i
 
 BIBLIOPHOBIA. 
 
 REMARKS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PRESENT LANGUID AND DEPRESSED STATE OF 
 
 LITERATURE 
 
 AND THE BOOK TRADE. 
 
 IN A LETTER 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE AUTHOR OF THE 
 
 38ibliomania. 
 
 BY 
 
 MERCURIUS RUSTICUS. 
 
 WITH NOTES * 
 
 BY CATO PARVUS. 
 
 " Fear is the order of the day. To those very natural and 
 long" established fears of bailiffs and taxgatherers, must now be 
 added the fear of Reform, of Cholera, and of Books." p. 6. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HENRY BOHN, 4, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 1832.
 
 Of this Pamphlet there are 100 Copies printed upon 
 Large Paper — for the sake of " those whom it may con- 
 cern." 
 
 i\
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The ensuing pages would never have seen the light, 
 hut that, on shewing them in MS. to a neighbouring 
 friend — who lives just across the moor — he was 
 pleased to express a very favourable opinion of 
 their probable good tendency, if given to the world; 
 adding, that a few notes,* which he would cheer f idly 
 supply, might perhaps help to promote the object in 
 view. As I knew him to be well versed in the ar- 
 cana both of black-letter and of modern publica- 
 tions, and most regular in his annual visits to the 
 Metropolis, I thankfully accepted his offer, I hope 
 therefore that the text and notes together may 
 prove acceptable to the kind-hearted reader, who 
 cannot but sympathize with their author in the pre- 
 sent melancholy prevalence of the disease of Bib- 
 liophobia ; which is altogether ?iew in its charac- 
 teristics, and ominous of the most direful results. 
 
 The first two notes of my friend bear his name: Cato 
 Parvus, or the Initials: afterwards, they have neither name 
 nor initials. My own few notes bear the initials M. R. 
 
 71 RdfLR
 
 A LETTER, &c. 
 
 Laurel Lodge. 
 Oct. 31, 1831. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 It is now, I believe, upwards of 
 twenty-years, since you kindly undertook the 
 useful task of making the public acquainted with 
 the symptoms or characteristics of the dread- 
 ful disease called the Bibliomania. With the 
 symptoms of the disease, you also furnished them 
 with the means of its cure. But, strange to say, 
 the very opposite to the effect predicted took 
 place. The mania increased in fury. Its ravages 
 spread far and wide, and its victims were nume- 
 rous. Men seemed to judge by " the rule of 
 contrary.'* They hunted hole and corner for 
 black letter J and large paper ^ and uncut ^ copies of 
 the several works they were in search of; and, 
 with the palpable evidence of astounding facts 
 before their eyes^ they rushed infatuatedly for- 
 ward to embrace the very causes of self-destruc- 
 tion. Such heart-rending cases oi felo-de-se had 
 never been before recorded.
 
 Things are strangely altered of late: and pas- 
 sions and tastes have taken a very opposite tone. 
 Objects, which formerly rivetted attention, and 
 begat attachment, are now considered almost as 
 those of horror and alarm. In shorty fear is the 
 order of the day. To those very natural and 
 long-established fears of bailiffs and tax-gather- 
 ers, must now be added the fear of Reform, of 
 Cholera, and of Books. 
 
 I am induced to trouble you with a few re- 
 marks upon this melancholy but highly interest- 
 ing subject, in consequence of a visit recently paid 
 to a friend in town; whom, in the ^^good old 
 times " of Bibliomania, I used to accompany to 
 book-sales: — from whom I learned to ^Miit my 
 bird" with unerring dexterity, and, in conse- 
 quence, to store my larder with a profusion of 
 game. In other words, to make my book-pur- 
 chases with discrimination, and to enrich my 
 shelves with a due sprinkling of choice copies. 
 I staid with my friend during the three latter 
 months of '' the season," as it is called; and 
 when I returned to my solitary rural resi- 
 dence, and cast an eager look over those '' pre- 
 cious gems," which, in former times, seemed to 
 sparkle with unrivalled lustre, somehow or 
 other they appeared to fall flat and dead upon 
 my notice. Ill-humour, vexation, and wrath at the 
 capriciousness of public taste, all united to make 
 me retreat precipitately from my book-room —
 
 for it aspires not to the dignified appellative of a 
 '' LIBRARY." However, after a few short, heavy 
 breathing's, I returned to my once favourite 
 haunt of retirement. I carried with me all my 
 former kind and warm-hearted feelings towards 
 those objects of silent but eloquent instruction; 
 and throwing myself into my walnut-tree curi- 
 ously-carved armed chair, read to myself a sharp 
 lecture on the absurdity of yielding to the very 
 feelings which I had deprecated. I then seemed 
 to breathe freely again : and signing a tacit con- 
 tract with my beloved, resolved that nothing 
 in future should ever cause me to bate one jot of 
 my attachment towards my Dugdales and my 
 Hearnes. 
 
 It is true — living in a village as I do — there 
 is little inducement from without to cause my 
 book-passion to increase in ardour. The Squire 
 has not the smallest notion of the value of large 
 margins or rough edges : and when I took down 
 the Fructus Temporiimy printed by Machlinia, as 
 the ne pins ultra of my book-gems, he declared 
 that he had " never seen anything, in the shape 
 of a book, half so frightful in his life !"* The 
 
 * The Squire may be forgiven for this brusquerie in passing- 
 judgment. It is, typographically speaking, a ** frightful" book. 
 A good deal of puzzle belongs to the identifying of the Chro- 
 nicle printed in the Abbey of St. Alban, and of that printed by 
 Machliiiia, See these books fully described in the Bibl. 
 Spenceriana, vol iv. 360-73; 393. Cato Parvus.
 
 Clergyman, in all other respects a most exem- 
 plary character, has no idea of the worth of my 
 octodecimo black regiment of Latimer, Fox, and 
 Drant ; * but obstinately adheres to his Barrow, 
 Tillotson, and Atterbury. I pity, from my heart, 
 such a circumscribed range of taste : and giving 
 up the Squire as incorrigible, hope yet to teach 
 the Vicar better things. 
 
 I confess that one of the principal motives for 
 troubling you with this epistolary address, is, the 
 excessive astonishment and chagrin which I ex- 
 perienced at the sale of the Autograph Novels 
 of the renowned Author of Waverley. What, 
 Sir, is it come to this ? Are the fire and spirit 
 and emulation of our young nobility and gentry 
 quite extinct? Is the love of legendary lore 
 wholly defunct? Are the gewgaws of jewellery, 
 the tawdryness of furniture, the trickery of 
 horse dealing, the brittleness of Dresden and 
 Sevre ware^ and '^ such-like," to form paramount 
 objects of purchase and speculation, by those, 
 
 * Copious and curious specimens of the pulpit eloquence 
 of Latimer, Fox, and Drant, will be found in the Library, 
 Companion, p. 66-81 ; to which add, as there adduced, spe- 
 cimens from a contemporary of the name of Edgeworth> 
 When I quote from the Library Companion, I wish it to be 
 understood that I quote from the first, or as some booksellers 
 call it, the Breeches Edition of 1824. The second is however 
 the more valuable. Will posterity ever be made acquainted 
 with the mystery belonging to this small-clothes designation ? 
 C, P.
 
 whose purses are usually well lined with pis- 
 toles? In what an age of effeminacy amon^ men, 
 and of utter nonchalance and apathy among wo- 
 men, do we now live! At the sale in question, 
 scarcely '' Three Gentlemen of Verona" were 
 present. Mr. Evans eyed his auditory with 
 evident marks of surprise and discomfort. He 
 expected to have found — with the Campbells and 
 Moors, the Gaits, Bulwers, and Wards, of the 
 day — half-a-score of Roxburghers^ with the elite 
 of the Athenaeum, and even a due sprinkling of 
 the fashionable Bas Bleu, He found no such 
 thing. One or two authors, and a brace of M.P.'s 
 only were present. The rest were booksellers ; of 
 whom Mr. Thorpe, as usual, occupied a good por- 
 tion of the foreground: and, to his credit it must 
 be added, became the largest bibliopolistic pur- 
 chaser on the occasion. 
 
 Conticuere omnes intentique ora tenebant, 
 
 as Mr. Evans commenced his " prologue to the 
 swelling act." It was evident, however, that an 
 under current was running pretty strongly against 
 the audible tide of speech : at times, even " vox 
 faucibushaesit." Still it was a good earnest ha- 
 rangue — well timed — and to those, who did not 
 remember the "oratioparainetica" preceding the 
 sub hastd sale of the Valdarfer Boccaccio and the
 
 10 
 
 vellum Livy of Sweynheim and Panriartz,* the 
 effort was creditable and eiFective. But oh! Sir, 
 what language can express the surprise of both 
 auctioneer and company, when the Monastery, the 
 first article in the sale, produced only the sum of 
 £*18. 18s. !| Where w^ere ye, ye pains-taking, fid- 
 dle-faddling, indefatigable collectors of Franks — 
 ye threaders of autographic scraps — yeAlbum-ites, 
 ^' et hoc genus omne?" — where were ye " in that 
 
 * See a very full and particular description of the sales of 
 these celebrated volumes in the Ninth Day of the Biblio- 
 graphical Decameron, vol. iii. pp. 62-117. A sequel, of some 
 interest, belongs to the narrative there disclosed. Earl 
 Spencer, in the year 1819, at the sale of the library of the 
 Marquis of Blandford, (now Duke of Marlborough,) who 
 had purchased the Boccaccio at the Duke of Roxburgh's sale 
 for £2260., became possessed of that treasure for less than half 
 the sum. The vellum Livy of 1469, which the late Sir M. 
 S^^kes, Bart, purchased at the sale of Mr. Edward's library 
 in 1815, for £903, was purchased by Messrs. Payne and Foss, 
 at the sale of Sir Mark's library in 1824, for £472. 10s., and 
 sold by them to the late Mr. Dent for 500 guineas. At the sale 
 of Mr. Dent's library in 1827, this book, for the third time, 
 was disposed of by public auction, by Mr. Evans, to Messrs. 
 Payne and Foss, for £262. 10s. It is now — and long may it 
 there continue— in the very fine library of the Rt. Hon. Thos. 
 Grenville. Could its first English possessor have survived the 
 intelligence, that his darling Livy would one day droop its 
 wings so low ? 
 
 t The lots, with their respective prices, were as follows : — 
 1. The Monastery, perfect, £18. 18s: 2. Gny3Iannering,wmn- 
 ing a leaf at the end of vol. 2, £27. 10s: 3. Old Mortality, 
 perfect, £33 : 4. The Antiquary, perfect, £42 : 5. Rob Roy, 
 perfect, £50: 6. Peveril of the Peak, perfect, £42: 7.
 
