand, opposite Catherine Street, was made. John Sotheby died in 1807, and the name of Leigh disappeared from the catalogues in 1816. Samuel Sotheby removed to the present premises, No. 3 (now 13), Wellington Street, Strand, in 1818, not more than a few yards from either of the two former localities. The last of the race, Samuel Leigh Sotheby, joined his father in partnership in 1830, and is well and widely known as a scholar and author of considerable note. In 1843 John Wilkinson became a partner, and S. L. Sotheby died in 1861. The next alteration in the style of the firm was effected in 1864, when the present head and sole member, Mr. Edward Grose Hodge, was admitted into partnership. The first sale was the collection of books belonging to Thomas Pellet, M.D. Curiously enough, Baker's name does not occur anywhere in connection with this sale on the catalogue thereof. The auction took place in the Great Room over Exeter 'Change, and lasted fifteen days, or rather nights, for the sale began at five o'clock in the evening on Monday, January 7, 1744. The octavos, quartos, and folios, of which a selection appeared in each evening's sale, were numbered separately, a process which must have been very confusing, and one which was soon dropped. The first day's sale of 123 lots realized £47 7s. 1d., whilst the fifteen nights produced a total of £859 11s. 1d. One of the highest prices was paid for Mrs. Blackwell's 'Herbal,' 1740, 'finely coloured and best paper, in blue Turkey,' £14. The catalogue of this sale contained the interesting announcement: 'That the publick may be assured this is the genuine collection of Dr. Pellet, without addition or diminution, the original catalogue may be seen by any gentleman at the place of sale.' In 1754-55 Dr. Mead's books occupied fifty days, and produced £5,518 10s. 11d.; and in 1756 forty days devoted to the library of Martin Folkes yielded no more than £3,091 odd. In February, 1755, Baker sold Fielding's library of 653 lots (£364 7s. 1d.). Gradually more important properties came to hand--the effects of Samuel Tyssen, 1802, thirty-eight days, £9,102 16s. 7d.; Prince Talleyrand (_Bibliotheca Splendidissima_), 1816, eighteen days, only £8,399; James Bindley, 1819, twenty-eight days, £7,692 6s. 6d.; the Dimsdales, 1824, seventeen days, £7,802 19s. Of course, very interesting days have been experienced where the financial result was not very striking, as when, in 1799, the firm disposed of the library of the Right Hon. Joseph Addison, 'Author and Secretary of State,' for £533 4s. 4d.; and in 1833 of that of 'the Emperor Napoleon Buonaparte' (_sic_), removed from St. Helena, for £450 9s. (his tortoiseshell walking-stick bringing £38 17s.); and, once more, when the drawings of T. Rowlandson, the caricaturist, were sold in 1818 for £700. The libraries of the Marquis of Lansdowne, 1806; the Duke of Queensberry, 1805; Marquis of Townsend, 1812; Count McCarthy, 1789; H.R.H. the Duke of York, 1827; James Boswell, 1825; G. B. Inglis, 1826; Edmond Malone, 1818; Joseph Ritson, 1803; John Wilkes, 1802; and a large number of others, came under the hammer at Sotheby's from 1744 to 1828. But the portions--the first, second, third, ninth, and tenth--of the stupendous Heber Library, dispersed here in 1834, owing to the prevailing depression, and what Dibdin called the _bibliophobia_, nearly ruined the auctioneers. They rallied from the blow, however, and have never suffered any relapse to bad times, whatever account they may be pleased to give of the very piping ones which they have known pretty well ever since 1845, when Mr. Benjamin Heywood Bright's important library was entrusted to their care. The secret of this steady and sustained progress is to be found in the general confidence secured by strict commercial integrity. The house receives business, but never solicits it. During the last half century nearly every important library has been sold at Sotheby's, including the Hamilton Palace and Beckford, the Thorold, the Osterley Park, the Seillière, and the Crawford libraries. [Illustration: _R. H. Evans, Book-auctioneer, 1812._] But from 1812 to 1845 the most important libraries were almost invariably sold by R. H. Evans, who began with the famous Roxburghe Collection--this sale, it may be mentioned, was held at the Duke's house, now occupied by the Windham Club, 13, St. James's Square--in 1812, and finished with the sixth part of the library of the Duke of Sussex in 1845. We can only refer to a few of the more important of Evans's sales, in addition to the two foregoing: In 1813 he sold the fine collection of early-printed books collected by Stanesby Alchorne, Master of the Mint, Earl Spencer having previously bought Alchorne's Caxtons; in 1815 the Duke of Grafton's library; in 1818-19 two parts of James Bindley's collection; in 1819-20 the White Knights Library of the Marquis of Blandford; in 1832-33 John Broadley's collection of books, which included the celebrated 'Bedford Missal,' bought by Sir John Tobin for £1,100, and now in the British Museum; in 1833 Edmund Burke's books; Lord Byron's in 1827; T. F. Dibdin's, 1817; the Earl of Guilford's, in three parts, 1830-35; the fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and eleventh parts of the Heber Collection, 1834-36; the books of Thomas Hill ('Paul Pry'), 1841; Daniel and Samuel Lysons, 1820, 1828, 1834; G. and W. Nicol, booksellers, 1825; Colonel Stanley, 1813; Sir M. M. Sykes, three parts, 1824; and J. Towneley, 1814-45, 1828. A complete list of Evans's sales is contributed by Mr. Norgate to _The Library_, iii. 324-330. Of the auctioneer himself a few details will not be out of place. Robert Harding Evans was the son of Thomas Evans, a bookseller of the Strand, and served his apprenticeship with Tom Payne at the News Gate. Leaving here, he succeeded to the business of James Edwards, Pall Mall, and was induced by George Nicol to undertake the sale by auction of the Duke of Roxburghe's library. The experiment was such a success that he became almost exclusively known as an auctioneer, and his business as a bookseller speedily declined. He was an admirable auctioneer, having an excellent memory and a vast fund of information; but he neglected the most important of all matters in commercial life, his ledgers. He had to give up selling books by auction, but restarted as a bookseller in Bond Street, with his two sons as partners; but his day was over, and here failure again followed him. He died in Edwards Street, Hampstead Road, April 25, 1857, aged eighty. A few other firms of book-auctioneers, although, with one exception, they have ceased to exist, call for mention. Sam Paterson, than whom no more popular an auctioneer ever wielded a hammer, was, as we have already seen, first a bookseller. Sam--we employ the little familiarity by which he was universally known--was born in 1728 in the parish of St. Paul, Covent Garden, and lived on till 1802, his death being the result of an accident. He was not only a bookseller, but an author and a traveller, and it was during a tour in Holland and Flanders that he brought home a large collection of books, which he sold at auction. In 1757, Sam prevented the valuable collection of MSS. once belonging to Sir Julius Cæsar from being destroyed; they had actually been sold to a cheesemonger as waste-paper for £10. He rescued the whole collection, and drew up a masterly catalogue of it, and when sold by auction the result was £356. For some years he was librarian to the Earl of Shelburne, afterwards first Marquis of Lansdowne. Sam's great talents at 'cataloguizing' were unrivalled: he compiled those of James West, P.R.S. (whose library he sold at Langford's), 1773, the sale lasting twenty-four days, and including a fine series of books printed by Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, and on Old English literature and history, voyages and travels (see p. 179); the Rev. Thomas Crofts, forty-three days, in 1783; Topham Beauclerk, April 8, 1781, and following forty-nine days (the collection was dispersed by Sam himself 'opposite Beaufort Buildings, Strand'); of the Fagel Collection, now in Trinity College, Dublin, 1802, and others. Nichols states that the catalogues of the libraries of Maffei Pinelli, sold in London in fifty-four days, 1789-90; of Samuel Tyssen, 1801, thirteen days; and of John Strange, fifty-six days, 1801, were compiled by the versatile Sam. The Pinelli catalogue most certainly was not his work, for although he commenced it, he threw it up at a very early stage. The Tyssen and Strange libraries were sold at Sotheby's, for whom Sam 'catalogued' for some time. The book-hunter in London will occasionally meet with a copy of the 'Bibliotheca Universalis Selecta' on the stalls for a few pence, and he is strongly recommended to buy this very admirable volume. It is a model catalogue in its way; the contents of this sale (which took place at Sam's Great Room in King Street, Covent Garden, on Monday, May 8, 1786, and the thirty-five following days) are carefully classified, whilst the index extends to nearly seventy pages. The volume is well interspersed with Sam's annotations, and the published price of it is 5s. 6d. The second condition of sale is extremely interesting; it says, 'No bidder shall advance less than THREEPENCE under ten shillings; above ten shillings, SIXPENCE; above one pound, ONE SHILLING.' The chief rival of Leigh and Paterson was Thomas King, who from 1780 to 1796 had a shop in Lower Moorfields, but who towards the end of 1796 moved to King Street, Covent Garden, and set up as an auctioneer. At first it was King and Son, but the son, early in the present century, started for himself in Tavistock Street, when the elder King's son-in-law, Lochée, became a partner. The firm existed into the second decade of the present century, and sold many important libraries, notably Isaac Reed's, in 1807, which lasted thirty-nine days, and included a very extraordinary collection of works relating to the English drama and poetry; Dr. Richard Farmer's, in 1798, lasting thirty-six days; John Maddison's, of the Foreign Department in the Post Office, 1802, twenty-two days; George Steevens's, May 13, 1800, eleven days; and John Horne Tooke's, May 26, 1813, four days. It is scarcely necessary to point out that either of the foregoing remarkable libraries would give 'tone' to the annals of any book-auction house. The collection of the Rev. John Brand (see p. 179), of the Society of Antiquaries, was sold by Stewart, the founder of Puttick's, of Piccadilly, in 1807-8, when 4,064 lots realized a total of £6,151 15s.; he also sold the libraries of Lord Thurlow, of W. Bryant, etc. Other auctioneers who occasionally sold books during the earlier part of the present century were Jeffrey, of Pall Mall, who in 1810 sold Dr. Benjamin Heath's library in thirty-two days, the 4,786 lots realizing £8,899; Cochrane, of Catherine Street, who in 1816 (twelve days) dispersed an exceedingly interesting library originally formed between 1610 and 1650 by Sir Robert Gordon, of Gordonstoun, one of the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber of James I. and Charles I.; Compton, of Conduit Street, who in 1783-84 (fifteen days) sold Joseph Gulston's library; Robins, of Warwick Street; and T. and J. Egerton, of Scotland Yard. [Illustration: _John Walker, Book-auctioneer, 1776._] Mention may be here made of one who for many years occupied an important position in the fraternity. John Walker, brother-in-law of the elder George Robinson, was the book-auctioneer to the trade, and frequently knocked down from £10,000 to £40,000 worth of books in the course of an afternoon. In 1776 Walker was in partnership with J. Fielding, and in early life combined with the book-trade the office of one of the coal-meters of the City of London. He resigned the hammer to William Hone about 1812, and died at Camberwell in February, 1817. A sketch of his life and a portrait of him appear in the fifth volume of the _Wonderful Magazine_. [Illustration: _Staircase at Puttick and Simpson's._] After Sotheby's, the most important of the book-auctioneers of to-day are Messrs. Puttick and Simpson; Christie, Manson and Woods; and Hodgson and Co. The first-named have since December, 1858, occupied the greater portion of the house in Leicester Square in which Sir Joshua Reynolds lived throughout his brilliant career, and where he died in 1792. The auction-room was formerly the artist's studio; the office was his dining-room; the upper portion of the house is occupied by Mr. H. Gray, the topographical bookseller. The place has been altered since the distinguished painter resided there, but in this age of iconoclasm it is pleasant to wander in the passages and rooms where all the wit, beauty, and intellect of the latter part of the last century congregated--where Johnson and Boswell, Burke, Garrick, Goldsmith and Malone met in good fellowship. The founder of the firm was a Mr. Stewart (see p. 112), who started in Piccadilly in 1794, and who continued here until about 1825, when he took into partnership Benjamin Wheatley, who had been at Sotheby's, and a son of the printer, Adlard; for a while the firm was John and James Fletcher, but early in 1846, the two and only partners were Mr. Puttick and the present Mr. William Simpson; the former died in 1873, and the business is now in the hands of Mr. Simpson and his son. The most important sale held at Puttick's was that of the Sunderland Library from Blenheim Palace, which, commencing on December 1, 1881, occupied from that date up to March 22, 1883, fifty-one days, the 13,858 lots realizing the gross total of £56,581 6s. On April 21, 1884, and ten following days, the exceedingly fine topographical library of the Earl of Gosford was sold at Puttick's, the total of the sale being £11,318 5s. 6d.; the most remarkable item in the sale was a fine large copy of the first volume of the Mazarin Bible in the original binding, which was knocked down to Mr. Toovey for £500; and next in interest to this was a copy of the First Folio Shakespeare, 1623, measuring 12-7/8 inches by 8-3/8 inches, quite perfect, but with the title and verses mounted, and the margins of two leaves slightly mended, and this sold for £470. The extensive library of L. L. Hartley (see p. 87) was also disposed of at Puttick's, 1885-87, and realized the total of £16,530; and other important libraries dispersed there during the last half-century include the Donnadieu books and MSS., 1847-58, £3,923; a portion of the Libri Collection, 1850-68, £8,929; Dawson Turner's books and MSS., 1859, £9,453; Edward Crowinshield's (of Boston, N.E.) books and MSS., 1860, £4,826; Sir Edward Dering's books and MSS., 1861, £7,259; the Emperor Maximilian's Mexican Library, 1869, £3,985; John Camden Hotten's stock, 1873, £3,751; Sir Edward Nichols' (Secretary to Charles I., whose state papers were sold privately to the British Museum) books, 1877, £977; the library of J. Duerdin, consigned from Australia, 1884, £1,140; books from William Penn's Library, 1872, £1,350; the library of Señor Don Jose Fernando Ramirez, 1880, £6,957; and many others. Literary property forms a comparatively small portion of Messrs. Puttick and Simpson's business, a very important part of which consists in the sale and private dispersal of musical property of every description, as well as pictures, prints, porcelain and jewels. The firm of Hodgson and Co. dates its origin from the twenties of the present century, the late Edmund Hodgson (who died in May, 1875, aged 81) starting in partnership with Robert Saunders at 39, Fleet Street, as an auctioneer of literary property, the premises having been originally the Mitre Tavern (see p. 222). In the interval the place had been christened the 'Poets' Gallery.' When the property passed into the hands of Messrs. Hoare, the partnership between Saunders and Hodgson terminated, and the latter removed to 192, Fleet Street, at the corner of Chancery Lane (on the site now occupied by Partridge and Cooper), where Mr. Hodgson remained for many years. The march of improvement again overtook him, and the business was once more removed, this time to its present site at 115, Chancery Lane, which was specially erected for the peculiar requirements of a book-auction house. The late Mr. Hodgson for many years officiated in the rostrum of nearly all the chief trade dinner sales, and literary property to the value of some £50,000 would frequently be disposed of by him during an evening. His son, the present head of the firm, officiated in a similar capacity for some years, until, in fact, the pleasant custom of trade dinners became almost obsolete. The firm has dispersed, in its time, many important libraries and stocks of books, among which we may specially mention the valuable collection of books of the College of Advocates, Doctors' Commons, London, Monday, April 22, 1861, and seven following days (2,456 lots); the stocks or superfluous stocks of books of Charles Knight, Owen Jones, G. Cox, R. Bentley, 'Standard Novels'; Bradbury and Evans's, April, 1862 (eight days); Arthur Hall, Virtue and Co., November, 1862; Darton and Hodge, 1863, 1866, and 1867; Lionel Booth, May, 1866; Day and Son, 1865, 1867, and 1868; Sampson Low and Co., in consequence of the death of Sampson Low, jun., 1871; Moxon and Co., October, 1871, when a four days' sale resulted in over £12,000; Cassell and Co., in consequence of the removal to Belle Sauvage Yard, September, 1875, five days' sale (4,400 lots); and very many others. [Illustration: _Mr. James Christie, 'The Specious Orator.'_ Engraved by R. Dighton, 1794.] The firm of Christie, Manson and Woods dates its establishment from 1762, but its fame is almost exclusively built upon its picture-sales. During its existence, however, the firm has sold several more or less important libraries, such as those of James Edwards, the bookseller, 'the library of a gentleman of distinguished taste,' April, 1804; Rev. L. Dutens (four days), February, 1813; the Earl of Gainsborough, March, 1813; the Hon. C. F. Greville, 1809; Sir William Hamilton, C.B., and Viscount Nelson, 1809; Sir James Pulteney (eight days), February, 1812; the Earl of Aylesford, 1879; Earl of Clarendon, 1877; C. Beckett-Denison, 1885; Dr. Samuel Johnson, 1785; J. P. Knight, R.A., 1881; Earl of Liverpool, 1829; W. Macready, 1873; Rev. W. Bentinck L. Hawkins, in three parts, 1895, and others. II. The step from book-auctioneers to book-prices is a very easy one to take, but the subject is far less easily disposed of. A book is worth just as much as its vendor can get for it, and no more. Rarity is not synonymous with high commercial value. There may be only four copies of a particular book in existence, but if the only three people in the world who want it have provided themselves with a copy each, the fourth example is not worth twopence. We have seen this kind of thing illustrated within the past few years. Very small poets are published in very small editions, but nobody buys them, and the books therefore have no market value--in fact, they are superfluous. Hundreds of rare books are superfluous. The auction-room is the great leveller of all manner of unmerited fame, and it may be taken, as a general rule, to be an infallible guide. We have but little information concerning the prices paid for second-hand books during the seventeenth century. The retailer's safest possible guide, of course, would be the price at which he acquired a particular book, or, if more than one, by the very simple process of averaging. One of the earliest and fullest illustrations we can cite occurs in connection with some of the prices paid for books for the Chetham Library of Manchester in 1663, and these are curious as well as interesting. Thus, Holland's 'Heröologia,' 1620, a good copy of which now realizes from £20 to £30, was purchased for 14s. Purchas's 'His Pilgrimes,' 1625-26, which now sells at auction, if in good condition, at about £50, was obtained for £3 15s. Dugdale's 'History of St. Paul's' cost 12s., and the same author's 'Antiquities of Worcestershire,' 1656, £1 7s. 6d.; the former now sells at prices varying from £5 to £10, and the latter, when in good condition, is not expensive at 18 guineas. In and about 1740 several book-sales occurred at or near Manchester, when a large number of rare items realized painfully small prices. For instance, the 'Treatise concernynge the fruytfull saynges of Davyd the Kynge and Prophete in the seven Penytencyall Psalms,' 1508, by Fisher, Bishop of Rochester; the 'Nova Legenda Sanctorum Angliæ,' 1516, both printed by Wynkyn de Worde, were purchased together for 5s. 6d.! Parsons' 'Conference about the next succession to the Crowne of England,' 1594, cost 1s.; and the same Jesuit's 'Treatise of Three Conversions of England,' 1603-4, 15s. A few months ago these two publications realized close on £10 at auction. Tyndale's 'Practyse of Prelates,' 1530, was obtained for 1s. 6d.; and his 'Briefe Declaration of the Sacraments,' 1550, for 1s. 7d.; the former is now valued at 9 guineas, and the latter at 4 guineas. The English edition of Erasmus' 'Enchiridion Militis Christiani,' 1544, cost 6d., and is now worth perhaps as many pounds. The bargain of the period, however, occurred in connection with Sir Thomas Smyth's treatise 'De Republica et administratione Anglorum,' 1610; Raleigh's 'Prerogative of Parliaments' (?) 1628; and Burton's 'Protestation Protested,' which, together, realized 4d.! Each of these books is now extremely rare. Thirteen years after the above-mentioned books changed hands at prices which can now only be described as heartbreaking, the first auction-sale took place. It is noteworthy--as Mr. Lawler has pointed out--that 'the first libraries which were sold by auction were those of Puritan divines who had lived and worked under the Commonwealth Government; these libraries were consequently composed of books suited to their calling, consisting almost entirely of theological and historical books.' Life was too awful a thing with them to indulge in a 'roguish' French novel, a Shakespearian play, or one of the many dramatic works which seemed for a time to kill all religious activity. A few of the items dispersed in the first sales will not be without interest. Dr. Seaman's copy of the _editio princeps_ Homer in Greek, 1488, sold for 9s.; the Crawford copy realized £135--true, the latter was bound by Trautz-Bauzonnet. In the former sale a copy of Dr. Eliot's Indian Bible sold for 19s.; if it occurred at auction now it might realize anything from £100 to £600. At the Restoration everything in the way of books of prayers was discarded, and sold for a few pence; they would now readily sell almost for their weight in gold. There is a startling uniformity about the prices realized for books at the early book-sales, and one feels almost inclined to suppose that our forbears were influenced chiefly by the size of the volumes. It is interesting to note that the great folio editions of the Fathers realized in the end of the seventeenth century pretty much the same prices as at the end of the nineteenth, and these, it need hardly be said, are very small indeed. From the sale of the library of Sir Kenelm Digby at the Golden Lion, in Paternoster Row, in April, 1680, we get a few highly interesting facts. This sale comprised 3,878 lots, and realized the total of £908 4s. Here are a few of the items: £ s. d. Æschylus, Stanley, London, 1664 1 0 0 Ascham's 'Toxophilus,' 1545 0 1 4 Barclay's 'Ship of Fools,' 1570 0 4 4 Bible of the Douay Translation, with the Rhenish Testament, 3 vols., 4to., 1633 1 5 0 Chaucer's Works, folio, 1597 0 12 8 Dugdale's 'Monasticon Anglicanum,' 3 vols., 1655, etc. 6 6 0 Fabyan's 'Chronicle,' London, 1559 0 7 4 Hollinshed's 'Chronicle,' London, 1577 0 8 0 Homerus cum comment. Eustathii, 4 vols., folio, corio turcico et folio deaur. Romæ, 1542 7 0 0 Milton's 'Paradise Lost,' London, 1668 0 2 1 'P. Plowman's Vision,' London, 1550 0 1 7 Purchas's 'Pilgrims and Pilgrimage,' 5 vols., 1625-66 3 5 6 Shakespeare's Works, London, 1632 (second edition) 0 14 0 A comparison of the foregoing prices with those which the books would realize to-day will suggest some interesting conclusions; but as the means of doing this are in the hands of everyone, it is not necessary to discuss them here. In the Bodleian Library there is an exceedingly interesting letter from R. Scott, the bookseller, to Samuel Pepys, dated June 30, 1688. Scott writes: 'Having at length procured Campion, Hanmer and Spencer's Hist. of Ireland, fol. (which I think you formerly desired), I here send itt you, with 2 very scarce bookes besides, viz. Pricæi Defensio Hist. Britt. 4{o} and old Harding's Chronicle, as alsoe the Old Ship of Fooles in verse by Alex. Berkley, priest; which last, though nott scarce, yet so very fayre and perfect, that seldome comes such another; the Priceus you will find deare, yett I never sold it under 10s., and att this tyme can have it of a person of quality; butt without flattery, I love to find a rare book for you, and hope shortly to procure for you a perfect's Hall's Chronicle.' With the books Scott sent his statement of account as follows: £ s. d. Campion, Hanmer and Spenser, fol. 0 12 0 Harding's 'Chronicle,' 4to. 0 6 0 'Pricæi Defens. Hist. Brit.' 0 8 0 'Shipp of Fooles,' fol. 0 8 0 -------- 1 14 0 Whether Scott obtained these items at the Digby sale or not, we cannot say; it is by no means unlikely, and if so, his desire to do Mr. Pepys a good turn may be estimated by the fact that he made a profit of 3s. 8d. over the last item in the bill, and the profit on the others would doubtless be arranged on a similar scale. The second and the fourth items, however, would be now worth from 15 to 20 guineas. Both Sir John Price's 'Historiæ Britannicæ,' 1573, and the histories of Ireland by Hanmer, Campion and Spenser, 1633, are very rare and very important books, and would not be dear now at as many guineas as Scott has charged shillings. Book-auctions were not, however, unmixed blessings, and, as a fact, they provoked a good many curses from the poorer collectors. Here is one phase which concerns the sale of the library of John Bridges,[121:A] the Northamptonshire historian, in 1726. This auction is interesting, not so much on account of the books which were knocked down, or of the prices which they realized, but as being the genesis of the knock-out system. We have, fortunately, a very vivid picture of this sale from the pen of Humfrey Wanley, who wished to obtain some of the items for the library of Lord Oxford. In his 'Diary,' under date February, 1726, we read: 'Went to Mr. Bridges' Chamber [No. 6, Lincoln's Inn] to see the three fine MSS. again, the doctor, his brother, having locked them up. He openly bids for his own books, merely to enhance their price, and the auction proves to be, what I thought it would become, very knavish.' And again: 'Yesterday, at five, I met Mr. Noel, and tarried long with him; we settled then the whole affair touching his bidding for my Lord at the roguish sale of Mr. Bridges' books. The Rev. Doctor, one of the brothers, hath already displayed himself so remarkably as to be both hated and despised; and a combination amongst the booksellers will soon be against him and his brother the lawyer. They are men of the keenest avarice, and their very looks (according to what I am told) dart out harping irons. I have ordered Mr. Noel to drop every article in my Lord's Commission when they shall be hoisted up to too high a price.' We get another interesting view of the subject a year later. Hearne, the antiquary, writing to Dr. R. Rawlinson, the well-known book-collector, November 27, 1727, observes: 'I wanted much to hear from yourself how matters went in your auctions, and was glad at last to have one [letter], though I am very sorry to find you have had such bad usage, when you act so honourably. But I am too sensible, that booksellers and others are in a combination against you. Booksellers have the least pretence of any to act so. Your brother (whom I shall always call my friend) did them unspeakable kindness. By his generous way of bidding, and by his constant buying, he raised the value of books incredibly, and there is hardly such another left. The booksellers (who go so much by him) owe him a statue, the least they can do. But instead of that, they neither speak well of him, nor do you (as I verily believe) common justice.' In a letter from Benjamin Heath, the well-known book-collector, to 'Mr. John Mann, at the Hand in Hand Fire Office in Angel Court, on Snow Hill,' dated March 21, 1738, we get yet another glimpse of some phases of book-auctions in the earlier part of the last century. Fletcher Gyles, a bookseller of Holborn, published a catalogue of a book-auction which he purposed holding at his own place of business. 'Mr. Gyles,' writes Heath, 'has offered himself to act for me, but as I think 'tis too great a Trial to his Honesty to make him at the same time Buyer and Seller . . . I have been able to think of no Friend I could throw this trouble [of buying certain books] upon but you.' For this service, the collector 'would willingly allow 3 guineas, which, the Auction continuing 24 Days, is 3 shillings over and above half a Crown a Day.' The 'Auction requires the Attendance of the whole day, beginning at Eleven in the Morning, and Ending at two, and at five in the Afternoon, and Ending at Eight.' [Illustration: _Benjamin Heath, Book-collector, 1738._] A chronological account of the book-sales of London would be an important as well as an interesting contribution to the history of literature. But our space is limited, and only the chief features of such a history can be dealt with in this place. If one were asked to name the most famous book in the annals of book-sales, the answer would be at once forthcoming and emphatic--the Valdarfer Boccaccio, otherwise 'Il Decamerone di Messer Giovanni Boccaccio,' printed at Venice by Christopher Valdarfer in 1471, and published, it is thought, at about 10s. In stating that this book is the most famous one, it is almost unnecessary to explain that the Roxburghe copy is understood. By what means it got into the hands of a London bookseller (about the middle of the last century) is not known. It is certain, however, that even at that period he knew of its excessive rarity, for he offered it to the two great contemporary book-collectors, Lord Oxford and Lord Sunderland, for 100 guineas, an amount which at that time must have 'appeared enormously extravagant.' Whilst these two collectors were deliberating, an ancestor of the Duke of Roxburghe saw and purchased it. Shortly after this event the two noble collectors were dining with the Duke, and the subject of Boccaccio was purposely broached. Both Lord Oxford and Lord Sunderland began to talk of the particular copy which had been offered them. The Duke of Roxburghe told them that he thought he could show them a copy of this edition, which they doubted, but, to their mortification, the Duke produced the identical copy, over which both realized that he who hesitates is lost. Beloe, in relating this anecdote, which was told him by G. Nicol, the royal bookseller, predicted that if this copy came under the hammer it would produce 'not much less than £500.' As a matter of fact and of history, at the Roxburghe sale in 1812 it realized the then huge sum of £2,260, the buyer being the Marquis of Blandford, who, it is said, was prepared to go to £5,000. There were three noble candidates for this choice book, the Duke of Devonshire, Earl Spencer, and the Marquis of Blandford, whilst an agent of Bonaparte was known to be present. The Rev. Mr. Dibdin has given a very highly-coloured and vivid account of this famous incident in his 'Bibliographical Decameron,' and we need do no more than refer to the fact that 'the honour of making the first bid was due to a gentleman from Shropshire, who seemed almost surprised at his own temerity in offering 100 guineas.' It is a curious commentary on even the fame of rare books that this copy of the Valdarfer Boccaccio came again into the sale-room in 1819, when the Blandford library was sold, and when it became the property of Earl Spencer for £918. 'I will have it when you are dead,' was the savage retort of a defeated book-lover at an auction sale, and such perhaps was Earl Spencer's mental determination when his rival carried off the bargain--by waiting seven years he saved £1,242, as well as possessing himself of one of the greatest of bibliographical rarities. [Illustration: _Specimen of type of the Mazarin Bible._] Although far before the Valdarfer Boccaccio in every point except that of sensationalism, the first printed Bible, the Biblia Latina of Gutenberg, 1455, commonly known as the Mazarin, has had an exciting history in the way of prices. It is not only the first, but one of the most magnificent books which ever issued from the press. It is not at all a rare book in the usual sense of the word, for there are in existence nineteen copies on paper, and five on vellum, the majority of which are in this country. The most celebrated example of this splendid book is now in the British Museum. The earliest record of this is its possession by M. L. J. Gaignat, at whose sale in 1768 it became the property of Count McCarthy for 1,200 francs; and from his sale, in Paris, in 1815, it passed into Mr. Grenville's library for 6,260 francs--in other words, it had advanced in value in forty-six years from £48 to close on £250. It subsequently passed into the British Museum. Early in the present century, Nicol, the King's bookseller, obtained the copy on vellum, formerly in the University of Mentz; at his sale in 1825 it was bought by H. Perkins, the book-collecting brewer (Barclay, Perkins and Co.), for £504, and at the sale of his library it fetched £3,400, Mr. Ellis purchasing it for Lord Ashburnham. In 1824 Mr. Perkins bought Sir M. M. Sykes' copy of the same book on paper for £199 10s., and this copy in 1873 fetched £2,960. James Perry, of the _Morning Chronicle_, had a copy on paper, which, at his sale in 1822, the Duke of Sussex purchased for 160 guineas; and this copy, at the Duke's sale in 1844, brought £190. The record price for the 'Mazarin' Bible was not reached until December, 1884, when the Syston Park library of Sir John Thorold came under the hammer at Sotheby's, and this particular Bible on paper sold for £3,900 to Mr. Quaritch, or £500 more than the practically unique one on vellum. In June, 1887, the Earl of Crawford's copy, which was not a particularly good one, realized £2,000, Mr. Quaritch having purchased it about thirty years previously for rather more than a quarter of the amount. In 1889 yet another copy turned up at Sotheby's--it came from the Earl of Hopetoun's library--and this sold at the same figure. We may also refer here to the second edition of the Bible, 1462, but the first printed book with a date. The Edwards copy on vellum of this sold in 1815 for £175; in 1823 a very fine example was sold for £215; in 1873 the Perkins copy, which had cost its owner £173, sold for £780; and eight years later the Sunderland example on vellum for £1,600. [Illustration: _A Corner in the British Museum._] The palm of the highest price ever paid for a single book must be awarded to the 'Psalmorum Codex,' printed, like the last, by Fust and Schoeffer in 1459. By the side of this the Gutenberg Bible is a common book, and Sir John Thorold's example is the only one which has occurred in the market for almost a century. This particular copy realized 3,350 francs in the McCarthy sale, and 130 guineas in that of Sir M. M. Sykes; but at the Thorold sale, in 1884, it fetched £4,950. Of the 'Codex' there are only nine copies known, all of which slightly differ from one another. We may also include here a mention of a copy of the Balbi 'Catholicon'--'Summa Quæ vocatur Catholicon, sive Grammatica et Linguæ Latina'--1460, for which Sir John Thorold paid £65 2s., and which at his sale fetched £400. The British Museum copy of this book belonged to Dr. Mead, at whose sale it was purchased for £25 for the French King; the copy subsequently became the property of West, at whose sale it became George III.'s for £35 3s. 6d. The Balbi 'Catholicon,' of 1460, is the fourth book printed with a date, and is one of the few indubitable productions of Gutenberg's press. It is an indispensable volume in a collection of books printed in the fifteenth century. Its literary merit is very considerable, and the London editor of 'Stephani Thesaurus Latinus' has pronounced it the best Dictionary for the Latin Fathers and Schoolmen. In addition to the copies just mentioned, a fine example, bound in russia-extra by Roger Payne, occurred in the Wodhull sale, January 12, 1886, and realized £310. This or a similar copy was priced in Quaritch's 'Catalogue of the Monuments of the Early Printers,' at £420. The decline in the value of what may be termed ordinary editions of the classics during the present century has unquestionably been very great. Even the _editiones principes_ have scarcely maintained their former values; whilst their appearance in the book-market does not call forth anything like the enthusiasm and excitement which at one time prevailed. The Askew sale in 1775 was the first at which really sensational prices were reached throughout for the first editions of the Greek and Latin classics. Although some of these prices have been exceeded in many cases since that period, it is tantamount to a confession that they have gone down in value when it is stated that the Askew prices are as nearly as possible the same at which identical copies are now to be had. As we shall see presently, there are several exceptions to this rule; but these exceptions occur, not because they are the _editiones principes_ of Homer or Virgil, as the case may be, but because they are the works of some eminent printer. And herein the change is a very striking one. The first edition of every classic has a literary or technical value almost equal to a manuscript, from which, of course, it is directly printed; but the first editions of the classics are not now collected because of their textual value, and not at all unless they are fine examples of typographical skill. The curious vicissitudes of these editions would alone occupy a fairly large volume; but we propose dealing briefly with the subject by comparing the prices at which good copies were sold in and about 1775, when Dr. Harwood published his useful little 'View of the Various Editions of the Greek and Roman Classics,' with those at which they may be now acquired. [Illustration: _Aldus, from a contemporary Medal._] Beginning with the _editio princeps_ Homer, 1488, the fine copy of this edition in the British Museum was purchased, Dr. Harwood tells us, for £17. A 'large, pure, and fine' copy of this exceedingly rare work is now priced at £150, whilst the Wodhull copy sold in 1886 for £200.[129:A] But whilst this edition has increased enormously in pecuniary value, 'one of the most splendid editions of Homer ever delivered to the world'--namely, that of the Foulis brothers, Glasgow, 1756-58--has only doubled its price, or has increased in value from two to four guineas. The very beautifully-printed _editio princeps_ of Anacreon, printed in Paris by Henri Stephan, 1554, remains stationary, for its value then, as now, is one guinea. Of the Aldine first edition of Sophocles, 1502, Lord Lisburne purchased 'a beautiful copy' in 1775 for 1-1/2 guineas; the present value of a similar example would range from 8 to 20 guineas, whilst a slightly imperfect copy sells for about £1. The first edition of Euripides, 1503, also printed at the Aldine Press, has advanced from £1 16s. to £3 10s. to 6 guineas, according to the eminence of the binder. A 'most beautiful' copy of the first Herodotus, Aldus, 1502, realized £2 15s. in 1775, but cannot now be had for less than twice that amount; whilst an example in a fine Derome binding of red morocco extra is priced at 12 guineas. The first Aristophanes, likewise from the press of Aldus, 1498, shows a slight advance from £4 to 5 guineas. The earliest issue of Isocrates, 1493, is one of the rarest of the _incunabula_, as it is one of the most beautiful when in perfect condition. The exceedingly fine example in the British Museum was bought by the authorities in 1775 for £11; copies may now be had for £15. The first (Aldine) edition of Plato has advanced in value from 5 guineas to just twice that sum. The very beautiful copy of this _editio princeps_ on vellum, and now in the British Museum, was purchased by the Museum authorities at Dr. Askew's sale in 1775 for 53 guineas. The commercial value of the very scarce and splendid first edition, in six volumes (Aldus, 1495-98), of Aristotle, shows a depreciation--from 17 to 15 guineas--although it has realized in comparatively recent years as much as £51. Dr. Harwood adds to his entry of this book: 'The finest copy of this first edition of Aristotle's works, perhaps in Europe, is in Dr. Hunter's Museum.' Dr. Hunter gave £4 6s. for a 'most beautiful copy of the first edition of Theocritus,' Aldus, 1495--an edition which also includes Hesiod, Theognis, Phocylides, etc.,--the value of which is now placed at £10. A much more considerable advance is seen in connection with the _editio princeps_ of Musæus, 1494, a choice and beautiful book, which is at once the first and rarest production of the Aldine Press. George III. gave in 1775 17 guineas for a fine copy, which would now realize twice that amount. An almost equally emphatic advance may be chronicled in connection with the 'Anthologia Græca,' Florence, 1494, printed throughout in capital letters, which, selling for 15 guineas a century and a quarter ago, is now worth nearly double; whilst the Sunderland copy in 1881 brought £51. The first impressions of Diodorus Siculus, 1539, and Stephanus Byzantius, Aldus, 1502, are stationary at about £2 each, and Lucian, Florence, 1496, now, as in 1776, sells for £20. Passing over a whole host of minor names in the list of Greek authors, we may venture upon a few facts in connection with the Latin writers. Virgil would, of course, come at the head of this list; but the examples which came under Dr. Harwood's notice have no commercial value indicated. George III. gave £17 6s. 6d. for the very fine copy of the first Horace (about 1472) in Dr. Askew's sale--a fairly good example is now priced at £50--whilst the first commentated edition of this author, Milan, 1474, has advanced from 9-1/2 guineas to 30 guineas; it is exceedingly rare, particularly the first of the two volumes. The first Aldine Horace (1501) has gone up from £2 5s. to £15, and other editions from the same press have about quadrupled in value. Of the first edition of Ovid's 'Opera' (1471) only one copy is known, and the second, Bologna, 1480, is scarcely less rare, and certainly not less valuable, than the first. Dr. Harwood prices a very fine copy at £10 5s., or about a third of its present value. The first dated edition of Valerius Maximus was printed by Schöffer at Mentz in 1471, but is apparently not a very popular book with collectors, for whereas in 1775 a beautiful copy was valued at £26, its present price is only £28. A much more popular book, Seneca's 'Tragoediæ,' printed about 1475, has advanced from 4-1/2 guineas to £18, or, an exceptionally good copy bound by Bedford, £25. Although for several centuries one of the most popular of books, some of the earlier editions of Pliny's 'Historia Naturalis' do not keep up their price. The second edition, Rome, 1470, which is rarer than the first--issued at Venice the year before--may now be had for 12 guineas. The British Museum copy of the first edition cost the nation £43 in 1775. The edition printed by Jenson at Venice in 1472 is, however, much sought after, for it is a very beautiful book, with a splendidly illuminated border on the first page of the text. The British Museum copy cost at Dr. Askew's sale £23, whilst Mr. Quaritch quotes an example at £140; but, then, the latter copy is printed on vellum, which makes all the difference. Silius Italicus is not by any means an author whose work is at present much studied, but the first edition of his 'Opera' (1471) is a book worth mentioning, because for beauty and grace it is unsurpassed by any of the works ever published by the first Italian printers, Sweynheim and Pannartz. The British Museum copy cost in 1775 £13 2s. 6d., whilst it is now worth about £25. The superb copy in the British Museum of the _editio princeps_ Juvenal and Persius (printed at Rome about the year 1469) cost the country 13 guineas; a first-class example is now valued at £12. On the other hand, the Aldine edition of Martial's 'Epigrammata' (1501) has gone up in value from 2 guineas to £10, or even £17 10s., according to condition. The first edition of Justin (printed at Venice, 1470) has declined, for the British Museum copy cost 13 guineas in 1775, whilst a fine copy may now be had for 10 guineas. A very different story has to be told with reference to the books and pamphlets produced by the early English printers. Until the latter part of the last century, these items were the despised of the scholarly and aristocratic collector. A few antiquaries found them not without interest, but they had only a nominal commercial value. At the sale of Dr. Francis Bernard, at his 'late dwelling house in Little Britain,' in October, 1698, thirteen Caxtons were sold, as follows: £ s. d. 'The Boke called Cathon,' 1483 0 3 0 'Chastising of Goddes Chyldern' 0 1 10 'Doctrinal of Sapience,' 1489 } 'Chastising of Goddes Chyldern' } 0 5 0 'Chronicle of England,' _very old_ 0 4 0 'Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers,' 1477 0 5 4 'Game and Playe of the Chesse,' 1474 0 1 6 'Godefroy of Boloyne,' 1481 0 4 0 'Historyes of Troy,' 1500 0 3 0 'Jason and the Golden Fleece' 0 3 6 'Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye,' 1502 0 3 0 Another copy 0 3 0 'Tullius of Olde Age' 0 4 2 ---------- £2 1 4 Eighty years later, when the library of John Ratcliffe[132:A] was sold at Christie's (March 27, 1776), a collection of upwards of thirty Caxtons came under the hammer, and of these we will only quote seven examples: £ s. d. 'Chronicles of Englande,' fine copy, 1480 5 5 0 'Doctrinal of Sapience,' 1489 8 8 0 'The Boke called Cathon,' 1483 5 5 0 'The Polytique Book, named Tullius de Senectute,' 1481 14 0 0 'The Game and Playe of Chesse' 16 0 0 'The Boke of Jason' 5 10 0 'Legenda Aurea,'[133:A] 1483 9 15 0 At the Watson Taylor and Perry sales in 1823, four examples, nearly all fine copies, of Caxton's books realized a total of £239 5s., as follows: £ s. d. 'The Life of Jason,' 1476-77 95 11 0 'The Boke called Cathon,' 1483 30 19 6 'Troylus and Creside,' 1484 66 0 0 Virgil's 'Eneidos,' 1490, very fine and perfect 46 14 6 [Illustration: _The Fifty-seven Althorp Caxtons._] We do not think that the foregoing sets of figures call for any elaborate comment. The present value of each item may be averaged at from £250 to £300, but the majority are absolutely unprocurable at any price. The highest sum ever paid for a Caxton is £1,950, at which amount the only perfect copy known of 'King Arthur,' 1485, was knocked down at the sale of the Earl of Jersey's books in 1885. At the same sale the 'Histoires of Troy,' _circa_ 1474, realized £1,820. In 1812 the Duke of Devonshire gave £1,060 12s. for a copy of this book, for which the Duke of Roxburghe had paid £50 a few years previously. The Syston Park copy of the 'Mirrour of the World,' 1481, sold in 1884 for £335; Higden's 'Polychronicon, 1482, is valued at £500; Lord Selsey's copy of Gower's 'Confessio Amantis,' 1483, sold in 1872 for £670; and Lord Jersey's, in 1885, for £810. The 'Hystorye of Kynge Blanchardyn and Princes Eglantyne,' 1485, imperfect, but one of the rarest of this press, realized £21 at the Mason sale, 1798-99, the purchaser being John, Duke of Roxburghe, at whose sale in June, 1812, Lord Spencer gave £215 5s. for it. According to the latter's note in the copy, 'The Duke and I had agreed not to oppose one another at the [Mason] sale; but after the book was bought, to toss up who should win it; when I lost.' A tract of five leaves, by John Russell, 'Propositio ad illustriss. principem Karoleum ducem Burgundie,' etc. (printed probably at Bruges, 1475), of which no other copy is known, was purchased by a bookseller in the West End of London for £2 5s. He sold it to the Duke of Marlborough for 50 guineas, and at his sale in 1819 Earl Spencer purchased it for 120 guineas. There are about 560 examples of Caxton's books in existence. Of these, about one half are in the British Museum, the Althorp or Rylands library (57), at Cambridge, in the Bodleian, and in the Duke of Devonshire's library. Of this total thirty-one are unique, and seven exist only in a fragmentary form. The greater number are safely locked up in public or private libraries, and are not likely, under ordinary circumstances, to come into the market. A great quantity of romance has been written respecting Caxtons. In Scott's 'Antiquary,' 'Snuffy Davy' is stated to have bought a perfect copy of the 'Game of Chess,' the first book printed in England, for about two groschen, or twopence of our money. This he sold to Osborne for £20; it became Dr. Askew's property for 60 guineas, and at the Askew sale it realized £170, the purchaser being George III. '"Could a copy now occur, Lord only knows," ejaculated Monkbarns, with a deep sigh and lifted-up hands--"Lord only knows what would be its ransom"; and yet it was originally secured, by skill and research, for the easy equivalent of twopence sterling.' It has been repeatedly stated that there is no foundation whatever for this anecdote; but Scott himself expressly states in a note that it is literally true, and that David Wilson 'was a real personage.' 'Snuffy Davy' has been identified with Clarke, the bookseller of New Bond Street, whose 'Repertorium Bibliographicum' is a most valuable book. However that may be, it is certain that the King did not give any such price at any such sale. The King's copy was purchased at West's sale in 1773 for £32 0s. 6d. At the Askew sale the King's purchases did not exceed £300, and the items were almost exclusively editions of the classics. It is certain, however, that Caxton's books have experienced many ups and downs. Mr. Blades tells us of an incident in which he was personally concerned. He happened on a copy of the 'Canterbury Tales' in a dirty pigeon-hole close to the grate in the vestry of the French Protestant Church, St. Martin's-le-Grand; it was fearfully mutilated, and was being used leaf by leaf--a book originally worth £800. [Illustration: _From 'Game and Play of Chesse,' by Caxton._] Caxton's immediate successors met with a fate similar to his own. The most remarkable feature of Richard Rawlinson's[136:A] library (sold by Samuel Leigh in 1756), which contained nearly 25,000 volumes, consisted in the large quantity of Old English black-letter books, and these, of course, realized absurdly low figures, as the following list testifies: £ s. d. 'The Newe Testament in English,' 1500 0 2 9 'The Ymage of both Churches, after the Revelation of St. John,' by Bale, 1550 0 1 6 'The Boke called the Pype or Toune of Perfection,' by Richard Whytforde, 1532 0 1 9 'The Visions of Pierce Plowman,' 1561 0 2 0 'The Creede of Pierce Plowman,' 1553 0 1 6 'The Booke of Moses in English,' 1530 0 3 9 'Bale's Actes of English Votaryes,' 1550 0 1 3 'The Boke of Chivalrie,' by Caxton 0 11 0 'The Boke of St. Albans,' by W. de Worde 1 1 0 [Illustration: _Specimen of the type of 'The Boke of St. Albans.'_] The very high price paid for the 'Boke of St. Albans' is noteworthy, for nearly all the other items are equally rare. In 1844, a copy of this 'boke' was sold as waste-paper for 9d., and almost immediately passed into the possession of Mr. Grenville for £70 or guineas. Dr. Mead's copy--one of the only two known--of 'Rhetorica Nova Fratris Laurentii Gulielmi de Sacra,' printed at St. Albans, 1480, sold for 2s. At the Willett sale, in 1813, it brought £79 16s. [Illustration: _Specimen page of Tyndale's Testament, 1526._] The rarity of the English translations of the Bible and New Testament arises from just the opposite cause which has operated in making the early productions of the English press so scarce. The latter were for the most part neglected out of existence, whilst the former were literally read out of it. A complete copy of the _editio princeps_ Coverdale, 1535, is, we believe, unknown. One illustration will sufficiently indicate the enhanced value of this book, and the illustration may be taken as a general one in respect to this class of book: The Perkins copy, which realized £400 in 1873, was purchased at the Dent sale in 1827 for £89 5s. The more perfect of the only two copies known of Tyndale's New Testament, first edition, 1526, in the Baptists' Library at Bristol, is of great interest, and well deserving of a mention in this place. It has no title-page. Underneath a portrait, pasted to the first leaf, is this inscription: 'Hoh Maister John Murray of Sacomb, The works of old Time to collect was his pride, Till oblivion dreaded his care; Regardless of friends intestate he dy'd, So the Rooks and the Crows were his heir.' [Illustration: _John Murray, of Sacomb, Book-hunter._] On the opposite leaf is a printed statement to this effect: 'On Tuesday evening (13 May, 1760) at Mr. Langford's sale of Mr. Ames's books, a copy of the translation of the New Testament by Tindall, and supposed to be the only one remaining which escaped the flames, was sold for fourteen guineas and a half. This very book was picked up by one of the late Lord Oxford's collectors ['John Murray' written in the margin], and was esteemed so valuable a purchase by his lordship, that he settled £20 a year for life upon the person who procured it. His Lordship's library being afterwards purchased by Mr. Osborne, of Gray's Inn, he marked it at fifteen shillings, for which price Mr. Ames bought it.' (John Murray died in 1748.) On the other side of the leaf is another note, in manuscript: 'N.B. This choice book was purchased at Mr. Langford's sale, 13th May, 1760, by me John White [for £15 14s. 6d.], and on the 13th day of May, 1776, I sold it to the Rev. Dr. Gifford for 20 guineas.' Dr. Gifford was an assistant librarian at the British Museum, and left his library to the use of the Baptist Society at Bristol. Before leaving the subject of Bibles, we may refer to one of the most interesting events of the book-sale season of 1836, when, at Evans's on April 27, the superb copy of St. Jerome's Bible, executed by Alcuin for Charlemagne, came up for sale. Commenced about the year 778, it was not completed till 800. When it was finished it was sent to Rome by his friend and disciple, Nathaniel, who presented it to Charlemagne on the day of his coronation; it was preserved by that monarch until his death. Its subsequent history is full of interest, and would form an entertaining chapter in the Adventures of Books. After its first owner's death, it is supposed to have been given to the monastery of Prum in Lorraine by Lothaire, the grandson of Charlemagne, who became a monk of that monastery. In 1576, this religious house was dissolved, but the monks preserved the manuscript, and carried it to Switzerland to the abbey of Grandis Vallis, near Basle, where it reposed till the year 1793, when, on the occupation of the episcopal territory of Basle by the French, all the property of the abbey was confiscated and sold, and the manuscript in question came into the possession of M. Bennot, from whom, in 1822, it was purchased by M. Speyr Passavant, who brought it into general notice, and offered it for sale to the French Government at the price of 60,000 francs; this was declined, when the proprietor knocked off nearly 20,000 francs from the original demand, but still without effecting a sale. M. Passavant subsequently brought it to England, and offered it to the Duke of Sussex, who, however, declined it. It was then offered to the British Museum for £12,000, then for £8,000, and at last for £6,500, which he declared an 'immense sacrifice.' Unsuccessful at every turn, he resolved to submit it to auction, and the precious volume was entrusted to Evans. It was knocked down for £1,500, but to the proprietor himself. After a further lapse of time, Passavant sold the volume to the British Museum for £750. This splendid manuscript is a large folio in delicate and beautifully formed minuscule characters, with the beginnings of chapters in fine uncials, written in two columns on the purest vellum. If this magnificent manuscript were now offered for sale, it would probably realize at least £3,000. The rise in the value of the First Folio Shakespeare only dates back for about a century. Beloe, writing in 1806, states that he remembers the time when a very fine copy could be purchased for five guineas. He further observes, 'I could once have purchased a superb one for 9 guineas'; and (apparently) this 'superb' example realized 13 guineas at Dr. Monro's sale in 1792. At the end of the last century it was thought to have realized the 'top' price with 36 guineas. Dr. Askew had a fine copy of the Second Folio, which realized at his sale, in 1775, £5 10s.--it had cost 2-1/2 guineas at Dr. Mead's sale--the purchaser being George Steevens. In this book Charles I. had written these words: 'DUM SPIRO, SPERO, C. R.,' and Sir Thomas Herbert, to whom the King presented it the night before his execution, had also written: 'Ex dono serenissimi Regis Car. servo suo Humiliss. T. Herbert.' Steevens regarded the amount which he paid for it as 'enormous,' but at his sale it realized 18 guineas, and was purchased for the King's library, and is now, with some other books bought by George III., at Windsor. Steevens supposes that the original edition could not have exceeded 250 copies, and that £1 was the selling price. Its rarity ten or a dozen years after its first appearance may be gauged by the fact that Charles I. was obliged to content himself with a copy of the Second Folio; its rarity at the present moment will be readily comprehended when it is stated that during the past ninety years only five or six irreproachable examples have occurred for sale. The copy for which the Duke of Roxburghe gave 34 guineas, realized at his sale £100, and passed into the library of the Duke of Devonshire. The example in the possession of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts is a very fine one; it was formerly George Daniel's copy, and realized 682 guineas at his sale in 1864. Height makes a great difference in the price of a book of this sort. For example, a good sound example measuring 12-1/4 inches by 8 inches is worth about £136; another one measuring 13-1/8 by 8-3/8 inches would be worth £300, and perhaps more. Dibdin, with his usual prophetic inaccuracy, described the amount (£121 6s.) at which Mr. Grenville obtained his copy as 'the highest price ever given, or likely to be given, for the volume.' As a matter of fact, the time must come when it will be no longer possible to obtain a perfect copy of this volume, which to English people is a thousand times more important than the Gutenberg Bible or the Psalmorum Codex. The following list is believed to contain all the finest examples known at present: FIRST FOLIO EDITIONS OF SHAKESPEARE, 1623. Inches Inches High. Wide. Present Possessor. Loscombe 12 × 8 Sotheby's 12-1/4 × 8 Gardner 12-3/8 × 8 Mr. Huth. Stowe 12-3/8 × 8-1/8 Poynder 12-1/2 × 8-1/8 Ellis 12-5/8 × 8-1/8 Earl of Crawford. Quaritch's Catalogue 12-11/12 × 8 Thomas Grenville 12-7/8 × 8-3/8 British Museum. Holland 12-3/8 × 8-1/2 Duke of Devonshire 13-1/8 × 8-1/8 Chatsworth. George Daniel 13-1/8 × 8-1/4 Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Beaufoy Library 13 × 8-3/8 Locker-Lampson 13 × 8-3/8 Rowfant Library. Gosford (Earl of) 12-7/8 × 8-3/8 Lord Vernon 13-1/16 × 8-3/8 America. Hartley 13-1/8 × 8-1/2 John Murray 13 × 8-1/2 Albemarle Street. Thorold 13-3/8 × 8-1/2 America. Sir Robert Sydney, } Earl of Leicester, } with his arms on } sides; original old } 13-3/8 × 8-3/4 Mr. C. J. Toovey. calf, with lettering,} full of rough } leaves } The Second, 1632, Third, 1664, and Fourth, 1685, Folios have considerably advanced in value--the Second has risen from £15, at which the Roxburghe copy was sold in 1812, to nearly £200; George Daniel's copy, of the purest quality from beginning to end, and one of the largest known, sold for £148, but fairly good copies may be had for half that amount. The Third Folio, which is really the rarest, as most of the impression was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, has gone up from £20 or £30 to £200, or even more when the seven doubtful plays have the separate title-page; and the Fourth Folio from £5 to about ten times that amount. But the most remarkable feature in connection with Shakespeare, so far as we are just now concerned, is the change which has taken place in the value of the quartos. We give below a tabulated list of first editions, in which this change will be seen at a glance: Former Recent Price. Price. £ s. d. £ s. d. 'The Merry Wives of Windsor,' 1818 18 0 0 385 0 0 'Much Ado About Nothing,' {1797 7 10 0 {1818 17 17 0 267 10 0 'Love's Labour Lost,' 1818 40 10 0 316 10 0 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' {1805 2 2 0 {1818 12 10 0 116 0 0 'The Merchant of Venice' {1815 9 9 0 {1818 22 1 0 270 0 0 'King Richard II.,' 1598,[143:A] 1800 4 14 6 108 3 0 '2 Henry IV.,' 1797 (one leaf MS.) 8 8 0 225 0 0 'Henry V.,' 1818 5 7 6 211 0 0 '1 Henry VI.,' 1801 38 7 0 50 0 0 'Richard III.,' 1818 33 0 0 351 15 0 'Troilus and Cressida,' 1800 5 10 0 110 0 0 'Romeo and Juliet,' 1800 6 0 0 160 0 0 'Hamlet,' 1812 4 13 0 36 0 0 'King Lear,' 1800 28 0 0 70 0 0 'Othello' (1622), 1818 56 14 0 155 0 0 'Pericles,' 1812 1 15 0 40 0 0 'Lucrece' 21 0 0 250 0 0 'Venus and Adonis'[143:B] (Malone's copy) 25 0 0 315 0 0 'Poems' 70 0 0 'Sonnets' {1800 3 10 0 {1812 21 0 0 230 15 0 [Illustration: _Title-page of the First Edition of 'The Compleat Angler.'_] What is true of the Shakespeare quartos and folios is also true in a slightly less accentuated degree of the first editions of the sixteenth and seventeenth century poets and dramatists. Dibdin describes a Mr. Byng as having purchased the only known copy of Clement Robinson's 'Handefull of Pleasant Delites,' 1584, at a bookstall for 4d.; at his sale this 'Handefull' was sold for 25 guineas to the Duke of Marlborough, at whose sale, in 1819, it fetched £26 15s. [Illustration: _From the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' Part II._] Puttenham's 'Art of English Poesie,' 1589, and Gascoigne's 'Works,' are two other striking illustrations of the increase in the value of old English poetry, although the books themselves are of comparatively minor importance from a literary point of view. Isaac Reed well remembered when a good copy of either might have been had for 5s. In the first and second decades of this century the prices had gone up to about £5, but the present values would be nearer £20. Spenser's 'Faerie Queene,' 1590-96, early in the century could have been had for £3 12s.; it now realizes ten times that amount if in fine condition. Milton's 'Paradise Lost' has increased in the same ratio. Lovelace's 'Lucasta' has risen from 11 guineas to nearly £50. The market value of a first edition of Walton's 'Compleat Angler,' 1653, in 1816 was 4 guineas; in 1879 this book fetched £52; it has since realized £310. Rarer even than the first Walton is the first edition of Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress,' 1678; Southey, writing in 1830, declared that the date of the first publication of this work was at that time unknown, since no copy could be traced. Not long after this an example--still in possession of Capt. Holford, of Park Lane--turned up, and was valued at £50; during the last few years four more have been unearthed: three of these are in England, and the other is among the treasures of the Lenox Library, New York. The commercial value of a copy is probably not much less than of a first Walton. Although the first edition of the first part of the 'Pilgrim's Progress' has always been considered so rare, the second part is even rarer; indeed, only three copies are known to exist: one (very imperfect) in the Astor Library in New York, one in the Rylands Library, and the other in the hands of a collector in London. Till some ten years since the two English copies were not known to exist; they were both bought in one bundle for a few shillings in Sotheby's sale-room. The imperfect American one was supposed to be unique till these came to light. Goldsmith's 'Vicar of Wakefield' sixty years ago was 'uncollected'; a quarter of a century ago it sold for £5; ten years ago it was worth £10; in 1891 a remarkably tall and clean copy, in the original calf as issued, sold at Sotheby's for £94. Gray's 'Elegy,' 1751, sold for £1 16s. in 1888, and for £70 since then. Apropos of this 'Elegy,' there are only three uncut copies known, and one of these was obtained by Mr. Augustine Birrell, Q.C., a few years ago by a stroke of great good luck. He happened to be passing through Chancery Lane one day, and, having a little time at his disposal, dropped into Messrs. Hodgson's rooms, where a sale of books was in progress. At the moment of his entry some volumes of quarto tracts were being offered, and taking one of them in his hand, he opened it at random, and saw--a fine uncut copy of the famous 'Elegy'! He bought the lot for a few shillings. It may be mentioned that the original manuscript of Gray's 'Elegy' sold for £130 in 1854. Such are a few of the excessively rare books, whose appearance in the market is at all times an event in the book-collecting world. Partly as an illustration of our forbears' wit, and partly as a list of curious and highly imaginary titles, the following article from the _London Magazine_ of September, 1759, is well worth quoting here: '_BOOKS selling by Auction, at the Britannia, near the Royal Exchange._ _By_ L. FUNNIBUS, _Auctioneer_. '"Gratitude," a Poem, in twenty-four cantos, from the original German of Lady Mary Hapsburgh, published at Vienna in the year 1756.--"Machiavel the Second, or Murder no Sin," from the French of Monsieur le Diable, printed at Paris for le Sieur Dæmon, in la Rue d'Enfer, near the Louvre.--"Cruelty a Virtue," a Political Tract, in two volumes, fine imperial paper, by Count Soltikoff.--"The Joys of Sodom," a Sermon, preached in the Royal Chapel at Warsaw, by W. Hellsatanatius, Chaplain to his Excellency Count Bruhl.--"The Art of Trimming," a Political Treatise, by the learned Van-Self, of Amsterdam.--"Self-Preservation," a Soliloquy, wrote extempore on an Aspen Leaf on the Plains of Minden; found in the pocket of an Officer who fell on the First of August.--"The Art of Flying," by Monsieur Contades; with a curious Frontispiece, representing Dismay with Eagle's Wings, and Glory with a pair of Crutches, following the French Army.--"The Reveries of a Superannuated Genius, on the Banks of Lake Liman, near Geneva," by M. Voltaire.--"The Spirit of Lying," from "L'Esprit Menteur" of Monsieur Maubert.--"Political Arithmetic," by the same Author; in which is proved to Demonstration that Two is more than Five, and that Three is less than One.--"The Knotty Question Discussed," wherein is proved that under certain circumstances, Wrong is Right, and Right is Wrong, by a Casuist of the Sorbonne.--"A New Plan of the English Possessions in America," with the Limits _properly_ settled, by Jeffery Amherst, Geographer to his Britannick Majesty.--"The Theory of Sea-fighting reduced to Practice," by E. Boscawen, Mariner.--"A Treatise on the Construction of Bridges," by I. Will, and I. Willnot, Architects, near the Black-Friars, at Louvain.--"The Spirit of Treaties," a very Curious Tract, in which is fairly proved, that absolute Monarchs have a right to explain them in their own sense, and that limited Princes are tied down to a strict observance of the letter.--"The Conquest of Hanover by the French, in the year 1759," a tragi-comic Farce, by a French officer.--"A Letter of Consolation from the Jesuits in the Shades, to their afflicted brethren at Lisbon," the second edition.--"The Fall of Fisher," an excellent new Ballad, by ---- Harvey, Esq.--"The Travels of a Marshal of France, from the Weser to the Mayne"; shewing how he and 10,000 of his companions miraculously escaped from the hands of the savage Germans and English; and how, after inexpressible difficulties, several hundreds of them got safe to their own country. Interspersed with several Curious Anecdotes of Rapes, Murders, and other French Gallantries; by P. L. C., a Benedictine Monk, of the Order of Saint Bartholomew.' [Illustration] FOOTNOTES: [100:A] Cooper's hammer was of boxwood. Millington applies to his own the Homeric line, +deinê de klangê genet' argnreoio bioio+, which anyone is quite at liberty to believe. James Christie's original hammer is still in the possession of the firm; Samuel Baker's belongs to Mr. H. B. Wheatley. [101:A] In 1686 Millington was selling the library of the deceased Lord Anglesey. Putting up a copy of 'Eikon Basilike,' there were but few bidders, and those very low in their biddings. Casually turning over the pages before bringing the hammer on the rostrum, he read, with evident surprise, the following note in Lord Anglesey's own handwriting: 'King Charles the Second and the Duke of York did both (in the last session of parliament, 1675, when I showed them, in the Lords' House, the written copy of this book, wherein are some corrections, written with the late King Charles the First's own hand) assure me that this was none of the said king's compiling, but made by Dr. Gauden, Bishop of Exeter; which I here insert for the understanding of others on this point, by attesting so much under my own hand.--ANGLESEY.' [121:A] There were 4,313 lots in this sale, the total of which was £4,001. The catalogue has a very curious engraved frontispiece of an oak-tree felled, and persons bearing away branches, with a Greek motto signifying that, the oak being felled, every man gets wood. [129:A] This particular copy is regarded as the finest ever sold at auction; it is bound in blue morocco by Derome, and cost Mr. Wodhull 15 guineas in August, 1770. [132:A] John Ratcliffe, who died in 1776, lived in East Lane, Bermondsey, and followed the prosaic calling of a chandler. He collected Caxtons and the works of other early English printers with great diligence and judgment for nearly thirty years. Many of these appear to have been brought to him as wastepaper, to be purchased at so much per pound. An interesting account of this very remarkable man is given in Nichols' 'Literary Anecdotes,' iii., 621, 622. [133:A] The original or Caxton's price for this book was about 5s. or 6s. per copy. [136:A] The title-page of the catalogue contained the following whimsical motto from Ebulus: +Kai gar o taôs dia to spanion thaumazetai.+ (The peacock is admired on account of its rarity.) Hearne speaks of Richard Rawlinson as 'vir antiquis moribus ornatus, perque eam viam euns, quæ ad immortalem gloriam ducit.' [143:A] The first edition of this play, 1597, sold in 1864 for £341 5s.; it is the only copy known. [143:B] Thomas Jolley picked up a volume which contained a first edition of both 'Venus and Adonis' and the 'Sonnets,' for less than 3s. 6d. in Lancashire! The former alone realised £116 in 1844, and is now in the Grenville collection, British Museum. The copy of the former in the above list was purchased at Baron Bolland's sale in 1840 for £91; at Bright's sale for £91 10s., when it became Daniel's. The 'Sonnets,' also Daniel's copy, had belonged to Narcissus Luttrell, who gave 1s. for it. [Illustration] BOOKSTALLS AND BOOKSTALLING. OF the numerous ways and means of acquiring books open to the book-hunter in London, there is none more pleasant or popular than that of BOOKSTALLING. To the man with small means, and to the man with no means at all, the pastime is a very fascinating one. East, west, north, and south, there is, at all times and in all seasons, plenty of good hunting-ground for the sportsman, although the inveterate hunter will encounter a surfeit of Barmecides' feasts. Nearly every book-hunter has been more or less of a bookstaller, and the custom is more than tinctured with the odour of respectability by the fact that Roxburghe's famous Duke, Lord Macaulay the historian, and Mr. Gladstone the omnivorous, have been inveterate grubbers among the bookstalls. Macaulay was not very communicative to booksellers, and when any of them would hold up a book, although at the other end of the shop, he could tell by the cover, or by intuition, what it was all about, and would say 'No,' or 'I have it already.' Leigh Hunt was a bookstaller, for he says: 'Nothing delights us more than to overhaul some dingy tome and read a chapter gratuitously. Occasionally, when we have opened some very attractive old book, we have stood reading for hours at the stall, lost in a brown study and worldly forgetfulness, and should probably have read on to the end of the last chapter, had not the vendor of published wisdom offered, in a satirically polite way, to bring us out a chair. "Take a chair, sir; you must be tired."' The first Lord Lytton had a fancy for these plebeian book-marts; whilst Southey had a mania for them almost: he could not pass one without 'just running his eye over for _one_ minute, even if the coach which was to take him to see Coleridge at Hampstead was within the time of starting.' The extreme variety of the bookstall is its great attraction, and the chances of netting a rare or interesting book lie, perhaps, not so much in the variety of books displayed as in their general shabbiness. Ten years ago an English journalist picked up a copy of the first edition of Mrs. Glasse's 'Art of Cookery,' in the New Kent Road, for a few pence. It is no longer a shabby folio, but, superbly bound, it was sold with Mr. Sala's books, July 23, 1895, for £10. A not too respectable copy of Charles Lamb's privately-printed volume, 'The Beauty and the Beast,' was secured for a few pence, its market-value being something like £20. A copy of Sir Walter Scott's 'Vision of Don Roderick,' 1816, first edition, in the original boards, was purchased, by Mr. J. H. Slater, in Farringdon Road, in January, 1895, for 2d.--not a great catch, perhaps, but it is one of the rarest of Scott's works; and as the originals of this prolific author are rapidly rising in the market, there is no knowing what it may be worth in the immediate future. Here is a curious illustration of the manner in which a 'find' is literally picked up. A man who sells books from a barrow in the streets was wheeling it on the way to open for the day, and passed close to a bookseller's assistant who was on his way to work. As the man passed, a small volume fell off into the road, which the assistant kindly picked up, with the intention of replacing it on the barrow. Before doing so, however, he looked at the volume. One glance was enough. 'Here, what do you want for this?' he asked. The dealer, taking a casual glance at the volume, said: 'Oh, thruppence, I suppose, will do.' The money was paid, and the assistant departed with the prize, which was a rare volume by Increase Mather, printed in 1698 at Boston, U.S.A., and worth from £8 to £12. A copy of Fuller's first work, and the only volume of poetry published by that quaint writer, the excessively rare 'David's Hainous Sinne,' 1631, was bought a few years ago for eighteenpence, probably worth half as many pounds. The coincidences of the bookstall are sometimes very remarkable. Mr. G. L. Gomme relates one which is well worth recording, and we give it in his own words: 'My friend, Mr. James Britten, the well-known plant-lore scholar, has been collecting for some years the set of twenty-four volumes of that curious annual, _Time's Telescope_. He had two duplicates for 1825 and 1826, and these he gave to me. One day last January I was engaged to dine with him, and in the middle of the _same_ day I passed a second-hand bookshop, and picked out from the sixpenny box a volume of _Time's Telescope_ for 1816. In the evening I showed my treasure with great contentment to my friend, expecting congratulations. But, to my surprise and discomfiture, a mysterious look passed over his face, then followed a quick migration to his bookshelves, then a loud hurrah, and an explanation that this very "find" of mine was the _one_ volume he wanted to complete his set, the one volume he had been in search of for some time.' Another book-collector picked out of a rubbish-heap on a country bookseller's floor a little old book of poetry with the signature of 'A. Pope.' Subsequently he found a manuscript note in a book on the shelves of a public library referring to this very copy, which, the writer of the note stated, had been given him by the poet Pope. The late Cornelius Walford related an interesting incident, the 'only one of any special significance which has occurred to me during thirty-five years of industrious book-hunting': 'When living at Enfield, I used generally to walk to the Temple by way of Finsbury, Moorgate, Cheapside, and Fleet Street. Every bookshop on the way I was familiar with. On one occasion I thought I would vary the route by way of Long Lane and Smithfield (as, indeed, I had occasionally done before). I was at the time sadly in want of a copy of "Weskett on Insurances," 1781, a folio work of some 600 pages. I had searched and inquired for it for years; no bookseller had ever seen it. I had visited every bookshop in Dublin, in the hope of finding a copy of the pirated (octavo) edition printed there; and but for having seen a copy in a public library, should have come to the conclusion that the book never existed. Some temporary sheds had been erected over the Metropolitan Railway in Long Lane. One, devoted to a meagre stock of old books, _was opened that morning_. The first book I saw on the rough shelves was Weskett, original edition, price a few shillings. I need hardly say I carried it away. . . . I have never seen or heard of another of the original edition exposed or reported for sale.' [Illustration: _Cornelius Walford, Book-collector._] Mr. Shandy _père_ was a bookstaller also, and if Bruscambille's 'Prologue upon Long Noses,' even when obtainable 'almost for nothing,' would fail to excite in every collector the enthusiasm experienced by Mr. Shandy, we can at all events sympathize with him. '"There are not three Bruscambilles in Christendom," said the stall-man, who, like many stall-men of to-day, did not hesitate to make a leap in the dark, "except what are chained up in the libraries of the curious." My father flung down the money as quick as lightning, took Bruscambille into his bosom, hied home from Piccadilly to Coleman Street with it, as he would have hied home with a treasure, without taking his hand once off from Bruscambille all the way.' [Illustration: _The South Side of Holywell Street._] We have already seen that there were bookstalls as well as bookshops in and about the neighbourhood of Little Britain during the latter part of the seventeenth century. There were bookstalls or booths also in St. Paul's Churchyard long before this period; but books had scarcely become old in the time of Shakespeare, so that doubtless the volumes which were to be had within the shadow of the cathedral were new ones. Booksellers gradually migrated from the heart of London to a more westerly direction. The bookstall followed, not so much as a matter of course as because there was no room for it; land became extremely valuable, and narrow streets, which are also crowded, are not a congenial soil for the book-barrow. The Strand and Holborn and Fleet Street districts, both highways and byways, became a favourite spot for the book-barrow during the last century, and remained such up to quite modern times--until, indeed, the iconoclastic wave of improvements swept everything before it. Holywell Street still remains intact. [Illustration: _Exeter 'Change in 1826._] One of the most famous bookstalling localities during the last century was Exeter 'Change, in the Strand, which occupied a large area of the roadway between the present Lyceum Theatre and Exeter Street, and has long since given place to Burleigh Street. The place was built towards the end of the seventeenth century, and the shops were at first occupied by sempsters, milliners, hosiers, and so forth. The place appears to have greatly degenerated, and soon included bookstalls among the standings of miscellaneous dealers. Writing on January 31, 1802, Robert Bloomfield observes: 'Last night, in passing through Exeter 'Change, I stopt at a bookstall, and observed "The Farmer's Boy" laying there for sale, and the new book too, marked with very large writing, Bloomfield's "Rural Tales": a young man took it up, and I observed he read the whole through, and perhaps little thought that the author stood at his elbow.' This locality was also a famous one for 'pamphlet shops.' 'Sold at the Pamphlet Shops of London and Westminster' is an imprint commonly seen on title-pages up to the middle of the last century. In addition to shops and stalls, book-auctions were also held here. The curious and valuable library of Dr. Thomas Pellet, Fellow of the College of Physicians, and of the Royal Society, was sold 'in the Great Room over Exeter 'Change,' during January, 1744, beginning at 5 p.m. (see p. 105). [Illustration: _A Barrow in Whitechapel._] Early in the eighteenth century, the third Earl of Shaftesbury, in his 'Miscellaneous Reflections,' 1714, refers to notable philosophers and divines 'who can be contented to make sport, and write in learned Billingsgate, to divert the Coffeehouse, and entertain the assemblys at Booksellers' shops, or the more airy Stalls of inferior book-retailers.' Bookstalls or barrows have been for nearly a century a feature of the East End of London, more particularly of Whitechapel Road and Shoreditch. The numbers of barrows have increased, but the locality is practically the same. Many useful libraries have been formed from off these stalls, and many very good bargains secured. Excellent collections may still be formed from them, but the chances of a noteworthy 'find' are indeed small. The book-hunter who goes to either of these places with the idea of bagging a whole bundle of rarities is likely to come away disappointed; but if he is in a buying humour the chances are ten to one in favour of his getting a good many useful books at very moderate figures. We have heard of a man who picked up a complete set of first editions of Mrs. Browning in Shoreditch, but no one ever seems to have met that lucky individual; and as the story is retailed chiefly by the owner of the barrow from which they were said to have been rescued--the said owner apparently not in the least minding the inevitable conclusion at which the listener will arrive--the story is not repeated as authentic. One of the last things which has come out of Shoreditch lately is a copy of the first edition of Gwillim's 'Display of Heraldry' (1610), in excellent condition, and which was purchased for a few pence. An East End book-hunter tells us that, among other rarities which he has rescued from stalls and cellars in that district, are a first folio Ben Jonson; a copy of the Froben Seneca (1515), with its fine bordered title-page, by Urs Graf; an early edition of Montaigne, with a curious frontispiece; the copy of the _editio princeps_ Statius (1483), which was purchased by Mr. Quaritch at the Sunderland sale; one or two Plantins, in spotless splendour; Henry Stephens' Herodotus, a book as beautiful as it is now valueless, but of which a copy is kept in a showcase at South Kensington, and others, all at merely nominal prices. Many first-class libraries were formed by these _frequentationes orientales_. It is a great pity that Macaulay, for example, has not left on record a few of the very remarkable incidents which came under his observation during these pilgrimages. The late Mr. W. J. Thoms contributed a few of his to the _Nineteenth Century_ thirteen years ago. One of Mr. Thoms' most striking 'East End' book-hunting anecdotes relates to a Defoe tract. When a collected edition of Defoe's works was contemplated some forty years ago, it was determined that the various pieces inserted in it should be reprinted from the editions of them superintended by Defoe himself. 'There was one tract which the editor had failed to find at the British Museum or any other public library, and which he had sought in vain for in "The Row" or any bookseller's within reach of ordinary West End mortals. Somebody suggested that he should make a pilgrimage to Old Street, St. Luke's, and perhaps Brown might have a copy. Old Brown, as he was familiarly called, had a great knowledge of books and book-rarities, although perhaps he was more widely known for the extensive stock of manuscript sermons which he kept indexed according to texts, and which he was ready to lend or sell as his customers desired. . . . The editor inquired of Brown whether he had a copy of Defoe's tract. "No," said Brown; "I have not, and I don't know where you are likely to find one. But if you do meet with one, you will have to pay pretty handsomely for it." "I am prepared to pay a fair price for it," said the would-be customer, and left the shop. Now, Old Brown had a "sixpenny box" outside the door, and he had such a keen eye to business that I believe, if there was a box in London which would bear out Leigh Hunt's statement [that no one had ever found anything worth having in the sixpenny box at a bookstall], it was that box in Old Street. But as the customer left the shop his eye fell on the box, he turned over the rubbish in it, and at last selected a volume. "I'll pay you for this out of the box." "Thank you, sir," said Brown, taking the proffered sixpence. "But, by-the-by, what is it?" "It is _a_ tract by Defoe," was the answer, to Old Brown's chagrin. For it was the very work of which the purchaser was in search.' In the way of antiquity doubtless the New Cut--as what was once Lambeth Marsh is now termed--comes next to the two East End localities above mentioned as a bookstall locality. The place has certainly been a book-emporium for at least half a century. Mr. G. A. Sala declares that he has purchased for an old song many of his rarest books in this congested and unsavoury locality where Robert Buchanan and his ill-fated friend, David Gray, shared a bankrupt garret on their first coming up to London from Scotland. The present writer has picked up some rare and curious books in that locality during the past ten years, and others have doubtless done the same. Not so very long ago a volume with the autograph of Drayton was secured for one penny, certainly not an extravagant price. [Illustration: _A Book-barrow in Farringdon Road._] For some years Farringdon Road has enjoyed the distinction of being the best locality in London for bookstalling. Its stalls are far more numerous, and the quality of the books here exposed for sale is of a much higher class, than those which are to be met with in other places. There are between thirty and forty bookstalls or barrows here, and the place has what we may describe as a bibliopolic history, which goes back for a period of twenty years. The first person to start in the bookselling line was a coster of the name of Roberts, who died somewhat suddenly either in December of 1894 or early in January of the present year. Roberts appears to have been a fairly successful man at the trade, and had a fairly good knowledge of cheap books. The _doyen_ of the Farringdon Road bibliopoles is named Dabbs--a very intelligent man, who started first in the hot-chestnut line. Mr. Dabbs has generally a fairly good stock of books, which varies between one and two thousand volumes, a selection of which are daily displayed on four or five barrows, and varying from two a penny ('You must take two') up to higher-priced volumes. Curiously enough, he finds that theological books pay the best, and it is of this class that his stock chiefly consists. Just as book-hunters have many 'finds' to gloat over, so perhaps booksellers have to bewail the many rarities which they have let slip through their fingers. It would be more than could be expected of human nature, as it is at present constituted, to expect booksellers to make a clean or even qualified confession in this respect. Our friend Dabbs, however, is not of this hypersensitive type, and he relates, with a certain amount of grim humour, that his greatest lost opportunity was the selling of a book for 1s. 6d. which a few days afterwards was sold in Paris for £50. He consoles himself with the reflection that at all events _he_ made a fair profit out of this book. If we could all be as philosophical as this intelligent book-barrow-keeper, doubtless the slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune would impress fewer wrinkles on our brows, and help us to think kindly of the friends who put us 'up' to good things in the way of gold-mines and generously left us to pay the piper. [Illustration: _A few Types in Farringdon Road._] However picturesque may be the calling of the bookstall-keeper to the person who experiences a fiendish delight in getting a 6d. book out of him for 5-1/2d., the calling is on the whole a very hard one. Exposed to all weathers, these men have a veritable struggle for existence. Their actual profits rarely exceed 30s. or £2 weekly. They vary greatly, of course, according to weather, and a wet Saturday makes a very material difference to their takings. Many weeks throughout the year these takings do not average more than 8s. or 10s. We have made inquiries among most of the bookstall-keepers in the Metropolis, and the above facts can be depended upon. When these men happen upon a rare book, they nearly invariably sell it to one of the better-class booksellers. By this means they make an immediate profit and effect a ready sale. There is beyond this a numerous class of what may be described as 'book-ghouls,' or men who make it a business to haunt the cheap bookstalls and bag the better-class or more saleable books and hawk them around to the shops, and so make a few shillings on which to support a precarious existence, in which beer and tobacco are the sole delights. We once met a man who did a roaring trade of this description, chiefly with the British Museum. He took notes of every book that struck him as being curious or out of the way, and those which he discovered to be absent from the Museum he would at once purchase. He was great in the matter of editions, such as Pope, Junius, Coleridge, and so forth. The Museum is naturally lacking in hundreds of editions of English authors; but as these editions, almost without exception, possess no literary value, their presence (or absence) was not a matter of importance. For some months the 'collector' referred to inundated the Museum with these unimportant editions. Our friend discovered that the Museum authorities, ignoring the prices which he placed on his wares, would only have them at their own figures--which showed a curious similarity to those at which the vendor had obtained them--and this, coupled with the fact that they refused to purchase many of the items offered at any price, led him to the conclusion that he was serving his country at too cheap a rate. It is scarcely necessary to add that he is now following a vocation which, if less agreeable, is certainly more profitable to himself. Occasionally one of these professional bookstallers blossoms into a shopkeeper in some court or alley off Holborn; but more generally they are too far gone in drink and dilapidation to get out of the rut. One of the most curious characters who ever owned a bookstall was Henry Lemoine, the son of a French Huguenot. He was born in 1756, and for many years kept a stall in Bishopsgate Churchyard. He wrote many books, and did much hack-work for various publishers, chiefly in the way of translations from the French. He gave up shopkeeping in 1795, and became a pedestrian bookseller or colporteur of pamphlets. In 1807 he again set up a small stand of books in Parliament Street, and died in April, 1812. He might have achieved success, and become a respectable member of society, but his great failing was an all-consuming thirst. [Illustration: _Henry Lemoine, Author and Bookseller._] Writing over forty years ago in 'London Labour and the London Poor,' 1851, Henry Mayhew remarked: 'There has been a change, and in some respects a considerable change, in the character or class of books sold at the street stalls, within the last forty or fifty years, as I have ascertained from the most experienced men in the trade. Now sermons, or rather the works of the old divines, are rarely seen at these stalls, or if seen, rarely purchased. Black-letter editions are very unfrequent at street bookstalls, and it is twenty times more difficult, I am assured, for street-sellers to pick up anything really rare and curious, than it was in the early part of the century. One reason assigned for this change by an intelligent street-seller was, that black-letter or any ancient works were almost all purchased by the second-hand booksellers, who have shops and issue catalogues, as they have a prompt sale for them whenever they pick them up at book-auctions or elsewhere.' As we have already pointed out, the same rule which obtained forty years ago applies with equal force to-day, and in the chief instances in which we have met with books well known to be rare, on bookstalls, their condition has been so bad as to render them valueless, except, perhaps, for the purpose of helping to complete imperfect copies. At one time the bookstall-keepers had fairly good opportunities of making a haul of a few rare books--that was when they were called in to clear out offices and old houses. As the world has grown wiser in respect to books as well as other things, executors, legatees, and so forth, have acquired unreasonable views as to the value of old books, and everything in the shape of a volume is sent to the regular book-auctioneers. When it is remembered that practically all the books which now occur on the various bookstalls of the Metropolis are purchased under the hammer at Hodgson's, the chances of obtaining anything rare are reduced to a minimum. These books are the refuse of the various bookshops, after, perhaps, having passed from one shop to another for several years without finding a purchaser outside the trade. At Hodgson's, of course, these books find their level, after repeated appearances; they are here sold, not quite by the cartload, but certainly in lots sufficiently large to fill a moderate sized wheelbarrow. The tastes of the bookbuying public are so infinite that there would seem to be a sale, at some time or another, for every species of printed matter; but the habitual haunter of the bookstalls meets with the same water-soaked dog-eared volumes month after month, and year after year, so that he is forced to the conclusion that the right purchaser has not yet come along. These volumes appeal to the bookbuyer with a piteousness which is scarcely less than positively human. In the words of George Peele, written over three centuries ago, these books seem to say, 'Buy, read and judge, The price do not grudge; It will give thee more pleasure Than twice as much treasure;' but no one seems to take the hint. Samuel Foote, in 'The Author,' makes Vamp say: 'Books are like women, Master Cape; to strike they must be well dressed; fine feathers make fine birds: a good paper, an elegant type, a handsome motto, and a catching title, has drove many a dull treatise through three editions.' These adventitious aids may still possess a potent influence in selling a new book even to-day, but they have little effect on the sale of the books which gravitate towards the book-barrow. The bookstall-keeper, it is true, has no rent to pay, except for the hire of his barrow, which amounts to one shilling per week each. Even this small charge is a considerable item where a man hires two or three barrows and does scarcely any trade. Then he has to pay someone to look after his goods during his absence. Further than this, the barrow-man has to pay cash down before he removes his purchase from the sale-room. On the other hand he gives no credit. The bookseller who enjoys the luxury of a shop, gets credit from the auctioneer, and gives credit to his customers. He has to put as large a margin of profit as possible on his books, and an average of sixpence each has to be added to the original cost of every item catalogued. The bookstall-man is, naturally, handicapped in many ways, and if he finds the sweepings of his more aristocratic _confrères'_ shops a long time on his hands, he, at all events, makes as large a profit with much fewer liabilities. We have referred to Hodgson's as the centre from which nearly all the bookstalls are supplied. Occasionally, however, the barrow-man buys at Sotheby's, and frequently so at Puttick and Simpson's. Sometimes the more adventurous spirits attend auctions in private houses in the suburbs, and occasionally those held a few miles out of town. These expeditions are more often than not 'arranged,' and usually resolve themselves into 'knock-outs.' It is a by no means unknown contingency for two or three men to purchase, against all comers, the entire lot of books at figures which invariably put the auctioneer into an exceedingly good humour; neither is it an unknown event for these men to decamp without the books, and also without leaving their addresses or deposit! Such tricks, however, are not the work of the tradesmen who have a _locus standi_, but of the better class of book-jackals, who, failing to get the books for next to nothing, outbid everyone else, and leave the auctioneer to get out of the dilemma as he best can. [Illustration: _The late Edmund Hodgson, Book-auctioneer._] For many years the weekly cattle-market at Islington has been a happy hunting-ground of the bookstall-keeper. Books are among the hundred and one articles which are brought from every conceivable source, and many very good things have doubtless been picked up here. But it is always the early prowler who gets the rarities--the man who gets there at eight or nine o'clock in the morning. There is very little but absolute rubbish left for the post-prandial visitor. A few inveterate book-hunters have journeyed thither at various times and in a spasmodic manner, but the hope of anything worth having has usually turned out to be a vain one: they have always been anticipated. Between the more ambitious shop and the nondescript bookstall, there is a class or species of bookseller who deserves a niche in this place. We refer to men like Purcell, in Red Lion Passage, Red Lion Square, Holborn, who are almost as much printsellers as booksellers. They make one book by destroying many others. Grangerizing is the proper name of this practice; but as the Rev. Mr. Granger has been productive of more curses than a dozen John Bagfords--an evil genius of the same type--the process is now termed extra-illustrating. However much one may denounce the whole system, it is impossible, whatever a particular book-hunter's idiosyncrasy may be, not to feel interested in some of the collections which these enterprising and ruthless biblioclasts manage to get together. Mr. Purcell is an adept at this game, of which, doubtless, Mr. F. Harvey, of St. James's Street, is one of the most clever, as he is certainly the most eminent of professors. Mr. Purcell's collection of prints, engravings, press-cuttings, and so forth, cover an extraordinarily wide field. In fifty cases out of a hundred, booksellers who make grangerizing a speciality find it pays far better to break up an illustrated book than to sell it intact. When they purchase a book, it is obviously their own property, to preserve or destroy, as they find most agreeable. Personally, we regard the system as in many ways a pernicious one, but it is one upon which a vast amount of cant has been wasted. But bookshops and stalls are obviously not the only places at which bargains in books are likely to be secured, as the following anecdote would seem to prove: 'A writer and reader well versed in the works of the minor English writers recently entered a newspaper-shop at the East End and purchased a pennyworth of snuff. When he got home he found that the titillating substance was wrapped in a leaf of Sir Thomas Elyot's black-letter book, "The Castell of Helth." The next day the purchaser went in hot haste to the shop and made a bid for the remainder of the volume. "You are too late, sir," spoke the shopkeeper. "After you had gone last night, a liter_airy_ gent as lives round the corner gave me two bob for the book. There was only one leaf torn out, which you got. The book was picked up at a stall for a penny by my son." The purchaser of the pennyworth at once produced the leaf, with instructions for it to be handed to his forestaller in the purchase of the volume, together with his name and address; and next day he received a courteous note of thanks from the "liter_airy_ gent" aforesaid.' Nothing is so uncertain as one's luck in book-hunting, but, without entirely discrediting the foregoing story, we can only say that it is an old friend with a new face. We have heard the same thing before. Not so very long ago, a certain bookseller thought he had at last got a prize; it was one of the rarest Shakespeare quartos, and worth close on £100. He had purchased it among a lot of other dirty pamphlets. He looked the matter up, and everything seemed to point to the fact that his copy was genuine in every respect--a most uncommon stroke of luck indeed. The precious quarto was in due course sent to Puttick's, and the modest reserve of £70 was placed upon it. The quarto was genuine in every respect, but it was a _facsimile_! It may be taken for granted that genuine Shakespeare quartos do not occur on bookstalls, and even a rare Americana tract only occurs in the wildest dreams of the book-hunter. Nevertheless, 'finds' of more or less interest continue to be made by keen book-hunters. Dr. Garnett tells how a tradesman at Oswestry had in his possession books to which he attached no importance, but which, a lady informed him, must be very rare. They were submitted to the authorities of the British Museum, who gave a high price for them. One was Sir Anthony Sherley's 'Wits New Dyall,' published in 1604, of which only one other copy is known to be in existence. As a rule, offers of rare books come from booksellers, who do not always say how they become possessed of them. Among the private people who offer books to the Museum for sale are a large proportion who think that a book must necessarily be rare because it is a hundred years old or more. Before the great catalogue was made, finds were occasionally made in the Museum itself, and even now a volume will occasionally be found which has special interest and value on account of its binding. In other cases a book will be found to be in a binding made up of leaves of some rare work far more valuable than the book itself. [Illustration] [Illustration] SOME BOOK-HUNTING LOCALITIES. LITTLE BRITAIN AND MOORFIELDS. THERE are few more attractive phases in the history of book-hunting in London than that of localities. Up to nearly the end of the last century, these localities were for the most part, and for close on 350 years, confined to within a narrow area. With the rapid expansion of London north, east, south, and west, the 'trade' has not only expanded, but its representatives have sprung up in every district, whilst many of the older ones have forsaken the limits of the City, and pitched their tents in Greater London. For centuries bookselling and publishing flourished side by side in St. Paul's Churchyard, Fleet Street, and their immediate neighbourhoods. [Illustration: _St. Paul's Churchyard, 1606. From the Crace Collection._] Of all the old bookselling localities close to the heart of London, none were more famous than Little Britain and Moorfields. Three years before the Great Fire of London--in 1663--Sorbière, in his 'Journey to England,' made the following observation: 'I am not to forget the vast number of booksellers' shops I have observed in London: for besides those who are set up here and there in the City, they have their particular quarters, such as St. Paul's Churchyard and Little Britain, where there is twice as many as in the Rue Saint Jacque in Paris, and who have each of them two or three warehouses.' The bookselling zenith of Little Britain was attained in the seventeenth century; it may almost be said to have commenced with the reign of Charles I., and to have begun a sort of retrogression with the Hanoverian succession. But there were printers and booksellers here at the latter part of the sixteenth century. From a newspaper published in this district in 1664, we learn that no less than 464 pamphlets were published here during four years. It was a sort of seventeenth-century combination of the Paternoster Row and Fleet Street of the present day. It is the place where, according to a widely circulated statement, first made in Richardson's 'Remarks on Paradise Lost,' 1734, an Earl of Dorset accidentally discovered, when on a book-hunt in 1667, a work hitherto unknown to him, entitled 'Paradise Lost.' He is said to have bought a copy, and the bookseller begged him to recommend it to his friends, as the copies lay on his hand like so much wastepaper. The noble Earl showed his copy to Dryden, who is reported to have exclaimed: 'This man cuts us all out, and the ancients too.' Though this anecdote may be apocryphal, certain it is the poem is in a way connected with the neighbourhood, inasmuch as Simmons' shop was in Aldersgate Street. In addition to this fact, Richardson also tells us that Milton lodged for some time in Little Britain with Millington, the famous book-auctioneer, who had then quitted the rostrum and followed the more peaceful vocation of a dealer in old books. Roger North, in his 'Life of the Right Hon. Francis North,' has an oft-quoted reference to Little Britain. From this interesting account we learn that during the latter part of the seventeenth century it was a plentiful and perpetual emporium of learned authors, and that men went thither as to a market. The trade of the place was, in consequence, an important one, the shops being large, and much resorted to by literary personages, wits, men-about-town, and fashionable notabilities generally. The booksellers then were men of intellect. But referring, by way of contrast, to the place during the earlier half of the eighteenth century, he laments that 'this emporium is vanished, and the trade contracted into the hands of two or three persons, who, to make good their monopoly, ransack, not only their neighbours of the trade that are scattered about the town, but all over England, ay, and beyond sea, too, and send abroad their circulators, and in this manner get into their hands all that is valuable. The rest of the trade are content to take their refuse, with which, and the fresh scum of the press, they furnish one side of the shop, which serves for the sign of a bookseller, rather than a real one; but instead of selling, deal as factors, and procure what the country divines and gentry send for; of whom each hath his book-factor, and, when wanting anything, writes to his bookseller and pays his bill. And it is wretched to consider what pickpocket work, with the help of the press, these demi-booksellers make. They crack their brains to find out selling subjects, and keep hirelings in garrets, at hard meat, to write and correct by the groat; and so puff up an octavo to a sufficient thickness; and there is six shillings current for an hour and half's reading, and perhaps never to be read or looked upon after. One that would go higher, must take his fortune at blank walls, and corners of streets, or repair to the sign of Bateman, King, and one or two more, where are best choice, and better pennyworths. I might touch other abuses, as bad paper, incorrect printing, and false advertising; and all of which and worse are to be expected, if a careful author is not at the heels of them.' We get an interesting glimpse of a meeting of two book-lovers in this locality from Izaak Walton. In his 'Life of Bishop Sanderson,' Walton writes that about the time Sanderson was printing this excellent preface ('before his last twenty Sermons,' 1655), 'I met him accidentally in London, in sad-coloured clothes, and, God knows, far from costly. The place of our meeting was near to Little Britain, where he had been to buy a book, which he then had in his hand.' The house of Bateman is worthy of an important chapter in the bookselling annals of Little Britain, and the best-known member (Christopher) of the family is described in the usual sugared style of John Dunton: 'There are few booksellers in England (if any) that understand books better than Mr. Bateman, nor does his diligence and industry come short of his knowledge. He is a man of great reputation and honesty.' Nichols states that Bateman would allow no person to look into books in his shop, and when asked a reason for this extraordinary rule, he answered: 'I suppose you may be a physician or an author, and want some recipe or quotation; and, if you buy it, I will engage it to be perfect before you leave me, but not after, as I have suffered by leaves being torn out, and the books returned, to my very great loss and prejudice.' Bateman's shop was a favourite resort of Swift, who several times speaks of it in his 'Journal to Stella:' 'I went to Bateman's, the bookseller, and laid out eight and forty shillings for books. I bought three little volumes of Lucian, in French, for our Stella, and so, and so' (January 6, 1710-11); and again: 'I was at Bateman's, to see a fine old library he has bought, and my fingers itched as yours would do at a china-shop' (July 9, 1711). One of the most frequent visitors to Bateman's shop was Thomas Britton, 'the small-coal man,' who died in September, 1714. His knowledge of books, of music and chemistry was certainly extraordinary, having regard to his ostensible occupation. His collection of manuscripts and printed music and musical instruments was very large. Lord Somers gave £500 for his collection of pamphlets, and Sir Hans Sloane was also a purchaser of many curious articles. He was a very well-known character, and 'was so much distinguished that, when passing through the streets in his blue linen frock, and with his sack of small coal on his back, he was frequently accosted with the following expression: "There goes the famous small-coal man, who is a lover of learning, a performer in music, and a companion for gentlemen."' Saturday, when Parliament was not sitting during the winter, was the market day with the booksellers of Little Britain; and in the earlier part of the last century, the frequenters of this locality included such worthies as the Duke of Devonshire, Edward, Earl of Oxford, and the Earls of Pembroke, Sunderland, and Winchelsea. After the 'hunt' they often adjourned to the Mourning Bush in Aldersgate, where they dined and spent the remainder of the day. [Illustration: _Thomas Britton, 'the small-coal man,' Collector of Musical Instruments and MSS._] Another famous Little Britain bookseller was Robert Scott whose sister was the Hon. and Rev. Dr. John North's 'grandmother's woman.' Scott was a man of 'good parts,' and was in his time, says Roger North, the 'greatest librarian in Europe; for besides his stock in England, he had warehouses at Frankfort, Paris, and other places, and dealt by factors.' When an old man, Scott 'contracted with one Mills, of St. Paul's Churchyard, near £10,000 deep, and articled not to open his shop any more. But Mills, with his auctioneering, atlases, and projects, failed, whereby poor Scott lost above half his means. . . . He was not only an expert bookseller, but a very conscientious, good man, and when he threw up his trade, Europe had no small loss of him.' The most celebrated family of booksellers, perhaps, who lived in Little Britain, was that of Ballard, or Bullard, as the original name appears by the auction catalogues. The family were connected with the trade for over a century, and were noted, says Nichols, 'for the soundness of their principles in Church and State.' One Henry Ballard lived at the sign of the Bear without Temple Bar, over against St. Clement's Church, in 1597, but whether he was an ancestor of the family in question is not certain. Thomas Ballard, the founder of the bookselling branch, was described by Dunton, in 1705, as 'a young bookseller in Little Britain, but grown man in body now, but more in mind: 'His looks are in his mother's beauty drest, And all the Father has inform'd the rest.' Samuel Ballard, for many years Deputy of the Ward of Aldersgate Within, died August 27, 1761, and his only son, Edward, January 2, 1796, aged eighty-eight, in the same house in which he was born, having outlived his mental faculties. He was the last of the profession in Little Britain. Among the scores of Little Britain men who combined publishing with second-hand bookselling, one of the more interesting is William Newton, who resided there during the earlier years of the last century. In 1712 he published Quincy's 'Medicina Statica,' at the end of which is this curious 'Advertisement' (minus the superfluity of capitals): 'Those persons who have any Librarys (_sic_) or small parcels of old books to dispose of, either in town or countrey, may have ready money for them of Will. Newton, Bookseller in Little Britain, London. Also all gentlemen, and schoolmasters, may be furnished with all sorts of classics, in usum Delphi, Variorum, etc. Likewise, he will exchange with any person, for any books they have read and done with.' It was from the Dolphin, in Little Britain, that Samuel Buckley first issued the _Spectator_, March 1, 1711, _et seq._ Tom Rawlinson resided here for some years, as did another and different kind of celebrity, Benjamin Franklin, who worked at Palmer's famous printing-house in Bartholomew Close. 'While I lodged in Little Britain,' says Franklin, in his 'Autobiography,' 'I made an acquaintance with one Wilcox, a bookseller, whose shop was at the next door. He had an immense collection of second-hand books. Circulating libraries were not then in use; but we agreed that, on certain reasonable terms, which I have now forgotten, I might take, read, and return any of the books. This I esteemed a great advantage, and made as much use of as I could.' [Illustration: _Duke Street, Little Britain, formerly called Duck Lane._] But by Franklin's time the book trade of Little Britain had declined beyond any hope of recovery. In 1756 Maitland describes the place as 'very ruinous'; the part from 'the Pump to Duck Lane is well built, and though much inhabited formerly by booksellers, who dealt chiefly in old books, it is now much deserted and decayed.' A few years before Nichols published his 'Literary Anecdotes,' two booksellers used to sport their rubric posts close to each other here in Little Britain, and these rubric posts[176:A] were once as much the type of a bookseller's shop as the pole is of a barber's. Nearly all the numerous lanes and alleys immediately contiguous to Little Britain were more or less inhabited by second-hand booksellers. The most important in every respect of these was Duck Lane, subsequently rechristened Duke Street, and in 1885 as a part and parcel of Little Britain. It is the street which leads from West Smithfield to one end of Little Britain, and the change was a very foolish one. It was to this street that Swift conjectured that booksellers might send inquiries for his works. 'Some county squire to Lintot goes, Inquires for Swift in verse and prose. Says Lintot, "I have heard the name, He died a year ago." "The same." He searches all the shops in vain: "Sir, you may find them in Duck Lane."' And Garth tells how the learned Dr. Edward Tyson filled his library from the Duck Lane shops: 'Abandoned authors here a refuge meet, And from the world to dust and worms retreat Here dregs and sediments and authors reign, Refuse of fairs and gleanings of Duck Lane.' Mr. W. Carew Hazlitt has noted the fact that a copy of Zach. Ursinus' 'Summe of Christian Religion,' translated by H. Parry (1617), contains on the first leaf this note: 'Mary Rous her Booke, bought in Duck Lane bey Smithfelde, this year, 1644.' Not very far from Little Britain is the Barbican, which at the earlier part of the century contained several bookshops, but has since degenerated into forbidding warehouses. Charles Lamb, under date March 25, 1829, writes: 'I have just come from town, where I have been to get my bit of quarterly pension, and have brought home from stalls in Barbican the old "Pilgrim's Progress," with the prints--Vanity Fair, etc.--now scarce. Four shillings; cheap. And also one of whom I have oft heard and had dreams, but never saw in the flesh--that is in sheepskin--"The Whole Theologic Works of Thomas Aquinas." My arms ached with lugging it a mile to the stage, but the burden was a pleasure, such as old Anchises was to the shoulders of Æneas, or the lady to the lover in the old romance, who, having to carry her to the top of a high mountain (the price of obtaining her), clambered with her to the top and fell dead with fatigue.' [Illustration: _Charles Lamb, after D. Maclise._] The district to which the name of Moorfields was once applied has no great historic interest. It remained moorfields until it was first drained in 1527. In the reign of James I. it was first laid out into walks, and during the time of Charles II. some portions of it were built upon. It soon became famous for its musters and pleasant walks, its laundresses and bleachers, its cudgel-players and popular amusements, its bookstalls and ballad-sellers. Writing at the beginning of the last century, that pungent critic of the world in general, Tom Brown, observes: 'Well, this thing called prosperity makes a man strangely insolent and forgetful. How contemptibly a cutler looks at a poor grinder of knives; a physician in his coach at a farrier a-foot; and a well-grown Paul's Churchyard bookseller upon one of the trade that sells second-hand books under the trees in Moorfields!' In Thoresby's 'Diary' we have an entry under the year 1709 of a very rare edition of the New Testament in English, 1536, having been purchased in Moorfields. [Illustration: _Old Houses in Moorfields._] By the middle of the last century Moorfields became an assemblage of small shops, particularly booksellers', and remained such until, in 1790, the handsome square of Finsbury arose on its site. That some of these booksellers of Moorfields had considerable stocks is seen by the fact that that of John King, of this place, occupied ten days in the dispersal at Samuel Baker's in 1760. Perhaps one of the most famous of the Moorfields booksellers was Thomas King, who published priced catalogues of books from 1780 to 1796, and who deserted Moorfields at about the latter date, to take premises in King Street, Covent Garden, as a book-auctioneer. Horace Walpole, referring to James West's sale in 1773, says: 'Mr. West's books are selling outrageously. His family will make a fortune by what he collected from stalls and Moorfields.' This sale, which occupied twenty-four days, included, as we have said on a previous page, books by Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, and others, and also works on Old English literature, voyages and travels, not a few of which were undoubtedly picked up in Moorfields. The Rev. John Brand, secretary of the Society of Antiquaries, who died in 1806, visited almost daily the bookstalls between Piccadilly and Mile End, and may be regarded as another Moorfields book-hunter; he generally returned from these excursions with his deep and wide pockets well laden. His books were chiefly collected in this way, and for comparatively small sums. Brand cared little for the condition of his books, many of which were imperfect, the defects being supplied in neatly-written MS. (See p. 190.) John Keats, the poet, was born in Moorfields, and Tom Dibdin was apprenticed to an upholsterer in this district. FINSBURY. [Illustration: _Interior of Lackington's Shop._] When Moorfields became improved into Finsbury Circus, the bookselling element was by no means extinguished. James Lackington (1746 to 1816), who had established himself as a bookseller in Chiswell Street, was issuing catalogues from that address from 1779 to 1793. He first started selling books on Midsummer Day, 1774, in Featherstone Street, St. Luke's. It was from Chiswell Street that Lackington dated those rambling letters which he styles 'Memoirs of the Forty-five First Years' of his life. In twelve years he had progressed so rapidly, from the sack of old rubbish for which he paid a guinea and with which he began business as a bookseller, that a move to more commodious premises became necessary. In 1794 he transferred his stock to one of the corners of Finsbury Square--which had been then built about five years--and started his 'Temple of the Muses.' The original building was burnt down some years ago, but the late Charles Knight has left on record an interesting sketch of the place as it struck him in 1801: 'Over the principal entrance is inscribed, "Cheapest Booksellers in the World." It is the famous shop of Lackington, Allen and Co., "where above half a million of volumes are constantly on sale." We enter the vast area, whose dimensions are to be measured by the assertion that a coach and six might be driven round it. In the centre is an enormous circular counter, within which stand the dispensers of knowledge, ready to wait upon the county clergyman, in his wig and shovel hat; upon the fine ladies, in feathers and trains; or upon the bookseller's collector, with his dirty bag. If there is any chaffering about the cost of a work, the shopman points to the following inscription: "The lowest price is marked on every book, and no abatement made on any article." We ascend a broad staircase, which leads to "The Lounging Rooms" and to the first of a series of circular galleries, lighted from the lantern of the dome, which also lights the ground-floor. Hundreds, even thousands, of volumes are displayed on the shelves running round their walls. As we mount higher and higher, we find commoner books in shabbier bindings; but there is still the same order preserved, each book being numbered according to a printed catalogue. . . . The formation of such an establishment as this assumes a remarkable power of organization, as well as a large command of capital.' [Illustration: _Jones and Co. (successors to Lackington)._] Six years after he had started, Lackington, who had been joined by his friend, John Denis--a man of some capital--published his first catalogue (1779), the title of the firm being Lackington and Co., and the list enumerating some 12,000 volumes. Denis appears to have been a genuine book-collector and a man of some taste, with the very natural result that they soon parted company. Lackington was as vain and officious a charlatan as ever stepped in shoe-leather--a trade to which he had been brought up, by the way--but that he had organizing abilities of a very uncommon order there can be no question. He found the catalogue business a great success, and in due course issued one of 820 pages, with entries of nearly 30,000 volumes and sets of books, all classified under subjects as well as sizes. For thirteen years (after 1763) Lackington did all his own cataloguing. In 1798 the Temple of the Muses was made over to George Lackington, Allen and Co. The former was a third cousin of the founder of the firm, and is described by John Nichols as 'well educated and gentlemanly.' [Illustration: _Lackington's Halfpenny._] When he retired from the business, Lackington enjoyed himself to the top of his bent, travelling all over the kingdom in his state coach and scribbling. His 'Confessions' appeared in 1804, and form a sequel to his 'Memoirs,' already mentioned. He died on November 22, 1815, and is buried at Budleigh Salterton, Devon. As a bookseller, he certainly was a success--perhaps, indeed, one of the most successful, all things considered, that ever lived in London. He is a hero in pretty much the same sense as James Boswell. He had, as a matter of course, his detractors. His contemporary booksellers loved him not, for his methods of quick sales and small profits were things unheard of until he appeared on the scene. Peter Pindar's 'Ode to the Hero of Finsbury Square, 1795,' is a choice specimen of this witty writer. It begins: 'Oh! thou whose mind, unfetter'd, undisguised, Soars like the lark into the empty air; Whose arch exploits by subtlety devised, Have stamped renown on Finsbury's New Square, Great "hero" list! Whilst the sly muse repeats Thy nuptial ode, thy prowess great _in sheets_.' Accompanying this ode was a woodcut, which represents Lackington mounting his gorgeous carriage upon steps formed by Tillotson's 'Sermons,' a Common Prayer, and a Bible; from one of his pockets there protrudes a packet of papers, labelled 'Puffs and lies for my book,' and from the other 'My own memoirs.' The 'Co.' of George Lackington, Allen and Co. was a Mr. Hughes. At the next shuffling of cards the firm consisted of Lackington, A. Kirkman, Mavor--a son of Dr. Mavor, of Woodstock--and Jones. In 1822 the firm consisted of Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, and Lepard, and subsequently of Harding and Lepard (who had absorbed the important business of Triphook, the Cunning Bookseller of Beloe, and it was this trio who published the second edition of Dibdin's 'Library Companion'), by whom the business was transferred to Pall Mall East. George Lackington died in March, 1844, aged seventy-six. In the _Bookseller_ of December 16, 1886, there is an interesting memoir of Kames James Ford, 'the last of the Lackingtonians,' who died at Crouch Hill five days previously, aged ninety-four. CENTRAL AND EAST LONDON. [Illustration: _The Poultry in 1550._] Cheapside had never much attraction to the book-collector, but the Poultry (which is in reality a continuation of the Cheapside thoroughfare) was for two and a half centuries a bookselling locality. In 1569, for example, John Alde was living at 'the long shop adjoining to St. Mildred's Church in the Poultry.' From the middle to the end of the seventeenth century the locality had become quite famous for its bookshops. Nat Ponder, who 'did time' for publishing a seditious pamphlet, was Bunyan's publisher. John Dunton's shop was at the sign of the Black Raven. No. 22 was the residence of the brothers Charles and Edward Dilly, and it was here, at a dinner, that Dr. Johnson's prejudices against Wilkes were entirely broken down by the latter's brilliant conversation. The Dillys were great entertainers, and all the more notable literary people of the period were to be met at their house. They amassed a very large fortune. Edward died in 1807, having relinquished the business some years previously to Joseph Mawman, who died in 1827. Mawman, it may be mentioned, wrote an 'Excursion to the Highlands of Scotland,' 1805, which the _Edinburgh_ furiously assailed: 'This is past all enduring. Here is a tour, _travelled_, _written_, _published_, _sold_, and, for anything we know, _reviewed_ by one and the same individual! We cannot submit patiently to this monstrous monopoly.' No. 31 was the shop of Vernor and Hood, booksellers. The latter was father of the facetious Tom Hood, who was born here in 1798. Spon, of 15, Queen Street, Cheapside, was issuing, half a century ago, his 'City of London Old Book Circulars,' which often contained excellent books at very moderate prices. [Illustration: _The Old Mansion House, Cheapside._] The district more or less immediately contiguous to the Bank of England was for a long period a favourite bookselling locality, but heavy rents and crowded thoroughfares have completely killed the trade in the heart of commercial London. Early in the seventeenth century, Pope's Head Alley, a turning out of Cornhill, contained a number of booksellers' and publishers' shops. In the latter part of the seventeenth century, Thomas Guy, with a capital of about £200, started selling books at 'the little corner house of Lombard Street and Cornhill'; but his wealth was not derived from this source. It is interesting to note, however, that this little corner shop existed so recently as 1833 or 1834. Alexander Cruden, of 'Concordance' fame, settled in London in 1732, and opened a bookstall under the Royal Exchange, and it was whilst here that he compiled the 'Concordance' which ruined him in business and deranged his mind. William Collins, whose catalogues for many years 'furnished several curiosities to the literary collectors,' started selling books in Pope's Head Alley, in or about 1778, but was burnt out in the following year, when he removed to Exchange Alley, where he remained until the last decade of the last century. John Sewell, who died in 1802 (aged sixty-eight), was one of the last to sport the rubric posts, and his shop in Cornhill was a highly popular resort with book-buyers; he was succeeded by another original character in the person of James Asperne. J. and A. Arch were in Cornhill contemporaneously with Asperne, and it was to these kindly Quakers that Thomas Tegg turned, and not in vain, after being summarily dismissed from Lane's, in Leadenhall Street, and with whom he remained for some years. It was not until some time after he had started on his own account that Tegg commenced his nightly book-auctions at 111, Cheapside, an innovation which resulted in Tegg finding himself a fairly rich man. His next move was to the old Mansion House, once the residence of the Lord Mayor, and here he met with an increased prosperity and popularity. He was elected a Common Councillor of the ward of Cheap, and took a country house at Norwood. Up to the close of 1840, Tegg had issued 4,000 works on his own account (chiefly 'remainders'), and not 'more than twenty were failures.' The more noteworthy second-hand booksellers of this neighbourhood half a century ago were Charles Davis, whose shop was at 48, Coleman Street, and T. Bennett, of 4, Copthall Buildings, at the back of the Bank, each of whom published catalogues. A quarter of a century ago the last-named address was still in possession of second-hand booksellers--S. and T. Gilbert, and subsequently of Gilbert and Field. One of the oldest bookselling firms in the City is that of Sandell and Smith, of 136, City Road, which dates back to 1830. It was whilst exploring in some of the upper rooms of this shop that a well-known first-edition collector, Mr. Elliot Stock, came upon an incomparable array of the class of book for which he had an especial weakness. He obtained nearly a sackload at an average of tenpence or a shilling each, and as many of these are now not only very rare, but in great demand at fancy prices, it is scarcely necessary to say that the investment was a peculiarly good one. The 'haul' included works by Byron, Bernard Barton, Browning, Barry Cornwall, Lytton, Cowper, Dryden, Hogg, Moore, Rogers, Scott, Wordsworth, and a lot of eighteenth-century writers. Half a century ago Edwards' 'Cheap Random Catalogues' were being issued from 76, Bunhill Row. [Illustration: _Gilbert and Field's Shop in Copthall Court._] [Illustration: _E. George's (late Gladding's) Shop, Whitechapel Road._] So far as the East End of London is concerned, there is not, perhaps, very much to say. The second-hand bookselling trade for the past half-century has been confined in a large measure to three firms--R. Gladding, an octogenarian, who dealt almost exclusively in theological books, whose shop was at 76, Whitechapel Road, and who retired at the end of 1893; E. George and Sons, who have been for many years established at 231, Whitechapel Road, and have lately acquired Gladding's shop; and Joseph Smith, 2, Oxford Street, Whitechapel. The two last-named firms are, in their respective ways, of more than usual interest. Mr. E. George, whose father, William George, was also a bookseller, started in business on his own account between thirty and forty years ago, his stock-in-trade consisting of four shillings' worth of miscellaneous volumes, which he exposed for sale on a barrow close to the old Whitechapel workhouse, which occupied the ground on which one of Mr. George's shops now stands. Mr. George has built up one of the most remarkable and extensive business connections in existence. His stock may be roughly calculated at about 700,000 or 800,000 volumes or parts, two large houses and warehouses being literally crammed full from top to bottom. There is scarcely any periodical or transactions of any learned society which they are unable to complete, and in many instances--_Punch_, for example--they have at least a dozen complete sets, besides an infinity of odd numbers and parts. It is scarcely necessary to point out that Messrs. George's business has very little to do with the locality in which their shops are situated. They are the wholesale firm of the trade, and the larger part of their business is done in the United States and among the provincial booksellers of Great Britain, ten huge cases and a complete set of Hansard being on the eve of exportation to America at the time of our visit. It is a curious fact, and one well worth mentioning, that until last year (1894) this firm never issued a catalogue. It is also interesting to point out that their shop at 76, Whitechapel Road is one of the most admirably arranged bookstores in the country. It was specially constructed, and is not unlike a miniature British Museum Reading-room; there are two galleries, one above the other. The second East End worthy has a literary as well as a bibliopolic interest. Joseph Smith will be better remembered by posterity as the compiler of a 'Catalogue of Friends' Books,' and of the 'Bibliotheca Anti-Quakerana,' than as a bookseller. He was twenty years compiling the former, and is perhaps one of the most striking illustrations of the wisdom of the theory that the bookseller who wishes to be a success should never read! Joseph Smith is of the Society of Friends, and among his schoolfellows were John Bright and W. E. Forster. Second-hand bookselling in the East End has declined during the past quarter of a century from several causes, the chief and most important being the almost complete withdrawal of moderately well-to-do people from the locality. The neighbourhood has become so exclusively inhabited by the poorest of the poor, and by the desolate immigrants from all countries, that the higher phases of bookselling have little chance of flourishing. Mr. E. George informs us that fifteen or twenty years ago he frequently sold in one day books to the value of £15 to genuine residents of the East End, but that he now does not sell fifteen shillings' worth. So far as local customers are concerned, he might just as well have nothing more elaborate than a warehouse. Many interesting bookish events have, nevertheless, transpired in what is now the slummiest district of London, and if the best of these anecdotes were collected they would fill quite a big volume. They are very varied in character, and some of the stories have very different morals. Here is one related concerning the Rev. Mr. Brand, to whom we have already referred. He was a clergyman of that district, and, it is feared, sometimes neglected his religious duties for the more engrossing charms of the chase. One Friday afternoon he was roaming in the neighbourhood of his church, when his eye fell on the shop of a Jew bookseller which he had not before noticed, and was astonished to see there a number of black-letter volumes exposed for sale. But the sun was rapidly going down, and the Jew, loath to be stoned by his neighbours for breaking the Sabbath, was hastily interposing the shutters between the eyes of the clergyman and the coveted books. 'Let me look at them inside,' said the Rev. Mr. Brand; 'I will not keep you long.' 'Impossible,' replied the Jew. 'Sabbath will begin in five minutes, and I absolutely cannot let myself be drawn into such a breach of Divine Law. But if you choose to come early on Sunday morning you may see them at your leisure.' The reverend gentleman accordingly turned up at eight a.m. on Sunday, intending to remain there till church-time, he having to do duty that day. He had provided himself with the overcoat which he wore on his book-hunting expeditions, and which had pockets large enough to swallow a good-sized folio. The literary treasures of the son of Israel were much more numerous than the Gentile expected. At this time there was not such a rush for Caxtons as we have witnessed since the Roxburghe sale. Mr. Brand found one of these precious relics in a very bad condition, although not past recovery, paid a trifling price for it, and pocketed it. Then he successively examined some rare productions of the presses of Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, and so forth. The clergyman's purchases soon began to assume considerable proportions. Archimedes was not more fully absorbed in his geometrical problems when the Roman soldier killed him, than the East End clergyman in his careful collations. He was aroused, however, from his reveries by the Jewess calling out: 'Mike, dinner is ready.' 'Dinner!' exclaimed the parson. 'At what time do you dine?' 'At one o'clock,' she replied. He looked at his watch. It was too true. He hastened home. In the meantime, the beadle had been to his house, and finding he had left it in his usual health, it was feared some accident had happened. The congregation then dispersed, much concerned at the absence of the worthy pastor, who, however, atoned in the evening, by unwonted eloquence, for his unpremeditated prank of the morning. HOLBORN AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. As a second-hand bookselling locality, Holborn is one of the oldest of those in which the trade is still carried on vigorously. As a bookselling locality it has a record of close on three centuries and a half. As early as 1558, a publisher was issuing cheap books in connection with John Tisdale, at the Saracen's Head, in Holborn, near to the Conduit, and in one of these booklets we are enjoined to 'Remember, man! both night and day, Thou needs must die, there is no Nay.' Probably the earliest, and certainly one of the earliest, books published in Holborn was the 'Vision of Piers Plowman,' 'now fyrst imprinted by Robert Crowley, dwellyng in Ely-rents in Holburne,' in 1550, which contains a very quaint address from the printer. In and about the year 1584, Roger Warde, a very prolific publisher, was dwelling near 'Holburne Conduit, at the sign of the "Talbot,"' and a still more noteworthy individual, Richard Jones, lived hard by, at the sign of the Rose and Crown. Early in the seventeenth century, several members of the fraternity had established themselves in and around Gray's Inn Gate, then termed, more appropriately, Lane. Henrie Tomes published 'The Commendation of Cocks and Cock-fighting' (1607), which, no doubt, the 'young bloods' of the period perused much more diligently than more instructive and edifying books with which Mr. Tomes also could have supplied them. Its most famous bibliopolic resident, however, is Thomas Osborne, or Tom Osborne, as he was called in the trade and by posterity. Tom Osborne's fame began and ended with himself. Nobody knew whence he came, and probably nobody cared. His catalogues cover a period of thirty years--1738-1768--and include some very remarkable libraries of many famous men. In stature he is described as short and thick, so that Dr. Johnson's famous summary method of knocking him down[192:A] was not perhaps so difficult a feat as is generally supposed. To his inferiors--including, as he apparently but ruefully thought, Dr. Johnson--he generally spoke in an authoritative and insolent manner. As ignorant as Lackington, he was considerably less aware of the fact. Osborne's shop, like that of Jacob Tonson[192:B] at the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, was at the Gray's Inn Road gate of, or entrance to, Gray's Inn. His greatest _coup_ was the purchase of the Harleian Collection of books--the manuscripts were bought by the British Museum for £10,000--for £13,000, in 1743. It is said on good authority that the Earl of Oxford gave £18,000 for the binding of only a part of them. In 1743-44, the extent of this extraordinary collection was indicated by the 'Catalogus Bibliotheca Harleianæ,' in four volumes. The first two, in Latin, were compiled by Dr. Johnson at a daily wage, and the third and fourth (which are a repetition of the first two), in English, are by Oldys. A charge of 5s. was made for the first two volumes, which caused a good deal of grumbling among the trade, and was resented 'as an avaricious innovation,' but Osborne replied that the volumes could be either returned in exchange for books or for the original purchase-money. He was also charged with rating his books at too high a price, but a glance through the catalogue will prove this to be an unjust accusation. The copy of the Aldine Plato, 1513, on vellum, for which Lord Oxford gave 100 guineas, is priced by Osborne at £21. The sale of the books appears to have been extremely slow, and Johnson assured Boswell that 'there was not much gained by the bargain.' Nichols' 'Literary Anecdotes' (iii. 649-654) gives a list of the libraries which Osborne absorbed into his stock at different times, but few of these are anything more than names at the present day. Osborne is satirized in the 'Dunciad,' but, according to Johnson, was so dull that he could not feel the poet's gross satire. Sir John Hawkins states that Osborne used to boast that he was worth £40,000, and doubtless this was true. His 'Bushy bob, well powder'd every day, Bloom'd whiter than a hawthorn hedge in May,' was one of his acquired peculiarities. Nichols tells us that the expression 'rum books' arose from Osborne's sending unsaleable volumes to Jamaica in exchange for rum. But whilst Tom Osborne was _the_ bookseller of Holborn, there were many others well established here during the last century, and whose names have been handed down to us by the catalogues which they published. William Cater, for instance, was issuing catalogues from Holborn in 1767, when he sold the libraries of Lord Willoughby, president of the Society of Antiquaries, and in 1774 of Cudworth Bruck, another antiquary. Cater was succeeded in 1786 by John Deighton, of Cambridge. In the person of Henry Dell we get a literary bookseller, who had established himself first in Tower Street, and in or about 1765 in Holborn, where, Nichols tells us, he died very poor. He wrote 'The Booksellers, a Poem,' 1766, which has been pronounced 'a wretched, rhyming list of booksellers in London, and Westminster, with silly commendations of some and stupid abuse of others.' Other Holborn booksellers were: William Fox, 1773-1777; John Hayes, who died November 12, 1811, aged seventy-four, and 'whose abilities were of no ordinary class, and his erudition very considerable'; John Anderson, of Holborn Hill, 1787-1792, who sold the library of the Hon. John Scott, of Gray's Inn; Francis Noble, who, besides being a bookseller, kept for many years an extensive circulating library in Holborn, but who, in consequence of his daughter's obtaining a share in the first £30,000 prize in the lottery, retired from business, and died at an advanced age in June, 1792; Joseph White, 1779-1791; and William Flexney, who died January 7, 1808, aged seventy-seven, and who was the original publisher of Churchill's 'Poems,' and is thus immortalized by that versatile 'poet': 'Let those who energy of diction prize, For Billingsgate, quit Flexney, and be wise.' Percival Stockdale, in his 'Memoirs,' speaks highly of his 'old friend' Flexney, 'with whom I have passed many convivial and jovial hours.' J. H. Prince, of Old North Street, Red Lion Square, Holborn, who wrote and published his own eccentric 'Life' in 1806, and who, trying and failing in nearly everything else, took to bookselling and book-writing, evidently, like many other authors before and since, found soliciting subscriptions for his book 'a most painful undertaking to a susceptible mind.' His motto was, 'I evil ni etips,' or 'I live in spite.' A much more important bookseller of Holborn was John Petheram, who lived at 94, High Holborn in the fifties, and whose catalogues were styled 'The Bibliographical Miscellany'; for some time, with each of his catalogues he issued an eight-page supplement, which consisted of a reprint of some very rare tract; the selection of some of these was in the hands of Dr. E. F. Rimbault. A complete set of these catalogues would be extremely interesting; we have only seen half a dozen of them, and these are in the British Museum. A somewhat similar effort to give an extra interest to catalogues was made a few years ago by J. W. Jarvis and Son, of King William Street, and also by Pickering and Chatto, the Haymarket; but the experiment apparently did not succeed. [Illustration: _Middle Row, Holborn, 1865._] Apart from Holborn, properly so called, Middle Row, an insulated row of houses, abutting upon Holborn Bars, and nearly opposite Gray's Inn Road, claims a notice here, for it was long a book-hunting locality, and two bookshops, at least, existed there until the place was demolished in August, 1867. Perhaps its most famous bookseller was John Cuthell, who came to London from Scotland in 1771, and became assistant to Drew, of Middle Row, whom he succeeded. He was publishing catalogues here from 1787, and did a very large export business with America. He was noted for his stock of medical and scientific books. He was still at Middle Row in 1813, when John Nichols published his 'Literary Anecdotes,' to which he was a subscriber. Cuthell died at Turnham Green in 1828, aged eighty-five. He was succeeded by Francis Macpherson, who issued the thirtieth number of his catalogue in April, 1840, from No. 4, Middle Row. The works offered comprised a selection of theological, classical, and historical books. One of the most curious entries relates to an extensive collection of books and pamphlets by and concerning the famous Dr. Richard Bentley, five volumes in quarto, and thirty-one more in octavo and duodecimo; the set (now, we believe, in the British Museum), doubtless the most complete ever offered for sale, was priced at £25, and was probably utilized in Dyce's editions of Bentley's 'Dissertations,' and in an edition of Bentley's 'Sermons at Boyle's Lecture,' both of which Macpherson published. This catalogue is interesting from the number of illustrations which it affords of the transition period of English book-collecting; the various editions of the classics are priced at very moderate figures, whilst English classics are offered at comparatively 'fancy' sums. For example, a very neat copy of the first edition of 'Tom Jones' is offered at 18s., and a fine copy of John Bale's 'Image of Both Churches,' without date, but printed by East at the latter part of the sixteenth century, at £1 7s. J. Coxhead is another Holborn bookseller who may be regarded as a link between the old and the new. He was at 249, High Holborn in 1840, and had been established forty years. His lists were apparently issued only once or twice a year; one of the notices in his catalogue may be quoted here, as showing the chief medium by which country book-collectors were supplied with their books: 'Gentlemen residing in the country had better apply direct to J. Coxhead for any articles from this list, or they can obtain them by giving the order to their country bookseller, and it will be sent in their weekly parcel from London.' At about the same time, and for nearly the same period, David Ogilby was selling second-hand books at the same locality. One of the most interesting of the Holborn booksellers was William Darton, of 58, Holborn Hill, of whose shop we give an 'interior' view from a plate engraved by Darton himself. William was a son of William Darton, who founded the famous publishing house of Darton and Harvey, of 55, Gracechurch Street, in the latter part of the last century, their speciality being children's books, which had a fame almost as extensive as those of the great Mr. Newbery himself. He was joined by his brother Thomas, and for two generations a successful business was carried on in this place; the three generations of Dartons were prominent members of the Society of Friends. The house chiefly devoted itself to publishing, but it had a fairly large trade in selling the books issued by other publishers. The firm ceased to exist about the time when the Holborn Valley improvements swept away so many of the old landmarks of that locality. Mr. Joseph W. Darton, the sole partner in Wells Gardner, Darton and Co., is a grandson of the founder of the Holborn Hill house and a great-grandson of the original William Darton. A history of the Dartons would form as interesting a volume as that on John Newbery. [Illustration: _William Darton, Bookseller_, The Founder of the House of Darton and Harvey.] Holborn is an additionally interesting book-locality from the fact that it was from here that some of the first book-catalogues were issued. This important innovation owes much to Charles Davis, whose shop was 'against Gray's Inn.' The earliest of these catalogues which we have seen is a very interesting list of 168 pages octavo, and includes 'valuable libraries, lately purchased, containing near 12,000 volumes in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, and English,' 'which will be sold very cheap, the lowest price fix'd in each book, on Thursday, May 7, 1747.' The list is in many respects very curious, not the least of which is that not one of the items offered is priced. One of the facts which strike one most forcibly in this connection is the large capitals which must have been sunk in books even at this early period. Davis, like all the other booksellers--notably Tonson and Lintot--of that period, was a bookseller as well as publisher. [Illustration: _Interior of Darton's Shop, Holborn Hill._] Moving further westward, we find records of bookselling for just a couple of centuries back. Robert Kettlewell was established at the Hand and Sceptre, King's Street, Bloomsbury, whence he issued his kinsman's apparently useful, and certainly very dull, pamphlet, entitled 'Death Made Comfortable; or, The Way to Die Well,' and sold a variety of other books besides. Making a leap of nearly a century, we meet with Samuel Hayes, of Oxford Street, and evidently a relative of John Hayes, to whom we have already referred. Samuel Hayes--when not in a French prison, for he was actually incarcerated by Napoleon when on a visit to France--was at this place of business for sixteen years, 1779 to 1795, and published several catalogues. Isaac Herbert, nephew of the editor of Ames' 'Typographical Antiquities,' was selling books in Great Russell Street in and about 1795; Joseph Bell was established as a bookseller in Oxford Street in the earlier part of the present century; Shepperson and Reynolds were in the same thoroughfare from 1784 to 1793, and sold several very good libraries within the period indicated. Writing in 1790, Pennant mentions that the chapel of Southampton, or Bedford House, Bloomsbury, was at that time rented by Lockyer Davis as a magazine of books. How long it had been in Davis's tenancy is not certain, but he died in 1791. William Davis, the author of several interesting bibliographical books, including two 'Journeys Round the Library of a Bibliomaniac,' was at the Bedford Library, Southampton Row, Holborn, during the early part of the century. Name after name might be quoted if any useful purpose would be served. [Illustration: _James Westell's, 114, Oxford Street._] There are many links which still connect the Holborn of to-day with the Holborn and immediate district of the past. Three have, however, passed away within recent years. Edward W. Stibbs, whose death occurred in the spring of 1891, at the age of eighty, and whose stock was sold at Sotheby's in the following year, was one of the veterans of the trade, and was essentially of the old school--the school which confined itself almost exclusively to classics. The second removal is that of Mr. J. Brown, whose shop was nearly opposite the entrance to Chancery Lane, and was for nearly thirty years an exceedingly pleasant rendezvous of book-collectors, and whose proprietor was one of the most genial of bibliopoles. The third is Edward Truelove, of 256, High Holborn, the well-known agnostic bookseller, who removed here from the Strand, and who had been in business over forty years. Mr. Truelove retired two or three years since. Further up the road, in New Oxford Street, we find the shop of Mr. James Westell, whose career as a bookseller embraces a period of over half a century, having started in 1841. Mr. Westell first began in a small shop in Bozier's Court, Tottenham Court Road, and this shop has been immortalized by Lord Lytton in 'My Novel,' for it is here that Leonard Fairfield's friendly bookseller was situated.[201:A] Bozier's Court was a sort of eddy from the constant stream which passes in and out of Oxford Street, and many pleasant hours have been spent in the court by book-lovers. After Mr. Westell left, it passed into the hands of another bookseller, G. Mazzoni, and finally into that of Mr. E. Turnbull, who speaks very highly of it as a bookselling locality. Mr. Turnbull added another shop to the one which was occupied by Mr. Westell; but when the inevitable march of improvements overtook this quaint place three or four years ago, Mr. Turnbull had to leave, and he then took a large shop in New Oxford Street, where he now is. During Mr. Turnbull's tenancy in Bozier's Court several rivals started round about him; but one after another failed to make it pay, and retired, leaving him eventually in entire possession. Another old Holborn bookseller, Mr. George Glashier, who started in 1841, still has a large shop in Southampton Row; not the shop which he occupied for very many years within a few yards of Holborn, but nearer Russell Square, a less crowded thoroughfare than the old place in the same street or row. The shop now occupied by Mr. A. Reader, in Orange Street, Red Lion Square, has been a bookseller's for over half a century, one of the most noted tenants of it being Mr. John Salkeld, who removed nearly twenty years since to Clapham Road, and whose charmingly rustic shop, 'Ivy House,' is quite one of the sights of bookish London. [Illustration: _Salkeld's Shop--'Ivy House'--in Clapham Road._] Indeed, nearly every by-street,[202:A] as well as the public highway in and around Holborn, has had its bookseller ever since the beginning of the century. Lord Macaulay, C. W. Dilke, W. J. Thoms, Edward Solly, John Forster, and the visions of many other mighty book-hunters, crowd on one's memory in grubbing about after old books in this ancient and attractive, if not always particularly savoury, locality. The two Turnstiles have always been favourites with bibliopoles. Writing in 1881, the late Mr. Thoms said: 'Many years ago I received one of the curious catalogues periodically issued by Crozier, then of Little Turnstile, Holborn. From a pressure of business or some other cause, I did not look through it until it had been in my possession for two or three days, and then I saw in it an edition of "Mist's Letters" in three volumes! In two volumes the book is common enough, but I had never heard of a third volume; neither does Bohn in his edition of Lowndes mention its existence. Of course, on this discovery, I lost no time in making my way to Little Turnstile; and on asking for the "Mist" in three volumes, found, as I had feared, that it was sold. "Who was the lucky purchaser?" I asked anxiously; adding, "Aut Dilke aut Diabolus!" "It was not Diabolus," was Crozier's reply; and I was reconciled when I found the book had fallen into such good hands, and not a little surprised when Crozier went on to say, "But he was not the first to apply for it. Mr. Forster sent for it, but would not keep it, because it was not a sufficiently nice copy."' Both the Great and the Little Turnstiles, Holborn, have always been, as we have said, famous as book-hunting localities, and they still preserve this reputation. In 1636 a publisher and bookseller, George Hutton, was at the 'Sign of the Sun, within the Turning Stile in Holborne.' J. Bagford, the celebrated book-destroyer, was first a shoemaker in the Great Turnstile, a calling in which he was not successful. Then he became a bookseller at the same place, and still success was denied him. At Dulwich College is a library which includes a collection of plays formed by Cartwright, a bookseller of the Turnstile, who subsequently turned actor. [Illustration: _John Bagford, Shoemaker and Book-destroyer._] [Illustration: _Mr. Tregaskis's Shop--'The Caxton Head'--in Holborn._ (After a Drawing by E. J. Wheeler.)] The chief and most enterprising firm of booksellers in Holborn proper is that of Mr. and Mrs. Tregaskis, at No. 232, the corner of the New Turnstile. The house itself is full of interest, and is quite a couple of hundred years old. A century ago one of the most eventful scenes of David Garrick's career was enacted here, for it was from this house that the great actor was buried. Mrs. Tregaskis first started, as Mrs. Bennett, at the corner of Southampton Row, and some time after removing to her present shop, married Mr. James Tregaskis, and the two together have built up a business which is scarcely without a rival in London. The shop is literally crammed with rare and interesting books, whilst 'The Caxton Head Catalogues' are got up with every possible care. Almost next door to the shop for many years occupied by the late Edward Stibbs, Mr. Walter T. Spencer carries on a trade which is almost entirely confined to first editions of modern authors. From Mr. R. J. Parker's shop at 204, the present writer has picked up a very large number of rare and interesting books, including a first edition of Goldsmith--not, however, the 'Vicar'--at exceedingly moderate sums. Mr. E. Menken, of Bury Street, New Oxford Street, is one of the most successful booksellers of recent years, and his stock is both large and select. Mr. Menken first started in Gray's Inn Road, nearly opposite the Town Hall, five or six years ago, subsequently removing to Bury Street; but his business grew so rapidly that he had to take the adjoining shop into his service. Mr. Menken's model catalogues invariably contain something which every book collector feels it is absolutely necessary to have. He is a man of versatile abilities, literary and otherwise, and includes among his customers no less a person than Mr. Gladstone. Messrs. Bull and Auvache, of 35, Hart Street, Bloomsbury, are extensive dealers in editions of the classics and Bibles. At one time there were no less than four second-hand booksellers in Hyde Street, New Oxford Street, but at present there is only one. Next door but one to Mudie's, we have the shop of Mr. James Roche, who is a link with the past, having started in 1850, and for many years carried on business in a little corner shop in Southampton Row, one door from the Holborn highway. Messrs. J. Rimell and Sons, noted for their extensive collection of works on the fine arts and architecture, are at 91, Oxford Street. Among the literary booksellers of the first quarter of the present century, William Goodhugh, of 155, Oxford Street, deserves a mention here. 'The English Gentleman's Library Manual,' 1827, is his best-known work, although from a literary standpoint it is a poor concern; he also wrote 'Gates' to the French, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic and Syriac, 'unlocked by new and easy methods.' Goodhugh was conversant with several of the Oriental and many European languages. His knowledge of books was a very extensive and profound one, and as a literary bookseller he is an interesting figure in the annals of bibliopolic history. Fifty years ago many good books were picked up out of 'Miller's Catalogue of Cheap Books,' which appeared monthly from 404, Oxford Street, that for September, 1845, being numbered 127. A quarter of a century ago there were several booksellers in Oxford Street, _e.g._, G. A. Davies, at 417; W. Heath, at 497; J. Kimpton, at 303; E. Lumley, at 514; J. Pettit, at 528; and Whittingham. [Illustration: _Day's Circulating Library in Mount Street._] The further west one goes, the less interesting do the annals of bookselling become, for Oxford Street is essentially a modern locality, and second-hand bookselling never has thrived much in new localities. It was, however, when rummaging over the contents of a stall in a Wardour Street alley that Charles Lamb lighted upon a ragged duodecimo, which had been the delight of his infancy. The price demanded was sixpence, which the owner, himself a squab little duodecimo of a character, enforced with the asseverance that his own mother should not have it for a farthing less, supplementing the assertion with an oath and 'Now, I have put my soul to it.' The book was the 'Queen Like Closet,' which, it is scarcely necessary to say, Elia rescued from the man of profanity. Soho has long been more or less of a bookselling quarter. John Paul Manson, who was in King Street, Westminster, in 1786, and issued from thence 'A Summer Catalogue' in 1795, subsequently removed to Gerard Street, Soho, and died in 1812. He was especially well versed, not only in Caxtons, but in all the best works of the early printers, and many English black-letter books passed through his hands. Dibdin observes that Professor Heyne could not have exhibited greater signs of joy at the sight of the Towneley manuscript of Homer than did Manson on the discovery of Rastell's 'Pastyme of the People' among the books of Mr. Brand. Two sons of this Manson subsequently became partners in the firm of Christie, the art auctioneers. The first Sampson Low started as a bookseller in Berwick Street, Soho, in or about 1790. Day's Library, the second oldest existing circulating library in London (the oldest is that of Cawthorn and Hutt, established in 1744, Cockspur Street), has continued from the year 1776 within a few hundred yards of its present situation. In that year a Mr. Dangerfield established it on the north side of Berkeley Square, and it was purchased from him by Mr. Rice in 1810 or 1811, under whom it largely developed in extent and reputation. In 1818 he removed into the adjoining Mount Street at No. 123 (south side), where for about fifty years the library remained. Meanwhile it became the property of Mr. Hoby, and after one or two changes successively of Mr. John and Mr. Charles Day, father and son. In Mr. John Day's hands it crossed the road to No. 16 on the north side, and remained there about twenty-four years, till that part of Mount Street was cleared to make way for the present Carlos Place. Then in the year 1890 it again crossed the road to No. 96, where Mr. Charles Day holds a long lease. An early catalogue of the institution shows that the eighteenth-century circulating libraries contained a portion of the weightier works, such as history, biography, travels, etc., a fact which is rarely realized in the face of the popular impression that it was left to the late Mr. C. E. Mudie to supply such works. ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. [Illustration: Paternoster Row on a Bank Holiday.] The bookselling and book-hunting annals of the district which starts with St. Paul's, and terminates at Charing Cross, might occupy a goodly-sized volume. We must of necessity be brief, chiefly because both Paternoster Row and St. Paul's Churchyard have been, for the most part, book-publishing rather than second-hand bookselling localities. As a literary highway, Paternoster Row is of considerable antiquity, for Robert Rikke, a paternoster-maker and citizen, had a shop here in the time of Henry IV., and there can be no question that its name originated from the fact that it was at a very early period the residence of the makers of paternosters, or prayer-beads. Before the Great Fire of 1666, Paternoster Row was not much of a bookselling centre, for it was inhabited chiefly by mercers, silkmen, and lacemen, whose shops were a fashionable resort of the gentry who resided at that time in the immediate vicinity. After the Fire, the Row gradually became famous for its booksellers, or rather publishers, who resided at first near the east end, and whose large warehouses were 'well situated for learned and studious men's access thither, being more retired and private.' Although the book-annals of Paternoster Row chiefly deal with matters subsequent to the Great Fire, there were many publishers and booksellers there over a hundred years before that calamity. In and about 1558 there were, for example, two of the fraternity here established--Richard Lant and Henry Sutton, the latter's shop being at the sign of the Black Morion. For over twenty years, 1565 to 1587, Henry Denham was at the Star in Paternoster Row, whence he issued, among a large number of other books, George Turberville's 'Epitaphs, Epigrams, Songs, and Sonnets' in 1570. The last century, however, witnessed the rise of Paternoster Row as a publishing locality. From 1678 and onwards book-auctions were held at the Hen and Chickens at nine in the morning; at the Golden Lion over against the Queen's Head Tavern, Paternoster Row, at nine in the morning and two in the afternoon, and at other places both in the Row and in its numerous tributaries, such as Ivy Lane, Ave Maria Lane, etc. Although some of the earliest book-auctions held in this country took place in the immediate vicinity of Paternoster Row, and although it had attained a world-wide celebrity as a publishing centre, it has very few interesting records as a second-hand bookselling locality. Awnsham and John Churchill were located at the Black Swan in 1700; William Taylor, the publisher of 'Robinson Crusoe,' 1719, was here at the sign of the Ship early in the last century, and was succeeded by Thomas Longman in 1725, the present handsome pile of buildings, erected in 1863, being on the original spot occupied in part by the founder of the firm. The Longmans had a second-hand department attached to their house in the early part of the present century, as we have already seen. Others which may be here mentioned as being connected with the Row are Baldwin and Cradock; and Ralph Griffiths, of the 'Dunciad'--'those significant emblems, the owl and long-eared animal, which Mr. Griffiths so sagely displays for the mirth and information of mankind'--for whom Goldsmith wrote reviews in a miserable garret. The last firm of second-hand booksellers of note who thrived in Paternoster Row was that of William Baynes and Son; and the last of the race is still remembered by the older generation of book-collectors, with his old-time appearance in frills and gaiters. In 1826 Baynes published one of the most remarkable catalogues (254 pages) of books printed in the fifteenth century which has ever appeared. It is full of extremely valuable bibliographical information. For many years John Wheldon, the natural history bookseller, had a shop, chiefly for the sale of back numbers of periodicals, at 4, Paternoster Row (as well as in Great Queen Street), and this little shop subsequently passed into the tenancy of Jesse Salisbury, who was there until six or seven years ago. The Chapter Coffee-house, where so many important publishing schemes have been mooted and carried out, still lingers in the Row, but modernized out of all recognition. The chief interest of St. Paul's Churchyard as a book locality centres itself in the publishing rather than the second-hand bookselling phase. One of our earliest printer-publishers, Julian Notary, was 'dwellynge in powles chyrche yarde besyde ye weste dore by my lordes palyes' in 1515, his shop sign being the Three Kings. At the sign of the White Greyhound, in St. Paul's Churchyard, the first editions of Shakespeare's 'Venus and Adonis' and 'Rape of Lucrece' were published by John Harrison; at the Fleur de Luce and the Crown appeared the first edition of the 'Merry Wives of Windsor'; at the Green Dragon the first edition of the 'Merchant of Venice'; at the Fox the first edition of 'Richard II.'; whilst the first editions of 'Richard III.,' 'Troilus and Cressida,' 'Titus Andronicus,' and 'Lear' all bear Churchyard imprints. Not only were there very many booksellers' shops around the Yard, but at the latter part of the sixteenth century bookstalls started up, first at the west, and subsequently at the other doors of the cathedral. From a letter addressed by Sir Clement Edmonds, March 28, 1620, to the Lord Mayor, we gather that two houses were erected at the west gate of St. Paul's without the sanction of the authorities, and these were ordered to be removed, as were also certain 'sheds or shops that were being erected near the same place.' A chief portion of the stock of these shops and stalls would naturally be devotional books of various descriptions. That these books were not always to be relied on we infer from an amusing anecdote in the Harleian manuscripts, related by Sir Nicholas L'Estrange, to the effect that 'Dr. Us[s]her, Bishop of Armath, having to preach at Paules Crosse, and passing hastily by one of the stationers, called for a Bible, and had a little one of the London edition given him out, but when he came to looke for his text, that very verse was omitted in the print.' [Illustration: _John Evelyn, Book-collector._] Mr. Pepys' bookseller, Joshua Kirton, was at the sign of the King's Arms. Writing under date November 2, 1660, Pepys chronicles: 'In Paul's Churchyard I called at Kirton's, and there they had got a masse book for me, which I bought, and cost me 12s., and, when I come home, sat up late and read in it with great pleasure to my wife, to hear that she was long ago acquainted with it.' Kirton was one of the most extensive sufferers of the bookselling fraternity in the Great Fire; from being a substantial tradesman with about £8,000 to the good, he was made £2,000 or £3,000 'worse than nothing.' The destruction of books and literary property generally, in and around St. Paul's, in this fire was enormous, Pepys calculating it at about £150,000, and Evelyn putting it at £200,000, or, in other words, about one million sterling as represented by our money of to-day. Evelyn tells us that soon after the fire had subsided the other trades went on as merrily as before, 'only the poor booksellers have been indeed ill-treated by Vulcan; so many noble impressions consumed by their trusting them to y{e} churches.' [Illustration: _Newbery's Shop in St. Paul's Churchyard._ From an old woodcut.] One of the most considerable of the Churchyard booksellers after the Great Fire was Richard Chiswell, the father or progenitor of a numerous family of bibliopoles. John Dunton, indeed, describes him as well deserving of the title of 'Metropolitan Bookseller of England, if not of all the world.' He was born in 1639, and died in 1711. In 1678 he sold, in conjunction with John Dunmore, another bookseller, the libraries of Dr. Benjamin Worsley and two other eminent men. At St. Paul's Coffee-house, which stood at the corner of the entrance from St. Paul's Churchyard to Doctors' Commons, the library of Dr. Rawlinson was, in 1711, sold--'at a prodigious rate,' according to Thoresby--in the evening after dinner. Although not quite _à propos_ of our subject, we can scarcely help mentioning the name of so celebrated a Churchyard publisher as John Newbery, who lived at No. 65, the original site being now covered by the buildings of the R.T.S.; his successors, Griffith and Farran, were at No. 81 until the year 1889, when they moved westward. F. and C. Rivington were at No. 62 for many years, as Peter Pindar tells us: 'In Paul's churchyard, the Bible and the Key, This wondrous pair is always to be seen,-- Somewhat the worse for wear--a little grey-- One like a saint, and one with Cæsar's mien.' A mere list of the Churchyard booksellers would fill a goodly-sized volume. In addition to those already mentioned, one of the most famous and successful families who resided here were the Knaptons, where, during the first three quarters of the last century, they built up an enormous trade, and were succeeded by Robert Horsfield, who carried on the business in Ludgate Street, and died in 1798. We possess one of the interesting catalogues of James and John Knapton, whose shop was at the sign of the Crown. It runs to twenty pages octavo, and enumerates an extraordinary variety of literature. The books written and sermons preached by right reverends and reverends occupy the first five pages, arranged according to the authors' names; and then follow the works of ordinary, commonplace mortals, sermons and Aphra Behn's romances, Mr. Dryden's plays and the 'Whole Duty of Man' appearing cheek-by-jowl. The most important contribution to the earlier history of bookselling appeared from St. Paul's Churchyard in the shape of Robert Clavell's 'General Catalogue of Books printed in England since the Dreadful Fire, 1666, to the End of Trinity Term, 1676.' This catalogue was continued every term till 1700, and includes an abstract of the bills of mortality. The books are classified under their respective headings of divinity, history, physic and surgery, miscellanies, chemistry, etc., the publisher's name in each case being given. Dunton describes Clavell as 'an eminent bookseller' and 'a great dealer,' whilst Dr. Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, distinguished him by the term of 'the honest bookseller.' Clavell's shop was at the sign of the Stag's Head, whilst his partner in many of his projects was Henry Brome, of the Sun, also in the Churchyard. Joseph Johnson, the Dry Bookseller of Beloe, demands a short notice here. He was born at Liverpool in 1738, and after serving an apprenticeship with George Keith, Gracechurch Street, began business for himself on Fish Street Hill, which, being in the track of the medical students at the hospitals in the Borough, was a promising locality. After some years here, he removed to Paternoster Row, where he had as partners first a Mr. Davenport, and then John Payne; the house and stock were destroyed by fire in 1770, after which he removed to St. Paul's Churchyard, where he continued until his death in 1809, the father of the trade. He was a considerable publisher, and 'two poets of great modern celebrity were by him first introduced to the publick--Cowper and Darwin.' Whilst at Fish Street Hill he took over the stock of John Ward, of which he issued a catalogue. Ludgate Hill to a certain degree not unnaturally secured a little of the 'bookish' brilliancy which diffused itself round and about the Churchyard. The highway to the cathedral was naturally a good business quarter, and there can be very little doubt that some of the stalls or booths, which formed a sort of middle row in Ludgate, were occupied by stationers and booksellers, who are not usually indifferent to the advantages of a good thoroughfare. It never, however, came up to St. Paul's Churchyard, either as a publishing or as a bookselling locality; but many retailers were here during the latter part of the last century. Queen Charlotte, wife of George III., is reported by Robert Huish to have said to Mrs. Delany: 'You cannot think what nice books I pick up at bookstalls, or how cheap I buy them.' The Rev. Dr. Croby, in his 'Life of George IV.,' tells us that Queen Charlotte was in the habit of paying visits, in company with some lady-in-waiting, to Holywell Street and Ludgate Hill, 'where second-hand books were exposed for sale during the last half of the eighteenth century.' During the earlier part of this period, among the booksellers of note in Ludgate Street were Robert Horsfield, William Johnston, and Richard Ware (who was a considerable adventurer in new publications). The business established at about the same period and in the same locality by Richard Manley, was considerably extended by John Pridden (1728-1807). The libraries of many eminent and distinguished characters passed through his hands, Nichols tells us. His offers in purchasing them were liberal, and, being content with small profits, 'he soon found himself supported by a numerous and respectable set of friends, not one of whom ever quitted him.' Jonah Bowyer was at the Rose, in Ludgate Street, in and about the year 1706, when he published the Lord Bishop of Oxford's 'Sermons preached before the Queen' at St. Paul's in May of that year; and it was either this Bowyer or William Bowyer--the two were not related--who established a bookselling department on the frozen Thames in 1716. William Johnston, who died at a very advanced age in 1804, was one of the most successful of Ludgate Hill booksellers, and his employées included George Robinson and Thomas Evans, each of whom became the founder of a very extensive business. George Conyers was at the Ring, Ludgate Hill, for some years during the last quarter of the seventeenth century, and prior to his removal to Little Britain. Conyers dealt chiefly in Grub Street compilations, which included cheap and handy guides to everything on earth, and it is likely that his shop was a literary or book-collecting resort. The most famous bibliopole who had a shop in Ludgate is perhaps William Hone, to whom the liberty of the press owes so much, and who removed here from his house at the corner of Ship Court, Old Bailey. Trübner and Co. left Ludgate Hill soon after they amalgamated with Kegan Paul, Trench and Co. FLEET STREET. The Churchyard is, of course, the home of bookselling, but, as we have seen, as time went on, its children, so to speak, repudiated their birthplace. In the middle of the sixteenth century, for example, Fleet Street contained nearly as many bookshops as the parent locality. In addition to this, England's second printer, Wynkyn de Worde, abandoning the Westminster house of his master, William Caxton, took up his residence in Fleet Street in or about the year 1500. The sign of his shop was the Sun, 'agaynste the Condyte,' and as the Conduit stood at the lower end of Fleet Street, a little eastward of Shoe Lane, we get some idea of the exact locality. He was buried in St. Bride's Churchyard in 1534. W. Griffith was busy at the sign of the Falcon, near St. Dunstan's Church, printing booklets about current events with 'flowery' titles, and these books he sold at his second shop, designated the Griffin, 'a little above the Conduit,' in Fleet Street. William Powell, at the George, was publishing religious books of various sorts, and a 'Description of the Countrey of Aphrique,' a translation of a French book on Africa, which was perhaps the very first on a topic now pretty nearly threadbare. Richard Tottell was dwelling at the Hand and Star, between the two temple gates, and just within Temple Bar,[217:A] whence he sent forth books by a score and more distinguished men, and whose name is worthily linked with those of Littleton, More, Tusser, Grafton, Boccaccio, and many others. In 1577 Elizabeth granted the same individual the privilege of printing 'all kinds of "Law bookes," which was common to all printers, who selleth the same bookes at excessive prices, to the hindrance of a greate nomber of pore students.' Other Fleet Street booksellers were William Copland, who issued a number of books, T. and W. Powell, and Henry Wykes. Two of the earliest Fleet Street booksellers, Robert Redman and Richard Pynson, quickly got at loggerheads, the bone of contention being Pynson's device or mark, which his rival stole. These are the neighbourly terms which Pynson applies to Redman; they occur at the end of a new edition of Littleton's 'Tenures,' 1525: 'Behold I now give to thee, candid reader, a Lyttleton corrected (not deceitfully) of the errors which occurred in him. I have been careful that not my printing only should be amended, but also that with a more elegant type it should go forth to the day: that which hath escaped from the hands of Robert Redman, but truly Rudeman, because he is the rudest out of a thousand men, is not easily understood. Truly I wonder now at last that he hath confessed it his own typography, unless it chanced that even as the Devil made a cobbler a mariner, he hath made him a Printer. Formerly this scoundrel did profess himself a Bookseller, as well skilled as if he had started forth from Utopia. He knows well that he is free who pretendeth to books, although it be nothing more.' This pretty little quarrel continued some time, and broke out with renewed vigour on one or two subsequent occasions; but the rivals ultimately became friends, and when Pynson retired from business, he made over his stock to 'this scoundrel' Redman, who then removed to Pynson's shop, next to St. Dunstan's Church. The bibliopolic history of Fleet Street is almost synonymous with the literary history of this country. Anything like an exhaustive account, even so far as relates to the bookselling side of the question, would be quite out of place in a work of this description. A few points, therefore, must suffice. Apart from the booksellers already mentioned, the following are also worthy of notice. At the latter part of the sixteenth century Thomas Marsh, of the Prince's Arms, near St. Dunstan's, issued Stow's 'Chronicles,' and was the holder of several licenses for printing; for nearly half a century J. Smethwicke (who died in 1641) had a shop 'under the diall' of St. Dunstan's, whence he issued Shakespeare's 'Hamlet,' 'Love's Labour Lost,' 'Romeo and Juliet,' 'Taming of the Shrew,' as well as works by Henry Burton, Drayton, Greene, Lodge, and others; Richard Marriot was in St. Dunstan's Churchyard early in the seventeenth century, and his ventures included Quarles' 'Emblems,' 1635, Dr. Downes' 'Sermons,' 1640, and Walton's 'Compleat Angler,' 1653, for which 1s. 6d. was asked, and for a good copy of which £310 has been recently paid; Marriot was also the sponsor of the first part of Butler's 'Hudibras,' 1663. Thomas Dring, of the George, near Clifford's Inn; John Starkey, of the Mitre, between the Middle Temple Gate and Temple Bar, the publisher of Shadwell's plays, and for some time an exile at Amsterdam; Abel Roper, of the Black Boy, over against St. Dunstan's Church, and publisher of the _Post Boy_ newspaper; Thomas Bassett, with whom Jacob Tonson was apprenticed; Tonson himself, of the Judge's Head, near the Inner Temple Gate (he started in Chancery Lane), are Fleet Street booksellers of the latter half of the seventeenth century. Early in the following century we get such names as Benjamin Tooke, of the Middle Temple Gate; Edmund Curll, whose chaste publications appeared from the sign of the Dial and Bible, against St. Dunstan's Church; Bernard Lintot, Tonson's great rival and Pope's publisher, of the Cross Keys, between the Temple Gates; Ben Motte, who succeeded Tooke; Andrew Millar, Samuel Highley, John Murray, and many others who might be mentioned, but who were publishers rather than second-hand booksellers. One of the earliest, and perhaps the very first, of the Fleet Street contingent of booksellers who advertised their stock through the medium of priced catalogues was John Whiston, the younger son of the famous William Whiston. Whiston sold several important libraries, including those of such eighteenth-century celebrities as D'Oyly, Dr. Castell, Wasse, Chishull, Dr. Banks, Prebendary John Wills, Adam Anderson (author of 'The History of Commerce'), and many others; he included a large number of literary men among his acquaintances. From 1756 to 1765 he appears to have been in partnership with Benjamin White, and the libraries which they sold during this period included those of the Rev. Stephen Duck; Thomas Potter, Esq., M.P., son of the Archbishop of Canterbury; Charles Delafaye, Esq., of the Secretary of State's Office; Dr. James Tunstall, Vicar of Rochdale, etc. Of all the second-hand booksellers of the latter half of the last century the most considerable was the Benjamin White above mentioned, whose shop was at the sign of Horace's Head, in Fleet Street, and whose bulky catalogues, often including over 10,000 lots, are now very rare and exceptionally interesting. The contents of these catalogues were classified, first into three divisions, folio, quarto, and octavo and duodecimo, and then again into numerous sections according to the subject-matter of the volumes. 'The sale will begin' on such and such a day, and 'catalogues may be had' at various stated booksellers' shops in London, and at Oxford, and 'the principal towns of England.' From 1716 to 1792 Benjamin White and his son and namesake issued catalogues of various collections of books, including the libraries (or selections from) of Dr. Thomas, Bishop of Salisbury; Sir William Calvert, M.P. for London; Dr. Secker; Rev. Joseph Spence; Dr. Hutchinson, editor of Xenophon; Dr. William Borlase; Dr. Matthew Maty, Secretary of the Royal Society, and Principal Librarian, British Museum; Sir Richard Jebb; Rev. John Bowles, editor of 'Don Quixote'; Rev. John Lightfoot, chaplain to the Countess Dowager of Portland, and author of the 'Flora Scotica.' One of White's best customers was the eccentric George Steevens, who, however, discontinued his daily visits, after many years' regular attendance, for no real cause. He then transferred his attentions to Stockdale's, whom in turn he abruptly forsook. The elder Benjamin retired from business with 'a plentiful fortune,' and died at his house in South Lambeth in March, 1794, and Benjamin junior retired to Hampstead a few years after his father, leaving the business to a younger brother, John, who continued bookselling until the earlier part of the present century, when he, in his turn, gave up active work for the 'enjoyment of a country life' with 'an easy competence.' In one of the catalogues of this celebrated firm--our copy is minus the title-page, but it was evidently issued about 1790--four of the most interesting entries occur among the folios: Caxton's 'Lyfe of the Faders,' with 'curious old wooden plates, not quite perfect, in Russia,' is priced at £5 5s.; Caxton's 'Lyfe of our Lady,' by John Lydgate, is offered at 10s. 6d.; a _fair_ copy of Caxton's 'Lyfe of St. Katherine of Senis' is figured at £10 10s., the price asked also for a 'fair, not quite perfect' example of the 'Golden Legende.' A Second Folio Shakespeare is priced at £4; a Fourth Folio at £1 7s. The same catalogue includes a copy of the famous 'Book of Hawking and Hunting,' printed at St. Albans in 1486, but unfortunately the price is omitted, as is the case with several other important rarities. The Whites published some fine natural history books, including those of Pennant, Latham, and White of Selborne; the last was a relative of the booksellers. Whiston was succeeded by Nathaniel Conant, who sold, _inter alia_, the library of Samuel Speed, 1776, and John White was succeeded by his partner, J. G. Cochrane. Sixty years ago Charles Tilt, afterwards Tilt and Bogue, occupied 85, Fleet Street, and a charming view of this shop appears in Cruikshank's 'Almanack' for March, 1835. [Illustration: _Charles Tilt's Shop._ From Cruikshank's 'Comic Almanac.'] Although the bookselling history of Fleet Street did not cease with the general migration of booksellers, from the end of the last to the beginning of the present century much of its glory as such had departed. During the second and third quarters of the nineteenth century its bibliopolic annals are indeed few. One of its most interesting houses was situated at No. 39, upon part of the site of the present banking-house of Messrs. Hoare. Here formerly stood the famous Mitre Tavern; this place was much damaged during the Great Fire, and was partly rebuilt. In the last century it was a favourite resort of Wanley, Vertue, Dr. Stukeley, Hawkesworth, Percy, Johnson, Boswell, and many other celebrities. Johnson and Boswell first dined here in 1763. It was here that the 'Tour to the Hebrides' was planned; it was here also, at a supper given by Boswell to the Doctor, Goldsmith, Davies, the bookseller, Eccles, and the Rev. John Ogilvie, that Johnson delivered himself of the theory that 'the noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is in the highroad that leads to England.' From 1728 to 1753 the Society of Antiquaries met here, and for some time also the Royal Society held its meetings in this place. In 1788 the tavern ceased to exist, and the house became the 'Poets' Gallery' of Macklin, whose edition of the Bible is described as an unrivalled monument of his taste and energy. Thomas Macklin died in 1800, and the erstwhile Mitre gave place--possibly not at once, but certainly very soon after--to Saunders' Auction-rooms. The most important sale which occurred here, and of which we have discovered any record, was an anonymous one in February, 1818; the catalogue was entitled 'Bibliotheca Selecta: Library of an eminent Collector, removed from the North of England.' This sale occupied six days, and comprised a very fine series of books of old English poetry, history, topography, and illustrated books. For instance, a very fine copy in a genuine state of the First Folio Shakespeare realized the then high figure of £121 16s. A copy of Yates's 'Castell of Courtesie,' 1582, sold for £23 2s., Steevens' copy eighteen years previously going for £2 10s. A large number of other excessively rare books, several of which were unique, were sold here at the same time; but whose they were, or how they could have drifted into such an unimportant auction centre as Saunders', are questions which we are not able to answer. Fifty years ago there were at least three important firms of literary auctioneers in Fleet Street--Henry Southgate (who eventually turned author, and who died about three years ago), at No. 22; L. A. Lewis, at No. 125; and E. Hodgson, referred to on p. 116. At each of these three centres many extensive collections of books came under the hammer. When the elder Southgate died or retired, in about 1837, two of his assistants, Grimston and Havers, left, and started on their own account at 30, Holborn Hill, making the auction of books a speciality; but their existence appears to have been brief. The neighbourhood had, however, a book-auction repute long before the present century dawned, and the Rose Tavern, near Temple Bar, was a favourite locality for this method of selling books. Samuel Baker here sold the entire library ('Bibliotheca Elegans') of Alderman Sir Robert Baylis in 1749, and that of Conyers Middleton, Principal Librarian of the University of Cambridge, March 4, 1750-51, and nine following days--by order and for the benefit of the widow, who in the preface 'takes this opportunity to assure the public that this catalogue contains the genuine library of Dr. Middleton, without any alteration, and is sold for my advantage'--there were 1,300 lots. THE STRAND. [Illustration: _Butcher Row, 1798._] The modernization of the Strand, but more particularly the erection of the New Law Courts from Temple Bar to Clement's Inn, has destroyed very many book-hunting and literary localities. This project involved the obliteration of thirty-three streets, lanes and courts, and the levelling of 400 dwelling, lodging and ware houses, and so forth, sheltering over 4,000 individuals. It has entirely altered the aspect of the place; not perhaps before it was necessary, for the whole neighbourhood had degenerated into rookeries of the vilest description. Among the localities swept away, a brief reference may be made to one which has a twofold interest--Butcher Row--first, because Clifton's Eating-house, one of Dr. Johnson's favourite resorts, was in this Row, and secondly because one of the earliest catalogues of second-hand books was issued from within a yard or two of Clifton's. J. Stephens' shop was at the sign of the Bible in Butcher Row, and towards the latter part of 1742 he published 'a catalogue of several libraries of books lately purchased, in several languages,' etc., the price of each book being, as usual, marked on the first leaf before the sale commenced, which sale was announced to begin 'on Tuesday, the 2nd of November, 1742,' and 'to continue till all are sold.' For a copy of this exceedingly rare and interesting catalogue we are indebted to Mr. Dobell, the bookseller. It comprises twenty-six pages octavo, and enumerates over 1,300 books, the majority of which are priced. There are very few volumes in this list which are now included in anyone's desiderata, but the list itself is a very good indication of the book-buying tastes of our forbears of a century and half ago. Butcher Row, it may be mentioned, was immediately beyond St. Clement's Church (on the northern side of the Strand), and by the end of the last century had degenerated into a number of wretched fabrics and narrow passages, the houses greatly overhanging their foundations; in or about 1802, this street was pulled down and gave place to Pickett Street, so named because the improvement was the scheme of Alderman Pickett. [Illustration: _Charles Hutt's House in Clement's Inn Passage._] One of the last bookselling haunts to be pulled down was the quaint old shop occupied by the late Charles Hutt (who, by the way, was born in the vestry of the Clare Market chapel-of-ease) where many famous book-hunters had picked up bargains. Charles Hutt, had he lived, would have become one of the leading booksellers of the day. He was for some years at Hodgson's, and possessed a remarkable taste for, and knowledge of, books. He left Hodgson's and started on his own account in the old ramshackle house already referred to. This shop presented so unfavourable an exterior that even the Income-tax Fiend never 'called in,' although at one time there were several thousands of pounds' worth of books in it. Hutt did a very extensive trade, not only in this country, but in America. He had an especial aptitude at completing sets of particular authors--Landor, Leigh Hunt, Byron, Shelley--and contributed much to the prevailing taste for modern first editions. A younger brother, Mr. F. H. Hutt, has been for some years established at 10, Clement's Inn Passage, within a few yards of the old shop. The associations of the past half-century of this neighbourhood include two other well-known firms of booksellers. Theophilus Noble, who had removed from 114, Chancery Lane, was at 79, Fleet Street for some years until his death in 1851, and a member of the same family is still a second-hand bookseller opposite St. Mary-le-Strand Church. Reeves and Turner removed from Noble's old house in Chancery Lane, to the house on the west side of Temple Bar and adjoining it on the north, erected on the site of the famous old bulk-shop, the last of its race, where at one time Crockford, 'Shell-fishmonger and gambler,' lived. When Temple Bar was removed, this shop came down, and Reeves and Turner (who for the second time had to bow to the necessities of 'improvements') opened their well-known place on the south side of the Strand, facing St. Clement's Church. Their spacious shop here for about a quarter of a century was a famous book-haunt, and one of the very few successful ones which have existed in a crowded thoroughfare. It always contained an immense variety of good and useful books, priced at exceedingly moderate amounts, and the poorer book-lover could always venture, generally successfully, on suggesting a small reduction in the prices marked without being trampled in the dust as a thief and a robber. A year or two ago, when the lease of the shop expired, Messrs. Reeves and Turner bibliopolically ceased to exist--there not being a Reeves or a Turner in the Chancery Lane firm of booksellers of that name--but Mr. David Reeves, a son of Mr. William Reeves, started in Wellington Street, Strand, the latter, the _doyen_ of London booksellers, occupying a portion of the house as a publisher and a dealer in remainders. [Illustration: _Mr. William D. Reeves, Bookseller._] The most famous bookselling locality in this district is Holywell Street, or, as it is now generally called, Booksellers' Row. This street has always been afflicted with a questionable repute, not without cause, and much of the ill-odour of its past career still clings to it. Even second-hand bookselling has not purged it entirely. Half a century ago its shops were almost entirely taken up with the vendors of second-hand clothes, and the offals of several other more or less disreputable trades. Above these shops resided the Grub Street gentry of the period. 'It was,' says one who knew it well, 'famous for its houses of call for reporters, editors and literary adventurers generally, all of whom formed a large army of needy, clever disciples of the pen, who lived by their wits, if they had any, and in lieu of those estimable qualifications, by cool assurance, impudence, and the gift of their mother tongue in spontaneous and frothy eloquence.' It was also a famous and convenient place 'for literary gentlemen and others, who were desirous of evading bailiffs and sheriffs' officers who might be anxious of making their acquaintance,' for even if they were traced to the Holywell Street entrance of any particular house, they could easily escape into Wych Street, and so slip the myrmidons of the law. It next became the emporium of indecent literature (from which charge it is not yet quite free), but much of this peculiar trade was suppressed by Lord Campbell's Act. For nearly half a century the place has been growing in popularity as a _locus standi_ of the reputable second-hand book trade. Every book-hunter of note has known, or knows, of its many shops. Macaulay, for example, obtained many of his books from Holywell Street. The late Mr. Thoms related, in the _Nineteenth Century_, a very curious incident which put the great historian in possession of some French _mémoires_ of which he had long been endeavouring to secure a copy. Macaulay was once strolling down this street, when he saw in a bookseller's window a volume of Muggletonian tracts. 'Having gone in, examined the volume, and agreed to buy it, he tendered a sovereign in payment. The bookseller had not change, but said if he (Macaulay) would just keep an eye on the shop, he would step out and get it. His name, I think, was Hearle, and he had some relatives of the same name who had shops in the same street. This shop was at the west end of the street, and backed on to Wych Street; and at the back was a small recess, lighted by a few panes of glass, generally somewhat obscured by the dust of ages. While Macaulay was looking round the shop, a ray of sunshine fell through this little window on four little duodecimo volumes bound in vellum. He pulled out one of these to see what the work was, and great was his surprise and delight at finding these were the very French _mémoires_ of which he had been in search for many years.' More rare and interesting books have been picked up in this street during the past forty years than in any other locality. Rumour, which sometimes tells the truth, says that Shelley's copy, with his autograph on the title-page, of Ossian's 'Poems' was picked up here for a few pence. A book with Shakespeare's autograph on the title-page was also said to have been rescued from among a lot of cheap books in this locality a few years ago. We are not certain, but we believe that the Shakespeare autograph has been proved to be a forgery. If that is so, then perhaps the honour of being the greatest 'find' ever discovered, about four years ago, in Holywell Street, pertains to a perfect copy of 'Le Pastissier François,' 1655, the most valuable of all the Elzevirs, its value being from about £60 to £100. The copy in question was bound up with a worthless tract, and history has not left on record what the bookseller thought when he discovered his ignorance. A copy of the first edition of Horne's 'Orion,' 1843, was purchased in this street for 2d. in 1886, its market value being about £2. It was originally issued at 1/4d., by way of sarcasm on the low estimation of epic poetry. The Holywell Street bookseller did not appraise it at a much higher figure than the author. Scarcely a week passes without a volume possessing great personal or historic interest being 'bagged' in this narrow but delightful thoroughfare. Many of these finds, it is true, may not be of great commercial value, but they are oftentimes very desirable books in more respects than one. The present writer has been fortunate in this matter. No person would now rank James Boswell, for instance, among great men, but a book in two volumes, with the following inscription, 'James Boswell, From the Translator near Padua, 1765,' would not be reckoned costly at 1s., the book in question being a beautiful copy of Cesarotti's translation into Italian of Ossian's 'Poems.' David Hume's own copy of 'Histoire du Gouvernement de Venise,' par le Sieur Amelot de la Houssaie, 1677, was not dear at 6d., and at a similar price was obtained an excessively rare volume (for which a well-known book-collector had been on the look-out in vain for many years), whose contents are little indicated by the title of 'Roman Tablets,' 1826, but whose nature is at all events suggested by the sub-title of 'Facts, Anecdotes, and Observations on the Manners, Customs, Ceremonies and Government of Rome.' It is a terrific exposure (originally written in French), for which the author was prosecuted at the solicitation of the Pope's Nuncio at Paris. The late John Payne Collier has told of a Holywell Street 'find' as far back as January 20, 1823, when he picked up a very nice clean copy of Hughes' 'Calypso and Telemachus,' 1712, for which he paid 2s. 6d. It was not, however, until he reached home that he discovered the remarkable nature of his purchase, which had belonged to Pope, who had inscribed in his own autograph thirty-eight couplets, addressed 'To Mr. Hughes, On His Opera.' These are only a selection from an extensive series of more or less interesting 'finds,' of which every collector has a store. Two of the earliest and best-known of the more important Holywell Street booksellers passed away some years ago. 'Tommy' Arthur, who made a respectable fortune out of the trade, and whose shop and connections are now in the possession of W. Ridler, who is a successful trader, and a man of considerable independence as regards the conventionalities of appearances. (Our artist's portrait of this celebrity in his brougham, indulging in the extravagance of a clay pipe, had not arrived at the time of going to press, so it must be held over until the next edition of this book.) Joseph Poole was another Holywell Street bookseller of an original type, with his quaint semi-clerical attire. This bibliopole's relatives still carry on business in this street, school-books being with them a speciality. The _doyen_ of the street is Mr. Henry R. Hill, whose two shops are at the extreme east end of the street. Mr. Hill has been here for about forty years, and has seen many changes, not only in the general character of the street, but also of the tastes in book-fancies. Mr. Hill's shops, with Mrs. Lazarus's three hard by, are full of interesting books, priced at very moderate figures. The latter has been established here for about fifteen years. Messrs. Myers, who also occupy three bookshops in this street, were for some years with Mrs. Lazarus; and Mr. W. R. Hill acquired a great deal of his book-knowledge at Reeves and Turner's. Mr. Charles Hindley has been long established in this street. [Illustration: _Messrs. Hill and Son's Shop in Holywell Street._] The step from fifth-rate book-making to second-hand bookselling is not a great one, and just as Holywell Street sheltered the Grub-writers of half a century ago, so Drury Lane and its immediate vicinity was their recognised locality in the earlier part of the last century. It is impossible to associate respectability, to say nothing of fashion, with this evil-smelling, squalid thoroughfare. And yet there can be no question about its having been at one time an aristocratic quarter. Until within the last few years, the Lane itself, and its numerous tributaries, contained many second-hand bookshops. The most celebrated, and, indeed, almost the only one of any interest, was Andrew Jackson, who made a speciality of old and black-letter books. Nichols tells us that for more than forty years he kept a shop in Clare Market, and here, 'like another Magliabecchi, midst dust and cobwebs, he indulged his appetite for reading; legends and romances, history and poetry, were indiscriminately his favourite pursuits.' In 1740 he published the first book of 'Paradise Lost' in rhyme, and ten years afterwards a number of modernizations from Chaucer. The contents of his catalogues of the years 1756, 1757, 1759, and one without date, were in rhyme. He retired in 1777, and died in July, 1778, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. Charles Marsh, another literary bookseller, was for some time a friend and neighbour of Jackson's. Marsh (who afterwards removed to a shop now swallowed by the improvements in Northumberland Avenue, Charing Cross) was situated at Cicero's Head, in New Round Court, off the Strand, and is described by one who knew him as being afflicted with 'a very unhappy temper, and withal very proud and insolent, with a plentiful share of conceit.' He wrote a poem entitled 'The Library, an Epistle from a Bookseller to a Gentleman, his Customer; desiring him to discharge his bill,' 1766. He was originally a church-clerk. The only catalogue of this celebrity which we have seen is a bulky one, over 100 pages octavo, enumerating 3,000 books, 'among which are included the libraries of the Rev. Mr. Gilbert Burnet, Minister of Clerkenwell, and an eminent apothecary, both lately deceased.' The date is May 7, 1747. Some of the prices in this catalogue can only be described as absurd; for example, Lydgate's 'Bochas; or, The Fall of Princes,' 1517, 5s.; a collection of old plays and poems, two volumes, 1592, 6s.; Tusser's 'Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry,' 1574, 2s. 6d.; and black-letter books by the score are here offered at sums from one to three or four shillings each. The neighbourhood has for many years ceased to be a bookselling locality, for although book-hunters prefer side-streets and quiet thoroughfares for the prosecution of their hobby, the pestiferous vapours of Drury Lane would kill any bibliopolic growth more vigorous than a newsvendor's shop. [Illustration: _Messrs. Sotheran's Shop in Piccadilly._] When, by slow degrees, the various trades moved in a direction west of Temple Bar, it was only natural that the trade in second-hand books should be similarly attracted. The Strand itself, which, at the end of the last century and beginning of the present, was a much narrower street than it is now, is not, and never has been, a great book-emporium, for a reason which we have more than once pointed out. But the immediate vicinity has been for over a century and a half, as it still continues to be, the favourite locality of some of the chief booksellers. To-day the Strand proper only contains three representatives, in Messrs. H. Sotheran and Co., the finer of whose two shops is in Piccadilly, and Mr. David Nutt (both of whom are, however, vendors of new books, and often act as publishers), and Messrs. Walford. Within a stone's-throw of the main thoroughfare we have John Galwey and Suckling and Galloway, Garrick Street; James Gunn and Nattali, Bedford Street; B. F. Stevens, Trafalgar Square; H. Fawcett, King Street; W. Wesley and Sons, Essex Street; and many others. One of the most interesting incidents in connection with the Strand relates to a house which stood between Arundel and Norfolk Streets, where, at the end of the seventeenth century, lived the father of Bishop Burnet. 'This house,' says Dr. Hughson, writing in 1810, 'continued in the Burnet family till within living memory, being possessed by a bookseller of the same name--a collateral descendant of the Bishop.' Of much more importance, however, is the fact that at 132, Strand a bookseller named Wright started, about 1730, the first circulating library in London. About ten years afterwards he was succeeded by William Bathoe ('a very intelligent bookseller' who died in October, 1768), who carried on the circulating library in addition to bookselling. Bathoe was a book-auctioneer as well as a retail vendor; he sold the books of 'William Hogarth, Esq., sergeant-painter,' under the hammer. In or about the year 1747 he had established himself 'in Church Lane, near St. Martin's Church in the Strand, almost opposite York Buildings,' whence he issued a thirty-eight-paged (octavo) catalogue, comprising the 'valuable library of the learned James Thompson Esq., deceased, with the collection of a gentleman lately gone abroad'; this list enumerates nearly 1,000 items, the prices, ranging from 6d. upwards, being uniformly low. Walton's 'Compleat Angler,' 1661, 'with neat cuts,' would not be long unsold at 3s. 6d.; and the same may be said of Purchas's 'Pilgrimage,' 1617, 2s. 6d.; of Rochester's complete poems at 2s.; and very many others. At 'No. 18 in the Strand' lived J. Mathews, the bookseller, and father of Charles Mathews, the actor; and in this house the latter was born. Jacob Tonson was at 'Shakespeare's Head, over against Catherine Street, in the Strand,' now 141; the house, since rebuilt, was afterwards occupied by Andrew Millar, who deposed Shakespeare, and erected Buchanan's Head instead. Millar was succeeded by his friend and apprentice, Thomas Cadell (who became a partner in 1765), in 1767; he retired in 1793. Cadell's son then became head of the concern, and took William Davies into partnership. The firm of Cadell and Davies existed until the death of the latter in 1820, after which Cadell (the Opulent Bookseller of Beloe) continued it in his own name until his death in 1836. Samuel Bagster; Whitmore and Fenn; J. Walter (an apprentice of Robert Dodsley, and the founder of the _Times_); William Brown (an apprentice of Sandby), Essex Street, who died in 1797, and who was succeeded by Robert Bickerstaff; Henry Chapman, Chandos Street, 1790-1795; W. Lowndes; and Walter Wilson, of the Mews Gate, were Strand booksellers of more or less note during the latter part of the last, and the earlier part of the present, century. CHARING CROSS AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. John Millan was one of the most famous of Charing Cross or Whitehall booksellers, for he was located here for over half a century, dying in 1784, aged over eighty-one years. Richard Gough drew the following picture of Millan's shop in March, 1772: 'On my return from Westminster last night, I penetrated the utmost recesses of Millan's shop, which, if I may borrow an idea from natural history, is incrusted with literature and curiosities like so many stalactitical exudations. Through a narrow alley, between piles of books, I reached a cell, or _adytum_, whose sides were so completely cased with the same _supellex_ that the fireplace was literally _enchâsse dans la muraille_. In this cell sat the deity of the place, at the head of a whist party, which was interrupted by my inquiry after _Dillenius_ in sheets. The answer was, he "had none in sheets or blankets." . . . I emerged from this shop, which I consider as a future Herculaneum, where we shall hereafter root out many scarce things now rotting on the floor, considerably sunk below the level of the new pavement.' Millan was succeeded by Thomas and John Egerton, the latter being 'a bookseller of great eminence'--the Black-letter Bookseller of Beloe--whose death occurred in 1795. 'It was in his time,' says Beloe, 'that Old English books, of a particular description both in prose and verse, were, for some cause or other--principally, perhaps, as they were of use in the illustration of Shakespeare--beginning to assume a new dignity and importance, and to increase in value at the rate of 500 per cent.' Another Charing Cross bookseller, Samuel Leacroft (who succeeded Charles Marsh), died in 1795, and it is rather curious that John Egerton was a son-in-law of Lockyer Davis, whilst his neighbour was an apprentice. Of Samuel Baker, whose shop was in Russell Street, Covent Garden, we have already spoken in our account of book-auctioneers. One of his early--May, 1747--catalogues (not auction) comprises the libraries of Dr. Robert Uvedale, and of this divine's son and namesake, also a D.D., of Enfield; it enumerates over 3,000 items. Thomas Becket (an apprentice of Millar, and Sterne's first publisher) and P. De Hondt were successful Strand booksellers; the former finally settled himself in Pall Mall, and was one of the first to make a speciality of foreign books, of which he imported large quantities between 1761 and 1766. C. Heydinger, of the Strand, was a German bookseller who issued catalogues from 1771 to 1773, and who died in distressed circumstances about 1778. Henry Lasher Gardner, who died at a very advanced age in 1808, was a venerable bookseller, whose shop was opposite St. Clement's Church, Strand; he published catalogues between 1786 and 1793. William Otridge, at first alone, and afterwards in partnership with his son, issued catalogues from the Strand during the last quarter of the last century. In 1796 Joseph Pote was selling books at the Golden Door, over against Suffolk Street, Charing Cross. John Nourse (died 1780), bookseller to his Majesty, was another celebrated bibliopole of the Strand, and is described by John Nichols as 'a man of science, particularly in the mathematical line.' Francis Wingrave succeeded Nourse. One of the most celebrated booksellers of this neighbourhood during the last half of the eighteenth century was Tom Davies, who sported his rubric posts[237:A] in Russell Street, Covent Garden, and who was driven from his position as actor in Garrick's company by Churchill's killing satire: 'He mouths a sentence as curs mouth a bone.' In spite of satirists, the verdict of his contemporaries is ratified, so to speak, in voting Tom Davies a good fellow. Dr. John Campbell described him as 'not a bookseller, but a gentleman dealing in books'; and the Rev. P. Stockdale described him as 'the most gentleman-like person of that trade whom I ever knew.' Dr. Johnson said he was 'learned enough for a clergyman,' which was an equivocal compliment, for the clergymen of the period were not, as a rule, learned. Davies was generally talkative, but at times quite the reverse, and sometimes uttered pious ejaculations. Between 1764 and 1776 Davies sold a number of interesting and valuable libraries--those, for example, of William Shenstone and William Oldys. Davies, like many other contemporary booksellers, was fond of scribbling, and was the author of 'Memoirs of Garrick,' and other books. Probably the most famous bookseller of the Strand is Thomas Payne, who for over half a century (1740-1794) was selling books in this locality. 'Honest Tom Payne' started business in or about 1740, for in February of that year he issued a catalogue of 'curious books in divinity, history, classics, medicine, voyages, natural history,' etc., from the 'Round Court,[237:B] in the Strand, opposite York Buildings.' About ten years later (January, 1750) he had removed to the Mews Gate to a shop shaped like the letter L, which became one of the most famous literary resorts of the period. Just before leaving Round Court, Tom Payne issued a sort of clearance catalogue, comprising 10,000 volumes, 'which will be sold very cheap.' The Mews Gate was near St. Martin's Church, and probably close to the bottom of the new thoroughfare, Charing Cross Road. It was at this shop that all the book-collectors of the day most congregated, for it was to Tom Payne's that the majority of libraries were consigned--_e.g._, those of Ralph Thoresby, Sir John Barnard, Francis Grose, Rev. S. Whisson, and many others whose names are now nothing but names, but who were at the time well-known collectors. Tom Payne's customers included all the bibliophiles of the period. 'Must I,' asks Mathias in the 'Pursuits of Literature'-- 'Must I, as a wit with learned air, Like Doctor Dewlap, to Tom Payne's repair, Meet Cyril Jackson and mild Cracherode, 'Mid literary gods myself a god? There make folks wonder at th' extent of genius In the Greek Aldus or the Dutch Frobenius, And then, to edify their learned souls, Quote pleasant sayings from _The Shippe of Foles_.' [Illustration: _Honest Tom Payne._] Mathias describes Tom Payne as 'that Trypho emeritus,' and as 'one of the honestest men living, to whom, as a bookseller, learning is under considerable obligations.' Beloe, in his 'Sexagenarian,' states that at Tom Payne's and at Peter Elmsley's, in the Strand, 'a wandering scholar in search of pabulum might be almost certain of meeting Cracherode, George Steevens, Malone, Wyndham, Lord Stormont, Sir John Hawkins, Lord Spencer, Porson, Burney, Thomas Grenville, Wakefield, Dean Dampier, King of Mansfield Street, Towneley, Colonel Stanley,' and others. Savage professed to have picked up his 'Author to Let' at 'the Mews Gate on my way from Charing Cross to Hedge Lane.' Tom Payne (who was a native of Brackley) came into possession of his famous shop at the Mews' Gate through his marriage with Elizabeth Taylor, whose brother built and for some time occupied it. About 1776 Tom Payne ('Bookseller Extraordinary to the Prince Regent, and Bookseller to the University of Oxford') took his son into partnership, to whom fourteen years later he relinquished the business, and died in February, 1799, in his eighty-second year. Thomas Payne the younger (to whom Dibdin dedicated his 'Library Companion,' 1825) remained here until 1806, when he removed to Pall Mall; in 1813 he took Henry Foss, who had been his apprentice, into partnership. The former died in 1831, and was succeeded by his nephew, John Payne, and Henry Foss, who retired from the trade in 1850, when their stock came under the hammer at Sotheby's. In the preface to his 'Library Companion,' 1825, Dibdin speaks very highly of the catalogue of Payne and Foss: 'Since the commencement of this work, Messrs. Payne and Foss have published a catalogue of 10,051 articles. I have smiled, in common with many friends, to observe rare and curious volumes selling for large sums at auctions, when sometimes _better_ copies of them may be obtained in that incomparable repository in Pall Mall at two-thirds of the price. Whoever wants a _classical fitting out_ must betake themselves to this repository.' The bibliopolic history of the Mews Gate did not terminate with the younger Tom Payne. When he removed to a more aristocratic quarter, the shop passed into the occupation of William Sancho, the negro bookseller, whose father, Ignatius, was born in 1729 on board a ship in the slave trade soon after it had quitted the coast of Guinea. William Sancho died before 1817, and was succeeded at the Mews Gate by James Bain, who afterwards removed to No. 1, Haymarket, where the business is still carried on, 'in accordance with the best bookselling traditions, by his younger son, the second James Bain having died early in 1894.' The Mews was taken down in 1830, and was used in its latter days to shelter Cross's Menagerie from Exeter 'Change. One of the oldest firms of Strand booksellers was that started in 1686 by Paul Vaillant, who, at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, escaped to England. His shop was opposite Southampton Street, and his chief dealings were in foreign books. He was succeeded by his sons Paul and Isaac, and then by his grandson, Paul III., the son of Paul II. The second Paul purchased a quantity of books at Freebairn's sale for the Earl of Sunderland, and his joy at securing the copy of Virgil's 'Opera,' printed 'per Zarothum,' 1472, is duly chronicled by Nichols; he was one of the booksellers employed by the Society for the Encouragement of Learning. He died in 1802, aged eighty-seven, and as both of his two sons had elected to follow other occupations, the business passed into the hands of Peter Elmsley, the great friend and companion of Gibbon, whose 'Decline and Fall,' however, he did not see his way to publish; he was a great linguist, and possessed 'an amount of general knowledge that fitted him for conversation and correspondence upon a familiar and equal footing with the most illustrious and accomplished of his day.' At the end of the last century he resigned the business to his shopman, David Bremner, 'whose anxiety for acquiring wealth rendered him wholly careless of indulging himself in the ordinary comforts of life, and hurried him prematurely to the grave.' He was succeeded by James Payne (the youngest son of the famous Tom) and J. Mackinlay, both of whom also came to premature ends, the former through being long confined as a prisoner in France. Among the most famous of the Strand booksellers of the earlier part of the present century were Rivington and Cochran, of No. 148 (near Somerset House), and Thomas Thorpe, of 38, Bedford Street. With these two firms it really seemed a question as to which could issue the most bulky catalogues. The earliest example which we have seen of the former is dated 1825; it extends to over 800 pages, and comprises nearly 18,000 items in various languages and in every department of literature. Thomas Thorpe was undoubtedly the giant bibliopole of the period. If anything striking or original occurred in the bookselling world, it was generally Thorpe who did it. Dibdin describes him as 'indeed a man of might.' His catalogues, continues the same writer, 'are of never-ceasing production, thronged with the treasures which he has gallantly borne off, at the point of his lance, in many a hard day's fight, in the Pall Mall and Waterloo Place arenas. But these conquests are no sooner obtained than the public receives an account of them, and during the last year only his catalogues, in three parts, now before me, comprise no fewer than 179,059 articles. What a scale of buying and selling does this fact alone evince! But in this present year two parts have already appeared, containing upwards of 12,000 articles. Nor is this all. On September 24, 1823, there appeared the most marvellous phenomenon ever witnessed in the annals of bibliopolism.[241:A] The _Times_ had four of the five columns of its last page occupied by an advertisement of Mr. Thorpe, containing the third part of his catalogue for that year. On a moderate computation, this advertisement comprised 1,120 lines. The effect was most extraordinary. Many wondered, and some remonstrated; but Mr. Thorpe was master of his own mint, and he never mentions the circumstance but with perfect confidence, and even gaiety of heart, at its success.' Thorpe issued catalogues from 1829 to 1851, and during one year alone, 1843, his lists comprised over 16,000 lots. In 1836 he removed from Bedford Street to 178, Piccadilly. Thorpe was the first _merchant_ in autographs, and Sir Thomas Phillipps was one of the first _collectors_ who flourished in the iniquity of the pursuit, and it was the latter who on one occasion purchased the entire contents of one of Thorpe's autograph catalogues. Another distinguished bibliopole of this locality, or, more correctly, of Great Newport Street, was Thomas Rodd, who died in April, 1849, in his fifty-third year. The business was really started by his father and namesake, who was a man of considerable literary ability, and who abandoned his intention of entering the Church when he became possessed of a secret for making imitation diamonds, rubies, garnets, etc. In 1809 he added bookselling to that of manufacturing sham stones. After getting into trouble with the Excise on account of the latter accomplishment, he devoted himself entirely to the book-trade. The elder Rodd died in 1822, and his son, the more famous bibliopole, succeeded to the business, which he developed in an extraordinary manner within a few years. His memory and knowledge of books were almost limitless, and, like Thomas Thorpe, most of his schemes were on a scale to create a sensation. Rodd's catalogues are of great bibliographical value. In spite of his extensive connections, his stock at the time of his death was enormous. It was sold, in ten different instalments, at Sotheby's, between November, 1849, and November, 1850. [Illustration: _Henry G. Bohn, Bookseller._] [Illustration: _John H. Bohn._] Henry G. Bohn may be regarded as the connecting link between the old and the new school of booksellers. He was born in London on January 4, 1796, and died in August, 1884. His father was a bookbinder of Frith Street, Soho, but when he removed to Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, he added (in 1814) a business in second-hand books. Between this year and 1830, H. G. Bohn paid repeated visits to the Continent as his father's buyer. In 1831 he married a daughter of Mr. Simpkin, of Simpkin, Marshall and Co. He started in business for himself, and rapidly built up an extensive trade, far exceeding any of his rivals. At about the same time his brother James also started on his own account, at 12, King William Street, Charing Cross, whilst the third brother, John Hutter Bohn, who has been for nearly forty years the cataloguer at Sotheby's and is still living, attended to the original business. Bohn's famous 'Guinea Catalogue' was deservedly regarded as a great triumph in its way, although it has been far surpassed by the splendid catalogues of his whilom apprentice, B. Quaritch. Bohn's fame now rests almost exclusively in his publishing ventures, which proved a veritable gold-mine to the originator, and are still highly lucrative investments in the hands of Messrs. George Bell and Sons. He 'edited' an edition of Lowndes' 'Bibliographer's Manual,' and his name occurs on the title-pages of a great many books dealing with an extensive variety of subjects. It is scarcely necessary to say that Bohn has very little claim to be regarded either as an editor or as an author, unless the cash purchase of the product of other men's brain and study conferred either of these titles upon him. He was, however, a remarkable person, with a very wide knowledge of books. While quite a young man he catalogued the books of Dr. Parr. The growing extent of his publishing business killed the second-hand trade, so far as he was concerned, and his stock was disposed of at Sotheby's in the years 1868, 1870, and 1872, occupying fifty days in selling, and realizing a total of over £13,300. Both Henry G. Bohn and his brother James dealt largely in remainders, and of this class of merchandise each issued catalogues early in the year 1840 (and at other times), and the difference in the extent of the trade done by the two brothers may be indicated by the fact that the catalogue of the former extends to 132 pages, whilst that of the latter is only 16 pages. In this, as in everything else which he undertook, H. G. Bohn was first and his rivals nowhere. One of Bohn's rivals in the 'forties' was Joseph Lilly, who once undertook to purchase everything important in the book line which was offered, but he soon gave up the idea. His shop was for some time at 19, King Street, Covent Garden, and his catalogues always contained a large number of select books. He had served a short time at Lackington's, and was distinguished for the zeal with which he purchased First Folio Shakespeares. Lilly died in 1870, and his vast stock came under the hammer at Sotheby's in six batches, 1871-73. [Illustration: _Mr. F. S. Ellis._] King William Street, Strand, until the last three or four years, had been for nearly a century a famous emporium of second-hand bookshops. Its most famous inhabitant in this respect was Charles John Stewart (whom Henry Stevens, of Vermont, described as the last of the learned old booksellers), who was born in Scotland at the beginning of the present century, and died on September 17, 1883. He was one of Lackington's pupils, and started as a second-hand bookseller with Howell, subsequently carrying on the business alone. His chief commodity was theological books, and when his stock--perhaps the largest of its kind known--came to be sold, it realized close on £5,000. Joel Rowsell was another famous bibliopole who resided in this street, and he, like Stewart, retired in 1882. G. Bumstead (whose speciality was curious or eccentric books; he was distinctly an 'old' bookseller, for he rarely bought anything printed after 1800), Molini and Green, J. M. Stark, and J. W. Jarvis and Sons, were also, at one time or another, in this bookselling thoroughfare, which is now entirely deserted by the fraternity. Doubtless one of the most successful of modern bibliopoles who lived in the vicinity of the Strand is Mr. F. S. Ellis, who was an apprentice of James Toovey, and who in a comparatively few years built up a business second only to that of Quaritch. Mr. Ellis (who purchased the valuable freewill of T. and W. Boone's connection) compiled the greater portion of the catalogue of the celebrated Huth Library, and since he has retired to Torquay has taken up book-editing with all the zeal which characterized his earlier career as a bookseller. Mr. Ellis's shop was at 33, King Street, Covent Garden, and afterwards at 29, New Bond Street, and the prestige of his name is worthily maintained by his nephew, Mr. G. I. Ellis (with whom is Mr. Elvey), at the latter address. The whole neighbourhood of which Covent Garden may be taken as the centre, is full of a bibliopolic history, which dates back to the beginning of the last century. The time when Aldines were to be picked up at 1s. 6d. each, and when Shakespeare Folios were to be had for 30s. each round about the Piazza, has, it is true, long gone by; but a very large library, in almost any branch of literature, may be easily formed, at a very moderate cost, any day within a stone's-throw of London's great vegetable market. It may be mentioned, _en passant_, that George Willis, the editor-publisher of _Willis's Current Notes_, was for many years at the Great Piazza, Covent Garden. The firm subsequently became known as Willis and Sotheran, and is now Sotheran and Co.: this highly respectable house was established in Tower Street, E.C., as far back as 1816. [Illustration: _A Corner at Ellis and Elvey's._] WESTMINSTER HALL. [Illustration: _Westminster Hall when occupied by Booksellers and others._ From a Print by Gravelot.] There is not, perhaps, in the whole world, a more interesting bookselling locality than Westminster Hall. This place is redolent with historical associations, with parliaments, coronations, revelries, and impeachments. Stalls for books, as well as other small merchandise, were permitted in the hall of the palace of Westminster early in the sixteenth century. The poor scholars of Westminster also were employed in hawking books between school-hours. In the procession of sanctuary men who accompanied the Abbot of Westminster and his convent, December 6, 1556, was 'a boy that killed a big boy that sold papers and printed books, with hurling of a stone, and hit him under the ear in Westminster Hall.' In the churchwardens' accounts of the parish of St. Margaret, Westminster, there is, under date 1498-1500, an entry: 'Item, Received for another legende solde in Westmynster halle, v_s._ viij_d._,' the 'legende' being one of the thirteen copies of 'The Golden Legend' bequeathed by Caxton to the 'behove' of the parish of St. Margaret's. Towards the end of the sixteenth century Tom Nash wrote: 'Looke to it, you booksellers and stationers, and let not your shop be infested with any such goose gyblets, or stinking garbadge as the jygs of newsmongers; and especially such of you as frequent Westminster Hall, let them be circumspect what dunghill papers they bring thether: for one bad pamphlet is inough to raise a dampe that may poyson a whole towne,' etc. At first the shops or stalls were ranged along the blank wall on the southern side of the hall. Subsequently they occupied not only the whole of the side, but such portion of the other as was not occupied by the Court of Common Pleas, which then sat within the hall itself, as did the Chancery and King's Bench at its farther end. Gravelot's print of the hall during term-time shows this arrangement. The stationers and other tradespeople in the hall were a privileged class, inasmuch as they were exempt from the pains and penalties relative to the license and regulation of the press. Here as elsewhere there were plenty of inferior books obtainable; Pepys, writing October 26, 1660, and referring to some purchases made in the hall, remarks: 'Among other books, one of the life of our Queen, which I read at home to my wife, but it was so sillily writ that we did nothing but laugh over it.' The stalls were distinguished by signs. One of the early issues of 'Paradise Lost,' 1668, contains the name, among others, of Henry Mortlock, of the White Hart, Westminster Hall, but whose shop was at the Phoenix, St. Paul's Churchyard; Raleigh's 'Remains,' 1675, was printed for Mortlock. The majority of the hall booksellers had regular shops in St. Paul's Churchyard or elsewhere, for it is scarcely likely that they would open these stalls during vacation. Matthew Gilliflower, of the Spread Eagle and Crown, was one of the most enterprising of his class during the last quarter of the seventeenth century. James Collins, of the King's Head, was here contemporaneously with Gilliflower. C. King and Stagg were also extensive partners in 'adventures' in new books, and were among the 'unprejudiced booksellers' who acted as agents for the _Gentleman's Magazine_ during the first year of its existence. At about the same time also, B. Toovey and J. Renn, were selling books here. Early in the reign of George III. the traders were ousted from Westminster Hall; and in 1834 the dirty and mutilated vast parallelogram was thoroughly cleaned and repaired. Westminster Hall as a bookselling centre bears the same affinity to the trade proper as the sweetmeat stalls at a fair bear to confectionery. The books exposed for sale would only by a rare chance be choice or notable, and it was certainly not a likely place for folios or quartos. BOND STREET AND PICCADILLY. At the latter part of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century, several booksellers had established themselves in Bond Street and Pall Mall. One of the best known is John Parker, 'an honest, good-natured man,' with whom was apprenticed, in 1713, Henry Baker, the antiquary, a friend of John Nichols. Parker's shop was in Pall Mall. At No. 29, New Bond Street, in 1730, we find J. Brindley, a reputable bookseller of his time, and who was one of a society formed in 1736 'for the encouragement of learning,' which had a chequered and an undignified career. His shop was at the sign of the Feathers, and in 1747 he describes himself as 'Bookseller to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.' The only example of his catalogue which we have seen is dated 1747, and it includes 4,289 lots, among which were long selections of books at 1s. each, or 10s. per dozen, and of others at 6d. each or 5s. per dozen. Brindley was succeeded in 1759 by his apprentice, a much more celebrated bibliopole, James Robson, who built up a very extensive connection and died in 1806. In company with James Edwards and Peter Molini (the Exotic Bookseller of Beloe), Robson, in 1788, undertook a journey to Venice for the purpose of examining the famous Pinelli Library, which was purchased for about £7,000; it was safely transferred to London and sold by auction in Conduit Street, the total result being £9,356. A large number of more or less famous collections of books passed through Robson's hands, notably those of Sir John Evelyn; Edward Spelman, the translator of Xenophon; the Duke of Newcastle (1770); W. Mackworth Praed (1772); Joseph Smith, Consul at Venice; Dr. Samuel Musgrave; J. Murray, Ambassador at Constantinople. Messrs. Robson and Clark were succeeded early in this century by Nornaville and Fell, who in 1830 made way for T. and W. Boone, who were, as we have said, succeeded by Mr. F. S. Ellis; it is interesting to note that this house had been in the occupation of booksellers for over a century and a half. The bookselling fraternity had, however, obtained no definite footing until shortly after the middle of the eighteenth century, when James Almon began to acquire notoriety, his political fearlessness more than once bringing him at loggerheads with the authorities. When he first came to London, he worked as a printer at Watts', in Wild's Court, Lincoln's Inn Fields, where he had the frame which had been occupied by Benjamin Franklin. His shop was opposite Burlington House, and for many years this was the meeting-place of the leading Whig politicians. He died in 1805, and was succeeded by J. Debrett, a name still associated with publishing. During the last few years of the last century, and probably in consequence of the greatly improved condition of the place, Piccadilly and neighbourhood became favourite spots with booksellers, the more notable being James Ridgway, whose 'repository of loyalty' was in York Street, St. James's Square, who died in 1838, aged eighty-three years; T. Hookham, Old Bond Street; and Stockdale, whose name will be for ever associated with that of Erskine in connection with the liberty of the press. Stockdale's shop, No. 178, Piccadilly, was for a long time in the possession of Thomas Thorpe; the place has since been rebuilt. R. Faulder, of New Bond Street, also deserves mention as being one of forty booksellers against whom actions were brought for selling the 'Baviad and Mæviad.' He is the Cunning Bookseller of Beloe, and appears to have been one of the most assiduous frequenters of 'forced' sales of household furniture, etc., where he often happened on books of rarity and value. He 'accumulated a very large property and retired,' but the _auri sacra fames_ pursued him to the end. William Clarke, of New Bond Street, best remembered as the compiler of that very valuable work, 'Repertorium Bibliographicum,' 1819, was established as a bookseller in 1793. During the second half of the last century Samuel Parker and Walter Shropshire were selling second-hand books in New Bond Street. Thomas Beet, who retired from business ten years ago, was a well-known bookseller of Bond Street and Conduit Street, and was a considerable purchaser at the leading auction sales. He frequently had the honour of submitting various special old books for the inspection of the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and other members of the Royal Family, whilst his shop in Conduit Street was a very popular resort of bookish men. Robert Dodsley, of Tully's Head, is one of the most famous of the Pall Mall booksellers. His shop was next to the passage leading into King Street, and now known as Pall Mall Place. He is perhaps better remembered as an author and compiler than as a bookseller, and best of all as a friend of Dr. Johnson, Pope, Spence, and other literary celebrities; he it was who first urged Johnson to start the famous 'Dictionary.' Dodsley died in 1764, and his business was taken over by his brother James, who survived the founder thirty-three years. The celebrated firm of G. and W. Nicol, booksellers to his Majesty, for many years carried on in Pall Mall in Dodsley's shop, originated with David Wilson and his nephew George Nicol, who started in the Strand about 1773, and who sold, _inter alia_, the library of Dr. Henry Sacheverell. George Nicol married the niece of the first Alderman Boydell, and was one of the executors of James Dodsley, who left him a legacy of £1,000. He is described as 'a most agreeable companion,' as a member of many of the literary clubs of his day, and enjoyed the friendly confidence of the Duke of Roxburghe, Duke of Grafton, and other eminent book-lovers. He died in Pall Mall, 1829, aged eighty-eight years. Nicol's stock was sold by auction at Evans's in 1825. [Illustration: _John Hatchard (1768-1849)._] The most ancient book-business in Piccadilly is that of Hatchard's, which dates back to 1797. It was started by John Hatchard, who had been an assistant at Tom Payne's. Hatchard was patronized by Queen Charlotte, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Canning, and Dr. Keate. Hatchard is the Godly Bookseller of Beloe; he was a Conservative, dressed like a bishop, and published for Hannah More and the Evangelicals. Zachary Macaulay, Wilberforce, and the other opponents of slavery, once involved Hatchard in a libel action, in which he was found guilty. Hatchard published for Crabbe and for Tupper, and, according to Mr. Humphreys' interesting 'Piccadilly Bookmen,' Liston, Charles Kemble, and other actors, frequented the shop. So did the Duke of Wellington, who, 'when the library of the Duke's brother was sold at Evans's Auction Rooms in Pall Mall, where now stands the Carlton Club . . . sent several open commissions for books which he wished secured. Among these was a shilling pamphlet by A. G. Stapleton, with the late owner's notes in pencil. This was put up at 2s. 6d., and ultimately knocked down for £93 to Hatchard, the under-bidder being Sir A. Alison. The Duke, though very much astonished at the price such a mere fragment had fetched, yet admired the obedience to his orders.' The Horticultural Society took its rise in a meeting at Hatchard's, and he also seems to have lent his premises to the 'Outinian Society,' a species of matrimonial agency, which did not last long; but the wonder is how so respectable and cautious a personage ever harboured it. Among his assistants were Fraser, afterwards noted for his magazine, and Tilt. [Illustration: _James Toovey, Bookseller._] The two great second-hand booksellers of the Piccadilly of the latter half of the present century are James Toovey and Bernard Quaritch. Toovey's shop at 177, Piccadilly (once occupied by William Pickering, the famous publisher), was for about forty years a favourite haunt of booksellers, for Toovey was a bibliophile as well as a bibliopole. His whole life was spent among books. He was apprenticed at fourteen to a bookseller, and for some time had a shop of his own in St. James's Street. He published Newman's 'Lives of the English Saints,' and other works by the leaders of the Tractarian movement, in addition to a very fine reprint of the 'Aberdeen Breviary,' of the original of which only four imperfect copies exist. An obituary notice describes him as 'very particularly the great authority on bindings. He made a strong speciality in old French red morocco bindings, and during his frequent visits to France brought back large buyings of them. Toovey bought notable books, but unless they had the second qualification of being in a good state, and the bindings valuable, he was less anxious about them. Given a notable book in a notable binding, he would buy it at almost any cost. When the present Mr. James Toovey--James Toovey _fils_--came into the business, he made a feature of those quaint sport and pastime books which every stroller along the south side of Piccadilly has been wont to stay and look at in Toovey's window. Ten years before his death the old man retired from the business in favour of his son, but his devotion to rare books and rare bindings was his ruling passion to the last. Toovey's, during its career, has known all the prominent book-hunters and a legion of eminent people who have been more than book-collectors. In the leisured times, Toovey's, like Hatchard's further along the street, was something of a resort for literary folk generally, and many people we who are younger are familiar with have been accustomed to find their way across Toovey's doorstep. Mr. Gladstone has visited the shop, and so has Cardinal Manning, and Prince Lucien Bonaparte, and Henry Huth often.' Having acquired a considerable fortune in business, he was able to indulge in the luxury, rare amongst booksellers, of collecting a private library for his own entertainment. He retired from active business several years ago, and passed his remaining days in the ever-delightful society of his bibliographical treasures. He died in September, 1893, in his eightieth year, and his stock of books came under the hammer at Sotheby's in March, 1894, when 3,200 lots realized just over £7,090. His very choice private library is still in the possession of his son, and among its chief cornerstones is the finest First Folio Shakespeare known. Toovey, like the elder Boone, secured many excessively rare books during his personal visits to the Continent. Pickering's son, Basil Montagu Pickering, remained with Toovey for a few years after his father retired, but eventually opened a shop on his own account at 196, Piccadilly, next to St. James's Church, and possessed at one time and another many exceedingly rare books. The name is still continued under the title of Pickering and Chatto, of 66, Haymarket, who continue to use the Aldine device employed both by William Pickering and his son. There is no Pickering in the present firm. [Illustration: _James Toovey's Shop, Piccadilly._] [Illustration: _Bernard Quaritch, the Napoleon of Booksellers._] Of all second-hand booksellers, living or dead, Bernard Quaritch is generally conceded to be the king. Mr. Quaritch was born in 1819 at Worbis, Prussia, and after serving an apprenticeship to a bookseller came over to England in 1842, and obtained employment at H. G. Bohn's, with whom he remained (exclusive of two years in Paris) until 1847. He left Bohn's in April of that year, with the observation: 'Mr. Bohn, you are the first bookseller in England, but I mean to be the first bookseller in Europe.' Quaritch started with only his savings as capital, and his first catalogue was nothing more than a broadside, with the titles of about 400 books, the average price of which ranged from 1s. 6d. to 2s. His first big move was made in 1858, when the Bishop of Cashel's library was sold, when he purchased a copy of the Mazarin Bible for £595. In the same year appeared his first large catalogue of books, which comprised nearly 5,000 articles; two years later his catalogue had increased from 182 to 408 pages, and included close on 7,000 articles; in 1868 his complete catalogue consisted of 1,080 pages, and 15,000 articles; in 1880 it had extended to 2,395 pages, describing 28,000 books; but seven years later his General Catalogue consisted of 4,500 pages, containing 40,000 articles. As a purchaser, Mr. Quaritch puts the whilom considered gigantic purchases of Thomas Thorpe entirely into the shade. In July, 1873, he purchased the non-scientific part of the Royal Society's Norfolk Library; a few weeks later at the Perkins sale he bought books and manuscripts to the extent of £11,000; at the sale of Sir W. Tite's books in 1874 the Quaritch purchases amounted to £9,500; at the two Didot sales in 1878 and 1879 his purchases exceeded £11,000 in value; at the Beckford sale in 1882 a little more than half of the total (£86,000) was secured by Mr. Quaritch; at the Sunderland sale, 1881-83, Mr. Quaritch's bill came to over £33,000; at all the other great sales of the past twenty years the largest buyer has invariably been 'B. Q.' In an announcement 'To Book Lovers in all Parts of the World,' the Napoleon of bibliophiles makes the following statement: 'I am desirous of becoming recognised as their London agent by all men outside of England who want books. The need of such an agent is frequently felt abroad by the heads of literary institutions, librarians, and book-lovers generally. They shrink from giving trouble to a bookseller in matters which require more attention and effort than the mere furnishing of some specific article in his stock, and they must often wish that it were possible to have the services of a man of ability and experience at their constant command. Such services I freely offer to anyone who chooses to employ them; no fee is required to obtain them, and not a fraction will be added to the cost of the supplies. The friendly confidence which is necessarily extended to one's agent at a distance will undoubtedly in time bring an ample return for my labours, but so far as the present is concerned, I ask for nothing but the pleasure of attending to the wants of those who are as yet without an agent in London. Whether the books to be procured through my intervention be rare or common, single items or groups, the gems of literature and art or the popular books of the day, I shall be happy to work in every way for book-lovers of every degree. Commissions of any kind may be entrusted to me; I will venture to guarantee satisfaction in every case, even in the delicate matter of getting books appropriately bound. It may likewise be well to state that my offer of agency extends to the selling of foreign books here, as well as to the supply of English books hence.' There is not much that is architecturally beautiful about Mr. Quaritch's shop at 15, Piccadilly, but its interest to the book-lover needs but little emphasis after what has been said. Like all great men, Bernard Quaritch has his little eccentricities, into which we need not now enter. We apologize to him for publishing the following extract, which is, however, not our own, but comes (of course) from an American source: 'Bernard Quaritch's antiquated hat is a favourite theme with London and other bookmen. A committee of the Grolier Club once made a marvellous collection of newspaper clippings about it, and a member of the Société des Bibliophiles Contemporains wrote a tragedy which was a parody of Æschylus. In this tragedy Power and Force and the god Hephaistos nail the hat on Mr. Quaritch's head, like the Titan on the summit of overhanging rocks. Divinities of the Strand and Piccadilly, in the guise of Oceanidæ, try to console the hat; but less fortunate than Prometheus, the hat knows it is for ever nailed, and not to be rescued by Herakles. However, _tout passe, tout casse, tout lasse_, as Dumas said, for Mr. Quaritch has bought a new hat, and a journal of London announces that the epic hat is enshrined in glass in the bibliopole's drawing-room.' One of the most modern of book-thoroughfares deserves a brief reference here. Charing Cross Road has for some years been a popular and successful resort of booksellers and book-hunters. It is within convenient reach of both the Strand and Holborn, and is only two or three minutes' walk from Piccadilly Circus. The books offered for sale here are, for the most part, priced at exceedingly moderate rates. Mr. Bertram Dobell may be regarded as the chief of the trade here, possessing, as he does, two large shops well filled with books of all descriptions. Mr. Dobell's catalogues are very carefully compiled, and possess a literary flavour by no means common; his lists of privately-printed books form a most valuable contribution to the bibliography of the subject. Mr. John Lawler, for many years chief cataloguer at Puttick's, and more recently at Sotheby's, had a shop in Charing Cross Road, which he has just given up; and Mr. A. E. Cooper, who makes a speciality of first editions of modern authors and curious and out-of-the-way books, both French and English. [Illustration] FOOTNOTES: [176:A] Sewell, Cornhill, and Becket and De Hondt, Strand, were among the last to use these curious trade signs. [192:A] The identical book with which Johnson knocked down Osborne, 'Biblia Græca Septuaginta,' folio, 1594, Frankfort, was at Cambridge in February, 1812, in the possession of J. Thorpe, bookseller, who afterwards catalogued it. [192:B] Timbs, writing in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ in 1868, identified the house at which Tonson probably lived, and this house was in Timbs's time a bookseller's. Gray's Inn Lane has become so thoroughly renovated and improved that it is no longer possible to point to any particular spot where any celebrity lived. [201:A] 'One day [writes Lytton] three persons were standing before an old bookstall in a passage leading from Oxford Street into Tottenham Court Road. Two were gentlemen; the third, of the class and appearance of those who more habitually halt at old bookstalls. '"Look," said one of the gentlemen to the other; "I have discovered here what I have searched for in vain the last ten years--the Horace of 1580, the Horace of the Forty Commentators--a perfect treasury of learning, and marked only fourteen shillings!" '"Hush, Norreys," said the other, "and observe what is yet more worth your study;" and he pointed to the third bystander, whose face, sharp and attenuated, was bent with an absorbed, and, as it were, with a hungering attention over an old worm-eaten volume. '"What is the book, my lord?" whispered Mr. Norreys. 'His companion smiled, and replied by another question: "What is the man who reads the book?" 'Mr. Norreys moved a few paces, and looked over the student's shoulder. "'Preston's Translation of Boethius,' 'The Consolations of Philosophy,'" he said, coming back to his friend. '"He looks as if he wanted all the consolations philosophy could give him, poor boy!" * * * * * 'When Mr. Norreys had bought the Horace, and given an address where to send it, Harley (the second gentleman) asked the shopman if he knew the young man who had been reading Boethius. '"Only by sight. He has come here every day the last week, and spends hours at the stall. When once he fastens on a book, he reads it through." '"And never buys?" said Mr. Norreys. '"Sir," said the shopman, with a good-natured smile, "they who buy seldom read. The poor boy pays me twopence a day to read as long as he pleases. I would not take it, but he is proud."' [202:A] It was in one of these alleys or tributaries that a lawyer's clerk, returning from his office, carried home in triumph to Camden Town a copy of Marlowe's 'Tragical History of Doctor Faustus,' 1663, which he bought for 1s. [217:A] Concerning the Hande and Starre, Fleet Street, and the renowned Richard Tottell, 'printer by special Patentes of the bokes of the Common Lawe in the several Reigns of King Edw. VI. and of the quenes Marye and Elizabeth,' it may be pointed out that this house, 7, Fleet Street, exists as before, the only modern addition being the half-brick front which was placed there more than a hundred years ago. Jaggard, the bookseller, lived there after Tottell, and from thence he issued the first edition of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet,' actually printed in the rear (now Dick's Coffee-house), and the possibility of Shakespeare having often called to correct the proof-sheets is conjured up. The house was in turn occupied by many eminent law publishers and booksellers, and of late years by the late Mr. Henry Butterworth, who became himself the Queen's law publisher. [237:A] One of the reviewers of Nichols' 'Literary Anecdotes' says: 'How often have we seen him standing betwixt these, bidding "his friends good-morrow with a cheerful face," and pulling down his ruffles, already too long, till they covered his fingers. Davies had, even while in common conversation, as much of the old school of acting in his manner as his friend Gibson had upon the stage; though he is said not to have been so pompous as Berry, to whose parts he succeeded; and Berry, in this respect, was thought to have declined from Bridgewater.' [237:B] Now covered by Charing Cross Hospital. At the commencement of the third quarter of the sixteenth century, Thomas Colwell, a bookseller, had a shop at the sign of 'St. John the Evangelist,' in St. Martin's parish, near Charing-Cross, and a shop with the same sign in Fleet Street, near the Conduit. It must be remembered that at this period Holborn and Charing Cross were quite suburban villages, the former noteworthy as the thoroughfare from Newgate to Tyburn, and the latter as a sort of halfway place of stoppage between the City and Westminster. [241:A] Not quite so unprecedented as Mr. Dibdin thought. The _Grub Street Journal_ of February 3, 1731, contained an entire page devoted to the books advertisement of Tom Osborne, a much more remarkable feat, all things considered, than Thorpe's. [Illustration] WOMEN AS BOOK-COLLECTORS. IT seems a curiously contradictory fact that, although Englishwomen are on the whole greater readers than men, they are, as book-collectors or bibliophiles, an almost unknown quantity. In France this is not the case, and several books have been published there on the subject of _les femmes bibliophiles_. An analysis of their book-possessions, however, leads one to the conclusion that with them their sumptuously-bound volumes partake more of the nature of bijouterie than anything else. Many of the earlier of these bibliophiles were unendowed with any keen appreciation for intellectual pursuits, and they collected pretty books just as they would collect pretty articles of feminine decoration. They therefore form a little community which can scarcely be included in the higher category of intellectual book-collectors. It would be much easier to assert that Englishwomen differ from Frenchwomen in this respect than it would be to back up the assertion with material proof. Indeed, after all that could possibly be said in favour of our own countrywomen as book-collectors, we fear that it would not amount to very much. It is certain that our history does not afford any name of the first importance, certainly none which can be classed with Anne of Austria (wife of Louis XIII.), the Duchesse de Berry, Catherine de Médicis, Christina of Sweden, Diane de Poitiers, the Comtesse Du Barry, Marie Antoinette, the Marquise de Pompadour, or of at least a dozen others whose names immediately suggest themselves. The only English name, in fact, worthy to be classed with the foregoing is that of Queen Elizabeth, who, in addition to her passion for beautiful books, may also be regarded as a genuine book-lover and reader. There were, however, Englishwomen who collected books long before Elizabeth's time. In the year 1355, Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare--the foundress of Clare Hall, Cambridge--bequeathed to her foundation 'Deux bons antiphoners chexun ove un grayel (Gradule) en mesme le volum, 1 bone legende, 1 bone messale, bien note, 1 autre messale coverte de blank quir, 1 bone bible coverte de noir quir, 1 hugueion [? Hugh de Voræillis on the Decretals], 1 legende sanctorum, 1 poire de decretals, 1 livre des questions, et xxii quaires d'un livre appella, De causa Dei contra Pelagianos.' About seventy years after Elizabeth de Burgh's bequest, we learn that in 1424 the Countess of Westmoreland presented a petition to the Privy Council representing that the late King Henry had borrowed from her a book containing the Chronicles of Jerusalem and the Expedition of Godfrey of Boulogne, and praying that an order might be issued under the Privy Seal for the restoration of the said book. With much formality the petition was granted. But we might go back several hundred years prior to either of these dates, for the Abbess Eadburga not only transcribed books herself and kept several scholars for a similar purpose, but fed the bibliomaniacal zeal of Boniface, the Saxon missionary, by presenting him with a number of books. Appropriately enough, he presented the Abbess on one occasion with a silver pen. Two historic illuminated manuscripts, formerly the property of distinguished women, were sold from the Fountaine Collection at Christie's, in July, 1894. The more interesting item was Henry VIII.'s own copy of the 'Psalmes or Prayers taken out of Holye Scripture,' printed on vellum, by Thomas Berthelet, 1544. This book is of great historic interest. Shortly before his death he gave it to his daughter, Princess Mary (afterwards Queen Mary), who subsequently presented it to Queen Catherine Parr, with the following inscription: 'Madame, I shall desyer yor grace most humbly to accepte thys ritde hande and unworthy whose harte and servyce unfaynedly you shall be seur of duryng my lyf contynually. Your most humble dowghter and servant, Marye.' On the back of the leaf containing the foregoing inscription is written: 'Mors est ingressus quidam immortalis future quæ tamen est maxime horribilis carni Catherina Regina K. P.' On a small piece of vellum inside the cover the King has written: 'Myne owne good daughter I pray you remember me most hartely wen you in your prayers do shew for grace, to be attayned assurydly to yor lovyng fader. Henry R.' This book contains quite a number of other inscriptions by Henry, Catherine, and others, and is, on the whole, of peculiarly striking interest. It was purchased by Mr. Quaritch for 610 guineas. A beautiful companion to the foregoing is a manuscript 'Horæ' of the fifteenth century, on very pure vellum, consisting of 176 leaves (8-1/2 inches by 6 inches). This manuscript formerly belonged to Margaret, mother of King Henry VII., and has at the end this inscription, in her handwriting, addressed to Lady Shyrley, to whom she presented it: 'My good Lady Shyrley pray for Me that gevythe you thys booke, And hertely pray you (Margaret) Modyr to the kynge.' Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, was the only daughter and heir of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and was not only distinguished for her piety and charity, but was a great patron of Caxton, whose successor, Wynkyn de Worde, styled himself 'Her printer.' This beautiful manuscript was probably written and illuminated by her command in the reign of her son, Henry VII. It realized £350. [Illustration: _Queen Elizabeth's Golden Manual of Prayers._ Front Cover.] For all practical purposes, Queen Elizabeth may be regarded as the first distinguished _femme bibliophile_. Of this truculent and strong-minded personage much has been written, and it is scarcely likely that there is much unpublished material respecting her library. It is not necessary nor desirable to enter exhaustively into even so fascinating a topic. A few generalizations will not, however, be unwelcome. The books which she possessed before she ascended the throne are excessively rare, and even those owned by her after that event are by no means common. Elizabeth herself embroidered several books with her own hands, the most beautiful example of her work being a copy of the Epistles of St. Paul, now at the Bodleian. The black silk binding is covered with devices embroidered by the Princess during her sequestration at Woodstock, representing the Judgment of Solomon and the Brazen Serpent, and these have been reproduced by Dibdin in 'Bibliomania.' From an inventory published in _Archæologia_ we learn that, in the sixteenth year of her reign, the Queen possessed a book of the Evangelists, of which the covers were decorated with a crucifix and with her arms in silver, weighing, with the wood corners, 112 ounces. Among the books which the notorious Libri 'conveyed' were two which appear to have belonged to Elizabeth, first a volume containing Fenestella's 'De Magistratibus Sacerdotusque Romanorum' (1549), and another tract, which realized £5; and Jones's 'Arte and Science of Preserving Bodie and Soul in Healthe, Wisdome, and Catholicke Religion' (1579), beautifully bound 'à petit fers,' which realized close on £20. [Illustration: _Queen Elizabeth's Golden Manual of Prayers._ Back Cover.] The British Museum contains several books, including one or two very beautiful ones, which were formerly the Queen's, and among these perhaps the most notable is an imperfect copy of Coverdale's New Testament (_circa_ 1538). Upon the inside of the cover is the following manuscript note: 'This small book was once the property of Q. Elizabeth, and actually presented by her to A. Poynts, who was her maid of Honor. In it are a few lines of the Queen's own hand writing and signing. Likewise a small drawing of King Edward the 6th when very young [of Windsor Castle] and one of the Knights in his robes.' The 'few lines' of the Queen's are as follows: 'Amonge good thinges | I prove and finde, the quiet | life dothe muche abounde | and sure to the contentid | mynde, ther is no riches | may be founde | your lovinge | mistress Elizabeth.' An interesting point is raised in the _Library_ (ii. 65, 66), by Mr. W. G. Hardy, relative to the books of the Earl of Essex, which were believed to have become the property of Elizabeth after the unfortunate favourite's execution in 1601. The finest as well as the best known of the Queen's embroidered books, now in the British Museum, is Archbishop Parker's 'De Antiquitate Ecclesiæ Britannicæ,' 1572, presented by the author to Elizabeth, for whom also he had it specially bound. It is covered in green velvet. We give facsimiles of the two sides of the cover of the manual of prayers which the Queen is said to have carried about with her, attached by a gold chain to her girdle. It is bound in gold and enamelled, said to be the workmanship of George Heriot. The prayers were printed by A. Barker, 1574. The front side of the cover contains a representation of the raising of the serpent in the wilderness; whilst on the back is represented the judgment of Solomon. This book was for many years in the Duke of Sussex's collection; it was sold with the rest of the collection of the late George Field, at Christie's, June 13, 1893, for 1,220 guineas, to Mr. C. J. Wertheimer. [Illustration: Elizabeth P.] The Marquis of Salisbury's library at Hatfield contains a number of books which belonged to two distinguished ladies of the Elizabethan period. Lady M. Burghley's many book-treasures included a number of learned works which we do not usually associate with the women of the time. There were, for instance, Basil, 'Orationes,' 1556; Bodin, 'La République,' 1580; Erasmus, 'De Copia Verborum,' 1573; Fernelius, 'Medecina,' 1554; Hemming, 'Commentarius in Ephesios,' 1574; Haddon, 'Contra Osorium,' 1557; Jasparus, 'Encomium,' 1546; Valerius, 'Tabulæ Dialectices,' 1573; Velcurio, 'Commentarius in Aristotelis,' 1573; Whitgift's 'Answer to Cartwright,' 1574, and several others. A few of the books which were once possessed by Anne Cecil (sister of Sir Robert Cecil), Countess of Oxford, are also at Hatfield, notably a 'Grammaire Française,' 1559, and an edition of Cicero 'Epîtres Familières.' [Illustration: _The Frontispiece to 'The Ladies' Library' of Steele._ Engraved by L. Du Guernier.] During the eighteenth century, the taste for books was by no means uncommon among women, although only a bold man would declare that that period produced a genuine _femme bibliophile_. The idea of a lady's library was first suggested by Addison in the _Spectator_, No. 37. In No. 79 Steele takes up the thread of the subject, to which Addison returns in No. 92, and Steele again in No. 140. These papers created a want which Richard Steele, with a doubly benevolent object, essayed to fill. 'The Ladies' Library,' ostensibly 'written by a lady,' and 'published by Mr. Steele,' was issued by Jacob Tonson in 1714. It was in three volumes, each of which had a separate dedication; the first is addressed to the Countess of Burlington, the second to Mrs. Bovey, a learned and very beautiful widow, by some supposed to be identical with Sir Roger de Coverley's obdurate _veuve_, whilst the third, in a strain of loyal and affectionate eulogy, is to Steele's own wife, who may be supposed to be depicted in Du Guernier's frontispiece in the first volume. The 'Ladies' Library' and the _Spectator_ papers assist us somewhat in forming an opinion as to the most popular books among the ladies of the earlier part of the last century. The library of the lady whom Addison visited is described as arranged in a very beautiful order. 'At the end of the folios (which were finely bound and gilt) were great jars of china, placed one above the other, in a very noble piece of architecture. The quartos were separated from the octavos by a pile of smaller vessels, which rose in a delightful pyramid. The octavos were bounded by tea dishes of all shapes, colours and sizes. . . . That part of the library designed for the reception of plays and pamphlets was inclosed in a kind of square, consisting of one of the prettiest grotesque works that ever I saw, and made up of scaramouches, lions, monkeys, and a thousand odd figures in chinaware. In the midst of the room was a little Japan table, with a quire of gilt paper upon it, and on the paper a silver snuff-box fashioned in the shape of a little book.' On the upper shelves Addison noticed the presence of a number of other counterfeit volumes, all the classic authors, and a set of the Elzevir first editions in wood, only the titles meant to be read. Among the books Addison mentions are Virgil, Juvenal, Sir Isaac Newton's works, Locke on 'Human Understanding,' a spelling-book, a dictionary for the explanation of hard words, Sherlock on 'Death,' 'The Fifteen Comforts of Matrimony,' Father Malebranche's 'Search after Truth,' 'A Book of Novels' [? Mrs. Behn's], 'The Academy of Compliments,' 'Clelia,' 'Advice to a Daughter,' 'The New Atalantis' (with key), a Prayer-book (with a bottle of Hungary water by the side of it), Dr. Sacheverel's speech, Fielding's Trial, Seneca's 'Morals,' Taylor's 'Holy Living and Dying,' and La Ferte's 'Instruction for Country Dances,' etc. [Illustration: ELIZABETH PINDAR. God's providence is mine inheritance. Elizabeth Pindar me jure possidet. Anno Dom. 1608] The list is a quaint bit of Addisonian satire, almost worthy to rank by the side of Sir Roger de Coverley. Addison had no very elevated opinion of the intellectual gifts of his women contemporaries, as the juxtaposition of the Prayer-book with the bottle of Hungary waters (a popular stimulating perfume of the day) shows. The books above named were at that time to be found in nearly every gentleman's library, and that they should be found in the possession of women is not surprising. Addison's 'intellectual lady' and her library are a fiction, but a charming fiction withal. In spite of the literary glories of her reign, 'Glorious Anna' can scarcely be regarded as a book-collector. Queen Caroline, the consort of George II., was an enthusiastic bibliophile. Her library was preserved until recently in a building adjoining the Green Park, called the Queen's Library, and subsequently the Duke of York's. An interior view of the building is given in Pyne's 'Royal Residences.' We give on page 267 a reproduction of one of the earliest English bookplates engraved for a lady. It was discovered a few years ago in a volume of title-pages collected by John Bagford, and now in the British Museum. Of Elizabeth Pindar as a book-collector, or, indeed, as anything else, we are without any record. [Illustration: _The Eshton Hall Library._] The present century has produced two of the most distinguished _femmes bibliophiles_ which this country has ever known. The earlier collector, Miss Richardson Currer (1785-1861), of Eshton Hall, in the Deanery of Craven, York, was the owner of an exceedingly rich library of books. Of these, two catalogues were printed. The first, in 1820, under the superintendence of Robert Triphook, extended to 308 pages; the second was drawn up by C. J. Stewart in 1833. That of the latter included four steel engravings of her library. This library was especially strong in British history, and it included a copy on vellum of the St. Albans reprint of Caxton's 'Chronicle' (wanting only the last leaf), which realized £365 at her sale; of Higden's 'Polychronicon,' printed by Caxton, 1482 (not quite perfect); one of the most perfect copies of Coverdale's Bible, 1535, which sold for £250; of Norden's 'Voyage d'Egypte,' on large paper, and many other fine books. It was also rich in natural science, topography, and antiquities. Dibdin describes her as 'at the head of all the female collectors of Europe.' Miss Currer, who suffered from deafness, was an intimate friend of Richard Heber, and it was rumoured at one time that this distinguished bibliomaniac was engaged to be married to Miss Currer, but the event did not transpire. Miss Currer's books were sold at Sotheby's in July and August, 1862, and realized nearly £6,000, the 2,681 lots occupying ten days in selling. Miss Currer was great-niece of Dr. Richardson, whose correspondence was edited by Dawson Turner in 1835. Two of the views of Miss Currer's fine library in Stewart's catalogue are reproduced by Dibdin in his 'Literary Reminiscences.' Before passing on to the second famous lady book-collector--Mrs. John Rylands--a few more or less important names may be mentioned in connection with the subject. In August, 1835, Evans sold the 'valuable' library of the late Dowager Lady Elcho, but as her books were mixed with other properties, it is not now possible to distinguish one from the other. Lady Mark Sykes' musical library was sold at Puttick's in March, 1847, and eleven months later Sotheby sold some valuable books and books of prints, the property of a Miss Hamlet. H.R.H. the Princess Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg, and daughter of George III., was a confirmed book-collector, and her library, divided into 1,606 lots, came under the hammer at Sotheby's in April, 1863. It occupied four days in disposal, and realized £915 12s. 6d. The books, which were chiefly in elegant bindings, were for the most part illustrated works, illuminated manuscripts, and books dealing with a very wide variety of topics; whilst many of them had an extraneous value from the fact that they contained signatures and interesting notes of the Princess and other members of the Royal Family. The libraries of the late Lady Francis Vernon Harcourt (August, 1873); of the late Mrs. Ellis, of Bernard Street, Russell Square (November, 1871); and of the late Miss Beckles (December, 1868), have been dispersed at Sotheby's. Lady Morgan's library, comprising the principal works in French, English, and Italian literature, and many scarce and curious books relating to Irish history--many of the books had the owner's autograph--was sold at the same place in April, 1863, but the 396 lots only realized £70. The library of another literary woman, Miss Agnes Strickland, the historian of the Queens of England, was dispersed at the same place in May, 1876, when a few hundred books realized £60. Some very choice books (many of them enriched with the notes of H. T. Buckle) were included in the portion of the library of the late Mrs. Benzon, of 10, Kensington Palace Gardens, sold at Sotheby's on June 14, 1880, when 379 lots realized over £775. Some books from Mrs. Jameson's library were sold at Puttick's in October, 1882, the more important items being annotated or extra-illustrated copies of her own books. The collection formed by Miss Drummond, of Berkeley Square, Bristol, and sold at Sotheby's in May, 1862 (1,339 lots realizing £1,316 6s.), was a remarkably choice library, the whole in elegant bindings, presenting a great variety of patterns, tooled in gold, with appropriate devices and other decorations. There were splendid 'Galleries,' and books of 'picturesque sceneries,' magnificent volumes on natural history, some beautiful Persian manuscripts, and the best works in standard literature. Mrs. Brassey, of Lower Seymour Street, had some good books, which were sold by Bates on December 23, 1814, and included 'The Golden Legend,' by Caxton, which realized 93 guineas. Mrs. John Rylands is the widow of the late Mr. John Rylands, of Longford Hall, near Manchester. Mrs. Rylands' career as a _femme bibliophile_ may be briefly summarised thus: In 1889 this lady formed the plan of erecting in Manchester a memorial to her late husband, which should embody one main purpose of his life, as carried out by him very unostentatiously, but with great delight, during the greater part of his career. To make the highest literature accessible to the people was with him a cherished aim, and it was accordingly resolved by his widow that the memorial should be in the form of a library. To this end Mrs. Rylands took into her confidence four gentlemen whose names are well known, and for whom the late Mr. Rylands had the greatest respect and admiration, namely, the Rev. Dr. S. G. Green, of London; the late Rev. Dr. MacFadyen, of Manchester; Mr. W. Carnelly and Mr. W. Linnell, both also of Manchester, with whose aid the preliminaries for carrying out her purpose were speedily arranged. The site in Deansgate, lying between Wood Street and Spinningfield, was purchased, and after visits to several great libraries and other public buildings, Mrs. Rylands instructed the architect of Mansfield College, Oxford, Mr. Basil Champneys, of London, to execute plans for a suitable structure, to bear the name of the John Rylands Library. About the same time she commenced the purchase of books, being aided in this by her friend, Mr. J. Arnold Green, son of the Rev. Dr. Green, who, putting himself in communication with various agents, collected a large number of standard books in English and foreign literatures, including early Bibles, first editions, and many other rare and valuable works, with several choice manuscripts and autographs. The number of volumes purchased reached many thousands, one of the acquisitions being the celebrated copy of the 'Biblia Pauperum,' once belonging to the Borghese Library in Rome, at the sale of which it fetched 15,800 francs. Up to this time a considerable amount had been spent. When the announcement was made in 1892 that Earl Spencer, the owner of the Althorp Library, was willing to dispose of that famous collection, Mrs. Rylands at once felt that its possession would be the crown of her whole scheme--accomplishing it with a completeness of which she never dreamed when first she formed her plans. Mr. Arnold Green accordingly at once communicated on her behalf with Mr. Railton, of Messrs. Sotheran and Co., a firm which had been largely employed by her in previous purchases of books. The result is that the Althorp Library passed into Mrs. Rylands' possession, the price paid being close on a quarter of a million sterling. The transaction is by far the largest of its kind which has ever taken place in this or any other country. It has been calculated that the Althorp Library cost its founder about £100,000, and that it should have more than doubled in value in less than a century is an extremely gratifying fact. It contains a large number of unique and excessively rare books, which nothing short of an upheaval in this country similar to the French Revolution could place on the market. Those who depend upon such a contingency to obtain a few of these splendid books are likely to wait for a very long time. But even with the striking examples of Miss Currer and Mrs. Rylands before us, the conclusion still forces itself upon one that the _femme bibliophile_ is an all but unknown quantity. The New Woman may develop into a genuine book-lover; it is certain that the old one will not. The Chinese article of belief that women have no souls has, after all, something in its favour. Bookstall-keepers have a deep contempt for women who patronize them by turning over their books without purchasing. It would not be possible to repeat all the hard things they say about the sex. In the words of one: 'They hang around and read the books, and though I have a man to watch them, while he is driving away one another is reading a chapter. They can read a chapter in a minute.' 'Does that not interest them in the book, so that they buy it?' asked an interlocutor. 'No, sir; it don't. It only makes them go to the other stall and read the last chapter there. Not once in a blue moon, sir, does womenfolk buy a book. A penny weekly is what they buy, and before they fix on one they read half a dozen. You take my word for it, sir, it takes a woman half an hour to spend a penny at a bookstall.' A characteristic incident once happened to an old judge's clerk who had a stall a few years ago in Gray's Inn Road. A lady, with whom there were two or three children, after waiting about the pavement, at length suddenly became interested in the humble bookstall. Several pretty picture-books attracted the attention of the children, and they became clamorous to possess them. The stall-keeper, in the politest possible manner, offered the books at her own price. The reply was: 'Oh no, thanks. We are only looking over the books to kill time.' 'Much obliged to you, ma'am, for your kindness and consideration,' was the prompt reply. [Illustration] [Illustration] BOOK THIEVES, BORROWERS, AND KNOCK-OUTS. 'FACILIS descensus Averni' might well be the motto for any article or chapter dealing with the above comprehensive 'avocations.' Once started on his career, the book-thief may be regarded as entirely lost. At the Middlesex Sessions a few years ago a genius of the name of Terry was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for stealing books. On inquiry it was found that this same person had already been in prison six times, two terms of eighteen months each, one term of five years' penal servitude, and another of seven years, all for stealing books. Each thief has his own special _modus operandi_, which he varies according to circumstances. There are those who do it without any adventitious aid, and those who cover their sin with various accessories. First, the ordinary book-thief, who watches his opportunity when the shopkeeper is not looking, and simply slips the book quickly under his coat and departs. This method is plain and simple in execution, but sometimes dangerous in practice. Then there is the man who wears an overcoat, the lining of the pocket of which he has previously removed, so that he can pass his hand right through while apparently only standing still looking on, with his hands quietly in his pocket, possibly with one hand openly touching something, whilst the other is earning his dinner. [Illustration: '_Earning his Dinner._'] An amusing incident was once the experience of a London bookseller. While sitting behind his counter inside the shop, he was amazed one day at seeing a man running at a tremendous rate, and, momentarily slackening his speed to seize a book off the stall, he had disappeared before the astounded bookseller was able to get to the door. And it is remarkable that, though many people were about, no one seems to have noticed the thief take the book, though they saw him running. Another favourite device is to carry a newspaper in the hand, and when no one is looking deposit the paper on a carefully-selected book within the folds; or having an overcoat carried on the arm to quickly hide something under cover of it. This latter method requires, of course, a well-to-do-looking man, and obviously is chiefly confined to the stealers of the higher class of valuable books. It also requires, like every well-managed business, a certain amount of capital, for it is absolutely necessary--in order to lull suspicion--that small purchases should be made from time to time in the hunting-ground that has been chosen for the season. [Illustration: _The King's Library, British Museum._] Then there is the mean man who, having money, is yet lacking in the will to spend it. Such individuals in these days of disguising bad deeds under grand names are euphemistically designated kleptomaniacs. Most London booksellers have had experience of this class. It is a known fact that a literary man whose name is familiar to many readers was expelled from the reading-room of the British Museum for this sort of conduct, stealing small trifling things that could easily have been bought, and mutilating other books by cutting out passages which he was too lazy to transcribe, and too mean, although a well-to-do man, to employ an amanuensis. 'Steal?' quoth ancient Pistol. 'Foh! a fico for the phrase. Convey the wise it call.' Had Pistol lived in these days he would have said, 'Kleptomania the wise it call.' Some years ago there resided in the West End of London a Belgian gentleman well known in literary circles, and a man of good position to boot. He possessed a valuable library, and was a frequent visitor at shops where he could add to his collections. One dealer noticed that, whenever Monsieur Y. called upon him, one or two valuable books mysteriously disappeared, and he was not long before he arrived at the conclusion that his Belgian customer appropriated his wares without attending to the customary, but disagreeable, process of exchanging the coin of the realm for his bargains. Our friend the dealer, an honest but remarkably plain-spoken and fearless individual, made careful notes of all his losses and their prices. One day he stopped Monsieur Y. just as he was leaving the shop, and remarked that he might as well pay for the little volumes he had stowed away in the pockets of the capacious overcoat he almost invariably wore. Great was the assumed indignation of the Belgian bibliophile, who asserted that he had no books on him but those he had already accounted for. 'Come, come,' said the dealer, 'that won't do; I left you alone in the room upstairs, but I watched you through the door, and saw you pocket the books, of which the price is so much. Unless you pay for them I shall send for a policeman; and whilst I am on the topic you may as well settle for those other books you have taken from my shelves at various times.' Here he produced his list, with the prices all affixed, and a certain small sum added by way of interest. Hereupon Monsieur Y. stormed and raved, swore it was an attempt to extort money from him, and threatened legal proceedings. 'If,' said the dealer, 'you can empty your pockets now without producing any book of mine, except those you have paid for, I will withdraw my claim and apologize, otherwise I shall at once send my man' (whom he then called) 'for a policeman.' Whereupon Monsieur Y. paid the full claim, walked out of the shop, and never entered it again. But the catalogues were regularly sent to him, and as the dealer constantly had books that he required, he ordered what he wanted by post, so that in the long-run the bookseller really lost little or nothing by his boldness. The same bookseller complained that people often ordered his books but neglected to pay for them, whilst intending purchasers who meant to pay ready money, and called at the shop for the books, had to be sent away disconsolate, sometimes after having come long distances to secure the long-wished-for volume. 'But first come, first served, is my motto, and if six orders come for the same book, it goes to the man whose letter or card I first receive.' A sturdy John Bull sort of man this, with a great knowledge of books, who has had to fight a long uphill battle, and is perhaps one of the best-known men in the trade. An awkward incident for the thief happened once. A bookseller, the proprietor of two or three shops, was in one of them, when a person entered and offered for sale a couple of books. The proprietor recognised one of them as being his property, he having that morning sent it to the other of his shops, from which it had been apparently almost immediately removed. When questioned, the intending vendor pretended to be much insulted, and asserted the book had been in his possession for some considerable time, and even threatened the bookseller, when he insisted on detaining the book, with the police. This was rather unfortunate, for at that moment a constable passing by was called in, and, in spite of a great deal of bluster and many threats, the thief was marched off to the nearest police-station. The other book, it was found, had also been stolen that morning from another shop, and the result was four months' imprisonment. The remarkable fact is that book-thieves are nearly always well-to-do people; if hunger induced them to steal a book to get a dinner, they would come in the category of ordinary thieves. If they stole books because they wanted to read them, and were unable to pay for them, one might overlook their crime. One of the most remarkable illustrations of the past few years is that in which an ex-lieutenant in the Royal Scots Greys was implicated. The books belonged to a lady who had let her house to the prisoner's father. She left a number of books, which were in three bookcases. They were locked, and contained valuable books. She was informed (so runs the report) that several of the books were missing, and a few weeks after she saw a number of books, including Ruskin's 'Stones of Venice' and 'Modern Painters,' which she identified as her property. The law was put into motion, and the case came into the courts. The value of the two books mentioned she estimated at £60, and the other books at £50. Mr. Reeves, bookseller, then of 196, Strand, deposed that he could identify the prisoner, and on June 21 he purchased five volumes of Ruskin's 'Modern Painters,' and gave a cheque for £16. He understood that the accused had come into possession of them through a death. On that occasion the prisoner asked the witness what he would give for three volumes of 'The Stones of Venice.' Witness offered him £9. On June 28 the prisoner brought the book, and finding it not to be in such good condition, witness offered him £7 10s. This was accepted, and witness handed a cheque to the prisoner for that amount. Witness bought other books from the prisoner for £3 2s. 6d. Mr. Reeves said that he sold 'Modern Painters' for £18, and 'The Stones of Venice' for £8 10s. Here is another illustration, gleaned from the Greenwich Police Court: A person, forty-six, of ladylike appearance, and no occupation, was charged at Greenwich with stealing a book, valued 4d., from outside the shop of Charles Humphreys, 114, South Street. She was seen to take a book from a stall, place it in a novelette, and walk away. Prosecutor followed, stopped her, and said, 'I've got you now.' She cried out, 'Oh, for God's sake, don't, don't! Let me pay for it.' But he said, 'No, not for £5, as you are an old thief.' At her house he found over a hundred books bearing his private mark, but he could not swear that they had not been bought. Once he bought some books from the prisoner which she had stolen from his shop, but he did not know that when he bought them. Prisoner pleaded guilty to stealing one book, and on her behalf a solicitor produced a certificate from a medical man, stating that she was suffering from general weakness of system, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, and evident mental disorder. Those symptoms he attributed to causes which induced the magistrate to deal leniently, and a fine of £5 was imposed. [Illustration: '_Steals a book, places it in a novelette, and walks away._'] About a couple of years ago, two maiden sisters, Grace and Blanche ----, were charged at Bow Street with theft. To all appearances they were highly respectable members of the community. Grace was seventy-four; Blanche had only seen sixty summers. They visited Shoolbred's, apparently wanting to buy some Prayer-books and Bibles. They looked at many, but none suited them. They left without purchasing anything, no suspicions being aroused on the part of the attendants. But Detective Butler and Constable 173 D, who had taken great interest in the old ladies' movements, saw Grace hand a Book of Common Prayer, a hymn-book, and ladies' companion to her sister. Shoolbred's manager identified the articles as the property of the firm, but declined to prosecute on account of the old ladies' ages. Grace admitted the theft, but said she did not know what she was doing. A small fine was inflicted. Even so astute a tradesman as Bernard Quaritch has been victimized by the book-thief. These are his own words: 'A little dark man, of about forty-five years of age, with a sallow complexion, apparently a Dutch or German Jew, speaking in broken English in an undertone, introduced himself, showing me a business card, "Wunderlich and Co." The following day the pretended Wunderlich selected books from my stock to the amount of £270, and said he would come again and select more. At the same time the little dark, sallow man saw, but refused to buy, a very sweet little "Livre d'Heures," with lovely miniatures in _camaïeu-gris_, bound in black morocco, with silver clasp. The price of this lovely MS. was 50 guineas. Since then this mysterious little dark man has disappeared, and my very sweet little "Livre d'Heures," with its lovely miniatures, has disappeared also.' In 1891 Messrs. Sotheran and Co. discovered that a number of rare books had been abstracted from their Strand shop, including a first edition of Burns's 'Poems,' 1786; Shakespeare's 'Poems,' 1640, first edition, with portrait by Marshall, and eleven extra leaves at the end; Heywood's 'Thyestes of Seneca,' 1560; and Piers Plowman's 'Vision and Crede,' 1561--all choice volumes. The Burns was valued at £30, and this was traced a month or two after its sudden disappearance to a bookbinder, who offered it to Mrs. Groves, who, however, wisely declined to lend money on it. Subsequently the book was sent to Mr. Pearson, Exmouth, who, knowing it had been stolen, at once communicated with the prosecutors. Two of the other books were traced to New York, and were returned to the firm at cost price. The enterprising bookbinder received twelve months' hard. Mr. Waller, the bookseller, formerly of Fleet Street, relates a rather amusing incident connected with Thackeray: 'I think it was a book of "Services" in four small volumes, two of which he already possessed, and one, completing the set, he saw in my window. He came in, said he wanted that book, and gleefully told how he had picked up the third a few minutes before in Holywell Street. He dived into his pocket to show me his precious "find." It was not there! Between Holywell Street and Fleet Street someone had relieved him of it, in the belief, apparently, that it was an ordinary pocket-book with valuables in it!' [Illustration: '_He had placed the book in his pocket. Someone had relieved him of it._'] A by no means uncommon person is what may be described as the conscientious thief, or the man who steals one book and replaces it by another, which he considers to be of equal value. But a much cleverer dodge was that of a wily villain who selected a book from the stock of a firm of booksellers in the Strand, asking one member of the firm to charge it to him, and then selling it to the other partner at the opposite end of the shop a few minutes later! This can scarcely be described as book-stealing, for there is no proof that the 'book-lover' did not intend paying for the article ultimately. In this case the assumption was distinctly against his doing anything of the sort. It will be seen from the foregoing facts that the book-thief hesitates at no class of book. But would he draw the line at stealing a book which deals with thieves? The late Charles Reade appears to have thought that he would not, for he has inscribed not only his name, but the following somewhat plaintive request, 'Please not to steal this book; I value it,' in a volume which Mr. Menken once possessed. The book in question is entitled 'Inventaire général de L'Histoire des Larrons,' Rouen, 1657. This singular work gives at length the stratagems, tricks, and artifices, the thefts of and assassinations by thieves, with a full account of their most memorable exploits in France. One cannot help wondering if a copy of this extraordinary book has ever been stolen from a book-collector, and of the remorse which must have overtaken the thief when he discovered the character of his prize. That indeed would be a strange irony! But the book-thief is not by any means one of the numerous penalties of modern civilization. He has an antiquity which almost makes him respectable. Hearne, in his 'Johannes Glastoniensis,' states that Sir Henry Saville once wrote a warning letter to Sir Robert Cotton, who had offered some additions to the library of the founder of the Bodleian. An appointment had been made with Sir Robert to give Bodley an opportunity of inspecting the treasures on his shelves, and it was in anticipation of this that Saville thought it his duty to warn his friend in the following terms: 'And remember I give you faire warning that if you hold any booke so deare as that you would bee loath to have him out of your sight, set him aside beforehand.' On the authority of the above extract, Gough has charged Bodley with being a suspicious character--or, in other words, a thief; but the complete letter puts a very different complexion on the extract. He tars with the same brush Dr. Moore, Bishop of Ely, Dr. Rawlinson, and his friend Umfreville. In connection with the first-named, Gough repeats an anecdote which crops up every now and then as authentic, for these half-truths have an extraordinary vitality. The anecdote runs as follows: 'A gentleman calling on a friend who had a choice library, found him unusually busy in putting his best books out of sight; upon asking his view in this, he answered, "Don't you know that the Bishop of Ely dines with me to-day?"' There can be only one inference, of course. As a matter of fact, we do not believe that there is any truth in either rumour. So far as Dr. Moore, 'the Father of Black-letter Collectors,' is concerned, there can be no doubt that he had a fairly elastic conscience in the matter of book-collecting. He is said to have collected his library by plundering those of the clergy of his diocese, justifying himself by the cynical remark, _Quid illiterati cum libris?_ We do not vouch for the truth of this anecdote, any more than for the graver charge, but probably there is some foundation for it. In the Harleian MSS. there is an interesting account of the several libraries, public and private, which existed in London during the earlier part of the last century. From this source we learn that 'in the days of Edward VI., in the chapel adjoining to the Guildhall, called my Lord Maiors Chapell, was a library well furnisht, being all MSS. Stow says the Duke of Somerset borrowed them, with a design never to return them, but furnisht his own study in his pompous house in the Strand; they were five cartloads.' Horace Walpole expressed his opinion to the effect that virtuosi have been long remarked to have little conscience in their favourite pursuits. A man will steal a rarity, who would cut off his hand rather than take the money it is worth. Yet in fact the crime is the same. He tells us of a 'truly worthy clergyman, who collects coins and books. A friend of mine mentioning to him that he had several of the Strawberry Hill editions, this clergyman said, "Aye, but I can show you what it is not in Mr. Walpole's power to give you." He then produced a list of the pictures in the Devonshire, and other two collections in London, printed at my press. I was much surprised. It was, I think, about the year 1764, that, on reading the six volumes of "London and its Environs," I ordered my printer to throw off one copy for my own use. This printer was the very man who, after he had left my service, produced the noted copy of Wilkes's "Essay on Woman." He had stolen one copy of this list; and I must blame the reverend amateur for purchasing it of him, as it was like receiving stolen goods.' The number of book-thieves has increased with the extension of public (or free) libraries. Here, the accumulated ingenuity of the literary thief has an ample scope, and he is not the man to let an opportunity escape. Some of the tribe have a mania for old directories; but novels are the most popular. The clerical thief with a thirst for sermons and theological literature is a by no means infrequent customer--and truly the indictment of a thief of this description ought to bear the fatal endorsement continued almost up to our own times, _sus. per coll._--'let him be hanged by the neck.' At one time nearly all the volumes in the very useful Bohn's Library series were kept in the Reading-room of the British Museum, but they so frequently disappeared that the authorities decided upon their permanent sequestration to a less handy part of the building. Last year Mr. C. Trice Martin's new 'Record Interpreter' was so highly appreciated both at the Record Office and at the Reading-room, that the copy at each institution was stolen from the shelves within twenty-four hours of its being placed there. Women more or less respectably dressed are often objects of suspicion to public librarians; they are also a class infinitely more difficult to deal with than men, for, whilst the receptivity of their cloaks is infinite, their 'feelings' have to be considered. Whether guilty or innocent, the suspected party is bound to create a 'scene,' probably hysterics--and what is a public librarian, or, indeed, any other man, to do under such circumstances? Libri was unquestionably the most accomplished and wholesale book-thief that ever lived. As Inspector-General of French Libraries under Louis Philippe, he had special facilities for helping himself--his known thefts have been valued at £20,000. We mention him here because his collections were sold at Sotheby's in 1860. One of the most interesting illustrations of this man's depredations was exposed in 1868, when Lord Ashburnham issued a translation of the Pentateuch from a Latin MS. which had been purchased by a previous holder of the title from Libri, who sold it under the condition that it was not to be published for twenty years. It had been stolen in 1847 from the Lyons Library, and the clause in the agreement, therefore, is easily understood. Libri evidently was not one of those whom Jules Janin describes as 'people who don't think it thieving to steal a book unless you sell it afterwards.' Unfortunately, education has knocked all the virtue out of charms and incantation. Madame de Genlis is said to have fenced the greater part of her library with the following lines: 'Imparibus meritis pendent tria corpora ramis; Dismas, et Gesmas, media est Divina Potestas; Alta petit Dismas, infelix infima Gesmas. Nos et res nostras conservet Summa Potestas!-- Hos versus dicas, ne tu furto tua perdas.' Quite a long chapter could be made up of the doggerel rhymes frequently made use of in bygone days in which the prospective thief was warned off under penalties of a prison, or even of a worse end. Here is one: 'Si quisquis furetur This little Libellum Per Phoebum, per Jovem, I'll kill him--I'll fell him-- In ventrem illius I'll stick my scalpellum, And teach him to steal My little Libellum.' And here is another: 'Qui ce livre volera, Pro suis criminibus Au gibet il dansera, Pedibus pendentibus.' A curious and interesting chapter in the history of book-stealing is furnished us by Mr. F. S. Ellis. 'Some thirty years since I was talking with Mr. Hunt, for many years Town Clerk of Ipswich, who was an ardent book-collector, and in the course of conversation he lamented how some ten years previously he had missed an opportunity of buying a first edition of "Paradise Lost" under the following circumstances. There was a sale in the neighbourhood of Ipswich, in which a number of books were included. These were all tied in bundles and catalogued simply as so many books in one lot. Going over one of these bundles, what was his surprise to find a first edition of "Paradise Lost," with the first title-page, and in the original sheepskin binding! He said nothing, but went round to the auctioneer's house and asked him if he would be willing to sell him a particular book out of the collection previous to auction. "Oh, by all means," said the auctioneer; "just point me out the volume and say what you are willing to give me for it, and you can take it out at once." What was Mr. Hunt's chagrin and disappointment, on again taking up the bundle, to find that the number of books was all right according to the catalogue, but Milton's "Paradise Lost" had disappeared. Someone with as keen an eye as the Town Clerk had also discovered the jewel, and had put in practice the theory that exchange is no robbery, and had substituted some other volume for the Milton without going through the formality of a consultation with the auctioneer. Not long after this, a "Paradise Lost," which I have every reason to believe was _the_ "Paradise Lost" described above, in the original sheepskin binding, and having the "first" title-page, was offered for sale to Mr. Simpson, who carried on an old-book business for Mr. Skeat, in King William Street, Strand. He purchased it for what in those days was considered a high price; but how much it was below what is now esteemed its value is witnessed by the fact that he offered it to the late Mr. Crossley, of Manchester, and after much haggling sold it to him for £12 12s. When Mr. Crossley had secured it, he quietly remarked, "And now let me tell you that if you find a dozen more copies in similar condition, I will give you the same price for every one." It remained in Mr. Crossley's library for many years, and at the sale of his books in 1884 realized what was considered the very high price of £25. Eight years after it had advanced to £120.' The book-borrower is, perhaps, a greater curse than the thief, for he simulates a virtue to which the latter makes no pretension. The book-plate of a certain French collector bore this text from the parable of the Ten Virgins: 'Go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.' 'Sir,' said a man of wit to an acquaintance who lamented the difficulty which he found in persuading his friends to return the volumes that he had lent them, 'Sir, your acquaintances find, I suppose, that it is much more easy to retain the books themselves than what is contained in them.' A certain wise physician took a gentle way of reminding the borrower who dog-eared or tore the pages of his books: pasted on the fly-leaf of each of his books is a printed tag, bearing this legend: 'Library of Galen, M.D. "And if a man borrow aught of his neighbour and it be hurt, he shall surely make it good," Exodus xxii. 14.' A much more effective plan is that described some time ago in the _Graphic_ by Mr. Ashby Sterry. In all the books of a certain cunning bibliophile he had the price written in plain figures; when anyone asked him for the loan of a book he invariably replied, 'Yes, with pleasure,' and, looking in the volume, further added, 'I see the price of this work is £2 17s. 6d.'--or whatever the value might happen to be--'you may take it at this figure, which will, of course, be refunded when the volume is returned.' If a person really wished to read the volume he would of course be glad to leave this deposit; and if he did not return it he would not be altogether an unmitigated thief. Mr. John Ashton relates, in his volume on the 'Wit, Humour, and Satire of the Seventeenth Century,' a curious anecdote which may be here quoted: 'Master Mason, of Trinity Colledge, sent his pupil to another of the Fellows to borrow a Book of him, who told him, _I am loathe to lend my books out of my chamber, but if it please thy Tutor to come and read upon it in my chamber, he shall as long as he will._' When Harrison Ainsworth was a youth and living at Manchester, he contracted an enthusiastic admiration for Elia, to whom he sent some curious books on loan. One of these was a black-letter volume entitled 'Syrinx or a sevenfold History, handled with a variety of pleasant and profitable both comical and tragical Arguments,' etc., by W. Warner, 1597. Lamb replied, December 9, 1823: 'I do not mean to keep the book, for I suspect you are forming a curious collection, and I do not pretend to anything of the kind. I have not a black-letter book among mine, old Chaucer excepted, and am not bibliomanist enough to like black-letter. It is painful to read; therefore I must insist on returning it, at opportunity, not from contumacy and reluctance to be obliged, but because it must suit you better than me.' The copy of Warner's 'Syrinx' Ainsworth had borrowed from Dr. Hibbert-Wade, and therefore it was not the future novelist's book to give. Ignoring, however, his expressed determination to return it, Elia lent the book to another friend, who shortly after went to New York, and may have taken the Warner with him, much to Dr. Hibbert-Wade's annoyance, of which he did not, it is said, fail to let Harrison Ainsworth know. It appears, however, to have returned again--indeed, it is probable that the book never left England--for it is now in the Dyce Collection at South Kensington, with 'Mr. Charles Lamb' written on one of the fly-leaves, and Dyce's note, 'This rare book was given to me by Mr. Moxon after Lamb's death.' The ranks of London book-borrowers, as those of book-thieves, have included a number of men eminent or distinguished in some particular way. The Duke of Lauderdale was one of these. Evelyn tells us that he was a dangerous borrower of other men's books, as the diarist knew to his cost. Coleridge was a wholesale book-borrower, and the manner in which he annotated the books of his friends caused much strong and deep lamentation at the time. These 'annotated' books have now acquired a very distinct commercial and literary value. The _London Chronicle_ of December 3-5, 1767, contains a curious advertisement, headed 'Book-Missing.' It goes on, 'Whereas there is missing out of the late Dr. Chandler's Library the _fifth Volume of Cardinal Pool's Letters_, and it is presumed that the said volume of Letters was borrowed by some friend of the Doctor's; it is earnestly requested by the Widow and Executrix of the said Dr. Chandler that whoever is in possession of the said volume would be so kind as immediately to send it to Mr. Buckland, Bookseller, Paternoster Row, and the favour will be gratefully acknowledged.' When Sir Walter Scott lent a book, he put in its place a wooden block bearing the name of the borrower and the date of the loan. Charles Lamb, tired of lending his books, threatened to chain Wordsworth's poems to his shelves, adding, 'For of those who borrow, some read slow; some mean to read, but don't read; and some neither read nor mean to read, but borrow to give you an opinion of their sagacity. I must do my money-borrowing friends the justice to say that there is nothing of this caprice or wantonness of alienation in them. When they borrow money they never fail to make use of it.' Just as the difference between the book-thief and the book-borrower is of too slight a nature to warrant independent chapters, so the hero who indulges in the luxury of a 'knock-out' is more or less of a thief, and this company is, essentially, a very proper place in which to find him. A 'knock-out,' it may be briefly explained to the uninitiated, is a system by which two or more booksellers--or, for the matter of that, any other tradesmen--combine to procure certain books at a lower than normal auction value. An American paper stated, some time ago, and among many other remarkable things, that 'a private buyer cannot obtain a book by auction in London at any price.' The extreme foolishness of such a statement need not be enlarged upon in this place. That the knock-out system does exist in London no one but a fool would deny. That it does occur now and then at such places as Sotheby's, Christie's, Puttick and Simpson's and Hodgson's, is without any manner of doubt, but not to any extent worth mentioning. Where the system is in vogue is at sales held in private houses, and at auction-rooms where books are not generally sold. At such places books are usually knocked down at absurdly low figures, until the private person steps in, when the prices begin to go up with a bound; they then realize oftentimes figures far above those at which they may be acquired at the shops. After the private bidder has been excited into paying an excessive price for his lots, he realizes that he is doing a foolish thing, and resigns the game into the hands of the trade, when the prices again begin to assume their former very low levels. The knock-out books are taken away by their nominal purchaser, and in a convenient back parlour of some handy 'pub' they are put up again for competition among the clique, when all profits realized are thrown into a pool, and afterwards equally divided. 'The two books you commissioned me to get were knocked down at £1 15s. and 10s. respectively,' said a bookseller to a well-known collector only the other day; 'and if you insist upon having them at these prices, plus the commission, you must have them. But as a matter of fact they cost me £1 over and above the total of £2 5s.' The reply to the collector's demand for an explanation was, 'Smith agreed to let me have these two books if I did not oppose his bidding for the Fielding.' It is scarcely necessary to say that the total cost, with the £1 thrown in, was much below the original commission, whilst the Fielding ran up to considerably over the price Smith intended to have given. By striking a balance, the two cronies each obtained what he wanted. An arrangement of this sort is nearly invariably the explanation of two extreme prices being paid for equally good copies of one book in a single season. In 1781 a portion of the library formed by Ralph Sheldon, of Weston, Warwickshire, chiefly in the third quarter of the seventeenth century, was sold at Christie's, but the auctioneer throughout appears to have been victimized by the knock-out system. One of the lots, comprising a large collection of scarce old plays in fifty-six volumes, quarto, was knocked down to one bookseller for £5 5s.; he then passed it on to another for £18, and the collection was sold on the spot to Henderson the actor for £31 10s. At this same sale the English Bible, 1537, realized 13s.; two copies of the Common Prayer Book, 1552, 8s.; the First Folio Shakespeare, with two other books, £2 4s.; the 'Legenda Aurea,' printed by Notary, 1503, 10s. 6d. It would not be difficult to extend this list of illustrations, but perhaps one example is as good as a hundred. We may, appropriately enough, conclude this brief but sufficiently lengthy notice of the knock-out system with an anecdote which shows that, in this case, a 'knock-out' would have been justifiable. At a certain famous book-sale a few years ago, a volume of no particular interest, except that it contained the autograph of the Earl of Derwentwater, was possibly worth £5. But the bidding was brisk, two of the dealers being evidently bent on having the prize. To the astonishment of everybody, the price went up to about 120 guineas, when one of the dealers gave in. Taking the other man aside, he said, 'Who have you been bidding for?' 'Mr. So-and-So.' 'So have I.' Another illustration of the unexpected and incomprehensibly sudden rise in the auction value of books is explained in the following extract of a letter from Horace Walpole: 'I cannot conclude my letter without telling you what an escape I had, at the sale of Dr. Mead's library, which goes extremely dear. In the catalogue I saw Winstanley's "Views of Audley End," which I concluded was a thin dirty folio, worth about fifteen shillings. As I thought it might be scarce, it might run to two or three guineas; however, I bid Graham _certainly_ buy it for me. He came the next morning in a great fright, said he did not know whether he had done right or very wrong; that he had gone as far as _nine and forty guineas_. I started in such a fright! Another bookseller had, luckily, as unlimited a commission, and bid fifty. I shall never give an unbounded commission again.' [Illustration] [Illustration] SOME HUMOURS OF BOOK-CATALOGUES. AN interesting and curious pendant to Mr. H. B. Wheatley's 'Literary Blunders' might be made up of the errors which have occurred from time to time in booksellers' catalogues. These errors are sometimes grotesquely amusing, and are perhaps as often attributable to the ingenuity of the printer as to the ignorance of the cataloguer. Booksellers usually content themselves with seeing one proof of their catalogues, and as the variety of books dealt with is so great, it would need at least half a dozen careful revisions to secure anything like correctness. As a general rule, the catalogues of London booksellers are exceptionally free of blunders, provincial compilers (notably one or two in Birmingham) being far behind their Metropolitan rivals. The example of 'Mill, John S., On Liberty, " " On the Floss,' is almost too well known to again bear repeating; the same may be said of the instance in which Ruskin's 'Notes on the Construction of Sheepfolds' was catalogued as a book for farmers, and of that in which Swinburne's 'Under the Microscope' was classed among optical instruments. The cross-reference of 'God: _see_ Fiske, J.,' is a gem of absent-mindedness. Here are four more gems which appeared in the catalogue of a public library: 'Aristophanes: The Clouds of the Greek Text.' 'Boy's Own Annual: Magazine of Gymnastics.' 'Swedenborg: Conjugal Love and its Opposite.' 'Tiziano (Titian), Vicelli Da Cadore.' The following is a good specimen of a bookseller's inspiration in reference to the entry 'Bible--2 vols., 12mo., _Edin._, 1811' in his catalogue: 'Sir Brunet and Dibdin in praise of this beautiful edition. As most nearly approaching unimaculateness a better copy than the present one could not be found.' This example is on a par with that in which an early Missal is catalogued as an 'extremely rare old printing and engraved work,' its author being 'Horæ B. V. Mariæ and usum Romanum,' whilst it is stated to be bound by 'Chamholfen Duru,' whoever he may be. Equally intelligent is another item from the same source, 'Newcastle (Marguis de Methode, etc.), oeuvre auquel on apprende,' etc. Perhaps it was the cheapness--sixpence each--which prevented two items from having fuller descriptions: 'Horace, the Poems of, very interesting.' 'Jokely, very interesting, 12 months.' Perhaps '12 months' is the term of imprisonment which any bookseller deserves for publishing such absurdities. Another gem in the way of blunders is the following: 'There's (Lord and Lady) Legends of the Library at Lilies, 2 vols., 8vo., bds., 2s. 6d., 1832.' The book catalogued in this puzzling manner is by Lord and Lady Nugent, and is entitled 'Legends of the Library at Lilies [the Nugents' residence], by the Lord and Lady thereof.' A similar carelessness resulted in Sir Astley Cooper's 'Treatise on Dislocations,' 1822, being catalogued as follows: 'Bart (C. A.), a Treatise on Discolourations and Fractures of the Joints,' etc., and also of books by Sir James Y. Simpson, Bart., as by 'Bart (S.)' and 'Bart (J.).' The following entries speak for themselves: 'Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Pottery.' 'The New Wig Guide.' 'The Rose and the Ring by R. Browing.' 'Marryat's "Pirate and Three Butlers."' Under 'Devil, The,' we find the following entry: 'Le Deuil sou observation dans tous les Temps,' 1877; and under Numismatics the following delightful bull: 'Money, a comedy, a poor copy, 1s.' As an instance of official cataloguing, it would be difficult to beat the following description of a familiar classic which appeared in a list issued a few years ago (according to a writer in _Notes and Queries_) in a certain presidency of India, 'by order of the Right Hon. the Governor in Council': 'Title--Commentarii (_sic_) De Bello Gallico in usum Scholarum, Liber Tirtius (_sic_). Author--Mr. C. J. Caesoris. Subject--Religion.' Nichols, in his 'Literary Anecdotes' (iv. 493), mentions that Dr. Taylor, who about the year 1732 was librarian at Cambridge, used to relate of himself that one day throwing books in heaps for the purpose of classing and arranging them, he put one among works on Mensuration, because his eye caught the word _height_ in the title-page, and another which had the word _salt_ conspicuous he threw among books on Chemistry or Cookery. But when he began a regular classification, it appeared that the former was 'Longinus on the Sublime,' and the other a 'Theological Discourse on the _Salt_ of the World, that good Christians ought to be seasoned with.' Thus, in a catalogue published about eighty years ago the 'Flowers of Ancient Literature' are found among books on Gardening and Botany, and Burton's 'Anatomy of Melancholy' is placed among works on Medicine and Surgery. Some blundering bibliographer has classed the 'Fuggerarum Imagines,' the account of the once mighty Italian family, among botanical works, under the 'Resemblance of Ferns.' Dibdin states that he once saw the first Aldine Homer in a country bookseller's catalogue described as 'a beautiful copy of the _Koraun_.' The Rev. John Mitford sent to a Woodbridge bookseller for a copy of Shelley's 'Prometheus Unbound,' and received the answer that no copy of 'Prometheus' _in sheets_ could be obtained--a misconception which Bernard Barton promptly forwarded to London, to Charles Lamb's great content. We have heard of the following blunder, but have never actually seen it: 'SHELLEY--Prometheus, unbound,' etc. ' ---- ---- another copy, olive morocco,' etc. The nearest approach to it occurred a few years ago in a Glasgow auctioneer's catalogue: 'Lot 282, Sir Noel Paton's Illustrations, Shelley's _Prometheus_, unbound, 12 plates, N.D.' As a matter of fact, the copy was bound in cloth. 'Please send the ax relating to a justus pease' is a phrase which will be remembered by readers of 'Guy Mannering.' Only recently a post-card reached Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co. requesting the immediate despatch of a copy of 'Hard on Horace,' which was the inaccurate, or perhaps waggish, sender's rendering of the 'Hawarden Horace.' This will be remembered with the request for 'The Crockit Minister,' by Stickett, and 'Sheep that Pass in the Night.' Some of the foregoing budget can scarcely be placed to the discredit of the cataloguer, but they are sufficiently _apropos_ to be included here. The following amusing entry occurs in the sale catalogue of the library of the late Mr. R. Montgomery, which was dispersed by auction at Antwerp the other day: 'Plain or Ringlets? by Alfred Tennyson, Poet Laureate, with illustrations by John Leech. London, s.d., 8{o} d. rel. dos et coins chagr. rouge, tête dorée, figg. coloriées et noires.' Messrs. Longmans had a letter a few weeks ago asking for a copy of 'Chips from a German Workshop,' by Max Müller, for review in a trade paper dealing with carpentering, etc.! This reminds one of the story of Edwardes, the Republican bookseller of a century ago, who put a Government spy to confusion by re-binding a Bible and giving it the seditious title, 'The Rights of Man.' Burke's 'Thoughts on the French Revolution' was advertised by him as 'The Gospel according to St. Burke.' Outside a certain bookseller's shop, Mr. R. C. Christie once saw a book in six duodecimo volumes, bound in dark antique calf, and lettered 'Calvini Opera.' Knowing of no edition of the works of Calvin in that form, Mr. Christie took down a volume, and found it was 'Faublas!' It was the original edition in thirteen parts, with the seventeen engravings, and was so lettered, no doubt, by its former owner to shelter it from indiscreet curiosity! The practice of giving books of poetry, novels, etc., what may be described as floricultural titles, has landed cataloguers into an astonishing number and variety of errors, some of which have been pointed out by Mr. B. Daydon Jackson in the _Bibliographer_. The chief sinners have been foreign bibliographers, who, not being able to examine the books which they catalogue, depend entirely upon the titles. The same error occurs frequently here in this country. An English trade journal included Dr. Garnett's selection from Coventry Patmore's poems, 'Florilegium Amantis,' under 'Botany, Farming, and Gardening.' Two of Mayne Reid's novels, 'The Forest Exiles' and 'The Plant-Hunters,' have been included among scientific books, but in these cases the errors seem to have arisen from the misleadingly translated titles, the former in Italian ('Gli esuli nella foresta; cognizioni di scienza fiscia e naturale'), and the latter in French, 'Le Chasseur de Plantes.' The learned Pritzel included among botanical treatises 'The Lotus, or Faery Flower of the Poets.' In the earlier part of the century a story was in circulation relative to an erudite collector who was accustomed to boast of his discoveries in Venetian history from the perusal of a rare quarto, 'De Re Venaticâ.' A brother bibliographer one day lowered his pretensions by gravely informing him that the historical discoveries to which he laid claim had been anticipated by Mr. Beckford, who, towards the close of the last century, published them to the world under the analogous title of 'Thoughts on Hunting.' There is a good deal of amusement to be got sometimes out of even such an unpromising source as an auctioneer's catalogue, especially when it includes books. The list of a miscellaneous lot of things lately sold at a South London depository comes in this category. One of the items, for example, is entered as 'Dickin's works bound in half,' but who Mr. 'Dickin' is, or was, or what the 'half' indicates, the reader is left to find out. 'Goldsmith lover' also seems a trifle confusing, until the lot is hunted up and the discovery made that Goldsmith's 'Works' is intended. Lytton's 'King John' suggests a work hitherto unknown to readers of the author of 'My Novel,' until examination proves it to be 'King Arthur,' and 'McCauley's History of England' is rather suggestive of a scathing indictment of English misrule by an author from the 'distressful country' than of the picturesque prose of the whilom Whig statesman and book-collector. [Illustration] [Illustration] SOME MODERN COLLECTORS. WE have already referred, in a preceding chapter, to the origin and early history of the Roxburghe Club, and also to the disrepute in which its too zealous members, Hazlewood and Dibdin, contrived to place it. The club still exists, and flourishes in a manner which renders it unique among book-clubs. A complete set of its privately-printed booklets is an almost impossible feat of book-collecting, and an expensive luxury in which but few can afford to indulge. The present constitution of the club, the members of which dine together once a year, is as follows: President: The Marquis of Salisbury, K.G.; S.A.R. le Duc D'Aumale; the Duke of Buccleuch, K.T.; the Duke of Devonshire, K.G.; the Marquis of Bute, K.T.; the Marquis of Lothian, K.T.; the Marquis of Bath; Earl Cowper, K.G.; Earl of Crawford; Earl of Powis; Earl of Rosebery; Earl of Cawdor; Lord Charles W. Brudenell Bruce; Lord Zouche; Lord Houghton; Lord Amherst of Hackney; the Lord Bishop of Peterborough; the Lord Bishop of Salisbury; the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, M.P.; Sir William R. Anson, Bart.; Charles Butler, Esq.; Ingram Bywater, Esq.; Richard Copley Christie, Esq.; Charles I. Elton, Esq.; Sir John Evans, K.C.B.; George Briscoe Eyre, Esq.; Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks; Thomas Gaisford, Esq.; Henry Hucks Gibbs, Esq. (vice-president); Alban George Henry Gibbs, Esq.; A. H. Huth, Esq. (treasurer); Andrew Lang, Esq.; J. Wingfield Malcolm, Esq.; John Murray, Esq.; Edward James Stanley, Esq.; Simon Watson Taylor, Esq.; Sir Edward Maunde Thompson (principal librarian of the British Museum); Rev. Edward Tindal Turner, Esq.; V. Bates Van de Weyer, Esq.; and W. Aldis Wright, Esq. [Illustration: _The late Henry Huth, Book-collector._] The finest and most select, and perhaps the most extensive, collection of books owned by any member of the Roxburghe Club is the noble library of Mr. Huth, whose father, the late Henry Huth, founded it. A very interesting account of this library, from two points of view--Mr. F. S. Ellis's and Mr. A. H. Huth's--appears in Part II. of Quaritch's 'Dictionary of English Book-collectors,' whilst the fullest account of all the rarities which it contains is comprised in the catalogue in five imperial octavo volumes. It is impossible to do justice to it in the brief space at our disposal. But a few rarities may be enumerated as showing its extremely varied nature. Nearly all the early printers are represented in the Huth Library--there are the Gutenberg and Fust and Schoeffer Bibles; the Balbi Catholicon, 1460; there are over seventy Aldines, including the rare Virgil of 1501, with the bookplate of Bilibald Pirkheimer. There are no less than a dozen fine examples of Caxton's press; the only known copy on vellum of the 'Fructus Temporum' of the St. Albans press; about fifty works from the press of Wynkyn de Worde, of which several are unique; and sixteen works printed by Richard Pynson. Of Shakespeare quartos the late Mr. Huth secured a very fine series at the Daniel sale in 1864, including 'Richard II.,' 1597; 'Henry V.,' 1600; 'Richard III.,' 1597; 'Romeo and Juliet,' 1599; 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' 1600; 'Merchant of Venice,' 1600; 'Merrie Wives of Windsor,' 1602; 'Othello,' 1622; 'Titus Andronicus,' 1611; and 'Pericles,' 1609. The library is equally rich in the production of Elizabethan and Jacobean literature, many of the items being either unique or very nearly so; it is especially rich in first editions of the English poets from the earliest times down to Goldsmith, Keats, Shelley, etc. Indeed, the collection seems to contain the first or best editions of every English work of note; there are many fine manuscripts, and some highly interesting autographs. Mr. Ellis tells us that Mr. Huth always bought on his own judgment, without consultation and without hesitation, 'and I believe it may be safely affirmed that it would be difficult to name any collector who made fewer errors in his selection. He was never known to bargain for a book or to endeavour to cheapen it. The price named, he would at once say 'Yea' or 'Nay' to it, and though it was supposed at the time that he paid high prices for his books, it may be confidently asserted that as a whole they are worth very much more than he paid for them, which, I think, could not have been much less altogether than £120,000.' Joseph Lilly is said to have sold to or purchased for Mr. Huth books to the value of over £40,000. Mr. Huth was born in 1815, and died in 1878. The library is, as we have said, now the property of his son, Mr. Alfred H. Huth, who has made a number of important additions to it, and who is as ardent and as genuine a bibliophile as his father. [Illustration: _Mr. Henry H. Gibbs, Book-collector._] Without approaching either in size or interest to that of Mr. Huth, the choice collection of books formed by Mr. Henry Hucks Gibbs, and lodged at his town-house at St. Dunstan's, Regent's Park, is full of attraction to the student of English literature. Early in the present century St. Dunstan's was inhabited by the Lord Steyne of Thackeray's 'Vanity Fair,' and it was here that the orgies took place which resulted in the sensational trial of Nicholas Suisse, the confidant of Lord Hertford. The library at St. Dunstan's is a lofty, well-lighted room of about 28 feet by 20 feet, and the bookcases are made of Thuya wood from Australia, a wood which is exceedingly beautiful when polished. Mr. Gibbs's first book of note was purchased at Bright's sale in 1845, and was St. Augustine's 'De Arte Predicandi,' a volume of twenty-two leaves, and of well-known interest to students of early typography. Of Bibles there are over fifty examples, including Coverdale's, 1535, Matthew's, 1537, Cromwell's, 1539, a very large copy, and Cranmer's, 1540. The fine series of Prayer-Books comprises forty-seven in English, from the time of Edward VI. (1549) to that of Queen Victoria, whilst thirty-five others are in foreign languages. There are nine Primers from the time of Henry VIII. to Elizabeth; and there are no fewer than thirty-one editions of the New Testament. Examples of some of the choicest known Books of Hours and Missals are also in this collection, whilst among the six editions of the 'Imitatio Christi' there is a sixteenth-century manuscript on two hundred and forty-seven folios of paper, written by Francis Montpoudie de Weert, for the use of Bruynix, Priest, Dean of Christianity. Among the _incunabula_ there is a very large copy of the 'Chronicon Nurembergense,' 1495, and two Caxtons: first, the 'Polychronicon' of Ralph Higden, 1482; and, secondly, the 'Golden Legend,' 1483, which latter was successively in the Towneley and the Glendening collections. The other more notable articles include fine copies of the four Folio Shakespeares, first editions of Milton's 'Comus,' 'Lycidas,' 'Eikonoklastes,' 'Paradise Lost,' and 'Paradise Regained,' several Spensers, and very complete sets of the privately-printed books edited by the Rev. A. B. Grosart, Halliwell-Phillipps, H. Huth, E. Arber, and E. W. Ashbee. A very interesting _catalogue raisonné_ of Mr. Gibbs's choice library has been printed, to which the reader is referred for further particulars. [Illustration: _Mr. R. Copley Christie, Book-collector._] Just as the minds of no two men run in precisely similar grooves, so no two libraries are found to be identical. Many bear a very striking resemblance to one another, but in more than one respect they will be found to differ. The splendid library formed by Mr. R. Copley Christie, the president or past-president of quite a number of learned societies, is altogether unique, so far as this country is concerned, and his library in a garden--truly the _summum bonum_ of human desires!--at Ribsden, near Bagshot, is certainly one of the most remarkable which it has been our privilege to examine. Mr. Christie has not endeavoured to collect everything, but he has no rival in the specialities to which he has devoted his particular attention. He is the author of the only complete monograph on Etienne Dolet, which has been translated into French, and of which M. Goblet, when Minister of Public Instruction, caused 250 copies to be purchased for distribution among the public libraries of France. Of the eighty-four books (many of which are now lost) printed by Dolet, there are three collections worthy of the name, and the relative value of these will be seen when we state that Mr. Christie possesses copies of forty-four, the Bibliothèque Nationale thirty, and the British Museum twenty-five. Mr. Christie's collection of the editions of Horace is probably the finest in existence outside one or two public libraries; he has about 800 volumes, and among these are translations into nearly every European language. He has upwards of 300 Aldines, nearly forty of which are _editiones principes_. The works of the early French printers generally are objects of special interest; he has, for example, about 400 volumes printed by Sebastian Gryphius, at Lyons, from 1528 to 1556. Mr. Christie's library is also very rich in works of or relating to Pomponatius, Hortensio Landi, Postel, Ramus, J. Sturm, Scioppius, Giulio Camillo, and particularly Giordano Bruno. A considerable number of the members of the Roxburghe Club come in the category of book-lovers rather than book-collectors. The Earl of Rosebery is understood to possess many valuable books and manuscripts relating to Scottish literature, particularly in reference to Robert Burns; but beyond this he has no fixed rule regarding additions to his library, 'except his course of reading for the moment.' The father of the present Lord Zouche formed a small but valuable library, which is now at Parham Park, Steyning, Sussex; it consists of some rare Syriac, Greek, Coptic, Bulgarian, and other manuscripts, of a Biblical nature, some of which are now on loan to the British Museum. In addition to these, there are a good many early printed books, first editions, and so forth, and also an extensive reference library, to which the present Lord Zouche has made some important additions. The extensive library of the Marquis of Bath, at Longleat, Warminster, has been formed at different times and by different persons; and what the present holder of the title has added has been bought without any method on various subjects in which his Grace happened to take an interest at the time. Sir John Evans's library is for the most part comprised of archæological, numismatical, and geological publications, with a certain number of old volumes 'which, though of intrinsic interest, cannot be regarded as bibliographical treasures.' Both Sir William Reynell Anson and the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, M.P., possess good working libraries, but disclaim the possession of what are known as 'collector's' books. The present Marquis of Bute possesses several extensive libraries of books at his various seats, and chiefly composed of works relating to Scottish history, to liturgical, philological, and archæological subjects. The first Marquis of Bute formed an excellent collection of Spanish, Italian, and French classics, of books of memoirs, and of works relating to the English Reformation. The third Marquis formed another library, chiefly of a historical character, an exceedingly important portion of it being an extensive series of books and pamphlets relating to the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune. The Duke of Buccleuch has also several fine libraries at his various seats, the chief collections being at Dalkeith and Bowhill, Selkirk; his Grace keeps very few books in London. The books at Dalkeith have been catalogued by Mr. A. H. Bullen, who proposes to print some notes on the subject. The Duke of Devonshire's library at Chatsworth is one of the most varied and extensive in the kingdom. An admirable catalogue of it was printed in four volumes in 1879, and its value as a bibliographical compilation may be estimated by the fact that the only copy which occurred in the market during the past eight years fetched £10. The library has been formed by the taste and learning of several generations of the Cavendish family, from the middle of the sixteenth century to the present day. The rarest book which it contains is the 'Liber Veritatis,' or collection of original designs of Claude Lorraine. The greatest additions were made to the library by William Spencer, sixth Duke, who, indeed, may be called its founder in its present form. This nobleman, on the advice of Tom Payne, offered £20,000 for the purchase of Count McCarthy's celebrated collection. The offer was declined, but the Duke was a purchaser to the extent of £10,000 of the choicer portions of the library of Thomas Dampier, Bishop of Ely, composed, for the most part, of Greek and Latin classics. The Duke bought largely at the Stanley, Horn Tooke, Towneley, Edwards, and Roxburghe sales. The library possesses the unique collection of plays formed by John Philip Kemble, and for which £2,000 were paid in 1821. The chief features of the library comprise a fine series of the editions of the Bible and of Boccaccio; there are also twenty-three works of Caxton, the most extensive in private hands, now that the Althorp collection has, or is about to, become public property. There are two dozen books from the press of Wynkyn de Worde, and no less than 200 editions of Cicero, including a magnificent copy of the _editio princeps_. The libraries of two members of the Roxburghe Club have been dispersed by auction during the last few years--the Earl of Crawford's, in 1887 and 1889, to which reference has already been made; and Mr. Thomas Gaisford's, in 1890. The former has still a considerable number of important books, to which he is constantly adding; whilst his eldest son is worthily sustaining the reputation of the family for its love of rare and beautiful books. Mr. Gaisford has also a very large library, but he himself describes the books as of no special interest. The Marquis of Salisbury possesses, at Hatfield, a fine library, which, like that of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth, is rather the accumulation of centuries than the formation of any particular head of the house. Many of the oldest and rarest books were at one time the properties of either Lord Burghley, Sir Robert Cecil, or of some other distinguished member of the family. We may mention a few of the _incunabula_: Æneas Silvius, 'Epistolæ,' 1496; St. Augustine, 'De Civitate Dei,' 1477; a copy of the magnificently-printed edition of Aulus Gellius, 'Noctes Atticæ,' Jenson, 1477, a very rare work; Cicero, 'Ad Atticum,' 1470, also printed by Jenson; an example of the _editio princeps_ Homer, Florence, 1488; Juvenal, 'Satyræ,' 1474; the very rare second edition of Lactantius, 'Opera,' printed at Rome by Sweynheym and Parmartz, 1468; Livy, 'Historiarum Romanorum,' printed by Zarothus, 1480; Pomponius Mela, 'Cosmographia,' 1482; Ruffus, 'Opera,' 1472. Lord Salisbury's library includes several books which once belonged to Roger Ascham, notably a copy of Aristophanes, 'Comodiæ,' 1532; Aristotle, 'Opera,' 1531; Peter Martyr, 'Tractatio et Disputatio de Sacramento Eucharistiæ,' etc., 1549, one of the only two copies of which we have any record, the other example being in the Lambeth Library; and a large number of tracts of the time of Henry VIII. Of about 200 books which belonged to Sir Robert Cecil, we may mention two editions of Aristotle, 'Ethica,' 1572 and 1575; Baret, 'An Alvearie, or triple Dictionarie,' in English, Latin, and French, 1573; French Bible, 1546; Bodin, 'La Demonomanie des Sorciers,' 1580; Brache, 'Epistolarium Astronomicorum,' 1596; 'Astronomiæ Instauratæ,' 1602, and 'De Mundi Ætherei,' 1603; two editions of Cicero, 'Rhetorica,' 1552, 1562; Henning's 'Theatrum Genealogicum,' 1598; Galen, 'De Alimentis,' 1570; three editions of 'Natura Brevium,' one of 1566, and two of 1580; Ubaldino, 'Lo Stata Della Tre Corti,' 1594. The books of Lord Burghley include Aristotle, 'Ethica,' 1535; 'Opera,' 1539; 'Politica,' 1543; Ashley, 'Mariner's Mirror,' 1586; Basilius, 'Homiliæ,' 1528, and 'Opera,' 1551; Beda, 'Historia Ecclesiastica'; St. Chrysostom, 'Opera,' 1536; Cyrillus, 'Opera,' 1528; Demosthenes, 'Orationes,' 1528. The edition of Dioscorides, 'Opera,' 1529, belonged, respectively, to Lord Burghley and Sir John Cheke. The library of Mr. John Murray, the eminent publisher, of Albemarle Street, is a small one, but every item is either excessively rare or unique. Its formation was begun by Mr. Murray's grandfather, whilst his father made considerable additions. Naturally, it is very strong in manuscripts and first editions of Byron. It contains, for example, not only the original manuscript of 'The Waltz,' but the several proof-sheets up to a very fine copy of the perfect book. There are also the manuscript of the four cantos of 'Childe Harold' and the various proof corrections. There are also first editions of Goldsmith's 'Traveller,' 'The Deserted Village,' 'The Haunch of Venison,' and 'The Captivity,' with the receipt for the ten guineas which Goldsmith received for it from Dodsley. Mr. Murray possesses the entire manuscript of Sir Walter Scott's 'Abbot.' This was originally minus three leaves. One of these leaves occurred in the market a few years ago, and passed into the possession of an American collector for £17 10s.; a second was secured, also at an auction, for £6 by Mr. Murray, so that the manuscript is only now wanting two leaves. The very interesting commonplace book of Robert Burns was given by Mr. Murray's grandfather to J. G. Lockhart, who left it to his son-in-law, Mr. Hope-Scott, from whom it again passed into the possession of the late Mr. John Murray. The manuscript 'Journal' of Thomas Gray's travels in England, for the most part unpublished, is also in Albemarle Street, as is also the manuscript of Washington Irving's 'Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey.' The first edition of Pope's 'Dunciad,' successively in the possession of Malone, Elwin and Peter Cunningham; Pope's own copy of Sir Richard Blackmore's 'Paraphrase of Job,' 1700, with numerous suggested improved readings in Pope's own handwriting; the _Quarterly Review_ article of Southey on Nelson, with the extensive elaborations from which the printed edition of the book was set up; a fine copy of the First Folio Shakespeare, 1623; a very fine copy of the _editio princeps_ St. Augustine, 'De Civitate Dei,' Rome, 1468; the _editio princeps_ Homer, Florence, 1488; a good copy of the first edition of Shakespeare's 'Midsummer-Night's Dreame,' James Roberts, 1600; a copy of the Prince Consort's 'Speeches,' presented to Mr. John Murray, with an autograph letter from the Queen--these are a few of the many notable books of which Mr. Murray is the fortunate owner. But among the more interesting of the manuscripts are the volumes of notes made at various times and on divers occasions by the late John Murray in his travels in North Germany, France, Switzerland, and South Germany, and from which the celebrated guide-books were printed--practically every word in the first and early editions of these widely-known books was written by the compiler. New Lodge, Windsor Forest, the residence of Colonel Victor Bates Van de Weyer, contains a collection of books of a unique character, collected at vast trouble and expense by his father, the late M. Sylvain Van de Weyer, one of the founders of the Belgian monarchy, and for many years Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. M. S. Van de Weyer, who was born in 1802, and died in 1874, stood in the front rank of modern bibliophiles, and the magnitude of his collections may be estimated from the fact that, with town and country house full to overflowing, he had 30,000 volumes in the Pantechnicon when it was burnt down. He was an indefatigable and discriminating reader as well as a munificent purchaser. The library is rich in rare editions beautifully bound by men whose names rank first in the art of bibliopegy. There is a wonderful collection of fables, and a most complete library of _ana_. The presentation copies of books are numerous and interesting, bearing as they do the autographs of individuals famous in politics, literature, and art. The present owner, who succeeded his father as a member of the Roxburghe Club, has had the books in the library catalogued, and the welfare of this noble collection is well thought of. Both Lord Houghton and Lord Amherst of Hackney possess fine libraries of rare and interesting books. That of the latter includes a Caxton, 'The Laste Siege and Conquest of Jherusalem,' 1481; Henry VIII.'s copy of Erasmus, 'Dialogi,' 1528; the same King's copy of Whytforde's 'The Boke called the Pype or Toune of the Lyfe of Perfection,' 1532; Grolier's copies of Stoplerinus, 'Elucidatio fabricæ usuque Astrolabii,' 1524, and of 'Prognosticatio Johannis Liechtenbergers,' 1526; Maioli's copy of 'Clitophonis Narratio Amatoria,' Lyons, 1544; books bound by Nicholas Eve; early English bindings; and many others. Mr. C. I. Elton, Q.C., M.P., has a fine library, of which a _catalogue raisonné_ has been drawn up and printed. Mr. Charles Butler and Mr. Ingram Bywater possess a number of interesting and rare books. Many of the more notable specimens of the bindings in the libraries of the three last-mentioned gentlemen were exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1891, and are described in the catalogue. Mr. Andrew Lang is not only a distinguished bibliophile, but a prolific writer on the subject of books. He is understood to have an extensive library of an exceedingly miscellaneous character. He has an especial liking for books which bear the traces of former distinguished owners. He himself has pointed out that, 'as a rule, tidy and self-respecting people do not even write their names on their fly-leaves, still less do they scribble marginalia. Collectors love a clean book, but a book scrawled on may have other merits. Thackeray's countless caricatures add a delight to his old school books; the comments of Scott are always to the purpose; but how few books once owned by great authors come into the general market. Where is Dr. Johnson's library, which must bear traces of his buttered toast? Sir Mark Sykes used to record the date and place of purchase, with the price--an excellent habit. The selling value of a book may be lowered even by a written owner's name, but many a book, otherwise worthless, is redeemed by an interesting note. Even the uninteresting notes gradually acquire an antiquarian value, if contemporary with the author. They represent the mind of a dead age, and perhaps the common scribbler is not unaware of this; otherwise he is, indeed, without excuse. For the great owners of the past, certainly, we regret that they were so sparing in marginalia. But this should hardly be considered as an excuse for the petty owners of the present, with "their most observing thumb."' Mr. Lang is the lucky owner of a copy of Stoddart's poem, 'The Death Wake' (1831), that singular romantic or necromantic volume, which wise collectors will purchase when they can. It is of extreme rarity, and the poetry is no less rare, in the French manner of 1830. On this specimen Aytoun has written marginalia. Where the hero's love of arms and dread of death are mentioned, Aytoun has written 'A rum cove for a Hussar,' and he has added designs of skeletons and a sonnet to the 'wormy author.' 'A curse! a curse!' shrieks the poet. 'Certainly, but why and wherefore?' says Aytoun. There is nothing very precious in his banter; still it is diverting to follow in the footsteps of the author of 'Ta Phairshon.' Mr. Lang also possesses John Wilkes' copy of the second edition of 'Theocritus, Bion and Moschus,' in French, with Eisen's plates; he has Leon Gambetta's copy of the 'Journée Chrétienne,' Collet's copy of his friend Crashaw's 'Steps to the Temple,' and a copy of Montaigne, with the autograph of Drummond of Hawthornden. [Illustration: _The late Frederick Locker-Lampson._ From a Portrait by Mr. Du Maurier.] The late Frederick Locker-Lampson, whose lamented death occurred whilst the earlier pages of this book--in which he took much interest--were passing through the press, was an ideal book-collector. He cared only for books which were in the most perfect condition. The unique character of the Rowfant library, its great literary and commercial value, and its wide interest, may be studied at length in its admirable catalogue, which of itself is a valuable work of reference. Mr. Locker, for it is by this name, and as the author of 'London Lyrics,' that he will be best remembered, devoted his attention almost exclusively to English literature, although of late years he had devoted as much attention as his frail health would allow to the formation of a section of rare books in French literature. It would be impossible to describe in this place all the many book rarities at Rowfant; we must be content, therefore, with indicating a few of the more interesting ones: Alexander Pope's own copy of Chapman's translation of Homer, 1611; one of the largest known copies of the First Folio Shakespeare, 1623; an extensive series of the first or early quarto editions of Shakespeare's plays, about fifty in number--including the spurious plays--many of which were at one time in the collections of Steevens, George Daniel, Tite, or Halliwell-Phillipps. The library is rich in other writers of the Elizabethan period--of Nash, Dekker, Greene, Gabriel Harvey. There are also a long series of the first editions of Dryden; the earliest issues of the first complete edition of 'Pilgrim's Progress'; of 'Robinson Crusoe' (the three parts); of 'Gulliver's Travels,' besides about a score of other _editiones principes_ of Swift, Pope, Goldsmith, Fielding, Richardson, Johnson, Gay, Gray, Lamb, Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth, Thackeray, Dickens and many others. The two early printed books of especial interest are the 'De Senectute,' printed by Caxton, 1481, and Barbour's 'Actis and Lyfe of the maist Victorious Conquerour, Robert Bruce, King of Scotland,' printed at Edinburgh by Robert Lepruik in 1571. The room in which the books are kept is virtually a huge safe; it was at one time a small ordinary room, and it has been converted into a fireproof library, with brick walls within brick walls; the floor of concrete, nearly two feet thick, and a huge iron door, complete an ingenious and effective protection against the most destructive of all enemies of books--fire. [Illustration: _Portrait Bookplate of Mr. Joseph Knight._] The library of Mr. Joseph Knight, the editor of _Notes and Queries_, more nearly resembles a select and orderly bookseller's premises than a private individual's. It seems almost impossible to believe that the comparatively small house in Camden Square could contain between 12,000 and 13,000 volumes, and yet such is undoubtedly the case. Every room is crowded, and all the sides of the staircases are crowded with books from top to bottom. Mr. Knight's library is essentially a working one, but it is also something more. It is rich in editions of Froissart's 'Chronicles'; in editions of Rabelais--notably the excessively rare one printed by Michel le Noir, 1505; in Elzevir editions it includes a very extensive series; the series of the 'Restif de la Bretonne' includes about 200 volumes, being one of the few complete sets in London. A few of Mr. Knight's greatest rarities have come to him at very cheap rates--_e.g._, the 'Apologie pour Herodote,' 1566, without any of the _cartons_, or cancels, upon which the Genevese authorities insisted. This little volume, of which there are very few copies known, cost Mr. Knight 16s., neither buyer nor seller knowing its value at the time of the transfer. Another 'bargain' is the fine copy of Baudelaire, 'Les Fleurs de Mal,' 1857, which was fished out of a fourpenny box in High Street, Marylebone! Mr. Knight's collection of French plays and of works relating to the French stage is, like that of the English dramatists--ancient and modern--exceedingly extensive. He possesses, also, a few good Aldines, a number of Bodonis, and some books of Le Gason. Mr. Gladstone is, of course, a book-collector, as well as an omnivorous reader. The Grand Old Book-hunter's literary tastes cover almost every conceivable phase of intellectual study. His library contains about 30,000 volumes, to which theology contributes about one-fourth. The works are arranged by Mr. Gladstone himself into divisions and sections. For many years he was an inveterate bookstaller, a practice which of late years has brought with it a certain amount of inconvenience. After attending Mr. H. M. Stanley's wedding, for example, in 1890, Mr. Gladstone went on one of his second-hand book expeditions, this time to Garratt's, in Southampton Row. The right hon. gentleman walked with his customary elasticity, and was followed to the shop by a large crowd of admirers, chiefly consisting of working men, whose enthusiasm was kept in order by three policemen. Outside the bookseller's several hundred people gathered, and they were not disappointed in their wish to see the Grand Old Man, for Mr. Garratt's shop does not boast of a back-door through which fame can escape its penalties. On coming out, Mr. Gladstone, looking, as a working man standing on the kerb expressed it, 'as straight as a new nail,' received quite an ovation, the people waving their hats and cheering vigorously as he drove away in a cab. Mr. Gladstone's marked catalogues are a familiar and a peculiarly welcome feature with second-hand booksellers, who proudly expose them in their windows. A bookseller who exhibited one of these catalogues before the Old Man retired from the Premiership was accosted by a strong Tory with the remark: 'I see you've got a list marked by Gladstone's initials in the window;' and then, whispering fiercely in the bookseller's ear, he added, 'Does he pay you?' We give a facsimile of one of Mr. Menken's catalogues with an order for books from Mr. Gladstone. [Illustration: '_An Order from Mr. Gladstone._'] Mr. Henry Spencer Ashbee, of Bedford Square, has a small but charming library, nearly every volume being beautifully bound. The books are, for the most part, modern, and chiefly French. There are, for example, Sainte-Beuve's 'Livre d'Amour,' which was suppressed after a few copies were struck off, with the author's own corrections; the Fortsas 'Catalogue,' the cruel joke of M. Renier Chalon; first editions of 'The English Spy,' an exceptionally fine copy; Coryat's 'Crambe, or, his Colwork,' 1611; Roger's 'Poems' and 'Italy'; a number of books illustrated by Chodowiecki, the Cruikshank of Germany; practically all the books published by M. Octave Uzanne and Paul Lacroix in the finest possible states. Mr. Ashbee possesses several extra-illustrated or grangerized books of exceptional interest--the nine volumes of Nichols' 'Literary Anecdotes' are extended to thirty-four, there being upwards of 5,000 additional portraits, views, and so forth. Mr. Ashbee's library comprises several thousand volumes, the binding alone of which must have cost a small fortune. [Illustration: _Portrait Bookplate of Mr. H. S. Ashbee._] [Illustration: _Mr. T. J. Wise, Book-collector._] The libraries of Mr. Thomas J. Wise and Mr. Walter Slater may be bracketed together, partly because they have been formed side by side. They differ in many respects, however. Mr. Wise's is a small but choice collection of books, autographs, and manuscripts of modern writers. He possesses, for the most part, in first editions of the finest quality, practically everything written by Matthew Arnold, William Blake, Robert Browning and Mrs. Browning, Byron, Coleridge, Shelley, George Eliot, Leigh Hunt, Charles Lamb, Landor, Meredith, William Morris, John Ruskin, Swinburne, and Tennyson. Of Shelley, for example, Mr. Wise has a collection of 400 books and pamphlets by or concerning him. There is only one other collection comparable to it, and it is that possessed by Mr. Buxton Forman. Of Byron Mr. Wise has everything, including 'The Waltz,' 'Poems on Various Occasions,' and all the other excessively rare publications of this prolific poet, the only exception, indeed, being 'The Curse of Minerva,' 1812. Mr. Wise's collection of Ruskiniana is practically complete, and includes a number of privately-printed pamphlets issued to a few personal friends. Mr. Walter Slater's books and manuscripts include a unique series of both Dante G. Rossetti and Walter Savage Landor. Of the former, it contains the manuscript of three-fourths of the 'House of Life' series of sonnets, the manuscript of 'St. Agnes,' and the whole of the extant manuscript of 'The King's Tragedy'; these manuscripts usually include not only the 'copy' as it was sent to the printer, but usually the first and second drafts. The series of Landor books and pamphlets is quite complete, from his first book of poems, 'Moral Epistles,' issued in 1795, and the equally excessively rare 'Poems from the Arabic and Persian,' issued at Warwick in 1800, to 'Savonarola,' in Italian, 1860. Mr. Slater has a complete series of the first editions of the curious works of Mrs. Behn. [Illustration: _Mr. Clement Shorter's Bookplate._] Mr. Clement K. Shorter, the editor of the _Illustrated London News_, the _Sketch_, and several other publications, is a book-collector who, like Mr. Wise and Mr. Slater, has pitched his 'tent' on the northern heights of London. Mr. Shorter has an unusually complete set of the works of Thomas Hardy, George Meredith, Sir Walter Scott, Charlotte Brontë--besides the 'Cottage Poems' of old Mr. Brontë--and Matthew Arnold. Of the last named there are copies of the very limited editions of 'Geist's Grave,' 'St. Brandran,' 'Home Rule for Ireland,' and 'Alaric at Rome.' Mr. Shorter's Ruskin treasures include a volume of the plates of 'Modern Painters,' on India paper, bound up in vellum. There are also several first editions of the earlier works of Carlyle, and William Watson's 'Lachrymæ Musarum,' on vellum, with the original manuscript bound up with it. Mr. Shorter has many interesting manuscripts and books by Oliver Wendell Holmes, R. L. Stevenson, and A. C. Swinburne, with autographs or notes by their respective authors. Mr. Richard le Gallienne, the well-known author, has for many years been a confirmed book-hunter, and has come across some rare and interesting finds. Mr. Henry Norman, the traveller and assistant editor of the _Daily Chronicle_, has a number of choice and rare books, chiefly first editions of American authors--J. Russell Lowell, Longfellow, O. W. Holmes, Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Whittier--nearly all of whom were personal friends of Mr. Norman's. Mr. Norman has gone to the extravagance of two sets of the first editions of Thomas Hardy's books, whilst of George Meredith there is one complete set. [Illustration: _Mr. A. Birrell, Book-collector._] The House of Commons contains several men who have very excellent libraries and excellent judgments of books. Mr. Leonard Courtney has been guilty of bookstalling a good many times in his successful career, and is, perhaps, an exception to the general rule that good political economists usually make poor book-hunters. Mr. Courtney possesses a good many uncommon books, which he has picked up from time to time. Mr. Augustine Birrell, Q.C., the author of 'Obiter Dicta,' and son-in-law of the late Frederick Locker-Lampson, has a good library of from 5,000 to 6,000 books. Among these may be noticed the first edition of Gray's 'Elegy,' picked up at Hodgson's for 3s. 6d.; first edition of Keats' 'Endymion,' purchased off a stall in the Euston Road for 2s. 6d.; first edition of 'Wuthering Heights'; and an extensive series of books relating to or by Dryden, Pope, Swift, and others of that period, as well as a number of presentation copies of books by Matthew Arnold, Browning, and Tennyson, etc. Mr. T. R. Buchanan, M.P., who was for many years librarian of All Souls' College, Oxford, has a small but select library of books which are, for the most part, remarkable on account of the beauty or rarity of their bindings. It is especially strong in fine specimens of early English and Scotch bindings; there are a few examples from De Thou's library, and a few characteristic specimens of Italian and Flemish bindings of the best periods. The books themselves are principally editions of the classics; but the section of Bibles printed in England and Scotland is a full one. There are also many volumes with a personal interest; for example, the copy of Locke's 'Essay concerning the Human Understanding' was once Coleridge's, and contains a note by him to this effect: 'This is, perhaps, the most admirable of Locke's works; read it, Southey,' etc.; and the copy of the 'Libri Carolini,' 1549, was Scaliger's. Captain R. S. Holford, of Dorchester House, Park Lane, has a choice library of beautiful and rare books, formed by his father, the late H. S. Holford. For many years its chief treasure was the only known first edition of 'Pilgrim's Progress,' 1678, which was valued at £50; during the last few years, however, four other copies have turned up, without, however, lessening the commercial value of the Holford copy, which would probably fetch two or three times the amount at which it was valued thirty years ago. The facsimile of the first edition issued a few years ago was made from Mr. Holford's copy. A few other treasures of Captain Holford's library may be briefly mentioned as follows: A fifteenth-century manuscript of Livy's 'Historia,' on vellum, in a Venetian binding, with the arms of Aragon; Cardinal Hippolyto d'Este's copy of Rhinghier, 'Cento Giuochi Liberali, et d' Ingegno,' Bologna, 1551; Grolier's copy of Pliny, 'Epistolæ,' etc., Venice, 1518; of Valerius Maximus, Venice, 1534; and of 'Epitomes des Roys de France,' Lyons, 1546; the Maioli copy of Homer, 'Odyssea,' Paris, 1538; Du Bellay's 'Memoirs,' 1572, with the arms of Henri de Bourbon, Prince de Condé; and the copy of 'Liber Psalmorum Davidis,' 1546, bound by Nicholas Eve for De Thou. [Illustration: _Facsimile of Title-page, 'Pilgrim's Progress,' First Edition._] Dr. W. H. Corfield, Mr. C. E. H. Chadwyck-Healey, Q.C., Sir Julian Goldsmid, M.P., Mr. C. F. Murray, Mr. George Salting, Mr. Samuel Sandars, Mr. H. Yates Thompson, Mr. H. Virtue Tebbs, and Mr. T. Foster Shattock, are understood to possess choice libraries of books noted chiefly for the beauty or rarity of their bindings. M. John Gennadius, late Greek Minister at the Court of St. James's, possessed one of the finest libraries formed during recent years. This collection was destined to supplement and ornament the National Library of Greece, founded at Athens by his Excellency's father, on the very morrow of her liberation. Fate, however, ordered otherwise, and these beautiful books were, consequently, dispersed at Sotheby's, from March 28 to April 9, the eleven days' sale of 3,222 lots realizing £5,466. The library of Mr. W. Christie-Miller, of Britwell Court, Maidenhead, is understood to include many choice books, particularly early printed works, but no particulars of it are available. Holland House Library is one of great historic value and interest. It is fully described by the Princess Marie Liechtenstein, in her monograph on the place. Macaulay has described the appearance of the library in his famous essay on Lord Holland. It is rather a collection formed by a statesman and a literary man than by a bibliophile; there are over 10,000 volumes, many of which are privately printed books, presentation copies; there is a large collection of historical works relating to Italy, Portugal, and France; Spanish literature, a memento of the taste of the third Lord Holland, is well represented; the collection of Elzevirs is very fine, as is also that of the Greek and Latin classics, and the highly curious collection of various copies of Charles James Fox's 'James II.,' which belonged to different celebrities, is housed here. Mr. C. J. Toovey inherited from his father, the late James Toovey, a fine library of exceptionally choice books; it is rich in monuments of the Early English printers, one of its gems being a fine copy of the 'Boke of St. Albans'; Aldines probably form one of its largest sections, whilst in bindings by the great masters of the French school of bibliopegic art the library has very few equals. Many of these were purchased by the late Mr. Toovey in Paris, long before the present rage for them had commenced, so that, as an investment, they will doubtless yield a handsome profit if they ever come into the market. The series of Walton's 'Angler' includes the first edition, with a presentation inscription by the author; there is also the largest known First Folio edition of Shakespeare, to which reference has already been made. [Illustration] [Illustration] INDEX. ADDISON, JOSEPH, 39, 108, 265, 267 Advocates, Library of the College of, 116 Ainsworth, W. Harrison, 83, 288, 289 Alchorne, S., 109 Alcuin, 2, 3, 139 Alde, John, 183 Aldersgate Street, 39 Aldine editions, 129-131, 300, 304 Aldus, 129 Alfred, 3 Allen, Thomas, 31 Almon, J., 250 Althorp Library, the, 50, _et seq._ America, book trade with, 189 America, tracts on, 90 Amherst of Hackney, Lord, 309 Anacreon, Stephen edition, 129 Anderson, Adam, 219 Anderson, G. B., 94 Anderson, John, 193 Anglesey, Earl of, 27, 101 _note_ Angling books, Francis's, 93 Anson, Sir W. R., 305 'Anthologia Græca' (1494), 130 'Apologie pour Herodote,' 314 Arch, J. and A., 186 Archaica Club, 79 Archer, Sir Anthony, 16 'Aristophanes' (1498), 129 Aristotle (1495-98), 130 Arthur, Thomas, 230 Arundel, Henry, Earl of, 15, 16, 18 Ascham, Roger, 307 Ascham's 'Toxophilus,' 120 Ashbee, Mr. H. S., 315 Ashburnham, Lord, 126, 285 Ashmole, Elias, 18 Askew, Dr. A., 41 Askew Sale, the, 128, _et seq._ Asperne, James, 186 Athelstan, 3 'Atticus,' 46 Auctions, book, 98, _et seq._, 210 Aulus Gellius, 'Noctes,' 307 Aylesford, Earl of, 89, 117 Bacon, Francis, 19 Bacon, Roger, 6 Bagford, John, 30, 31, 204, 268 Bagster, S., 235 Bain, James, 240 Baker, Mr. E. E., 91 Baker, H., 249 Baker, Samuel, 100 _note_, 102, 103, 223 Baker, Thomas, 34 'Balbi Catholicon,' the, 127, 300 Baldwin and Cradock, 210 Bale, John, 13 Bale's 'Image of Both Churches,' 196 Balfour, Mr. A. J., 305 Ballads, 74 Ballard, T. and E., 103 Ballards of Little Britain, 173 Banks, Dr., 219 Bannatyne Club, the, 62 _note_ Baptist Library at Bristol, 138 Barbican, the, 176, 177 Barclay's 'Ship of Fools,' 120, 121 Barnard, Sir John, 238 Barnfield's 'Encomion of Lady Pecunia,' 41 'Baroccio,' 69 Barrett, Thomas, 35 Barton, Bernard, 76, 296 Bassett, Thomas, 219 Batemans of Little Britain, 171 Bates, Dr., 39 Bath, Marquis of, 304, 305 Bathoe, Sam., 103 Bathoe, W., 234 Baudelaire, 'Les Fleurs de Mal,' 314 Bauduyn (Piers), stationer, 10 Baylis, Alderman, 223 Baynes, W., 211 Beauclerk, Topham, 55 and _note_, 111 Beckett-Denison, C., 117 Becket, Thomas, 176 _note_, 236 Beckford, Peter, 49, 297, 298 Beckford, William, 48-50, 256 Bede, the Venerable, 3 Bedford, Francis, 87 Bedford, John, Duke of, 9, 17 Bedford Missal, the, 9, 109 Bedford Street, Strand, 241 Beet, Thomas, 251 Bell and Sons, George, 244 Benedict Biscop, 2, 3 Bennett, T., 187 Bentham, W., 61 Bentley, Dr. R., 116, 195, 196 Benzon, Mrs., 270 Berkeley, Earl of, 25 Bernard, Dr. Francis, 34, 132 Bernard, Sir Thomas, 71 Berthelet, Thomas, 261 Bibles and New Testaments, 136-140, 212, 261, 262, 285, 291, 302, 306 'Biblia Pauperum,' 272 Coverdale's (1535), 72, 89, 138, 263, 268, 302 Cranmer's (1540 and 1553), 72, 302 Cromwell's (1539), 302 Douay (1663), 120 Eliot's Indian, 119 Fust and Schoeffer (1462), 126, 300 German, 95 Græca Septuaginta, 192 _note_ Gutenberg (or Mazarin) (1455), 58, 72, 89, 90, 114, 125, 126, 255, 300 Hayes (1674), 21 Matthew's (1537), 72, 302 Tyndale's (1525-1526, 1533), 89, 137, 138 St. Jerome's MS., 140 Bibliomania, the decay of, 69 Bibliomaniac, A, 78 Bibliomaniac, the 'Library' of a, 200 Bibliophile, A, 78 Bibliophobia, 108 Bindley, James, 43, 66, 108, 109 Birrell, Mr. A., 145, 319 Bishopsgate Churchyard, 161 Black-letter books, 136 Black-letter booksellers, the, 236 Black-letter collectors, 'Father' of, 27 _note_ Black-letter mania, 59 Blackwell's 'Herbal,' 105 Blake, W., 93 Blandford, Marquis of, 61 _note_, 109, 124 Block book, 89 Bloomfield, R., 154 Boccaccio, the Valdarfer, 52, 61, 93, 123-125 Boccaccio, 'Les Illustres Malheureux,' 50 Bodleian, the, 23, 67 Bodley, Sir T., 22, 283 Boethius, 'Consolation of Philosophy,' 4 Bohn, H. G., 50, 243, 244, 255 Bohn, James, 243 Bohn, J. H., 243, 244 'Boke of St. Albans,' 136, 322 Bolland, Sir W., 61, 69 Bonaparte, Prince L. L., 95, 96, 254 Bonaventure's 'Life of Christ,' 9 Bond Street, 249, _et seq._ Book auctions and sales, 98, _et seq._ Book-borrowers, 274, _et seq._ Book catalogues, some humours of, 293-298 Booker, John, 18 Book-ghouls, 160 Book-hunting, early, 1 Book-marking, Lamb's notion of, 76 Book-pluralists, 46 Books and their prices, 118, _et seq._ 'Booksellers,' the, a poem, 193 Booksellers' Row. _See_ Holywell Street Bookstalls and bookstalling, 149-167 Book-thieves, 274, _et seq._ Boone, T. and W., 246, 250 Booth, Lionel, 116 Boswell, James, 108, 229 Boucher, Jonathan, 70 Bourne, Zacharius, 100 Bovey, Mrs., 265 Bowles, Rev. J., 220 Bowyer, Jonah, 216 Bowyer, William, 216 Boydell, Alderman, 251 Bozier's Court, 201 Brabourne, Lord, 93, 106 Bradbury and Evans, 116 Brand, Rev. John, 112, 179, 190, 207 Brassey, Mrs., 271 Bremner, David, 241 Bridges, John, 34, 121, 122 Bright, B. H., 108, 143 _note_, 302 Brindley, J., 249 Bristol, Earl of, 26, 31 British Museum copies of the classics, 128-131, 139, 166 British Museum, 276 Britten, Mr. James, 151 Britton, Thomas, 172, 173 Broadly, John, 109 Brooke, Lord Warwick, 100 Brown, Mr. J., 200 Brown, 'Old,' 157 Bruck, Cudworth, 193 Bruscambille on 'Long Noses,' 152 Bryant, W., 112 Brydges, Sir Egerton, 47, 59 Buccleuch, Duke of, 90, 305 Buchanan, Mr. T. R., 319 Buckley, Samuel, 174 Buckley, W. E., 94 Bull and Auvache, 206 Bumstead, G., 245 Bunyan, John, 183 Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress,' 145, 146, 312, 320, 321 Burbidge, Prebendary E., 18 Burdett-Coutts, Baroness, 141, 142 Burgess, F., 95 Burghley, Lady M., 264 Burghley, Lord, 306 Burlington, Countess of, 265 Burnet, Bishop, 234 Burnet, Rev. Gilbert, 232 Burney, Dr., 238 Burns, R., 281, 304, 308 Burton, Robert, 23 Butcher Row, 223-225 Bute, Marquis of, 305 Butler, Mr. Charles, 310 Butler's 'Hudibras,' 219 Butterworth, Henry, 217 _note_ Byng, Mr., 144 Byron, Lord, 109, 316 Byron's 'Childe Harold,' 308 Byron's 'English Bards,' 85 Byron's 'Waltz,' 308 Bywater, Mr. Ingram, 310 Cadell, Thomas, 235 Cadell and Davis, 235 Cæsar's (Sir Julius) Travelling Library, 22, 23, 110 Cæsar's 'Commentaries,' 55 Caldecott, Thomas, 68 Camden, W., 21 Campbell, Mr. Dykes, 106 Canonbury Tower, 72 and _note_, 73 Carbery, Lord, 31 Caroline, Queen, 268 Casaubon, Dr. M., 25 Cashel, Bishop of, 255 Cassell and Co., 116 Castell, Dr., 100 Catalogues. _See_ Book Catalogues Cater, W., 193 Caviceo, 'Dialogue,' etc., 93 Cawthorn and Hutt, 208 Caxton, W., 12, 30, 60, 61, 72, 109, 111, 132, 135, 190, 247, 248, 262, 268, 300, 306 'Arthur, King,' 133 'Book called Cathon,' 132, 133 (_bis_) 'Book of Chivalry,' 136 'Book of Good Manners,' 33 'Chastising of God's Children,' 13, 132 'Christine of Pisa,' 89 Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales,' 136 'Chronicles of England,' 90, 132, 133 Cicero ('De Senectute'), 'Of Old Age,' 89, 132, 133, 313 'Dictes and Sayings,' 90, 132 'Doctrinal of Sapience,' 132, 133 'Faits d'Armes et de Chevalerie,' 13 'Game and Playe of Chesse,' 90, 132, 133, 135 'Godfrey of Bulloigne,' 13, 33, 132 'Golden Legend,' 13, 93, 133, 271, 303 Gower's 'Confessio Amantis,' 133 Higden's 'Description of Britayne,' 90 Higden's 'Polychronicon,' 89, 303 'Historyes of Troy,' 132 (_bis_) 'History of Blanchardyn and Eglantine,' 133 'History of Jason,' 132, 133 (_bis_) 'Life of St. Katherine,' 220, 221 Lydgate's 'Life of our Lady,' 220 'Lives of the Fathers,' 220 'Mirrour of the World,' 90, 95, 133 'Royal Book, or Book for a King,' 90 Russell's 'Propositio,' 134 'Siege and Conquest of Jerusalem,' 309 'Troylus and Creside,' 133 Virgil's 'Æneid,' 13, 133 Caxton Head Catalogues, 204 Caxton, the highest paid for a, 133 Caxtons, the Althorp, 133 Cecil, Sir Robert, 306 Chadwyck-Healey, Mr. E. H., 320 Chained books at Hereford Chalmers, George, 69, 70 Champernoun, Mr., 57 Chandler, Dr., 289 Chapman, Henry, 235 Charing Cross, 235-246 Charing Cross Road, 258 Charles I.'s Prayer-Book, 87 Charles II., 21 Charlotte, Queen, as a book-hunter, 215 Charnock, Dr. S., 100 Cheapside, 184, 185 Chetham Library, the, 118 Child, Alderman, 56 Chiswell, R., 33, 100, 213 Chodowiecki, 316 Christ Church (Canterbury), Books at, 7, 9 Christ's Hospital, Newgate Street, 8 Christie, James, 100 _note_, 103, 117, 291 Christie, Manson and Woods, 117 Christie, Mr. R. C., 297, 303 'Chronicon Nurembergense,' 303 Churchill, A. and J., 210 Cicero, 306. _See_ also Caxton Cicero, 'Ad Atticum,' 307 Circulating Library, the first, 234 Clare Hall, Cambridge, 260 Clare Market, 232 Clarendon, Earl of, 117 Clarke, W., 135, 251 Classics, their market value, 127-131 Claude's 'Liber Veritatis,' 305 Clavell, Robert, 214 Clement's Inn Passage, 225, 226 Clovio, Giulio, 57 Cochrane, J. G., 113, 221 Cock, auctioneer, 103 Cockaine, Sir Aston, 36 Coke, Sir Edward, 25 Colebrook Row, Islington, 76, 77 Coleridge, S. T., 76-78, 289, 320 Collier's 'Ecclesiastical Library,' 16 Collier, John Payne, 74-76, 230 Collins, Mr. Victor, 95, 96 Collins, W., 185 Columbus letter, the, 94 Comerford, James, 86 Compton, 113 Conant, N., 221 Conway, Lord, 24 Conyers, George, 216 Cooke, R. F., 94 Cook, Sir Robert, 25 Cooper, Mr. A. E., 258 Cooper, William, 99, 100 Copinger, Dr., 97 Corfield, Dr. W. H., 320 Corney, Bolton, 71 Cornhill, 184-186 Cosens, F. W., 93 Cosin, Dr., 24, 26 Cotton, Charles, 36 Cotton, Sir Robert, 21, 22, 283 Courtney, Mr. Leonard, 319 Cowper, W., 215 Coxhead, J., 196 Cracherode, C. M., 64-66, 238 Craig, J. T. Gibson, 88, 89 Cranmer, Archbishop, 16, 18 Crawford, Earl of, 88, 89, 126, 306 Crawford, W. H., 93 Crockford's, 226 Crofts, Rev. Thos., 111 Croker, Thomas C., 81, 82 Crossley, James, 287 Crowinshield, Edward, 115 Crowley, Robert, 191 Crozier, of the Little Turnstile, 202, 203 Cruden, Alexander, 185 Cruikshankiana, 90 Cunning bookseller, the, 250 Curll, Edmund, 219 Currer, Miss R., 268-270 Dalrymple, Alex., 56 Dampier, Dean, 238, 306 Daniell, Mr. E., 106 Daniel, G., 72-74, 141-143, 143 _note_ Daniel's, 'Delia,' 87 Dante, the Landino edition, 93 Darton and Hodge, 116 Darton, W., 196-198 Davies, Tom, 237 Davis, Arthur, 28 Davis, Charles, 187, 197 Davis, Lockyer, 199, 236 Davis, W., 199 Day and Son, 116 Day's circulating library, 208 Debrett, J., 250 De Bury, Richard, 7 Dee, Dr., 18 Defoe, Daniel, 156 Delafaye, Charles, 219 Denbigh, Lord, 31 Denham, Henry, 210 Denis, John, 181 Dent, J., 61, 62, 68, 69 Derby, Lord, 31 Dering, Sir Edward, 115 Derwentwater, Earl of, 292 Devonshire, Dukes of, 61 _note_, 124, 133, 141, 142, 173, 305, 306 Dibdin, T. F., 57, 61, 63, 64, 109 Dickens, Charles, 83, 86 Digby, Sir Kenelm, 26, 31, 100, 120 Dilke, C. W., 64, 202, 203 Dilly, C. and E., 183, 184 Dimsdale sale, the, 108 Diodorus Siculus (1539), 130 D'Israeli, Isaac, 71 Dobell, Mr. B., 106, 258 Dobson, Mr. Austin, 45 Dodsley, James, 251 Dodsley, R., 251 Dolben, Sir John E., 56 Dolet, Etienne, 304 Dorset, Earl of, 170 Douce, Francis, 67 Drake, Sir Francis, 19 Dramatic library of F. Burgess, 95 Dramatic library of F. Marshall, 93 Drama, works on the, 68, 291, 306 Drayton, M., 84, 158 Droeshout portrait of Shakespeare, 91 Drummond of Hawthornden, 311 Drummond, Miss, 271 Drummond's 'Forth Fasting,' 86 Drury, H. J. T., 70 Dryden, John, 35 Duck Lane, 175, 176 Duck, Stephen, 219 Duerdin, J., 115 Duke Street, Little Britain, 175, 176 Dulwich College Library, 204 Dunmore, John, 213 Dunton, John, 100-102 Dutens, Rev. L., 117 Dyce, Alexander, 47, 83-85, 289 Dyson, H., 35 Eadburga, Abbess, 260 East End, book-hunting in, 155, _et seq._ _Editiones Principes_, 128-131 Edmonds, Sir Clement, 211 Edward I., 3 Edward IV., 10, 33 Edward VI., 13 Edwards, E., 7, 31 Edwards, James, 117, 249 Egbert, 2 Egerton, T. and J., 113, 236 'Eikon Basilike,' 101 _note_ Elcho, the Dowager Lady, 270 Eliot's Indian Bible, 119 Elizabethan literature, 301 Elizabeth de Burgh, 260 Elizabeth (Princess), of Hesse-Homburg, 270 Elizabeth, Queen, 17, 18, 260, 262-264 Ellis, Mr. F. S., 35, 245, 246, 286, 300, 301 Ellis, Mr. G. I., 106, 246 Elmsley, Peter, 238, 240 Elton, Mr. C. I., 310 Elyot's 'Castell of Helth,' 166 Erasmus' 'Enchiridion Militis Christiani,' 119 Eshton Hall Library, the, 268-270 Essex, Earl of, 264 Eton College Library, 17 Euripides (1503), 129 Evans, R. H., 109, 110 Evans, Sir John, 305 Evans, Thomas, 110, 216 Evelyn, John, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 37, 212 Evelyn, Sir, 250 Exeter 'Change, 105, 154, 155 Extra-illustrating, 165 Fabyan's 'Chronicle,' 120 Fagel Collection, 111 Fairfax, Bryan, 56 Farmer, Dr. R., 41, 112 Farnese, Cardinal, 57 Farringdon Road, 158, 159 Fathers, the, 120 Faulder, R., 250 Felton, John, 23, 24 Fenestella, 'De Magistratibus,' 263 Fielding, Henry, 44, 45, 94, 108, 196 'Finds,' some book, 149, 150, 229, 230 Finsbury Square, 178, 179-183 Fire, the great, 212, 213 Flatman's 'Poems,' 85 Fleet Street, 216-223 Fleetwood, Bishop, 17 Fletcher, J. and F., 114 Flexney, W., 194 Folkes, Martin, 108 Fonthill, 49 Foote, Samuel, 163 Ford, K. J., 183 Forster, John, 83-85, 202, 203 'Fortsas Catalogue,' the, 315 Foss, Henry, 239 Foster, Birket, Mr., 94 Fountaine Collection, the, 261 Fox's 'Reign of James II.,' 86 Fox, William, 193 Francis, Francis, 93 Franklin, B., 175, 250 Freebairn's sale, 38, 240 Freeling, Francis, 61 Freeling, Henry, 61 French Revolution, 58, 67 Fresnile, John, 8 Froissart's 'Chronicles,' 314 'Fructus Temporum,' 300 Fuller's 'Church History,' 14 Fuller's 'David's Hainous Sinne,' 151 Funnibus, L., 147 Gainsborough, Earl of, 117 Gaisford, Mr. Thomas, 93, 306 Galwey, Mr. J., 234 Gambetta, Leon, 311 Gardner, H. L., 236 Garnett, Dr. R., 166 Garrick, D., 85 Garth, Samuel, 176 Gataker, Dr. Thos., 100 Genlis, Madame de, 286 Gennadius, M. J., 320-322 George and Sons, E., 187-189 George III., 53, 54, 130, 135, 141 Gibbon, E., 44, 240 Gibbs, Mr. H. H., 301, 302 Gifford, Dr., 139, 140 Gilbert and Field, 186, 187 Gilbert, S. and T., 187 Gilliflower, M., 248 Gladding, R., 187, 188 Gladstone, W. E., 86, 95, 254, 314, 315 Glashier, George, 202 Glasse's 'Art of Cookery,' 150 Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of, 9, 10 Goldsmid, Sir Julian, 320 Goldsmith, Oliver, 44 Goldsmith's 'The Haunch of Venison,' 308 Goldsmith's 'The Deserted Village,' 308 Goldsmith's 'Traveller,' 308 Goldsmith's 'Vicar of Wakefield,' 94, 146 Gomme, Mr. G. L., 151 Goodhugh, W., 206 Gordon, Sir Robert, 113 Gosford, Earl of, 114 Gosset, Dr. Isaac, 70 Gough, R., 67, 103 Gower, Lord, 61, 62 Grafton, Duke of, 109 Grafton, R., 74 Grangerizing, 165, 316 Gravelot's print of Westminster Hall, 247, 248 Gray, Mr. H., 114 Gray's Inn Gate and Road, 191, 192, 273 Gray's MSS., 81, 146, 308 Gray, T., 84, 85, 319 Green, Mr. J. Arnold, 272 Greenhill, Rev. W., 100 Grenville, Thos., 69, 75, 238 Greville, C. F., 117 Griffith, W., 216 Griffiths, Ralph, 210 Grolier, 65, 309 Grose, Francis, 238 _Grub Street Journal_, 241 _note_ Gryphius, S., 304 Guilford, Earl of, 109 Guilford, Francis, Baron, 31 Gulston, Joseph, 113 Guy de Beauchamp, 6 Guy, Thomas, 184 Gwillim's 'Display of Heraldry,' 156 Gyles, Fletcher, 123 Hailstone, Edward, 93 Halifax, Lord, 31 Hall, Virtue, and Co., 116 Halliwell-Phillipps, J. O., 71, 74, 90-92 Hamilton, Dukes of, 48, 50 Hamilton, Sir W., 117 Hammers, auctioneers, 100 and _note_ Hannay's 'Nightingale,' 70 Hanrott, 71 Harcourt, Lady F. V., 270 Harding and Lepard, 183 Harding's 'Chronicle,' 121 Hardouyn, G., 17 Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor, 89 Hardy, Sir William, 88 Harleian Library, The, 192 Harley, Earl of Oxford, 31, 34, 38 Hartley, L. L., 87, 114 Harvey, Gabriel, 19 Harvey, Mr. F., 165 Harwood, Dr., 128-131 Hatchards, 252-254 Hawkins, Rev. W. B. L., 117 Hawkins, Sir John, 193, 238 Hawtrey, Dr., 71 Hayes, John, 193, 199 Hayes, Samuel, 199 Hazlewood, Joseph, 61, 63, 64 Hazlitt MSS., The, 94 Hazlitt, William, 77 Hearle of Holywell Street, 228 Hearne, Thomas, 27 _note_, 34, 35, 122, 283 Heath, Benjamin, 122, 123 Heathcote, Robert, 68 Heber, Richard, 45-48, 61, 62, 108, 110, 268 Heber, Thomas C., 61 Heliconia Club, 79 Henderson, the actor, 291 Henry, Prince, 20, 21 Henry IV., 9 Henry V., 9, 260 Henry VI., 9, 10 Henry VII., 12, 13 Henry VIII., 13, 17, 261, 309 Herbert, Isaac, 199 Heriot, George, 264 Herodotus (1502), 129 Heydinger, C., 236 Hibbert-Wade, Dr., 289 Highest price paid for a book, 126 Hill, Mr. H. R., 231 Hill, Thomas, 78-80, 110 Hindley, Mr. C., 106, 231 Hoare, Richard, 28 Hodge, Mr. E. Grose, 105, 106 Hodgson and Co., 116, 146, 162-164 Hogarth, W., 234 Holborn, 191-208 Holford, Captain, 146, 320 Holgate, W., 71 Holinshed's 'Chronicle,' 33 Holland's 'Heröologia,' 118 Holland House Library, 322 Holland, Lord, 86, 322 Hollingbury Copse, 91 Holywell Street, 153, 154, 215, 227-231 Homer, the _editio princeps_ (1488), 119, 128 Homer, 120, 311 Homer, the Foulis edition, 129 Hone, W., 216 Hood, Tom, 184 Hookham, T., 250 Hopetoun, Earl of, 126 Hopetoun House Library, 90 Horace, _editio princeps_, 130 Horæ, 261 Horne's 'Orion,' 229 Horsfield, R., 214, 215 Hotten, J. C., 115 Houghton, Earl of, 309 Hume, David, 44, 230 Hunter, Mr., 130 Hunt, Leigh, 149 Hutchinson, Joshua H., 94 Huth, Mr. A. H., 301 Huth, H., 254, 300, 301 Hutt, Charles, 225 Hutt, Mr. F. H., 225 Hutton, George, 204 'Imitatio Christi,' the, 96, 97, 302 Ina, King of the West Saxons, 3 Inglis, C. B., 108 Irving (Washington), 'Abbotsford,' 308 Islington, cattle market at, 164 Isocrates (1493), 129 Isted, G., 61 Jackson, Mr. B. Daydon, 297 Jackson, 17 Jackson, Andrew, 232 Jacobean literature, 301 James, Haughton, 68 James I., 20 James II., 20 Jameson, Mrs., 271 Janin, Jules, 286 Jarvis (J. W.) and Son, 194, 245 Jeffrey, Edward, 113 Jerrold, Douglas, 71 Jersey, Earl of, 56, 133 Johnson, Dr., 23, 44, 117, 237 Johnson and Osborne, 192 and _note_ Johnson, Joseph, 214, 215 John of Boston, 8, 9 Johnston, William, 215, 216 Jolley, Thomas, 143 _note_ Jones and Co., 180 Jones, Owen, 116 Jones, Richard, 191 Jonson, Ben, 19, 84 Juvenal and Persius (1469), 131 Keats, John, 94, 179, 319 Kempis, Thomas à, 96, 97 Kettlewell, Robert, 199 Kidner, Thomas, 100 King, John, 178 King, Thomas, 111-113, 178 King and Lochée, 56, 112 King of Mansfield Street, 239 Kirton, Joshua, 212 Knaptons, the, 214 Knight, Charles, 116 Knight, J. P., 117 Knight, Mr. Joseph, 313, 314 Knock-outs, 121, 164, 290-292 Lackington, George, 182, 183 Lackington, James, 179-183, 245 Lactantius, 'Opera,' 307 'Ladies' Library,' the, 265-267 Lakelands Library, 93 Lamb, Charles, 76-78, 176, 177, 207, 288-290, 296 Lamb's 'Beauty and the Beast,' 150 Lambeth Library, 5, 6 Landor, Walter Savage, 317 Lang, Mr. Andrew, 310 Lang, R., 61 Langford, auctioneer, 103, 111, 139 Lansdowne, Marquis of, 58, 108, 111 Lant, R., 210 Larking, John W., 94 Larrons, 'L'Histoire des,' 282 Laud, Archbishop, 23 Lauderdale, Duke of, 27, 28, 289 Law books, printers of, 217 Lawler, Mr. John, 99, 100, 102, 119, 258 Lawrence, E. H., 94 Lazarus, Mrs., 231 Leacroft, S., 236 Le Gallienne, Mr. R., 318 'Legenda Aurea' (1503), 291 Leigh, George, 103, 104 Leighton, Mr., 106 Leland, John, 15 Lemoine, Henry, 161 'Leontes,' 66 Lepruik, Robert, 313 Lever, Charles, 83 Lewis, L. A., 223 Libraries and book-thieves, 284, 285 Library, the Sunderland, 36-38 Libri Collection, the, 114, 263, 285 Lilly, John, 18 Lilly, Joseph, 74, 244, 245, 301 Lintot, B., 219 Lisburne, Lord, 129 Little Britain, 33, 99, 167-175 Littleton's 'Tenures,' 217 Liverpool, Earl of, 117 Livy, the Sweynheim and Pannartz, 69 Localities, some book-hunting, 166 Locke, John, 85, 320 Locker-Lampson, F., 106, 311-313 Lodge's 'Rosalynd,' 86 London House, Aldersgate Street, 39 Longman and Co., 80, 210 Longueville, Lord, 31 Lovelace's 'Lucasta,' 145 Lowndes, W., 235 Lowndes's 'Bibliographer's Manual,' 244 Low, Sampson, and Co., 116, 208 Loyalty, the 'repository' of, 250 Ludgate Hill, 215 Lumley, Lord, 16, 21 Luttrell, N., 22 Lydgate's 'Bochas,' 232 Lydgate's 'Hystory, Sege, and Destruccion of Troye,' 9 Lysons, D. and S., 110 Lytton, Lord, 150 Macaulay, Lord, 71, 149, 202, 228, 229 Mackenzie, J. Mansfield, 90 Mackinlay, I., 241 Macpherson, F., 195 Macready, W., 117 Maddison, John, 112 Magdalen College, 29, 30 Maitland, Lord, 27 Malone, E., 41, 43, 67, 108, 238 Manley, Richard, 215 Mann, John, 122 Mansion House, the old, 185, 186 Manson, J. P., 207 Manton, Dr. Thomas, 100 Manuscript, the textual value of a, 128 Markland, J. H., 61 Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus,' 202 _note_ Marlowe's 'Tragedie of Richard, Duke of York,' 70 Marriot, Richard, 218 Marsh, Charles, 232 Marshall, Frank, 93 Martial's 'Epigrammata,' 132 Martyr (Peter), 'De Sacramento Eucharistiæ,' 307 Mary of Este, 17 Mary, Queen, 261 Mason, George, 53 Mather, Increase, 151 Mathews, J., 234 Mathias, 'Pursuits of Literature,' 238 Matthew of Westminster, 'Flores,' 17 Matthews, Charles, 74 Maty, Dr. M., 220 Mawman, Joseph, 184 Maximilian, Emperor, 115 Mayhew, Henry, 161 Mazarin Bible. _See_ Bible Mazzoni, G., 201 McCarthy, Count, 108 Mead, Dr. R., 40, 105, 127, 292 Menken, Mr. E., 205, 206, 282, 315 Mews Gate, the, 238-240 Middle Row, Holborn, 194-196 Middleton, Conyers, 223 Millan, J., 235 Millar, Andrew, 235 Millington, E., 100 _note_, 101 and _note_, 170 Milton, J., 81, 95 Milton's 'Comus,' 303 Milton's 'Eikonoklastes,' 303 Milton's 'Lycidas,' 303 Milton's 'Paradise Lost,' 41, 120, 145, 170, 232, 286, 287, 303 Milton's 'Paradise Regained,' 303 Mitre Tavern, the, 116, 222 Modern Collectors (Some), 299-322 Molini, Mr., 106, 245 Molini, Peter, 249 Monasteries, the dissolution of, 13, _et seq._ Moore, Dr. John, 27 and _note_, 30, 283 Moore, Tom, 81 Moorfields, 168, 177-179 More, Sir Thos., 15, 96, 97 Morgan, Lady, 270 Morpeth, Lord, 61 Moxon and Co., 116 MSS., the Hamilton, 50 Muggletonian tracts, 228 Murray, J., ambassador, 250 Murray, John of Sacomb, 137, 138 Murray, Mr. C. F., 320 Murray, Mr. John, 307, 308 Musgrave, Dr. S., 250 Musæus (1494), 130 'My Novel,' extract from, 201 Napoleon I., 107 Napoleon of booksellers, the, 256 Nash, Tom, 19, 20 Neligan, Dr., 106 Nelson, Viscount, 117 Newbery, John, 213 New Cut, the, 157 Newton, Isaac, 85 Newton, W., 174 Nicholas de Lira, 8 Nicol, George, 59, 110, 124, 126, 251, 252 Noble, Francis, 194 Noble, Theophilus, 225, 226 Norgate, Mr. F., 110 Norman, Mr. Hy., 318 Nornaville and Fell, 250 North, Francis, 170 North, Dr. John, 31, 32 North, Roger, 32, 170 Notary, Julian, 211, 291 _Notes and Queries_, 88 Nourse, John, 236 Novimagus, Society of, 83 Ogilby, David, 196 Oldys, W., 192, 237 Orange Street, Red Lion Square, 202 'Orlando,' 57 Osborne, Tom, 34, 55, 191-193, 241 _note_ Ossian's 'Poems,' 229, 230 Osterley Park Library, 56 Otridge, W., 236 Ottley, W. Y., 71 Ouvry, Frederick, 86, 87 Ovid (1471), 131 Oxford, Anne Cecil, Countess of, 265 Oxford, Books at, 7, 9 Oxford, Edward, Earl of, 52, 122, 124, 139, 173, 192, 193 Oxford Street, 199-202 Pall Mall, 113, 249, 251 Pamphlets, Dr. Johnson on, 23 Pamphlet shops, 155 Papillon, David, 55, 56 Parker, Archbishop, 'De Antiquitate,' 264 Parker, Archbishop, 17, 19 Parker, Mr. R. J., 205 Parker, John, 249 Parker, Samuel, 251 Parr, Catherine, 261 Parr, Dr., 244 Parsons the Jesuit, 119 Passavant, Speyr, 140 'Pastissier François,' Le, 229 Paternoster Row, 209, _et seq._ Paterson, S., 23, 55 _note_, 103, 110, 111 Patmore, Thomas, 16 'Paul Pry,' 78 Payne, James, 241 Payne, John, and Foss, 239 Payne, Thomas, 110, 237-240, 252, 306 Peacham's 'Compleat Gentleman,' 24 Peacham's 'Valley of Varietie,' 46 Pellet, Thomas, 105, 155 Pembroke, Lord, 31, 173 Penn, W., 115 Pepys, Samuel, 25, 29, 120, 212, 248 Perkins, Frederick, 92 Perkins, Henry, 71, 126, 256 Perry, James, 66, 74, 80, 126, 133 Petheram, John, 194 Phelps, J. D., 61 Phillipps, Sir Thomas, 87, 242 Piccadilly, 249, _et seq._ Pickering, Basil M., 255 Pickering, W., 253 Pickering and Chatto, 194, 255 'Piers Plowman's Vision,' 120, 191 Piggott, J. H. Smyth, 71 'Pilgrim's Progress.' _See_ Bunyan Pindar, Elizabeth, 267, 268 Pinelli, M., 111, 249 Pitt, Moses, 100 Plato, 130 Pliny, 'Historia Naturalis,' 131 Poetry, old English, 145 Poet's Gallery, the, 116, 222 Ponder, Nathaniel, 183 'Pontevallo,' 69 Ponton, T., 61 Pope, Alexander, 44, 151, 230, 308, 311 Porson, 238 Pote, J., 236 Poultry, the, 183 Powell, W., 217 Praed, W. M., 250 Prayer Books, 87, 302 Price, the highest paid for a book, 126 Price's 'Historiæ Britannicæ,' 120, 121 Pridden, John, 215 Prince, J. H., 194 'Prospero,' 67 Psalmorum Codex, 126, 127 Pulteney, Sir James, 117 Purcell, of Red Lion Passage, 165 Purcell's 'Orpheus Britannicus,' 35 Purchas, 'His Pilgrims,' 118, 120, 234 Puritan divines, books of, 119 Puttenham's 'Art of English Poesie,' 145 Puttick and Simpson, 112, 113-115 Pye, John, stationer, 10 Pynson, R., 217, 218, 301 Quakers, the bibliographer of, 189 Quaritch, Mr. B., 106, 253, 255-258, 261, 280 Queensberry, Duke of, 108 Rabelais, François, 314 Railton, Mr., 106 Raleigh's 'Prerogative of Parliaments,' 119 Ramirez, Jose F., 115 Rastell's 'Pastyme of the People,' 207 Ratcliffe, John, 132 Rawlinson, T. and R., 39, 40, 122, 136, 213, 283 Reade, Charles, 282 Reader, Mr. A., 202 Redman, R., 217, 218 Reed, Isaac, 42, 112, 145 Reeves and Turner, 226 Reeves, Mr. W., 106, 227 Rewiczki, Count, 51 Reynolds, Sir J., 113 Richard of Peterborough, 4 Richard III., 10 Richardson's 'Remarks on Paradise Lost,' 170 Richmond, Margaret, Countess of, 261 Ridgway, James, 250 Ridler, W., 230 'Rig,' a bookseller's, 101 Rikke, R., 208 Rimbault, E. F., 194 Rimell, Mr. J., 106, 206 Ritson, Joseph, 108 Rivington and Cochrane, 241 Rivington, F. C., 213 Robins, 113 'Robinson Crusoe,' 89 Robinson, George, 216 Robinson's 'Handefull of Pleasant Delites,' 145 Robson, James, 249, 250 Robson, Mr., 106 Roche, Mr. J., 106, 206 Rodd, Thomas, 74, 75, 242 Rogers, Samuel, 80-82, 87 Roper, Abel, 219 Rosebery, Earl of, 304 Rossetti, D. G., 317 Rowfant Library, the, 311 Rowlandson, Thomas, 108 Rowsell, Joel, 245 Roxburghe Club, the, 61-64, 299, _et seq._ Roxburghe, John, Duke of, 52, 53, 124, 141 Rubric posts, 176 and _note_, 237 Ruskin, Mr. John, 279 Rylands, Mrs., 50, 146, 270, 271, 272 Rymer's 'Foedera,' 8 Sacheverell, Dr. Henry, 251 Sala, Mr. G. A., 150, 157 Sainte-Beuve's 'Livre d'Amour,' 315 Salisbury, Mr. J., 211 Salisbury, Marquis of, 264, 306 Salkeld, Mr. John, 202, 203 Salmon, Dr., 31 Salting, Mr. G., 320 Sancho, W., 240 Sandars, Mr. S., 320 Sandell and Smith, 187 Sanderson, Bishop, 171 Saunders, Robert, 116 Savage, 'Author to Let,' 239 Saville, Sir Henry, 25, 283 Scarborough, Sir Charles, 37 Scotland Yard, 113 Scott, Dr. John, 194 Scott, R., 120, 173 Scott's, Sir Walter, MSS., 87, 89, 290, 308 Scott's 'Vision of Don Roderick,' 150 Scotus Erigena, 3 Scriptorium, 2 Seile, Henry, 24 Selden, John, 23, 30 Selsey, Lord, 133 Seneca, 'Tragoediæ' (1475), 131 Severne, F. E., 57 Sewell, John, 176 _note_, 186 Shakespeare, W., 19, 70, 72, 74, 75, 91, 92, 93, 141-143 First Folio (1623), 42, 72, 87, 92, 95, 114, 141, 222, 291, 303, 311, 322 Second Folio (1632), 42, 75, 87, 95, 120, 141-143, 221, 303 Third Folio (1664), 42, 87, 95, 141-143, 303 Fourth Folio (1685), 42, 87, 95, 141-143, 221, 303 Quarto editions, 72, 90, 92, 93, 311 'Hamlet,' 143 '2 Henry IV.,' 92, 143 'Henry V.,' 92, 143, 301 'Henry VI.,' 143 'Lear,' 95, 143, 211 'Love's Labour Lost,' 93, 143 'Merchant of Venice,' 92, 93 (_bis_), 95, 143, 211, 301 'Merry Wives of Windsor,' 93, 143, 211, 301 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' 70, 95, 143, 308 'Much Ado About Nothing,' 93, 143 'Othello,' 143, 301 'Pericles,' 143, 301 'Poems,' 93, 143 'Rape of Lucrece,' 69, 93, 143, 211 'Richard II.,' 143, 211, 301 'Richard III.,' 143, 211, 301 'Romeo and Juliet,' 92, 143, 217 _note_, 301 'Sonnets,' 70, 143 and _note_ 'Titus Andronicus,' 301 'Troilus and Cressida,' 143, 211 'Venus and Adonis,' 143 and _note_, 211 Shandy, Mr., 152 Shattock, Mr. T. F., 320 Shelburne, Earl of, 111 Sheldon, Ralph, 291 Shelley, P. B., 316 Shelley's copy of Ossian's Poems, 229 Shenstone, W., 237 Sheridan, R. B., 85 Sherley's 'Wits New Dyall,' 167 Shoreditch, 155 Shorter, Mr. C. K., 317, 318 Shropshire, Walter, 251 Sidney's 'Arcadia,' 89 Silius Italicus, 131 Simpson, Mr. W., 114 Singer, S. W., 71 Skeat, of King William Street, 287 Slater, Mr. J. H., 150 Slater, Mr. Walter, 316, 317 Sloane, Sir Hans, 30, 31, 172 Smith, Horace, 78, 80 Smith's, Captain John, 'History of Virginia,' 20 Smith, Joseph, English Consul, 41, 250 Smith, Joseph, bookseller, 187 Smith, or Smyth, Richard, 32, 33 Smollett, Tobias, 44 Smyth, Sir Thomas, 119 Snowden, Mr. G. S., 106 'Snuffy Davy,' 135 Soho, 207 Solly, Edward, 46, 88, 202 Somers, Lord, 31, 172 Somerset, Duke of, 284 Sophocles (1502), 129 Sotheby, John, 103, 104 Sotheby, Samuel, 103, 104 Sotheby, S. Leigh, 104, 105 Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge, 103-108, and _passim_ Sotheran and Co., Messrs., 97, 233, 246, 272, 281 Sotheran, Mr. H., 106 Southampton Row, 314 Southey, Robert, 76, 308 _Spectator_, the, 175, 265 Spelman, Edward, 250 Spelman, Sir Henry, 21 Spence, Joseph, 220 Spencer, Earl, 50-52, 53, 61, 109, 124, 238, 272 Spencer, W. T., 205 Spenser's 'Faërie Queene,' 87, 145 Spenser, E., 35 Spon, of Cheapside, 184 St. Albans, Abbot of, 7 St. Albans, books printed at, 136, 137, 268, 301 St. Alban's Tavern, 61 St. Augustine, 'De Arte Predicandi,' 302 St. Augustine, 'De Civitate Dei,' 307, 308 St. Bernard's Seal, 43 St. Dunstan, 3 St. Francis, 6 St. Paul's Cathedral, 4 St. Paul's Churchyard, 153, 168, 208-216 Stanley, Colonel, 110, 239 Staple Inn, 42 Stapleton, A. G., 252 Stark, J. M., 245 Steele, Richard, 84, 265 Steevens, George, 42, 112, 220, 238 Stephens, J., 224 Sterne, L., 236 Stevens, Henry, 106, 115 Stewart, Charles J., 245, 268 Stewart, founder of Puttick's, 112, 114 Stibbs, E. W., 106, 200 Stock, Mr. Elliot, 96, 187 Stormont, Lord, 238 Stow's 'Survey,' 8 Strand, the, 153, 223-235 Strange, John, 111 Strickland, Agnes, 270 Suckling and Galloway, 234 Sullivan, Sir E., 92, 93 Sunderland Library sale, 114, 256 Sunderland, Earl of, 31, 36, 52, 124, 173 Sunderlin, Lord, 68 Sussex, Duke of, 109, 126, 264 Sutton, Henry, 210 Swift, Jonathan, 85, 172, 176 Swift, MS. of Scott's 'Life' of, 87 Sydenham Tusculum, Hill's, 79 Sydney, Sir Robert, 142 Sykes, Lady Mark, 270 Sykes, Sir M. M., 58, 61 _note_, 110, 310 Syston Park Library, 126 Talleyrand, Prince, 108 Taylor, Watson, 133 Taylor, William, 210 Tebbs, Mr. H. V., 320 Tegg, Thomas, 186 Temple Bar, 223 'Temple of the Muses,' the, 182 Tenison, Archbishop, 39 Testament. _See_ Bible Thackeray, W. M., 83 Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, 3 Theocritus (1495), 130 Thompson, Mr. H. Yates, 320 Thoms, W. J., 88, 156, 202, 228 Thoresby, Ralph, 178, 238 Thorpe, Thomas, 64 and _note_, 241, 242, 250 Thorold, Sir John, 126 Thurlow, Lord, 112 Tilt, Charles, 221, 253 Tisdale, John, 191 Tite, Sir William, 74, 256 Tobin, Sir J., 109 Tomes, H., 191 'Tom Folio,' 39 Tom's Coffee-house, 102 Tonson, Jacob, 35, 192, 219, 234 Tooke, Benjamin, 219 Tooke, John Horne, 54, 112 Toovey, B., 249 Toovey, J., 106, 142, 253-255, 322 Tottell, R., 217 and _note_ Towneley, J., 57, 61, 110, 239 Townsend, Marquis of, 108 Tradescant, Mrs., 18 Tregaskis, Mr. and Mrs., 204, 205 Triphook, R., 183, 268 Truelove, E., 200 Turberville's 'Epitaphs,' 210 Turnbull, Mr. E., 201, 202 Turner, Dawson, 114 Turner, R. S., 89 Turnstiles, Holborn, 202-204 Tunstall, James, 219 Tusser's 'Good Husbandry,' 232 Tyndale, John, 16 Tyndale's 'Practyse of Prelates,' 119 Tyrill, Sir T., 26 Tyson, Dr. E., 176 Tyssen, Samuel, 108, 111 Udal, Nicholas, 74 Upcott, W., 27, 70 Usher, Archbishop, 26 Usher, Bishop, 212 Utterson, E. V., 61 Uvedale, Robert, 236 Vaillant, Paul, 240 Valdarfer Boccaccio, the, 52, 61, 93, 123-125 Valerius Maximus (1471), 131 Valesius, 25 Van de Weyer, Col. V. W. Bates, 309 Vérard, Antoine, 13 Vernor and Hood, 184 Vespucci, 'Mundus Novus,' 94 Vossius, Isaac 25 Wakefield, 238 Walford, Cornelius, 88, 151, 152 Walford, Mr. E., 106 Walker, John, 112, 113 Wallden, a Carmelite Friar, 8 Waller, Mr. John, 281 Walpole, Horace, 284, 292 Walter, John, of the _Times_, 235 Walton Hall library, 93 Walton, Izaak, 35, 36, 85, 171 Walton's 'Compleat Angler,' 144, 145, 218, 234, 322 Wanley, Humfrey, 34, 38, 122 Ward, Mr. W., 106 Wardour Street, 206 Warde, Roger, 191 Ware, Richard, 215 Warner's 'Syrinx' (1597), 288 Warwick, Earl of, 106 Waterton, E., 96, 97 Watson, Dr. T., 100 Weskett, 'On Insurances,' 152 Wesley, Charles, 35 Wesley and Sons, 234 West, James, 59, 60, 111, 179 Westell, Mr. J., 106, 200, 201 Westminster Hall, 247-249 Westmoreland, Countess of, 9, 260 Wheare's 'Method and Order of Reading Histories,' 85 Wheatley, Benjamin, 69, 114 Wheatley, Mr. H. B., 100 _note_, 293 Wheldon, John, 211 Whethamstede, 10 Whiston, John, 103, 219 Whitechapel, 155, 187, 188 White, Benjamin (Sr. and Jr.), 219-221 White, Gilbert, 221 White, John, 221 White, Joseph, 194 White Knights Library, 109 Whittington, Sir Richard, 8 Whytforde's 'Lyfe of Perfection,' 309 Wilbraham, R., 61 Wilcox, Thomas, 103 Wilkes, John, 54, 55, 108, 183, 311 Wilkinson, John, 105 Williams, Dr. David, 39 Willis, G., 246 Willoughby, Lord, 31, 193 Willoughby, Sir H., 84 Wills, John, 219 Wilson's 'Art of Logic,' 74 Wimpole Library, the, 89, 90 Winchelsea, Earl of, 173 Wingrave, F., 236 Winstanley's 'Views of Audley End,' 292 Wise, Mr. T. J., 316, 317 Wodhull, Michael, 57, 58, 128 Women as book-collectors, 259-273 Women as book-thieves, 279-280, 285 Wood, Anthony à, 8, 21, 32 Wordsworth, W., 76, 78 Worsley, Dr. B., 100, 213 Wulfseg, Bishop of London, 3 Wyndham, 238 Wynkyn de Worde, 54, 111, 119, 216, 301, 306 Yates's 'Castell of Courtesie,' 222 York, Duke of, 108 Zouche, Lord, 304 [Illustration] _Elliot Stock, Paternoster Row, London._ [Illustration: '_Must I, as a wit with learned air, Like Doctor Dewlap, to Tom Payne's repair?_'] _Uniform with 'The Book-Hunter in London.'_ THE BOOK-HUNTER IN PARIS. BEING Studies Among the Bookstalls of the Quays. By OCTAVE UZANNE. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY AUGUSTINE BIRRELL, AUTHOR OF 'OBITER DICTA,' 'RES JUDICATÆ,' ETC. _AND 144 CHARACTERISTIC ILLUSTRATIONS INTERSPERSED IN THE TEXT_. [Illustration] EVERY bibliophile who by chance finds himself in Paris, whether on urgent affairs or on pleasure intent, invariably manages to visit that richest of hunting-grounds, the book-lined quays, where, perhaps, more unexpected treasures have been picked up than in any other city of Europe. It is of this happy hunting-ground and those who haunt it--the book-hunters and the bookstall-keepers; the books they buy and the books they sell; whence they come and whither they go; the finds, the losses, the disappointments, and red-letter days--that M. Uzanne writes in this attractive volume, in that felicitous and suggestive manner which has made him so well known in present-day literature. Opinions of the Press on 'The Book-Hunter in Paris.' 'A very interesting book. Mr. Birrell's introduction is a pleasant and useful explanation of the volume, which is presented in a form fully deserving of its literary merits.'--_Times._ 'M. Uzanne's chapters are full of curious information, which will have special attraction for those English book-hunters to whom Paris is unknown. The style is agreeably anecdotic, and the numerous woodcuts are quaint and graphic.'--_Globe._ 'With real regret we lay down so charmingly written a volume, and it is with no small satisfaction that we note the publisher's announcement that a companion volume on "The Book-Hunter in London" will shortly be issued.'--_St. James's Budget._ 'M. Uzanne's book is delightful, with never a heavy touch, but crammed with quaint traditions, humorous characteristics, charming gossip.'--_Graphic._ 'M. Uzanne sets forth with a good deal of pathos, happily leavened with humour, the history, past and present, of the stall-keepers and the quays of the Seine, in whose trays many a notable _trouvaille_ has been made in other times.'--_Pall Mall Gazette._ 'The interest of the book is heightened by the characteristic vignettes which are interwoven with the text on almost every other page.'--_The Standard._ 'Lightly does he carry his learning and brightly does he sketch the bookmen and their riverside market. Of present interest to all book-lovers are his piquant contrasts of the old order and the new.'--_Saturday Review._ 'To collectors the book will appeal with special force, but the general reader, if he be gifted with ordinary intelligence, will also enjoy it. It is not dry; in fact, to use the familiar expression, it is "as interesting as a novel."'--_Publishers' Circular._ 'The book is full of stories of the characteristics of the fraternity, anecdotes, and biographical sketches of past stall-keepers and their most famous patrons.'--_Daily Graphic._ 'Everybody knows M. Uzanne's pleasant, garrulous style--how he takes his readers into his confidence, how he spins phrases lovingly, and always keeps you in good spirits. He was just the man to write such a book.'--_Bookman._ 'The work is always learned, and (what is not so easy) always light. Everybody who is the least of a book-hunter ought to read it at once, or rather, ought to hunt for it first; and then, to show that it is a better sort of book than many that are hunted, read it.'--_Scotsman._ [Illustration] TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: Characters superscripted in the original are inclosed in {} brackets. Variations in spelling have been left as in the original. Examples include the following: Crede Creede Creside Cressida Faerie Faërie Magliabecchi Magliabechi Polychronicon Policronicon Schoeffer's Schoëffer Schoeffer with an oe ligature Sweynheim Sweynheym Troilus Troylus Zarothum Zarothus The following words used an oe ligature in the original: d'oeuvre Foedera Oeconomiques oeuvre Oeuvres Phoebum Phoenix Schoeffer Tragoedie The following words appear with and without hyphens. They have been left as in the original. book-buyer bookbuyer book-buying bookbuying book-case bookcase book-plate bookplate book-selling bookselling Coffee-house Coffeehouse sale-room saleroom waste-paper wastepaper The following corrections have been made to the text: page xiv: Purcell (p. 165)[original has 164] page xv: necessarily a learned man.[original is missing period] page 24: 1 Peers pennylesse supplication[original has supplicati[=o] to indicate there wasn't room for the final n] [=o] is equivalent to o with a macron over it page 33: the '[opening quote is missing in original]Godfrey of Bulloigne' selling for 18s. page 40: early age of forty-four[original has fourty-four] page 74: duplicate of my wooden leg."[original has extraneous single quote] page 81: the MSS. of Gray, in their perfect calligraphy[original has caligraphy] page 142: Rowfant[original has Rowfont] Library page 146: where a sale of books was in progress[original has progess] page 147: on the Banks of Lake Liman, near Geneva,"[ending quotation mark missing in original] page 194: For Billingsgate, quit Flexney, and be wise.'[ending quotation mark missing in original] page 232: like another Magliabecchi,[removed extraneous quotation mark after Magliabecchi] page 260: Countess of Westmoreland[original has Westmorland] page 264: We give facsimiles[original has facsimilies] page 294: '[quotation mark missing in original]Jokely, very interesting page 295: 'The Rose and the Ring by R. Browing.'[original has comma] page 303: catalogue raisonné[original has raisonnée] page 310: 'The Death Wake' (1831),[original has period] page 322: Princess Marie Liechtenstein[original has Leichtenstein] page 323: Arch, J. and A.[original has J.] page 323: Bannatyne[original has Bannantyne] Club, the page 324: under Bibles and New Testaments-- Fust and Schoeffer (1462) was out of alphabetical order in the original in the Gutenberg sub-entry, the pages numbers were out of order in the original page 324: Brooke[original has Brook], Lord Warwick, 100 page 325: under Caxton-- 'Book of Good Manners,'[comma missing in original] Godfrey of Bulloigne[original has Bulloyne] Higden's 'Polychronicon[original has Polycronicon] History of Blanchardyn[original has Blanchardin] 'Troylus and Creside,'[ending quote missing in original and spelling is Cressid] Virgil's 'Æneid'[original has Ænid] page 326: Drummond's 'Forth[original has Fourth] Fasting,' 86 page 327: Finsbury Square, 177, 179-183[removed extraneous period] page 327: Glashier,[comma missing in original] George, 202 page 327: Guilford[original has Guildford], Earl of page 327: Guilford[original has Guildford], Francis, Baron page 328: Johnson, Joseph[original has John], 214, 215 page 328: Johnston[original has Johnstone], William page 328: Kempis, Thomas à[original has á] page 330: Nornaville[original has Nornanville] and Fell page 330: Nourse[original has Nowise], John, 236 page 331: Rewiczki[original has Rewicski], Count page 331: Loyalty[original has Royalty--entry has been moved to maintain alphabetical order], the 'repository' of, 250 page 332: Stibbs[original has Stibbes], E. W. page 332: Thackeray, W. M., 83[out of alphabetical order in original] page 332: Tyndale[original has Tyndall], John, 16 page 332: Tyson, Dr. E., 176[out of alphabetical order in original] page 333: Vérard[original has Verard], Antoine page 333: entries for Walford, Cornelius, Walford, Mr. E., Walker, John, Warde, Roger, and Ward, Mr. W., were out of alphabetical order in the original page 333: Weskett,[comma missing in original] 'On Insurances,' 151 In the index on page 328, there is an entry for Thomas à Kempis. His name is not mentioned in the book, but he is the author of "Imitatio Christi" which is discussed in the text on the referenced pages. In the index, many of the page references were incorrect. Corrections have been made as indicated in the following table. Original Correct Entry Page # Page # Aldine editions, 128-131 129-131 Aldus, 128 129 Alfred, 2 3 Anacreon, Stephen edition, 128 129 Anthologia Græca' (1494), 129 130 Archaica Club, 78 79 'Aristophanes' (1498), 128 129 Aristotle (1495-98), 129 130 Askew Sale, the, 127, et seq. 128, et seq. Bannatyne Club, the, 62 62 note Baptist Library at Bristol, 137 138 Barbican, the, 175, 176 176, 177 Batemans of Little Britain, 170 171 Becket, Thomas, 175 note 176 note Bernard, Dr. Francis, 131 132 Bibles and New Testaments Coverdale's (1535), 113 138 Græca Septuaginta, 192 192 note St. Jerome's MS., 139, 140 140 Bishopsgate Churchyard, 160 161 Black-letter books, 135 136 Blandford, Marquis of, 61 61 note Bloomfield, R., 153 154 'Boke of St. Albans,' 135, 136 136 Book-ghouls, 159 160 Bookstalls and bookstalling, 148-166 149-167 Brabourne, Lord, 106 107 Britten, Mr. James, 150 151 Britton, Thomas, 171, 172 172, 173 Brown, 'Old,' 156 157 Bruscambille on 'Long Noses,' 151 152 Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress,' 144, 145 145, 146 Burdett-Coutts, Baroness, 140, 141 141, 142 Butterworth, Henry, 217 217 note Campbell, Mr. Dykes, 106 107 Caxton, W. 131 132 'Arthur, King,' 132 133 'Book called Cathon,' 131, 132 132, 133 'Book of Chivalry,' 135 136 'Chastising of God's Children,' 131 132 Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales,' 135 136 'Chronicles of England,' 131, 132 132, 133 Cicero ('De Senectute'), 'Of Old Age,' 90, 131, 132 132, 133 'Dictes and Sayings,' 131 132 'Doctrinal of Sapience,' 131, 132 132, 133 'Game and Playe of Chesse,' 131, 132, 134 132, 133, 135 'Godfrey of Bulloigne,' 131 132 'Golden Legend,' 132 133 Gower's 'Confessio Amantis,' 132 133 Higden's 'Description of Britayn' 132 ? Higden's 'Polychronicon,' 80 89 'Historyes of Troy,' 131 132 'History of Blanchardyn and Eglantine,' 132 133 'History of Jason,' 131, 132 132, 133 'Mirrour of the World,' 132 133 Russell's 'Propositio,' 133 134 'Troylus and Creside,' 132 133 Virgil's 'Æneid,' 132 133 Caxton, the highest paid for a, 132 133 Caxtons, the Althorp, 133 134 Chained books at Hereford, 274 ? Chandler, Dr., 287 289 Clarke, W., 134 135 Daniel, G., 140-142 141-143 Daniell, Mr. E., 106 107 Day's circulating library, 207, 208 208 Defoe, Daniel, 155 156 Devonshire, Dukes of, } 61, 132 61 note, 133 } 140, 141, 172 141, 142, 173 Diodorus Siculus (1539), 129 130 Dobell, Mr. B., 106 107 Dorset, Earl of, 169 170 Drayton, M., 157 158 Duck Lane, 174, 175 175, 176 Duke Street, Little Britain, 174, 175 175, 176 East End, book-hunting in, 154, et seq. 155, et seq. Editiones Principes, 127-131 128-131 Ellis, Mr. G. I., 106 107 Elyot's 'Castell of Helth,' 165 166 Euripides (1503), 128 129 Exeter 'Change, 153, 154 154, 155 Extra-illustrating, 164 165 Farringdon Road, 157, 158 158, 159 Finsbury Square, 177 178 Foote, Samuel, 162 163 Franklin, B., 174 175 Fuller's 'David's Hainous Sinne,' 150 151 Funnibus, L., 146 147 Garnett, Dr. R., 165 166 Garth, Samuel, 175 176 George III., 129, 134, 140 130, 135, 141 Gifford, Dr., 138, 139 139, 140 Glasse's 'Art of Cookery,' 149 150 Goldsmith's 'Vicar of Wakefield,' 145 146 Gomme, Mr. G. L., 150 151 Grangerizing, 164 165 Gray's MSS., 145 146 Gwillim's 'Display of Heraldry,' 155 156 Harleian Library, The, 193 192 Harvey, Mr. F., 164 165 Harwood, Dr., 127-130 128-131 Hatchards, 253, 254 252-254 Heliconia Club, 78 79 Herodotus (1502), 128 129 Hindley, Mr. C., 106 107 Hodge, Mr. E. Grose, 106 107 Hodgson and Co., 145, 161-163 146, 162-164 Holford, Captain, 145 146 Holywell Street, 152, 153 153, 154 Homer, the Foulis edition, 128 129 Horace, editio princeps, 129 130 Hunter, Mr., 129 130 Hunt, Leigh, 148 149 Islington, cattle market at, 163 164 Isocrates (1493), 128 129 Jeffrey, Edward, 112 113 Jersey, Earl of, 132 133 Johnson, Dr., 257 237 Jolley, Thomas, 142 note 143 note Juvenal and Persius (1469), 130 131 King, John, 177 178 King, Thomas, 177 178 Knock-outs, 163 164 Lamb, Charles, 175, 176 176, 177 Lamb's 'Beauty and the Beast,' 149 150 Langford, auctioneer, 138 139 Leighton, Mr., 106 107 Lemoine, Henry, 160 161 Lisburne, Lord, 128 129 Locker-Lampson, F., 106 107 London House, Aldersgate Street, 40 39 Longman and Co., 79, 80 80 Lovelace's 'Lucasta,' 144 145 Lytton, Lord, 149 150 Macaulay, Lord, 148 149 Manuscript, the textual value of a, 127 128 Martial's 'Epigrammata,' 131 132 Mather, Increase, 150 151 Mayhew, Henry, 160 161 Millington, E. 169 170 Milton's 'Paradise Lost,' 144, 169 145, 170 Molini, Mr., 106 107 Moorfields, 167, 176-179 168, 177-179 Murray, John of Sacomb, 137, 138 138, 139 Musæus (1494), 129 130 Neligan, Dr., 106 107 New Cut, the, 156, 157 157 Newton, W., 173 174 Nicol, George, 127 126 North, Francis, 169 170 North, Roger, 169 170 Novimagus, Society of, 82 83 Ovid (1471), 130 131 Oxford, Edward, Earl of, 138, 172 139, 173 Pamphlet shops, 154 155 Passavant, Speyr, 139 140 Pellet, Thomas, 154 155 Pembroke, Lord, 172 173 Pepys, Samuel, 249 248 Perry, James, 132 133 Plato, 129 130 Pliny, 'Historia Naturalis,' 130 131 Poetry, old English, 144 145 Pope, Alexander, 150 151 Purcell, of Red Lion Passage, 164 165 Puttenham's 'Art of English Poesie,' 144 145 Quaritch, Mr. B., 106, 281 107, 280 Railton, Mr., 106 107 Ratcliffe, John, 131 132 Rawlinson, T. and R., 135 136 Reed, Isaac, 144 145 Reeves, Mr. W., 106 107 Richardson's 'Remarks on Paradise Lost,' 169 170 Rimell, Mr. J., 106 107 Robinson's 'Handefull of Pleasant Delites,' 144 145 Robson, Mr., 106 107 Roche, Mr. J., 106 107 Rogers, Samuel, 79-82 80-82 Roxburghe, John, Duke of, 140 141 Rubric posts, 175 176 Rylands, Mrs., 145 146 Sacheverell, Dr. Henry, 257 251 Sala, Mr. G. A., 149, 156 150, 157 Salisbury, Mr. J., 209, 211 211 Sanderson, Bishop, 170 171 Scott, R., 172 173 Scott's 'Vision of Don Roderick,' 149 150 Scriptorium, 1, 2 2 Selsey, Lord, 132 133 Seneca, 'Tragoediæ' (1475), 130 131 Sewell, John, 175 176 note Shakespeare, W., 140-142 141-143 First Folio (1623), 140 141 Second Folio (1632), 140-142 141-143 Third Folio (1664), 140-142 141-143 Fourth Folio (1685), 140-142 141-143 Quarto editions 'Hamlet,' 142 143 '2 Henry IV.,' 142 143 'Henry V.,' 142 143 'Henry VI.,' 142 143 'Lear,' 142 143 'Love's Labour Lost,' 142 143 'Merchant of Venice,' 142 143 'Merry Wives of Windsor, 142 143 'Midsummer Night's Dream' 142 143 'Much Ado About Nothing,' 142 143 'Othello,' 142 143 'Pericles,' 142 143 'Poems,' 142 143 'Rape of Lucrece,' 142 143 'Richard II.,' 142 143 'Richard III.,' 142 143 'Romeo and Juliet,' 142 143 'Sonnets,' 142, 143 note 143 and note 'Troilus and Cressida,' 142 143 'Venus and Adonis,' 142, 143 note 143 and note Shandy, Mr., 151 152 Sherley's 'Wits New Dyall,' 166 167 Shoreditch, 154 155 Silius Italicus, 130 131 Slater, Mr. J. H., 149 150 Sloane, Sir Hans, 171 172 'Snuffy Davy,' 134 135 Solly, Edward, 47 46 Somers, Lord, 171 172 Snowden, Mr. G. S., 106 107 Sophocles (1502), 128 129 Sotheran, Mr. H., 106 107 Spectator, the, 174 175 Spenser's 'Faërie Queene,' 144 145 St. Albans, books printed at, 135, 136 136, 137 St. Paul's Churchyard, 152 153 Stevens, Henry, 106 107 Staple Inn, 43 42 Stibbs, E. W., 106 107 Strand, the, 152 153 Sunderland, Earl of, 172 173 Swift, Jonathan, 171, 175 172, 176 Sydenham Tusculum, Hill's, 78 79 Sydney, Sir Robert, 141 142 Sykes, Sir M. M., 61 61 note Taylor, Watson, 132 133 Theocritus (1495), 129 130 Thoms, W. J., 155, 156 156 Thoresby, Ralph, 177 178 Toovey, J., 106, 141, 145 107, 142 Tyson, Dr. E., 175 176 Valerius Maximus (1471), 130 131 Vérard, Antoine, 12 13 Walford, Mr. E., 106 107 Walton, Izaak, 170 171 Walton's 'Compleat Angler,' 143, 144 144, 145 Walford, Cornelius, 150, 151 151, 152 Walker, John, 114 113 Ward, Mr. W., 106 107 Warwick, Earl of, 106 107 Weskett, 'On Insurances,' 151 152 Westell, Mr. J., 106 107 Whitechapel, 154 155 Winchelsea, Earl of, 172 173 Women as book-thieves, 278-280 279-280 Wynkyn de Worde, 118 111 Ellipsis are represented as in the original. 