 11 
 
 hour V One would have thought that the ori- 
 ginal drafts of those master-pieces of human wit^, 
 eloquence^ and passion — struck-off by the great 
 KNOWN UNKNOWN — would have attracted crowds 
 of competitors within the arena of Mr. Evans's 
 auction-room ; that scarcely breathing-space, 
 much less standing-room, would have been af- 
 forded : and that Scotland herself would have 
 furnished champions to carry off the richer prizes 
 at the point of the claymore ! 
 
 I own, that I was bewildered with the scene 
 before me. I was, indeed^ sorrow-stricken — 
 chop-fallen — and evidently depressed. My friend 
 perceived it. He essayed to sooth and to cheer 
 me: but melancholy, as black and deep as any 
 depicted by Bright or Burton,* had taken entire 
 possession of me. I slunk quietly behind one of 
 the square pillars, at right and left of the rostrum, 
 and resolved to be a mute, but not unwatchful 
 spectator of all around me. '^ What " (said I to 
 myself,) ''not one specimen for Bodley — for the 
 British — for the London — for the Royal — for the 
 Advocates — for Dublin ?"t Then again for mdi" 
 
 Waverley, imperfect, £18: 8. The Abbot, imperfect, £14: 
 9. Ivanhoe, imperfect, £12 : 10. The Pirate, imperfect, £12: 
 11. Fortunes of Nigel, impeded, £16. 16s. 12. Kenilworth, 
 imperfect, £17 : 13. Bride of Lammermoor, only 61 pages, 
 £14. 14s. 
 
 * Bright's treatise on Melancholy was first published, I be- 
 lieve, in 1586— Burton's, in 1621. 
 
 t I presume, for the sake of brevity, the adjunct of *' Li-
 
 12 
 
 nidual competitorship. Where was Mr. D. T. 
 and Mr. A., and Mr. U.? All asleep — as well as 
 faraway? It should seem so ; for the produce 
 of the whole lots did not amount to quite ^ fifth 
 of what was expected.* 
 
 *'Excidat ille dies aevo, neu postera credaut 
 Ssecula!" 
 
 It will scarcely be believed, that the spirit 
 evinced at the previous sale of the late Mr. Ham- 
 per's Manuscripts;\ should have become, as if 
 struck by some benumbing talisman, paralised at 
 this. The man^ whose genius had supplied such 
 abundant food for delightful recreation and in- 
 
 brary," has been purposely left out in the above designa- 
 tions. Thero is, I fear, a sad state of torpor — a chilling indif- 
 ference to the genuine book-feeling — possessing many of the 
 guardians of the above several public repositories. How 
 hesitatingly, and how rarely, are purchases made ! 
 
 * The fact, as I understood it, was this. The proprie- 
 tors of the MSS. were offered by the trustees of the Advocates' 
 Library, £1000. for the whole. This offer was not thought 
 sufficiently liberal ; and the proprietors stood out for another 
 thousand. This contre-projet was not listened to for a mo^ 
 ment : and the hammer of Mr. Evans was in consequence to 
 decide the matter irrevocably. The MSS. came to town; and 
 the result of the entire sale of those that were put up was, as 
 is above stated. We know there are such things as "out- 
 standing one's market." The general impression was, at the 
 outset, that they would average £50. a lot. 
 
 t The sale of Mr. Hamper's printed books and MSS. 
 took place in 1831. There was a most interesting melange: 
 and the last day's sale of MSS. and autographs, produced 
 above £1100.
 
 13 
 
 struction, for the last thirty-years^ had the morti- 
 fication to learn that the autographic taste of his 
 vaunting Southern neighbours was a mere capri- 
 cious impulse — a childish and fickle conceit — 
 without intelligible motive or object. Giving 
 my friend the slip, I stole sulkily away; resolving 
 to bid adieu to book-sales and book-purchases, of 
 every description, for one season. This unex- 
 pected result expedited my departure from town ; 
 and I found myself at Laurel Lodge, a thoughtful, 
 disappointed inmate — when I had hoped to have 
 entered it with alacrity and glee. At first, I 
 was not only disconsolate, but absolutely peevish 
 and irritable. As before intimated, I seemed to 
 loathe my library. I even shunned society. I 
 sought only my alcove and sweet-briar walks ; 
 but the blossoms had lost their hue and fragrance. 
 The sky was never clear. The heavens were 
 never blue. The throstle had learned the chatter 
 of the jay. The nightingale was always in Cflat. 
 Another consideration has somewhat damped 
 my spirits, and helped to give the leaves of the 
 beech and the oak (in my lower-meadow-walk) 
 a premature '' sere and yellow'' tinge. Just be- 
 fore my departure from town, I made a few 
 book-pilgrimages from one end of it to the other. 
 Starting from the corner of Cornhill, where those 
 most respectable brothers — the Gemini of the 
 eastern hemisphere — reside, I leisurely strolled 
 towards St. James's Palace ; calling, as my cus-
 
 14 
 
 torn ever was, upon several bibliopoles in my way. 
 To begin with my start. Time was. Sir, as you 
 know full-well, and better than myself, when more 
 than one British merchant would let his carriage 
 drop down a few^ paces towards the London Ta- 
 vern, (for the racket and roar of the four crossing- 
 roads, or streets, put the wheels of a gentleman's 
 carriage in great jeopardy ) and its inmate would 
 step into the shop of Messrs. J. & A. Arch — and 
 after a little pleasant interchange of literary 
 gossip, take down — ay, and forthwith take up^ 
 and away with him, into his carriage — more than 
 one portly folio, or wide-spreading quarto. I 
 have known a whole row of a choicely coloured 
 Bt^ffon, in the former shape — and a whole series 
 of the Chronicles, in the latter shape — disposed of 
 in a trice, by a customer, who not only knew 
 what he was about, but who loved, as regularly 
 as the January dividends came in, to stand square 
 and firm upon the credit side of the booksellers' 
 ledger.* " How comes it,'' quoth I, '^ gentlemen, 
 that there is nothing now stirring in this way? — 
 that over the gilded tops of these volumes there is 
 a somewhat dense layer of dust? and that, across 
 yonder set of Grasvius and Gronovius, the spider 
 hath been allowed to spin his subtle web ?" The 
 answer was prompt, and too well founded. " Bib- 
 
 * The late Mr. Rennie used to say — ** I am upon good 
 terms with all the booksellers, and there is one thing for which 
 they ought to like me — I never go to a Sale for any thing that 
 I can get at a shop." M, R,
 
 15 
 
 liomania was no more. The canons of Dr. Dibdin 
 were no longer assented to. A frightful heresy 
 was abroad. The wished for Reform in Parlia- 
 ment, like Aaron's serpent, had swallowed up 
 every other interest and pursuit; andbookswere 
 now only the shadow of what they were. How- 
 ever, let but a perfect Coverdale's Bible turn up, 
 and we shall see whether the strong box cannot 
 afford a settler — to the tune of £100. — for its ac- 
 quisition !" 
 
 The Row was the next quarter to be visited : -- 
 not, however, without giving a look-in at Messrs. 
 Leggatt, and Jennings and Chaplin, in my route 
 thither. I will own, that this " look-in" rather 
 gratified me. I love to see human beings rub- 
 bing their hands, and, in the quick movements of 
 their eyes and tongues, giving demonstration that 
 joy was touching their hearts. I found Mr. Leg- 
 gatt not only in high feather, but in high glee. 
 His prints had met with a prosperous sale. Gen- 
 tlemen now and then got a little breathing time 
 from that Pandeemonium of speculation (the 
 S. E. ) and passing a few minutes with him, fre- 
 quently scribbled a cheque for a Wilkie or a 
 Turner. "We shortly expect (said Mr. Leggatt, 
 raising his voice and arms simultaneously) the 
 Chelsea Pensioners oni*,^ and then the town will be 
 
 * The '' Chelsea Pensioners" ARE out— emblazoning nu- 
 merous shop-windows — delighting the looker-on, and making 
 the purchaser supremely happy. I learn that, already, up-
 
 16 
 
 quite alive." Mr. Jennings received me evi- 
 dently under the impression that Annuals^' were 
 likely to become Perennials, The " Landscape 
 Annual," was to be eminently successful. Mr. 
 Rogers' "Italy " had proved a mine of wealth to 
 all the parties concerned. Bouks, tc be sure, 
 were rather on the wane ; but Engravings, when 
 
 wards of £8000. worth of this print are disposed of — and that 
 the French paper proofs are not yet delivered. Rare doings 
 for Pall Mall ! — making the face of the ^' 3Ioon" to shine 
 like that of the sun. 1 remember the painting of this picture : 
 how carefully, how laboriously, how anxiously, the great 
 artist pursued his toil. I see, at this moment, the light-horse- 
 man and his charger introduced into the little garden, behind 
 Mr. Wilkie's house in Phillimore Place, Kensington — and, 
 yet more interesting objects, I see the old pensioners flocking 
 round the artist's easel, and marking their several physiogno- 
 mies—done to the life! It is a glorious production of art: a 
 thoroughly national picture : — but Mr. Wilkie knows that I 
 never shall, or can, forgive him, on account of the Oyster Hei' 
 esy. iS^o woman was ever seen opening oysters in June. 
 She might just as well have been selling cherries and currants. 
 I hope yet to have the good fortune to possess an India 
 proof of this interesting composition : but every time that I 
 look at it, I almost heave a sigh that the engraving had not 
 been of such extent as to admit of the faces being a fifth 
 of an inch larger. The Blind Fiddler, by the same engraver 
 (Mr. Burnett,) is to my eye beyond all praise. But . . . what 
 an Original ! 
 