22136	----	Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 22136-h.htm or 22136-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/2/1/3/22136/22136-h/22136-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/2/1/3/22136/22136-h.zip) THE BOOK-HUNTER [Illustration: Yours truly, J.H. Burton] THE BOOK-HUNTER etc. by JOHN HILL BURTON D.C.L., LL.D. Author of 'A History of Scotland,' 'The Scot Abroad,' 'The Reign of Queen Anne,' &c. A New Edition _With a Memoir of the Author_ William Blackwood and Sons Edinburgh and London MDCCCLXXXII _All Rights reserved_ _PUBLISHER'S NOTE._ _The learned Author of 'THE BOOK-HUNTER,' very shortly before his death, gave his consent that the Work should be reprinted._ _This has now been done from his own copy, with any slight additions or emendations which it, or the notes of literary friends, supplied, and in a form which, it is hoped, will be acceptable to all lovers of choice books._ _A Memoir of Dr Burton, by his Widow, has been prefixed, and a copious Index added._ _The portrait of the Author has been reproduced from a characteristic photograph, and etched by Mr W.B. Hole, A.R.S.A. The View in the Library, and the Vignettes of Craighouse and Dalmeny, have been drawn by Miss Rose Burton, and engraved by Miss E.P. Burton._ 45 GEORGE STREET, EDINBURGH, _May 1882_. _THE AUTHOR'S ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION._ The Author, in again laying his little book before the public, has taken advantage of some suggestions kindly contributed by the critics who reviewed the previous edition, and he has thus been enabled to correct a few inaccuracies which they have courteously characterised as mere errors of the press. Productions of this indefinite kind are apt to grow in the hands of an author; and in the course of his revision he was unable to resist the temptation to throw in a few additional touches here and there, as to which he can only hope that they will not deteriorate the volume in the eyes of those who thought well of it in its old shape. 1863. [Illustration] [Illustration] _CONTENTS._ PAGE MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR, i _THE BOOK-HUNTER._ Part I.--His Nature. INTRODUCTORY, 1 A VISION OF MIGHTY BOOK-HUNTERS, 14 REMINISCENCES, 59 CLASSIFICATION, 62 THE PROWLER AND THE AUCTION-HAUNTER, 88 Part II.--His Functions. THE HOBBY, 101 THE DESULTORY READER OR BOHEMIAN OF LITERATURE, 108 THE COLLECTOR AND THE SCHOLAR, 115 THE GLEANER AND HIS HARVEST, 124 PRETENDERS, 161 HIS ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE CREATION OF LIBRARIES, 168 THE PRESERVATION OF LITERATURE, 205 LIBRARIANS, 227 BIBLIOGRAPHIES, 233 Part III.--His Club. CLUBS IN GENERAL, 243 THE STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK CLUBS, 251 THE ROXBURGHE CLUB, 265 SOME BOOK-CLUB MEN, 283 Part IV.--Book-Club Literature. GENERALITIES, 311 JOHN SPALDING, 330 ROBERT WODROW, 338 THE EARLY NORTHERN SAINTS, 352 SERMONS IN STONES, 404 INDEX, 419 List of Illustrations. PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR, _Frontispiece._ THE AVENUE, CRAIGHOUSE, i CRAIGHOUSE, lix DALMENY CHURCHYARD, civ A NOOK IN THE AUTHOR'S LIBRARY, 1 [Illustration: _The Avenue, Craighouse._] MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. CHAPTER I. ABERDEEN. _Parentage--Patons--Grandholm--Jersey--"Peninsular War"--School and schoolmasters--Flogging--College--Competition for bursaries--Home life--Aunt and grand-aunt--Holiday rambles--Letter._ John Hill Burton, the subject of this notice, was born on the 22d of August 1809, in the Gallowgate of Aberdeen. He was wont to style himself, as in his childhood he had heard himself described, "The last of the Gallowgate bairns;" the Gallowgate being an old part of Aberdeen devoted chiefly to humble trade, no one, in modern times at least, even distantly connected with gentility living there. His father, William Kinninmont Burton, is believed to have been an only son, and no kith or kin of his were ever seen or heard of by his children. The only relic of their father's family possessed by them is a somewhat interesting miniature on ivory, well painted in the old-fashioned style, representing a not beautiful lady in antique head-dress and costume, and marked on the back "Mary Burton." William Kinninmont Burton held a commission in the army, though he had not been originally intended for a military life. He was, it is supposed, engaged in trade in London when the military enthusiasm, excited by the idea of an invasion of Great Britain by Napoleon, fired him, like so many other young men, into taking up arms as a volunteer. In the end of last century he came to Aberdeen as a lieutenant in a regiment of "Fencibles," or some such volunteer title, and there captivated the affections of a beautiful young lady, Miss Eliza Paton, a daughter of the laird of Grandholm, an estate four miles distant from Aberdeen. Of this lady and of her family a few words must be said. So small was the value of land in Scotland in the beginning of the century, that it is safe to suppose the estate of Grandholm yielded less than one-third of its present rental. The circumstances and social position of the family were, besides, seriously lowered by the extraordinary character of the then laird. John Paton, grandfather of Dr Burton, was a man not devoid of talent, and of a strikingly handsome gentlemanly appearance and manner. He married, early in life, a beautiful Miss Lance, an Englishwoman, who, after bearing him ten children in about as many years, fell into a weak state of health, of mind as well as body. The laird nursed his wife devotedly for a long period of years, cherishing her to the exclusion of all other persons or interests. His children he regarded as the enemies of his adored wife, and consequently of himself, and his conduct to them from first to last was little less than brutal. When the enfeebled wife at last died, the husband's grief verged on madness. He would not allow her body to be buried in the ordinary manner, but caused a tomb to be erected in a wood near the house of Grandholm, where the corpse was placed in an open coffin, and where the bereaved husband could go daily to bewail his loss. The distracted mourner rejected all attentions from children, relatives, or friends, yet apparently dreaded being left alone, for he advertised for a male companion or keeper to bear him company. The writer has often heard Dr Burton amuse himself and his audience by describing the extraordinary varieties of struggling humanity who applied for the situation. Ultimately, it is believed, none of them was selected, and the laird fled from his natural home, and from that time till his death lived chiefly in London, leaving his large young family to take care of themselves as they best could. The three sons went successively to India or other foreign parts, and died there, one of them leaving a son, whose family are the present possessors of Grandholm. Of the seven daughters--several of whom were very handsome--two only were married, namely, Eliza, who became Mrs Burton, mother of the historiographer; and Margaret, who espoused rather late in life a Dr Brown, and continued as a widow to inhabit an old house belonging to the Grandholm family in Old Aberdeen till June 1879, when she died at the age of ninety-eight. The young family, thus deserted by their natural protector, fell chiefly under the authority of his eldest daughter, Mary--said, of all his children, to most resemble the laird himself. Among this lady's nephews and nieces there linger strange traditions of the violence of her temper, and of the intensity of her loves and hates. It is hardly necessary to say that none of the females at least of the family received any particular education. Mary was a woman of strong natural abilities, and of an excellent business faculty. She managed the very small resources left at her command with consummate skill, and in her later years made of Grandholm a hospitable, cheerful, old-fashioned home for those whom it pleased her to receive there. Her sister Eliza's marriage had not pleased her. There was much to justify her objection to it; William Burton, not then holding a commission, was entirely without pecuniary resources. His strongest talent seems to have been for painting, and by such occupation as he could get in drawing and painting in London he was barely able to maintain himself. The old grandfather and his lieutenant, aunt Mary, have been described to the writer in the darkest colours as having constantly interposed between the true lovers, William Burton and his beloved Eliza Paton, who, in spite of all advice to the contrary, soon became his wife. What the laird of Grandholm and his daughter Mary did was no doubt done in the harshest manner, but their actions themselves seem hardly blamable. When William Burton found it impossible to maintain his wife in London, she was received again into her paternal home with her infant, William, John Hill Burton's elder brother. The wife, of course, earnestly and constantly desired to rejoin her husband. The father and sister declined to facilitate her doing so by paying the expense of her return journey, concluding that if her husband was unable to meet that outlay, he was not in a position to maintain her beside himself. After some six or eight years of mutual longing for each other's society, separated by the distance of London from Aberdeen, William Burton succeeded in exchanging his position in the Fencibles for a lieutenancy in a line regiment under orders for India. There also he went unaccompanied by his wife. After brief service in India he had to return home in ill health. Then at last the husband and wife were reunited; first to live together for a time in Aberdeen--afterwards to go with their two sons to Jersey. The eldest son, William, ten years older than John, afterwards went into the Indian army, and died in India, leaving a son and daughter. John Hill Burton's earliest recollections dated from his stay with his parents in garrison in Jersey. This must have been about the year 1811 or 1812, when he was therefore two or three years old. He used to say he remembered the relieving of guard in Jersey; that he had an infantine recollection of a military guard-room by night; and remembered a "Lady Fanny," the wife, as he believed, of the colonel of the regiment, who showed some slight kindness towards him and other garrison children. The greatest adventure of Dr Burton's unadventurous life occurred when he was returning with his parents from Jersey, in a troop-ship. The vessel was chased by a French privateer, and for some time the little family had reason to fear becoming inmates of a French prison. It was this incident which Dr Burton used in his later life to say entitled him to assert that he had been in the Peninsular War. The homeward journey from Jersey was to Aberdeen, which it is believed Lieutenant Burton and his family never left again till his death. His failing health obliged him to retire from active service on the half-pay of a lieutenant. His wife, from some writings to be hereafter mentioned, seems also to have enjoyed an allowance of £40 per annum from her father. Besides William and John Hill, there were born in Aberdeen to William Burton and Eliza Paton three sons--two of whom died early, one of them being accidentally drowned in the Don at Grandholm--and one daughter. The surviving brother of Dr Burton is a retired medical officer of the East India Company. The sister, Mary, remains unmarried. The little household established in Aberdeen about the year 1812 knew the woes of failing health and narrow means, part of the latter doled out to them by an unwilling hand. Lieutenant Burton's health continued to decline till his death, about the year 1819. His son John was then ten years old, and had begun his school education. His recollections of schools and schoolmasters were vivid and picturesque. The one schoolmaster--almost the only teacher--to whom he acknowledged any obligation, was James Melvin. To him, he was wont to say, he owed his good Scotch knowledge of Latin; and he delighted even till the end of his life in dwelling on Dr Melvin's methods of teaching, and on the fine spirit of generous emulation and eagerness for knowledge which inspired his pupils. Both before and after the time of his studies under Dr Melvin he had experience of schoolmasters of a different type. The tales of flogging under these pedagogues were so absolutely sickening, that Dr Burton's family used to beg him to stop his narrations to spare their feelings. He had beheld, though he had never undergone, the old-fashioned process of flogging by _heezing up_ the culprit on the back of the school-porter, so as to bring his bare back close to the master's lash. The trembling victim, anticipating such punishment, used to be sent to summon the porter. He frequently returned with a half-sobbing message, "Please, sir, _he says_ he's not in." The fiction did not lead to escape. Cromar was the name of the chief executioner in these scenes. Detested by his pupils, he was a victim to every sort of petty persecution from them, so that cruelty acted and reacted between him and them. On one memorable occasion he flogged John Burton with such violence as to cause to himself an internal rupture. The offence which led to this unmeasured punishment was "looking impudent!"--and the look of supposed impudence was produced by a temporarily swollen lip; but the swollen lip was the effect of a single combat with a schoolfellow; and fighting was so rife, and so severely repressed, that it appeared less dangerous to meet the consequences of the supposed impertinent face than those of the battle. The unfortunate pupil of course continued to grimace, and the wretched schoolmaster to flog, till the pupil streamed with blood, and the master sat down from sheer exhaustion and an injury from which he never recovered. Before John Hill Burton had completed his course at the grammar school he gained a bursary by competition, and began his studies at Marischal College. The open competition for bursaries at Aberdeen was a subject on which he delighted to talk, often with tears of enthusiasm in his eyes. The entire impartiality, the complete openness of these competitions to the whole world, the spectacle of high learning freely offered to whoever could by merit earn it, seemed to Dr Burton, to his life's end, as fine a subject of contemplation as any the world could offer. During his last illness, a friend, who knew his strong interest in his Alma Mater, presented him with Mr M'Lean's 'Life at a Northern University.' He read it with the utmost delight, often reading passages aloud with great emotion, on account of the vivid picture they presented of the scenes of his youth. It was a rough hard life that of an Aberdeen College student fifty or sixty years ago. Mr M'Lean says of his fellow-students: "As the most of them came from the country--generally from the Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland--they brought with them all their native roughness and coarseness of manners. The great majority of those who had spent their lives in town frequented the neighbouring university,[1] where the entrance and other examinations were not nearly so severe. In general, the great bulk of the students were far behind in good manners, and that polish which a large town always gives. Their secluded habits when at college, and their intercourse only with their own number, prevented any improvement in this matter. On the whole, their conduct in the class, and their behaviour towards some of the professors, were anything but gentlemanly."[2] [Footnote 1: Marischal College. Mr M'Lean's descriptions refer to King's; but the two colleges, close together, must have been pretty similar in their manners and customs even before they were, as they now are, formally united.] [Footnote 2: Life in a Northern University. By Neil M'Lean, author of 'Memoirs of Marshal Keith,' 'Romance of the Seal and Whale Fishing,' &c., &c. Glasgow; John S. Marr & Sons: London; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. 1874.] Another quotation from Mr M'Lean may be allowed, as embodying the descriptions often given by Dr Burton of the motley crew of competitors for the scholarships and bursaries dispensed by the university: "Gazing round the room, I noted that my competitors consisted of raw-boned red-haired Highlandmen, fresh from their native hills, with all their rusticity about them. All the northern counties had sent their quota to swell the number, and even the Orkney and Shetland Islands were represented. Many rosy-faced young fellows were also to be seen, who had left their country occupations for a little, and who, if unsuccessful"--_i.e._, in gaining a bursary--"would return to them, and work in their leisure hours at their favourite classics until another competition came round. Here and there were to be seen a few rather better dressed than the rest; whilst amongst the crowd the eye rested on many a studious, thin, cadaverous, hard-worked face, which made you look again, and feel in your heart that there sat a bursar. A more motley crowd, as respects age, dress, and features, could scarcely be found anywhere; and yet over all there was an intellectual, manly look, a look of innocence and unacquaintance with the low ways of the world."[3] [Footnote 3: Life in a Northern University.] Among this motley crowd John Hill Burton was no model student. He took his full share of the rough sport so well described in the 'Northern University'--wrenched off door-knockers and house-bells, transplanted sign-boards, &c. He was but a schoolboy in years when he left school for college, and his mother was frequently obliged to provide him with a private tutor, not so much to assist him in his studies as to keep him from idleness during his hours at home. Home was, during these years, for a time sad, and was always quiet. During his father's lifetime it was diversified by frequent changes of abode within a very narrow circuit. The writer has seen some half-dozen small houses, in a rather unlovely suburb of Aberdeen, all within sight of each other, which had successively been inhabited by Lieutenant Burton and his family; the poor invalid craving for the real change which might have benefited his health, and seeking relief, instead, in constant change of house. Mrs Burton was entitled to an abode at Grandholm as well as her sisters, and the little family went there occasionally, at least after Lieutenant Burton's death. The place, which is a rather interesting one, filled a considerable space in the affections of the children. Its inmates did not. Clearly sister Eliza never was forgiven for her unfortunate marriage. Affection for her husband and for his memory prevented her apologising for it, and her children were not of the sort to apologise for their existence. A series of petty slights, small unkindnesses, imbittered the mind of the poverty-stricken widow against her unmarried sisters, and her feeling was strongly inherited by her children. A house in Old Aberdeen has been already mentioned as the abode of Mrs Margaret Brown, Dr Burton's last surviving aunt. This quaint old house had been purchased by Mrs Brown's grandmother, mother of the laird of Grandholm, and at the beginning of the century was inhabited by her maiden daughter Margaret, or, as she was oftener called, Peggy Paton. This lady lived to the age of ninety, and at her death left her house and fortune to her niece and name-daughter, Margaret Paton (Mrs Brown), who in her turn adopted a grand-niece, the daughter already mentioned of Dr Burton's eldest brother, William,--the same who, having nursed her aged aunt till her death, in the last year of his life so tenderly ministered to her uncle, the subject of this notice. The second in the line of female owners of the old house, Peggy Paton, was, for the outer world, what George Eliot calls "a charicter"--one of those distinguishing features of country-town life which the march of improvement has swept away: a lady by birth, but owing little to schools or teachers, books or travel: a woman of strong natural understanding and some wit, who loved her nightly rubber at whist, could rap out an oath or a strong pleasantry, and whose quick estimates of men and things became proverbs with the younger generation. For her inner circle Peggy Paton was a most motherly old maid. She it was who, when she found her niece Eliza _would_ marry Lieutenant Burton, mediated between father and daughter, and arranged matters as well as might be in an affair in which her good sense found much to disapprove, and her heart much to excuse. Not only to her niece Margaret, her adopted daughter, but also to her other nieces at Grandholm, motherless by death, and fatherless by desertion, did she fill a mother's part as far as these robust virgins would permit her. Sister Eliza's rough little children, or rougher great boys, always found kindness in the house in the Old Town, first in their grand-aunt's[4] time, and afterwards in that of her successor, Mrs Brown. David, Dr Burton's younger brother, was lovingly tended by them during part of the lingering illness of which he died, and the youngest of Eliza Paton's sons remained an inmate of Mrs Brown's house that he might continue his education in Aberdeen, when his mother removed to Edinburgh. [Footnote 4: It may not be counted indelicate, as it refers to a period 120 years gone by, to mention that Peggy Paton once had a lover, and that this, her first lover, was no other than the son of that Moir of Stoneywood, whose correspondence is so frequently quoted in Dr Burton's 'History of Scotland.' The young man was Peggy's first cousin, the lairds of Grandholm and Stoneywood having married sisters--Mackenzie by name. The laird of Stoneywood is known to posterity by his ingenious achievement of ferrying the rebel army across the Dornoch Firth in small fishing-boats collected by Stoneywood all along the coast. On the defeat of the Pretender, and the suppression of the insurrection in 1746, Stoneywood's estate was confiscated, and he fled to the Continent. Family tradition adds that his escape was achieved by his disguising himself as a miller and swimming across the Don from Stoneywood to Grandholm, where the laird of Grandholm, who was of opposite politics, had removed the ferry-boat, and saw but did not denounce his kinsman. The houses of Grandholm and Stoneywood are exactly opposite each other on the two sides of the Don. Mrs Moir of Stoneywood did not immediately follow her husband, but remained with her friends to bring up her children, among them Miss Peggy's lover, who, soon after his engagement to her, joined his father on the Continent and there died.] For those who do not know Aberdeen, it may be proper to say that _Old_ Aberdeen is as entirely distinct from New Aberdeen as Edinburgh is from Leith--in a different way. The distance between them is somewhat greater, about two miles; and whereas New Aberdeen is a highly prosperous commercial city, as entirely devoid of beauty or interest as any city under the sun, Old Aberdeen is a sweet, still, little place, hardly more than a village in size, in appearance utterly unlike any other place in Scotland, resembling a little English cathedral town,--the towers and spires of college and cathedral beautifully seen through ancient trees from the windows of Miss Peggy Paton's old house, to which that managing lady added a wing, and which possessed a good flower and fruit garden, wherein grew plenty of gooseberries, ever Dr Burton's favourite fruit. His birthday, 22d August, was, during his mother's life, always celebrated by a family feast of them. Such were the scenes and circumstances of Dr Burton's childhood and early youth. As he grew old enough to begin those long walks which to the end were the great pleasure of his life, he made acquaintance with the beautiful scenery of the Upper Dee and Don. In holiday time his mother used to give him a small sum of money, at most one pound, and allow him to travel as far as the amount would take him. His legs were almost always his only conveyance; throughout his life he entertained an aversion to either riding or driving. His temper was too impatient, too energetic, to allow him to enjoy progress without exertion. After railways existed he sometimes used them in aid of his walking power; but all horse vehicles were odious to him, partly by reason of an excessive tenderness for animals. He could not bear to see a horse whipped, or any living creature subjected to bodily pain. Wonderful are the accounts the writer has heard of the duration of that holiday pound: how Dr Burton and sometimes a chosen companion would subsist day after day on twopence-worth of oatmeal, that by so doing they might travel the farther; or how, having improvidently finished their supply, they would walk some incredible distance without any food at all, till they reached either their home or the house of some friend. In these holiday rambles Dr Burton made the acquaintance of several families either more or less related to him through his Grandholm kindred, or willing, in the old Scotch fashion, to extend hospitality to any wayfarer who needed it. In this way Dr Burton has described himself as the guest of Mrs Gordon at Abergeldie, who, as he said, made a request that when he came to visit her he would if possible arrive before midnight. Invercauld, Glenkindie, Tough, and many other country-houses, were visited in the same unceremonious way. The letter here given was written to his mother during one of these holiday rambles, when its writer was about twenty, and describes some of the scenes of the wonderful flood of '29, so graphically described by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder. The Colonel H. was the son of Dr Burton's godfather, and a man of mature years at the time the Highlander and Dr Burton describe him as having "run away." The writer can offer no explanation of this rather amusing passage in the letter: it might either be a mere joke or refer to some family quarrel of the Colonel's. "LAKEFIELD, _8th September 1829_. "MY DEAR MOTHER,--I have just arrived at Lakefield in the midst of determined and ceaseless rain. I expected of course to meet A.H. here, but it seems he ran away the other day, and will by this time be in Aberdeen. He wrote to Mrs Grant from Elgin, but she has not yet heard of his arrival in Aberdeen. "In my way here I ran a risk of being violently used for his sake. As I was perambulating slowly the border of Loch Ness I met a tall, gaunt-looking man, who eyed me rather suspiciously, and stretched forth his hands in the attitude of one interrupting a stray sheep. I looked at the being in my turn, and began to be a little suspicious of his purpose, and to think of my dirk. The man approached nearer still in the attitude of making a spring. When he had come so close that I could hardly escape him, he roared out: 'Is't you 'at's the laad Colonel H. 'at's been runnan' awa'?' 'No,' said I, 'I am not.' "The man continued to eye me rather suspiciously, and then went slowly away. I suppose he hoped to be rewarded for me. I have told you that I got rain. When I was proceeding to Huntly, as you are aware, in the coach, there came two or three heavy gusts of wind from the hills, carrying along with it a sort of soft drizzle, but nothing like rain, and the roads appeared dry. After I had passed Keith, however, the whole country had a drenched and draggled appearance, the burns were swollen, the corn was hanging like wet hair, the trees were drooping and black, and the country people themselves looked as if they had been held in water for the last six months. A heavy and unceasing rain came on. The clouds grew black and seemed to settle, everything had a ghastly and dismal appearance. I met a man, and asked him if it always rained here. 'Ou ay, sir,' replied he, 'it's the parish o' _Rayne_.' I was content with the answer, and asked nothing more. In a condition you may easily imagine, I reached Elgin and dried myself. The rain stopped, but the clouds did not clear. I went and visited the cathedral, and wandered about the ruins for an hour or two. It is a noble and beautiful building, but I will not begin to speak about it, as the post leaves in a few minutes. On Saturday afternoon I left Elgin for Forres, with the hope of better weather. During the walk I could hardly persuade myself I was out of Aberdeenshire, the country is so very like, but it is rather flatter. Next morning was clear and cloudless, and the sun shone bright over a country drenched and covered with water. I wished that day to reach Inverness, but a new difficulty appeared. I was told that the Findhorn was so swollen that no mortal man could get across. I saw the boatman going to his ferry-house, and I followed him to see how the matter stood. I soon came to a deep and rapid sweep of water, which appeared to spread far beyond two narrow banks which might have formerly bounded it. This I thought to be the Findhorn, but ere I went many paces farther another sight met my eyes--the real river itself dashing through the glen with an awful majesty, and carrying roots, trees, and herbage of every description hurriedly over its broad breast. In the midst of this scene of devastation appeared the ruins of a noble bridge, nothing but the piers remaining, and these dashing to pieces in the furious current. The stream I had seen at first was the river flowing down the road. The river fell in the evening, and I crossed the ferry. I had two days of most delightful weather, and yesterday evening I had a sunset and moonlight walk by the side of Loch Ness, among the most noble scenery I ever beheld. The sky was perfectly clear, and without a single cloud. "I must now finish, as the post is going away. If you see Joseph [_i.e._, the late Joseph Robertson, a constant companion and attached friend], tell him I will write to him soon and have a deal to say to him, particularly of my discovering a sculptured stone in Elgin Cathedral. Notwithstanding the fineness of the evening, this day is determinedly rainy. If you see any of the H.'s, give Mrs Grant's compliments.--Adieu for the present; and I remain, my dear mother, your affectionate and dutiful son, "J. HILL BURTON." The writer has heard many farther details of the excursion of which this letter records the beginning. The temporary clearing up of the weather referred to was but a hollow truce in the tremendous elemental warfare of that memorable autumn. The flood described in the Findhorn was but a faint precursor of the wave sixty feet high, which, a week or two later, burst through the splendid girdle of rock which at Relugas confines that loveliest of Scotch rivers, and spread over the fertile plain beneath, changing it into a sea. At some points in Morayshire, the enormous overflow of the rivers broke down the banks which bound the ocean, and permanently changed the coast-line of the country. The most striking and extraordinary part of Sir Thomas Dick Lauder's description of this flood is an extract from the log of a sailing packet--a sea-going vessel--which directed its course over and about the plain of Moray, picking the inhabitants off the roofs of their houses, or such other elevations as they could reach. Dr Burton had the good fortune to see the Fall of Foyers during this great flood, and had the temerity to cross its stream, which lay on his road, upon a remaining parapet of the fallen bridge! CHAPTER II. EDINBURGH. _Apprenticeship in lawyer's office--Grandfather's letter--J.H. Burton's letters to his mother, conveying first impressions of Edinburgh, and account of passing Civil Law trial._ On the completion of his studies, John Burton was apprenticed to a writer in Aberdeen. He has talked of this period as one of the most painful of his life. He was utterly unable to master the routine of office-work, or to submit to its restraints; and one of his most joyful days was that in which his indentures were, by mutual desire, cancelled. A piece of yellow old paper was found in Dr Burton's desk when he died. It was a letter written some fifty-five years before, and had probably lain there during all these years. As it refers to this period of Dr Burton's life, it may be given. It seems fully to bear out the writer's conception of the unsympathising character of the intercourse between Mrs Burton and her family. No stronger incentive to exertion could have been offered to a man of Dr Burton's character, than the desire to falsify the implied prediction of such a missive. With a view to its effect in this way it had probably been given him by his mother. It is an entire letter, and the whole is here printed. "GRANDHOLM, _June 6th_. "DEAR ELIZA,--I have this day received a letter from my father, part of which I think it necessary to transcribe to you, as the best mode of giving you his meaning. "'The account of John Burton's being in such an idle unemployed way displeases me much. I wish you, Mary, would speak to his mother on the subject; tell her I would have acquainted her with my displeasure before now, only, on account of her misfortune in her family [this must refer to the death of her son David], I deferred what I ought to have done. Why was he taken away from his attendance at Mr Winchester's office? Doctor Dauney said he could not be better than with him, as there was plenty of business, such as was going. Tell her that as I have neither funds nor inclination to support idle gentlemen, or rather vagabonds, I have given directions to Mr Alcock not to pay up her next half-year's annuity, till he hears from me on the subject, and until she gives you satisfactory accounts concerning her son's return to Mr Winchester's office or otherwise. Tell her not to write to me, but to act as is her duty.'" The sister here continues, "I hope Mary [Dr Burton's only sister, the youngest child of his mother] continues well, and that you will not fail to give me an answer to this, as you see it will be absolutely necessary to give attention to the subject. Barbara continues very unwell.--I remain yours sincerely, M. PATON." Whether the threat conveyed in this letter was executed, the writer has now no means of knowing. The expression of it alone was cruel enough--the threat to starve a poor mother into forcing a son to continue a business utterly repugnant to him. Mrs Burton, however, did not protect herself by the sacrifice of her son. She believed in her son's powers, and acted on her belief in spite of all opposition; and she had her reward. She lived to see her son gaining fame in letters, and to find in him the utmost devotion a son can show to a mother. He never forgot or failed to acknowledge his obligations to her. These were undoubtedly great. She not only gave him, in part personally, his education, but when that was finished, and she hoped to find peace for her declining years in the little home she had prepared for herself, she sacrificed that also to her hope of her son's advancement--her faith in his talents and perseverance. With the death of her husband, perhaps also on account of that of her father, and the loss of her two little sons, Mrs Burton's pecuniary position seems to have become somewhat easier. Whilst her son John was destined for business in Aberdeen, she had built a small house for her own occupation in the neighbourhood. When he set his mind on the higher walk of his profession, and desired to come to the Scotch Bar, the necessary expense could only be compassed by the devoted mother selling her newly built house, and casting in her lot with her son. She, her young daughter, and an Aberdeenshire maiden (so primitive in her ideas, that she conceived the only way of reaching Edinburgh from Warriston must be by _wading_ the Water of Leith), followed John to Edinburgh, and took up their abode in a very small house on the north side of Warriston Crescent in the year 1831. Dr Burton was no great letter-writer. After he began, as he said, to write for print, he considered it waste of time to write anything which was not to be printed, except in briefest form. His letters to his wife and family during absences on the Continent or elsewhere, seldom contained more than a bare itinerary, past and future, often referring them for particulars to the article in 'Blackwood,' which was to grow out of his travels. His mother was naturally the recipient of the writing which came before the days of print,--before the days of penny postage also. Almost every letter contains a history of how his mother's last reached him, as well as how he hoped to have that which he is writing conveyed to her without paying the awful tax of postage. The next letters here offered belong to the beginning of his Edinburgh life, and relate to a feat of mental exertion equal to his bodily performances. He was at the time living in lodgings, for the purpose of passing his legal examinations preparatory to coming to the Bar; but he may be allowed to give the history of this part of his life entirely in his own words. "EDINBURGH, _3d Nov. 1830_. "MY DEAR MOTHER,--I have just arrived here, and as there is a friend of Mr Dauney's just about to set off for Aberdeen, I preferred letting you get a bit of a note or so to sending you a newspaper. Of course I have nothing to write you about but my own concerns. A delightful moonlight night for travelling, but the coach rather full: there were three nice children, with whom I contrived to amuse myself. All went on well till we came to Burntisland Ferry, where we had to proceed so far in an open boat. The sea poured in in a rather disagreeable manner; and while I thought every one was getting a good ducking but myself, a large miscreant of a wave contrived to escape every other passenger, and to settle right upon my shoulders. I have not yet secured a lodging in Edinburgh, but have been wandering through all the streets admiring. Of the Old Town I think far more than of the New, it is so majestic and magnificent, and am resolved, if I can, to live in it. "I dined at Mr Dauney's to-day. He has requested me to stay with him till I can get lodgings conveniently, but I expect to be stowed away to-morrow. I delivered Mr Innes's parcel; and remain, my dear mother, your most affectionate son, J. HILL BURTON. "_P.S._--I would have written you a long letter, but do not wish to absent myself from table." * * * * * "11 KEIR STREET, EDINBURGH, _Tuesday Evening, 9th Nov. 1830_. "MY DEAR MOTHER,--I take the opportunity of Mr Innes's parcel, which leaves this to-morrow afternoon, to give you a more succinct account of my affairs than you could derive from my laconic epistle of last week. I must, however, preface by requesting you to write me as soon as you conveniently can, either by Innes or L. Smith's conveyance, as I am anxious to hear the state of your cold, and how James is succeeding at school. "When I dismounted from the coach I was peculiarly struck by the sight of magnificent streets, with scarcely a human being to be seen along them. I expected to have found them of that crowded description so often characteristic of a metropolis; but to one who is accustomed to see our grand mercantile thoroughfare, the paucity of perambulators in _some_ of the streets of Edinburgh appears rather peculiar. _Others_ I found at particular periods to be thickly inhabited. My first course was to direct my course through the rain to G.B.'s dwelling, where I found him reading a large Bible. He appears to have carried fanaticism to a ridiculous pitch, unworthy of his education and station in life. He put into my hands a tract (composed I am afraid by himself), with injunctions to read it. I intend to send it to you as a curiosity. His brother Charles, whom I best knew, used to be a clever and sensible boy, very well informed; I hope he, too, is not also among the prophets. How few steer a middle course! G.B. cannot do the most trifling act without connecting it with religion. It is a mere disease. Others never think of it at all. I think it is Dr Johnson who says something to this effect: '----was mad, and showed it by kneeling down and saying his prayers on the street. Now there are many men who are not mad, yet I am afraid are worse than poor ----, for they never pray at all.' But to return--I inquired at Mr B. if he could recommend me to any cheap and respectable lodging. After applying some thought to the subject, he began to recollect that he did know of one or two. With regard to one the address was rather imperfect, as he knew neither the name nor the number, but had a guess of the street. The other I discovered, and now occupy, although he gave me both a wrong name and wrong number. "Immediately on leaving B.'s I went to Dauney, who appeared glad to see me, and kindly asked me to dine with him. He has a very handsome house. Mrs Dauney is a very agreeable person, and they have two children. He would not hear of my leaving him till I had got accommodated with good lodgings. The rooms I now occupy I did not enter till yesterday. They were inhabited by a person just about to leave them, and I had no recommendation to others so well situated. The person who keeps the lodgings is named M'Gregor. I have a room and closet, neat enough, for which I pay 8s. a-week, which includes coals. I could not have a place nearly so cheap in the New Town. The situation is delightful. It is behind the Old Town, and the windows look across towards it and the Castle, just as those in Union Terrace look towards Belmont Street. The view extends as far as the Firth of Forth. "There are, moreover, other advantages. Heriot's Hospital and the old city wall are close by; and when I choose I may, in going to the New Town, pass through the West Port and the Grassmarket. "I have been a good deal annoyed about my luggage, which has not yet been sent up, so that you may imagine some of my present drapery has been worn long enough. "I directed a person, calling himself the Clyde Shipping Company's agent here, to get them sent up last Saturday, which was to be done 'pointedly.' I amused myself from day to day annoying the man, till at last his patience appeared determined to weather out mine, so I went to Leith to-day and saw after them myself--found the man had nothing to do whatever with the concern, and neither could nor did give directions. The clerk, after blessing himself the usual number of times, stated his opinion that it would have been better for both parties had they left his office some time ago, so I expect to see them early to-morrow. I will let you know of their safe arrival if before three. I read your poetry[5] all over, but did I begin to remark on it here I would exceed the limits which a narration of facts has left me. It has afforded me much pleasure in the loneliness, which, of course, I feel a little at first. However, I cannot say it makes me at all sad. There is something independent and free in the idea that none of the vast multitude you are among cares more for your life or welfare than the breeze that passes. I begin my studies to-morrow, and if I behave properly will have a good deal to do. [Footnote 5: Mrs Burton wrote verses well. She occasionally published in the 'Gentleman's Magazine.'] "By the way, I may here mention a somewhat important circumstance. The greater part of the entrance fee is paid immediately on passing the Civil Law trial, which you know I wished to do this spring. The whole fee is less than £300, and the part payable _then_ is more than £200. The fees are to be raised, but the increase cannot be levied upon me; it only applies to those who have not commenced their studies at the period of raising. Speak to R. Alcock about this. I daily meet troops of Aberdonians. I dined on Friday last with a young man, Fordyce, and yesterday with Mr J. Jopp. I calculate I have about fifty fellow-citizens connected with law here.... "_Wednesday, half-past two._--Just got my luggage--cost 8s. All right, save that your jars have bolted, and played the very deuce with some of my books, two waistcoats, and a pair of drawers. "Hoping your cold is better, I remain, my dear mother, your affectionate and dutiful son, "J. HILL BURTON." * * * * * "11 KEIR STREET, EDINBURGH, _20th Nov. 1830_. "MY DEAR MOTHER,--I have scarcely an instant's time to say a word or so in reply to yours.... It was not _one_ of the jars which burst, but there was a general conspiracy among them all to slip out at the side of the paper. "I do not board for anything, just get in a little bit of meat or anything I want, can take my own way, and am never annoyed. I breakfasted and dined last Sunday with Mr H. Constable, who is a very agreeable young fellow. He is the proprietor of the Miscellany.[6] By the way, I find out that if I do not pass my Civil Law trial before 1832 I shall be compelled to pay £50 to a Widows' Fund. Too bad to make young fellows, who may never have a _widow_ all their _lives_, pay so much. Determined, if I pay it, to get a widow immediately.... [Footnote 6: Probably a mistake. He was the brother of the proprietor.] "Breakfasted to-day with the B.'s. At the theatre with Mellis day before yesterday. I hope Mary continues better.--Your affectionate son, J. HILL BURTON." * * * * * "11 KEIR STREET, EDINBURGH, _1st Dec. 1830_. "MY DEAR MOTHER,--I have got something to communicate with regard to my prospects of entering the Faculty, which will not be of the most agreeable nature. I was told from the proper authority (I have already mentioned to you) that a Widows' Fund subscription is to be charged against those who enter after 1st January 1832. I have consulted the Act of Parliament, and find it is leviable against those who enter after 1st January 1831. The last examination this year will be on _Tuesday week_,--the last for passing which £50 and an annual payment of £7 is not charged. Now for this examination I intend to prepare myself, unless you inform me _immediately_ that the money, £213, cannot be obtained. See Mr Alcock immediately, and explain this, but tell it to _no other person_, as I should not like it to be known that I had failed. I expect to know your intentions at farthest by _Monday_, as I must then give warning to the Faculty. You must be expeditious, as I can assure you _I_ shall be. The subject is not difficult, and I think I may be able to prepare myself for an ordinary examination. Should I find it _impossible_, I will still reserve to myself, even after you send the money, the power of withdrawing. The Widows' subscription (as the Act states) is repayable to those who are rejected or die before joining, and I presume the entry-money is so too. If it is _not_, I should insure my life. "If you consent to my arrangements, you must send me a certificate of my age--an extract from the Register of Baptisms, or something of that sort. I suppose Cordiner can give it you.... "Should I not pass my Civil Law trial immediately, I will still have the satisfaction of passing at some early period, avoiding an additional £60 which it is intended will be imposed, and from which no advantage, either real or fortuitous, is to be expected. Now the Widows' Fund, you know, when one has a widow, will be a very good sort of thing--£80 per annum, I believe. So if any lady wishes me to marry her, she had better advise me by all means to join the scheme. I know of no way of making one's own by it just now but by marrying some old advocate's widow who is on the list. "What you do, do quickly. Write me as soon as you can, and _definitely_, with bill for the money if possible--if not, a plain statement of its impossibility. I will work hard till I hear from you. How are you all? I am in good health, and remain, my dear mother, your affectionate and dutiful son, J. HILL BURTON." * * * * * "EDINBURGH, _4th December 1830_. "MY DEAR MOTHER,--I this morning received your and Mr Alcock's letters, enclosing a bill for £200 and order for £33, and having no opportunity to-morrow, I take this occasion to acknowledge receipt and return thanks. Tell Mr Alcock I am afraid I will never be able to repay him his kindness in procuring me this sum upon my very cavalier notice. With regard to yourself, you know, I suppose, we have a pretty long account together, and the balance somewhat against me, as it will always remain. "I suppose you will have received my hurried note of last night. I thought you had entirely forgot my £20 amid the other weighty matters you had to settle for me. I am still preparing and covering the Civil Law with rapid strides, but to make one's self master of a subject so intricate in a fortnight is something of a consideration; however, I do not despair. I am doing my best, and if I do not use my utmost endeavour, after what has been done for me by others, I will allow you to call me anything you please. "Still I beg you will not make yourself too sanguine of my success. In the meantime tell _no one_, not even Robertson, what I am attempting, that in the case of my being remitted to my studies (that is the term), it may not be generally known. I give in my name for examination on Monday next--it takes place on Tuesday fortnight. But I do not know when I will be acquainted with the issue. Do not be afraid that I will confuse or disturb myself much about it. You know I have been accustomed to such things, as eels are to be skinned. "While writing, I have been interrupted by a porter who has come seething in with a large box. To open a parcel is a most interesting thing, and the imagination revels with pleasure over its uncertain contents; but the rich and varied stores of this have exceeded expectation. I am glad you sent the certificate of baptism. I do not consider it at all necessary to write by post, as this goes by a most careful hand; but should I not hear next week of your having received it, then I _shall_ write by post. Perhaps I may enclose a receipt to Mr Alcock. He 'hinted,' it seems, 'the danger of placing so much money,' &c. I have not time to let my imagination run loose just now, or else I might have pictured to myself the thousand things which might be done with such a treasure; but I assure you I never should have thought of anything (as things now stand) but the intended destination of it, and of _that_ I shall have enough to think. But you know the fable, or story rather, of the Priest and the Hostler. I have not time to tell it you now, but perhaps Robertson can furnish you with it.... "I remain, my dear mother, your sincerely affectionate son, J. HILL BURTON." * * * * * "EDINBURGH, _15th December 1830_. "MY DEAR MOTHER,--If you had not been in expectation of such an event, I might have commenced my letter after William's manner, with saying, 'You will be surprised to hear I have passed,' but as the matter stands, I must begin with--'I have the satisfaction of informing you, &c.' It is just about a quarter of an hour since I was examined, the time being deferred from yesterday to to-day. The questions were very easy, at least I thought them so, and I think I answered each. If there were any I did not answer, it was from abstracting my attention from the more trifling to the more difficult branches of the law. So far of my examinations are over; but you must hold in mind that if I do not pass my SCOTS Law trial in a year, the £50 must still be paid. One thing I have lost by preparation, the chance of gaining the prize in the Civil Law class. This is given by the greatest number of correct answers to one hundred questions. Ten of these have already been answered. _I_ only accomplished _seven_ of them, and consider I have forfeited my chance. Seven is a good proportion out of ten difficult questions; but as the person who gains the prize is seldom deficient by above two or three, I do not conceive I have a chance. You may now tell whom you please that I have passed, but need not be publishing it to all the world. Had I _not_ passed, I should have been called a rash foolish fellow for attempting it; but as it is, it will be said I have done quite right. You may tell Robertson 'and them,' and Mrs Brown; and tell Mrs B. I will now have time to write her, and send a barrel of oysters.... Ask Robertson and Sim and Cordiner, and so on, to drink my health. I go to a party at Mr Constable's to-night, the only place (excepting Mr Dauney's) I have been engaged at since I arrived. I have had nothing whatever to interfere with my studies for this last fortnight. Tell James and Mary I can now have time to read their letters. On Saturday Mr G.B. called on me, asking me to attend a prayer-meeting, and finding I was busy, told me if I saw things in as clear a light as he did, I would see the vanity of attending to these earthly things. I trust, without irreligion, one may say he is mistaken. I write from Mr Constable's, which is near the Post-office. My dinner-hour is long past, and the post is just going, so I must bid you adieu. Write me soon, and inform me how you are pleased with the contents of this. My 'passage' only cost me 10s. of fee, and 2s. 6d. as fine for being absent from the Society. I hope you are all well, and remain, my dear mother, your affectionate and dutiful son, J. HILL BURTON." * * * * * "EDINBURGH, _17th December 1830_. "MY DEAR MOTHER,--I supposed you received my last letter, written somewhat hurriedly, but of which I suppose you were able to discover the principal fact. Since writing, I have been relaxing myself a little, and going about making a few calls, a thing I have neglected of late; but I beg you will not suppose this to be a hint that I am to grow idle. I intend, indeed, to be very busy all winter. I expect to hear from you soon, and to know what is doing in Aberdeen. I called upon Mrs H. to-night, who told me my grand-aunt had been very unwell lately. I trust this is a mistake; but not having heard from your quarter for some days, the fact may be so, without my having known it.... I just despatched the oysters, and I would wish that you could send to Mr Dyce, and inquire whether they have come free of expense, as I left money with the seller to pay the coach-hire. I have not sent you any, as they are rather dear--8s. 8d. for a barrel with two hundred. Now, I presume you might buy the same number in Aberdeen for about quarter the sum. "I live here in a sort of honourable solitude--few acquaintances, and few annoyances; it is just the sort of life I like. I am to have one or two of the young men I know to spend Saturday evening with me, and to discuss your nice plum-cakes which I have just cut. Among them is a young Pole--a Count Lubienski, a very agreeable and intelligent gentleman--a class-fellow. "I may now, by the way, give you the history of my discoveries with respect to the Widows' Fund, &c., which I presume have proved rather mysteriously annoying to you. When I first heard the report of the matter, I called on the librarian and requested information. He told me that those who did not pass before 1832, had to pay it. _I_ then said it was due at passing the Civil Law trials, and so, &c.; and then the man shrugged his shoulders, and allowed I had convinced him it was only payable by those who did not pass their _Civil Law_ trials before 1832, and I said no more about the matter. Dining, however, with Dauney on Tuesday fortnight last, I heard an observation which led me to a different conclusion, so I procured the Act as soon as might be, and saw how the matter lay. "Presuming I had a whole month before me, I determined to try the thing, notwithstanding the shaking of heads of those to whom I was _obliged_ to communicate it. "Finding, on inquiry, that there would be no opportunity of being examined after the 14th, I will allow I was a little startled, but still stuck fast, and had a sort of feeling I would be able to pass, as I do not like setting about what I cannot perform. "Proceeding in my labours, I gathered confidence, and when the day came thought it would be rather hard were I rejected. There were four examined at the same time, and being before myself, I had to stand their statements of the difficulty and minuteness of the questions, and they stared not a little when I told them I had studied the subject for a fortnight and two days; for previous to that time I had been engaged in the _History_ of Roman Law at college, and had commenced with the Principles. After the first question I felt myself secure; yet I will allow I felt a little easy (_i.e. relieved_) when each of the examiners shook hands with me, and told me I had given perfect satisfaction. "The librarian tells me some are rejected in the Civil Law trials, but _none_ in the Scotch Law, for which I must next year be prepared. I hope the saving will counter-balance the trouble of raising the money. I believe I shall enclose you my acknowledgment for the £200 (the £13 goes to the library, or something of that sort, which, though rather apocryphal in my nomenclature, shows the destination of the money). Tell the children[7] if they will write I will answer them soon, and enclose them something. Pray remember me to Mr Alcock, and repeat my sense of obligation to him. Tell Miss Seton I am now on the same shelf with her nephew. Remember me to the Misses Leith and all friends, Miss Johnstone and Mrs Wemyss, and all your not very extensive circle.... Write me soon; and I remain, my dear mother, your affectionate and dutiful son, J. HILL BURTON. [Footnote 7: Dr Burton's youngest brother and sister.] "_P.S._--I understand that should I 'kick' before passing advocate, the money will be returned. This would not be the case, however, were I to prove fickle, so I must consider my steps taken, and all thoughts of the Aberdeen law as ended; however, I shall finish my apprenticeship in summer. Had I time, I should like to go a week or two to the Continent (Norway or so). J.H.B." CHAPTER III. BEGINNING OF LITERARY LIFE. _Particulars regarding passing of Civil Law trial--Letters containing account of first years in Edinburgh and beginning of literary life--First marriage--Wife's death--Publications during married life and widowhood--Political Economy._ If genius is to be defined as the power of taking a great deal of trouble, Dr Burton certainly possessed genius. His most remarkable power was that of mental labour. It did not seem to fatigue or excite him. In his best years his capability for mental work was limited only by the need of food and sleep, and he could reduce these needs to a minimum, and apparently without any future reaction. He has told the writer that he did not go to bed at all during the fortnight's preparation for his Civil Law trial, described in the last chapter, but worked continuously, day and night, living almost entirely on strong tea and coffee. After his examination was over, he felt no actual fatigue or discomfort. He went to bed at his usual hour, but slept till the night of the second day was falling, a period of wellnigh forty-eight hours. He sustained no injury to health, and became entitled to style himself Advocate. He never had much practice at the bar; and the need of earning a livelihood first led him to literary publication. The two letters next offered refer to the following years of his life, when the little family was reunited in Edinburgh. Their mother's absence on a visit to relations in Aberdeen gave occasion for the letters. "3 HOWARD PLACE, SOUTH, _14th July 1833_. "MY DEAR MOTHER,--I take the opportunity of Spalding's[8] going to Aberdeen to write you a few lines. James received the other day two letters--one from you, and one from Mary. [Footnote 8: William Spalding, author of a History of English Literature and other works; a close friend till his too early death.] "The latter mentioned you had sent a letter for me, which has not yet arrived. I hope to receive it soon, or that you will write me another, giving a more particular account of your health than the letters to James have stated. "I am at all events glad to hear yourself say you are not worse, and hope that a little such exertion and variety as you must meet will tend to strengthen you. We have been going on just as usual; perhaps I have been a little more idle than usual during the past week, being the last of the session. I have had one or two friends in to dine, but did not give them very splendid entertainments. James is most particular in his care of the cat, and we both prowl about occasionally looking for gooseberries. "I caught a hedgehog the other evening, which has been let loose in the garden. I have been unable to discover his place of abode, but we sometimes meet him taking an evening stroll through the walks. He is an object of great interest to the cat, whose curiosity, however, he seems decidedly to baffle.... "I am sorry to hear Robertson is unwell, but I suppose he is able to write, and he must really be at the trouble of sending me a letter before I can trouble myself farther about his trunks. "I shall be engaged to-morrow and next day in the Justiciary Court, and shall be otherwise very busy during the rest of the month.... "By the way, could you ascertain anything about the next Circuit? You might perhaps send a note to Daniel (Alexander Daniel, Esq., advocate, Farquhar's Court, Upperkirkgate), asking him to call on you and see if he can get me a case or two.... "With kindest remembrances to grand-aunt and Mrs Brown.--My dear mother, your affectionate son, "JOHN HILL BURTON." The fondness for animals and for gooseberries were lifelong tastes. That for animals did not extend to taking much trouble about them; but Dr Burton had none of a student's nervousness about slight noises or interruptions. He would have thought a house dull without the sounds of birds or other pets in it, and one of his favourite amusements was to watch the ways of animals. He had examples, in his acquaintance among dogs and cats, of heart and conscience in the two species respectively, too trivial for notice here. Dr Burton has stated in the letters previously quoted some of the studies which he pursued at college in Edinburgh. His contribution to Mrs Gordon's 'Life of Professor Wilson' furnishes a lively picture of college life and experience in Edinburgh. He attended the course of the late Sir William Hamilton, and gained some distinction in the study of moral philosophy and metaphysics, so much that his appointment as assistant and successor to Sir William was seriously considered by himself and others. Had he become Professor of Logic and Metaphysics, he would no doubt have discharged the duties of the situation well. At that time of his life, great versatility, along with extraordinary diligence, was the chief characteristic of his mind. In later years he did not pursue the study of mental science. Before the period in Dr Burton's life which we have now reached, he had contributed many articles to the 'Aberdeen Magazine,' published by his kind old friend Lewis Smith. These were lately collected and republished by Mr Smith; but, to judge from such specimens as the writer has seen, they are not, on the whole, of a character to increase Dr Burton's present reputation. He seems to have tried his hand at every kind of composition--romance, drama, poetry. In the last mentioned he had most success. His sentimental verses are pretty. His romances are so much crowded with incident as to be almost unintelligible. He was true to his own peculiar taste in novels. If a novel was recommended to him he used to inquire, "Is there plenty of murder in it?" He disliked almost equally the philosophical novel, and the domestic or social novel. Of the former he used to say he preferred to read _either_ philosophy or fiction; he could not endure them combined. To hear even a sentence of the best social or domestic novel read irritated him intolerably. He would ask, "How any one could feel interest in the talk of a set of ordinary silly people, such as one must meet with every day. It was bad enough to hear them talk when one could not help it." Quantities of early works, never printed, are still preserved by his family. The habit of writing--_not_ letter-writing--seems to have begun as soon as he could use a pen, and while his orthography--never a strong point--was excessively weak. "The Rosted Baron" remains a popular work in a small circle. It is a tale, crowded, as its title indicates, with blood and flames. The idea may have been taken from the burning of Frendraught. It was written when Dr Burton was quite a boy, and is now one of a heap of manuscripts in a childish hand on very yellow paper remaining in his repositories. "3 HOWARD PLACE, SOUTH, _24th July 1833_. "MY DEAR MOTHER,-- ... I was extremely glad to receive your letter by post this morning, showing me that you are able to go about, and that you are enjoying yourself as much as possible. James[9] and I have been getting on very well and very comfortably. [Footnote 9: Dr Burton's eight years younger brother.] "I am obliged to delay our proposed jaunt till Monday next, as I find it impossible to get my work finished before Friday, the day I had fixed on. You are aware that I have long delayed an article on Criminal Trials for the 'Westminster Review.' I have now set about it seriously, and am resolved not to stir until it is finished, which I hope may be on Saturday. I have likewise some things to finish for Chambers before I go, and then I think I shall be able to enjoy a few days of a stravaig.... I got a slight interruption last night; just as the twilight came on, Alex. Smith came in. Now I had been living like a hermit for some time, and though he has been more than a fortnight returned I had not seen Smith for ten days. The matter was irresistible. We set to and got very jolly together. He complained of having low spirits, but they were soon elevated, and before he went away he was leaping over the chairs, and very anxious to leap out at the window. I received on Monday the enclosed letter from Miss H. to you, and wrote by way of answer that I should send it to Aberdeen intimating my intended visit. By the way, a circumstance of some consequence occurs to me at this moment. If you remain for three weeks in Aberdeen and then leave it, you will do so just about a fortnight (I think) before the Circuit. Might it not be as well to remain until that period, when I might attend the Circuit and bring you back? I do not know at this moment the day of the Circuit, but the newspapers will inform you. "You may tell Robertson [the before mentioned 'Joseph'] that his clothes may rot where they are until he chooses to write to me himself about them. I suppose James will write you a household statement some time or other soon. If you wish to amuse yourself with reading the lives I wrote in the last number of the Biography,[10] they are Archbishop Hamilton, Sir William Hamilton, Dr Robert Henry, Edward Henryson, J. Bonaventura Hepburn, Roger Hog, John Holybush, and Henry Home of Kames.... The gooseberries appear to dwindle as they ripen. I am afraid few will remain for you, but you will find a sufficient number where you are. I intend to _walk_ to Dunkeld, and to take two days. Al. Smith may come a bit with us.... All my little stock of news is exhausted. Pray remember me to my grand-aunt, Mrs Brown, and my aunts; and I am, my dear mother, your affectionate son, "JOHN HILL BURTON." [Footnote 10: The Cyclopædia of Universal Biography.] This letter describes the beginning of the life of literary labour which John Hill Burton's was to the end. He would not have liked to see it described as labour. He even disliked the word work as applied to his own pursuits, and he did indeed work as easily as most men play. He was unconscious of his own powers of mental application: his mind worked with as much ease as his lungs breathed. The great bulk of his earlier writings must be quite irrecoverable now. He wrote school-books, specially a set of historical abridgments for the use of schools, under the name of Dr White; he also compiled much of the information in Oliver and Boyd's 'Almanac,' and almost all the letterpress of Billings's 'Ecclesiastical and Baronial Antiquities.' Dr Burton's whole resources at this time were derived from his pen. He has described this mode of life as a somewhat anxious but by no means unhappy one. The anxiety lay in that in which all sorts of business share--the finding work, looking for employment. The employment once found was agreeable to him. He rapidly acquired a power of mastering almost any subject on which he had to write, though he always looked forward with hope to the time, which eventually came, when he might live securely on a fixed income, free to write from the fulness of his mind and not from outward pressure. The house in Howard Place was carefully managed by his mother. On a life spent entirely in town proving unsuitable to her health, Dr Burton took for her a little cottage at Brunstane, which served as country quarters for the family for several years. In 1844 Dr Burton married Isabella Lauder, daughter of Captain Lauder of Flatfield, in Perthshire. He then occupied a house in Scotland Street, and his mother and sister left him to reside in the little cottage called Liberton Bank. There his beloved and revered mother died, in 1848. His sister still lives in the cottage with a little flock of young relatives which her kindness has gathered around her. Dr Burton's first appearance in independent authorship was in 1846, when he published his 'Life and Correspondence of David Hume.' This work at once gained for him a recognised position among men of letters. In 1847 he published a volume containing the Lives of Simon Lord Lovat and Duncan Forbes of Culloden. This is an eminently readable work, as are all his minor productions. Literary persons did not consider its merits quite equal to the promise given in its predecessor. During these years much of the spare time left by the need of frequent publication was filled by the task of editing Mr Jeremy Bentham's literary remains, to which Dr Burton was joint editor along with Dr (afterwards Sir John), Bowring. He published, as a precursor to the greater work, one styled 'Benthamiana; an Introduction to the Works of Jeremy Bentham.' In 1849 he wrote for Messrs Chambers a little book entitled 'Political and Social Economy: Its Practical Application.' May the writer here be permitted to state that she considers this small and little-noticed work the best of all her husband's productions? Though the subject is usually considered particularly dry, there is an ease, rapidity, firmness, and completeness in this little book, which carries the reader on in spite of himself or his prejudices. The book was first published in two small paper-covered volumes. The writer by chance got possession of the first, which ended without even a full stop; she, then a young girl of not particularly studious habits, having read it, its arguments so filled her mind, that she could not rest till, out of her not over-abundant pocket-money, she had purchased the other volume. The author was then unknown to her. He was afterwards gratified by hearing this testimony to the value of a work which he himself did not esteem so highly as his others. It may not be counted impertinent to repeat it here, for this reason, that the little book in question was intended as a popular treatise, not addressed to the learned, but to the unlearned. It fulfils to perfection the idea of what such a treatise should be. There is in the style not the slightest approach to condescension, or that writing down to the meaner capacity which must always offend an adult student; while the first principles of the science discussed are stated with such lucidity, that his capacity must be mean indeed who cannot grasp them, and they are illustrated by statistics which will remain always interesting, even to the best informed. Probably the particular charm of the book arises from its having been written _currente calamo_. The information had been all previously stored in the author's mind before he ever thought of writing it. When he began to write, it poured forth without effort or any reference to authorities. The book was written in some marvellously short time,--the writer fears now to say how short. It was counted in days. It would have been quite contrary to Dr Burton's principles to boast of rapidity of composition. His greater works are monuments of industry. Dr Burton's information on economic subjects had probably been acquired during his studies and correspondence about the abolition of the Corn Laws. He was interim editor of the 'Scotsman' at an early period of the Corn-Law agitation, and during his editorship committed the journal to Anti-Corn-Law principles. He was at that time in correspondence with Mr Cobden, whom he visited in Lancashire, and who tried to induce him to remove to that part of the world for the purpose of editing an Anti-Corn-Law newspaper. Mrs Burton was fond of society, and her husband had not then become positively averse to it. His acquaintance in Edinburgh gradually increased. It included Lord Jeffrey and his family, Lord Murray, who remained a fast friend during his life, and all the remaining members of the old Edinburgh circle. About the year 1848, the writer first saw Dr Burton, accompanied by his wife, as guests at one of those late evening parties given by Mrs Jeffrey during the last years of her husband's life--a very faint reflection of the earlier hospitalities of Craigcrook and Moray Place. In 1848 Dr Burton left Scotland Street for a house in Royal Crescent, better suited for occasional reception than the other. But in 1849 the heaviest blow of his life fell on him in the loss of his wife. His five married years had been a period of perfect domestic happiness. He found himself left with three infant daughters; their guide and his gone from him. He has described his sufferings at this time to the writer as fully realising to him the common phrase, "a broken heart." As each day passed, and each night returned, he rose and lay down with the feeling that his heart was broken. He of course shunned all society, and never again recovered any real zest for it. He sometimes thought of imitating his grandfather under like circumstances with a difference--he thought of flying, not to London, but to the backwoods of America, or some place where he should never see a white face, and becoming a "wild man," a savage--a personage of whom he always believed himself to share many of the characteristics. Only consideration for his little girls deterred him from such a course. Although an excessively affectionate parent, Dr Burton had no pleasure in the company of children, owing to his want of any system with them. He could not, according to the common phrase, "manage" children at all--a necessary art for any one who has much of their company. He secured the services of a former governess of his wife, a Miss Wade, as care-taker of his children; and, as soon as he could, removed from the house in Royal Crescent to a small one in Castle Street, and afterwards, from a wish to let his children amuse themselves with little gardens of their own, to one in Ann Street. He has told the writer's father, Cosmo Innes, then his most intimate friend, that the first relief to his oppressed spirits was obtained from the nearest realisation of the "wild man" life to be found within his own country. He took long walks in all weathers, sometimes walking all night as well as all day, at times with a companion, oftener with none. The late Alexander Russel, then editor of the 'Scotsman,' was his companion in some of these rambles, Joseph Robertson in others, and Cosmo Innes in others. It was Mr Russel who accompanied him in the run across Ireland, which took place about this time, and of which his printed sketch is one of the liveliest of his minor writings. His pace was so rapid, and his powers of walking so inexhaustible, that with the lapse of years it became more and more difficult to find a companion who could keep up with him. He has described to Mr Innes one particular walk taken alone to the waterfall called the Grey Mare's Tail. The whole excursion was performed in pitiless rain and wind, which gave the waterfall every advantage, and it was while battling with the elements in climbing the hill to view it that Dr Burton felt the first return of his natural elasticity of spirit. He soon found also the best medicine of all in hard work. The years between the death of his first wife and his second marriage were the most active of his literary life, at least in the line of periodical literature. He contributed regularly to 'Blackwood's Magazine,' besides other periodicals. In 1852 he published narratives from Criminal Trials in Scotland. In 1853 a 'Treatise on the Law of Bankruptcy in Scotland,' and in the same year his 'History of Scotland from the Revolution to the extinction of the last Jacobite Rebellion.' CHAPTER IV. SECOND STAGE OF LITERARY LIFE. _Appointed Secretary to the Prison Board--Second marriage--Daily life--Death of infant child--First volunteers--Removal to Craighouse._ In 1854 Dr Burton was appointed Secretary to the Prison Board, at a salary of £700 per annum, and was thus relieved of the necessity, which had pressed on him for more than twenty years, of maintaining himself by his pen. On his appointment to this office he removed from Ann Street to the house then 27 Lauriston Place, the site of which is now occupied by the Simpson Memorial Hospital. In 1854 the situation was half rural. The house stood in a good old-fashioned garden of its own, beyond which lay a field containing some old trees; and the house possessed good offices, stables, &c., which were soon adapted to a workshop for Dr Burton himself, and rabbit and pigeon houses for his children. The productiveness of the garden was marred by incursions of rabbits,--_not_ the children's pets, but wild rabbits, however incredible that may appear, now that the situation has got so entirely separated from the country by new buildings. At that time there was no building between Lauriston Place and Morningside. Dr Burton, while a widower, had become a more and more frequent visitor at the house of Cosmo Innes in Inverleith Row. The writer does not recollect ever seeing him there along with other company--he preferred finding the family alone. She has met him occasionally in company in other houses--memorably in that of the late Mrs Cunningham, Lord Cunningham's widow--but never, so far as she can remember, in that of her father. He was at that time considered a good talker--his company was sought for the sake of his conversation. His defect in conversation was that he was a bad listener. His own part was well sustained. His enormous store of varied information poured forth naturally and easily, and was interspersed with a wonderful stock of lively anecdotes and jokes. But he always lacked that greatest power of the conversationalist, that subtle ready sympathy which draws forth the best powers of others. He was invaluable at a dull dinner-table, furnishing the whole _frais de la conversation_ himself; but he never probably appeared to quite such advantage as in the family party at 15 Inverleith Row. His long walks with Mr Innes, sometimes on a Saturday, often on a Sunday, generally ended by his accepting the proffered invitation to dinner on his return. As he was the only guest, nothing could be more suitable or delightful than his amusing the whole circle during the whole time of his stay; and he has himself stated that his attention was first drawn to a shy and particularly silent girl by her irresistible outbursts of laughter at his stories, which outbursts in their turn encouraged him to pour forth story after story of his vast repertory in that sort. On the 3d of August 1855 John Hill Burton married Katharine Innes as his second wife. He had by that time become accustomed to combine office with literary work, and, with the extraordinary activity and adaptability of his intellect, found them helpful to each other. About the time of his second marriage he conceived the project of his complete 'History of Scotland,' and directed his studies and investigations towards its execution, continuing, as his manner was, to throw off slight foretastes of his greater work as articles for 'Blackwood,' &c. His mode of life at that time was to repair to the office of the Prison Board, in George Street, about eleven. He remained there till four, and made it matter of conscience neither to do any ex-official writing, nor to receive ex-official visits during these hours. He gave his undivided attention to the duties of his office, but has often said that these made him a better historian than he could have been without them. He conceived it highly useful for every literary man, but especially for a historian, to get acquainted with official forms and business. He has himself expressed this opinion fully in his printed works. Returning from his office to dinner at five, he would, after dinner, and after a little family chat in the drawing-room, retire to the library for twenty minutes or half an hour's perusal of a novel as mental rest. His taste in novels has been already described. Although he would read only those called exciting, they did not apparently excite him, for he read them as slowly as if he was learning them by heart. He would return to the drawing-room to drink a large cup of extremely strong tea, then again retire to the library to commence his day of literary work about eight in the evening. He would read or write without cessation, and without the least appearance of fatigue or excitement, till one or two in the morning. Always an excellent sleeper, he would go to bed and to sleep till nine or ten of the same morning, seldom joining the family breakfast, but breakfasting by himself immediately before going to his office. In Lauriston Place three more children were born to Dr Burton, a son and two daughters. When the elder of the two little girls was hardly a year old the whole nursery sickened, first of measles, then of hooping-cough. Little Rose, the baby, being recommended change of air, the family went to South Queensferry, and there the baby died, and was buried in Dalmeny churchyard. Some earlier associations had attached both Dr Burton and his wife to the neighbourhood; and during his latter years Dr Burton frequently alluded to this little baby, the only child he lost, being laid there,--and expressed a wish that when their time came, his wife and he should lie there also. His wish was carried out in his own case. In July of the following year the first company of volunteers formed in Scotland exercised in the field at 27 Lauriston Place. Dr Burton sympathised strongly in the volunteer movement, and joined the Advocates' corps. Though never seriously apprehensive of an invasion of our coasts, he considered it proper that we should increase our military strength while foreign nations were so enormously augmenting theirs. He drilled regularly with the volunteers while they continued to assemble in his field, and until an accident had temporarily lamed him. He marched past the Queen on the brilliant sunny day of the first great Volunteer Review in the Queen's Park in 1860, his wife looking on in the company of his old friend Sir John Kincaid, then an Inspector of Prisons. 27 Lauriston Place was considered sufficiently rural to obviate the necessity of going to the country, and during the six years of its occupancy the family seldom left it. Dr Burton gave his wife a little pony-carriage, by means of which sea-bathing could be had, when desired, from Lauriston Place. During the year 1860, the new buildings in the neighbourhood spoiled the situation of the house, so as to render it hardly habitable. The field where the volunteers had drilled was built upon almost up to the windows of the house. To escape these disagreeables, a cottage at Lochgoilhead was taken for August and September, and much enjoyed by the whole family. A complete removal was also determined on for the following Whitsuntide. An old house near the Braid Hills had been a childish haunt of his wife's, and it had been a childish dream of hers to repair that house, then a ruin, and live in it. The situation of the place seemed, and seems to her, the finest in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and the house was a historical one of no small interest. The greatest part of it had been built in the year Queen Mary married Darnley (1565), but part of the building was very much older; a subterranean passage especially, of considerable length, well arched, too narrow for a sally-port, unaccountable therefore by any other theory, Dr Burton always believed as old as the Romans. Craighouse had been besieged by Queen Mary's son in person, and had stood the siege and resisted the king.[11] The then laird of Craighouse, whose name was Kincaid, ran away with a widow, who was a royal ward, and married her in spite of the king; whether with or without the lady's own consent no record condescends to specify. The laird was afterwards nearly ruined by a fine, of which a part consisted of a favourite _nag_, which it would appear King Jamie had been personally acquainted with and coveted. [Footnote 11: See Pitcairn's Criminal Trials.] The distance of Craighouse from the town was not great--nothing as a walk to such walkers as Dr Burton and all his family; but it was enough to interfere seriously with evening engagements. Once home from business, it was an effort to return again to the town to dine or attend any sort of social gathering. The thing was not impossible, but its difficulty served as too good an excuse for Dr Burton's increasing unsociability. For a time, while some of the old circle still survived, Dr Burton saw them with pleasure at his own table, but he too early adopted a determination--which no one should ever adopt--to make no new friends. Almost all his old friends predeceased him, and he found himself thrown entirely on the society of his own family. But to return. From a romantic wish to give his wife what he imagined she desired, Dr Burton returned from Lochgoilhead, leaving his family there, took all the steps for obtaining a lease of Craighouse in their absence, and on their return presented his wife, as her birthday gift, with the keys of Craighouse--a huge bunch of antique keys, some of them with picturesque old handles. Mrs Burton and all her family loved their beautiful home as much as any home ever was loved. They occupied it for seventeen years. During the exceptionally severe winter of 1860-61, the most essential repairs were executed on the old house, and the family moved into it in March. The 5th of March was long kept by them as a festival--the anniversary of the day on which they drove out to take possession of Craighouse in a spring snowstorm. They had resolved to get possession before the snowdrops, with which the beautiful avenue was carpeted, should be over; and they did--but the snowdrops were buried in snow. [Illustration: _Craighouse._] CHAPTER V. THIRD STAGE OF LITERARY LIFE. _Craighouse--Birth and marriages--Office and literary work--"Perth days"--Captain Speke--Library--Athenæum--Historiographership--Unsociability and Hospitality--St Albans--Strasburg--London--Stories, jokes, and nonsense-verses._ At Craighouse a second son was born to Dr Burton; his seventh and youngest child. There also his eldest and his third daughters married; the younger, Matilda Lauder, in June 1877, becoming the wife of William Lennox Cleland, of Adelaide, South Australia; the elder, Isabella Jessie, that of James Rodger, M.D., of Aberdeen, in April 1878. The whole of the period at Craighouse was one of active literary as well as official life. Dr Burton walked daily to the Office of Prisons, no longer to perform the duty of secretary, but that of manager, at the same salary he had enjoyed as secretary. The transference of the principal part of the duty to London altered his position but slightly. Both before and after this change a monthly visit to the General Prison at Perth was part of his duty. His wife occasionally accompanied him in these excursions, and by experience can judge of the fatigue, or rather the exertion without fatigue, which he underwent in them. At home Dr Burton was never an early riser, but in travelling he willingly performed a first stage before breakfast. On his "Perth days," in going from Craighouse he was obliged to be astir by four in the morning. His wife usually drove him to the railway station in time to catch a train starting at six. Sometimes he would consent to be met again on the arrival of the latest return train at night and driven home; generally he preferred walking home, after a call at his office, to see if anything there required his attention. He thus arrived at Perth by breakfast-time; spent the whole day in passing from cell to cell of the many hundred prisoners there confined, interrogating each of them, and taking notes of anything requiring notice; and reached home not till nearly midnight, yet never appearing at all fatigued. Latterly he gave up this great effort and did not return till the following day, sleeping in a hotel at Perth on the occasions of his official visits. In 1867 he published the first four volumes of his 'History of Scotland, from Agricola's Invasion to the Revolution of 1688,' and in 1870 other three volumes, completing the work, and, together with the portion published in 1853, forming a complete narrative of Scotch history from the earliest times down to the suppression of the Jacobite insurrection of '45. As offshoots from his great work, he published, first in 'Blackwood's Magazine,' and then, with some additions, in volume shape, two pleasant books--the 'Book-Hunter' and the 'Scot Abroad,'--besides many other slighter works. During these years he was often obliged to refuse his pen for fugitive writing, from unwillingness to interrupt his more serious tasks. The following is a note declining, very characteristically, an application of the kind from his valued friend, Mr Russel, editor of the 'Scotsman':-- "_11th August 1862._ "MY DEAR RUSSEL,--What am I expected to do with the Cat Stane? Not to review it, I hope. I have had a sniff of it already in the proceedings of the Antiquarian Society. It is a brilliant specimen of the pedantic pottering of the learned body which enables me to append to my name the A.S.S., fraudulently inverted into S.S.A. Such twaddle always excites me into feverishness. I haven't nerve for it. "I see the grandfather of Hengist and Horsa is made out very clearly, but there seem insuperable difficulties in proving Hengist and Horsa themselves. This strikes me as a characteristic of the author's[12] profession. He has to deal with parents actual and possible, but the offspring are seen evanescently, often loom in the distance, and sometimes can't be got to exist even when most desired.--Yours truly, J.H. BURTON." [Footnote 12: The late Professor Simpson.] Dr Simpson's really universal genius led him pretty deeply into archæology, in which he sometimes, as on the present occasion, showed more zeal than knowledge. One of the first summers at Craighouse was enlivened by a long visit from the African traveller, Captain Speke. Dr Burton met with him in the hospitable house of his friendly publisher, the late John Blackwood, at Strathtyrum. Captain Speke was then preparing, or endeavouring to prepare, for the press, his book, the 'Discovery of the Source of the Nile.' The truly gallant Captain being more practised in exploring than in writing, Mr Blackwood suggested his going home with Dr Burton, that he might have the benefit of his advice in the formation of his materials into a book. The family at Craighouse became warmly attached to their guest. He endeared himself by his simple unassuming character, and a peculiar sweetness of temper. The sorrow at Craighouse was great on hearing, during the following autumn, of his most lamentable death. He who had escaped so many dangers--was so well accustomed to firearms--accidentally shot by his own gun while partridge-shooting near his paternal home! While at Craighouse, Dr Burton's library gradually increased from being an ordinary room full of books, to a collection numbering about 10,000 volumes. From his earliest years Dr Burton had been a collector of books, and Craighouse led to the increase of his collection in two ways. The distance from the town was an impediment to the use of the Advocates' Library in his historical studies, and there was space at Craighouse for any number of books. There were always rooms which could be taken into occupation when wanted; and to his life's end it was a favourite amusement of Dr Burton's to construct and erect shelves for his books. In an article in 'Blackwood's Magazine' for August 1879, there occurs the following lively description of the impression made by the library on the mind of a visitor. Before the passage quoted was published, Dr Burton had left Craighouse for Morton House, but the description evidently refers to Craighouse:-- "We have had the privilege of dropping in upon him [Dr Burton clearly being meant, though not named] in what we might call his lair, if the word did not sound disrespectful. It was in a venerable, half-castellated, ivy-grown manor-house, among avenues of ancient trees, where the light had first to struggle through the foliage before it fell on the narrow windows, in walls that were many feet in thickness. And seldom, surely, has so rich a collection been stowed away in so strange a suite of rooms. Rooms, indeed, are hardly the word. The central point, where the proprietor wrote and studied, was a vaulted chamber, and all around was a labyrinth of passages to which you mounted or descended by a step or two; of odd nooks and sombre little corridors, and tiny apartments squeezed aside into corners, and lighted either from the corridor or by a lancet-window or a loophole. The floors were of polished oak or deal; the ceilings of stone or whitewashed; and as to the walls, you could see nothing of them for the panelling of shelves and the backs of the volumes. It was books--books--books--everywhere; the brilliant modern binding of recent works relieving the dull and far more appropriate tints of work-worn leather and time-stained vellum. To the visitor it seemed confusion worse confounded; though wherever his glance happened to fall, he had assurance of the treasures heaped at random around him. But his host carried the clue to the labyrinth in his brain, and could lay his hand on the spur of the moment on the book he happened to want. And with the wonders he had to offer for your admiration, you forgot the flight of time, till you woke up from your abstraction in the enchanted library, to inquire about the manuscript that was in course of publication." In spring Dr Burton generally spent some time in London, partly on official business, partly in literary research at the British Museum. He was elected a member of the Athenæum Club without application or ballot, an honour which he valued highly. He delighted in the dignified and literary tone of the Club, and frequented it much when in London. About 1867 the office of Historiographer-Royal becoming vacant, it was bestowed on Dr Burton, with a salary of £190 per annum, thus bringing his annual income to nearly £900, instead of £700. The compliment was enhanced by the fact of a Conservative Ministry being then in office. Dr Burton was a decided, though not aggressive, Liberal in politics. Though personally more and more unsociable as years advanced, Dr Burton was excessively hospitable. He could not bear that any person, rich or poor, should leave his house unrefreshed, and he made both servants and children welcome to see their friends if these did not trespass on his time. A nervous inquiry in later years, if he heard of any guest being expected, was, "He, or she, will not meddle with me, will he?" Assured that the privacy of his library would be respected, any one was free to the rest of the house; and if they showed no disposition to intrude, Dr Burton would gradually become tame to them, and in some few instances appear to enjoy a temporary addition to the family circle. Such instances were, however, rare and ever rarer. He was strongly attached to his home and home circle, and preferred having no addition to it. A very partial parent to all his children, his sons were his special pride and happiness. During the first years of Craighouse, his wife was able to accompany him in those long rambles on the Pentlands which were his favourite amusement. Afterwards, when she was unable for the exertion, he found pleasant companions in his sons. Several times during those years he spent some weeks on the Continent. He generally wrote daily during all absences, but his letters, as already said, were for the most part brief,--chiefly craving for news from home, which was also written for him daily. If any accident prevented his receiving his daily letter, he expressed agonies of apprehension about all possible or impossible ills. In regard to the health of his family he was painfully anxious and apprehensive. The subjoined letters are offered as specimens of his correspondence. "ATHENÆUM CLUB, _29th June 1871_. "MY DEAR WILLIE,[13]--As you and I have often gone geologising together, I'll tell you how I got on at St Albans, where, I suppose you know, I saw cousin William.[14] You know the conglomerates. They are generally hard little stones in a casing of sandstone, lime, or other soft matter. I have known for thirty years, in a lapidary's window in Perth, a large piece of conglomerate, where all is hard and flinty, taking a beautiful polish. After much inquiry I found that this was got in Hertfordshire, where St Albans is. I could get no account of any rock of it, however. But as there was a committee of agriculturists smoking in the inn every evening, I joined them, and got my information. [Footnote 13: Dr Burton's eldest son, then a boy of fifteen.] [Footnote 14: William Burton, artist, son of Dr Burton's eldest brother.] "It always occurs in cakes under the soil, and is very troublesome in ploughing. It is called the 'Mother stone,' or the 'Breeding stone,' from a supposition that it is the nursery of all the flints. When its nodules grow large enough, they set up as flints on their own account. There is therefore a great desire to extirpate it from the fields, and it might be found by their sides, or, as one man said, 'You may foind it anywheres, and you maint never foind it nowheres.' So I prowled about and got plenty, chipping off as much as I could conveniently carry. "Tell Tucky and Cos[15] all this. I'm sure it will amuse them.--Your affectionate papa." [Footnote 15: His two younger children.] * * * * * "STRASBURG, _8th August 1875_. "MY DEAR COSMO,[16]--You have been very industrious, and have earned your holidays, so I hope you will have a good swing of them before we begin our Latin exercises. Meanwhile I am going to give you a little lesson in history and geography suggested by my travels. [Footnote 16: Dr Burton's youngest son, eleven or twelve years old.] "Look at some map containing Holland. You find me land at Rotterdam, and go round by Arnheim to Nymegen. This town used to be strongly fortified. I rambled in the remains of the fortifications, like small hills and valleys covered with bright grass. I saw a quantity of fine mushrooms growing in them, and the tall yellow flowers known as Samson's rod. The reason of the fortification is this. The Hollanders were an industrious, frugal people, who made a fruitful country out of swamps and sand. Nymegen is in the border. It is the gate, as it were, to Holland, and the fortifications kept the gate shut against enemies. "In the year 1704 there reigned in France Louis XIV., called Louis the Grand. He had greatly enlarged his dominions, taking one country after another. He possessed the whole between Holland and France, and now he was to besiege Nymegen and take Holland. The Hollanders said to the British: 'We have been good friends; you are strong. Surely you will not let this cruel king rob us of the fruits of our industry? Besides, if Louis takes one country after another he will be so strong that you will not be able to resist him--it is your interest as well as ours. Come and help us in our sore distress.' "So Queen Anne sent over an army under Marlborough. Not only did he save Nymegen, but he took from King Louis the chief fortified town he had in the neighbourhood--Venlo,--and many others along the river Maas or Meuse. There was an alliance with the Germans, and when King Louis heard that a German army was going to join the British he said, 'Together they will be too strong for me, let us destroy the German army in the first place.' For this purpose he sent an army to the Danube. "For reasons I may tell you afterwards, all great battles are fought on flat ground. Marlborough thought that if he could get his army over the hills and into the plains of the Danube, he could fight the French before they destroyed the Germans. Accordingly he crossed what is called the 'watershed' between the Rhine and the Danube. You will find it at Geislingen, between Heidelberg and here. There is always high ground, and generally a valley in it at the sources of streams running in different directions. You may see this in the Pentlands, where the burns on one side run into the Water of Leith, and those on the other into the Esk." The end of this letter has unfortunately been lost. The fragment above quoted serves to illustrate Dr Burton's strong interest in military history. His accounts of battles and battle-fields are allowed to be the most striking parts of his Histories. His interest in such subjects arose partly from the faint infantile recollections already described. He purchased and studied works on fortification and military strategy. "ATHENÆUM CLUB, PALL MALL, S.W., _25th April 1877_. "MY DEAR LOVE,[17]--I got this morning your letter of Tuesday; very pleasant and refreshing, and more than once read over. But the exile can't hear too much from home, especially when the conditions are critical,[18] and I must not yet count that all critical conditions are at an end; so pray don't let a day pass without something being posted to me, though it should be but a card with the briefest inscription. [Footnote 17: This letter is addressed to the writer.] [Footnote 18: His youngest daughter had had a mild attack of scarlet fever, from which she was completely recovered before he left home.] "I dined yesterday with the Vindicator,[19] when Horne, who you know is now Dean of Faculty, was in all his glory. On Monday I dined with Everest, dined also with Ellice and Colonel Mure, the member for Renfrewshire--rather too much gaiety, but I have no other engagement. I don't yet see when I shall get away, but will let you know whenever I myself know. [Footnote 19: Mr Hosack, author of an ingenious and exhaustive work, 'Mary Queen of Scots and her Accusers,' in which he vindicates the character of Queen Mary. Notwithstanding their difference of opinion on that fruitful subject of dispute, the two authors were fast friends.] "I sent Will an engineering work yesterday, which I hope will profit and please him.--Love to all from your affectionate J.H. BURTON." Constitutionally irritable, energetic, and utterly persistent, Dr Burton did not know what dulness or depression of spirits was. With grief he was indeed acquainted, and while such a feeling lasted it engrossed him; but his spirits were naturally elastic, and both by nature and on principle he discouraged in himself and others any dwelling on the sad or pathetic aspects of life. He has said that the nearest approach he had ever felt to low spirits was when he had finished some great work, and had not yet begun another. Such blanks in his life were short, and ever shorter and fewer. He found necessary excitement in his work, and, when he joined his family, needed no particular encouragement or inducement to lead him to talk either about what he was doing or something else. As he advanced in years his family learned more and more to leave the choice of subjects of conversation entirely to him. Any subject not chosen by himself was apt to prove irritating. Sometimes even his own did. Often his irritations were amusing. If his wife, or some one else, chose to affect a ludicrous degree of ignorance on some of his special subjects, they might probably elicit a volley of information which would not have been vouchsafed to them in answer to a serious question. Old reminiscences sometimes led on to those laughable sayings in which Dr Burton's talk was rich. For instance,--He had once rented an old inn at Pettycur as summer quarters, and a favourite amusement, both at the time and afterwards, was to imagine and describe the visitors who might have called on him there in ignorance of the changed destination of the house. He would imagine and mimic the tones of a drouthy Highland drover demanding refreshment,--which, by the way, he would have been sure to get had he so applied to Dr Burton; of an entirely drunk Lowlander, persisting in representing himself as a _bonâ fide_ traveller; of a highly Conservative old nobleman, posting up to town with his carriage-and-four in spite of railways: this story ended with, "A wicked and perverse generation shall come seeking a _Sign_, and no sign shall be given them." He delighted in a sort of practical bull, or confusion of ideas, such as--"One may never have a _widow_ all his _life_." A favourite story was of a too hospitable elder in a country parish, who invited his minister to sup and spend the night in his house without his wife's consent. The wife sees a male figure in the darkish entrance of the house, and in her anger deals him a violent blow on the head with the family Bible, ejaculating, "That's for asking him to stay a' nicht." The husband, from an inner room, exclaims, "Eh, woman, ye have felled the minister!" On which the virago says _to her victim_, "My dear, I thocht it was yersel'!" Ministers and clergy of all denominations are often the text of jokes. Another story referred to an Episcopal clergyman, who was frequently too late in reaching his church, and whose curate on such occasions began to read the morning service instead of him, and had reached in one of the lessons the well-known verse, St John xiv. 6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," when his ecclesiastical superior, panting with exertion, reaches the reading-desk, pushes his curate from his place, and intones, "_I_ am the way, and the truth, and the life," adding a strictly private aside to his curate, "_You_ the way, and the truth, and the life, indeed!" Another minister arriving at church drenched with rain, and claiming sympathy from his wife, is told by her to "Gang up into the pu'pit; ye'll be dry eneuch there." A story in a different spirit, said to have been reported to him by Lord Cockburn, is ascribed to a Scotch shepherd. A set of gentlemen were imprecating the prevailing east wind, and asked the shepherd if he could in any way defend that prevalent evil of his country. "Ay, sirs," said he; "it weets the sod, it slocks the yows [_i.e._, quenches the thirst of the ewes], and it's God's wull." Many Aberdeenshire stories are valueless without Dr Burton's Aberdeen accent, which he could intensify at pleasure. A reminiscence of college days at Aberdeen was of one of the professors there trying to discipline his unruly class, who came tumbling in while the professor was opening proceedings by reciting the Lord's Prayer in Latin, according to custom, and wound up his "In secula seculorum, amen," with "Quis loupavit ower the factions [Aberdeen for forms or benches], ille solvit doon a saxpence." Two neat little _mots_ relate, the one to the familiar subject of London eggs, the other, to the name of his youngest son. London grocers--as all Londoners know--label their eggs _Fresh Eggs_, and _New-laid Eggs_, only the respective prices of the different sorts or hard-bought experience pointing to the signification of the two appellations. Dr Burton on hearing this, said, "Oh, of course the _New-laid Eggs_ become _Fresh_ in time." The writer wished to bestow the name of David on her youngest son, in addition to that of Cosmo, in memory of her husband's young brother David, whom she had heard described as an interesting child at the time of his early death. Dr Burton opposed this wish, not desiring to diminish the compliment to the child's grandfather and name-father, Cosmo Innes. The child was ultimately christened Cosmo Innes--thus, as his father said, remaining _entirely Cosmetic_. Two legal stories were told respectively of Lord ----and Lord Corehouse:-- Lord ---- is pronouncing sentence on an assassin who had stabbed a soldier: "You did not only maliciously, wickedly, and feloniously stab or cut his person, thereby depriving him of his life, but did also sever the band of his military breeches, which are her Majesty's." Lord Corehouse is listening to the pleading of an advocate who describes some performance which, as he says, "could be done as easily as your Lordship could leap out of your breeches." Lord Corehouse interrupts: "Mr ----, the saltatory feat which you are pleased to ascribe to me is not one which I have ever attempted, and I do not feel sure that if I did I could perform it with any of that ease which you suppose." Enough, perhaps, of such reminiscences, which, written, may fail altogether of their effect when spoken. The writer recollects vaguely an immense number, of which confused images present themselves. Crocodiles with their hands in their breeches-pockets. Persons throwing off their coats and waistcoats like Newfoundland dogs. A master and man sleeping; master on the boards a-top, and the man in the bed; master remarking in the morning he would have preferred the lower station, but for the concetty o' the thing. Coming down early one morning in great spirits at the prospect of a long day's outing with his son, he said to the boy-- "I am not an early riser, As you may surmise, sir; But when I'm on a ploy, sir, I feel just like a boy, sir." No chance rhyme or pun, bad, good, or indifferent, was let slip, however much taking it up might interrupt the subject under discussion. The following childish little poem seems worth preservation now. It was presented to his daughter Matilda on the death of her little dog. She happening to visit a relative, who was physician in a lunatic asylum, and showing the little poem, it was printed in the 'Asylum Magazine,' from which it was copied into the 'Animal World:' LAMENT FOR FOXEY. Poor little Foxey, With your coaxy Little way, You're gone for aye. I'll no longer hark To your garrulous bark, See the fleeching grimace Of your comical face, Nor be touched by your yelping When you get a skelping. You had no orthodoxy Poor Foxey, Nor a commanding spirit, Nor any great merit. The reason for sorrow, then, what is it? Just that you're missed, And that's all That shall befall The rest of us, Even the best of us. An empty chair Somewhere, To be filled by another Some day or other. Sick cur or hero in his prime, It's a matter of time. The world is growing, growing, The blank is going, going, And will be gone anon. CHAPTER VI. LITERARY LIFE (_continued_). _Illness--Resignation of office--Sale of Craighouse--Morton--Domestic life--'Queen Anne'--Letters about ballad-lore--Singular incident connected with it--Letters from abroad._ In the end of the year 1877 Dr Burton had the first severe illness of his life. On the 18th day of December of that year, Mrs Cunningham, widow of Lord Cunningham, died at Morton House, which had been the summer home of her twenty years of widowhood, and at which illness had detained her during the winter of 1877. The editor of the 'Scotsman' applied to Dr Burton for an obituary notice of Mrs Cunningham--an old friend of his, and still older of his wife. He was then too ill to be applied to on any subject, or to be told of his old friend's death. For several days at that time he was alarmingly ill from bronchitis, accompanied by unusually high fever. This passed off but slowly. The bodily health and strength appeared to be fully restored at the end of a few weeks, but there was an undefinable change. Shortly after this illness, though not in consequence of it, Dr Burton resigned his office of Prison Manager. He retired on an allowance of two-thirds of his former salary, remaining chairman of the Board of Prisons and Statistics, of which he was an honorary member. He had not fully regained strength when, to the unspeakable sorrow of its inmates, they learned that Craighouse was sold to the Committee of the Lunatic Asylum, was to be immediately adapted to the purposes of an asylum, and that they must quit it at Whitsuntide. They had held it first on a lease, then on a second short lease, but afterwards had merely rented it from year to year, not imagining that any other tenant would covet it with all its pretty heavy responsibilities. Dr Burton had, from his natural irritability, sometimes said he would prefer to be elsewhere; but when it came to finding some other place which would hold his books--some place not too far to move them to--to the abandonment of his own carpentery, &c.,--he lamented the departure as much as others. His one proviso as to the new abode was, that it was not to be in the town, or nearer the town than Craighouse. The whole spring Dr Burton's family sought in all directions for a suitable abode, and at last pitched on that left vacant by Mrs Cunningham's death as most nearly combining all the various requisites. On the 20th of May 1878 the flitting from Craighouse to Morton was completed. Morton is fully two miles farther from Edinburgh than Craighouse, the approach to it from the town being a continuous ascent on to a shoulder of the Pentlands. Its situation is pretty and entirely rural, but with nothing of the unrivalled beauty of that of Craighouse, which commanded a view extending from North Berwick Law to Ben Lomond, yet lay well sheltered among its lovely hills and splendid trees. The great drawback of Morton House, for Dr Burton's family, lay in the greater distance from the town. The time spent in travelling the up-hill road was a serious loss, to say nothing of the fatigue. Dr Burton never would allow this to be a disadvantage, so far as he was concerned, but the writer is persuaded it was seriously prejudicial to his health. During the summer of this year Dr Burton was invited to Oxford to receive the honour of a D.C.L. degree. He went, and was highly delighted with his visit. He had some years previously received a similar compliment from the University of Edinburgh. Dr Burton, by way of setting a good example to his family, who continued to lament the loss of Craighouse, attached himself excessively to Morton. He was farther attached to it by the recollection of having been Mrs Cunningham's guest there. It was one of the very few houses at which he occasionally dined after he went to Craighouse. Soon after he had gone to Craighouse, he formed a resolution against dining out _in the town_. His neighbours in the country were so few that he had no reason to dread too frequent invitations from them; and he occasionally dined, as has been said, with Mrs Cunningham at Morton, and with his nearest neighbour, equally at Craighouse as at Morton, Mr John Skelton, at the beautiful Hermitage of Braid. Dr Burton was generally invited by the latter to meet his distinguished friend, the historian, Mr Anthony Froude. He may during these years have been once or twice a guest at Colinton House, then inhabited by Lord Dunfermline, and as often at Bonally, the house of his old friend the late Professor Hodgson. During his residence at Morton, Dr Burton and his family dined with their neighbours, Mr and Mrs Stevenson, at Swanston Cottage, once. On one occasion he was persuaded to actually _drive_ with his wife as far as Duddingston, where he dined and enjoyed a pleasant summer evening with Professor and Mrs Laurie and their family. Once he went still farther and dined with his old friend Mr Jenner, at Easter Duddingston. Mr Jenner and he had been associated with Lord Murray, Angus Fletcher, and others, in the foundation of the First Ragged School, as it was then called, in Edinburgh, and had remained friends ever since. On the Committee of the Ragged School splitting up on the question of religious instruction, all the gentlemen named had espoused the principle carried out in the United Industrial School--that of combined secular and separate religious instruction. With these exceptions, and that of a very few visitors at home, the life at Morton was entirely domestic. During the whole of his three years' stay at Morton, Dr Burton always hoped to induce the remains of his circle of old friends to dine with him once more. They had become few indeed--were limited to Professor Blackie and Dr John Brown. He never succeeded in persuading these gentlemen to come. Insuperable difficulties on one side or other always intervened. During these three years there never was any social gathering at Morton except entertainments which Dr Burton's family gave to the country people, and which sometimes included a few young friends as assistants. Dr Burton was no longer called on to visit his office daily. To attend the Board meetings once a-week was sufficient. As soon as he had finished his 'History of Scotland' in 1870, he conceived the project of writing a 'History of the Reign of Queen Anne.' It was an ambitious attempt. Lord Macaulay's too early death had prevented his performing the task, and Mr Thackeray was understood to have contemplated it, but to have shrunk from its vastness. Dr Burton had been collecting material for this work in all his summer tours during the past ten years, and in all his visits to the British Museum while in London. He had written a great part of it before he was interrupted by his illness in the end of '77, and the removal from Craighouse early in '78. The most marked change in Dr Burton after that illness was in his impaired power of mental application. His general health was good, even strong; he still enjoyed long rambles with his sons, and walked to town and back at his former rapid rate; but now that he had no longer any office work, now that he might sit and read or write all day if he would, he did not do so. Instead of, as formerly, resenting all interruption while engaged in his library, he seemed to seek every excuse for leaving it and his literary occupation. Though not rising earlier than formerly, he would go to bed comparatively early, and several times a-day would propose to his wife to go to visit her flowers, to do a little gardening, to go and feed the fowls--in short, to share in any little diversion going. A visit of the writer's to her sister in Argyleshire gave occasion for the following notes on ballad-lore, in which Major Mackay of Carskey, Mrs Burton's brother-in-law, was also strong:-- "MORTON, _2d May 1879_. "MY DEAR LOVE,--I recollect having come across the ballad incident you mention upwards of fifty years ago, when I was zealous in ballad-lore. If it had been in one of those accepted as genuine and poetical I would have remembered the ballad, but my impression is that it was condemned as a fabrication for this and other neologies. The _button_ is not a conspicuous item of female attire as of the male, and Shakespeare has been attacked for the vulgarity of even making Lear say, 'Prithee, undo this button,' though I think it fine. "If the Major is curious in ballad-lore, I can give him abundant information in it. For the musical item, the best collection I know is Motherwell's, both for good poetic taste in selection, and the tunes accompanying some of the contents....--Your affectionate "J.H. BURTON." * * * * * "MORTON, _Wednesday Evening_, _8th May 1879_. "MY DEAR LOVE,--Looking for the ballad you want, and not finding it by recollection, I came by accident to the very line-- 'When she cam' to her father's land The tenants a' cam' her to see; Never a word she could speak to them, But the buttons aff her claes would flee.' The ballad is known by the title of The Marchioness of Douglas, but better known by the-- 'O waly, waly, up yon bank, And waly, waly, doon yon brae.' It was printed first in Jamieson's collection--1806; again in Chambers's, p. 150. The 'waly' has been by Cockney critics called Scotch for 'wail ye.' The word may come from the same etymological source as 'wail,' but it is a Scots adverb, indicative of the intensity of sorrow. "It will be hard to find any one who is my master in ballad-lore (though other things have of late taken the preponderance). My services in the cause are certified by Robert Chambers in his collection, published in 1829--fifty years ago. "I had then collected several versions from old people in Aberdeenshire. While writing this it dawns on my recollection that I lost the bulk of the collection, and that some years ago I got a letter from America, written by some one publishing Scots ballads, asking me to help him. Making a search for any remnant of the old collection, I found one ballad only, and sent it. Then came the odd conclusion--he had the rest of the collection, as he found by comparison of handwriting. "This little affair coming in upon others of so much more moment to me--I can't tell exactly how many years ago--was forgotten utterly until your inquiry about the 'buttons' brought it up. When I am through with 'Queen Anne' I may look back on it and other trifles.... "I do not think I have any news for you. Mary says the violet roots were sent on Monday.--Your affectionate "J.H. BURTON." In the summer of 1879 Dr Burton went abroad for the last time, for the purpose of tracing the course of Marlborough's campaigns. From his daily letters home a few passages may be selected:-- "MONS, _18th June 1879_. "MY DEAR WILL,--I think you may well write to Ratisbon after receiving this. "I leave the Low Country when I have completed my inquiries. "What little remains belongs to the Danube district, which I shall haunt for the remainder of my time. It got its name because the Romans found it a _ratis-bona_, or good pier for crossing. It is by the Germans called Regensberg, or the town of rain.--_N.B._ I went through the old Scots College there when its inmates had been driven out, and the only article I found left behind was a large umbrella. After three days' cessation the thunder and torrents have returned yesterday. I walked three hours in rain, which soused me, and then I had as long of sunshine to dry me, and arrived in very comfortable condition, but I had been starved and was afraid to make up by a heavy supper; I had consequently, after a long sleep, such an appetite, that though I had breakfast, I joined the _table d'hôte_ dinner at one o'clock. "Yesterday and the day before I went over the marching grounds of our army in 1709, especially the battle-field of Malplaquet. If you look into any of the histories of the period, or lives of Marlborough in the library, you will see all about it. They are concentrated in the room which I latterly used, and are concentrated opposite to the fireplace. "I have had extreme interest in pursuing my inquiries, yet don't I long to go about in some country where one can get a drink of pure water by the roadside, such as you and I have enjoyed on occasion. The country people only get it in deep draw-wells. They have plenty of water for their agriculture--too much; it is like the Ancient Mariner's complaint--'Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink.' The peasantry are amply provided with brandy. I passed yesterday about thirty houses where they get it for two sous, not quite a penny a glass. I wonder all your friends at Brown Brothers' do not swarm to such a land.... "I have no doubt everything is beautiful, I hope also fruitful, about Morton. I feel sure of one thing, that mamma has abundance of her favourite flowers.--Love to all from your affectionate papa, J.H. BURTON." * * * * * "REGENSBERG, _21st June 1879_. "MY DEAR LOVE,--I have but a scrap of paper available.... "Fine weather at last. Eating cherries. Last night I got a comfortable sleep for nothing. For reasons good no doubt, but unknown, the train stopped from 9 P.M. to 5 A.M., at a country station. I lay on a bench, with my head on my small bag, and never had a sounder sleep.--Your affectionate J.H. BURTON." * * * * * "DONAUWÖRTH, _27th June 1879_. "MY DEAR COS,--This afternoon I expect to be at Blenheim, and so at the farthest limits of my battle-fields. I spoke of not going to the Alps, in consideration of the depressing of our neighbours the Pentlands; but being so close to them, I can't resist a step farther, and then the Pentlands are not so very ill used, for they are put much on a level with the Grampians. At the beginning of next week I expect to be moving homewards, and I still think, as I wrote to mamma, the last place to catch me at, before taking to the water, is Antwerp. "This is a very fishy place, not of the Danube rolling majestically not many yards from where I am writing, but of the sea. The inn I am in is called the Krebs or Crab, round the corner is the Crawfish, and somewhere else the Shrimps. "I wonder what you are now all doing in the Belvidere,[20] and what projects you are all making for the summer, and whether you have ripe strawberries, and there is good promise of cherries and apples; and so, with kind love to all, adieu from your affectionate papa, J.H. BURTON." [Footnote 20: A tower within the grounds of Morton, used by his sons as a workshop.] * * * * * "DEGGENDORF, BAYERISCHER WALD, _1st July 1879_. "MY DEAR LOVE,--I had a misgiving that I had given a false prospect of reaching me at Regensburg, so I came round that way again, and was rewarded by yours of the 24th, and Willy's of what he calls the _22d July_. "I did not pursue the plan I spoke of to Cos, of getting a peep of the Alps, my investigations cutting off the time assigned to it. But I have gone into a siding here to see the much-boasted, and, it would seem, newly discovered touring ground of the Wald. "I have got through my work now, but I can still find some in the neighbourhood of Antwerp,--so that is my point, and there I shall hope for letters. When I last went to Blenheim, some five years ago, the railway only reached a point some fifteen miles from it, and I could not get back to my inn until its opening at five o'clock. Now there is train all the way. It must be supported by agricultural produce. Such wealth of fertility I never saw. I think, standing at any point in the great haugh of the Danube, I could see as much grain as all Scotland could produce. This had a curious social influence, causing me some hardships. "The towns are all conglomerates of farm-steadings. The country was of old so cursed by war, that a steading in the fields was a lost affair. The old habit still rules, and in a town the size, say, of Linlithgow, there is not a shop or an inn except the store, whence the farmers draw their oceans of beer in great jugs, or sometimes meet to quaff it on the premises. I had to bribe the owner of such an establishment to give me brown bread and cheese; hard living of this kind, however, suits my constitution. Luckily, in consideration, I suppose, of there being no refuge for belated travellers, the station-master had a nice clean bedroom, which he was entitled to let. "I propose remaining here till to-morrow, that I may have a glimpse of the much-lauded Wald.--Love to all from your affectionate goodman, J.H. BURTON." * * * * * "EGER, _4th July 1879_. "MY DEAR LOVE,--The best account I can give you of where I am is, that I expect to reach Leipzic this evening. But it will still be some time ere I reach Antwerp, and you may as well write me somewhat. If any letters I get there prompt me to return with the least possible delay, I shall do so, but otherwise I shall wait, occupying myself in the Netherlands for the Antwerp steamer on Saturday, the 12th I think it is, to-morrow week. "In going into the Bayerischer Wald I went where it was not easy to get speedily out, though I found a railway right through just opened. The night before last I slept, I suppose, some 4000 or 5000 feet above the sea, in a huge garret with some twenty beds in it. Somebody was sound asleep in one, but disappeared before I awoke. I supposed the house to have been temporary, for accommodating the workers making the railway, but I found it to be the _hospice_ of the old road across the mountains. It has been a sort of pilgrimage, I think--_gasthaus zur Landes Grenze_. "The scenery is naught in comparison with the Scots Highlands, or even our Pentlands. It is only in Scotland and the Lakes that hills of humble height look Alpine. The Wald is something like your Harz, but higher; so adieu.--Love to all from J.H. BURTON." * * * * * "THALE, _Monday, 5th July 1879_. "MY DEAR LOVE,--I think you know this place. I found that if anything out of the direct line to Antwerp, it was only so to the extent of its short side line, some ten miles or so. When scenery is good, I enjoy a second visit to it more than the first, and this was specially so in the present instance; for in my visit from Grund, I took the most difficult and least profitable course, by climbing laterally to the level of the Ross Treppe, instead of going along the stream, and seeing the variety of cleft granite, unexampled, I think, elsewhere in that class of rock.... "I am longing to see your beautiful gardens, and all--but have nothing to grumble at--health never better.--Affectionate remembrances to the rest, from your affectionate gudeman, J.H. BURTON." * * * * * "ANTWERP, _11th July 1879_. "MY DEAR LOVE,--To my great contentment I received here this morning your three letters, the latest dated on the 9th. I expect to-morrow, at 8 p.m., to sail by the steamer Windsor. "I have had a grand time of it--everything going right with me, and yet I have a longing for home. "From sultry, the weather has drifted into cold and rain. Yesterday the rain poured powerfully all morning, and having some arrears of sleep to make up, I slumbered as long as it continued. Adieu, my dear.--Yours, "J.H. BURTON." During this summer, Dr Burton and his eldest son walked from Morton to North Berwick and back in the same day, a walk of at least fifty miles. In former years sixty was an ordinary day's work. Once during Captain Speke's stay at Craighouse, Dr Burton traversed a distance within twenty-four hours, which Captain Speke computed at seventy miles. CHAPTER VII. THE END. _Sale of library--Letters from Shetland and Aberdeen--Winter illness--Charities--Recovery--Magazine articles again--Literary executorship of late Mr Edward Ellice--Rev. James White of Methlick--Last illness and death--Concluding remarks--Burial at Dalmeny._ Would that in biography, as in romance, the story might end at its brightest point! But the true tale must follow its subject through the valley of the shadow of death, and on to his grave. The remainder of '79 and beginning of '80 were spent at Morton in finishing the 'History of the Reign of Queen Anne;' but the work did not go on with the ease and pleasure of former works, and on its conclusion, Dr Burton formed the resolution to sell his library. This determination was combated by his family and friends, as well as by his friendly publisher, with all the arguments in their power, but in vain. Dr Burton never would allow that parting with his treasured volumes, the collection of which had been the pride of his life, cost him a pang. He had done with his books, he said. They were no book-hunter's library, but a collection made for use, and, that use over, had better be again turned into money. Dr Burton did not contemplate undertaking any other great work; and the possession of so extensive a library forced him to live in a larger house than was convenient, and rendered leaving it very troublesome. In the proceeds of its sale Dr Burton was again disappointed. But before it could be brought to sale, while he was engaged in the laborious task of cataloguing his books for sale, he refreshed himself by a summer trip to Shetland, taking Aberdeen on his return journey, where he had the gratification of being present at the baptism of his little grandchild, the daughter of Dr and Mrs Rodger. He wrote from Lerwick, 8th July 1880:-- "MY DEAR LOVE,--I am not in what might be called an interesting country--low hills, rocky, stony, heathery, and peaty--but a new country has always something of interest to pass the time with. I saw a valuable archæological phenomenon to-day. The Roman roads were all paved, and went straight over hill and across valley--never troubled about levels. In the parts of Britain where the Romans are historically known to have been, such roads have been fully identified. But there, as well as in other places, where it has been questioned if the Romans ever were--any road strewn or surfaced with stones that have been laid down in the paving of the road, is adopted as a Roman road. I have often supposed that this conclusion was too readily adopted. And to-day I walked for some distance on a road that has all the requisites--yet no one is wild enough to say that the Romans were in Shetland. The weather to-day was warmer than I have yet known it, the sun, such as he is, having nearly the whole twenty-four hours to do his work in. The next stage will be Kirkwall, then Wick. "I shall intimate my motions as I find them coming up for consideration. I feel very elastic. There is nothing in my mind demanding either hard work or anxious adjustment. The 'Queen Anne' pressed very hard on me before I had done; and the press has rather too justly noticed a slovenliness about the conclusion. Then came immediately various cares and troubles, accompanied by the not very severe, but tedious, drudgery of the index; but I am not going to grumble more, since I am at present in comparative freedom and idleness.--Yours, my dear love, J.H. BURTON." The next is dated merely _Sunday_. "MY DEAR LOVE,-- ... The weather here has been divine, with daylight, one may say, for twenty-four hours. The people are kind and cleanly, and all the necessaries of life are abundant. I do not know when I have enjoyed better health. There is nothing abnormal about me, except the extent of my appetite. Walking thirty miles here, is less fatiguing than from Morton to Edinburgh. "Love to all the household, and remembrances to guests, from yours affectionately, J.H. BURTON." * * * * * "DOUGLAS HOTEL, ABERDEEN, _14th July 1880_. "MY DEAR LOVE,-- ... I had some fun yesterday with a class of people I detest--those who, because a man has been studious, and has written books, count that he is public property, who may be hailed by any one like a mountebank or street musician. "There were some forty or fifty at dinner, and I found from the tenor of the conversation that I was taken for the American Judge Haliburton, the author of 'Sam Slick,' and other embodiments of smart Yankeyism. No direct question on the point was put to me, and I let the affair take its run, though a good deal to the bewilderment of some people, who I saw really knew me.[21] Good cold weather: seeing one by one the remnants of my generation of school and college friends.--Love to all, from your affectionate "J.H. BURTON. "_P.S._--On Monday I hired a boat, or small ship, and went a-hunting after antiquities. Passing Wire and Rousay, I recalled some association in the names, and I think it was with poor nurse Barbara. I was able to call on Mat.'s old friend, Mrs Burroughs; her husband, now General, was out. They live in great grandeur, on about the dreariest hillside Nature ever created." [Footnote 21: A rather amusing comment on this letter is conveyed in the following extract from one addressed to Dr Burton's publishers, by Mr George M'Crie, a grandson of the eminent Scotch divine of the same name:-- "In the month of July last year, I happened to be travelling southward, in the steamer St Magnus, from Orkney. Before calling at Wick, and while the tourists on board were gazing at John o' Groat's House, I was spoken to by an elderly gentleman, on the 'bridge,' regarding some of the steamer's arrangements. I satisfied his curiosity as well as I was able, and thought no more of the matter. We had a large number of passengers, and I did not notice him again until we were coming out together in a boat, after a ramble on shore at Pulteneytown. A fellow-passenger, who had previously noticed the elderly gentleman and myself in conversation, then whispered to me, 'A celebrated literary man that, sir, with whom you were speaking before we went ashore; no other than the famous Judge Haliburton of America, the author of "Sam Slick."' Some doubt, I must confess, crossed my mind at this stage. I surely had heard of the Judge's death some years before, but thinking, very pardonably, that I must be mistaken, I replied, 'Oh, indeed!' and viewed my late acquaintance with some curiosity. I am imaginative, but it was difficult, in truth, to connect this staid and sober personage with the idea of the American satirist, however proverbially dissimilar authors may be to their own creations. However, I am no hunter after celebrities, literary or otherwise, and I would not, in all likelihood, have taken any steps to further conversation with the one in question, had he not, by chance, been seated close beside me on the quarterdeck when we resumed our journey south. The steamer was rolling heavily, and his seat was not a comfortable one. I gave him a camp-stool which I had secured, and in return he kindly again entered into conversation with me. We talked about many things, but I could not help thinking that the American author seemed well informed, for a transatlantic stranger, regarding the coast, the route generally, and, singularly enough, regarding Scottish antiquities. At last an observation, which I timidly hazarded regarding the United States, showed me, in the reply it received, that I was hopelessly at sea regarding my fellow-passenger's identity. Before we came to Aberdeen he had told me that his name was John Hill Burton. The similarity of the sound of the names had misled my too easily persuaded informant and my own credulous self. I had taken the author of the 'Book-hunter' for the author of the 'Clockmaker'! "Dr Hill Burton most kindly continued to converse with me for several hours after we had exchanged cards. My own is a name not unconnected with Scottish ecclesiastical history, and this, to him, was a sufficient topic. Being an Edinburgh man by birth, I ought to have known him by sight, but I have been absent from my native city for many years, and may be excused for not recognising one of Edinburgh's most distinguished dwellers, now unhappily lost to us. "G.M. M'C."] * * * * * "BANCHORY, _16th July 1880_. "MY DEAR LOVE,--I am here in the scene of many recollections going back to boyhood, and the interest of them takes a zest from knowing that you, too, must have stored up associations with the spot, though of a later period. I think the avenue trees at Blackhall were cut down before your day. They are not now much missed in the general landscape. The lapse of half a century has given such a growth to the surrounding plantations, that where I remember bare hills, or freshly planted and uglier than bare, there are now great stretches deserving to be called forest land." * * * * * Dr Burton returned from this pleasant little trip well, and in good spirits, but the winter was one of illness. On the 8th of November it was found necessary to call in medical advice on account of a severe exoema affecting chiefly one leg. The doctor ordered confinement to bed, besides other remedies. On the 8th of December these had proved successful, and Dr Burton was able to be up, and, at Christmas, to assist his wife in carrying gifts to all their poor neighbours--a plan substituted that year for the first time instead of a Christmas-tree for the same class of people. Dr Burton was always much interested in the Christmas-tree, and used to contribute largely to it what he called _trash_--_i.e._, cheap fancy articles, if he happened to be in London before Christmas-time, or money if he did not. His mode of visiting poor people was peculiar. He no sooner heard of any plan of benevolence towards them than he was determined it should be immediately carried out, and utterly impatient of all preparations. He chose to carry a basket, the heavier the better, but would on no account enter a cottage, still less speak to an inmate. He preferred such expeditions in the dark, that he might successfully hide himself outside while his wife went in to distribute his bounty. On the 8th of January 1881 a recurrence of the former symptoms again obliged him to take to bed. On the 8th of February he was able to rise and go down to the library. On the 8th of March he again became ill, and towards the end of that month had an alarming attack of bronchitis and congestion of the lungs. Slight hope was entertained of his recovery for some days, but this illness appeared a turning-point, and by the 8th of April he was able to come down-stairs. No more 8ths were marked by disaster or recovery till again the 8th of August. During the summer Dr Burton appeared to have recovered completely. He wrote several articles for 'Blackwood's Magazine,' and took regular walks, first with his wife, and, when his walking power improved so as to exceed hers, with his son. He also began to edit the literary remains of the late Mr Edward Ellice, to whom he was joint literary executor along with Mrs Ellice. At the time of the General Assembly Dr Burton had the pleasure of seeing once more his valued friend, the Rev. James White, minister of Methlick. This gentleman had been his schoolfellow at the Grammar School in Aberdeen. The two old friends spent a pleasant summer evening together at Morton. On the Saturday before his own death Dr Burton learned that of Mr White. "Ah! so Jamie White's gone," he said, "and _without the catalogues_." The last part of his sentence referred to old class lists in which Joannes Burton and Jacobus White's names appear next each other. They believed themselves the last survivors of their Grammar School class. On Tuesday, 2d August, he walked into Edinburgh and out again as usual, though his family drove in at the same time that he walked, and drove out again also at the same time, in the hope that he would avail himself of a seat in the pony-carriage, at least for part of the way. His aversion to driving clung to him. He did not appear fatigued, declared himself the better for the walk, and even next day still boasted of the advantage which he thought he always gained from a long walk. On Thursday, 4th August, he became very hoarse, and complained of sore throat. On Friday these complaints were better. On Saturday, 6th, he slept almost the whole day, rousing himself to take food when required, and always intending to rise, but as the shades of evening fell announcing his intention of "making a day of it," and being very active and down in good time next day. On Sunday, 7th, he did come down as early as usual, and did not complain, but appeared languid, lying on the sofa the greater part of the day,--a thing he had never done before. He read and talked as usual. He sat at table with his family at dinner for the last time. It was observed that he looked ill, so ill that his wife resolved to send for the doctor as soon as possible next day, which was Monday, again the 8th, of August. The night had passed quietly, but on the doctor's arrival he pronounced the case very grave. The lungs were much congested, and the heart's action weak. The day brought no aggravation of the symptoms; again the night was quiet. On Tuesday, 9th August, there was a slight improvement, which continued throughout the night. On Wednesday, 10th, the improvement seemed more marked till about ten A.M. About that time a change in the countenance was observed. On the doctor's visit about twelve he pronounced the case all but hopeless, and five hours later life was extinct. Consciousness remained till almost the last moment. The illness was attended by no bodily pain, little even of uneasiness, and the mind was calm and placid throughout. Since the beginning of illness, nine months before, the natural irritability, or impatience of temper, had been diminishing. Dr Burton was by no means, as all his friends seemed to suppose, a fretful or unreasonable invalid. With but few exceptions he was gentle and grateful to his attendants, especially to his wife. He was perfectly aware of his own condition, though never directly told it. His friend Mr Belcombe, the clergyman of the Episcopal Chapel at Morningside, called for him on Tuesday, 9th August, was received by him with pleasure, and spent some time with him. Dr Burton had been brought up an Episcopalian, and continued attached to the Moderate party in that Church through life. It can hardly be expected that the writer should offer a critical estimate of one so lately dead, and so nearly related to her. In the preceding sketch she has endeavoured to inform the public on all particulars in which they might be supposed interested in the life of a man who served them during life with considerable acceptance. His voluminous works may speak for themselves, or find a more competent exponent than the present writer. She has endeavoured to give a picture of himself. John Hill Burton can never have been handsome, and he so determinedly neglected his person as to increase its natural defects. His greatest mental defect was an almost entire want of imagination. From this cause the characters of those nearest and dearest to him remained to his life's end a sealed book. He was fond of talking, and still fonder of writing, about character; but even his liveliest pictures, such as that of De Quincey the opium-eater, are but a collection of external habits or peculiarities, not necessarily bearing at all on the real nature--the inner man. His was the sort of mind which more naturally classifies than individualises, in this agreeing with the late Mr Buckle, who appreciated Dr Burton's historical labours, and was in his turn appreciated by him. To both, individual character seemed a small subject not worth study. The characters of women, especially, were by Dr Burton all placed in the same category. He conceived of them all as baby-worshippers, flower-lovers, &c.--all alike. Dr Burton was excessively kind-hearted within the limits placed by this great want. To any sorrow or suffering which he could understand he craved with characteristic impatience to carry immediate relief; and the greatest enjoyment of his life, especially of its later years, was to give pleasure to children, poor people, or the lower animals. Many humble folks will remember the bunches of flowers he thrust silently into their hands, and the refreshment he never failed to press on their acceptance in his own peculiar manner. He was liberal of money to a fault. He never refused any application even from a street beggar. He quite allowed that these ought not to be encouraged, but he urged that the municipality ought to take charge of them, and prevent their appealing to the compassion of the public, who could not, as he said, be expected to perform the disagreeable task of disciplining vagrants at the wages of a penny a case. No printer's devil or other chance messenger failed to receive his sixpence or shilling, besides a comfortable meal. It was his constant custom to ask his sons if any of their wants were unsupplied, if they required money for furnishing their workshop or laboratory, or for any of their studies or amusements. It is but just to them to add that the question was almost always answered in the negative. Many of the "motley crew" along with whom Dr Burton received his education fell into difficulties in the course of their lives. An application from one of them always met with a prompt response. To send double the amount asked on such occasions was his rule, if money was the object desired. In his earlier life he would also spare no trouble in endeavouring to help these unfortunates to help themselves. As he grew old he was less zealous, probably from being less sanguine of success, in this service. On Saturday the 13th of August the mortal remains of John Hill Burton were laid beside those of his infant child in the lovely little churchyard of Dalmeny. It had been at first intended that he should be buried in the Dean Cemetery, where his mother and his first wife were interred, and where his valued friend William Brodie[22] had erected a beautiful monument over their graves; but after orders had been given to this effect, his wife became strongly possessed by the wish to carry out his repeatedly expressed injunction to have him laid in Dalmeny. [Footnote 22: Since deceased--October 30, 1881--and also buried there.] KATHARINE BURTON. MORTON, _20th September 1881_. [Illustration: _Dalmeny Church._] [Illustration: A Nook in the Author's Library.] [Illustration] THE BOOK-HUNTER. _PART I.--HIS NATURE._ Introductory. Of the Title under which the contents of the following pages are ranged I have no better justification to offer than that it appeared to suit their discursive tenor. If they laid any claim to a scientific character, or professed to contain an exposition of any established department of knowledge, it might have been their privilege to appear under a title of Greek derivation, with all the dignities and immunities conceded by immemorial deference to this stamp of scientific rank. I not only, however, consider my own trifles unworthy of such a dignity, but am inclined to strip it from other productions which might appear to have a more appropriate claim to it. No doubt, the ductile inflections and wonderful facilities for decomposition and reconstruction make Greek an excellent vehicle of scientific precision, and the use of a dead language saves your nomenclature from being confounded with your common talk. The use of a Greek derivative gives notice that you are scientific. If you speak of an acanthopterygian, it is plain that you are not discussing perch in reference to its roasting or boiling merits; and if you make an allusion to monomyarian malacology, it will not naturally be supposed to have reference to the cooking of oyster sauce. Like many other meritorious things, however, Greek nomenclature is much abused. The very reverence it is held in--the strong disinclination on the part of the public to question the accuracy of anything stated under the shadow of a Greek name, or to doubt the infallibility of the man who does it--makes this kind of nomenclature the frequent protector of fallacies and quackeries. It is an instrument for silencing inquiry and handing over the judgment to implicit belief. Get the passive student once into palæozoology, and he takes your other hard names--your ichthyodorulite, trogontherium, lepidodendron, and bothrodendron--for granted, contemplating them, indeed, with a kind of religious awe or devotional reverence. If it be a question whether a term is categorematic, or is of a quite opposite description, and ought to be described as _sun_categorematic, one may take up a very absolute positive position without finding many people prepared to assail it. Antiquarianism, which used to be an easy-going slipshod sort of pursuit, has sought this all-powerful protection, and called itself Archæology. An obliterated manuscript written over again is called a palimpsest, and the man who can restore and read it a paleographist. The great erect stone on the moor, which has hitherto defied all learning to find the faintest trace of the age in which it was erected, its purpose, or the people who placed it there, seems as it were to be rescued from the heathen darkness in which it has dwelt, and to be admitted within the community of scientific truth, by being christened a monolith. If it be large and shapeless, it may take rank as an amorphous megalith; and it is on record that the owner of some muirland acres, finding them described in a learned work as "richly megalithic," became suddenly excited by hopes which were quickly extinguished when the import of the term was fully explained to him. Should there be any remains of sculpture on such a stone, it becomes a lithoglyph or a hieroglyph; and if the nature and end of this sculpture be quite incomprehensible to the adepts, they may term it a cryptoglyph, and thus dignify, by a sort of title of honour, the absoluteness of their ignorance. It were a pity if any more ingenious man should afterwards find a key to the mystery, and destroy the significance of the established nomenclature. The vendors of quack medicines and cosmetics are aware of the power of Greek nomenclature, and apparently subsidise scholars of some kind or other to supply them with the article. A sort of shaving soap used frequently to be advertised under a title which was as complexly adjusted a piece of mosaic work as the geologists or the conchologists ever turned out. But perhaps the confidence in the protective power of Greek designations lately reached its climax, in an attempt to save thieves from punishment by calling them kleptomaniacs. It is possible that, were I to attempt to dignify the class of men to whom the following sketches are devoted by an appropriate scientific title, a difficulty would start up at the very beginning. As the reader will perhaps see, from the tenor of my discourse, I would find it difficult to say whether I should give them a good name or a bad--to speak more scientifically, and of course more clearly, whether I should characterise them by a predicate eulogistic, or a predicate dyslogistic. On the whole, I am content with my first idea, and continue to stick to the title of "The Book-Hunter," with all the more assurance that it has been tolerated, and even liked, by readers of the kind I am most ambitious of pleasing.[23] [Footnote 23: To afford the reader, however, an opportunity of noting at a glance the appropriate learned terms applicable to the different sets of persons who meddle with books, I subjoin the following definitions, as rendered in D'Israeli's Curiosities, from the Chasse aux Bibliographes et aux Antiquaires mal avisés of Jean Joseph Rive:-- "A bibliognoste, from the Greek, is one knowing in title-pages and colophons, and in editions; the place and year when printed; the presses whence issued; and all the minutiæ of a book."--"A bibliographe is a describer of books and other literary arrangements."--"A bibliomane is an indiscriminate accumulator, who blunders faster than he buys, cock-brained and purse-heavy."--"A bibliophile, the lover of books, is the only one in the class who appears to read them for his own pleasure."--"A bibliotaphe buries his books, by keeping them under lock, or framing them in glass-cases." The accurate Peignot, after accepting of this classification with high admiration of its simplicity and exhaustiveness, is seized in his supplementary volume with a misgiving in the matter of the bibliotaphe, explaining that it ought to be translated as a grave of books, and that the proper technical expression for the performer referred to by Rive, is bibliothapt. He adds to the nomenclature bibliolyte, as a destroyer of books; bibliologue, one who discourses about books; bibliotacte, a classifier of books; and bibliopée, "_l'art d'écrire ou de composer des livres_," or, as the unlearned would say, the function of an author. Of the dignity with which this writer can invest the objects of his nomenclature, take the following specimen from his description of the bibliographe:-- "Nothing is rarer than to deserve the title of bibliographe, and nothing more difficult and laborious than to attain a just title to it. "Bibliography being the most universal and extensive of all sciences, it would appear that all subjects should come under the consideration of the bibliographe; languages, logic, criticism, philosophy, eloquence, mathematics, geography, chronology, history, are no strangers to him; the history of printing and of celebrated printers is familiar to him, as well as all the operations of the typographic art. He is continually occupied with the works of the ancients and the moderns; he makes it his business to know books useful, rare, and curious, not only by their titles and form, but by their contents; he spends his life in analysing, classifying, and describing them. He seeks out those which are recommended by talented authors; he runs through libraries and cabinets to increase the sum of his knowledge; he studies authors who have treated of the science of books, he points out their errors; he chooses from among new productions those which bear the stamp of genius, and which will live in men's memories; he ransacks periodicals to keep himself well up to the discoveries of his age, and compare them with those of ages past; he is greedy of all works which treat of libraries, particularly catalogues, when they are well constructed and well arranged, and their price adds to their value. Such is the genuine _Bibliographe_." This reminds one of the old Roman jurists, who briefly defined their own science as the knowledge of things human and divine.] Few wiser things have ever been said than that remark of Byron's, that "man is an unfortunate fellow, and ever will be." Perhaps the originality of the fundamental idea it expresses may be questioned, on the ground that the same warning has been enounced in far more solemn language, and from a far more august authority. But there is originality in the vulgar everyday-world way of putting the idea, and this makes it suit the present purpose, in which, a human frailty having to be dealt with, there is no intention to be either devout or philosophical about it, but to treat it in a thoroughly worldly and practical tone, and in this temper to judge of its place among the defects and ills to which flesh is heir. It were better, perhaps, if we human creatures sometimes did this, and discussed our common frailties as each himself partaking of them, than that we should mount, as we are so apt to do, into the clouds of theology or of ethics, according as our temperament and training are of the serious or of the intellectual order. True, there are many of our brethren violently ready to proclaim themselves frail mortals, miserable sinners, and no better, in theological phraseology, than the greatest of criminals. But such has been my own unfortunate experience in life, that whenever I find a man coming forward with these self-denunciations on his lips, I am prepared for an exhibition of intolerance, spiritual pride, and envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness, towards any poor fellow-creature who has floundered a little out of the straight path, and being all too conscious of his errors, is not prepared to proclaim them in those broad emphatic terms which come so readily to the lips of the censors, who at heart believe themselves spotless,--just as complaints about poverty, and inability to buy this and that, come from the fat lips of the millionaire, when he shows you his gallery of pictures, his stud, and his forcing-frames. No; it is hard to choose between the two. The man who has no defect or crack in his character--no tinge of even the minor immoralities--no fantastic humour carrying him sometimes off his feet--no preposterous hobby--such a man, walking straight along the surface of this world in the arc of a circle, is a very dangerous character, no doubt; of such all children, dogs, simpletons, and other creatures that have the instinct of the odious in their nature, feel an innate loathing. And yet it is questionable if your perfectionised Sir Charles Grandison is quite so dangerous a character as your "miserable sinner," vociferously conscious that he is the frailest of the frail, and that he can do no good thing of himself. And indeed, in practice, the external symptoms of these two characteristics have been known so to alternate in one disposition as to render it evident that each is but the same moral nature under a different external aspect,--the mask, cowl, varnish, crust, or whatever you like to call it, having been adapted to the external conditions of the man--that is, to the society he mixes in, the set he belongs to, the habits of the age, and the way in which he proposes to get on in life. It is when the occasion arises for the mask being thrown aside, or when the internal passions burst like a volcano through the crust, that terrible events take place, and the world throbs with the excitement of some wonderful criminal trial.[24] [Footnote 24: It has often been observed that it is among the Society of Friends, who keep so tight a rein on the passions and propensities, that these make the most terrible work when they break loose. De Quincey, in one of his essays on his contemporaries, giving a sketch of a man of great genius and high scholarship, whose life was early clouded by insanity, gives some curious statements about the effects of the system of rigid restraint exercised by the Society of Friends, which I am not prepared either to support or contradict. After describing the system of restraint itself, he says: "This is known, but it is not equally known that this unnatural restraint, falling into collision with two forces at once--the force of passion and of youth--not unfrequently records its own injurious tendencies, and publishes the rebellious movements of nature by distinct and anomalous diseases. And, further, I have been assured, upon most excellent authority, that these diseases--strange and elaborate affections of the nervous system--are found _exclusively_ among the young men and women of the Quaker Society; that they are known and understood exclusively amongst physicians who have practised in great towns having a large Quaker population, such as Birmingham; that they assume a new type and a more inveterate character in the second or third generation, to whom this fatal inheritance is often transmitted; and, finally, that if this class of nervous derangements does not increase so much as to attract public attention, it is simply because the community itself--the Quaker body--does not increase, but, on the contrary, is rather on the wane." There exist many good stories which have for their point the passions of the natural man breaking forth, in members of this persuasion, in a shape more droll than distressing. One of the best of these is a north-country anecdote preserved by Francis Douglas in his Description of the East Coast of Scotland. The hero was the first Quaker of that Barclay family which produced the apologist and the pugilist. He was a colonel in the great civil wars, and had seen wild work in his day; but in his old age a change came over him, and, becoming a follower of George Fox, he retired to spend his latter days on his ancestral estate in Kincardineshire. Here it came to pass that a brother laird thought the old Quaker could be easily done, and began to encroach upon his marches. Barclay, a strong man, with the iron sinews of his race, and their fierce spirit still burning in his eyes, strode up to the encroacher, and, with a grim smile, spoke thus: "Friend, thou knowest that I have become a man of peace and have relinquished strife, and therefore thou art endeavouring to take what is not thine own, but mine, because thou believest that, having abjured the arm of the flesh, I cannot hinder thee. And yet, as thy friend, I advise thee to desist; for shouldst thou succeed in rousing the old Adam within me, perchance he may prove too strong, not only for me, but for _thee_." There was no use of attempting to answer such an argument.] The present, however, is not an inquiry into the first principles either of ethics or of physiology. The object of this rambling preamble is to win from the reader a morsel of genial fellow-feeling towards the human frailty which I propose to examine and lay bare before him, trusting that he will treat it neither with the haughty disdain of the immaculate, nor the grim charity of the "miserable sinner:" that he may even, when sighing over it as a failing, yet kindly remember that, in comparison with many others, it is a failing that leans to virtue's side. It will not demand that breadth of charity which even rather rigid fathers are permitted to exercise by the licence of the existing school of French fiction.[25] Neither will it exact such extensive toleration as that of the old Aberdeen laird's wife, who, when her sister lairdesses were enriching the tea-table conversation with broad descriptions of the abominable vices of their several spouses, said her own "was just a gueed, weel-tempered, couthy, queat, innocent, daedlin, drucken body--wi' nae ill practices aboot him ava!" But all things in their own time and place. To understand the due weight and bearing of this feeling of optimism, it is necessary to remember that its happy owner had probably spent her youth in that golden age when it was deemed churlish to bottle the claret, and each guest filled his stoup at the fountain of the flowing hogshead; and if the darker days of dear claret came upon her times, there was still to fall back upon the silver age of smuggled usquebaugh, when the types of a really hospitable country-house were an anker of whisky always on the spigot, a caldron ever on the bubble with boiling water, and a cask of sugar with a spade in it,--all for the manufacture of toddy. [Footnote 25: In the renowned Dame aux Camélias, the respectable, rigid, and rather indignant father, addresses his erring son thus: "Que vous ayez une maîtresse, c'est fort bien; que vous la payiez comme un galant homme doit payer l'amour d'une fille entretenue, c'est on ne peut mieux; mais que vous oubliez les choses les plus saintes pour elle, que vous permettiez que la bruit de votre vie scandaleuse arrive jusqu'au fond de ma province, et jette l'ombre d'une tache sur le nom honorable que je vous ai donné--voilà ce qui ne peut être, voilà ce qui ne sera pas." So even the French novelists draw the line "somewhere," and in other departments of morals they may be found drawing it closer than many good uncharitable Christians among us would wish. In one very popular novel the victim spends his wife's fortune at the gaming-table, leaves her to starve, lives with another woman, and, having committed forgery, plots with the Mephistopheles of the story to buy his own safety at the price of his wife's honour. This might seem bad enough, but worse remains. It is told in a smothered whisper, by the faithful domestic, to the horrified family, that he has reason to suspect his master of having indulged, once at least, if not oftener, in brandy-and-water!] The habits of that age have passed away, and with them the drunken laird and the widely tolerant wife. The advancing civilisation which has nearly extinguished this class of frailties among those who have the amplest means of indulgence in them, is, no doubt, doing for other frailties, and will come at last to the one in hand, leaving it an object of admiring and compassionate retrospect to an enlightened posterity. There are people, however, too impatient to wait for such results from the mellowing influence of progressive civilisation. Such a consideration suggests to me that I may be treading on dangerous ground--dangerous, I mean, to the frail but amiable class to whom my exposition is devoted. Natural misgivings arise in one who professes to call attention to a special type of human frailty, since the world is full of people who will be prepared to deal with and cure it, provided only that they are to have their own way with the disease and the patient, and that they shall enjoy the simple privilege of locking him up, dieting him, and taking possession of his worldly goods and interests, as one who, by his irrational habits, or his outrages on the laws of physiology, or the fitness of things, or some other neology, has satisfactorily established his utter incapacity to take charge of his own affairs. No! This is not a cruel age; the rack, the wheel, the boot, the thumbikins, even the pillory and the stocks, have disappeared; death-punishment is dwindling away; and if convicts have not their full rations of cooked meat, or get damaged coffee or sour milk, or are inadequately supplied with flannels and clean linen, there will be an outcry and an inquiry, and a Secretary of State will lose a percentage of his influence, and learn to look better after the administration of patronage. But, at the same time, the area of punishment--or of "treatment," as it is mildly termed--becomes alarmingly widened, and people require to look sharply into themselves lest they should be tainted with any little frailty or peculiarity which may transfer them from the class of free self-regulators to that of persons under "treatment." In Owen's parallelograms there were to be no prisons: he admitted no power in one man to inflict punishment upon another for merely obeying the dictates of natural propensities which could not be resisted. But, at the same time, there were to be "hospitals" in which not only the physically diseased, but also the mentally and _morally_ diseased, were to be detained until they were cured; and when we reflect that the laws of the parallelogram were very stringent and minute, and required to be absolutely enforced to the letter, otherwise the whole machinery of society would come to pieces, like a watch with a broken spring,--it is clear that these hospitals would have contained a very large proportion of the unrationalised population. There is rather an alarming amount of this sort of communism now among us, and it is therefore with some little misgiving that one sets down anything that may betray a brother's weakness, and lay bare the diagnosis of a human frailty. Indeed, the bad name that proverbially hangs the dog has already been given to the one under consideration, for bibliomania is older in the technology of this kind of nosology than dipsomania, which is now understood to be an almost established ground for seclusion, and deprivation of the management of one's own affairs. There is one ground of consolation, however,--the people who, being all right themselves, have undertaken the duty of keeping in order the rest of the world, have far too serious a task in hand to afford time for idle reading. There is a good chance, therefore, that this little book may pass them unnoticed, and the harmless class, on whose peculiar frailties the present occasion is taken for devoting a gentle and kindly exposition, may yet be permitted to go at large. So having spoken, I now propose to make the reader acquainted with some characteristic specimens of the class. A Vision of Mighty Book-Hunters. As the first case, let us summon from the shades my venerable friend Archdeacon Meadow, as he was in the body. You see him now--tall, straight, and meagre, but with a grim dignity in his air which warms into benignity as he inspects a pretty little clean Elzevir, or a tall portly Stephens, concluding his inward estimate of the prize with a peculiar grunting chuckle, known by the initiated to be an important announcement. This is no doubt one of the milder and more inoffensive types, but still a thoroughly confirmed and obstinate case. Its parallel to the classes who are to be taken charge of by their wiser neighbours is only too close and awful; for have not sometimes the female members of his household been known on occasion of some domestic emergency--or, it may be, for mere sake of keeping the lost man out of mischief--to have been searching for him on from bookstall unto bookstall, just as the mothers, wives, and daughters of other lost men hunt them through their favourite taverns or gambling-houses? Then, again, can one forget that occasion of his going to London to be examined by a committee of the House of Commons, when he suddenly disappeared with all his money in his pocket, and returned penniless, followed by a waggon containing 372 copies of rare editions of the Bible? All were fish that came to his net. At one time you might find him securing a minnow for sixpence at a stall--and presently afterwards he outbids some princely collector, and secures with frantic impetuosity, "at any price," a great fish he has been patiently watching year after year. His hunting-grounds were wide and distant, and there were mysterious rumours about the numbers of copies, all identically the same in edition and minor individualities, which he possessed of certain books. I have known him, indeed, when beaten at an auction, turn round resignedly and say, "Well, so be it--but I daresay I have ten or twelve copies at home, if I could lay hands on them." It is a matter of extreme anxiety to his friends, and, if he have a well-constituted mind, of sad misgiving to himself, when the collector buys his first _duplicate_. It is like the first secret dram swallowed in the forenoon--the first pawning of the silver spoons--or any other terrible first step downwards you may please to liken it to. There is no hope for the patient after this. It rends at once the veil of decorum spun out of the flimsy sophisms by which he has been deceiving his friends, and partially deceiving himself, into the belief that his previous purchases were necessary, or, at all events, serviceable for professional and literary purposes. He now becomes shameless and hardened; and it is observable in the career of this class of unfortunates, that the first act of duplicity is immediately followed by an access of the disorder, and a reckless abandonment to its propensities. The Archdeacon had long passed this stage ere he crossed my path, and had become thoroughly hardened. He was not remarkable for local attachment; and in moving from place to place, his spoil, packed in innumerable great boxes, sometimes followed him, to remain unreleased during the whole period of his tarrying in his new abode, so that they were removed to the next stage of his journey through life with modified inconvenience. Cruel as it may seem, I must yet notice another and a peculiar vagary of his malady. He had resolved, at least once in his life, to part with a considerable proportion of his collection--better to suffer the anguish of such an act than endure the fretting of continued restraint. There was a wondrous sale by auction accordingly; it was something like what may have occurred on the dissolution of the monasteries at the Reformation, or when the contents of some time-honoured public library were realised at the period of the French Revolution. Before the affair was over, the Archdeacon himself made his appearance in the midst of the miscellaneous self-invited guests who were making free with his treasures,--he pretended, honest man, to be a mere casual spectator, who, having seen, in passing, the announcement of a sale by auction, stepped in like the rest of the public. By degrees he got excited, gasped once or twice as if mastering some desperate impulse, and at length fairly bade. He could not brazen out the effect of this escapade, however, and disappeared from the scene. It was remarked by the observant, that an unusual number of lots were afterwards knocked down to a military gentleman, who seemed to have left portentously large orders with the auctioneer. Some curious suspicions began to arise, which were settled by that presiding genius bending over his rostrum, and explaining in a confidential whisper that the military hero was in reality a pillar of the Church so disguised. The Archdeacon lay under what, among a portion of the victims of his malady, was deemed a heavy scandal. He was suspected of reading his own books--that is to say, when he could get at them; for there are those who may still remember his rather shamefaced apparition of an evening, petitioning, somewhat in the tone with which an old schoolfellow down in the world requests your assistance to help him to go to York to get an appointment--petitioning for the loan of a volume of which he could not deny that he possessed numberless copies lurking in divers parts of his vast collection. This reputation of reading the books in his collection, which should be sacred to external inspection solely, is, with a certain school of book-collectors, a scandal, such as it would be among a hunting set to hint that a man had killed a fox. In the dialogues, not always the most entertaining, of Dibdin's Bibliomania, there is this short passage: "'I will frankly confess,' rejoined Lysander, 'that I am an arrant _bibliomaniac_--that I love books dearly--that the very sight, touch, and mere perusal----' 'Hold, my friend,' again exclaimed Philemon; 'you have renounced your profession--you talk of _reading_ books--do _bibliomaniacs_ ever _read_ books?'" Yes, the Archdeacon read books--he devoured them; and he did so to full prolific purpose. His was a mind enriched with varied learning, which he gave forth with full, strong, easy flow, like an inexhaustible perennial spring coming from inner reservoirs, never dry, yet too capacious to exhibit the brawling, bubbling symptoms of repletion. It was from a majestic heedlessness of the busy world and its fame that he got the character of indolence, and was set down as one who would leave no lasting memorial of his great learning. But when he died, it was not altogether without leaving a sign; for from the casual droppings of his pen has been preserved enough to signify to many generations of students in the walk he chiefly affected how richly his mind was stored, and how much fresh matter there is in those fields of inquiry where compilers have left their dreary tracks, for ardent students to cultivate into a rich harvest. In him truly the bibliomania may be counted among the many illustrations of the truth so often moralised on, that the highest natures are not exempt from human frailty in some shape or other. Let us now summon the shade of another departed victim--Fitzpatrick Smart, Esq. He, too, through a long life, had been a vigilant and enthusiastic collector, but after a totally different fashion. He was far from omnivorous. He had a principle of selection peculiar and separate from all other's, as was his own individuality from other men's. You could not classify his library according to any of the accepted nomenclatures peculiar to the initiated. He was not a black-letter man, or a tall copyist, or an uncut man, or a rough-edge man, or an early-English-dramatist, or an Elzevirian, or a broadsider, or a pasquinader, or an old-brown-calf man, or a Grangerite, or a tawny-moroccoite, or a gilt-topper, a marbled-insider, or an _editio princeps_ man; neither did he come under any of the more vulgar classifications of collectors whose thoughts run more upon the usefulness for study than upon the external conditions of their library, such as those who affect science, or the classics, or English poetic and historical literature. There was no way of defining his peculiar walk save by his own name--it was the Fitzpatrick-Smart walk. In fact, it wound itself in infinite windings through isolated spots of literary scenery, if we may so speak, in which he took a personal interest. There were historical events, bits of family history, chiefly of a tragic or a scandalous kind,--efforts of art or of literary genius on which, through some hidden intellectual law, his mind and memory loved to dwell; and it was in reference to these that he collected. If the book were the one desired by him, no anxiety and toil, no payable price, was to be grudged for its acquisition. If the book were an inch out of his own line, it might be trampled in the mire for aught he cared, be it as rare or costly as it could be. It was difficult, almost impossible, for others to predicate what would please this wayward sort of taste, and he was the torment of the book-caterers, who were sure of a princely price for the right article, but might have the wrong one thrown in their teeth with contumely. It was a perilous, but, if successful, a gratifying thing to present him with a book. If it happened to hit his fancy, he felt the full force of the compliment, and overwhelmed the giver with his courtly thanks. But great observation and tact were required for such an adventure. The chances against an ordinary thoughtless gift-maker were thousands to one; and those who were acquainted with his strange nervous temperament, knew that the existence within his dwelling-place of any book not of his own special kind, would impart to him the sort of feeling of uneasy horror which a bee is said to feel when an earwig comes into its cell. Presentation copies by authors were among the chronic torments of his existence. While the complacent author was perhaps pluming himself on his liberality in making the judicious gift, the recipient was pouring out all his sarcasm, which was not feeble or slight, on the odious object, and wondering why an author could have entertained against him so steady and enduring a malice as to take the trouble of writing and printing all that rubbish with no better object than disturbing the peace of mind of an inoffensive old man. Every tribute from such _dona ferentes_ cost him much uneasiness and some want of sleep--for what could he do with it? It was impossible to make merchandise of it, for he was every inch a gentleman. He could not burn it, for under an acrid exterior he had a kindly nature. It was believed, indeed, that he had established some limbo of his own, in which such unwelcome commodities were subject to a kind of burial or entombment, where they remained in existence, yet were decidedly outside the circle of his household gods. These gods were a pantheon of a lively and grotesque aspect, for he was a hunter after other things besides books. His acquisitions included pictures, and the various commodities which, for want of a distinctive name, auctioneers call "miscellaneous articles of vertu." He started on his accumulating career with some old family relics, and these, perhaps, gave the direction to his subsequent acquisitions, for they were all, like his books, brought together after some self-willed and peculiar law of association that pleased himself. A bad, even an inferior, picture he would not have--for his taste was exquisite--unless, indeed, it had some strange history about it, adapting it to his wayward fancies, and then he would adopt the badness as a peculiar recommendation, and point it out with some pungent and appropriate remark to his friends. But though, with these peculiar exceptions, his works of art were faultless, no dealer could ever calculate on his buying a picture, however high in artistic merit or tempting as a bargain. With his ever-accumulating collection, in which tiny sculpture and brilliant colour predominated, he kept a sort of fairy world around him. But each one of the mob of curious things he preserved had some story linking it with others, or with his peculiar fancies, and each one had its precise place in a sort of _epos_, as certainly as each of the persons in the confusion of a pantomime or a farce has his own position and functions. After all, he was himself his own greatest curiosity. He had come to manhood just after the period of gold-laced waistcoats, small-clothes, and shoe-buckles, otherwise he would have been long a living memorial of these now antique habits. It happened to be his lot to preserve down to us the earliest phase of the pantaloon dynasty. So, while the rest of the world were booted or heavy shod, his silk-stockinged feet were thrust into pumps of early Oxford cut, and the predominant garment was the surtout, blue in colour, and of the original make before it came to be called a frock. Round his neck was wrapped an ante-Brummelite neckerchief (not a tie), which projected in many wreaths like a great poultice--and so he took his walks abroad, a figure which he could himself have turned into admirable ridicule. One of the mysteries about him was, that his clothes, though unlike any other person's, were always old. This characteristic could not even be accounted for by the supposition that he had laid in a sixty years' stock in his youth, for they always appeared to have been a good deal worn. The very umbrella was in keeping--it was of green silk, an obsolete colour ten years ago--and the handle was of a peculiar crosier-like formation in cast-horn, obviously not obtainable in the market. His face was ruddy, but not with the ruddiness of youth; and, bearing on his head a Brutus wig of the light-brown hair which had long ago legitimately shaded his brow, when he stood still--except for his linen, which was snowy white--one might suppose that he had been shot and stuffed on his return home from college, and had been sprinkled with the frowzy mouldiness which time imparts to stuffed animals and other things, in which a semblance to the freshness of living nature is vainly attempted to be preserved. So if he were motionless; but let him speak, and the internal freshness was still there, an ever-blooming garden of intellectual flowers. His antiquated costume was no longer grotesque--it harmonised with an antiquated courtesy and high-bred gentleness of manner, which he had acquired from the best sources, since he had seen the first company in his day, whether for rank or genius. And conversation and manner were far from exhausting his resources. He had a wonderful pencil--it was potent for the beautiful, the terrible, and the ridiculous; but it took a wayward wilful course, like everything else about him. He had a brilliant pen, too, when he chose to wield it; but the idea that he should exercise any of these his gifts in common display before the world, for any even of the higher motives that make people desire fame and praise, would have sickened him. His faculties were his own as much as his collection, and to be used according to his caprice and pleasure. So fluttered through existence one who, had it been his fate to have his own bread to make, might have been a great man. Alas for the end! Some curious annotations are all that remain of his literary powers--some drawings and etchings in private collections all of his artistic. His collection, with its long train of legends and associations, came to what he himself must have counted as dispersal. He left it to his housekeeper, who, like a wise woman, converted it into cash while its mysterious reputation was fresh. Huddled in a great auction-room, its several catalogued items lay in humiliating contrast with the decorous order in which they were wont to be arranged. _Sic transit gloria mundi._ Let us now call up a different and a more commonplace type of the book-hunter--it shall be Inchrule Brewer. He is guiltless of all intermeddling with the contents of books, but in their external attributes his learning is marvellous. He derived his nickname, from the practice of keeping, as his inseparable pocket-companion, one of those graduated folding measures of length which may often be seen protruding from the moleskin pocket of the joiner. He used it at auctions and on other appropriate occasions, to measure the different elements of a book--the letterpress--the unprinted margin--the external expanse of the binding; for to the perfectly scientific collector all these things are very significant.[26] They are, in fact, on record among the craft, like the pedigrees and physical characteristics recorded in stud-books and short-horn books. One so accomplished in this kind of analysis could tell at once, by this criterion, whether the treasure under the hammer was the same that had been knocked down before at the Roxburghe sale--the Askew, the Gordonstoun, or the Heber, perhaps--or was veritably an impostor--or was in reality a new and previously unknown prize well worth contending for. The minuteness and precision of his knowledge excited wonder, and, being anomalous in the male sex even among collectors, gave occasion to a rumour that its possessor must veritably be an aged maiden in disguise. [Footnote 26: Of the copy of the celebrated 1635 Elzevir Cæsar, in the Imperial Library at Paris, Brunet triumphantly informs us that it is four inches and ten-twelfths in height, and occupies the high position of being the tallest copy of that volume in the world, since other illustrious copies put in competition with it have been found not to exceed four inches and eight, or, at the utmost, nine, twelfths. "Ces détails," he subjoins, "paroitront sans doute puérils à bien des gens: mais puisque c'est la grandeur des marges de ces sorts de livres qu'en détermine la valeur, il faut bien fixer le _maximum_ de cette grandeur, afin que les amateurs puissent apprécier les exemplaires qui approchent plus ou moins de la mésure donnée."] His experience, aided by a heaven-born genius tending in that direction, rendered him the most merciless detector of sophisticated books. Nothing, it might be supposed on first thought, can be a simpler or more easily recognised thing than a book genuine as printed. But in the old-book trade there are opportunities for the exercise of ingenuity inferior only to those which render the picture-dealer's and the horse-dealer's functions so mysteriously interesting. Sometimes entire facsimiles are made of eminent volumes. More commonly, however, the problem is to complete an imperfect copy. This will be most satisfactorily accomplished, of course, if another copy can be procured imperfect also, but not in the same parts. Great ingenuity is sometimes shown in completing a highly esteemed edition with fragments from one lightly esteemed. Sometimes a colophon or a decorated capital has to be imitated, and bold operators will reprint a page or two in facsimile; these operations, of course, involve the inlaying of paper, judiciously staining it, and other mysteries. Paris is the great centre of this kind of work, but it has been pretty extensively pursued in Britain; and the manufacture of first folio Shakespeares has been nearly as staple a trade as the getting up of genuine portraits of Mary Queen of Scots. It will establish a broad distinction to note the fact, that whereas our friend the Archdeacon would collect several imperfect copies of the same book, in the hope of finding materials for one perfect one among them, Inchrule would remorselessly spurn from him the most voluptuously got-up specimen (to use a favourite phrase of Dibdin's) were it tainted by the very faintest suspicion of "restoration." Among the elements which constitute the value of a book--rarity of course being essential--one might say he counted the binding highest. He was not alone in this view, for it would be difficult to give the uninitiated a conception of the importance attached to this mechanical department of book-making by the adepts. About a third of Dibdin's Bibliographical Decameron is, if I recollect rightly, devoted to bindings. There are binders who have immortalised themselves--as Staggemier, Walther, Payne, Padaloup, Hering, De Rome, Bozerian, Deseuille, Bradel, Faulkner, Lewis, Hayday, and Thomson. Their names may sometimes be found on their work, not with any particularities, as if they required to make themselves known, but with the simple brevity of illustrious men. Thus you take up a morocco-bound work of some eminence, on the title-page of which the author sets forth his full name and profession, with the distinctive initials of certain learned societies to which it is his pride to belong; but the simple and dignified enunciation, deeply stamped in his own golden letters, "Bound by Hayday," is all that that accomplished artist deigns to tell. And let us, after all, acknowledge that there are few men who are entirely above the influence of binding. No one likes sheep's clothing for his literature, even if he should not aspire to russia or morocco. Adam Smith, one of the least showy of men, confessed himself to be a beau in his books. Perhaps the majority of men of letters are so to some extent, though poets are apt to be ragamuffins. It was Thomson, I believe, who used to cut the leaves with his snuffers. Perhaps an event in his early career may have soured him of the proprieties. It is said that he had an uncle, a clever active mechanic, who could do many things with his hands, and contemplated James's indolent, dreamy, "feckless" character with impatient disgust. When the first of The Seasons--Winter it was, I believe--had been completed at press, Jamie thought, by a presentation copy, to triumph over his uncle's scepticism, and to propitiate his good opinion he had the book handsomely bound. The old man never looked inside, or asked what the book was about, but, turning it round and round with his fingers in gratified admiration, exclaimed--"Come, is that really our Jamie's doin' now?--weel, I never thought the cratur wad hae had the handicraft to do the like!" The feeling by which this worthy man was influenced was a mere sensible practical respect for good workmanship. The aspirations of the collectors, however, in this matter, go out of the boundaries of the sphere of the utilitarian into that of the æsthetic. Their priests and prophets, by the way, do not seem to be aware how far back this veneration for the coverings of books may be traced, or to know how strongly their votaries have been influenced in the direction of their taste by the traditions of the middle ages. The binding of a book was, of old, a shrine on which the finest workmanship in bullion and the costliest gems were lavished. The psalter or the breviary of some early saint, a portion of the Scriptures, or some other volume held sacred, would be thus enshrined. It has happened sometimes that tattered fragments of them have been preserved as effective relics within outer shells or shrines; and in some instances, long after the books themselves have disappeared, specimens of these old bindings have remained to us beautiful in their decay;--but we are getting far beyond the Inchrule. Your affluent omnivorous collector, who has more of that kind of business on hand than he can perform for himself, naturally brings about him a train of satellites, who make it their business to minister to his importunate cravings. With them the phraseology of the initiated degenerates into a hard business sort of slang. Whatever slight remnant of respect towards literature as a vehicle of knowledge may linger in the conversation of their employers, has never belonged to theirs. They are dealers who have just two things to look to--the price of their merchandise, and the peculiar propensities of the unfortunates who employ them. Not that they are destitute of all sympathy with the malady which they feed. The caterer generally gets infected in a superficial cutaneous sort of way. He has often a collection himself, which he eyes complacently of an evening as he smokes his pipe over his brandy-and-water, but to which he is not so distractedly devoted but that a pecuniary consideration will tempt him to dismember it. It generally consists, indeed, of blunders or false speculations--books which have been obtained in a mistaken reliance on their suiting the craving of some wealthy collector. Caterers unable to comprehend the subtle influences at work in the mind of the book-hunter, often make miscalculations in this way. Fitzpatrick Smart punished them so terribly, that they at last abandoned him in despair to his own devices. Several men of this class were under the authority of the Inchrule, and their communings were instructive. "Thorpe's catalogue just arrived, sir--several highly important announcements," says a portly person with a fat volume under his arm, hustling forward with an air of assured consequence. There is now to be a deep and solemn consultation, as when two ambassadors are going over a heavy protocol from a third. It happened to me to see one of these myrmidons returning from a bootless errand of inspection to a reputed collection; he was hot and indignant "A _collection_," he sputtered forth--"that a _collection_!--mere rubbish, sir--irredeemable trash. What do you think, sir?--a set of the common quarto edition of the Delphini classics, copies of Newton's works and Bacon's works, Gibbon's Decline and Fall, and so forth--nothing better, I declare to you: and to call _that_ a collection!" Whereas, had it contained The Pardoner and the Frere, Sir Clyomon and Clamydes, A Knacke to knowe a Knave, Banke's Bay Horse in a Trance, or the works of those eminent dramatists, Nabbes, May, Glapthorne, or Chettle, then would the collection have been worthy of distinguished notice. On another occasion, the conversation turning on a name of some repute, the remark is ventured, that he is "said to know something about books," which brings forth the fatal answer--"_He_ know about books! Nothing--nothing at all, I assure you; unless, perhaps, about their insides." The next slide of the lantern is to represent a quite peculiar and abnormal case. It introduces a strangely fragile, unsubstantial, and puerile figure, wherein, however, resided one of the most potent and original spirits that ever frequented a tenement of clay. He shall be called, on account of associations that may or may not be found out, Thomas Papaverius. But how to make palpable to the ordinary human being one so signally divested of all the material and common characteristics of his race, yet so nobly endowed with its rarer and loftier attributes, almost paralyses the pen at the very beginning. In what mood and shape shall he be brought forward? Shall it be as first we met at the table of Lucullus, whereto he was seduced by the false pretence that he would there meet with one who entertained novel and anarchical opinions regarding the Golden Ass of Apuleius? No one speaks of waiting dinner for him. He will come and depart at his own sweet will, neither burdened with punctualities nor burdening others by exacting them. The festivities of the afternoon are far on when a commotion is heard in the hall as if some dog or other stray animal had forced its way in. The instinct of a friendly guest tells him of the arrival--he opens the door, and fetches in the little stranger. What can it be? a street-boy of some sort? His costume, in fact, is a boy's duffle great-coat, very threadbare, with a hole in it, and buttoned tight to the chin, where it meets the fragments of a parti-coloured belcher handkerchief; on his feet are list-shoes, covered with snow, for it is a stormy winter night; and the trousers--some one suggests that they are inner linen garments blackened with writing-ink, but that Papaverius never would have been at the trouble so to disguise them. What can be the theory of such a costume? The simplest thing in the world--it consisted of the fragments of apparel nearest at hand. Had chance thrown to him a court single-breasted coat, with a bishop's apron, a kilt, and top-boots, in these he would have made his entry. The first impression that a boy has appeared vanishes instantly. Though in one of the sweetest and most genial of his essays he shows how every man retains so much in him of the child he originally was--and he himself retained a great deal of that primitive simplicity--it was buried within the depths of his heart--not visible externally. On the contrary, on one occasion when he corrected an erroneous reference to an event as being a century old, by saying that he recollected its occurrence, one felt almost a surprise at the necessary limitation in his age, so old did he appear, with his arched brow loaded with thought, and the countless little wrinkles which engrained his skin, gathering thickly round the curiously expressive and subtle lips. These lips are speedily opened by some casual remark, and presently the flood of talk passes forth from them, free, clear, and continuous--never rising into declamation--never losing a certain mellow earnestness, and all consisting of sentences as exquisitely jointed together as if they were destined to challenge the criticism of the remotest posterity. Still the hours stride over each other, and still flows on the stream of gentle rhetoric, as if it were _labitur et labetur in omne volubilis ævum_. It is now far in to the night, and slight hints and suggestions are propagated about separation and home-going. The topic starts new ideas on the progress of civilisation, the effect of habit on men in all ages, and the power of the domestic affections. Descending from generals to the special, he could testify to the inconvenience of late hours; for, was it not the other night that, coming to what was, or what he believed to be, his own door, he knocked, and knocked, but the old woman within either couldn't or wouldn't hear him, so he scrambled over a wall, and, having taken his repose in a furrow, was able to testify to the extreme unpleasantness of such a couch. The predial groove might indeed nourish kindly the infant seeds and shoots of the peculiar vegetable to which it was appropriated, but was not a comfortable place of repose for adult man. Shall I try another sketch of him, when, travel-stained and foot-sore, he glided in on us one night like a shadow, the child by the fire gazing on him with round eyes of astonishment, and suggesting that he should get a penny and go home--a proposal which he subjected to some philosophical criticism very far wide of its practical tenor. How far he had wandered since he had last refreshed himself, or even whether he had eaten food that day, were matters on which there was no getting articulate utterance from him. Though his costume was muddy, however, and his communications about the material wants of life very hazy, the ideas which he had stored up during his wandering poured themselves forth as clear and sparkling, both in logic and language, as the purest fountain that springs from a Highland rock. How that wearied, worn, little body was to be refreshed was a difficult problem: soft food disagreed with him--the hard he could not eat. Suggestions pointed at length to the solution of that vegetable unguent to which he had given a sort of lustre, and it might be supposed that there were some fifty cases of acute toothache to be treated in the house that night. How many drops? Drops! nonsense. If the wine-glasses of the establishment were not beyond the ordinary normal size, there was no risk--and so the weary is at rest for a time. At early morn a triumphant cry of _Eureka_! calls me to his place of rest. With his unfailing instinct he has got at the books, and lugged a considerable heap of them around him. That one which specially claims his attention--my best bound quarto--is spread upon a piece of bedroom furniture readily at hand, and of sufficient height to let him pore over it as he lies recumbent on the floor, with only one article of attire to separate him from the condition in which Archimedes, according to the popular story, shouted the same triumphant cry. He had discovered a very remarkable anachronism in the commonly received histories of a very important period. As he expounded it, turning up his unearthly face from the book with an almost painful expression of grave eagerness, it occurred to me that I had seen something like the scene in Dutch paintings of the temptation of St Anthony. Suppose the scene changed to a pleasant country-house, where the enlivening talk has make a guest forget "The lang Scots miles, The mosses, waters, slaps, and stiles," that lie between him and his place of rest. He must be instructed in his course, but the instruction reveals more difficulties than it removes, and there is much doubt and discussion, which Papaverius at once clears up as effectually as he had ever dispersed a cloud of logical sophisms; and this time the feat is performed by a stroke of the thoroughly practical, which looks like inspiration--he will accompany the forlorn traveller, and lead him through the difficulties of the way--for have not midnight wanderings and musings made him familiar with all its intricacies? Roofed by a huge wideawake, which makes his tiny figure look like the stalk of some great fungus, with a lantern of more than common dimensions in his hand, away he goes down the wooded path, up the steep bank, along the brawling stream, and across the waterfall--and ever as he goes there comes from him a continued stream of talk concerning the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, and other kindred matters. Surely if we two were seen by any human eyes, it must have been supposed that some gnome, or troll, or kelpie was luring the listener to his doom. The worst of such affairs as this was the consciousness that, when left, the old man would continue walking on until, weariness overcoming him, he would take his rest, wherever that happened, like some poor mendicant. He used to denounce, with his most fervent eloquence, that barbarous and brutal provision of the law of England which rendered sleeping in the open air an act of vagrancy, and so punishable, if the sleeper could not give a satisfactory account of himself--a thing which Papaverius never could give under any circumstances. After all, I fear this is an attempt to describe the indescribable. It was the commonest of sayings when any of his friends were mentioning to each other "his last," and creating mutual shrugs of astonishment, that, were one to attempt to tell all about him, no man would believe it, so separate would the whole be from all the normal conditions of human nature. The difficulty becomes more inextricable in passing from specific little incidents to an estimation of the general nature of the man. The logicians lucidly describe definition as being _per genus et differentiam_. You have the characteristics in which all of the _genus_ partake as common ground, and then you individualise your object by showing in what it differs from the others of the genus. But we are denied this standard for Papaverius, so entirely did he stand apart, divested of the ordinary characteristics of social man--of those characteristics without which the human race as a body could not get on or exist. For instance, those who knew him a little might call him a loose man in money matters; those who knew him closer laughed at the idea of coupling any notion of pecuniary or other like responsibility with his nature. You might as well attack the character of the nightingale, which may have nipped up your five-pound note and torn it to shreds to serve as nest-building material. Only immediate craving necessities could ever extract from him an acknowledgment of the common vulgar agencies by which men subsist in civilised society; and only while the necessity lasted did the acknowledgment exist. Take just one example, which will render this clearer than any generalities. He arrives very late at a friend's door, and on gaining admission--a process in which he often endured impediments--he represents, with his usual silver voice and measured rhetoric, the absolute necessity of his being then and there invested with a sum of money in the current coin of the realm--the amount limited, from the nature of his necessities, which he very freely states, to seven shillings and sixpence. Discovering, or fancying he discovers, signs that his eloquence is likely to be unproductive, he is fortunately reminded that, should there be any difficulty in connection with security for the repayment of the loan, he is at that moment in possession of a document, which he is prepared to deposit with the lender--a document calculated, he cannot doubt, to remove any feeling of anxiety which the most prudent person could experience in the circumstances. After a rummage in his pockets, which develops miscellaneous and varied, but as yet by no means valuable possessions, he at last comes to the object of his search, a crumpled bit of paper, and spreads it out--a fifty-pound bank-note! The friend, who knew him well, was of opinion that, had he, on delivering over the seven shillings and sixpence, received the bank-note, he never would have heard anything more of the transaction from the other party. It was also his opinion that, before coming to a personal friend, the owner of the note had made several efforts to raise money on it among persons who might take a purely business view of such transactions; but the lateness of the hour, and something in the appearance of the thing altogether, had induced these mercenaries to forget their cunning, and decline the transaction. He stretched till it broke the proverb that to give quickly is as good as to give twice. His giving was quick enough on the rare occasions when he had wherewithal to give, but then the act was final, and could not be repeated. If he suffered in his own person from this peculiarity, he suffered still more in his sympathies, for he was full of them to all breathing creatures, and, like poor Goldy, it was agony to him to hear the beggar's cry of distress, and to hear it without the means of assuaging it, though in a departed fifty pounds there were doubtless the elements for appeasing many a street wail. All sums of money were measured by him through the common standard of immediate use; and with more solemn pomp of diction than he applied to the bank-note, might he inform you that, with the gentleman opposite, to whom he had hitherto been entirely a stranger, but who happened to be nearest to him at the time when the exigency occurred to him, he had just succeeded in negotiating a loan of "twopence." He was and is a great authority in political economy. I have known great anatomists and physiologists as careless of their health as he was of his purse, whence I have inferred that something more than a knowledge of the abstract truth of political economy is necessary to keep some men from pecuniary imprudence, and that something more than a knowledge of the received principles of physiology is necessary to bring others into a course of perfect sobriety and general obedience to the laws of health. Further, Papaverius had an extraordinary insight into practical human life; not merely in the abstract, but in the concrete; not merely as a philosopher of human nature, but as one who saw into those who passed him in the walk of life with the kind of intuition attributed to expert detectives--a faculty that is known to have belonged to more than one dreamer, and is one of the mysteries in the nature of J.J. Rousseau; and, by the way, like Rousseau's, his handwriting was clear, angular, and unimpassioned, and not less uniform and legible than printing--as if the medium of conveying so noble a thing as thought ought to be carefully, symmetrically, and decorously constructed, let all other material things be as neglectfully and scornfully dealt with as may be. This is a long proemium to the description of his characteristics as a book-hunter--but these can be briefly told. Not for him were the common enjoyments and excitements of the pursuit. He cared not to add volume unto volume, and heap up the relics of the printing-press. All the external niceties about pet editions, peculiarities of binding or of printing, rarity itself, were no more to him than to the Arab or the Hottentot. His pursuit, indeed, was like that of the savage who seeks but to appease the hunger of the moment. If he catch a prey just sufficient for his desires, it is well; yet he will not hesitate to bring down the elk or the buffalo, and, satiating himself with the choicer delicacies, abandon the bulk of the carcass to the wolves or the vultures. So of Papaverius. If his intellectual appetite were craving after some passage in the Oedipus, or in the Medeia, or in Plato's Republic, he would be quite contented with the most tattered and valueless fragment of the volume, if it contained what he wanted; but, on the other hand, he would not hesitate to seize upon your tall copy in russia gilt and tooled. Nor would the exemption of an _editio princeps_ from everyday sordid work restrain his sacrilegious hands. If it should contain the thing he desires to see, what is to hinder him from wrenching out the twentieth volume of your Encyclopédie Méthodique, or Ersch und Gruber, leaving a vacancy like an extracted front tooth, and carrying it off to his den of Cacus? If you should mention the matter to any vulgar-mannered acquaintance given to the unhallowed practice of jeering, he would probably touch his nose with his extended palm and say, "Don't you wish you may get it?" True, the world at large has gained a brilliant essay on Euripides or Plato--but what is that to the rightful owner of the lost sheep? The learned world may very fairly be divided into those who return the books borrowed by them, and those who do not. Papaverius belonged decidedly to the latter order. A friend addicted to the marvellous boasts that, under the pressure of a call by a public library to replace a mutilated book with a new copy, which would have cost £30, he recovered a volume from Papaverius, through the agency of a person specially bribed and authorised to take any necessary measures, insolence and violence excepted--but the power of extraction that must have been employed in such a process excites very painful reflections. Some legend, too, there is of a book creditor having forced his way into the Cacus den, and there seen a sort of rubble-work inner wall of volumes, with their edges outwards, while others, bound and unbound, the plebeian sheepskin and the aristocratic russian, were squeezed into certain tubs drawn from the washing establishment of a confiding landlady. In other instances the book has been recognised at large, greatly enhanced in value by a profuse edging of manuscript notes from a gifted pen--a phenomenon calculated to bring into practical use the speculations of the civilians about pictures painted on other people's panels.[27] What became of all his waifs and strays, it might be well not to inquire too curiously. If he ran short of legitimate _tabula rasa_ to write on, do you think he would hesitate to tear out the most convenient leaves of any broad-margined book, whether belonging to himself or another? Nay, it is said he once gave in copy written on the edges of a tall octavo Somnium Scipionis; and as he did not obliterate the original matter, the printer was rather puzzled, and made a funny jumble between the letterpress Latin and the manuscript English. All these things were the types of an intellectual vitality which despised and thrust aside all that was gross or material in that wherewith it came in contact. Surely never did the austerities of monk or anchorite so entirely cast all these away as his peculiar nature removed them from him. It may be questioned if he ever knew what it was "to eat a good dinner," or could even comprehend the nature of such a felicity. Yet in all the sensuous nerves which connect as it were the body with the ideal, he was painfully susceptible. Hence a false quantity or a wrong note in music was agony to him; and it is remembered with what ludicrous solemnity he apostrophised his unhappy fate as one over whom a cloud of the darkest despair had just been drawn--a peacock had come to live within hearing distance from him, and not only the terrific yells of the accursed biped pierced him to the soul, but the continued terror of their recurrence kept his nerves in agonising tension during the intervals of silence. [Footnote 27: "Si quis in aliena tabula pinxerit, quidam putant, tabulam picturæ cedere: aliis videtur picturam (qualiscunque sit) tabulæ cedere: sed nobis videtur melius esse tabulam picturæ cedere. Ridiculum est enim picturam Apellis vel Parrhasii in accessionem vilissimæ tabulæ cedere."--_Inst._ ii. 1. 34.] Peace be with his gentle and kindly spirit, now for some time separated from its grotesque and humble tenement of clay. It is both right and pleasant to say that the characteristics here spoken of were not those of his latter days. In these he was tended by affectionate hands; and I have always thought it a wonderful instance of the power of domestic care and management that, through the ministrations of a devoted offspring, this strange being was so cared for, that those who came in contact with him then, and then only, might have admired him as the patriarchal head of an agreeable and elegant household. Let us now, for the sake of variety, summon up a spirit of another order--Magnus Lucullus, Esq. of Grand Priory. He is a man with a presence--tall, and a little portly, with a handsome pleasant countenance looking hospitality and kindliness towards friends, and a quiet but not easily solvable reserve towards the rest of the world. He has no literary pretensions, but you will not talk long with him without finding that he is a scholar, and a ripe and good one. He is complete and magnificent in all his belongings, only, as no man's qualities and characteristics are of perfectly uniform balance and parallel action, his library is the sphere in which his disposition for the complete and the magnificent has most profusely developed itself. As you enter its Gothic door a sort of indistinct slightly musky perfume, like that said to frequent Oriental bazaars, hovers around. Everything is of perfect finish--the mahogany-railed gallery--the tiny ladders--the broad-winged lecterns, with leathern cushions on the edges to keep the wood from grazing the rich bindings--the books themselves, each shelf uniform with its facings or rather backings, like well-dressed lines at a review. Their owner does not profess to indulge much in quaint monstrosities, though many a book of rarity is there. In the first place, he must have the best and most complete editions, whether common or rare; and, in the second place, they must be in perfect condition. All the classics are there--one complete set of Valpy's in good russia, and many separate copies of each, valuable for text or annotation. The copies of Bayle, Moreri, the Trevoux Dictionary, Stephens's Lexicon, Du Cange, Mabillon's Antiquities, the Benedictine historians, the Bollandists' Lives of the Saints, Grævius and Gronovius, and heavy books of that order, are in their old original morocco, without a scratch or abrasure, gilt-edged, vellum-jointed, with their backs blazing in tooled gold. Your own dingy well-thumbed Bayle or Moreri possibly cost you two or three pounds; his cost forty or fifty. Further, in these affluent shelves may be found those great costly works which cross the border of "three figures," and of which only one or two of the public libraries can boast, such as the Celebri Famiglie Italiane of Litta, Denon's Egypt, the great French work on the arts of the middle ages, and the like; and many is the scholar who, unable to gratify his cravings elsewhere, has owed it to Lucullus that he has seen something he was in search after in one of these great books, and has been able to put it to public use. Throughout the establishment there is an appearance of care and order, but not of restraint. Some inordinately richly-bound volumes have special grooves or niches for themselves lined with soft cloth, as if they had delicate lungs, and must be kept from catching cold. But even these are not guarded from the hand of the guest. Lucullus says his books are at the service of his friends; and, as a hint in the same direction, he recommends to your notice a few volumes from the collection of the celebrated Grollier, the most princely and liberal of collectors, on whose classic book-stamp you find the genial motto, "_Joannis Grollierii et amicorum._" Having conferred on you the freedom of his library, he will not concern himself by observing how you use it. He would as soon watch you after dinner to note whether you eschew common sherry and show an expensive partiality for that madeira at twelve pounds a-dozen, which other men would probably only place on the table when it could be well invested in company worthy of the sacrifice. Who shall penetrate the human heart, and say whether a hidden pang or gust of wrath has vibrated behind that placid countenance, if you have been seen to drop an ink-spot on the creamy margin of the Mentelin Virgil, or to tumble that heavy Aquinas from the ladder and dislocate his joints? As all the world now knows, however, men assimilate to the conditions by which they are surrounded, and we civilise our city savages by substituting cleanness and purity for the putrescence which naturally accumulates in great cities. So, in a noble library, the visitor is enchained to reverence and courtesy by the genius of the place. You cannot toss about its treasures as you would your own rough calfs and obdurate hogskins; as soon would you be tempted to pull out your meerschaum and punk-box in a cathedral. It is hard to say, but I would fain believe that even Papaverius himself might have felt some sympathetic touch from the spotless perfection around him and the noble reliance of the owner; and that he might perhaps have restrained himself from tearing out the most petted rarities, as a wolf would tear a fat lamb from the fold. Such, then, are some "cases" discussed in a sort of clinical lecture. It will be seen that they have differing symptoms--some mild and genial, others ferocious and dangerous. Before passing to another and the last case, I propose to say a word or two on some of the minor specialties which characterise the pursuit in its less amiable or dignified form. It is, for instance, liable to be accompanied by an affection, known also to the agricultural world as affecting the wheat crop, and called "the smut." Fortunately this is less prevalent among us than the French, who have a name for the class of books affected by this school of collectors in the _Bibliothèque bleue_. There is a sad story connected with this peculiar frailty. A great and high-minded scholar of the seventeenth century had a savage trick played on him by some mad wags, who collected a quantity of the brutalities of which Latin literature affords an endless supply, and published them in his name. He is said not long to have survived this practical joke; and one does not wonder at his sinking before such a prospect, if he anticipated an age and a race of book-buyers among whom his great critical works are forgotten, and his name is known solely for the spurious volume, sacred to infamy, which may be found side by side with the works of the author of Trimalcion's Feast--"par nobile fratrum." There is another failing, without a leaning to virtue's side, to which some collectors have been, by reputation at least, addicted--a propensity to obtain articles without value given for them--a tendency to be larcenish. It is the culmination, indeed, of a sort of lax morality apt to grow out of the habits and traditions of the class. Your true collector--not the man who follows the occupation as a mere expensive taste, and does not cater for himself--considers himself a finder or discoverer rather than a purchaser. He is an industrious prowler in unlikely regions, and is entitled to some reward for his diligence and his skill. Moreover, it is the essence of that very skill to find value in those things which, in the eye of the ordinary possessor, are really worthless. From estimating them at little value, and paying little for them, the steps are rather too short to estimating them at nothing, and paying nothing for them. What matters it, a few dirty black-letter leaves picked out of that volume of miscellaneous trash--leaves which the owner never knew he had, and cannot miss--which he would not know the value of, had you told him of them? What use of putting notions into the greedy barbarian's head, as if one were to find treasures for him? And the little pasquinade is _so_ curious, and will fill a gap in that fine collection so nicely! The notions of the collector about such spoil are indeed the converse of those which Cassio professed to hold about his good name, for the scrap furtively removed is supposed in no way to impoverish the loser, while it makes the recipient rich indeed. Those habits of the prowler which may gradually lead a mind not strengthened by strong principle into this downward career, are hit with his usual vivacity and wonderful truth by Scott. The speaker is our delightful friend Oldenbuck of Monkbarns, the Antiquary, and what he says has just enough of confession in it to show a consciousness that the narrator has gone over dangerous ground, and, if we did not see that the narrative is tinged with some exaggeration, has trodden a little beyond the limits of what is gentlemanly and just. "'See this bundle of ballads, not one of them later than 1700, and some of them a hundred years older. I wheedled an old woman out of these, who loved them better than her psalm-book. Tobacco, sir, snuff, and the Complete Syren, were the equivalent! For that mutilated copy of the Complaynt of Scotland I sat out the drinking of two dozen bottles of strong ale with the late learned proprietor, who in gratitude bequeathed it to me by his last will. These little Elzevirs are the memoranda and trophies of many a walk by night and morning through the Cowgate, the Canongate, the Bow, St Mary's Wynd--wherever, in fine, there were to be found brokers and trokers, those miscellaneous dealers in things rare and curious. How often have I stood haggling on a halfpenny, lest, by a too ready acquiescence in the dealer's first price, he should be led to suspect the value I set upon the article!--how have I trembled lest some passing stranger should chop in between me and the prize, and regarded each poor student of divinity that stopped to turn over the books at the stall as a rival amateur or prowling bookseller in disguise!--And then, Mr Lovel, the sly satisfaction with which one pays the consideration, and pockets the article, affecting a cold indifference, while the hand is trembling with pleasure!--Then to dazzle the eyes of our wealthier and emulous rivals by showing them such a treasure as this' (displaying a little black smoked book about the size of a primer)--'to enjoy their surprise and envy, shrouding meanwhile, under a veil of mysterious consciousness, our own superior knowledge and dexterity;--these, my young friend, these are the white moments of life, that repay the toil and pains and sedulous attention which our profession, above all others, so peculiarly demands!'" There is a nice subtle meaning in the worthy man calling his weakness his "profession," but it is in complete keeping with the mellow Teniers-like tone of the whole picture. Ere we have done I shall endeavour to show that the grubber among book-stalls has, with other grubs or grubbers, his useful place in the general dispensation of the world. But his is a pursuit exposing him to moral perils, which call for peculiar efforts of self-restraint to save him from them; and the moral Scott holds forth--for a sound moral he always has--is, If you go as far as Jonathan Oldenbuck did--and I don't advise you to go so far, but hint that you should stop earlier--say to yourself, Thus far, and no farther. So much for one of the debased symptoms which in very bad cases sometimes characterise an otherwise genial failing. There is another peculiar, and, it may be said, vicious propensity, exhibited occasionally in conjunction with the pursuit. This propensity is, like the other, antagonistic in spirit to the tenth commandment, and consists in a desperate coveting of the neighbour's goods, and a satisfaction, not so much in possessing for one's self, as in dispossessing him. This spirit is said to burn with still fiercer flame in the breasts of those whose pursuit would externally seem to be the most innocent in the world, and the least excitive of the bad passions--namely, among flower-fanciers. From some mysterious cause, it has been known to develop itself most flagrantly among tulip-collectors, insomuch that there are legends of Dutch devotees of this pursuit who have paid their thousands of dollars for a duplicate tuber, that they might have the satisfaction of crushing it under the heel.[28] This line of practice is not entirely alien to the book-hunter. Peignot tells us that it is of rare occurrence among his countrymen, and yet, as we have seen, he thought it necessary to correct the technical term applied to this kind of practitioner, by calling him a Bibliothapte when he conceals books--a Bibliolyte when he destroys them. Dibdin warmed his convivial guests at a comfortable fire, fed by the woodcuts from which had been printed the impression of the Bibliographical Decameron. It was a quaint fancy, and deemed to be a pretty and appropriate form of hospitality, while it effectually assured the subscribers to his costly volumes that the vulgar world who buy cheap books was definitively cut off from participating in their privileges. [Footnote 28: "The great point of view in a collector is to possess that not possessed by any other. It is said of a collector lately deceased, that he used to purchase scarce prints at enormous prices in order to destroy them, and thereby render the remaining impressions more scarce and valuable."--Grose's Olio, p. 57. I do not know to whom Grose alludes; but it strikes me, in realising a man given to such propensities--taking them as a reality and not a joke--that it would be interesting to know how, in his moments of serious thought, he could contemplate his favourite pursuit--as, for instance, when the conscientious physician may have thought it necessary to warn him in time of the approaching end--how he could reckon up his good use of the talents bestowed on him, counting among them his opportunities for the encouragement of art as an elevator and improver of the human race.] Let us, however, summon a more potent spirit of this order. He is a different being altogether from those gentle shadows who have flitted past us already. He was known in the body by many hard names, such as the Vampire, the Dragon, &c. He was an Irish absentee, or, more accurately, a refugee, since he had made himself so odious on his ample estate that he could not live there. How on earth he should have set about collecting books is one of the inscrutable mysteries which ever surround the diagnosis of this peculiar malady. Setting aside his using his books by reading them as out of the question, he yet was never known to indulge in that fondling and complacent examination of their exterior and general condition, which, to Inchrule and others of his class, seemed to afford the highest gratification that, as sojourners through this vale of tears, it was their lot to enjoy. Nor did he luxuriate in the collective pride--like that of David when he numbered his people--of beholding how his volumes increased in multitude, and ranged with one another, like well-sized and properly dressed troops, along an ample area of book-shelves. His collection--if it deserved the name--was piled in great heaps in garrets, cellars, and warerooms, like unsorted goods. They were accumulated, in fact, not so much that the owner might have them, as that other people might not. If there were a division of the order into positive, or those who desire to make collections--and negative, or those who desire to prevent them being made, his case would properly belong to the latter. Imagine the consternation created in a small circle of collectors by a sudden alighting among them of a _helluo librorum_ with such propensities, armed with illimitable means, enabling him to desolate the land like some fiery dragon! What became of the chaotic mass of literature he had brought together no one knew. It was supposed to be congenial to his nature to have made a great bonfire of it before he left the world; but a little consideration showed such a feat to be impossible, for books may be burnt in detail by extraneous assistance, but it is a curious fact that, combustible as paper is supposed to be, books won't burn. If you doubt this, pitch that folio Swammerdam or Puffendorf into a good rousing fire, and mark the result. No--it is probable that, stored away in some forgotten repositories, these miscellaneous relics still remain; and should they be brought forth, some excitement might be created; for, ignorant as the monster was, he had an instinct for knowing what other people wanted, and was thus enabled to snatch rare and curious volumes from the grasp of systematic collectors. It was his great glory to get hold of a unique book and shut it up. There were known to be just two copies of a spare quarto called Rout upon Rout, or the Rabblers Rabbled, by Felix Nixon, Gent. He possessed one copy; the other, by indomitable perseverance, he also got hold of, and then his heart was glad within him; and he felt it glow with well-merited pride when an accomplished scholar, desiring to complete an epoch in literary history on which that book threw some light, besought the owner to allow him a sight of it, were it but for a few minutes, and the request was refused. "I might as well ask him," said the animal, who was rather proud of his firmness than ashamed of his churlishness, "to make me a present of his brains and reputation." It was among his pleasant ways to attend book-sales, there to watch the biddings of persons on whose judgment he relied, and cut in as the contest was becoming critical. This practice soon betrayed to those he had so provoked the chinks in the monster's armour. He was assailable and punishable at last, then, this potent tyrant--but the attack must be made warily and cautiously. Accordingly, impartial bystanders, ignorant of the plot, began to observe that he was degenerating by degrees in the rank of his purchases, and at last becoming utterly reckless, buying, at the prices of the sublimest rarities, common works of ordinary literature to be found in every book-shop. Such was the result of judiciously drawing him on, by biddings for valueless books, on the part of those whom he had outbid in the objects of their desire. Auctioneers were surprised at the gradual change coming over the book-market, and a few fortunate people obtained considerable prices for articles they were told to expect nothing for. But this farce, of course, did not last long; and whether or not he found out that he had been beaten at his own weapons, the devouring monster disappeared as mysteriously as he had come. Reminiscences. Such incidents bring vividly before the eye the scenes in which they took place long long ago. If any one in his early youth has experienced some slight symptoms of the malady under discussion, which his constitution, through a tough struggle with the world, and a busy training in after life, has been enabled to throw off, he will yet look back with fond associations to the scenes of his dangerous indulgence. The auction-room is often the centre of fatal attraction towards it, just as the billiard-room and the _rouge-et-noir_ table are to excesses of another kind. There is that august tribunal over which at one time reigned Scott's genial friend Ballantyne, succeeded by the sententious Tait, himself a man of taste and a collector, and since presided over by the great Nisbet, whose hand has dropped the ensign of office even before the present lot has an opportunity of obtaining from it the crowning honour. I bow with deferential awe to the august tribunal before which so vast a mass of literature has changed hands, and where the future destinies of so many thousands--or, shall it be rather said, millions--of volumes have been decided, each carrying with it its own little train of suspense and triumph. More congenial, however, in my recollection, is that remote and dingy hall where rough Carfrae, like Thor, flourished his thundering hammer. There it was that one first marked, with a sort of sympathetic awe, the strange and varied influence of their peculiar maladies on the book-hunters of the last generation. There it was that one first handled those pretty little pets, the Elzevir classics, a sort of literary bantams, which are still dear to memory, and awaken old associations by their dwarfish ribbed backs like those of ponderous folios, and their exquisite, but now, alas! too minute type. The eyesight that could formerly peruse them with ease has suffered decay, but _they_ remain unchanged; and in this they are unlike to many other objects of early interest. Children, flowers, animals, scenery even, all have undergone mutation, but no perceptible shade of change has passed over these little reminders of old times. There it was that one first could comprehend how a tattered dirty fragment of a book once common might be worth a deal more than its weight in gold. There it was too, that, seduced by bad example, the present respected pastor of Ardsnischen purchased that beautiful Greek New Testament, by Jansen of Amsterdam, which he loved so, in the freshness of its acquisition, that he took it with him to church, and, turning up the text, handed it to a venerable woman beside him, after the fashion of an absorbed and absent student who was apt to forget whether he was reading Greek or English. The presiding genius of the place, with his strange accent, odd sayings, and angular motions, accompanied by good-natured grunts of grotesque wrath, became a sort of household figure. The dorsal breadth of pronunciation with which he would expose Mr Ivory's Erskine, used to produce a titter which he was always at a loss to understand. Though not the fashionable mart where all the thorough libraries in perfect condition went to be hammered off--though it was rather a place where miscellaneous collections were sold, and therefore bargains might be expected by those who knew what they were about--yet sometimes extraordinary and valuable collections of rare books came under his hammer, and created an access of more than common excitement among the denizens of the place. On one of these occasions a succession of valuable fragments of early English poetry brought prices so high and far beyond those of ordinary expensive books in the finest condition, that it seemed as if their imperfections were their merit; and the auctioneer, momentarily carried off with this feeling, when the high prices began to sink a little, remonstrated thus, "Going so low as thirty shillings, gentlemen,--this curious book--so low as thirty shillings--and _quite imperfect_!" Those who frequented this howf, being generally elderly men, have now nearly all departed. The thunderer's hammer, too, has long been silenced by the great quieter. One living memorial still exists of that scene--the genial and then youthful assistant, whose partiality for letters and literary pursuits made him often the monitor and kindly guide of the raw student, and who now, in a higher field, exercises a more important influence on the destinies of literature. I passed the spot the other day--it was not desolate and forsaken, with the moss growing on the hearthstone; on the contrary, it flared with many lights--a thronged gin-palace. When one heard the sounds that issued from the old familiar spot, the reflection not unnaturally occurred that, after all, there are worse pursuits in the world than book-hunting. Classification. Perhaps it would be a good practical distribution of the class of persons under examination, to divide them into private prowlers and auction-hunters. There are many other modes of classifying them, but none so general. They might be classified by the different sizes of books they affect--as folios, quartos, octavos, and duodecimos--but this would be neither an expressive nor a dignified classification. In enumerating the various orders to which Fitzpatrick Smart did _not_ belong, I have mentioned many of the species, but a great many more might be added. Some collectors lay themselves out for vellum-printed volumes almost solely. There are such not only among very old books, but among very new; for of a certain class of modern books it frequently happens that a copy or two may be printed on vellum, to catch the class whose weakness takes that direction. It may be cited as a signal instance of the freaks of book-collecting, that of all men in the world Junot, the hard-fighting soldier, had a vellum library--but so it was. It was sold in London for about £1400. "The crown octavos," says Dibdin, "especially of ancient classics, and a few favourite English authors, brought from four to six guineas. The first virtually solid article of any importance, or rather of the greatest importance, in the whole collection, was the matchless Didot Horace, of 1799, folio, containing the original drawings from which the exquisite copperplate vignettes were executed. This was purchased by the gallant Mr George Hibbert for £140. Nor was it in any respect an extravagant or even dear purchase." It now worthily adorns the library of Norton Hall. Some collectors may be styled Rubricists, being influenced by a sacred rage for books having the contents and marginal references printed in red ink. Some "go at" flowered capitals, others at broad margins. These have all a certain amount of magnificence in their tastes; but there are others again whose priceless collections are like the stock-in-trade of a wholesale ballad-singer, consisting of chap-books, as they are termed--the articles dealt in by pedlars and semi-mendicants for the past century or two. Some affect collections relating to the drama, and lay great store by heaps of play-bills arranged in volumes, and bound, perhaps, in costly russia. Of a more dignified grade are perhaps those who have lent themselves to the collection of the theses on which aspirants after university honours held their disputations or impugnments. Sometimes out of a great mass of rubbish of this kind the youthful production of some man who has afterwards become great turns up. Of these theses and similar tracts a German, Count Dietrich, collected some hundred and forty thousand, which are now in this country. Those collectors whose affections are invested in the devices or trade emblems of special favourites among the old printers must not be passed without a word of recognition. Men who have had the opportunity of rummaging among old libraries in their boyhood are the most likely to cultivate pets of this kind. There is a rich variety of choice in the luxuriantly floral Gothic, the cold serene classic, and that prolific style combining both, which a popular writer on the Æsthetics of Art has stigmatised by the term "sensual," ordering all his votaries to abjure it accordingly. To intellects not far enough advanced to acknowledge the influence of such terms, or to comprehend their application to what we should or should not like and admire, there is a fortunate element even in their deficiencies. They can admire the devices of the old printers from association with the boyish days when they were first noticed, from an absolute liking for their fantastic fancies, and possibly from an observation in some of them of the indications of the gradual development of artistic purity and beauty. In many of them in which the child has seen only an attractive little picture, the man has afterwards found a touch of poetic or religious thought. There is the hand pouring oil into a lamp of pure Etruscan shape, symbolical of the nutriment supplied to the intellectual flame. In another, the gardener carefully plants the seedlings which are to bear the fruit of knowledge to the coming generations; in another, the sun rising bright over the eastern sea signifies the dawn of the restoration of classical learning to the European nations. Other interpretations of the kind, called quaint conceits, can be read from these printers' devices. There is Gesner's Bibliotheca swarming with frogs and tadpoles like a quagmire in honour of its printer, a German Frog, latinised Christopherus Froshoverus. The _Quæ Extant_ of Varro, printed at Dort, are adorned with many lively cuts of bears and their good-humoured cubs, because the printer's name is Joannis Berewout. So the Aulus Gellius, printed by Gryphius of Lyons, more than a hundred years earlier, begins and ends with formidable effigies of griffins. The device of Michael and Phillip Lenoir is a jet-black shield, with an Ethiopian for crest, and Ethiopians for supporters; and Apiarius has a neat little cut representing a bear robbing a bee's nest in a hollow tree. Most instructive of them all, Ascensius has bequeathed to posterity the lively and accurate representation, down to every nail and screw, of the press in which the great works of the sixteenth century were printed, with the brawny pressman pulling his proof. Collectors there have been, not unimportant for number and zeal, whose mission it is to purchase books marked by peculiar mistakes or errors of the press. The celebrated Elzevir Cæsar of 1635 is known by this, that the number of the 149th page is misprinted 153. All that want this peculiar distinction are counterfeits. The little volume being, as Brunet says, "une des plus jolies et plus rares de la collection des Elsevier," gave a temptation to fraudulent imitators, who, as if by a providential arrangement for their detection, lapsed into accuracy at the critical figure. How common errors are in editions of the classics, is attested by the one or two editions which claim a sort of canonisation as immaculate--as, for instance, the Virgil of Didot, and the Horace of Foulis. A collector, with a taste for the inaccurate, might easily satiate it in the editions so attractive in their deceptive beauty of the great Birmingham printer Baskerville. The mere printers' blunders that have been committed upon editions of the Bible are reverenced in literary history; and one edition--the Vulgate issued under the authority of Sixtus V.--achieved immense value from its multitude of errors. The well-known story of the German printer's wife, who surreptitiously altered the passage importing that her husband should be her lord (Herr) so as to make him be her fool (Narr), needs confirmation. If such a misprint were found, it might quite naturally be attributed to carelessness. Valarian Flavigny, who had many controversies on his hand, brought on the most terrible of them all with Abraham Ecchellensis by a mere dropped letter. In the rebuke about the mote in thy brother's eye and the beam in thine own, the first letter in the Latin for eye was carelessly dropped out, and left a word which may be found occasionally in Martial's Epigrams, but not in books of purer Latin and purer ideas.[29] [Footnote 29: A traditional anecdote represents the Rev. William Thomson, a clergyman of the Church of Scotland, as having got into a scrape by a very indecorous alteration of a word in Scripture. A young divine, on his first public appearance, had to read the solemn passage in 1st Corinthians, "Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump." Thomson scratched the letter _c_ out of the word changed. The effect of the passage so mutilated can easily be tested. The person who could play such tricks was ill suited for his profession, and being relieved of its restraints, he found a more congenial sphere of life among the unsettled crew of men of letters in London, over whom Smollett had just ceased to reign. He did a deal of hard work, and the world owes him at least one good turn in his translation of Cunningham's Latin History of Britain from the Revolution to the Hanover Succession. The value of this work, in the minute light thrown by it on one of the most memorable periods of British history, is too little known. The following extract may give some notion of the curious and instructive nature of this neglected book. It describes the influences which were in favour of the French alliance, and against the Whigs, during Marlborough's campaign. "And now I shall take this opportunity to speak of the French wine-drinkers as truly and briefly as I can. On the first breaking out of the Confederate war, the merchants in England were prohibited from all commerce with France, and a heavy duty was laid upon French wine. This caused a grievous complaint among the topers, who have great interest in the Parliament, as if they had been poisoned by port wines. Mr Portman Seymour, who was a jovial companion, and indulged his appetites, but otherwise a good man; General Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough's brother, a man of courage, but a lover of wine; Mr Pereira, a Jew and smell-feast, and other hard drinkers, declared, that the want of French wine was not to be endured, and that they could hardly bear up under so great a calamity. These were joined by Dr Aldridge, who, though nicknamed the priest of Bacchus, was otherwise an excellent man, and adorned with all kinds of learning. Dr Ratcliffe, a physician of great reputation, who ascribed the cause of all diseases to the want of French wines, though he was very rich, and much addicted to wine, yet, being extremely covetous, bought the cheaper wines; but at the same time he imputed the badness of his wine to the war, and the difficulty of getting better. Therefore the Duke of Beaufort and the Earl of Scarsdale, two young noblemen of great interest among their acquaintance, who had it in their power to live at their ease in magnificence or luxury, merrily attributed all the doctor's complaints to his avarice. All those were also for peace rather than war. And all the bottle-companions, many physicians, and great numbers of the lawyers and inferior clergy, and, in fine, the loose women too, were united together in the faction against the Duke of Marlborough."--ii. 200.] Questions as to typographical blunders in editions of the classics are mixed up with larger critical inquiries into the purity of the ascertained text, and thus run in veins through the mighty strata of philological and critical controversy which, from the days of Poggio downwards, have continued to form that voluminous mass of learning which the outer world contemplates with silent awe. To some extent the same spirit of critical inquiry has penetrated into our own language. What we have of it clusters almost exclusively around the mighty name of Shakespeare. Shakespearian criticism is a branch of knowledge by itself. To record its triumphs--from that greatest one by which the senseless "Table of Greenfield," which interrupted the touching close of Falstaff's days, was replaced by "'a babbled of green fields"--would make a large book of itself. He who would undertake it, in a perfectly candid and impartial spirit, would give us, varied no doubt with much erudition and acuteness, a curious record of blundering ignorance and presumptuous conceit, the one so intermingling with the other that it would be often difficult to distinguish them.[30] [Footnote 30: Without venturing too near to this very turbulent arena, where hard words have lately been cast about with much reckless ferocity, I shall just offer one amended reading, because there is something in it quite peculiar, and characteristic of its literary birthplace beyond the Atlantic. The passage operated upon is the wild soliloquy, where Hamlet resolves to try the test of the play, and says-- "The devil hath power T' assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps, Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me." The amended reading stands-- "As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me too--damme."] The quantity of typographical errors exposed in those pages, where they are least to be expected, and are least excusable, opens up some curious considerations. It may surely be believed that, between the compositors who put the types together and the correctors of the press, the printing of the Bible has generally been executed with more than average care. Yet the editions of the sacred book have been the great mine of discovered printers' blunders. The inference from this, however, is not that blunders abound less in other literature, but that they are not worth finding there. The issuing of the true reading of the Scripture is of such momentous consequence, that a mistake is sure of exposure, like those minute incidents of evidence which come forth when a murder has been committed, but would never have left their privacy for the detection of a petty fraud. The value to literature of a pure Shakespearian text, has inspired the zeal of the detectives who work on this ground. Some casual detections have occurred in minor literature,--as, for instance, when Akenside's description of the Pantheon, which had been printed as "serenely great," was restored to "severely great." The reason, however, why such detections are not common in common books, is the rather humiliating one that they are not worth making. The specific weight of individual words is in them of so little influence, that one does as well as another. Instances could indeed be pointed out, where an incidental blunder has much improved a sentence, giving it the point which its author failed to achieve--as a scratch or an accidental splash of the brush sometimes supplies the painter with the ray or the cloud which the cunning of his hand cannot accomplish. Poetry in this way sometimes endures the most alarming oscillations without being in any way damaged, but, on the contrary, sometimes rather improved. I might refer to a signal instance of this, where, by some mysterious accident at press, the lines of a poem written in quatrains got their order inverted, so that the second and fourth of each quatrain changed places. This transposition was pronounced to operate a decided improvement on the spirit and originality of the piece,--an opinion in which, unfortunately, the author did not concur; nor could he appreciate the compliment of a critic, who remarked that the experiment tested the soundness of the lines, which could find their feet whatever way they were thrown about.[31] [Footnote 31: One curious service of printers' blunders, of a character quite distinct from their bibliological influence, is their use in detecting plagiarisms. It may seem strange that there should be any difficulty in critically determining the question, when the plagiarism is so close as to admit of this test; but there are pieces of very hard work in science, tables of reference, and the like, where, if two people go through the same work, they will come to the same conclusion. In such cases, the prior worker has sometimes identified his own by a blunder, as he would a stolen china vase by a crack. Peignot complains that some thirty or forty pages of his Dictionnaire Bibliographique were incorporated in the Siècles Littéraires de la France, "avec une exactitude si admirable, qu'on y a precieusement conservé toutes les fautes typographiques."] There have been, no doubt, cruel instances of printers' blunders in our own days, like the fate of the youthful poetess in the Fudge family:-- "When I talked of the dewdrops on freshly-blown roses, The nasty things printed it--freshly-blown noses." Suchlike was the fatality which suddenly dried up the tears of those who read a certain pathetic ode, in which the desolate widow was printed as "dissolute;" and the accident which destroyed a poetic reputation by making the "pale martyr in his sheet of fire" come forward with "his shirt on fire." So also a certain printer, whose solemn duty it was to have announced to the world that "intoxication is folly," whether actuated by simplicity of soul or by malignity, was unable to resist the faint amendment which announced the more genial doctrine that "intoxication is jolly."[32] [Footnote 32: See this and other cases in point set forth in an amusing article on "Literary Mishaps," in Hedderwick's Miscellany, part ii.] A solid scholar there was, who, had he been called to his account at a certain advanced period of his career, might have challenged all the world to say that he had ever used a false quantity, or committed an anomaly in syntax, or misspelt a foreign name, or blundered in a quotation from a Greek or Latin classic--to misquote an English author is a far lighter crime, but even to this he could have pleaded not guilty. He never made a mistake in a date, or left out a word in copying the title-page of a volume; nor did he ever, in affording an intelligent analysis of its contents, mistake the number of pages devoted to one head. As to the higher literary virtues, too, his sentences were all carefully balanced in a pair of logical and rhetorical scales of the most sensitive kind; and he never perpetrated the atrocity of ending a sentence with a monosyllable, or using the same word twice within the same five lines, choosing always some judicious method of circumlocution to obviate reiteration. Poor man! in the pride of his unspotted purity, he little knew what a humiliation fate had prepared for him. It happened to him to have to state how Theodore Beza, or some contemporary of his, went to sea in a Candian vessel. This statement, at the last moment, when the sheet was going through the press, caught the eye of an intelligent and judicious corrector, more conversant with shipping-lists than with the literature of the sixteenth century, who saw clearly what had been meant, and took upon himself, like a man who hated all pottering nonsense, to make the necessary correction without consulting the author. The consequence was, that people read with some surprise, under the authority of the paragon of accuracy, that Theodore Beza had gone to sea in a _Canadian_ vessel. The victim of this calamity had undergone minor literary trials, which he had borne with philosophical equanimity; as, for instance, when inconsiderate people, destitute of the organ of veneration, thoughtlessly asked him about the last new popular work, as if it were something that he had read or even heard of, and actually went so far in their contumelious disrespect as to speak to him about the productions of a certain Charles Dickens. The "Canadian vessel," however, was a more serious disaster, and was treated accordingly. A charitable friend broke his calamity to the author at a judicious moment, to prevent him from discovering it himself at an unsuitable time, with results the full extent of which no one could foresee. It was an affair of much anxiety among his friends, who made frequent inquiries as to how he bore himself in his affliction, and what continued to be the condition of his health, and especially of his spirits. And although he was a confirmed book-hunter, and not unconscious of the merits of the peculiar class of books now under consideration, it may be feared that it was no consolation to him to reflect that, some century or so hence, his books and himself would be known only by the curious blunder which made one of them worth the notice of the book-fanciers. Consequences from printers' blunders of a still more tragic character even than this, have been preserved--as for instance, the fate of Guidi the Italian poet, whose end is said to have been hastened by the misprints in his poetical paraphrase of the Homilies of his patron, Clement XI. An odd accident occurred to a well-known book lately published, called Men of the Time. It sometimes happens in a printing-office that some of the types, perhaps a printed line or two, fall out of "the forme." Those in whose hands the accident occurs generally try to put things to rights as well as they can, and may be very successful in restoring appearances with the most deplorable results to the sense. It happened thus in the instance referred to. A few lines dropping out of the Life of Robert Owen, the parallelogram Communist, were hustled, as the nearest place of refuge, into the biography of his closest alphabetical neighbour--"Oxford, Bishop of." The consequence is that the article begins as follows:-- "OXFORD, THE RIGHT REVEREND SAMUEL WILBERFORCE, BISHOP OF, was born in 1805. A more kind-hearted and truly benevolent man does not exist. A sceptic, as regards religious revelation, he is nevertheless an out-and-out believer in spirit movements." Whenever this blunder was discovered, the leaf was cancelled; but a few copies of the book had got into circulation, which some day or other may be very valuable. From errors of the press there is a natural transition to the class who incur the guilt of perpetrating them, and whose peculiar mental qualities impart to them their special characteristics. That mysterious body called compositors, through whose hands all literature passes, are reputed to be a placid and unimpressionable race of practical stoics, who do their work dutifully, without yielding to the intellectual influences represented by it. A clause of an Act of Parliament, with all its whereases, and be it enacteds, and hereby repealeds, creates, it is said, quite as much emotion in them as the most brilliant burst of the fashionable poet of the day. They will set you up a psalm or a blasphemous ditty with the same equanimity, not retaining in their minds any clear distinction between them. Your writing must be something very wonderful indeed, before they distinguish it from other "copy," except by the goodness or badness of the hand. A State paper which all the world is mad to know about, is quite safe in a printing-office; and, if report speak truly, they will set up what is here set down of them, without noting that it refers to themselves. It is said that this stoic indifference is a wonderful provision for the preservation of the purity of literature, and that, were compositors to think with the author under the "stick," they might make dire havoc. We are not to suppose, however, that they take less interest in, or are less observant of, the work of their hands than other workmen. The point of view, however, from which their observation is taken, is not exactly the same as that of their co-operator, the author whose writing they set up, nor is their notification of specialties of a kind which would always be felt by him as complimentary. The tremendous philippic of Junius Brutus against the scandalous and growing corruptions of the age, is remembered in the "chapel" solely because its fiery periods exhausted the largest font of italics possessed by the establishment. The exhaustive inquiry by a great metaphysician into the Quantification of the predicate, is solely associated with the characteristic fact that the press was stopped during the casting of an additional hundredweight of parentheses for its special use. A youthful poet I could recall, who, with a kind of exulting indignation, thought he had discovered a celebrated brother of the lyre appropriating his ewe lamb in a flagrant plagiarism. There was at least one man who had the opportunity of being acquainted with the productions of his unappreciated muse--the printer. To him, accordingly, he appealed for confirmation of his suspicions, demanding if he did not see in the two productions a similarity that in some places even approached identity. The referee turned over page after page with the scrupulous attention of one whose acuteness is on trial. After due deliberation he admitted that there was a very striking similarity, only it seemed to him that the other's brevier was a shade thinner in the hair-stroke than his own, and the small caps. would go a thought more to the pound; while as to the semicolons and marks of interrogation, they looked as if they came out of a different font altogether. It is pleasant to be remembered for something, and the present author has the assurance that these pages will be imprinted on the memory of the "chapel" by the decorated capitals and Gothic devices with which a better taste than his own has strewed them. The position, indeed, conceded to him in the book-hunting field through the influence of these becoming decorations has communicated to him something of the uneasiness of Juvenal's "Miserum est aliorum incubere famæ, Ne collapsa ruant subductis tecta columnis." And having so disburdened himself, he rejoices in the thought that whoever compliments him again on the taste and talent displayed in the printing and adorning of this volume, will only prove that he has not read it. Returning to compositors, and what they note and do not note, if the fresh author has happened to feel it a rather damping forecast of his reception by the public that those who have had the first and closest contact with his efforts are not in any way aroused by their remarkable originality, yet one who may have had opportunities of taking a wide view of the functions of the compositor will not wonder that, like the deaf adder, he systematically closes his ear to the voice of the charmer. That the uninitiated reader may form some practical conception of my meaning, I propose to set down a few items from the weekly contents of a compositor's "bill-book," slightly enlarging his brief entries with the view of rendering them the more intelligible. "1. A time job--viz., inserting, as per author's proof, 50 'hear hears' and 20 'great cheerings' in report of speech to be delivered by Alderman Noddles at the great meeting on the social system. "2. Picking out all the 'hear hears' and 'great cheerings' from said speech, in respect it was not permitted to be delivered, the meeting having dispersed when the alderman stood up; and breaking up the same into pages, with title, 'A plan for the immediate and total extirpation of intemperance by prohibiting the manufacture of bottles.' "3. A sheet of a volume of poems, titled 'Life thoughts by a Life thinker,' beginning-- "'Far I dipt beneath the surface, through the texture of the earth, Till my heart's triumphant musings dreamt the dream of that new birth, When the engineer's deep science through the mighty sphere shall probe, And the railway trains to Melbourne sweep the centre of the globe, And the electro-motive engine renders it no more absurd That a human being should be in two places like a bird.' "Item--Introduction, explaining the difficulties in the way of the poet's success, in an age devoted to forms and superficialities, by reason of his muscular originality, impulsive grasping at the infinite, and resolute disdain of popular and conventional models; but expressing opinion that, as he turns round on the pivot of his own individual idiosyncrasy, he will come out all right. "4. Advertisement by a disinterested draper, beginning, 'awful sacrifices,' and ending, 'early application necessary to prevent disappointment.' "5. Two sticks of prayer for a devotional work which has had an unexpected run, and is largely distributed over the office for an expeditious issue of a new edition. "6. Part of an accountant's report, containing 45 schemes for the ranking of the creditors on ten bankrupt estates, each of which has drawn accommodation bills on all the others. "7. Signature YY of 'A treatise on the form and material of the sickle used by the Welsh Druids in cutting the mistletoe,' being a series of quotations in Arabic, Hindoo, Greek, German, and Gaelic, cemented together by thin lines of English. This is a stock job which keeps the office going like a balance-wheel when there is nothing else specially pressing, and is rather popular, as it contains a good many ethnological and etymological tables, implying scheme-work, which the compositors who are adepts in that department contemplate with great satisfaction as they put it together." It is surely pleasant to suppose that the compositor has acquired the faculty of passing such dizzying whirls of heterogeneous elements without absorbing them all, and that, when his day's labour is over, he may find his own special intellectual food in his Milton or his Locke. In this view, his apathy to the literary matter passing through his hands may be contemplated as among the special beneficences in the providential order of things, like the faculty of healthy vitality to throw off morbid influences; and perhaps it has still closer analogy to that professional coolness which separates the surgeon from a nervous sympathy with the sufferings of those on whom he operates--a phenomenon which, though sometimes denounced as professional callousness, is one of the most beneficent specialties in the lot of mankind. In the several phases of the book-hunter, he whose peculiar glory it is to have his books illustrated--the Grangerite, as he is technically termed--must not be omitted. "Illustrating" a volume consists in inserting in or binding up with it portraits, landscapes, and other works of art bearing a reference to its contents. This is materially different from the other forms of the pursuit, in as far as the quarry hunted down is the raw material, the finished article being a result of domestic manufacture. The Illustrator is the very Ishmaelite of collectors--his hand is against every man, and every man's hand is against him. He destroys unknown quantities of books to supply portraits or other illustrations to a single volume of his own; and as it is not always known concerning any book that he has been at work on it, many a common book-buyer has cursed him on inspecting his own last bargain, and finding that it is deficient in an interesting portrait or two. Tales there are, fitted to make the blood run cold in the veins of the most sanguine book-hunter, about the devastations committed by those who are given over to this special pursuit. It is generally understood that they received the impulse which has rendered them an important sect, from the publication of Granger's Biographical History--hence their name of Grangerites. So it has happened that this industrious and respectable compiler is contemplated with mysterious awe as a sort of literary Attila or Gengis Khan, who has spread terror and ruin around him. In truth the illustrator, whether green-eyed or not, being a monster that doth make the meat he feeds on, is apt to become excited with his work, and to go on ever widening the circle of his purveyances, and opening new avenues toward the raw material on which he works. To show how widely such a person may levy contributions, I propose to take, not a whole volume, not even a whole page, but still a specific and distinguished piece of English literature, and describe the way in which a devotee of this peculiar practice would naturally proceed in illustrating it. The piece of literature to be illustrated is as follows:-- "How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour, And gather honey all the day From every opening flower!" The first thing to be done is to collect every engraved portrait of the author, Isaac Watts. The next, to get hold of any engravings of the house in which he was born, or houses in which he lived. Then will come all kinds of views of Southampton--of its Gothic gate, and its older than Gothic wall. Any scrap connected with the inauguration of the Watts statue must of course be scrupulously gathered. To go but a step beyond such commonplaces--there is a traditional story about the boyhood of Isaac which has been told as follows. He took precociously to rhyming: like Pope, he lisped in numbers, for the numbers came. It happened that this practice was very offensive to his father, a practical man, who, finding his admonitions useless, resolved to stop it in an effectual manner. He accordingly, after the practice of his profession--being a schoolmaster--assailed with a leathern thong, duly prepared, the cuticle of that portion of the body which has from time immemorial been devoted to such inflictions. Under torture, the divine songster abjured his propensity in the following very hopeful shape-- "Oh, father, do some pity take, And I will no more verses make." It is not likely that this simple domestic scene has been engraved either for the Divine Hymns, or the Improvement of the Mind. The illustrator will therefore require to get a picture of it for his own special use, and will add immensely to the value of his treasure, while he gives scope to the genius of a Cruikshank or a Doyle. We are yet, it will be observed, only on the threshold. We have next to illustrate the substance of the poetry. All kinds of engravings of bees Attic and other, and of bee-hives, will be appropriate, and will be followed by portraits of Huber and other great writers on bees, and views of Mount Hybla and other honey districts. Some Scripture prints illustrative of the history of Samson, who had to do with honey and bees, will be appropriate, as well as any illustrations of the fable of the Bear and the Bees, or of the Roman story of the _Sic vos non vobis_. A still more appropriate form of illustration may, however, be drawn upon by remembering that a periodical called The Bee was edited by Dr Anderson; and it is important to observe that the name was adopted in the very spirit which inspired Watts. In both instances the most respected of all winged insects was brought forward as the type of industry. Portraits, then, of Dr Anderson, and any engravings that can be connected with himself and his pursuits, will have their place in the collection. It will occur, perhaps, to the intelligent illustrator, that Dr Anderson was the grandfather of Sir James Outram, and he will thus have the satisfaction of opening his collection for all illustrations of the career of that distinguished officer. Having been aptly called the Bayard of the Indian service, the collector who has exhausted him and his services will be justified by the principles of the craft in following up the chase, and picking up any woodcuts or engravings referring to the death of the false Bourbon, or any other scene in the career of the knight without fear or reproach. Here, by a fortunate and interesting coincidence, through the Bourbons the collector gets at the swarms of bees which distinguish the insignia of royalty in France. When the illustrator comes to the last line, which invites him to add to what he has already collected a representation of "every opening flower," it is easy to see that he has indeed a rich garden of delights before him. In a classification of book-hunters, the aspirants after large-paper copies deserve special notice, were it only for the purpose of guarding against a common fallacy which confounds them with the lovers of tall copies. The difference is fundamental, large-paper copies being created by system, while tall copies are merely the creatures of accident; and Dibdin bestows due castigation in a celebrated instance in which a mere tall copy had, whether from ignorance or design, been spoken of as a large-paper copy. This high development of the desirable book is the result of an arrangement to print so many copies of a volume on paper of larger size than that of the bulk of the impression. The tall copy is the result of careful cutting by the binder, or of no cutting at all. In this primitive shape a book has separate charms for a distinct class of collectors who esteem rough edges, and are willing, for the sake of this excellence, to endure the martyrdom of consulting books in that condition.[33] [Footnote 33: "But devious oft, from ev'ry classic muse, The keen collector meaner paths will choose: And first the margin's breadth his soul employs, Pure, snowy, broad, the type of nobler joys. In vain might Homer roll the tide of song, Or Horace smile, or Tully charm the throng; If, crost by Pallas' ire, the trenchant blade, Or too oblique, or near the edge, invade, The Bibliomane exclaims, with haggard eye, 'No margin!'--turns in haste, and scorns to buy." --Ferriar's Bibliomania, v. 34-43.] The historian of the private libraries of New York makes us acquainted with a sect well known in the actually sporting world, but not heretofore familiar in the bibliological. Here is a description of the Waltonian library of the Reverend Dr Bethune. In the sunshine he is a practical angler, and-- "During the darker seasons of the year, when forbidden the actual use of his rod, our friend has occupied himself with excursions through sale catalogues, fishing out from their dingy pages whatever tends to honour his favourite author or favourite art, so that his spoils now number nearly five hundred volumes, of all sizes and dates. Pains have been taken to have not only copies of the works included in the list, but also the several editions; and when it is of a work mentioned by Walton, an edition which the good old man himself may have seen. Thus the collection has all the editions of Walton, Cotton, and Venables in existence, and, with few exceptions, all the works referred to by Walton, or which tend to illustrate his favourite rambles by the Lea or the Dove. Every scrap of Walton's writing, and every compliment paid to him, have been carefully gathered and garnered up, with prints and autographs and some precious manuscripts. Nor does the department end here, but embraces most of the older and many of the modern writers on ichthyology and angling." The Prowler and the Auction-Haunter. These incidental divisions are too numerous and complex for a proper classification of book-hunters, and I am inclined to go back to the idea that their most effective and comprehensive division is into the private prowler and the auction-haunter. The difference between these is something like, in the sporting world, that between the stalker and the hunter proper. Each function has its merits, and calls for its special qualities and sacrifices. The one demands placidity, patience, caution, plausibility, and unwearied industry--such attributes as those which have been already set forth in the words of the Antiquary. The auction-room, on the other hand, calls forth courage, promptness, and the spirit of adventure. There is wild work sometimes there, and men find themselves carried off by enthusiasm and competition towards pecuniary sacrifices which at the threshold of the temple they had solemnly vowed to themselves to eschew. But such sacrifices are the tribute paid to the absorbing interest of the pursuit, and are looked upon in their own peculiar circle as tending to the immortal honour of those who make them. This field of prowess has, it is said, undergone a prejudicial change in these days, the biddings being nearly all by dealers, while gentlemen-collectors are gradually moving out of the field. In old days one might have reaped for himself, by bold and emphatic biddings at a few auctions, a niche in that temple of fame, of which the presiding deity is Dr Frognal Dibdin--a name familiarly abbreviated into that of Foggy Dibdin. His descriptions of auction contests are perhaps the best and most readable portions of his tremendously overdone books. Conspicuous beyond all others stands forth the sale of the Roxburghe library, perhaps the most eminent contest of that kind on record. There were of it some ten thousand separate "lots," as auctioneers call them, and almost every one of them was a book of rank and mark in the eyes of the collecting community, and had been, with special pains and care and anxious exertion, drawn into the vortex of that collection. Although it was created by a Duke, yet it has been rumoured that most of the books had been bargains, and that the noble collector drew largely on the spirit of patient perseverance and enlightened sagacity for which Monkbarns claims credit. The great passion and pursuit of his life having been of so peculiar a character--he was almost as zealous a hunter of deer and wild swans, by the way, as of books, but this was not considered in the least peculiar--it was necessary to find some strange influencing motive for his conduct; so it has been said that it arose from his having been crossed in love in his early youth. Such crosses, in general, arise from the beloved one dying, or proving faithless and becoming the wife of another. It was, however, the peculiarity of the Duke's misfortune, that it arose out of the illustrious marriage of the sister of his elected. She was the eldest daughter of the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Though purchased by a sacrifice of regal rank, yet there would be many countervailing advantages in the position of an affluent British Duchess which might reconcile a young lady, even of so illustrious a descent, to the sacrifice, had it not happened that Lord Bute and the Princess of Wales selected her younger sister to be the wife of George III. and the Queen of Great Britain, long known as the good Queen Charlotte. Then there arose, it seems, the necessity, as a matter of state and political etiquette, that the elder sister should abandon the alliance with a British subject. So, at all events, goes the story of the origin of the Duke's bibliomania; and it is supposed to have been in the thoughts of Sir Walter Scott, when he said of him that "youthful misfortunes, of a kind against which neither wealth nor rank possess a talisman, cast an early shade of gloom over his prospects, and gave to one splendidly endowed with the means of enjoying society that degree of reserved melancholy which prefers retirement to the splendid scenes of gaiety." Dibdin, with more specific precision, after rambling over the house where the great auction sale occurred, as inquisitive people are apt to do, tells us of the solitary room occupied by the Duke, close to his library, in which he slept and died: "all his migrations," says the bibliographer, "were confined to these two rooms. When Mr Nichol showed me the very bed on which this bibliomaniacal Duke had expired, I felt--as I trust I ought to have felt on the occasion." Scott attributed to an incidental occurrence at his father's table the direction given to the great pursuit of his life. "Lord Oxford and Lord Sunderland, both famous collectors of the time, dined one day with the second Duke of Roxburghe, when their conversation happened to turn upon the _editio princeps_ of Boccaccio, printed in Venice in 1474, and so rare that its very existence was doubted of." It so happened that the Duke remembered this volume having been offered to him for £100, and he believed he could still trace and secure it: he did so, and laid it before his admiring friends at a subsequent sitting. "His son, then Marquess of Bowmont, never forgot the little scene upon this occasion, and used to ascribe to it the strong passion which he ever afterwards felt for rare books and editions, and which rendered him one of the most assiduous and judicious collectors that ever formed a sumptuous library."[34] And this same Boccaccio was the point of attack which formed the climax in the great contest of the Roxburghe roup, as the Duke's fellow-countrymen called it. I am not aware that any of the English bibliographers have alluded to any special cause for this volume's extreme rarity. Peignot attributes it to a sermon preached by the Italian pulpit orator Savonarola, on the 8th of February 1497, against indecorous books, in consequence of which the inhabitants of Florence made a bonfire of their Boccaccios,--an explanation which every one who pleases is at liberty to believe.[35] [Footnote 34: Article on Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, in the 21st vol. of Miscellaneous Prose Works.] [Footnote 35: Predicatoriana, p. 23] The historian of the contest terms it "the Waterloo among book-battles," whereto "many a knight came far and wide from his retirement, and many an unfledged combatant left his father's castle to partake of the glory of such a contest." He also tells us that the honour of the first effective shot was due to a house in the trade--Messrs Payne and Foss--by whom "the Aldine Greek Bible was killed off the first in the contest. It produced the sum of £4, 14s. 6d. Thus measuredly, and guardedly, and even fearfully, did this tremendous battle begin." The earliest brilliant affair seems to have come off when Lord Spencer bought two Caxtons for £245, a feat of which the closing scene is recorded, with a touching simplicity, in these terms:--"His Lordship put each volume under his coat, and walked home with them in all the flush of victory and consciousness of triumph." As every one does not possess a copy of the three costly volumes of which the Bibliographical Decameron consists--and, further, as many a one so fortunate as to possess them has not had patience and perseverance enough to penetrate to the middle of the third volume, where the most readable part is to be found--a characteristic extract, describing the heat of the contest, may not be unwelcome:-- "For two-and-forty successive days--with the exception only of Sundays--were the voice and hammer of Mr Evans heard with equal efficacy in the dining-room of the late Duke, which had been appropriated to the vendition of the books; and within that same space (some thirty-five feet by twenty) were such deeds of valour performed, and such feats of book-heroism achieved, as had never been previously beheld, and of which the like will probably never be seen again. The shouts of the victors and the groans of the vanquished stunned and appalled you as you entered. The striving and press, both of idle spectators and determined bidders, was unprecedented. A sprinkling of Caxtons and De Wordes marked the first day, and these were obtained at high, but, comparatively with the subsequent sums given, moderate prices. Theology, jurisprudence, philosophy, and philology chiefly marked the earlier days of this tremendous contest; and occasionally during these days, there was much stirring up of courage, and many hard and heavy blows were interchanged; and the combatants may be said to have completely wallowed themselves in the conflict. At length came poetry, Latin, Italian, and French: a steady fight yet continued to be fought; victory seemed to hang in doubtful scales--sometimes on the one, sometimes on the other side of Mr Evans, who preserved throughout (as it was his bounden duty to preserve) a uniform, impartial, and steady course; and who may be said on that occasion, if not 'to have rode the whirlwind,' at least to have 'directed the storm.'" But the dignity and power of the historian's narrative cannot be fully appreciated until we find him in the midst of the climax of the contest--the battle, which gradually merged into a single combat, for the possession of the Venetian Boccaccio. According to the established historical practice, we have in the first place a statement of the position taken up by the respective "forces." "At length the moment of sale arrived. Evans prefaced the putting-up of the article by an appropriate oration, in which he expatiated on its extreme rarity, and concluding by informing the company of the regret, and even anguish of heart, expressed by Mr Van Praet that such a treasure was not to be found in the Imperial collection at Paris. Silence followed the address of Mr Evans. On his right hand, leaning against the wall, stood Earl Spencer; a little lower down, and standing at right angles with his Lordship, appeared the Marquess of Bland-ford. Lord Althorp stood a little backward, to the right of his father, Earl Spencer." The first movement of the forces gives the historian an opportunity of dropping a withering sneer at an unfortunate man, so provincial in his notions as to suppose that a hundred pounds or two would be of any avail in such a contest. "The honour of firing the first shot was due to a gentleman of Shropshire, unused to this species of warfare, and who seemed to recoil from the reverberation of the report himself had made. 'One hundred guineas,' he exclaimed. Again a pause ensued; but anon the biddings rose rapidly to five hundred guineas. Hitherto, however, it was evident that the firing was but masked and desultory. At length all random shots ceased, and the champions before named stood gallantly up to each other, resolving not to flinch from a trial of their respective strengths. _A thousand guineas_ were bid by Earl Spencer--to which the Marquess added _ten_. You might have heard a pin drop. All eyes were turned--all breathing wellnigh stopped--every sword was put home within its scabbard--and not a piece of steel was seen to move or to glitter except that which each of these champions brandished in his valorous hand." But even this exciting sort of narrative will tire one when it goes on page after page, so that we must take a leap to the conclusion. "Two thousand two hundred and fifty pounds," said Lord Spencer. "The spectators were now absolutely electrified. The Marquess quietly adds his usual _ten_" and so there an end. "Mr Evans, ere his hammer fell, made a short pause--and indeed, as if by something preternatural, the ebony instrument itself seemed to be charmed or suspended in the mid air. However, at last down dropped the hammer." Such a result naturally created excitement beyond the book-collectors' circle, for here was an actual stroke of trade in which a profit of more than two thousand per cent had been netted. It is easy to believe in Dibdin's statement of the crowds of people who imagined they were possessors of the identical Venetian Boccaccio, and the still larger number who wanted to do a stroke of business with some old volume, endowed with the same rarity and the same or greater intrinsic value. The general excitement created by the dispersal of the Roxburghe collection proved an epoch in literary history, by the establishment of the Roxburghe Club, followed by a series of others, the history of which has to be told farther on. Of the great book-sales that have been commemorated, it is curious to observe how seldom they embrace ancestral libraries accumulated in old houses from generation to generation, and how generally they mark the short-lived duration of the accumulations of some collector freshly deposited. One remarkable exception to this was in the Gordonstoun library, sold in 1816. It was begun by Sir Robert Gordon, a Morayshire laird of the time of the great civil wars of the seventeenth century. He was the author of the History of the Earldom of Sutherland, and a man of great political as well as literary account. He laid by heaps of the pamphlets, placards, and other documents of his stormy period, and thus many a valuable morsel, which had otherwise disappeared from the world, left a representative in the Gordonstoun collection. It was increased by a later Sir Robert, who had the reputation of being a wizard. He belonged to one of those terrible clubs from which Satan is entitled to take a victim annually; but when Gordon's turn came, he managed to get off with merely the loss of his shadow; and many a Morayshire peasant has testified to having seen him riding forth on a sunny day, the shadow of his horse visible, with those of his spurs and his whip, but his body offering no impediment to the rays of the sun. He enriched the library with books on necromancy, demonology, and alchemy. The largest book-sale probably that ever was in the world, was that of Heber's collection in 1834. There are often rash estimates made of the size of libraries, but those who have stated the number of his books in six figures seem justified when one looks at the catalogue of the sale, bound up in five thick octavo volumes. For results so magnificent, Richard Heber's library had but a small beginning, according to the memoir of him in the Gentleman's Magazine, where it is said, that "having one day accidentally met with a little volume called The Vallie of Varietie, by Henry Peacham, he took it to the late Mr Bindley of the Stamp-office, the celebrated collector, and asked him if this was not a curious book. Mr Bindley, after looking at it, answered, 'Yes--not very--but rather a curious book.'" This faint morsel of encouragement was, it seems, sufficient to start him in his terrible career, and the trifle becomes important as a solemn illustration of the _obsta principiis_. His labours, and even his perils, were on a par with those of any veteran commander who has led armies and fought battles during the great part of a long life. He would set off on a journey of several hundred miles any day in search of a book not in his collection. Sucking in from all around him whatever books were afloat, he of course soon exhausted the ordinary market; and to find a book obtainable which he did not already possess, was an event to be looked to with the keenest anxiety, and a chance to be seized with promptitude, courage, and decision. At last, however, he could not supply the cravings of his appetite without recourse to duplicates, and far more than duplicates. His friend Dibdin said of him, "He has now and then an ungovernable passion to possess more copies of a book than there were ever parties to a deed or stamina to a plant; and therefore I cannot call him a duplicate or a triplicate collector." He satisfied his own conscience by adopting a creed, which he enounced thus: "Why, you see, sir, no man can comfortably do without three copies of a book. One he must have for a show copy, and he will probably keep it at his country-house; another he will require for his own use and reference; and unless he is inclined to part with this, which is very inconvenient, or risk the injury of his best copy, he must needs have a third at the service of his friends." This last necessity is the key-note to Heber's popularity: he was a liberal and kindly man, and though, like Wolsey, he was unsatisfied in getting, yet, like him, in bestowing he was most princely. Many scholars and authors obtained the raw material for their labours from his transcendent stores. These, indeed, might be said less to be personal to himself than to be a feature in the literary geography of Europe. "Some years ago," says the writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, "he built a new library at his house at Hodnet, which is said to be full. His residence at Pimlico, where he died, is filled, like Magliabechi's at Florence, with books, from the top to the bottom--every chair, every table, every passage containing piles of erudition. He had another house in York Street, leading to Great James's Street, Westminster, laden from the ground-floor to the garret with curious books. He had a library in the High Street, Oxford, an immense library at Paris, another at Antwerp, another at Brussels, another at Ghent, and at other places in the Low Countries and in Germany." [Illustration] _PART II.--HIS FUNCTIONS._ The Hobby. Having devoted the preceding pages to the diagnosis of the book-hunter's condition, or, in other words, to the different shapes which the phenomena peculiar to it assume, I now propose to offer some account of his place in the dispensations of Providence, which will probably show that he is not altogether a mischievous or a merely useless member of the human family, but does in reality, however unconsciously to himself, minister in his own peculiar way to the service both of himself and others. This is to be a methodical discourse, and therefore to be divided and subdivided, insomuch that, taking in the first place his services to himself, this branch shall be subdivided into the advantages which are purely material and those which are properly intellectual. And, first, of material advantages. Holding it to be the inevitable doom of fallen man to inherit some frailty or failing, it would be difficult, had he a Pandora's box-ful to pick and choose among, to find one less dangerous or offensive. As the judicious physician informs the patient suffering under some cutaneous or other external torture, that the poison lay deep in his constitution--that it must have worked in some shape--and well it is that it has taken one so innocuous--so may even the book-hunter be congratulated on having taken the innate moral malady of all the race in a very gentle and rather a salubrious form. To pass over gambling, tippling, and other practices which cannot be easily spoken of in good society, let us look to the other shapes in which man lets himself out--for instance to horse-racing, hunting, photography, shooting, fishing, cigars, dog-fancying, dog-fighting, the ring, the cockpit, phrenology, revivalism, socialism; which of these contains so small a balance of evil, counting of course that the amount of pleasure conferred is equal--for it is only on the datum that the book-hunter has as much satisfaction from his pursuit as the fox-hunter, the photographer, and so on, has in his, that a fair comparison can be struck? These pursuits, one and all, leave little or nothing that is valuable behind them, except, it may be, that some of them are conducive to health, by giving exercise to the body and a genial excitement to the mind; but every hobby gives the latter, and the former may be easily obtained in some other shape. They leave little or nothing behind--even the photographer's portfolio will bring scarcely anything under the hammer after the death of him whose solace and pursuit it had been, should the positives remain visible, which may be doubted. And as to the other enumerated pursuits, some of them, as we all know, are immensely costly, all unproductive as they are. But the book-hunter may possibly leave a little fortune behind him. His hobby, in fact, merges into an investment. This is the light in which a celebrated Quaker collector of paintings put his conduct, when it was questioned by the brethren, in virtue of that right to admonish one another concerning the errors of their ways, which makes them so chary in employing domestic servants of their own persuasion. "What had the brother paid for that bauble [a picture by Wouvermans], for instance?" "Well, £300." "Was not that then an awful wasting of his substance on vanities?" "No. He had been offered £900 for it. If any of the Friends was prepared to offer him a better investment of his money than one that could be realised at a profit of 200 per cent, he was ready to alter the existing disposal of his capital." It is true that amateur purchasers do not, in the long-run, make a profit, though an occasional bargain may pass through their hands. It is not maintained that, in the general case, the libraries of collectors would be sold for more than they cost, or even for nearly so much; but they are always worth something, which is more than can be said of the residue of other hobbies and pursuits. Nay, farther; the scholarly collector of books is not like the ordinary helpless amateur; for although, doubtless, nothing will rival the dealer's instinct for knowing the money-value of an article, though he may know nothing else about it, yet there is often a subtle depth in the collector's educated knowledge which the other cannot match, and bargains may be obtained off the counters of the most acute. A small sprinkling of these--even the chance of them--excites him, like the angler's bites and rises, and gives its zest to his pursuit. It is the reward of his patience, his exertion, and his skill, after the manner in which Monkbarns has so well spoken; and it is certain that, in many instances, a collector's library has sold for more than it cost him. No doubt, a man may ruin himself by purchasing costly books, as by indulgence in any other costly luxury, but the chances of calamity are comparatively small in this pursuit. A thousand pounds will go a great way in book-collecting, if the collector be true to the traditions of his pursuit, such as they are to be hereafter expounded. There has been one instance, doubtless, in the records of bibliomania, of two thousand pounds having been given for one book. But how many instances far more flagrant could be found in picture-buying? Look around upon the world and see how many men are the victims of libraries, and compare them with those whom the stud, the kennel, and the preserve have brought to the Gazette. Find out, too, anywhere, if you can, the instance in which the money scattered in these forms comes back again, and brings with it a large profit, as the expenditure of the Duke of Roxburghe did when his library was sold. But it is necessary to arrest this train of argument, lest its tenor might be misunderstood. The mercenary spirit must not be admitted to a share in the enjoyments of the book-hunter. If, after he has taken his last survey of his treasures, and spent his last hour in that quiet library, where he has ever found his chief solace against the wear and worry of the world, the book-hunter has been removed to his final place of rest, and it is then discovered that the circumstances of the family require his treasures to be dispersed,--if then the result should take the unexpected shape that his pursuit has not been so ruinously costly after all--nay, that his expenditure has actually fructified--it is well. But if the book-hunter allow money-making--even for those he is to leave behind--to be combined with his pursuit, it loses its fresh relish, its exhilarating influence, and becomes the source of wretched cares and paltry anxieties. Where money is the object, let a man speculate or become a miser--a very enviable condition to him who has the saving grace to achieve it, if we hold with Byron that the accumulation of money is the only passion that never cloys. Let not the collector, therefore, ever, unless in some urgent and necessary circumstances, part with any of his treasures. Let him not even have recourse to that practice called barter, which political philosophers tell us is the universal resource of mankind preparatory to the invention of money as a circulating medium and means of exchange. Let him confine all his transactions in the market to purchasing only. No good ever comes of gentlemen amateurs buying and selling. They will either be systematic losers, or they will acquire shabby, questionable habits, from which the professional dealers--on whom, perhaps, they look down--are exempt. There are two trades renowned for the quackery and the imposition with which they are habitually stained--the trade in horses and the trade in old pictures; and these have, I verily believe, earned their evil reputation chiefly from this, that they are trades in which gentlemen of independent fortune and considerable position are in the habit of embarking. The result is not so unaccountable as it might seem. The professional dealer, however smart he may be, takes a sounder estimate of any individual transaction than the amateur. It is his object, not so much to do any single stroke of trade very successfully, as to deal acceptably with the public, and make his money in the long-run. Hence he does not place an undue estimate on the special article he is to dispose of, but will let it go at a loss, if that is likely to prove the most beneficial course for his trade at large. He has no special attachment to any of the articles in which he deals, and no blindly exaggerated appreciation of their merits and value. They come and go in an equable stream, and the cargo of yesterday is sent abroad to the world with the same methodical indifference with which that of to-day is unshipped. It is otherwise with the amateur. He feels towards the article he is to part with all the prejudiced attachment, and all the consequent over-estimate, of a possessor. Hence he and the market take incompatible views as to value, and he is apt to become unscrupulous in his efforts to do justice to himself. Let the single-minded and zealous collector then turn the natural propensity to over-estimate one's own into its proper and legitimate channel. Let him guard his treasures as things too sacred for commerce, and say, _Procul, o procul este, profani_, to all who may attempt by bribery and corruption to drag them from their legitimate shelves. If, in any weak moment, he yield to mercenary temptation, he will be for ever mourning after the departed unit of his treasure--the lost sheep of his flock. If it seems to be in the decrees of fate that all his gatherings are to be dispersed abroad after he is gone to his rest, let him, at all events, retain the reliance that on them, as on other things beloved, he may have his last look; there will be many changes after that, and this will be among them. Nor, in his final reflections on his conduct to himself and to those he is to leave, will he be disturbed by the thought that the hobby which was his enjoyment has been in any wise the more costly to him that he has not made it a means of mercenary money-getting.[36] [Footnote 36: Atticus was under the scandal of having disposed of his books, and Cicero sometimes hints to him that he might let more of them go his way. In truth, Atticus carried this so far, however, that he seems to have been a sort of dealer, and the earliest instance of a capitalist publisher. He had slaves whom he occupied in copying, and was in fact much in the position of a rich Virginian or Carolinian, who should find that the most profitable investment for his stock of slaves is a printing and publishing establishment.] The Desultory Reader or Bohemian of Literature. Having so put in a plea for this pursuit, as about the least costly foible to which those who can afford to indulge in foibles can devote themselves, one might descant on certain auxiliary advantages--as, that it is not apt to bring its votaries into low company; that it offends no one, and is not likely to foster actions of damages for nuisance, trespass, or assault, and the like. But rather let us turn our attention to the intellectual advantages accompanying the pursuit, since the proper function of books is in the general case associated with intellectual culture and occupation. It would seem that, according to a received prejudice or opinion, there is one exception to this general connection, in the case of the possessors of libraries, who are under a vehement suspicion of not reading their books. Well, perhaps it is true in the sense in which those who utter the taunt understand the reading of a book. That one should possess no books beyond his power of perusal--that he should buy no faster than as he can read straight through what he has already bought--is a supposition alike preposterous and unreasonable. "Surely you have far more books than you can read," is sometimes the inane remark of the barbarian who gets his books, volume by volume, from some circulating library or reading club, and reads them all through, one after the other, with a dreary dutifulness, that he may be sure that he has got the value of his money. It is true that there are some books--as Homer, Virgil, Horace, Milton, Shakespeare, and Scott--which every man should read who has the opportunity--should read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest. To neglect the opportunity of becoming familiar with them is deliberately to sacrifice the position in the social scale which an ordinary education enables its possessor to reach. But is one next to read through the sixty and odd folio volumes of the Bollandist Lives of the Saints, and the new edition of the Byzantine historians, and the State Trials, and the Encyclopædia Britannica, and Moreri, and the Statutes at large, and the Gentleman's Magazine from the beginning, each separately, and in succession? Such a course of reading would certainly do a good deal towards weakening the mind, if it did not create absolute insanity. But in all these just named, even in the Statutes at large, and in thousands upon thousands of other books, there is precious honey to be gathered by the literary busy bee, who passes on from flower to flower. In fact, "a course of reading," as it is sometimes called, is a course of regimen for dwarfing the mind, like the drugs which dog-breeders give to King Charles spaniels to keep them small. Within the span of life allotted to man there is but a certain number of books that it is practicable to read through, and it is not possible to make a selection that will not, in a manner, wall in the mind from a free expansion over the republic of letters. The being chained, as it were, to one intellect in the perusal straight on of any large book, is a sort of mental slavery superinducing imbecility. Even Gibbon's Decline and Fall, luminous and comprehensive as its philosophy is, and rapid and brilliant the narrative, will become deleterious mental food if consumed straight through without variety. It will be well to relieve it occasionally with a little Boston's Fourfold State, or Hervey's Meditations, or Sturm's Reflections for Every Day in the Year, or Don Juan, or Ward's History of Stoke-upon-Trent. Isaac D'Israeli says, "Mr Maurice, in his animated memoirs, has recently acquainted us with a fact which may be deemed important in the life of a literary man. He tells us, 'We have been just informed that Sir William Jones _invariably_ read through every year the works of Cicero.'" What a task! one would be curious to know whether he felt it less heavy in the twelve duodecimos of Elzevir, or the nine quartos of the Geneva edition. Did he take to it doggedly, as Dr Johnson says, and read straight through according to the editor's arrangement, or did he pick out the plums and take the dismal work afterwards? For the first year or two of his task, he is not to be pitied perhaps about the Offices, or the Dialogue on Friendship, or Scipio's Dream, or even the capital speeches against Verres and Catiline; but those tiresome Letters, and the Tusculan Questions, and the De Natura! It is a pity he did not live till Angelo Maï found the De Republica. What disappointed every one else might perhaps have commanded the admiration of the great Orientalist. But here follows, on the same authority, a more wonderful performance still. "The famous Bourdaloue reperused every year St Paul, St Chrysostom, and Cicero."[37] The sacred author makes but a slight addition to the bulk, but the works of St Chrysostom are entombed in eleven folios. Bourdaloue died at the age of seventy-two; and if he began his task at the age of twenty-two, he must have done it over fifty times. It requires nerves of more than ordinary strength to contemplate such a statement with equanimity. The tortures of the classic Hades, and the disgusting inflictions courted by the anchorites of old, and the Brahmins of later times, do not approach the horrors of such an act of self-torture. [Footnote 37: Curiosities of Literature, iii. 339.] Of course any one ambitious of enlightening the world on either the political or the literary history of Rome at the commencement of the empire, must be as thoroughly acquainted with every word of Cicero as the writer of the Times leader on a critical debate is with the newly-delivered speeches. The more fortunate vagabond reader, too, lounging about among the Letters, will open many little veins of curious contemporary history and biography, which he can follow up in Tacitus, Sallust, Cæsar, and the contemporary poets. Both are utterly different from the stated-task reader, who has come under a vow to work so many hours or get through so many pages in a given time. _They_ are drawn by their occupation, whether work or play; _he_ drives himself to his. All such work is infliction, varying from the highest point of martyrdom down to tasteless drudgery; and it is as profitless as other supererogatory inflictions, since the task-reader comes to look at his words without following out what they suggest, or even absorbing their grammatical sense, much as the stupid ascetics of old went through their penitential readings, or as their representatives of the present day, chiefly of the female sex, read "screeds of good books," which they have not "the presumption" to understand. The literary Bohemian is sometimes to be pitied when his facility of character exposes him to have a modification of this infliction forced upon him. This will occur when he happens to be living in a house frequented by "a good reader," who solemnly devotes certain hours to the reading of passages from the English or French classics for the benefit of the company, and becomes the mortal enemy of every guest who absents himself from the torturing performance. As to collectors, it is quite true that they do not in general read their books successively straight through, and the practice of desultory reading, as it is sometimes termed, must be treated as part of their case, and if a failing, one cognate with their habit of collecting. They are notoriously addicted to the practice of standing arrested on some round of a ladder, where, having mounted up for some certain book, they have by wayward chance fallen upon another, in which, at the first opening, has come up a passage which fascinates the finder as the eye of the Ancient Mariner fascinated the wedding-guest, and compels him to stand there poised on his uneasy perch and read. Peradventure the matter so perused suggests another passage in some other volume which it will be satisfactory and interesting to find, and so another and another search is made, while the hours pass by unnoticed, and the day seems all too short for the pursuit which is a luxury and an enjoyment, at the same time that it fills the mind with varied knowledge and wisdom. The fact is that the book-hunter, if he be genuine, and have his heart in his pursuit, is also a reader and a scholar. Though he may be more or less peculiar, and even eccentric, in his style of reading, there is a necessary intellectual thread of connection running through the objects of his search which predicates some acquaintance with the contents of the accumulating volumes. Even although he profess a devotion to mere external features--the style of binding, the cut or uncut leaves, the presence or the absence of the gilding--yet the department in literature holds more or less connection with this outward sign. He who has a passion for old editions of the classics in vellum bindings--Stephenses or Aldines--will not be put off with a copy of Robinson Crusoe or the Ready Reckoner, bound to match and range with the contents of his shelves. Those who so vehemently affect some external peculiarity are the eccentric exceptions; yet even they have some consideration for the contents of a book as well as for its coat. The Collector and the Scholar. Either the possession, or, in some other shape, access to a far larger collection of books than can be read through in a lifetime, is in fact an absolute condition of intellectual culture and expansion. The library is the great intellectual stratification in which the literary investigator works--examining its external features, or perhaps driving a shaft through its various layers--passing over this stratum as not immediate to his purpose, examining that other with the minute attention of microscopic investigation. The geologist, the botanist, and the zoologist, are not content to receive one specimen after another into their homes, to be thoroughly and separately examined, each in succession, as novel-readers go through the volumes of a circulating library at twopence a-night--they have all the world of nature before them, and examine as their scientific instincts or their fancies suggest. For all inquirers, like pointers, have a sort of instinct, sharpened by training and practice, the power and acuteness of which astonish the unlearned. "Reading with the fingers," as Basnage said of Bayle--turning the pages rapidly over and alighting on the exact spot where the thing wanted is to be found--is far from a superficial faculty, as some deem it to be,--it is the thoroughest test of active scholarship. It was what enabled Bayle to collect so many flowers of literature, all so interesting, and yet all found in corners so distant and obscure. In fact, there are subtle dexterities, acquired by sagacious experience in searching for valuable little trinkets in great libraries, just as in other pursuits. A great deal of that appearance of dry drudgery which excites the pitying amazement of the bystander is nimbly evaded. People acquire a sort of instinct, picking the valuables out of the useless verbiage, or the passages repeated from former authors. It is soon found what a great deal of literature has been the mere "pouring out of one bottle into another," as the Anatomist of melancholy terms it. There are those terrible folios of the scholastic divines, the civilians, and the canonists, their majestic stream of central print overflowing into rivulets of marginal notes sedgy with citations. Compared with these, all the intellectual efforts of our recent degenerate days seem the work of pigmies; and for any of us even to profess to read all that some of those indomitable giants wrote, would seem an audacious undertaking. But, in fact, they were to a great extent solemn shams, since the bulk of their work was merely that of the clerk who copies page after page from other people's writings. Surely these laborious old writers exhibited in this matter the perfection of literary modesty. Far from secretly pilfering, like the modern plagiarist, it was their great boast that they themselves had not suggested the great thought or struck out the brilliant metaphor, but that it had been done by some one of old, and was found in its legitimate place--a book. I believe that if one of these laborious persons hatched a good idea of his own, he could experience no peace of mind until he found it legitimated by having passed through an earlier brain, and that the author who failed thus to establish a paternity for his thought would sometimes audaciously set down some great name in his crowded margin, in the hope that the imposition might pass undiscovered. Authorities, of course, enjoy priority according to their rank in literature. First come Aristotle and Plato, with the other great classical ancients; next the primitive fathers; then Abailard, Erigena, Peter Lombard, Ramus, Major, and the like. If the matter be jurisprudence, we shall have Marcianus, Papinianus, Ulpianus, Hermogenianus, and Tryphonius to begin with; and shall then pass through the straits of Bartolus and Baldus, on to Zuichemus, Sanchez, Brissonius, Ritterhusius, and Gothofridus. If all these say the same thing, each of the others copying it from the first who uttered it, so much the more valuable to the literary world is deemed the idea that has been so amply backed--it is like a vote by a great majority, or a strongly-signed petition. There is only one quarter in which this practice appears to be followed at the present day--the composition, or the compilation, as it may better be termed, of English law-books. Having selected a department to be expounded, the first point is to set down all that Coke said about it two centuries and a half ago, and all that Blackstone said about it a century ago, with passages in due subordination from inferior authorities. To these are added the rubrics of some later cases, and a title-page and index, and so a new "authority" is added to the array on the shelves of the practitioner. Whoever is well up to such repetitions has many short cuts through literature to enable him to find the scattered originalities of which he may be in search. Whether he be the enthusiastic investigator resolved on exhausting any great question, or be a mere wayward potterer, picking up curiosities by the way for his own private intellectual museum, the larger the collection at his disposal the better--it cannot be too great.[38] No one, therefore, can be an ardent follower of such a pursuit without having his own library. And yet it is probably among those whose stock is the largest that we shall find the most frequent visitors to the British Museum and the State Paper Office; perhaps, for what cannot be found even there, to the Imperial Library at Paris, or the collections of some of the German universities. [Footnote 38: I am quite aware that the authorities to the contrary are so high as to make these sentiments partake of heresy, if not a sort of classical profanity. "Studiorum quoque, quæ liberalissima impensa est, tamdiu rationem habet, quamdiu modum. Quo innumerabiles libros et bibliothecas, quarum dominus vix tota vita indices perlegit? Onerat discentem turba, non instruit: multoque satius est paucis te auctoribus tradere, quam errare per multos. Quadraginta millia librorum Alexandræ arserunt: pulcherrimum regiæ opulentiæ monumentum alius laudaverit, sicut et Livius, qui elegantiæ regum curæque egregium id opus ait fuisse. Non fuit elegantia illud aut cura, sed studiosa luxuria. Immo ne studiosa quidem: quoniam non in studium, sed in spectaculum comparaverant: sicut plerisque, ignaris etiam servilium literarum libri non studiorum instrumenta, sed coenationum ornamenta sunt. Paretur itaque librorum quantum satis sit, nihil in apparatum. Honestius, inquis, hoc te impensæ, quam in Corinthia pictasque tabulas effuderint. Vitiosum est ubique, quod nimium est. Quid habes, cur ignoscas homini armaria citro atque ebore captanti, corpora conquirenti aut ignotorum auctorum aut improbatorum, et inter tot millia librorum oscitanti, cui voluminum suorum frontes maxime placent titulique? Apud desidiosissimos ergo videbis quicquid orationum historiarumque est, tecto tenus exstructa loculamenta; jam enim inter balnearia et thermas bibliotheca quoque ut necessarium domus ornamentum expolitur. Ignoscerem plane, si studiorum nimia cupidine oriretur: nunc ista conquisita, cum imaginibus suis descripta et sacrorum opera ingeniorum in speciem et cultum parietum comparantur."--_Seneca_, De Tranquillitate, c. ix. There are some good hits here, which would tell at the present day. Seneca is reported to have had a large library; it is certain that he possessed and fully enjoyed enormous wealth; and it is amusing to find this commendation of literary moderation following on a well-known passage in praise of parsimonious living, and of the good example set by Diogenes. Modern scepticism about the practical stoicism of the ancients is surely brought to a climax by a living writer, M. Fournier, who maintains that the so-called tub of Diogenes was in reality a commodious little dwelling--neat but not gorgeous. It must be supposed, then, that he spoke of his tub much as an English country gentleman does of his "box."] To every man of our Saxon race endowed with full health and strength, there is committed, as if it were the price he pays for these blessings, the custody of a restless demon, for which he is doomed to find ceaseless excitement, either in honest work, or some less profitable or more mischievous occupation. Countless have been the projects devised by the wit of man to open up for this fiend fields of exertion great enough for the absorption of its tireless energies, and none of them is more hopeful than the great world of books, if the demon is docile enough to be coaxed into it. Then will its erratic restlessness be sobered by the immensity of the sphere of exertion, and the consciousness that, however vehemently and however long it may struggle, the resources set before it will not be exhausted when the life to which it is attached shall have faded away; and hence, instead of dreading the languor of inaction, it will have to summon all its resources of promptness and activity to get over any considerable portion of the ground within the short space allotted to the life of man. That the night cometh when no man can work, haunts those who have gone so far in their investigations, and draws their entire energies into their pursuit with an exclusiveness which astonishes the rest of the world. But the energies might be more unfitly directed. Look back, for instance--no great distance back--on the great high-priest of our national school of logic and metaphysics,--he who gathered up its divers rays, and, helping them with light from all other sources of human knowledge, concentrated the whole into one powerful focus. No one could look at the massive brow, the large, full, lustrous eyes, the firm compressed lip, without seeing that the demon of energy was powerful within him, and had it not found work in the conquest of all human learning, must have sought it elsewhere. You see in him the nature that must follow up all inquiries, not by languid solicitation but hot pursuit. His conquests as he goes are rapid but complete. Summing up the thousands upon thousands of volumes, upon all matters of human study and in many languages, which he has passed through his hands, you think he has merely dipped into them or skimmed them, or in some other shape put them to superficial use. You are wrong: he has found his way at once to the very heart of the living matter of each one; between it and him there are henceforth no secrets.[39] [Footnote 39: How a nature endowed with powerful impulses like these might be led along with them into a totally different groove, I am reminded by a traditionary anecdote of student life. A couple of college chums are under the impression that their motions are watched by an inquisitive tutor, who for the occasion may be called Dr Fusby. They become both exceeding wroth, and the more daring of the two engages on the first opportunity to "settle the fellow." They are occupied in ardent colloquy, whether on the predicates or other matters it imports not, when a sudden pause in the conversation enables them to be aware that there is a human being breathing close on the other side of the "oak." The light is extinguished, the door opened, and a terrific blow from a strong and scientifically levelled fist hurls the listener down-stairs to the next landing-place, from which resting-place he hears thundered after him for his information, "If you come back again, you scoundrel, I'll put you into the hands of Dr Fusby." From that source, however, no one had much to dread for some considerable period, during which the Doctor was confined to his bedroom by serious indisposition. It refreshed the recollection of this anecdote, years after I had heard it, and many years after the date attributed to it, to have seen a dignified scholar make what appeared to me an infinitesimally narrow escape from sharing the fate of Dr Fusby, having indeed just escaped it by satisfactorily proving to a hasty philosopher that he was not the party guilty of keeping a certain copy of Occam on the sentences of Peter Lombard out of his reach.] Descending, however, from so high a sphere, we shall find that the collector and the scholar are so closely connected with each other that it is difficult to draw the line of separation between them. As dynamic philosophers say, they act and react on each other. The possession of certain books has made men acquainted with certain pieces of knowledge which they would not otherwise have acquired. It is, in fact, one of the amiable weaknesses of the set, to take a luxurious glance at a new acquisition. It is an outcropping of what remains in the man, of the affection towards a new toy that flourished in the heart of the boy. Whether the right reverend or right honourable Thomas has ever taken his new-bought Baskerville to bed with him, as the Tommy that was has taken his humming-top, is a sort of case which has not actually come under observation in the course of my own clinical inquiries into the malady; but I am not prepared to state that it never occurred, and can attest many instances where the recent purchase has kept the owner from bed far on in the night. In this incidental manner is a general notion sometimes formed of the true object and tenor of a book, which is retained in the mind, stored for use, and capable of being refreshed and strengthened whenever it is wanted. In the skirmish for the Caxtons, which began the serious work in the great conflict of the Roxburghe sale, it was satisfactory to find, as I have already stated, on the authority of the great historian of the war, that Earl Spencer, the victor, "put each volume under his coat, and walked home with them in all the flush of victory and consciousness of triumph."[40] Ere next morning he would know a good deal more about the contents of the volumes than he did before. [Footnote 40: The author, from a vitiated reminiscence, at first made the unpardonable blunder of attributing this touching trait of nature to the noble purchaser of the Valderfaer Boccaccio. For this, as not only a mistake, but in some measure an imputation on the tailor who could have made for his lordship pockets of dimensions so abnormal, I received due castigation from an eminent practical man in the book-hunting field.] The Gleaner and his Harvest. There are sometimes agreeable and sometimes disappointing surprises in encountering the interiors of books. The title-page is not always a distinct intimation of what is to follow. Whoever dips into the Novellæ of Leo, or the Extravagantes, as edited by Gothofridus, will not find either of them to contain matter of a light, airy, and amusing kind. Dire have been the disappointments incurred by The Diversions of Purley--one of the toughest books in existence. It has even cast a shade over one of our best story-books, The Diversions of Hollycot, by the late Mrs Johnston. The great scholar, Leo Allatius, who broke his heart when he lost the special pen with which he wrote during forty years, published a work called Apes Urbanæ--Urban Bees. It is a biographical work, devoted to the great men who flourished during the Pontificate of Urban VIII., whose family carried bees on their coat-armorial. The History of New York, by Diedrich Knickerbocker, has sorely perplexed certain strong-minded women, who read nothing but genuine history. The book which, in the English translation, goes by the name of Marmontel's Moral Tales, has been found to give disappointment to parents in search of the absolutely correct and improving; and Edgeworth's Essay on Irish Bulls has been counted money absolutely thrown away by eminent breeders. There is a sober-looking volume, generally bound in sheep, called MacEwen on the Types--a theological book, in fact, treating of the types of Christianity in the old law. Concerning it, a friend once told me that, at an auction, he had seen it vehemently competed for by an acute-looking citizen artisan and a burly farmer from the hills. The latter, the successful party, tossed the lot to the other, who might have it and be d----d to it, he "thought it was a buik upo' the tups," a word which, it may be necessary to inform the unlearned reader, means rams: but the other competitor also declined the lot; he was a compositor or journeyman printer, and expected to find the book honestly devoted to those tools of his trade of which it professed to treat. Mr Ruskin, having formed the pleasant little original design of abolishing the difference between Popery and Protestantism, through the persuasive influence of his own special eloquence, set forth his views upon the matter in a book which he termed a treatise "on the construction of sheepfolds." I have been informed that this work had a considerable run among the muirland farmers, whose reception of it was not flattering. I think I could also point to a public library in England, the keeper of which justified his high character for classification and arrangement by binding up this production between "suggestions as to eating off turnips with stock" and "an inquiry concerning the best materials for smeering." Peignot discusses, by the way, with his usual scientific precision, as a department in Bibliography, "Titres de livres qui ont induit en erreur des Bibliothecaires et des Libraires peu instruits." After mentioning a treatise De Missis Dominicis, which was not a religious book, as it might seem, but an inquiry into the functions of certain officers sent into the provinces by the emperors and the early kings of France, he comes nearer to our own door in telling how "un ignorant avait placé le _Traité des Fluxions de Maclaurin_ avec les livres de pathologie, prenant pour une maladie les fluxions mathématiques."[41] [Footnote 41: Dict. de Bibliologie, i. 391.] Logic has not succeeded as yet in discovering the means of framing a title-page which shall be exhaustive, as it is termed, and constitute an infallible finger-post to the nature of a book. From the beginning of all literature it may be said that man has been continually struggling after this achievement, and struggling in vain; and it is a humiliating fact, that the greatest adepts, abandoning the effort in despair, have taken refuge in some fortuitous word, which has served their purpose better than the best results of their logical analysis. The book which has been the supreme ruler of the intellect in this kind of work, stands forth as an illustrious example of failure. To those writings of Aristotle which dealt with mind, his editing pupils could give no name,--therefore they called them the things after the physics--the _metaphysics_; and that fortuitous title the great arena of thought to which they refer still bears, despite of efforts to supply an apter designation in such words as Psychology, Pneumatology, and Transcendentalism. Writhing under this nightmare kind of difficulty, men in later times tried to achieve completeness by lengthening the title-page; but they found that the longer they made it, the more it wriggled itself into devious tracks, and the farther did it depart from a comprehensive name. Some title-pages in old folios make about half an hour's reading.[42] One advantage, however, was found in these lengthy titles--they afforded to controversialists a means of condensing the pith of their malignity towards each other, and throwing it, as it were, right in the face of the adversary. It will thus often happen that the controversialist states his case first in the title-page; he then gives it at greater length in the introduction; again, perhaps, in a preface; a third time in an analytical form, through means of a table of contents; after all this skirmishing, he brings up his heavy columns in the body of the book; and if he be very skilful, he may let fly a few Parthian arrows from the index. [Footnote 42: A good modern specimen of a lengthy title-page may be found in one of the books appropriate to the matter in hand, by the diligent French bibliographer Peignot:-- "DICTIONNAIRE RAISONNÉ DE BIBLIOLOGIE: contenant--1mo, L'explication des principaux termes relatifs à la bibliographie, à l'art typographique, à la diplomatique, aux langues, aux archives, aux manuscrits, aux médailles, aux antiquités, &c.; 2do, Des notices historiques détaillées sur les principales bibliothèques anciennes et modernes; sur les différentes sectes philosophiques; sur les plus célèbres imprimeurs, avec une indication des meilleures éditions sorties de leurs presses, et sur les bibliographes, avec la liste de leurs ouvrages; 3tio, enfin, L'exposition des différentes systèmes bibliographiques, &c.,--ouvrage utile aux bibliothécaires, archivistes, imprimeurs, libraires, &c. Par G. Peignot, Bibliothécaire de la Haute-Saône, membre-correspondant de la Société libre d'emulation du Haut-Rhin. _Indocti discant, et ament meminisse periti._ Paris, An x. 1802." Here follows a rival specimen selected from the same department of literature:-- "BIBLIOGRAPHIE INSTRUCTIVE; OU, TRAITÉ DE LA CONNAISSANCE DES LIVRES RARES ET SINGULIERS; contenant un catalogue raisonné de la plus grande partie de ces livres précieux, qui ont paru successivement dans la république des lettres, depuis l'invention de l'imprimerie jusqu'à nos jours; avec des notes sur la différence et la rareté de leurs éditions, et des remarques sur l'origine de cette rareté actuelle, et son dégré plus ou moins considerable; la manière de distinguer les éditions originales, d'avec les contrefaites; avec une description typographique particulière, du composé de ces rares volumes, au moyen de laquelle il sera aisé de reconnoître facilement les exemplaires, ou mutilés en partie, ou absolument imparfaits, qui s'en rencontrent journellement dans le commerce, et de les distinguer sûrement de ceux qui seront exactement complets dans toutes leurs parties. Disposé par ordre de matières et de facultés, suivant le système bibliographique généralement adopté; avec une table générale des auteurs, et un système complet de bibliographie choisie. Par Guillaume-François de Bûre le jeune, Libraire de Paris."] It is a remarkable thing that a man should have been imprisoned, and had his ears cut off, and become one of the chief causes of our great civil wars, all along of an unfortunate word or two in the last page of a book containing more than a thousand. It was as far down in his very index as W that the great offence in Prynne's Histrio-Mastix was found, under the head "Women actors." The words which follow are rather unquotable in this nineteenth century; but it was a very odd compliment to Queen Henrietta Maria to presume that these words must refer to her--something like Hugo's sarcasm that, when the Parisian police overhear any one use the terms "ruffian" and "scoundrel," they say, "You must be speaking of the Emperor." The Histrio-Mastix was, in fact, so big and so complex a thicket of confusion, that it had been licensed without examination by the licenser, who perhaps trusted that the world would have as little inclination to peruse it as he had. The calamitous discovery of the sting in the tail must surely have been made by a Hebrew or an Oriental student, who mechanically looked for the commencement of the Histrio-Mastix where he would have looked for that of a Hebrew Bible. Successive licensers had given the work a sort of go-by, but, reversing the order of the sibylline books, it became always larger and larger, until it found a licenser who, with the notion that he "must put a stop to this," passed it without examination. It got a good deal of reading immediately afterwards, especially from Attorney-General Noy, who asked the Star-Chamber what it had to do with the immorality of stage-plays to exclaim that church-music is not the noise of men, but rather "a bleating of brute beasts--choristers bellow the tenor as it were oxen, bark a counterpoint as a kennel of dogs, roar out a treble like a set of bulls, grunt out a bass as it were a number of hogs." But Mr Attorney took surely a more nice distinction when he made a charge against the author in these terms: "All stage-players he terms them rogues: in this he doth falsify the very Act of Parliament; for _unless they go abroad_, they are not rogues." In the very difficulties in the way of framing a conclusive and exhaustive title, there is a principle of compensation. It clears literature of walls and hedgerows, and makes it a sort of free forest. To the desultory reader, not following up any special inquiry, there are delights in store in a devious rummage through miscellaneous volumes, as there are to the lovers of adventure and the picturesque in any district of country not desecrated by the tourist's guide-books. Many readers will remember the pleasant little narrative appended to Croker's edition of Boswell, of Johnson's talk at Cambridge with that extensive book-hunter, Dr Richard Farmer, who boasted of the possession of "plenty of all such reading as was never read," and scandalised his visitor by quoting from Markham's Book of Armorie a passage applying the technicalities of heraldry and genealogy to the most sacred mystery of Christianity. One who has not tried it may form an estimate of this kind of pursuit from Charles Lamb's Specimens of the Writings of Fuller. No doubt, as thus transplanted, these have not the same fresh relish which they have for the wanderer who finds them in their own native wilderness, yet, like the specimens in a conservatory or a museum, they are examples of what may be found in the place they have come from. But there are passages worth finding in books less promising. Those who potter in libraries, especially if they have courage to meddle with big volumes, sometimes find curious things--for all gems are not collected in caskets. In searching through the solid pages of Hatsell's Precedents in Parliament for something one doesn't find, it is some consolation to alight on such a precedent as the following, set forth as likely to throw light on the mysterious process called "naming a member." "A story used to be told of Mr Onslow, which those who ridiculed his strict observance of forms were fond of repeating, that as he often, upon a member's not attending to him, but persisting in any disorder, threatened to name him--'Sir, sir, I must name you'--on being asked what would be the consequence of putting that threat in execution and naming a member, he answered, 'The Lord in heaven knows.'" In the perusal of a very solid book on the progress of the ecclesiastical differences of Ireland, written by a native of that country, after a good deal of tedious and vexatious matter, the reader's complacency is restored by an artless statement how an eminent person "abandoned the errors of the Church of Rome, and adopted those of the Church of England." So also a note I have preserved of a brief passage descriptive of the happy conclusion of a duel runs thus:-- "The one party received a slight wound in the breast; the other fired in the air--and so the matter terminated."[43] [Footnote 43: This passage has been quoted and read by many people quite unconscious of the arrant bull it contains. Indeed, an eminent London newspaper, to which the word Bull cannot be unfamiliar, tells me, in reviewing my first edition, that it is no bull at all, but a plain statement of fact, and boldly quotes it in confirmation of this opinion. There could be no better testimony to its being endowed with the subtle spirit of the genuine article. Irish bulls, as it has been said of constitutions, "are not made--they grow," and that only in their own native soil. Those manufactured for the stage and the anecdote-books betray their artificial origin in their breadth and obviousness. The real bull carries one with it at first by an imperceptible confusion and misplacement of ideas in the mind where it has arisen, and it is not until you reason back that you see it. Horace Walpole used to say that the best of all bulls, from its thorough and grotesque confusion of identity, was that of the man who complained of having been "changed at nurse;" and perhaps he is right. An Irishman, and he only, can handle this confusion of ideas so as to make it a more powerful instrument of repartee than the logic of another man: take, for instance, the beggar who, when imploring a dignified clergyman for charity, was charged not to take the sacred name in vain, and answered, "Is it in vain, then? and whose fault is that?" I have doubts whether the saying attributed to Sir Boyle Roche about being in two places at once "like a bird," is the genuine article. I happened to discover that it is of earlier date than Sir Boyle's day, having found, when rummaging in an old house among some Jacobite manuscripts, one from Robertson of Strowan, the warrior poet, in which he says about two contradictory military instructions, "It seems a difficult point for me to put both orders in execution, unless, as the man said, I can be in two places at once, like a bird." A few copies of these letters were printed for the use of the Abbotsford Club. This letter of Strowan's occurs in p. 92.] Professional law-books and reports are not generally esteemed as light reading, yet something may be made even of them at a pinch. Menage wrote a book upon the amenities of the civil law, which does anything but fulfil its promise. There are many much better to be got in the most unlikely corners; as, where a great authority on copyright begins a narrative of a case in point by saying, "One Moore had written a book which he called Irish Melodies;" and again, in an action of trespass on the case, "The plaintiff stated in his declaration that he was the true and only proprietor of the copyright of a book of poems entitled The Seasons, by James Thomson." I cannot lay hands at this moment on the index which refers to Mr Justice Best--he was the man, as far as memory serves, but never mind. A searcher after something or other, running his eye down the index through letter B, arrived at the reference "Best--Mr Justice--his great mind." Desiring to be better acquainted with the particulars of this assertion, he turned up the page referred to, and there found, to his entire satisfaction, "Mr Justice Best said he had a great mind to commit the witness for prevarication." The following case is curiously suggestive of the state of the country round London in the days when much business was done on the road:--A bill in the Exchequer was brought by Everett against a certain Williams, setting forth that the complainant was skilled in dealing in certain commodities, "such as plate, rings, watches, &c.," and that the defendant desired to enter into partnership with him. They entered into partnership accordingly, and it was agreed that they should provide the necessary plant for the business of the firm--such as horses, saddles, bridles, &c. (pistols not mentioned)--and should participate in the expenses of the road. The declaration then proceeds, "And your orator and the said Joseph Williams proceeded jointly with good success in the said business on Hounslow Heath, where they dealt with a gentleman for a gold watch; and afterwards the said Joseph Williams told your orator that Finchley, in the county of Middlesex, was a good and convenient place to deal in, and that commodities were very plenty at Finchley aforesaid, and it would be almost all clear gain to them; that they went accordingly, and dealt with several gentlemen for divers watches, rings, swords, canes, hats, cloaks, horses, bridles, saddles, and other things; that about a month afterwards the said Joseph Williams informed your orator that there was a gentleman at Blackheath who had a good horse, saddle, bridle, watch, sword, cane, and other things to dispose of, which, he believed, might be had for little or no money; that they accordingly went, and met with the said gentleman, and, after some small discourse, they dealt for the said horse, &c. That your orator and the said Joseph Williams continued their joint dealings together in several places--viz., at Bagshot, in Surrey; Salisbury, in Wiltshire; Hampstead, in Middlesex; and elsewhere, to the amount of £2000 and upwards."[44] [Footnote 44: This case has been often referred to in law-books, but I have never met with so full a statement of the contents of the declaration as in the Retrospective Review (vol. v. p. 81).] Here follows a brief extract from a law-paper, for the full understanding of which it has to be kept in view that the pleader, being an officer of the law who has been prevented from executing his warrant by threats, requires, as a matter of form, to swear that he was really afraid that the threats would be carried into execution. "Farther depones, that the said A.B. said that if deponent did not immediately take himself off he would pitch him (the deponent) down stairs--which the deponent verily believes he would have done. "Farther depones, that, time and place aforesaid, the said A.B. said to deponent, 'If you come another step nearer I'll kick you to hell'--which the deponent verily believes he would have done."[45] [Footnote 45: It is curious to observe how bitter a prejudice Themis has against her own humbler ministers. Most of the bitterest legal jokes are at the expense of the class who have to carry the law into effect. Take, for instance, the case of the bailiff who had been compelled to swallow a writ, and, rushing into Lord Norbury's court to proclaim the indignity done to justice in his person, was met by the expression of a hope that the writ was "_not returnable_ in this court."] I know not whether "lay gents," as the English bar used to term that portion of mankind who had not been called to itself, can feel any pleasure in wandering over the case-books, and picking up the funny technicalities scattered over them; but I can attest from experience that, to a person trained in one set of technicalities, the pottering about among those of a different parish is exceedingly exhilarating. When one has been at work among interlocutors, suspensions, tacks, wadsets, multiplepoindings, adjudications in implement, assignations, infeftments, homologations, charges of horning, quadriennium utiles, vicious intromissions, decrees of putting to silence, conjoint actions of declarator and reduction-improbation,--the brain, being saturated with these and their kindred, becomes refreshed by crossing the border of legal nomenclature, and getting among common recoveries, demurrers, Quare impedits, tails-male, tails-female, docked tails, latitats, avowrys, nihil dicits, cestui que trusts, estopels, essoigns, darrein presentments, emparlances, mandamuses, qui tams, capias ad faciendums or ad withernam, and so forth. After vexatious interlocutors in which the Lord Ordinary has refused interim interdict, but passed the bill to try the question, reserving expenses; or has repelled the dilatory defences, and ordered the case to the roll for debate on the peremptory defences; or has taken to avizandum; or has ordered re-revised condescendence and answers on the conjoint probation; or has sisted diligence till caution be found judicio sisti; or has done nearly all these things together in one breath,--it is like the consolation derived from meeting a companion in adversity, to find that at Westminster Hall, "In fermedon the tenant having demanded a view after a general imparlance, the demandant issued a writ of petit cape--held irregular." Also, "If, after nulla bona returned, a testatum be entered upon the roll, quod devastavit, a writ of inquiry shall be directed to the sheriff, and if by inquisition the devastavit be found and returned, there shall be a scire facias quare executio non de propriis bonis, and if upon that the sheriff returns scire feci, the executor or administrator may appear and traverse the inquisition." Again, "If the record of Nisi prius be a die Sancti Trinitatis in tres Septimanas nisi a 27 June, prius venerit, which is the day after the day in Bank, which was mistaken for a die Sancti Michaelis, it shall not be amended." It is interesting to observe that at one end of the island a panel means twelve perplexed agriculturists, who, after having taken an oath to act according to their consciences, are starved till they are of one mind on some complicated question; while, at the other end, the same term applies to the criminal on whose conduct they are going to give their verdict. It would be difficult to decide which is the more happy application; but it must be admitted that we are a great way behind the South in our power of selecting a nomenclature immeasurably distant in meaning from the thing signified. We speak of a bond instead of a mortgage, and we adjudge where we ought to foreclose. We have no such thing as chattels, either personal or real.[46] If you want to know the English law of book-debts, you will have to look for it under the head of Assumpsit in a treatise on Nisi Prius, while a lawyer of Scotland would unblushingly use the word itself, and put it in his index. So, too, our bailments are merely spoken of as bills, notes, or whatever a merchant might call them. Our garneshee is merely a common debtor. Baron and feme we call husband and wife, and coverture we term marriage. [Footnote 46: A late venerable practitioner in a humble department of the law, who wanted to write a book, and was recommended to try his hand at a translation of Latin law-maxims as a thing much wanted, was considerably puzzled by the maxim, "Catella realis non potest legari;" nor was he quite relieved when he turned up his Ainsworth and found that catella means a "little puppy." There was nothing for it, however, but obedience, so that he had to give currency to the remarkable principle of law, that "a genuine little whelp cannot be left in legacy." He also translated "messis sequitur sementem," with a fine simplicity, into "the harvest follows the seed-time;" and "actor sequitur forum rei," he made "the agent must be in court when the case is going on." Copies of the book containing these gems are exceedingly rare, some malicious person having put the author up to their absurdity.] Still, for the honour of our country, it is possible to find a few technicalities which would do no discredit to our neighbours. Where one of them would bring a habeas corpus--a name felicitously expressive, according to the English method, of civil liberty--an inhabitant of the North, in the same unfortunate position, would take to running his letters. We have no turbary, or any other easement; but, to compensate us, we have thirlage, outsucken multures, insucken multures, and dry multures; as also we have a soumin and roumin, as any one who has been so fortunate as to hear Mr Outram's pathetic lyric on that interesting right of pasturage will remember, in conjunction with pleasing associations. To do the duty of a duces tecum we have a diligence against havers. We have no capias ad faciendum (abbreviated cap ad fac), nor have we the fieri facias, familiarly termed fi fa, but we have perhaps as good in the in meditatione fugæ warrant, familiarly abbreviated into fugie, as poor Peter Peebles termed it, when he burst in upon the party assembled at Justice Foxley's, exclaiming, "Is't here they sell the fugie warrants?"[47] [Footnote 47: There are two old methods of paying rent in Scotland--Kane and Carriages; the one being rent in kind from the farmyard, the other being an obligation to furnish the landlord with a certain amount of carriage, or rather cartage. In one of the vexed cases of domicile, which had found its way into the House of Lords, a Scotch lawyer argued that a landed gentleman had shown his determination to abandon his residence in Scotland by having given up his "kane and carriages." It is said that the argument went further than he expected--the English lawyers admitting that it was indeed very strong evidence of an intended change of domicile when the laird not only ceased to keep a carriage, but actually divested himself of his walking-cane.] I am not sure but, in the very mighty heart of all legal formality and technicality--the Statutes at large--some amusing as well as instructive things might be found. Let me offer a guiding hint to the investigator ambitious of entering on this arduous field. The princely collector will, of course, put himself in possession of the magnificent edition of the Statutes issued by the Record Commission, but let not the unprofessional person who must look short of this imagine that he will find satisfaction in the prim pages of a professional lawyer's modern edition. These, indeed, are not truly the Statutes at large, but rather their pedantic and conventional descendants, who have taken out letters of administration to their wild ancestors. They omit all the repealed Statutes in which these ancestors might be found really at large sowing their wild oats, and consequently all that would give them interest and zest for those in search of such qualities. It is not, for instance, in the decorous quartos of Roughhead, but in the hoary blackletter folios, looking older than they are--for blackletter adhered to the Statutes after it had been cast off by other literature--that one will find such specimens of ancestral legislation as the following:-- ATTORNEYS.--(33 Henry VI. c. 7.) "Item: Whereas of time not long past, within the city of Norwich, and the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, there were no more but six or eight atturneys at the most coming to the King's Courts, in which time great tranquillity reigned in the said city and counties, little trouble or vexation was made by untrue or foreign suits, and now so it is, that in the said city and counties there be four score atturneys or more, the more part of them having no other thing to live upon, but only his gain by the practise of atturneyship: and also the more part of them not being of sufficient knowledge to be an atturney, which come to every fair, market, and other places, where is any assembly of people, exhorting, procuring, moving, and inciting the people to attempt untrue and foreign suits for small trespasses, little offences, and small sums of debt, whose actions be triable and determinable in Court Barons, whereby proceed many suits, more of evil will and malice than of truth of the thing, to the manifold vexations and no little damage of the inhabitants of the said city and counties, and all to the perpetual diminution of all the Court Barons in the said counties, unless convenient remedy be provided in this behalf. The foresaid Lord the King, considering the premises, by the advice, assent, and authority aforesaid, hath ordained and stablished that at all times, from hencefort, there shall be but six common atturneys in the said county of Norfolk, and six common atturneys in the said county of Suffolk, and two common atturneys in the said city of Norwich, to be atturneys in the Courts of Record." FUSTIAN.--(11 Henry VII. c. 27.) "Now so it is, that divers persons, by subtilty and undue sleights and means, have deceivably imagined and contrived instruments of iron, with the which irons, in the most highest and secret places of their houses, they strike and draw the said irons over the said fustians unshorn; by means whereof they pluck off both the nap and cotton of the same fustians, and break commonly both the ground and threeds in sunder, and after by crafty sleeking, they make the same fustians to appear to the common people fine, whole, and sound: and also they raise up the cotton of such fustians, and then take a light candle and set it in the fustian burning, which sindgeth and burneth away the cotton of the same fustian from the one end to the other down to the hard threeds, in stead of shering, and after that put them in colour, and so subtilly dress them that their false work cannot be espied without it be by workmen sherers of such fustians, or by the wearers of the same, and so by such subtilties, whereas fustians made in doublets or put to any other use, were wont and might endure the space of two years and more, will not endure now whole by the space of four months scarcely, to the great hurt of the poor commons and serving men of this realm, to the great damage, loss, and deceit of the King's true subjects, buyers and wearers of such fustians," &c. The history of statute-making is not absolutely divested of pleasantry. The best tradition connected with it at present arising in the memory is not to be brought to book, and must be given as a tradition of the time when George III. was king. Its tenor is, that a bill which proposed, as the punishment of an offence, to levy a certain pecuniary penalty, one half thereof to go to his Majesty and the other half to the informer, was altered in committee, in so far that, when it appeared in the form of an act, _the punishment_ was changed to whipping and imprisonment, _the destination_ being left unaltered. It is wonderful that such mistakes are not of frequent occurrence when one remembers the hot hasty work often done by committees, and the complex entanglements of sentences on which they have to work.[48] Bentham was at the trouble of counting the words in one sentence of an Act of Parliament, and found that, beginning with "Whereas" and ending with the word "repealed," it was precisely the length of an ordinary three-volume novel. To offer the reader that sentence on the present occasion would be rather a heavy jest, and as little reasonable as the revenge offered to a village schoolmaster who, having complained that the whole of his little treatise on the Differential Calculus was printed bodily in one of the earlier editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica (not so profitable as the later), was told that he was welcome, in his turn, to incorporate the Encyclopædia Britannica in the next edition of his little treatise. [Footnote 48: A polite correspondent reminds me of the Registration Act, 52 G. III. c. 156, in which the fruit of penalties is divided between the informer, who gets one half, and certain charitable purposes, to which the other is devoted, while the only penalty set forth in the Act is transportation for fourteen years.] In the supposition, however, that there are few readers who, like Lord King, can boast of having read the Statutes at large through, I venture to give a title of an Act--a title only, remember, of one of the bundle of acts passed in one session--as an instance of the comprehensiveness of English statute law, and the lively way in which it skips from one subject to another. It is called-- "An Act to continue several laws for the better regulating of pilots, for the conducting of ships and vessels from Dover, Deal, and the Isle of Thanet, up the River Thames and Medway; and for the permitting rum or spirits of the British sugar plantations to be landed before the duties of excise are paid thereon; and to continue and amend an Act for preventing fraud in the admeasurement of coals within the city and liberties of Westminster, and several parishes near thereunto; and to continue several laws for preventing exactions of occupiers of locks and wears upon the River Thames westward; and for ascertaining the rates of water-carriage upon the said river; and for the better regulation and government of seamen in the merchant service; and also to amend so much of an Act made during the reign of King George I. as relates to the better preservation of salmon in the River Ribble; and to regulate fees in trials and assizes at nisi prius," &c. But this gets tiresome, and we are only half way through the title after all. If the reader wants the rest of it, as also the substantial Act itself, whereof it is the title, let him turn to the 23d of Geo. II., chap. 26. No wonder, if he anticipated this sort of thing, that Bacon should have commended "the excellent brevity of the old Scots acts." Here, for instance, is a specimen, an actual statute at large, such as they were in those pigmy days:-- "Item, it is statute that gif onie of the King's lieges passes in England, and resides and remains there against the King's will, he shall be halden as Traiter to the King." Here is another, very comprehensive, and worth a little library of modern statute-books, if it was duly enforced:-- "Item, it is statute and ordained, that all our Sovereign lord's lieges being under his obeisance, and especially the Isles, be ruled by our Sovereign lord's own laws, and the common laws of the realm, and none other laws." The Irish statute-book conveys more expressively than any narrative the motley contrasts of a history in the fabric of which the grotesque and the tragic are so closely interwoven. So early as the middle of the sixteenth century, English statesmen discover usquebaugh, and pass an act to extinguish it at once: "forasmuch as _aqua vitæ_, a drink nothing profitable to be daily drunken and used, is now universally throughout this realm of Ireland made, and especially in the borders of the Irishry, and for the furniture of Irishmen, and thereby much corn, grain, and other things are consumed, spent, and wasted," and so forth. To get men to shave and wash themselves, and generally to conform to the standard of civilisation in their day, seems innocent if not laudable; yet is there a world of heartburning, strife, oppression, and retaliatory hatred expressed in the title of "an act, that the Irishmen dwelling in the counties of Dublin, Meath, Uriell, and Kildare, shall go apparelled like Englishmen, and wear their beards after the English manner, swear allegiance, and take English surnames." Further on we have a whole series of acts, with a conjunction of epithets in their titles which, at the present day, sounds rather startling, "for the better suppressing Tories, Robbers, and Rapparees, and for preventing robberies, burglaries, and other heinous crimes." The classes so associated having an unreasonable dislike of being killed, difficulties are thus put in the way of those beneficially employed in killing them, insomuch that they, "upon the killing of any one of their number, are thereby so alarmed and put upon their keeping, that it hath been found impracticable for such person or persons to discover and apprehend or kill any more of them, whereby they are discouraged from discovering and apprehending or killing," and so forth. There is a strange and melancholy historical interest in these grotesque enactments, since they almost verbatim repeat the legislation about the Highland clans passed a century earlier by the Lowland Parliament of Scotland. There is one shelf of the law library laden with a store of which few will deny the attractive interest--that devoted to the literature of Criminal Trials. It will go hard indeed, if, besides the reports of mere technicalities, there be not here some glimpses of the sad romances which lie at their heart; and, at all events, when the page passes a very slight degree beyond the strictly professional, the technicalities will be found mingled with abundant narrative. The State Trials, for instance--surely a lawyer's book--contains the materials of a thousand romances: nor are these all attached to political offences; as, fortunately, the book is better than its name, and makes a virtuous effort to embrace all the remarkable trials coming within the long period covered by the collection. Some assistance may be got, at the same time, from minor luminaries, such as the Newgate Calendar--not to be commended, certainly, for its literary merits, but full of matters strange and horrible, which, like the gloomy forest of the Castle of Indolence, "sent forth a sleepy horror through the blood." There are many other books where records of remarkable crimes are mixed up with much rubbish, as, The Terrific Register, God's Revenge against Murder, a little French book called Histoire Générale des Larrons (1623), and if the inquirer's taste turn towards maritime crimes, The History of the Bucaniers, by Esquemeling. A little work in four volumes, called the Criminal Recorder, by a student in the Inner Temple, can be commended as a sort of encyclopædia of this kind of literature. It professes--and is not far from accomplishing the profession--to give biographical sketches of notorious public characters, including "murderers, traitors, pirates, mutineers, incendiaries, defrauders, rioters, sharpers, highwaymen, footpads, pickpockets, swindlers, housebreakers, coiners, receivers, extortioners, and other noted persons who have suffered the sentence of the law for criminal offences." By far the most luxurious book of this kind, however, in the English language, is Captain Johnston's Lives of Highwaymen and Pirates. It is rare to find it now complete. The old folio editions have been often mutilated by over use; the many later editions in octavo are mutilated by design of their editors; and for conveying any idea of the rough truthful descriptiveness of a book compiled in the palmy days of highway robbery, they are worthless. All our literature of that nature must, however, yield to the French Causes Célèbres, a term rendered so significant by the value and interest of the book it names, as to have been borrowed by writers in this country to render their works attractive. It must be noted as a reason for the success of this work, and also of the German collection by Feuerbach, that the despotic Continental method of procedure by secret inquiry affords much better material for narrative than ours by open trial. We make, no doubt, a great drama of a criminal trial. Everything is brought on the stage at once, and cleared off before an audience excited so as no player ever could excite; but it loses in reading; while the Continental inquiry, with its slow secret development of the plot, makes the better novel for the fireside. There is a method by which, among ourselves, the trial can be imbedded in a narrative which may carry down to later generations a condensed reflection of that protracted expectation and excitement which disturb society during the investigations and trials occasioned by any great crime. This is by "illustrating" the trial, through a process resembling that which has been already supposed to have been applied to one of Watts's hymns. In this instance there will be all the newspaper scraps--all the hawker's broadsides--the portraits of the criminal, of the chief witnesses, the judges, the counsel, and various other persons,--everything in literature or art that bears on the great question. He who inherits or has been able to procure a collection of such illustrated trials, a century or so old, is deemed fortunate among collectors, for he can at any time raise up for himself the spectre as it were of the great mystery and exposure that for weeks was the absorbing topic of attraction for millions. The curtains are down--the fire burns bright--the cat purrs on the rug; Atticus, soused in his easy-chair, cannot be at the trouble of going to see Macbeth or Othello--he will sup full of horrors from his own stores. Accordingly he takes down an unseemly volume, characterised by a flabby obesity by reason of the unequal size of the papers contained in it, all being bound to the back, while the largest only reach the margin. The first thing at opening is the dingy pea-green-looking paragraph from the provincial newspaper, describing how the reapers, going to their work at dawn, saw the clay beaten with the marks of struggle, and, following the dictates of curiosity, saw a bloody rag sticking on a tree, the leaves also streaked with red, and, lastly, the instrument of violence hidden in the moss; next comes from another source the lamentations for a young woman who had left her home--then the excitement of putting that and that together--the search, and the discovery of the body. The next paragraph turns suspense into exulting wrath: the perpetrator has been found with his bloody shirt on--a scowling murderous villain as ever was seen--an eminent poacher, and fit for anything. But the next paragraph turns the tables. The ruffian had his own secrets of what he had been about that night, and at last makes a clean breast. It would have been a bad business for him at any other time, but now he is a revealing angel, for he noted this and that in the course of his own little game, and gives justice the thread which leads to a wonderful romance, and brings home desperate crime to that quarter where, from rank, education, and profession, it was least likely to be found. Then comes the trial and the execution; and so, at a sitting, has been swallowed all that excitement which, at some time long ago, chained up the public in protracted suspense for weeks. The reader will see, from what I have just been saying, that I am not prepared to back Charles Lamb's Index Expurgatorius.[49] It is difficult, almost impossible, to find the book from which something either valuable or amusing may not be found, if the proper alembic be applied. I know books that are curious, and really amusing, from their excessive badness. If you want to find precisely how a thing ought not to be said, you take one of them down, and make it perform the service of the intoxicated Spartan slave. There are some volumes in which, at a chance opening, you are certain to find a mere platitude delivered in the most superb and amazing climax of big words, and others in which you have a like happy facility in finding every proposition stated with its stern forward, as sailors say, or in some other grotesque mismanagement of composition. There are no better farces on or off the stage than when two or three congenial spirits ransack books of this kind, and compete with each other in taking fun out of them. [Footnote 49: "In this catalogue of _books which are no books--biblia a biblia_--I reckon court calendars, directories, pocket-books, draught-boards bound and lettered on the back, scientific treatises, almanacs, statutes at large; the works of Hume, Gibbon, Robertson, Beattie, Soame Jenyns, and generally all those volumes which 'no gentleman's library should be without;' the histories of Flavius Josephus (that learned Jew) and Paley's Moral Philosophy. With these exceptions, I can read almost anything. I bless my stars for a taste so catholic, so unexcluding. I confess that it moves my spleen to see these _things in books' clothing_ perched upon shelves, like false saints, usurpers of true shrines, intruders into the sanctuary, thrusting out the legitimate occupants. To reach down a well-bound semblance of a volume, and hope it some kind-hearted play-book, then, opening what 'seem its leaves,' to come bolt upon a withering population essay. To expect a Steele, or a Farquhar, and find--Adam Smith. To view a well-arranged assortment of block-headed encyclopædias (Anglicanas or Metropolitanas) set out in an array of russia or morocco, when a tithe of that good leather would comfortably reclothe my shivering folios, would renovate Paracelsus himself, and enable old Raymund Lully to look like himself again in the world. I never see these impostors but I long to strip them, to warm my ragged veterans in their spoils."--Essays of Elia.] There is a solid volume, written in an inquiring spirit, but in a manner which reminds one of deep calling unto deep, about the dark superstitions of a country which was once a separate European kingdom. I feel a peculiar interest in it, from the author having informed me, by way of communicating an important fact in literary history, and also as an example to be followed by literary aspirants, that, before committing the book to the press, he had written it over sixteen times. It would have been valuable to have his first manuscript, were it only that one might form some idea of the steps by which he had brought it into the condition in which it was printed. But its perusal in that condition was not entirely thrown away, since I was able to recommend it to a teacher of composition, as containing, within a moderate compass--after the manner, in fact, of a handbook--good practical specimens of every description of depravity of style of which the English language is susceptible. In the present day, when few scholars have opportunities of enriching the world with their prison hours, perhaps the best conditions for testing how far any volume or portion of printed matter, however hopeless-looking, may yet yield edifying or amusing matter to a sufficient pressure, will occur when a bookish person finds himself imprisoned in a country inn, say for twenty-four hours. Such things are not impossible in this age of rapid movement. It is not long since a train, freighted with musical artistes, sent express to perform at a provincial concert and be back immediately in town for other engagements, were caught by a great snow-storm which obliterated the railway, and had to live for a week or two in a wayside alehouse, in one of the dreariest districts of Scotland. The possessor and user of a large library undergoing such a calamity in a modified shape will be able to form a conception of the resources at his disposal, and to calculate how long it will take him to exhaust the intellectual treasures at his command, just as a millionaire, haunted as such people sometimes are by the dread of coming on the parish, might test how long a life his invested capital would support by spending a winter in a Shetland cottage, and living on what he could procure. Having exhausted all other sources of excitement and interest, the belated traveller is supposed to call for the literature of the establishment. Perhaps the Directory of the county town is the only available volume. Who shall say what the belated traveller may make of this? He may do a turn in local statistics, or, if his ambition rises higher, he may pursue some valuable ethnological inquiries, trying whether Celtic or Saxon names prevail, and testing the justice of Mr Thierry's theory by counting the Norman patronymics, and observing whether any of them are owned by persons following plebeian and sordid occupations. If in after-life the sojourner should come in contact with people interested in the politics or business of that county town, he will surprise them by exhibiting his minute acquaintance with its affairs. If, besides the Directory, an Almanac, old or new, is to be had, the analysis may be conducted on a greatly widened basis. The rotations of the changes of the seasons may at the same time suggest many appropriate reflections on the progress of man from the cradle to the grave, and all that he meets with between the alpha and omega; and if the prisoner is a man of genius, the announcements of eclipses and other solar phenomena will suggest trains of thought which he can carry up to any height of sublimity. A person in the circumstances supposed, after he has exhausted the Directory and the Almanac, may perhaps be led to read (if he can get) Zimmerman On Solitude, Hervey's Meditations, Watts on the Improvement of the Mind, or Hannah More's Sacred Dramas. Who knows what he may be reduced to? I remember the great Irish liberator telling how, when once detained in an inn in Switzerland, he could find no book to beguile the time with but the Lettres Provinciales of Pascal. I have no doubt that the coerced perusal of them to which he had to submit did him a deal of good. Let us imagine that nothing better is to be found than the advertising sheet of an old newspaper--never mind. Let the unfortunate man fall to and read the advertisements courageously, and make the best of them. An advertisement is itself a fact, though it may sometimes be the vehicle of a falsehood; and, as some one has remarked, he who has a fact in hand is like a turner with a piece of wood in his lathe, which he can manipulate to his liking, tooling it in any way, as a plain cylinder or a richly ornamented toy. There have been fortunate instances of people driven to read them finding good jokes and other enjoyable things in advertisements--such things as make one almost regret that so little attention has been paid to this department of literature.[50] Besides the spontaneous undesigned attractions to be found in it, there have been men of distinguished parts whose powers have found development in the advertisement line. George Robins, a hero in his day, is surely not yet quite forgotten; and though he were, doubtless his works will be restored to notice by future philosophers who will perhaps find in them the true spirit of the nineteenth century. Advertisements, more prosaic than his, however, bring us into the very heart of life and business, and contain a world of interest. Suppose that the dirty broadside you pick up in the dingy inn's soiled room contains the annual announcement of the reassembling of the school in which you spent your own years of schoolboy life--what a mingled and many-figured romance does it recall of all that has befallen to yourself and others since the day when the same advertisement made you sigh, because the hour was close at hand when you were to leave home and all its homely ways to dwell among strangers! Going onward, you remember how each one after another ceased to be a stranger, and twined himself about your heart; and then comes the reflection, Where are they all now? You remember how "He, the young and strong, who cherished Noble longings for the strife, By the roadside fell and perished, Weary with the march of life." You recall to your memory also those two inseparables--linked together, it would seem, because they were so unlike. The one, gentle, dreamy, and romantic, was to be the genius of the set; but alas, he "took to bad habits," and oozed into the slime of life, imperceptibly almost, hurting no creature but himself--unless it may be that to some parent or other near of kin his gentle facility may have caused keener pangs than others give by cruelty and tyranny. The other, bright-eyed, healthy, strong, and keen-tempered--the best fighter and runner and leaper in the school--the dare-devil who was the leader in every row--took to Greek much about the time when his companion took to drinking, got a presentation, wrote some wonderful things about the functions of the chorus, and is now on the fair road to a bishopric. [Footnote 50: Take, for instance, the announcement of the wants of an affluent and pious elderly lady, desirous of having the services of a domestic like-minded with herself, who appeals to the public for a "groom to take charge of two carriage-horses of a serious turn of mind." So also the simple-hearted innkeeper, who founds on his "limited charges and civility;" or the description given by a distracted family of a runaway member, who consider that they are affording valuable means for his identification by saying, "age not precisely known--but looks older than he is."] Next arises the vision of "the big boy," the lout--the butt of every one, even of the masters, who, when any little imp did a thing well, always made the appropriate laudation tell to the detriment of the big boy, as if he were bound to be as superfluous in intellect as in flesh. He has sufficiently dinned into him to make him thoroughly modest, poor fellow, how all great men were little. Napoleon was little, so was Frederic the Great, William III., the illustrious Condé, Pope, Horace, Anacreon, Campbell, Tom Moore, and Jeffrey. His relations have so thoroughly given in to the prejudice against him, that they get him a cadetship because he is fit for nothing at home; and now, years afterwards, the newspapers resound with his fame--how, when at the quietest of all stations when the mutiny suddenly broke out in its most murderous shape, and even experienced veterans lost heart, he remained firm and collected, quietly developing, one after another, resources of which he was not himself aware, and in the end putting things right, partly by stern vigour, but more by a quiet tact and genial appreciation of the native character. But what has become of the Dux--him who, in the predictions of all, teachers and taught, was to render the institution some day illustrious by occupying the Woolsack, or the chief place at the Speaker's right hand? A curious destiny is his: at a certain point the curve of his ascent was as it were truncated, and he took to the commonest level of ordinary life. He may now be seen, staid and sedate in his walk, which brings him, with a regularity that has rendered him useful to neighbours owning erratic watches, day by day to a lofty three-legged stool, mounted on which, all his proceedings confirm the high character retained by him through several years for the neatness of his handwriting, and especially for his precision in dotting his i's and stroking his t's. This is all along of the use which the reflective man may make of an old advertisement. If it be old, the older the better--the more likely is it to contain matter of curious interest or instruction about the ways of men. To show this, I reprint two advertisements from British newspapers. From the Public Advertiser of 28th March 1769. "TO BE SOLD, A BLACK GIRL, the property of J. B----, eleven years of age, who is extremely handy, works at her needle tolerably, and speaks English perfectly well: is of an excellent temper, and willing disposition. "Inquire of Mr Owen, at the Angel Inn, behind St Clement's Church in the Strand." From the Edinburgh Evening Courant, 18th April 1768. "A BLACK BOY TO SELL. "TO BE SOLD, A BLACK BOY, with long hair, stout made, and well-limbed--is good tempered, can dress hair, and take care of a horse indifferently. He has been in Britain nearly three years. "Any person that inclines to purchase him may have him for £40. He belongs to Captain ABERCROMBIE at Broughton. "This advertisement not to be repeated." There was at that time probably more of this description of property in Britain than in Virginia. It had become fashionable, as one may see in Hogarth. Such advertisements--they were abundant--might furnish an apt text on which a philosophical historian could speculate on the probable results to this country, had not Mansfield gone to the root of the matter by denying all property in slaves. So much for the chances which still remain to the devourer of books, if, after having consumed all the solid volumes within his reach, he should be reduced to shreds and patches of literature,--like a ship's crew having resort to shoe-leather and the sweepings of the locker. Pretenders. But now to return to the point whence we started--the disposition, and almost the necessity, which the true enthusiast in the pursuit feels to look into the soul, as it were, of his book, after he has got possession of the body. When he is not of the omnivorous kind, but one who desires to possess a particular book, and, having got it, dips into the contents before committing it to permanent obscurity on his loaded shelves, there is, as we have already seen, a certain thread of intelligent association linking the items of his library to each other. The collector knows what he wants, and why he wants it, and that _why_ does not entirely depend on exteriors, though he may have his whim as to that also. He is a totally different being from the animal who goes to all sales, and buys every book that is cheap. That is a painfully low and grovelling type of the malady; and, fortunately for the honour of literature, the bargain-hunter who suffers under it is not in general a special votary of books, but buys all bargains that come in his way--clocks, tables, forks, spoons, old uniforms, gas-meters, magic lanterns, galvanic batteries, violins (warranted real Cremonas, from their being smashed to pieces), classical busts (with the same testimony to their genuineness), patent coffee-pots, crucibles, amputating knives, wheel-barrows, retorts, cork-screws, boot-jacks, smoke-jacks, melon-frames, bath-chairs, and hurdy-gurdies. It has been said that once, a coffin, made too short for its tenant, being to be had an undoubted bargain, was bought by him, in the hope that, some day or other, it might prove of service in his family. His library, if such it may be termed, is very rich in old trade-directories, justices of peace and registers of voters, road-books, and other useful manuals; but there are very learned books in it too. That clean folio Herodotus was certainly extremely cheap at half-a-crown; and you need not inform him that the ninth book is wanting, for he will never find that out. The day when he has discovered that any book has been bought by another person, a better bargain than his own copy, is a black one in his calendar; but he has a peculiar device for getting over the calamity by bringing down the average cost of his own copy through fresh investments. Having had the misfortune to buy a copy of Goldsmith's History of England for five shillings, while a neighbour flaunts daily in his face a copy obtained for three, he has been busily occupied in a search for copies still cheaper. He has now brought down the average price of his numerous copies of this more agreeable than accurate work to three shillings and twopence, and hopes in another year to get below the three shillings. Neither is the rich man who purchases fine and dear books by deputy to be admitted within the category of the genuine book-hunter. He must hunt himself--must actually undergo the anxiety, the fatigue, and, so far as purse is concerned, the risks of the chase. Your rich man, known to the trade as a great orderer of books, is like the owner of the great game-preserve, where the sport is heavy butchery; there is none of the real zest of the hunter of the wilderness to be had within his gates. The old Duke of Roxburghe wisely sank his rank and his wealth, and wandered industriously and zealously from shop to stall over the world, just as he wandered over the moor, stalking the deer. One element in the excitement of the poorer book-hunter he must have lacked--the feeling of committing something of extravagance--the consciousness of parting with that which will be missed. This is the sacrifice which assures the world, and satisfies the man's own heart, that he is zealous and earnest in the work he has set about. And it is decidedly this class who most read and use the books they possess. How genial a picture does Scott give of himself at the time of the Roxburghe sale--the creation of Abbotsford pulling him one way, on the other his desire to accumulate a library round him in his Tusculum. Writing to his familiar Terry, he says, "The worst of all is, that while my trees grow and my fountain fills, my purse, in an inverse ratio, sinks to zero. This last circumstance will, I fear, make me a very poor guest at the literary entertainment your researches hold out for me. I should, however, like much to have the treatise on Dreams by the author of the New Jerusalem, which, as John Cuthbertson, the smith, said of the minister's sermon, 'must be neat wark.' The loyal poems by N.T. are probably by poor Nahum Tate, who was associated with Brady in versifying the Psalms, and more honourably with Dryden in the second part of Absalom and Achitophel. I never saw them, however, but would give a guinea or thirty shillings for the collection." One of the reasons why Dibdin's expatiations among rare and valuable volumes are, after all, so devoid of interest, is, that he occupied himself in a great measure in catering for men with measureless purses. Hence there is throughout too exact an estimate of everything by what it is worth in sterling cash, with a contempt for small things, which has an unpleasant odour of plush and shoulder-knot about it. Compared with dear old Monkbarns and his prowlings among the stalls, the narratives of the Boccaccio of the book-trade are like the account of a journey that might be written from the rumble of the travelling chariot, when compared with the adventurous narrative of the pedestrian or of the wanderer in the far East. Everything is too comfortable, luxurious, and easy--russia, morocco, embossing, marbling, gilding--all crowding on one another, till one feels suffocated with riches. There is a feeling, at the same time, of the utter useless pomp of the whole thing. Volumes, in the condition in which he generally describes them, are no more fitted for use and consultation than white kid gloves and silk stockings are for hard work. Books should be used decently and respectfully--reverently, if you will; but let there be no toleration for the doctrine that there are volumes too splendid for use, too fine almost to be looked at, as Brummel said of some of his Dresden china. That there should be little interest in the record of rich men buying costly books which they know nothing about and never become acquainted with, is an illustration of a wholesome truth, pervading all human endeavours after happiness. It is this, that the active, racy enjoyments of life--those enjoyments in which there is also exertion and achievement, and which depend on these for their proper relish--are not to be bought for hard cash. To have been to him the true elements of enjoyment, the book-hunter's treasures must not be his mere property, they must be his achievements--each one of them recalling the excitement of the chase and the happiness of success. Like Monkbarns with his Elzevirs and his bundle of pedlar's ballads, he must have, in common with all hunters, a touch of the competitive in his nature, and be able to take the measure of a rival,--as Monkbarns magnanimously takes that of Davie Wilson, "'commonly called Snuffy Davie, from his inveterate addiction to black rappee, who was the very prince of scouts for searching blind alleys, cellars, and stalls, for rare volumes. He had the scent of a slow-hound, sir, and the snap of a bull-dog. He would detect you an old blackletter ballad among the leaves of a law-paper, and find an _editio princeps_ under the mask of a school Corderius.'" In pursuing the chase in this spirit, the sportsman is by no means precluded from indulgence in the adventitious specialties that delight the commonest bibliomaniac. There is a good deal more in many of them than the first thought discloses. An _editio princeps_ is not a mere toy--it has something in it that may purchase the attention even of a thinking man. In the first place, it is a very old commodity--about four hundred years of age. If you look around you in the world you will see very few movables coeval with it. No doubt there are wonderfully ancient things shown to travellers,--as in Glammis Castle you may see the identical four-posted bedstead--a very creditable piece of cabinet-makery--in which King Malcolm was murdered a thousand years ago. But genuine articles of furniture so old as the _editio princeps_ are very rare. If we should highly esteem a poker, a stool, a drinking-can, of that age, is there not something worthy of observance, as indicating the social condition of the age, in those venerable pages, made to look as like the handwriting of their day as possible, with their decorated capitals, all squeezed between two solid planks of oak, covered with richly embossed hog-skin, which can be clasped together by means of massive decorated clasps? And shall we not admit it to a higher place in our reverence than some mere item of household furnishing, when we reflect that it is the very form in which some great ruling intellect, resuscitated from long interment, burst upon the dazzled eyes of Europe and displayed the fulness of its face? His Achievements in the Creation of Libraries. So much, then, for the benefit which the class to whom these pages are devoted derive to themselves from their peculiar pursuit. Let us now turn to the far more remarkable phenomena, in which these separate and perhaps selfish pursuers of their own instincts and objects are found to concur in bringing out a great influence upon the intellectual destinies of mankind. It is said of Brindley, the great canal engineer, that,--when a member of a committee, where he was under examination, a little provoked or amused by his entire devotion to canals, asked him if he thought there was any use of rivers,--he promptly answered, "Yes, to feed navigable canals." So, if there be no other respectable function in life fulfilled by the book-hunter, I would stand up for the proposition that he is the feeder, provided by nature, for the preservation of literature from age to age, by the accumulation and preservation of libraries, public or private. It will require perhaps a little circumlocutory exposition to show this, but here it is. A great library cannot be constructed--it is the growth of ages. You may buy books at any time with money, but you cannot make a library like one that has been a century or two a-growing, though you had the whole national debt to do it with. I remember once how an extensive publisher, speaking of the rapid strides which literature had made of late years, and referring to a certain old public library, celebrated for its affluence in the fathers, the civilians, and the medieval chroniclers, stated how he had himself freighted for exportation, within the past month, as many books as that whole library consisted of. This was likely enough to be true, but the two collections were very different from each other. The cargoes of books were probably thousands of copies of some few popular selling works. They might be a powerful illustration of the diffusion of knowledge, but what they were compared with was its concentration. Had all the paper of which these cargoes consisted been bank-notes, they would not have enabled their owner to create a duplicate of the old library, rich in the fathers, the civilians, and the medieval chroniclers. This impossibility of improvising libraries is really an important and curious thing; and since it is apt to be overlooked, owing to the facility of buying books, in quantities generally far beyond the available means of any ordinary buyer, it seems worthy of some special consideration. A man who sets to to form a library will go on swimmingly for a short way. He will easily get Tennyson's Poems--Macaulay's and Alison's Histories--the Encyclopædia Britannica--Buckle on Civilisation--all the books "in print," as it is termed. Nay, he will find no difficulty in procuring copies of others which may not happen to be on the shelves of the publisher or of the retailer of new books. Of Voltaire's works--a little library in itself--he will get a copy at his call in London, if he has not set his mind on some special edition. So of Scott's edition of Swift or Dryden, Croker's edition of Boswell's Johnson, and the like. One can scarcely suppose a juncture in which any of these cannot be found through the electric chain of communication established by the book-trade. Of Gibbon's and Hume's Histories--Jeremy Taylor's works--Bossuet's Universal History, and the like, copies abound everywhere. Go back a little, and ask for Kennet's Collection of the Historians--Echard's History, Bayle, Moreri, or Father Daniel's History of France, you cannot be so certain of immediately obtaining your object, but you will get the book in the end--no doubt about that. Everything has its caprices, and there are some books which might be expected to be equally shy, but in reality, by some inexplicable fatality, are as plentiful as blackberries. Such, for instance, are Famianus Strada's History of the Dutch War of Independence--one of the most brilliant works ever written, and in the very best Latin after Buchanan's. There is Buchanan's own history, very common even in the shape of the early Scotch edition of 1582, which is a highly favourable specimen of Arbuthnot's printing. Then there are Barclay's Argenis, and Raynal's Philosophical History of the East and West Indies, without which no book-stall is to be considered complete, and which seem to be possessed of a supernatural power of resistance to the elements, since, month after month, in fair weather or foul, they are to be seen at their posts dry or dripping. So the collector goes on, till he perhaps collects some five thousand volumes or so of select works. If he is miscellaneous in his taste, he may get on pretty comfortably to ten or fifteen thousand, and then his troubles will arise. He has easily got Baker's and Froissart's and Monstrelet's Chronicles, because there are modern reprints of them in the market. But if he want Cooper's Chronicle, he may have to wait for it, since its latest form is still the black-letter. True, I did pick up a copy lately, at Braidwood's, for half-a-guinea, but that was a catch--it might have caused the search of a lifetime. Still more hopeless it is when the collector's ambition extends to The Ladder of Perfection of Wynkin de Worde, or to his King Rycharde Cure de Lion, whereof it is reported in the Repertorium Bibliographicum, that "an imperfect copy, wanting one leaf, was sold by auction at Mr Evans's, in June 1817, to Mr Watson Taylor for £40, 19s." "Woe betide," says Dibdin, "the young bibliomaniac who sets his heart upon Breton's Flourish upon Fancie and Pleasant Toyes of an Idle Head, 1557, 4to; or Workes of a Young Wyt trussed up with a Fardell of Pretty Fancies!! Threescore guineas shall hardly fetch these black-letter rarities from the pigeon-holes of Mr Thorpe. I lack courage to add the prices for which these copies sold." But he has some comfort reserved for the hungry collector, in the intimation that The Ravisht Soul and the Blessed Weaper, by the same author, may be had for £15.[51] It creates a thrilling interest to know, through the same distinguished authority, that the Heber sale must have again let loose upon the world "A merry gest and a true, howe John Flynter made his Testament," concerning which we are told, with appropriate solemnity and pathos, that "Julian Notary is the printer of this inestimably precious volume, and Mr Heber is the thrice-blessed owner of the copy described in the Typographical Antiquities." [Footnote 51: Library Companion, p. 699.] Such works as the Knightly Tale of Galogras, The Temple of Glas, Lodge's Nettle for Nice Noses, or the Book of Fayts of Armes, by Christene of Pisa, or Caxton's Pylgremage of the Sowle, or his Myrrour of the Worlde, will be long inquired after before they come to the market, thoroughly contradicting that fundamental principle of political economy, that the supply is always equal to the demand. He, indeed, who sets his mind on the possession of any one of these rarities, may go to his grave a disappointed man. It will be in general the consolation of the collector, however, that he is by no means the "homo unius libri." There is always something or other turning up for him, so long as he keeps within moderate bounds. If he be rich and ravenous, however, there is nothing for it but duplicating--the most virulent form of book-mania. We have seen that Heber, whose collection, made during his own lifetime, was on the scale of those public libraries which take generations to grow, had, with all his wealth, his liberality, and his persevering energy, to invest himself with duplicates, triplicates--often many copies of the same book. It is rare that the private collector runs himself absolutely into this quagmire, and has so far exhausted the market that no already unpossessed volume turns up in any part of the world to court his eager embraces. The limitation constitutes, however, a serious difficulty in the way of rapidly creating great public libraries. We would obtain the best testimony to this difficulty in America, were our brethren there in a condition to speak or think of so peaceful a pursuit as library-making. In the normal condition of society there--something like that of Holland in the seventeenth century--there are powerful elements for the promotion of art and letters, when wealth gives the means and civilisation the desire to promote them. The very absence of feudal institutions--the inability to found a baronial house--turns the thoughts of the rich and liberal to other foundations calculated to transmit their name and influence to posterity. And so we have such bequests as John Jacob Astor's, who left four hundred thousand dollars for a library, and the hundred and eighty thousand which were the nucleus of the Smithsonian Institution. Yes! Their efforts in this direction have fully earned for them their own peculiar form of laudation as "actually equal to cash." Hence, as the book-trade and book-buyers know very well, the "almighty dollar" has been hard at work, trying to rear up by its sheer force duplicates of the old European libraries, containing not only all the ordinary stock books in the market, but also the rarities, and those individualities--solitary remaining copies of impressions--which the initiated call uniques. It is clear, however, that when there is but one copy, it can only be in one place; and if it have been rooted for centuries in the Bodleian, or the University of Tubingen, it is not to be had for Harvard or the Astorian. Dr Cogswell, the first librarian of the Astorian, spent some time in Europe with his princely endowment in his pocket, and showed himself a judicious, active, and formidable sportsman in the book-hunting world. Whenever, from private collections, or the breaking-up of public institutions, rarities got abroad into the open market, the collectors of the old country found that they had a resolute competitor to deal with--almost, it might be said, a desperate one--since he was in a manner the representative of a nation using powerful efforts to get possession of a share of the literary treasures of the Old World. In the case of a book, for instance, of which half-a-dozen copies might be known to exist, the combatants before the auctioneer would be, on the one side, many an ambitious collector desiring to belong to the fortunate circle already in possession of such a treasure; but on the other side was one on whose exertions depended the question, whether the book should henceforth be part of the intellectual wealth of a great empire, and should be accessible for consultation by American scholars and authors without their requiring to cross the Atlantic. Let us see how far, by a brief comparison, money has enabled them to triumph over the difficulties of their position. It is difficult to know exactly the numerical contents of a library, as some people count by volumes, and others by the separate works, small or great; and even if all should consent to count by volumes, the estimate would not be precise, for in some libraries bundles of tracts and other small works are massed in plethoric volumes for economy, while in affluent institutions every collection of leaves put under the command of a separate title-page is separately bound in cloth, calf, or morocco, according to its rank. The Imperial Library at Paris is computed to contain above eight hundred thousand volumes; the Astorian boasts of approaching a hundred thousand: the next libraries in size in America are the Harvard, with from eighty thousand to ninety thousand; the Library of Congress, which has from sixty thousand to seventy thousand; and the Boston Athenæum, which has about sixty thousand. There are many of smaller size. In fact, there is probably no country so well stocked as the States with libraries of from ten thousand to twenty thousand volumes,--the evidence that they have bought what was to be bought, and have done all that a new people can to participate in the long-hoarded treasures of literature which it is the privilege of the Old World to possess. I know that, especially in the instance of the Astorian Library, the selections of books have been made with great judgment, and that, after the boundaries of the common crowded market were passed, and individual rarities had to be stalked in distant hunting-grounds, innate literary value was still held an object more important than mere abstract rarity, and, as the more worthy quality of the two, that on which the buying power available to the emissary was brought to bear. The zeal and wealth which the citizens of the States have thrown into the limited field from which a library can be rapidly reaped, are manifested in the size and value of their private collections. A volume, called The Private Libraries of New York, by James Wynne, M.D., affords interesting evidence of this phenomenon. It is printed on large thick paper, after the most luxurious fashion of our book clubs, apparently for private distribution. The author states, however, that "the greater part of the sketches of private libraries to be found in this volume, were prepared for and published in the Evening Post about two years since. Their origin is due to a request on the part of Mr Bigelow, one of the editors of the Post, to the writer, to examine and sketch the more prominent private collections of books in New York." Such an undertaking reveals, to us of the old country, a very singular social condition. With us, the class who may be thus offered up to the martyrdom of publicity is limited. The owners of great houses and great collections are doomed to share them with the public, and if they would frequent their own establishments, must be content to do so in the capacity of librarians or showmen, for the benefit of their numerous and uninvited visitors. They generally, with wise resignation, bow to the sacrifice, and, abandoning all connection with their treasures, dedicate them to the people--nor, as their affluence is generally sufficient to surround them with an abundance of other enjoyments, are they an object of much pity. But that the privacy of our ordinary wealthy and middle classes should be invaded in a similar shape, is an idea that could not get abroad without creating sensations of the most lively horror. They manage these things differently across the Atlantic, and so here we have "over" fifty gentlemen's private collections ransacked and anatomised. If _they_ like it, we have no reason to complain, but rather have occasion to rejoice in the valuable and interesting result. It is quite natural that their ways of esteeming a collection should not be as our ways. There is a story of a Cockney auctioneer, who had a location in the back settlements to dispose of, advertising that it was "almost entirely covered with fine old timber." To many there would appear to be an equal degree of verdant simplicity in mentioning among the specialties and distinguishing features of a collection--the Biographia and Encyclopædia Britannica, Lowndes's Manual, the Quarterly and Edinburgh Reviews, Boyle, Ducange, Moreri, Dodsley's Annual Register, Watt's Bibliotheca, and Diodorus Siculus. The statement that there is in Dr Francis's collection a "complete set of the Recueil des Causes Célèbres, collected by Maurice Mejan, in eighteen volumes--a scarce and valuable work"--would throw any of our black-letter knight-errants into convulsions of laughter. There are also some instances of perhaps not unnatural confusion between one merely local British celebrity and another, as where it is set forth that in Mr Noyes's collection "there is a fine copy of Sir Robert Walpole's works, in five large quarto volumes, embellished with plates." But under all this inexperience of the ways of the craft as it is cultivated among us, and unconsciousness of such small parochial distinctions as may hold between Sir Robert Walpole, our Prime Minister, and Horace Walpole, the man of letters and trinkets, the book contains a quantity of valuable and substantial matter, both as a record of rich stores of learning heaped up for the use of the scholar, and marvellous varieties to dazzle the eyes of the mere Dibdinite. The prevailing feature throughout is the lavish costliness and luxury of these collections, several of which exceed ten thousand volumes. Where collections have grown so large that, on the principles already explained, their increase is impeded, the owner's zeal and wealth seem to have developed themselves in the lavish enshrining and decorating of such things as were attainable.[52] [Footnote 52: Take as a practical commentary on what has been said (p. 82) on "illustrating" books, the following passage describing some of the specialties of a collection, the general features of which are described further on:-- "But the crowning glory is a folio copy of Shakespeare, illustrated by the collector himself, with a prodigality of labour and expense, that places it far above any similar work ever attempted. The letterpress of this great work is a choice specimen of Nichol's types, and each play occupies a separate portfolio. These are accompanied by costly engravings of landscapes, rare portraits, maps, elegantly coloured plates of costumes, and water-colour drawings, executed by some of the best artists of the day. Some of the plays have over 200 folio illustrations, each of which is beautifully inlaid or mounted, and many of the engravings are very valuable. Some of the landscapes, selected from the oldest cosmographies known, illustrating the various places mentioned in the pages of Shakespeare, are exceedingly curious as well as valuable. "In the historical plays, when possible, every character is portrayed from authoritative sources, as old tapestries, monumental brasses, or illuminated works of the age, in well-executed drawings or recognised engravings. There are in this work a vast number of illustrations, in addition to a very numerous collection of water-colour drawings. In addition to the thirty-seven plays, are two volumes devoted to Shakespeare's life and times, one volume of portraits, one volume devoted to distinguished Shakespearians, one to poems, and two to disputed plays, the whole embracing a series of forty-two folio volumes, and forming, perhaps, the most remarkable and costly monument, in this shape, ever attempted by a devout worshipper of the Bard of Avon. The volume devoted to Shakespeare's portraits was purchased by Mr Burton, at the sale of a gentleman's library, who had spent many years in making the collection, and includes various 'effigies' unknown to many laborious collectors. It contains upwards of 100 plates, for the most part proofs. The value of this collection may be estimated by the fact, that a celebrated English collector recently offered its possessor £60 for this single volume. "In the reading-room directly beneath the main library, are a number of portfolios of prints illustrative of the plays of Shakespeare, of a size too large to be included in the illustrated collection just noticed. There is likewise another copy of Shakespeare, based upon Knight's pictorial royal octavo, copiously illustrated by the owner; but although the prints are numerous, they are neither as costly nor as rare as those contained in the large folio copy. "Among the curiosities of the Shakespeare collection are a number of copies of the disputed plays, printed during his lifetime, with the name of Shakespeare as their author. It is remarkable, if these plays were not at least revised by Shakespeare, that no record of a contradiction of their authorship should be found. It is not improbable that many plays written by others were given to Shakespeare to perform in his capacity as a theatrical manager, requiring certain alterations in order to adapt them to the use of the stage, which were arranged by his cunning and skilful hand, and these plays afterward found their way into print, with just sufficient of his emendations to allow his authorship of them, in the carelessness in which he held his literary fame, to pass uncontradicted by him. "There is a copy of an old play of the period, with manuscript annotations, and the name of Shakespeare written on the title-page. It is either the veritable signature of the poet, or an admirably imitated forgery. Mr Burton inclined to the opinion that the work once belonged to Shakespeare, and that the signature is genuine. If so, it is probably the only scrap of his handwriting on this continent. This work is not included in the list given of Ireland's library, the contents of which were brought into disrepute by the remarkable literary forgeries of the son, but stands forth peculiar and unique, and furnishes much room for curious speculation."--(148-51.)] The descriptions of a remorseless investigator like this have a fresh individuality not to be found here, where our habitual reserve prevents us from offering or enjoying a full, true, and particular account of the goods of our neighbours, unless they are brought to the hammer,--and then they have lost half the charm which they possessed as the household gods of some one conspicuous by position or character, and are little more estimable than other common merchandise. It would be difficult to find, among the countless books about books produced by us in the old country, any in which the bent of individual tastes and propensities is so distinctly represented in tangible symbols; and the reality of the elucidation is increased by the sort of innocent surprise with which the historian approaches each "lot," evidently as a first acquaintance, about whom he inquires and obtains all available particulars, good-humouredly communicating them in bald detail to his reader. Here follows a sketch--and surely a tempting one--of a New York interior:-- "Mr Burton's library contains nearly sixteen thousand volumes. Its proprietor had constructed for its accommodation and preservation a three-storey fire-proof building, about thirty feet square, which is isolated from all other buildings, and is connected with his residence in Hudson Street by a conservatory gallery. The chief library-room occupies the upper floor of this building, and is about twenty-five feet in height. Its ceiling presents a series of groined rafters, after the old English style, in the centre of which rises a dome-skylight of stained glass. The sides of the library are fitted up with thirty-six oak book-cases of a Gothic pattern, which entirely surround it, and are nine feet in height. The space between the ceiling and the book-cases is filled with paintings, for the most part of large size, and said to be of value. Specimens of armour and busts of distinguished authors decorate appropriate compartments, and in a prominent niche, at the head of the apartment, stands a full-length statue of Shakespeare, executed by Thom, in the same style as the Tam o' Shanter and Old Mortality groups of this Scotch sculptor. "The great specialty of the library is its Shakespeare collection; but, although very extensive and valuable, it by no means engrosses the entire library, which contains a large number of valuable works in several departments of literature. "The number of lexicons and dictionaries is large, and among the latter may be found all the rare old English works so valuable for reference. Three book-cases are devoted to serials, which contain many of the standard reviews and magazines. One case is appropriated to voyages and travels, in which are found many valuable ones. In another are upwards of one hundred volumes of table-talk, and numerous works on the fine arts and bibliography. One book-case is devoted to choice works on America, among which is Sebastian Munster's Cosmographia Totius Orbis Regionum, published in folio at Basle in 1537, which contains full notes of Columbus, Vespucci, and other early voyagers. Another department contains a curious catalogue of authorities relating to Crime and Punishment; a liberal space is devoted to Facetiæ, another to American Poetry, and also one to Natural and Moral Philosophy. The standard works of Fiction, Biography, Theology, and the Drama, are all represented. "There is a fair collection of classical authors, many of which are of Aldine and Elzevir editions. Among the rarities in this department is a folio copy of Plautus, printed at Venice in 1518, and illustrated with woodcuts." The author thus coming upon a Roman writer of plays, named Plautus, favours us with an account of him, which it is unnecessary to pursue, since it by no means possesses the interest attached to his still-life sketches. Let us pass on and take a peep at the collection of Chancellor Kent, known in this country as the author of Kent's Commentary:-- "To a lawyer, the Chancellor's written remarks on his books are, perhaps, their most interesting feature. He studied pen in hand, and all of his books contain his annotations, and some are literary curiosities. His edition of Blackstone's Commentaries is the first American edition, printed in Philadelphia in 1771. It is creditable to the press of that time, and is overlaid with annotations, showing how diligently the future American commentator studied the elegant work of his English predecessor. The general reader will find still more interest in the earlier judicial reports of the State of New York, printed while he was on the bench. He will find not merely legal notes, but biographical memoranda of many of the distinguished judges and lawyers who lived at the commencement of the century, and built up the present system of laws. "In proceeding from the legal to the miscellaneous part of the library, the visitor's attention will, perhaps, be attracted by an extensive and curious collection of the records of criminal law. Not merely the English state trials and the French _causes célèbres_ are there, but the criminal trials of Scotland and of America, and detached publications of remarkable cases, Newgate Calendars, Malefactors' Register, Chronicles of Crime, with ghastly prints of Newgate and Old Bailey, with their executions. The Chancellor is not responsible for this part of the library, which owes its completeness to the morbid taste of his successor, who defends the collection as best illustrating the popular morals and manners of every period, and contends that fiction yields in interest to the gloomy dramas of real life." The practice attributed to the Chancellor of annotating his books is looked on by collectors as in the general case a crime which should be denied benefit of clergy. What is often said, however, of other crimes may be said of this, that if the perpetrator be sufficiently illustrious, it becomes a virtue. If Milton, for instance, had thought fit to leave his autograph annotations on the first folio Shakespeare, the offence would not only have been pardoned but applauded, greatly to the pecuniary benefit of any one so fortunate as to discover the treasure. But it would be highly dangerous for ordinary people to found on such an immunity. I remember being once shown by an indignant collector a set of utterly and hopelessly destroyed copies of rare tracts connected with the religious disputes of Queen Elizabeth's day, each inlaid and separately bound in a thin volume in the finest morocco, with the title lengthways along the back. These had been lent to a gentleman who deemed himself a distinguished poet, and he thought proper to write on the margin the sensations caused within him by the perusal of some of the more striking passages, certifying the genuineness of his autograph by his signature at full length in a bold distinct hand. He, worthy man, deemed that he was adding greatly to the value of the rarities; but had he beheld the owner's face on occasion of the discovery, he would have been undeceived. There are in Dr Wynne's book descriptions, not only of libraries according to their kind, but according to their stage of growth, from those which, as the work of a generation or two, have reached from ten to fifteen thousand, to the collections still in their youth, such as Mr Lorimer Graham's of five thousand volumes, rich in early editions of British poetry, and doubtless, by this time, still richer, since its owner was lately here collecting early works on the literature of Scotland, and other memorials of the land of his fathers. Certainly, however, the most interesting of the whole is the library of the Rev. Dr Magoon, "an eminent and popular divine of the Baptist Church." He entered on active life as an operative bricklayer. There are, it appears, wall-plates extant, and not a few, built by his hands, and it was only by saving the earnings these brought to him that he could obtain an education. When an English mechanic finds out that he has a call to the ministry, we can easily figure the grim ignorant fanatical ranter that comes forth as the result. If haply he is able to read, his library will be a few lean sheepskin-clad volumes, such as Boston's Crook in the Lot, Fisher's Marrow of Modern Divinity, Brooks's Apples of Gold, Bolton's Saint's Enriching Examination, and Halyburton's Great Concern. The bricklayer, however, was endowed with the heavenly gift of the high æsthetic, which no birth or breeding can secure, and threw himself into that common ground where art and religion meet--the literature of Christian medieval art. Things must, however, have greatly changed among our brethren since the days of Cotton Mather, or even of Jonathan Edwards, when a person in Dr Magoon's position could embellish his private sanctuary in this fashion. "The chief characteristic of the collection is its numerous works on the history, literature, and theory of art in general, and of Christian architecture in particular. There is scarcely a church, abbey, monastery, college, or cathedral; or picture, statue, or illumination, prominent in Christian art, extant in Italy, Germany, France, or the British Islands, that is not represented either by original drawings or in some other graphic form. "In addition to these works, having especial reference to Christian art, are many full sets of folios depicting the leading galleries of ancient, medieval, and modern art in general. Some of these, as the six elephant folios on the Louvre, are in superb bindings; while many others, among which are the Dresden Gallery and Retzsch's Outlines, derive an additional value from once having formed a part of the elegant collection of William Reginald Courtenay. "But what renders this collection particularly valuable, is its large number of original drawings by eminent masters which accompany the written and engraved works. Amongst these are two large sepia drawings, by Amici, of the Pantheon and St Peter's at Rome. These drawings were engraved and published with several others by Ackermann. Both the originals, and the engravings executed from them, are in the collection. The original view near the Basilica of St Marco, by Samuel Prout, the engraving of which is in Finden's Byron, and the interior of St Marco, by Luke Price, the engraving of which is in Price's Venice Illustrated, grace the collection. There is likewise a superb general view of Venice, by Wyld; a fine exterior view of Rheims Cathedral, by Buckley; an exterior view of St Peter's at Caën, by Charles Vacher; and the interior of St Germain des Prés at Paris, by Duval." The early history of the American settlements is naturally the object around which many of these collections cluster; but the scraps of this kind of literature which have been secured have a sadly impoverished aspect in comparison with the luxurious stores which American money has attracted from the Old World.[53] Here one is forcibly reminded of those elements in the old-established libraries of Europe which no wealth or zeal can achieve elsewhere, because the commodity is not in the market. [Footnote 53: "This collection [Mr Menzies's] contains four thousand volumes, and is for the most part in the English language. Its chief specialty consists in works on American history and early American printed books. Among the latter may be mentioned a series of the earliest works issued from the press in New York. Of these, is A Letter of Advice to a Young Gentleman, by R.L., printed and sold by William Bradford, in New York, 1696. Richard Lyon, the author, came early to this country, and officiated as a private tutor to a young English student at Cambridge, to whom the letter of advice was written. It is undoubtedly the earliest work which issued from the press in New York, and is so extremely rare, that it is questionable whether another copy is to be found in the State. There is a collection of tracts comprised in seven volumes, written by the Rev. George Keith, and published by Bradford, at New York, 1702-4. Keith was born in Scotland, and settled in East Jersey, in the capacity of surveyor-general, in 1682. The several tracts in the collection are on religious subjects, and are controversial in their character. As early specimens of printing, and as models of the manner in which the religious controversies of the day were conducted, they are both instructive and curious. In addition to these is a work entitled The Rebuker Rebuked, by Daniel Leeds, 1703; A Sermon preached at Kingston in Jamaica, by William Corbin, 1703; The Great Mystery of Foxcraft, by Daniel Leeds, 1705; A Sermon preached at Trinity Church, in New York, by John Sharp, 1706; An Alarm Sounded to the Inhabitants of the World, by Bath Bowers, 1709; and Lex Parliamentaria, 1716. All the above works were printed by Bradford, the earliest New York publisher, and one of the earliest printers in America. They constitute, perhaps, the most complete collection in existence of the publications of this early typographer. The whole are in an excellent state of preservation, and are nearly, if not quite, unique."] America had just one small old library, and the lamentation over the loss of this ewe-lamb is touching evidence of her poverty in such possessions. The Harvard Library dates from the year 1638. In 1764 the college buildings were burned, and though books are not easily consumed, yet the small collection of five thousand volumes was overwhelmed in the general ruin. So were destroyed many books from the early presses of the mother country, and many of the firstlings of the transatlantic printers; and though its bulk was but that of an ordinary country squire's collection, the loss has been always considered national and irreparable. It is, after all, a rather serious consideration--which it never seems as yet to have occurred to any one to revolve--how entirely the new states of the West and the South seem to be cut off from the literary resources which the Old World possesses in her old libraries. Whatever light lies hidden beneath the bushel in these venerable institutions, seems for ever denied to the students and inquirers of the new empire rising in the antipodes, and consequently to the minds of the people at large who receive impressions from students and inquirers. Books can be reprinted, it is true; but where is the likelihood that seven hundred thousand old volumes will be reprinted to put the Astorian Library on a par with the Imperial? Well, perhaps some quick and cheap way will be found of righting it all when the Aerial Navigation Company issues its time-bills, and news come of battles "from the nation's airy navies grappling in the central blue." In the meantime, what a lesson do these matters impress on us of the importance of preserving old books! Government and legislation have done little, if anything, in Britain, towards this object, beyond the separate help that may have been extended to individual public libraries, and the Copyright Act deposits. Of general measures, it is possible to point out some which have been injurious, by leading to the dispersal or destruction of books. The house and window duties have done this to a large extent. As this statement may not be quite self-evident, a word in explanation may be appropriate. The practice of the department having charge of the Assessed Taxes has been, when any furniture was left in an unoccupied house, to levy the duty--to exempt only houses entirely empty. It was a consequence of this that when, by minority, family decay, or otherwise, a mansion-house had to be shut up, there was an inducement entirely to gut it of its contents, including the library. The same cause, by the way, has been more destructive still to furniture, and may be said to have lost to our posterity the fashions of a generation or two. Tables, chairs, and cabinets first grow unfashionable, and then old; in neither stage have they any friends who will comfort or support them--they are still worse off than books. But then comes an after-stage, in which they revive as antiquities, and become exceeding precious. As Pompeiis, however, are rare in the world, the chief repositories of antique furniture have been mansions shut up for a generation or two, which, after more fashions than generations have passed away, are reopened to the light of day, either in consequence of the revival of the fortunes of their old possessors, or of their total extinction and the entry of new owners. How the house and window duties disturbed this silent process by which antiques were created is easily perceived. One service our Legislature has done for the preservation of books in the copies which require to be deposited under the Copyright Act at Stationers' Hall for the privileged libraries. True, this has been effected somewhat in the shape of a burden upon authors, for the benefit of that posterity which has done no more for them specially than it has for other people of the present generation. But in its present modified shape the burden should not be grudged, in consideration of the magnitude of the benefit to the people of the future--a benefit the full significance of which it probably requires a little consideration to estimate. The right of receiving a copy of every book from Stationers' Hall has generally been looked on as a benefit to the library receiving it. The benefit, however, was but lightly esteemed by some of these institutions, the directors of which represented that they were thus pretty well supplied with the unsaleable rubbish, while the valuable publications slipped past them; and, on the whole, they would sell their privilege for a very small annual sum, to enable them to go into the market and buy such books, old and new, as they might prefer. The view adopted by the law, however, was, that the depositing of these books created an obligation if it conferred a privilege, the institution receiving them having no right to part with them, but being bound to preserve them as a record of the literature of the age.[54] [Footnote 54: I am not aware that in the blue-books, or any other source of public information, there is any authenticated statement of the quantity of literature which the privileged libraries receive through the Copyright Act. The information would afford a measure of the fertility of the British press. It is rather curious, that for a morsel of this kind of ordinary modern statistics, one must have recourse to so scholarly a work as the quarto volume of the _Præfationes et Epistolæ Editionibus Principibus Auctorum Veterum præpositæ, curante Beriah Botfield, A.M._ The editor of that noble quarto obtained a return from Mr Winter Jones, of the number of deposits in the British Museum from 1814 to 1860. Counting the "pieces," as they are called--that is, every volume, pamphlet, page of music, and other publication--the total number received in 1814 was 378. It increased by steady gradation until 1851, when it reached 9871. It then got an impulse, from a determination more strictly to enforce the Act, and next year the number rose to 13,934, and in 1859 it reached 28,807. In this great mass, the number of books coming forth complete in one volume or more is roundly estimated at 5000, but a quantity of the separate numbers and parts which go to make up the total are elementary portions of books, giving forth a certain number of completed volumes annually. From the same authority, it appears that the total number of publications which issued from the French press in 1858 was estimated at 13,000; but this includes "sermons, pamphlets, plays, pieces of music, and engravings." In the same year the issues from the German press, Austria not included, are estimated at 10,000, all apparently actual volumes, or considerable pamphlets. Austria in 1855 published 4673 volumes and parts. What a contrast to all this it must be to live in sleepy Norway, where the annual literary prowess produces 146 volumes! In Holland the annual publications approach 2000. "During the year 1854, 861 works in the Russian language, and 451 in foreign languages were printed in Russia; besides 2940 scientific and literary treatises in the different periodicals." The number of works anywhere published is, however, no indication of the number of books put in circulation, since some will have to be multiplied by tens, others by hundreds, and others by thousands. We know that there is an immense currency of literature in the American States, yet, of the quantity of literature issued there, the Publishers' Circular for February 1859 gives the following meagre estimate:--"There were 912 works published in America during 1858. Of these 177 were reprints from England, 35 were new editions, and 10 were translations from the French or German. The new American works thus number only 690, and among them are included sermons, pamphlets, and letters, whereas the reprints are in most cases _bonâ fide_ books."] If the rule come ever to be thoroughly enforced, it will then come to pass that of every book that is printed in Britain, good or bad, five copies shall be preserved in the shelves of so many public libraries, slumbering there in peace, or tossed about by impatient readers, as the case may be. For the latter there need not perhaps be much anxiety; it is for the sake of those addicted to slumbering in peaceful obscurity that this refuge is valuable. There is thus at least a remnant saved from the relentless trunk-maker. If the day of resuscitation from the long slumber should arrive, we know where to find the book--in a privileged library. The recollection just now occurs to me of a man of unquestionable character and scholarship, who wrote a suitable and intelligent book on an important subject, and at his own expense had it brought into the world by a distinguished publisher, prudently intimating on the title-page that he reserved the right of translation. Giving the work all due time to find its way, he called at the Row, exactly a year after the day of publication, to ascertain the result. He was presented with a perfectly succinct account of charge and discharge, in which he was credited with three copies sold. Now, he knew that his family had bought two copies, but he never could find out who it was that had bought the third. The one mind into which his thoughts had thus passed, remained ever mysteriously undiscoverable. Whether or not he consoled himself with the reflection that what might have been diffused over many was concentrated in one, it is consolatory to others to reflect that such a book stands on record in the privileged libraries, to come forth to the world if it be wanted. Nor is the resuscitation of a book unsuited to its own age, but suited to another, entirely unexampled. That beautiful poem called Albania was reprinted by Leyden, from a copy preserved somewhere: so utterly friendless had it been in its obscurity, that the author's history, and even his name, were unknown; and though it at once excited the high admiration of Scott, no scrap of intelligence concerning it could be discovered in any quarter contemporary with its first publication. The Discourse on Trade by Roger North, the author of the amusing Lives of Lord-Keeper Guildford and his other two brothers, was lately reprinted from a copy in the British Museum, supposed to be the only one existing. Though neglected in its own day, it has been considered worthy of attention in this, as promulgating some of the principles of our existing philosophy of trade. On the same principle, some rare tracts on political economy and trade were lately reprinted by a munificent nobleman, who thought the doctrines contained in them worthy of preservation and promulgation. The Spirit of Despotism, by Vicesimus Knox, was reprinted, at a time when its doctrines were popular, from a single remaining copy: the book, though instructive, is violent and declamatory, and it is supposed that its author discouraged or endeavoured to suppress its sale after it was printed. In the public duty of creating great libraries, and generally of preserving the literature of the world from being lost to it, the collector's or book-hunter's services are eminent and numerous. In the first place, many of the great public libraries have been absolute donations of the treasures to which some enthusiastic literary sportsman has devoted his life and fortune. Its gradual accumulation has been the great solace and enjoyment of his active days; he has beheld it, in his old age, a splendid monument of enlightened exertion, and he resolves that, when he can no longer call it his own, it shall preserve the relics of past literature for ages yet to come, and form a centre whence scholarship and intellectual refinement shall diffuse themselves around. We can see this influence in its most specific and material shape, perhaps, by looking round the reading-room of the British Museum--that great manufactory of intellectual produce, where so many heads are at work. The beginning of this great institution, as everybody knows, was in the fifty thousand volumes collected by Sir Hans Sloane--a wonderful achievement for a private gentleman at the beginning of the last century. When George III. gave it the libraries of the kings of England, it gained, as it were, a better start still by absorbing collections which had begun before Sloane was born--those of Cranmer, Prince Henry, and Casaubon. The Ambrosian Library at Milan was the private collection of Cardinal Borromeo, bequeathed by him to the world. It reached forty thousand volumes ere he died, and these formed a library which had arisen in free, natural, and symmetrical growth, insomuch as, having fed it during his whole life, it began with the young and economic efforts of youth and poverty, and went on accumulating in bulk and in the costliness of its contents as succeeding years brought wealth and honours to the great prelate. What those merchant princes, the Medici, did for the Laurentian Library at Florence is part of history. Old Cosmo, who had his mercantile and political correspondents in all lands, made them also his literary agents, who thus sent him goods too precious to be resold even at a profit. "He corresponded," says Gibbon, "at once with Cairo and London, and a cargo of Indian spices and Greek books were often imported by the same vessel." The Bodleian started with a collection which had cost Sir Thomas Bodley £10,000, and it was augmented from time to time by the absorption of tributary influxes of the same kind. Some far-seeing promoters of national museums have reached the conclusion that it is not a sound ultimate policy to press too closely on the private collector. He is therefore permitted, under a certain amount of watchful inspection, to accumulate his small treasury of antiquities, shells, or dried plants, in the prospect that in the course of time it will find its way, like the feeding rills of a lake, into the great public treasury.[55] [Footnote 55: The most complete mass of information which we probably possess in the English language about the history of libraries, both home and foreign, is in the two octavos called Memoirs of Libraries, including a Handbook of Library Concerns, by Edward Edwards.] In many instances the collectors whose stores have thus gone to the public, have merely followed their hunting propensities, without having the merit of framing the ultimate destiny of their collections, but in others the intention of doing benefit to the world has added zest and energy to the chase. Of this class there is one memorable and beautiful instance in Richard of Bury, Bishop of Durham, who lived and laboured so early as the days of Edward III., and has left an autobiographical sketch infinitely valuable, as at once informing us of the social habits, and letting us into the very inner life, of the highly endowed student and the affluent collector of the fourteenth century. His little book, called Philobiblion, was brought to light from an older obscure edition by the scholar printer Badius Ascensius, and was the first fruit of his press when he set it up in Paris in the year 1499. An English translation of it was published in 1832. It is throughout adorned with the gentle and elevated nature of the scholar, and derives a still nobler lustre from the beneficent purpose to which the author destined the literary relics which it was the enjoyment of his life to collect and study. Being endowed with power and wealth, and putting to himself the question, "What can I render to the Lord for all that he hath conferred on me?" he found an answer in the determination of smoothing the path of the poor and ardent student, by supplying him with the means of study. "Behold," he says, "a herd of outcasts rather than of elect scholars meets the view of our contemplations, in which God the artificer, and nature his handmaid, have planted the roots of the best morals and most celebrated sciences. But the penury of their private affairs so oppresses them, being opposed by adverse fortune, that the fruitful seeds of virtue, so productive in the unexhausted field of youth, unmoistened by their wonted dews, are compelled to wither. Whence it happens, as Boetius says, that bright virtue lies hid in obscurity, and the burning lamp is not put under a bushel, but is utterly extinguished for want of oil. Thus the flowery field in spring is ploughed up before harvest; thus wheat gives way to tares, the vine degenerates to woodbine, and the olive grows wild and unproductive." Keenly alive to this want, he resolved to devote himself, not merely to supply to the hungry the necessary food, but to impart to the poor and ardent scholar the mental sustenance which might possibly enable him to burst the bonds of circumstance, and, triumphing over his sordid lot, freely communicate to mankind the blessings which it is the function of cultivated genius to distribute. The Bishop was a great and powerful man, for he went over Europe commissioned as the spiritual adviser of the great conqueror, Edward III. Wherever he went on public business--to Rome, France, or the other states of Europe--"on tedious embassies and in perilous times," he carried about with him "that fondness for books which many waters could not extinguish," and gathered up all that his power, his wealth, and his vigilance brought within his reach. In Paris he becomes quite ecstatic: "Oh blessed God of gods in Zion! what a rush of the glow of pleasure rejoiced our heart as often as we visited Paris--the Paradise of the world! There we longed to remain, where, on account of the greatness of our love, the days ever appeared to us to be few. There are delightful libraries in cells redolent of aromatics--there flourishing greenhouses of all sorts of volumes: there academic meads trembling with the earthquake of Athenian peripatetics pacing up and down: there the promontories of Parnassus and the porticos of the stoics." The most powerful instrument in his policy was encouraging and bringing round him, as dependents and followers, the members of the mendicant orders--the labourers called to the vineyard in the eleventh hour, as he calls them. These he set to cater for him, and he triumphantly asks, "Among so many of the keenest hunters, what leveret could lie hid? What fry could evade the hook, the net, or the trawl of these men? From the body of divine law down to the latest controversial tract of the day, nothing could escape the notice of these scrutinisers." In further revelations of his method he says, "When, indeed, we happened to turn aside to the towns and places where the aforesaid paupers had convents, we were not slack in visiting their chests and other repositories of books; for there, amidst the deepest poverty, we found the most exalted riches treasured up; there, in their satchels and caskets, we discovered not only the crumbs that fell from the master's table for the little dogs, but, indeed, the shew-bread without leaven--the bread of angels containing all that is delectable." He specially marks the zeal of the Dominicans or Preachers; and in exulting over his success in the field, he affords curious glimpses into the ways of the various humble assistants who were glad to lend themselves to the hobby of one of the most powerful prelates of his day.[56] [Footnote 56: "Indeed, although we had obtained abundance both of old and new works, through an extensive communication with all the religious orders, yet we must in justice extol the Preachers with a special commendation in this respect; for we found them, above all other religious devotees, ungrudging of their most acceptable communications, and overflowing with a certain divine liberality; we experienced them not to be selfish hoarders, but meet professors of enlightened knowledge. Besides all the opportunities already touched upon, we easily acquired the notice of the stationers and librarians, not only within the provinces of our native soil, but of those dispersed over the kingdoms of France, Germany, and Italy, by the prevailing power of money; no distance whatever impeded, no fury of the sea deterred them; nor was cash wanting for their expenses, when they sent or brought us the wished-for books; for they knew to a certainty that their hopes reposed in our bosoms could not be disappointed, but ample redemption, with interest, was secure with us. Lastly, our common captivatrix of the love of all men (money), did not neglect the rectors of country schools, nor the pedagogues of clownish boys, but rather, when we had leisure to enter their little gardens and paddocks, we culled redolent flowers upon the surface, and dug up neglected roots (not, however, useless to the studious), and such coarse digests of barbarism, as with the gift of eloquence might be made sanative to the pectoral arteries. Amongst productions of this kind, we found many most worthy of renovation, which, when the foul rust was skilfully polished off, and the mask of old age removed, deserved to be once more remodelled into comely countenances, and which we, having applied a sufficiency of the needful means, resuscitated for an exemplar of future resurrection, having in some measure restored them to renewed soundness. Moreover, there was always about us in our halls no small assemblage of antiquaries, scribes, bookbinders, correctors, illuminators, and, generally, of all such persons as were qualified to labour advantageously in the service of books. "To conclude. All of either sex, of every degree, estate, or dignity, whose pursuits were in any way connected with books, could, with a knock, most easily open the door of our heart, and find a convenient reposing place in our bosom. We so admitted all who brought books, that neither the multitude of first-comers could produce a fastidiousness of the last, nor the benefit conferred yesterday be prejudicial to that of to-day. Wherefore, as we were continually resorted to by all the aforesaid persons, as to a sort of adamant attractive of books, the desired accession of the vessels of science, and a multifarious flight of the best volumes were made to us. And this is what we undertook to relate at large in the present chapter."] The manner in which Richard of Bury dedicated his stores to the intellectual nurture of the poor scholar, was by converting them into a library for Durham College, which merged into Trinity of Oxford. It would have been a pleasant thing to look upon the actual collection of manuscripts which awakened so much recorded zeal and tenderness in the great ecclesiastic of five hundred years ago; but in later troubles they became dispersed, and all that seems to be known of their whereabouts is, that some of them are in the library of Baliol.[57] Another eminent English prelate made a worthy, but equally ineffectual, attempt to found a great university library. This was the Rev. John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, who gave what was called "the noblest library in England" to the newly founded college of St John's. It was not a bequest. To make his gift secure, it was made over directly to the college, but as he could not part with his favourites while he lived, he borrowed the whole back for life. This is probably the most extensive book loan ever negotiated; but the Reformation, and his own tragic destiny, were coming on apace, and the books were lost both to himself and his favourite college.[58] [Footnote 57: Edwards on Libraries, vol. i. p. 586.] [Footnote 58: Edwards on Libraries, vol. i. p. 609.] The Preservation of Literature. The benefactors whose private collections have, by a generous act of endowment, been thus rendered at the same time permanent and public, could be counted by hundreds. It is now, however, my function to describe a more subtle, but no less powerful influence which the book-hunter exercises in the preservation and promulgation of literature, through the mere exercise of that instinct or passion which makes him what he is here called. What has been said above must have suggested--if it was not seen before--how great a pull it gives to any public library, that it has had an early start; and how hard it is, with any amount of wealth and energy, to make up for lost time, and raise a later institution to the level of its senior. The Imperial Library of Paris, which has so marvellously lived through all the storms that have swept round its walls, was founded in the fourteenth century. It began, of course, with manuscripts; possessing, before the beginning of the fifteenth century, the then enormous number of a thousand volumes. The reason, however, of its present greatness, so far beyond the rivalry of later establishments, is, that it was in active operation at the birth of printing, and received the first-born of the press. There they have been sheltered and preserved, while their unprotected brethren, tossed about in the world outside, have long disappeared, and passed out of existence for ever. Among the popular notions passing current as duly certified axioms, just because they have never been questioned and examined, one is, that, since the age of printing, no book once put to press has ever died. The notion is quite inconsistent with fact. When we count by hundreds of thousands the books that are in the Paris Library, and not to be had for the British Museum, we know the number of books which a chance refuge has protected from the general destruction, and can readily see, in shadowy bulk, though we cannot estimate in numbers, the great mass which, having found no refuge, have disappeared out of separate existence, and been mingled up with the other elements of the earth's crust. We have many accounts of the marvellous preservation of books after they have become rare--the snatching of them as brands from the burning; their hairbreadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach. It would be interesting, also, to have some account of the progress of destruction among books. A work dedicated apparently to this object, which I have been unable to find in the body, is mentioned under a very tantalising title. It is by a certain John Charles Conrad Oelrichs, author of several scraps of literary history, and is called a Dissertation concerning the Fates of Libraries and Books, and, in the first place, concerning the books that have been eaten--such I take to be the meaning of "Dissertatio de Bibliothecarum ac Librorum Fatis, imprimis libris comestis." This is nearly as tantalising as the wooden-legged Britisher's explanation to the inquisitive Yankee, who solemnly engaged to ask not another question were he told how that leg was lost, and was accordingly told that "it was bitten off." Nor is there anything to allay the curiosity thus excited in finding that the French, in the all-comprehensive spirit of their classification and nomenclature, include the book-eater with the decorous title Bibliophage, seeing that in so gossiping a work as Peignot's Dictionnaire de Bibliologie, all that is communicated under this department is, "Bibliophage signifie celui qui mange des livres." We are not favoured with any examples explanatory of the kind of books most in demand by those addicted to this species of food, nor of the effect of the different classes of books on the digestive organs. Religious and political intolerance has, as all the world knows, been a terrible enemy to literature, not only by absolute suppression, but by the restraints of the licenser. So little was literary freedom indeed understood anywhere until recent days, that it was only by an accident after the Revolution that the licensing of books was abolished in England. The new licenser, Edmond Bohun, happened in fact to be a Jacobite, and though he professed to conform to the Revolution Settlement, his sympathies with the exiled house disabled him from detecting disaffection skilfully smothered, and the House of Commons, in a rage, abolished his office by refusing to renew the Licensing Act. Of the extent to which literature has suffered by suppression, there are no data for a precise estimate. It might bring out some curious results, however, were any investigator to tell us of the books which had been effectually put down after being in existence. It would of course be found that the weak were crushed, while the strong flourished. Among the valuable bibliographical works of Peignot, is a dictionary of books which have been condemned to the flames, suppressed, or censured. We do not require to go far through his alphabet to see how futile the burnings and condemnations have been in their effect on the giants of literature. The first name of all is that of Abelard, and so going on we pick up the witty scamp Aretin, then pass on to D'Aubigné the great warrior and historian, Bayle, Beaumarchais, Boulanger, Catullus, Charron, Condillac, Crébillon, and so on, down to Voltaire and Wicliffe. Wars and revolutions have of course done their natural work on many libraries, yet the mischief effected by them has often been more visible than real, since they have tended rather to dispersion than destruction. The total loss to literature by the dispersion of the libraries of the monastic establishments in England, is probably not nearly so great as that which has accompanied the chronic mouldering away of the treasures preserved so obstinately by the lazy monks of the Levant, who were found by Mr Curzon at their public devotions laying down priceless volumes which they could not read, to protect their dirty feet from the cold floor. In the wildest times the book repository often partakes in the good fortune of the humble student whom the storm passes over. In the hour of danger, too, some friend who keeps a quiet eye upon its safety may interpose at the critical moment. The treasures of the French libraries were certainly in terrible danger when Robespierre had before him the draft of a decree, that "the books of the public libraries of Paris and the departments should no longer be permitted to offend the eyes of the republic by shameful marks of servitude." The word would have gone forth, and a good deal beyond the mere marks of servitude would have been doubtless destroyed, had not the emergency called forth the courage and energies of Renouard and Didot.[59] [Footnote 59: Edwards on Libraries, vol. ii. p. 272.] There are probably false impressions abroad as to the susceptibility of literature to destruction by fire. Books are not good fuel, as, fortunately, many a housemaid has found, when, among other frantic efforts and failures in fire-lighting, she has reasoned from the false data of the inflammability of a piece of paper. In the days when heretical books were burned, it was necessary to place them on large wooden stages, and after all the pains taken to demolish them, considerable readable masses were sometimes found in the embers; whence it was supposed that the devil, conversant in fire and its effects, gave them his special protection. In the end it was found easier and cheaper to burn the heretics themselves than their books. Thus books can be burned, but they don't burn, and though in great fires libraries have been wholly or partially destroyed, we never hear of a library making a great conflagration like a cotton mill or a tallow warehouse. Nay, a story is told of a house seeming irretrievably on fire, until the flames, coming in contact with the folio Corpus Juris and the Statutes at Large, were quite unable to get over this joint barrier, and sank defeated. When anything is said about the burning of libraries, Alexandria at once flares up in the memory; but it is strange how little of a satisfactory kind investigators have been able to make out, either about the formation or destruction of the many famous libraries collected from time to time in that city. There seems little doubt that Cæsar's auxiliaries unintentionally burnt one of them; its contents were probably written on papyrus, a material about as inflammable as dried reeds or wood-shavings. As to that other burning in detail, when the collection was used for fuel to the baths, and lasted some six weeks--surely never was there a greater victim of historical prejudice and calumny than the "ignorant and fanatical" Caliph Omar al Raschid. Over and over has this act been disproved, and yet it will continue to be reasserted with uniform pertinacity in successive rolling sentences, all as like each other as the successive billows in a swell at sea.[60] [Footnote 60: One of the latest inquirers who has gone over the ground concludes his evidence thus: "Omar ne vint pas à Alexandrie; et s'il y fut venu, il n'eut pas trouvé des livres à brûler. La bibliothèque n'existait plus depuis deux siècles et demi."--Fournier, L'Esprit dans l'Histoire. What shall we say to the story told by Zonaras and repeated by Pancirole, of the burning, in the reign of the Emperor Basilisc, of the library of Constantinople, containing one hundred and twenty thousand volumes, and among them a copy of the Iliad and the Odyssey, written in golden letters on parchment made from the intestines of the dragon?] Apart, however, from violence and accident, there is a constant decay of books from what might be called natural causes, keeping, like the decay of the human race, a proportion to their reproduction, which varies according to place or circumstance; here showing a rapid increase where production outruns decay, and there a decrease where the morbid elements of annihilation are stronger than the active elements of reproduction. Indeed, volumes are in their varied external conditions very like human beings. There are some stout and others frail--some healthy and others sickly; and it happens often that the least robust are the most precious. The full fresh health of some of the folio fathers and schoolmen, ranged side by side in solemn state on the oaken shelves of some venerable repository, is apt to surprise those who expect mouldy decay; the stiff hard binding is as angular as ever,--there is no abrasion of the leaves, not a single dog-ear or a spot, or even a dust-border on the mellowed white of the margin. So, too, of those quarto civilians and canonists of Leyden and Amsterdam, with their smooth white vellum coats, bearing so generic a resemblance to Dutch cheeses, that they might be supposed to represent the experiments of some Gouda dairyman on the quadrature of the circle. An easy life and an established position in society are the secret of their excellent preservation and condition. Their repose has been little disturbed by intrusive readers or unceremonious investigators, and their repute for solid learning has given them a claim to attention and careful preservation. It has sometimes happened to me, as it probably has to many another inquisitive person, to penetrate to the heart of one of these solid volumes and find it closed in this wise:--As the binder of a book is himself bound to cut off as little as possible of its white margin, it may take place, if any of the leaves are inaccurately folded, that their edges are not cut, and that, as to such leaves, the book is in the uncut condition so often denounced by impatient readers. So have I sometimes had to open with a paper-cutter the pages which had shut up for two hundred years that knowledge which the ponderous volume, like any solemn holder-forth whom no one listens to, pretended to be distributing abroad from its place of dignity on the shelf. Sometimes, also, there will drop out of a heavy folio a little slip of orange-yellow paper covered with some cabalistic-looking characters, which a careful study discovers to be a hint, conveyed in high or low Dutch, that the dealer from whom the volume was purchased, about the time of some crisis in the Thirty Years' War, would be rather gratified than otherwise should the purchaser be pleased to remit to him the price of it. Though quartos and folios are dwindling away, like many other conventional distinctions of rank, yet are authors of the present day not entirely divested of the opportunity of taking their place on the shelf like these old dignitaries. It would be as absurd, of course, to appear in folio as to step abroad in the small-clothes and queue of our great-grandfathers' day, and even quarto is reserved for science and some departments of the law. But then, on the other hand, octavos are growing as large as some of the folios of the seventeenth century, and a solid roomy-looking book is still practicable. Whoever desires to achieve a sure, though it may be but a humble, niche in the temple of fame, let him write a few solid volumes with respectably sounding titles, and matter that will rather repel the reader than court him to such familiarity as may beget contempt. Such books are to the frequenter of a library like country gentlemen's seats to travellers, something to know the name and ownership of in passing. The stage-coachman of old used to proclaim each in succession--the guide-book tells them now. So do literary guide-books in the shape of library-catalogues and bibliographies, tell of these steady and respectable mansions of literature. No one speaks ill of them, or even proclaims his ignorance of their nature, and your "man who knows everything" will profess some familiarity with them, the more readily that the verity of his pretensions is not likely to be tested. A man's name may have resounded for a time through all the newspapers as the gainer of a great victory or the speaker of marvellous speeches--he may have been the most brilliant wit of some distinguished social circle--the head of a great profession--even a leading statesman; yet his memory has utterly evaporated with the departure of his own generation. Had he but written one or two of these solid books, now, his name would have been perpetuated in catalogues and bibliographical dictionaries; nay, biographies and encyclopædias would contain their titles, and perhaps the day of the author's birth and death. Let those who desire posthumous fame, counting recollection as equivalent to fame, think of this. It is with no desire to further the annihilation or decay of the stout and long-lived class of books of which I have been speaking, that I now draw attention to the book-hunter's services in the preservation of some that are of a more fragile nature, and are liable to droop and decay. We can see the process going on around us, just as we see other things travelling towards extinction. Look, for instance, at school-books, how rapidly and obviously they go to ruin. True, there are plenty of them, but save of those preserved in the privileged libraries, or of some that may be tossed aside among lumber in which they happen to remain until they become curiosities, what chance is there of any of them being in existence a century hence? Collectors know well the extreme rarity and value of ancient school-books. Nor is their value by any means fanciful. The dominie will tell us that they are old-fashioned, and the pedagogue who keeps a school, "and ca's it a acaudemy," will sneer at them as "obsolete and incompatible with the enlightened adjuncts of modern tuition;" but if we are to consider that the condition of the human intellect at any particular juncture is worth studying, it is certainly of importance to know on what food its infancy is fed. And so of children's play-books as well as their work-books; these are as ephemeral as their other toys. Retaining dear recollections of some that were the favourites, and desiring to awaken from them old recollections of careless boyhood, or perhaps to try whether your own children inherit the paternal susceptibility to their beauties, you make application to the bookseller--but, behold, they have disappeared from existence as entirely as the rabbits you fed, and the terrier that followed you with his cheery clattering bark. Neither name nor description--not the announcement of the benevolent publishers, "Darton, Harvey, and Darton"--can recover the faintest traces of their vestiges.[61] Old cookery-books, almanacs, books of prognostication, directories for agricultural operations, guides to handicrafts, and other works of a practical nature, are infinitely valuable when they refer to remote times, and also infinitely rare. [Footnote 61: I question if Toy Literature, as it may be called, has received the consideration it deserves, when one remembers how great an influence it must have on the formation of the infant mind. I am not prepared to argue that it should be put under regulation--perhaps it is best that it should be left to the wild luxuriance of nature--but its characteristics and influence are surely worthy of studious observation. It happened to me once to observe in the library of an eminent divine a large heap of that class of works which used to be known as "penny bookies." My reverend friend explained, in relation to them, that they were intended to counteract some pernicious influences at work--that he had made the important and painful discovery that the influence of this class of literature had been noticed and employed by the enemies of the Church. In confirmation of this view, he showed me some passages, of which I remember the following:-- "B was a Bishop who loved his repose, C was a Curate who had a red nose," D was a Dean, but how characterised I forget. I did not think, however, that the proposed antidote, in which the mysteries of religion and the specialties of a zealous class in the English Church were mixed up with childish prattle, was much more decorous or appropriate than what it was intended to counteract.] But of course the most interesting of all are the relics of pure literature, of poems and plays. Whence have arisen all the anxious searches and disappointments, and the bitter contests, and the rare triumphs, about the early editions of Shakespeare, separately or collectively, save from this, that they passed from one impatient hand to another, and were subjected to an unceasing greedy perusal, until they were at last used up and put out of existence? True it was to be with him-- "So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, And yet anon repairs his drooping head, And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore Flames in the forehead of the morning sky." But his tuneful companions who had less vital power have lain like some ancient cemetery or buried city, in which antiquaries have been for a long age digging and searching for some fragment of intellectual treasure. One book, and that the most read of all, was hedged by a sort of divinity which protected it, so far as that was practicable, from the dilapidating effects of use. The Bible seems to have been ever touched with reverent gentleness, and, when the sordid effects of long handling had become inevitably conspicuous, to have been generally removed out of sight, and, as it were, decently interred. Hence it is that, of the old editions of the Bible, the copies are so comparatively numerous and in such fine preservation. Look at those two folios from the types of Guttenburg and Fust, running so far back into the earliest stage of the art of printing, that of them is told the legend of a combination with the devil, which enabled one man to write so many copies identically the same. See how clean and spotless is the paper, and how black, glossy, and distinct the type, telling us how little progress printing has made since the days of its inventors, in anything save the greater rapidity with which, in consequence of the progress of machinery, it can now be executed. The reason of the extreme rarity of the books printed by the early English printers is that, being very amusing, they were used up, thumbed out of existence. Such were Caxton's Book of the Ordre of Chyualry; his Knyght of the Toure; the Myrour of the World; and the Golden Legende; Cocke Lorell's Bote, by De Worde; his Kalender of Shepeherdes, and suchlike. If any one feels an interest in the process of exhaustion, by which such treasures were reduced to rarity, he may easily witness it in the _débris_ of a circulating library; and perhaps he will find the phenomenon in still more distinct operation at any book-stall where lie heaps of school-books, odd volumes of novels, and a choice of Watts's Hymns and Pilgrim's Progresses. Here, too, it is possible that the enlightened onlooker may catch sight of the book-hunter plying his vocation, much after the manner in which, in some ill-regulated town, he may have beheld the _chiffonniers_, at early dawn, rummaging among the cinder heaps for ejected treasures. A ragged morsel is perhaps carefully severed from the heap, wrapped in paper to keep its leaves together, and deposited in the purchaser's pocket. You would probably find it difficult to recognise the fragment, if you should see it in the brilliancy of its resuscitation. A skilled and cautious workman has applied a bituminous solvent to its ragged edges, and literally incorporated, by a sort of paper-making process, each mouldering page into a broad leaf of fine strong paper, in which the print, according to a simile used for such occasions, seems like a small rivulet in a wide meadow of margin. This is termed inlaying, and is a very lofty department in the art of binding. Then there is, besides, the grandeur of russia or morocco, with gilding, and tooling, and marbling, and perhaps a ribbon marker, dangling out with a decoration at its end--all tending, like stars, and garters, and official robes, to stamp the outer insignia of importance on the book, and to warn all the world to respect it, and save it from the risks to which the common herd of literature is liable. The French have, as usual, dignified the process which restores diseased books to health and condition by an appropriate technical name--it is Bibliuguiancie; and under that title it will be found fitly and appropriately discussed in the Dictionnaire de Bibliologie of Peignot, who specially mentions two practitioners of this kind as having conferred lustre on their profession by their skill and success--Vialard and Heudier.[62] [Footnote 62: There is something exceedingly curious, not only in its bearing on the matter of the text, but as a record of some peculiar manners and habits of the fourteenth century, in Richard of Bury's injunctions as to the proper treatment of the manuscripts which were read in his day, and the signal contrast offered by the practice both of the clergy and laity to his decorous precepts:-- "We not only set before ourselves a service to God in preparing volumes of new books, but we exercise the duties of a holy piety, if we first handle so as not to injure them, then return them to their proper places and commend them to undefiling custody, that they may rejoice in their purity while held in the hand, and repose in security when laid up in their repositories. Truly, next to the vestments and vessels dedicated to the body of the Lord, holy books deserve to be most decorously handled by the clergy, upon which injury is inflicted as often as they presume to touch them with a dirty hand. Wherefore, we hold it expedient to exhort students upon various negligencies which can always be avoided, but which are wonderfully injurious to books. "In the first place, then, let there be a mature decorum in opening and closing of volumes, that they may neither be unclasped with precipitous haste, nor thrown aside after inspection without being duly closed; for it is necessary that a book should be much more carefully preserved than a shoe. But school folks are in general perversely educated, and, if not restrained by the rule of their superiors, are puffed up with infinite absurdities; they act with petulance, swell with presumption, judge of everything with certainty, and are unexperienced in anything. "You will perhaps see a stiff-necked youth, lounging sluggishly in his study, while the frost pinches him in winter time, oppressed with cold, his watery nose drops, nor does he take the trouble to wipe it with his handkerchief till it has moistened the book beneath it with its vile dew. For such a one I would substitute a cobbler's apron in the place of his book. He has a nail like a giant's, perfumed with stinking filth, with which he points out the place of any pleasant subject. He distributes innumerable straws in various places, with the ends in sight, that he may recall by the mark what his memory cannot retain. These straws, which the stomach of the book never digests, and which nobody takes out, at first distend the book from its accustomed closure, and, being carelessly left to oblivion, at last become putrid. He is not ashamed to eat fruit and cheese over an open book, and to transfer his empty cup from side to side upon it; and because he has not his alms-bag at hand, he leaves the rest of the fragments in his books. He never ceases to chatter with eternal garrulity to his companions; and while he adduces a multitude of reasons void of physical meaning, he waters the book, spread out upon his lap, with the sputtering of his saliva. What is worse, he next reclines with his elbows on the book, and by a short study invites a long nap; and by way of repairing the wrinkles, he twists back the margins of the leaves, to the no small detriment of the volume. He goes out in the rain, and now flowers make their appearance upon our soil. Then the scholar we are describing, the neglecter rather than the inspector of books, stuffs his volume with firstling violets, roses, and quadrifoils. He will next apply his wet hands, oozing with sweat, to turning over the volumes, then beat the white parchment all over with his dusty gloves, or hunt over the page, line by line, with his forefinger covered with dirty leather. Then, as the flea bites, the holy book is thrown aside, which, however, is scarcely closed in a month, and is so swelled with the dust that has fallen into it, that it will not yield to the efforts of the closer. "But impudent boys are to be specially restrained from meddling with books, who, when they are learning to draw the forms of letters, if copies of the most beautiful books are allowed them, begin to become incongruous annotators, and wherever they perceive the broadest margin about the text, they furnish it with a monstrous alphabet, or their unchastened pen immediately presumes to draw any other frivolous thing whatever that occurs to their imagination. There the Latinist, there the sophist, there every sort of unlearned scribe tries the goodness of his pen, which we have frequently seen to have been most injurious to the fairest volumes, both as to utility and price. There are also certain thieves who enormously dismember books by cutting off the side margins for letter-paper (leaving only the letters or text), or the fly-leaves put in for the preservation of the book, which they take away for various uses and abuses, which sort of sacrilege ought to be prohibited under a threat of anathema. "But it is altogether befitting the decency of a scholar that washing should without fail precede reading, as often as he returns from his meals to study, before his fingers, besmeared with grease, loosen a clasp or turn over the leaf of a book. Let not a crying child admire the drawings in the capital letters, lest he pollute the parchment with his wet fingers, for he instantly touches whatever he sees. "Furthermore, laymen, to whom it matters not whether they look at a book turned wrong side upwards or spread before them in its natural order, are altogether unworthy of any communion with books. Let the clerk also take order that the dirty scullion, stinking from the pots, do not touch the leaves of books unwashed; but he who enters without spot shall give his services to the precious volumes. "The cleanliness of delicate hands, as if scabs and postules could not be clerical characteristics, might also be most important, as well to books as to scholars, who, as often as they perceive defects in books, should attend to them instantly, for nothing enlarges more quickly than a rent, as a fracture neglected at the time will afterwards be repaired with increased trouble."--Philobiblion, p. 101.] I have recourse to our old friend Monkbarns again for a brilliant description of the prowler among the book-stalls, in the performance of the function assigned to him in the dispensation of things,--renewing my already recorded protest against the legitimacy of the commercial part of the transaction:-- "'Snuffy Davie bought the game of Chess, 1474, the first book ever printed in England, from a stall in Holland, for about two groschen, or twopence of our money. He sold it to Osborne for twenty pounds, and as many books as came to twenty pounds more. Osborne resold this inimitable windfall to Dr Askew for sixty guineas. At Dr Askew's sale,' continued the old gentleman, kindling as he spoke, 'this inestimable treasure blazed forth in its full value, and was purchased by royalty itself for one hundred and seventy pounds! Could a copy now occur, Lord only knows,' he ejaculated, with a deep sigh and lifted-up hands,--'Lord only knows what would be its ransom!--and yet it was originally secured, by skill and research, for the easy equivalent of twopence sterling. Happy, thrice happy, Snuffy Davie!--and blessed were the times when thy industry could be so rewarded!'" In such manner is it that books are saved from annihilation, and that their preservers become the feeders of the great collections in which, after their value is established, they find refuge; and herein it is that the class to whom our attention is at present devoted perform an inestimable service to literature. It is, as you will observe, the general ambition of the class to find value where there seems to be none, and this develops a certain skill and subtlety, enabling the operator, in the midst of a heap of rubbish, to put his finger on those things which have in them the latent capacity to become valuable and curious. The adept will at once intuitively separate from its friends the book that either is or will become curious. There must be something more than mere rarity to give it this value, although high authorities speak of the paucity of copies as being everything. David Clement, the illustrious French bibliographer, who seems to have anticipated the positive philosophy by an attempt to make bibliography, as the Germans have named it, one of the exact sciences, lays it down with authority, that "a book which it is difficult to find in the country where it is sought ought to be called simply _rare_; a book which it is difficult to find in any country may be called _very rare_; a book of which there are only fifty or sixty copies existing, or which appears so seldom as if there never had been more at any time than that number of copies, ranks as _extremely rare_; and when the whole number of copies does not exceed ten, this constitutes _excessive rarity_, or rarity in the highest degree." This has been received as a settled doctrine in bibliography; but it is utter pedantry. Books may be rare enough in the real or objective sense of the term, but if they are not so in the nominal or subjective sense, by being sought after, their rarity goes for nothing. A volume may be unique--may stand quite alone in the world--but whether it is so, or one of a numerous family, is never known, for no one has ever desired to possess it, and no one ever will. But it is a curious phenomenon in the old-book trade, that rarities do not always remain rare; volumes seeming to multiply through some cryptogamic process, when we know perfectly that no additional copies are printed and thrown off. The fact is, that the rumour of scarcity, and value, and of a hunt after them, draws them from their hiding-places. If we may judge from the esteem in which they were once held, the Elzevirs must have been great rarities in this country; but they are now plentiful enough--the heavy prices in the British market having no doubt sucked them out of dingy repositories in Germany and Holland--so that, even in this department of commerce the law of supply and demand is not entirely abrogated. He who dashes at all the books called rare, or even very rare, by Clement and his brethren, will be apt to suffer the keen disappointment of finding that there are many who participate with him in the possession of the same treasures. In fact, let a book but make its appearance in that author's Bibliothèque Curieuse, Historique, et Critique, ou Catalogue Raisonné des Livres difficiles à trouver; or in Graesses's Trésor des Livres Rares et Précieux; or in the Dictionnaire Bibliographique des Livres Rares, published by Caileau--or let it be mentioned as a rarity in Eibert's Allgemeines Bibliographisches Lexicon, or in Debure, Clement, Osmont, or the Repertorium Bibliographicum,--such proclamation is immediate notice to many fortunate possessors who were no more aware of the value of their dingy-looking volumes than Monsieur Jourdain knew himself to be in the habitual daily practice of talking prose. So are we brought again back to the conclusion that the true book-hunter must not be a follower of any abstract external rules, but must have an inward sense and literary taste. It is not absolutely that a book is rare, or that it is run after, that must commend it to him, but something in the book itself. Hence the relics which he snatches from ruin will have some innate merits to recommend them. They will not be of that unhappy kind which nobody has desired to possess for their own sake, and nobody ever will. Something there will be of original genius, or if not that, yet of curious, odd, out-of-the-way information, or of quaintness of imagination, or of characteristics pervading some class of men, whether a literary or a polemical,--something, in short, which people desirous of information will some day or other be anxious to read,--such are the volumes which it is desirable to save from annihilation, that they may find their place at last in some of the great magazines of the world's literary treasures. Librarians. It will often be fortunate for these great institutions if they obtain the services of the hunter himself, along with his spoils of the chase. The leaders in the German wars often found it an exceedingly sound policy to subsidise into their own service some captain of free lances, who might have been a curse to all around him. Your great game-preservers sometimes know the importance of taking the most notorious poacher in the district into pay as a keeper. So it is sometimes of the nature of the book-hunter, if he be of the genial sort, and free of some of the more vicious peculiarities of his kind, to make an invaluable librarian. Such an arrangement will sometimes be found to be like mercy twice blessed,--it blesseth him that gives and him that takes. The imprisoned spirit probably finds freedom at last, and those purchases and accumulations which, to the private purse, were profuse and culpable recklessness, may become veritable duty; while the wary outlook and the vigilant observation, which before were only leading a poor victim into temptation, may come forth as commendable attention and zealous activity. Sometimes mistakes have been made in selections on this principle, and a zeal has been embarked which has been found to tend neither to profit nor edification; for there have been known, at the head of public libraries, men of the Cerberus kind, who loved the books so dearly as to be unable to endure the handling of them by the vulgar herd of readers and searchers--even by those for whose special aid and service they are employed. They who have this morbid terror of the profanation of the treasures committed to their charge suffer in themselves the direst torments--something like those of a cat beholding her kittens tossed by a dog--whenever their favourites are handled; and the excruciating extent of their agonies, when any ardent and careless student dashes right into the heart of some _editio princeps_ or tall copy, or perhaps lays it open with its face on the table while he snatches another edition that he may collate a passage, is not to be conceived. It is then the dog _worrying_ the kittens. Such men will only give satisfaction in great private libraries little disturbed by their proprietors, or in monastic or other corporate institutions, where it is the worthy object of the patrons to keep their collection in fine condition, and, at the same time, to take order that it shall be of the least possible service to education or literature. Angelo Maï, the great librarian of the Vatican, who made so many valuable discoveries himself, had the character of taking good care that no one else should make any within his own strictly preserved hunting grounds. In the general case, however, a bibliophile at the head of a public library is genial and communicative, and has a pleasure in helping the investigator through the labyrinth of its stores. Such men feel their strength; and the immense value of the service which they may sometimes perform by a brief hint in the right direction which the inquiry should take, or by handing down a volume, or recommending the best directory to all the learning on the matter in hand, has laid many men of letters under great obligations to them. The most eminent type of this class of men was Magliabecchi, librarian to the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, who could direct you to any book in any part of the world, with the precision with which the metropolitan policeman directs you to St Paul's or Piccadilly. It is of him that the stories are told of answers to inquiries after books, in these terms: "There is but one copy of that book in the world. It is in the Grand Seignior's library at Constantinople, and is the seventh book in the second shelf on the right hand as you go in." His faculties were, like those of all great men, self-born and self-trained. So little was the impoverished soil in which he passed his infancy congenial to his pursuits in after life, that it was not within the parental intentions to teach him to read, and his earliest labours were in the shop of a greengrocer. Had his genius run on natural science, he might have fed it here, but it was his felicity and his fortune to be transferred to the shop of a patronising bookseller. Here he drank in an education such as no academic forcing machinery could ever infuse. He devoured books, and the printed leaves became as necessary to his existence as the cabbage-leaves to the caterpillars which at times made their not welcome appearance in the abjured greengrocery. Like these verdant reptiles, too, he became assimilated to the food he fed on, insomuch that he was in a manner hot-pressed, bound, marble-topped, lettered, and shelved. He could bear nothing but books around him, and would allow no space for aught else; his furniture, according to repute, being limited to two chairs, the second of which was admitted in order that the two together might serve as a bed. Another enthusiast of the same kind was Adrien Baillet, the author, or, more properly speaking, the compiler, of the Jugemens des Savans. Some copies of this book, which has a quantity of valuable matter scattered through it, have Baillet's portrait, from which his calm scholarly countenance looks genially forth, with this appropriate motto, "Dans une douce solitude, à l'abri du mensonge et de la vanité, j'adoptai la critique, et j'en fis mon étude, pour découvrir la vérité." Him, struggling with poverty, aggravated with a thirst for books, did Lamoignon the elder place at the head of his library, thus at once pasturing him in clover. When the patron told his friend, Hermant, of his desire to find a librarian possessed of certain fabulous qualifications for the duty, his correspondent said, "I will bring the very man to you;" and Baillet, a poor, frail, attenuated, diseased scholar, was produced. His kind patron fed him up, so far as a man who could not tear himself from his books, unless when nature became entirely exhausted, could be fed up. The statesman and his librarian were the closest of friends; and on the elder Lamoignon's death, the son, still more distinguished, looked up to Baillet as a father and instructor. Men of this stamp are generally endowed with deep and solid learning. For any one, indeed, to take the command of a great public library, without large accomplishments, especially in the languages, is to put himself in precisely the position where ignorance, superficiality, and quackery are subjected to the most potent test, and are certain of detection. The number of librarians who have united great learning to a love of books, is the best practical answer to all sneers about the two being incompatible. Nor, while we count among us such names as Panizzi, Birch, Halkett, Naudet, Laing, Cogswell, Jones, Pertz, and Todd, is the race of learned librarians likely to decay. It will be worth while for the patrons of public libraries, even in appointments to small offices, to have an eye on bookish men for filling them. One librarian differs greatly from another, and on this difference will often depend the entire utility of an institution, and the question whether it is worth keeping it open or closing its door. Of this class of workman it may be said quite as aptly as of the poet, that he is born, not made. The usual testimonies to qualification--steadiness, sobriety, civility, intelligence, &c.--may all be up to the mark that will constitute a first-rate book-keeper in the mercantile sense of the term, while they are united in a very dreary and hopeless keeper of books. Such a person ought to go to his task with something totally different from the impulses which induce a man to sort dry goods or make up invoices with eminent success. In short, your librarian would need to be in some way touched with the malady which has been the object of these desultory remarks. Bibliographies. A passing remark is due to the place and function in literature of those books which act the part of gentleman-usher towards other books, by introducing them to the notice of strangers. The talk about librarians, in fact, brings these naturally before us by the law of association, since the duties of the librarian are congenial to this special department of the literary world, the work of which has indeed been chiefly performed by eminent librarians. The best general name for the class of books which I refer to, is that of Bibliographies, given to them by the French. Like most other products of human ingenuity, they are varied in their objects and their merits. At the one end of the scale is the Leipsic Bibliotheca Horatiana, ambitious only of commemorating the several editions of Horace, or Kuster's Bibliotheca Historica Brandenburgica, sacred to the histories of that duchy; while the other extremity aims at universality, an object which has not yet been accomplished, and seems every day fleeing farther off from those who are daring enough to pursue it. In 1545, when the world of literature was rather smaller than it now is, Conrade Gesner, in his Bibliotheca, made the first attempt at a universal bibliography. The incompleteness of the result is confessed in the Epitome of the Bibliotheca, printed five years afterwards, which professes only to record _nearly_ all the books written since the world began, and yet boasts of adding more than two thousand names of authors to the number mentioned in the original Bibliotheca.[63] [Footnote 63: Gesner's is a work in which many curious things may be found, as, for instance the following, which would have gladdened the heart of Scott, had it been his fortune to alight on it: "Thomas Leirmant, vel Ersiletonus, natione Scotus, edidit Rhythmica quædam, et ob id Rhythmicus apud Anglos cognominatus est. Vixit anno 1286."] Of what any list of all the books that have appeared in the world might be, one may form some conception by the effort of Dr Watt, accomplished nearly fifty years ago. The work is said to have killed him; and no one who turns over the densely printed leaves of his four quartos, can feel surprised at such a result. It is by no means perfect or complete, even as a guide to books in the compiler's native tongue, yet stands in honourable contrast with the failure of several efforts to continue this portion of it down to later days. The voluminous France Littéraire of Quérard confesses its imperfections even to accomplish its limited object, by professing to devote its special attention to books of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As to bibliographies of the present century aiming at universality, the Allgemeines Gelehrten Lexicon of Jöcher--when accompanied by Adelung's supplement, which is its better-half--for scholarship and completeness casts into shade anything produced either in France or here. It is a guide which few people consult without passing a compliment either internally or aloud on the satisfactory result. That it contains an account of every, or nearly every, book is at once contradicted by its bulk, yet it is often remarked that no one appeals to it in vain--a specialty which seems to have arisen from the peculiar capacity of its editors to dive, as it were, into the hearts of those likely to seek their aid. Naturally, the most satisfactory of bibliographies are those limited to books of a special class. These are frequent in law and divinity, but are most numerous in history. Hence have we such valued guides as Lelong, Dupin, Dufresnoy, and our own dynasty of historical bibliographers, which, including Leland, Bale, Pitts, and Tanner, reached its climax in Bishop Nicholson, whose introduction to the sources of British history, hitherto so valuable, will be superseded for most practical purposes on the completion of Mr Duffus Hardy's Descriptive Catalogue of Materials relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland. Science, though it can boast of the great compilations of Haller, and of other sources of reference to its literature, takes less aid from such guides than other departments of intellectual labour, for the obvious reason that, except to the few who are pursuing its history through its dawn and progress, the latest books on any department generally supersede their predecessors. They are, in fact, themselves the guides which show the scientific inquirer his work, not lying like that of the historian and divine in old books, but in existing things and practical experiments. Of books intended to show what is to be found in others, an extremely curious history attaches to one, the Bibliotheca of Photius. It is known of course to all divines, but not necessarily, perhaps, to every other person, that this turbulent and ambitious patriarch, during what he calls his embassy to Syria, occupied himself in taking down notes of the contents of theological treatises by his predecessors and contemporaries, with his judgments on their merits. Being a man of controversial propensities, he selected for criticism the works of the authors with whom he was at war. Ranking himself among the orthodox, he thus collected notes of the works of heterodox writers, and, among these, of several eminent Arians; and the rather startling result of his labours is, that a considerable quantity of Arian literature has thus been preserved, which, but for the exertions of the man who intended to exterminate it by his censure, would have been entirely lost to the world. There are among bibliographers many highly meritorious leaders through the mysteries of occult literature--as, for instance, those who, like Placcius, Mylius, Barbière, and Melzi, have devoted themselves to the discovery and publication of the authorship of anonymous works. Their function is, on the whole, a rather cruel one, and suggests that those who betake themselves to it are men of austere character. Sometimes, to be sure, it falls to their lot to place the laurel wreath of fame on the deserving brow, but very seldom before the grave has closed over it. The resuscitation of books which have passed unnoticed because they were beyond their age, or failed to touch its sympathies, has been the class of instances in which honour has been thus conferred; and it has seldom fallen to the lot of the living, for the reason that it is the nature of the human being not very resolutely to conceal from an inquiring public those of his actions which receive the approval of his own conscience and taste. In dealing with the living, and often the recently departed, it is the function of this class of investigators to expose the weaknesses and inconsistencies of the wise and great. It is they who have told the world about the youthful Jacobitism of the eminent pillar of the constitution; of the early Radicalism of the distinguished Conservative; of the more than questionable escapades of the popular, yet sedate divine, whose works are the supreme model of decorous piety. In this wise, indeed, the function of the bibliographer of the anonymous much resembles the detective's. Like that functionary, he must not let feelings of delicacy or humanity interfere with the relentless execution of his duty, for of those who have achieved eminence as public teachers, all that they have ever told the world is the world's property. Whatever mercy may be shown to the history of their private life, cannot be claimed for the sayings which they have made or tried to make public. If they have at other times uttered opinions different from those which have achieved for them fame and eminence, those early utterances are an effective test of the value and sincerity of the later, and were it for this object only, the world is entitled to look at them. This is one of the penalties which can only be escaped by turning aside from the path to eminence.[64] [Footnote 64: It will be agreeable news to the severely disposed, to know that a wholesale exposure of those British authors who attempt to hide their deeds in darkness is now in progress, the work having been undertaken, as police reports say, by "a thoroughly efficient officer of indomitable activity."] Passing from this class of interesting though rather unamiable elucidations, I come to another class of bibliographies, of which it is difficult to speak with patience--those which either profess to tell you how to find the best books to consult on every department of learning, or undertake to point out to you the books which you should select for your library, or for your miscellaneous reading. As to those which profess to be universal mentors, at hand to help you with the best tools for your work, in whichever department of intellectual labour it may happen to be, _they_ break down at once. Whoever has set himself to any special line of investigation, cannot open one of those books without discovering its utter worthlessness and incapacity to aid him in his own specialty. As to the other class of bibliographers, who profess to act the guide, philosopher, and friend to the collector and the reader, I cannot imagine anything more offensively audacious than the function they assume. It is an attempt of the pedagogue to assert a jurisdiction over grown intellects, and hence such books naturally develop in flagrant exaggeration the pragmatical priggism which is the pedagogue's characteristic defect. I would except from this condemnation a few bibliographers, who, instead of sitting in the schoolmaster's chair and dictating to you what it is proper that you should read, rather give you a sly hint that they are going a-vagabondising through the byways of literature, and will take you with them if you like. Among these I would chiefly be inclined to affect the company of Peignot, whose wild and wayward course of reading provides for you something like to a ramble over the mountains with an Alpine hunter, the only kind of guide to whom the thorough pedestrian wanderer should give up his freedom. One of Peignot's books, called Predicatoriana, ou Révélations Singulières et Amusantes sur les Prédicateurs, brings one into scenes apt to shock a mind not tolerably hardened by eclectic reading. It is an anonymous publication, but has been traced home by the literary detectives. It may be characterised as a collection of the Buffooneries of Sermons. A little book enlivened by something like the same spirit, called The Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence, is known among ourselves; and there is an answer to it assailing the Episcopal Church of Scotland, in a tone which decidedly improves on the lesson of sarcasm and malignity taught by the other side. Both writers are dishonest in the statements they make and the passages they quote from their adversaries, and both are grotesque and profane. Peignot, not being influenced by polemical rancour, is no doubt honest in his quotations, and tells you that the persons who preached the passages quoted by him uttered them in all religious sincerity. Yet wide as the Christian world stretches beyond our corner of it, by so far does the Frenchman's book in grotesqueness and profanity out-shadow the attempts of the Scottish polemical combatants. Of that highly patrician class of bibliographies which offer their services exclusively to the collectors of rare, curious, and costly books, there are so many notices dotted over this volume, that I shall only stop here to mark the recentness of their appearance in literature. To judge from the title-page, one might trace them as far back as 1676, in John Hallervord's Bibliotheca Curiosa, in which the editor professes to indicate many authors which are very rare and known to few; but this book would give no satisfaction to pure rarity seekers. Hallervord takes curious in its old sense, which corresponds in some measure with the present use of the word interesting; and the specialty of the books being known to few, seems to refer to their profundity and the rarity of learning sufficient to sound their depths. Nor does the list published a few years later by the London bookseller Hartley, though it professes to signalise very rare books, show that nice sense which discriminates game of a high order from the vulgar and useful.[65] I suspect that before we reach the dawn of this class of literature proper, we must descend at once to the year 1750, distinguished by the simultaneous appearance of Clement's Bibliothèque Curieuse, and Freytag's Analecta de Libris Rarioribus.[66] [Footnote 65: Catalogus Universalis Librorum in omni facultate linguaque insignium et rarissimorum, &c. Londini, apud Joannem Hartley, Bibliopolam, exadversum Hospitio Grayensi, in vico vulgo Holborn dicto. MDCXCIX.] [Footnote 66: Of course the Bibliographers prey relentlessly on each other, and bibliographical notices of Bibliographies abound. Le Brun sets aside a department for them, but the most handy reference to them that has come my way is a chronological list in the Dictionnaire Bibliographique, ou Nouveau Manuel du Libraire, by M. P*****--identified by his brother detectives as M. Psaume.] [Illustration] [Illustration] _PART III.--HIS CLUB._ Clubs in General. An author of the last generation, professing to deal with any branch of human affairs, if he were ambitious of being considered philosophical, required to go at once to the beginning of all things, where, finding man alone in the world, he would describe how the biped set about his own special business, for the supply of his own wants and desires; and then finding that the human being was, by his instincts, not a solitary but a social animal, the ambitious author would proceed in well-balanced sentences to describe how men aggregated themselves into hamlets, villages, towns, cities, counties, parishes, corporations, select vestries, and so on. I find that, without the merit of entertaining any philosophical views, I have followed, unconsciously, the same routine. Having discussed the book-hunter as he individually pursues his object, I now propose to look in upon him at his club, and say something about its peculiarities, as the shape in which he takes up the pursuit collectively with others who happen to be like-minded to himself. Those who are so very old as to remember the Episcopal Church of Scotland in that brief period of stagnant depression when the repeal of the penal laws had removed from her the lustre of martyrdom, and she had not yet attained the more secular lustre which the zeal of her wealthy votaries has since conferred on her, will be familiar with the name of Bishop Robert Jolly. To the ordinary reader, however, it may be necessary to introduce him more specifically. He was a man of singular purity, devotedness, and learning. If he had no opportunity of attesting the sincerity of his faith by undergoing stripes and bondage for the Church of his adoption, he developed in its fulness that unobtrusive self-devotion, not inferior to martyrdom, which dedicates to obscure duties the talent and energy that, in the hands of the selfish and ambitious, would be the sure apparatus of wealth and station. He had no doubt risen to an office of dignity in his own Church--he was a bishop. But to understand the position of a Scottish bishop in those days, one must figure Parson Adams, no richer than Fielding has described him, yet encumbered by a title ever associated with wealth and dignity, and only calculated, when allied with so much poverty and social humility, to deepen the incongruity of his lot, and throw him more than ever on the mercy of the scorner. The office was indeed conspicuous, not by its dignities or emoluments, but by the extensive opportunities it afforded for self-devotion. One may have noticed his successor of later times giving lustre to newspaper paragraphs as "The Lord Bishop of Moray and Ross." It did not fall to the lot of him of whom I write to render his title so flagrantly incongruous. A lordship was not necessary, but it was the principle of his Church to require a bishop, and in him she got a bishop. In reality, however, he was the parish clergyman of the small and poor remnant of the Episcopal persuasion who inhabited the odoriferous fishing-town of Fraserburgh. There he lived a long life of such simplicity and abstinence as the poverty of the poorest of his flock scarcely drove them to. He had one failing to link his life with this nether world--he was a book-hunter. How with his poor income, much of which went to feed the necessities of those still poorer, he should have accomplished anything in a pursuit generally considered expensive, is among other unexplained mysteries. But somehow he managed to scrape together a curious and interesting collection, so that his name became associated with rare books, as well as with rare Christian virtues. When it was proposed to establish an institution for reprinting the works of the fathers of the Episcopal Church in Scotland, it was naturally deemed that no more worthy or characteristic name could be attached to it than that of the venerable prelate who, by his learning and virtues, had so long adorned the Episcopal chair of Moray and Ross, and who had shown a special interest in the department of literature to which the institution was to be devoted. Hence it came to pass that, through a perfectly natural process, the association for the purpose of reprinting the works of certain old divines was to be ushered into the world by the style and title of THE JOLLY CLUB. There happened to be amongst those concerned, however, certain persons so corrupted with the wisdom of this world, as to apprehend that the miscellaneous public might fail to trace this designation to its true origin, and might indeed totally mistake the nature and object of the institution, attributing to it aims neither consistent with the ascetic life of the departed prelate, nor with the pious and intellectual objects of its founders. The counsels of these worldly-minded persons prevailed. The Jolly Club was never instituted,--at least, as an association for the reprinting of old books of divinity, though I am not prepared to say that institutions more than one so designed may not exist for other purposes. The object, however, was not entirely abandoned. A body of gentlemen united themselves together under the name of another Scottish prelate, whose fate had been more distinguished, if not more fortunate; and the Spottiswoode Society was established. Here, it will be observed, there was a passing to the opposite extreme; and so intense seems to have been the anxiety to escape from all excuse for indecorous jokes or taint of joviality, that the word Club, wisely adopted by other bodies of the same kind, was abandoned, and this one called itself a Society. To that abandonment of the _medio tutissimus_ has been attributed its early death by those who contemn the taste of those other communities, essentially Book Clubs, which have taken to the devious course of calling themselves "Societies." In fact, all our _societies_, from the broad-brimmed Society of Friends downwards, have something in them of a homespun, humdrum, plain, flat--not unprofitable, perhaps, but unattractive character. They may be good and useful, but they have no dignity or splendour, and are quite destitute of the strange meteoric power and grandeur which have accompanied the career of _Clubs_. Societies there are, indeed, which identify themselves through their very nomenclature with misfortune and misery, seeming proudly to proclaim themselves victims to all the saddest ills that flesh is heir to--as, for instance, Destitute Sick Societies, Indigent Blind Societies, Deaf and Dumb Societies, Burial Societies, and the like. The nomenclature of some of these benevolent institutions seems likely to test the etymological skill of the next generation of learned men. Perhaps some ethnological philosopher will devote himself to the special investigation and development of the phenomenon; and if such things are done then in the way in which they are now, the result will appear in something like the following shape:-- "Man, as we pursue his destiny from century to century, is still found inevitably to resolve himself into a connected and antithetic series of consecutive cycles. The eighteenth century having been an age of individuative, the nineteenth necessarily became an age of associative or coinonomic development. He, the man--to himself the _ego_, and to others the mere _homo_--ceased to revolve around the centre of gravity of his own personality, and, following the instincts of his adhesive nature, resolved himself into associative community. In this necessary development of their nature all partook, from the congresses of mighty monarchs down to those humbler but not less majestic types of the predominant influence, which, in the expressive language of that age, were recognised as twopenny goes. It is known only to those whose researches have led them through the intricacies of that phase of human progress, how multifarious and varied were the forms in which the inner spirit, objectively at work in mankind, had its external subjective development. Not only did associativeness shake the monarch on his throne, and prevail over the counsels of the assembled magnates of the realm, but it was the form in which each shape and quality of humanity, down even to penury and disease, endeavoured to express its instincts; and so the blind and the lame, the deaf and dumb, the sick and poor, made common stock of their privations, and endeavoured by the force of union to convert weakness into strength," &c. When the history of clubs is fully written, let us hope that it will be in another fashion. If it sufficiently abound in details, such a history would be full of marvels, from the vast influences which it would describe as arising from time to time by silent obscure growth out of nothing, as it were. Just look at what clubs have been, and have done; a mere enumeration is enough to recall the impression. Not to dwell on the institutions which have made Pall Mall and its neighbourhood a conglomerate of palaces, or on such lighter affairs as "the Four-in-Hand," which the railways have left behind, or the "Alpine," whose members they carry to the field of their enjoyment: there was the Mermaid, counting among its members Shakespeare, Raleigh, Beaumont, Fletcher, and Jonson; then came the King's Head; the October; the Kit-Cat; the Beef-Steak; the Terrible Calves Head; Johnson's club, where he had Bozzy, Goldie, Burke, and Reynolds; the Poker, where Hume, Carlyle, Ferguson, and Adam Smith took their claret. In these, with all their varied objects--literary, political, or convivial--the one leading peculiarity was the powerful influence they exercised on the condition of their times. A certain club there was with a simple unassuming name,--differing, by the way, only in three letters from that which would have commemorated the virtues of Bishop Jolly. The club in question, though nothing in the eye of the country but an easy knot of gentlemen who assembled for their amusement, cast defiance at a sovereign prince, and shook the throne and institutions of the greatest of modern states. But if we want to see the club culminating to its highest pitch of power, we must go across the water and saturate ourselves with the horrors of the Jacobin clubs, the Breton, and the Feuillans. The scenes we will there find stand forth in eternal protest against Johnson's genial definition in his Dictionary, where he calls a club "an assembly of good fellows, meeting under certain conditions." The Structure of the Book Clubs. There has been an addition, by no means contemptible, to the influence exercised by these institutions on the course of events, in the Book Clubs, or Printing Clubs as they are otherwise termed, of the present day. They have within a few years added a department to literature. The collector who has been a member of several may count their fruit by the thousand, all ranging in symmetrical and portly volumes. Without interfering either with the author who seeks in his copyrights the reward of his genius and labour, or with the publisher who calculates on a return for his capital, skill, and industry, the book clubs have ministered to literary wants, which these legitimate sources of supply have been unable to meet. I hope no one is capable of reading so far through this book who is so grossly ignorant as not to know that the Book Clubs are a set of associations for the purpose of printing and distributing among their members certain books, calculated to gratify the peculiar taste which has brought them together and united them into a club. An opportunity may perhaps be presently taken for indulging in some characteristic notices of the several clubs, their members, and their acts and monuments: in the mean time let me say a word on the utilitarian efficiency of this arrangement--on the blank in the order of terrestrial things which the Book Club was required to fill, and the manner in which it has accomplished its function. There is a class of books of which the production has in this country always been uphill work;--large solid books, more fitted for authors and students than for those termed the reading public at large--books which may hence, in some measure, be termed the raw materials of literature, rather than literature itself. They are eminently valuable; but, since it is to the intellectual manufacturer who is to produce an article of saleable literature that they are valuable, rather than to the general consumer, they do not secure an extensive sale. Of this kind of literature the staple materials are old state papers and letters--old chronicles--specimens of poetic, dramatic, and other literature, more valuable as vestiges of the style and customs of their age than for their absolute worth as works of genius--massive volumes of old divinity--disquisitions on obsolete science, and the like. It is curious, by the way, that costly books of this sort seem to succeed better with the French than with us, though we do not generally give that people credit for excelling us in the outlay of money. Perhaps it is because they enjoy the British market as well as their own that they are enabled to excel us; but they certainly do so in the publication, through private enterprise, of great costly works, having a sort of national character. The efforts to rival them in this country have been considerable and meritorious, but in many instances signally unfortunate. Take, for instance, the noble edition of Hollingshed and the other chroniclers, published in quarto volumes by the London trade; the Parliamentary History, in thirty-six volumes, each containing about as much reading as Gibbon's Decline and Fall; the State Trials; Sadler's and Thurlow's State Papers; the Harleian Miscellany, and several other ponderous publications of the same kind. All of them are to be had cheap, some at just a percentage above the price of waste paper. When an attempt was made to publish in the English language a really thorough Biographical Dictionary, an improvement on the French Biographie Universelle, it stuck in letter A, after the completion of seven dense octavo volumes--an abortive fragment bearing melancholy testimony to what such a work ought to be. Publications of this kind have, in several instances, caused great losses to some, while they have brought satisfaction to no one concerned in them. A publisher has just the same distaste as any other ordinary member of the human family to the loss of five or ten thousand pounds in hard cash. Then, as touching the purchasers,--no doubt the throwing of a "remnant" on the market may sometimes bring the book into the possession of one who can put it to good use, and would have been unable to purchase it at the original price. But the rich deserve some consideration as well as the poor. It will be hard to find the man so liberal and benevolent that he will joyfully see his neighbour obtain for thirty shillings the precise article for which he has himself paid thirty pounds; nor does there exist the descendant of Adam who, whatever he may say or pretend, will take such an antithesis with perfect equanimity. Even the fortunate purchasers of portions of "the remnant," or "the broken book," as another pleasant technicality of the trade has it, are not always absolutely happy in their lot. They have been tempted by sheer cheapness to admit some bulky and unwieldy articles into their abodes, and they look askance at the commodity as being rather a sacrifice to mammon than a monument of good taste. It has been the object of the machinery here referred to, to limit the impressions of such works to those who want and can pay for them--an extremely simple object, as all great ones are. There is, however, a minute nicety in the adjustment of the machinery, which was not obvious until it came forth in practice--a nicety without which the whole system falls to pieces. It was to accomplish this nicety that the principle of the club was found to be so well adapted. A club is essentially a body to which more people want admission than can gain it; if it do not manage to preserve this characteristic, it falls to pieces for want of pressure from without, like a cask divested of its hoops. To make the books retain their value, and be an object of desire, it was necessary that the impressions should be slightly within the natural circulation--that there should be rather a larger number desirous of obtaining each volume than the number that could be supplied with it. The club effected this by its own natural action. So long as there were candidates for vacancies and the ballot-box went round, so long were the books printed in demand and valuable to their possessors. If there were 110 or 120 people willing to possess and pay for a certain class of books, the secret of keeping up the pressure from without and the value of the books, was to limit the number of members and participators to 100. There is nothing noble or disinterested in this. The arrangement has no pretension to either of these qualities; nor, when we come to the great forces which influence the supply and demand of human wants, whether in the higher or the humbler departments, will we find these qualities in force, or indeed any other motive than common selfishness. It is a sufficient vindication of the arrangement that it produced its effect. If there were ten or twenty disappointed candidates, the hundred were possessed of the treasures which none could have obtained but for the restrictive arrangements. Scott used to say that the Bannatyne Club was the only successful joint-stock company he ever invested in--and the remark is the key-note of the motives which kept alive the system that has done so much good to literature. To understand the nature and services of these valuable institutions, it is necessary to keep in view the limits within which alone they can be legitimately worked. They will not serve for the propagation of standard literature--of the books of established reputation, which are always selling. These are merchandise, and must follow the law of trade like other commodities, whether they exist in the form of copyright monopolies, or are open to all speculators. No kind of co-operation will bring the volumes into existence so cheaply as the outlay of trade capital, which is expected to replace itself with a moderate profit after a quick sale. The perfection of this process is seen in the production and sale of that book which is ever the surest of a market--the Bible; and when a printer requires the certain and instantaneous return of his outlay, that is the shape in which he is most secure of obtaining it. On the other hand, the clubs will not avail for ushering into the world the books of fresh ambitious authors. That paradise of the geniuses, in which their progeny are to be launched full sail, where they are to encounter no risks, and draw all the profits without discount or percentage, as yet exists only in the imagination. It would not work very satisfactorily to have a committee decreeing the issues, and the remuneration to be paid to each aspirant--ten thousand copies of Poppleton's Epic, and a cheque for a thousand pounds handed over out of the common stock, to begin with--half the issue, and half the remuneration for the Lyrics of Astyagus, as a less robust and manful production, but still a pleasant, murmuring, meandering, earnest little dream-book, fresh with the solemn purpose of solitude and silence. No, it must be confessed our authors and men of letters would make sad work of it, if they had the bestowal of the honours and pecuniary rewards of literature in their hands, whether these were administered by an intellectual hierarchy or by a collective democracy. Hence the clubs have wisely confined their operations to books which are not the works of their members; and to keep clear of all risk of literary rivalries, they have been almost exclusively devoted to the promulgation of the works of authors long since dead, whether by printing from original manuscripts or from rare printed volumes. It has been pleaded that this machinery might have been rendered influential for the encouragement of living authorship. It has been, for instance, observed, with some plausibility, that he who has the divine fervour of the author in him, will sacrifice all he has to sacrifice--time, toil, and health--so that he can but secure a hearing by the world; and institutions of the nature of the book clubs might afford him this at all events, leaving him to find his way to wealth and honours, if the sources of these are in him. No doubt the history of book-publishing shows how small are the immediate inducements and the well-founded hopes that will set authors in motion, and, indeed, a very large percentage of valueless literature proves that the barriers between the author and the world are not very formidable, or become somehow easily removable. This, in fact, furnishes the answer to the pleading here alluded to; and it may further be safely said, where the book demanding an introduction professes to be a work of genius, addressing itself to all mankind, that if it really be what it professes, the market will get it. No production of the kind is liable to be lost to the world. Here it is plaintively argued by Philemon, that the rewards of genius are very unequally distributed. Who can deny it? Nothing is distributed with perfect balance like chemical equivalents in this world, at least so far as mortal faculties are capable of estimating the elements of happiness and unhappiness in the lot of our fellow-men; nor can one imagine that a world, all balanced and squared off to perfection, would be a very tolerable place to live in. Genius must take its chance, like all other qualities, and, on the whole, in a civilised country it gets on pretty well. Is it not something in itself to possess genius? and is it seemly, or a good example to the uninspired world, that its owner should deem it rather a misfortune than a blessing because he is not also surrounded by plush and shoulder-knots? If all geniuses had a prerogative right to rank and wealth, and all the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, could we be sure that none but genuine geniuses would claim them, and that there would be no margin for disputation with "solemn shams"? Milton's fifteen pounds are often referred to by him who finds how hard it is to climb, &c.; but we have no "return," as the blue-books call it, of all the good opportunities afforded to intellects ambitious of arising as meteors but only showing themselves as farthing rush-lights. On the other hand, no doubt, the wide fame and the rich rewards of the popular author are not in every instance an exact measure of his superiority to the disappointed aspirant. His thousand pounds do not furnish incontrovertible evidence that he is a hundred times superior to the drudge who goes over as much work for ten pounds, and there may possibly be some one making nothing who is superior to both. Such aberrations are incident to all human affairs; but in those of literature, as in many others, they are exceptional. Here, as in other spheres of exertion, merit will in the general case get its own in some shape. Indeed, there is a very remarkable economic phenomenon, never, as it occurs to me, fully examined, which renders the superfluous success of the popular author a sort of insurance fund for enabling the obscure adventurer to enter the arena of authorship, and show what he is worth. Political economy has taught us that those old bugbears of the statute law called forestallers and regraters are eminent benefactors, in as far as their mercenary instincts enable them to see scarcity from afar, and induce them to "hold on" precisely so long as it lasts but no longer, since, if they have stock remaining on hand when abundance returns, they will be losers. Thus, through the regular course of trade, the surplus of the period of abundance is distributed over the period of scarcity with a precision which the genius of a Joseph or a Turgot could not achieve. The phenomenon in the publishing world to which I have alluded has some resemblance to this, and comes to pass in manner following. The confirmed popular author whose books are sure to sell is an object of competition among publishers. If he is absolutely mercenary, he may stand forth in the public market and commit his works to that one who will take them on the best terms for the author and the worst for himself, like the contractor who gives in the lowest estimate in answer to an advertisement from a public department. Neither undertaking holds out such chances of gain as independent speculation may open, and thus there is an inducement to the enterprising publisher to risk his capital on the doubtful progeny of some author unknown to fame, in the hope that it may turn out "a hit." Of the number of books deserving a better fate, as also of the still greater number deserving none better than the fate they have got, which have thus been published at a dead loss to the publisher, the annals of bookselling could afford a moving history. When an author has sold his copyright for a comparative trifle, and the book turns out a great success, it is of course matter of regret that he cannot have the cake he has eaten. This is one side of the balance-sheet, and on the other stands the debit account in the author who, through a work which proved a dead loss to its publisher, has made a reputation which has rendered his subsequent books successful, and made himself fashionable and rich. There have been instances where publishers who have bought for little the copyright of a successful book have allowed the author to participate in their gains; and I am inclined to believe that these instances are fully as numerous as those in which an author, owing his reputation and success to a book which did not pay its expenses, has made up the losses of his first publisher. If we go out of the hard market and look at the tendency of sympathies, they are all in the author's favour. Publishers, in fact, have, though it is not generally believed, a leaning towards good literature, and a tendency rather to over than to under estimate the reception it may meet with from the world. In considering whether they will take the risk of a new publication, they have no criterion to value it by except its literary merit, for they cannot obtain the votes of the public until they are committed; and, indeed, there have been a good many instances where a publisher, having a faith in some individual author and his star, has pushed and fought a way for him with dogged and determined perseverance, sometimes with a success of which, were all known, he has more of the real merit than the author, who seems to have naturally, without any external aid, taken his position among the eminent and fortunate. There are, at the same time, special disquisitions on matters of science or learning intended for peculiar and limited audiences, which find their way to publicity without the aid of the publisher. For these there is an opening in certain institutions far older than the book clubs, and possessed of a far higher social and intellectual position, since they have the means of conferring titles of dignity on those they adopt into their circle--titles which are worn not by trinkets dangling at the button-hole, but by certain cabalistic letters strung to the name in the directory of the town where the owner lives, or in the numberless biographical dictionaries which are to immortalise the present generation. So the author of an essay, especially in scholarship or science, will, if it be worth anything, find a place for it in the Transactions of one or other of the learned societies. It will probably keep company with, if indeed it be not itself one of, a series of papers which appear in the quarto volumes of the learned corporation's Transactions, merely because they cannot get into the octavo pages of the higher class of periodicals; but there they are, printed in the face of the world, whose inhabitants at large may worship them if they so please, and their authors cannot complain that they are suppressed. Whether the authors of these papers may have been ambitious of their appearance in a wider sphere, or are content with their appearance in "The Transactions," it suffices for the present purpose to explain how these volumes are a more suitable receptacle than those printed by the book clubs for essays or disquisitions by men following up their own specialties in literature or science; and if it be the case that some of the essays which appear in the Transactions of learned bodies would have gladly entered society under the auspices of some eminent periodical, yet it is proper at the same time to admit that many of the most valuable of these papers, concerning discoveries or inventions which adepts alone can appreciate, could only be satisfactorily published as they have been. And so we find our way back to the proposition, that the book clubs have been judiciously restricted to the promulgation of the works of dead authors. This has not necessarily excluded the literary contributions of living men, in the shape of editing and commenting; and it is really difficult to estimate the quantity of valuable matter which is thus deposited in obscure but still accessible places. A deal of useful work, too, has been done in the way of translation; and where the book to be dealt with is an Icelandic saga, a chronicle in Saxon, in Irish Celtic, or even in old Norman, one may confess to the weakness of letting the original remain, in some instances, unexamined, and drawing one's information with confiding gratitude from the translation furnished by the learned editor. Let me offer one instance of the important service that may be done by affording a vehicle for translations. The late Dr Francis Adams, a village surgeon by profession, was at the same time, from taste and pursuit, a profound Greek scholar. He was accustomed to read the old authors on medicine and surgery--a custom too little respected by his profession, of whom it is the characteristic defect to respect too absolutely the standard of the day. As a physician, who is an ornament to his profession and a great scholar, once observed to me, the writings of the old physicians, even if we reject them from science, may be perused with profit to the practitioner as a record of the diagnosis of cases stated by men of acuteness, experience, and accuracy of observation. Adams had translated from the Greek the works of Paul of Ægina, the father of obstetric surgery, and printed the first volume. It was totally unnoticed, for in fact there were no means by which the village surgeon could get it brought under the notice of the scattered members of his profession who desired to possess such a book. The remainder of his labours would have been lost to the world had it not been taken off his hands by the Sydenham Club, established for the purpose of reprinting the works of the ancient physicians. The Roxburghe Club. Great institutions and small institutions have each individually had a beginning, though it cannot always be discovered, distance often obscuring it before it has been thought worth looking after. There is an ingenious theory abroad, to the effect that every physical impulse, be it but a wave of a human hand, and that every intellectual impulse, whether it pass through the mind of a Newton or a brickmaker, goes, with whatever strength it may possess, into a common store of dynamic influences, and tells with some operative power, however imperceptible and infinitesimal, upon all subsequent events, great or small, so that everything tells on everything, and there is no one specific cause, primary or secondary, that can be assigned to any particular event. It may be so objectively, as the transcendentalists say, but to common apprehensions there are specific facts which are to them emphatic as beginnings, such as the day when any man destined for leadership in great political events was born, or that whereon the Cape of Good Hope was doubled, or America was discovered. The beginning of the book clubs is marked by a like distinctness, both in date and circumstance. The institution did not spring in full maturity and equipment, like Pallas from the brain of Jove; it was started by a casual impulse, and remained long insignificant; but its origin and early progress are as distinctly and specifically its own, as the birth and infancy of any hero or statesman are his. It is to the garrulity of Dibdin writing before there was any prospect that this class of institutions would reach their subsequent importance and usefulness, that we owe many minute items of detail about the cradle of the new system. We first slip in upon a small dinner-party, on the 4th of June in the year 1813, at the table of "Hortensius." The day was one naturally devoted to hospitality, being the birthday of the reigning monarch, George III.; but this the historian passes unnoticed, the object of all-absorbing interest being the great conflict of the Roxburghe book-sale, then raging through its forty-and-one days. Of Hortensius it is needless to know more than that he was a distinguished lawyer, and had a fine library, which having described, Dibdin passes on thus to matters of more immediate importance: "Nor is the hospitality of the owner of these treasures of a less quality and calibre than his taste; for Hortensius regaleth liberally--and as the 'night and day champagnes' (so he is pleased humorously to call them) sparkle upon his Gottingen-manufactured table-cloth, 'the master of the revels,' or (to borrow the phraseology of Pynson) of the 'feste royalle,' discourseth lustily and loudly upon the charms--not of a full-curled or full-bottomed 'King's Bench' periwig--but of a full-margined Bartholomæus or Barclay like his own."[67] [Footnote 67: Bibliographical Decameron, vol. iii. p. 28.] After some forty pages of this sort of matter, we get another little peep at this momentous dinner-party. "On the clearance of the Gottingen-manufactured table-cloth, the Roxburghe battle formed the subject of discussion, when I proposed that we should not only be all present, if possible, on the day of the sale of the Boccaccio, but that we should meet at some 'fair tavern' to commemorate the sale thereof." They met accordingly on the 17th of June, some eighteen in number, "at the St Albans Tavern, St Albans Street, now Waterloo Place." Surely the place was symbolical, since on the 18th of June, two years afterwards, the battle of Waterloo was fought; and as the importance attributed to the contest at Roxburghe House on the 17th procured for it afterwards the name of the Waterloo of book-battles, it came to pass that there were two Waterloo commemorations treading closely one on the other's heels. The pecuniary stake at issue, and the consequent excitement when the Valdarfer Boccaccio was knocked off, so far exceeded all anticipation, that at the festive board a motion was made and carried by acclamation, for meeting on the same day and in the same manner annually. And so the Roxburghe Club, the parent of all the book clubs, came into existence. It must be admitted that its origin bears a curious generic resemblance to some scenes which produce less elevating results. On the day of some momentous race or cock-fight, a parcel of sporting devotees, "regular bricks," perhaps, agree to celebrate the occasion in a tavern, and when the hilarity of the evening is at its climax, some festive orator, whose enthusiasm has raised him to the table, suggests, amidst loud hurrahs and tremendous table-rapping, that the casual meeting should be converted into an annual festival, to celebrate the event which has brought them together. At such an assemblage, the list of toasts will probably include Eclipse, Cotherstone, Mameluke, Plenipo, the Flying Dutchman, and other illustrious quadrupeds, along with certain bipeds, distinguished in the second degree as breeders, trainers, and riders, and may perhaps culminate in "the turf and the stud all over the world." With a like appropriate reference to the common bond of sympathy, the Roxburghe toasts included the uncouth names of certain primitive printers, as Valdarfer himself, Pannartz, Fust, and Schoeffher, terminating in "The cause of Bibliomania all over the world."[68] [Footnote 68: As of other influential documents, there have been various versions of the Roxburghe list of toasts, and a corresponding amount of critical discussion, which leaves the impression common to such disputes, that this important manifesto was altered and enlarged from time to time. The version which bears the strongest marks of completeness and authenticity, was found among the papers of Mr Hazlewood, of whom hereafter. It is here set down as nearly in its original shape as the printer can give it:-- The Order of y^e Tostes. The Immortal Memory of John Duke of Roxburghe. Christopher Valdarfer, Printer of the Decameron of 1471. Gutemberg, Fust, and Schoeffher, the Inventors of the Art of Printing. William Caxton, the Father of the British Press. Dame Juliana Berners, and the St Albans Press. Wynkyn de Worde, and Richard Pynson, the Illustrious Successors of William Caxton. The Aldine Family, at Venice. The Giunta Family, at Florence. The Society of the Bibliophiles at Paris. The Prosperity of the Roxburghe Club. The Cause of Bibliomania all over the World. It will be seen that this accomplished black-letterer must have been under a common delusion, that our ancestors not only wrote but pronounced the definite article "the" as "ye." Every blunderer ambitious of success in fabricating old writings is sure to have recourse to this trick, which serves for his immediate detection. The Gothic alphabet, in fact, as used in this country, had a Theta for expressing in one letter our present t and h conjoined. When it was abandoned, some printers substituted for it the letter y as most nearly resembling it in shape, hence the "ye" which occurs sometimes in old books, but much more frequently in modern imitations of them. The primitive Roxburgheians used to sport these toasts as a symbol of knowingness and high caste in book-hunting freemasonry. Their representative man happening, in a tour in the Highlands, to open his refreshment wallet on the top of Ben Lomond, pledged his guide in the potent _vin du pays_ to Christopher Valdarfer, John Gutemberg, and the others. The Celt had no objection in the world to pledge successive glasses to these names, which he had no doubt belonged "to fery respectaple persons," probably to the chief landed gentry of his entertainer's neighbourhood. But the best Glenlivet would not induce him to pledge "the cause of Bibliomania all over the world," being unable to foresee what influence the utterance of words so unusual and so suspiciously savouring of demonology might exercise over his future destiny.] The club thus abruptly formed, consisted of affluent collectors, some of them noble, with a sprinkling of zealous practical men, who assisted them in their great purchases, while doing minor strokes of business for themselves. These, who in some measure fed on the crumbs that fell from the master's table, were in a position rather too closely resembling the professionals in a hunt or cricket club. The circle was a very exclusive one, however; the number limited to thirty-one members, "one black ball excluding;" and it used to be remarked, that it was easier to get into the Peerage or the Privy Council than into "the Roxburghe." Nothing has done so much to secure the potent influence of clubs as the profound secrecy in which their internal or domestic transactions have generally been buried. The great safeguard of this secrecy will be found in that rigid rule of our social code which prohibits every gentleman from making public the affairs of the private circle; and if from lack of discretion, as it is sometimes gently termed, this law is supposed to have a lax hold on any one, he is picked off by the "one," "two," "three black balls." It is singular that a club so small and exclusive as the Roxburghe should have proved an exception to the rule of secrecy, and that the world has been favoured with revelations of its doings which have made it the object of more amusement than reverence. In fact, through failure of proper use of the black ball, it got possession of a black sheep, in the person of a certain Joseph Hazlewood. He had achieved a sort of reputation in the book-hunting community by discovering the hidden author of Drunken Barnaby's Journal. In reality, however, he was a sort of literary Jack Brag. As that amusing creation of Theodore Hook's practical imagination mustered himself with sporting gentlemen through his command over the technicalities or slang of the kennel and the turf, so did Hazlewood sit at the board with scholars and aristocratic book-collectors through a free use of their technical phraseology. In either case, if the indulgence in these terms descended into a motley grotesqueness, it was excused as excessive fervour carrying the enthusiast off his feet. When Hazlewood's treasures--for he was a collector in his way--were brought to the hammer, the scraps and odds and ends it contained were found classified in groups under such headings as these--Garlands of Gravity, Poverty's Pot Pourri, Wallat of Wit, Beggar's Balderdash, Octagonal Olio, Zany's Zodiac, Noddy's Nuncheon, Mumper's Medley, Quaffing Quavers to Quip Queristers, Tramper's Twattle, or Treasure and Tinsel from the Tewksbury Tank, and the like. He edited reprints of some rare books--that is to say, he saw them accurately reprinted letter by letter. Of these one has a name which--risking due castigation if I betray gross ignorance by the supposition--I think he must certainly have himself bestowed on it, as it excels the most outrageous pranks of the alliterative age. It is called, "Green-Room Gossip; or, Gravity Gallinipt; A Gallimaufry got up to guile Gymnastical and Gyneocratic Governments; Gathered and Garnished by Gridiron Gabble, Gent., Godson to Mother Goose." The name of Joseph Hazlewood sounds well; it is gentleman-like, and its owner might have passed it into such friendly commemoration as that of Bliss, Cracherode, Heber, Sykes, Utterson, Townley, Markland, Hawtrey, and others generally understood to be gentlemen, and, in virtue of their bookish propensities, scholars. He might even, for the sake of his reprints, have been thought an "able editor," had it not been for his unfortunate efforts to chronicle the doings of the club he had got into.[69] His History, in manuscript, was sold with his other treasures after his death, and was purchased by the proprietor of the Athenæum, where fragments of it were printed some fifteen years ago, along with editorial comments, greatly to the amusement, if not to the edification, of the public. [Footnote 69: A voice from the other side of the Atlantic reveals the portentous nature of the machinery with which Mr Hazlewood conducted his editorial labours. The following is taken from the book on the Private Libraries of New York, already so freely quoted:-- "A unique book of unusual interest to the bibliophile in this department is the copy of Ancient and Critical Essays upon English Poets and Poesy, edited by Joseph Hazlewood, 2 vols. 4to, London, 1815. This is Hazlewood's own copy, and it is enriched and decorated by him in the most extravagant style of the bibliomaniac school in which he held so eminent a position. It is illustrated throughout with portraits, some of which are very rare; it contains all the letters which the editor received in relation to it from the eminent literary antiquarians of his day; and not only these, but all the collations and memoranda of any consequence which were made for him during its progress, frequently by men of literary distinction. To these are added all the announcements of the work, together with the impressions of twelve cancelled pages, printed four in one form and eight in another, apparently by way of experiment, with other cancelled matter; tracings of the facsimile woodcuts of the title to Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie, with a proof of it on India paper, and three impressions of this title, one all in black, one with the letter in black and the device in red, and the third _vice versâ_; tracings for, and proofs of, other woodcuts; an impression of a leaf printed to be put into a single copy of the work, &c. &c.; for we must stop, although we have but indicated the nature rather than the quantity of the matter, all of it unique, which gives this book its peculiar value. But it should be remarked besides, that the editorial part of the work is interleaved for the purpose of receiving Mr Hazlewood's explanations and corrections, and those that he received from literary friends, which alone would give this copy a singular interest. It is bound by Clarke in maroon morocco."] In these revelations we find how long a probation the system of book clubs had to pass through, before it shook off the convivial propensities which continued to cluster round the normal notion of a club, and reached the dry asceticism and attention to the duties of printing and editing, by which the greater number of book clubs are distinguished. It was at first a very large allowance of sack to the proportion of literary food, and it was sarcastically remarked that the club had spent a full thousand pounds in guzzling before it had produced a single valuable volume. We have some of the bills of fare at the "Roxburghe Revels," as they were called. In one, for instance, there may be counted, in the first course, turtle cooked five different ways, along with turbot, john dory, tendrons of lamb, souchée of haddock, ham, chartreuse, and boiled chickens. The bill amounted to £5, 14s. a-head; or, as Hazlewood expresses it, "according to the long-established principles of 'Maysterre Cockerre,' each person had £5, 14s. to pay." Some illustrious strangers appear to have been occasionally invited to attend the symposium. If the luxurious table spread for them may have occasioned them some surprise, they must have experienced still more in the tenor of the invitation to be present, which, coming in the name of certain "Lions of Literature," as their historian and the author of the invitation calls them, was expressed in these terms--"The honour of your company is requested to dine with the Roxburghe dinner, on Wednesday the 17th instant." One might be tempted to offer the reader a fuller specimen of the historian's style; but unfortunately its characteristics, grotesque as they are, cannot be exemplified in their full breadth without being also given at full length. The accounts of the several dinners read like photographs of a mind wandering in the mazes of indigestion-begotten nightmare.[70] [Footnote 70: It is but fair, however, to a reputation which was considerable within its own special circle, to let the reader judge for himself; so, if he think the opportunity worth the trouble of wading through small print, he may read the following specimen of Mr Hazlewood's style. He would certainly himself not have objected to its being taken as a criterion of the whole, since he was evidently proud of it. "Consider, in the bird's-eye view of the banquet, the trencher cuts, foh! nankeen displays: as intersticed with many a brilliant drop to friendly beck and clubbish hail, to moisten the viands or cool the incipient cayenne. No unfamished livery-man would desire better dishes, or high-tasted courtier better wines. With men that meet to commune, that can converse, and each willing to give and receive information, more could not be wanting to promote well-tempered conviviality--a social compound of mirth, wit, and wisdom; combining all that Anacreon was famed for, tempered with the reason of Demosthenes, and intersected with the archness of Scaliger. It is true we had not any Greek verses in praise of the grape; but we had, as a tolerable substitute, the ballad of the 'Bishop of Hereford and Robin Hood,' sung by Mr Dodd, and it was of his own composing. It is true, we had not any long oration denouncing the absentees, the cabinet council, or any other set of men; but there was not a man present that at one hour and seventeen minutes after the cloth was removed but could have made a Demosthenic speech far superior to any record of antiquity. It is true, no trace of wit is going to be here preserved, for the flashes were too general, and what is the critical sagacity of a Scaliger compared to our chairman? Ancients believe it! We were not dead drunk, and therefore lie quiet under the table for once, and let a few moderns be uppermost." The following chronicle of the third dinner and second anniversary records an interesting little personal incident:-- "After Lord Spencer left the chair, it was taken, I believe, by Mr Heber, who kept it up to a late hour,--Mr Dodd very volatile and somewhat singular, at the same time quite novel, in amusing the company with Robin Hood ditties and similar productions. I give this on after report, having left the room very early from severe attack of sickness, which appeared to originate in some vile compound partook of at dinner."] When Dibdin protested against the publication of this record, he described it a great deal too attractively when he called it "the concoction of one in his gayer and unsuspecting moments--the repository of private confidential communications--a mere memorandum-book of what had passed at convivial meetings, and in which 'winged words' and flying notes of merry gentlemen and friends were obviously incorporated." No! certainly wings and flying are not the ideas that naturally associate with the historian of the Roxburghe, although, in one instance, the dinner is sketched off in the following epigrammatic sentence, which startles the reader like a plover starting up in a dreary moor: "Twenty-one members met joyfully, dined comfortably, challenged eagerly, tippled prettily, divided regretfully, and paid the bill most cheerfully." On another occasion the historian's enthusiasm was too expansive to be confined to plain prose, and he inflated it in lyric verse:-- "Brave was the banquet, the red red juice, Hilarity's gift sublime, Invoking the heart to kindred use, And bright'ning halo of time." This, and a quantity of additional matter of like kind, was good fun to the scorners, and, whether any of the unskilful laughed at it, scarcely made even the judicious grieve, for they thought that those who had embarked in such pompous follies deserved the lash unconsciously administered to them in his blunders by an unhappy member of their own order. In fact, however, this was the youthful giant sowing his wild oats. Along with them there lay also, unseen at first, the seed of good fruit. Of these, was a resolution adopted at the second meeting, and thus set forth by the historian in his own peculiar style: "It was proposed and concluded for each member of the club to reprint a scarce piece of ancient lore to be given to the members, one copy to be on vellum for the chairman, and only as many copies as members." The earliest productions following on this resolution were on a very minute scale. One member, stimulated to distinguish himself by "a merry conceited jest," reprinted a French morsel called "La Contenance de la Table," and had it disposed of in such wise, that as each guest opened his napkin expecting to find a dinner-roll, he disclosed the typographical treasure. It stands No. 6 on the list of Roxburghe books, and is probably worth an enormous sum. The same enthusiast reprinted in a more formal manner a rarity called "News from Scotland, declaring the damnable life of Dr Fian, a notable sorcerer," &c. This same morsel was afterwards reprinted for another club, in a shape calculated almost to create a contemptuous contrast between the infantine efforts of the Roxburghe and the manly labours of its robust followers. It is inserted as what the French call a _pièce justificative_ in Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, edited for the Bannatyne, and there occupies ten of the more than 2000 pages which make up that solid book. It was not until the year 1827 that a step was taken by the Roxburghe Club which might be called its first exhibition of sober manhood. Some of the members, ashamed of the paltry nature of the volumes circulated in the name of the club, bethought themselves of uniting to produce a book of national value. They took Sir Frederick Madden into their counsels, and authorised him to print eighty copies of the old metrical romance of Havelok the Dane. This gave great dissatisfaction to the historian, who muttered how "a MS. not discovered by a member of the club was selected, and an excerpt obtained, not furnished by the industry or under the inspection of any one member, nor edited by a member; but, in fact, after much _pro_ and _con._, it was made a complete hireling concern, truly at the expense of the club, from the copying to the publishing." The value of this book has been attested by the extensive critical examination it has received, and by the serviceable aid it has given to all recent writers on the infancy of English literature. It was followed by another interesting old romance, William and the Wer Wolf, valuable not only as a specimen of early literature, but for the light it throws on the strange wild superstition dealing with the conversion of men into wolves, which has been found so widely prevalent that it has received a sort of scientific title in the word Lycanthropy. These two books made the reputation of the Roxburghe, and proved an example and encouragement to the clubs which began to arise more or less on its model. It was a healthy protest against the Dibdinism which had ruled the destinies of the club, for Dibdin had been its master, and was the Gamaliel at whose feet Hazlewood and others patiently sat. Of the term now used, the best explanation I can give is this, that in the selection of books--other questions, such as rarity or condition, being set aside or equally balanced--a general preference is to be given to those which are the most witless, preposterous, and in every literary sense valueless--which are, in short, rubbish. What is here meant will be easily felt by any one who chooses to consult the book which Dibdin issued under the title of "The Library Companion, or the Young Man's Guide and the Old Man's Comfort in the choice of a Library." This, it will be observed, is not intended as a manual of rare or curious, or in any way peculiar books, but as the instruction of a Nestor on the best books for study and use in all departments of literature. Yet one will look in vain there for such names as Montaigne, Shaftesbury, Benjamin Franklin, D'Alembert, Turgot, Adam Smith, Malebranche, Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Fénelon, Burke, Kant, Richter, Spinoza, Flechier, and many others. Characteristically enough, if you turn up Rousseau in the index, you will find Jean Baptiste, but not Jean Jacques. You will search in vain for Dr Thomas Reid, the metaphysician, but will readily find Isaac Reed, the editor. If you look for Molinæus or Du Moulin, it is not there, but alphabetic vicinity gives you the good fortune to become acquainted with "Moule, Mr, his Bibliotheca Heraldica." The name Hooker will be found, not to guide the reader to the Ecclesiastical Polity, but to Dr Jackson Hooker's Tour in Iceland. Lastly, if any one shall search for Hartley on Man, he will find in the place it might occupy, or has reference to, the editorial services of "Hazlewood, Mr Joseph." Though the Roxburghe, when it came under the fostering care of the scholarly Botfield, and secured the services of men like Madden, Wright, and Taylor, outgrew the pedantries in which it had been reared, and performed much valuable literary work, yet its chief merit is in the hints its practice afforded to others. The leading principle, indeed, which the other clubs so largely adopted after the example of the Roxburghe, was not an entire novelty. The idea of keeping up the value of a book by limiting the impression, so as to restrain it within the number who might desire to possess it, was known before the birth of this the oldest book club. The practice was sedulously followed by Hearne the antiquary, and others, who provided old chronicles and books of the class chiefly esteemed by the book-hunter. The very fame of the restricted number, operating on the selfish jealousy of man's nature, brought out competitors for the possession of the book, who never would have thought of it but for the pleasant idea of keeping it out of the hands of some one else. There are several instances on record of an unknown book lying in the printer's warerooms, dead from birth and forgotten, having life and importance given to it by the report that all the copies, save a few, have been destroyed by a fire in the premises. This is an illustration in the sibylline direction of value being conferred by the decrease of the commodity; but by judiciously adjusting the number of copies printed, the remarkable phenomenon has been exhibited of the rarity of a book being increased by an increase in the number of copies. To understand how this may come to pass, it is necessary to recall the precept elsewhere set forth, and look on rarity as not an absolute quality, but as relative to the number who desire to possess the article. Ten copies which two hundred people want constitute a rarer book than two copies which twenty people want. Even to a sole remaining copy of some forgotten book, lying dead, as it were, and buried in some obscure library, may collective vital rarity be imparted. Let its owner print, say, twenty copies for distribution--the book-hunting community have got the "hark-away," and are off after it. In this way, before the days of the clubs, many knowing people multiplied rarities; and at the present day there are reprints by the clubs themselves of much greater pecuniary value than the rare books from which they have been multiplied. Some Book-Club Men. No one probably did more to raise the condition of the book clubs than Sir Walter Scott. In 1823 the Roxburghe made proffers of membership to him, partly, it would seem, under the influence of a waggish desire to disturb his great secret, which had not yet been revealed. Dibdin, weighting himself with more than his usual burden of ponderous jocularity, set himself in motion to intimate to Scott the desire of the club that the Author of Waverley, with whom it was supposed that he had the means of communicating, would accept of the seat at the club vacated by the death of Sir Mark Sykes. Scott got through the affair ingeniously with a little coy fencing that deceived no one, and was finally accepted as the Author of Waverley's representative. The Roxburghe had, however, at that time, done nothing in serious book-club business, having let loose only the small flight of flimsy sheets of letterpress already referred to. It was Scott's own favourite club, the Bannatyne, that first projected the plan of printing substantial and valuable volumes. At the commencement of the same year, 1823, when he took his seat at the Roxburghe (he did not take his bottle there, which was the more important object, for some time after), he wrote to the late Robert Pitcairn, the editor of the Criminal Trials, in these terms: "I have long thought that a something of a bibliomaniacal society might be formed here, for the prosecution of the important task of publishing _dilettante_ editions of our national literary curiosities. Several persons of rank, I believe, would willingly become members, and there are enough of good operatives. What would you think of such an association? David Laing was ever keen for it; but the death of Sir Alexander Boswell and of Alexander Oswald has damped his zeal. I think, if a good plan were formed, and a certain number of members chosen, the thing would still do well."[71] [Footnote 71: Notices of the Bannatyne Club, privately printed.] Scott gave the Bannatyners a song for their festivities. It goes to the tune of "One Bottle More," and is a wonderful illustration of his versatile powers, in the admirable bibulous sort of joviality which he distils, as it were, from the very dust of musty volumes, thus:-- "John Pinkerton next, and I'm truly concerned I can't call that worthy so candid as learned; He railed at the plaid, and blasphemed the claymore, And set Scots by the ears in his one volume more. One volume more, my friends, one volume more-- Celt and Goth shall be pleased with one volume more. As bitter as gall, and as sharp as a razor, And feeding on herbs as a Nebuchadnezzar, His diet too acid, his temper too sour, Little Ritson came out with his two volumes more. But one volume, my friends, one volume more-- We'll dine on roast beef, and print one volume more." I am tempted to add a word or two of prosaic gossip and comment to the characteristics thus so happily hit off in verse. John Pinkerton was, upon the whole, a man of simple character. The simplicity consisted in the thorough belief that never, in any country or at any period of the world's history, had there been created a human being destined to be endowed with even an approach to the genius, wisdom, and learning of which he was himself possessed. He never said a word in praise of any fellow-being, for none had ever risen so much above the wretched level of the stupid world he looked down upon as to deserve such a distinction. He condescended, however, to distribute censure, and that with considerable liberality. For instance, take his condensed notice of an unfortunate worker in his own field, Walter Goodal, whose works are "fraught with furious railing, contemptible scurrility, low prejudice, small reading, and vulgar error." Thus having dealt with an unfortunate and rather obscure author, he shows his impartiality by dealing with Macpherson, then in the zenith of his fame, in this wise: "His etymological nonsense he assists with gross falsehoods, and pretends to skill in the Celtic without quoting one single MS. In short, he deals wholly in assertion and opinion, and it is clear that he had not even an idea what learning and science are." Nor less emphatic is his railing at the plaid and blaspheming at the claymore. Donald and his brethren are thus described: "Being mere savages, but one degree above brutes, they remain still in much the same state of society as in the days of Julius Cæsar; and he who travels among the Scottish Highlanders, the old Welsh, or wild Irish, may see at once the ancient and modern state of women among the Celts, when he beholds these savages stretched in their huts, and their poor women toiling like beasts of burden for their unmanly husbands;" and finally, "being absolute savages, and, like Indians and negroes, will ever continue so, all we can do is to plant colonies among them, and by this, and encouraging their emigration, try to get rid of the breed." This fervency is all along of the question whether the Picts, or Piks, as Pinkerton chooses to call them, were Celts or Goths. If we turn to the books of his opponent on this question, Joseph Ritson, we find him paid back in his own coin, and that so genuine, that, on reading about gross ignorance, falsehood, and folly, one would think he was still enjoying Pinkerton's own flowers of eloquence, were it not that the tenor of the argument has somehow turned to the opposite side. I drop into the note below a specimen from the last words of this controversy, as characteristic of the way in which it was conducted, and a sample of the kind of dry fuel which, when ignited by these incendiaries, blazed into so much rage.[72] [Footnote 72: "See Pinkerton's Enquiry, i. 173, &c., 369. He explains the _Vecturiones_ of Marcellinus, '_Vectveriar_, or _Pikish_ men, as,' he untruly says, 'the Icelandic writers call them in their Norwegian seats _Vik-veriar_,' and, either ignorantly or dishonestly to countenance this most false and absurd hypothesis, corrupts the Pihtas of the Saxons into Pihtar, a termination impossible to their language. It is true, indeed, that he has stumbled upon a passage in Rudbeck's Atlantica, i. 672, in which that very fanciful and extravagant writer speaks of the _Packar_, _Baggar_, _Paikstar_, _Baggeboar_, _Pitar_, and _Medel Pakcar_, whom he pretends '_Britanni_ vero _Peiktar_ appellant, et _Peictonum_ tam eorum qui in Galliis quam in Britannia resident genitores faciunt.' He finds these Pacti also in the Argonauticks, v. 1067; and his whole work seems the composition of a man whom 'much learning hath made mad.'"--Ritson's Annals of the Caledonians, &c., i. 81.] Ritson was a man endowed with almost superhuman irritability of temper, and he had a genius fertile in devising means of giving scope to its restless energies. I have heard that it was one of his obstinate fancies, when addressing a letter to a friend of the male sex, instead of using the ordinary prefix of Mr or the affix Esq., to use the term "Master," as Master John Pinkerton, Master George Chalmers. The agreeable result of this was, that his communications on intricate and irritating antiquarian disputes were delivered to, and perused by, the young gentlemen of the family, so opening up new little intricate avenues, fertile in controversy and misunderstanding. But he had another and more inexhaustible resource for his superabundant irritability. In his numerous books he insisted on adopting a peculiar spelling. It was not phonetic, nor was it etymological; it was simply Ritsonian. To understand the efficacy of this arrangement, it must be remembered that the instinct of a printer is to spell according to rule, and that every deviation from the ordinary method can only be carried out by a special contest over each word. General instructions on such a matter are apt to produce unexpected results. One very sad instance I can now recall; it was that of a French author who, in a new edition of his works, desired to alter the old-fashioned spelling of the imperfect tense from o to a. To save himself trouble, on the first instance occurring in each proof, he put in the margin a general direction to change all such o's into a's. The instruction was so literally and comprehensively obeyed, that, happening to glance his eye over the volume on its completion, he found the letter o entirely excluded from it. Even the sacred name of Napoleon was irreverently printed Napalean, and the Revolution was the Revalutian. Ritson had far too sharp a scent for any little matter of controversy and irritating discussion to get into a difficulty like this. He would fight each step of the way, and such peculiarities as the following, profusely scattered over his books, may be looked upon as the names of so many battles or skirmishes with his printers--_compileër_, _writeër_, _wel_, _kil_, _onely_, _probablely_. Even when he condescended to use the spelling common to the rest of the nation, he could pick out little causes of quarrel with the way of putting it in type--as, for instance, in using the word Ass, which came naturally to him, he would not follow the practice of his day in the use of the long and short ([s]s), but inverted the arrangement thus, s[s]. This strange creature exemplified the opinion that every one must have some creed--something from without having an influence over thought and action stronger than the imperfect apparatus of human reason. Scornfully disdaining revelation from above, he groped below, and found for himself a little fetish made of turnips and cabbages. He was as fanatical a devotee of vegetarianism as others have been of a middle state or adult baptism; and, after having torn through a life of spiteful controversy with his fellow-men, and ribaldry of all sacred things, he thus expressed the one weight hanging on his conscience, that "on one occasion, when temptéed by wet, cold, and hunger in the south of Scotland, he ventured to eat a few potatoes dressed under the roast, nothing less repugnant to feelings being to be had."[73] [Footnote 73: See an Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food as a Moral Duty. By Joseph Ritson.] To return to the services of him of mightier renown, whose genial drolleries led to these notices. Scott printed, as a contribution to his favourite club, the record of the trial of two Highlanders for murder, which brought forth some highly characteristic incidents. The victim was a certain Sergeant Davis, who had charge of one of the military parties or guards dispersed over the Highlands to keep them in order after the '45. Davis had gone from his own post at Braemar up Glen Clunie to meet the guard from Glenshee. He chose to send his men back and take a day's shooting among the wild mountains at the head of the glen, and was seen no more. How he was disposed of could easily be divined in a general way, but there were no particulars to be had. It happened, however, that there was one Highlander who, for reasons best known to himself--they were never got at--had come to the resolution of bringing his brother Highlanders, who had made away with the sergeant, to justice. It was necessary for his own safety, however, that he should be under the pressure of a motive or impulse sufficient to justify so heartless and unnatural a proceeding, otherwise he would himself have been likely to follow the sergeant's fate. Any reference to his conscience, the love of justice, respect for the laws of the land, or the like, would of course have been received with well-merited ridicule and scorn. He must have some motive which a sensible Highlander could admit as probable in itself, and sufficient for its purpose. Accordingly the accuser said he had been visited by the sergeant's ghost, who had told him everything, and laid on him the heavy burden of bringing his slaughterers in the flesh to their account. If that were not done, the troubled spirit would not cease to walk the earth, and so long as he walked would the afflicted denouncer continue to be the victim of his ghostly visits. The case was tried at Edinburgh, and though the evidence was otherwise clear and complete, the Lowland jury were perplexed and put out by the supernatural episode. A Highland story, with a ghost acting witness at second-hand, roused all their Saxon prejudices, and they cut the knot of difficulties by declining to convict. A point was supposed to have been made, when the counsel for the defence asked the ghost-seer what language the ghost, who was English when in the flesh, spoke to the Highlander, who knew not that language; and the witness answered, through his interpreter, that the spectre spoke as good Gaelic as ever was heard in Lochaber. Sir Walter Scott, however, remarks that there was no incongruity in this, if we once get over the first step of the ghost's existence. It is curious that Scott does not seem to have woven the particulars of this affair into any one of his novels. Among those who contributed to place the stamp of a higher character on the labours of the book clubs, one of the most remarkable was Sir Alexander Boswell. A time there was, unfortunately, when his name could not easily be dissociated from exasperating political events; but now that the generation concerned in them has nearly passed away, it becomes practicable, even from the side of his political opponents, to glance at his literary abilities and accomplishments without recalling exciting recollections. He was a member of the Roxburghe, and though he did not live to see the improvement in the issues of that institution, or the others which kept pace with it, he, alone and single-handed, set the example of printing the kind of books which it was afterwards the merit of the book clubs to promulgate. He gave them, in fact, their tone. He had at his paternal home of Auchinleck a remarkable collection of rare books and manuscripts; one of these afforded the text from which the romance of Sir Tristrem was printed. He reprinted from the one remaining copy in his own possession the disputation between John Knox and Quentin Kennedy, a priest who came forward against the great Reformer as the champion of the old religion. From the Auchinleck press came also reprints of Lodge's Fig for Momus, Churchyard's Mirrour of Man, the Book of the Chess, Sir James Dier's Remembrancer of the Life of Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Dialogus inter Deum et Evam, and others. The possession of a private printing-press is, no doubt, a very appalling type of bibliomania. Much as has been told us of the awful scale on which drunkards consume their favoured poison, one is not accustomed to hear of their setting up private stills for their own individual consumption. There is a Sardanapalitan excess in this bibliographical luxuriousness which refuses to partake with other vulgar mortals in the common harvest of the public press, but must itself minister to its own tastes and demands. The owner of such an establishment is subject to no extraneous caprices about breadth of margins, size of type, quarto or folio, leaded or unleaded lines; he dictates his own terms; he is master of the situation, as the French say; and is the true autocrat of literature. There have been several renowned private presses: Walpole's, at Strawberry Hill; Mr Johnes's, at Hafod; Allan's, at the Grange; and the Lee Priory Press. None of these, however, went so distinctly into the groove afterwards followed by the book clubs as Sir Alexander Boswell's Auchinleck Press. In the Bibliographical Decameron is a brief history, by Sir Alexander himself, of the rise and progress of his press. He tells us how he had resolved to print Knox's Disputation: "For this purpose I was constrained to purchase two small fonts of black-letter, and to have punches cut for eighteen or twenty double letters and contractions. I was thus enlisted and articled into the service, and being infected with the _type_ fever, the fits have periodically returned. In the year 1815, having viewed a portable press invented by Mr John Ruthven, an ingenious printer in Edinburgh, I purchased one, and commenced compositor. At this period, my brother having it in contemplation to present Bamfield to the Roxburghe Club, and not aware of the poverty and insignificance of my establishment, expressed a wish that his tract should issue from the Auchinleck Press. I determined to gratify him, and the portable press being too small for general purposes, I exchanged it for one of Mr Ruthven's full-sized ones; and having increased my stock to _eight_ small fonts, roman and italic, with the necessary appurtenances, I placed the whole in a cottage, built originally for another purpose, very pleasantly situated on the bank of a rivulet, and, although concealed from view by the surrounding wood, not a quarter of a mile from my house."[74] [Footnote 74: Bibliographical Decameron, vol. ii. p. 454.] To show the kind of man who co-operated with Scott in such frivolities, let me say a word or two more about Sir Alexander. He was the son, observe, of Johnson's Jamie Boswell, but he was about as like his father as an eagle might be to a peacock. To use a common colloquial phrase, he was a man of genius, if ever there was one. Had he been a poorer and socially humbler man than he was--had he had his bread and his position to make--he would probably have achieved immortality. Some of his songs are as familiar to the world as those of Burns, though their author is forgotten,--as, for instance, the song of parental farewell, beginning-- "Good-night, and joy be wi' ye a'; Your harmless mirth has cheered my heart," and ending with this fine and genial touch-- "The auld will speak, the young maun hear; Be canty, but be good and leal; Your ain ills aye hae heart to bear, Another's aye hae heart to feel: So, ere I set I'll see you shine, I'll see you triumph ere I fa'; My parting breath shall boast you mine. Good-night, and joy be wi' you a'." His "Auld Gudeman, ye're a drucken carle," "Jenny's Bawbee," and "Jenny dang the Weaver," are of another kind, and perhaps fuller of the peculiar spirit of the man. This consisted in hitting off the deeper and typical characteristics of Scottish life with an easy touch that brings it all home at once. His lines do not seem as if they were composed by an effort of talent, but as if they were the spontaneous expressions of nature. Take the following specimen of ludicrous pomposity, which must suffer a little by being quoted from memory: it describes a Highland procession:-- "Come the Grants o' Tullochgorum, Wi' their pipers on afore 'em; Proud the mithers are that bore 'em, Fee fuddle, fau fum. Come the Grants o' Rothiemurchus, Ilka ane his sword an' durk has, Ilka ane as proud's a Turk is, Fee fuddle, fau fum." To comprehend the spirit of this, one must endow himself with the feelings of a Lowland Scot before Waverley and Rob Roy imparted a glow of romantic interest to the Highlanders. The pompous and the ludicrous were surely never more happily interwoven. One would require to go further back still to appreciate the spirit of "Skeldon Haughs, or the Sow is Flitted." It is a picture of old Ayrshire feudal rivalry and hatred. The Laird of Bargainy resolved to humiliate his neighbour and enemy, the Laird of Kerse, by a forcible occupation of part of his territory. For the purpose of making this aggression flagrantly insulting, it was done by tethering or staking a female pig on the domain of Kerse. The animal was, of course, attended by a sufficient body of armed men for her protection. It was necessary for his honour that the Laird of Kerse should drive the animal and her attendants away, and hence came a bloody battle about "the flitting of the sow." In the contest, Kerse's eldest son and hope, Jock, is killed, and the point or moral of the narrative is, the contempt with which the old laird looks on that event, as compared with the grave affair of flitting the sow. A retainer who comes to tell him the result of the battle stammers in his narrative on account of his grief for Jock, and is thus pulled up by the laird-- "'Is the sow flitted?' cries the carle; 'Gie me an answer, short and plain-- Is the sow flitted, yammerin' wean?'" To which the answer is-- "'The sow, deil tak her, 's ower the water, And at her back the Crawfords clatter; The Carrick couts are cowed and bitted.'" Hereupon the laird's exultation breaks forth,-- "'My thumb for Jock--the sow's flitted!'" Another man of genius and learning, whose name is a household one among the book clubs, is Robert Surtees, the historian of Durham. You may hunt for it in vain among the biographical dictionaries. Let us hope that this deficiency will be well supplied in the Biographia Britannica, projected by Mr Murray. Surtees was not certainly among those who flare their qualities before the world--he was to a peculiar degree addicted, as we shall shortly see, to hiding his light under a bushel; and so any little notice of him in actual flesh and blood, such as this left by his friend, the Rev. James Tate, master of Richmond School, interests one:-- "One evening I was sitting alone--it was about nine o'clock in the middle of summer--there came a gentle tap at the door. I opened the door myself, and a gentleman said with great modesty, 'Mr Tate, I am Mr Surtees of Mainsforth. James Raine begged I would call upon you.' 'The master of Richmond School is delighted to see you,' said I; 'pray walk in.' 'No, thank you, sir; I have ordered a bit of supper; perhaps you will walk up with me?' 'To be sure I will;' and away we went. As we went along, I quoted a line from the Odyssey. What was my astonishment to hear from Mr Surtees, not the next only, but line after line of the passage I had touched upon. Said I to myself, 'Good Master Tate, take heed; it is not often you catch such a fellow as this at Richmond.' I never spent such an evening in my life." What a pity, then, that he did not give us more of the evening, which seems to have left joyful memories to both: for Surtees himself thus commemorated it in macaronics, in which he was an adept:-- "Doctus Tatius hic residet, Ad Coronam prandet ridet, Spargit sales cum cachinno, Lepido ore et concinno, Ubique carus inter bonos Rubei montis præsens honos." In the same majestic folio in which this anecdote may be found--the Memoir prefixed to the History of Durham--we are likewise told how, when at college, he was waiting on a Don on business; and, feeling coldish, stirred the fire. "Pray, Mr Surtees," said the great man, "do you think that any other undergraduate in the college would have taken that liberty?" "Yes, Mr Dean," was the reply--"any one as cool as I am!" This would have been not unworthy of Brummell. The next is not in Brummell's line. Arguing with a neighbour about his not going to church, the man said, "Why, sir, the parson and I have quarrelled about the tithes." "You fool," was the reply, "is that any reason why you should go to hell?" Yet another. A poor man, with a numerous family, lost his only cow. Surtees was collecting a subscription to replace the loss, and called on the Bishop of Lichfield, who was Dean of Durham, and owner of the great tithes in the parish, to ascertain what he would give. "Give!" said the bishop; "why, a cow, to be sure. Go, Mr Surtees, to my steward, and tell him to give you as much money as will buy the best cow you can find." Surtees, astonished at this unexpected generosity, said--"My Lord, I hope you will ride to heaven upon the back of that cow." A while afterwards he was saluted in the college by the late Lord Barrington, with--"Surtees, what is the absurd speech that I hear you have been making to the dean?" "I see nothing absurd in it," was the reply; "when the dean rides to heaven on the back of that cow, many of you prebendaries will be glad to lay hold of her tail!" I have noted these innocent trifles concerning one who is chiefly known as a deep and dry investigator, for the purpose of propitiating the reader in his favour, since the sacred cause of truth renders it necessary to refer to another affair in which his conduct, however trifling it might be, was not innocent. He was addicted to literary practical jokes of an audacious kind, and carried his presumption so far as to impose on Sir Walter Scott a spurious ballad which has a place in the Border Minstrelsy. Nor is it by any means a servile imitation, which might pass unnoticed in a crowd of genuine and better ballads; but it is one of the most spirited and one of the most thoroughly endowed with individual character in the whole collection. This guilty composition is known as "The Death of Featherstonhaugh," and begins thus:-- "Hoot awa', lads, hoot awa'; Ha' ye heard how the Ridleys, and Thirlwalls, and a', Ha' set upon Albany Featherstonhaugh, And taken his life at the Dead Man's Haugh? There was Williemoteswick And Hardriding Dick, And Hughie of Hawdon, and Will of the Wa', I canna tell a', I canna tell a', And many a mair that the deil may knaw. The auld man went down, but Nicol his son Ran awa' afore the fight was begun; And he run, and he run, And afore they were done There was many a Featherston gat sic a stun, As never was seen since the world begun. I canna tell a', I canna tell a', Some got a skelp and some got a claw, But they gar't the Featherstons haud their jaw. Some got a hurt, and some got nane, Some had harness, and some got staen." This imposture, professing to be taken down from the recitation of a woman eighty years old, was accompanied with some explanatory notes, characteristic of the dry antiquary, thus: "Hardriding Dick is not an epithet referring to horsemanship, but means Richard Ridley of Hardriding, the seat of another family of that name, which, in the time of Charles I., was sold on account of expenses incurred by the loyalty of the proprietor, the immediate ancestor of Sir Matthew Ridley. Will o' the Wa' seems to be William Ridley of Walltown, so called from its situation on the great Roman wall. Thirlwall Castle, whence the clan of Thirlwalls derived their name, is situated on the small river of Tippell, near the western boundary of Northumberland. It is near the wall, and takes its name from the rampart having been _thirled_--that is, pierced or breached--in its vicinity." In the Life of Surtees, the evidence of the crime is thus dryly set forth, in following up a statement of the transmission of the manuscript, and of its publication: "Yet all this was a mere figment of Surtees's imagination, originating probably in some whim of ascertaining how far he could identify himself with the stirring times, scenes, and poetical compositions which his fancy delighted to dwell on. This is proved by more than one copy among his papers of this ballad, corrected and interlined, in order to mould it to the language, the manners, and the feelings of the period and of the district to which it refers. Mr Surtees no doubt had wished to have the success of his attempt tested by the unbiassed opinion of the very first authority on the subject; and the result must have been gratifying to him." In Scott's acknowledgment of the contribution, printed also in the Life of Surtees, there are some words that must have brought misgivings and fear of detection to the heart of the culprit, since Scott, without apparently allowing doubts to enter his mind, yet marked some peculiarities in the piece, in which it differed from others. "Your notes upon the parties concerned give it all the interest of authority, and it must rank, I suppose, among those half-serious, half-ludicrous songs, in which the poets of the Border delighted to describe what they considered as the _sport of swords_. It is perhaps remarkable, though it may be difficult to guess a reason, that these Cumbrian ditties are of a different stanza and character, and obviously sung to a different kind of music, from those on the northern Border. The gentleman who collected the words may perhaps be able to describe the tune." There is perhaps no system of ethics which lays down with perfect precision the moral code on literary forgeries, or enables us to judge of the exact enormity of such offences. The world looks leniently on them, and sometimes sympathises with them as good jokes. Allan Cunningham, who, like Ramsay, was called "honest Allan," did not lose that character by the tremendous "rises" which he took out of Cromek about those remains of Nithsdale and Galloway song--a case in point so far as principle goes, but differing somewhat in the intellectual rank of the victim to the hoax. The temptation to commit such offences is often extremely strong, and the injury seems slight, while the offender probably consoles himself with the reflection that he can immediately counteract it by confession. Vanity, indeed, often joins conscientiousness in hastening on a revelation. Surtees, however, remained in obdurate silence, and I am not aware that any edition of the Minstrelsy draws attention to his handiwork. Lockhart seems not only to have been ignorant of it, but to have been totally unconscious of the risk of such a thing, since he always speaks of its author as a respectable local antiquary, useful to Scott as a harmless drudge. Perhaps Surtees was afraid of what he had done, like that teller in the House of Commons who is said by tradition to have attempted to make a bad joke in the division on the Habeas Corpus Act by counting a fat man as ten, and, seeing that the trick passed unnoticed, and also passed the measure, became afraid to confess it. The literary history of "The Death of Featherstonhaugh" naturally excited uneasiness about the touching ballad of "Barthram's Dirge," also contributed to the Minstrelsy as the fruit of the industrious investigations of Surtees. Most readers will remember this:-- "They shot him dead at the Nine-Stone Rig, Beside the headless cross, And they left him lying in his blood, Upon the moor and moss." After this stanza, often admired for its clearness as a picture, there is a judicious break, and then come stanzas originally deficient of certain words, which, as hypothetically supplied by Surtees, were good-naturedly allowed to remain within brackets, as ingenious suggestions:-- "They made a bier of the broken bough, The sauch and the aspine grey, And they bore him to the Lady Chapel, And waked him there all day. A lady came to that lonely bower, And threw her robes aside; She tore her ling [long] yellow hair, And knelt at Barthram's side. She bathed him in the Lady Well, His wounds sae deep and sair, And she plaited a garland for his breast, And a garland for his hair." A glance at the reprint of the Life of Surtees for the book club called after his name, confirms the suspicions raised by the exposure of the other ballad--this also is an imposition.[75] [Footnote 75: The editor of the Life prints the following note by Mr Raine, the coadjutor of Surtees in his investigations into the history of the North of England: "I one evening in looking through Scott's Minstrelsy wrote opposite to this dirge, _Aut Robertus aut Diabolus_. Surtees called shortly after, and, pouncing upon the remark, justified me by his conversation on the subject, in adding to my note, _Ita, teste seipso_."--P. 87.] Altogether, such affairs create an unpleasant uncertainty about the paternity of that delightful department of literature, our ballad poetry. Where next are we to be disenchanted? Of the way in which ancient ballads have come into existence, there is one sad example within my own knowledge. Some mad young wags, wishing to test the critical powers of an experienced collector, sent him a new-made ballad, which they had been enabled to secure only in a fragmentary form. To the surprise of its fabricator, it was duly printed; but what naturally raised his surprise to astonishment, and revealed to him a secret, was, that it was no longer a fragment, but a complete ballad,--the collector, in the course of his industrious inquiries among the peasantry, having been so fortunate as to recover the missing fragments! It was a case where neither could say anything to the other, though Cato might wonder _quod non rideret haruspex, haruspicem cum vidisset_. This ballad has been printed in more than one collection, and admired as an instance of the inimitable simplicity of the genuine old versions! It may perhaps do something to mitigate Surtees's offence in the eye of the world, that it was he who first suggested to Scott the idea of improving the Jacobite insurrections, and, in fact, writing Waverley. In the very same letter, quoted above, where Scott acknowledges the treacherous gift, he also acknowledges the hints he has received; and, mentioning the Highland stories he had imbibed from old Stewart of Invernahyle, says: "I believe there never was a man who united the ardour of a soldier and tale-teller--or man of talk, as they call it in Gaelic--in such an excellent degree; and as he was as fond of telling as I was of hearing, I became a violent Jacobite at the age of ten years old; and even since reason and reading came to my assistance, I have never got rid of the impression which the gallantry of Prince Charles made on my imagination. Certainly I will not renounce the idea of doing something to preserve these stories, and the memory of times and manners which, though existing as it were yesterday, have so strangely vanished from our eyes." So much for certain men of mark whose pursuits or hobbies induced them to cluster round the cradle of this new literary organisation. When it was full grown it gathered about it a large body of systematic workers, who had their own special departments in the great republic of letters. To offer a just and discriminating account of these men's services would draw me through an extensive tract of literary biography. There is a shallow prejudice very acceptable to all blockheads, that men who are both learned and laborious must necessarily be stupid. It is best to meet the approach of such a prejudice at once, by saying that the editors of club books are not mere dreary drudges, seeing the works of others accurately through the press, and attending only to dates and headings. Around and throughout the large library of volumes issued by these institutions, there run prolific veins of fresh literature pregnant with learning and ability. The style of work thus set agoing has indeed just the other day been incorporated into a sort of department of state literature since the great collection called The Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages, of which the Master of the Rolls accepts the responsibility, is carried out in the very spirit of the book clubs, in which indeed most of the editors of the Chronicles have been trained. Without prejudice to others, let me just name a few of those to whom the world is under obligation for services in this field of learned labour. For England, there are James Orchard Halliwell, Sir Frederic Madden, Beriah Botfield, Sir Henry Ellis, Alexander Dyce, Thomas Stapleton, William J. Thoms, Crofton Croker, Albert Way, Joseph Hunter, John Bruce, Thomas Wright, John Gough Nichols, Payne Collier, Joseph Stevenson, and George Watson Taylor, who edited that curious and melancholy book of poems, composed by the Duke of Orleans while he was a prisoner in England after the battle of Agincourt--poems composed, singularly enough, in the English language, and at a period extremely deficient in native vernacular literature. In Scotland, it was in the earlier issues of the Bannatyne that Thomas Thomson, too indolent or fastidious to commit himself to the writing of a book, left the most accessible vestiges of that power of practically grasping historical facts and conditions, which Scott admired so greatly, and acknowledged so much benefit from. He was followed by Professor Innes, who found and taught the secret of extracting from ecclesiastical chartularies, and other early records, the light they throw upon the social condition of their times, and thus collected matter for the two pleasant volumes which have become so popular. The Bannatyne Club, lately finding no more to do, wound up with a graceful compliment to David Laing--the man to whom, after Scott, it has been most indebted. And, lastly, it is in the Scotch book clubs that Joseph Robertson has had the opportunity of exercising those subtle powers of investigation and critical acumen, peculiarly his own, which have had a perceptible and substantial effect in raising archæology out of that quackish repute which it had long to endure under the name of antiquarianism. For Ireland, of which I have something farther to say at length, let it suffice in the mean time to name Dean Butler, Dr Reeves, Mr O'Donovan, Mr Eugene Curry, and Dr Henthorn Todd. There is another and distinct class of services which have been performed through the medium of the club books. The Roxburghe having been founded on the principle that each member should print a volume, to be distributed among his colleagues, an example was thus set to men of easy fortune and scholarly tastes, which has been followed with a large liberality, of which the public have probably but a faint idea. Not only in those clubs founded on the reciprocity system of each member distributing and receiving, but in those to be presently noticed, where the ordinary members pay an annual sum, to be expended in the printing of their books, have individual gentlemen come forward and borne the expense of printing and distributing costly volumes. In some instances valuable works have thus been presented to the members at the cost of those who have also undergone the literary labour of editing them. There is something extremely refined and gentlemanlike in this form of liberality. The recipient of the bounty becomes the possessor of a handsome costly book without being subjected in any way to the obligation of receiving a direct gift at the hands of the munificent donor; for the recipient is a sort of corporation--a thing which the lawyers say has no personal responsibility and no conscience, and which all the world knows to have no gratitude. [Illustration] [Illustration] _PART IV.--BOOK-CLUB LITERATURE._ Generalities. Nearly a quarter of a century after the birth of the first book club, a new era was ushered in by its brother, the Camden, established for the printing of books and documents connected with the early civil, ecclesiastical, and literary history of the British Empire. It discarded the rule which threw on each member the duty of printing and distributing a book, and tried the more equitable adjustment of an annual subscription to create a fund for defraying the expense of printing volumes to be distributed among the members. These, at first limited to 1000, expanded to 1200. Clubs with various objects now thickly followed. Any attempt to classify them as a whole, is apt to resemble Whately's illustration of illogical division--"_e.g._, if you were to divide 'book' into 'poetical, historical, folio, quarto, French, Latin,'" &c. One of the systems of arrangement is topographical, as the Chetham, "for the purpose of publishing biographical and historical books connected with the counties palatine of Lancaster and Chester."[76] The Surtees, again, named after our friend the ballad-monger, affects "those parts of England and Scotland included in the east between the Humber and the Firth of Forth, and in the west between the Mersey and the Clyde--a region which constituted the ancient kingdom of Northumberland." The Maitland, with its headquarters in Glasgow, gives a preference to the west of Scotland, but has not been exclusive. The Spalding Club, established in Aberdeen, the granite capital of the far north, is the luminary of its own district, and has produced fully as much valuable historical matter as any other club in Britain. Then there is the Irish Archæological--perhaps the most learned of all--with its casual assistants, the Ossianic, the Celtic, and the Iona. The Ælfric may be counted their ethnical rival, as dealing with the productions of the Anglo-Saxon enemies of the Celt. The Camden professes, as we have seen, to be general to the British Empire. The name of the club called "The Oriental Translation Fund," tells its own story. [Footnote 76: Among other volumes of interest, the Chetham has issued a very valuable and amusing collection of documents about the siege of Preston, and other incidents of the insurrection of 1715 in Lancashire.] There are others, too, with no topographical connection, which express pretty well their purpose in their names--as the Shakespeare, for the old drama--the Percy, for old ballads and lyrical pieces. The Hakluyt has a delightful field--old voyages and travels. The Rae Society sticks to zoology and botany; and the Wernerian, the Cavendish, and the Sydenham, take the other departments in science, which the names given to them readily indicate. In divinity and ecclesiastical history we have the Parker Society, named after the archbishop. Its tendencies are "Low," or, at all events, "Broad;" and as it counted some seven thousand members, it could not be allowed the run of the public mind without an antidote being accessible. Hence "The Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology," the tendency of which was not only shown in its name, but in its possessing among its earliest adherents the Rev. E.B. Pusey and the Rev. John Keble. The same party strengthened themselves by a series of volumes called the "Library of the Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church anterior to the Division of the East and West, translated by Members of the English Church." In Scotland, the two branches which deny the supremacy of Rome (it would give offence to call them both Protestant) are well represented by the Spottiswoode, already referred to as the organ of Episcopacy; and the more prolific Wodrow, which, named after the zealous historian of the Troubles, was devoted to the history of Presbyterianism, and the works of the Presbyterian fathers. Thus are the book clubs eminently the republic of letters, in which no party or class has an absolute predominance, but each enjoys a fair hearing. And whereas if we saw people for other purposes than literature combining together according to ecclesiastical divisions, as High Church or Low, Episcopalian or Presbyterian, we should probably find that each excluded from its circle all that do not spiritually belong to it, we are assured it is quite otherwise in the book clubs--that High Churchmen or Romanists have not been excluded from the Parker, or Evangelical divines prohibited from investing in the Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology. Nay, the most zealous would incline to encourage the communication of their own peculiar literary treasures to their avowed theological opponents, as being likely to soften their hearts, and turn them towards the truth. Some adherents of these theological clubs there also are of slightly latitudinarian propensities, to whom the aspirations of honest religious zeal, and the records of endurance and martyrdom for conscience' sake, can never be void of interest, or fail in summoning up feelings of respectful sympathy, whatever be the denominational banner under which they have been exhibited. Some of these clubs now rest from their labours, the literary strata in which they were employed having been in fact worked out. Whether dead or living, however, their books are now a considerable and varied intellectual garden, in which the literary busy bee may gather honey all the day and many a day. It will be readily supposed from the different and utterly separate grooves in which they run, and is very well known to the prowler among club books, that although these volumes profess to be printed from old manuscripts, or to be mere reprints of rare books, they take a considerable portion of their tone and tendency from the editor. In fact, the editor of a club book is, in the general case, a sort of literary sportsman, who professes to follow entirely his own humour or caprice, or, say, his own taste and enjoyment, in the matter which he selects, and the manner in which he lays it before his friends. Hence, many of these volumes, heavy and unimpressible as they look, yet are stamped strongly with the marks of the individuality, or of the peculiar intellectual cast, of living men. Take down, for instance, the volume of the Camden called "De Antiquis Legibus Liber," otherwise, "Cronica Majorum et Vicecomitum Londoniarum," printed from "a small folio, nine inches and a half in length and seven inches in breadth, the binding of white leather covering wooden backs, and containing 159 leaves of parchment, paged continuously with Arabic cyphers." It is partly a record of the old municipal laws of the city of London, partly a chronicle of events. Had it fallen to be edited by a philosophical inquirer into the origin and principles of jurisprudence, or an investigator of the rise and progress of cities, or a social philosopher of any kind, it is hard to say what might have been made of it--easy to say that it would have been made something very different from what it is. The editor was an illustrious genealogist. Accordingly, early in his career as expositor of the character of the volume, he alights upon a proper name, not entirely isolated, but capable of being associated with other names. Thus, he is placed on a groove, and off he goes travelling in the fashion following over 220 pages of printed quarto: "Henry de Cornhill, husband of Alice de Courcy, the heiress of the Barony of Stoke Courcy Com. Somerset, and who, after his decease, re-married Warine Fitz-Gerald the king's chamberlain, leaving by each an only daughter, co-heirs of this Barony, of whom Joan de Cornhill was the wife of Hugh de Neville, Proto Forester of England, wife first of Baldwine de Riviers, eldest son and heir-apparent of William de Vernon, Earl of Devon, deceased in his father's lifetime; and, secondly, of the well-known favourite of King John, Fulk de Breauté, who had name from a commune of the Canton of Goderville, arrondissement of Le Havre, department of La Seine Inférieure, rendered accompt of this his debt in the same roll;" and so on over the remainder of the 220 pages. If you turn over a few of them you will find the same sort of thing: "Agnes, the first daughter, was married to William de Vesey, of whom John de Vesey, issueless, and William de Vesey, who had issue, John de Vesey, who died before his father; and afterwards the said William de Vesey, the father, without heir of his body;" and so on. The reader whose fortune it has been to pass a portion of his early days among venerable Scottish gentlewomen of the old school, will perhaps experience an uneasy consciousness of having encountered matter of this description before. It may recall to him misty recollections of communications which followed a course something like this: "And so ye see, auld Pittoddles, when his third wife deed, he got married upon the laird o' Blaithershin's aughteenth daughter, that was sister to Jemima, that was married intil Tam Flumexer, that was first and second cousin to the Pittoddleses, whase brither became laird afterwards, and married Blaithershin's Baubie--and that way Jemima became in a kind o' way her ain niece and her ain aunty, an' as we used to say, her gude-brither was married to his ain grannie." But there is the deep and the shallow in genealogy, as in other arts and sciences, and, incoherent as it may sound to the uninitiated, the introduction to the Liber de Antiquis Legibus is no old woman's work, but full of science and strange matter.[77] It all grows, however, in genealogical trees, these being the predominant intellectual growth in the editor's mind. In fact, your thorough genealogist is quite a peculiar intellectual phenomenon. He is led on by a special and irresistible internal influence or genius. If he should for some time endeavour to strive after a more cosmopolite intellectual vitality, the ruling spirit conquers all other pursuits. The organism of the tree resumes its predominance, and if he have healthy sturdy brains, whatever other matter they may have collected is betimes dragged into the growth, and absorbed in the vitality of the majestic bole and huge branches. There is perhaps no pursuit more thoroughly absorbing. The reason is this: No man having yet made out for himself an articulate pedigree from Adam--Sir Thomas Urquhart, the translator of Rabelais, to be sure, made one for himself, but he had his tongue in his cheek all the while--no clear pedigree going back to the first of men, every one, whether short or long, Celtic or Saxon, comes into the clouds at last. It is when a pedigree approaches extinction that the occasion opens for the genealogist to exercise his subtlety and skill, and his exertions become all the more zealous and exciting that he knows he must be baffled somewhere. The pursuit is described as possessing something like the same absorbing influence which is exercised over certain minds by the higher mathematics. The devotees get to think that all human knowledge centres in their peculiar science and the cognate mysteries and exquisite scientific manipulations of heraldry, and they may be heard talking with compassionate contempt of some one so grossly ignorant as not to know a bar-dexter from a bend-sinister, or who asks what is meant by a cross potent quadrate party per pale. [Footnote 77: I remember hearing of an instance at a jury trial in Scotland, where counsel had an extremely subtle point of genealogy to make out, and no one but a ploughman witness, totally destitute of the genealogical faculty, to assist him to it. His plan--and probably a very judicious one in the general case--was to get the witness on a table-land of broad unmistakable principle, and then by degrees lure him farther on. Thus he got the witness readily to admit that his own mother was older than himself, but no exertion of ingenuity could get his intellect a step beyond that broad admission.] These are generally great readers--reading is absolutely necessary for their pursuit; but they have a faculty of going over literary ground, picking up the proper names, and carrying them away, unconscious of anything else, as pointers go over stubble fields and raise the partridges, without taking any heed of the valuable examples of cryptogamic botany or palæozoic entomology they may have trodden over. A certain writer on logic and metaphysics was once as much astonished as gratified by an eminent genealogical antiquary's expression of interest in a discovery which his last book contained. The philosopher thought his views on the subjectivity of the nominalists and the objectivity of the realists had at last been appreciated; but the discovery was merely this, that the name of a person who, according to the previously imperfect science of the genealogist, ought not to have existed then and there, was referred to in a letter from Spinoza, cited in defence of certain views upon the absolute. The votaries of this pursuit become powers in the world of rank and birth, from the influence they are able to bring upon questions of succession and inheritance. Hence they are, like all great influences, courted and feared. Their ministry is often desired and sometimes necessary; but it is received with misgiving and awe, since, like the demons of old summoned by incantation, they may destroy the audacious mortal who demands their services. The most sagacious and sceptical men are apt to be mildly susceptible to conviction in the matter of their own pedigrees, and, a little conscious of their weakness, they shrink from letting the sacred tree be handled by relentless and unsympathising adepts. One of these intellectual tyrants, a man of great ability, when he quarrelled with any one, used to threaten to "bastardise" him, or to find the bend-sinister somewhere in his ancestry; and his experience in long genealogies made him feel assured, in the general case, of finding what he sought if he went far enough back for it. The next volume you lay hand on is manifestly edited by an Ecclesiologist, or a votary of that recent addition to the constituted "ologies," which has come into existence as the joint offspring of the revival of Gothic architecture and the study of primitive-church theology. Through this dim religious light he views all the things in heaven and earth that are dealt with in his philosophy. His notes are profusely decorated with a rich array of rood screens, finial crockets, lavatories, aumbries, lecterns, lych sheds, albs, stoups, sedilia, credence tables, pixes, hagioscopes, baudekyns, and squenches. It is evident that he keeps a Bestiary, or record of his experiences in bestiology, otherwise called bestial eikonography; and if he be requested to give a more explicit definition of the article, he will perhaps inform you that it is a record of the types of the ecclesiological symbolisation of beasts. If you prevail on him to exhibit to you this solemn record, which he will open with befitting reverence, the faintest suspicion of a smile curling on your lip will suffuse him with a lively sorrow for your lost condition, mixed with righteous indignation towards the irreverent folly whereof you have been guilty. He finds a great deal beyond sermons in stones, and can point out to you a certain piece of rather confused-looking architecture, which he terms a symbolical epitome of all knowledge, human and divine--an eikonographic encyclopædia. If you desire an antidote to all this, you may find it in the editor in true blue who so largely refers to the Book of the Universal Kirk, The Hynd Let Loose, The Cloud of Witnesses, Naphtali, and Faithful Witness-Bearing Exemplified, and is great in his observations on the Auchinshauch Testimony, the Sanquhar Declaration, and that fine amalgamation of humility and dogmatism, the Informatory Vindication.[78] [Footnote 78: "An Informatory Vindication of a poor, wasted, misrepresented remnant of the suffering anti-popish, anti-prelatic, anti-erastian, anti-sectarian, _only true_ church of Christ in Scotland."] There is no occasion for quarrelling with these specialties. They are typical of a zeal often prolific both in amusement and instruction; and when a man has gone through the labour of rendering many hundreds of pages from a crabbed old manuscript, or of translating as much from a nearly unknown tongue, it would be hard to deny him the recreation of a few capers on his own hobby. Keep in mind that everything of this kind is outside the substance of the book. The editor has his swing in the introduction and appendix, and the notes; perhaps also in the title and index, if he can make anything of them. But it is a principle of honour throughout the clubs that the purity of the text shall not be tampered with; and so, whether dark or light, faint or strong, it is a true impression of the times, as the reader will perhaps find in the few specimens I propose to show him. As touching the literary value of what is thus restored, there are some who will say, and get applause for doing so, that there are too many bad or second-rate books in existence already; that every work of great genius finds its way to the world at once; and that the very fact of its long obscurity proves a piece of literature to be of little value. For all this, and all that can be added to it, there are those who love these recovered relics of ancestral literature, and are prepared to give reasons for their attachment. In the first place, and apart from their purely literary merits, they are records of the intellect and manners of their age. Whoever desires to be really acquainted with the condition of a nation at any particular time--say with that of England during Elizabeth's reign, or the Commonwealth--will not attain his object by merely reading the most approved histories of the period. He must endeavour as far as he can to live back into the times, and to do this most effectually he had better saturate himself to the utmost with its fugitive literature, reading every scrap he may lay hand on until he can find no more. Looking at these relics, on the other hand, as pure literature, no doubt what is recalled out of the past loses the freshness and the fitness to surrounding conditions which gave it pungency and emphasis in its own day, while it has not that hold on our sympathies and attachment possessed by the household literature which generation after generation has been educated to admire, and which, indeed, has made itself a part of our method of thought and our form of language. But precisely because it wants this qualification has resuscitated literature a peculiar value of its own. It breaks in with a new light upon the intellect of the day, and its conventional forms and colours. There is not in the intellectual history of mankind any so effective and brilliant an awakening as the resuscitation of classical literature. It was not one solitary star arising after another at long intervals and far apart in space, but a sudden blazing forth of a whole firmament of light. But that is a phenomenon to all appearance not to be repeated, or, more correctly speaking, not to be completed, since it broke up unfinished, leaving the world in partial darkness. Literature has been ever since wailing the loss of the seventy per cent of Livy's History, of the eighty per cent of Tacitus and of Euripides, of the still larger proportion of Æschylus and Sophocles, of the mysterious triumphs of Menander, and of the whole apparatus of the literary renown of Varro and of Atticus.[79] What would the learned world give for the restoration of these things? It may safely offer an indefinite reward, for so well has its surface been ransacked for them that their existence is hardly possible, though some sanguine people enjoy the expectation of finding them in some obscure back-shelves in the Sultan's library. The literary results of the costly and skilful scientific process for restoring the baked books found in Herculaneum were so appallingly paltry, as to discourage the pursuit of the lost classics. The best thing brought to light during the present century, indeed, is that Institute of Gaius which cost Angelo Maï such a world of trouble, and was the glory and boast of his life; but it is not a very popular or extensively read book after all. The manuscripts that have been extracted from the dirty greedy fingers of the Armenian and Abyssinian monks, are the most valuable pieces of literature that have been rescued from the far past. Important light on the early history of Eastern Christianity will no doubt be extracted from them; but they are written in those Oriental tongues which are available only to the privileged few. [Footnote 79: The applicability of this to Varro has been questioned. It is a matter in which every one is entitled to hold his own opinion. To say nothing of the other extant shreds of his writings--and I never found any one who had anything to say for them--I cannot account even the De Re Rustica as much higher in literary rank than a Farmers' and Gardeners' Calendar. No doubt it is valuable, as any such means of insight into the practical life of the Egyptians or the Phoenicians would be, even were it less methodical than what we have from Varro. But this, or other writing like it, will hardly account for his great fame among contemporaries. Look, for instance, to Cicero at the outset of the Academics: "Tu ætatem patriæ, tu descriptiones temporum, tu sacrorum jura, tu sacerdotum munera, tu domesticam, tu bellicam disciplinam, tu sedem regionum et locorum, tu omnium divinarum humanarumque rerum nomina, genera officia, causas aperuiste: plurimumque poetis nostris omninoque latinis, et literis luminis attulisti, et verbis: atque ipse varium et elegans omni fere numero poema fecisti: philosophiamque multis locis inchoasti--ad impellendum satis, ad edocendum parum." Laudation could scarcely be pitched in higher tone towards the works of the great Youatt, or Mr Huxtable's contributions to the department of literature devoted to manure and pigs. The De Re Rustica, written when its author was eighty years old, seems to have been about the last of what he calls his seven times seventy works, and it is natural to suppose that somewhere in the remaining four hundred and eighty-nine lay the merits which excited such encomiums. The story about Gregory the Great suppressing the best of Varro's works to hide St Augustine's pilferings from them, would be a valuable curiosity of literature if it could be established.] Unlikely as the treasures opened by the revival of classic literature are to be to any extent increased, let us not despise the harvest of our own home gleaners. They do not find now and then a buried Hamlet, or Paradise Lost, or Hudibras--though, by the way, the Poetical Remains of Butler, which in wit and sarcasm are second only to his great work, were rescued from oblivion by the drudging antiquary Thyer, who was so conceited of the performance that he had the portrait of his own respectable and stupid face engraved beside that of Butler, in order perhaps that all men might see how incapable he was of fabricating the pieces to which it is prefixed. There is a good deal of the poetry of the club books of which it may at least be said, that worse is printed and praised as the produce of our contemporaries. It is not so much, however, in Poetry or the Drama as in Historical literature that the clubs develop their strength. It is difficult to estimate the greatness of the obligations of British history to these institutions. They have dug up, cleansed, and put in order for immediate inspection and use, a multitude of written monuments bearing on the greatest events and the most critical epochs in the progress of the empire. The time thus saved to investigators is great and priceless. In no other department of knowledge can the intellectual labourer more forcibly apply the Latin proverb which warns him that his work is indefinite, but his life brief. In the ordinary sciences the philosopher may and often does content himself with the well-rounded and professedly completed system of the day. But no one can grapple with history without feeling its inexhaustibleness. Its final boundaries seem only to retreat to a farther distance the more ground we master, as Mr Buckle found, when he betook himself, like another Atlas, to grapple with the history of the whole world. The more an investigator finds his materials printed for him, the farther he can go. No doubt it is sometimes desirable, even necessary, to look to some manuscript authority for the clearing-up of a special point; but too often the profession of having perused a great mass of manuscript authorities is an affectation and a pedantry. He who searches for and finds the truth in any considerable portion of history, performs too great an achievement to care for the praise of deciphering a few specimens of difficult handwriting, and revealing the sense hidden in certain words couched in obsolete spelling. If casual discoveries of this kind do really help him to great truths, it is well; but it too often happens that he exaggerates their value, because they are his own game, shot on his own manor. Until he has exhausted all that is in print, the student of history wastes his time in struggling with manuscripts. Hence the value of the services of the book clubs in immensely widening the arena of his immediate materials. To him their volumes are as new tools to the mechanic, or new machinery to the manufacturer. They economise, as it is termed, his labour: more correctly speaking, they increase its productiveness. These books are fortunately rich in memorials of the great internal contest of the seventeenth century. The notes, for instance, of the proceedings of the Long Parliament, by Sir Ralph Verney, edited for the Camden by Mr Bruce, come upon us fresh from that scene of high debate, carrying with them the very marks of strife. The editor informs us that the manuscript is written almost entirely in pencil on slips of foolscap paper, which seem to have been so folded as to be conveniently placed on the knee, and transferred to the pocket as each was completed. "They are," he says, "full of abrupt terminations, as if the writer occasionally gave up the task of following a rapid speaker who had got beyond him, and began his note afresh. When they relate to resolutions of the House, they often contain erasures, alterations, or other marks of the haste with which the notes were jotted down, and of the changes which took place in the subject-matter during the progress towards completion. On several important occasions, and especially in the instance of the debate on the Protestation [as to the impeachment of Strafford], the confusion and irregularity of the notes give evidence to the excitement of the House; and when the public discord rose higher, the notes become more brief and less personal, and speeches are less frequently assigned to their speakers, either from greater difficulty in reporting, or from an increased feeling of the danger of the time, and the possible use that might be made of notes of violent remarks. On several of the sheets there are marks evidently made by the writer's pencil having been forced upwards suddenly, as if by some one, in a full House, pressing hastily against his elbow while he was in the act of taking his note." John Spalding. Looking from the opposite end of the island, and from a totally different social position, another watchful observer recorded the events of the great contest. This was John Spalding, commonly supposed to have been Commissary-Clerk of Aberdeen, but positively known in no other capacity than as author of the book aptly entitled The Troubles, or, more fully, "Memorials of the Troubles in Scotland and in England," from 1624 to 1645. Little, probably, did the Commissary-Clerk imagine, when he entered on his snug quiet office, where he recorded probates of wills and the proceedings in questions of marriage law, that he was to witness and record one of the most momentous conflicts that the world ever beheld--that contest which has been the prototype of all later European convulsions. Less still could he have imagined that fame would arise for him after two hundred years--that vehement though vain efforts should be made to endow the simple name of John Spalding with the antecedents and subsequents of a biographical existence, and that the far-off descendants of many of those lairds and barons, whose warlike deeds he noticed at humble distance, should raise a monument to his memory in an institution called by his name. He was evidently a thoroughly retiring man, for he has left no vestige whatever of his individuality. Some specimens of his formal official work might have been found in the archives of his office--these would have been especially valuable for the identification of his handwriting and the settlement of disputed questions about the originality of manuscripts; but these documents, as it happens, were all burnt early in last century with the building containing them. So ardent and hot has been the chase after vestiges of this man, that the fact was once discovered that with his own hand he had written a certain deed concerning a feu-duty or rent-charge of £25, 7s. 4d., bearing date 31st January 1663; but in spite of the most resolute efforts, this interesting document has not been found. It is probably to this same unobtrusive reserve, which has shrouded his very identity, that we owe the valuable peculiarities of the Commissary-Clerk's chronicle. He sought no public distinctions, took no ostensible side, and must have kept his own thoughts to himself, otherwise he would have had to bear record of his own share of troubles. In this calm serenity--folding the arms of resignation on the bosom of patience, as the Persians say--he took his notes of the wild contest that raged around him, setting down each event, great or small, with systematic deliberation, as if he were an experimental philosopher watching the phenomena of an eclipse or an eruption. Hence nowhere, perhaps, has it been permitted to a mere reader to have so good a peep behind the scenes of the mighty drama of war. We have plenty of chroniclers of that epoch--marching us with swinging historic stride on from battle unto battle--great in describing in long sentences the musterings, the conflicts, and the retreats. In Spalding, however, we shall find the numbers and character of the combatants, their arms, their dresses, the persons who paid for these, and the prices paid--the amount they obtained in pay, and the amount they were cheated out of--their banners, distinguishing badges, watchwords, and all other like particulars, set down with the minuteness of a bailiff making an inventory of goods on which he has taken execution. He is very specific in what one may term the negative side of the characteristics of war--the misery and desolation it spreads around. The losses of this "gudeman" and that lone widow are stated as if he were their law agent, making up an account to go to a jury for damages for the "spulzie of outside and inside plenishing, nolt, horse, sheep, cocks and hens, hay, corn, peats, and fodder." He specifies all the items of mansions and farm-houses attacked and looted, or "harried," as he calls it--the doors staved in, the wainscoting pulled down--the windows smashed--the furniture made firewood of--the pleasant plantations cut down to build sleeping-huts--the linen, plate, and other valuables carried off: he will even, perchance, tell how they were distributed--who it was that managed to feather his nest with the plunder, and who it was that was disappointed and cheated. He had opportunities of bestowing his descriptive powers to good purpose. Besides its ordinary share in the vicissitudes and calamities of the war, his town of Aberdeen was twice pillaged by Montrose, with laudable impartiality--once for the Covenanters and once for the Royalists. Here is his first triumphant entry:-- "Upon the morne, being Saturday, they came in order of battle, being well armed both on horse and foot, ilk horseman having five shot at the least, whereof he had ane carbine in his hand, two pistols by his sides, and other two at his saddle-torr; the pikemen in their ranks with pike and sword; the musketeers in their ranks with musket, musket-staff, bandelier, sword, powder, ball, and match. Ilk company, both horse and foot, had their captains, lieutenants, ensigns, sergeants, and other officers and commanders, all for the most part in buff coats and goodly order. They had five colours or ensigns, whereof the Earl of Montrose had one having his motto drawn in letters, 'For Religion, the Covenant, and the Countrie.' The Earl Marechal had one, the Earl of Kinghorn had one, and the town of Dundee had two. They had trumpeters to ilk company of horsemen, and drummers to ilk company of footmen. They had their meat, drink, and other provisions, bag and baggage, carried with them, done all by advice of his Excellency Field-Marshal Leslie, whose counsel General Montrose followed in this business. Then, in seemly order and good array, this army came forward and entered the burgh of Aberdeen about ten hours in the morning, at the Over Kirk gateport, syne came down through the Broadgate, through the Castlegate, over at the Justice Port to the Queen's Links directly. Here it is to be noted that few or none of this haill army wanted are blue ribbon hung about his craig [viz., neck] under his left arm, whilk they called 'the Covenanters' ribbon,' because the Lord Gordon and some other of the Marquis's bairns had ane ribbon, when he was dwelling in the toun, of ane red flesh colour, which they wore in their hats, and called it 'the royal ribbon,' as a sign of their love and loyalty to the King. In dispite or dirision whereof this blue ribbon was worn and called 'the Covenanters' ribbon' by the haill soldiers of this army." The well-ordered army passed through, levying a fine on the Malignants, and all seemed well; but because the citizens had not resisted Montrose, the loyal barons in the neighbourhood fell on them and plundered them; and because they had submitted to be so plundered, the Covenanting army came back and plundered them also. "Many of this company went and brack up the Bishop's yetts, set on good fires of his peats standing within the close: they masterfully broke up the haill doors and windows of this stately house; they brake down beds, boards, aumries, glassen windows, took out the iron stauncheons, brake in the locks, and such as they could carry had with them, and sold for little or nothing; but they got none of the Bishop's plenishing to speak of, because it was all conveyed away before their coming." On Sunday, Montrose and the other leaders duly attended the devotional services of the eminent Covenanting divines they had brought with them. "But," says Spalding, "the renegate soldiers, in time of both preachings, is abusing and plundering New Aberdeen pitifully, without regard to God or man;" and he goes on in his specific way, describing the plundering until he reaches this climax: "No foul--cock or hen--left unkilled. The haill house-dogs, messens, and whelps within Aberdeen felled and slain upon the gate, so that neither hound nor messen or other dog was left that they could see." But there was a special reason for this. The ladies of Aberdeen, on the retiring of Montrose's army, had decorated all the vagabond street-dogs with the blue ribbon of the Covenant. This was in 1639. Five years afterwards Montrose came back on them in more terrible guise still, to punish the town for having yielded to the Covenant. In Aberdeen, Cavalier principles generally predominated; but after being overrun and plundered successively by either party, the Covenanters, having the acting government of the country at their back, succeeded in establishing a predominance in the councils of the exhausted community. Spalding had no respect for the civic and rural forces they attempted to embody, and speaks of a petty bailie "who brought in ane drill-master to learn our poor bodies to handle their arms, who had more need to handle the plough and win their livings." Montrose had now with him his celebrated army of Highlanders--or Irish, as Spalding calls them--who broke at a rush through the feeble force sent out of the town to meet them. Montrose "follows the chase to Aberdeen, his men hewing and cutting down all manner of men they could overtake within the town, upon the streets, or in their houses, and round about the town, as our men were fleeing, with broadswords, but mercy or remeid. These cruel Irish, seeing a man well clad, would first tyr [_i.e._, strip] him and save the clothes unspoiled, then kill the man; ... nothing heard but pitiful howling, crying, weeping, mourning, through all the streets.... It is lamentable to hear how thir Irishes, who had gotten the spoil of the town, did abuse the samin. The men that they killed they would not suffer to be buried, but tirled them of their clothes, syne left their naked bodies lying above the ground. The wife durst not cry nor weep at her husband's slaughter before her eyes, nor the mother for her son--which if they were heard, then they were presently slain also; ... and none durst bury the dead. Yea, and I saw two corpses carried to the burial through the old town with women only, and not are man amongst them, so that the naked corpses lay unburied so long as these limmers were ungone to the camp." The Commissary-Clerk was on Montrose's side, but he had the hatred of a Lowlander of that day for the Highlanders. He has a great many amusing episodes describing the light-fingered lads from the hills coming down, and in the general confusion of the times plundering Cavalier and Covenanter alike; and on these occasions he drops his usual placidity and becomes rabid and abusive, as the best-tempered Americans are said to become when they speak of niggers, and deals out to them the terms limmers, thieves, robbers, cut-throats, masterful vagrants, and so forth, with great volubility. Of some of their chiefs, renowned in history, he speaks as mere robber-leaders, and when they are known by one name in their own country and another in the Lowlands, he puts an _alias_ between the two. The very initial words of his chronicle are, "Efter the death and burial of Angus Macintosh of Auldterlie, _alias_ Angus Williamson." Montrose having departed, Argyle's troops commenced to plunder the district for having submitted to his enemy, and these, being doubly offensive as Covenanters and Highlanders, are treated accordingly. But it is necessary to be impartial; and having bestowed so much on the Cavalier annalist, let us take a glimpse at the other side. Robert Wodrow. From the collections of the Reverend Robert Wodrow, the historian of The Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, a rich harvest has been reaped by the northern clubs, one of which appropriately adopted his name. He was a voluminous writer and an inexhaustible collector. It is generally classed among the failings of the book-hunter that he looks only to the far past, and disregards the contemporary and the recent. Wodrow was a valuable exception to this propensity. Reversing the spirit of the selfish bull which asks what posterity has done for us, he stored up contemporary literature for subsequent generations; and he thus left, at the commencement of the eighteenth century, such a library as a collector of the nineteenth, could he have sent a caterer before him, would have prepared to await his arrival in the world. The inestimable value of the great collection of the civil-war pamphlets made by George Thomason, and fortunately preserved in the British Museum, is very well known. Just such another of its kind is Wodrow's, made up of the pamphlets, broadsides, pasquinades, and other fugitive pieces of his own day, and of the generation immediately preceding. These are things easily obtained in their freshness, but the term fugitive is too expressive of their nature, and after a generation or two they have all flown away, save those which the book-hunter has exorcised into the vaults of some public collection. There is perhaps too little done in our own day in preserving for posterity these mute witnesses of our sayings and doings. They are too light and volatile to be caught by the Copyright Act, which so carefully deposits our quartos and octavos in the privileged libraries. It is pleasant, by the way, at this moment, to observe that the eminent scholar who has charge of the chief portion of Wodrow's gatherings, as keeper of the Advocates' Library, is following his example, by preserving a collection of the pamphlets of the present century which will keep our posterity in employment, if they desire to unwind the intricacies of all our civil and ecclesiastical sayings and doings. Wodrow carried on an active correspondence about matters of contemporary policy, and the special inquiries connected with his History: selections from this mass have furnished three sturdy volumes. Besides pamphlets, he scraped together quantities of other people's manuscripts--some of them rising high enough in importance to be counted State papers. How the minister of the quiet rural parish of Eastwood could have got his hands on them is a marvel, but it is fortunate that they were saved from destruction; and it is nearly equally fortunate that they have been well ransacked by zealous club-book makers, who have by this time probably exhausted the better part of their material. In the next place, Wodrow left behind several biographies of eminent members of his own Church, its saints and martyrs; and goodly masses out of this storehouse have also been printed. But by far the most luxurious morsel in the worthy man's intellectual larder was not intended to reach the profane vulgar, but destined for his own special rumination. It consists in the veritable contents of his private note-books, containing his communings with his own heart and his imagination. They were written on small slips of paper, in a hand direly cramped and minute; and lest this should not be a sufficient protection to their privacy, a portion was committed to certain ciphers, which their ingenious inventor deemed, no doubt, to be utterly impregnable. In stenography, however, the art of lock-picking always keeps ahead of the art of locking, as that of inventing destructive missiles seems to outstrip that of forging impenetrable plates. Wodrow's trick was the same as that of Samuel Pepys, and productive of the same consequences--the excitement of a rabid curiosity, which at last found its way into the recesses of his secret communings. They are now printed, in the fine type of the Maitland Club, in four portly quartos, under the title, Wodrow's Analecta. Few books would hold out so much temptation to a commentator, but their editor is dumb, faithfully reprinting the whole, page by page, and abstaining both from introduction and explanatory foot-note. Perhaps in the circumstances this was a prudent measure. Those who enjoy the weaknesses of the enthusiastic historian have them at full length. As to others partially like-minded with him, but more worldly, who would rather that such a tissue of absurdities had not been revealed, they are bound over to silence, seeing that a word said against the book is a word of reproach against its idolised author--for as to the editor, he may repeat after Macbeth, "Thou canst not say I did it." Mr Buckle's ravenous researches into the most distant recesses of literature revealed to him this pose. He has taken some curious specimens out of it, but he might have made his anthology still richer had he been in search of the picturesque and ludicrous, instead of seeking solid support for his great theory of positivism. What he chiefly amuses one with in this part of the world, however, is the solemn manner in which he treats the responsibility of giving increased publicity to such things, and invokes the Deity to witness that his objects are sincere, and he is influenced by no irreverence. This feeling may arise from a very creditable source, but a native of Scotland has difficulty in understanding it. In this country, being, as many of us have been, within the very skirts of the great contests that have shaken the realm--Jacobitism on the one hand and Covenantism on the other--we are roughened and hardened, and what shocks our sensitive neighbours is very good fun to ourselves. It appears that Wodrow had intended to publish a book on remarkable special providences--something of a scientific character it was to be, containing a classification of their phenomena, perhaps a theory of their connection with revealed religion. The natural laws by which they are ruled, he could not, of course, have sought to discover, since the principle on which he set out predicated the non-existence of such laws. The advantage of the peep enjoyed into his private note-book is, that we have his incompleted inquiries containing the stories as to which even he--a very poor adept at scepticism--required some confirmation. It is quite evident that we thus have something more valuable to philosophy, and infinitely more amusing, than his completed labours would have been. Here, for instance, is one of his break-downs--an interesting phenomenon, but not irrefragably proved. "This day I have an accompt from Marion Stevenson, who says she had it from one who was witness to it, that near Dunglass there was a child found upon the highway by some shearers, to their uptaking lately born; and they brought it to the next house, where the woman putting on the pan to make some meat for it, the pan filled full of corn; and when she turned it out and put it on the second time, it filled full of bear; and when put on the third time, it filled full of blood; and upon this the child began to alter its shapes some way, and to speak, and told them this year should have great plenty, and the next year also, but the third the land should be filled with blood and fire and sword! and the child desired it might be taken to the place where it was found, and left there. I hear not yet what was done with it. This is so incredible, that I set it down only for after trial and inquiry about it--no confirmation." His wife tells him a story which in her youth she had heard narrated by Mr Andrew Reid, minister of Kirkbean. It is a case of true love crossed by the interference of cruel relations. The swain leaves the country for several years--gets on--remembers the old love, and returns to fulfil his vows. It happens that on the day of his return the loved one dies. He is on his way to her house in the dusk of eve when he meets an old man, who tells him that he is going on a bootless errand--he will find a dead corpse for the warm living heart he expected. The stranger, however, pitying his distress, tells him there is a remedy--hands to the lover certain pills, and says, "If you will give her these, she will recover." So it turned out, and they were happily married. A certain visitor at the house, however, "a very eminent Christian," refused to salute the lady with the usual courtesies. He takes the husband aside, "and tells him that he was very much persuaded his wife was a devil, and indeed he could not salute her; and after some discourse prevailed so far with him as to follow his advice, which was to go with her and take her to that room where he found her, and lay her down upon the bed where he found her, and quit her of a devil. Which he did, and immediately she became a dead corpse half consumed." "This had need," says cautious Wodrow, "to be weel attested, and I have writ to Mr Reid anent it." Curiosity urged me to look for and find among Wodrow's manuscripts Mr Reid's answer. He says he often heard the story from his father as a truth, but had been unaccountably negligent in noting the particulars of it; and then he favours his correspondent with some special providences anent himself, which appear not to have been sufficiently pungent for Wodrow's taste. A philosophical investigator of the established national superstitions would find excellent types of all of them in the Analecta. In the department of second-sight, for instance, restricted, with due observance to geographical propriety, within the Highland line, a guest disturbs a convivial meeting at Blair-Athol by exclaiming that he beholds a dirk sticking in the breast of their entertainer. That night he is stabbed to the heart; and even while the seer beheld the visionary dagger, a bare-legged gilly was watching outside to execute a long-cherished Highland vengeance. The Marquess of Argyle, who was afterwards beheaded, was playing with some of his clan at bowls, or bullets, as Wodrow calls them, for he was not learned in the nomenclature of vain recreations. "One of the players, when the Marquess stooped down to lift the bullet, fell pale, and said to them about him, 'Bless me! what is that I see?--my Lord with the head off, and all his shoulders full of blood.'" In the department of fairy tricks, the infant of Thomas Paton, "a very eminent Christian," in its first use of speech, rattles out a volley of terrific oaths, then eats two cheeses, and attempts to cut its brother's throat. This was surely sufficient evidence to satisfy the most sceptical that it was a changeling, even had it not, as the result of certain well-applied prayers, "left the house with an extraordinary howling and crying." Ghost and witch stories abound. The following is selected on account of the eminence of its hero, Gilbert Rule, the founder and first Principal of the University of Edinburgh: He was travelling on the dreary road across the Grampians, called the Cairn o' Mont, on which stood a lone desolate inn. It has now disappeared, but I remember it in its dreary old age, standing alone on the moor, with its grim gables and its loupin'-on stane,--just the sort of place where, in the romances, the horrified traveller used to observe a trap-door in his bedroom floor, and at supper picked the finger of a murdered man out of a mutton-pie. There Rule arrived late at night seeking accommodation, but he could get none--the house was crammed. The only alternative was to make a bed for him in an empty house close by; it had been unoccupied for thirty years, and had a bad repute. He had to sleep there alone, for his servant would not go with him. Let Wodrow himself tell what came to pass. "He walked some time in the room, and committed himself to God's protection, and went to bed. There were two candles left on the table, and these he put out. There was a large bright fire remaining. He had not been long in bed till the room door is opened, and an apparition, in shape of a country tradesman, came in and opened the curtains without speaking a word. Mr Rule was resolved to do nothing till it should speak or attack him, but lay still with full composure, committing himself to the Divine protection and conduct. The apparition went to the table, lighted the two candles, brought them to the bedside, and made some steps toward the door, looking still to the bed, as if he would have Mr Rule rising and following. Mr Rule still lay still, till he should see his way further cleared. Then the apparition, who the whole time spoke none, took an effectual way to raise the doctor. He carried back the candles to the table, and went to the fire, and with the tongs took down the kindled coals, and laid them on the deal chamber floor. The doctor then thought it time to rise and put on his clothes, in the time of which the spectre laid up the coals again in the chimney, and, going to the table, lifted the candles and went to the door, opened it, still looking to the Principal as he would have him following the candles, which he now, thinking there was something extraordinary in the case, after looking to God for direction, inclined to do. The apparition went down some steps with the candles, and carried them into a long trance, at the end of which there was a stair which carried down to a low room. This the spectre went down, and stooped, and set down the lights on the lowest step of the stair, and straight disappears." The learned Principal, whose courage and coolness deserve the highest commendation, lighted himself back to bed with the candles, and took the remainder of his rest undisturbed. Being a man of great sagacity, on ruminating over his adventure, he informed the sheriff of the county "that he was much of the mind there was murder in the case." The stone whereon the candles were placed was raised, and there "the plain remains of a human body were found, and bones, to the conviction of all." It was supposed to be an old affair, however, and no traces could be got of the murderer. Rule undertook the functions of the detective, and pressed into the service the influence of his own profession. He preached a great sermon on the occasion, to which all the neighbouring people were summoned; and behold, "in the time of his sermon, an old man near eighty years was awakened, and fell a-weeping, and before all the whole company acknowledged that, at the building of that house, he was the murderer." In Wodrow's note-book the devil often cuts a humiliating figure, and is treated with a deal of rude and boisterous jeering. A certain "exercised Christian," probably during a fit of indigestion, was subjected to a heavy wrestling with doubts and irreconcilable difficulties, which raised in his mind horrible suggestions. The devil took occasion to put in a word or two for the purpose of increasing the confusion, but it had the directly opposite effect, and called forth the remark that, "on the whole the devil is a great fool, and outshoots himself oft when he thinks he has poor believers on the haunch." On another occasion the devil performed a function of a very unusual kind, one would think. He is known to quote Scripture for his purposes, but who ever before heard of his writing a sermon--and, as it seems, a sound and orthodox one? There was, it appears, a youth in the University of St Andrews, preparing to undergo his trials as a licentiate, who had good reason to fear that he would be plucked. He found he could make nothing whatever of the trial sermon, and was wandering about by lonely ways, seeking in vain for inspiration. At last "there came up to him a stranger, in habit like a minister, in black coat and band, and who addressed the youth very courteously." He was mighty inquisitive, and at length wormed out the secret grief. "I have got a text from the Presbytery. I cannot for my life compose a discourse on it, so I shall be affronted." The stranger replied--"Sir, I am a minister; let me hear the text?" He told him. "Oh, then, I have an excellent sermon on that text in my pocket, which you may peruse and commit to your memory. I engage, after you have delivered it before the Presbytery, you will be greatly approven and applauded." The youth received it thankfully; but one good turn deserves another. The stranger had an eccentric fancy that he should have a written promise from the youth to do him afterwards any favour in his power; and there being no other liquid conveniently at hand for the signature of the document, a drop of the young man's blood was drawn for the purpose. Note now what followed. "Upon the Presbytery day the youth delivered an excellent sermon upon the text appointed him, which pleased and amazed the Presbytery to a degree; only Mr Blair smelt out something in it which made him call the youth aside to the corner of the church, and thus he began with him: 'Sir, you have delivered a nate sermon, every way well pointed. The matter was profound, or rather sublime; your style was fine and your method clear; and, no doubt, young men at the beginning must make use of helps, which I doubt not you have done.' So beginning, Blair, who was a man of mighty gifts and repute, pressed on so close with repeated questions that the awful truth at last came out." There was nothing for it but that the Presbytery must engage in special exercise for the penitent youth. They prayed each in succession to no purpose, till it came to Blair's turn. "In time of his prayer there came a violent rushing of wind upon the church--so great that they thought the church should have fallen down about their ears--and with that the youth's paper and covenant drops down from the roof of the church among the ministers." A large proportion of Wodrow's special providences are performed for the benefit of the clergy, either to provide them with certain worldly necessaries of which they may happen to be in want, or to give effect to their pious indignation, or, as some might be tempted to call it, their vindictive spite, again those who revile them. Perhaps an interdicted pastor, wandering over the desolate moors where he and his hunted flock seek refuge, is sorely impeded by some small want of the flesh, and gives expression to his wishes concerning it; when forthwith he is miraculously supplied with a shoulder of mutton or a pair of trousers, according to the nature of his necessities. He encounters ridicule or personal insult, and instantly the blasphemer is struck dead, or idiotic, or dumb, after the example of those who mocked Elisha's bald head; and Wodrow generally winds up these judgments with an appropriate admonitory text, as, for instance, "Touch not His anointed, and do His prophets no harm." As the persons for whom these special miracles are performed generally happen to be sorely beset by worldly privations and dangers, which are at their climax at the very time when they are able to call in supernatural intervention, a logician might be inclined to ask why, if the operations, and, as it were, the very motives, of the Deity are examined in respect of those events which are propitious to His favourite, they should not also be examined with the same critical pertinacity as to the greatly predominating collection of events which are decidedly unpropitious to him, so as to bring out the reason why the simpler course of saving him from all hardships and persecution had not been followed, instead of the circuitous plan of launching heavy calamities against him, and then issuing special miraculous powers to save him from a small portion of these calamities. But such logic would probably be unprofitably bestowed, and it is wiser to take the narratives as they stand and make the best use of them. Whoever looks at them with a cold scientific eye, will at once be struck by the close analogy of Wodrow's vaticinations and miracles to those of other times and places, and especially to those credited to the saints of the early Catholic Church, to which many of them, indeed, bear a wonderfully exact resemblance. The Early Northern Saints. Carried on by the power of association, we are thus brought to the door of an exceedingly interesting department of book-club literature,--the restoration of the true text of the early lives of the saints--a species of literature now recognised and separated from others by the title of Hagiology. Everybody knows, or ought to know, that the great library of this kind of literature, published by the Bollandists, begins with the beginning of the year, and gives the life of each saint successively according to his day in the calendar. Ignorance is more excusable on the question what constitutes saintship, and, supposing you to have found your saint, on the criterion by which the day of his festival should be adjusted in the calendar. Technically, to make a saint, there should be an act of pontifical jurisdiction, all the more solemn than any secular judicial act as the interests affected are more momentous; but only a small number of the saints stand on record in the proceedings of the Vatican. In fact, the great body of them were in the enjoyment of their honours hundreds of years before the certifying process was adopted, and to investigate all their credentials was far too weighty a task to be attempted. It is taken for granted that they have been canonised, and if it be difficult to prove that they have gone through this ceremony, they hold their ground through the still greater difficulty of proving that they have not. Some of those whose sanctity is established by this kind of acclamation are so illustrious, that it would be ludicrous to suppose even the Vatican capable of adding to their eminence--more so, to imagine any process by which they could be unsanctified; such are St Patrick, St George, and St Kentigern. But there is a vast crowd of village or parochial saints firmly established within their own narrow circles, but as unknown at the court of Rome as any obscure curate working in some distant valley, or among the poor of some great city. In such a crowd there will naturally be questionable personages. St Valentine, St Fiacre, St Boniface, St Lupus, St Maccesso, St Bobbio, St Fursy, and St Jingo, have names not endowed with a very sanctimonious sound, but they are well-established respectable saints. Even Alban Butler, however, has hard work in giving credit to St Longinus, St Quirinus, St Mercurius, St Hermes, St Virgil, St Plutarch, and St Bacchus. It is the occurrence of such names that makes Moreri speak of the Bollandist selection as rather loose, since it contains "vies des saintes bonnes, médiocres, mauvaises, vrayes, douteuses, et fausses." The saint's festival-day is generally the anniversary of his death, or "deposition," as it is technically termed; but this is by no means an absolute rule. Few compilers deserve more sympathy than those who try to adjust saints' days by rule and chronology, since not only does one saint differ from another in the way in which his feast is established, but for the same saint there are different days in different countries, and even in different ecclesiastical districts--the diocese of Paris having, for instance, some special saints' days of its own, which differ from the practice throughout the rest of Catholic Christendom. Some saints, too, have been shifted about from day to day by authority. Queen Margaret of Scotland, the wife of Malcolm, whose real source of influence was that she represented the old Saxon line of England, had two great days,--that of her deposition on July the 8th, and that of her translation on July the 19th; but, by a papal ordinance immediately after the Revolution, her festival was established upon the 10th of June. This was rather a remarkable day in Britain, being that on which the poor infant son of the last of the Jameses, afterwards known in Parliamentary language as the Pretender, was born. The adjustment of Queen Margaret's day to that event was a stroke of policy for the purpose of rendering the poor child respectable, and removing all doubts about warming-pans and other disagreeables; but it is not known that the measure exercised the slightest influence on the British Parliament. Bollandus, who was the first seriously to lay his hand to the great work called after him, was a Belgian Jesuit. He had got through January and February in five folio volumes, when he died in 1658. Under the auspices of his successor, Daniel Papebroch, March appeared in 1668 and April in 1675, each in three volumes. So the great work crept on day by day and year by year, absorbing the whole lives of many devoted labourers, conspicuous among whom are the unmelodious names of Peter Bosch, John Stilting, Constantine Suyskhen, Urban Sticken, Cornelius Bye, James Bue, and Ignacius Hubens. In 1762, a hundred and four years after January, September was completed. It filled eight volumes, for the work accumulated like a snow-ball as it rolled, each month being larger than its predecessor. Here the ordinary copies stop in forty-seven volumes, for the evil days of the Jesuits were coming on, and the new literary oligarchy, where Voltaire, Montesquieu, and D'Alembert held sway, had not been propitious to hagiology. A part of October was accomplished under the auspices of Maria Theresa, the Empress Queen, but for some reason or other it came within the category of rare books, and was not to be easily obtained until it was lately reprinted. Whatever effect such a phenomenon may have on some denominations of the religious world, it can afford nothing but pure satisfaction to all historical investigators to know that this great work has been resumed in this middle of the nineteenth century. I have before me the ninth volume for October, embracing the twentieth and twenty-first days of that month, and containing about as much matter as the five volumes of Macaulay's History. On the 21st of October there is, to be sure, a very heavy job to be got through in St Ursula and her eleven thousand virgins, whose bones may be seen in musty presses in the Church of the Ursulines in Cologne; but still as it moves forward, it is evident that the mighty work continues to enlarge its proportions. The winter is coming on too, a period crowded with the memorials of departed saints, as being unpropitious to men of highly ascetic habits, so that those who have undertaken the completion of the Bollandist enterprise have their work before them. There is a marvellous uniformity in all the arrangements of this array of volumes which have thus appeared at intervals throughout two centuries. They dealt with matter too sublimely separated from the temporal doings of men to be affected by political events, yet could they not entirely escape some slight touches from the convulsions that had recast the whole order and conditions of society. When October was begun, Belgium, where the work is published, was attached to the Austrian Empire, and the French Revolution had not yet come. The Jesuits, though not favourites among monarchs, profess a decorous loyalty, and the earlier volumes of the month have portraits of the Empress Queen, and others of the Imperial family, in the most elaborate court costume of the days before the Revolution; while the later volumes, still loyal, are illustrated by the family circle of the Protestant King of constitutional Belgium, whose good-natured face and plain broad-cloth coat are those doubtless of the right man, though one cannot help imagining that he feels himself somehow in the wrong place. The crowds of saints who come sometimes swarming in on a single day to these teeming volumes, give one an almost oppressive notion of the quantity of goodness that must have, after all, existed in this wicked world. The labours of the Bollandists, not only in searching through all available literature, but in a special correspondence established with their Jesuit brethren throughout the world, are absolutely astounding. Their conscientious minuteness is wonderful; and many a one who thinks he is master of the ecclesiastical lore of his own parish, which he has made his specialty, has been petrified to find what he thought his discoveries all laid down with careful precision as matters of ordinary knowledge in some corner of these mighty volumes. The Bollandists obtained their information from the spot, and it is on the spot that this kind of literature must be worked out. A thoroughly accomplished antiquary, working within a limited district, will thus bring forth more full and satisfactory results, so far as they go, than even the Bollandists have achieved, and hence the great value of the services of the book clubs to hagiology. The writer of the letters bearing the signature "Veritas," in all the newspapers, would, of course, specially object to the resuscitation of this class of literature, "because it is full of fabulous accounts of miracles and other supernatural events which can only minister to credulity and superstition." But even in the extent and character of this very element there is a great significance. The size of a current falsehood is the measure of the size of the human belief that has swallowed it, and is a component part of the history of man. The best critical writers on ancient history have agreed not to throw away the cosmogony and the hierology of Greece. It is part of Grecian history that the creed of the people was filled with a love of embodied fancies, so graceful and luxuriant. No less are the revel rout of Valhalla part of the virtual history of the Scandinavian tribes. But the lives of our saints, independently altogether of the momentous change in human affairs and prospects which they ushered in, have a substantial hold on history, of which neither the classical nor the northern hierology can boast. Poseidon and Aphrodite, Odin and Freya, vanish into the indefinite and undiscoverable at the approach of historical criticism. But separately altogether from their miracles, Cuthbert and Ninian, Columba and Kentigern, had actual existences. We know when they lived and when they died. The closer that historical criticism dogs their steps, the clearer it sees them, and the more it knows about their actual lives and ways. Even if they were not the missionaries who introduced Christianity among us,--as men who, in the old days before Britain became populous and affluent in the fruits of advanced civilisation, trod the soil that we tread, it would be interesting to know about them--about the habitations they lodged in, the garments they wore, the food they ate, the language they spoke, their method of social intercourse among each other, and the sort of government under which they lived. That by investigation and critical inquiry we can know more of these things than our ancestors of centuries past could know, is still a notion comparatively new which has not been popularly realised. The classic literature in which our early training lies has nothing in it to show us the power of historical inquiry, and much to make us slight it. The Romans, instead of improving on the Greeks, fell in this respect behind them. Father Herodotus, credulous as he was, was a better antiquary than any who wrote in Latin before the revival of letters. Occupied entirely with the glory of their conquests, and blind to the future which their selfish tyranny was preparing for them, the Romans were equally thoughtless of the past, unless it were exaggerated and falsified into a narrative to aggrandise their own glory. Their authors abdicated the duty of leaving to the world the true narrative of the early struggles and achievements out of which the Republic and the Empire arose. It is easy to be sceptical at any time. We can cut away Romulus and Remus from accepted history now, hundreds of years after the Empire has ceased to govern or exist. But the golden opportunity for sifting the genuine out of the fabulous has long passed away. It is seldom possible to construct the infant histories of departed nationalities. The difference between the facilities which a nation has for finding out its own early history, and those which strangers have for constructing it when the nationality has allowed its deathbed to pass over without the performance of that patriotic task, is nearly as great as a man's own facilities for writing the history of his youth, and those of the biographer who makes inquiries about him after he is buried. We are becoming wiser than the Romans in this as in other matters, and are constructing the infant histories of the various European nations out of the materials which each possesses. The biographies of those saints or missionaries who first diffused the light of the Gospel among the various communities of the Christian north, form a very large element in these materials; and no wonder, when we remember that the Church possessed all the literature, such as it was, of the age. In applying, however, to the British Empire, this new source of historical information, there arose the difficulty that it was chiefly supplied from Ireland. If all hagiology were under a general suspicion of the fabulous, Irish history was known to be a luxuriant preserve of fables, and these causes of dubiety being multiplied by each other in the mind, it seemed almost impossible to obtain a hearing for the new voice. In fact, during a long period the three nations were engaged in a competition which should carry its history through the longest track of fictitious glory, and this was a kind of work in which Ireland beat her neighbours entirely. Hence, when all were pressing pretty close upon the Deluge, Ireland took the leap at once and cleared that gulf. As a fairish record of these successful efforts, I would recommend to the reader's notice a very well-conditioned and truly learned-looking folio volume, called "The General History of Ireland, collected by the learned Jeffrey Keating, D.D., faithfully translated from the original Irish Language, with many curious Amendments taken from the Psalters of Tara and Cashel, with other authentic Records, by Dermod O'Connor, Antiquary to the Kingdom of Ireland." Opposite to the title-page is a full-length portrait of Brian Boroomh, whose fame has been increased of late years by the achievements of his descendant in the cabbage-garden. The monarch is in full burnished plate armour, with scarf and surcoat--all three centuries at least later in fashion than the era attributed to him. But that is a trifle. It would involve much hard and useless work to make war on the anachronisms of historical portraits, and we are not to judge of historical works by their engraved decorations. Here, however, the picture is sober truth itself to what the inquiring reader finds in the typography. After the descriptive geographical introduction common in old histories, the real commencement comes upon us in this form:-- "Of the first invasion of Ireland before the Flood!" "Various," the author tells us, "are the opinions concerning the first mortal that set a foot upon this island. We are told by some that three of the daughters of Cain arrived here, several hundred years before the Deluge. The white book, which in the Irish is called Leabhar Dhroma Sneachta, informs us that the oldest of these daughters was called Banba, and gave a name to the whole kingdom. After these, we are told that three men and fifty women arrived in the island; one of them was called Ladhra, from whom was derived the name of Ardladhan. These people lived forty years in the country, and at last they all died of a certain distemper in a week's time. From their death, it is said that the island was uninhabited for the space of an hundred years, till the world was drowned. We are told that the first who set foot upon the island were three fishermen that were driven thither by a storm from the coast of Spain. They were pleased with the discovery they had made, and resolved to settle in the country; but they agreed first to go back for their wives, and in their return were unfortunately drowned by the waters of the Deluge at a place called Tuath Inbhir. The names of these three fishermen were Capa, Laighne, and Luasat. Others, again, are of opinion that Ceasar, the daughter of Bith, was the first that came into the island before the Deluge.... When Noah was building the ark to preserve himself and his family from the Deluge, Bith, the father of Ceasar, sent to desire an apartment for him and his daughter, to save them from the approaching danger. Noah, having no authority from Heaven to receive them into the ark, denied his request. Upon this repulse, Bith Fiontan, the husband of Ceasar, and Ladhra her brother, consulted among themselves what measures they should take in this extremity." The result was, that, like the Laird of Macnab, they "built a boat o' their ain," but on a much larger scale, being a fair match with the ark itself. But justice should be done to every one. The learned Dr Keating does not give us all this as veritable history; on the contrary, being of a sceptical turn of mind, he has courage enough to stem the national prejudice, and throw doubt on the narrative. He even rises up into something like eloquent scorn when he discusses the manner in which some antediluvian annals were said to be preserved. Thus:-- "As for such of them who say that Fiontan was drowned in the Flood, and afterwards came to life, and lived to publish the antediluvian history of the island--what can they propose by such chimerical relations, but to amuse the ignorant with strange and romantic tales, to corrupt and perplex the original annals, and to raise a jealousy that no manner of credit is to be given to the true and authentic chronicles of that kingdom?" I shall quote no more until after the doctor, having exhausted his sceptical ingenuity about the antediluvian stories, finds himself again on firm ground, prepared to afford his readers, without any critical misgivings, "an account of the first inhabitants of Ireland after the Flood." He now tells us with simple and dignified brevity that "the kingdom of Ireland lay waste and uninhabited for the space of three hundred years after the Deluge, till Partholanus, son of Seara, son of Sru, son of Easru, son of Framant, son of Fathochda, son of Magog, son of Japhet, son of Noah, arrived there with his people." From such a patriarchal nomenclature the reader of Keating is suddenly introduced to a story of domestic scandal, in which a "footman" and a "favourite greyhound" make their frequent appearance. Then follow many great epochs--the arrival of the Firbolgs, the dynasty of the Tuatha de Danans, with revolutions and battles countless, before we come to the commencement of a settled dynasty of kings, of whom more than ninety reigned before the Christian era. It is, after all, more sad than ridiculous to remember that within the present generation many historians believed not only what Keating thus tells as truth, but also what he ventured to doubt; and if the English antiquaries, according to their wont, called for records,--did these not exist abundantly, if they could be got at, in those authentic genealogies, which were from time to time adjusted and collated with so much skill and scrupulous accuracy by the official antiquaries who met in the Hall of Tara? The reader unacquainted with such an out-of-the-way and rather weedy corner of literature, may think this vague exaggeration; and I shall finish it by quoting the latest printed, so far as I know, of the numerous solemn and methodical statements about the manner in which the records of these very distant matters were authenticated. "When the said princes got the kingdom into their hands, they assigned large territories to their antiquaries and their posterity to preserve their pedigree, exploits, actions, &c.; and so very strict they were on this point, that they established a triennial convention at Tara, where the chief kings of Ireland dwelt, where all the antiquaries of the nation met every third year to have their chronicles and antiquities examined before the king of Ireland, the four provincial kings, the king's antiquary-royal, &c.; the least forgery in the antiquary was punished with death, and loss of estate to his posterity for ever--so very exact they were in preserving their venerable monuments, and leaving them to posterity truly and candidly; so that even at this day (though our nation lost estate and all almost) there is not an ancient name of Ireland, of the blood-royal thereof descended, but we can bring, from father to father, from the present man in being to Adam--and I, Thaddy O'Roddy, who wrote this, have written all the families of the Milesian race from this present age to Adam."[80] [Footnote 80: Miscel. of Irish Arch. Soc., i. 120.] To all this preposterous, and now scarcely credible extravagance of fiction, there attaches a melancholy political moral. Poor Ireland, trodden by a dominant party whose hand was strengthened by her potent neighbour, sought relief from the gloom of the present, by looking far back into the fabulous glories of the past--and it seemed the last drop in her cup of bitterness when this pleasant vista was also to be closed by the hard utilitarian hand of the unsympathising Saxon. After "this sort of thing" it was naturally difficult to get sensible men to listen to proposals for opening valuable new sources of early history in Ireland. In fact, down to the time when Moore wrote his History in 1835, no one could venture to look another in the face when speaking of the early Irish annals, and the consequence was that that accomplished author wilfully shut his eyes to the rich supply of historical materials in which he might have worked to brilliant effect. Yet, upon the general face of history, it must on examination have been fairly seen that Ireland is the natural place where a great proportion of whatever is to be known about the primitive Church in the British Islands was to be found. Indeed, in the history of Christianity, not the least wonderful chapter contains the episode of the repose in the West, where a portion of the Church, having settled down, grew up in calm obscurity, protected by distance from the desolating contest which was breaking up the empire of the world, and raged more or less wherever the Roman sway had penetrated. Of the southern Britons it could no longer be said, as in the days of Augustus, that they were cut off from all the world. England was an integral part of the empire, where, if the proconsul or legionary commander had not the hot sun and blue sky of Italy, there were partial compensations in the bracing air which renewed his wasted strength, the new and peculiar luxuries in the shape of shellfish and wildfowl that enriched his table, and the facilities which his insular authority afforded him for strengthening his political position, and plotting for a fragment of the disintegrating empire. An admiral of the Roman fleet had at one time established his power in Britain, where he set up as Cæsar, and sought to create a new imperial centre. Thus the southern part of Britain was a province of the true Roman empire awaiting the coming of the wild hordes who were gathering for the general overthrow, and was not the place where either the Christian Church or Italian civilisation could find permanent refuge. The destined destroyer was indeed close at hand. Though the Romans had their walls, their roads, their forts, and even a few villas in Scotland, yet one going northward at that time through the territories of the Gadeni and the Otadeni, would observe the Romanised character of the country gradually decreasing, until he found himself among those rough independent northern tribes, who, under the name of Picts and Scots, drove the Romanised Britons into the sea, and did for the insular portion of the empire what the hordes who were called Goths, Franks, and Alemanni, were doing in the Roman provinces of the Continent. Behind the scene of this destructive contest, Christianity, having been planted, flourished in peaceful poverty. It grew here and there over Ireland, and in a small portion of the remote part of Scotland; and the distance from the scene of warfare necessary for its safety is shown by the fate of St Ninian's little church in the Mull of Galloway. It was too near the field of strife to live. The isolation in which the western Christians thus arose, was productive of ecclesiastical conditions very remarkable in themselves, but perfectly natural as the effects of their peculiar causes. The admirable organisation for carrying out the civil government of the Roman empire, was a ready-made hierarchy for carrying out the ecclesiastical supremacy of the Bishop of Rome. It was far from the object of those who seized on the power of the Cæsars to abolish that power. On the contrary, they desired to work it on their own account, and thus the machinery of the empire lived, exercising more or less vitality and power, down to the first French Revolution. No part of its civil organisation, however, retained the comprehensive vitality which the learning and subtlety of the priesthood enabled them to preserve, or rather restore, to its spiritual branch. Hence, wherever the conquerors of Rome held sway, there the priests of Rome obtained a sway also. But the one little fragment of the primitive Church, which had been so curiously cut off during the great contest, was beyond the sway of the conquerors of Rome, as it had been beyond the sway of the Emperors themselves. Hence, while the Church, as united to Rome, grew up in one great uniform hierarchy, the small, isolated Church in the West grew up with different usages and characteristics; and when afterwards those who followed them were charged with schism, they asserted that they had their canons and usages directly from the apostles, from whom they had obtained the Gospel and the regulations of the Church pure and undefiled. Thus arose the renowned contest between the early Scottish Church and the rest of Christendom about the proper period of observing Easter, and about the form of the tonsure. Hence, too, arose the debates about the peculiar discipline of the communities called Culdees, who, having to frame their own system of church government for themselves, humble, poor, and isolated as they were, constructed it after a different fashion from the potent hierarchy of Rome. The history of these corporations possesses extreme interest, even to those who follow it without a predetermined design to identify every feature of their arrangements with a modern English diocese, or with a modern Scottish presbytery; and not the least interesting portion of this history is its conclusion, in the final absorption, not without a struggle, of these isolated communities within the expanding hierarchy of the Popes. In a few humble architectural remains, these primitive bodies have left vestiges of their peculiar character to the present day. Neither deriving the form of their buildings nor their other observances from Rome, they failed to enter with the rest of the Church on that course of construction which led towards Gothic architecture. The earliest Christian churches on the Continent were constructed on the plan of the Roman basilica, or court of justice, and wherever the Church of Rome spread, this method of construction went with her. The oldest style of church-building--that which used to be called Saxon, and is now sometimes termed Norman, and sometimes Romanesque--degenerated directly from the architecture of Rome. There are ecclesiastical buildings in France and Italy, of which it might fairly be debated, from their style, whether they were built by the latest of the classical, or the earliest of the Gothic architects. The little Church in the West had not the benefit of such models. Places of worship, and cells, or oratories, were built of timber, turf, or osiers. The biographer of Columba describes his followers as collecting wattles for the construction of their first edifice. But they had also a few humble dwellings of stone, which, naturally enough, had no more resemblance to the proud fanes of the Romish hierarchy, than the primitive edifices of Mexico and New Zealand had to those of modern Europe. They were first found in Ireland; more lately, they have been traced in the Western Isles. They are small rude domes of rough stone; and if it may seem strange that the form adapted to the grandest of all architectural achievements should be accomplished by those rude masons who could not make a Roman arch, it must be remembered, that while the arch cannot be constructed without artificial support or scaffolding, a dome on a small scale may, and is indeed the form to which rude artists, with rude stones, and no other materials, would naturally be driven. It is that in which boys build their snow-houses. I shall not easily forget how, once, accompanying a piscatorial friend on the Loch of Curran, near Ballyskelligs, in Kerry, I stepped on a small island to visit a Norman ruin there, and saw, besides the ruin and a stone cross, one of these small rough domes, testifying, by its venerable simplicity, that it had stood there centuries before the Norman church beside it. But the peculiar characteristics of the architecture of the West did not stop short with these simple types. It advanced, carrying in its advance its own significant character, until it became mingled with the architecture propagated from Rome, as the Christian community which worshipped within the buildings became absorbed in the hierarchy. The Oratory of Galerus, in Kerry, is a piece of solid, well-conditioned masonry, built after a plan of no mean symmetry and proportion, yet with scarcely a feature in common with the early Christian churches of the rest of Europe. Like the ruder specimens, it struggles for as much solidity and spaciousness as it can obtain in stonework without the help of the arch, and it makes a good deal out of the old Egyptian plan of gradually narrowing the courses of stones inwards, until they come so near that large slabs of stone can be thrown across the opening. Some buildings of the same sort have been lately revealed in the island of Lewis: one is named Teampul Rona, and another, which is dedicated to St Flannan, Teampul Beannachadh.[81] The specialty of both these, as well as of the Irish buildings, is that they are edifices beyond all question raised for Christian worship, that they have been built with pains and skill, and yet that they have no vestige of that earlier type of Christian architecture which Europe in general obtained from Rome. [Footnote 81: See Mr Muir's very curious volume on "Characteristics of Old Church Architecture in the Mainland and Western Islands of Scotland."] In offering a few stray remarks on the lives of the saints, or, more properly speaking, the missionaries, whose labours lay in the British Isles, it would be pedantic to cite the precise document, printed generally for one or other of the book clubs, which supplies the authority for each sentence. I must, however, mention one authority which stands supreme among its brethren--the edition of Adamnan's Life of St Columba, edited by Dr Reeves, under the joint patronage of the Irish Archæological and the Bannatyne Clubs. The original work has long been accepted as throwing a light on the Christianising of the North, second only to that shed by the invaluable morsels in Bede. With wonderful industry and learning, the editor has incorporated the small book of Adamnan in a mass of new matter, every word of which is equally instructive and interesting to the student. There is no doubt that the saints of Irish origin supply by far the more important portion of our hagiology. They are countless. Taking merely a topographical estimate of them--looking, that is, to the names of places which have been dedicated to them, or otherwise bear their names--we find them crowding Ireland, and swarming over the Highlands of Scotland and the north of England into London itself, where St Bride's Well has given a gloomy perpetuity to the name of the first and greatest of Irish female saints. Some people would be content to attribute the frequentness of saintship among the Irish and the Highlanders to the opportunities enjoyed by them in consequence of the early Church having found a refuge in Ireland. Others would attribute the phenomenon to the extreme susceptibility of the Celtic race to religious enthusiasm, and would illustrate their views by referring to the present Celtic population in Ireland under the dominion of the priests, and their brethren of the West of Scotland equally under the dominion of the doctrinal antipodes of the priests; while the parallel might be illustrated by a reference to those Highland Franciscans called "The Men," whose belcher neckcloths represent the cord, and their Kilmarnock bonnets the cowl. At the commencement of Christianity the difference between the religious Celt and the religious Saxon was naturally far more conspicuous than it is now. Bede's description of the thoughtful calmness with which Ethelbert studied the preaching of Augustin, with all the consequences which the adoption of the new creed must bring upon his kingdom, is still eminently characteristic of the Saxon nature. In the life of St Wilbrord a scene is described which is not easily alluded to with due reverence. The saint had prevailed on a Frisian Prince to acknowledge Christianity, and be baptised. Standing by the font, with one foot in the water, a misgiving seized on him, and he inquired touching his ancestors, whether the greater number of them were in the regions of the blessed, or in those of the spirits doomed to everlasting perdition. On being abruptly told by the honest saint that they were all, without exception, in the latter region, he withdrew his foot--he would not desert his race--he would go to the place where he would find his dead ancestors. The conversion of the Picts by Columba seems to have proceeded deliberately. We find him, in the narrative of his life, exercising much influence on Brud their king, and occasionally enjoying a visit to the royal lodge on the pleasant banks of Lochness. There he is seen commending his friend and fellow-labourer St Cormac to the good offices of the Regulus of the Orkney Islands, who is also at the court of Brud, to whom he owes something akin to allegiance; for Columba looks to Brud as well as to the Orcadian guest for the proper attention being paid to Cormac. Still, honoured and respected as he is in the court of the Pictish monarch, Columba is not that omnipotent person which he finds himself to be in Dalriada and in Ireland. There still sits an unpleasant personage at the king's gate. A Magus, as he is called--a priest of the old heathen religion--is in fact well received at court, where, although doomed to be superseded by the Christian missionary, he yet seems to have been retained by the king, as a sort of protest that he had not put himself entirely under the control of the priests of the new doctrine. It was indeed among their own people, the Celts of Ireland and of the Irish colony in the west of Scotland, that the reign of these saints was absolute. But if we count this ecclesiastical influence a feature of the Celtic nation, either the Welsh must not be counted as Celts, or they must be looked on as exceptions from this spiritual dominion. They were the people among whom, of all the tribes who inhabited Britain between the days of Julius Cæsar and those of William of Normandy, it might have been primarily expected that we would find the most vital Christianity and the greatest missionary force. They professed to have carried with them into their mountains the traditions and the nationality of that very important portion of the Christianised Roman Empire which was called Britannia. When the heart of the Empire became paralysed, this branch, doubtless after a long harassing contest with the Picts and the Irish of the north, was broken, and partly subjected, partly driven away by the Saxons. That they should have failed, through all their revolutions and calamities, to preserve any remnants of Roman social habits, is not perhaps wonderful. But that they should have failed to preserve enough of Christian influence to second and support the missions sent to the Saxons, so soon after these had superseded the British power, looks like an exception to the usual rule of Christian progress. The Welsh antiquaries, through meritorious efforts, strive in vain to establish the existence of Welsh ecclesiarchs during the time when the countless saints of Ireland were swarming over Scotland and penetrating into England. They point to a stone said to commemorate a victory gained over the Picts and the Saxons by the Britons, not through their courage or their skill in fight, but by the Halleluiahs raised by two saints who were present in their host. These saints, however, Garmon and Lupus, were, as Bede tells us, Frenchmen, missionaries from the Gallican Church to correct the errors of the Britons. The venerable Bede scolds these Britons roundly for not having kept up the faith planted among them, and for not having been prepared to help Augustin and his followers in the very hard task of converting the Saxons. It is a pity that we do not know something more of Roman Christianity, and indeed of Roman civilisation generally in Britain, before the Saxon days. There appears to have been among the Romanised British Christians little zeal and a good deal of controversy and dissent, and we hear a great deal more of the influence of the Pelagian heresy among them than of the influence of Christianity itself. The scantiness of our acquaintance with Roman Christianity in Britain is the more to be regretted, because it would have been very interesting to compare its manifestations with those of the Church which found refuge in the West during the dark days of Rome--the days when the temporal empire was crushed, and the spiritual empire had not arisen. As we might expect from the ecclesiastical conditions already noticed, the persons who first exercise ecclesiastical authority in the two islands did not derive their strength from any foreign hierarchy, and had no connection with Rome. Any reference, indeed, to the influence of a Roman pontiff, either actual or prospective, in the life of any of our early saints, will prepare the critic for finding that the life has been written centuries after the era of the saint, or has been tampered with. In Adamnan's Life of Columba, Rome is mentioned once or twice as a very great city, but there is no allusion throughout that remarkable biography to any spiritual central authority exercised by the bishop there over the presbyters in Scotland and Ireland. This is, of course, nothing more than the statement of what the reader of a book has not found in it. Any other reader may find allusions to the supremacy of the popedom over these early Christian communities, if he can. But I think he is likely to find none; and any one who desires to study the real history of the rise and progress of the spiritual dominion of Rome would, with more profit, take up the books and records referring to events three or four hundred years after the age of Columba. Self-sustained as they were, these isolated communities had a very strong vitality. The picture exhibited in the hagiographies is truly the reign of the saints. Their power was of an immediate, abrupt, and purely despotic kind, which would have been neutralised or weakened by anything like a central control. Prompt and blind obedience to the commands of the saint-superior was the rule of Hy or Iona, and of all the other religious communities of the West. Perhaps there were even here feuds, disputes, and mutinies of which no record has been preserved. The hagiographer can only commemorate those which were suppressed by some terrible manifestation of Divine power, for the person whose life he commemorates is only conventionally and nominally to be spoken of as a mortal; he is in reality superhuman, wielding, whenever he pleases, the thunderbolts of the Deity, annihilating dissent and disobedience to himself, as if it were blasphemy in the Deity's own presence, and crushing by an immediate miracle any effort to oppose his will, were it even about the proper hour of setting off on a journey, or the dinner to be ordered for the day. The rank which those primitive clergy of Ireland and the Highlands occupy is almost invariably that of the saint, a rank as far separated from that which can be conferred by any human hierarchy as heaven is from earth. They were, as we have seen, independent of Rome from the beginning, and this great host of saints had lived and left their biographies to the world long before the system of judicial canonisation. How a boundary is professed to be drawn between the genuine and the false among these saints of the North, cannot be easily understood. No one seems to object to any of them as spurious. Many of them are so very obscure that only faint and fragmentary traces of them can be found, yet it seems never to be questioned that they occupied the transcendent spiritual rank usually attributed to them. Of others nothing is known but the bare name, yet it is never doubted that the owner was entitled to his attribute of saint. The brethren at Iona seem sometimes to have lived well, for we hear of the killing of heifers and oxen. A pragmatical fellow declines to participate in the meal permitted on the occasion of a relaxation of discipline--the saint tells him that since he refuses good meat at a time when he is permitted to have it, it is to be his doom to be one of a band of robbers who will be glad to appease their hunger on putrid horse-flesh. The ruling spirit, however, of this first Christian mission, as we find it recorded, is undoubtedly asceticism. The mortification of the flesh is the temporal source of spiritual power. Some incidents occur which put this spirit in a shape bordering on the ludicrous. A saint is at a loss to know how his power is waning. There is some mysterious countervailing influence acting against him, which manifests itself in the continued success of an irreverent king or chief, whom he thought he had taken the proper spiritual methods to humble. He at last discovers the mystery; the king had been _fasting_ against him--entering the field of asceticism with him, in short, and not without success. The biography of an Asiatic despot, so far as other persons are concerned, is merely the history of his commands and their obedience. It is only incidentally, therefore, that one is likely to acquire any information from it about the people over whom he rules. In like manner, the life of an Irish saint is the history of commanding and obeying; yet a few glimpses of social life may be caught through occasional chinks. The relation which the spiritual held towards the temporal powers is sufficiently developed to give ground for considerable inquiry and criticism. The more eminent of the saints had great influence in state affairs, ruling in some measure the monarchs themselves. Some monarch is occasionally mentioned as the friend of Columba, much as a bishop might allude to this or that lay lord as among his personal friends. We find him settling the succession of Aidan, the king of the Dalriadic Scots, through an influence to which any opposition was utterly hopeless. Send your sons to me, he says to Aidan, and God will show me who is to be your successor. The sign falls on Eochoid Buidh, and the saint tells the king that all his other sons will come to a premature end, and they drop off accordingly, chiefly in battle. This power of fixing the evil eye, of prophesying death, is found in perpetual use among the early saints. It is their ultimate appeal in strife and contest, and their instrument of vengeance when thwarted or affronted; and a terrible instrument it must have been. Who could gainsay those believed to hold in their hands the issues of life and death? In our conception of the kings with whom these saints were familiar, it may be well not to be misled by words. We shall realise them better at the present day by looking to Madagascar or the Marquesas Islands than among the states of Europe. The palace was a shanty of log or wattle, protected, perhaps, by a rampart of earth or uncemented stones, and the king had a stone chair with a few mystic decorations scratched on it, which served for his throne on state occasions. The prospect of acquiring a gold torque or a silver drinking-cup would have a material influence over his imperial policy. Were we to believe the fabulous historians, Ireland was for centuries a compact kingdom under one imperial sovereign, who presided over subsidiary rulers in the provinces. But although sometimes one provincial king was powerful enough to keep the others in subjection, old Celtic Ireland never was a kingdom, properly speaking, for it never had a nationality. Some people maintain, not without reason, that the facility with which a nationality resolves itself into existence depends much, not only on race, but on geological conditions. The Celtic Irish seem to have always been too busy with local feuds and rivalries to achieve any broad nationality. And the nature of their country--a vast plain intersected by morasses and rivers, and here and there edged with mountain ranges--is unfavourable to the growth of a nationality, since it presents no general centre of defence against a foreign enemy, like that great central range of mountains in Scotland, which Columba's biographers call the Dorsum Britanniæ--the Backbone of Britain. Ireland, indeed, seems to have had no conception of a nationality until such a thing was suggested by the Normans and the Saxons, after they had been long enough there to feel patriotic. And so it has generally happened that any alarming outbreaks against the imperial government have been led by people of Norman or Saxon descent. Still there is no doubt, difficult as it may be to realise the idea, that at the times with which we are dealing, Ireland enjoyed a kind of civilisation, which enabled its princes and its priests to look down on Pictland, and even on Saxon England, as barbarian. The Roman dominion had not penetrated among them, but the very remoteness which kept the island beyond the boundaries of the Empire, also kept it beyond the range of the destroyers of the Empire, and made it in reality the repository of the vestiges of imperial civilisation in the north. Perhaps the difference between the two grades of civilisation might be about the same as we could have found ten years ago between Tahiti and New Zealand. An extensive and minute genealogical ramification, when it is authentic, is a condition of a pretty far advanced state of civilisation. Abandoning the old fabulous genealogies which went back among the Biblical patriarchs, the rigid antiquaries of Ireland find their way through authentic sources to genealogical connections of a truly marvellous extent. Such illustrious men as the saints can, of course, be easily traced, as all were proud to establish connection with them; while Columba himself and several others were men of royal descent. But of the casual persons mentioned in the Life of Columba, Dr Reeves hunts out the genealogy--fully as successfully, one would say, as that of any person of the country-gentleman class in Britain, living at the beginning of this century, could be established. There are, indeed, many characteristics in the hagiologic literature bearing an analogy to modern social habits so close as to be almost ludicrous; and it is not easy to deal with these conditions of a very distant age, brought to us as they are through the vehicle of a language which is neither classical nor vernacular, but conventional--the corrupt Latin in which the biographers of the saints found it convenient to write. It would appear that when he was in Ireland, St Columba kept his carriage, and the loss of the lynch-pin on one occasion is connected with a notable miracle. Dr Reeves, as appropriate to this, remarks that "the memoirs of St Patrick in the Book of Armagh make frequent mention of his chariot, and even name his driver." It is difficult to suppose such a vehicle ever becoming available in Iona; but there Columba seems to have been provided with abundance of vessels, and he could send for a friend, in the way in which MacGillicallum's "carriage," in the form of a boat, was sent for Johnson and Boswell. There are many other things in these books which have a sound more familiar to us than any sense which they really convey. Here the saint blesses the store of a "homo plebeius cum uxore et filiis"--a poor man with a wife and family--a term expressively known in this day among all who have to deal with the condition of their fellow-men, from the chancellor of the exchequer to the relieving-officer. In the same chapter we are told "de quodam viro divite tenacissimo"--of a very hard-fisted rich fellow--a term thoroughly significant in civilised times. He is doomed, by the way, to become bankrupt, and fall into such poverty that his offspring will be found dead in a ditch--a fate also intelligible in the nineteenth century. In another place we have among the saint's suitors "plebeius pauperrimus, qui in ea habitabat regione quæ Stagni litoribus Aporici est contermina." The "Stagnum Aporicum" is Lochaber; so here we have a pauper from the neighbourhood of Lochaber--a designation which I take to be familiarly known at "the Board of Supervision for the Relief of the Poor in Scotland." We are told, too, of the saint being at a plebeian feast, and of a plebeius in the island of Raghery quarrelling with his wife. The thoughtful student will find a more distinguished analogy with the habits of later civilisation in the literature of these early churchmen. The subject of the introduction of letters into Ireland, and the very early literature of that country, is too large to be handled here. It is certain that in Columba's era, the middle of the sixth century, books were written and used in Ireland. The respect paid to a book in that age was something beyond that of the most ardent book-hunter. Many of the most exciting of the saintly miracles have for their end the preservation of a book in fire or in water. The custody of the Book of Armagh, containing St Patrick's canons, was a great hereditary office; and the princely munificence which provided the book with a suitable case or shrine in the tenth century is recorded in Irish history. Besides their costly shrines already referred to, these books often had for an outer covering a bag or satchel, in which the sacred deposit was carried from place to place. The heart must be dead to all natural sensations that does not sympathise with Dr Reeves in the following triumphant announcement:-- "Of leather cases the cover of the Book of Armagh is the most interesting example now remaining. It came, together with its inestimable enclosure, into the writer's possession at the end of 1853, and is now lying before him. It is formed of a single piece of strong leather, 36 inches long and 12 broad, folded in such a way as to form a six-sided case 12 inches long, 12-3/4 broad, and 2-3/4 thick, having a flap which doubles over in front, and is furnished with a rude lock and eight staples, admitted through perforations in the flap, for short iron rods to enter and meet at the lock. The whole outer surface, which has become perfectly black from age, is covered with figures and interlacings of the Irish pattern in relief, which appear to have been produced by subjecting the leather, in a damp state, before it was folded, to pressure upon a block of the whole size, having a depressed pattern, and allowing it to remain until the impression became indelible." A pleasing peculiarity in the personal habits of these recluses is their frequent communion with birds and the gentler kind of beasts. Their legendary histories speak of these animals as apt mediums of vaticination and miraculous intervention; but we must be content, in the present age, to suppose that their frequent appearance, their familiar intercourse with the saints, and the quaint and amiable incidents in which they figure, are in reality characteristic memorials of the kindly feelings and the innocent pursuits natural to men of gentle disposition and retired life. Thus Columba one day gives directions to a brother to be on the watch at a certain point in the island of Iona, for there, by nine o'clock on that day, a certain stranger stork will alight and drop down, utterly fatigued with her journey across the ocean. That stork the brother is enjoined to take up gently, and convey to the nearest house, and feed and tend for three days, after which she will take wing and fly away to the sweet spot of her native Ireland, whence she had wandered. And this the brother is to do because the bird is a guest from their own beloved native land. The brother departs, and returns at the proper time. Columba asks no questions--he knows what has taken place, and commends the obedient piety of the brother who had sheltered and tended the wanderer. Another saint, Ailbhe, had a different kind of intercourse with certain cranes. They went about in a large body, destroying the corn in the neighbourhood, and would not be dispersed. The saint went and delivered on oration to them on the unreasonableness of their conduct, and forthwith, penitent and somewhat ashamed, they soared into the air and went their way. "St Cuthbert's ducks" acquired a long celebrity. When that reverenced ascetic went to take up his residence in the wave-bounded solitude of the Farne Islands, he found the solan-geese there imbued with the wild habits common to their storm-nurtured race, and totally unconscious of the civilisation and refinement of their kinsmen who graze on commons, and hiss at children and dogs. St Cuthbert tamed them through his miraculous powers, and made them as obedient and docile a flock as abbot ever ruled. The geese went before him in regular platoons, following the word of command, and doing what he ordered--whether it might be the most ordinary act of the feathered biped, or some mighty miracle. Under his successors their conduct seems to have been less regular, though certainly not less peculiar; for we are told that they built their nests on the altar, and around the altar, and in all the houses of the island; farther, that, during the celebration of mass, they familiarly pecked the officiating priest and his assistants with their bills. It is curious enough that the miraculous education of these birds makes its appearance in a Scottish legal or official document at the close of the fifteenth century. It is an instrument recording an attestation to the enormous value of the down of these renowned birds; and seems, indeed, to be an advertisement or puff by merchants dealing in the ware, though its ponderous Latinity is in curious contrast with the neat examples of that kind of literature to which we are accustomed in these days.