 * I am at war with the Annuals; because they are so 
 very beautiful, and, like beauties of almost every descrip- 
 tion, are so likely to be seductive. Will they not — may they not 
 — in the long run, be ruinous to the best interests of the 
 GENUINE SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING? Some of the cleverest 
 Artists in the kingdom are engaged in them — engaged, not 
 merely to plough the copper, but in an expectancy of a cer-
 
 1^7 
 
 embedded in printed text, promised well. A 
 thousand delicious objects of art were already in 
 petto. The Heaths, the Findens, and the Pyes — 
 
 tain share of profit arising from the sale. This year has seen 
 the birth of tWo- new adventurers, under the titles of Mr. Heath's 
 Picturesque Aiinual, from the designs of Stanfield, and the 
 Continental Tourist, The former of these is transcendently 
 beautiful ; such silvery skies, and pellucid waters, and de- 
 licious architectural accompaniments, have been rarely before 
 seen. But no subsequent attempt can ever efface from my 
 memory the extreme gratification I felt on opening the leaves 
 of the Jirst Keepsake. Like " first loves," the impression 
 is indelible. Much as I admire graphic art, in almost every 
 
 KRKATUM. 
 
 Page 17, note, last line but 3, for " Wallis," read " Goodall." 
 
 gravings form by no means its exclusive charm) was enough, 
 at first sight, to take the judgment captive, and to waft the 
 spectator, in imagination, to the several spots delineated. 
 Never were text and embellishments so successfully — so happily 
 — dovetailed. The book rose rapidly in estimation and price: 
 and it is now at £l. lis. 6d. a cheap volume. But if the ma- 
 gical pencil of Turner, in these condensed and minute eftbrts, 
 appear marvellous, look at the grand Engravings— the one by 
 Wallis, the other by Pye — from the pencil of the same Artist ! 
 The latter almost makes me forget Woollet. This is the 
 School of Engraving — the style of Art — in which I hope yet to 
 live to see a cento of competitors. 
 
 B
 
 16 
 
 quite alive." Mr. Jennings received me evi- 
 dently under the impression that An7iiials^' were 
 likely to become Peremiials, The " Landscape 
 Annual," was to be eminently successful. Mr. 
 Rogers' ''Italy " had proved a mine of v\^ealth to 
 all the parties concerned. Bouks, tc be sure, 
 were rather on the wane ; but Engravings, when 
 
 wards of £8000. worth of this print are disposed of — and that 
 the French paper proofs are not yet delivered. Rare doings 
 for Pall Mall ! — making the face of the ^* 3Ioon'^ to shine 
 like that of the sun. 1 remember the painting of this picture : 
 how carefully, how laboriously, how anxiously, the great 
 artist pursued his toil. T see, at this moment, the light-horse- 
 
 look at it, I almost heave a sigh that the engraving had not 
 been of such extent as to admit of the faces being a fifth 
 of an inch larger. The Blind Fiddler, by the same engraver 
 (Mr. Burnett,) is to my eye beyond all praise. But . . . what 
 an Original ! 
 
 * I am at war with the Annuals; because they are so 
 very beautiful, and, like beauties of almost every descrip- 
 tion, are so likely to be seductive. Will they not — may they not 
 — in the long run, be ruinous to the best interests of the 
 GENUINE SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING.^ Some of the cleverest 
 Artists in the kingdom are engaged in them — engaged, not 
 merely to plough the copper, but in an expectancy of a cer-
 
 embedded in printed text, promised well. A 
 thousand delicious objects of art were already in 
 petto. The Heaths^ the Findens, and the Pyes — 
 
 tain share of profit arising from the sale. Tliis year has seen 
 the birth of two- new adventurers, under the titles of Mr. Heath's 
 Picturesque Annual, from the designs of Stanfield, and the 
 Continental Tourist, The former of these is transcendently 
 beautiful ; such silvery skies, and pellucid waters, and de- 
 licious architectural accompaniments, have been rarely before 
 seen. But no subsequent attempt can ever eiFace from my 
 memory the extreme gratification I felt on opening the leaves 
 of the first Keepsake. Like " first loves," the impression 
 is indelible. Much as I admire graphic art, in almost every 
 way, and regularly as 1 present my family each year with the 
 two works mentioned in the text, I must yet throw out the sus- 
 picion, introduced at the opening of this note, — will not these 
 Annuals injure the *' genuine school of Engraving.'"' Messrs. 
 Raimbach, and Burnett, and Pye and Robinson, do not des- 
 ert that path, which, in due time, will lead them to rival the 
 " John Hunter,'^ or the Doctors of the Church, by the illustrious 
 Sharpe. On a great scale of Engraving, the Continent beats 
 us : but the French are absolutely stark mad about our gra- 
 phic BIJOUTERIE. 
 
 Doubtless the '' Italy " of Mr. Rogers (of which the En- 
 gravings form by no means its exclusive charm) was enough, 
 at first sight, to take the judgment captive, and to waft the 
 spectator, in imagination, to the several spots delineated. 
 Never were text and embellishments so successfully — so happily 
 — dovetailed. The book rose rapidly in estimation and price : 
 and it is now at £1. lis. Gd. a cheap volume. But if the ma- 
 gical pencil of Turner, in these condensed and minute eff"orts, 
 appear marvellous, look at the grand Engravings — the one by 
 Wallis, the other by Pye— from the pencil of the same Artist ! 
 The latter almost makes me forget Woollet. This is the 
 School of Engraving— the style of Art— in which I hope yet to 
 live to see a cento of competitors. 
 
 B
 
 18 
 
 the Watts, the Doos, and the Cosins — had more 
 work on hand than the life of a centenarian could 
 accomplish : and folks might croak at the West- 
 end of the town, but with the prospect of Sir 
 John Key's second mayoralty before them, the 
 City was never in a more healthy and flourishing" 
 condition." This was the substance of what I 
 gathered from that most seductive of City re- 
 positories of graphic art, of which Mr. Jennings 
 brandishes the baton of chief command. 
 
 I next entered the Row; and calling in at 
 the well-known No. 39, mounted, according to 
 custom, to the upper regions, where the " Jani- 
 tor aulee " received me in his usually kind and 
 subdued manner. Mr. Reader was not, however, 
 as I remembered him in "the olden time." Block- 
 books formed no longer his moveable body- 
 guard. Editiones Principes, Spanish Chronicles, 
 and Portuguese Romanceros, had ceased to be- 
 come his shifting companions. Every thing 
 venerable and curious seemed to stick with glue- 
 like tenacity. But to compensate, there were 
 '' brisk doings " below stairs. A v/hole army of 
 Lilliputians, headed by Dr. Lardner, was making 
 glorious progress in the Republic of Literature. 
 Science ^ History ^dindi Art, each and all contributed 
 to render such progress instrumental to the best 
 interests of the body politic — nor, as it became 
 the credit of such a bibliopolistic fraternity, as 
 that of Messrs. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown,
 
 19 
 
 and Green, (there are no more, I believe) was 
 Religion ahseni: for when I descended, I found 
 your " Sunday Library " as a flank company 
 to the " Cabinet Cyclopaedia." Will you for- 
 give me, if, in running over the pages of this 
 useful little Corpus Theologicum, I remark, that 
 you seem to have stepped out of your ordinary 
 habits, and to have turned a '' deaf ear " to the 
 theological "charmers" of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury ? I suppose, however, you have good reason 
 
 for this deviation from your hitherto established 
 custom.* 
 
 * It is but right to add, that the Editor of the Sunday- 
 Library defends himself, were any defence needful, against 
 any censurable charge on this head ; — by the following remarks 
 in the preface to the sixth and last volume of the work. 
 
 *' Another consideration, of no secondary importance, has 
 ^' also had its weight with the Editor. While he has felt a 
 " conviction that the sermons of Barrow, South, Tillotson, 
 " Atterbury, Seed, Sherlock, Jortin, and many others, are 
 " already before the public in numerous forms — and moreover, 
 '' that the spirit and style of the greater part of these Sermons 
 " may be said not to be in exact conformity with the tastes of 
 '* the majority of hearers of the present day — (for it should 
 *•' seem that there is a fashion in Pulpit Divinity, as in every 
 " thing else) — while the Editor has been influenced (justly or 
 " not) by a reflection of this nature — he has been also in- 
 '* fluenced by one, which he deems to be of a higher cast of 
 '' character. He has been urged to make this selection, as the 
 '* Reader has it before his eyes, from a conviction, that modern 
 " days are not exempt from the display of great talents 
 ^* in almost every department of clerical labour; and that, if 
 " our present Sermons are less learned, less elaborate, less 
 " divided and subdivided into various branches of enquiry,
 
 20 
 
 I continued my route westerly. Could I pass 
 the Publisher of Walton and IValpole, De Foe 
 and Hogarth* — without looking in to see how 
 
 '* they are eminently distinguished for strength, compactness, 
 '* and perspicuity of style, with earnestness and even eloquence 
 ** of persuasion. There is also, generally speaking, more 
 " unction — more spiritual consolation — in the majority of them. 
 " If, on the one hand, there be nothing in the range of 
 *' modern divinity, as it respects Sermons, comparable with 
 " the magnificent imagery and prodigal copiousness of Jeremy 
 *' Taylor, or with the acute reasoning and energetic diction of 
 " Barrow, or with the solid learning and masculine vigour of 
 *' Sherlock; so, on the other hand, may we challenge the 
 " * olden school' to produce compositions more sweet, more 
 *' winning and instructive, than those of Horne and PoR- 
 "TEUS; or more luminous and convincing than those of 
 " HoRSLEY and Paley. And if a spirit of meekness, and 
 *' of almost apostolic primitiveness of character, added to deep 
 " learning and harmonious style, be sought for, who, in times 
 " gone by, shall we place above the late gentle and lamented 
 " Heber.'' It were bad taste, perhaps, to eulogise the living; 
 ** but the Editor is much deceived, if, in the pages of this 
 *' ' Selection,' there be not found specimens of sound scrip- 
 " tural analysis, accurate reasoning, and powerful declama- 
 *' tion, which yield to no productions of a similar nature that 
 *' have preceded them." p. vii. 
 
 * Walton's Angler and Lives, — as they are technically cal- 
 led, and as they are put forth by Mr. Major — will continue to 
 find, as they have already found, thousands of purchasers. 
 They are the cheapest, prettiest, and completest editions ex- 
 tant. The neatness of the printing, and propriety of the orna- 
 ments, are in perfect harmony. When these attractive 
 volumes (and especially the Angler) first appeared, there were 
 some indirect and clumsy attempts at impugning the H umanit Y 
 of that most gentle of all earthly creatures, Isaac Walton! 
 - — and this, forsooth, because he had given minute instructions
 
 21 
 
 matters^ in the way of trade, were going on ? 
 I could not : and learnt, with no small gratifica- 
 
 about fixing the fro(/ and ivorm-ha.its ! Our publisher's indig- 
 nation vented itself on the occasion in the following manly sen- 
 timents, and vigorous couplets: 
 
 " Go hypocrite ! indulge thy secret hate. 
 Of all that's open, manly, good, or great ; 
 For slight obliquities affect remorse. 
 But act enormities as things of course : 
 Spare the blunt insect from thy just controul. 
 And save thy tortures for the human soul ! 
 Strike at man^s heart, and then serenely sleep, 
 Assur'd the wound is exquisite as deep!" 
 
 The Lives of the Painters, by Walpole, with N^otes by the 
 Rev. Mr. Dallaway, form five perfectly resplendent volumes. 
 The coarse, hard, metallic effect of the heads in the old editions 
 is here transmuted into a natural tone of flesh. Several portraits 
 are engraved from original pictures for the first time : and the 
 new matter, supplied by the tasteful Editor, can leave no 
 doubt of the gradual disappearance of the earlier impressions. 
 In the good old times of Bibliomania, this work would have 
 walked, of its own accord, into the mahogany book-cases of 
 half the Collectors in London. 
 
 The Robinson Crusoe, with cuts from the master-hand of 
 Cruikshank, to which are prefixed some thoroughly beautiful 
 stanzas by Bernard Barton, contains the purest text of the 
 author extant — from a collation of the edition of 17 1^, with 
 the subsequent ones. This publication forms two prettily 
 paired duodecimos: — sparkling with wood-cuts. How diver- 
 sified — how powerful — the talents of the Artist by whom they 
 are adorned ! Look at the cut of Robinson Crusoe (vol i. 
 p. 135,) clasping his hands in extasy, as he throws his eyes to 
 heavcH over the treasures first disclosed to his mind in the 
 Bible — opened before him ! Then look at his man Friday (vol. 
 II. p. 45,) capering on the discovery of his Father among some 
 captured Indians ! Was ever such wild joy before so delineated ?
 
 22 
 
 tion, that the wheel of fortune had not turned 
 round so capriciously, as, from the general pres- 
 sure abroad, might have been expected. The Ro- 
 hinson Crusoe was '^ looking up " in the market ; 
 and now that the moralising Hogarth was per- 
 fected^ the Publisher was on the eve of bargain- 
 ing for a good set of morocco skins, to consign 
 numerous copies to their appropriate clothings. 
 
 I then made a slight deviation into Chancery- 
 lane — for the purpose of enquiring how the 
 Aldine Poets were going on? — how soon the lordly 
 edition of Walton'^ was likely to blaze abroad in 
 the open day?— and whether the old regiment of 
 body-guards still kept their stations upon the 
 shelves? It gratified me to receive rather a com- 
 forting answer to these quaeres; and when I 
 observed that the large paper copies of your Bib- 
 
 The Hogarth Morc/isec? is, to my fancy, among the most win- 
 ning graphic volumes of the day. The text is that of Dr. Truss- 
 ler; but instructive notes are frequently added, the prints 
 are not mere re-engravings from the wretched exhibitions of 
 art in Dr. Trussler's book, but are of a larger form, and ex- 
 ecuted by some of our best artists. I remember when Dr. 
 Trussler's book once brought the sum of £11. lis. : so much 
 were the public enamoured of the name of Hogarth ! and 
 loved this epitome, wofully as it was executed, of his larger 
 prints. Trussler's old edition now struggles hard, as many a 
 one who has purchased it may, to find a guinea. 
 
 * The Angler of Walton is here alluded to. It is an edition 
 blazing with the choicest graphic art, and likely to become 
 permanently stationary amidst the more costly volumes of a 
 well-furnished library. M. R.
 
 23 
 
 liomania, Tour, Decameron and Classics, had not 
 yet met with a bargainer of mettle sufficient to re- 
 move them from their present position, I own that 
 I was well pleased to hear their present possessor 
 declare, that nothing short of "a good round sum" 
 should tempt him to part with them — should they 
 even linger there till doomsday ! Mr. Pickering 
 had however disposed of his Caxton's Golden Le- 
 gend; which had been carted away as one of the 
 huge stones to help to build the book-pyramid of 
 EuPHORMio.* " But the Jenson and Froben- 
 loving days (said Mr. P. with a sub-tremulous 
 note) are gone — never to return ! Who, in these 
 times, looks at o/c/ vellums or young vellums?^" 
 Sympathising sincerely in these ejaculations, I 
 took my departure for the newly established 
 Repository of Mr. Henry Bohn — who, to his 
 
 * If Euphormio finish the Pyramid which he is erecting, 
 as scientifically, and with as good materials, as he has laid 
 the foundation, N** Hall will be the second Book-Lion 
 in Northamptonshire. It is needless to say which is the first. 
 M. R. 
 
 t Of the modern publications lately put forth by Mr. Picker- 
 ing, tico have been printed in a very beautiful and highly 
 creditable manner upon vellum : one, the Holbein cuts, in 
 one volume, being illustrations of the Old Testament — of which 
 there were six copies: the other, the reprint of Tyrwhitt's 
 Chaucer, in 5 volumes 12mo. of which there were only two. 
 The former were published at £10. 10s. ; the latter at £52. 10s, 
 the copy — elegantly bound in morocco. They are tomes, 
 which, in the genuine times of book-orthodoxy, would have 
 caused the eye to sparkle and the heart to rejoice.
 
 24 
 
 credit be it spoken, a long time allowed his vel- 
 lum Sforziada to divide his affections with his 
 newly espoused Bride. Mr. Bohn was as down- 
 cast as some of his neighbours; attributing the 
 paralisis in books to the agitation of the ques- 
 tion of Refonji in Parliament — and adding, most 
 justly, that "now — or never — was the moment to 
 make extensive and judicious purchases. Con- 
 sidering his short career, as a trader on his own 
 bottom, he was thankful for the support which 
 he had received, and was perhaps as well off as 
 those about him — but it could not be denied that 
 there was, at times, sore sighing from the bottom 
 of the heart." 
 
 From Mr. Bohn's it was little more than a hop, 
 step, and a jump, to Mr. Thorpe's. I found that 
 redoubted Bibliopolist recumbent upon his sofa — 
 embedded in his books — nothing daunted at the 
 penury of present, compared with former, prices 
 — still concocting catalogues, with a zeal and 
 celerity quite unparallelled* — anxious for their 
 distribution — a Manuscript here, a Giunta there 
 
 — Aldines, the Gryphii — broadside ballads,^ and 
 
 * A collection of all these catalogues would be a curious 
 one; were it only to mark the progressive depreciation of 
 prices frequently attached to the same article : but the pos- 
 session of all the articles themselves would be a more curious 
 result — and infinitely more gratifying to their vendor ! 
 
 t It was late one evening when I caught a glance, and but 
 a glance, of a collection of Ballad-Broadsides, very
 
 25 
 
 dainty devices — a "groat's worth of wit," with 
 the " Seven Sorrowful Sobs of a Sinner " — Gro- 
 lier, Maioli, and De Thou copies : — a grove of 
 sapling duodecimos — a forest of towering folios! 
 Our discourse turned chiefly upon the late sales, 
 and particularly upon that of the Waverly MSS. 
 — of which I have before " poured my plaint in 
 your ear." " Would that I had purchased them 
 allP' exclaimed the animated Bibliopolist. "Yes 
 Sir, all. They would have quitted my shelves 
 within a week of the purchase." But in oilier 
 matters: — tell me, do the "dear Fifteeners " wag 
 their tails, as if about to take a prosperous flight? 
 ^^ Alas, Sir, (replied my informant) they seem, 
 on the contrary, to be tied down by the stifFest 
 birdlime that ever was manufactured. There 
 stand my early Jeroms, and Austins, and Lac- 
 tantiuses. There slumber my Jenson and Spira 
 Latin Classics. No nimble-footed, liberal- 
 hearted * * * as of old, to visit my retired 
 boudoir^ and to tempt me with a "fell swoop!" 
 Everything lingers: everything stands stock-still. 
 The dust on yonder set of Acta Sanctorum will 
 soon produce me a good crop of carrots — from 
 the seed sown there about two-years ago. Lite- 
 
 recently obtained by Mr. Thorpe— in a condition, perfectly 
 surprising, and with cuts, occasionally the most grotesque 
 which can be imagined. At the sale of the Roxburghe Library, 
 such a handful of oddities would have brought a great-coat 
 pocket full of guineas. M. 11.
 
 26 
 
 rature is perishing. The country is undone." 
 Here the post entered with a letter from a great 
 Etonian Collector, to know if the Vellum Aldus 
 had arrived ? Mr. Thorpe's eyes sparkled — for 
 an instant only. There was no chance of its ar- 
 rival. And if it did, ought it not to go to Spencer 
 House, or to Cleveland Square ? 
 
 '' Le bon terns viendra" — quoth I to my 
 worthy informant — and some three -hundred steps 
 brought me to Mr. Ackermann's. I found that 
 ever-green Veteran with a mind as active as here- 
 tofore. His forthcoming '' Forget-me-not "* — ■ 
 the parent of that numerous offspring of Annuals, 
 which seem very much disjDosed to run riot, and 
 to rebel against that parent — was just then pre- 
 paring to put on its gilded wings to fly abroad; 
 together with its younger sister, the '' Juvenile 
 Forget-me-not,'^^ Mr. Ackermann's Prints, his 
 Pictures, his materiel for Drawing and Painting, 
 his publications of fashion and taste, were dis- 
 played, on all sides, as radiant as the banners in 
 St. George's Chapel. His activity of mind — his 
 
 * The real parent of the Annuals is the Buchandler oi the 
 Germans : a duodecimo, printed not very beautifully, upon 
 paper of a second-rate quality. The engravings are the chief 
 attractions. ''Upon this hint," Mr. Ackermann *' spake "^ — in his 
 " Forget-me-not:" a pleasing and instructive manual, thickly 
 studded with plates, and of which a good lusty impression of 
 about 16,000 copies is regularly struck off. " The Juvenile 
 Forget-me-not," a comparatively recent publication, may be 
 called a younger brother of its precursor.
 
 27 
 
 courtesy of demeanour — his thorough germane 
 bon-hommie — were as conspicuous and pleasant 
 as ever. Still ^'things were horribly flat. No 
 money was stirring. The young ladies had 
 slackened in enthusiasm. The roses and lilies 
 and lilacs were shedding their lustre and per- 
 fumes in vain. Parents drew in their purse- 
 strings tighter than ever. The Reform had 
 frightened away everything. The foreign mar- 
 ket was glutted to the very throat." 
 