[82] [Footnote 82: "Instrumentum super Aucis Sancti Cuthberti."--Spalding Club.] One of the prettiest of the stories about birds is divided between St Serf, the founder of a monastery in Loch Leven, and St Kentigern, the patron of Glasgow, where he is better known as St Mungo. Kentigern was one among a parcel of neophyte boys whom the worthy old Serf, or Servanus, was perfecting in the knowledge of the truth. Their teacher had a feathered pet--"quædam avicula quæ vulgo ob ruborem corpusculi rubisca nuncupatur"--a robin-redbreast, in fact, an animal whose good fortune it is never to be mentioned without some kindly reference to his universal popularity, and the decoration which renders him so easily recognised wherever he appears. St Serf's robin was a wonderful bird; he not only took food from his master's hand and pecked about him according to the fashion of tame and familiar birds, but took a lively interest in his devotions and studies by flapping his wings and crowing in his own little way, so as to be a sort of chorus to the acts of the saint. The old man enjoyed this extremely; and his biographer, with more geniality than hagiographers usually show, sympathises with this innocent recreation, applying the example of the bow that was not always bent, in a manner suggestive of suspicions that he was not entirely unacquainted with profane letters. One day, when the saint had retired to his devotions, the boys amused themselves with his little pet; and a struggle arising among them for its possession, the head was torn from the body--altogether a natural incident. Thereupon, says the narrator, fear was turned to grief, and the avenging birch--"plagas virgarum quæ puerorum gravissima tormenta esse solent"--arose terribly in their sight. It was at this moment that an unpopular pupil, named Kentigern--a new boy, apparently--a stranger who had not taken in good-fellowship to the rest of the school, but was addicted to solitary meditation, entered the guilty conclave. Their course was taken--they threw the fragments of the bird into his hands, and bolted. St Serf enters, and the crew are awaiting in guilty exultation the bursting of his wrath. The consecrated youth, however, fitting the severed parts to each other, signs the cross, raises his pure hands to heaven, and breathes an appropriate prayer--when lo! robin lifts his little head, expands his wings, and hops away to meet his master. In the eucharistic office of St Kentigern's day, this event, along with the restoration to life of a meritorious cook, and other miracles, inspired a canticle which, for long subsequent ages, was exultingly sung by the choristers in the saint's own cathedral of Glasgow, thus:-- "Garrit ales pernecatus. Cocus est resuscitatus. Salit vervex trucidatus Amputato capite." A bird proper, on the shield argent of the city of Glasgow, has been identified with the resuscitated pet of the patron saint. The tree on which it is there perched is a commemoration of another of the saint's miracles. In a time of frost and snow his enemies had extinguished his fire; but immediately drawing on the miraculous resources ever at the command of his class on such emergencies, he breathed fire into a frozen branch from the forest; and it was centuries afterwards attested that the green branches of that forest made excellent firewood. Another element in the blazon of the Venice of the west is a fish, laid across the stem of the tree, "in base," as the heralds say, but not, as generally depicted, conformable either to their science or that of the ichthyologist. This fish holds in its mouth something like a dish--in reality a ring--and thus commemorates a miraculous feat of the same saint, which has found its way into the romances of the juvenile portion of the reading public, where it is a standard nuisance. Queen Cadyow, whose conduct was of such a character that it is wonderful how any respectable saint could have prevailed on himself to serve her, gives her bridal ring to a paramour. Her husband lures the rival away to the bank of the Clyde, to sleep after the fatigues of the chase, and there, furtively removing the ring, pitches it into the river. The reader knows the result by instinct. St Kentigern, appealed to, directs the first salmon that can be caught in the Clyde to be opened, and there, of course, is the ring in the stomach. This miracle is as common in the "Acta Sanctorum" as in the juvenile romances. It served St Nathalan in such a manner as to preclude the supposition that the saint had invoked it on the occasion. He locked himself into iron chains, and threw their key into the river Dee, in order that he might be unable to open the fetterlock before he had made a pilgrimage to the tombs of St Peter and St Paul; but the water did its duty, and restored the key in the stomach of a fish. We have naturally many fishing anecdotes connected with the northern saints. Columba is described as out a-fishing one day with a parcel of his disciples, who are characterised as "strenui piscatores," a term which would be highly applicable to many a Waltonian of the present day. The saint, desirous of affording them a pleasant surprise, directs them to cast their net where a wonderful fish was prepared for them; and they drag out an "esox" (whatever that may mean) of wonderful size. Some of the inhabitants of the deep familiar to these saints were animals of a formidable kind. Columba and a band of his disciples are going to cross the river Ness, when they meet those who bear on their shoulders the body of one who, endeavouring to swim across the same river, had been bitten to death by a monster of the deep. The saint, in the face of this gloomy procession, requires that one of his disciples shall swim across the Ness, and bring over a boat which is on the other side. A disciple named Mocumin, whom the saint had miraculously cured of a bleeding of the nose, confident in the protecting power of his master, pulls off all his clothes save his tunica (whatever that may be--coat, kilt, or leathern shirt), and takes to the water. The monster, who is reposing deep down in the stillness of the profoundest pool, hears the stir of the water above, and is seen to rise with a splash on the surface, and make with distended jaws for the swimmer. The saint, of course, orders the beast back just at the moment when all seemed over, and is instantly obeyed. The characteristics of the monster could not be more closely identical with those of the crocodile or alligator, had the incident been narrated in Egypt or America. Adventures with such monsters in our northern waters supply many of the triumphs attributed to the saints. St Colman of Drumore actually extracted a young girl alive from the stomach of an "aquetalis bestia." She had been swallowed while standing on the edge of a lake, "camisiam suam lavantem"--washing her chemise, poor simple soul. St Molua saw a monster, of the size of a large boat, in pursuit of two boys swimming unconscious of danger in a lake in the county of Monaghan. He showed good worldly sense and presence of mind on the occasion; for, instead of alarming them with an announcement of their perilous condition, he called out to them to try a race and see which would reach the bank first. The beast, balked of his prey, took in good part an admonition by the saint, and returned no more to frighten boys. From fishes and aquatic monsters the law of association naturally leads us to the waters themselves. There are throughout the United Kingdom multitudes of wells, still bearing the names of the saints to whom they were dedicated. The legends of miracles performed by their waters, through the intercession of their special saints, are countless. It is, perhaps, because cures effected by the use of waters may be accounted for otherwise than by supernatural intervention, that modern writers of the old faith speak with less reserve of the miracles at fountains than of the others they have to record, and even bring them down to modern times. Many of them may be found recorded in his usual slipshod manner in the amiable pages of Butler--as, for instance, in the life of St Winfrid (November 3), where we are told how "Roger Whetstone, a Quaker, near Bromsgrove, by bathing at Holywell, was cured of an inveterate lameness and palsy by which he was converted to the Catholic faith." Some of the old saints' wells, remote from cities and advanced opinions, are still haunted by people who believe them to be endowed with supernatural healing virtues. It is in Romish Ireland, of course, that this belief has its most legitimate seat; but even in the most orthodoxly-Presbyterian districts of Scotland, a lingering dubious trust in the healing virtues of sanctified fountains has given much perplexity to the clergy. Some of these fountains are in caverns, and if in any one of these the well falls into a rude-hewn basin like a font, we may be sure that a hermit frequented the cave, and that it was the place of worship of early converts. Such a cave was the hiding-place, after the '45, of the worthy single-minded Lord Pitsligo, no bad prototype of the Baron of Bradwardine. It is entered by a small orifice like a fox's hole, in the face of the rugged cliffs which front the German Ocean near Trouphead. Gradually it rises to a noble arched cavern, at the end of which is the font cut into the stone, where it would catch the outpourings of a small spring. When I saw it long years ago, it was filled with clear living water, which, save when it had been the frugal drink of the poor Jacobite refugee, had probably been scarcely disturbed since the early day when heathen men and women went thither to throw off their idolatry and enter the pale of Christendom. The unnoticeable smallness of many of these consecrated wells makes their very reminiscence and still semi-sacred character all the more remarkable. The stranger in Ireland or the Highlands of Scotland hears rumours of a distinguished well miles on miles off. He thinks he will find an ancient edifice over it, or some other conspicuous adjunct. Nothing of the kind--he has been lured all that distance over rock and bog to see a tiny spring bubbling out of the rock, such as he may see hundreds of in a tolerable walk any day. Yet, if he search in old topographical authorities, he will find that the little well has ever been an important feature of the district--that, century after century, it has been unforgotten; and, with diligence, he may perhaps trace it to some incident in the life of the saint, dead more than 1200 years ago, whose name it bears. Highlanders still make pilgrimages to drink the waters of such fountains, which they judiciously mix with the other aqua to which they are attached. They sometimes mimic the spirit of the old pilgrimage, by leaving behind them an offering at the fountain. I have seen such offerings by the brink of remote Highland springs, as well as in Ireland. The market value of them would not afford an alarming estimate of the intensity of the superstition still lingering in this form in the land. The logic of the depositors probably suggests, that the spiritual guardians of the fountain, though amenable to flattery and propitiation by gift, are not really well informed about the market value of worldly chattels, and are easily put off with rubbish. A historical inquiry into the worship or consecration of wells and other waters would be interesting. In countries near the tropics, where sandy deserts prevail, a well must ever have been a thing of momentous importance; and we find among the tribes of Israel the digging down a well spoken of as the climax of reckless, heartless, and awful destructiveness. To find, however, how in watery Ireland and Scotland a mere dribblet of the element so generally abounding should have been an object of veneration for centuries, we must look to something beyond physical wants and their supply. The principal cause of the sanctification of springs must, of course, be explained by the first of Christian ordinances. The spring close by the dwelling or cell of the saint--the spring on account of which he probably selected the centre of his mission--had not only washed the forefathers of the district from the stain of primeval heathenism, but had applied the visible sign by which all, from generation to generation, had been admitted into the bosom of the Church. This might seem to afford a cause sufficient in itself for the effect, yet it appears to have been aided by other causes more recondite and mysterious. Notwithstanding all the trash talked about Druids and other persons of this kind, we know extremely little of the heathenism of the British Isles. The little that we do know is learned from the meagre notices which the biographers of the saints have furnished of that which the saints superseded. It is not their function to commemorate the abominations of heathenism; they would rather bury it in eternal oblivion--_premat nox alta_--but they cannot entirely tell the triumphs of their spiritual heroes without some reference, however faint, to the conquered enemies. The earliest recorded conflicts between the new and the old creed are connected with fountains. In one page of the Life of Columba we find the saint, on a child being brought to him for baptism, in a desert place where no water was, striking the rock like Moses, and drawing forth a rill, which remained in perennial existence--a fountain surrounded by a special sanctity. In the next page he deals with a well in the hands of the Magi. They had put a demon of theirs into it to such effect, that any unfortunate person washing himself in the well or drinking of its water, was forthwith stricken with paralysis, or leprosy, or blindness of an eye, or some other corporeal calamity. The malignant powers with which they had inspired this formidable well spread far around the fear of the Magi, and consequently their influence. But the Christian missionaries were to show a power of a different kind--a power of beneficence, excelling and destroying the power of malignity. The process adopted is fully described. The saint, after a suitable invocation, washed his hands and feet in the water, and then drank of it with his disciples. The Magi looked on with a malignant smile to see the accursed well produce its usual effect; but the saint and his followers came away uninjured: the demon was driven out of the well, and it became ever afterwards a holy fountain, curing many of their infirmities. Another miracle, bearing against the Magi, introduces us to one of their number by name, and gives a little of his domestic history. His name is Broichan, and he is tutor to Brud, king of the Picts, with whom he dwells on the banks of the Ness. It might have relieved the mind of the historical inquirer to be told that Brud built for himself the remarkable vitrified fort of Craig-Phadric, which rises high above the Ness, and to be informed of the manner in which its calcined rampart was constructed; but nothing is said on the subject, and Craig-Phadric stands on its own isolated merits, still to be guessed at, without one tangible word out of record or history to help any theory about its object or construction home to a conclusion. One is free, however, to imagine Brud, the heathen king of the Picts, living on the scarped top of the hill, in a lodging of wattled or wooden houses, surrounded by a rampart of stones fused by fire, as the only cement then known. Such we may suppose to have been the "domus regia," whence the saint walked out in a very bad humour to the river Ness, from the pebbles of which he selected one white stone, to be turned to an important use. Broichan, the Magus, had in his possession a female slave from Ireland. Columba, who seems to have held with him such intercourse as a missionary to the Chocktaws might have with a great medicine-man, desired that the Magus should manumit the woman, for what reason we are not distinctly told; but it is easy to suppose strong grounds for intervention when a Christian missionary finds a woman, of his own country and creed, the slave of a heathen priest. Columba's request was refused. Losing patience, he had resort to threats; and at length, driven to his ultimatum, he denounced death to Broichan if the slave were not released before his own return to Ireland. Columba told his disciples to expect two messengers to come from the king to tell of the sudden and critical illness of Broichan. The messengers rushed in immediately after to claim the saint's intervention. Broichan had been suddenly stricken by an angel sent for the purpose; and as if he had been taking his dram in a modern gin-palace, we are told that the drinking-glass, or glass drinking-vessel, "vitrea bibera," which he was conveying to his lips, was smashed in pieces, and he himself seized with deadly sickness. Columba sends the consecrated pebble, with a prescription that the water in which it is dipped is to be drunk. If, before he drinks, Broichan releases his slave, he is to recover; if not, he dies. The Magus complies, and is saved. The consecrated stone, which had the quality of floating in water like a nut, was afterwards, as we are told, preserved in the treasury of the king of the Picts. It has been lost to the world, along with the saint's white robe and his consecrated banner, both of which performed miracles after his death. But the sanitary influence attributed to the water in which consecrated stones have been dipped, is a superstition scarcely yet uprooted in Scotland. Sermons in Stones. One of the clubs has lately deviated from the printing of letterpress, which is the established function of clubs, into pictorial art. As it threatens to repeat the act on a larger scale, it is proposed to take a glance at the result already afforded, in order that it may be seen whether it is a failure, or a success opening up a new vein for club enterprise. In distributing a set of pictorial prints among its members, the club in question may be supposed to have invaded the art-unions: but its course is in another direction, since its pictures are entirely subservient to archæology. The innovator in question is the Spalding Club, which has already distributed among its adherents a collection of portraits of the sculptured stones in Scotland, and now proposes to do the same by the early architectural remains of the north. In giving effect to such a design, it will produce something like Dugdale's Monasticon and the great English county histories. If that which is to be done shall rival that which the club has achieved, it will be worthy of all honour. No one can open the book of The Sculptured Stones without being almost overwhelmed with astonishment at the reflection that they are not monuments excavated in Egypt, or Syria, or Mexico, but have stood before the light of day in village churchyards, or in marketplaces, or by waysides throughout our own country. As you pass on, the eye becomes almost tired with the endless succession of grim and ghastly human figures--of distorted limbs--of preternatural beasts, birds, and fishes--of dragons, centaurs, and intertwined snakes--of uncouth vehicles, and warlike instruments, and mystic-looking symbols--of chains of interlaced knots and complex zigzags, all so crowding on each other that the tired eye feels as if it had run through a procession of Temptations of St Anthony or Faust Sabbaths. When this field of investigation and speculation is surveyed in all its affluence, one is not surprised to find that it has been taken in hand by a race of bold guessers, who, by the skilful appliance of a jingling jargon of Asiatic, Celtic, and classical phraseology, make nonsense sound like learning too deep to be fathomed. So, while Rusticus will point out to you "the auld-fashioned standin' stane"--on which he tells you that there are plain to be seen a cocked hat, a pair of spectacles, a comb, a looking-glass, a sow with a long snout, and a man driving a gig,--Mr Urban will describe to you "a hieroglyphed monolith" in the terms following:-- "The Buddhist triad is conspicuously symbolised by what the peasantry call a pair of spectacles. It consists of two circles, of which the one, having its radius 1-3/4 inch wider than the other, is evidently Buddha, the spiritual or divine intellectual essence of the world, or the efficient underived source of all; the other is Dharma, the material essence of the world--the plastic derivative cause. The ligamen connecting them together, completes the sacred triad with the Sangha derived from and composed of the two others. Here, therefore, is symbolised the collective energy of spirit and matter in the state of action, or the embryotic creation, the type and sum of all specific forms, spontaneously evolved from the union of Buddha and Dharma. The crescent, likened by the vulgar-minded peasantry to a cocked hat, is the embodiment of the all-pervading celestial influence; and the decorated sceptres or sacred wands of office, laid across it at the mystic angle of forty-five degrees, represent the comprehensive discipline and cosmopolite authority of the conquering Sarsaswete. The figure of the elephant--undoubted evidence of the oriental origin of this monoglyph--represents the embryo of organised matter; while in the chariot of the sun the never-dying Inis na Bhfiodhlhadth threads the sacred labyrinth, waving a branch of the Mimosa serisha, which has been dipped in a sacred river, and dried beneath the influence of Osiris. The figures called a comb and a looking-glass are the lingal emblems of the sacred Phallic worship. The whole hierograph thus combines, in an extremely simple and instructive unity, the symbolisation of Apis, Osiris, Uphon, and Isis, Phallos, Pater Æther, and Mater Terra, Lingam and Yoni, Vishnu, Brama, and Sarsaswete, with their Saktes, Yang and Yiri, Padwadevi, Viltzli-pultzli, Baal, Dhanandarah, Sulivahna and Mumbo Jumbo." The honest transcripts in the club book clear away a great deal of that unknown which is so convertible into the magnificent. It was extremely perplexing to understand that the elephant was profusely represented upon memorials familiar to the eyes of the inhabitants of Scotland, at a period, if we might credit some theories, anterior to the time when Roman soldiers were appalled in the Punic war by the sudden apparition of unknown animals of monstrous size and preternatural strength. The whole flood of oriental theory was let loose by this evidence of familiarity with the usages of Hindostan. But it is pretty evident, when we inspect him closely, that the animal, though a strange beast of some peculiar conventional type, is no elephant. That spiral winding-up of his snout, which passed for a trunk, is a characteristic refuge of embryo art, repeated upon other parts of the animal. It is necessitated by the difficulty which a primitive artist feels in bringing out the form of an extremity, whatever it may be--snout, horn, or hoof. He finds that the easiest termination he can make is a whirl, and he makes it accordingly. Thus the noses, the tails, the feet of the characteristic monster of the sculptured stones, all end in a whirl, as the final letter of an accomplished and dashing penman ends in a flourish. The same difficulty is met in repeated instances on these stones by another ingenious resource. Animals are united or twined together by noses or tails, to enable the artist to escape the difficulty of executing the extremities of each separately. There is a propensity to believe that whatever is old must have something holy and mysterious about it. It is difficult to suppose that, in making an ornament, men who would be so venerable, were they alive now, as our ancestors of many centuries ago, can have been in the slightest degree affected by the pomps and vanities of this wicked world. Hence there is never a quaint Gothic decoration, floral or animal, but it must be symbolic of some great mystery. So the reticulated and geometrical tracery on the sculptured stones has been invested with mythic attributes, under such names as "the Runic Knot." It has been counted symbolical of a mysterious worship or creed, and has been associated with Druids and other respectable, but not very palpable, personages.[83] [Footnote 83: It would not be difficult to trace a resemblance between some of the exceedingly elaborate sculpture of the New Zealanders and that of the sculptured stones, especially in the instance of the very handsome country-house of the chief Rangihaetita, represented in Mr Angas's New Zealanders Illustrated. Its name, by the way, in the native Maori, is Kai Tangata, or Eat-man House--so called, doubtless, in commemoration of the many jolly feasts held in it, on missionaries and others coming within Wordsworth's description of "A being not too wise and good For human nature's daily food."] Good theories are such a rarity in the antiquarian world, that it is a luxury to find one which, in reference to this sort of decoration, merits that character. The buildings, both ecclesiastical and civil, of the early Christians of the North were, as we have seen, made of wattles or wicker-ware. The skill, therefore, of the architectural decorator took the direction of the variations in basket-work. We know that in the Gothic age those forms which were found the most endurable and graceful in which stone could be placed upon stone, became also the ruling forms which guided the carver and the painter; so that all wood-work, metal-work, seal-cutting, illumination of books, and the like, repeated the ornaments of Gothic architecture. It would only, then, be a prototype of an established phenomenon were it to be found that the sculptor of an earlier age adopted the decorations developed by the skillful platting of withes or wattles; and accordingly, this is just the character of the platted ornaments so prevalent on the sculptured stones.[84] But, however these may have been suggested, they show the work of the undoubted artist, and furnish, as the advertisements say, "a varied assortment of the most elegant and attractive patterns." [Footnote 84: See "An Attempt to Explain the Origin and Meaning of the Early Interlaced Ornamentation found on the Ancient Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man, by Gilbert J. French of Bolton." Privately printed.] Every one who in future attempts to unravel the mystery of these primitive sculptures must not only in gratitude but in common justice pay homage to the services of Mr John Stuart, the secretary of the Antiquaries' Society of Scotland, to whose learning and zeal he owes the collective means of examining them. It will interest many to know that Mr Stuart has been at work again, and has a second collection of transcripts, in some respects even more instructive than the first. These will show, for instance, the point of junction between the sculptures of the East and of the West, which, in their extreme special features, are widely unlike each other. In the mean time, as the reader is perhaps tired of all this talk about books, and I would fain part with him in good humour, I venture to take him on an imaginary ramble in the wilds of Argyllshire, in search of specimens of ancient native sculpture, that he may have an opportunity of noticing how much has yet to be gleaned off this stony field. So we are off together, on a fresh summer morning, along the banks of the Crinan Canal, until we reach the road which turns southward to Loch Swin and Taivalich. After ascending so far, we strike off by a scarcely discernible track, and climb upwards among the curiously broken mountains of South Knapdale. When we are high enough up we look on the other side of the first ridge, and see the brown heather dappled with tiny lakes, looking like molten silver dropped into their hollows; while far below, one of the countless branches of Loch Swin winds through a narrow inlet, among rocks cushioned to the water's edge with deep green foliage. We are not to descend to the region of lake and woodland, betrayed by this glimpse, but to keep the wilder upland; and at last, in a secluded hollow near the small tarn called Lochcolissor, we reach a deserted village--a collection of roofless stone houses, looking, if one judged from mere externals, as if they might in their early days have given shelter to Columba or Oran. In the centre of this group of domestic ruins is an affluent fountain of the clearest water. Standing over it is the object of our search--a tall, grey, profusely-lichened stone. At first it seems amorphous, as geologists say; but a closer view discloses on the one side a cross incised, on the other a network of floral decorations in relief. To trace these in their completeness, it would be necessary to accomplish the not easy task of removing the coating of lichen; and, by the way, if adepts in the cryptogamic department of botany shall succeed in finding a test of the precise age of those lichens, which they believe they have proved to be the growth of centuries, a key of the most valuable kind will be obtained for discovering the age of stone monuments.[85] [Footnote 85: Any one who desires to see the extent to which science can find employment in this arid-looking corner of organic life, may look at a "Memoir on the Spermogones and Pycnides of Filamentous, Fruticulose, and Foliaceous Lichens," by Dr William Lauder Lindsay, in the 22d volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.] Turn now in another direction. At the head of Loch Fyne, near Dunderar, the grim tower of the Macnaughtons--which, from some decorations on it, looks hugely like as if it had been built in the seventeenth century with the stones of an old church--we find a tuft of trees with a dyke round it, called Kilmorich. It is a graveyard evidently, though it may not have been recently opened; the surface is uneven, and several rough stones, which may have been placed there at any time, stick through the earth. These, after a deliberate inspection, are found to have nothing of a sculptural character. But a small piece of rounded stone appears above the grass, and a little grubbing discloses a font, faintly decorated with some primitive fluting, on which a stone-mason would look with much scorn, and a scratching of a galley, the symbol of the Argyll family, or some other of the races descended from ancient sea-kings. This gives encouragement, and a sharper glance around betrays a singular-looking rounded headstone, in which are two crescent-shaped holes. There are corresponding holes on the portion under the sod, which thus completes the rounded head of an ancient Scoto-Irish cross. The next point is to find the shaft--it lies not far off, deep in the turf. And when we take the grass and moss from its face, it discloses some extremely curious quadrilateral decorations, quite peculiar, and not in conformity with any type of form which would enable its date to be guessed at within a century or two of the reality. Passing through the rich woods of Ardkinglas, in a few miles we reach the burying-ground, called of old Kilmaglas, but now the well-kept churchyard, in which stands the modern church of Strachur. There are many who will remember the white house glimmering through the trees, and lament that memory is now all that it contains for them. Here are several curious specimens of sculpture. Some stones, not of the oldest type, have the crossed sword, symbolical alike of the warrior character of the dead and the religion of peace in which he rests. There is one with a figure in full chain-armour; and others, again, of an older date, ornamented with the geometric reticulations already discussed. Descending a few miles farther, in the small fertile delta of the Lachlan, and overshadowed almost by the old square castle of the M'Lachlans, there is a bushy enclosure which may be identified as the old burial-place of Kilmory. A large block of hewn stone, with a square hole in it, sets one in search of the cross of which it was the socket. This is found in the grass, sadly mutilated, but can be recognised by the stumps of the branches which once exfoliated into its circular head. Beside it lies a flat stone, on which a sword is surrounded by graceful floral sculpture. Let us cross over again to the valley perforated by Loch Crinan. Northward of the canal there is a remarkable alluvial district, through which, although it seems crowded with steep mountain summits, one can travel over many a mile of level turf. From this soil the hills and rocks rise with extreme abruptness, in ridges at the border of the plain, and in isolated peaks here and there throughout its flat alluvial surface. Conspicuous, in a minor degree, is a great barrow like a pyramid, with a chamber roofed with long stones in its centre. Near it is one of those circles of rough stones called Druidical, and farther on there is another, and then another; some of them tall pillars, others merely peeping above ground. They literally people the plain. This must have been a busy neighbourhood, whatever sort of work it may have been that went on around these untooled fragments of the living rock, which have so distracted our antiquaries in later centuries. If they were the means or the object of any kind of heathen worship, then the existence close beside them of the vestiges of early Christianity may be set down as an illustration of the well-known historical opinion, that the first Christian missionaries, instead of breaking the idols and reviling the superstitions of those whom they went to convert, professed to bring a new sanctity to their sacred places, and endeavoured to turn their impure faith, with the least possible violence, into the path of purity. Our next trial is at Kilmichael, about three miles from Loch Gilp. The churchyard is extremely fruitful in sculptured stones of various kinds--some floral, others geometrical, with wild beasts, monsters, and human figures. One of them was pointed out as the tomb of a member of the house of Campbell, who bore the name of Thomas, and was a great bard, and lived in London and other great cities--Thomas Campbell, in short. It seems to be true that his ancestors were buried in Kilmichael churchyard, but my informant seemed to struggle with an idea that the stone covered with the sculpture of a far-past century had been really raised to his honour. The next generation will probably assert this as a fact. The genesis of such traditions is curious. The stone called Rob Roy's tomb, which lies beside an ancient font in the churchyard of Balquhidder, is a sculptured stone raised for some one who had probably died in wealth and honour hundreds of years before Rob stole cattle. By a slight ascent westward of the alluvial plain we reach Kilmartin, a village with a large modern church. Its graveyard is graced with many sculptured stones--twenty-five may be counted, conspicuous for their rich carving and excellent preservation. On one or two of the latest in date, there are knightly figures clad in chain-mail. A local antiquary could probably trace these home to some worshipful families in the neighbourhood, but there are others beyond the infancy of the oldest authentic pedigrees. While the stones in the eastern counties are all of extremely remote antiquity, offering no link of connection with later times, these Highland specimens seem to carry their peculiarities with modified variations through several centuries into times comparatively late. There are among them stones bearing some types of extreme antiquity, and others which undoubtedly proclaim themselves as no older than the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries. It is sometimes a difficult task, in judging of antiquities, to make a sufficient allowance for the spirit of imitation. There is nothing certainly more natural than that a new tombstone should be made after the fashion of time-honoured monuments, the pride of the graveyard in which it is to be placed. In Kilmartin there are two decided imitations of the more ancient class of the western sculptured stones. Though the symbols and decorations which they bear are of ancient outline, the heavy, and at the same time accurate and workmanlike, way in which they are cut, would mark them indubitably as modern, even if the one did not bear the date of 1707, and the other of 1711. But the sun is dropping behind Ben Cruachan and the Jura hills. The time of holiday reading and holiday rambling has come to its end; and a voice calls the wanderer back to more sedate and methodical pursuits. [Illustration] [Illustration] INDEX. Aberdeen laird, an, described by his wife, 10 _et seq._ Adams, Dr Francis, an eminent Greek scholar, 264 _et seq._ Adventures of Saints, 396, 397. Advertisements, reading of, 156 _et seq._ --curious historical interest of, 160 _et seq._ Aidan and Columba, 383. Ailbhe, St, and the cranes, 390. Albania, a poem, reprinted by Leyden, 196. Alexandrian Library, destruction of, by fire, 211. Almanacs, as affording profitable reading, 155 _et seq._ Amateur book-hunters, 106 _et seq._ Ambrosian Library, the, at Milan, 198. American collections dealing with early American history, 189 _et seq._ Americans duplicating old European Libraries, 174 --in relation to art and letters, _ib._ --combating for rarities, 175 --ransacking and anatomising private collections, 178. Ancient literature, considerable amount of, lost, 324. Angelo Maï of the Vatican, 229 --recovery by him of Institute of Gaius, 326. Annotating of books a crime and a virtue, 185 _et seq._ Antiquarianism known as archæology, 3. Architecture, Church, of the early British Christians, 372. Ardsnischen, Pastor of, buying a Greek New Testament, 60. Armagh, Book of, 388 _et seq._ Assessed Taxes Department in relation to decay of libraries, 192. Astor, John Jacob, the bequest of, 174. Astorian Library, wealth of the, 176 _et seq._ Atticus as a dealer and capitalist publisher, 108 _note_. Attorneys in Norwich, in Norfolk, and in Suffolk, 141 _et seq._ Auchinleck Press, account of, 294 _et seq._ Auctioneers: Carfrae, 60 _et seq._ --Evans, 93 _et seq._ --anecdote of a Cockney auctioneer, 178. Auction-haunter different from prowler, 88 _et seq._ Authors and compositors, 77 _et seq._ Bacon commending brevity of old Scots Acts, 146. Bailiff, the, and the writ, 136 _note_. Baillet, Adrien, librarian and author of Jugemens des Savans, 230 _et seq._ Ballad fabricating, 306. Bannatyne Club, 284 _et seq._ --Scott's song for festivities of, 285. Barclay, Colonel, a Quaker, anecdote of, 9 _note_. Bargain hunters and their leanings, 162. Baskerville, the Birmingham printer, inaccuracy of, 67. Bede on the Saints, 379. Bentham, words in one sentence of an Act of Parliament counted by, 144. Bethune, Rev. Dr, Waltonian Library of, 87 _et seq._ Bible, inaccurate editions of, 67 _et seq._ --old editions comparatively numerous, 218. Bibliognoste, definition of, 5 _note_. Bibliographe, definition of, 5 _note_. Bibliographers, function of, a cruel one, 237 _et seq._ --victimising each other, 242. Bibliographical Decameron, various quotations from, 93, 294 _et seq._ Bibliographies, 233 _et seq._ --on special subjects, 235 --those devoted to the best books, 239. Bibliomane, definition of, 5. Bibliomania a disease, 13. "Bibliomania," Dibdin's, quotations from, 18 --Ferriar's, quotation from, 86, 87 _note_. Bibliophile, definition of, 5. Bibliotaphe, definition of, 5. _Bibliothèque bleue_, anecdote connected with the, 50. Bibliuguiancie discussed by Peignot, 220. "Bill-books" of compositors, 79 _et seq._ Binders, famous, 28. Bindings, "Inchrule" Brewer's love of, 28 --bindings as relics, 30. Boccaccio, _editio princeps_ of, 91 --cause of its extreme rarity, 92 --sold at the Roxburghe Library sale, 94 _et seq._ Bodleian Library, origin of, 198. Bohemian of literature, 108 _et seq._ Bohun, Edmond, a Jacobite and last English licenser, 208. Bollandus, his great work on the Saints, 355 _et seq._ --the persistent labours of his successors, 356. Book-caterers, 20 _et seq._ Book-clubs, 243 _et seq._ --their structure, 251 --advantages of, 255 _et seq._ --confining their attention to books of non-members, 257 --the Sydenham Club, 265 --the Roxburghe Club, _ib. et seq._, &c. --their gradual growth, 266 _et seq._ --Dibdin's description of the origin of the Roxburghe Club, 267 --their secrecy, 271 --the Bannatyne Club, 284 _et seq._ --book-club men, _ib. et seq._ --character of their editors, 307, 315 --value of such clubs to history, 309 --their literature, 311 --Camden Club, _ib._ --Chetham Club, 312 --Surtees Club, _ib._ --Maitland Club, _ib._ --Spalding Club, _ib._ --Irish Archæological and other Clubs, _ib. et seq._ --purity of text of book-club literature, and consequent historical value, 322 _et seq._, 327 --as art unions, 404 _et seq._ Book-hunters as creators of libraries, 168 _et seq._, 197 --as preservers of literature, 205 _et seq._ --as _chiffoniers_, 219 --as discoverers of valuable and curious books, 224 --as librarians, 227 _et seq._ --their clubs, 243 _et seq._ --various titles of, 5, 6 --vision of mighty book-hunters, 14 --book-hunters as bibliothaptes and bibliolytes, 54 _et seq._ --classification of, 64 _et seq._ --as Rubricists, 63 --as aspirants after large paper copies, 86 --their place in the dispensations of Providence, 101 _et seq._ --the harmlessness and advantages of their disease, 102 _et seq._ --book-hunters and dealers, 104 --in relation to other hobby-riders, 105 --their lack of mercenary spirit, _ib. et seq._ --in the amateur phase, 106 _et seq._ --their freedom from low company, 109 --their intellectual advantages, _ib. et seq._ --from their pursuit readers and scholars, 114 --their delight in a new toy, 123. Books, annotating of, a crime and a virtue, 185 _et seq._ --their decay from natural causes, 211 _et seq._ --books, large and solid, factors in the acquisition of fame, 215 --such only fitted for authors and students, 252 --books, small and fragile, preserved by book-hunters, 215 --rarity of old school-books, _ib. et seq._ --importance of any kind of old books, 217 --rare books printed by early English printers, 218 _et seq._ --David Clement on rare books, 224 _et seq._ --rare books not always rare, 225 --books as introducers of books, 233 --reproduction of old and rare books by book-clubs, 246 _et seq._ --books used in Ireland in sixth century, 388. Boswell, Sir Alexander, as a book-club man, 292 _et seq._ --his reprints, 293 --his Auchinleck Press, 294 --his character and writings, 295 _et seq._ Botfield, Beriah, his work, 194 _note_. Bourdaloue, favourite reading of, 112. Brewer, "Inchrule," as a mighty book-hunter, 25 _et seq._ --origin of his name, 26 --his love of bindings, 28 --his satellites, 31 _et seq._ British Museum, deposits of books in, 194 _note_ --origin of library, 197 _et seq._ Brunet as an "Inchruler," 26 --his description of an Elzevir Cæsar, _ib. note_. Buckle, historical researches of, 342. "Bulls," Irish, in unlikely books, 132 _et seq._ --specimen of an index "bull," 133. Burton, Mr, private library of, 182 _et seq._ Butler, poetical remains of, discovered by the antiquary Thyer, 326. Camden Club, purpose of, 311 --a curious volume of, 315 _et seq._ "Canadian," mistaken use of, for Candian, 74. Carfrae, the auctioneer, 60 _et seq_. --selling fragments of early English poetry, 61. "Causes Célèbres," records of French and German crime, 149 _et seq._ --their fitness for novel-making, 150. Celtic Christianity, 369 _et seq._, 377 _et seq._ Chetham Club, purpose of, 312. Church architecture of early British Christians, 372 _et seq._ Classical literature, incompleteness of, 324 --recent discoveries in, of paltry value, 325 _et seq._ Classification of book-hunters, 62. Clement, David, illustrious French bibliographer, 224. Clubs in general, 243 _et seq._ Cogswell, Dr, first librarian of the Astorian Library, 174 _et seq._ Collectors and their satellites, 30 _et seq._ --as book-readers, 113 _et seq._ --in relation to the scholar, 115. Columba, St Adamnan's life of, 374 --among the Picts, 377 --settling succession of Aidan, 383 --anecdotes of, 387, 389, 403, &c. --Columba fishing, 395. Compositors, characteristics of, 76 _et seq._ --their reasons for interest in an author's work, 77 _et seq._ --"bill-books" of, 79 --their professional apathy, 81. Copyright Act, value of, 191. "Course of reading," a so-called, 110. Creation of libraries, 168 _et seq._ Criminal trials, attractive interest of, 148 --"illustrating" of, 150. Cuthbert, St, and the solan-geese, 390 _et seq._ Dame aux Camélias quoted, 10 _note_. Dealers in their relations to book-buyers, 107. Decay of books, 211 _et seq._ De Quincey on the Society of Friends, 8, 9. Desultory reader, or Bohemian of literature, 108 _et seq._ Devices of old printers, collection of, 64 _et seq._ Dibdin, quotation from his Bibliomania, 18 --known as "Foggy Dibdin," 89 --at the Roxburghe sale, 91 --as a book-hunter, 165--on the cradle of the book-club system, 267 --his "Library Companion," 280 _et seq._ "Didot" Horace, in the Junot Library, 63. Dietrich, collection of theses by, 64. Diogenes, the so-called tub of, 120 _note_. Directory of a city, the, as affording profitable reading, 155. Douglas, Francis, anecdote told in his description of the east coast of Scotland, 9 _note_. "Dragon" as a book-hunter, _vide_ "Vampire." Drunkenness of a former age, 11. Duplicates, first buying of, 16 --most virulent form of bibliomania, 173. Early Northern Saints, 352 _et seq._ Ecchellensis, Abraham, his controversy with Flavigny, 67. Ecclesiastical architecture, 372 _et seq._ Ecclesiologist, the, as editor of book-club literature, 321. Editions of the Classics, typographical blunders in, 68. "Editio princeps," advantages of possessing an, 167 --of Boccaccio, 91. Elzevir Cæsar, Brunet's measurement of, 26 --origin of its rarity, 66. Elzevirs, reason of their not being rare at present, 225. Errors in the various editions of the Bible, 67 _et seq._ Evans, the auctioneer, 93. Exchequer bill, curious specimen of, 134 _et seq._ Facsimiles, extensive manufacture of, 27. Farmer, Dr Richard, and Johnson, 130 _et seq._ Feuerbach's German collection of _causes célèbres_, 149. Ferrier's Bibliomania, quotation from, 86 _note_. Fires in libraries, 210 _et seq._ Fisher, Rev. John, Bishop of Rochester, originator of Library of St John's, 204 _et seq._ Flavigny's controversy with Abraham Ecchellensis, 67. Fountains, religious controversies connected with, 401 _et seq._ French _causes célèbres_, 149 _et seq._ French novels, the morals of, 10. Friends, Society of, greatest criminals found among, 8 --De Quincey's testimony to the same effect, _ib. et seq._ Furniture, old, 192. Fustian, curious statute of Henry VII. concerning, 142 _et seq._ Game of Chess, by Caxton, captured in Holland by Snuffy Davie, 222. Genealogist, a, as editor of book-club literature, 316 _et seq._ --his influence and genius, 318. Genealogy, Scottish peculiarities in, 317 --extract on, from the Liber de Antiquis Legibus, 318. Genius, rewards of, unequally distributed, 258. Glasgow, the shield argent of, 393 _et seq._ Gleaner, the, and his harvest, 124 _et seq._ "Good reader," a, the bore of a house, 113. Gordon, Sir Robert, collector of Gordonstoun Library, 97 _et seq._ Government and public libraries, 191. Graham, Mr Lorimer, collection by, 186 _et seq._ Grandison, Sir Charles, his perfection a defect, 8. "Grangerites," peculiar glory of, 82 _et seq._ --origin of name, _ib._ --their mode of proceeding, 83 _et seq._ Greek nomenclature, abuses and merits of, 2. Grollier, a princely collector, 48. Hagiology, 353. Hallervord, John, Bibliotheca Curiosa of, 241. Harvard Library, loss of old, 190. Havelok the Dane reprinted by Roxburghe Club, 279. Hazlewood, Joseph, a black sheep in the Roxburghe Club, 272 --description of his treasures, _ib. et seq._ --title of one of his reprints, 273 --description of another of his reprints, _ib. note_ --fate of his History, 274. Heathenism in the British Isles, 400 _et seq._ Heber, Richard, origin of his library, 98 _et seq._ --Dibdin and Heber, 99 --duplicating his collection, 173. Hierology of Greece, 359. Highland springs, pilgrimages to, 299. Historical literature, reprints of, 327 --in manuscript, _ib. et seq._ Histrio-Mastix of Prynne, its unfortunate history, 129 _et seq._ Hobby, the, of book-hunting, 101 _et seq._ Hortensius, 267. Illustrating of criminal trials, 150 --its advantages to posterity, _ib. et seq._ --at its height, 180 _note_. --illustrating a folio copy of Shakespeare, _ib. note_. Illustrators of books, the, known as "Grangerites," 82 --their mode of proceeding, 83 _et seq._ Imperfect copies, completion of, 27. Index Expurgatorius of Charles Lamb, 152 _note_. Inlaying, process of, 219. Iona, the saints of, 382. Ireland, history of, in early times fabulous, 362; Keating's History, _ib. et seq._ Ireland, primitive church in, 368 _et seq_. Irish Archæological and other Clubs, 312 _et seq._ Irish "bulls," instances of, 132. Irish statutes and Irish history, 146 _et seq._ Jöcher, Allgemeines Gelehrten Lexicon of, 235. Johnson and Dr Richard Farmer, 130 _et seq._ Johnston, Captain, his Lives of Highwaymen and Pirates, 149. Jolly, Bishop Robert, 244 --as a book-hunter, 245. "Jolly" Club, the, 246. Jones, Sir William, reading Cicero, 111. Junot, the library of, 63. Keating, Jeffrey, D.D., his History of Ireland, 363 _et seq._ Kent, Chancellor, collection of, 184 _et seq._ Kentigern, St, anecdotes of, 392 _et seq._ Knox, Vicesimus, Spirit of Despotism by, 197. Lamb, Charles, Index Expurgatorius of, 152 _note_. Large-paper copies, aspirants after, 86. Laurentian Library at Florence, 198. Law books, composition of, 118. Law maxims, absurd book on, 138 _note_. Law papers as furnishing humorous reading, 135 _et seq._ Law technicalities, vagaries of, 136 _et seq._ Levant monks, apathy of, with reference to priceless books, 209. Librarians recruited from the ranks of book-hunters, 227 --disadvantages of "Cerberus" librarians, 228 _et seq._ --Angelo Maï of the Vatican, 229 --Magliabecchi, _ib. et seq._ --Adrien Baillet, 230 et _seq._ --librarians as scholars, 231 _et seq._ Libraries as stimulants to intellectual culture, 115 _et seq._ --growth of great libraries, 169 --impossibility of their being improvised, _ib. et seq_. --their gradual accumulation, 170 _et seq._ --Imperial Library at Paris, 176, 205, &c. --size of American libraries, Harvard, Astorian, Library of Congress, Boston Athenæum, 176 --their large number in the States, _ib._ --The Private Libraries of New York, by James Wynne, M.D., 177 --specimen of a New York interior, 182 --library of Chancellor Kent, 184 _et seq._ --of Mr Lorimer Graham, 186 --of Rev. Dr Magoon, 187 _et seq._ --of Mr Menzies, 189 _note_ --Harvard Library, 190 --Government and public libraries, 191 --privileged libraries and the Copyright Act, 193 _note_ --British Museum Library, 197 _et seq._ --Ambrosian Library at Milan, 198 --Laurentian Library at Florence, _ib._ --Bodleian Library, _ib._ --Memoirs of Libraries, by Edward Edwards, 199 _note_ --Durham College Library, nucleus of Trinity of Oxford, 203 --burning of Alexandrian Library, 211. Licensing, abolition of, in England, 208. Limiting number of impressions, 281 _et seq._ Literary forgeries, moral code of, 303 _et seq._ Long Parliament, proceedings of, 328 _et seq._ Lucullus, Magnus, of Grand Priory, 46 _et seq._ Lycanthropy, 279. Magi, in their conflicts with saints, 401 _et seq._ Magliabecchi, the librarian, 229 _et seq._ Magoon, Rev. Dr, library of, 187 _et seq._ Maitland Club, 312. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, as a saint, 355. Meadow, Archdeacon, description of as a mighty book-hunter, 14 --at an auction, 15 --a portion of his collection sold, 17 --reputed to read his own books, 18 --his learning, 19. Medici, library of the, 198 _et seq._ Men of the Time, printers' blunders in, 75. Menzies, Mr, valuable American collection of, 189 _note_. Metaphysics, origin of name, 127. Monkbarns as a book-hunter, 165 _et seq._ --his description of Snuffy Davie's prowlings, 221 _et seq._ Nathalan, St, anecdote of, 395. Newgate Calendar, interest of, 148. New York, private libraries of, 177 _et seq._ Nomenclature, Greek, abuses and merits of, 2. Noy, Attorney-General, and the Histrio-Mastix, 130. Oelrichs, John Charles Conrad, rare work by, 207. Old writers, their careful disclaiming of original ideas, 117. Olio, Grose's, extract from, 54 _note_. Onslow, Mr, and naming of members of Parliament, 131. Owen's Parallelograms, the nature of, 13 --biographical notice of Owen in Men of the Time, 75 _et seq._ Oxford, Bishop of, biographical notice of, in Men of the Time, 75. Palæographist, meaning of the name, 3. Palimpsest, meaning of, 3. Pamphlets, careful preservation of, enforced, 339. Panel, meaning of, in England and in Scotland, 138. Papaverius, Thomas, 32 _et seq._ --his unpunctuality, 33 --his costume, _ib. et seq._ --his eloquence, 35, 36 --on vagrancy, 38 --his irresponsibility in pecuniary matters, 39 --his charity, 41 --as a philosopher of human nature, 42 --as a book-hunter, _ib. et seq._ --as a borrower of books, 43 _et seq._ --his acute sensibility, 45. Peignot, his Dictionnaire de Bibliologie, 127 _note_, 207 --his dictionary of condemned books, 208 --as a vagabond bibliographer, 239 _et seq._ Philobiblion of Richard of Bury, 199 --extract from, 220 _note_. Photius, curious history of the Bibliotheca of, 236. Picts, St Columba among the, 377. Pinkerton, John, description of, 285. Playbills, collection of, a phase of bibliomania, 64. Poems and plays as relics of pure literature, 217 _et seq._ Popular authors objects of competition among publishers, 260 _et seq._ Preservation of literature, 205 _et seq._ --politics and religion, with reference to, 208 --wars and revolutions with reference to, 209 --books in the midst of fire, 210. Pretenders, 161 _et seq._ --generally bargain-hunters, 162 --their devices, 163. Printers' blunders serviceable to literature, 71 _et seq._ --laughable examples of, 72 _et seq._ --tragic results of, 75 --examples of, in Men of the Time, 76. Printing press, private, an appalling form of bibliomania, 293 --possession of, by Sir Alexander Boswell, 294. Professional dealer, the, 107. Prowler different from auction-haunter, 88 _et seq._ Prynne and his Histrio-Mastix, 129 _et seq._ Publishers and good literature, 262. Quaker collector of paintings, a, anecdote of, 103. Queen Cadyow and St Kentigern, 394. Rambles in search of sculptured stones, 411 _et seq._ Rarity, the comparative, of certain books, 170 _et seq._ --Americans and the rarity of books, 173 _et seq._ --rarity of works of early English printers, 218 _et seq._ --rarity increased by increased number of copies, 282. Ratcliffe, Dr, a physician, 69 _note_. Reading of books by book-hunters and possessors of libraries, 109 --impossible in certain cases, 110 --ought to be desultory, _ib. et seq._ "Reading with the fingers" a test of scholarship, 116. Religion and politics in reference to the preservation of literature, 208. Religious hypocrites, uncharitableness and intolerance of, 7 --their development into criminals, 8. Reminiscences of a book-hunting life, 59 _et seq._ "Remnants," or broken books, 254. Rent-paying in Scotland, 140 _note_. Resuscitated literature, peculiar value of, 324 --objected to in hagiology, 359. Richard of Bury, Bishop of Durham, as a private collector, 199 _et seq._ --as a benefactor of posterity, 200 _et seq._ --originator of Durham College Library, the nucleus of Trinity of Oxford, 203 --on the treatment of manuscripts (quotation from the Philobiblion), 220 _note_. Ritson, Joseph, opponent of John Pinkerton, 287 _et seq._ --his peculiarities, 288 _et seq._ Robespierre, draft of decree before, concerning the public libraries of Paris, 209. Romans as introducers of Christianity into Great Britain, 360, 379 --as slighters of history, 360 _et seq._ Rout upon Rout, by Felix Nixon, 57. Roxburghe Club, 97, 265 _et seq._ --its origin, 268 --its dinner and toasts, 269 --its members, 270 --its "revels," 275 --Hazlewood's connection with, _ib._ and _note et seq._ --reprinting by, of ancient books, 278 _et seq._ --its first serious efforts, 279 --Dibdin as its master, 280 --under the care of the scholarly Botfield, 281 --its proffer of membership to Sir Walter Scott, 283 _et seq._ Roxburghe, Duke of, as a book-hunter, 90, 164 --origin of his bibliomania, 90 _et seq._ Roxburghe Library, sale of, 89 _et seq._ --scenes at the auction, 92 _et seq._ --Earl Spencer present, 93 _et seq._ Rubricists, book-hunters as, 63. Rule, Gilbert, ghost-story concerning, 346 _et seq._ "Runic Knot," the, 409. Saints, the early Northern, 352 _et seq._ --the making of, 353 --festival days of, 354 _et seq._ --Bollandus and his successors on saints, 355 _et seq._ --value in history of saint literature, 358 _et seq._ --vestiges of the peculiar characteristics of early Northern saints, 371 _et seq._ --their church architecture, 372 --saints of Irish origin innumerable, 375 --independent of Rome, 381 --mostly all obscure, _ib. et seq._ --as prophesiers of death, 383 --personal habits of, 389 --fishing and marine anecdotes of, 395 _et seq._ Scholars in relation to collectors, 115 _et seq._ School-books, rarity of old, 215 _et seq._ Schoolboy life, reminiscences of, conjured up by an advertisement, 157 _et seq._ Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence, a curious book, 240. Scots Acts, brevity of, 146. Scott, Sir Walter, as a book-club man, 283 --his admission to the Roxburghe Club, _ib. et seq._ --writing a song for the Bannatyne Club, 285 --his reprint of a trial for murder, 290 _et seq._ --imposed on by Robert Surtees, 300 _et seq._ --first idea of Waverley suggested to him by Surtees, 306. Sculptured stones in Scotland, 405 _et seq._ --description of one, 406 --their character, 407 _et seq._ --Mr John Stuart's transcripts of, 410 --ramble in search of, 411 _et seq._ --one of them at Lochcolissor, _ib._ --others in various parts, 412 _et seq._ Seneca commending literary moderation, 119 _note_. Serf, St, and his robin, 392. Shakespearian criticism a branch of knowledge, 69 _et seq._ --valuable to literature, 71. Sheepfolds, Ruskin on the construction of, 125. Sloane, Sir Hans, originator of British Museum Library, 197. Smart, Fitzpatrick, as a mighty book-hunter, 19 --his peculiar line known as the "Fitzpatrick Smart Walk," 20 --his fancy ill to please, 21 --his household gods, 22 --his dress, 23 --his wonderful genius, 25 --fate of his collection, _ib._ Smithsonian Institution, origin of, 174. Snuffy Davie, a prince of book-hunters, 166 --his capture of the Game of Chess, 222. Societies, book and other, 247 _et seq._ --the transactions of learned, an outlet for genius, 262 _et seq._ Spalding Club, 312 --as an art-union, 404. Spalding, John, value of his literary remains, 330 _et seq._ --quotation from his "Memorials," 333 _et seq._ --characteristics of his writings, 337. Spencer, Earl, at the Roxburghe Library sale, 93 _et seq._ --his skirmish for the Caxtons, 123. Spottiswoode Society, purpose of the, 247. State trials replete with romance, 148. Stated-task reader, the, 113. Statute-making, pleasantry in, 143. Stuart, Mr John, and the sculptured stones in Scotland, 410. Superstitions, a book on, replete with errors in language, 153 _et seq._ Surtees Club, 312. Surtees, Robert, the historian of Durham, as a book-club man, 298 --anecdotes of, _ib. et seq._ --imposing on Sir Walter Scott, 300 _et seq._ --his contributions to Scott's Minstrelsy, 304 --suggesting Waverley to Scott, 306. Sydenham Club, 265. Thomson, James, and his books, 29 --his uncle's criticism on "Winter," _ib._ Thomson, Rev. William, character of, 67 _et seq._ --his translation of Cunningham's Latin History of Britain, 68 _note_. Title of an English Act, 145. Title-page, a, no distinct intimation of contents of book, 124 --framing of exhaustive title-page, 126 _et seq._ --specimen of lengthy title-page, 127 --advantages of such, 128. Toy literature, 216 _note._ Transactions of learned societies, 262. Trinity Library, Oxford, origin of, 203. Types of Guttenberg and Faust, beauty of, 218. Types, MacEwen on the, its fate at an auction, 125. Typographical blunders, 71 _et seq._ United States well stocked with libraries, 176 --its citizens as book-hunters, 177. "Vampire" as a book-hunter, 55 --his collection, 56 _et seq._ --his policy at auctions, 57 _et seq._ Vellum books, 63. Verney, Sir Ralph, noting proceedings of the Long Parliament, 328 _et seq._ Vision, a, of mighty book-hunters, 14 _et seq._ Vulgate of Sixtus V., multitude of errors in, 67. Waltonian Library, the, of Rev. Dr Bethune, 87 _et seq._ Wars and revolutions, factors in the destruction of libraries, 209. Watt, Dr, his bibliography, 234. Watts, Isaac, and the "Grangerites," 83 _et seq._ Wells dedicated to saints, 397 _et seq._ Wilberforce, Samuel, Bishop of Oxford, humorous blunder in a biographical notice concerning, 76. Wilbrod, St, and the Frisian Prince, 376. William and the Wer Wolf reprinted by Roxburghe Club, 279 _et seq._ Wodrow, Rev. Robert, his literary remains and collections, 338 --his private note-books, 340 --extracts from his note-books concerning "special providences," 343 _et seq._ --his ghost and witch stories, 346 _et seq._ --anecdote concerning the devil's sermon, 349 _et seq._ "Ye" and "the," common delusion concerning, 270 _note_. THE END. Imprinted by William Blackwood and Sons, at their Printing Office, 32 Thistle Street, Edinburgh. [Illustration] 
28540	----	Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 28540-h.htm or 28540-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/8/5/4/28540/28540-h/28540-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/8/5/4/28540/28540-h.zip) Transcriber's Note: Thomas Frognall Dibdin's _Bibliomania_ was originally published in 1809 and was re-issued in several editions, including one published by Chatto & Windus in 1876. This e-book was prepared from a reprint of the 1876 edition, published by Thoemmes Press and Kinokuniya Company Ltd. in 1997. Where the reprint was unclear, the transcriber consulted a copy of the actual 1876 edition. Footnotes The original contains numerous footnotes, denoted by numbers prior to Part I, and by symbols in the remainder of the book. All of the footnotes are consecutively numbered in this e-book; footnotes within footnotes are lettered. Some of the footnotes contain lengthy book catalogues with descriptions and prices. For ease of reading, in this e-book these catalogues have been formatted as lists rather than tables. Text that in the original was rendered in blackletter is enclosed between equal signs (=bold face=). Letters with macrons are enclosed in brackets and preceded by an equal sign, e.g. [=a]. Spelling and typographical errors are retained as they appear in the original, with a [Transcriber's Note] containing the correct spelling. Minor obvious punctuation and font errors have been corrected without note. Inconsistent diacriticals and hyphenation have been retained as they appear in the original. There are frequent inconsistencies in the spelling of certain proper names. These have been retained as they appear in the original, for example: Bibliothèque/Bibliothéque Boccaccio/Bocaccio/Boccacio De Foe/Defoe Français/François Loménie/Lomenie Montfauçon/Montfaucon Roxburgh/Roxburghe Shakspeare/Shakespeare Spenser/Spencer Tewrdannckhs/Tewrdranckhs/Teurdanckhs (and other variations) Vallière/Valliere BIBLIOMANIA. [Illustration] _Libri quosdam ad Scientiam, quosdam AD INSANIAM, deduxêre._ GEYLER: Navis Stultifera: sign. B. iiij. rev. BIBLIOMANIA; OR =Book-Madness;= A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ROMANCE. ILLUSTRATED WITH CUTS. BY THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN, D.D. =New and improved Edition,= TO WHICH ARE ADDED PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS, AND A SUPPLEMENT INCLUDING A KEY TO THE ASSUMED CHARACTERS IN THE DRAMA. [Illustration: _Engraved by S. Freeman._] =London:= Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly. MDCCCLXXVI. [Illustration: T.F. DIBDIN, D.D. _Engraved by James Thomson from the Original Painting by T. Phillips, Esqr. R.A._ Published by the Proprietors (for the New Edition) of the Rev. Dr. Dibdins Bibliomania 1840.] [Illustration] TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF POWIS, PRESIDENT OF =The Roxburgh Club,= THIS NEW EDITION OF BIBLIOMANIA IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. [Illustration] ADVERTISEMENT. _The public may not be altogether unprepared for the re-appearance of the BIBLIOMANIA in a more attractive garb than heretofore;--and, in consequence, more in uniformity with the previous publications of the Author._ _More than thirty years have elapsed since the last edition; an edition, which has become so scarce that there seemed to be no reasonable objection why the possessors of the_ other _works of the Author should be deprived of an opportunity of adding the_ present _to the number: and although this re-impression may, on first glance, appear something like a violation of contract with the public, yet, when the length of time which has elapsed, and the smallness of the price of the preceding impression, be considered, there does not appear to be any very serious obstacle to the present republication; the more so, as the number of copies is limited to five hundred._ _Another consideration deeply impressed itself upon the mind of the Author. The course of thirty years has necessarily brought changes and alterations amongst "men and things." The dart of death has been so busy during this period that, of the Bibliomaniacs so plentifully recorded in the previous work, scarcely_ three,_--including the Author--have survived. This has furnished a monitory theme for the APPENDIX; which, to the friends both of the dead and the living, cannot be perused without sympathising emotions--_ _"A sigh the absent claim, the DEAD a tear."_ _The changes and alterations in "things,"--that is to say in the_ =Bibliomania= _itself--have been equally capricious and unaccountable: our countrymen being, in_ these _days, to the full as fond of novelty and variety as in those of Henry the Eighth. Dr. Board, who wrote his_ Introduction of Knowledge _in the year 1542, and dedicated it to the Princess Mary, thus observes of our countrymen:_ _I am an Englishman, and naked do I stand here, Musing in my mind what raiment I shall wear; For now I will wear_ this, _and now I will wear_ that, _Now I will wear--I cannot tell what._ _This highly curious and illustrative work was reprinted, with all its wood-cut embellishments, by Mr. Upcott. A copy of the original and most scarce edition is among the Selden books in the Bodleian library, and in the Chetham Collection at Manchester. See the_ Typographical Antiquities, _vol._ iii. _p._ 158-60. _But I apprehend the general apathy of Bibliomaniacs to be in a great measure attributable to the vast influx of BOOKS, of every description, from the Continent--owing to the long continuance of peace; and yet, in the appearance of what are called_ English Rarities, _the market seems to be almost as barren as ever. The wounds, inflicted in the HEBERIAN contest, have gradually healed, and are subsiding into forgetfulness; excepting where, from_ collateral _causes, there are too many_ striking _reasons to remember their existence._ _Another motive may be humbly, yet confidently, assigned for the re-appearance of this Work. It was thought, by its late proprietor,--MR. EDWARD WALMSLEY[1]--to whose cost and liberality this edition owes its appearance--to be a volume, in itself, of pleasant and profitable perusal; composed perhaps in a quaint and original style, but in accordance with the characters of the_ Dramatis Personæ. _Be this as it may, it is a work divested of all acrimonious feeling--is applicable to all classes of society, to whom harmless enthusiasm cannot be offensive--and is based upon a foundation not likely to be speedily undermined._ _T.F. DIBDIN._ _May_ 1, 1842. [Footnote 1: _Mr. EDWARD WALMSLEY, who died in 1841, at an advanced age, had been long known to me. He had latterly extensive calico-printing works at Mitcham, and devoted much of his time to the production of beautiful patterns in that fabrication; his taste, in almost every thing which he undertook, leant towards the fine arts. His body was in the counting-house; but his spirit was abroad, in the studio of the painter or engraver. Had his natural talents, which were strong and elastic, been cultivated in early life, he would, in all probability, have attained a considerable reputation. How he loved to embellish--almost to satiety--a favourite work, may be seen by consulting a subsequent page towards the end of this volume. He planned and published the_ Physiognomical Portraits, _a performance not divested of interest--but failing in general success, from the prints being, in many instances, a repetition of their precursors. The thought, however, was a good one; and many of the heads are powerfully executed. He took also a lively interest in Mr. Major's splendid edition of Walpole's_ Anecdotes of Painting in England, _a work, which can never want a reader while taste has an abiding-place in one British bosom._ _Mr. Walmsley possessed a brave and generous spirit; and I scarcely knew a man more disposed to bury the remembrance of men's errors in that of their attainments and good qualities._] THE BIBLIOMANIA; OR =Book-Madness;= CONTAINING SOME ACCOUNT OF THE HISTORY, SYMPTOMS, AND CURE OF THIS FATAL DISEASE. IN AN EPISTLE ADDRESSED TO RICHARD HEBER, ESQ. BY THE REV. THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN, F.S.A. Styll am I besy bokes assemblynge, For to have plenty it is a pleasaunt thynge In my conceyt, and to have them ay in honde: But what they mene I do nat understonde. =Pynson's Ship of Fools.= Edit. 1509. LONDON REPRINTED FROM THE FIRST EDITION, PUBLISHED IN 1809. =Advertisement.= _In laying before the public the following brief and superficial account of a disease, which, till it arrested the attention of Dr. Ferriar, had entirely escaped the sagacity of all ancient and modern physicians, it has been my object to touch chiefly on its leading characteristics; and to present the reader (in the language of my old friend Francis Quarles) with an "honest pennyworth" of information, which may, in the end, either suppress or soften the ravages of so destructive a malady. I might easily have swelled the size of this treatise by the introduction of much additional, and not incurious, matter; but I thought it most prudent to wait the issue of the present "recipe," at once simple in its composition and gentle in its effects._ _Some apology is due to the amiable and accomplished character to whom my epistle is addressed, as well as to the public, for the apparently confused and indigested manner in which the notes are attached to the first part of this treatise; but, unless I had thrown them to the end (a plan which modern custom does not seem to warrant), it will be obvious that a different arrangement could not have been adopted; and equally so that the perusal, first of the text, and afterwards of the notes, will be the better mode of passing judgment upon both._ T.F.D. _Kensington, June_ 5, 1809. [Illustration] TO THE READER. _A short time after the publication of the first edition of this work, a very worthy and shrewd Bibliomaniac, accidentally meeting me, exclaimed that "the book_ would do, _but that there was not_ gall _enough in it." As he was himself a_ Book-Auction-loving Bibliomaniac, _I was resolved, in a future edition, to gratify him and similar Collectors by writing_ PART III. _of the present impression; the motto of which may probably meet their approbation._ _It will be evident, on a slight inspection of the present edition, that it is so much altered and enlarged as to assume the character of a new_ work. _This has not been done without mature reflection; and a long-cherished hope of making it permanently useful to a large class of General Readers, as well as to Book-Collectors and Bibliographers._ _It appeared to me that notices of such truly valuable, and oftentimes curious and rare, books, as the ensuing pages describe; but more especially a_ Personal History of Literature, _in the characters of_ Collectors of Books; _had long been a desideratum even with classical students: and in adopting the present form of publication, my chief object was to relieve the dryness of a didactic style by the introduction of_ Dramatis Personæ. _The worthy Gentlemen, by whom the_ Drama _is conducted, may be called, by some, merely wooden machines or_ pegs _to hang notes upon; but I shall not be disposed to quarrel with any criticism which may be passed upon their acting, so long as the greater part of the information, to which their dialogue gives rise, may be thought serviceable to the real interests of_ Literature _and_ Bibliography. _If I had chosen to assume a more imposing air with the public, by spinning out the contents of this closely-printed book into two or more volumes--which might have been done without violating the customary mode of publication--the expenses of the purchaser, and the profits of the author, would have equally increased: but I was resolved to bring forward as much matter as I could impart, in a convenient and not inelegantly executed form; and, if my own emoluments are less, I honestly hope the reader's advantage is greater._ _The_ Engraved Ornaments of Portraits, Vignettes, and Borders, _were introduced, as well to gratify the eyes of tasteful Bibliomaniacs, as to impress, upon the minds of readers in general, a more vivid recollection of some of those truly illustrious characters by whom the_ HISTORY OF BRITISH LITERATURE _has been preserved._ _It remains only to add that the present work was undertaken to relieve, in a great measure, the anguish of mind arising from a severe domestic affliction; and if the voice of those whom we tenderly loved, whether parent or_ child, _could be heard from the_ grave, _I trust it would convey the sound of approbation for thus having filled a part of the measure of that time which, every hour, brings us nearer to those from whom we are separated._ _And now_, BENEVOLENT READER, _in promising thee as much amusement and instruction as ever were offered in a single volume, of a nature like to the present, I bid thee farewell in the language of_ Vogt,[2] _who thus praises the subject of which we are about to treat:--"Quis non_ AMABILEM _eam laudabit_ INSANIAM, _quæ universæ rei litterariæ non obfuit, sed profuit; historiæ litterariæ doctrinam insigniter locupletavit; ingentemque exercitum voluminum, quibus alias aut in remotiora Bibliothecarum publicarum scrinia commigrandum erat, aut plane pereundum, a carceribus et interitu vindicavit, exoptatissimæque luci et eruditorum usui multiplici felicitur restituit?"_ T.F.D. _Kensington, March_ 25, 1811. [Footnote 2: Catalogus Librorum Rariorum, præf. ix. edit. 1793.] [Illustration] CONTENTS. PART I. THE EVENING WALK. _On the right uses of Literature_ p. 3-20. II. THE CABINET. _Outline of Foreign and Domestic Bibliography_ p. 23-92. III. THE AUCTION-ROOM. _Character of Orlando. Of ancient Prices of Books, and of Book-Binding. Book-Auction Bibliomaniacs_ p. 103-139. IV. THE LIBRARY. _Dr. Henry's History of Great Britain. A Game at Chess. Of Monachism and Chivalry. Dinner at Lorenzo's. Some Account of Book Collectors in England_ p. 143-207. V. THE DRAWING ROOM. _History of the Bibliomania, or Account of Book Collectors, concluded_ p. 211-463. VI. THE ALCOVE. _Symptoms of the Disease called the Bibliomania. Probable Means of its Cure_ p. 467-565. SUPPLEMENT. CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. GENERAL INDEX. [Illustration: LUTHER.] [Illustration: MELANCTHON.] PUBLISHED BY THE PROPRIETOR (FOR THE NEW EDITION) OF THE REV. Dr. DIBDINS BIBLIOMANIA, 1840. [Illustration] =The Bibliomania.= MY DEAR SIR, When the poetical Epistle of Dr. Ferriar, under the popular title of "THE BIBLIOMANIA," was announced for publication, I honestly confess that, in common with many of my book-loving acquaintance, a strong sensation of fear and of hope possessed me: of fear, that I might have been accused, however indirectly, of having contributed towards the increase of this Mania; and of hope, that the true object of book-collecting, and literary pursuits, might have been fully and fairly developed. The perusal of this elegant epistle dissipated alike my fears and my hopes; for, instead of caustic verses, and satirical notes,[3] I found a smooth, melodious, and persuasive panegyric; unmixed, however, with any rules for the choice of books, or the regulation of study. [Footnote 3: There are, nevertheless, some satirical allusions which one could have wished had been suppressed. For instance: He turns where PYBUS rears his atlas-head Or MADOC'S mass conceals its veins of lead; What has Mr. Pybus's gorgeous book in praise of the late Russian Emperor Paul I. (which some have called the chef-d'oeuvre of Bensley's press[A]) to do with Mr. Southey's fine Poem of Madoc?--in which, if there are "veins of lead," there are not a few "of silver and gold." Of the extraordinary talents of Mr. Southey, the indefatigable student in ancient lore, and especially in all that regards Spanish Literature and Old English Romances, this is not the place to make mention. His "_Remains of Henry Kirk White_," the sweetest specimen of modern biography, has sunk into every heart, and received an eulogy from every tongue. Yet is his own life "The more endearing song." Dr. Ferriar's next satirical verses are levelled at Mr. THOMAS HOPE. "The lettered fop now takes a larger scope, With classic furniture, design'd by HOPE. (HOPE, whom upholsterers eye with mute despair, The doughty pedant of an elbow chair.") It has appeared to me that Mr. Hope's magnificent volume on "_Household Furniture_" has been generally misunderstood, and, in a few instances, criticised upon false principles.--The first question is, does the _subject_ admit of illustration? and if so, has Mr. Hope illustrated it properly? I believe there is no canon of criticism which forbids the treating of such a subject; and, while we are amused with archæological discussions on Roman tiles and tesselated pavements, there seems to be no absurdity in making the decorations of our sitting rooms, including something more than the floor we walk upon, a subject at least of temperate and classical disquisition. Suppose we had found such a treatise in the volumes of Gronovius and Montfaucon? (and are there not a few, apparently, as unimportant and confined in these rich volumes of the Treasures of Antiquity?) or suppose something similar to Mr. Hope's work had been found among the ruins of Herculaneum? Or, lastly, let us suppose the author had printed it only as a _private_ book, to be circulated as a present! In each of these instances, should we have heard the harsh censures which have been thrown out against it? On the contrary, is it not very probable that a wish might have been expressed that "so valuable a work ought to be made public." Upon what principle, _a priori_, are we to ridicule and condemn it? I know of none. We admit Vitruvius, Inigo Jones, Gibbs, and Chambers, into our libraries: and why not Mr. Hope's book? Is decoration to be confined only to the exterior? and, if so, are works, which treat of these only, to be read and applauded? Is the delicate bas-relief, and beautifully carved column, to be thrust from the cabinet and drawing room, to perish on the outside of a smoke-dried portico? Or, is not _that_ the most deserving of commendation which produces the most numerous and pleasing associations of ideas? I recollect, when in company with the excellent DR. JENNER, ----[clarum et venerabile nomen Gentibus, et multum nostræ quod proderat urbi] and a half dozen more friends, we visited the splendid apartments in Duchess Street, Portland Place, we were not only struck with the appropriate arrangement of every thing, but, on our leaving them, and coming out into the dull foggy atmosphere of London, we acknowledged that the effect produced upon our minds was something like that which might have arisen had we been regaling ourselves on the silken couches, and within the illuminated chambers, of some of the enchanted palaces described in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. I suspect that those who have criticised Mr. Hope's work with asperity have never seen his house. These sentiments are not the result of partiality or prejudice, for I am wholly unacquainted with Mr. Hope. They are delivered with zeal, but with deference. It is quite consolatory to find a gentleman of large fortune, of respectable ancestry, and of classical attainments, devoting a great portion of that leisure time which hangs like a leaden weight upon the generality of fashionable people, to the service of the Fine Arts, and in the patronage of merit and ingenuity. How much the world will again be indebted to Mr. Hope's taste and liberality may be anticipated from the "_Costume of the Ancients_," a work which has recently been published under his particular superintendence.] [Footnote A: This book is beautifully executed, undoubtedly, but being little more than a thin folio pamphlet devoid of _typographical_ embellishment--it has been thought by some hardly fair to say this of a press which brought out so many works characterized by magnitude and various elegance. B.B.] To say that I was not gratified by the perusal of it would be a confession contrary to the truth; but to say how ardently I anticipated an amplification of the subject, how eagerly I looked forward to a number of curious, apposite, and amusing anecdotes, and found them not therein, is an avowal of which I need not fear the rashness, when the known talents of the detector of Stern's plagiarisms[4] are considered. I will not, however, disguise to you that I read it with uniform delight, and that I rose from the perusal with a keener appetite for "The small, rare volume, black with tarnished gold." _Dr. Ferriar's Ep._ v. 138. [Footnote 4: In the fourth volume of the Transactions of the Manchester Literary Society, part iv., p. 45-87, will be found a most ingenious and amusing Essay, entitled "_Comments on Sterne_," which excited a good deal of interest at the time of its publication. This discovery may be considered, in some measure, as the result of the BIBLIOMANIA. In my edition of Sir Thomas More's Utopia, a suggestion is thrown out that even Burton may have been an imitator of Boisatuau [Transcriber's Note: Boiastuau]: see vol. II. 143.] Whoever undertakes to write down the follies which grow out of an excessive attachment to any particular pursuit, be that pursuit horses,[5] hawks, dogs, guns, snuff boxes,[6] old china, coins, or rusty armour, may be thought to have little consulted the best means of ensuring success for his labours, when he adopts the dull vehicle of _Prose_ for the commnication [Transcriber's Note: communication] of his ideas not considering that from _Poetry_ ten thousand bright scintillations are struck off, which please and convince while they attract and astonish. Thus when Pope talks of allotting for "Pembroke[7] Statues, dirty Gods and Coins; Rare monkish manuscripts for Hearne[8] alone; And books to Mead[9] and butterflies to Sloane,"[10] when he says that These Aldus[11] printed, those Du S[=u]eil has bound[12] moreover that For Locke or Milton[13] 'tis in vain to look; These shelves admit not any modern book; he not only seems to illustrate the propriety of the foregoing remark, by shewing the immense superiority of verse to prose, in ridiculing reigning absurdities, but he seems to have had a pretty strong foresight of the BIBLIOMANIA which rages at the present day. However, as the ancients tell us that a Poet cannot be a _manufactured_ creature, and as I have not the smallest pretensions to the "rhyming art," [although in former times[14] I did venture to dabble with it] I must of necessity have recourse to _Prose_; and, at the same time, to your candour and forbearance in perusing the pages which ensue. [Footnote 5: It may be taken for granted that the first book in this country which excited a passion for the _Sports of the field_ was Dame Juliana Berners, or Barnes's, work, on _Hunting and Hawking_, printed at St. Alban's, in the year 1486; of which Lord Spencer's copy is, I believe, the only perfect one known. It was formerly the Poet Mason's, and is mentioned in the quarto edition of Hoccleve's Poems, p. 19, 1786. See too Bibl. Mason. Pt. iv. No. 153. Whether the forementioned worthy lady was really the author of the work has been questioned. Her book was reprinted by Wynkyn de Worde in 1497, with an additional Treatise on _Fishing_. The following specimen, from this latter edition, ascertains the general usage of the French language with our huntsmen in the 15th century. Beasts of Venery. Where so ever ye fare by frith or by fell, My dear child, take heed how Trystram do you tell. How many manner beasts of Venery there were: Listen to your dame and she shall you _lere_. Four manner beasts of Venery there are. The first of them is the _Hart_; the second is the _Hare_; The _Horse_ is one of them; the _Wolf_; and not one _mo_. Beasts of the Chace. And where that ye come in plain or in place I shall tell you which be beasts of enchace. One of them is the _Buck_; another is the _Doe_; The _Fox_; and the _Marteron_, and the wild _Roe_; And ye shall see, my dear child, other beastes all: Where so ye them find _Rascal_ ye shall them call. Of the hunting of the Hare. How to speke of the haare how all shall be wrought: When she shall with houndes be founden and sought. The fyrst worde to the ho[=u]dis that the hunter shall out pit Is at the kenell doore whan he openeth it. That all maye hym here: he shall say "_Arere!_" For his houndes would come to hastily. That is the firste worde my sone of Venery. And when he hath couplyed his houndes echoon And is forth wyth theym to the felde goon, And whan he hath of caste his couples at wyll Thenne he shall speke and saye his houndes tyll "_Hors de couple avant, sa avant!_" twyse soo: And then "_So ho, so ho!_" thryes, and no moo. And then say "_Sacy avaunt, so how_," I thou praye, etc. The following are a few more specimens--"_Ha cy touz cy est yll_--_Venez ares sa how sa_--_La douce la eit a venuz_--_Ho ho ore, swet a lay, douce a luy_--_So how, so how, venez acoupler!!!_" Whoever wishes to see these subjects brought down to later times, and handled with considerable dexterity, may consult the last numbers of the Censura Literaria, with the signature J.H. affixed to them. Those who are anxious to procure the rare books mentioned in these bibliographical treatises, may be pretty safely taxed with being infected by the BIBLIOMANIA. What apology my friend Mr. Haslewood, the author of them, has to offer in extenuation of the mischief committed, it is _his_ business, and not mine, to consider; and what the public will say to his curious forthcoming reprint of the ancient edition of Wynkyn De Worde _on Hunting, Hawking, and Fishing_, 1497 (with wood cuts), I will not pretend to divine! In regard to Hawking, I believe the enterprising Colonel Thornton in [Transcriber's Note: is] the only gentleman of the present day who keeps up this custom of "good old times." The Sultans of the East seem not to have been insensible to the charms of Falconry, if we are to judge from the evidence of Tippoo Saib having a work of this kind in his library; which is thus described from the Catalogue of it just published in a fine quarto volume, of which only 250 copies are printed. "_Sh[=a]bb[=a]r N[=a]meh_, 4to. a Treatise on Falcony; containing Instructions for selecting the best species of Hawks, and the method of teaching them; describing their different qualities; also the disorders they are subject to, and method of cure. Author unknown."--Oriental Library of Tippoo Saib, 1809, p. 96.] [Footnote 6: Of _Snuff boxes_ every one knows what a collection the great Frederick, King of Prussia, had--many of them studded with precious stones, and decorated with enamelled portraits. Dr. C. of G----, has been represented to be the most successful rival of Frederick, in this "line of collection," as it is called; some of his boxes are of uncommon curiosity. It may gratify a Bibliographer to find that there are other MANIAS besides that of the book; and that even physicians are not exempt from these diseases. Of _Old China_, _Coins_, and _Rusty Armour_, the names of hundreds present themselves in these departments; but to the more commonly-known ones of Rawle and Grose, let me add that of the late Mr. John White, of Newgate-Street; a catalogue of whose curiosities [including some very uncommon books] was published in the year 1788, in three parts, 8vo. Dr. Burney tells us that Mr. White "was in possession of a valuable collection of ancient rarities, as well as natural productions, of the most curious and extraordinary kind; no one of which however was more remarkable than the obliging manner in which he allowed them to be viewed and examined by his friends."--_History of Music_, vol. II. 539, note.] [Footnote 7: The reader will find an animated eulogy on this great nobleman in Walpole's _Anecdotes of Painters_, vol. iv. 227: part of which was transcribed by Joseph Warton for his Variorum edition of Pope's Works, and thence copied into the recent edition of the same by the Rev. W.L. Bowles. But PEMBROKE deserved a more particular notice. Exclusively of his fine statues, and architectural decorations, the Earl contrived to procure a number of curious and rare books; and the testimonies of Maittaire [who speaks indeed of him with a sort of rapture!] and Palmer shew that the productions of Jenson and Caxton were no strangers to his library. _Annales Typographici_, vol. I. 13. edit. 1719. _History of Printing_, p. v. "There is nothing that so surely proves the pre-eminence of virtue more than the universal admiration of mankind, and the respect paid it even by persons in opposite interests; and more than this, it is a sparkling gem which even time does not destroy: it is hung up in the Temple of Fame, and respected for ever." _Continuation of Granger_, vol. I. 37, &c. "He raised, continues Mr. Noble, a collection of Antiques that were unrivalled by any subject. His learning made him a fit companion for the literati. Wilton will ever be a monument of his extensive knowledge; and the princely presents it contains, of the high estimation in which he was held by foreign potentates, as well as by the many monarchs he saw and served at home. He lived rather as a primitive christian; in his behaviour, meek: in his dress, plain: rather retired, conversing but little." Burnet, in the _History of his own Times_, has spoken of the Earl with spirit and propriety.] [Footnote 8: In the recent Variorum Edition of Pope's Works, all that is annexed to Hearne's name, as above introduced by the Poet, is, "well known as an Antiquarian." ALAS, POOR HEARNE! thy merits, which are now fully appreciated, deserve an ampler notice! In spite of Gibbon's unmerciful critique [_Posthumous Works_, vol. II. 711.], the productions of this modest, erudite, and indefatigable antiquary are rising in price proportionably to their worth. If he had only edited the _Collectanea_ and _Itinerary_ of his favourite Leland, he would have stood on high ground in the department of literature and antiquities; but his other and numerous works place him on a much loftier eminence. Of these, the present is not the place to make mention; suffice it to say that, for copies of his works, on LARGE PAPER, which the author used to advertise as selling for 7_s._ or 10_s._, or about which placards, to the same effect, used to be stuck on the walls of the colleges,--these very copies are now sometimes sold for more than the like number of guineas! It is amusing to observe that the lapse of a few years only has caused such a rise in the article of HEARNE; and that the Peter Langtoft on large paper, which at Rowe Mores's sale [Bibl. Mores. No. 2191.] was purchased for £1. 2_s._ produced at a late sale, [A.D. 1808] £37! A complete list of Hearne's Pieces will be found at the end of his Life, printed with Leland's, &c., at the Clarendon Press, in 1772, 8vo. Of these the "_Acta Apostolorum_, Gr. Lat;" and "_Aluredi Beverlacensis Annales_," are, I believe, the scarcest. It is wonderful to think how this amiable and excellent man persevered "through evil report and good report," in illustrating the antiquities of his country. To the very last he appears to have been molested; and among his persecutors, the learned editor of Josephus and Dionysius Halicarnasseus, Dr. Hudson, must be ranked, to the disgrace of himself and the party which he espoused. "Hearne was buried in the church yard of St. Peter's (at Oxford) in the East, where is erected over his remains, a tomb, with an inscription written by himself, Amicitiæ Ergo. Here lyeth the Body of THOMAS HEARNE, M.A. Who studied and preserved Antiquities. He dyed June 10, 1735. Aged 57 years. Deut. xxxii: 7. Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask thy Father and he will shew thee; thy elders and they will tell thee. Job. viii. 8, 9, 10. Enquire I pray thee." _Life of Hearne_, p. 34.] [Footnote 9: Of Dr. MEAD and his Library a particular account is given in the following pages.] [Footnote 10: For this distinguished character consult Nichols's _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, 550, note*; which, however, relates entirely to his ordinary habits and modes of life. His magnificent collection of Natural Curiosities and MSS. is now in the British Museum.] [Footnote 11: The annals of the Aldine Press have had ample justice done to them in the beautiful and accurate work published by Renouard, under the title of "_Annales de L'Imprimerie des Alde_," in two vols., 8vo. 1804. One is rather surprised at not finding any reference to this masterly piece of bibliography in the last edition of Mr. Roscoe's Leo X., where there is a pleasing account of the establishment of the Aldine Press.] [Footnote 12: I do not recollect having seen any book bound by this binder. Of Padaloup, De Rome, and Baumgarten, where is the fine collection that does not boast of a few specimens? We will speak "anon" of the Roger Paynes, Kalthoebers, Herrings, Stagemiers, and in Macklays of the day!] [Footnote 13: This is not the reproach of the age we live in; for reprints of Bacon, Locke, and Milton have been published with complete success. It would be ridiculous indeed for a man of sense, and especially a University man, to give £5 or £6 for "_Gosson's School of Abuse, against Pipers and Players_," or £3. 3_s._ for a clean copy of "_Recreation for Ingenious Head Pieces_, or a _Pleasant Grove for their Wits to walk in,"_ and grudge the like sum for a dozen handsome octavo volumes of the finest writers of his country.] [Footnote 14: About twelve years ago I was rash enough to publish a small volume of Poems, with my name affixed. They were the productions of my juvenile years; and I need hardly say, at this period, how ashamed I am of their author-ship. The monthly and Analytical Reviews did me the kindness of just tolerating them, and of warning me not to commit any future trespass upon the premises of Parnassus. I struck off 500 copies, and was glad to get rid of half of them as waste paper; the remaining half has been partly destroyed by my own hands, and has partly mouldered away in oblivion amidst the dust of Booksellers' shelves. My only consolation is that the volume is _exceedingly rare_!] If ever there was a country upon the face of the globe--from the days of Nimrod the beast, to Bagford[15] the book-hunter--distinguished for the variety, the justness, and magnanimity of its views; if ever there was a nation which really and unceasingly "felt for another's woe" [I call to witness our Infirmaries, Hospitals, Asylums, and other public and private Institutions of a charitable nature, that, like so many belts of adamant, unite and strengthen us in the great cause of HUMANITY]; if ever there was a country and a set of human beings pre-eminently distinguished for all the social virtues which soften and animate the soul of man, surely OLD ENGLAND and ENGLISHMEN ARE THEY! The common cant, it may be urged, of all writers in favour of the country where they chance to live! And what, you will say, has this to do with Book Collectors and Books?--Much, every way: a nation thus glorious is, at this present eventful moment, afflicted not only with the Dog[16], but the BOOK, disease-- Fire in each eye, and paper in each hand They rave, recite,---- [Footnote 15: "JOHN BAGFORD, by profession a bookseller, frequently travelled into Holland and other parts, in search of scarce books and valuable prints, and brought a vast number into this kingdom, the greatest part of which were purchased by the Earl of Oxford. He had been in his younger days a shoemaker; and, for the many curiosities wherewith he enriched the famous library of Dr. John Moore, Bishop of Ely, his Lordship got him admitted into the Charter House. He died in 1706, aged 65: after his death Lord Oxford purchased all his collections and papers, for his library: these are now in the Harleian collection in the British Museum. In 1707 were published, in the Philosophical Transactions, his Proposals for a General History of Printing."--Bowyer and Nichols's _Origin of Printing_, p. 164, 189, note. It has been my fortune (whether good or bad remains to be proved) not only to transcribe the slender memorial of Printing in the Philosophical Transactions, drawn up by Wanley for Bagford, but to wade through _forty-two_ folio volumes, in which Bagford's materials for a History of Printing are incorporated, in the British Museum: and from these, I think I have furnished myself with a pretty fair idea of the said Bagford. He was the most hungry and rapacious of all book and print collectors; and, in his ravages, spared neither the most delicate nor costly specimens. His eyes and his mouth seem to have been always open to express his astonishment at, sometimes, the most common and contemptible productions; and his paper in the Philosophical Transactions betrays such simplicity and ignorance that one is astonished how my Lord Oxford and the learned Bishop of Ely could have employed so credulous a bibliographical forager. A modern collector and lover of _perfect_ copies will witness, with shuddering, among Bagford's immense collection of Title Pages, in the Museum, the frontispieces of the Complutensian Polyglot, and Chauncy's History of Hertfordshire, torn out to illustrate a History of Printing. His enthusiasm, however, carried him through a great deal of laborious toil; and he supplied, in some measure, by this qualification, the want of other attainments. His whole mind was devoted to book-hunting; and his integrity and diligence probably made his employers overlook his many failings. His hand-writing is scarcely legible, and his orthography is still more wretched; but if he was ignorant, he was humble, zealous, and grateful; and he has certainly done something towards the accomplishment of that desirable object, an accurate General History of Printing. In my edition of _Ames's Typographical Antiquities_, I shall give an analysis of Bagford's papers, with a specimen or two of his composition.] [Footnote 16: For an eloquent account of this disorder consult the letters of Dr. Mosely inserted in the Morning Herald of last year. I have always been surprised, and a little vexed, that these animated pieces of composition should be relished and praised by every one--but _the Faculty_!] Let us enquire, therefore, into the origin and tendency of the BIBLIOMANIA. In this enquiry I purpose considering the subject under three points of view: I. THE HISTORY OF THE DISEASE; or an account of the eminent men who have fallen victims to it: II. THE NATURE, OR SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE: and III. THE PROBABLE MEANS OF ITS CURE. We are to consider, then, 1. THE HISTORY OF THE DISEASE. In treating of the history of this disease, it will be found to have been attended with this remarkable circumstance; namely, that it has almost uniformly confined its attacks to the _male_ sex, and, among these, to people in the higher and middling classes of society, while the artificer, labourer, and peasant have escaped wholly uninjured. It has raged chiefly in palaces, castles, halls, and gay mansions; and those things which in general are supposed not to be inimical to health, such as cleanliness, spaciousness, and splendour, are only so many inducements towards the introduction and propagation of the BIBLIOMANIA! What renders it particularly formidable is that it rages in all seasons of the year, and at all periods of human existence. The emotions of friendship or of love are weakened or subdued as old age advances; but the influence of this passion, or rather disease, admits of no mitigation: "it grows with our growth, and strengthens with our strength;" and is oft-times ----The ruling passion strong in death.[17] [Footnote 17: The writings of the Roman philologers seem to bear evidence of this fact. Seneca, when an old man, says that, "if you are fond of books, you will escape the ennui of life; you will neither sigh for evening, disgusted with the occupations of the day--nor will you live dissatisfied with yourself, or unprofitable to others." _De Tranquilitate_, ch. 3. Cicero has positively told us that "study is the food of youth, and the amusement of old age." _Orat. pro Archia_. The younger Pliny was a downright Bibliomaniac. "I am quite transported and comforted," says he, "in the midst of my books: they give a zest to the happiest, and assuage the anguish of the bitterest, moments of existence! Therefore, whether distracted by the cares or the losses of my family, or my friends, I fly to my library as the only refuge in distress: here I learn to bear adversity with fortitude." _Epist._ lib. viii. cap. 19. But consult Cicero _De Senectute_. All these treatises afford abundant proof of the hopelessness of cure in cases of the Bibliomania.] We will now, my dear Sir, begin "making out the catalogue" of victims to the BIBLIOMANIA! The first eminent character who appears to have been infected with this disease was RICHARD DE BURY, one of the tutors of Edward III., and afterwards Bishop of Durham; a man who has been uniformly praised for the variety of his erudition, and the intenseness of his ardour in book-collecting.[18] I discover no other notorious example of the fatality of the BIBLIOMANIA until the time of Henry VII.; when the monarch himself may be considered as having added to the number. Although our venerable typographer, Caxton, lauds and magnifies, with equal sincerity, the whole line of British Kings, from Edward IV. to Henry VII. [under whose patronage he would seem, in some measure, to have carried on his printing business], yet, of all these monarchs, the latter alone was so unfortunate as to fall a victim to this disease. His library must have been a magnificent one, if we may judge from the splendid specimens of it which now remain.[19] It would appear, too, that, about this time, the BIBLIOMANIA was increased by the introduction of foreign printed books; and it is not very improbable that a portion of Henry's immense wealth was devoted towards the purchase of VELLUM copies, which were now beginning to be published by the great typographical triumvirate, Verard, Eustace, and Pigouchet. [Footnote 18: It may be expected that I should notice a few book-lovers, and probably BIBLIOMANIACS, previously to the time of Richard De Bury; but so little is known with accuracy of Johannes Scotus Erigena, and his patron Charles the Bald, King of France, or of the book tête-a-têtes they used to have together--so little, also, of Nennius, Bede, and Alfred [although the monasteries at this period, from the evidence of Sir William Dugdale, in the first volume of the Monasticon were "opulently endowed,"--inter alia, I should hope, with magnificent MSS. on vellum, bound in velvet, and embossed with gold and silver], or the illustrious writers in the Norman period, and the fine books which were in the abbey of Croyland--so little is known of book-collectors, previously to the 14th century, that I thought it the most prudent and safe way to begin with the above excellent prelate. RICHARD DE BURY was the friend and correspondent of Petrarch; and is said by Mons. de Sade, in his Memoires pour la vie de Petrarque, "to have done in England what Petrarch did all his life in France, Italy, and Germany, towards the discovery of MSS. of the best ancient writers, and making copies of them under his own superintendence." His passion for book-collecting was unbounded ["vir ardentis ingenii," says Petrarch of him]; and in order to excite the same ardour in his countrymen, or rather to propagate the disease of the BIBLIOMANIA with all his might, he composed a bibliographical work under the title of _Philobiblion_; concerning the first edition of which, printed at Spires in 1483, Clement (tom. v. 142) has a long gossiping account; and Morhof tells us that it is "rarissima et in paucorum manibus versatur." It was reprinted in Paris in 1500, 4to., by the elder Ascensius, and frequently in the subsequent century, but the best editions of it are those by Goldastus in 1674, 8vo., and Hummius in 1703. Morhof observes that, "however De Bury's work savours of the rudeness of the age, it is rather elegantly written, and many things are well said in it relating to Bibliothecism." _Polyhist. Literar._ vol. i. 187, edit. 1747. For further particulars concerning De Bury, read Bale, Wharton, Cave, and Godwin's Episcopal Biography. He left behind him a fine library of MSS. which he bequeathed to Durham, now Trinity, College, Oxford. It may be worth the antiquary's notice, that, in consequence (I suppose) of this amiable prelate's exertions, "in every convent was a noble library and a great: and every friar, that had state in school, such as they be now, hath AN HUGH LIBRARY." See the curious Sermon of the Archbishop of Armagh, Nov. 8, 1387, in Trevisa's works among the _Harleian MSS._ No. 1900. Whether these Friars, thus affected with the frensy of book-collecting, ever visited the "old chapelle at the Est End of the church of S. Saink [Berkshire], whither of late time resorted in pilgrimage many folkes for the disease of _madness_," [see Leland's _Itinerary_, vol. ii. 29, edit. 1770] I have not been able, after the most diligent investigation, to ascertain.] [Footnote 19: The British Museum contains a great number of books which bear the royal stamp of Henry VII.'s arms. Some of these printed by Verard, UPON VELLUM, are magnificent memorials of a library, the dispersion of which is for ever to be regretted. As Henry VIII. knew nothing of, and cared less for, fine books, it is not very improbable that some of the choicest volumes belonging to the late king were presented to Cardinal Wolsey.] During the reign of Henry VIII., I should suppose that the Earl of Surrey[20] and Sir Thomas Wyatt were a little attached to book-collecting; and that Dean Colet[21] and his friend Sir Thomas More and Erasmus were downright Bibliomaniacs. There can be little doubt but that neither the great LELAND[22] nor his Biographer Bale,[23] were able to escape the contagion; and that, in the ensuing period, Rogar [Transcriber's Note: Roger] Ascham became notorious for the Book-disease. He purchased probably, during his travels abroad[24] many a fine copy of the Greek and Latin Classics, from which he read to his illustrious pupils, Lady Jane Grey, and Queen Elizabeth: but whether he made use of an _Editio Princeps_, or a _Large paper copy_, I have hitherto not been lucky enough to discover. This learned character died in the vigour of life, and in the bloom of reputation: and, as I suspect, in consequence of the BIBLIOMANIA--for he was always collecting books, and always studying them. His "Schoolmaster" is a work which can only perish with our language. [Footnote 20: The EARL of SURREY and SIR THOMAS WYATT were among the first who taught their countrymen to be charmed with the elegance and copiousness of their own language. How effectually they accomplished this laudable object, will be seen from the forthcoming beautiful and complete edition of their works by the Rev. Dr. Nott.[B]] [Footnote B: It fell to the lot of the printer of this volume, during his apprenticeship to his father, to correct the press of nearly the whole of Dr. Nott's labours, which were completed, after several years of toil, when in the extensive conflagration of the printing-office at Bolt Court, Fleet-street, in 1819, all but _two_ copies were totally destroyed!] [Footnote 21: COLET, MORE, and ERASMUS [considering the latter when he was in England] were _here_ undoubtedly the great literary triumvirate of the early part of the 16th century. The lives of More and Erasmus are generally read and known; but of DEAN COLET it may not be so generally known that his ardour for books and for classical literature was keen, and insatiable; that, in the foundation of ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL, he has left behind a name which entitles him to rank in the foremost of those who have fallen victims to the BIBLIOMANIA. How anxiously does he seem to have watched the progress, and pushed the sale, of his friend Erasmus's first edition of the Greek Testament! "Quod scribis de Novo Testamento intelligo. Et libri _novæ editionis tuæ hic avide emuntur et passim leguntur_!" The entire epistle (which may be seen in Dr. Knight's dry Life of Colet, p. 315) is devoted to an account of Erasmus's publications. "I am really astonished, my dear Erasmus [does he exclaim], at the fruitfulness of your talents; that, without any fixed residence, and with a precarious and limited income, you contrive to publish so many and such excellent works." Adverting to the distracted state of Germany at this period, and to the wish of his friend to live secluded and unmolested, he observes--"As to the tranquil retirement which you sigh for, be assured that you have my sincere wishes for its rendering you as happy and composed as you can wish it. Your age and erudition entitle you to such a retreat. I fondly hope, indeed, that you will choose this country for it, and come and live amongst us, whose disposition you know, and whose friendship you have proved." There is hardly a more curious picture of the custom of the times, relating to the education of boys, than the Dean's own Statutes for the regulation of St. Paul's School, which he had founded. These shew, too, the _popular books_ then read by the learned. "The children shall come unto the School in the morning at seven of the clock, both winter and summer, and tarry there until eleven; and return against one of the clock, and depart at five, &c. In the school, no time in the year, they shall use tallow candle in no wise, but _only wax candle_, at the costs of their friends. Also I will they bring no meat nor drink, nor bottle, nor use in the school no breakfasts, nor drinkings, in the time of learning, in no wise, &c. I will they use no cockfightings, nor riding about of victory, nor disputing at Saint Bartholomew, which is but foolish babbling and loss of time." The master is then restricted, under the penalty of 40 shillings, from granting the boys a holiday, or "remedy," [play-day,] as it is here called "except the King, an Archbishop, or a Bishop, present in his own person in the school, desire it." The studies for the lads were, "Erasmus's Copia & Institutum Christiani Hominis (composed at the Dean's request) Lactantius, Prudentius, Juvencus, Proba and Sedulius, and Baptista Mantuanus, and such other as shall be thought convenient and most to purpose unto the true Latin speech: all barbary, all corruption, all Latin adulterate, which ignorant blind fools brought into this world, and with the same hath distained and poisoned the old Latin speech, and the _veray_ Roman tongue, which in the time of Tully and Sallust and Virgil and Terence was used--I say that filthiness, and all such abusion, which the later blind world brought in, which more rather may be called _Bloterature_ that [Transcriber's Note: than] _Literature_, I utterly banish and exclude out of this school." _Life of Knight's Colet_, 362-4. What was to be expected, but that boys, thus educated, would hereafter fall victims to the BIBLIOMANIA?] [Footnote 22: The history of this great men [Transcriber's Note: man], and of his literary labours, is most interesting. He was a pupil of William Lilly, the first head-master of St. Paul's School; and, by the kindness and liberality of a Mr. Myles, he afterwards received the advantage of a College education, and was supplied with money in order to travel abroad, and make such collections as he should deem necessary for the great work which even then seemed to dawn upon his young and ardent mind. Leland endeavoured to requite the kindness of his benefactor by an elegant copy of Latin verses, in which he warmly expatiates on the generosity of his patron, and acknowledges that his acquaintance with the _Almæ Matres_ [for he was of both Universities] was entirely the result of such beneficence. While he resided on the continent, he was admitted into the society of the most eminent Greek and Latin Scholars, and could probably number among his correspondents the illustrious names of Budæus, Erasmus, the Stephani, Faber and Turnebus. Here, too, he cultivated his natural taste for poetry; and from inspecting the fine BOOKS which the Italian and French presses had produced, as well as fired by the love of Grecian learning, which had fled, on the sacking of Constantinople, to take shelter in the academic bowers of the Medici, he seems to have matured his plans for carrying into effect the great work which had now taken full possession of his mind. He returned to England, resolved to institute an inquiry into the state of the LIBRARIES, Antiquities, Records and Writings then in existence. Having entered into holy orders, and obtained preferment at the express interposition of the King, (Henry VIII.), he was appointed his Antiquary and Library Keeper, and a royal commission was issued in which Leland was directed to search after "ENGLAND'S ANTIQUITIES, and peruse the LIBRARIES of all Cathedrals, Abbies, Priories, Colleges, etc., as also all the places wherein Records, Writings, and Secrets of Antiquity were reposited." "Before Leland's time," says Hearne, in the Preface to the Itinerary, "all the literary monuments of Antiquity were totally disregarded; and Students of Germany, apprised of this culpable indifference, were suffered to enter our libraries unmolested, and to cut out of the books deposited there whatever passages they thought proper--which they afterwards published as relics of the ancient literature of their own country." Leland was occupied, without intermission, in this immense undertaking, for the space of six years; and, on its completion, he hastened to the metropolis to lay at the feet of his Sovereign the result of his researches. This was presented to Henry under the title of A NEW YEAR'S GIFT; and was first published by Bale in 1549, 8vo. "Being inflamed," says the author, "with a love to see thoroughly all those parts of your opulent and ample realm, in so much that all my other occupations intermitted, I have so travelled in your dominions, both by the sea coasts and the middle parts, sparing neither labour nor costs, by the space of six years past, that there is neither cape nor bay, haven, creek, or pier, river, or confluence of rivers, breeches, wastes, lakes, moors, fenny waters, mountains, vallies, heaths, forests, chases, woods, cities, burghes, castles, principal manor places, monasteries and colleges, but I have seen them; and noted, in so doing, a whole world of things very memorable." Leland moreover tells his Majesty--that "By his laborious journey and costly enterprise, he had conserved many good authors, the which otherwise had been like to have perished; of the which, part remained in the royal palaces, part also in his own custody, &c." As Leland was engaged six years in this literary tour, so he was occupied for a no less period of time in digesting and arranging the prodigious number of MSS. he had collected. But he sunk beneath the immensity of the task! The want of amanuenses, and of other attentions and comforts, seems to have deeply affected him; in this melancholy state, he wrote to Archbishop Cranmer a Latin epistle, in verse, of which the following is the commencement--very forcibly describing his situation and anguish of mind. Est congesta mihi domi supellex Ingens, aurea, nobilis, venusta Qua totus studeo Britanniarum Vero reddere gloriam nitori. Sed fortuna meis noverca coeptis Jam felicibus invidet maligna. Quare, ne pereant brevi vel hora Multarum mihi noctium labores Omnes---- CRANMERE, eximium decus piorum! Implorare tuam benignitatem Cogor. The result was that Leland lost his senses; and, after lingering two years in a state of total derangement, he died on the 18th of April, 1552. "Prôh tristes rerum humanarum vices! prôh viri optimi deplorandam infelicissimamque sortem!" exclaims Dr. Smith, in his preface to Camden's Life, 1691, 4to. The precious and voluminous MSS. of Leland were doomed to suffer a fate scarcely less pitiable than that of their owner. After being pilfered by some, and garbled by others, they served to replenish the pages of Stow, Lambard, Camden, Burton, Dugdale, and many other antiquaries and historians. Polydore Virgil, who had stolen from them pretty freely, had the insolence to abuse Leland's memory--calling him "a vain glorious man;" but what shall we say to this flippant egotist? who, according to Caius's testimony [_De Antiq. Cantab. head. lib._ 1.] "to prevent a discovery of the many errors of his own History of England, collected and burnt a greater number of ancient histories and manuscripts than would have loaded a waggon." The imperfect remains of Leland's MSS. are now deposited in the Bodleian Library, and in the British Museum. Upon the whole, it must be acknowledged that Leland is a melancholy, as well as illustrious, example of the influence of the BIBLIOMANIA!] [Footnote 23: In spite of BALE'S coarseness, positiveness, and severity, he has done much towards the cause of learning; and, perhaps, towards the propagation of the disease under discussion. His regard for Leland does him great honour; and although his plays are miserably dull, notwithstanding the high prices which the original editions of them bear, (vide ex. gr. Cat. Steevens, No. 1221; which was sold for £12 12_s._ See also the reprints in the Harleian Miscellany) the lover of literary antiquities must not forget that his "_Scriptores Britanniæ_" are yet quoted with satisfaction by some of the most respectable writers of the day. That he wanted delicacy of feeling, and impartiality of investigation, must be admitted; but a certain rough honesty and prompt benevolence which he had about him compensated for a multitude of offences. The abhorrence with which he speaks of the dilapidation of some of our old libraries must endear his memory to every honest bibliographer: "Never (says he) had we been offended for the loss of our LIBRARIES, being so many in number, and in so desolate places for the more part, if the chief monuments and most notable works of our excellent writers had been reserved. If there had been in every shire of England, but one SOLEMPNE LIBRARY, to the preservation of those noble works, and preferment of good learning in our posterity, it had been yet somewhat. But to destroy all without consideration, is, and will be, unto England for ever, a most horrible infamy among the grave seniors of other nations. A great number of them which purchased those superstitious mansions, reserved of those library-books, some to serve the _jakes_, some to scour their candlesticks, and some to rub their boots: some they sold to the grocers and soap-sellers; some they sent over sea to the book-binders, not in small number, but at times whole ships full, to the wondering of the foreign nations. Yea, the Universities of this realm are not all clear of this detestable fact. But cursed is that belly which seeketh to be fed with such ungodly gain, and shameth his natural country. I know a merchant man, which shall at this time be nameless, that _bought the contents of two noble libraries for forty shillings price_; a shame it is to be spoken! This stuff hath he occupied in the stead of grey paper, by the space of more than ten years, and yet he hath store enough for as many year to come!" Bale's Preface to Leland's "_Laboryouse journey_, &c." Emprented at London by John Bale. Anno M.D. xlix. 8vo. After this, who shall doubt the story of the Alexandrian Library supplying the hot baths of Alexandria with fuel for six months! See Gibbon on the latter subject; vol. ix. 440.] [Footnote 24: ASCHAM'S English letter, written when he was abroad, will be found at the end of Bennet's edition of his works, in 4to. They are curious and amusing. What relates to the BIBLIOMANIA I here select from similar specimens. "Oct. 4. At afternoon I went about the town [of Bruxelles]. I went to the frier [Transcriber's Note: friar] Carmelites house, and heard their even song: after, I desired to see the LIBRARY. A frier [Transcriber's Note: friar] was sent to me, and led me into it. There was not one good book but _Lyra_. The friar was learned, spoke Latin readily, entered into Greek, having a very good wit, and a greater desire to learning. He was gentle and honest, &c." p. 370-1. "Oct. 20. to Spira: a good city. Here I first saw _Sturmius de periodis_. I also found here _Ajax_, _Electra_, and _Antigone Sophocles_, excellently, by my good judgment, translated into verse, and fair printed this summer by Gryphius. Your stationers do ill, that at least do 'not provide you the register of all books, especially of old authors, &c.'" p. 372. Again: "Hieronimus Wolfius, that translated Demosthenes and Isocrates, is in this town. I am well acquainted with him, and have brought him twice to my Lord's to dinner. He looks very simple. He telleth me that one Borrheus, that hath written well upon Aristot. priorum, &c., even now is printing goodly commentaries upon Aristotle's Rhetoric. But Sturmius will obscure them all." p. 381. It is impossible to read these extracts without being convinced that Roger Ascham was a book-hunter, and infected with the BIBLIOMANIA!] If we are to judge from the beautiful Missal lying open before Lady Jane Grey, in Mr. Copley's elegant picture now exhibiting at the British Institution, it would seem rational to infer that this amiable and learned female was slightly attacked by the disease. It is to be taken for granted that Queen Elizabeth was not exempt from it; and that her great Secretary,[25] Cecil, sympathised with her! In regard to Elizabeth, her _Prayer-Book_[26] is quite evidence sufficient for me that she found the BIBLIOMANIA irresistible! During her reign, how vast and how frightful were the ravages of the Book-madness! If we are to credit Laneham's celebrated Letter, it had extended far into the country, and infected some of the worthy inhabitants of Coventry; for one "Captain Cox,[27] by profession a mason, and that right skilful," had "as fair a library of sciences, and as many goodly monuments both in Prose and Poetry, and at afternoon could talk as much without book, as any Innholder betwixt Brentford and Bagshot, what degree soever he be!" [Footnote 25: It is a question which requires more time for the solution than I am able to spare, whether CECIL'S name stands more frequently at the head of a Dedication, in a printed book, or of State Papers and other political documents in MS. He was a wonderful man; but a little infected--as I suspect--with the BOOK-DISEASE. ----Famous Cicill, treasurer of the land, Whose wisedom, counsell, skill of Princes state The world admires---- The house itselfe doth shewe the owners wit, And may for bewtie, state, and every thing, Compared be with most within the land. _Tale of Two Swannes_, 1590. 4_to._ I have never yet been able to ascertain whether the owner's attachment towards VELLUM, or LARGE PAPER, Copies was the more vehement!] [Footnote 26: Perhaps this conclusion is too precipitate. But whoever looks at Elizabeth's portrait, on her bended knees, struck off on the reverse of the title page to her prayer book (first printed in 1565) may suppose that the Queen thought the addition of her own portrait would be no mean decoration to the work. Every page is adorned with borders, engraved on wood, of the most spirited execution: representing, amongst other subjects, "The Dance of Death." My copy is the reprint of 1608--in high preservation. I have no doubt that there was a _presentation_ copy printed UPON VELLUM; but in what cabinet does this precious gem now slumber?] [Footnote 27: Laneham gives a splendid list of Romances and Old Ballads possessed by this said CAPTAIN COX; and tells us, moreover, that "he had them all at his fingers ends." Among the ballads we find "Broom broom on Hil; So Wo is me begon twlly lo; Over a Whinny Meg; Hey ding a ding; Bony lass upon Green; My bony on gave me a bek; By a bank as I lay; and two more he had fair wrapt up in parchment, and bound with a whip cord." Edit. 1784, p. 36-7-8. Ritson, in his Historical Essay on _Scottish Song_, speaks of some of these, with a zest, as if he longed to untie the "whip-cord" packet.] While the country was thus giving proofs of the prevalence of this disorder, the two Harringtons (especially the younger)[28] and the illustrious Spenser[29] were unfortunately seized with it in the metropolis. [Footnote 28: SIR JOHN HARRINGTON, knt. Sir John, and his father John Harrington, were very considerable literary characters in the 16th century; and whoever has been fortunate enough to read through Mr. Park's new edition of the _Nugæ Antiquæ_, 1804, 8vo., will meet with numerous instances in which the son displays considerable bibliographical knowledge--especially in _Italian_ literature; Harrington and Spenser seem to have been the Matthias and Roscoe of the day. I make no doubt but that the former was as thoroughly acquainted with the _vera edizione_ of the Giuntæ edition of Boccaccio's Decamerone, 1527, 4to., as either Haym, Orlandi, or Bandini. Paterson, with all his skill, was mistaken in this article when he catalogued Croft's books. See Bibl. Crofts. No. 3976: his true edition was knocked down for 6_s._!!!] [Footnote 29: Spenser's general acquaintance with Italian literature has received the best illustration in Mr. Todd's Variorum edition of the poet's works; where the reader will find, in the notes, a constant succession of anecdotes of, and references to, the state of anterior and contemporaneous literature, foreign and domestic.] In the seventeenth century, from the death of Elizabeth to the commencement of Anne's reign, it seems to have made considerable havoc; yet, such was our blindness to it that we scrupled not to engage in overtures for the purchase of Isaac Vossius's[30] fine library, enriched with many treasures from the Queen of Sweden's, which this versatile genius scrupled not to pillage without confession or apology. During this century our great reasoners and philosophers began to be in motion; and, like the fumes of tobacco, which drive the concealed and clotted insects from the interior to the extremity of the leaves, the infectious particles of the BIBLIOMANIA set a thousand busy brains a-thinking, and produced ten thousand capricious works, which, over-shadowed by the majestic remains of Bacon, Locke, and Boyle, perished for want of air, and warmth, and moisture. [Footnote 30: "The story is extant, and written in very choice _French_." Consult Chauffepié's _Supplement to Bayle's Dictionary_, vol. iv. p. 621. note Q. Vossius's library was magnificent and extensive. The University of Leyden offered not less than 36,000 florins for it. _Idem._ p. 631.] The reign of Queen Anne was not exempt from the influence of this disease; for during this period, Maittaire[31] began to lay the foundation of his extensive library, and to publish some bibliographical works which may be thought to have rather increased, than diminished, its force. Meanwhile, Harley[32] Earl of Oxford watched its progress with an anxious eye; and although he might have learnt experience from the fatal examples of R. Smith,[33] and T. Baker,[34] and the more recent ones of Thomas Rawlinson,[35] Bridges,[36] and Collins,[37] yet he seemed resolved to brave and to baffle it; but, like his predecessors, he was suddenly crushed within the gripe of the demon, and fell one of the most splendid of his victims. Even the unrivalled medical skill of Mead[38] could save neither his friend nor himself. The Doctor survived his Lordship about twelve years; dying of the complaint called the BIBLIOMANIA! He left behind an illustrious character; sufficient to flatter and soothe those who may tread in his footsteps, and fall victims to a similar disorder. [Footnote 31: Of MICHAEL MAITTAIRE I have given a brief sketch in my Introduction to the _Greek and Latin Classics_, vol. I, 148. Mr. Beloe, in the 3rd vol. of his _Anecdotes of Literature_, p. ix., has described his merits with justice. The principal value of Maittaire's _Annales Typographici_ consists in a great deal of curious matter detailed in the notes; but the absence of the "lucidus ordo" renders the perusal of these fatiguing and dissatisfactory. The author brought a full and well-informed mind to the task he undertook--but he wanted taste and precision in the arrangement of his materials. The eye wanders over a vast indigested mass; and information, when it is to be acquired with excessive toil, is, comparatively, seldom acquired. Panzer has adopted an infinitely better plan, on the model of Orlandi; and, if his materials had been _printed_ with the same beauty with which they appear to have been composed, and his annals had descended to as late a period as those of Maittaire, his work must have made us, eventually, forget that of his predecessor. The bibliographer is, no doubt, aware that of Maittaire's first volume there are two editions. Why the author did not reprint, in the second edition (1733), the facsimile of the epigram and epistle of LASCAR prefixed to the edition of the Anthology 1496, and the disquisition concerning the ancient editions of Quintilian (both of which were in the first edition of 1719), is absolutely inexplicable. Maittaire was sharply attacked for this absurdity, in the "Catalogus Auctorum," of the "_Annus Tertius Sæcularis Inv. Art. Topog._" Harlem, 1741, 8vo. p. 11. "Rara certe Librum augendi methodus (exclaims the author)! Satis patet auctorem hoc eo fecisse consilio, ut et primæ et secundæ Libri sive editioni pretium suum constaret, et una æque ac altera Lectoribus necessaria esset." The catalogue of Maittaire's library [1748, 2 parts, 8vo.], which affords ample proof of the BIBLIOMANIA of its collector, is exceedingly scarce. A good copy of it, even unpriced, is worth a guinea: it was originally sold for 4 shillings; and was drawn up by Maittaire himself.] [Footnote 32: In a periodical publication called "_The Director_," to which I contributed under the article of "_Bibliographiana_" (and of which the printer of this work, Mr. William Savage, is now the sole publisher), there was rather a minute analysis of the famous library of HARLEY, EARL OF OXFORD: a library which seems not only to have revived, but eclipsed, the splendour of the Roman one formed by Lucullus. The following is an abridgement of this analysis: VOLUMES. 1. Divinity: _Greek, Latin, French and Italian_--about 2000 ---- _English_ 2500 2. History and Antiquities 4000 3. Books of Prints, Sculpture, and Drawings-- _Twenty Thousand Drawings and Prints._ _Ten Thousand Portraits._ 4. Philosophy, Chemistry, Medicine, &c. 2500 5. Geography, Chronology, General History 600 6. Voyages and Travels 800 7. Law 800 8. Sculpture and Architecture 900 9. Greek and Latin Classics 2400 10. Books printed UPON VELLUM 220 11. English Poetry, Romances, &c. 1000 12. French and Spanish do. 700 13. Parliamentary Affairs 400 14. Trade and Commerce 300 15. Miscellaneous Subjects 4000 16. Pamphlets--_Four Hundred Thousand_! Mr. Gough says, these books "filled thirteen handsome chambers, and two long galleries." Osborne the bookseller purchased them for £13,000: a sum little more than two thirds of the price of the binding, as paid by Lord Oxford. The bookseller was accused of injustice and parsimony; but the low prices which he afterwards affixed to the articles, and the tardiness of their sale, are sufficient refutations of this charge. Osborne opened his shop for the inspection of the books on Tuesday the 14th of February, 1744; for fear "of the curiosity of the spectators, before the sale, producing disorder in the disposition of the books." The dispersion of the HARLEIAN COLLECTION is a blot in the literary annals of our country: had there then been such a Speaker, and such a spirit in the House of Commons, as we now possess, the volumes of Harley would have been reposing with the MARBLES OF TOWNLEY!] [Footnote 33: "BIBLIOTHECA SMITHIANA: sive Catalogus Librorum in quavis facultate insigniorum, quos in usum suum et Bibliothecæ ornamentum multo ære sibi comparavit vir clarissimus doctissimusque D. RICHARDUS SMITH, &c., Londini, 1682," 4to. I recommend the collector of curious and valuable catalogues to lay hold upon the present one (of which a more particular description will be given in another work) whenever it comes in his way. The address "To the Reader," in which we are told that "this so much celebrated, so often desired, so long expected, library is now exposed to sale," gives a very interesting account of the owner. Inter alia, we are informed that Mr. Smith "was as constantly known every day to walk his rounds through the shops, as to sit down to his meals, &c.;" and that "while others were forming arms, and new-modelling kingdoms, _his_ great ambition was to become master of a good book." The catalogue itself justifies every thing said in commendation of the collector of the library. The arrangement is good; the books, in almost all departments of literature, foreign and domestic, valuable and curious; and among the English ones I have found some of the rarest Caxtons to refer to in my edition of Ames. What would Mr. Bindley, or Mr. Malone, or Mr. Douce, give to have the _creaming_ of such a collection of "Bundles of Stitcht Books and Pamphlets," as extends from page 370 to 395 of this catalogue! But alas! while the Bibliographer exults in, or hopes for, the possession of such treasures, the physiologist discovers therein fresh causes of disease, and the philanthropist mourns over the ravages of the BIBLIOMANIA!] [Footnote 34: Consult Masters's "_Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the late Rev._ THOMAS BAKER," Camb. 1864, 8vo. Let any person examine the catalogue of _Forty-two_ folio volumes of "MS. collections by Mr. Baker," (as given at the end of this piece of biography) and reconcile himself, if he can, to the supposition that the said Mr. Baker did not fall a victim to the _Book-disease_! For some cause, I do not now recollect what, Baker took his name off the books of St. John's College, Cambridge, to which he belonged; but such was his attachment to the place, and more especially to the library, that he spent a great portion of the ensuing twenty years of his life within the precincts of the same: frequently comforted and refreshed, no doubt, by the sight of the magnificent LARGE PAPER copies of Walton and Castell, and of Cranmer's Bible UPON VELLUM!] [Footnote 35: This THOMAS RAWLINSON, who is introduced in the Tatler under the name _Tom Folio_, was a very extraordinary character, and most desperately addicted to book-hunting. Because his own house was not large enough, he hired _London House_, in Aldersgate Street, for the reception of his library; and here he used to regale himself with the sight and the scent of innumerable black letter volumes, arranged in "sable garb," and stowed perhaps "three deep," from the bottom to the top of his house. He died in 1725; and Catalogues of his books for sale continued, for nine succeeding years, to meet the public eye. The following is a list of all the parts which I have ever met with; taken from copies in Mr. Heber's possession. _Part_ 1. _A Catalogue of choice and valuable Books in most Faculties and Languages_: being the sixth part of the collection made by THOS. RAWLINSON, Esq., &c., to be sold on Thursday, the 2d day of March, 1726; beginning every evening at 5 of the clock, by Charles Davis, Bookseller. Qui non credit, eras credat. Ex Autog. T.R. 2. _Bibliotheca Rawlinsoniana_; sive Delectus Librorum in omni ferè Linguâ et Facultate præstantium--to be sold on Wednesday 26th April, [1726] by Charles Davis, Bookseller. 2600 Numbers. 3. _The Same_: January 1727-8. By Thomas Ballard, Bookseller, 3520 Numbers. 4. _The Same_: March, 1727-8. By the same. 3840 Numbers. 5. _The Same_: October, 1728. By the same. 3200 Numbers. 6. _The Same_: November, 1728. By the same. 3520 Numbers. 7. _The Same_: April, 1729. By the same. 4161 Numbers. 8. _The Same_: November, 1729. By the same. 2700 Numbers. 9. _The Same_: [Of Rawlinson's MANUSCRIPTS] By the same. March 1733-4. 800 Numbers. 10. _Picturæ Rawlinsonianæ._ April, 1734. 117 Articles. At the end, it would seem that a catalogue of his prints, and MSS. missing in the last sale, were to be published the ensuing winter. N.B. The black-letter books are catalogued in the Gothic letter.] [Footnote 36: "BIBLIOTHECÆ BRIDGESIANÆ CATALOGUS: or, A Catalogue of the Entire Library of JOHN BRIDGES, late of _Lincoln's Inn_, Esq., &c., which will begin to be sold, by Auction, on Monday the seventh day of February, 1725-6, at his chambers in _Lincoln's Inn_, No. 6." From a priced copy of this sale catalogue, in my possession, once belonging to Nourse, the bookseller in the Strand, I find that the following was the produce of the sale: The Amount of the books £3730 0 0 Prints and books of Prints 394 17 6 ----------- Total Amount of the Sale £4124 17 6 Two different catalogues of this valuable collection of books were printed. The one was analysed, or a _catalogue raisonné_; to which was prefixed a print of a Grecian portico, &c., with ornaments and statues: the other (expressly for the sale) was an indigested and extremely confused one--to which was prefixed a print, designed and engraved by A. Motte, of an oak felled, with a number of men cutting down and carrying away its branches; illustrative of the following Greek motto inscribed on a scroll above--[Greek: Dryos pesousês pas anêr xyleuetai]: "An affecting memento (says Mr. Nichols, very justly, in his _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, p. 557) to the collectors of great libraries, who cannot, or do not, leave them to some public accessible repository."] [Footnote 37: In the year 1730-1, there was sold by auction, at St. Paul's Coffee-house, in St. Paul's Church-yard (beginning every evening at five o'clock), the library of the celebrated Free-Thinker, ANTHONY COLLINS, ESQ. "Containing a collection of several thousand volumes in Greek, Latin, English, French, and Spanish; in divinity, history, antiquity, philosophy, husbandry, and all polite literature: and especially many curious travels and voyages; and many rare and valuable pamphlets." This collection, which is divided into _two parts_ (the first containing 3451 articles, the second 3442), is well worthy of being consulted by the theologian, who is writing upon any controverted point of divinity: there are articles in it of the rarest occurrence. The singular character of its owner and of his works is well known: he was at once the friend and the opponent of Locke and Clarke, who were both anxious for the conversion of a character of such strong, but misguided, talents. The former, on his death-bed, wrote Collins a letter to be delivered to him, after his decease, which was full of affection and good advice.] [Footnote 38: It is almost impossible to dwell on the memory of this GREAT MAN without emotions of delight--whether we consider him as an eminent physician, a friend to literature, or a collector of books, pictures, and coins. Benevolence, magnanimity, and erudition were the striking features of his character: his house was the general receptacle of men of genius and talent, and of every thing beautiful, precious, or rare. His curiosities, whether books, or coins, or pictures, were freely laid open to the public; and the enterprising student, and experienced antiquary, alike found amusement and a courteous reception. He was known to all foreigners of intellectual distinction, and corresponded both with the artisan and the potentate. The great patron of literature, and the leader of his profession (which he practised with a success unknown before), it was hardly possible for unbefriended merit, if properly introduced to him, to depart unrewarded. The clergy, and in general, all men of learning, received his advice _gratuitously_: and his doors were open every morning to the _most indigent_, whom he frequently assisted with money. Although his income, from his professional practice, was very considerable, he died by no means a rich man--so large were the sums which he devoted to the encouragement of literature and the fine arts! The sale of Dr. Mead's _books_ commenced on the 18th of November, 1754, and again on the 7th of April, 1755: lasting together 57 days. The sale of the _prints_ and _drawings_ continued 14 nights. The _gems_, _bronzes_, _busts_, and _antiquities_, 8 days. His books produced £5496 15 0 Pictures 3417 11 0 Prints and drawings 1908 14 0 Coins and medals 1977 17 0 Antiquities 3246 15 0 -------------- Amount of all the sales £16,047 12 0 It would be difficult to mention, within a moderate compass, all the rare and curious articles which his library contained--but the following are too conspicuous to be passed over. The _Spira Virgil_ of 1470, _Pfintzing's Tewrkdrancs_, 1527, _Brandt's Stultifera Navis_, 1498, and the _Aldine Petrarch_ of 1501, ALL UPON VELLUM. The large paper _Olivet's Cicero_ was purchased by Dr. Askew for £14 14_s._ and was sold again at his sale for £36 15_s._ The King of France bought the editio princeps of _Pliny Senr._ for £11 11_s._; and Mr. Willock, a bookseller, bought the magnificently illuminated _Pliny by Jenson_ of 1472, for £18 18_s._: of which Maittaire has said so many fine things. The _French_ books, and all the works upon the _Fine Arts_, were of the first rarity, and value, and bound in a sumptuous manner. Winstanley's _Prospects of Audley End_ brought £50. An amusing account of some of the pictures will be found in Mr. Beloe's "_Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books_," vol. i. 166. 71. But consult also _Nichol's Anecdotes of Bowyer_, p. 225, &c. Of the catalogue of Dr. Mead's books there were only six copies printed on LARGE PAPER. See Bibl. Lort, no. 1149.] The years 1755-6 were singularly remarkable for the mortality excited by the BIBLIOMANIA; and the well known names of Folkes,[39] and Rawlinson,[40] might have supplied a modern Holbein a hint for the introduction of a new subject in the "_Dance of Death_." The close of George the Second's reign witnessed another instance of the fatality of this disease. Henley[41] "bawled till he was hoarse" against the cruelty of its attack; while his library has informed posterity how severely and how mortally he suffered from it. [Footnote 39: "A Catalogue of the entire and valuable library of MARTIN FOLKES, ESQ., President of the Royal Society, and member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, lately deceased; which will be sold by auction by Samuel Baker, at his house, in York Street, Covent Garden. To begin on Monday, February 2, 1756, and to continue for forty days successively (Sundays excepted). Catalogues to be had at most of the considerable places in Europe, and all the booksellers of Great Britain and Ireland, Price Sixpence." This collection was an exceedingly fine one; enriched with many books of the choicest description, which Mr. Folkes had acquired in his travels in Italy and Germany. The works on natural history, coins, medals, and inscriptions, and on the fine arts in general, formed the most valuable department--those in the Greek, Latin and English classics, were comparatively of inferior importance. It is a great pity the catalogue was not better digested; or the books classed according to the nature of their contents. The following prices, for some of the more rare and interesting articles, will amuse a bibliographer of the present day. The chronicles of Fabian, Hall, and Grafton, did not altogether bring quite £2: though the copies are described as perfect and fair. There seems to have been a fine set of Sir Wm. Dugdale's Works (Nos. 3074-81) in 13 vols. which, collectively, produced about 30 guineas. In _Spanish literature_, the history of South America, By Don Juan and Ant. di Ulloa, Madr. fol. in 5 vols., was sold for £5: a fine large paper copy of the description of the Monastery of St. Lorenzo, and the Escorial, Madr. 1657, brought £1 2_s._: de Lastanosa's Spanish Medals, Huesca, fol. 1645, £2 2_s._ In _English_, the first edition of Shakespeare, 1623, which is now what a French bibliographer would say "presque introuvable," produced the sum of £3 3_s._; and Fuller's Worthies, 18_s._! _Fine Arts, Antiquities, and Voyages._ Sandrart's works, in 9 folio volumes (of which a fine perfect copy is now rarely to be met with, and of very great value) were sold for £13 13_s._ only: Desgodetz Roman edifices, Paris, 1682, £4 10_s._: Galleria Giustiniano, 2 vols., fol. £13 13_s._ Le Brun's Voyages in Muscovy, &c., in large paper, £4 4_s._ De Rossi's Raccolta de Statue, &c. Rom. 1704, £6 10_s._ Medailles du Regne de Louis le Grand, de l'imp. Roy. 1. p. fol. 1702, £5 15_s._ 6_d._ The works on _Natural History_ brought still higher prices; but the whole, from the present depreciation of specie, and increased rarity of the articles, would now bring thrice the sums then given. Of the _Greek and Latin Classics_, the Pliny of 1469 and 1472 were sold to Dr. Askew for £11 11_s._ and £7 17_s._ 6_d._ At the Doctor's sale they brought £43 and £23: although the first was lately sold (A.D. 1805) among some duplicates of books belonging to the British Museum, at a much lower price: the copy was, in fact, neither large nor beautiful. Those in the Hunter and Cracherode collections are greatly superior, and would each bring more than double the price. From a priced copy of the sale catalogue, in my possession, I find that the amount of the sale, consisting of 5126 articles, was £3091 5_s._ The _Prints and Drawings_ of Mr. Folkes occupied a sale of 8 days; and his _pictures_, _gems_, _coins_, and _mathematical instruments_, of five days. Mr. MARTIN FOLKES may justly be ranked among the most useful, as well as splendid, literary characters of which this country can boast. He appears to have imbibed, at a very early age, an extreme passion for science and literature; and to have distinguished himself so much at the University of Cambridge, under the able tuition of Dr. Laughton, that, in his 23rd year, he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society. About two years afterwards he was chosen one of the council, and rose, in gradual succession, to the chair of the presidentship, which he filled with a credit and celebrity that has since never been surpassed. On this occasion he was told by Dr. Jurin, the Secretary, who dedicated to him the 34th vol. of the Transactions, that "the greatest man that ever lived (Sir Isaac Newton) singled him out to fill the chair, and to preside in the society, when he himself was so frequently prevented by indisposition: and that it was sufficient to say of him that he was _Sir Isaac's friend_." Within a few years after this, he was elected President of the Society of Antiquaries. Two situations, the filling of which may be considered as the _ne plus ultra_ of literary distinction. Mr. Folkes travelled abroad, with his family, about two years and a half, visiting the cities of Rome, Florence, and Venice--where he was noticed by almost every person of rank and reputation, and whence he brought away many a valuable article to enrich his own collection. He was born in the year 1690, and died of a second stroke of the palsy, under which he languished for three years, in 1754. Dr. Birch has drawn a very just and interesting character of this eminent man, which may be found in Nichol's _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, 562. 7. Mr. Edwards, the late ornithologist, has described him in a simple, but appropriate, manner. "He seemed," says he, "to have attained to universal knowledge; for, in the many opportunities I have had of being in his company, almost every part of science has happened to be the subject of discourse, all of which he handled as an adept. He was a man of great politeness in his manners, free from all pedantry and pride, and, in every respect, the real unaffected fine gentleman."] [Footnote 40: "BIBLIOTHECA RAWLINSONIANA, sive Catalogus Librorum Richardi Rawlinson, LL.D. Qui prostabunt Venales sub hasta, Apud Samuelem Baker. In Vico dicto _York Street, Covent Garden Londini, Die Lunæ_, 22 Martii MDCCLVI." This valuable library must have contained about 20,000 volumes; for the number of Articles amounted to 9405. On examining a priced catalogue of it, which now lies before me, I have not found any higher sum offered for a work than £4 1_s._ for a collection of fine prints, by Aldegrave (No. 9405). The Greek and Latin classics, of which there were few _Editiones Principes_, or on _large paper_, brought the usual sums given at that period. The old English black-lettered books, which were pretty thickly scattered throughout the collection, were sold for exceedingly low prices--if the copies were perfect. Witness the following: £ _s._ _d._ The Newe Testament in English, 1530 0 2 9 The Ymage of both Churches, after the Revelation of St. John, by Bale, 1550 0 1 6 The boke called the Pype or Tonne of Perfection, by Richard Whytforde, 1532 0 1 9 The Visions of Pierce Plowman, 1561 0 2 0 The Creede of Pierce Plowman, 1553 0 1 6 The Bookes of Moses, in English, 1530 0 3 9 Bale's Actes of Englishe Votaryes, 1550 0 1 3 The Boke of Chivalrie, by Caxton 0 11 0 The Boke of St. Albans, by W. de Worde 1 1 0 These are only very few of the rare articles in English literature, of the whole of which (perhaps upwards of 200 in number) I believe, the 'Boke of St. Albans,' brought the highest sum. Hence it will be seen that this was not the age of curious research into the productions of our ancestors. Shakspeare had not then appeared in a proper _Variorum edition_. Theobald, and Pope, and Warburton, had not investigated the black-letter lore of ancient English writers, for the illustration of their favourite author. This was reserved for Farmer, for Steevens, for Malone, for Chalmers, Reed and Douce: and it is expressly to these latter gentlemen (for Johnson and Hanmer were very sparing, or very shy, of the black letter), that we are indebted for the present spirit of research into the works of our ancestors. The sale of the books lasted 50 days. There was a second sale of pamphlets, books of prints, &c., in the following year, which lasted 10 days; and this was immediately succeeded by a sale of the Doctor's single prints and drawings, which continued 8 days.] [Footnote 41: This gentleman's library, not so remarkable for the black letter as for whimsical publications, was sold by auction, by Samuel Paterson, [the earliest sale in which I find this well known book-auctioneer engaged] in June, 1759, and the three ensuing evenings. The title of the Sale Catalogue is as follows: "A Catalogue of the original MSS. and manuscript collections of the late Reverend Mr. JOHN HENLEY, A.M., Independent Minister of the Oratory, &c., in which are included sundry collections of the late Mons. des Maizeaux, the learned editor of Bayle, &c., Mr. Lowndes, author of the Report for the Amendment of Silver Coins, &c., Dr. Patrick Blair, Physician at Boston, and F.R.S. &c., together with original letters and papers of State, addressed to Henry d'Avenant, Esq., her Britannic Majesty's Envoy at Francfort, from 1703 to 1708 inclusive." Few libraries have contained more curious and remarkable publications than did this. The following articles, given as notable specimens, remind us somewhat of Addison's Memoranda for the Spectator, which the waiter at the coffee-house picked up and read aloud for the amusement of the company. No. 166. God's Manifestation by a Star to the Dutch. A mortifying Fast Diet at Court. On the Birth Day of the first and oldest young gentleman. All corrupt: none good: no not one. No. 168. General Thumbissimo. The Spring reversed, or the Flanderkin's Opera and Dutch Pickle Herrings. The Creolean Fillip, or Royal Mishap. A Martial Telescope, &c., England's Passion Sunday, and April Changelings. No. 170. Speech upon Speech. A Telescope for Tournay. No Battle, but worse, and the True Meaning of it. An Army Beaten and interred. No. 174. Signs when the P. will come. Was Captain Sw----n a Prisoner on Parole, to be catechised? David's Opinion of like Times. The Seeds of the plot may rise, though the leaves fall. A Perspective, from the Blair of Athol, the Pretender's Popery. Murder! Fire! Where! Where! No. 178. Taking Carlisle, catching an eel by the tail. Address of a Bishop, Dean and Clergy. Swearing to the P----r, &c., Anathema denounced against those Parents, Masters, and Magistrates, that do not punish the Sin at Stokesley. A Speech, &c. A parallel between the Rebels to K. Charles I. and those to his Successor. _Jane Cameron_ looked killing at _Falkirk_. No. 179. Let stocks be knighted, write, Sir Banks, &c. the Ramhead Month. A Proof that the Writers against Popery fear it will be established in this Kingdom. A Scheme, wisely blabbed to root and branch the Highlanders. Let St. Patrick have fair play, &c. Of ORATOR HENLEY I have not been able to collect any biographical details more interesting than those which are to be found in Warburton's notes to Pope's Dunciad.] We are now, my dear Sir, descending rapidly to our own times; and, in a manner sufficiently rough, have traced the _History of the Bibliomania_ to the commencement of the present illustrious reign: when we discover, among its victims, a General, who had probably faced many a cannon, and stormed many a rampart, uninjured. The name of Dormer[42] will remind you of the small but choice library which affords such a melancholy proof of its owners' fate; while the more splendid examples of Smith[43] and West[44] serve to shew the increased ravages of a disease, which seemed to threaten the lives of all, into whose ears (like those of "Visto,") some demon had "whispered" the sound of "TASTE." These three striking instances of the fatality of the Bibliomania occurred--the first in the year 1764; and the latter in 1773. The following year witnessed the sale of the Fletewode[45] library; so that nothing but despair and havoc appeared to move in the train of this pestiferous malady. In the year 1775 died the famous Dr. Anthony Askew, another illustrious victim to the Bibliomania. Those who recollect the zeal and scholarship of this great book-collector, and the precious gems with which his library[46] was stored from the cabinets of De Boze and Gaignat, as well as of Mead and Folkes, cannot but sigh with grief of heart on the thought of such a victim! How ardently, and how kindly [as I remember to have heard his friend Dr. Burges say], would Askew unfold his glittering stores--open the magnificent folio, or the shining duodecimo, UPON VELLUM, embossed and fast held together with golden knobs and silver clasps! How carefully would he unroll the curious MS.--decipher the half effaced characters--and then, casting an eye of ecstacy over the shelves upon which similar treasures were lodged, exult in the glittering prospect before him! But death--who, as Horace tells us, raps equally at the palaces of kings and cottages of peasants, made no scruple to exercise the knocker of the Doctor's door, and sent, as his avant-courier, THIS DEPLORABLE MANIA! It appeared; and even Askew, with all his skill in medicine and books, fell lifeless before it--bewailed, as he was beloved and respected! [Footnote 42: "A Catalogue of the genuine and elegant Library of the late Sir C.C. DORMER, collected by Lieutenant-General James Dormer, which will be sold, &c., by Samuel Baker, at his house in York Street, Covent Garden; to begin on Monday, February the 20th, 1764, and to continue the nineteen following evenings." At the end of the catalogue we are told that the books were "in general of the best editions, and in the finest condition, many of them in _large paper_, bound in morocco, gilt leaves, &c." This was a very choice collection of books, consisting almost entirely of Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish and French. The number of articles did not exceed 3082, and of volumes, probably not 7000. The catalogue is neatly printed, and copies of it on _large paper_ are exceedingly scarce. Among the most curious and valuable articles were those numbered 599, 604, 2249, 2590; from no. 2680, to the end, was a choice collection of Italian and Spanish books.] [Footnote 43: In the year 1755 was published at Venice, printed by J.B. Pasquali, a catalogue of the books of JOSEPH SMITH, Esq., Consul at Venice. The catalogue was published under the following Latin title: "Bibliotheca Smitheana, seu Catalogus Librorum D. Josephi Smithii, Angli, per Cognomina Authorum dispositus, Venetiis, typis Jo. Baptistæ Pasquali, M,DCCLV.;" in quarto; with the arms of Consul Smith. The title page is succeeded by a Latin preface of Pasquali, and an alphabetical list of 43 pages of the authors mentioned in the catalogue: then follow the books arranged alphabetically, without any regard to size, language, or subject. These occupy 519 pages, marked with the Roman numerals; after which are 66 pages, numbered in the same manner, of "addenda et corrigenda." The most valuable part of the volume is "The Prefaces and Epistles prefixed to those works in the Library which were printed in the 15th century:" these occupy 348 pages. A Catalogue, (in three pages) of the Names of the illustrious Men mentioned in these prefaces, &c., closes the book. It would be superfluous to mention to bibliographers the rare articles contained in this collection, which are so generally known and so justly appreciated. They consist chiefly of early editions of _Italian_, _Greek_, and _Latin classics_; and of many copies of both printed UPON VELLUM. The library, so rich in these articles, was, however, defective in English Literature and Antiquities. There was scarcely any thing of Shakspeare or Dugdale. On the death of Mr. Smith in 1772, his collection was sold in 1773, 8vo., by Baker and Leigh; and the books were announced to the public, as being "in the finest preservation, and consisting of the very best and scarcest editions of the Latin, Italian, and French authors, from the invention of printing; with manuscripts and missals, upon vellum, finely illuminated." A glance upon the prices for which most of these fine books were sold made Mr. Cuthell exclaim, in my hearing, that "_they were given away_." On these occasions, one cannot help now and then wishing, with father Evander, "O mihi præteritos referat si Jupiter annos!" On comparing Pasquali's, with the sale, catalogue, it will be obvious that a great number of rare and valuable articles was disposed of before the books came to public auction. Indeed it is known that his present MAJESTY enriched his magnificent collection with many of the Consul's _first editions_, and _vellum copies_, during the life of the latter. The sale continued thirteen days only; and on the last day were sold all the English books in the _black-letter_. Some of these are rather curious. Of CONSUL SMITH I am unable to present the lover of VIRTU with any particulars more acceptable than the following. Pasquali (whose Latin preface is curious enough--abounding with as many interrogatories as Hamlet's soliloquies) has told us that "as the Consul himself was distinguished for his politeness, talents, and prudence, so was his house for splendid and elegant decorations. You might there view, says he, the most beautifully painted pictures, and exquisite ornaments, whether gems, vases, or engravings. In short, the whole furniture was so brilliant and classical that you admired at once the magnificence and judgment of the owner." He tells us, a little further, that he had frequently solicited the Consul to print a catalogue of his books; which proposition his modesty at first induced him to reject; but, afterwards, his liberality, to comply with. He then observes that, "in the compilation of the catalogue, he has studied brevity as much as it was consistent with perspicuity; and that he was once desirous of stating the _value_ and _price_ of the books, but was dissuaded from it by the advice of the more experienced, and by the singular modesty of the Collector." It must be confessed that Pasquali has executed his task well, and that the catalogue ranks among the most valuable, as well as rare, books of the kind.] [Footnote 44: "BIBLIOTHECA WESTIANA; A catalogue of the curious and truly valuable library of the late James West, Esq., President of the Royal Society, deceased, &c. Including the works of CAXTON, LETTOU, MACHLINIA, the anonymous ST. ALBANS SCHOOLMASTE [Transcriber's Note: Schoolmaster], WYNKYN DE WORDE, PYNSON, and the rest of the old English typographers. Digested by Samuel Paterson," 1773, 8vo. ANALYSIS OF THE CATALOGUE. 1. _Volumes of Miscellaneous Tracts._ These volumes extend from No. 148 to 200, from 915 to 992, from 1201 to 1330, and from No. 1401 to 1480. 2. _Divinity._ In the whole, 560 articles; probably about 1200 volumes; some of them exceedingly scarce and valuable. 3. _Education, Languages, Criticism, Classics, Dictionaries, Catalogues of Libraries, &c._ There were about 700 volumes in these departments. The catalogues of English books, from that of Maunsell, in 1595, to the latest before Mr. West's time, were very complete. The treatises on education and translations of the ancient classics comprehended a curious and uncommon collection. The Greek and Latin classics were rather select than rare. 4. _English Poetry, Romance, and Miscellanies._ This interesting part of the collection comprehended about 355 articles, or probably about 750 volumes: and if the singularly rare and curious books which may be found _under these heads alone_ were now concentrated in one library, the owner of them might safely demand 4000 guineas for such a treasure. 5. _Philosophy, Mathematics, Inventions, Agriculture and Horticulture, Medicine, Cookery, Surgery, etc._ Two hundred and forty articles, or about 560 volumes. 6. _Chemistry, Natural History, Astrology, Sorcery, Gigantology._ Probably not more than 100 volumes. 7. _History and Antiquities._ This comprehended a great number of curious and valuable productions, relating both to foreign and domestic transactions. 8. _Heraldry and Genealogy._ A great number of curious and scarce articles may be found under these heads. 9. _Ancient Legends and Chronicles._ To the English antiquary, few departments of literature are more interesting that these. Mr. West seems to have paid particular attention to them, and to have enriched his library with many articles of this description, of the rarest occurrence. The lovers of Caxton, Fabian, Hardyng, Hall, Grafton, and Holinshed, may be highly gratified by inspecting the various editions of these old chroniclers. I entreat the diligent bibliographer to examine the first eight articles of page 209 of the catalogue. Alas, when will all these again come under the hammer at one sale?! 10. _Topography._ Even to a veteran, like the late Mr. GOUGH, such a collection as may be found from p. 217 to p. 239 of this catalogue, would be considered a first-rate acquisition. I am aware that the gothic wainscot, and stained glass windows, of _Enfield Study_ enshrined a still more exquisite topographical collection! But we are improved since the days of Mr. West; and every body knows to _whom_ these improvements are, in a great measure, to be attributed. When I call to mind the author of '_British Topography_' and '_Sepulchral Monuments_,' I am not insensible to the taste, diligence, and erudition of the "par nobile fratrum," who have gratified us with the '_Environs of London_,' '_Roman Remains_,' and the first two volumes of '_Magna Britannia_!' The preceding is to be considered as a very general, and therefore superficial, analysis of the catalogue of Mr. West's library; copies of it, with the sums for which the books were sold, are now found with difficulty, and bring a considerable price. I never saw or heard of one on LARGE PAPER!] [Footnote 45: "A catalogue of rare books and tracts in various languages and faculties; including the _Ancient Conventual Library_ of Missenden-Abbey, in Buckinghamshire; together with some choice remains of that of the late eminent Serjeant at law, WILLIAM FLETEWODE, Esq., Recorder of London, in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth; among which are several specimens of the earliest Typography, foreign and English, including CAXTON, WYNKYN DE WORDE, PYNSON, and others; a fine collection of English Poetry, some scarce old law-books, a great number of old English plays, several choice MSS. upon vellum, and other subjects of literary curiosity. Also several of the best editions of the Classics, and modern English and French books. To begin _December_ 5, 1774, and the 17 following evenings, precisely at half an hour after five." I am in possession of a _priced Catalogue_ of this collection, which once belonged to Herbert, and which contains all the purchasers' names, as well as the sums given. The purchasers were principally Herbert, Garrick, Dodd, Elmsley, T. Payne, Richardson, Chapman, Wagstaff, Bindley, and Gough. The following is a specimen of some curious and interesting articles contained in this celebrated library, and of the prices for which they once sold! No. 172. _Bale's brefe Chronycle relating to Syr Johan Oldecastell_, 1544. The Life off the 70th Archbishopp off Canterbury presentleye sittinge, 1574, &c. Life of Hen. Hills, Printer to O. Cromwell, _with the Relation of what passed between him and the Taylor's Wife in Black Friars_, 1688, _&c._ £0 7_s._ 9_d._ Purchased by Mores. Nos. 361 to 367. Upwards of thirty _scarce Theological Tracts_, in Latin and English 1 5 0 Nos. 746 to 784. A fine collection of early English Translations, in black letter, with some good foreign editions of the classics. Not exceeding, in the whole 10 10 0 Nos. 837, 838. Two copies of the _first edition_ of Bacon's Essays, 1597! 0 0 6 The reader will just glance at No. 970, in the catalogue, en passant, to Nos. 1082 (£1 2s.) and 1091 (12s.); but more particularly to No. 1173. Caxton's _Boke of Tulle of olde age_, &c. 1481. Purchased by the late Mr. T. Payne 8 8 0 No. 1174. CAXTON'S _Boke which is sayd or called Cathon_, &c. 1483. 5 0 0 Purchased by Alchorn. No. 1256. CAXTON'S _Doctrinal of Sapyence_, 1489 6 6 0 Purchased by Alchorn. No. 1257. CAXTON'S _Cordyal_, 1479 6 12 6 No. 1258. WYNKYN DE WORDE'S _Ocharde of Syon_, &c. 1519. 1 13 0 I will, however, only add that there were upwards of 150 articles of _Old Plays_, mostly in quarto. See page 73. Of _Antiquities_, _Chronicles_, and _Topography_, it would be difficult to pitch upon the rarest volumes. The collection, including very few MSS., contained 3641 articles, or probably nearly 7000 volumes. The Catalogue is uncommon.] [Footnote 46: I am now arrived, pursuing my chronological arrangement, at a very important period in the annals of book-sales. The name and collection of Dr. ASKEW are so well known in the bibliographical world that the reader need not be detained with laboured commendations on either: in the present place, however, it would be a cruel disappointment not to say a word or two by way of _preface_ or _prologue_. Dr. ANTHONY ASKEW had eminently distinguished himself by a refined taste, a sound knowledge, and an indefatigable research relating to every thing connected with Grecian and Roman literature. It was to be expected, even during his life, as he was possessed of sufficient means to gratify himself with what was rare, curious, and beautiful in literature and the fine arts, that the public would, one day, be benefited by such pursuits: especially as he had expressed a wish that his treasures might be unreservedly submitted to sale, after his decease. In this wish the Doctor was not singular. Many eminent collectors had indulged it before him: and, to my knowledge, many modern ones still indulge it. Accordingly on the death of Dr. Askew, in 1774, appeared, in the ensuing year, a catalogue of his books for sale, by Messrs. Baker and Leigh, under the following title: "BIBLIOTHECA ASKEVIANA, sive Catalogus Librorum Rarissimorum ANTONII ASKEW, M.D., quorum Auctio fiet apud S. Baker et G. Leigh, in Vico dicto _York Street, Covent Garden_, Londini. _Die Lunæ_, 13 _Februarii_, MDCCLXXV, et in undeviginti sequentes dies." A few copies were struck off on large paper. We are told by the compiler of the catalogue that it was thought unnecessary to say much with respect to this Library of the late Dr. Anthony Askew, as the Collector and Collection were so well known in almost all parts of Europe. Afterwards it is observed that "The books in general are in very fine condition, many of them bound in morocco, and Russia leather, with gilt leaves." "To give a particular account," continues the Compiler, "of the _many scarce editions_ of books in this Catalogue would be almost endless, therefore the _first editions_ of the Classics, and some _extremely rare books_ are chiefly noticed. The catalogue, without any doubt, contains the best, rarest, and most valuable collection of GREEK and LATIN BOOKS that were ever sold in England." This account is not overcharged. The collection, in regard to Greek and Roman literature, was _unique_ in its day. The late worthy and learned Mr. M. CRACHERODE, whose library now forms one of the most splendid acquisitions of the British Museum, and whose _bequest_ of it will immortalize his memory, was also among the "Emptores literarii" at this renowned sale. He had enriched his collection with many _Exemplar Askevianum_; and, in his latter days, used to elevate his hands and eyes, and exclaim against the prices _now_ offered for EDITIONES PRINCIPES! The fact is, Dr. Askew's sale has been considered a sort of _æra_ in bibliography. Since that period, rare and curious books in Greek and Latin literature have been greedily sought after, and obtained at most extravagant prices. It is very well for a veteran in bibliography, as was Mr. Cracherode, or as are Mr. Wodhull and Dr. Gosset, whose collections were formed in the days of Gaignat, Askew, Duke de la Valliere, and Lamoignon--it is very well for such gentlemen to declaim against _modern prices_! But what is to be done? Books grow scarcer every day, and the love of literature, and of possessing rare and interesting works, increases in an equal ratio. Hungry bibliographers meet, at sales, with well furnished purses, and are resolved upon sumptuous fare. Thus the hammer _vibrates_, after a bidding of _Forty pounds_, where formerly it used regularly to _fall_ at _Four_! But we lose sight of Dr. Askew's _rare editions_, and _large paper copies_. The following, gentle Reader, is but an imperfect specimen! No. 168. Chaucer's Works, by PYNSON, no date £7 17_s._ 6_d._ No. 172. Cicero of Old Age, by Caxton, 1481 13 13 0 No. 518. Gilles' (Nicole) Annales, &c. de France. Paris, fol. 1520. 2 tom. SUR VELIN 31 10 6 No. 647. Æginetæ (Pauli) Præcepta Salubria. Paris, quarto, 1510. ON VELLUM 11 0 0 No. 666. Æsopi Fabulæ. EDIT. PRIN. _circ._ 1480 6 6 0 No. 684. Boccacio, la Teseide _Ferar._ 1475. PRIMA EDIZIONE 85 0 0 No. 1433. Catullus Tibullus, et Propertius, Aldi. 8vo. 1502. IN MEMBRANA 17 10 0 This copy was purchased by the late Mr. M.C. Cracherode, and is now, with his library, in the British Museum. It is a beautiful book, but cannot be compared with Lord Spencer's Aldine VELLUM Virgil, of the same size. No. 1576. Durandi Rationale, &c. 1459. IN MEMBRANA 61 0 0 The beginning of the 1st chapter was wanting. Lord Spencer has a perfect copy of this rare book on spotless VELLUM! No. 2656. Platonis Opera, apud Aldum. 2 vol. fol. 1513. _Edit. Prin._ ON VELLUM 55 13 0 Purchased by the late Dr. W. Hunter; and is at this moment, in his Museum at _Glasgow_. The reader who has not seen them can have no idea of the beauty of these vellum leaves. The ink is of the finest lustre, and the whole typographical arrangement may be considered a master-piece of printing. Lord Oxford told Dr. Mead that he gave 100 guineas for this very copy.] After this melancholy event, one would have thought that future _Virtuosi_ would have barricadoed their doors, and fumigated their chambers, to keep out such a pest;--but how few are they who profit by experience, even when dearly obtained! The subsequent history of the disease is a striking proof of the truth of this remark; for the madness of book-collecting rather increased--and the work of death still went on. In the year 1776 died John Ratcliffe[47] another, and a very singular, instance of the fatality of the BIBLIOMANIA. If he had contented himself with his former occupation, and frequented the butter and cheese, instead of the book, market--if he could have _fancied himself_ in a brown peruke, and Russian apron, instead of an embroidered waistcoat, velvet breeches, and flowing perriwig, he might, perhaps, have enjoyed greater longevity; but, infatuated by the Caxtons and Wynkyn De Wordes of Fletewode and of West, he fell into the snare; and the more he struggled to disentangle himself, the more certainly did he become a prey to the disease. [Footnote 47: BIBLIOTHECA RATCLIFFIANA; or, "A Catalogue of the elegant and truly valuable Library of JOHN RATCLIFFE, Esq. late of Bermondsey, deceased. The whole collected with great judgment and expense, during the last thirty years of his life: comprehending a large and most choice collection of the rare old English _black-letter_, in fine preservation, and in elegant bindings, printed by CAXTON, LETTOU, MACHLINIA, the anonymous St. Albans Schoolmaster, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Berthelet, Grafton, Day, Newberie, Marshe, Jugge, Whytchurch, Wyer, Rastell, Coplande, and the rest of the _Old English Typographers_: several missals and MSS., and two Pedigrees on vellum, finely illuminated." The title page then sets forth a specimen of these black-lettered gems; among which our eyes are dazzled with a galaxy of Caxtons, Wynkyn de Wordes, Pynsons, &c. &c. The sale took place on March 27, 1776. If ever there was a _unique_ collection, this was one--the very essence of Old Divinity, Poetry, Romances, and Chronicles! The articles were only 1675 in number, but their intrinsic value amply compensated for their paucity. The following is but an inadequate specimen. No. 1315. Horace's Arte of Poetrie, Pistles and Satyres, by Drant. 1567, _first English edition_ £0 16_s._ 6_d._ No. 1321. The Sheparde's Calender, 1579. Whetstone's Castle of Delight, 1576 1 2 0 No. 1392. The Pastyme of the People, printed by Rastell. Curious wood cuts. A copy of this book is not now to be procured. I have known £40 offered for it, and rejected with disdain 7 7 0 No. 1403. Barclay's Shyp of Folys, printed by Pynson, 1508, _first edit._ fine copy 2 10 0 No. 1426. The Doctrinal of Sapyence, printed by CAXTON, 1489 8 8 0 No. 1427. The Boke, called Cathon, DITTO, 1483. _Purchased by Dr. Hunter_, and now in his Museum 5 5 0 No. 1428. The Polytyque Boke, named Tullius de Senectute, in Englishe, by CAXTON, 1481. _Purchased for his Majesty_ 14 0 0 No. 1429. The Game of Chesse Playe. 1474 16 0 0 No. 1665. The Boke of Jason, printed by CAXTON 5 10 0 No. 1669. The Polychronicon of Ranulph Higden, printed by CAXTON, 1482. _Purchased by Dr. Hunter_ 5 15 6 No. 1670. Legenda Aurea, or the Golden Legende 1483 9 15 0 No. 1674. Mr. Ratcliffe's MS. Catalogues of the _rare old black letter_, and other curious and uncommon books, 4 vols. 7 15 0 This would have been the most delicious article to _my_ palate. If the present owner of it were disposed to part with it, I could not find it in my heart to refuse him _compound interest_ for his money. As is the wooden frame-work to the bricklayer in the construction of his arch, so might Mr. Ratcliffe's MS. Catalogues be to me in the compilation of a certain _magnum opus_! The memory of such a man ought to be dear to the "_black-lettered dogs_" of the present day; for he had [mirabile dictu!] _upwards of_ THIRTY CAXTONS! If I might hazard a comparison between Mr. James West's and Mr. John Ratcliffe's collections, I should say that the former was more extensive, the latter more curious: Mr. West's, like a magnificent _champagne_, executed by the hand of Claude or Both, and enclosing mountains, and meadows, and streams, presented to the eye of the beholder a scene at once extensive, luxuriant, and fruitful: Mr. Ratcliffe's, like one of those delicious pieces of scenery, touched by the pencil of Rysdael or Hobbima, exhibited to the beholder's eye a spot equally interesting, but less varied and extensive. The sweeping foliage and rich pasture of the former could not, perhaps, afford greater gratification than did the thatched cottage, abrupt declivities, and gushing streams of the latter. To change the metaphor--Mr. West's was a magnificent repository, Mr. Ratcliffe's a choice cabinet of gems.] Thirty years have been considered by Addison (somewhere in his Spectator) as a pretty accurate period for the passing away of one generation and the coming on of another. We have brought down our researches to within a similar period of the present times; but, as Addison has not made out the proofs of such assertion, and as many of the relatives and friends of those who have fallen victims to the BIBLIOMANIA, since the days of Ratcliffe, may yet be alive; moreover, as it is the part of humanity not to tear open wounds which have been just closed, or awaken painful sensibilities which have been well nigh laid to rest; so, my dear Sir, in giving you a further account of this fatal disorder, I deem it the most prudent method _not to expatiate_ upon the subsequent examples of its mortality. We can only mourn over such names as BEAUCLERK, CROFTS, PEARSON, LORT, MASON, FARMER, STEEVENS, WOODHOUSE, BRAND, and REED! and fondly hope that the list may not be increased by those of living characters! We are, in the SECOND place, to describe the SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE. The ingenious Peignot, in the first volume of his 'Dictionnaire Bibliologie,' p. 51, defines the Bibliomania[48] to be "a passion for possessing books; not so much to be instructed by them, as to gratify the eye by looking on them. He who is affected by this mania knows books only by their titles and dates, and is rather seduced by the exterior than interior"! This is, perhaps, too general and vague a definition to be of much benefit in the knowledge, and consequent prevention, of the disease: let us, therefore, describe it more certainly and intelligibly. [Footnote 48: There is a short, but smart and interesting, article on this head in Mr. D'Israeli's _Curiosities of Literature_, vol. 1. 10. "Bruyere has touched on this mania with humour; of such a collector (one who is fond of superb bindings only) says he, as soon as I enter his house, I am ready to faint on the stair-case from a strong smell of morocco leather. In vain he shows me fine editions, gold leaves, Etruscan bindings, &c.--naming them one after another, as if he were showing a gallery of pictures!" Lucian has composed a biting invective against an ignorant possessor of a vast library. "One who opens his eyes, with an hideous stare, at an old book, and, after turning over the pages, chiefly admires the _date_ of its publication."] Symptoms of this disease are instantly known by a passion for I. _Large Paper Copies_: II. _Uncut Copies_: III. _Illustrated Copies_: IV. _Unique Copies_: V. _Copies printed upon Vellum_: VI. _First Editions_: VII. _True Editions_: VIII. _A general desire for the Black Letter_. We will describe these symptoms more particularly. I. _Large Paper Copies._ These are a certain set or limited number of the work printed in a superior manner, both in regard to ink and press work, on paper of a larger size, and better quality, than the ordinary copies. Their price is enhanced in proportion to their beauty and rarity. In the note below[49] are specified a few works which have been published in this manner, that the sober collector may avoid approaching them. [Footnote 49: 1. _Lord Bacon's Essays_, 1798, 8vo., of which it is said only five copies were struck off on royal folio. In Lord Spencer's and the Cracherode, collection I have seen a copy of this exquisitely printed book; the text of which, surrounded by such an amplitude of margin, in the language of Ernesti [see his Critique on Havercamp's Sallust] "natut velut cymba in oceano." 2. _Twenty Plays of Shakespeare_ published by Steevens from the old quarto editions, 1766, 8vo. 6 vols. Of this edition there were only twelve copies struck off on large paper. See Bibl. Steevens, No. 1312. 3. _Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays_, 1780, 8vo., 12 vols. only six copies printed on large paper. See Bibl. Woodhouse, No. 198. 4. _The Grenville Homer._ Græce, 1800. 4to. 4 vols. Fifty copies with plates were struck off on large paper, in royal quarto. A copy of this kind was purchased at a sale in 1804, for £99 15s. 5. _Sandford's Genealogical History_, etc. 1707, fol. Mr. Arch of Cornhill purchased a copy of this work on large paper, at the late sale of Baron Smyth's books, for £46. If the largest paper of Clarke's Cæsar be excepted, this is the highest priced single volume on large paper, that I just now recollect. 6. _Hearne's Works_ on large paper. Something relating to Hearne will be found in the note at page 7 ante. Here it will be only necessary to observe that the Hernëan rage for Large Paper is quite of recent growth, but it promises to be giant-like. When the duplicates of a part of Mr. Woodhull's library, in 1803, were sold, there was a fine set of copies of this kind; but the prices, comparatively with those now offered, were extremely moderate. Mr. Otridge, the bookseller, told me an amusing story of his going down to Liverpool, many years ago, and accidentally purchasing from the library of the late Sir Thomas Hanmer, a _magnificent set of Large Paper Hearnes_ for about 40 Guineas. Many of these are now in the choice library of his Grace the Duke of Grafton. The copies were catalogued as _small_ paper. Was there ever a more provoking blunder?!] This[50] symptom of the Bibliomania is, at the present day, both general and violent, and threatens to extend still more widely. Even modern publications are not exempt from its calamitous influence; and when Mr. Miller, the bookseller, told me with what eagerness the large paper copies of Lord Valentia's Travels were bespoke, and Mr. Evans shewed me that every similar copy of his new edition of "Burnett's History of his own Times" was disposed of, I could not help elevating my eyes and hands, in token of commiseration at the prevalence of this Symptom of the BIBLIOMANIA! [Footnote 50: Analogous to Large Paper Copies are _tall Copies_; that is, copies of the work published on the ordinary size paper and not much cut down by the binder. The want of _margin_ is a serious grievance complained of by book-collectors; and when there is a contest of margin-measuring, with books never professedly published on large paper, the anxiety of each party to have the largest copy is better conceived than described! How carefully, and how adroitly, are the golden and silver rules then exercised!] II. _Uncut Copies._ Of all the symptoms of the Bibliomania, this is probably the most extraordinary. It may be defined as a passion to possess books of which the edges have never been sheared by the binder's tools. And here, my dear Sir, I find myself walking upon doubtful ground;--your UNCUT HEARNES rise up in "rough majesty" before me, and almost "push me from my stool." Indeed, when I look around in my book-lined tub, I cannot but be conscious that this symptom of the disorder has reached my own threshold; but when it is known that a few of my bibliographical books are left with the edges uncut _merely to please my friends_ (as one must sometimes study their tastes and appetites as well as one's own), I trust that no very serious conclusions will be drawn about the probable fatality of my own case. As to uncut copies, although their inconvenience [an uncut lexicon to wit!] and deformity must be acknowledged, and although a rational man can want for nothing better than a book _once well bound_, yet we find that the extraordinary passion for collecting them not only obtains with full force, but is attended with very serious consequences to those "qui n'ont point des pistoles" (to borrow the language of Clement; vol. vi. p. 36). I dare say an uncut _first Shakspeare_, as well as an uncut _first Homer_[51] would produce a little annuity! [Footnote 51: "Un superbe exemplaire de cette édition _princeps_ a été vendu, chez M. de Cotte, en 1804, la somme de 3601 livres; mais il faut ajouter que cet exemplaire très-precieux est de la plus belle conservation; on dirait qu'il sort dessous presse. De plus, il est peut-être _l'unique dont les marges n'ont pas été rognées ni coupées_!" Peignot's _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, lxv-vi.] III. _Illustrated Copies._ A passion for books illustrated or adorned with numerous prints, representing characters or circumstances mentioned in the work, is a very general and violent symptom of the Bibliomania, which has been known chiefly within the last half century. The origin, or first appearance, of this symptom has been traced by some to the publication of Granger's "Biographical History of England;" but whoever will be at the pains of reading the preface of this work will see that Granger sheltered himself under the authorities of Evelyn, Ashmole, and others; and that he alone is not to be considered as responsible for all the mischief which this passion for collecting prints has occasioned. Granger, however, was the first who introduced it in the form of a treatise, and surely "in an evil hour" was this treatise published--although its amiable author must be acquitted of "malice prepense." His History of England[52] seems to have sounded the tocsin for a general rummage after, and slaughter of, old prints: venerable philosophers and veteran heroes, who had long reposed in unmolested dignity within the magnificent folio volumes which recorded their achievements, were instantly dragged from their peaceful abodes to be inlaid by the side of some spruce, modern engraving, within an ILLUSTRATED GRANGER! Nor did the madness stop here. Illustration was the order of the day; and Shakspeare[53] and Clarendon[54] became the next objects of its attack. From these it has glanced off in a variety of directions, to adorn the pages of humbler wights; and the passion, or rather this symptom of the Bibliomania,[55] yet rages with undiminished force. If judiciously[56] treated, it is, of all the symptoms, the least liable to mischief. To possess a series of well executed portraits of illustrious men, at different periods of their lives, from blooming boyhood to phlegmatic old age, is sufficiently amusing[57]; but to possess _every_ portrait, _bad, indifferent, and unlike_, betrays such a dangerous and alarming symptom as to render the case almost incurable! [Footnote 52: It was first published in two quarto volumes, 1766; and went through several editions in octavo. The last is, I believe, of the date of 1804; to which three additional volumes were published by William Noble, in 1806; the whole seven volumes form what is called an excellent library work.] [Footnote 53: About two or three years ago there was an extraordinary set of prints disposed of, for the illustration of Shakspeare, collected by a gentleman in Cornwall, with considerable taste and judgment. Lord Spencer's beautiful octavo illustrated Shakespeare, bequeathed to him by the late Mr. Steevens, has been enriched, since it came into the library of its present noble possessor, with many a rare and many a beauteous specimen of the graphic art.] [Footnote 54: I have heard of an illustrated Clarendon (which was recently in the metropolis), that has been valued at 5000 Guineas! "a good round sum!"] [Footnote 55: One of the most striking and splendid instances of the present rage for illustration may be seen in Mr. Miller's own copy of the Historical Work of Mr. Fox, in two volumes, imperial quarto. Exclusively of a great variety of Portraits, it is enriched with the original drawing of Mr. Fox's bust from which the print, attached to the publication, is taken; and has also many original notes and letters by its illustrious author. Mr. Walter Scott's edition of Dryden has also received, by the same publisher, a similar illustration. It is on large paper, and most splendidly bound in blue morocco, containing upwards of 650 portraits.] [Footnote 56: The fine copy of Granger, illustrated by the late Mr. Bull, is now in the library of the Marquis of Bute, at Lutton. It extends to 37 atlas folio volumes, and is a repository of almost every rare and beautiful print, which the diligence of its late, and the skill, taste, and connoisseurship of its present, noble owner have brought together.] [Footnote 57: In the Memoirs of Mr. Thomas Hollis there is a series of the portraits of Milton (not executed in the best manner) done in this way; and a like series of Pope's portraits accompanies the recent edition of the poet's works by the Rev. W.L. Bowles.] There is another mode of illustrating copies by which this symptom of the Bibliomania may be known: it consists in bringing together, from different works, [by means of the scissors, or otherwise by transcription] every page or paragraph which has any connection with the character or subject under discussion. This is a useful and entertaining mode of illustrating a favourite author; and copies of works of this nature, when executed by skilful[58] hands, should be preserved in public repositories. I almost ridiculed the idea of an ILLUSTRATED CHATTERTON, in this way, till I saw Mr. Haslewood's copy, in twenty-one volumes, which rivetted me to my seat! [Footnote 58: Numerous are the instances of the peculiar use and value of copies of this kind, especially to those who are engaged in publication, of a similar nature. Oldys's interleaved Langbaine is re-echoed in almost every recent work connected with the belles-lettres of our country. Oldys himself was unrivalled in this method of illustration; if, besides his Langbaine, his copy of 'Fuller's Worthies' [once Mrs. Steevens's, now Mr. Malone's, See Bibl. Steevens, no. 1799] be alone considered! This Oldys was the oddest mortal that ever scribbled for bread. Grose, in his _Olio_, gives an amusing account of his having "a number of small parchment bags inscribed with the names of the persons whose lives he intended to write; into which he put every circumstance and anecdote he could collect, and thence drew up his history." See Noble's _College of Arms_, p. 420. Of illustrated copies in this way, the Suidas of Kuster, belonging to the famous D'Orville, is a memorable instance. This is now in the Bodleian library. I should suppose that one Narcissus Luttrell, in Charles the Second's reign, had a number of like illustrated copies. His collection of contemporaneous literature must have been immense, as we may conclude from the account of it in Mr. Walter Scott's Preface to his recent edition of Dryden's works. Luckily for this brilliant poet and editor, a part of Luttrell's collection had found its way into the libraries of Mr. Bindley and Mr. Heber, and thence was doomed to shine, with renewed lustre, by the side of the poetry of Dryden.] IV. _Unique Copies._ A passion for a book which has any peculiarity about it, by either, or both, of the foregoing methods of illustration--or which is remarkable for its size, beauty, and condition--is indicative of a rage for _unique copies_, and is unquestionably a strong prevailing symptom of the Bibliomania. Let me therefore urge every sober and cautious collector not to be fascinated by the terms "_Matchless, and Unique_;" which, "in slim Italicks" (to copy Dr. Ferriar's happy expression) are studiously introduced into Bookseller's catalogues to lead the unwary astray. Such a Collector may fancy himself proof against the temptation; and will, in consequence, _call only to look at_ this unique book, or set of books; but, when he views the morocco binding, silk water-tabby lining, blazing gilt edges--when he turns over the white and spotless leaves--gazes on the amplitude of margin--on a rare and lovely print introduced--and is charmed with the soft and coaxing manner in which, by the skill of Herring or Mackinlay,[59] "leaf succeeds to leaf"--he can no longer bear up against the temptation--and, confessing himself vanquished, purchases, and retreats--exclaiming with Virgil's shepherd-- Ut vidi, ut perii--ut me malus abstulit error! [Footnote 59: At page 8, note--the reader has been led to expect a few remarks upon the luxuriancy of modern book-binding. Mr. Roscoe, in his Lorenzo de Medici, vol. ii., p. 79., edit. 8vo., has defended the art with so much skill that nothing further need be said in commendation of it. Admitting every degree of merit to our present fashionable binders, and frankly allowing them the superiority over De Rome, Padaloup, and the old school of binding, I cannot but wish to see revived those beautiful portraits, arabesque borders, and sharp angular ornaments, that are often found on the outsides of books bound in the 16th century, with calf leather, upon oaken boards. These brilliant decorations almost make us forget the ivory crucifix, guarded with silver doors, which is frequently introduced in the interior of the sides of the binding. Few things are more gratifying to a genuine collector than a fine copy of a book in its _original binding_!] V. _Copies printed on vellum._ A desire for works printed in this manner is an equally strong and general symptom of the Bibliomania; but as these works are rarely to be obtained of modern[60] date, the collector is obliged to have recourse to specimens, executed three centuries ago, in the printing-offices of Aldus, Verard, and the Juntæ. Although the Bibliothéque Imperiale, at Paris, and the library of Count Macarty, at Toulouse, are said to contain the greatest number of books printed upon vellum, yet, those who have been fortunate enough to see copies of this kind in the libraries of his Majesty, the Duke of Marlborough, Earl Spencer, Mr. Johnes, and the late Mr. Cracherode (now in the British Museum), need not travel on the Continent for the sake of being convinced of their exquisite beauty and splendour. Mr. Edward's _unique_ copy (he will forgive the epithet) of the first Livy, upon vellum, is a Library of itself!--and the recent discovery of a vellum copy of Wynkyn De Worde's reprint of _Juliana Barnes's book_,[61] complete in every respect, [to say nothing of his Majesty's similar copy of Caxton's _Doctrinal of Sapience_, 1489, in the finest preservation] are, to be sure, sufficient demonstrations of the prevalence of this symptom of the Bibliomania in the times of our forefathers; so that it cannot be said, as some have asserted, to have appeared entirely within the last half century. [Footnote 60: The modern books, printed upon vellum, have in general not succeeded; whether from the art of preparing the vellum, or of printing upon it, being lost I will not presume to determine. The reader may be amused with the following prices for which a few works, executed in this manner, were sold in the year 1804: NO. £ _s._ _d._ 250. Virgilii Opera, 1789, 4to. 33 12 0 251. Somervile's Chase, 1796, 4to. 15 4 6 252. Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell, 1795, 4to. 15 15 0 253. The Gardens, by Abbé Delille, 1798, 4to. 14 3 6 254. Castle of Otranto, printed by Bodoni, 1791, 4to. 13 2 6 260. La Guirlande Julie, 1784, 8vo. 37 17 6 263. Economy of Human Life, 1795, 8vo. 15 15 0 See "_Catalogue of a most splendid and valuable Collection of Books, Superb Missals, &c._," sold by Mr. Christie, on April 24, 1804. But the reader should procure the Catalogue of Mr. Paris's Books, sold in the year 1790, which, for the number of articles, is unrivalled. The eye is struck, in every page, with the most sumptuous copies on VELLUM, AND LARGE PAPER.] [Footnote 61: See page 5, ante, for some account of this curious work.] VI. _First Editions._ From the time of Ancillon[62] to Askew, there has been a very strong desire expressed for the possession of original or first published editions of works, as they are in general superintended and corrected by the author himself; and, like the first impressions of prints, are considered more valuable. Whoever is possessed with a passion for collecting books of this kind may unquestionably be said to exhibit a strong symptom of the Bibliomania; but such a case is not quite hopeless, nor is it deserving of severe treatment or censure. All bibliographers have dwelt on the importance of these editions, for the sake of collation with subsequent ones, and detecting, as is frequently the case, the carelessness displayed by future[63] editors. Of such importance is the _first edition of Shakspeare_[64] considered, that a fac-simile reprint of it has been published with success. In regard to the Greek and Latin Classics, the possession of these original editions is of the first consequence to editors who are anxious to republish the legitimate text of an author. Wakefield, I believe always regretted that the first edition of Lucretius had not been earlier inspected by him. When he began _his_ edition, the Editio Princeps was not (as I have understood) in the library of Earl Spencer--the storehouse of almost every thing that is exquisite and rare in ancient classical literature! [Footnote 62: There is a curious and amusing article in Bayle [English edition, vol. i., 672, &c.] about the elder ANCILLON, who frankly confessed that he "was troubled with the BIBLIOMANIA, or disease of buying books." Mr. D'Israeli says "that he always purchased _first editions_, and never waited for second ones,"--but I find it, in the English Bayle, note D, "he chose _the best_ editions." The manner in which Ancillon's library was pillaged by the Ecclesiastics of Metz (where it was considered as the most valuable curiosity in the town) is thus told by Bayle; "Ancillon was obliged to leave Metz: a company of Ecclesiastics, of all orders, came from every part, to lay hands on this fine and copious library, which had been collected with the utmost care during forty years. They took away a great number of the books together, and gave a little money, as they went out, to a young girl, of twelve or thirteen years of age, who looked after them, that they might have it to say they had _paid for them_. Thus Ancillon saw that valuable collection dispersed, in which, as he was wont to say, his chief pleasure and even his heart was placed!"--Edit. 1734.] [Footnote 63: An instance of this kind may be adduced from the _first edition_ of Fabian, printed in 1516; of which Messrs. Longman, and Co., have now engaged a very able editor to collate the text with that of the subsequent editions. "The antiquary," says the late Mr. BRAND, "is desired to consult the edition of Fabian, printed by Pynson, in 1516, because there are others, and I remember to have seen one in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, with a continuation to the end of Queen Mary, 1559, in which the _language is much modernised_." Shakespeare, edit. 1803, vol. xviii. p. 85-6.] [Footnote 64: A singular story is "extant" about the purchase of the late Duke of Roxburgh's fine copy of the first edition of Shakespeare. A friend was bidding for him in the sale-room: his Grace had retired to a distance, to view the issue of the contest. Twenty guineas and more were offered, from various quarters, for the book: a slip of paper was handed to the Duke, in which he was requested to inform his friend whether he was "to go on bidding"--His Grace took his pencil, and wrote underneath, by way of reply-- ----lay on Macduff! And d----d be he who first cries, 'Hold, enough!' Such a spirit was irresistible, and bore down all opposition. His Grace retired triumphant, with the book under his arm.] It must not, however, be forgotten that if first editions are, in some instances, of great importance, they are in many respects superfluous, and an incumbrance to the shelves of a collector; inasmuch as the labours of subsequent editors have corrected their errors, and superseded, by a great fund of additional matter, the necessity of consulting them. Thus, not to mention other instances (which present themselves while noticing the present one), all the fine things which Colomiés and Remannus have said about the rarity of La Croix du Maine's Bibliotheque, published in 1584, are now unnecessary to be attended to, since the ample and excellent edition of this work by De La Monnoye and Juvigny, in six quarto volumes, 1772, has appeared. Nor will any one be tempted to hunt for Gesner's Bibliotheca of 1545-8, whatever may be its rarity, who has attended to Morhof's and Vogt's recommendation of the last and best edition of 1583. VII. _True Editions._ Some copies of a work are struck off with deviations from the usually received ones, and, though these deviations have neither sense nor beauty to recommend them, [and indeed are principally _defects_] yet copies of this description are eagerly sought after by collectors of a certain class! This particular pursuit may therefore be called another, or the seventh, symptom of the Bibliomania. The note below [65] will furnish the reader with a few anecdotes relating to it. [Footnote 65: _Cæsar. Lug. Bat._ 1635, 12mo. _Printed by Elzevir._ In the Bibliotheca Revickzkiana we are informed that the _true_ Elzevir edition is known by having the plate of a Buffalo's head at the beginning of the preface, and body of the work: also by having the page numbered 153, which _ought_ to have been numbered 149. A further account is given in my Introduction to the Classics, vol. i., 228. _Horace_: Londini, 1733, 8vo., 2 vols. Published by Pine. The _true_ edition is distinguished by having at page 108, vol ii, the _incorrect_ reading 'Post Est.'--for 'Potest.' _Virgil._ Lug. Bat. 1636, 12mo. Printed by Elzevir. The _true_ edition is known by having at plate 1, before the Bucolics, the following Latin passage _printed in red ink_. "Ego vero frequentes a te litteras accipi"--Consult De Bure, No. 2684. _Idem._ Birmingh. 1763, 4to. Printed by Baskerville. A particular account of the _true_ edition will be found in the second volume of my 'Introduction to the Classics' p. 337--too long to be here inserted. _Boccaccio._ Il Decamerone, Venet. 1527, 4to. Consult De Bure, No. 3667: Bandini, vol. ii., 24: (who however is extremely laconic upon this edition, but copious upon the anterior one of 1516) and Haym., vol. iii., p. 8, edit. 1803. Bibl. Paris. No. 408. Clement. (vol. iv., 352,) has abundance of references, as usual, to strengthen his assertion in calling the edition 'fort rare.' The reprint or spurious edition has always struck me as the prettier book of the two.] VIII. Books printed in the _Black Letter_. Of all symptoms of the Bibliomania, this eighth symptom (and the last which I shall notice) is at present the most powerful and prevailing. Whether it was not imported into this country from Holland, by the subtlety of Schelhorn[66] (a knowing writer upon rare and curious books) may be shrewdly suspected. Whatever be its origin, certain it is, my dear Sir, that books printed in the black letter are now coveted with an eagerness unknown to our collectors in the last century. If the spirits of West, Ratcliffe, Farmer and Brand, have as yet held any intercourse with each other, in that place 'from whose bourne no traveller returns,' what must be the surprise of the three former, on being told by the latter, of the prices given for some of the books in his library, as mentioned below!?[67] [Footnote 66: His words are as follow: "Ipsa typorum ruditas, ipsa illa atra crassaque literarum facies _belle tangit sensus, &c._" Was ever the black letter more eloquently described? See his _Amoenitates Literariæ_, vol. i., p. 5.] [Footnote 67: 282. A Boke of Fishing with Hooke and Line, A Boke of Engines and Traps to take Polcats, Buzzards, Rats, Mice, and all other Kinds of Vermine and Beasts whatsoever, with cuts, very rare, 1600 £3 3_s._ 0_d._ 454. A Quip for an upstart Courtier; or, a quaint Dispute between Velvet Breeches and Cloth Breeches, &c. 1620 2 16 0 475. A Checke, or Reproof of Mr. Howlet's untimely screeching in her Majesty's Ear. _Black letter_ 1581 0 12 0 As a _striking conclusion_, I subjoin the following. 6479. Pappe with an Hatchett, _alias_, a Fig for my Godsonne, or crake me this Nutt, or, a Countrie Cuffe, that is a sound Box of the Eare for the Idiot Martin, to hold his Peace: seeing the Patch will take no warning; written by one that dares call a Dog a Dog. _Rare._ Printed by Anoke and Astile 1 8 0] A perusal of these articles may probably not impress the reader with any lofty notions of the superiority of the black letter; but this symptom of the Bibliomania is, nevertheless, not to be considered as incurable, or wholly unproductive of good. Under a proper spirit of modification it has done, and will continue to do, essential service to the cause of English literature. It guided the taste, and strengthened the judgment, of Tyrwhitt in his researches after Chaucerian lore. It stimulated the studies of Farmer and of Steevens, and enabled them to twine many a beauteous flower round the brow of their beloved Shakespeare. It has since operated, to the same effect, in the labours of Mr. Douce,[68] the _Porson_ of old English and French literature; and in the editions of Milton and Spenser, by my amiable and excellent friend Mr. Todd the public have had a specimen of what the _Black Letter_ may perform, when temperately and skilfully exercised. [Footnote 68: In the criticisms on Mr. Douce's _Illustrations of Shakspeare and Ancient Manners_, it has not, I think, been generally noticed that this work is distinguished; 1. For the singular diffidence and urbanity of criticism, as well as depth of learning, which it evinces: 2. For the happy illustrations, by means of wood cuts: Let any one, for instance, read a laboured disquisition on the punishment of "the boots"--and only glance his eye on the plate representing it [vol. i. p. 34.]: from which will he obtain the clearer notions? 3. For the taste, elegance, and general correctness with which it is printed. The only omission I regret is that Mr. Douce did not give us, at the end, a list of the works alphabetically arranged, with their dates which he consulted in the formation of his own. Such a BIBLIOTHECA SHAKSPEARIANA might, however, have been only a fresh stimulus to the increase of the black-letter symptom of the _Bibliomania_. How Bartholomæus and Batman have risen in price since the publication of Mr. Douce's work, let those who have lately smarted for the increase tell!] I could bring to your recollection other instances; but your own copious reading and exact memory will better furnish you with them. Let me not however omit remarking that the beautiful pages of the _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and Sir Trestrem_, exhibit, in the notes [now and then thickly studded with black letter references], a proof that the author of "The Lay" and "Marmion" has not disdained to enrich his stores of information by such intelligence as black lettered books impart. In short, though this be also a strong and general symptom of the Bibliomania, it is certainly not attended with injurious effects when regulated by prudence and discretion. An undistinguishable voracious appetite, to swallow every thing printed in the black letter can only bring on inconquerable disease, if not death, to the patient! Having in the two preceding divisions of this letter discoursed somewhat largely upon the HISTORY and SYMPTOMS of the Bibliomania, it now remains, according to the original plan, to say a few words upon the PROBABLE MEANS OF ITS CURE. And, indeed, I am driven to this view of the subject from every laudable motive; for it would be highly censurable to leave any reflecting mind impressed with melancholy emotions concerning the misery and mortality that have been occasioned by the abuse of those pursuits, to which the most soothing and important considerations ought to be attached. Far from me, and my friends, be such a cruel, if not criminal, conduct; let us then, my dear Sir, seriously discourse upon the III. PROBABLE MEANS OF THE CURE of the Bibliomania. _He_ will surely be numbered among the philanthropists of his day who has, more successfully than myself, traced and described the ravages of this disease, and fortified the sufferer with the means of its cure. But, as this is a disorder of quite a recent date, and as its characteristics, in consequence, cannot be yet fully known or described, great candour must be allowed to that physician who offers a prescription for so obscure and complicated a case. It is in vain that you search the works [ay, even the best editions] of Hippocrates and Galen for a description of this malady; nor will you find it hinted at in the more philosophical treatises of Sydenham and Heberden. It had, till the medical skill of Dr. Ferriar first noticed it to the public, escaped the observations of all our pathologists. With a trembling hand, and fearful apprehension, therefore, I throw out the following suggestions for the cure, or mitigatiou [Transcriber's Note: mitigation], of this disorder: In _the first place_, the disease of the Bibliomania is materially softened, or rendered mild, by directing our studies to _useful and profitable_ works--whether these be printed upon small or large paper, in the gothic, roman, or italic type; To consider purely the _intrinsic_ excellence, and not the exterior splendour, or adventitious value, of any production, will keep us perhaps wholly free from this disease. Let the midnight lamp be burnt to illuminate the stores of antiquity--whether they be romances, or chronicles, or legends, and whether they be printed by Aldus or by Caxton--if a brighter lustre can thence be thrown upon the pages of modern learning! To trace genius to its source, or to see how she has been influenced or modified, by "the lore of past times" is both a pleasing and profitable pursuit. To see how Shakspeare has here and there plucked a flower, from some old ballad or popular tale, to enrich his own unperishable garland--to follow Spenser and Milton in their delightful labyrinths 'midst the splendour of Italian literature--are studies which stamp a dignity upon our intellectual characters! But, in such a pursuit let us not overlook the wisdom of modern times, nor fancy that what is only ancient can be excellent. We must remember that Bacon, Boyle, Locke, Taylor, Chillingworth, Robertson, Hume, Gibbon, and Paley, are names which always command attention from the wise, and remind us of the improved state of reason and acquired knowledge during the two last centuries. In the _second place_, the re-printing of scarce and intrinsically valuable works is another means of preventing the propagation of this disorder. Amidst all our present sufferings under the BIBLIOMANIA, it is some consolation to find discerning and spirited booksellers re-publishing the valuable Chronicles of Froissart, Holinshed, and Hall,[69] and the collections known by the names of "The Harleïan Miscellany," and "Lord Somer's Tracts." These are noble efforts, and richly deserve the public patronage. [Footnote 69: The re-publication of these chronicles is to be followed by those of Grafton and Fabian. Meanwhile, Hakluyt's Voyages, (projected by Mr. Evans), and Fuller's Worthies (by Messrs. Longman, and Co.) will form admirable acquisitions to these treasures of past times.] In the _third place_, the editing of our best ancient authors, whether in prose or poetry,[70] is another means of effectually counteracting the progress of the Bibliomania, as it has been described under its several symptoms. [Footnote 70: The recent _Variorum_ editions of Shakspeare, of which some yet prefer that of Steevens, 1793, 15 vols. 8vo.--Mr. Todd's editions of Milton and Spenser; Mr. G. Chalmers' edition of Sir David Lyndsay's works; Mr. Gifford's edition of Massinger; and Mr. Octavius Gilchrist's, of Bishop Corbett's poems, exemplify the good effects of this _third means of cure_.] In the _fourth place_, the erecting of Public Institutions[71] is a very powerful antidote against the prevalence of several symptoms of this disease. [Footnote 71: The Royal, London, Surrey, and Russel Institutions have been the means of concentrating, in divers parts of the metropolis, large libraries of _useful_ books; which, it is to be hoped, will eventually suppress the establishment of what are called _Circulating Libraries_--vehicles, too often, of insufferable nonsense, and irremediable mischief!] In the _fifth place_, the encouragement of the study of Bibliography,[72] in its legitimate sense, and towards its true object, may be numbered among the most efficacious cures for this destructive malady. To place competent Librarians over the several departments of a large public Library, or to submit a library, on a more confined scale, to one diligent, enthusiastic, well informed, well bred, Bibliographer[73] or Librarian, [of which in this metropolis we have so many examples] is doing a vast deal towards directing the channels of literature to flow in their proper courses. [Footnote 72: "UNNE BONNE BIBLIOGRAPHIE," says Marchand, "soit générale soit particulière, soit profane, soit écclésiastique, soit nationale, provinciale, ou locale, soit simplement personnelle, en un mot de quelque autre genre que ce puisse être, n'est pas un ouvrage aussi facile que beaucoup de gens se le pourroient imaginer; mais, elles ne doivent néanmoins nulelment [Transcriber's Note: nullement] prévenir contre celle-ci. Telle qu'elle est, elle ne laisse pas d'être bonne, utile, et digne d'être recherchée par les amateurs, de l'Histoire Littéraire." _Diction. Historique_, vol. i. p. 109. "Our nation," says Mr. Bridgman, "has been too inattentive to bibliographical criticisms and enquiries; for generally the English reader is obliged to resort to foreign writers to satisfy his mind as to the value of authors. It behoves us to consider that there is not a more useful or a more desirable branch of education than a _knowledge of books_; which being correctly ascertained and judiciously exercised, will prove the touch-stone of intrinsic merit, and have the effect of saving many spotless pages from prostitution." _Legal Bibliography_, p. v. vi.] [Footnote 73: Peignot, in his _Dictionnaire de Bibliologie_, vol. i. 50, has given a very pompous account of what ought to be the talents and duties of a Bibliographer. It would be difficult indeed to find such things united in one person! De Bure, in the eighth volume of his _Bibliographie Instructive_, has prefixed a "Discourse upon the Science of Bibliography and the duties of a Bibliographer" which is worth consulting: but I know of nothing which better describes, in few words, such a character, than the following: "In eo sit multijuga materiarum librorumque notitia, ut saltem potiores eligat et inquirat: fida et sedula apud exteras gentes procuratio, ut eos arcessat; summa patientia ut rarè venalis expectet: peculium semper præsens et paratum, ne, si quando occurrunt, emendi occasio intercidat; prudens denique auri argentique contemptus, ut pecuniis sponte careat quæ in bibliothecam formandam et nutriendam sunt insumendæ. Si fortè vir literatus eo felicitatis pervenit ut talem thesaurum coaceraverit, nec solus illo invidios fruatur, sed usum cum eruditis qui vigilias suas utilitati publicæ devoverunt, liberaliter communicet; &c."--_Bibliotheca Hulsiana_, vol. i. Præfat. p. 3, 4.] Thus briefly and guardedly have I thrown out a few suggestions, which may enable us to avoid, or mitigate the severity of, the disease called THE BIBLIOMANIA. Happy indeed shall I deem myself, if, in the description of its symptoms, and in the recommendation of the means of cure, I may have snatched any one from a premature grave, or lightened the load of years that are yet to cone [Transcriber's Note: come]! You, my dear Sir, who, in your observations upon society, as well as in your knowledge of ancient times, must have met with numerous instances of the miseries which "flesh is heir to," may be disposed perhaps to confess that, of all species of afflictions, _the present one_ under consideration has the least moral turpitude attached to it. True, it may be so: for, in the examples which have been adduced, there will be found neither Suicides, nor Gamesters, nor Profligates. No woman's heart has been broken from midnight debaucheries: no marriage vow has been violated: no child has been compelled to pine in poverty or neglect: no patrimony has been wasted, and no ancestor's fame tarnished! If men have erred under the influence of this disease, their aberrations have been marked with an excess arising from intellectual fevour, and not from a desire of baser gratifications. If, therefore, in the wide survey which a philosopher may take of the "Miseries of Human life"[74] the prevalence of this disorder may appear to be less mischievous than that of others, and, if some of the most amiable and learned of mortals seemed to have been both unwilling, as well as unable, to avoid its contagion, you will probably feel the less alarmed if symptoms of it should appear within the sequestered abode of Hodnet![75] Recollecting that even in remoter situations its influence has been felt--and that neither the pure atmosphere of Hafod nor of Sledmere[76] has completely subdued its power--you will be disposed to exclaim with violence, at the intrusion of Bibliomaniacs-- What walls can guard me, or what shades can hide? They pierce my thickets, through my grot they glide! By land, by water, they renew the charge, They stop the chariot, and they board the barge.[77] [Footnote 74: In the ingenious and witty work so entitled, I do not recollect whether the disappointment arising from a _cropt_ or a _dirty_ copy has been classed among "_The Miseries of Human Life_."] [Footnote 75: _Hodnet Hall_, Shropshire. The country residence of Mr. Heber.] [Footnote 76: _Hafod_, South Wales, the seat of THOS. JOHNES, Esq., M.P., the translator of the Chronicles of Froissart and Monstrelet, and of the Travels of De Broquiere and Joinville. The conflagration of part of his mansion and library, two years ago, which excited such a general sympathy, would have damped any ardour of collection but that of Mr. Johnes--his Library has arisen, Phoenix-like, from the flames! _Sledmere_, in Yorkshire, the seat of SIR MARK MASTERMAN SYKES, Bart., M.P. The library of this amiable and tasteful Baronet reflects distinguished credit upon him. It is at once copious and choice.] [Footnote 77: Pope's "_Prologue to the Satires_," v. 7-10.] Upon the whole, therefore, attending closely to the symptoms of this disorder as they have been described, and practising such means of cure as have been recommended, we may rationally hope that its virulence may abate, and the number of its victims annually diminish. But if the more discerning part of the community anticipate a different result, and the preceding observations appear to have presented but a narrow and partial view of the mischiefs of the BIBLIOMANIA, my only consolation is that to advance _something_ upon the subject is better than to preserve a sullen and invincible silence. Let it be the task of more experienced bibliographers to correct and amplify the foregoing outline! Believe me, My dear Sir, Very sincerely Yours, &c. THOMAS FROGNALL DIBBIN [Transcriber's Note: DIBDIN]. _Kensington, May_ 16, 1809. POSTSCRIPT. On re-considering what has been written, it has struck me that a SYNOPSIS of this disease, after the manner of BURTON, as prefixed to his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, may be useful to some future pathologist. The reader is, accordingly, presented with the following one: SYNOPSIS. Page. { I. HISTORY of; or an account of eminent Book { Collectors who have fallen victims to it 12 T { H { II. SYMPTOMS OF; { 1. Large Paper Copies 44 E { being a passion for { 2. Uncut Copies 46 { { 3. Illustrated Copies 47 B { { 4. Unique Copies 49 I { { 5. Vellum Copies 51 B { { 6. First Editions 52 L { { 7. True Editions 54 I { { 8. Black Letter Editions 56 O { M { III. CURE OF { 1. Reading useful works 56 A { { 2. Reprints of scarce and N { { valuable works _ib._ I { { 3. Editing our best ancient A { { Writers 60 . { { 4. Erecting of Public { { Institutions _ib._ { { 5. Encouragement of { { Bibliography _ib._ PART I. =The Evening Walk.= ON THE RIGHT USES OF LITERATURE. Rede well thyselfe that other folke can'st rede. CHAUCER'S _Good Counsail_. [Illustration] [Illustration] =The Evening Walk.= ON THE RIGHT USES OF LITERATURE. It was on a fine autumnal evening, when the sun was setting serenely behind a thick copse upon a distant hill, and his warm tints were lighting up a magnificent and widely-extended landscape, that, sauntering 'midst the fields, I was meditating upon the various methods of honourably filling up the measure of our existence; when I discovered, towards my left, a messenger running at full speed towards me. The abruptness of his appearance, and the velocity of his step, somewhat disconcerted me; but on his near approach my apprehensions were dissipated. I knew him to be the servant of my old college friend, whom I chuse here to denominate LYSANDER. He came to inform me, in his blunt and honest manner, that his master had just arrived with PHILEMON, our common friend; and that, as they were too fatigued with their journey to come out to me, they begged I would quickly enter the house, and, as usual, make them welcome. This intelligence afforded me the liveliest satisfaction. In fifteen minutes, after a hearty shaking of hands, I was seated with them in the parlour; all of us admiring the unusual splendour of the evening sky, and, in consequence, partaking of the common topics of conversation with a greater flow of spirits. "You are come, my friends," said I (in the course of conversation), "to make some stay with me--indeed, I cannot suffer you to depart without keeping you at least a week; in order, amongst other things, to view the beauty of our neighbour Lorenzo's grounds, the general splendour of his house, and the magnificence of his LIBRARY." "In regard to grounds and furniture," replied Lysander, "there is very little in the most beautiful and costly which can long excite my attention--but the LIBRARY--" "Here," exclaimed Philemon, "here you have him in the toils." "I will frankly confess," rejoined Lysander, "that I am an arrant BIBLIOMANIAC--that I love books dearly--that the very sight, touch, and, more, the perusal--" "Hold, my friend," again exclaimed Philemon, "you have renounced your profession--you talk of _reading_ books--do BIBLIOMANIACS ever _read_ books?" "Nay," quoth Lysander, "you shall not banter thus with impunity. We will, if it please you," said he, turning round to me, "make our abode with you for a few days--and, after seeing the library of your neighbour, I will throw down the gauntlet to Philemon, challenging him to answer certain questions which you may put to us, respecting the number, rarity, beauty, or utility of those works which relate to the literature and antiquities of our own country. We shall then see who is able to return the readiest answer." "Forgive," rejoined Philemon, "my bantering strain. I revoke my speech. You know that, with yourself, I heartily love books; more from their contents than their appearance." Lysander returned a gracious smile; and the hectic of irritability on his cheek was dissipated in an instant. The approach of evening made us think of settling our plans. My friends begged their horses might be turned into the field; and that, while they stayed with me, the most simple fare and the plainest accommodation might be their lot. They knew how little able I was to treat them as they were wont to be treated; and, therefore, taking "the will for the deed," they resolved to be as happy as an humble roof could make them. While the cloth was laying for supper (for I should add that we dine at three and sup at nine), we took a stroll in my small garden, which has a mound at the bottom, shaded with lilacs and laburnums, that overlooks a pretty range of meadows, terminated by the village church. The moon had now gained a considerable ascendancy in the sky; and the silvery paleness and profound quiet of the surrounding landscape, which, but an hour ago, had been enlivened by the sun's last rays, seemed to affect the minds of us all very sensibly. Lysander, in particular, began to express the sentiments which such a scene excited in him.--"Yonder," says he, pointing to the church-yard, "is the bourne which terminates our earthly labours; and I marvel much how mortals can spend their time in cavilling at each other--in murdering, with their pens as well as their swords, all that is excellent and admirable in human nature--instead of curbing their passions, elevating their hopes, and tranquillizing their fears. Every evening, for at least one-third of the year, heaven has fixed in the sky yonder visible monitor to man. Calmness and splendour are her attendants: no dark passions, no carking cares, neither spleen nor jealousy, seem to dwell in that bright orb, where, as has been fondly imagined, "the wretched may have rest."--"And here," replied Philemon, "we do nothing but fret and fume if our fancied merits are not instantly rewarded, or if another wear a sprig of laurel more verdant than ourselves; I could mention, within my own recollection, a hundred instances of this degrading prostitution of talent--aye, a thousand."--"Gently reprimand your fellow creatures," resumed Lysander, "lest you commit an error as great as any of those which you condemn in others. The most difficult of human tasks seems to be the exercise of forbearance and temperance. By exasperating, you only rekindle, and not extinguish, the evil sparks in our dispositions. A man will bear being told he is in the wrong; but you must tell him so gently and mildly. Animosity, petulance, and persecution, are the plagues which destroy our better parts."--"And envy," replied Philemon, "has surely enough to do."--"Yes," said Lysander, "we might enumerate, as you were about to do, many instances--and (what you were not about to do) pity while we enumerate! I think," continued he, addressing himself particularly to me, "you informed me that the husband of poor Lavinia lies buried in yonder church-yard; and perhaps the very tomb which now glistens by the moonbeam is the one which consecrates his memory! That man was passionately addicted to literature;--he had a strong mind; a wonderful grasp of intellect; but his love of paradox and hypothesis quite ruined his faculties. NICAS happened to discover some glaring errors in his last treatise, and the poor man grew sick at heart in consequence. Nothing short of _infallibility_ and _invincibility_ satisfied him; and, like the Spaniard in the 'Diable Boiteux,' who went mad because five of his countrymen had been beaten by fifty Portugese, this unhappy creature lost all patience and forbearance, because, in an hundred systems which he had built with the cards of fancy, ninety-nine happened to tumble to the ground. "This is the dangerous consequence, not so much of vanity and self-love as of downright literary Quixotism. A man may be cured of vanity as the French nobleman was--'Ecoutez messieurs! Monseigneur le Duc va dire la meillure chose du monde!'[78] but for this raving, ungovernable passion of soaring beyond all human comprehension, I fear there is no cure but in such a place as the one which is now before us. Compared with this, how different was MENANDER'S case! Careless himself about examining and quoting authorities with punctilious accuracy, and trusting too frequently to the _ipse-dixits_ of good friends:--with a quick discernment--a sparkling fancy--great store of classical knowledge, and a never ceasing play of colloquial wit, he moved right onwards in his manly course--the delight of the gay, and the admiration of the learned! He wrote much and variously: but in an evil hour the demon Malice caught him abroad--watched his deviations--noted down his failings--and, discovering his vulnerable part, he did not fail, like another Paris, to profit by the discovery. Menander became the victim of over-refined sensibility: he need not have feared the demon, as no good man need fear Satan. His pen ceased to convey his sentiments; he sickened at heart; and after his body had been covered by the green grass turf, the gentle elves of fairy-land took care to weave a chaplet to hang upon his tomb, which was never to know decay! SYCORAX was this demon; and a cunning and clever demon was he!" [Footnote 78: This is the substance of the story related in Darwin's _Zoonomia_: vol. iv. p. 81.] "I am at a loss," said Philemon, "to comprehend exactly what you mean?"--"I will cease speaking metaphorically," replied Lysander; "but Sycorax was a man of ability in his way. He taught literary men, in some measure, the value of careful research and faithful quotation; in other words, he taught them to speak the truth as they found her; and, doubtless, for this he merits not the name of a demon, unless you allow me the priviledge of a Grecian.[79] That Sycorax loved truth must be admitted; but that he loved no one so much as himself to speak the truth must also be admitted. Nor had he, after all, any grand notions of the goddess. She was, in his sight, rather of diminutive than gigantic growth; rather of a tame than a towering mien; dressed out in little trinkets, and formally arrayed in the faded point-lace and elevated toupee of the ancient English school, and not in the flowing and graceful robes of Grecian simplicity. But his malice and ill-nature were frightful; and withal his love of scurrility and abuse quite intolerable. He mistook, in too many instances, the manner for the matter; the shadow for the substance. He passed his criticisms, and dealt out his invectives, with so little ceremony, and so much venom, that he seemed born with a scalping knife in his hand to commit murder as long as he lived! To him, censure was sweeter than praise; and the more elevated the rank, and respectable the character of his antagonist, the more dexterously he aimed his blows, and the more frequently he renewed his attacks. In consequence, scarcely one beautiful period, one passionate sentiment of the higher order, one elevated thought, or philosophical deduction, marked his numerous writings. 'No garden-flower grew wild' in the narrow field of his imagination; and, although the words decency and chastity were continually dropping from his lips, I suspect that the reverse of these qualities was always settled round his heart.[80] Thus you see, my dear Philemon," concluded Lysander, "that the love of paradox, of carelessness, and of malice, are equally destructive of that true substantial fame which, as connected with literature, a wise and an honest man would wish to establish. But come; the dews of evening begin to fall chilly; let us seek the house of our friend." [Footnote 79: Without turning over the ponderous tones of Stephen, Constantine, and Scaliger, consult the sensible remarks upon the word '[Greek: Daimôn]' in _Parkhurst's Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament_, 8vo. edit. 1798. In the Greek language, it is equally applied to an accomplished and unprincipled character. Homer alone will furnish a hundred instances of this.] [Footnote 80: Mark certain expressions, gentle reader, which occur in the notes to the life of _Robin Hood_, prefixed to the ballads which go under his name: 1795. 2 vols. 8vo.--also a Dissertation on Romance and Minstrelsy in the first vol. of _Ancient Metrical Romances_, 1802, 3 vols. 8vo. A very common degree of shrewdness and of acquaintance with English literature will shew that, in Menander and Sycorax, are described honest TOM WARTON and snarling 'mister' JOSEPH RITSON.] As Lysander concluded his discourse, we turned, abruptly, but thoughtfully, towards my cottage; and, making the last circuit of the gravel walk, Philemon stopped to listen to the song of a passing rustic, who seemed to be uttering all the joy which sometimes strongly seizes a simple heart. "I would rather," exclaimed he, "be this poor fellow, chanting his 'native wood-notes wild,' if his heart know not guilt--than the shrewdest critic in the universe, who could neither feel, nor write, good-naturedly!" We smiled at this ejaculation; and quickly reached the house. The fatigue of travelling had sharpened the appetites of my friends; and at a moment when, as the inimitable Cowper expresses it, our drawing-rooms begin to blaze With lights, by clear reflection multiplied From many a mirror, in which he of Gath, Goliath, might have seen his giant bulk Whole, without stooping, towering crest and all, _Our_ pleasures too _began_; _Task_, b. iv. but they were something more rational than those of merely eating and drinking. "I seldom partake of this meal," observed Philemon, "without thinking of the _omnium-gatherum_ bowl, so exquisitely described by old Isaac Walton. We want here, it is true, the 'sweet shady arbour--the contexture of woodbines, sweet-briar, jessamine, and myrtle,'[81] and the time of the evening prevents our enjoying it without; but, in lieu of all this, we have the sight of books, of busts, and of pictures. I see there the ponderous folio chronicles, the genuine quarto romances, and, a little above, a glittering row of thin, closely-squeezed, curiously-gilt, volumes of original plays. As we have finished our supper, let us--" "My friends," observed I, "not a finger upon a book to-night--to-morrow you may ransack at your pleasure. I wish to pursue the conversation commenced by Lysander, as we were strolling in the garden." "Agreed," replied Philemon,--"the quietness of the hour--the prospect, however limited, before us--(for I shall not fail to fix my eyes upon a Froissart printed by Verard, or a portrait painted by Holbein, while you talk)--every thing conspires to render this discourse congenial." "As you have reminded me of that pretty description of a repast in Walton," resumed Lysander, "I will preface the sequel to my conversation by drinking a glass to your healths--and so, masters, 'here is a full glass to you' of the liquor before us." Lysander then continued, "It were to be wished that the republic or region of LITERATURE could be described in as favourable a manner as Camden has described the air, earth, and sky, of our own country;[82] but I fear Milton's terrific description of the infernal frozen continent, beat with perpetual forms Of whirlwind and dire hail, _Par. Lost_, b. ii. v. 587. is rather applicable to it. Having endeavoured to shew, my dear friends, that the passionate love of hypothesis--(or a determination to make every man think and believe as we do) incorrigible carelessness--and equally incorrigible ill-nature--are each inimical to the true interests of literature, let us see what other evil qualities there are which principally frustrate the legitimate view of learning. [Footnote 81: _Complete Angler_, p. 335. Bagster's edit. 1808. In a similar style of description are "the faire grove and swete walkes, letticed and gardened on both sides," of Mr. Warde's letter--describing the nunnery of Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire. See Hearne's edit. of _Peter Langtoft's Chronicle_, vol. 1. p. cx.] [Footnote 82: "The ayre is most temperate and wholesome, sited in the middest of the temperate zone, subject to no stormes and tempests, as the more southerne and northerne are; but stored with infinite delicate fowle. For water, it is walled and guarded with ye ocean most commodious for trafficke to all parts of the world, and watered with pleasant fishful and navigable rivers, which yeeld safe havens and roads, and furnished with shipping and sailers, that it may rightly be termed THE LADY OF THE SEA. That I may say nothing of healthful bathes, and of meares stored both with fish and fowl. The earth fertile of all kinde of graine, manured with good husbandry, rich in minerall of coals, tinne, lead, copper, not without gold and silver, abundant in pasture, replenished with cattel, both tame and wilde (for it hath more parks than all Europe besides), plentifully wooded, provided with all complete provisions of war, beautified with many populous cities, faire boroughs, good towns, and well-built villages, strong munitions, magnificent palaces of the prince, stately houses of the nobilitie, frequent hospitals, beautiful churches, faire colledges, as well in the other places as in the two Vniversities." _Remains_, p. 12. edit. 1637. How far Camden was indebted to the following curious description of our country, written in the time of Edward vj, (of which I shall modernize the orthography,) the reader will judge for himself. The running title of the work is "_The Debate between the_ [French and English] _Heralds_," 8vo., printed in the bl. lett. (In the possession of Mr. Heber.) "We have all manner of grains, and fruits, and more plenty than you; for, thanked be God, England is a fruitful and plenteous region, so that we have some fruits whereof you have few; as _wardeines_, quinces, peaches, medlers, chesnuts, and other delicious fruits; serving for all seasons of the year; and so plenty of pears and apples that, in the west parts of England and Sussex, they make perry and cider, and in such abundance that they convey part over the sea, where, by the Monsieurs of France, it is coveted for their beverage and drinks."--_Sign. L._ iiij. rev. "We have in Cornwall and Devonshire (God be honoured) the richest mines of silver and tin that may be, also in Ireland mines of silver, in Derbyshire mines of lead, alabaster, marble, black and white. In Sussex, Yorkshire, and Durham, mines of iron, coal, slate, and freestone; and in every shire of England, generally quarries of hard stone, chalk, and flint: these be commodities honorable and not feigned, being of such estimation that France, nor other realms, may well forbear; and as for saltpetre, there is sufficient made in England to furnish our turn for the wars. Also we have hot fountains or bathes, which you nor no other realms christened have."--_Sign. L._ v. rev. If ancient GILDAS speak the truth, Great Britain was no contemptible place twelve hundred years ago--the period when he lived and wrote his lachrymable history. "The iland of Britaine placed in the ballance of the divine poising hand (as they call it) which weigheth the whole world, almost the uttermost bound of his earth towards the South and West; extending itself from the South-West, out towards the North pole, eight hundred miles in length; and containing two hundred in breadth, besides the fare outstretched forelands of sundry promonteries, embraced by the embowed bosomes of the ocean sea; with whose most spacious, and on every side (saving only the Southern Streights, by which we sale to Gallehelgicke) impassable enclosure (as I may call it) she is strongly defended; enriched with the mouths of two noble floods, Thames and Severne, as it were two armes (by which out-landish commodities have in times past been transported into the same) besides other rivers of lesser account, strengthened with eight and twenty cities, and some other castles, not meanly fenced with fortresses of walls, embattled towers, gates, and buildings (whose roofes being raised aloft with a threatening hugenesse, were mightily in their aspiring toppes compaced) adorned with her large spreading fields, pleasant seated hils, even framed for good husbandry, which over-mastereth the ground, and mountains most convenient for the changeable pastures of cattell; whose flowers of sundry collours, troden by the feete of men, imprint no unseemly picture on the same, as a spouse of choice, decked with divers jewels; watered with cleere fountains, and sundry brokes, beating on the snow-white sands, together with silver streames sliding forth with soft sounding noise, and leaving a pledge of sweet savours on their bordering bankes, and lakes gushing out abundantly in cold running rivers."--_Epistle of Gildas_, Transl. 1638, 12mo. p. 1, after the prologue. Whoever looks into that amusing and prettily-printed little book, "_Barclaii Satyricon_," 1629, 18mo., will find a description of Germany, similar, in part, to the preceding.--"Olim sylvis et incolis fera, nunc oppidis passim insignis; nemoribus quoque quibus immensis tegebatur, ad usum decusque castigatis." p. 316.] "In the example of GONZALO, with whom Philemon is perfectly well acquainted, a remarkable exemplification of the passion of _Vanity_ occurs. I recollect, one evening, he came rushing into a party where I sat, screaming with the extatic joy of a maniac--'[Greek: Eurêka, Eurêka]'; and, throwing down a scroll, rushed as precipitately out of the room. The scroll was of vellum; the title to the contents of it was penned in golden letters, and softly-painted bunches of roses graced each corner. It contained a sonnet to love, and another to friendship; but a principal mistake which struck us, on the very threshold of our critical examination, was that he had incorrectly entitled these sonnets. Friendship should have been called love, and love, friendship. We had no sooner made the discovery than Gonzalo returned, expecting to find us in like ecstacies with himself!--We gravely told him that we stumbled at the very threshold. It was quite sufficient--he seized his sonnets with avidity--and, crumpling the roll (after essaying to tear it) thrust it into his pocket, and retreated. One of the gentlemen in company made the following remarks, on his leaving us: 'In the conduct of Gonzalo appears a strange mixture of intellectual strength and intellectual debility; of wit and dulness; of wisdom and folly; and all this arises chiefly from his mistaking the means for the end--the instrument of achieving for the object achieved. The fondest wish of his heart is literary fame: for this he would sacrifice every thing. He is handsome, generous, an affectionate son, a merry companion, and is, withal, a very excellent belles-lettres scholar. Tell him that the ladies admire him, that his mother doats on him, and that his friends esteem him--and--keeping back the wished-for eulogy of literary excellence--you tell him of nothing which he cares for. In truth he might attain some portion of intellectual reputation, if he would throw aside his ridiculous habits. He _must_, as soon as the evening shades prevail, burn wax tapers--he must always have an Argand lamp lighted up before him, to throw a picturesque effect upon a dark wood painted by Hobbima--his pens must be made from the crow's wing--his wax must be green--his paper must be thick and hot-pressed; and he must have a portfolio of the choicest bits of ancient vellum that can be procured--his body must recline upon a chintz sofa--his foot must be perched upon an ottoman--in short he _must_ have every thing for which no man of common sense would express the least concern. Can you be surprised, therefore, that he should commence his sonnet to friendship thus: Oh, sweetest softest thing that's friendship hight! or that he should conceive the following address to women, by one William Goddard, worthy of being ranked among the most beautiful poetical efforts of the 16th century: Stars of this earthly heaven, you whose essence Compos'd was of man's purest quintessence, To you, to virtuous you, I dedicate This snaggy sprig[83]----" [Footnote 83: From "_A Satyrical Dialogue, &c., betweene Alexander the Great and that truelye woman-hater Diogynes_. Imprinted in the low countryes for all such gentlewomen as are not altogether idle nor yet well occupyed," 4to. no date. A strange composition! full of nervous lines and pungent satire--but not free from the grossest licentiousness.] "Enough," exclaimed Philemon--while Lysander paused a little, after uttering the foregoing in a rapid and glowing manner--"enough for this effeminate vanity in man! What other ills have you to enumerate, which assail the region of literature?"--"I will tell you," replied Lysander, "another, and a most lamentable evil, which perverts the very end for which talents were given us--and it is in mistaking and misapplying these talents. I speak with reference to the individual himself, and not to the public. You may remember how grievously ALFONSO bore the lot which public criticism, with one voice, adjudged to him! This man had good natural parts, and would have abridged a history, made an index, or analyzed a philosophical work, with great credit to himself and advantage to the public. But he set his heart upon eclipsing Doctors Johnson and Jamieson. He happened to know a few etymons more correctly, and to have some little acquaintance with black letter literature, and hence thought to give more weight to lexicographical inquiries than had hitherto distinguished them. But how miserably he was deceived in all his undertakings of this kind past events have sufficiently shewn. No, my good Philemon, to be of use to the republic of literature, let us know our situations; and let us not fail to remember that, in the best appointed army, the serjeant may be of equal utility with the captain. "I will notice only one other, and a very great, failing observable in literary men--and this is severity and self-consequence. You will find that these severe characters generally set up the trade of _Critics_; without attending to the just maxim of Pope, that Ten censure wrong, for one that writes amiss. "With them, the least deviation from precise correctness, the most venial trippings, the smallest inattention paid to doubtful rules and equivocal positions of criticism, inflames their anger, and calls forth their invectives. Regardless of the sage maxims of Cicero, Quintilian, and Horace, they not only disdain the sober rules which their ancient brethren have wisely laid down, and hold in contempt the voice of the public,[84] but, forgetting the subject which they have undertaken to criticise, they push the author out of his seat, quietly sit in it themselves, and fancy they entertain you by the gravity of their deportment, and their rash usurpation of the royal monosyllable 'Nos.'[85] This solemn pronoun, or rather 'plural style,'[86] my dear Philemon, is oftentimes usurped by a half-starved little _I_, who sits immured in the dusty recess of a garret, and who has never known the society nor the language of a gentleman; or it is assumed by a young graduate, just settled in his chambers, and flushed with the triumph of his degree of 'B.A.', whose 'fond conceyte' [to borrow Master Francis Thynne's[87] terse style,] is, to wrangle for an asses shadowe, or to seke a knott in a rushe!' [Footnote 84: "Interdum vulgus rectum videt:" says Horace.--_Epist. lib._ ii. _ad. Augustum_, v. 63.] [Footnote 85: Vide RYMERI _Foedera_--passim.] [Footnote 86: A very recent, and very respectable, authority has furnished me with this expression.] [Footnote 87: See Mr. Todd's _Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer_, p. 10.] "For my part," continued Lysander, speaking with the most unaffected seriousness--"for my part, nothing delights me more than modesty and diffidence, united with 'strong good sense, lively imagination, and exquisite sensibility,'[88] whether in an author or a critic. When I call to mind that our greatest sages have concluded their labours with doubt, and an avowal of their ignorance; when I see how carefully and reverently they have pushed forward their most successful inquiries; when I see the great Newton pausing and perplexed in the vast world of planets, comets, and constellations, which were, in a measure, of his own creation--I learn to soften the asperity of my critical anathemas, and to allow to an author that portion of fallibility of which I am conscious myself. [Footnote 88: It is said, very sensibly, by La Bruyere, I will allow that good writers are scarce enough; but then I ask where are the people that know how to read and judge? A union of these qualities, which are seldom found in the same person, seems to be indispensably necessary to form an able critic; he ought to possess strong good sense, lively imagination, and exquisite sensibility. And of these three qualities, the last is the most important; since, after all that can be said on the utility or necessity of rules and precepts, it must be confessed that the merit of all works of genius must be determined by taste and sentiment. "Why do you so much admire the Helen of Zeuxis?" said one to Nicostratus. "You would not wonder why I so much admired it (replied the painter) if you had my eyes."--WARTON: Note to Pope's Essay on Criticism. _Pope's Works_, vol. i. 196, edit. 1806.] "I see then," rejoined Philemon, "that you are an enemy to _Reviews_."[89] "Far from it," replied Lysander, "I think them of essential service to literature. They hold a lash over ignorance and vanity; and, at any rate, they take care to bestow a hearty castigation upon vicious and sensual publications. Thus far they do good: but, in many respects, they do ill--by substituting their own opinions for those of an author; by judging exclusively according to their own previously formed decisions in matters of religion and politics; and by shutting out from your view the plan, and real tendency, of the book which they have undertaken to review, and therefore ought to analyze. It is, to be sure, amusing to read the clamours which have been raised against some of the most valuable, and now generally received, works! When an author recollects the pert conclusion of Dr. Kenrick's review of Dr. Johnson's Tour to the Hebrides,[90] he need not fear the flippancy of a reviewer's wit, as decisive of the fate of his publication! [Footnote 89: The earliest publications, I believe, in this country, in the character of REVIEWS were there [Transcriber's Note: the] _Weekly Memorials for the Ingenious_, &c. Lond. 1683, 4to.--and _The Universal Historical Bibliotheque_: or an Account of most of the considerable Books printed in all Languages, in the Month of January 1686. London, 1687, 4to. Five years afterwards came forth _The Young Student's Library_, by the Athenian Society, 1692, folio, "a kind of common theatre where every person may act, or take such part as pleases him best, and what he does not like he may pass over, assuring himself that, every one's judgment not being like his, another may chuse what he mislikes, and so every one may be pleased in their turns." Pref. A six weeks' frost is said to have materially delayed the publication. After these, in the subsequent century, appeared the _Old and New Memoirs of Literature_; then, the _Works of the Learned_; upon which was built, eclipsing every one that had preceeded it, and not excelled by any subsequent similar critical journal, _The Monthly Review_.] [Footnote 90: After all, said the reviewing Doctor, we are of opinion, with the author himself, that this publication contains 'the sentiments of one who has seen but little:' meaning, thereby, that the book was hardly worth perusal! What has become of the said Dr. Kenrick now? We will not ask the same question about the said DR. JOHNSON; whose works are upon the shelf of every reading man of sense and virtue.] "It is certainly," pursued Lysander, "a very prolific age of knowledge. There never was, at any one period of the world, so much general understanding abroad. The common receptacles of the lower orders of people present, in some degree, intellectual scenes. I mean, that collision of logic, and corruscation of wit, which arise from the perusal of a newspaper; a production, by-the-bye, upon which Cowper has conferred immortality.[91] You may remember, when we were driven by a sharp tempest of hail into the small public-house which stands at the corner of the heath--what a _logomachy_--what a _war of words_ did we hear! and all about sending troops to the north or south of Spain, and the justice or injustice of the newly-raised prices of admission to Covent Garden theatre!![92] The stage-coach, if you recollect, passed by quickly after our having drunk a tumbler of warm brandy and water to preserve ourselves from catching cold; and into it glad enough we were to tumble! We had no sooner begun to be tolerably comfortable and composed than a grave old gentleman commenced a most furious Philippic against the prevailing studies, politics, and religion of the day--and, in truth, this man evinced a wonderfully retentive memory, and a fair share of powers of argument; bringing everything, however, to the standard of his _own times_. It was in vain we strove to edge in the great _Whig and Tory Reviews_ of the northern and southern hemispheres! The obdurate champion of other times would not listen a moment, or stir one inch, in favour of these latter publications. When he quitted us, we found that he was a ---- of considerable consequence in the neighbourhood, and had acquired his fortune from the superior sagacity and integrity he had displayed in consequence of having been educated at the free-school in the village of ----, one of the few public schools in this kingdom which has not frustrated the legitimate views of its pious founder, by converting that into a foppish and expensive establishment which was at once designed as an asylum for the poor and an academy to teach wisdom and good morals." [Footnote 91: See the opening the fourth book of "_The Task_;" a picture perfectly original and unrivalled in its manner.] [Footnote 92: It is not less true, than surprising, that the ridiculous squabbles, which disgraced both this theatre and the metropolis, have been deemed deserving of a regular series of publications in the shape of numbers--1, 2, 3, &c. As if the subject had not been sufficiently well handled in the lively sallies and brilliant touches of satire which had before appeared upon it in the _Monthly Mirror_!] Philemon was about to reply, with his usual warmth and quickness, to the latter part of these remarks--as bearing too severely upon the eminent public seminaries within seventy miles of the metropolis--but Lysander, guessing his intentions from his manner and attitude, cut the dialogue short by observing that we did not meet to discuss subjects of a personal and irritable nature, and which had already exercised the wits of two redoubted champions of the church--but that our object, and the object of all rational and manly discussion, was to state opinions with frankness, without intending to wound the feelings, or call forth the animadversions, of well-meaning and respectable characters. "I know," continued he, "that you, Philemon, have been bred in one of these establishments, under a man as venerable for his years as he is eminent for his talents and worth; who employs the leisure of dignified retirement in giving to the world the result of his careful and profound researches; who, drinking largely at the fountain head of classical learning, and hence feeling the renovated vigour of youth (without having recourse to the black art of a Cornelius Agrippa[93]), circumnavigates 'the Erythrean sea'--then, ascending the vessel of Nearchus, he coasts 'from Indus to the Euphrates'--and explores with an ardent eye what is curious and what is precious, and treasures in his sagacious mind what is most likely to gratify and improve his fellow-countrymen. A rare and eminent instance this of the judicious application of acquired knowledge!--and how much more likely is it to produce good, and to secure solid fame, than to fritter away one's strength, and undermine one's health, in perpetual pugilistic contests with snarling critics, dull commentators, and foul-mouthed philologists." [Footnote 93: Let him who wishes to be regaled in a dull dreary night--when the snow is heavily falling, and the wind whistles hollowly--open those leaves of Bayle's _Historical and Biographical Dictionary_ which relate to this extraordinary character; and see there how adroitly Agrippa is defended against the accusation of "having two devils attending him in the shape of two little dogs--one of them being called Monsieur, and the other Mademoiselle"--"whereas Paulus Jovius, Thevet, &c., speak only of _one_ dog, and never mention his name." Vol. i. 357, 361; edit. 1736, 10 vols. folio. The bibliographer, who wishes to be master of the most curious and rare editions of his works, may go from Bayle to Clement, and from Clement to Vogt. He must beware of the castrated Lyons' editions "per Beringos fratres"--against one of which Bayle declaims, and produces a specimen (quite to his own liking) of the passage suppressed:--another, of a similar kind, is adduced by Vogt (edit. 1793, pp. 19, 20); who tells us, however, that an edition of 1544, 8vo., without mention of place or printer--and especially a Cologne edition of 1598, by Hierat, in 12mo.--exhibits the like castrations; p. 20. This has escaped Clement, learned as he is upon the Lyons' editions, vol. i. 94, 95, 96. Bauer (_Bibl. Libr. Rarior._) is here hardly worth consulting; and the compilers of the celebrated _Nouveau Dict. Historique_ (Caen edit. 1789, vol. i. p. 7. Art. Agrippa) deserve censure for the recommendation of these Lyons' editions only. Agrippa's "VANITY OF SCIENCES" was first published at Antwerp in 4to. 1530; a book, upon the rarity of which bibliographers delight to expatiate. His "OCCULT PHILOSOPHY"--according to Bayle, in 1531 (at least, the Elector of Cologne had seen several printed leaves of it in this year), but according to Vogt and Bauer, in 1533.--There is no question about the edition of 1533; of which Vogt tells us, "An Englishman, residing at Frankfort, anxiously sought for a copy of it, offering fifty crowns (imperiales) and more, without success." All the editions in Agrippa's life-time (before 1536) are considered uncastrated, and the best. It should not be forgotten that Brucker, in his _Hist. Crit. Phil._, has given a masterly account of Agrippa, and an analysis of his works.] Philemon heartily assented to the truth of these remarks; and, more than once, interrupted Lysander in his panegyrical peroration by his cheerings:[94] for he had, in his youth (as was before observed), been instructed by the distinguished character upon whom the eulogy had been pronounced. [Footnote 94: This word is almost peculiar to our own country, and means a vehement degree of applause. It is generally used previous to, and during, a contest of any kind--whether by men in red coats, or blue coats, or black coats--upon land, upon water, or within doors. Even the walls of St. Stephen's chapel frequently echo to the "_loud cheerings_" of some kind or other. See every newspaper on every important debate.] The effort occasioned by the warmth in discussing such interesting subjects nearly exhausted Lysander--when it was judged prudent to retire to rest. Each had his chamber assigned to him; and while the chequered moon-beam played upon the curtains and the wall, through the half-opened shutter, the minds of Lysander and Philemon felt a correspondent tranquillity; and sweet were their slumbers till the morning shone full upon them. [Illustration] PART II. =The Cabinet.= OUTLINE OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC BIBLIOGRAPHY. Condemn the daies of elders great or small, And then blurre out the course of present tyme: Cast one age down, and so doe orethrow all, And burne the bookes of printed prose or ryme: Who shall beleeve he rules, or she doth reign, In tyme to come, if writers loose their paine The pen records tyme past and present both: Skill brings foorth bookes, and bookes is nurse to troth. CHURCHYARD'S _Worthiness of Wales_ p. 18, edit. 1776. [Illustration] [Illustration] =The Cabinet.= OUTLINE OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC BIBLIOGRAPHY. Tout autour oiseaulx voletoient Et si tres-doulcement chantoient, Qu'il n'est cueur qui n'ent fust ioyeulx. Et en chantant en l'air montoient Et puis l'un l'autre surmontoient A l'estriuee a qui mieulx mieulx. Le temps n'estoit mie mieulx. De bleu estoient vestuz les cieux, Et le beau Soleil cler luisoit. Violettes croissoient par lieux Et tout faisoit ses deuoirs tieux Comme nature le duisoit. OEUVRES DE CHARTIER, Paris, 1617, 4to. p. 594. Such is the lively description of a spring morning, in the opening of Alain Chartier's "_Livre des quatre dames_;" and, excepting the violets, such description conveyed a pretty accurate idea of the scenery which presented itself, from the cabinet window, to the eyes of Lysander and Philemon. PHIL. How delightful, my dear friend, are the objects which we have before our eyes, within and without doors! The freshness of the morning air, of which we have just been partaking in yonder field, was hardly more reviving to my senses than is the sight of this exquisite cabinet of bibliographical works, adorned with small busts and whole-length figures from the antique! You see these precious books are bound chiefly in Morocco, or Russia leather: and the greater part of them appear to be printed upon _large paper_. LYSAND. Our friend makes these books a sort of hobby-horse, and perhaps indulges his vanity in them to excess. They are undoubtedly useful in their way. PHIL. You are averse then to the study of bibliography? LYSAND. By no means. I have already told you of my passion for books, and cannot, therefore, dislike bibliography. I think, with Lambinet, that the greater part of bibliographical works are sufficiently dry and soporific:[95] but I am not insensible to the utility, and even entertainment, which may result from a proper cultivation of it--although both De Bure and Peignot appear to me to have gone greatly beyond the mark, in lauding this study as "one of the most attractive and vast pursuits in which the human mind can be engaged."[96] [Footnote 95: _Recherches, &c., sur l'Origine de l'Imprimerie_: Introd. p. x. Lambinet adds very justly, "L'art consiste à les rendre supportables par des objets variés de littérature, de critique, d'anecdotes," &c.] [Footnote 96: See the "Discours sur la Science Bibliographique," &c., in the eighth volume of De Bure's _Bibl. Instruct._ and Peignot's _Dictionnaire Raisonné de Biblilolgie_, [Transcriber's Note: Bibliologie] vol. i. p. 50. The passage, in the former authority, beginning "Sans cesse"--p. xvj.--would almost warm the benumbed heart of a thorough-bred mathematician, and induce him to exchange his Euclid for De Bure!!] PHIL. But to know what books are valuable and what are worthless; their intrinsic and extrinsic merits; their rarity, beauty, and particularities of various kinds; and the estimation in which they are consequently held by knowing men--these things add a zest to the gratification we feel in even looking upon and handling certain volumes. LYSAND. It is true, my good Philemon; because knowledge upon any subject, however trivial, is more gratifying than total ignorance; and even if we could cut and string cherry-stones, like Cowper's rustic boy, it would be better than brushing them aside, without knowing that they could be converted to such a purpose. Hence I am always pleased with Le Long's reply to the caustic question of Father Malebranche, when the latter asked him, "how he could be so foolish as to take such pains about settling the date of a book, or making himself master of trivial points of philosophy!"--"Truth is so delightful," replied Le Long, "even in the most trivial matters, that we must neglect nothing to discover her." This reply, to a man who was writing, or had written, an essay upon truth was admirable. Mons. A.G. CAMUS, a good scholar, and an elegant bibliographer, [of whom you will see some account in "_Les Siecles Litteraires de la France_,"] has, I think, placed the study of bibliography in a just point of view; and to his observations, in the first volume of the "_Memoires de l'Institut National_," I must refer you.[97] [Footnote 97: Lysander had probably the following passage more particularly in recollection; which, it must be confessed, bears sufficiently hard upon fanciful and ostentatious collectors of books. "[Il y a] deux sortes de connoissance des livres: l'une qui se renferme presque uniquement dans les dehors et la forme du livre, pour apprécier, d'après sa date, d'après la caractère de l'impression, d'après certaines notes, quelquefois seulement d'après une erreur typographique, les qualités qui le font ranger dans la classe des livres rares où curieux, et qui fixent sa valeur pecuniaire: l'autre genre de connoissance consiste à savoir quels sont les livres les plus propres à instruire, ceux où les sujets sont le plus clairement présentés et le plus profondement discutés; les ouvrages à l'aide desquels il est possible de saisir l'origine de la science, de la suivre dans ses développemens, d'atteindre le point actuel de la perfection. Sans doute il seroit avantageux que ces deux genres de connoisances fussent toujours réunis: l'expérience montre qu'ils le sont rairement; l'expérience montre encore que le premier des deux genres a été plus cultivé que le second. Nous possédons, sur l'indication des livres curieux et rares, sur les antiquités et les bijoux litteraires, si l'on me permet d'employer cette expression, des instructions meilleures que nous n'en avons sur les livres propres à instruire foncièrement des sciences. En recherchant la cause de cette difference, on la trouvera peut-être dans la passion que des hommes riches et vains ont montrée pour posséder des livres sans être en état de les lire. Il a fallu créer pour eux une sorte de bibliotheque composée d'objets qui, sous la forme exterieure de livres, ne fussent réellement que des raretés, des objets de curiosité, qu'on ne lit pas, mais que tantôt on regarde avec complaisance, tantôt en montre avec ostentation; et comme après cela c'est presque toujours le goût des personnes en état de récompenser qui dirige le but des travailleurs, on ne doit pas être surpris qu'on se soit plus occupé d'indiquer aux hommes riches dont je parle, des raretés à acquérir, ou de vanter celles qu'ils avoient rassemblées, que de faciliter, par des indications utiles, les travaux des hommes studieux dont on n'attendoit aucune récompense." _Memoires de l'Institut_, vol. i. 664. See also the similar remarks of Jardé, in the "Précis sur les Bibliotheques," prefixed to Fournier's _Dict. portatif de Bibliographie_, edit. 1809. Something like the same animadversions may be found in a useful book printed nearly two centuries before: "Non enim cogitant quales ipsi, sed qualibus induti vestibus sint, et quanta pompa rerum fortunæque præfulgeant--sunt enim omnino ridiculi, qui in nuda librorum quantumvis selectissimorum multitudine gloriantur, et inde doctos sese atque admirandos esse persuadent." Draudius: _Bibliotheca Classica_, ed. 1611. Epist. ad. Lect. Spizelius has also a good passage upon the subject, in his description of Book-Gluttons ("Helluones Librorum"): "cum immensa pené librorum sit multitudo et varietas, fieri non potest, quin eorum opibus ditescere desiderans (hæres), non assiduam longamque lectionem adhibeat." _Infelix Literatus_, p. 296, edit. 1680, 8vo.] PHIL. I may want time, and probably inclination, to read these observations: and, at any rate, I should be better pleased with your analysis of them. LYSAND. That would lead me into a wide field indeed; and, besides, our friend--who I see walking hastily up the garden--is impatient for his breakfast; 'tis better, therefore, that we satisfy just now an appetite of a different kind. PHIL. But you promise to renew the subject afterwards? LYSAND. I will make no such promise. If our facetious friend LISARDO, who is expected shortly to join us, should happen to direct our attention and the discourse to the sale of MALVOLIO'S busts and statues, what favourable opportunity do you suppose could present itself for handling so unpromising a subject as bibliography? PHIL. Well, well, let us hope he will not come: or, if he does, let us take care to carry the point by a majority of votes. I hear the gate bell ring: 'tis Lisardo, surely! Three minutes afterwards, Lisardo and myself, who met in the passage from opposite doors, entered the Cabinet. Mutual greetings succeeded: and, after a hearty breakfast, the conversation was more systematically renewed. LIS. I am quite anxious to give you a description of the fine things which were sold at Malvolio's mansion yesterday! Amongst colossal Minervas, and pigmy fauns and satyrs, a magnificent set of books, in ten or twelve folio volumes (I forget the precise number) in Morocco binding, was to be disposed of. LYSAND. The Clementine and Florentine museums? LIS. No indeed--a much less interesting work. A catalogue of the manuscripts and printed books in the library of the French king, Louis the fifteenth. It was odd enough to see such a work in such a sale! PHIL. You did not probably bid ten guineas for it, Lisardo? LIS. Not ten shillings. What should I do with such books? You know I have a mortal aversion to them, and to every thing connected with bibliographical learning. PHIL. That arises, I presume, from your profound knowledge of the subject; and, hence, finding it, as Solomon found most pursuits, "vanity of vanities, and vexation of spirit." LIS. Not so, truly! I have taken an aversion to it from mere whim and fancy: or rather from downright ignorance. PHIL. But I suppose you would not object to be set right upon any subject of which you are ignorant or misinformed? You don't mean to sport _hereditary_ aversions, or hereditary attachments? LIS. Why, perhaps, something of the kind. My father, who was the best creature upon earth, happened to come into the possession of a huge heap of catalogues of private collections, as well as of booksellers' books--and I remember, on a certain fifth of November, when my little hands could scarcely grasp the lamplighter's link that he bade me set fire to them, and shout forth--"Long live the King!"--ever since I have held them in sovereign contempt. PHIL. I love the king too well to suppose that his life could have been lengthened by any such barbarous act. You were absolutely a little Chi Ho-am-ti, or Omar![98] Perhaps you were not aware that his majesty is in possession of many valuable books, which are described with great care and accuracy in some of these very catalogues. [Footnote 98: Pope, in his Dunciad, has treated the conflagration of the two great ancient libraries, with his usual poetical skill: "Far eastward cast thine eye, from whence the sun And orient Science their bright course begun: One god-like monarch all that pride confounds, He, whose long wall the wandering Tartar bounds; Heavens! what a pile! whole ages perish there, And one bright blaze turns Learning into air. Thence to the south extend thy gladden'd eyes; There rival flames with equal glory rise, From shelves to shelves see greedy Vulcan roll, And lick up all their PHYSIC OF THE SOUL." "Chi Ho-am-ti, Emperor of China, the same who built the great wall between China and Tartary, destroyed all the books and learned men of that empire." "The caliph, Omar I. having conquered Egypt, caused his general to burn the Ptolemean library, on the gates of which was this inscription: '[Greek: PSYCHÊS IATREION]:' 'THE PHYSIC OF THE SOUL.'" Warburton's note. The last editor of Pope's works, (vol. v. 214.) might have referred us to the very ingenious observations of Gibbon, upon the probability of this latter event: see his "_Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_," vol. ix. 440, &c.] LIS. The act, upon reflection, was no doubt sufficiently foolish. But why so warm upon the subject? LYSAND. Let me defend Philemon; or at least account for his zeal. Just before you came in, he was leading me to give him some account of the RISE AND PROGRESS OF BIBLIOGRAPHY; and was fearful that, from your noted aversion to the subject, you would soon cut asunder the thread of our conversation. LIS. If you can convert me to be an admirer of such a subject, or even to endure it, you will work wonders; and, unless you promise to do so, I know not whether I shall suffer you to begin. PHIL. Begin, my dear Lysander. A mind disposed to listen attentively is sometimes half converted. O, how I shall rejoice to see this bibliographical incendiary going about to buy up copies of the very works which he has destroyed! Listen, I entreat you, Lisardo. LIS. I am all attention; for I see the clouds gathering in the south, and a gloomy, if not a showery, mid-day, promises to darken this beauteous morning. 'Twill not be possible to attend the antiques at Malvolio's sale. LYSAND. Whether the sun shine, or the showers fall, I will make an attempt--not to convert, but to state simple truths: provided you "lend me your ears." PHIL. And our hearts too. Begin: for the birds drop their notes, and the outlines of the distant landscape are already dimmed by the drizzling rain. LYSAND. You call upon me as formally as the shepherds call upon one another to sing in Virgil's eclogues. But I will do my best. It is gratifying to the English nation--whatever may have been the strictures of foreigners[99] upon the paucity of their bibliographico-literary works in the 16th century--that the earliest printed volume upon the love and advantages of book-collecting was the _Philobiblion_[100] of RICHARD DE BURY; who was bishop of Durham at the close of the 14th century, and tutor to Edward III. I will at present say nothing about the merits and demerits of this short treatise; only I may be permitted to observe, with satisfaction, that the head of the same see, at the present day, has given many proofs of his attachment to those studies, and of his reward of such merit as attracted the notice of his illustrious predecessor. It is with pain that I am compelled to avow the paucity of publications, in our own country, of a nature similar to the _Philobiblion_ of De Bury, even for two centuries after it was composed; but while Leland was making his library-tour, under the auspices of that capricious tyrant Henry VIII., many works were planned _abroad_, which greatly facilitated the researches of the learned. [Footnote 99: "Anglica gens longe fuit negligentior in consignandis ingeniorum monumentis; nihil enim ab illis prodiit, quod mereatur nominari, cum tamen sint extentque pene innumera ingeniossimæ gentis in omnibus doctrinis scripta, prodeantque quotidie, tam Latina, quam vernacula lingua, plura," Morhof: _Polyhist. Literar._ vol. i. 205, edit. 1747. Reimmannus carries his strictures, upon the jealousy of foreigners at the success of the Germans in bibliography, with a high hand: "Ringantur Itali, nasum incurvent Galli, supercilium adducant Hispani, scita cavilla serant Britanni, frendeant, spument, bacchentur ii omnes, qui præstantiam MUSARUM GERMANICARUM limis oculis aspiciunt," &c.--"hoc tamen certum, firmum, ratum, et inconcussum est, GERMANOS primos fuisse in Rep. Literaria, qui Indices Librorum Generales, Speciales et Specialissimos conficere, &c. annisi sunt."--A little further, however, he speaks respectfully of our James, Hyde, and Bernhard. See his ably-written _Bibl. Acroamatica_, pp. 1, 6.] [Footnote 100: "_Sive de Amore Librorum._" The first edition, hitherto so acknowledged, of this entertaining work, was printed at Spires, by John and Conrad Hist, in 1483, 4to., a book of great rarity--according to Clement, vol. v. 435; Bauer (_Suppl. Bibl. Libr. Rarior_, pt. i. 276); Maichelius, p. 127; and Morhof, vol. i. 187. Mons. De La Serna Santander has assigned the date of 1473 to this edition: see his _Dict. Bibliog. Chois._ vol. ii. 257,--but, above all, consult Clement--to whom Panzer, vol. iii. p. 22, very properly refers his readers. And yet some of Clement's authorities do not exactly bear him out in the identification of this impression. Mattaire, vol. i. 449, does not appear to have ever seen a copy of it: but, what is rather extraordinary, Count Macarty has a copy of a Cologne edition in 4to., of the date of 1473. No other edition of it is known to have been printed till the year 1500; when two impressions of this date were published at Paris, in 4to.: the one by Philip for Petit, of which both Clement and Fabricius (_Bibl. Med. et Inf. Ætat._ vol. i. 842, &c.) were ignorant; but of which, a copy, according to Panzer, vol. ii. 336, should seem to be in the public library at Gottingen; the other, by Badius Ascensius, is somewhat more commonly known. A century elapsed before this work was deemed deserving of republication; when the country that had given birth to, and the university that had directed the studies of, its illustrious author, put forth an inelegant reprint of it in 4to. 1599--from which some excerpts will be found in the ensuing pages--but in the meantime the reader may consult the title-page account of Herbert, vol. iii. p. 1408. Of none of these latter editions were the sharp eyes of Clement ever blessed with a sight of a copy! See his _Bibl. Curcuse_, &c. vol. v. 438. The 17th century made some atonement for the negligence of the past, in regard to RICHARD DE BURY. At Frankfort his _Philobiblion_ was reprinted, with "a Century of Philological Letters," collected by Goldastus, in 1610, 8vo--and this same work appeared again, at Leipsic, in 1674, 8vo. At length the famous Schmidt put forth an edition, with some new pieces, "typis et sumtibus Georgii Wolffgangii Hammii, Acad. Typog. 1703," 4to. Of this latter edition, neither Maichelius nor the last editor of Morhof take notice. It may be worth while adding that the subscription in red ink, which Fabricius (_ibid._) notices as being subjoined to a vellum MS. of this work, in his own possession--and which states that it was finished at Auckland, in the year 1343, in the 58th of its author, and at the close of the 11th year of his episcopacy--may be found, in substance, in Hearne's edition of Leland's _Collectanea_, vol. ii. 385, edit. 1774.] Among the men who first helped to clear away the rubbish that impeded the progress of the student, was the learned and modest CONRAD GESNER; at once a scholar, a philosopher, and a bibliographer: and upon whom Julius Scaliger, Theodore Beza, and De Thou, have pronounced noble eulogiums.[101] His _Bibliotheca Universalis_ was the first thing, since the discovery of the art of printing, which enabled the curious to become acquainted with the works of preceding authors: thus kindling, by the light of such a lamp, the fire of emulation among his contemporaries and successors. I do not pretend to say that the _Bibliotheca_ of Gesner is any thing like perfect, even as far as it goes: but, considering that the author had to work with his own materials alone, and that the degree of fame and profit attached to such a publication was purely speculative, he undoubtedly merits the thanks of posterity for having completed it even in the manner in which it has come down to us. Consider Gesner as the father of bibliography; and if, at the sale of Malvolio's busts, there be one of this great man, purchase it, good Lisardo, and place it over the portico of your library. [Footnote 101: His _Bibliotheca_, or _Catalogus Universalis, &c._, was first printed in a handsome folio volume at Zurich, 1545. Lycosthyne put forth a wretched abridgement of this work, which was printed by the learned Oporinus, in 4to., 1551. Robert Constantine, the lexicographer, also abridged and published it in 1555, Paris, 8vo.; and William Canter is said by Labbe to have written notes upon Simler's edition, which Baillet took for granted to be in existence, and laments not to have seen them; but he is properly corrected by De La Monnoye, who reminds us that it was a mere report, which Labbe gave as he found it. I never saw Simler's own editions of his excellent abridgement and enlargement of it in 1555 and 1574; but Frisius published it, with great improvements, in 1583, fol., adding many articles, and abridging and omitting many others. Although this latter edition be called the _edit. opt._ it will be evident that the _editio originalis_ is yet a desideratum in every bibliographical collection. Nor indeed does Frisius's edition take away the necessity of consulting a supplement to Gesner, which appeared at the end of the _Bibliothéque Françoise_ of Du Verdier, 1584. It may be worth stating that Hallevordius's _Bibliotheca Curiòsa_, 1656, 1687, 4to., is little better than a supplement to the preceding work. The _Pandects_ of Gesner, 1548, fol. are also well worth the bibliographer's notice. Each of the 20 books, of which the volume is composed, is preceded by an interesting dedicatory epistle to some eminent printer of day. Consult Baillet's _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii. p. 11. _Bibl. Creven._ vol. v. p. 278; upon this latter work more particularly; and Morhof's _Polyhistor. Literar._ vol. i. 197, and Vogt's _Catalog. Libr. Rarior._, p. 164: upon the former. Although the _Dictionnaire Historique_, published at Caen, in 1789, notices the botanical and lexicographical works of Gesner, it has omitted to mention these Pandects: which however, are uncommon.] LIS. All this is very well. Proceed with the patriarchal age of your beloved bibliography. LYSAND. I was about resuming, with observing that our BALE speedily imitated the example of Gesner, in putting forth his _Britanniæ Scriptores_;[102] the materials of the greater part of which were supplied by Leland. This work is undoubtedly necessary to every Englishman, but its errors are manifold. Let me now introduce to your notice the little work of FLORIAN TREFLER, published in 1560;[103] also the first thing in its kind, and intimately connected with our present subject. The learned, it is true, were not much pleased with it; but it afforded a rough outline upon which Naudæus afterwards worked, and produced, as you will find, a more pleasing and perfect picture. A few years after this, appeared the _Erotemata_ of MICHAEL NEANDER;[104] in the long and learned preface to which, and in the catalogue of his and of Melancthon's works subjoined, some brilliant hints of a bibliographical nature were thrown out, quite sufficient to inflame the lover of book-anecdotes with a desire of seeing a work perfected according to such a plan: but Neander was unwilling, or unable, to put his design into execution. Bibliography, however, now began to make rather a rapid progress; and, in France, the ancient writers of history and poetry seemed to live again in the _Bibliotheque Françoise_ of LA CROIX DU MAINE and DU VERDIER.[105] Nor were the contemporaneous similar efforts of CARDONA to be despised: a man, indeed, skilled in various erudition, and distinguished for his unabating perseverance in examining all the MSS. and printed books that came in his way. The manner, slight as it was, in which Cardona[106] mentioned the Vatican library, aroused the patriotic ardor of PANSA; who published his _Bibliotheca Vaticana_, in the Italian language, in the year 1590; and in the subsequent year appeared the rival production of ANGELUS ROCCHA, written in Latin, under the same title.[107] The magnificent establishment of the VATICAN PRESS, under the auspices of Pope Sixtus V. and Clement VIII. and under the typographical direction of the grandson of Aldus,[108] called forth these publications--which might, however, have been executed with more splendour and credit. [Footnote 102: The first edition of this work, under the title of "_Illustrium maioris Britanniæ Scriptorum, hoc est, Anglæ, Cambriæ, ac Scotiæ summarium, in quasnam centurias divisum, &c._," was printed at Ipswich, in 1548, 4to., containing three supposed portraits of Bale, and a spurious one of Wicliffe. Of the half length portrait of Bale, upon a single leaf, as noticed by Herbert, vol. iii. 1457, I have doubts about its appearance in all the copies. The above work was again published at Basil, by Opornius, in 1559, fol., greatly enlarged and corrected, with a magnificent half length portrait of Bale, from which the one in a subsequent part of this work was either copied on a reduced scale, or of which it was the prototype. His majesty has perhaps the finest copy of this last edition of Bale's _Scriptores Britanniæ_, in existence.] [Footnote 103: "Les Savans n'ont nullemont été satisfaits des règles prescrites par FLORIAN TREFFER (Trefler) le premièr dont on connoisse un écrit sur ce sujet [de la disposition des livres dans une bibliothèque]. Sa méthode de classer les livres fut imprimée à Augsbourg en 1560." Camus: _Memoires de l'Institut_. vol. i. 646. The title is "Methodus Ordinandi Bibliothecam," Augustæ, 1560. The extreme rarity of this book does not appear to have arisen from its utility--if the authority quoted by Vogt, p. 857, edit. 1793, may be credited. Bauer repeats Vogt's account; and Teisser, Morhof, and Baillet, overlook the work.] [Footnote 104: It would appear, from Morhof, that NEANDER meditated the publication of a work similar to the _Pandects_ of Gesner; which would, in all probability, have greatly excelled it. The "_Erotemata Græcæ Linguæ_" was published at Basil in 1565, 8vo. Consult _Polyhist. Liter._ vol. i. 199: _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. iii. art. 887, but more particularly Niceron's _Memoires des Hommes Illustres_, vol. xxx. In regard to Neander, Vogt has given the title at length (a sufficiently tempting one!) calling the work "very rare," and the preface of Neander (which is twice the length of the work) "curious and erudite." See his _Catalog. Libror. Rarior._, p. 614, edit. 1793.] [Footnote 105: LA CROIX DU MAINE'S book appeared toward the end of the year 1584; and that of his coadjutor, ANTHONY VERDIER, in the beginning of the subsequent year. They are both in folio, and are usually bound in one volume. Of these works, the first is the rarest and best executed; but the very excellent edition of both of them, by DE LA MONNOYE and JUVIGNY, in six volumes, 4to., 1772, which has realized the patriotic wishes of Baillet, leaves nothing to be desired in the old editions--and these are accordingly dropping fast into annihilation. It would appear from an advertisement of De Bure, subjoined to his catalogue of Count Macarty's books, 1779, 8vo., that there were then remaining only eleven copies of this new edition upon LARGE PAPER, which were sold for one hundred and twenty livres. Claude Verdier, son of Antony, who published a supplement to Gesner's Bibliotheca, and a "_Censio auctorum omnium veterum et recentiorum_," affected to censure his father's work, and declared that nothing but parental respect could have induced him to consent to its publication--but consult the _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii. 87-8, upon Claude's filial affection; and Morhof's _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 176, concerning the "Censio," &c.--"misere," exclaims Morhof, "ille corvos deludit hiantes: nam ubi censuram suam exercet, manifestum hominis phrenesin facile deprehendas!" The ancient editions are well described in _Bibl. Creven._, vol. v., 277-8, edit. 1776--but more particularly by De Bure, nos. 6020-1. A copy of the ancient edition was sold at West's sale for 2_l._ 15_s._ See _Bibl. West._, No. 934.] [Footnote 106: JOHN BAPTIST CARDONA, a learned and industrious writer, and bishop of Tortosa, published a quarto volume at Tarracona, in 1537, 4to.--comprehending the following four pieces: 1. _De regia Sancti Lamentii Bibliotheca_: 2. _De Bibliothecis_ (_Ex Fulvio Ursino_,) et _De Bibliotheca Vaticana (ex Omphrii Schedis)_: 3. _De Expurgandis hæreticorum propriis nominibus_: 4. _De Dipthycis_. Of these, the first, in which he treats of collecting all manner of useful books, and having able librarians, and in which he strongly exhorts Philip II. to put the Escurial library into good order, is the most valuable to the bibliographer. Vogt, p. 224, gives us two authorities to shew the rarity of this book; and Baillet refers us to the _Bibliotheca Hispana_ of Antonio.] [Footnote 107: MUTIUS PANZA'S work, under the title of _Ragionamenti della Libraria Vaticana_, Rome, 1590, 4to., and ANGELUS ROCCHA'S, that of _Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome_, 1591, 4to., relate rather to the ornaments of architecture and painting, than to a useful and critical analysis, or a numbered catalogue, of the books within the Vatican library. The authors of both are accused by Morhof of introducing quite extraneous and uninteresting matter. Roccha's book, however, is worth possessing, as it is frequently quoted by bibliographers. How far it may be "Liber valde quidem rarus," as Vogt intimates, I will not pretend to determine. It has a plate of the Vatican Library, and another of St. Peter's Cathedral. The reader may consult, also, the _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., p. 141. My copy of this work, purchased at the sale of Dr. Heath's books, has a few pasted printed slips in the margins--some of them sufficiently curious.] [Footnote 108: Consult Renouard's _L'Imprimerie des Alde_, vol. ii., 122, &c. One of the grandest works which ever issued from the Vatican press, under the superintendence of Aldus, was the vulgate bible of Pope Sixtus V., 1590, fol., the copies of which, upon LARGE PAPER, are sufficiently well known and coveted. A very pleasing and satisfactory account of this publication will be found in the _Horæ Biblicæ_ of Mr. Charles Butler, a gentleman who has long and justly maintained the rare character of a profound lawyer, an elegant scholar, and a well-versed antiquary and philologist.] Let us here not forget that the celebrated LIPSIUS condescended to direct his talents to the subject of libraries; and his very name, as Baillet justly remarks, "is sufficient to secure respect for his work," however slender it may be.[109] We now approach, with the mention of Lipsius, the opening of the 17th century; a period singularly fertile in bibliographical productions. I will not pretend to describe, minutely, even the leading authors in this department. The works of PUTEANUS can be only slightly alluded to, in order to notice the more copious and valuable ones of POSSEVINUS and of SCHOTTUS;[110] men who were ornaments to their country, and whose literary and bibliographical publications have secured to them the gratitude of posterity. While the labours of these authors were enriching the republic of literature, and kindling all around a love of valuable and curious books, the _Bibliotheca Historica_ of BOLDUANUS, and the _Bibliotheca Classica_ of DRAUDIUS[111] highly gratified the generality of readers, and enabled the student to select, with greater care and safety, such editions of authors as were deserving of a place in their libraries. [Footnote 109: LIPSIUS published his _Syntagma de Bibliothecis_, at Antwerp, in 1603, 4to., "in quo de ritibus variis et antiquitatibus circa rem bibliothecariam agitur." An improved edition of it, by Maderus, was printed at Helmstadt, in 1666, 4to., with other curious bibliographical opuscula. A third edition of it was put forth by Schmid, at the same place, in 1702, 4to. Consult Morhof. _Poly. Lit._, vol. i., 188.] [Footnote 110: "Scripsit et ERYCIUS PUTEANUS librum _De Usu Bibliothecæ et quidem speciatim Bibliothecæ Ambrosianæ Mediol._, in 8vo., 1606, editum, aliumque, cui titulus _Auspicia Bibliothecæ Lovaniensis_, an. 1639, in 4to." Morhof. "It is true," says Baillet, "that this Puteanus passed for a gossipping sort of writer, and for a great maker of little books, but he was, notwithstanding, a very clever fellow." _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., 150. In the _Bibl. Crev._, vol. v., 311, will be found one of his letters, never before published. He died in 1646. POSSEVINUS published a _Bibliotheca selecta_ and _Apparatus sacer_--of the former of which, the Cologne edition of 1607, folio, and of the latter, that of 1608, are esteemed the most complete. The first work is considered by Morhof as less valuable than the second. The "_Apparatus_" he designates as a book of rather extraordinary merit and utility. Of the author of both these treatises, some have extolled his talents to the skies, others have depreciated them in proportion. His literary character, however, upon the whole, places him in the first class of bibliographers. Consult the _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 175. He was one of the earliest bibliographers who attacked the depraved taste of the Italian printers in adopting licentious capital-initial letters. Catherinot, in his _Art d'imprimer_, p. 3, makes the same complaint: so Baillet informs us, vol. i., pt. i., p. 13, edit. 1725: vol. iii., pt. 1, p. 78. SCHOTTUS'S work, _de Bibl. claris Hispaniæ viris, France_, 1608, 4to., is forgotten in the splendour of Antonio's similar production; but it had great merit in its day. _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., pt. 1, 132, edit. 1725.] [Footnote 111: BOLDUANUS published a _Theological_ (Jenæ, 1614) and _Philosophico Philological_ (Jenæ, 1616), as well as an _Historical_ (Lipsiæ, 1620), library; but the latter work has the pre-eminence. Yet the author lived at too great a distance, wanting the requisite materials, and took his account chiefly from the Frankfort catalogues--some of which were sufficiently erroneous. _Polyhist. Literar._ vol. i., 199. See also the very excellent historical catalogue, comprehending the 1st chap. of Meusel's new edition of Struvius's _Bibl. Histor._, vol. i., p. 26. DRAUDIUS'S work is more distinguished for its arrangement than for its execution in detail. It was very useful, however, at the period when it was published. My edition is of the date of 1611, 4to.: but a second appeared at Frankfort, in 1625, 4to.] The name of DU CHESNE can never be pronounced by a sensible Frenchman without emotions of gratitude. His _Bibliotheca Historiarum Galliæ_ first published in the year 1627, 8vo.--although more immediately useful to foreigners than to ourselves, is nevertheless worth mentioning. Morhof, if I recollect aright, supposes there was a still later edition; but he probably confused with this work the _Series Auctorum, &c. de Francorum Historia_;[112] of which two handsome folio editions were published by Cramoisy. French writers of bibliographical eminence now begin to crowd fast upon us. [Footnote 112: The reader will find a good account of some of the scarcer works of Du Chesne in Vogt's _Catalog. Libror. Rarior._, p. 248, &c., and of the life and literary labours of this illustrious man in the 7th volume of Niceron's _Memoires des Hommes Illustres_.] LIS. But what becomes of the English, Spanish, and Italian bibliographers all this while? LYSAND. The reproach of Morhof is I fear too just; namely that, although we had produced some of the most learned, ingenious, and able men in Europe--lovers and patrons of literature--yet our librarians, or university scholars, were too lazy to acquaint the world with the treasures which were contained in the several libraries around them.[113] You cannot expect a field-marshal, or a statesman in office, or a nobleman, or a rich man of extensive connections, immersed in occupations both pressing and unavoidable--doggedly to set down to a _Catalogue Raisonné_ of his books, or to an analysis of the different branches of literature--while his presence is demanded in the field, in the cabinet, or in the senate--or while all his bells, at home, from the massive outer gate to the retired boudoir, are torn to pieces with ringing and jingling at the annunciation of visitors--you cannot, I say, my good Lisardo, call upon a person, thus occupied, to produce--or expect from him, in a situation thus harassed, the production of--any solid bibliographical publication; but you have surely a right to expect that librarians, or scholars, who spend the greater part of their time in public libraries, will vouchsafe to apply their talents in a way which may be an honour to their patrons, and of service to their country.[114] Not to walk with folded arms from one extremity of a long room (of 120 feet) to another, and stop at every window to gaze on an industrious gardener, or watch the slow progress of a melancholy crow "making wing to the rooky wood," nor yet, in winter, to sit or stand inflexibly before the fire, with a duodecimo jest book or novel in their hands--but to look around and catch, from the sight of so much wisdom and so much worth, a portion of that laudable emulation with which the Gesners, the Baillets, and the Le Longs were inspired; to hold intimate acquaintance with the illustrious dead; to speak to them without the fear of contradiction; to exclaim over their beauties without the dread of ridicule, or of censure; to thank them for what they have done in transporting us to other times, and introducing us to other worlds; and constantly to feel a deep and unchangeable conviction of the necessity of doing all the good in our power, and in our way, for the benefit of those who are to survive us! [Footnote 113: See the note at p. 29, ante. "It is a pity," says Morhof, "that the _Dutch_ had such little curiosity about the literary history of their country--but the _English_ were yet more negligent and incurious."--And yet, Germany, France, and Italy, had already abounded with treasures of this kind!!] [Footnote 114: Senebier, who put forth a very useful and elegantly printed catalogue of the MSS. in the public library of Geneva, 1779, 8vo., has the following observations upon this subject--which I introduce with a necessary proviso, or caution, that _now-a-days_ his reproaches cannot affect us. We are making ample amends for past negligence; for, to notice no others, the labours of those gentlemen who preside over the BRITISH MUSEUM abundantly prove our present industry. Thus speaks Senebier: 'Ill sembleroit d'abord étonnant qu'on ait tant tradé à composer le Catalogue des Manuscripts de la Bibliothéque de Genéve; mais on peut faire plus raisonnablement ce reproche aux Bibliothécaires bien payés et uniquement occupés de leur vocation, qui sont les dépositaires de tant de collections précieuses qu'on voit en Italie, en France, en Allemagne, et en Angleterre; ils le mériteront d'autant mieux, qu'ils privent le public des piéces plus précieuses, et qu'ils ont plusieurs aids intelligens qui peuvent les dispenser de la partie le plus méchanique et la plus ennuyeuse de ce travail,' &c.] PHIL. Hear him, hear him![115] [Footnote 115: This mode of exclamation or expression, like that of _cheering_ (vide p. 20, ante) is also peculiar to our own country; and it is uttered by both friend and foe. Thus, in the senate, when a speaker upon one side of the question happens to put an argument in a strong point of view, those of the same party or mode of thinking exclaim--_hear him, hear him!_ And if he should happen to state any thing that may favour the views, or the mode of thinking, of his opponents, these latter also take advantage of his eloquence, and exclaim, _hear him, hear him!_ Happy the man whom friend and foe alike delight to hear!] LIS. But what is become, in the while, of the English, Italian, and Spanish bibliographers--in the seventeenth century? LYSAND. I beg pardon for the digression; but the less we say of these, during this period, the better; and yet you must permit me to recommend to you the work of PITSEUS, our countryman, which grows scarcer every day.[116] We left off, I think, with the mention of Du Chesne's works. Just about this time came forth the elegant little work of NAUDÆUS;[117] which I advise you both to purchase, as it will cost you but a few shillings, and of the aspect of which you may inform yourselves by taking it down from yonder shelf. Quickly afterwards CLAUDE CLEMENT, "haud passibus æquis," put forth his _Bibliothecæ tam privatæ quam publicæ[118] extructio_, &c.; a work, condemned by the best bibliographical judges. But the splendour of almost every preceding bibliographer's reputation was eclipsed by that arising from the extensive and excellent publications of LOUIS JACOB;[119] a name at which, if we except those of Fabricius and Muratori, diligence itself stands amazed; and concerning whose life and labours it is to be regretted that we have not more extended details. The harsh and caustic manner in which Labbe and Morhof have treated the works of GADDIUS,[120] induce me only to mention his name, and to warn you against looking for much corn in a barn choked with chaff. We now approach the close of the seventeenth century; when, stopping for a few minutes only, to pay our respects to CINELLI, CONRINGIUS, and LOMEIER,[121] we must advance to do homage to the more illustrious names of Labbe, Lambecius, and Baillet; not forgetting, however, the equally respectable ones of Antonio and Lipenius. [Footnote 116: Pitseus's work "_De Rebus Anglicis_," Paris, 1619, 4to., vol. i., was written in opposition to Bale's (vid. p. 31, ante). The author was a learned Roman Catholic; but did not live to publish the second volume. I was glad to give Mr. Ford, of Manchester, 1_l._ 16_s._ for a stained and badly bound copy of it.] [Footnote 117: "GABRIELE NAUDÆO nemo vixit suo tempore [Greek: empeirias] Bibliothecariæ peritior:" _Polyhist. Liter._, vol. i., 187. "Naudæi scripta omnia et singula præstantissima sunt," Vogt, p. 611. "Les ouvrages de Naudé firent oublier ce qui les avoient précédé." Camus, _Mem. de l'Institut._, vol. i., 646. After these eulogies, who will refuse this author's "_Avis pour dresser une Bibliothéque_, Paris, 1627, 1644, 8vo." a place upon his shelf? Unluckily, it rarely comes across the search of the keenest collector. The other, yet scarcer, productions of Naudé will be found well described in Vogt's _Catalog. Libror. Rarior._, p. 610. The reader of ancient politics may rejoice in the possession of what is called, the "_Mascurat_"--and "_Considerations politiques_"--concerning which Vogt is gloriously diffuse; and Peignot (who has copied from him, without acknowledgement--_Bibliogr. Curieuse_, pp. 49, 50,) may as well be consulted. But the bibliographer will prefer the "_Additions à l'Histoire de Louis XI._," 1630, 8vo., and agree with Mailchelius that a work so uncommon and so curious "ought to be reprinted." See the latter's amusing little book "_De Præcipuis Bibliothecis Parisiensibus_," pp. 66, 67, &c. Naudæus was librarian to the famous Cardinal Mazarin, the great Mæcenas of his day; whose library, consisting of upwards of forty thousand volumes, was the most beautiful and extensive one which France had then ever seen. Its enthusiastic librarian, whom I must be allowed to call a very wonderful bibliomaniac, made constant journeys, and entered into a perpetual correspondence, relating to books and literary curiosities. He died at Abbeville in 1653, in his 53rd year, on returning from Sweden, where the famous Christian had invited him. Naudæus's "_Avis, &c._", [ut supr.] was translated by Chaline; but his "_Avis à Nosseigneurs du Parlement, &c._" 1652, 4to.--upon the sale of the Cardinal's library--and his "_Remise de la Bihliothéque_ [Transcriber's Note: Bibliothèque] [Du Cardinal] _entre le mains de M. Tubeuf_, 1651," are much scarcer productions. A few of these particulars are gathered from Peignot's _Dict. de la Bibliolologie_ [Transcriber's Note: Bibliologie], vol. ii., p. 1--consult also his _Dict. Portatif de Bibliographie_, p. v. In the former work I expected a copious piece of biography; yet, short as it is, Peignot has subjoined a curious note from Naudé's "_Considerations politiques_"--in which the author had the hardihood to defend the massacre upon St. Bartholomew's day, by one of the strangest modes of reasoning ever adopted by a rational being.] [Footnote 118: This work, in four books, was published at Lyons, 1635, 4to. If it be not quite "Much ado about nothing"--it exhibits, at least, a great waste of ink and paper. Morhof seems to seize with avidity Baillet's lively sentence of condemnation--"Il y a trop de babil et trop de ce que nous appellons _fatras_," &c.] [Footnote 119: Le Pere LOUYS JACOB published his "_Traicté des plus belles Bibliothéques publiques et particulières, qui ont esté, et qui sont à présents dans le monde_," at Paris, in 1644--again in 1655, 8vo.--in which he first brought together the scattered notices relating to libraries, especially to modern ones. His work is well worth consultation; although Baillet and Morhof do not speak in direct terms of praise concerning it--and the latter seems a little angry at his giving the preference to the Parisian libraries over those of other countries. It must be remembered that this was published as an unfinished production: as such, the author's curiosity and research are highly to be commended. I have read the greater part of it with considerable satisfaction. The same person meditated the execution of a vast work in four folio volumes--called "_La Bibliothéque universelle de tous les Autheurs de France, qui ont escrits en quelque sorte de sciences et de langues_"--which, in fact, was completed in 1638: but, on the death of the author it does not appear what became of it. Jacob also gave an account of books as they were published at Paris, and in other parts of France, from the year 1643 to 1650; which was printed under the title of _Bibliographia Parisina_, Paris, 1651, 4to. Consult _Polyhist. Liter._, vol. i., pp. 189, 202: _Bibl. Creven._, vol. v., pp. 281, 287. _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., p. 151.] [Footnote 120: He published a work entitled "_De scriptoribus non-ecclesiasticis_," 1648, vol. i., 1649, vol. ii., folio: in which his opinions upon authors are given in the most jejune and rash manner. His other works, which would form a little library, are reviewed by Leti with sufficient severity: but the poor man was crack brained! And yet some curious and uncommon things, gleaned from MSS. which had probably never been unrolled or opened since their execution, are to be found in this "Sciolum Florentinum," as Labbe calls him. Consult the _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., p. 175.] [Footnote 121: Magliabechi put CINELLI upon publishing his BIBLIOTHECA VOLANTE, 1677, 8vo., a pretty work, with a happy title!--being an indiscriminate account of some rare books which the author picked up in his travels, or saw in libraries. It was republished, with valuable additions, by Sancassani, at Venice, in 1734, 4to. See _Cat. de Lomenie_, No. 2563. Works of this sort form the ANA of bibliography! CONRINGIUS compiled a charming bibliographical work, in an epistolary form, under the title of _Bibliotheca Augusta_; which was published at Helmstadt, in 1661, 4to.--being an account of the library of the Duke of Brunswick, in the castle of Wolfenbuttle. Two thousand manuscripts, and one hundred and sixteen thousand printed volumes, were then contained in this celebrated collection. Happy the owner of such treasures--happy the man who describes them! LOMEIER'S, or Lomejer's "_De Bibliothecis Liber singularis_," Ultraj, 1669-1680, 8vo., is considered by Baillet among the best works upon the subject of ancient and modern libraries. From this book, Le Sieur LE GALLOIS stole the most valuable part of his materials for his "_Traité des plus belles Bibliothéques de l'Europe_," 1685, 1697--12mo.: the title at full length (a sufficiently imposing one!) may be seen in _Bibé. Crevenn._, vol. v., p. 281; upon this latter treatise, Morhof cuttingly remarks--"Magnos ille titulus strepitus facit: sed pro thesauris carbones." _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., p. 191. See also "_Jugemens des Savans_," vol. ii., p. 152. Gallois dispatches the English libraries in little more than a page. I possess the second edition of Lomeier's book (1680--with both its title pages), which is the last and best--and an interesting little volume it is! The celebrated Grævius used to speak very favourably of this work.] LIS. Pray discuss their works, or merits, _seriatim_, as the judges call it; for I feel overwhelmed at the stringing together of such trisyllabic names. These gentlemen, as well as almost every one of their predecessors, are strangers to me; and you know my bashfulness and confusion in such sort of company. LYSAND. I hope to make you better acquainted with them after a slight introduction, and so rid you of such an uncomfortable diffidence. Let us begin with LABBE,[122] who died in the year 1667, and in the sixtieth of his own age; a man of wonderful memory and of as wonderful application--whose whole life, according to his biographers, was consumed in gathering flowers from his predecessors, and thence weaving such a chaplet for his own brows as was never to know decay. His _Nova Bibliotheca_, and _Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum Manuscriptorum_, are the principal works which endear his memory to bibliographers. More learned than Labbe was LAMBECIUS;[123] whose _Commentarii de Bibliotheca Cæsareâ-Vindobonensis_, with Nesselius's supplement to the same, [1696, 2 vols. fol.] and Kollarius's new edition of both, form one of the most curious and important, as well as elaborate, productions in the annals of literature and bibliography. Less extensive, but more select, valuable, and accurate, in its choice and execution of objects, is the _Bibliotheca Hispana Vetus et Nova_ of Nicholas ANTONIO;[124] the first, and the best, bibliographical work which Spain, notwithstanding her fine palaces and libraries, has ever produced. If neither Philemon nor yourself, Lisardo, possess this latter work [and I do not see it upon the shelves of this cabinet], seek for it with avidity; and do not fear the pistoles which the purchase of it may cost you. LIPENIUS[125] now claims a moment's notice; of whose _Bibliotheca Realis_ Morhof is inclined to speak more favourably than other critics. 'Tis in six volumes; and it appeared from the years 1679 to 1685 inclusive. Not inferior to either of the preceding authors in taste, erudition, and the number and importance of his works, was ADRIEN BAILLET;[126] the simple pastor of Lardiéres, and latterly the learned and indefatigable librarian of Lamoignon. His _Jugemens des Savans_, edited by De la Monnoye, is one of those works with which no man, fond of typographical and bibliographical pursuits, can comfortably dispense. I had nearly forgotten to warn you against the capricious works of BEUGHEM; a man, nevertheless, of wonderful mental elasticity; but for ever planning schemes too vast and too visionary for the human powers to execute.[127] [Footnote 122: "Vir, qui in texendis catalogis totam pene vitam consumpsit." "Homo ad Lexica et Catalogos conficiendos a naturâ factus." Such is Morhof's account of LABBE; who, in the works above-mentioned, in the text, has obtained an unperishable reputation as a bibliographer. The _Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum_, thick duodecimo, or crown octavo, has run through several impressions; of which the Leipsic edit. of 1682, is as good as any; but TEISSER, in his work under the same title, 1686, 4to., has greatly excelled Labbe's production, as well by his corrections of errata as by his additions of some hundreds of authors. The _Bibliotheca Nummaria_ is another of Labbe's well-known performances: in the first part of which he gives an account of those who have written concerning medals--in the second part, of those who have publishe [Transcriber's Note: published] separate accounts of coins, weights, and measures. This is usually appended to the preceding work, and is so published by Teisser. The _Mantissa Suppellectilis_ was an unfinished production; and the _Specimen novæ Bibliothecæ Manuscriptorum Librorum_, Paris, 1653, 4to., is too imperfectly executed for the exercise of rigid criticism; although Baillet calls it 'useful and curious.' Consult the _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 197, 203: and _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., pt. 1, p. 24, edit. 1725. A list of Labbe's works, finished, unfinished, and projected, was published at Paris, in 1656 and 1662. He was joint editor with Cossart of that tremendously voluminous work--the "Collectio Maxima Conciliorum"--1672, 18 volumes, folio.] [Footnote 123: LAMBECIUS died at, one may almost say, the premature age of 52: and the above work (in eight folio volumes), which was left unfinished in consequence, (being published between the years 1665-79 inclusive) gives us a magnificent idea of what its author would have accomplished [see particularly Reimanni _Bibl. Acroamatica_, p. 51] had it pleased Providence to prolong so valuable an existence. It was originally sold for 24 _imperiali_; but at the commencement of the 18th century for not less than 80 _thaleri_, and a copy of it was scarcely ever to be met with. Two reasons have been assigned for its great rarity, and especially for that of the 8th volume; the one, that Lambecius's heir, impatient at the slow sale of the work, sold many copies of it to the keepers of herb-stalls: the other, that, when the author was lying on his death-bed, his servant maid, at the suggestion and from the stinginess of the same heir, burnt many copies of this eighth volume [which had recently left the press] to light the fire in the chamber. This intelligence I glean from Vogt, p. 495: it had escaped Baillet and Morhof. But consult De Bure, vol. vi., Nos. 6004-5. Reimannus published a _Bibliotheca Acroamatica_, Hanov., 1712, 8vo., which is both an entertaining volume and a useful compendium of Lambecius's immense work. But in the years 1766-82, KOLLARIUS published a new and improved edition of the entire commentaries, in six folio volumes; embodying in this gigantic undertaking the remarks which were scattered in his "_Analecta Monumentorum omnis ævi Vindobonensia_," in two folio volumes, 1761. A posthumous work of Kollarius, as a supplement to his new edition of Lambecius's Commentaries, was published in one folio volume, 1790. A complete set of these volumes of Kollarius's bibliographical labours, relating to the Vienna library, was in Serna Santander's catalogue, vol. iv., no. 6291, as well as in Krohn's: in which latter [nos. 3554, 3562] there are some useful notices. See my account of M. Denis: post. Critics have accused these "Commentaries concerning the MSS. in the imperial library at Vienna," as containing a great deal of rambling and desultory matter; but the vast erudition, minute research, and unabateable diligence of its author, will for ever secure to him the voice of public praise, as loud and as hearty as he has received it from his abridger Reimannus. In these volumes appeared the first account of the Psalter, printed at Mentz in 1457, which was mistaken by Lambecius for a MS. The reader will forgive my referring him to a little essay upon this and the subsequent Psalters, printed at Mentz, in 1459, 1490, &c., which was published by me in the 2nd volume of the _Athenæum_, p. 360, 490.] [Footnote 124: Morhof considers the labours of ANTONIO as models of composition in their way. His grand work began to be published in 1672, 2 vols., folio--being the _Bibliotheca Hispana Nova_: this was succeeded, in 1696, by the _Bibliotheca Hispana Antiqua_--in two folio volumes: the prefaces and indexes contain every thing to satisfy the hearts of Spanish Literati. A new edition of the first work was published at Madrid, in 1783, 2 vols., folio; and of the latter work, in 1788, 2 vols., folio.--These recent editions are very rarely to be met with in our own country: abroad, they seem to have materially lowered the prices of the ancient ones, which had become excessively scarce. See _Polyhist Literar._, vol. i., 203-4: _Dictionn. Bibliogr._, vol. iv., p. 22: and _Mem. de l'Inst._, vol. i., 651. Let us here not forget the learned Michael CASIRI'S _Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escorialensis_, published in two superb folio volumes at Madrid in 1760. All these useful and splendid works place the Spaniards upon a high footing with their fellow-labourers in the same respectable career. De La Serna Santander tells us that Casiri's work is dear, and highly respected by the Literati. See _Cap. de Santander_, vol iv., no. 6296.] [Footnote 125: The _Bibliotheca Realis_, &c., of LIPENIUS contains an account of works published in the departments of _Jurisprudence_, _Medicine_, _Philosophy_, and _Theology_: of these, the _Bibliotheca Theologica_, et _Philosophica_, are considered by Morhof as the best executed. The _Bibl. Juridica_ was, however, republished at Leipsic in two folio volumes, 1757, with considerable additions. This latter is the last Leipsic reprint of it. Saxius notices only the re-impressions of 1720, 1736, 1742. See his _Onomast. Lit._, vol. v., 588. I will just notice the _Bibliotheca Vetus et Recens_ of KOENIGIUS, 1678, folio--as chart-makers notice shoals--to be avoided. I had long thrown it out of my own collection before I read its condemnation by Morhof. Perhaps the following account of certain works, which appear to have escaped the recollection of Lysander, may not be unacceptable. In the year 1653, Father RAYNAUD, whose lucubrations fill 20 folio volumes, published a quarto volume at Lyons, under the title of "_Erotemata de malis ac bonis Libris, deque justa aut injusta eorum conditione_;" which he borowed [Transcriber's Note: borrowed] in part from the "_Theotimus, seu de tollendis et expurgandis malis libris_," (Paris, 1549, 8vo.) of Gabriel PUHTHERB. Of these two works, if [Transcriber's Note: it] were difficult to determine which is preferable. The bibliographer need not deeply lament the want of either: consult the _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 177. In the year 1670, VOGLER published a very sensible "_Universalis in notitiam cujusque generis bonorum Scriptorum Introductio_"--of this work two subsequent editions, one in 1691, the other in 1700, 4to., were published at Helmstadt. The last is the best; but the second, to him who has neither, is also worth purchasing. The seven dissertations "_De Libris legendis_" of BARTHOLIN, Hafniæ, 1676, 8vo., are deserving of a good coat and a front row in the bibliographer's cabinet. "Parvæ quidem molis liberest, sed in quo quasi constipata sunt utilissima de libris monita et notitiæ ad multas disciplinas utiles." So speaks Morhof.] [Footnote 126: ADRIEN BAILLET was the eldest of seven children born in a second marriage. His parents were in moderate circumstances: but Adrien very shortly displaying a love of study and of book-collecting, no means, compatible with their situation, were left untried by his parents to gratify the wishes of so promising a child. From his earliest youth, he had a strong predilection for the church; and as a classical and appropriate education was then easily to be procured in France, he went from school to college, and at seventeen years of age had amassed, in two fair sized volumes, a quantity of extracts from clever works; which, perhaps having Beza's example in his mind, he entitled _Juvenilia_. His masters saw and applauded his diligence; and a rest of only five hours each night, during two years and a half of this youthful period, afforded Baillet such opportunities of acquiring knowledge as rarely fall to the lot of a young man. This habit of short repose had not forsaken him in his riper years: "he considered and treated his body as an insolent enemy, which required constant subjection; he would not suffer it to rest more than five hours each night; he recruited it with only one meal a day--drank no wine--never came near the fire--and walked out but once a week." The consequence of this absurd regime was that Baillet had ulcers in his legs, an erysipelatous affection over his body, and was, in other respects, afflicted as sedentary men usually are, who are glued to their seats from morn till night, never mix in society, and rarely breathe the pure air of heaven. These maladies shortened the days of Baillet; after he had faithfully served the LAMOIGNONS as a librarian of unparalleled diligence and sagacity; leaving behind him a "_Catalogue des Matieres_," in 35 volumes folio. "All the curious used to come and see this catalogue: many bishops and magistrates requested to have either copies or abridgments of it." When Baillet was dragged, by his friend M. Hermant, from his obscure vicarage of Lardiéres, to be Lamoignon's librarian, he seems to have been beside himself for joy.--"I want a man of such and such qualities," said Lamoignon.--"I will bring one exactly to suit you," replied Hermant--"but you must put up with a diseased and repulsive exterior."--"Nous avons besoin de fond," said the sensible patron, "la forme ne m'embarasse point; l'air de ce pays, et un grain de sel discret, fera le reste: il en trouvera ici." Baillet came, and his biographer tells us that Lamoignon and Hermant "furent ravis de le voir." To the eternal honour of the family in which he resided, the crazy body and nervous mind of Baillet met with the tenderest treatment. Madame Lamoignon and her son (the latter, a thorough bred bibliomaniac; who, under the auspices of his master, soon eclipsed the book celebrity of his father) always took a pleasure in anticipating his wishes, soothing his irritabilities, promoting his views, and speaking loudly and constantly of the virtues of his head and heart. The last moments of Baillet were marked with true Christian piety and fortitude; and his last breath breathed a blessing upon his benefactors. He died A.D. 1706, ætatis 56. Rest his ashes in peace!--and come we now to his bibliographical publications. His "_Jugemens des Savans_," was first published in 1685, &c., in nine duodecimo volumes. Two other similar volumes of _Anti Baillet_ succeeded it. The success and profits of this work were very considerable. In the year 1722, a new edition of it in seven volumes, quarto, was undertaken and completed by De La Monnoye, with notes by the editor, and additions of the original author. The "Anti Baillet" formed the 8th volume. In the year 1725, De La Monnoye's edition, with his notes placed under the text--the corrections and additions incorporated--and two volumes of fresh matter, including the Anti Baillet--was republished at Amsterdam, in eight duodecimo volumes, forming 16 parts, and being, in every respect, the best edition of the _Jugemens des Savans_. The curious, however, should obtain the portrait of Baillet prefixed to the edition of 1722; as the copy of it in the latter edition is a most wretched performance. These particulars, perhaps a little too long and tedious, are gleaned from the "Abregé" de la Vie de Baillet, printed in the two last editions of the work just described.] [Footnote 127: It will not be necessary to notice _all_ the multifarious productions, in MS. and in print, of this indefatigable bibliographer; who had cut out work enough for the lives of ten men, each succeeding the other, and well employed from morn 'till even, to execute. This is Marchand's round criticism: _Dict. Hist._ vol. i., p. 100. Beughem's _Incunabula Typographica_, 1688, 12mo., is both jejune and grossly erroneous. The "_Bibliographia Eruditorum Critico-Curiosa_," 1689, 1701, 4 vols., 12mo., being an alphabetical account of writers--extracts from whom are in the public literary Journals of Europe from 1665 to 1700--with the title of their works--is Beughem's best production, and if each volume had not had a separate alphabet, and contained additions upon additions, the work would have proved highly useful. His "_Gallia Euridita_," Amst., 1683, 12mo., is miserably perplexing. In addition to Marchand, consult the _Polyhist. Literar._ of Morhof, vol. i., p. 179; and the note therein subjoined. See also "_Bibl. Creven._," vol. v., p. 298: _Cat. de Santander_, vol. iv., nos. 6273-4: 6281-2.] PHIL. You have at length reached the close of the 17th century; but my limited knowledge of bibliographical literature supplies me with the recollection of two names which you have passed over: I mean, THOMAS BLOUNT and ANTONY-A-WOOD. There is surely something in these authors relating to editions of the works of the learned. LYSAND. You have anticipated me in the mention of these names. I had not forgotten them. With the former,[128] I have no very intimate acquaintance; but of the latter I could talk in commendation till dinner time. Be sure, my good Lisardo, that you obtain _both_ editions of the _Athenæ Oxoniensis_.[129] [Footnote 128: Sir Thomas Pope Blount's "_Censura Celebriorum Authorum_," Londini, 1690, folio, is unquestionably a learned work--the production of a rural and retired life--"Umbraticam enim vitam et ab omni strepitu remotam semper in delitiis habui,"--says its author, in the preface. It treats chiefly of the most learned men, and sparingly of the English. His "_Remarks upon Poetry_," Lond., 1694, 4to. (in English) is more frequently read and referred to. It is a pity that he had not left out the whole of what relates to the Greek and Latin, and confined himself entirely to the English, poets. A life of Sir Thomas Pope Blount will be found in the new edition of the _Biographia Britannica_.] [Footnote 129: The first, and, what Hearne over and over again calls the genuine edition of the _Athenæ Oxoniensis_, was published in two folio volumes, 1691, 1692. That a _third_ volume was intended by the author himself may be seen from Hearne's remarks in his _Thom. Caii. Vind. Antiq. Oxon._, vol. i., p. xliii. For the character of the work consult his _Rob. de Avesb._, pp. xxvi, xxxiii. After the lapse of nearly half a century, it was judged expedient to give a new edition of these valuable biographical memoirs; and Dr. Tanner, afterwards bishop of St. Asaph, was selected to be the editor of it. It was well known that Wood had not only made large corrections to his own printed text, but had written nearly _500_ new lives--his MS. of both being preserved in the Ashmolean Museum. This new edition, therefore, had every claim to public notice. When it appeared, it was soon discovered to be a corrupt and garbled performance; and that the genuine text of Wood, as well in his correctness of the old, as in his compositions of the new, lives, had been most capriciously copied. Dr. Tanner, to defend himself, declared that Tonson "would never let him see one sheet as they printed it." This was sufficiently infamous for the bookseller; but the editor ought surely to have abandoned a publication thus faithlessly conducted, or to have entered his caveat in the preface, when it did appear, that he would not be answerable for the authenticity of the materials: neither of which were done. He wrote, however, an exculpatory letter to Archbishop Wake, which the reader may see at length in Mr. Beloe's _Anecdotes of Literature_, vol. ii., p. 304. Consult the life of the author in Mr. Gutch's valuable reprint of Wood's "_History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford_," 1792, 4to., 2 vols.: also, Freytag's _Analect. Literar._, vol. ii., 1105. I have great pleasure in closing this note, by observing that Mr. Philip Bliss, of St. John's College, Oxford, is busily engaged in giving us, what we shall all be glad to hail, a new and faithful edition of Wood's text of the _Athenæ Oxoniensis_, in five or six quarto volumes.] We have now reached the boundaries of the 17th century, and are just entering upon the one which is past: and yet I have omitted to mention the very admirable _Polyhistor. Literarius_ of MORHOF:[130] a work by which I have been in a great measure guided in the opinions pronounced upon the bibliographers already introduced to you. This work, under a somewhat better form, and with a few necessary omissions and additions, one could wish to see translated into our own language. The name of MAITTAIRE strikes us with admiration and respect at the very opening of the 18th century. His elaborate _Annales Typographici_ have secured him the respect of posterity.[131] LE LONG, whose pursuits were chiefly biblical and historical, was his contemporary; an able, sedulous, and learned bibliographer. His whole soul was in his library; and he never spared the most painful toil in order to accomplish the various objects of his inquiry.[132] And here, my dear friends, let me pay a proper tribute of respect to the memory of an eminently learned and laborious scholar and bibliographer: I mean JOHN ALBERT FABRICIUS. His labours[133] shed a lustre upon the scholastic annals of the 18th century; for he opened, as it were, the gates of literature to the inquiring student; inviting him to enter the field and contemplate the diversity and beauty of the several flowers which grew therein--telling him by whom they were planted, and explaining how their growth and luxuriancy were to be regulated. There are few instructors to whom we owe so much; none to whom we are more indebted. Let his works, therefore, have a handsome binding, and a conspicuous place in your libraries: for happy is that man who has them at hand to facilitate his inquiries, or to solve his doubts. While Fabricius was thus laudably exercising his great talents in the cause of ancient literature, the illustrious name of LEIBNITZ[134] appeared as author of a work of essential utility to the historian and bibliographer. I allude to his _Scriptores Rerum Brunwicensium_, which has received a well pointed compliment from the polished pen of Gibbon. After the successful labours of Fabricius and Leibnitz, we may notice those of STRUVIUS! whose _Historical Library_[135] should be in every philological collection. [Footnote 130: DANIEL GEORGE MORHOF, professor of poetry, eloquence, and history, was librarian of the University of Khiel. He published various works, but the above--the best edition of which is of the date of 1747--is by far the most learned and useful--"liber non sua laude privandus; cum primus fere fuerit Morhofius qui hanc amoeniorum literarum partem in meliorum redigerit." _Vogt._, pref. ix., edit. 1793. Its leading error is the want of method. His "_Princeps Medicus_," 1665, 4to., is a very singular dissertation upon the cure of the evil by the royal touch; in the efficacy of which the author appears to have believed. His "_Epistola de scypho vitreo per sonum humanæ vocis rupto_," Kiloni, 1703, 4to.--which was occasioned by a wine merchant of Amsterdam breaking a wine-glass by the strength of his voice--is said to be full of curious matter. Morhof died A.D. 1691, in his 53rd year: beloved by all who knew the excellent and amiable qualities of his head and heart. He was so laborious that he wrote during his meals. His motto, chosen by himself,--PIETATE, CANDORE, PRUDENTIA, should never be lost sight of by bibliomaniacs! His library was large and select. These particulars are gleaned from the _Dict. Historique_, Caen, 1789, vol. vi., p. 350.] [Footnote 131: A compendious account of MAITTAIRE will be found in the third edition of my _Introduction to the Knowledge of rare and valuable Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics_, vol. i., p. 148. See too Mr. Beloe's _Anecdotes of Literature, &c._, vol iii., p. ix. The various volumes of his _Annales Typographici_ are well described in the _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v. p. 287. To these may be added, in the bibliographical department, his _Historia Stephanorum, vitas ipsorum ac libros complectens_, 1709, 8vo.--and the _Historia Typographorum aliquot Parisiensium vitas et libros complectens_, 1717, 8vo.--Of these two latter works, (which, from a contemporaneous catalogue, I find were originally published at 4_s._ the common paper,) Mr. T. Grenville has beautiful copies upon LARGE PAPER. The books are rare in any shape. The principal merit of Maittaire's _Annales Typographici_ consists in a great deal of curious matter detailed in the notes; but the absence of the "lucidus ordo" renders the perusal of these fatiguing and unsatisfactory. The author brought a full and well-informed mind to the task he undertook--but he wanted taste and precision in the arrangement of his materials. The eye wanders over a vast indigested mass; and information, when it is to be acquired with excessive toil, is, comparatively, seldom acquired. Panzer has adopted an infinitely better plan, on the model of Orlandi; and if his materials had been _printed_ with the same beauty with which they appear to have been composed, and his annals had descended to as late a period as those of Maittaire, his work must have made us eventually forget that of his predecessor. The bibliographer is, no doubt, aware that of Maittaire's first volume there are two editions: why the author did not reprint, in the second edition (1733), the fac-simile of the epigram and epistle of Lascar prefixed to the edition of the Anthology, 1496, and the Disquisition concerning the ancient editions of Quintilian (both of which were in the first edition of 1719), is absolutely inexplicable. Maittaire was sharply attacked for this absurdity, in the "Catalogus Auctorum," of the "_Annus Tertius Sæcularis Inv. Art. Typog._," Harlem, 1741, 8vo., p. 11. "Rara certe Librum augendi methodus! (exclaims the author) Satis patet auctorem hoc eo fecisse concilio, ut et primæ et secundæ Libri sui editioni pretium suum constaret, et una æque ac altera Lectoribus necessaria esset." Copies of the Typographical Antiquities by Maittaire, upon LARGE PAPER, are now exceedingly scarce. The work, in this shape, has a noble appearance. While Maittaire was publishing his Typographical Annals, ORLANDI put forth a similar work under the title of "_Origine e Progressi della Stampa o sia dell' Arte Impressoria, e Notizie dell' Opere stampate dall' Anno 1462, sino all' Anno 1500_." Bologna, 1722, 4to. Of this work, which is rather a compendious account of the several books published in the period above specified, there are copies upon strong WRITING PAPER--which the curious prefer. Although I have a long time considered it as superseded by the labours of Maittaire and Panzer, yet I will not withhold from the reader the following critique: "Cet ouvrage doit presque nécessairement être annexé à celui de Maittaire à cause de plusieurs notices et recherches, qui le rendent fort curieux et intéressant." _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., 286-7. As we are upon publications treating of Typography, we may notice the "_Annalium Typographicorum selecta quædam capita_," Hamb., 1740, 4to., of LACKMAN; and HIRSCHIUS'S supplement to the typographical labours of his predecessors--in the "_Librorum ab Anno I. usque ad Annum L. Sec. xvi. Typis exscriptorum ex Libraria quadam supellectile, Norimbergæ collecta et observata, Millenarius I._" &c. Noriberg, 1746, 4to. About this period was published a very curious, and now uncommon, octavo volume, of about 250 pages, by SEIZ; called "_Annus Tertius Sæcularis Inventæ Artis Typographicæ_," Harlem, 1741--with several very interesting cuts relating to Coster, the supposed inventor of the art of printing. It is a little strange that Lysander, in the above account of eminent typographical writers, should omit to mention CHEVILLIER--whose _L'Origine de l'Imprimerie de Paris, &c._, 1694, 4to., is a work of great merit, and is generally found upon every bibliographer's shelf. Baillet had supplied him with a pretty strong outline, in his short account of Parisian printers. All the copies of Chevillier's book, which I have seen, are printed upon what is called Foxey paper. I believe there are none upon LARGE PAPER. We may just notice LA CAILLE'S _Histoire de l'Imprimerie et de la Librarie_, 1689, 4to., as a work full of errors. In order that nothing may be wanting to complete the typographical collection of the curious, let the "portraits of booksellers and printers, from ancient times to our own," published at Nuremberg, in 1726, folio--and "the Devices and Emblems" of the same, published at the same place, in 1730, folio, be procured, if possible. The Latin titles of these two latter works, both by SCHOLTZIUS, will be found in the _Bibl. Crevenn._ vol. v. 281. Renouard mentions the last in his "_Annales de l'Imprimerie des Alde_," vol. ii. p. 63. Meanwhile the _Monumenta Typographica_ of WOLFIUS, Hamb., 1740, 2 vols., 8vo., embraces a number of curious and scattered dissertations upon this interesting and valuable art. It may be obtained for 8_s._ or 10_s._ at present! The _Amoenitatus [Transcriber's Note: Amoenitates] Literariæ, &c._, of SCHELHORN had like to have been passed over. It was published in 14 small octavo volumes, at Frankfort and Leipsic, from the year 1725 to 1731 inclusive. The _Amoenitates Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ et Literariæ_, of the same person, and published at the same place in two octavo volumes, 1738, should accompany the foregoing work. Both are scarce and sought after in this country. In the former there are some curious dissertations, with cuts, upon early printed books. Concerning the most ancient edition of the Latin Bibles, Schelhorn put forth an express treatise, which was published at Ulm in 1760, 4to. This latter work is very desirable to the curious in biblical researches, as one meets with constant mention of Schelhorn's bible. Let me not omit ZAPF'S _Annales Typographiæ Augustanæ_, Aug. Vindel., 1778; which was republished, with copious additions, at Augsbourg, in two parts, 1786, 4to.--but unluckily, this latter is printed in the German language. Upon Spanish Typography (a very interesting subject), there is a dissertation by Raymond Diosdado Caballero, entitled "_De Prima Typographiæ Hispanicæ Ætate Specimen_," Rome, 1793, 4to.] [Footnote 132: From the Latin life of LE LONG, prefixed to his _Bibliotheca Sacra_, we learn that he was an adept in most languages, ancient and modern; and that "in that part of literature connected with BIBLIOGRAPHY (Typographorum et Librorum Historia), he retained every thing so correctly in his memory that he yielded to few literary men, certainly to no bookseller." Of the early years of such a man it is a pity that we have not a better account. His _Bibliotheca Sacra_, Paris, 1725, folio, has been republished by MASCH and BOERNER, in four volumes, 4to., 1778, and enriched with copious and valuable additions. This latter work is quite unrivalled: no young or old theologian, who takes any interest in the various editions of the Holy Scriptures, in almost all languages, can possibly dispense with such a fund of sacred literature. The _Bibliothéque Historique de la France_, 1719, folio, by the same learned and industrious bibliographer, has met with a fate equally fortunate. FONTETTE republished it in 1768, in five folio volumes, and has immortalized himself and his predecessor by one of the most useful and splendid productions that ever issued from the press. De Bure used to sell copies of it upon LARGE PAPER, in sheets, for 258 livres: according to the advertisement subjoined to his catalogue of Count Macarty's books in 1779, 8vo. The presses of England, which groan too much beneath the weight of ephemeral travels and trumpery novels, are doomed, I fear, long to continue strangers to such works of national utility.] [Footnote 133: The chief labours of Fabricius ("Vir [Greek: ellênichôtatos]"--as Reimannus truly calls him), connected with the present object of our pursuit, have the following titles: 1. "_Bibliotheca Græca, sive Notitia Scriptorum Græcorum, &c._," Hamb. 1705-8-14-18, &c., 4to., 14 vols.--of which a new edition is now published by HARLES, with great additions, and a fresh arrangement of the original matter: twelve volumes have already been delivered to the public. 2. _Bibliotheca Latina_; first published in one volume, 1703--then in three volumes, 1721, and afterwards in two volumes, 1728, 4to.;--but the last and best edition is that of 1773, in three vols. 8vo., published by Ernesti at Leipsic--and yet not free from numerous errors. 3. _Bibliographia Antiquaria_, 1716, 4to.: a new edition of Schaffshausen, in 1760, 4to., has superseded the old one. A work of this kind in our own language would be very useful, and even entertaining. Fabricius has executed it in a masterly manner. 4. _Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica, in quâ continentur variorum authorum tractatus de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis_, Hamb., 1718, folio. An excellent work; in which the curious after theological tracts and their authors will always find valuable information. It is generally sharply contended for at book-auctions. 5. _Bibliotheca Latina Mediæ et Infimæ Ætatis, &c._, Leipsic, 1734, 6 vols. 8vo.--again, with Schoettgenius's supplement, in 1754, 4to., 6 vols. in 3. This latter is in every respect the best edition of a work which is absolutely indispensable to the philologist. A very excellent synopsis or critical account of Fabricius's works was published at Ams., 1738, in 4to., which the student should procure. Let me here recommend the _Historia Bibliothecæ Fabricianæ_, compiled by JOHN FABRICIUS, 1717-24, 6 vols. 4to., as a necessary and interesting supplement to the preceding works of John Albert Fabricius. I have often gleaned some curious bibliographical intelligence from its copious pages. The reader may consult _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., 272-3.] [Footnote 134: He is noticed here only as the author of "_Idea Bibliothecæ Publicæ secundum classes scientiarum ordinandæ, fusior et contractior_," and of the "_Scriptores Rerum Brunswicarum_," Hanov., 1707, fol., 3 vols. "The antiquarian, who blushes at his alliance with Thomas Hearne, will feel his profession ennobled by the name of LEIBNITZ. That extraordinary genius embraced and improved the whole circle of human science; and, after wrestling with Newton and Clark in the sublime regions of geometry and metaphysics, he could descend upon earth to examine the uncouth characters and barbarous Latin of a chronicle or charter." Gibbon: _Post. Works_, vol. ii., 712. Consult also _Mem. de l'Inst._, vol. v., 648.] [Footnote 135: I will not pretend to enumerate all the learned works of BURCHARD GOTTHLIEB STRUVIUS. His "_Bibliotheca Librorum Rariorum_" was published in 1719, 4to. The first edition of the _Bibliotheca Historica_ appeared as early as 1705: a very valuable one was published by Buder, in 1740, 2 vols.: but the last, and by far the most copious and valuable, is that which exhibits the joint editorial labours of BUDER and MEUSEL, in eleven octavo volumes, 1782, 1802--though I believe it does not contain every thing which may be found in the edition of the _Bibl. Hist. Selecta_, by Jugler, 1754, three vols. 8vo.: vide pp. iv. and vii. of the preface of Meusel's edition. The _Bibl. Hist. Select._, by Jugler, was formerly published under the title of _Introd. in notitiam rei literariæ et usum Bibliothecæ_. Jugler's edition of it contains a stiff portrait of himself in a finely embroidered satin waistcoat. The first volume, relating to foreign libraries, is very interesting: but, unluckily, the work is rare. Of Struvius's _Bibl. Saxonica_, 1736, 8vo., I never saw a copy.] PHIL. You are advancing towards the middle of the 18th century, in enumerating foreign publications, without calling to mind that we have, at home, many laudable publications relating to typography and bibliography, which merit at least some notice, if not commendation. LYSAND. I thank you for the reproof. It is true, I was running precipitately to introduce a crowd of foreigners to your notice, without paying my respects, by the way, to the _Historical Libraries_ of Bishop NICOLSON, the _Bibliotheca Literaria_ of WASSE, and the _Librarian_ of WILLIAM OLDYS. Nor should I omit to mention the still more creditable performance of Bishop TANNER: while the typographical publications of WATSON, PALMER, and MIDDLETON,[136] may as well be admitted into your libraries, if you are partial to such works; although upon this latter subject, the elegant quarto volume of AMES merits particular commendation. [Footnote 136: Let us go gently over this _British_ ground, which Lysander depictures in rather a flowery manner. The first edition of BISHOP NICOLSON'S _English Historical Library_ was published in the years 1696, 1697, and 1699--comprehending the entire three parts. In 1702, came forth the _Scottish_ Historical library; and in 1724, the _Irish_ Historical Library. These three libraries, with the author's letter to Bishop Kennet in defence of the same, are usually published in one volume; and the last and best editions of the same are those of 1736, fol., and 1776, 4to. Mr. John Nichols has recently published an entertaining posthumous work of the bishop's _Epistolary Correspondence_, in two octavo volumes, 1809. Some of these letters throw light and interest upon the literature of the times. As to the authority of Bishop Nicolson, in his historical matters, I fear the sharp things which are said of his libraries by Tyrrell (Pref. to _Hist. Engl._, vol. ii., p. 5.), and Wood (_Athen. Brit._, vol. ii., col. 980, ed. 1721), all which authorities are referred to by Mr. Nichols, are sufficiently founded upon truth. He was a violent and wrong-headed writer in many respects; but he had acumen, strength, and fancy. The _Bibliotheca Literaria_ of WASSE (although his name does not appear as the professed editor) is a truly solid and valuable publication; worthy of the reputation of the learned editor of Sallust. The work was published in numbers, which were sold at one shilling each; but, I suppose from the paucity of classical readers, it could not be supported beyond the 10th number (1724); when it ceased to be published. Some of the dissertations are very interesting as well as erudite. OLDYS'S _British Librarian_ was published in six numbers, during the first six months of the year 1737; forming, with the index, an octavo volume of 402 pages. It is difficult to say, from the conclusion (p. 373-4), whether the work was dropped for want of encouragement, or from the capriciousness or indolence of the author: but I suspect that the ground was suffered "to lie fallow" (to use his own words) till it was suffocated with weeds--owing to the _former_ cause: as Oldys never suffered his pen to lie idle while he could "put money in his purse" from his lucubrations. We shall speak of him more particularly in PART V. Meanwhile, the reader is informed that the _British Librarian_ is a work of no common occurrence, or mean value. It is rigidly correct, if not very learned, in bibliographical information. I once sent three guineas to procure a copy of it, according to its description, upon LARGE PAPER; but, on its arrival, I found it to be not quite so large as my own tolerably amply-margined copy. Bishop TANNER'S _Bibliotheca Britanico-Hibernica_, which cost the author forty years' labour, was published in 1748, folio; with a preface by Dr. Wilkins. We must receive it with many thanks, imperfect and erroneous as many parts of it are; but I hope the period is not very remote when a literary friend, living, as he constantly is, in an inexhaustible stock of British literature of all kinds, will give us a new edition, with copious additions and corrections, translated into our native tongue. _The History of the Art of Printing_ by WATSON, Edit., 1713, 8vo., is at best but a meagre performance. It happens to be rare, and, therefore, bibliomaniacs hunt after it. My copy of it, upon LARGE PAPER, cost me 1_l._ 8_s._ It was formerly Paton's, of Edinburgh, a knowing antiquary in Scottish printing. The _History of Printing_, by PALMER, 1733, 4to., and Dr. MIDDLETON'S _Dissertations upon the same_, 1735, 4to., have been particularly treated by me, as well as the similar works of AMES and HERBERT, in the first volume of my new edition of Herbert's _British Typographical Antiquities_; and the public is too well acquainted with the merits and demerits of each to require their being pointed out in the present place. I will close this note by observing that the _Censuria Literaria_, in ten volumes octavo; and the _British Bibliographer_ (now publishing) which grew out of it; Mr. BELOE'S _Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books_, six volumes, 8vo.; and Mr. Savage's continuation of _The British Librarian_; are works which render the list of English publications, relating to typography and curious books, almost complete. I believe I may safely affirm that the period is not very distant when some of these latter publications, from the comparatively few copies which were struck off, will become very rare.] LIS. I am glad to hear such handsome things said of the performances of our own countrymen. I was fearful, from your frequent sly allusions, that we had nothing worth mentioning. But proceed with your Germans, Italians, and Frenchmen. LYSAND. You draw too severe a conclusion. I have made no sly allusions. My invariable love of truth impels me to state facts as they arise. That we have philosophers, poets, scholars, divines, lovers and collectors of books, equal to those of any nation upon earth is most readily admitted. But bibliography has never been, till now, a popular (shall I say fashionable?) pursuit amongst the English. LIS. Well, if what you call bibliography has produced such eminent men, and so many useful works, as those which have been just enumerated, I shall begin to have some little respect for this department of literature; and, indeed, I already feel impatient to go through the list of your bibliographical heroes.--Who is the next champion deserving of notice? LYSAND. This confession gives me sincere pleasure. Only indulge me in my rambling manner of disquisition, and I will strive to satisfy you in every reasonable particular. If ever you should be disposed to form a bibliographical collection, do not omit securing, when it comes across you, the best edition of Du Fresnoy's[137] _Methode pour étudier l'Histoire_: it is rare, and sought after in this country. And now--softly approach, and gently strew the flowers upon, the tomb of worthy NICERON:[138] Low lies the head, and quiescent has become the pen, of this most excellent and learned man!--whose productions have furnished biographers with some of their choicest materials, and whose devotion to literature and history has been a general theme of admiration and praise. The mention of this illustrious name, in such a manner, has excited in my mind a particular train of ideas. Let me, therefore, in imagination, conduct you both to yonder dark avenue of trees--and, descending a small flight of steps, near the bottom of which gushes out a salient stream--let us enter a spacious grotto, where every thing is cool and silent; and where small alabaster busts, of the greater number of those bibliographers I am about to mention, decorate the niches on each side of it. How tranquil and how congenial is such a resting place!--But let us pursue our inquires. Yonder sharp and well turned countenances, at the entrance of the grotto, are fixed there as representations of CARDINAL QUIRINI[139] and GOUJET; the _Bibliothéque Françoise_ of the latter of whom--with which I could wish book collectors, in general, to have a more intimate acquaintance--has obtained universal reputation.[140] Next to him, you may mark the amiable and expressive features of DAVID CLEMENT:[141] who, in his _Bibliothéque Curieuse_, has shown us how he could rove, like a bee, from flower to flower; sip what was sweet; and bring home his gleanings to a well-furnished hive. The principal fault of this bee (if I must keep up the simile) is that he was not sufficiently choice in the flowers which he visited; and, of course, did not always extract the purest honey. Nearly allied to Clement in sprightliness, and an equally gossipping bibliographer, was PROSPER MARCHAND;[142] whose works present us with some things no where else to be found, and who had examined many curious and rare volumes; as well as made himself thoroughly acquainted with the state of bibliography previous to his own times. [Footnote 137: The last edition of this work is the one which was printed in fifteen volumes, crown 8vo., at Paris, 1772: with a copious index--and proportionable improvements in corrections and additions. It is now rare. I threw out the old edition of 1729, four vols., 4to., upon LARGE PAPER; and paid three guineas to boot for the new one, neatly bound.] [Footnote 138: It is quite delightful to read the account, in the _Dict. Hist._, published at Caen, 1789, (vol. vi., p. 475) of JEAN PIERRE NICERON; whose whole life seems to have been devoted to bibliography and literary history. Frank, amiable, industrious, communicative, shrewd, and learned--Niceron was the delight of his friends, and the admiration of the public. His "_Memoires pour servir à l'Histoire des Hommes Illustres, &c., avec un Catalogue raisonné de leur Ouvrages_," was published from the years 1729 to 1740, in forty crown 8vo. volumes. A supplement of three volumes, the latter of which is divided into _two parts_, renders this very useful, and absolutely necessary, work complete in 44 volumes. The bibliomaniac can never enjoy perfect rest till he is in possession of it!] [Footnote 139: QUIRINI published his "_Specimen variæ Literaturæ quæ in urbe Brixiæ ejusque Ditione paulo post Typographiæ incunabula florebat_," _&c._, at Brescia, in 1739; two vols., 8vo.: then followed "_Catalogo delle Opere del Cardinale Quirini uscite alla luce quasi tuttee da' Torchi di mi Gian Maria Rizzardi Stampatore in Brescia_," 8vo. In 1751, Valois addressed to him his "_Discours sur les Bibliothéques Publiques_," in 8vo.: his Eminence's reply to the same was also published in 8vo. But the Cardinal's chief reputation, as a bibliographer, arises from the work entitled "_De Optimorum Scriptorum Editionibus_." Lindaugiæ, 1761, 4to. This is Schelhorn's edition of it, which is chiefly coveted, and which is now a rare book in this country. It is a little surprising that Lysander, in his love of grand national biographical works, mingled with bibliographical notices, should have omitted to mention the _Bibliotheca Lusitana_ of Joaov and Barbosa, published at Lisbon, 1741, in four magnificent folio volumes. A lover of Portuguese literature will always consider this as "opus splendidissimum et utilissimum."] [Footnote 140: _La Bibliothéque Françoise, ou Histoire de la Littérature Françoise_, of CLAUDE PIERRE GOUJET, in eighteen volumes, crown 8vo., 1741, like the similar work of Niceron, is perhaps a little too indiscriminate in the choice of its objects: good, bad, and indifferent authors being enlisted into the service. But it is the chéf-d'oeuvre of Goujet, who was a man of wonderful parts; and no bibliographer can be satisfied without it. Goujet was perhaps among the most learned, if not the "facile princeps," of those who cultivated ancient French literature. He liberally assisted Niceron in his Memoires, and furnished Moreri with 2000 corrections for his Dictionary.] [Footnote 141: The "_Bibliothèque Curieuse, Historique et Critique, ou Catalogue raisonné de Livres difficiles à trouver_," of DAVID CLEMENT, published at Gottingen, Hanover, and Leipsic, in 9 quarto volumes, from the year 1750 to 1760--is, unfortunately, an unfinished production; extending only to the letter H. The reader may find a critique upon it in my _Introduction to the Greek and Latin Classics_, vol. i., p. 370; which agrees, for the greater part, with the observations in the _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., 290. The work is a _sine quâ non_ with collectors; but in this country it begins to be--to use the figurative language of some of the German bibliographers--"scarcer than a white crow,"--or "a black swan." The reader may admit which simile he pleases--or reject both! But, in sober sadness, it is very rare, and unconscionably dear. I know not whether it was the same CLEMENT who published "_Les cinq Années Littéraires, ou Lettres de M. Clément, sur les ouvrages de Littérature, qui ont parus dans les Années 1748--á 1752_;" Berlin, 1756, 12mo., two volumes. Where is the proof of the assertion, so often repeated, that Clement borrowed his notion of the above work from WENDLER'S _Dissertatio de variis raritatis librorum impressorum causis_, Jen., 1711, 4to.?--Wendler's book is rare among us: as is also BERGER'S _Diatribe de libris rarioribus, &c._, Berol. 1729, 8vo.] [Footnote 142: The principal biographical labours of this clever man have the following titles: "_Histoire de l'Imprimerie_," La Haye, 1740, 4to.--an elegant and interesting volume, which is frequently consulted by typographical antiquaries. Of MERCIER'S supplement to it, see note in the ensuing pages under the word "Mercier." His "_Dictionnaire Historique, ou Memoires Critiques et Littéraires_," in two folio volumes, 1758, was a posthumous production; and a very extraordinary and amusing bibliographical common-place book it is! My friend Mr. Douce, than whom few are better able to appreciate such a work, will hardly allow any one to have a warmer attachment to it, or a more thorough acquaintance with its contents, than himself--and yet there is no bibliographical work to which I more cheerfully or frequently turn! In the editor's advertisement we have an interesting account of Marchand: who left behind, for publication, a number of scraps of paper, sometimes no bigger than one's nail; upon which he had written his remarks in so small a hand-writing that the editor and printer were obliged to make use of a strong magnifying glass to decypher it--"et c'est ici (continues the former) sans doute le premier livre qui n'ait pu être imprimé sans le secours continuel du Microscope." Marchand died in 1753, and left his MSS. and books, in the true spirit of a bibliomaniac, to the University of Leyden. I see, from the conclusion of this latter authority, that a new edition of Marchand's History of Printing was in meditation to be published, after the publication of the Dictionary. Whether Mercier availed himself of Marchand's corrected copy, when he put forth his supplement to the latter's typographical history, I have no means of ascertaining. Certainly there never was a second edition of the _Histoire de l'Imprimerie_, by Marchsnd [Transcriber's Note: Marchand].] Perhaps I ought to have noticed the unoccupied niche under which the name of VOGT[143] is inscribed; the title of whose work has been erroneously considered more seductive than the contents of it. As we go on, we approach FOURNIER; a man of lively parts, and considerable taste. His works are small in size, but they are written and printed with singular elegance.[144] See what a respectable and almost dignified air the highly finished bust of the pensionary MEERMAN[145] assumes! Few men attained to greater celebrity in his day; and few men better deserved the handsome things which were said of him. Polite, hospitable, of an inquisitive and active turn of mind--passionately addicted to rare and curious books--his library was a sort of bibliographical emporium, where the idle and the diligent alike met with a gracious reception. Peace to the manes of such a man! Turn we now round to view the features of that truly eminent and amiable bibliographer, DE BURE! [Footnote 143: The earliest edition of VOGT'S _Catalogus Librorum Rariorum_ was published in 1732; afterwards in 1737; again in 1748; again in 1752, much enlarged and improved; and, for the last time, greatly enlarged and corrected, forming by far the "editio optima," of the work--at Frankfort and Leipsic, 1793, 8vo.--We are told, in the new preface to this last edition, that the second and third impressions were quickly dispersed and anxiously sought after. Vogt is a greater favourite with me than with the generality of bibliographers. His plan, and the execution of it, are at once clear and concise; but he is too prodigal of the term "rare." Whilst these editions of Vogt's amusing work were coming forth, the following productions were, from time to time, making their appearance, and endeavouring perhaps to supplant its reputation. First of all BEYER put forth his _Memoriæ Historico-Criticæ Librorum Rariorum_. Dresd. and Lips., 1734, 8vo.; as well has [Transcriber's Note: as] his _Arcana Sacra Bibliothecarum Dresdensium_, 1738, 8vo.--with a continuation to the latter, preceded by an epistle concerning the electoral library, separately published in the same year. Then ENGEL (in Republicâ Helveto-Bernensi Bibliothecarius primus) published his _Bibliotheca selectissima, sive Catalogus librorum in omni genere scientiarum rarissimorum_, &c., Bernæ, 1743, 8vo.; in which work some axioms are laid down concerning the rarity of books not perhaps sufficiently correct; but in which a great deal of curious matter, very neatly executed, will repay the reader for any expense he may incur in the purchase of it. Afterwards FREYTAG'S _Analecta Literaria de libris rarioribus_, Lips., 1750, two vols. 8vo.;--and his _Adparatus Literarius ubi libri partim antiqui partim rari recensentur_, Lipsiæ, 1755, three volumes 8vo., highly gratified the curious in bibliography. In the former work the books are described alphabetically, which perhaps is the better plan: in the latter, they are differently arranged, with an alphabetical index. The latter is perhaps the more valuable of the two, although the former has long been a great favourite with many; yet, from Freytag's own confession, he was not then so knowing in books, and had not inspected the whole of what he described. They are both requisite to the collector; and their author, who was an enthusiast in bibliography, ranks high in the literature of his country. In the last place we may notice the _Florilegium Historico-Criticum Librorum Rariorum, cui multa simul scitu jucunda intersperguntur_, &c., of DANIEL GERDES; first published at Groningen, in 1740; but afterwards in 1763, 8vo., at the same place, the third and best edition. It was meant, in part, to supply the omission of some rare books in Vogt: and under this title it was published in the _Miscellaneæ Groninganæ_, vol. ii., and vol. iii. This work of Gerdes should have a convenient place in every bibliographical cabinet. I will close this attempt to supply Lysander's omission of some very respectable names connected with bibliography by exhorting the reader to seize hold of a work (whenever it comes across him, which will be rarely) entitled _Bibliotheca Librorum Rariorum Universalis_, by JOHN JACOB BAUER, a bookseller at Nuremberg, and printed there in 1770, 8vo., two vols.; with three additional volumes by way of Supplement, 1774-1791, which latter are usually bound in one. It is an alphabetical Dictionary, like Vogt's and Fournier's, of what are called rare books. The descriptions are compendious, and the references respectable, and sometimes numerous. My copy of this scarce, dear, and wretchedly-printed, work, which is as large and clean as possible, and bound in pale Russia, with marbled edges to the leaves--cost me 5_l._ 5_s._] [Footnote 144: We are indebted to PIERRE SIMON FOURNIER le jeune, for some very beautiful interesting little volumes connected with engraving and printing. 