 I then dropt down a few paces to Mr. Coch- 
 rane, whom I found as zealously as ever attached 
 to his old Divinity: especially to large paper, or 
 singularly clean, copies of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury. The beautiful old morocco folios of Jere- 
 my Taylor and Isaac Barrow, and Chillingworth 
 and Mede, had but recently — after tarrying some 
 nineteen-months — taken their departures. The 
 Acta Sanctorum had been courted in vain. Thir- 
 teen beneficed clergymen were in the habit of 
 eying it askance — of first taking up one volume, 
 and then another. But no wooer's ardour had 
 yet mounted to the courage of directly " popping 
 the question." The Reform was the real or pre- 
 tended excuse for holding back. Retracing my 
 steps, I steadily paced onward to the Castor and 
 Pollux of Pall Mall : — and there entering a suite 
 of book-rooms, in which, in former times, I was 
 wont to see assembled some of the more eminent 
 Literati of the day — Archbishops, Bishops, Earls,
 
 28 
 
 Doctors in Divinity and in Physic, Academics, 
 renowned in either University — Senators, Judges, 
 Lawyers, Wits, Poets, and Punsters — I gave 
 myself up to profound reverie. Not a mouse 
 was stirring — in other words, the managing Part- 
 ner was alone, pacing the quarter deck. . . . 
 
 And started back, he knew not why . . . 
 E'en at the sound himself had made ! 
 
 The master-spirit had departed to a better world. 
 In imagination, I embodied him, seated in his 
 arm-chair — his favourite Sessce cat purring by his 
 side : one leg duly balanced across the other: a 
 pinch of snuff in his right-hand : his spectacles, 
 now raised to his forehead — now resting tran- 
 quilly upon their wonted seat. The gentle sa- 
 lute . . . the kind enquiry . . . the desultory, 
 cosy gossip . . the retreat to the brill and beef- 
 steak* — the Boraccio-flavoured sherry, the full- 
 bodied port, the fragrant Souchong, the de- 
 parture " au revoir!" Then again, as touching 
 " stock in trade." Vellums^ large papers, un- 
 cuts: — Jenson reposing here, Mentelin slumber- 
 ing soundly there. Azzoguidiand Aldus — Giunti 
 and Giolito, — Wykyn de Worde and Wyer . . 
 all intertwined in somnolent embrace. Long sets 
 and short sets — great Councils and little Coun- 
 cils — Decretals and Dictionaries — Chronicles and 
 Cancioneros, and poetry without end ! 
 
 * See Bibliographical Decameron^ vol. ill, p. 152-437. — M.R. 
 
 I
 
 29 
 
 All these things, as I remembered them in for- 
 mer times, came across me in my late autumnal 
 visit ; and I had almost " dropped some natural 
 tears," had not Mr. Foss, seeing my distress, 
 placed before me their last importation from the 
 Continent. MSS. of the Greek Gospels, and 
 Latin Bibles of the twelfth century: — large paper 
 Alduses — vellum Plantins — crackling Elzevirs. 
 The folio Robinson's Hesiod, uncut — the Homeric 
 Eustathius of 1542, in similar condition — and the 
 first Odyssey of 1488, upon vellum!* 
 
 But where are your expected purchasers, gen- 
 tlemen? " Alas, Sir, with the exception of the 
 Eustathius,^ all these lovely tomes are likely 
 to become stickers. Modern books and ancient 
 books — the Row and the Via Appia — are equally 
 destitute of attraction. The Reform, Sir, the 
 Reform—or perhaps booksellers, like the Romans, 
 have had their day. Whenever we see cases of 
 old books arrive from Milan, or from Paris, we 
 
 * This truly beautiful book was bought at the sale of the 
 library of the late Mr. Dent, for £142. : but alas! it wants its 
 «' better half." Together, bad as are the times — and epi- 
 demic as may be the Cholera — they would bring hard upon 
 the half of a thousand-pound. 
 
 t This Eustathius — with a first Homer, of first-rate quality 
 too — is now the property, as I have been given to understand, 
 of the Rev. E. C. Hawtrey of Eton College, ^n the Storer 
 Collection, in the same college, there is a copy of this Eusta- 
 thius, of which the first volume is of a dazzling whiteness — 
 scarcely to be exceeded by that of the snow on Himalaya's 
 loftiest peak !
 
 30 
 
 absolutely lack the courage to open them. Not 
 so in former times. The chisel and the hammer 
 then went merrily to work — and ere you could 
 say '^^ Jack Robinson/' the lovely book -treasures, 
 membranaceous or otherwise^ were arranged in 
 inviting order upon the floor. Within forty- 
 eight hours, up started a tribe of contending 
 purchasers — and the articles seemed to march off 
 in double quick time, as if set in motion by the 
 tap of the drum. How long will it be ere w^e 
 hear the sound of that tapping again?" ^^ My 
 good friend, ( rejoined I — gradually receding to- 
 wards the small intermediate room, and there be- 
 coming stationary), you must be well acquainted 
 with the character of public taste in this country. 
 The moon is not more changeful than that taste 
 is fickle. Things cannot long remain at this very 
 low water-mark — there will soon be an ehhing, 
 to be succeeded by a full flowing tide of patron- 
 age and brisk trade. Let but the Reform Bill 
 pass — and only let Marcus break the shell of his 
 minority — and you shall see what a broadside of 
 golden balls will be poured into the ranks of yon- 
 der closely wedged octavos and duodecimos — all 
 sparkling in their red coats, furnished from the 
 manufactories of IDescuil and De Rome, Take 
 courage. A reaction must take place.'* 
 
 I essayed to comfort my friend, but found 
 him with difficulty to be consoled : and with a 
 spirit of dejection, which had now gradually in-
 
 31 
 
 creased since I had quitted the corner of Cornhill, 
 paid my eleventh, and last, visit to the renowned 
 Publisher of the Quarterly Review. I have long 
 considered Mr. Murray as the greatest " family " 
 man in Europe ; and was therefore not surprised 
 to find him surrounded by an extensive circle of 
 little ones. A family man is usually a cheerful 
 man: but the note of despondency was to be 
 heard even here, "• The Quarterly " was, how- 
 ever, in full plumage — winging its way, and still 
 commanding the attention of an unabated crowd 
 of admirers. Lord Byron was also to come forth 
 in a new dress — shorter, and less flowing — but 
 well-fitting, brilliant^ and attractive. So far, so 
 good : yet the taste for literature was ebbing. 
 Men wished to ^^i for five^ what they knew 
 they could not formerly obtain for fifteen, shil- 
 lings. The love of quartos was well nigh ex- 
 tinct, in spite of the efforts of a neighbouring 
 forty-eight horse power engine, to restore that 
 form to its usual fashion and importance. It was 
 all in vain. There was no resisting the tide of 
 fashion, or the force of custom ; — call it as you 
 might. Clear it was to him^ that the dwarf had 
 vanquished the giant — and that Laputa was lord- 
 ing it over Brobdignag. 
 
 Such were the sententious remarks of this dis- 
 cerning and high-spirited Bibliopolist.* On quit- 
 
 * Mr. Murray, like the best of us, may have his capriccios ; 
 but I KNOW him to possess as warm a heart, and as muuifi-
 
 32 
 
 ting his premises, I observed palpable proofs of 
 the absence of those "goodly quartos," which, in 
 former times, the public used to anticipate with 
 such eager curiosity — and which, as containing 
 a Body of Travels, were the ornament — and 
 will long continue to be the ornament — of every 
 well-furnished Library. 
 
 Sir, I am among those old-fashioned fellows 
 who love a quarto "to the heart's core." Gentle- 
 men look more like gentlemen, when such tomes 
 are spread out in rich magnificence before them. 
 The w^iole is more in keeping. There is greater 
 breadth in the picture : and if a folio or two — 
 historical or topographical — Mr. Sharp's William 
 of Malmsbiiry, or Mr. Baker^s History of Nor- 
 thamptonshire — be seen as accessories in such a 
 studio, I think this may be considered as the 
 sumrnmn boniim of bibliomaniacal felicity. There 
 is neither symptom nor apprehension of Bib- 
 LioPHOBiA . . . here. 
 
 cent a spirit, as ever actuated mortal man. He was among 
 the very first booksellers of his day who treated authors, of 
 character and connection, with the respect due to gentlemen. 
 Soft words and civil speeches are one thing — and generally 
 mean little or ?io-thing ; but a prompt and spirited remunera- 
 tion — not the result of minute ledger-like calculations — is 
 another thing : and such a thing as Mr. Murray has, in an 
 hundred instances, manifested. As this testimony comes from 
 one who has not received author's remuneration from Mr. Mur- 
 ray, it may possibly be worth that " renowned" Bibliopole's 
 acceptance.
 
 33 
 
 Before I returned home^ I thought I would 
 just step in and see what was going- on amongst the 
 foreign Booksellers. Accordingly I paid a hasty 
 visit to Messrs. Treuttell, Wurtz, and Richter, 
 Messrs. Bossange and Lowel, and Mr. Dulau. 
 Here I learnt that, at Paris, booksellers were 
 tumbling down like nine-pins. The presses of 
 Didot, Crapelet, and Renouard were all paralysed. 
 Scarcely a tympan or a frisket was flying. Mr. 
 Richter groaned in spirit, when I asked him " how 
 HuMBOLT was going on?" " No, Sir, we are all 
 now for the fugitives — pasquinades, revolutionary 
 rockets and squibs. Not a solid folio stirring. 
 Even Bouquet's immortal work seems to be sput- 
 tering in the socket. And here — Reform and 
 Cholera make misers put an extra lock upon 
 their iron chests, and keep even adventurous 
 spirits within doors. I have lived twenty-years 
 in England, and never saw the like of these days." 
 I felt half heart-broken as I descended Mr. Rich- 
 ter's flight of steps. 
 
 After such a bibliopolistic pilgrimage as that 
 which I have described, I returned to my hotel 
 with a heavy step, and in mournful spirits. I 
 ought however, in common justice, to add, that 
 the book picture here delineated — and perhaps a 
 little surcharged with gloom — may be said to 
 have a somewhat counteracting effect if I notice 
 what usually takes place on Almanack and Maga- 
 zine days. Mere accident put me into possession
 
 34 
 
 of a fact, which may be worthy of your notice. 
 Meeting a leading partner of one of the great 
 houses in the Row, as he was threading his way 
 towards Stationers' Hall, I was induced by him 
 to come and witness the dispersion of the Alma- 
 nacks for the ensuing year — it happening to be the 
 last Monday in the month. As we approached the 
 Hall, I saw a crowd of merry scramblers, some 
 hatted, some paper-capped, and more without 
 either hat or cap, pressing the large outer folding 
 doors of the Hall — and joyously clamourous for 
 admission. My guide obtained me an entrance by 
 means of a private door, and mounting one of 
 the tables of the Hall, I saw piles and pyramids 
 of these Almanacks — ticketted according to their 
 respective owners — and to be carried away by 
 the many applicants without. The clock of the 
 Hall struck three; the folding doors gradu- 
 ally expanded — and in rushed the importunate 
 claimants! running in all directions — zig-zag, 
 straight forward, and oblique — pouncing upon 
 the bundles of their respective masters. All 
 was laughter and good humour. Within three 
 minutes, I saw an eight-feet cubical pile of these 
 annual lucubrations — belonging to the house of 
 Messrs. Longman & Co. — disposed of, and taken 
 home; and Vas informed, by one of the partners, 
 that, before St. Paul's clock would strike eight, 
 every country bookseller's order would be des- 
 patched to him by the coach! On further en-
 
 35 
 
 quiries, I learnt that in this article alone, one 
 house ( I think it was that of Messrs. Simpkin and 
 Marshall ) paid £4500. for the amount of its traf- 
 fic. It was also, I learnt, within this same house 
 that the monthly publications were chiefly col- 
 lected for dispersion — when a scene of equal bus- 
 tle and good humour might be witnessed. 
 
 But I return to my narrative; and with it to 
 the hotel of which I have made mention above. 
 That hotel ( Cooper's, in Bouverie Street, Fleet 
 Street) was wont to be the place of resort for 
 Oxford men, for a series of years. It is delight- 
 fully central; and well calculated for the grati- 
 fication of most of those pursuits, for the sake of 
 which, English gentlemen leave their comfort- 
 able homes, and fancy that, without a Spring in 
 London, their characters stand in jeopardy of be- 
 ing "called over the coals." For a book-loving 
 man, this street has, from the force of early remi- 
 niscences, a peculiar charm for me. At its corner, 
 old Benjamin White, the Thomas Payne of the 
 East, once lived, and caused all his noble folios 
 and quartos to be displayed in skilful and meet 
 array to attract the curious eye. But why do I 
 dwell upon Cooper^s Hotel? Simply to tell you 
 that, on the very day of my return from my 
 melancholy book-pilgrimage, I had invited an 
 old Oxford friend — domiciled in one of the narrow 
 streets of a City-living — to give me the meeting 
 over a brace of trout and a roast fowl, and
 
 36 
 
 to discourse as long and lustily as he pleased 
 upon the topic of Bibliomania, as it respected 
 Book Collectors, How the Roxburghe Club went 
 on ? How libraries had been disposed of, or pur- 
 chased ? Who continued '' true to their guns?" 
 And what havoc had been lately made in the 
 ranks of the more eminent Bibliomaniacs, by that 
 resistless and '' insatiate archer," Death ?* 
 
 I collected from my friend the following de- 
 tails. '' To hegin^^'' says he, "• with the end — of 
 all things. Death hath swept away Leontes, 
 Baroccio,Sempronius, Archimedes, Meliadus, 
 and Palermo.! They were six brave book- 
 warriors in their day ; men who, at sundry sales 
 which need not now be named, used to 
 
 Flame in the front, or thunder in the rear ! 
 
 They are now at rest —their libraries all dis- 
 persed — their symposia at an end!" Perceiving 
 
 * " Insatiate Archer! would not one suffice?" — Young. 
 
 t Under these names were designated the late James Bindley, 
 Esq., John Dent, Esq., Roger Wilbraham, Esq., John Rennie, 
 Esq., Robert Lang, Esq., and John Xorth, Esq. Their libraries 
 were all sold by auction; the first and the last being by much 
 the most costly in the produce. Of the illustrious engineer, 
 Mr. Rennie, I possess, by the favour of his son, an impression 
 of a mezzotint (private) plate, of the portrait of his father, 
 from the never-erring chisel of Chantrey. There is also a pri- 
 vate lithographic print of Mr. Lang, exceedingly like ; and 
 Mr. Douce possesses a drawing of thel ate Mr. Wilbraham — a 
 small-whole length — done to the very life. " Ver Ipsissimus."
 
 37 
 
 my friend's voice to be getting tremulous, and 
 something like a tear to be gathering in either eye, 
 I bade him fill his glass again — which he did, re- 
 questing their memories to be drank ^' in solemn 
 silence." '^ But for the living " — resumed I — 
 "and to begin with Atticus." 
 
 '^Atticus" (replied he) "having exhausted the 
 libraries of his own country, is gone to rifle the 
 sweets of many of those abroad. Already have the 
 Netherlands, France, and Bavaria, furnished him 
 with the means of making mighty acquisitions. 
 Already are houses and tenements in Brussels, 
 Paris, and Nuremberg, crammed with these 
 treasures : — and what further conquests of this 
 kind he meditates achieving, it were perhaps vain 
 to enquire. Hortensius, now elevated to the 
 Bench, still deigns to look with complacency 
 upon his ^ parchment-kivered ' old quarto poetry ; 
 and the Library of Lici us is yet as full oi witchery 
 as ever : but both these Collectors, eminent in their 
 way, appear to me to be a little influenced by 
 the Bibliophohia — for they seldom or never even 
 send commissions for purchases. To be sure, the 
 love of numismatic lore hath of late had a strong 
 influence over the mind of the Baron — producing 
 a sort of divided attachment between books and 
 coins: . . and long may he indulge both . . to 
 any extent or excess he pleases ! I think that 
 his correct taste and fine feeling will, in due time, 
 lead him to sacrifice a little of his love of British
 
 38 
 
 Coins and Medals for a few acquisitions of Greek 
 and Carthaginian workmanship. When I say 
 this, I do not wish him to part with his Perkin 
 Warbeck's Groat; Henry VII/s Shilling, Edward 
 III.'s gold quarter Florin, Henry VIII.'s George 
 Noble, or Edward VI. 's Double Sovereign — all 
 in such very precious condition — to say nothing 
 of the Mary's Royal, Charles I.'s Oxford Pound 
 Piece, and the Medallion of George I. on being 
 made Elector of Hanover. These he may keep, 
 and welcome: and Simon's Petitioning Crown- 
 piece* into the bargain. But a few specimens of 
 the purer Greek, and the winning Syracusan, may 
 not be ill bestowed : although he must despair of 
 a Mithridates, and if he even step over into Egypt^ 
 will explore in vain for a Ptolemy Philopater ,'\ 
 
 * It has been my peculiarly fortunate lot, to hold in each 
 hand one of these " Petitioning Crowns" — concerning which 
 a long gossipping story is extant. Simon was about to be in- 
 trigued out of his place in the Mint; and to shew Charles II. 
 to what a state of perfection his numismatic talent had at- 
 tained, and how little he feared a rival on the score of skill, 
 he struck this medal — " petitioning," round the rim of it, for 
 the retention of his place. To my eye, the device (the head 
 of Charles) wants breadth and boldness, and the hair has a 
 wiry minuteness. The reverse is, I think, very tame and 
 unmeaning, 
 
 f Perhaps the rarest gold ancient coin in existence. There 
 are fit-oPtolemies — but that, with the adjunct oi*' Philopater, ^^ 
 is, T believe, only in England : in two collections. France 
 has long languished for it — and the late Mr. Payne Knight 
 almost died for it. The British Museum has it not. The
 
 39 
 
 ^* Wearied in his pursuit after Ever-greens, and 
 deeming his quiver of old poetry to be as com- 
 plete as he can reasonably expect it to be, Licius 
 '^ rests upon his oars " . . the more so, as he finds 
 the vessel of life gently dropping down to the 
 lee shore — where all similar vessels must, in 
 due course, be locked up in the inner harbour. 
 Years, my friend, (exclaimed my guest in a 
 more animated tone of voice, and with consi- 
 derable expression of excitement) — upwards of 
 twenty-years have passed away — since the au- 
 thor of the Bibliomania described the heroes of 
 his first auction -fight: and more than a good 
 round dozen of these twenty, since the Decameron 
 of the same author contained his account of the 
 second auction contest. Great changes must 
 occur within such a period. Men not only can- 
 not live for ever, but must be prepared for alter- 
 ations in their habits, as well as in their looks. 
 Catalogues are not opened with the wonted ac- 
 tivity of earlier life ; and the countenance betrays 
 marks of picturesque indentation. But this case 
 is not peculiar to Licius — who bears his life's cam- 
 Ptolemy, ivithoutihe adjunct, is also of such rarity, that it was 
 not lately in the Museum ; although Mr. Young, the coin dea- 
 ler — the gentle, the urbane, the well instructed and upright Mr. 
 Young — shewed me a specimen, which he valued at fourscore 
 pounds. 1 have handled the Philopatcr Ptolemy — in the 
 same collection from which I was supplied (for a momeut, 
 only!) with the two Petitioning Crowns — mentioned in the 
 preceding note : and what a collection that is !
 
 40 
 
 paign bravely ; considering what an over anxious, 
 buffetting, and even agitated life that is. There 
 is Bernardo — turned his Sexagenarian corner — 
 who now lets hawks and buzzards fly unheeded 
 over his head . . all^ forsooth, because a copy of 
 his beloved Juliana Berners was knocked down 
 at the freezing price of thirty-five shillings! 
 The report was, that he fainted* — and was car- 
 ried out speechless from Mr. Sotheby's well gar- 
 nished auction-room — that this fainting was suc- 
 ceeded by a good, solid, roaring fit of the gout, 
 which kept him six-months within doors — during 
 the whole of which period, the only benefit or 
 comfort he derived, was, from mixing nine- 
 grains of Ritson^s tartar with three table-spoons- 
 full of Brathwaifs emollient! The Bibliophobia 
 has seized Am, too — for he scarcely ever budges 
 abroad into a bookseller's shop, and has lately 
 betrayed a very whimsical taste in buying oil 
 paintings, of piscatory subjects, to illustrate his 
 Waltonian Chamber. I do not however accuse 
 either of these book-champions oi nothemg 'true 
 to their guns.' 
 