1. _Dissertation sur l'Origine et les Progrés de l'art de Graver en Bois, &c._, Paris, 1758, 8vo. 2. _De l'Origine et des Productions de l'Imprimerie primitive en taille de bois_, Paris, 1759, 8vo. 3. _Traité sur l'Origine et les Progrés de l'Imprimerie_, Paris, 1764. 4. _Observations sur un Ouvrage intitulé Vindiciæ Typographicæ_, Paris, 1760. These treatises are sometimes bound in one volume. They are all elegantly printed, and rare. We may also mention--5. _Epreuves de deux petits caractères nouvellement gravès, &c._, Paris, 1757; and especially his chef-d'oeuvre. 6. _Manuel Typographique_, Paris, 1764-6, 8vo., two vols.: of which some copies want a few of the cuts: those upon LARGE PAPER (there is one of this kind in the Cracherode collections) are of the first rarity. Fournier's typographical manual should be in every printing office: his types "are the models (says his namesake,) of those of the best printed books at Paris at this day." _Dict. Port. de Bibliogr._, p. 218, edit. 1706.] [Footnote 145: The _Origines Typographicæ_ of MEERMAN, which was published at the Hague in two handsome quarto volumes, 1765, (after the plan or prospectus had been published in 1761, 8vo.), secured its author a very general and rather splendid reputation, till the hypothesis advanced therein, concerning Laurence Coster, was refuted by Heinecken. The reader is referred to a note in the first volume of my new edition of the _Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain_, p. xxxi. It is somewhat singular that, notwithstanding Meerman's hypothesis is now exploded by the most knowing bibliographers, his dissertation concerning the claims of Haerlem should have been reprinted in French, with useful notes, and an increased catalogue of all the books published in the Low Countries, during the 15th century. This latter work is entitled "_De l'Invention de l'Imprimerie, ou analyse des deux ouvrages publiés sur cette matière par M. Meerman, &c.; suivi d'une notice chronologique et raisonnée des livres avec et sans date_," Paris, 1809, 8vo. The author is Mons. Jansen. Prefixed there is an interesting account, of Meerman. Lysander might have noticed, with the encomium which it justly merits the _Vindiciæ Typographicæ_ of SCHOEPFLIN, printed at Strasburg, in 1760, 4to.; where the claimes of Gutenburg (a native of the same city) to the invention of the typographic art are very forcibly and successfully maintained.] LIS. You absolutely transport me! I see all these interesting busts--I feel the delicious coolness of the grotto--I hear the stream running over a bed of pebbles--The zephyrs play upon my cheeks--O dolt that I was to abuse---- PHIL. Hear him, hear him![146] [Footnote 146: Vide note at p. 37, ante.] LYSAND. From my heart I pity and forgive you. But only look upon the bust of DE BURE; and every time that you open his _Bibliographie Instructive_,[147] confess, with a joyful heart, the obligations you are under to the author of it. Learn, at the same time, to despise the petty cavils of the whole Zoilean race; and blush for the Abbé RIVE,[148] that he could lend his name, and give the weight of his example, to the propagation of coarse and acrimonious censures. [Footnote 147: The works of GUILLAUME-FRANÇOIS DE BURE deserve a particular notice. He first published his _Musæum Typographicum_, Paris, 1755, 12mo.; of which he printed but TWELVE copies, and gave away every one of them (including even his own) to his book-loving friends. It was published under the name of G.F. Rebude. Peignot is very particular in his information concerning this rare morçeau of bibliography--see his _Bibliographie Curieuse_, p. 21. Afterwards appeared the _Bibliographie Instructive_, in seven volumes, 8vo., 1763-68--succeeded by a small volume of a catalogue of the anonymous publications, and an essay upon Bibliography: this 8th volume is absolutely necessary to render the work complete, although it is frequently missing. Fifty copies of this work were printed upon LARGE PAPER, of a quarto size. Its merits are acknowledged by every candid and experienced critic. In the third place, came forth his _Catalogue des Livres, &c., de L.J. Gaignat, Paris_, 1769, 8vo., two vols.: not, however, before he had published two brochures--"_Appel aux Savans_," _&c._, 1763, 8vo.--and "_Reponse à une Critique de la Bibliographie Instructive_," 1763, 8vo.--as replies to the tart attacks of the Abbé RIVE. The Catalogue of Gaignat, and the fairness of his answers to his adversary's censures, served to place De Bure on the pinnacle of bibliographical reputation; while Rive was suffered to fret and fume in unregarded seclusion. He died in the year 1782, aged 50: and was succeeded in his bibliographical labours by his cousin WILLIAM; who, with Mons. Van-Praet, prepared the catalogue of the Duke de la Valliere's library, in 1783, and published other valuable catalogues as late as the year 1801. But both are eclipsed, in regard to the _number_ of such publications, by their predecessor GABRIEL MARTIN; who died in the year 1761, aged 83--after having compiled 148 catalogues since the year 1705. This latter was assisted in his labours by his son Claude Martin, who died in 1788. See Peignot's _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. i., 221, 422: vol iii., 277.] [Footnote 148: The mention of De Bure and the Abbé RIVE induces me to inform the reader that the _Chasse aux Bibliographes_, Paris, 1789, 8vo., of the latter, will be found a receptacle of almost every kind of gross abuse and awkward wit which could be poured forth against the respectable characters of the day. It has now become rare. The Abbé's "_Notices calligraphiques et typographiques_," a small tract of 16 pages--of which only 100 copies were printed--is sufficiently curious; it formed the first number of a series of intended volumes (12 or 15) "_des notices calligraphiques de manuscrits des differens siécles, et des notices typographiques de livres du quinziéme siécle_," but the design was never carried into execution beyond this first number. The other works of Rive are miscellaneous; but chiefly upon subjects connected with the belles lettres. He generally struck off but few copies of his publications; see the _Bibliographie Curieuse_, pp. 58-9; and more particularly the _Dictionnaire de Bibliologie_, vol. iii., p. 277, by the same author, where a minute list of Rive's productions is given, and of which Fournier might have availed himself in his new edition of the _Dict. Portatif de Bibliographie_. From Peignot, the reader is presented with the following anecdotes of this redoubted champion of bibliography. When Rive was a young man, and curate of Mollèges in Provence, the scandalous chronicle reported that he was too intimate with a young and pretty Parisian, who was a married woman, and whose husband did not fail to reproach him accordingly. Rive made no other reply than that of taking the suspicious Benedick in his arms, and throwing him headlong out of the window. Luckily he fell upon a dunghill! In the year 1789, upon a clergyman's complaining to him of the inflexible determination of a great lord to hunt upon his grounds--"_Mettez-lui une messe dans le ventre_"--repiled [Transcriber's Note: replied] Rive. The clergyman expressing his ignorance of the nature of the advice given, the facetious Abbé replied, "Go and tear a leaf from your _mass book_, wrap a musket-ball in it, and discharge it at the tyrant." The Duke de la Valliere used to say--when the knowing ones at his house were wrangling about some literary or bibliographical point--"Gentlemen, I'll go and let loose my bull dog,"--and sent into them the Abbé, who speedily put them all to rights. Rive died in the year 1791, aged seventy-one. He had great parts and great application; but in misapplying both he was his own tormentor. His library was sold in 1793.] Next to the bust of De Bure, consider those of the five Italian bibliographers and literati, HAYM, FONTANINI, ZENO, MAZZUCHELLI, and TIRABOSCHI; which are placed in the five consecutive niches. Their works are of various merit, but are all superior to that of their predecessor DONI. Although those of the first three authors should find a place in every bibliographical collection, the productions of Mazzuchelli,[149] and especially of the immortal Tiraboschi, cannot fail to be admitted into every judicious library, whether vast or confined. Italy boasts of few literary characters of a higher class, or of a more widely-diffused reputation than TIRABOSCHI.[150] His diligence, his sagacity, his candour, his constant and patriotic exertions to do justice to the reputation of his countrymen, and to rescue departed worth from ill-merited oblivion, assign to him an exalted situation: a situation with the Poggios and Politians of former times, in the everlasting temple of Fame! Bind his _Storia della Letteratura Italiana_ in the choicest vellum, or in the stoutest Russia; for it merits no mean covering! [Footnote 149: We may first observe that "_La Libraria del_ DONI _Fiorentino_;" Vinegia, 1558, 8vo., is yet coveted by collectors as the most complete and esteemed of all the editions of this work. It is ornamented with many portraits of authors, and is now rare. Consult _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., p. 275. Numerous are the editions of HAYM'S _Biblioteca Italiana_; but those of Milan, of the date of 1771, 4to., 2 vols., and 1803, 8vo. 4 vols., are generally purchased by the skilful in Italian bibliography. The best edition of FONTANINI'S _Biblioteca dell' Eloquenza Italiana_ is with the annotations of ZENO, which latter are distinguished for their judgment and accuracy. It was published at Venice in 1753, 4to., 2 vols.; but it must be remembered that this edition contains only the _third_ book of Fontanini, which is a library of the principal Italian authors. All the three books (the first two being a disquisition upon the orgin [Transcriber's Note: origin] and progress of the Italian language) will be found in the preceeding [Transcriber's Note: preceding] Venice edition of 1737, in one volume 4to. In the year 1753-63, came forth the incomparable but unfinished work of COUNT MAZZUCHELLI, in two folio volumes, [the latter vol. being divided into four thick parts] entittled [Transcriber's Note: entitled]: _Gli Scrittori d'Italia, cioé Notizie Storiche e Critiche intorno alle Vite e agli Scritti dei Letterati Italiani_. The death of the learned author prevented the publication of it beyond the first two letters of the alphabet. The Count, however, left behind ample materials for its execution according to the original plan, which lay shamefully neglected as late as the year 1776. See _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., p. 274. This work is rare in our own country. If the lover of Italian philology wishes to increase his critico-literary stores, let him purchase the _Biblioteca degli Autori Antichi Greci, e Latini volgarizzati_, &c., of PAITONI, in five quarto volumes, 1766: the _Notizie Istorico-Critiche &c., degli Scrittori Viniziani_, [Transcriber's Note: corrected printer error in original; 'degli' was misplaced on preceding line] of AGOSTINI, Venez., 1752, 4to., 2 vols.: and the _Letteratura Turchesca of_ GIAMBATISTA TODERINI, Venez., 1787, 8vo., 3 vols.--works nearly perfect of their kind, and (especially the latter one) full of curious matter.] [Footnote 150: The best edition of his _Letteratura Italiana_ is that of Modena, 1787-94, 4to., in fifteen volumes, as it contains his last corrections and additions, and has the advantage of a complete index. An excellent account of the life and labours of its wonderful author appeared in the fifth volume of the _Athenæum_, to the perusal of which I strongly recommend the reader.] The range of busts which occupies the opposite niches represents characters of a more recent date. Let us begin with MERCIER;[151] a man of extraordinary, and almost unequalled, knowledge in every thing connected with bibliography and typography; of a quick apprehension, tenacious memory, and correct judgment; who was more anxious to detect errors in his own publications than in those of his fellow labourers in the same pursuit; an enthusiast in typographical researches--the Ulysses of bibliographers! Next to him stand the interesting busts of SAXIUS and LAIRE;[152] the latter of whom has frequently erred, but who merited not such a castigation as subsequent bibliographers have attempted to bestow upon him: in the number of which, one is sorry to rank the very respectable name of AUDIFFREDI[153]--whose bust, you observe, immediately follows that of Laire. Audiffredi has left behind him a most enviable reputation: that of having examined libraries with a curious eye, and described the various books which he saw with scrupulous fidelity. There are no lively or interesting sallies, no highly-wrought, or tempting descriptions--throughout his two quarto volumes: but, in lieu of this, there is sober truth, and sound judgment. I have mentioned Audiffredi a little out of order, merely because his name is closely connected with that of Laire: but I should have first directed your attention to the sagacious countenance of HEINECKEN;[154] whose work upon ancient printing, and whose _Dictionary of Engravers_ (although with the latter we have nothing just now to do) will never fail to be justly appreciated by the collector. I regret, Lisardo, for your own sake--as you are about to collect a few choice books upon typography--that you will have so much to pay for the former work, owing to its extreme rarity in this country, and to the injudicious phrenzy of a certain class of buyers, who are resolved to purchase it at almost any price. Let me not forget to notice, with the encomiums which they deserve, the useful and carefully compiled works of SEEMILLER, BRAUN, WURDTWEIN, DE MURR, ROSSI, and PANZER, whose busts are arranged in progressive order. All these authors[155] are greatly eminent in the several departments which they occupy; especially Panzer--whose _Annales Typographici_, in regard to arrangement and fulness of information, leaves the similar work of his precedessor, Maittaire, far behind. It is unluckily printed upon wretched paper--but who rejects the pine-apple from the roughness of its coat? Get ready the wherry; man it with a choice bibliomanical crew, good Lisardo!--and smuggle over in it, if you can, the precious works of these latter bibliographers--for you may saunter "from rise to set of sun," from Whitechapel to Hyde-Park Corner--for them--in vain! [Footnote 151: Barthelemy, MERCIER DE ST. LEGER, died in the year 1800, and in the sixty-sixth of his age, full of reputation, and deeply regretted by those who knew the delightful qualities of his head and heart. It is not my intention to enumerate _all_ his publications, the titles of which may be found in the _Siécles Littéraires_, vol. iv., p. 350: but, in the present place, I will only observe that his "_Supplement à l'Histoire de l'Imprimerie, par P. Marchand_," was first published in 1773, and afterwards in 1775, 4to., a rare and curious work; but little known in this country. His _Bibliothéque des Romans, traduit de Grec_, was published in 1796, 12 vols. 12mo. His letter concerning De Bure's work, 1763, 8vo., betrayed some severe animadversions upon the _Bibliogr. Instruct._: but he got a similar flagellation in return, from the Abbé Rive, in his _Chasse aux Bibliographes_--who held him and De Bure, and all the bibliographical tribe, in sovereign contempt. His letter to Heinecken upon the rare editions of the 15th century, 1783, 8vo., and his other works, I never saw in any collection. The imperial library at Paris purchased his copy of Du Verdier's and La Croix du Maine's Bibliothéques, covered with his marginal annotations, as well as his copy of Clement's _Bibl. Curieuse_. Le Blond, member of the Institute, obtained his copy of De Bure's _Bibliographie Instructive_, also enriched with MS. notes. Mr. Ochéda, Lord Spencer's librarian, who knew well the Abbé de St. Leger, informed me that he left behind him ample materials for a History of Printing, in a new edition of his Supplement to Marchand's work, which he projected publishing, and which had received from him innumerable additions and corrections. "He was a man," says Mr. Ochéda, "the most conversant with editions of books of all kinds, and with every thing connected with typography and bibliography, that I ever conversed with." The reader may consult Peignot's _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. i., p. 452, vol. iii., p. 212.] [Footnote 152: The _Onomasticon Literarium_ of CHRISTOPHER SAXIUS, _Traject. ad Rhenum_, 1775-90, seven vols. 8vo., with a supplement, or eighth volume, published in 1803, is considered as a work of the very first reputation in its way. The notices of eminent men are compendious, but accurate; and the arrangement is at once lucid and new. An elegantly bound copy of this scarce work cannot be obtained for less than six and seven guineas. The first bibliographical production of the Abbé LAIRE was, I believe, the _Specimen Historicum Typographiæ Romanæ, xv. seculi, Romæ_, 1778, large 8vo.; of which work, a copy printed UPON VELLUM (perhaps unique) was sold at the sale of M. d'Hangard, in 1789, for 300 livres. _Dictionn. Bibliogr._, vol. iv., p. 250. In my Introduction, &c., to the Greek and Latin Classics, some account of its intrinsic merit will be found: vol. i., p. xviii. In the year 1784 Laire published a "_Dissertation sur l'origine et Progrès de l'Imprimerie en Franche-Comté_," 8vo.; and, in the year 1791, came forth his Catalogue Raisonné of the early printed books in the library of Cardinal de Lomenie de Brienne; under the title of "_Index Librorum ab Inventa Typographia, ad annum 1500_," in two octavo volumes. See the article "LOMENIE," in the list of foreign catalogues, post. Laire was also the author of a few other minor bibliographical productions. All the books in his library, relating to this subject, were covered with marginal notes; some of them very curious. See Peignot's _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. i., p. 330: and _Les Siecles Littéraires_, (1801, 8vo.) vol. iv., p. 75.] [Footnote 153: The works and the merits of AUDIFFREDI have been before submitted by me to the public; and Mr. Beloe, in the third volume of his "_Anecdotes of Literature_," &c., has justly observed upon the latter. In Lord Spencer's magnificent library at Althorpe, I saw a copy of the "_Editiones Italicæ_," sec. xv., 1793, 4to., upon LARGE PAPER. It is much to be wished that some knowing bibliographer upon the Continent would complete this unfinished work of Audiffredi. His _Editiones Romanæ_, sec. xv., 1783, 4to., is one of the most perfect works of bibliography extant: yet Laire's "_Index Librorum_," &c. (see preceeding note), is necessary to supply the omission of some early books printed at Rome, which had escaped even this keen bibliographer!] [Footnote 154: HEINECKEN'S name stands deservedly high (notwithstanding his tediousness and want of taste) among bibliographical and typographical antiquaries. Of his "_Nachrichten von Kunstlern und Kunst-Sachen_," Leipzig, 1768, 8vo., two vols., (being "New Memoirs upon Artists and the objects of Art"--and which is frequently referred to by foreigners,) I never saw a copy. It was again published in 1786. His "_Idée Générale d'une Collection complette d'Estampes_," &c., Leips., 1771, 8vo., is a most curious and entertaining book; but unconscionably dear in this country. His "_Dictionnaire des Artistes dont nous avons des Estampes_," &c., Leips. 1778, 8vo., four vols., is an unfinished performance, but remarkably minute as far as it goes. The remainder, written in the German language, continues in MS. in the Electorate library at Dresden, forming twelve volumes. Of the character of Heinecken's latter work, consult Huber's _Manuel, &c., des Amateurs de l'Art_, Zurich, 1797, 8vo.: and a recent work entitled "_Notices des Graveurs_," Paris, 1804, 8vo., two vols. Heinecken died at the advanced age of eighty.] [Footnote 155: We will discuss their works _seriatim_, as Lisardo has said above. SEEMILLER'S _Bibliothecæ Incolstadiensis Incunabula Typographica_, contains four parts, or fasciculi: they are bound in one volume, quarto, 1787, &c.; but, unfortunately for those who love curious and carefully executed works, it is rather rare in this country. The _Notitia Historico-Critica de libris ab art typog. invent._, by PLACID BRAUN, in two parts, or volumes, 1788, 4to., with curious plates, has long been a desideratum in my own collection; and my friend Mr. Beloe, who is luckily in possession of a copy, enjoys his triumph over me when he discovers it not in my bibliographical boudoir. The same author also published his "_Notitia Historico-Literaria de cod. MSS. in Bibl. Monast. ord. S. Bened. ad SS. Vidal. et Afram Augustæ ex tantibus_," Aug. Vindel., 1791, 4to., two vols. _Cat. de Santander_, vol. iv., p. 170. I know not how any well versed bibliographer can do without the "_Bibliotheca Moguntina libris sæculo primo Tpyographico [Transcriber's Note: Typographico] Moguntiæ impressis instructa_;" 1787, 4to., of WURDTWEIN. It has some curious plates of fac-similes, and is rarely seen in the Strand or King-street book-markets.----C.T. DE MURR published a work of some interest, entitled, "_Memorabilia Bibliothecarum Publicarum Norimbergensium_," Norimb., 1786-91, three parts or vols. 8vo.; which is also rare.----ROSSI'S valuable work concerning the annals of Hebrew typography: _Annales Hebræo-Typographici, à 1475, ad 1540_, Parmæ, 1795, 1799, 4to., two separate publications, is prettily printed by Bodoni, and is an indispensable article in the collection of the typographical antiquary. See the _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. iii., p. 286.----PANZER'S _Annales Typographici_, in eleven quarto volumes (1793-1803) is a work of the very first importance to bibliographers. Its arrangement, after the manner of Orlandi's, is clear and most convenient; and the references to authorities, which are innumerable, are, upon the whole, very faithful. The indexes are copious and satisfactory. This work (of which I hear there are only three copies upon LARGE PAPER) contains an account of books which were printed in all parts of Europe from the year 1457, to 1536, inclusive; but it should be remembered that the author published a distinct work in the year 1788, 4to., relating to books which were printed, within the same period, in the _German Language_; and this should always accompany the eleven Latin volumes. I will just add from it, as a curiosity, the title and colophon (translated into English) of the first printed book in the German language:--"THE PUBLICATION OF DIETHERS, ELECTOR OF MAYENCE, AGAINST COUNT ADOLPHUS OF NASSAU; _given out under our impressed seal on Tuesday, after the fourth Sunday in Advent, anno Domini 1462_." Consult also Wurdtwein's _Bibl. Mogunt._, p. 80; and the authorities there referred to. It seems doubtful whether this curious little brochure, of which scarcely any thing more than a fragment now remains, was printed by Fust and Schoeffer, or by Gutenberg.] What countenances are those which beam with so much quiet, but interesting, expression? They are the resemblances of DENIS and CAMUS:[156] the former of whom is better known from his _Annalium Typographicorum Maittaire Supplementum_; and the latter very generally respected abroad, although our acquaintance with him in this country is exceedingly slight. If I mistake not, I observe the mild and modest countenance of my old acquaintance, HERBERT, in this bibliographical group of heads? Do not despise his toil[157] because it is not sprinkled with gay conceits, or learned digressions: he wrote to be useful, not to be entertaining; and so far as he went, his work was such an improvement upon his predecessor's plan as to place it quite at the head of NATIONAL TYPOGRAPHY. See yonder the sensible countenance of HARWOOD![158] the first writer in this country who taught us to consider the respective merits and demerits of the various editions of Greek and Latin authors. [Footnote 156: MICHAEL DENIS, the translator of Ossian, and a bibliographer of justly established eminence, was principal librarian of the Imperial library at Vienna, and died in the year 1800, at the age of 71. His _Supplement to Maittaire's Typographical Annals_, in two parts or volumes, 1789, 4to., is a work of solid merit, and indispensable to the possessor of its precursor. The bibliographical references are very few; but the descriptions of the volumes are minutely accurate. The indexes also are excellent. In the year 1793, Denis published the first volume (in three thick parts in folio) of his _Codices Manuscripti Theologici Bibl. Palat. Vindob._; a production which the reader will find somewhat fully described in the ensuing pages. The second volume appeared after his death in 1801. In 1795-6, came forth his second edition of an _Introduction to the Knowledge of Books_, in two quarto volumes; unfortunately written in the German language--but mentioned with approbation in the first volume of the _Mem. de l'Inst._, p. 648. Consult also Peignot's _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. i., p. 122; ii., 232.----ARMAND GASTON CAMUS is a bibliographer of very first rate reputation. The reader has only to peruse the following titles of some of his works, and he will certainly bewail his ill fortune if they are not to be found in his library. 1. _Observations sur la distribution et le classement des livres d'une Bibliothéque_: 2. _Additions aux mêmes_; 3. _Memoire sur un livre Allemand_ (which is the famous TEWRDANNCKHS; and about which is to be hoped that Mr. Douce will one day favour us with his curious remarks): 4. _Addition au même_: 5. _Memoire sur l'histoire et les procédés du Polytypage et de la Stéréotypie_: 6. _Rapport sur la continuation de la Collection des Historiens de France, et de celle des Chartres et Diplomes_: 7. _Notice d'un livre imprimé à Bamberg en 1462_. All these works are thus strung together, because they occur in the first three volumes of the _Memoires de l'Institut_. This curious book, printed at Bamberg, was discovered by a German clergyman of the name of Stenier, and was first described by him in the _Magasin Hist.-Litt., bibliogr._ Chemintz, 1792: but Camus's memoir is replete with curious matter, and is illustrated with fac-simile cuts. In the "_Notices et Extraits des MSS. de la Bibl. Nationale_," vol. vi., p. 106, will be found a most interesting memoir by him, relating to two ancient manuscript bibles, in two volumes folio, adorned with a profusion of pictures: of some of which very elegant fac-similes are given. These pictures are 5152 in number! each of them having a Latin and French verse beautifully written and illuminated beneath.--Camus supposes that such a work could not now be executed under 100,000 francs!--"Where (exclaims he) shall we find such modern specimens of book-luxury?" In the year 1802, he published an admirable "_Mémoire sur la collection des grands et petits voyages, et sur la Collection des Voyages des Melchesedech Thevenot_," 4to., with an excellent "Table des Matières." Of his own journey into the Low Countries, recently published, I never met with a copy. All the preceding works, with the exception of the last, are in my own humble collection.] [Footnote 157: A short bibliographical memoir of HERBERT will be found in the first volume of my edition of the _Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain_. Since that was published, I have gleaned a few further particulars relating to him, which may be acceptable to the reader. Shortly after the appearance of his third volume, he thus speaks in a letter to Mr. Price, librarian of the Bodleian library, "If at any time you meet with any book of which I have not taken notice, or made any mistake in the description of it, your kind information will be esteemed a favour; as I purpose to continue collecting materials for a future publication, when enough shall be collected to make another volume." This was in April, 1790. In the ensuing month he thus addresses his old friend Mr. White, of Crickhowell, who, with himself, was desperately addicted to the black-letter. "To morrow my wife and self set out for Norfolk to take a little relaxation for about a fortnight. I hope my labours will in some good measure answer the expectation of my friends and subscribers in general. Sure I am my best endeavours have been exerted for that purpose. I have been 24 years collecting materials; have spent many a fair pound, and many a weary hour; and it is now ten years since the first part was committed to the press. I purpose to continue collecting materials in order to a fourth volume, &c.;--yet by no means will I make myself debtor to the public when to publish: if it shall please God to take me to himself, Isaac will in due time set it forth. However I shall keep an interleaved copy for the purpose." In a letter to a Mr. John Banger Russell (in Dorsetshire), written in the ensuing month of June, the same sentiments and the same intention are avowed. Thus ardent was the bibliomaniacal spirit of Herbert in his 72d year! The _interleaved copy_ here alluded to (which was bound in six volumes 4to., in Russia binding, and for which Mr. Gough had given Herbert's widow 52_l._ 10_s._) is now in my possession; as well as the yet more valuable acquisition of some numerous MS. addenda to his History of Printing--both of these articles having been purchased by me at the sale of Mr. Gough's MSS. and printed books, A.D. 1810.] [Footnote 158: Dr. EDWARD HARWOOD published the fourth and last edition of his "_View of the various editions of the Greek and Roman Classics_," in the year 1790, 8vo. A work which, in the public estimation, has entitled its author's memory to very considerable respect in the classical world; although the late Professor Porson, in the fly leaf of a copy of my second edition of a similar publication, was pleased to call the Doctor by a name rather unusually harsh with _him_, who was "Criticus et lenis et acutus;" censuring also my dependance upon my predecessor. In the year 1808, was published my third edition of "_An introduction to the knowledge of rare and valuable editions of the Greek and Latin Classics_," two volumes 8vo.: in which, if I may presume to talk of anything so insignificant, I have endeavoured to exhibit the opinions--not of Dr. Harwood alone, but of the most eminent foreign critics and editors--upon the numerous editions which, in a chronological series, are brought before the reader's attention. The remarks of the first bibliographers in Europe are also, for the first time in a English publication, subjoined; so that the lover of curious, as well as of valuable, editions may be equally gratified. The authorities, exceedingly numerous as well as respectable, are referred to in a manner the most unostentatious; and a full measure of text, and to be really useful, was my design from the beginning to the end of it. To write a long and dull homily about its imperfections would be gross affectation. An extensive sale has satisfied my publishers that its merit a little counterbalances its defects.] LIS. You are, no doubt, a fond and partial critic in regard to the works of Herbert and Harwood: but I am glad to recognise my fellow countrymen in such an illustrious assemblage. Go on. LYSAND. We are just at the close. But a few more busts, and those very recently executed, remain to be noticed. These are the resemblances of LA SERNA SANTANDER, CAILLEAU, and OBERLIN;[159] while several vacant niches remain to be filled up with the busts of more modern bibliographers of eminence: namely, of VAN-PRAET, FISCHER, LAMBINET, RENOUARD, PEIGNOT, FOURNIER, BARBIER, BOUCHER, and BRUNET.[160] [Footnote 159: DE LA SERNA SANTANDER will always hold a distinguished place amongst bibliographers, not only from the care and attention with which he put forth the catalogue of his own books--the parting from which must have gone near to break his heart--but from his elegant and useful work entitled, "_Dictionnaire Bibliographique choisi du quinzieme Siécle_," 1805, &c., 8vo., in three parts or volumes. His summary of researches, upon the invention of printing, Mr. Edwards told me, he read "with complete satisfaction"--this occupies the first part or volume. The remaining volumes form a necessary, as well as brilliant, supplement to De Bure. Just at this moment, I believe that Mr. Beloe's, and my own, copy of the work, are the only ones in this country.----CAILLEAU has the credit of being author of the _Dictionnaire Bibliographique_, &c., in three volumes, octavo, 1790--of which there are a sufficient number of counterfeited and faulty re-impressions; but which, after all, in its original shape, edit. 1790, is not free from gross errors; however useful it is in many respects. I suspect, however, that the Abbé DUCLOS had the greater share in this publication: but, be this as it may, the fourth supplemental volume (by the younger Brunet) is, in every respect, a more accurate and valuable performance. OBERLIN, librarian of the central school or college at Strasbourg, is author of a bibliographical treatise particularly deserving of the antiquary's attention: namely, _Essai d'annales de la vie de Jean Gutenburg [Transcriber's Note: Gutenberg], &c._, Stasb. [Transcriber's Note: Strasb.], an. ix., 8vo. His other numerous (belles-lettres) works are minutely specified by Peignot in his _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. iii., p. 230. His edition of Horace, Argent., 1788, 4to., is both elegant and correct.] [Footnote 160: Let us go quietly through the modern French school of bibliography.----Mons. JOSEPH VAN-PRAET is principal librarian of the Imperial collection at Paris, and is justly called, by some of his fellow-labourers in the same career, "one of the first bibliographers in Europe." He is known to me, as a bibliographical writer, only by the part which he took, and so ably executed, in the Valliere catalogue of 1783. Peignot informs us that M. Van-Praet is now busy in composing a little work--which I am sure will rejoice the hearts of all true bibliomaniacs to be apprised of--called a _Catalogue raisonné_ of books PRINTED UPON VELLUM; for which he has already prepared not fewer than 2000 articles! See the _Curiosités Bibliogr._, p. iij. Among these VELLUM articles, gentle reader, I assure thee that thine eyes will be blest with the description of "THE SHYP OF FOOLES," printed by Pynson, 1509! The urbanity and politeness of this distinguished librarian are equal to his knowledge.----GOTTHELF FISCHER, a Saxon by birth, and librarian of the public collection at Mentz, has given us the following interesting treatises, of which, I believe, not five copies are to be found in this country: namely--_Essai sur les Monumens Typographiques de Jean Gutenberg, &c._, an. x. [1801], 4to.: and _Descriptions de raretés typographiques et de Manuscrits remarquables, &c._, Nuremb., 1801, 8vo.--the latter is in the German language, and has cuts--with a portrait of Fust. By this time, the work has most probably been translated into French, as it is frequently referred to and highly spoken of by foreigners. Peignot [_Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. iii., p. 128] refers us to the fine eulogy pronounced upon Fisher [Transcriber's Note: Fischer] (not yet 40 years of age) by Camus, in his "Voyage dans les departemens réunis," p. 12.----LAMBINET will always be remembered and respected, as long as printing and bibliography shall be studied, by his "_Recherches Historiques Littéraires et Critiques, sur l'Originè de L'Imprimerie; particulièrement sur les premiers établissemens au_ XVme _siécle dans la Belgique_," &c., Brux., an. vii. (1798), 8vo. It is, indeed, a very satisfactory performance: the result of judgment and taste--rare union!----In like manner, RENOUARD has procured for himself a bibliographical immortality by his _Annales de l'Imprimerie des Aide_, 1803, 8vo., two vols.: a work almost perfect of its kind, and by many degrees superior to Bandini's dry _Annales Typog. Juntarum._, Lucæ, 1761. In Renouard's taste, accuracy and interest are delightfully combined; and the work is printed with unrivalled beauty. There were only six copies of it printed upon LARGE PAPER; one of which I saw in the fine collection of the Rt. Hon. T. Grenville.----Few modern bibliographers have displayed so much diligence as GABRIEL PEIGNOT: from whom we have, 1. _Dictionnaire Raisonné de Bibliologie_, Paris, 1802, 8vo., two vols., with a third, by way of supplement (1804). With necessary corrections and additions, this work would answer many useful purposes in an English translation. 2. _Essai de Curiosités Bibliographiques_, 1804, 8vo. This is a very amusing (but scarce and unconscionably dear) book. It contains elaborate descriptions of many curious and sumptuous works, which were sold for 1000 and more livres at public sales. 3. _Dictionnaire, &c., des principaux livres condamnés au feu, supprimés ou censurés_, Paris, 1806, 8vo., 2 vols. The very title of such a work must sharpen the edge of curiosity with those bibliomaniacs who have never seen it. 4. _Bibliographie Curieuse, ou Notice Raisonnée des livres imprimés a cent exemplaires au plus, suivie d'une notice de quelques ouvrages tirés sur papier de couleur_, Paris, 1808, 8vo. Only one hundred copies of this thin volume were struck off: of which I possess the 86th copy, according to Peignot's notification. Indeed I am fortunate in having all his preceding works. Let us wish long life and never-failing success to so brave a book-chevalier as Gabriel Peignot.----FRANÇOIS IGNACE FOURNIER, at 18 years of age, published an elegantly printed little volume, entitled _Essai Portatif de Bibliographie_, 1796, 8vo., of which only 26 copies were struck off. In the year 1805, this essay assumed the form of a Dictionary, and appeared under the title of _Dictionnaire portatif de Bibliographie, &c._, 8vo., comprising 17,000 articles, printed in a very small character. Last year, in the month of May, Fournier put forth a new edition of this _Dictionnaire_, considerably augmented; but in which (such is the fate of bibliographical studies) notwithstanding all the care of the author, Brunet tells us that he has discovered not fewer than five hundred errors! Let not Fournier, however be discouraged; in a few years he will achieve something yet more worthy of his laudable seal in bibliography.----ANTOINE-ALEXANDRE BARBIER, librarian of the Council of State, has favoured us with an admirably well executed work, entitled _Dictionnaire des Ouvrages Anonymes et Pseudonymes, composés, traduits ou publiés en Français, &c., accompagneé de notes historiques et critiques_, Paris, _Imprimis Bibliogr._, 1806, 8vo., two vols. See also art. "Conseil d'Etat," in the list of French Catalogues, post. From these the reader will judge of the warm thanks to which this eminent bibliographer is entitled for his very useful labours.----G. BOUCHER de la Richarderie has, in an especial manner, distinguished himself by his _Bibliothéque Universelle des Voyages_, Paris, 1808, 8vo., six vols.: a work executed with care, minuteness, and considerable interest. Some of its extracts are, perhaps, unnecessarily long. The index to the sixth volume will lead the reader to consult an account of some of the most ancient, rare, and curious publications of voyages which have ever appeared: and Boucher "has deserved well" of the book world by this truly valuable and almost indispensable performance.----BRUNET Le Fils. This able writer, and enthusiastic devotee to bibliography, has recently published an excellent and copious work which would appear greatly to eclipse Fournier's; entitled "_Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres, contenant, 1. Un Nouveau Dictionnaire Bibliographigue, 2. Une Table en forme de Catalogue Raisonnée_," Paris, 1810, 8vo., 3 vols.: in which he tells us he has devoted at least thirty years to the examination of books. The first two volumes form a scientific arrangement: the latter is an alphabetical one, referring to one or the other of the preceding volumes for a more copious account of the work. It must be confessed that Brunet has, in this publication, executed a difficult task with great ability.] LIS. I am quite anxious to possess the publications of these moderns: but you say nothing of their comparative value with the ancients. LYSAND. Generally speaking, in regard to discoveries of rare books and typographical curiosities, the moderns have the advantage. They have made more rational conclusions, from data which had escaped their predecessors: and the sparkling and animated manner in which they dress out the particular objects that they describe renders the perusal of their works more pleasant and gratifying. I am not sure that they have the learning of the old school: but their works are, in general, less ponderous and repulsive. The ancient bibliographers were probably too anxious to describe every thing, however minute and unimportant: they thought it better to say too much than too little; and, finding the great mass of readers in former times, uninstructed in these particular pursuits, they thought they could never exhaust a subject by bringing to bear upon it every point, however remotely connected! They found the plain, it is true, parched and sandy; but they were not satisfied with pouring water upon it, 'till they had converted it into a deluge.[161] [Footnote 161: What Denis says, in the preface to his _Catalog. Cod. MSS. Bibl. Palat. Vindob._ (of which see p. 65, ante) is very just; "media incedendum via; neque nudis codicum titulis, ut quibusdam bibliothecis placuit, in chartam conjectis provehi multum studia, neque _doctis, quæ superioris seculi fuit intemperantia, ambagibus et excursibus_."--This is certainly descriptive of the OLD SCHOOL of bibliography.] LIS. Let me ask you, at this stage of our inquiries, what you mean by bibliographical publications?--and whether the works of those authors which you have enumerated are sufficient to enable a novice, like myself, to have pretty accurate notions about the rarity and intrinsic value of certain works? LYSAND. By bibliographical publications, I mean such works as give us some knowledge of the literary productions, as well as of the life, of certain learned men; which state the various and the best editions of their lucubrations; and which stimulate us to get possession of these editions. Every biographical narrative which is enriched with the mention of curious and rare editions of certain works is, to a great extent, a bibliographical publication. Those works which treat professedly upon books are, of course, immediately within the pale of bibliography. LIS. But am I to be satisfied with the possession of those works already recommended? PHIL. I suppose Lisardo has heard of certain valuable CATALOGUES, and he wishes to know how far the possession of these may be requisite in order to make him a bibliographer? LYSAND. At present I will say nothing about the catalogues of the collections of our own countrymen. As we have been travelling principally abroad, we may direct our attention to those which relate to foreign collections. And first, let us pay a due tribute of praise to the published Catalogues of Libraries collected by the JESUITS: men of shrewd talents and unabating research, and in derogation of whose merits Voltaire and D'Alembert disgraced themselves by scribbling the most contemptible lampoons. The downfall of this society led, not very indirectly, to the destruction of the ancient French monarchy. Men seemed to forget that while the most shameless depredations were committed within the libraries of the Jesuits, the cause of learning, as well as of liberty, suffered,--and the spoils which have glittered before our eyes, as the precious relics of these collections, serve to afford a melancholy proof how little those men stick at any thing who, in raising the war-whoop of liberty and equality, tear open the very bowels of order, tranquillity, peace, and decorum! But, to the subject. Let the catalogues of PUBLIC COLLECTIONS, when they are well arranged, be received into your library. Of foreign PRIVATE COLLECTIONS, the catalogues[162] of DU FRESNE, CORDES, HEINSIAS, BALUZE, COLBERT, ROTHELIN, DE BOZE, PREFOND, POMPADOUR, GAIGNAT, GOUTTARD, BUNAU, SOUBISE, LA VALLIERE, CREVENNA, LAMOIGNON, and of several other collections, with which my memory does not just now serve me, will enable you to form a pretty correct estimate of the _marketable value_ of certain rare and sumptuous publications. Catalogues are, to bibliographers, what _Reports_ are to lawyers: not to be read through from beginning to end--but to be consulted on doubtful points, and in litigated cases. Nor must you, after all, place too strong a reliance upon the present prices of books, from what they have produced at former sales; as nothing is more capricious and unsettled than the value of books at a public auction. But, in regard to these catalogues, if you should be fortunate enough to possess any which are printed upon _Large Paper, with the Names of the Purchasers, and the Prices_ for which each set of books was sold, thrice and four times happy may you account yourself to be, my good Lisardo! [Footnote 162: As it would have required more breath than usually falls to the lot of an individual, for Lysander to have given even a rough sketch of the merits, demerits, and rarity of certain foreign catalogues of public and private collections--in his discourse with his friends--I have ventured to supply the deficiency by subjoining, in the ensuing _tolerably copious_ note, a list of these catalogues, alphabetically arranged; as being, perhaps, the most convenient and acceptable plan. Such an attempt is quite novel; and must be received, therefore, with many grains of allowance. Although I am in possession of the greater number (at least of two thirds) of the catalogues described, I am aware that, in regard to the description of those not in my own library, I subject myself to the lash of P. Morhof. "Inepti sunt, qui librorum catalogos scribunt e catalogis. Oculata fides et judicium præsens requiritur." _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 230. But the weight of my authorities will, I trust, secure me from any great violence of critical indignation. To render so dry a subject (the very "_Hortus Siccus_" of bibliography) somewhat palatable, I have here and there besprinkled it with biographical anecdotes of the collectors, and of the state of French literature in the last century and a half.----D'AGUESSEAU. _Catalogue des Livres Imprimés et Manuscrits de la Bibliothéque de feu Monsieur D'Aguesseau_, &c., Paris, 1785, 8vo. "Anxious to enrich his collection, (says the compiler of this catalogue) the Bibliomaniac sees with delight the moment arrive when, by the sale of a library like this, he may add to his precious stores. It is, in truth, a grand collection; especially of history, arts, and sciences, and jurisprudence. The famous Chancellor D'Aguesseau laid the foundation of this library, which was as universal as his own genius." It would appear that the son, to whom the collection latterly belonged, was gracious in the extreme in the loan of books; and that, in consequence, a public advertisement was inserted at the foot of the "Avis preliminaire," to entreat those, who had profited by such kindness, to return their borrowed (shall I say stolen?) goods? For want of these volumes, many sets of books were miserably defective.----ANONYMIANA. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ Anonymianæ, in quo libri rariores recensentur, una cum notis litterariis_, Norimb., 1738, 8vo. This is a catalogue of value, and may be well ranged with its brethren upon the bibliographer's shelf. Another "_Bibliotheca Anonymiana_," was published ten years preceding the present one; at the Hague, in three parts, one vol., 8vo.: which, in the _Bibl. Solger._, vol iii., no. 1388, is said to contain many rare books: see also no. 1370, _ibid._----D'ARTOIS. _Catalogue des Livres du Cabinet de Monseigneur Le Compte D'Artois_, Paris, 1783, 8vo. Very few copies of this catalogue, which is printed in a wide octavo page, resembling that of a quarto, were struck off: according to Fournier's _Dict. Portat. de Bibliogr._, p. 120, edit. 1809. See also _Cat. de Boutourlin_, no. 3876.----AUGUSTANA. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ inclytæ Reipubl. Augustanæ utriusque linguæ tum Græcæ tum Latinæ librorum et impressorum et manu exaratorum._ Aug. Vindel., 1600, fol. Morhof informs us that this catalogue, of which Hoeschelius was the compiler, contains an account of some manuscripts which have never been printed, as well as of some which Marcus Velserus published. It is, moreover, full of precious bibliographical matter; but unfortunately (the possessor of it may think otherwise) only ONE HUNDRED COPIES were struck off. _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 211. I find, however, some little difficulty about distinguishing this catalogue of the Augsbourg library from the impression of 1633, fol., which Vogt mentions at p. 323, and of which he also talks of 100 copies being printed. It should not be forgotten that Hoeschelius published an admirable catalogue of the Greek MSS. in the library of Augsbourg, 1595, and again 1605, in 4to. Colomiés pronounces it a model in its way. _Bibl. Choisie_, p. 194-5. The catalogue of the Greek MSS. in the library of the Duke of Bavaria, at Munich, was published about the same period; namely, in 1602: the compiler was a skilful man, but he tells us, at the head of the catalogue, that the MSS. were open to the inspection of every one who had any work in hand, provided he were a _Roman Catholic_! This was being very kind to protestants! _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., part i., p. 215, edit. 1725. See also Vogt's _Catalog. Libror. Rarior._, p. 232.----AUGUSTANA. _Notitia historica-literaria de libris ab artis typographicæ inventione usque ad annum, 1478, impressis, in Bibliotheca Monasterii ad SS. Udalricum et Afram Augustæ extantibus._ August, Vindel, 1788, 4to. This volume, which I have no doubt would gratify the curious bibliographer, it has never been my good fortune to meet with. It is here introduced upon the authority of the _Cat. du Cardinal de Loménie_, no. 2647: ed. 1797. I ought not to close this account of the Augsbourg catalogues of books, without remarking, on the authority of Reimannus, that the _first_ published catalogue of books is that which Villerius, a bookseller at Augsburg, put forth in the year 1564. See the _Bibl. Acroam._, p. 5.----AURIVILLIUS. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ quam collegerat Carolus Aurivillius_, sectio [Transcriber's Note: section] i. and ii., Upsal, 1787, 8vo. This catalogue contains a plentiful sprinkling of short literary and bibliographical notes; according to _Bibl. Krohn_, p. 256, no. 3582.----BADENHAUPT. _Bibliotheca selectissima; sive Catalogus librorum magnam partem philologicorum, quos inter eminent. Auctores Græci et Romani classica quos collegit E.F. Badenhaupt_, Berol, 1773, 8vo. The pithy bibliographical notes which are here and there scattered throughout this catalogue, render it of estimation in the opinion of the curious.----BALUZE. _Bibliotheca Balusiana; seu catalogus librorum bibliothecæ D.S. Baluzii, A. Gab. Martin_, Paris, 1719, 8vo., two vols. Let any enlightened bibliographers read the eulogy upon the venerable Baluze (who died in his eighty-eighth year, and who was the great Colbert's librarian), in the preface of the _Bibl. Colbertina_ (vide post), and in the _Dict. Hist._ (Caen, 1789, vol. i., p. 443-4), and he will not hesitate a moment about the propriety of giving this volume a conspicuous place upon his shelf. From the _Bibl. Mencken_, p. 10, it would appear that a third volume, containing translations of some MSS. in the royal library, is wanting to make this catalogue complete. This third volume is uncommon.----BARBERINI. _Index Bibliothecæ Francisci Barberini Cardinalis. Romæ, Typis Barberinis_, 1681, fol., three vols. in two. The widely spread celebrity of Cardinal Barberini suffers no diminution from this publication of the riches contained within his library. The authors are arranged alphabetically, and not according to classes. Although it be not the most luminous in its arrangement, or the most accurate in its execution, this finely printed catalogue will never remain long upon a bookseller's shelf without a purchaser. It were much to be desired that our own noblemen, who have fine collections of books, would put forth (after the example of Cardinal Barberini) similar publications.----BARTHELEMY. _Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliothéque de M. l'Abbé Barthelemy, par M. Bernard_, 1800, 8vo. The high reputation of the owner of this collection will always secure purchasers for this catalogue of useful and interesting books.----BIBLIOGRAPHIE _des Pays Bas, avec quelques notes. Nyon, en Suisse_, 1783, 4to. Only fifty copies of this work were printed. It is a pity that Peignot, who gives us this information, does not accompany it with some account of the nature and merits of the work--which probably grew out of the _Histoire Littéraire des Pays Blas_, 1725, in three folio volumes. _Bibl. Curieuse_, p. 10.----BODLEIAN. _Catalog. Libr. Bibl. Publ., &c., in Acad. Oxon._, 1605, 4to. _Catal. Libr. Impr._, 1674, fol. _Catalogi Libror. MSS. Angl. et Hibern._, 1697, fol. _Catalogus Impress. Libror. Bibl. Bodl._, 1733, fol., two vols. Although none but catalogues of foreign public and private collections were intended to be noticed in this list, the reader will forgive a little violation of the rule laid down by myself, if I briefly observe upon the catalogues of the Bodleian library and the British Museum. [For the latter, vide 'MUSEUM.'] The first of these Bodleian catalogues contains an account of the MSS. It was prepared by Dr. James, the editor of the Philobiblion of De Bury (vide p. 30, ante), and, as it was the first attempt to reduce to "lucid order" the indigested pile of MSS. contained in the library, its imperfections must be forgiven. It was afterwards improved, as well as enlarged, in the folio edition of 1697, by Bernard; which contains the MSS. subsequently bequeathed to the library by Selden, Digby, and Laud, alone forming an extensive and valuable collection. The editor of Morhof (vol. i., 193, n.) has highly commended this latter catalogue. Let the purchaser of it look well to the frontispiece of the portraits of Sir Thomas Bodley and of the fore-mentioned worthies, which faces the title-page; as it is frequently made the prey of some prowling Grangerite. The first catalogue of the _Printed Books_ in the Bodleian library was compiled by the celebrated orientalist, Dr. Hyde: the second by Fisher: of these, the latter is the more valuable, as it is the more enlarged. The plan adopted in both is the same: namely, the books are arranged alphabetically, without any reference to their classes--a plan fundamentally erroneous: for the chief object in catalogues of public collections is to know what works are published upon particular subjects, for the facility of information thereupon--whether our inquiries lead to publication or otherwise: an alphabetical index should, of course, close the whole. It is with reluctance my zeal for literature compels me to add that a _Catalogue Raisonnée of the Manuscripts and Printed Books in the Bodleian Library_ is an urgent desideratum--acknowledged by every sensible and affectionate son of ALMA MATER. Talent there is, in abundance, towards the completion of such an honourable task; and the only way to bring it effectually into exercise is to employ heads and hands enough upon the undertaking. Let it be remembered what Wanley and Messrs. Planta and Nares have done for the Cottonian and Harleian MSS.--and what Mr. Douce is now doing for those of the Lansdowne collection! One gentleman alone, of a very distinguished college, in whom the acuteness and solidity of Porson seem almost revived, might do wonders for the Greek MSS., and lend an effectual aid towards the arrangement of the others. The printed books might be assigned, according to their several classes, to the gentlemen most conversant with the same; and the numerous bibliographical works, published since the catalogue of 1733, might be occasionally referred to, according to the plan observed in the _Notitia Editionum vel Primariæ, &c., in Bibl. Bodl. Oxon._, 1795, 8vo.; which was judiciously drawn up by the Bishop of London, and the Rev. Dr. William Jackson. I am aware that the aged hands of the present venerable librarian of the Bodleian library can do little more than lay the foundation-stone of such a massive superstructure; but even this would be sufficient to enrol his name with the Magliabecchis and Baillets of former times--to entitle him to be classed among the best benefactors to the library--and to shake hands with its immortal founder, in that place where are et amoena vireta Fortunatorum nemorum, sedesque beatæ. BONNIER. _Catalogue des livres de la Bibliothéque de Bonnier._ Paris, 1800, 8vo. This catalogue is here introduced to the bibliographer's notice in order to sharpen his bibliomaniacal appetite to obtain one of the four copies only which were printed upon LARGE PAPER of Dutch manufacture. See _Cat. de Caillard_ (1808), no. 2596.----BOUTOURLIN. _Catalogue des livres de la Bibliothéque de S.E.M. Le Comte de Boutourlin._ Paris (an. xiii.), 1805, 8vo. Every one must conceive a high respect for the owner of this choice collection, from the amiable sentiments which pervade the preface to the catalogue. It has a good index; and is elegantly printed. My copy is upon LARGE PAPER.----DE BOZE. _Catalogue des Livres du Cabinet de M. Claude Gros de Boze._ Paris. _De l'Imp. Royale_, 1745, small folio. This is the first printed catalogue of the choice and magnificent library of De Boze, the friend and correspondent of Dr. Mead, between whom presents of books were continually passing--as they were the first collectors of the day in their respective countries. Some have said 50, some 35, others 25, and others ONLY 12 COPIES of this impression were struck off, as presents for the collector's friends. Consult _Bibl. Mead_, p. 81, no. 617. _Bibl. Creven._, vol. v., 291. _Bauer's Bibl. Rarior._, vol. i., 151. _Bibl. Curieuse_, p. 12. _Bibl. Askev._, no. 508. Barbier's _Dict. des Anonymes_, vol. ii., no. 8002.----DE BOZE, _de la même bibliothéque_, 1753, 8vo. This catalogue, which was executed by Martin, after the death of De Boze, does not contain all the notices of works mentioned in the preceding one. It is, however, well deserving of a place in the bibliographer's library. Peignot tells us that there was yet a _third_ catalogue printed, in 8vo., containing 192 pages, and giving an account of some books taken out of De Boze's collection: a few of which are described in the preceding edition of 1753. See his _Bibl. Cur._, p. 12.----BOZERIAN. _Notice des livres précieux ye [Transcriber's Note: de] M. Bozérian, par M. Bailly_, 1798, 8vo. A cabinet of "precious books," indeed! The misfortune is, so small a number of modern foreign catalogues come over here that the best of them will be found in few of our libraries. Whenever the "Bibliotheca Bozeriana" shall be imported, it will not stop seven days upon a bookseller's shelf!----BULTEAU. _Bibliotheca Bultelliana; (Caroli Bulteau) a Gabr. Martin_, Paris, 1711, 12mo., 2 vols. in one. This catalogue, which is carefully compiled, contains curious and uncommon books; many of which were purchased for the collections of Préfond, De Boze, and others.----BUNAU. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ Bunavianæ._ Lipsiæ, 1750. Six parts, in three volumes, each volume having two parts--usually bound in six vols. Highly and generally esteemed as is this extensive collection, and methodically arranged catalogue, of Count Bunau's books, the latter has always appeared to me as being branched out into too numerous ramifications, so as to render the discovery of a work, under its particular class, somewhat difficult, without reference to the index. I am aware that what Camus says is very true--namely, that "nothing is more absurd than to quarrel about catalogue-making: and that every man ought to have certain fixed and decisive ideas upon the subject," [_Mem. de l'Inst._ vol. i., 650,] but simplicity and perspicuity, which are the grand objects in every undertaking, might have been, in my humble apprehension, more successfully exhibited than in this voluminous catalogue. It represents _over-done analysis_! yet those who are writing upon particular subjects will find great assistance in turning to the different works here specified upon the same. It is rare and high-priced. From the preface, which is well worth an attentive perusal, it appears that this grand collection, now deposited in the electoral library at Dresden (see _Cat. de Caillard_, no. 2545, 1808,) was at Count Bunau's country-house, situated in a pleasant village about half a mile from Dresden-- Vicinam videt unde lector urbem. Saxius, in his _Onomast. Literar._, vol i., p. xxxiii., edit. 1775, &c., has a smart notice of this splendid collection.----BUNNEMAN. _J.L. Bunnemanni Catalogus Manuscriptorum, item librorum impressorum rarissimorum pro assignato pretio venalium._ Minda, 1732, 8vo. For the sake of knowing, by way of curiosity, what books (accounted rare at this period) were sold for, the collector may put this volume into his pocket, when he finds it upon a book-stall marked at 1_s._ 6_d._ In the _Bibl. Solger._, vol iii., no. 1396, there was a priced copy upon LARGE PAPER with bibliographical memoranda.----CAILLARD. _Catalogue des livres du Cabinet de M.A.B. Caillard_, Paris, 1805, 8vo. Of this private catalogue, compiled by Caillard himself, and printed upon fine Dutch paper, in super-royal 8vo., only twenty-five copies were struck off. So says Fournier, _Dict. Portatif de Bibliographie_: p. 120; edit. 1809, and the "avant-propos" prefixed to the subsequent catalogue here following:----_Livres rares et précieux de la Bibliothéque de feu M. Ant. Bern. Caillard_, Paris, 1808, 8vo. There were but twenty-five copies of this catalogue of truly valuable, and, in many respects, rare, and precious, books, printed upon LARGE PAPER, of the same size as the preceding. This was the sale catalogue of the library of Caillard, who died in 1807, in his sixty-ninth year, and of whose bibliomaniacal spirit we have a most unequivocal proof in his purchasing De Cotte's celebrated uncut copy of the first printed Homer, at an enormous sum! [vide COTTE, post.] "Sa riche bibliothéque est á-la-fois un monument de son amour pour l'art typographique, et de la vaste étendue de ses connoissances," p. xiv. Some excellent indexes close this volume; of which Mr. Payne furnished me with the loan of his copy upon LARGE PAPER.----CAMBIS. _Catalogue des principaux manuscrits du cabinet de M. Jos. L.D. de Cambis_, Avignon, 1770, 4to. Although this is a catalogue of MSS., yet, the number of copies printed being very few, I have given it a place here. Some of these copies contain but 519, others 766, pages; which shews that the owner of the MSS. continued publishing his account of them as they increased upon him. Rive, in his "_Chasse aux bibliographes_," has dealt very roughly with the worthy Cambis; but Peignot tells us that this latter was a respectable literary character, and a well-informed bibliographer--and that his catalogue, in spite of Rive's diatribe, is much sought after. See the _Bibliogr. Curieuse_, p. 14; also _Cat. de la Valliere_, vol. iii., no. 5543.----CAMUS DE LIMARE. _Catalogues des livres de M. le Camus de Limare_, Paris, 1779, 12mo.--_Des livres rares et précieux de M---- (Camus de Limare)_, Paris, 1786, 8vo.--_Des livres rares et précieux, reliés en maroquin, de la bibliothéque du même, Paris, an trois_ (1795), 8vo. Of the _first_ catalogue only a small number of copies was printed, and those for presents. _Bibliogr. Curieuse_, p. 15. It contains a description of De Boze's extraordinary copy of Du Fresnoy's "Methode pour étudier l'Histoire," 1729, 4to., four volumes, with the supplement, 1740, two vols.; which was sold for 1500 livres; and which was, of course, upon LARGE PAPER, with a thousand inviting additions, being much more complete than the similar copies in _Cat. de Valliere_, no. 4467; and _Cat. de Crevenna_, no. 5694, edit. 1789; although this latter was preferable to the Valliere copy. Consult also the _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, p. 77-8. The _second_ catalogue was prepared by De Bure, and contains a very fine collection of natural history, which was sold at the Hôtel de Bullion. The printed prices are added. The _third_ catalogue, which was prepared by Santus, after the decease of Camus, contains some very choice articles [many printed UPON VELLUM] of ancient and modern books superbly bound.----CATALOGUE _des livres rares. Par Guillaume de Bure, fils âiné._ Paris, 1786, 8vo. We are told, in the advertisement, that this collection was formed from a great number of sales of magnificent libraries, and that particular circumstances induced the owner to part with it. The books were in the finest order, and bound by the most skilful binders. The bibliographical notices are short, but judicious; and a good index closes the catalogue. The sale took place at the Hôtel de Bullion.----CATALOGUE _fait sur un plan nouveau, systématique et raisonné, d'une Bibliothéque de Littérature, particulièrement d'Histoire et de Poésie, &c._ Utrecht, 1776, 8vo., two vols. A judicious and luminous arrangement of 19,000 articles, or sets of books; which, in the departments specified in the title-page, are singularly copious and rich.----CATALOGUS _Librorum rarissimorum, ab Artis Typographicæ inventoribus, aliisque ejus artis Principibus ante annum 1500 excusorum; omnium optime conservatorum_, 8vo., _Sine loco aut anno_. Peignot, who has abridged Vogt's excellent account of this very uncommon and precious catalogue, of which ONLY TWENTY-FIVE COPIES were printed, has forgotten to examine the last edition of the _Catalog. Libror. Rarior._, pp. 262-3; in which we find that the collection contained 248 (and not 217) volumes. At the end, it is said: "Pretiosissima hæc Librorum Collectio, cujusvis magni Principis Bibliotheca dignissima, constat voll. ccxlviii." Consult the respectable references in Vogt, _ibid._; also the _Bibliogr. Curieuse_ of Peignot, p. 15.----CERAN. _Catalogue des livres de M. Mel de Saint Ceran._ Paris, 1780, 8vo., again in 1791, 8vo. These catalogues were compiled by De Bure, and are carefully executed. Some of the books noticed in them are sufficiently curious and rare.----CLEMENTINO-VATICANA. _Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino Vaticana, in quâ manuscriptos codices Orientalium Linguarum recensuit Joseph Simonius Assemanus_, Romæ, 1719. Folio, four vols. Asseman's son compiled an excellent catalogue of the Oriental MSS. in the Medico-Laurentian library; but this work of the father is more curious and elaborate. Whenever a few half-guineas can procure it, let the country-settled philologist send his "henchman" to fly for it!--"Speed, Malise, speed." But alas! Santander tells us that copies of it are rare. _Cat. de Santander_, vol. iv., no. 6287.----COLBERT. _Bibliotheca Colbertina: seu Catalogus Librorum Bibliothecæ quæ fuit primum J.B. Colbert, deinde J.B. Colbert (fil) postea J. Nic. Colbert, ac demum C.L. Colbert._ Parisiis, 1728, 8vo., three vols. The preface to this valuable catalogue (executed by Martin) gives us a compressed, but sufficiently perspicuous, account of the auspices under which such an extensive and magnificent collection was assembled and arranged. It contains not fewer than 18,219 articles; being perhaps 60,000 volumes. The celebrated Baluze was the librarian during the life of the former branches of the Colbert family; a family which, if nothing remained to perpetuate their fame but this costly monument of literary enterprise, will live in the grateful remembrance of posterity--but it wants not even such a splendid memorial! The lover of fine and curious books will always open the volumes of the COLBERT CATALOGUE with a zest which none but a thorough bred bibliomaniac can ever hope to enjoy.----CONSEIL D'ETAT. _Catalogue des livres de la Bibliothéque du Conseil d'Etat (par M. Barbier, Bibliothecaire du Conseil d'Etat)._ Paris, an. xi. (1802), folio. "This catalogue is most superbly executed. The richness of the materials of which it is composed, the fine order of its arrangement, and the skilful researches exhibited in it relating to anonymous authors, are worthy of the typographical luxury of the national press, from which this curious work was put forth. It will be perfect in three parts: the third part, containing the supplement and tables, is now at press." (A.D. 1804.) The preface and table of the divisions of this catalogue were published in a small 8vo. volume, 1801. This information I glean from Peignot's _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, p. lix.; and from the _Cat. de Boutourlin_, no. 3892, I learn that only 190 copies of so useful, as well as splendid, a work were printed, of which the French government took upon itself the distribution.----CORDES. _Bibliothecæ Cordesianæ Catalogus, cum indice titulorum_, Parisiis, 1643, 4to. The celebrated Naudé had the drawing up and publishing of this catalogue, which is highly coveted by collectors, and is now of rare occurrence. De Cordes was intimate with all the learned men of his country and age; and his eulogy, by Naudé, prefixed to the catalogue, gives us a delightful account of an amiable and learned man living in the bosom, as it were, of books and of book-society. This collection, which was purchased by Cardinal Mazarin, formed the foundation of the latter's magnificent library. Consult the _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., p. 142; Colomié's _Biblioth. Choisie_, p. 126; _Mem. de l'Inst._, vol. i., p. 647. Nor must we forget Morhof--_Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., p. 211; who, after a general commendation of the collection, tells us it is remarkable for containing a fine body of foreign history. De Cordes died A.D. 1642, in the 72d year of his age--nearly 50 years having been devoted by him to the formation of his library. "Fortunate senex!"----COTTE. _Catalogue des Livres rares et précieux et de MSS. composant la bibliothéque de M---- (le President de Cotte)_, Paris, 1804, 8vo. We are told by Peignot that the books at this sale were sold for most exorbitant sums: "the wealthy amateurs striving to make themselves masters of the LARGE PAPER Alduses, Elzevirs, and Stephenses, which had been Count d'Hoym's copies." An uncut first edition of Homer, in the highest state of preservation, was purchased by Mons. Caillaird [Transcriber's Note: Caillard] for 3,601 livres! See the _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, pp. lxv, lxvj. According to _Cat. de Caillard_, no. 2600 (1808, 8vo.), there were only ten copies of this catalogue printed upon LARGE PAPER.----COUVAY. _Catalogue de la bibliothéque de M. Couvay, chevalier de l'ordre de Christ, secrétaire du Roi_, Paris, 1728, fol. Very few copies of this catalogue were printed, and those only for presents. _Bibliogr. Curieuse_, p. 21.----CREVENNA. _Catalogue raisonnée de la collection des Livres de M. Pierre Antoine Crevenna, Négocient à Amsterdam_, 1776, 4to., six vols.--_De la même collection_, 1789, 8vo., five vols.--_De la même collection_, 1793, 8vo. Of these catalogues of one of the most extensive and magnificent collections ever formed in Amsterdam, the first impression of 1776 (to which I have generally referred) is by far the most valuable in regard to bibliographical remarks and copious description. Peignot tells us that no bibliographer can do without it. It was commenced in the year 1774, and published during the life time of Peter Antony Crevenna, the father; from whom the collection passed into the hands of the son Bolongari Crevenna, and in whose lifetime it was sold by public auction. The second impression of 1789 is the sale-catalogue, and contains more books than the preceding one; but the bibliographical observations are comparatively trifling. There are copies of this latter impression upon LARGE PAPER in quarto. I possess an interesting copy of the small paper, which has numerous marginal remarks in pencil, by Mr. Edwards; who examined the library at Amsterdam, with a view to purchase it entire. The last catalogue of 1793, which was published after the death of the son, contains a few choice books which he had reserved for himself, and, among them, a curious set of fac-simile drawings of old prints and title-pages; some of which were obtained at the sale of the elder Mirabeau (vide post). It seems to have been the ruling passion of B. Crevenna's life to collect all the materials, from all quarters, which had any connection, more or less, with "THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING," and it is for ever to be regretted that such extensive materials as those which he had amassed, and which were sold at the sale of 1793 should have been dissipated beyond the hope of restoration. See Peignot's _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. iii., p. 100; and his _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, p. 139.----CROZAT. _Catalogue des Livres de Monsieur Le President Crozat de Tugny_, Paris, 1751, 8vo. This collection was particularly rich in the belles-lettres--and especially in Italian and French Romance-Literature.----VAN DAMME. _Catalogue d'une Bibliotheque, vendue publiquement à la Haye, le 8 Octobre, par Varon et Gaillard_, 1764, three vols. 8vo. "This precious and rare collection belonged to M. Pierre Van Damme, book-merchant at Amsterdam, equally well known for his knowledge of bibliography and of medals; of which latter he had a beautiful and uncommon collection." _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., p. 306.----DUBOIS. _Bibliotheca Duboisiana, ou Catalogue de la Bibliothéque du Cardinal Dubois. A la Haye_, 1725, 8vo., four vols. A collection which evinces the fine taste and sound judgment of the Cardinal Du Bois. It is not rare abroad.----ELZEVIR. _Catalogus librorum qui in Bibliopolio Officinæ Danielis Elzevirii venales extant_, Ams. 1674, 12mo.: 1681, 12mo.--_qui in Bibliopoli Elzeviriano venales extant_, Lug. Bat., 1634, 1684, 4to. These, and other catalogues of the books printed by the distinguished family of the Elzevirs, should find a place within the cabinet of bibliographers. The first book ever published by the Elzevirs was of the date of 1595; the last, of 1680 or 1681, by Daniel Elzevir, who was the only surviving branch. His widow carried on the business after his decease in 1680. In the _Dictionnaire de Bibliologie_ of Peignot, vol. i., p. 216, vol. iii., p. 116, will be found a pleasing account of this family of (almost) unrivalled printers.----DU FAY. _Bibliotheca Fayana seu Catalogus librorum Bibl. Cor. Hier. de Cisternay du Fay, digestus à Gabriel Martin_, Paris, 1725, 8vo. The catalogue of this collection, which is a judicious one, and frequently referred to, is very carefully put forth by Martin. I think that I have seen a copy of it upon LARGE PAPER.----FAGEL. _Bibliotheca Fageliana. A catalogue of the valuable and extensive Library of the Greffier Fagal, of the Hague: in two parts._ London, 1802, 8vo. It is highly creditable to that most respectable establishment, Trinity College, Dublin, that the present grand collection of books was purchased "en masse" (for 7000_l._) to be deposited within its library; thus rendering the interior of the latter "companion meet" for its magnificent exterior. The title-page of the first part announces the sale of the books by auction by Mr. Christie; but the above offer having been made for the whole collection, the same was forthwith transported to Ireland. Collectors should take care that the second part of this catalogue be not wanting, which is oftentimes the case. A good index only is requisite to make the BIBLIOTHECA FAGELIANA rank with the most valuable publications of its kind in existence. It was compiled by the well-known S. Paterson.----FAULTRIER. _Catalogus Librorum Bibliothecæ Domini Joachimi Faultrier, digestus à Prosper Marchand_, Paris, 1709, 8vo. The bibliographical introductory remarks, by Marchand, render this volume (which rarely occurs) very acceptable to collectors of catalogues. Maittaire has spoken well of the performance, _Annal. Typog._ iii., p. 482. Consult also the _Mem. de l'Inst._, vol. i., p. 675, and the _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. ii., p. 235, upon Marchand's introductory remarks relating to the arrangement of a library.----FAVIER. _Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliothéque de feu Mons. L'Abbé Favier, Prêtre à Lille_, Lille, 1765, 8vo. A well arranged catalogue of a choice collection of books, which cost the Abbé fifty years of pretty constant labour in amassing. Prefixed, are some interesting notices of MSS.: and, among them, of a valuable one of Froissart. The prints of the Abbé were afterwards sold, from a catalogue of 143 pages, printed at Lisle in the same year.----DU FRESNE. _Raphaelis Tricheti du Fresne Bibliothecæ Catalogus._ Paris, 1662, 4to. "I have observed," says Morhof, "a number of authors in this catalogue which I have in vain sought after elsewhere. The typographical errors (especially in regard to dates, adds Baillet) are innumerable: and the theological, legal, and medical works, comparatively few--but in the departments of history, antiquities, and general literature, this collection is wonderfully enriched--containing authors hardly ever heard of." _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., p. 212. Colomiés and Labbe unite in conferring the highest praises upon Du Fresne and his collection. See the _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., p. 143; where, however, the confused and inaccurate manner in which the catalogue is executed is sharply censured by Baillet. Morhof informs us that this collection was disposed of by Du Fresne's widow, to the Royal Library, for 24,000 _livres_, after she had refused 33,000 for the same.----GAIGNAT. _Catalogue des Livres du Cabinet de feu M. Louis Jean Gaignat, disposé et mis en ordre par Guill. François de Bure le Jeune._ Paris, 1769, 8vo., two vols. One of the best executed, and most intrinsically valuable catalogues in existence. Almost all the books of Gaignat were in the choicest condition; being the cream of the collections of Colbert, Préfond, and De Boze. The possession of this rare catalogue, which is indispensable to the collector, forms what is called a Supplement to De Bure's "_Bibliographie Instructive_." There are 50 copies struck off upon SMALL QUARTO paper, to arrange with a like number of this latter work. Consult _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., p. 291.----GENÈVE. _Catalogue raisonné des Manuscrits conservés dans la bibliothéque, &c., de Genève; par Jean Senibier._ Genève, 1779, 8vo. A neatly executed and useful catalogue of some manuscripts of no mean value. It has received a good character by Mons. Van-Praet, in the _Cat. de la Valliere_, vol. iii., no. 5542. See also p. 36, ante.----GOEZ. _Bibliothecæ Goësinæ Catalogus_, Leidæ, 1687, 8vo. A fine collection of books and of coins distinguished the Museum of Goez.----GOLOWKIN. _Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliothéque du Comte Alexis de Golowkin_, Leipsic, 1798, 4to. It is said that ONLY 25 COPIES of this catalogue were struck off, and that not more than two of these are known to be in France. Neither the type nor paper has the most inviting aspect; but it is a curious volume, and contains a description of books "infiniment précieux." Consult Peignot's _Bibliogr. Curieuse_, p. 31. Dr. Clarke, in his _Travels in Russia, &c._, p. 138, has noticed the extraordinary library of Count Botterline, but says nothing of Golowkin's.----GOUTTARD. _Catalogue des Livres rares et precieux de feu M. Gouttarde par Guillaume de Bure fils aîné._ Paris, 1780, 8vo. A short bibliographical notice of the amiable and tasteful owner of this select collection precedes the description of the books. The bibliographical observations are sometimes copious and valuable. This catalogue is indispensable to the collector.----GUYON. _Catalogue des livres de la Bibliothéque de feu M.J.B. Denis Guyon, Chev. Seigneur de Sardiere, Ancien Capitaine au Regiment du Roi, et l'un des Seigneurs du Canal de Briare._ Paris, 1759, 8vo. It is justly said, in the "advertisement" prefixed to this catalogue, that, in running over the different classes of which the collection is composed, there will be found articles "capable de piquer la curiosité des bibliophiles." In ancient and modern poetry, and in romances--especially relating to chivalry--this "ancient Captain" appears to have been deeply versed. The advertisement is followed by 28 pages of "Eclaircissemens"--which give an interesting account of some precious manuscripts of old poetry and romances. A MS. note, in my copy of this catalogue, informs me that the books were sold "en masse."----HEINSIUS. (NIC.) _Nicolai Heinsii Bibliothecæ Catalogus_, (1682) 8vo. A portrait of the elegant and learned owner of this collection faces the title-page. The books contained in it are remarkable both for their rarity and intrinsic value; and a great number of them were enriched with the notes of Scaliger, Salmasius, and others. Few collections display more judgment and taste in the selection than the present one; and few critics have been of more essential service to the cause of ancient classical literature than Nicholas Heinsius. He excelled particularly in his editions of the poets. Mr. Dyer, of Exeter, the bookseller, has a copy of this catalogue, which was formerly Grævius's; in which that celebrated critic has made marginal remarks concerning the rarity and value of certain works described in it.----HOHENDORF. _Bibliotheca Hohendorfiana; ou Catalogue de la Bibliothéque de feu Mons. George Guillaume Baron de Hohendorf: à la Haye_, 1720, 8vo., three parts. A magnificent collection; which a MS. note, by Dr. Farmer (in my copy of the catalogue), informs me was "added to the Emperor's library at Vienna." In the _Bibl. Mencken_, p. 10, it is thus loftily described: "Catalogus per-rarus rarissimis libris superbiens."----HOYM. _Catalogus Librorum Bibliothecæ Caroli Henrici Comitis de Hoym_, 1738, 8vo. This catalogue, which is exceedingly well "digested by Martin," is a great favourite with collectors. A copy out of Count Hoym's collection tells well--whether at a book-sale, or in a bookseller's catalogue. There are copies upon LARGE PAPER, which, when priced, sell high.----HULSIUS. _Bibliotheca Hulsiana, sive Catalogus Librorum quos magno labore, summa cura et maximis sumptibus collegit Vir Consularis Samuel Hulsius._ Hag. Com. 1730, four vols. 8vo. (the second and third being in two parts, and the fourth in three). This is, in sober truth, a wonderful collection of books; containing nearly 34,000 articles--which, allowing three volumes to an article, would make the owner to have been in possession of 100,000 volumes of printed books and MSS. The English library, (vol. iv., pt. ii.) of nearly 3300 articles, comprehended nearly all the best books of the day. There were about 1200 articles of Spanish Literature. Nor was the worthy Consul deficient in the love of the fine arts ("hæc est, sitque diu, Senis optimi voluptas et oblectatio," says the compiler of the catalogue); having 11,000 most beautiful prints of subjects relating to the Bible, bound up in 92 atlas folio volumes. Long live the memory of Hulsius; a consular hero of no ordinary renown!----JENA. _Memorabilia Bibliothecæ Academicæ Jenensis: sive designatio Codicum manuscriptorum illa Bibliothecâ et Librorum impressorum plerumque rariorum. Joh. Christophoro Mylio._ Jenæ, 1746, 8vo. A work of some little importance; and frequently referred to by Vogt and Panzer. It is uncommon.----JESU SOC. _Bibliotheca Scriptorum Societatis Jesu._ Antv., 1643. Romæ, 1676, fol. Although this work is not a professed catalogue of books, yet, as it contains an account of the writings of those learned men who were in the society of the Jesuits--and as Baillet, Antonio, and Morhof, have said every thing in commendation of it--I strongly recommend one or the other of these editions to the bibliographer's attention. I possess the edition of 1643; and have frequently found the most satisfactory intelligence on referring to it. How clever some of the Jesuits were in their ideas of the arrangement of a library may be seen from their "_Systema Bibliothecæ Jesuitarum Collegii Ludoviciani_"--which was written by Garnier for the private use of the Louvain college, and which is now extremely difficult to be found. See Maichelius, _de Præcip. Bibl. Parisiens_, p. 128. Their "_Systema bibliothecæ collegii Parisiensis societatis Jesu_," 1678, 4to. (or catalogue of books in the college of Clermont), is handsomely noticed by Camus in the _Mem. de l'Inst._, vol. i., 647.----JUST, ST. _Catalogue des livres en très-petit nombre qui composent la Bibliothéque de M. Merard de St. Just, ancien maitre-d'hotêl de Monsieur, frère du Roi (avec les prix d'achat)._ Paris, 1783, 18mo. Of this book, printed upon superfine paper, of the manufactory of d'Annonay, only 25 copies were struck off. _Bibl. Curieuse_, p. 43. Another catalogue of the same collection (perhaps a more copious one) was put forth in 1799, 8vo., prepared by M. Mauger, See _Diction. Bibliographique_, tom. iv., p. xiv.----KROHN. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ Præstantissimorum &c., Librorum selectum complectentis. Libros collegit et Literariis Catalogum Animadversionibus instruxit, B.N. Krohn. Editio altera._ Hamb. 1796, 8vo. The preface to this very excellent collection of books is written in Latin by Rambach; and a most interesting one it is. After giving a slight sketch of the life and literary occupations of Krohn, he thus finishes the picture of his death--"Ego certe (exclaims the grateful biographer), mi KROHNI, te amabo, et quamdiu 'spiritus hos reget artus' gratam Tui memoriam ex animo nunquam elabi patiar. O! me felicem, si, qua olim me beasti, amicitiâ nunc quoque frui possem. Sed fruar aliquando, cum Deus me ad beatorum sedes evocaverit, ac Te mihi rediderit conjunctissimum. Vale, interim, pia anima; et quem jam tristem reliquisti, prope diem exspecta, in tenerrimos Tuos amplexus properantem, ac de summa, quam nunc habes, felicitate Tibi congratulantem," p. xix. This is the genuine language of heart-felt grief; language, which those who have lost an old and good friend will know well how to appreciate. This catalogue, which was given to me by my friend the Rev. Dr. Gosset, 'vir in re bibliographicâ [Greek: polymathestatos],' exhibits a fine collection of books (3821 in number) relating to history and philology. Some of Krohn's notes are sufficiently shrewd and intelligent.----LAMOIGNON. _Catalogue des Livres Imprimés et manuscrits de la Bibliothéque de M. le President de Lamoignon (redigé par L. Fr. Delatour) avec une table des auteurs, et des anonymes._ Paris, 1770, fol. The bibliographer has only to hear Peignot speak in his own language, and he will not long hesitate about the price to be given for so precious [Transcriber's Note: 'a' missing in original] volume: "Catalogue fort rare, tiré a QUINZE EXEMPLAIRES seulement, sur du papier de coton fabriqué, par singularité, à Angoulême." Mr. Harris, of the Royal Institution, possesses a copy of it, bound in orange-coloured Morocco, which was presented to him by Mr. Payne; and, as Alexander placed his beloved Homer--so does he this catalogue--uner [Transcriber's Note: under] his pillow "quand il vent se reposer--a cause des songes agréables qu'il doit inspirer." This beautiful volume, which was printed for Lamoignon's own convenience, in supplemental parts, does not, however, contain Baillet's interesting Latin prefece, which may be seen in the _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. [Transcriber's Note: volume number missing in original] pt. ii., p. 140, ed. 1725.----LAMOIGNON. _Des Livres de la Bibliothéque de feu M. de Lamoignon, Garde de Sçeaux de France._ Paris, 1791, 8vo., 3 vols. These volumes contain the sale catalogue of Lamoignon's books as they were purchased by Mr. T. Payne, the bookseller. Like the great libraries of Crevenna and Pinelli, this immense collection (with the exception of the works upon French jurisprudence) has been dissipated by public sale. It yet delights Mr. Payne to think and to talk of the many thousand volumes which were bound in Morocco, or Russia, or white-calf-leather, "with gilt on the edges"--which this extraordinary family of book-collectors had amassed with so much care and assiduity. The preface gives us a short, but pleasing, account of the bibliomanical spirit of Lamoignon's father-in-law, Monsieur Berryer; who spent between thirty and forty years in enriching this collection with all the choice, beautiful, and extraordinary copies of works which, from his ministerial situation, and the exertions of his book-friends, it was possible to obtain. M. Berryer died in 1762, and his son-in-law in 1789.----LAMOIGNON. _Des Livres de la même Biblothéque, par Nyon l'âiné._ Paris, 1797, 8vo. This volume presents us with the relics of a collection which, in its day, might have vied with the most splendid in Europe. But every thing earthly must be dissipated.----LANCELOT. _Catalogue des Livres de feu M. Lancelot de l'Academie Royale des Belles Lettres._ Paris, 1741, 8vo. Those who are fond of making their libraries rich in French History cannot dispense with this truly valuable catalogue. Lancelot, like the elder Lamoignon, appears to have been "buried in the benedictions of his countrymen"--according to the energetic language of Bourdaloue.----LEMARIÉ. _Catalogue des livres de feu M. Lemarié, disposé et mis en ordre, par Guil. De Bure, fils aîné_, Paris, 1776, 8vo. A well digested catalogue of a rich collection of Greek and Latin Literature, which evinces a man of taste and judgment. Nothing can be more handsomely said of a collection than what De Bure has prefixed to the present one. In the _Cat. de Gouttard_, no. 1545, I find a copy of it upon LARGE PAPER.----LOMÉNIE. _Index Librorum ab inventa Typographia da annum 1500, &c., cum notis, &c._ Senonis, 1791, 8vo., two vols. The owner of this collection, whose name does not appear in the title-page, was the celebrated Cardinal DE LOMÉNIE DE BRIENNE: who is described, in the advertisement prefixed to the catalogue of his books in 1797, [vide infra] as having, from almost early youth, pushed his love of book-collecting to an excess hardly equalled by any of his predecessors. When he was but a young ecclesiastic, and had only the expectation of a fortune, his ruling passion for books, and his attachment to fellow bibliomaniacs, was ardent and general. But let his panegyrist speak in his own language--"Si le hazard procuroit à ses amis quelque objét précieux, il n'avoit de repos qu'aprés l'avoir obtenu; les sacrifices ne l'effrayoient pas; il étoit né généreaux; mais ce qu'on lui accordoit, il le devoit sur-tout à ses manières insinuantes. Ses sollicitations étoient toujours assaisonnées d'un ton d'amabilité auquel on résistoit difficilement. Lorsque le tems et les grâces de la cour eurent aggrandi ses moyens, ses veus s'etendirent à proportion. Insensiblement il embressa tous les genres, et sa bibliothéque devint un dépôt universel. Dans ses fréquens voyages, s'il s'arrêtoit quelques instans dans une ville, on le voyoit visiter lui-même les libraries, s'introduire dans les maisons religieuses, s'insinuer dans les cabinets d'amateurs, chercher par-tout à acquérir; c'etoit un besoin pour lui d'acheter sans cesse, d'entasser les volumes. Cette passion a peut-être ses excés; mais du moins, elle ne fut pas pour le cardinal de Loménie une manie stérile. Non seulement il aimoit, il connoissoit les livres, mais il savoit s'en servir; sans contredit il fut un des hommes les plus éclairés du Clergé de France."----To return from this pleasing rhapsody to the catalogue, the title of which is above given. It is composed by Laire, in the Latin language, with sufficient bibliographical skill: but the index is the most puzzling one imaginable. The uncommonly curious and magnificent collection, not being disposed of "en masse"--according to advertisement--was broken up; and the more ancient books were sold by auction at Paris, in 1792, from a French catalogue prepared by De Bure. Some of the books were purchased by Mr. Edwards, and sold at London in the Paris collection [vide p. 90, post]; as were also those relating to Natural History; which latter were sold by auction without his Eminence's name: but it is a gross error in the _Bibl. Krohn_, p. 259, no. 3466, to say that many of these books were impious and obscene. These are scarce and dear volumes; and as they supply some deficiencies [Transcriber's Note: missing 'in'] Audiffredi's account of books published at Rome in the xvth century [vid. p. 62, ante], the bibliographer should omit no opportunity of possessing them.----LOMÉNIE. _D'une partie des livres de la Bibliothéque du Cardinal de Loménie de Brienne_, Paris, an. v. [1797], 8vo. This collection, the fragments or ruins of the Lomenie library, contains 2754 articles, or numbers, with a rich sprinkling of Italian literature; leaving behind, however, a surplus of not fewer than twelve hundred pieces relating to the Italian Drama--many of them rare--which were to be sold at a future auction. From the biographical memoir prefixed to this catalogue, I have given the preceding extract concerning the character of the owner of the collection--who died in the same year as the sale.----MACARTHY. _Catalogue des livres rares et précieux du cabinet de M.L.C.D.M._ (_M. Le Comte de Macarthy_), Paris, 1779, 8vo. _Supplement au Catalogue des livres, &c._, de M.L.C.D.M., Paris, 1779, 8vo. _Chez de Bure, fils aîné._ These books were sold in January, 1780; and great things are said, in the advertisement, of their rarity and beauty. The Count Macarthy has, at this moment, one of the most magnificent collections upon the continent. His books printed UPON VELLUM are unequalled by those of any private collection. Of the above catalogue, a copy upon strong writing paper occurs in the _Cat. de Gouttard_, no. 1549.----MAGLIABECHI. _Catalogus Codicum Sæculo_ xv. _Impressorum qui in publica Bibliotheca Magliabechiana Florentiæ adservantur. Autore Ferdinando Fossio; ejusd. bibl. Præf._, Florent., 1793, folio, three vols. A magnificent and truly valuable publication (with excellent indexes) of the collection of the famous Magliabechi; concerning whom the bibliographical world is full of curious anecdotes. The reader may consult two volumes of letters from eminent men to Magliabechi, published in 1745, &c., vide _Bibl. Pinell_, no. 8808, &c., edit. 1789: Wolfius's edition of the _Bibliotheca Aprosiana_, p. 102; and the Strawberry Hill[C] edition of the _Parallel between Magliabechi and Mr. Hill_, 1758, 8vo.--an elegant and interesting little volume. Before we come to speak of his birth and bibliographical powers, it may be as well to contemplate his expressive physiognomy. [Illustration] MAGLIABECHI was born at Florence October 29, 1633. His parents, of low and mean rank, were well satisfied when they got him into the service of a man who sold herbs and fruit. He had never learned to read; and yet he was perpetually poring over the leaves of old books that were used in his master's shop. A bookseller, who lived in the neighbourhood, and who had often observed this, and knew the boy could not read, asked him one day "what he meant by staring so much on printed paper?" Magliabechi said that "he did not know how it was, but that he loved it of all things." The consequence was that he was received, with tears of joy in his eyes, into the bookseller's shop; and hence rose, by a quick succession, into posts of literary honour, till he became librarian to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. In this situation Magliabechi had nothing further, or more congenial to his feelings, to sigh for: in the Florentine library he revelled without cessation in the luxury of book-learning. The strength of his memory was remarkable; one day, the Grand Duke sent for him to ask whether he could procure a book that was particularly scarce. "No, sir," answered Magliabechi, "it is impossible; for there is but one in the world, and that is in the Grand Signior's Library at Constantinople, and is the seventh book on the second shelf on the right hand as you go in." In spite of his cobwebs, dirt, and cradle lined with books, Magliabechi reached his 81st year. Hearne has contrived to interweave the following (rather trifling) anecdote of him, in his _Johan. Confrat., &c., de Reb. Glaston_, vol. ii., 486--which I give merely because it is the fashion to covet every thing which appertaineth to Tom Hearne. "I have mentioned the bank where the MSS. (concerning the Epistles of St. Ignatius; Bank LVII.) stands, and the title of the book, because Vossius tells us not in his preface which of the several MSS. in this library he made use of; and to finde it out gave me so much trouble that, if the Grand Duke's library-keeper had not known the book, and searched it for me, I think I should never have met with it, there being not one canon of St. Laurence, not their library-keeper himself, nor, I believe, any other in Florence, except this Sre. MAGLIABECHI, that could direct me to it. The learned Bishop will be pleased to take notice of Sre. Maliabechi's [Transcriber's Note: Magliabechi's] civility; who, besides procuring me the Grand Duke's leave to collate the epistles, attended himself in the library, all the time I was there (the licence being granted by the Grand Duke upon this condition): and since, as a mark of his respect to the reverend bishop, hath been pleased to present him with a book (about the Florentine history) which I have committed to Mr. Ferne, my Lord Lexinton's Gentleman, to be conveyed to his lordship." (Mr. Ledgerd's account of his collations of the Florentine MS. with the edition of Vossius.)----ST. MARK. _Græca D. Marci Bibliotheca Codicum Manuscriptorum Præside Laurentio Theopolo._ Venet. 1740, folio: _Ejusdem Latina et Italica Bibliotheca Codicum Manuscriptorum Præside eodem_, Venet. 1741, folio. These useful and handsomely executed volumes should be found in every extensive philological collection.----MEDICI-LORENZO. _Bibliothecæ Mediceo-Laurentianæ et Palatinæ Codicum Manuscriptorum Orientalium Catalogus digessit S.E. Assemanus._ Florent. 1742, folio. A very valuable and splendid publication; evincing the laudable ambition of the Medici in their encouragement of oriental literature. The editor is commended in the preface of the subsequent catalogue, p. xxxxv.----MEDICI-LORENZO. _Bibliothecæ Hebraico-Grecæ Florentinæ sive Bibliothecæ Mediceo-Laurentianæ Catalogus ab Antonio Maria Biscionio, &c., digestus atque editus_, Florent., 1752, folio, two vols. in one. A grand book; full of curious fac-similes of all sorts of things. It was begun to be printed in 1752, but Biscioni's death, in May, 1756, prevented the completion of the publication 'till May 1757. See præfat., p. xxxxvii--and particularly the colophon.----MEDICI-LORENZO. _Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum, Græcorum, Latinorum, et Italicoram, Bibliothecæ Medicæ Laurentianæ: Angelus Maria Bandinus recensuit, illustravit edidit._ Florent., 1764; 3 vols., 1774; 5 vols., folio. An equally splendid work with the preceding--and much more copious and erudite in regard to intrinsically valuable matter. The indexes are excellent. No extensive philological library should be without these volumes--especially since the name of MEDICI has recently become so popular, from the able biographical memoirs of the family by Mr. Roscoe.----MENARSIANA. _Bibliotheca Menarsiana; ou Catalogue de la Bibliothéque de feu Messire Jean Jaques Charron, Chevalier Marquis de Menars_, &c. A La Haye, 1720, 8vo. A very fine collection of books in all branches of literature. After the "Ordo Venditionis," there is an additional leaf pasted in, signifying that a magnificent copy of Fust's bible of 1462, upon paper, would be sold immediately after the theological MSS. in folio. It brought the sum of 1200 florins. The sale commenced at nine and at two; giving the buyers time to digest their purchases, as well as their dinners, at twelve! "Tempora mutantur!"----MENCKENIUS. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ Menckenianæ ab Ottone et Burchardo collectæ. Editior altera longe emendatior._ Lips., 1727, 8vo. There are some curious and uncommon books in this collection; which evince the taste and judgment of Menckenius, who was a scholar of no mean reputation. Perhaps the word "rare" is too lavishly bestowed upon some of the books described in it.----MEON. _Catalogue des livres précieux singuliéres et rares de la Bibliothèque de M. Meon._ Paris, an. xii. (1804), 8vo. A very choice collection of books; catalogued with considerable care.----MERCIER. _Catalogue de la Bibliothéque de M. Mercier, Abbé de Saint Leger_, par. M. De Bure, 1799, 8vo. If the reader has chanced to cast his eye over the account of the Abbé de St. Leger, at p. 61, ante, he will not hesitate long about procuring a copy of the catalogue of the library of so truly eminent a bibliographer.----MÉRIGOT. _Catalogue des livres de M.J.G. Mérigot, Libraire_, par M. De Bure, 1800, 8vo. It is very seldom that this catalogue appears in our own country: which is the more provoking as the references to it, in foreign bibliographical works, render its possession necessary to the collector. Mérigot was an eminent bookseller, and prepared a good catalogue of M. Lorry's library, which was sold in 1791, 8vo.----ST. MICHAEL. _Bibliotheca Codicum Manuscriptorum Monasterij Sancti Michaelis Venetiarum, una cum appendice librorum impressorum sæculi_ xv. _Opus posthumum Joannis Bened. Mittarelli._ Venet., 1779, folio. It were much to be wished that, after the example of this and other monasteries, all religious houses, which have large libraries attached to them, would publish accounts of their MSS. and printed books. There is no knowing what treasures are hid in them, and of which the literary world must remain ignorant, unless they are thus introduced to general notice. How many curious and amusing anecdotes may be told of precious works being discovered under barbarous titles! Among others, take, gentle reader, the two following ones--relating to books of a very different character. Within a volume, entitled _Secreta Alberti_, were found "_The Fruyte of Redempcyon_," printed by W. De Worde, 1532, 4to.; and a hitherto imperfectly described impression of _The Boke of Fyshinge_, printed by W. De Worde, in 4to., without date; which usually accompanies that fascinating work, ycleped Dame Juliana Barnes's _Boke of Hawkyng, Huntyng, and Cote Armoor_. My friend Mr. J. Haslewood first made me acquainted with this rare treasure--telling me he had "a famous tawny little volume" to shew me: his pulse, at the same time, I ween, beating one hundred and five to the minute! The second anecdote more exactly accords with the nature of my preliminary observations. In one of the libraries abroad, belonging to the Jesuits, there was a volume entitled, on the back of it "_Concilium Tridenti_:" the searching eye and active hands of a well-educated Bibliomaniac discovered and opened this volume--when lo! instead of the _Council of Trent_, appeared the _First_, and almost unknown, _Edition_ of the _Decameron of Boccaccio_! This precious volume is now reposing upon the deserted shelves of the late Duke of Roxburgh's library; and, at the forth-coming sale of the same, it will be most vigorously contended for by all the higher and more knowing powers of the bibliographical world; But when the gods descending swell'd the fight, Then tumult rose; fierce rage and pale affright Varied each face: [_Pope's_] _Homer's Iliad_, b. xx. v. 63. MIRABEAU. _Catalogue de la Bibliotheque de Mirabeau l'aîné, par Rozet_, 1792, 8vo. A fine collection of books; some of them very curious and uncommon. At the head of the choice things contained in it must be noticed the "Recueil de Calques, ou dessins des titres et figure d'un grand nombre des plus anciens ouvrages, gravés en bois, ou imprimés en caractères mobiles, depuis l'origine de l'imprimerie," &c. These designs were 226 in number; of which a description is given at the head of the catalogue. They were purchased for 1105 livres, and again sold, with the same description prefixed, at the last Crevenna sale of 1793 (see p. 79, ante). Consult the _Curiosités Bibliographiques_ of Peignot, p. 139.----MIROMENIL. _Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliothéque de M. Hüe de Miromenil, garde des sceaux de France_, Paris, 1781, 4to. "It appears, from the catalogue of M. de Coste, that this is a rare book, of which only few copies were printed, and those never sold." _Bibliogr. Curieuse_, p. 33.----MONTFAUÇON. _Diarium Italicum; sive Monumentorum Veterum, Bibliothecarum, Musæorum Notitiæ Singulares a D. Bernardo de Montfauçon_, Paris, 1702, 4to. _Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum Manuscriptorum nova, autore De Bern. de Montfauçon_, Paris, 1739, folio, two vols. These are the bibliographical works (which I thought would be acceptable if placed in this list of Catalogues) of the illustrious Montfauçon; whose publications place him on the summit of antiquarian fame. So much solid sense, careful enquiry, curious research, and not despicable taste, mark his voluminous productions! The bibliographer may rest assured that he will not often be led into confusion or error in the perusal of the above curious and valuable volumes, which have always been considered precious by the philologist.----MORELLI. _Jacobi Morellii Bibliothecæ Regiæ divi Marci Venetiarum Custodis, Bibliotheca Manuscripta Græca et Latina._ Tom. prim. Bassani, 8vo. Morelli was the amiable and profoundly learned librarian of St. Mark's at Venice; and this catalogue of his Greek and Latin MSS. is given upon the authority of Peignot's _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, p. lix.----MUSEUM BRITISH. _Catalogus Librorum Manuscript. Bibl. Cotton._, Oxon., 1696, fol. _A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library_, Lond. 1777, 8vo. _A Catalogue of the same_, 1802, fol. _A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts, &c._, Lond., 1759, fol., 2 vols. _A Catalogue of the same_, Lond., 1808, fol., 3 vols. _A Catalogue of the MSS. of the Kings Library, &c._, 1734, 4to. _A Catalogue of the MSS., &c., hitherto undescribed_, Lond., 1782, 4to., two vols. _Catalog. Libror. Impress., &c._, Lond., 1787, folio, 2 vols. These are the published catalogues of the literary treasures, in manuscript and in print, which are contained in the British Museum. The _first Cottonian_ catalogue has a life of Sir Robert Cotton, and an account of his library prefixed to it. The _second_, by Samuel Hooper, was intended "to remedy the many defects" in the preceding catalogue, and "the injudicious manner" in which it was compiled; but it is of itself sufficiently confused and imperfect. The _third_, which is the most copious and valuable, with an index (and which has an abridged account of Sir Robert Cotton, and of his Library), was drawn up by Mr. Planta, the principal librarian of the British Museum. A great part of the first catalogue of the _Harleian MSS._ was compiled by the celebrated Humphrey Wanley, and a most valuable and ably executed publication it is! The _Second_ is executed by the Rev. R. Nares: it contains the preface of the first, with an additional one by himself, and a copious index; rendering this the most complete catalogue of MSS. which has ever yet appeared in our own country; although one regrets that its typographical execution should not have kept pace with its intrinsic utility. The two latter catalogues of MSS. above described give an account of those which were presented by royal munificence, and collected chiefly by Sir Hans Sloane and Dr. Birch. The catalogue of 1734 (which is now rare) was compiled by David Casley: that of 1782, by Samuel Ascough. Of the catalogue of _Printed Books_, it would be unfair to dwell upon its imperfections, since a new, and greatly enlarged and improved, impression of it is about going to press, under the editorial care and inspection of Messrs. H. Ellis and Baber, the gentlemen to whom the printed books are at present intrusted. Mr. Douce, who has succeeded Mr. Nares as head librarian of the MSS., is busily employed in examining the multifarious collection of the _Lansdowne MSS._ (recently purchased by the Trustees of the Museum), and we may hope that the day is not very far distant when the public are to be congratulated on his minute and masterly analysis of these treasures.----PARIS. _Catalogue de la Bibliothéque de M. Paris de Meyzieux_, Paris, 1779, 8vo. _Bibliotheca elegantissima Parisina, par M. Lourent_, 1790, 8vo. _The same_: Lond., 1791, 8vo. Since the days of Gaignat and the Duke de la Valliere, the longing eyes of bibliographers were never blessed with a sight of more splendid and choice books than were those in the possession of M. PARIS DE MEYZIEUX. The Spira Virgil of 1470, UPON VELLUM, will alone confer celebrity upon the _first_ catalogue--but what shall we say to the _second_? It consists of only 635 articles, and yet, as is well observed in the preface, it was never equalled for the like number. Happy is that noviciate in bibliography who can forget the tedium of a rainy day in sitting by the side of a log-wood fire, and in regaling his luxurious fancy, by perusing the account of "fine, magnificent, matchless, large paper," and "vellum" copies which are thickly studded from one end of this volume to the other. Happier far the veteran, who can remember how he braved the _perils of the sale_, in encountering the noble and heavy metalled competitors who flocked, from all parts of the realm, to partake of these _Parisian_ spoils! Such a one casts an eye upon his well-loaded shelves, and while he sees here and there a yellow morocco Aldus, or a Russian leather Froben, he remembers how bravely he fought for each, and with what success his exertions were crowned! For my own part, gentle reader, I frankly assure thee that--after having seen the "HEURES DE NOTRE DAME," written by the famous Jarry, and decorated with SEVEN small exquisite paintings of the Virgin and Christ--and the _Aldine Petrarch_ and _Virgil_ of 1501, all of them executed upon SNOW-WHITE VELLUM--after having seen only these books out of the Paris collection, I hope to descend to my obscure grave in perfect peace and satisfaction! The reader may smile; but let him turn to nos. 14, 201, 328, of the _Bibl. Paris_: no. 318 of the _Cat. de la Valliere_; and _Curiositès Bibliographiques_, p. 67. This strain of "ètourderie bibliographique," ought not to make me forget to observe that we are indebted to the enterprising spirit and correct taste of Mr. Edwards for these, as well as for many other, beautiful books imported from the Continent. Nor is it yet forgotten that some thorough-bred bibliomaniacs, in their way to the sale, used to call for a glass of ice, to allay the contagious inflammation which might rage in the auction-room. And now take we leave of Monsieur Paris de Meyzieux. Peace to the ashes of so renowned a book-chevalier.----PETAU ET MANSART. _Bibliotheca Potavina et Mansartiana; ou Catalogue des Bibliothéques de Messrs. Alexander Petau, et François Mansart; auxquells on a ajouté le Cabinet des MSS. de Justus Lipsius._ Haye, 1722, 8vo. A catalogue not very common, and well worth the bibliographer's consultation.----PINELLI. _Bibliotheca Maphæi Pinelli Veneti, &c. A Jacobo Morellio._ Venetiis, 1787, 6 vols., 8vo. _Bibliotheca Pinelliana: a catalogue of the magnificent and celebrated library of Maffæi Pinelli, late of Venice_, &c., London, 1789, 8vo. There can be no question about the priority, in point both of typographical beauty and intrinsic excellence, of these catalogues; the latter being only a common sale one, with the abridgment of the learned preface of Morelli, and of his bibliographical notices. This immense collection (of the ancient owners of which we have a short sketch in Morhof, vol. i., pp. 28, 202) was purchased by Messrs. Edwards and Robson: the Greek and Latin books were sold for 6786_l._, the Italian, for 2570_l._--which barely repaid the expenses of purchase, including duties, carriage, and sale. Although, as Dr. Harwood has observed, "there being no dust in Venice, this most magnificent library has in general lain reposited for some centuries, in excellent preservation,"--yet the copies were not, upon the whole, in the choicest condition. There are copies of the catalogue of 1789 upon LARGE PAPER. The catalogue of 1787 (with an elegant portrait of Pinelli prefixed) has, at first sight, the aspect of a work printed in small quarto.----POMPADOUR. _Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliothéque de feue Madame La Marquise de Pompadour, Dame du Palais de la Reine_, Paris, 1765, 8vo. The name of Madame de Pompadour will be always respected by bibliographers, on account of the taste and judgment which are displayed in this elegant collection. The old popular romances form the leading feature; but there is an ample sprinkling of the belles-lettres and poetry. An animated eulogium is pronounced upon Mad. de Pompadour by Jardé, in his "Précis sur les Bibliothéques;" prefixed to the last edition of Fournier's _Dictionnaire Portatif de Bibliographie_, p. vij.----PRÉFOND. _Catalogue des Livres du Cabinet de M.D.P. (Girardot de Préfond) Par Guillaume F. De Bure_, Paris, 1757, 8vo. An excellent collection; not wanting in rare and magnificent productions. The owner of it was distinguished for many solid, as well as splendid, qualifications. Only six copies of it were printed upon LARGE PAPER. See _Cat. de Gaignat_, vol. ii., no. 3467.----RANDON DE BOISSET. _Catalogue des livres du cabinet de feu M. Randon du Boisset. Par Guil. de Bure, fils aîné_, Paris, 1777, 12mo. Although the generality of catalogue collectors will be satisfied with the usual copy of this well-digested volume, yet I apprehend the curious will not put up with any thing short of a copy of it upon strong WRITING PAPER. Such a one was in the Gouttard collection. See _Cat. de Gouttard_, no. 1546.----_Reimannus._ _J.F. Reimanni Catalogus Bibliothecæ Theologicæ Systematico-Criticus._ Hildes. 1731, 8vo., two vols. _Ejusdem accessiones uberiores ad Catalogum Systematico-Criticum, editæ a Jo. W. Reimannus_, Brunsv., 1747, 8vo. I have before given the character of this work in the introductory part of my "Knowledge of the Greek and Latin Classics." Every thing commendatory of it may be here repeated.----RENATI. _Bibliothecæ Josephi Renati Imperialis, &c., Cardinalis Catalogus, &c._ Romæ, 1711, fol. This excellent catalogue, which cost the compiler of it, Fontanini, nine years of hard labour, is a most useful and valuable one; serving as a model for catalogues of large libraries. See the more minute criticism upon it in _Cat. de Santander_, no. 6315. My copy, which wants the title-page, but luckily contains the Latin preface, was formerly Ruddiman's. The volume has 738 pages: this is noticed because all the appendixes and addenda are comprehended in the same.----REVICKZKY. _Bibliotheca Græca et Latina, complectens auctores fere omnes Græcia et Latii veteris, &c., cum delectu editionum tam primariarum, &c., quam etiam optimarum, splendidissimarum, &c., quas usui meo paravi._ PERIERGUS DELTOPHILUS (the feigned name for REVICKZKY), Berolini, 1784: 1794, 8vo. It was the delight of Count Revickzky, the original owner of this collection, to devote his time and attention to the acquisition of scarce, beautiful, and valuable books; and he obtained such fame in this department of literature as to cause him to be ranked with the Vallieres, Pinellis, and Loménies of the day. He compiled, and privately disposed of, the catalogue of his collection, which bears the above title; and to some few of which are prefixed a letter to M. L' A.D. [enini] (Member of the French Academy) and a preface. _Three Supplements_ to this catalogue were also, from time to time, circulated by him; so that the purchaser must look sharply after these acquisitions to his copy--as some one or the other of them are generally missing. Peignot supposes there are only _two_ supplements. _Bibl. Curieuse_, p. 58. When Count Revickzky came over to England, he made an offer to Earl Spencer to dispose of the whole collection to his lordship, for a certain "round sum" to be paid immediately into his hands, and to receive, in addition, a yearly sum by way of annuity. So speaks fame. Shortly after this contract was closed, the Count died; and Earl Spencer, in consequence, for a comparatively small sum (the result of an immediate and generous compliance with the Count's wishes!), came into the possession of a library which, united with his previous magnificent collection, and the successful ardour with which he has since continued the pursuit, places him quite at the head of all the collectors in Europe--for early, rare, precious, and beautiful, books. Long may he possess such treasures!--and fleeing from the turbulence of politics, and secluded as he is, both in the metropolis and at Althorp, from the stunning noise of a city, may he always exclaim, with Horace, as the Count did before him-- Sit mihi, quod nunc est, etiam minus; ut mihi vivam Quod superest ævi, si quid superesse volunt Dí. Sit bona librorum et provisæ frugis in annum Copia, ne fluitem dubiæ spe pendulus horæ. _Epist. Lib._ i.: _Epist._ xviii. v., 107. Sir M.M. Sykes, Bart., has a copy of the edition of 1784 [which is in every respect the better one], printed upon FINE VELLUM PAPER. A similar copy of the edition of 1794 is noticed in the _Cat. de Caillard_,(1808) no. 2572. At the sale of M. Meon's books, in 1804, a copy of the first edition, charged with MS. notes of the celebrated Mercier St. Leger, was sold for 30 livres.----RIVE. _Catalogue de la Bibliothéque de l'Abbé Rive, par Archard_, Marseille, 1793, 8vo. A catalogue of the books of so sharp-sighted a bibliographer as was the Abbé Rive cannot fail to be interesting to the collector.----DU ROI [Louis XV.] _Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecæ Regiæ (studio et labore Anicetti Mellot). Paris, e Typog. Reg._, 1739, folio, four vols.----DU ROI. _Des Livres imprimés de la même Bibliothéque Royale. (Disposè par Messrs. les Abbés Sallier et Boudot, &c.) Paris, De L'Imprim. Royale_, 1739-53, folio, six vols. The most beautiful and carefully executed catalogue in the world: reflecting a truly solid lustre upon the literary reputation of France! The first four volumes, written in Latin, comprehend an account of MSS.: the six last, written in French, of printed works in THEOLOGY, JURISPRUDENCE, and BELLES-LETTRES; the departments of HISTORY and the ARTS AND SCIENCES still remaining to be executed. De Bure told us, half a century ago, that the "Gens de Lettres" were working hard at the completion of it; but the then complaints of bibliographers at its imperfect state are even yet continued in Fournier's last edition of his _Dictionnaire Portatif de Bibliographie_, p. 468. So easy it is to talk; so difficult to execute! I believe, however, that M. Van-Praet, one of the principal librarians, is now putting all engines to work to do away the further disgrace of such unaccountably protracted negligence. My copy of this magnificent set of books is bound in red Morocco, gilt leaves, and was a presentation one from the King "au Comte de Neny, comme une marque de son estime, 1770." I should add that the first volume of "Theology" contains a history of the rise and progress of the royal library, which was reprinted in 8vo., 1782.----DU ROI. _Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliothéque du Roi, Paris. De l'Imprim. Roy._ 1787, 4to., seven vols. It will be obvious to the candid reader that this work could not be better introduced than in the present place; and a most interesting and valuable one it is! My copy of it, which is only in six volumes [but a seventh is mentioned in _Cat. de Boutourlin_, no. 3845, and in Caillot's _Roman Bibliographique_, p. 195], was purchased by me of Mr. Evans of Pall-Mall, who had shewn it to several lovers of bibliography, but none of whom had courage or curiosity enough to become master of the volumes. How I have profited by them, the Supplement to my first volume of the "Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain," may in part shew. The public shall be made acquainted with still more curious excerpts. In my humble judgment the present work is a model of extraction of the marrow of old MSS. It may be worth adding, the plates in the sixth volume are singular, curious and beautiful.----DU ROI. _Accounts and Extracts of the Manuscripts in the Library of the King of France. Translated from the French_, London, 1789, 8vo., two vols. "The French Monarch [Louis XVI.], in the publication now before us, has set an example to all Europe, well worthy to be followed"--says the opening of the translator's preface. The present volumes contain a translation of only twenty-two articles from the preceding work; and very strongly may they be recommended to the curious philologist, as well as to the thorough-bred bibliomaniac.----RÖVER. _Bibliotheca Röveriana, sive Catalogus Librorum qui studiis inservierunt Matthiæ Röveri._ Lug. Bat. 1806, 8vo., _two parts_. From the elegant and pleasing Latin preface to this most carefully compiled catalogue, we learn that the owner of the books lived to his 82d year--and [what must be a peculiar gratification to Bibliomaniacs] that he beat Pomponius Atticus in the length of time during which he never had occasion to take physic; namely, 50 years! Röver's life seemed to glide away in rational tranquillity, and in total seclusion from the world; except that he professed and always shewed the greatest kindness to his numerous, and many of them helpless, relatives--"vix in publicum prodiit, nisi cultus Divini externi aut propinquorum caussâ," p. xv. His piety was unshaken. Like the venerable Jacob Bryant, his death was hastened in consequence of a contusion in his leg from a fall in endeavouring to reach a book.----ROTHELIN. _Catalogue des livres de feu M'L. Abbé D'Orleans de Rothelin. Par G. Martin_, Paris, 1746, 8vo. This catalogue of the library of the amiable and learned Abbé Rothelin, "known (says Camus) for his fine taste for beautiful books," is judiciously drawn up by Martin, who was the De Bure of his day. A portrait of its owner faces the title-page. It was the Abbé Rothelin who presented De Boze with the celebrated '_Guirlande de Julie_'--a work which afterwards came into the Valliere collection, and was sold for 14,510 livres,--"the highest price (says Peignot) ever given for a modern book." Consult his _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, pp. 62, 67; and _Bibl. Curieuse_, p. 61.----SARRAZ. _Bibliotheca Sarraziana._ Hag. Com., 1715, 8vo. This catalogue, which is frequently referred to by bibliographers, should not escape the collector when he can obtain it for a few shillings. A tolerably good preface or diatribe is prefixed, upon the causes of the rarity of Books, but the volume itself is not deserving of all the fine things in commendation of it which are said in the _Bibl. Reiman_, pt. ii., p. 671, &c.----SARTORI. _Catalogus Bibliographicus Librorum Latinorum et Germanicorum in Bibliotheca Cæsar. reg. et equestris Academiæ Theresianæ extantium, cum accessionibus originum typographicarum. Vindobonensium, et duobus supplementis necnon, indice triplici, systematico, bibliographico, et typographico; auctore Josepho de Sartori._ Vindobonæ, 1801-3, 4to. Vol. i., ii., iii. Of this very curious and greatly-to-be-desired catalogue, which is to be completed in eight volumes, it is said that only ONE HUNDRED copies are struck off. Peignot has a long and interesting notice of it in his _Bibliographie Curieuse_, p. 64.----SCHALBRUCK. _Bibliotheca Schalbruchiana; sive Catalogus exquisitissimorum rarissimorumque librorum, quos collegit Joh. Theod. Schalbruch._ Amst. 1723, 8vo. A very fine collection of rare and curious books. From a priced copy of the catalogue, accidentally seen, I find that some of them produced rather large sums.----SCHWARTZ. _Catalogus Librorum continens codd. MSS. et libros sæculo_ xv. _impressos, quos possedit et notis recensuit A.G. Schwarzius_, Altorf. 1769, 8vo. The name of Schwartz is so respectable in the annals of bibliography that one cannot help giving the present catalogue a place in one's collection. According to _Bibl. Solger._, vol. iii., no. 1459, a first part (there said to be printed upon LARGE PAPER) was published in 1753. Schwartz's treatise, "_De Orig. Typog. Document. Primar._" Altorf, 1740, 4to., should have been noticed at p. 41, ante.----SCRIVERIUS. _Bibliothecæ Scriverianæ Catalogus_, Amst., 1663, 4to.--"exquisitissimus est: constat enim selectissimus omnium facultatum et artium autoribus." This is the strong recommendatory language of Morhof: _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 212.----SERNA SANTANDER. _Catalogue des livres de la Bibliothéque de M.C. De La Serna Santander; redigé et mis en ordre par lui même; avec des notes bibliographiques et littèraires_, &c. Bruxelles, 1803, 8vo., five volumes. An extensive collection of interesting works; with a sufficiently copious index at the end of the fourth volume. The fifth volume contains a curious disquisition upon the antiquity of signatures, catchwords, and numerals; and is enriched with a number of plates of watermarks of the paper in ancient books. This catalogue, which is rarely seen in our own country, is well worth a place in any library. It is a pity the typographical execution of it is so very indifferent. For the credit of a bibliographical taste, I hope there were a few copies struck off upon LARGE PAPER.----SION COLLEGE. _Catalogus universalis librorum omnium in Bibliotheca Collegii Sionii apud Londinenses_; Londini, 1650, 4to. _Ejusdem Collegii librorum Catalogus, &c., Cura Reading_, Lond., 1724, fol. As the first of these catalogues (of a collection which contains some very curious and generally unknown volumes) was published before the great fire of London happened, there will be found some books in it which were afterwards consumed, and therefore not described in the subsequent impression of 1724. This latter, which Tom Osborne, the bookseller, would have called a "pompous volume," is absolutely requisite to the bibliographer: but both impressions should be procured, if possible. The folio edition is common and cheap.----SMITH [CONSUL]. _Bibliotheca Smithiana, seu Catalogus Librorum D.J. Smithii Angli, per cognomina Authorum dispositus._ Venetiis, 1755, 4to. _A Catalogue of the curious, elegant, and very valuable library of Joseph Smith, Esq., His Britannic Majesty's Consul at Venice, lately deceased_, 1773, 8vo. These are the catalogues of the collections of books occasionally formed at Venice, by Mr. Joseph Smith, during his consulship there. The quarto impression contains a description of the books which were purchased "en masse" by his present majesty. It is singularly well executed by Paschali, comprehending, by way of an appendix, the prefaces to those volumes in the collection which were printed in the fifteenth century. I possess a brochûre of 71 pages, containing a catalogue of books printed in the fifteenth century, which has Consul Smith's arms at the beginning, and, at the end, this subscription, "Pretiosissima hæc librorum collectio, cujusvis magni principis Bibliotheca dignissima, constat voluminibus ccxlviii." The title-page has no date. I suspect it to be the same catalogue of books which is noticed at p. 77, ante, and which probably the Consul bought: forming the greater part of his own library of early printed books. See too the _Bibliogr. Miscellany_, vol. ii., 72. The collection of 1773 was sold by auction, for Mr. Robson, by Messrs. Baker and Leigh--and a fine one it was. Among these books, the Spira Virgil of 1470, printed UPON VELLUM, was purchased for _only twenty-five guineas_! Excidat ille dies ævo--ne postera credant Sæcula--! ----SOLGER. _Bibliotheca sive Supellex Librorum Impressorum, &c., et Codicum Manuscriptorum, quos per plurimos annos collegit, &c., Adamus Rudolphus Solger._ Norimb., 1760, 8vo., three parts or vols. I should almost call this publication "facile princeps Catalogorum"--in its way. The bibliographical notices are frequent and full; and saving that the words "rarus, rarior, et rarissimus," are sometimes too profusely bestowed, nothing seems to be wanting to render this a very first rate acquisition to the collector's library. I am indebted to the bibliomanical spirit of honest Mr. Manson, of Gerard-street, the bookseller, for this really useful publication.----SOUBISE. _Catalogue des livres imprimés et manuscrits, &c., de feu Monseigneur Le Prince de Soubise (par feu Le Clerc)_, Paris, 1788, 8vo. A short history of this collection will be the best inducement to purchase the present catalogue, whenever it comes in the way of the collector. The foundation of this splendid library was that of the famous De Thou's [vide Art. THUANUS, post], which was purchased by the Cardinal de Rohan, who added it to his own grand collection--"the fruit of a fine taste and a fine fortune." It continued to be augmented and enriched 'till, and after, it came into the possession of the PRINCE DE SOUBISE--the last nobleman of his name--who dying in January, 1789, the entire collection was dispersed by public auction: after it had been offered for the purchase of one or two eminent London booksellers, who have repented, and will repent to their dying day, their declining the offer. This catalogue is most unostentatiously executed upon very indifferent paper; and, while an excellent index enables us to discover any work of which we may be in want, the beautiful copies from this collection which are in the Cracherode library in the British Museum, give unquestionable proof of the splendour of the books. For the credit of French bibliography, I hope there are some few copies upon LARGE PAPER.----TELLIER. _Bibliotheca Tellereana, sive Catalogus Librorum Bibliotheca Caroli Mauritii Le Tellier, Archiepiscopi Ducis Remensis. Parisiis, e Typographia Regia_, 1693, fol. A finely engraved portrait of Tellier faces the title-page. This is a handsome volume, containing a numerous and well-chosen collection of books.----THUANUS. [DE THOU] _Bibliothecæ Thuanæ Catalogus_, Parisiis, 1679, 8vo. "Three particular reasons," says Baillet, "should induce us to get possession of this catalogue; first, the immortal glory acquired by De Thou in writing his history, and in forming the most perfect and select library of his age: and secondly, the abundance and excellence of the books herein specified; and, thirdly, the great credit of the bibliographers Du Puys and Quesnel, by whom the catalogue was compiled." _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., p. 144, &c. Morhof is equally lavish in commendation of this collection. See his _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 36, 211. The Books of De Thou, whose fame will live as long as a book shall be read, were generally in beautiful condition, with his arms stamped upon the exterior of the binding, which was usually of Morocco; and, from some bibliographical work (I think it is Santander's catalogue), I learn that this binding cost the worthy president not less than 20,000 crowns. De Thou's copy of the editio princeps of Homer is now in the British Museum; having been presented to this national institution by the Rev. Dr. Cyril Jackson, who has lately resigned the deanery of Christ Church College, Oxford,--"and who is now wisely gone to enjoy the evening of life in repose, sweetened by the remembrance of having spent the day in useful and strenuous exertion." For an account of the posterior fate of De Thou's library, consult the article "SOUBISE," ante. I should add that, according to the _Bibl. Solgeriana_, vol. iii., p. 243, no. 1431, there are copies of this catalogue upon LARGE PAPER.----UFFENBACH. _Catalogus universalis Bibliothecæ Uffenbachinæ librorum tam typis quam manu exaratorum._ Francof. ad Moen, 1729, 8vo., 4 vols. This catalogue is no mean acquisition to the bibliographer's library. It rarely occurs in a perfect and clean condition.----VALLIERE (DUC DE LA). _Catalogue des Livres provenans de la Bibliothéque de M.L.D.D.L.V._, (M. le Duc de la Valliere) _disposé et mis en ordre par Guill. Franc. De Bure le Jeune._ Paris, 1767, 8vo., 2 vols.--_Des Livres de la même Bibliothéque._ Paris, 1772, 8vo.--_Des Livres et Manuscrits de la même Bibliothéque_, Paris, 1783, 8vo., 3 vols.--_Des Livres de la même Bibliothéque_, Paris, 1783, 6 vols. 8vo. These twelve volumes of catalogues of this nobleman's library impress us with a grand notion of its extent and value--perhaps never exceeded by that of any private collection! It would seem that the Duke de la Valliere had two sales of part of his books (of which the two first catalogues are notifications) during his life-time: the two latter catalogues of sales having been put forth after his decease. Of these latter (for the former contain nothing remarkable in them, except that there are copies of the first on LARGE PAPER, in 4to.), the impression of 1783, which was compiled by Van Praet and De Bure, is the most distinguished for its notices of MSS. and early printed books: and in these departments it is truly precious, being enriched with some of the choicest books in the Gaignat Collection. Those printed UPON VELLUM alone would form a little library! Of the impression of 1783, which has a portrait of the owner prefixed, there were fifty copies printed upon LARGE PAPER, in 4to., to harmonize with the _Bibliographie Instructive_, and _Gaignat's Catalogue_. See _Bibliographical Miscell._, vol. ii., 66. Twelve copies were also printed in royal 8vo., upon fine stout VELLUM PAPER; of which the Rt. Hon. T. Grenville has a beautiful uncut copy in six volumes. See also _Cat. de Loménie_ [1797], no. 2666. The last publication of 1788 was put forth by Nyon l'aîné; and although the bibliographical observations are but few in comparison with those in the preceding catalogue, and no index is subjoined, yet it is most carefully executed; and presents us with such a copious collection of French topography, and old French and Italian poetry and romances, as never has been, and perhaps never will be, equalled. It contains 26,537 articles. The Count D'Artois purchased this collection "en masse;" and it is now deposited in the "bibliothéque de l'Arsenal." See _Dictionn. Bibliographique_, vol. iv., p. 133. It was once offered for purchase to a gentleman of this country--highly distinguished for his love of Virtû. Mr. Grenville has also a similar large paper copy of this latter edition, of the date of 1784.----VIENNA. _Codices Manuscripti Theologici. Bibl. Palat. Vindob. Latini aliarumque Occidentis Linguarum_, vol. i. (in tribus partibus.) _Recens._, &c., _Michael Denis._ Vindob. 1793, folio. Some mention of this work has been made at page 65, ante. It may be here necessary to remark that, from the preface, it would appear to contain a ninth additional book to Lambecius's well-known Commentaries (vide, p. 41, ante) which Kollarius had left unpublished at his death. The preface is well worth perusal, as it evinces the great pains which Denis has taken; and the noble, if not matchless, munificence of his patron--"qui præter augustam Bibliothecæ fabricam in ipsos libros centenis plura Rhenensium expendit millia."--This catalogue is confined to a description of Latin, with some few notices of Oriental Manuscripts; as the preceding work of Lambecius and Kollarius contained an account of the Greek MSS. These three parts, forming one volume, are closed by an excellent index. The second volume was published in 1801. Upon the whole, it is a noble and highly useful publication; and places its author in the foremost rank of bibliographers.----VOLPI. _Catalogo della Libreria de Volpi_, &c. _Opera di Don Gaetano Volpi._ Padova, 1756, 8vo. The Crevenna library was enriched with a great number of valuable books which came from the library of the celebrated Vulpii; of which the present is a well-arranged and uncommon catalogue. Annexed to it there is an account of the press of the Comini, which belonged to the owners of this collection. The reader may consult _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., pp. 302-3; and Dr. Clarke's _Bibliogr. Miscell._, vol. ii., 72.----VOYAGE _de deux Français dans le nord de l'Europe, en 1790-92, (par M. de Fortia)_ Paris, 1796, 8vo., 5 vols. That the collector of catalogues may not scold me for this apparent deviation from the subject discussed in this note, I must inform him, upon the authority of Peignot, that these interesting volumes contain "some account of the most beautiful and curious books contained in the Libraries of the North, and in those of Italy, Spain, Holland, &c." _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, p. lviii.----DE WITT. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ Joannis De Witt_, Dordraci, 1701, 12mo. The preface to this catalogue, (from which an extract was given in the _first_ edition of my "_Introduction to the Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics_," 1802, 8vo.,) gives us a pleasing account of an ardent and elegant young man in the pursuit of every thing connected with Virtû. De Witt seems to have been, in books and statues, &c., what his great ancestor was in politics--"paucis comparandus." A catalogue of the library of a collector of the same name was published at Brussels, in 1752, by De Vos. See _Cat. de Santander_, vol. iv., no. 6334.----ZURICH. _Catalogus librorum Bibliothecæ Tigurinæ._ Tiguri, 1744, 8vo., 4 vols. Although the last, this is not the most despicable, catalogue of collections here enumerated. A reading man, who happens to winter in Switzerland, may know, upon throwing his eyes over this catalogue, that he can have access to good books at Zurich--the native place of many an illustrious author! The following, which had escaped me, may probably be thought worthy of forming an APPENDIX TO THE PRECEDING NOTE. BERN. _Cat. Codd. MSS. Bibl. Bernensis. Cum annotationibus, &c. Curante Sinner._ Bernæ, 1760, 8vo. A very curious and elegantly printed Catalogue with three plates of fac-similes.----PARKER [ABP.] _Catalog. Libror. MSS. in Bibl. Coll. Corporis Christi in Cantab., quos legavit M. Parkerus Archiepiscop. Cant._ Lond., 1722, fol.; _Eorundem Libror. MSS. Catalogus. Edidit J. Nasmith._ Cantab., 1777, 4to. Of these catalogues of the curious and valuable MSS. which were bequeathed to Corpus College (or Bennet College, as it is sometimes called) by the immortal Archbishop Parker, the first is the more elegantly printed, but the latter is the more copious and correct impression. My copy of it has a fac-simile etching prefixed, by Tyson, of the rare print of the Archbishop, which will be noticed in PART V., post.----ROYAL INSTITUTION. _A Catalogue of the Library of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, &c. By William Harris, Keeper of the Library._ Lond., 1809, 8vo. If a lucid order, minute and correct description of the volumes of an admirably chosen library, accompanied with a copious and faithful alphabetical index, be recommendations with the bibliographer, the present volume will not be found wanting upon his shelf. It is the most useful book of its kind ever published in this country. Let the bibliomaniac hasten to seize one of the five remaining copies only (out of the _fifty_ which were printed) upon LARGE PAPER!----WOOD (ANTHONY). _A Catalogue of Antony-a-Wood's Manuscripts in the Ashmolean Museum; by W. Huddesford_, Oxon, 1761, 8vo. The very name of _old Anthony_ (as it delights some facetious book-collectors yet to call him!) will secure respect for this volume. It is not of common occurrence.] [Footnote C: In Part VI. of this work will be found a List of Books printed here. The armorial bearings of Lord Orford are placed at p. 100.] LIS. You have so thoroughly animated my feelings, and excited my curiosity, in regard to BIBLIOGRAPHY, that I can no longer dissemble the eagerness which I feel to make myself master of the several books which you have recommended. LYSAND. Alas, your zeal will most egregiously deceive you! _Where_ will you look for such books? At what bookseller's shop, or at what auction, are they to be procured? In this country, my friend, few are the private collections, however choice, which contain two third parts of the excellent works before mentioned. Patience, vigilance, and personal activity, are your best friends in such a dilemma. LIS. But I will no longer attend the sale of Malvolio's busts and statues, and gaudy books. I will fly to the Strand, or King-street: peradventure-- PHIL. Gently, my good Lisardo. A breast thus suddenly changed from the cold of Nova Zembla to the warmth of the torrid zone requires to be ruled with discretion. And yet, luckily for you-- LIS. Speak--are you about to announce the sale of some bibliographical works? PHIL. Even so. To morrow, if I mistake not, GONZALVO'S choice gems, in this way, are to be disposed of. LIS. Consider them as my own. Nothing shall stay me from the possession of them. LYSAND. You speak precipitately. Are you accustomed to attend book-auctions? LIS. No; but I will line my pockets with pistoles, and who dare oppose me? PHIL. And do you imagine that no one, but yourself, has his pockets "lined with pistoles," on these occasions? LIS. It may be so--that other linings are much warmer than my own:--but, at any rate, I will make a glorious struggle, and die with my sword in my hand. PHIL. This is _Book-Madness_ with a vengeance! However, we shall see the issue. When and how do you propose going? LIS. A chaise shall be at this door by nine in the morning. Who will accompany me? LYSAND. Our friend and Philemon will prevent your becoming absolutely raving, by joining you. I shall be curious to know the result. LIS. Never fear. _Bibliomania_ is, of all species of insanity, the most rational and praise-worthy. I here solemnly renounce my former opinions, and wish my errors to be forgotten. I here crave pardon of the disturbed manes of the Martins, De Bures, and Patersons, for that flagitious act of _Catalogue-Burning_; and fondly hope that the unsuspecting age of boyhood will atone for so rash a deed. Do you frankly forgive--and will you henceforth consider me as a worth [Transcriber's Note: worthy] "_Aspirant_" in the noble cause of bibliography? LYSAND. Most cordially do I forgive you; and freely admit you into the fraternity of Bibliomaniacs. Philemon, I trust, will be equally merciful. PHIL. Assuredly, Lisardo, you have my entire forgiveness: and I exult a little in the hope that you will prove yourself to be a sincere convert to the cause, by losing no opportunity of enriching your bibliographical stores. Already I see you mounted, as a book chevalier, and hurrying from the country to London--from London again to the country--seeking adventures in which your prowess may be displayed--and yielding to no competitor who brandishes a lance of equal weight with your own! LIS. 'Tis well. At to-morrow's dawn my esquire shall begin to burnish up my armour--and caparison my courser. Till then adieu! * * * * * Here the conversation, in a connected form, ceased; and it was resolved that Philemon and myself should accompany Lisardo on the morrow. [Illustration] [Illustration: FARI QUÆ SENTIAT] PART III. =The Auction Room.= CHARACTER OF ORLANDO. OF ANCIENT PRICES OF BOOKS, AND BOOK-BINDING. BOOK-AUCTION BIBLIOMANIACS. "As to the late method used in selling books by AUCTION in London, I suppose that many have paid dear for their experience in this way--it being apparent that most books bought in an auction may be had cheaper in booksellers' shops." CLAVEL: _Cat. of Books for 1680, Pref._ [Illustration] [Illustration] =The Auction Room.= CHARACTER OF ORLANDO. OF ANCIENT PRICES OF BOOKS, AND BOOK-BINDING. BOOK AUCTION BIBLIOMANIACS. Never, surely, did two mortals set off upon any expedition with greater glee and alacrity than did Lisardo and Philemon for the sale, by auction, of GONZALVO'S bibliographical library. The great pains which Lysander had taken in enumerating the various foreign and domestic writers upon Bibliography, with his occasionally animated eulogies upon some favourite author had quite inflamed the sanguine mind of Lisardo; who had already, in anticipation, fancied himself in possession of every book which he had heard described. Like Homer's high-bred courser, who --ere he starts, a thousand steps are lost-- our young bibliomaniac began to count up his volumes, arrange his shelves, bespeak his binder, and revel in the luxury of a splendid and nearly matchless collection. The distance from my house to the scene of action being thirteen miles, Lisardo, during the first six, had pretty nearly exhausted himself in describing the delightful pictures which his ardent fancy had formed; and finding the conversation beginning to flag, Philemon, with his usual good-nature and judgment, promised to make a pleasing digression from the dry subject of book-catalogues, by an episode with which the reader shall be presently gratified. Having promised to assist them both, when we arrived at Messrs. L. and S., in the Strand, with some information relating to the prices of such books as they stood in need of, and to the various book-collectors who attended public sales, Lisardo expressed himself highly obliged by the promise; and, sinking quietly into a corner of the chaise, he declared that he was now in a most apt mood to listen attentively to Philemon's digressive chat: who accordingly thus began. "Lord Coke,"--exclaimed PHILEMON, in a mirthful strain--"before he ventured upon '_The Jurisdiction of the Courts of the Forest_,' wished to 'recreate himself' with Virgil's description of 'Dido's Doe of the Forest;'[163] in order that he might 'proceed the more cheerfully' with the task he had undertaken; and thus exchange somewhat of the precise and technical language of the lawyer for that glowing tone of description which woodland scenes and hunting gaieties seldom fail to produce. Even so, my good friends (pursued Philemon), I shall make a little digression from the confined subject to which our attentions have been so long directed by taking you with me, in imagination, to the delightful abode of ORLANDO." [Footnote 163: The quaint language of Lord Coke is well worth quotation: "And seeing we are to treat of matters of game, and hunting, let us (to the end we may proceed the more chearfully) recreate ourselves with the excellent description of Dido's Doe of the Forest wounded with a deadly arrow sticken in her, and not impertinent to our purpose: Uritur infælix Dido, totaque vagatur Urbe furens, &c. And in another place, using again the word (Sylva) and describing a forest saith: Ibat in antiquam sylvam stabula alta ferarum." _Institutes_, pt. iv., p. 289, ed. 1669. Thus pleasantly could our sage expounder of the laws of the realm illustrate the dry subject of which he treated!] LIS. I have heard of him: a very "_Helluo Librorum_!" Thus we only change sides--from things to men; from books to book-collectors. Is this digressive? Is this an episode? PHIL. Why this abrupt interruption? If I did not know you and myself, too, Lisardo, I should observe an obstinate silence during the remainder of the journey. An episode, though it suspend the main action for a while, partakes of the nature of the subject of the work. It is an _appropriate_ digression. Do pray read Dr. Blair[164] upon the subject--and now only listen. [Footnote 164: _Lecture_ XLII., vol. iii.] Orlando (continued Philemon) had from his boyhood loved books and book-reading. His fortune was rather limited; but he made shift--after bringing up three children, whom he lost from the ages of nineteen to twenty-four, and which have been recently followed to their graves by the mother that gave them birth--he made shift, notwithstanding the expenses of their college education, and keeping up the reputation of a truly hospitable table, to collect, from year to year, a certain number of volumes, according to a certain sum of money appropriated for the purchase of them; generally making himself master of the principal contents of the first year's purchase, before the ensuing one was placed upon his shelves. He lives in a large ancestral house; and his library is most advantageously situated and delightfully fitted up. Disliking such a wintry residence as Thomson has described[165]--although fond of solemn retirement, and of Cowper's "boundless contiguity of shade,"--he has suffered the rules of common sense always to mingle themselves in his plans of domestic comfort; and, from the bow-windowed extremity of his library, he sees realized, at the distance of four hundred yards, Cæsar's gently-flowing river _Arar_,[166] in a stream which loses itself behind some low shrubs; above which is a softly-undulating hill, covered with hazel, and birch, and oak. To the left is an open country, intersected with meadows and corn fields, and terminated by the blue mountains of Malvern at the distance of thirteen miles. Yet more to the left, but within one hundred and fifty yards of the house, and forming something of a foreground to the landscape, are a few large and lofty elm trees, under which many a swain has rested from his toil; many a tender vow has been breathed; many a sabbath-afternoon[167] innocently kept; and many a village-wake cordially celebrated! Some of these things yet bless the aged eyes of ORLANDO! [Footnote 165: "In the wild depth of Winter, while without The ceaseless winds blow ice, be my retreat Between the groaning forest and the shore, Beat by the boundless multitude of waves, A rural, sheltered, solitary scene!"---- _Winter._ One would like a situation somewhat more _sheltered_, when "The ceaseless winds blow ice!"] [Footnote 166: "Flumen est _Arar_, quod per fines Æduorum et Sequanorum in Rhodanum fluit, incredibili lenitate, ita ut oculis, in utram partem fluat, judicari nos possit." _De Bell. Gall._, lib. i., § x. Philemon might as happily have compared Orlando's quiet stream to "the silent river" ----quæ Liris quietâ Mordet aquâ---- which Horace has so exquisitely described, in contrast with ----obliquis laborat Lympha fugax trepidare rivo. _Carm._, _lib._ i., _Od._ xxxi., _lib._ ii., _Od._ ii. Yet let us not forget Collin's lovely little bit of landscape-- "Where slowly winds the stealing wave."] [Footnote 167: There is a curious proclamation by Q. Elizabeth, relating to some Sabbath recreations or games, inserted in Hearne's preface to his edition of _Camden's Annals_, p. xxviii. It is a little too long to be given entire; but the reader may here be informed that "shooting with the standard, shooting with the broad arrow, shooting at the twelve score prick, shooting at the Turk, leaping for men, running for men, wrestling, throwing the sledge, and pitching the bar," were suffered to be exhibited, on several Sundays, for the benefit of one "John Seconton Powlter, dwelling within the parish of St. Clements Danes, being a poor man, having four small children, and fallen to decay."] I have slightly noticed the comfortable interior of his library.-- LIS. You spoke of a bow-windowed extremity-- PHIL. Yes, in this bow-window--the glass of which was furnished full two hundred and fifty years ago, and which has recently been put into a sensible modern frame-work--thereby affording two hours longer light to the inhabitant--in this bow-window, you will see a great quantity of stained glass of the different arms of his own, and of his wife's, family; with other appropriate embellishments.[168] And when the evening sun-beams throw a chequered light throughout the room, 'tis pleasant to observe how Orlando enjoys the opening of an Aldine Greek Classic--the ample-margined leaves of which receive a mellower tint from the soft lustre that pervades the library. Every book, whether opened or closed, is benefited by this due portion of light; so that the eye, in wandering over the numerous shelves, is neither hurt by morning glare nor evening gloom. Of colours, in his furniture, he is very sparing: he considers white shelves, picked out with gold, as heretical--mahogany, wainscot, black, and red, are, what he calls, orthodox colours. He has a few busts and vases; and as his room is very lofty, he admits above, in black and gold frames, a few portraits of eminent literary characters; and whenever he gets a genuine Vandyke, or Velasquez, he congratulates himself exceedingly upon his good fortune. [Footnote 168: The reader, who is partial to the lucubrations of Thomas Hearne, may peruse a long gossipping note of his upon the importance of _stained glass windows_--in his account of Godstow nunnery. See his _Guil. Neubrig._, vol. ii., 768.] LIS. All this bespeaks a pretty correct taste. But I wish to know something of the man. PHIL. You shall, presently; and, in hearing what I am about to relate, only let us both strive, good Lisardo, so to regulate our studies and feelings that our old age may be like unto Orlando's. Last year I went with my uncle to pay him our annual visit. He appeared quite altered and shaken from the recent misfortune of losing his wife; who had survived the death of her children fifteen years; herself dying in the sixtieth of her own age. The eyes of Orlando were sunk deeply into his forehead, yet they retained their native brilliancy and quickness. His cheeks were wan, and a good deal withered. His step was cautious and infirm. When we were seated in his comfortable library chairs, he extended his right arm towards me, and squeezing my hand cordially within his own--"Philemon," said he, "you are not yet thirty, and have therefore sufficient ardour to enable you to gratify your favourite passion for books. Did you ever read the inscription over the outside of my library door--which I borrowed from Lomeir's account of one over a library at Parma?[169]" On my telling him that it had escaped me--"Go," said he, "and not only read, but remember it."--The inscription was as follows: INGREDERE MUSIS SACER, NAM ET HIC DII HABITANT. ITEM NULLUS AMICUS MAGIS LIBET, QUAM LIBER. [Footnote 169: _De Bibliothecis_: p. 269, edit. 1680.] "Have a care," said he, on my resuming my seat--"have a care that you do not treat such a friend ill, or convert him into a foe. For myself, my course is well nigh run. My children have long taken their leave of me, to go to the common parent who created, and to the Saviour who has vouchsafed to redeem, us all; and, though the usual order of nature has been here inverted, I bow to the fate which Heaven has allotted me with the unqualified resignation of a Christian. My wife has also recently left me, for a better place; and I confess that I begin to grow desolate, and anxious to take my departure to join my family. In my solitude, dear Philemon, I have found these (pointing to his books) to be what Cicero, and Seneca, and our own countryman De Bury,[170] have so eloquently and truly described them to be--our friends, our instructors, and our comforts. Without any affectation of hard reading, great learning, or wonderful diligence, I think I may venture to say that I have read more valuable books than it falls to the lot of the generality of book-collectors to read; and I would fain believe that I have profited by my studies. Although not of the profession of the church, you know that I have always cherished a fondness for sacred literature; and there is hardly a good edition of the Greek Testament, or a commentator of repute upon the Bible, foreign or domestic, but what you will find some reference to the same in my interleaved copy of Bishop Wilson's edition of the Holy Scriptures. A great number of these commentators themselves are in my library, as well as every authoritative edition of the Greek Testament, from the Complutensian to Griesbach's. Yet do not suppose that my theological books are equal in measure to one fourth part of those in the Imperial library at Paris.[171] My object has always been instruction and improvement; and when these could be obtained from any writer, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, Arminian or Calvinistic, I have not failed to thank him, and to respect him, too, if he has declared his opinions with becoming diffidence and moderation. You know that nothing so sorely grieves me as dogmatical arrogance, in a being who will always be frail and capricious, let him think and act as he please. On a Sunday evening I usually devote a few hours to my theological studies--(if you will allow my sabbath-meditations to be so called) and, almost every summer evening in the week, saunter 'midst yon thickets and meadows by the river side, with Collins, or Thompson, or Cowper, in my hand. The beautiful sentiments and grand imagery of Walter Scott are left to my in-door avocations; because I love to read the curious books to which he refers in his notes, and have always admired, what I find few critics have noticed, how adroitly he has ingrafted fiction upon truth. As I thus perambulate, with my book generally open, the villagers treat me as Sir Roger De Coverley made his tenants treat the Spectator--by keeping at a respectful distance--but when I shut up my volume, and direct my steps homewards, I am always sure to find myself, before I reach my threshold, in company with at least half a dozen gossipping and well-meaning rustics. In other departments of reading, history and poetry are my delight. On a rainy or snowy day, when all looks sad and dismal without, my worthy friend and neighbour, PHORMIO, sometimes gives me a call--and we have a rare set-to at my old favourite volumes--the '_Lectiones Memorabiles et Reconditæ_' of WOLFIUS[172]--a commonplace book of as many curious, extraordinary, true and false occurrences, as ever were introduced into two ponderous folios. The number of strange cuts in it used to amuse my dear children--whose parent, from the remembrance of the past, still finds a pleasing recreation in looking at them. So much, dear Philemon, for my desultory mode of studying: improve upon it--but at all events, love your books for the good which they may produce; provided you open them with 'singleness of heart--' that is, a sincerity of feeling. [Footnote 170: Every school-lad who has written a copy under a writing-master, or who has looked into the second book of the _"Selectæ è Profanis Scriptoribus," &c._, has probably been made acquainted with the sentiments of the above ancient heathen philosophers relating to Learning and Books; but may not have been informed of the conciliatory manner in which our countryman De Bury has invited us to approach the latter. "Hi sunt magistri (says he) qui nos instruunt sine vergis et ferula, sine verbis et colera, sine pane et pecunia. Si accedis, non dormiunt; si inquiris, non se abscondunt; non remurmurant, si oberres; cachinnos nesciunt, si ignores." These original and apt words are placed in the title-page to the first volume of _Dr. Clarke's Bibliographical Dictionary_.] [Footnote 171: "Il y a 300 pieds cubes de livres de théologie,"--"qui tapissent les murs des deux premières salles de la Bibliothéque Impériale." Caillot: _Roman Bibliographique_, tom. i., 72, edit. 1809.] [Footnote 172: There are few men, of any literary curiosity, who would not wish to know something of the work here noticed; and much more than appears to be known of its illustrious author; concerning whom we will first discourse a little: "JOHANNES WOLFIUS (says Melchoir [Transcriber's Note: Melchior] Adam), the laborious compiler of the _Lectionum Memorabilium et Reconditarum Centenarii_ xvi. (being a collection of curious pieces from more than 3000 authors--chiefly Protestant) was a civilian, a soldier, and a statesman. He was born A.D. 1537, at Vernac, in the duchy of Deux Ponts; of which town his father was chief magistrate. He was bred under Sturmius at Strasbourg, under Melancthon at Wittemberg, and under Cujas at Bruges. He travelled much and often; particularly into France and Burgundy, with the Dukes of Stettin, in 1467. He attended the Elector Palatine, who came with an army to the assistance of the French Hugonots in 1569; and, in 1571, he conducted the corpse of his master back to Germany by sea. After this, he was frequently employed in embassies from the electors Palatine to England and Poland. His last patrons were the Marquisses of Baden, who made him governor of Mündelsheim, and gave him several beneficial grants. In 1594, Wolfius bade adieu to business and courts, and retired to Hailbrun; where he completed his "_Lectiones_," which had been the great employment of his life. He died May 23, A.D. 1600--the same year in which the above volumes were published." Thus far, in part, our biographer, in his _Vitæ Eruditorum cum Germanorum tum Exterorum_: pt. iii., p. 156, edit. 1706. These particulars may be gleaned from Wolfius's preface; where he speaks of his literary and diplomatic labours with great interest and propriety. In this preface also is related a curious story of a young man of the name of Martin, whom Wolfius employed as an amanuensis to transcribe from his "three thousand authors"--and who was at first so zealously attached to the principles of the Romish Church that he declared "he wished for no heaven where Luther might be." The young man died a Protestant; quite reconciled to a premature end, and in perfect good will with Luther and his doctrine. As to Wolfius, it is impossible to read his preface, or to cast a glance upon his works--"magno et pene incredibili labore multisque vigiliis elaboratum"--(as Linsius has well said, in the opening of the admonition to the reader, prefixed to his index) without being delighted with his liberality of disposition, and astonished at the immensity of his labour. Each volume has upwards of 1000 pages closely printed upon an indifferent brown-tinted paper; which serves nevertheless to set off the several hundreds of well executed wood cuts which the work contains. Linsius's index, a thin folio, was published in the year 1608: this is absolutely necessary for the completion of a copy. As bibliographers have given but a scanty account of this uncommon work (mentioned, however, very properly by Mr. Nicol in his interesting preface to the catalogue of the Duke of Roxburgh's books; and of which I observe in the _Bibl. Solgeriana_, vol. i., no. 1759, that a second edition, printed in 1672, is held in comparatively little estimation), so biographers (if we except Melchior Adam, the great favourite of Bayle) have been equally silent respecting its author. Fabricius, and the Historical Dictionary published at Caen, do not mention him; and Moreri has but a meagre and superficial notice of him. Wolfius's _Penus Artis Historicæ_, of which the best edition is that of 1579, is well described in the tenth volume of Fournier's _Methode pour étudier l'histoire_, p. 12, edit. 1772. My respect for so extraordinary a bibliomaniac as WOLFIUS, who was groping amongst the books of the public libraries belonging to the several great cities which he visited, (in his diplomatic character--vide præf.) whilst his masters and private secretary were probably paying their devotions to Bacchus--induces me to treat the reader with the following impression of his portrait. [Illustration] This cut is taken from a fac-simile drawing, made by me of the head of Wolfius as it appears at the back of the title-page to the preceding work. The original impression is but an indifferent one; but it presents in addition, the body of Wolfius as far as the waist; with his right hand clasping a book, and his left the handle of a sword. His ponderous chain has a medallion suspended at the end. This print, which evidently belongs to the English series, has escaped Granger. And yet I know not whether such intelligence should be imparted!--as the scissars may hence go to work to deprive many a copy of these "_Lectiones_," of their elaborately-ornamented title-pages. Forbid it, good sense!] "In a short time," continued the venerable Orlando, after a pause of fifteen seconds, "in a short time I must bid adieu to this scene; to my choice copies; beautiful bindings: and all the classical furniture which you behold around you. Yes!--as Reimannus[173] has well observed,--'there is no end to accumulating books, whilst the boundaries of human existence are limited, indeed!' But I have made every necessary, and, I hope, appropriate, regulation; the greater part of my library is bequeathed to one of the colleges in the University of Oxford; with an injunction to put an inscription over the collection very different from what the famous Ranzau[174] directed to be inscribed over his own.--About three hundred volumes you will find bequeathed to you, dear Philemon--accompanied with a few remarks not very different from what Lotichius[175] indited, with his dying breath, in his book-legacy to the learned Sambucus. I will, at present, say no more. Come and see me whenever you have an opportunity. I exact nothing extraordinary of you; and shall therefore expect nothing beyond what one man of sense and of virtue, in our relative situations, would pay to the other." [Footnote 173: "Vita brevis est, et series librorum longa." He adds: "Æs magnum tempus, quo id dispungere conatus est, parvum." _Bibl. Acroamat._, p. 51, sign. d [dagger symbol] 2.] [Footnote 174: "Henry de Ranzau--avoit dressé une excellente bibliothéque au chateau de Bredemberg, dans laquelle estoient conservez plusieurs manuscrits Grecs et Latins, et autres raretez, &c.--Ce sçavant personnage a fait un decret pour sa bibliothéque, qui merite d'estre icy inseré, pour faire voir a la posterité l'affection qu'il auoit pour sa conservation." ... Libros partem ne aliquam abstulerit, Extraxerit, clepserit, rapserit, Concerpserit, coruperit, Dolo malo: Illico maledictus, Perpetuo execrabilis, Semper detestabilis Esto maneto. JACOB: _Traicté des Bibliothéques_, pp. 237, 240. I have inserted only the fulminatory clause of this inscription, as being that part of it against which Orlando's indignation seems to be directed.] [Footnote 175: "Petrus Lotichius Johanni Sambuco Pannonio gravissimo morbo laborans Bononiæ, bibliothecam suam legaverit, _lib._ 3, _eleg._ 9, verba ejus lectu non injucunda: Pro quibus officiis, hæres abeuntis amici, Accipe fortunæ munera parva meæ. Non mihi sunt Baccho colles, oleisque virentes, Prædiave Æmiliis conspicienda jugis. Tu veterum dulces scriptorum sume libellos, Attritos manibus quos juvat esse meis. Invenies etiam viridi quæ lusimus ævo, Dum studiis ætas mollibus apta fuit. Illa velim rapidis sic uras carmina flammis Ut vatem ipse suis ignibus jussit Amor." LOMEIER: _de Bibliothecis_, p. 288.] "So spake Orlando," said Philemon, with tears in his eyes, who, upon looking at Lisardo and myself, found our faces covered with our handkerchiefs, and unable to utter a word. The deliberate manner in which this recital was made--the broken periods, and frequent pauses--filled up a great measure of our journey; and we found that St. Paul's dome was increasing upon us in size and distinctness, and that we had not more than three miles to travel, when Lisardo, wishing to give a different turn to the discourse, asked Philemon what was the cause of such extravagant sums being now given at book-sales for certain curious and uncommon--but certainly not highly intrinsically-valuable--publications; and whether our ancestors, in the time of Hen. VIII. and Elizabeth, paid in proportion for the volumes of _their_ Libraries? Upon Philemon's declaring himself unable to gratify his friend's curiosity, but intimating that some assistance might probably be derived from myself, I took up the discourse by observing that-- "In the infancy of printing in this country (owing to the competition of foreigners) it would seem that our own printers (who were both booksellers and book-binders) had suffered considerably in their trade, by being obliged to carry their goods to a market where the generality of purchasers were pleased with more elegantly executed works at an inferior price. The legislature felt, as every patriotic legislature would feel, for their injured countrymen; and, accordingly, the statute of Richard III. was enacted,[176] whereby English printers and book-binders were protected from the mischiefs, which would otherwise have overtaken them. Thus our old friend Caxton went to work with greater glee, and mustered up all his energies to bring a good stock of British manufacture to the market. What he usually sold his books for, in his life time, I have not been able to ascertain; but, on his decease, one of his _Golden Legends_ was valued, in the churchwardens' books, at six shillings and eight pence.[177] Whether this was a great or small sum I know not; but, from the same authority we find that twenty-two pounds were given, twelve years before, for eleven huge folios, called '_Antiphoners_.'[178] In the reign of Henry VIII. it would seem, from a memorandum in the catalogue of the Fletewode library (if I can trust my memory with such minutiæ) that Law-Books were sold for about ten sheets to the groat.[179] Now, in the present day, Law-Books--considering the wretched style in which they are published, with broken types upon milk-and-water-tinted paper--are the dearest of all modern publications. Whether they were anciently sold for so comparatively extravagant a sum may remain to be proved. Certain it is that, before the middle of the sixteenth century, you might have purchased Grafton's abridgment of Polydore Virgil's superficial work about _The Invention of Things_ for fourteen pence;[180] and the same printer's book of _Common Prayer_ for four shillings. Yet if you wanted a superbly bound _Prymer_, it would have cost you (even five and twenty years before) nearly half a guinea.[181] Nor could you have purchased a decent _Ballad_ much under sixpence; and _Hall's Chronicle_ would have drawn from your purse twelve shillings;[182] so that, considering the then value of specie, there is not much ground of complaint against the present prices of books." [Footnote 176: By the 1st of Richard III. (1433, ch. ix. sec. xii.) it appeared that, Whereas, a great number of the king's subjeets [Transcriber's Note: subjects] within this realm having "given themselves diligently to learn and exercise THE CRAFT OF PRINTING, and that at this day there being within this realm a great number cunning and expert in the said science or craft of printing, as able to exercise the said craft in all points as any stranger, in any other realm or country, and a great number of the king's subjects living by the craft and mystery of BINDING OF BOOKS, and well expert in the same;"--yet "all this notwithstanding, there are divers persons that bring from beyond the sea great plenty of printed books--not only in the Latin tongue, but also in our maternal English tongue--some bound in boards, some in leather, and some in parchment, and them sell by retail, whereby many of the king's subjects, being binders of books, and having no other faculty therewith to get their living, be destitute of work, and like to be undone, except some reformation herein be had,--Be it therefore enacted, &c." By the 4th clause or provision, if any of these printers or sellers of printed books vend them "at too high and unreasonable prices," then the Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, or any of the Chief Justices of the one bench or the other--"by the oaths of twelve honest and discreet persons," were to regulate their prices. This remarkable act was confirmed by the 25th Hen. VIII., ch. 15, which was not repealed till the 12th Geo. II., ch. 36, § 3. A judge would have enough to do to regulate the prices of books, by the oaths of twelve men, in the present times!] [Footnote 177: The reader will be pleased to refer to p. cx. of the first volume of my recent edition of the _Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain_.] [Footnote 178: The following is from 'the churchwardens' accompts of St. Margaret's, Westminster. "A.D. 1475. Item, for 11 great books, called Antiphoners, 22_l._ 0_s._ 0_d._" _Manners and Expenses of Ancient Times in England_, &c., collected by John Nichols, 1797, 4to., p. 2. _Antiphonere_ is a book of anthems to be sung with responses: and, from the following passage in Chaucer, it would appear to have been a common school-book used in the times of papacy: This litel childe his litel book lerning, As he sate in the scole at his primere He _Alma Redemptoris_ herde sing, As children lered hir _Antiphonere_: _Cant. Tales_, v. 13,446, &c. "A legend, an _Antiphonarye_, a grayle, a psalter," &c., were the books appointed to be kept in every parish church "of the province of Canterbury" by Robert Winchelsen. _Const. Provin. and of Otho and Octhobone_, fol. 67, rect., edit. 1534.] [Footnote 179: "The year books, 9 v. parcels, as published, impr. in different years by Pynson, Berthelet, Redman, Myddylton, Powell, Smythe, Rastell, and Tottyl, 1517 to 1531." Some of them have the prices printed at the end; as "The Prisce of thys Boke ys xiid. unbounde--The Price of thys Boke is xvid. un bownde;" and upon counting the sheets, it appears that the stated price of Law-Books, in the reign of Hen. 8, was ten sheets for one groat. _Bibl. Monast-Fletewodiana_, no. 3156.] [Footnote 180: In a copy of this book, printed by Grafton in 1546, which was in the library of that celebrated bibliomaniac, Tom Rawlinson, was the following singular MS. note: "At Oxforde the yeare 1546, browt down to Seynbury by John Darbye _pryce_ 14_d._ When I kepe Mr. Letymers shype I bout thys boke when the testament was obberagatyd that shepe herdys myght not red hit I pray god amende that blyndnes wryt by Robert Wyllyams keppynge shepe uppon Seynbury hill. 1546." _Camdeni Annales: Edit. Hearne_, vol. i., p. xxx.] [Footnote 181: From Mr. Nichol's curious work, I make the following further extracts: £ _s._ _d._ A.D. 1539. Item, paid for the half part of the Bybell, } accordingly after the King's injunction } 0 9 9 1544. Item, also paid for six books of the Litany } in English } 0 1 6 1549. Paid for iv books of the service of the church 0 16 0 [This was probably Grafton's Prayer book of 1549, fol.] 1559. Paid for a Bybyl and Parafrawse 0 16 0 [From the Ch. Wardens Accts. of St. Margaret's Westminster] The Inventory of John Port, 1524. In the shop. Item, a premmer lymmed with gold, and with imagery } written honds } 0 8 4 (From the do. of St. Mary Hill, London.) To William Pekerynge, a ballet, called a Ryse and } Wake } 0 0 4 (From the books of the Stationers' Company). See pp. 13, 15, 126, and 133, of Mr. Nichols's work.] [Footnote 182: By the kindness of Mr. William Hamper, of Birmingham (a gentleman with whom my intercourse has as yet been only epistolary, but whom I must be allowed to rank among our present worthy bibliomaniacs), I am in possession of some original entries, which seem to have served as part of a day-book of a printer of the same name: "it having been pasted at the end of '_The Poor Man's Librarie_' printed by John Day in 1565." From this sable-looking document the reader has the following miscellaneous extracts: A.D. 1553. £ _s._ _d._ (Two) Meserse of bloyene in bordis } One Prymare latane & englis } 0 ii 0 Balethis (ballads) nova of sortis 0 0 ii Boke of paper 1 quire in forrell 0 0 vi Morse workes in forrell 0 9 viij Castell of Love in forrelle wi: a sarmo nova 0 0 x A.D. 1554. Balethis nova arbull in 8vo. 1 catechis 0 0 viiij Prymare for a chyllde in 8vo. englis 0 iv Halles Croneckelle nova englis 0 xii 0 From a Household Book kept in London, A.D. 1561 (in the possession of the same Gent.) Item, p-d for a Lyttellton in English xij_d._ ---- for the booke of ij englishe lovers vj_d._ ---- for the booke of Songes and Sonnettes } and the booke of dyse, and a frenche booke } ij_s._ viij_d._ (viz. the frenche booke xvj_d._ the ij other bookes at viij_d._ the pece.) ---- ---- for printing the xxv orders of honest men xx_d._] LIS. All this is very just. You are now creeping towards the seventeenth century. Go on with your prices of books 'till nearly the present day; when the BIBLIOMANIA has been supposed to have attained its highest pitch. "Don't expect," resumed I, "any antiquarian exactness in my chronological detail of what our ancestors used to give for their curiously-covered volumes. I presume that the ancient method of _Book-Binding_[183] added much to the expense of the purchase. But be this as it may, we know that Sir Ralph Sadler, at the close of the sixteenth century, had a pretty fair library, with a _Bible_ in the chapel to boot, for £10.[184] Towards the close of the seventeenth century, we find the Earl of Peterborough enlisting among the book champions; and giving, at the sale of Richard Smith's books in 1682, not less than eighteen shillings and two pence for the first English edition of his beloved _Godfrey of Boulogne_.[185] In Queen Ann's time, Earl Pembroke and Lord Oxford spared no expense for books; and Dr. Mead, who trod closely upon their heels, cared not at what price he purchased his _Editiones Principes_, and all the grand books which stamped such a value upon his collection. And yet, let us look at the priced catalogue of his library, or at that of his successor Dr. Askew, and compare the sums _then_ given for those _now_ offered for similar works!" [Footnote 183: As a little essay, and a very curious one too, might be written upon the history of BOOK-BINDING, I shall not attempt in the present note satisfactorily to supply such a desideratum; but merely communicate to the reader a few particulars which have come across me in my desultory researches upon the subject. Mr. Astle tells us that the famous _Textus Sancti Cuthberti_, which was written in the 7th century, and was formerly kept at Durham, and is now preserved in the Cottonian library, (Nero, D. IV.) was adorned in the Saxon times by Bilfrith, a monk of Durham, with a silver cover gilt, and precious stones. Simeon Dunelmensis, or Turgot, as he is frequently called, tells us that the cover of this fine MS. was ornamented "forensecis Gemmis et Auro." "A booke of Gospelles garnished and wrought with antique worke of silver and gilte with an image of the crucifix with Mary and John, poiz together cccxxij oz." In the secret Jewel House in the Tower. "A booke of gold enameled, clasped with a rubie, having on th' one side, a crosse of dyamounts, and vj other dyamounts, and th' other syde a flower de luce of dyamounts, and iiij rubies with a pendaunte of white saphires and the arms of Englande. Which booke is garnished with small emerades and rubies hanging to a cheyne pillar fashion set with xv knottes, everie one conteyning iij rubies (one lacking)." _Archæologia_, vol. xiii., 220. Although Mr. Astle has not specified the time in which these two latter books were bound, it is probable that they were thus gorgeously attired before the discovery of the art of printing. What the ancient Vicars of Chalk (in Kent) used to pay for binding their missals, according to the original endowment settled by Haymo de Hethe in 1327 (which compelled the vicars to be at the expense of the same--_Reg. Roff._, p. 205), Mr. Denne has not informed us. _Archæologia_, vol. xi., 362. But it would seem, from Warton, that "students and monks were anciently the binders of books;" and from their Latin entries respecting the same, the word "conjunctio" appears to have been used for "ligatura." _Hist. of Engl. Poetry_, vol. ii., p. 244. Hearne, in No. III. of the appendix to _Adam de Domerham de reb. gest. Glast._, has "published a grant from Rich. de Paston to Bromholm abbey, of twelve pence a year rent charge on his estates to _keep their books in repair_." This I gather from Gough's _Brit. Topog._, vol. ii., p. 20: while from the _Liber Stat. Eccl. Paulinæ_, Lond. MSS., f. 6, 396 (furnished me by my friend Mr. H. Ellis,[D] of the British Museum), it appears to have been anciently considered as a part of the Sacrist's duty to bind and clasp the books: "Sacrista curet quod _Libri bene ligentur et haspentur_," &c. In Chaucer's time, one would think that the fashionable binding for the books of young scholars was _various-coloured velvet_: for thus our poet describes the library of the Oxford Scholar: A twenty bokes, clothed in black and red Of Aristotle---- (_Prolog. to Cant. Tales._) We have some account of the style in which Chaucer's royal patron, Edward III., used to have his books bound; as the following extract (also furnished me by Mr. H. Ellis) will testify:----"To Alice Claver, for the making of XVI laces and XVI tasshels for the garnyshing of diuers of the Kings books, ij_s._ viij_d._----And to Robert Boillet for blac paper and nailles for closing and fastenyng of diuers cofyns of ffyrre wherein the Kings boks were conveyed and caried from the Kings grete warderobe in London vnto Eltham aforesaid, v_d._----Piers Bauduyn Stacioner for bynding gilding and dressing of a booke called Titus Liuius, xx_s_: for binding gilding and dressing of a booke called Ffrossard, xvj_s_: or binding gilding and dressing of a booke called the Bible, xvj_s_: for binding gilding and dressing of a booke called le Gouuernement of Kings and Princes, xvj_s._" "For the dressing of ij books whereof oon is called la forteresse de Foy and the other called the booke of Josephus, iij_s._ iiij_d._ And for binding gilding and dressing of a booke called the bible historial, xx_s._" Among the expenses entered in the Wardrobe Accompts 20th Edw. III. I suspect that it was not 'till towards the close of the 15th century, when the sister art of painting directed that of engraving, that books were bound in thick boards, with leather covering upon the same; curiously stamped with arabesque, and other bizarre, ornaments. In the interior of this binding, next to the leaves, there was sometimes an excavation, in which a silver crucifix was safely guarded by a metal door, with clasps. The exterior of the binding had oftentimes large embossed ornaments of silver, and sometimes of precious stones [as a note in the Appendix to the _History of Leicester_, by Mr. Nichols, p. 102, indicates--and as Geyler himself, in his _Ship of Fools_, entitled "_Navicula, sive Speculum Fatuorum_," edit. 1511, 4to., thus expressly declares:--"sunt qui libros inaurunt et serica tegimenta apponunt preciosa et superba," sign. B. v. rev.], as well as the usual ornaments upon the leather; and two massive clasps, with thick metalled corners on each of the outward sides of the binding, seemed to render a book impervious to such depredations of time as could arise from external injury. Meantime, however the worm was secretly engendered within the wood: and his perforating ravages in the precious leaves of the volume gave dreadful proof of the defectiveness of ancient binding, beautiful and bold as it undoubtedly was! The reader is referred to an account of a preciously bound diminutive godly book (once belonging to Q. Elizabeth), in the first volume of my edition of the British _Typographical Antiquities_, p. 83; for which I understand the present owner asks the sum of 160_l._ We find that in the sixteenth year of Elizabeth's reign, she was in possession of "Oone Gospell booke covered with tissue and garnished on th' onside with the crucifix and the Queene's badges of silver guilt, poiz with wodde, leaves, and all, czij. oz." _Archæologia_, vol. xiii., 221. I am in possession of the covers of a book, bound (A.D. 1569) in thick parchment or vellum, which has the whole length portrait of Luther on one side, and of Calvin on the other. These portraits, which are executed with uncommon spirit and accuracy, are encircled with a profusion of ornamental borders of the most exquisite taste and richness. We shall speak occasionally of more modern book-binding as we proceed. Meanwhile, let the curious bibliomaniac glance his eye upon the copper-plate print which faces this concluding sentence--where he will see fac-similes of the portraits just mentioned.] [Footnote 184: See the recent very beautiful edition of Sir Ralph Sadler's _State Papers_, vol. ii., p. 590.] [Footnote 185: See the _Catalogue of R. Smith's Books_, 1682, 4to., p. 199 (falsely numbered 275), no. 94.] [Footnote D: Since created a Knight.] LIS. You allude to a late sale in Pall Mall, of one of the choicest and most elegant libraries ever collected by a man of letters and taste? "I do, Lisardo--but see we are just entering the smoke and bustle of London; and in ten minutes shall have reached the scene of action." PHIL. How do you feel? LIS. Why, tolerably calm. My pulse beats as leisurely as did my Lord Strafford's at his trial--or (to borrow Hamlet's phrase) --as yours, it doth temperately keep time, And makes as healthful music. PHIL. Ninety-five to the minute! You are just now in a fit frame of mind to write a political pamphlet. Pray consider what will be the issue of this madness? LIS. No more! Now for my catalogue; and let me attend to my marks. But our friend is not forgetful of his promise? PHIL. I dare say he will assist us in regulating the prices we ought to give--and more particularly in making us acquainted with the most notable book-collectors. Upon my readily acquiescing in their demand, we leapt from the chaise (giving orders for it to attend by three o'clock) and hurried immediately up stairs into THE AUCTION ROOM. The clock had struck twelve, and in half an hour the sale was to begin. Not more than nine or ten gentlemen were strolling about the room: some examining the volumes which were to be sold, and making hieroglyphical marks thereupon, in their catalogues: some giving commissions to the clerk who entered their names, with the sums they intended staking, in a manner equally hieroglyphical. Others, again, seemed to be casting an eye of vacancy over the whole collection; or waiting till a book friend arrived with whom they might enter into a little chat. You observe, my friends, said I, softly, yonder active and keen-visaged gentleman? 'Tis LEPIDUS. Like Magliabechi, content with frugal fare and frugal clothing[186] and preferring the riches of a library to those of house-furniture, he is insatiable in his bibliomaniacal appetites. "Long experience has made him sage:" and it is not therefore without just reason that his opinions are courted, and considered as almost oracular. You will find that he will take his old station, commanding the right or left wing of the auctioneer; and that he will enliven, by the gaiety and shrewdness of his remarks, the circle that more immediately surrounds him. Some there are who will not bid 'till Lepidus bids; and who surrender all discretion and opinion of their own to his universal book-knowledge. The consequence is that Lepidus can, with difficulty, make purchases for his own library; and a thousand dexterous and happy manoeuvres are of necessity obliged to be practised by him, whenever a rare or curious book turns up. How many fine collections has this sagacious bibliomaniac seen disposed of! Like Nestor, who preaches about the fine fellows he remembered in his youth, Lepidus (although barely yet in his grand climacteric!) will depicture, with moving eloquence, the numerous precious volumes of far-famed collectors, which he has seen, like Macbeth's witches, "Come like shadows, so depart!" [Footnote 186: Tenni cultu, victuque contentus, quidquid ei pecuniæ superaret in omnigenæ eruditionis libros comparandos erogabat, selectissimamque voluminum multitudinem ea mente adquisivit, ut aliquando posset publicæ utilitati--dicari, _Præf. Bibl. Magliab. a Fossio_, p. x.] And when any particular class of books, now highly coveted, but formerly little esteemed, comes under the hammer, and produces a large sum,--ah then! 'tis pleasant to hear Lepidus exclaim-- O mihi præteritos referat si Jupiter annos! Justly respectable as are his scholarship and good sense, he is not what you may call a _fashionable_ collector; for old chronicles and romances are most rigidly discarded from his library. Talk to him of Hoffmen, Schoettgenius, Rosenmuller, and Michaelis, and he will listen courteously to your conversation; but when you expatiate, however learnedly and rapturously, upon Froissart and Prince Arthur, he will tell you that he has a heart of stone upon the subject; and that even a clean uncut copy of an original impression of each, by Verard or by Caxton, would not bring a single tear of sympathetic transport in his eyes. LIS. I will not fail to pay due attention to so extraordinary and interesting a character--for see, he is going to take his distinguished station in the approaching contest. The hammer of the worthy auctioneer, which I suppose is of as much importance as was Sir Fopling's periwig of old,[187] upon the stage--the hammer is upon the desk!--The company begin to increase and close their ranks; and the din of battle will shortly be heard. Let us keep these seats. Now, tell me who is yonder strange looking gentleman? [Footnote 187: See Warburton's piquant note, in Mr. Bowles's edition of _Pope's Works_, vol. v., p. 116. "This remarkable _periwiy_ [Transcriber's Note: periwig] (says he) usually made its entrance upon the stage in a sedan chair, brought in by two chairmen with infinite approbation of the audience." The _snuff-box_ of Mr. L. has not a less imposing air; and when a high-priced book is balancing between 15_l._ and 20_l._ it is a fearful signal of its reaching an additional sum, if Mr. L. should lay down his hammer, and delve into this said crumple-horned snuff-box!] "'Tis MUSTAPHA, a vender of books. Consuetudine invalescens, ac veluti callum diuturna cogitatione obducens,[188] he comes forth, like an alchemist from his laboratory, with hat and wig 'sprinkled with learned dust,' and deals out his censures with as little ceremony as correctness. It is of no consequence to him by whom positions are advanced, or truth is established; and he hesitates very little about calling Baron Heinecken a Tom fool, or ---- a shameless impostor. If your library were as choice and elegant as Dr. H----'s he would tell you that his own disordered shelves and badly coated books presented an infinitely more precious collection; nor must you be at all surprised at this--for, like Braithwait's Upotomis, 'Though weak in judgment, in opinion strong;' or, like the same author's Meilixos, 'Who deems all wisdom treasur'd in his pate,' our book-vender, in the catalogues which he puts forth, shews himself to be 'a great and bold carpenter of words;'[189] overcharging the description of his own volumes with tropes, metaphors, flourishes, and common-place authorities; the latter of which one would think had but recently come under his notice, as they had been already before the public in various less ostentatious forms." [Footnote 188: The curious reader may see the entire caustic passage in Spizelius's _Infelix Literatus_, p. 435.] [Footnote 189: _Coryat's Crudities_, vol. i., sign. (b. 5.) edit. 1776.] PHIL. Are you then an enemy to booksellers, or to their catalogues when interlaced with bibliographical notices? "By no means, Philemon. I think as highly of our own as did the author of the Aprosian library[190] of the Dutch booksellers; and I love to hear that the bibliographical labour bestowed upon a catalogue has answered the end proposed, by sharpening the appetites of purchasers. But the present is a different case. Mustapha might have learnt good sense and good manners, from his right hand, or left hand, or opposite, neighbour; but he is either too conceited, or too obstinate, to have recourse to such aid. What is very remarkable, although he is constantly declaiming against the enormous sums of money given for books at public auctions, Mustapha doth not scruple to push the purchaser to the last farthing of his commission; from a ready knack which he hath acquired, by means of some magical art in his foresaid laboratory, of deciphering the same; thus adopting in a most extraordinary manner, the very line of conduct himself which he so tartly censures in others." [Footnote 190: See pages 103-4, of Wolfius's edition of the _Bibliotheca Aprosiana_, 1734, 8vo. It is not because Mr. Ford, of Manchester, has been kind enough to present me with one of the _six_ copies of his last catalogue of books, printed upon STRONG WRITING PAPER--that I take this opportunity of praising the contents of it,--but that his catalogues are to be praised for the pains which he exhibits in describing his books, and in referring to numerous bibliographical authorities in the description. While upon this subject, let me recommend the youthful bibliomaniac to get possession of Mr. Edwards's catalogues, and especially of that of 1794. If such a catalogue were but recently published, it would be one of the pleasantest breakfast lounges imaginable to _tick off_ a few of the volumes with the hope of possessing them at the prices therein afixed.] PHIL. Was this the gentleman whose catalogue (as you shewed me) contained the fascinating colophon of Juliana Berner's book of hawking, hunting, and heraldry, printed in the year 1486, subjoined to a copy of the common reprint of it by Gervase Markham--thereby provoking a thousand inquiries after the book, as if it had been the first edition? "The same," resumed I. "But let us leave such ridiculous vanity." LIS. Who is that gentleman, standing towards the right of the auctioneer, and looking so intently upon his catalogue? "You point to my friend BERNARDO. He is thus anxious, because an original fragment of the fair lady's work, which you have just mentioned, is coming under the hammer; and powerful indeed must be the object to draw his attention another way. The demure prioress of Sopewell abbey is his ancient sweetheart; and he is about introducing her to his friends, by a union with her as close and as honourable as that of wedlock. Engaged in a laborious profession (the duties of which are faithfully performed by him) Bernardo devotes his few leisure hours to the investigation of old works; thinking with the ancient poet, quoted by Ashmole, that '----out of old fields as men saythe Cometh all this new corne fro yeare to yeare; And out of olde Bokes in good faythe Cometh all this scyence that men leare:' or, with Ashmole himself; that 'old words have strong emphasis: others may look upon them as rubbish or trifles, but they are grossly mistaken: for what some light brains may esteem as foolish toys, deeper judgments can and will value as sound and serious matter.[191]' [Footnote 191: _Theatrum Chemicum_: proleg. sign. A. 3. rev.: B. 4. rect. The charms of ancient phraseology had been before not less eloquently described by Wolfius: "Habet hoc jucundi priscorum quorundam obsoleta dictio, ac suo quodam modo rudius comta oratio, ut ex ea plus intelligamus quam dicitur; plus significetur quam effertur." _Lect. Memorab. Epist. Ded._ fol. xiv. rev. Of Wolfius, and of this his work, the reader will find some mention at page 110, ante.] "If you ask me whether Bernardo be always successful in his labours, I should answer you, as I have told him, No: for the profit and applause attendant upon them are not commensurate with his exertions. Moreover, I do verily think that, in some few instances, he sacrifices his judgment to another's whim; by a reluctance to put out the strength of his own powers. He is also, I had almost said, the admiring slave of Ritsonian fastidiousness; and will cry 'pish' if a _u_ be put for a _v_, or a _single e_ for a _double one_: but take him fairly as he is, and place him firmly in the bibliographical scale, and you will acknowledge that his weight is far from being inconsiderable. He is a respectable, and every way a praise-worthy man: and although he is continually walking in a thick forest of black letter, and would prefer a book printed before the year 1550, to a turtle dressed according to the rules of Mr. Farley, yet he can ever and anon sally forth to enjoy a stroll along the river side, with Isaac Walton[192] in his hand; when 'he hath his wholesome walk and merry, at his ease: a sweet air of the sweet savour of the mead flowers, that maketh him hungry.'[193] [Footnote 192: "Let me take this opportunity of recommending the amiable and venerable ISAAC WALTON'S _Complete Angler_: a work the most singular of its kind, breathing the very spirit of contentment, of quiet, and unaffected philanthrophy, and interspersed with some beautiful relics of poetry, old songs, and ballads." So speaks the Rev. W. Lisle Bowles, in his edition of _Pope's Works_, vol i., p. 135. To which I add--Let me take this opportunity of recommending Mr. Bagster's very beautiful and creditable reprint of Sir John Hawkin's edition of Walton's amusing little book. The plates in it are as true as they are brilliant: and the bibliomaniac may gratify his appetite, however voracious, by having copies of it upon paper of all sizes. Mr. Bagster has also very recently published an exquisite facsimile of the original edition of old Isaac. Perhaps I ought not to call it a fac-simile, for it is, in many respects, more beautifully executed.] [Footnote 193: The reader may see all this, and much more, dressed in its ancient orthographic garb, in a proheme to the first edition of the merry art of fishing, extracted by Herbert in his first volume, p. 131. I have said the "_merry_," and not the "_contemplative_," art of fishing--because we are informed that "Yf the angler take fyshe, surely thenne is there noo man _merier_ than he is in his spyryte!!" Yet Isaac Walton called this art, "The _Contemplative_ Man's Recreation." But a _book-fisherman_, like myself, must not presume to reconcile such great and contradictory authorities.] "But see--the hammer is vibrating, at an angle of twenty-two and a half, over a large paper priced catalogue of Major Pearson's books!--Who is the lucky purchaser? "QUISQUILIUS:--a victim to the Bibliomania. If one single copy of a work happen to be printed in a more particular manner than another; and if the compositor (clever rogue) happen to have transposed or inverted a whole sentence or page; if a plate or two, no matter of what kind or how executed; go along with it, which is not to be found in the remaining copies; if the paper happen to be _unique_ in point of size--whether MAXIMA or MINIMA--oh, then, thrice happy is Quisquilius! With a well-furnished purse, the strings of which are liberally loosened, he devotes no small portion of wealth to the accumulation of _Prints_; and can justly boast of a collection of which few of his contemporaries are possessed. But his walk in book-collecting is rather limited. He seldom rambles into the luxuriancy of old English black-letter literature; and cares still less for a _variorum_ Latin classic, stamped in the neat mintage of the Elzevir press. Of a Greek _Aldus_, or an Italian _Giunta_, he has never yet had the luxury to dream:--'trahit sua quemque voluptas;' and let Quisquilius enjoy his hobby-horse, even to the riding of it to death! But let him not harbour malevolence against supposed injuries inflicted: let not foolish prejudices, or unmanly suspicions, rankle in his breast: authors and book-collectors are sometimes as enlightened as himself, and have cultivated pursuits equally honourable. Their profession, too, may sometimes be equally beneficial to their fellow creatures. A few short years shall pass away, and it will be seen who has contributed the more effectively to the public stock of amusement and instruction. We wrap ourselves up in our own little vanities and weaknesses, and, fancying wealth and wisdom to be synonymous, vent our spleen against those who are resolutely striving, under the pressure of mediocrity and domestic misfortune, to obtain an honourable subsistence by their intellectual exertions." LIS. A truce to this moralizing strain. Pass we on to a short gentleman, busily engaged yonder in looking at a number of volumes, and occasionally conversing with two or three gentlemen from five to ten inches taller than himself. What is his name? "ROSICRUSIUS is his name; and an ardent and indefatigable book-forager he is. Although just now busily engaged in antiquarian researches relating to British typography, he fancies himself nevertheless deeply interested in the discovery of every ancient book printed abroad. Examine his little collection of books, and you will find that 'There Caxton sleeps, with Wynkyn at his side, One clasp'd in wood, and one in strong cow-hide!'[194] --and yet, a beautiful volume printed at 'Basil or Heidelberg makes him spinne: and at seeing the word Frankford or Venice, though but on the title of a booke, he is readie to break doublet, cracke elbows, and over-flowe the room with his murmure.'[195] Bibliography is his darling delight--'una voluptas et meditatio assidua;'[196] and in defence of the same he would quote you a score of old-fashioned authors, from Gesner to Harles, whose very names would excite scepticism about their existence. He is the author of various works, chiefly bibliographical; upon which the voice of the public (if we except a little wicked quizzing at his _black-letter_ propensities in a celebrated North Briton Review) has been generally favourable. Although the old maidenish particularity of Tom Hearne's genius be not much calculated to please a bibliomaniac of lively parts, yet Rosicrusius seems absolutely enamoured of that ancient wight; and to be in possession of the cream of all his pieces, if we may judge from what he has already published, and promises to publish, concerning the same. He once had the temerity to dabble in poetry;[197] but he never could raise his head above the mists which infest the swampy ground at the foot of Parnassus. Still he loves 'the divine art' enthusiastically; and affects, forsooth, to have a taste in matters of engraving and painting! Converse with him about Guercino and Albert Durer, Berghem and Woollett, and tell him that you wish to have his opinion about the erection of a large library, and he will 'give tongue' to you from rise to set of sun. Wishing him prosperity in his projected works, and all good fellows to be his friends, proceed we in our descriptive survey." [Footnote 194: Pope's _Dunciad_, b. i. v. 149.] [Footnote 195: _Coryat's Crudities_, vol. i., sign. (b. 5.) edit. 1776.] [Footnote 196: Vita Jacobi Le Long., p. xx., _Biblioth. Sacra_, edit. 1778.] [Footnote 197: See the note p. 11, in the first edition of the _Bibliomania_.] LIS. I am quite impatient to see ATTICUS in this glorious group; of whom fame makes such loud report-- "Yonder see he comes, Lisardo! 'Like arrow from the hunter's bow,' he darts into the hottest of the fight, and beats down all opposition. In vain BOSCARDO advances with his heavy artillery, sending forth occasionally a forty-eight pounder; in vain he shifts his mode of attack--now with dagger, and now with broadsword, now in plated, and now in quilted armour: nought avails him. In every shape and at every onset he is discomfited. Such a champion as Atticus has perhaps never before appeared within the arena of book-gladiators: 'Blest with talents, wealth, and taste;'[198] and gifted with no common powers of general scholarship, he can easily master a knotty passage in Eschylus or Aristotle; and quote Juvenal and Horace as readily as the junior lads at Eton quote their '_As in præsenti_:' moreover, he can enter, with equal ardour, into a minute discussion about the romance literature of the middle ages, and the dry though useful philology of the German school during the 16th and 17th centuries. In the pursuit after rare, curious, and valuable books, nothing daunts or depresses him. With a mental and bodily constitution such as few possess, and with a perpetual succession of new objects rising up before him, he seems hardly ever conscious of the vicissitudes of the seasons, and equally indifferent to petty changes in politics. The cutting blasts of Siberia, or the fainting heat of a Maltese sirocco, would not make him halt, or divert his course, in the pursuit of a favourite volume, whether in the Greek, Latin, Spanish, or Italian language. But as all human efforts, however powerful, if carried on without intermission, must have a period of cessation; and as the most active body cannot be at 'Thebes and at Athens' at the same moment; so it follows that Atticus cannot be at every auction and carry away every prize. His rivals narrowly watch, and his enemies closely way-lay, him; and his victories are rarely bloodless in consequence. If, like Darwin's whale, which swallows 'millions at a gulp,' Atticus should, at one auction, purchase from two to seven hundred volumes, he must retire, like the '_Boa Constrictor_,' for digestion: and accordingly he does, for a short season, withdraw himself from 'the busy hum' of sale rooms, to collate, methodize, and class his newly acquired treasures--to repair what is defective, and to beautify what is deformed. Thus rendering them 'companions meet' for their brethren in the rural shades of H---- Hall; where, in gay succession, stands many a row, heavily laden with 'rich and rare' productions. In this rural retreat, or academic bower, Atticus spends a due portion of the autumnal season of the year; now that the busy scenes of book-auctions in the metropolis have changed their character--and dreary silence, and stagnant dirt, have succeeded to noise and flying particles of learned dust. [Footnote 198: Dr. Ferriar's _Bibliomania_, v. 12.] "Here, in his ancestral abode, Atticus can happily exchange the microscopic investigation of books for the charms and manly exercises of a rural life; eclipsing, in this particular, the celebrity of Cæsar Antoninus; who had not universality of talent sufficient to unite the love of hawking and hunting with the passion for book-collecting.[199] The sky is no sooner dappled o'er with the first morning sun-beams, than up starts our distinguished bibliomaniac, either to shoot or to hunt; either to realize all the fine things which Pope has written about 'lifting the tube, and levelling the eye;'[200] or to join the jolly troop while they chant the hunting song of his poetical friend.[201] Meanwhile, his house is not wanting in needful garniture to render a country residence most congenial. His cellars below vie with his library above. Besides 'the brown October'--'drawn from his dark retreat of thirty years'--and the potent comforts of every species of 'barley broth'--there are the ruddier and more sparkling juices of the grape--'fresh of colour, and of look lovely, smiling to the eyz of many'--as Master Laneham hath it in his celebrated letter.[202] I shall leave you to finish the picture, which such a sketch may suggest, by referring you to your favourite, Thomson."[203] [Footnote 199: This anecdote is given on the authority of Kesner's [Transcriber's Note: Gesner's] _Pandects_, fol. 29: rect. '[Greek: Alloi men hippôn] (says the grave Antoninus) [Greek: alloi de orneôn, alloi thêriôn ebôsin: emoi de bibliôn ktêseôs ek paidoiriou deinos entetêke pothos].'] [Footnote 200: See Pope's _Windsor Forest_, ver. 110 to 134.] [Footnote 201: Waken lords and ladies gay; On the mountain dawns the day. All the jolly chase is here, With hawk and horse and hunting spear: Hounds are in their couples yelling, Hawks are whistling, horns are knelling; Merrily, merrily, mingle they. "Waken lords and ladies gay." Waken lords and ladies gay, The mist has left the mountain grey. Springlets in the dawn are steaming, Diamonds on the lake are gleaming; And foresters have busy been, To track the buck in thicket green: Now we come to chaunt our lay, "Waken lords and ladies gay." HUNTING SONG, by Walter Scott: the remaining stanzas will be found in the _Edinb. Annual Register_, vol. i., pt. ii., xxviii.] [Footnote 202: "_Whearin part of the Entertainment untoo the Queenz Majesty of Killingworth Castl in Warwick Sheer, &c., 1576, is signified._" edit. 1784, p. 14.] [Footnote 203: _Autumn_, v. 519, 701, &c.] LIS. Your account of so extraordinary a bibliomaniac is quite amusing: but I suspect you exaggerate a little. "Nay, Lisardo, I speak nothing but the truth. In book-reputation, Atticus unites all the activity of De Witt and Lomanie, with the retentiveness of Magliabechi and the learning of Le Long.[204] And yet--he has his peccant part." [Footnote 204: The reader will be pleased to turn for one minute to pages 49, 85, 86, ante.] LIS. Speak, I am anxious to know. "Yes, Lisardo; although what Leichius hath said of the library attached to the senate-house of Leipsic be justly applicable to his own extraordinary collection[205]--yet ATTICUS doth sometimes sadly err. He has now and then an ungovernable passion to possess more copies of a book than there were ever parties to a deed, or stamina to a plant: and therefore I cannot call him a duplicate or triplicate collector. His best friends scold--his most respectable rivals censure--and a whole 'mob of gentlemen' who think to collect 'with ease,' threaten vengeance against--him, for this despotic spirit which he evinces; and which I fear nothing can stay or modify but an act of parliament that no gentleman shall purchase more than two copies of a work; one for his town, the other for his country, residence." [Footnote 205: Singularis eius ac propensi, in iuvandam eruditionem studii insigne imprimis monumentum exstat, Bibliotheca instructissima, sacrarium bonæ menti dicatum, in quo omne, quod transmitti ad posteritatem meretur, copiose reconditum est. _e [Transcriber's Note: De] Orig. et Increment. Typog. Lipsiens. Lips. An. Typog._ sec. iii., sign. 3.] PHIL. But does he atone for his sad error by being liberal in the loan of his volumes? "Most completely so, Philemon. This is the 'pars melior' of every book collector, and it is indeed the better part with Atticus. The learned and curious, whether rich or poor, have always free access to his library-- His volumes, open as his heart, Delight, amusement, science, art, To every ear and eye impart. His books, therefore, are not a stagnant reservoir of unprofitable water, as are those of PONTEVALLO'S; but like a thousand rills, which run down from the lake on Snowdon's summit, after a plentiful fall of rain, they serve to fertilize and adorn every thing to which they extend. In consequence, he sees himself reflected in a thousand mirrors: and has a right to be vain of the numerous dedications to him, and of the richly ornamented robes in which he is attired by his grateful friends." LIS. Long life to Atticus, and to all such book heroes! Now pray inform me who is yonder gentleman, of majestic mien and shape?--and who strikes a stranger with as much interest as Agamemnon did Priam--when the Grecian troops passed at a distance in order of review, while the Trojan monarch and Helen were gossipping with each other on the battlements of Troy! "That gentleman, Lisardo, is HORTENSIUS; who, you see is in close conversation with an intimate friend and fellow-bibliomaniac--that ycleped is ULPIAN. They are both honourable members of an honourable profession; and although they have formerly sworn to purchase no old book but Machlinia's first edition of Littleton's Tenures, yet they cannot resist, now and then, the delicious impulse of becoming masters of a black-letter chronicle or romance. Taste and talent of various kind they both possess; and 'tis truly pleasant to see gentlemen and scholars, engaged in a laborious profession, in which, comparatively, 'little vegetation quickens, and few salutary plants take root,' finding 'a pleasant grove for their wits to walk in' amidst rows of beautifully bound, and intrinsically precious, volumes. They feel it delectable, 'from the loop-holes of such a retreat,' to peep at the multifarious pursuits of their brethren; and while they discover some busied in a perversion of book-taste, and others preferring the short-lived pleasures of sensual gratifications--which must 'not be named' among good bibliomaniacs--they can sit comfortably by their fire-sides; and, pointing to a well-furnished library, say to their wives--who heartily sympathize in the sentiment-- This gives us health, or adds to life a day!"[206] [Footnote 206: Braithwaite's _Arcadian Princesse_: lib. 4, p. 15, edit. 1635. The two immediately following verses, which are worthy of Dryden, may quietly creep in here: Or helps decayed beauty, or repairs Our chop-fall'n cheeks, or winter-molted hairs.] LIS. When I come to town to settle, pray introduce me to these amiable and sensible bibliomaniacs. Now gratify a curiosity that I feel to know the name and character of yonder respectably-looking gentleman, in the dress of the old school, who is speaking in so gracious a manner to Bernardo? "'Tis LEONTES: a man of taste, and an accomplished antiquary. Even yet he continues to gratify his favourite passion for book and print-collecting; although his library is at once choice and copious, and his collection of prints exquisitely fine. He yet enjoys, in the evening of life, all that unruffled temper and gentlemanly address which delighted so much in his younger days, and which will always render him, in his latter years, equally interesting and admired. Like Atticus, he is liberal in the loan of his treasures; and, as with him, so 'tis with Leontes--the spirit of book-collecting 'assumes the dignity of a virtue.'[207] Peace and comfort be the attendant spirits of Leontes, through life, and in death: the happiness of a better world await him beyond the grave! His memory will always be held in reverence by honest bibliomaniacs; and a due sense of his kindness towards myself shall constantly be impressed upon me-- Dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regret artus." [Footnote 207: _Edinburgh Review_, vol. xiii., p. 118.] PHIL. Amen. With Leontes I suppose you close your account of the most notorious bibliomaniacs who generally attend book sales in person; for I observe no other person who mingles with those already described--unless indeed, three very active young ones, who occasionally converse with each other, and now and then have their names affixed to some very expensive purchases-- "They are the three MERCURII, oftentimes deputed by distinguished bibliomaniacs: who, fearful of the sharp-shooting powers of their adversaries, if they _themselves_ should appear in the ranks, like prudent generals, keep aloof. But their aides-de-camp are not always successful in their missions; for such is the obstinacy with which book-battles are now contested, that it requires three times the number of guns and weight of metal to accomplish a particular object to what it did when John Duke of Marlborough wore his full-bottomed periwig at the battle of Blenheim. "Others there are, again, who employ these Mercurii from their own inability to attend in person, owing to distance, want of time, and other similar causes. Hence, many a desperate bibliomaniac keeps in the back-ground; while the public are wholly unacquainted with his curious and rapidly-increasing treasures. Hence SIR TRISTRAM, embosomed in his forest-retreat, --down the steepy linn That hems his little garden in, is constantly increasing his stores of tales of genii, fairies, fays, ghosts, hobgoblins, magicians, highwaymen, and desperadoes--and equally acceptable to him is a copy of Castalio's elegant version of Homer, and of St. Dunstan's book '_De Occulta Philosophia_;' concerning which lattter [Transcriber's Note: latter], Elias Ashmole is vehement in commendation.[208] From all these (after melting them down in his own unparalleled poetical crucible--which hath charms as potent as the witches' cauldron in Macbeth) he gives the world many a wondrous-sweet song. Who that has read the exquisite poems, of the fame of which all Britain 'rings from side to side,' shall deny to such ancient legends a power to charm and instruct? Or who, that possesses a copy of PROSPERO'S excellent volumes, although composed in a different strain (yet still more fruitful in ancient matters), shall not love the memory and exalt the renown of such transcendent bibliomaniacs? The library of Prospero is indeed acknowledged to be without a rival in its way. How pleasant it is, dear Philemon, only to contemplate such a goodly prospect of elegantly bound volumes of old English and French literature!--and to think of the matchless stores which they contain, relating to our ancient popular tales and romantic legends! [Footnote 208: He who shall have the happiness to meet with St. Dunstan's Worke "_De Occulta Philosophia_," may therein reade such stories as will make him amaz'd, &c. Prolegom. to his _Theatrum Chemicum_, sign A., 4. rev.] "Allied to this library, in the general complexion of its literary treasures, is that of MARCELLUS: while in the possession of numberless rare and precious volumes relating to the drama, and especially to his beloved Shakespeare, it must be acknowledged that Marcellus hath somewhat the superiority. Meritorious as have been his labours in the illustration of our immortal bard, he is yet as zealous, vigilant, and anxious, as ever, to accumulate every thing which may tend to the further illustration of him. Enter his book-cabinet; and with the sight of how many _unique_ pieces and tracts are your ardent eyes blessed! Just so it is with AURELIUS! He also, with the three last mentioned bibliomaniacs, keeps up a constant fire at book auctions; although he is not personally seen in securing the spoils which he makes. Unparalleled as an antiquary in Caledonian history and poetry, and passionately attached to every thing connected with the fate of the lamented Mary, as well as with that of the great poetical contemporaries, Spenser and Shakespeare, Aurelius is indefatigable in the pursuit of such ancient lore as may add value to the stores, however precious, which he possesses. His _Noctes Atticæ_, devoted to the elucidation of the history of his native country, will erect to his memory a splendid and imperishable monument. These, my dear friends, these are the virtuous and useful, and therefore salutary ends of book-collecting and book-reading. Such characters are among the proudest pillars that adorn the greatest nations upon earth. "Let me, however, not forget to mention that there are bashful or busy bibliomaniacs, who keep aloof from book-sales, intent only upon securing, by means of these Mercurii, _stainless_ or _large paper_ copies of ancient literature. While MENALCAS sees his oblong cabinet decorated with such a tall, well-dressed, and perhaps matchless, regiment of _Variorum Classics_, he has little or no occasion to regret his unavoidable absence from the field of battle, in the Strand or Pall Mall. And yet--although he is environed with a body guard, of which the great Frederick's father might have envied him the possession, he cannot help casting a wishful eye, now and then, upon still choicer and taller troops which he sees in the territories of his rivals. I do not know whether he would not sacrifice the whole right wing of his army, for the securing of some magnificent treasures in the empire of his neighbour RINALDO: for there he sees, and adores, with the rapture-speaking eye of a classical bibliomaniac, the tall, wide, thick, clean, brilliant, and illuminated copy of the _first Livy_ UPON VELLUM--enshrined in an impenetrable oaken case, covered with choice morocco! "There he often witnesses the adoration paid to this glorious object, by some bookish pilgrim, who, as the evening sun reposes softly upon the hill, pushes onward, through copse, wood, moor, heath, bramble, and thicket, to feast his eyes upon the mellow lustre of its leaves, and upon the nice execution of its typography. Menalcas sees all this; and yet has too noble a heart to envy Rinaldo his treasures! These bibliomaniacs often meet and view their respective forces; but never with hostile eyes. They know their relative strength; and wisely console themselves by being each 'eminent in his degree.' Like Corregio, they are 'also painters' in their way." PHIL. A well-a-day, Lisardo! Does not this recital chill your blood with despair? Instead of making your purchases, you are only listening supinely to our friend! LIS. Not exactly so. One of these obliging Mercurii has already executed a few commissions for me. You forget that our friend entered into a little chat with him, just before we took possession of our seats. As to despair of obtaining book-gems similar to those of the four last mentioned bibliomaniacs, I know not what to say--yet this I think must be granted: no one could make a better use of them than their present owners. See, the elder Mercurius comes to tell me of a pleasant acquisition to my library! What a murmur and confusion prevail about the auctioneer! Good news, I trust? At this moment Lisardo received intelligence that he had obtained possession of the catalogues of the books of Bunau, Crevenna, and Pinelli; and that, after a desperate struggle with QUISQUILIUS, he came off victorious in a contest for De Bure's _Bibliographie Instructive_, _Gaignat's Catalogue_, and the two copious ones of the _Duke de la Valliere_: these four latter being half-bound and uncut, in nineteen volumes. Transport lit up the countenance of Lisardo, upon his receiving this intelligence; but as pleasure and pain go hand in hand in this world, so did this young and unsuspecting bibliomaniac evince heavy affliction, on being told that he had failed in his attack upon the best editions of Le Long's _Bibliotheca Sacra_, Fresnoy's _Méthode pour etudier l'Histoire_, and Baillet's _Jugemens des Savans_--these having been carried off, at the point of the bayonet, by an irresistible onset from ATTICUS. "Remember, my friend," said I, in a soothing strain, "remember that you are but a Polydore; and must expect to fall when you encounter Achilles.[209] Think of the honour you have acquired in this day's glorious contest; and, when you are drenching your cups of claret, at your hospitable board, contemplate your De Bure as a trophy which will always make you respected by your visitors! I am glad to see you revive. Yet further intelligence?" [Footnote 209: The reader may peruse the affecting death of this beautiful youth, by the merciless Achilles, from the 407 to 418th verso of the xxth book of _Homer's Iliad_. Fortunately for Lisardo, he survives the contest, and even threatens revenge.] LIS. My good Mercurius, for whom a knife and fork shall always be laid at my table, has just informed me that Clement's _Bibliotheque Curieuse_, and Panzer's _Typographical Annals_, are knocked down to me, after Mustapha had picked me out for single combat, and battered my breast-plate with a thousand furious strokes! "You must always," said I, "expect tough work from such an enemy, who is frequently both wanton and wild. But I congratulate you heartily on the event of this day's contest. Let us now pack up and pay for our treasures. Your servant has just entered the room, and the chaise is most probably at the door." LIS. I am perfectly ready. Mercurius tells me that the whole amounts to---- PHIL. Upwards of thirty guineas? LIS. Hard upon forty pounds. Here is the draft upon my banker: and then for my precious tomes of bibliography! A thousand thanks, my friend. I love this place of all things; and, after your minute account of the characters of those who frequent it, I feel a strong propensity to become a deserving member of so respectable a fraternity. Leaving them all to return to their homes as satisfied as myself, I wish them a hearty good day. Upon saying this, we followed Lisardo and his bibliographical treasures into the chaise; and instantly set off, at a sharp trot, for the quiet and comfort of green fields and running streams. As we rolled over Westminster-bridge, we bade farewell, like the historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, to the "Fumum et opes strepitumque Romæ." [Illustration] [Illustration: CHISWICK HOUSE as in 1740.] PART IV. =The Library.= DR. HENRY'S HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. A GAME AT CHESS.--OF MONACHISM AND CHIVALRY. DINNER AT LORENZO'S. SOME ACCOUNT OF BOOK-COLLECTORS IN ENGLAND. ----Wisdom loves This seat serene, and Virtue's self approves:-- Here come the griev'd, a change of thought to find; The curious here, to feed a craving mind: Here the devout, their peaceful temple chuse; And here, the poet meets his favouring Muse. CRABBE'S POEMS. (_The Library._) [Illustration: =Ingredere ut Proficias.=] [Illustration] =The Library.= DR. HENRY'S HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. A GAME OF CHESS.--OF MONACHISM AND CHIVALRY. DINNER AT LORENZO'S. SOME ACCOUNT OF BOOK-COLLECTORS IN ENGLAND. During the first seven miles of our return from the busy scene which has just been described, it was sufficiently obvious that Lisardo was suffering a little under the pangs of mortification. True it was, he had filled his pocket with an ampler supply of pistoles than it ever fell to the lot of Gil Blas, at the same time of life, to be master of; but he had not calculated upon the similar condition of his competitors; some of whom had yet greater powers of purchase, and a more resolute determination, as well as nicer skill, in exercising these powers, than himself. Thus rushing into the combat with the heat and vehemence of youth, he was of necessity compelled to experience the disappointment attendant upon such precipitancy. It was in vain that Philemon and myself endeavoured to make him completely satisfied with his purchase: nothing produced a look of complacency from him. At length, upon seeing the rising ground which was within two or three miles of our respective homes, he cheered up by degrees; and a sudden thought of the treasures contained in his Clement, De Bure and Panzer, darted a gleam of satisfaction across his countenance. His eyes resumed their wonted brilliancy, and all the natural gaiety of his disposition returned with full effect to banish every vapour of melancholy. "Indeed, my good friend," said he to me--"I shall always have reason to think and speak well of your kindness shewn towards me this day; and although some years may elapse before a similar collection may be disposed of--and I must necessarily wait a tedious period 'ere I get possession of Maittaire, Audiffredi, and others of the old school--yet I hope to convince Lysander, on the exhibition of my purchase, that my conversion to bibliography has been sincere. Yes: I perceive that I have food enough to digest, in the volumes which are now my travelling companions, for two or three years to come--and if, by keeping a sharp look-out upon booksellers' catalogues when they are first published, I can catch hold of Vogt, Schelhorn and Heinecken, my progress in bibliography, within the same period, must be downright marvellous!" "I congratulate you," exclaimed PHILEMON, "upon the return of your reason and good sense. I began to think that the story of Orlando had been thrown away upon you; and that his regular yearly purchases of a certain set of books, and making himself master of their principal contents before he ventured upon another similar purchase, had already been banished from your recollection." We were now fast approaching the end of our journey; when the groom of Lorenzo, mounted upon a well-bred courser, darted quickly by the chaise, apparently making towards my house--but on turning his head, and perceiving me within it, he drew up and bade the postilion stop. A note from his master soon disclosed the reason of this interruption. LORENZO, upon hearing of the arrival of Lysander and Philemon, and of their wish to visit his library, had sent us all three a kind invitation to dine with him on the morrow. His close intimacy with Lisardo (who was his neighbour) had left no doubt in the mind of the latter but that a similar note had been sent to his own house. After telling the messenger that we would not fail to pay our respects to his master, we drove briskly homewards; and found Lysander sitting on a stile under some wide-spreading beech trees, at the entrance of the paddock, expecting our arrival. In less than half an hour we sat down to dinner (at a time greatly beyond what I was accustomed to); regaling Lysander, during the repast, with an account of the contest we had witnessed; and every now and then preventing Lisardo from rushing towards his packet (even in the midst of his _fricandeau_), and displaying his book-treasures. After dinner, our discussion assumed a more methodical shape. Lysander bestowed his hearty commendations upon the purchase; and, in order to whet the bibliomaniacal appetite of his young convert, he slyly observed that his set of De Bure's pieces were _half bound_ and _uncut_; and that by having them bound in morocco, with gilt leaves, he would excel my own set; which latter was coated in a prettily-sprinkled calf leather, with speckled edges. Lisardo could not repress the joyful sensations which this remark excited; and I observed that, whenever his eyes glanced upon my shelves, he afterwards returned them upon his own little collection, with a look of complacency mingled with exultation. It was evident, therefore, that he was now thoroughly reconciled to his fortune. LYSAND. During your absence, I have been reading a very favourite work of mine--DR. HENRY'S _History of Great Britain_; especially that part of it which I prefer so much to the history of human cunning and human slaughter; I mean, the account of learning and of learned men. PHIL. It is also a great favourite with me. But while I regret the inexcuseable omission of an index to such a voluminous work, and the inequality of Mr. Andrews's partial continuation of it, I must be permitted to observe that the history of our literature and learned men is not the most brilliant, or best executed, part of Dr. Henry's valuable labours. There are many omissions to supply, and much interesting additional matter to bring forward, even in some of the most elaborate parts of it. His account of the arts might also be improved; although in commerce, manners and customs, I think he has done as much, and as well, as could reasonably be expected. I question, however, whether his work, from the plan upon which it is executed, will ever become so popular as its fondest admirers seem to hope. LYSAND. You are to consider, Philemon, that in the execution of such an important whole, in the erection of so immense a fabric, some parts must necessarily be finished in a less workman-like style than others. And, after all, there is a good deal of caprice in our criticisms. You fancy, in this fabric (if I may be allowed to go on with my simile), a boudoir, a hall, or a staircase; and fix a critical eye upon a recess badly contrived, an oval badly turned, or pillars weakly put together:--the builder says, Don't look at these parts of the fabric with such fastidious nicety; they are subordinate. If my boudoir will hold a moderate collection of old-fashioned Dresden China, if my staircase be stout enough to conduct you and your company to the upper rooms; and, if my hall be spacious enough to hold the hats, umbrellas and walking-sticks of your largest dinner-party, they answer the ends proposed:--unless you would _live_ in your boudoir, upon your staircase, or within your hall! The fact then is, you, Philemon, prefer the boudoir, and might, perhaps, improve upon its structure; but, recollect, there are places in a house of equal, or perhaps more, consequence than this beloved boudoir. Now, to make the obvious application to the work which has given rise to this wonderful stretch of imagination on my part:--Dr. Henry is the builder, and his history is the building, in question: in the latter he had to put together, with skill and credit, a number of weighty parts, of which the "_Civil and Ecclesiastical_" is undoubtedly the most important to the generality of readers. But one of these component parts was the _The History of Learning and of Learned Men_; which its author probably thought of subordinate consequence, or in the management of which, to allow you the full force of your objection, he was not so well skilled. Yet, still, never before having been thus connected with such a building, it was undoubtedly a delightful acquisition; and I question whether, if it had been more elaborately executed--if it had exhibited all the fret-work and sparkling points which you seem to conceive necessary to its completion; I question, whether the popularity of the work would have been even so great as it is, and as it unquestionably merits to be! A few passionately-smitten literary antiquaries are not, perhaps, the fittest judges of such a production. To be generally useful and profitable should be the object of every author of a similar publication; and as far as candour and liberality of sentiment, an unaffected and manly style, accompanied with weighty matter, extensive research, and faithful quotation, render a work nationally valuable--the work of Dr. Henry, on these grounds, is an ornament and honour to his country. PHIL. Yet I wish he had rambled (if you will permit me so to speak) a little more into book-men and book-anecdotes. LYSAND. You may indulge this wish very innocently; but, certainly, you ought not to censure Dr. Henry for the omission of such minutiæ. LIS. Does he ever quote Clement, De Bure, or Panzer? LYSAND. Away with such bibliomaniacal frenzy! He quotes solid, useful and respectable authorities; chiefly our old and most valuable historians. No writer before him ever did them so much justice, or displayed a more familiar acquaintance with them. LIS. Do pray give us, Lysander, some little sketches of book-characters--which, I admit, did not enter into the plan of Dr. Henry's excellent work. As I possess the original quarto edition of this latter, bound in Russia, you will not censure me for a want of respect towards the author. PHIL. I second Lisardo's motion; although I fear the evening presses too hard upon us to admit of much present discussion. LYSAND. Nothing--(speaking most unaffectedly from my heart) nothing affords me sincerer pleasure than to do any thing in my power which may please such cordial friends as yourselves. My pretensions to that sort of antiquarian _knowledge_, which belongs to the history of book-collectors, are very poor, as you well know,--they being greatly eclipsed by my _zeal_ in the same cause. But, as I love my country and my country's literature, so no conversation or research affords me a livelier pleasure than that which leads me to become better acquainted with the ages which have gone by; with the great and good men of old; who have found the most imperishable monuments of their fame in the sympathizing hearts of their successors. But I am wandering-- LIS. Go on as you please, dear Lysander; for I have been too much indebted to your conversation ever to suppose it could diverge into any thing censoriously irrelevant. Begin where and when you please. LYSAND. I assure you it is far from my intention to make any formal exordium, even if I knew the exact object of your request. PHIL. Tell us all about book-collecting and BIBLIOMANIACS in this country-- LIS. "Commençez au commençement"--as the French adage is. LYSAND. In sober truth, you impose upon me a pretty tough task! "One Thousand and One Nights" would hardly suffice for the execution of it; and now, already, I see the owl flying across the lawn to take her station in the neighbouring oak; while even the middle ground of yonder landscape is veiled in the blue haziness of evening. Come a short half hour, and who, unless the moon befriend him, can see the outline of the village church? Thus gradually and imperceptibly, but thus surely, succeeds age to youth--death to life--eternity to time!--You see in what sort of mood I am for the performance of my promise? LIS. Reserve these meditations for your pillow, dear Lysander: and now, again I entreat you--"commençez au commençement." PHIL. Pray make a beginning only: the conclusion shall be reserved, as a desert, for Lorenzo's dinner to-morrow. LYSAND. Lest I should be thought coquettish, I will act with you as I have already done; and endeavour to say something which may gratify you as before. It has often struck me my dear friends, continued Lysander--(in a balanced attitude, and seeming to bring quietly together all his scattered thoughts upon the subject) it has often struck me that few things have operated more unfavourably towards the encouragement of learning, and of book-collecting, than the universal passion for _chivalry_--which obtained towards the middle ages; while, on the other hand, a _monastic life_ seems to have excited a love of retirement, meditation, and reading.[210] I admit readily, that, considering the long continuance of the monastic orders, and that almost all intellectual improvement was confined within the cloister, a very slow and partial progress was made in literature. The system of education was a poor, stinted, and unproductive one. Nor was it till after the enterprising activity of Poggio had succeeded in securing a few precious remains of classical antiquity,[211] that the wretched indolence of the monastic life began to be diverted from a constant meditation upon "antiphoners, grailes, and psalters,"[212] towards subjects of a more generally interesting nature. I am willing to admit every degree of merit to the manual dexterity of the cloistered student. I admire his snow-white vellum missals, emblazoned with gold, and sparkling with carmine and ultramarine blue. By the help of the microscopic glass, I peruse his diminutive penmanship, executed with the most astonishing neatness and regularity; and often wish in my heart that our typographers printed with ink as glossy black as that which they sometimes used in their writing. I admire all this; and now and then, for a guinea or two, I purchase a specimen of such marvellous leger-de-main: but the book, when purchased, is to me a sealed book. And yet, Philemon, I blame not the individual, but the age; not the task, but the task-master; for surely the same exquisite and unrivalled beauty would have been exhibited in copying an ode of Horace, or a dictum of Quintilian. Still, however, you may say that the intention, in all this, was pure and meritorious; for that such a system excited insensibly a love of quiet, domestic order, and seriousness: while those counsels and regulations which punished a "Clerk for being a hunter," and restricted "the intercourse of Concubines,"[213] evinced a spirit of jurisprudence which would have done justice to any age. Let us allow, then, if you please, that a love of book-reading, and of book-collecting, was a meritorious trait in the monastic life; and that we are to look upon old abbies and convents as the sacred depositories of the literature of past ages. What can you say in defence of your times of beloved chivalry? [Footnote 210: As early as the sixth century commenced the custom, in some monasteries, of copying ancient books and composing new ones. It was the usual, and even only, employment of the first monks of Marmoutier. A monastery without a library was considered as a fort or a camp deprived of the necessary articles for its defence: "claustrum sine armario, quasi castrum sine armentario." Peignot, _Dict. de Bibliolog._, vol. i., 77. I am fearful that this good old bibliomanical custom of keeping up the credit of their libraries among the monks had ceased--at least in the convent of Romsey, in Hampshire--towards the commencement of the sixteenth century. One would think that the books had been there disposed of in bartering for _strong liquors_; for at a visitation by Bishop Fox, held there in 1506, Joyce Rows, the abbess, is accused of _immoderate drinking_, especially in the night time; and of inviting the nuns to her chamber every evening, for the purpose of these excesses, "post completorium." What is frightful to add,--"this was a rich convent, and filled with ladies of the best families." See Warton's cruel note in his _Life of Sir Thomas Pope_, p. 25, edit. 1772. A tender-hearted bibliomaniac cannot but feel acutely on reflecting upon the many beautifully-illuminated vellum books which were, in all probability, exchanged for these inebriating gratifications! To balance this unfavourable account read Hearne's remark about the libraries in ancient monasteries, in the sixth volume of _Leland's Collectanea_, p. 86-7, edit. 1774: and especially the anecdotes and authorities stated by Dr. Henry in book iii., chap, iv., sec. 1.] [Footnote 211: See the first volume of Mr. Roscoe's _Lorenzo de Medici_; and the Rev. Mr. Shepherd's _Life of Poggio Bracciolini_.] [Footnote 212: When Queen Elizabeth deputed a set of commissioners to examine into the superstitious books belonging to All-Souls library, there was returned, in the list of these superstitious works, "eight grailes, seven antiphoners of parchment and bound." Gutch's _Collectanea Curiosa_, vol. ii., 276. At page 115, ante, the reader will find a definition of the word "Antiphoner." He is here informed that a "gradale" or "grail," is a book which ought to have in it "the office of sprinkling holy water: the beginnings of the masses, or the offices of _Kyrie_, with the verses of _gloria in excelsis_; the _gradales_, or what is gradually sung after the epistles; the hallelujah and tracts, the sequences, the creed to be sung at mass, the offertories, the hymns holy, and Lamb of God, the communion, &c., which relate to the choir at the singing of a solemn mass." This is the Rev. J. Lewis's account; _idem opus_, vol. ii., 168.] [Footnote 213: "_Of a Clerk that is an Hunter._" "We ordain that if any clerk be defamed of trespass committed in forest or park of any man's, and thereof be lawfully convicted before his ordinary, or do confess it to him, the diocesan shall make redemption thereof in his goods, if he have goods after the quality of his fault; and such redemption shall be assigned to him to whom the loss, hurt, or injury, is done; but if he have no goods, let his bishop grievously punish his person according as the fault requireth, lest through trust to escape punishment they boldly presume to offend." _Fol._ 86, _rev._: vide _infra_. (The same prohibition against clergymen being Hunters appears in a circular letter, or injunctions, by Lee, Archbishop of York, A.D. 1536. "Item; they shall not be common _Hunters ne Hawkers_, ne playe at gammes prohibytede, as dycese and cartes, and such oder." Burnet's _Hist. of the Reformation_; vol. iii. p. 136, "Collections.") "_Of the removing of Clerks' Concubines._" "Although the governors of the church have always laboured and enforced to drive and chase away from the houses of the church that rotten contagiousness of pleasant filthiness with the which the sight and beauty of the church is grievously spotted and defiled, and yet could never hitherto bring it to pass, seeing it is of so great a lewd boldness that it thursteth in unshamefastly without ceasing; we, therefore," &c. _Fol._ 114, _rect._ "_Of Concubines, that is to say of them that keep Concubines._" "How unbecoming it is, and how contrary to the pureness of Christians, to touch sacred things with lips and hands polluted, or any to give the laws and praisings of cleanness, or to present himself in the Lord's temple, when he is defiled with the spots of lechery, not only the divine and canonical laws, but also the monitions of secular princes, hath evidently seen by the judgment of holy consideration, commanding and enjoining both discreetly and also wholesomely, shamefacedness unto all Christ's faithful, and ministers of the holy church." _Fol._ 131, _rect._ _Constitutions Provincialles, and of Otho aud [Transcriber's Note: and] Octhobone._ Redman's edit. 1534, 12mo. On looking into Du Pin's _Ecclesiastical History_, vol. ix., p. 58, edit. 1699, I find that Hugh of Dia, by the ninth canon in the council of Poictiers, (centy. xi.) ordained "That the sub-deacons, deacons, and priests, shall have no concubine, or any other suspicious women in their houses; and that all those who shall wittingly hear the mass of a priest that keeps a concubine, or is guilty of simony, shall be excommunicated."] PHIL. Shew me in what respect the gallant spirit of an ancient knight was hostile to the cultivation of the belles-lettres? LYSAND. Most readily. Look at your old romances, and what is the system of education--of youthful pursuits--which they in general inculcate? Intrigue and bloodshed.[214] Examine your favourite new edition of the _Fabliaux et Contes_ of the middle ages, collected by Barbazan! However the editor may say that "though some of these pieces are a little too free, others breathe a spirit of morality and religion--"[215] the main scope of the poems, taken collectively, is that which has just been mentioned. But let us come to particulars. What is there in the _Ordene de Chevalerie_, or _Le Castoiement d'un Pere à son fils_ (pieces in which one would expect a little seriousness of youthful instruction), that can possibly excite a love of reading, book-collecting, or domestic quiet? Again; let us see what these chivalrous lads do, as soon as they become able-bodied! Nothing but assault and wound one another. Read concerning your favourite _Oliver of Castile_,[216] and his half-brother _Arthur_! Or, open the beautiful volumes of the late interesting translation of Monstrelet, and what is almost the very first thing which meets your eye? Why, "an Esquire of Arragon (one of your chivalrous heroes) named Michel D'Orris, sends a challenge to an English esquire of the same complexion with himself--and this is the nature of the challenge: [which I will read from the volume, as it is close at my right hand, and I have been dipping into it this morning in your absence--] [Footnote 214: The celebrated LUDOVICUS VIVES has strung together a whole list of ancient popular romances, calling them "ungracious books." The following is his saucy philippic: "Which books but idle men wrote unlearned, and set all upon filth and viciousness; in whom I wonder what should delight men, but that vice pleaseth them so much. As for learning, none is to be looked for in those men, which saw never so much as a shadow of learning themselves. And when they tell ought, what delight can be in those things that be so plain and foolish lies? One killeth twenty by himself alone, another killeth thirty; another, wounded with a hundred wounds, and left for dead, riseth up again; and on the next day, made whole and strong, overcometh two giants, and then goeth away loaden with gold and silver and precious stones, mo than a galley would carry away. What madness is it of folks to have pleasure in these books! Also there is no wit in them, but a few words of wanton lust; which be spoken to move her mind with whom they love, if it chance she be steadfast. And if they be read but for this, the best were to make books of bawd's crafts, for in other things what craft can be had of such a maker that is ignorant of all good craft? Nor I never heard man say that he liked these books, but those that never touched good books."--_Instruction of a Christian Woman_, sign. D. 1. rev., edit. 1593. From the fifth chapter (sufficiently curious) of "What books be to be read, and what not."] [Footnote 215: Vol. ii., p. 39, edit. 1808.] [Footnote 216: "When the king saw that they were puissant enough for to wield armour at their ease, he gave them license for to do cry a Justing and Tournament. The which OLIVER and ARTHUR made for to be cried, that three aventurous knights should just against all comers, the which should find them there the first day of the lusty month of May, in complete harness, for to just against their adversaries with sharp spears. And the said three champions should just three days in three colours: that is to wit, in black, grey and violet--and their shields of the same hue; and them to find on the third day at the lists. There justed divers young knights of the king's court: and the justing was more _asperer_ of those young knights than ever they had seen any in that country. And, by the report of the ladies, they did so knightly, every one, that it was not possible for to do better, as them thought, by their strokes. But, above all other, OLIVER and ARTHUR (his loyal fellow) had the _bruit_ and _loos_. The justing endured long: it was marvel to see the hideous strokes that they dealt; for the justing had not finished so soon but that the night _separed_ them. Nevertheless, the adversary party abode 'till the torches were light. But the ladies and _damoyselles_, that of all the justing time had been there, were weary, and would depart. Wherefore the justers departed in likewise, and went and disarmed them for to come to the banquet or feast. And when that the banquet was finished and done, the dances began. And there came the king and the valiant knights of arms, for to enquire of the ladies and _damoyselles_, who that had best borne him as for that day. The ladies, which were all of one accord and agreement, said that Oliver and Arthur had surmounted all the best doers of that _journey_. And by cause that Oliver and Arthur were both of one party, and that they could find but little difference between them of knighthood, they knew not the which they might sustain. But, in the end, they said that Arthur had done right valiantly: nevertheless, they said that Oliver had done best unto their seeming. And therefore it was concluded that the _pryce_ should be given unto Oliver, as for the best of them of within. And another noble knight, of the realm of Algarbe, that came with the queen, had the pryce of without. When the pryce of the juste that had been made was brought before Oliver, by two fair _damoyselles_, he waxed all red, and was ashamed at that present time; and said that it was of their bounty for to give him the pryce, and not of his desert: nevertheless, he received it; and, as it was of custom in guerdoning them, he kissed them. And soon after they brought the wine and spices; and then the dances and the feast took an end as for that night." _Hystorye of Olyuer of Castylle, and of the fayre Helayne, &c._, 1518, 4to., sign. A. v. vj. This I suppose to be the passage alluded to by Lysander. The edition from which it is taken, and of which the title was barely known to Ames and Herbert, is printed by Wynkyn De Worde. Mr. Heber's copy of it is at present considered to be unique. The reader will see some copious extracts from it in the second volume of the _British Typographical Antiquities_.] "First, to enter the lists on foot, each armed in the manner he shall please, having a dagger and sword attached to any part of his body, and a battle-axe, with the handle of such length as the challenger shall fix on. The combat to be as follows: ten strokes of the battle-axe, without intermission; and when these strokes shall have been given, and the judge shall cry out 'Ho!' ten cuts with the sword to be given without intermission or change of armour. When the judge shall cry out 'Ho!' we will resort to our daggers, and give ten stabs with them. Should either party lose or drop his weapon, the other may continue the use of the one in his hand until the judge shall cry out 'Ho!'" &c.[217] A very pretty specimen of honourable combat, truly!--and a mighty merciful judge who required even more cuts and thrusts than these (for the combat is to go on) before he cried out "Ho!" Defend us from such ejaculatory umpires!-- [Footnote 217: See _Monstrelet's Chronicles_, translated by Thomas Johnes, Esq., vol. i., p. 8, edit. 1809, 4to. Another elegant and elaborate specimen of the Hafod press; whose owner will be remembered as long as literature and taste shall be cultivated in this country.] LIS. Pray dwell no longer upon such barbarous heroism! We admit that _Monachism_ may have contributed towards the making of bibliomaniacs more effectually than _Chivalry_. Now proceed-- These words had hardly escaped Lisardo, when the arrival of my worthy neighbour NARCOTTUS (who lived by the parsonage house), put a stop to the discourse. Agreeably to a promise which I had made him three days before, he came to play a GAME OF CHESS with Philemon; who, on his part, although a distinguished champion at this head-distracting game, gave way rather reluctantly to the performance of the promise: for LYSANDER was now about to enter upon the history of the Bibliomania in this country. The Chess-board, however was brought out; and down to the contest the combatants sat--while Lisardo retired to one corner of the room to examine thoroughly his newly-purchased volumes, and Lysander took down a prettily executed 8vo. volume upon the Game of Chess, printed at Cheltenham, about six years ago, and composed "by an amateur." While we were examining, in this neat work, an account of the numerous publications upon the Game of Chess, in various countries and languages, and were expressing our delight in reading anecdotes about eminent chess players, Lisardo was carefully packing up his books, as he expected his servant every minute to take them away. The servant shortly arrived, and upon his expressing his inability to carry the entire packet--"Here," exclaimed Lisardo, "do you take the quartos, and follow me; who will march onward with the octavos." This was no sooner said than our young bibliomaniacal convert gave De Bure, Gaignat, and La Valliere, a vigorous swing across his shoulders; while the twenty quarto volumes of Clement and Panzer were piled, like "Ossa upon Pelion," upon those of his servant--and "Light of foot, and light of heart" Lisardo took leave of us 'till the morrow. Meanwhile, the chess combat continued with unabated spirit. Here Philemon's king stood pretty firmly guarded by both his knights, one castle, one bishop, and a body of common soldiers[218]--impenetrable as the Grecian phalanx, or Roman legion; while his queen had made a sly sortie to surprise the only surviving knight of Narcottus. Narcottus, on the other hand, was cautiously collecting his scattered foot soldiers, and, with two bishops, and two castle-armed elephants, were meditating a desperate onset to retrieve the disgrace of his lost queen. An inadvertent remark from Lysander, concerning the antiquity of the game, attracted the attention of Philemon so much as to throw him off his guard; while his queen, forgetful of her sex, and venturing unprotected, like Penthesilea of old, into the thickest of the fight, was trampled under foot, without mercy,[219] by a huge elephant, carrying a castle of armed men upon his back. Shouts of applause, from Narcottus's men, rent the vaulted air; while grief and consternation possessed the astonished army of Philemon. "Away with your antiquarian questions," exclaimed the latter, looking sharply at Lysander: "away with your old editions of the Game of Chess! The moment is critical; and I fear the day may be lost. Now for desperate action!" So saying, he bade the King exhort his dismayed subjects. His Majesty made a spirited oration; and called upon _Sir Launcelot_, the most distinguished of the two Knights,[220] to be mindful of his own and of his country's honour: to spare the effusion of blood among his subjects as much as possible; but rather to place victory or defeat in the comparative skill of the officers: and, at all events, to rally round that throne which had conferred such high marks of distinction upon his ancestors. "I needed not, gracious sire," replied Sir Launcelot--curbing in his mouth-foaming steed, and fixing his spear in the rest--"I needed not to be here reminded of your kindness to my forefathers, or of the necessity of doing every thing, at such a crisis, beseeming the honour of a true round-table knight.--Yes, gracious sovereign, I swear to you by the love I bear to THE LADY OF THE LAKE[221]--by the remembrance of the soft moments we have passed together in the honey-suckle bowers of her father--by all that an knight of chivalry is taught to believe the most sacred and binding--I swear that I will not return this day alive without the laurel of victory entwined round my brow. Right well do I perceive that deeds and not words must save us now--let the issue of the combat prove my valour and allegiance." Upon this, Sir Launcelot clapped spurs to his horse, and after driving an unprotected Bishop into the midst of the foot-soldiers, who quickly took him prisoner, he sprang forward, with a lion-like nimbleness and ferocity, to pick out _Sir Galaad_, the only remaining knight in the adverse army, to single combat. Sir Galaad, strong and wary, like the Greenland bear when assailed by the darts and bullets of our whale-fishing men, marked the fury of Sir Launcelot's course, and sought rather to present a formidable defence by calling to aid his elephants, than to meet such a champion single-handed. A shrill blast from his horn told the danger of his situation, and the necessity of help. What should now be done? The unbroken ranks of Philemon's men presented a fearful front to the advance of the elephants, and the recent capture of a venerable bishop had made the monarch, on Narcottus's side, justly fearful of risking the safety of his empire by leaving himself wholly without episcopal aid. Meanwhile the progress of Sir Launcelot was marked with blood; and he was of necessity compelled to slaughter a host of common men, who stood thickly around Sir Galaad, resolved to conquer or die by his side. At length, as Master Laneham aptly expresses it, "get they grysly together."[222] The hostile leaders met; there was neither time nor disposition for parley. Sir Galaad threw his javelin with well-directed fury; which, flying within an hair's breadth of Sir Launcelot's shoulder, passed onward, and, grazing the cheek of a foot soldier, stood quivering in the sand. He then was about to draw his ponderous sword--but the tremendous spear of Sir Launcelot, whizzing strongly in the air, passed through his thickly quilted belt, and, burying itself in his bowels, made Sir Galaad to fall breathless from his horse. Now might you hear the shouts of victory on one side, and the groans of the vanquished on the other; or, as old Homer expresses it, Victors and vanquished shouts promiscuous rise. With streams of blood the slippery fields are dyed, And slaughtered heroes swell the dreadful tide. _Iliad_ [passim]. [Footnote 218: "Whilst there are strong, able, and active men of the king's side, to defend his cause, there is no danger of [this] misfortune." _Letter to the Craftsman on the Game of Chess_, p. 13.] [Footnote 219: "When therefore the men of one party attack those of the other, though their spleen at first may only seem bent against a _Bishop_, a _Knight_, or an inferior officer; yet, if successful in their attacks on that servant of the king, they never stop there: they come afterwards to think themselves strong enough even to attack _the Queen_," &c. _The same_, p. 12.] [Footnote 220: "_The Knight_ (whose steps, as your correspondent justly observes, are not of an ordinary kind, and often surprise men who oppose him) is of great use in extricating _the King_ out of those difficulties in which his foes endeavour to entangle him.--He is a man whom a wise player makes great use of in these exigences, and who oftenest defeats the shallow schemes and thin artifices of unskilful antagonists. They must be very bad players who do not guard against the steps of _the Knight_." _The same_, p. 14.] [Footnote 221: "The Lady of the Lake; famous in King Arthurz Book"--says Master Laneham, in his Letter to Master Humfrey Martin; concerning the entertainment given by Lord Leicester to Q. Elizabeth at Kenilworth Castle: A.D. 1575, edit. 1784, p. 12. Yet more famous, I add, in a poem under this express title, by WALTER SCOTT, 1810.] [Footnote 222: See the authority (p. 40) quoted in the note at page 157, ante.] And, truly, the army of Narcottus seemed wasted with a great slaughter: yet on neither side, had the monarch been _checked_, so as to be put in personal danger! "While there is life there is hope," said the surviving Bishop[223] on the side of Narcottus: who now taking upon him the command of the army, and perceiving Sir Launcelot to be pretty nearly exhausted with fatigue, and wantonly exposing his person, ordered the men at arms to charge him briskly on all sides; while his own two castles kept a check upon the remaining castle, knight, and bishop of the opposite army: also, he exhorted the king to make a feint, as if about to march onwards. Sir Launcelot, on perceiving the movement of the monarch, sprang forward to make him a prisoner; but he was surprised by an elephant in ambuscade, from whose castle-bearing back a well-shot arrow pierced his corslet, and inflicted a mortal wound. He fell; but, in falling, he seemed to smile even sweetly, as he thought upon the noble speech of Sir Bohort[224] over the dead body of his illustrious ancestor, of the same name; and, exhorting his gallant men to revenge his fall, he held the handle of his sword firmly, till his whole frame was stiffened in death. And now the battle was renewed with equal courage and equal hopes of victory on both sides: but the loss of the flower of their armies, and especially of their beloved spouses, had heavily oppressed the adverse monarchs: who, retiring to a secured spot, bemoaned in secret the hapless deaths of their queens, and bitterly bewailed that injudicious law which, of necessity, so much exposed their fair persons, by giving them such an unlimited power. The fortune of the day, therefore, remained in the hands of the respective commanders; and if the knight and bishop, on Philemon's side, had not contested about superiority of rule, the victory had surely been with Philemon. But the strife of these commanders threw every thing into confusion. The men, after being trampled upon by the elephants of Narcottus, left their king exposed, without the power of being aided by his castle. An error so fatal was instantly perceived by the bishop of Narcottus's shattered army; who, like another Ximenes,[225] putting himself at the head of his forces, and calling upon his men resolutely to march onwards, gave orders for the elephants to be moved cautiously at a distance, and to lose no opportunity of making the opposite monarch prisoner. Thus, while he charged in front, and captured, with his own hands, the remaining adverse knight, his men kept the adverse bishop from sending reinforcements; and Philemon's elephant not having an opportunity of sweeping across the plain to come to the timely aid of the king,[226] the victory was speedily obtained, for the men upon the backs of Narcottus's elephants kept up so tremendous a discharge of arrows that the monarch was left without a single attendant: and, of necessity, was obliged to submit to the generosity of his captors. [Footnote 223: "I think _the Bishops_ extremely considerable throughout the whole game. One quality too they have, which is peculiar to themselves; this is that, throughout the whole game, they have a _steadiness_ in their conduct, superior to men of any other denomination on the board; as they never change their colour, but always pursue the path in which they set out." _The same_ (vid. 206-7) p. 20.] [Footnote 224: This truly chivalrous speech may be seen extracted in Mr. Burnet's _Specimens of English Prose Writers_, vol. i., 269. One of Virgil's heroes, to the best of my recollection, dies serenely upon thinking of his beloved countrymen: ----dulces moriens reminiscitur Argos!] [Footnote 225: It is always pleasant to me to make comparisons with eminent book-patrons, or, if the reader pleases, bibliomaniacs. CARDINAL XIMENES was the promoter and patron of the celebrated Complutensian Polyglott Bible; concerning which I have already submitted some account to the public in my _Introduction to the Classics_, vol. i., pp. 7, 8. His political abilities and personal courage have been described by Dr. Robertson (in his history of Charles V.), with his usual ability. We have here only to talk of him as connected with books. Mallinkrot and Le Long have both preserved the interesting anecdote which is related by his first biographer, Alvaro Gomez, concerning the completion of the forementioned Polyglott. "I have often heard John Brocarius (says Gomez) son of Arnoldus Brocarius, who printed the Polyglott, tell his friends that, when his father had put the finishing stroke to the last volume, he deputed _him_ to carry it to the Cardinal. John Brocarius was then a lad; and, having dressed himself in an elegant suit of clothes, he gravely approached Ximenes, and delivered the volume into his hands. 'I render thanks to thee, oh God!' exclaimed the Cardinal, 'that thou hast protracted my life to the completion of these biblical labours.' Afterwards, when conversing with his friends, Ximenes would often observe that the surmounting of the various difficulties of his political situation did not afford him half the satisfaction which he experienced from the finishing of his Polyglott. He died in the year 1517, not many weeks after the last volume was published." Gomez, or Gomecius's work "_de rebus gestis, à Francisco Ximenio Cisnerio Archiepiscopo Complut_," 1569, fol., is a book of very uncommon occurrence. It is much to be wished that Lord Holland, or Mr. Southey, would give us a life of this celebrated political character: as the biographies of Flechier and Marsolier seem miserably defective, and the sources of Gomez to have been but partially consulted. But I must not let slip this opportunity of commemorating the book-reputation of XIMENES, without making the reader acquainted with two other singularly scarce and curious productions of the press, which owe their birth to the bibliomanical spirit of our Cardinal. I mean the "_Missale mixtum secundun [Transcriber's Note: secundum] regulum B. Isidori, dictum Mozarabes, cum præfat._" _A. Ortiz._ Toleti, 1500, fol. and the "_Breviarium, mixtum," &c._ _Mozarabes._ Toleti, 1502, fol.: of the former of which there was a copy in the Harleian collection; as the ensuing interesting note, in the catalogue of Lord Harley's books, specifies. I shall give it without abridgment: "This is the scarcest book in the whole Harleian collection. At the end of it are the following words, which deserve to be inserted here:--Adlaudem Omnipotentis Dei, nec non Virginis Mariæ Matris ejus, omnium sanctorum sanctarumq; expletum est Missale mixtum secundum regulam beati Isidori dictum Mozarabes: maxima cum diligentia perlectum et emendatum, per Reverendum in utroq; Jure Doctorem Dominum Alfonsum Ortiz, Canonicum Toletanum. Impressum in regal. civitate Toleti, Jussu Reverendissimi in Christo Patris Domini D. Francisci Ximenii, ejusdem civitatis Archiepiscopi. Impensis Nobilis Melchioris Gorricii Novariensis, per Magistrum Petrum Hagembach, Almanum, anno salutis nostræ 1500, Die 29o mensis Januarii." "This is supposed to be the ancient Missal amended and purged by St. Isidore, archbishop of Sevil, and ordered by the Council of Toledo to be used in all churches; every one of which before that time had a missal peculiar to itself. The Moors afterwards committing great ravages in Spain, destroying the churches, and throwing every thing there, both civil and sacred, into confusion, all St. Isidore's missals, excepting those in the city of Toledo, were lost. But those were preserved even after the Moors had made themselves masters of that city; since they left six of the churches there to the Christians, and granted them the free exercise of their religion. Alphonsus the Sixth, many ages afterwards, expelled the Moors from Toledo, and ordered the Roman missal to be used in those churches where St. Isidore's missal had been in vogue, ever since the council above-mentioned. But the people of Toledo insisting that their missal was drawn up by the most ancient bishops, revised and corrected by St. Isidore, proved to be the best by the great number of saints who had followed it, and been preserved during the whole time of the Moorish government in Spain, he could not bring his project to bear without great difficulty. In short, the contest between the Roman and Toletan missals came to that height that, according to the genius of the age, it was decided by a single combat, wherein the champion of the Toletan missal proved victorious. But King Alphonsus, say some of the Spanish writers, not being satisfied with this, which he considered as the effect of chance only, ordered a fast to be proclaimed, and a great fire to be then made; into which, after the king and people had prayed fervently to God for his assistance in this affair, both the missals were thrown; but the Toletan only escaped the violence of the flames. This, continue the same authors, made such an impression upon the king that he permitted the citizens of Toledo to use their own missal in those churches that had been granted the Christians by the Moors. However, the copies of this missal grew afterwards so scarce, that Cardinal Ximenes found it extremely difficult to meet with one of them: which induced him to order this impression, and to build a chapel, in which this service was chanted every day, as it had at first been by the ancient Christians. But, notwithstanding this, the copies of the Toletan missal are become now so exceeding rare that it is at present almost in as much danger of being buried in oblivion as it was when committed to the press by Cardinal Ximenes." _Bibl. Harl._, vol. iii., p. 117. But let the reader consult the more extended details of De Bure (_Bibl. Instruct._, vol. i., no. 210, 211), and De La Serna Santander (_Dict. Chois. Bibliogr. du_ xv. _Siecle_, part iii., p. 178); also the very valuable notice of Vogt; _Cat. Libror. Rarior._, p. 591; who mention a fine copy of the missal and breviary, each struck off UPON VELLUM, in the collegiate church of St. Ildefonso. If I recollect rightly, Mr. Edwards informed me that an Italian Cardinal was in possession of a similar copy of each. This missal was republished at Rome, with a capital preface and learned notes, by Lesleus, a Jesuit, in 1755, 4to.: and Lorenzana, archbishop of Toledo, republished the breviary in a most splendid manner at Madrid, in 1788. Both these re-impressions are also scarce. I know not whether the late king of Spain ever put his design into execution of giving a new edition of these curious religious volumes; some ancient MSS. of which had been carefully collated by Burriel. Consult Osmont's _Dict. Typog._, vol. i., p. 477; _Cat. de Gaignat_, nos. 179, 180; _Cat. de la Valliere_, nos. 271, 272; _Bibl. Solger._, vol. ii. no. 1280; and _Bibl. Colbert_, nos. 342, 366. Having expatiated thus much, and perhaps tediously, about these renowned volumes, let me introduce to the notice of the heraldic reader the _Coat of Arms_ of the equally renowned Cardinal--of whose genuine editions of the Mozarabic Missal and Breviary my eyes were highly gratified with a sight, in the exquisite library of Earl Spencer, at Althorp. [Illustration]] [Footnote 226: Of the _Tower_ or _Rook_ (or _Elephant_) one may indeed--to speak in the scripture style--(and properly speaking, considering its situation) call this piece "the head stone of the corner." There are two of them; and, whilst they remain firm, his majesty is ever in safety. The common enemies, therefore, of them and their king watch their least motion very narrowly, and try a hundred tricks to decoy them from the king's side, by feints, false alarms, stumbling blocks, or any other method that can be contrived to divert them from their duty. The _same_, p. 15. (vide. 159, ante.)] Thus ended one of the most memorable chess contests upon record. Not more stubbornly did the Grecians and Romans upon Troy's plain, or the English and French upon Egypt's shores, contend for the palm of victory, than did Philemon and Narcottus compel their respective forces to signalize themselves in this hard-fought game. To change the simile for a more homely one; no Northamptonshire hunt was ever more vigorously kept up; and had it not been (at least so Philemon thought!) for the inadvertent questions of Lysander, respecting the antiquity of the amusement, an easy victory would have been obtained by my guest over my neighbour. Lysander, with his usual politeness, took all the blame upon himself. Philemon felt, as all chess-combatants feel upon defeat, peevish and vexed. But the admirably well adapted conversation of Lysander, and the natural diffidence of Narcottus, served to smooth Philemon's ruffled plumage; and at length diffused o'er his countenance his natural glow of good humour. It was now fast advancing towards midnight; when Narcottus withdrew to his house, and my guests to their chambers. To-morrow came; and with the morrow came composure and hilarity in the countenances of my guests. The defeat of the preceding evening was no longer thought of; except that Philemon betrayed some little marks of irritability on Lysander's shewing him the fac-simile wood-cuts of the pieces and men in Caxton's edition of the game of chess, which are published in the recent edition of the Typographical Antiquities of our country. Lisardo visited us betimes. His countenance, on his entrance gave indication of vexation and disappointment--as well it might; for, on his return home the preceding evening, he found the following note from Lorenzo:-- "My dear Lisardo; Our friend's visitors, Lysander and Philemon, are coming with their host to eat old mutton, and drink old sherry, with me to-morrow; and afterwards to discuss subjects of bibliography. I do not ask you to join them, because I know your thorough aversion to every thing connected with such topics. Adieu! Truly yours, LORENZO." "Little," exclaimed Lisardo, "does he know of my conversion. I'll join you uninvited; and abide by the consequences." At four o'clock we set off, in company with Lisardo, for Lorenzo's dinner. I need hardly add that the company of the latter was cordially welcomed by our host; who, before the course of pastry was cleared away, proposed a sparkling bumper of Malmsey madeira, to commemorate his conversion to Bibliomaniacism. By half-past-five we were ushered into THE LIBRARY, to partake of a costly dessert of rock melons and Hamburgh grapes, with all their appropriate embellishments of nectarines and nuts. Massive and curiously cut decanters, filled with the genuine juice of the grape, strayed backwards and forwards upon the table: and well-furnished minds, which could not refuse the luxury of such a feast, made every thing as pleasant as rational pleasure could be. LIS. If Lorenzo have not any thing which he may conceive more interesting to propose, I move that you, good Lysander, now resume the discussion of a subject which you so pleasantly commenced last night. PHIL. I rise to second the motion. LOREN. And I, to give it every support in my power. LYSAND. There is no resisting such adroitly levelled attacks. Do pray tell me what it is you wish me to go on with? PHIL. The history of book-collecting and of book-collectors in this country. LIS. The history of BIBLIOMANIA, if you please. LYSAND. You are madder than the maddest of book-collectors, Lisardo. But I will gossip away upon the subjects as well as I am able. I think we left off with an abuse of the anti-bibliomaniacal powers of chivalry. Let us pursue a more systematic method; and begin, as Lisardo says, "at the beginning." In the plan which I may pursue, you must forgive me, my friends, if you find it desultory and irregular: and, as a proof of the sincerity of your criticism, I earnestly beg that, like the chivalrous judge, of whom mention was made last night, you will cry out "_Ho!_" when you wish me to cease. But where shall we begin? From what period shall we take up the history of BOOKISM (or, if you please, BIBLIOMANIA) in this country? Let us pass over those long-bearded gentlemen called the Druids; for in the various hypotheses which sagacious antiquaries have advanced upon their beloved _Stone-henge_, none, I believe, are to be found wherein the traces of a _Library_, in that vast ruin, are pretended to be discovered. As the Druids were sparing of their writing,[227] they probably read the more; but whether they carried their books with them into trees, or made their pillows of them upon Salisbury-plain, tradition is equally silent. Let us therefore preserve the same prudent silence, and march on at once into the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries; in which the learning of Bede, Alcuin, Erigena, and Alfred, strikes us with no small degree of amazement. Yet we must not forget that their predecessor THEODORE, archbishop of Canterbury, was among the earliest book-collectors in this country; for he brought over from Rome, not only a number of able professors, but a valuable collection of books.[228] Such, however, was the scarcity of the book article, that Benedict Biscop (a founder of the monastery of Weremouth in Northumberland), a short time after, made not fewer than five journeys to Rome to purchase books, and other necessary things for his monastery--for one of which books our immortal Alfred (a very _Helluo Librorum_! as you will presently learn) gave afterwards as much land as eight ploughs could labour.[229] We now proceed to BEDE; whose library I conjecture to have been both copious and curious. What matin and midnight vigils must this literary phenomenon have patiently sustained! What a full and variously furnished mind was his! Read the table of contents of the eight folio volumes of the Cologne edition[230] of his works, as given by Dr. Henry in the appendix to the fourth volume of his history of our own country; and judge, however you may wish that the author had gone less into abstruse and ponderous subjects, whether it was barely possible to avoid falling upon such themes, considering the gross ignorance and strong bias of the age? Before this, perhaps, I ought slightly to have noticed INA, king of the West Saxons, whose ideas of the comforts of a monastery, and whose partiality to _handsome book-binding_, we may gather from a curious passage in Stow's Chronicle or Annals.[231] [Footnote 227: Julius Cæsar tells us that they dared not to commit their laws to writing. _De Bell. Gall._, lib. vi., § xiii.-xviii.] [Footnote 228: Dr. Henry's _Hist. of Great Britain_, vol. iv., p. 12, edit. 1800, 8vo. We shall readily forgive Theodore's singularity of opinions in respect to some cases of pharmacy, in which he held it to be "dangerous to perform bleeding on the fourth day of the moon; because both the light of the moon and the tides of the sea were then upon the increase."--We shall readily forgive this, when we think of his laudable spirit of BIBLIOMANIA.] [Footnote 229: Dr. Henry says that "This bargain was concluded by Benedict with the king a little before his death, A.D. 690; and the book was delivered, and the estate received by his successor abbot Ceolfred." _Hist. of Great Britain_, vol. iv., p. 21. There must be some mistake here: as Alfred was not born till the middle of the ninth century. _Bed. Hist. Abbat Wermuthien, edit. Smith_, pp. 297-8, is quoted by Dr. Henry.] [Footnote 230: 1612, folio. De Bure (_Bibliogr. Instruct._ no. 353) might have just informed us that the Paris and Basil editions of Bede's works are incomplete: and, at no. 4444, where he notices the Cambridge edition of Bede's _Ecclesiastical History_, (1644, fol.) we may add that a previous English translation of it, by the celebrated Stapleton, had been printed at Antwerp in 1565, 4to., containing some few admirably-well executed wood cuts. Stapleton's translation has become a scarce book; and, as almost every copy of it now to be found is in a smeared and crazy condition, we may judge that it was once popular and much read.] [Footnote 231: The passage is partly as follows--"the sayde king did also erect a chapell of gold and silver (to wit, garnished) with ornaments and vesselles likewise of golde and siluer, to the building of the which chappell hee gaue 2640 pounds of siluer, and to the altar 264 pounde of golde, a chaleis with the patten, tenne pounde of golde, a censar 8 pound, and twenty mancas of golde, two candlesticks, twelue pound and a halfe of siluer, A KIVER FOR THE GOSPEL BOOKE TWENTY POUNDS"! &c. This was attached to the monastery of Glastonbury; which Ina built "in a fenni place out of the way, to the end the monkes mought so much the more giue their minds to heauenly things," &c. _Chronicle_, edit. 1615, p. 76.] We have mentioned ALCUIN: whom Ashmole calls one of the school-mistresses to France.[232] How incomparably brilliant and beautifully polished was this great man's mind!--and, withal, what an enthusiastic bibliomaniac! Read, in particular, his celebrated letter to Charlemagne, which Dr. Henry has very ably translated; and see, how zealous he there shews himself to enrich the library of his archiepiscopal patron with good books and industrious students.[233] Well might Egbert be proud of his librarian: the first, I believe upon record, who has composed a catalogue[234] of books in Latin hexameter verse: and full reluctantly, I ween, did this librarian take leave of his _Cell_ stored with the choicest volumes--as we may judge from his pathetic address to it, on quitting England for France! If I recollect rightly, Mr. Turner's elegant translation[235] of it begins thus: "O my lov'd cell, sweet dwelling of my soul, Must I for ever say, dear spot, farewell?" [Footnote 232: _Theatrum Chemicum_, proleg. sign. A. 3. rect.] [Footnote 233: _History of Great Britain_, vol. iv., pp. 32, 86. "Literatorum virorum fautor et Mæcenas habebatur ætate sua maximus ac doctissimus," says Bale: _Scrip. Brytan. Illustr._, p. 109, edit. 1559. "Præ cæteris (says Lomeier) insignem in colligendis illustrium virorum scriptis operam dedit Egbertus Eboracensis archiepiscopus, &c.: qui nobilissimam Eboraci bibliothecam instituit, cujus meminit Alcuinis," &c. _De Bibliothecis_, p. 151. We are here informed that the archbishop's library, together with the cathedral of York, were accidentally burnt by fire in the reign of Stephen.] [Footnote 234: This curious catalogue is printed by Dr. Henry, from Gale's _Rer. Anglicar. Scriptor. Vet._, tom. i., 730. The entire works of Alcuin were printed at Paris, in 1617, folio: and again, at Ratisbon, in 1777, fol., 2 vols. See Fournier's _Dict. Portat. de Bibliographie_, p. 12. Some scarce separately-printed treatises of the same great man are noticed in the first volume of the appendix to Bauer's _Bibl. Libror. Rarior._, p. 44.] [Footnote 235: _Anglo-Saxon History_, vol. ii., p. 355, edit. 1808, 4to.] Now, don't imagine, my dear Lisardo, that this anguish of heart proceeded from his leaving behind all the woodbines, and apple-trees, and singing birds, which were wont to gratify his senses near the said cell, and which he could readily meet with in another clime!--No, no: this monody is the genuine language of a bibliomaniac, upon being compelled to take a long adieu of his choicest _book-treasures_, stored in some secretly-cut recess of his hermitage; and of which neither his patron, nor his illustrious predecessor, Bede, had ever dreamt of the existence of copies! But it is time to think of Johannes SCOTUS ERIGENA; the most facetious wag of his times, notwithstanding his sirname of the _Wise_. "While Great Britain (says Bale) was a prey to intestine wars, our philosopher was travelling quietly abroad amidst the academic bowers of Greece;"[236] and there I suppose he acquired, with his knowledge of the Greek language, a taste for book-collecting and punning.[237] He was in truth a marvellous man; as we may gather from the eulogy of him by Brucker.[238] [Footnote 236: Freely translated from his _Script. Brytan. Illustr._, p. 124.] [Footnote 237: Scot's celebrated reply to his patron and admirer, Charles the Bald, was first made a popular story, I believe, among the "wise speeches" in _Camden's Remaines_, where it is thus told: "Johannes Erigena, surnamed Scotus, a man renowned for learning, sitting at the table, in respect of his learning, with Charles the Bauld, Emperor and King of France, behaved himselfe as a slovenly scholler, nothing courtly; whereupon the Emperor asked him merrily, _Quid interest inter Scotum et Sotum_? (what is there between a Scot and a Sot?) He merrily, but yet malapertly answered, '_Mensa_'--(the table): as though the emperor were the Sot and he the Scot." p. 236. _Roger Hoveden_ is quoted as the authority; but one would like to know where Hoveden got his information, if Scotus has not mentioned the anecdote in his own works? Since Camden's time, this facetious story has been told by almost every historian and annalist.] [Footnote 238: _Hist. Philosoph._, tom. 3, 616: as referred to and quoted by Dr. Henry; whose account of our book-champion, although less valuable than Mackenzie's, is exceedingly interesting.] In his celebrated work upon predestination, he maintained that "material fire is no part of the torments of the damned;"[239] a very singular notion in those times of frightful superstition, when the minds of men were harrowed into despair by descriptions of hell's torments--and I notice it here merely because I should like to be informed in what curious book the said John Scotus Erigena acquired the said notion? Let us now proceed to ALFRED; whose bust, I see, adorns that department of Lorenzo's library which is devoted to English History. [Footnote 239: "He endeavours to prove, in his logical way, that the torments of the damned are mere privations of the happiness, or the trouble of being deprived of it; so that, according to him, material fire is no part of the torments of the damned; that there is no other fire prepared for them but the fourth element, through which the bodies of all men must pass; but that the bodies of the elect are changed into an ætherial nature, and are not subject to the power of fire: whereas, on the contrary, the bodies of the wicked are changed into air, and suffer torments by the fire, because of their contrary qualities. And for this reason 'tis that the demons, who had a body of an ætherial nature, were massed with a body of air, that they might feel the fire." _Mackenzie's Scottish Writers_: vol. i., 49. All this may be ingenious enough; of its truth, a future state only will be the evidence. Very different from that of Scotus is the language of Gregory Narienzen: "Exit in inferno frigus insuperabile: ignis inextinguibilis: vermis immortalis: fetor intollerabilis: tenebræ palpabiles: flagella cedencium: horrenda visio demonum: desperatio omnium bonorum." This I gather from the _Speculum Christiani_, fol. 37, printed by Machlinia, in the fifteenth century. The idea is enlarged, and the picture aggravated, in a great number of nearly contemporaneous publications, which will be noticed, in part, hereafter. It is reported that some sermons are about to be published, in which the personality of Satan is questioned and denied. Thus having, by the ingenuity of Scotus, got rid of the fire "which is never quenched"--and, by means of modern scepticism, of the devil, who is constantly "seeking whom he may devour," we may go on comfortably enough, without such awkward checks, in the commission of every species of folly and crime!] This great and good man, the boast and the bulwark of his country, was instructed by his mother, from infancy, in such golden rules of virtue and good sense that one feels a regret at not knowing more of the family, early years, and character, of such a parent. As she told him that "a wise and a good man suffered no part of his time, but what is necessarily devoted to bodily exercise, to pass in unprofitable inactivity"--you may be sure that, with such book-propensities as he felt, Alfred did not fail to make the most of the fleeting hour. Accordingly we find, from his ancient biographer, that he resolutely set to work by the aid of his wax tapers,[240] and produced some very respectable compositions; for which I refer you to Mr. Turner's excellent account of their author:[241] adding only that Alfred's translation of Boethius is esteemed his most popular performance. [Footnote 240: The story of the _wax tapers_ is related both by Asser and William of Malmesbury, differing a little in the unessential parts of it. It is this: Alfred commanded six wax tapers to be made, each 12 inches in length, and of as many ounces in weight. On these tapers he caused the inches to be regularly marked; and having found that one taper burnt just four hours, he committed them to the care of the keepers of his chapel; who, from time to time gave him notice how the hours went. But as in windy weather the tapers were more wasted--to remedy this inconvenience, he placed them in a kind of lanthorn, there being no glass to be met with in his dominions. This event is supposed to have occurred after Alfred had ascended the throne. In his younger days, Asser tells us that he used to carry about, in his bosom, day and night, a curiously-written volume of hours, and psalms, and prayers, which by some are supposed to have been the composition of Aldhelm. That Alfred had the highest opinion of Aldhelm, and of his predecessors and contemporaries, is indisputable; for in his famous letter to Wulfseg, Bishop of London, he takes a retrospective view of the times in which they lived, as affording "churches and monasteries filled with libraries of excellent books in several languages." It is quite clear, therefore, that our great Alfred was not a little infected with the bibliomaniacal disease.] [Footnote 241: _The History of the Anglo-Saxons_; by Sharon Turner, F.S.A., 1808, 4to., 2 vols. This is the last and best edition of a work which places Mr. Turner quite at the head of those historians who have treated of the age of Alfred.] After Alfred, we may just notice his son EDWARD, and his grandson ATHELSTAN; the former of whom is supposed by Rous[242] (one of the most credulous of our early historians) to have founded the University of Cambridge. The latter had probably greater abilities than his predecessor; and a thousand pities it is that William of Malmesbury should have been so stern and squeamish as not to give us the substance of that old book, containing a life of Athelstan--which he discovered, and supposed to be coeval with the monarch--because, forsooth, the account was too uniformly flattering! Let me here, however, refer you to that beautiful translation of a Saxon ode, written in commemoration of Athelstan's decisive victory over the Danes of Brunamburg, which Mr. George Ellis has inserted in his interesting volumes of _Specimens of the Early English Poets_:[243] and always bear in recollection that this monarch shewed the best proof of his attachment to books by employing as many learned men as he could collect together for the purpose of translating the Scriptures into his native Saxon tongue. [Footnote 242: Consult _Johannis Rossi Historia Regum Angliæ; edit. Hearne_, 1745, 8vo., p. 96. This passage has been faithfully translated by Dr. Henry. But let the lover of knotty points in ancient matters look into Master Henry Bynneman's prettily printed impression (A.D. 1568) of _De Antiquitate Cantabrigiensis Academiæ_, p. 14--where the antiquity of the University of Cambridge is gravely assigned to the æra of Gurguntius's reign, A.M. 3588!--Nor must we rest satisfied with the ingenious temerity of this author's claims in favour of his beloved Cambridge, until we have patiently examined Thomas Hearne's edition (A.D. 1720) of _Thomæ Caii Vindic. Antiquitat. Acad. Oxon._: a work well deserving of a snug place in the antiquary's cabinet.] [Footnote 243: Edit. 1803, vol. i., p. 14.] Let us pass by that extraordinary scholar, courtier, statesman, and monk--ST. DUNSTAN; by observing only that, as he was even more to Edgar than Wolsey was to Henry VIII.--so, if there had then been the same love of literature and progress in civilization which marked the opening of the sixteenth century, Dunstan would have equalled, if not eclipsed, Wolsey in the magnificence and utility of his institutions. How many volumes of legends he gave to the library of Glastonbury, of which he was once the abbot, or to Canterbury, of which he was afterwards the Archbishop, I cannot take upon me to guess: as I have neither of Hearne's three publications[244] relating to Glastonbury in my humble library. [Footnote 244: There is an ample Catalogue Raisonné of these three scarce publications in the first volume of the _British Bibliographer_. And to supply the deficiency of any extract from them, in this place, take, kind-hearted reader, the following--which I have gleaned from Eadmer's account of St. Dunstan, as incorporated in Wharton's _Anglia-Sacra_--and which would not have been inserted could I have discovered any thing in the same relating to book-presents to Canterbury cathedral.--"Once on a time, the king went a hunting early on Sunday morning; and requested the Archbishop to postpone the celebration of the mass till he returned. About three hours afterwards, Dunstan went into the cathedral, put on his robes, and waited at the altar in expectation of the king--where, reclining with his arms in a devotional posture, he was absorbed in tears and prayers. A gentle sleep suddenly possessed him; he was snatched up into heaven; and in a vision associated with a company of angels, whose harmonious voices, chaunting _Kyrie eleyson, Kyrie eleyson, Kyrie eleyson_, burst upon his ravished ears! He afterwards came to himself, and demanded whether or not the king had arrived? Upon being answered in the negative, he betook himself again to his prayers, and, after a short interval, was once more absorbed in celestial extasies, and heard a loud voice from heaven saying--_Ite, missa est_. He had no sooner returned thanks to God for the same, when the king's clerical attendants cried out that his majesty had arrived, and entreated Dunstan to dispatch the mass. But he, turning from the altar, declared that the mass had been already celebrated; and that no other mass should be performed during that day. Having put off his robes, he enquired of his attendants into the truth of the transaction; who told him what had happened. Then, assuming a magisterial power, he prohibited the king, in future, from hunting on a Sunday; and taught his disciples the _Kyrie eleyson_, which he had heard in heaven: hence this ejaculation, in many places, now obtains as a part of the mass service." Tom. ii., p. 217. What shall we say to "the amiable and elegant Eadmer" for this valuable piece of biographical information?--"The face of things was so changed by the endeavours of Dunstan, and his master, Ethelwald, that in a short time learning was generally restored, and began to flourish. From this period, the monasteries were the schools and seminaries of almost the whole clergy, both secular and regular." Collier's _Eccles. History_, vol. ii., p. 19, col. 2. That Glastonbury had many and excellent books, vide Hearne's _Antiquities of Glastonbury_; pp. LXXIV-VII. At Cambridge there is a catalogue of the MSS. which were in Glastonbury library, A.D. 1248.] We may open the eleventh century with CANUTE; upon whose political talents this is not the place to expatiate: but of whose bibliomaniacal character the illuminated MS. of _The Four Gospels_ in the Danish tongue--now in the British Museum, and once this monarch's own book--leaves not the shadow of a doubt! From Canute we may proceed to notice that extraordinary literary triumvirate--Ingulph, Lanfranc, and Anselm. No rational man can hesitate about numbering them among the very first rate book-collectors of that age. As to INGULPH, let us only follow him, in his boyhood, in his removal from school to college: let us fancy we see him, with his _Quatuor Sermones_ on a Sunday--and his _Cunabula Artis Grammaticæ_[245] on a week day--under his arm: making his obeisance to Edgitha, the queen of Edward the Confessor, and introduced by her to William Duke of Normandy! Again, when he was placed, by this latter at the head of the rich abbey of Croyland, let us fancy we see him both adding to, and arranging, its curious library[246]--before he ventured upon writing the history of the said abbey. From Ingulph we go to LANFRANC; who, in his earlier years, gratified his book appetites in the quiet and congenial seclusion of his little favourite abbey in Normandy: where he afterwards opened a school, the celebrity of which was acknowledged throughout Europe. From being a pedagogue, let us trace him in his virtuous career to the primacy of England; and when we read of his studious and unimpeachable behaviour, as head of the see of Canterbury,[247] let us acknowledge that a love of books and of mental cultivation is among the few comforts in this world of which neither craft nor misfortune can deprive us. To Lanfranc succeeded, in book-fame and in professional elevation, his disciple ANSELM; who was "lettered and chaste of his childhood," says Trevisa:[248] but who was better suited to the cloister than to the primacy. For, although, like Wulston, Bishop of Worcester, he might have "sung a long mass, and held him _apayred_ with only the offering of Christian men, and was holden a clean _mayde_, and did no outrage in drink,"[249] yet in his intercourse with William II. and Henry I., he involved himself in ceaseless quarrels; and quitted both his archiepiscopal chair and the country. His memory, however, is consecrated among the fathers of scholastic divinity. [Footnote 245: These were the common school books of the period.] [Footnote 246: Though the abbey of Croyland was burnt only twenty-five years after the conquest, its library then consisted of 900 volumes, of which 300 were very large. The lovers of English history and antiquities are much indebted to Ingulph for his excellent history of the abbey of Croyland, from its foundation, A.D. 664, to A.D. 1091: into which he hath introduced much of the general history of the kingdom, with a variety of curious anecdotes that are no where else to be found. DR. HENRY: book iii., chap. iv., § 1 and 2. But Ingulph merits a more particular eulogium. The editors of that stupendous, and in truth, matchless collection of national history, entitled _Recueil des Historiens des Gaules_, thus say of him: "Il avoit tout vu en bon connoisseur, et ce qu'il rapporte, il l'écrit en homme lettré, judicieux et vrai:" tom. xi., p. xlij. In case any reader of this note and lover of romance literature should happen to be unacquainted with the French language, I will add, from the same respectable authority, that "The readers of the _Round Table History_ should be informed that there are many minute and curious descriptions in INGULPH which throw considerable light upon the history of _Ancient Chivalry_." Ibid. See too the animated eulogy upon him, at p. 153, note _a_, of the same volume. These learned editors have, however, forgotten to notice that the best, and only perfect, edition of Ingulph's History of Croyland Abbey, with the continuation of the same, by Peter de Blois and Edward Abbas, is that which is inserted in the first volume of Gale's _Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores Veteres_: Oxon, 1684. (3 vols.)] [Footnote 247: LANFRANC was obliged, against his will, by the express command of Abbot Harlein, to take upon him the archbishopric in the year 1070. He governed that church for nineteen years together, with a great deal of wisdom and authority. His largest work is a commentary upon the Epistles of St. Paul; which is sometimes not very faithfully quoted by Peter Lombard. His treatise in favour of the real presence, in opposition to Birenger, is one of his most remarkable performances. His letters "are short and few, but contain in them things very remarkable." Du Pin's _Ecclesiastical History_, vol. xi., p. 12, &c., edit. 1699.] [Footnote 248: _Polychronicon_, Caxton's edit., sign. 46, rev.] [Footnote 249: _Polychronicon._ Caxton's edit., fol. cccvj. rev. Poor Caxton (towards whom the reader will naturally conceive I bear some little affection) is thus dragooned into the list of naughty writers who have ventured to speak mildly (and justly) of Anselm's memory. "They feign in another fable that he (Anselm) tare with his teeth Christ's flesh from his bones, as he hung on the rood, for withholding the lands of certain bishoprics and abbies: Polydorus not being ashamed to rehearse it. Somewhere they call him a red dragon: somewhere a fiery serpent, and a bloody tyrant; for occupying the fruits of their vacant benefices about his princely buildings. Thus rail they of their kings, without either reason or shame, in their legends of abominable lies: Look Eadmerus, Helinandus, Vincentius, Matthew of Westminster, Rudborne, Capgrave, WILLIAM CAXTON, Polydore, and others." This is the language of master Bale, in his _Actes of Englyshe Votaryes_, pt. ii., sign. I. vij. rev. Tisdale's edit. No wonder Hearne says of the author, "erat immoderata intemperantia."--_Bened. Abbas._, vol. i., præf. p. xx.] And here you may expect me to notice that curious book-reader and Collector, GIRALD, _Archbishop of York_, who died just at the close of the 11th century. Let us fancy we see him, according to Trevisa,[250] creeping quietly to his garden arbour, and devoting his midnight vigils to the investigation of that old-fashioned author, Julius Firmicus; whom Fabricius calls by a name little short of that of an old woman. It is a pity we know not more of the private studies of such a bibliomaniac. And equally to be lamented it is that we have not some more substantial biographical memoirs of that distinguished bibliomaniac, HERMAN, bishop of Salisbury; a Norman by birth; and who learnt the art of book-binding and book-illumination, before he had been brought over into this country by William the Conqueror.[251] (A character, by the bye, who, however completely hollow were his claims to the crown of England, can never be reproached with a backwardness in promoting learned men to the several great offices of church and state.) [Footnote 250: "This yere deyd thomas archbisohop of york and gyralde was archebishop after him; a lecherous man, a wytch and euyl doer, as the fame tellyth, for under his pyle whan he deyde in an erber was founde a book of curyous craftes, the book hight Julius frumeus. In that booke he radde pryuely in the under tydes, therefor unnethe the clerkes of his chirche would suffre him be buryed under heuene without hooly chirche," _Polychronicon: Caxton's edit._, sign. 43., 4 rect. (fol. cccxlij.) Godwyn says that "he was laide at the entrance of the church porch." "Bayle chargeth him (continues he) with sorcery and coniuration, because, forsooth, that, after his death, there was found in his chamber a volume of Firmicus: who writ of astrology indeed, but of coniuration nothing that ever I heard." _Catalogue of the Bishops of England_, p. 453--edit. 1601. Concerning Girard's favourite author, consult Fabricius's _Bibl. Lat.: cura Ernesti_, vol. iii., p. 114, &c., edit. 1773.] [Footnote 251: Leland tells us that Herman erected "a noble library at Sailsbury, having got together some of the best and most ancient works of illustrious authors:" _de Scriptor. Britan._, vol. i., 174: and Dugdale, according to Warton (_Monasticon Anglican._; vol. iii., p. 375), says that "he was so fond of letters that he did not disdain to bind and illuminate books."] LOREN. If you proceed thus systematically, my good Lysander, the morning cock will crow 'ere we arrive at the book-annals even of the Reformation. LYSAND. It is true; I am proceeding rather too methodically. And yet I suppose I should not obtain Lisardo's forgiveness if, in arriving at the period of HENRY THE SECOND,[252] I did not notice that extraordinary student and politician, BECKET! [Footnote 252: I make no apology to the reader for presenting him with the following original character of our once highly and justly celebrated monarch, Henry II.--by the able pen of Trevisa. "This HENRY II. was somewhat reddish, with large face and breast; and yellow eyen and a dim voice; and fleshy of body; and took but scarcely of meat and drink: and for to _alledge_ the fatness, he travailed his body with business; with hunting, with standing, with wandering: he was of mean stature, renable of speech, and well y lettered; noble and _orped_ in knighthood; and wise in counsel and in battle; and dread and doubtfull destiny; more manly and courteous to a Knight when he was dead than when he was alive!" _Polychronicon_, Caxton's edit., fol. cccliij., rev.] LIS. At your peril omit him! I think (although my black-letter reading be very limited) that Bale, in his _English Votaries_, has a curious description of this renowned archbishop; whose attachment to books, in his boyish years, must on all sides be admitted. LYSAND. You are right. Bale has some extraordinary strokes of description in his account of this canonized character: but if I can trust to my memory (which the juice of Lorenzo's nectar, here before us, may have somewhat impaired), Tyndale[253] has also an equally animated account of the same--who deserves, notwithstanding his pomp and haughtiness, to be numbered among the most notorious bibliomaniacs of his age. [Footnote 253: We will first amuse ourselves with Bale's curious account of "_The fresh and lusty beginnings of_ THOMAS BECKET." As those authors report, which chiefly wrote Thomas Becket's life--whose names are Herbert Boseham, John Salisbury, William of Canterbury, Alen of Tewkesbury, Benet of Peterborough, Stephen Langton, and Richard Croyland--he bestoyed his youth in all kinds of lascivious lightness, and lecherous wantonness. After certain robberies, rapes, and murders, committed in the king's wars at the siege of Toulouse in Languedoc, and in other places else, as he was come home again into England, he gave himself to great study, not of the holy scriptures, but of the bishop of Rome's lousy laws, whereby he first of all obtained to be archdeacon of Canterbury, under Theobald the archbishop; then high chancellor of England; metropolitan, archbishop, primate; pope of England, and great legate from antichrist's own right side. In the time of his high-chancellorship, being but an ale-brewer's son of London, John Capgrave saith that he took upon him as he had been a prince. He played the courtier altogether, and fashioned himself wholly to the king's delights. He ruffled it out in the whole cloth with a mighty rabble of disguised ruffians at his tail. He sought the worldly honour with him that sought it most. He thought it a pleasant thing to have the flattering praises of the multitude. His bridle was of silver, his saddle of velvet, his stirrups, spurs, and bosses double gilt; his expenses far passing the expenses of an earl. That delight was not on the earth that he had not plenty of. He fed with the fattest, was clad with the softest, and kept company with the plesantest. Was not this (think you) a good mean to live chaste? I trow it was. _Englyshe Votaryes_, pt. ii., sign. P. vi. rect. Printed by Tisdale, 8vo. The orthography is modernized, but the words are faithfully _Balëan_! Thus writes Tyndale: and the king made him (Becket) his chancellor, in which office he passed the pomp and pride of Thomas (Wolsey) cardinal, as far as the ones shrine passeth the others tomb in glory and riches. And after that, he was a man of war, and captain of five or six thousand men in full harness, as bright as St. George, and his spear in his hand; and encountered whatsoever came against him, and overthrew the jollyest rutter that was in the host of France. And out of the field, hot from bloodshedding, was he made bishop of Canterbury; and did put off his helm, and put on his mitre; put off his harness, and on with his robes; and laid down his spear, and took his cross ere his hands were cold; and so came, with a lusty courage of a man of war, to fight an other while against his prince for the pope; when his prince's cause were with the law of God, and the pope's clean contrary. _Practise of Popish Prelates._ _Tyndale's Works_, edit. 1572, p. 361. The curious bibliographer, or collector of ancient books of biography, will find a very different character of Becket in a scarce Latin life of him, printed at Paris in the black letter, in the fifteenth century. His archiepiscopal table is described as being distinguished for great temperance and propriety: "In ejus mensa non audiebantur tibicines non cornicines, non lira, non fiala, non karola: nulla quidem præterquam mundam splendidam et inundantem epularum opulentiam. Nulla gule, nulla lascivie, nulla penitus luxurie, videbantur incitamenta. Revera inter tot et tantas delicias quæ ei apponebantur, in nullo penitus sardanapalum sed solum episcopum sapiebat," &c. _Vita et processus sancti Thome Cantuariensis martyris super libertate ecclesiastica_; Paris, 1495, sign. b. ij. rect. From a yet earlier, and perhaps the first printed, mention of Becket--and from a volume of which no perfect copy has yet been found--the reader is presented with a very curious account of the murder of the Archbishop, in its original dress. "Than were there iiij. cursed knyghtes of leuyng yt thoughte to haue had a grete thanke of the kyng and mad her a vowe to gedir to sle thomas. And so on childremasse day all moste at nyghte they come to caunterbury into thomas hall Sire Reynolde beriston, Sire william tracy, Sire Richard breton, and sire hewe morley. Thanne Sire Reynolde beriston for he was bitter of kynde a none he seyde to thomas the king that is be yonde the see sente us to the and bad that thou shuldst asoyle the bishoppe that thou cursiddiste than seyde thomas seris they be not acursed by me but by the Pope and I may not asoyle that he hathe cursid well seyde Reynolde than we see thou wolte not do the kynges byddynge and swore a grete othe by the eyon of God thou shalt be dede. than cryde the othir knyghtes sle sle and they wente downe to the courte and armyd hem. Than prestis and clerkis drowe hem to the church to thomas and spered the dores to hem. But whan thomas herde the knyghtes armed and wold come into the churche and myghte not he wente to the dore and un barred it and toke one of the knyghtes by the honde and seyde hit be semyth not to make a castell of holy churche, and toke hem by the honde and seyde come ynne my children in goddis name Thanne for it was myrke that they myghte not see nor knowe thomas they seyde where is the traytour nay seyde thomas no traytour but Archebishoppe. Than one seyde to hym fle fore thou arte but dede. Nay seyde thomas y come not to fle but to a byde Ego pro deo mori paratus sum et pro defensione iusticie et ecclesie libertate I am redy to dye for the loue of God and for the fredomme and righte of holy churche Than reynold with his swerdes poynte put off thomas cappe and smote at his hede and cutte of his crowne that it honge by like a dysche Than smote anothir at him and smote hit all of than fill he downe to the grounde on his knees and elbowes and seyde god into thy hondes I putte my cause and the righte of holy churche and so deyde Than the iij knyghte smote and his halfe stroke fell upon his clerkis arme that helde thomas cross be fore him and so his swerde fill down to the grounde and brake of the poynte and he seyde go we hens he is dede. And when they were all at the dore goyng robert broke wente a geyne and sette his fote to thomas necke and thruste out the brayne upon the pauement Thus for righte of holoye churche and the lawe of the londe thomas toke his dethe." _The boke that is callid Festiuall_; 1486, fol. sign. m. iij. These anecdotes, which are not to be found in Lyttleton or Berrington, may probably be gratifying to the curious.] Although I wish to be as laconic as possible in my _Catalogue Raisonné_ of libraries and of book-collectors, during the earlier periods of our history, yet I must beg to remind you that some of the nunneries and monasteries, about these times, contained rather valuable collections of books: and indeed those of Glasgow, Peterborough, and Glastonbury,[254] deserve to be particularly noticed and commended. But I will push on with the personal history of literature, or rather of the BIBLIOMANIA. [Footnote 254: "I shall retire back to _Godstowe_, and, for the farther reputation of the nunns there, shall observe that they spent a great part of their time in reading good books. There was a common library for their use well furnished with books, many of which were English, and divers of them historical. The lives of the holy men and women, especially of the latter, were curiously written ON VELLUM, and many ILLUMINATIONS appeared throughout, so as to draw the nunns the more easily to follow their examples." Hearne's edit. _Guil. Neubrig._, vol. ii., p. 768. Again he says, "It is probable they (certain sentences) were written in large letters, equal to the writing that we have in the finest books of offices, the best of which were for the use of the nunns, and for persons of distinction, and such as had weak eyes; and many of them were finely covered, not unlike the Kiver for the Gospell book, given to the chapell of Glastonbury by king Ina." p. 773. Can the enlightened reader want further proof of the existence of the BIBLIOMANIA in the nunnery of Godstow? As to _Peterborough_ abbey, Gunston, in his history of the same place, has copied the catalogue of the different libraries belonging to the abbots. Benedict, who became abbot in 1177, had a collection of no less than _fifty-seven_ volumes. But alas! the book reputation of this monastery soon fell away: for master Robert, who died abbot in 1222, left but _seven_ books behind him; and Geoffrey de Croyland, who was abbot in 1290, had only that dreary old gentleman, _Avicenna_, to keep him company! At its dissolution, however, it contained 1700 volumes in MSS. _Gunton's Peterborough_, p. 173. _Glastonbury_ seems to have long maintained its reputation for a fine library; and even as late as the year 1248 it could boast of several classical authors, although the English books were only four in number; the rest being considered as "vetustas et inutilia." The classical authors were Livy, Sallust, Tully, Seneca, Virgil, and Persius. See _Joh. Confrat. Glaston._, vol. ii., p. 423, 435: Hearne's edit. "Leland," says Warton, "who visited all the monasteries just before their dissolution, seems to have been struck with the venerable air and amplitude of this library." _Hist. Engl. Poetry_, Diss. ii.] I should be wanting in proper respect to the gentlemanly and scholar-like editor of his works, if I omitted the mention of that celebrated tourist and topographer, GIRALD BARRI, or Giraldus Cambrensis; whose Irish and Welch itinerary has been recently so beautifully and successfully put forth in our own language.[255] Giraldus, long before and after he was bishop of St. David's, seems to have had the most enthusiastic admiration of British antiquities; and I confess it would have been among the keenest delights of my existence (had I lived at the period) to have been among his auditors when he read aloud (perhaps from a stone pulpit) his three books of the Topography of Ireland.[256] How many choice volumes, written and emblazoned upon snow-white vellum, and containing many a curious and precious genealogy, must this observing traveller and curious investigator have examined, when he was making the tour of Ireland in the suite of Prince, afterwards King, John! Judge of the anxiety of certain antiquated families, especially of the Welch nation, which stimulated them to open their choicest treasures, in the book way, to gratify the genealogical ardour of our tourist! [Footnote 255: There is a supplemental volume to the two English ones, containing the only complete Latin edition extant of the Welsh Itinerary. Of this impression there are but 200 copies printed on small, and 50 on large, paper. The whole work is most creditably executed, and does great honour to the taste and erudition of its editor, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, bart.] [Footnote 256: "Having finished his topography of Ireland, which consisted of three books, he published it at Oxford, A.D. 1187, in the following manner, in three days. On the first day he read the first book to a great concourse of people, and afterwards entertained all the poor of the town. On the second day he read the second book, and entertained all the Doctors and chief scholars: and on the third day he read the third book, and entertained the younger scholars, soldiers, and burgesses."--"A most glorious spectacle (says he), which revived the ancient times of the poets, and of which no example had been seen in England." This is given by Dr. Henry (b. iii., ch. 4, § 2), on the authority of Giraldus's own book, _De rebus a se gestis_, lib. i. c. 16. Twyne, in his arid little quarto Latin volume of the _Antiquities of Oxford_, says not a word about it; and, what is more extraordinary, it is barely alluded to by Antony Wood! See Mr. Gutch's genuine edition of Wood's _Annals of the University of Oxford_, vol. i., pp. 60, 166. Warton, in his _History of English Poetry_, vol. i., Diss. ii., notices Giraldus's work with his usual taste and interest.] LIS. I wish from my heart that Girald Barri had been somewhat more communicative on this head! LOREN. Of what do you suppose he would have informed us, had he indulged this bibliographical gossipping? LIS. Of many a grand and many a curious volume. LYSAND. Not exactly so, Lisardo. The art of book-illumination in this country was then sufficiently barbarous, if at all known. LIS. And yet I'll lay a vellum Aldus that Henry the second presented his fair Rosamond with some choice _Heures de Notre Dame_! But proceed. I beg pardon for this interruption. LYSAND. Nay, there is nothing to solicit pardon for! We have each a right, around this hospitable table, to indulge our book whims: and mine may be as fantastical as any. LOREN. Pray proceed, Lysander, in your book-collecting history! unless you will permit me to make a pause or interruption of two minutes--by proposing as a sentiment--"SUCCESS TO THE BIBLIOMANIA!" PHIL. 'Tis well observed: and as every loyal subject at our great taverns drinks the health of his Sovereign "with three times three up-standing," even so let us hail this sentiment of Lorenzo! LIS. Philemon has cheated me of an eloquent speech. But let us receive the sentiment as he proposes it. LOREN. Now the uproar of Bacchus has subsided, the instructive conversation of Minerva may follow. Go on, Lysander. LYSAND. Having endeavoured to do justice to Girald Barri, I know of no other particularly distinguished bibliomaniac till we approach the æra of the incomparable ROGER, or FRIAR, BACON. I say incomparable, Lorenzo; because he was, in truth, a constellation of the very first splendour and magnitude in the dark times in which he lived; and notwithstanding a sagacious writer (if my memory be not treacherous) of the name of Coxe, chooses to tell us that he was "miserably starved to death, because he could not introduce a piece of roast beef into his stomach, on account of having made a league with Satan to eat only cheese;"[257]--yet I suspect that the end of Bacon was hastened by other means more disgraceful to the age and equally painful to himself. [Footnote 257: "_A short treatise declaringe the detestable wickednesse of magicall sciences, as necromancie, coniuration of spirites, curiouse astrologie, and suche lyke, made by_ FRANCIS COXE." Printed by Allde, 12mo., without date (14 leaves). From this curious little volume, which is superficially noticed by Herbert (vol. ii., p. 889), the reader is presented with the following extract, appertaining to the above subject: "I myself (says the author) knew a priest not far from a town called Bridgewater, which, as it is well known in the country, was a great magician in all his life time. After he once began these practices, he would never eat bread, but, instead thereof, did always eat _cheese_: which thing, as he confessed divers times, he did because it was so concluded betwixt him and the spirit which served him," &c. sign. A viii. rect. "(R.) Bacon's end was much after _the like sort_; for having a greedy desire unto meat, he could cause nothing to enter the stomach--wherefore thus miserably he starved to death." Sign. B. iij. rev. Not having at hand John Dee's book of the defence of Roger Bacon, from the charge of astrology and magic (the want of which one laments as pathetically as did Naudé, in his "_Apologie pour tous les grands personnages, &c., faussement soupçonnez de Magic_," Haye, 1653, 8vo., p. 488), I am at a loss to say the fine things, which Dee must have said, in commendation of the extraordinary talents of ROGER BACON; who was miserably matched in the age in which he lived; but who, together with his great patron GROSTESTE, will shine forth as beacons to futurity. Dr. Friend in his _History of Physic_ has enumerated what he conceived to be Bacon's leading works; while Gower in his _Confessio Amantis_ (Caxton's edit., fol. 70), has mentioned the brazen head-- =for to telle Of such thyngs as befelle:= which was the joint manufactory of the patron and his èleve. As lately as the year 1666, Bacon's life formed the subject of a "famous history," from which Walter Scott has given us a facetious anecdote in the seventh volume (p. 10) of _Dryden's Works_. But the curious investigator of ancient times, and the genuine lover of British biography, will seize upon the more prominent features in the life of this renowned philosopher; will reckon up his great discoveries in optics and physics; and will fancy, upon looking at the above picture of his study, that an explosion from gun-powder (of which our philosopher has been thought the inventor) has protruded the palings which are leaning against its sides. Bacon's "_Opus Majus_," which happened to meet the eyes of Pope Clement IV., and which _now_ would have encircled the neck of its author with an hundred golden chains, and procured for him a diploma from every learned society in Europe--just served to liberate him from his first long imprisonment. This was succeeded by a subsequent confinement of twelve years; from which he was released only time enough to breathe his last in the pure air of heaven. Whether he expended 3000, or 30,000 pounds of our present money, upon his experiments, can now be only matter of conjecture. Those who are dissatisfied with the meagre manner in which our early biographers have noticed the labours of Roger Bacon, and with the _tetragonistical_ story, said by Twyne to be propagated by our philosopher, of Julius Cæsar's seeing the whole of the British coast and encampment upon the Gallic shore, "maximorum ope speculorum" (_Antiquit. Acad. Oxon. Apolog._ 1608, 4to., p. 353), may be pleased with the facetious story told of him by Wood (_Annals of Oxford_, vol. i., 216, Gutch's edit.) and yet more by the minute catalogue of his works noticed by Bishop Tanner (_Bibl. Brit. Hibern._ p. 62): while the following eulogy of old Tom Fuller cannot fail to find a passage to every heart: "For mine own part (says this delightful and original writer) I behold the name of Bacon in Oxford, not as of an individual man, but corporation of men; no single cord, but a twisted cable of many together. And as all the acts of strong men of that nature are attributed to an Hercules; all the predictions of prophecying women to a Sibyll; so I conceive all the achievements of the Oxonian Bacons, in their liberal studies, are ascribed to ONE, as chief of the name." _Church History_, book iii., p. 96.] [Illustration] Only let us imagine we see this sharp-eyed philosopher at work in his study, of which yonder print is generally received as a representation! How heedlessly did he hear the murmuring of the stream beneath, and of the winds without--immersed in the vellum and parchment rolls of theological, astrological, and mathematical lore, which, upon the dispersion of the libraries of the Jews,[258] he was constantly perusing, and of which so large a share had fallen to his own lot! [Footnote 258: Warton, in his second Dissertation, says that "great multitudes of their (the Jews) books fell into the hands of Roger Bacon;" and refers to Wood's _Hist. et Antiquit. Univ. Oxon._, vol. i., 77, 132--where I find rather a slight notification of it--but, in the genuine edition of this latter work, published by Mr. Gutch, vol. i., p. 329, it is said: "At their (the Jews) expulsion, divers of their tenements that were forfeited to the king, came into the hands of William Burnell, Provost of Wells; and _their books_ (for many of them were learned) to divers of our scholars; among whom, as is verily supposed, ROGER BACON was one: and that he furnished himself with such Hebrew rarities, that he could not elsewhere find. Also that, when he died, he left them to the Franciscan library at Oxon, which, being not well understood in after-times, were condemned to moths and dust!" Weep, weep, kind-hearted bibliomaniac, when thou thinkest upon the fate of these poor Hebrew MSS.!] Unfortunately, my friends, little is known with certainty, though much is vaguely conjectured, of the labours of this great man. Some of the first scholars and authors of our own and of other countries have been proud to celebrate his praises; nor would it be considered a disgrace by the most eminent of modern experimental philosophers--of him, who has been described as "unlocking the hidden treasures of nature, and explaining the various systems by which air, and earth, and fire, and water, counteract and sustain each other"[259]--to fix the laureate crown round the brows of our venerable Bacon! [Footnote 259: See a periodical paper, entitled _The Director_! vol. ii., p. 294.] We have now reached the close of the thirteenth century and the reign of EDWARD THE FIRST;[260] when the principal thing that strikes us, connected with the history of libraries, is this monarch's insatiable lust of strengthening his title to the kingdom of Scotland by purchasing "the libraries of all the monasteries" for the securing of any record which might corroborate the same. What he gave for this tremendous book-purchase, or of what nature were the volumes purchased, or what was their subsequent destination, is a knot yet remaining to be untied. [Footnote 260: "King Edward the first caused and committed divers copies of the records, and much concerning the realm of Scotland, unto divers abbies for the preservance thereof; which for the most part are now perished, or rare to be had; and which privilie by the dissolution of monasteries is detained. The same king caused the libraries of all monasteries, and other places of the realm, to be purchased, for the further and manifest declaration of his title, as chief Lord of Scotland: and the record thereof now extant, doth alledge divers leger books of abbeys for the confirmation thereof": Petition (to Q. Elizabeth) for an academy of Antiquities and History. _Hearne's Curious Discourses written by eminent Antiquaries_; vol. ii., 326, edit. 1775.] Of the bibliomaniacal propensity of Edward's grandson, the great EDWARD THE THIRD, there can be no question. Indeed, I could gossip away upon the same 'till midnight. His severe disappointment upon having Froissart's presentation copy of his Chronicles[261] (gergeously [Transcriber's Note: gorgeously] attired as it must have been) taken from him by the Duke of Anjou, is alone a sufficient demonstration of his love of books; while his patronage of Chaucer shews that he had accurate notions of intellectual excellence. Printing had not yet begun to give any hint, however faint, of its wonderful powers; and scriveners or book-copiers were sufficiently ignorant and careless.[262] [Footnote 261: Whether this presentation copy ever came, eventually, into the kingdom, is unknown. Mr. Johnes, who is as intimate with Froissart as Gough was with Camden, is unable to make up his mind upon the subject; but we may suppose it was properly emblazoned, &c. The duke detained it as being the property of an enemy to France!--Now, when we read of this wonderfully chivalrous age, so glowingly described by the great Gaston, Count de Foix, to Master Froissart, upon their introduction to each other (vide St. Palaye's memoir in the 10th vol. of _L'Acadamie des Inscriptions_, &c.), it does seem a gross violation (at least on the part of the Monsieur of France!) of all gentlemanly and knight-like feeling, to seize upon a volume of this nature, as legitimate plunder! The robber should have had his skin tanned, after death, for a case to keep the book in! Of Edward the Third's love of curiously bound books, see p. 118, ante.] [Footnote 262: "How ordinary a fault this was (of 'negligently or willfully altering copies') amongst the transcribers of former times, may appear by Chaucer; who (I am confident) tooke as greate care as any man to be served with the best and heedfullest scribes, and yet we finde him complayning against Adam, his scrivener, for the very same: So ofte a daye I mote thy worke renew, If to correct and eke to rubbe and scrape, And all is thorow thy neglegence and rape." Ashmole _Theatrum Chemicum_; p. 439.] The mention of Edward the Third, as a patron of learned men, must necessarily lead a book-antiquary to the notice of his eminent chancellor, RICHARD DE BURY; of whom, as you may recollect, some slight mention was made the day before yesterday.[263] It is hardly possible to conceive a more active and enthusiastic lover of books than was this extraordinary character; the passion never deserting him even while he sat upon the bench.[264] It was probably De Bury's intention to make his royal master eclipse his contemporary CHARLES THE VTH, of France--the most renowned foreign bibliomaniac of his age![265] In truth, my dear friends, what can be more delightful to a lover of his country's intellectual reputation than to find such a character as De Bury, in such an age of war and bloodshed, uniting the calm and mild character of a legislator, with the sagacity of a philosopher, and the elegant-mindedness of a scholar! Foreigners have been profuse in their commendations of him, and with the greatest justice; while our Thomas Warton, of ever-to-be-respected memory, has shewn us how pleasingly he could descend from the graver tone of a historical antiquary, by indulging himself in a chit-chat style of book-anecdote respecting this illustrious character.[266] [Footnote 263: See p. 29, ante.] [Footnote 264: "--patescebat nobis aditus facilis, regalis favoris intuitu, ad librorum latebras libere perscrutandas. Amoris quippe nostri fama volatilis jam ubique percrebuit, tamtumque librorum, et maxime veterum, ferebamur cupiditate languescere; posse vero quemlibet, nostrum _per quaternos_ facilius, quam _per pecuniam_, adipisci favorem." _Philobiblion; sive de Amore Librorum_ (vide p. 29, ante), p. 29: edit. 1599, 4to. But let the reader indulge me with another extract or two, containing evidence [Transcriber's Note: 'of' missing in original] the most unquestionable of the severest symptoms of the BIBLIOMANIA that ever assailed a Lord Chancellor or a Bishop!--Magliabechi must have read the ensuing passage with rapture: "Quamobrem cum prædicti principis recolendæ memoriæ bonitate suffulti, possemus obesse et prodesse, officere et proficere vehementer tam maioribus quam pusillis; affluxerunt, loco xeniorum et munerum, locoque, donorum et iocalium, temulenti quaterni, ac decripiti codices; nostris tamen tam affectibus, quam aspectibus, pretiosi. Tunc nobilissimorum monasteriorum aperiebantur armaria, referebantur scrinia, et cistulæ solvebantur, et per longa secula in sepulchris soporata volumina, expergiscunt attonita, quæque in locis tenebrosis latuerant, novæ lucis radiis perfunduntur." "Delicatissimi quondam libri, corrupti et abhominabiles iam effecti, murium fætibus cooperti, et vermium morsibus terebrati, iacebant exanimes--et qui olim purpura vestiebantur et bysso, nunc in cinere et cilicio recubantes, oblivioni traditi videbantur, domicilia tinearum. Inter hæc nihilominus, captatis temporibus, magis voluptuose consedimus, quam fecisset Medicus delicatus inter aromatum apothecas, ubi amoris nostri objectum reperimus et fomentum; sic sacra vasa scientiæ, ad nostræ dispensationis provenerunt arbitrium: quædam data, quædam vendita, ac nonnulla protempore commodata. Nimirum cum nos plerique de hujusmodi donariis cernerent contentatos, ea sponte nostris usibus studuerent tribuere, quibus ipsi libentius caruerunt: quorum tamen negotia sic expedire curavimus gratiosi, ut et eisdem emolumentum accresceret, nullum tamen iustitia detrimentum sentiret." "Porro si scyphos aureos et argenteos, si equos egregios, si nummorum summas non modicas amassemus tunc temporis, dives nobis ærarium instaurasse possemus: sed revera LIBROS NON LIBRAS maluimus, codicesque plusquam florenos, ac panfletos exiguos incrassatis prætulimus palfridis," _Philobiblion_; p. 29, 30, &c. Dr. James's preface to this book, which will be noticed in its proper place, in another work, is the veriest piece of old maidenish particularity that ever was exhibited! However, the editor's enthusiastic admiration of De Bury obtains his forgiveness in the bosom of every honest bibliomaniac!] [Footnote 265: CHARLES THE FIFTH, of France, may be called the founder of the Royal Library there. The history of his first efforts to erect a national library is thus, in part, related by the compilers of _Cat. de la Bibliothéque Royale_, pt. i., p. ij.-iij.: "This wise king took advantage of the peace which then obtained, in order to cultivate letters more successfully than had hitherto been done. He was learned for his age; and never did a prince love reading and book-collecting better than did he! He was not only constantly making transcripts himself, but the noblemen, courtiers, and officers that surrounded him voluntarily tendered their services in the like cause; while, on the other hand, a number of learned men, seduced by his liberal rewards, spared nothing to add to his literary treasures. Charles now determined to give his subjects every possible advantage from this accumulation of books; and, with this view, he lodged them in one of the _Towers of the Louvre_; which tower was hence called _La Tour de la Librarie_. The books occupied three stories: in the first, were desposited 269 volumes; in the second 260; and in the third, 381 volumes. In order to preserve them with the utmost care (say Sauval and Felibien), the king caused all the windows of the library to be fortified with iron bars; between which was painted glass, secured by brass-wires. And that the books might be accessible at all hours, there were suspended, from the ceiling, thirty chandeliers and a silver lamp, which burnt all night long. The walls were wainscotted with Irish wood; and the ceiling was covered with cypress wood: the whole being curiously sculptured in bas-relief." Whoever has not this catalogue at hand (vide p. 93, ante) to make himself master of still further curious particulars relating to this library, may examine the first and second volume of _L'Academie des Inscriptions_, &c.--from which the preceding account is taken. The reader may also look into Warton (Diss. 11, vol. i., sign. f. 2); who adds, on the authority of Boivin's _Mem. Lit._, tom. ii., p. 747, that the Duke of Bedford, regent of France, "in the year 1425 (when the English became masters of Paris) sent his whole library, then consisting of only 853 volumes, and valued at 2223 livres, into England," &c. I have little doubt but that Richard De Bury had a glimpse of this infantine royal collection, from the following passage--which occurs immediately after an account of his ambassadorial excursion--"O beate Deus Deorum in Syon, quantus impetus fluminis voluptatis lætificavit cor nostrum, quoties Paradisum mundi _Parisios_ visitare vacavimus ibi moraturi? Ubi nobis semper dies pauci, præ amoris magnitudine, videbantur. Ibi Bibliothecæ jucundæ super sellas aromatum redolentes; ibi virens viridarium universorum voluminum," &c. _Philobiblion_; p. 31, edit. 1559.] [Footnote 266: After having intruded, I fear, by the preceding note respecting _French Bibliomania_, there is only room left to say of our DE BURY--that he was the friend and correspondent of Petrarch--and that Mons. Sade, in his _Memoirs of Petrarch_, tells us that "the former did in England, what the latter all his life was doing in France, Italy, and Germany, towards the discovery of the best ancient writers, and making copies of them under his own superintendence." De Bury bequeathed a valuable library of MSS. to Durham, now Trinity College, Oxford. The books of this library were first packed up in chests; but upon the completion of the room to receive them, "they were put into pews or studies, and chained to them." Wood's _History of the University of Oxford_, vol. ii., p. 911. Gutch's edit. De Bury's _Philobiblion_, from which so much has been extracted, is said by Morhof to "savor somewhat of the rudeness of the age, but is rather elegantly written; and many things are well expressed in it relating to bibliothecism." _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 187. The real author is supposed to have been Robert Holcott, a Dominican friar. I am, however, loth to suppress a part of what Warton has so pleasantly written (as above alluded to by Lysander) respecting such a favourite as DE BURY. "Richard de Bury, otherwise called Richard Aungervylle, is said to have alone possessed more books than all the bishops of England together. Beside the fixed libraries which he had formed in his several palaces, the floor of his common apartment was so covered with books that those who entered could not with due reverence approach his presence. He kept binders, illuminators, and writers, in his palaces. Petrarch says that he had once a conversation with him, concerning the island called by the ancients Thule; calling him 'virum ardentis ingenii.' While chancellor and treasurer, instead of the usual presents and new-year's gifts appendant to his office, he chose to receive those perquisites in books. By the favour of Edward III. he gained access to the libraries of most of the capital monasteries; where he shook off the dust from volumes, preserved in chests and presses, which had not been opened for many ages." _Philobiblion_, cap. 29, 30.--Warton also quotes, in English, a part of what had been already presented to the reader in its original Latin form. _Hist. Engl. Poetry_, vol. i., Diss. II., note g., sign. h. 4. Prettily painted as is this picture, by Warton, the colouring might have been somewhat heightened, and the effect rendered still more striking, in consequence, if the authority and the words of Godwyn had been a little attended to. In this latter's _Catalogue of the Bishops of England_, p. 524-5, edit. 1601, we find that De Bury was the son of one SIR RICHARD ANGARUILL, knight: "that he saith of himselfe 'exstatico quodam librorum amore potenter se abreptum'--that he was mightily carried away, and even beside himself, with immoderate love of bookes and desire of reading. He had alwaies in his house many chaplaines, all great schollers. His manner was, at dinner and supper-time, to haue some good booke read unto him, whereof he would discourse with his chaplaines a great part of the day following, if busines interrupted not his course. He was very bountiful unto the poore. Weekely he bestowed for their reliefe, 8 quarters of wheat made into bread, beside the offall and fragments of his tables. Riding betweene Newcastle and Durham he would give 8_l._ in almes; from Durham to Stocton, 5_l._: from Durham to Aukland, 5 marks; from Durham to Middleham, 5_l._" &c. This latter is the "pars melior" of every human being; and bibliomaniacs seem to have possessed it as largely as any other tribe of mortals. I have examined Richardson's magnificent reprint of Godwyn's book, in the Latin tongue, London, 1743, folio; p. 747; and find nothing worth adding to the original text.] LOREN. The task we have imposed upon you, my good Lysander, would be severe indeed if you were to notice, with minute exactness, all the book-anecdotes of the middle ages. You have properly introduced the name and authority of Warton; but if you suffered yourself to be beguiled by his enchanting style, into all the bibliographical gossiping of this period, you would have no mercy upon your lungs, and there would be no end to the disquisition. LYSAND. Forgive me, if I have transgressed the boundaries of good sense or good breeding: it was not my intention to make a "_Concio ad Aulam_"--as worthy old Bishop Saunderson was fond of making--but simply to state facts, or indulge in book chit-chat, as my memory served me. LIS. Nay, Lorenzo, do not disturb the stream of Lysander's eloquence. I could listen 'till "Jocund day stood tip-toe on the mountain." PHIL. You are a little unconscionable, Lisardo: but I apprehend Lorenzo meant only to guard Lysander against that minuteness of narration which takes us into every library and every study of the period at which we are arrived. If I recollect aright, Warton was obliged to restrain himself in the same cause.[267] [Footnote 267: The part alluded to, in Warton, is at the commencement of his second Dissertation "On the Introduction of Learning into Great Britain." After rambling with the utmost felicity, among the libraries, and especially the monastic ones, of the earlier and middle ages--he thus checks himself by saying, that "in pursuit of these anecdotes, he is imperceptibly seduced into later periods, or rather is deviating from his subject."] LOREN. It belongs to me, Lysander, to solicit your forgiveness. If you are not tired with the discussion of such a various and extensive subject (and more particularly from the energetic manner in which it is conducted on your part), rely upon it that your auditors cannot possibly feel _ennui_. Every thing before us partakes of your enthusiasm: the wine becomes mellower, and sparkles with a ruddier glow; the flavour of the fruit is improved; and the scintillations of your conversational eloquence are scattered amidst my books, my busts, and my pictures. Proceed, I entreat you; but first, accept my libation offered up at the shrine of an offended deity. LYSAND. You do me, and the _Bibliomania_, too much honour. If my blushes do not overpower me, I will proceed: but first, receive the attestation of the deity that he is no longer affronted with you. I drink to your health and long life!--and proceed: If, among the numerous and gorgeous books which now surround us, it should be my good fortune to put my hand upon one, however small or imperfect, which could give us some account of the _History of British Libraries_, it would save me a great deal of trouble, by causing me to maintain at least a chronological consistency in my discourse. But, since this cannot be--since, with all our love of books and of learning, we have this pleasing desideratum yet to be supplied--I must go on, in my usual desultory manner, in rambling among libraries, and discoursing about books and book-collectors. As we enter upon the reign of HENRY IV., we cannot avoid the mention of that distinguished library hunter, and book describer, JOHN BOSTON of Bury;[268] who may justly be considered the Leland of his day. Gale, if I recollect rightly, unaccountably describes his bibliomaniacal career as having taken place in the reign of Henry VII.; but Bale and Pits, from whom Tanner has borrowed his account, unequivocally affix the date of 1410 to Boston's death; which is three years before the death of Henry. It is allowed, by the warmest partizans of the reformation, that the dissolution of the monastic libraries has unfortunately rendered the labours of Boston of scarcely any present utility. [Footnote 268: It is said of BOSTON that he visited almost every public library, and described the titles of every book therein, with punctilious accuracy. Pits (593) calls him "vir pius, litteratus, et bonarum litterarum fautor ac promotor singularis." Bale (p. 549, edit. 1559) has even the candour to say, "mirâ sedulitate et diligentia omnes omnium regni monasteriorum bibliothecas invisit: librorum collegit titulos, et authorum eorum nomina: quæ omnia alphabetico disposuit ordine, et quasi unam omnium bibliothecam fecit." What Lysander observes above is very true: "non enim dissimulanda (says Gale) monasteriorum subversio, quæ brevi spatio subsecuta est--libros omnes dispersit et BOSTONI providam diligentiam, maxima ex parte, inutilem reddidit." _Rer. Anglicar. Scrip. Vet._, vol. iii., præf. p. 1. That indefatigable antiquary, Thomas Hearne, acknowledges that, in spite of all his researches in the Bodleian library, he was scarcely able to discover any thing of Boston's which related to Benedictus Abbas--and still less of his own compositions. _Bened. Abbat._ vol. i., præf. p. xvii. It is a little surprising that Leland should have omitted to notice him. But the reader should consult Tanner's _Bibl. Britan._, p. xvii., 114.] There is a curious anecdote of this period in Rymer's Foedera,[269] about taking off the duty upon _six barrels of books_, sent by a Roman Cardinal to the prior of the Conventual church of St. Trinity, Norwich. These barrels, which lay at the custom-house, were imported duty free; and I suspect that Henry's third son, the celebrated John Duke of Bedford, who was then a lad, and just beginning to feed his bibliomaniacal appetite, had some hand in interceding with his father for the redemption of the duty. [Footnote 269: Vol. viii., p. 501. It is a Clause Roll of the 9th of Henry IV. A.D. 1407: "De certis Libris, absque Custumenda solvenda, liberandis;" and affords too amusing a specimen of custom-house latinity to be withheld from the reader. "Mandamus vobis, quod certos libros _in sex Barellis contentos_, Priori qt Conventui Ecclesiæ Sanctæ Trinitatis Norwici, per quendam Adam nuper Cardinalem legatos, et in portum civitatis nostræ predictæ (Londinensis) ab urbe Romanâ jam adductos, præfato, Priori, absque Custuma seu subsidio inde ad opus nostrum capiendis, liberetis indilate," &c.] LIS. This DUKE OF BEDFORD was the most notorious bibliomaniac as well as warrior of his age; and, when abroad, was indefatigable in stirring up the emulation of Flemish and French artists, to execute for him the most splendid books of devotion. I have heard great things of what goes by the name of _The Bedford Missal_![270] [Footnote 270: This missal, executed under the eye and for the immediate use of the famous John, Duke of Bedford (regent of France), and Jane (the daughter of the Duke of Burgundy) his wife, was, at the beginning of the 18th century, in the magnificent library of Harley, Earl of Oxford. It afterwards came into the collection of his daughter, the well-known Duchess of Portland; at whose sale, in 1786, it was purchased by Mr. Edwards for 215 guineas; and 500 guineas have been, a few years ago, offered for this identical volume. It is yet the property of this last mentioned gentleman. Among the pictures in it, there is an interesting one of the whole length portraits of the Duke and Duchess;--the head of the former of which has been enlarged and engraved by Vertue for his portraits to illustrate the History of England. The missal frequently displays the arms of these noble personages; and also affords a pleasing testimony of the affectionate gallantry of the pair; the motto of the former being "A VOUS ENTIER:" that of the latter, "J'EN SUIS CONTENTE." There is a former attestation in the volume, of its having been given by the Duke to his nephew, Henry VI. as "a most suitable present." But the reader shall consult (if he can procure it) Mr. Gough's curious little octavo volume written expressly upon the subject.] LYSAND. And not greater than what merits to be said of it. I have seen this splendid bijou in the charming collection of our friend ----. It is a small thick folio, highly illuminated; and displaying, as well in the paintings as in the calligraphy, the graphic powers of that age, which had not yet witnessed even the dry pencil of Perugino. More gorgeous, more beautifully elaborate, and more correctly graceful, missals may be in existence; but a more curious, interesting, and perfect specimen, of its kind, is no where to be seen: the portraits of the Duke and of his royal brother Henry V. being the best paintings known of the age. 'Tis, in truth, a lovely treasure in the book way; and it should sleep every night upon an eider-down pillow encircled with emeralds! LIS. Hear him--hear him! Lysander must be a collateral descendant of this noble bibliomaniac, whose blood, now circulating in his veins, thus moves him to "discourse most eloquently." LYSAND. Banter as you please; only "don't disturb the stream of my eloquence." The period of this distinguished nobleman was that in which book-collecting began to assume a fixed and important character in this country. Oxford saw a glimmering of civilization dawning in her obscured atmosphere. A short but dark night had succeeded the patriotic efforts of De Bury; whose curious volumes, bequeathed to Trinity College, had laid in a melancholy and deserted condition 'till they were kept company by those of COBHAM, Bishop of Worcester, REDE, Bishop of Chichester, and HUMPHREY the good Duke of Gloucester.[271] Now began the fashion (and may it never fall to decay!) of making presents to public libraries:--but, during the short and splendid career of HENRY V., learning yielded to arms: the reputation of a scholar to that of a soldier. I am not aware of any thing at this period, connected with the subject of our discourse, that deserves particular mention; although we ought never to name this illustrious monarch, or to think of his matchless prowess in arms, without calling to mind how he adorned the rough character of a soldier by the manners of a prince, the feelings of a Christian, and, I had almost said, the devotion of a saint. [Footnote 271: We will first notice COBHAM, Bishop of Worcester: who "having had a great desire to show some love to his mother the university of Oxford, began, about the year 1320, to build, or at least to make some reparations for _a Library_, over the old congregation house in the north church-yard of St. Mary's; but he dying soon after, before any considerable matter was done therein, left certain moneys for the carrying on of the work, and all his books, with others that had been lately procured, to be, with those belonging to the university (as yet kept in chests) reposed therein." Some controversy afterwards arising between the University and Oriel College, to which latter Cobham belonged, the books lay in dreary and neglected state till 1367; when a room having been built for their reception, it was settled that they "should be reposed and chained in the said room or solar; that the scholars of the University should have free ingress and regress, at certain times, to make proficiency in them; that certain of the said books, of greater price, should be sold, till the sum of _l._ 40 was obtained for them (unless other remedy could be found) with which should be bought an yearly rent of _l._ 3, for the maintenance of a chaplain, that should pray for the soul of the said bishop, and other benefactors of the University both living and dead, and have the custody or oversight of the said books, and of those in the ancient chest of books, and chest of rolls." Wood's _Hist. of the University of Oxford_, vol. ii., pt. ii., 911. Gutch's edit. WILLIAM REDE, or READ, bishop of Chichester, "sometimes Fellow (of Merton College) gave a chest with _l._ 100 in gold in it, to be borrowed by the Fellows for their relief; bond being first given in by them to repay it at their departure from the college; or, in case they should die, to be paid by their executors: A.D. 1376. He also built, about the same time, _a Library_ in the college; being the first that the society enjoyed, and gave books thereunto." Wood's _History of the Colleges and Halls_, p. 15, Gutch's edit. In Mr. Nicholl's _Appendix to the History of Leicester_, p. 105, note 20, I find some account of this distinguished literary character, taken from Tanner's _Bibl. Britan._, p. 618. He is described, in both authorities, as being a very learned Fellow of Merton College, where he built and furnished _a noble library_; on the wall of which was painted his portrait, with this inscription: "GULIELMUS REDÆUS, EPISCOPUS CICESTRENSIS, MAGISTER IN THEOLOGIA, PROFUNDUS ASTRONOMUS, QUONDAM SOCIUS ISTIUS COLLEGII, QUI HANC LIBRARIAM FIERI FECIT." Many of Read's mathematical instruments, as well as his portrait, were preserved in the library when Harrison wrote his description of England, prefix'd to Holinshed's Chronicles; some of the former of which came into the possession of the historian. For thus writes Harrison: "William Read, sometime fellow of Merteine college in Oxford, doctor of divinitie, and the most profound astronomer that liued in his time, as appeareth by his collection, which some time I did possesse; his image is yet in the librarie there; and manie instruments of astronomie reserued in that house," &c. _Chronicles_ (1587), edit. 1807, vol. i., p. 237. In the year 1808, when I visited the ancient and interesting brick-floored library of Merton College, for the purpose of examining early printed books, I looked around in vain for the traces, however faded, of Read's portrait: nor could I discover a single vestige of the BIBLIOTHECA READIANA! The memory of this once celebrated bishop lives therefore only in what books have recorded of him; and this brief and _verbal picture_ of Read is here drawn--as was the more finished resemblance of Chaucer by the pencil, which Occleve has left behind-- =That thei that have of him lost thoute and mynde By this peinture may ageine him fynde.= HUMPHREY, Duke of GLOUCESTER, "commonly called _the good_, was youngest brother to Henry V. and the first founder of the university library in Oxford, which was pillaged of the greater part of its books in the reign of Edward the Sixth." Park's edit. of the _Royal and Noble Authors_; vol. i., 198. "As for the books which he gave (says Wood) they were very many, more by far than authors report; for whereas 'tis said he gave 129, you shall find anon that they were more than treble the number." The Duke's first gift, in 1439, of one hundred and twenty-nine treatises, was worth, according to Wood, a thousand pounds. All his book presents, "amounting to above 600 (mostly treating of divinity, physic, history, and humanity) which were from several parts of the world obtained, were transmitted to the university, and for the present laid up in chests in Cobham's library. The catalogue also of them which were then sent, and the indentures for the receipt of the said books, were laid up in the chest called _Cista Librorum et Rotulorum_." _History_ (or Annals) _of the University of Oxford_; vol. ii., pt. ii., 914. Gutch's edit. Consult also the recent and very amusing _History of the same University_, by Mr. A. Chalmers, vol. ii., p. 459. Leland has not forgotten this distinguished bibliomaniac; for he thus lauds him in roman verse: Tam clari meminit viri togata Rectè Gallia; tum chorus suavis Cygnorum Isidis ad vadum incolentûm Cui magnum numerum dedit BONORUM LIBRORUM, statuitque sanctiori Divinus studio scholæ theatrum; Nostro quale quidem videtur esse Magnum tempore, forsan et futuro _Cygn. Cant._ Vide Lelandi Itinerarium Curâ Hearne; edit. 1770, vol. ix., p. 17.] The reign of his successor, HENRY VI., was the reign of trouble and desolation. It is not to be wondered that learning drooped, and religion "waxed faint," 'midst the din of arms and the effusion of human blood. Yet towards the close of this reign some attempt was made to befriend the book cause; for the provost and fellows of Eton and Cambridge petitioned the king to assist them in increasing the number of books in their libraries;[272] but the result of this petition has never, I believe, been known. [Footnote 272: In the manuscript history of Eton College, in the British Museum (_MSS. Donat._ 4840, p. 154.), the Provost and Fellows of Eton and Cambridge are stated, in the 25th of Henry the Sixth, to have petitioned the king that, as these new colleges were not sufficiently seised of books for divine service, and for their libraries, he would be pleased to order one of his chaplains, Richard Chestre, "to take to him such men as shall be seen to him expedient in order to get knowledge where such bookes may be found, paying a reasonable price for the same, and that the sayd men might have the first choice of such bookes, ornaments, &c., before any man, and in especiall of all manner of bookes, ornaments, and other necessaries as now _late were perteynyng to the Duke of Gloucester_, and that the king would particular(ly) cause to be employed herein John Pye his stacioner of London." For this anecdote I am indebted to Sir H. Ellis. See also the interesting note in Warton's _Hist. Engl. Poet._, diss. ii., sign. f. 2.] I had nearly passed through the reign of Henry the Sixth without noticing the very meritorious labours of a sort of precursor of Dean Colet; I mean, SIR WALTER SHERINGTON. He was a most assiduous bibliomaniac;[273] and, in the true spirit of ancient monachism, conceived that no cathedral could be perfect without a library. Accordingly, he not only brought together an extraordinary number of curious books, but framed laws or regulations concerning the treatment of the books, and the hours of perusing them; which, if I can trust to my memory, are rather curious, and worth your examination. They are in Hearne's edition of the Antiquities of Glastonbury, composed in our own language. [Footnote 273: "Over the east quadrant of this (great) cloyster (on the north side of this church) was a fayre librarie, builded at the costes and charges of (Sir) WALTAR SHERINGTON, chancellor of the duchie of Lancaster, in the raigne of Henrie the 6. which hath beene well furnished with faire written books IN VELLEM: but few of them now do remaine there." _Antiquities of Glastonbury_; Hearne's edit. 1722; p. 308. _Regulations concerning Sherington's Library._ "Quodque dicta libraria, hostiis ipsius per præfatos capellanos custodes ejusdem, et eorum successores, aut alterum ipsorum, apertis singulis diebus profestis annuatim á festo Nativ. beat. Mar. Virg. usque festum Annunciacionis ejusdem, ob ortu solis, donec hora nona post altam missam de servicio diei in dicta ecclesiâ cathedrali finiatur: et iterum ab hora prima post meridiem usque ad finem completorii in eadem ecclesia cathedrali, vel saltem usque ad occasum solis per eosdem, seu eorum alterum, sic continue diligenter custodiatur. Et eciam singulis diebus profestis annuatim, ab eodem festo Annunciacionis beatæ Mariæ Virginis usque ad prædictum festum nativitatis ejusdem, ab hora diei sexta, donec hora nona post altam missam in dicta ecclesia cathedrali, et iterum ab hora prima post meridiem quosque completorium in eadem ecclesia cathedrali finiatur, per præfatos capellanos, seu eorum alterum et successores suos custodes dictæ librariæ debitè et diligenter aperta, custodiatur, nisi causa racionabilis hoc fieri impediat. Ita quod nullum dampnum eidem librariæ aut in libris, aut in hostiis, seruris vel fenestris vitreis ejusdem, ex negligencia dictorum capellanorum aut successorum suorum custodum dictæ librariæ evenire contingat. Et si quid dampnum hujusmodi in præmissis, seu aliquo præmissorum, per negligenciam ipsorum capellanorum, seu eorum alterius, aut successorum suorum quoque modo imposterum evenerit, id vel ipsa dampnum aut dampna recompensare, emendare et satisfacere, tociens quociens contigerit, de salariis seu stipendiis suis propriis, auctoritate et judicio dictorum Decani et Capituli, debeant et teneantur, ut est justum. Ceteris vero diebus, noctibus et temporibus hostia prædicta, cum eorum seruris et clavibus, omnino sint clausa et secure serata." _Id._: p. 193.] We now enter upon the reign of an active and enterprising monarch; who, though he may be supposed to have cut his way to the throne by his sword, does not appear to have persecuted the cause of learning; but rather to have looked with a gracious eye upon its operations by means of the press. In the reign of EDWARD IV., our venerable and worthy Caxton fixed the first press that ever was set to work in this country, in the abbey of Westminster. Yes, Lorenzo; now commenced more decidedly, the æra of BIBLIOMANIA! Now the rich, and comparatively poor, began to build them small _Book Rooms_ or _Libraries_. At first, both the architecture and furniture were sufficiently rude, if I remember well the generality of wood cuts of ancient book-boudoirs:--a few simple implements only being deemed necessary; and a three-legged stool, "in fashion square or round," as Cowper[274] says, was thought luxury sufficient for the hard student to sit upon. Now commenced a general love and patronage of books: now (to borrow John Fox's language) "tongues became known, knowledge grew, judgment increased, BOOKS WERE DISPERSED, the scripture was read, stories were opened, times compared, truth discerned, falsehood detected, and with finger pointed (at)--and all, THROUGH THE BENEFIT OF PRINTING."[275] [Footnote 274: The entire passage is worth extraction: as it well describes many an old stool which has served for many a studious philosopher: "Joint stools were then created: on three legs Upborne they stood. Three legs upholding firm A massy slab, in fashion square or round. On such a stool immortal Alfred sat, And sway'd the sceptre of his infant realms. And such in ancient halls and mansions drear May still be seen; but perforated sore, And drilled in holes, the solid oak is found, By worms voracious eating through and through." _Task_: b. i., v. 19, &c. It had escaped the amiable and sagacious author of these verses that such tripodical seats were frequently introduced into OLD BOOK-ROOMS; as the subjoined print--which gives us also a curious picture of one of the libraries alluded to by Lysander--may serve to shew: [Illustration: _Revelaciones Sancte Birgitte; ed. 1521, sign. z. 3 rev._]] [Footnote 275: _Book of Martyrs_, vol. i., p. 927; edit. 1641.] LIS. Now you have arrived at this period, pray concentrate your anecdotes into a reasonable compass. As you have inveigled us into the printing-office of Caxton, I am fearful, from your strong attachment to him, that we shall not get over the threshhold of it, into the open air again, until midnight. PHIL. Order, order, Lisardo! This is downright rudeness. I appeal to the chair!-- LORENZ. Lisardo is unquestionably reprehensible. His eagerness makes him sometimes lose sight of good breeding. LYSAND. I was going to mention some _Vellum_ and _Presentation_ copies--but I shall hurry forward. LIS. Nay, if you love me, omit nothing about "vellum and presentation copies." Speak at large upon these glorious subjects. LYSAND. Poor Lisardo!--we must build an iron cage to contain such a book-madman as he promises to become! PHIL. Proceed, dear Lysander, and no longer heed these interruptions. LYSAND. Nay, I was only about to observe that, as Caxton is known to have printed _upon vellum_,[276] it is most probable that one of his presentation copies of the romances of _Jason and Godfrey of Boulogne_ (executed under the patronage of Edward IV.), might have been printed in the same manner. Be this as it may, it seems reasonable to conclude that Edward the Fourth was not only fond of books, as objects of beauty or curiosity, but that he had some affection for literature and literary characters; for how could the firm friend and generous patron of TIPTOFT, EARL of WORCESTER--with whom this monarch had spent many a studious, as well as jovial, hour--be insensible to the charms of intellectual refinement! Pause we here for one moment--and let us pour the juice of the blackest grape upon the votive tablet, consecrated to the memory of this illustrious nobleman! and, as Caxton has become so fashionable[277] among us, I will read to you, from yonder beautiful copy of his English edition of "_Tully upon Friendship_," a part of our printer's affecting eulogy upon the translator:--"O good blessed Lord God, what great loss was it of that noble, virtuous, and well-disposed lord! When I remember and advertise his life, his science, and his virtue, me thinketh God not displeased over a great loss of such a man, considering his estate and cunning," &c. "At his death every man that was there, might learn to die and take his (own) death patiently; wherein I hope and doubt not, but that God received his soul into his everlasting bliss. For as I am informed he right advisedly ordained all his things, as well for his last will of worldly goods, as for his soul's health; and patiently, and holily, without grudging, in charity, to fore that he departed out of this world: which is gladsome and joyous to hear."--What say you to this specimen of Caxtonian eloquence? [Footnote 276: Consult the recent edition of the _Typographical Antiquities_ of our own country: vol. i., p. 56, 137, 268.] [Footnote 277: As a proof of the ardour with which the books printed by him are now sought after, the reader shall judge for himself--when he is informed that an imperfect copy of the _Golden Legend_, one of Caxton's commonest productions, produced at a book sale, a few months ago, the sum of _twenty-seven_ guineas!] LIS. It has a considerable merit; but my attention has been a good deal diverted, during your appropriate recital of it, to the beautiful condition of the copy. Thrice happy Lorenzo! what sum will convey this volume to my own library! LOREN. No offer, in the shape of money, shall take it hence. I am an enthusiast in the cause of Tiptoft; and am always upon the watch to discover any volume, printed by Caxton, which contains the composition of the hapless Earl of Worcester! Dr. Henry has spoken so handsomely of him, and Mr. Park, in his excellent edition of Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors,[278] has made his literary character so interesting that, considering the dearth of early good English authors,[279] I know of no other name that merits greater respect and admiration. [Footnote 278: Vol i., p. 200, &c. _History of Great Britain_, by Dr. Henry, vol. x., p. 143, &c.] [Footnote 279: "In the library of Glastonbury abbey, in 1248, there were but four books in Engleish, &c. We have not a single historian, in Engleish prose, before the reign of Richard the Second; when John Treviza translateëd the Polychronicon of Randal Higden. Boston of Bury, who seems to have consulted all the monasterys in Engleland, does not mention one author who had written in Engleish; and Bale, at a lateër period, has, comparatively, but an insignificant number: nor was Leland so fortunate as to find above two or three Engleish books, in the monastick and other librarys, which he rummage'd, and explore'd, under the king's commission." Ritson's Dissertation on Romance and Minstrelsy: prefixed to his _Ancient Engleish Metrical Romanceës_, vol. i., p. lxxxi.] LYSAND. True; and this nobleman's attention to the acquisition of fine and useful books, when he was abroad, for the benefit of his own country,[280] gives him a distinguished place in the list of BIBLIOMANIACS. I dare say Lisardo would give some few hundred guineas for his bust, executed by Flaxman, standing upon a pedestal composed of the original editions of his works, bound in grave-coloured morocco by his favourite Faulkener?[281] [Footnote 280: Dr. Henry's _History of Great Britain_; _ibid._: from which a copious note has been given in the new edition of our _Typographical Antiquities_; vol. i., p. 127, &c.] [Footnote 281: Henry Faulkener, no. 4, George Court, near the Adelphi, in the Strand. An honest, industrious, and excellent book-binder: who, in his mode of re-binding ancient books is not only scrupulously particular in the preservation of that important part of a volume, the margin; but, in his ornaments of tooling, is at once tasteful and exact. Notwithstanding these hard times, and rather a slender bodily frame, and yet more slender purse--with five children, and the prospect of five more--honest Mr. Faulkener is in his three-pair-of-stairs confined workshop by five in the morning winter and summer, and oftentimes labours 'till twelve at night. Severer toil, with more uniform good humour and civility in the midst of all his embarrassments, were never perhaps witnessed in a brother of the ancient and respectable craft of _Book-binding_!] LIS. I entreat you not to inflame my imagination by such tantalizing pictures! You know this must ever be a fiction: the most successful bibliomaniac never attained to such human happiness. PHIL. Leave Lisardo to his miseries, and proceed. LYSAND. I have supposed Edward to have spent some jovial hours with this unfortunate nobleman. It is thought that our monarch and he partook of the superb feast which was given by the famous NEVELL, archbishop of York, at the inthronization of the latter; and I am curious to know of what the library of such a munificent ecclesiastical character was composed! But perhaps this feast itself[282] is one of Lisardo's fictions. [Footnote 282: Lysander is perfectly correct about the feast which was given at the archbishop's inthronization; as the particulars of it--"out of an old paper roll in the archives of the Bodleian library," are given by Hearne in the sixth volume of _Leland's Collectanea_, p. 1-14: and a most extraordinary and amusing bill of fare it is. The last twenty dinners given by the Lord Mayors at Guildhall, upon the first day of their mayoralties, were only _sandwiches_--compared with such a repast! What does the reader think of 2000 chickens, 4000 pigeons, 4000 coneys, 500 "and mo," stags, bucks, and roes, with 4000 "pasties of venison colde?"--and these barely an 18th part of the kind of meats served up! At the high table our amiable EARL of WORCESTER was seated, with the Archbishop, three Bishops, the Duke of Suffolk, and the Earl of Oxford. The fictitious archiepiscopal feast was the one intended to be given by NEVELL to Edward IV.; when the latter "appointed a day to come to hunt in More in Hertfordshire, and make merry with him." Nevell made magnificent preparations for the royal visit; but instead of receiving the monarch as a guest, he was saluted by some of his officers, who "arrested him for treason," and imprisoned him at Calais and Guisnes. The cause of this sudden, and apparently monstrous, conduct, on the part of Edward, has not been told by Stow (_Chronicles_, p. 426; edit. 1615), nor by Godwyn, (_Catalogue of the Bishops of England_, p. 481, edit. 1601): both of whom relate the fact with singular naiveté. I have a strong suspicion that Nevell was so far a bibliomaniac as to have had a curious collection of _astrological books_; for "there was greate correspondency betweene this Archbishop and the Hermetique philosophers of his time; and this is partly confirmed to me from Ripley's dedication of his '_Medulla_' to him, ann. 1746; as also the presentation of Norton's '_Ordinall_,'" &c. Thus writes Ashmole, in his _Theatrum Chemicum_, p. 455.] Enough has probably been said of Edward. We will stop, therefore, but a minute, to notice the completion of the HUMPHREY LIBRARY, and the bibliomaniacal spirit of master RICHARD COURTNEY,[283] during the same reign; and give but another minute to the mention of the statute of RICHARD III. in protection of English printers,[284] when we reach the AUGUSTAN BOOK-AGE, in the reign of HENRY VII. [Footnote 283: Speaking of the public library of Oxford, at this period, Hearne tells us, from a letter sent by him to Thomas Baker, that there was "a chaplein of the Universitie chosen, after the maner of a Bedell, and to him was the custodie of the librarye committed, his stipend--cvi_s_. and viii_d_. his apparell found him _de secta generosorum_. No man might come in to studdie but graduats and thoes of 8 years contynuance in the Universitie, except noblemen. All that come in must firste sweare to use the bookes well, and not to deface theim, and everye one after at his proceedings must take the licke othe. Howers apoynted when they shuld come in to studdie, viz. betwene ix and xi aforenoone, and one and four afternoone, the keper geving attendaunce: yet a prerogative was graunted the chancelour MR. RICHARD COURTNEY to come in when he pleased, during his own lieffe, so it was in the day-tyme: and the cause seemeth, that he was CHEIFFE CAWSER AND SETTER ON OF THE LIBRARYE." _Curious Discourses by Eminent Antiquaries_; vol. ii., p. 410., edit. 1775.] [Footnote 284: See page 114, ante. When Lysander talks, above, of the reign of Henry the Seventh being the "AUGUSTAN AGE for BOOKS," he must be supposed to allude to the facility and beauty of publishing them by means of THE PRESS: for at this period, abroad, the typographical productions of Verard, Eustace, Vostre, Bonfons, Pigouchet, Regnier, and many others ("quæ nunc perscribere longum est") were imitated, and sometimes equalled by W. de Worde, Pynson, and Notary, at home. In regard to _intellectual_ fame, if my authority be good, "in the reign of Henry VII. Greek was a stranger in both universities; and so little even of Latin had Cambridge, of its own growth, that it had not types sufficient to furnish out the common letters and epistles of the University. They usually employed an Italian, one Caius Auberinus, to compose them, whose ordinarry [Transcriber's Note: ordinary] fee was twentypence a letter." (MSS. in Benet College Library, lib. P. p. 194,) _Ridley's Life of Ridley_, p. 22. "Greek began to be taught in both universities: quietly at Cambridge, but ('Horresco referens!') with some tumult at Oxford!" _ibid._] PHIL. Before we proceed to discuss the bibliomaniacal ravages of this age, we had better retire, with Lorenzo's leave, to the DRAWING-ROOM; to partake of a beverage less potent than that which is now before us. LORENZ. Just as you please. But I should apprehend that Lysander could hold out 'till he reached the Reformation;--and, besides, I am not sure whether our retreat be quite ready for us. LIS. Pray let us not take leave of all these beauteous books, and busts, and pictures, just at present. If Lysander's lungs will bear him out another twenty minutes, we shall, by that time, have reached the Reformation; and then "our retreat," as Lorenzo calls it, may be quite ready for our reception. LYSAND. Settle it between yourselves. But I think I could hold out for another twenty minutes--since you will make me your only book-orator. LORENZ. Let it be so, then. I will order the lamps to be lit; so that Lisardo may see his favourite Wouvermans and Berghems, in company with my romances, (which latter are confined in my satin-wood book-case) to every possible degree of perfection! LYSAND. Provided you indulge me also with a sight of these delightful objects, you shall have what you desire:--and thus I proceed: Of the great passion of HENRY THE VIITH for fine books, even before he ascended the throne of England,[285] there is certainly no doubt. And while he was king, we may judge, even from the splendid fragments of his library, which are collected in the British Museum, of the nicety of his taste, and of the soundness of his judgment. That he should love extravagant books of devotion,[286] as well as histories and chronicles, must be considered the fault of the age, rather than of the individual. I will not, however, take upon me to say that the slumbers of this monarch were disturbed in consequence of the extraordinary and frightful passages, which, accompanied with bizarre cuts,[287] were now introduced into almost every work, both of ascetic divinity and also of plain practical morality. His predecessor, Richard, had in all probability been alarmed by the images which the reading of these books had created; and I guess that it was from such frightful objects, rather than from the ghosts of his murdered brethren, that he was compelled to pass a sleepless night before the memorable battle of Bosworth Field. If one of those artists who used to design the horrible pictures which are engraved in many old didactic volumes of this period had ventured to take a peep into Richard's tent, I question whether he would not have seen, lying upon an oaken table, an early edition of some of those fearful works of which he had himself aided in the embellishment, and of which Heinecken has given us such curious fac-similes:[288]--and this, in my humble apprehension, is quite sufficient to account for all the terrible workings in Richard, which Shakespeare has so vividly described. [Footnote 285: Mr. Heber has a fine copy of one of the volumes of a black-letter edition of Froissart, printed by Eustace, upon the exterior of the binding of which are HENRY'S arms, with his name--HENRICVS DVX RICHMVNDIÆ. The very view of such a book, while it gives comfort to a low-spirited bibliomaniac, adds energy to the perseverance of a young collector! the latter of whom fondly, but vainly, thinks he may one day be blessed with a similar treasure!] [Footnote 286: The possession of such a volume as "_The Revelations of the monk of Euesham_" (vide vol. ii., of the new edition of _Brit. Typog. Antiquities_), is evidence sufficient of Henry's attachment to extravagant books of devotion.] [Footnote 287: It is certainly one of the comforts of modern education, that girls and boys have nothing to do, even in the remotest villages, with the perusal of such books as were put into the juvenile hands of those who lived towards the conclusion of the 15th century. One is at a loss to conceive how the youth of that period could have ventured at night out of doors, or slept alone in a darkened room, without being frightened out of their wits! Nor could maturer life be uninfluenced by reading such volumes as are alluded to in the text: and as to the bed of death--_that_ must have sometimes shaken the stoutest faith, and disturbed the calmest piety. For what can be more terrible, and at the same time more audacious, than human beings arrogating to themselves the powers of the deity, and denouncing, in equivocal cases, a certainty and severity of future punishment, equally revolting to scripture and common sense? To drive the timid into desperation, and to cut away the anchor of hope from the rational believer, seem, among other things, to have been the objects of these "ascetic" authors; while the pictures, which were suffered to adorn their printed works, confirmed the wish that, where the reader might not comprehend the text, he could understand its illustration by means of a print. I will give two extracts, and one of these "bizarre cuts," in support of the preceding remarks. At page 168, ante, the reader will find a slight mention of the subject: he is here presented with a more copious illustration of it. "In likewise there is none that may declare the piteous and horrible cries and howlings the which that is made in hell, as well of devils as of other damned. And if that a man demand what they say in crying; the answer: All the damned curseth the Creator. Also they curse together as their father and their mother, and the hour that they were begotten, and that they were born, and that they were put unto nourishing, and those that them should correct and teach, and also those the which have been the occasion of their sins, as the bawd, cursed be the bawd, and also of other occasions in diverse sins. The second cause of the cry of them damned is for the consideration that they have of the time of mercy, the which is past, in the which they may do penance and purchase paradise. The third cause is of their cry for by cause of the horrible pains of that they endure. As we may consider that if an hundred persons had every of them one foot and one hand in the fire, or in the water seething without power to die, what _bruit_ and what cry they should make; but that should be less than nothing in comparison of devils and of other damned, for they ben more than an hundred thousand thousands, the which all together unto them doeth _noysaunce_, and all in one thunder crying and braying horribly."--_Thordynary of Crysten Men_, 1506, 4to., k k. ii., rect. Again: from a French work written "for the amusement of all worthy ladies and gentlemen:" De la flamme tousiours esprise De feu denfer qui point ne brise De busches nest point actise Ne de soufflemens embrase Le feu denfer, mais est de Dieu Cree pour estre en celuy lieu Des le premier commencement Sans jamais pendre finement Illec nya point de clarte Mais de tenebres obscurte De peine infinie durte De miseres eternite Pleur et estraignement de dens Chascun membre aura la dedans Tourmmens selon ce qua forfait La peine respondra au fait, &c. &c. &c. _Le passe tempe de tout home, et de toute femme_; sign. q. ii., rev. Printed by Verard in 8vo., without date: (from a copy, printed upon vellum, in the possession of John Lewis Goldsmyd, Esq.)--The next extract is from a book which was written to amuse and instruct the common people: being called by Warton a "universal magazine of every article of salutary and useful knowledge." _Hist. Engl. Poetry_: vol. ii., 195. In hell is great mourning Great trouble of crying Of thunder noises roaring with plenty of wild fire Beating with great strokes like guns with a great frost in water runs And after a bitter wind comes which goeth through the souls with ire There is both thirst and hunger fiends with hooks putteth their flesh asunder They fight and curse and each on other wonder with the fight of the devils dreadable There is shame and confusion Rumour of conscience for evil living They curse themself with great crying In smoak and stink they be evermore lying with other pains innumerable. _Kalendar of Shepherds. Sign G. vij. rev. Pynson's edit., fol._ [Illustration] Specimens of some of the tremendous cuts which are crowded into this thin folio will be seen in the second volume of the new edition of the _Typographical Antiquities_. However, that the reader's curiosity may not here be disappointed, he is presented with a similar specimen, on a smaller scale, of one of the infernal tortures above described. It is taken from a book whose title conveys something less terrific; and describes a punishment which is said to be revealed by the Almighty to St. Bridget against those who have "ornamenta indecentia in capitibus et pedibus, et reliquis membris, ad provocandum luxuriam et irritandum deum, in strictis vestibus, ostensione mamillarum, unctionibus," &c. _Revelaciones sancte Birgitte; edit. Koeberger, 1521, fol., sign. q., 7, rev._] [Footnote 288: See many of the cuts in that scarce and highly coveted volume, entitled, "_Idée Generale d'une Collection complètte d'Estampes_." Leips. 1771, 8vo.] LIS. This is, at least, an original idea; and has escaped the sagacity of every commentator in the last twenty-one volume edition of the works of our bard. LYSAND. But to return to Henry. I should imagine that his mind was not much affected by the perusal of this description of books: but rather that he was constantly meditating upon some old arithmetical work--the prototype of Cocker--which, in the desolation of the ensuing half century, has unfortunately perished. Yet, if this monarch be accused of avaricious propensities--if, in consequence of speculating deeply in _large paper_ and _vellum_ copies, he made his coffers to run over with gold--it must be remembered that he was, at the same time, a patron as well as judge of architectural artists; and while the completion of the structure of King's college Chapel, Cambridge, and the building of his own magnificent chapel[289] at Westminster (in which latter, I suspect, he had a curiously-carved gothic closet for the preservation of choice copies from Caxton's neighbouring press), afford decisive proofs of Henry's skill in matters of taste, the rivalship of printers and of book-buyers shews that the example of the monarch was greatly favourable to the propagation of the Bibliomania. Indeed, such was the progress of the book-disease that, in the very year of Henry's death, appeared, for the first time in this country, an edition of _The Ship of Fools_--in which work, ostentatious and ignorant book-collectors[290] are, amongst other characters, severely satirized. [Footnote 289: Harpsfield speaks with becoming truth and spirit of Henry's great attention to ecclesiastical establishments: "Splendidum etiam illud sacellum westmonasterij, magno sumptu atque magnificentia ab eodem est conditum. In quod coenobium valde fuit liberalis et munificus. Nullumque fere fuit in tota Anglia monachorum, aut fratrum coenobium, nullum collegium, cujus preces, ad animam ipsius Deo post obitum commendandam, sedulo non expetierat. Legavit autem singulorum præfectis sex solidos et octo denarios, singulis autem eorundem presbyteris, tres solidos et quatuor denarios: ceteris non presbyteris viginti denarios." _Hist. Eccles. Anglic._, p. 606, edit. 1622, fol.] [Footnote 290: The reader is here introduced to his old acquaintance, who appeared in the title-page to my first "_Bibliomania_:"-- [Illustration] I am the firste fole of all the hole navy To kepe the pompe, the helme, and eke the sayle: For this is my mynde, this one pleasoure have I-- Of bokes to haue great plenty and aparayle. I take no wysdome by them: nor yet avayle Nor them perceyve nat: And then I them despyse. Thus am I a foole, and all that serue that guyse. _Shyp of Folys_, &c., _Pynson's edit._, 1509, fol.] We have now reached the threshhold of the reign of HENRY VIII.--and of the era of THE REFORMATION. An era in every respect most important, but, in proportion to its importance, equally difficult to describe--as it operates upon the history of the Bibliomania. Now blazed forth, but blazed for a short period, the exquisite talents of Wyatt, Surrey, Vaux, Fischer, More, and, when he made his abode with us, the incomparable Erasmus. But these in their turn. PHIL. You omit Wolsey. Surely he knew something about books? LYSAND. I am at present only making the sketch of my grand picture. Wolsey, I assure you, shall stand in the foreground. Nor shall the immortal Leland be treated in a less distinguished manner. Give me only "ample room and verge enough," and a little time to collect my powers, and then-- LIS. "Yes, and then"--you will infect us from top to toe with the BOOK-DISEASE! PHIL. In truth I already begin to feel the consequence of the innumerable miasma of it, which are floating in the atmosphere of this library. I move that we adjourn to a purer air. LYSAND. I second the motion: for, having reached the commencement of Henry's reign, it will be difficult to stop at any period in it previous to that of the Reformation. LIS. Agreed. Thanks to the bacchanalian bounty of Lorenzo, we are sufficiently enlivened to enter yet further, and more enthusiastically, into this congenial discourse. Dame nature and good sense equally admonish us now to depart. Let us, therefore, close the apertures of these gorgeous decanters:-- "Claudite jam rivos, pueri: sat prata bibêrunt!" [Illustration] [Illustration: The striking device of M. MORIN, Printer, Rouen.] PART V. =The Drawing Room.= HISTORY OF THE BIBLIOMANIA, OR ACCOUNT OF BOOK COLLECTORS, CONCLUDED. Some in Learning's garb With formal hand, and sable-cinctur'd gown, And rags of mouldy volumes. AKENSIDE; _Pleasures of Imagination_, b. iii., v. 96. [Illustration] =The Drawing Room.= HISTORY OF THE BIBLIOMANIA, OR ACCOUNT OF BOOK-COLLECTORS, CONTINUED. Volatile as the reader may comceive [Transcriber's Note: conceive] the character of Lisardo to be, there were traits in it of marked goodness and merit. His enthusiasm so frequently made him violate the rules of severe politeness; and the quickness with which he flew from one subject to another, might have offended a narrator of the gravity, without the urbanity, of Lysander; had not the frankness with which he confessed his faults, and the warmth with which he always advocated the cause of literature, rendered him amiable in the eyes of those who thoroughly knew him. The friends, whose company he was now enjoying, were fully competent to appreciate his worth. They perceived that Lisardo's mind had been rather brilliantly cultivated; and that, as his heart had always beaten at the call of virtue, so, in a due course of years, his judgment would become matured, and his opinions more decidedly fixed. He had been left, very early in life, without a father, and bred up in the expectation of a large fortune; while the excessive fondness of his mother had endeavoured to supply the want of paternal direction, and had encouraged her child to sigh for every thing short of impossibility for his gratification. In consequence, Lisardo was placed at College upon the most respectable footing. He wore the velvet cap, and enjoyed the rustling of the tassels upon his silk gown, as he paraded the High street of Oxford. But although he could translate Tacitus and Theocritus with creditable facility, he thought it more advantageous to gratify the cravings of his body than of his mind. He rode high-mettled horses; he shot with a gun which would have delighted an Indian prince; he drank freely out of cut-glasses, which were manufactured according to his own particular taste; and wines of all colours and qualities sparkled upon his table; he would occasionally stroll into the Bodleian Library and Picture Gallery, in order to know whether any acquisitions had been recently made to them; and attended the Concerts when any performer came down from London. Yet, in the midst of all his gaiety, Lisardo passed more sombrous than joyous hours: for when he looked into a book, he would sometimes meet with an electrical sentence from Cicero, Seneca, or Johnson, from which he properly inferred that life was uncertain, and that time was given us to prepare for eternity. He grew dissatisfied and melancholy. He scrambled through his terms; took his degree; celebrated his anniversary of twenty-one, by drenching his native village in ale which had been brewed at his birth; added two wings to his father's house; launched out into coin and picture collecting; bought fine books with fine bindings; then sold all his coins and pictures; and, at the age of twenty-five, began to read, and think, and act for himself. At this crisis, he became acquainted with the circle which has already been introduced to the reader's attention; and to which circle the same reader may think it high time now to return. Upon breaking up for THE DRAWING ROOM, it was amusing to behold the vivacity of Lisardo; who, leaping about Lysander, and expressing his high gratification at the discourse he had already heard, and his pleasure at what he hoped yet to hear, reminded us of what Boswell has said of Garrick, who used to flutter about Dr. Johnson, and try to soften his severity by a thousand winning gestures. The doors were opened; and we walked into Lorenzo's Drawing Room. The reader is not to figure to himself a hundred fantastical and fugitive pieces of furniture, purchased at Mr. Oakley's, and set off with curtains, carpet, and looking-glasses--at a price which would have maintained a country town of seven hundred poor with bread and soup during the hardest winter--the reader will not suppose that a man of Lorenzo's taste, who called books his best wealth, would devote two thousand pounds to such idle trappings; which in the course of three years, at farthest, would lose their comfort by losing their fashion. But he will suppose that elegance and propriety were equally consulted by our host. Accordingly, a satin-wood book-case of 14 feet in width and 11 in height, ornamented at the top with a few chaste Etruscan vases--a light blue carpet, upon which were depicted bunches of grey roses, shadowed in brown--fawn-coloured curtains, relieved with yellow silk and black velvet borders--alabaster lamps shedding their soft light upon small marble busts--and sofas and chairs corresponding with the curtains--(and upon which a visitor might sit without torturing the nerves of the owner of them) these, along with some genuine pictures of Wouvermans, Berghem, and Rysdael, and a few other (subordinate) ornaments, formed the furniture of Lorenzo's Drawing Room. As it was _en suite_ with the library, which was fitted up in a grave style or character, the contrast was sufficiently pleasing. Lisardo ran immediately to the book-case. He first eyed, with a greedy velocity, the backs of the folios and quartos; then the octavos; and, mounting an ingeniously-contrived mahogany rostrum, which moved with the utmost facility, he did not fail to pay due attention to the duodecimos; some of which were carefully preserved in Russia or morocco backs, with water-tabby silk linings, and other appropriate embellishments. In the midst of his book-reverie, he heard, on a sudden, the thrilling notes of a harp--which proceeded from the further end of the library!--it being Lorenzo's custom, upon these occasions, to request an old Welch servant to bring his instrument into the library, and renew, if he could, the strains of "other times." Meanwhile the curtains were "let fall;" the sofa wheeled round; --and the cups That cheer, but not inebriate, with "the bubbling and loud hissing urn," "welcomed the evening in." Lorenzo brought from his library a volume of Piranesi, and another of engravings from the heads of Vandyke. Lisardo, in looking at them, beat time with his head and foot; and Philemon and Lysander acknowledged that Dr. Johnson himself could never have so much enjoyed the beverage which was now before them. If it should here be asked, by the critical reader, why our society is not described as being more congenial, by the presence of those "whom man was born to please," the answer is at once simple and true--Lorenzo was a bachelor; and his sisters, knowing how long and desperate would be our discussion upon the black letter and white letter, had retreated, in the morning, to spend the day with Lisardo's mother--whither ---- ---- had been invited to join them. The harper had now ceased. The tea-things were moved away; when we narrowed our circle, and, two of us upon the sofa, and three upon chairs, entreated Lysander to resume his narrative; who, after "clearing his pipes (like Sir Roger de Coverley) with a loud hem or two," thus proceeded. "I think we left off," said Lysander, "with seating HENRY THE EIGHTH upon the throne of England. It will be as well, therefore, to say something of this monarch's pretensions to scholarship and love of books. Although I will not rake together every species of abuse which has been vented against him by one Anthony Gilbie,[291] yet Henry must be severely censured, in the estimation of the most candid inquirer, for that gross indifference which he evinced to the real interests of literature, in calmly suffering the libraries of convents and monasteries to be pillaged by the crafty and rapacious. He was bibliomaniac enough to have a few copies of his own work, in defence of the Roman Catholic exposition of the Sacrament, struck off UPON VELLUM:[292] but when he quarrelled with the Roman pontiff about his divorce from Queen Catharine, in order to marry Anne Boleyn,[293] he sounded the tocsin for the eventful destruction of all monastic libraries: and although he had sent Leland, under an express commission, to make a due examination of them, as well as a statistical survey of the realm, yet, being frustrated in the forementioned darling object, he cared for nothing about books, whether _upon vellum_ or _large paper_. But had we not better speak of the book ravages, during the reformation, in their proper place?" [Footnote 291: "In the time (saith he) of King HENRIE THE EIGHT, when by Tindall, Frith, Bilney, and other his faithful seruantes, God called England to dresse his vineyarde, many promise ful faire, whome I coulde name, but what fruite followed? Nothing but bitter grapes, yea, bryers and brambles, the wormewood of auarice, the gall of crueltie, the poison of filthie fornication, flowing from head to fote, the contempt of God, and open defence of the cake idole, by open proclamation to be read in the churches in steede of God's Scriptures. Thus was there no reformation, but a deformation, in the time of the tyrant and lecherouse monster. The bore I graunt was busie, wrooting and digging in the earth, and all his pigges that followed him, but they sought onely for the pleasant fruites, that they winded with their long snoutes; and for their own bellies sake, they wrooted up many weeds; but they turned the grounde so, mingling goode and badde togeather, sweet and sower, medecine and poyson, they made, I saye, suche confusion of religion and lawes, that no good thinge could growe, but by great miracle, under suche gardeners. And no maruaile, if it be rightlye considered. For this bore raged against God, against the Divell, against Christe, and against Antichrist, as the fome that he cast oute against Luther, the racing out of the name of the pope, and yet allowing his lawes, and his murder of many Christian souldiars, and of many Papists, doe declare and evidentlie testifie unto us; especially the burning of Barnes, Jerome, and Garrette, their faithfull preachers of the truthe, and hanging the same daye for the maintenaunce of the pope, Poel, Abel, and Fetherstone, dothe clearlie painte his beastlines, that he cared for no religion. This monsterous bore for all this must needes be called the head of the church in paine of treason, displacing Christ, our onely head, who ought alone to haue this title." _Admonition to England and Scotland, &c._, Geneva, 1558, p. 69. Quoted by Stapleton in his _Counter Blaste to Horne's Vayne Blaste_, Lovan., 1567, 4to., fol. 23. Gilbie was a Protestant; upon which Stapleton who was a rigid Roman Catholic, shrewdly remarks in the margin: "See how religiously the Protestantes speak of their princes!"] [Footnote 292: Mr. Edwards informs me that he has had a copy of the "_Assertio Septem Sacramentorum aduersus Martin Lutherum_," &c. (printed by Pynson in 4to., both with and without date--1521), UPON VELLUM. The presentation copy to Henry, and perhaps another to Wolsey, might have been of this nature. I should have preferred a similar copy of the small book, printed a few years afterwards, in 12mo., of Henry's Letters in answer to Luther's reply to the foregoing work. This is not the place to talk further of these curious pieces. I have seen some of Pynson's books printed upon vellum; which are not remarkable for their beauty.] [Footnote 293: Those readers who are not in possession of Hearne's rare edition of _Robert de Avesbury_, 1720, 8vo., and who cannot, in consequence, read the passionate letters of Henry VIII. to his beloved Boleyn, which form a leading feature in the Appendix to the same, will find a few extracts from them in the _British Bibliographer_; vol. ii., p. 78. Some of the monarch's signatures, of which Hearne has given fac-similes, are as follow: [Illustration] When one thinks of the then imagined happiness of the fair object of these epistles--and reads the splendid account of her coronation dinner, by Stow--contrasting it with the melancholy circumstances which attended her death--one is at loss to think, or to speak, with sufficient force, of the fickleness of all sublunary grandeur! The reader may, perhaps, wish for this, "coronation dinner?" It is, in part, strictly as follows: "While the queen was in her chamber, every lord and other that ought to do service at the coronation, did prepare them, according to their duty: as the Duke of Suffolk, High-Steward of England, which was richly apparelled--his doublet and jacket set with orient pearl, his gown crimson velvet embroidered, his courser trapped with a close trapper, head and all, to the ground, of crimson velvet, set full of letters of gold, of goldsmith's work; having a long white rod in his hand. On his left-hand rode the Lord William, deputy for his brother, as Earl Marshall, with ye marshal's rod, whose gown was crimson velvet, and his horse's trapper purple velvet cut on white satin, embroidered with white lions. The Earl of Oxford was High Chamberlain; the Earl of Essex, carver; the Earl of Sussex, sewer; the Earl of Arundel, chief butler; on whom 12 citizens of London did give their attendance at the cupboard; the Earl of Derby, cup-bearer; the Viscount Lisle, panter; the Lord Burgeiny, chief larder; the Lord Broy, almoner for him and his copartners; and the Mayor of Oxford kept the buttery-bar: and Thomas Wyatt was chosen ewerer for Sir Henry Wyatt, his father." "When all things were ready and ordered, THE QUEEN, under her canopy, came into the hall, and washed; and sat down in the middest of the table, under her cloth of estate. On the right side of her chair stood the Countess of Oxford, widow: and on her left hand stood the Countess of Worcester, all the dinner season; which, divers times in the dinner time, did hold a fine cloth before the Queen's face, when she list to spit, or do otherwise at her pleasure. And at the table's end sate the Archbishop of Canterbury, on the right hand of the Queen; and in the midst, between the Archbishop and the Countess of Oxford, stood the Earl of Oxford, with a white staff, all dinner time; and at the Queen's feet, under the table, sate two gentlewomen all dinner time. When all these things were thus ordered, came in the Duke of Suffolk and the Lord William Howard on horseback, and the Serjeants of arms before them, and after them the sewer; and then the knights of the Bath, bringing in the _first course_, which was eight and twenty dishes, besides subtleties, and ships made of wax, marvellous gorgeous to behold: all which time of service, the trumpets standing in the window, at the nether end of the hall, played," &c. _Chronicles_; p. 566: edit. 1615, fol.] LORENZ. As you please. Perhaps you will go on with the mention of some distinguished patrons 'till you arrive at that period? LYSAND. Yes; we may now as well notice the efforts of that extraordinary _bibliomaniacal triumvirate_, Colet, More, and Erasmus. PHIL. Pray treat copiously of them. They are my great favourites. But can you properly place Erasmus in the list? LYSAND. You forget that he made a long abode here, and was Greek professor at Cambridge. To begin, then, with the former. COLET, as you well know, was Dean of St. Paul's; and founder of the public school which goes by the latter name. He had an ardent and general love of literature;[294] but his attention to the improvement of youth, in superintending appropriate publications, for their use, was unremitting. Few men did so much and so well, at this period: for while he was framing the statutes by which his little community was to be governed, he did not fail to keep the presses of Wynkyn De Worde and Pynson pretty constantly at work, by publishing the grammatical treatises of Grocyn, Linacre, Stanbridge, Lilye, Holte, Whittington, and others--for the benefit, as well of the public, as of his own particular circle. I take it, his library must have been both choice and copious; for books now began to be multiplied in an immense ratio, and scholars and men of rank thought _a Study_, or _Library_, of some importance to their mansions. What would we not give for an authenticated representation of Dean Colet in his library,[295] surrounded with books? You, Lisardo, would be in ecstacies with such a thing! [Footnote 294: How anxiously does COLET seem to have watched the progress, and pushed the sale, of his friend Erasmus's first edition of the Greek Testament! "Quod scribis de Novo Testamento intelligo. Et libri novæ editionis tuæ _hic avide emuntur et passim leguntur_!" The entire epistle (which may be seen in Dr. Knight's dry Life of Colet, p. 315) is devoted to an account of Erasmus's publications. "I am really astonished, my dear Erasmus (does he exclaim), at the fruitfulness of your talents; that, without any fixed residence, and with a precarious and limited income, you contrive to publish so many and such excellent works." Adverting to the distracted state of Germany at this period, and to the wish of his friend to live secluded and unmolested, he observes--"As to the tranquil retirement which you sigh for, be assured that you have my sincere wishes for its rendering you as happy and composed as you can wish it. Your age and erudition entitle you to such a retreat. I fondly hope, indeed, that you will choose this country for it, and come and live amongst us, whose disposition you know, and whose friendship you have proved." There is hardly a more curious picture of the custom of the times relating to the education of boys, than the Dean's own Statutes for the regulation of St. Paul's School, which he had founded. These shew, too, the _popular books_ then read by the learned. "The children shall come unto the school in the morning at seven of the clock, both winter and summer, and tarry there until eleven; and return again at one of the clock, and depart at five, &c. In the school, no time in the year, they shall use tallow candle, in no wise, but _only wax candle_, at the costs of their friends. Also I will they bring no meat nor drink, nor bottle, nor use in the school no breakfasts, nor drinkings, in the time of learning, in no wise, &c. I will they use no cockfighting, nor riding about of victory, nor disputing at Saint Bartholomew, which is but foolish babbling and loss of time." The master is then restricted, under the penalty of 40 shillings, from granting the boys a holiday, or "remedy" (play-day), as it is here called, "except the king, an archbishop, or a bishop, present in his own person in the school, desire it." The studies for the lads were "Erasmus's _Copia_ et _Institutum Christiani Hominii_ (composed at the Dean's request), _Lactantius_, _Prudentius_, _Juvencus_, _Proba_ and _Sedulius_, and _Baptista Mantuanus_, and such other as shall be thought convenient and most to purpose unto the true Latin speech; all barbary, all corruption, all Latin adulterate, which ignorant blind fools brought into this world, and with the same hath distained and poisoned the old Latin speech, and the _veray_ Roman tongue, which in the time of Tully, and Sallust, and Virgil, and Terence, was used--I say, that filthiness, and all such abusion, which the later blind world brought in, which more rather may be called BLOTERATURE than LITERATURE, I utterly banish and exclude out of THIS SCHOOL." Knight's _Life of Colet_, 362, 4. The sagacious reader will naturally enough conclude that boys, thus educated, would, afterwards, of necessity, fall victims to the ravages of the BIBLIOMANIA!] [Footnote 295: I wish it were in my power to come forward with any stronger degree of probability than the exhibition of the subjoined cut, of what might have been the interior of _Dean Colet's Study_. This print is taken from an old work, printed in the early part of the sixteenth century, and republished in a book of Alciatus's emblems, translated from the Latin into Italian, A.D. 1549, 8vo. There is an air of truth about it; but the frame work is entirely modern, and perhaps not in the purest taste. It may turn out that this interior view of a private library is somewhat too perfect and finished for the times of Colet, in this country; especially if we may judge from the rules to be observed in completing a public one, just about the period of Colet's death: "Md. couenawntyd and agreid wyth Comell Clerke, for the making off the dextis in the library, (of Christ Church College, Oxford) to the summe off xvi, after the maner and forme as they be in Magdalyn college, except the popie heedes off the seites, this to be workmanly wrought and clenly, and he to have all manner off stooff foond hym, and to have for the makyng off one dexte xs. the sum off the hole viii. li. Item: borowd att Magdaleyn college one c. off v. d nayle, a c. off vi. d nayle, dim. c. x. d. nayle."--_Antiquities of Glastonbury_; edit. Hearne, p. 307. [Illustration]] LIS. Pray don't make such tantalizing appeals to me! Proceed, proceed. LYSAND. Of this amiable and illustrious character I will only further observe that he possessed solid, good sense--unaffected and unshaken piety--a love towards the whole human race--and that he dignified his attachment to learning by the conscientious discharge of his duty towards God and man. He sleeps in peace beneath a monument, which has been consecrated by the tears of all who were related to him, and by the prayers of those who have been benefitted by his philanthropy. Of SIR THOMAS MORE,[296] where is the schoolboy that is ignorant? He was unquestionably, next to Erasmus, the most brilliant scholar of his age: while the precious biographical memoirs of him, which have luckily descended to us, place his character, in a domestic point of view, beyond that of all his contemporaries. Dr. Wordsworth[297] has well spoken of "the heavenly mindedness" of More: but how are bibliomaniacs justly to appreciate the classical lore, and incessantly-active book-pursuits,[298] of this scholar and martyr! How he soared "above his compeers!" How richly, singularly, and curiously, was his mind furnished! Wit, playfulness, elevation, and force--all these are distinguishable in his writings, if we except his polemical compositions; which latter, to speak in the gentlest terms, are wholly unworthy of his name. When More's head was severed from his body, virtue and piety exclaimed, in the language of Erasmus,--"He is dead: More, whose breast was purer than snow, whose genius was excellent above all his nation."[299] [Illustration: Behold him going to execution--his beloved daughter (Mrs. Roper) rushing through the guards, to take her last embrace.] [Footnote 296: In the first volume of my edition of SIR THOMAS MORE'S _Utopia_, the reader will find an elaborate and faithful account of the biographical publications relating to this distinguished character, together with a copious _Catalogue Raisonnè_ of the engraved portraits of him, and an analysis of his English works. It would be tedious to both the reader and author, here to repeat what has been before written of Sir Thomas More--whose memory lives in every cultivated bosom. Of this edition of the Utopia there appeared a flimsy and tart censure in the _Edinburgh Review_, by a critic, who, it was manifest, had never examined the volumes, and who, when he observes upon the fidelity of Bishop Burnet's translation of the original Latin of More, was resolved, from pure love of Whiggism, to defend an author at the expense of truth.] [Footnote 297: I have read this newly published biographical memoir of Sir Thomas More: which contains nothing very new, or deserving of particular notice in this place.] [Footnote 298: A bibliomanical anecdote here deserves to be recorded; as it shews how More's love of books had infected even those who came to seize upon him to carry him to the Tower, and to endeavour to inveigle him into treasonable expressions:--"While Sir Richard Southwell and Mr. Palmer were bussie in _trussinge upp his bookes_, Mr. Riche, pretending," &c.--"Whereupon Mr. Palmer, on his desposition, said, that he was soe bussie about the _trussinge upp Sir Tho. Moore's bookes_ in a sacke, that he tooke no heed to there talke. Sir Richard Southwell likewise upon his disposition said, that because he was appoynted only to looke to the conveyance _of his bookes_, he gave noe ear unto them."--_Gulielmi Roperi Vita D.T. Mori_; edit Herne, p. 47, 51.] [Footnote 299: Epistle Dedicatory to Ecclesiastes: quoted in that elegant and interesting quarto volume of the "_Lives of British Statesmen_," by the late Mr. Macdiarmid; p. 117.] How can I speak, with adequate justice, of the author of these words!--Yes, ERASMUS!--in spite of thy timidity, and sometimes, almost servile compliances with the capricious whims of the great; in spite of thy delicate foibles, thou shalt always live in my memory; and dear to me shall be the possession of thy intellectual labours! No pen has yet done justice to thy life.[300] How I love to trace thee, in all thy bookish pursuits, from correcting the press of thy beloved Froben, to thy social meetings with Colet and More! You remember well, Lisardo,--we saw, in yonder room, a _large paper_ copy of the fine Leyden edition of this great man's works! You opened it; and were struck with the variety--the solidity, as well as gaiety, of his productions. [Footnote 300: It were much to be wished that Mr. Roscoe, who has so successfully turned his attention to the history of _Italian Literature_, of the period of Erasmus, would devote himself to the investigation of the philological history of the German schools, and more especially to the literary life of the great man of whom Lysander is above speaking. The biographical memoirs of Erasmus by Le Clerc, anglicised and enlarged by the learned Jortin, and Dr. Knight's life of the same, can never become popular. They want method, style and interest. Le Clerc, however, has made ample amends for the defectiveness of his biographical composition, by the noble edition of Erasmus's works which he put forth at Leyden, in the year 1703-6, in eleven volumes folio: of which volumes the reader will find an excellent analysis or review in the _Act. Erudit._, A.D. 1704, &c. Le Clerc, _Bibl. Choisie_, vol. i., 380; Du Pin's _Bibl. Eccles._, vol. xiv., and _Biblioth. Fabric_, pt. i., 359; from which latter we learn that, in the public library, at Deventer, there is a copy of Erasmus's works, in which those passages, where the author speaks freely of the laxity of the monkish character, have been defaced, "chartâ fenestrata." A somewhat more compressed analysis of the contents of these volumes appeared in the _Sylloge Opusculorum Hist.-Crit., Literariorum, J.A. Fabricii, Hamb._ 1738, 4to., p. 363, 378--preceded, however, by a pleasing, yet brief account of the leading features of Erasmus's literary life. Tn one of his letters to Colet, Erasmus describes himself as "a very poor fellow in point of fortune, and wholly exempt from ambition." A little before his death he sold his library to one John a Lasco, a Polonese, for only 200 florins. (Of this amiable foreigner, see Stypye's [Transcriber's Note: Strype's] _Life of Crammer_ [Transcriber's Note: Cranmer]; b. ii., ch. xxii.) Nor did he--notwithstanding his services to booksellers--and although every press was teeming with his lucubrations--and especially that of Colinæeus--(which alone put forth 24,000 copies of his _Colloquies_) ever become much the wealthier for his talents as an author. His bibliomaniacal spirit was such, that he paid most liberally those who collated or described works of which he was in want. In another of his letters, he declares that "he shall not recieve [Transcriber's Note: receive] an _obolus_ that year; as he had spent more than what he had gained in rewarding those who had made book-researches for him;" and he complains, after being five months at Cambridge, that he had, fruitlessly, spent upwards of fifty crowns. "Noblemen," says he, "love and praise literature, and my lucubrations; but they praise and do not reward." To his friend Eobanus Hessus (vol. vi., 25), he makes a bitter complaint "de Comite quodam." For the particulars, see the last mentioned authority, p. 363, 4. In the year 1519, Godenus, to whom Erasmus had bequeathed a silver bowl, put forth a facetious catalogue of his works, in hexameter and pentameter verses; which was printed at Louvain by Martin, without date, in 4to.; and was soon succeeded by two more ample and methodical ones by the same person in 1537, 4to.; printed by Froben and Episcopius. See Marchand's _Dict. Bibliogr. et Histor._, vol. i., p. 98, 99. The bibliomaniac may not object to be informed that Froben, shortly after the death of his revered Erasmus, put forth this first edition of the entire works of the latter, in nine folio volumes; and that accurate and magnificent as is Le Clerc's edition of the same (may I venture to hint at the rarity of LARGE PAPER copies of it?), "it takes no notice of the _Index Expurgatorius_ of the early edition of Froben, which has shown a noble art of curtailing this, as well as other authors." See _Knight's Life of Erasmus_, p. 353. The mention of Froben and Erasmus, thus going down to immortality together, induces me to inform the curious reader that my friend Mr. Edwards is possessed of a chaste and elegant painting, by Fuseli, of this distinguished author and printer--the portraits being executed after the most authentic representations. Erasmus is in the act of calmly correcting the press, while Froben is urging with vehemence some emendations which he conceives to be of consequence, but to which his master seems to pay no attention! And now having presented the reader (p. 221, ante) with the _supposed_ study of Colet, nothing remains but to urge him to enter in imagination, with myself, into the _real_ study of Erasmus; of which we are presented with the exterior in the following view--taken from Dr. Knight's _Life of Erasmus_; p. 124. [Illustration] I shall conclude this ERASMIANA (if the reader will premit [Transcriber's Note: permit] me so to entitle it) with a wood-cut exhibition of a different kind: it being perhaps the earliest portrait of Erasmus published in this country. It is taken from a work entitled, "_The Maner and Forme of Confesion_," printed by Byddell [Transcriber's Note: Byddel], in 8vo., without date; and is placed immediately under an address from Erasmus, to Moline, Bishop of Condome; dated 1524; in which the former complains bitterly of "the pain and grief of the reins of his back." The print is taken from a tracing of the original, made by me, from a neat copy of Byddel's edition, in the collection of Roger Wilbraham, Esq. I am free to confess that it falls a hundred degrees short of Albert Durer's fine print of him, executed A.D. 1526. [Illustration: 1524]] LIS. Let me go and bring it here! While you talk thus, I long to feast my eyes upon these grand books. LYSAND. You need not. Nor must I give to Erasmus a greater share of attention than is due to him. We have a large and varied field--or rather domain--yet to pass over. Wishing, therefore, Lorenzo speedily to purchase a small bronze figure of him, from the celebrated large one at Rotterdam, and to place the same upon a copy of his first edition of the _Greek Testament_ printed _upon vellum_,[301] by way of a pedestal--I pass on to the notice of other bibliomaniacs of this period. [Footnote 301: In the library of York cathedral there is a copy of the first edition of Erasmus's Greek and Latin Testament, 1516, fol., struck off UPON VELLUM. This, I believe, was never before generally known.] Subdued be every harsher feeling towards WOLSEY, when we contemplate even the imperfect remains of his literary institutions which yet survive! That this chancellor and cardinal had grand views, and a magnificent taste, is unquestionable: and I suppose few libraries contained more beautiful or more numerous copies of precious volumes than his own. For, when in favour with his royal master, Henry VIII., Wolsey had, in all probability, such an ascendency over him as to coax from him almost every choice book which he had inherited from his father, Henry VII.; and thus I should apprehend, although no particular mention is made of his library in the inventories of his goods[302] which have been published, there can be no question about such a character as that of Wolsey having numerous copies of the choicest books, bound in velvet of all colours, embossed with gold or silver, and studded even with precious stones! I conceive that his own _Prayer Book_ must have been gorgeous in the extreme! Unhappy man--a pregnant and ever-striking example of the fickleness of human affairs, and of the instability of human grandeur! When we think of thy baubles and trappings--of thy goblets of gold, and companies of retainers--and turn our thoughts to Shakspeare's shepherd, as described in the soliloquy of one of our monarchs, we are fully disposed to admit the force of such truths as have been familiar to us from boyhood, and which tell us that those shoulders feel the most burdened upon which the greatest load of responsibility rests. Peace to the once proud, and latterly repentant, spirit of Wolsey! [Footnote 302: In the last _Variorum edition of Shakspeare_, 1803, vol. xv., p. 144, we are referred by Mr. Douce to "the particulars of this inventory at large, in Stowe's _Chronicle_, p. 546, edit. 1631:" my copy of Stowe is of the date of 1615; but, not a syllable is said of it in the place here referred to, or at any other page; although the account of Wolsey is ample and interesting. Mr. Douce (_ibid._) says that, among the _Harl. MSS._ (no. 599) there is one entitled "An Inventorie of Cardinal Wolsey's rich householde stuffe; temp. Hen. VIII.; the original book, as it seems, kept by his own officers." In Mr. Gutch's _Collectanea Curiosa_, vol. ii., 283-349, will be found a copious account of Wolsey's plate:--too splendid, almost, for belief. To a life and character so well known as are those of Wolsey, and upon which Dr. Fiddes has published a huge folio of many hundred pages, the reader will not here expect any additional matter which may convey much novelty or interest. The following, however, may be worth submitting to his consideration. The Cardinal had poetical, as well as political, enemies. Skelton and Roy, who did not fail to gall him with their sharp lampoons, have shewn us, by their compositions which have survived, that they were no despicable assailants. In the former's "_Why come ye not to Court?_" we have this caustic passage: He is set so high In his hierarchy Of frantic _frenesy_ And foolish fantasy, That in chamber of stars All matters there he mars, Clapping his rod on the _borde_ No man dare speake a word; For he hath all the saying Without any _renaying_: He rolleth in his records He saith: "How say ye my lords? Is not my reason good?" Good!--even good--Robin-hood? Borne upon every side _With pomp and with pride, &c._ To drink and for to eat Sweet _ypocras_, and sweet meat, To keep his flesh chaste In Lent, for his repast He eateth capons stew'd Pheasant and partidge mewed. WARTON'S _Hist. Engl. Poetry_, vol. ii., 345. Steevens has also quoted freely from this poem of Skelton; see the editions of _Shakspeare_, 1793, and 1803, in the play of "King Henry VIII." Skelton's satire against Wolsey is noticed by our chronicler Hall: "In this season, the cardinal, by his power legantine, dissolved the convocation at Paul's, called by the Archbishop of Canterbury; and called him and all the clergy to his convocation to Westminster, which was never seen before in England; whereof Master Skelton, a merry poet, wrote: Gentle Paul lay down thy _sweard_ For Peter of Westminster hath shaven thy beard." _Chronicle_, p. 637, edit. 1809. In Mr. G. Ellis's _Specimens of the Early English Poets_, vol. ii., pp. 7, 8, there is a curious extract from the same poet's "_Image of Ypocrycye_"--relating to Sir Thomas More--which is printed for the first time from "an apparently accurate transcript" of the original, in the possession of Mr. Heber. From the last mentioned work (vol. ii., p. 11, &c.), there is rather a copious account of a yet more formidable poetical attack against Wolsey, in the "_Rede me and be not wroth_," of William Roy: a very rare and precious little black-letter volume, which, although it has been twice printed, is scarcely ever to be met with, and was unknown to Warton. It will, however, make its appearance in one of the supplemental volumes of Mr. Park's valuable reprint of the _Harleian Miscellany_. While the cardinal was thus attacked, in the biting strains of poetry, he was doomed to experience a full share of reprobation in the writings of the most popular theologians. William Tyndale stepped forth to shew his zeal against papacy in his "_Practise of Popishe Prelates_," and from this work, as it is incorporated in those of Tyndale, Barnes, and Frith, printed by Day in 1572, fol., the reader is presented with the following amusing specimen of the author's vein of humour and indignation: "And as I heard it spoken of divers, he made, by craft of necromancy, graven imagery to bear upon him; wherewith he bewitched the king's mind--and made the king to doat upon him, more than he ever did on any lady or gentlewoman: so that now the king's grace followed him, as he before followed the king. And then what he said, that was wisdom; what he praised, that was honourable only." Practise of Popishe Prelates, p. 368. At p. 369, he calls him "Porter of Heaven." "There he made a journey of gentlemen, arrayed altogether in silks, so much as their very shoes and lining of their boots; more like their mothers than men of war: yea, I am sure that many of their mothers would have been ashamed of so nice and wanton array. Howbeit, they went not to make war, but peace, for ever and a day longer. But to speak of the pompous apparel of my lord himself, and of his chaplains, it passeth the xij Apostles. I dare swear that if Peter and Paul had seen them suddenly, and at a blush, they would have been harder in belief that they, or any such, should be their successors than Thomas Didimus was to believe that Christ was risen again from death." _Idem_, p. 370,--"for the worship of his hat and glory of his precious shoes--when he was pained with the cholic of an evil conscience, having no other shift, because his soul could find no other issue,--he took himself a medicine, _ut emitteret spiritum per posteriora_." Exposition upon the first Ep. of St. John, p. 404. Thomas Lupset, who was a scholar of Dean Colet, and a sort of _elève_ of the cardinal, (being appointed tutor to a bastard son of the latter) could not suppress his sarcastical feelings in respect of Wolsey's pomp and severity of discipline. From Lupset's works, printed by Berthelet in 1546, 12mo., I gather, in his address to his "hearty beloved Edmond"--that "though he had there with him plenty of books, yet the place suffered him not to spend in them any study: for you shall understand (says he) that I lie waiting on my LORD CARDINAL, whose hours I must observe to be always at hand, lest I should be called when I am not by: the which should be taken for a fault of great negligence. Wherefore, that I am now well satiated with the beholding of these gay hangings, that garnish here every wall, I will turn me and talk with you." (_Exhortacion to yonge men_, fol. 39, rev.) Dr. Wordsworth, in the first volume of his _Ecclesiastical Biography_, has printed, for the first time, the genuine text of Cavendish's interesting life of his reverend master, Wolsey. It is well worth perusal. But the reader, I fear, is beginning to be outrageous (having kept his patience, during this long-winded note, to the present moment) for some _bibliomaniacal_ evidence of Wolsey's attachment to gorgeous books. He is presented, therefore, with the following case in point. My friend Mr. Ellis, of the British Museum, informs me that, in the splendid library of that establishment, there are two copies of Galen's "_Methodus Medendi_," edited by Linacre, and printed at Paris, in folio, 1519. One copy, which belonged to Henry the Eighth, has an illuminated title, with the royal arms at the bottom of the title-page. The other, which is also illuminated, has the cardinal's cap in the same place, above an empty shield. Before the dedication to the king, in the latter copy, Linacre has inserted an elegant Latin epistle to WOLSEY, in manuscript. The king's copy is rather the more beautiful of the two: but the _unique_ appendage of the Latin epistle shews that the editor considered the cardinal a more distinguished bibliomaniac than the monarch.] We have now reached the REFORMATION; upon which, as Burnet, Collier, and Strype, have written huge folio volumes, it shall be my object to speak sparingly: and chiefly as it concerns the history of the Bibliomania. A word or two, however, about its origin, spirit, and tendency. It seems to have been at first very equivocal, with Henry the Eighth, whether he would take any decisive measures in the affair, or not. He hesitated, resolved, and hesitated again.[303] The creature of caprice and tyranny, he had neither fixed principles, nor settled data, upon which to act. If he had listened to the temperate advice of CROMWELL or CRANMER,[304] he would have attained his darling object by less decisive, but certainly by more justifiable, means. Those able and respectable counsellors saw clearly that violent measures would produce violent results; and that a question of law, of no mean magnitude, was involved in the very outset of the transaction--for there seemed, on the one side, no right to possess; and, on the other, no right to render possession.[305] [Footnote 303: "The king seemed to think that his subjects owed an entire resignation of their reasons and consciences to him; and, as he was highly offended with those who still adhered to the papal authority, so he could not bear the haste that some were making to a further reformation, before or beyond his allowance. So, in the end of the year 1538, he set out a proclamation, in which he prohibits the importing of all foreign books, or the printing of any at home without license; and the printing of any parts of the scripture, 'till they were examined by the king and his council," &c. "He requires that none may argue against the presence of Christ in the Sacrament, under the pain of death, and of the loss of their goods; and orders all to be punished who did disuse any rites or ceremonies not then abolished; yet he orders them only to be observed without superstition, only as remembrances, and not to repose in them a trust of salvation."--Burnet's _Hist. of the Reformation_. But long before this obscure and arbitrary act was passed, Henry's mind had been a little shaken against papacy from a singular work, published by one Fish, called "_The Supplication of Beggers_." Upon this book being read through in the presence of Henry, the latter observed, shrewdly enough, "If a man should pull down an old stone wall, and begin at the lower part, the upper part thereof might chance to fall upon his head." "And then he took the book, and put it into his desk, and commanded them, upon their allegiance, that they should not tell to any man that he had seen this book." Fox's _Book of Martyrs_; vol. ii., p. 280: edit. 1641. Sir Thomas More answered this work (which depicted, in frightful colours, the rapacity of the Roman Catholic clergy), in 1529; see my edition of the latter's _Utopia_; vol. i., xciii.] [Footnote 304: "These were some of the resolute steps King Henry made towards the obtaining again this long struggled for, and almost lost, right and prerogative of kings, in their own dominions, of being supreme, against the encroachments of the bishops of Rome. Secretary CROMWEL had the great stroke in all this. All these counsels and methods were struck out of his head." Strype's _Ecclesiastical Memorials_; vol. i., p. 205. When great murmurs ensued, on the suppression of the monasteries, because of the cessation of hospitality exercised in them, "CROMWELL advised the king to sell their lands, at very easie rates, to the gentry in the several counties, obliging them, since they had them upon such terms, to keep up the wonted hospitality. This drew in the gentry apace," &c. Burnet's _Hist. of the Reformation_; vol. i., p. 223. "ARCHBISHOP CRANMER is said to have counselled and pressed the king to dissolve the monasteries; but for other ends (than those of personal enmity against 'the monks or friars'--or of enriching himself 'with the spoils' of the same); viz. that, out of the revenues of these monasteries, the king might found more bishoprics; and that dioceses, being reduced into less compass, the diocesans might the better discharge their office, according to the scripture and primitive rules.----And the archbishop hoped that, from these ruins, there would be new foundations in every cathedral erected, to be nurseries of learning for the use of the whole diocese." Strype's _Life of Archbishop Cranmer_, p. 35.] [Footnote 305: "A very rational doubt yet remained, how religious persons could alienate and transfer to the king a property, of which they themselves were only tenants for life: and an act of parliament was framed in order to remove all future scruples on this head, and 'settle rapine and sacrilege,' as Lord Herbert terms them, 'on the king and his heirs for ever.'----It does not appear to have been debated, in either house, whether they had a power to dispossess some hundred thousand persons of their dwellings and fortunes, whom, a few years before, they had declared to be good subjects: if such as live well come under that denomination."--"Now," says Sir Edward Coke, "observe the conclusion of this tragedy. In that very parliament, when the great and opulent priory of St. John of Jerusalem was given to the king, and which was the last monastery seized on, he demanded a fresh subsidy of the clergy and laity: he did the same again within two years; and again three years after; and since the dissolution exacted great loans, and against law obtained them."--_Life of Reginald Pole_; vol. i., p. 247-9: edit. 1767, 8vo. Coke's 4th _Institute_, fol. 44.] LATIMER, more hasty and enthusiastic than his episcopal brethren, set all the engines of his active mind to work, as if to carry the point by a _coup de main_; and although his resolution was, perhaps, upon more than one occasion, shaken by the sufferings of the innocent, yet, by his example, and particularly by his sermons,[306] he tried to exasperate every Protestant bosom against the occupiers of monasteries and convents. [Footnote 306: "It was once moved by LATYMER, the good bishop of Worcester, that two or three of these foundations might be spared in each diocese, for the sake of hospitality. Which gave the foresaid bishop occasion to move the Lord Crumwell once in the behalf of the _Priory of Malvern_." Strype's _Ecclesiastical Memorials_, vol. i., 259. Latimer's letter is here printed; and an interesting one it is. Speaking of the prior, he tells Cromwell that "The man is old, a good housekeeper, feedeth many; and that, daily. For the country is poor, and full of penury." But the hospitality and infirmities of this poor prior were less likely to operate graciously upon the rapacious mind of Henry than "the 500 marks to the king, and 200 marks more to the said Lord Crumwell," which he tendered at the same time. See Strype, _ibid._ For the credit of Latimer, I hope this worthy prior was not at the head of the priory when the former preached before the king, and thus observed: "To let pass the _solempne_ and nocturnal bacchanals, the prescript miracles, that are done upon certain days in the West part of England, who hath not heard? I think ye have heard of Saint _Blesis's_ heart, which is _at Malvern_, and of Saint Algar's bones, how long they deluded the people!" See Latimer's _Sermons_: edit. 1562, 4to.: fol. 12, rect. In these Sermons, as is justly said above, there are many cutting philippics--especially against "in-preaching prelates;" some of whom Latimer doth not scruple to call "minters--dancers--crouchers--pamperers of their paunches, like a monk that maketh his jubilee--mounchers in their mangers, and moilers in their gay manors and mansions:" see fol. 17, rect. Nevertheless, there are few productions which give us so lively and interesting a picture of the manners of the age as the SERMONS OF LATIMER; which were spoilt in an "_editio castrata_" that appeared in the year 1788, 8vo. But Latimer was not the only popular preacher who directed his anathemas against the Roman Catholic clergy. The well known JOHN FOX entered into the cause of the reformation with a zeal and success of which those who have slightly perused his compositions can have but a very inadequate idea. The following curious (and I may add very interesting) specimen of Fox's pulpit eloquence is taken from "_A Sermon of Christ crucified, preached at Paule's Crosse, the Friday before Easter, commonly called Good Fridaie_:"--"Let me tell you a story, which I remember was done about the beginning of Queen Mary's reign, anno 1554. There was a certain message sent, not from heaven, but from Rome: not from God, but from the pope: not by any apostle, but by a certain cardinal, who was called Cardinal Poole, Legatus a latere, Legatus natus, a legate from the pope's own white side, sent hither into England. This cardinal legate, first coming to Dover, was honourably received and brought to Greenwich: where he again, being more honourably received by lords of high estate, and of the Privy Council (of whom some are yet alive) was conducted thence to the privy stairs of the queen's court at Westminster, no less person than King Philip himself waiting upon him, and receiving him; and so was brought to the queen's great chamber, she then being, or else pretending, not to be well at ease. Stephen Gardiner, the bishop of Winchester, and Lord Chancellor of England, receiving this noble legate in the king and the queen's behalf, to commend and set forth the authority of this legate, the greatness of his message, and the supreme majesty of the sender, before the public audience of the whole parliament at that time assembled, there openly protested, with great solemnity of words, what a mighty message, and of what great importance was then brought into the realm, even the greatest message (said he) that ever came into England, and therefore desired them to give attentive and inclinable ears to such a famous legation, sent from so high authority." "Well, and what message was this? forsooth, that the realm of England should be reconciled again unto their father the pope; that is to say, that the queen, with all her nobility and sage council, with so many learned prelates, discreet lawyers, worthy commons, and the whole body of the realm of England, should captive themselves, and become underlings to an Italian stranger, and friarly priest, sitting in Rome, which never knew England, never was here, never did, or shall do, England good. And this forsooth (said Gardiner) was the greatest ambassage, the weightiest legacy that ever came to England: forgetting belike either this message of God, sent here by his apostles unto vs, or else because he saw it made not so much for his purpose as did the other, he made the less account thereof." "Well, then, and will we see what a weighty message this was that Gardiner so exquisitely commended? first, the sender is gone, the messenger is gone, the queen is gone, and the message gone, and yet England standeth not a rush the better. Of which message I thus say, answering again to Gardiner, _per inversionem Rhetoricam_, that, as he sayeth, it was the greatest--so I say again, it was the lightest--legacy; the most ridiculous trifle, and most miserablest message, of all other that ever came, or ever shall come, to England, none excepted, for us to be reconciled to an outlandish priest, and to submit our necks under a foreign yoke. What have we to do more with him than with the great Calypha of Damascus? If reconciliation ought to follow, where offences have risen, the pope hath offended us more than his coffers are able to make us amends. We never offended him. But let the pope, with his reconciliation and legates, go, as they are already gone (God be thanked): and I beseech God so they may be gone, that they never come here again. England never fared better than when the pope did most curse it. And yet I hear whispering of certain privy reconcilers, sent of late by the pope, which secretly creep in corners. But this I leave to them that have to do with all. Let us again return to our matter."--_Imprinted by Jhon Daie_, &c., 1575, 8vo., sign. A. vij.-B. i.] With Henry, himself, the question of spiritual supremacy was soon changed, or merged (as the lawyers call it) into the exclusive consideration of adding to his wealth. The Visitors who had been deputed to inspect the abbies, and to draw up reports of the same (some of whom, by the bye, conducted themselves with sufficient baseness[307]), did not fail to inflame his feelings by the tempting pictures which they drew of the riches appertaining to these establishments.[308] Another topic was also strongly urged upon Henry's susceptible mind: the alleged abandoned lives of the owners of them. These were painted with a no less overcharged pencil:[309] so that nothing now seemed wanting but to set fire to the train of combustion which had been thus systematically laid. [Footnote 307: Among the visitors appointed to carry into execution the examination of the monasteries, was a Dr. London; who "was afterwards not only a persecutor of Protestants, but a suborner of false witnesses against them, and was now zealous even to officiousness in suppressing the monasteries. He also studied to frighten the abbess of Godstow into a resignation. She was particularly in Cromwell's favour:" &c. Burnet: _Hist. of the Reformation_, vol. iii., p. 132. Among Burnet's "Collection of Records," is the letter of this said abbess, in which she tells Cromwell that "Doctor London was suddenly _cummyd_ unto her, with a great rout with him; and there did threaten her and her sisters, saying that he had the king's commission to suppress the house, spite of her teeth. And when he saw that she was content that he should do all things according to his commission, and shewed him plain that she would never surrender to his band, being her ancient enemy--then he began to entreat her and to inveigle her sisters, one by one, otherwise than ever she heard tell that any of the king's subjects had been handel'd;" vol. iii., p. 130. "Collection." It is not very improbable that this treatment of Godstow nunnery formed a specimen of many similar visitations. As to London himself, he ended his days in the Fleet, after he had been adjudged to ride with his face to the horse's tail, at Windsor and Oakingham. Fox in his _Book of Martyrs_, has given us a print of this transaction; sufficiently amusing. Dod, in his _Church History_, vol. i., p. 220, has of course not spared Dr. London. But see, in particular, Fuller's shrewd remarks upon the character of these visitors, or "emissaries;" _Church History_, b. vi., pp. 313, 314.] [Footnote 308: "The yearly revenue of all the abbies suppressed is computed at £135,522_l._ 18_s._ 10_d._ Besides this, the money raised out of the stock of cattle and corn, out of the timber, lead, and bells; out of the furniture, plate, and church ornaments, amounted to a vast sum, as may be collected from what was brought off from the monastery of St. Edmonsbury. Hence, as appears from records, 5000 marks of gold and silver, besides several jewels of great value, were seized by the visitors." Collier's _Ecclesiastical History_, vol. ii., 165. See also Burnet's similar work, vol. i., p. 223. Collier specifies the valuation of certain monasteries, which were sufficiently wealthy; but he has not noticed that of St. Swithin's in Winchester--of which Strype has given so minute and interesting an inventory. A lover of old coins and relics may feed his imagination with a gorgeous picture of what might have been the "massive silver and golden crosses and shrines garnished with stones"--but a tender-hearted bibliomaniac will shed tears of agony on thinking of the fate of "A BOOK OF THE FOUR EVANGELISTS, WRITTEN AL WITH GOLD; AND THE UTTER SIDE OF PLATE OF GOLD!" _Life of Cranmer_, _Appendix_, pp. 24-28.] [Footnote 309: The amiable and candid Strype has polluted the pages of his valuable _Ecclesiastical Memorials_ with an account of such horrid practices, supposed to have been carried on in monasteries, as must startle the most credulous Anti-Papist; and which almost leads us to conclude that _a legion of fiends_ must have been let loose upon these "Friar Rushes!" The author tells us that he takes his account from authentic documents--but these documents turn out to be the letters of the visitors; and of the character of one of these the reader has just had a sufficient proof. Those who have the work here referred to, vol. i., p. 256-7, may think, with the author of it, that "this specimen is enough and too much." What is a little to be marvelled at, Strype suffers his prejudices against the conduct of the monks to be heightened by a letter from one of the name of Beerly, at Pershore; who, in order that he might escape the general wreck, turned tail upon his brethren, and vilified them as liberally as their professed enemies had done. Now, to say the least, this was not obtaining what Chief Baron Gilbert, in his famous Law of Evidence, has laid it down as necessary to be obtained--"the best possible evidence that the nature of the case will admit of." It is worth remarking that Fuller has incorporated a particular account of the names of the abbots and of the carnal enormities of which they are supposed to have been guilty; but he adds that he took it from the 3d edition of Speed's _Hist. of Great Britain_, and (what is worth special notice) that it was not to be found in the prior ones: "being a posthume addition after the author's death, attested in the margine with the authority of Henry Steven his _Apologie for Herodotus_, who took the same out of an English book, containing the _Vileness discovered at the Visitation of Monasteries_." _Church History_, b. vi., pp. 316, 317.] A pause perhaps of one moment might have ensued. A consideration of what had been done, in these monasteries, for the preservation of the literature of past ages, and for the cultivation of elegant and peaceful pursuits, might, like "the still small voice" of conscience, have suspended, for a second, the final sentence of confiscation. The hospitality for which the owners of these places had been, and were then, eminently distinguished; but more especially the yet higher consideration of their property having been left with them only as a sacred pledge to be handed down, unimpaired, to their successors--these things,[310] one would think, might have infused some little mercy and moderation into Henry's decrees! [Footnote 310: There are two points, concerning the subversion of monasteries, upon which all sensible Roman Catholics make a rest, and upon which they naturally indulge a too well-founded grief. The dispersion of books or interruption of study; and the breaking up of ancient hospitality. Let us hear Collier upon the subject: "The advantages accruing to the public from these religious houses were considerable, upon several accounts. To mention some of them: The temporal nobility and gentry had a creditable way of providing for their younger children. Those who were disposed to withdraw from the world, or not likely to make their fortunes in it, had a handsome retreat to the cloister. Here they were furnished with conveniences for life and study, with opportunities for thought and recollection; and, over and above, passed their time in a condition not unbecoming their quality."--"The abbies were very serviceable places for the education of young people: every convent had one person or more assigned for this business. Thus the children of the neighbourhood were taught grammar and music without any charge to their parents. And, in the nunneries, those of the other sex learned to work and read English, with some advances into Latin," &c.--"Farther, it is to the abbies we are obliged for most of our historians, both of church and state: these places of retirement had both most learning and leisure for such undertakings: neither did they want information for such employment," _Ecclesiastical History_, vol. ii., 165. A host of Protestant authors, with Lord Herbert at the head of them, might be brought forward to corroborate these sensible remarks of Collier. The hospitality of the monastic life has been on all sides admitted; and, according to Lord Coke, one of the articles of impeachment against Cardinal Wolsey was that he had caused "this hospitality and relief to grow into decay and disuse;" which was "a great cause that there were so many vagabonds, beggars, and thieves;"--_Fourth Institute_; p. 91, edit. 1669. So that the author of an ancient, and now rarely perused work had just reason, in describing the friars of his time as "living in common upon the goods of a monastery, either gotten by common labour, or else upon lands and possessions where with the monastery was endowed." _Pype or Tonne of the Lyfe of Perfection_; fol. clxxii., rev. 1532, 4to. And yet, should the active bibliomaniac be disposed to peruse this work, after purchasing Mr. Triphook's elegant copy of the same, he might probably not think very highly of the author's good sense, when he found him gravely telling us that "the appetite of clean, sweet, and fair, or fine cloaths, and oft-washing and curious _pykyng_ of the body, is an enemy of chastity," fol. ccxxix. rect. The DEVASTATION OF BOOKS was, I fear, sufficiently frightful to warrant the following writers in their respective conclusions. "A judicious author (says Ashmole) speaking of the dissolution of our monasteries, saith thus: Many manuscripts, guilty of no other superstition then (having) _red letters_ in the front, were condemned to the fire: and here a principal key of antiquity was lost, to the great prejudice of posterity. Indeed (such was learning's misfortune, at that great devastation of our English libraries, that) where a _red letter_ or a mathematical diagram appeared, they were sufficient to entitle the book to be popish or diabolical." _Theatrum Chemicum_; prolegom. A. 2. rev. "The avarice of the late intruders was so mean, and their ignorance so undistinguishing, that, when the books happened to have COSTLY COVERS, they tore them off, and threw away the works, or turned them to the vilest purposes." _Life of Reginald Pole_; vol. i., p. 253-4, edit. 1767, 8vo. The author of this last quotation then slightly notices what Bale has said upon these book-devastations; and which I here subjoin at full length; from my first edition of this work:--"Never (says Bale) had we been offended for the loss of our LIBRARIES, being so many in number, and in so desolate places for the more part, if the chief monuments and most notable works of our excellent writers had been preserved. If there had been, in every shire of England, but one SOLEMPNE LIBRARY, to the preservation of those noble works, and preferment of good learning in our posterity, it had been yet somewhat. But to destroy all, without consideration, is, and will be, unto England, for ever, a most horrible infamy among the grave seniors of other nations. A great number of them, which purchased those superstitious mansions, reserved of those library-books some to serve the _jakes_, some to scour their candlesticks, and some to rub their boots: some they sold to the grocers and soap sellers; some they sent over sea to the book-binders, not in small number, but at times whole ships full, to the wondering of the foreign nations. Yea, the Universities of the realm are not all clear of this detestable fact. But cursed is that belly which seeketh to be fed with such ungodly gains, and shameth his natural country. I know a merchant man, which shall at this time be nameless, that _bought the contents of two noble libraries for forty shillings price_; a shame it is to be spoken! This stuff hath he occupied in the stead of grey paper, by the space of more than ten years, and yet he hath store enough for as many years to come!" Preface to _Leland's Laboryouse Journey_, &c., 1549, 8vo. Reprint of 1772; sign. C.] PHIL. But what can be said in defence of the dissolute lives of the monks? LYSAND. Dissoluteness shall never be defended by me, let it be shewn by whom it may; and therefore I will not take the part, on this head, of the tenants of old monasteries. But, Philemon, consider with what grace could this charge come from HIM who had "shed innocent blood," to gratify his horrid lusts? LIS. Yet, tell me, did not the dissolution of these libraries in some respects equally answer the ends of literature, by causing the books to come into other hands? LYSAND. No doubt, a few studious men reaped the benefit of this dispersion, by getting possession of many curious volumes with which, otherwise, they might never have been acquainted. If my memory be not treacherous, the celebrated grammarian ROBERT WAKEFIELD[311] was singularly lucky in this way. It is time, however, to check my rambling ideas. A few more words only, and we cease to sermonize upon the Reformation. [Footnote 311: "This ROBERT WAKEFIELD was the prime linguist of his time, having obtained beyond the seas the Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Syriac tongues. In one thing he is to be commended, and that is this, that he carefully preserved divers books of Greek and Hebrew at the dissolution of religious houses, and especially some of those in the library of Ramsey abbey, composed by Laurence Holbecke, monk of that place, in the reign of Henry IV. He died at London 8th October, 1537, leaving behind him the name of _Polypus_, as Leland is pleased to style him, noting that he was of a witty and crafty behaviour." Wood's _Hist. of Colleges and Halls_, p. 429, Gutch's edit.] PHIL. There is no occasion to be extremely laconic. The evening has hardly yet given way to night. The horizon, I dare say, yet faintly glows with the setting-sun-beams. But proceed as you will. LYSAND. The commotions which ensued from the arbitrary measures of Henry were great;[312] but such as were naturally to be expected. At length Henry died, and a young and amiable prince reigned for a few months. Mary next ascended the throne; and the storm took an opposite direction. Then an attempt was made to restore chalices, crucifixes, and missals. But the short period of her sovereignty making way for the long and illustrious one of her sister Elizabeth, the Cecils and Walsinghams[313] united their great talents with the equally vigorous ones of the Queen and her favourite archbishop Parker, in establishing that form of religion which, by partaking in a reasonable degree of the solemnity of the Romish church, and by being tempered with great simplicity and piety in its prayers, won its way to the hearts of the generality of the people. Our _Great English Bibles_[314] were now restored to their conspicuous situations; and the Bibliomania, in consequence, began to spread more widely and effectively. [Footnote 312: Fuller has devoted one sentence only, and that not written with his usual force, to the havoc and consternation which ensued on the devastation of the monasteries. _Ch. Hist._, b. vi., p. 314. Burnet is a little more moving: _Hist. of the Reformation_; vol. i., p. 223. But, from the foregoing premises, the reader may probably be disposed to admit the conclusion of a virulent Roman Catholic writer, even in its fullest extent: namely, that there were "subverted monasteries, overthrown abbies, broken churches, torn castles, rent towers, overturned walls of towns and fortresses, with the confused heaps of all ruined monuments." _Treatise of Treasons_, 1572, 8vo., fol. 148, rev.] [Footnote 313: There are few bibliographers at all versed in English literature and history, who have not heard, by some side wind or other, of the last mentioned work; concerning which Herbert is somewhat interesting in his notes: _Typographical Antiquities_, vol. iii., p. 1630. The reader is here presented with a copious extract from this curious and scarce book--not for the sake of adding to these ponderous notes relating to the REFORMATION--(a subject, upon which, from a professional feeling, I thought it my duty to say something!)--but for the sake of showing how dexterously the most important events and palpable truths may be described and perverted by an artful and headstrong disputant. The work was written expressly to defame ELIZABETH, CECIL, and BACON, and to introduce the Romish religion upon the ruins of the Protestant. The author thus gravely talks "_Of Queen Mary and her Predecessors._ "She (Mary) found also the whole face of the commonwealth settled and acquieted in the ancient religion; in which, and by which, all kings and queens of that realm (from as long almost before the conquest as that conquest was before that time) had lived, reigned, and maintained their states; and the terrible correction of those few that swerved from it notorious, as no man could be ignorant of it. As King John, without error in religion, for contempt only of the See Apostolic, plagued with the loss of his state, till he reconciled himself, and acknowledged to hold his crown of the Pope. King Henry VIII., likewise, with finding no end of heading and hanging, till (with the note of tyranny for wasting his nobility) he had headed him also that procured him to it. Fol. 85, 86. "_Libellous Character of Cecil._ "In which stem and trunk (being rotten at heart, hollow within, and without sound substance) hath our spiteful pullet (CECIL) laid her ungracious eggs, mo than a few: and there hath hatched sundry of them, and brought forth chickens of her own feather, I warrant you. A hen I call him, as well for his cackling, ready and smooth tongue, wherein he giveth place to none, as for his deep and subtle art in hiding his serpentine eggs from common men's sight: chiefly for his hennish heart and courage, which twice already hath been well proved to be as base and deject at the sight of any storm of adverse fortune, as ever was hen's heart at the sight of a fox. And, had he not been by his confederate, as with a dunghill cock, trodden as it were and gotten with egg, I doubt whether ever his hennish heart, joined to his shrewd wit, would have served him, so soon to put the Q.'s green and tender state in so manifest peril and adventure. Fol. 88, rect. "_Libellous Characters of Cecil and N. Bacon._ "Let the houses and possessions of these two Catalines be considered, let their furniture, and building, let their daily purchases, and ready hability to purchase still, let their offices and functions wherein they sit, let their titles, and styles claimed and used, let their places in council, let their authority over the nobility, let their linking in alliance with the same, let their access to the prince, let their power and credit with her: let this their present state, I say, in all points (being open and unknown to no men) be compared with their base parentage and progeny, (the one raised out of the robes, and the other from a _Sheeprive's_ son) and let that give sentence as well of the great difference of the tastes, that the several fruits gathered of this tree by your Q., and by them do yield, as whether any man at this day approach near unto them in any condition wherein advancement consisteth. Yea, mark you the jollity and pride that in this prosperity they shew; the port and countenance that every way they carry; in comparison of them that be noble by birth. Behold at whose doors your nobility attendeth. Consider in whose chambers your council must sit, and to whom for resolutions they must resort; and let these things determine both what was the purpose indeed, and hidden intention of that change of religion, and who hath gathered the benefits of that mutation: that is to say, whether for your Q., for your realms, or for their own sakes, the same at first was taken in hand, and since pursued as you have seen. For according to the principal effects of every action must the intent of the act be deemed and presumed. For the objected excuses (that they did it for conscience, or for fear of the French) be too frivolous and vain to abuse any wise man. For they that under King Henry were as catholic, as the six articles required: that under King Edward were such Protestants as the Protector would have them; that under Q. Mary were Catholics again, even to creeping to the Cross: and that under Q. Elizabeth were first Lutheran, setting up Parker, Cheiny, Gest, Bill, &c., then Calvinists, advancing Grindall, Juell, Horne, &c.: then Puritans, maintaining Sampson, Deering, Humfrey, &c.; and now (if not Anabaptists and Arians) plain Machiavellians, yea, that they persuade in public speeches that man hath free liberty to dissemble his religion, and for authority do allege their own examples and practice of feigning one religion for another in Q. Mary's time (which containeth a manifest evacuation of Christ's own coming and doctrine, of the Apostles, preaching and practice, of the blood of the martyrs, of the constancy of all confessors; yea, and of the glorious vain deaths of all the stinking martyrs of their innumerable sects of hereticks, one and other having always taught the confession of mouth to be as necessary to salvation as the belief of heart): shall these men now be admitted to plead conscience in religion; and can any man now be couzined so much, as to think that these men by conscience were then moved to make that mutation?" Fol. 96, 97. "At home, likewise, apparent it is how they provided, every way to make themselves strong there also. For being by their own marriages allied already to the house of Suffolk of the blood royal, and by consequence thereof to the house of Hertford also, and their children thereby incorporated to both: mark you how now by marriage of their children with wily wit and wealth together, they wind in your other noblest houses unto them that are left, I mean in credit and countenance. Consider likewise how, at their own commendation and preferment, they have erected, as it were, almost a new half of your nobility (of whom also they have reason to think themselves assured) and the rest then (that were out of hope to be won to their faction) behold how, by sundry fine devices, they are either cut off, worn out, fled, banished or defaced at home," &c., fol. 105, rect. The good LORD BURGHLEY, says Strype, was so moved at this slander that he uttered these words: "God amend his spirit, and confound his malice." And by way of protestation of the integrity and faithfulness of both their services, "God send this estate no worse meaning servants, in all respects, than we two have been." _Annals of the Reformation_, vol. ii., 178. Camden's _Hist. of Q. Elizabeth_, p. 192,--as quoted by Herbert.] [Footnote 314: "All curates must continually call upon their parochians to provide a book of the _Holy Bible in English_, of THE LARGEST FORM, within 40 days next after the publication hereof, that may be chained in some open place in the church," &c. Injunctions by Lee, Archbishop of York: Burnet's _Hist. of the Reformation_, vol. iii., p. 136, Collections. This custom of fixing a great bible in the centre of a place of worship yet obtains in some of the chapels attached to the colleges at Oxford. That of Queen's, in particular, has a noble brazen eagle, with outstretched wings, upon which the foundation members read the lessons of the day in turn.] LOREN. Had you not better confine yourself to personal anecdote, rather than enter into the boundless field of historical survey? LYSAND. I thank you for the hint. Having sermonized upon the general features of the Reformation, we will resume the kind of discourse with which we at first set out. PHIL. But you make no mention of the number of curious and fugitive pamphlets of the day, which were written in order to depreciate and exterminate the Roman Catholic religion? Some of these had at least the merit of tartness and humour. LYSAND. Consult Fox's _Martyrology_,[315] if you wish to have some general knowledge of these publications; although I apprehend you will not find in that work any mention of the poetical pieces of Skelton and Roy; nor yet of Ramsay. [Footnote 315: The curious reader who wishes to become master of all the valuable, though sometimes loose, information contained in this renowned work--upon which Dr. Wordsworth has pronounced rather a warm eulogium (_Ecclesiastical Biography_, vol. i., p. xix.)--should secure the _first_ edition, as well as the latter one of 1641, or 1684; inasmuch as this first impression, of the date of 1563, is said by Hearne to be "omnium optima:" see his Adami de Domerham, _Hist. de reb. gest. Glaston._, vol. i., p. xxii. I also learn, from an original letter of Anstis, in the possession of Mr. John Nichols, that "the late editions are not quite so full in some particulars, and that many things are left out about the Protector Seymour."] LOREN. Skelton and Roy are in my library;[316] but who is RAMSAY? [Footnote 316: Vide p. 226, ante.] LYSAND. He wrote a comical poetical satire against the Romish priests, under the title of "_A Plaister for a galled Horse_,"[317] which Raynald printed in a little thin quarto volume of six or seven pages. [Footnote 317: In Herbert's _Typographical Antiquities_, vol. i., p. 581, will be found rather a slight notice of this raw and vulgar satire. It has, however, stamina of its kind; as the reader may hence judge: Mark the gesture, who that lyst; First a shorne shauelynge, clad in a clowt, Bearinge the name of an honest priest, And yet in no place a starker lowte. A whore monger, a dronkard, ye makyn him be snowte-- At the alehouses he studieth, till hys witte he doth lacke. Such are your minysters, to bringe thys matter about: But guppe ye god-makers, beware your galled backe. Then wraped in a knaues skynne, as ioly as my horse, Before the aulter, in great contemplacion Confessinge the synnes of his lubbrysh corse To god and all saynctes, he counteth hys abhomination Then home to the aulter, with great saintification With crosses, and blesses, with his boy lytle Jacke: Thus forth goeth syr Jhon with all his preparation. But guppe ye god-makers, beware your galled backe. Then gloria in excelsis for ioye dothe he synge More for his fat liuinge, than for devocion: And many there be that remember another thinge Which syng not wyth mery hart for lacke of promocion Thus some be mery, some be sory according to their porcion Then forth cometh collects, bounde up in a packe, For this sainct and that sainct, for sickenes, and extorcion But guppe ye god-makers, beware your galled backe. Stanzas, 17, 18, 19. At the sale of Mr. Brand's books, in 1807, a copy of this rare tract, of six or seven pages, was sold for 3_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._ Vide _Bibl. Brand_, part i., no. 1300. This was surely more than both plaister and horse were worth! A poetical satire of a similar kind, entitled "_John Bon and Mast Person_," was printed by Daye and Seres; who struck off but a few copies, but who were brought into considerable trouble for the same. The virulence with which the author and printer of this lampoon were persecuted in Mary's reign is sufficiently attested by the care which was taken to suppress every copy that could be secured. The only perfect known copy of this rare tract was purchased at the sale of Mr. R. Forster's books, for the Marquis of Bute; and Mr. Stace, the bookseller, had privilege to make a fac-simile reprint of it; of which there were six copies struck off UPON VELLUM. It being now rather common with book-collectors, there is no necessity to make a quotation from it here. Indeed there is very little in it deserving of republication.] LOREN. I will make a memorandum to try to secure this "comical" piece, as you call it; but has it never been reprinted in our "_Corpora Poetarum Anglicorum_?" LYSAND. Never to the best of my recollection. Mr. Alexander Chalmers probably shewed his judgment in the omission of it, in his lately published collection of our poets. A work, which I can safely recommend to you as being, upon the whole, one of the most faithful and useful, as well as elegant, compilations of its kind, that any country has to boast of. But I think I saw it in your library, Lorenzo?-- LOREN. It was certainly there, and bound in stout Russia, when we quitted it for this place. LIS. Dispatch your "gall'd horse," and now--having placed a justly merited wreath round the brow of your poetical editor, proceed--as Lorenzo has well said--with personal anecdotes. What has become of Wyatt and Surrey--and when shall we reach Leland and Bale? LYSAND. I crave your mercy, Master Lisardo! One at a time. Gently ride your bibliomaniacal hobby-horse! WYATT and SURREY had, beyond all question, the most exquisitely polished minds of their day. They were far above the generality of their compeers. But although Hall chooses to notice _the whistle_[318] of the latter, it does not follow that I should notice his _library_, if I am not able to discover any thing particularly interesting relating to the same. And so, wishing every lover of his country's literature to purchase a copy of the poems of both these heroes,[319] I march onward to introduce a new friend to you, who preceded Leland in his career, and for an account of whom we are chiefly indebted to the excellent and best editor of the works of Spencer and Milton. Did'st ever hear, Lisardo, of one WILLIAM THYNNE? [Footnote 318: About the year 1519, Hall mentions the Earl of Surrey "on a great coursir richely trapped, and a greate whistle of gold set with stones and perle, hanging at a great and massy chayne baudrick-wise." Chronicles: p. 65, a. See Warton's _Life of Sir Thomas Pope_: p. 166, note o., ed. 1780. This is a very amusing page about the custom of wearing whistles, among noblemen, at the commencement of the 16th century. If Franklin had been then alive, he would have had abundant reason for exclaiming that these men "paid too much for their _whistles_!"] [Footnote 319: Till the long promised, elaborate, and beautiful edition of the works of SIR THOMAS WYATT and LORD SURREY, by the Rev. Dr. Nott,[E] shall make its appearance, the bibliomaniac must satisfy his book-appetite, about the editions of the same which have already appeared, by perusing the elegant volumes of Mr. George Ellis, and Mr. Park; _Specimens of the Early English Poets_; vol. ii., pp. 43-67: _Royal and Noble Authors_, vol. i., pp. 255-276. As to early black letter editions, let him look at _Bibl. Pearson_, no. 2544; where, however, he will find only the 7th edition of 1587: the first being of the date of 1557. The eighth and last edition was published by Tonson, in 1717, 8vo. It will be unpardonable not to add that the Rev. Mr. Conybeare is in possession of a perfect copy of Lord Surrey's Translation of a part of the Æneid, which is the third only known copy in existence. Turn to the animating pages of Warton, _Hist. Engl. Poetry_; vol. iii., pp. 2-21, about this translation and its author.] [Footnote E: Conducting this celebrated book through the press occupied Dr. Nott several years; it was printed by the father of the printer of this work, in two large 4to. volumes--and was just finished when, in the year 1819, the Bolt Court printing-office, and all it contained, was destroyed by fire. Only _two_ copies of the works of Wyatt and Surrey escaped, having been sent to Dr. Nott by the printer, as _clean sheets_.] LIS. Pray make me acquainted with him. LYSAND. You will love him exceedingly when you thoroughly know him; because he was the first man in this country who took pains to do justice to Chaucer, by collecting and collating the mutilated editions of his works. Moreover, he rummaged a great number of libraries, under the express order of Henry VIII.; and seems in every respect (if we may credit the apparently frank testimony of his son[320]), to have been a thoroughbred bibliomaniac. Secure Mr. Todd's _Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer_, and set your heart at ease upon the subject. [Footnote 320: "--but (my father, WILLIAM THYNNE) further had commissione to serche all the libraries of England for Chaucer's works, so that oute of all the abbies of this realme (which reserved any monuments thereof), he was fully furnished with multitude of bookes," &c. On Thynne's discovering Chaucer's Pilgrim's Tale, when Henry VIII. had read it--"he called (continues the son) my father unto hym, sayinge, 'William Thynne, I doubt this will not be allowed, for I suspecte the byshoppes will call thee in question for yt.' To whome my father beinge in great fauore with his prince, sayed, 'yf your Grace be not offended, I hope to be protected by you.' Whereupon the kinge bydd hym goo his waye and feare not," &c. "But to leave this, I must saye that, in those many written bookes of Chaucer, which came to my father's hands, there were many false copyes, which Chaucer shewethe in writinge of Adam Scriuener, of which written copies there came to me, after my father's death, some fyve and twentye," &c. _Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer_; pp. 11, 13, 15. Let us not hesitate one moment about the appellation of _Helluo Librorum_,--justly due to MASTER WILLIAM THYNNE!] But it is time to introduce your favourite LELAND: a bibliomaniac of unparalleled powers and unperishable fame. To entwine the wreath of praise round the brow of this great man seems to have been considered by Bale among the most exquisite gratifications of his existence. It is with no small delight, therefore, Lorenzo, that I view, at this distance, the marble bust of Leland in yonder niche of your library, with a laureate crown upon its pedestal. And with almost equal satisfaction did I observe, yesterday, during the absence of Philemon and Lisardo at the book-sale, the handsome manner in which Harrison,[321] in his _Description of England_, prefixed to Holinshed's Chronicles, has spoken of this illustrious antiquary. No delays, no difficulties, no perils, ever daunted his personal courage, or depressed his mental energies. Enamoured of study, to the last rational moment of his existence, Leland seems to have been born for the "Laborious Journey" which he undertook in search of truth, as she was to be discovered among mouldering records, and worm-eaten volumes. Uniting the active talents of a statist with the painful research of an antiquary, he thought nothing too insignificant for observation. The confined streamlet or the capacious river--the obscure village or the populous town--were, with parchment rolls and oaken-covered books, alike objects of curiosity in his philosophic eye! Peace to his once vexed spirit!--and never-fading honours attend the academical society in which his youthful mind was disciplined to such laudable pursuits! [Footnote 321: "One helpe, and none of the smallest, that I obtained herein, was by such commentaries as LELAND had sometime collected of the state of Britaine; books vtterlie mangled, defaced with wet and weather, and finallie vnperfect through want of sundrie volumes." _Epistle Dedicatorie_; vol. i., p. vi., edit. 1807. The history of this great man, and of his literary labours, is most interesting. He was a pupil of William Lilly, the first head-master of St. Paul's school; and, by the kindness and liberality of a Mr. Myles, he afterwards received the advantage of a college education, and was supplied with money in order to travel abroad, and make such collections as he should deem necessary for the great work which even then seemed to dawn upon his young and ardent mind. Leland endeavoured to requite the kindness of his benefactor by an elegant copy of Latin verses, in which he warmly expatiates on the generosity of his patron, and acknowledges that his acquaintance with the _Almæ Matres_ (for he was of both Universities) was entirely the result of such beneficence. While he resided on the continent, he was admitted into the society of the most eminent Greek and Latin scholars, and could probably number among his correspondents the illustrious names of Budæus, Erasmus, the Stephenses, Faber and Turnebus. Here, too, he cultivated his natural taste for poetry; and, from inspecting the FINE BOOKS which the Italian and French presses had produced, as well as fired by the love of Grecian learning, which had fled, on the sacking of Constantinople, to take shelter in the academic bowers of the Medici--he seems to have matured his plans for carrying into effect the great work which had now taken full possession of his mind. He returned to England, resolved to institute an inquiry into the state of the LIBRARIES, ANTIQUITIES, RECORDS, and WRITINGS then in existence. Having entered into holy orders, and obtained preferment at the express interposition of the king (Henry VIII.), he was appointed his antiquary and library-keeper; and a royal commission was issued, in which Leland was directed to search after "ENGLAND'S ANTIQUITIES, and peruse the libraries of all cathedrals, abbies, priories, colleges, &c., as also all the places wherein records, writings, and secrets of antiquity were reposited." "Before Leland's time," says Hearne--in a strain which makes one shudder--"all the literary monuments of antiquity were totally disregarded; and students of Germany, apprized of this culpable indifference, were suffered to enter our libraries unmolested, and to cut out of the books, deposited there, whatever passages they thought proper--which they afterwards published as relics of the ancient literature of their own country." _Pref. to the Itinerary._ Leland was occupied, without intermission, in his laborious undertaking, for the space of six years; and, on its completion, he hastened to the metropolis to lay at the feet of his sovereign the result of his researches. As John Kay had presented his translation of the _Siege of Rhodes_ to Edward IV., as "A GIFT of his labour," so Leland presented his Itinerary to Henry VIII., under the title of _A New Year's Gift_; and it was first published as such by Bale in 1549, 8vo. "Being inflamed," says the author, "with a love to see thoroughly all those parts of your opulent and ample realm, in so much that all my other occupations intermitted, I have so travelled in your dominions both by the sea coasts and the middle parts, sparing neither labour nor costs, by the space of six years past, that there is neither cape nor bay, haven, creek, or pier, river, or confluence of rivers, breaches, wastes, lakes, moors, fenny waters, mountains, valleys, heaths, forests, chases, woods, cities, burghes, castles, principal manor places, monasteries, and colleges, but I have seen them; and noted, in so doing, a whole world of things very memorable." Leland moreover tells his majesty--that "By his laborious journey and costly enterprise, he had conserved many good authors, the which otherwise had been like to have perished; of the which part remained in the royal palaces, part also in his own custody," &c. As Leland was engaged six years in this literary tour, so he was occupied for a no less period of time in digesting and arranging the prodigious number of MSS. which he had collected. But he sunk beneath the immensity of the task. The want of amanuenses, and of other attentions and comforts, seems to have deeply affected him. In this melancholy state, he wrote to Archbishop Cranmer a Latin epistle, in verse, of which the following is the commencement--very forcibly describing his situation and anguish of mind: Est congesta mihi domi supellex Ingens, aurea, nobilis, venusta, Qua totus studeo Britanniarum Vero reddere gloriam nitori; Sed fortuna meis noverca coeptis Jam felicibus invidet maligna. Quare, ne pereant brevi vel hora Multarum mihi noctium labores Omnes---- CRANMERE, eximium decus priorum! Implorare tuam benignitatem Cogor. The result was that Leland lost his senses; and, after lingering two years in a state of total derangement, he died on the 18th of April, 1552. "Prôh tristes rerum humanarum vices! prôh viri optimi deplorandam infelicissimamque sortem!" exclaims Dr. Smith, in his preface to Camden's Life, 1691, 4to. The precious and voluminous MSS. of Leland were doomed to suffer a fate scarcely less pitiable that [Transcriber's Note: than] that of their owner. After being pilfered by some, and garbled by others, they served to replenish the pages of Stow, Lambard, Camden, Burton, Dugdale, and many other antiquaries and historians. "Leland's Remains," says Bagford, "have been ever since a standard to all that have any way treated of the Antiquities of England. Reginald Wolfe intended to have made use of them, although this was not done 'till after his death by Harrison, Holinshed, and others concerned in that work. Harrison transcribed his Itinerary, giving a Description of England by the rivers, but he did not understand it. They have likewise been made use of by several in part, but how much more complete had this been, had it been finished by himself?" _Collectanea_: Hearne's edit., 1774; vol. i., p. LXXVII. Polydore Virgil, who had stolen from these Remains pretty freely, had the insolence to abuse Leland's memory--calling him "a vain-glorious man;" but what shall we say to this flippant egotist? who according to Caius's testimony (_De Antiq. Cantab. Acad._, lib. 1.) "to prevent a discovery of the many errors of his own History of England, collected and burnt a greater number of ancient histories and manuscripts than would have loaded a waggon." There are some (among whom I could number a most respectable friend and well qualified judge) who have doubted of the propriety of thus severely censuring Polydore Virgil; and who are even sceptical about his malpractices. But Sir Henry Savile, who was sufficiently contemporaneous to collect the best evidence upon the subject, thus boldly observes: "Nam Polydorus, ut homo Italus, et in rebus nostris hospes, et (quod caput est) neque in republica versatus, nec magni alioqui vel judicii vel ingenii, pauca ex multis delibans, et falsa plerumque pro veris amplexus, historiam nobis reliquit cum cætera mendosam tum exiliter sanè et jejunè conscriptam." _Script. post. Bedam._, edit. 1596; pref. "As for Polydore Virgil, he hath written either nothing or very little concerning them; and that so little, so false and misbeseeming the ingenuitie of an historian, that he seemeth to have aimed at no other end than, by bitter invectives against Henry VIII., and Cardinal Wolsey, to demerit the favour of Queen Mary," &c., Godwyn's translation of the _Annales of England_; edit. 1630, author's Preface. "It is also remarkable that Polydore Virgil's and Bishop Joscelin's edition of Gildas's epistle differ so materially that the author of it hardly seems to be one and the same person." This is Gale's opinion: _Rer. Anglican. Script. Vet._; vol. i., pref., p. 4. Upon the whole--to return to Leland--it must be acknowledged that he is a melancholy, as well as illustrious, example of the influence of the BIBLIOMANIA! But do not let us take leave of him without a due contemplation of his expressive features, as they are given in the frontispiece of the first volume of the Lives of Leland, Hearne, and Wood. 1772, 8vo. [Illustration: IN REFECTORIO COLL. OMN. ANIM. OXON.]] BALE follows closely after Leland. This once celebrated, and yet respectable, writer had probably more zeal than discretion; but his exertions in the cause of our own church can never be mentioned without admiration. I would not, assuredly, quote Bale as a decisive authority in doubtful or difficult cases;[322] but, as he lived in the times of which he in a great measure wrote, and as his society was courted by the wealthy and powerful, I am not sure whether he merits to be treated with the roughness with which some authors mention his labours. He had, certainly, a tolerable degree of strength in his English style; but he painted with a pencil which reminded us more frequently of the horrific pictures of Spagnoletti than of the tender compositions of Albano. That he idolized his master, Leland, so enthusiastically, will always cover, in my estimation, a multitude of his errors: and that he should leave a scholar's inventory (as Fuller saps [Transcriber's Note: says]), "more books than money behind him," will at least cause him to be numbered among the most renowned bibliomaniacs. [Footnote 322: Like all men, who desert a religion which they once enthusiastically profess, Bale, after being zealous for the papal superstitions, holding up his hands to rotten posts, and calling them his "fathers in heaven," (according to his own confession) became a zealous Protestant, and abused the church of Rome with a virulence almost unknown in the writings of his predecessors. But in spite of his coarseness, positiveness, and severity, he merits the great praise of having done much in behalf of the cause of literature. His attachment to Leland is, unquestionably, highly to his honour; but his biographies, especially of the Romish prelates, are as monstrously extravagant as his plays are incorrigibly dull. He had a certain rough honesty and prompt benevolence of character, which may be thought to compensate for his grosser failings. His reputation as a _bibliomaniac_ is fully recorded in the anecdote mentioned at p. 234, ante. His "magnum opus," the _Scriptores Britanniæ_, has already been noticed with sufficient minuteness; vide p. 31, ante. It has not escaped severe animadversion. Francis Thynne tells us that Bale has "mistaken infynyte thinges in that booke de Scriptoribus Anglie, being for the most part the collections of Lelande." _Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer_; p. 23. Picard, in his wretched edition of _Gulielmus Neubrigensis_ (edit. 1610, p. 672), has brought a severe accusation against the author of having "burnt or torn all the copies of the works which he described, after he had taken the titles of them;" but see this charge successfully rebutted in Dr. Pegge's _Anonymiana_; p. 311. That Bale's library, especially in the department of manuscripts, was both rich and curious, is indisputable, from the following passage in _Strype's Life of Archbishop Parker_. "The archbishop laid out for BALE'S rare collection of MSS. immediately upon his death, fearing that they might be gotten by somebody else. Therefore he took care to bespeak them before others, and was promised to have them for his money, as he told Cecil. And perhaps divers of those books that do now make proud the University Library, and that of Benet and some other colleges, in Cambridge, were Bale's," p. 539. It would seem, from the same authority, that our bibliomaniac "set himself to search the libraries in Oxford, Cambridge, London (wherein there was but one, and that a slender one), Norwich, and several others in Norfolk and Suffolk: whence he had collected enough for another volume De Scriptoribus Britannicis." _Ibid._ The following very beautiful wood-cut of Bale's portrait is taken from the original, of the same size, in the _Acta Romanorum Pontificum_; Basil, 1527, 8vo. A similar one, on a larger scale, will be found in the "_Scriptores_," &c., published at Basil, 1557, or 1559--folio. Mr. Price, the principal librarian of the Bodleian Library, shewed me a rare head of Bale, of a very different cast of features--in a small black-letter book, of which I have forgotten the name. [Illustration]] Before I enter upon the reign of Elizabeth, let me pay a passing, but sincere, tribute of respect to the memory of CRANMER; whose _Great Bible_[323] is at once a monument of his attachment to the Protestant religion, and to splendid books. His end was sufficiently lamentable; but while the flames were consuming his parched body, and while his right hand, extended in the midst of them, was reproached by him for its former act of wavering and "offence," he had the comfort of soothing his troubled spirit by reflecting upon what his past life had exhibited in the cause of learning, morality, and religion.[324] Let his memory be respected among virtuous bibliomaniacs! [Footnote 323: I have perused what Strype (_Life of Cranmer_, pp. 59, 63, 444), Lewis (_History of English Bibles_, pp. 122-137), Johnson (_Idem opus_, pp. 33-42), and Herbert (_Typog. Antiquities_, vol. i., p. 513,) have written concerning the biblical labours of Archbishop Cranmer; but the accurate conclusion to be drawn about the publication which goes under the name of CRANMER'S, or THE GREAT BIBLE, [Transcriber's Note: 'is' missing in original] not quite so clear as bibliographers may imagine. However, this is not the place to canvass so intricate a subject. It is sufficient that a magnificent impression of the Bible in the English language, with a superb frontispiece (which has been most feebly and inadequately copied for Lewis's work), under the archiepiscopal patronage of CRANMER, did make its appearance in 1539: and it has been my good fortune to turn over the leaves of the identical copy of it, printed UPON VELLUM, concerning which Thomas Baker expatiates so eloquently to his bibliomaniacal friend, Hearne. _Rob. of Gloucester's Chronicle_; vol. i., p. xix. This copy is in the library of St. John's College, Cambridge; and is now placed upon a table, to the right hand, upon entering of the same: although formerly, according to Bagford's account, it was "among some old books in a private place nigh the library." _Idem_; p. xxii. There is a similar copy in the British Museum.] [Footnote 324: "And thus"--says Strype--(in a strain of pathos and eloquence not usually to be found in his writings) "we have brought this excellent prelate unto his end, after two years and a half hard imprisonment. His body was not carried to the grave in state, nor buried, as many of his predecessors were, in his own cathedral church, nor inclosed in a monument of marble or touchstone. Nor had he any inscription to set forth his praises to posterity. No shrine to be visited by devout pilgrims, as his predecessors, S. Dunstan and S. Thomas had. Shall we therefore say, as the poet doth: Marmoreo Licinus tumulo jacet, at Cato parvo, Pompeius nullo. Quis putet esse Deos? No; we are better Christians, I trust, than so: who are taught, that the rewards of God's elect are not temporal but eternal. And Cranmer's martyrdom is his monument, and his name will outlast an epitaph or a shrine." _Life of Cranmer_; p. 391. It would seem, from the same authority, that RIDLEY, LATIMER, and CRANMER, were permitted to dine together in prison, some little time before they suffered; although they were "placed in separate lodgings that they might not confer together." Strype saw "a book of their diet, every dinner and supper, and the charge thereof,"--as it was brought in by the bailiffs attending them. _Dinner Expenses of Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer._ Bread and Ale ii_d._ Item, Oisters i_d._ Item, Butter ii_d._ Item, Eggs ii_d._ Item, Lyng viii_d._ Item, A piece of fresh Salmon x_d._ Wine iii_d._ Cheese and pears ii_d._ _Charges for burning Ridley and Latimer._ _s._ _d._ For three loads of wood fagots 12 0 Item, One load of furs fagots 3 4 For the carriage of the same 2 0 Item, A Post 1 4 Item, Two chains 3 4 Item, Two staples 0 6 Item, Four Labourers 2 8 _Charges for burning Cranmer._ _s._ _d._ For an 100 of wood fagots, 06 0 For an 100 and half of furs fagots 03 4 For the carriage of them 0 8 To two labourers 1 4 I will draw the curtain upon this dismal picture, by a short extract from one of Cranmer's letters, in which this great and good man thus ingeniously urges the necessity of the Scriptures being translated into the English language; a point, by the bye, upon which neither he, nor Cromwell, nor Latimer, I believe, were at first decided; "God's will and commandment is, (says Cranmer) that when the people be gathered together, the minister should use such language as the people may understand, and take profit thereby; or else hold their peace. For as an harp or lute, if it give no certain sound that men may know what is stricken, who can dance after it--for all the sound is vain; so is it vain and profiteth nothing, sayeth Almighty God, by the mouth of St. Paul, if the priest speak to the people in a language which they know not." _Certain most godly, fruitful, and comfortable letters of Saintes and holy Martyrs, &c._, 1564; 4to., fol. 8.] All hail to the sovereign who, bred up in severe habits of reading and meditation, loved books and scholars to the very bottom of her heart! I consider ELIZABETH as a royal bibliomaniac of transcendent fame!--I see her, in imagination, wearing her favourite little _Volume of Prayers_,[325] the composition of Queen Catherine Parr, and Lady Tirwit, "bound in solid gold, and hanging by a gold chain at her side," at her morning and evening devotions--afterwards, as she became firmly seated upon her throne, taking an interest in the embellishments of the _Prayer Book_,[326] which goes under her own name; and then indulging her strong bibliomaniacal appetites in fostering the institution "for the erecting of _a Library and an Academy for the study of Antiquities and History_."[327] Notwithstanding her earnestness to root out all relics of the Roman Catholic religion (to which, as the best excuse, we must, perhaps, attribute the sad cruelty of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots), I cannot in my heart forbear to think but that she secured, for her own book-boudoir, one or two of the curious articles which the commissioners often-times found in the libraries that they inspected: and, amongst other volumes, how she could forbear pouncing upon "_A great Pricksong Book of parchment_"--discovered in the library of All Soul's College[328]--is absolutely beyond my wit to divine! [Illustration] [Footnote 325: Of this curious little devotional volume the reader has already had some account (p. 119, ante); but if he wishes to enlarge his knowledge of the same, let him refer to vol. lx. pt. ii. and vol. lxi. pt. i. of the _Gentleman's Magazine_. By the kindness of Mr. John Nichols, I am enabled to present the bibliomaniacal virtuoso with a fac-simile of the copper-plate inserted in the latter volume (p. 321) of the authority last mentioned. It represents the GOLDEN COVER, or binding, of this precious manuscript. Of the Queen's attachment to works of this kind, the following is a pretty strong proof: "In the Bodl. library, among the MSS. in mus. num. 235, are the _Epistles of St. Paul, &c._, printed in an old black letter in 12o. which was _Queen Elizabeth's own book_, and her own hand writing appears at the beginning, viz.: "August. I walke many times into the pleasant fieldes of the Holy Scriptures, where I plucke up the goodliesome herbes of sentences by pruning: eate them by reading: chawe them by musing: and laie them up at length in the hie seate of memorie by gathering them together: that so having tasted their sweetenes I may the lesse perceave the bitterness of this miserable life." The covering is done in needle work by the Queen [then princess] herself, and thereon are these sentences, viz. on one side, on the borders; CELVM PATRIA: SCOPVS VITÆ XPVS. CHRISTVS VIA. CHRISTO VIVE. In the middle a heart, and round about it, ELEVA COR SVRSVM IBI VBI E.C. [est Christus]. On the other side, about the borders, BEATVS QVI DIVITIAS SCRIPTVRÆ LEGENS VERBA VERTIT IN OPERA. In the middle a star, and round it, VICIT OMNIA PERTINAX VIRTVS with E.C., _i.e._ as I take it, ELISABETHA CAPTIVA, or [provided it refer to Virtus] ELISABETHÆ CAPTIVÆ, she being, then, when she worked this covering, a prisoner, if I mistake not, at Woodstock." _Tit. Liv. For. Jul. vit. Henrici_ v., p. 228-229. [Illustration]] [Footnote 326: In the PRAYER-BOOK which goes by the name of QUEEN ELIZABETH'S, there is a portrait of her Majesty kneeling upon a superb cushion, with elevated hands, in prayer. This book was first printed in 1575; and is decorated with wood-cut borders of considerable spirit and beauty; representing, among other things, some of the subjects of Holbein's dance of death. The last impression is of the date of 1608. Vide _Bibl. Pearson_; no. 635. The presentation copy of it was probably printed UPON VELLUM.[F]] [Footnote 327: The famous John Dee entreated QUEEN MARY to erect an institution similar [Transcriber's Note: 'to' missing in original] the one above alluded to. If she adopted the measure, Dee says that "her highnesse would have a most NOTABLE LIBRARY, learning wonderfully be advanced, the passing excellent works of our forefathers from rot and worms preserved, and also hereafter continually the whole realm may (through her grace's goodness) use and enjoy the incomparable treasure so preserved: where now, no one student, no, nor any one college, hath half a dozen of those excellent jewels, but the whole stock and store thereof drawing nigh to utter destruction, and extinguishing, while here and there by private men's negligence (and sometimes malice) many a famous and excellent author's book is rent, burnt, or suffered to rot and decay. By your said suppliant's device your Grace's said library might, in very few years, most plentifully be furnisht, and that without any one penny charge unto your Majesty, or doing injury to any creature." In another supplicatory article, dated xv. Jan. 1556, Dee advises copies of the monuments to be taken, and the original, after the copy is taken, to be restored to the owner. That there should be "allowance of all necessary charges, as well toward the riding and journeying for the recovery of the said worthy monuments, as also for the copying out of the same, and framing of necessary stalls, desks, and presses."--He concludes with proposing to make copies of all the principal works in MS. "in the NOTABLEST libraries beyond the sea"--"and as concerning all other excellent authors printed, that they likewise shall be gotten in wonderful abundance, their carriage only to be chargeable." He supposes that three months' trial would shew the excellence of his plan; which he advises to be instantly put into practice "for fear of the spreading of it abroad might cause many to hide and convey away their good and ancient writers--which, nevertheless, were ungodly done, and a certain token that such are not sincere lovers of good learning." [In other words, not sound bibliomaniacs.] See the Appendix to Hearne's edition of _Joh. Confrat. Monach. de Reb. Glaston._ Dee's "supplication" met with no attention from the bigotted sovereign to whom it was addressed. A project for a similar establishment in Queen Elizabeth's reign, when a Society of Antiquaries was first established in this kingdom, may be seen in Hearne's _Collection of Curious Discourses of Antiquaries_; vol. ii., p. 324,--when this library was "to be entitled THE LIBRARY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, and the same to be well furnished with divers ancient books, and rare monuments of antiquity," &c., edit. 1775.] [Footnote 328: In Mr. Gutch's _Collectanea Curiosa_, vol. ii., p. 275, we have a "Letter from Queen Elizabeth's high commissioners, concerning the superstitious books belonging to All Soul's College:" the "schedule" or list returned was as follows: Three mass books, old and new, and 2 portmisses Item, 8 grailes, 7 antiphoners of parchment and bound ---- 10 Processionals old and new ---- 2 Symnalls ---- an old manual of paper ---- an Invitatorie book ---- 2 psalters--and one covered with a skin ---- _A great pricksong book of parchment_ ---- One other pricksong book of vellum covered with a hart's skyn ---- 5 other of paper bound in parchment ---- The Founder's mass-book in parchment bound in board ---- In Mr. Mill his hand an antiphoner and a legend ---- A portmisse in his hand two volumes, a manual, a mass-book, and a processional.] [Footnote F: The two following pages are appropriated to copies of the frontispiece (of the edit. of 1608), and a page of the work, from a copy in the possession of the printer of this edition of the _Bibliomania_. [Illustration: =Elizabeth Regina.= 2 PARALIPOM 6. =Domine Deus Israel, non est similis tui Deus in coelo & in terra, qui pacta custodis & misericordiam cum seruis tuis, qui ambulant coram te in toto corde suo.=] [Illustration: A prayer for charitie, or loue towards our neighbours. =Lord, inlighten and instruct our mindes, that we may esteeme euerie thing as it is worth, & yet not make the lesse reckoning of thee, sith nothing can be made better then thou. And secondly let us make account of man, then whome, there is nothing more excellent among the things of this world. Make vs to loue him next thee, either as likest our selues, or as thy childe, and therefore our brother, or as one ordayned to bee a member of one selfe same countrie with vs.= =And cause vs also euen heere, to resemble the heauenly kingdome through mutual loue, where all hatred is quite banished, and all is full of loue, and consequently full of joy and gladnes.= Amen. =Giue a sweete smell as incense, &c.= =Eccles. 39.= =Matthew xxvi. 26-29.=]] LOREN. You are full of book anecdote of Elizabeth: but do you forget her schoolmaster, ROGER ASCHAM? LYSAND. The master ought certainly to have been mentioned before his pupil. Old Roger is one of my most favourite authors; and I wish English scholars in general not only to read his works frequently, but to imitate the terseness and perspicuity of his style. There is a great deal of information in his treatises, respecting the manners and customs of his times; and as Dr. Johnson has well remarked, "his philological learning would have gained him honour in any country."[329] That he was an ardent bibliomaniac, his letters when upon the continent, are a sufficient demonstration. [Footnote 329: ROGER ASCHAM is now, I should hope, pretty firmly established among us as one of the very best classical writers in our language. Nearly three centuries are surely sufficient to consecrate his literary celebrity. He is an author of a peculiar and truly original cast. There is hardly a dull page or a dull passage in his lucubrations. He may be thought, however, to have dealt rather harshly with our old romance writers; nor do I imagine that the original edition of his _Schoolmaster_ (1571), would be placed by a _Morte d'Arthur_ collector alongside of his thin black-letter quarto romances. Ascham's invectives against the Italian school, and his hard-hearted strictures upon the innocent ebullitions of Petrarch and Boccaccio, have been noticed, with due judgment and spirit, by Mr. Burnet, in his pleasing analysis of our philosopher's works. See _Specimens of English Prose Writers_; vol. ii., p. 84. Our tutor's notions of academical education, and his courteous treatment of his royal and noble scholars, will be discoursed of anon; meantime, while we cursorily, but strongly, applaud Dr. Johnson's almost unqualified commendation of this able writer; and while the reader may be slightly informed of the elegance and interest of his epistles; let the bibliomaniac hasten to secure Bennet's edition of Ascham's works (which incorparates [Transcriber's Note: incorporates] the notes of Upton upon the Schoolmaster, with the Life of, and remarks upon Ascham, by Dr. Johnson), published in a handsome quarto volume [1761]. This edition, though rather common and cheap, should be carefully reprinted in an octavo volume; to harmonize with the greater number of our best writers published in the same form. But it is time to mention something of the author connected with the subject of this work. What relates to the BIBLIOMANIA, I here select from similar specimens in his English letters, written when he was abroad: "Oct. 4. at afternoon I went about the town [of Bruxelles]. I went to the frier Carmelites house, and heard their even song: after, I desired to see the LIBRARY. A frier was sent to me, and led me into it. There was not one good book but _Lyra_. The friar was learned, spoke Latin readily, entered into Greek, having a very good wit, and a greater desire to learning. He was gentle and honest," &c. pp. 370-1. "Oct. 20. to Spira: a good city. Here I first saw _Sturmius de Periodis_. I also found here _Ajax_, _Electra_, and _Antigone_ of _Sophocles_, excellently, by my good judgment, translated into verse, and fair printed this summer by Gryphius. Your stationers do ill, that at least do not provide you the register of all books, especially of old authors," &c., p. 372. Again: "Hieronimus Wolfius, that translated Demosthenes and Isocrates, is in this town. I am well acquainted with him, and have brought him twice to my lord's to dinner. He looks very simple. He telleth me that one Borrheus, that hath written well upon Aristot. priorum, &c., even now is printing goodly commentaries upon Aristotle's Rhetoric. But Sturmius will obscure them all." p. 381. These extracts are taken from Bennet's edition. Who shall hence doubt of the propriety of classing Ascham among the most renowned bibliomaniacs of the age?] From the tutor of Elizabeth let us go to her prime minister, CECIL.[330] We have already seen how successfully this great man interposed in matters of religion; it remains to notice his zealous activity in the cause of learning. And of this latter who can possibly entertain a doubt? Who that has seen how frequently his name is affixed to Dedications, can disbelieve that Cecil was a LOVER OF BOOKS? Indeed I question whether it is inserted more frequently in a diplomatic document or printed volume. To possess all the presentation copies of this illustrious minister would be to possess an ample and beautiful library of the literature of the sixteenth century. [Footnote 330: The reader, it is presumed, will not form his opinion of the bibliomaniacal taste of this great man, from the distorted and shameful delineation of his character, which, as a matter of curiosity only, is inserted at p. 237, ante. He will, on the contrary, look upon Cecil as a lover of books, not for the sake of the numerous panegyrical dedications to himself, which he must have so satisfactorily perused, but for the sake of the good to be derived from useful and ingenious works. With one hand, this great man may be said to have wielded the courageous spirit, and political virtue, of his country--and with the other, to have directed the operations of science and literature. Without reading the interesting and well-written life of Cecil, in Mr. Macdiarmid's _Lives of British Statesmen_ (a work which cannot be too often recommended, or too highly praised), there is evidence sufficient of this statesman's bibliomaniacal passion and taste, in the FINE OLD LIBRARY which is yet preserved at Burleigh in its legitimate form--and which, to the collector of such precious volumes, must have presented a treat as exquisite as are the fresh blown roses of June to him who regales himself in the flowery fragrance of his garden--the production of his own manual labour! Indeed Strypes tells us that Cecil's "library was a very choice one:" his care being "in the preservation, rather than in the private possession of (literary) antiquities." Among other curiosities in it, there was a grand, and a sort of presentation, copy of Archbishop Parker's Latin work of the _Antiquity of the British Church_; "bound costly, and laid in colours the arms of the Church of Canterbury, empaled with the Archbishop's own paternal coat." Read Strype's tempting description; _Life of Parker_; pp. 415, 537. Well might Grafton thus address Cecil at the close of his epistolary dedication of his _Chronicles_: "and now having ended this work, and seeking to whom I might, for testification of my special good-will, present it, or for patronage and defence dedicate it, and principally, for all judgment and correction to submit it--among many, I have chosen your MASTERSHIP, moved thereto by experience of your courteous judgment towards those that travail to any honest purpose, rather helping and comforting their weakness, than condemning their simple, but yet well meaning, endeavours. By which, your accustomed good acceptation of others, I am the rather boldened to beseech your Mastership to receive this my work and me, in such manner as you do those in whom (howsoever there be want of power) there wanteth no point of goodwill and serviceable affection." Edit. 1809, 4to. If a chronicler could talk thus, a poet (who, notwithstanding the title of his poem, does not, I fear, rank among Pope's bards, that "sail aloft among _the Swans of Thames_,") may be permitted thus to introduce Cecil's name and mansion: Now see these Swannes the new and worthie seate Of famous CICILL, treasorer of the land, Whose wisedome, counsell skill of Princes state The world admires, then Swannes may do the same: The house itselfe doth shewe the owner's wit, And may for bewtie, state, and every thing, Compared be with most within the land, Vallan's _Tale of Two Swannes_, 1590, 4to., reprinted in _Leland's Itinerary_; vol. v. p. xiii, edit. 1770.] But the book-loving propensities of Elizabeth's minister were greatly eclipsed by those of her favourite archbishop, PARKER: clarum et venerabile nomen Gentibus, et multum nostræ quod proderat urbi. For my part, Lorenzo, I know of no character, either of this or of any subsequent period, which is more entitled to the esteem and veneration of Englishmen. Pious, diffident, frank, charitable, learned, and munificent, Parker was the great episcopal star of his age, which shone with undiminished lustre to the last moment of its appearance. In that warm and irritable period, when the Protestant religion was assailed in proportion to its excellence, and when writers mistook abuse for argument, it is delightful to think upon the mild and temperate course which this discreet metropolitan pursued! Even with such arrant bibliomaniacs as yourselves, Parker's reputation must stand as high as that attached to any name, when I inform you that of his celebrated work upon the "_Antiquity of the British Church_"[331] are only twenty copies supposed to have been printed. He had a private press, which was worked with types cast at his own expense; and a more determined book-fancier, and treasurer of ancient lore, did not at that time exist in Great Britain. [Footnote 331: This is not the place to enter minutely into a bibliographical account of the above celebrated work; such account being with more propriety reserved for the history of our _Typographical Antiquities_. Yet a word or two may be here said upon it, in order that the bibliomaniac may not be wholly disappointed; and especially as Ames and Herbert have been squeamishly reserved in their comunications [Transcriber's Note: communications] respecting the same. The above volume is, without doubt, one of the scarcest books in existence. It has been intimated by Dr. Drake, in the preface of his magnificent reprint of it, 1729, fol., that only 20 copies were struck off: but, according to Stype [Transcriber's Note: Strype], Parker tells Cecil, in an emblazoned copy presented to him by the latter, that he had not given the book to _four_ men in the whole realm: and peradventure, added he, "it shall never come to sight abroad, though some men, smelling of the printing of it, were very desirous cravers of the same." _Life of Parker_, p. 415. This certainly does not prove any thing respecting the number of copies printed; but it is probable that Dr. Drake's supposition is not far short of the truth. One thing is remarkable: of all the copies known, no two are found to accord with each other. The archbishop seems to have altered and corrected the sheets as they each came from the press. The omission of the Archbishop's own life in this volume, as it contained the biography of 69 archbishops, exclusively of himself, was endeavoured to be supplied by the publication of a sharp satirical tract, entitled, "_The life off the 70 Archbishop of Canterbury, presenttye sittinge Englished, and to be added to the 69 lately sett forth in Latin_," &c., 12mo., 1574. After this title page there is another. "_Histriola, a little storye of the acts and life of Mathew, now Archbishoppe of Canterb._" This latter comprehends 17 leaves, and was written either by the archbishop himself, or by his Chaplain Joscelyne; but whether it be at all like a distinct printed folio tract, of twelve leaves and a half, which was kept carefully undispersed in the archbishop's own possession, 'till his death--being also a biography of Parker--I am not able to ascertain. The following extracts from it (as it is a scarce little volume) may be acceptable, _Archbishop Parker's early Studies and popular Preaching._ "But now, he being very well and perfectly instructed in the liberal sciences, he applied all his mind to the study of divinity, and to the reading of the volumes of the ecclesiastical fathers; and that so earnestly that, in short space of time, he bestowed his labour not unprofitably in this behalf; for, after the space of four or five years, he, issuing from his secret and solitary study into open practice in the commonwealth, preached every where unto the people with great commendation; and that in the most famous cities and places of this realm, by the authority of King Henry VIII., by whose letters patent this was granted unto him, together with the license of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In execution of this function of preaching, he gained this commodity; that the fame of him came unto the ears of King Henry," &c. Sign. A. iij. recto. _His attention to Literature and Printing, &c._ "----he was very careful, and not without some charges, to seek the monuments of former times; to know the religion of the ancient fathers, and those especially which were of the English church. Therefore in seeking up the Chronicles of the Britons and English Saxons, which lay hidden every where contemned and buried in forgetfulness, and through the ignorance of the languages not well understanded, his own especially, and his mens, diligence wanted not. And to the end that these antiquities might last long, and be carefully kept, he caused them, being brought into one place, _to be well bound and trimly covered_. And yet, not so contented, he endeavoured to set out in print certain of those ancient monuments, whereof he knew very few examples to be extant; and which he thought would be most profitable for the posterity, to instruct them in the faith and religion of the elders. [Orig. 'to instructe them in the faythe and religion off the elders.] Hereupon, he caused the perpetual histories of the English affairs, by _Mathæus Parisiensis_, once a monk of Saint Alban's, and _Mathæus Florilegus_, a monk of Saint Peter in Westminster, written in Latin, to be printed; after he had diligently conferred them with the examples which he could get in any place; to the end that, as sincerely as might be, as the authors first left them, he might deliver them into other men's hands. Lastly, that he might not be unmindful of those monuments which, both in antiquity, worthiness, and authority, excelled all other, or rather wherewith none are to be compared (I mean the Holy Scriptures) here he thought to do great good if, by his number, he increased the _Holy Bibles_, which shortly would be wanting to many churches, if this discommodity were not provided for in time. Therefore it seemed good unto him, first, with his learned servants, to examine thoroughly the English translation; wherein he partly used the help of his brethren bishops, and other doctors; with whom he dealt so diligently in this matter that they disdained not to be partners and fellows with him of his labor. And now all their work is set out in very fair forms and letters of print," &c. Sign. C. rect. & rev. _His work De Antiquitate Ecclesiæ Britannicæ._ "----Much more praiseworthy is she (the 'Assyrian Queen of Babylon,') than he, whosoever it was, that of late hath set forth, to the hurt of christian men, certain rhapsodies and shreds of the old forworn stories, almost forgotten--had he not (Parker) now lately awakened them out of a dead sleep, and newly sewed them together in one book printed; whose glorious life promiseth not mountains of gold, as that silly heathen woman's (the aforesaid Queen) tomb, but beareth Christ in the brow, and is honested with this title in the front, 'De Antiquitate,' &c." Sign. C. iiij. rev. The satirical part, beginning with "To the Christian Reader," follows the biography from which these extracts have been taken. It remains to observe, that our ARCHBISHOP was a bibliomaniac of the very first order; and smitten with every thing attached to a BOOK, to a degree beyond any thing exhibited by his contemporaries. Parker did not scruple to tell Cecil that he kept in his house "drawers of pictures, wood-cutters, painters, limners, writers, and book-binders,"--"one of these was LYLYE, an excellent writer, that could counterfeit any antique writing. Him the archbishop customarily used to make old books compleat,"--&c. _Strype's Life of Parker_; pp. 415, 529. Such was his ardour for book-collecting that he had agents in almost all places, abroad and at home, for the purpose of securing everything that was curious, precious, and rare: and one of these, of the name of Batman (I suppose the commentator upon Bartholomæus) "in the space of no more than four years, procured for our archbishop to the number of 6700 books." _Id._ p. 528. The riches of his book bequests to Cambridge are sufficiently described by Strype; pp. 501, 518, 519, 529, &c. The domestic habits and personal appearance of PARKER are described by his biographer (p. 504) as being simple and grave. Notwithstanding his aversion to wearing silk, to plays and jests, and hawks and hounds (even when he was a young man), I take it for granted he could have no inward dislike to the beautiful and appropriate ceremony which marked his consecration, and which is thus narrated by the lively pen of Fuller: "The east part of the chapel of Lambeth was hung with tapestry, the floor spread with red cloth, chairs and cushions are conveniently placed for the purpose: morning prayers being solemnly read by Andrew Peerson, the archbishop's chaplain, Bishop Scory went up into the pulpit, and took for his text, _The Elders which are among you I exhort, who also am an elder; and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, &c._ Sermon ended, and the sacrament administered, they proceed to the consecration. The ARCHBISHOP had his rochet on, with HEREFORD; and the suffragan of Bedford, CHICHESTER, wore a silk cope; and COVERDALE a plain cloth gown down to his ancles. All things are done conformable to the book of ordination: Litany sung; the Queen's patent for Parker's consecration audibly read by Dr. Vale: He is presented: the oath of supremacy tendered to him; taken by him; hands reverently imposed on him; and all with prayers begun, continued, concluded. In a word, though here was no theatrical pomp to made it a popish pageant; though no sandals, gloves, ring, staff, oil, pall, &c., were used upon him--yet there was ceremony enough to clothe his consecration with decency, though not to clog it with superstition." _Church History_, b. ix., p. 60. But the virtues of the primate, however mild and unostentatious, were looked upon with an envious eye by the maligant observer of human nature; and the spontaneous homage which he received from some of the first noblemen in the realm was thus lampooned in the satirical composition just before noticed: _Homage and Tribute paid to Archbishop Parker._ "The next is, what great tributes every made bishop paid him. How they entertained his whole household or court, for the time, with sumptuous feasting. How dearly they redeemed their own cloaths, and carpets, at his chaplain's hands. What fees were bestowed on his crucifer, marshall, and other servants. All which plentiful bounty, or rather, he might have said, largess, is shrunk up, he saith, to a small sum of ten pounds, somewhat beside, but very small, bestowed, he might have said cast away, upon the archbishop's family, &c.--The same earl (of Gloucester) must be his steward and chief cupbearer, the day of his inthronization: This is not to be called gracious Lords, as the Lords of the earth, but this is to be beyond all grace; and to be served of these gracious Lords, and to be their Lord paramount. In this roll of his noble tenants, the next are the Lord Strangways, the Earl of Oxford, the Lord Dacy, all which (saith he) owe service to that Archbishop. Then descendeth he to the gifts that every his suffragan provincial bishop bestoweth on him, in their life, and at their death: some their palfrey with saddle and furniture; some their rings, and some their seals. Among the rest, the Bishop of Rochester, who is there called specially his chaplain, giveth him a brace of dogs. These be trim things for prelates to give or receive; especially of them to make such account as to print them among such special prerogatives." Sign. D. iiij. v. Yet even to this libel was affixed the following epitaph upon Parker; which shews that truth "is great, and will prevail." Matthew Parker liued sober and wise Learned by studie, and continuall practise, Louinge, true, off life uncontrold The courte did foster him, both young and old. Orderly he delt, the ryght he did defend, He lyved unto God, to God he mad his ende. Let us take leave of this amiable, erudite, and truly exemplary, character, by contemplating his features--according to the ensuing cut of Tyson's fac-simile of the rare ancient print, prefixed to some of the copies of the _Antiquity of the British Church_; premising that the supposed original painting of Parker, at Benet College, Cambridge, is nothing more than one of the aforesaid ancient prints, delicately coloured: as a tasteful antiquary, of the first authority, discovered, and mentioned to me. [Illustration]] PHIL. You have called the reign of Henry the Seventh the AUGUSTAN-BOOK-AGE; but, surely, this distinction is rather due to the æra of Queen Elizabeth? LYSAND. Both periods merit the appellation. In Henry's time, the invention of printing was of early growth; but the avidity of readers considerable. The presses of Rome, Venice, and Paris, sent forth their costly productions; and a new light, by such means, was poured upon the darkened mind. Our own presses began to contribute to the diffusion of this light; and, compared with the preceding part of the fifteenth century, the reign of Henry VII. was highly distinguished for its bibliomaniacal celebrity. Undoubtedly, the æra of Queen Elizabeth was the GOLDEN AGE of Bibliomaniacism. Do not let me forget, in my rambling method of treating of books and book-men, the name and celebrity of the renowned DR. JOHN DEE. Let us fancy we see him in his conjuring cap and robes--surrounded with astrological, mathematical, and geographical instruments--with a profusion of Chaldee characters inscribed upon vellum rolls--and with his celebrated _Glass_ suspended by magical wires. Let us then follow him into his study at midnight, and view him rummaging his books; contemplating the heavens; making calculations; holding converse with invisible spirits; writing down their responses: anon, looking into his correspondence with _Count a Lasco_ and the emperors Adolphus and Maximilian; and pronouncing himself, with the most heartfelt complacency, the greatest genius of his age![332] In the midst of these self-complacent reveries, let us imagine we see his wife and little ones intruding; beseeching him to burn his books and instruments; and reminding him that there was neither a silver spoon, nor a loaf of bread, in the cupboard. Alas, poor DEE!--thou wert the dupe of the people and of the Court: and, although Meric Casaubon has enshrined thy conjurations in a pompous folio volume, thy name, I fear, will only live in the memory of bibliomaniacs! [Footnote 332: Those who are fond of copious biographical details of astrologers and conjurers will read, with no small pleasure and avidity, the long gossipping account of DEE, which Hearne has subjoined to his edition of _John Confrat. Monach. de rebus gestis Glaston._, vol. ii.; where twelve chapters are devoted to the subject of our philosopher's travels and hardships. Meric Casaubon--who put forth a pompous folio volume of "_A true and faithful relation of what passed for many yeers between Dr. John Dee and some spirits_:" 1659--gravely assures us, in an elaborate, learned, and rather amusing preface, that the volume contains what "he thinks is not to be paralleled in that kind by any book that hath been set out in any age to read:" sign A. This is true enough; for such a farago of incongruous, risible, and horrible events, are no where else recorded. "None but itself can be its parallel." Casaubon wrote a professed dissertation (1652, 8vo.) upon witches, and nothing seemed to be too unpalatable for his credulity to swallow. A compressed and rather interesting account of Dee, who was really the weakest as well as the ablest scholar and philosopher of his day, will be found in Ashmole's _Theatrum Chemicum_, p. 480. From the substance of these authorities, the reader is presented with the following sketch. The first chapter in Hearne's publication, which treats of the "entrance and ground plot of his first studies," informs us that he had received his Latin education in London and Chelmsford: that he was born in July, 1527, and at 15 years of age was entered at the University of Cambridge, 1542. In the three following years, "so vehemently was he bent to study that, for those years, he did inviolably keep this order; only to sleep 4 hours every night; to allow to meat and drink (and some refreshing after) 2 hours every day; and of the other 18 hours, all (excepting the time of going to, and being at, divine service) was spent in his studies and learning." In May, 1547, after having taken his Bachelor's decree, he went abroad. "And after some months spent about the Low Countries, he returned home, and brought with him the first astronomer's staff in brass, that was made of Gemma Frisius devising; the two great globes of Gerardus Mercator's making, and the astronomer's ring of brass, as Gemma Frisius had newly framed it." Dee's head now began to run wild upon astronomy, or rather astrology; and the tremendous assistance of the "occult art" was called in to give effect to the lectures which he read upon it at home and abroad. "He did set forth (and it was seen of the University) a Greek comedy of Aristophanes, named, in Greek, [Greek: eirênê], in Latin, _Pax_; with the performance of the _Scarabæus_ his flying up to Jupiter's palace, with a man and his basket of victuals on his back: whereat was great wondering and many vain reports spread abroad of the means how that was effected. In that college (Trinity, for he had now left St. John's), by his advice and endeavours, was their Christmas magistrate first named and confirmed an EMPEROR." The first emperor of this sort, (whose _name_, it must be confessed, is rather unpopular in a University) he takes care to inform us, "was one Mr. Thomas _Dun_, a very goodly man of person, stature, and complexion, and well learned also." Dee afterwards ranks these things among "his boyish attempts and exploits scholastical." In 1548 he was made Master of Arts, and in the same year "went over beyond the seas again, and never after that was any more student in Cambridge." Abroad, almost every emperor and nobleman of distinction, according to his own account, came to see and hear him. "For recreation, he looked into the method of the civil law, and profitted therein so much that, in _Antinomiis_, imagined to be in the law, he had good hap to find out (well allowed of) their agreements; and also to enter into a plain and due understanding of diverse civil laws, accounted very intricate and dark." At Paris, when he gave lectures upon Euclid's elements, "a thing never done publicly in any university in Christendom, his auditory in Rhemes college was so great, and the most part elder than himself, that the mathematical schools could not hold them; for many were fain, without the schools, at the windows, to be _Auditores et Spectatores_, as they could best help themselves thereto. And by the first four principal definitions representing to their eyes (which by imagination only are exactly to be conceived) a greater wonder arose among the beholders than of his _Aristophanes Scarabæus_ mounting up to the top of Trinity Hall, _ut supra_." Notwithstanding the tempting offers to cause him to be domiciled in France and Germany, our astrologer, like a true patriot, declined them all. The French king offered an annual stipend of 200 French crowns; a Monsieur Babeu, Monsieur de Rohan, and Monsieur de Monluc, offered still greater sums, but were all refused. In Germany he was tempted with the yearly salary of 3000 dollars; "and lastly, by a messenger from the Russie or Muscovite Emperor, purposely sent with a very rich present unto him at Trebona castle, and with provision for the whole journey (being above 1200 miles from the castle where he lay) of his coming to his court at Moscow, with his wife, children, and whole family, there to enjoy at his imperial hands 2000 lib. sterling yearly stipend; and of his Protector yearly a thousand rubles; with his diet also to be allowed him free out of the emperor's own kitchen: and to be in dignity with authority amongst the highest sort of the nobility there, and of his Privy Counsellors."--But all this was heroically declined by our patriotic philosopher. Lord Pembroke and Lord Leicester introduced Dee to the notice of Q. Elizabeth, before her coronation. At which time her Majesty used these words--"_Where my brother hath given him a crown, I will give him a noble!_" Before the accession of Elizabeth, he was imprisoned on being accused of destroying Queen Mary by enchantment. "The Queen Elizabeth herself became a prisoner in the same place (Hampton Court) shortly afterwards; and Dee had for bedfellow one Barthelet Green, who was afterwards burnt." Dee himself was examined by Bishop Bonner. On the deanery of Gloucester becoming void in 1564, Dee was nominated to fill it: but the same deanery was afterwards bestowed on Mr. Man, who was sent into Spain in her Majesty's service. "And now this Lent, 1594, when it became void again (says Dee), I made a motion for it, but I came too late; for one that might spend 400 or 500 lib. a year already, had more need of it than I belike; or else this former gift was but words only to me, and the fruit ever due to others, that can espy and catch better than I for these 35 years could do." Mistris Blanche à Parry came to his house with an offer from the Queen of "any ecclesiastical dignity within her kingdom, being then, or shortly becoming, void and vacant"--but "Dee's most humble and thankful answer to her Majesty, by the same messenger, was that _cura animarum annexa_ did terrifie him to deal with." He was next promised to "have of her Majesty's gift other ecclesiastical livings and revenues (without care of souls annexed) as in her Majesty's books were rated at two hundred pounds yearly revenue; of which her Majesty's gift he never as yet had any one penny." In Oct. 1578, he had a consultation with Mr. Doctor Bayly, her Majesty's physician, "about her Majestie's grievous pangs and pains by reason of the toothake and rheum," &c. "He set down in writing, with hydrographical and geographical description, what he then had to say or shew, as concerning her Majesty's title royal to any foreign countries. Whereof two parchment great rolls full written, of about XII WHITE VELLUM SKINS, were good witnesses upon the table before the commissioners." Dee had refused an hundred pounds for these calligraphical labours. A list of his printed and unprinted works: the former 8 (ending with the year 1573), the latter 36 (ending with the year 1592), in number. Anno 1563, Julii ultimo, the Earl of Leicester and Lord Laskey invited themselves to dine with Dee in a day or two; but our astrologer "confessed sincerely that he was not able to prepare them a convenient dinner, unless he should presently sell some of his plate or some of his pewter for it. Whereupon," continues Dee, "her Majesty sent unto me very royally within one hour after forty angels of gold, from Sion; whither her Majesty was now come by water from Greenwich." A little before Christmas, 1599, Dee mentions a promise of another royal donation of 100_l._--"which intent and promise, some once or twice after, as he came in her Majesty's sight, she repeated unto him; and thereupon sent unto him _fifty pounds_ to keep his Christmas with that year--but what, says he, is become of the other fifty, truly I cannot tell! If her Majesty can, it is sufficient; '_Satis, citò, modò, satis bene_, must I say.'" In 1591, his patroness, the Countess of Warwick, made a powerful diversion at Court to secure for him the mastership of St. Cross, then filled by Dr. Bennet, who was to be made a bishop.--The queen qualified her promise of Dee's having it with a nota bene, _if he should be fit for it_. In 1592, the Archbishop of Canterbury openly "affirmed that the mastership of St. Crosse was a living most fit for him; and the Lord Treasurer, at Hampton Court, lately to himself declared, and with his hand very earnestly smitten on his breast used these very words to him--'_By my faith_, if her Majestie be moved in it by any other for you, I will do what I can with her Majestie to pleasure you therein, Mr. Dee.'" But it is time to gratify the BIBLIOMANIAC with something more to his palate. Here followeth, therefore, as drawn up by our philosopher himself, an account of DEE'S LIBRARY: "4000 _Volumes_--printed and unprinted--bound and unbound--valued at 2000 _lib._ 1 Greek, 2 French, and 1 High Dutch, volumes of MSS., alone worth 533 _lib._ 40 years in getting these books together." Appertaining thereto, _Sundry rare and exquisitely made Mathematical Instruments._ _A radius Astronomicus_, ten feet long. _A Magnet Stone, or Loadstone_; of great virtue--"which was sold out of the library for _v shill._ and for it afterwards (yea piece-meal divided) was more than xx _lib._ given in money and value." "_A great case or frame of boxes_, wherein some hundreds of very rare evidences of divers Irelandish territories, provinces, and lands, were laid up. Which territories, provinces, and lands were therein notified to have been in the hands of some of the ancient Irish princes. Then, their submissions and tributes agreed upon, with seals appendant to the little writings thereof in parchment: and after by some of those evidences did it appear how some of those lands came to the Lascies, the Mortuomars, the Burghs, the Clares," &c. "_A box of Evidences_ antient of some Welch princes and noblemen--the like of Norman donation--their peculiar titles noted on the forepart with chalk only, which on the poor boxes remaineth." This box, with another, containing similar deeds, were embezzled. "One great bladder with about 4 pound weight, of a very sweetish thing, like a brownish gum in it, artificially prepared by thirty times purifying of it, hath more than I could well afford him for 100 crownes; as may be proved by witnesses yet living." To these he adds his _three Laboratories_, "serving for Pyrotechnia"--which he got together after 20 years' labour. "All which furniture and provision, and many things already prepared, is unduly made away from me by sundry meanes, and a few spoiled or broken vessels remain, hardly worth 40 shillings." But one more feature in poor Dee's character--and that is his unparalleled serenity and good nature under the most griping misfortunes--remains to be described: and then we may take farewell of him, with aching hearts. In the 10th chapter, speaking of the wretched poverty of himself and family--("having not one penny of certain fee, revenue, stipend, or pension, either left him or restored unto him,")--Dee says that "he has been constrained now and then to send parcels of his little furniture of plate to pawn upon usury; and that he did so oft, till no more could be sent. After the same manner went his wives' jewels of gold, rings, bracelets, chains, and other their rarities, under the thraldom of the usurer's gripes: 'till _non plus_ was written upon the boxes at home." In the 11th chapter, he anticipates the dreadful lot of being brought "to the stepping out of doors (his house being sold). He, and his, with bottles and wallets furnished, to become wanderers as homish vagabonds; or, as banished men, to forsake the kingdom!" Again: "with bloody tears of heart, he, and his wife, their seven children, and their servant (seventeen of them in all), did that day make their petition unto their honours," &c. Can human misery be sharper than this--and to be the lot of a philosopher and bibliomaniac?! But "VENIET FELICIUS ÆVUM."] Of a wholly different cast of character and of reading was the renowned CAPTAIN COX of Coventry. How many of Dee's magical books he had exchanged for the pleasanter magic of _Old Ballads_ and _Romances_, I will not take upon me to say; but that this said bibliomaniacal Captain had a library, which, even from Master Laneham's imperfect description of it,[333] I should have preferred to the four thousand volumes of Dr. John Dee, is most nuquestionable [Transcriber's Note: unquestionable]. [Footnote 333: Let us be introduced to the sprightly figure and expression of character of this renowned Coventry captain, before we speak particularly of his library. "CAPTAIN COX (says the above-mentioned Master Laneham) came marching on valiantly before, clean trust and gartered above the knee, all fresh in a velvet cap (Master Golding a lent it him), flourishing with his _ton_ sword; and another fence master with him:" p. 39. A little before, he is thus described as connected with his library: "And first, Captain Cox; an odd man, I promise you: by profession a mason, and that right skilful: very cunning in fens (fencing); and hardy as Gawin; for his _ton_ sword hangs at his table's end. Great oversight hath he in matters of story: for as for _King Arthur's_ Book, _Huon of Bourdeaux_, the _Four Sons of Aymon_, _Bevys of Hampton_, _The Squyre of Low Degree_, _The Knight of Curtsy_, and the _Lady Fagnel_, _Frederick of Gene_, _Syr Eglamour_, _Syr Tryamour_, _Syr Lamurell_, _Syr Isenbras_, _Syr Gawyn_, _Olyver of the Castl_, _Lucres and Eurialus_, _Virgil's Life_, _the Castl of Ladies_, _the Widow Edyth_, _the King and the Tanner_, _Frier Rous_, _Howleglas_, _Gargantua_, _Robin Hood_, _Adam Bel_, _Clim on the Clough_, and _William of Cloudsley_, _the Churl and the Burd_, _the Seaven Wise Masters_, _the Wife lapt in a Morel's skin_, _the Sakful of Nuez_, _the Sergeaunt that became a Fryar_, _Skogan_, _Collyn Cloout_, _the Fryar and the Boy_, _Elynor Rumming_, and _the Nutbrooun Maid_, with many more than I rehearse here. I believe he has them all at his finger's ends," p. 36. The preceding is a list of the worthy Captain's ROMANCES; some of which, at least in their original shape, were unknown to Ritson: what would be the amount of their present produce under the hammer of those renowned black-letter-book auctioneers in King-street, Covent Garden--? Speak we, in the next place, of the said military bibliomaniac's collection of books in "PHILOSOPHY MORAL and NATURAL." "Beside _Poetry_ and _Astronomy_, and other hid sciences, as I may guess by the omberty of his books: whereof part are, as I remember, _The Shepherd's Kalendar_, _the Ship of Fools_, _Daniel's Dreams_, _the Book of Fortune_, _Stans_, _puer ad mensam_, _the bye way to the Spitl-house_, _Julian of Brainford's Testament_, _the Castle of Love_, _the Booget of Demaunds_, _the Hundred Mery Talez_, _the Book of Riddels_, _the Seaven Sorows of Wemen_, _the Proud Wives' Pater-Noster_, _the Chapman of a Penniworth of Wit_: Beside his AUNCIENT PLAYS; _Youth and Charitee_, _Hikskorner_, _Nugize_, _Impacient Poverty_, and herewith Doctor _Boord's Breviary of Health_. What should I rehearse here, what a bunch of BALLADS AND SONGS, all ancient?!--Here they come, gentle reader; lift up thine eyen and marvel while thou dost peruse the same: _Broom Broom on Hill_, _So wo iz me begon_, _trolly lo Over a Whinny Meg_, _Hey ding a ding_, _Bony lass upon a green_, _My bony on gave me a bek_, _By a bank az I lay_; and _two more_ he hath fair wrapt up in parchment, and bound with a whipcord!" It is no wonder that Ritson, in the historical essay prefixed to his collection of _Scottish Songs_, should speak of some of these ballads with a zest as if he would have sacrificed half his library to untie the said "whipcord" packet. And equally joyous, I ween, would my friend Mr. R.H. Evans, of Pall-Mall, have been--during his editorial labours in publishing a new edition of his father's collection of Ballads--(an edition, by the bye, which gives us more of the genuine spirit of the COXEAN COLLECTION than any with which I am acquainted)--equally joyous would Mr. Evans have been to have had the inspection of some of these 'bonny' songs. The late Duke of Roxburgh, of never-dying bibliomaniacal celebrity, would have parted with half the insignia of his order of the Garter to have obtained _clean original copies_ of these fascinating effusions! But let us return, and take farewell of Captain Cox, by noticing only the remaining department of his library, as described by Laneham. "As for ALMANACS of antiquity (a point for Ephemerides) I ween he can shew from _Jasper Laet of Antwerp_, unto _Nostradam of Frauns_, and thence unto our _John Securiz of Salisbury_. To stay ye no longer herein (concludes Laneham) I dare say he hath as fair a library of these sciences, and as many goodly monuments both in prose and poetry, and at afternoon can talk as much without book, as any innholder betwixt Brentford and Bagshot, what degree soever he be." _A Letter wherein part of the Entertainment untoo the Queenz Majesty at Killingwoorth Castl in Warwick-Sheer, in this Soomerz Progrest, 1575, is signefied_: Warwick, 1784, 8vo. O RARE CAPTAIN COX!] We now approach two characters of a more dignified cast; and who, in every respect, must be denominated the greatest bibliomaniacs of the age: I mean SIR ROBERT COTTON and SIR THOMAS BODLEY. We will touch upon them separately. The numerous relics which are yet preserved of the _Cottonian Collection_, may serve to convey a pretty strong idea of its splendour and perfection in its original shape. Cotton had all the sagacity and judgment of Lord Coke, with a more beautifully polished mind, and a more benevolent heart. As to books, and book men, he was the Mecænas[334] of his day. His thirst for knowledge could never be satiated; and the cultivation of the mind upon the foundation of a good heart, he considered to be the highest distinction, and the most permanent delight, of human beings. Wealth, pomp, parade, and titles, were dissipated, in the pure atmosphere of his mind before the invigorating sun of science and learning. He knew that the tomb which recorded the _worth_ of the deceased had more honest tears shed upon it than the pompous mausoleum which spoke only of his pedigree and possessions. Accordingly, although he had excellent blood flowing in his veins, Cotton sought connection with the good rather than with the great; and where he found a cultivated understanding, and an honest heart, there he carried with him his _Lares_, and made another's abode his own. [Footnote 334: There are few eminent characters of whom so many, and such ably-executed, memoirs are extant as of SIR ROBERT COTTON, KNT. In the present place we have nothing to do with his academical studies, his philosophical, or legislative, or diplomatic, labours: literature and _Book Madness_ are our only subjects of discussion. Yet those who may wish for more general, and possibly more interesting, details, may examine the authorities referred to by Mr. Planta in his very excellent _Catalogue of the MSS. in the Cottonian Library_, 1802, folio. Sir Robert Cotton was educated at Trinity-College, Cambridge. The number of curious volumes, whether in the roman, gothic, or italic type, which he in all probability collected during his residence at the university, has not yet been ascertained; but we know that, when he made his antiquarian tour with the famous Camden, ("par nobile fratrum!") in his 29th year, Cotton must have greatly augmented his literary treasures, and returned to the metropolis with a sharpened appetite, to devour every thing in the shape of a book. Respected by three sovereigns, Elizabeth, James, and Charles, and admired by all the literati in Europe, Sir Robert saw himself in as eminent a situation as wealth, talents, taste, and integrity can place an individual. His collection of books increased rapidly; but MS. records, deeds, and charters, were the chief objects of his pursuit. His mansion was noble, his library extensive, and his own manners such as conciliated the esteem of almost every one who approached him. Dr. Smith has well described our illustrious bibliomaniac, at this golden period of his life: "Ad Cottoni ædes, tanquam ad communem reconditioris doctrinæ apothecam, sive ad novam Academiam, quotquot animo paulo erectiori musis et gratiis litaverint, sese recepere, nullam a viro humanissimo repulsam passuri: quippe idem literas bonas promovendi studium erat omni auctoramento longe potentius. Nec ista obvia morum facilitas, qua omnes bonos eruditionisque candidatos complexus est, quicquam reverentiæ qua vicissim ille colebatur, detraxerat: potius, omnium, quos familiari sermone, repititisque colloquiis dignari placuit, in se amores et admirationem hac insigni naturæ benignitate excitavit." Vit. Rob. Cottoni, p. xxiv., prefixed to the _Catalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum Bibl. Cott._, 1696, folio. Sir Robert was, however, doomed to have the evening of his life clouded by one of those crooked and disastrous events, of which it is now impossible to trace the correct cause, or affix the degree of ignominy attached to it, on the head of its proper author. Human nature has few blacker instances of turpitude on record than that to which our knight fell a victim. In the year 1615, some wretch communicated to the Spanish ambassador "the valuable state papers in his library, who caused them to be copied and translated into the Spanish:" these papers were of too much importance to be made public; and James the 1st had the meanness to issue a commission "which excluded Sir Robert from his own library." The storm quickly blew over, and the sunshine of Cotton's integrity diffused around its wonted brilliancy. But in the year 1629, another mischievous wretch propagated a report that Sir Robert had been privy to a treasonable publication: because, forsooth, the original tract, from which this treasonable one had been taken, was, in the year 1613, without the knowledge of the owner of the library, introduced into the Cottonian collection. This wretch, under the abused title of librarian, had, "for pecuniary considerations," the baseness to suffer one or more copies of the pamphlet of 1613 (writtten [Transcriber's Note: written] at Florence by Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, under a less offensive title) to be taken, and in consequence printed. Sir Robert was therefore again singled out for royal vengeance: his library was put under sequestration; and the owner forbidden to enter it. It was in vain that his complete innocence was vindicated. To deprive such a man as COTTON of the ocular and manual comforts of his library--to suppose that he could be happy in the most splendid drawing room in Europe, without his books--is to suppose what our experience of virtuous bibliomaniacs will not permit us to accede to. In consequence, Sir Robert declared to his friends, "that they had broken his heart who had locked up his library from him:" which declaration he solemnly repeated to the Privy Council. In the year 1631, this great and good man closed his eyes for ever upon mortal scenes; upon those whom he gladdened by his benevolence, and improved by his wisdom. Such was the man, of whom Gale has thus eloquently spoken:--"quisquis bona fide Historiam nostram per omne ævum explicare sataget, nullum laudatum Scriptorem à se desiderari exoptarique posse, quem COTTONIANUS ille incomparabilis thesaurus promptissime non exhibebit: Ea est, et semper fuit, nobilis Domus ergo literatos indulgentia--Hujus fores (ut illæ Musaram, apud Pindarum) omnibus patent. Testes apello Theologos, Antiquarios, Jurisconsultos, Bibliopolas; qui quidem omnes, ex Cottoniana Bibliotheca, tanquam ex perenni, sed et communi fonte, sine impensis et molestiâ, abundè hauserunt." _Rer. Anglic. Script. Vet._, vol. i., præf., p. 3. The loss of such a character--the deprivation of such a patron--made the whole society of book-collectors tremble and turn pale. Men began to look sharply into their libraries, and to cast a distrustful eye upon those who came to consult and to copy: for the spirit of COTTON, like the ghost of Hamlet's father, was seen to walk, before cock-crow, along the galleries and balconies of great collections, and to bid the owners of them "remember and beware"!--But to return. The library of this distinguished bibliomaniac continued under sequestration some time after his death, and was preserved entire, with difficulty, during the shock of the civil wars. In the year 1712, it was removed to Essex House, in Essex-street, Strand, where it continued till the year 1730, when it was conveyed back to Westminster, and deposited in Little Dean's Yard. In October, 1731, broke out that dreadful fire, which Hearne (_Benedict. Abbat._, vol. i., præf. p. xvi.) so pathetically deplores; and in which the nation so generally sympathized--as it destroyed and mutilated many precious volumes of this collection. Out of 958 volumes, 97 were destroyed, and 105 damaged. In the year 1753 the library, to the honour of the age, and as the only atonement which could be made to the injured name of Cotton, as well as to the effectual _laying_ of his perturbed spirit--was purchased by parliament, and transported within the quiet and congenial abode of the BRITISH MUSEUM: and here may it rest, unabused, for revolving ages! The collection now contains 26,000 articles. Consult Mr. Planta's neatly written preface to the catalogue of the same; vide p. 39, 267, ante. And thus take we leave of the ever-memorable bibliomaniac, Sir ROBERT COTTON, KNT.] Equally celebrated for literary zeal, and yet more for bibliomaniacal enthusiasm, was the famous SIR THOMAS BODLEY; whose account of himself, in _Prince's Worthies of Devon_, and particularly in one of _Hearne's publications_,[335] can never be read without transport by an affectionate son of our Oxford _Alma Mater_. View this illustrious bibliomaniac, with his gentleman-like air, and expressive countenance, superintending, with the zeal of a Custom-house officer, the shipping, or rather _barging_, of his books for the grand library which is now called by his OWN NAME! Think upon his activity in writing to almost every distinguished character of the realm: soliciting, urging, arguing, entreating for their support towards his magnificent establishment; and, moreover, superintending the erection of the building, as well as examining the timbers, with the nicety of a master-carpenter!--Think of this; and when you walk under the grave and appropriately-ornamented roof, which tells you that you are within the precincts of the BODLEIAN LIBRARY, pay obeisance to the portrait of the founder, and hold converse with his gentle spirit that dwells therein! [Footnote 335: There are few subjects--to the bibliomaniac in general--and particularly to one, who, like the author of this work, numbers himself among the dutiful sons of the FAIR OXONIAN MOTHER--that can afford a higher gratification than the history of the BODLEIAN LIBRARY, which, like Virgil's description of fame, "Soon grew from pigmy to gigantic size." The reader is therefore here informed, as a necessary preliminary piece of intelligence, that the present note will be more monstrous than any preceding one of a similar nature. Let him, however, take courage, and only venture to dip his feet in the margin of the lake, and I make little doubt but that he will joyfully plunge in, and swim across it. Of the parentage, birth, and education of Bodley there seems to be no necessity for entering into the detail. The monument which he has erected to his memory is lofty enough for every eye to behold; and thereupon may be read the things most deserving of being known. How long the subject of his beloved library had occupied his attention it is perhaps of equal difficulty and unimportance to know; but his determination to carry this noble plan into effect is thus pleasingly communicated to us by his own pen: "when I had, I say, in this manner, represented to my thoughts, my peculiar estate, I resolved thereupon to possess my soul in peace all the residue of my days; to take my full farewell of state employments; to satisfy my mind with that mediocrity of worldly living that I have of my own, and so to retire me from the Court; which was the epilogue and end of all my actions and endeavours, of any important note, till I came to the age of fifty-three years."--"Examining exactly, for the rest of my life, what course I might take; and, having, as I thought, sought all the ways to the wood, I concluded, at the last, to set up my staff AT THE LIBRARY DOOR IN OXON, being thoroughly persuaded, in my solitude and surcease from the commonwealth affairs, I could not busy myself to better purpose than by reducing that place (which then in every part lay ruinated and waste) to the public use of Students." Prince's _Worthies of Devon_, p. 95, edit. 1810. Such being the reflections and determination of Sir Thomas Bodley, he thus ventured to lay open his mind to the heads of the University of Oxford: "_To the Vice-Chancellor (Dr. Ravis) of Oxon; about restoring the public library._ (This letter was published in a convocation holden March 2, 1597) SIR, Although you know me not, as I suppose, yet for the farthering an offer, of evident utility, to your whole university, I will not be too scrupulous in craving your assistance. I have been always of a mind that, if God, of his goodness, should make me able to do any thing, for the benefit of posterity, I would shew some token of affection, that I have ever more borne, to the studies of good learning. I know my portion is too slender to perform, for the present, any answerable act to my willing disposition: but yet, to notify some part of my desire in that behalf, I have resolved thus to deal. Where there hath been heretofore a public library in Oxford, which, you know, is apparent by the room itself remaining, and by your statute records, I will take the charge and cost upon me to reduce it again to his former use: and to make it fit and handsome, with seats, and shelves, and desks, and all that may be needfull, to stir up other men's benevolence, to help to furnish it with books. And this I purpose to begin, as soon as timber can be gotten, to the intent that you may reap some speedy profit of my project. And where before, as I conceive, it was to be reputed but a store of books of divers benefactors, because it never had any lasting allowance, for augmentation of the number, or supply of books decayed: whereby it came to pass that, when those that were in being were either wasted or embezelled, the whole foundation came to ruin:--to meet with that inconvenience, I will so provide hereafter (if God do not hinder my present design) as you shall be still assured of a standing annual rent, to be disbursed every year in buying of books, in officers' stipends, and other pertinent occasions, with which provision, and some order for the preservation of the place, and of the furniture of it, from accustomed abuses, it may, perhaps, in time to come, prove a notable treasure for the multitude of volumes; an excellent benefit for the use and ease of students; and a singular ornament in the University. I am, therefore, to intreat you, because I will do nothing without their public approbation, to deliver this, that I have signified, in that good sort, that you think meet: and when you please to let me know their acceptation of my offer, I will be ready to effect it with all convenient expedition. But, for the better effecting of it, I do desire to be informed whether the University be sufficiently qualified, by licence of Mortmain, or other assurance, to receive a farther grant of any rent or annuity than they do presently enjoy. And, if any instruments be extant of the ancient donations to their former library, I would, with their good liking, see a transcript of them: and likewise of such statutes as were devised by the founders, or afterwards by others for the usage of the books. Which is now as much as I can think on, whereunto, at your good leisure, I would request your friendly answer. And, if it lie in my ability to deserve your pains in that behalf, although we be not yet acquainted, you shall find me very forward. From London, Feb. 23, 1597. Your affectionate friend, THO. BODLEY." In the Easter following, "Mr. Bodley came to Oxford to view the place on which he intended his bounty, and making them a model of the design with the help of Mr. Saville, Warden of Merton College, ordered that the room, or place of stowage, for books, should be new planked, and that benches and repositories fo [Transcriber's Note: for] books should be set up." Wood's _Annals of the University_, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 920. The worthy founder then pursued his epistolary intercourse with the Vice-Chancellor: "_To Mr. Vice Chancellor._ SIR, I find myself greatly beholden unto you for the speed that you have used in proposing my offer to the whole University, which I also hear by divers friends was greatly graced in their meeting with your courteous kind speeches. And though their answer of acceptance were over thankful and respective; yet I take it unto me for a singular comfort, that it came for that affection, whose thanks in that behalf I do esteem a great deal more than they have reason to esteem a far better offer. In which respect I have returned my dutiful acknowledgement, which I beseech you to present, when you shall call a convocation, about some matter of greater moment. Because their letter was in _Latin_, methought it did enforce me not to show myself a truant, by attempting the like, with a pen out of practice: which yet I hope they will excuse with a kind construction of my meaning. And to the intent they may perceive that my good will is as forward to perform as to promise, and that I purpose to shew it to their best contentation, I do hold it very requisite that some few should be deputed by the rest of the House to consider, for the whole, of the fittest kind of facture of desks, and other furniture; and when I shall come to Oxford, which I determine, God willing, some time before Easter, I will then acquaint the self same parties with some notes of a platform, which I and Mr. Savile have conceived here between us: so that, meeting altogether, we shall soon resolve upon the best, as well for shew, and stately form, as for capacity and strength, and commodity of students. Of this my motion I would pray you to take some notice in particular, for that my letter herewith to your public assembly doth refer itself in part to your delivery of my mind. My chiefest care is now, the while, how to season my timber as soon as possible. For that which I am offered by the special favour of Merton College, although it were felled a great while since, yet of force it will require, after time it is sawed, a convenient seasoning; least by making too much haste, if the shelves and seats should chance to warp, it might prove to be an eye sore, and cost in a manner cast away. To gain some time in that regard, I have already taken order for setting sawyers a-work, and for procuring besides all other materials; wherein my diligence and speed shall bear me witness of my willingness to accomplish all that I pretend, to every man's good liking. And thus I leave and commend you to God's good tuition. From London, March 19, --97 Your assured to use in all your occasions, THO. BODLEY." Neither this nor the preceding letter are published in Mr. Gutch's valuable edition of Wood's original text: but are to be found, as well as every other information here subjoined, in Hearne's edition of _Joh. Confrat. &c., de Reb. Glaston._, vol. ii., pp. 612 to 645. We will next peruse the curious list of the first benefactors to the Bodleian Library. _My Lord of Essex_: about 300 volumes: greater part in folio. _My Lord Chamberlain_: 100 volumes, all in a manner new bound, with his arms, and a great part in folio. _The Lord Montacute_: 66 costly great volumes, in folio; all bought of set purpose, and fairly bound with his arms. _The Lord Lumley_: 40 volumes in folio. _Sir Robert Sidney_: 102 new volumes in folio, to the value of one hundred pounds, being all very fair, and especially well bound with his arms. _Merton College_: 38 volumes of singular good books in folio, &c. _Mr. Philip Scudamor_: 50 volumes: greatest part in folio. _Mr. William Gent_: 100 volumes at the least. _Mr. Lawrence Bodley_: 37 very fair and new bought books in folio. (There were seven other donations--in money, from 4 to 10_l._) Another list of benefactors; read in Convocation, July 17, 1601. _Sir John Fortescue, Knt._: 47 volumes: of which there are 5 Greek MSS. of singular worth. _Mr. Jo. Crooke_: Recorder of the City of London: 27 good volumes; of which 25 are in folio. _Mr. Henry Savile_: all the Greek interpreters upon Aust(in). _Mr. William Gent, of Glocester Hall_: 160 volumes; of which there are 50 in folio. _Mr. Thomas Allen, of do._, hath given 12 rare MSS., with a purpose to do more, and hath been ever a most careful provoker and solicitor of sundry great persons to become benefactors. _Mr. William Camden_, by his office _Clarentius_: 7 volumes; of which 4 are manuscripts. _Mr. Thomas James, of New College_: 100 volumes: almost all in folio, and sundry good manuscripts. With about 50 other donations, chiefly in money. To Dr. Raves, Vice-Chanc. (Read in Convoc. May 10, 1602.) A yet larger, and more complete, list will be found in Mr. Gutch's publication of Wood's text. Let us next observe how this distinguished bibliomaniac seized every opportunity--laying embargoes upon barges and carriages--for the conveyance of his book-treasures. The ensuing is also in Mr. Gutch's work: "_To the Right W. Mr. D. King, Dean of Christ-Church, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxon, or, in his absence, to his Deputies there._ (Read in Convocation, July 8, 1608.) SIR, I have sent down, by a western barge, all the books that I have of this year's collection, which I have requested Mr. James, and other of my friends, to see safely brought from Burcote, and placed in the library. Sir Francis Vere hath sent me this year his accustomed annual gift of ten pounds. The Lady Mary Vere, wife to Sir Horace Vere, in the time of her widowhood (for so she is desired it should be recorded), being called Mrs. Hoby, of Hales, in Gloucestershire, hath given twenty pound. (He then enumerates about 15 other donations, and thus goes on:) Thus I thought meet to observe my yearly custom, in acquainting the University with the increase of their store: as my care shall be next, and that very shortly, to endow them with that portion of revenue and land that I have provided, whensoever God shall call me, for the full defraying of any charge that, by present likelihood, the conservation of the books, and all needful allowances to the keeper and others, may from time to time require. I will send you, moreover, a draught of certain statutes, which I have rudely conceived about the employment of that revenue, and for the government of the library: not with any meaning that they should be received, as orders made by me (for it shall appear unto you otherwise) but as notes and remembrances to abler persons, whom hereafter you may nominate (as I will also then request you) to consider of those affairs, and so frame a substantial form of government, sith that which is a foot is in many thinges defective for preservation of the library: for I hold it altogether fitting that the University Convocation should be always possessed of an absolute power to devise any statutes, and of those to alter as they list, when they find an occasion of evident utility. But of these and other points, when I send you my project, I will both write more of purpose, and impart unto you freely my best cogitations, being evermore desirous, whatsoever may concern your public good, to procure and advance it so, to the uttermost of my power: as now in the meanwhile, reminding unto you my fervent affection, I rest for any service, Your most assured, at commandment, THO. BODLEIE. London, June 30, 1608." In a letter to his "dearest friends, Doctor Kinge, Vice-Chancellor, the Doctors, Proctors, and the rest of the Convocation House in Oxon," (16th June, 1609) after telling them how he had secured certain landed property for the payment of the salaries and other expenses attendant upon the library, Sir Thomas thus draws to a conclusion: "Now because I presuppose that you take little pleasure in a tedious letter, having somewhat besides to impart unto you, I have made it known by word to Mr. Vicechancellor, who, I know, will not fail to acquaint you with it: as withall I have intreated him to supply, in my behalf, all my negligent omissions, and defective form of thanks, for all your public honours, entertainments, letters, gifts, and other graces conferred upon me, which have so far exceeded the compass of my merits that, where before I did imagine that nothing could augment my zealous inclination to your general good, now methinks I do feel it (as I did a great while since) was very highly augmented: insomuch as I cannot but shrive myself thus freely and soothly unto you. That, albeit, among a number of natural imperfections, I have least of all offended in the humour of ambition, yet now so it is, that I do somewhat repent me of my too much niceness that way: not as carried with an appetite to rake more riches to myself (wherein, God is my witness, my content is complete) but only in respect of my greedy desire to make a livelier demonstration of the same that I bear to my COMMON MOTHER, than I have hitherto attained sufficient ability to put in execution. With which unfeigned testification of my devotion unto you, and with my daily fervent prayers for the endless prosperity of your joint endeavours, in that whole institution of your public library, I will close up this letter, and rest, as I shall ever, Yours, in all loving and dutiful affection, THOMAS BODLEY. London, May 31, 1609." The following, which is also in Mr. Gutch's publication, shews the laudable restlessness, and insatiable ambition, of our venerable bibliomaniac, in ransacking foreign libraries for the completion of his own. "_To the Right Worshipfull Mr. D. Singleton, Vicechancellor of the University of Oxon._ (Read in Convocation, Nov. 9, 1611.) SIR, About some three years past, I made a motion, here in London, to Mr. Pindar, Consul of the Company of English Merchants at Aleppo (a famous port in the Turk's dominions) that he would use his best means to procure me some books in the Syriac, Arabic, Turkish, and Persian tongues, or in any other language of those Eastern nations: because I make no doubt but, in process of time, by the extraordinary diligence of some one or other student, they may be readily understood, and some special use made of their kind of learning in those parts of the world: and where I had a purpose to reimburse all the charge that might grow thereupon, he sent of late unto me 20 several volumes in the foresaid tongues, and of his liberal disposition hath bestowed them freely on the library. They are manuscripts all (for in those countries they have no kind of printing) and were valued in that place at a very high rate. I will send them, ere be long, praying you the while to notify so much unto the University, and to move them to write a letter of thanks, which I will find means to convey to his hands, being lately departed from London to Constantinople. Whether the letter be indited in Latin or English, it is not much material, but yet, in my conceit, it will do best to him in English." (The remainder of this letter is devoted to a scheme of building the public schools at Oxford; in which Sir Thomas found a most able and cheerful coadjutor, in one, _Sir Jo. Benet_; who seems to have had an extensive and powerful connection, and who set the scheme on foot, "like a true affected son to his ANCIENT MOTHER, with a cheerful propension to take the charge upon him without groaning.") In April 1585, Queen Elizabeth granted Sir Thomas "a passport of safe conveyance to Denmark"; and wrote a letter to the King of Denmark of the same date, within two days. She wrote, also, a letter to Julius, Duke of Brunswick of the same date: in which the evils that were then besetting the Christian world abroad were said to be rushing suddenly, as "from the Trojan Horse." "These three letters (observes Mr. Baker to his friend Hearne) are only copies, but very fairly wrote, and seem to have been duplicates kept by him that drew the original letters." We will peruse but two more of these Bodleian epistles, which Hearne very properly adds as an amusing appendix, as well to the foregoing, as to his _Reliquiæ Bodleianæ_ (1703, 8vo). They are written to men whose names must ever be held in high veneration by all worthy bibliomanacs. "_Sir Tho. Bodley to Sir Robert Cotton._ (_Ex. Bibl. Cotton._) SIR, I was thrice to have seen you at your house, but had not the hap to find you at home. It was only to know how you hold your old intention for helping to furnish the University Library: where I purpose, God willing, to place all the books that I have hitherto gathered, within these three weeks. And whatsoever any man shall confer for the storing of it, such order is taken for a due memorial of his gift as I am persuaded he cannot any way receive a greater contentment of any thing to the value otherwise bestowed. Thus much I thought to signify unto you: and to request you to hear how you rest affected. Yours, to use in any occasion, THO. BODLEY. From my house, June 6." "_Sir Henry Savile to Sir R(obert) C(otton)._ SIR, I have made Mr. Bodley acquainted with your kind and friendly offer, who accepteth of it in most thankful manner: and if it pleaseth you to appoint to-morrow at afternoon, or upon Monday or Tuesday next, at some hour likewise after dinner, we will not fail to be with you at your house for that purpose. And remember I give you fair warning that if you hold any book so dear as that you would be loth to have him out of your sight, set him aside before hand. For my own part, I will not do that wrong to my judgment as to chuse of the worst, if better be in place: and, beside, you would account me a simple man. But to leave jesting, we will any of the days come to you, leaving, as great reason is, your own in your own power freely to retain or dispose. True it is that I have raised some expectation of the quality of your gift in Mr. Bodley, whom you shall find a gentleman in all respects worthy of your acquaintance. And so, with my best commendations, I commit you to God. This St. Peter's day. Your very assured friend, HENRY SAVILE." It only remains now to indulge the dutiful sons of ALMA MATER with a fac-simile wood-cut impression of the profile of the venerable founder of the Bodleian Library, taken from a print of a medal in the _Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum Angliæ, &c._, 1697, fol.; but whether it have any resemblance to the bust of him, "carved to the life by an excellent hand at London, and shortly after placed in a niche in the south wall of the same library," with the subjoined inscription, I cannot at this moment recollect. [Illustration: THOMAS SACKVILLUS DORSET, COMES, SUMMUS ANGLIÆ THESAURAR. ET HUJUS ACAD. CANCELLAR. THOMÆ BODLEIO EQUITI AURATO QUI BIBLIOTHECAM HANC INSTITUIT HONORIS CAUSA P.P.] The library of Sir Thomas Bodley, when completed, formed the figure of a T: it was afterwards resolved, on the books accumulating, and the benefactions increasing, to finish it in the form of an H; in which state it now remains. Sir Kenelm Digby, like a thorough bred bibliomaniac, "gave fifty very good oaks, to purchase a piece of ground of Exeter College, laying on the north west side of the library; on which, and their own ground adjoining, they might erect the future fabric." The laying of the foundation of this erection is thus described by Wood; concluding with a catastrophe, at which I sadly fear the wicked reader will smile. "On the thirteenth of May, being Tuesday, 1634, the Vice-chancellor, Doctors, Heads of Houses, and Proctors, met at St. Mary's church about 8 of the clock in the morning; thence each, having his respective formalities on came to this place, and took their seats that were then erected on the brim of the foundation. Over against them was built a scaffold, where the two proctors, with divers masters, stood. After they were all settled, the University Musicians, who stood upon the leads at the west end of the library, sounded a lesson on their wind music. Which being done, the singing men of Christ-Church, with others, sang a lesson, after which the senior Proctor, Mr. Herbert Pelham, of Magdalen College, made an eloquent oration: that being ended also, the music sounded again, and continued playing till the Vice-Chancellor went to the bottom of the foundation to lay the first stone in one of the south angles. But no sooner had he deposited a piece of gold on the said stone, according to the usual manner in such ceremonies, but the earth fell in from one side of the foundation, and the scaffold that was thereon broke and fell with it; so that all those that were thereon, to the number of a hundred at least, namely, the Proctors, Principals of Halls, Masters, and some Bachelaurs, fell down all together, one upon another, into the foundation; among whom, the under butler of Exeter College had his shoulder broken or put out of joint, and a scholar's arm bruised." "The solemnity being thus concluded with such a sad catastrophe, the breach was soon after made up and the work going chearfully forward, was in four years space finished." _Annals of the University of Oxford_; vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 939. Gutch's edition. We will take leave of SIR THOMAS BODLEY, and of his noble institution, with the subjoined representation of the University's Arms--as painted upon the ceiling of the library, in innumerable compartments; hoping that the period is not very remote when a _History of the Bodleian Library_, more ample and complete than any thing which has preceded it, will appear prefixed to a _Catalogue of the Books_, like unto that which is hinted at p. 74, ante, as "an urgent desideratum." [Illustration: DOMINVS ILLVMINATIO MEA]] LIS. Alas, you bring to my mind those precious hours that are gone by, never to be recalled, which I wasted within this glorious palace of Bodley's erection! How I sauntered, and gazed, and sauntered again.-- PHIL. Your case is by no means singular. But you promise, when you revisit the library, not to behave so naughtily again? LIS. I was not then a convert to the BIBLIOMANIA! Now, I will certainly devote the leisure of six autumnal weeks to examine minutely some of the precious tomes which are contained in it. LYSAND. Very good. And pray favour us with the result of your profound researches: as one would like to have the most minute account of the treasures contained within those hitherto unnumbered volumes. PHIL. As every sweet in this world is balanced by its bitter, I wonder that these worthy characters were not lampooned by some sharp-set scribbler--whose only chance of getting perusers for his work, and thereby bread for his larder, was by the novelty and impudence of his attacks. Any thing new and preposterous is sure of drawing attention. Affirm that you see a man standing upon one leg, on the pinnacle of Saint Paul's[336]--or that the ghost of Inigo Jones had appeared to you, to give you the extraordinary information that Sir Christopher Wren had stolen the whole of the plan of that cathedral from a design of his own--and do you not think that you would have spectators and auditors enough around you? [Footnote 336: This is now oftentimes practised by some wag, in his "_Walke in Powles_." Whether the same anecdote is recorded in the little slim pamphlet published in 1604, 4to., under the same title--not having the work--(and indeed how should I? vide _Bibl. Reed_, no. 2225, _cum pretiis_!) I cannot take upon me to determine.] LIS. Yes, verily: and I warrant some half-starved scrivener of the Elizabethan period drew his envenomed dart to endeavour to perforate the cuticle of some worthy bibliomaniacal wight. LYSAND. You may indulge what conjectures you please; but I know of no anti-bibliomaniacal satirist of this period. STUBBES did what he could, in his "_Anatomy of Abuses_,"[337] to disturb every social and harmless amusement of the age. He was the forerunner of that snarling satirist, Prynne; but I ought not thus to cuff him, for fear of bringing upon me the united indignation of a host of black-letter critics and philologists. A _large and clean_ copy of his sorrily printed work is among the choicest treasures of a Shakspearian virtuoso. [Footnote 337: "THE ANATOMIE OF ABUSES: _contayning a discoverie, or briefe summarie of such notable vices and imperfections as now raigne in many Christian Countreyes of the Worlde: but (especiallie) in a very famous Ilande called Ailgna_:" &c. Printed by Richard Jones, 1583, small 8vo. Vide Herbert's _Typographical Antiquities_, vol. iii., p. 1044, for the whole title. Sir John Hawkins, in his _History of Music_, vol iii., 419, calls this "a curious and very scarce book;" and so does my friend, Mr. Utterson; who revels in his morocco-coated copy of it--"_Exemplar olim Farmerianum!_" But let us be candid; and not sacrifice our better judgments to our book-passions. After all, Stubbes's work is a caricatured drawing. It has strong passages, and a few original thoughts; and, is moreover, one of the very few works printed in days of yore which have running titles to the subjects discussed in them. These may be recommendations with the bibliomaniac; but he should be informed that this volume contains a great deal of puritanical cant, and licentious language; that vices are magnified in it in order to be lashed, and virtues diminished that they might not be noticed. Stubbes equals Prynne in his anathemas against "Plays and Interludes:" and in his chapters upon "Dress" and "Dancing" he rakes together every coarse and pungent phrase in order to describe "these horrible sins" with due severity. He is sometimes so indecent that, for the credit of the age, and of a virgin reign, we must hope that every virtuous dame threw the copy of his book, which came into her possession, behind the fire. This may reasonably account for its present rarity. I do not discover it in the catalogues of the libraries of _Pearson_, _Steevens_, or _Brand_; but see _Bibl. Wright_, no. 1390.] But admitting even that Stubbes had drawn his arrow to the head, and grazed the skin of such men as Bodley and Cotton, the wound inflicted by this weapon must have been speedily closed and healed by the balsamic medicine administered by ANDREW MAUNSELL, in his _Catalogue of English Printed Books_.[338] This little thin folio volume afforded a delicious treat to all honest bibliomaniacs. It revived the drooping spirits of the despondent; and, like the syrup of the renowned Dr. Brodum, circulated within the system, and put all the generous juices in action. The niggardly collector felt the influence of rivalship; he played a deeper stake at book-gambling; and hastened, by his painfully acquired knowledge of what was curious and rare in books, to anticipate the rustic collector--which latter, putting the best wheels and horses to his carriage, rushed from the country to the metropolis, to seize, at Maunsell's shop, a choice copy of _Cranmer's Bible, or Morley's Canzonets_.[339] [Footnote 338: This Catalogue, the first publication of the kind ever put forth in this country, is complete in two parts; 1595, folio: first part containing 123 pages, exclusive of three preliminary epistles: the second, 27 pages; exclusive of three similar introductory pieces. The _first part_ is devoted entirely to Divinity: and in the dedicatory epistle to Queen Elizabeth, Maunsell tells her majesty that he thought it "worth his poor labour to collect a catalogue of the divine books, so mightily increased in her reign; whereby her majesty's most faithful and loving subjects may be put in remembrance of the works of so excellent authors," &c. The second part is devoted to a brief account of books in the remaining branches of literature, arts, sciences, &c. Maunsell promised to follow it up by a _third_ part; but a want of due encouragement seems to have damped the bibliographical ardour of the compiler; for this third part never appeared: a circumstance which, in common with the late Mr. Steevens, all bibliomaniacs may "much lament." See the _Athenæum_, vol i., 155; also Herbert's _Typographical Antiquities_, vol ii., p. 1137. A copy of this volume has found its way into the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh; _Cat. Adv. Libr._, vol ii., p. 99. Ruddiman, who was formerly the librarian of this latter valuable collection, had probably read Hearne's commendation of it:--namely, that it was "a very scarce, and yet a very useful, book." _Bened. Abbat._, vol. i., p. LIV. Mr. Heber possesses a curious copy of it, which was formerly Herbert's, with the margins filled with his MS. addenda.] [Footnote 339: "Of the translation appointed to bee read in churches, in Kinge Henry the 8, his daies," printed in the largest volume, 1539. "THO. MORLEY, Bachiler of Musique, and one of her Maiestie's Royal Chappell, _his Conzonets_, or little short songes to three voyces. Prin. by Tho. Est. 1593. 4to." See p. 10., pt. i., p. 17, pt. ii., of _Maunsell's Catalogue_; but let the reader consult p. 248, ante, concerning this "largest volume" of the Holy Scriptures.] Let us, however, not forget that we have reached the reign of JAMES I.; a monarch who, like Justinian, affected to be "greatly given to study of books;"[340] and who, according to Burton's testimony, wished he had been chained to one of the shelves of the Bodleian library.[341] Of all literary tastes, James had the most strange and sterile. Let us leave him to his _Demonology_; but notice, with the respect that it merits, the more rational and even elegantly cultivated mind of his son PRINCE HENRY;[342] of whose passion for books there are some good evidences upon record. We will next proceed to the mention of a shrewd scholar and bibliomaniac, and ever active voyager, ycleped THOMAS CORYATE, the _Peregrine of Odcombe_. This facetious traveller, who was as quaint and original a writer as old Tom Fuller, appears (when he had time and opportunity) to have taken special notice of libraries; and when he describes to us his "worm eaten" copy of _Josephus's Antiquities_,[343] "written in ancient Longobard characters in parchment," one cannot but indulge a natural wish to know something of the present existence of a MS. which had probably escaped Oberthür, the last laborious editor of Josephus. [Footnote 340: "Greatly gyuen to study of bokys:" _Rastell's Chronicle, or Pastyme of People_, p. 28, edit. 1811, 4to.] [Footnote 341: The passage is somewhere in Burton's _Anatomy of Mechanoly_. But I cannot just now, put my finger upon it.] [Footnote 342: The works of KING JAMES I. (of England) were published in rather a splendid folio volume in the year 1616. Amongst these, his _Demonology_ is the "opus maximum." Of his son PRINCE HENRY, there is, in this volume, at the top of one of the preliminary pieces, a very pretty half length portrait; when he was quite a boy. A charming whole length portrait of the same accomplished character, when he was a young man, engraved by Paas, may be seen in the first folio edition of Drayton's _Polyolbion_: but this, the reader will tell me, is mere Grangerite information. Proceed we, therefore, to a pithy, but powerful, demonstration of the bibliomaniacal character of the said Prince Henry. "In the paper office, there is a book, No. 24, containing Prince Henry's privy-purse expences, for one year," &c. The whole expense of one year was 1400_l._ Among other charges, the following are remarkable: £ _s._ _d._ 17th October, paid to a Frenchman, that presented _a book_ 4 10 0 20th October, paid Mr. Holyoak for writing a _Catalogue of the Library_ which the Prince had of Lord Lumley 8 13 4 &c. &c. &c. _Apology for the Believers in the Shakspeare-Papers_, 1797, 8vo., p. 233.] [Footnote 343: Look, gentle reader, at the entire ungarbled passage--amongst many similar ones which may be adduced--in vol. i., p. 116, of his "_Crudities_"--or Travels: edit. 1776, 8vo. Coryat's [Transcriber's Note: alternative spelling] talents, as a traveller, are briefly, but brilliantly, described in the _Quarterly Review_, vol. ii., p. 92.] Let me here beseech you to pay due attention to the works of HENRY PEACHAM, when they come across you. The first edition of that elegantly written volume, "_The Compleat Gentleman_," was published I believe in the reign of James I., in the year 1622. LOREN. I possess not only this, but every subsequent copy of it, and a fair number of copies of his other works. He and BRAITHWAIT were the "par nobile fratrum" of their day. PHIL. I have often been struck with some curious passages in Peacham, relating to the Education of Youth[344] in our own country; as I find, from them, that the complaint of _severity of discipline_ still continued, notwithstanding the able work of Roger Ascham, which had recommended a mild and conciliatory mode of treatment. [Footnote 344: The HISTORY of the EDUCATION OF YOUTH in this country might form an amusing little octavo volume. We have _Treatises_ and _Essays_ enough upon the subject; but a narrative of its first rude efforts, to its present, yet not perfected, form, would be interesting to every parent, and observer of human nature. My present researches only enable me to go back as far as Trevisa's time, towards the close of the 14th century; when I find, from the works of this Vicar of Berkeley, that "every friar that had _state in school_, such as they were then, had an HUGE LIBRARY." _Harl. MSS._, no. 1900. But what the particular system was, among youth, which thus so highly favoured the BIBLIOMANIA, I have not been able to ascertain. I suspect, however, that knowledge made but slow advances; or rather that its progress was almost inverted; for, at the end of the subsequent century, our worthy printer, Caxton, tells us that he found "but few who could write in their registers the occurrences of the day." _Polychronicon; prol. Typog. Antiquit._, vol. i., 148. In the same printer's prologue to _Catho Magnus_ (_Id._, vol. i., 197) there is a melancholy complaint about the youth of London; who, although, when children, they were "fair, wise, and prettily bespoken--at the full ripening, they had neither kernel nor good corn found in them." This is not saying much for the academic or domestic treatment of young gentlemen, towards the close of the 15th century. At the opening of the ensuing century, a variety of elementary treatises, relating to the education of youth, were published chiefly under the auspices of Dean Colet, and composed by a host of learned grammarians, of whom honourable mention has been made at page 218, ante. These publications are generally adorned with a rude wood-cut; which, if it be copied from truth, affords a sufficiently striking proof of the severity of the ancient discipline: for the master is usually seated in a large arm-chair, with a tremendous rod across his knees; and the scholars are prostrate before him, either on the ground upon bended knees, or sitting upon low benches. Nor was this rigid system relaxed in the middle of the same (xvith) century; when Roger Ascham composed his incomparable treatise, intitled the "_Schoolmaster_;" the object of which was to decry the same severity of discipline. This able writer taught his countrymen the value of making the road to knowledge smooth and inviting, by smiles and remunerations, rather than by stripes and other punishments. Indeed, such was the stern and Draco-like character which schoolmasters of this period conceived themselves authorized to assume that neither rank, nor situation, nor sex, were exempt from the exercise of their tyranny. Lady Jane Grey tells Ascham that her former teacher used to give her "pinches, and cuffs, and bobs," &c. The preface to the Schoolmaster informs us that two gentlemen, who dined with Ascham at Cecil's table, were of opinion that NICOLAS UDAL, then head master of Eaton School, "was the best schoolmaster of their time, and the _greatest beater_!" Bishop Latimer, in his fourth sermon (edit. 1562, fol. 15 to 18), has drawn such a picture of the Londoners of this period that the philosopher may imagine that youths, who sprung from such parents, required to be ruled with a rod of iron. But it has been the fashion of all writers, from the age of St. Austin downwards, to depreciate the excellences, and magnify the vices, of the times in which they lived. Ludovicus Vives, who was Latimer's contemporary, has attacked both schoolmasters and youths, in an ungracious style; saying of the former that "some taught Ovid's books of love to their scholars, and some make expositions and expounded the vices." He also calls upon the young women, in the language of St. Jerome, "to avoid, as a mischief or poison of chastity, young men with heads bushed and trimmed; and sweet smelling skins of outlandish mice." _Instruction of a Christian Woman_; edit. 1592, sign. D 3, rect. &c. I am not aware of any work of importance, relating to the education of youth, which appeared till the publication of the _Compleat Gentleman_ by HENRY PEACHAM: an author, who richly deserves all the handsome things above said of him in the text. His chapters "_Of the Duty of Masters_," and "_Of the Duty of Parents_," are valuable upon many accounts: inasmuch as they afford curious anecdotes of the system of academic and domestic education then pursued, and are accompanied with his own sagacious and candid reflections. Peacham was an _Aschamite_ in respect to lenity of discipline; as the following extracts, from the foregoing work, (edit. 1661) will unequivocally prove. Peacham first observes upon the different modes of education: "But we see on the contrary, out of the master's carterly judgment, like horses in a team, the boys are set to draw all alike, when some one or two prime and able wits in the school, [Greek: auto didaktoi] (which he culs out to admiration if strangers come, as a costardmonger his fairest pippins) like fleet hovnds go away with the game, when the rest need helping over a stile a mile behind: hence, being either quite discouraged in themselves, or taken away by their friends (who for the most part measure their learning by the form they set in), they take leave of their books while they live," &c. p. 23. "Some affect, and severer schools enforce, a precise and tedious strictness, in long keeping the schollers by the walls: as from before six in the morning, till twelve or past: so likewise in the afternoon. Which, beside the dulling of the wit and dejecting the spirit (for, "otii non minus quam negotii ratio extare debet") breeds in him, afterwards, a kind of hate and carelessness of study when he comes to be "sui juris," at his own liberty (as experience proves by many, who are sent from severe schools unto the universities): withall over-loading his memory, and taking off the edge of his invention, with over heavy tasks, in themes, verses," &c., p. 25. "Nor is it my meaning that I would all masters to be tyed to one method, no more than all the shires of England to come up to London by one highway: there may be many equally alike good. And since method, as one saith, is but [Greek: odopoiêtikê], let every master, if he can, by pulling up stiles and hedges, make a more near and private way to himself; and in God's name say, with the divinest of poets, _deserta per avia dulcis Raptat amor. Juvat ire iugis, quâ nulla priorum_ CASTALIAM _molli divertitur orbita clivo._ (Georg. libi. iij.) With sweet love rapt, I now by deserts pass, And over hills where never track of yore: Descending easily, yet remembered was, That led the way to CASTALIE before. (Peacham.) But instead of many good, they have infinite bad; and go stumbling from the right, as if they went blindfold for a wager. Hence cometh the shifting of the scholler from master to master; who, poor boy (like a hound among a company of ignorant hunters hollowing every deer they see), misseth the right, begetteth himself new labour, and at last, by one of skill and well read, beaten for his paines," pp. 29, 30. Peacham next notices the extreme severity of discipline exercised in some schools. "I knew one, who in winter would ordinarily, in a cold morning, whip his boys over for no other purpose than to get himself a heat: another beats them for swearing, and all the while sweares himself with horrible oaths. He would forgive any fault saving that! I had, I remember, myself (neer St. Alban's in Hertfordshire, where I was born) a master, who, by no entreaty, would teach any scholler he had farther than his father had learned before him; as if he had only learned but to read English, the son, though he went with him seven years, should go no further: his reason was, they would then prove saucy rogues, and controle their fathers! Yet these are they that oftentimes have our hopefull gentry under their charge and tuition, to bring them up in science and civility!" p. 27. This absurd system is well contrasted with the following account of the lenity observed in some of the schools on the continent: "In Germany the school is, and as the name imports, it ought to be, merely, LUDUS LITERARIUS, a very pastime of learning, where it is a rare thing to see a rod stirring: yet I heartily wish that our children of England were but half so ready in writing and speaking Latin, which boys of ten and twelve years old will do so roundly, and with so neat a phrase and style, that many of our masters would hardly mend them; having only for their punishment, shame; and for their reward, praise," p. 24. "Wherefore I cannot but commend the custome of their schools in the Low-countries, where for the avoyding of this tedious sitting still, and with irksome poring on the book all day long, after the scholler hath received his lecture, he leaveth the school for an houre, and walkes abroad with one or two of his fellows, either into the field or up among the trees upon the rampire, as in ANTWERP, BREDA, VTRECHT, &c., when they confer and recreate themselves till time calls them in to repeat, where perhaps they stay an hour; so abroad again, and thus at their pleasure the whole day," p. 26. Thus have we pursued the _History of the Education of Boys_ to a period quite modern enough for the most superficial antiquary to supply the connecting links down to the present times. Nor can we conclude this prolix note without observing upon two things which are remarkable enough: first, that in a country like our own--the distinguishing characteristics of whose inhabitants are gravity, reserve, and good sense--lads should conduct themselves with so much rudeness, flippancy, and tyranny towards each other--and secondly, that masters should, in too many instances, exercise a discipline suited rather to a government of despotism and terror than to a land of liberty and social comfort! But all human improvement, and human happiness, is progressive. Speramus meliora!] LYSAND. But you must not believe every thing that is said in favour of _Continental_ lenity of discipline, shewn to youth, if the testimony of a modern newspaper may be credited!---- LIS. What your newspaper may hold forth I will not pretend to enter into. LYSAND. Nay, here is the paragraph; which I cut out from "_The Observer_," and will now read it to you. "A German Magazine recently announced the death of a schoolmaster in Suabia, who, for 51 years, had superintended a large institution with old fashioned severity. From an average, inferred by means of recorded observations, one of the ushers had calculated that, in the course of his exertions, he had given _911,500 canings, 121,000 floggings, 209,000 custodes, 136,000 tips with the ruler, 10,200 boxes on the ear, and 22,700 tasks by heart_. It was further calculated that he had made _700 boys stand on peas, 6000 kneel on a sharp edge of wood, 5000 wear the fool's cap, and 1,700 hold the rod_. How vast (exclaims the journalist) the quantity of human misery inflicted by a single perverse educator!" Now, my friends, what have you to say against the _English_ system of education? PHIL. This is only defending bad by worse. LIS. Where are we digressing? What are become of our bibliomaniacal heroes? LYSAND. You do right to call me to order. Let us turn from the birch, to the book, history. Contemporaneous with Peacham, lived that very curious collector of ancient popular little pieces, as well as lover of "sacred secret soul soliloquies," the renowned _melancholy_ composer, ycleped ROBERT BURTON;[345] who, I do not scruple to number among the most marked bibliomaniacs of the age; notwithstanding his saucy railing against Frankfort book-fairs. We have abundance of testimony (exclusive of the fruits of his researches, which appear by his innumerable marginal references to authors of all ages and characters) that this original, amusing, and now popular, author was an arrant book-hunter; or, as old Anthony hath it, "a devourer of authors." Rouse, the Librarian of Bodleian, is said to have liberally assisted Burton in furnishing him with choice books for the prosecution of his extraordinary work. [Footnote 345: I suppose Lysander to allude to a memorandum of Hearne, in his _Benedictus Abbas_, p. iv., respecting ROBERT BURTON being a collector of "ancient popular little pieces." From this authority we find that he gave "a great variety" of these pieces, with a multitude of books, of the best kind, to the "Bodleian Library."--One of these was that "opus incomparabile," the "_History of Tom Thumb_," and the other, the "_Pleasant and Merry History of the Mylner of Abingdon_." The expression "sacred secret soul soliloquies" belongs to Braithwait: and is thus beautifully interwoven in the following harmonious couplets: ----No minute but affords some tears. No walks but private solitary groves Shut from frequent, his contemplation loves; No treatise, nor discourse, so sweetly please As sacred-secret soule soliloquies. _Arcadian Princesse_, lib. 4, p. 162. And see, gentle reader, how the charms of solitude--of "walking alone in some solitary grove, betwixt wood and water, by a brook-side, to meditate upon some delightsome and pleasant subject" are depicted by the truly original pencil of this said Robert Burton, in his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, vol. i., p. 126, edit. 1804. But our theme is Bibliomania. Take, therefore, concerning the same author, the following: and then hesitate, if thou canst, about his being infected with the BOOK-DISEASE. "What a catalogue of new books all this year, all this age (I say) have our Frank-furt marts, our domestic marts, brought out! Twice a year, 'Proferunt se nova ingenia et ostentant;' we stretch our wits out! and set them to sale: 'Magno conatu nihil agimus,' &c. 'Quis tam avidus librorum helluo,' who can read them? As already, we shall have a vast chaos and confusion of books; we are oppressed with them; our eyes ake with reading, our fingers with turning," &c. This is painting _ad vivum_--after the life. We see and feel every thing described. Truly, none but a thorough master in bibliomaniacal mysteries could have thus thought and written! See "_Democritus to the Reader_," p. 10; perhaps the most highly finished piece of dissection in the whole _anatomical work_.] About this period lived LORD LUMLEY; a nobleman of no mean reputation as a bibliomaniac. But what shall we say to Lord Shaftesbury's eccentric neighbour, HENRY HASTINGS? who, in spite of his hawks, hounds, kittens, and oysters,[346] could not for [Transcriber's Note: extraneous 'for'] forbear to indulge his book propensities though in a moderate degree! Let us fancy we see him, in his eightieth year, just alighted from the toils of the chase, and listening, after dinner, with his "single glass" of ale by his side, to some old woman with "spectacle on nose" who reads to him a choice passage out of John Fox's _Book of Martyrs_! A rare old boy was this Hastings. But I wander--and may forget another worthy, and yet more ardent, bibliomaniac, called JOHN CLUNGEON, who left a press, and some books carefully deposited in a stout chest, to the parish church at Southampton. We have also evidence of this man's having _erected a press_ within the same; but human villany has robbed us of every relic of his books and printing furniture.[347] From Southampton, you must excuse me if I take a leap to London; in order to introduce you into the wine cellars of one JOHN WARD; where, I suppose, a few choice copies of favourite authors were sometimes kept in a secret recess by the side of the oldest bottle of hock. We are indebted to Hearne for a brief, but not uninteresting, notice of this _vinous_ book collector.[348] [Footnote 346: Of the bibliomaniacal spirit of LORD LUMLEY the reader has already had some slight mention made at pages 273, 281, ante. Of HENRY HASTINGS, Gilpin has furnished us with some anecdotes which deserve to be here recorded. They are taken from Hutchin's _Hist. of Dorsetshire_, vol. ii., p. 63. "Mr. HASTINGS was low of stature, but strong and active, of a ruddy complexion, with flaxen hair. His cloaths were always of green cloth. His house was of the old fashion; in the midst of a large park, well stocked with deer, rabbits, and fish-ponds. He had a long narrow bowling green in it, and used to play with round sand bowls. Here too he had a banquetting room built, like a stand in a large tree. He kept all sorts of hounds, that ran buck, fox, hare, otter, and badger; and had hawks of all kinds, both long and short winged. His great hall was commonly strewed with marrow-bones, and full of hawk-perches, hounds, spaniels, and terriers. The upper end of it was hung with fox-skins of this and the last year's killing. Here and there a pole-cat was intermixed, and hunter's poles in great abundance. The parlour was a large room, completely furnished in the same style. On a broad hearth, paved with brick, lay some of the choicest terriers, hounds, and spaniels. One or two of the great chairs had litters of cats in them, which were not to be disturbed. Of these, three or four always attended him at dinner, and a little white wand lay by his trencher, to defend it, if they were too troublesome. In the windows, which were very large, lay his arrows, cross-bows, and other accoutrements. The corners of the room were filled with his best hunting and hawking poles. His oyster table stood at the lower end of the room, which was in constant use twice a day, all the year round; for he never failed to eat oysters both at dinner and supper, with which the neighbouring town of Pool supplied him. At the upper end of the room stood a small table with a double desk; one side of which held a CHURCH BIBLE: the other the BOOK OF MARTYRS. On different tables in the room lay hawks'-hoods, bells, old hats, with their crowns thrust in, full of pheasant eggs, tables, dice, cards, and store of tobacco pipes. At one end of this room was a door, which opened into a closet, where stood bottles of strong beer and wine; which never came out but in single glasses, which was the rule of the house, for he never exceeded himself, nor permitted others to exceed. Answering to this closet was a door into an old chapel; which had been long disused for devotion; but in the pulpit, as the safest place, was always to be found a cold chine of beef, a venison pasty, a gammon of bacon, or a great apple-pye, with thick crust, well baked. His table cost him not much, though it was good to eat at. His sports supplied all but beef and mutton, except on Fridays, when he had the best of fish. He never wanted a London pudding, and he always sang it in with "_My part lies therein-a_." He drank a glass or two of wine at meals; put syrup of gilly-flowers into his sack, and had always a tun glass of small beer standing by him, which he often stirred about with rosemary. He lived to be an hundred, and never lost his eyesight, nor used spectacles. He got on horseback without help, and rode to the death of the stag till he was past fourscore." Gilpin's _Forest Scenery_, vol. ii., pp. 23, 26. I should add, from the same authority, that Hastings was a neighbour of Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, with whom (as was likely enough) he had no cordial agreement.] [Footnote 347: "In the northern chapel which is parted from the side aile by a beautiful open Gothic screen, is a handsome monument to the memory of the lord Chancellor Wriothesly, and a _large and costly standing chest_, carved and inlaid, and stated, by an inscription on its front, to have been given, _with the books in it_, by JOHN CLUNGEON. The inscription is as follows: "John, the sonne of John Clungeon of this towne, Alderman, _erected this presse_ and gave certain books, who died, anno 1646. "The books are, however, now gone, and the surplices, &c. are kept in the chest." See a tasteful and elegantly printed little volume, entitled "_A Walk through Southampton_;" by Sir H.C. Englefield, Bart. 1801, 8vo., p. 64.] [Footnote 348: Ward is described by Hearne as being "a citizen and vintner of London," and "a lover of antiquity's." He had a copy of the _Chartulary of Dunstaple_, in MS., which was put by Wanley into the Harleian collection. The following entry is too much of a characteristic trait, not to be gratifying to the palate of a thorough bred bibliomaniac; it relates to the said Chartulary:--"also this vellum, at both ends of the booke, was then added, put in, and inserted, at the costs of the said Mr. (JOHN) WARD, in the said yeare of our Lord, 1655, _s._ _d._ binding and claspes 4 00 vellum 4 00" _Annals of Dunstaple Priory_, vol. i., p. xxx., note.] LIS. If Master Cox, "by profession a mason," and living in the country, could have collected such a cabinet of romances and ballads--why should not a wine merchant, living in the metropolis, have turned his attention to a similar pursuit, and have been even more successful in the objects of it? PHIL. I know not; particularly as we have, at the present day, some commercial characters--whose dealings in trade are as opposite to books as frogs are to roast beef--absolute madmen in search after black-letter, large paper, and uncut copies! But proceed, Lysander. LYSAND. Such was the influence of the _Book Mania_ about, or rather a little before, this period that even the sacred retirement of a monastery, established upon Protestant principles, and conducted by rules so rigid as almost to frighten the hardiest ascetic, even such a spot was unable to resist the charms of book-collecting and book-embellishment. How St. Jerome or St. Austin would have lashed the FERRAR FAMILY[349] for the gorgeous decorations of their volumes, and for devoting so much precious time and painful attention to the art and mystery of Book-binding! Yes, Lisardo; it is truly curious to think upon the _Little Gidding Monastery_--near which, perhaps, were ----"rugged rocks, that holy knees had worn--" and to imagine that the occupiers of such a place were infected--nay, inflamed--with a most powerful ardour for curious, neat, splendid, and, I dare venture to affirm, matchless copies of the several volumes which they composed! But I will now hasten to give very different evidence of the progress of this disease, by noticing the labours of a bibliomaniac of first rate celebrity; I mean ELIAS ASHMOLE:[350] whose museum at Oxford abundantly proves his curious and pertinacious spirit in book-collecting. His works, put forth under his own superintendence, with his name subjoined, shew a delicate taste, an active research, and, if we except his _Hermetical_ propensities, a fortunate termination. His "opus maximum" is the _Order of the Garter_; a volume of great elegance both in the composition and decorations. Your copy of it, I perceived, was upon _large paper_; and cost you-- [Footnote 349: It remains here to make good the above serious charges brought against the ancient and worthy family of the FERRARS; and this it is fully in my power to do, from the effectual aid afforded me by Dr. Wordsworth, in the fifth volume of his _Ecclesiastical Biography_; where the better part of Dr. Peckard's Life of Nicholas Ferrar is published, together with some valuable and original addenda from the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth. Be it, however, known to Dr. Wordsworth, and the reviewer of the Ecclesiastical Biography in the _Quarterly Review_, vol. iv., pp. 93, 103, that Hearne had previously published a copious and curious account of the monastery at Little Gidding in the supplement to his _Thom. Caii. Vind. Antiquit. Oxon._, 1730, 8vo., vol. ii.: which, as far as I have had an opportunity of examining Dr. Wordsworth's account, does not appear to have been known to this latter editor. We will now proceed to the bibliomaniacal anecdotes of NICHOLAS FERRAR, SENIOR AND JUNIOR. "Amongst other articles of instruction and amusement, Mr. FERRAR (senior) entertained an ingenious _Book-binder_ who taught the family, females as well as males, the whole art and skill of _book-binding_, gilding, lettering, and what they called pasting-printing, by the use of the rolling press. By this assistance he composed a full harmony, or concordance, of the four evangelists, _adorned with many beautiful pictures_, which required more than a year for the composition, and was divided into 150 heads or chapters." There is then a minute account of the mechanical process (in which the nieces assisted) how, by means of "great store of the best and strongest white paper, nice knives and scissars, pasting and rolling-press" work--the arduous task was at length accomplished: and Mary Collet, one of Mr. Ferrar's nieces, put the grand finishing stroke to the whole, by "doing a deed"--which has snapt asunder the threads of Penelope's web for envy:--"She bound the book entirely, ALL WROUGHT IN GOLD, in a new and most elegant fashion." The fame of this book, or concordance, as it was called, reached the ears of Charles I., who "intreated" (such was his Majesty's expression) to be favoured with a sight of it. Laud and Cousins, who were then chaplains in waiting, presented it to the King; who "after long and serious looking it over, said, 'This is indeed a most valuable work, and in many respects to be presented to the greatest prince upon earth: for the matter it contains is the richest of all treasures. The laborious composure of it into this excellent form of _an Harmony_, the judicious contrivance of the method, the curious workmanship in so neatly cutting out and disposing the text, _the nice laying of these costly pictures, and the exquisite art expressed in the binding_, are, I really think, not to be equalled. I must acknowledge myself to be, indeed, greatly indebted to the family for THIS JEWEL: and whatever is in my power I shall, at any time, be ready to do for any of them.'" _Eccles. Biogr._, vol. v., 172-8. This was spoken, by Charles, in the true spirit of a Book-Knight! Cromwell, I suppose, would have shewn the same mercy to this treasure as he did to the madonnas of Raffaelle--thrown it behind the fire, as idolatrous! The nephew emulated and eclipsed the bibliomaniacal celebrity of his uncle. At the age of twenty-one, he executed three books (or "works" as they are called) of uncommon curiosity and splendour. Archbishop Laud, who had a keen eye and solid judgment for things of this sort (as the reader will find in the following pages) undertook to introduce young Ferrars to the King. The introduction is told in such a pleasing style of _naiveté_, and the manual dexterity of the young bibliomaniac is so smartly commended by Charles, that I cannot find it in my heart to abridge much of the narrative. "When the king saw the Archbishop enter the room, he said, 'What have you brought with you those _rarities_ and _jewels_ you told me of?' 'Yea, sire,' replied the bishop; 'here is the YOUNG GENTLEMAN and his works.' So the bishop, taking him by the hand, led him up to the king. He, falling down on his knees, the king gave him his hand to kiss, bidding him rise up. The box was opened, and NICHOLAS FERRAR, first presented to the king that book made for the prince; who taking it from him, looking well on the outside, which was _all green velvet, stately and richly gilt all over, with great broad strings, edged with gold lace, and curiously bound_, said, 'Here is a fine book for Charles, indeed! I hope it will soon make him in love with what is within it, for I know it is good,' &c. And lo! here are also store of _rare pictures_ to delight his eye with! &c., &c. Then, turning him to the Lord of Canterbury, he said, 'Let this young gentleman have your letters to the princes to-morrow, to Richmond, and let him carry this present. It is a good day, you know, and a good work would be done upon it.' So he gave Nicholas Ferrar the book; who, carrying it to the box, took out of it a very large paper book, which was the FOURTH WORK, and laid it on the table before the king. 'For whom,' said the king, 'is this model?' 'For your majesty's eyes, if you please to honour it so much.' 'And that I will gladly do,' said the king, 'and never be weary of such sights as I know you will offer unto me.' The king having well perused the title page, beginning, 'The Gospel of our Lord and blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ, in eight several languages,' &c., said unto the lords, 'You all see that one good thing produceth another. Here we have more and more rarities; from print now to pen. These are fair hands, well written, and as well composed.' Then replied the Lord of Canterbury, 'When your majesty hath seen all, you will have more and more cause to admire.' 'What!' said the king, 'is it possible we shall behold yet more rarities?' then said the bishop to Nicholas Ferrar, 'Reach the other piece that is in the box:' and this we call the FIFTH WORK; the title being _Novum Testamentum, &c., in viginti quatuor linguis, &c._ The king, opening the book, said, 'Better and better. This is the largest and fairest paper that ever I saw.' Then, reading the title-page, he said, 'What is this? What have we here? The incomparablest book this will be, as ever eye beheld. My lords, come, look well upon it. This finished, must be the EMPEROR OF ALL BOOKS. It is the crown of all works. It is an admirable masterpiece. The world cannot match it. I believe you are all of my opinion.' The lords all seconded the king, and each spake his mind of it. 'I observe two things amongst others,' said the king, 'very remarkable, if not admirable. The first is, how is it possible that a young man of twenty-one years of age (for he had asked the Lord of Canterbury before, how old Nicholas Ferrar was) should ever attain to the understanding and knowledge of more languages than he is of years; and to have the courage to venture upon such an Atlas work, or Hercules labour. The other is also of high commendation, to see him write so many several languages, so well as these are, each in its proper character. Sure so few years had been well spent, some men might think, to have attained only to the _writing_ thus fairly, of these twenty-four languages!' All the lords replied his majesty had judged right; and said, except they had seen, as they did, the young gentleman there, and the book itself, all the world should not have persuaded them to the belief of it." _Ecclesiastical Biography_, vol. v., pp. 216, 220. But whatever degree of credit or fame of young FERRARS might suppose to have been attached to the execution of these "pieces," his emulation was not damped, nor did his industry slacken, 'till he had produced a specimen of much greater powers of book-decoration. His appetite was that of a giant; for he was not satisfied with any thing short of bringing forth a volume of such dimensions as to make the bearer of it groan beneath its weight--and the beholders of it dazzled with its lustre, and astonished at its amplitude. Perhaps there is not a more curious book-anecdote upon record than the following. "Charles the 1st, his son Charles, the Palsgrave, and the Duke of Lennox, paid a visit to the monastery of Little Gidding, in Huntingdonshire--the abode of the Ferrars."--"Then, the king was pleased to go into the house, and demanded where the GREAT BOOK was, that he had heard was made for Charles's use. It was soon brought unto him; and the _largeness_ and _weight_ of it was such that he that carried it seemed to be _well laden_. Which the duke, observing, said, 'Sir, one of your strongest guard will but be able to carry this book.' It being laid on the table before the king, it was told him that, though it were then fairly bound up in _purple velvet_, that the outside was not fully finished, as it should be, for the prince's use and better liking. 'Well,' said the king, 'it is very well done.' So he opened the book, the prince standing at the table's end, and the Palsgrave and Duke on each side of the king. The king read the title page and frontispice all over very deliberately; and well viewing the form of it, how adorned with _a stately garnish of pictures, &c._, and the curiousness of the writing of it, said, 'Charles, here is a book that contains excellent things. This will make you both wise and good.' Then he proceeded to turn it over, leaf by leaf, and took exact notice of all in it: and it being _full of pictures of sundry mens cuts_, he could tell the palsgrave, who seemed also to be knowing in that kind, that this and this, and that and that, were of such a man's graving and invention. The prince all the while greatly eyed all things; and seemed much to be pleased with the book. The king having spent some hours in the perusal of it, and demanding many questions was occasion as, concerning the contrivement, and having received answers to all he demanded, at length said, 'It was only _a jewel for a Prince_, and hoped CHARLES would make good use of it: and I see and find, by what I have myself received formerly from this good house, that they go on daily in the prosecution of these excellent pieces. They are brave employments of their time.' The Palsgrave said to the prince, 'Sir, your father the king is master of the goodliest ship in the world, and I may now say you will be master of the GALLANTEST GREATEST BOOK in the world: for I never saw _such paper_ before; and believe there is no book of this largeness to be seen in Christendom.' 'The paper and the book in all conditions,' said the king, 'I believe it not to be matched. Here hath also in this book not wanted, you see, skill, care, nor cost.' 'It is a most admirable piece,' replied the Duke of Richmond. So the king, closing the book, said, 'Charles, this is yours.' He replied, 'But, Sir, shall I not now have it with me?' Reply was made by one of the family, 'If it please your highness, the book is not _on the outside so finished_ as it is intended for you, but shall be, with all expedition, done, and you shall have it.' 'Well,' said the king, 'you must content yourself for a while.'"--_Ecclesiastical Biography_, vol. v., p. 237.] [Footnote 350: In the year 1774, was published an octavo volume, containing the lives of WILLIAM LILLY the astrologer, and ELIAS ASHMOLE the antiquary: two of the greatest _cronies_ of their day. The particulars of Ashmole's life are drawn from his own _Diary_, in which is detailed every thing the most minute and ridiculous; while many of the leading features in his character, and many interesting occurrences in his life, are wholly suppressed. The editor has not evinced much judgment in causing posterity to be informed when Ashmole's "_great and little teeth ached, or were loose_:" when his "_neck break forth, occasioned by shaving his beard with a bad razor_" (p. 312); when "_his maid's bed was on fire, but he rose quickly (thanking God) and quenched it_" (p. 313); and when he "_scratched the right-side of his buttocks, &c., and applied pultices thereunto, made of white bread crums, oil of roses, and rose leaves_;" (p. 363--and see particularly the long and dismal entries at p. 368.) All this might surely have been spared, without much injury to the reputation of the sufferer. Yet, in some other minute entries, we glean intelligence a little more interesting. At p. 324, we find that Ashmole had quarrelled with his wife; and that "Mr. Serjeant Maynard observed to the Court that there were 800 sheets of depositions on his wife's part, and not one word proved against him of using her ill, or ever giving her a bad or provoking word:" at page 330, we find Ashmole accompanying his heraldic friend Dugdale, in his "visitations" of counties; also that "his picture was drawn by Le Neve in his herald's coat:" Loggan afterwards drew it in black lead: p. 352. But here again (p. 353) we are gravely informed that "_his tooth, next his fore tooth in his upper jaw, was very loose, and he easily pulled it out, and that one of his middle teeth in his lower jaw, broke out while he was at dinner_." He sat (for the last time) for "a second picture to Mr. Ryley," p. 379. Ashmole's intimacy with Lilly was the foundation of the former's (supposed) profundity in alchemical and astrological studies. In this Diary we are carefully told that "Mr. Jonas Moore brought and acquainted him with Mr. William Lilly, on a Friday night, on the 20th of November," p. 302. Ashmole was then only 26 years of age; and it will be readily conceived how, at this susceptible period, he listened with rapture to his master's exposition of the black art, and implicitly adopted the recipes and maxims he heard delivered. Hence the pupil generally styled himself _Mercuriophilus Anglicus_, at the foot of most of his title-pages: and hence we find such extraordinary entries, in the foresaid diary, as the following: "This night (August 14, 1651) about one of the clock, I fell ill of a surfeit, occasioned by drinking _water after Venison_. I was greatly oppressed in my stomach; and next day Mr. Saunders, _the astrologian_, sent me a piece of briony-root to hold in my hand; and within a quarter of an hour my stomach was freed from that great oppression," p. 314. "Sep. 27, 1652, I came to Mr. John Tompson's, who dwelt near Dove Bridge; he used a call, and had responses in a soft voice," p. 317. At p. 318 is narrated the commencement of his acquaintance with the famous Arise Evans, a Welsh prophet: whose "_Echo from Heaven_," &c., 2 parts, 1652, 12mo., is a work noticed by Warburton, and coveted by bibliomaniacs. Yet one more quack-medicine entry: "March 11, 1681. I took early in the morning a good dose of Elixir, and hung three spiders about my neck, and they drove my ague away--Deo gratias!" p. 359. It seems that Ashmole always punctually kept "_The Astrologer's Feast_;" and that he had such celebrity as a curer of certain diseases, that Lord Finch the Chancellor "sent for him to cure him of his rheumatism. He dined there, but would not undertake the cure," p. 364. This was behaving with a tolerable degree of prudence and good sense. But let not the bibliomaniac imagine that it is my wish to degrade honest old Elias Ashmole, by the foregoing delineation of his weaknesses and follies. The ensuing entries, in the said Diary, will more than counterbalance any unfavourable effect produced by its precursors; and I give them with a full conviction that they will be greedily devoured by those who have been lucky enough to make good purchases of the entire libraries of deceased characters of eminence. In his 37th year, Ashmole "bought of Mr. Milbourn all his books and mathematical instruments;" and the day after (N.B. "8 o'clock, 39 min. post merid.") "he bought Mr. Hawkins's books," p. 312. In the ensuing year he "agreed with Mrs. Backhouse, of London, for her deceased husband's books," p. 313. He now became so distinguished as a successful bibliomaniac that Seldon and Twysden sought his acquaintance; and "Mr. Tredescant and his wife told him that they had been long considering upon whom to bestow their _closet of curiosities_, and at last had resolved to give it unto him," p. 326. Having by this time (A.D. 1658) commenced his famous work upon _The Order of the Garter_, he was introduced to Charles II.: kissed hands, and was appointed by the king "to make a description of his medals, and had them delivered into his hands, and _Henry the VIIIth's closet_ assigned for his use," p. 327. In this same year came forth his "_Way to Bliss_;" 4to.: a work so invincibly dull that I despair of presenting the reader with any thing like entertainment even in the following heterogeneous extract: "When our natural heat, the life of this little world, is faint and gone, the body shrinks up and is defaced: but bring again heat into the parts, and likewise money into the bankrupt's coffers, and they shall be both lusty, and flourish again as much as ever they did. But how may this heat be brought again? To make few words, even as she is kept and held by due _meat_ and _motion_; for if she faint, and falleth for want of them only, then give her them, and she shall recover herself again. Meat is the bait that draws her down: motion comes after, like a _Gad-Bee_, to prick her forward; but the work is performed in this order. First this meat, which is that fine and æthereal oyl often above-described, by the exceeding piercing swifteness, divides, scatters, and scowres away the gross and foul dregs and leavings which, for want of the tillage of heat, had overgrown in our bodies, and which was cast, like a blockish stay-fish in the way, to stay the free course of the ship of life: these flying out of all sides, abundantly pluck up all the old leavings of hair, nails, and teeth, by the roots, and drive them out before them: in the mean while, our medicine makes not onely clear way and passage for life, if she list to stir and run her wonted race (which some think enough of this matter), but also scattereth all about her due and desired meat, and first moisture to draw her forward. By which means our life, having gotten both her full strength and liveliness, and returned like the sun in summer into all our quarters, begins to work afresh as she did at first; (for being the same upon the same, she must needs do the same) knitting and binding the weak and loose joynts and sinews, watering and concocting all by good digestion; and then the idle parts like leaves shall, in this hot summer, spring and grow forth afresh, out of this new and young temper of the body: and all the whole face and shew shall be young again and flourishing," pp. 119, 120. With such a farrago of sublime nonsense were our worthy forefathers called upon to be enlightened and amused! But I lose sight of Ashmole's _book-purchases_. That he gave away, as well as received, curious volumes, is authenticated by his gift of "five volumes of Mr. Dugdale's works to the Temple Library:" p. 331. "Again: I presented the public library at Oxford with three folio volumes, containing a description of the Consular and Imperial coins there, which I had formerly made and digested, being all fairly transcribed with my own hand," p. 332. But mark well: "My first boatful of books, which were carried to Mrs. Tredescant's, were brought back to the Temple:" also, (May 1667) "I bought Mr. John Booker's study of books, and gave 140_l._ for them," p. 333. In the same year that his _Order of the Garter_ was published, his "good friend Mr. Wale sent him Dr. DEE'S original books and papers," p. 339. But he yet went on buying: "Nil actum reputans, dum quid superesset agendum:" for thus journalises our super-eminent bibliomaniac:--(June 12, 1681) "I bought Mr. Lilly's library of books of his widow, for fifty pounds," p. 360. In August, 1682, Ashmole went towards Oxford, "to see the building prepared to receive his rarities;" and in March, 1683, "the last load of his rarities was sent to the barge." In July, 1687, he received a parcel of books from J.W. Irnhoff, of Nurembergh, among which was his _Excellentium Familiarum in Gallia Genealogia_: p. 379. But it is time to put an end to this unwieldly note: reserving the account of Ashmole's _Order of the Garter_, and _Theatrum Chemicum_, for the ensuing one--and slightly informing the reader, of what he may probably be apprized, that our illustrious bibliomaniac bequeathed his museum of curiosities and library of books to his beloved ALMA MATER OXONIENSIS--having first erected a large building for their reception. It is justly said of him, in the inscription upon his tombstone, DURANTE MUSÆO ASHMOLEANO OXON. NUNQUAM MORITURUS. A summer month might be profitably passed in the Ashmolean collection of Books! Let us not despair that a complete _Catalogue Raisonné_ of them may yet be given.] LOREN. Not eight guineas--although you were about to say _fourteen_! LYSAND. Even so. But it must have been obtained in the golden age of book-collecting? LOREN. It was obtained, together with an uncut copy of his _Theatrum Chemicum_,[351] by my father, at the shop of a most respectable bookseller, lately living, at Mews-Gate, and now in Pall-Mall--where the choicest copies of rare and beautiful books are oftentimes to be procured, at a price much less than the extravagant ones given at book-sales. You observed it was bound in blue morocco--and by that Coryphæus of book-binders, the late ROGER PAYNE! [Footnote 351: First let us say a few words of the THEATRUM CHEMICUM BRITANNICUM, as it was the anterior publication. It contains a collection of ancient English poetical pieces relating to Alchemy, or the "Hermetique Mysteries;" and was published in a neat quarto volume, in 1652; accompanied with a rich sprinkling of plates "cut in brass," and copious annotations, at the end, by Ashmole himself. Of these plates, some are precious to the antiquary; for reasons which will be given by me in another work. At present, all that need be said is that a fine tall copy of it brings a fair sum of money. I never heard of the existence of a _large paper_ impression. It went to press in July 1651; and on the 26th of January following, "the first copy of it was sold to the Earl of Pembroke:" see the Diary, pp. 313-315. In May, 1658, Ashmole made his first visit to the Record Office in the Tower, to collect materials for his work of "THE ORDER OF THE GARTER." In May following, Hollar accompanied the author to Windsor, to take views of the castle. In the winter of 1665, Ashmole composed a "good part of the work at Roe-Barnes (the plague increasing)." In May, 1672, a copy of it was presented to King Charles II.: and in June, the following year, Ashmole received "his privy-seal for 400_l._ out of the custom of paper, which the king was pleased to bestow upon him for the same." This, it must be confessed, was a liberal remuneration. But the author's honours increased and multiplied beyond his most sanguine expectations. Princes and noblemen, abroad and at home, read and admired his work; and Ashmole had golden chains placed round his neck, and other superb presents from the greater part of them; one of which (from the Elector of Brandenburgh) is described as being "composed of ninety links, of philagreen links in great knobs, most curious work," &c. In short, such was the golden harvest which showered down upon him on all sides, on account of this splendid publication, that "he made a feast at his house in South Lambeth, in honour to his benefactors of the work of THE GARTER." I hope he had the conscience to make HOLLAR his Vice-President, or to seat him at his right hand; for this artist's _Engravings_, much more than the author's composition, will immortalize the volume. Yet the artist--died in penury! These particulars relating to this popular work, which it was thought might be amusing to the lover of fine books, have been faithfully extracted from the 'forementioned original and amusing Diary. _The Order of the Garter_ was originally sold for 1_l._ 10_s._ See _Clavel's Catalogue_, 1675, p. 31.] LYSAND. I observed it had a "glorious aspect," as bibliographers term it. LIS. But what has become of Ashmole all this while? LYSAND. I will only further remark of him that, if he had not suffered his mind to wander in quest of the puzzling speculations of alchemy and astrology--which he conceived himself bound to do in consequence, probably, of wearing John Dee's red velvet night cap--he might have mingled a larger portion of common sense and sound practical observations in his writings. But a truce to worthy old Elias. For see yonder the bibliomaniacal spirit of ARCHBISHOP LAUD pacing your library! With one hand resting upon a folio,[352] it points, with the other, to your favourite print of the public buildings of the University of Oxford--thereby reminding us of his attachment, while living, to literature and fine books, and of his benefactions to the Bodleian Library. Now it "looks frowningly" upon us; and, turning round, and shewing the yet reeking gash from which the life-blood flowed, it flits away-- Par levibus ventis, volucrique simillima somno! [Footnote 352: ARCHBISHOP LAUD, who has [Transcriber's Note: was] beheaded in the year 1644, had a great fondness for sumptuous decoration in dress, books, and ecclesiastical establishments; which made him suspected of a leaning towards the Roman Catholic religion. His life has been written by Dr. Heylin, in a heavy folio volume of 547 pages; and in which we have a sufficiently prolix account of the political occurrences during Laud's primacy, but rather a sparing, or indeed no, account of his private life and traits of domestic character. In Lloyd's _Memoirs of the Sufferers_ from the year 1637 to 1660 inclusive (1668, fol.) are exhibited the articles of impeachment against the Archbishop; and, amongst them, are the following bibliomaniacal accusations. "Art. 5. Receiving a _Bible_, with a crucifix embroidered on the cover of it by a lady. Art. 6. A book of popish pictures, _two Missals_, Pontificals, and Breviaries, which he made use of as a scholar. Art. 7. His (own) admirable _Book of Devotion_, digested according to the ancient way of canonical hours, &c. Art. 19. _The book of Sports_, which was published first in King James his reign, before he had any power in the church; and afterward in King Charles his reign, before he had the chief power in the church," &c., pp. 235-237. But if Laud's head was doomed to be severed from his body in consequence of these his bibliomaniacal frailties, what would have been said to the fine copy of one of the _Salisbury Primers or Missals_, printed by Pynson UPON VELLUM, which once belonged to this archbishop, and is now in the library of St. John's College, Oxford?! Has the reader ever seen the same primate's copy of the _Aldine Aristophanes_, 1498, in the same place? 'Tis a glorious volume; and I think nearly equals my friend Mr. Heber's copy, once Lord Halifax's, of the same edition. Of Laud's benefactions to the Bodleian Library, the bibliographer will see ample mention made in the _Catalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum Angliæ, Hiberniæ_, &c., 1697, folio. The following, from Heylin, is worth extracting: "Being come near the block, he (Laud) put off his doublet, &c., and seeing through the chink of the boards that some people were got under the scaffold, about the very place where the block was seated, he called to the officer for some dust to stop them, or to remove the people thence; saying, it was no part of his desire 'that his blood should fall upon the heads of the people.' Never did man put off mortality with a better courage, nor look upon his bloody and malicious enemies with more christian charity." _Cyprianus Anglicus_; or the _Life and Death of Laud_; 1668, fol.; p. 536. In the Master's library at St. John's, Oxford, they shew the velvet cap which it is said Laud wore at his execution; and in which the mark of the axe is sufficiently visible. The archbishop was a great benefactor to this college. Mr. H. Ellis, of the Museum, who with myself were "quondam socii" of the same establishment, writes me, that "Among what are called the king's pamphlets in the British Museum, is a fragment of a tract, without title, of fifty-six pages only, imperfect; beginning, 'A briefe examination of a certaine pamphlet lately printed in Scotland, and intituled _Ladensium Autocatacrisis_,' &c., 'The Cantabarians Self-Conviction.' On the blank leaf prefixed, is the following remark in a hand of the time. 'This Briefe Examen following, was found in the Archbishop's (Laud?) Library, wher the whole impression of these seauen sheets was found, but nether beginning nor ending more then is hearein contained. May 11th, 1644.' This work, (continues Mr. Ellis,) which is a singular and valuable curiosity, is in fact a personal vindication of Archbishop Laud, not only from the slanders of the pamphlet, but from those of the times in general: and from internal evidence could have been written by no one but himself. It is in a style of writing beyond that of the ordinary productions of the day."] Peace, peace, thou once "lofty spirit"--peace to thy sepulchre--always consecrated by the grateful student who has been benefited by thy bounty! Perhaps Laud should have been noticed a little earlier in this list of bibliomanical heroes; but, having here noticed him, I cannot refrain from observing to you that the notorious HUGH PETERS revelled in some of the spoils of the archbishop's library; and that there are, to the best of my recollection, some curious entries on the journals of the House of Commons relating to the same.[353] [Footnote 353: I am indebted to the same literary friend who gave me the intelligence which closes the last note, for the ensuing particulars relating to HUGH PETERS; which are taken from the journals of the lower house: "Ao. 1643-4. March 8. Ordered, that a study of books, to the value of 100_l._ out of such books as are sequestered, be forthwith bestowed upon Mr. PETERS." _Journals of the House of Commons_, vol. ii., p. 421. "Ao. 1644. 25 April. Whereas this House was formerly pleased to bestow upon Mr. Peters books to the value of 100_l._, it is this day ordered that Mr. Recorder, Mr. Whitlock, Mr. Hill, or two of them, do cause to be delivered to Mr. Peters, to the value of 100_l._, books out of the private and particular study of the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY." _Id._, vol. iii., p. 469. "Ao. 1644. 26 Junij. Dies publicæ Humiliationis. Mr. Peters made a large and full relation of the state of the western counties, and of the proceedings of my Lord General's army, since its coming thither," &c. "Whereas, formerly, books to the amount of 100_l._ were bestowed upon Mr. Peters out of the archbishop's private library, and whereas the said study is appraised at above 40_l._ more than the 100_l._, it is ordered this day that Mr. Peters shall have the whole study of books freely bestowed upon him." _Id._ p. 544. "Ao. 1660. May 16. Ordered, That all books and papers, heretofore belonging to the library of the archbishop of Canterbury, and now, or lately, in the hands of Mr. HUGH PETERS, be forthwith secured." In Ashmole's life, before the first volume of his Antiq. of Berkshire, it is said in Aug. 1660, "Mr. Ashmole had a commission to examine that infamous buffoon and trumpeter of rebellion, Hugh Peters, concerning the disposal of the pictures, jewels, &c., belonging to the royal family, which were committed chiefly to his care, and sold and dispersed over Europe: which was soon brought to a conclusion by the obstinacy or ignorance of their criminal, who either would not, or was not able to, give the desired satisfaction."] LIS. This is extraordinary enough. But, if I well remember, you mentioned, a short time ago, the name of BRAITHWAIT as connected with that of Peacham. Now, as I persume [Transcriber's Note: presume] Lorenzo has not tied down his guests to any rigid chronological rules, in their literary chit-chat, so I presume you might revert to Braithwait, without being taxed with any great violation of colloquial order. LYSAND. Nay, I am not aware of any _bookish_ anecdote concerning Braithwait. He was mentioned with Peacham as being a like accomplished character.[354] Some of his pieces are written upon the same subjects as were Peacham's, and with great point and elegance. He seems, indeed, to have had the literary credit and moral welfare of his countrymen so much at stake that, I confess, I have a vast fondness for his lucubrations. His "_English Gentlewoman_" might be reprinted with advantage. [Footnote 354: The talents of RICHARD BRAITHWAIT do not appear to me to be so generally known and highly commended as they merit to be. His _Nursery for Gentry_, 1651, 4to. (with his portrait in an engraved frontispiece by Marshall), is written with the author's usual point and spirit; but, as I humbly conceive, is a less interesting performance than his _English Gentleman_, 1633, 4to. (with a frontispiece by Marshall), or _English Gentlewoman_, 1631, 4to. (also with a frontispiece by the same artist). There is a terseness and vigour in Braithwait's style which is superior to that of his contemporary, Peacham; who seems to excel in a calm, easy, and graceful manner of composition. Both these eminent writers are distinguished for their scholastic and gentlemanly attainments; but in the "divine art of poesy" (in which light I mean here more particularly to display the powers of Braithwait) Peacham has no chance of being considered even as a respectable competitor with his contemporary. Mr. George Ellis, in his pleasing _Specimens of the early English Poets_, vol. iii., p. 103, has selected two songs of Braithwait "from a work not enumerated by Wood;" calling the author, "a noted wit and poet." His fame, however, is not likely to "gather strength" from these effusions. It is from some passages in _The Arcadian Princesse_--a work which has been already, and more than once, referred to, but which is too dislocated and heterogeneous to recommend to a complete perusal--it is from some passages in _this_ work that I think Braithwait shines with more lustre as a poet than in any to which his name is affixed. Take the following miscellaneous ones, by way of specimens. They are sometimes a little faulty in rhyme and melody: but they are never lame from imbecility. ----he has the happiest wit, Who has discretion to attemper it. And of all others, those the least doe erre, Who in opinion are least singular. Let Stoicks be to opposition given, Who to extreames in arguments are driven; Submit thy judgment to another's will If it be good; oppose it mildly, ill. _Lib._ iv., p. 7. Strong good sense has been rarely exhibited in fewer lines than in the preceding ones. We have next a vigorously drawn character which has the frightful appellation of _Uperephanos_, who still thought That th' world without him would be brought to nought: For when the dogge-starre raged, he used to cry, "No other Atlas has the world but I. I am that only _Hee_, supports the state; Cements divisions, shuts up Janus' gate; Improves the publike fame, chalks out the way How princes should command, subjects obey. Nought passeth my discovery, for my sense Extends itself to all intelligence." &c. &c. &c. So well this story and this embleme wrought, _Uperephanos_ was so humble brought, As he on earth disvalu'd nothing more, Than what his vainest humour priz'd before. More wise, but lesse conceited of his wit; More pregnant, but lesse apt to humour it; More worthy, 'cause he could agnize his want; More eminent, because less arragant. In briefe, so humbly-morally divine, He was esteem'd the _Non-such_ of his time. _Id._, pp. 8, 11. Another character, with an equally bizarre name, is drawn with the same vigour: _Melixos_; such a starved one, As he had nothing left but skin and bone. The shady substance of a living man, Or object of contempt wheree'er he came. Yet had hee able parts, and could discourse, Presse moving reasons, arguments enforce, Expresse his readings with a comely grace, And prove himselfe a _Consul_ in his place! _Id._, p. 12. We have a still more highly-coloured, and indeed a terrific, as well as original, picture, in the following animated verses: Next him, _Uptoomos_; one more severe, Ne'er purple wore in this inferiour sphere: Rough and distastefull was his nature still, His life unsociable, as was his will. _Eris_ and _Enio_ his two pages were, His traine stern _Apuneia_ us'd to beare. Terrour and thunder echo'd from his tongue, Though weake in judgment, in opinion strong. A fiery inflammation seiz'd his eyes, Which could not well be temper'd any wise: For they were bloud-shot, and so prone to ill, As basiliske-like, where'ere they look, they kill. No laws but Draco's with his humour stood, For they were writ in characters of bloud. His stomacke was distemper'd in such sort Nought would digest; nor could he relish sport. His dreames were full of melancholy feare, Bolts, halters, gibbets, halloo'd in his eare: Fury fed nature with a little food, Which, ill-concocted, did him lesser good, _Id._, p. 16. But it is time to pause upon Braithwait. Whoever does not see, in these specimens, some of the most powerful rhyming couplets of the early half of the seventeenth century, if not the model of some of the verses in Dryden's satirical pieces, has read both poets with ears differently constructed from those of the author of this book.] As I am permitted to be desultory in my remarks, (and, indeed, I craved this permission at the outset of them) I may here notice the publication of an excellent _Catalogue of Books_, in 1658, 4to.; which, like its predecessor, Maunsell's, helped to inflame the passions of purchasers, and to fill the coffers of booksellers. Whenever you can meet with this small volume, purchase it, Lisardo; if it be only for the sake of reading the spirited introduction prefixed to it.[355] The author was a man, whoever he may chance to be, of no mean intellectual powers. But to return. [Footnote 355: This volume, which has been rather fully described by me in the edition of More's _Utopia_, vol. ii., p. 260, 284--where some specimens of the "Introduction," so strongly recommended by Lysander, will be found--is also noticed in the _Athenæum_, vol. ii., 601; where there is an excellent analysis of its contents. Here, let me subjoin only one short specimen: In praise of learning, it is said: "Wise and learned men are the surest stakes in the hedge of a nation or city: they are the best conservators of our liberties: the hinges on which the welfare, peace, and happiness, hang; the best public good, and only commonwealth's men. These lucubrations, meeting with a true and brave mind, can conquer men; and, with the basilisk, kill envy with a look." Sign. E. 4. rect.] Where sleep now the relics of DYSON'S Library, which supplied that _Helluo Librorum_, Richard Smith, with "most of his rarities?"[356] I would give something pretty considerable to have a correct list--but more to have an unmolested sight--of this library, in its original state: if it were merely to be convinced whether or not it contained a copy of the _first edition of Shakespeare_, of larger dimensions, and in cleaner condition, than the one in PHILANDER'S Collection! [Footnote 356: "H. DYSON (says Hearne) a person of a very strange, prying, and inquisitive genius, in the matter of books, as may appear from many libraries; there being books, chiefly in old English, almost in every library, that have belonged to him, with his name upon them." _Peter Langtoft's Chronicles_, vol. i., p. xiii. This intelligence Hearne gleaned from his friend Mr. T. Baker. We are referred by the former to the _Bibl. R. Smith_, p. 371, alias 401, No. 115, to an article, which confirms what is said of Smith's "collecting most of his rarities out of the library of H. Dyson." The article is thus described in Bibl. Smith, _ibid._; "115 Six several catalogues of all such books, touching the state ecclesiastical as temporal of the realm of England, which were published upon several occasions, in the reigns of K. Henry the viith and viiith, Philip and Mary, Q. Elizabeth, K. James, and Charles I., collected by Mr. H. Dyson: out of whose library was gathered, by Mr. Smith, a great part of the rarities of this catalogue." A catalogue of the books sold in the reign of Hen. VII. would be invaluable to a bibliographer! Let me add, for the sake of pleasing, or rather, perhaps, tantalising my good friend Mr. Haleswood, that this article is immediately under one which describes "_An Ancient MS. of Hunting_, IN VELLUM (wanting something) _quarto_." I hear him exclaim--"Where is this treasure now to be found?" Perhaps, upon the cover of a book of Devotion!] I have incidentally mentioned the name of RICHARD SMITH.[357] Such a bibliomaniac deserves ample notice, and the warmest commendation. Ah, my Lisardo! had you lived in the latter days of Charles II.--had you, by accident, fallen into the society of this indefatigable book-forager, while he pursued his book-rounds in _Little Britain_--could you have listened to his instructive conversation, and returned home with him to the congenial quiet and avocations of his book-room--would you, however caressed St. James's, or even smiled upon by the first Duchess in the land--have cared a rush for the splendours of a Court, or concentrated your best comforts in a coach drawn by six cream-coloured horses? Would you not, on the contrary, have thought with this illustrious bibliomaniac, and with the sages of Greece and Rome before him, that "in books is wisdom, and in wisdom is happiness." [Footnote 357: From the address To the Reader, prefixed to the Catalogue of RICHARD SMITH'S books, which was put forth by Chiswel the bookseller, in May 1682, 4to.--the bibliomaniac is presented with the following interesting but cramply written, particulars relating to the owner of them: "Though it be needless to recommend what to all intelligent persons sufficiently commend itself, yet, perhaps, it may not be unacceptable to the ingenious to have some short account concerning _This so much celebrated, so often desired, so long expected, Library_, now exposed to sale. The gentleman that collected it was a person infinitely curious and inquisitive after books; and who suffered nothing considerable to escape him, that fell within the compass of his learning; for he had not the vanity of desiring to be master of more than he knew how to use. He lived to a very great age, and spent a good part of it almost entirely in the search of books. Being as constantly known every day to walk his rounds through the shops as he sat down to meals, where his great skill and experience enabled him to make choice of what was not obvious to every vulgar eye. He lived in times which ministered peculiar opportunities of meeting with books that are not every day brought into publick light; and few eminent libraries were bought where he had not the liberty to pick and choose. And while others were forming arms, and new-modelling kingdoms, _his_ great ambition was to become master of a good BOOK. Hence arose, as that vast number of his books, so the choiceness and rarity of the greatest part of them; and that of all kinds, and in all sorts of learning," &c. "Nor was the owner of them a meer idle possessor of so great a treasure: for as he generally _collated_ his books upon the buying of them (upon which account the buyer may rest pretty secure of their being perfect) so he did not barely turn over the leaves, but observed the defects of impressions, and the ill arts used by many; compared the differences of editions; concerning which, and the like cases, he has entered memorable, and very useful, remarks upon very many of the books under his own hand: Observations wherein, certainly, never man was more diligent and industrious. Thus much was thought fit to be communicated to publick notice, by a gentleman who was intimately acquainted both with Mr. Smith and his books. _This excellent library will be exposed by auction, and the sale will begin on Monday the 15th day of May next, at the auction house, known by the name of_ THE SWAN, _in Great St. Bartholomew's Close, and there continue, day by day, the five first days of every week, till all the books be sold._" In this catalogue of Richard Smith's books, the sharp-eyed bibliomaniac will discover twelve volumes printed by CAXTON; which collectively, produced only the sum of 3_l._ 7_s._ 5_d._ The price of each of these volumes has been already given to the public (_Typog. Antiq._, vol i., p. cxxxii.) I suppose a thousand guineas would _now_ barely secure perfect copies of them! The catalogue itself is most barbarously printed, and the arrangement and description of the volumes such as to damn the compiler "to everlasting fame." A number of the most curious, rare, and intrinsically valuable books--the very insertion of which in a bookseller's catalogue would probably now make a hundred bibliomaniacs start from their homes by star-light, in order to come in for the _first pickings_--a number of volumes of this description are huddled together in one lot, and all these classed under the provoking running title of "_Bundles of Books_," or "_Bundles of sticht Books_!" But it is time to bid adieu to this matchless collection. Leaving the virtuoso "to toil, from rise to set of sun" after W. Sherwin's "extra rare and fine" portrait of the collector, which will cost him hard upon ten pounds (see _Sir William Musgrave's Catalogue of English Portraits_, p. 92, no. 82), and to seize, if it be in his power, a copy of the catalogue itself, "with the prices and purchasers' names" (vide _Bibl. Lort._, no. 1354). I proceed to attend upon Lysander: not, however, without informing him that Strype (_Life of Cranmer_, p. 368), as well as Hearne (_Liber Niger Scaccarii_, vol. ii., p. 542), has condescended to notice the famous library of this famous collector of books, RICHARD SMITH!] LIS. In truth I should have done even more than what your barren imagination has here depicted. Smith's figure, his address, his conversation, his library-- LOREN. Enough--peace! There is no end to Lisardo's _fruitful_ imagination. We are surfeited with the richness of it. Go on, dear Lysander; but first, satisfy a desire which I just now feel to be informed of the period when _Sales of Books, by Auction_, were introduced into this country. LYSAND. You take _that_ for granted which remains [Transcriber's Note: missing 'to' in original] be _proved_: namely, my ability to gratify you in this particular. Of the precise period when this memorable revolution in the sale of books took place I have no means of being accurately informed: but I should think not anterior to the year 1673, or 1674; for, in the year 1676, to the best of my recollection, the catalogue of the Library of Dr. SEAMAN was put forth; to which is prefixed an address to the reader, wherein the custom of selling books by auction is mentioned as having been but of recent origin in our country.[358] It was, however, no sooner introduced than it caught the attention, and pleased the palates, of bibliomaniacs exceedingly: and Clavel, a bookseller, who published useful catalogues of books to be sold in his own warehouse, retorted in sharp terms upon the folly and extravagance which were exhibited at book auctions. However, neither Clavel nor his successors, from that period to the present, have been able to set this custom aside, nor to cool the fury of book-auction bibliomaniacs--who, to their eternal shame be it said, will sometimes, from the hot and hasty passions which are stirred up by the poisonous miasmata floating in the auction-room, give a sum twice or thrice beyond the real value of the books bidden for! Indeed, I am frequently amused to see the vehemence and rapture with which a dirty little volume is contended for and embraced--while a respectable bookseller, like PORTIUS, coolly observes across the table--"I have a better copy on sale at one third of the price!" [Footnote 358: A part of the address "To the Reader," in the catalogue above-mentioned by Lysander, being somewhat of a curiosity, is here reprinted in its unadulterated [Transcriber's Note: remainder of sentence missing in original] "Reader, "It hath not been usual here in England to make _Sale of Books by way of Auction or who will give most for them_: But it having been practised in other countreys to the advantage both of buyers and sellers, it was therefore conceived (for the encouragement of learning) to publish the sale of these books this manner of way; and it is hoped that this will not be unacceptable to schollers: and therefore, methought it convenient to give an advertisement concerning the manner of proceeding therein. _First_, That having this catalogue of the books, and their editions, under their several heads and numbers, it will be more easie for any person of quality, gentleman, or others, to depute any one to buy such books for them as they shall desire, if their occasions will not permit them to be present at the auction themselves." The _second_ clause is the usual one about _differences_ arising. The _third_, about discovering the imperfections of the copies before they are taken away. The _fourth_, that the buyers are to pay for their purchases within one month after the termination of the auction. The _fifth_, that the sale is to begin "punctually at 9 o'clock in the morning, and two in the afternoon; and this to continue daily until all the books be sold; wherefore it is desired that the gentlemen, or those deputed by them, may be there precisely at the hours appointed, lest they should miss the opportunity of buying those books which either themselves or their friends desire." As this is the earliest auction catalogue which I have chanced to meet with, the _present_ reader may probably be pleased with the following specimens, selected almost at random of the prices which were given for books at a public sale, in the year 1676. _In Folio._ PHILOLOGISTS. _s._ _d._ Pet. Heylyn's Cosmographie, Lond. 1652. 14 0 Io. Stow's Annals, or Chronicles of England, &c. ibid., 1631. 15 0 Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxon, 1638. 6 0 Geo. Withers, his Emblems; illustrated with brass figures, 1635. 8 6 Os. Gabelhower's book called the Dutch Physic, Dort, 1579. 3 0 p. 12. _In Quarto._ PHILOLOGIE. The Royal Passage of her Majesty, from the } tower to Whitehall, Lond., 1604. } The Vision of the Goddesses, a mask by the } Queen and her Ladies, 1604. } King James his Entertainment through the city } of London, ibid. } A particular Entertainment of the Queen and } Prince, 1608. } The magnificent Entertainment of King James, } Queen Anne, and Prince Henry Frederick, 1604. } Her Majesties speech to both Houses of } Parliament, 1604. } _s._ _d._ Vox Coeli, or News from Heaven, 1624. } 5 0 An experimental Discovery of the Spanish } Practises, 1623. } Tho. Scotts aphorisms of State, or secret } articles for the re-edifying the Romish } Church, 1624. } The Tongue Combat between two English } Souldiers, 1621. } Votivæ Angliæ, or the Desires and Wishes of } England, 1624. } A book of Fishing, with hook and line, and } other instruments, 1600. } p. 63. Now a-days, the last article alone would pr duce [Transcriber's Note: produce]--shall I say _nine_ times the sum of the whole? But once more: _In Octavo._ PHILOLOGISTS. Rob. Crowley's Confutation and Answer to a } wicked ballade of the abuse of the } sacrament of the altar, 1548. } Philargyne, or Covetousness of Great Britain, } 1551. } A Confutation of 13 articles of Nicol Sharton's, } 1551. } The Voice of the last Trumpet, blown by the } seventh angel, 1550. } _s._ _d._ Rob. Crowley's four last things. } 3 2 A petition against the oppressors of the poor } of this realm, 1550. } A supplication of the poor Commons, 1550. } Piers Plowman Exhortation to the Parliament, } and a New-Year's gift, 1550. } The Hurt of Sedition to the Commonwealth, 1549. } To continue the _History of Book Auctions_, a little further. Two years after the preceding sale, namely, in 1678, were sold the collections of Dr. MANTON, Dr. WORSLEY, and others. In the address to the Reader, prefixed to Manton's catalogue, it would seem that this was the "_fourth_ triall" of this mode of sale in our own country. The conditions and time of sale the same as the preceding; and because one Briggs, and not one Cooper, drew up the same, Cooper craves the reader's "excuse for the mistakes that have happened; and desires that the saddle may be laid upon the right horse." In this collection there is a more plentiful sprinkling of English books; among which, Dugdale's Warwickshire, 1656, was sold for 1_l._ 6_s._; and Fuller's Worthies for the same sum. The "Collections of Pamphlets, bound together in Quarto," were immense. Dr. Worsley's collection, with two others, was sold two months afterwards; namely, in May, 1678: and from the address "To the Reader," it would appear that Dr. Manton's books brought such high prices as to excite the envy of the trade. Worsley's collection was sold at 9 and 2, the usual hours "at the house over against the hen and chickens, in Pater-Noster Row." The venders thus justify themselves at the close of their address: "We have only this to add in behalf of ourselves; that, forasmuch as a report has been spread that we intend to use indirect means to advance the prices, we do affirm that it is a groundless and malicious suggestion of some of our own trade, envious of our undertaking: and that, to avoid all manner of suspicion of such practice, we have absolutely refused all manner of commissions that have been offered us for buying (some of them without limitation): and do declare that the company shall have nothing but candid and ingenuous dealing from JOHN DUNMORE. RICHARD CHISWEL." At this sale, the Shakspeare of 1632 brought 16_s._; and of 1663, 1_l._ 8_s._ In the November and December of the same year were sold by auction the books of VOET, SANGAR, and others, and from the preface to each catalogue it would seem that the sale of books by auction was then but a recent, yet a very successful, experiment; and that even collections from abroad were imported, in order to be disposed of in a like manner.] LIS. From what you say, it would appear to be wiser to lay out one's money at a bookseller's than at a book-auction? LYSAND. Both methods must of necessity be resorted to: for you cannot find with the one what you may obtain at the other. A distinguished collector, such as the late Mr. Reed, or Mr. Gough, or Mr. Joseph Windham, dies, and leaves his library to be sold by auction for the benefit of his survivors. Now, in this library so bequeathed, you have the fruits of book-labour, collected for a long period, and cultivated in almost every department of literature. A thousand radii are concentrated in such a circle; for it has, probably, been the object of the collector's life to gather and to concentrate these radii. In this case, therefore, you must attend the auction; you must see how such a treasure is scattered, like the Sibylline leaves, by the winds of fate. You must catch at what you want, and for what you have been a dozen years, perhaps, in the pursuit of. You will pay dearly for these favourite volumes; but you have them, and that is comfort enough; and you exclaim, as a consolation amidst all the agony and waste of time which such a contest may have cost you,--"Where, at what bookseller's, are such gems now to be procured?" All this may be well enough. But if I were again to have, as I have already had, the power of directing the taste and applying the wealth of a young collector--who, on coming of age, wisely considers books of at least as much consequence as a stud of horses--I would say, go to Mr. Payne, or Mr. Evans, or Mr. Mackinlay, or Mr. Lunn, for your Greek and Latin Classics; to Mr. Dulau, or Mr. Deboffe, for your French; to Mr. Carpenter, or Mr. Cuthell, for your English; and to Mr. White for your Botany and rare and curious books of almost every description. Or, if you want delicious copies, in lovely binding, of works of a sumptuous character, go and drink coffee with Mr. Miller, of Albemarle Street--under the warm light of an Argand lamp--amidst a blaze of morocco and russia coating, which brings to your recollection the view of the Temple of the Sun in the play of Pizarro! You will also find, in the vender of these volumes, courteous treatment and "gentlemanly notions of men and things." Again, if you wish to speculate deeply in books, or to stock a newly-discovered province with what is most excellent and popular in our own language, hire a vessel of 300 tons' burthen, and make a contract with Messrs. Longman, Hurst, and Co., who are enabled, from their store of _quires_, which measure 50 feet in height, by 40 in length, and 20 in width, to satisfy all the wants of the most craving bibliomaniacs. In opposition to this pyramid, enter the closet of Mr. Triphook, jun., of St. James's Street--and resist, if it be in your power to resist, the purchase of those clean copies, so prettily bound, of some of our rarest pieces of black-letter renown! LOREN. From this digression, oblige us now by returning to our bibliomaniacal history. LYSAND. Most willingly. But I am very glad you have given me an opportunity of speaking, as I ought to speak, of some of our most respectable booksellers, who are an ornament to the cause of THE BIBLIOMANIA. We left off, I think, with noticing that renowned book-collector, Richard Smith. Let me next make honourable mention of a "_par nobile fratrum_" that ycleped are NORTH. The "Lives" of these men, with an "Examen" (of "Kennet's History of England"), were published by a relative (I think a grandson) of the same name; and two very amusing and valuable quarto volumes they are! From one of these Lives, we learn how pleasantly the LORD KEEPER used to make his meals upon some one entertaining Law-volume or another: how he would breakfast upon _Stamford_,[359] dine upon _Coke_, and sup upon _Fitzherbert_, &c.; and, in truth, a most insatiable book appetite did this eminent judge possess. For, not satisfied ("and no marvel, I trow") with the foregoing lean fare, he would oftentimes regale himself with a well-served-up course of the _Arts_, _Sciences_, and the _Belles-Lettres_! [Footnote 359: These are the words of LORD KEEPER NORTH'S Biographer: "There are of Law-Books, institutions of various sorts, and reports of cases (now) almost innumerable. The latter bear most the controversial law, and are read as authority such as may be quoted: and I may say the gross of law lecture lies in them. But to spend weeks and months wholly in them, is like horses in a string before a loaden waggon. They are indeed a careful sort of reading, and chiefly require common-placing, and that makes the work go on slowly. His LORDSHIP therefore used to mix some institutionary reading with them, as after a fulness of the reports in a morning, about noon, to take a repast in _Stamford_, _Compton_, or the Lord _Coke's_ Pleas of the Crown and Jurisdiction of Courts, _Manwood_ of the Forest Law, _Fitzherbert's_ Natura Brevium; and also to look over some of the Antiquarian Books, as _Britton_, _Bracton_, _Fleta_, _Fortescue_, _Hengham_, _the old Tenures Narrationes Novæ_, the old _Natura Brevium_, and the Diversity of Courts. These, at times, for change and refreshment, being books all fit to be known. And those that, as to authority, are obsoleted, go rounder off-hand, because they require little common-placing, and that only as to matter very singular and remarkable, and such as the student fancies he shall desire afterwards to recover. And, besides all this, the day afforded him room for a little History, especially of England, modern books, and Controversy in Print, &c. In this manner he ordered his own studies, but with excursions into _Humanity_ and _Arts_, beyond what may be suitable to the genius of every young student in the law." _Life of Lord Keeper Guildford_, pp. 18, 19. _North's Lives_, edit. 1754, 4to.] His brother, Dr. JOHN NORTH, was a still greater _Helluo Librorum_; "his soul being never so staked down as in an old bookseller's shop." Not content with a superficial survey of whatever he inspected, he seems to have been as intimately acquainted with all the book-selling fraternity of _Little-Britain_ as was his contemporary, Richard Smith; and to have entered into a conspiracy with ROBERT SCOTT[360]--the most renowned book vender in this country, if not in Europe--to deprive all bibliomaniacs of a chance of procuring rare and curious volumes, by sweeping every thing that came to market, in the shape of a book, into their own curiously-wrought and widely-spread nets. Nay, even Scott himself was sometimes bereft of all power, by means of the potent talisman which this learned Doctor exercised--for the latter, "at one lift," would now and then sweep a whole range of shelves in Scott's shop of every volume which it contained. And yet how whimsical, and, in my humble opinion, ill-founded, was Dr. North's taste in matters of typography! Would you believe it, Lisardo, he preferred the meagre classical volumes, printed by the _Gryphii_, in the italic letter, to the delicate and eye-soothing lustre of the _Elzevir_ type--? [Footnote 360: "Now he began to look after books, and to lay the foundation of a competent library. He dealt with Mr. ROBERT SCOTT, of _Little-Britain_, whose sister was his grandmother's woman; and, upon that acquaintance he expected, and really had from him, useful information of books and their editions. This Mr. Scott was, in his time, the greatest librarian in Europe; for, besides his stock in England, he had warehouses in Francfort, Paris, and other places, and dealt by factors. After he was grown old, and much worn by multiplicity of business, he began to think of his ease and to leave off. Whereupon he contracted with one Mills, of St. Paul's Church-yard, near £10,000 deep, and articled not to open his shop any more. But Mills, with his auctioneering, Atlasses, and projects, failed, whereby poor Scott lost above half his means: but he held to his contract of not opening his shop, and when he was in London (for he had a country house), passed most of his time at his house amongst the rest of his books; and his reading (for he was no mean scholar) was the chief entertainment of his time. He was not only an expert bookseller, but a very conscientious good man; and when he threw up his trade, Europe had no small loss of him. Our Doctor, at one lift, bought of him a whole set of Greek Classics in folio, of the best editions. This sunk his stock at that time; but afterwards, for many years of his life, all that he could (as they say) rap or run, went the same way. But the progress was small; for such a library as he desired, compared with what the pittance of his stock would purchase, allowing many years to the gathering, was of desperate expectation. He was early sensible of a great disadvantage to him in his studies, by the not having a good library in his reach; and he used to say that a man could not be a scholar at the second-hand: meaning, that learning is to be had from the original authors, and not from any quotations, or accounts in other books, for men gather with divers views, and, according to their several capacities, often perfunctorily, and almost always imperfectly: and through such slight reading, a student may know somewhat, but not judge of either author or subject. He used to say _an old author could not be unprofitable_; for although in their proper time they had little or no esteem, yet, in after times, they served to interpret words, customs, and other matters, found obscure in other books; of which A. Gellius is an apt instance. He courted, as a fond lover, all _best editions, fairest character, best bound and preserved_. If the subject was in his favour (as the Classics) he cared not how many of them he had, even of the same edition, if he thought it among the best, either _better bound_, _squarer cut_, _neater covers_, or some such qualification caught him. He delighted in the small editions of the Classics, by Seb. Gryphius; and divers of his acquaintance, meeting with any of them, bought and brought them to him, which he accepted as choice presents, although perhaps he had one or two of them before. He said that the _black italic_ character agreed with his eye sight (which he accounted but weak) better than any other print, the old Elzevir not excepted, whereof the characters seemed to him more blind and confused than those of the other. Continual use gives men a judgment of things comparatively, and they come to fix on that as most proper and easy which no man, upon cursory view, would determine. _His soul was never so staked down as in an old bookseller's shop_; for having (as the statutes of the college required) taken orders, he was restless till he had compassed some of that sort of furniture as he thought necessary for his profession. He was, for the most part, his own factor, and seldom or never bought by commission; which made him lose time in turning over vast numbers of books, and he was very hardly pleased at last. I have borne him company at shops for hours together, and, minding him of the time, he hath made a dozen proffers before he would quit. By this care and industry, at length, he made himself master of a very considerable library, wherein the choicest collection was _Greek_." There is some smartness in the foregoing observations. The following, in a strain of equal interest, affords a lively picture of the _bookselling trade_ at the close of the 17th century: "It may not be amiss to step a little aside, to reflect on the vast change in the trade of books, between that time and ours. Then, _Little-Britain_ was a plentiful and perpetual emporium of learned authors; and men went thither as to a market. This drew to the place a mighty trade; the rather because the shops were spacious, and the learned gladly resorted to them, where they seldom failed to meet with agreeable conversation. And the booksellers themselves were knowing and conversible men, with whom, for the sake of bookish knowledge, the greatest wits were pleased to converse. And we may judge the time as well spent there, as (in latter days) either in tavern or coffee-house: though the latter hath carried off the spare hours of most people. But now this emporium is vanished, and trade contracted into the hands of two or three persons, who, to make good their monopoly, ransack, not only their neighbours of the trade that are scattered about town, but all over England, aye, and beyond sea too, and send abroad their circulators, and, in that manner, get into their hands all that is valuable. The rest of the trade are content to take their refuse, with which, and the fresh scum of the press, they furnish one side of a shop, which serves for the sign of a bookseller, rather than a real one; but, instead of selling, dealing as factors, and procure what the country divines and gentry send for; of whom each hath his book factor, and, when wanting any thing, writes to his bookseller, and pays his bill. And it is wretched to consider what pickpocket work, with help of the press, these demi-booksellers make. They crack their brains to find out selling subjects, and keep hirelings in garrets, at hard meat, to write and correct by the great (qu. groat); and so puff up an octavo to a sufficient thickness, and there's six shillings current for an hour and a half's reading, and perhaps never to be read or looked upon after. One that would go higher must take his fortune at blank walls, and corners of streets, or repair to the sign of Bateman, Innys, and one or two more, where are best choice and better pennyworth's. I might touch other abuses, as bad paper, incorrect printing, and false advertising; all which, and worse, is to be expected, if a careful author is not at the heels of them." Life of the Hon. and Rev. Dr. John North. _North's Lives_, edit. 1744, 4to., p. 240, &c. At page 244, there is a curious account of the doctor's amusing himself with keeping spiders in a glass case--feeding them with bread and flies--and seeing these spiders afterwards quarrel with, and destroy, each other--"parents and offspring!"] LIS. "_De gustibus_--" you know the rest. But these Norths were brave bibliomaniacs! Proceed, we are now advancing towards the threshold of the eighteenth century; and the nearer you come to it, the greater is the interest excited. LYSAND. Take care that I don't conclude with the memorable catalogue-burning deed of your father! But I spare your present feelings. All hail to the noble book-spirit by which the _Lives of Oxford-Athenians_, and the _Antiquities of Oxford University_, are recorded and preserved beyond the power of decay![361] All hail to thee, OLD ANTHONY A-WOOD! May the remembrance of thy researches, amidst thy paper and parchment documents, stored up in chests, pews, and desks, and upon which, alas! the moth was "feeding sweetly," may the remembrance of these thy laborious researches always excite sensations of gratitude towards the spirit by which they were directed! Now I see thee, in imagination, with thy cautious step, and head bowing from premature decay, and solemn air, and sombre visage, with cane under the arm, pacing from library to library, through gothic quadrangles; or sauntering along the Isis, in thy way to some neighbouring village, where thou wouldst recreate thyself with "pipe and pot." Yes, Anthony! while the _Bodleian_ and _Ashmolean_ collections remain--or rather as long as Englishmen know how to value that species of literature by which the names and actions of their forefathers are handed down to posterity, so long shall the memory of thy laudable exertions continue unimpaired! [Footnote 361: The name and literary labours of ANTHONY WOOD are now held in general, and deservedly high, respect: and it is somewhat amusing, though not a little degrading to human nature, to reflect upon the celebrity of that man who, when living, seems to have been ridiculed by the proud and flippant, and hated by the ignorant and prejudiced, part of his academical associates. The eccentricities of Wood were considered heretical; and his whims were stigmatized as vices. The common herd of observers was unable to discover, beneath his strange garb, and coarse exterior, all that acuteness of observation, and retentiveness of memory, as well as inflexible integrity, which marked the intellectual character of this wonderful man. But there is no necessity to detain and tantalize the reader by this formal train of reasoning, when a few leading features of Wood's person, manners, and habits of study, &c., have been thus pleasingly described to us by Hearne, in the life of him prefixed to the genuine edition of the _History and Antiquities (or Annals) of the University of Oxford_. "He was equally regardless of envy or fame, out of his great love to truth, and therefore 'twas no wonder he took such a liberty of speech, as most other authors, out of prudence, cunning, or design, have usually declined. And indeed, as to his language, he used such words as were suitable to his profession. It is impossible to think that men, who always converse with old authors, should not learn the dialect of their acquaintance--an antiquary retains an old word, with as much religion as an old relick. And further, since our author was ignorant of the rules of conversation, it is no wonder he uses so many severe reflections, and adds so many minute passages of men's lives. I have been told that it was usual with him, for the most part, to rise about four o'clock in the morning, and to eat hardly any thing till night; when, after supper, he would go into some by-alehouse in town, or else to one in some village near, and there by himself take his _pipe and pot_," &c. "But so it is that, notwithstanding our author's great merits, he was but little regarded in the University, being observed to be more clownish than courteous, and always to go in an old antiquated dress. Indeed he was a mere scholar, and consequently must expect, from the greatest number of men, disrespect; but this notwithstanding, he was always a true lover of his mother, the University, and did more for her than others care to do that have received so liberally from her towards their maintenance, and have had greater advantages of doing good than he had. Yea, his affection was not at all alienated, notwithstanding his being so hardly dealt with as to be expelled; which would have broken the hearts of some. But our author was of a most noble spirit, and little regarded whatever afflictions he lay under, whilst he was conscious to himself of doing nothing but what he could answer. At length after he had, by continual drudging, worn out his body, he left this world contentedly, by a stoppage of his urine, anno domini 1695, and was buried in the east corner of the north side of St. John's Church, adjoyning to Merton College, and in the wall is a small monument fixed, with these words: H.S.E. ANTONIUS WOOD, ANTIQUARIUS. _ob. 28 Nov._ AO. 1695, æt. 64." In his person, he was of a large robust make, tall and thin, and had a sedate and thoughtful look, almost bordering upon a melancholy cast. Mr. Hearne says, in his _Collectanea MSS._, that though he was but sixty-four years of age when he died, he appeared to be above fourscore; that he used spectacles long before he had occasion for them, that he stooped much when he walked, and generally carried his stick under his arm, seldom holding it in his hand. As to the manner of his life, it was solitary and ascetic. The character which Gassendus gives of Peireskius, may, with propriety, be used as descriptive of Mr. Wood's. "As to the care of his person, cleanliness was his chief object, he desiring no superfluity or costliness, either in his habit or food. His house was furnished in the same manner as his table; and as to the ornament of his private apartment, he was quite indifferent. Instead of hangings, his chamber was furnished with the prints of his particular friends, and other men of note, with vast numbers of commentaries, transcripts, letters, and papers of various kinds. His bed was of the most ordinary sort; his table loaded with papers, schedules, and other things, as was also every chair in the room. He was a man of strict sobriety, and by no means delicate in the choice of what he eat. Always restrained by temperance, he never permitted the sweet allurements of luxury to overcome his prudence." Such, as is here represented, was the disposition of Mr. WOOD: of so retired a nature as seldom to desire or admit a companion at his walks or meals; so that he is said to have dined alone in his chamber for thirty years together. Mr. Hearne says that it was his custom to "go to the booksellers at those hours when the greater part of the University were at their dinners," &c. And at five leaves further, in a note, we find that, "when he was consulting materials for his _Athenæ Oxon._, he would frequently go to the booksellers, and generally give money to them, purposely to obtain titles of books from them; and 'twas observed of him that he spared no charges to make that work as compleat and perfect as possible." _Hearne's Coll. MSS. in Bodl. Lib._, vol. ix., p. 185. The following letter, describing Wood's last illness, and the disposition of his literary property, is sufficiently interesting to be here, in part, laid before the reader: it was written by Mr. (afterwards Bishop) Tanner to Dr. Charlett. "Honoured Master, Yesterday, at dinner-time, Mr. Wood sent for me; when I came, I found Mr. Martin and Mr. Bisse of Wadham (college) with him, who had (with much ado) prevailed upon him to set about looking over his papers, so to work we went, and continued tumbling and separating some of his MSS. till it was dark. We also worked upon him so far as to sign and declare that sheet of paper, which he had drawn up the day before, and called it _his will_; for fear he should not live till night. He had a very bad night of it last night, being much troubled with vomiting. This morning we three were with him again, and Mr. Martin bringing with him the form of a will, that had been drawn up by Judge Holloway, we writ his will over again, as near as we could, in form of law. He has given to the University, to be reposited in the _Museum Ashmol._, all his MSS., not only those of his own collection, but also all others which he has in his possession, except some few of Dr. Langbain's Miscellanea, which he is willing should go to the public library. He has also given all his printed books and pamphlets to the said musæum which are not there already. This benefaction will not, perhaps, be so much valued by the University as it ought to be, because it comes from Anthony Wood; but truly it is a most noble gift, his collection of MSS. being invaluable, and his printed books, most of them, not to be found in town," &c. This letter is followed by other accounts yet more minute and touching, of the last mortal moments of poor old Anthony! It now remains to say a few words about his literary labours. A short history of the editions of the _Athenæ Oxonienses_ (vide p. 45, ante) has already been communicated to the reader. We may here observe that his _Antiquities of the University_ shared a similar fate; being garbled in a Latin translation of them, which was put forth under the auspices of Bishop Fell: 1676, fol., in 2 vols. Wood's own MS. was written in the English language, and lay neglected till towards the end of the 18th century, when the Rev. Mr. Gutch conferred a real benefit upon all the dutiful sons of ALMA MATER, by publishing the legitimate text of their venerable and upright historian; under the title of _The History and Antiquities of the Colleges and Halls_, 1786, 4to., with a supplemental volume by way of _Appendix_, 1790, 4to., containing copious indexes to the two. Then followed the Annals of the University at large, viz. _The History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford_; 1792, 4to., in two volumes; the latter being divided into _two_ parts, or volumes, with copious indexes. These works, which are now getting scarce, should be in every philological, as well as topographical, collection. In order to compensate the reader for the trouble of wading through the preceding tremendous note, I here present him with a wood-cut facsimile of a copper-plate print of Wood's portrait, which is prefixed to his Life, 1772, 8vo. If he wishes for more curious particulars respecting Wood's literary labours, let him take a peep into _Thomæ Caii Vindic. Antiq. Acad. Oxon._: 1730, 8vo., vol. i., pp. xl. xliii. _Edit. Hearne._ Wood's study, in the Ashmolean museum, is yet to be seen. It is filled with curious books, which, however, have not hitherto been catalogued with accuracy. Ritson has availed himself, more successfully than any antiquary in poetry, of the book treasures in this museum. [Illustration]] A very few years after the death of this distinguished character, died Dr. FRANCIS BERNARD;[362] a stoic in bibliography. Neither beautiful binding, nor amplitude of margin, ever delighted his eye or rejoiced his heart: for he was a stiff, hard, and straight-forward reader--and learned, in Literary History, beyond all his contemporaries. His collection was copious and excellent; and although the compiler of the catalogue of his books sneers at any one's having "an entire collection in physic," (by the bye, I should have told you that Bernard was a _Doctor of Medicine_,) yet, if I forget not, there are nearly 150 pages in this said catalogue which are thickly studded with "_Libri Medici_," from the folio to the duodecimo size. Many very curious books are afterwards subjoined; and some precious _bijous_, in English Literature, close the rear. Let Bernard be numbered among the most learned and eminent bibliomaniacs. [Footnote 362: I do not know that I could produce a better recipe for the cure of those who are affected with the worst symptoms of the BOOK-MANIA, in the _present day_, than by shewing them how the same symptoms, upwards of a _century ago_, were treated with ridicule and contempt by a collector of very distinguished fame, both on account of his literary talents and extensive library. The following copious extract is curious on many accounts; and I do heartily wish that foppish and tasteless collectors would give it a very serious perusal. At the same time, all collectors possessed of common sense and liberal sentiment will be pleased to see their own portraits so faithfully drawn therein. It is taken from the prefatory address, "TO THE READER. The character of the person whose collection this was, is so well known, that there is no occasion to say much of him, nor to any man of judgment that inspects the catalogue of the collection itself. Something, however, it becomes us to say of both; and this I think may with truth and modesty enough be said, that as few men knew books, and that part of learning which is called _Historia Litteraria_, better than himself, so there never yet appeared in England so choice and valuable a catalogue to be thus disposed of as this before us: more especially of that sort of books which are out of the common course, which a man may make the business of his life to collect, and at last not to be able to accomplish. A considerable part of them being so little known, even to many of the learned buyers, that we have reason to apprehend this misfortune to attend the sale, that there will not be competitors enough to raise them up to their just and real value. Certain it is this library contains not a few which never appeared in any auction here before; nor indeed, as I have heard him say, for ought he knew, (and he knew as well as any man living) _in any printed catalogue in the world_."--"We must confess that, being a person who collected his books for use, and not for ostentation or ornament, he seemed no more solicitous about _their_ dress than _his own_; and therefore you'll find that a _gilt back_, or a _large margin_, was very seldom any inducement to him to buy. 'Twas sufficient that he had the book." "Though considering that he was so unhappy as to want heirs capable of making that use of them which he had done, and that therefore they were to be dispersed after this manner; I have heard him condemn his own negligence in that particular; observing, that the garniture of a book was as apt to recommend it to a great part of our _modern collectors_ (whose learning goes not beyond the edition, the title-page, and the printer's name) as the intrinsic value could. But that he himself was not a mere nomenclator, and versed only in title-pages, but had made that just and laudable use of his books which would become all those that set up for collectors, I appeal to the Literati of his acquaintance, who conversed most frequently with him; how full, how ready, and how exact he was in answering any question that was proposed to him relating to learned men, or their writings; making no secret of any thing that he knew, or any thing that he had; being naturally one of the most communicative men living, both of his knowledge and his books."--"And give me leave to say this of him, upon my own knowledge; that he never grudged his money in procuring, nor his time or labour in perusing, any book which he thought could be any ways instructive to him, and having the felicity of a memory always faithful, always officious, which never forsook him, though attacked by frequent and severe sickness, and by the worst of diseases, old age, his desire of knowledge attended him to the last; and he pursued his studies with equal vigour and application to the very extremity of his life." It remains to add a part of the title of the catalogue of the collection of this extraordinary bibilomaniac [Transcriber's Note: bibliomaniac]: "_A Catalogue of the Library of the late learned_ DR. FRANCIS BERNARD, _Fellow of the College of Physicians, and Physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, &c._," 1698, 8vo. The English books are comprised in 1241 articles; and, among them, the keen investigator of ancient catalogues will discover some prime rarities.] Having at length reached the threshold, let us knock at the door, of the eighteenth century. What gracious figures are those which approach to salute us? They are the forms of BISHOPS FELL and MORE:[363] prelates, distinguished for their never ceasing admiration of valuable and curious works. The former is better known as an editor; the latter, as a collector--and a collector, too, of such multifarious knowledge, of such vivid and just perceptions, and unabating activity--that while he may be hailed as the _Father of_ =black-letter= _Collectors_ in this country, he reminds us of his present successor in the same see; who is not less enamoured of rare and magnificent volumes, but of a different description, and whose library assumes a grander cast of character. [Footnote 363: As I have already presented the public with some brief account respecting BISHOP FELL, and sharpened the appetites of Grangerites to procure rather a rare portrait of the same prelate (See _Introd. to the Classics_, vol. i., 89), it remains only to add, in the present place, that Hearne, in his _Historia Vitæ et Regni Ricardi II._, 1729, 8vo., p. 389, has given us a curious piece of information concerning this eminent bibliomaniac, which may not be generally known. His authority is Anthony Wood. From this latter we learn that, when Anthony and the Bishop were looking over the _History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford_, to correct it for the press, Fell told Wood that "WICLIFFE was a grand dissembler; a man of little conscience; and what he did, as to religion, was more out of vain glory, and to obtain unto him a name, than out of honesty--or to that effect." Can such a declaration, from such a character, be credited? BISHOP MORE has a stronger claim on our attention and gratitude. Never has there existed an episcopal bibliomaniac of such extraordinary talent and fame in the walk of _Old English Literature_!--as the reader shall presently learn. The bishop was admitted of Clare Hall, Cambridge, in 1662. In 1691, he became Bishop of Norwich; and was translated to Ely in 1707; but did not survive the translation above seven years. How soon and how ardently the passion for collecting books possessed him it is out of my present power to make the reader acquainted. But that More was in the zenith of his bibliomaniacal reputation while he filled the see of Norwich is unquestionable; for thus writes Strype: "The Right Reverend, the Lord Bishop of Norwich, the possessor of a great and curious collection of MSS. and other ancient printed pieces (little inferior to MSS. in regard of their scarceness) hath also been very considerably assistant to me as well in this present work as in others;" &c. Preface (sign. a 2) to _Life of Aylmer_, 1701, 8vo. Burnet thus describes his fine library when he was Bishop of Ely. "This noble record was lent me by my reverend and learned brother, Dr. MORE, Bishop of Ely, who has gathered together a most valuable treasure, both of printed books and manuscripts, beyond what one can think that the life and labour of one man could have compassed; and which he is as ready to communicate, as he has been careful to collect it." _Hist. of the Reformation_, vol. iii., p. 46. It seems hard to reconcile this testimony of Burnet with the late Mr. Gough's declaration, that "The bishop collected his library by plundering those of the clergy in his diocese; some he paid with sermons or more modern books; others only with '_quid illiterati cum libris_.'" On the death of More, his library was offered to Lord Oxford for 8000_l._; and how that distinguished and truly noble collector could have declined the purchase of such exquisite treasures--unless his own shelves were groaning beneath the weight of a great number of similar volumes--is difficult to account for. But a public-spirited character was not wanting to prevent the irreparable dispersion of such book-gems: and that patriotic character was GEORGE I.!--who gave 6000_l._ for them, and presented them to the public library of the University of Cambridge!-- "These are imperial works, and worthy kings!" And here, benevolent reader, the almost unrivalled _Bibliotheca Moriana_ yet quietly and securely reposes. Well do I remember the congenial hours I spent (A.D. 1808) in the _closet_ holding the most precious part of Bishop More's collection, with my friend the Rev. Mr. ----, tutor of one of the colleges in the same University, at my right-hand--(himself "greatly given to the study of books") actively engaged in promoting my views, and increasing my extracts--but withal, eyeing me sharply "ever and anon"--and entertaining a laudable distrust of a keen book-hunter from a rival University! I thank my good genius that I returned, as I entered, with clean hands! My love of truth and of bibliography compels me to add, with a sorrowful heart, that not only is there no printed catalogue of Bishop More's books, but even the FINE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY remains unpublished in print! In this respect they really do "order things better in France." Why does such indifference to the cause of general learning exist--and in the 19th century too? Let me here presume to submit a plan to the consideration of the syndics of the press; provided they should ever feel impressed with the necessity of informing the literati, of other countries as well as our own, of the book treasures contained in the libraries of Cambridge. It is simply this. Let the books in the Public Library form the substratum of the _Catalogue Raisonné_ to be printed in three or more quarto volumes. If, in any particular department, there be valuable editions of a work which are _not_ in the public, but in another, library--ex. gr. in Trinity, or St. John's--specify this edition in its appropriate class; and add _Trin. Coll., &c._--If this copy contain notes of Bentley, or Porson, add "_cum notis Bentleii_," _&c._: so that such a catalogue would present, not only _every_ volume in the _Public Library_, but _every valuable_ edition of a work in the whole University. Nor is the task so Herculean as may be thought. The tutors of the respective colleges would, I am sure, be happy, as well as able, to contribute their proportionate share of labour towards the accomplishment of so desirable and invaluable a work.] The opening of the 18th century was also distinguished by the death of a bibliomaniac of the very first order and celebrity. Of one, who had, no doubt, frequently discoursed largely and eloquently with Luttrell, (of whom presently) upon the rarity and value of certain editions of old _Ballad Poetry_: and between whom presents of curious black-letter volumes were, in all probability, frequently passing. I allude to the famous SAMUEL PEPYS;[364] Secretary to the Admiralty. [Footnote 364: "_The Maitland Collection of Manuscripts_ was ever in the collector's (Sir Richard Maitland's) family."--"His grandson was raised to the dignity of Earl of Lauderdale." "The Duke of Lauderdale, a descendant of the collector's grandson, presented the Maitland Collection, along with other MSS., to SAMUEL PEPYS, Esq. Secretary of the Admiralty to Charles II. and James II. Mr. Pepys was one of the earliest collectors of rare books, &c. in England; and the duke had no taste for such matters; so either from friendship, or some point of interest, he gave them to Mr. Pepys,"--who "dying 26 May, 1703, in his 71st year, ordered, by will, the PEPYSIAN LIBRARY at Magdalen College, Cambridge, to be founded, in order to preserve his very valuable collection entire. It is undoubtedly the most curious in England, those of the British Museum excepted; and is kept in excellent order." Mr. Pinkerton's preface, p. vii., to _Ancient Scottish Poems from the Maitland Collection, &c._, 1786, 8vo., 2 vols. I wish it were in my power to add something concerning the parentage, birth, education, and pursuits of the extraordinary collector of this extraordinary collection; but no biographical work, which I have yet consulted, vouchsafes even to mention his name. His merits are cursorily noticed in the _Quarterly Review_, vol. iv., p. 326-7. Through the medium of a friend, I learn from Sir Lucas Pepys, Bart., that our illustrious bibliomaniac, his great uncle, was President of the Royal Society, and that his collection at Cambridge contains a _Diary_ of his life, written with his own hand. But it is high time to speak of the black-letter gems contained in the said collection. That the PEPYSIAN COLLECTION is at once choice and valuable cannot be disputed; but that access to the same is prompt and facile, is not quite so indisputable. There is a MS. catalogue of the books, by Pepys himself, with a small rough drawing of a view of the interior of the library. The books are kept in their original (I think walnut-wood) presses: and cannot be examined unless in the presence of a fellow.--Such is the nice order to be observed, according to the bequest, that every book must be replaced where it was taken from; and the loss of a single volume causes the collection to be confiscated, and transported to Benet-college library. Oh, that there were _an act of parliament_ to regulate bequests of this kind!--that the doors to knowledge might, by a greater facility of entrance, be more frequently opened by students; and that the medium between unqualified confidence and unqualified suspicion might be marked out and followed. Are these things symptomatic of an iron or a brazen age! But the bibliomaniac is impatient for a glance at the 'forementioned black-letter treasures!--Alas, I have promised more than I can perform! Yet let him cast his eye upon the first volume of the recent edition of _Evans' Collection of Old Ballads_ (see _in limine_, p. ix.) and look into the valuable notes of _Mr. Todd's Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer_,--in which latter, he will find no bad specimen of these _Pepysian gems_, in the exultation of my friend, the author, over another equally respected friend--in consequence of his having discovered, among these treasures, a strange, merry, and conceited work, entitled "_Old Meg of Herefordshire for a Mayd-Marian; and Hereford Town for a Morris-daunce, &c._," 1609, 4to., p. 273. EX UNO DISCE OMNES. The left-handed critic, or anti-black-letter reader, will put a wicked construction upon the quotation of this motto in capital letters: let him: he will repent of his folly in due time.] Now it was a convincing proof to me, my dear friends, that the indulgence of a PASSION FOR BOOKS is perfectly compatible with any situation, however active and arduous. For while this illustrious bibliomaniac was sending forth his messengers to sweep every bookseller's shop from the Tweed to Penzance, for the discovery of old and almost unknown ballads--and while his name rung in the ears of rival collectors--he was sedulous, in his professional situation, to put the _Navy of Old England_ upon the most respectable footing; and is called the _Father_ of that system which, carried into effect by British hearts of oak, has made the thunder of our cannon to be heard and feared on the remotest shores. Nor is it a slight or common coincidence that a spirit of book-collecting, which stimulated the _Secretary_ of the Admiralty at the opening of the 18th century, should, at the close of it, have operated with equal or greater force in a _First Lord_ of the same glorious department of our administration. But we shall speak more fully of this latter character, and of his matchless collection, in a future stage of our discussion. While we are looking round us at this period, we may as well slightly notice the foundation of the _Blenheim Library_. The DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH[365] was resolved that no naval commander, or person connected with the navy, should eclipse himself in the splendour of book-collecting: but it was to PRINCE EUGENE that Marlborough was indebted for his taste in this particular; or rather the English commander was completely bitten with the bibliomaniacal disease in consequence of seeing Eugene secure rare and magnificent copies of works, when a city or town was taken: and the German Prince himself expatiates upon the treasures of his library, with a rapture with which none but the most thorough-bred bibliomaniacs can ever adequately sympathise. [Footnote 365: The LIBRARY AT BLENHEIM is one of the grandest rooms in Europe. The serpentine sheet of water, which flows at some little distance, between high banks of luxuriant and moss-woven grass, and is seen from the interior, with an overhanging dark wood of oaks, is sufficient to awaken the finest feelings that ever animated the breast of a bibliomaniac. The books are select and curious, as well as numerous; and although they may be eclipsed, in both these particulars, by a few rival collections, yet the following specimen is no despicable proof of the ardour with which MARLBOROUGH, the founder of the Library, pushed forward his bibliomaniacal spirit. I am indebted to Mr. Edwards for this interesting list of the ANCIENT CLASSICS PRINTED UPON VELLUM IN THE BLENHEIM LIBRARY. Apoll. Rhodius 1496 Augustinus, _de Civ. Dei_ _Spiræ_ 1470 A. Gellius, _Romæ_ 1469 Aug. _de Civ. Dei_ _Jenson_ 1475 Biblia Moguntina 1462 Bonifacii Decretalia 1465 Ciceronis _Rhetorica_ _Jens_ 1470 ---- _Epist. Fam._ _Spiræ_ 1469 ---- _Officia_ _Mogunt_ 1465 ---- ---- 1466 ---- _Tuscul. Ques._ _Jenson_ 1472 _Clementis Const._ _Mogunt_ 1460 ---- _Fust. s.a._ Durandus 1459 Horatius Landini 1482 ---- Epist. 1480 Justinian _Mogunt_ 1468 Lactantius _A Rot_ 1471 Lucian _Florent_ 1496 Petrarca _Spira_ 1470 Plinius _Jenson_ 1472 Quintilian _Campani_ 1470 Sallustius _Spira_ 1470 V. Maximus, s.a. Virgilius _Spira_ 1470 The present MARQUIS OF BLANDFORD inherits, in no small degree, the book-collecting spirit of his illustrious ancestor. He is making collections in those departments of literature in which the Blenheim Library is comparatively deficient; and his success has already been such as to lead us to hope for as perfect a display of volumes printed by _Caxton_ as there is of those executed by foreign printers. The Marquis's collection of _Emblems_ is, I believe, nearly perfect: of these, there are a few elegantly printed catalogues for private distribution. Lysander, above, supposes that Marlborough caught the infection of the _book-disease_ from PRINCE EUGENE; and the supposition is, perhaps, not very wide of the truth. The library of this great German prince, which is yet entire, (having been secured from the pillage of Gallic Vandalism, when a certain emperor visited a certain city) is the proudest feature in the public library at Vienna. The books are in very fine old binding, and, generally of the largest dimensions. And, indeed, old England has not a little to boast of (at least, so bibliomaniacs must always think) that, from the recently published _Memoirs of Eugene_ (1811, 8vo., p. 185), it would appear that the prince "bought his fine editions of books AT LONDON:"--he speaks also of his "excellent French, Latin, and Italian works, well bound"--as if he enjoyed the "arrangment" of _them_, as much as the contemplation of his "cascades, large water-spouts, and superb basins." _Ibid._ Whether Eugene himself was suddenly inflamed with the ardour of buying books, from some lucky spoils in the pillaging of towns--as Lysander supposes--is a point which may yet admit of fair controversy. For my own part, I suspect the German commander had been straying, in his early manhood, among the fine libraries in _Italy_, where he might have seen the following exquisite _bijous_-- _In St. Mark's, at Venice._ Apuleius 1469 } Aulus Gellius 1469 } PRINTED UPON VELLUM. Petrarca 1479 } _In the Chapter House at Padua._ Ciceronis _Epist. ad Atticum_ _Jenson_ 1470 } Quintilian _Jenson_ 1471 } Macrobius 1472 } Solinus _Jenson_ 1473 } PRINTED UPON VELLUM. Catullus 1472 } Plautus 1472 } Ovidii Opera _Bonon._ 1471 } The public is indebted to Mr. Edwards for the timely supply of the foregoing bibliographical intelligence.] Ever ardent in his love of past learning, and not less voracious in his bibliomaniacal appetites, was the well known NARCISSUS LUTTRELL. Nothing--if we may judge from the spirited sketch of his book character, by the able editor[366] of Dryden's works--nothing would seem to have escaped his Lynx-like vigilance. Let the object be what it would (especially if it related to _poetry_) let the volume be great or small, or contain good, bad, or indifferent warblings of the muse--his insatiable craving had "stomach for them all." We may consider his collection as the fountain head of those copious streams which, after fructifying the libraries of many bibliomaniacs in the first half of the eighteenth century, settled, for a while, more determinedly, in the curious book-reservoir of a Mr. WYNNE--and hence, breaking up, and taking a different direction towards the collections of Farmer, Steevens, and others, they have almost lost their identity in the innumerable rivulets which now inundate the book-world. [Footnote 366: "In this last part of his task, the editor (Walter Scott) has been greatly assisted by free access to a valuable collection of fugitive pieces of the reigns of Charles II., James II., William III., and Queen Anne. This curious collection was made by NARCISSUS LUTTRELL, Esq., under whose name the Editor usually quotes it. The industrious collector seems to have bought every poetical tract, of whatever merit, which was hawked through the streets in his time, marking carefully the price and date of the purchase. His collection contains the earliest editions of many of our most excellent poems, bound up, according to the order of time, with the lowest trash of Grub-street. It was dispersed on Mr. Luttrell's death," &c. Preface to _The Works of John Dryden_, 1808: vol. i., p. iv. Mr. James Bindley and Mr. Richard Heber are then mentioned, by the editor, as having obtained a great share of the Luttrell collection, and liberally furnished him with the loan of the same, in order to the more perfect editing of Dryden's Works. But it is to the persevering book-spirit of Mr. EDWARD WYNNE, as Lysander above intimates, that these notorious modern bibliomaniacs are indebted for the preservation of most of the choicest relics of the _Bibliotheca Luttrelliana_. Mr. Wynne lived at Little Chelsea; and built his library in a room which had the reputation of having been LOCKE'S _study_. Here he used to sit, surrounded by innumerable books--a "great part being formed by an eminent and curious collector in the last century"--viz. the aforesaid Narcissus Luttrell. (See the title to the Catalogue of his Library.) His books were sold by auction in 1786; and, that the reader may have some faint idea of the treasures contained in the _Bibliotheca Wynniana_, he is presented with the following extracts: LOT 2 A parcel of pamphlets on poetry, 8vo. £2 0_s._ 0_d._ 3 Do. Tragedies and Comedies, 4to. and 8vo. 3 13 6 4 Do. Historical and Miscellaneous, 4to. and 8vo. 1 1 0 5 Poetical, Historical, and Miscellaneous, folio 1 4 0 11 Do. giving an account of horrid Murders, Storms, Prodigies, Tempests, Witchcraft, Ghosts, Earthquakes, &c., _with frontispieces_ and _cuts_, 4to. and 8vo. 1606 1 14 0 12 Do. Historical and Political, English and Foreign, from 1580 to 1707 2 0 0 13 Do. consisting of Petitions, Remonstrances, Declarations, and other political matters, from 1638 to 1660, during the great Rebellion, and the whole of the Protectorate: _a very large parcel, many of them with cuts_. Purchased by the present Marquis of Bute 7 7 0 14 Do. of single sheets, giving an account of the various sieges in Ireland in 1695-6; and consisting likewise of Elegies, Old Ballads, accounts of Murders, Storms, Political Squibs, &c. &c., _many of them with curious plates_, from 1695 to 1706. Purchased by the same 6 16 6 Lots 23-4 comprised a great number of "_Old Poetry and Romances_," which were purchased by Mr. Baynes for 7_l._ 9_s._ Lot 376 comprehended a "_Collection of Old Plays--Gascoigne, White, Windet, Decker, &c._," 21 vols.: which were sold for 38_l._ 17_s._ Never, to be sure, was a precious collection of English History and Poetry so wretchedly detailed to the public, in an auction catalogue! It should be noticed that a great number of poetical tracts was disposed of, previous to the sale, to Dr. FARMER, who gave not more than forty guineas for them. The Doctor was also a determined purchaser at the sale, and I think the ingenious Mr. Waldron aided the illustrious commentator of Shakspeare with many a choice volume. It may be worth adding that Wynne was the author of an elegant work, written in the form of dialogues, entitled _Eunomus_, or _Discourses upon the Laws of England_, 4 vols., 8vo. It happened to be published at the time when Sir William Blackstone's _Commentaries on the Laws of England_ made their appearance; and, in consequence, has seen only three editions: the latter being published in 1809, 2 vols., 8vo.] Why have I delayed, to the present moment, the mention of that illustrious bibliomaniac, EARL PEMBROKE? a patron of poor scholars, and a connoisseur, as well as collector, of every thing the most precious and rare in the book-way. Yet was his love of _Virtû_ not confined to objects in the shape of volumes, whether printed or in MS.: his knowledge of statues and coins was profound;[367] and his collection of these, such as to have secured for him the admiration of posterity. [Footnote 367: [Illustration] The reader will find an animated eulogy on this great nobleman in Walpole's _Anecdotes of Painters_, vol. iv., 227; part of which was transcribed by Joseph Warton for his variorum edition of Pope's works, and thence copied into the recent edition of the same by the Rev. W.L. Bowles. But PEMBROKE deserved a more particular notice. Exclusively of his fine statues and architectural decorations, the Earl contrived to procure a great number of curious and rare books; and the testimonies of Maittaire (who speaks indeed of him with a sort of rapture!) and Palmer show that the productions of Jenson and Caxton were no strangers to his library. _Annales Typographici_, vol. i., 13. edit. 1719. _History of Printing_, p. 5. "There is nothing that so surely proves the pre-eminence of virtue more than the universal admiration of mankind, and the respect paid it by persons in opposite interests; and, more than this, it is a sparkling gem which even time does not destroy: it is hung up in the Temple of Fame, and respected for ever." _Continuation of Granger_, vol. i., 37, &c. "He raised (continues Mr. Noble) a collection of antiques that were unrivalled by any subject. His learning made him a fit companion for the literati. Wilton will ever be a monument of his extensive knowledge; and the princely presents it contains, of the high estimation in which he was held by foreign potentates, as well as by the many monarchs he saw and served at home. He lived rather as a primitive christian; in his behaviour, meek; in his dress, plain: rather retired, conversing but little." Burnet, in the _History of his own Times_, has spoken of the Earl with spirit and propriety. Thus far the first edition of the Bibliomania. From an original MS. letter of Anstis to Ames (in the possession of Mr. John Nichols) I insert the following memoranda, concerning the book celebrity of Lord Pembroke. "I had the book of Juliana Barnes (says Anstis) printed at St. Albans, 1486, about hunting, which was afterwards reprinted by W. de Worde at Westminster, 1496--but the EARL OF PEMBROKE would not rest till he got it from me." From a letter to Lewis (the biographer of Caxton) by the same person, dated Oct. 11, 1737, Anstis says that "the Earl of Pembroke would not suffer him to rest till he had presented it to him." He says also that "he had a later edition of the same, printed in 1496, _on parchment_, by W. de Worde, which he had given away: but he could send to the person who had it." From another letter, dated May 8, 1740, this "person" turns out to be the famous JOHN MURRAY; to whom we are shortly to be introduced. The copy, however, is said to be "imperfect; but the St. Albans book, a fair folio." In this letter, Lord Pembroke's library is said to hold "the greatest collection of the first books printed in England." Perhaps the reader will not be displeased to be informed that in the _Antiquities of Glastonbury_, published by Hearne, 1722, p. LVIII, there is a medal, with the reverse, of one of the Earl's ancestors in Queen Elizabeth's time, which had escaped Evelyn. It was lent to Hearne by Sir Philip Sydenham, who was at the expense of having the plate engraved.] While this nobleman was the general theme of literary praise there lived a _Bibliomaniacal Triumvirate_ of the names of BAGFORD, MURRAY, and HEARNE: a triumvirate, perhaps not equalled, in the mere love of book-collecting, by that which we mentioned a short time ago. At the head, and the survivor of these three,[368] was Thomas Hearne; who, if I well remember, has been thus described by Pope, in his Dunciad, under the character of Wormius: But who is he, in closet close ypent, Of sober face, with learned dust besprent? Right well mine eyes arede the myster wight, On parchment scraps y-fed, and WORMIUS hight. [Footnote 368: The former bibliomaniacal triumvirate is noticed at p. 217, ante. We will now discuss the merits of the above, _seriatim_. And first of JOHN BAGFORD, "by profession a bookseller; who frequently travelled into Holland and other parts, in search of scarce books and valuable prints, and brought a vast number into this kingdom, the greater part of which were purchased by the Earl of Oxford. He had been in his younger days a shoemaker; and for the many curiosities wherewith he enriched the famous library of Dr. John More, Bishop of Ely, his Lordship got him admitted into the Charter House. He died in 1716, aged 65; after his death, Lord Oxford purchased all his collections and papers for his library: these are now in the Harleian collection in the British Museum. In 1707 were published, in the Philosophical transactions, his Proposals for a General History of Printing."--Bowyer and Nichol's _Origin of Printing_, pp. 164, 189, note. It has been my fortune (whether good or bad remains to be proved) not only to transcribe, and cause to be reprinted, the slender Memorial of Printing in the Philosophical Transactions, drawn up by Wanley for Bagford, but to wade through _forty-two_ folio volumes, in which Bagford's materials for a History of Printing are incorporated, in the British Museum: and from these, I think I have furnished myself with a pretty correct notion of the collector of them. Bagford was the most hungry and rapacious of all book and print collectors; and, in his ravages, he spared neither the most delicate nor costly specimens. He seems always to have expressed his astonishment at the most common productions; and his paper in the Philosophical Transactions betrays such simplicity and ignorance that one is astonished how my Lord Oxford, and the learned Bishop of Ely, could have employed so credulous a bibliographical forager. A modern collector and lover of _perfect_ copies, will witness, with shuddering, among Bagford's immense collection of title-pages in the Museum, the frontispieces of the Complutensian Polyglot, and Chauncy's History of Hertfordshire, torn out to illustrate a History of Printing. His enthusiasm, however, carried him through a great deal of laborious toil; and he supplied in some measure, by this qualification, the want of other attainments. His whole mind was devoted to book-hunting; and his integrity and diligence probably made his employers overlook his many failings. His handwriting is scarcely legible, and his orthography is still more wretched; but if he was ignorant, he was humble, zealous, and grateful; and he has certainly done something towards the accomplishment of that desirable object, an accurate GENERAL HISTORY OF PRINTING. The preceding was inserted in the _first edition_ of this work. It is incumbent on me to say something more, and less declamatory, of so extraordinary a character; and as my sources of information are such as do not fall into the hands of the majority of readers, I trust the prolixity of what follows, appertaining to the aforesaid renowned bibliomaniac, will be pardoned--at least by the lover of curious biographical memoranda. My old friend, Tom Hearne, is my chief authority. In the preface to that very scarce, but rather curious than valuable, work, entitled _Guil. Roper Vita D. Thomæ Mori_, 1716, 8vo., we have the following brief notice of Bagford: §. ix. "Epistolas et Orationes excipit Anonymi Scriptoris chronicon; quod idcirco Godstovianum appellare visum est, quia in illud forte fortuna inciderim, quum, anno MDCCXV. una cum JOANNÆ BAGFORDIO, amico egregio ad rudera Prioratûs de Godstowe juxta Oxoniam animi recreandi gratia, perambularem. De illo vero me prius certiorem fecerat ipse Bagfordius, qui magno cum nostro moerore paullo post Londini obiit, die nimirum quinto Maij anno MDCCXVI. quum jam annum ætatis sexagessimum quintum inplerisset, ut è litteris intelligo amici ingenio et humanitate ornati Jacobei Sothebeii, junioris, qui, si quis alius, è familiaribus erat Bagfordii. Virum enimvero ideo mihi quam maxime hâc occasione lugendum est, quod amicum probitate et modestia præditum amiserim, virumque cum primis diligentem et peritum intercidisse tam certum sit quam quod certissimum. Quamvis enim artes liberales nunquam didicisset, vi tamen ingenii ductus, eruditus plane evasit; et, ut quod verum est dicam, incredibile est quam feliciter res abstrusas in historiis veteribus explicaverit, nodosque paullo difficiliores ad artis typographicæ incunabula spectantes solverit et expedierit. Expertus novi quod scribo. Quotiescunque enim ipsum consului (et quidem id sæpissime faciendum erat) perpetuo mihi aliter atque exspectaveram satisfecit, observationis itidem nonnunquam tales addens, quales antea neque mihi neque viris longe doctioribus in mentem venerant. Quidni itaque virum magnum fuisse pronunciarem, præcipue quum nostra sententia illi soli magni sint censendi, qui recte agant, et sint vere boni et virtute præditi?"--_Præf._ pp. xxi., ii. In Hearne's perface [Transcriber's Note: preface] to _Walter Hemingford's_ history, Bagford is again briefly introduced: "At vero in hoc genere fragmenta colligendi omnes quidem alios (quantum ego existimare possum) facile superavit JOANNES BAGFORDIUS, de quo apud Hemingum, &c. Incredibile est, quanta usus sit diligentia in laciniis veteribus coacervandis. Imo in hoc labore quidem tantum versari exoptabat quantum potuit, tantum autem re vera versabatur, quantum ingenio (nam divino sane fruebatur) quantum mediocri doctrina (nam neque ingenue, neque liberaliter, unquam fuit educatus) quantum usu valuit," p. ciii. The reader here finds a reference to what is said of Bagford, in the _Hemingi Wigornensis Chartularium_; which, though copious, is really curious and entertaining, and is forthwith submitted to his consideration. "It was therefore very laudable in my friend, Mr. J. BAGFORD (who I think was born in Fetter-lane, London) to employ so much of his time as he did in collecting remains of antiquity. Indeed he was a man of a very surprising genius, and had his education (for he was first a shoe-maker, and afterwards for some time a book-seller) been equal to his natural genius, he would have proved a much greater man than he was. And yet, without this education, he was certainly the greatest man in the world in his way. I do not hear of any monument erected to his memory, but 'twas not without reason that a worthy gentleman, now living in London, designed the following epitaph for him: Hic. Sitvs. JOANNES. BAGFORDIVS. Antiquarivs. Penitvs. Britannvs. Cujvs. Nuda. Solertia. Aliorvm. Vicit. Operosam. Diligentiam. Obiit. Maii. v. A.D. M.DCC.XVI. Ætatis [LXV.] Viri. Simplicis. Et. Sine. Fvco. Memoria. Ne. Periret. Hunc. Lapidem. Posvit.... "'Tis very remarkable that, in collecting, his care did not extend itself to books and to fragments of books only; but even to the very _Covers_, and to _Bosses_ and _Clasps_; and all this that he might, with greater ease, compile the History of Printing, which he had undertaken, but did not finish. In this noble work he intended a Discourse about _Binding Books_ (in which he might have improved what I have said elsewhere about the ancient Æstels) and another about the _Art of making Paper_, in both which his observations were very accurate. Nay, his skill _in paper_ was so exquisite that, at first view, he could tell the place where, and the time when, any paper was made, though at never so many years' distance. I well remember that, when I was reading over a famous book of collections (written by John Lawerne, Monk of Worcester, and now preserved) in the Bodleian Library, Mr. Bagford came to me (as he would often come thither on purpose to converse with me about curiosities) and that he had no sooner seen the book, but he presently described the time when, and the place where, the paper of which it consists, was made. He was indefatigable in his searches, and was so ambitious of seeing what he had heard of, relating to his noble design, that he had made several journies into Holland to see the famous books there. Nor was he less thirsty after other antiquities, but, like old John Stow, was for seeing himself, if possible (although he travelled on foot), what had been related to him. Insomuch that I cannot doubt, but were he now living, he would have expressed a very longing desire of going to Worcester, were it for no other reason but to be better satisfied about the famous monumental stones mentioned by Heming (_Chart, Wigorn._, p. 342), as he often declared a most earnest desire of walking with me (though I was diverted from going) to Guy's Cliff by Warwick, when I was printing that most rare book called, _Joannis Rossi Antiquarii Warwicensis Historia Regum Angliæ_. And I am apt to think that he would have shewed as hearty an inclination of going to Stening in Sussex, that being the place (according to Asser's Life of Ælfred the Great) where K. Ethelwulph (father of K. Alfred) was buried, though others say it was at Winchester," &c. "Mr. BAGFORD was as communicative as he was knowing: so that some of the chief curiosities in some of our best libraries are owing to him; for which reason it was that the late _Bishop of Ely_, Dr. MORE (who received so much from him), as an instance of gratitude, procured him a place in the Charter-House. I wish all places were as well bestowed. For as Mr. Bagford was, without all dispute, a very worthy man, so, being a despiser of money, he had not provided for the necessities of old age. He never looked upon those as true philosophers that aimed at heaping up riches, and, in that point, could never commend that otherwise great man, Seneca, who had about two hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling, at use in Britain; the loan whereof had been thrust upon the Britains, whether they would or no. He would rather extol such men as a certain rector near Oxford, whose will is thus put down in writing, by Richard Kedermister, the last abbot but one of Winchcomb (_Leland Collect._ vol. vi., 168), in the margin of a book (I lately purchased) called _Hieronymi Cardinalis Vitas Patrum_, Lugd. MCCCCCII. 4to. Nihil habeo, nihil debeo, benedicamus Domino. Testamentum cujusdam rectoris, juxta Oxoniam decedentis circiter annum salutis, 1520." "Nor was Mr. Bagford versed only in our own old writers, but in those likewise of other countries, particularly the Roman. His skill in that part of the Roman history that immediately relates to Britain is sufficiently evident from his curious letter, printed at the beginning of Leland's Collectanea. That he might be the better acquainted with the Roman stations, and the several motions of the soldiers from one place to another, he used to pick up coins, and would, upon occasion, discourse handsomely, and very pertinently, about them; yet he would keep none, but would give them to his friends, telling them (for he was exemplarily modest and humble) that he had neither learning nor sagacity enough to explain and illustrate them, and that therefore it was more proper they should be in the possession of some able persons. He would have done any thing to retrieve a Roman author, and would have given any price for so much as a single fragment (not yet discovered) of the learned commentaries, written by Agrippina, mother to Nero, touching the fortunes of her house, which are (as I much fear) now utterly lost, excepting the fragment or two cited out of them by Pliny the elder and Cornelius Tacitus; as he would also have stuck at no price for a grammar _printed at Tavistock_, commonly called =The long Grammar=. When he went abroad he was never idle, but if he could not meet with things of a better character, he would divert himself with looking over _Ballads_, and he was always mightily pleased if he met with any that were old. Anthony à Wood made good collections, with respect to ballads, but he was far outdone by Mr. Bagford. Our modern ballads are, for the most part, romantic; but the old ones contain matters of fact, and were generally written by good scholars. In these old ones were couched the transactions of our great heroes: they were a sort of Chronicles. So that the wise founder of New College permitted them to be sung, by the fellows of that college, upon extraordinary days. In those times, the poets thought they had done their duty when they had observed truth, and put the accounts they undertook to write, into rhythm, without extravagantly indulging their fancies. Nobody knew this better than Mr. Bagford; for which reason he always seemed almost ravished when he happened to light upon old rhythms, though they might not, perhaps, be so properly ranged under the title of ballads," &c., pp. 656-663. Being unable to furnish a portrait of Bagford (although I took some little trouble to procure one) I hope the reader--if his patience be not quite exhausted--will endeavour to console himself, in lieu thereof, with a specimen of Bagford's epistolary composition; which I have faithfully copied from the original among the _Sloanian MSS._, no. 4036, in the British Museum. It is written to Sir Hans Sloane. _From my Lodgings_, July 24, 1704. WORTHY SIR, Since you honoured me with your good company for seeing printing and card-making, I thought it my duty to explain myself to you per letter on this subject. Till you had seen the whole process of card-making, I thought I could not so well represent it unto you by writing--for this I take to be the first manner of printing. In this short discouse [Transcriber's Note: discourse] I have explained myself when I design to treat of it in the famous subject of the Art of Printing. It hath been the labour of several years past, and if now I shall have assistance to midwife it into the world, I shall be well satisfied for the sake of the curious. For these 10 years past I have spared no cost in collecting books on this subject, and likewise drafts of the effigies of our famous printers, with other designs that will be needful on this subject. If this short account of the design of the whole shall give you any satisfaction, I shall esteem my pains well bestowed. Hitherto, I have met with no encouragement but from three reverend gentlemen of Bennet College in Cambridge, who generously, of their own accord, gave me 10 pound each, which is all I ever received of any person whatsoever. It may indeed be imputed to my own neglect, in not acquainting the learned with my design, but modesty still keeps me silent. I hope your goodness will pardon my impertinence. I shall be ready at all times to give you any satisfaction you desire on this subject, who am, Honoured Sir, Your most humble Servant to command, JO. BAGFORD. _For the Worthy Sir Hans Slone_ [Transcriber's Note: Sloane]. And now it only remains to close the whole of this BAGFORDIANA by the following unique communication. One of Bagford's friends sent him this letter with the subjoined device:--"_For my Lovinge friend Mr. Jno. Bagford._--You having shewed me so many rebuses, as I was returning home, I thought of one for you--a bagge, and below that, a fourd or passable water." (_Harl. MS._, no. 5910.) [Illustration] I wish it were in my power to collect information, equally acceptable with the foregoing, respecting the above-named JOHN MURRAY; but Hearne, who was his intimate friend, has been very sparing in his anecdotes of him, having left us but a few desultory notices, written chiefly in the Latin language. The earliest mention of him that I find is the following: "Verum illud præcipue mentionem meretur, quod mutuo accepi, schedula una et altera jam excusa, á JOANNE MURARIO Londinensi, rei antiquariæ perscrutatore diligenti, cui eo nomine gratias ago." "Denique subdidi descriptionem fenestrarum depictarum ecclesiæ parochialis de Fairford in agro Glocestriensi, è schedula quam mutuo sumpsi ab amico supra laudato Johanne Murrario, qui per literas etiam certiorem me fecit è codice quodam vetusto MS. fuisse extractum. Neque dubito quin hic idem fuerit Codex quem olim in ecclesia de Fairford adservatum surripuisse nebulonem quempiam mihi significavit ecclesiæ ædituus, vir simplex, necnon ætate et scientia venerandus." Præf: p. XXII. _Guil. Roperi Vita Thomæ Mori_, 1716, 8vo., edit. Hearne. There is another slight mention of Murray, by Hearne, in the latter's edition of _Thom. Caii. Vindic. Antiq. Acad. Oxon_, vol. ii., 803-4--where he discourses largely upon the former's copy of _Rastel's Pastyme of People_: a book which will be noticed by me very fully on a future occasion. At present, it may suffice to observe that a perfect copy of it is probably the rarest English book in existence. There is a curious copper plate print of Murray, by Vertue, in which our bibliomaniac's right arm is resting upon some books entitled "_Hearne's Works, Sessions Papers, Tryals of Witches_." Beneath is this inscription: _Hoh Maister John Murray of Sacomb, The Works of old Time to collect was his pride, Till Oblivion dreaded his Care: Regardless of Friends, intestate he dy'd, So the Rooks and the Crows were his Heir._ G.N. Of the above-mentioned THOMAS BRITTON, I am enabled to present a very curious and interesting account, from a work published by Hearne, of no very ordinary occurrence, and in the very words of Hearne himself. It is quite an unique picture. "Before I dismiss this subject, I must beg leave to mention, and to give a short account of, one that was intimately acquainted with Mr. Bagford, and was also a great man, though of but ordinary education. The person I mean is Mr. THOS. BRITTON, the famous _Musical Small Coal Man_, who was born at or near Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire. Thence he went to London, where he bound himself apprentice to a small coal man in St. John Baptist's Street. After he had served his full time of seven years, his master gave him a sum of money not to set up. Upon this, Tom went into Northamptonshire again, and after he had spent his money, he returned again to London, set up the _small coal trade_ (notwithstanding his master was still living) and withall, he took a stable, and turned it into a house, which stood the next door to the little gate of St. John's of Jerusalem, next Clerkenwell Green. Some time after he had settled here, he became acquainted with Dr. Garenciers, his near neighbour, by which means he became an excellent chymist, and perhaps, he performed such things in that profession, as had never been done before, with little cost and charge, by the help of a moving elaboratory, that was contrived and built by himself, which was much admired by all of that faculty that happened to see it; insomuch that a certain gentleman in Wales was so much taken with it that he was at the expense of carrying him down into that country, on purpose to build him such another, which Tom performed to the gentleman's very great satisfaction, and for the same he received of him a very handsome and generous gratuity. Besides his great skill in chymistry, he was as famous for his knowledge in the _Theory of Music_; in the practical part of which Faculty he was likewise very considerable. He was so much addicted to it that he pricked with his own hand (very neatly and accurately), and left behind him, a valuable collection of music, mostly pricked by himself, which was sold upon his death for near a hundred pounds. Not to mention the excellent collection of PRINTED BOOKS, that he also left behind him, both of chemistry and music. Besides these books that he left behind him, he had, some years before his death, sold by auction a _noble collection of books_, most of them in the _Rosacrucian Faculty_ (of which he was a great admirer): whereof there is a printed catalogue extant (as there is of those that were sold after his death), which I have often looked over with no small surprize and wonder, and particularly for the great number of MSS. in the before mentioned faculties that are specified in it. He had, moreover, a considerable collection of musical instruments, which were sold for fourscore pounds upon his death, which happened in September 1714, being upwards of threescore years of age; and (he) lyes buried in the church-yard of Clerkenwell, without monument or inscription: being attended to his grave, in a very solemn and decent manner, by a great concourse of people, especially of such as frequented the Musical club, that was kept up for many years at his own charges (he being a man of a very generous and liberal spirit) at his own little cell. He appears by the print of him (done since his death) to have been a man of an ingenuous countenance and of a sprightly temper. It also represents him as a comely person, as indeed he was; and withal, there is a modesty expressed in it every way agreeable to him. Under it are these verses, which may serve instead of an epitaph: Tho' mean thy rank, yet in thy humble cell Did gentle peace and arts unpurchas'd dwell; Well pleas'd Apollo thither led his train, And music warbled in her sweetest strain. Cyllenius, so, as fables tell, and Jove, Came willing guests to poor PHILEMON'S grove. Let useless pomp behold, and blush to find So low a station, such a liberal mind. In short, he was an extraordinary and very valuable man, much admired by the gentry; even those of the best quality, and by all others of the more inferior rank, that had any manner of regard for probity, sagacity, diligence, and humility. I say humility, because, though he was so much famed for his knowledge, and might, therefore, have lived very reputably without his trade, yet he continued it to his death, not thinking it to be at all beneath him. Mr. BAGFORD and he used frequently to converse together, and when they met _they seldom parted very soon_. Their conversation was very often about OLD MSS. and the havock made of them. They both agreed to retrieve what fragments of antiquity they could, and, upon that occasion, they would frequently divert themselves in talking of OLD CHRONICLES, which both loved to read, though, among our more late Chronicles printed in English, Isaackson's was what they chiefly preferred for a general knowledge of things; a book which was much esteemed also by those two eminent Chronologers, Bishop Lloyd and Mr. Dodwell. By the way, I cannot but observe that Isaackson's Chronicle is really, for the most part, Bishop Andrews's; Isaackson being amanuensis to the bishop." _Hemingi Chartular. Eccles. Wigornien._, vol. ii., 666-9, Edit. Hearne. See also, _Robert of Glocester's Chronicle_, vol. i., p. LXXII. We will close our account of this perfectly _unique_ bibliomaniac by subjoining the title of the _Catalogue of his Books_; for which I am indebted to the ever-active and friendly assistance of Mr. Heber. The volume is so rare that the late Mr. Reed told Mr. H. he had never seen another copy: but another has recently been sold, and is now in the curious collection of Mr. R. Baker. "The Library of Mr. THOMAS BRITTON, Small-coal man, Deceas'd: who, at his own charge, kept up a Concort of Musick above 40 years, in his little Cottage. Being a curious Collection of every Ancient and Uncommon book in Divinity, History, Physick, Chemistry, Magick, &c. Also a Collection of MSS. chiefly on vellum. _Which will be sold by auction at Paul's Coffee House, &c., the 24th day of January, 1714-15, at Five in the Evening._ By Thomas Ballard, Esq., 8vo., p. 30. Containing 102 articles in folio--274 in 4to.--664 in octavo--50 pamphlets--and 23 MSS." A few of the works, in octavo, were sufficiently amatory. The third and last character above mentioned, as making this illustrious bibliomaniacal triumvirate complete, is THOMAS HEARNE. That Pope, in the verses which Lysander has quoted, meant this distinguished antiquary seems hardly to be questioned; and one wonders at the Jesuitical note of Warburton, in striving to blow the fumes of the poet's satire into a different direction. They must settle upon poor Hearne's head: for WANLEY'S antiquarian talents were equally beyond the touch of satire and the criticism of the satirist. Warton has, accordingly, admitted that HEARNE was represented under the character of WORMIUS; and he defends the character of Hearne very justly against the censures of Pope. His eulogy will be presently submitted to the reader. Gibbon, in his _Posthumous Works_, vol. ii., 711, has aimed a deadly blow at the literary reputation of Hearne; and an admirer of this critic and historian, as well as an excellent judge of antiquarian pursuits, has followed up Gibbon's mode of attack in a yet more merciless manner. He calls him "Thomas Hearne, of black-letter memory, _carbone notandus_"--"a weaker man (says he) never existed, as his prefaces, so called, lamentably show." He continues in this hard-hearted strain: but I have too much humanity to make further extracts. He admits, however, the utility of most of Hearne's publications--"of which he was forced to publish a few copies, at an extravagant subscription." The remarks of this (anonymous) writer, upon the neglect of the cultivation of ENGLISH HISTORY, and upon the want of valuable editions of OUR OLD HISTORIANS, are but too just, and cannot be too attentively perused. See _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. 