 * There is another version of this story. It was said, that 
 a bookseller had marked his editorial labours upon this curious 
 old work at thirty-five shillings, in his catalogue — labours, which 
 in better times, used to bring the sum of £12. 12s.! Bernardo 
 took this as a direct insult — and a challenge was sent forth- 
 with: the field of battle, Little Britain! On a very careful 
 enquiry, 1 find no truth in this report — although I am not dis- 
 posed to question the accuracy of the anecdote recorded in the 
 text.
 
 41 
 
 " What a change in Honorio! — who has now 
 turned his Septuagenarian corner. His glorious 
 library has vanished like the morning dew : — his 
 pictures, finding the separation insupportable, 
 resolved to share the fate of their beloved com- 
 panions — and they too are dispersed, never to be 
 reunited. Meanwhile, their late master resorts 
 again to his Floral recreations^ — -to his beds of 
 dahlia and banks of rododendron. He rises be- 
 times to sniff the crisp air of the morning, to 
 hear the lark warble in mid-sky ... 
 
 The cock's shrill clarion, and the echoing horn I 
 
 He is yet firm of foot, ardent in imagination, joy- 
 ous in discourse . . and, to his eternal praise it 
 must be added, still keeps a delicious specimen 
 of his once beloved Jenson, to cheer his heart and 
 delight his eyes. This is a redeeming trait of 
 character which cannot be too much commended. 
 But his LIBRARY was indeed, in many respects, of a 
 most commanding cast of character. To think of 
 Cardinal Ximenes' own vellum copy of his Com- 
 plutensian Polyglot being now buried in the vici- 
 nity of the Melton Mowbray hunting Club ! His 
 Vellum Didot Horace — unique in all respects — 
 and lately clad in the exquisite garniture of 
 Charles Lewis* — is well placed in its present si- 
 
 * Charles Lewis lavished the whole mystery of his art upon 
 this capacious and exquisitely got up folio. See it noticed in
 
 42 
 
 tuation. Euphormio makes it a sort of book- 
 shrine, of which he most religiously keeps the 
 key. But if I look back at the sale of any one 
 article, out of this extraordinary collection, with 
 more satisfaction than another, it is in the acqui- 
 sition of the Luther Bible* by the British 
 Museum." 
 
 Finding my friend's voice here beginning to 
 grow a little rough and wiry^ I begged he would 
 replenish his glass — and proposed " the health of 
 Honorio — as honest a whig as ever quaffed Rud" 
 ersheimer in the genuine green- embossed glass" — 
 by way of a sweetner to the draught. He drank it 
 with enthusiasm, and continued. "Pamphilus, 
 the nephew of Honorio, is unflinchingly true to his 
 guns. He throws out his lead, to sound carefully 
 as he goes — but when he gets into water shal- 
 
 the Decameron, vol. iii. p. 139. It cost Mr. Hibbert £140. in 
 boards — in which state it was purchased by Messrs, Payne 
 and Foss, at Mr. Hibbert's sale, and sold, as above mentioned, 
 to Euphormio. Charles Lewis, latterly, had open days for 
 company to come and gaze upon it. The unrivalled Wille- 
 ment depicted the coat of arms of the present owner, on the 
 vellum fly-leaf, and drew the patterns for the silver-gilt clasps. 
 I should pronounce this to be the most tasteful, as well as 
 most gorgeously bound, volume in Christendom ! M. R. 
 
 * This had been the property of Mr. Edwards, and is fully 
 described in the Decameron^ vol. iii. pp. 123-4. It was pur- 
 chased at Mr. Edwards' sale for £89., and was sold at Mr. 
 Hibbert's sale for £260. I saw it carried triumphantly into 
 a hackney-coach; and within twenty- minutes of its departure, 
 it was deposited in the British Museum. M. R.
 
 43 
 
 lower than " quarter less five/' he puts the helm 
 about^ and makes directly for port. I can scarcely 
 mention so virtiiousli/ seductive a book as his illus- 
 trated copy of Mr. Ortnerod's Cheshire I have 
 known a large party kept in perfect good humour, 
 full twenty -seven minutes after the dinner had 
 been expected to be announced, by turning over 
 its leaves, emblazoned with heraldic embellish- 
 ments by the skilful and indefatigable Thomson 
 — and I think you will allow this to be a pretty 
 severe test ; as no crisis of human existence puts 
 men's patience so sharply upon the tenter-hooks, 
 as that which precedes a dinner — when the party 
 is all arrived. You may try a Chronicle printed 
 by Verardy or Gratian's Decretals by Eggesteijn, 
 but it is dull work : it won't do : the ladies throw 
 a freezing glance; the elderly gentlemen yawn. 
 No, my friend, it is at such a crisis that we want 
 embellished volumes — missals, radiant with bur- 
 nished gold — or topography^ illustrated like the 
 Ormerod's Cheshire of Pamphilus. Still, I un- 
 derstand that nothing hath been stirring of late 
 in the library of Pamphilus — no additional weight 
 to try the strength of his shelves: neither folios, 
 nor quartos, nor octavos. All remains in statu quo : 
 and content to rest on his oars, as a successful 
 Editor of Mysteries, and archoelogical expositor 
 of Elizabethan Carriages, he shrinks from the task 
 of any farther developement of British Antiqui- 
 ties. It should seem as if the fear of Reform, or 
 of Cholera, had been at work here.
 
 44 
 
 " Philrlphus has lately accomplished a sin- 
 gularly bold achievement. Unwilling or unable 
 to throw out his net to entice more fish, he has 
 chosen to trim and adorn, and make much of, 
 those that remain in his custody. Of your friend 
 Dr. Dibdin's Decameron, he possesses a copy 
 bound in ten volumes, ornamented to suffocation 
 wnth embellishments. Charles Lewis had a carte 
 blanche to do the needful in his way ; and such a 
 series, or congeries, of graphic illustrations — 
 comprising everything remote or capricious — 
 was surely never before concentrated or brought 
 together. A party might be kept in good hu- 
 mour from dinner to supper-time by a studious 
 examination of its contents. But it is time to 
 make mention of Crassus and Prospero. The 
 former is still wedded to his Topography and 
 English History^ — and has lately made himself 
 master of a copy of PicarVs Religious Ceremonies j 
 for which no cost was spared to render it an acqui- 
 sition of the very first water. There Bi^e^QW spreads 
 equal to that of the spread of these volumes. I 
 know of no parallelogram-shaped library which 
 has a more joyous, yet chaster aspect, than that of 
 Crassus; — and although he, like his friend Pam- 
 philus, rarely ventures into deep water, still it is 
 pleasing to see how gaily he trims his wherry, 
 and always contrives to keep the wind setting ' in 
 the shoulder of his sail.'* 
 
 * " lenis crepitans vocat Auster in altiim." 
 
 Acn. lib. III. 70.
 
 46 
 
 " It will delight you, I am sure, to hear that 
 Prospero is yet ia the full exercise of his 'en- 
 chanter's wand ' — yet ' true to his guns ' — which 
 he sometimes double shots and treble shots. His 
 maple-wooded bookcases rejoice the eye by the 
 peculiar harmony of their tint, — with the rich 
 furniture which they enclose. Here a bit of old 
 bright stained glass — exhibiting the true long- 
 lost ruby tint: — there, an inkstand, adorned in 
 high cameo-relief, by the skill of John of Bo- 
 logna: — a little regiment, pyramidally piled, of 
 the rarest China cups, out of which seven succes- 
 sive Emperors of China quaffed the essence of 
 bohea. Persian boxes — Raffaell-ware — diptychs 
 and chess-men — the latter used by Charles V. 
 and Francis I., on their dining together, tete-a- 
 tete, not long after the battle of Pavia. Korans, 
 Missals, precious Manuscripts, Marc Antonios, 
 Albert Durers, Roman Coins — the very staff with 
 which Regiomontanus used to walk on his house- 
 top by moonlight, after making certain calcula- 
 tions in his calendar!! Magic lore, and choice 
 Madrigals sung by Queen Elizabeth's private 
 band : brave prick-songs! — and the parchment roll 
 which Handel wielded in beating time on the first 
 representation of his Messiah. But his belles- 
 lettres — facetiae — old poetry — and rare prints, 
 form a combination which hath no compeer! — 
 and. Septuagenarian as he is, I wish him a good 
 score of years yet to shot his guns, and to fire 
 them off with effect.
 
 46 
 
 ^' Palmerin, whose hermitage is described in 
 such glowing language in a certain work, is yet 
 enamoured of his Romaunt Lore — though he has 
 bade a long adieu to hisrural residence at Stanmore. 
 London and Ryde now alternately receive him. 
 His gothic taste yet finds a snug corner to deve- 
 lope itself: his drawings, paintings, old-furniture: 
 cabinets, replete with curiosities — armour — nod- 
 ding plumes, breastplates, halberts and quarter- 
 staves^ — two-handed swords — billets and battle- 
 axes ! It were idle to attempt a catalogue raisonne 
 of such a picturesque melange — ^but his books still 
 preserve their wonted ascendency: — and long- 
 may they continue so to do ! Menalcas must 
 not be forgotten : — though his books cease to 
 maintain their original position. A truer Rox- 
 burgher never toasted Christopher Valdarfer. 
 Heavy were the groans that announced the reso- 
 lution — arising from high and honourable mo- 
 tives — of parting at once, and for ever, with the 
 treasures which were contained within his cele- 
 brated parallelogram -shaped library.* Certes 
 there was no fear of Reform or of Cholera opera- 
 ting here. Ah, my friend, manuscripts and 
 
 * Over the door, on entering, of this long-cherished book- 
 retreat, was the following inscription — in capital letters. 
 
 '' Ervta Pontificvm rabsis penetralibvs olim 
 Mirere antiqvas vellera passa manvs 
 
 Aetatis decvmae spectes indvstria qvintae 
 
 Qvani pvlcra archetypos instrvat arte dvces 
 
 Aldinas aedis iniens et limina Jvntae 
 
 Qvosqve svos Stephanvs vellet habere Lares.
 