58, pt. 1, 196-8 (A.D. 1788). Thus far in deterioration of poor Hearne's literary fame. Let us now listen to writers of a more courteous strain of observation. Prefixed to Tanner's _Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica_, there is a preface, of which Dr. Wilkins is the reputed author. The whole of Hearne's publications are herein somewhat minutely criticised, and their merits and demerits slightly discussed. It is difficult to collect the critic's summary opinion upon Hearne's editorial labours; but he concludes thus: "Quia autem leporis est mortuis insultare leonibus, cineres celeberrimi hujus et olim mihi amicissimi viri turbare, neutiquam in animum inducere possum," p. xlvii. Mr. Gough, in his _British Topography_, vol. ii., p. 579, calls Hearne an "acute observer;" but, unluckily, the subject to which the reader's attention is here directed discovers our antiquary to have been in error. J. Warton, in the passage before alluded to, observes: "In consideration of the many very accurate and very elegant editions which Hearne published of our valuable old chronicles, which shed such a light on English history, he (Hearne) ought not to have been so severely lashed as in these bitter lines," (quoted in the text, p. 327, ante) _Pope's Works_, edit. Bowles; vol. v., 232. Let the reader consult also Dr. Pegge's _Anonymiana_, in the passages referred to, in the truly valuable index attached to it, concerning Hearne. Thus much, I submit, may be fairly said of our antiquary's labours. That the greater part of them are truly useful, and absolutely necessary for a philological library, must on all sides be admitted. I will mention only the _Chronicles of Langtoft and Robert of Gloucester_; _Adam de Domerham, de rebus Glastoniensibus_; _Gulielmus Neubrigensis_; _Forduni Scotichronicon_; and all his volumes appertaining to _Regal Biography_:--these are, surely, publications of no mean importance. Hearne's prefaces and appendices are gossiping enough; sometimes, however, they repay the labour of perusal by curious and unlooked-for intelligence. Yet it must be allowed that no literary cook ever enriched his dishes with such little piquant sauce, as did Hearne: I speak only of their _intrinsic_ value, for they had a very respectable exterior--what Winstanley says of Ogilvey's publications being, applicable enough to Hearne's;--they were printed on "special good paper, and in a very good letter." We will now say a few words relative to Hearne's habits of study and living--taken from his own testimony. In the preface prefixed to _Roper's Life of Sir Thomas More_, p. xix. (edit. 1716), he describes himself "as leading the life of an ascetic." In the preface to the _Annals of Dunstable Priory_, his bibliographical diligence is evinced by his saying he had "turned over every volume in the Bodleian Library." In one of his prefaces (to which I am not able just now to refer) he declares that he was born--like our British tars--"for action:" and indeed his activity was sufficiently demonstrated; for sometimes he would set about transcribing for the press papers which had just been put into his hands. Thus, in the _Antiquities of Glastonbury_, p. 326, he writes, "the two following old evidences were lent me _to-day_ by my friend the Hon. Benedict Leonard Calvert, Esq." His excessive regard to fidelity of transcription is, among many other evidences that may be brought forward, attested in the following passage: "Have taken particular care (saith Mr. Harcourt, in his letter to me from Aukenvyke, Sep. 25, 1734) in the copying; well knowing your exactness." _Benedict Abbas_, vol ii., 870. But this servility of transcription was frequently the cause of multiplying, by propagating, errors. If Hearne had seen the word "faith" thus disjointed--"fay the"--he would have adhered to this error, for "faythe." As indeed he has committed a similar one, in the _Battle of Agincourt_, in the appendix to Thomas de Elmham: for he writes "breth reneverichone"--instead of "brethren everichone"--as Mr. Evans has properly printed it, in his recent edition of his father's _Collection of Old Ballads_, vol. ii., 334. But this may be thought trifling. It is certainly not here meant to justify capriciousness of copying; but surely an obvious corruption of reading may be restored to its genuine state: unless, indeed, we are resolved to consider antiquity and perfection as synonymous terms. But there are some traits in Hearne's character which must make us forgive and forget this blind adherence to the errors of antiquity. He was so warm a lover of every thing in the shape of a BOOK that, in the preface to _Alured of Beverley_, pp. v. vi., he says that he jumped almost out of his skin for joy, on reading a certain MS. which Thomas Rawlinson sent to him ("vix credi potest qua voluptate, qua animi alacritate, perlegerim," &c.). Similar feelings possessed him on a like occasion: "When the pious author (of the _Antiquities of Glastonbury_) first put it (the MS.) into my hands, I read it over with as much delight as I have done anything whatsoever upon the subject of antiquity, and I was earnest with him to print it," p. lxxviii. Hearne's horror of book-devastations is expressed upon a variety of occasions: and what will reconcile him to a great portion of _modern_ readers--and especially of those who condescend to read this account of him--his attachment to the black-letter was marvelously enthusiastic! Witness his pathetic appeal to the English nation, in the 26th section of his preface to _Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle_, where he almost predicts the extinction of "right good" literature, on the disappearance of the _black-letter_! And here let us draw towards the close of these HEARNEANA, by contemplating a wood-cut portrait of this illustrious Bibliomaniac; concerning whose life and works the reader should peruse the well-known volumes published at Oxford in 1772, 8vo.: containing the biographical memoirs of Leland, Bale, Hearne, and Wood. [Illustration: OBIIT MDCCXXXV: ÆTATIS SUÆ LVII. _Deut. xxxii: 7. Remember the days of old._] The library of Hearne was sold in February, 1736, by Osborne the book-seller; "the lowest price being marked in each book." The title-page informs us of what all bibliomaniacs will be disposed to admit the truth, that the collection contained "a very great variety of uncommon books, and scarce ever to be met withal," &c. There is, at bottom, a small wretched portrait of Hearne, with this well known couplet subjoined: Pox on't quoth _Time_ to _Thomas Hearne_, Whatever I _forget_ you learn. Let the modern collector of Chronicles turn his eye towards the 15th page of this catalogue--nos. 384, 390--and see what "compleat and very fair" copies of these treasures were incorporated in Hearne's extensive library!] A little volume of book chit-chat might be written upon the marvellous discovesies [Transcriber's Note: discoveries] and voluminous compilations of Bagford and Hearne: and to these, we may add another _unique_ bibliomaniac, who will go down to posterity under the distinguished, and truly enviable, title of "_The Musical Small-Coal Man_;" I mean, master THOMAS BRITTON. Yes, Lisardo; while we give to the foregoing characters their full share of merit and praise; we admit that Bagford's personal activity and manual labour have hardly been equalled--while we allow John Murray to have looked with sharper eyes after black-letter volumes than almost any of his predecessors or successors--while we grant Thomas Hearne a considerable portion of scholarship, an inflexible integrity, as well as indefatigable industry, and that his works are generally interesting, both from the artless style in which they are composed, and the intrinstic utility of the greater part of them, yet let our admiration be [Transcriber's Note: superfluous 'be'] "be screwed to its sticking place," when we think upon the wonderous genius of the aforesaid Thomas Britton; who, in the midst of his coal cellars, could practise upon "fiddle and flute," or collate his curious volumes; and throwing away, with the agility of a harlequin, his sombre suit of business-cloths, could put on his velvet coat and bag-wig, and receive his concert visitors, at the stair-head, with the politeness of a Lord of the Bedchamber! LOREN. In truth, a marvellous hero was this _Small-Coal Man_! Have you many such characters to notice? LYSAND. Not many of exactly the same stamp. Indeed, I suspect that Hearne, from his love of magnifying the simple into the marvellous, has a little caricatured the picture. But Murray seems to have been a quiet unaffected character; passionately addicted to old books of whatever kind they chanced to be; and, in particular, most enthusiastically devoted to a certain old English Chronicle, entitled _Rastell's Pastime of (the) People_. PHIL. I observed a notification of the re-appearance of this Chronicle in some of the Magazines or Reviews: but I hope, for the benefit of general readers, the orthography will be modernized. LOREN. I hope, for the sake of consistency with former similar publications,[369] the ancient garb will not be thrown aside. It would be like--what Dr. Johnson accuses Pope of having committed--"clothing Homer with Ovidian graces." [Footnote 369: The ANCIENT CHONICLES of the history of our country are in a progressive state of being creditably reprinted, with a strict adherence to the old phraseology. Of these Chronicles, the following have already made their appearance: HOLINSHED, 1807, 4to., 6 vols.; HALL, 1809, 4to.; GRAFTON, 1809, 4to., 2 vols.; FABIAN, 1811, 4to. This latter is not a mere reprint of the first edition of Fabian, but has, at the bottom, the various readings of the subsequent impressions. The index is copious and valuable. Indeed, all these re-impressions have good indexes. The public will hear, with pleasure, that ARNOLD, HARDING, and LORD BERNERS' translation of FROISSARD, and RASTELL, are about to bring up the rear of these popular Chroniclers.] LYSAND. Much may be said on both sides of the question. But why are we about to make learned dissertations upon the old English Chronicles? LIS. Proceed, and leave the old chroniclers to settle the matter themselves. Who is the next bibliomaniac deserving of particular commendation? LYSAND. As we have sometimes classed our bibliomaniacs in tribes, let me now make you acquainted with another _Trio_, of like renown in the book-way: I mean Anstis, Lewis, and Ames. Of these in their turn. ANSTIS[370] stands deservedly the first in the list; for he was, in every respect, a man of thorough benevolent character, as well as a writer of taste and research. I do not know of any particulars connected with his library that merit a distinct recital; but he is introduced here from his connection with the two latter bibliographers. LEWIS[371] is known to us, both as a topographer and bibliographical antiquary. His _Life of Caxton_ has been reprinted with additions and corrections; and, in particular, his edition of _Wicliffe's New Testament_ has been recently put forth by the Rev. Mr. Baber, in a handsome quarto volume, with valuable emendations. Lewis was a sharp censurer of Hearne, and was somewhat jealous of the typographical reputation of Ames. But his integrity and moral character, as well as his love of rare and curious books, has secured for him a durable reputation. Of AMES, and here--though a little out of order--I may add HERBERT--the public has already heard probably "more than enough." They were both, undoubtedly, men of extraordinary mental vigour and bodily activity in the darling pursuit which they cultivated.[372] Indeed, Herbert deserves high commendation; for while he was rearing, with his own hands, a lofty pyramid of typographical fame, he seems to have been unconscious of his merits; and, possessing the most natural and diffident character imaginable, he was always conjuring up supposed cases of vanity and arrogance, which had no foundation whatever but in the reveries of a timid imagination. His _Typographical Antiquities_ are a mass of useful, but occasionally uninteresting, information. They are as a vast plain, wherein the traveller sees nothing, immediately, which is beautiful or inviting; few roses, or cowslips, or daisies; but let him persevere, and walk only a little way onward, and he will find, in many a shelter'd recess, "flowers of all hue," and herbs of all qualities: so that fragrance and salubrity are not wanting in this said plain, which has been thus depicted in a style so marvellously metaphorical! [Footnote 370: The reader will be pleased to consult the account of Earl Pembroke, p. 325, ante, where he will find a few traits of the bibliomaniacal character of ANSTIS. He is here informed, from the same authority, that when Anstis "acquainted BAGFORD that he would find in Rymer a commission granted to Caxton, appointing him ambassador to the Duchess of Burgundy, he (Bagford) was transported with joy." Of HEARNE he thus speaks: "I am ashamed that Mr. Hearne hath made so many mistakes about the translation of _Boetius, printed at Tavistock_; which book I had, and gave it to the Duke of Bedford." But in another letter (to Lewis) Anstis says, "I lent this book to one Mr. Ryder, who used me scurvily, by presenting it, without my knowledge, to the Duke of Bedford." There are some curious particulars in this letter about the abbey of Tavistock. Anstis's _Order of the Garter_ is a valuable book; and will one day, I prognosticate, retrieve the indifferent credit it now receives in the book-market. The author loved rare and curious volumes dearly; and was, moreover, both liberal and prompt in his communications. The reader will draw his own conclusions on Anstis's comparative merit with Lewis and Ames, when he reaches the end of the second note after the present one.] [Footnote 371: Concerning the Rev. JOHN LEWIS, I am enabled to lay before the reader some particulars now published for the first time, and of a nature by no means uninteresting to the lovers of literary anecdote. His printed works, and his bibliographical character, together with his conduct towards Ames, have been already sufficiently described to the public: _Typographical Antiquities_, vol. i., 30-3. And first, the aforesaid reader and lovers may peruse the following extract from an original letter by Lewis to Ames: "I have no other design, in being so free with you, than to serve you, by doing all I can to promote your credit and reputation. I take it, that good sense and judgment, attended with care and accuracy in making and sorting a collection, suits every one's palate: and that they must have none at all who are delighted with trifles and play things fit only for fools and children: such, for the most part, as THOMAS HEARNE dished out for his chaps, among whom I was so silly as to rank myself." Again, to the same person, he thus makes mention of LORD OXFORD and Hearne: "I can truly say I never took ill any thing which you have written to me: but heartily wish you well to succeed in the execution of your projects. I han't sense to see, by the death of Lord Oxford, how much more you are likely to make your account better. But time will shew. I don't understand what you mean by his having a love to surprize people with his vast communications. Dr. R(awlinson, qu.?) tells me he knew nobody who had so free a use of his Lordship's rarities as T. Hearne, a sure proof of the exactness and solidity of his Lordship's judgment. But Hearne answered, perhaps, his Lordship's design of making the world have a very great opinion of his collections, and setting an inestimable value on them. And this Hearne attempted; but his daubing is, I think, too coarse, and the smoke of his incense troublesome and suffocating." But it is to the loan of a copy of Lewis's folio edition of the _History of the Translations of the Bible_, belonging to my friend Mr. G.V. Neunburg, that I am indebted for the following further, and more interesting, particulars. This valuable copy, illustrated with some rare prints, and charged with numerous MS. memoranda, contains some original letters to Lewis by the famous Dr. White Kennet, Bishop of Peterborough: from which these extracts are taken. "Jan. 23, 1720-1. Dear Sir; I thank you for your kind acceptance of the advice to my clergy: well meant, I pray God well applied. I have wisht long to see your _Life of Wiclif_, and shall now impatiently expect it. I am not surprised that a man of dignity, near you, should be jealous of publishing an impartial account of that good old evangelical author, &c. I have a mighty veneration for Wicliff, and am the more angry with Mr. Russell for deceiving the world in his promise of the Bible, after proposals given and money taken. But he has in other respects behaved so very basely that, forgiving him, I have done with him for ever. I would not have you discouraged, by an ungrateful world, or by a sharp bookseller. Go on, and serve truth and peace what you can, and God prosper your labours." Signed "Wh. Peterbor." "Feb. 20, 1720-1. You perceive your own unhappiness in not being able to attend the press. I cannot but importune you to revise the whole, to throw the additions and corrections into their proper places, to desire all your friends and correspondents to suggest any amendments, or any new matter; in order to publish a new correct edition that will be a classic in our history, &c.--If the booksellers object against a second edition till the full disposal of the first, I hope we may buy them off with subscription for a new impression; wherein my name should stand for six copies, and better example I hope would be given by more able friends. I pray God bless your labours and reward them." Several letters follow, in which this amiable prelate and learned antiquary sends Lewis a good deal of valuable information for his proposed second edition of the Life of Wicliffe; but which was never put to press. One more extract only from the Bishop of Peterborough, and we bid farewell to the Rev. John Lewis: a very respectable bibliomaniac. "Rev. Sir; In respect to you and your good services to the church and our holy religion, I think fit to acquaint you that, in the _Weekly Journal_, published this day, Oct. 28 (1721), by _Mr. Mist_, there is a scandalous advertisement subscribed M. Earbury, beginning thus: 'Whereas a pretended _Vindication of John Wickliffe_ has been published under the name of one Lewis of Margate, by the incitement, as the preface asserts, of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and in the same I am injuriously reflected upon as a scurrilous writer, this is to inform the public that I shall reserve the author for a more serious whipping in my leisure hours, and in the meantime give him a short correction for his benefit, if he has grace and sense to take it'--and ending thus--'Why does this author persuade the world the late Archbishop of Canterbury could have any veneration for the memory of one who asserts God ought to obey the devil; or that he could be desirous to open the impure fountains from whence the filth of Bangorianism has been conveyed to us? M. EARBURY." "I confess (proceeds the bishop) I don't know that, in the worst of causes, there has appeared a more ignorant, insolent, and abandoned writer than this Matth. Earbury. Whether you are to answer, or not to answer, the F. according to his folly, I must leave to your discretion. Yet I cannot but wish you would revise the Life of Wickliffe; and, in the preface, justly complain of the spiteful injuries done to his memory, and, through his sides, to our Reformation. I have somewhat to say to you on that head, if you think to resume it. I am, in the mean time, your affectionate friend and brother, WH. PETESBOR."] [Footnote 372: It is unnecessary for me to add any thing here to the copious details respecting these eminent bibliomaniacs, AMES and HERBERT, which have already been presented to the public in the first volume of the new edition of the _Typographical Antiquities_ of our own country. See also p. 66, ante; and the note respecting the late GEORGE STEEVENS, post.] By mentioning Herbert in the present place, I have a little inverted the order of my narrative. A crowd of distinguished bibliomaniacs, in fancy's eye, is thronging around me, and demanding a satisfactory memorial of their deeds. LOREN. Be not dismayed, Lysander. If any one, in particular, looks "frowningly" upon you, leave him to me, and he shall have ample satisfaction. LYSAND. I wish, indeed, you would rid me of a few of these book-madmen. For, look yonder, what a commanding attitude THOMAS BAKER[373] assumes! [Footnote 373: THOMAS BAKER was a learned antiquary in most things respecting _Typography_ and _Bibliography_; and seems to have had considerable influence with that distinguished corps, composed of Hearne, Bagford, Middleton, Anstis, and Ames, &c. His life has been written by the Rev. Robert Masters, Camb., 1784, 8vo.; and from the "Catalogue of forty-two folio volumes of MS. collections by Mr. Baker"--given to the library of St. John's College, Cambridge--which the biographer has printed at the end of the volume--there is surely sufficient evidence to warrant us in concluding that the above-mentioned Thomas Baker was no ordinary bibliomaniac. To Hearne in particular (and indeed to almost every respectable author who applied to him) he was kind and communicative; hence he is frequently named by the former in terms of the most respectful admiration: thus--"Vir amicissimus, educatus optime, emendatus vitâ, doctrinâ clarus, moribus singularis et perjucundus, exemplum antiquitatis, cujus judicio plurimum esse tribuendum mecum fatebuntur litterati:" _Vita Mori_, p. XVIII. In his preface to the _Antiquities of Glastonbury_, p. CXXX., Hearne calls him "that great man;" and again, in his _Walter Hemingford_, vol. i., p. XVII.--"amicus eruditissimus, mihi summe colendus; is nempe, qui è scriniis suis MSS. tam multa meam in gratiam deprompsit." Indeed, Hearne had good occasion to speak well of the treasures of Baker's "_scrinia_;" as the Appendix to his _Thomas de Elmham_ alone testifies. Of Baker's abilities and private worth, we have the testimonies of Middleton (_Origin of Printing_, p. 5) and Warburton. The latter thus mentions him: "Good old Mr. Baker, of St John's College, has indeed, been very obliging. The people of St. John's almost adore the man." _Masters's Life of Baker_, p. 94. This authority also informs us that "Mr. Baker had, for many years before his death, been almost a recluse, and seldom went farther than the college walks, unless to a coffee-house in an evening, after chapel, where he commonly spent an hour with great chearfulness, conversing with a select number of his friends and acquaintance upon literary subjects," p. 108. Every thing the most amiable, and, I had almost said, enviable, is here said of the virtues of his head and heart; and that this venerable bibliomaniac should have reached his 80th year is at least a demonstration that tarrying amongst folios and octavos, from morn till night (which Baker used to do, in St. John's Library, for nearly 20 years together), does not unstring the nerves, or dry up the juices, of the human frame. Yet a little further extension of this note, gentle reader, and then we bid adieu to Thomas Baker, of ever respectable book-memory. Among the MSS., once the property of Herbert, which I purchased at the late sale of Mr. Gough's MSS., I obtained a volume full of extracts from original letters between Baker and Ames; containing also the _Will_ of the former, which is not inserted in Master's Life of him, nor in the _Biographia Britannica_. The original documents are in his Majesty's library, and were bought at the sale of Mr. Tutet's books, A.D. 1786; no. 375. From this will, as Herbert has copied it, the reader is presented with the following strong proofs of the bibliomaniacal "ruling passion, strong in death," of our illustrious antiquary. But let us not omit the manly tone of piety with which this Will commences. "In the name of God, Amen! I, THOMAS BAKER, ejected Fellow of St. John's college, Cambridge, do make my last will and testament, as follows: First, I commend my soul into the hands of Almighty God (my most gracious and good God), my faithful Creator and merciful Redeemer, and, in all my dangers and difficulties, a most constant protector. Blessed for ever be his holy name." "As to the temporal goods which it hath pleased the same good God to bestow upon me (such as all men ought to be content with) and are, I bless God, neither poverty nor riches--I dispose of them in the following manner." Here follow a few of his book bequests, which may be worth the attention of those whose pursuits lead them to a particular examination of these authors. "Whereas I have made a deed of gift or sale for one guinea, of 21 volumes in folio, of my own hand-writing, to the Right Honourable EDWARD EARL OF OXFORD, I confirm and ratify that gift by this my last will. And I beg his lordship's acceptance of 'em, being sensible that they are of little use or value, with two other volumes in fol., markt Vol. 19, 20, since convey'd to him in like manner. To my dear cosin, George Baker, of Crook, Esq., I leave the _Life of Cardinal Wolsey_, noted with my own hand, _Lord Clarendon's History_, with cuts and prints; and _Winwood's Memorials_, in three volumes, fol., with a five pound (Jacobus) piece of gold, only as a mark of respect and affection, since he does not want it. To my worthy kinsman and Friend Mr. George Smith, I leave _Godwin de Præsulibus Angliæ_, and _Warræus de Præsulibus Hibernia_, both noted with my own hand. To St. John's College Library I leave all such books, printed or MSS., as I have and are wanting there: excepting that I leave in trust to my worthy friend, Dr. Middleton, for the University Library, _Archbishop Wake's State of the Church_, noted and improved under his own hand; _Bp. Burnet's History of the Reformation_, in three volumes, noted in my hand; and _Bp. Kennett's Register and Chronicle_ (for the memory of which three great prelates, my honoured friends, I must always have due regard). To these I add Mr. Ansty's, my worthy friend, _History of the Garter_, in two vols., fol. _Wood's Athenæ Oxon._; and _Maunsell's Catalogue_; both noted with my own hand--and _Gunton's and Patrick's History of The Church of Peterburgh_, noted (from Bishop Kennett) in my hand; with fifteen volumes (more or less) in fol., all in my own hand; and three volumes in 4to., part in my own hand." Let us conclude in a yet more exalted strain of christian piety than we began. "Lastly, I constitute and appoint my dear nephew, Richard Burton, Esq., my sole executor, to whom I leave every thing undisposed of, which I hope will be enough to reward his trouble. May God Almighty bless him, and give him all the engaging qualities of his father, all the vertues of his mother, and none of the sins or failings of his uncle, which God knows are great and many:--and humbly, O my God, I call for mercy! In testimony of this my will, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 15th day of October, 1739. THO. BAKER. And now, O my God, into thy hands I contentedly resign myself: whether it be to life or death, thy will be done! Long life I have not desired (and yet thou hast given it me). Give me, if it be thy good pleasure, an easy and happy death. Or if it shall please thee to visit me sorely, as my sins have deserved, give me patience to bear thy correction, and let me always say (even with my dying breath) Thy will be done, Amen, Amen." Subjoined was this curious memorandum: "At the making of this will, I have, in the corner of my outer study, next my chamber, 170 guineas; and on the other side of the study towards the river, 100 guineas, more or less, in several canvass bags, behind the shelves, being more secret and hidden, to prevent purloyning. One or more of the shelves markt G. among the latter is a five pound (Jacobus) piece of gold."] LOREN. Never fear. He is an old acquaintance of mine; for, when resident at St. John's, Cambridge, I was frequently in the habit of conversing with his spirit in the library, and of getting curious information relating to choice and precious volumes, which had escaped the sagacity of his predecessors, and of which I fear his successors have not made the most proper use. PHIL. This is drawing too severe a conclusion. But Baker merits the thanks of a book-loving posterity. LYSAND. He is satisfied with this mention of his labours; for see, he retreats--and THEOBALD[374] and Tom Rawlinson rush forward to claim a more marked attention: although I am not much disposed to draw a highly finished picture of the editor of Shakespeare. [Footnote 374: Notwithstanding Pope has called THEOBALD by an epithet which I have too much respect for the ears of my readers to repeat, I do not scruple to rank the latter in the list of bibliomaniacs. We have nothing here to do with his edition of Shakspeare; which, by the bye, was no despicable effort of editorial skill--as some of his notes, yet preserved in the recent editions of our bard, testify--but we may fairly allow Theobald to have been a lover of Caxtonian lore, as his curious extract in _Mist's Journal_, March 16, 1728, from our old printer's edition of Virgil's Æneid, 1490, sufficiently testifies. While his gothic library, composed in part of "Caxton, Wynkyn, and De Lyra," proves that he had something of the genuine blood of bibliomaniacism running in his veins. See Mr. Bowles's edition of _Pope's Works_, vol. v., 114, 257.] LIS. Is THOMAS RAWLINSON[375] so particularly deserving of commendation, as a bibliomaniac? [Footnote 375: Let us, first of all, hear Hearne discourse rapturously of the bibliomaniacal reputation of T. Rawlinson: "In his fuit amicus noster nuperus THOMAS RAWLINSONUS; cujus peritiam in supellectile libraria, animique magnitudinem, nemo fere hominum eruditorum unquam attigit, quod tamen vix agnoscet seculum ingratum. Quanquam non desunt, qui putent, ipsius memoriæ statuam deberi, idque etiam ad sumptus Bibliopolarum, quorum facultates mire auxerat; quorum tamen aliqui (utcunque de illis optime meritus fuisset) quum librorum Rawlinsoni auctio fieret, pro virili (clandestinò tamen) laborabant, ut minus auspicatò venderentur. Quod videntes probi aliquot, qui rem omuem noverant, clamitabant, ô homines scelestos! hos jam oportet in cruciatum hinc abripi! Quod hæc notem, non est cur vitio vertas. Nam nil pol falsi dixi, mi lector. Quo tempore vixit Rawlinsonus (et quidem perquam jucundum est commemorare), magna et laudabilis erat æmulatio inter viros eruditos, aliosque etiam, in libris perquirendis ac comparandis, imo in fragmentis quoque. Adeo ut domicilia, ubi venales id genus res pretiosæ prostabant, hominum coetu frequenti semper complerentur, in magnum profecto commodum eorum, ad quos libri aliæque res illæ pertinebant; quippe quod emptores parvo ære nunquam, aut rarissime, compararent." _Walter Hemingford, præfat._, p. CIV. In his preface to _Alured de Beverly_, pp. v. vi., the copious stores of Rawlinson's library, and the prompt kindness of the possessor himself, are emphatically mentioned; while in the preface to _Titi Livii Foro-Juliensis Vit. Henrici V._, p. xi., we are told, of the former, that it was "plurimis libris rarissimis referta:" and, in truth, such a "Bibliotheca refertissima" was perhaps never before beheld. Rawlinson was introduced into the Tatler, under the name TOM FOLIO. His own house not being large enough, he hired _London House_, in Aldersgate Street, for the reception of his library; and there he used to regale himself with the sight and the scent of innumerable black letter volumes, arranged in "sable garb," and stowed perhaps "three deep," from the bottom to the top of his house. He died in 1725; and catalogues of his books for sale continued, for nine succeeding years, to meet the public eye. The following is, perhaps, as correct a list of these copious and heterogeneously compiled catalogues, as can be presented to the reader. I am indebted to the library of Mr. Heber for such a curious bibliographical morçeau. I. _A Catalogue of choice and valuable Books in most Faculties and Languages; being part of the Collection made by Thomas Rawlinson, Esq._, which will begin to be sold by auction at Paul's Coffee House, the West-end of St. Paul's, 4th Dec., 1721, beginning every evening at 5, by Thomas Ballard, bookseller, at the Rising Sun, Little Britain. 12mo. Price 1s. 144 pages.----II. _A Catalogue_, &c., being the 2nd part of the Collection by T. Rawlinson, Esq., to be sold by auction at Paul's Coffee-House, 7th March, 1721-2, every evening at 5, by T. Ballard. 12mo. Price 1s., paged on from the last, pp. 145 to 288. [These two parts contain together 1438 8vo. lots; 1157 in 4to., 618 in folio.]----III. _A Catalogue_, &c., being the third part of the Collection by T. Rawlinson, Esq., to be sold by auction at Paul's Coffee-House, 17th Oct., 1722, every evening at 5, by T. Ballard. 12mo. Price 1s. (no paging or printer's letter.)----IV. _A Catalogue_, &c., being the 4th part of the Collection by T. Rawlinson, Esq., to be sold by auction at Paul's Coffee-House, 2nd April, 1723, every evening at 5, by T. Ballard, 12mo. Price 1s. (no paging or printer's letter.)----V. & VI. _A Catalogue_, &c., being the 5th part of the Collection by T. Rawlinson, Esq., to be sold by auction at Paul's Coffee-House, 20th Jan. 1723, every evening at 5, by T. Ballard. 12mo. Price 1s. Altho' this vol. seems to have been the last of only one sale--yet it may be collected, from the concurrent testimony of his notes in more copies than one--that it was divided and sold at two different times; the latter part commencing about the middle of the volume, with the _Libri Theologici_. In folio.--Test. Nov. 1588, being the first article. This collection began to be sold in Feb. 2. [1724?]--VII. _A Catalogue_, &c., being the 6th part of the Collection made by T. Rawlinson, Esq., _Deceased_, which will begin to be sold by auction at London-House, in Aldersgate Street, 2nd March, 1726, every evening at 5, by Charles Davis, bookseller. 12mo. Price 2_s._ 6_d._ (no paging--printer's mark at bottom irregularly continued from 1 to 35.)--VIII. _Bibliotheca Rawlinsoniana_, being a Cat. of part the Val. Libr. of Tho. Rawlinson, Esq., Deceased: which will begin to be sold by auction at the Bedford Coffee-House, in the great Piazza, Covent Garden, the 26th of this present April [1727] every evening at 5, by Charles Davis, bookseller. 8vo. Price 6_d._ (20 days' sale--2600 lots.)----IX. _Bibliothecæ Rawlinsonianæ, &c., Pars_ IX. being a Cat. of part of the Libr. of Th. Rawlinson, Esq., Deceased, to be sold by auction at St. Paul's Coffee-House, 16th Oct., 1727, every evening at 6, by T. Ballard. 8vo. Price 1_s._ (20 days' sale, 3200 lots.)----X. _Bibliothecæ Rawlinsonianæ, &c., Pars altera_, being a Cat. of part of Lib. of Th. Rawlinson, Esq., Deceased, to be sold by auction at St. Paul's Coffee-House, 22d Nov., 1727, every evening at 6, by Th. Ballard. 8vo. Price 1_s._ (22 days' sale, 3520 articles.)----XI. _Bibliothecæ Rawlinsonianæ, Pars altera_, being a Catalogue of part of the Library of T. Rawlinson, Esq., deceased, to be sold by auction at St. Paul's Coffee-House, 22d Jan. 1727-8, every evening, Saturdays excepted, at 6. 8vo. Price 1_s._ (22 days' sale, 3520 lots.)----XII. _Bibliothecæ Rawlinsonianæ, Pars altera_, being a Cat. of part of the Library of Th. Rawlinson, Esq., deceased, to be sold by auction at St. Paul's Coffee-House, 18th March, 1727-8, every evening at 5, by T. Ballard. Price 1_s._ (8vo. 24 days' sale, 3840 lots.)----XIII. _Bibliothecæ Rawlinsonianæ, Pars altera_, being a Cat. of part of the Library of Th. Rawlinson, Esq., deceased, to be sold by auction at St. Paul's Coffee-House, 21st April, 1729, every evening at 5, by T. Ballard. Price 1_s._ (8vo. 26 days' sale, 4161 lots.)----XIV. _Bibliothecæ Rawlinsonianæ, Pars altera_, being a Cat. of part of the Library of T. Rawlinson, Esq., deceased, to be sold by auction at St. Paul's Coffee-House, 24 Nov. 1729, every evening at 5, by T. Ballard. Price 1_s._ (8vo. 18 days' sale, 2700 lots.)----XV. _Bibliothecæ Rawlinsonianæ, Pars altera_, being a Cat. of part of the Library of T. Rawlinson, F.R.S., deceased, to be sold by auction 13th Nov., 1732, at St. Paul's Coffee-House, every evening at 5, by Tho. Ballard. Price 1_s._ (8vo. 26 days' sale, 3456 lots.)----XVI. _Codicum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecæ Rawlinsonianæ Catalogus--cum appendice Impressorum_--to be sold 4th March, 1733-4, at St. Paul's Coffee-House, every night at 6, by T. Ballard. Price 1_s._ (8vo., 16 days' sale, MSS. 1020 lots--appendix 800). To these may be added, _Picturæ Rawlinsonianæ_--being the collection of original paintings of T. Rawlinson, Esq., F.R.S., by the best masters--part of which were formerly the Earl of Craven's Collection. To be sold by auction, at the Two Golden Balls, in Hart Street, Covent Garden, 4th April, 1734, at 11. 8vo. (117 lots.) Now let any man, in his sober senses, imagine what must have been the number of volumes contained in the library of the above-named THOMAS RAWLINSON? Does he imagine that the tomes in the Bodleian, Vatican, and British Museum were, in each single collection, more numerous than those in the _Aldersgate Street_ repository?--Or, at any rate, would not a view of this Aldersgate Street collection give him the completest idea of the _ne plus ultra_ of BOOK-PHRENSY in a private collector? Rawlinson would have cut a very splendid figure, indeed, with posterity, if some judicious catalogue-maker, the Paterson of former times, had consolidated all these straggling _Bibliothecal_ corps into one compact wedge-like phalanx. Or, in other words, if one thick octavo volume, containing a tolerably well classed arrangement of his library, had descended to us--oh, then we should all have been better able to appreciate the extraordinary treasures of SUCH A COLLECTION! The genius of Pearson and Crofts would have done homage to the towering spirit of Rawlinson.] LYSAND. If the most unabating activity and an insatiable appetite--if an eye, in regard to books, keen and sparkling as the ocean-bathed star--if a purse, heavily laden and inexhaustible--if store-rooms rivalled only by the present warehouses of the East-India Company--if a disposition to spread far and wide the influence of the BIBLIOMANIA, by issuing a _carte blanche_ for every desperately smitten antiquary to enter, and partake of the benefits of, his library--be criteria of BOOK-PHRENSY--why then the resemblance of this said Tom Rawlinson ought to form a principal ornament in the capital of that gigantic column, which sustains the temple of BOOK FAME! He was the _Tom Folio_ of the Tatler, and may be called the _Leviathan_ of book-collectors during nearly the first thirty years of the eighteenth century. LIS. I suppose, then, that Bagford, Murray, and Hearne, were not unknown to this towering bibliomaniac? LYSAND. On the contrary, I conclude, for certain, that, if they did not drink wine, they constantly drank coffee, together: one of the huge folio volumes of Bleau's Atlas serving them for a table. But see yonder the rough rude features of HUMPHREY WANLEY[376] peering above the crowd! All hail to thy honest physiognomy--for thou wert a rare _Book-wight_ in thy way! and as long as the fame of thy patron Harley shall live, so long, honest Humphrey, dost thou stand a sure chance of living "for aye," in the memory of all worthy bibliomaniacs. [Footnote 376: Lysander is well warranted in borrowing the pencil of Jan Steen, in the above bold and striking portrait of WANLEY: who was, I believe, as honest a man, and as learned a librarian, as ever sat down to morning chocolate in velvet slippers. There is a portrait of him in oil in the British Museum, and another similar one in the Bodleian Library--from which latter it is evident, on the slightest observation, that the inestimable, I ought to say immortal, founder of the _Cow Pox system_ (my ever respected and sincere friend, Dr. JENNER) had not then made known the blessings resulting from the vaccine operation: for poor Wanley's face is absolutely _peppered_ with _variolous_ indentations! Yet he seems to have been a hale and hearty man, in spite of the merciless inroads made upon his visage; for his cheeks are full, his hair is cropt and curly, and his shoulders have a breadth which shew that the unrolling of the HARLEIAN MSS. did not produce any enervating effluvia or mismata [Transcriber's Note: miasmata]. Our poet, Gay, in his epistle to Pope, _ep._ 18, thus hits off his countenance: O WANLEY, whence com'st thou with _shorten'd hair_, And _visage_, from thy shelves, _with_ dust besprent? But let us hear the testimony of a friend and fellow bibliomaniac, called Thomas Hearne. The following desultory information is translated from the preface to the _Annales Prioratûs de Dunstable_--wherein, by the bye, there is a good deal of pleasant information relating to Wanley. We are here told that Wanley was "born at Coventry; and, in his younger days, employed his leisure hours in turning over ancient MSS., and imitating the several hands in which they were written. Lloyd, Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, in one of his episcopal visitations, was the first who noticed and patronized him. He demanded that Wanley should be brought to him; he examined him "suis ipsius, non alterius, oculis;" and ascertained whether what so many respectable people had said of his talents was true or false--'A few words with you, young man,' said the Bishop. Wanley approached with timidity--'What are your pursuits, and where are the ancient MSS. which you have in your possession?' Wanley answered readily; exhibited his MSS., and entered into a minute discussion respecting the ancient method of painting." Hearne then expatiates feelingly upon the excessive care and attention which Wanley devoted to ancient MSS.; how many pieces of vellum he unrolled; and how, sometimes, in the midst of very urgent business, he would lose no opportunity of cultivating what was useful and agreeable in his particular pursuit. His hobby horse seems to have been the discovery of the ancient method of colouring or painting--yet towards BRITISH HISTORY and ANTIQUITIES he constantly cast a fond and faithful eye. How admirably well-calculated he was for filling the situation of librarian to Lord Oxford is abundantly evinced by his catalogue of the Harleian MSS.; vide p. 89, ante. Of his attachment to the Bibliomania there are innumerable proofs. Take this, _inter alia_; "I spoke to Mr. Wanley, who is not unmindful of his promise, but says he will not trouble you with a letter, till he has something better to present you, which he doubts not he shall have this winter _among Mr. Harley's MSS._ Mr. Wanley has the greatest collection of _English Bibles, Psalters, &c._, that ever any one man had. They cost him above 50_l._, and he has been above twenty years in collecting them. He would part with them, I believe, but I know not at what price." _Masters's Life of Baker_, p. 27. Consult also the preface to the _Catalogue of the Harleian MSS._, 1808, 3 vols., folio, p. 6.] A softer noise succeeds; and the group becomes calm and attentive, as if some grand personage were advancing. See, 'tis HARLEY, EARL OF OXFORD![377] [Footnote 377: There was an amusing little volume, printed in 1782, 8vo., concerning the library of the late King of France; and an equally interesting one might have been composed concerning the HARLEIAN COLLECTION--but who can now undertake the task?--who concentrate all the rivulets which have run from this splendid reservoir into other similar pieces of water? The undertaking is impracticable. We have nothing, therefore, I fear, left us but to sit down and weep; to hang our harps upon the neighbouring willows, and to think upon the Book "SION," with desponding sensations that its foundations have been broken up, and its wealth dissipated. But let us adopt a less flowery style of communication. Before HARLEY was created a peer, his library was fixed at Wimple, in Cambridgeshire, the usual place of his residence; "whence he frequently visited his friends at Cambridge, and in particular Mr. BAKER, for whom he always testified the highest regard. This nobleman's attachment to literature, the indefatigable pains he took, and the large sums he expended in making the above collection, are too well known to stand in need of any further notice." _Masters's life of Baker_, p. 107. The eulogies of Maittaire and Hearne confirm every thing here advanced by Masters; and the testimony of Pope himself, that Harley "left behind him one of the finest libraries in Europe," warrants us, if other testimonies were not even yet daily before our eyes, to draw the same conclusion. In a periodical publication entitled _The Director_, to which I contributed all the intelligence under the article "BIBLIOGRAPHIANA," there appeared the following copious, and, it is presumed, not uninteresting, details respecting the Earl of Oxford, and his Library. After the sale of Mr. Bridges's books, no event occurred in the bibliographical world, worthy of notice, till the sale of the famous _Harleian Library_, or the books once in the possession of the celebrated HARLEY, EARL OF OXFORD. This nobleman was not less distinguished in the political than in the literary world; and "was a remarkable instance of the fickleness of popular opinion, and the danger of being removed from the lower to the upper house of parliament." (Noble's _Continuation of Granger_, vol. ii., 23.) He was born in the year 1661, was summoned to the house of Lords by the titles of Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, in 1711; declared minister and lord high treasurer in the same year; resigned, and was impeached, in the year 1715; acquitted, without being brought to a trial, in 1717; and died at his house in Albemarle Street, in 1724. A character so well known in the annals of this country needs no particular illustration in the present place. The _Harleian Collection of MSS._ was purchased by government for 10,000_l._, and is now deposited in the British Museum (vide p. 89, ante). The _Books_ were disposed of to THOMAS OSBORNE, of Gray's Inn, bookseller;--to the irreparable loss, and, I had almost said, the indelible disgrace, of the country. It is, indeed, for ever to be lamented that a collection so extensive, so various, so magnificent, and intrinsically valuable, should have become the property of one who necessarily, from his situation in life, became a purchaser, only that he might be a vender, of the volumes. Osborne gave 13,000_l._ for the collection; a sum which must excite the astonishment of the present age, when it is informed that Lord Oxford gave 18,000_l._ for the _Binding_ only, of the least part of them. (From Oldys's _interleaved Langbaine_. See Brydges's _Cens. Literar._, vol. i., p. 438.) In the year 1743-4 appeared an account of this collection, under the following title, _Catalogus Bibliothecæ Harleianæ, &c._, in four volumes (the 5th not properly appertaining to it). Dr. Johnson was employed by Osborne to write the preface, which, says Boswell, "he has done with an ability that cannot fail to impress all his readers with admiration of his philological attainments." _Life of Johnson_, vol. i., 81, edit. 4to. In my humble apprehension, the preface is unworthy of the doctor: it contains a few general philological reflections, expressed in a style sufficiently stately, but is divested of bibliographical anecdote and interesting intelligence. The first two volumes are written in Latin by Johnson; the third and fourth volumes, which are a repetition of the two former, are composed in English by Oldys: and, notwithstanding its defects, it is the best catalogue of a large library of which we can boast. It should be in every good collection. To the volumes was prefixed the following advertisement: "As the curiosity of spectators, before the sale, may produce disorder in the disposition of the books, it is necessary to advertise the public that there will be no admission into the library before the day of sale, which will be on Tuesday, the 14th of February, 1744." It seems that Osborne had charged the sum of 5_s._ to each of his first two volumes, which was represented by the booksellers "as an avaricious innovation;" and, in a paper published in "_The Champion_," they, or their mercenaries, reasoned so justly as to allege that "if Osborne could afford a very large price for the library, he might therefore afford to _give away_ the catalogue." _Preface to_ vol. iii., p. 1. To this charge Osborne answered that his catalogue was drawn up with great pains, and at a heavy expense; but, to obviate all objections, "those," says he, "who have paid five shillings a volume shall be allowed, at any time within three months after the day of sale, either to return them in exchange for books, or to send them back, and receive their money." This, it must be confessed, was sufficiently liberal. Osborne was also accused of _rating his books at too high a price_: to this the following was his reply, or rather Dr. Johnson's; for the style of the Doctor is sufficiently manifest: "If, therefore, I have set a high value upon books--if I have vainly imagined literature to be more fashionable than it really is, or idly hoped to revive a taste well nigh extinguished, I know not why I should be persecuted with clamour and invective, since I shall only suffer by my mistake, and be obliged to keep those books which I was in hopes of selling."--_Preface to the 3d volume._ The fact is that Osborne's charges were extremely moderate; and the sale of the books was so very slow that Johnson assured Boswell "there was not much gained by the bargain." Whoever inspects Osborne's catalogue of 1748 (four years after the Harleian sale), will find in it many of the most valuable of Lord Oxford's books; and, among them, a copy of the Aldine Plato of 1513, _struck off upon vellum_, marked at 21_l._ only: for this identical copy Lord Oxford gave 100 guineas, as Dr. Mead informed Dr. Askew; from the latter of whose collections it was purchased by Dr. Hunter, and is now in the Hunter Museum. There will also be found, in Osborne's catalogues of 1748 and 1753, some of the scarcest books in English Literature, marked at 2, or 3, or 4_s._, for which three times the number of _pounds_ is now given. ANALYSIS OF THE HARLEIAN LIBRARY. I shall take the liberty of making an arrangement of the books different from that which appears in the Harleian catalogue; but shall scrupulously adhere to the number of departments therein specified. And first of those in 1. _Divinity._ In the _Greek_, _Latin_, _French_, and _Italian_ languages, there were about 2000 theological volumes. Among these, the most rare and curious were Bamler's bible of 1466, beautifully illuminated, in 2 volumes: Schæffer's bible of 1472. The famous Zurich bible of 1543, "all of which, except a small part done by Theodoras Bibliander, was translated from the Hebrew by a Jew, who styled himself Leo Judæ, or the Lion of Judah. The Greek books were translated by Petrus Cholinus. The New Testament is Erasmus's." The Scrutinium Scripturarum of Rabbi Samuel, Mant., 1475; a book which is said "to have been concealed by the Jews nearly 200 years: the author of it is supposed to have lived at a period not much later than the destruction of Jerusalem." The Islandic bible of 1664, "not to be met with, without the utmost difficulty, and therefore a real curiosity." The works of Hemmerlin, Basil: 1497; "the author was ranked in the first class of those whose works were condemned by the church of Rome." The Mozarabic Missal printed at Toledo, in 1500--of which some account is given at p. 161, ante. The collection of _English_ books in Divinity could not have amounted to less than 2500 volumes. Among the rarest of these, printed in the fifteenth century, was "The Festyvall, begynning at the fyrst Sonday of Advent, in worship of God and all his Sayntes," &c., printed at Paris, in 1495. There was ten books printed by Caxton, and some exceedingly curious ones by Wynkyn de Worde and Pynson. 2. _History and Antiquities._ There appear to have been, on the whole, nearly 4000 volumes in this department: of which, some of those relating to Great Britain were inestimable, from the quantity of MS. notes by Sir William Dugdale, Archbishop Parker, Thomas Rawlinson, Thomas Baker, &c. The preceding number includes 600 relating to the history and antiquities of Italy; 500 to those of France. (This part of the catalogue deserves particular attention, as it contains a larger collection of pieces relating to the history of France than was, perhaps, ever exposed to sale in this nation; here being not only the ancient chronicles and general histories, but the memoirs of particular men, and the genealogies of most of the families illustrious for their antiquity. See _Bibl. Harl._, vol. iii., p. 159.) 150 to those of Spain; and about 250 relating to Germany and the United Provinces. 3. _Books of Prints, Sculpture, and Drawings._ In this department, rich beyond description, there could not have been fewer than 20,000 articles, on the smallest computation: of which nearly 2000 were original drawings by the great Italian and Flemish masters. The works of CALLOT were preserved in 4 large volumes, containing not fewer than _nine hundred and twelve prints_. "All choice impressions, and making the completest set of his works that are to be seen." See _Bibl. Harl._, vol. iii., no. 562, "HOLLAR'S works, consisting of all his pieces, and bound in 12 folio volumes, in morocco. One of the completest and best sets in the world, both as to the number and goodness of the impressions." Vid. _ibid._, no. 468. It is now in the library of the Duke of Rutland. "One hundred and thirty-three heads of illustrious men and women, after VANDYKE. This set of Vandyke's heads may be said to be the best and completest that is to be met with any where: there being the 12 heads which he etched himself, as likewise 79 worked off by Martin Vanden Enden: and what adds still to the value of them is that the greater part were collected by the celebrated Marriette at Paris, his name being signed on the back, as warranting them good proofs." Tne [Transcriber's Note: The] engravings from RAPHAEL'S paintings, upwards of 200 in number, and by the best foreign masters, were contained in 4 splendid morocco volumes. The works of the SADELERS, containing upwards of 959 prints, in 8 large folio volumes, were also in this magnificent collection: and the Albert Durers, Goltziuses, Rembrandts, &c., innumerable! 4. _Collection of Portraits._ This magnificent collection, uniformly bound in 102 large folio volumes, contained a series of heads of illustrious and remarkable characters, to the amount of nearly 10,000 in number. It is said, in the catalogue, to be "perhaps the largest collection of heads ever exposed to sale." We are also informed that it "was thought proper, for the accommodation of the curious, to separate the volumes." Eheu! Eheu! 5. _Philosophy, Chemistry, Medicine, &c._ Under this head, comprehending anatomy, astronomy, mathematics, and alchemy, there appear to have been not fewer than 2500 volumes in the foreign languages, and about 600 in the English: some of them of the most curious kind, and of the rarest occurrence. 6. _Geography, Chronology, and General History._ There were about 290 volumes on these subjects, written in the Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish languages: and about 300 volumes in our own language. Some of the scarcest books printed by Caxton were among the latter. 7. _Voyages and Histories relating to the East and West Indies._ About 800 volumes:--nearly equally divided into the English and foreign languages. Among the English, were Caxton's "Recuyell of the historys of Troye," 1471 (supposed to be the first book printed in this country;) and his "Siege and conquest of Jherusalem," 1481. 8. _Civil, Canon, and Statute Law._ At least 800 volumes: 300 in the foreign languages, and the remaining in English. 9. _Books of Sculpture, Architecture, &c._ Not fewer than 900 volumes, comprehending every thing published up to that period which was valuable or rare. Of these, more than 700 were written in Latin, Italian, French, or Spanish--and embellished with every beauty of graphic illustration. 10. _Greek and Latin Classics; Grammars and Lexicons._ This very valuable body of Grecian and Roman literature could not have included fewer than 2400 volumes--and, among these, almost every work of rarity and excellence. In the article of "Cicero" alone, there were 115 volumes printed in the _fifteenth century_; every subsequent edition of that and other authors, then distinguished for its accuracy or erudition, may also, I believe, be discovered in the catalogue. Most book-collectors know the sumptuous manner in which the Harleian copies are bound. 11. _Books printed upon Vellum._ In this interesting department of typography, there were about 220 volumes--upwards of 70 in folio, 40 in quarto, and 100 in octavo. Of the former, the most curious and rare articles were the Mentz bible of 1462, 2 vols., and the travels of Breydenbachus, printed at Mentz in 1486. "This book is an uncommon object of curiosity, as it is, perhaps, the first book of travels that was ever printed, and is adorned with maps and pictures very remarkable. The view of _Venice_ is more than five feet long, and the map of the _Holy Land_ more than three; there are views of many other cities. It is printed in the Gothic character." See _Bibl. Harl._, vol. iii., no. 3213. The octavos were chiefly "Heures à l'usage," so common at the beginning of the 16th century: but, if the catalogue be correctly published, there appears to have been one of these books printed at Paris, as early as the year 1466, "extremely beautiful cuts." See the _Bibl. Harl._, vol. iv., no. 18406. Now, if this were true, it would make known a curious fact in Parisian typography--for the usually received opinion among bibliographers is that no printed book appeared in France before the year 1467, when the art was first introduced at _Tours_; and none at _Paris_ before the year 1469-70--when Crantz and Friburger were engaged to print there. 12. _English Poetry, Romances, and Novels._ There could not have been fewer than 900 volumes in this amusing department; and among them some editions of the rarest occurrence. Every thing printed by Caxton on these subjects, including a complete and magnificent copy of _Morte d'Arthur_, was in the collection--and, in respect to other curious works, it will be sufficient to mention only the following, as a specimen. "Kynge-Richarde Cuer du Lyon, W. de Worde, 1528: Gascoigne's Poesies, 1575--Spenser's Shepheardes Calenders, 1586: Webbe's Discourse of English Poetrie, 1586: Nash's Art of English Poesie, 1589." Some of these volumes were afterwards marked by Osborne, in his catalogues, at 3 or 4 shillings! 13. _Livres François, Ital., et Hispan._ There might have been 700 volumes in these foreign languages, of which nearly 500 related to _poetry_ (exclusively of others in the foregoing and following departments). 14. _Parliamentary Affairs and Trials._ Upwards of 400 volumes. 15. _Trade and Commerce._ About 300 volumes. It will be seen from the preceding divisions, and from the gradual diminution of the number of volumes in each, that I have gone through the principal departments of the Harleian collection of books: and yet there remain _fifty departments_ to be enumerated! These are the following: 16. _Critici et Opera collecta._ 17. _Vultus et Imagines Illust. Virorum._ 18. _Pompæ, Ceremoniæ, et Exequiæ._ 19. _De re Militari, de Arte Equestri, et de re Navali._ 20. _Heraldica._ 21. _Epistolæ, Panegyrici, et Orationes._ 22. _Bibliothecarii et Miscellanei._ 23. _Tractatus Pacis et Politici._ 24. _Traductions des Auteurs Gr. et Latin._ 25. _Translations from Greek and Latin Authors._ 26. _Laws, Customs, &c., of the City of London._ 27. _Military, Naval affairs, and Horsemanship._ 28. _Heraldry._ 9. [Transcriber's Note: 29.] _Husbandry, Gardening, Agriculture._ 30. _Magic, Sorcery, Witchcraft._ 31. _Miraculous, Monstrous, and Supernatural._ 32. _Lives of Eminent Persons._ 33. _Laws and Customs of divers Places._ 34. _Tythes, Sacrilege, and Non-residence, &c._ 35. _Cases of divers Persons._ 36. _Prisons and Prisoners._ 37. _Lives of Murderers, Highwaymen, Pirates, &c._ 38. _Speeches of Persons executed for divers Offences._ 39. _Justices, Juries, and Charges._ 40. _Poor, and Charitable Uses._ 41. _Matrimony, Divorce, &c._ 42. _Universities._ 43. _Allegiance, Supremacy, Non Resistance, &c._ 44. _Bank and Bankers._ 45. _Funds, Taxes, Public Credit, Money, Coin, &c._ 46. _War and Standing Armies._ 47. _Admiralty and Navy._ 48. _Letters on various Subjects._ 49. _Treatises of Peace, Royal Prerogative, &c._ 50. _Navigation._ 51. _Education, Grammar and Schools._ 52. _Ludicrous, Entertaining, Satirical, and Witty._ 53. _English Miscellanies._ 54. _Ecclesiastical and Civil History of Scotland._ 55. _Do. of Ireland._ 56. _Grammars and Dictionnaries._ 57. _Plays, and relating to the Theatre._ 58. _Mathematics._ 59. _Astrology, Astronomy, and Chymistry._ 60. _Horsemanship._ 61. _Cookery._ 62. _Convocation._ 63. _Sieges, Battles, War, &c._ 64. _Pomp and Ceremony._ 65. _Books relating to Writing and Printing._ 66. _Essays on various Subjects._ It will probably be no very unreasonable computation to allow to each of these remaining divisions 80 volumes: so that multiplying the whole 50 divisions by 80 there will be the additional number of 4000 volumes to make the library complete. I ought to mention that, in my account of this extensive library, I have not included the _Pamphlets_. Of these alone, according to Mr. Gough (_Brit. Topog._ v., i., 669), there were computed to be 400,000! We will now say a few words about the private character of Lord Oxford, and conclude with a brief account of Osborne. Every body has heard of the intimacy which subsisted between POPE and the Earl of Oxford. In the year 1721, when the latter was at his country seat, Pope sent him a copy of Parnell's poems (of which he had undertaken the publication on the decease of Parnell), with a letter in poetry and prose. It seems that Pope wished to prefix his own verses to the collection; and thus alludes to them, in his letter to Lord Harley of the date of 1721: "Poor Parnell, before he died, left me the charge of publishing those few remains of his: I have a strong desire to make them, their author, and their publisher, more considerable, by addressing and dedicating them all to you, &c. All I shall say for it is that 'tis the only dedication I ever writ, and shall be the only one, whether you accept it or not: for I will not bow the knee to a less man than my Lord Oxford, and I expect to see no greater in my time." The following is the latter part of the _Poetical Epistle_ here alluded to: And sure, if aught below the seats divine Can touch immortals, 'tis a soul like thine: A soul supreme, in each hard instance tried, Above all pain, all passion, and all pride; The rage of power, the blast of public breath, The lust of lucre, and the dread of death. In vain to deserts thy retreat is made; The muse attends thee to thy silent shade: 'Tis her's the brave man's latest steps to trace, Rejudge his acts, and dignify disgrace. When int'rest calls off all her sneaking train, And all th' obliged desert, and all the vain; She waits, or to the scaffold, or the cell, When the last lingering friend has bid farewell. Ev'n now, she shades thy evening walk with bays, (No hireling she, no prostitute of praise) Ev'n now, observant of the parting ray, Eyes the calm sun-set of thy various day; Thro' fortune's cloud ONE truly great can see, Nor fears to tell that MORTIMER is he! _Pope's Works_, vol. ii., p. 320-3. Bowles's edit. The following was the reply of the Earl of Oxford to Mr. Pope. SIR, I received your packet, which could not but give me great pleasure to see you preserve an old friend in your memory; for it must needs be very agreeable to be remembered by those we highly value. But then, how much shame did it cause me when I read your very fine verses inclosed! My mind reproached me how far short I came of what your great friendship and delicate pen would partially describe me. You ask my consent to publish it: to what straits doth this reduce me! I look back, indeed, to those evenings I have usefully and pleasantly spent with Mr. Pope, Mr. Parnell, Dean Swift, the Doctor (Arbuthnot), &c. I should be glad the world knew you admitted me to your friendship; and since your affection is too hard for your judgment, I am contented to let the world know how well Mr. Pope can write upon a barren subject. I return you an exact copy of the verses, that I may keep the original, as a testimony of the only error you have been guilty of. I hope, very speedily, to embrace you in London, and to assure you of the particular esteem and friendship wherewith I am your, &c., OXFORD. Of TOM OSBORNE I have in vain endeavoured to collect some interesting biographical details. What I know of him shall be briefly stated. He was the most celebrated bookseller of his day; and appears, from a series of his catalogues in my possession, to have carried on a successful trade from the year 1738 to 1768. What fortune he amassed, is not, I believe, very well known: his collections were truly valuable, for they consisted of the purchased libraries of the most eminent men of those times. In his stature he was short and thick; and, to his inferiors, generally spoke in an authoritative and insolent manner. "It has been confidently related," says Boswell, "that Johnson, one day, knocked Osborne down in his shop with a folio, and put his foot upon his neck. The simple truth I had from Johnson himself. 'Sir, he was impertinent to me, and I beat him. But it was not in his shop: it was in my own chamber.'" 4to. edit., i., 81. Of Osborne's philological attainments, the meanest opinion must be formed, if we judge from his advertisements, which were sometimes inserted in the London Gazette, and drawn up in the most ridiculously vain and ostentatious style. He used to tell the public that he possessed "all the pompous editions of Classicks and Lexicons." I insert the two following advertisements, prefixed, the one to his catalogue of 1748, the other to that of 1753, for the amusement of my bibliographical readers, and as a model for Messrs. Payne, White, Miller, Evans, Priestley, and Cuthell. "This catalogue being very large, and of consequence very expensive to the proprietor, he humbly requests that, if it falls into the hands of any gentleman _gratis_, who chooses not himself to be a purchaser of any of the books contained in it, that such gentleman will be pleased to recommend it to any other whom he thinks may be so, or to return it." To his catalogue of 1753 was the following: "To the Nobility and Gentry who please to favour me with their commands. It is hoped, as I intend to give no offence to any nobleman or gentleman, that do me the honour of being my customer, by putting a price on my catalogue, by which means they may not receive it as usual--it is desired that such nobleman or gentleman as have not received it, would be pleased to send for it; and it's likewise requested of such gentleman who do receive it, that, if they chuse not to purchase any of the books themselves, _they would recommend it to any bookish gentleman of their acquaintance, or to return it_, and the favour shall be acknowledged by, their most obedient and obliged, T. OSBORNE." I shall conclude with the following curious story told of him, in Mr. Nichols's _Anecdotes of Bowyer_ the Printer. "Mr. David Papillon, a gentleman of fortune and literary taste, as well as a good antiquary (who died in 1762) contracted with Osborne to furnish him with an 100_l._ worth of books, at _threepence a piece_. The only conditions were, that they should be perfect, and that there should be no duplicate. Osborne was highly pleased with his bargain, and the first great purchase he made, he sent Mr. P. a large quantity; but in the next purchase, he found he could send but few, and the next, still fewer. Not willing, however, to give up, he sent books worth _five shillings_ a piece; and, at last, was forced to go and beg to be let off the contract. Eight thousand books would have been wanted!"--See p. 101-2, note [symbol: double dagger].] LIS. Let us rise to pay him homage! PHIL. Lisardo is now fairly bewitched. He believes in the existence of the group!--Help, ho! Fetters and warder for-- LOREN. Philemon loves to indulge his wit at his friend's expense. Is't not so, Lisardo? LIS. I forgive him. 'Twas a "glorious fault." But, indeed, I would strip to the skin, if this said nobleman longed for my coat, waistcoat, small clothes, and shirt, to form him a cushion to sit upon! I have heard such wonderful things said of his library!-- LYSAND. And not more wonderful than its reputation justifies. Well might Pope be enamoured of such a noble friend--and well might even Dr. Mead bow to the superior splendour of such a book-competitor! While the higher order of bibliomaniacs, reposing upon satin sofas, were quaffing burgundy out of Harley's curiously cut goblets, and listening to the captivating tale of Mead or Folkes, respecting a VELLUM _Editio Princeps_--the lower order, with Bagford at their head, were boisterously regaling themselves below, drinking ale round an oaken table, and toasting their patron, till the eye could no longer discover the glass, nor the tongue utter his name. Aloft, in mid air, sat the soothed spirits of Smith and North; pointing, with their thin, transparent fingers, to the apotheosis of CAXTON and ALDUS! Suddenly, a crowd of pipy fragrance involves the room: these ærial forms cease to be visible; and broken sounds, like the retiring tide beneath Dover cliff, die away into utter silence. Sleep succeeds: but short is the slumber of enthusiastic bibliomaniacs! The watchman rouses them from repose: and the annunciation of the hour of "two o'clock, and a moonlight morning," reminds them of their cotton night-caps and flock mattrasses. They start up, and sally forwards; chaunting, midst the deserted streets, and with eyes turned sapiently towards the moon, "Long life to the King of Book-Collectors, HARLEY, EARL OF OXFORD!" LOREN. A truce, Lysander! I entreat a truce! LYSAND. To what? LOREN. To this discourse. You must be exhausted. PHIL. Indeed I agree with Lorenzo: for Lysander has surpassed, in prolixity, the reputation of any orator within St. Stephen's chapel. It only remains to eclipse, in a similar manner, the speeches which were delivered at Hardy's trial--and then he may be called the _Nonpareil_ of orators! LYSAND. If you banter me, I am dumb. Nor did I know that there was any thing of eloquence in my chit-chat. If Lisardo had had my experience, we might _then_ have witnessed some glittering exhibitions of imagination in the book-way! LIS. My most excellent friend, I will strive to obtain this experience, since you are pleased to compliment me upon what I was not conscious of possessing--But, in truth, Lysander, our obligations to you are infinite. LYSAND. No more; unless you are weary of this discourse-- PHIL. LIS. Weary!? LOREN. Let me here exercise my undeniable authority. A _sandwich_, like the evening rain after a parching day, will recruit Lysander's exhausted strength. What say you? LYSAND. "I shall in all things obey your high command." But hark--I hear the outer gate bell ring! The ladies are arrived: and you know my bashfulness in female society. Adieu, BIBLIOMANIA! 'till the morrow. LOREN. Nay, you are drawing too dismal conclusions. My sisters are not sworn enemies to this kind of discourse. * * * * * The arrival of ALMANSA and BELINDA, the sisters of Lorenzo put a stop to the conversation. So abrupt a silence disconcerted the ladies; who, in a sudden, but, it must be confessed, rather taunting, strain--asked whether they should order their bed-chamber candlesticks, and retire to rest? LIS. Not if you are disposed to listen to the most engaging book-anecdote orator in his majesty's united realms! ALMAN. Well, this may be a sufficient inducement for us to remain. But why so suddenly silent, gentlemen? LOREN. The conversation had ceased before you arrived. We were thinking of a _hung-beef sandwich_ and a glass of madeira to recruit Lysander's exhausted powers. He has been discoursing ever since dinner. BELIND. I will be his attendant and cup-bearer too, if he promises to resume his discourse. But you have probably dispatched the most interesting part. LYSAND. Not exactly so, I would hope, fair Lady! Your brother's hospitality will add fresh energy to my spirit; and, like the renewed oil in an exhausted lamp, will cause the flame to break forth with fresh splendour. BELIND. Sir, I perceive your ingenuity, at least, has not forsaken you--in whatever state your memory may be!-- * * * * * Here the _sandwiches_ made their appearance: and Lorenzo seated his guests, with his sisters, near him, round a small circular table. The repast was quickly over: and Philemon, stirring the sugar within a goblet of hot madeira wine and water, promised them all a romantic book-story, if the ladies would only lend a gracious ear. Such a request was, of course, immediately complied with. PHIL. The story is short-- LIS. And sweet, I ween. PHIL. That remains to be proved. But listen. You all know my worthy friend, FERDINAND: a very _Helluo Librorum_. It was on a warm evening in summer--about an hour after sunset--that Ferdinand made his way towards a small inn, or rather village alehouse, that stood on a gentle eminence, skirted by a luxuriant wood. He entered, oppressed with heat and fatigue; but observed, on walking up to the porch "smothered with honey-suckles" (as I think Cowper expresses it), that every thing around bore the character of neatness and simplicity. The holy-oaks were tall and finely variegated in blossom: the pinks were carefully tied up: and roses of all colours and fragrance stood around, in a compacted form, like a body-guard, forbidding the rude foot of trespasser to intrude. Within, Ferdinand found corresponding simplicity and comfort. The "gude" man of the house was spending the evening with a neighbour; but poached eggs and a rasher of bacon, accompanied with a flagon of sparkling ale, gave our guest no occasion to doubt the hospitality of the house, on account of the absence of its master. A little past ten, after reading some dozen pages in a volume of Sir Egerton Brydges's _Censura Literaria_, which he happened to carry about him, and partaking pretty largely of the aforesaid eggs and ale, Ferdinand called for his candle, and retired to repose. His bed-room was small, but neat and airy: at one end, and almost facing the window, there was a pretty large closet, with the door open: but Ferdinand was too fatigued to indulge any curiosity about what it might contain. He extinguished his candle, and sank upon his bed to rest. The heat of the evening seemed to increase. He became restless; and, throwing off his quilt, and drawing his curtain aside, turned towards the window, to inhale the last breeze which yet might be wafted from the neighbouring heath. But no zephyr was stirring. On a sudden, a broad white flash of lightning--(nothing more than summer heat) made our bibliomaniac lay his head upon his pillow, and turn his eyes in an opposite direction. The lightning increased--and one flash, more vivid than the rest, illuminated the interior of the closet, and made manifest--_an old mahogany Book-Case_, STORED WITH BOOKS. Up started Ferdinand, and put his phosphoric treasures into action. He lit his match, and trimmed his candle, and rushed into the closet--no longer mindful of the heavens--which now were in a blaze with the summer heat. The book-case was guarded both with glass and brass wires--and the key--no where to be found! Hapless man!--for, to his astonishment, he saw _Morte d'Arthur_, printed by _Caxton_--_Richard Coeur de Lyon_, by _W. de Worde_--_The Widow Edyth_, by _Pynson_--and, towering above the rest, a LARGE PAPER copy of the original edition of _Prince's Worthies of Devon_; while, lying transversely at top, reposed _John Weever's Epigrams_, "The spirit of Captain Cox is here revived"--exclaimed Ferdinand--while, on looking above, he saw a curious set of old plays, with _Dido, Queen of Carthage_, at the head of them! What should he do? No key: no chance of handling such precious tomes--'till the morning light, with the landlord, returned! He moved backwards and forwards with a hurried step--prepared his pocket knife to cut out the panes of glass, and untwist the brazen wires--but a "_prick of conscience_" made him desist from carrying his wicked design into execution. Ferdinand then advanced towards the window; and throwing it open, and listening to the rich notes of a concert of nightingales, forgot the cause of his torments--'till, his situation reminding him of "_The Churl and the Bird_," he rushed with renewed madness into the cupboard--then searched for the bell--but, finding none, he made all sorts of strange noises. The landlady rose, and, conceiving robbers to have broken into the stranger's room, came and demanded the cause of the disturbance. "Madam," said Ferdinand, "is there no possibility of inspecting the _books_ in the _cupboard_--where is the key?" "Alack, sir," rejoined the landlady, "what is there that thus disturbs you in the sight of those books? Let me shut the closet-door and take away the key of it, and you will then sleep in peace." "Sleep in _peace_!" resumed Ferdinand--"sleep in _wretchedness_, you mean! I can have no peace unless you indulge me with the key of the book-case. To whom do such gems belong?" "Sir, they are not stolen goods."--"Madam, I ask pardon--I did not mean to question their being honest property--but"--"Sir, they are not mine or my husband's." "Who, madam, who is the lucky owner?" "An elderly gentleman of the name of--Sir, I am not at liberty to mention his name--but they belong to an elderly gentleman." "Will he part with them--where does he live? Can you introduce me to him?"--The good woman soon answered all Ferdinand's rapid queries, but the result was by no means satisfactory to him. He learnt that these uncommonly scarce and precious volumes belonged to an ancient gentleman, whose name was studiously concealed; but who was in the habit of coming once or twice a week, during the autumn, to smoke his pipe, and lounge over his books: sometimes making extracts from them, and sometimes making observations in the margin with a pencil. Whenever a very curious passage occurred, he would take out a small memorandum book, and put on a pair of large tortoise-shell spectacles, with powerful magnifying glasses, in order to insert this passage with particular care and neatness. He usually concluded his evening amusements by sleeping in the very bed in which Ferdinand had been lying. Such intelligence only sharpened the curiosity, and increased the restlessness, of poor Ferdinand. He retired to this said bibliomaniacal bed, but not to repose. The morning sun-beams, which irradiated the book-case with complete effect, shone upon his pallid countenance and thoughtful brow. He rose at five: walked in the meadows till seven; returned and breakfasted--stole up stairs to take a farewell peep at his beloved _Morte d'Arthur_--sighed "three times and more"--paid his reckoning; apologised for the night's adventure; told the landlady he would shortly come and visit her again, and try to pay his respects to the anonymous old gentleman. "Meanwhile," said he, "I will leave no bookseller's shop in the neighbourhood unvisited, 'till I gain intelligence of his name and character." The landlady eyed him steadily; took a pinch of snuff with a significant air; and, returning, with a smile of triumph, to her kitchen, thanked her stars that she had got rid of such a madman! Ladies and gentlemen, I have done. LIS. And creditably done, too! ALMAN. If this be a specimen of your previous conversation, we know not what we have lost by our absence. But I suspect, that the principal ingredient of poetry, fiction, has a little aided in the embellishment of your story. BELIN. This is not very gallant or complimentary on your part, Almansa. I harbour no suspicion of its verity; for marvellous things have been told me, by my brother, of the whimsical phrensies of book-fanciers. LOREN. If you will only listen a little to Lysander's _sequel_, you will hear almost equally marvellous things; which I suspect my liberally minded sister, Almansa, will put down to the score of poetical embellishment. But I see she is conscious of her treasonable aspersions of the noble character of bibliomaniacs, and is only anxious for Lysander to resume. ALMAN. Sir, I entreat you to finish your HISTORY OF BIBLIOMANIACS. Your friend, Philemon, has regaled us with an entertaining episode, and you have probably, by this time, recovered strength sufficient to proceed with the main story. LYSAND. Madam, I am equally indebted to your brother for his care of the body, and to my friend for his recreation of the mind. The midnight hour, I fear, is swiftly approaching. LOREN. It is yet at a considerable distance. We have nearly reached the middle of the eighteenth century, and you may surely carry on your reminiscential exertions to the close of the same. By that time, we may be disposed for our nightcaps. LYSAND. Unheeded be the moments and hours which are devoted to the celebration of eminent BOOK-COLLECTORS! Let the sand roll down the glass as it will; let "the chirping on each thorn" remind us of Aurora's saucy face peering above the horizon! in such society, and with such a subject of discussion, who-- LIS. Lysander brightens as his story draws to a close: his colouring will be more vivid than ever. BELIND. Tell me--are bibliographers usually thus eloquent? They have been described to me as a dry, technical race of mortals--quoting only title-pages and dates. LYSAND. Madam, believe not the malicious evidence of book-heretics. Let ladies, like yourself and your sister, only make their appearance with a choice set of bibliomaniacs, at this time of night, and if the most interesting conversation be not the result--I have very much under-rated the colloquial powers of my brethren. But you shall hear. We left off with lauding the bibliomaniacal celebrity of Harley, Earl of Oxford. Before the dispersion of his grand collection, died JOHN BRIDGES,[378] a gentleman, a scholar, and a notorious book-collector. The catalogue of his books is almost the first classically arranged one in the eighteenth century: and it must be confessed that the collection was both curious and valuable. Bridges was succeeded by ANTHONY COLLINS,[379] the Free Thinker; a character equally strange and unenviable. Book-fanciers now and then bid a few shillings, for a copy of the catalogue of his library; and some sly free-thinkers, of modern date, are not backward in shewing a sympathy in their predecessor's fame, by the readiness with which they bid a half-guinea, or more, for a _priced copy_ of it. [Footnote 378: _Bibliothecæ Bridgesianæ Catalogus_: or a Catalogue of the Library of JOHN BRIDGES, Esq., consisting of above 4000 books and manuscripts in all Languages and Faculties; particularly in Classics and History; and especially the History and Antiquities of Great Britain and Ireland, &c., London, 1725, 8vo. Two different catalogues of this valuable collection of books were printed. The one was analysed, or a _catalogue raisonné_, to which was prefixed a print of a Grecian portico, &c., with ornaments and statues: the other (expressly for the sale) was an indigested and extremely confused one--to which was prefixed a print, designed and engraved by A. Motte, of an oak felled, with a number of men cutting down and carrying away its branches; illustrative of the following Greek Motto inscribed on a scroll above--[Greek: Dryos pesousês pas anêr xyleuetai]; "An affecting momento (says Mr. Nichols, very justly, in his _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, p. 557) to the collectors of great libraries, who cannot, or do not, leave them to some public accessible repository." My friend, Dr. Gosset, was once so fortunate as to pick up for me a _large paper_ copy of the analysed catalogue, bound in old blue morocco, and ruled with red lines, for 4_s._!--"Happy day!"] [Footnote 379: In the year 1730-1, there was sold by auction at St. Paul's Coffee House, in St. Paul's Church Yard (beginning every evening at five o'clock), the library of the celebrated Free Thinker, ANTHONY COLLINS, Esq. "Containing a collection of several thousand volumes in Greek, Latin, English, French, and Spanish; in divinity, history, antiquity, philosophy, husbandry, and all polite literature: and especially many curious travels and voyages; and many rare and valuable pamphlets." This collection, which is divided into _two parts_ (the first containing 3451 articles, the second 3442), is well worthy of being consulted by the theologian who is writing upon any controverted point of divinity; as there are articles in it of the rarest occurrence. The singular character of its owner and of his works is well known: he was at once the friend and the opponent of Locke and Clarke, who both were anxious for the conversion of a character of such strong, but misguided, talents. The former, on his death-bed, wrote Collins a letter to be delivered to him after his decease, which was full of affection and good advice.] We may here but slightly allude to the bibliographical reputation of MAITTAIRE, as so much was said of him the day before yesterday.[380] [Footnote 380: The reader will find some account of MAITTAIRE'S bibliographical labours at p. 47, ante; and of his editions of the ancient Classics, at p. 442, vol. ii., of my _Introduction to the Knowledge of rare and valuable editions of the Greek and Latin Classics_. He need here only be informed that Maittaire's books were sold by auction in November, 1748, and January, 1749; the catalogue of them forming _two parts_, with one of these dates affixed to each. The collection must have been uncommonly numerous; and of their intrinsic value the reader will best judge by the following extract from the "Advertisement," by Cock the auctioneer, at the back of the title-page: "tho' the books, in their present condition, make not the most ostentatious appearance, yet, like the late worthy possessor of them, however plain their outside may be, they contain within an invaluable treasure of ingenuity and learning. In fine, this is (after fifty years' diligent search and labour in collecting) THE ENTIRE LIBRARY OF MR. MAITTAIRE; whose judgement in the choice of books, as it ever was confessed, so are they, undoubtedly, far beyond whatever I can attempt to say in their praise. In exhibiting them thus to the public, I comply with the will of my deceased friend; and in printing the catalogue from his OWN COPY just as he left it (tho' by so doing it is the more voluminous) I had an opportunity, not only of doing the justice I owe to his memory, but also of gratifying the curious." I incline strongly to think there were no copies of this catalogue printed upon large paper. When priced, the usual copy brings a fair round sum.] BELIN. All this may be very learned and just. But of these gentlemen I find no account in the fashionable necrologies. LOREN. Only wait a little, and Lysander will break forth with the mention of some transcendental bibliomaniac. LYSAND. Yes, ever renowned RICHARD MEAD![381] thy _pharmacopæal_ reputation is lost in the blaze of thy _bibliomaniacal_ glory! Æsculapius may plant his herbal crown round thy brow, and Hygeia may scatter her cornucopia of roses at thy feet--but what are these things compared with the homage offered thee by the Gesners, Baillets, and Le Longs, of old? What avail even the roseate blushes of thousands, whom thy medical skill, may have snatched from a premature grave--compared with the life, vigour, animation and competition which thy example infused into the BOOK-WORLD! [Footnote 381: It is almost impossible to dwell on the memory of THIS GREAT MAN, without emotions of delight--whether we consider him as an eminent physician, a friend to literature, or a collector of books, pictures, and coins. Benevolence, magnanimity, and erudition were the striking features of his character. His house was the general receptacle of men of genius and talent, and of every thing beautiful, precious, and rare. His curiosities, whether books, or coins, or pictures, were freely laid open to the public; and the enterprising student, and experienced antiquary, alike found amusement and a courteous reception. He was known to all foreigners of intellectual distinction, and corresponded both with the artisan and the potentate. The great patron of literature, and the leader of his profession, it was hardly possible, as Lysander has well observed, "for modest merit if properly introduced to him, to depart unrewarded or ungratified." The clergy, and, in general, all men of learning, received his advice gratuitously; and his doors were open every morning to the most indigent, whom he frequently assisted with money. Although his income, from his professional practice, was very considerable, he died by no means a rich man--so large were the sums which he devoted to the encouragement of literature and the fine arts! The sale of Dr. Mead's _Books_ commenced on the 18th of November, 1754, and again on the 7th of April, 1755: lasting together 57 days. The sale of the _prints_ and _drawings_ continued 14 nights. The _gems_, _bronzes_, _busts_, and _antiquities_, 8 days. His books produced £5496 15 0 Pictures 3417 11 0 Prints and drawings 1908 14 0 Coins and medals 1977 17 0 Antiquities 3246 15 0 ------------ Amount of all the sales £16,047 12 0 ------------ It would be difficult to mention, within a moderate compass, all the rare and curious articles which his library contained--but the following are too conspicuous to be passed over. The _Spira Virgil_, of 1470, _Pfintzing's Tewrdanchk's_, 1527, _Brandt's Stultifera Navis_, 1498, and the _Aldine Petrarch_, of 1501, ALL UPON VELLUM. The large paper _Olivet's Cicero_ was purchased by Dr. Askew, for 14_l._ 14_s._, and was sold again at his sale for 36_l._ 15_s._ The King of France bought the editio princeps of _Pliny Senior_ for 11_l._ 11_s._: and Mr. Wilcock, a bookseller, bought the magnificently illuminated _Pliny by Jenson_, of 1472, for 18_l._ 18_s._: of which Maittaire has said so many fine things. The _French_ books, and all the works upon the _Fine Arts_, were of the first rarity and value, and bound in a sumptuous manner. Winstanley's _Prospects of Audley End_ brought 50_l._ An amusing account of some of the pictures will be found in Mr. Beloe's _Anecdotes of Literature and scarce Books_, vol. i., 166, 71. But consult also _Nichols's Anecdotes of Bowyer_, p. 225, &c. Of the catalogue of Dr. Mead's books, there were only six copies printed upon _large paper_. See _Bibl. Lort_, no. 1149. I possess one of these copies, uncut and priced. Dr. MEAD had parted, in his life-time, to the present king's father, with several miniature pictures of great value (Walpole Anec., vol. i., 165) by Isaac Oliver and Holbein, which are now in his majesty's collection. Dr. Askew had purchased his Greek MSS. for 500_l._ Pope has admirably well said, "Rare _monkish manuscripts_ for HEARNE alone, And _Books_ FOR MEAD, and _butterflies_ for SLOANE." _Epistle_ iv. Upon which his commentator, Warburton, thus observes: "These were two eminent physicians; the one had an excellent library, the other the finest collection in Europe of natural curiosities." For nearly half a century did Dr. Mead pursue an unrivalled career in his profession. He was (perhaps "thrice") presented with the presidentship of the College of Physicians, which he ("thrice") refused. One year it is said he made 7000_l._, a great sum in his time! His regular emoluments were between 5000_l._ and 6000_l._ per annum. He died on the 25th of February, 1754, in the 81st year of his age. On his death, Dr. ASKEW, who seems to have had a sort of filial veneration for his character, and whose pursuits were in every respect congenial with Dr. Mead's, presented the College of Physicians with a marble bust of him, beautifully executed by Roubilliac, and for which he paid the sculptor 100_l._ A whimsical anecdote is connected with the execution of this bust. Roubilliac agreed with Dr. Askew for 50_l._: the doctor found it so highly finished that he paid him for it 100_l._ The sculptor said this was not enough, and brought in a bill for 108_l._ 2_s._ Dr. Askew paid this demand, even to the odd shillings, and then enclosed the receipt to Mr. Hogarth, to produce at the next meeting of artists. Nichols's _Anec. of Bowyer_, p. 580. "I cannot help," says Mr. Edwards, the late ornithologist, "informing succeeding generations that they may see the _real features_ of Dr. Mead in this bust: for I, who was as well acquainted with his face as any man living, do pronounce this bust of him to be so like that, as often as I see it, my mind is filled with the strongest idea of the original." Hearne speaks of the MEADEAN FAMILY with proper respect, in his _Alured de Beverly_, p. XLV.; and in _Walter Hemingford_, vol. i., XXXV. In his _Gulielmus Nubrigensis_, vol. iii., p. 744 (note), he says of our illustrious bibliomaniac:--"that most excellent physician, and truly great man, Dr. Richard Mead, to whom I am eternally obliged." There is an idle story somewhere told of Dr. Mead's declining the acceptance of a challenge to fight with swords--alleging his want of skill in the art of fencing: but this seems to be totally void of authority. Thus far, concerning Dr. Mead, from the first edition of this work, and the paper entitled "The Director." The following particulars, which I have recently learnt of the MEAD FAMILY, from John Nicholl, Esq., my neighbour at Kensington, and the maternal grandson of the Doctor, may be thought well worth subjoining. MATTHEW MEAD, his father, was a clergyman. He gave up his living at Stepney in 1662; which was afterwards divided into the four fine livings now in the gift of Brazen-Nose College, Oxford. His parishioners built him a chapel; but he retired to a farm in the country, and had the reputation of handling a bullock as well as any butcher in the county. He went abroad in the reign of James II., and had his sons, Samuel and Richard, educated under Grævius. SAMUEL MEAD, _his brother_, was a distinguished Chancery barrister, and got his 4000_l._ per ann.; his cronies were Wilbraham and Lord Harcourt. These, with a few other eminent barristers, used to meet at a coffee-house, and drink their favourite, and then fashionable, liquor--called _Bishop_, which consisted of red wine, lemon, and sugar. Samuel was a shy character, and loved privacy. He had a good country house, and handsome chambers in Lincoln's Inn, and kept a carriage for his sister's use, having his coachmaker's arms painted upon the panel. What is very characteristic of the modesty of his profession, he pertinaciously refused a silk gown! A word or two remains to be said of our illustrious bibliomaniac RICHARD. His brother left him 30,000_l._, and giving full indulgence to his noble literary feelings, the Doctor sent Carte, the historian, to France, to rummage for MSS. of _Thuanus_, and to restore the castrated passages which were not originally published for fear of offending certain families. He made Buckley, the editor, procure the best _ink and paper_ from Holland, for this edition of Thuanus, which was published at his own expense; and the Doctor was remarkably solicitous that nothing of exterior pomp and beauty should be wanting in the publication. The result verified his most sanguine expectation; for a finer edition of a valuable historian has never seen the light. Dr. Ward, says Mr. Nichols, is supposed to have written Mead's Latin, but the fact is not so; or it is exclusively applicable to the _later_ pieces of Mead. The Doctor died in his 83rd year (and in full possession of his mental powers), from a fall occasioned by the negligence of a servant. He was a great _diagnostic_ physician; and, when he thought deeply, was generally correct in judging of the disorder by the appearance of the countenance.] The tears shed by virtuous bibliomaniacs at Harley's death were speedily wiped away, when the recollection of thine, and of thy contemporary's, FOLKES'S[382] fame, was excited in their bosoms. Illustrious Bibliomaniacs! your names and memories will always live in the hearts of noble-minded Literati: the treasures of your Museums and Libraries--your liberal patronage and ever-active exertions in the cause of VIRTU--whether connected with coins, pictures, or books--can never be banished, at least, from my grateful mind:--And if, at this solemn hour, when yonder groves and serpentine walks are sleeping in the quiet of moon-light, your spirits could be seen placidly to flit along, I would burst from this society--dear and congenial as it is--to take your last instructions, or receive your last warnings, respecting the rearing of a future age of bibliomaniacs! Ye were, in good earnest, noble-hearted book-heroes!--but I wander:--forgive me! [Footnote 382: "_A Catalogue of the entire and valuable library of_ MARTIN FOLKES, Esq., President of the Royal Society, and Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, lately deceased; which will be sold by auction, by Samuel Baker, at his house in York Street, Covent-Garden. To begin on Monday, February 2, 1756, and to continue for forty days successively (Sundays excepted). Catalogues to be had at most of the considerable places in Europe, and all the booksellers of Great Britain and Ireland. Price sixpence." This collection was an exceedingly fine one; enriched with many books of the choicest description, which Mr. Folkes had acquired in his travels in Italy and Germany. The works on natural history, coins, medals, inscriptions, and on the fine arts in general, formed the most valuable department--those on the Greek, Latin, and English classics were comparatively of inferior importance. It is a great pity the catalogue was not better digested; or the books classed according to the nature of their contents. The following prices, for some of the more rare and interesting articles, will amuse a bibliographer of the present day. The chronicles of Fabian, Hall, and Grafton, did not, altogether, bring quite 2_l._, though the copies are described as perfect and fair. There seems to have been a fine set of Sir Wm. Dugdale's Works (Nos. 3074-81) in 13 vols., which, collectively, produced about 30 guineas! At the present day, they are worth about 250_l._--In _Spanish literature_, the history of South America, by John Duan and Ant. di Ulloa, Madr., fol., in 5 vols., was sold for 5_l._: a fine large paper copy of the description of the monastery of St. Lorenzo, and the Escorial, Madr., 1657, brought 1_l._ 2_s._; de Lastanosa's Spanish medals, Huesca, fol., 1645, 2_l._ 2_s._--In _English_, the first edition of Shakspeare, 1623, which is now what a French bibliographer would say, "presque introuvable," produced the sum of 3_l._ 3_s._; and Fuller's Worthies, 18_s._!----_Fine Arts, Antiquities, and Voyages._ Sandrart's works, in 9 folio volumes (of which a fine perfect copy is now rarely to be met with, and of very great value) were sold for 13_l._ 13_s._ only: Desgodetz Roman edifices, Paris, 1682, 4_l._ 10_s._ Galleria Giustiniano, 2 vols., fol., 13_l._ 13_s._ Le Brun's Voyages in Muscovy, &c., in large paper, 4_l._ 4_s._ De Rossi's Raccolta de Statue, &c., Rom., 1704, 6_l._ 10_s._ Medailles du Regne de Louis le Grand: de l'Imp. Roy. 1. p. fol., 1702, 5_l._ 15_s._ 6_d._----The works on _Natural History_ brought still higher prices: but the whole, from the present depreciation of money, and increased rarity of the articles, would now bring thrice the sums then given.--Of the _Greek and Latin Classics_, the Pliny of 1469 and 1472 were sold to Dr. Askew, for 11_l._ 11_s._ and 7_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._ At the Doctor's sale they brought 43_l._ and 23_l._, although the first was lately sold (A.D. 1805) among some duplicates of books belonging to the British Museum, at a much lower price: the copy was, in fact, neither large nor beautiful. Those in Lord Spencer's, and the Hunter and Cracherode collections, are greatly superior, and would each bring more than double the price. From a priced copy of the sale catalogue, upon _large paper_, and uncut, in my possession, I find that the amount of the sale, consisting of 5126 articles, was 3091_l._ 6_s._ The _Prints, and Drawings_ of Mr. Folkes occupied a sale of 8 days: and his _pictures_, _gems_, _coins_, and _mathematical instruments_, of five days. Mr. MARTIN FOLKES may justly be ranked among the most useful, as well as splendid, literary characters, of which this country can boast. He appears to have imbibed, at a very early age, an extreme passion for science and literature; and to have distinguished himself so much at the University of Cambridge, under the able tuition of Dr. Laughton, that, in his 23rd year, he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society. About two years afterwards he was chosen one of the council; and rose in succession to the chair of the presidentship, which, as Lysander above truly says, he filled with a credit and celebrity that has since never been surpassed. On this occasion he was told by Dr. Jurin, the Secretary, who dedicated to him the 34th vol. of the Transactions, that "the greatest man that ever lived (Sir Isaac Newton) singled him out to fill the chair, and to preside in the society, when he himself was so frequently prevented by indisposition; and that it was sufficient to say of him that he was _Sir Isaac's friend_." Within a few years afterwards, he was elected President of the Society of Antiquaries. Two situations, the filling of which may be considered as the _ne plus ultra_ of literary distinction. Mr. Folkes travelled abroad, with his family, about two years and a half, visiting the cities of Rome, Florence, and Venice--where he was noticed by almost every person of rank and reputation, and whence he brought away many a valuable article to enrich his own collection. He was born in the year 1690, and died of a second stroke of the palsy, under which he languished for three years, in 1754. He seems to have left behind him a considerable fortune. Among his numerous bequests was one to the Royal Society of 200_l._, along with a fine portrait of Lord Bacon, and a large cornelian ring, with the arms of the society engraved upon it, for the perpetual use of the president and his successors in office. The MSS. of his own composition, not being quite perfect, were, to the great loss of the learned world, ordered by him to be destroyed. The following wood-cut portrait is taken from a copper-plate in the _Portraits des Hommes Illustres de Denmark_, 4to., 7 parts, 1746: part 4th, a volume which abounds with a number of copper-plate engravings, _worked off_ in a style of uncommon clearness and brilliancy. Some of the portraits themselves are rather stiff and unexpressive; but the vignettes are uniformly tasteful and agreeable. The seven parts are rarely found in an equal state of perfection. [Illustration] Dr. Birch has drawn a very just and interesting character of this eminent man, which may be found in Nichols's _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, pp. 562-7. Mr. Edwards, the late ornithologist, has described him in a simple, but appropriate, manner. "He seemed," says he, "to have attained to universal knowledge; for, in the many opportunities I have had of being in his company, almost every part of science has happened to be the subject of discourse, all of which he handled as an adept. He was a man of great politeness in his manners, free from all pedantry and pride, and, in every respect, the real, unaffected, fine gentleman."] ALMAN. Pray keep to this earth, and condescend to notice us mortals of flesh and blood, who have heard of Dr. Mead, and Martin Folkes, only as eminently learned and tasteful characters. LYSAND. I crave your forgiveness. But Dr. Mead's cabinet of coins, statues, and books, was so liberally thrown open for the public inspection that it was hardly possible for modest merit, if properly made known to him, to depart unrewarded or ungratified. Nor does the renowned President of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies--Martin Folkes--merit a less warm eulogy; for he filled these distinguished situations with a credit which has never since been surpassed. But there is yet an illustrious tribe to be recorded. We have, first, RICHARD RAWLINSON,[383] brother of the renowned _Tom Folio_, whose choice and tasteful collection of books, as recorded in auctioneering annals, is deserving of high commendation. But his name and virtues are better known in the University, to which he was a benefactor, than to the noisy circles of the metropolis. The sale of ORATOR HENLEY'S books "followed hard upon" that of Richard Rawlinson's; and if the spirit of their owner could, from his "gilt tub," have witnessed the grimaces and jokes which marked the sale--with the distorted countenances and boisterous laughter which were to be seen on every side--how it must have writhed under the smart of general ridicule, or have groaned under the torture of contemptuous indignation! Peace to Henley's[384] vexed _manes_!--and similar contempt await the efforts of all literary quacks and philosophical knaves! [Footnote 383: "BIBLIOTHECA RAWLINSONIANA, _sive Catalogus Librorum Richardi Rawlinson_, LL.D. Qui prostabunt Venales sub hasta, Apud Samuelem Baker, In Vico dicto York-street, Covent Garden, Londoni, Die Lunæ 29 Marti MDCCLVI." With the following whimsical Greek motto in the title-page: [Greek: Kai gar o taôs dia to spanion thaumazetai]. EUBULUS. ("The peacock is admired on account of its rarity.") This valuable library must have contained nearly 25,000 volumes, multiplying the number of articles (9405) by 3--the usual mode of calculation. Unfortunately, as was the case with Dr. Mead's and Mr. Folkes's, the books were not arranged according to any particular classification. Old black-letter English were mixed with modern Italian, French, and Latin; and novels and romances interspersed with theology and mathematics. An _alphabetical_ arrangement, be the books of whatever kind they may, will in general obviate the inconvenience felt from such an undigested plan; and it were "devoutly to be wished," by all true bibliographers, that an act of parliament should pass for the due observance of this alphabetical order. We all know our A, B, C, but have not all analytical heads; or we may differ in our ideas of analysis. The scientific and alphabetical _united_ is certainly better; like Mr. Harris's excellent catalogue, noticed at p. 99, ante. The "_Méthode pour dresser une bibliothéque_," about which De Bure, Formey, and Peignot have so solemnly argued, is not worth a moment's discussion. Every man likes to be his own librarian, as well as "his own broker." But to return to Dr. Rawlinson's collection. On examining a priced catalogue of it, which now lies before me, I have not found any higher sum offered for a work than 4_l._ 1_s._ for a collection of fine prints, by Aldegrever. (No. 9405.) The Greek and Latin Classics, of which there were few _Editiones Principes_, or on _large paper_, brought the usual sums given at that period. The old English black-letter books, which were pretty thickly scattered throughout the collection, were sold for exceedingly low prices--if the copies were perfect. Witness the following: £ _s._ _d._ The Newe Testament in English, 1500 0 2 9 The Ymage of both Churches, after the Revelation of St. John, by Bale, 1550 0 1 6 The boke called the Pype or Tonne of Perfection, by Richard Whytforde, 1553 0 1 9 The Visions of Pierce Plowman, 1561 0 2 0 The Creede of Pierce Plowman, 1532 0 1 6 The Bookes of Moses, in English, 1530 0 3 9 Bale's Actes of English Votaryes, 1550 0 1 3 The Boke of Chivalrie, by Caxton 0 11 0 The Boke of St. Alban's, by W. de Worde 1 1 0 These are only very few of the rare articles in English literature; of the whole of which (perhaps upwards of 200 in number) I believe the boke of St. Albans brought the highest sum. Hence it will be seen that this was not the age of curious research into the productions of our ancestors. Shakspeare had not then appeared in a proper _variorum edition_. Theobald, Pope, and Warburton, had not investigated the =black-letter= lore of ancient English writers for the illustration of their favourite author. This was reserved for Capell, Farmer, Steevens, Malone, Chalmers, Reed, and Douce: and it is expressly to these latter gentlemen (for Johnson and Hanmer were very sparing, or very shy, of the black-letter), that we are indebted for the present spirit of research into the works of our ancestors. The sale of the _books_ lasted 50 days. There was a second sale of _pamphlets, books of prints, &c._, in the following year, which lasted 10 days: and this was immediately succeeded by a sale of the doctor's _single prints and drawings_, which continued 8 days. Dr. Rawlinson's benefactions to Oxford, besides his Anglo-Saxon endowment at St. John's College, were very considerable; including, amongst other curiosities, _a series of medals of the Popes_, which the Doctor supposed to be one of the most complete collections in Europe; and a great number of valuable MSS., which he directed to be safely locked up, and not to be opened till seven years after his decease. He died on the 6th of April, 1755. To St. John's College, where he had been a gentleman commoner, Dr. Rawlinson left the bulk of his estate, amounting to near 700_l._ a year: _a plate of Abp. Laud_, 31 volumes of _Parliamentary Journals and Debates_, a set of _Rymer's Foedera_, his _Greek_, _Roman_, and _English coins_, not given to the Bodleian Library; all his plates engraved at the expense of the Society of Antiquaries; his diploma, and his _heart_; which latter is placed in a beautiful urn against the chapel wall, with this inscription: Urbi thesaurus, ibi cor. RIC. RAWLINSON, LL.D. & ANT. S.S. Olim hujus collegii superioris ordinis commensalis. Obiit. vi. Apr. MDCCLV. Hearne speaks of him, in the preface of his _Tit. Liv. For. Jul. vita Hen. V._, p. xvi., as "vir antiquis moribus ornatus, perque eam viam euns, quæ ad immortalem gloriam ducit."] [Footnote 384: This gentleman's library, not so remarkable for the black-letter as for whimsical publications, was sold by auction, by Samuel Paterson (the earliest sale in which I find this well known book-auctioneer engaged), in June, 1759, and the three ensuing evenings. The title of the Sale Catalogue is as follows:----"_A Catalogue of the original MSS. and manuscript collections of the late_ Reverend Mr. JOHN HENLEY, A.M., Independent Minister of the Oratory, &c., in which are included sundry collections of the late Mons. des Maizeaux, the learned editor of Bayle, &c., Mr. Lowndes, author of the Report for the Amendment of Silver coins, &c., Dr. Patrick Blair, Physician at Boston, and F.R.S., &c. Together with original letters and papers of State, addressed to Henry d'Avenant, Esq., her Britannic Majesty's Envoy at Francfort, from 1703 to 1708 inclusive." Few libraries have contained more curious and remarkable publications than did this. The following articles, given as notable specimens, remind us somewhat of Addison's memoranda for the Spectator, which the waiter at the coffee-house picked up and read aloud for the amusement of the company.----No. 166. God's Manifestation by a Star to the Dutch. A mortifying Fast-Diet at Court. On the Birth Day of the first and oldest young Gentleman. All corrupt: none good; no, not one.----168. General Thumbissimo. The Spring reversed, or the Flanderkin's Opera and Dutch Pickle Herrings. The Creolean Fillip, or Royal Mishap. A Martial Telescope, &c. England's Passion Sunday, and April Changelings.----170. Speech upon Speech. A Telescope for Tournay. No Battle, but worse, and the True Meaning of it. An Army beaten and interred.----174. Signs when the P. will come. Was Captain Sw-n, a Prisoner on Parole, to be catechised? David's Opinion of like Times. The Seeds of the plot may rise though the leaves fall. A Perspective, from the Blair of Athol. The Pretender's Popery. Murder! Fire! Where! Where!----178. Taking Carlise, catching an eel by the tail. Address of a Bishop, Dean, and Clergy. Swearing to the P----r, &c. Anathema denounced against those parents, Masters, and Magistrates, that do not punish the Sin at Stokesley. A Speech, &c. A Parallel between the Rebels to K. Charles I. and those to his successor. _Jane Cameron_ looked killing at _Falkirk_.----179. Let Stocks be knighted, write, Sir Bank, &c., the Ramhead Month. A Proof that the Writers against Popery, fear it will be established in this Kingdom. A Scheme wisely blabbed to root and branch the Highlanders. Let St. Patrick have fair Play, &c.----Of ORATOR HENLEY I have not been able to collect any biographical details, more interesting than those which are to be found in Warburton's notes to Pope's Dunciad: He was born at Melton Mowbray, in Leicestershire, in 1692, and was brought up at St. John's College, in the University of Cambridge. After entering into orders, he became a preacher in London, and established a lecture on Sunday evenings, near Lincoln's-Inn Fields, and another on Wednesday evenings, chiefly on political and scientific subjects. Each auditor paid one shilling for admission. "He declaimed," says Warburton, "against the greatest persons, and occasionally did our poet (Pope) that honour. When he was at Cambridge, he began to be uneasy; for it shocked him to find he was commanded to believe against his own judgment in points of religion, philosophy, &c.: for his genius leading him freely to _dispute all propositions_, and _call all points to account_, he was impatient under those fetters of the free-born mind." When he was admitted into priest's orders, he thought the examination so short and superficial that he considered it "_not necessary to conform to the Christian religion_, in order either to be a deacon or priest." With these quixotic sentiments he came to town; and "after having, for some years, been a writer for the booksellers, he had an ambition to be so for ministers of state." The only reason he did not rise in the church, we are told, "was the envy of others, and a disrelish entertained of him, because _he was not qualified to be a complete spaniel_." However, he offered the service of his pen to two great men, of opinions and interests directly opposite: but being rejected by both of them, he set up a new project, and styled himself, "_The restorer of ancient eloquence._" Henley's pulpit, in which he preached, "was covered with velvet, and adorned with gold." It is to this that Pope alludes, in the first couplet of his second book of the Dunciad: High on a gorgeous seat, that far outshone HENLEY'S _gilt tub_---- "He had also an altar, and placed over it this extraordinary inscription, '_The primitive Eucharist._'" We are told by his friend Welsted (narrative in Oratory Transact. No. 1) that "he had the assurance to form a plan, which no mortal _ever thought of_; he had success against all opposition; challenged his adversaries to fair disputations, and _none would dispute with him_: he wrote, read, and studied, twelve hours a day; composed three dissertations a week on all subjects; undertook to teach in _one year_ what schools and universities teach in _five_: was not terrified by menaces, insults, or satires; but still proceeded, matured his bold scheme, and put the church and _all that in danger_!" See note to Dunciad, book iii., v. 199. Pope has described this extraordinary character with singular felicity of expression: But, where each science lifts its modern type, Hist'ry her Pot, Divinity her Pipe, While proud philosophy repines to shew, Dishonest sight! his breeches rent below; Imbrown'd with native bronze, lo! Henley stands, Tuning his voice and balancing his hands. How fluent nonsense trickles from his tongue! How sweet the periods, neither said nor sung! Still break the benches, Henley! with thy strain, While SHERLOCK, HARE, and GIBSON, preach in vain. Oh great restorer of the good old stage, Preacher at once, and zany of thy age, Oh worthy thou, of Egypt's wise abodes, A decent priest, where monkeys were the gods! But fate with butchers plac'd thy priestly stall, Meek modern faith to murder, hack, and mawl; And bade thee live, to crown Britannia's praise, In TOLAND'S, TINDAL'S, and in WOOLSTON'S days. _Dunciad_, b. iii., v. 190, &c. Bromley, in his catalogue of engraved Portraits, mentions _four_ of orator Henley: two of which are inscribed, one by Worlidge "The Orator of Newport Market;" another (without engraver's name) "A Rationalist." There is a floating story which I have heard of Henley. He gave out that he would shew a new and expeditious method of converting a pair of boots into shoes. A great concourse of people attended, expecting to see something very marvellous; when Henley mounted his "tub," and, holding up a boot, he took a knife, and _cut away the leg part of the leather_!] There are, I had almost said, innumerable contemporaneous bibliomaniacal characters to be described--or rather, lesser stars or satellites that move, in their now unperceived orbits, around the great planets of the book world--but, at this protracted hour of discussion, I will not pretend even to mention their names. LIS. Yet, go on--unless the female part of the audience be weary--go on describing, by means of your great telescopic powers, every little white star that is sprinkled in this bibliomaniacal _Via Lactea_![385] [Footnote 385: With great submission to the "reminescential" talents of Lysander, he might have devoted one _minute_ to the commendation of the very curious library of JOHN HUTTON, which was disposed of, by auction, in the same year (1764) in which Genl. Dormer's was sold. Hutton's library consisted almost entirely of _English Literature_: the rarest books in which are printed in the italic type. When the reader is informed that "_Robinsons Life, Actes, and Death of Prince Arthur_," and his "_ancient order, societie, and unitie, laudable of the same_," 1583, 4to. (see no. 2730; concerning which my worthy friend, Mr. Haslewood, has discoursed so accurately and copiously: _British Bibliographer_, vol. i., pp. 109; 125), when he is informed that this produced only 9_s._ 6_d._--that "_Hypnerotomachia_," 1592, 4to. (no. 2755), was sold for only 2_s._--the _Myrrour of Knighthood_, 1585, 4to. (no. 2759), only 5_s._--_Palmerin of England_, 3 pts. in 3 vols. 1602, 1639, 4to. (no. 2767), 14_s._--_Painter's Palace of Pleasure_, 2 vols. in 1, 1566-7, 4to. (no. 2770)--when, I say, the tender-hearted bibliomaniac thinks that all these rare and precious black letter gems were sold, collectively, for only 2_l._ 16_s._ 6_d._!--what must be his reproaches upon the lack of spirit which was evinced at this sale! Especially must his heart melt within him, upon looking at the produce of some of these articles at the sale of George Steevens' books, only 36 years afterwards! No depreciation of money can account for this woful difference. I possess a wretchedly priced copy of the _Bibl. Huttoniana_, which I purchased, without title-page or a decent cover, at the sale of Mr. Gough's books, for 11_s._ Lysander ought also to have noticed in its chronological order, the extensive and truly valuable library of ROBERT HOBLYN; the catalogue of which was published in the year 1769, 8vo., in two parts: pp. 650. I know not who was the author of the arrangement of this collection; but I am pretty confident that the judicious observer will find it greatly superior to every thing of its kind, with hardly even the exception of the _Bibliotheca Croftsiana_. It is accurately and handsomely executed, and wants only an index to make it truly valuable. The collection, moreover, is a very sensible one. My copy is upon _large paper_; which is rather common.] ALMAN. Upon my word, Lisardo, there is no subject however barren, but what may be made fruitful by your metaphorical powers of imagination. LIS. Madam, I entreat you not to be excursive. Lysander has taken a fresh sip of his nectar, and has given a hem or two--preparing to resume his narrative. LYSAND. We have just passed over the bar that separates the one half of the 18th century from the other: and among the ensuing eminent collectors, whose brave fronts strike us with respect, is GENERAL DORMER:[386] a soldier who, I warrant you, had faced full many a cannon, and stormed many a rampart, with courage and success. But he could not resist the raging influence of the Book-Mania: nor could all his embrasures and entrenchments screen him from the attacks of this insanity. His collection was both select and valuable. [Footnote 386: "_A Catalogue of the genuine and elegant Library of the late_ Sir C.C. DORMER, collected by Lieutenant General James Dormer; which will be sold, &c., by Samuel Baker, at his house in York-Street, Covent Garden; to begin on Monday, February the 20th, 1764, and to continue the nineteen following evenings." At the end of the catalogue we are told that the books were "in general of the best editions, and in the finest condition, many of them in _large paper_, bound in morocco, gilt leaves," &c. This was a very choice collection of books; consisting almost entirely of French, Greek, Latin, Italian, and Spanish. The number of articles did not exceed 3082; and of volumes, probably not 7000. The catalogue is neatly printed, and copies of it on _large paper_ are exceedingly scarce. Among the most curious and valuable articles are the following:----no. 599. Les Glorieuses Conquestes de Louis le Grand, par Pontault, _en maroquin_. Paris, 1678. ("_N.B. In this copy many very fine and rare portraits are added, engraved by the most eminent masters._")----no. 604. Recueil des Maisons Royales, fort bien gravés par Sylvestre, &c. (N.B. In the book was the following note. "_Ce recueil des Maisons Royales n'est pas seulement complet, en toutes manières, mais on y a ajouté plusieurs plans, que l'on ne trouvent que très rarement._")----no. 731. Fabian's Chronicle, 1559.----752, Hall's ditto. 1548.----751. Higden's Polychronicon. 1527. (I suspect that Dr. Askew purchased the large paper Hutchinson's Xenophon, and Hudson's Thucydides. nos. 2246, 2585.)----no. 2249. Don Quixote, por Cervantes. Madr., 4to., 1605. In hoc libro hæc nota est. "_Cecy est l'edition originale; il y a une autre du mesme année, imprimée en quarto à Madrid, mais imprimée apres cecy. J'ay veu l'autre, et je les ay comparez avec deux autres editions du mesme année, 1605; une imprimée à Lisbonne, en 4to., l'autre en Valentia, en_ 8vo."----no. 2590. Thuanus by Buckley, on _large paper_, in 14 volumes, folio; a magnificent copy, illustrated with many beautiful and rare portraits of eminent characters, mentioned by De Thou. (N.B. This very copy was recently sold for 74_l._)----From no. 2680 to the end of the Catalogue (401 articles) there appears a choice collection of Italian and Spanish books.] We have before noticed the celebrated diplomatic character, CONSUL SMITH, and have spoken with due respect of his library: let us here, therefore, pass by him,[387] in order to take a full and complete view of a _Non-Pareil_ Collector: the first who, after the days of Richard Smith, succeeded in reviving the love of black-letter lore and of Caxtonian typography--need I say JAMES WEST?[388] [Footnote 387: The reader has had a sufficiently particular account of the book-collections of CONSUL SMITH, at p. 95, ante, to render any farther discussion superfluous. As these libraries were collected _abroad_, the catalogues of them were arranged in the place here referred to.] [Footnote 388: I am now to notice, in less romantic manner than Lysander, a collection of books, in _English Literature_, which, for rarity and value, in a proportionate number, have never been equalled; I mean the library of JAMES WEST, Esq., _President of the Royal Society_. The sale commenced on March 29, 1773, and continued for the twenty-three following days. The catalogue was digested by Samuel Paterson, a man whose ability in such undertakings has been generally allowed. The title was as follows: "BIBLIOTHECA WESTIANA; _A Catalogue of the curious and truly valuable library of the late_ JAMES WEST, Esq., _President of the Royal Society, deceased_; comprehending a choice collection of books in various languages, and upon most branches of polite literature: more especially such as relate to the history and antiquities of Great Britain and Ireland; their early navigators, discoverers, and improvers, and the _ancient English literature_: of which there are a great number of uncommon books and tracts, elucidated by MS. notes and original letters, and embellished with scarce portraits and devices, rarely to be found: including the works of Caxton, Lettou, Machlinia, the anonymous St. Albans school-master, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, and the rest of the old English typographers. Digested by Samuel Paterson, and sold by Messrs. Langfords." The title-page is succeeded by the PREFACE. "The following catalogue exhibits a very curious and uncommon collection of printed books and tracts. Of British History and Antiquities, and of _Rare Old English Literature_, the most copious of any which has appeared for several years past; formed with great taste, and a thorough knowledge of authors and characters, by that judicious critic and able antiquary the late JAMES WEST, Esq., President of the Royal Society. Several anonymous writers are herein brought to light--many works enlarged and further explained by their respective authors and editors--and a far greater number illustrated with the MS. notes and observations of some of our most respectable antiquaries: among whom will be found the revered names of Camden, Selden, Spelman, Somner, Dugdale, Gibson, Tanner, Nicolson, Gale, Le Neve, Hearne, Anstis, Lewis, St. Amand, Ames, Browne, Willis, Stukely, Mr. West, &c. But, above all, the intense application and unwearied diligence of the admirable Bishop White Kennett, upon the ecclesiastical, monastical, constitutional, and topographical history of Great Britain, so apparent throughout this collection, furnish matter even to astonishment; and are alone sufficient to establish the reputation, and to perpetuate the memory, of this illustrious prelate, without any other monuments of his greatness." "In an age of general inquiry, like the present, when studies less interesting give place to the most laudable curiosity and thirst after investigating every particular relative to the history and literature of our own country, nothing less than an elaborate digest of this valuable library could be expected; and, as a supplement to the history of English literature, more desired." "That task the Editor has cheerfully undertaken: and, he flatters himself, executed as well as the short time allowed would permit. He further hopes, to the satisfaction of such who are capable of judging of its utility and importance." "The lovers of engraved English portraits (a species of modern connoisseurship which appears to have been first started by the late noble Earl of Oxford, afterwards taken up by Mr. West, Mr. Nicolls, editor of Cromwell's State-Papers, Mr. Ames, &c., and since perfected by the Muse of Strawberry-Hill, the Rev. Wm. Granger, and some few more ingenious collectors) may here look to find a considerable number of singular and scarce heads, and will not be disappointed in their search." Thus much Paterson; who, it must be confessed, has promised more than he has performed: for the catalogue, notwithstanding it was the _second_ which was published (the first being by a different hand, and most barbarously compiled) might have exhibited better method and taste in its execution. Never were rare and magnificent books more huddled together and smothered, as it were, than in this catalogue. Let us now proceed to an analysis of Mr. West's Collection. 1. _Volumes of Miscellaneous Tracts._ These volumes extend from no. 148 to 200, from 915 to 992, from 1201 to 1330, and from no. 1401 to 1480.--Among them are some singularly choice and curious articles. The following is but an imperfect specimen. NO. 154. Atkyns on Printing, _with the frontispiece_, &c., &c., 4to. 164. G. Whetstone's Honorable Profession of a Soldier, 1586, &c., 4to. 179. Life and death of Wolsey, 1641, &c. 183. Nashe's Lenten Stuffe, with the Praise of the Red Herring, 1599, &c. 4to. (the three articles together did not exceed) £0 12_s._ 0_d._ 188. A Mornynge Remembrance, had at the Moneth Mynde of the Noble Prynces Countesse of Rychmonde, &c. Wynkyn de Worde, &c. 4to. 2 2 0 194. Oh! read over Dr. John Bridges, for it is a worthie Worke, &c. bl. letter, &c. 4to. Strange and fearful Newes from Plasto, near Bow, in the house of one Paul Fox, a Silk Weaver, where is daily to be seene throwing of Stones, Bricbats, Oyster-shells, Bread, cutting his Work in Pieces, breaking his Windows, &c. _No date_, 4to. 0 12 6 1477. Leylande's Journey and Serche, given of hym as a Newe Yeares Gyfte to K. Henry 8th, enlarged by Bale, bl. letter, 1549, 8vo., (with three other curious articles.) 0 17 6 1480. A disclosing of the great Bull and certain Calves that he hath gotten, and especially the Monster Bull that roared at my Lord Byshop's gate. Bl. letter, pr. by Daye. No date. 4to. The preceding affords but a very inadequate idea of the "pithie, pleasant, and profitable" discourses mid tracts which abounded among the miscellaneous articles of Mr. West's library. Whatever be the defects of modern literature, it must be allowed that we are not _quite so coarse_ in the _title pages_ of our books. 2. _Divinity._ This comprehended a vast mass of information, under the following general title. Scarce Tracts: Old and New Testaments (including almost all the first English editions of the New Testament, which are now of the rarest occurrence): Commentators: Ecclesiastical History: Polemics: Devotions, Catholic and Calvinistical: Enthusiasm: Monastical History: Lives of Saints: Fathers: Missionaries: Martyrs: Modern Divines and Persons of eminent piety: Free Thinkers: Old English Primers: Meditations: Some of the earliest Popish and Puritanical Controversy: Sermons by old English Divines, &c. In the whole 560 articles: probably about 1200 volumes. These general heads are sufficient to satisfy the bibliographer that, with such an indefatigable collector as was Mr. West, the greater part of the theological books must have been extremely rare and curious. From so _many Caxtons_, _Wynkyn de Wordes_, _Pynsons, &c._, it would be difficult to select a _few_ which should give a specimen of the value of the rest. Suffice it to observe that such a cluster of _Black Letter Gems_, in this department of English literature, has never since been seen in any sale catalogue. 3. _Education, Languages, Criticism, Classics, Dictionaries, Catalogues of Libraries, &c._ There were about 700 volumes in these departments. The catalogues of English books, from that of Maunsell in 1595, to the latest before Mr. West's time, were nearly complete. The treatises on education, and translations of the ancient classics, comprehended a curious and uncommon collection. The Greek and Latin Classics were rather select than rare. 4. _English Poetry, Romances, and Miscellanies._ This interesting part of the collection comprehended about 355 articles, or probably about 750 volumes: and, if the singularly rare and curious books which may be found _under these heads alone_ were now to be concentrated in one library, the owner of them might safely demand 4000 guineas for such a treasure! I make no doubt but that his MAJESTY is the fortunate possessor of the greater number of articles under all the foregoing heads. 5. _Philosophy, Mathematics, Inventions, Agriculture, and Horticulture, Medicine, Cookery, Surgery, &c._ Two hundred and forty articles, or about 560 volumes. 6. _Chemistry, Natural History, Astrology, Sorcery, Gigantology._ Probably not more than 100 volumes. The word "Gigantology," first introduced by Mr. Paterson, I believe, into the English language, was used by the French more than two centuries ago. See no. 2198 in the catalogue. 7. _History and Antiquities._ This comprehended a great number of curious and valuable productions, relating both to foreign and domestic transactions. 8. _Heraldry and Genealogy._ An equal number of curious and scarce articles may be found under these heads. 9. _Antient Legends and Chronicles._ To the English antiquary, few departments of literature are more interesting than this. Mr. West seems to have paid particular attention to it, and to have enriched his library with many articles of this description of the rarest occurrence. The lovers of Caxton, Fabian, Hardyng, Hall, Grafton, and Holinshed, may be highly gratified by inspecting the various editions of these old chroniclers. I entreat the diligent bibliographer to examine the first 8 articles of page 209 of the catalogue. Alas! when will such gems again glitter at one sale? The fortunate period for collectors is gone by: a knowledge of books almost every where prevails. At York, at Exeter, at Manchester, and at Bristol, as well as in London, this knowledge may be found sometimes on the dusty stall, as well as in the splendid shop. The worth of books begins to be considered by a different standard from that of the quantity of gold on the exterior! We are now for "_drinking deep_," as well as "_tasting_!" But I crave pardon for this digression, and lose sight of Mr. West's _uniques_. 10. _Topography._ Even to a veteran like the late Mr. Gough, such a collection as may be found from p. 217 to 239 of the catalogue, would be considered a very first-rate acquisition. I am aware that the Gothic wainscot and stained glass windows of _Enfield Study_ enshrined a still more exquisite topographical collection! But we are improved since the days of Mr. West; and every body knows to _whom_ these improvements are, in a great measure, to be attributed! When I call to mind the author of "_British Topography_" and "_Sepulchral Monuments_," I am not insensible to the taste, diligence, and erudition of the "par nobile fratrum," who have gratified us with the "_Environs of London_," and the three volumes of "_Magna Britannia_!" Catalogues of Mr. West's library, with the sums for which the books were sold, are now found with difficulty, and bring a considerable price. The late Mr. G. Baker, who had a surprisingly curious collection of priced catalogues, was in possession of the _original sale_ one of West's library. It is interleaved, and, of course, has the prices and names of the purchasers. Mr. Heber has also a priced copy, with the names, which was executed by my industrious and accurate predecessor, William Herbert, of typographico-antiquarian renown. The number of articles, on the whole, was 4653; and of the volumes as many articles were single, probably about 8000. _Ample_ as some "pithy" reader may imagine the foregoing analysis to be, I cannot find it in my heart to suffer such a collection, as was the _Bibliotheca Westiana_, to be here dismissed in so _summary_ a manner. Take, therefore, "pleasaunt" reader, the following account of the _prices_ for which some of the aforesaid book-gems were sold. They are presented to thee as a matter of curiosity only; and not as a criterion of their present value. And as MASTER CAXTON has of late become so popular amongst us, we will see, inter alios, what some of the books printed by so "simple a person" produced at this renowned sale. NO. 564. Salesbury (Wyllyam) his Dictionary in Englyshe and Welshe, moste necessary to all such Welshemen as wil spedly learne the English tongue, &c. _Printed by Waley_, 1547, 4to. £0 17_s._ 0_d._ 566. Mulcaster (Rich.) of the right writing of our English Tung. _Imp. by Vautrollier_, 1582, 4to. 0 2 6 575. Florio's Frutes to be gathered of 12 trees of divers but delyghtfule tastes to the Tongues of Italians and Englishmen, also his Garden of Recreation, &c., 1591, 4to. 0 6 6 580. Eliot's Indian Grammar, _no title_. 0 4 0 Thus much for GRAMMATICAL TRACTS. 808. The fyve Bokes of Moses, wythe the Prologes of Wyllyam Tyndale, b.b. 1534, _printed in different characters at different periods_, 8vo. 4 4 0 813. The Actes of the Apostles translated into Englyshe metre, by Chrystofer Tye, Doctor in musyke, with notes to synge, and also to play upon the lute. _Printed by Seres_, 1553, 12mo. 0 11 6 819. The Newe Testament, with the Prologes of Wyllyam Tyndale, cuts, printed at Andwarp, &c., 1534, 12mo. 0 18 0 820. The same, with the same cuts, emprynted at Antwerpe, by M. Crom, 1538, _a fine copy, in morocco binding_ (title wanting). 2 4 0 1341. The Gospels of the fower Evangelists, translated in the olde Saxons Tyme, &c. Sax. and Eng. Imprinted by Daye, 1571, 4to. 1 12 0 1383. The Discipline of the Kirk of Scotlande, subscribet by the Handes off Superintendentes, one parte off Ministers, and scribet in oure generalle Assemblies ad Edenbourg, 28 Decemb., 1566. _No title._ 4to. 1 3 0 1714. The most sacred Bible, recognised with great diligence by Richard Taverner, &c., _printed by Byddell for Barthelet, 1539, in russia_. 3 5 0 1716. The Byble in Englyshe of the largest and greatest volume, &c. _Printed by Grafton_, 1541, Folio. 1 3 0 1870. Speculum Vite Christi, the Booke that is cleped the Myrroure of the blessed Lyf of Jhesu Cryste, _emprynted by Caxton_, fol., _no date, fine copy in morocco_. 9 9 0 1871. The prouffytable Boke for Mannes Soule, &c., _emprynted by Caxton_, fol., no date, a fine copy in morocco. 5 0 0 1873. Cordyale, or of the fowre last Thynges, &c., _emprynted by Caxton_, 1480, fol., _fine copy in morocco_. 14 0 0 1874. The Pylgremage of the Sowle, &c., 1483, folio, _emprynted by Caxton_. 8 17 6 1875. The Booke entytled and named Ryal, &c., _translated and printed by Caxton_, 1484, _fine morocco copy_. 10 0 0 1876. The Arte and Crafte to knowe well to dye; _translated and prynted by Caxton_, 1490, folio. 5 2 6 So take we leave of DIVINITY! 1047. Hall's Virgidemiarum, lib. vi. 1599, 1602, 12mo. "Mr. Pope's copy, who presented it to Mr. West, telling him that he esteemed them the best poetry and truest satire in the English language." (N.B. These satires were incorrectly published in 1753, 8vo.: a republication of them, with pertinent notes, would be very acceptable.) 0 18 0 1658. Churchyard's Works; 3 vols. in 1, _very elegant_, bl. letter. 3 13 6 1816. The Passe Tyme of Pleasure, &c., _printed by Wynkyn de Worde_, 1517, 4to., fine copy. 3 3 0 1821. Merie conceited Jests of George Peele, Gent. 1607, 4to. Robin the Devil, his two penni-worth of Wit in half a penni-worth of paper, &c., 1607, 4to. 0 18 6 1846. The Hye Waye to the Spyttell Hous; printed by the compyler Rob. Copland, no date. 0 6 6 1847. Another copy of the Spyttell House; "A thousande fyve hundredth fortye and foure," no printer's name, mark, or date, 4to. Here begynneth a lytell propre Jest, called Cryste Crosse me spede, a b c. 1 11 6 2274. Chaucer's Work; first edition, _emprentyd by Caxton_, folio, _in russia_. 47 15 6 2280. ---- Troylus and Creseyde, _printed b [Transcriber's Note: by] Caxton_, folio. 10 10 0 2281. ---- Booke of Fame, _printed by Caxton_, folio. 4 5 0 2297. Gower de Confessione Amantis; _printed by Caxton_, 1483, folio, _in morocco_. 9 9 0 2282. The Bokys of Haukyng and Hunting; _printed at Seynt Albons_, 1486, _folio: fine copy in morocco_. 13 0 0 And here farewell POETRY! 1678. The Booke of the moste victoryouse Prynce, Guy of Warwick. _Impr. by W. Copland_, 4to. 1 1 0 1683. The Historye of Graunde Amoure and la bell Pucel, &c. _Impr. by John Wayland_, 1554, 4to. 1 2 0 1685. The Historye of Olyver of Castylle, &c. _Impr. by Wynkyn de Worde_, 1518, 4to. 1 12 0 1656. The Booke of the Ordre of Chyvalry or Knyghthode. _Translated and printed by William Caxton_; no date, a fine copy in russia, 4to. 5 5 0 (Shall I put one, or one hundred marks--not of admiration but of astonishment--at this price?! but go on kind reader!) 2480. The Boke of Jason: _emprynted by Caxton_, folio. 4 4 0 2481. The Boke of Fayttes of Armes and of Chyvalrye, _emprynted by Caxton_, 1489, folio. 10 10 0 2582. Thystorye, &c., of the Knyght Parys, and of the fayre Vyenne, &c. 1485, fol., _translated and printed by Caxton_. 14 0 0 [Illustration: CAXTON.] But why should I go on tantalising the S----s, H----s, S----s, R----s, and U----s, of the day, by further specimens of the _enormous_ sums here given for such _common_ editions of old ROMANCES? Mr. George Nicol, his majesty's bookseller, told me, with his usual pleasantry and point, that he got abused in the public papers, by Almon and others, for his having purchased nearly the whole of the Caxtonian volumes in this collection for his Majesty's library. It was said abroad that "a Scotchman had lavished away the king's money in buying old black-letter books." A pretty specimen of _lavishing_ away royal money, truly! There is also another thing, connected with these _invaluable_ (I speak as a bibliomaniac--and, perhaps, as a metaphysician may think--as a fool! but let it pass!) with these invaluable purchases:--his Majesty, in his directions to Mr. Nicol, forbade any competition with those purchasers who wanted books of science and belles-lettres for their _own professional_ or _literary_ pursuits: thus using, I ween, the powers of his purse in a manner at once merciful and wise.--"O si sic"--may we say to many a heavy-metalled book-auction bibliomaniac of the present day!--Old Tom Payne, the father of the respectable Mr. Payne, of Pall-Mall, used to tell Mr. Nichol--_pendente hastâ_--that he had been "raising all the CAXTONS!" "Many a copy," quoth he, "hath _stuck_ in my shop at two guineas!" Mr. NICHOLS, in his amusing biography of Bowyer, has not devoted so large a portion of his pages to the description of Mr. West's collection, life, and character, as he has to many collectors who have been less eminently distinguished in the bibliographical world. Whether this was the result of the paucity, or incongruity, of his materials, or whether, from feelings of delicacy he might not choose to declare all he knew, are points into which I have neither right nor inclination to enquire. There seems every reason to conclude that, from youth, West had an elegant and well-directed taste in matters of literature and the fine arts. As early as the year 1720, he shewed the munificence of his disposition, in these respects, by befriending Hearne with a plate for his _Antiquities of Glastonbury_; see p. 285--which was executed, says Hearne, "Sumptibus ornatissimi amicissimique Juvenis (multis sane nominibus de studiis nostris optime meriti) JACOBI WEST," &c. So in his pref. to _Adam de Domerham de reb. gest. Glaston_:--"antiquitatum ac historiarum nostrarum studiosus in primis--Jacobus West." p. xx. And in his _Walter Hemingford_, we have:--"fragmentum, ad civitatem Oxoniensem pertinens, admodum egregium, mihi dono dedit amicus eximius Jacobus West--is quem alibi juvenem ornatissimum appellavi," &c., p. 428. How the promise of an abundant harvest, in the mature years of so excellent a young man, was realized, the celebrity of West, throughout Europe, to his dying day, is a sufficient demonstration. I conclude with the following; which is literally from Nichols's _Anecdotes of Bowyer_. "James West, of Alscott, in the county of Warwick, Esq., M.A., of Baliol College, Oxford, (son of Richard West, said to be descended, according to family tradition, from Leonard, a younger son of Thomas West, Lord Delawar, who died in 1525) was representative in parliament for St. Alban's, in 1741; and being appointed one of the joint Secretaries of the Treasury, held that office till 1762. In 1765 or 1766, his old patron the Duke of Newcastle, obtained for him a pension of 2000_l._ a year. He was an early member, and one of the Vice Presidents, of the Antiquary Society; and was first Treasurer, and afterwards President, of the Royal Society. He married the daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Stephens, timber merchant, in Southwark, with whom he had a large fortune in houses in Rotherhithe; and by whom he had a son, James West, Esq., now (1782) of Alscott, one of the Auditors of the Land-Tax, and sometime Member of Parliament for Boroughbridge, in Yorkshire (who in 1774 married the daughter of Christopher Wren, of Wroxhall in Warwickshire, Esq.), and had two daughters. Mr. West died in July, 1772. His large and valuable collection of MANUSCRIPTS was sold to the _Earl of Shelburne_, and is now deposited in the British Museum."] LOREN. All hail to thee--transcendant bibliomaniac of other times!--of times, in which my father lived, and procured, at the sale of thy precious book-treasures, not a few of those rare volumes which have so much gladdened the eyes of Lisardo. BELIN. I presume you mean, dear brother, some of those _black-looking_ gentlemen, bound in fancifully marked coats of morocco, and _washed_ and _ironed_ within (for you collectors must have recourse to a woman's occupation) with so much care and nicety that even the eyes of our ancient Rebecca, with "spectacle on nose" to boot, could hardly detect the cunning' conceit of your binder! LOREN. Spare my feelings and your own reputation, if you wish to appreciate justly the noble craft of book-repairing, &c.--But proceed, dear Lysander. LYSAND. You cannot have a greater affection towards the memory of the collector of the _Bibliotheca Westiana_ than myself. Hark--! or is it only a soft murmur from a congregation of autumnal zephyrs!--but methought I heard a sound, as if calling upon us to look well to the future fate of our libraries--to look well to their being _creditably catalogued_--"For" (and indeed it _is_ the voice of West's spirit that speaks) "my collection was barbarously murdered; and hence I am doomed to wander for a century, to give warning to the ----, ----, and ----, of the day, to execute this useful task with their own hands! Yes; even the name of PATERSON has not saved my collection from censure; but his hands were then young and inexperienced--yet I suffer from this innocent error!" Away, away, vexed spirit--and let thy head rest in peace beneath the sod! ALMAN. For heaven's sake, into what society are we introduced, sister? All mad--book mad! but I hope harmless. LYSAND. Allay your apprehensions; for, though we may have the energies of the lion, we have the gentleness of the "unweaned lamb." But, in describing so many and such discordant characters, how can I proceed in the jog-trot way of--"next comes such a one--and then follows another--and afterwards proceeds a third, and now a fourth!?" ALMAN. Sir, you are right, and I solicit your forgiveness. If I have not sufficient bookish enthusiasm to fall down and worship your CAXTONIAN DEITY, JAMES WEST, I am at least fully disposed to concede him every excellent and amiable quality which sheds lustre upon a literary character. LYSAND. All offence is expiated: for look, the spirit walks off calmly--and seems to acknowledge, with satisfaction, such proper sentiments in the breast of one whose father and brother have been benefited by his book treasures. The rapturous, and, I fear you will think, the wild and incoherent, manner in which I have noticed the sale of the _Bibliotheca Westiana_ had nearly driven from my recollection that, in the preceding, the same, and subsequent, year, there was sold by auction a very curious and extraordinary collection of books and Prints belonging to honest TOM MARTIN,[389] _of Palgrave_, in Suffolk: a collector of whom, if I remember rightly, Herbert has, upon several occasions, spoken with a sort of veneration. If Lavater's system of physiognomy happen to receive your approbation, you will conclude, upon contemplating Tom's frank countenance--of which a cut precedes the title-page of the first catalogue--that the collector of Palgrave must have been "a fine old fellow." Martin's book-pursuits were miscellaneous, and perhaps a little too wildly followed up; yet some good fortune contributed to furnish his collection with volumes of singular curiosity. [Footnote 389: "Hereafter followeth" rather a rough outline of the contents of honest Tom Martin's miscellaneous and curious collection. To the IVth part I have added a few prices, and but a few. I respect too much the quiet and comfort of the present race of bibliomaniacs, to inflame their minds by a longer extract of such tantalizing sums given for some of the most extraordinary volumes in English Literature.----I. _A Catalogue of the Library of_ Mr. THOMAS MARTIN, _of Palgrave, in Suffolk, lately deceased. Lynn, Printed by W. Whittingham_, 1772, 8vo. With a portrait engraved by Lamborn, from a painting of Bardwell. 5240 articles; with 15 pages of Appendix, containing MSS.----no. 86. Juliana Barnes on Hawking, &c., black-letter, wants a leaf, folio. 56. Chauncey's History of Hertfordshire, with marginal notes, by P. Le Neve, Esq., 1700, folio. 757. Scriptores Rerum Brunsvicensium, 3 vols. folio, 1707. ("N.B. Only 3 sets in England at the accession of Geo. III.")----II. _A Catalogue of the very curious and numerous collection of Manuscripts of_ THOMAS MARTIN, Esq., _of Suffolk, lately deceased_. Consisting of Pedigrees, Genealogies, Heraldic Papers, Old Deeds, Charters, Sign Manuals, Autographs, &c., likewise some very rare old printed books. Sold by auction by Baker and Leigh, April 28, 1773, 8vo. The MSS. (of many of which Edmonson was a purchaser) consisted of 181 articles, ending with "The 15 O's, in old English verse--St. Bridget." Among the 19 volumes only of "Scarce Printed Books" were the following:--no. 188. Edwards' Paradyse of daynty Devices, 1577. 196. The Holy Life of Saynt Werburge, printed by Pynson, 1521. The Lyfe of Saynte Radegunde, by Pynson. Lyfe of Saynt Katherine, printed by Waley, 4to.----III. _A Catalogue of the remaining Part of the valuable Collection of the late well known Antiquary_, Mr. MARTIN, _of Palgrave, Suffolk_: consisting of many very valuable and ancient Manuscripts on vellum, early printed black-letter Books, and several other scarce Books; his Law Library, Deeds, Grants, and Pedigrees; a valuable collection of Drawings and Prints, by the best masters--and his Collection of Greek, Roman, Saxon, and English Coins--with some curiosities. Sold by auction by Baker and Leigh, 18th May, 1774. 8vo. This collection consisted of 537 articles, exclusively of the coins, &c., which were 75 in number. Among the printed books were several very curious ones; such as----no. 88. The Death and Martyrdom of Campione the Jesuite, 1581, 8vo. 124. Heywood's "If you know not me, you know nobody," 1623, 4to. "This has a wood-cut of the whole length of Q. Elizabeth, and is very scarce." 183. Fabyan's Chronicle. This I take it was the first edition. 186. Promptuarium Parvulorum. Pynson, folio, 1499. See Hearne's Peter Langtoft, vol. ii., 624-5. 228. Dives et Pauper; yis Tretyys ben dyvydit into elevene partys, and ev'ry part is dyvidit into chapitalis. "The above extremely curious and valuable Manuscript on vellum is wrote on 539 pages. Vide Leland, vol. ii., 452: Bale, 609. Pits, 660. MS., 4to." 236. Original Proclamations of Q. Elizabeth, folio. "A most rare collection, and of very great value: the Earl of Oxford once offered Mr. Martin one hundred guineas for them, which he refused." Qu. what they sold for? 237. The Pastyme of the People; the Cronycles of dyvers Realmys, and most specyally of the Realme of Englond, &c., by John Rastell. An elegant copy, in the original binding, large folio, black-letter, London, 1529. "Supposed to be only two or three copies existing;" but see page 337, ante. The folio Manuscripts, extending to no. 345, are very curious; especially the first 60 numbers.----IV. _Bibliotheca Martiniana. A Catalogue of the entire Library of the late eminent Antiquary_ Mr. THOMAS MARTIN, _of Suffolk_. Containing some thousand volumes in every Language, Art, and Science, a large collection of the scarcest early Printers, and some hundreds of Manuscripts, &c., which will begin to be sold very cheap, on Saturday, June 5 (1773). By Martin Booth and John Berry, Booksellers, at their Warehouse in the Angel Yard, Market Place, Norwich, and continue on sale only two months: 8vo. This Catalogue is full of curious, rare, and interesting books; containing 4895 articles; all priced. Take, as a sample, the following: NO. 4071. Wynkyn de Worde's reprint of Juliana Berners' book of Hawking, &c., 1496, folio, 1_l._ 11_s._ 6_d._: no. 4292. Copland's ditto of ditto, fair 7_s._ 6_d._ 4099. A collection of Old Romances in the Dutch Language, with wood-cuts, very fair, 1544 to 1556, folio 10 6 4169. Horace's Art of poetry, by Drant, 1567, 4to. 3 6 4234. A certayne Tragedye, &c., entitled, Freewil, wants title, very fair and scarce, 4to. 5 0 4254. Historie of Prince Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, 1634, 4to. 7 6 4336. The Life off the 70 Archbishopp off Canterbury presentlye sittinge, &c. Imprinted in 1574, 8vo., neat 10 6 A severe satire against Parker, Abp. of Canterbury, for which 'tis said the author was punished with the loss of his arm. 4345. Amorous Tales, by James Sanforde, very rare, printed by Bynneman, 1567, 12mo. (or small 8vo. perhaps) 5 0 4432. Hereafter followeth a little boke whyche hath to name Whye come ye not to court: by Mayster Skelton; printed by Anthony Kytson, no date. A little boke of Philip Sparrow, compiled by Mayster Skelton; printed by Ant. Veale, no date, very fair, both 8vo. 7 6 "This is a most extraordinarily scarce edition of Skelton's Pieces, and has besides these, some other fragments of his by various early printers."] But I proceed. The commotions excited in the book world, by means of the sales of the _Bibliotheca Westiana_ and _Martiniana_, had hardly ceased, when a similar agitation took place from the dispersion of the _Monastic Library_ which once belonged to SERJEANT FLETEWODE;[390] a bibliomaniac who flourished in full vigour during the reign of Elizabeth. The catalogue of these truly curious books is but a sorry performance; but let the lover of rare articles put on his bathing corks, and swim quietly across this ocean of black-letter, and he will be abundantly repaid for the toil of such an aquatic excursion. [Footnote 390: The year following the sale of Mr. West's books, a very curious and valuable collection, chiefly of English literature, was disposed of by auction, by Paterson, who published the catalogue under the following title: "BIBLIOTHECA MONASTICO-FLETEWODIANA." "_A Catalogue of rare books and tracts in various languages and faculties; including the Ancient Conventual Library of Missenden Abbey, in Buckinghamshire_; together with some choice remains of that of the late eminent Serjeant at Law, WILLIAM FLETEWODE, Esq., Recorder of London, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; among which are several specimens of the earliest typography, foreign and English, including Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, and others: a fine collection of English history, some scarce old law books, a great number of old English plays, several choice MSS. upon vellum, and other subjects of literary curiosity. Also several of the best editions of the classics, and modern English and French books. Sold by auction by S. Paterson, December," 1774, 8vo., 3641 lots, or articles. I am in possession of a _priced catalogue_ of this collection, with the names of the purchasers. The latter were principally Herbert, Garrick, Dodd, Elmsley, T. Payne, Richardson, Chapman, Wagstaff, Bindley, and Gough. The following is a specimen of some curious and interesting articles contained in this celebrated library: NO. 172. Bale's brefe Chronycle relating to Syr Johan Oldecastell, 1544. The Life off the 70th Archbishop off Canterbury, presentlye sittinge, 1574, &c. Life of Hen. Hills, Printer to O. Cromwell, with the Relation of what passed between him and the Taylor's Wife in Black Friars, 1688, 8vo., &c. £0 7_s._ 9_d._ Purchased by Mores. 361 to 367. Upwards of thirty _scarce Theological Tracts_, in Latin and English. 1 5 0 746 to 784. A fine collection of early English Translations, in black letter, with some good foreign editions of the classics. Not exceeding, in the whole 10 10 0 837, 838. Two copies of the _first edition_ of Bacon's Essays, 1597. MIRABILE DICTU! 0 0 6 The reader will just glance at no. 970, in the catalogue, en passant, to 1082. (1_l._ 2_s._) and 1091 (12_s._) but more particularly to 1173. The Boke of Tulle of Olde Age, &c. _Emprynted by Caxton_, 1481, folio 8 0 0 1174. The Boke which is sayd or called Cathon, &c. _printed by the same_, 1483, folio. Purchased by Alchorne 5 0 0 1256. The Doctrinal of Sapyence, _printed by the same_, 1489, folio. Purchased by Alchorne 6 6 0 1257. The Booke named the Cordyal, _printed by the same_, 1479, folio 6 12 6 But there is no end to these curious volumes. I will, however, only add that there were upwards of 150 articles of _Old Plays_, mostly in quarto. See page 73. Of _Antiquities_, _Chronicles_, and _Topography_, it would be difficult to pitch upon the rarest volumes. The collection, including very few MSS., contained probably about 7000 volumes. The catalogue, in a clean condition, is somewhat uncommon.] You will imagine that the BOOK-DISEASE now began to be more active and fatal than ever; for the ensuing year (namely, in 1775) died the famous ANTHONY ASKEW, M.D. Those who recollect the zeal and scholarship of this illustrious bibliomaniac,[391] and the precious volumes with which his library was stored, from the choice collections of De Boze, Gaignat, Mead, and Folkes, cannot but sigh, with grief of heart, on reflecting upon such a victim! How ardently, and how kindly (as I remember to have heard one of his intimate friend [Transcriber's Note: friends] say) would Askew unlock the stores of his glittering book-treasures!--open the magnificent folio, or the shining duodecimo, _printed upon vellum_, and embossed with golden knobs, or held fast with silver clasps! How carefully would he unrol the curious _manuscript_, decipher the half effaced characters--and then, casting an eye of ecstacy over the shelves upon which similar treasures were lodged, exult in the glorious prospect before him! But death--who, as Horace tells us, equally exercises the knocker of the palace and cottage-door, made no scruple to rap at that of our renowned Doctor--when Askew, with all his skill in medicine and knowledge of books, yielded to the summons of the grim tyrant--and died lamented, as he lived beloved! [Footnote 391: Lysander is now arrived, pursuing his chronological order, at a very important period in the annals of book-sales. The name and collection of Dr. ASKEW are so well known in the bibliographical world that the reader need not be detained with laboured commendations on either: in the present place, however, it would be a cruel disappointment not to say a word or two by way of preface or prologue. Dr. ANTHONY ASKEW had eminently distinguished himself by a refined taste, a sound knowledge, and an indefatigable research, relating to every thing connected with Grecian and Roman literature. It was to be expected, even during his life, as he was possessed of sufficient means to gratify himself with what was rare, curious, and beautiful, in literature and the fine arts, that the public would one day be benefited by such pursuits: especially as he had expressed a wish that his treasures might be unreservedly submitted to sale, after his decease. In this wish the doctor was not singular. Many eminent collectors had indulged it before him: and, to my knowledge, many modern ones still indulge it. Accordingly, on the death of Dr. Askew, in 1774, appeared, in the ensuing year, a catalogue of his books for sale, by Messrs. Baker and Leigh, under the following title: "BIBLIOTHECA ASKEVIANA, _sive Catalogus Librorum Rarissimorum Antonii Askew, M.D., quorum Auctio fiet apud S. Baker et G. Leigh, in Vico dicto York Street, Covent Garden, Londini, Die Lunæ, 13 Februarii_, MDCCLXXV, _et in undeviginti sequentes dies_." A few copies were struck off on _large paper_, which are yet rather common. My own copy is of this kind, with the prices, and names of the purchasers. We are told, by the compiler of the catalogue, that it was thought "unnecessary to say much with respect to this library of the late Dr. Anthony Askew, as the collector and the collection were so well known in almost all parts of Europe." Afterwards it is observed that "The books in general are in very fine condition, many of them bound in morocco, and russia leather, with gilt leaves." "To give a particular account," continues the compiler, "of the _many scarce editions_ of books in this catalogue would be almost endless, therefore the _first editions_ of the classics, and some _extremely rare books_, are chiefly noticed. The catalogue, without any doubt, contains the best, rarest, and most valuable collection of GREEK and LATIN BOOKS that was ever sold in England, and the great time and trouble of forming it will, it is hoped, be a sufficient excuse for the price put to it." (1_s._ 6_d._ the small paper, and 4_s._ the large.) This account is not overcharged. The collection in regard to Greek and Roman literature was _unique_ in its day. Enriched with many a tome from the Harleian, Dr. Mead's, Martin Folkes's, and Dr. Rawlinson's library, as well as with numerous rare and splendid articles from foreign collections (for few men travelled with greater ardour, or had an acuter discrimination than Dr. Askew), the books were sought after by almost every one then eminent for bibliographical research. HIS MAJESTY was a purchaser, says Mr. J. Nichols, to the amount of about 300_l._; Dr. Hunter, to the amount of 500_l._; and De Bure (who had commissions from the King of France and many foreign collectors, to the amount of 1500_l._) made purchases to the same amount; Dr. Maty was solicited by the trustees of the British Museum not to be unmindful of _that repository_; and accordingly he became a purchaser to a considerable amount. The late worthy and learned Mr. M. CRACHERODE, whose library now forms one of the most splendid acquisitions of the British Museum, and whose _bequest_ of it will immortalize his memory, was also among the "Emptores literarii" at this renowned sale. He had enriched his collection with many an "_Exemplar Askevianum_;" and, in his latter days, used to elevate his hands and eyes, and exclaim against the prices _now_ offered for EDITIONES PRINCIPES. The fact is, Dr. Askew's sale has been considered a sort of _era_ in bibliography. Since that period, rare and curious books in Greek and Latin literature have been greedily sought after, and obtained (as a recent sale abundantly testifies) at most extravagant prices. It is very well for a veteran in bibliographical literature, as was Mr. Cracherode, or as are Mr. Wodhull, and Dr. Gosset--whose collections were, in part, formed in the days of De Bure, Gaignat, Askew, Duke de la Valliere, and Lamoignon--it is very well for such gentlemen to declaim against _modern prices_! But what is to be done? Classical books grow scarcer every day, and the love of literature, and of possessing rare and interesting works, increases in an equal ratio. Hungry bibliographers meet, at sales, with well-furnished purses, and are resolved upon sumptuous fare! Thus the hammer _vibrates_, after a bidding of FORTY POUNDS, where formerly it used regularly to _fall_ at FOUR! But we lose sight of Dr. Askew's _rare editions_, and _large paper copies_. The following, gentle reader, is but an imperfect specimen! NO. 168. Chaucer's Works, by _Pynson_, no date £7 17_s._ 6_d._ 172. Cicero of Old Age, by Caxton, 1481 13 13 0 518. Gilles (Nicole) Annales, &c., de France. Paris, fol. 1520, 2 tom. SUR VELIN 31 10 6 647. Æginetæ (Pauli) Præcepta Salubria; Paris, quarto, 1510. On VELLUM 11 0 0 666. Æsopi Fabulæ. _Edit. Princeps circ._ 1483 6 6 0 684. Boccacio, il Teseide, _Ferar._, 1475. _Prima Edizione_ 85 0 0 [This copy, which is called, "_probably unique_," was once, I suspect, in Consul Smith's library. See _Bibl. Smith_, p. lxiii. The reader will find some account of it in Warton's History of Engl. Poetry, vol. i., 347. It was printed, as well as the subsequent editions of 1488, and 1528, "with some deviations from the original, and even misrepresentations of the story." His majesty was the purchaser of this precious and uncommon book.] 708. Cornelius Nepos, 1471. _Edit. Prin._ 11 11 0 713. Alexander de Ales, super tertium Sententiar. 1474, ON VELLUM 15 15 0 817. Anthologia Græca. _Edit. Prin._ 1494, ON VELLUM 28 7 0 In Dr. Hunter's Museum. 856. Ammianus Marcellinus, 1474. _Edit. Prin._ 23 0 0 1332. Ciceronis Opera omnia, Oliveti, 9 vols. quarto, 1740, _Charta Maxima_ 36 15 0 1389. Ejusdem Officia, 1465. _Edit. Prin._ 30 0 0 1433. Catullus, Tibullus, et Propertius; Aldi, 8vo., 1502. IN MEMBRANIS 17 10 0 This copy was purchased by the late Mr. M.C. Cracherode, and is now, with his library, in the British Museum. It is a beautiful book; but cannot be compared with Lord Spencer's Aldine VELLUM Virgil, of the same size. 1576. Durandi Rationale, &c., 1459. IN MEMBRANIS 61 0 0 The beginning of the 1st chapter was wanting. Lord Spencer has a perfect copy of this rare book, printed upon spotless VELLUM. 2656. Platonis Opera, apud Aldum; 2 vols., fol., 1513. _Edit. Prin._ ON VELLUM. 55 13 0 Purchased by the late Dr. William Hunter; and is, at this moment, with the Doctor's books and curiosities, at _Glasgow_. The reader can have no idea of the beauty of these vellum leaves. The ink is of the finest lustre, and the whole typographical arrangement may be considered a masterpiece of printing. If I could forget the magnificent copy which I have seen (but not upon vellum) of the "Etymologicum magnum," in the Luton Library, I should call _this_ the chef-d'oeuvre of the ALDINE PRESS. 2812. Plinii Hist. Natural; apud Spiram, fol., 1469. _Edit. Princeps._ 43 0 0 This copy has been recently sold for a sum considerably less than it brought. It bears no kind of comparison with the copy in Lord Spencer's, Dr. Hunter's, and the Cracherode, collections. These latter are _giants_ to it! 2813. Id. cum notis Harduini; 1723, 3 vols., ON VELLUM 42 0 0 3345. Tewrdranckhs; Poema Germanica, Norimb. fol., 1517, ON VELLUM. 21 0 0 This is a book of uncommon rarity. It is a poetical composition on the life and actions of the Emperor Maximilian I., and was frequently reprinted; but not with the same care as were the earlier editions of 1517 and 1519--the latter, at Augsburg, by John Schouspergus. Koellerus, who purchased a copy of this work on vellum, for 200 crowns, has given a particularly tempting description of it. See Schelhorn's "_Amoenitates Literaræ [Transcriber's Note: Literariæ]_," tom. ii., 430-iii., 144. Dr. Hunter purchased Dr. Askew's copy, which I have seen in the Museum of the former: the wood-cuts, 118 in number, justify every thing said in commendation of them by Papillon and Heinecken. Probably Dr. Askew purchased the above copy of Osborne; for I find one in the _Bibl. Harleian_, vol. iii., no. 3240. See, too, _Bibl. Mead_, p. 239, no. 43; where a VELLUM copy, of the edition of 1527, was sold for 9_l._ 9_s._ My friend, Mr. Douce, has also beautiful copies of the editions of 1517 and 1519, upon paper of the finest lustre. It has been a moot point with bibliographers whether the extraordinary type of this book be _wood_, and cut in solid blocks, or moveable types of _metal_. No one is better able to set this point "at rest," as lawyers call it, than the gentleman whose name is here last mentioned. 3337. Terentianus Maurus de Literis, Syllabis, et Metris Horatii. _Mediol._ fol., 1497 12 12 0 "This is judged to be the only copy of this edition in England, if not in the whole world. Dr. Askew could find no copy in his travels over Europe, though he made earnest and particular search in every library which he had an opportunity of consulting." Note in the catalogue. It was purchased by Dr. Hunter, and is now in his Museum. Originally it belonged to Dr. Taylor, the editor of Lysias and Demosthenes, who originally procured it from the Harleian Library, for _four_ guineas only. We are told that, during his life, _one hundred_ guineas would not have obtained it! * * * * * Rare and magnificent as the preceding articles may be considered, I can confidently assure the reader that they form a very small part of the extraordinary books in Dr. ASKEW'S library. Many a _ten_ and _twenty pounder_ has been omitted--many a _prince_ of an edition passed by unregarded! The articles were 3570 in number; probably comprehending about 7000 volumes. They were sold for 4000_l._ It remains only to add that Dr. ASKEW was a native of Kendal, in Westmorland; that he practised as a physician there with considerable success, and, on his establishment in London, was visited by all who were distinguished for learning, and curious in the fine arts. Dr. Mead supported him with a sort of paternal zeal; nor did he find in his _protegé_ an ungrateful son. (See the Director, vol. i., p. 309.) Few minds were probably more congenial than were those of MEAD and ASKEW: the former had, if I may so speak, a magnificence of sentiment which infused into the mind of the latter just notions of a character aiming at _solid intellectual_ fame; without the petty arts and dirty tricks which we now see too frequently pursued to obtain it. Dr. ASKEW, with less pecuniary means of gratifying it, evinced an equal ardour in the pursuit of books, MSS., and inscriptions. I have heard from a very worthy old gentleman, who used to revel 'midst the luxury of ASKEW'S table, that few men exhibited their books and pictures, or, as it is called, _shewed the Lions_, better than did the Doctor. Of his attainments in Greek and Roman literature it becomes not me to speak, when such a scholar as Dr. PARR has been most eloquent in their praise. I should observe that the MSS. of Dr. ASKEW were separately sold in 1781, and produced a very considerable sum. The Appendix to Scapula, published in an 8vo. volume, in 1789, was compiied [Transcriber's Note: compiled] from one of these MSS.] After an event so striking and so melancholy, one would think that future _Virtuosi_ would have barricadoed their doors, and fumigated their chambers, in order to escape the ravages of the _Book-Pest_:--but how few are they who profit by experience, even when dearly obtained! The subsequent HISTORY OF THE BIBLIOMANIA is a striking proof of the truth of this remark: for the disease rather increased, and the work of death yet went on. In the following year (1776) died JOHN RATCLIFFE;[392] a bibliomaniac of a very peculiar character. If he had contented himself with his former occupation, and frequented the butter and cheese, instead of the book, market--if he could have fancied himself in a brown peruke, and Russian apron, instead of an embroidered waistcoat, velvet breeches, and flowing periwig, he might, perhaps, have enjoyed greater longevity; but, infatuated by the _Caxtons_ and _Wynkyn de Wordes_ of the West and Fletewode collections, he fell into the snare; and the more he struggled to disentangle himself, the more certainly did he become a victim to the disease. [Footnote 392: BIBLIOTHECA RATCLIFFIANA; or, "_A Catalogue of the elegant and truly valuable Library of_ JOHN RATCLIFFE, _Esq., late of Bermondsey, deceased_. The whole collected with great judgment and expense, during the last thirty years of his life: comprehending a large and most choice collection of the rare old English _black-letter_, in fine preservation, and in elegant bindings, printed by Caxton, Lettou, Machlinia, the anonymous St. Alban's Schoolmaster, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Berthelet, Grafton, Day, Newberie, Marshe, Jugge, Whytchurch, Wyer, Rastell, Coplande, and the rest of the _Old English Typographers_: several missals and MSS., and two pedigrees on vellum, finely illuminated." The title-page then sets forth a specimen of these black-letter gems; among which our eyes are dazzled with a galaxy of Caxtons, Wynkyn de Wordes, Pynsons, &c., &c. The sale took place on March 27, 1776; although the _year_ is unaccountably omitted by that renowned auctioneer, the late Mr. Christie, who disposed of them. If ever there was a _unique_ collection, this was one--the very essence of Old Divinity, Poetry, Romances, and Chronicles! The articles were only 1675 in number; but their intrinsic value amply compensated for their paucity. The following is but an inadequate specimen: NO. 1315. Horace's Arte of Poetrie, Pistles, and Satyres, by Durant, 1567. _First English. Edition_ £0 16_s._ 0_d._ 1321. The Shepard's Calendar, 1579. Whetstone's Castle of Delight, 1576 1 2 0 1392. The Pastyme of People, _printed_ by Rastell. Curious wood-cuts 4 7 0 1393. The Chronicles of Englande, _printed by Caxton_, fine copy, 1480 5 5 0 1394. Ditto, _printed at St. Albans_, 1483. Purchased by Dr. Hunter, and now in his Museum (which copy I have seen) 7 7 0 1403. Barclay's Shyp of Folys, printed by Pynson, 1508, _first edit._, a fine copy 2 10 0 1426. The Doctrinal of Sapyence, _printed by Caxton_, 1489 8 8 0 1427. The Boke called Cathon, _ditto_, 1483. Purchased by Dr. Hunter, and now in his Museum 5 5 0 1428. The Polytyque Boke, named Tullius de Senectute, in Englyshe, _printed by Caxton_, 1481 14 0 0 1429. The Game of Chesse Playe. No date. _Printed by Caxton_ 16 0 0 1665. The Boke of Jason, _printed by Caxton_ 5 10 0 1669. The Polychronicon of Ranulph Higden, translated by Trevisa, 1482. _Printed by the same_, and purchased by Dr. Hunter 5 15 6 1670. Legenda Aurea, or the Golden Legende. _Printed by the same_, 1483 9 15 0 1674. Mr. Ratcliffe's MS. Catalogue of the _rare old black-letter and other curious and uncommon books_, 4 vols. 7 15 0 [This would have been the most delicious article to _my_ palate. If the present owner of it were disposed to part with it, I could not find it in my heart to refuse him _compound interest_ for his money. As is the wooden frame-work to the bricklayer, in the construction of his arch, so might Mr. Ratcliffe's MS. Catalogues be to me in the compilation of a certain _magnum opus_!] I beg pardon of the _manes_ of "John Ratcliffe, Esq.," for the very inadequate manner in which I have brought forward his collection to public notice. The memory of such a man ought to be dear to the "_black-letter-dogs_" of the present day: for he had (mirabile dictu!) _upwards of_ THIRTY CAXTONS! I take the present opportunity of presenting the reader with the following engraving of the Ratcliffe Library, Oxon. [Illustration] If I might hazard a comparison between Mr. James West's and Mr. John Ratcliffe's collections, I should say that the former was more extensive; the latter more curious. Mr. West's, like a magnificent _champagne_, executed by the hand of Claude or Both, and enclosing mountains, meadows, and streams, presented to the eye of the beholder a scene at once luxuriant and fruitful: Mr. Ratcliffe's, like one of those confined pieces of scenery, touched by the pencil of Rysdael or Hobbima, exhibited to the beholder's eye a spot equally interesting, but less varied and extensive: the judgment displayed in both might be the same. The sweeping foliage and rich pasture of the former could not, perhaps, afford greater gratification than the thatched cottage, abrupt declivities, and gushing streams of the latter. To change the metaphor--Mr. West's was a magnificent repository; Mr. Ratcliffe's, a cabinet of curiosities. Of some particulars of Mr. Ratcliffe's life, I had hoped to have found gleanings in Mr. Nichols's _Anecdotes of Bowyer_; but his name does not even appear in the index; being probably reserved for the second forth-coming enlarged edition. Meanwhile, it may not be uninteresting to remark that, like Magliabechi, (vide p. 86, ante) he imbibed his love of reading and collecting from the accidental possession of scraps and leaves of books. The fact is, Mr. Ratcliffe once kept a _chandler's shop_ in the Borough; and, as is the case with all retail traders, had great quantities of old books brought to him to be purchased at so much _per lb._! Hence arose his passion for collecting the _black-letter_, as well as _Stilton cheeses_: and hence, by unwearied assiduity, and attention to business, he amassed a sufficiency to retire, and live, for the remainder of his days, upon the luxury of OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE!] It is with pain that I trace the ravages of the BOOK-MANIA to a later period. Many a heart yet aches, and many a tear is yet shed, on a remembrance of the mortality of this frightful disease. After the purchasers of Ratcliffe's treasures had fully perused, and deposited in fit places within their libraries, some of the scarcest volumes in the collection, they were called upon to witness a yet more splendid victim to the Bibliomania: I mean, the Honourable TOPHAM BEAUCLERK.[393] One, who had frequently gladdened JOHNSON in his gloomy moments; and who is allowed, by that splenetic sage and great teacher of morality, to have united the elegant manners of a gentleman with the mental accomplishments of a scholar. Beauclerk's Catalogue is a fair specimen of the analytico-bibliographical powers of Paterson: yet it must be confessed that this renowned champion of catalogue-makers shines with greater, and nearly perfect, splendour, in the collection of the REV. THOMAS CROFTS[394]--a collection which, taking it "for all in all," I know not whether it be exceeded by any which this country has recorded in the shape of a private catalogue. The owner was a modest, careful, and acutely sagacious bibliomaniac: learned, retired, yet communicative: and if ever you lay hold of a _large paper_ copy of a catalogue of his books, which, as well as the small, carries the printed prices at the end, seize it in triumph, Lisardo, for it is a noble volume, and by no means a worthless prize. [Footnote 393: There are few libraries better worth the attention of a scholarlike collector than was the one of the distinguished character above noticed by Lysander. The Catalogue of Beauclerk's books has the following title: "_Bibliotheca Beauclerkiana; A Catalogue of the large and valuable Library of the late Honourable_ TOPHAM BEAUCLERK, F.R.S., _deceased_; comprehending an excellent choice of books, to the number of upwards of 30,000 volumes, &c. Sold by auction, by Mr. Paterson, in April, 1781," 8vo. The catalogue has two parts: part I. containing 230; part _ii._ 137, pp. The most magnificent and costly volume was the largest paper copy of Dr. Clarke's edition of Cæsar's Commentaries, 1712, fol., which was sold for 44_l._; and of which the binding, according to Dr. Harwood's testimony, cost 5_l._ 5_s._ There is nothing, in _modern_ times, very marvellous in this price of binding. Of the _two parts_ of the Beauclerk collection, the _second_ is the most valuable to the collector of English Antiquities and History, and the _first_ to the general scholar. But let not the bibliomaniac run too swiftly over the first, for at nos. 3450, 3453, he will find two books which rank among the rarest of those in old English poetry. At the close of the second part, there are a few curious manuscripts; three of which are deserving of a description here. PART II. 3275. Thomas of Arundel, his Legend in old English verse; VII parts, with the Entre, or Prologue: _written A.D. M.C.VII. upon vellum, the Capitals illuminated_, fol. Here follows a specimen of the verse £1 18_s._ 0_d._ _ye fyrst pt of ys yt es of mon and of his urechednes._ _ye secounde pte folowyng es of ye worldes unstabillnes._ _ye yyrdde pt yt is of deth & of peyn yt wt hy geth._ _the ferthe parte is of purgatorye yere soules ben clensed of her folye._ _ye fyfte pt of ys dey of doom & of tokens yt byfore shul coom._ _ye syxte pt of ys boke to telle yt speketh of ye peynes of helle._ _ye seventhe part of joys in heven yat bene more yenne tong may neuen._ 3276. The Life and Acts of St. Edmond, King and Martyr, by John Lydgate, Monk of Bury, fol.: _a choice MS. upon vellum, illuminated throughout, and embellished with 52 Historical Miniatures_. For a specimen of the verse, take the first stanza: 22 1 0 _The noble stoory to putte in remembraunce Of Seynt Edmond mayd martre and kyng With his suppoor: my style i wyl avaunce ffirst to compyle afftre my konnyng his gloryous lyff his birthe and his gynnying And by discent how he was soo good Was in Saxonye borne of the royal blood._ 3288. The Armes, Honours, Matches, and Issues of the auncient and illustrious FAMILY OF VEER: described in the honourable progeny of the Earles of Oxenford and other branches thereof. Together with a genealogical deduction of this noble family from the blood of 12 forreyne princes: viz. 3 Emperours, 3 Kings, 3 Dukes, and 3 Earles, &c. _Gathered out of History, Recordes, and other Monuments of Antiquity, by Percivall Goulding, Gent. The Arms illuminated, folio._ 9 0 0 I will just add that this catalogue is creditably printed in a good size octavo volume, and that there are copies upon _large paper_. The arrangement of the books is very creditable to the bibliographical reputation of Paterson.] [Footnote 394: When the reader is informed that Paterson tells us, in the preface of this volume, that "In almost every language and science, and even under the shortest heads, some one or more rare articles occur; but in the copious classes, such as follow, literary curiosity is gratified, is _highly feasted_"--and that the author of this remark used, in his latter days, to hit his knee hard with his open hand, and exclaim--"By G----, Crofts' Catalogue is my chef d'oeuvre, out and out"--when he reflects, I say, for a minute upon these two bibliographical stimuli, he will hasten (if he have it not already) to seize upon that volume of which the following is but an imperfect specimen of the treasures contained in it: "_Bibliotheca Croftsiana: A Catalogue of the curious and distinguished Library of the late Reverend and Learned_ THOMAS CROFTS, A.M., &c. Sold by auction, by Mr. Paterson, in April, 1783," 8vo. This collection, containing 8360 articles, although not quite so generally useful as the preceding, is admirably well arranged; and evinces, from the rarity of some of the volumes in the more curious departments of literature, the sound bibliographical knowledge and correct taste of Mr. Crofts: who was, in truth, both a scholar and bibliomaniac of no ordinary reputation. I hasten to treat the reader with the following _Excerpta Croftsiana_: being a selection of articles from this catalogue, quite according with the present prevailing fashion of Book-Collecting: NO. 2741. Raccolta de Poeti Provenzali MS. antiq. _Supermembr._, 8vo., _cor. turc. avec une table des noms des troubadours contenu dans ce MS._ £5 7_s._ 6_d._ 4920. Les cent nouvelles nouvelles, _Lettres Gothiques_, fig. fol., _velin Paris, imprimées par Nic. Desprez_. M.D.V. 2 15 0 4921. Le Chevalier de la Tour. Et le guidon des guerres; _lettres Gothiques, fig. fol. maroq. rouge, imprimé à Paris, pour Guil. Eustace._ M.D.XIV. 2 17 0 4922. Le premier, second, et tiers volume de Lancelot du Lac; _nouvellement imprimé à Paris. L'an mil cinq cens et xx, pour Michel le Noir; Lettres Gothiques, fig. fol. maroq. rouge_ 10 15 0 4923. Le premier et le second volume du Sainct Greaal, contenant la conqueste dudict Sainct Greaal, faicte par Lancelot du Lac, Galaad Perceval et Boors; _Lettres Gothiques, fig. fol. maroq. rouge, Paris, imprimé par Phel le Noir_, M.D.XXIII 5 7 6 "Ce volume est un des plus rares de la classe des Romans de Chevalerie. T.C." 4924. Ci Commence Guy de Warwick chevalier Dangleterre qui en son tems fit plusieurs prouesses et conquestes en Allemaigne, Ytalie, et Dannemarche. Et aussi sur les infidelles ennemys de la Crestienté; _Lettres Gothiques, fig. fol. maroq. rouge. Paris, imprimé par Ant. Couteau_, M.D.XXV. 1 18 0 4925. Le premier et le second volume de Merlin, qui est le premier livre de la table ronde, avec plusieurs choses moult recreative: aussi les Prophecies de Merlin, qui est le tierce partie et derniere: _Lettres Gothiques, 2 tom. 4to., maroq. rouge, Paris_, M.D.XXVIII. 1 18 0 4926. La treselegante, delicieuse, melliflue, et tresplaisante Hystoire du tresnoble, victori, et excellentissime roy Perceforest, Roy de la Grand Bretaigne, fundateur du Francpalais et du temple du souverain Dieu. En laquelle lecture pourra veoir la source et decoration de toute Chevalerie, culture de vraye Noblesse, Prouesses, &c. Avecques plusieurs propheties, Comptes Damans, et leur divers fortunes. _Lettres Gothiques, 6 tom. en 3 fol., Paris, chez Galliot du Pre_, M.D.XXVIII. 7 0 0 4927. Le tiers, quart, cinquiesme, sixiesme, et dernier volumes des Anciennes Croniques Dangleterre, faictz et gestes du trespreux et redoubte en chevalerie, le noble roy Perceforest: _imprimé à Paris pour Egide Gourmont et Phil. le Noir_, M.D.XXXII. 2 tom. folio 0 11 6 4298. Le Parangon des Nouvelles, honestes et delectables à tous ceulx qui desirent voir et ouyr choses nouvelles et recreatives soubz umbre et couleur de joyeuste, 8vo. fig. maroq. rouge. _Imprimez à Lyon, par Denys de Harsy_, 1532. Les Parolles joyeuses et Dicts memorables des nobles et saiges Homes anciens, redigez par le gracieulx et honeste Poete Messire Francoys Petrarcque, _fig. ib._ 1532 2 5 0 4929. L'Histoire de Isaie le triste filz de Tristan de leonnoys, jadis Chevalier de la table ronde, et de la Royne Izeut de Cornouaille, ensemble les nobles prouesses de chevallerie faictes par Marc lexille filz. au dict Isaye: _Lettres Gothiques, avec fig., 4to., maroq. rouge. On les vend à Paris par Jehan Bonfons_, 1535 2 12 6 "There is no direct date either at the beginning or end, nor any privilege annexed to this rare Romance. Mr. Crofts, though extremely accurate, for the most part, has made no remark; neither has the industrious Mr. de Bure taken notice of this particular edition. The date is, nevertheless, obvious, according to my conjecture. After the words filz du dict Isaye, in the general title, at some distance, stand these numerals lxv. c. At first I apprehended they referred to the work, as containing so many chapters; but upon examining the table, I found the Romance to consist of 92 chapters: I conclude they must relate to the date of the book, and are to be read lxv. ante M.D.C., or 1535. S.P." 4932. Meliadus de Leonmoys. Du present Volume sont contenus les nobles faictz darmes du vaillant roy Meliadus. Ensemble plusieurs autres nobles proesses de Chevalerie faictes tant par le roy Artus, Palamedes, &c., &c. _Lettres Gothiques, fig., fol., maroq. bleu, Paris, chez Galliot du Pré_ 3 10 0 4933. Lhystoire tresrecreative, traictant des faictz et gestes du noble et vaillant Chevalier Theseus de Coulongne, par sa proesse Empereur de Rome. Et aussi de sons fils Gadifer, Empereur de Grece. Pareillement des trois enfans de Gadifer, cestassavoir Regnault, Reynier, et Regnesson, &c. _Lettres Gothiques, avec fig. 4to., en peau russe. Paris, pour Jehan Bonfons, s.a._ 5 0 0 4938. L'Histoire Palladienne, traitant des gestes et genereux Faitz d'armes et d'armour de plusieurs Grandz Princes et Seigneurs, specialement de Palladien filz du roy Milanor d'Angleterre, et de la belle Selenine, &c.; par feu Cl. Colet Champenois, _fig., fol., maroquin jaune. Paris, de l'imprimerie d'Estien. Goulleau_, 1555 1 18 0 4945. Hist. du noble Tristan Prince de Leonnois, Chevalier de la table ronde, et d'Yseulte, Princesse d'Yrlande, Royne de Cornouaille; fait Francois par Jean Maugin, dit l'Angevin, _fig., 4to., maroq. rouge, Rouen_. 1586 1 5 0 4953. L'Hist. du noble et vaillant Chevalier Paris et la belle Vienne, _4to., Rouen_ 3 10 0 4961. Histoires Prodigieuses, extractes de plusieurs fameux Autheurs, Grecs et Latins, par Pier Boaisteau, Cl. de Tesserant, F. de Belleforest, Rod. Hoyer, &c., _fig. 6 tom. en 3, 12mo., maroq. rouge. Par chez la Verfue Cavellat_, 1598 2 9 0 4964. Valentine and Orson, cuts, black letter, 4to. _London; no date_. (Not sold.) 7276. Hollinshed's (Raphe) and William Harrison's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, continued by John Hooker, alias Vowell, and others; _black letter, 3 vols. fol., large paper, in Russia_, 1586 13 2 6 7399. Lynch (Jo.) Seu Gratiani Lucii Hiberni Cambrensis Eversus, seu potius Historica fides, in Rebus Hibernicis, Giraldo Cambrensi abrogata, fol. _Impress. An. 1662. Sine Loco aut Nomine Impressoris_ 3 4 0 "Liber inter Historicos Hibernicos rarissimus et inventu difficilimus, quippe cujus pars maxima exemplarium in incendio periit Londinensi. Sub Lucii Gratiani nomine latet verus autor Johannes Lynch (Tuamensis Archidiaconus) qui post Gallvæ deditionem, Exul in Gallia hocce opus patriæ vindex composuit. T.C." This catalogue contains 8360 articles. There are printed lists of the prices for which each set of books was sold: but I am afraid that an arrant bibliomaniac, like myself (for thus my friends are cruel enough to call me!) will be content only with a _large paper_ copy of it, with the prices neatly penned in the margin. I conclude that Lysander recommends the volume in this shape to all tasteful collectors.] LIS. But there are surely other large paper---- ALMAN. What can there possibly be in a large paper copy of a _Catalogue of Books_ which merits the appellation of "nobleness" and "richness?" LOREN. You are a little out of order. Such a question cuts the heart of a bibliographer in twain. Pray let Lysander pursue his narrative. LYSAND. I have no sort of objection to such interruptions. But I think the day is not very far distant when females will begin to have as high a relish for _large paper_ copies of every work as their male rivals. Now let us go on quietly towards the close of my long-winded bibliomaniacal history. And first let us not fail to pay due respect to the cabinet of literary bijoux collected by that renowned bibliomaniac, MARK CEPHAS TUTET.[395] His collection was distinguished by some very uncommon articles of early date, both of foreign and British typography; and, if you take a peep into Lorenzo's priced copy of the catalogue containing also the purchasers' names, you will find that most notorious modern bibliomaniacs ran away with the choicest prizes. Tutet's catalogue, although drawn up in a meagre and most disadvantageous style, is a great favourite with me; chiefly for the valuable articles which it exhibits. [Footnote 395: _A Catalogue of the genuine and valuable Collection of printed Books and Manuscripts of the late_ MARK CEPHAS TUTET, Esq., to be sold by auction by Mr. Gerard, on Wednesday, the 15th of February, 1786, 8vo. This library evinces the select taste and accurate judgment of its collector. There were only 513 articles, or lots; but these in general were both curious and valuable. I will give a specimen or two of the TUTET CABINET of books. NO. 10. Various Catalogues of Curiosities, elegantly bound in 14 volumes, and a few loose: _most of them priced, with the purchasers' names_. A.D. 1721 to 1783, 8vo. £3 16_s._ 0_d._ 55. Two volumes of ancient and modern cards, _eleg. in russia_ 5 5 0 [These volumes were purchased by Mr. Payne's father, and of him by Mr. Gough. At the sale of the MSS. of the latter (1810) they were purchased by Mr. Robert Triphook, bookseller, of St. James's Street; with a view of making them instrumental to a work which he is projecting, _Upon the History and Antiquity of Playing Cards_.] 86. Broughton's Concent of Scripture: _printed upon vellum_ 1 2 0 118. Snelling's Silver Coinage,--1762; ditto Gold Coinage, 1763; ditto Copper Coinage, 1768; ditto Miscellaneous Views, 1769; ditto Jettons, 1769: all in folio 7 0 0 "These form a complete set of Snelling's works in folio, and are interspersed with a great number of very useful and interesting notes and observations, by Mr. Tutet." 126. The Byble, &c. Printed by Grafton and Whitchurch, 1537, folio 3 3 0 [There is a note here by Tutet which does not evince any profound knowledge of English etymology.] 168. Rede me and be not wroth, 12mo., no place nor date 1 11 6 175. Servetus de Trinitatis erroribus, _cor. tur._, 1531, 12mo. 3 14 0 316. ---- de Trinitate divinâ, Lond., 1723, 4to. 1 12 0 329. The Arte and Crafte to know well to dye. _Printed by Caxton_, 1490, folio 2 2 0 337. Hautin, Figures des Monnoyes de France, 1619, folio 6 0 0 364. Parker de Antiq. Brit. Ecclesiæ, 1572, folio. A long and curious note is here appended 4 4 0 371. The Boke of Hawkinge, Huntynge, and Fysshynge, 1496, fol. 2 9 0 372. Sancta Peregrinatio in Mont. Syon, &c. 1486, folio 7 7 0 ["This is the first book of travels that was ever printed. The maps are very remarkable; that of the Holy Land is above 4 feet long."] 463. Spaccio della Bestia trionfante. _Paris_, 1584, 8vo. 7 7 0 477. Expositio Sancti Jeronimi in Symbolum Apostolorum, _cor. maur. Oxon._, 1468, 4to. 16 5 0 479. Polychronycon; _printed by Caxton_, 1482, 4to. 4 12 0 480. Pfintzing (Melchoir [Transcriber's Note: Melchior]) His German Poem of the Adventures of the Emperor Maximilian, under the name of Tewrdanckh's. Nuremb., 1517, folio 5 7 6 481. Initial Letters, Vignettes, Cul de Lampes, &c., 2 vols., _elegantly bound in russia_. [These beautiful books are now in the possession of Mr. Douce] 4 6 0 483. Bouteroue, Recherches curieuses des Monnoyes de France: _in morocco, gilt, Paris_, 1666, folio 5 0 0 486. Froissart's Chronicles; printed by Pynson, 1523, folio, 2 vols. _A beautiful copy elegantly bound._ 16 0 0 487. Recule of the Hystoryes of Troye; _printed by Caxton_, (1471) Folio. _A very fine copy, and quite complete._ 21 0 0 490. Ciceronis Officia, 1466, 4to. _On paper._ 25 10 0 And thus we take leave of that judicious and tasteful bibliomaniac, MARK CEPHAS TUTET! Three months after the sale of the preceding library, appeared the _Bibliotheca Universalis Selecta_ of SAMUEL PATERSON; containing a collection to be sold by auction in May, 1786. To this catalogue of 8001 articles, there is a short (I wish I could add "sweet") preface, which has been extracted in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. lvi., p. 334; and in the _Censura Literaria_, vol. ii., p. 252--but, whatever accidental reputation the volume may have received from the notice of it in these periodical works, I deem both the preface and the work itself quite unworthy of Paterson's credit. There is an alphabetical index (not always very correct); and a few bibliographical notes are subjoined to the specification of the titles; and these considerations alone will give the book a place in the library of the bibliomaniac. The collection is, in fact, neither universal nor select: and the preface is written in the worst of all styles, containing the most commonplace observations.] The following year, was sold, in a similar way, the select and very curious collection of RICHARD WRIGHT, M.D.;[396] the strength of which lay chiefly in publications relating to the _Drama_ and _Romances_. It is, in my humble opinion, a most judicious, as well as neatly printed, little catalogue; and not more than a dozen copies of it, I think, were printed upon _large paper_. Secure this volume, Lisardo, if you wish to add to your riches in English bibliography. [Footnote 396: Lysander has not drawn too strong an outline in his picture of the _Bibliotheca Wrightiana_. The collection was elegant and select. Let us say a little more about it. "_A Catalogue of the Library of_ RICHARD WRIGHT, M.D. &c., consisting of an elegant and extensive collection of books in every branch of learning, &c., many of the scarcest editions of the Old English Poets, Novels, and Romances; also a most singular assemblage of Theatrical Writers, including the rarest productions of the English Drama." Sold by auction by T. and J. Egerton, April 23rd, 1787, 8vo. The volume is neatly printed, and the books in the collection are arranged in alphabetical order under their respective departments. We will now fill up a little of the aforementioned strong outline of the picture of Wright's library: which contained 2824 articles. 917, 920, 921-4-5-6-7, 931-2-3, exhibit a glorious specimen of the ancient English Chronicles--which, collectively, did not produce a sum above £45 0_s._ 0_d._ 1223. England's Parnassus, 1600, 8vo. 0 14 0 1333. Churchyarde's Choice, 1579, 4to. 2 14 0 1334. ---- first part of his Chippes, 1575, 4to. 3 13 6 1343. Robert Greene's Works, 2 vols., _elegantly bound_, 4to. (containing 17 pieces.) 5 19 0 1374. Shyp of Folys. _Printed by Pynson_, 1508, fol. 3 13 0 1384. Skelton's Works: 1568, 8vo. 0 14 0 1398. Turberville's epitaphs, epigrams, songs and sonnets, 1567, 8vo. My copy has no price to this article. 1493. Thomas Nashe's Works, in three vols. 4to., containing 21 pieces 12 15 0 1567 to 2091, comprehends _The English Theatre_. These numbers exhibit almost every thing that is rare, curious, and valuable in this popular department. I know not how to select stars from such a galaxy of black-letter lustre--but the reader may follow me to the ensuing numbers, which will at least convince him that I am not insensible to the charms of _dramatic bijoux_, nos. 1567-9: 1570-6-8: 1580: 1595-6-8-9: 1606: 1626: 1636-7-8: 1712 (Dekker's Pieces: 15 in number--sold for 3_l._ 3_s._ EHEU!) 1742: 1762. (Heywood's 26 plays, 3_l._ 4_s._) 1776.--1814: (Marston's 9 pieces, 3_l._ 4_s._) 1843. (Tragedie of Dido, 1594, 16_l._ 16_s._ EUGE!) 1850. (Middleton; 13 pieces: 4_l._ 5_s._) 1873-5. (George Peele's: 7_l._ 7_s._) 1902: (Sackville's Ferrex and Porrex: 2_l._ 4_s._)--But--"quo Musa tendis?" I conclude, therefore, with the following detailed _seriatim_. 1960. Shakspeare's Works; 1623, folio. _First edition; bound in Russia leather, with gilt leaves._ 10 0 0 1961. The same; 1632. _Second impression._ 2 9 0 1962. The same; 1632. _The same._ 1 6 0 1963. The same; 1663. _Third Edit. in Russia._ 1 1 0 1964. The same; 1683. _Fourth Edition._ 1 1 0 My copy of this catalogue is upon _large paper_, beautifully priced by a friend who "hath an unrivalled pen in this way;" and to whom I owe many obligations of a higher kind in the literary department--but whose modesty, albeit he was born on the banks of the Liffey, will not allow me to make the reader acquainted with his name. Therefore, "STAT NOMINIS UMBRA:" viz. ----!] LOREN. Was Wright's the only collection disposed of at this period, which was distinguished for its dramatic treasures? I think HENDERSON'S[397] library was sold about this time? [Footnote 397: _A Catalogue of the Library of_ JOHN HENDERSON, Esq. (late of Covent Garden Theatre), &c. Sold by auction by T. and J. Egerton, on February, 1786, 8vo. Do not let the lover of curious books in general imagine that Henderson's collection was entirely dramatical. A glance at the contents of page 12 to page 22, inclusively, will shew that this library contained some very first-rate rarities. When the dramatic collector enters upon page 23, (to the end of the volume, p. 71) I will allow him to indulge in all the _mania_ of this department of literature, "withouten ony grudgynge." He may also ring as many _peals_ as it pleaseth him, upon discovering that he possesses all the copies of a dramatic author, ycleped _George Peele_, that are notified at nos. 923-4! Henderson's library was, without doubt, an extraordinary one. As we are upon _Dramatic Libraries_, let us, for fear Lysander should forget it, notice the following, though a little out of chronological order. "_A Catalogue, &c., of the late_ Mr. JAMES WILLIAM DODD, of the _Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, &c. Sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby_, Jan. 19, 1797, 8vo., 2435 lots." There was more of the _Drama_ in this than in Henderson's collection. Mr. Kemble purchased the dearest volume, which was "Whetstone's Promos and Cassandra," 1578, 4to. (no. 2396) for 7_l._ 10_s._ Mr. George Nicol (for the late Duke of Roxburgh) kept up a tremendous fire at this sale! Akin to Dodd's, was the "_Curious and Valuable Library of_ GEORGE SMYTH, Esq.--sold by Leigh and Sotheby, June 2, 1797, 8vo." There were many uncommon books in this collection, exclusively of those appertaining to the Drama; and when I mention, in this latter department--Hughes's Misfortunes of Prince Arthur, &c., printed by Robinson, 1587, 4to. (no. 1376; 16_l._ 15_s._), both the parts of Shakespeare's Henry the Fourth (1599-1600, 4to., nos. 1436-7; 18_l._ 18_s._), his Much Ado about Nothing, 1600, 4to., (no. 1438; 7_l._ 10_s._)--I say enough to sharpen the collector's appetite to obtain, if he have it not, possession of this curious but barbarously printed catalogue. To these, let me add the "_Catalogue of a portion of the Library of_ WILLIAM FILLINGHAM, Esq., _consisting of old quarto plays, early English Poetry, and a few scarce Tracts, &c., sold by Leigh and Sotheby_, April 1805, 8vo." The arrangement of this small catalogue is excellent. Many of the books in it are of the rarest occurrence; and, to my knowledge, were in the finest preservation. The collector is no more! He died in India; cut off in the prime of life, and in the midst of his intellectual and book-collecting ardour! He was a man of exceedingly gentlemanlike manners, and amiable disposition; and his taste was, upon the whole, well cultivated and correct. Many a pleasant, and many a profitable, hour have I spent in his "delightsome" library!!!] LYSAND. It was; and if you had not reminded me of it, I should have entirely forgotten it. Catalogues of _dramatic Libraries_, well arranged, are of great service to the cause of the Bibliomania. LIS. I wish we could procure some act of parliament to induce the dramatic collectors--by a fair remuneration--to give a well analysed account of their libraries. We should then have the _Bibliotheca Roxburghiana_, _Bibliotheca Maloniana_, and what say you to the _Bibliotheca Kemblëiana_. LYSAND. You are running wild. Let me continue my bibliomaniacal history. We may now advance directly to the exquisite--and shall I say, unparalleled?--library of MAJOR PEARSON![398] a gentleman, who has far eclipsed the bibliomaniacal reputation of his military predecessor, General Dormer. This extraordinary collection was sold by auction the very next year ensuing the sale of Dr. Wright's books and so thickly and richly is it sprinkled with the black-letter, and other curious lore--so varied, interesting, and valuable, are the departments into which it is divided--that it is no wonder his present Majesty, the late Duke of Roxburgh, and George Steevens, were earnest in securing some of the choicest gems contained in the same. Such a collection, sold at the present day--when there is such a "_qui vive_" for the sort of literature which it displays--what would it produce? At least four times more, than its sum total, two and twenty years ago! [Footnote 398: If the reader attend only to the above flourishing eulogy, by Lysander, upon the extraordinary collection of Major, or Thomas, Pearson, I fear he will not rise from the perusal of these pages impressed with very accurate notions of the same. To qualify such ardent panegyric, and at the same time to please the hearts of all honest bibliomaniacs, I here subjoin something like a sober analysis of the _Bibliotheca Pearsoniana_. The title to the Sale Catalogue is as follows: "_Biblioth. Pearson. A Catalogue of the Library of_ THOMAS PEARSON, Esq. _Containing a very extensive Collection of the best and rarest books in every branch of English Literature, &c. Sold by Auction by T. and J. Egerton, in April, 1788_," 8vo. Like all the sale catalogues put forth by the Egertons, the present is both judiciously arranged and neatly printed. It is said that there are only twelve copies upon _large paper_; but I doubt the smallness of this number. My own is of this kind, superbly bound, and priced with a neatness peculiar to the calligraphical powers of the 'forementioned friend. It may not be amiss to prefix an extract from a newspaper of the day; in which this sale was thus noticed: "The Black-lettero-mania, which raged so furiously in the course of last Spring at the Sale of Dr. WRIGHT'S Books, has broken out with still greater violence at the present auction of MAJOR PEARSON'S Library. This assertion may be countenanced by the following examples." Then follow a few specimens of the prices given. The reader is now presented with copious specimens, selected according to their numerical order: the addenda, between inverted commas, being copied from the said newspaper. 1888. Webbe's Discourse of English Poetrie, 1586, 4to. £3 5_s._ 0_d._ "Bought by Mr. Steevens versus Mr. Malone." 1889. Puttenham's Art of English Poesie, 1589, 4to. 1 12 0 1900. The fyrst Boke of the Introduction to Knowledge, &c.; _Printed by W. Copland_, no date, 4to. 4 15 0 "By the Rev. Mr. Brand versus Lord Charlemont." 1910. The Castell of Laboure; _Emprynted by Pynson_, 4to., _no date_. 2 2 0 1926. Dekker's Miscellaneous Pieces, 1604, &c., 4to. 2 2 0 1932. A curious collection of sundry rare pieces, 4to. 3 4 0 1951. Drollery's (eleven) 1661, &c., 8vo. 5 6 6 These droll pieces are now much coveted by knowing bibliomaniacs. Mr. Heber and Mr. Hill have each a copious collection of them; and Mr. Gutch of Bristol, a bookseller of great spirit in his trade, and of equal love of general literature, recently gratified the curious by exhibiting, in his catalogue of 1810, a number of "_Garlands_;" which ere now, have, in all probability, proved a successful bait for some hungry book fish. 2035. Sir John Harrington's most elegant and witty Epigrams, with portrait, 1618, 8vo. 2 3 0 2090. Flowers of Epigrammes, &c. _Impr. by Shepperd_, 1577, 12mo. 1 14 0 2130. The Paradise of Dainty Devises, &c., _printed for E. White_, 1600, 4to. The workes of a Young Wit, by N.B. b.l. _printed by Thomas Dawson, no date_. Watson's Mistresse, &c., and Sonnets, b.l. _imperf._ Diana, by the Earl and Countess of Oxenford, _printed for J. Roberts_, wanting title, 4to. 9 12 6 "Bought by Mr. Steevens versus Mr. Malone." 2131. England's Helicon, 1600, 4to. 5 10 0 "By ditto versus ditto." 2147. The Example of Vertu; _printed by W. de Worde_, 4to. "Bought by Mr. Mason versus Mr. Malone." 2162. A Mirrour of Mysterie; _finely written upon, vellum, with two very neat drawings with pen and ink_, 1557, 4to. 2 0 0 2186. Manley's Affliction and Deliverance of Saints, portr. 1652, 8vo. 1 12 0 2190. Tragedie of Sir Richard Grenvile, Knt. printed by J. Roberts, 1595, 8vo. 0 15 6 2289. Laquei Ridiculosi, or Springes for Woodcocks, by Henry Parrot, 1613, 8vo. 0 4 6 N.B. _This little volume was sold for as many guineas at the sale of Mr. Reed's books in 1807._ 2373. Lyf of St. Ursula; _Impr. by Wynkyn de Worde_, no date, 4to. 1 10 0 2374. Lyf and History of Saynt Werburge. _Printed by Pynson_, 1521, 4to. 1 3 0 N.B. _This volume was sold for 18_l._ 18_s._ at the last mentioned sale._ 2575. This lot comprehends a cluster of precious little black-letter pieces, which were purchased at the sale of West's books, by Major Pearson. Eight in the whole: executed before the year 1540. 3 19 0 2421. The Goodly Garlande, or Chaplet of Laurell, by Maister Skelton; _Impr._ by Fawkes, 1523, 4to. See here a long note upon the rarity and intrinsic worth of this curious little volume. "Purchased by Brand versus the King." 7 17 6 2710. Ancient Songs and Ballads; written on various subjects, and printed between the years 1560 and 1700; chiefly collected by Robert Earl of Oxford, and purchased at the sale of the library of James West, Esq., in 1773 (for 20_l._): increased by several additions: _2 volumes bound in Russia leather_. 26 4 6 "Bought by Mr. Nicol for the Duke of Roxburgh, versus Messrs. Arnold and Ritson." "N.B. The preceding numerous and matchless collection of _Old Ballads_ are all printed in the black-letter, and decorated with many hundred wooden prints. They are pasted upon paper, with borders (printed on purpose) round each ballad: also, a printed title and index to each volume. To these are added the paragraphs which appeared in the public papers respecting the above curious collection, at the time they were purchased at Mr. West's." Thus far Messrs. Egerton. I have to add that the late DUKE OF ROXBURGH became the purchaser of these "matchless" volumes. Whilst in Major Pearson's possession, "with the assistance of Mr. Reed, the collection received very great additions, and was bound in two very large volumes; in this state (says Mr. Nicol,) it was bought by the Duke of Roxburghe. After the industrious exertions of two such skilful collectors as Major Pearson and Mr. Reed, the Duke did not flatter himself with ever being able to add much to the collection; but, as usual, he undervalued his own industry. Finding that his success far exceeded his expectations, he determined to add a _third volume_ to the collection. Among these new acquisitions are some very rare ballads; one quoted by Hamlet, of which no other copy is known to exist." _Preface to the Roxburgh Catalogue_, p. 5. The ballad here alluded to may be seen in Mr. Evans's recent edition of his father's _Collection of Old Ballads_; vol. i., p. 7. 3262 to 3329. These numbers comprehend a very uncommon and interesting set of _Old Romances_! which, collectively, did not produce 35_l._--but which now, would have been sold for----!? 3330 to 4151. An extraordinary collection of the English Drama. And thus farewell MAJOR PEARSON!] LIS. O rare THOMAS PEARSON! I will look sharply after a _large paper_, _priced_, copy of the _Bibliotheca Pearsoniana_! LYSAND. You must pay smartly for it, if you are determined to possess it. BELIN. Madness!--Madness inconceivable!--and undescribed by Darwin, Arnold, and Haslam! But, I pray you, proceed. LYSAND. Alas, madam, the task grows more and more complex as I draw towards the completion of it. In the year 1789 the book-treasures of the far-famed PINELLI[399] Collection were disposed of by public auction: nor can one think, without some little grief of heart, upon the dispersion of a library, which (much more than commercial speculations and profits) had, for upwards of a century, reflected so much credit upon the family of its possessors. The atmosphere of our metropolis, about this period, became as much infected with the miasmata of the BOOK-PLAGUE as it did, about 130 years before, with the miasmata of a plague of a different description: for the worthy inhabitants of Westminster had hardly recovered from the shock of the bibliomaniacal attack from the Pinelli sale, 'ere they were doomed to suffer the tortures of a similar one in that of the PARIS[400] collection. This latter was of shorter duration; but of an infinitely more powerful nature: for then you might have seen the most notorious bibliomaniacs, with blood inflamed and fancies intoxicated, rushing towards the examination of the truly matchless volumes contained within this collection. Yet remember that, while the whole of Pall Mall was thronged with the carriages of collectors, anxious to carry off in triumph some _vellum copy_ of foreign execution--there was sold, in a quiet corner of the metropolis, the copious and scholar-like collection of MICHAEL LORT, D.D. The owner of this latter library was a learned and amiable character, and a bibliographer of no mean repute.[401] His books were frequently enriched with apposite MS. remarks; and the variety and extent of his collection, suited to all tastes, and sufficiently abundant for every appetite, forms, I think, a useful model after which future bibliomaniacs may build their libraries. [Footnote 399: Mention has already been made of the different _Catalogues of the_ PINELLI _Collection_: see p. 21, ante. Here, as Lysander has thought proper again to notice the name of the collector, I am tempted to add a few specimens of the extraordinary books contained in his extraordinary library: adding thereto the prices for which they were sold. But--again and again I observe, _in limine_--these sums form no criterion of the _present_ worth of the books; be the same more or less! It is a document only of bibliographical curiosity. NO. 703. La Biblia Sacra in Lingua Vulgare tradotta; 1471. folio. 2 vols. £6 15_s._ 0_d._ 2555. Bandello, Canti xi delle lodi della Signora Lucrezia Gonzaga di Gazuolo, &c., 1545, 8vo. 15 15 0 2605. Dante, La Divina Comedia; 1472, folio. _Ediz. Prin._ 25 14 6 3348. Petrarca, Le Rime. Venez. 1470, 4to. _Prin. Ediz._ 27 6 0 3458. Sannazzaro, L'Arcadia. Ven. Ald. 1514, 8vo. _Esemp. stampata in Cartapecora._ 16 16 0 4909. Biblia Polyglotta; Complut. 1514, &c., folio. 6 vols. _Exemplar integerrimum splendidissimum._ IMPRESSUM IN MEMBRANIS. 483 0 0 All the world (perhaps I should have said the _bibliographical_ world) has heard of this pre-eminently wonderful set of books; now in Count Macarty's library at Thoulouse. My friend, Dr. Gosset--who will not (I trust) petition for excommunicating me from the orthodox church to which I have the honour of belonging, if I number him in the upper class of bibliomaniacs--was unable to attend the sale of the Pinelli collection, from severe illness: but he _did petition_ for a sight of one of these volumes of old Ximenes's polyglott--which, much more effectually than the spiders round Ashmole's neck (vide p. 293, ante), upon an embrace thereof, effected his cure. Shakspeare, surely, could never have meant to throw such "physic" as this "to the dogs?!" But, to return. 8956. Anthologia Epig. Græc. 1494. 4to. _Exemp. impr. in membranis._ 45 0 0 9308. Theocritus (absque ulla nota) 4to. _Editio Princeps._ 31 10 0 9772. Plautus, 1472. folio. _Editio Princeps._ 36 0 0 11,215. Aulus Gellius, 1469, folio. _Edit. Princeps._ 58 16 0 11,233. Macrobius, 1472, folio. _Edit. Prin._ 33 12 0 12,141. Priscianus de art. gram. 1470. fol. _In Membranis._ 51 9 0 [Sale Catalogue, 1789, 8vo.] But--"Jam satis." It probably escaped Lysander that, while the sale of the Pinelli collection attracted crowds of bibliomaniacs to Conduit Street, Hanover Square, a very fine library was disposed of, in a quiet and comfortable manner, at the rooms of Messrs. Leigh and Sotheby, in York Street, Covent Garden; under the following title to the catalogue: _A Catalogue of a very elegant and curious Cabinet of Books, lately imported from France_, &c. (sold in May, 1789). My priced copy of this catalogue affixes the name (in MS.) of MACARTNEY, as the owner of this precious "Cabinet." There were only 1672 articles; containing a judicious sprinkling of what was elegant, rare, and curious, in almost every department of literature. The eleventh and twelfth days' sale were devoted to MSS.; many of them of extraordinary beauty and singularity. It was from this collection, no. 248, that Lord Spencer obtained, for a comparatively small sum, one of the most curious books (if not an unique volume) in the class of early English printed ones, which are in his own matchless collection. It is the "_Siege of Rhodes_," which has a strong appearance of being the production of Caxton's press. The copy is perfectly clean and almost uncut.] [Footnote 400: If the reader will be pleased to turn to page 90, ante, he will find a tolerably copious and correct list of the different sales of books which were once in the possession of MONS. PARIS DE MEYZIEUX. In the same place he will also find mention made of a singular circumstance attending the sale of the above collection noticed by Lysander. As a corollary, therefore, to what has been before observed, take the following specimens of the books--with the prices for which they are sold--which distinguished the _Bibliotheca Parisiana_. They are from the French Catalogue, 1790, 8vo. NO. 2. Biblia sacra latina vulgatæ editionis (ex translatione et cum præfationibus S. Hieronymi); Venetiis, N. Jenson, 1476, 2 vol. in fol.: _avec miniatures, relié en mar. r. doublé de tabis, dentelles et boîtes_: IMPRIME SUR VELIN. "On connoît l'extrême rareté de cette belle edition quand les exemplaires sont sur vélin. Nous n'en connoissons qu'un seul, bien moins beau que celui ci; celui que nous annonçons est de toute beauté, et on ne peut rien ajouter au luxe de la relieure." £59 17_s._ 0_d._ 3. Biblia sacra vulgatæ editionis, tribus tomis distincta (jussu Sixt. V., pontificis maximi edita); _Romæ, ex typographia apostolica vaticana_, 1590; _in. fol. ch. mag. maroquin rouge_. "Superbe exemplaire d'un livre de la plus grande rareté; il porte sur la couverture les armes de Sixte Quint." 64 1 0 10. Epitome passionis Jesu Christi, in 4o. SUR VELIN avec miniatures. _Manuscrit très précieux_ du commencement du 16 siecle, contenant 37 feuillets écrits en ancienne ronde bâtarde, et 17 pages de miniatures d'un dessein et d'un fini inappréciables. "Les desseins sont d'Albert Durer, tels qu'il les a gravés dans ses ouvrages, et l'exécution est si animée qu'on peut croire qu'elle est, en tout ou en partie, de la main de ce peintre célebre. On ne peut trop louer la beauté de ce livre." 50 8 0 13. Officium beatæ Mariæ virginis cum calendario; in 4o. mar. r. dentelles. "_Cette paire d'heures manuscrite_ SUR VELIN, est sans contredit une des plus belles et des plus achevées que l'on puisse trouver. Au rare mérite de sa parfaite exécution elle réunit encore celui d'avoir été faite pour Françoise 1er, roi de France, et d'être décoree dans toutes ses pages de l'embléme et du chiffre de ce monarque. Ce manuscrit, d'un prix inestimable, est ecrit en lettres rondes sur un vélin très blanc"--"il est decoré de très belles capitales, de guirlandes superbes de fleurs, de culs-de-lampe, & de 12 bordures ornées d'oiseaux, d'insectes, de fleurs et de lames d'or très brillant."--"Il est impossible de donner une idée satisfaisante de le beauté et de la richesse de 12 peintures admirables qui enrichissent autant de pages de 8 pouces et demi de hauteur, sur environ 6 pouces de largeur; elles sont au dessus de toute expression; mais il n'y en a qu'une qui soit du temps de François 1er.; un seigneur dont on voit les armes peintes sur le second feuillet, a fait exécuter les autres dans la siecle dernier, avec une magnificence peu commune. Les tableaux et les ornemens dont il a enrichi ce précieux manuscrit se distinguent par une composition savante et gracieuse, un dessin correct, une touche précieuse et un coloris agréable," &c. 109 4 0 14. Heures de Notre-Dame, écrites à la main, 1647, par Jarry, Parisien, in 8o. _chagrin noir, avec deux fermoirs d'or et boîte de mar. bl._ "Ces heures sont un chef-d'oeuvre d'écriture & de peinture. Le fameux Jarry, qui n'a pas encore eu son égal en l'art d'écrire, s'y est surpassé, & y a prouvé que la regularité, la netteté & la precision des caracteres du burin et de l'impression pouvoient être imitées avec la plume à un degré de perfection inconcevable."--"Le peintre, dont le nom nous est inconnu, & qui doit avoir été un des plus fameux du siecle de Louis XIV., a travaillé à l'envi avec Nicolas Jarry à rendre ces heures dignes d'admiration."--"Les sept peintures dont il les a enriches, sont recommendables par la purité de leur dessein, la vivacité des couleurs, la verité de l'expression, et leur précieux fini." 73 10 0 This matchless little volume was purchased by Mr. Johnes of Hafod, and presented by him to his daughter, who has successfully copied the miniatures; and, in the true spirit of a female bibliomaniac, makes this book her travelling companion "wherever she goes." 15. Office de la Vierge, _manuscrit_, avec 39 miniatures et un grand nombre de figures bizarres, oiseaux, etc. supérieurement executé; 2 vol. in 8o. _m. bl. doublé de tapis, avec étuis_. "On ne peut rien voir de plus agréable & de mieux diversifié que les différents sujets des miniatures; en tout, cet exemplaire est un des plus beaux que j'aie jamais vus; c'est celui de Picart. Il est à remarquer à cause du costume de quelques figures; il a été relié avec le plus grand soin et la plus grande dépense." 110 5 0 145. L'art de connoître et d'apprécier les miniatures des anciens manuscrits; par M. l'abbé Rive, avec 30 tableaux enlumines, copiés d'après les plus beaux manuscrits qui se trouvoient dans la bibliothéque de M. le Duc de la Valliere, et d'autres précieux cabinets. _Exemplaire peint_ SUR VELIN. "M. l'abbé Rive se proposoit de donner une dissertation sur les manuscrits enluminés pour accompagner ces dessins; mais jusqu'ici ayant des raisons qui l'empêchent d'en gratifier le public, il en a donné la description en manuscrit (le seul qui existe) au propriétaire de ce superbe exemplaire." 56 14 0 240. Les faicts, dictes et ballades de maitre Alain Chartier: _Paris, Pierre le Caron, sans date, in fol. velours vert_; IMPRIME SUR VELIN. "Exemplaire qui ne laisse rien à desirer, pour la grandeur des marges, la peinture des miniatures et de toutes les lettres capitales. La finesse des lignes rouges, qui divisent chaque ligne, demontre combien on a été engagé à le rendre précieux. Il est dans sa relieure originale parfaitement bien conservé; il a appartenu à Claude d'Urfé: l'edition passe pour étre de l'année, 1484. _Voyez Bibliographie Instructive_, no. 2999." 31 10 0 242. Contes de la Fontaine, avec miniatures, vignettes et culs-de-lampes à chaque conte; 2 vol. in 4o.; m. bleu, doublé de tapis, étuis. "_Manuscrit incomparable_ pour le génie et l'exécution des dessins. Il est inconcevable que la vie d'un artiste ait pu suffire pour exécuter d'une manière si finie un si grand nombre de peintures exquises; le tout est d'un coloris éclatant, d'une conservation parfaite, & sur du vélin egalement blanc et uni; enfin c'est un assemblage de miniatures précieuses et dignes d'orner le plus beau cabinet." L'ecriture a été faite par Monchaussé, et les miniatures par le fameux Marolles. 315 0 0 328. Opere di Francesco Petrarcha; _senza luogho_ 1514, _mar. r. doublé de tabis et étui_; IMPRIME SUR VELIN. "Exemplaire sans prix, avec grand nombre de miniatures charmantes. Il passoit pour constant à Florence, où je l'ai acheté, qu'il avoite été imprimé à part probablement pour quelqu'un des Mêdicis, et sur les corrections de l'edition de 1514; car les fautes ne s'y trouvent pas, et il ne m'a pas éte possible d'en découvrir une seule.--La parfaite conservation de ce livre précieux démontre combien ses possesseurs ont été sensible a sa valeur. P----." 116 11 0 486. Collectiones Peregrinationum in Indiam Orientalem et in Indiam Occidentalem, xxv partibus comprehensæ, &c. _Francof. ad Mæen. 1590, &c., 60 vol. reliés en 24, folio; maroq. citr. bleu et rouge._ "Exemplaire de la plus grande beauté, et qui possede autant de perfection que pouvoient lui donner les soins et les connoissances des plus grands amateurs." 210 0 0 543. Les grands chroniques de France (dites les chroniques de St. Denys); _Paris, Antoine Verard_, 1493, 3 vols. fol. _vel. rouge, et boîtes_; IMPRIME SUR VELIN. "Exemplaire d'une magnificence étonante pour la blancheur du vélin, la grandeur des marges, et l'ouvrage immense de l'enluminure; chaque lettre-capitale étant peinte en or, et contenant 953 miniatures, dont 13 sont de la grandeur des pages, et 940 environ de 4 pouces de hauteur sur 3 de largeur. Il est encore dans sa relieure originale, et d'une fraîcheur & d'une conservation parfaites: il a appartenu à Claude d'Urfé." 151 4 0 546. Chroniques de France, d'Angleterre, d'Ecosse, d'Espagnes, et de Bretaigne, etc.; par _Froissart; Paris, G. Eustace, 1514. 4 vol. in fol. mar. r. doublé de tabis, et boîtes_ IMPRIME SUR VELIN. "On peut regarder ce livre comme un des plus rares qui existe. L'exemplaire est unique et inconnu aux meilleurs bibliographes; Sauvage ne l'a jamaie vu; il est de la premiere beauté par la blancheur du vélin, & par sa belle conservation. On y a joint tout le luxe de la rélieure." _In the Hafod Collection._ 149 2 0] [Footnote 401: The following is the title of the Bibliotheca Lortiana. "_A Catalogue of the entire and valuable Library of the late_ REV. MICHAEL LORT, D.D., F.R.S. and A.S., _which will be sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby, &c., April 5, 1791_," 8vo. The sale lasted twenty-five days; and the number of lots or articles was 6665. The ensuing specimens of a few of the book-treasures in this collection prove that Lysander's encomium upon the collector is not without foundation. NO. 1738. Gardiner's (Bishop) Detection of the Devil's Sophistry, MS. title: printed by _John Hertford, in Aldersgate Street, at the cost and charges of Robert Toye_, 1546, 12mo. Note in this book: "Though this book is imperfect, yet the remarkable part of it, viz. sheet E, printed in the Greek letter, and sheet F in Latin, with the Roman letter, are not wanting." £0 2_s._ 0_d._ 1847. Hale's (T.) Account of New Inventions, in a letter to the Earl of Marlborough, 8vo. Note in this book: "Many curious particulars in this book, more especially a prophetic passage relative to the Duke of Marlborough, p. XLVII." 0 5 0 1880. Harrison's (Michael) four Sermons. "N.B. The author of this book cut the types himself, and printed it at St. Ives," 8vo. 0 3 0 1930. Festival (The) impressus Rothomage, 1499, 4to. In this book (which is in English) at the end of each Festival is a narration of the life of the Saint, or of the particular festival. 0 16 0 1931. Festival (The) with wooden cuts, compleat: _emprynted by Wynkyn de Worde_, 1408, 4to. 0 15 0 2156. Johnson's (Dr. Sam.) Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. "In this book is contained the cancelled part of page 48, relative to Litchfield Cathedral; likewise the cancelled part of page 296, respecting the cave at Egg, and the transaction there; also parts of reviews and newspapers, concerning Dr. Johnson; two plates, MS. copy of a letter of Dr. Johnson's: and Henderson's letter to Johnson on his journey to Scotland." 1776, 8vo. 0 15 0 2558. Muggleton's Acts of the Witnesses of the Spirit; _with heads, MS. remarks, and notes_, 1699. Ludowick Muggleton, born in Bishopgate Street, 1609; put apprentice to John Quick, a taylor. Married a virgin of 19, ætat. suæ 22. Another virgin of 19, ætat. 32. A third virgin wife of 25, ætat. 53. Chosen a prophet 1665, 4to. 0 5 6 2559. Muggleton's and Reeve's volume of Spiritual Epistles; elegantly bound, with a head of Muggleton underneath a MS. note, 1755, 4to. 0 10 6 2579. Lower's Voyage of Charles II. made into Holland, head and plates. Hague. 1660. Folio. N.B. "A very uncommon book, containing many curious particulars." 1 3 0 2776. Owen's (Dr. John) Divine Originall, &c. of the Scriptures, Oxford, 1659, 8vo. Note in this book: "One of the scarcest and best of Dr. Owen's works." 0 1 0 3005. Psalms (The whole Booke of) with Hymns, by Ravenscroft, with music, 8vo. "Note; in this book are some tunes by John Milton, the great poet's father. See page 242, 62." 0 2 0 3342. Stubbes's Anatomie of Abuses, printed at London by Richard Jones, 16 August, 1583, 8vo. Note in this book: "I bought this rare book at the auction of Mr. Joseph Hart's books, in May 1772, where it cost me 8_s._ &c." M.L. [The reader may just run back to page 279, ante; where he will find some account of this work.] 1 14 0 4185. Champ Fleury, auquel est contenu l'Art et Science de la deue et vraye Proportion de Lettres Antiques et Romaines selon le Corps et visage Humain, avec figures. Par. 1529. Folio. "_This uncommon book was sold at an auction, 1722, for 2l. 15s._" 0 12 6 4437. Alberti Descriptione di tutta Italia, Venez., 1568, 4to. Note in this book--"_This is a very scarce and much valued account of Italy._" With another curious note respecting the author. 0 9 6 4438. Aldrete Varias Antiguedales de Espana, Africa, y otras Provincias. Amberes, 1641, 4to. _Note in this book_: "One of the most valuable books of this kind in the Spanish language, and very rarely to be met with." 0 9 6 5532. Humfredi, Vita Episcop. Juelli, foliis deauratis, Lond. ap Dayum, 1573, 4to. _Note in this book_: "At the end of this book are probably some of the first Hebrew types used in England." 0 1 0 6227. Præsidis (Epistola R.A.P.) Generalis et Regiminis totius Congregationis Anglicanæ Ordinis St. Benedicti. Duaci, 1628. 8vo. 0 1 0 [_Note in this book_: "This is a very scarce book; it was intended only for the use of the order, and care taken that it should not get into improper hands. See the conclusion of the General's mandate, and of the book itself."] 6616. Wakefeldi Oratio de Laudibus et Utilitate trium linguarum, Arabicæ, Chaldaicæ, & Hebraicæ; atque idiomatibus Hebraicis quæ in utroque Testamento inveniuntur. _Lond. ap. Winandum de Worde._--Shirwode Liber Hebræorum concionatoris, seu Ecclesiasten. Antv. 1523. 4to. _Note in this book_: "These two pieces by Shirwood and Wakefield are exceedingly rare." 0 4 0 For some particulars concerning the very respectable Dr. LORT, the reader may consult the _Gentleman's Magazine_; vol. lx. pt. ii. p. 1055, 1199.] ALMAN. I am glad to hear you notice such kind of collections; for utility and common sense have always appeared to me a great desideratum among the libraries of your professed bibliomaniacs. BELIN. Yes:--You pride yourselves upon your large paper, and clean, and matchless copies--but you do not dwell quite so satisfactorily upon your useful and profitable volumes--which, surely stand not in need of expensive embellishments. Lort's collection would be the library for my money--if I were disposed to become a female bibliomaniac! LIS. You are even a more jejune student than myself in bibliography, or you would not talk in this strain, Belinda. Abuse fine copies of books! I hope you forgive her, Lysander? LYSAND. Most cordially. But have I not discoursed sufficiently? The ladies are, I fear, beginning to be wearied; and the night is "almost at odds with morning which is which." LOREN. Nay, nay, we must not yet terminate our conversation. Pursue, and completely accomplish, the noble task which you have begun. But a few more years to run down--a few more renowned bibliomaniacs to "kill off"--and then we retire to our pillows delighted and instructed by your---- LYSAND. Halt! If you go on thus, there is an end to our "Table Talk." I now resume. LOREN. Yet a word to save your lungs, and slightly vary the discourse. Let me take you with me to Ireland, about this time; where, if you reremember [Transcriber's Note: remember], the library of DENIS DALY[402] was disposed of by public auction. My father attended the sale; and purchased at it a great number of the _Old English Chronicles_, and volumes relating to _English History_, which Lisardo so much admired in the library. You remember the copy of Birch's _Lives of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain_! [Footnote 402: _A Catalogue of the Library of the late Right Honourable_ DENIS DALY, _which will be sold by auction on the first of May, 1792, by James Vallance._ _Dublin_, 8vo. A fac-simile copper-plate of a part of the first psalm, taken from a Bible erroneously supposed to have been printed by Ulric Zell in 1458, faces the title-page; and a short and pertinent preface succeeds it. The collection was choice and elegant: the books are well described, and the catalogue is printed with neatness. The copies on _large paper_ are very scarce. I subjoin, as a curiosity, and for the sake of comparing with modern prices, the sums for which a few popular articles in ENGLISH HISTORY were disposed of. NO. 527. Tyrrell's General History of England, 5 vols. Lond. 1697, fol. "To this copy Mr. Tyrell has made considerable additions in MS. written in a fair hand, which must be worthy of the attention of the learned." £10 4_s._ 9_d._ 533. Rapin's History of England with Tyndal's Continuation, 5 vols. _elegantly bound in russia_. Lond. 1743-1747, folio. "One of the most capital sets of Rapin extant; besides the elegant portraits of the kings and queens, monuments, medals, &c. engraved for this work, it is further enriched with the beautiful prints executed by Vertue and Houbraken, for Birch's Illustrious Heads." folio. 17 2 7 534. Carte's General History of England, 4 vols., fine paper, _elegant in russia_. Lond. 1747, folio. 7 19 3 537. Birch's Lives of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain, with their heads by Houbraken and Vertue; 2 vols. in one, _first impression of the plates, imperial paper_. Lond. 1743-1751, folio. It is impossible to give a perfect idea of this book: every plate is fine, and appears to be selected from the earliest impressions: it is now very scarce. 22 15 0 538. Campbell's Vitruvius Britannicus, with Woolfe's and Gandon's Continuation, 5 vols. _large paper, fine impressions of the plates, elegantly bound in morocco, gilt leaves, &c._ Lond. 1717-1767, folio. 25 0 6 540. Wood's Historia et Antiquitates Oxoniensis, _large paper, russia, gilt leaves, &c._ Ox. 1674. 2 16 10 542. Biographia Britannica, 7 vols. _large paper, elegantly bound_. Lond. 1747, fol. 13 13 0 543. ---- ---- 4 vols. new edition, _elegantly bound in green Turkey_. Lond. 1778. 7 19 3 545. Mathæi Paris, Monachi Albanensis Angli, Historia Major, a Wats. Lond. 1640, folio. 3 19 7 546. Mathæi Westmonasteriensis, Flores Historiarum. Franc. 1601, folio. 2 16 10 547. Historiæ Anglicanæ Scriptores Varii, a Sparke. Lond. 1723, folio. 2 5 6 548. Historiæ Anglicanæ Scriptores X. a Twysden; 2 tom. fol. _deaurat._ Lond. 1652, folio. 4 11 0 549. Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores post Bedam, a Saville, fol. _deaurat._ Lond. 1596, folio. 2 5 6 550. Rerum Anglicarum Scriptorum Veterum, a Gale; 3 tom. fol. _deaurat._ Lond. 1684-91. 5 13 9 551. Rerum Britannicarum, Scriptores Vetustiores. Lugd. 1587, folio. 1 8 0 573. Prynne's Records, 3 vols., with the _frontispieces complete, gilt, broad border of gold_. Lond. 1666-68. "For an account of this rare and valuable work, see Oldy's British Librarian, page II. Not more than 70 copies of the first vol. were rescued from the fire of London, 1666." folio. 80 15 3 I learn from the nephew of the late Mr. Archer, of Dublin, bookseller, that the late Lord Clare offered 4000 guineas for the collection--which contained only 1441 lots or articles. The offer was rejected. Although the amount of the sale did not exceed 3700_l._--according to a rough calculation.] LIS. I do:--and a marvellously fine one it is! LOREN. Well, this was formerly _Exemplar Dalyanum_. But now proceed. I wished only to convince you that the miasmata (as you call them) of the bibliomaniacal disease had reached our Sister Kingdom. Of Scotland[403]--I know nothing in commendation respecting the BIBLIOMANIA. [Footnote 403: This is rather a hasty speech, on the part of Lorenzo. The copious and curious catalogues of those booksellers, Messrs. CONSTABLE, LAING, and BLACKWOOD--are a sufficient demonstration that the cause of the _Bibliomania_ flourishes in the city of Edinburgh. Whether they have such desperate bibliomaniacs in Scotland, as we possess in London, and especially of the book-auction species--is a point which I cannot take upon me to decide. Certain it is that the notes of their great poet are not deficient in numerous tempting extracts from rare black-letter tomes; and if his example be not more generally followed than it is, the fault must lie with some scribe or other who counteracts its influence by propagating opinions, and recommending studies, of a different, and less tasteful, cast of character. I am fearful that there are too many politico-economical, metaphysical, and philosophical miasmata, floating in the atmosphere of Scotland's metropolis, to render the climate there just now favourable to the legitimate cause of the BIBLIOMANIA.] I had nearly forgotten to mention, with the encomiums which they merit, the select, curious, and splendid collections of the CHAUNCYS:[404] very able scholars, and zealous bibliomaniacs. Many a heavy-metalled competitor attended the sale of the _Bibliotheca Chauncyana_; and, I dare say, if such a collection of books were now _sub hastâ_---- [Footnote 404: _A Catalogue of the elegant and valuable Libraries of_ CHARLES CHAUNCY, M.D. F.R.S. and F.S.A.; _and of his brother_, NATHANIEL CHAUNCY, _Esq., both deceased: &c. Sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby, April, 1790_, 8vo.: 3153 articles. NO. 99. Booke of Raynarde the Foxe, morocco, gilt leaves, _London by Thomas Gaultier_, 1550, 8vo. £2 3_s._ 0_d._ 108. Merie Tales by Master Skelton, Poet Laureat; _imprinted by Thomas Colwell_; no date, 12mo. 1 6 0 109. The Pleasunt Historie of Lazarillo de Tormes, by David Rouland; _impr. at London, by Abel Jeffes_, 1586, 12mo. 0 11 0 112. The Newe Testament, corrected by Tyndal, with exhortations by Erasmus; _gilt leaves_, 1536, 12mo. 5 2 6 113. More's Utopia, by Robynson; _impr. by Abraham Veale_, 12mo. (1551.) 0 8 0 "N.B. In this are the passages which have been left out in the later editions." (But the reader may be pleased to examine my edition of this translation of the Utopia; 1808, 2 vols., 8vo., see vol. i., p. clix.) 119. The Epidicion into Scotland of the most woorthely fortunate Prince Edward, Duke of Somerset, Uncle unto our most noble sovereign, &c., Edward the VIth; _imprinted by Grafton_; 1548, 8vo. 2 18 0 (At the sale of Mr. Gough's books in 1810, a fine copy of this work was sold for 10_l._ 10_s._) 362. Ben Jonson his Volpone, or the Foxe; _morocco, gilt leaves_, 1607, 4to. 4 0 0 "In this book is this note written by Ben Jonson himself. 'To his loving father, and worthy friend Mr. John Florio: the ayde of his Muses. Ben Jonson seales this testimony of friendship and love.'" 384. Nychodemus's Gospell, _morocco, gilt leaves, emprynted at London, by Wynkyn de Worde_, 1511, 4to. 2 2 0 388. Oxford and Cambridge Verses; _in blue and red morocco, gilt leaves, with gold tassels_, 13 vols., 1617, &c., fol. 2 12 6 572. Caius of English Dogges, the diversities, the names, the natures, and the properties, by Fleming; _imprinted at London by Richard Johnes_, 1576, 4to. 5 10 0 592. The Life and Death of the merry Devill of Edmonton, with the pleasant Prancks of Smug the smith, Sir John, and mine Host of the George, about the stealing of Venison, frontispiece, 4to. 1 10 0 599. Speculum Xristiani, corio turcico, impress. _London, p. Willelmum de Machlinia_ ad instanciam nec non expensas Henrici Urankenburg, mercatoris, _sine anno vel loco, circa_, 1480, 4to. 11 0 0 599. [Transcriber's Note: sic] A Hundreth Sundrie Flowers, bounde up in one small poesie, gathered in the fyne outlandish gardins of Euripides, Ovid, Petrake, Aristo, and others. _London_, 4to. 1 12 0 1669. The Recuile of the Historie of Troie; _imprynted_ 1553, _by William Copland, folio_ 2 5 0 1670. The Pastyme of People. The Chronicles of dyvers Realmys, and most specyally of the Realme of Englond, brevely compylyd and _emprynted in Chepesyde at the sygne of the Mearmayde, next Polly's Gate (made up with MS.) morocco, gilt leaves_, folio 9 14 0 1684. Cunningham's Cosmographical Glasse. _Lond. printed by Daye_, 1559, fol. 5 15 6 (I conclude that it had the portrait.) 2932. Ptolomæi Cosmographie; cum tab. georgr. [Transcriber's Note: geogr.] illum. _Impress. in Membranis_, 1482, fol. 14 14 0 2933. Virgilii Opera: _Impres. in Membram. Venet. ap. Barthol. Cremonens_, 1472, fol. (Two leaves on vellum in MS. very fairly written) 43 1 0 Purchased by the late Mr. Quin. 2934. Plinii Hist. Naturalis; Venet. 1472, folio. _Impres. in Membranis._ The first leaf illuminated on very fine vellum paper. Note in this book: "This book, formerly Lord Oxford's, was bought by him of Andrew Hay for 160 guineas." 65 2 0 Purchased by Mr. Edwards. There was also a magnificent copy of _Pynson's first edition of Chaucer's Works_, in folio, which is now in the collection of Earl Spencer.] LIS. He means "under the hammer."--Ladies are not supposed to know these cramp Latin phrases.-- LYSAND. Well, "under the hammer:"--if, I say, such a collection were now to be disposed of by public auction, how eager and emulous would our notorious book-collectors be to run away with a few splendid spoils! We will next notice a not less valuable collection, called the _Bibliotheca Monroiana_; or the library of Dr. JOHN MONRO;[405] the sale of which took place in the very year, and a little before, the preceding library was disposed of. Don't imagine that Monro's books were chiefly medical; on the contrary, besides exhibiting some of the rarest articles in Old English literature, they will convince posterity of the collector's accurate taste in Italian Belles Lettres: and here and there you will find, throughout the catalogue, some interesting bibliographical memoranda by the Doctor himself. [Footnote 405: "_Bibliotheca Elegantissima Monroiana: A Catalogue of the elegant and valuable library of_ JOHN MUNRO, M.D., _Physician to Bethelem Hospital, lately deceased. Sold by auction by Leigh and Sotherby [Transcriber's Note: Sotheby], &c. April 23d, 1792_, 8vo." As usual I subjoin a few specimens of the collector's literary treasures in confirmation of the accuracy of Lysander's eulogy upon the collection----No. 709, Cowell's Interpreter; or, Booke containing the signification of words, _first edition_, ("rare to be met with.") _Camb. by Legate_, 1607, 4to.----No. 1951. Cent (Les) Nouvelles Nouvelles, ou pour mieux dire, Nouveaux Comptes à plaisance, par maniere de Joyeuseté.----_Lettres Gothiques, fig. et bois et titre MSS. feuilles dorées, en maroquin, Paris, par Ant. Verard_, 1475, fol.----No. 1963, Heide Beschryving der nieuevlyks uitgevonden en geoctrojeerde Slang-Brand-Spuiten, en Haare wijze van Brand-Blussen, Tegenwoordig binnen _Amsterdam in gebruik zynde. Wyze figuurs Amst._ 1690, fol. "_Note in this book: Paris_, 1736. Paid for this book for his Grace the Duke of Kingston, by Mr. Hickman, 24_l._" A great sum for a book about a "newly discovered fire engine!"----No. 2105, Vivre (Le livre intitulé l'art de bein) et de bien mourir, lettres gothiques, avec fig. en maroquin dorées sur tranches. _Imprimé à Paris_, 1543, 4to. Note by Dr. Munro: "It is a very scarce book, more so than generally thought." With a long account of the book on separate papers.----No. 2121, Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, con figure da Porro, foglio dorat. Venet. 1584, 4to. N.B. In this copy the true print is replaced _with a fine head of Ariosto_, and _elegantly inlaid with morocco and calf_.----No. 2147, Boccacio (Nimpale Fiesolano: composto par il Clarissimo Poeta Misser Joanni) Fiorentino, &c. rigato. Senza data, 4to. See in this book a long account of this poem from Dom. Maria Manni, in the Istoria del Decamerone, p. 55. "From what Manni says in the above account, I suppose this to be the first edition he makes mention of, as there is no place or date to be found. J.M."----No. 2194. Dante di Landino, con. fig. La prima Edizione di Landino, impf. _Firenze per Nicholo di Lorenzo della Magna_, 1481, folio. "In this book are several remarks by Dr. Munro, on separate papers. An old scarce print, separate. On the title-page the following initials C M/DC R; upon which the Doctor remarks it might probably be the signature of Charles the First, whose property it might have been. The Doctor likewise observes this copy, though imperfect, is still very valuable, on account of its having eight plates, the generality having only the two first."----No. 2208, Molinet (Les Faictz et dictz de bone Memoire Maistre Jehan) _Lettres gothiques, en maroquin Par._ 1537, 8vo.----No. 2366, Peri Fiesole Distrutta, poema: with portrait and engraved title, Firenze, 1619, 4to. _Note in this book_: "This is the only copy I ever saw of this work, which I imagine is at present become extremely scarce. The title and portrait are engraved by Callott. The portrait is common enough, but the title, known by the name of the Bella Giardiniera, very seldom seen. J.M."----No. 2379. Ridolfi, Le Maraviglie dell'Arte, overo le vite di Pittori Veneti e dello stato, con. fig. 2 tom. 4to. N.B. On the blank leaf of this book is an etching by Carolus Rodolphus, with this _MS. note_: "I imagine this to be an etching of Cavaier Rodolphi, as I do not remember any other of the name."----No. 2865, Lazii in Genealogiam Austriacam, Basil. ap. Oporinum, 1564.--Lazii Vienna Austriæ Basil, 1546. Francolin Res Gestæ Viennensis, cum fig. _Viennæ Austriæ excudebat Raphæl Hofhalter_, 1563. Folio. _Note in this book_: "The last book in this volume is curious and uncommon."] We shall now run rapidly towards the close of the eighteenth century. But first, you may secure, for a shilling or two, the SOUTHGATE COLLECTION;[406] and make up your minds to pay a few more shillings for good copies, especially upon _large paper_, of all the parts of the catalogues of the library of GEORGE MASON[407]. This collection was an exceedingly valuable one; rather select than extensive: exhibiting, in pretty nearly an equal degree, some of the rarest books in Greek, Latin, and English literature. The _keimelion_ of the Masonian cabinet, in the estimation of the black-letter bibliomaniacs, was a perfect copy of the _St. Albans' edition_ of Juliana Barnes's book of _Hawking, Hunting_, and _Angling_; which perfect copy is now reposing in a collection where there are _keimelia_ of far greater value to dim its wonted lustre. But let Mason have our admiration and esteem. His library was elegant, judicious, and, in many respects, very precious: and the collector of such volumes was a man of worth and learning. [Footnote 406: "_Museum Southgatianum; being a Catalogue of the valuable Collection of Books, Coins, Medals, and Natural History of the late Rev._ RICHARD SOUTHGATE, A.B., F.A.S., &c. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life. London: printed for Leigh and Sotheby," &c. 1795, 8vo. The books were comprised in 2593 lots. The coins and medals extend, in the catalogue, to 68 pages. The shells and natural curiosities (sold in May, 1795) to 11 pages. This catalogue possesses, what every similar one should possess, a compendious and perspicuous account of the collector. My copy of it is upon _large paper_; but the typographical execution is sufficiently defective.] [Footnote 407: Lysander is right in noticing "_all the parts_" of the Masonian Library. I will describe them particularly. Pt. I. _A Catalogue of a considerable portion of the Greek and Latin Library of_ GEORGE MASON, Esq., with some articles in the Italian, French, English, and other languages, &c. Sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby, on Wednesday, January 24, 1798, 8vo. 497 articles. Pt. II. _A Catalogue of most of the reserved portion of the Greek and Latin Library of_ G.M., &c., chiefly classical and bibliographical, with a few miscellaneous articles in French: sold as before, May 16, 1798, &c. 480 articles. Pt. III. _A Catalogue of a considerable portion of the remaining Library of_ G.M., Esq.--chiefly historical, with some curious theological, and some scientific, articles: sold as before; Nov. 27 to 30; 1798, &c. 547 articles. Pt IV. _A Catalogue, &c., of the remaining library of_ G.M., Esq.--chiefly Belles Lettres, English, French, and Italian, &c., sold as before; April 25, 1799: 338 articles. These FOUR PARTS, priced, especially the latter one--are uncommon. My copies of all of them are upon _large paper_. It must have been a little heart-breaking for the collector to have seen his beautiful library, the harvest of many a year's hard reaping, melting away piece-meal, like a snow-ball--before the warmth of some potent cause or other, which now perhaps cannot be rightly ascertained. See here, gentle reader, some of the fruits of this golden Masonian harvest!--gathered almost promiscuously from the several parts. They are thus presented to thy notice, in order, amongst other things, to stimulate thee to be equally choice and careful in the gathering of similar fruits. PART I. NO. 150. Winstanley's Audley End, inscribed to James the Second, fol. _Never published for sale_ £27 10_s._ 0_d._ 158. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, C.T. _F.D. Ald._ 1499 5 0 0 162. Aquinæ (Thomæ) Quartiscriptum, C.R. _Moguntiæ Schoeffer_, 1492, fol. 6 0 0 295. Cicero de Officiis, C.T. F.D. _Moguntiæ ap. Fust._ 1465. 4to. In hoc exemplari Rubrica inter libros secundum ac tertium habet singularia errata, quæ in nullo alio exemplari adhuc innotuerunt; viz. _primus_ ponitur pro _secundus_, _secundus_ pro _tertius_, et _secundum_ pro _tertium_ 26 5 0 307. Chalcondylas, Moschopulus, et Corinthus, Gr. _editio princeps._ Vide notam ante Librum 8 18 6 308. Constantini Lexicon Græcum. _Genevæ_, 1592 4 5 0 324. Ciceronis Orationes, C.T. viridi F.D. _per Adamum de Ambergau_, 1472, fol. 5 5 0 468. Homerus, Gr., 2 vol., _Editio princeps_, C.R. Flor. 1488 11 11 0 496. Xenophon, Gr., _editio princeps_, C.T. F.D. _Flor. ap. Junt._ 1516, fol. 2 3 0 PART III. 70. Maundrel's Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, _L.P. Oxf._ 1714, 8vo. First edition of the entire work 3 18 0 101. The Psalter of David, large B.L. C.T. nigro F.D. _Cantorbury, in St. Paule's Parysh, by John Mychell_, 1549, 4to. 4 4 0 102. The Gospels in Saxon and English, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, by John Foxe, C.T. nigro, F.D. _Lond. by Daye_, 1571, 4to. 4 5 0 103. The new Testament, by Thomas Matthew, 1538, 4to. 3 4 0 ["There are cuts to the Revelations, different from any Mr. Herbert had seen; nor had he seen the book itself, till he was writing his 'Corrections and additions,' where, at p. 1833, he describes it."] 105. Nychodemus' Gospell, C.T. F.D. _wood prints. Wynkyn de Worde_, 1511, 4to. 1 5 0 107. English Prymer, in red and black types: _with emblematic frontispiece from a wood-cut_. C.T. cæruleo F.D. _Byddell_, 1535, 4to. PRINTED ON VELLUM 8 18 6 110. Speculum Christiani (in Latin prose and English verse) C.T. nigro. _In civitate Londoniarum, per Wilhelmum de Machlinia. Supposed to be the first book printed in London, and about_ 1480, 4to. 4 4 0 111. Contemplation of Synners, (Latin prose and English verse) with double frontispiece, and other wood-cuts. _Westminster, by Wynkyn de Worde_, 1499, 4to. 2 3 0 112. (Walter Hylton's) Scala Perfectionis, London, _without Temple-Barre_, by Julyan Notary, 1507, 4to. 1 11 6 151. Dives and Pauper, C.R. _first dated impression by Pynson_, 1493, folio 2 5 0 164. Hackluyt's Collection of Voyages, B.L. 3 vols. in 2. Lond. 1599. "This work contains in vol. I. (beginning at p. 187) a political tract in verse (of the time of Henry VI.) exhorting England to keep the sea." 4 10 0 178. Arnold's Chronicle, or Customs of London, B.L. C.T.--F.D. (1521) folio 15 15 6 180. Chaucer's Hertfordshire; _with all the plates_, C.R. _Once the book of White Kennet, Bishop of Peterborough; whose marginal notes in are pp._ 64, 359, 523, folio 21 0 0 338. Froissart's Chronycles, 2 vols. C.R. F.D. _Printed by Pynson_, 1523-5, _folio_, 2 vols. 341. Rastell's Pastyme of People, C.T.--F.D. Johannes Rastell, (1529) _One page and part of a pieced leaf written._ 349. Monasticon Anglicanum, 3 vols. ligat. in 4, C.R. all the plates, Lond. 1651, 61, 73. "This copy contains that very scarce leaf, which sometimes follows the title-page of the first volume: an account of which leaf (by Tanner and Hearne) may be seen from p. 45 to p. 50 of the sixth volume of Leland's Collectanea, and their account rectified by Bridges, at the conclusion of Hearne's preface to Titus Livius Foro-Juliensis." Folio. 466. Hardyng's Chronicle (in verse) C.R.--F.D. _With an original grant (on vellum) from Henry VI. to Hardyng, Londoni._ Grafton, 1543, 4to. [This beautiful copy, formerly West's, is now in the collection of George Hibbert, Esq.] 518. Fabian's Chronicle, C.T. cærulo F.D. 2 vols. in 1. B.L. Lond. W. Rastell, 1533. "This edition (as well as Pynson's) has the hymns to the Virgin, though Mr. T. Warton thought otherwise." folio. PART IV. [Transcriber's Note: In this section, no prices are given in the original.] 37. Kendall's Flowers of Epigrams, B.L.--C.R. _Leaf 93 is wanting_, 12mo. 47. M(arloe)'s Ovid's Elegies and Epigrams, by J. D(avies of Hereford). (Ovid's head engraved by W.M.) C.T.--F.D. _Middlebourg_, 12mo. 57. Observations on Authors, Ancient and Modern, 2 vol. Lond. 1731-2. "This was Dr. Jortin's own copy, who has written the name of each author to every piece of criticism, and added a few marginal remarks of his own," 8vo. 150. Valentine and Orson, B.L. cuts. _Wants title, two leaves in one place, and a leaf in another_, 4to. 152. La Morte D'Arthur, B.L. _wood-cuts_, Lond. _Thomas East._ _Wants one leaf in the middle of the table._ See _MS. note prefixed_. 153. Barnes's (Dame Juliana) Boke of Haukynge, Huntynge, and Cootarmuris, C.T.--F.D. _Seynt Albon's_, folio, 1486. "This perhaps is the only perfect copy of this original edition, which is extant. Its beginning with sig. a ii is no kind of cantradiction [Transcriber's Note: contradiction] to its being perfect; the registers of many Latin books at this period mention the first leaf of A as quite blank. The copy of the public library at Cambridge is at least so worn or mutilated at the bottom of some pages that the bottom lines are not legible." [This copy is now in the matchless collection of Earl Spencer.] 157. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, C.R. _woodcuts, Pynson_, folio, "This is Pynson's original edition, and probably the first book he printed. See a long MS. note prefixed. Bound up at the end of this copy are two leaves of a MS. on vellum, which take in the conclusion of the Miller's Prologue, and beginning of his Tale. One of these pages is illuminated, and has a coloured drawing of the Miller on his mule." 166. Mort D'Arthur, B.L. _woodcuts. Lond. W. Copland._ See MS. notes at the beginning and end, folio. 175. Roy's _Rede me and be not wrothe, For I say nothing but trothe._ "This is the famous satire against Cardinal Wolsey, printed some years before his fall. See Herbert, p. 1538, 8vo." [The reader may look for one minute at page 225, ante.] 263. Boetius, (The Boke of Comfort, by) translated into Englishe Tonge (in verse) _Emprented in the exempt Monastery of Taverstock, in Denshire, by me, Thomas Rycharde, Monke of the said Monastery_, 1525, 4to. 261. Caxton's Blanchardyn and Eglantine, or Proude Lady of Love, C.T.--F.D., _printed by Caxton_, folio. [See my edition of the _Typograhical [Transcriber's Note: Typographical] Antiquities_, vol. i. p. 346.] 274. Hawkyng, Huntyng, and Fyshyng, (from Juliana Barnes) B.L. _woodcuts. Lond. Toye, and W. Copland_, 4to. _See MS. notes prefixed._ 275. Hawys's Compendions Story, or Exemple of Vertue, B.L.--C.R. _wood-cuts_, _ib._ _Wynkyn de Worde_, 1533. 276. ---- Passe-Tyme of Pleasure, B.L. _wood-cuts ib. by W. de Worde_, 1517, 4to. 306. Spenser's Shephearde's Calendar. C.T.--F.D., _wood-cuts: first edition, ib._ Singleton, 1579, 4to. 308. Taylor, the water poet (fifteen different pieces by) all of posterior date to the collection of his works. Among them is the Life of Old Par, with Par's head, and 31 plates of curious needle-work. The volume also contains some replies to Taylor. A written list of all the contents is prefixed. Lond. and Oxford, 4to. 330. Tulle of Old Age (translated by William Botoner, or of Worcester) _pr. by Caxton_, 1481. folio. ---- of Friendship, translated by Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester; to which is added another tract written by the same Earl, C.R.--F.D.--L.R. _Explicit per Caxton_, folio.] How shall I talk of thee, and of thy wonderful collection, O RARE RICHARD FARMER?[408]--and of thy scholarship, acuteness, pleasantry, singularities, varied learning, and colloquial powers! Thy name will live long among scholars in general; and in the bosoms of virtuous and learned bibliomaniacs thy memory shall ever be enshrined! The walls of Emanuel College now cease to convey the sounds of thy festive wit--thy volumes are no longer seen, like Richard Smith's "bundles of sticht books," strewn upon the floor; and thou hast ceased, in the cause of thy beloved Shakspeare, to delve into the fruitful ore of black-letter literature. Peace to thy honest spirit; for thou wert wise without vanity, learned without pedantry, and joyous without vulgarity! [Footnote 408: There is but a scanty memorial of this extraordinary and ever respectable bibliomaniac, in the _Gentleman's Magazine_; vol. lxvii. pt. ii. p. 805: 888: nor is it noticed, among Farmer's theologico-literary labours, that he was author of an ingenious essay upon the _Demoniacs_ mentioned in scripture; in which essay he took up the idea of Mede, that these Demoniacs were _madmen_. Dr. Farmer's essay upon the _Learning of Shakespeare_ is, in respect to the materials, arguments, and conclusions--what the late Bishop of Salisbury's [Douglas] was upon _Miracles_--original, powerful, and incontrovertible. Never was there an octavo volume, like Farmer's upon Shakespeare--which embraced so many, and such curious, points, and which displayed such research, ingenuity, and acuteness--put forth with so little pomp, parade, or pedantry. Its popularity was remarkable; for it delighted both the superficial and deeply-versed reader in black-letter lore. Dr. Parr's well applied Ciceronian phrase, in lauding the "ingenious and joy-inspiring language" of Farmer, gives us some notion of the colloquial powers of this acute bibliomaniac; whose books were generally scattered upon the floor, as Lysander above observes, like old Richard Smith's "stitched bundles." Farmer had his foragers; his jackalls: and his avant-couriers: for it was well known how dearly he loved every thing that was interesting and rare in the literature of former ages. As he walked the streets of London--careless of his dress--and whether his wig was full-bottomed or narrow-bottomed--he would talk and "mutter strange speeches" to himself; thinking all the time, I ween, of some curious discovery he had recently made in the aforesaid precious black-letter tomes. But the reader is impatient for the _Bibliotheca Farmeriana_: the title to the catalogue whereof is as follows. "_Bibl. Farm. A Catalogue of the curious, valuable, and extensive Library in print and manuscript, of the late_ REV. RICHARD FARMER, _D.D., Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's; Master of Emanuel College: Librarian to the University of Cambridge; and Fellow of the Royal & Antiquary Societies_ (deceased, &c.) Sold by Auction by Mr. King; May, 1798," 8vo. [8199 articles]. The collection is justly said, in the title page, to contain the "most rare and copious assemblage of _Old English Poetry_ that, perhaps, was ever exhibited at one view; together with a great variety of _Old Plays_, and early printed books, English and Foreign, in the black-letter." The reader has already (p. 324 ante) had some intimation of the source to which Dr. Farmer was chiefly indebted for these poetical and dramatical treasures; of some of which, "hereafter followeth" an imperfect specimen: NO. 5950. Marbecke (John) the book of Common Prayer, noted, 1550. 4to. See Dr. Burney's long account of this very scarce book in his History of Musick, vol. ii. p. 578, &c. £2 6_s._ 0_d._ 6127. Skinner's Discovery and Declaration of the Inquisition of Spayne, _imp. J. Daye_, 1569, 4to. 6128. Shippe of Fooles, by Brant, wood cuts, _imp. Wynkyn de Worde_, 1517, 4to. 1 16 0 6194. Brunswyke's Medical Dictionary, translated by Huet, _imp. by Treveris_, 1525. folio. 3 10 0 6195. Customs of the Citie of London, or Arnold's Chronicle, with the Nut-Brown Mayde, _1st edition_, 1502, folio. 0 19 0 6386. Annalia Dubrensia, or Robert Dover's Olimpic Games upon Cotswold-Hills, _with frontispiece_, 1636. 1 14 0 6387. Barley-breake, or a Warning for Wantons, by W.N. 1607, 4to. 0 5 0 6395. Britton's Bowre of Delights, by N.B. 1597. 4to. 1 13 0 6413. Byrd's (Will.) Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs of Sadnes and Pietie made into Musicke of 5 partes. 1588. Ditto Sacræ Cantiones, 2 parts; and various Madrigals and Canzonets, by Morley, Weelkes, Wilbye, Bateson, &c. 4to. 0 15 0 6608. Copie of a Letter sent from the roaring Boyes in Elizium, to the two arrant Knights of the Grape in Limbo, Alderman Abel and M. Kilvert, the two projectors for wine; with their portraits. 5 5 0 6785. Turbervile's (George) Epitaphs, Epigrams, Songs and Sonets, with a Discourse of the freendly affections of Tymetes to Pyndara his ladie, b.l. 1570, _imp. by Denham_, 8vo. 1 16 0 6804. Virgil's Æneis, the first foure bookes, translated into English heroicall verse, by Richard Stanyhurst, with other poetical devises thereunto annexed; _impr. by Bynneman_, 1583, 8vo. 2 17 0 6826. Essayes of a Prentise in the Divine Art of Poesie (King James VI.) _Edinburgh, by Vautrollier_, 1585, 8vo. 1 13 0 6846. Fulwell's (Ulpian) Flower of Fame, or bright Renoune and fortunate Raigne of King Henry VIII. b.l. with curious wood cuts: _imp. by Will. Hoskin_, 1575, 4to. 1 11 6 6847. Flytting (the) betwixt Montgomerie and Polwarte, _Edin._, 1629, 4to. 2 5 0 7058. Horace's Art of Poetrie, Pistles, and Satyrs, English'd by Drant, b.l. _Imp. by Marshe_, 1566, 4to. 0 7 6 7066. Humours Ordinarie, where a man may be verie merrie and exceeding well used for his sixpence, 1607, 4to. 0 14 6 7187. Mastiffe Whelp, with other ruff-island-like curs fetcht from among the Antipodes, which bite and barke at the fantasticall humourist and abuses of the time. 0 19 0 7199. Merry Jest of Robin Hood, and of his Life, with a new Play for to be plaied in May-Games; very pleasant and full of pastime, b.l. _imp. by Edward White_, 4to. 3 13 6 7200. Milton's Paradise Lost, in 10 books, 1st _edit._ 1667. 0 11 0 7201. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- _2nd title page_, 1668. 0 11 0 7202. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- _3rd title page_, 1669.--"N.B. The three foregoing articles prove that there were no less than three different title-pages used, to force the sale of the first edition of this matchless poem." S. P[aterson.] 0 7 0 7232. Paradyse of Daynty Devises, b.l. extremely scarce, _imp. by Henry Disle_, 1576, 4to. 6 0 0 7240. Peele's (G.) Device of the Pageant borne before Woolstone Dixie, Lord Mayor of London, Oct. 29, 1585, b.l. See Dr. F.'s note; as probably the only copy. 4to. 1 11 6 7241. Percy's (W.) Sonnets to the fairest Cælia, 1594. 4to. 1 12 0 7249. Psalter (the whole) translated into English Metre, which containeth an Hundreth and Fifty Psalms. The title and first page written. _Imp. by John Daye_, 1567. "This translation was by Archbishop Parker, and is so scarce that Mr. Strype tells us he could never get a sight of it." See Master's History of C.C.C.C. Mr. Wharton supposes it never to have been published, but that the Archbishop's wife gave away some copies. "It certainly (he adds) is at this time extremely scarce, and would be deservedly deemed a fortunate acquisition to those capricious students who labour to collect a Library of Rarities." Hist. of Eng. Poetry, vol. iii. 186. It has a portrait of the Archbishop. 4to. 3 6 0 7828. Somner's (Henry) Orpheus and Eurydice, 1740. 4to. 0 1 6 7829. Shakespeare's Works, _1st edition, in folio, wants title, last leaf written from the_ 4to. 1623. 7 0 0 8062. Metrical Romances, written in the reign of Richard IId. or rather about the end of the reign of Henry IIId. or beginning of Edward I. (See note,) _purchased at Dr. Monro's Auction by Dr. Farmer_, for 29_l._ 4 14 0 8080. These Booke is called Ars moriendi, of William Baron, Esq., to remayne for ever to the Nonnye of Deptford; _on vellum, bound in purple velvet_. 2 3 0 6451. Chaucer's noble and amorous auncyent Hystory of Troylus and Cresyde, in fyve Bokes, _imprynted by Wynkyn de Worde_, 1517. Here begynneth the Temple of Glass, _imp. by Wynkyn de Worde_. The Castell of Pleasure, _imp. by ditto_. Here begynneth a lyttell Treatise cleped La Conusauce D'Amours. _imp. by Pynson_. The Spectacle of Lovers, _imp. by Wynkyn de Worde_. History of Tytus and Gesippus, translated out of Latin into Englyshe, by Wyllyam Walter, sometime servaunte to Syr Henry Marney, Cnyght, Chaunceler of the Duchy of Lancastre, _imp. by ditto_. The Love and Complayntes betwene Mars and Venus. The Fyrst Fynders of the VII Scyences Artificiall, _printed by Julian Notarye_. Guystarde and Sygysmonde, translated by Wyllyam Walter, _imp. by Wynkyn de Worde_, 1532. The Complaynte of a Lover's Lyfe, _imp. by ditto_. Here begynneth a lytel Treatyse, called The Disputacyon of Complaynte [of] the Harte, thorughe perced with the lokynge of the Eye, _imp. by Wynkyn de Worde_. This Boke is named the Beaultie of Women, translated out of French into Englyshe, _imp. by Wier_. Here begynneth a lytel Treatise, called the Controverse betwene a Lover and a Jaye, lately compyled, _imp. by Wynkyn de Worde_. _The above 12 very rare and ancient pieces of poetry are bound_ in one vol. _with curious wood-cuts, and in fine preservation._ 'The Temple of Glass alone was sold for 3_l._ 15_s._ and the present vol. may, with propriety, be deemed matchless.' All in quarto. 26 5 0 [N.B. _These articles should have preceded_ no. 6608; at p. 423, ante.] And here, benevolent reader, let us bid farewell to RICHARD FARMER of transcendant bibliomaniacal celebrity! It is in vain to look forward for the day when book-gems, similar to those which have just been imperfectly described from the _Bibl. Farmeriana_, will be disposed of at similar prices. The young collector may indulge an ardent hope; but, if there be any thing of the spirit of prophecy in my humble predictions, that hope will never be realised. Dr. Farmer's copies were, in general, in sorry condition; the possessor caring little (like Dr. Francis Bernard; vide p. 316, ante) for large margins and splendid binding. His own name, generally accompanied with a bibliographical remark, and both written in a sprawling character, usually preceded the title-page. The science (dare I venture upon so magnificent a word?) of bibliography was, even in Farmer's latter time, but jejune, and of limited extent: and this will account for some of the common-place bibliographical memoranda of the owner of these volumes. We may just add that there are some few copies of this catalogue printed on _large paper_, on paper of a better quality than the small; which latter is sufficiently wretched. I possess a copy of the former kind, with the _prices_ and _purchasers' names_ affixed--and moreover, _uncut_!] A poor eulogy, this, upon Farmer!--but my oratory begins to wax faint. For this reason I cannot speak with justice of the friend and fellow-critic of Farmer--GEORGE STEEVENS[409]--of Shakspearian renown! The Library of this extraordinary critic and collector was sold by auction in the year 1800; and, being formed rather after the model of Mason's, than of Farmer's, it was rich to an excess in choice and rare pieces. Nor is it an uninteresting occupation to observe, in looking among the prices, the enormous sums which were given for some volumes that cost Steevens not a twentieth part of their produce:--but which, comparatively with their present worth, would bring considerably higher prices! What arduous contention, "_Renardine shifts_," and bold bidding; what triumph on the one part, and vexation on the other, were exhibited at the book-sale!--while the auctioneer, like Jove looking calmly down upon the storm which he himself had raised, kept his even temper; and "ever and anon" dealt out a gracious smile amidst all the turbulence that surrounded him! Memorable æra!--the veteran collector grows young again in thinking upon the valour he then exhibited; and the juvenile collector talks "braggartly" of other times--which he calls the golden days of the bibliomania--when he reflects upon his lusty efforts in securing an _Exemplar Steevensianum_! [Footnote 409: If Lysander's efforts begin to relax--what must be the debilitated mental state of the poor annotator, who has accompanied the book-orator thus long and thus laboriously? Can STEEVENS receive justice at _my_ hands--when my friends, aided by hot madeira, and beauty's animating glances, acknowledge their exhausted state of intellect?! However, I will make an effort: 'nothing extenuate Nor set down aught in malice.' The respectable compiler of the _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. lxx. p. 178, has given us some amusing particulars of Steevens's literary life: of his coming from Hampstead to London, at the chill break of day, when the overhanging clouds were yet charged with the 'inky' purple of night--in order, like a true book-chevalier, to embrace the first dank impression, or proof sheet, of his own famous octavo edition of _Shakspeare_; and of Mr. Bulmer's sumptuous impression of the text of the same. All this is well enough, and savours of the proper spirit of BIBLIOMANIACISM: and the edition of our immortal bard, in fifteen well printed octavo volumes, (1793) is a splendid and durable monument of the researches of George Steevens. There were from 20 to 25 copies of the octavo edition printed upon LARGE PAPER; and Lord Spencer possesses, by bequest, Mr. Steevens' own copy of the same, illustrated with a great number of rare and precious prints; to which, however, his Lordship, with his usual zeal and taste, has made additions more valuable even than the gift in its original form. The 8vo. edition of 1793 is covetted with an eagerness of which it is not very easy to account for the cause; since the subsequent one of 1803, in 21 octavo volumes, is more useful on many accounts: and contains Steevens's corrections and additions in every play, as well as 177, in particular, in that of Macbeth. But I am well aware of the stubbornness and petulancy with which the previous edition is contended for in point of superiority, both round a private and public table; and, leaving the collector to revel in the luxury of an uncut, half-bound, morocco copy of the same, I push onward to a description of the _Bibliotheca Steevensiana_. Yet a parting word respecting this edition of 1803. I learn, from unquestionable authority, that Steevens stipulated with the publishers that they should pay Mr. Reed 300_l._ for editorship, and 100_l._ to Mr. W. Harris, Librarian of the Royal Institution, for correcting the press: nor has the editor in his preface parted from the truth, in acknowledging Mr. Harris to be 'an able and vigiland [Transcriber's Note: vigilant] assistant.' Mr. H. retained, for some time, Steevens' corrected copy of his own edition of 1793, but he afterwards disposed of it, by public auction, for 28_l._ He has also at this present moment, Mr. Josiah Boydell's copy of Mr. Felton's picture of our immortal bard; with the following inscription, painted on the back of the pannel, by Mr. Steevens: _May, 1797._ _Copied by Josiah Boydell, at my request, from the remains of the only genuine Portrait of William Shakspeare._ GEORGE STEEVENS. The engraved portrait of Shakspeare, prefixed to this edition of 1803, is by no means a faithful resemblance of Mr. Boydell's admirably executed copy in oil. The expenses of the edition amounted to 5844_l._; but no copies now remain with the publishers. We will now give rather a copious, and, as it must be acknowledged, rich, sprinkling of specimens from the _Bibliotheca Steevensiana_, in the departments of rare OLD POETRY and THE DRAMA. But first let us describe the title to the catalogue of the same. _A Catalogue of the curious and valuable Library of_ GEORGE STEEVENS, _Esq., Fellow of the Royal and Antiquary Societies (Lately deceased). Comprehending an extraordinary fine Collection of Books, &c._, sold by auction by Mr. King, in King Street, Covent Garden, May, 1800. 8vo. [1943 articles: amount of sale 2740_l._ 15_s._] OLD POETRY. NO. 867. Gascoigne's (Geo.) Workes, or a Hundreth sundrie Flowers bounde in one small Poesie, (including) Supposes, com. from Ariosto; Jocosta, Tr. from Euripides, &c. b.l. _first edition. Lond. impr. by Bynneman_, 1572, 4to. £1 19_s._ 0_d._ 'With MS. notes respecting this copy and edition by Mr. Steevens.' 868. Another copy, 2d edition (with considerable additions); among other, the Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth Castle, the Steele Glass, the Complainte of Phylomene, b.l. _ib. impr. by Abell Jeffes_, 1587, 4to., _with MS. references, by Messrs. Bowles and Steevens._ 4 4 0 869. Another copy, including all the aforementioned, and a Delicate Diet for Daintie Mouthde Droonkardes, b.l. _Lond. impr. by Rich. Jhones_, 1576, 8vo. The Glasse of Gouernement, 4to. _b.l. russia, with MS. references_. The Droome of Doomesday, 3 parts, b.l. _ib._ 1576, 4to. 'The above two volumes are supposed to comprise the compleatest collection of Gascoigne's works extant.' 5 15 6 876. Googe (Barnabe) Eglogs, Epytaphes, and Sonnettes newly written, b.l., _small 8vo. fine copy in Russia, Lond. impr. by Tho. Colwell for Raffe Newbery, dwelynge in Fleet Streete a little above the Conduit, in the late shop of Tho. Bartelet_. See Mr. Steevens's note to the above; in which he says there is no scarcer book in the English language, and that Dr. Farmer, Messrs. T. Warton and Js. Reed, had never seen another copy. 10 15 0 949. Lodge (Tho.) Life and death of William Longbeard, the most famous and witty English traitor, borne in the citty of London, accompanied with manye other most pleasant and prettie Histories, 4to. _b.l. printed by Rich. Yardley and Peter Short_, 1593. [cost Mr. Steevens 1_s._ 9_d._!] 4 7 0 995. The Paradyse of Dainty Devises, MS. a fac-simile of the first edition, in 1576, _finished with the greatest neatness by Mr. Steevens, 4to. in russia_. 5 15 0 996. The Paradice of Dainty Devises, devised and written for the most part by M. Edwardes, sometime of her Majestie's Chappell; the rest by sundry learned Gentlemen, both of Honor and worship. _Lond. printed by Edwd. Allde_, 1595, 4to. 4 6 0 997. The Paradice of Daintie Devises, b.l. interleaved, _ib. printed for Edw. White_, 1600, 4to. Breton (Nich.) Workes of a young Wyt, trust up with a Fardell of Prettie Fancies, profitable to young Poetes, prejudicial to no Man, and pleasant to every Man, to pass away Idle Tyme withal, _b.l. 4to. interleaved with a MS. list of the Author's Works by Messrs. Steevens, Ritson, and Park: impr. at Lond. nigh unto the Three Cranes in the Vintree, by Tho. Dawson, and Tho. Gardyner_. Soothern's Odes, 4to. b.l. interleaved with copious MS. Notes, and an Extract from the European Magazine relative to the Author: _wants title, no date_. Watson (Tho.) Passionate Centurie of Love, 4to. b.l. interleaved: the 12 first sonnets, and the latter ones, from 78, in MS. _Lond. impr. by John Wolfe_. "The above curious Collection of Old Poems are bound together in russia, with border of gold, and may be deemed with propriety, _Matchless_." 21 10 6 1037. Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie, in 3 bookes, with a wood-cut of Queen Elizabeth; _choice copy, in morocco, 4to. ib. printed by Rich. Field_, 1589. 7 10 0 1073. Roy (Will.) Satire on Cardinal Wolsey, a Poem; _b.l. sm._ 8vo. _russia, no date nor place_. 7 7 0 1078. Skelton (Jo.) Poet Laureat, lyttle Workes, viz. Speake Parot. The Death of the Noble Prynce, King Edwarde the Fourthe. A Treatyse of the Scottes. Ware the Hawke, The Tunnynge of Elynoure Rummyng, sm. 8vo. b.l. _Impr. at Lond. in Crede Lane, Jhon Kynge, and Thomas Marshe_, no date. 12mo. Hereafter foloweth a lyttle Booke, called Colyn Clout, _b.l. impr. by John Wyght_, 12mo. Hereafter foloweth a little Booke of Phyllip Sparrow, _b.l. impr. by Robert Tob._ 12mo. Hereafter foloweth a little Booke which has to name, Whi come ye not to Courte, _b.l. impr. by John Wyght_. 12mo. 4 5 0 1079. Skelton (Master, Poet Laureat) Merie Tales, b.l. 12mo. _Lond. impr. by Tho. Colwell, no date._ 5 15 6 "See Note, in which Mr. Steevens says he never saw another copy." 1119. Warren (Will.) A pleasant new Fancie of a Foundling's Device intitled and cald the Nurcerie of Names, with wood borders, b.l. 4to. _ib. impr. by Rich. Jhones_, 1581. 2 16 0 1125. Watson (Tho.) Passionate Centurie of Love; _b.l. 4to. the title, dedication, and index, MS. by Mr. Steevens_. "Manuscript Poems, transcribed from a Collection of Ancient English Poetry, in the possession of Sam. Lysons, Esq., formerly belonging to Anne Cornwallis, by Mr. Steevens." 5 10 0 1126. ---- Passionate Centurie of Love, divided into two parts, b.l. 4to. _russia. Lond. impr. by John Wolfe_. 5 18 0 1127. England's Helicon, collected by John Bodenham, with copious additions, and an index in MS. by Mr. Steevens, 4to. _russia, ib. printed by J.R._ 1600. 11 15 0 1128. Weblee [Webbe] (Will.) Discourse of English Poetrie, together with the author's judgment, touching the Reformation of our English Verse, _b.l._ 4to. _russia, ib. by John Charlewood_, 1586. 8 8 0 THE DRAMA; AND EARLY PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE. 1216. The Plot of the Plays of Frederick and Basilea, and of the Deade Man's Fortune, the original papers which hung up by the side scenes in the playhouses, for the use of the prompter and the acter, earlier than the time of Shakspeare. 11 0 0 1218. Anonymous, a pleasant Comedie, called Common Conditions, _b.l. imperf. 4to. in russia._ "Of this Dramatick Piece, no copy, except the foregoing mutilated one, has hitherto been discovered: with a long note by Mr. Steevens, and references to Kirkman, Langbaine, Baker, Reed," &c. 6 10 0 1221. Bale (John) Tragedie, or Enterlude, manifesting the chiefe Promises of God unto Man, compyled An. Do. 1538, b.l. 4to. _now first impr. at Lond. by John Charlewood_, 1577. 12 15 0 1248. Marlow (Chr.) and Tho. Nash, Tragedie of Dido, Queene of Carthage, played by the Children of her Majesties' Chappell, 4to. _russia, Lond. printed by the Widdowe Owin_, 1594. 17 0 0 1259. Peele (Geo.) The Old Wives Tale, a pleasant conceited Comedie played by the Queene's Majesties' Players; 4to. _in russia; ib. impr. by John Danter_, 1595. 12 0 0 "N.B. A second of the above is to be found in the Royal Library; a third copy is unknown." Steevens' note. EARLY PLAYS OF SHAKSPEARE. 1263. The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, no title, 4to. _Lond._ 1611. _With MS. notes, &c., by Mr. Steevens._ 2 2 0 1264. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, 4to. _ib. printed by R. Young_, 1637. 0 7 0 1265. The History of Henrie the Fourth, with the Battell of Shrewsburie, &c.; with the famous conceits of Sir John Falstaffe, part I. 4to. _ib. printed by S.S._ 1599. 3 10 0 1266. The same, _ib. printed for Mathew Lay_, 1608, 4to. 1 7 0 1267. The same, _ib. printed by W.W._ 1613. _With MS. notes, &c. by Mr. Steevens._ 1 2 0 1268. The same, _ib. printed by Norton_, 1632. 0 10 0 1259. The 2d part of Henry the Fourth, continuing to his Death, and Coronation of Henrie the Fift, with the Humours of Sir John Falstaffe and Swaggering Pistoll, as acted by the Lord Chamberlayne his Servants. _First Edit. 4to. ib. printed by V.S._ 1600. 3 13 0 1270. The same, _ib. 4to. printed by Val. Simmes_, 1600. 2 15 0 1271. The Chronicle History of Henry the Fift, with his Battell fought at Agincourt in France, together with Auntient Pistoll, as playd by the Lord Chamberlayne his servants. _First Edit._ 4to. _inlaid on large paper, ib. printed by Thomas Creede_, 1600. 27 6 0 1272. The Chronicle History of Henry the Fift, &c. 4to. _Lond._ 1608. 1 1 0 1273. The true Tragedie of Richarde, Duke of Yorke, and the Death of good King Henrie the Sixt, as acted by the Earle of Pembroke his Servants, 4to. _inlaid on large paper, ib. printed by W.W._ 1600. 1 16 0 1274. The whole contention betweene the two famous Houses, Lancaster and Yorke, with the Tragicall Ends of the good Duke Humphrey, Richard, Duke of Yorke, and King Henrie the Sixt, _divided into 2 parts_, 4to. _ib. no date_. 1 5 0 1275. The first and second part of the troublesome Raigne of John, King of England, with the discoverie of King Richard Cordelion's Base sonne (vulgarly named the Bastard Fauconbridge) also the Death of King John at Swinstead Abbey, as acted by her Majesties Players, 4to. _Lond. impr. by Val. Simmes_, 1611. 1 18 0 1276. The first and second part of the troublesome Raigne of John, King of England, &c., _ib. printed by Aug. Matthews_, 1622. 1 1 0 1277. The True Chronicle History of the Life and Death of King Lear, and his three Daughters, with the unfortunate Life of Edgar, Sonne and Heire to the Earl of Glocester, and his sullen and assumed Humour of Tom of Bedlam, by his Majestie's servants. _First Edit._ 4to. _ib._ 1608. 28 0 0 1578. [Transcriber's Note: 1278] Another Edition, differing in the title-page and signature of the first leaf. 4to. _ib._ 1608. 2 2 0 1279. The most excellent Historie of the Merchant of Venice, with the extreme crueltie of Shylocke the Jew towards the sayd Merchant, in cutting a just pound of his flesh: and the obtayning of Portia by his choyce of three chests, as acted by the Lord Chamberlaine his servants, _First Edit. inlaid oil large paper; 4to. at London, printed by John Roberts_, 1600. 2 0 0 1280. The excellent History of the Merchant of Venice, with the extreme crueltie of Shylocke the Jew; _First Edit. 4to. inlaid on large paper, printed by John Roberts_, 1600. 2 2 0 1281. A most pleasant and excellent conceited Comedie of Syr John Falstaffe and the Merrie Wives of Windsor, as acted by the Lord Chamberlaine's Servants. _First Edit. 4to. Lond. printed by T.C._ 1602. 28 0 0 1282. A most pleasant and excellent conceited Comedy of Sir John Falstaffe and the Merry Wives of Windsor, with the swaggering vaine of Antient Pistoll and Corporal Nym, _4to. inlaid. Lond._ 1619. 1 4 0 1283. The Merry Wives of Windsor, with the Humours of Sir John Fallstaffe, also the swaggering Vaine of Ancient Pistoll and Corporal Nym, 4to. _Lond. printed by T.H._ 1630. 0 10 6 1284. A Midsommer Night's Dreame, as acted by the Lord Chamberlaine's Servantes, First Edit. _impr. at Lond. for Thos. Fisher_, 4to. 1600, _part of one leaf wanting_. 25 10 0 1285. Another copy, _First Edit. inlaid, ib._ 1600. 1 15 0 1286. Much adoe about Nothing, as acted by the Lord Chamberlaine his Servants, _First Edit._ 4to. _ib. printed by Val. Simmes_, 1600. 25 10 0 1287. The Tragedy of Othello the Moore of Venice, as acted at the Globe and at the Black Friers, by his Majesties Servants, 4to. _Lond. printed by N.O._ 1622, _with MS. notes and various readings by Mr. Steevens_. 29 8 0 1288. The Tragedy of Othello the Moore of Venice, as acted at the Globe and at the Black Friers, 4to. _Lond. printed by A.M._ 1630. 0 13 0 1289. Tragedie of Othello; _4th Edit._ 4to. _ib._ 1665. 0 4 0 1290. The Tragedie of King Richard the Second, as acted by the Lord Chamberlaine his Servants, 4to. Lond. _printed by Val. Simmes_, 1598. 4 14 6 1291. Tragedie of King Richard the Second, as acted by the Lord Chamberlaine his Servants, 4to. _printed by W.W._ 1608. 10 0 0 1292. The Tragedie of King Richard the Second, with new Additions of the Parliament Scene, and the deposing of King Richard, as acted by his Majestie's Servants at the Globe, 4to. _Lond._ 1615, _with MS. notes, &c. by Mr. Steevens_. 1 12 0 1293. The Life and Death of King Richard the Second, with new Additions of the Parliament Scene, and the deposing of King Richard, as acted at the Globe by his Majesties Servants, 4to. _Lond._ 1634. 0 5 0 1294. The Tragedie of King Richard the Third, as acted by the Lord Chamberlain his Servants, 4to. Lond. _printed by Tho. Creede_. 1602. _Defective at the end._ 0 10 0 1295. The Tragedie of King Richard the Third, containing his treacherous Plots against his Brother Clarence, the pitiful murther of his innocent Nephews, his tirannical usurpation, with the whole course of his detested Life, and most deserved Death, as acted by his Majesties Servants, 4to. _Lond. printed by Tho. Creede_, 1612, _with notes and various readings by Mr. Steevens._ 1 5 0 1296. The same, 4to. _ib._ 1629. 0 7 0 1297. Tragedie of King Richard the Third, as acted by the King's Majesties Servants, 4to. _ib._ 1634. 0 6 0 1298. The most excellent and lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet, 4to. _A fragment. Lond._ 1599. 0 5 6 1299. The same, compleat, inlaid on large paper, 4to. _ib., impr. by Tho. Creede_, 1599. [_Second Edition._] 6 0 0 1300. The same, 4to. Lond. 1609, _with MS. notes and readings by Mr. Steevens_. 2 2 0 1301. The same, 4to. _ib. printed by R. Young_, 1637. 0 9 0 1302. A pleasant conceited Historie, called the Taming of the Shrew, as acted by the Earle of Pembroke's Servants. _First Edit._ 4to. _inlaid on large paper, ib., printed by V.S._ 1607. 20 0 0 1303. A wittie and pleasant Comedie, called the Taming of a Shrew, as acted by his Majesties Servants, at the Blacke Friers and the Globe, 4to., _ib., printed by W.S._ 1631. 0 11 0 1304. The most lamentable Tragedie of Titus Andronicus, as plaide by the King's Majesties Servants, 4to. _inlaid, ib., printed for Edward White_, 1611. 2 12 6 1305. The History of Troylus and Cresseide, as acted by the King's Majesties Servants at the Globe. _First. Edit._ 4to., _ib., imp. by G. Alde_, 1609. 5 10 0 1306. The lamentable Tragedie of Locrine, the eldest sonne of King Brutus, discoursing the Warres of the Brittaines and Hunnes, with ther discomfiture, 4to. _ib., printed by Thomas Creede_, 1595. 3 5 0 1307. The London Prodigall, as plaide by the King's Majesties Servants, 4to. _ib., printed by T.C._ 1705. 1 9 0 1308. The late and much admired Play called Pericles, Prince of Tyre, with the true relation of the whole Historie and Fortunes of the said Prince, as also the no lesse strange and worthy accidents in the Birth and Life of his Daughter Marianna, acted by his Majesties Servants at the Globe on the Banck-side, 4to. _ib._, 1609. 1 2 0 1309. Another edition, 4to. _ib._ 1619. 0 15 0 1310. The first part of the true and honourable History of the Life of Sir John Old-castle, the good Lord Cobham, as acted by the Earle of Nottingham his servants, 4to. _Lond._ 1600. 0 10 0 1311. A Yorkshire Tragedy, not so new, as lamentable and true, 4to. Lond. 1619. 0 9 0 1312. (Twenty Plays) published by Mr. Steevens, 6 vols. _large paper, ib._, 1766. _Only 12 copies taken off on large paper_ 5 15 6 EDITIONS OF SHAKSPEARE'S WORKS. 1313. Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, published according to the true originall copies, by John Heminge and Hen. Condell, _fol. russia. Lond. printed by Isaac Juggard and Edwd. Blount_. 1623; _with a MS. title, and a fac-simile drawing of the portrait by Mr. Steevens_. 22 0 0 1314. The same: 2d edit. folio, fine copy morocco, gilt leaves, _ib._ 1632. _In this book is the hand writing of King Charles I. by whom it was presented to Sir Tho. Herbert, Master of the Revels._ 18 18 0 1315. The same: 3d edit. with the 7 additional Plays, fol., neat and scarce, _ib._ 1664. See _Note by Mr. Steevens_. 8 8 0 1316. The same: 4th edit. 1685, folio. 2 12 6 1326. Hammer's (Sir Tho.) edition; 9 vols. 18mo. _Lond._ 1748. 1 13 0 1327. The same: with cuts, 6 vols. 4to. _elegantly bound in hog-skin_. 1328. Pope and Warburton, 8 vols. 8vo. _Lond._ 1747. 1 0 0 1329. ---- 8 vols. 12mo., with Sir Thos. Hammer's Glossary. _Dub._ 1747. 0 15 0 1330. Capell, (Edw.) 10 vols. 8vo. Lond. _printed by Dryden Leach_, 1768. 2 6 0 1331. Johnson, (Sam.) 8 vols. 8vo. _Lond._ 1765. 1 19 0 1332. ---- and Geo. Steevens, 10 vols. 8vo. _ib._ 1773. 2 14 0 1333. ---- in single Plays, 31 vols. _boards, ib._ 1 11 0 1334. Johnson and Steevens: 10 vols. 2d edit. with Malone's Supplement, 2 vols., and the plates from Bell's edition, _ib._ 1778. 4 16 0 1335. ---- 10 vols. 3d edit. _ib._ 1785. 3 5 0 1336. ---- 4th edit. with a glossarial Index, 15 vols. 8vo. _ib._ 1793. 6 16 6 1337. Malone, (Edm.) 11 vols. 8vo. _ib._ 1790. 4 8 0 1338. ---- Another copy, 11 vols. 8vo. _ib._ 4 18 0 1339. Ran (Jos.) 6 vols. 8vo. Oxf. 1786. 1 11 6 1340. ---- with Ayscough's Index, 2 vols. 8vo. russia, marbled leaves, published by Stockdale, _ib._ 1784-90. 0 15 6 1341. Eccles, 2 vols. 8vo. _ib._ 1794. 1 11 0 1342. From the Text of Mr. Malone's edit. by Nichols, 7 vols. 12mo. Lond. 1790. 0 18 0 1343. From the Text of Mr. Steevens, last edit. 8 vols. 12mo. _ib._ 1797. 1 0 0 1344. ---- 9 vols. 12mo. _ib._ 1798. 1 3 0 1345. ---- 9 vols. 12mo. Birm. by R. Martin. 1 1 0 1346. ---- 9 vols. Bell's edit. no plates. Lond. 1774. 0 18 0 1347. ---- 20 vols. 18mo. with annotations, Bell's edit. fine paper, with plates, beautiful impressions, _ib._ 1788. 8 13 6 1348. ---- 20 vols. 12mo. Bell's edition; _large paper_, finest possible impressions of the plates, superbly bound in green turkey, double bands, gilt leaves, _ib._ 17 17 0 1349. The Dramatic Works of; Text corrected by Geo. Steevens, Esq.; published by Boydell and Nichol, in large 4to., 15 nos. with the large and small plates; first and finest impressions, 1791, &c. N.B. Three more numbers complete the work. 36 4 6 1348. Harding, no. 31, l.p. containing 6 prints, with a portrait of Lewis Theobald, as published by Richardson, and some account of him, by Mr. Steevens. 0 4 6 1349. Ditto, ditto. 0 4 6 1350. Traduit de l'Anglois, 2 toms. Par. 1776. 0 6 0 1351. In German, 13 vols. 12mo. Zurich, 1775. 0 16 0 1352. King Lear, Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, and Julius Cæsar, by Jennings, Lond. 1770. 0 11 0 1353. Macbeth, with Notes by Harry Rowe, 12mo. York, 1797. 0 1 6 1354. ---- 8vo. 2d edit. _ib._ 1799. 0 5 0 1355. Antony and Cleopatra, by Edw. Capell; 8vo. Lond. 1758. 0 1 0 1356. The Virgin Queen; a Drama, attempted as a Sequel to Shakspeare's Tempest, by G.F. Waldron, 8vo. 1797. 1357. ---- Annotations on As You Like it, by Johnson and Steevens, Bell's edit. 0 1 0 1358. ---- Another copy 1359. Shakspeare's Sonnets, never before imprinted, 4to. at Lond. by G. Ald, 1609. 3 10 0 1360. ---- Poems, 8vo. _ib._ 1640. 0 4 6 1361. ---- Venis [Transcriber's Note: Venus] and Adonis, 8vo. _ib._ 1602. 1 11 6 1362. Rymer (Tho.) Short View of Tragedy, with Reflection on Shakspeare, &c. 8vo. b. 1698. 0 1 6 1363. Shakspeare restored, by Lewis Theobald, 4to. _ib._ 1726. 0 4 6 1364. Whalley's (Peter) on the Learning of; _ib._ 1748. Remarks on a late edition of Shakspeare, by Zach. Grey, _ib._ 1755, and other Tracts. 0 8 6 1365. Morris (Corbyn) Essay towards fixing the true Standard of Wit, Humour, &c. 8vo. _ib._ 1744. 0 8 0 1366. Critical Observations on, by John Upton; 8vo. 2d edit. Lond. 1748. 0 1 6 1367. ---- Illustrated, by Charlotte Lennox; 3 vols. 12mo. _ib._ 1754. 0 9 0 1368. Notes on Shakspeare, by Zachary Grey; 2 vols. 8vo. _ib._ 1734. 0 3 0 1369. Beauties of Shakspeare, by William Dodd, 2 vols. 12mo. _ib._ 1757. 0 3 6 1370. Beauties of Shakspeare, by Wm. Dodd; 3 vols. 12mo. _ib._ 1780. 0 6 0 1371. ---- (Revival of) Text, by Heath, 8vo. _ib._ 1765. 0 1 0 1372. Observations and Conjectures on some passages of, by Tho. Trywhit [Transcriber's Note: Tyrwhitt]; 8vo. Oxford, 1766. 0 5 0 1373. Farmer (Rich) on the Learning of; 8vo. morocco. Camb. 1767. _Only 12 copies on this paper._ 0 16 0 1374. ---- London. 8vo. 1789, with Mr. Capell's Shakspeariana, 8vo., _only 20 copies printed_, 1779. 0 1 6 1375. Malone (Edm.) Letter on, to Dr. Farmer; 8vo. _ib._ 1792. 0 4 6 1376. Letter to David Garrick (on a Glossary to) by Rich. Warner, 8vo. _ib._ 1768. 0 2 6 There were copies of the Catalogue of Steeven's books struck off on LARGE PAPER, on bastard _royal octavo_, and in _quarto_. It remains to say a few words of the celebrated collector of this very curious library. The wit, taste, and classical acquirements of GEORGE STEEVENS are every where recorded and acknowledged. As an editor of his beloved Shakspeare, he stands unrivalled; for he combined, with much recondite learning and indefatigable research, a polish of style, and vigour of expression, which are rarely found united in the same person. His definitions are sometimes both happy and singular; and his illustrations of ancient customs and manners such as might have been expected from a head so completely furnished, and a hand so thoroughly practised. I will not say that George Steevens has evinced the learning of Selden upon Drayton, or of Bentley upon Phalaris; nor did his erudition, in truth, rise to the lofty and commanding pitch of these his predecessors: nor does there seem much sense or wit in hunting after every _pencil-scrap_ which this renowned bibliomaniac committed to paper--as some sadly bitten book-collectors give evidence of. If I have not greatly misunderstood the characteristics of Steevens's writings, they are these--wit, elegance, gaiety, and satire, combined with almost perfect erudition in English dramatic antiquities. Let us give a specimen of his classical elegance in dignifying a subject, which will be relished chiefly by GRANGERITES. Having learnt that a copy of Skelton's Verses on Elinour Rummin, the famous Ale-wife of England, with her portrait in the title-page, was in the Library of the Cathedral of Lincoln (perhaps, formerly, Captain Coxe's copy; vide p. 266, ante), he prevailed on the late Dean, Sir Richard Kaye, to bring the book to London; but as it was not suffered to go from the Dean's possession, Mr. S. was permitted to make a _fac-simile_ drawing of the title, at the Dean's house in Harley-street. This drawing he gave to Richardson, the printseller, who engraved and published it among the copies of scarce portraits to illustrate Granger. The acquisition of this rarity produced from him the following _Jeu d'Esprit_; the merit of which can only be truly appreciated by those who had the pleasure of knowing the eminent PORTRAIT COLLECTORS therein mentioned, and whose names are printed in capital letters. ELEONORA REDIVIVA. To seek this Nymph among the glorious dead, Tir'd with his search on earth, is GULSTON fled:-- Still for these charms enamoured MUSGRAVE sighs; To clasp these beauties ardent BINDLEY dies: For these (while yet unstaged to public view,) Impatient BRAND o'er half the kingdom flew; These, while their bright ideas round him play, From Classic WESTON force the Roman lay: Oft too, my STORER, Heaven has heard thee swear, Not Gallia's murdered Queen was half so fair: "A new Europa!" cries the exulting BULL, "My Granger now, I thank the gods, is full:"-- Even CRACHERODE'S self, whom passions rarely move, At this soft shrine has deign'd to whisper love.-- Haste then, ye swains, who RUMMING'S form adore, Possess your Eleanour, and sigh no more. It must be admitted that this is at once elegant and happy. * * * * * We will now say somewhat of the man himself. Mr. Steevens lived in a retired and eligibly situated house, just on the rise of Hampstead Heath. It was paled in; and had, immediately before it, a verdant lawn skirted with a variety of picturesque trees. Formerly, this house has been a tavern, which was known by the name of the _Upper Flask_: and which my fair readers (if a single female can have the courage to peruse these bibliomaniacal pages) will recollect to have been the same to which Richardson sends Clarissa in one of her escapes from Lovelace. Here Steevens lived, embosomed in books, shrubs, and trees: being either too coy, or too unsociable, to mingle with his neighbours. His habits were indeed peculiar: not much to be envied or imitated; as they sometimes betrayed the flights of a madman, and sometimes the asperities of a cynic. His attachments were warm, but fickle both in choice and duration. He would frequently part from one, with whom he had lived on terms of close intimacy, without any assignable cause; and his enmities, once fixed, were immovable. There was, indeed, a kind of venom in his antipathies; nor would he suffer his ears to be assailed, or his heat to relent, in favour of those against whom he entertained animosities, however capricious and unfounded. In _one_ pursuit only was he consistent: _one_ object only did he woo with an inflexible attachment; and that object was _Dame_ DRAMA. I have sat behind him, within a few years of his death, and watched his sedulous attention to the performances of strolling players, who used to hire a public room in Hampstead; and towards whom his gallantry was something more substantial than mere admiration and applause: for he would make liberal presents of gloves, shoes, and stockings--especially to the female part of the company. His attention, and even delight, during some of the most wretched exhibitions of the dramatic art, was truly surprising; but he was then drooping under the pressure of age, and what passed before him might serve to remind him of former days, when his discernment was quick and his judgment matured. It is, however, but justice to this distinguished bibliomaniac to add that, in his literary attachments he was not influenced by merely splendid talents or exalted rank. To my predecessor HERBERT (for whose memory I may be allowed, at all times, to express a respectful regard) Steevens seems to have shewn marked attention. I am in possession of more than a dozen original letters from him to this typographical antiquary, in which he not only evinces great friendliness of disposition, but betrays an unusual solicitude about the success of Herbert's labours; and, indeed, contributes towards it by nearly a hundred notices of rare and curious books which were unknown to, or imperfectly described by, Herbert himself. At the close of a long letter, in which, amongst much valuable information, there is a curious list of CHURCHYARD'S _Pieces_--which Steevens urges Herbert to publish--he thus concludes: "DEAR SIR, "I know not where the foregoing lists of Churchyard's Pieces can appear with more propriety than in a work like yours; and I therefore venture to recommend them as worth republication. If you publish, from time to time, additions to your book, you may have frequent opportunity of doing similar service to old English literature, by assembling catalogues of the works of scarce, and therefore almost forgotten, authors. By occasional effusions of this kind you will afford much gratification to literary antiquaries, and preserve a constant source of amusement to yourself: for in my opinion, no man is so unhappy as he who is at a loss for something to do. Your present task grows towards an end, and I therefore throw out this hint for your consideration." (_July_ 27, 1789.) A little further he adds: "In your vol. ii. p. 1920, you have but an imperfect account of TYRO'S '_Roaring Megge_,' &c. I shall therefore supply it underneath, as the book now lies before me. I have only room left to tell you I am always your very faithfully, G. STEEVENS." But the bibliomanical spirit of the author of this letter, is attested by yet stronger evidence: _Hampstead Heath_, August 42th [Transcriber's Note: 12th], 1780. "SIR, "I have borrowed the following books for your use--Dr. Farmer's copy of Ames, with MS. notes by himself, and an interleaved Maunsell's Catalogue, with yet more considerable additions by Baker the antiquary. The latter I have promised to return at the end of this month, as it belongs to our University Library. I should not choose to transmit either of these volumes by any uncertain conveyance; and therefore shall be glad if you will let me know how they may be safely put into your hands. If you can fix a time when you shall be in London, my servant shall wait on you with them; but I must entreat that our library book may be detained as short a time as possible. I flatter myself that it will prove of some service to you, and am, "Your very humble Servant, "G. STEEVENS." The following was Herbert's reply. "_Cheshunt_, August 20th, 1780. "SIR, "As it must give you great satisfaction to know that the books were received safe by me last night, it affords me equal pleasure to send you the earliest assurance of it. I thank you sincerely for the liberty you have allowed me of keeping them till I come to London, on Monday, the 4th of September; when I shall bring them with me, and hope to return them safe at Mr. Longman's, between 10 and 11 o'clock; where, if it may be convenient to you, I shall be very happy to meet you, and personally to thank you for the kind assistance you have afforded me. If that may not suit you, I will gladly wait on you where you shall appoint by a line left there for me; and shall ever esteem myself, "Your most obliged humble Servant, "W. HERBERT." The following, and the last, epistolary specimen of the renowned G. Steevens--with which I shall treat my reader--is of a general gossipping black-letter cast; and was written two years before the preceding. _Hampstead Heath_, June 26th, 1788. "DEAR SIR, "A desire to know how you do, and why so long a time has elapsed since you were seen in London, together with a few queries which necessity compels me to trouble you with, must be my apology for this invasion of your retirement. Can you furnish me with a transcript of the title-page to Watson's Sonnets or Love Passions, 4to. bl. l.? As they are not mentioned by Puttenham, in 1589, they must, I think, have appeared after that year. Can you likewise afford me any account of a Collection of Poems, bl. l., 4to. by one John Southern? They are addressed 'to the ryght honourable the Earle of Oxenforde;' the famous Vere, who was so much a favourite with Queen Elizabeth. This book, which contains only four sheets, consists of Odes, Epitaphs, Sonnets to Diana, &c. I bought both these books, which seem to be uncommonly rare, at the late sale of Major Pearson's Library. They are defective in their title-pages, and without your assistance must, in all probability, continue imperfect. Give me leave to add my sincere hope that your long absence from London has not been the result of indisposition, and that you will forgive this interruption in your studies, from "Your very faithful and obedient Servant, "GEO. STEEVENS." "P.S. I hope your third volume is in the press, as it is very much enquired after." It is now time to bid farewell to the subject of this tremendous note; and most sincerely do I wish I could 'draw the curtain' upon it, and say 'good night,' with as much cheerfulness and satisfaction at [Transcriber's Note: as] Atterbury did upon the close of his professional labours. But the latter moments of STEEVENS were moments of mental anguish. He grew not only irritable, but outrageous; and, in full possession of his faculties, he raved in a manner which could have been expected only from a creature bred up without notions of morality or religion. Neither complacency nor 'joyful hope' soothed his bed of death. His language was, too frequently, the language of imprecation; and his wishes and apprehensions such as no rational Christian can think upon without agony of heart. Although I am not disposed to admit the whole of the testimony of the good woman who watched by his bed-side, and paid him, when dead, the last melancholy attentions of her office--although my prejudices (as they may be called) will not allow me to believe that the windows shook, and that strange noises and deep groans were heard at midnight in his room--yet no creature of common sense (and this woman possessed the quality in an eminent degree) could mistake oaths for prayers, or boisterous treatment for calm and gentle usage. If it be said--why "draw his frailties from their drear abode?" the answer is obvious, and, I should hope, irrefragable. A duty, and a sacred one too, is due TO THE LIVING. Past examples operate upon future ones: and posterity ought to know, in the instance of this accomplished scholar and literary antiquary, that neither the sharpest wit, nor the most delicate intellectual refinement, can, alone, afford a man 'PEACE AT THE LAST.' The vessel of human existence must be secured by other anchors than these, when the storm of death approaches!] LOREN. You have seen a few similar copies in the library; which I obtained after a strenuous effort. There was certainly a very great degree of Book-Madness exhibited at the sale of Steevens's library--and yet I remember to have witnessed stronger symptoms of the Bibliomania! LIS. Can it be possible? Does this madness 'Grow with our growth, and strengthen with our strength?' Will not such volcanic fury burn out in time? PHIL. You prevent Lysander from resuming, by the number and rapidity of your interrogatories. Revert to your first question. LIS. Truly, I forget it. But proceed with your history, Lysander; and pardon my abruptness. LYSAND. Upon condition that you promise not to interrupt me again this evening? LIS. I pledge my word. Proceed. LYSAND. Having dispatched our account of the sale of the last-mentioned distinguished book-collector, I proceed with my historical survey: tho', indeed, it is high time to close this tedious bibliomaniacal history. The hour of midnight has gone by:--and yet I will not _slur over_ my account of the remaining characters of respectability. The collections of STRANGE[410] and Woodhouse are next, in routine, to be noticed. The catalogue of the library of the former is a great favourite of mine: the departments into which the books are divided, and the compendious descriptions of the volumes, together with the extent and variety of the collection, may afford considerable assistance to judicious bibliomaniacs. Poor WOODHOUSE:[411] thy zeal outran thy wit: thou wert indefatigable in thy search after rare and precious _prints and books_; and thy very choice collection of both is a convincing proof that, where there is wealth and zeal, opportunities in abundance will be found for the gratification of that darling passion, or insanity, now called by the name of Bibliomania! [Footnote 410: _Bibliotheca Strangeiana; A Catalogue of the general, curious, and extensive Library of that distinguished naturalist and lover of the fine arts, the late_ JOHN STRANGE, Esq., L.L.D. F.R.S. and S.A., many years his Britannic Majesty's resident at the Republic of Venice. Comprehending an extraordinary fine collection of books and tracts, in most languages and sciences, to the number of upwards of _four-score thousand, &c._ Digested by Samuel Paterson. Sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby, March 16, 1801, 8vo., 1256 articles. This is a plain, unaffected, but exceedingly well-digested, catalogue of a very extraordinary collection of books in all departments of literature. I do not know whether it be not preferable, in point of arrangement, to any catalogue compiled by Paterson. It has, however, a wretched aspect; from the extreme indifference of the paper.] [Footnote 411: We will first give the title to the Catalogue of the late Mr. WOODHOUSE'S Collection of Prints. "_A Catalogue of the choice and valuable Collection of Antient and Modern Prints, &c._, selected with the highest taste from all the collections at home and abroad, &c. Sold by auction by Mr. Christie; January, 1801." The _first part_ ends with the 5th day's sale; the second commences with the sixth day's sale and concludes on the sixteenth, with the Malborough [Transcriber's Note: Marlborough] Gems. Although we may have to give specimens of some of the _rare and precious_ prints contained in this collection, in the course of PART VI. of this work, yet the reader, I would fain hope, will not be displeased with the following interesting extract, with the annexed prices, of the prints from the MARLBOROUGH GEMS. [_This assemblage, the result of twenty years' collecting, contains a greater number than ever has been at one time offered to the public.--The first volume is complete, and may be accounted unique, as all the impressions are before the numbers, the artists' names, or proofs without any letters, as in the presentation copies: the subject of Cupid and Psyche is with variations, and the whole may be regarded as a great rarity. Those of the second volume are few in number, but in point of curiosity, no ways inferior._] LOT. £ _s._ _d._ 72. _One._ Cæsar in the Temple of Venus. _Proof before any letters._ 3 13 6 73. _Two._ no. 1. Scipio Africanus. 2 0 0 no. 2. Lucius C. Sylla. 74. _Two._ no. 3. Julias Cæsar; caput laureatum. 5 15 0 [Transcriber's Note: Julius] no. 4. Marcus Junius Brutus. 75. _Two._ no. 5. Marcus Junius Brutus; cum caduceo. 2 17 6 no. 6. Lepidus; cum lituo. 76. _Two._ no. 7. Augusti caput; cum corona radiata. 4 14 6 no. 8. Augusti Pontificis maximi insign. &c. 77. _Two._ no. 9. Marcellii Octaviæ, filii Augusti nepotis caput: opus elegantissimum. 3 0 0 no. 10. Liviæ protome: cum capite laureato et velato pectore: simul Tiberii pueri prope adstantis caput arboris ignotæ foliis redimitum. 78. _Two._ no. 11. Tiberii caput juvenile. 3 3 0 no. 12. Germanici togati protome; cum capite laureato, facie plena, &c. 79. _Two._ no. 13. Agrippinæ majoris uxoris Germanici & Caligulæ matris caput laureatum; sub effigie Dianæ. 5 5 0 no. 14. Ejusdem Agrippinæ: sub effigie Cereris. 80. _Two._ no. 15. Galbæ caput laureatum. 1 19 0 no. 16. Ejusdem Galbæ caput. 81. _Two._ no. 17. Nervæ togati protome; cum capite laureato, plena facie; opus pulcherrimum. 4 4 0 no. 18. Ejusdem Nervæ caput. 82. _Two._ no. 19. Marcianæ, Trajani sororis, caput. 10 10 0 no. 20. Sabinæ Hadriani uxoris caput. 83. _Two._ no. 21. Antinoi caput, cum pectore velato. 5 0 0 no. 22. Caracalla togati protome facie plena. 84. _Two._ no. 23. Caracallæ caput laureatum. 1 18 0 no. 24. Juliæ Domnæ, Severi uxoris, caput. 85. _Two._ no. 25. Laocoontes caput. 7 7 0 no. 26. Semiramidis, vel potius Musæ, caput cum pectore. 86. _Three._ no. 27. Minervæ Alcidiæ caput galeatum; operis egregii, edit. var. 3 8 0 87. _Two._ no. 28. Phocionis caput. 3 3 0 no. 29. Jovis et Junonis capita jugata. 88. _Three._ no. 30. Veneris caput. 4 14 6 no. 31. Bacchæ caput var. 89. _Two._ no. 32. Hercules Bibax, stans. 15 4 6 no. 33. Bacchus, stans. 90. _Two._ no. 34. Faunus tigridis pelli insidens, cauda, &c. 9 9 0 no. 35. Athleta, stans, qui dextra manus trigelem, &c. 91. _Two._ no. 36. Mercurius stans. 4 14 6 no. 37. Mars, stans, armatus. 92. _Two._ no. 38. Miles de rupe descendens, eximii sculptoris Græci opus. 7 0 0 no. 39. Diomedes Palladio potitus cum Ulysse altercatione contendit. 93. _Two._ no. 40. Dei Marini natantes. 5 10 0 no. 41. Miles vulneratus a militibus duobus sustentatur. 94. _Two._ no. 42. Miles militi vulnerato opitulato. 3 3 0 no. 43. Mulier stolata cum virgine. 95. _Two._ no. 44. Faunus pelle caprina ex humeris pendente vestitus; pedem super suggestum ignotæ figuræ figit et infantem genu sustinet. no. 45. Alexandri magni effigies. 96. _Two._ no. 46. Æneam Diomedes a saxo percussum conservat. 8 18 0 no. 47. Pompeiæ cujusdam ob victoriam partam descriptio. 97. _Two._ no. 48. Amazon Amazonem morientem } sustinet juxta equus. } 6 16 6 } 98. no. 49. Fragmen Gemmæ Bacchi, &c. } 99. _One._ no. 50. Nuptiæ Psyches et Cupidonis, _Rariss._ 4 14 6 100. _One._ no. 50. Ditto, Ditto, _Rariss._ 8 8 0 101. _One._ Frontispiece to SECOND VOLUME; _Proof, before the inscription on the arms; very rare_. 5 5 0 102. _Two._ no. 1. Ptolomæus. } } 1 10 0 103. no. 2. Metrodorus. } 104. _Two._ no. 3. Socrates et Plato. 3 3 0 no. 5. Sappho. 105. _Two._ no. 8. Ignotum caput Scyllacis opus. 2 0 0 no. 9. Ignotum caput. 106. _Two._ no. 11. Medusa. 3 3 0 no. 18. Hercules et Iole. 107. _Two._ no. 19. L. Junius Brutus. 2 2 0 no. 20. Annibal. 108. _Two._ no. 22. Mecænes. 1 18 0 no. 25. Drusus Tiberii filius. 109. _Two._ no. 31. Caput ignotum, Antonini forsan junioris. 2 2 0 no. 36. Equi. 110. _Two._ no. 38. Mercurii templum. 3 3 0 no. 40. Coronis. 111. _Two._ no. 41. Cupidonis. 2 12 6 no. 45. Faunus. 112. _Three._ no. 46. Omphale incedens. 3 13 5 no. 48. Biga, var. 113. _Two._ no. 50. Silenus, tigris, &c. var. 3 0 0 114. _Two._ The vignette to the second volume; _Proof, very fine, and etching, perhaps, unique_. 7 10 0 For an interesting account of the engravings of the DEVONSHIRE GEMS--the rival publication of those from the Marlborough collection--the reader may consult Mr. Beloe's _Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books_; vol. I. 182-6. The entire collection of Mr. Woodhouse's prints produced 3595_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._ We will now make handsome mention of the BIBLIOTHECA WOODHOUSIANA. _A Catalogue of the entire, elegant, and valuable Library of John Woodhouse, Esq., comprising a rich and extensive collection of books, &c. Sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby, December, 1803._ 8vo. The collection was rather choice and rich, than extensive: having only 861 articles. Some of the rarest editions in old English Literature were vigorously contended for by well-known collectors: nor did the Library want beautiful and useful works of a different description. The following specimens will enable the reader to form a pretty correct estimate of the general value of this collection. no. 8. Antonie (the Tragedie of) doone into English by the Countesse of Pembroke, R.M. g.l. Lond. 1595. 12mo. £5 5_s._ 0_d._ 24. Barnabee's Journal, with Bessie Bell, _First Edit. B.M. g.l._ 1648. 12mo. 2 10 0 30. Bastard's (Thomas) Chrestoleros, seven Bookes of Epigrammes, _G.M. g.l._ 1598. 12mo. 5 15 6 76. Chaucer, by Tyrwhitt, with the Glossary, G.M. g.l. 5 vol. 1775. 8vo. 6 0 0 82. Cokain's (Sir Aston) Poems and Plays, _with head_, R.M. g.l. 2 vol. 1662. 8vo. 4 0 0 97. A Paire of Turtle Doves, or the History of Bellora and Fidelio, bl. l. 4to. _see MS. note by Steevens_, 1606. 5 5 0 160. Burnet's History of his own Times, _large paper_, R.M. g.l. 2 vol. 1724. 4to. 5 15 6 198. Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays, _large paper_, 12 vols. 1780. 8vo. _Only six copies printed in this manner._ 14 14 0 313. Latham's General Synopsis of Birds, with Index, 9 vols. with reverse plates, elegantly painted by Miss Stone, now Mrs. Smith: R.M. g.m.l. 4to. 'N.B. _Of the above set of books, there are only_ 6 copies.' 40 0 0 314. Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, with his Life, large paper, 4 vols. _boards, uncut_, 1707, 1750, fol. 15 15 0 350. Heath's Chronicle, _frontispiece and heads_, R.M. g.l. 1663. 2 vols. 8vo. 5 5 0 394. Knight's Life of Colet, _large paper_; plates, elegant, in light brown calf, g.l.m. 1724, 8vo. 5 10 0 395. Knight's Life of Erasmus, _large paper_, plates, elegant, in light brown calf, g.l.m. 1726, 8vo. 9 9 0 431. Lewin's Birds of Great Britain, with the Eggs accurately figured, elegantly painted with back ground, 7 vols. in 3. _A superb copy, in g.m. g.m.l._ 1789, 4to. 28 7 0 473. Martyn's Universal Conchologist; English Entomologist: and Aranei, or Natural History of Spiders, 4 vols. elegantly coloured. _A superb copy_, in R.M. g.m.l. 1789, 92, and 93, 4to. 33 12 0 490. Harrison's Seven Triumphal Arches, in honor of James I., all the [seven] parts complete; _curious and very rare_, R.M. g.l. 1604. folio. 27 6 0 493. Hearne and Bryne's Antiquities and Views in Great Britain, _proof impressions_, M. g.l. 1786, oblong folio. 16 0 0 586. Skelton's (Mayster) Poems: Colyn Clout, _Lond. by John Whygte_. Whi come ye not to Courte; _Lond. by John Whygte_. Phillyp Sparow; Speak Parot; Death of the Noble Prynce, &c. See note. _Lond. by John Kynge and Thomas Marshe_. Merie Tales; _unique_, see note. _Lond. by Thomas Colwell_, 5 vol. bl. l. R.M. g.l. 12mo. 23 0 0 624. Monument of Matrons, containing seven severall lamps of Virginitie, by Thomas Bentley; bl. l. R. 3 vols. 1582, 4to. 16 5 6 632. Nychodemus Gospell, wood-cuts, bl. l. g.l. R.M. _Lond. Wynkyn de Worde_, 1511, 4to. 6 16 6 640. Pennant's History of Quadrupeds, boards, _uncut, large paper, proof plates_, 1793, 4to. 6 6 0 692. The late Expedition in Scotlande, made by the Kinges Hyhnys Armye, under the conduit of the Ryht Honourable the Earl of Hertforde, the yere of our Lorde God, 1544. bl. l. R.M. g.l. _Lond. by Reynolde Wolfe_, 1554, 8vo. 16 16 0 762. Sommers's (Lord) Collection of scarce and valuable Tracts, 19 vols. R. g.l. 1748, 50, 51, 52, folio. 85 1 0 780. Temple of Glas, bl. l. See notes by G. Mason. _Wynkyn de Worde, no date_, 4to. 8 8 0 795. Tour (A) through the South of England, Wales, and part of Ireland, in 1791, large paper, proof plates, coloured, 1793. N.B. "Of the above book only six copies were printed." 8 8 0 806. Vicar's England's Parliamentary Chronicle, R. g.l. complete, 4 parts, 3 vols. 1646, 4to. 12 0 0 829. Speed's Theatre of Great Britain, maps, R. g.l. m.l. _A remarkable fine copy_, 1611. 11 11 0 836. The Myrrour and Dyscrypcyon of the Worlde, with many Mervaylles, wood-cuts, B.M. g.l. _Emprynted by me Lawrence Andrewe_, 1527, folio. 26 0 0 837. The Recuile of the Histories of Troie, translated into English by William Caxton, very fair, B.M. g.l. _Imprynted at London by W. Copland_, 1553, fol. 23 0 0 852. The Myrroure of Golde for the Synfull Soule, bl. l. wood-cuts. _Imprynted at Lond. in the Fleete-strete, at the sygne of the Sun, by Wynkyn de Worde_, 1526, 4to. 12 1 6 856. Barclay's (Alexander) Egloges, out of a Boke named in Latin, Miserie Curialium, compyled by Eneas Sylvius, Poete and Oratour, bl. l. _woodcuts, five parts, and complete_, G.M. _Imprynted by Wynkyn de Worde_, 4to. 25 0 0 859. Holy Life and History of Saynt Werburge, very frutefull for all Christian People to rede. Poems, bl. l. G.M. _Imp. by Richard Pynson_, 1521, 4to. 31 10 0 Amount of the sale, 3135_l._ 4_s._] PHIL. I attended the sale of Woodhouse's prints and books; and discovered at it as strong symptoms of the madness of which we are discoursing as ever were exhibited on a like occasion. I have the catalogue upon fine paper, which, however, is poorly printed; but I consider it rather a curious bibliographical morçeau. LYSAND. Make the most of it, for it will soon become scarce. And now--notwithstanding my former boast to do justice to the remaining bibliomaniacal characters of respectability--as I find my oral powers almost exhausted, I shall barely mention the sales, by auction, of the collections of WILKES, RITSON, and BOUCHER[412]--although I ought to mention the _Bibliotheca Boucheriana_ with more respect than its two immediate predecessors; as the collector was a man endowed with etymological acumen and patience; and I sincerely wish the public were now receiving the benefit of the continuation of his Dictionary; of which the author published so excellent a specimen, comprehending only the letter A. Dr. Jamieson has, to be sure, in a great measure done away the melancholy impression which lexicographical readers would otherwise have experienced--by the publication of his own unrivalled "_Scottish Dictionary_;" yet there is still room enough in the literary world for a continuation of Boucher. [Footnote 412: It did not, perhaps, suit Lysander's notions to make mention of book-sales to which no collectors' names were affixed; but, as it has been my office, during the whole of the above conversation, to sit in a corner and take notes of what our book-orator has said, as well to correct as to enlarge the narrative, I purpose, gentle reader, prefacing the account of the above noticed three collections by the following bibliomaniacal specimen: '_A Catalogue of a capital and truly valuable Library, the genuine property of a Gentleman of Fashion, highly distinguished for his fine taste_,' &c.: sold by auction by Mr. Christie, May, 1800, 8vo. 326 articles: amount of the sale, 1828_l._ 18_s._; being nearly 6_l._ an article. Now for the beloved specimens: NO. 35. Baptistæ Portæ de Humanâ Physiognomia, _with wood-cuts. Hanoviæ_, 1593, et Johannis Physiophili Opuscula. _Aug. Vin._ 1784, 8vo. £0 19_s._ 0_d._ 38. Officium Beatæ Virginis. _This unique_ MANUSCRIPT _on vellum of the 14th century, is enriched with highly finished Miniature Paintings, and is one of the most perfect and best preserved missals known in England._ 20 9 6 40. A complete set of the Barbou Classics, 68 vols. _elegantly bound in green_ (_French_) morocco, with gilt leaves, 8vo. 35 14 0 94. Gesta et Vestigia Danorum extra Daniam, 3 v. _large paper, with a portrait in satin of the Prince to whom it is dedicated, Lips: et Hafn_: 1740, 4to. _Black morocco, gilt leaves._ N.B. 'It is supposed that the Rolliad was taken from this work.' 10 10 0 133. Brittania, Lathmon, et villa Bromhamensis, poëmatia; _Bodoni, Parma_, 1792, _red morocco_, folio. 9 19 6 211. Contes des Fées; Paris, 1781, 8vo. 4 vols. IMPRIMÉE SUR VELIN. This unique copy is ornamented with nineteen original drawings, and was made for the late Madame Royale: _elegantly bound in blue morocco and enclosed in a morocco case_. 35 14 0 237. Memoires du Comte de Grammont. _Edition printed for the Comte d'Artois._ _Par._ 1781. 8vo. This beautiful small work, from the text of which Harding's edition was copied, is adorned with several high finished portraits in miniature, painted by a celebrated artist, and is elegantly bound in green morocco, with morocco case. 15 15 3 317. L'antiquité Expliquée, par Montfaucon, with fine plates; _large paper copy_, 15 vol. red (French) _morocco, with gilt leaves_; and Monarchie Françoise, 5, v. l. p. _correspondently bound_, folio. 63 0 0 318. Anacreontis Carmina, Gr. et Lat. from a MS. in the Vatican of the tenth century: with _beautiful coloured miniatures by Piale, appropriate to each ode, in rich morocco binding_. _Romæ_, 1781. folio. 56 14 0 Early in the year in which this collection was disposed of, the very beautiful choice, and truly desirable library of GEORGE GALWAY MILLS, Esq. was sold by auction by Mr. Jeffery, in February, 1800. My copy of this well-executed catalogue is upon _large paper_; but it has not the prices subjoined. Meanwhile let the sharp-sighted bibliomaniac look at no. 28, 68, 85, 106, 181, 412, 438, only. Thus it will be seen that the year 1800 was most singularly distinguished for _Book-Auction Bibliomaniacism_! We now proceed to notice the sales of the libraries of those bibliomaniacs above mentioned by Lysander. _A catalogue of the very valuable Library of the late_ JOHN WILKES, Esq., M.P., _&c., sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby, in November_, 1802, 8vo.: 1478 articles. There are few articles, except the following deserving of being extracted. NO. 139. Bernier Theologie Portatif, Lond. 1768--Boulanger Recherches sur l'Origine du Despotisme Oriental, morocco, gilt leaves. Lond. 1763, 8vo. 'N.B. The "Recherches" were printed by Mr. Wilkes, at his own private printing press, in Great George Street, Westminster, in 1763.' 383. Catullus, recensuit Johannes Wilkes; _impress. in Membranis_, red morocco, gilt leaves. Lond. ap. Nichols, 1788, 4to. 395. Copies taken from the Records of the C. of K.B. 1763. "Note in this book--printed by P.C. Webe, one of the solicitors to the Treasury, never published," &c. 1441. Theophrasti Characteres: Græce, Johannes Wilkes, recensuit. _Impress. in Membranis_, Lond. 1790, 4to. 1460. Wilkes's History of England, no. I. 1768, 4to. Next comes the account of the Library of that redoubted champion of ancient lore, and anti-Wartonian critic, Joseph Ritson. His books, upon the whole, brought very moderate sums. _A Catalogue of the entire and curious Library and Manuscripts of the late_ JOSEPH RITSON, Esq., _&c., sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby, December_ 5, 1803, 8vo. NO. 521. Skelton's (Maister) Workes, MS. notes, and lists of the different editions of Skelton's Works, and likewise of those never printed; and of these last, in whose possession many of them are, 1736, 8vo. £0 18_s._ 0_d._ 600. Jeffrey of Monmouth's British History, by Thompson; a great number of MS. notes, on separate papers, by Mr. Ritson. Lond. 1718, 8vo. 1 5 0 950. The Sevin Seages. Translatit out of Paris in Scottis meter, be Johne Rolland in Dalkeith, with one Moralitie after everie Doctouris Tale, and siclike after the Emprice Tale, togidder with one loving landaude to everie Doctour after his awin Tale, and one Exclamation and outcrying upon the Emprerouris Wife after his fals contrusit tale. _Imprentit at Edinburgh, be Johne Ros, for Henrie Charteris_, 1578, 4to. "Note in this book by Mr. Ritson; No other copy of this edition is known to exist, neither was it known to Ames, Herbert," &c. &c. 31 10 0 964. A new Enterlude, never before this tyme imprinted, entreating of the Life and Repentance of Marie Magadelene [Transcriber's Note: Magdalene], not only godlie, learned and fruitfull, but also well furnished with pleasant myrth and pastime, very delectable for those which shall heare or reade the same, _made by the learned Charke [Transcriber's Note: Clarke] Lewis Wager--printed_ 1567, MS. 1 11 6 985. Bibliographia Scotica; Anecdotes biographical and literary of Scotish Writers, Historians, and Poets, from the Earliest account to the nineteenth century, in two parts, intended for publication. 45 3 0 986. Shakspeare, by Johnson and Steevens, 8 vols. containing a great number of manuscript notes, corrections, &c. &c. together with 3 vols. of manuscript notes, by Mr. Ritson, prepared by him for the press, intending to publish it. 110 0 0 The year ensuing (of which Lysander has, very negligently, taken no notice) was distinguished for the sale of a collection of books, the like unto which had never been seen, since the days of the dispersion of the Parisian collection. The title of the auction catalogue was, in part, as follows: _A Catalogue of a most splendid and valuable collection of Books, superb missals, original drawings, &c. the genuine property of a Gentleman of distinguished taste, retiring into the country, &c._ Sold by auction by Mr. Christie, April, 1804, 8vo. 339 articles: total amount, 4640_l._--being almost 14_l._ an article. I attended both days of this sale and the reader shall judge of my own satisfaction, by that which _he_ must receive from a perusal of the following specimens of this _Bibliotheca Splendidissima_. NO. 221. A most complete set of Sir William Dugdale's Works, containing Monasticon Anglicanum, in 5 vols. 1655; Monasticon, vol. 1, editio secunda, 2 vols.; Monasticon, in English, with Steevens's Continuation, 3 vols.; Warwickshire, first edition; Warwickshire, second edition, by Thomas, 2 vols.; St. Paul's, first and second edition, 2 vols.; Baronage, 2 vols.; History of Imbanking, first and second editions, 2 vols.; Origines Juridiciales, third edition; View of the Troubles; Summons of the Nobility; Usage of Arms and office of Lord Chancellor. _This fine set of Dugdale is elegantly bound in Russia leather in 23 volumes._ £136 10_s._ 0_d._ (Now worth 250_l._) 222. Biographia Britannica, 7 vols. 1747, folio. A matchless set illustrated with portraits, fine and rare, and _elegantly bound in Russia leather_. 99 15 0 223. Homeri Ilias et Odyssea, 4 vols. Glasgow, 1756, fol. An unique copy, on _large paper_, illustrated with Flaxman's plates to the Iliad, and original drawings, by Miss Wilkes, to the Odyssey; _superbly bound in blue Turkey_. 39 18 0 225. Milton's Poetical Works, large paper, Tonson, 1695. Milton's Historical Works, &c., by Birch, 2 vols. large paper, 1738, 3 vols. _elegantly bound in Russia leather_. 5 10 0 229. Ogilby's Historical Works, containing Britannia, China, 2 vols. Japan, Asia, Africa, and America, with fine plates by Hollar, 7 vols. folio, _fine copy in Russia_. 18 18 0 234. Lord Clarendon's History of the Grand Rebellion, 6 vols. folio, _large paper, splendidly bound in morocco_, 1702. 49 7 0 235. Winwood's Memorials of Affairs of State, 3 vols. 1725. _Large Paper, elegantly bound, and gilt leaves_. 5 18 0 239. Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses, 2 vols. best edition, 1721. _A fine copy on Large Paper, elegantly bound in Russia, with gilt leaves_, Fol. 7 17 6 From no. 292 to 307, inclusive (only 14 volumes), there was a set of "_Painted Missals and curious manuscripts_," which were sold for 724_l._ Among them, was Mr. John Towneley's matchless missal, decorated by the famous Francesco Veronese--"one of the finest productions of the kind ever imported from Italy:" see no. 296. For an account of the books PRINTED UPON VELLUM in this collection, see PART VI. Let us close this note with the _Bibliotheca Boucheriana_; of which such respectable mention is above justly made by Lysander. "_A Catalogue of the very valuable and extensive Library of the late_ REV. JONATHAN BOUCHER, _A.M., F.R.S., Vicar of Epsom, Surrey. Comprehending a fine and curious collection in Divinity, History, &c.: sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby; in February_, 1806." _First part_, 6646 articles: _Second part_, 1933 articles: _Third part_, published in 1809: 857 articles. I attended many days during this sale; but such was the warm fire, directed especially towards divinity, kept up during nearly the whole of it, that it required a heavier weight of metal than I was able to bring into the field of battle to ensure any success in the contest. I cannot help adding that these catalogues are wretchedly printed.] Ah, well-a-day!--have I not come to the close of my BOOK-HISTORY? Are there any other bibliomaniacs of distinction yet to notice? Yes!--I well remember the book-sale events of the last four years. I well remember the curiosity excited by the collections of the MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE, JOHN BRAND, ISAAC REED, RICHARD PORSON, ALEXANDER DALRYMPLE, and RICHARD GOUGH,[413] and with these I must absolutely make my bibliomaniacal peroration! Illustrious men!---- [Footnote 413: For the same reason as has been adduced at p. 427, ante, and from a strong wish to render this _List of Book Auctions_ as perfect as my opportunities will allow, I shall persevere, at the foot of Lysander's narrative, in submitting to the attention of the curious reader a still further account of sales than those above alluded to in the text. As this will be the last note in PART V., I hope, however late the hour, or exhausted his patience, that the reader will also persevere to the close of it, and then wish the author "good night," along with his friends, whose salutations are above so dramatically described. At the very opening of the year in which Mr. Boucher's books were sold, the magnificent collection of the Marquis of Lansdowne was disposed of. I well remember the original destination of this numerous library: I well remember the long, beautiful, and classically ornamented room, in which, embellished and guarded by busts, and statues of gods and heroes, the books were ranged in quiet and unmolested order, adjoining to the noblest mansion in London. If the consideration of external, or out-of-door, objects be put out of the question, this Library-room had not its superior in Great Britain. Let us now come to particulars: "_Bibliotheca Lansdowniana. A Catalogue of the entire Library of the late most noble William_ MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE; _sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby, &c. January_, 1806." 8vo. The following is but a slender specimen of the printed books in the Lansdowne collection. NO. 359. Arthur Kynge (the story of the most noble and Worthy) the whiche was fyrst of the worthyes christen, and also of his noble and valyaunt knyghtes of the Round Table; _newly imprynted and corrected, black letter, title-page emblazoned, Turkey. Imp. at Lond. by Wyllyam Coplande_, 1557, folio. In the collection of Mr. Dent. £25 0_s._ 0_d._ 361. Ashmole's (Elias) Institution, Laws, and Ceremonies of the Order of the Garter, plates by Hollar, _L. Paper, green morocco, border of gold, gilt leaves_, 1672, folio. 10 10 0 1384. Chronica del Rey Don Alonso el Onzeno, Roy de Castilla, &c. _Liter. Goth. Mar. verd. Volladolid [Transcriber's Note: Valladolid]._ 1551, folio. 11 11 0 1385. ---- del Rey Don Pedro. D. Enrrique [Transcriber's Note: Enrique], y D. Juan, _Pampl._ 1591, folio. 5 15 6 1386. ---- des Reys de Portugal, D. Joanno I. D. Duarte, e D. Alfonso, _Lisboa_, 1543, folio. 4 2 0 2499. Gazette, London, from the beginning, 1665 to 1722 inclusive, 73 vol. folio. 84 0 0 3438. Leyes del Reyno, del Don Philippe II. Recopilacion de las, 2 tom. Alcala, 1581. folio. 1 5 0 3439. ---- de los Reynos de las Indias, del Don Carlos II. 2 tom. Madrid, 1681, folio. 3 10 0 4108. Money; a very curious Collection of Single Sheets, &c., and with several MS. Memorandums and Papers on that Subject, bound in one volume. 10 10 0 5544. Somers' (Lord) Tracts, 16 vol. Lond. 1748, 52. 63 0 0 5786. Stuart's (James) Antiquities of Athens, plates, 3 vol. 1787, 94, folio. 16 16 0 5787. Stukeley's (Wm.) Itinerary, cuts, _Russia_, 2 vol. in vol. 1, 1776, folio. 21 0 0 5916. A very rare collection of Tracts, Documents, and Pamphlets, consisting of above 280 volumes, tending to illustrate the History of the French Revolution--together with more than 49 volumes relative to the transactions in the Low Countries, between the years 1787 and 1792, and their separation from the house of Austria:--amongst the above will be found the following works. Des Etats Generaux, &c. Par. 1789. 18 vol. Process Verbaux de la première Assemblée, 75 vol. Ditto de la seconde 16 vol. Ditto de la Convocation 32 vol. Revolution Françoise, 20 vol. from 1790 to 1803, wanting vol. 1, 2, and 13. La Bastile Devoilée. Par. 1789. Sir James M'Intosh's Vindiciæ Gallicæ, and numerous pieces relative to the Constitution and Administration of the French Government, in its Executive, Legislative, Judicial, and Financial Departments, by Messrs. Mirabeau, Turgot, Barrere, Calonne, Necker, &c. 168 0 0 I should observe that the PRINTS or ENGRAVINGS of the Marquis, together with the _printed prices_ for which they, and the foregoing library, were sold, are usually added to the Catalogue of the Books. In the spring of 1807, the MANUSCRIPTS belonging to the same noble collector were catalogued to be sold by public auction. These manuscripts, in the preface of the _first_ volume of the Catalogue, are said to 'form one of the noblest and most valuable private collections in the kingdom.' It is well known that the collection never came to the hammer; but was purchased by parliament for 6000_l._, and is deposited in the British Museum. A catalogue of it is now _sub prelo_; vide p. 89, ante. We are next to notice the sale by auction of the library of the late Rev. John Brand. The first part of this collection was disposed of in the Spring of 1807; and the catalogue had this title: _Bibliotheca Brandiana. A Catalogue of the unique, scarce, rare, curious, and numerous collection of Works, &c., being the entire Library of the late_ REV. JOHN BRAND, _Fellow and Secretary of the Antiquarian Society, Author of the History of Newcastle, Popular Antiquities, &c. Sold by auction by Mr. Stewart_, May, 1807. This first part contained 8611 articles, or lots, of printed books; exclusively of 243 lots of manuscripts. Hereafter followeth, gentle reader, some specimens, selected almost at random, of the 'unique, scarce, rare, and curious' books contained in the said library of this far-famed Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries. NO. 67. _Ane Compendious Booke of Godly and Spiritual Songs_, bl. lett. 8vo. Edinb. 1621. £4 4_s._ 0_d._ 69. Academy of Pleasure, with portraits of Drayton, G. Withers, F. Quarles, and B. Jonson, Lon. 1656, 8vo. 2 17 6 109. A Curtaine Lecture, _rare and curious_, frontispiece, Lond. 1637, 8vo. 0 15 0 110. A Banquet of Jests, or Change of Cheare, with portrait of Archee, the King's jester. _Rare._ Lond. 1659, 8vo. 4 10 0 227. Arnold's Chronicle of the Customs of London, a fine copy, perfect, _printed by Pynson_, fol. 1521. 18 18 0 241. An Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionarie, by Baret. Francof. fol. 1580. 3 5 0 242. Dyalogue of Dives and Pauper, _that is to say, the Rich and the Pore, fructuously tretyng upon the Ten Commandments_, black-letter, printed by Pynson, fol. 1493. 4 3 0 272. Allot's England's Parnassus, 8vo. 1600. 2 10 0 282. A Booke of Fishing, with hooke and line, 1600, 8vo. A Booke of Engines and Traps to take Polcats, Buzzards, Rats, Mice, &c. cuts, _very rare_, [See p. 305, ante.] 3 3 0 283. Archy's Dream, sometimes jester to his Majestie, but expelled the court by Canterbury's malice, _very rare_, 8vo. 1 13 0 337. A new Dialogue between the Angell of God and Shepherdes in the Felde, black-letter. _Pr. by Day_, 8vo. 2 10 0 381. A Dialogue betweene two Neighbours, concernyng Ceremonyes in the first year of Queen Mary, black-letter, with portrait of Mary, by Delarum, from Roane, by Michelwood, 1554, 8vo. 2 12 6 417. A short Inuentory of certayne idle Inventions, black-letter, _very rare_. 2 15 0 418. A Juniper Lecture, with the Description of all Sorts of Women, good and bad, _very rare_. Lond. 1639, 8vo. 1 16 0 454. A Quip for an Upstart Courtier; or a Quaint Dispute betweene Velvet Breeches and Cloth Breeches, wherein is set Downe the Disorders in all Estates and Trades, _with portraits_. Lond. printed by G.P., 1620, 4to. 2 16 0 462. Articles to be enquired into by various Bishops, &c., in their Visitations; upwards of one hundred; _a very curious, scarce, and unique collection_, 4to. 2 2 0 802. Barbiere (John) the famous Game of Chesse Play, cuts, 1673. The most ancient and learned play, The Philosopher's Game, invented for the Honourable Recreation of the Studious, by W.F., black-letter, 1563, 4to. 2 4 0 1300. A Plaister for a Galled Horse, _very rare_, 1548, 4to. [See Herbert's Ames, vol. i. 581: and p. 239; ante.] 3 17 6 1312. A Counter Blaste to Tobacco. Lond. 1604, 4to. 0 17 0 1326. Bentley's (Thos.) Monument of Matrons, containing seven severall Lamps of Virginitie, or Distinct Treatises, collated and perfect, a very fine copy, extremely rare and curious, _imprinted at London, by Thomas Dawson, for William Seres, extremely rare_, black-letter, 1582, 4to. 8 18 6 1334. Bert (Edmund) an approved Treatise of Hawkes and Hunting. Lond. 1619, 4to. 1 10 0 1540. Burton (Wm.) Seven Dialogues, black-letter. Lond. 1606. George Whetstone's Mirrour for Magistrates of cities, b.l., printed by Richard Jones, 1584, 4to. 3 13 6 1542. Byshop's (John) beautifull Blossomes, black-letter, imprinted by Henrie Cockyn, 1577, 4to. 4 10 0 1754. Characters (viz.) The Surfeit to A.B.C. Lond. 1656. Dr. Lupton's London and Country carbonadoed and quartered into Seuerall Characters, 1632. Essayes and Characters, by L.G., 1661, 8vo. 4 7 0 2069. England's Jests refined and improved, 1660, 8vo. 2 14 0 2326. Catharo's Diogenes in his Singularitie, wherein is comprehended his merrie Baighting fit for all men's benefits: christened by him a _Nettle for Nice Noses_, by L.T., black-letter, 1591, 4to. 2 10 0 3523. Fages (Mrs.) Poems, Fames Roule, &c., _rare_, Lond. 1637, 4to. 5 15 6 7817. Stukeley's (Wm.) Itinerarium Curiosum; 2 _vols. in_ 1, _Russia_, folio. 14 14 0 8211. The blazon of Jealousie, written in Italian, by Varchi. Lond. 1615, 8vo. 2 6 0 8223. Tracts: Dial of Witches, 1603; Lancaster Witches, 1613; Trial of Yorkshire Witches, 1612; The Golden Fleece, 1626; Cage of Diabolical Possession, 4to. 2 8 0 8224. The most strange and admirable Discoverie of the three witches of Warboys, arraigned, convicted, and executed at the last assizes at Huntington; for bewitching the five daughters of Robert Throckmorton, Esq., and divers other persons, with sundrie devilish and grievous torments; and also for bewitching to death the Lady Crumwell. _Extra rare_, 4to. 4 0 0 8230. Witches apprehended, examined, and executed for notable villanies, by them committed both by land and water, with a strange and most true triall how to know whether a woman be a witch or not: _with the plate_. _Extra rare_, 4to. 3 5 0 8269. The Pleasure of Princes, the Art of Angling, together with the Ordering and Dieting of the Fighting Cocke, 1635, 4to. 2 5 0 8296. The Knyght of the Toure; _a perfect and fine specimen of the father of English Printers_, 1484, folio. The reader (if he pleases) may consult my first volume, p. 202, of the _Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain_, for some account of this edition. 111 6 0 My copy of this first part of the Catalogue of Brand's books is upon _large paper, with the prices inserted in the margin_. The _second part_ of the BIBLIOTHECA BRANDIANA, containing duplicates and Pamphlets, was sold in February, 1808, by Mr. Stewart. There were 4064 articles. Few collections attracted greater attention before, and during, the sale than did the library of the late Mr. Isaac Reed: a critic and literary character of very respectable second-rate reputation. The public Journals teemed, for a time, with book-anecdotes concerning this collection; and the _Athenæum_, _Monthly Mirror_, _Censura Literaria_, _European Magazine_, struck out a more bold outline of the Bibliotheca Reediana than did the generality of their fellow Journals. Reed's portrait is prefixed to the European Magazine, the Monthly Mirror, and the Catalogue of his own Books: it is an indifferently stippled scraping, copied from a fine mellow mezzotint, from the characteristic pencil of Romney. This latter is a private plate, and, as such, is rare. To return to the Library. The preface to the Catalogue was written by the Rev. H.J. Todd. It is brief, judicious, and impressive; giving abundant proof of the bibliomaniacal spirit of the owner of the library--who would appear to have adopted the cobler's well-known example of applying one room to almost every domestic purpose: for Reed made his library 'his parlour, kitchen, and hall.' A brave and enviable spirit this!--and, in truth, what is comparable with it? But the reader is beginning to wax impatient for a more particular account. Here it is: _Bibliotheca Reediana. A Catalogue of the curious and extensive Library of the late Isaac Reed, Esq., of Staple Inn, deceased. Comprehending a most extraordinary collection of books in English Literature, &c.: sold by auction, by Messrs. King and Lochée: November_, 1807, _8vo._ The following specimens of some of Reed's scarce volumes are copied, in part, from the account which was inserted in the _Athenæum_, vol. iii., pp. 61, 157, under the extraordinary signatures of W. Caxton and W. de Worde. NO. 5867. A Portfolio of single-sheet Ballads. £15 15_s._ 0_d._ 6661. Colman (W.) Death's Duel, 8vo., _frontispiece_. 7 15 0 6685. Barnefield's Affectionate Shepherd, _very rare_, 4to. 1594. 15 10 0 6713. A musical Concort of Heavenly Harmonie, called Churchyard's charitie. _See MS. notes in Churchyard's Pieces, by Steevens, Reed_, &c., 1595, 4to. 8 15 0 6714. Churchyard's lamentable and pitiable Description of the woeful Warres in Flanders, 1578, 4to. 4 19 0 6715. ---- a true Discourse of the succeeding Governors in the Netherlands, and the Civil Warres there begun in 1565, 4to. 6716. ---- a light Bundle of Lively Discourses, called Churchyard's Charge, presented as a New Year's Gift to the Earl of Savoy, 1589, 4to. 11 5 0 6717. ---- Challenge, b.l., 1580, with a copious Manuscript account of his works, by J. Reed, and a small octavo Tract, called A Discourse of Rebellion, 1570, 4to. 17 10 0 6755. Gascoigne (George) whole workes, _fine copy in Russia_, 4to., b.l., 1567. 15 5 0 6777. Cynthia, with certain Sonnets, _rare_, 1595, 8vo. 12 5 0 7479. Whetstone (George) Mirror of true Honor, and Christain [Transcriber's Note: Christian] Nobilitie, exposing the Life, Death, and Divine Vertues of Francis Earl of Bedford, b.l., 1585, 4to. 7 0 0 7705. Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster; or Love lies a bleeding, _frontispiece_, 4to., 1620. 24 0 0 8536. Shakspeariana, a Large Assemblage of Tracts by various authors, relative to Shakspeare, neatly bound in 9 vols. 8vo. 23 0 0 8561. Stillingfleet (Benj.) Plays, never either finished or published. _The only copy ever seen by Mr. Reed._ 3 13 6 8676. A volume of unpublished and unprinted Fables, by John Ellis, scrivener and translator of Maphaeus. _Note by Mr. Reed:_ 'It was given to me by Mr. John Sewell, bookseller, to whom Mr. Ellis bequeathed his Manuscripts. See my account of Mr. Ellis in the European Magazine, Jan. 1792: large 4to.' The volume is enriched with fine engravings, appropriate to each Fable. 6 0 0 8833. Notitia Dramatica, both printed and manuscript; containing a Chronological Account of the chief Incidents relating to the English Theatres, from Nov. 1734, to 31st Dec. 1785. "Collected from various sources, but chiefly the Public Advertisers, which were lent me by Mr. Woodfall for the purpose. This volume contains the most material facts relating to the Theatres for the last fifty years, and will be useful to any person who may wish to compile a History of the Stage." Isaac Reed, Staple's Inn, Aug. 6. 1784. 41 0 0 Of this Catalogue, there are _only twelve copies_ printed upon LARGE PAPER; which were all distributed previous to the sale of the books. The common paper copies are very indifferently executed. The late Mr. George Baker had the completest _l.p._ copy of this catalogue in existence. Before we proceed to give an account of subsequent book-sales, it may be as well to pause for a few minutes--and to take a retrospective view of the busy scene which has been, in part, described: or rather, it may be no incurious thing to lay before the reader for a future century (when the ashes of the author shall have long mouldered into their native dust) a statement of the principal book-sales which took place from November, 1806, to November, 1807--at Messrs. Leigh and Sotheby's King and Lochée's, and Mr. Stewart's. The minor ones carried on under Covent-Garden Piazza, Tom's Coffee-house, &c., are not necessary to be noticed. In calculating the number of volumes, I have considered one article, or lot, with the other, to comprehend three volumes. The result is as follows. _Book-Sales by Messrs._ LEIGH _and_ SOTHEBY. Volumes. Rev. Edward Bowerbank's library. 2200 Earl of Halifax's 2000 Mr. John Voigt's 6000 Sutton Sharpe's, Esq. 4000 George Mason's, ditto 3800 Mr. Burdon's 14000 Charles Bedford's, Esq. 3500 Rev. Charles Bathurst's 3000 Sir John Sebright's, Bt. (duplicates). 3300 Bishop Horsley's 4400 Mr. E. Edward's 1100 Lieut. Col. Thos. Velley's 2200 _Four miscellaneous_ 6000 ------ 55,500 _Book-Sales by_ KING _and_ LOCHÉE. Volumes. R. Foster's, Esq. library 5000 Dr. John Millar's 3500 Mr. C. Martin's 1000 Mr. Daniel Waldron's 1200 Rev. Thomas Towle's 3000 Mr. Brice Lambert's 2000 C. Dilly's 3000 Isaac Reed's 30000 _Six miscellaneous_ 8400 ------ 57,100 _Book-Sales by_ Mr. STEWART. Mr. Law's library 4000 Lord Thurlow's 3000 Mr. William Bryant's 4500 Rev. W.W. Fitzthomas's 2000 Rev. John Brand's 17000 George Stubbs, Esq. 1800 _Three miscellaneous_ 4300 ------ 36,600 TOTAL Sold by Messrs. Leigh and Sotheby 55500 Messrs. King and Lochée 57100 Mr. Stewart 36600 ------- 149,200 Such has been the circulation of books, within the foregoing period, by the hands of _three Auctioneers only_; and the prices which a great number of _useful_ articles brought is a sufficient demonstration that books are esteemed for their _intrinsic value_, as well as for the adventitious circumstances which render them _rare_ or _curious_. But prosterity [Transcriber's Note: posterity] are not to judge of the prevalence of knowledge in these times by the criterion of, what are technically called, _book-sales_ only. They should be told that, within the same twelve months, thousands and tens of thousands of books of all sorts have been circulated by the _London Booksellers_; and that, without travelling to know the number disposed of at Bristol, Liverpool, York, Manchester, or Exeter, it may be only necessary to state that _one distinguished House_ alone, established not quite a furlong from the railings of St. Paul's Cathedral, sold not far short of _two hundred thousand volumes_ within the foregoing period! If learning continue thus to thrive, and books to be considered as necessary furniture to an apartment; if wealthy merchants are resolved upon procuring Large Paper copies, as well as Indian spices and Russian furs; we may hail, in anticipation, that glorious period when the book-fairs of _Leipsic_ shall be forgotten in the superior splendour of those of _London_! But to return to our chronological order: The ensuing year, 1808, was distinguished for no small mischief excited in the bibliomaniacal world by the sales of many curious and detached libraries. The second part of Mr. Brand's collection which was sold in the spring of this year, has been already noticed. The close of the year witnessed the sales, by auction, of the books of SAMUEL EWER, Esq. (retiring into the country), and of Mr. MACHEL STACE, bookseller. The former collection was very strong in bibliography; and the latter presented a singularly valuable 'Collection of rare and select' books, relating to old English Literature elegantly bound: containing 2607 articles. Mr. Stace had published, the preceding year, '_A Catalogue of curious and scarce Books and Tracts_:' which, with the preceding, merit a snug place upon the bibliographer's shelf. We now enter upon a more busy year of sales of books by auction. The Bibliomania had only increased by the preceding displays of precious and magnificent volumes. And first came on, in magnitude and inportance [Transcriber's Note: importance], the sales of ALEXANDER DALRYMPLE and PROFESSOR PORSON. Of these in turn. _A Catalogue of the extensive and valuable Library of Books: Part I. Late the property of_ ALEX. DALRYMPLE, Esq. F.R.S., _deceased_. Hydrographer to the Board of Admiralty, and the Hon. East India Company, &c., sold by auction by King and Lochée, May 29, 1809, 8vo.--7190 articles: _A Catalogue, &c., Part II. of the same: sold by auction by the same_: Nov. 1809.--8897 articles. I should add that there is a stippled engraving of Dalrymple, with fac-simile of his hand-writing, which faces the title page to _Part First_ of this extraordinary and numerous collection; of books of Geography, Voyages, and Travels. I strongly recommend copies of these catalogues to be in every library of extent and utility. We are now to notice: _A Catalogue of Part of the Library of the late Richard Porson, A.M., Greek Professor of the University of Cambridge_, &c.: sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby, June 16th, 1809, 8vo.--1391 articles: amount of the books, 1254_l._ 18_s._ 6_d._ The subjoined is rather a rich, though brief, specimen of some of the valuable books contained in the library of this profound Greek scholar; in whom the acuteness of Bentley, and the erudition of Hemsterhusius, were more than revived. NO. 116. Biblia Græca, et Novum Testamentum Græce, lectionibus D.J.J. Griesbach, 2 vols., boards, uncut, MS. notes at the beginning of each vol. Hal. Sax. 1796-1806, 8vo. £8 15_s._ 0_d._ The notes amounted to the correction of 9 typographical errors and 1 addition to a note of Griesbach's, consisting of authorities he ought to have added. 182. Athenæus, Gr. Lat., cum animadversionibus I. Casauboni, 2 vols., MS. notes, Lugduni, 1612, folio. 7 10 0 330. Chariton de Amor. Chaeræ et Callirrhoe, Gr. Lat. cum animadversionibus, J.P. d'Orville--Amst. 1750, 4to. 2 5 0 Porson's note in the beginning. 'Opus plenum eruditionis, judicii et sagacitatis non item.' 559. Homeri Ilias et Odyssea (the Grenville edition) boards, uncut, with the original portrait. Oxoniæ, 4to., _large paper_: 4 vols. 87 3 0 601. Eustathius in Homerum, 4 vols., morocco, gilt leaves, Par. 1550, fol. 55 0 0 1078. Shakspeare's (William) Plays by Johnson and Steevens, 15 vols., boards, uncut, 1793, 8vo. 12 15 0 Anecdotes and Memoirs of RICHARD PORSON are strewn, like spring flowers in an extensive pasture, in almost every newspaper, magazine, and journal. Among the latter, there is an interesting one by Dr. Adam Clarke in the _Classical Journal_, no. IV., p. 720. The _hand-writing_ of Porson is a theme of general admiration, and justly so; but his _Greek_ characters have always struck me as being more stiff and cramped than his Roman and Italic. I well remember when he shewed me, and expatiated eloquently upon, the famous MS. of Plato, of the 10th century. Poor Fillingham was of the party. Little did I then expect that three years only would deprive the world of its great classical ornament, and myself of a well-informed and gentle-hearted friend! We will now close our account of the book-ravages in the year 1809, by noticing the dispersion of a few minor corps of bibliomaniacal troops, in the shape of printed volumes. _Bibliotheca Maddisoniana: A Catalogue of the extensive and valuable library of the late_ JOHN MADDISON, _Esq., of the foreign department in the Post Office, &c._: sold by auction by King and Lochée, March, 1809, 8vo. A judicious and elegant collection. 5239 articles. II. _A Catalogue of a curious, valuable, and rare collection of Books in Typography, History, Voyages, Early English Poetvy [Transcriber's Note: Poetry], Romances, Classics_, &c.: the property of a Collector well known for his literary taste, &c. Sold by auction by Mr. Stewart, April, 1809, 8vo. Some curious volumes were in these 1858 articles or lots. III. _A Catalogue of the very valuable and elegant Library of_ EMPEROR JOHN ALEXANDER WOODFORD, Esq., sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby, May, 1809, 8vo.--1773 articles. This was a sumptuous collection; and the books, in general, brought large prices, from being sharply contended for. IV. _A Catalogue of the interesting and curious historical and biographical part of the_ LIBRARY OF A GENTLEMAN, particularly interesting, during the reign of Elizabeth, the grand rebellion, the usurpation, restoration, and abdication, &c., sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby, in May, 1809, 8vo. Only 806 articles; but a singularly curious and elegant collection; the catalogue of which I strongly recommend to all 'curious, prying, and inquisitive' bibliomaniacs. The first half of the ensuing year, 1810, was yet more distinguished for the zeal and energy--shall I say MADNESS?--displayed at BOOK-AUCTIONS. The sale of Mr. Gough's books excited an unusual ferment among English antiquaries: but the sale of a more extensive, and truly beautifully classical, collection in Pall Mall, excited still stronger sensations. As the _prices_ for some of the articles sold in the Gough collection have already been printed in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. lxxx., pt. ii., and as those for which some of the _latter_ collection were sold, appeared in the 4th number of _The Classical Journal_, it only remains for me to subjoin the following account. I. _A Catalogue of the entire and valuable Library (with the exception of the department of Topography, bequeathed to the Bodleian Library) of that eminent antiquary_, RICHARD GOUGH, Esq., deceased, &c., sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby, April, 1810, 8vo.--4082 articles. The MANUSCRIPTS conclude the catalogue, at no. 4373. Prefixed to the printed books, there is an account of the collector, Mr. Gough, executed by the faithful pen of Mr. Nichols. My own humble opinion of this celebrated antiquary has already been before the public: _Typog. Antiquit._, vol. I., 21. II. _A Catalogue of books containing all the rare, useful, and valuable publications in every department of Literature, from the first invention of Printing to the present time, all of which are in the most perfect condition, &c._: sold by auction by Mr. Jeffery, May, 1810, 8vo.--4809 articles. Another Catalogue of the same collection, elegantly printed in royal octavo, but omitting the auctioneer's notices of the relative value of certain editions, was published by Mr. Constable of Edinburgh, bookseller: with the prices and purchasers' names subjoined: and of which it is said only 250 copies are printed. The REV. MR. HEATH is reported to have been the owner of this truly select and sumptuous classical library: the sale of which produced 9000_l._ Never did the bibliomaniac's eye alight upon 'sweeter copies'--as the phrase is; and never did the bibliomaniacal barometer rise higher than at this sale! The most marked phrensy characterized it. A copy of the Editio Princeps of Homer (by no means a first-rate one) brought 92_l._: and all the ALDINE CLASSICS produced such an electricity of sensation that buyers stuck at nothing to embrace them! Do not let it hence be said that _black-letter lore_ is the only fashionable pursuit of the present age of book-collectors. This sale may be hailed as the omen of better and brighter prospects in Literature in general: and many a useful philological work, although printed in the Latin or Italian language--and which had been sleeping, unmolested, upon a bookseller's shelf these dozen years--will now start up from its slumber, and walk abroad in a new atmosphere, and be noticed and 'made much of.' Here I terminate my _annotation labours_ relating to ANECDOTES OF BOOK-COLLECTORS, and ACCOUNTS OF BOOK-AUCTIONS. Unless I am greatly deceived, these labours have not been thrown away. They may serve, as well to awaken curiosity in regard to yet further interesting memoranda respecting scholars, as to shew the progressive value of books, and the increase of the disease called the BIBLIOMANIA. Some of the most curious volumes in English literature have in these notes, been duly recorded; nor can I conclude such a laborious, though humble, task, without indulging a fond hope that this account will be consulted by all those who make book-collecting their amusement. But it is now time to rise up, with the company described in the text, and to put on my hat and great-coat. So I make my bow, wishing, with _L'Envoy_ at the close of MARMION, To all, to each, a fair good night, And pleasing dreams, and slumbers light.] LOREN. Do you mean to have it inferred that there were no collections, of value or importance, which were sold in the mean time? LYSAND. I thank you for stopping me: for I am hoarse as well as stupid: I consider the foregoing only as the greater stars or constellations in the bibliographical hemisphere. Others were less observed from their supposed comparative insignificancy; although, if you had attended the auctions, you would have found in them many very useful, and even rare and splendid, productions. But we are all 'Tickled with the whistling of a name!' LOREN. Ay, and naturally enough too. If I look at my Stubbes's _Anatomy of Abuses_, which has received _your abuse_ this evening, and fancy that the leaves have been turned over by the scientific hand of Pearson, Farmer, or Steevens, I experience, by association of ideas, a degree of happiness which I never could have enjoyed had I obtained the volume from an unknown collector's library. LIS. Very true; and yet you have only Master Stubbes's work after all! LOREN. Even so. But this _fictitious_ happiness, as you would call it, is, in effect, _real_ happiness; inasmuch as it produces positive sensations of delight. LIS. Well, there is no arguing with such a bibliomaniac as yourself, Lorenzo. BELIN. But allow, brother, that this degree of happiness, of which you boast, is not quite so exquisite as to justify the very high terms of purchase upon which it is often times procured. LYSAND. There is no such thing as the 'golden mediocrity' of Horace in book pursuits. Certain men set their hearts upon certain copies, and '_coûte qu'il coûte_' they must secure them. Undoubtedly, I would give not a little for Parker's own copy of the Book of _Common Prayer_, and Shakspeare's own copy of both parts of his _Henry the Fourth_. ALMAN. Well, Lisardo, we stand no chance of stemming the torrent against two such lusty and opiniated bibliomaniacs as my brother and Lysander: although I should speak with deference of, and acknowledge with grateful respect, the extraordinary exertions of the latter, this evening, to amuse and instruct us. LIS. This evening?----say, this day:--this live-long day--and yesterday also! But have you quite done, dear Lysander? LYSAND. Have you the conscience to ask for more? I have brought you down to the year of our Lord _One thousand eight hundred and eleven_; and without touching upon the collections of LIVING BIBLIOMANIACS, or foretelling what may be the future ravages of the Bibliomania in the course of only the next dozen years, I think it proper to put an end to my BOOK-COLLECTING HISTORY, and more especially to this long trial of your auricular patience. LOREN. A thousand thanks for your exertions! Although your friend, with whom you are on a visit, knows pretty well the extent of my bibliographical capacity, and that there have been many parts in your narrative which were somewhat familiar to me, yet, upon the whole, there has been a great deal more of novelty, and, in this novelty, of solid instruction. Sincerely, therefore Lysander, I here offer you my heart-felt thanks. LYSAND. I receive them as cordially: from an assurance that my digressions have been overlooked; or, if noticed, forgiven. It would be gross vanity, and grosser falsehood, to affirm that the discourse of this day, on my part, has given anything like a full and explicit history of all the most eminent book-collectors and patrons of Learning which have reflected such lustre upon the literary annals of our country:--No, Lorenzo: a complete account, or a perfect description, of these illustrious characters would engage a conversation, not for one day--but one week. Yet I have made the most of the transient hour, and, by my enthusiasm, have perhaps atoned for my deficiency of information. LIS. But cannot you resume this conversation on the morrow? LYSAND. My stay with our friend is short, and I know not how he means to dispose of me to-morrow. But I have done--certainly done--with _Personal History_! LOREN. That may be. Yet there are other departments of the Bibliomania which may be successfully discussed. The weather will probably be fine, and let us enjoy a morning _conversazione_ in THE ALCOVE? BELIN. Surely, Lysander may find something in the fruitful pigeon-holes of his imagination--as the Abbè Sieyes used to do--from which he may draw forth some system or other? ALMAN. You have all talked loudly and learnedly of the BOOK-DISEASE; but I wish to know whether a _mere collector_ of books be a bibliomaniac? LYSAND. Certainly not. There are SYMPTOMS of this disease _within the very books themselves_ of a bibliomaniac. ALMAN. And pray what are these? LYSAND. Alas, madam!--why are you so unreasonable? And how, after knowing that I have harrangued for more than 'seven hours by Westminster clock'--how can you have the conscience to call upon me to protract the oration? The night has already melted into morning; and I suppose grey twilight is discoverable upon the summit of the hills. I am exhausted; and long for repose. Indeed, I must wish you all a good night. BELIN. But you promise to commence your _symptomatic_ harangue on the morrow? LYSAND. If my slumbers are sound, lady fair, and I rise tolerably recruited in strength, I will surely make good my promise. Again, good night! BELIN. Sir, a very good night: and let our best thanks follow you to your pillow. ALMAN. Remember, as you sink to repose, what a quantity of good you have done, by having imparted such useful information. LYSAND. I shall carry your best wishes, and grateful mention of my poor labours, with me to my orisons. Adieu!--'tis very late. * * * * * Here the company broke up. Lisardo slept at Lorenzo's. Philemon and Lysander accompanied me to my home; and as we past Lorenzo's outer gate, and looked backward upon the highest piece of rising ground, we fancied we saw the twilight of morning. Never was a mortal more heartily thanked for his colloquial exertions than was Lysander. On reaching home, as we separated for our respective chambers, we shook hands most cordially; and my eloquent guest returned the squeeze, in a manner which seemed to tell that he had no greater happiness at heart than that of finding a reciprocity of sentiment among those whom he tenderly esteemed. At this moment, we could have given to each other the choicest volume in our libraries; and I regretted that I had not contrived to put my black-morocco copy of the small _Aldine Petrarch, printed upon_ VELLUM, under Lysander's pillow, as a 'Pignus Amicitiæ.'--But we were all to assemble together in Lorenzo's ALCOVE on the morrow; and this thought gave me such lively pleasure that I did not close my eyes 'till the clock had struck five. Such are the bed-luxuries of a Bibliomaniac! [Illustration] [Illustration: The reader is here presented with one of the "Facs," or ornamental letters in _Pierce Ploughman's Creed_.] PART VI. =The Alcove.= SYMPTOMS OF THE BIBLIOMANIA.----PROBABLE MEANS OF ITS CURE. "One saith this booke is too long: another, too short: the third, of due length; and for fine phrase and style, the like [of] that booke was not made a great while. It is all lies, said another; the booke is starke naught." _Choice of Change_; 1585. 4to., sign. N. i. [Illustration] [Illustration] =The Alcove.= SYMPTOMS OF THE BIBLIOMANIA.----PROBABLE MEANS OF ITS CURE. Softly blew the breeze, and merrily sung the lark, when Lisardo quitted his bed-chamber at seven in the morning, and rang lustily at my outer gate for admission. So early a visitor put the whole house in commotion; nor was it without betraying some marks of peevishness and irritability that, on being informed of his arrival, I sent word by the servant to know what might be the cause of such an interruption. The reader will readily forgive this trait of harshness and precipitancy, on my part, when he is informed that I was then just enjoying the "honey dew" of sleep, after many wakeful and restless hours. Lisardo's name was announced: and his voice, conveyed in the sound of song-singing, from the bottom of the garden, left the name of the visitor no longer in doubt. I made an effort, and sprung from my bed; and, on looking through the venetian blinds, I discovered our young bibliomaniacal convert with a book sticking out of his pocket, another half opened in his hand (upon which his eyes were occasionally cast), and a third kept firmly under his left arm. I thrust my head, "night-cap, tassel and all," out of window, and hailed him; not, however, before a delicious breeze, wafted over a bed of mignonette, had electrified me in a manner the most agreeable imaginable. Lisardo heard, and hailed me in return. His eyes sparkled with joy; his step was quick and elastic; and an unusual degree of animation seemed to pervade his whole frame. "Here," says he, "here is _The British Bibliographer_[414] in my hand, a volume of Mr. Beloe's _Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books_ in my pocket, while another, of Mr. D'Israeli's _Curiosities of Literature_, is kept snugly under my arm, as a corps de reserve, or rallying point. If these things savour not of bibliography, I must despair of ever attaining to the exalted character of a Bibliomaniac!" [Footnote 414: _The British Bibliographer_ is a periodical publication; being a continuation of a similar work under the less popular title of _The Censura Literaria_; concerning which see p. 52, ante. It is a pity that Mr. Savage does not continue his _British Librarian_; (of which 18 numbers are already published) as it forms a creditable supplement to Oldys's work under a similar title; vide p. 51, ante. A few of the ensuing numbers might be well devoted to an analysis of _Sir William Dugdale's_ works, with correct lists of the plates in the same.] "You are up betimes," said I. "What dream has disturbed your rest?" "None" replied he; "but the most delightful visions have appeared to me during my sleep. Since you left Lorenzo's, I have sipt nectar with Leland, and drunk punch with Bagford. Richard Murray has given me a copy of Rastell's _Pastime of People_,[415] and Thomas Britton has bequeathed to me an entire library of the Rosicrusian[416] philosophy. Moreover, the venerable form of Sir Thomas Bodley has approached me; reminding me of my solemn promise to spend a few autumnal weeks,[417] in the ensuing year, within the precincts of his grand library. In short, half the bibliomaniacs, whom Lysander so enthusiastically commended last night, have paid their devoirs to me in my dreams, and nothing could be more handsome than their conduct towards me." [Footnote 415: The reader may have met with some slight notices of this curious work in pp. 331; 337; 385; 392; 417; ante.] [Footnote 416: See p. 332, ante.] [Footnote 417: See p. 49, ante.] This discourse awakened my friends, Lysander and Philemon; who each, from different rooms, put their heads out of window, and hailed the newly-risen sun with night caps which might have been mistaken for Persian turbans. Such an unexpected sight caused Lisardo to burst out into a fit of laughter, and to banter my guests in his usual strain of vivacity. But on our promising him that we would speedily join his peripatetic bibliographical reveries, he gave a turn towards the left, and was quickly lost in a grove of Acacia and Laurustinus. For my part, instead of keeping this promise, I instinctively sought my bed; and found the observation of Franklin,--of air-bathing being favourable to slumber,--abundantly verified--for I was hardly settled under the clothes 'ere I fell asleep: and, leaving my guests to make good their appointment with my visitor, I enjoyed a sweet slumber of more than two hours. As early rising produces a keen appetite for bodily, as well as mental, gratification, I found my companions clamorous for their breakfast. A little before ten o'clock, we were all prepared to make a formal attack upon muffins, cake, coffee, tea, eggs, and cold tongue. The window was thrown open; and through the branches of the clustering vine, which covered the upper part of it, the sun shot a warmer ray; while the spicy fragrance from surrounding parterres, and jessamine bowers, made even such bibliomaniacs as my guests forgetful of the gaily-coated volumes which surrounded them. At length the conversation was systematically commenced on the part of Lysander. LYSAND. To-morrow, Philemon and myself take our departure. We would willingly have staid the week; but business of a pressing nature calls _him_ to Manchester--and _myself_ to Bristol and Exeter. LIS. Some bookseller,[418] I warrant, has published a thumping catalogue at each of these places. Ha!--here I have you, sober-minded Lysander! You are as arrant a book-madman as any of those renowned bibliomaniacs whom you celebrated yesterday evening!--Yet, if you love me, take me with you! My pistoles are not exhausted. [Footnote 418: I ought to have noticed, under Lysander's eulogy upon _London Booksellers_ (see p. 308, ante) the very handsome manner in which Mr. Roscoe alludes to their valuable catalogues--as having been of service to him in directing his researches into foreign literature. His words are these: "The rich and extensive Catalogues published by EDWARDS, PAYNE, and other _London Booksellers_, who have of late years diligently sought for, and imported into England, whatever is curious or valuable in foreign literature, have also contributed to the success of my inquiries." _Lorenzo de Medici_: pref. p. XXVII., edit. 1800, 8vo.] PHIL. Peace, Lisardo!--but you are, in truth, a bit of a prophet. It is even as you surmise. We have each received a forwarded letter, informing us of very choice and copious collections of books about to be sold at these respective places. While I take my departure for Mr. Ford of Manchester, Lorenzo is about to visit the book-treasures of Mr. Dyer of Exeter, and Mr. Gutch of Bristol:--but, indeed, were not this the case, our abode here must terminate on the morrow. LIS. I suppose the names you have just mentioned describe the principal booksellers at the several places you intend visiting. LYSAND. Even so: yet I will make no disparaging comparisons.[419] We speak only of what has come within our limited experience. There may be many brave and sagacious bibliopolists whose fame has not reached our ears, nor perhaps has any one of the present circle ever heard of the late Mr. Miller of Bungay;[420] who, as I remember my father to have said, in spite of blindness and multifarious occupations, attached himself to the book-selling trade with inconceivable ardour and success. But a word, Lisardo! [Footnote 419: Lysander is right. Since the note upon Mr. Ford's catalogue of 1810 was written (see p. 123, ante), the same bookseller has put forth another voluminous catalogue, of nine thousand and odd articles; forming, with the preceding, 15,729 lots. This is doing wonders for a provincial town; and that a _commercial_ one!! Of Mr. Gutch's spirit and enterprise some mention has been made before at p. 404, ante. He is, as yet, hardly _mellowed_ in his business; but a few years only will display him as thoroughly _ripened_ as any of his brethren. He comes from a worthy stock; long known at our _Alma Mater Oxoniensis_:--and as a dutiful son of my University Mother, and in common with every one who is acquainted with his respectable family, I wish him all the success which he merits. Mr. George Dyer of Exeter is a distinguished _veteran_ in the book-trade: his catalogue of 1810, in two parts, containing 19,945 articles, has, I think, never been equalled by that of any provincial bookseller, for the value and singularity of the greater number of the volumes described in it. As Lysander had mentioned the foregoing book-vending gentlemen, I conceived myself justified in _appending_ this note. I could speak with pleasure and profit of the catalogues of booksellers to the _north of the Tweed_--(see p. 415, ante); but for fear of awaking all the frightful passions of wrath, jealousy, envy--I stop: declaring, from the bottom of my heart, in the language of an auld northern bard: I hait flatterie; and into wourdis plane, And unaffectit language, I delyte: (_Quod Maister Alexander Arbothnat; in anno_ 1572.)] [Footnote 420: There is something so original in the bibliomanical character of the above-mentioned Mr. Miller that I trust the reader will forgive my saying a word or two concerning him. Thomas Miller of Bungay, in Suffolk, was born in 1731, and died in 1804. He was put apprentice to a grocer in Norwich: but neither the fragrance of spices and teas, nor the lusciousness of plums and figs, could seduce young Miller from his darling passion of reading, and of buying odd volumes of the _Gentleman's_ and _Universal Magazine_ with his spare money. His genius was, however, sufficiently versatile to embrace both trades; for in 1755, he set up for himself in the character of _Grocer_ and _Bookseller_. I have heard Mr. Otridge, of the Strand, discourse most eloquently upon the brilliant manner in which Mr. Miller conducted his complicated concerns; and which, latterly, were devoted entirely to the _Bibliomania_. Although Bungay was too small and obscure for a spirit like Miller's to disclose its full powers, yet he continued in it till his death; and added a love of portrait and coin, to that of book, collecting. For fifty years his stock, in these twin departments, was copious and respectable; and notwithstanding total blindness, which afflicted him during the last six years of his life, he displayed uncommon cheerfulness, activity, and even skill in knowing where the different classes of books were arranged in his shop. Mr. Miller was a warm loyalist, and an enthusiastic admirer of Mr. Pitt. In 1795, when provincial copper coins were very prevalent, our bibliomaniac caused a die of himself to be struck; intending to strike some impressions of it upon gold and silver, as well as upon copper. He began with the latter; and the die breaking when only 23 impressions were struck off, Miller, in the true spirit of numismatical _virtû_, declined having a fresh one made. View here, gentle reader, a wood-cut taken from the same: "This coin, which is very finely engraved, and bears a strong profile likeness of himself, is known to collectors by the name of 'THE MILLER HALFPENNY.' Mr. Miller was extremely careful into whose hands the impressions went; and they are now become so rare as to produce at sales from three to five guineas." _Gentleman's Magazine_; vol. lxxiv., p. 664. [Illustration]] LIS. Twenty, if you please. LYSAND. What are become of Malvolio's busts and statues, of which you were so solicitous to attend the sale, not long ago? LIS. I care not a brass farthing for them:--only I do rather wish that I had purchased the Count de Neny's _Catalogue of the Printed Books and Manscripts [Transcriber's Note: Manuscripts] in the Royal Library of France_. That golden opportunity is irrevocably lost! PHIL. You wished for these books, to _set fire_ to them perhaps--keeping up the ancient custom so solemnly established by your father?[421] [Footnote 421: The reader may not object to turn for one moment to p. 27, ante.] LIS. No more of this heart-rending subject! I thought I had made ample atonement. LYSAND. 'Tis true: and so we forgive and forget. Happy change!--and all hail this salubrious morning, which witnesses the complete and effectual conversion of Lisardo! Instead of laughing at our book-hobbies, and ridiculing all bibliographical studies--which, even by a bibliographer in the dry department of the law, have been rather eloquently defended and enforced[422]--behold this young bibliomaniacal chevalier, not daunted by the rough handling of a London Book-Auction, anxious to mount his courser, and scour the provincial fields of bibliography! Happy change! From my heart I congratulate you! [Footnote 422: "Our nation (says Mr. Bridgeman) has been too inattentive to bibliographical criticisms and enquiries; for, generally, the English reader is obliged to resort to foreign writers to satisfy his mind as to the value of authors. It behoves us, however, to consider that there is not a more useful, or a more desirable branch of education than a knowledge of books; which, being correctly attained, and judiciously exercised, will prove the touchstone of intrinsic merit, and have the effect of saving many a spotless page from prostitution." _Legal Bibliography_; 1807, 8vo. (To the reader.)] LIS. From the bottom of mine, I congratulate you, Lysander, upon the resuming of your wonted spirits! I had imagined that the efforts of yesterday would have completely exhausted you. How rapturously do I look forward for the SYMPTOMS OF THE BIBLIOMANIA to be told this morning in Lorenzo's ALCOVE! You have not forgotten your promise! LYSAND. No, indeed; but if I am able to do justice to the elucidation of so important a subject, it will be in consequence of having enjoyed a placid, though somewhat transient, slumber: notwithstanding the occurrence of a very uncommon _dream_! LIS. "I dreamt a dream last night;" which has been already told--but what was yours? LYSAND. Nay, it is silly to entertain one another with stories of phantastic visions of the night. I have known the most placid-bosomed men grow downright angry at the very introduction of such a discourse. PHIL. That may be; but we have, luckily, no such _placidly-moulded_ bosoms in the present society. I love this sort of gossipping during breakfast, of all things. If our host permit, do give us your dream, Lysander! LIS. The dream!--The dream!--I entreat you. LYSAND. I fear you will fall asleep, and dream yourself, before the recital of it be concluded. But I will get through it as well as I can. Methought I was gently lifted from the ground into the air by a being of very superior size, but of an inexpressible sweetness of countenance. Although astonished by the singularity of my situation, I was far from giving way entirely to fear; but, with a mixture of anxiety and resignation, awaited the issue of the event. My Guide or Protector (for so this being must now be called) looked upon me with an air of tenderness, mingled with reproof; intimating, as I conceived, that the same superior Power, which had thus transported me above my natural element, would of necessity keep me in safety. This quieted my apprehensions. We had travelled together through an immensity of space, and could discover the world below as one small darkened spot, when my Guide interrupted the awful silence that had been preserved, by the following exclamation: "Approach, O man, the place of thy destination--compose thy perturbed spirits, and let all thy senses be awakened to a proper understanding of the scene which thou art about to behold." So saying, he moved along with an indescribable velocity; and while my eyes were dazzled by an unusual effulgence of light, I found myself at rest upon a solid seat--formed of crystal, of prodigious magnitude. My guide then fixed himself at my right hand, and after a vehement ejaculation, accompanied by gestures, which had the effect of enchantment upon me, he extended a sceptre of massive gold, decorated with emeralds and sapphires. Immediately there rose up a MIRROR of gigantic dimensions, around which was inscribed, in fifty languages, the word "TRUTH." I sat in mute astonishment. "Examine," said my Guide, with a voice the most encouraging imaginable, "examine the objects reflected upon the surface of this mirror." "There are none that are discernible to my eyes," I replied. "Thou shalt soon be gratified then," resumed this extraordinary being (with a severe smile upon his countenance), "but first let me purge thine eyes from those films of prejudice which, in the world you inhabit, are apt to intercept the light of TRUTH." He then took a handful of aromatic herbs, and, rubbing them gently upon my temples, gave me the power of contemplating, with perfect discernment, the objects before me. Wonderful indeed was this scene: for upon the surface of the MIRROR the whole world seemed to be reflected! At first, I could not controul my feelings: but, like a child that springs forward to seize an object greatly beyond its grasp, I made an effort to leave my seat, and to _mingle_ in the extraordinary scene. Here, however, my guide interfered--and, in a manner the most peremptory and decisive, forbade all further participation of it. "_View_ it attentively," replied he, "and impress firmly on thy memory what thou shalt see--it may solace thee the remainder of thy days." The authoritative air, with which these words were delivered, quite repressed and unnerved me. I obeyed, and intently viewed the objects before me. The first thing that surprised me was the representation of all the metropolitan cities of Europe. London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Petersburg, in particular, occupied my attention; and, what was still _more_ surprising, I seemed to be perfect master of every event going on in them--but more particularly of the transactions of _Bodies Corporate_. I saw Presidents in their chairs, with Secretaries and Treasurers by their sides; and to whatever observations were made the most implicit attention was paid. Here, an eloquent Lecturer was declaiming upon the beauty of morality, and the deformity of vice: there, a scientific Professor was unlocking the hidden treasures of nature, and explaining how Providence, in all its measures, was equally wonderful and wise. The experiments which ensued, and which corroborated his ingenious and profound remarks, suspended a well-informed audience in rapturous attention; which was followed by instinctive bursts of applause. Again I turned my eyes, and, contiguous to this scene, viewed the proceedings of two learned sister Societies, distinguished for their labours in _Philosophy_ and _Antiquity_. Methought I saw the spirits of NEWTON and of DUGDALE, looking down with complacency upon them, and congratulating each other upon the _general_ progress of civilization since they had ceased to mingle among men. "These institutions," observed my Guide, "form the basis of rational knowledge, and are the source of innumerable comforts: for the _many_ are benefitted by the researches and experiments of the _few_. It is easy to laugh at such societies, but it is not quite so easy to remedy the inconveniences which would be felt, if they were extinct. Nations become powerful in proportion to their wisdom; it has uniformly been found that where philosophers lived, and learned men wrote, there the arts have flourished, and heroism and patriotism have prevailed. True it is that discrepancies will sometimes interrupt the harmony of public bodies. But why is perfection to be expected, where every thing must necessarily be imperfect? It is the duty of man to make the _nearest approaches_ to public and private happiness. And if, as with a sponge, he wipe away such establishments, genius has little incentive to exertion, and merit has still less hope of reward. Now cast your eyes on a different scene." I obeyed, and, within the same city, saw a great number of Asylums and Institutions for the ignorant and helpless. I saw youth instructed, age protected, the afflicted comforted, and the diseased cured. My emotions at this moment were wonderfully strong--they were perceived by my guide, who immediately begged of me to consider the manner by which _epidemic maladies_ were prevented or alleviated, and especially how _the most fatal of them_ had been arrested in its progress. I attentively examined the objects before me, and saw thousands of smiling children and enraptured mothers walking confidently 'midst plague and death! I saw them, happy in the protection which had been afforded them by the most useful and most nutritious of animals! "Enough," exclaimed my guide, "thou seest here the glorious result of a philosophical mind, gifted with unabatable ardour of experiment. Thou wilt acknowledge that, compared with the triumph which SUCH A MIND enjoys, the conquests of heroes are puerile, and the splendour of monarchy is dim!" During this strain, I fancied I could perceive the human being, alluded to by my guide, retire apart in conversation with another distinguished friend of humanity, by those unwearied exertions the condition of many thousand poor people had been meliorated. "There is yet," resumed my guide, "another scene equally interesting as the preceding. From a pure morality flows a pure religion: look therefore on those engaged in the services of CHRISTIANITY." I looked, and saw a vast number of my fellow-creatures prostrate in adoration before their Creator and Redeemer. I fancied I could hear the last strains of their hallelujahs ascending to the spot whereon I sat. "Observe," said my Protector, "all do not worship in the same manner, because all assent not to the same creed; but the intention of each may be pure: at least, common charity teaches us thus to think, till some open act betray a malignity of principle. Toleration is the vital spark of religion: arm the latter with the whips of persecution, and you convert her into a fiend scattering terror and dismay! In your own country you enjoy a liberty of sentiment beyond every other on the face of the globe. Learn to be grateful for such an inestimable happiness." These words had hardly escaped my guide, when I was irresistibly led to look on another part of the Mirror where a kind of imperial magnificence, combined with the severest discipline, prevailed. "You are contemplating," resumed my preternatural Monitor, "one of the most interesting scenes in Europe. See the effect of revolutionary commotions! While you view the sable spirit of the last monarch of France gliding along, at a distance, with an air of sorrow and indignation; while you observe a long line of legitimate princes, exiled from their native country, and dependant upon the contributions of other powers; mark the wonderful, the unparalleled reverse of human events! and acknowledge that the preservation of the finest specimens of art, the acquisition of every thing which can administer to the wants of luxury, or decorate the splendour of a throne--the acclamations of hired multitudes or bribed senates--can reflect little lustre on THAT CHARACTER which still revels in the frantic wish of enslaving the world! It is true, you see yonder, Vienna, Petersburg, Stockholm, and Berlin, bereft of their ancient splendour, and bowing, as it were, at the feet of a despot--but had these latter countries kept alive one spark of that patriotism which so much endears to us the memories of Greece and Rome--had they not, in a great measure, become disunited by factions, we might, even in these days, however degenerate, have witnessed something like that national energy which was displayed in the bay of Salamis, and on the plains of Marathon." My Guide perceiving me to be quite dejected during these remarks, directed my attention to another part of the Mirror, which reflected the transactions of the _Western_ and _Eastern_ world. At first, a kind of _mist_ spread itself upon the glass, and prevented me from distinguishing any object. This, however, gradually dissolved, and was succeeded by a thick, black smoke, which involved every thing in impenetrable obscurity. Just as I was about to turn to my guide, and demand the explanation of these appearances, the smoke rolled away, and instantaneously, there flashed forth a thousand bickering flames. "What," cried I, "is the meaning of these objects?" "Check, for one moment, your impatience, and your curiosity shall be gratified," replied my guide. I then distinctly viewed thousands of _Black Men_, who had been groaning under the rod of oppression, starting up in all the transport of renovated life, and shouting aloud "WE ARE FREE!" One tall commanding figure, who seemed to exercise the rights of a chieftain among them, gathered many tribes around him, and addressed them in the following few, but comprehensive, words: "Countrymen, it has pleased the Great God above to make man instrumental to the freedom of his fellow-creatures. While we lament our past, let us be grateful for our present, state: and never let us cease, each revolving year, to build an altar of stones to the memory, of that GREAT and GOOD MAN, who hath principally been the means of our FREEDOM FROM SLAVERY. No: we will regularly perform this solemn act, as long as there shall remain one pebble upon our shores." "Thus much," resumed my Guide, "for the dawning felicities of the _western_ world: but see how the _eastern_ empires are yet ignorant and unsettled!" I was about to turn my eyes to Persia and India, to China and Japan, when to my astonishment, the surface of the Mirror became perfectly blackened, except in some few circular parts, which were tinged with the colour of blood. "The future is a fearful sight," said my Guide; "we are forbidden its contemplation, and can only behold the gloomy appearances before us: they are ominous ones!" My mind, on which so many and such various objects had produced a confused effect, was quite overpowered and distracted. I leaned upon the arm of the chair, and, covering my face with my hands, became absorbed in a thousand ideas, when a sudden burst of thunder made me start from my seat--and, looking forward, I perceived that the MIRROR, with all its magical illusions had vanished away! My preternatural Guide then placed himself before me, but in an altered female form. A hundred various coloured wings sprung from her arms, and her feet seemed to be shod with sandals of rubies; around which numerous cherubs entwined themselves. The perfume that arose from the flapping of her wings was inexpressibly grateful; and the soft silvery voices of these cherubic attendants had an effect truly enchanting. No language can adequately describe my sensations on viewing this extraordinary change of object. I gazed with rapture upon my wonderful Guide, whose countenance now beamed with benevolence and beauty. "Ah!" exclaimed I, "this is a vision of happiness never to be realized! Thou art a being that I am doomed never to meet with in the world below." "Peace:" whispered an unknown voice; "injure not thy species by such a remark: the object before thee is called by a name that is familiar to thee--it is 'CANDOUR.' She is the handmaid of Truth, the sister of Virtue, and the priestess of Religion." I was about to make reply, when a figure of terrific mien, and enormous dimensions, rushed angrily towards me, and, taking me up in my crystal chair, bore me precipitately to the earth. In my struggles to disengage myself, I awoke: and on looking about me, with difficulty could persuade myself that I was an inhabitant of this world. My sensations were, at first, confused and unpleasant; but a reflection on the MIRROR OF TRUTH, and its divine expositor, in a moment tranquillized my feelings. And thus have I told you my dream. * * * * * Lysander had hardly concluded the recital of his dream--during which it was impossible for us to think of quaffing coffee or devouring muffins--when the servant entered with a note from Lorenzo: "My dear Friend, "The morning is propitious. Hasten to THE ALCOVE. My sisters are twining honey-suckles and jessamine round the portico, and I have carried thither a respectable corps of bibliographical volumes, for Lysander to consult, in case his memory should fail. All here invoke the zephyrs to waft their best wishes to you. "Truly your's, "LORENZO." The note was no sooner read than we all, as if by instinct, started up; and, finishing our breakfast as rapidly as did the Trojans when they expected an early visit from the Grecians, we sallied towards Lorenzo's house, and entered his pleasure grounds. Nothing could be more congenial than every circumstance and object which presented itself. The day was clear, calm, and warm; while a crisp autumnal air Nimbly and sweetly recommend itself Unto our gentle senses.[423] [Footnote 423: _Macbeth_; Act I., Sc. VI. Dr. Johnson has happily observed, upon the above beautiful passage of Shakespeare, that "_Gentle sense_ is very elegant; as it means _placid_, _calm_, _composed_; and intimates the peaceable delight of a fine day." Shakespeare's Works; edit. 1803; vol x., p. 73. Alain Chartier, in the motto prefixed to the Second part of this Bibliographical Romance, has given us a yet more animated, and equally characteristic, picture. Thomson's serene morning, Unfolding fair the last autumnal day, is also very apposite; and reminds us of one of those soft and aërial pictures of Claude Loraine, where a heaven-like tranquillity and peace seem to prevail. Delightful scenes!--we love to steal a short moment from a bustling world, to gaze upon landscapes which appear to have been copied from the paradise of our first parents. Delusive yet fascinating objects of contemplation! You whisper sweet repose, and heart-soothing delight! We turn back upon the world; and the stunning noises of Virgil's Cyclops put all this fair Elysium to flight.] At a distance, the reapers were carrying away their last harvest load; and numerous groups of gleaners picking up the grain which they had spared, were marching homewards in all the glee of apparent happiness. Immediately on our left, the cattle were grazing in a rich pasture meadow; while, before us, the white pheasant darted across the walk, and the stock-dove was heard to wail in the grove. We passed a row of orange trees, glittering with golden fruit; and, turning sharply to our right, discovered, on a gentle eminence, and skirted with a profusion of shrubs and delicately shaped trees, the wished-for ALCOVE. We quickly descried Almansa busied in twining her favourite honey-suckles round the portico; while within Belinda was sitting soberly at work, as if waiting our arrival. The ladies saluted us as we approached; and Lorenzo, who till now had been unperceived, came quietly from the interior, with his favourite edition of _Thomson_[424] in his hand. [Footnote 424: This must be a favourite edition with every man of taste. It was printed by BENSLEY, and published by DU ROVERAY, in the year 1802. The designs were by Hamilton, and the engravings principally by Fittler. The copy which Lorenzo had in his hand was upon _large paper_; and nothing could exceed the lustre of the type and plates. The editions of _Pope_, _Gray_, and _Milton_, by DU ROVERAY, as well as those of _The Spectator_, _Guardian_, _Tatler_, by Messrs. SHARPE and HAILES, are among the most elegant, as well as accurate, publications of our old popular writers.] The Alcove at a distance, had the appearance of a rustic temple.[425] The form, though a little capricious, was picturesque; and it stood so completely embosomed in rich and variegated foliage, and commanded so fine a swell of landscape, that the visitor must be cold indeed who could approach it with the compass of Palladio in one hand, and the square of Inigo Jones in the other. We entered and looked around us. [Footnote 425: Lorenzo was not unmindful that it had been observed by Lipsius (_Syntag. de Bibliothecis_) and, after him, by Thomasinus (_de Donar. et Tabell-votiv._ c. 3. p. 37.) that the ancients generally built their libraries near to, or adjoining their _Temples_; "ut veram seram sedem sacratorum ingenii fætuum loca sacra esse ostenderent:" BIBLIOTHECAS (inquit) procul abesse (sc. a TEMPLIS) noluerunt veteres, ut ex præclaris ingeniorum monumentis dependens mortalium, gloria, in Deorum tutela esset. This I gather from Spizolius's _Infelix Literatus_: p. 462.] Those who have relished the mild beauties of Wynants' pictures would be pleased with the view from the Alcove of Lorenzo. The country before was varied, undulating, and the greater part, highly cultivated. Some broad-spreading oaks here and there threw their protecting arms round the humble saplings; and some aspiring elms frequently reared their lofty heads, as land-marks across the county. The copses skirted the higher grounds, and a fine park-wood covered the middle part of the landscape in one broad umbrageous tone of colouring. It was not the close rusticity of Hobbima--or the expansive, and sometimes complicated, scenery of Berghem--or the heat-oppressive and magnificent views of Both--that we contemplated; but, as has been before observed, the mild and gentle scenery of Wynants; and if a cascade or dimpling brook had been near us, I could have called to my aid the transparent pencil of Rysdael, in order to impress upon the reader a proper notion of the scenery. But it is high time to make mention of the conversation which ensued among the tenants of this Alcove. LOREN. I am heartily glad we are met under such propitious circumstances. What a glorious day! ALMAN. Have you recovered, Sir, the immense fatigue you must have sustained from the exertions of yesterday? My brother has no mercy upon a thoroughly-versed book guest! LYSAND. I am indeed quite hearty: yet, if any thing heavy and indigested hung about me, would not the contemplation of such a landscape, and such a day, restore every thing to its wonted ardour?! You cannot conceive how such a scene affects me: even to shedding tears of pleasure--from the reflections to which it gives rise. BELIN. How strangely and how cruelly has the character of a bibliographer been aspersed! Last night you convinced me of the ardour of your enthusiasm, and of the eloquence of your expression, in regard to your favourite subject of discussion!--but, this morning, I find that you can talk in an equally impassioned manner respecting garden and woodland scenery? LYSAND. Yes, Madam: and if I possessed such a domain as does your brother, I think I could even improve it a little--especially the interior of the Alcove! I don't know that I could attach to the house a more appropriate library than he has done; even if I adopted the octagonal form of the _Hafod Library_;[426] which, considered with reference to its local situation, is, I think, almost unequalled:--but it strikes me that the interior of this Alcove might be somewhat improved. [Footnote 426: Hafod, in Cardiganshire, South Wales, is the residence of THOMAS JOHNES, Esq., M.P., and Lord Lieutenant of the county. Mr. Malkin, in his _Scenery, Antiquities, and Biography, of South Wales_, 1804, 4to., and Dr. Smith, in his _Tour to Hafod_, 1810, folio, have made us pretty well acquainted with the local scenery of Hafod:--yet can any pen or pencil do this --Paradise, open'd in the wild, perfect justice! I have seen Mr. Stothard's numerous little sketches of the pleasure-grounds and surrounding country, which are at once faithful and picturesque. But what were this "Paridise" of rocks, waterfalls, streams, woods, copses, dells, grottos, and mountains, without the hospitable spirit of the owner--which seems to preside in, and to animate, every summer-house and alcove. The book-loving world is well acquainted with the _Chronicles of Froissart_, _Joinville_, _De Brocquiere_, and _Monstrelet_, which have issued from the HAFOD PRESS; and have long deplored the loss, from fire, which their author, Mr. Johnes, experienced in the demolition of the greater part of his house and library. The former has been rebuilt, and the latter replenished: yet no Phoenix spirit can revivify the ashes of those volumes which contained the romances notified by the renowned Don Quixote! But I am rambling too wildly among the Hafod rocks--I hasten, therefore to return and take the reader with me into the interior of Mr. Johnes's largest library, which is terminated by a Conservatory of upwards of 150 feet. As the ancient little books for children [hight _Lac Puerorum_!] used to express it--"Look, here it is." [Illustration]] LOREN. What defects do you discover here, Lysander? LYSAND. They are rather omissions to be supplied than errors to be corrected. You have warmed the interior by a Grecian-shaped stove, and you do right; but I think a few small busts in yonder recesses would not be out of character. Milton, Shakespeare, and Locke, would produce a sort of inspiration which might accord with that degree of feeling excited by the contemplation of these external objects. LOREN. You are right. 'Ere you revisit this spot, those inspiring gentlemen shall surround me. BELIN. And pray add to them the busts of Thomson and Cowper: for these latter, in my opinion, are our best poets in the description of rural life. You remember what Cowper says-- God made the country, and Man made the town? ALMAN. This may be very well--but we forget the purpose for which we are convened. LIS. True: so I entreat you, Master Lysander, to open--not the debate--but the discussion. LYSAND. You wish to know what are the SYMPTOMS OF THE BIBLIOMANIA?--what are the badges or livery marks, in a library, of the owner of the collection being a bibliomaniac? ALMAN. Even so. My question, yesterday evening, was--if I remember well--whether a _mere collector_ of books was necessarily a bibliomaniac? LYSAND. Yes: and to which--if I also recollect rightly--I replied that the symptoms of the disease, and the character of a bibliomaniac, were discoverable in the very books themselves! LIS. How is this? ALMAN & BELIN. Do pray let us hear. PHIL. At the outset, I entreat you, Lysander, not to overcharge the colouring of your picture. Respect the character of your auditors; and, above all things, have mercy upon the phlogistic imagination of Lisardo! LYSAND. I will endeavour to discharge the important office of a bibliomaniacal Mentor, or, perhaps, Æsculapius, to the utmost of my power: and at all events, with the best possible intentions. Before we touch upon the _Symptoms_, it may be as well to say a few words respecting the _General Character_ of the BOOK DISEASE. The ingenious Peignot[427] defines the bibliomania to be "a passion for possessing books; not so much to be instructed by them, as to gratify the eye by looking on them." This subject has amused the pens of foreigners; although we have had nothing in our own language, written expressly upon it, 'till the ingenious and elegantly-composed poem of Dr. Ferriar appeared; after which, as you well know, our friend put forth his whimsical brochure.[428] [Footnote 427: "LA BIRLIOMANIE [Transcriber's Note: BIBLIOMANIE] est la fureur de posséder des livres, non pas tant pour s'instruire, que pour les avoir et pour en repaître sa vue. Le bibliomane ne connait ordinairement les livres que par leur titre, leur frontispice, et leur date; il s'attache aux bonnes editiones et les poursuit à quelque titre que ce soit; la relieure le seduit aussi, soit par son ancienneté, soit par sa beauté," &c. _Dictionnaire de Bibliologie_. vol. i. p. 51. This is sufficiently severe: see also the extracts from the _Memoires de l'Institut_: p. 25, ante. The more ancient foreign writers have not scrupled to call the BIBLIOMANIA by every caustic and merciless terms: thus speaks the hard-hearted Geyler: "Tertia nola est, multos libros coacervare propter animi voluptatem curiosam. Fastidientis stomachi est multa degustare, ait Seneca. Isti per multos libros vagant legentes assidue: nimirum similles fatuis illis, qui in urbe cicumeunt domos singulas, et earum picturas dissutis malis contuentur: sicque curiositate trahuntur, &c. Contenti in hâc animi voluptate, quam pascunt per volumina varia devagando et liguriendo. Itaque gaudent hic de larga librorum copia, operosa utique sed delectabilis sarcina, et animi jucunda distractio: imo est hæc ingens librorum copia ingens simul et laboris copia, et quietis inopia--huc illucque circum agendum ingenium: his atque illis pregravanda memoria."--_Navicula sive Sæculum Fatuorum_, 1511, 4to. sign B. iiij rev. Thus speaks Sebastian Brandt upon the subject, through the medium of our old translation: Styll am I besy bokes assemblynge For to have plenty it is a pleasaunte thynge In my conceyt, and to have them ay in honde; But what they mene do I nat understonde. _Shyp of Folys_: see p. 206, ante. There is a short, but smart and interesting, article on this head in Mr. D'Israeli's _Curiosities of Literature_: vol. i. 10. "Bruyere has touched on this mania with humour; of such a collector (one who is fond of superb bindings only), says he, as soon as I enter his house, I am ready to faint on the stair-case from a strong smell of Russia and Morocco leather. In vain he shews me fine editions, gold leaves, Etruscan bindings, &c.--naming them one after another, as if he were shewing a gallery of pictures!" Lucian has composed a biting invective against an ignorant possessor of a vast library. "One who opens his eyes with an hideous stare at an old book; and after turning over the pages, chiefly admires _the date_ of its publication." But all this, it may be said, is only general declamation, and means nothing!] [Footnote 428: The first work, I believe, written expressly upon the subject above discussed was a French publication, entitled _La Bibliomanie_. Of the earliest edition I am uninformed; but one was published at the Hague in 1762, 8vo. Dr. Ferriar's poem upon the subject, being an epistle to Richard Heber, Esq.--and which is rightly called by Lysander 'ingenious and elegant'--was published in 1809, 4to.: pp. 14: but not before an equally ingenious, and greatly more interesting, performance, by the same able pen, had appeared in the Trans. of the Manchester Literary Society, vol. iv., p. 45-87--entitled _Comments upon Sterne_; which may be fairly classed among the species of bibliomaniacal composition; inasmuch as it shews the author to be well read in old books; and, of these, in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy in particular. Look for half a minute at p. 286, ante. In the same year of Dr. Ferriar's publication of the Bibliomania, appeared the _Voyage autour de ma bibliothèque Roman Bibliographique_: by Ant. Caillot; in three small duodecimo volumes. There is little ingenuity and less knowledge in these meagre volumes. My own superficial work, entitled, _Bibliomania_, or _Book-Madness: containing some account of the History, Symptoms and Cure of this fatal Disease; in an epistle addressed to Richard Heber, Esq._, quickly followed Dr. Ferriar's publication. It contained 82 pages, with a tolerably copious sprinkling of notes: but it had many errors and omissions, which it has been my endeavour to correct and supply in the present new edition, or rather newly-constructed work. Vide preface. Early in the ensuing year (namely, in 1810) appeared _Bibliosophia, or Book-Wisdom: containing some account of the Pride, Pleasure, and Privileges of that glorious Vocation, Book-Collecting. By an Aspirant. Also, The Twelve Labours of an Editor, separately pitted against those of Hercules_, 12mo. This is a good-humoured and tersely written composition: being a sort of Commentary upon my own performance. In the ensuing pages will be found some amusing poetical extracts from it. And thus take we leave of PUBLICATIONS UPON THE BIBLIOMANIA!] Whether Peignot's definition be just or not, I will not stop to determine: but when I have described to you the various symptoms, you will be better able to judge of its propriety. LIS. Describe them _seriatim_, as we were observing yesterday. LYSAND. I will; but let me put them in battle array, and select them according to their appearances. There is, first, a passion for _Large Paper Copies_; secondly, for _Uncut Copies_; thirdly, for _Illustrated Copies_; fourthly, for _Unique Copies_; fifthly, for _Copies printed upon Vellum_; sixthly, for _First Editions_; seventhly, for _True Editions_; and eighthly, for _Books printed in the Black-Letter_. BELIN. I have put these symptoms down in my pocket-book; and shall proceed to catechise you according to your own method. First, therefore, what is meant by LARGE PAPER COPIES? LYSAND. A certain set, or limited number of the work, is printed upon paper of a _larger dimension, and superior quality_, than the ordinary copies. The press-work and ink are, always, proportionably better in these copies: and the price of them is enhanced according to their beauty and rarity. _This Symptom_ of the Bibliomania is, at the present day, both general and violent. Indeed, there is a set of collectors, the shelves of whose libraries are always made proportionably stout, and placed at a due distance from each other, in order that they may not break down beneath the weight of such ponderous volumes. BELIN. Can these things be? PHIL. Yes; but you should draw a distinction, and not confound the GROLLIERS, De Thous, and Colberts of modern times, with "a set of collectors," as you call them, who are equally without taste and knowledge. LIS. We have heard of De Thou and Colbert, but who is GROLLIER?[429] [Footnote 429: The reader may be better pleased with the ensuing soberly-written account of this great man than with Philemon's rapturous eulogy. JOHN GROLLIER was born at Lyons, in 1479; and very early displayed a propensity towards those elegant and solid pursuits which afterwards secured to him the admiration and esteem of his contemporaries. His address was easy, his manners were frank, yet polished; his demeanour was engaging, and his liberality knew no bounds. As he advanced in years, he advanced in reputation; enjoying a princely fortune, the result, in some measure, of a faithful and honourable discharge of the important diplomatic situations which he filled. He was Grand Treasurer to Francis I., and was sent by that monarch as ambassador to Pope Clement VII. During his abode at Rome, he did not fail to gratify his favourite passion of BOOK-COLLECTING; and employed the Alduses to print for him an edition of Terence in 8vo., 1521: of which a copy _upon vellum_, was in the Imperial library at Vienna; See _L'Imp. des Alde_; vol. I., 159. He also caused to be published, by the same printers, an edition of his friend Budæus's work, _De Asse et partibus ejus_, 1522, 4to.; which, as well as the Terence, is dedicated to himself, and of which the presentation copy, _upon vellum_, is now in the Library of Count M'Carthy, at Toulouse: it having been formerly in the Soubise collection: vide p. 96, ante--and no. 8010 of the _Bibl. Soubise_. It was during Grollier's stay at Rome, that the anecdote, related by Egnatio, took place. 'I dined (says the latter) along with Aldus, his son, Manutius, and other learned men, at Grollier's table. After dinner, and just as the dessert had been placed on the table, our host presented each of his guests with a pair of gloves filled with ducats.' But no man had a higher opinion of Grollier, or had reason to express himself in more grateful terms of him, than De Thou. This illustrious author speaks of him as "a man of equal elegance of manners, and spotlessness of character. His books seemed to be the counterpart of himself, for neatness and splendour; not being inferior to the glory attributed to the library of Asinius Pollio, the first who made a collection of books at Rome. It is surprising, notwithstanding the number of presents which he made to his friends, and the accidents which followed on the dispersion of his library, how many of his volumes yet adorn the most distinguished libraries of Paris, whose chief boast consists in having an _Exemplar Grollerianum_!" The fact was Grollier returned to Paris with an immense fortune. During his travels he had secured, from Basil, Venice, and Rome, the most precious copies of books which could be purchased: and which he took care to have bound in a singular manner, indicative at once of his generosity and taste. The title of the book was marked in gilt letters upon one side, and the words--of which the annexed wood-cut is a fac-simile--upon the other; surrounded with similar ornaments to the extremities of the sides, whether in folio or duodecimo. [Illustration: PORTIO MEA DO MINE SIT IN TERRA VI VENTI VM. Beneath the title of the book: 'IO: GROLLERII et AMICORUM.'] This extraordinary man, whom France may consider the first Bibliomaniac of the sixteenth century, died at Paris in the year 1565, and in the 86th of his age. Let us close this account of him with an extract from Marville's _Melanges d'Histoire et de Litérature_; "La Bibliothèque de M. Grollier s'est conservée dans l'Hôtel de Vic jusqu'à ces annêes dernieres qu'elle a été venduë à l'encan. Elle meritoit bien, étant une des premieres et des plus accomplies qu'aucun particulier se soit avisé de faire à Paris, de trouver, comme celle de M. de Thou, un acheteur qui en conservât le lustre. La plûpart des curieux de Paris ont profité de ses débris. J'en ai eu à ma part quelques volumes à qui rien ne manque: ni pour la bonté des editions de ce tems là, ni pour la beauté du papier et la propreté de la relieure. Il semble, à les voir, que les Muses qui ont contribué à la composition du dedans, se soient aussi appliquées à les approprier au dehors, tant il paroît d'art et d'esprit dans leurs ornemens. Ils sont tous dorez avec une delicatesse inconnuë aux doreurs d'aujourd'hui. Les compartemens sont pients de diverses couleurs, parfaitemente bien dessinez, et tous de differentes figures, &c.:" vol. I., p. 187, edit. 1725. Then follows a description, of which the reader has just had ocular demonstration. After such an account, what bibliomaniac can enjoy perfect tranquillity of mind unless he possess a _Grollier copy_ of some work or other? My own, from which the preceding fac-simile was taken, is a folio edition (1531) of _Rhenanus, de rebus Germanicis_; in the finest preservation.] PHIL. Lysander will best observe upon him. LYSAND. Nay; his character cannot be in better hands. PHIL. Grollier was both the friend and the treasurer of Francis the First; the bosom companion of De Thou, and a patron of the Aldine family. He had learning, industry, and inflexible integrity. His notions of _Virtû_ were vast, but not wild. There was a magnificence about every thing which he did or projected; and his liberality was without bounds. He was the unrivalled Mecænas of book-lovers and scholars; and a more insatiable bibliomaniacal appetite was never, perhaps, possessed by any of _his_ class of character. LIS. I thank you for this _Grollieriana_. Proceed, Lysander with your large paper copies. ALMAN. But first tell us--why are these copies so much coveted? Do they contain more than the ordinary ones? LYSAND. Not in the least. Sometimes, however, an extra embellishment is thrown into the volume--but this, again, belongs to the fourth class of symptoms, called _Unique Copies_--and I must keep strictly to order; otherwise I shall make sad confusion. BELIN. Keep to your large paper, exclusively.[430] [Footnote 430: Let us first hear Dr. Ferriar's smooth numbers upon this tremendous symptom of the Bibliomania: But devious oft, from ev'ry classic Muse, The keen collector meaner paths will choose: And first the MARGIN'S BREADTH his soul employs, Pure, snowy, broad, the type of nobler joys. In vain might Homer roll the tide of song, Or Horace smile, or Tully charm the throng; If crost by Pallas' ire, the trenchant blade Or too oblique, or near, the edge invade, The Bibliomane exclaims, with haggard eye, 'NO MARGIN!'--turns in haste, and scorns to buy. _The Bibliomania_; v. 34-43. Next come the rivals strains of 'An Aspirant.' FIRST MAXIM. Who slaves the monkish folio through, With lore or science in his view, _Him_ ... visions black, or devils blue, Shall haunt at his expiring taper;-- Yet, 'tis a weakness of the wise, To chuse the volume by the size, And riot in the pond'rous prize-- Dear Copies--_printed on_ LARGE PAPER! _Bibliosophia_; p. IV. After these saucy attacks, can I venture upon discoursing, in a sober note-like strain--upon those large and magnificent volumes concerning which Lysander, above, pours forth such a torrent of eloquence? Yes--gentle reader--I will even venture!--and will lay a silver penny to boot (See Peacham's '_Worth of a Penny_'--) that neither Dr. Ferriar nor the 'Aspirant' could withhold their ejaculations of rapture upon seeing any one of the following volumes walk majestically into their libraries. Mark well, therefore, a few scarce WORKS PRINTED UPON LARGE PAPER. _Lord Bacon's Essays_; 1798, 8vo. There were only six copies of this edition struck off upon royal folio paper: one copy is in the Cracherode collection, in the British Museum; and another is in the library of Earl Spencer. Mr. Leigh, the book-auctioneer, a long time ago observed that, if ever one of these copies were to be sold at an auction, it would probably bring -00_l._--! I will not insert the _first_ figure; but _two noughts_ followed it.----_Twenty Plays of Shakspeare from the old quarto editions_; 1766, 8vo., 6 vols. Only twelve copies printed upon large paper. See _Bibl. Steevens_: no. 1312; and p. 581, ante.----_Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays_; 1780, 8vo., 12 vols. Only six copies struck off upon large paper. Bibl. Woodhouse, no. 698.----_The Grenville Homer_; 1800, 4to., 4 vols. Fifty copies of this magnificent work are said to have been printed upon large paper; which have embellishments of plates. Mr. Dent possesses the copy which was Professor Porson's, and which was bought at the sale of the Professor's library, in boards, for 87_l._, see p. 459, ante. Seven years ago I saw a sumptuous copy in morocco, knocked down for 99_l._ 15_s._----_Mathæi Paris, Monachi Albanenses, &c.; Historia Major; a Wats_; Lond. 1640; folio. This is a rare and magnificent work upon large paper; and is usually bound in two volumes.----_Historiæ Anglicanæ Scriptores X; a Twysden_; 1652, folio. Of equal rarity and magnificence are copies of this inestimable production.----_Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores Veteres, a Gale_; 1684, 91; folio, 3 volumes. There were but few copies of this, now generally coveted, work printed upon large paper. The difference between the small and the large, for amplitude of margin and lustre of ink, is inconceivable.----_Historiæ Anglicanæ Scriptores Varii, a Sparke_; Lond. 1723, folio. The preface to this work shews that there are copies of it, like those of Dr. Clarke's edition of Cæsar's Commentaries, upon paper of three different sizes. The 'charta maxima' is worthy of a conspicuous place upon the collector's shelf; though in any shape the book has a creditable aspect.----_Recueil des Historiens des Gaules, &c., par Boucquet_; 1738, 1786; folio, 13 vols. It is hardly possible for the eye to gaze upon a more intrinsically valuable work, or a finer set of volumes, than are these, as now exhibited in Mr. Evans's shop, and bound in fine old red morocco by the best binders of France. They were once in my possession; but the 'res angusta domi' compelled me to part with them, and to seek for a copy not so tall by head and shoulders. Since the year 1786, two additional volumes have been published. We will now discourse somewhat of English books. _Scott's Discoverie of Whitcraft_; 1584, 4to. Of this work, which has recently become popular from Mr. Douce's frequent mention of it (Illustrations of Shakspeare, &c., 1806, 2 vols., 8vo.), my friend, Mr. Utterson, possesses a very beautiful copy upon large paper. It is rarely one meets with books printed in this country, before the year 1600, struck off in such a manner. This copy, which is secured from 'winter and rough weather' by a stout coat of skilfully-tool'd morocco, is probably unique.----_Weever's Funeral Monuments_; 1631, folio. Mr. Samuel Lysons informs me that he has a copy of this work upon large paper. I never saw, or heard of, another similar one.----_Sanford's Genealogical History_; 1707, folio. At the sale of Baron Smyth's books, in 1809, Messrs. J. and A. Arch purchased a copy of this work upon large paper for 46_l._ A monstrous price! A similar copy is in the library of Mr. Grenville, which was obtained from Mr. Evans of Pall-Mall. The curious should purchase the anterior edition (of 1677) for the sake of better impressions of the plates; which, however, in any condition, are neither tasteful nor well engraved. What is called '_a good Hollar_' would weigh down the whole set of them!----_Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials_; 1721, _Folio_, 3 vols.----_Annals of the Reformation_; 1725, _Folio_, 4 vols. Happy the collector who can regale himself by viewing large paper copies of these inestimable works! In any shape or condition, they are now rare. The latter is the scarcer of the two; and upon large paper brings, what the French bibliographers call, 'un prix enorme.' There is one of this kind in the beautiful library of Mr. Thomas Grenville.----_Hearne's Works_--'till Mr. Bagster issued his first reprints of Robert of Gloucester and Peter Langtoft, upon paper of three different sizes--(of which the largest, in quarto, has hardly been equalled in modern printing)--used to bring extravagant sums at book-auctions. At a late sale in Pall-Mall, were [Transcriber's Note: where] the books in general were sold at extraordinary prices, the large paper Hearnes absolutely 'hung fire'--as the sportsman's phrase is.----_Hudibras, with Dr. Grey's Annotations, and Hogarth's cuts_; 1744, 2 vols. There were but twelve copies of this first and best edition of Dr. Grey's labours upon Hudibras (which Warburton strangely abuses--) printed upon large paper: and a noble book it is in this form!----_Milner's History of Winchester_; 1798, 4to., 2 vols. Of this edition there were, I believe, either twelve or twenty-four copies printed upon large paper; which brings serious sums in the present general rage for books of this description.----_Kennet's (Bp.) Parochial Antiquities; Oxford_, 1695, 4to. The only known copy of this work upon large paper is in the fine library of Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart. This copy was probably in the collection of 'that well-known collector, Joseph Browne, Esq., of Shepton Mallet, Somersetshire:' as a similar one 'in Russia, gilt leaves,' was sold in Pt. II. of his collection, no. 279, for 7_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._ and purchased in the name of Thornton.----_The Chronicles of Froissart and Monstrelet_: translated by Thomas Johnes, Esq. Hafod, 1803, 1810, quarto, 9 vols.: including a volume of plates to Monstrelet. Of these beautiful and intrinsically valuable works, there were only 25 copies struck off upon folio; which bring tremendous prices.----_History of the Town of Cheltenham, and its Environs_; 1802, 8vo. There were a few copies of this superficial work printed upon large paper in royal octavo, and a _unique_ copy upon paper of a quarto size; which latter is in the possession of my friend Mr. Thomas Pruen, of the same place. A part of this volume was written by myself; according to instructions which I received to make it 'light and pleasant.' An author, like a barrister, is bound in most cases to follow his instructions! As I have thus awkwardly introduced myself, I may be permitted to observe, at the foot of this note, that all the LARGE PAPER copies of my own humble lucubrations have been attended with an unexpectedly successful sale. Of the _Introduction to the Classics_, edit. 1804, 8vo., there were fifty copies, with extra plates, struck off in royal octavo, and published at 2_l._ 2_s._: these now sell for 5_l._ 5_s._: the portrait of _Bishop Fell_ making them snapped at, with a perch-like spirit, by all true Grangerites. Of the _Typographical Antiquities_ of our own country there were 66 printed in a superb style, upon imperial paper, in 4to.; these were published at 6_l._ 6_s._ a copy. The following anecdote shews how they are 'looking up'--as the book-market phrase is. My friend ---- parted with his copy; but finding that his slumbers were broken, and his dreams frightful, in consequence, he sought to regain possession of it; and cheerfully gave 10_l._ 10_s._! for what, but a few months before, he had possessed for little more than one half the sum! The same friend subscribes for a _large paper_ of the _present work_, of which there are only eighteen copies printed: and of which my hard-hearted printer and myself seize each upon a copy. Will the same friend display equal fickleness in regard to THIS volume? If he does, he must smart acutely for it: nor will 15_l._ 15_s._ redeem it! It is justly observed, in the first edition of this work, that, 'analogous to large paper, are TALL copies: that is, copies of the work published on the ordinary size paper, and barely cut down by the binder,' p. 45. To _dwarfise_ a volume is a 'grievous fault' on the part of any binder; but more particularly is it an unpardonable one on the part of him who has had a long intercourse with professed bibliomaniacs! To a person who knows anything of typographical arrangement, the distinction between _tall_ and _large paper_ copies is sufficiently obvious. For this reason, I am quite decided that the supposed large paper copy of _Scapula's Lexicon_, possessed by Mr. ----, of Caversham, near Reading, is only a _tall_ copy of the work, as usually printed: nor is this copy more stately than another which I have seen. The owner of the volume will suppress all feelings which he may entertain against my heretical opinions (as I fear he will call them), when he considers that he may dispose of his Scapula for a sum three times beyond what he gave for it. Let him put it by the side of his neighbour Dr. Valpy's numerous large paper copies of the old folio classics, and he will in a moment be convinced of the accuracy of the foregoing remark. FINE PAPER copies of a work should be here noticed; as they are sought after with avidity. The most beautiful work of this kind which I ever saw, was _Rapin's History of England, in nine folio volumes, bound in red morocco, and illustrated with Houbraken's_ Heads; which Sir M.M. Sykes recently purchased of Mr. Evans, the bookseller,--for a comparatively moderate sum. A similar copy (exclusively of the illustrations) of Rapin's History of England, which was once in the library of the Royal Institution, was burnt in the fire that destroyed Covent-Garden Theatre; it having been sent to Mr. Mackinlay, the book-binder, who lived near the Theatre.] LYSAND. I have little to add to what has been already said of this symptom. That a volume, so published, has a more pleasing aspect, cannot be denied. It is the oak, in its full growth, compared with the same tree in its sapling state: or, if you please, it is the same picture a little more brilliant in its colouring, and put into a handsomer frame. My friend MARCUS is a very dragon in this department of book-collecting: nothing being too formidable for his attack. Let the volume assume what shape it may, and let the price be ever so unconscionable--he hesitates not to become a purchaser. In consequence, exclusively of all the _Dugdales_ and _Montfaucons_, upon large paper, and in the finest bindings, he possesses the _Grand Folio Classics_, the _Benedictine Editions of the Fathers_, the _County Histories_, and all works, of a recent date, upon _History_ and the _Belles Lettres_. In short, nothing can be more magnificent than the interior of his library; as nothing but giants, arrayed in the most splendid attire, are seen to keep guard from one extremity of the room to the other. LIS. Who is this Marcus? I'll rival him in due time!--But proceed. BELIN. Thus much, I presume, for the first symptom of the Bibliomania. Now pray, Sir, inform us what is meant by that strange term, UNCUT COPIES? LYSAND. Of all the symptoms of the Bibliomania, this is probably the most extraordinary.[431] It may be defined a passion to possess books of which the edges have never been sheared by the binder's tools. And here I find myself walking upon doubtful ground:--your friend [turning towards me] Atticus's _uncut Hearnes_ rise up in "rough majesty" before me, and almost "push me from my stool." Indeed, when I look around in your book-lined tub, I cannot but acknowledge that this symptom of the disorder has reached your own threshold; but when it is known that a few of your bibliographical books are left with the edges uncut _merely to please your friends_ (as one must sometimes study their tastes as well as one's own), I trust that no very serious conclusions will be drawn about the fatality of your own case. [Footnote 431: As before, let us borrow the strains of 'An Aspirant:' SECOND MAXIM. Who, with fantastic pruning-hook, Dresses the borders of his book, Merely to ornament its look-- Amongst philosophers a fop is: What if, perchance, he thence discover Facilities in turning over? The Virtuoso is a Lover Of coyer charms in "UNCUT COPIES." _Bibliosophia_; p. v. I have very little to add in illustration of Lysander's well-pointed sarcasms relating to this _second symptom of_ BOOK-MADNESS. I think I once heard of an uncut _Cranmer's Bible_; but have actually seen a similar conditioned copy of _Purchas's Pilgrimes and Pilgrimage_, which is now in the beautiful library of the Honourable T. Grenville.] As to uncut copies, although their inconvenience [an uncut Lexicon to wit!] and deformity must be acknowledged, and although a rational man can wish for nothing better than a book _once well bound_, yet we find that the extraordinary passion for collecting them not only obtains with full force, but is attended with very serious consequences to those "que n'out point des pistoles" (to borrow the idea of Clement; vol. vi. p. 36). I dare say an uncut _first Shakspeare_, as well as an _uncut vellum Aldus_[432] would produce a little annuity! [Footnote 432: I doubt of the existence of an uncut _first Shakspeare_; although we have recently had evidence of an uncut _first Homer_; for thus speaks Peignot: "A superb copy of this Editio Princeps was sold at the sale of M. de Cotte's books, in 1804, for 3601 livres: but it must be remarked that this copy was in the most exquisite preservation, as if it had just come from the press. Moreover, it is probably the only one the margins of which have never been either 'shaven or shorn.'" _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, p. lxv. vi.; see also p. 79, ante. Dr. Harwood, at page 338, of his _View of the Editions of the Classics_, speaks of an uncut vellum Aldus, of 1504, 8vo. "Mr. Quin shewed me a fine copy of it printed in vellum with the _leaves uncut_, which he bought of Mr. Egerton at a very moderate price. It is, perhaps (adds he), the only _uncut_ vellum Aldus in the world." From the joyous strain of this extract, the Doctor may be fairly suspected of having strongly exhibited this second symptom of the Bibliomania!] BELIN. 'Tis very strange'--as Hamlet says at the walking of his father's ghost! But now for your ILLUSTRATED COPIES! LYSAND. You have touched a vibrating string indeed!--but I will suppress my own feelings, and spare those of my friend. A passion for books _illustrated_, or adorned with _numerous Prints_[433] representing characters, or circumstances, mentioned in the work, is a very general and violent symptom of the Bibliomania. The origin, or first appearance, of this symptom, has been traced by some to the publication of the Rev. ---- GRANGER'S "_Biographical History of England_;" but whoever will be at the pains of reading the preface of that work will see that Granger shelters himself under the authorities of EVELYN, ASHMOLE, and others; and that he _alone_ is not to be considered as responsible for all the mischief which this passion for collecting prints has occasioned. Granger, however, was the first who introduced it in the form of a history; and surely "in an evil hour" was that history published; although its amiable author must be acquitted of "malice prepense." [Footnote 433: This third symptom has not escaped the discerning eye of the Manchester physician; for thus sings Dr. Ferriar: He pastes, from injur'd volumes snipt away, His _English Heads_ in chronicled array, Torn from their destin'd page (unworthy meed Of Knightly counsel, and heroic deed), Not _Faithorne's_ stroke, nor _Field's_ own types can save The gallant Veres, and one-eyed Ogle brave. Indignant readers seek the image fled, And curse the busy fool who _wants a head_. Proudly he shews, with many a smile elate, The scrambling subjects of the _private plate_ While Time their actions and their names bereaves, They grin for ever in the guarded leaves. _The Bibliomania_; v. 119-130. These are happy thoughts, happily expressed. In illustration of v. 123, the author observes,--"three fine heads, for the sake of which, the beautiful and interesting commentaries of Sir Francis Vere have been mutilated by collectors of English portraits." Dr. Ferriar might have added that, when a Grangerian bibliomaniac commences his ILLUSTRATING CAREER, he does not fail to make a desperate onset upon _Speed_, _Boissard_, and the _Heroologia_. Even the lovely prints of _Houbraken_ (in Dr. Birch's account of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain) escape not the ravages of his passion for illustration. The plates which adorn these books are considered among the foundation materials of a Grangerian building. But it is time, according to my plan, to introduce other sarcastic strains of poetry. THIRD MAXIM. Who, swearing not a line to miss, Doats on the leaf his fingers kiss, Thanking the _words_ for all his bliss,-- Shall rue, at last, his passion frustrate: _We_ love the page that draws its flavour From Draftsman, Etcher, and Engraver And hint the booby (by his favour) _His_ gloomy copy to "ILLUSTRATE." _Bibliosophia_; p. v. At this stage of our inquiries, let me submit a new remedy as an acquisition to the _Materia Medica_, of which many first-rate physicians may not be aware--by proposing a =Recipe for Illustration.= Take any passage from any author--to wit: the following (which I have done, quite at random) from SPEED: '_Henry le Spenser_, the warlike _Bishop of Norwich_, being drawn on by _Pope Vrban_ to preach _the Crusade_, and to be General against _Clement_ (whom sundry _Cardinals_ and great _Prelates_ had also elected Pope) having a fifteenth granted to him, for that purpose, by _parliament_,' &c. _Historie of Great Britaine_, p. 721, edit. 1632. Now, let the reader observe, here are _only four_ lines; but which, to be PROPERLY ILLUSTRATED, should be treated thus: 1st, procure all the portraits, at all periods of his life, of _Henry le Spencer_; 2dly, obtain every view, ancient and modern, like or unlike, of the city of _Norwich_; and, if fortune favour you, of _every Bishop of the same see_; 3dly, every portrait of _Pope Vrban_ must be procured; and as many prints and drawings as can give some notion of _the Crusade_--together with a few etchings (if there be any) of _Peter the Hermit_ and _Richard I._, who took such active parts in the Crusade; 4thly, you must search high and low, early and late, for every print of _Clement_; 5thly, procure, or you will be wretched, as many fine prints of _Cardinals_ and _Prelates_, singly or in groups, as will impress you with a proper idea of _the Conclave_; and 6thly, see whether you may not obtain, at some of our most distinguished old-print sellers, views of the _house of Parliament_ at the period (A.D. 1383.) here described!!! The result, gentle reader, will be this: you will have work enough cut out to occupy you for one whole month at least, from rise to set of sun--in parading the streets of our metropolis: nor will the expense in _coach_ hire, or _shoe leather_, be the least which you will have to encounter! The prints themselves may cost _some_thing! Lest any fastidious and cynical critic should accuse me, and with apparent justice, of gross exaggeration or ignorance in this _recipe_, I will inform him, on good authority, that a late distinguished and highly respectable female collector, who had commenced an ILLUSTRATED BIBLE, procured not fewer than _seven hundred prints_ for the illustration of the 20th, 21st, 22d, 23d, 24th, and 25th verses of the 1st chapter of Genesis! The illustrated copy of Mr. Fox's Historical work, mentioned in the first edition of this work, p. 63, is now in the possession of Lord Mountjoy. The similar copy of Walter Scott's edition of Dryden's works, which has upwards of 650 portraits, is yet in the possession of Mr. Miller, the bookseller.] Granger's work seems to have sounded the tocsin for a general rummage after, and plunder of, old prints. Venerable philosophers, and veteran heroes, who had long reposed in unmolested dignity within the magnificent folio volumes which recorded their achievements, were instantly dragged forth from their peaceful abodes, to be inlaid by the side of some clumsy modern engraving, within an _Illustrated Granger_! Nor did the madness stop here. Illustration was the order of the day; and _Shakspeare_[434] and _Clarendon_ became the next objects of its attack. From these it has glanced off, in a variety of directions, to adorn the pages of humbler wights; and the passion, or rather this symptom of the Bibliomania, yet rages with undiminished force. If judiciously treated, it is, of all the symptoms, the least liable to mischief. To possess a series of well-executed portraits of illustrious men, at different periods of their lives, from blooming boyhood to phlegmatic old age, is sufficiently amusing; but to possess _every_ portrait, _bad_, _indifferent_, and _unlike_, betrays such a dangerous and alarming symptom as to render the case almost incurable! [Footnote 434: Lysander would not have run on in this declamatory strain, if it had been _his_ good fortune, as it has been _mine_, to witness the extraordinary copy of an ILLUSTRATED SHAKSPEARE in the possession of Earl Spencer; which owes its magic to the perseverance and taste of the Dowager Lady Lucan, mother to the present Countess Spencer. For sixteen years did this accomplished Lady pursue the pleasurable toil of illustration; having commenced it in her 50th, and finished it in her 66th year. Whatever of taste, beauty, and judgment in decoration--by means of portraits, landscapes, houses, and tombs--flowers, birds, insects, heraldic ornaments, and devices,--could dress our immortal bard in a yet more fascinating form, has been accomplished by the noble hand which undertook so Herculean a task--and with a truth, delicacy, and finish of execution, which have been rarely equalled! These magnificent volumes (being the folio edition printed by Bulmer) are at once beautiful and secured by green velvet binding, with embossed clasps and corners of solid silver, washed with gold. Each volume is preserved in a silken cover--and the whole is kept inviolate from the impurities of bibliomaniacal miasmata, in a sarcophagus-shaped piece of furniture of cedar and mahogany. What is the pleasure experienced by the most resolute antiquary, when he has obtained a peep at the inmost sarcophagus of the largest pyramid of Egypt, compared with that which a tasteful bibliomaniac enjoys upon contemplating this illustrated Shakespeare, now reposing in all the classical magnificence and congenial retirement of its possessor?--But why do I surpass Lysander in the warmth and vehemence of narration! And yet, let me not forget that the same noble owner has _another_ illustrated copy of the SAME BARD, on a smaller scale, of which mention has already been made in my account of the donor of it, the late George Steevens. Turn, gentle reader, for one moment, to page 428, ante. The illustrated CLARENDON, above hinted at by Lysander, is in the possession of Mr. H.A. Sutherland; and is, perhaps, a matchless copy of the author: every siege, battle, town, and house-view--as well as portrait--being introduced within the leaves. I will not even hazard a conjecture for how many _thousand pounds_ its owner might dispose of it, if the inclination of parting with it should ever possess him. The British Museum has recently been enriched with a similar copy of PENNANT'S _London_, on large paper. Prints and drawings of all descriptions, which could throw light upon the antiquities of our metropolis, are inserted in this extraordinary copy, which belonged to the late Mr. Crowles; who expended 2000_l._ upon the same, and who bequeathed it, in the true spirit of _virtû_, to the Museum. Let CRACHERODE and CROWLES be held in respectful remembrance!] There is another mode of _illustrating copies_ by which this symptom of the Bibliomania may be known; it consists in bringing together, from different works, [including newspapers and magazines, and by means of the scissars, or otherwise by transcription] every page or paragraph which has any connexion with the character or subject under discussion. This is a useful[435] and entertaining mode of illustrating a favourite author; and copies of works of this nature, when executed by skilful hands, should be deposited in public libraries; as many a biographical anecdote of eminent literary characters is preserved in consequence. I almost ridiculed the idea of an _Illustrated Chatterton_, 'till the sight of your friend BERNARDO'S copy, in eighteen volumes, made me a convert to the utility that may be derived from a judicious treatment of this symptom of the Bibliomania: and indeed, of a rainy day, the same bibliomaniac's similar copy of _Walton's Complete Angler_ affords abundant amusement in the perusal. [Footnote 435: Numerous are the instances of the peculiar use and value of copies of this kind; especially to those who are engaged in publications of a similar nature. OLDYS'S _interleaved Langbaine_ (of Mr. Reed's transcript of which a copy is in the possession of Mr. Heber) is re-echoed in almost every recent work connected with the belles-lettres of our country. Oldys himself was unrivalled in this method of illustration; if, exclusively of Langbaine, his copy of _Fuller's Worthies_ [once Mr. Steevens', now Mr. Malone's. See _Bibl. Steevens_, no. 1799] be alone considered! This Oldys was the oddest mortal that ever wrote. Grose, in his _Olio_, gives an amusing account of his having "a number of small parchment bags inscribed with the names of the persons whose lives he intended to write; into which he put every circumstance and anecdote he could collect, and from thence drew up his history." See Noble's _College of Arms_, p. 420. Thus far the first edition of this work; p. 64. It remains to add that, whatever were the singularities and capriciousness of Oldys, his talents were far beyond mediocrity; as his publication of the _Harleian Miscellany_, and _Raleigh's History of the World_, abundantly prove. To the latter, a life of Raleigh is prefixed; and the number of pithy, pleasant, and profitable notes subjoined shew that Oldys's bibliographical talents were not eclipsed by those of any contemporary. His _British Librarian_ has been more than once noticed in the preceding pages: vide p. 51: 468. There is a portrait of him, in a full-dressed suit and bag-wig, in one of the numbers of the European Magazine; which has the complete air of a fine gentleman. Let me just observe, in elucidation of what Lysander above means by this latter mode of illustrating copies, that in the Bodleian library there is a copy of _Kuster's edition of Suidas_ filled, from beginning to end, with MS. notes and excerpts of various kinds, by the famous D'Orville, tending to illustrate the ancient lexicographer.] LIS. Forgive me, if I digress a little. But is not the knowledge of _rare_, _curious_, and _beautiful Prints_--so necessary, it would seem, towards the perfecting of _illustrated copies_--is not this knowledge of long and difficult attainment? LYSAND. Unquestionably, this knowledge is very requisite towards becoming a complete pupil in the SCHOOL OF GRANGER.[436] Nor is it, as you very properly suppose, of short or easy acquirement. [Footnote 436: GRANGER'S _Biographical History of England_ was first published, I believe, in 1769, 4to., 2 vols. It has since undergone four impressions; the last being in 1804, 8vo., 4 vols. _A Continuation of the same_, by the Rev. MARK NOBLE, was published in 1807, 8vo., 3 vols.: so that if the lover of rare and curious prints get possession of these volumes, with AMES'S _Catalogue of English Heads_, 1748, 8vo.; and WALPOLE'S _Catalogue of Engravers_, 1775, 8vo.; BROMLEY'S _Catalogue of Engraved Portraits_, 1793, 4to.; together with Catalogues of English Portraits, being the collections of Mr. BARNARD, Sir W. MUSGRAVE, Mr. TYSSEN, Sir JAMES-WINTER LAKE; and many other similar catalogues put forth by Mr. RICHARDSON and Mr. GRAVE; he may be said to be in a fair way to become master of the whole arcana of PRINT-COLLECTING. But let him take heed to the severe warning-voice uttered by ROWE MORES, in his criticism upon the Catalogue of English Heads, published by Ames: 'This performance (says the splenetic and too prophetic critic) is not to be despised: judiciously executed, a work of this sort would be an appendage entertaining and useful to the readers of English biography; and it ought to be done at the common labour, expense, and charges of these _Iconoclasts_--because their depredations are a grand impediment to another who should attempt it: and if this _goût_ for prints and thieving continues, let private owners and public libraries look well to their books, for there will not remain a valuable book ungarbled by their connoisseuring villany: for neither honesty nor oaths restrain them. Yet these _fanciers_, if prints themselves are to be collected, instead of being injurious to every body, might make themselves serviceable to posterity, and become a kind of _medalists_ (who, by the bye, are almost as great thieves as themselves, though the hurt they do is not so extensive, as it lies chiefly among themselves, who all hold this doctrine, that "exchange is no robbery;" but, if they could filch without exchanging, no scruple of conscience would prevent them): we say they might render themselves useful to posterity, by gathering together the historical, political, satyrical, anecdotal and temporal pieces, with which the age abounds; adding an explanation of the intent and meaning for the instruction and amusement of times to come. The misfortune is, they must buy the one, but they can steal the other; and steal they will, although watched with the eyes of Argus: unless the valuables, like some other _jocalia_, are shewn to them through a grate; and even _then_, the keeper must be vigilant!' _Of English Founders and Foundries_; p. 85. This extract is curious on account of the tart, but just, sentiments which prevail in it; but, to the bibliomaniac, it is doubly curious, when he is informed that _only eighty copies_ of this Typographical Treatise (of 100 pages--including the Appendix) were printed. The author was a testy, but sagacious, bibliomaniac, and should have been introduced among his brethren in PART V. It is not, however, too late to subjoin the following: _Bibliotheca Moresiana. A Catalogue of the Large and Valuable Library of Printed Books, rare old tracts, Manuscripts, Prints, and Drawings, Copper Plates, sundry Antiquities, Philosophical Instruments, and other Curiosities, of that eminent British Antiquary_, the late Rev. and learned EDWARD ROWE MORES, F.A.S., deceased, &c. Sold by auction by Mr. Patterson, August 1779. This collection exhibited, like its owner, a strange mixture of what was curious, whimsical, and ingenious in human nature. There were 2838 lots of printed books. _The rare old black-letter books and tracts_, begin at p. 52.] ALMAN. How so? A very little care, with a tolerably good taste, is only required to know when a print is _well engraved_. LYSAND. Alas, Madam! the excellence of engraving is oftentimes but a _secondary_ consideration! BELIN. Do pray explain. LYSAND. I will, and as briefly and perspicuously as possible. There are, first, _all the varieties of the same print_[437] to be considered!--whether it have the _name of the character_, or _artist_, omitted or subjoined: whether the head of the print be without the body, or the body without the head--and whether this latter be finished, or in the outline, or ghostly white! Then you must go to _the dress_ of this supposed portrait:--whether full or plain; court or country-fashioned: whether it have a hat, or no hat; feather, or no feather; gloves, or no gloves; sword, or no sword; and many other such momentous points. [Footnote 437: The reader, by means of the preceding note, having been put in possession of some of the principal works from which information, relating to PRINT-COLLECTING may be successfully gleaned, it remains for me--who have been described as sitting in a corner to compile notes for Lysander's text-discourse--to add something by way of illustration to the above sweeping satire. One or the other of the points touched upon in the text will be found here more particularly elucidated. CATALOGUE OF BARNARD'S PRINTS; 1798, 8vo. 7th Day's Sale. NO. 47. Sir Thos. Isham de Lamport, by Loggan and Valck; _before the names of the artists, very fine_. £5 5_s._ 0_d._ 68. King Charles I. on horseback, with the page, by Lombard; _very fine and scarce_. 1 14 0 69. The same plate; _with Cromwell's head substituted for the King's--variation in the drapery_. 3 6 0 70. The same: a curious proof--_the face blank and no inscription at bottom--drapery of the page different_--and other variations. 1 2 0 90. Catharine, queen of K. Charles II.; _in the dress in which she arrived: very scarce_. By Faithorne. 4 16 0 97. Queen Elizabeth; habited in the superb court dress in which she went to St. Paul's to return thanks for the defeat of the Spanish Armada--by Passe; from a painting of Isaac Oliver. 6 12 6 [I have known from 14_l._ to 20_l._ given for a fine impression of this curious print: but I am as well pleased with Mr. Turner's recently published, and admirably executed, facsimile mezzotint engraving of it; a proof of which costs 1_l._ 1_s._ Every member of the two Houses--and every land and sea Captain--ought to hang up this print in his sitting-room.] Eighth day's Sale. 6. Esther before Ahasuerus: engraved by Hollar; _first impression; with the portraits at top; curious and extremely rare_. 16 0 0 199. Jo. Banfi Hunniades; _proof; very fine and rare_. By the same. 2 7 0 200. The same print, _with variations_. By the same. 3 15 0 202. The Stone-eater; _with his history below_. By the same. _Very rare._ 4 4 0 248. Sir Thomas Chaloner; by the same. _A proof impression. One of the scarcest prints in existence._ 59 17 0 [A similar print has been since sold for 74_l._; which is in the collection of Mr. John Townley; whose HOLLARS are unrivalled!] 256. Herbert, Earl of Pembroke; _before the alteration_. By the same. 2 10 0 257. Devereux, Earl of Essex; _on horseback_. By the same. 4 5 0 258. Devereux, Earl of Essex: _standing on foot; whole length_. By the same. 4 4 0 259. Algernon, Earl of Northumberland; _on horseback_. By the same. 14 0 0 266. Lady Elizabeth Shirley; _an unfinished proof, the chaplet round her head being only traced; curious and extremely rare_. By the same. 10 10 0 267. _A reverse of the proof; very fine_. By the same. 5 5 0 CATALOGUE OF SIR WILLIAM MUSGRAVE'S PRINTS. Third Day's Sale. 29. George, Earl of Berkeley; oval, _in his robes_, 1679; _extra fie [Transcriber's Note: fine] and rare_. 10 5 0 45. George, Duke of Buckingham; oval; _cloak over his left arm, hand on sword, nine lines expressive of his titles, &c._ Sold by P. Stent: _fine and extra rare_. 4 12 0 109. George, Earl of Cumberland; _whole length, dressed for a tournament_. By R. White. 11 0 0 Fifth Day's Sale. 94. The Newcastle Family, in a room, after Diepenbeke, by Clowet; _a beautiful proof, before the verses, extra rare_. 39 18 0 [There is a very indifferent copy of this print. The original may be seen in the collection of the Marquis of Stafford and Sir M.M. Sykes, Bart. Nothing can exceed the tenderness and delicacy of Clowet's engraving of this naturally conceived and well-managed picture.] Tenth Day's Sale. 82. Richard Smith; virtuoso and literary character. By W. Sherwin; _extra rare and fine_. [See my account of this distinguished bibliomaniac at p. 302, ante. Sir M.M. Sykes is in possession of Sir William Musgrave's copy of the portrait.] 7 17 0 Eleventh Day's Sale. 30. Sir Francis Willoughby; _with a view of Wollaton Hall_; mezzotint by T. Man, _extra rare_. 13 2 6 43. Sir Francis Wortley; 1652, folio: with trophies, books, &c., by A. Hertochs: extra rare and fine. 29 10 0 Eighteenth Day's Sale. 78. Dr. Francis Bernard; _a touched proof_; _very rare_. [The reader may recollect this sagacious bibliomaniac, as noticed at page 316, ante.] 4 14 6 Twentieth Day's Sale. 85. Sir Matthew Lister; M.D. 1646; by P. Van Somer; _fine proof, extra rare_. 14 14 0 86. Humphrey Lloyd, of Denbigh, Antiquary, ætat. 34, 1651. By Faber, 1717, _extra rare and fine_. 4 7 0 Twenty-first Day's Sale. 9. Sir John Marsham; ætat. 80. By R. White, _extra rare and fine_. 6 6 0 19. Martin Master; ætat. 53. 1607. By R. Gaywood, _extra_ rare _and_ fine. 8 8 0 Twenty-seventh Day's Sale. 80. Lady Paston, wife of Sir William Paston, by W. Faithorne; _extra rare and fine_. 31 0 0 82. Mary, Countess of Pembroke, by Simon Passe, 1618. _Fine and rare._ 10 0 0 83. Penelope, Countess of Pembroke, in an oval, by W. Hollar. _Rare._ 3 6 0 84. Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, by R. White: _extra_ rare _and_ fine. 7 17 6 [The prints at this sale--the catalogue containing 323 pages--were sold for 4987_l._ 17_s._] MISCELLANEOUS CATALOGUES OF PRINTS. First Day's Sale. 58. Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector, in a square. "This portrait was etched by Hollar, but he was afraid to put his name to it; and the plate was destroyed as soon as Richard resigned his pretensions to the Protectorship." Note by Mr. Hillier. _Very rare._ 1 10 0 61. Lord Digby, in armour; after Vander Borcht. _Extra_ rare _and_ fine. 9 9 0 64. Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, _standing, whole length: army in the distance_, 1644, _fine and rare_. 5 5 0 65. The same, on horseback: under the horse a map of England; 1643: _first state of the plate; extra fine and rare_. 9 0 0 73. Hollar's own portrait, in an oval, ætat. 40, 1647: _with variations in the arms_. 3 3 0 Sixth Day's Sale. 53. Sir William Paston, 1659: esteemed Faithorne's finest portrait: _extra rare_. 10 15 0 56. Carew Reynell, from the Fothergill collection: _extra_ fine _and_ rare. 16 5 6 62. Prince Rupert, in armour, _right hand on the breast_: after Vandyck. Sold by Robert Peake. _Extra_ fine _and_ rare. 9 0 0 Thirteenth Day's Sale. 54. King and Queen of Bohemia, and five children, by Wm. Passe, with thirty-two Englishes [qu?]; 1621: _extra fine and rare_, The same plate; _with the addition of five children; the youngest in a cradle_. 4 11 0 55. The same, sitting under a tree; with four children; the youngest playing with a rabbit: fine _and_ rare. 6 6 0 92. James, Duke of York: _with the anchor, proof_; very fine and rare. (16th day's sale.) 5 2 6 72. Sir Francis Winderbank and Lord Finch; _with Finch's wings flying to Winderbank_; extra rare. (19th day.) 25 0 0 _A Catalogue of a genuine and valuable Collection of English and Foreign Portraits, &c., sold by Auction by Mr. Richardson, February_ 18, 1798. 1ST DAY'S SALE. 34. Princess Augusta Maria, daughter of Charles I. _in hat and feather_, ætat. 15, 1646: by Henry Danckers, 1640. _Fine and rare._ 3 3 0 57. Anne, Queen of James I. with her daughter Anne; _curiously dressed, whole length_. By J. Visscher: _extra_ fine _and_ rare. 6 0 0 41. Mary, Queen of Scotts: "Scotorumque nunc Regina"--_in an oval: cap adorned with jewels, feather-fan in her hand_, &c. By Peter Mynginus: _extra_ fine _and_ rare. 6 12 0 53. Prince Frederick, Count Palatine, with Princess Elizabeth, _whole length, superbly dressed_: By R. Elstracke: _extra_ fine _and_ rare. 14 0 0 74. Henry the Eighth, _with hat and feather, large fur tippet_: by C. M(atsis); _very_ fine, _and supposed unique_. 10 10 0 79. Mary, Queen of Scots: _veil'd cross at her breast: ætat._ 44, 1583: _extra_ fine _and_ rare. 9 2 6 80. Queen Elizabeth; _superbly dressed, between two pillars: extra_ fine _and_ rare. 15 15 0 _A Catalogue of a valuable and genuine Collection of Prints, Drawings, and elegantly illustrated Books, &c., sold by auction by Mr. Richardson; March_, 1800. 143. Henry, Lord Darnley, by Passe; fine _and very_ rare. 16 0 0 186. Sir Philip Sidney, by Elstracke; _extremely_ fine. 3 1 0 263. Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, by ditto, _extra_ fine _and_ rare. 13 0 0 264. Edward Somerset, Earl of Worcester, by Simon Passe: rare _and_ fine. 7 15 0 265. Henry Vere, Earl of Oxford, sold by Compton Holland; _very_ rare _and_ fine. 9 0 0 273. Henry Wriothesly, Earl of Southampton, by Simon Passe; _most brilliant impression, extra rare_. 13 5 0 278. Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, by the same; _rare and very fine_. 5 0 0 279. Richard Sackville, Earl of Dorset, by the same; _extra fine and rare_--(with a copy by Thane). 3 0 0 280. John Digby, Earl of Bristol; rare and fine: from the Fothergill Collection. 13 0 0 281. Robert Sidney, Viscount Lisle, by Simon Passe; _rare and very fine_. 5 2 6 284. Edmund, Baron Sheffield: by Elstracke; _very fine_. 14 10 0 286. James, Lord Hay, by Simon Passe; _brilliant impression_, fine _and_ rare. 9 0 0 294. George Mountaine, Bishop of London; G.Y. sculpsit; _very fine and rare_. 5 10 0 330. Sir Julius Cæsar, by Elstracke; _extra_ fine _and_ rare. 23 12 6 335. Arthurus Severus Nonesuch O'Toole, by Delaram; _most brilliant impression, and very rare_ (with the copy). 11 11 0 367. Sir John Wynn de Gwedir, by Vaughan; _very rare_. 6 6 0 472. Prince Frederic Henry, by Delaram: _very_ fine _and_ rare. 5 7 6 479. Prince Rupert, by Faithorne; _very_ fine _and_ rare. 7 5 0 567. Sir John Hotham, Governor of Hull; _whole length; extremely_ rare _and_ fine. 43 1 0 812. Edward Mascall, by Gammon. 7 3 0 946. Edward Wetenhall, Bishop of Corke and Ross; mezzotint, by Becket; _fine_. 5 0 0 960. Andrew Lortie, by Van Somer. 13 5 0 979. Thomas Cole, large mezzotint. 4 10 0 997. Sir William Portman, mezzotint. 7 10 0 1001. Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury, by Blooteling; _exceeding_ fine _impression_. 6 0 0 1013. Sir Patrick Lyon, of Carse, by White. 5 5 0 1033. Sir Greville Verney, by Loggan. 5 10 0 1045. Marmaduke Rawdon, by White; fine. 14 0 0 1048. Slingsby Bethel, _whole length_, by W. Sherwin (with small copy). 17 5 0 1054. Samuel Malines, by Lombart; very fine. 12 0 0 1057. Thomas Killegrew, _as sitting with the dog_: by Faithorne. 16 0 0 _A Catalogue of a very choice assemblage of ENGLISH PORTRAITS, and of Foreigners who have visited England: serving to illustrate GRANGER'S BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY; the property of an eminent Collector_, &c., Sold by auction, by Messrs. King and Lochée, April, 1810. But it is time to pause. The present note may have completely served to shew, not only that Lysander was right in drawing such bold conclusions respecting the consequences resulting from the publication of Granger's Biographical History, and the capriciousness of print-fanciers respecting impressions _in their various stages_, and with _all their varieties_,--but, that the pursuit of PRINT-COLLECTING is both costly and endless. For one 'fine and rare' _print_, by Hollar, Faithorne, Elstracke, the Passes, Delaram, or White, how many truly precious and useful _volumes_ may be collected? "All this is vastly fine reasoning"--methinks I hear a Grangerite exclaim--"but compare the comfort afforded by your 'precious and useful volumes' with that arising from the contemplation of eminent and extraordinary characters, executed by the _burin_ of some of those graphic heroes before-mentioned--and how despicable will the dry unadorned volume appear!! On a dull, or rainy day, look at an illustrated Shakespeare, or Hume, and then find it in your heart, if you can, to depreciate the GRANGERIAN PASSION!!" I answer, the Grangerite is madder than the Bibliomaniac:--and so let the matter rest.] Next let us discuss the serious subject of the _background_!--whether it be square or oval; dark or light; put in or put out; stippled or stroked; and sundry other similar, but most important, considerations. Again; there are engravings of _different sizes_, and _at different periods_, of the same individual, or object: and of these, the varieties are as infinite as of any of those attached to the vegetable system. I will not attempt even an outline of them. But I had nearly forgotten to warn you, in your REMBRANDT _Prints_, to look sharply after _the Burr_! ALMAN. Mercy on us--what is this _Burr_?! LYSAND. A slight imperfection only; which, as it rarely occurs, makes the impression more valuable. It is only a sombre tinge attached to the copper, before the plate is sufficiently polished by being worked; and it gives a smeared effect, like smut upon a lady's face, to the impression! But I am becoming satirical. Which is the next symptom that you have written down for me to discourse upon? LIS. I am quite attentive to this delineation of a _Print Connoisseur_; and will not fail to mark _all the_ REMBRANDT[438] _varieties_, and take heed to the _Burr_! [Footnote 438: All the book and print world have heard of DAULBY'S _Descriptive Catalogue of the works of Rembrandt_, &c. Liverpool, 1796, 8vo. The author's collection of Rembrandt's prints (according to a MS. note prefixed to my copy of it, which is upon _large paper_ in 4to.--of which _only fifty_ impressions were struck off) was sold at Liverpool, in 1799, in one lot; and purchased by Messrs. Colnaghi, Manson, and Vernon, for 610_l._ It was sold in 1800, in separate lots, for 650_l._, exclusively of every expense; after the purchasers had been offered 800_l._ for the same. Some of these prints came into the possession of the late Mr. Woodhouse (vide p. 441, ante); and it is from the Catalogue of _his_ Collection of prints that I present the reader with the following REMBRANDTIANA; beseeching him to take due heed to what Lysander has above alluded to by _all the Varieties and the Burr_! Lot 5 Daulby 30. Abraham entertaining the three angels; _very_ fine, _with the burr, on India paper_. £2 18_s._ 0_d._ 10 43. The Angel appearing to the Shepherds; _very fine, presque unique_. 6 0 0 14 56. The flight into Egypt, in the style of Elsheimer; _on India paper, the 1st impression, extremely rare_. 4 16 0 22 75. The Hundred Guilder Piece. This impression on India paper, _with the burr_, is acknowledged by the greatest connoisseurs in this kingdom to be the most brilliant extant. 42 0 0 23 75. Ditto, restored plate, by Capt. Baillie, _likewise on India paper, and very fine_. 2 12 6 25 77. The Good Samaritan; _the 1st impression with the white tail_, most beautifully finished, with a light point, and fine hand; very fine and rare. 6 6 0 27 79. Our Lord before Pilate, _second impression on India paper_, fine _and_ scarce. 5 15 6 28 79. Same subject, third impression, _with the mask, extremely rare_: from the collection of the Burgomaster Six. 4 4 0 30 84. The Descent from the Cross. This print is beautifully executed, the composition is grand, and the head full of character; _1st and most brilliant impression_. 15 15 0 39 117. The Rat-killer; _a most beautiful impression_. 3 3 0 42 126. The Marriage of Jason and Creusa; _a 1st impression, without the crown_, on India paper, very brilliant. 4 10 0 45 152. The Hog; a remarkably fine impression, from Houbraken's collection: _scarce_. 1 14 0 46 154. The Shell. This piece is finely executed, and this impression, _with the white ground, may be regarded as presque unique_. 9 10 0 47 178. Ledikant, or French Bed. _This is the entire plate, and is a very great rarity._ 4 14 6 56 194. The Woman with the Arrow: _very scarce_. 2 15 0 61 204. The Three Trees; _as fine as possible_. 6 10 0 63 209. A Village near a high road, arched: _1st impression on India paper, before the cross hatchings_: scarce. 4 14 6 67 213. A landscape of an irregular form; _1st impression, with the burr, very scarce_. 5 0 0 82 232. Blement de Jonge; _1st impression, the upper bar of the chair is left white, extremely rare_. 2 7 0 83 252. Ditto, _second impression_, very _scarce_. 1 7 0 84 252. Ditto, third impression, _very_ fine. 2 10 0 85 253. Abraham France, _with the curtain, on India paper_. 5 5 0 86 353. [Transcriber's Note: 253.] Ditto: _with the chair_. 3 18 0 87 254. Ditto; _with the figures on the paper which he holds in his wands_. All these impressions are rare and fine. 5 10 0 88 254. Old Haaring or Haring, the Burgo-master; _beautiful impression on India paper, with the burr, extremely rare_. 7 7 0 89 255. Young Haaring, beautiful impression from Houbraken's collection; _scarce_. 6 6 0 90 256. John Lutma; _1st impression before the window_, &c. _extremely rare_. 4 10 3 93 257. John Aselyn; _1st impression, with the easel, extremely rare_. 9 2 0 97 259. Wtenbogardus, the Dutch Minister; a most beautiful and brilliant impression, oval, on a square plate; _proof, before the pillar, arch, verses, or any inscription: presque unique_. 9 19 6 99 261. The Gold Weigher; _1st impression, with_ THE FACE BLANK, _extremely rare_. 10 10 0 100 261. Ditto; _a most beautiful and brilliant impression; and esteemed the_ finest _extant_. From the collection of Capt. Baillie. 21 0 0 101 262. The Little Coppenol, with the picture; _the second and rarest impression, generally esteemed the 1st_; from the Earl of Bute's collection. 7 7 0 102 262. Ditto; without the picture, very fine. 1 13 0 103 263. The great Coppenol, remarkably fine. 4 14 6 104 265. The Advocate Tol; _a superb impression, extremely rare with the copy_. 54 12 0 145 265. The Burgo-master Six; _a most extraordinary impression, the name and age of the Burgo-master are wanting, and the two middle figures in the date are reversed: a very great rarity_. 36 15 0 Perhaps the finest collection of REMBRANDT'S PRINTS, in great Britain, is that in the possession of Lord Viscount Fitzwilliam, at Richmond; a nobleman of extremely retired habits, and equally distinguished for his taste, candour, and erudition. His Paintings and Books are of the very first class.] LYSAND. Do so; and attend the shops of Mr. Richardson, Mr. Woodburn, and Mr. Grave, and you may soon have a chance of gratifying your appetite in these strange particulars. But beware of a HOGARTH rage! LIS. Is that so formidable? LYSAND. The longest life were hardly able to make the collection of Hogarth's prints complete! The late Mr. Ireland has been the Linnæus to whom we are indebted for the most minute and amusing classification of the almost innumerable varieties of the impressions of Hogarth's plates.[439] [Footnote 439: The Marquis of Bute has, I believe, the most extraordinary and complete collection of HOGARTH'S PRINTS that is known. Of the _Election Dinner_ there are six or seven varieties; gloves, and no gloves; hats, from one to the usual number; lemon, and no lemon; punch bowl, and no punch bowl. But of these _varying_ prints, the most curious is the one known by the name of _Evening_: with a little boy and girl, crying, in the back-ground. At first, Hogarth did _not_ paint _the girl_, and struck off very few impressions of the plate in this state of the picture. A friend observing to him that the boy was crying with no apparent cause of provocation, Hogarth put in the little girl tantalizing him. But--happy he! who has the print of the 'Evening' _without_ the little girl: fifteen golden guineas (rare things now to meet with!) ought not to induce him to part with it. Of the copper-plate portraits by Hogarth, the original of '_Sarah Malcolm, executed_ 1732,' is among the very rarest; a copy of this selling for 7_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._ at Barnard's sale. The reader has only to procure that most interesting of all illustrative works, _Hogarth Illustrated by John Ireland_, 1793, (2d edit.) 3 vols., 8vo.; and, for a comparatively trifling sum, he may be initiated into all the mysteries of Hogarthian _virtû_. The late Right Hon. W. Wyndham's collection of Hogarth's prints, bequeathed to him by Mr. George Steevens, was _bought in_ for little more than 300 guineas.] LIS. I will stick to Rembrandt and leave Hogarth at rest. But surely, this rage for _Portrait Collecting_ cannot be of long duration. It seems too preposterous for men of sober sense and matured judgment to yield to. LYSAND. So think _you_--who are no Collector! But had you accompanied me to Mr. Christie's on Friday[440] last, you would have had convincing evidence to the contrary. A little folio volume, filled with one hundred and fifty-two prints, produced-- [Footnote 440: If the reader casts his eye upon pages 505-6 he will find that the ardour of print and portrait collecting has not abated since the time of Sir W. Musgrave. As a corroboration of the truth of Lysander's remark, I subjoin a specimen (being only four articles) of the present rage for 'curious and rare' productions of the _burin_--as the aforesaid Grangerite (p. 507) terms it. NO. 54. The Right Honourable and truly generous Henry Veere, Earl of Oxford, Viscount Bulbeck, &c. Lord High Chamberlain of England. J. Payne sculp. With a large hat and feather, small, in a border with many figures. Will. Passo, sculp. Tho. Jenner exc. On distinct plates. _The most brilliant impression of a print of the greatest rarity._ £30 9_s._ 0_d._ 63. Generall (Edward) Cecyll son to the Right Honourable the Earle of Exeter, &c. In an oval; in armour. Simmon Passæs, sculp. Anno 1618. Sould in Pope's Head Alley, also by John Sudbury and George Humble. _Most brilliant impression of a print of the greatest rarity._ 34 2 6 90. The true Portraicture of Richard Whitington, thrise Lord Mayor of London, a vertuous and godly man, full of good workes (and those famous) &c. R. Elstracke sculp. Are to be sold by Compton Holland over against the Exchange: _First impression with the hand on a skull. Extra fine and rare._ 10 10 0 152. Mull'd Sack; a fantastic and humourous Chimney-Sweeper, so called: with cap, feather, and lace band: cloak tuck'd up; coat ragged; scarf on his arm; left leg in a fashionable boot, with a spur; on his right foot a shoe with a rose; sword by his side, and a holly bush and pole on his shoulder; in his left hand, another pole with a horn on it; a pipe, out of which issues smoke, is in his right hand; at the bottom are eight verses (as given in Granger, vol. ii., p. 61). Are to be sold by Compton Holland over against the Exchange, with further manuscript account by a provost of Eton. _Considered Unique_ [but not so]. 42 10 6] LIS. Perhaps, Three Hundred Guineas? LYSAND. Just double the sum, I believe. LIS. O rare JAMES GRANGER--thy immortality is secured! But we forget our symptoms of the Bibliomania. BELIN. As I am the examiner, I here demand of you, Sir, what may be the meaning of the _fourth symptom_ of the bibliomaniacal disease, which you call UNIQUE COPIES? LYSAND. A passion for a book of which only one copy was printed, or which has any peculiarity about it[441] by either, or both, of the foregoing methods of illustration--or which is remarkable for its size, beauty, and condition--or has any embellishment, rare, precious and invaluable--which the researches of the most sedulous bibliomaniac, for three and thirty long years, would not be able to produce--is indicative of a rage for _unique copies_; and is unquestionably a strong prevailing symptom of the Bibliomania. Let me therefore urge every sober and cautious collector not to be fascinated by the terms "_Curious and rare_;" which 'in slim italics' (to copy Dr. Ferriar's happy expression[442]) are studiously introduced into Booksellers' catalogues to lead the unwary astray. Such a Collector may fancy himself proof against the temptation; and will, in consequence, call _only to look at_ this unique book, or set of books; but--led away by the passion which inflamed BERRYER and CAILLARD[443]--when he views the morocco binding, silk water-tabby lining, blazing gilt edges; when he turns over the white and unspotted leaves; gazes on the amplitude of margin; on a rare and lovely print introduced; and is charmed with the soft and coaxing manner in which, by the skill of Herring, Mackinlay, Rodwell, Lewis, or Faulkener, "leaf succeeds to leaf"--he can no longer bear up against the temptation; and, confessing himself vanquished, purchases, and retreats--exclaiming with Virgil's shepherd---- Ut vidi, ut perii--ut me malus abstulit error! [Footnote 441: Let us again quote a stanza from the 'Aspirant:' FOURTH MAXIM. Who in _all_ copies finds delight-- The wrong not scenting from the right-- And, with a choiceless appetite, Just comes to _feed_, ... like Soph, or Templar, Out on his iron stomach!--_we_ Have rarities we merely _see_, Nor taste our Phoenix though it be ... Serv'd up in the "UNIQUE EXEMPLAR," _Bibliosophia_, p. v. One of the most curious proofs of the seductive popularity of unique copies may be drawn from the following excerpt from a catalogue of a Library sold at Utrecht in 1776; which was furnished me by Mr. H. Ellis from a copy of the catalogue in the possession of Mr. Cayley of the Augmentation Office. NO. 6870. Les Avantures de Telemaque, 8o. Rotterd. _av. fig. en cart._ 'Cet exemplaire est tout _barbouillé_. Mais il est _de la main de la jeune Princesse Wilhelmine Auguste de Saxe-Weimar, qui y a appris le François en_ 1701!!!' I will mention a unique copy of a somewhat different cast of character. Of the magnificent and matchless edition of Shakspeare, printed by Mr. Bulmer and published by Mr. Nicols, between the years 1790 and 1805, there were one hundred copies, of the first six plays only, struck off upon imperial folio, or _Colombier paper_; in which the large engravings, published at the Shakspeare Gallery (now the British Institution) might be incorporated and bound up. The late George Steevens undertook the revision of the text, intending to complete the entire plays in a similar form; but the trouble and expense attending this part of the undertaking were so great that the further prosecution of it was abandoned. Mr. Bulmer preserved the whole of the proof-sheets of this partial Colombier impression; and to form a '_unique_ edition' (these are his own words) he bound them up in the exact order in which the plays were printed. On the margins of many of the sheets, besides the various corrections, emendations, and notes to the printer, by Mr. Steevens, there are some original sonnets, a scene for a burlesque tragedy, and other happy effusions from the pen of the same elegant and learned editor. Need I ask the reader, whether he would have the _barbouillé_ (unique) copy of Telemaque of the young Princesse Wilhelmine Auguste de Saxe-Weimar (like the Vicar of Wakefield, I like to give the full name) or Mr. Bulmer's similar copy of Shakspeare? The difference would soon be found in King Street or the Strand! I must mention one more example--of a nature different from both the preceding--of what Lysander has above, elaborately, and perhaps, a little confusedly, described as unique copies. It is Colonel Stanley's copy of _De Bry_ (see a superb one before noticed) which is bound in seven folio volumes, in blue morocco, by Padaloup, and is considered superior to every known copy. It contains all the maps and prints, with their variations, according to the _Bibliographie Instructive_, no. 4230, _Cat. de Paris de Meyzieu_, 1790; no. 486, _Cat. de Santander_, no. 3690; and _Camus sur les Collections des Grands et Petits Voyages_, 1802, 4to.: with both editions of the first nine parts of the West Indies, and duplicates of parts x. and xi. It has also a considerable number of duplicate plates, where a superior impression could be procured at any expense. The owner of this unique copy, of a work unrivalled for its utility and elegance, is distinguished for a noble collection, bound by our choicest binders, in whatever is splendid and precious in the Belles Lettres, Voyages, and Travels. Take two more illustrations, kind-hearted reader!----_Goldsmith's Deserted Village_, 1802. Mr. Bulmer printed a single copy of this beautiful poem, in quarto, UPON SATIN--picked and prepared in a very curious manner. It was purchased by a foreigner. His impressions UPON VELLUM are noticed, post.----_Falconer's Shipwreck_, 1804, 8vo. Mr. Miller caused _two_ copies only (is [Transcriber's Note: it] is _almost_ unique!) of this beautiful edition, printed by Bensley, to be struck off UPON SATIN, in imperial 8vo. One of these copies now remains with him for sale.] [Footnote 442: The passage, above alluded to, is as follows: At ev'ry auction, bent on fresh supplies, He cons his catalogue with anxious eyes: Where'er the slim Italics mark the page, _Curious and rare_ his ardent mind engage. _The Bibliomania_; v. 54.] [Footnote 443: A slight mention of Mons. Berryer, the father-in-law of Lamoignon, is made at p. 84, ante. The reader is here presented with a more finished portrait of this extraordinary bibliomaniac: a portrait, which will excite his unbounded admiration, if not envy!--for such a careful and voluptuous collector, in regard to _binding_, was, I believe, never before known; nor has he been since eclipsed. 'M. Berryer, successivement Secrétaire d'Etat au Département de la Marìne, Ministre, puis Garde des Sceaux de France, s'étoit occupé pendant près de quarante années à se former un cabinet des plus beaux livres grecs et latins, anciennes éditions, soit de France, soit des pays étrangers, &c. Par un soin et une patience infatigables, à l'aide de plusieurs coopérateurs éclairés, savans même en Bibliographie, qui connoissoient ses études, délassement de ses places, il avoit recueilli les plus belles éditions; de telle sorte qu'il a toujours su se procurer un exemplaire parfait de chaque édition par un moyen simple quoique dispendieux. Si les Catalogues des ventes publiques lui apprenoient qu'il existoit un exemplaire _plus beau, plus grand de marge, mieux conservé_, de tout auteur, &c., que celui qu'il possédoit, il le fasoit acquérir sans s'embarrasser du prix, et il se défaisoit à perte de l'exemplaire moins beau. La majeure partie des auteurs anciens et modernes de son cabinet a été changée huit ou dix fois de cette manière. Il ne _s'arrêtoit_ qu'après s'être assuré qu'il avoit _le plus bel exemplaire connu_, soit pour la marge, soit pour la force du papier, soit pour la magnificence de la conservation et _de la relieure_.' 'A l'égard des ouvrages d'editions modernes, même celles faites en pays étranger, M. Berryer vouloit les avoir en feuilles: il en faisoit choisir, dans plusieurs exemplaires, un parfait, et il le faisoit relier _en maroquin de choix_; le Ministere de la Marìne qu'il avoit rempli, lui ayant donné toutes les facilités d'en être abondamment et fidèlement pourvu dans toutes les Echelles du Levant. On collationnoit ensuite pour vérifier s' il n'y avoit ni transposition, ni omission de feuilles ou de pages?!!' _Cat. M. Lamoignon_, 1791. pref. p. ij. iij. Berryer was slightly copied by Caillard (of whom see p. 76, ante) in the luxury of _book-binding_. 'M. Caillard avoit le soin _de faire satiner_ presque tous livres qu'il faisoit relier, et principalement les grands ouvrages; qu'il est difficile d'avoir parfaitement reliés sans ce precedé.' _Cat. de Caillard_; p. x. (avertisement.) But I know not whether Caillard did not catch the phrensy from the elder Mirabeau. In the catalogue of his books, p. II., we are thus told of him:--'l'acquisition d'un _beau livre_ lui causoit des transports de joie inexprimables: il l'examinoit, l'admiriot [Transcriber's Note: l'admiroit]: il vouloit que chacun partagêat avec lui le même enthousiasme.' His biographer properly adds: 'De quelle surprise n'auroit-on pas été, si l'on eût su que c'etoit la le même homme qui, du haut de la tribune, faisoit trembler les despotes et les factieux!' Ponder here, gentle reader, upon the effects of a _beautiful_ book! Let no one, however, imagine that we _grave Englishmen_ are averse or indifferent to 'le luxe de la relieure'!! No: at this present moment, we have the best bookbinders in Europe; nor do we want good authority for the encouragement of this fascinating department relating to the Bibliomania. Read here what Mr. Roscoe hath so eloquently written in commendation of it: 'A taste for the exterior decoration of books has lately arisen in this country, in the gratification of which no small share of ingenuity has been displayed; but if we are to judge of the present predilection for learning by the degree of expense thus incurred, we must consider it as greatly inferior to that of the Romans during the times of the first Emperors, or of the Italians at the 15th century. And yet it is, perhaps, difficult to discover why a FAVOURITE BOOK should not be as proper an object of elegant ornament as the head of a cane, the hilt of a sword, or the latchet of a shoe.' _Lorenzo de Medici_; vol. ii., 79, 8vo. edition. Did Geyler allude to such bibliomaniacs in the following sentence? Sunt qui libros inaurant et serica tegimenta apponunt preciosa et superba. Grandis hæc fatuitas! _Navicula, sive Speculum Fatuorum_; (Navis Stultifera) _sign. B. v. rev._] BELIN. For the benefit--not of the 'Country Gentlemen,' but--of the 'Country Ladies,' do pray translate these Latin words. We are always interested about the pastoral life. LIS. It only means, Belinda, that this said shepherd was blockhead enough to keep gazing upon his beloved fair, although every glance shot him through the heart, and killed him a hundred times. Still he caressed the cause of his ruin. And so bibliomaniacs hug the very volumes of which they oftentimes know they cannot afford the purchase money! I have not forgotten your account of Dr. Dee:[444] but the ladies were then absent. [Footnote 444: See p. 262, ante.] BELIN. Well, let us now go on to the explanation of the _fifth symptom_ of the Bibliomania; which you have called, Copies PRINTED UPON VELLUM! LYSAND. A desire for books printed in this manner[445] is an equally strong and general symptom of the Biblomania; but, as these works are rarely to be obtained of modern date, the collector is obliged to have recourse to specimens executed, three centuries ago, in the printing offices of Aldus, Verard, or the Giunti. Although the _Bibliotheque Imperiale_, at Paris, and the library of Count M'Carthy, at Toulouse, are said to contain the greatest number of books, printed upon vellum, yet, those who have been fortunate enough to see copies of this kind in the libraries of his Majesty, the Duke of Marlborough, Earl Spencer, Mr. Johnes, and the late Mr. Cracherode (which latter is now in the British Museum) need not travel on the Continent for the sake of being convinced of their exquisite beauty and splendour. An _unique_ copy of the first Livy, upon vellum, (of which the owner has excited the envy of foreigners) is a library of itself!--and the existence of vellum copies of Wynkyn De Worde's reprint of _Juliana Barnes's Book of Hawking, &c._, complete in every respect, (to say nothing of his Majesty's similar copy of Caxton's _Doctrinal of Sapience_, in the finest preservation) are sufficient demonstrations of the prevalance of this symptoms of the Bibliomania in the times of our forefathers; so that it cannot be said, as some have asserted, to have appeared entirely within the last half century. [Footnote 445: William Horman, who was head master of Eton school at the opening of the sixteenth century, was, I apprehend, the earliest writer in this country who propagated those symptoms of the Bibliomania indicative of a passion for _large paper_ and _vellum_ copies; for thus writes the said Horman, in his _Vulgaria_, printed by Pynson, in folio, 1519: a book, curious and interesting upon every account. 'The greatest and highest of price, is _paper imperial_. (Herbert, vol i., p. 265.) _Parchment leaves_ be wont to be ruled, that there may be a _comely margent_: also, strait lines of equal distance be draw[en] within, that the writing may shew fair,' _fol._ 82. From these two sentences (without quoting Horman's praise of the presses of Froben and Aldus; fol. 87) I think it may be fairly inferred that a love of _large paper_ and _vellum_ copies was beginning to display itself in the period just mentioned. That this love or passion is now eagerly and generally evinced, I shall proceed to give abundant proof; but first let me not forget our bibliomaniacal satirist: FIFTH MAXIM. Who blindly take the book display'd By pettifoggers in the trade. Nor ask of what the leaf was made, That _seems like paper_--I can tell 'em, That though 'tis possible to squint Through any page with letters in't, No copy, though an angel print, Reads elegantly--but "on VELLUM." _Bibliosophia_, p. VI. I proceed to give evidence of the present passion which prevails, respecting books of the description of which we are now speaking, by extracting a few articles from the library of which such honourable mention was made at p. 448-9, ante. They are all WORKS PRINTED UPON VELLUM. NO. 241. Epistolæ Beati Jeronimi. Impressio Moguntinæ facta per Virum famatum in hæc arte Petrum Schoiffer de Gernsheym, 2 vols., 1470. _A fine specimen of a grand book, superbly bound in blue turkey._ Folio. £28 _s._7 0_d._ 242. Sexti Decretalium Opus præclarum Bonifacii VII., Pont. Max. In Nobili Urbe Moguncia non Atramento è plumali ereâque Pennâ Cannâve per Petrum Schoiffer de Gernsheym consummatum. A.D. 1476. _A most beautiful work, superbly bound in blue turkey._ 19 19 0 253. [Transcriber's Note: 243.] Constitutiones Clementis Papæ Quinti, unà cum apparatu Domini Joannis Andreæ. Venetiis impress. Ere atque Industriâ Nicolai Jenson Gallici, 1476. _A most beautiful specimen of clean vellum, with a fine illumination, bound in purple velvet._ Folio. 21 10 0 244. Leonora, from the German of Burgher, by Mr. Spencer, with the designs of Lady Diana Beauclerc, 1796. Folio. 25 4 0 _A beautiful unique copy, with the plates worked on satin, superbly bound in blue turkey._ 245. Dryden's Fables, with engravings from the pencil of Lady Beauclerc. _A beautiful unique copy, splendidly bound in morocco, with the plates worked on satin._ 34 13 0 246. Missale Monasticum secundum Ritum et consuetudinem Ordinis Gallæ Umbrosæ. Venetiis, per Ant. de Giunta Florentinum, 1503. _A most beautiful copy of a very rare book, with plates and illuminations, bound in morocco._ Folio. 13 3 6 247. Postilla super Libros N. Testamenti Fratris Nicolai de Lyra. Venet. per Joan. de Colonia et Nic. Jenson, 1481. _A fine specimen of beautiful vellum, with illuminations, bound in blue turkey._ Folio. 17 17 0 248. The German Bible, by Martin Luther, 2 vols. Augspurg, 1535, folio. _A most fair, and beautiful copy, with coloured plates, in the finest preservation, and bound in crimson velvet, with two cases._--'The copies on vellum of this fine edition were printed at the charges of John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, (vide Panzer).' Folio. 52 10 0 249. Le Livre de Jehan Bocasse de la Louenge et Vertu des nobles et Cleres Dames. Paris, _par Ant. Verard_, 1493. _A beautiful work, with curious illuminations, finely bound in blue turkey._ Folio. 14 14 0 250. Virgilii Opera curâ Brunck. Argentorati, 1789. _An unique copy, bound in morocco, with a case._ Quarto. 33 12 0 251. Somervile's Chace, a Poem, with fine plates on wood, by Bewick. Printed by Bulmer, 1796. Quarto. _A beautiful unique copy, splendidly bound in green, morocco._ 15 4 6 252. Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell, with fine plates on wood by Bewick. Printed by Bulmer, 1795. _A beautiful unique copy, superbly bound in green morocco._ 15 15 0 253. The Gardens, a poem, by the Abbe de Lisle, with fine plates by Bartolozzi, coloured. Printed by Bensley, 1798. _A fine book, and bound in green morocco._ Quarto. 14 3 6 254. The Castle of Otranto, by the Earl of Oxford. Printed at Parma, 1791. _A fine copy elegantly bound in blue morocco._ Quarto. 13 2 6 255. Coustumes du Pais de Normandie. Rouen, 1588. _A beautiful unique copy, on fine white vellum, the presentation copy to the Duke de Joyeuse; in old morocco._ 14 3 6 256. P. Virgilii Maronis Codex antiquissimus in Bibliotheca Mediceo-Laurentiana. Florent. 1741. _A curious facsimile of the old MS. bound in yellow morocco_, 4to. 17 17 0 257. Junius's Letters, 4 vols., 8vo. Printed by Bensley, 1796. _A beautiful unique copy, with the plates also worked on vellum, bound in morocco._ 25 4 0 258. Il Castello di Otranto, storia Gotica, Lond. 1795. _Beautifully printed, with fine cuts, illuminated, bound in morocco._ 4 16 0 259. Milton's Paradise Regained, Poems, and Sonnets, and Latin Poems, with notes, 3 vols. Printed by Bensley, 1796, 8vo. _A unique and beautiful copy, bound in blue turkey._ 17 6 6 260. La Guirlande de Julie offerte a Mademoiselle de Rambouillet, par le Marq. de Montausier. Paris de l'Imprim. de Monsieur, 1784, 8vo. 'This matchless book is embellished with exquisite miniatures, paintings of flowers, and wreaths of flowers, to illustrate the work, and is one of the most exquisite performances ever produced;' _superbly bound in green morocco_. [30 guineas were bidden; but the book was passed on and not sold.] 261. La Vedova, Commedia facetissima di Nic. Buonaparte Cittadino Florentino. Paris, 1803, 8vo. A curious work by an ancestor of the First Consul; _a beautiful unique copy, superbly bound in red morocco_. 4 4 0 262. The Old English Baron, a Gothic story, by Clara Reeve, 1794, 8vo. _Richly bound in blue turkey._ 2 0 0 263. The Oeconomy of Human Life, with fine plates, 1795. _A beautiful unique copy, with the plates finely tinted in colours and superbly bound in morocco_, 8vo. 15 15 0 264. Dr. Benjamin Franklin's Works. Paris, 1795, 8vo. _A beautiful unique copy, and bound in crimson velvet._ 5 0 0 265. The Dance of Death. Painted by Holbein, and engraved by Hollar, _a beautiful unique copy, with the plates exquisitely painted, and very richly bound in red morocco_. 17 17 0 266. La Gerusalemme liberata di Torquato Tasso, 4 vols. Parigi Presso Molini, 1783, 8vo. _A beautiful copy, bound in green morocco._ 9 19 6 267. Catullus, Tibullus, et Propertius, 3 vols. Par. ap. Coustelier, 1743, 8vo. _A singularly beautiful copy, and bound in old blue turkey._ 14 14 0 268. Opere Toscane di Luigi Alamanni. Leoni. ap. Gryphia, 1552. _A most beautiful copy, presented to King Francis I. of France: old morocco._ 6 6 0 269. A New Testament in German. Augsburg, 1535, 12mo. A fine copy, with illuminations, of a very rare edition. 2 7 0 Lysander has above noticed the collection of Count M'Carthy of Toulouse. By the kindness of Mr. Roche, banker, at Cork, I learn that this collection 'is a truly splendid one.' The possessor's talents are not confined to the partial walk of bibliography: in his younger years, he was considered one of the first gentlemen-violin players in Europe. He quitted Ireland forty years ago, and now resides at Toulouse, in his 70th year, surrounded by a numerous and respectable family. His leading passion, in book-collecting, (like his countryman's, poor Mr. Quin--who gave 170 guineas for the Spira Virgil of 1470, _in membranis_!) is marked by a fondness for works _printed upon vellum_. From Mr. Roche, Mr. Edwards, and other quarters, I am enabled to present the reader with a list of a _few_ of COUNT M'CARTHY'S BOOKS UPON VELLUM. Psalmorum Codex; _Mogunt._ _Fust and Schoiffer._ Folio, 1457. ---- ----; _ibid._ _apud eosdem._ Folio, 1459. Durandi Rationale; _ibid._ _apud eosdem._ Folio, 1459. _Clementis Papæ V. Constitutiones_; _ibid._ _apud eosdem._ Folio, 1460. ---- ---- ---- ----; _ibid._ _apud eosdem._ Folio, 1467. Catholicon; _ibid._ _apud eosdem._ Folio, 1460. Biblia Sacra Latina; _ibid._ _apud eosdem._ Folio, 1462. [His Majesty and Earl Spencer possess similar copies of these works.] Franciscus de Retras Comment. Vitiorum; _Nuremb._ Folio, 1470. Hieronimi Epistolæ; _Mogunt._ _Fust and Schoiffer._ Folio, 1470. (Another copy: very large thick paper.) Priscianus de Art. Grammat. _Venet._ _Vin. Spira._ Folio, 1470. (See p. 407, ante.) Liber Sextus Decretalium Bonif. Papæ VIII. _Mogunt._ Folio, 1470. Guarini Regulæ; Quarto, 1470. Quintiliani Institutiones; _Jenson_, Folio, 1471. Baptista de Alberti de Amore; Quarto, 1471. de Amoris Remedio: Quarto, 1471. Biblia in Ling. Volg. Folio, 1471, 2 vols. Historia Natur. de Plinio tradotto da Landino; _Jenson, Venet._ 1476. (A similar copy is in Mr. Coke's library at Holkam; illuminated, and in magnificent condition.) Biblia Sacra Polyglotta; Ximenis; _Complut._ Folio, 1516, &c., 6 vols. (See page 407, ante; for a brief account of this extraordinary copy.) Plutarchi Vitæ (Lat.); _Venet._ _N. Jenson._ Folio, 1478. vol. 1. Aristotelis Opera Varia (Lat.); _Venet._ Folio, 1483. 3 vols. (This was the Pinelli copy, and was purchased for 73_l._ 10_s._) Statii Achilles; _Brixiæ._ Folio, 1485. Chroniques de France, dictes de St. Denys; _Paris._ Folio, 1493. vol. 2 & 3. Anthologia Græca; _Florent._ Quarto, 1494. Lancelot du Lac; _Paris._ _Verard_, Folio, 1494. vol. 2. Boccace des nobles Malheureux; _ibid._ Folio, 1494. Appollonius Rhodius; _Florent._ Quarto, 1496. Destruction de Troy le Grant; _Paris._ Folio, 1498. Poliphili Hyperonotomachia; _Venet._ Folio, 1499. Mer des Histores; _Paris._ Folio, (no date) 2 vols. Monstrelet Chronique de; _Paris._ Folio, (no date) 3 vols. Roman de la Rose; _Paris._ _Verard._ Folio, (no date) ---- de Tristan; _ibid._ _id._ (no date) ---- d' Ogier le Danois; _ibid._ _id._ (no date) ---- de Melis et Lenin; _ibid._ _id._ (no date) I have heard that Count M'Carthy's books do not exceed 4000 in number; and of these, perhaps, no private collector in Europe has an equal number printed upon vellum. In our own country, however, the finest VELLUM LIBRARY in the world might be composed from the collections of His Majesty, the Duke of Marlborough, Earl Spencer, Sir M.M. Sykes, Bart., Mr. Johnes, Mr. Coke, and the Quin collection. Yet let us not forget the finest _vellum copy_ in the world of the first edition of _Aristotle's works_ (wanting one volume) which may be seen in the library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Of Mr. Edward's _similar_ copy _of the first Livy_, Lysander and myself (vide Part III.) have spoken like honest bibliomaniacs. Earl Spencer possesses the rival volume, printed by the same printers, (Sweynheym and Pannartz) and upon the same material, in his Pliny Senior of 1470--But let all quiet bibliomaniacs wait with patience till the work of Mons. Praet upon this subject, alluded to at p. 68, ante, shall have made its appearance! and then--let us see whether we can prevail upon some Gnome to transport to us, through the 'thin air,' Pynson's '_Ship of Fools_' UPON VELLUM!!] LIS. Are we as successful in printing upon vellum as were our forefathers? LYSAND. Certainly not; if we except some of the works from the press of Bodoni--which are oftentimes truly brilliant. But the fault, in general, is rather in the preparation of the vellum than in the execution of the press-work. LOREN. You have seen, Lisardo, my small volumes of '_Heures_,' or '_Missals_,' as they are called; some of them in MS. and others in print--and what can be more delicate than the texture of the vellum leaves, or more perfect than the execution of penmanship and printing? ALMAN. I have often set whole hours, my dear brother, in contemplating with rapture the sparkling radiance of these little volumes; and wish in my heart I had a few favourite authors executed in a similar manner! I should like to employ Bodoni[446] for life. [Footnote 446: It is not because Bodoni printed better than our popular printers--that his books upon vellum are more beautiful than those produced by the London presses--but that the Italian vellum (made of the abortive calf) is, in general, more white and delicate. There is not, perhaps, a lovelier little VELLUM BOOK in existence than the _Castle of Otranto_, printed by Bodoni in 1796, 8vo. A copy of this, with the plates worked on white satin, was in the collection of Mr. G.G. Mills; and sold at the sale of his books in 1800; no. 181; see p. 447, ante. From the former authority it would appear that only six copies were printed in this manner. By the kindness of Mr. Edwards, I am in possession of a '_Lettera Pastorale_' of Fr. Adeodato Turchi--a small tract of 38 pages--printed upon paper, by Bodoni, in a style of uncommon delicacy: having all the finish and picturesque effect of copper-plate execution. But the chef d'oeuvre of Bodoni seems to be an edition of _Homer_, in three great folio volumes, each consisting of 370 pages, with the text only. The artist employed six years in the preparations, and the printing occupied eighteen months. One hundred and forty copies only were struck off. The copy presented to Bonaparte was UPON VELLUM, of a size and brilliancy altogether unparalleled. _American Review_, no. 1., p. 171. January, 1811. In our admiration of Bodoni, let us not forget DIDOT: who printed a single copy of _Voltaire's Henriade_ UPON VELLUM, in quarto, with a brilliancy of execution, and perfection of vellum, which can never be suppassed [Transcriber's Note: surpassed]. This copy formerly belonged to a Farmer General, one of Didot's most intimate friends, who perished in the Revolution. Didot also printed a number of copies of French translations of English works, upon the same material: so correct, beautiful, and tasteful, that Mr. Bulmer assures me nothing could exceed it. All these small richly-feathered birds were once here, but have now taken their flight to a warmer climate. Our modern books upon vellum are little short of being downright wretched. I saw the _Life of Nelson_, in two large quartos, printed in this manner; and it would have been the first work which I should have recommended a first-rate collector to have thrown out of his library.[G] Many of the leaves were afflicted with the jaundice beyond hope of cure. The censure which is here thrown out upon others reaches my own doors: for I attempted to execute a single copy of my _Typographical Antiquities_ upon vellum, with every possible attention to printing and to the material upon which it was to be executed. But I failed in every point: and this single wretchedly-looking book, had I presevered [Transcriber's Note: persevered] in executing my design, would have cost me about _seventy-five_ guineas!] [Footnote G: This book was printed at Bolt Court during the apprenticeship of the printer of this edit. of Biblio., who speaking from remembrance, ventures to suggest that the above remark is rather too strong--although there was confessedly a great deal of trouble in procuring good vellum. He believes only _one_ copy was done; it was the property of Alexander Davidson, Esq. Banker, and, being in his library in Ireland, when the mansion was burned down, it was destroyed. He had insured it for £600--the Insurance office disputed his claim, and a trial at Dublin took place. The late Mr. Bensley was subpoenaed to give evidence of its value, but, being reluctant to go, he persuaded the parties that Warwick, one of his pressmen, who worked it off, was a better witness; he accordingly went, his evidence succeeding in establishing Mr. Davidson's claim. This same Warwick worked off many of the splendid specimens of typography mentioned in _Bibliomania_, being one of the very best workmen in the Printing business--particularly in wood-cuts. He afterwards became private printer to the late Sir Egerton Bridges, Bart., at Lee Priory--and is long since dead.] LIS. I could go on, 'till midnight, indulging my wishes of having favourite books printed upon vellum leaves; and at the head of these I would put _Crammer's Bible_ for I want scholarship sufficient to understand the _Complutensian Polyglott of Cardinal Ximenes_.[447] [Footnote 447: See pages 160, 407, ante.] BERLIN. [Transcriber's Note: Belin.] So much for the _Vellum Symptom_. Proceed we now to the _sixth_: which upon looking at my memoranda, I find to be the FIRST EDITIONS. What is the meaning of this odd symptom? LYSAND. From the time of Ancillon to Askew, there has been a very strong desire expressed for the possesssion [Transcriber's Note: possession] of _original_ or _first published editions_[448] of works; as they are in general superintended and corrected by the author himself, and, like the first impressions of prints are considered more valuable. Whoever is possessed with a passion for collecting books of this kind, may unquestionably be said to exhibit a strong symptom of the Bibliomania: but such a case is not quite hopeless, nor is it deserving of severe treatment or censure. All bibliographers have dwelt on the importance of these editions[449] for the sake of collation with subsequent ones; and of detecting, as is frequently the case, the carelessness displayed by future editors. Of such importance is the _first edition Shakspeare_[450] considered, on the score of correctness, that a fac-simile reprint of it has been recently published. In regard to the Greek and Latin Classics, the possession of these original editions is of the first consequence to editors who are anxious to republish the legitimate text of an author. Wakefield, I believe, always regretted that the first edition of Lucretius had not been earlier inspected by him. When he began _his_ edition, the Editio Princeps was not (as I have understood) in that storehouse of almost every thing which is exquisite and rare in ancient and modern classical literature--need I add the library of Earl Spencer?[451] [Footnote 448: All German and French bibliographers class these FIRST EDITIONS among rare books; and nothing is more apt to seduce a noviciate in bibliography into error than the tempting manner in which, by aid of capital or italic types, these EDITIONES PRIMARIÆ or _Editiones Principes_ are set forth in the most respectable catalogues published abroad as well as at home. But before we enter into particulars, we must not forget that this sixth sympton [Transcriber's Note: symptom] of the Bibliomania has been thus pungently described in the poetical strains of an "aspirant!" SIXTH MAXIM. Who of Editions recks the least, But, when that hog, his mind would feast Fattens the intellectual beast With old, or new, without ambition,-- I'll teach the pig to soar on high, (If pigs had pinions, by the bye) How'er the _last_ may _satisfy_, The _bonne bouche_ is the "FIRST EDITION." _Bibliosophia_; p. VI. These first editions are generally, with respect to foreign works, printed in the fifteenth or in the early part of the sixteenth century: and indeed we have a pretty rich sprinkling of a similar description of first editions executed in our own country. It is not, therefore, without justice that we are described, by foreign bibliographers, as being much addicted to this class of books: "With what avidity, and at what great prices, this character of books is obtained by the Dutch, and _especially by the English_, the very illustrious Zach. Conrad ab Uffenbach shews, in the preface to the second volume of his catalogue." Vogt; p. xx., edit. 1793. There is a curious and amusing article in Bayle (English edition, vol i., 672, &c.) about the elder Ancillon, who frankly confessed that he "was troubled with the Bibliomania, or disease of buying books." Mr. D'Israeli says that he "always purchased _first editions_, and never waited for second ones," but I find it, in the English Bayle, note D, "he chose _the best_ editions." The manner in which Ancillon's library was pillaged by the Ecclesiastics of Metz (where it was considered as the most valuable curiosity in the town) is thus told by Bayle: "Ancillon was obliged to leave Metz: a company of Ecclesiastics, of all orders, came from every part, to lay hands on this fine and copious library, which had been collected with the utmost care during forty years. They took away a great number of the books together; and gave a little money, as they went out, to a young girl, of twelve or thirteen years of age, who looked after them, that they might have it to say they had _paid for them_. Thus Ancillon saw that valuable collection dispersed, in which, as he was wont to say, his chief pleasure and even his heart was placed!"--Edit. 1734. A pleasant circumstance, connected with our present subject, occurred to the Rev. Dr. Charles Burney. At a small sale of books which took place at Messrs. King and Lochée's, some few years ago, the Doctor sent a commission, for some old grammatical treatises; and calling with Mr. Edwards to see the success of the commission, the latter, in the true spirit of bibliomaniacism, pounced upon an anciently-bound book, in the lot, which turned out to be--nothing less than the _first edition_ of MANILIUS by Regiomontanus: one of the very scarcest books in the class of those of which we are treating! By the liberality of the purchaser, this _primary bijou_ now adorns the noble library of the Bishop of Ely.] [Footnote 449: An instance of this kind may be adduced from the _first edition_ of Fabian, printed in 1516; of which Chronicle Messrs. Longman, Hurst, and Co. have just published a new edition, superintended by Mr. H. Ellis, and containing various readings from all the editions at the foot of the text. "The antiquary," says the late Mr. BRAND, "is desired to consult the edition of Fabian, printed by Pynson, in 1516, because there are others, and I remember to have seen one in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, with a continuation to the end of Queen Mary, 1559, in which the language is much modernized." _Shakspeare_, edit. 1803, vol. xviii., pp. 85, 86. See also what has been before said (p. 233.) of an _after_ edition of Speed.] [Footnote 450: A singular story is "extant" about the purchase of the late Duke of Roxburgh's copy of the first edition of Shakspeare. A friend was bidding for him in the sale-room: his Grace had retired to one end of the room, coolly to view the issue of the contest. The biddings rose quickly to 20 guineas; a great sum in former times: but the Duke was not to be daunted or defeated. A slip of paper was handed to him, upon which the propriety of continuing the contest was suggested. His Grace took out his pencil; and, with a coolness which would have done credit to Prince Eugene, he wrote on the same slip of paper, by way of reply-- lay on Macduff! And d----d be he who first cries "Hold, enough!" Such a spirit was irresistible, and bore down all opposition. The Duke was of course declared victor, and he marched off, triumphantly, with the volume under his arm. Lord Spencer has a fine copy of this first edition of Shakspeare, collated by Steevens himself.] [Footnote 451: We raise the column to the hero who has fought our battles by sea or land; and we teach our children to look up with admiration and reverence towards an object so well calculated to excite the best sympathies of the human heart. All this is well; and may it never be neglected! But there are other characters not less noble, and of equal glory to a great nation like our own; and they are those who, to the adventitious splendour of hereditary rank, add all the worth and talent of a private condition, less exposed to temptation, and suited to the cultivation of peaceful and literary pursuits. Such a character is GEORGE JOHN EARL SPENCER! A nobleman, not less upright and weighty in the senate than polished and amiable in private life; who, cool and respected amidst the violence of party, has filled two of the most important offices of state in a manner at once popular and effective; and who, to his general love of the fine arts, and acquaintance with classical literature, has superadded the noble achievement of having collected the finest private library in Europe! The reader has already met with sufficient mention of this collection to justify what is here said in commendation of it.... In the deepest recess of Althorpe Park--where the larch and laurustinus throw their dark yet pleasing shade--and where ----pinus ingens, albaque populus Umbram hospitalem consociare amant Ramis-- let the Doric Temple be raised, with its white-marbled columns, sacred to the memory of this ILLUSTRIOUS NOBLEMAN! Let his bust, in basso-relievo, with appropriate embellishments, adorn the most conspicuous compartment within: and peace and virtue, and filial affection, will, I am sure, be the guardians of so cherished a spot! [Illustration: ARMS OF EARL SPENCER. DIEU DEFEND LE DROIT]] It must not, however, be forgotten that, if first editions are, in some instances, of great importance, they are in many respects superfluous, and only incumber the shelves of a collector; inasmuch as the labours of subsequent editors have corrected the errors of their predecessors, and superseded, by a great fund of additional matter, the necessity of consulting them. Thus, not to mention other instances (which present themselves while noticing the present one), all the fine things which Colomiés and Reimannus have said about the rarity of La Croix du Maine's Bibliothéque, published in 1584, are now unnecessary to be attended to, since the publication of the ample and excellent edition of this work by De La Monnoye and Juvigny, in six quarto volumes, 1772. LIS. Upon the whole, I should prefer the best to the first edition; and you, Lorenzo, may revel in the possession of your _first Shakespeare_--but give me the last Variorum edition _in twenty-one volumes_. LOREN. "Chacun a son gout," yet it may be as well to possess them _both_. Indeed, I not only have these editions, but a great number of the early plays printed in quarto;[452] which are considered the _ne plus ultra_ of Shakspearian bibliomaniacism. [Footnote 452: A pretty copious list of these valuable early plays will be found at pages 431-2-3-4, ante.] BELIN. Much good may these wretchedly printed volumes do you! Now let me proceed with my pupil. Tell us, good Lysander, what can you possibly mean by the _seventh symptom_ of the Bibliomania, called TRUE EDITIONS? LYSAND. My definition of this strange symptom will excite your mirth.[453] Some copies of a work are struck off with deviations from the usually received ones, and although these deviations have generally neither sense nor beauty to recommend them (and indeed are principally _defects_!), yet copies of this description are eagerly sought after by collectors of a certain class. What think you of such a ridiculous passion in the book-way? [Footnote 453: Observing the usual order of notification, we will first borrow the poetical aid of "an aspirant:" SEVENTH MAXIM. Who dares to "write me down an ass," When, spying through the curious mass, I rub my hands, and wipe my glass, If, chance, an _error_ bless my notice-- Will prize when drill'd into his duty, These lovely warts of ugly beauty; For books, when _false_ (it may be new t'ye), Are "TRUE EDITIONS:"--odd,--but _so_ 'tis. Let us proceed to see whether this biting satire be founded upon truth, or not. Accidental variations from the common impressions of a work form what are called TRUE EDITIONS: and as copies, with such variations (upon the same principle as that of _Prints_; vide p. 501-2, ante) are rare, they are of course sought after with avidity by knowing bibliomaniacs. Thus speaks Ameilhon upon the subject:--"pendant l'impression d'un ouvrage il est arrivé un accident qui, à telle page et à telle ligne, a occasioné un renversement dans les lettres d'un mot, et que ce désordre n'a été rétabli qu'apres le tirage de six ou sept exemplaires; ce qui rend ces exemplaires défectueux presque uniques, et leur donne, â les entendre, une valeur inappréciable; car voila un des grands secrets de cet art, qui, au reste, s'acquiert aisément avec de la memoire." _Mem. de l'Institut_: vol. ii., p. 485. The author of these words then goes on to abuse the purchasers and venders of these strange books; but I will not quote his saucy tirade in defamation of this noble department of bibliomaniacism. I subjoin a few examples in illustration of Lysander's definition:--_Cæsar. Lug. Bat._ 1636, 12mo. _Printed by Elzevir._ In the Bibliotheca Revickzkiana we are informed that the _true_ Elzevir edition is known by having the plate of a buffalo's head at the beginning of the preface and body of the work: also by having the page numbered 153, which _ought_ to have been numbered 149. A further account is given in my Introduction to the Classics, vol. i., p. 228.--_Horace_, Londini, 1733, 8vo., 2 vols. Published by Pine. The _true_ edition is distinguished by having at page 108, vol. ii., the _incorrect_ reading "Post Est."--for "Protest."--_Virgil._ Lug. Bat., 1636, 12mo. Printed by Elzevir. The _true_ edition is known, by having at plate 1, before the Bucolics, the following Latin passage _printed in red ink_. "Ego vero frequentes a te literas accepi." Consul de Bure, no. 2684.--_Idem._ Birmingh. 1763, 4to. Printed by Baskerville. A particular account of the _true_ edition will be found in the second volume of my "Introduction to the Classics," p. 337--too long to be here inserted.--_Bocaccio._ Il Decamerone, Venet. 1527, 4to. Consult De Bure no. 3667; Bandini, vol. ii. 105, 211; (who, however, is extremely laconic upon this edition, but copious upon the anterior one of 1516) and Haym, vol. iii., p. 8, edit. 1803. Bibl. Paris., no. 408. Clement. (vol. iv. 352,) has abundance of reference, as usual, to strengthen his assertion in calling the edition "_fort rare_." The reprint, or spurious edition, has always struck me as the prettier book of the two. These examples appeared in the first edition of this work. I add to them what of course I was not enabled to do before. In the second edition of _The Bibliomania_, there are some variations in the copies of the small paper; and one or two decided ones between the small and large. In the small, at page 13, line 2, we read "beat with perpetual _forms_." in the large, it is properly "beat with perpetual _storms_." Which of these is indicative of the _true_ edition? Again: in the small paper, p. 275, line 20, we read properly "Claudite jam rivos pueri, sat _prata_ biberunt." in the large paper, "Claudite jam rivos pueri, sat _parta_ biberunt." It was in my power to have cancelled the leaf in the large paper as well as in the small; but I thought it might thereby have taken from the former the air of a _true_ edition; and so the blunder (a mere transposition of the letters _ar_) will go down to a future generation in the large paper. There is yet another slight variation between the small and large. At p. 111, in the account of the catalogue of Krohn's books, the concluding sentence wholly varies: but I believe there is not an _error_ in either, to entitle one to the rank of _Truism_ more than another.[H]] [Footnote H: During the youth of the printer of this book, a curious mistake occurred: a splendid folio work was going on for Dr. Bonnell Thornton; in a certain page, as printers technically say, _a space stood up_; the Dr. (not understanding printers' marks) wrote on a head page "take out horizontal line at p. so and so"--the compositor inserted these words as a _displayed line_ in the head-page whereon they were written--the reader passed it in the revise--and it was so worked off! Being eventually detected--the leaf was of course cancelled.] ALMAN. It seems to me to be downright idiotism. But I suspect you exaggerate? LYSAND. In sober truth, I tell you only what every day's experience in the book-market will corroborate. BELIN. Well!--what strange animals are you bibliomaniacs. Have we any other symptom to notice? Yes, I think Lysander made mention of an _eighth_; called a passion for THE BLACK-LETTER. Can any eyes be so jaundiced as to prefer volumes printed in this crabbed, rough, and dismal manner? LOREN. Treason--downright treason! Lisardo shall draw up a bill of indictment against you, and Lysander shall be your judge. BELIN. My case would then be desperate; and execution must necessarily follow. LIS. I shall be better able to form an opinion of the expediency of such a measure after Lysander has given us his definition of this eighth and last symptom. Proceed, my friend. LYSAND. Of all symptoms of the Bibliomania, this _eighth_ symptom is at present the most powerful and prevailing. Whether it was imported into this country, from Holland, by the subtlety of Schelhorn[454] (a knowing writer upon rare and curious books) may be a point worthy of consideration. But whatever be its origin, certain is that books printed in the =black-letter=, are now coveted with an eagerness unknown to our collectors in the last century. If the spirits of West, Ratcliffe, Farmer, and Brand, have as yet held any intercourse with each other, in that place "from whose bourne no traveller returns," which must be the surprise of the three former, on being told, by the latter, of the prices given for some of the books at the sale of his library! [Footnote 454: His words are as follows: "Ipsa typorum ruditas, ipsa illa atra crassaque literarum facies _belle tangit sensus_," _&c._ Was ever the black-letter more eloquently described: see his _Amoentates [Transcriber's Note: Amoenitates] Literariæ_, vol. i., p. 5. But for the last time, let us listen to the concluding symptomatic stanza of an "aspirant;" EIGHTH MAXIM. Who dreams the _Type_ should please us all, That's not too thin, and not too tall, Nor much awry, nor over small, And, if but ROMAN, asks no better-- May die in darkness:--I, for one, Disdain to tell the barb'rous Hun That Persians but adore the sun Till taught to know _our_ God--=Black-Letter=. _Bibliosophia_: p. vii. However cruel may be the notes of one poet, it seems pretty clear that the glorious subject, or bibliomaniacal symptom, of which we are treating, excited numbers of a softer character in the muse of Dr. Ferriar: for thus sings he--inspired by the possession of _black-letter_ tomes: In red morocco drest, he loves to boast the bloody murder, or the yelling ghost; or dismal ballads, sung to crowds of old, now cheaply bought for thrice their weight in gold. v. 62-65. Ev'n I, debarr'd of ease and studious hours, Confess, mid' anxious toil, its lurking pow'rs. How pure the joy, when first my hands unfold The small, rare volume, black with tarnished gold! _The Bibliomania_, l. 135-8. But let us attend to a more scientific illustration of this eighth symptom. 'BLACK-LETTER, which is used in England, descends from the Gothic characters; and is therefore called _Gothic_ by some, _old English_ by others; but printers give it the name of _Black-Letter_, because its face taking in a larger compass than Roman or Italic of the same body, the full and spreading strokes thereof appear more _black_ upon paper than common.' _Smith's Printer's Grammar_; edit. 1755, p. 18. The same definition is given in a recent similar work; with the addition that 'black-letter is more expensive than Roman or Italic, its broad face requiring an extraordinary quantity of ink, which always gives the best coloured paper a yellow cast, unless worked upon that of a superior quality. It has a good effect in a title-page, if disposed with taste.' Stower's _Printer's Grammar_; 1808, p. 41. To these authorities we may add, from Rowe Mores, that 'Wynkyn de Worde's letter was of _The Square English_ or _Black face_, and has been the pattern for his successors in the art.' _Of English Founders and Foundries_; 1778, 8vo. p. 4, 5. 'The same black-letter printer,' says Palmer or Psalmanaazar, 'gave a greater scope to his fancy, and formed such a variety of sorts and sizes of letter that, for several years after him, none of his successors attempted to imitate him therein.' _General History of Printing_; p. 343. It is not necessary to collect, in formal array, the authorities of foreigners upon this important subject; although it may be as well to notice the strange manner in which Momoro, in his _Traité elémentaire de L'Imprimerie_, p. 185, refers us to an elucidation of the Gothic letter ('appelé du nom de certains peuples qui vinrent s'établir dans la Gothie, plus de quatre cens ans avant J.C.') in one of the plates of Fournier's _Dictionnaire Typographique_: vol. ii. p. 205--which, in truth, resembles anything but the Gothic type, as understood by modern readers.--Smith and Mr. Stower have the hardihood to rejoice at the present general extinction of the black-letter. They were not, probably, aware of Hearne's eulogy upon it--'As it is a reproach to us (says this renowned antiquary) that the Saxon language should be so forgot as to have but few (comparatively speaking) that are able to read it; so 'tis a greater reproach that the BLACK-LETTER, which was the character so much in use in our grandfathers' days, should be now (as it were) disused and rejected; especially when we know the best editions of our English Bible and Common-Prayer (to say nothing of other books) are printed in it.' _Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle_: vol. i., p. LXXXV. I presume the editor and publisher of the forth-coming fac-simile re-impression of Juliana Barnes's Book of Hawking, Hunting, &c., are of the same opinion with Hearne: and are resolved upon eclipsing even the black-letter reputation of the afore-named Wynkyn De Worde.--A pleasant black-letter anecdote is told by Chevillier, of his having picked up, on a bookseller's stall, the first edition of the _Speculum Salutis_ sive _Humanæ Salvationis_ (one of the rarest volumes in the class of those printed in the middle of the fifteenth century) for the small sum of four livres! _L'Origine de l'Imprimerie_; p. 281. This extraordinary event soon spread abroad, and was circulated in every bibliographical journal. Schelhorn noticed it in his _Amoenitates Literariæ_: vol. iv. 295-6: and so did Maichelius in his _Introd. ad Hist. Lit. et Præcip. Bibl. Paris_, p. 122. Nor has it escaped the notice of a more recent foreign bibliographer. Ameilhon makes mention of Chevillier's good fortune; adding that the work was 'un de ces livres rares au premièr degré, qu' un BON BIBLIOMANE ne peut voir sans trépigner de joie, si j'ose m'exprimer ainsi.' _Mem. de l'Institut_. vol. ii. 485-6. This very copy, which was in the Sorbonne, is now in the Imperial, library at Paris. _Ibid._ A similar, though less important, anecdote is here laid before the reader from a communication sent to me by Mr. Wm. Hamper of Birmingham. '"_Tusser's Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, black-letter, sewed_," was valued at SIXPENCE, in a catalogue of a small Collection of Books on the sale at the shop of Mr. William Adams, Loughborough, in the year 1804: and, after in vain suing the coy collector at this humble price, remained unsold to the present year, 1809, when (thanks to your _Bibliomania_!) it brought A GOLDEN GUINEA.'--I have myself been accused of 'an admiration to excess' of black-letter lore; and of recommending it in every shape, and by every means, directly and indirectly. Yet I have surely not said or done any thing half so decisive in recommendation of it as did our great moralist, Dr. Johnson: who thus introduces the subject in one of his periodical papers.--'The eldest and most venerable of this society, was HIRSUTUS: who, after the first civilities of my reception, found means to introduce the mention of his favourite studies, by a severe censure of those who want the due regard for their native country. He informed me that he had early withdrawn his attention from foreign trifles, and that since he begun to addict his mind to serious and manly studies, he had very carefully amassed all the _English books_ that were printed in the =Black-Letter=. This search he had pursued so diligently that he was able to show the deficiencies of the best catalogues. He had long since completed his _Caxton_, had three sheets of _Treveris_, unknown to antiquaries, and wanted to a perfect [collection of] _Pynson_ but two volumes: of which one was promised him as a legacy by its present possessor, and the other he was resolved to buy at whatever price, when Quisquilius' library should be sold. Hirsutus had no other reason for the valuing or slighting a book than that it was printed in the Roman or the Gothick letter, nor any ideas but such as his favourite volumes had supplied: when he was serious, he expatiated on the narratives of JOHAN DE TREVISA, and, when he was merry, regaled us with a quotation from the _Shippe of Fools_.' RAMBLER, no. 177.--Nor was the Doctor himself quite easy and happy 'till he had sold, in the character of a BOOKSELLER, a few volumes--probably of black-letter celebrity. Mr. Boswell relates that 'During the last visit which the Doctor made to Litchfield, the friends, with whom he was staying missed him one morning at the breakfast table. On inquiring after him of the servants, they understood that he had set off from Litchfield at a very early hour, without mentioning to any of the family whither he was going. The day passed without the return of the illustrious guest, and the party began to be very uneasy on his account, when, just before the supper hour, the door opened, and the Doctor stalked into the room. A solemn silence of a few minutes ensued; nobody daring to enquire the cause of his absence, which was at length relieved by Johnson addressing the lady of the house as follows: "Madam, I beg your pardon for the abruptness of my departure this morning, but I was constrained to it by my _conscience_. Fifty years ago, Madam, on this day, I committed a breach of filial piety, which has ever since lain heavy on my mind, and has not until this day been expiated. My father, you recollect, was a bookseller, and had long been in the habit of attending _Walsall Market_; and opening a stall for the sale of his books during that day. Confined to his bed by indisposition, he requested of me, this time fifty years ago, to visit the market, and attend the stall in his place. But, Madam, my pride prevented me from doing my duty, and I gave my father a refusal. To do away the sin of this disobedience, I this day went in a post-chaise to Walsall, and going into the market at the time of high business, uncovered my head, and stood with it bare an hour before the stall which my father had formerly used, exposed to the sneers of the by-standers, and the inclemency of the weather: a penance, by which I have propitiated Heaven for this only instance, I believe, of contumacy towards my father."'--Is it not probable that Dr. Johnson himself might have sold for SIXPENCE, a _Tusser_, which now would have brought a 'GOLDEN GUINEA?'] A perusal of these prices may probably not impress the reader with any lofty notions of the superiority of the black-letter; but this symptom of the Bibliomania is, nevertheless, not to be considered as incurable, or wholly unproductive of good. Under a proper spirit of modification, it has done, and will continue to do, essential service to the cause of English literature. It guided the taste, and strengthened the judgment, of Tyrwhitt in his researches after Chaucerian lore. It stimulated the studies of Farmer and Steevens, and enabled them to twine many a beauteous flower round the brow of their beloved Shakspeare. It has since operated, to the same effect, in the labour of Mr. Douce,[455] the PORSON of old English and French Literature; and in the editions of Milton and Spenser, by my amiable and excellent friend Mr. Todd, the public have had a specimen of what the _Black-Letter_ may perform, when temperately and skilfully exercised. [Footnote 455: In the criticisms which have passed upon Mr. DOUCE'S "_Illustrations of Shakspeare and Ancient Manners_," it has not, I think, been generally noticed that this work is distinguished for the singular diffidence and urbanity of criticism, as well as depth of learning, which it evinces; and for the happy illustrations of the subjects discussed by means of fac-simile wood-cuts.] I could bring to your recollection other instances; but your own memories will better furnish you with them. Let me not, however, omit remarking that the beautiful pages of the '_Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_' and '_Sir Tristrem_' exhibit, in the notes, (now and then thickly studded with black-letter references) a proof that the author of '_The Lay_,' '_Marmion_,' and '_The Lady of the Lake_,' has not disdained to enrich his stores with such intelligence as black-letter books impart. In short, although this be a strong and general symptom of the Bibliomania, it is certainly not attended with injurious effects when regulated by prudence and discretion. An undistinguishable voracious appetite to swallow _every thing_, because printed in the black-letter, must necessarily bring on an incurable disease, and, consequently, premature dissolution. There is yet one other, and a somewhat generally prevailing, symptom, indicative of the prevalence of the Bibliomania; and this consists in a fondness for books which have been printed for PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION[456] only, or at a PRIVATE PRESS. What is executed for a few, will be coveted by many; because the edge of curiosity is whetted, from a supposition that something very extraordinary, or very curious, or very uncommon, is propagated in this said book, so partially distributed. As to works printed at a _Private Press_, we have had a very recent testimony of the avidity with which certain volumes, executed in this manner, and of which the impression has been comparatively limited, have been sought after by book _Cognoscenti_. [Footnote 456: The reader may not object to be made acquainted with a few distinguished productions, printed for PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION. The reader is indebted to Mr. Bulmer, at whose elegant press these works were printed, for the information which follows:--MUSEUM WORSLEYANUM; by Sir _Richard Worsley_; 1798, 1802, Atlas Folio, 2 vols. The first volume of this work, of which 200 copies were printed, was finished in May, 1798, and circulated, with the plates only of vol. ii., amongst the chosen friends of Sir Richard Worsley, the author; who was, at that time, the diplomatic Resident at Venice from our Court. The second volume, with the letter-press complete, of which only 100 copies were printed, was finished in 1802. The entire expense attending this rare and sumptuous publication (of which a copy is in the library of the Royal Institution) amounted to the enormous sum of 27,000_l._ and from the irregularity of delivering the second volume of plates, in the first instance, without the letter-press, many of the copies are incomplete.----THE FATHER'S REVENGE; _by the Earl of Carlisle, K.G._ &c., 1800, 4to. A limited impression of this very beautiful volume, decorated with engravings from the pencil of Westall, was circulated by the noble author among his friends. I saw a copy of it, bound in green morocco, with the original letter of the donor, in the library of Earl Spencer at Althorp.----MOUNT ST. GOTHARD: _By the late Duchess of Devonshire_, folio. Only fifty copies of this brilliant volume were printed; to a few of which, it is said, Lady Diana Beauclerc lent the aid of her ornamental pencil, in some beautiful drawings of the wild and romantic scenery in the neighbourhood of Mount St. Gothard.----DISSERTATION ON ETRUSCAN VASES; _by Mr. Christie_. Imperial 4to. With elegant Engravings. Only 100 copies of this truly classical volume were printed. From the death of one or two of the parties, who became originally possessed of it, as a present from the author, it has fallen to the lot of Mr. Christie to become, professionally, the vender of a work which he himself never meant to be sold. A copy was very lately disposed of, in this manner, for 14_l._----BENTLEII EPISTOLÆ; _Edited by_ [the Rev.] _Dr. Charles Burney_: 1807, 4to. This is one of the most beautiful productions of the Shakspeare press; nor are the intrinsic merits of the volume inferior to its external splendour. The scarcer copies of it are those in medium quarto; of which only 50 were printed: of the imperial quarto, there were 150 executed.--I add two more similar examples, which were not printed at the Shakspeare press:--LORD BALTIMORE'S _Gaudia Poetica_; Lat. Angl. et Gall. with plates. (No date). Large quarto. Only ten copies of this rare volume were printed, and those distributed among the author's friends: a copy of it was sold for 6_l._ 10_s._ at the sale of Mr. Reed's books: see Bibl. Reed, no. 6682. It was inserted for sale in the catalogue of Mr. Burnham, bookseller at Northampton, A.D. 1796--with a note of its rarity subjoined.----VIEWS IN ORKNEY and on the NORTH-EASTERN COAST OF SCOTLAND. Taken in 1805. Etched 1807. Folio. _By the Marchioness of Stafford._--The letter-press consists of twenty-seven pages: the first of which bears this unassuming designation; "Some Account of the Orkney Islands, extracted from Dr. Barry's History, and Wallace's and Brand's Descriptions of Orkney." To this chapter or division is prefixed a vignette of _Stroma_; and the chapter ends at p. 5. Then follow four views of the Orkney Islands.--The next chapter is entitled "The Cathedral of Kirkwall," which at the beginning exhibits a vignette of the _Cathedral of St. Magnus_, and at the close, at p. 9, a vignette of a _Tomb in the Cathedral_. To these succeed two plates, presenting Views of the _Inside of the Cathedral_, and an _Arch in the Cathedral_.--The third chapter commences at p. 11, with "The Earl of Orkney's Palace," to which a vignette of a _Street in Kirkwall_ is prefixed. It ends at p. 12, and is followed by a plate exhibiting a view of the _Door-way of the Earl's Palace_; by another of the _Hall of the Earl's Palace_; and by a third containing two Views, namely, the _Inside of the Hall_, and, upon a larger scale, the _Chimney in the Hall_.--"The Bay of the Frith" is the subject of the fourth chapter; which exhibits at the beginning a vignette of the _Hills of Hoy_. It closes at p. 14, with a vignette of _The Dwarfy Stone_. Then follow six plates, containing a view of the _Bay of Frith_, a _View from Hoy_, two views of the _Eastern and Western Circles of the Stones of Stennis_, and two views of _Stromness_.--The next chapter is entitled "Duncansbay or Dungsby-head," which bears in front a vignette of _Wick_, and at the end, in p. 16, a vignette of the _Castle of Freswick_. Three plates follow: the first presenting a view of _Duncansbay-Head_: the second, Views of the _Stacks of Hemprigs_ and the _Hills of Schrabiner or Schuraben_; the third, a View of _The Ord_.--"The Castle of Helmsdale" is the title of the succeeding chapter, to which is prefixed a vignette of _Helmsdale Castle_. It ends at p. 19, with a vignette of the _Bridge of Brora_. Then follow two plates, presenting Views of _Helmsdale Castle_, and the _Coast of Sutherland_.--The subject of the next chapter is "Dunrobin Castle," (the ancient seat of her Ladyship's ancestors, and now a residence of her Ladyship,) which presents, at the beginning, a vignette of _Dunrobin Castle_, and after the close of the chapter, at p. 23, four plates; the first of which is a View of _Dunrobin Castle_ and the surrounding scenery; the second, a smaller View of the _Castle_: the third, a View of _Druid Stones_, with another of _Battle Stones in Strathflete_: and the fourth, _Dornoch, with the Thane's Cross_.--The last chapter is entitled "The Chapel of Rosslyn," to which is prefixed a vignette of _Rosslyn Chapel_. It is followed by four plates; the first exhibiting a View of a _Column in Rosslyn Chapel_; the second, a _Door-way in the Chapel_; the third, the _Tomb of Sir William St. Clair_; and the fourth, _Hawthornden_, the residence of the elegant and plaintive Drummond; with whose beautiful Sonnet, to this his romantic habitation, the volume closes: "Dear wood! and you, sweet solitary place, Where I estranged from the vulgar live," &c. Of the volume which had been thus described, only 120 copies were printed. The Views were all drawn and etched by her Ladyship: and are executed with a spirit and correctness which would have done credit to the most successful disciple of Rembrandt. A copy of the work, which had been presented to the late Right Hon. C.F. Greville, produced, at the sale of his books, the sum of sixteen guineas.] LIS. You allude to the STRAWBERRY HILL Press?[457] [Footnote 457: For the gratification of such desperately-smitten bibliomaniacs, who leave no stone unturned for the possession of what are called STRAWBERRY HILL _Pieces_, I subjoin the following list of books, printed at the celebrated seat of Sir Horace Walpole (afterwards Lord Orford) at Strawberry Hill: situated between Richmond and Twickenham, on the banks of the Thames. This list, and the occasional bibliographical memoranda introduced, are taken from the collection of Strawberry Hill books in the library of the Marquis of Bute, at Luton; all of them being elegantly bound by Kalthoeber, in red morocco.----I. _Two Odes by Mr. Gray._ "[Greek: phônanta synetoisi]," Pindar Olymp. II. Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, 1757, 4to., 19 pages, 1000 copies. In these copies there is sometimes (but very rarely) prefixed a short poem of six stanzas, in alternate rhyme, "To Mr. Gray, on his Poems." As there were _only six copies_ of these verses printed, I subjoin them: Repine not, Gray, that our weak dazzled eyes Thy daring heights and brightness shun, How few can track the eagle to the skies, Or, like him, gaze upon the sun! The gentle reader loves the gentle muse, That little dares, and little means, Who humbly sips her learning from _Reviews_, Or flutters in the _Magazines_. No longer now from learning's sacred store, Our minds their health and vigour draw; HOMER and PINDAR are revered no more, No more the _Stagyrite is law_. Though nurst by these, in vain thy muse appears To breathe her ardours in our souls; In vain to sightless eyes, and deaden'd ears, Thy lightning gleams, and thunder rolls! Yet droop not GRAY, nor quit thy heav'n-born art: Again thy wondrous powers reveal, Wake slumb'ring virtue in the _Briton's_ heart. And rouse us to _reflect_ and _feel_! With antient deeds our long-chill'd bosoms fire, Those deeds which mark'd ELIZA'S reign! Make _Britons_ Greeks again.--Then strike the lyre, And Pindar shall not sing in vain. ----II. _A journey into England_, originally written in Latin, _by Paul Hentzner_. In the year 1598. Printed 1757. Advertisement of 10 pages in a fine large beautiful type, printed on paper of great delicacy. The body of the work, which is printed in a smaller type, occupies 126 double pages; on account of the Latin and English being on the opposite pages, each page is marked with the same number. Only 220 copies of this curious and elegant work were printed.--III. _Fugitive Pieces in Verse and Prose. Pereunt et Imputantur._ MDCCLVIII. 8vo. Two pages of dedication "To the Honourable Major General HENRY SEYMOUR CONWAY:" two pages of a table of contents, body of the work 219 pages. Printed with the small type: and only 200 copies struck off.--IV. _An account of Russia as it was in the year 1710. By Charles Lord Whitworth._ Printed at S.H. MDCCLVIII, 8vo. Advertisement 24 pages, body of this work 158--with a page of errata, 700 copies printed. This is an interesting and elegantly printed little volume.--V. _A parallel, in the manner of Plutarch, between a most celebrated man of Florence, and one scarce ever heard of in England. By the Reverend Mr. Spence_, 1758, 8vo. This is the beautiful and curious little volume, of which mention has already been made at p. 86, ante. Seven hundred copies of it were printed; and from a copy, originally in the possession of the late Mr. John Mann, of Durham, I learnt that "the clear profits arising from the sale of it being about 300_l._, were applied for the benefit of Mr. Hill and his family." (Magliabechi was "the man of Florence;" and Hill "the one scarce ever heard of in England.") A copy of this edition, with MS. notes by Mr. Cole, was purchased by Mr. Waldron, at the sale of George Steevens's books, for 3_l._6_s._ It was reprinted by Dodsley: but the curious seek only the present edition.----VI. _Lucani Pharsalia_, MDCCLX, 4to. This is the most beautiful volume, in point of printing, which the Strawberry Hill press ever produced. A tolerably copious account of it will be found in my _Introduction to the Classics_, vol. ii., p. 53. Kirgate the printer (recently deceased) told me that uncommon pains were taken with its typographical execution.----VII. _Anecdotes of Painting in Englaud_ [Transcriber's Note: England]; MDCCLXI. four volumes; _Catalogue of Engravers_, 4to., one volume. This is the _first_, and, on account of having the earliest impressions of the plates, the _best_ edition of this amusing, and once popular work. It was reprinted in quarto, in 1765; of which edition I believe 600 copies were struck off. Again, in 1786, crown 8vo., five volumes, without the plates.----VIII. _The Life of Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury_, written by himself. Printed in the year MDCCLXIX, 4to. Dedication of two pages to Lord Powis. Advertisement six pages, not numbered. After this, there should be a "Genealogical Table of the family of Herbert," which is very scarce, on account of its being suppressed by Mr. Walpole, for its inaccuracy. The life occupied 171 pages. "Mr. Walpole," says the late Mr. Cole, "when I was with him in the autumn of 1763, at which time the book was partly printed, told me that either one or two hundred copies were to be printed; half to be sent to the Earl of Powis, and the other half he was to reserve for himself, as presents to his friends; so that, except the book is reprinted by some bookseller, privately, as probably it will, it will be a curiosity. It was not published till the end of June, 1764, when the honourable editor sent it to me.----IX. _Poems by Anna Chambers_, Countess Temple. MDCCLXIV, 4to. This volume, containing 13 poems on various subjects, is printed in 34 pages, with a large, but not very elegant type. Only 100 copies were struck off.----X. _The Mysterious Mother._ A Tragedy, by Mr. Horace Walpole. Sit mihi fas audita loqui. Virg. Printed at S.H., MDCCLXVIII. 8vo. No vignette on the back. First leaf, errata, and "persons" [of the play.] Printed with the small type on 120 pages; after which follows a "postscript" of 10 pages. Only 50 copies printed. An uncut copy was recently sold for 6_l._ 15_s._----XI. _Cornélie vestale. Tragédie._ Imprimée à S.H. MDCCLXVIII, 8vo., 200 copies. The title-page is followed by a letter "a Mons. Horace Walpole." A page of the names of the actors forms the commencement of the work, which contains 91 pages, neatly printed. Only 200 copies printed, of which 150 were sent to Paris.----XII. _Poems by the Reverend Mr. Hoyland_, MDCCLXIX, 8vo. The advertisement ends at p. iv.; the odes occupy 19 pages. Although this little volume is not printed with the usual elegance of the S.H. press, it is valuable from its scarcity, on account of its never having been re-printed. Only 300 copies were struck off.----XIII. _Original Letters from K. Edward VI. to Barnaby Fitzpatrick_, 1772, 4to. I am not acquainted with any circumstance, intrinsic or extrinsic, that renders this small volume sought after.----XIV. _Miscellaneous Antiquities, or a collection of curious papers_: either republished from scarce tracts, or now first printed from original MSS. Two numbers printed by Thomas Kirgate, MDCCLXXII, 4to. No. I. Advertisement of two pages, ending p. iv. The number contains besides: CONTENTS. Chap. I. "An account of some Tournaments and other martial Diversions." This was reprinted from a work written by Sir William Segar, Norroy; and is called by the author, Honour, Military and Ceuill, printed at London in 1602. Chap. II. Of "Justs and Tournaments," &c., from the same. Chap. III. "A Triumph in the Reigne of King Richard the Second, 1390," from the same. Chap. IV. "A Militarie Triumph at Brussels, Anno 1549," from the same. Chap. V. "Of Justs and Tourneaments," &c., from the same. Chap. VI. "Triumphes Military, for honour and loue of Ladies: brought before the Kings of England," from the same. Chap. VII. "Of the life and actions in Armes since the reigne of Queene Elizabeth," from the same. Chap. VIII. "The original occasions of the yeerely Triumph in England." All these tracts are taken from the above work. No. II. Second leaf, a plate of a head from the original wood-cut by Hans Holbein. CONTENTS. This number is almost entirely occupied by the "Life of Sir Thomas Wyat, the elder," copied by Mr. Gray from the originals in the Harleian Collection, now in the British Museum. This extends to p. 54, after which is an Appendix of eight pages on a few miscellaneous subjects. Five hundred copies were printed.----XV. _Memoirs du Comte de Grammont_, par Monsieur le Comte Antoine Hamilton. Nouvelle edition, Augumentée denotes et eclaircissemens necessaires. Par M. HORACE WALPOLE. MDCCLXXII, 4to. The title-page is succeeded by a dedication "à Madame ----," in six lines and a half, printed in a very large type. Then follows an "Avis de L'Editour," and "Avertissement," occupying three pages. An "Epitre à Monsieur le Comte de Grammont,' continues to p. xxi: then a "Table des Chapitres," to p. xxiii., on the back of which are the errata. The body of the work extends to 290 pages; which are succeeded by "Table des Personnes," or index, in three pages. These memoirs are printed with the middle size type; but neither the type nor paper are so beautiful as are those of Hentzner's Travels, or the comparison between Magliabechi and Hill. PORTRAITS. 1. Le Comte Antoine Hamilton, faces the title page. 2. Philibert, Comte de Grammont, opposite the "Epitre:" badly executed. 3. A portrait of Miss Warminster, opposite p. 85, in the style of Worlidge's gems. 4. Mademoiselle d'Hamilton, Comtesse de Grammont, faces p. 92. This engraving, by G. Powle, is executed in a style of beauty and spirit that has seldom been surpassed. 5. Lord Chesterfield, second Earl, in the style of the preceding; very beautiful. There were only 100 copies of this edition printed, of which 30 were sent as presents to Paris.----XVI. _The Sleep Walker, a Comedy_: in two acts. Translated [by Lady Craven] from the French, in March. Printed by T. Kirgate, MDCCLXXVIII, 8vo. It is printed in the small type on 56 pages, exclusively of viii. introductory ones, of "prologues" and "persons," &c. Only 75 copies were printed: and of these, one was sold for 4_l._ in the year 1804, at a public auction.----XVII. _A Letter to the Editor of the Miscellanies of Thomas Chatterton._ Printed by T. Kirgate. MDCCLXXIX, 8vo. This title is preceded by what is called a bastard title: and is followed by 55 pages of the work, not very elegantly printed. Only 200 copies.----XVIII. _The Muse Recalled_, an ode occasioned by the nuptials of Lord Viscount Althorp (the late Earl Spencer) and Miss Lavinia Bingham, eldest daughter of Charles, Lord Lucan, March vi., MDCCLXXXI. By William Jones, Esq. Printed by Thomas Kirgate, MDCCLXXXI. 4to. Eight pages, exclusively of the title-page. Printed in the middle size type; but neither the paper nor typographical execution are in the best style of the S.H. press. Only 250 copies printed.----XIX. _A Description of the Villa of Mr. Horace Walpole, youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, at Strawberry Hill, near Twickenham, Middlesex._ With an inventory of the Furniture, Pictures, Curiosities, &c. Printed by Thomas Kirgate, MCCLXXXIV, 4to. This book contains 96 pages in the whole. It was preceded by a small quarto impression of MDCCLXXIV: which is scarce; and of which there are large paper copies. The work entitled _Ædes Walpolianæ_ was printed in MDCCLXVII. Plates to the edition of 1784. 1. Frontispiece, Gothic; motto on a scroll, "Fari quæ sentiat." 2. North Front of Strawberry Hill. 3. Entrance of Strawberry Hill. 4. View of the Prior's Garden, at ditto. 5. Chimney in the Great Parlour. 6. Chimney in the China Room. 7. Chimney in the Yellow Bedchamber. 8. Do. ---- ---- Blue Bedchamber. 9. Staircase at Strawberry Hill. 10. Library at ditto. 11. Chimney Piece of the Holbein Chamber. 12. The Gallery. 13. Chimney in the Round Room. 14. The Cabinet. 15. View from the Great Bedchamber. 16. Garden Gate. 17. View of the Chapel in the Garden at Strawberry Hill. 18. The Shell Bench. 19. View from the Terrace at Strawberry Hill. 20. East View of the Cottage Garden at Strawberry Hill. There were only 200 copies of this edition printed. The following may amuse the curious reader: "Mr. Walpole is very ready to oblige any curious persons with the sight of his house and collection; but as it is situated so near to London, and in so populous a neighbourhood, and as he refuses a ticket to nobody that sends for one, it is but reasonable that such persons as send should comply with the rules he has been obliged to lay down for shewing it:--Any person, sending a day or two before may have a ticket for four persons for a day certain;--No Ticket will serve but on the day for which it is given. If more than four persons come with a ticket, the housekeeper has positive orders to admit none of them;--Every ticket will admit the company only between the hours of twelve and three before dinner, and only one company will be admitted on the same day;--The house will never be shewn after dinner, nor at all but from the first of May to the first of October;--As Mr. Walpole has given offence by sometimes enlarging the number o [Transcriber's Note: of] four, and refusing that latitude to others, he flatters himself that for the future nobody will take it ill that he strictly confines the number; as whoever desires him to break his rule does in effect expect him to disoblige others, which is what nobody has a right to desire of him;--Persons desiring a ticket may apply either to Strawberry Hill, or to Mr. Walpole's, in Berkeley Square, London. If any person does not make use of the ticket, Mr. Walpole hopes he shall have notice: otherwise he is prevented from obliging others on that day, and thence is put to great inconvenience;--They who have tickets are desired not to bring children."----XX. _A copy of all the Works of Mr. Walpole that were printed by him before his death_, 1784, 4to. This brochure, which has been called "rare" in book-auction catalogues, has been sold for upwards of two guineas.----XXI. _Postscript to the Royal and Noble Authors._ MDCCXXXVI, 8vo. There should be, before the title-page, an outline etching of "Reason, Rectitude, and Justice, appearing to Christin de Pisan, &c., from an illumination in the library of the King of France," which is exceedingly well engraved. The work contains only 18 pages: and there were but 40 copies printed. The _Royal and Noble Authors_ were first printed in 1759, 8vo. 2 vols.----XXII. _Essai sur l'Art des Jardins Modernes_, par M. Horace Walpole. Traduit en François, par M. Le Duc de Nivernois, en MDCCLXXXIV. _Imprimé à S.H._ par T. Kirgate, MDCCLXXXV. With an opposite title in English, 4to. It contains 94 double pages, and every page of French has an opposite one of English. Not printed in the best manner of S.H. A copy of this book was sold for 3_l._; at a sale in 1804.----XXIII. _Bishop Banner's Ghost._ Printed by T.K. MDLCCXXXIX, 4to. On the first leaf is the following "Argument." "In the gardens of the palace of Fulham is a dark recess: at the end of this stands a chair, which once belonged to Bishop Bonner. A certain Bishop of London (the late Beilby Porteus) more than 200 years after the death of the aforesaid Bonner, just as the clock of the gothic chapel had struck six, undertook to cut, with his own hand, a narrow walk through this thicket, which is since called the _Monk's walk_. He had no sooner begun to clear the way, than lo! suddenly up started from the chair, the ghost of Bishop Bonner, who, in a tone of just and bitter indignation, uttered the following verses." This curious publication contains only four pages of stanzas, written in alternate rhyme, of 8 and 6 feet metre.----XXIV. _The Magpie and her Brood_; a fable, from the tales of Bonaventure de Periers, valet de chambre to the Queen of Navarre; addressed to Miss Hotham. This is a very scarce poetical tract of four pages only; subscribed H.W.----XXV. _Fourteen different pieces, printed at Strawberry Hill, of verses, cards, &c._ This title I borrow from a book-auction catalogue. At a sale in 1804, these detached pieces were sold for 2_l._ 2_s._; but it is not in my power to identify them. Whether they be the same "_parcel of scraps, and loose leaves of poetry, epigrams_," _&c._ which, according to a daily newspaper, were sold at the commencement of this year "for 16 pounds," I am also equally ignorant. See _Kirgate's Catalogue_, 1810, no. 420.----XXVI. _Hieroglyphic Tales_, 8vo. Only seven copies printed; _idem_, no. 380. From newspaper authority, I learn that these tales formed "a small pamphlet of two sheets, crown 8vo.," which were sold for 16_l._; and I understand that the late Mr. G. Baker was the purchaser. N.B. They are incorporated in the author's printed works; but this is not having the _first_ and _true edition_! There is nothing like the comfort of bleeding smartly for exhibiting these fourth and fifth symptoms of the Bibliomania! Vide pp. 521, 525, ante.----XXVII. _Additions to First Editions of Walpole's Lives of the Painters, sewed._----XXVIII. _The Press at Strawberry Hill to his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, a Poem._----XXIX. _The Master of Otranto in durance._----XXX. _Air, a Poem._----XXXI. _A Poetical Epistle to Mrs. Crewe._----XXXII. _A Poetical Epistle to Lady Horatio Waldegrave, on the Death of the Duke of Ancaster._----XXXIII. _The Press at Strawberry Hill to Miss Mary and Miss Agnes Berry, a Poetical Epistle._ [These last seven articles are taken from Mr. Cuthell's catalogue of 1811.] I should add that a much more copious and complete list, though not possessing all the intelligence here communicated, was prepared by the late Mr. George Baker for press; and printed, since his decease, for donations to his particular friends. Only twenty copies of this bibliographical brochure are said to have been executed. We will now take leave of the PRELUM WALPOLIANUM by subjoining a copy of the most elegant title-page vignette which ever issued from it. [Illustration: FARI QUÆ SENTIAT] Before the reader's eyes are finally turned from a contemplation of this elegant device--and as connected with the subject of PRIVATE PRESSES--let me inform him that the Marquis of Bute is in possession of a thin folio volume, exhibiting paintings, upon vellum, of the various devices used by Pope Sixtus V., in the frontispieces of the several works which issued from the APOSTOLICAL PRESS, while he filled the Papal Chair. To a tasteful bibliomaniac, few volumes would afford so much delight as a contemplation of the present one. It is quite a _keimelion_ in its way!] LYSAND. I do; but I have not so ardent an admiration of these volumes, as the generality of collectors. On the contrary, I think that the _Hafod Press_ has, by one single production only, outweighed the whole of the _Walpolian_ lucubrations; at least on the score of utility. I might here add, to the foregoing symptoms, a passion to possess works which have been _suppressed_, _condemned_, or _burnt_; but all these things rank under the head of _causes of the rarity_ of books; and as an entire volume might be written upon _this_ symptom _alone_, I can here only allude to to [Transcriber's Note: second 'to' erroneous] the subject; hoping some diligent bibliographer will one day do for _us_ what foreigners have done for other nations. Thus have I, rather slightly, discussed the _Symptoms of the Disease, called_ =The Bibliomania=. During this discussion, I see our friend has been busy, as he was yesterday evening, in making sketches of notes; and if you examine the finished pictures of which such outlines may be made productive, you will probably have a better notion of the accuracy of my classification of these symptoms. It is much to be wished, whatever may be the whims of desperate book-collectors, that, in _some_ of those volumes which are constantly circulating in the bibliomaniacal market, we had a more clear and satisfactory account of the rise and progress of arts and sciences. However strong may be my attachment to the profession of the cloth, I could readily exchange a great number of old volumes of polemical and hortatory divinity for interesting disquisitions upon the manners, customs, and general history of the times. Over what a dark and troublesome ocean must we sail, before we get even a glimpse at the progressive improvement of our ancestors in civilised life! Oh, that some judicious and faithful reporter had lived three hundred and odd years ago!--we might then have had a more satisfactory account of the _origin of printing with metal types_. LIS. Pray give us your sentiments upon this latter subject. We have almost the whole day before us:--the sun has hardly begun to decline from his highest point. LYSAND. A very pretty and smooth subject to discuss, truly! The longest day and the most effectually-renovated powers of body and mind, are hardly sufficient to come to any satisfactory conclusion, upon the subject. How can I, therefore, after the fatigues of the whole of yesterday, and with barely seven hours of daylight yet to follow, pretend to enter upon it? No: I will here only barely mention TRITHEMIUS[458]--who might have been numbered among the patriarchal bibliographers we noticed when discoursing in our friend's CABINET--as an author from whom considerable assistance has been received respecting early typographical researches. Indeed, Trithemius merits a more marked distinction in the annals of Literature than many are supposed to grant him: at any rate, I wish his labours were better known to our own countrymen. [Footnote 458: We are indebted to the Abbé TRITHEMIUS, who was a diligent chronicler and indefatigable visitor of old Libraries, for a good deal of curious and interesting intelligence; and however Scioppius (_De Orig. Domûs Austriac._), Brower (_Vit. Fortunat. Pictav._, p. 18.), and Possevinus (_Apparant sacr._ p. 945), may carp at his simplicity and want of judgment, yet, as Baillet (from whom I have borrowed the foregoing authorities) has justly remarked--"since the time of Trithemius there have been many libraries, particularly in Germany, which have been pillaged or burnt in the destruction of monasteries; so that the books which he describes as having seen in many places, purposely visited by him for inspection, may have been destroyed in the conflagration of religious houses." _Jugemens des Savans_; vol. ii., pt. i., p. 71, edit. 12mo. It is from Trithemius, after all, that we have the only _direct_ evidence concerning the origin of printing with metal types: and the bibliographical world is much indebted to Chevelier (_L'Origine de l'Imprimerie de Paris_, 1691, 4to., pp. 3-6.) for having been the first to adduce the positive evidence of this writer; who tells us, in his valuable _Chronicon Hirsaugiens_ (1690, 2 vols. folio), that he received his testimony from the mouth of Fust's son-in-law--"ex ore Petri Opilionis audivi,"--that Guttenburg [Transcriber's Note: Gutenberg] was the author of the invention. The historical works of Trithemius were collected and published in 1601, in folio, two parts, and his other works are minutely detailed in the 9th volume of the _Dictionnarie [Transcriber's Note: Dictionnaire] Historique_, published at Caen, in 1789. Of these, one of the most curious is his _Polygraphia_: being first printed at Paris, in 1518, in a beautiful folio volume; and presenting us, in the frontispiece, with a portrait of the abbé; which is probably the first, if not the only legitimate, print of him extant. Whether it be copied from a figure on his tomb--as it has a good deal of the _monumental_ character--I have no means of ascertaining. For the gratification of all tasteful bibliomaniacs, an admirable facsimile is here annexed. The _Polygraphia_ of Trithemius was translated into French, and published in 1601, folio. His work _De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis_, Colon, 1546, 4to., with two appendices, contains much valuable matter. The author died in his 55th year, A.D. 1516: according to the inscription upon his tomb in the monastery of the Benedictines at Wirtzburg. His life has been written by Busæus, a Jesuit. See La Monnoye's note in the _Jugemens des Savans_; _ibid._ [Illustration]] LIS. I will set his works down among my literary _desiderata_. But proceed. LYSAND. With what? Am I to talk for ever? BELIN. While you discourse so much to the purpose, you may surely not object to a continuance of this conversation. I wish only to be informed whether bibliomaniacs are indisputably known by the prevalence of all, or of any, of the symptoms which you have just described. ALMAN. Is there any other passion, or fancy, in the book-way, from which we may judge of Bibliomaniacism? LYSAND. Let me consider. Yes; there is one other characteristic of the book-madman that may as well be noticed. It is an ardent desire to collect ALL THE EDITIONS of a work which have been published. Not only the FIRST--whether _uncut, upon large paper_, _in the black-letter_, _unique_, _tall_, or _illustrated_--but ALL the editions.[459] [Footnote 459: I frankly confess that I was, myself, once desperately afflicted with this _eleventh_ symptom of _The Bibliomania_; having collected not fewer than _seventy-five_ editions of the GREEK TESTAMENT--but time has cooled my ardour, and mended my judgment. I have discarded seventy, and retain only five: which are _R. Steevens's_ of 1550, _The Elzevir_ of 1624, _Mill's_ of 1707, _Westein's_ of 1751, and _Griesbach's_ of 1810--as beautifully and accurately reprinted at Oxford.] BELIN. Strange--but true, I warrant! LYSAND. Most true; but, in my humble opinion, most ridiculous; for what can a sensible man desire beyond the earliest and best editions of a work? Be it also noticed that these works are sometimes very capricious and extroardinary [Transcriber's Note: extraordinary]. Thus, BAPTISTA is wretched unless he possess every edition of our early grammarians, _Holt_, _Stanbridge_, and _Whittinton_: a reimpression, or a new edition, is a matter of almost equal indifference: for his slumbers are broken and oppressive unless _all_ the _dear Wynkyns_ and _Pynsons_ are found within his closet!--Up starts FLORIZEL, and blows his bugle, at the annunciation of any work, new or old, upon the diversions of _Hawking_, _Hunting_, or _Fishing_![460] Carry him through CAMILLO'S cabinet of Dutch pictures, and you will see how instinctively, as it were, his eyes are fixed upon a sporting piece by Wouvermans. The hooded hawk, in his estimation, hath more charms than Guido's Madonna:--how he envies every rider upon his white horse!--how he burns to bestride the foremost steed, and to mingle in the fair throng, who turn their blue eyes to the scarcely bluer expanse of heaven! Here he recognises _Gervase Markham_, spurring his courser; and there he fancies himself lifting _Dame Juliana_ from her horse! Happy deception! dear fiction! says Florizel--while he throws his eyes in an opposite direction, and views every printed book upon the subject, from _Barnes_ to _Thornton_. [Footnote 460: Some superficial notes, accompanied by an interesting wood-cut of a man carrying hawks for sale, in my edition of Robinson's translation of _More's Utopia_, kindled, in the breast of Mr. Joseph Haslewood, a prodigious ardour to pursue the subjects above-mentioned to their farthest possible limits. Not Eolus himself excited greater commotion in the Mediterranean waves than did my bibliomaniacal friend in agitating the black-letter ocean--'a sedibus imis'--for the discovering of every volume which had been published upon these delectable pursuits. Accordingly there appeared in due time--'[post] magni procedere menses'--some very ingenious and elaborate disquisitions upon Hunting and Hawking and Fishing, in the ninth and tenth volumes of _The Censura Literaria_; which, with such additions as his enlarged experience has subsequently obtained, might be thought an interesting work if reprinted in a duodecimo volume. But Mr. Haslewood's mind, as was to be expected, could not rest satisfied with what he considered as mere _nuclei_ productions: accordingly, it became clothed with larger wings, and meditated a bolder flight; and after soaring in a _hawk_-like manner, to mark the object of its prey, it pounced upon the book of _Hawking, Hunting, Fishing, &c._, which had been reprinted by W. de Worde, from the original edition published in the abbey of St. Albans. Prefixed to the republication of this curious volume, the reader will discover a great deal of laborious and successful research connected with the book and its author. And yet I question whether, in the midst of all the wood-cuts with which it abounds, there be found any thing more suitable to the 'high and mounting spirit' (see Braithwait's amusing discourse upon Hawking, in his _English Gentleman_, p. 200-1.) of the editor's taste, than the ensuing representation of a pilgrim Hawker?!--taken from one of the frontispieces of _L'Acadamia Peregrina del Doni_; 1552, 4to., fol. 73. [Illustration] We will conclude this _Hawking_ note with the following excerpt from one of the earliest editions of the abridgment of our statutes:--'nul home pringe les oves dascu[n] _faucon_, _goshawke_, _lan_, ou swan hors de le nyst sur peyn de inprison p[our] vn an et vn iour et de faire fyn all volunte le roy et que nul home puis le fest de paque p[ro]chyn auenpart ascun _hawke_ de le brode dengl' appell vne _nyesse_, _goshawke_, _lan_, ou _laneret_ sur sa mayn, sur peyn de forfaiture son _hawke_, et que null enchasse ascun hawke hors de c[ou]uerte sur peyne de forfaiture x li. lun moyte al roy et lauter a celuy que voet sur.' Anno xi. H. vij. ca. xvij. _Abbreviamentum Statutorum_; printed by Pynson, 1499, 8vo., fol. lxxvij.] There are other tastes of an equally strange, but more sombre, character. DION will possess every work which has any connexion, intimate or remote, with _Latimer_ and _Swedenborg_;[461] while ANTIGONUS is resolved upon securing every lucubration of _Withers_ or _Warburton_; whether grave or gay, lively or severe. [Footnote 461: As I could not consistently give EMANUEL SWEDENBORG a niche among the bibliomaniacal heroes noticed towards the conclusion of Part V. of this work, I have reserved, for the present place, a few extracts of the titles of his works, from a catalogue of the same, published in 1785; which I strenuously advise the curious to get possession of--and for two reasons: first, if he be a _Swedenborgian_, his happiness will be nearly complete, and he will thank me for having pointed out such a source of comfort to him: secondly, if he be _not_ a disciple of the same master, he may be amused by meditating upon the strange whims and fancies which possess certain individuals, and which have sufficient attractions yet to make proselytes and converts!! Written March 10, A.D. 1811. Now for the extracts. '_A Catalogue of the printed and unprinted Works_ of the HON. EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, in chronological order. To which are added some observations, recommending the perusal of his Theological Writings. Together with a compendious view of the Faith of a new Heaven and a new Church, in its Universal and Particular Forms. London, printed by Robert Hindmarsh, No. 32, Clerkenwell Close, MDCCLXXXV. Those marked thus (*) are translated into English.' NO. 18. _Regnum Animale_, or the Animal Kingdom in three parts. The first treats of the Viscera of the Abdomen, or the lower Region. The second, of the Viscera of the Breast, or of the Organs of the superior Region. The third, of the Skin, the Touch, and the Taste, and of organical forms in general. Part printed at the Hague, and part in London, 1744, 1745, in 4to. 19. _De Cultu et Amore Dei_, or of the Worship and Love of God. The first part treats of the Origin of the Earth, of Paradise, of the Birth, Infancy, and Love of the first Man, or Adam. London, 1744, in 4to. The second part treats of the Marriage of the first man, of the Soul, of the intellectual Spirit, of the State of Integrity, and of the Image of God. London, 1745, 4to. 20. _Arcana Coelestia_, or Heavenly Mysteries contained in the Sacred Scriptures or Word of the Lord, manifested and laid open, in an Explanation of the Books of Genesis and Exodus, interspersed with relations of wonderful things seen in the World of Spirits, and the Heaven of Angels. London, from 1747 to 1758, in eight volumes, 4to. "In this work the reader is taught to regard the letter of the Scriptures as the Repository of Holy and Divine Things within; as a Cabinet containing the infinite Treasures and bright Gems of spiritual and celestial Wisdom; &c."(*).... 21. _De Coelo et Inferno_; or A Treatise concerning Heaven and Hell, and of the wonderful Things therein heard and seen. London, 1758, 4to. "By this work the reader may attain to some conception of the heavenly kingdom, and may learn therein that all social virtues, and all the tender affections that give consistence and harmony to society, and do honour to humanity, find place and exercise in the utmost purity in those delectable abodes; where every thing that can delight the eye, or rejoice the heart, entertain the imagination, or exalt the understanding, conspire with Innocence, Love, Joy, and Peace, to bless the spirits of just men made perfect, and to make glad the city of our God," &c.(*)] LOREN. I suspect that, like many dashing artists, you are painting for _effect_? PHIL. On the part of Lysander, I may safely affirm that the preceding has been no caricatured description. I know more than one Baptista, and Florizel, and Dion, and Antigonus. LIS. I hope I shall shortly add to the number of such an enthusiastic class of book-collectors--I'm for _Natural History_; and, in this department, for birds and beasts--_Gesner_ and _Bewick_![462] [Footnote 462: The works upon Natural History by Gesner, and especially the large tomes published about the middle of the sixteenth century, are, some of them, well worth procuring; on account of the fidelity and execution of the wood-cuts of birds and animals. Bewick's earliest editions of _Birds_ and _Beasts_ should be in the cabinet of every choice collector.] PHIL. Restrain your wild feelings--listen to the sober satire of Lysander. Have you nothing else, in closing this symptomatic subject, to discourse upon? LYSAND. There is certainly another point not very remotely connected with the two preceding; and it is this: a passion to possess large and voluminous works, and to estimate the treasures of our libraries rather by their extent and splendour than by their intrinsic worth: forgetting how prettily Ronsard[463] has illustrated this subject by the utility and beauty of small rivers in comparison with those which overflow their banks and spread destruction around. "Oh combien (says Cailleau, in his _Roman Bibliographique_) un petit livre bien pensé, bein [Transcriber's Note: bien] plein, et bein [Transcriber's Note: bien] écrit, est plus agréable, plus utile à lire, que ces vastes compilations à la formation desquelles l'intérêt a présidé plus souvent que le bon-goût!" [Footnote 463: Ie te confesse bien que le fleuve de Seine A le cours grand et long, mais tousiours il attraine Avec soy de la fange, et ses plis recourbrez, Sans estre iamais nets, sont tousiours embourbez: Vn petit ruisselet a tousiours l'onde nette, Aussi le papillon et la gentille auette Y vont puiser de l'eau, et non en ces torrens Qui tonnent d'vn grand bruit pas les roches courant: Petit Sonnets bien faits, belles chansons petites, Petits discourds gentils, sont les fleurs des Charites, Des Soeurs et d'Apollon, qui ne daignent aymer Ceux qui chantent une oeuvre aussi grand que la mer, Sans riue ny sans fond, de tempestes armée Et qui iamais ne dort tranquille ny calmée. _Poems de Ronsard_; fol. 171. Paris 1660. 12mo. These are pretty lines, and have a melodious flow; but Ronsard, in his 8 and 9 feet metres, is one of the most fascinating of the old French poets. The subject, above alluded to by Lysander, may be yet more strongly illustrated: for thus speaks Spizelius upon it. 'Solent viri multijugæ lectionis, qui avidè, quos possunt versant libros, ut in mentis ventrem trajicere eos velle, totosque devorare videantur, elegantis proverbii salivâ LIBRORUM HELLUONES nuncupari; ipso quidem Tullio prælucente, qui avidos lectores librorum, ac propemodum insiatiables Helluones dixit, siquidem _vastissima volumina_ percurrant, et quicquid boni succi exprimere possunt, propriis et alienis impendant emolumentis." Again: "Maxima cum sit eorum Literarum stoliditas, qui, quod nocte somniarunt, continuo edunt in lucem, neque ipsa virium imbecillitate suarum, ab arduo scribendi munere et onere, sese revocari patiuntur," &c. _Infelix Literatus_; pp. 295, 447. Morof is worth our notice upon this subject: "Veniamus ad Bibliothecas ipsas, quales vel privatæ sunt, vel publicæ. Illæ, quanquam in molem tantam non excrescant ut publicæ; sunt tamen etiam inter privatos viri illustres et opulenti qui in libris omnis generis coemendis nullis parcunt sumptibus. Quorum [Greek: bibliomanian] reprehendit Seneca _Ep._ 2. 45, _et de Tranquil. animi_ c. 9, ridet Lucianus in libello [Greek: pros apaideuton kai polla biblia ônoumenon]; et Auson. _epigr._ 43. Sunt ita animati nonnulli, ut _magno de flumine malint Quam de fonticulo tantundem sumere;_ cum vastioris Bibliothecæ minor interdum usus sit, quam ejus quæ selectis paucioribus libris constat." _Polyhist. Literar._ vol. i., p. 21. He goes on in a very amusing manner; but this note may be thought already too long.] BELIN. Well; we live in a marvellous book-collecting and book-reading age--yet a word more: ALMAN. I crave your pardon, Belinda; but I have a thought which must be now imparted, or the consequence may be serious. LYSAND. I wait both your commands. ALMAN. My thought--or rather the subject which now occupies my mind--is this: You have told us of the symptoms of the _Disease of Book-Madness_, now pray inform us, as a tender-hearted physician, what are the _means of its cure_? BELIN. The very question I was about to put to our bibliomaniacal physician. Pray inform us what are the means of cure in this disorder? LYSAND. You should say PROBABLE MEANS OF CURE, as I verily believe there are no certain and correct remedies. BELIN. Well, Sir, _probable_ means--if it must be so. Discourse largely and distinctly upon these. LYSAND. Briefly and perspicuously, if you please: and thus we begin. In the _first place_, the disease of the Bibliomania is materially softened, or rendered mild, by directing our studies to _useful_ and _profitable_ works; whether these be printed upon small or large paper, in the gothic, roman, or italic type. To consider merely the _intrinsic excellence_, and not the _exterior splendour_, or adventitious value, of any production will keep us perhaps wholly free from this disease. Let the midnight lamp be burnt to illuminate the stores of antiquity--whether they be romances, or chronicles, or legends, and whether they be printed by ALDUS or CAXTON--if a brighter lustre can thence be thrown upon the pages of modern learning! To trace genius to its source, or to see how she has been influenced or modified by the lore of past times, is both a pleasing and profitable pursuit. To see how Shakspeare, here and there, has plucked a flower from some old ballad or popular tale, to enrich his own unperishable garland;--to follow Spenser and Milton in their delightful labyrinths 'midst the splendour of Italian literature; are studies which stamp a dignity upon our intellectual characters! But, in such a pursuit, let us not overlook the wisdom of modern times, nor fancy that what is only ancient can be excellent. We must remember that Bacon, Boyle, Locke, Taylor, Chillingworth, Robertson, Hume, Gibbon, and Paley, are names which always command attention from the wise, and remind us of the improved state of reason and acquired knowledge during the two last centuries. ALMAN. There seems at least sound sense, with the prospect of much future good, in this _first_ recipe. What is your second. LYSAND. In the _second place_, the reprinting of scarce and intrinsically valuable works is another means of preventing the propagation of this disorder. Amidst all our present sufferings under the BIBLIOMANIA, it is some consolation to find discerning and spirited booksellers republishing the ancient Chroniclers; and the collections known by the names of "_The Harleian Miscellany_" and "_Lord Somers' Tracts_," and "_The Voyages of Hakluyt_."[464] These are noble efforts, and richly deserve the public patronage. [Footnote 464: In the _Quarterly Review_ for August, 1810, this my second remedy for curing the disease of the Bibliomania is considered as inefficient. I have a great respect for this Review, but I understand neither the premises nor conclusions therein laid down concerning the subject in discussion. If "those who cannot afford to purchase original publications must be content with entire reprints of them" (I give the very words, though not the entire sentence), it surely tends to lessen the degree of competition for "the original publication." A sober reader, or an economical book-buyer, wants a certain tract on the ground of its utility:--but take my own case--who have very few hundreds per annum to procure food for the body as well as the mind. I wish to consult Roy's tract of "Rede me and be not wroth," (vide p. 226, ante)--or the "Expedition into Scotland" of 1544 (see Mr. Beloe's _Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books_, vol. ii., p. 345), because these are really interesting, as well as rare, volumes. There is at present no reprint of either; and can I afford to bid ten or twelve guineas for each of them at a public book-sale? But--let them be faithfully _reprinted_, and even a golden guinea (if such a coin be now in the pocket of a poor bibliomaniac like myself) would be considered by me as _dear_ terms upon which to purchase the _original_ edition! The reviewer has illustrated his position by a model of the Pigot diamond; and intimates that this model does not "lessen the public desire to possess the original." Lord Mansfield once observed that nothing more frequently tended to perplex an argument than a simile--(the remark is somewhere in _Burrows's Reports_); and the judge's dictum seems here a little verified. If the glass or crystal model could reflect _all the lustre_ of the original, it would be of equal utility; but it cannot. Now the reprint _does_ impart _all_ the intelligence and intrinsic worth of the original (for "the ugliness of the types" cannot be thought worthy of aiding the argument one way or another) therefore the reprint of Roy's poetical tract is not illustrated by the model of the Pigot diamond: which latter cannot impart the intrinsic value of the original. Let us now say a word about the _Reprints_ above commended by Lysander. When Mr. Harding went to press with the first volume of the _Harleian Miscellany_, his zeal struggled with his prudence about the number of copies to be printed of so voluminous a work. Accordingly, he ventured upon only 250 copies. As the work advanced, (and, I would hope, as the recommendation of it, in the last edition of the Bibliomania, promoted its sale) he took courage, and struck off another 250 copies of the earlier volumes: and thus this magnificent reprint (which will be followed up by two volumes of additional matter collected by Mr. Park, its editor) may be pronounced a profitable, as well as generally serviceable, publication to the cause of Literature. The original edition of _Lord Somers' Tracts_ having become exceedingly scarce, and the arrangement of them being equally confused, three spirited booksellers, under the editorial inspection of Mr. Walter Scott, are putting forth a correct, well arranged, and beautiful reprint of the same invaluable work. Five volumes are already published. _The Voyages of Hakluyt_ are republishing by Mr. Evans, of Pall Mall. Four volumes are already before the public; of which only 250 copies of the small, and 75 of the large, are printed. The reprint will contain the whole of Hakluyt, with the addition of several scarce voyages and travels.] LOREN. I fully coincide with these sentiments; and, as a proof of it, regularly order my London bookseller to transmit to me every volume of the reprint of these excellent works as it is published. BELIN. Can you find it in your heart, dear brother, to part with your black-letter Chronicles, and Hakluyt's Voyages, for these new publications? LOREN. I keep the best editions of the ancient Chronicles; but the new Fabian, the Harleian Miscellany, Lord Somers' Tracts, and the Voyages, are unquestionably to be preferred; since they are more full and complete. But proceed with your other probable means of cure. LYSAND. In the _third place_, the editing of our best ancient authors, whether in prose or poetry,[465] is another means of effectually counteracting the mischievous effects arising from the bibliomaniacal disease; and, on this score, I do think this country stands pre-eminently conspicuous; for we are indefatigable in our attentions towards restoring the corrupted texts of our poets. [Footnote 465: The last new editions of our standard belles-lettres writers are the following: which should be found in every gentleman's library. _Shakspeare_, 1793, 15 vols., or 1803, 21 vols. (vide p. 427, ante); _Pope_, by _Jos. Warton_; 1795, 8 vols. 8vo.; or by _Lisle Bowles_, 1806, 9 vols. 8vo.; _Spenser_, by _H.J. Todd_, 1805, 8 vols. 8vo.; _Milton_, by _the Same_, 7 vols., 8vo.; _Massinger_, by _W. Gifford_, 1806, 4 vols. 8vo.; _Sir David Lyndsay_, by _George Chalmers_, 1806, 3 vols. 8vo.; _Dryden_, by _Walter Scott_, 1808, 18 vols. 8vo.; _Churchill_, by ----, 1805, 2 vols. 8vo.; _Hudibras_, by _Dr. Grey_, 1744, or 1809, 2 vols. 8vo.; _Ben. Jonson_, by _W. Gifford_ (_sub prelo_); and _Bishop Corbett's Poems_, by _Octavius Gilchrist_, 1807, 8vo.] PHIL. Yet forgive me if I avow that this same country, whose editorial labours you are thus commending, is shamefully deficient in the cultivation of _Ancient English History_! I speak my sentiments roundly upon this subject: because you know, Lysander, how vigilantly I have cultivated it, and how long and keenly I have expressed my regret at the almost total apathy which prevails respecting it. There is no country upon earth which has a more plentiful or faithful stock of historians than our own; and if it were only to discover how superficially some of our recent and popular historians have written upon it, it were surely worth the labour of investigation to examine the yet existing records of past ages. LOREN. To effect this completely, you should have a NATIONAL PRESS. LIS. And why not? Have we here no patriotic spirit similar to that which influenced the Francises, Richlieus, Colberts, and Louises of France? ALMAN. You are getting into bibliographical politics! Proceed, good Lysander, with your other probable means of cure. LYSAND. In the _fourth place_, the erection of PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS[466] is of great service in diffusing a love of books for their intrinsic utility, and is of very general advantage to scholars and authors who cannot purchase every book which they find it necessary to consult. [Footnote 466: The ROYAL, LONDON, SURREY, AND RUSSEL INSTITUTIONS, have been the means of concentrating, in divers parts of the metropolis, large libraries of useful books; which, it is to be hoped, will eventually bring into disgrace and contempt what are called _Circulating Libraries_--vehicles, too often, of insufferable nonsense, and irremediable mischief!] PHIL. You are right. These Institutions are of recent growth, but of general utility. They are a sort of _intellectual Hospitals_--according to your mode of treating the Bibliomania. Yet I dare venture to affirm that the _News-Paper Room_ is always better attended than the _Library_! LYSAND. Let us have no sarcasms. I will now give you the _fifth_ and last probable means of cure of the Bibliomania; and that is _the Study of Bibliography_.[467] [Footnote 467: "UNNE [Transcriber's Note: UNE] BONNE BIBLIOGRAPHIE," says Marchand, "soit générale soit particuliére, soit profane soit écclésiastique, soit nationale, provinciale, ou locale, soit simplement personelle, en un mot de quelque autre genre que ce puisse être, n'est pas un ouvrage aussi facile que beaucoup de gens se le pourroient imaginer; mais, elles ne doivent néanmoins nullement prévenir contre celle-ci. Telle qu'elle est, elle ne laisse pas d'être bonne, utile, et digne d'être recherchée par les amateurs de l'Histoire Litteraire." _Diction. Historique_, vol. i. p. 109. Peignot, in his _Dictionnaire de Bibliologie_, vol. i. 50, has given a very pompous account of what ought to be the talents and duties of a bibliographer. It would be difficult indeed to find such qualifications, as he describes, united in one person! De Bure, in the eighth volume of his _Bibliographie Instructive_, has prefixed a "Discourse upon the Science of Bibliography, and the Duties of a Bibliographer," which is worth consulting: but I know of nothing which better describes, in few words, such a character, than the following: "In eo sit multijuga materiarum librorumque notitia, ut saltem potiores eligat et inquirat: fida et sedula apud exteras gentes procuratio, ut eos arcessat; summa patientia ut rarè venalis expectet; peculium semper præsens et paratum, ne, si quando occurrunt, emendi, occasio intercidat: prudens denique auri argentique contemptus, ut pecuniis sponte careat quæ in bibliothecam formandam et nutriendam sunt insumendæ. Si forte vir literatus eo felicitatis pervenit ut talem thesaurum coacervaverit, nec solus illo invidiose fruatur, sed usam cum eruditis qui virgilias suas utilitati publicæ devoverunt, liberaliter communicet;" &c.--_Bibliotheca Hulsiana_, vol. i. Præfat. p. 3, 4. Morhof abounds with sagacious reflections upon this important subject: but are there fifty men in Great Britain who love to read the _Polyhistor Literarius_? The observations of Ameilhon and Camus, in the _Memoires de l'Institut_, are also well worth consultation; as are those of Le Long, and his editor, prefixed to the last edition of the _Bibliotheca Sacra_.] LIS. Excellent!--Treat copiously upon this my darling subject. BELIN. You speak with the enthusiasm of a young convert; but I should think the study of Bibliography a sure means of increasing the violence of the book-disease. LYSAND. The encouragement of _the Study of Bibliography_, in its legitimate sense, and towards its true object, may be numbered among the most efficacious cures for this destructive malady. To place competent Librarians over the several departments of a large public Library; or to submit a library, on a more confined scale, to one diligent, enthusiastic, well-informed, and well-bred Bibliographer or Librarian (of which in this metropolis we have so many examples), is doing a vast deal towards directing the channels of literature to flow in their proper courses. And thus I close the account of my recipes for the cure of the Bibliomania. A few words more and I have done. It is, my friends, in the erection of Libraries as in literary compositions, the task is difficult, and will generally meet with opposition from some fastidious quarter,[468] which is always betraying a fretful anxiety to bring every thing to its own ideal standard of perfection. To counteract the unpleasant effect which such an impression must necessarily produce, be diligent and faithful, to your utmost ability, in whatsoever you undertake. You need not evince the fecundity of a German[469] author; but only exert your best endeavours, and leave the issue to a future generation. Posterity will weigh, in even scales, your merits and demerits, when all present animosities and personal prejudices shall have subsided; and when the utility of our labours, whether in promoting wisdom or virtue, shall be unreservedly acknowledged. You may sleep in peace before this decision take place; but YOUR CHILDREN may live to witness it; and your name, in consequence, become a passport for them into circles of learning and worth. Let us now retreat; or, rather, walk round Lorenzo's grounds. We have had _Book-Discussion_ enough to last us to the end of the year.[470] I begin to be wearied of conversing. [Footnote 468: My favourite author, Morhof, has spoken 'comme un brave homme' upon the difficulty of literary enterprizes, and the facility and venom of detraction: I support his assertion 'totis viribus'; and to beg to speak in the same person with himself. 'Non ignotum mihi est, quantæ molis opus humeris meis incumbat. Oceanum enim ingressus sum, in quo portum invenire difficile est, naufragii periculum à syrtibus et scopulis imminet. Quis enim in tanta multitudine rerum et librorum omnia exhauriret? Quis non alicubi impingeret? Quis salvum ab invidia caput retraheret, ac malignitatis dentes in liberiore censura evitaret? Præterea ut palato et gustu differunt convivæ, ita judiciis dissident lectores, neque omnium idem de rebus sensus est, hoc præsertim tempore, quo plures sunt librorum judices, quam lectores, et è lectoribus in lictores, ubique virgas et secures expedituros, multi degenerant.' _Præf. Morhof._--Even the great Lambecius (of whom see p. 41, ante) was compelled to deliver his sentiments thus:--'laborem hunc meum non periculosum minus et maglignis liventium _Zoilorum_ dentibus obnoxium, quam prolixum foro et difficilem.' Prod. Hist. Lit. _Proleg._ One of the Roman philosophers (I think it was Seneca) said, in his last moments, 'Whether or not the Gods will be pleased with what I have done, I cannot take upon me to pronounce: but, this I know--it has been my invariable object to please them.' For 'the Gods' read 'the Public'--and then I beg leave, in a literary point of view, to repeat the words of Seneca.] [Footnote 469: 'From the last catalogue of the fair of Lepisic [Transcriber's Note: Leipsic], it would appear that there are now in Germany _ten thousand two hundred and forty three authors_, full of _health_ and _spirit_, and each of whom publishes at least _once a year_!' _American Review_, Jan. 1811, p. 172.] [Footnote 470: Through the favour of Dr. Drury, the Editor is enabled to present the reader with an original letter, enclosing a list of books directed to be purchased by BENJAMIN HEATH, Esq.; also his portrait. This document would have been better inserted, in point of chronological order, in part V., but, as the Editor did not receive it till long after that part was printed, he trusts it will be thought better late than never. THE DIRECTION. [Illustration: [handwritten] To Mr John Mann at the Hand in Hand Fire Office in Angel Court on Snow Hill [illegible] in London] Exeter, 21st March, 1738. Dear Sir, I take the liberty presuming upon the Intimacy of our Acquaintance to employ you in a pretty troublesome Affair. Fletcher Gyles, Bookseller in Holbourn, with whom I had some Dealings about two years ago, has lately sent me Down a Catalogue of a Library which will begin to be sold by Auction at his house next Monday Evening. As I have scarce laid out any Money in Books for these two years past, the great number of Valuable Books contained in this Collection, together with the tempting prospect of getting them cheaper in an Auction than they are to be had in a Sale, or in any other way whatsoever, has induced me to lay out a Sum of mony this way, at present, which will probably content my Curiosity in this kind, for several years to come. Mr. Gyles has offered himself to act for me, but as I think 'tis too great a Trial of his Honesty to make him at the same time both Buyer & Seller, & as Books are quite out of my Brother's Way, I have been able to think of no Friend I could throw this trouble upon but you. I propose to lay out about £60 or £70, and have drawn up a List of the Books I am inclined to, which you have in the First Leaf, with the Price to each Book, which I would by no means exceed, but as far as which, with respect to each single Book, I would venture to go; though I am persuaded upon the whole they are vastly overvalued. For my Valuation is founded in proportion upon what I have been charged for Books of this kind, when I have sent for them on purpose from London, and I have had too many proofs that the Booksellers make it a Rule to charge near double for an uncommon Book, when sent for on purpose, of what they would take for it in their own Shops, or at a Sale. So that, though the Amount of the Inclosed List is above £120, yet, when Deductions are made for the Savings by the Chance of the Auction, & for the full rate of such Books as I may be over bid in, I am satisfied it will come within the sum I propose. Now, Sir, the Favour which I would beg of you is to get some Trusty Person (& if you should not be able readily to think of a proper Person yourself, Mr. Hinchcliffe or Mr. Peele may probably be able to recommend one) to attend this Auction, in my behalf, from the beginning to the end, & to bid for me agreeably to the inclosed List & (as the Additional Trouble of it over and above the Attendance would not be great) to mark in the Catalogue, which you may have of Mr. Gyles for a shilling, the price Every Book contained in the Catalogue is sold at, for my future Direction in these Matters. For this Service I would willingly allow 3 Guineas, which, the Auction continuing 24 Days, is 3 shillings over and above half a Crown a Day; or, if that is not sufficient, whatever more shall be thought necessary to get my Commission well Executed. It may be necessary to observe to you that the Auction requires the Attendance of the whole day, beginning at Eleven in the Morning, and ending at two and at five in the Afternoon, and Ending at Eight. It may also be proper to inform the Person you shall Employ that he is not to govern his first bidding by the valuation in my list for many of the Books will very probably be sold for less than half what I have marked them at; he is therefore, in every Instance, to bid Low at first, and afterwards to continue advancing just beyond the other Bidders, till he has either bought the Book, or the price I have fixed it at is exceeded. There are many Books in the List which have several numbers before them; the meaning of which is that the very same Book is in several places of the Catalogue; and in that Case, I would have the first of them bought, if it be in very good condition, otherwise let the person Employed wait till the other comes up. I would desire him also not to buy any book at all that is both Dirty & ragged; but, though the Binding should not be in very good Order, that would be no Objection with me, provided the Book was clean. I would also desire him not to bid for any Number in the Catalogue that is not expressly mentioned in my List, upon a supposition that it may be the same Book with some that are mentioned in it; nor to omitt any Book that is actually upon the List, upon an Imagination, from the Title, that it may be there more than once; for I have drawn it up upon an Exact consideration of the Editions of the Books, insomuch that there is no Book twice upon the List, but where there is a very great difference in the Editions; nor is any of the Books in my List oftener in the Catalogue than is expressly specified in it. By the Conditions of Sale, the Auction is constantly adjourned from Fryday night to Monday Morning, the Saturday being appointed for fetching away, at the Expence of the buyer, the Books bought the week before, & for payment of the Mony. This part of the trouble I must beg you to charge yourself with; &, in order to enable you, as to the payment, I shall send you up, either by the next Post, or, however, time enough for the Saturday following, Fifty Pounds. I would beg the Favour of you to let me hear from you, if possible, by the Return of the Post; & also to give me an Account by every Saturday night's post what Books are bought for me, and at what price. As to which you need only mention the Numbers without the Titles, since I have a Catalogue by me. When the Auction is Ended, I shall take the Liberty of giving you farther Directions about Packing up the Books, & the way I would have them sent down. When I drew up my List, I had not observed one of the Conditions of Sale, which imports that no Person is to advance less than a shilling after twenty shillings is bid for any book. Now you will find a pretty many Books which I have valued at more than twenty shillings marked at an Odd Sixpence; in all which Cases, I would have the Bidder add Sixpence more to the Price I have fixed, in order to make it Even Money, & conformable to the Conditions of the Auction. And now, Dear Sir, another Person would make a thousand Apologies for giving you all this trouble; all which superfluous tediousness I shall spare you, being persuaded I shall do you a great pleasure in giving you an Opportunity of being serviceable to me, as I am sure it would be a very sensible one to me, if I ever had it in my power to be of any use to you. Mine and my Wive's humble respects wait upon Mrs. Mann, and you will be so good to present my hearty services to all our Friends. I am most sincerely, Dear Sir, [Illustration: [handwritten] Your Faithful & Affectionate humble Servt. Benj Heath] [Illustration: HIS SEAL.] £ _s._ _d._ Octavo 5 Pet. Angeli Bargæi Poemata 0 5 6 40 Hieron. Fracastorij Poemata 0 7 6 47 or 455, or 1546, Joan. Leonis Africæ Desc. 0 3 6 68 Christ. Longolij Orationes et Epistolæ 0 6 6 78 Pierij Valeriani Hexametri 0 4 6 Quarto 46 Diogenes Laertius 1 12 6 Octavo 164 or 624, Scaligerana 0 2 6 201 or 1280, Car. Ogerij Iter Danicum 0 3 0 Quarto 66 Plautus Taubmanni 0 11 6 Octavo 282 Hen. Lornenij Itinerarium 0 3 0 Quarto 132 Marcus Antonius de Dominis 0 2 6 143 Hen. Stephani Dialogus 0 4 6 157 Ausonii Opera 0 9 6 178 Anacreon and Sappho 0 8 6 180 Excerpta ex Polybio 0 8 6 181 Sophocles and Eschylus 1 2 6 ------------ Carried Forward £6 16 0 £ _s._ _d._ Brought Forward 6 16 0 Octavo 405 or 2413, or 2953, Historia Gothorum 0 6 6 435 or 1488, or 1688, Lucretius Gifanij 0 5 6 436 Is Casaubon de Satyrica Poesi 0 3 6 Quarto 198 or 344, Iamblicus de Vita Pythag. 0 11 6 275 Aulus Gellius Gronovij 0 18 6 280 Statij quæ Extant Barthij 0 18 6 Octavo 700 or 1093, Martial Scriverij 0 6 6 Quarto 302 Juvenal Henninij 0 18 6 314 Manilij Astronomicon 0 11 6 316 Poetriarum Octo 0 6 6 Folio 170 Fam. Strada da Bello Belgico 1 13 6 Octavo 739 Virgilius Illustratus 0 3 6 752 Paulli Manutij Epistolæ 0 3 0 Folio 206 or 235, or 590, Io. Leunclavij Annales 1 2 6 Octavo 989 Senecæ Tragediæ Scriverij 0 4 6 9191 1088 Pontani Opera 0 8 6 Folio 264 Demosthenis et Æschinis Opera 2 17 6 301 Thucydides Wasse 2 9 6 306 Platonis Opera 4 5 6 308 Herodoti Historia 1 7 6 Quarto 503 Pauli Collomesij Opera 0 9 0 543 566 Bern. Pensini Vita Baronij 0 3 0 Octavo 1239 or 2831, Poesis Philosophica 0 3 6 Folio 270 Philostrati Opera 1 7 6 376 Historiæ Romanæ Scriptores 1 11 6 386 Plutarchi Opera 5 7 6 Octavo 1519 Caninij Hellenismus 0 2 6 1608 or 2705, Virgilius Hiensij 0 3 6 Folio 426 Geo. Buchanani Opera 1 11 6 443 Plautus Lambini 0 13 6 448 Horatius Turnebi et Lambini 0 18 6 Octavo 1650 Dom. Baudij Amores 0 3 0 Folio 476 Æschyli Tragediæ 0 16 6 Octavo 1814 Lud. Kusterus de vero Usu, &c. 0 3 6 Quarto 871 Gab. Faerni Fabulæ Centum 0 6 6 Folio 477 Luciani Opera 1 7 6 ------------- Carried Forward £42 7 0 £ _s._ _d._ Brought Forward 42 7 0 479 Dionis Cassij Historia 1 12 6 485 Diodorus Siculus 2 18 6 490 Appiani Historia 0 11 6 491 Palladius de Gentibus Indiæ 0 5 6 498 Isocratij Orationes 1 3 6 Quarto 908 Papin. Statij Opera 0 9 6 921 Claudian Cum Animad. Barthij 0 11 6 Folio 529 Maffæi Historia Indica 0 8 6 509 546 Saxonis Grammatici Historia 0 17 6 Octavo 2101 Huntingtoni Epistolæ 0 3 6 Quarto 1018 And. Nangerij Opera 0 9 6 1023 Tho. Hyde Historia Relig. Vett. Pers. 0 18 6 1047 Claud. Salmasij Epistolæ 0 3 6 1088 Theocriti Moschi Bionis 0 16 6 1089 Hesiodus Græce 0 18 6 Folio 627 Rerum Moscoviticarum Coment. 0 11 6 638 Angeli Politiani Opera 0 18 6 Octavo 2354 Ausonius 0 7 6 2362 Mythographi Latini 0 6 6 Quarto 1139 Aristotelis Opera 3 4 6 Octavo 2481 Fabricij Bibliotheca Latina 0 11 6 Quarto 1192 Sannazarij Poemata 0 11 6 Octavo 2526 Meursij Elegantiæ 0 5 6 2559 Statij Opera 0 4 6 2578 Is Casauboni Comment. 0 3 0 2597 Maximi Tyrij Dissertationes 0 4 0 Folio 698 Nic. Antonij Bibliotheca Hispan. 2 4 6 Octavo 2712 Ovidij Opera 0 15 6 Folio 765 Nic. Antonij Bibliotheca Hisp. Vetus 1 7 6 Octavo 2891 Pet. Dan. Huetij Comentarius 0 2 6 3098 Sir John Suckling's Plays, &c. 0 3 6 3099 Dr. Downe's Poems 0 4 0 Quarto 1498 Lord's Discovery of the Banian Religion 0 5 6 Folio 857 or 896, Burnet's Theory of ye Earth 0 9 6 Octavo 3364 Milton's Poems 0 2 0 3374 King's British Merchant 0 12 6 ------------- Carried Forward £68 11 0 £ _s._ _d._ Brought Forward 68 11 0 3379 Milton's Paradise Regained 0 2 6 Folio 912 Wheeler's Journey into Greece 0 13 0 Octavo 3463 or 3473, Grevil's Life Of Sir P. Sidney 0 3 0 3466 Jobson Debes's Description of Feroe 0 2 0 3529 Terry's Voyage to the East Indies 0 3 6 Quarto 1672 Description de l'Egypte 0 13 6 1692 Apologie de M. Castar 0 4 0 1694 Replique de M. Girac 0 3 6 Octavo 3538 Geddes's History of the Church, &c. 0 3 0 3600 Songs by the Earl Of Surrey 0 3 6 3741 or 4112, Oeuvres de Sarasin 0 4 0 3854 or 3859, Scaligerana 0 2 6 Quarto 1873 Viaggi di Pietro della Valli 1 5 0 1875 Opera di Annibale Caro 0 8 0 1876 Orlando Inamorato 0 12 6 1879 or 2070, Pastor Fido 0 12 6 1884 or 1977, Morgante Maggiore 0 9 0 1920 or 1965, La Gerusalemme Liberata 1 2 6 1928 Il Verato 0 3 6 1953 Orlando Inamorato 0 9 6 1957 Historia della Guerre Civili 0 17 6 1967 Scritti nella Causa Veniziana 0 4 6 1980 Historia della Sacra Inquisitione 0 5 6 1983 Examinatione sopra la Rhetorica 0 5 6 1990 or 2037, Istoria Diplomatica 0 11 6 1995 Fasti Consolari di Salvini 0 9 6 1998 Satire del Menzini 0 7 6 Folio 1109 Bibliotheca Napolitana di Toppi 1 1 6 1123 Orlando Furioso 1 2 6 Quarto 2005 or 2039, Dialoghi del Speroni 0 7 6 2015 Poetica di Aristotele Volgarizzata 0 6 6 2024 Poetica di Aristotele di Piccolomini 0 4 6 2031 Della Difesa della Comedia di Dante 0 13 0 2033 Squittinio della Liberta Veneta 0 5 6 2049 Il Goffredo col. Comento di Beni 0 9 6 2050 Dante di Daniello 0 9 6 ------------- Carried Forward £84 13 0 £ _s._ _d._ Brought Forward 84 13 0 Folio 1129 Historia del Regno di Napoli 0 14 6 1132 Historia del Consilio Tridentino 2 13 6 1137 Vocabularia della Crusca 8 4 6 Octavo 4268 Voyage de Bachanmont, &c. 0 2 6 4295 or 4330, or 4339, or 4511, Ragionamenti del Aretino 0 11 6 4305 Prose Fiorentine 0 3 6 4309 Lettre Volgari 0 3 6 4321 Gravina della Ragione Poetica 0 5 6 4322 Battaglie di Mugio 0 3 6 4331 or 4527, La Comedia di Dante 0 11 6 Quarto 2053 Degli Raguagli di Parnaso 0 8 6 2067 Il Decameron di Boccaccio 2 5 6 2076 or 2168, Lezioni di Varchi 0 8 6 2098 L'Amadigi di Tasso 0 8 6 Folio 1154 L'Adone del Marino 0 11 6 1154 Il Libro del Cortegiano 0 13 6 1162 Istoria del Concilio di Trento 2 4 6 1164 La Historia di Italia di Guicciardini 0 17 6 Octavo 4354 Rime Diverse del Mutio 0 4 6 4363 L'Amorosa Fiametta 0 4 6 4371 Compendio del Historie di Nap. 0 5 6 4379 Opere di Guilio Cammillo 0 4 6 4384 L'Aminta di Tasso 0 6 6 4385 L'Opere Poetiche di Guarin 0 5 6 4387 Comedie di M. Agnolo Firenz. 0 5 6 4415 Notize de Libri Rari 0 4 6 4416 Satire e Rime di Aristo 0 5 6 4417 Delle Eloquenza Italiana 0 6 6 4423 Comedie Varie 0 3 6 4438 Labarinto d'Amore di Boccac. 0 4 6 4443 Opere di Redi 1 1 0 Quarto 2100 Lettere di Vincenzio Martelli 0 8 6 2103 or 2154, Ameto di Boccaccio 0 4 6 2104 or 2161, Le Rime di Petrarca 0 8 6 2114 Ragionamento dell' Academico 0 8 6 -------------- Carried Forward £111 17 0 £ _s._ _d._ Brought Forward 111 17 0 2124 Poesie Liriche del Testi 0 8 6 Octavo 4452 Il Petrarca 0 11 6 4456 or 4550, Lettre di Paolo Sarpi 0 3 6 4460 Opere Burleschi di Berni 0 6 6 4464 or 4485, Prose di M. Agnolo Firenz. 0 3 6 4471 Commento di Ser Agresto 0 3 6 4475 L'Aminta di Tasso 0 6 6 4483 La Secchia Rapita 0 5 6 4486 or 4627, Comedie di Aretino 0 5 6 4496 Trattato delle Materie Benef. 0 4 6 4531 Il 2do Libro delle Opere Burlesch. 0 6 6 Quarto 2149 Annotationi e Discorsi 0 16 6 2159 Gyrone il Cortese 0 9 6 2164 Il Decamerone di Boccaccio 0 14 6 2169 Historia della Cose passate 0 5 6 2171 Apologia degli Academia 0 9 6 2176 Della Guerra di Fiandra 2 2 6 2178 Rime e Prose di Maffei 0 13 6 2182 Discorsi Poetichi 0 5 6 Octavo 4561 La Libreria del Doni 0 4 6 4591 La Cassaria 0 2 6 4592 Teatro Italiano 1 1 6 4614 La Divina Comedia di Dante 1 1 6 4615 La Rime di Angelo di Cestanzo 0 7 6 4625 Tutte le Opere di Bernia 0 6 6 -------------- £124 3 6 --------------] * * * * * Lysander concluded; when Lorenzo rose from his seat, and begged of us to walk round his grounds. It was now high noon; and, after a pleasant stroll, we retreated again to THE ALCOVE, where we found a cold collation prepared for our reception. The same day we all dined at Lisardo's; and a discussion upon the pleasures and comparative excellences of _Music_ and _Painting_ succeeded to the conversation which the foregoing pages have detailed. A small concert in the evening recreated the exhausted state of Lysander's mimd [Transcriber's Note: mind]. The next day, my friends left me for their respective places of destination. Lorenzo and his sisters were gathered round my outer gate; and Lisardo leapt into the chaise with Lysander and Philemon; resolved to equal, if not eclipse, his bibliographical tutor in the ardour of book researches. "Adieu," said Lysander, putting his hand out of the chaise--"remember, in defence of my bibliomaniacal gossipping, that SIMILIS never knew happiness _till he became acquainted with_ BOOKS."[471] The postillion smacked his whip; and the chaise, following the direction of the road to the left, quickly disappeared. The servant of Lysander followed gently after, with his Master's and Philemon's horses: taking a near direction towards Lysander's home. [Footnote 471: 'It is reported that a certain man, of the name of SIMILIS, who fought under the Emperor Hadrian, became so wearied and disgusted with the number of troublesome events which he met with in that mode of life, that he retired and devoted himself wholly to leisure and _reading_, and to meditations upon divine and human affairs, after the manner of Pythagoras. In this retirement, Similis was wont frequently to exclaim that '_now_ he began to _live_:' at his death, he desired the following inscription to be placed upon his tomb. [Greek: SIMILIS EN TAUTHA KEITAI BIOUE MEN ETÊ EBDOMÊKONTA ZÊSAS DE ETÊ EPTA] _Here lies Similis; In the seventieth year of his age But only the seventh of his Life._ This story is related by Dion Cassius; and from him told by Spizelius in his _Infelix Literarius_; p. 167.] Lorenzo and his sisters returned with me to the Cabinet. A gloom was visible upon all our countenances; and the Ladies confessed that the company and conversation of my departed guests, especially of Lysander, were such as to leave a void which could not easily be supplied. For my part, from some little warmth each sister betrayed in balancing the solid instruction of Lysander and the humorous vivacity of Lisardo, against each other, I thought the former had made a powerful impression upon the mind of Belinda, and the latter upon that of Almansa: for when the probability of a speedy revisit from both of them was mentioned the sisters betrayed unusual marks of sensibility; and upon Lorenzo's frankly confessing, though in a playful mood, that such brothers-in-law would make him "as happy as the day was long"--they both turned their faces towards the garden, and appeared as awkward as it was possible for well-bred ladies to appear. It was in vain that I turned to my library and opened a large paper, illustrated, copy of Daulby's _Catalogue of Rembrandt's Prints_, or Mr. Miller's new edition of the _Memoirs of Count Grammont_, or even the _Roman de la Rose_, printed by Galliot du Pré, UPON VELLUM.... Nothing produced a kind look or a gracious word from them. Silence, sorrow, and indifference, succeeded to loquacity, joy, and enthusiasm. I clearly perceived that some _other_ symptom, wholly different from any thing connected with the Bibliomania, had taken possession of their gentle minds. But what has a BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ROMANCE to do with _Love_ and _Marriage_? Reader Adieu!--When thou hast nothing better deserving of perusal before thee, take up these pages; and class the author of them, if thou wilt, with the BOSTONS, or SMITHS, or NORTHS, of "other times;" with those who have never wished to disturb the peaceful haunts of intellectual retirement; and whose estate, moreover, like Joseph Scaliger's, lies chiefly under his hat. [Illustration] * * * * * p. 57. To the list of useful bibliographical works, published about the period here designated, I might have added the _Lexicon Literarium_ of THEOPHILUS GEORGIUS; _cum Suppl. ad an._ 1750. _Leips._ 1742-50, folio; two thick and closely printed volumes, with an excellent chronological arrangement. It is not common in this country. p. 69. The Abbé Rive was also the author of--1. _Notice d'un Roman d'Artus Comte de Bretagne_: Paris, 1779, 4to. _pp._ 20. 2. _Etrennes aux Joueurs de cartes, ou Eclaircissemens historiques et critiques sur l'invention des cartes à jouer; Paris_, 1780, 12mo. _pp._ 43. These works are slightly commended in the "Advertissement" to the Vallière Catalogue, 1783, pp. xxv-vj. They are reviewed by a rival author. p. 216. Since writing the first note, concerning the "_Assertio Septem Sacramentorum_," &c., I have seen a magnificent copy of the same, printed UPON VELLUM, in the library of Earl Spencer; which redeems the coldness of my opinion in regard to books printed by Pynson upon vellum. The painted ornaments, in Lord Spencer's copy, were, in all probability, executed abroad. The art, in our own country, was then too rude for such elegance of decoration. p. 404. I was right in my prediction about these _Garlands_ being swallowed up by some "hungry book-fish!" I saw them, a few days after, in the well-furnished library of ATTICUS: who exhibited them to me in triumph--grasping the whole of them between his finger and thumb! They are marvellous well-looking little volumes--clean, bright, and "rejoicing to the eye!"--many of them, moreover, are first editions! The severest winter cannot tarnish the foliage of such "Garlands!" p. 328. Among the ILLUSTRATED GRANGERS I forgot to notice the ample and magnificent copies belonging to the Marquis of Bute and Mr. John Towneley. [Illustration: DR. BENJAMIN HEATH.] SUPPLEMENT. [Illustration] THE SUPPLEMENT. PART I. THE EVENING WALK. The scenery and the dialogue of this Part are more especially _Waltonian_. The characters are few; but LYSANDER must of necessity be the Author--as he is the principal actor in the scene, and throughout the entire work the principal intelligence is derived from his lips. The scene itself is not absolutely ideal. At the little village of ----, upon the upper grounds, near Marlow, and necessarily commanding a sweep of the Thames in one of its most richly wooded windings, there lived a Mr. Jacobs, the friend of the adjoining Rector, whose table was as bounteous as his heart was hospitable; and whose frequent custom it was, in summer months, to elicit sweet discourse from his guests, as they sauntered, after an early supper, to inhale the fragrance of "dewy eve," and to witness the ascendancy of the moon in a cool and cloudless sky. I have partaken more than once of these "Tusculan" discussions; and have heard sounds, and witnessed happiness, such as is not likely to be my lot again. PHILEMON is at rest in his grave, as well as MENANDER and SICORAX. The two latter, it is well known, were Tom Warton and Joseph Ritson. "The husband of poor Lavinia" was a most amiable gentleman, but timid to a morbid excess. Without strong powers of intellect, he was tenacious of every thing which he advanced, and yet the farthest possible from dogmatic rudeness. There are cankers that eat into the _heart_ as well as the cheek; and because Mr. Shacklewell (the NICAS of my text) happened to discover a few unimportant errors in that husband's last performance, the latter not only thought much and often about it, but seemed to take it seriously to heart, and scarcely survived it a twelvemonth. GONZALO, mentioned at page 12, was a Mr. Jessop; an exceedingly lively, inoffensive, but not over wise gentleman; a coxcomb to excess in every thing; but not without vivacious parts, which occasionally pleased, from the _manner_ in which they were exhibited. Of handsome person and fluent speech, he was generally acceptable to the fair sex; but he made no strong _individual_ impression, as he was known to use the same current phrases and current compliments to all. Just possible it was that his personal attractions and ready utterance were beginning to strike a _root_ or two in some one female bosom; but it was impossible for these roots to penetrate deeply, and take an _exclusive_ hold. I believe Mr. Jessop quitted the neighbourhood of Marlow shortly after the publication of the Bibliomania, to return thither no more. ALFONSO was a Mr. Morell; a name well known in Oxfordshire. He was always in the _same_ false position, from the beginning to the end; but I am not sure whether this be not better than a perpetually shifting false position. Disguise it as you may, an obstinate man is preferable to a _trimmer_; be he a common man, or an uncommon man; a layman or a clergyman; "in crape," or "in lawn." The compliment paid by Lysander (at pages 18, 19) to Dr. VINCENT, late Dean of Westminster, and head master of Westminster School, were acknowledged by that venerable and most worthy, as well as erudite, character, in a letter to me, which I deemed it but an act of justice to its author to publish in the _Bibliographical Decameron_, vol. iii. p. 353. Poor Mr. BARKER (Edmund Henry), who is handsomely mentioned in the Dean's letter, has very lately taken his departure from us, for _that_ quiet which he could not find upon earth. "Take him for all in all" he was a very extraordinary man. Irritable to excess; but ardent and ambitious in his literary career. His industry, when, as in former days, it was at its height, would have killed half the scholars of the time. How he attained his fiftieth year, may be deemed miraculous; considering upon what a tempestuous sea his vessel of life seemed to be embarked. Latterly, he took to politics; when--"farewell the tranquil mind!" PART II. THE CABINET. This portion of the "Bibliomania," embracing about fourscore pages, contains a _Précis_, or review of the more popular works, then extant, upon BIBLIOGRAPHY. It forms an immense mass of materials; which, if expanded in the ordinary form of publication, would alone make a volume. I have well nigh forgotten the names of some of the more ancient heroes of bibliographical renown, but still seem to cling with a natural fondness to those of Gesner, Morhof, Maittaire, and Fabricius: while Labbe, Lambecius, and Montfauçon, Le Long, and Baillet, even yet retain all their ancient respect and popularity. As no _fresh characters_ are introduced in this second part of the Bibliomania, it may be permitted me to say a word or two upon the substance of the materials which it contains. The immense note upon the "_Catalogue of Libraries_," alphabetically arranged, from page 72 to page 99, is now, necessarily, imperfect; from the number of libraries which have been subsequently sold or described. Among the _latter_, I hope I may naturally, and justifiably, make mention of the BIBLIOTHECA SPENCERIANA; or, A descriptive Catalogue of the early printed Books of the late George John Earl Spencer, K.G.; comprising, in the whole, seven volumes; with the addition of the Cassano Library, or books purchased of the Duke of Cassano, by the noble Earl, when at Naples, in the year 1819. In the "_Reminiscences of my Literary Life_," I have given a sort of graphic description of this extensive work, and of the circumstances attending its publication. _That_ work now rests upon its own particular, and, I will fearlessly add, solid, basis. For accuracy, learning, splendour, and almost interminable embellishment, it may seem at once to command the attention, and to challenge the commendation, of the most fastidious: but it is a flower which blooms more kindly in a foreign, than in its native, soil. It has obtained for me the notice and the applause of learned _foreigners_; and when I travelled abroad I received but too substantial proofs that what was slighted _here_ was appreciated in _foreign_ parts. Our more popular Reviews, which seem to thrive and fatten best upon lean fare, passed this magnificent work over in a sort of sly or sullen silence; and there is no record of its existence in those of our Journals which affect to strike the key-note only of what is valuable in science, literature, and the fine arts. Painful as it must ever be to my feelings to contrast the avidity of former purchasers to become possessed of it with the caprice and non-chalance which have marked the conduct of those possessors themselves, I will yet hope that, in the bosom of the SUCCESSOR to this matchless Library--as well as to the name and fortunes of its late owner--there will ever remain but _one feeling_, such as no misconception and no casualty will serve to efface. It is pleasing, yea, soothing, 'midst the buffetting surges of later life, to be able to keep the anchor of one's vessel _well bit_ in the interstices of granite. Much later than the publication last alluded to, were the sale catalogues of the Libraries of Sir MARK MASTERMAN SYKES, Bart., deceased; the Rev. HENRY DRURY; GEORGE HIBBERT, Esq., deceased; and Sir FRANCIS FREELING, Bart., deceased. They were all sold by Mr. Evans, of Pall Mall; as well indeed as was the Library of the late Duke of Marlborough, when Marquis of Blandford. What books! And what prices! It should seem that "there were giants," both in purse and magnitude of metal, "in those days!" But a mighty "man in valour" has recently sprung up amongst us; who, spurning the acquisition of solitary _lots_, darts down upon a whole _Library_, and bears it off "at one fell swoop." Long life to the spirit which possesses him! It is almost a national redemption. PART III. THE AUCTION-ROOM. We are here introduced into one of the most bustling and spirit-stirring portions of the whole Work. It is full of characters--alas! now, with only _two_ exceptions, mouldering in their coffins! Philemon (who was one of my earliest and steadiest friends) introduces us to a character, which, under the name of ORLANDO, made some impression upon the public, as it was thought to represent MICHAEL WODHULL, Esq., of Thenford Hall, near Banbury; an admirable Greek scholar (the translator of Euripides), and perhaps the most learned bibliographer of his age. The conjecture of Orlando being the representative of Mr. Wodhull was not a vain conjecture; although there were, necessarily (I will not say _why_), parts that slightly varied from the original. Mr. Wodhull re-appears, in his natural person, in the _Bibliographical Decameron_, vol. iii. p. 363-6. Since the publication of that work, a curious history attaches to his memory. Within a twelvemonth of the expiration of the statute of limitation, an action at law, in the shape of an ejectment, was set on foot by a neighbouring family, to dispossess the present rightful occupant, S.A. SEVERNE, Esq., of the beautiful domain of Thenford; to ransack the Library; to scatter abroad pictures and curiosities of every description; on the alleged ground of insanity, or incompetency to make a will, on the part of Mr. Wodhull. As I had been very minute in the account of Mr. Wodhull's person, in the work just alluded to, I became a _witness_ in the cause; and, as it was brought into Chancery, my deposition was accordingly taken. I could have neither reluctance nor disinclination to meet the call of my excellent friend, Mr. Severne; as I was abundantly confident that the charge of "incompetency to make a will" could not rest upon the slightest foundation. It was insinuated, indeed, that the sister-in-law, Miss Ingram, had forged Mr. Wodhull's name to the will. Such a conspiracy, to defraud an honourable man and legitimate descendant of his property, is hardly upon record; for, waiting the accidents that might occur by death, or otherwise, in the lapse of twenty years, the cause was brought into the Vice Chancellor's Court with the most sanguine hope of success. I was present during one of the days of argument, and heard my own letter read, of which I had (contrary to my usual habits) taken a copy. The plaintiffs had written to me (suppressing the fact of the intended action), requesting to have my opinion as to Mr. Wodhull's capability. I returned such an answer as truth dictated. The Counsel for the plaintiffs (_ut mos est_) showered down upon the defendant every epithet connected with base fraud and low cunning, of which the contents of the brief seemed to warrant the avowal. In due course, Sir Knight Bruce, now one of the supernumerary Vice Chancellors, rose to reply. His speech was one undisturbed stream of unclouded narrative and irresistible reasoning. The Vice Chancellor (Shadwell) gave judgment; and my amiable and excellent friend, Mr. Severne, was not only to return in triumph to the mansion and to the groves which had been built and planted by his venerable ancestor, Mr. Wodhull, but he was strongly advised, by the incorruptible judge on the bench, to bring an action against the plaintiffs for one of the foulest conspiracies that had ever been developed in a court of justice. The defendant might have transported the whole kit of them. But the _giving_ advice, and the _following_ it when given, are two essentially different things. A THOUSAND GUINEAS had been already expended on the part of Mr. Severne! When does my Lord Brougham _really_ mean to reform the law? A recent publication ("Cranmer, a Novel") has said, "that he applies _sedatives_, when he should have recourse to _operations_." But the reader must now hurry with me into "The Auction Room." Of the whole group there represented, full of life and of action, TWO ONLY remain to talk of the conquests achieved![472] And Mr. Hamper, too--whose note, at p. 117, is beyond all price--has been lately "gathered to his fathers." "Ibimus, ibimus!" But for our book-heroes in the Auction Room. [Footnote 472: Before mention made of the Auction Room, there is a long and particular account of the "_Lectionum Memorabilium et Reconditarum Centenarii XVI._" by John Wolf, in 1600, folio; with a fac simile, by myself, of the portrait of the Author. It had a great effect, at the time, in causing copies of this work to be sedulously sought for and sold at extravagant prices. I have known a fine copy of this ugly book bring £8 8_s._] The first in years, as well as in celebrity, is LEPIDUS; the representative of the late Rev. Dr. GOSSET. In the _Bibliographical Decameron_, vol. iii. p. 5, ample mention is made of him; and here it is, to me, an equally grateful and delightful task to record the worth, as well as the existence, of his two sons, Isaac and Thomas, each a minister of the Church of England. The former is covered with _olive branches_ as well as with reputation; while the latter, declining the "branches" in question, rests upon the stem of his own inflexible worth, and solid scholastic attainments. Mrs. Gardiner, the wife of a Major Gardiner, is the only daughter of Dr. Gosset; a wife, but not a mother. The second in the ranks is MUSTAPHA. Every body quickly found out the original in Mr. Gardiner, a bookseller in Pall Mall; who quickly set about repelling the attack here made upon him, by a long note appended to the article "Bibliomania," in one of his catalogues. Gardiner never lacked courage; but, poor man! his brains were under no controul. We _met_ after this reply, and, to the best of my recollection, we exchanged ... _smiles_. The catalogue in question, not otherwise worth a stiver, has been sold as high as 15s., in consequence of the Dibdinian flagellation. Poor Gardiner! his end was most deplorable. We approach BERNARDO, who was intended to represent the late Mr. JOSEPH HASLEWOOD; and of whose book-fame a very particular, and I would hope impartial, account will be found in the "_Literary Reminiscences of my Literary Life_." There is no one portion of that work which affords me more lively satisfaction on a re-perusal. The cause of the _individual_ was merged in the cause of _truth_. The strangest compound of the strangest materials that ever haunted a human brain, poor Bernardo was, in spite of himself, a man of _note_ towards his latter days. Every body wondered what was in him; but something, certainly worth the perusal; oozed out of him in his various motley performances; and especially in his edition of Drunken Barnaby's Tour, which exhibited the rare spectacle of an accurate Latin (as well as English) text, by an individual who did not know the dative singular from the dative plural of _hic, hæc, hoc_! Haslewood, however, "hit the right nail upon the head" when he found out the _real_ author Barnaby, in Richard Brathwait; from the unvarying designation of "_On the Errata_," at the end of Brathwait's pieces, which is observable in that of his "_Drunken Barnaby's Tour_." It was an [Greek: eurêcha] [Transcriber's Note: [Greek: eurêka]] in its way; and the late Mr. Heber used to shout aloud, "stick to _that_, Haslewood, and your fame is fixed!" He was always proud of it; but lost sight of it sadly, as well as of almost every thing else, when he composed "_The Roxburghe Revels_." Yet what could justify the cruelty of dragging this piece of private absurdity before the public tribunal, on the death of its author? Even in the grave our best friends may be our worst foes. At page 196 we are introduced to QUISQUILIUS, the then intended representative of Mr. George Baker, of St. Paul's Churchyard; whose prints and graphic curiosities were sold after his death for several thousand pounds. Mr. Baker did not survive the publication of the Bibliomania; but it is said he got scent of his delineated character, which ruffled every feather of his plumage. He was thin-skinned to excess; and, as far as that went, a _Heautontomorumenos_! Will this word "re-animate his clay?" The "short gentleman," called ROSICRUSIUS, at page 127, must necessarily be the author of the work. He has not grown _taller_ since its publication, and his coffers continue to retain the same stinted condition as his person. Yet what has he not _produced_ since that representation of his person? How has it pleased a gracious Providence to endow him with mental and bodily health and stamina, to prosecute labours, and to surmount difficulties, which might have broken the hearts, as well as the backs, of many a wight "from five to ten inches taller than himself!" I desire to be grateful for this prolongation of labour as well as of life; and it will be my heart-felt consolation, even to my dying hour, that such "labour" will be acceptable to the latest posterity. Yet a word or two by way of epilogue. The "Reminiscences" contain a catalogue raisonné of such works as were published up to the year 1836. Since then the author has not been idle. The "_Tour into the North of England and Scotland_," in two super-royal octavos, studded with graphic gems of a variety of description--and dedicated to the most illustrious female in Europe, for the magnificence of a library, the fruit chiefly of her own enterprise and liberality--has at least proved and maintained the spirit by which he has been long actuated. To re-animate a slumbering taste, to bring back the gay and gallant feelings of past times, to make men feel as gentlemen in the substitution of _guineas_ for _shillings_, still to uphold the beauty of the press, and the splendour of marginal magnitude, were, alone, objects worthy an experiment to accomplish. But this work had other and stronger claims to public notice and patronage; and it did not fail to receive them. Six hundred copies were irrevocably fixed in the course of the first eighteen months from the day of publication, and the price of the large paper has attained the sum of £12. 12_s._ Strange circumstances have, however, here and there, thrown dark shadows across the progress of the sale. If it were pleasing to the Author, in the course of his Journey, to receive attentions, and to acknowledge hospitalities, from the gay and the great, it were yet more pleasing to hope and to believe that such attentions and hospitalities had been acknowledged with feelings and expressions becoming the character of a gentleman. They have been so; as the pages of the work abundantly testify. But English courtesy is too frequently _located_. It is a coin with a feeble impress, and seems subject to woful attrition in its circulation. The countenance, which beams with complacency on receiving a guest to enliven a dull residence, in a desolate neighbourhood, is oftentimes overcharged with sadness, or collapses into rigidity, if the same guest should come under recognizance in a populous city. When I write "Instructions for an Author on his travels," I will advise a measured civility and a constrained homage:--to criticise fearlessly, and to praise sparingly. There are hearts too obtuse for the operations of gratitude. The Scotch have behaved worthy of the inhabitants of the "land of cakes." In spirit I am ever present with them, and rambling 'midst their mountains and passes. If an Author may criticise his own works, I should say that the preface to the Scotch Tour is the best piece of composition of which I have been ever guilty. How little are people aware of the pleasure they sometimes unconsciously afford! When Mr. James Bohn, the publisher of the Scotch Tour, placed me, one day, accidentally, opposite a long list of splendidly bound books, and asked me "if I were acquainted with their author?" I could not help inwardly exclaiming ... "NON OMNIS MORIAR!"[473] I am too poor to present them to my "Sovereign Mistress, the Queen Victoria;" but I _did_ present her Majesty, in person, with a magnificently bound copy of the _Scotch Tour_; of which the acceptance was never acknowledged from the royal quarter; simply because, according to an etiquette which seems to me to be utterly incomprehensible, books presented _in person_ are not acknowledged by the Donee. I will not presume to quarrel with what I do not exactly understand; but I will be free to confess that, had I been _aware_ of this mystery, I should have told her Majesty, on presenting the volume, that "I had the greater pleasure in making the offering, as her illustrious Father had been among the earliest and warmest patrons of my book-career; and that the work in question contained no faithless account of one of the most interesting portions of her dominions." This copy for the Queen had a special vellum page, on which the Dedication, or Inscription, was printed in letters of gold. [Footnote 473: This magnificent set of books, not _all_ upon large paper, was valued at £84. It has been since sold to Lord Bradford.] At length we approach the once far-famed ATTICUS: the once illustrious RICHARD HEBER, Esq., the self-ejected member of the University of Oxford. Even yet I scarcely know how to handle this subject, or to expatiate upon a theme so extraordinary, and so provocative of the most contradictory feelings. But it were better to be brief; as, in fact, a very long account of Mr. Heber's later life will be found in my _Reminiscences_, and there is little to add to what those pages contain. It may be here only necessary to make mention of the sale of his wonderful library; wonderful in all respects--not less from the variety and importance of its contents, than from the unparalleled number of _duplicate volumes_--even of works of the first degree of rarity. Of the latter, it may suffice to observe that, of the editio princeps of _Plato_, there were not fewer than _ten_ copies; and of that of _Aristotle_, five or six copies: each the production of the Aldine Press. Several of these Platonic copies were, to my knowledge, beautiful ones; and what more than _one_ such "beautiful copy" need mortal man desire to possess? I believe the copy of the Plato bought at the sale of Dr. Heath's library in 1810 was, upon the whole, the most desirable.[474] Both works are from the press of the elder Aldus. [Footnote 474: The Rt. Hon. Thomas Grenville possesses a copy of this first edition (from the library of the Rev. Theodore Williams) in an _uncut_ state. It may defy all competition. There is, however, in the Spencer library, at Althorp, described by me in the second volume of the Bibliotheca _Spenceriana_, a very beautiful copy, delicately ruled with red lines, which may be pronounced as almost in its primitive state. The leaves "discourse most eloquently" as you turn them over: and what sound, to the ears of a thorough bred bibliomaniac, can be more "musical?"] It may be observed, as mere preliminary matter, that it was once in contemplation to publish the literary life of Mr. Heber; and an impression comes across my mind that I had tendered my services for the labour in question. The plan was however abandoned--and perhaps wisely. There was also to have been a portrait prefixed, from the pencil of Mr. Masquerier, the _only_ portrait of him--in later life--but the strangest whims and vagaries attended the surrendering, or rather the _not_ surrendering, of the portrait in question. I am in possession of a correspondence upon this subject which is perfectly _sui generis_. The library of Mr. Heber was consigned to the care and discretion of Messrs. Payne and Foss--booksellers of long established eminence and respectability. It was merely intended to be an alphabetical, sale catalogue, with no other bibliographical details than the scarcity or curiosity of the article warranted. It was also of importance to press the sale, or sales, with all convenient dispatch: but the mass of books was so enormous that two years (1834-6) were consumed in the dispersion of them, at home; to say nothing of what was sold in Flanders, at Paris, and at Neuremberg. I have of late been abundantly persuaded that the acquisition of books--anywhere, and of whatever kind--became an ungovernable passion with Mr. Heber; and that he was a BIBLIOMANIAC in its strict as well as enlarged sense. Of his library at Neuremberg he had never seen a volume; but he thought well of it, as it was the identical collection referred to by Panzer, among his other authorities, in his Typographical Annals. Of the amount of its produce, when sold, I am ignorant. I have said that the Catalogue, which consisted of XII parts (exclusively of a portion of foreign books, which were sold by the late Mr. Wheatley) was intended merely to be a sale catalogue, without bibliographical remarks; but I must except Parts II, IV, and XI: the first of these containing the _Drama_, the second the _English Poetry_, and the third the _Manuscripts_--which, comparatively, luxuriate in copious and apposite description. "Si sic omnia!" but it were impracticable. I believe that the Manuscript Department, comprised in about 1720 articles, produced upwards of £5000. It may not be amiss to subjoin the following programme. Part. I. 7486 articles; Sold by Sotheby II. 6590 ---- Ditto III. 5056 ---- Ditto IV. 3067 ---- Sold by Evans V. 5693 ---- Sold by Wheatley VI. 4666 ---- Sold by Evans VII. 6797 ---- Ditto VIII. 3170 ---- Ditto IX. 3218 ---- Sold by Sotheby X. 3490 ---- Ditto XI. 1717 ---- Sold by Evans XII. 1690 ---- Sold by Wheatley From which it should seem, first that the total number of _articles_ was nearly _fifty three thousand_--a number that almost staggers belief; and places the collections of Tom Rawlinson and the Earl of Oxford at a very considerable distance behind; although the latter, for _condition_ (with ONE exception), has never been equalled, and perhaps will probably never be surpassed. Secondly, if it be a _legitimate_ mode of computation--taking two books for each article, one with another, throughout the entire catalogue--it will follow that the entire library of Mr. Heber, in England, contained not fewer than _one hundred and five thousand volumes_. The _net_ amount of the SALE of this unparalleled mass of books is said to have been £55,000: a large sum, when the deductions from commissionship and the government-tax be taken into consideration.[475] Dr. Harwood thought that the sale of Askew Library was a remarkable one, from its bringing a guinea per article--one with another--of the 4015 articles of which the library was composed. The _history_ of the Heber Sale might furnish materials for a little jocund volume, which can have nothing to do here; although there is more than _one_ party, mixed up with the tale, who will find anything but cause of _mirth_ in the recital. That such a MONUMENT, as this library, should have been suffered to crumble to pieces, without a syllable said of its owner, is, of all the marvellous occurrences in this marvellous world, one of the most marvellous: and to be deprecated to the latest hour. Yet, who was surrounded by a larger troop of friends than the Individual who raised the Monument? [Footnote 475: These deductions, united, are about 17 per cent.: nearly £10,000 to be deducted from the gross proceeds.] One anecdote may be worth recording. The present venerable and deeply learned President of Magdalen College, Oxford, told me that, on casting up the number of odd--or appendant volumes, (as 2 or 12 more) to the several articles in the catalogue--he found it to amount to _four thousand_. Now, primâ facie, it seems hardly credible that there should have been _such_ a number, in _such_ a library, not deserving of mention as distinct articles: but it must be taken into consideration that Mr. Heber bought _many_ lots for the sake of _one_ particular book: and, considering the enormous extent of his library, it is not a very violent supposition, or inference, that these 4000 volumes were scarcely deserving of a more particular notice. PONTEVALLO was the late JOHN DENT, Esq., whose library was sold in 1827; and of which library that of the late Robert Heathcote formed the basis. It contained much that was curious, scarce, and delectable; but the sale of it exhibited the first grand melancholy symptoms of the decay of the Bibliomania. The Sweynheym and Pannartz Livy of 1469, UPON VELLUM, was allowed to be knocked down for £262! Mr. Evans, who had twice before sold that identical volume--first, in the sale of Mr. Edwards's library (see _Bibliographical Decameron_, vol. iii. p.--) and secondly in that of the late Sir M.M. Sykes, Bart, (who had purchased the book for £782)--did all that human powers could do, to obtain a higher bidding--but Messrs. Payne and Foss, with little more than the _breathing_ of competition, became the purchasers at the very moderate sum first mentioned. From them it seemed to glide naturally, as well as necessarily, into the matchless collection of the Rt. Hon. Thomas Grenville. I yet seem to hear the echo of the clapping of Sir M.M. Sykes's hands, when I was the herald of the intelligence of his having become the purchaser! These echoes have all died away _now_: unless indeed they are likely to be revived by a HOLFORD or a BOTTFIELD. Hortensius was the late Sir WILLIAM BOLLAND, Knt.: and, a few years before his death, one of the Barons of his Majesty's Exchequer. He died in his 68th year. He was an admirable man in all respects. I leave those who composed the domestic circle of which he was the delightful focus, to expatiate upon that worth and excellence of which they were the constant witnesses and participators-- "He best shall _paint_ them who shall _feel_ them most." To me, the humbler task is assigned of recording what is only more particularly connected with BOOKS and VIRTU. And yet I may, not very inappositely, make a previous remark. On obtaining a seat upon the bench, the first circuit assigned to him was that of "the Oxford." It proved to be heavy in the criminal Calendar: and Mr. Baron Bolland had to pass sentence of death upon three criminals. A maiden circuit is rarely so marked; and I have reason to believe that the humane and warm-hearted feelings of the Judge were never before, or afterwards, subjected to so severe a trial. It was a bitter and severe struggle with all the kindlier feelings of his heart. But our theme is BOOKS. His library was sold by public auction, under Mr. Evans's hammer, in the autumn of 1840. One anecdote, connected with his books, is worth recording. In my Decameron, vol. iii. p. 267, mention will be found of a bundle of poetical tracts, belonging to the Chapter-library at Lincoln, round which, on my second visit to that library, I had, in imitation of Captain Cox (see page -- ante), entwined some whip-cord around them--setting them apart for the consideration of the Dean and Chapter, whether a _second_ time, I might not become a purchaser of some of their book-treasures? I had valued them at fourscore guineas. The books in question will be found mentioned in a note at page 267 of the third volume of the Bibliographical Decameron. I had observed as follows in the work just referred to, "What would Hortensius say to the gathering of such flowers, to add to the previously collected _Lincoln Nosegay_?" The reader will judge of my mingled pleasure and surprise (dashed however with a few grains of disappointment on not becoming the proprietor of them _myself_) when the Baron, one day, after dining with him, led me to his book-case, and pointing to these precious tomes, asked me if I had ever seen them _before_? For a little moment I felt the "Obstupui" of Æneas. "How is this?" exclaimed I. "The secret is in the vault of the Capulets"--replied my Friend--and it never escaped him. "Those ARE the identical books mentioned in your Decameron." Not many years afterwards I learnt from the late Benjamin Wheatley that _he_ had procured them on a late visit to Lincoln; and that _my_ price, affixed, was taken as their just value. Of these Linclonian [Transcriber's Note: Lincolnian] treasures, one volume alone--the Rape of Lucrece--brought ONE HUNDRED GUINEAS at the sale of the Judge's library, beginning on the 18th of November, 1840. See No. 2187; where it should seem that only four other perfect copies are known. The library of the late Mr. Baron Bolland, consisting of 2940 articles, brought a trifle _more_ than a guinea per article. It was choice, curious, and instructively miscellaneous. Its owner was a man of taste as well as a scholar; and the crabbed niceties of his profession had neither chilled his heart nor clouded his judgment. He revelled in his small cabinet of English Coins; which he placed, and almost worshipped, among his fire-side lares. They were, the greater part of them, of precious die--in primitive lustre; and he handled them, and expatiated on them, with the enthusiasm of a Snelling, and the science of a Foulkes. His walls were covered with modern pictures, attractive from historical or tasteful associations. There was nothing but what seemed to "point a moral, or adorn a tale." His passion for books was of the largest scale and dimensions, and marked by every species of almost enviable enthusiasm. His anecdotes, engrafted on them, were racy and sparkling; and I am not quite sure whether it was not in contemplation by him to build a small "_oratoire_" to the memories of Caxton and Wynkyn De Worde. He considered the folios of the latter, in the fifteenth century, to be miracles of typographical execution; and, being a poet himself, would have been in veritable ecstacies had he lived to see the UNIQUE CHAUCER of 1498, which it was my good luck to obtain for the library of the Rt. Hon. Thomas Grenville. I will add but a few specimens of his library-- No. £ _s._ _d._ 26 Armony of Byrdes, printed by Wyght. 12mo., a poem, in six line stanzas. Mr. Heber's copy. A little volume of indescribable rarity 12 15 0 221 Arnold's Chronicle, 4to., printed at Antwerp, by Doesborch (1502)? 9 2 6 406 Boccus and Sydracke, printed by Godfray, at the wits and charge of Robert Saltousde, Monke of Canterbury, 4to. 5 8 6 1092 Cicero de Officiis, Ulric Zel 11 11 0 1156 Chaucer's Troylus and Cresseyde, printed by Pynson. (1526.) Folio. This volume had been successively in the libraries of Hubert, the Duke of Roxburghe, and Mr. Herbert. It was in parts imperfect 25 0 0 1255 Marston's Scourge of Villanie. (1598.) 12mo. First edition: of terrific rarity 18 5 0 1624 Glanville, de Proprietatibus Rerum. Printed by W. de Worde. Folio 17 0 0 1848 Holland's Heroologia Anglica. (1620.) Folio. So tall a copy that it had the appearance of large paper 8 2 6 2138 Shakspeare's Venus and Adonis. (1596.) 12mo. Third edition 91 0 0 2187 Shakspeare's Lucrece. First edition. 1594. Quarto 105 0 0 (This was the Lincoln-Chapter copy.) The entire produce of the sale was £3019. ULPIAN, the associate of Hortensius, was, and _is_ (I rejoice to add) a Barrister-at-Law, and one of the six Clerks in Chancery. In the _Decameron_, vol. iii. p. --, he appears under the more euphonous as well as genial name of PALMERIN: but the "hermitage" there described has been long deserted by its master and mistress--who have transferred their treasures and curiosities to the sea-girt village, or rather town, of Ryde and its vicinity: where stained-glass windows and velvet bound tomes are seen to yet greater advantage. LEONTES, mentioned at page 133, was the late JAMES BINDLEY, Esq.--of whom a few interesting particulars will be found in the third volume of my _Bibliographical Decameron_. He died before the publication of this latter work. Sir TRISTREM was the late Sir WALTER SCOTT--then in the effulgence of poetical renown! PROSPERO was the late FRANCIS DOUCE, Esq. My Reminiscences make copious mention of these celebrated characters. AURELIUS was intended as the representative of the late GEORGE CHALMERS, Esq.--the most learned and the most celebrated of all the Antiquarians and Historians of Scotland. His CALEDONIA is a triumphant proof of his giant-powers. Never before did an author encounter such vast and various difficulties: never was such thick darkness so satisfactorily dispersed. It is a marvellous work, in four large quarto volumes; but so indifferently printed, and upon such wretched paper, that within the next century, perhaps, not six copies of it will be found entire. The less laborious works of Mr. Chalmers were statistical and philological. Of the latter, his tracts relating to _Shakspeare_, and his Life of _Mary Queen of Scots_ may be considered the principal. On the death of Mr. George Chalmers in 1823, his nephew became possessed of his library; and on the death of the nephew, in 1841, it was placed by the executors in the hands of Mr. Evans, who brought the first part to sale on the 27th of September, 1841. It consisted of 2292 articles, and produced the sum of £2190. The Second Part was brought to the same hammer, on February 27, 1842, and produced the sum of £1918 2_s._ 6_d._ It is on the _latter_ part that I am disposed to dwell more particularly, because it was so eminently rich in Shakspearian lore; and because, at this present moment, the name of our immortal dramatist seems to be invested with a fresh halo of incomparable lustre. The first edition of his smaller works has acquired most extraordinary worth in the book-market. The second part of Mr. Chalmers's collection shews that the _Sonnets_ of 1595 produced a hundred guineas; while the _Rape of Lucrece_ (which, perhaps, no human being has ever had the perseverance to read through) produced £105 in a preceding sale: see page 591. The _Venus and Adonis_ has kept close pace with its companions. We may now revel among the rarities of the FIRST PART of this extraordinary collection-- No. £ _s._ _d._ 123 Bale's Comedy concernynge thre Lawes of Nature, Moses and Christ, corrupted by the Sodomytes, Pharisees and Papystes most wicked, wants the title, first edition, curious portrait of the Author, excessively rare. Inprented per Nicholaum Bamburgensem, 1538 10 0 0 488 Wilkins' Concilia Magnæ Britanniæ et Hiberniæ, 4 vols. 1737. Folio 25 0 0 [Such a price is one among the few _harmless_ fruits of the Puseian Controversy!] 958 Churchyard's Worthiness of Wales, first edition, very rare, 1587. Quarto 24 0 0 [In my earlier days of Book-collecting, I obtained a copy of this most rare volume, in an _uncut state_, from a Mr. Keene, of Hammersmith, who asked me "if I thought _half-a-guinea_ an extravagant price for it?" I unhesitatingly replied in the negative. Not long after, the late Mr. Sancho, who succeeded Mr. Payne, at the Mews Gate, went on his knees to me, to purchase it for _two guineas_! His attitude was too humble and the tone of his voice too supplicatory to be resisted. He disposed of it to his patron-friend, the Hon. S. Elliott, for five pounds five shillings. Mr. Elliott had a very choice library; and was himself a most amiable and incomparable man. It is some twenty-five years since I first saw him at the late Earl Spencer's, at Althorp.] 960 Churchyard. The Firste of Churchyardes Chippes, containinge Twelue seuerall Labours, green morocco, gilt leaves, 1578 0 0 0 The Second Part of Churchyard's Chips was never published. 961 Churchyard's Generall Rehearsall of Warres, called Churchyardes Choise, imprinted by White, 1579 7 7 0 The latter part of this Work is in Verse, and some have supposed that Churchyard intended it to form the Second Part of his Chips. 1146 Gascoyne's Delicate Diet for Daintie Mouthde Droonkardes, excessively rare; only one other copy known, namely, that which was in the Libraries of G. Steevens and R. Heber.--See Heber's Catalogue, part iv. no. 771. Imprinted by Johnes, 1576 11 11 0 1182 ---- Wolsey's Grammar. Rudimenta Grammatices et Docendi Methodus Scholæ Gypsuichianæ per Thomam Cardinalem Ebor, institutam, &c., rare, Antv. 1536 4 19 0 The Preface, containing directions for the Conduct of the School, is written by Cardinal Wolsey. The Grammar is by Dean Colet and Lilly. 1295 The Complete History of Cornwall, Part II., being the Parochial History, (by William Hals,) extremely rare 15 0 0 This is one of the rarest books in the class of British Topography. The first part was never printed, it has therefore no general title. A copy is in the library of the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville. 1314 Patrick Hannay's Nightingale, Sheretine, Happy Husband, Songs, Sonnets, &c., with the frontispiece, including the extremely rare Portrait of Patrick Hannay, an excessively rare volume when perfect, 1622 13 5 0 We believe only one other perfect copy is known, that which was successively in the Libraries of Bindley, Perry, Sykes, and Rice. No poetical volume in the libraries of these celebrated collectors excited a more lively interest, or a keener competition. This was obtained by Mr. Chalmers at Pinkerton's sale in 1812. The Portrait of Hannay is a great desideratum to the Granger Collectors. 1436 Hutton's (Henry Dunelmensis) Follic's Anatomie, or Satyrs and Satyricall Epigrams, 1629. 12mo. 11 11 0 1461 De Foe. Review of the Affairs of France and of all Europe, as influenced by that Nation, with Historical Observations on Public Affairs, and an entertaining part in every sheet (by Defoe), 8 vols., excessively rare. The most perfect copy known, 1705 41 0 0 This is the great desideratum of all the collectors of De Foe's works. It is the most perfect copy known; that which approaches it the nearest is the copy in the British Museum; but that only extends to 6 vols. 1508 Cronycle of Englonde wyth the Frute of Tymes, compyled by one somtyme Mayster of Saynt Albons. Newly enprynted by Wynkyn de Worde, 1497. The Descrypcyon of Englonde (in Prose), also the Descrypcyon of the Londe of Wales, in verse, emprynted by me Wynkyn de Worde, 1498, 2 vols. in 1. The first editions by Wynkyn de Worde, extremely rare 48 0 0 1738 Fulwell's (Ulpian) Flower of Fame, containing the bright renowne and most fortunate raigne of King Henry VIII., wherein is mentioned of matters, by the rest of our Cronographers ouerpassed, in verse and prose, extremely rare, imprinted by Hoskins, 1575 9 2 0 See an account of this very curious work in the Censura Literaria, vol. 5, p. 164 to 168, written by Gilchrist. It was described from the late Mr. Neunberg's Copy, which was sold for £30. 9_s._ 1739 Fulwell (Ulpian). The First Parte of the Eighth Liberall Science: entituled Ars Adulandi, the Arte of Flatterie, first edition, excessively rare, title mended, a piece wanting in the centre. 4to. Imprinted by Jones, 1579 17 0 0 1877 (Marlowe) the true Tragedie of Richarde Duke of Yorke, and the Death of Good King Henrie the Sixt, with the whole contention betweene the two Houses Lancaster and Yorke, as it was sundrie times acted by the Right Honourable the Earle of Pembroke, his servants, first edition, excessively rare, and believed to be unique, very fine copy, printed at London by P.S. 1595. 4to. 131 0 0 [I refer with pleasure to Mr. Evans' long, learned, and satisfactory note upon this most precious volume; which I had the satisfaction of seeing in the Bodleian Library, for which it was purchased by Mr. Rodd, the bookseller.] 1965 Greene in Conceipt. New raised from his grave to write the Tragique History of Faire Valeria of London, by J. D(ickenson), very rare. 4to. 1598 15 15 0 1983 Hake, of Gold's Kingdom, described in sundry poems, 1604, 12mo. 13 0 0 1984 Hakluyt. Divers Voyages touching the Discoverie of America, and the Islands adjacent unto the same, made first of all by our Englishmen, and afterwards by the Frenchmen and Britons, with both the maps, excessively rare, only one other copy known to contain the two maps. Imprinted by Woodcocke, 1582. 4to. 25 0 0 2209 Hogarde (Myles) 19 5 0 "A Mirrour of Loue, Which such light doth giue, That all men may learne, How to loue and liue." Imprinted by Caly, 1555. PART II. 163 Fraunce's (Abraham) Lamentations of Amintas for the death of Phillis, a Poem; excessively rare 20 10 0 164 Fyssher's (Jhon, Student of Oxford) Poems written in Dialogue, wants the title and part of a leaf, extremely rare. Imprinted by John Tisdale, 1558 9 9 0 171 Gascoigne's Whole Woorkes, with the Comedy of Supposes and the Steele Glasse, best edition, very fine copy, in Russia. Imprinted by Jesse, 1587 10 15 0 At the end of the Volume there is a Tract by Gascoigne, entitled "Certain Notes of Instruction concerning the Making of verses, or Rimes, in English." The Tract is not mentioned in the list of contents on the title, and the four leaves very rarely occur. 450 Marshall's (George) Compendious Treatise, in Metre, declaring the Firste Originall of Sacrifice, and of the buylding of Aultars and Churches, a Poem, extremely rare. Cawood, 1534 20 10 0 479 Harvey's (Gabriel) Foure Letters and certaine Sonnets, especially touching Robert Greene and other Parties by him abused. Printed by Wolfe, 1592 10 10 0 Gabriel Harvey was the intimate friend of Spenser. The immediate occasion of Harvey's writing these letters was to resent Greene's attack on his Father; but the permanent value of the Volume is the very interesting notices Harvey gives of his literary contemporaries. The work concludes with a Sonnet of Spenser, addressed to Harvey. 470 Meeting of Gallants at an Ordinarie, or the Walkes of Powles, very scarce, 1604. 12mo. 15 15 0 This scarce and curious little volume is not mentioned by Lowndes. The work commences with a Poetical Dialogue between Warre, Famine, and Pestilence. The Tales of my Landlord then follow, "Where the Fatte Host telles Tales at the upper ende of the Table." Mine host, however, does not have all the conversation to himself. The guests take a very fair share. One of the interlocutors, Gingle-Spur, alludes to one of Shakspeare's Plays. "This was a prettie Comedy of Errors, my round Host." [I shall place all the SHAKSPEARIAN ARTICLES consecutively; that the Reader may observe in what a rapid ratio their pecuniary value has increased. Of the sonnets, the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville possesses one copy, and Thomas Jolley, Esq., another. The History of the acquisition of the _latter_ copy is one of singular interest; almost sufficient to add _another_ day to a Bibliographical Decameron. This copy is in pristine condition, and looks as if snatched from the press. Mr. Jolley also possesses a very fine and perfect copy of the first edition of Shakspeare's Works, in folio; but a similar copy, in the library of the Right Honourable Thomas Grenville, will, perhaps, always continue UNRIVALLED.] 558 Shakspeare's Venus and Adonis; unique. Edinburgh, by John Writtoun, and are to bee sold in his shop, a little beneath the Salt Trone, 1627 37 10 0 We are always extremely cautious in using the designation unique; but we think we may safely do so upon the present occasion. We have made very extensive inquiries on the subject, and have recently written to David Laing, Esq., Keeper of the Library of the Writers to the Signet, from whom we have received a confirmation of our belief. Beloe, in describing this copy, says "it must be considered as an indubitable proof that at a very early period the Scotch knew, and admired, the genius of Shakspeare." He might have continued, its proceeding from the press of Writtoun, was an additional proof, as he only published small Popular Tracts. Beloe has erroneously given the date 1607, and Lowndes has copied his error. The first books printed by Writtoun were about 1624. His will is printed in the Bannatyne Miscellany. The second edition of this precious Poem, printed in 1596, produced the sum of £91, at the sale of Baron Bolland's library: see page 591, ante. 974 [Transcriber's Note: 934] Shakespeare's Comedies, Tragedies, and Histories, first edition. The title a reprint, but the Portrait Original. With the Verses of Ben Jonson, original, but inlaid, blue morocco, 1623 41 0 0 935 Shake-Speares Sonnets, neuer before imprinted, extremely rare, most beautiful copy, in Russia. London, by G. Eld for T.T. and are to be solde by William Apsley, 1609 105 0 0 936 Shakspeare's Most Excellent Historie of the Merchant of Venice, with the Extreame Crueltie of Shylock the Jew, first edition, extremely rare, printed by J. R(oberts) for Thomas Heyes, 1600 10 0 0 937 Another Copy, second edition, very scarce, printed by J. Roberts, 1600 0 0 0 938 Another Copy, 1637 0 0 0 939 Shakspeare's Midsommer Nights Dreame, second edition, printed by James Roberts, 1600 105 0 0 940 Shakspeare's Most Lamentable Tragedie of Titus Andronicus, second edition, very scarce, 1611 15 0 0 Only one perfect copy of the first edition is known. 941 Shakspeare, his True Chronicle History of the Life and Death of King Lear and his Three Daughters, second edition, printed for N. Butter, 1608 14 14 0 942 Shakspeare's Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid, with the Conceited Wooing of Pandoras Prince of Licia, first edition, extremely rare, imprinted by G. Eld, 1609 12 15 0 948 Shakspeare's Richard the Second, with new additions of the Parliament Scene, and the deposing of King Richard 5 0 0 [There were many other early editions of the Plays of Shakspeare, but the preceding were the most prominent.] 688 Ovid. The Flores of Ouide de Arte Amandi, with their Englysshe afore them and two Alphabete Tablys, extremely rare, very fine copy Wynandus de Worde, 1513 10 15 0 [This edition was wholly unknown to me.] 659 Newton's (T.) Atropeion Delion, or the Death of Delia, (Queen Elizabeth) with the Teares of her Funerall, very scarce, 1603 10 15 0 565 Hilarie (Hughe) The Resurrection of the Masse, with the Wonderful Vertues of the Same, a Poem, excessively rare, imprinted at Strasburgh in Elsas, 1554 18 0 0 This is a very bitter satire on the Ceremonies, Doctrines, and Ministers of the Roman Catholic Church. 567 Skelton. Here after foloweth certaine Bokes complyed by Mayster Skelt[=o], Poet Laureat, Speake Parot, Ware the Hawke, Tunnynge of Eleanoure Rummyne, &c., Imprinted by Kynge and Marche. Here after foloweth a little boke called Colyn Clout, by Master Skelton Poete Laureate, imprynted by Veale. Here after foloweth a little boke, Why come ye not to Courte, by Mayster Skelton, Poet Laureate. This is Skelton's celebrated Satire against Cardinal Wolsey, imprinted by Veale. A little Boke of Philip Sparow, by Mayster Skelton, Poete Laureate, imprinted by Walley--a very curious collection of Poems by Skelton, each very rare, in Bussia [Transcriber's Note: Russia] 23 10 0 In D'Israeli's recent Work, the Amenities of Literature, there is an excellent article upon Skelton, which contains many acute and original observations. Speaking of the Skeltonical Verse, D'Israeli says, "In the quick-returning rhymes, the playfulness of the diction, and the pungency of New Words, usually ludicrous, often expressive, and sometimes felicitous, there is a stirring spirit, which will be best felt in an audible reading. The velocity of his verse has a carol of its own. The chimes ring in the ear, and the thoughts are flung about like wild Coruscations." See vol. 2, p. 69 to 82. Octavo. 845 Pierce Plowman. Newes from the North, otherwise called the Conference between Simon Certain and Pierce Plowman, faithfully collected by T.F. Student, extremely rare. E. Allde, 1585 13 0 0 916 S. (R.) The Phoenix Nest, built up with the most rare and refined workes of noblemen, woorthy knightes, gallant gentlemen, masters of arts and braue schollers, full of varietie, excellent invention and singular delight, never before this time published, set foorth by R.S. of the Inner Temple, Gentleman, excessively rare. Imprinted by John Jackson, 1593 40 0 0 Mr. Heber had written in his Copy, "Mr. Malone has a copy bought at Dr. Farmer's Sale, (now in the Bodleian Library,) but I know of no other." We may add, those two copies, and the present, are the only perfect copies known. 1086 Sidney's (Sir Phillip) Apologie for Poetrie, first edition, excessively rare. Printed for Henry Olney, 1595 15 5 0 "Foure Sonnets written by Henrie Constable to Sir Philip Sidneys Soule" are prefixed. These have not been reprinted in the subsequent editions. Only three other copies of the first edition of this elegant and valuable Treatise are known. One of which is in the British Museum, and one in the Bridgewater Library. The Third Part of Mr. Chalmers's library--abundantly rich in Scotch literature, and containing much valuable illustration of the HISTORY OF PRINTING IN SCOTLAND, will probably quickly succeed the publication of this Work. Mr. Chalmers had frequently expressed to me his intention as well as inclination to give a complete History of the SCOTISH PRESS; and if the materials collected by him find their way into his native country, it is to be hoped that some enterprising spirit, like that which animates the present Librarian of the Signet Library, will find sufficient encouragement to bring them before the public. I bargain for a _Quarto_. MENALCAS (whose fame expands more largely in the _Bibliographical Decameron_ and _Reminiscences_) was my old and "very singular good friend" the Rev. HENRY JOSEPH THOMAS DRURY, Rector of Fingest, and Second Master of Harrow School; second, because he declined to become the _first_. His library, so rich and rare in classical lore--manuscript as well as printed--was sold by Mr. Evans in 1827. The catalogue contained not fewer than 4729 articles. The bindings, chiefly in Lewisian calf and morocco, were "de toute beauté;" and the "oblong cabinet" sparkled as the setting sun shot its slanting rays down the backs of the tomes. Of this catalogue there were 35 copies only printed upon writing paper, for presents. This library was strikingly illustrative of the character of its LATE owner; for it is little more than a twelvemonth since he has been called away from that numerous and endearing circle, in the midst of which I saw him sitting, about a twelvemonth before his departure--the happiest of the happy--on the day of the nuptials of his youngest daughter but one, with Captain Beavan. His books were in fine condition throughout--gaily attired in appropriate bindings of calf or morocco, as the character and condition might be. His love of old classical _Manuscripts_ was properly and greatly beyond that of printed books: but each class was so marked and identified by his calligraphical MS. notes, that you were in a moment convinced his books were not purchased for the mere sake of gorgeous furniture. So entirely were his classical feelings mixed up with his Library, that he prefixed, over the entrance door of his oblong cabinet, in printed letters of gold, the following lines--of which the version is supplied from the "_Arundines Cami_," edited by his eldest son, the Rev. Henry Drury. IN MUSEI MEI ADITU. Pontificum videas penetralibus eruta lapsis Antiquas Monachum vellera passa manus, Et veteres puncto sine divisore Papyros, Quæque fremit monstris litera picta suis: Ætatis decimæ spectes Industria Quintæ: Quam pulcra Archetypos imprimat arte Duces ALDINAS ædes ineuns et limina JUNTÆ Quosque suos Stephanus vellet habere Lares. H.I.T.D. OVER THE THRESHOLD OF MY LIBRARY. From mouldering Abbey's dark Scriptorium brought, See vellum tomes by Monkish labour wrought; Nor yet the comma born, Papyri see, And uncial letters wizard grammary; View my _fifteeners_ in their rugged line; What ink! what linen! only known long syne-- Entering where ALDUS might have fixed his throne, Or Harry Stephens covetted his own. H.D. They were part and parcel of the _Owner_ himself. His mind was traceable in many a fly leaf. His latinity was perspicuity and accuracy itself. He was, in all respects, a ripe and a good scholar; and the late Provost of Eton (The Rev. Dr. Goodall) told me, on an occasion which has been, perhaps, too _emphasised_ in certain bibliographical pages,[476] that "England could not then produce a better Greek metrical scholar than his friend Henry Drury." What was remarkable, he never assumed an _ex Cathedrâ_ position in society. In bringing forward or pressing quotations, whatever fell from him, came easily and naturally, but rarely. Accustomed for many years to be the favourite of the _Harrovians_, he never affected the airs of the pedagogue. How he _could_ criticise, sufficiently appears in an article on the _Musæ Edinburgenses_ in an early number of the Quarterly Review. [Footnote 476: _Bibliographical Decameron._ Dr. Goodall always appeared to me to _affect_ irascibility upon the subject alluded to. The contents might have been published at Charing Cross.] Yet this may be considered secondary matter; and I hasten to record the qualities of his heart and disposition. They were truly Christian-like; inasmuch as a fond and large spirit of benevolence was always beating in his bosom, and mantling over a countenance of singular friendliness of expression. He had the _power_ of saying sharp and caustic things, but he used his "giant-strength" with the gentleness of a child. His letters, of which many hundreds have fallen to my lot, are a perfect reflex of his joyous and elastic mind. There was not a pupil under his care who looked forward to a _holiday_ with more unqualified delight than _he_; and when we strayed together beneath, or upon the heights of, the Dover Cliffs (where I _last_ saw him, in the summer of 1840) he would expatiate, with equal warmth and felicity, upon the Abbey of St. Rhadagund, and the Keep of Dover Castle. Our visit to Barfreston Church, in the neighbourhood, can never be effaced from my mind. His mental enthusiasm and bodily activity could not have been exceeded by that of the Captain of Harrow School. He took up my meditated "History of the Dover" as if it were his own work; and his success, in cause of subscription, in most instances, was complete. And now, after an intimacy (minutely recorded in my _Reminiscences_) of thirty-three years, it has pleased God to deprive me of his genial and heart-stirring society. His last moments were of those of a Christian--"rooted and built up" in THAT belief, which alone sustains us in the struggle of parting from those whom we cherish as the most idolised objects upon earth! It was towards sun-set that I first paused upon his tomb, in the church-yard, near the summit of Harrow Hill. For a few moments I was breathless--but _not_ from the steepness of the ascent. The inscription, I would submit, is too much in the "minor key." It was the production of his eldest son, who preferred to err from under-rating, rather than over-rating, the good qualities of his parent. For myself-- "As those we love decay, we die in part; String after string is severed from the heart!" &c. &c. &c. THOMSON. On the death of Mr. Drury, his small library, the remains of his former one, was sold by auction; and those classical books, interleaved, and enriched with his manuscript notes, brought large prices. One manuscript, of especial celebrity--_Childe Harold_--given him by the Author, his pupil, Lord Byron--became the property of its publisher, Mr. Murray; who purchased it upon terms at once marking his high sense of the talents of the author, and his respect for the family where it had been placed. It may be doubtful whether the autograph of any poem, since Paradise Lost, would have obtained a larger sum--had it been submitted to public sale. RINALDO.--Rinaldo was the late Mr. EDWARDS; of the sale of whose library an extended account will be found in my Decameron. It remains, briefly, but emphatically, to remark, that of all the book heroes, whose valorous achievements are here recorded, TWO only have survived the lapse of thirty years. Let _half_ of another similar course of time roll on, and where will the SURVIVORS be? If not at rest in their graves, they will in all probability be "sans teeth, sans eyes, sans everything:"--at least, very far beyond "the lean and slippered pantaloon." Leaving my surviving friends to fight their own battles, I think I may here venture to say, in quiet simplicity and singleness of heart, that books, book-sales, and book-men, will then--if I am spared--pass before me as the faint reflex of "the light of OTHER DAYS!" ... when literary enterprise and literary fame found a proportionate reward; and when the sickly sentimentality of the novelist had not usurped the post of the instructive philologist. But enough of ROSICRUSIS. [Illustration: CONSTANTIA LABORE ET] PART IV. THE LIBRARY. This Part embraces the _History of Literature_, in the formation of Libraries, from the Conquest to the commencement of the reign of Henry VIII., and undoubtedly contains much that is curious and instructive. Two new characters only are introduced: LORENZO and NARCOTTUS. The former was intended to represent the late Sir Masterman Mark Sykes, Bart.: the latter, a William Templeman, Esq., of Hare Hatch, Berkshire. Sir Mark Sykes was not less known than respected for the suavity of his manners, the kindness of his disposition, and the liberality of his conduct on all matters connected with _books_ and _prints_. A long and particular account of his library, and of many of his book-purchases, will be seen in the third volume of the _Bibliographical Decameron_; and at pages 321, 373 of my _Literary Reminiscences_. His library and his prints brought, each, pretty much the same sum: together, £60,000--an astounding result! Sir Mark is the last great bibliomaniacal Sun that has shed its golden, as well as parting, rays, upon a terribly chap-fallen British public! Mr. Templeman, represented as Narcottus, was a great Chess-player: and although Caxton's "Game at Chess" is a mere dull morality, having nothing to do with the game strictly so called, yet he would have everything in his library where the word "Chess" was introduced. In the words of the old catch, he would "add the night unto the day" in the prosecution of his darling recreation, and boasted of having once given a signal defeat to the Rev. Mr. Bowdler, after having been defeated himself by Lord Henry Seymour, the renowned chess-champions of the Isle of Wight. He said he once sat upon Phillidor's knee, who patted his cheek, and told him "there was nothing like Chess and English roast beef." The notice of poor George Faulkner at page 199--one of the more celebrated book-binders of the day, is amplified at page 524 of the second volume of the Decameron; where the painful circumstances attending his death are slightly mentioned. He yet lives, and lives strongly, in my remembrance. Since then, indeed within a very few years, the famous CHARLES LEWIS--of whose bibliopegistic renown the Decameronic pages have expatiated fully--has ceased to be. He was carried off suddenly by an apoplectic seizure. His eldest son--a sort of "spes altera Romæ," in his way--very quickly followed the fate of his father. The name of LEWIS will be always held high in the estimation of bibliopegistic Virtuosi. But the art of Book-binding is not deteriorating: and I am not sure whether JOHN CLARKE, of Frith Street, Soho, be not as "mighty a man" in his way as any of his predecessors. There is a solidity, strength, and squareness of workmanship about his books, which seem to convince you that they may be tossed from the summit of Snowdon to that of Cader Idris without detriment or serious injury. His gilding is first rate; both for choice of ornament and splendour of gold. Nor is his coadjutor, WILLIAM BEDFORD, of less potent renown. He was the great adjunct of the late Charles Lewis--and imbibes the same taste and the same spirit of perseverance. Accident brought me one morning in contact with a set of the New Dugdale's Monasticon, bound in blue morocco, and most gorgeously bound and gilded, lying upon the table of Mr. James Bohn--a mountain of bibliopegistic grandeur! A sort of irrepressible awe kept you back even from turning over the coats or covers! And what a WORK--deserving of pearls and precious stones in its outward garniture! "Who was the happy man to accomplish such a piece of binding?"[477] observed I. "Who BUT John Clarke?"--replied the Bibliopole. [Footnote 477: Good binding--even Roger-Payne-binding--is gadding abroad every where. At Oxford, they have "a spirit" of this description who loses a night's rest if he haplessly shave off the sixteenth part of an inch of a rough edge of an uncut Hearne. My friend, Dr. Bliss, has placed volumes before me, from the same mintage, which have staggered belief as an indigenous production of Academic soil. At Reading, also, some splendid leaves are taken from the same _Book_. Mr. Snare, the publisher, keeps one of the most talented bookbinders in the kingdom--from the school of Clarke; and feeds him upon something more substantial than rose leaves and jessamine blossoms. He is a great man for a halequin's jacket: and would have gone crazy at the sight of some of the specimens at Strawberry Hill. No man can put a varied-coloured morocco coat upon the back of a book with greater care, taste, and success, than our Reading Bibliopegist.] PART V. THE DRAWING-ROOM. This Part is a copious continuation of the History of Book Collectors and Collections up to the year 1810. There is nothing to add in the way of CHARACTER; and the subject itself is amply continued in the tenth day of the _Bibliographical Decameron_. In both works will be found, it is presumed, a fund of information and amusement, so that the Reader will scarcely demand an extension of the subject. Indeed, a little volume would hardly suffice to render it the justice which it merits; but I am bound to make special mention of the untameable perseverance, and highly refined taste, of B.G. Windus, Esq., one of my earliest and steadiest supporters; and yet, doth he not rather take up a sitting in the ALCOVE--amongst _Illustrators of fine Works_? [Illustration: THE CAVE OF DESPAIR. _Drawn by J. Thurston.--Engraved by Robert Branston._] PART VI. THE ALCOVE. A word only:--and that respecting _Illustrated Copies_. Leaving Mr. Windus in full possession of his Raphael Morghens, William Woollets, William Sharpes, &c.--and allowing him the undisturbed relish of gazing upon, and pressing to his heart's core, his _grey_ TURNERS--let me only introduce to the reader's critical attention and admiration the opposite subject, executed by the late Mr. Branston, and exhibiting _The Cave of Despair_ from Spenser's Fairy Queen. The figures were drawn on the blocks by the late J. Thurston, Esq. =Illustrated Copies.= Under the _Illustration_-Symptom of Bibliomania, a fund of amusing anecdote, as well as of instructive detail, presents itself. We may travel in a carriage and four--from morn 'till night--and sweep county after county, in pursuit of all that is exquisite, and rare, and precious, and unattainable in other quarters: but I doubt if our horses' heads can be turned in a direction better calculated to answer all the ends in view than in front of [Illustration: RAVENSBURY LODGE, LOWER MITCHAM,] the residence of the late proprietor of this work. There we once beheld such a copy of the best of all existing _Encyclopædias_--that of the late Dr. REES--as is no where else to be found. It was upon _large_ and _fine_ paper--bound in fourscore volumes--with separately executed title pages, in a style of pure art--and _illustrated_ with not fewer than TEN THOUSAND EXTRA PLATES. The reader may, and will, naturally enough, judge of the wide, if not boundless, field for illustration--comprehending in fact (as the title of the work denounces) the circle of all knowledge, arts and sciences; but he can have no idea of the _manner_ in which this fertile and illimitable field is filled up, till he gazes upon the copy in question. Here then was not only a _reading_, but a _graphic_, LIBRARY IN ITSELF. Whatever other works _profusely_ dilate upon was here _concentrated_--and deeply impressed upon the mind by the charm, as well as the intelligence, of graphical ornament. You seemed to want nothing, as, upon the turning over of every leaf, the prodigality of art ennobled, while it adorned, the solidity of the text. You have kept your horses already waiting three hours--and they are neighing and snorting for food: and you must turn them into the stable for suitable provender--for the owner of this production would tell you that you had scarcely traversed through one-third of the contents of the volumes. He orders an additional fowl to be placed on the spit, and an extra flagon of Combe and Delafield's brightest ale to be forth-coming: while his orchard supplies the requisite addenda of mulberries, pears, and apples, to flank the veritable Lafitte. You drink and are merry. Then comes the Argand Lamp; and down with the Encyclopedistic volumes. The plates look brighter and more beautiful. There is no end of them--nor limits to your admiration. Be it summer or winter, there is food for sustenance, and for the gratification of the most exquisite palate. To contemplate SUCH a performance, the thorough-bred book-votary would travel by torch-light through forty-eight hours of successive darkness!...: But the horses are again neighing--for their homes. You must rouse the slumbering post-boy: for "The bell of the church-clock strikes ONE." * * * * * P.S.--The late Mr. WALMSLEY--who employed me to print this present edition--narrowly watched all our movements, and was much gratified by the appearance of the work, so far as it had gone before his death--frequently urged me to append a short account of the progress of our art during the last thirty years--i.e. since the publication of the former edition of _Bibliomania_. The subject is too diffuse for a mere note: and during the life-time of so many able printers as now exercise their calling in the metropolis, it would be invidious to particularize eminence in our profession (whereas among our immediate predecessors it is, perhaps just to say that there were only _two_ printers of great celebrity, the late _Mr. Bulmer_ and my late father). I shall therefore merely mention some events which have had such influence on our art as that the case is now very different to what it was thirty years ago, when the good execution of printing at once testified to the skill and industry of the printer--as he could command neither good _presses_, _types_, nor _ink_, &c.--paper being then almost the only matter to be had in perfection. We have _now_ excellent and powerful iron presses--Stanhopes, Columbians, Imperials, &c. _Then_ the celebrated specimens of typography were produced by _miserable_ wooden presses. We have _now_ ink of splendid lustre, at a fourth of the cost of fabrication _then_--for both Mr. Bulmer and my father were perpetually trying expensive experiments--and not always succeeding: our ink is now to be depended on for _standing_, it works freely, and can be had at reasonable prices at the extensive factory of Messrs. SHACKELL and LYONS, Clerkenwell, who made the ink used for this work. There are several eminent engineers who make the best of presses. Our _letter_ may safely be pronounced, if not perfect, as near perfection as it will ever reach--and while the celebrated type-foundries of Messrs. CASLON, Chiswell Street, and Messrs. FIGGINS, West Street, are within the reach of the metropolitan printers, there can be no excuse for failing to execute good printing on the score of inferior type. The substitution of the _inking roller_, instead of the cumbrous and inconvenient old balls, has much eased the labours of the pressman and facilitated the regularity of colour. The inking roller at the hand press was adopted, and offered to the printers generally, by my friend, Mr. APPLEGATH, shortly after _steam-printing_ was introduced by my father--about which so much has been said in periodical publications, &c., that it is needless here to enlarge on the subject--more especially as it is principally applicable to work of inferior character, newspapers, reviews, magazines, &c.; and, further, it is not a very tempting subject to the son of him who was led to devote the energies of the latter years of his active life, and the well-earned fortune which his great typographical celebrity had secured, to the adoption of a mode of printing which, how much soever it may benefit newspaper proprietors and others--certainly has done any thing but benefit his family; and has thus added another instance to the many on record of the ill success attending the patronage of inventors. B. BENSLEY. _Woking, Surrey, June_ 18, 1842. * * * * * FINIS. INDEXES. CHRONOLOGICAL, BIBLIOGRAPHICAL, AND GENERAL. CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX. Lovers and Collectors of Books in Great Britain. SEVENTH CENTURY. THEODORE, Archbishop of Canterbury, 165 BENEDICT, BISHOP, Abbot of Weremouth, 165, 166 VENERABLE BEDE, 166 EIGHTH CENTURY. INA, King of the West Saxons, 166 ALOUIN, Abbot of Tours, 167 NINTH CENTURY. SCOTUS ERIGENA, 168 KING ALFRED, 169, 170 KING ATHELSTAN, 170 ST. DUNSTAN, Archbishop of Canterbury, 171 ELEVENTH CENTURY. KING CANUTE, 172 INGULPH, Abbot of Croyland, 172 LANFRANC, Archbishop of Canterbury, 173 ANSELM, Archbishop of Canterbury, 173, 174 GIRALDUS, Archbishop of York, 174 TWELFTH CENTURY. HERMAN, Bishop of Salisbury, 175 THOMAS À BECKET, Archbishop of Canterbury, 175-177 THIRTEENTH CENTURY. GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS, Bishop of St. David's, 178, 179 ROGER BACON, 180-183 FOURTEENTH CENTURY. KING EDWARD THE FIRST, 183 KING EDWARD THE THIRD, 184 RICHARD DE BURY, Bishop of Durham, 185-187 FIFTEENTH CENTURY. JOHN BOSTON, 189, 190 JOHN PLANTAGENET, First Duke of Bedford, 190, 191 THOMAS COBHAM, Bishop of Worcester, 192 ROBERT REDE, Bishop of Chichester, 192 HUMPHREY PLANTAGENET, First Duke of Gloucester, 193 SIR WALTER SHERINGTON, 194 JOHN TIPTOFT, Earl of Worcester, 198 GEORGE NEVILLE, Archbishop of York, 200 KING HENRY THE SEVENTH, 202, 205, 206 SIXTEENTH CENTURY. THE EARL OF SURREY--SIR THOMAS WYATT, 14 KING HENRY THE EIGHTH, 215-217 JOHN COLET, Dean of St. Paul's, 14, 218-220 SIR THOMAS MORE, 220-222 ERASMUS, 222-224 CARDINAL WOLSEY, 225-228 ROBERT WAKEFIELD, 235 JOHN LELAND, 242-246 JOHN BALE, Bishop of Ossory, 246, 247 THOMAS CRANMER, Archbishop of Canterbury, 248, 249 QUEEN ELIZABETH, 249-254 ROGER ASCHAM, 254, 255 WILLIAM CECIL, First Earl of Burleigh, 256 MATTHEW PARKER, Archbishop of Canterbury, 257-261 DR. JOHN DEE, 261, 265 CAPTAIN COX, 266 SIR ROBERT COTTON, 267-269 SIR THOMAS BODLEY, 270-278 SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. KING JAMES THE FIRST, 281 THOMAS CORYATE, 281 HENRY PEACHAM, 282 ROBERT BURTON, 286 JOHN, LORD LUMLEY, 287 HENRY HASTINGS, 287-288 JOHN CLUNGEON, 288 JOHN WARD, 289 THE FERRAR FAMILY, 289-292 ELIAS ASHMOLE, Windsor Herald, 292-296 WILLIAM LAUD, Archbishop of Canterbury, 297, 298 HENRY DYSON, 302 RICHARD SMITH, 302, 303 DR. SEAMAN, 304 FRANCIS NORTH, Lord-Keeper, 309 HON. AND REV. JOHN NORTH, D.D., 310 ANTHONY À WOOD, 312-315 FRANCIS BERNARD, M.D., 316, 317 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. JOHN FELL, Bishop of Oxford, 317, 318 JOHN MORE, Bishop of Ely, 318 SAMUEL PEPYS, 320 JOHN CHURCHILL, First Duke of Marlborough, 321 PRINCE EUGENE, 322 NARCISSUS LUTTRELL, 323 EDWARD WYNNE, 323 HENRY HERBERT, NINTH EARL OF PEMBROKE, 324, 325 JOHN BAGFORD, 326-331 JOHN MURRAY, 331 THOMAS BRITTON, 331-333 THOMAS HEARNE, 333-336 JOHN ANSTIS, Garter King of Arms, 337 REV. JOHN LEWIS, 338-340 JOSEPH AMES--WILLIAM HERBERT, 340 THOMAS BAKER, 341-343 LEWIS THEOBALD, 343 THOMAS RAWLINSON, 343-346 HUMPHREY WANLEY, 346 ROBERT HARLEY, First Earl of Oxford, 347-354 THOMAS OSBORNE, 354, 355 JOHN BRIDGES, 362 ANTHONY COLLINS, 363 MICHAEL MAITTAIRE, 363 RICHARD MEAD, M.P., 364-367 MARTIN FOLKES, 367-369 RICHARD RAWLINSON, 369-371 JOHN (Orator) HENLEY, 371-373 GENERAL JAMES DORMER, 375 JAMES WEST, 376 THOMAS MARTIN, 384-386 SERJEANT WILLIAM FLEETWOOD, 386 ANTHONY ASKEW, M.D., 387-391 JOHN RATCLIFFE, 392, 393 HON. TOPHAM BEAUCLERK, 394 REV. THOMAS CROFTS, 396-398 MARK CEPHAS TUTET, 399, 400 RICHARD WRIGHT, M.D., 401 JOHN HENDERSON, 402 WILLIAM FILLINGHAM, 403 MAJOR THOMAS PEARSON, 403-406 REV. MICHAEL LORT, D.D., 411-413 RIGHT HON. DENIS DALY, 414, 415 CHARLES CHAUNCY, M.D. } NATHANIEL CHAUNCY, } 416, 417 JOHN MUNRO, M.D., 417 REV. RICHARD SOUTHGATE, 419 GEORGE MASON, 419-423 REV. RICHARD FARMER, D.D., 423-427 GEORGE STEEVENS, 427-440 JOHN STRANGE, 441 JOHN WOODHOUSE, 441 GEORGE GALWAY MILLS, 447 JOHN WILKES, 447, 448 JOSEPH RITSON, 448 REV. JONATHAN BOUCHER, 450 WILLIAM PETTY, First Marquess of Lansdowne, 450, 451 REV. JOHN BRAND, 452-454 ISAAC REED, 454-456 ALEXANDER DALRYMPLE, 458 RICHARD PORSON, 458, 459 JOHN MADDISON, 459 EMPEROR JOHN ALEXANDER WOODFORD, 459 RICHARD GOUGH, 460 REV. BENJAMIN HEATH, 460, 554-561 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED OR REFERRED TO:--CRITICISMS ON THEIR INTRINSIC VALUE BEING OCCASIONALLY INTRODUCED IN THE FOREGOING PAGES. AGOSTINI (Lionardo). _Notizie Istorico-Critiche, &c., Scritt. Viniz._, 60 Agrippa (Cornelius). _Vanity of Human Sciences_, 19 _Occult Philosophy_, _ib._ Ames (Joseph). _Typographical Antiquities_, 52 _The same_; by Herbert, 66 _Anonymiana_, 246 _Anthologia Græca._ Dr. Askew's copy upon vellum, 389 Pinelli do. (afterwards Count M'Carthy's), 407 [_De_] _Antiquitate Cantab. Acad._, 170 Antonio (Nicolas). _Biblioth. Hispana Vet. et Nov._, 42 _Archæologia_, 118 Arnold (Richard). _His Chronicle_, 421, 424 _Arthur._ _Robinson's Life, Actes, and Death of_, &c., 374, 403 East's edition of, 422 Copland's do., 422, 450 Ascham (Roger). _Works by Bennet_, 255 Ashmole (Elias). _Theatricum Chemicum_, 125, 135, 167, 184, 200, 234, 262, 295 _Diary_, 293, 294 _Way to Bliss_, 294 _Order of the Garter_, 296, 451 _Assertio Septem Sacramentorum, &c._, 216 _Athenæum_, 280, 301 Audiffredi (Jean Baptiste). _Editiones Romanæ_, 62 _Editiones Italicæ_, _ib._ Baillet (Adrien). _Jugemens des Savans_, 39, 41, 43, 44, 542 _Catalogue des Matières_, 44 _Anti Baillet_, _ib._ Bale (John). _Scriptores Illustres Britanniæ_, 31, 167, 189 _Actes of Englyshe Votaryes_, 174, 176 _Preface to Leland's Laboryouse Journey_, 234, 235 _Ballads._ _Ancient Songs and Ballads._ See Evans, _in the General Index_. Barbier (Antoine Alexandre). _Dictionnaire des Ouvrages Anonymés et Pseudonymes Françoises_, 69 _Cat. des Livres de la Bibliothèque du Conseil d'Etat_, 78 Barclaii (Johannis). _Satyricon_, 12 Barclay (Alexander). _Egloges_, &c., 446 Barnes (Juliana). _On Hawking, Hunting, &c._, 124, 325 West's copy of the St. Albans' edition of, 382 Mason's copy of do., 422 ---- ---- of Copland's edition, _ib._ Martin's, of Wynkyn de Worde's, 385 Tutet's, of do., 400 Bartholin (Thomas). _De Libris Legendis_, 43 Bauer (John Jacob). _Bibliotheca Librorum Rariorum Universalis_, 57, 167 Beloe (Rev. Wm.) _Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books_, 52, 444, 468, 549 Beughem (Cornelius De). _Incunabula Typographica_, 45 _Bibliogr. Erudit. Crit.-Curiosa_, _ib._ _Gallia Erudita_, _ib._ Beyer (Augustus). _Memoriæ Hist.-Criticæ Libror. Rarior._, 56 _Arcana Sacra Bibliothecar. Dresdens_, _ib._ _Biblia Polyglot Complut._, 407 _Bibliographia Scotica._ Ritson's MS. of, 448 _Bibliographie Curieuse._ See Peignot. _Bibliographie des Pays Bas_, 74 _Bibliomania_, 487, 491, 496, 513, 528 _Bibliosophia_, 487, 491, 495, 497, 511, 515, 522, 525, 528 _Bibliotheca Lusitana_, by Machado, 54 _Biographia Britannica._ An extraordinary copy of, 449 Blount (Sir Thomas Pope). _Censura Celebriorum Authorum_, 45 Boccaccio (Giovanni), _Il Teseide_, 389 _Decamerone_, 526 Bolduanus (Paul). _Bibliotheca Historica_, 35 Boucher (De la Richarderie). _Bibliothèque Universelle des Voyages_, 69 Braithwait (Richard). _Arcadian Princesse_, 133, 286, 299-301 _Nursery for Gentry_, 299 _English Gentleman and Gentlewoman_, 299 Braun (Placid). _Notitia Hist.-Crit. de libris ab art. typog. inv._, 64 _Notitia Hist.-Liter. de Cod. MSS. in Bibl. Monast. Ord. St. Bened._, &c., 64 Bridgman (Richard Whalley). _Legal Bibliography_, 472 _British Bibliographer_, 52, 171, 216, 468 _British Librarian_, by Savage, 52, 468 Broughton (Hugh). _Concent of Scripture_--upon vellum, 399 Brunet (J.C.). _Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres_, 69, 70 Bry (Theodore De). _Perigrationes_, &c., 410 Brydges (Sir Samuel Egerton, K.J.) _Censura Literaria_, 348, 358 Bure (Guillaume François De). _Bibliographie Instructive_, 24, 58, 137, 145, 161, 166 _Musæum Typographicum_, 58 _Cat. des Livres de Gaignat_, _ib._ _Appel aux Savans_, _ib._ _Reponse à une Critique de la Bibl. Instr._, 58, 59 Bure (G.F. De Fils). _Cat. des livres du Duc de la Valliere_, 97 Burnet (George). _Specimens of English Prose Writers_, 159, 255 Burnet (Gilbert). _Hist. of the Reformation_, 151, 228, 229, 232, 236, 238, 318 Burton (Robert). _Anatomy of Melancholy_, 286 Bury (Richard De). _Philobiblion, sine de Amore Librorum_, 29, 185, 186 Byddell (John). _Maner and Forme of Confession_, 224 Bysshop (John). _Beautifull Blossomes_, 453 Caballero (R.D.). _De prima Typog. Hist. Ætat. Specimen_, 48 Cæsar. _De Bell. Gall._, 106, 165 Caille (Jean De La). _Hist. de l'Imprimerie et de la Librarie_, 48 Cailleau. _Dictionnaire Bibliographique_, 42, 62, 67, 68, 97 Caillot (Antoine). _Roman Bibliographique_, 145, 487 Camden (William). _Remaines_, 10, 168 _Annales_, 106, 116 Camus (Amurand Gaston). _Observations sur la distribution, &c., des livres d'une Bibliothèque_, 65 _Additions aux mêmes_, _ib._ _Memoires sur une livre Allemand (Teurdanckhs)_, 65 _Addition aux mêmes_, _ib._ _Memoire, &c., sur le Polytypage et Stereotype_, _ib._ _Rapport sur la Continuation, &c., des Hist. de France_, _ib._ _Notice d'un Livre imprimé à Bamberg_, _ib._ _Memoire sur la Collection des grands et petits Voyages_, _ib._ _Voyage dans les départmens réunis_, 68 Cardona (J.B.) _De reg. Sanct. Lament. bibliotheca_, 33 _De Bibliothecis, &c._, _ib._ _De expurgandis Hæreticorum propr. nom._, _ib._ _De Dypthicis_, _ib._ Casaubon (Meric). _A Relation concerning Dee and some spirits_, 262 Casiri (Michael). _Biblioth. Arab. Hisp. Escurial._, 42 _Catalogues: Foreign._ Augsbourg, 72, 73 Aurivillius, 73 Badenhaupt, _ib._ Baluze, _ib._ Barberini, _ib._ Barthelemy, 74 Bern, 98 _Bibliog. des Pays Bas._, 74 Bonnier, 75 Boutourlin, _ib._ Boze, _ib._ Bozérian, _ib._ Bulteau, _ib._ Bunau, 75 Bunneman, _ib._ Caillard, _ib._ Cambis, 77 Camus De Limare, _ib._ _Catalogue des Livres Rares_ _par De Bure_, _ib._ _fait sur un plan nouveau_, _ib._ _Catalogus Librorum Rarissimorum_, _ib._ Ceran, 78 Clement-Vatican, _ib._ Colbert, 78, 162 Conseil d'Etat, 78 Cordes, _ib._ Cotte, 79 Couvay, _ib._ Crevenna, 48, 55, 79 Crozat, 80 Damme [Van], _ib._ Dubois, _ib._ Elzevir, _ib._ Fagel, _ib._ Faultrier, _ib._ Favier, _ib._ Fay [Du], _ib._ Fresne [Du], 81 Gaignat, 81, 162 Genève, 81 Goez, _ib._ Golowkin, _ib._ Gouttard, _ib._ Guyon, _ib._ Heinsius (Nic.), 82 Hohendorf, _ib._ Hoym, _ib._ Hulsius, 82, 552 Jena, 82 Jesu-Soc., 83 Just (St.), _ib._ Krohn, _ib._ Lamoignon, 83, 84 Lancelot, 84 Lemarié, _ib._ Lomenie De Brienne, 84, 85 Macarthy (Ct.), 85 Magliabechi, 85, 86 Mark (St.), 87 Medici-Lorenzo, _ib._ Manarsiana, _ib._ Menckenius, _ib._ Meon, _ib._ Mercier, 88 Merigot, _ib._ Michael (St.), _ib._ Mirabeau, _ib._ Miromenil, 89 Montfaucon, _ib._ Morelli, _ib._ Paris, 90 Petau and Mansart, _ib._ Pinelli, 91, 406, 407 Pompadour, 91 Préfond, 91 Randon de Boisset, _ib._ Reimannius, _ib._ Renati, _ib._ Revickzky, 92 Rive, _ib._ Roi (Louis XV.), 92, 93, 186 Röver, 93 Rothelin, 9 Sarraz, _ib._ Sartori, _ib._ Schalbruck, _ib._ Schwartz, _ib._ Scriverius, _ib._ Serna Santander, 94 Solger, 95, 162 Soubise, 96 Tellier, _ib._ Thuanus (De Thou), _ib._ Uffenbach, _ib._ Valliere (Duc de la), 97, 162 Vienna, 97 Volpi, 98 Voyage de deux François, &c. _ib._ Zurich, _ib._ _Catalogues: English._ Ames (of Engl. Heads), 500 Askew, 388 Beauclerk, 394 Bernard (Dr. F.), 316 Boucher, 450 Bodleian, 74, 75 Brand, 452 Bridges, 362 Britton, 333 Chauncy, 416 Collins (Anthony), 363 (Concannon), 446 Corpus Christi (Cambr.), 98 Cotton, 86, 267 Crofts, 396 Dalrymple, 458 Daly, 414 Dodd, 403 Dormer, 375 Farmer, 423 Fillingham, 403 Fletewode, 386 Folkes, 367 Gough, 460 Harley (Earl of Oxford), 160, 347 Hearne, 336 (Heath), 460 Henderson, 402 Henley, 372 Hoblyn, 374 Hutton, _ib._ Institution (Royal), 99 Lansdowne, 450 Lort, 411 Maddison, 459 Manton, 306 Maittaire, 364 Martin, 384, 385 Mason, 419 Mills, 447 Mores (Rowe), 501 Munro, 417 Museum (British), 89, 90 Osborne, 355 Paterson, 400 Pearson, 404 Pepys, 320 Porson, 458 Ratcliffe, 392 Rawlinson (Richard), 369 Rawlinson (Thomas), 344 Reed, 455 Ritson, 448 Seaman (Dr.), 304 Sion College, 95 Smith (Consul), 95 Smith (Richard), 302 Smyth, 403 Southgate, 419 Stace, 458 Steevens, 428 Swedenborg, 545 (Thurlo), 448 Tutet (M.C.), 399 West, 376 Wilkes, 447 Wood (Anthony), 99 Woodford, 459 Woodhouse, _Prints_, 441 ---- _Books_, 444 Worsley (Dr.), 306 Wright, 401 Wynne, 324 _Catalogue of Books_, 1658, 4to., 301 Caxton (William). Books printed by him in West's collection, 380, 381 in the Fletewode do., 387 in Dr. Askew's do., 389 in John Ratcliffe's do., 392, 393 in Tutet's do., 400 in Macartney's do., 407 in Mason's do., 422, 423 in Brand's do., 454 Chalmers (Mr. Alexander). _History of the University_ of Oxford, 193 _Collection of the English Poets_, 240 Chalmers (Mr. George). _Apology for the Believers in Shakespeare, &c._, 281 _Edition of Sir David Lynday's Poem_, 550 Chartier (Alain). _Livres des quartre Dames_, 23 _Les faicts, dictes, et ballades_, 410 Chaucer (Geoffrey). _Canterbury Tales_, 115, 118, 422 _Troylus and Creyseyde_, 426 Chesne (Andrew Du). _Biblioth. Hist. Galliæ_, 35 _Chess._ Works relating thereto, 155, 156 Chevillier (Andrew). _L'Origine de l'Imprimerie à Paris_, 48, 529, 541 _Series Auctor. de Franc. Hist._, _ib._ _Choice of Change_, 465 _Churchyard's Pieces_, 401, 455 Cinelli (John). _Bibliotheca Volante_, 40 Clarke (Rev. Dr. Adam), 459 _Bibliographical Dictionary_, 109 Clarke (Dr. Edward Daniel). _Travels in Russia_, 81 _Classical Journal_, 459, 460 Clement (Claude). _Extract. Bibl. tam privatæ quam publicæ_, 39 ---- (David). _Bibliothèque Curieuse_, 55 _Les cinq Années Literaires_, _ib._ Coke (Sir Edward). _Institutes_, 104, 234 Collier (Rev. Jeremy). _Ecclesiastical History_, 172, 232-234 Conringius (Herman). _Bibliotheca Augusta_, 40 Coryat (Thomas). _Crudities_, 123, 127, 281 Coxe (Francis). _Detestible wickedness of magical sciences_, 180 Cowper (William). _The Task_, 9, 196 Croix du Maine (François Grude De la) et Du Verdier. _Bibliothèque Françoise_, 32 _Cynthia; with certain Sonnets_, 455 Dante (Alighieri). _La Divina Comedia_ (1472), 407 di Landini (1481), 418 Darwin (John), M.D. _Zoonomia_, 7 _Debates between the_ [French and English] _Heralds_, 11 Dekker (Thomas). _Works_, 402, 404 Denis (Michael). _Supplementum Maittairii Annal._, 65 _Codices Manuscripti Theol. Bibl. Palat. Vindob._, 65, 70, 97 _Dictionnaire Bibliographique._ See Cailleau. _Historique._ Caen, 46, 53, 542 _de Bibliologie._ See Peignot. _Director_, The, 183 D'Israeli (Isaac). _Curiosities of Literature_, 468, 486 _Dives et Pauper._ Pynson's edition of (1493), 421, 452 Martin's vellum MS. of, 385 Dodd (Charles). _Church History_, 232 Dolman (Robert). See _Treatise of Treasons_, post. Doni (Anthony Francis). _La Libraria_, 60 Draudius (George). _Bibliotheca Classica_, 25, 35 _Drolleries_, 404 Dugdale (Sir William). His _Works_, complete, 449 Du Pin (Louis Ellies). _Ecclesiastical History_, 152, 173, 222 Dunstan (St.) _De Occulta Philosophia_, 135 Durandi (Gulielmus). _Rationale_, upon vellum, 390 Ellis (Mr. George). _Specimens of the Early English Poets_, 171, 226, 241, 299 Engel (Samuel). _Bibliotheca Selectissima, &c._, 56 _England's Helicon_, 404, 430 Englefield (Sir H.C.) _Walk through Southampton_, 288 _Example of Sertu_, 403 Fabricius (John Albert). _Bibliotheca Græca_, 49 _Bibliotheca Latina_, _ib._ _Bibliographia Antiquaria_, _ib._ _Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica_, _ib._ _Bibl. Lat. Mediæ et Inf. Ætatis_, 49, 174 _Sylloge Opusc. Hist. Cat. Lit. J.A. Fabricii_, 222 _Hist. Bibliothecæ Fabricianæ_, 49, 222 Ferriar (John), M.D. _Comments upon Sterne_, 487 _The Bibliomania_, 487, 491, 496, 513, 528 _Festiuall, The Boke that is called_, 177 Fischer (Gotthelf). _Essai sur les Monum. de Typog. de Gutenberg_, 68 _Descriptions de Raretés Typographique, &c._, 68 _Fishing._ Books upon, 305, 452, 454 Fontaine (John De la), _Contes de la_--Manuscript de Mons. Paris, 410 Fontanini (Giusto). _Biblioteca del Eloquenza Italiana_, 60 Fossius (Ferdin). _Cat. Biblioth. Magliabechi_, 85, 86, 121 Fournier (François J.) _Dict. Portatif de Bibliographie_, 38, 57, 69, 167 Fournier (Pierre Simon). _Dissertation sur l'origine, &c., de graver en bois_, 57 _De l'Origine et Productions de l'Imp., &c., en bois_, _ib._ _Traité sur l'Origine, &c., de l'Imprimerie_, _ib._ _Observations, &c., sur les Vindicæ Typographicæ_, _ib._ _Epreuves de caractères nouvellement gravés_, _ib._ _Manuel Typographique_, _ib._ Fox (John). _Book of Martyrs_, 197, 228, 239 Fresnoy (N.C. Du). _Methode pour etudier l'Histoire_, 53 Freytag (F.G.). _Analecta Literaria_, 56 _Adparatus Literarius_, _ib._ Froissart (Sir John). _Chronicles_, 421, 493 Fuller (Rev. Thomas), D.D. _Church History_, 182, 232, 236, 260 Gaddius (James). _De Scriptoribus non Ecclesiastices_, 39 Gale (Thomas), D.D. _Rerum Anglicar. Script. Vet._, 173, 245, 269 Gallois (John). _Traité des plus belles Bibliothèques_, 40 Gascoigne (George). _Works_, in Steevens's Collection, 428 in Reed's Collection, 455 _Gentleman's Magazine_, 249, 334, 413, 423, 427, 460, 471 Georgius. _Lexicon Literarium_, 566 Gerdes (Daniel). _Florilegium Hist.-Crit. Libror. Rarior., &c._, 56 Gesner (Conrad). _Bibliotheca, seu Catalogus Universalis_, 30 _Pandectæ_, 31, 130 Geyler (John). _Navicula sive Speculum Fatuorum_, 486, 514 Gibbon (Edward). _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, 28 _Posthumous Works_, 334 Gildas's _Epistle_, 11 Girald Barri. _Sir Richard Colt Hoare's edition of_, 178 Goddard (William). _Satyrical Dialogue, betweene Alexander, &c., and Diogenes_, 13 Godwyn (Francis). _Catalogue of the Bishops of England_, 174, 187, 200 _Annales of England_, 245 Gomez, or Gomecius (Alvarez). _De rebus gestis Cardinalis Ximines_, 160 Googe (Barnabe). His works in Steevens's Collection, 428 Gough (Richard). _British Topography_, 118, 334 Goujet (Claude Peter). _Bibliothèque François_, &c., 52 Gower (John). _Confessio Amantis_, 181 Grafton (Richard). _Chronicles_, 256 Gunton (Simon). _Hist. of Peterborough Abbey_, 178 Gutch (Rev. John). _Collectanea Curiosa_, 150, 225, 254 Hallevordius. _Bibliotheca Curiosa_, 30 Hardyng (John). _Chronicle_, 421 Harpsfield (Nicholas). _Hist. Eccles. Anglicana_, 205 Harrison. _Seven Triumphal Arches_, 445 Harwood (Rev. Edward), D.D. _View of the various editions of the Greek and Roman Classics_, 67 Haym (Nicolas Francis). _Biblioteca Italiana_, 60 Hearne (Thomas). _Johan. Ros. Hist. Angl. Regum_, 170 _Thom. Caii Vindic. Antiq. Acad. Oxon._, 170, 244, 289, 331 _Antiquities of Glastonbury_, 172, 194, 195, 326, 335, 341, 382 _John. Confrat. Mon. de Rebus Glastoniens._, 178, 251, 262 _Adam de Domerham de rebus Gest. Glaston._, 118, 239, 382 _Guil. Neubrig. Hist._, 178 _Curious Discourses by Eminent Antiquaries_, 183, 201, 251 _Benedictus Abbas_, 189, 269, 280, 335 _Robert de Avesbury_, 216 _Guliel. Roperi vita D.T. Mori_, 221, 327, 331, 335, 341 _Robert of Glocester_, 248, 333, 335 _Peter Langtoft's Chronicle_, 10, 302 _Tit. Liv. Foro-Juliensis_, 250, 344, 371 _Annals of Dunstaple Priory_, 289 _Liber Niger Scaccarii_, 304 _Hist. Vit. et Regni Ricardi II._, 317, 318 _Walt. Hemingford Hist._, 328, 341, 343, 344, 366, 383 _Heming. Wigorens. Chartular._, 328, 329, 333 _Thomas de Elmham_, 335, 341 _Alured de Beverley_, 335, 344 Heinecken (Baron). _Nachrichten von Kunstlern_, &c., 63 _Idée Generale d'une Collection d'Estampes_, 63, 205 _Dictionnaire des Artistes_, 63 Henry (Rev. Robert), D.D. _History of Great Britain_, 146, 165, 166, 167, 173, 179, 199 Herbert (William). _Typographical Antiquities_, 67, 239, 248, 438, 439 _Heures de Notre Dame_, 90 Heylin (Rev. Peter), D.D. _Life and Death of Archbishop Laud_, 297 Hirschius (C.C.). _Librorum ab Anno I. usque ad Annum L. Sec. xvi._, 48 Horatius. _Carmen_, lib. i., &c., 106 Jacob (Louis). _Traicté des plus belles Bibliothèques_, 39, 113 _Bibliothèque Universelle_, 39 _Bibliotheca Parisina_, 39 Jansen. _De l'Invention de l'Imprimerie_, 58 _John Bon and Mast. Person_, 240 Johnson. _Upon English Bibles_, 248 _Kalender of Shepherds_, 204 Kennet (White, D.D., Bishop of Peterborough). _Parochial Antiquities_, 493 Knight (Rev. Samuel), D.D. _Life of Colet_, 218, 445 _Life of Erasmus_, 223, 445 Koenigius (George Matthias). _Biblioth. Vet. et Nov._, 43 Kollarius (Adam Francis). His edition of Lambecius's _Commentarii_, &c., 41, 42 Labbe (Philip). _Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum_, 40 _Bibliotheca Nummaria_, 41 _Mantissa Suppellectilis_, _ib._ _Specimen Nov. Bibl. Manuscript_, _ib._ _Collectio maxima Conciliorum_, _ib._ Lackman (Adam Herne). _Annal. Typog. selecta quædam capita_, 48 Laire (Franciscus Xavier). _Specimen Hist. Typog. Rom._, 62 _Dissertation sur l'Imprimerie en Franche Comté_, 62 _Index Libror. ab invent, typog. ad ann. 1500_, 62, 84 Lambecius (Pierre). _Commentarii de Bibl. Cæsar Vindobon._, 41 Lambinet (P.). _Recherches, &c., sur l'Origine de l'Imprimerie_, &c., 24, 68 Laneham (Robert). _Letter of the Entertainment given to Q. Elizabeth at Killingworth Castle_, 266, 267 Latimer (Hugh), Archbishop of Canterbury. _Sermons_, 230, 231 Leibnitz (Godfrey William De). _Idea Bibliothecæ Publiæ_, &c., 50 _Scriptores Rerum Brunsvicensium_, _ib._ Leland (John). _Collectanea_, 150, 200, 244 _De Scriptoribus Britannicis_, 175 _Itinerarium_, 193 Le Long (Jacques). _Bibliotheca Sacra_, 49 _Bibliothèque Historique de la France_, 49 Lewin. _Birds of Great Britain_, 445 Lewis (Rev. John). _Upon English Bibles_, 248 _Life off the 70 Archbishop of Canterbury_, &c., 258 Lipenius (Martin). _Biblioth. Theol. Med. Philos. Jurid._, 43 Lipsius (Justus). _Syntagma de Bibliothecis_, 34 Lloyd (David). _Memoirs of the Sufferers_, 297 Lomeier (John). _De Bibliothecis liber singularis_, 40, 113, 167 Lupset (Thomas). _Exhortacion to yonge men_, 227 Macdiarmid (John). _Lives of British Statesmen_, 222, 256 Mackenzie (George), M.D. _Scottish Writers_, 196 Maichelius (Daniel). _De Præcip. Bibl. Paris_, 38, 529 Maittaire (Michael). _Annales Typographici_, 47, 325, 362 _Historia Stephanorum_, &c., 47 _Historia Typographor. aliquot. Parisiens_, 47 Marchand (Prosper). _Dict. Historique, ou Mémoires Critiques_, &c., 45, 55, 223, 551 _Histoire de l'Imprimerie_, 55, 56 _Marie Magdalene._ Life and Repentance of, 448 Marville. _Melanges d'Histoire et de Literature_, 490 Masters (Robert). _Life of Thomas Baker_, 341, 347 Maunsell (Andrew). _Catalogue of English Books_, 280 Mazzuchelli (Giovanni Maria). _Gli Scrittori d'Italia_, &c., 60 Meerman (Gerard). _Origines Typographicæ_, 57 _Memoires de l'Institut National_, 25, 32, 42, 50, 526 _Memoirs (Old and New) of Literature_, 16 Mercier de St. Leger. _Supplement á l'Histoire de l'Imprimerie par Marchand_, 61 _His bibliographical character_, _ib._ _Catalogue of his books_, 88 Middleton (Rev. Conyer), D.D. _Dissertation upon the Origin of the Art of Printing_, 52 Momoro (Antoine François). _Traité Elementaire de l'Imprimerie_, 529 Monstrelet (Enguerand De). _Chronicles of, translated by Mr. Johnes_, 154 _Monthly Mirror_, 17 _Monthly Review_, 16 More (Sir Thomas). _Utopia_, 220, 228, 301 Mores (Edward Rowe). _Of English Founders and Founderies_, 501, 528 Morhof (Daniel George). _Polyhistor. Literarius_, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 81, 187, 547, 553 _Princeps Medicus_, 46 _Epistola de Scypho vitreo per somn. human. voc. rupto_, 46 Murr (C.T. De). _Memorabilia Biblioth. Public. Norimb._, 64 Nash (Thomas). Wright's collection of his _Works_, 401 Naudé or Naudæus (Gabriel). _Avis pour dresser une Bibliothèque_, 38 _Mascurat_, _ib._ _Considerations politiques_, _ib._ _Additions à l'Histoire de Louis XI._, _ib._ _Avis à Nos seigneurs de Parlement_, _ib._ _Remise de la Bibliothèque, &c._, _ib._ _Catalog. Biblioth. Cordes._, 78 _Apologie, &c., faussement soupçonnez de magie_, 18 Neander (Michael). _Erotemata Græcæ Linguæ_, 32 Niceron (Jean Pierre). _Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire des Hommes Illustres_, 53 Nichols (John). _Manners and Expenses of ancient times in England_, 115-117 _History of Leicestershire_, 119 _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, 355, 366, 369, 383 Nicolson (William, D.D., Bishop). _English, Scottish, and Irish Hist. Libraries_, 51 _Epistolary Correspondence_, _ib._ Noble (Rev. Mark). _Continuation of Granger_, 325 North (Roger). _Life of Lord Keeper Guildford_, 309 _Life of the Hon. and Rev. Dr. John North_, 310-312 _Examen_, 309 Oberlin (Jeremiah James). _Essai d'Annales de la vie de Jean Gutenberg_, 68 Ogilby (William). _His Works_, 449 Oldys (William). _British Librarian_, 51, 52, 468 _Life of Raleigh_, 500 _Harleian Miscellany_, _ib._ _Interleaved Langbaine_, 499 _Oliver of Castille. Romance of_, 153, 154, 381 _Ordynary of Christian Men_, 203 Orlandi (Pellegrino Antonio). _Origine e Progressi della stampa, &c._, 47 Osmont. _Dictionnaire Typographique_, 162 Otho and Octhobone. _Constitutions Provinciales_, 151 Painter (William). _Palace of Pleasure_, Hutton's copy of, 374 Paitoni (Giacomo Maria). _Biblioteca degli Autori Antichi, &c._, 60 Palmer (Samuel). _History of Printing_, 52, 528 Pansa (Mutius). _Biblioteca Vaticana_, 33 Panzer (George Wolfgang Francis). _Annales Typographici_, 64 _Annalen der altern Deutschen Literatur, &c._, _ib._ _Paradise of Dainty Devises_, 404, 425, 429 Park (Mr. Thomas). _Royal and Noble Authors_, 193, 199, 241 _Edition of the Harleian Miscellany_, 549 _Passe temps de tout hommes, &c._, 203 Peacham (Henry). _Compleat Gentleman_, 283-285 Peignot (Gabriel). _Dictionnaire de Bibliologie_, 24, 38, 59, 64, 65, 68, 69, 486, 552 _Essai de Curiosités Bibliographiques_, 68, 69, 496 _Dictionnaire, &c., des Livres condamnés, &c., ou censurés_, 69 _Bibliographie Curieuse_, 59, 69 Petrarca (Francisco) [Transcriber's Note: Francesco]. _Le Rime_ (1475), 407 _Opere de_ (1514), 410 Pitseus (Johannes). _De Rebus Anglicis_, 38, 189 _Plaister for a galled horse_, 239, 240 Plato. _Opera Omnia_--upon vellum, 390 Plinii. _Hist. Naturalis_ (1470), upon vellum, 519 (1472), upon vellum, 417 _Pole. Life of Reginald_, 229, 234 _Polychronicon._ _Caxton's edit._, 174, 175 _Pope (Sir Thomas). Life of_, 150, 241 Possevinus (Antonius). _Bibliotheca Selecta, &c._, 34 _Apparatus Sacer_, _ib._ Praet (Joseph Van). _Cat. des MSS. du Duc de la Valliere_, 60, 68 _Cat. des Livres imprimés sur Velin_, 60 Prince (John). _Worthies of Devon_, 270 Priscianus. _De Art. Gram._ (1470), 407 _Promptuarium Parvulorum_, 1499. Martin's Copy of, 385 Prynne (William). _Records_, 415 Puhtherb (Gabriel). _De tollendis et expurgandis malis libris_, 43 Puteanus (Ericus). _De Usu Bibliothecæ_, &c., 34 _Auspicia Bibliothecæ Lovaniensis_, _ib._ Puttenham (George). _Art of English Poesie_, 404 _Pype or Tonne of Perfection_, 234, 370 Quirini (Angelo Maria, Cardinal). _Specimen variæ Literaturæ Brixiens_, 54 _Catalogo delle Opere, &c._, _ib._ _De Optimorum Scriptorum Editionibus_, _ib._ Rastell (John). _Chronicle, or Pastyme of People_, 281 Martin's copy of, 385 Ratcliffe's copy of, 392 Chauncy's copy of, 417 Mason's copy of, 421 Raynaud (Theophilus). _Erotemata de malis ac bonis libris, &c._, 43 _Recueil des Historiens des Gaules_, 173, 659 [Transcriber's Note: 492] Reimannus. _Bibliotheca Acroamatica_, 29, 41 Renouard (Antoine Auguste). _L'Imprimerie des Alde_, 34, 68, 488 _Revelacions of a Monk of Euisham_, 202 _Revelationes scancte [Transcriber's Note: sancte] Birgitte_, 204 _Reviews._ _American_, 520, 553 _Edinburgh_, 133, 220 _Monthly_, 16 _Quarterly_, 282, 289, 320, 549 Ridley (Nicholas, Bishop of London). _Life of Ridley_, 201 Ritson (Joseph). _Ancient English Metrical Romances_, 199 Rive (Abbé Jean Joseph). _Chasse aux Bibliographes_, 59 _Notices Calligraphiques, &c._, _ib._ _Anecdotes of_, _ib._ _Catalogue of his library_, 92 _L'Art de connoitre les Miniatures des MSS. anciens_, 409 _Notice d'un Roman d'Artus_, 566 _Etrennes aux Joueurs des Cartes_, _ib._ _Robin Hood. A merry jest of_, 425 Roccha (Angelus). _Bibliotheca Vaticana_, 33 _Romances_ in Croft's Library, 396-398 in Farmer's ditto, 425 Ronsard (Peter De). _Poemes de_, 546 Rossi (John Bernard De). _Annales Hebræo-Typographici_, 64 Roy (William). _Rede me and be not wroth_, 226, 400, 422, 429, 549 Rymeri (Thomas). _Foedera_, 15, 190 Sandford (Francis). _Genealogical History_, 492 Savile (Sir Henry). _Scriptores post Bedam_, 244 Saxius (Christopher). _Onomasticon Literarium_, 43, 62 Schelhorn (J.G.) _Amoenitates Literariæ_, &c., 48, 528, 529 _Amoenitates Hist. Ecclesiast. et Lit._, 48 Schoepflin (John Daniel). _Vindicæ Typographicæ_, 58 Scholtzius. _Icones Bibliopolorum et Typographorum_, 48 _Thesaurus Symbolorum et ac Emblematum_, _ib._ Schottus (Andreas). _De Bibl. et claris. Hisp. Viris_, 35 Scott (Reginald). _Discovery of Witchcraft_, 492 Scott (Walter). _Hunting Song_, 130 _Marmion_, 461 _Lady of the Lake_, 157 _Edition of Dryden's Works_, 181, 323 _Edition of the Somers Tracts_, 549 Seemiller (Sebastian). _Bibl. Ingolstad. Incunab. Typog._, 63 Seiz (John Christopher). _Annus Tertius Sæcular. Inv. Hist. Typog._, 47, 48 Senebier (Jean). _Catalogue des MSS. de Genève_, 36, 81 Serna Santander. _Catalogue des Livres de_, 42, 45, 94 _Diction. Bibliogr. Choisi du XV. Siecle_, 67, 161 _Sevin Seages, The_, 448 Shakspeare. Edit. 1803, 225, 523 Early editions of in Wright's collection, 402 in Smyth's ditto, 403 in Farmer's ditto, 425 in Steevens's ditto, 430-436 Steevens's own edition of, 427 The edition of 1803, _ib._ Portrait of, 428 Ritson's manuscript notes relating to, 448 Reed's collection of tracts relating to, 455 _Ship of Fools_, 206, 424, 486 Skelton (John). _Works of_, Martin's set of, 386 Wright's ditto, 401 Pearson's ditto, 405 Steevens's ditto, 429 Woodhouse's ditto, 445 Smith (John). _Printer's Grammar_, 529 Snelling (Thomas). _Works upon the Coinage_, 399 _Speculum Christiani_, 169 Chauncy's copy of, 416 Mason's copy of, 420 Speed (John). _Hist. of Great Britain_, 233 Spizelius (Theophilus). _Infelix Literatus_, 26, 122, 547 Stapleton (Thomas). _Translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History_, 168 _Counterblast to Horne's Vayne Blaste_, 215 Stowe (John). _Chronicle, or Annals_, 166, 167, 200, 217, 305 Struvius (Gottlieb). _Bibliotheca Librorum Rariorum_, 50 _Bibliotheca Historica_, _ib._ _cura Meusel_, _ib._ _Bibliotheca Hist. Selecta_, 51 _Bibliotheca Saxonica_, _ib._ Strype (Rev. John). _Life of Cranmer_, 222, 229, 232, 248, 249, 304 _Ecclesiastical Memorials_, 229, 230, 232 _Annals of the Reformation_, 238 _Life of Parker_, 246, 256, 259 Stubbes (Philip). _Anatomy of Abuses_, 279, 654 [Transcriber's Note: 454] _Supplicacion of Beggars_, 228 Tanner (Thomas, Bishop of St. Asaph). _Edition of Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses_, 46 _Bibliotheca Britan. Hibernica_, 52, 181, 190, 192 Teisser (Anthony). _Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum_, 41 Terentianus (Maurus). Dr. Askew's copy of, 391 _Tewrdanckhs._ A book so called, 65, 390 Dr. Askew's copy of--upon vellum, 390 Tutet's copy of, 400 Thomson (James). _Winter_, 105; _Autumn_, 481 Tiraboschi (Girolamo). _Letteratura Italiana_, 61 Toderini (Giambatista). _Letteratura Turchesca_, 60 Todd (Rev. Henry John). _Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer_, 15, 242, 246, 320 _Treatise of Treasons_, 236 Trefler (Florian). _Disposition des Livres dans une Bibliothéque_, 32 _Troie, Recueil of the Histories of_, 446 Turner (Mr. Sharon). _History of the Anglo Saxons_, 170 Tusser (Thomas). _Five Hundred Points of good Husbandry_, 529 Twyne (Bryan). _Antiquit. Acad. Oxon._, 179, 181 Tyndale (William). _The Practice of Popishe Prelates_, 176, 226 Tyrrel (Sir James). _Hist. of England._ Daly's copy of, 414 _Universal Historical Bibliothéque_, 16 Vallans. _Tale of Two Swannes_, 256 Valois. _Discours sur les Bibliothéques Publiques_, 54 Van Praet (Joseph), 68 Virgilii _Opera_ (1470), upon vellum; do. (1472); do., 417 _Vita et Processus, &c., Thomæ à Becket_, 177 Vives (Ludovicus). _Instruction of a Christian Woman_, 152, 283 Vogler. _Universalis in notit. cuj. generis bonor. Scriptor. introd._, 43 Vogt (John). _Catalogus Librorum Rariorum_, 31, 32, 33, 35, 56, 161, 522 _Walks in Powles_, 278 Walton (Izaak). _Complete Angler_, 9, 125, 126, 500 Warton (Joseph). _Hist. Engl. Poetry_, 118, 175, 178, 179, 186, 187, 194, 204, 226, 241, 425 Wasse. _Bibliotheca Literaria_, 51 Watson. _History of the Art of Printing_, 52 Webbe (William). _Discourse of English Poetrie_, 404, 430 _Weekly Memorials for the Ingenious_, 16 Wendler (John Christian). _Dissertatio de var. raritat. libror. impress. causis_, 55 Werburge (St.). _Life of._ Martin's copy of, 385 Pearson's do., 405 Woodhouse's do., 446 Wharton (Henry). _Anglia Sacra_, 171 Withers (George). _Emblems_, 305 Wolfius (John Christian). _Monumenta Typographica_, 48 _Bibl. Aprosiana_, 123 Wolfius (John). _Lectiones Memorabiles, &c._, 110, 125 Wordsworth (Rev. Christopher, D.D.). _Ecclesiastical Biography_, 221, 227, 239, 290 _Works of the Learned_, 16 Wood (Anthony). _Athenæ Oxonienses_, 46, 51 _Hist. and Antiq. of the Colleges and Halls of Oxford_, 192, 235 _Annals of the University of Oxford_, 46, 179, 181, 187, 192, 193, 278, 315 Wurdtwein (Stephen Alexander). _Bibliotheca Moguntina_, 64 Ximenes (Cardinal Francis). _Bibl. Polyglot. Complut._, 160, 407 _Missale Mozarabicum_, 160 _Breviarum Mozarabicum_, _ib._ Zapf (George William). _Annales Typog. Augustan._, 48 GENERAL INDEX. _Agrippa_ (_Cornelius_). Account of some of his works, 19 _D'Aguesseau_ (_Chancellor_). Account of his Library, 72 _Alcove, the._ Description of Lorenzo's, 481, 482 _Alcuin_, 167 _Alfred_, 169 _Alphonso._ An obstinate literary character, 14 _Ames_ (_Joseph_), 340 _Ancillon._ Pillage of his library, 522 _Anne Boleyn._ Her coronation dinner described by Stow, 216, 217 _Anselm_, 174 _Anstis_ (_John_). Original letter of, 239 Literary character of, 337, 338 _Antiphoners_, 115 _Antonio_ (_Nicolas_). _See Bibliographical Index._ _Arch_ (_Messrs. John and Arthur_). Their purchase of Sandford's Genealogical History, L.P., 492 _Aristotle's Works_--printed upon vellum, 519 _D'Artois_ (_Count_). Catalogue of his library, 72 Purchase of the Vallière Collection, 97 _Ascham_, (_Roger_). His 'Schoolmaster' commended, 283 _Ashmole_ (_Elias_). Some account of, 293-296 _Askew_ (_Dr. Anthony_). Some account of, with specimens of his library, 388-391 _Atticus._ A book-auction bibliomaniac, 128-132, 137 _Auctions of Books._ Their origin in this country, 304-308 Warmth of bidders at, 307 _Audiffredi_ (_Jean Baptiste_). _See Bibliographical Index._ _Autumnal Morning_, 480, 481 _Baber_ (_Rev. Henry Hervey_). Preparation of the Catalogue of the Museum printed books, 90 His edition of Wickliffe's translation of the New Testament, 339 _Bacon_ (_Roger, or Friar_), 180-183 _Bacon_ (_Sir Nathaniel_). Libellous character of, 237 _Bagford_ (_John_). Some account of, 326-331 Wood-cut of his rebus, or device, 331 _Baillet_ (_Adrien_). Some account of, 43-45--_See Bibliographical Index._ _Baker_ (_Thomas_). Some account of, 341-343 Extract from his will, 342 _Baker_ (_late Mr. George_). Copy of Reed's catalogue of books, 457 Catalogue of Strawberry-Hill Pieces, 539 _Bale_ (_John, Bishop of Ossory_). Some account of, 246-248 His portrait, 247 _Baltimore_ (_Lord_). His 'Gaudia Poetica,' 532 _Barnes_ (_Juliana_). Her Work on Hunting, &c., 124, 325, 381, 384, 519 _Barthélémy_ (_Abbé_). Catalogue of his library, 74 _Bartholin._ _See Bibliographical Index._ _Beauclerk_ (_Hon. Topham_). Account of his library, 394, 395 _Becket_ (_Thomas à_), 176 Account of his murder, 177 _Bede_, 166 _Bedford_ (_John, Duke of_). His beautiful Missal, 190, 191 _Beloe_ (_Rev. Mr._). _See Bibliographical Index._ _Benedict_ (_Biscop_), 165 _Benet_ (_Sir John_). Assists Sir T. Bodley in erecting the Bodl. Library, 275 _Bernard_ (_Dr. Francis_). Some account of his library, 316, 317 Engraving of his portrait, 503 _Bernardo._ A book-auction bibliomaniac, 124 His copy of an Illustrated Chatterton, 500 of Walton's Complete Angler, _ib._ _Berryer_ (_Mons._). His care and skill in having his books bound, 513 _Beughem._ _See Bibliographical Index._ _Bibles._ Ancient English, 238 _Bibliographers._ Character of aspersed, 483 _Bibliography._ Cabinet of, 21 Opinions of foreign critics thereupon, 24, 25 Outline of its rise and progress, 29-99 Utility and importance of the study so called, 552 _Bibliomania._ History of the Bibliomania, or of English Book-Collectors, 165-461 See _Chronological Index_. Definition of, and works upon, 485-487 { 1. Large Paper Copies, 487, 488, 491-494 { Tall and Fine paper do., 494 { 2. Uncut Copies, 494-496 { 3. Illustrated Copies, 496-511 { 4. Unique Copies, 511-514 Symptoms of the { 5. Copies printed upon Vellum, 515-521 Disease so called; { 6. First Editions, 521-525 being a passion { 7. True Editions, 525-527 for { 8. Books printed in the black letter, 527-531 { 9. for private distribution, 532-534 { 10. at a Private Press, 533-539 { 11. suppressed, condemned, &c., 537 { 12. All the editions of a work, 542-546 { 13. Large and Voluminous Works, 546 { 1. Studying of Useful & Profitable Works, 548 Probable Means of { 2. Reprints of scarce and valuable Works, 549 the Cure of { 3. Editing of the best Authors, 550 { 4. Erection of Literary Institutions, 551 { 5. Study of Bibliography, 551, 552 _Bibliomaniacs._ Character of, 4 Book-auction bibliomaniacs, 307 _Black Letter._ Passion for books printed in the, 527-531 _Blandford_ (_Marquis of_). His zeal in collecting books printed by Caxton, 322 _Blenheim._ Account of the library there, 321 _Blount_ (_Thomas_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Bodleian Library._ Catalogue of, 74 History of its erection, 270-278 List of some of the contributors to, 272, 273 _Bodley_ (_Sir Thomas_). Some account of, 270-278 Wood-cut portrait of, 277 _Bodoni._ Beauty of his books printed upon vellum, 520 _Books._ Ancient prices of, 114-119 Illuminated, 150 of terror. Their effects upon young minds, 202-204 Skill of the Ferrar family in binding, 289-292 Account of ancient binding of, 117-119 Skill in modern book-binding, 513, 514 Importation of in barrels, 190 Sales of by public auction, 304-308, 457 Printed upon vellum, 321, 322, 352, 515-519 upon satin, 512 in the black letter, 527-531 for private distribution, 532-534 at private presses, 533-539 _Book-rooms, or Libraries._ Simplicity of ancient, 195, 196 _Booksellers._ Of respectability in London, 308, 470 in Scotland, 415 in Provincial Towns, 470 _Book-Story._ A romantic one, 358-361 _Boston_ (_John_), 189, 190 _Boucher_ (_Rev. Jonathan_). His Supplement to Johnson's Dictionary, 448, 449 Account of his library, 450 _Braithwait_ (_Richard_). His poetry commended, 299-301 _Brand_ (_Rev. John_). Account of his library, 452-454 _Bridges_ (_John_). Sale of his library, 362 _Britain, Little._ Famous for the bookselling trade, 300, 310, 311 _Britton_ (_Thomas_). Some account of, 331-333 Sale of his library, 333 _Bulmer_ (_Mr. William_). His sumptuous edition of Shakspeare, 427 The same, a unique copy of, 512 His edition of the Deserted Village upon satin, 512 _Bure_ (_Guillaume François De, and Guill. le Jeune De_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Burney_ (_Rev. Charles, LL.D._). His fortunate purchase of a Manilius, 522 His edition of Bentley's Epistles, 532 _Burton_ (_Robert_), 286 _Bury_ (_Richard De_). Editions of his Philobiblion, 29 Extract from, 109 Account of, 185-187 _Bute_ (_Marquis of_). His copy of Hogarth's Prints, 509 His collection of the devices of Pope Sixtus V., 540 His valuable Granger, 565 _Butler_ (_Mr. Charles_). His literary character, 34 _Caillard_ (_M._). His uncut first Homer, 79, 496 His nicety in having his books bound, 513 _Caille_ (_Jean de La_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Cambridge._ Catalogue of the books contained in the University wanted, 319 _Canute_, 172 _Carlisle_ (_Earl of_). His "Father's Revenge," 532 _Casiri._ See _Bibliographical Index_. _Catalogues._ Importance of making good ones, 383 Foreign and English. See "Catalogue," _Bibliographical Index_. _Caxton_ (_William_). Reviled by Bale, 174 _His various printed books_, 197, _&c._ See _Bibliographical Index_. _His portrait_, 382 _Cecil._ Libellous character of, 237, 238 _Charles the Fifth of France._ Founder of the Royal Library, 185, 186 Description of do., 186 _Chauncey_ (_Dr. Charles and Nathaniel_). Account of their libraries, 416, 417 _Cheering._ Explanation of this word, 20, 37 _Chess._ Game of, described, 155-163 _Chevillier_ (_Andrew_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Chi Ho-am-ti._ An incendiary of libraries, 27 _Chivalry and Romances._ Books relating thereto, 152-154 _Christie_ (_John_). His "Dissertation on Etruscan Vases," 532 _Chronicles, Ancient._ Reprints of, 337 _Cinelli_ (_John_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Clavel_ (_Robert_). His book-catalogues, 306 _Clerk, or Clergyman._ Regulations concerning, 151 _Clungeon_ (_John_), 288 _Cobham_ (_Thomas, Bishop of Worcester_), 192 _Colbert_ (_J.B._). Catalogue of his library, 78 _Colet_ (_John, Dean_). Some account of, 218-220 Print of his supposed study, 219 _Collins_ (_Anthony_). Sale of his library, 363 _Conringius_ (_Herman_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Conybeare_ (_Rev. Mr._). His Copy of Lord Surrey's Translation of part of the Æneid, 241 _Coryate_ (_Thomas_), 281 _Cotton_ (_Sir Robert_). Some account of, 267-269 _Covent Garden Theatre._ Quarrels relating thereto, 17 _Cox_ (_Captain_). Some account of, 266, 267 His library, 267 _Cranmer_ (_Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury_). Some account of, 248, 249 His Bible upon vellum, 248 Expense of his execution, 249 _Crevenna Library._ Catalogues of, 79 _Critics and Criticism._ True spirit and character of, 15 Superficialness and severity of, 553 _Crofts_ (_Rev. Thomas_). Account of his library, 396-398 _Cromwell_ (_Thomas_). His conduct in respect to the Reformation, 229 _Crowles._ His copy of an illustrated Pennant, 499 _Dalrymple_ (_Alexander_). Sale of his library, 458 _Daly_ (_Denis, Rt. Hon._). Account of his library, 414, 415 _Dee_ (_Dr. John_). Some account of, 261-265 His library, 264 _Denis_ (_Michael_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Devonshire_ (_late Duchess of_). Her "Mount St. Gothard," 532 _Didot._ Skill of his printing upon vellum, 521 _Dodd_ (_James William_). Account of his library, 403 _Dormer_ (_General_). Catalogue of his library, 375 _Douce_ (_Francis_). His partiality for a foreign bibliographical work, 55 Preparation of the Lansdowne collection of MSS., 90 Account of Wolsey's property, 225 Skill in Old English and French literature, 531 Criticisms on his "Illustrations of Shakspeare," &c., _ib._ _Dramatic Libraries_, 402, 403 _Dramatica Notitia_, 456 _Dream._ Lysander's, 473-480 _Dunstan_ (_St._). His work "De occulta philosophia," 134 Some account of, 171 _Dyson_ (_Henry_), 302 _Education of Youth_, 282-285 _Edward the First_, 183 _Edward the Third_, 119, 184 _Edwards_ (_Mr._). His copy of the Catalogue of the Crevenna Library, 79 zeal in the importation of foreign books of rarity and value, 90 copy of the first edition of Livy--upon vellum, 519 Catalogues commended, 123 In possession of the Bedford Missal, 191 His painting of Erasmus and Froben by Fuseli, 223 communication respecting Count M'Carthy's books, 518 _Elizabeth_ (_Queen_). Her book of devotions, 119 Plate of the golden cover of, 250 Account of her love of books, 249, 254 Engravings from her Prayer-book, 252, 253 _Ellis_ (_Sir Henry_). Preparation of Catalogue of the Museum printed books, 90 His bibliographical communications, 118, 227, 297 Edition of Fabian's Chronicles, 523 _English._ Want of curiosity respecting their own literary history, 36 Importance of a national press to, 551 _Episode._ What is meant thereby, 105 _Erasmus._ Some account of, 222-224 Painting of him and Froben, 223 Print of his study, 224 Rude wood-cut portrait of him, _ib._ A copy of his first edition of the Gr. Test.--upon vellum, 225 Editions of his words, 222 _Eugene_ (_Prince_). His magnificent library, 322 _Evans_ (_Mr. R.H._). His edition of Old English Ballads, 267, 320 A respectable vender of classical books, 308 His copy of his Recueil des Historiens des Gaules, 492 His reprint of Hakluyt's Voyages, 550 _Fabricius_ (_John Albert_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Fabricius_ (_John_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Falconer_ (_William_). Poem of the Shipwreck printed upon satin, 512 _Farmer_ (_Rev. Richard, D.D._). Account of his library, 423-426 _Faulkener_ (_Henry_). A skilful and honest book-binder, 199 _Ferdinand._ A romantic book-story concerning, 358-361 _Ferrar Family._ Their attachment to books, and skill in book-binding, 289-292 _Fillingham_ (_late Mr. William_). His library and character of, 403 _First Editions._ Passion for collecting, 521-525 _Fishing._ Whether a merry or contemplative art, 126 _Fitzwilliam_ (_Lord Viscount_). His collection of Rembrandt's Prints, 509 _Fletewode_ (_Serjeant William_). Account of his monastic library, 386 _Florizel._ His attachment to hawking, &c., 543 _Folkes_ (_Martin_). Some account of, 367-369 Sale and analysis of his library, 367 Wood-cut of his portrait, 369 _Fopling_ (_Sir_). His periwig, 122 _Ford_ (_Mr._), _bookseller._ His catalogues commended, 123, 470 _Froissart_ (_Sir John_). A presentation copy of his Chronicles, 184. See _Johnes_ (_Colonel Thomas_). _Gaddius._ His bibliographical work, 39 _Gaignat_ (_Louis Jean_). Catalogue of library, 81, 162 _Gesner_ (_Conrad_). See _Bibliographical Index_. His works on Natural History, 546 _Gifford_ (_Mr. William_). His edition of Massinger, 550 forthcoming edition of Ben Jonson, _ib._ _Gilbie_ (_Anthony_). His character of Henry the Eighth, 215 _Gilchrist_ (_Octavius_). His edition of Bp. Corbett's Poems, 550 _Girald Barri_, 174, 178, 179 _Glastonbury Monastery Library_, 178 _Godstow Nunnery Library_, _ib._ _Golden Legend_, by Caxton, 198 _Goldsmyd_ (_Mr. John Lewis_). His vellum copy of "Le Passe Temps," &c., 203 _Gonzalo._ A vain literary character, 12 _Gossett_ (_Rev. Dr. Isaac_), 363, 407 _Gough_ (_Richard_). Sale of his library, 460 _Goujet_ (_Claude Peter_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Grailes._ Definition of, 150 _Granger_ (_Rev. James_). His Biographical History of England, 500 _Grangerite spirit_, 112, 497, 507 _Grenville_ (_Right Hon. Thomas_). His large-paper copy of Hist. Steph. & Vit. Typ. Paris, 47 His large-paper copy of Renouard, 69 A similar copy of the Vallière Catalogue, 97 A similar copy of Sandford's Genealogical History, 492 A similar copy of Strype's Annals, 492 _Grenville Homer._ Published by the Grenville Family, 491 _Grollier_ (_John_). Some account of, 488-490 Pattern of the binding of his books, 489 _Gutch_, (_Mr._), bookseller, 404, 470 _Hamper_ (_Mr. William_). His bibliographical communications, 117, 529 _Harley_ (_Robert, Earl of Oxford_). Some account of, 347-354 Analysis of his library, 349-353 Pope's eulogy upon, 353, 354 _Harris_ (_Mr. William_). His catalogue of the Royal Institution Library commended, 99 His correction of the press for Reed's edition of Shakspeare, 427 In possession of Mr. Boydell's copy of the original head of Shakspeare, 428 His copy of the Lamoignon catalogue, 84 _Haslewood_ (_Mr. Joseph_). In possession of a curious volume, 88 His attachment to books upon Hawking, &c., 302, 543 His communication in the British Bibliographer, 374 _Hastings_ (_Henry_). Some account of, 287 _Hawker-Pilgrim._ Wood-cut of, 544 _Hear! Hear!_ Explanation of this phrase, 37 _Hearne_ (_Thomas_). Some account of, 333-336 Wood-cut of his portrait, 337 Sale of his library, 336 List of most of his works. See _Bibliographical Index_. _Heath_ (_Dr. Benjamin_). His fine library, 460 Original bibliographical letter of, 554-562 Fac-simile of his writing, 554 _Heber_ (_Mr. Richard_). His copy of "The Debate between the Heraldes," 11 of Oliver of Castille, 154 of Froissart by Eustace, 202 manuscript of Skelton's "Image of Ypocrisy," 226 copy of Maunsell's Catalogue, 280 of the first Aldine Aristophanes, 297 of the catalogue of Britton's books, 333 of the catalogues of T. Rawlinson's books, 344 _Heinecken._ See _Bibliographical Index_. _Heinsius_ (_Nicholas_). Catalogue of his library, 82 _Hell._ Descriptions of the torments of, 203, 204 _Henderson_ (_John_). Account of his library, 402, 403 _Henley_ (_John, or Orator_). Account of his library, 371, 372 Anecdotes of, 372, 373 _Henry_ (_Rev. Robert, D.D._). Character of his History of Great Britain, 145-147 _Henry the Second._ Trevisa's character of, 175 _Henry the Fifth._ Warlike character of, 193 _Henry the Sixth_, 194 _Henry the Seventh_, 202-206 _Henry the Eighth_, 215-217 _Herbert_ (_William_). Author of the Typographical Antiquities, 66 Particulars relating to, 66, 340 His correspondence with Steevens, 438, 439 _Herman_ (_Bishop of Salisbury_), 175 _History, Ancient English._ Neglect of the study of, 550 _Hoare_ (_Sir Richard Colt_). His edition of Giraldus Cambrensis, 178 His large paper copy of Kennet's Paroch. Antiq., 493 _Hoblyn_ (_Robert_). Catalogue of his books commended, 374 _Hortensius._ A book-auction bibliomaniac, 132 _Humphrey_ (_Duke of Gloucester_), 193 _Hutton_ (_John_). His curious collection of books, 374 _Illustrated copies_, 496-511 _Illustration._ Recipe for, 497 _Ina_ (_King of the West Saxons_), 166 _Inscription over a library door_, 108, 112, 113 _Institutions._ Public, Literary, and Scientific, 551 _Jacob_ (_Louis_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Jamieson_ (_Dr. John_). His Scottish Dictionary commended, 499 _Jesuits._ Their bibliographical labours commended, 83 _Johnes_ (_Col. Thomas_). His edition of Monstrelet, 154 copy of "Heures de Notre Dame," 409 pleasure-grounds, 483 View of his library, 484 _Johnson_ (_Dr. Samuel_). Anecdote of his selling books, 530, 531 Quotation from the Rambler about the black-letter, 530 _Kay_ (_John_). His siege of Rhodes, 243 _Kennet_ (_White, Bishop of Peterborough_). Original letters of, 339 Opinion of Wicliffe, _ib._ _Kenrick_ (_William, LL.D._). His review of Dr. Johnson's Tour to the Hebrides, 17 _Kollarius._ See _Bibliographical Index_. _Labbe_ (_Philip_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Laire_ (_Abbé Francis Xavier_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Lambecius_ (_Pierre_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury_, 173 _Lansdowne_ (_William Fitzmaurice Petty, First Marquis of_). Account of his library, 90, 450, 451 _Large paper copies._ Account of valuable works of this character, 491-493 The author's publications of this kind, 493 _Latimer_ (_Hugh, Bishop of Worcester_). His conduct with respect to the Reformation, 230 His sermons quoted, 283 His death, 248, 249 _Laud_ (_William, Archbishop of Canterbury_). Account of his execution, 297 Patronage of the Ferrar Family, 290 _Leibnitz_ (_Godfrey William De_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Leland_ (_John_). Some account of, 242-246 _Leontes._ A book-auction bibliomaniac, 133 _Lepidus._ A book-auction bibliomaniac, 121 _Lewis_ (_Rev. John_). His literary character, 338-340 severe opinion of Hearne, 338 _Liberality_ of religious sentiment, 109 _Libraries._ Devastation of, at the Reformation, 233-235 Dramatic, 402, 403 _Lisardo._ His general character, 211-213 His bibliomaniacal enthusiasm, 348-352, 468, 470 _Literary characters._ Quixotic, 6, 7 Careless, 7 Acrimonious, 8 Vain, 12, 13 Obstinate, 14 Critical, 14, 15 Useful, 553 _Lomeier_ (_John_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Lomenie_ (_Cardinal de Brienne_). Account of, and catalogue of his library, 84, 85 _Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Co._ Their extensive trade as booksellers, 308 _Lorenzo._ A neighbour of the author, 4 His house and grounds, 4 library, 164 drawing-room, 213 alcove, 480-482 _Lort_ (_Dr. Michael_). Account of his library, 411-413 _Lotichius_ (_Peter_). His Latin verses concerning his library, 113 _Lumley_ (_John, Lord_), 281, 287 _Luttrel_ (_Narcissus_). His extraordinary collection of books, 323 _Lysons_ (_Mr. Samuel_). His large paper copy of Weever's Funeral Monuments, 492 _Macartney_ (_Mr._). Account of his library, 407 _Maddison_ (_John_). Sale of his library, 459 _Magliabechi_ (_Antonio_). Some account of, 85-87 _Maittaire_ (_Michael_). Some account of, 47. See _Bibliographical Index_. Sale of his library, 364 _Malvolio._ Sale of his busts and statues, 26, 472 _Manton_ (_Dr._) Sale of his books, 306 _Marcellus._ A book-auction bibliomaniac, 135 _Marchand_ (_Prosper_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Marlborough Gems._ In Woodhouse's collection, 441-444 _Martin_ (_Thomas, of Palgrave_). Account of his library, 384-386 _Mary_ (_Queen of Philip II._). Commended by a Roman Catholic writer, 236 _Mary_ (_Queen of Scots_). Her portrait, 254 _Mason_ (_George_). Account of his library, 419-423 _Maunsell_ (_Andrew_). His catalogue of English books, 280 _Mazzuchelli_ (_Giovanni Maria_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _M'Carthy_ (_Count_). Catalogue of a former library of, 85 His present fine collection of books, 518, 519 _Mead_ (_Richard, M.D._). Some account of, 364-366 Sale of his library, pictures, and coins, &c., 365 Account of his family, 366 _Medici_ (_Lorenzo De_). Catalogue of the Oriental MSS. in the library of, 87 _Meerman_ (_Gerard_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Menalcas._ A book-auction bibliomaniac, 136 _Menander._ A literary character, 7 _Mercier_ (_De St. Leger_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Mercurii._ Attending book-sales, 134 _Middleton_ (_Rev. Conyers, D.D._). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Miller_ (_Thomas_). Account of, 471 _Miller_ (_William_). His illustrated copy of Scott's Dryden, 497 edition of the Shipwreck, 512 of the Memoirs of Grammont, 564 _Mills_ (_George Galway_). His fine library, 447 _Mirabeau_ (_Victor Riquetti, Marquis De_). Catalogue of his library, 88 His passion for beautiful books, 514 _Missals._ Beauty of their execution, 150, 520 The Toletan and Mazarabic, 160, 161 _Monasteries._ Books contained in, 177 Visitors of, 231 Ancient hospitality of, 234 Alleged abandoned lives of the keepers, 232 Depositories and promoters of literature, 234 Devastation of, 231-235 _Monastic Life._ Comparison between the monastic and chivalrous age, as most favourable to the Bibliomania, 149 _Monro_ (_Dr. John_). Account of his library, 417, 418 _Montfaucon_ (_Bernard De_). His bibliographical labours, 89 _Moonlight night._ Influence of, 5, 368 _More_ (_John, Bishop of Ely_). Some account of, 318, 319 _More_ (_Sir Thomas_), 220-222 _Morhof_ (_Daniel George_). Some account of, 46 _Murray_ (_John_). Some account of, 331 _Museum, The British._ The librarians of commended, 36 Catalogue of its Printed Books and Manuscripts, 89, 90 _Mustapha._ A book-auction bibliomaniac and book vender, 122, 138 _Naude, or Naudæus_ (_Gabriel_). His works commended, 38. See _Bibliographical Index_. _Nelson, Life of._ Printed upon vellum, 521 _Neville_ (_George, Archbishop of York_). Feast at his inthronization, 200 Fond of astrology, _ib._ _Niceron._ See _Bibliographical Index_. _Nicholls_ (_Mr. John_). His communications respecting Dr. Mead's family, 366 _Nicol_ (_Mr. George_). His anecdotes concerning some volumes printed by Caxton, 382 _North_ (_Francis, Lord-Keeper_), 309 ---- (_Dr. John_), 310, 311 Their passion for books, 312 _Oldys_ (_William_). His literary labours appreciated, 500. See _Bibliographical Index_. _Omar._ Supposed destroyer of the Alexandrian library, 28 _Orlando._ Character of, 105-113 _Osborne_ (_Thomas_). The bookseller, 345, 348, 355 _Painted Glass._ Hearne's commendation of, 107 _Panzer_ (_George Wolfgang Francis_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Papillon_ (_Mr. David_). Book-anecdote concerning him and Osborne, 355 _Paris de Meyzieux._ Account, and catalogues, of his fine library, 90, 408-411 _Parker_ (_Matthew, Archbishop_). Some Account of, 257-261 Catalogue of his MSS., 98 Antiquity of the British Church, 257-259, 400 Libellous life of, 258 His consecration, 260 Woodcut portrait of, 261 _Paterson_ (_Samuel_). His Bibliotheca Universalis, 400 _Payne_ (_Mr._). His purchase of the Lamoignon library, 84 _Peacham_ (_Henry_), 282 His "Compleat Gentleman" quoted, 283 _Pearson_ (_Thomas, or Major_). Account of his library, 403-406 _Pembroke_ (_Earl of_). His passion for books, 119, 324, 325 _Pepys_ (_Samuel_). Account of his professional and book ardour, 319, 320 _Peterborough Abbey Library_, 178 (_White, Kennet, Bishop of_). His opinion of Wickliffe, 339 (_Earl of_). His passion for books, 119 _Peters_ (_Hugh_). In possession of a part of Laud's library, 298 _Pinelli._ Catalogues of the Pinelli library, 91 An account of the library so called, 406, 407 _Pitts, or Pitseus_ (_Johannes_). His work commended, 38 _Porson_ (_Richard_). Sale of his library, 458 His erudition, and skilful penmanship, 459 _Portraits._ _Sales of Engravings of rare and curious_, 502-506, 510, 511 Algernon, Earl of Northumberland, by Hollar, 503 Anne, Queen of James I., by Visscher, 505 Banfi-Hunniades (John), by Hollar, 502 The same, with variations, _ib._ Berkeley (George, Earl of), by Hollar, 503 Bernard (Dr. Francis), _ib._ Bethell (Slingsby), by W. Sherwin, 506 Bohemia, King and Queen of, and family, 505 Buckingham (George, Duke of), sold by Stent, 503 Cæsar (Sir Julius) by Elstracke, 506 Catharine, Queen of Charles II., by Faithorne, 502 Cecyll (Edward), General, by Passe, 510 Chaloner (Sir Thomas), by Hollar, 502 Charles I., by Lombard, _ib._ The same, with Cromwell's head, _ib._ Princess Augusta Maria, daughter of, by Danckers, 505 Cole (Thomas), 506 Cromwell (Richard, Lord Protector), by Hollar, 504 Cumberland (George, Earl of), by R. White, 503 Darnley (Henry, Lord), by Passe, 505 Devereux, Earl of Essex, on horseback, by Hollar, 502, 504 The same, standing on foot, by do., 503, 504 Digby (Lord), in armour, after Vander Borcht, 604 Elizabeth (Queen), in superb court dress, by Passe, 502 superbly dressed, between pillars, 505 Frederic (Prince), &c., with Princess Elizabeth, by Elstracke, 505 Hay (Lord James), by Passe, 506 Henry the Eighth, by C. M[atsis], 505 Henry (Prince Frederic), by Delaram, 506 Hollar, his own portrait, 504 Hotham (Sir John), Governor of Hull, 506 Howard (Thomas, Earl of Suffolk), by Elstracke, 505 (Thomas, Earl of Arundel), 506 Isham (Sir Thomas), by Loggan, 602 Killegrew (Thomas), by Faithorne, 506 Lister (Sir Matthew, M.D.), by P.V. Somer, 504 Lloyd (Humphrey, of Denbigh), by Faber, _ib._ Lortie (Andrew), by Van Somer, 506 Lyon (Sir Patrick, of Carse), by White, _ib._ Malines (Samuel), by Lombart, _ib._ Marsham (Sir John), by R. White, 504 Mary, Queen of Scots, by Mynginus, 505 The same, veiled, &c., _ib._ Mascall (Edward), by Gammon, 506 Master Martin, by R. Gaywood, 504 Mountaine (George), Bishop of London, G.Y. sculpsit, 506 Newcastle Family, by Clowet, 503 O'Toole (Arthurus Severus Nonesuch), by Delaram, 506 Paston (Lady), wife of Sir W. Paston, by Faithorne, 504 (Sir William), by Faithorne, _ib._ Pembroke (Herbert, Earl of), by Hollar, 502 (Mary, Countess of), by Passe, 504 (Penelope, Countess of), by Hollar, _ib._ (Ann Clifford, Countess of), by R. White, _ib._ Portman (Sir William), 506 Rawdon (Marmaduke), by White, 506 Reynell (Carew), 504 Rupert (Prince), by Faithorne, 506 sold by R. Peake, 504 Sack (Mull'd), sold by Compton Holland, 511 Sackville (Richard, Earl of Dorset), by Passe, 506 Shaftesbury (Anthony, Earl of), by Blooteling, _ib._ Sheffield (Baron Edmond), by Elstracke, _ib._ Shirley (Lady Elizabeth), by Hollar, 503 The same, by do., _ib._ Sidney (Sir Philip), by Elstracke, 505 Sidney (Robert, Viscount Lisle), by Passe, 506 Smith (Richard), by W. Sherwin, 503 Somerset (Edward, Earl of Worcester), by Passe, 505 Stone-Eater (The), by Hollar, 502 Vere (Henry, Earl of Oxford), sold by Compton Holland, 505 The same, by Payne, Passe, &c., 510 Verney (Sir Greville), by Loggan, 506 Wetenhall (Edward, Bishop of Corke and Ross), by Becket, _ib._ Whitington (Richard, Lord Mayor of London), by Elstracke, 510 Willoughby (Sir Francis), by T. Man, 503 Windebank (Sir F.) and Lord Finch, 505 Wortley (Sir Francis), by Hertocks, 503 Wriothesley (Henry, Earl of Southampton), by Passe, 506 Wynn (Sir John, De Gwedir), by Vaughan, 506 York (James, Duke of), 505 _Press, National._ Want of, 551 _Printers, English._ Protected by the statute of Richard III., 114 _Printing._ Benefit of, 197 _Print-sales._ Barnard, 502, 503 Sir W. Musgrave, 503, 504 Miscellaneous, 604-506 _Prints._ Account of rare and curious ones, 502-511 _Prospero._ A book-auction bibliomaniac, 135 _Psalters._ The Author's Essay upon the ancient Psalters printed at Mentz, 42 _Pynson_ (_Richard_), His books upon vellum, 216 _Quin_ (_Mr._). His passion for books printed upon vellum, 518 _Quisquilius._ A book-auction bibliomaniac, 126 _Ranzau_ (_Henry De_). Inscription over his library door, 113 _Ratcliffe_ (_John_). Account of his library, 392, 393 Comparison between the collections of West and Ratcliffe, 393 _Rawlinson_ (_Thomas_). His passion for book-collecting, 343-346 Catalogues of his several book-sales, 344, 345 _Rawlinson_ (_Richard_). Sale, and specimens, of his library, 369, 370 _Rede, or Read_ (_William, Bishop of Chichester_), 192 _Reed_ (_Isaac_). Some account of him and his library, 455, 456 _Reformation._ History of the, as connected with the Bibliomania, 228-238 _Rembrandt._ Account of the scarcest engravings by him, 507-509 _Reprints_ of voluminous and useful works applauded, 549, 550 _Revickzky_ (_Count_). Catalogue, and disposal, of his library, 92 _Reviews._ Their advantages and disadvantages, rise and progress, 16, 17 _Richard De Bury_, 185-188 _Rinaldo._ A book-auction bibliomaniac, 136 _Ritson_ (_Joseph_). His character, under that of Sycorax, 7-9 Sale of his books, 448 _Rive_ (_Abbé Jean Joseph_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Roche_ (_Mr._). His communication respecting Count M'Carthy, 518 _Roscoe_ (_Mr. William_). Proposed to write a life of Erasmus, 222 His commendation of handsome book-binding, 514 _Rosicrusius._ A book-auction bibliomaniac, 127, 128 _Roveray_ (_Du_). His publications commended, 481 _Rowe Mores_ (_Edward_). Sale of his library, 501 _Roxburgh_ (_John, Duke of_). Anecdote of, 523 _Royal Institution._ Catalogue of the library of, 99 _Sales, Book._ Account of their establishment, 304-308 Number of, in the years 1806-7, 456, 457 _Satin._ Books printed upon, 512 _Saxius_ (_Christopher_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Scaliger_ (_Joseph_). The author's estate compared with that of, 564 _Scott_ (_Robert_). A celebrated bookseller, 310 _Scott_ (_Sir Walter_). Beauty of his poetry, 410. See _Bibliographical Index_. _Scotus Erigena_ (_Johannes_). Account of his writings, 168 _Scribes, or Scriveners._ Ignorance of the ancient, 184 _Seaman_ (_Dr._) Catalogue of his books, 304-306 _Sharp and Hailes._ Their publications commended, 431 _Sherington_ (_Sir Walter_). Regulations concerning his library, 194, 195 _Similis._ Inscription upon his tomb, 562 _Smith_ (_Consul_). Catalogue of his library, 95, 376 _Smith_ (_Richard_). Account and sale of his library, 302-304 Engraving of his portrait, 503 _Smyth_ (_George_). Account of his library, 403 _Snuff-box_ of Mr. L., 122 _Soubise_ (_Prince De_). Catalogue of his library, 96 _Southgate_ (_Richard_). Account of his collections, 419 _Spencer_ (_George John, Earl_). His purchase of Count Revickzky's library, 92 His copies of the Mozarabic Missal & Breviary, 162 Copy of the Siege of Rhodes, printed by Caxton, 407 Copy of Pynson's edition of Chaucer's works, 417 Copies of illustrated Shakspeares, 498 Copy of Pliny, printed by Sweynhem and Pannartz, upon vellum, 519 Eulogy upon his character, 524 Armorial ensigns of, 525 Copy of the "Assertio Septem," upon vellum, 565 _Stafford_ (_Marchioness of_). Description of a private publication by, 533 Her skill in etching, 534 _Stanley_ (_Colonel_). His fine copy of De Bry, 512 _Steevens_ (_George_). Some account of, 427-440 Analysis of his library, 428-436 His verses on Eleanour Rummin, 437 His letters to Herbert, 438-440 _Strange_ (_John_). His library commended, 441 _Strawberry-Hill Press._ Account of books printed there, 534, 540 Vignette device of the house, 540 _Struvius._ See _Bibliographical Index_. _Stubbes._ See _Bibliographical Index_. _Surrey_ (_Henry Howard, Earl of_). His whistle, 241 An intended edition of his works by the Rev. Dr. Nott, _ib._ _Sutherland_ (_Col. Alexander Hendras_). His extraordinary copy of an illustrated Clarendon, 499 _Sycorax._ A literary character, 7-9 _Sykes_ (_Sir Mark Masterman_). His copy of the Revickzky Catalogue, 92 of Rapin's History of England, 494 _Tanner_ (_Thomas, Bishop of St. Asaph_). Account of his editorship of Wood's Athen. Oxon., 46 His Bibl. Brit. Hibernica, 52 _Testament, Greek._ Number of editions of, 542 _Tewrdanckhs._ A book so called, 65, 390 _Theobald_ (_Lewis_). His love of old books, 343 _Theodore_ (_Archbishop of Canterbury_), 165 _Theological volumes._ Great number of, in the Imperial Library at Paris, 109 _Thuanas_ [_De Thou, Jaques Auguste_]. Account, and catalogue, of his library, 96 _Thynne_ (_William_). A distinguished bibliomaniac, 242 _Tiptoft_ (_John, Earl of Worcester_), 198, 199 _Tiraboschi_ (_Girolamo_). See _Bibliographical Index_. _Titles of Books._ Strangely lettered upon the binding, 88 _Todd_ (_Rev. Henry John_). See _Bibliographical Index_. His editions of Milton and Spenser commended, 550 _Triphook_ (_Mr. Robert_)--bookseller, 308 His projected work on, 'The History of Playing Cards,' 399 _Tristrem_ (_Sir_). A book-auction bibliomaniac, 134 _Trithemius_ (_John_). Some account of, 541, 542 Wood-cut portrait of, 542 _True Editions._ Account of, 525-527 _Tutet_ (_Mark Cephas_). Account of his library, 399, 400 _Ulpian._ A book-auction bibliomaniac, 132 _Uncut Copies._ Passion for the possession of, 494-496 _Unique Copies._ Illustration of, 511-514 _Utterson_ (_Mr. Edward Vernon_). His copy of Stubbes's Anatomy of Abuses, 279 of Scott's Discoverie of Witchcraft, 492 _Vallière_ (_Duc De La_). Anecdote of him and the Abbé Rive, 59 Catalogues of his library, 97 _Vellum, books printed upon_, 68, 97, 321, 322--but see particularly 515-521 _Visitors of ancient Monasteries_, 231 _Wakefield_ (_Robert_), 235, 413 _Walpole_ (_Francis_). Heraldic quarterings of, 100 _Walpole_ (_Horace_). See 'Strawberry Hill Press.' _Wanley_ (_Humphrey_). Some account of, 346, 347 _Warton_ (_Thomas_). Celebrated under the character of Menander, 7 _West_ (_James_). Account of, and analysis of his library, 376-383 Prices of some of his books sold by auction, 377, 380, 381 Comparison of his library with J. Ratcliffe's, 393 _Wicliffe_ (_John_). Bishop Fell's character of, 318 Mr. Baber's edition of his New Testament, 339 Life of, by Lewis, 340 _Wilbraham_ (_Mr. Roger_). His copy of the 'Manner and Forme of Confession,' 224 _Wilkes_ (_John_). Account of his Library, 447 _Wilson_ (_Thomas, Bishop of Sodor and Man_). His edition of the Bible, 109 _Witches._ Tracts relating to, at Brand's sale, 454 _Wolfius_ (_John_). See _Bibliographical Index_. Wood-cut portrait of, 112 _Wolsey_ (_Thomas, Cardinal_), 225-228 His character by Skelton, Roy, and Tyndale, 225, 226, 227 Fine books presented to him, 227 _Wood_ (_Anthony_). Some account of, 312-316. _See Bibliographical Index._ Woodcut portrait of, 315 _Woodford_ (_Emperor John Alexander_). Sale of his library, 459 _Woodhouse_ (_Mr. John_). His collection of prints, 441-444 His collection of books, 444-446 _Worsley_ (_Dr._). Sale of his books by auction, 306 _Worsley_ (_Sir Richard_). His 'Museum Worsleyanum,' 532 _Wright_ (_Richard, M.D._). Account of his library, 401, 402 _Wynne_ (_Edward_). Account of his library, 323, 324 _Ximenes_ (_Cardinal Francis_). See _Bibliographical Index_. Life of him by Lord Holland, or Mr. Southey, a literary desideratum, 160 _Youth._ Character and History of the Education of the ancient English Youth, 282-285