 47 
 
 printed volumes alike put on wings and flyaway ! 
 Books as well as sovereigns become locomotive. 
 Your decanter, however, is stationary,'''' 
 
 This reproof was perhaps merited ; as my at- 
 tention had been wholly absorbed by my friend's 
 narrative. Replenishing his glass, I requested 
 him to give me a brief outline of the status in quo 
 of the RoxBURGHE Club^ since the last notice of 
 it in your Decameron. ^'Willingly ;" replied he. 
 " To begin with the venerable and illustrious Pre- 
 sident. I rejoice to learn that he presided with 
 his wonted vigour and effect at the last meeting. 
 A few gaps, made by that resistless trespasser, 
 death, have been filled up since the publication 
 just alluded to;* but the literary labours of the 
 Club proceed languidly. Havelok was the last 
 performance of any note; and I am not singular in 
 the expression of my regret that the jo/a/z adopted 
 which led to that publication^ has not been rigidly 
 
 * The more recent grafts upon the old stock have been as 
 follows: — The Earl of Cawdor, Viscount Clive, the Hon. and 
 Rev. Neville Grenville, Sir Walter Scott, Bart., John Arthur 
 Lloyd, Esq., Archdeacon Wrangham, and the Rev. Charles 
 Edward Hawtrey — " good men and true " — in ALL their 
 bibliomaniacal bearings ! 
 
 t That Publication was edited by Frederick Madden, 
 Esq. of the British Museum — at the united expense of the 
 Club; which, at the moderate charge of £6. 6s. the copy, ob- 
 tained possession of probably the most intrinsically curious 
 book it had ever put forth. Nor is Havelok of meagre di- 
 mensions. His form is portly, and his garb is attractive. 
 The preface and the glossary are equally creditable to the
 
 48 
 
 followed up in subsequent efforts. The Banna- 
 TYNE Club seem, in this respect, to be very much 
 shooting ahead of the parent-Society.* The 
 
 talents of the Editor. Report says, the same able hands are 
 now employed upon a very interesting old English metrical 
 romance, called The Wer Wolf, written by an Earl of 
 Hereford, from an unique MS. of the fourteenth century, in the 
 library of King's College, Cambridge : — as the first votive 
 offering to the Club from the Earl of Cawdor. A fund 
 of entertainment is expected from its perusal. Havelok had 
 one fate attendant on its publication. It provoked a little 
 etymological controversy between the Librarian of the Royal 
 Institution and its Editor: men, both of too amiable a temper 
 to take delight in literary fisty-cufFs. Mr. Madden stoutly 
 replied to the attacks of his Critic. As stout a rejoinder was 
 threatened — but never appeared. Of late, however, both 
 Assailant and Defender were seen cordially shaking hands 
 across the same MS. in the British Museum. Si sic omnia! 
 M. R. 
 
 * The publications of the Bannatyne Club, which are 
 more numerous than those of the Roxburghe, confirm an opinion 
 which I have long entertained from earliest manhood — namely, 
 that the narrative of an eye-witness of events is worth all the 
 up and down, and rambling, and frequently contradictory, con- 
 clusions of the most ingenious historian upon record. One 
 simple fact is worth one hundred conjectures ; for, in the ab- 
 sence of fact, what mad pranks are sometimes committed by 
 the most sober historians! Inventories, also, of goods and 
 chattels — be the same wearing apparel, jewellery, or books — 
 are infinitely amusing, and sometimes instructive. But the 
 Bannatyne Library has other pretensions to notice and com- 
 mendation: essays, disquisitions, reports, records, and other 
 such materials, form a rich store of information deserving alike 
 the attention of the antiquary and historian. Cato Parvus. 
 While upon this topic, my friend might have noticed the 
 Household Books of Expenses of Henry VIII. and Queen Mary
 
 49 
 
 symposium of the Roxburghers now takes place 
 on the second Thursday in May, owing to the 
 lateness of the season when the anniversary of 
 the first sale of the Boccaccio happened.* At 
 this symposium, there is less protracted rev^elry 
 than heretofore. The ^albescens capillus' has a 
 mighty effect in making men keep orderly hours. 
 No dawn-of-day retirement, as in times past, for 
 * * and * * * The toasts are now confined to 
 Christopher Valdarfer and William Caxton : to 
 which add, 'the cause of Bibliomania all 
 OVER THE WORLD.' When that sentiment ceases 
 to be given from the chair, good-bye to the Club! 
 The triumph of Bibliophobja will then be com- 
 plete." 
 
 Here my friend raised his voice to an unwonted 
 pitch, and vehemently struck the table as he pro- 
 nounced the last sentence. It might have been 
 in consequence of the last replenhher — but he 
 proceeded, collectedly, to say, " there is yet good 
 hope that the gallant breed of Roxburghers is 
 not likely to be speedily extinct. Vigorous shoots 
 are springing up, and making way^ promising to 
 become sturdy branches as the old timber falls to 
 
 — as edited by Sir Nicholas Harris Nicholas and Mr. Mad- 
 den. They are very curious volumes, and based upon that 
 of the famous Northumberland Household Book, of which the 
 well-known Bishop of Dromore was the Editor. These latter 
 volumes are also published in singularly good taste, as respects 
 beauty of exterior. M. R. 
 
 * On the 17th of June, x\.D. 1812. 
 
 D
 
 50 
 
 decay. Why will not Ulpian hold himself in 
 readiness to start at the first opening? He is 
 eminently entitled to present himself as a candi- 
 date. His collection of books is at once choice, 
 costly, and copious; and no man loves to embed 
 himself more thoroughly amongst them . . . His 
 pillow case, Columbits^s Letter of 1493, stitched 
 to the original Challenge oiCrichton: his counter- 
 pane, all the large paper Hearnes, formerly in Dr. 
 Mead's library, still glittering in their primitive 
 morocco attire : his mattrass, large paper Dug- 
 dales: his bed curtains, slips of the OYigmdlBayeux 
 tapestry ! When he takes to Illustration of any 
 particular work, he takes to it in right earnest, and 
 with a glorious, yet appropriate, prodigality of 
 embellishment. I conclude that he prefers his 
 Lettou and Machlinia Littleton to every other 
 book in his library — with the exception of his 
 Jenson'^s Bible, To his credit also be it spoken, 
 he is a great encourager oi booksellers ; and is not 
 emulous of entering the lists of bidders, when he 
 can secure an article at a quiet price in Chancery 
 Lane, or in the vicinity of Covent Garden. No 
 fear of Reform or of Cholera ever depresses his 
 hopes, or slackens his progress in the genuine 
 straight-onward course of the Bibliomania. Rus- 
 sia leather is, with him, the charm and protec- 
 tion against epidemic miasmata of every de- 
 scription; and give him but the treble-rowed en- 
 trenchment of his library, he snaps his fingers
 
 51 
 
 alike '^ at the arrow of fate and the canker of 
 care." Moons wane or enlarge without his notice, 
 so long as a Piranesi is to be perfected, or a De 
 Bry^ to be rendered complete. 
 
 * Report has pronounced the copy of De Bry, in posses- 
 sion of the above gentleman, to be the fruit of incessant toil, 
 for a series of years — at an expense, little short of hundreds 
 upon hundreds. It is said to contain the first editions of the 
 Grands et Petits Voyages, as well in Latin as in German, 
 throughout — also, the second editions in Latin, and the Me- 
 rian edition — with the original and reprinted Elenchus — 
 the English edition of the Virginia (the first part of the Grands 
 Voyages)— the Abridgments of the Grands Voyages, three 
 editions-p 1617, 1631, 1655 — and three volumes in quarto, in 
 German, published by the family of De Bry, and the work 
 of Las Casas, edition 1598 : — also, nearly a complete set of 
 all the first and original editions of the voyages from which 
 the De Bry formed their collection. To these are added a 
 complete set of the Collection published by Hulsius in Ger- 
 many, twenty-six parts, second editions — and a fine set of the 
 ^rs/ edition of that Collection, except parts 11, 12,13,14, 
 15, 16, 17, 24, 25, and 26. The third edition of the Abridg- 
 ment of the Grands Voyages, 1655, contains, besides the 
 fourteen parts, two additional voyages, which are not in De 
 Bry, but are included in the Hulsian Collection. It also 
 contains every variation and peculiarity mentioned by De 
 Bure, Camus, or De La Serna, except in the Grands Voyages, 
 Latin — part 2, one leaf, containing on it, Frankfort, 1591 — 
 part 4, the twenty-four plates, icithout the numbers engraved 
 on them — part 5, the frontispieces to the Text and Plates, 
 icithout the word *^Hia" interlined — part 6, frontispiece 
 to plates, with pasted table ; in the centre, *' Sequuntur 
 Icones," &c. — part 10, frontispiece. Vessels Sinking, not a 
 Naval Combat. M, R. 
 
 I will not presume to undervalue the copy of De Bry thus 
 summarily described ; as, living remote from the Metropolis,
 
 62 
 
 ''And why may not Decius aspire, in clue time, 
 to a similar honour of becoming candidate on a 
 vacancy among the Roxburghers ? Far off be 
 the day which may occasion that vacancy — but, 
 as come it will, let Decius then mount his cour- 
 ser, all covered with membranaceous housings, 
 and spring into the arena — a champion to win 
 the fight ! He hath pretensions of no common 
 kind. He loves books, and he knows all their 
 bearings, within and w^ithout. The dappled 
 calf, and the red sprinkled edges of one com- 
 partment of his library, are duly relieved by the 
 morocco tint and diamond gilt tooling of the 
 other. He revels in bindings of Padaloup, De 
 Rome, Roger Payne, Montagu, and Baumgar- 
 ten. His French folios of archaeological lore and 
 graphic embellishment, stand proudly pre-emi- 
 nent; — and for Greek and Latin Classics, who, 
 for an unbeneficed Divine, shall step in before 
 Decius? To my fancy and peculiar taste, how- 
 
 I stand no chance of ever seeing or handling it. But the 
 pages of the Library Companion, (pp. 372-6, Breeches Edit. 
 see p. 8, note, ante) furnish me with such a description of a 
 copy of the same work, in the possession of the Rt. Hon. 
 Thos. Greiiville, as seems to set all competition (and perad- 
 venture none may he intended) at defiance. If I were inclined 
 to break in a young book-collector, by giving him rough and 
 hard exercise to perform, I would set him upon the comple- 
 tion of what may be called the ordinarihj perfect copy of the 
 Peregrinations of Messrs. De Bry : — but, even here, I must 
 bargain for the trve Elenchvs. Cato Parvus.
 
 53 
 
 ever, his Manuals of Ethics and of Divinity, in the 
 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, exhibit 
 specimens of a rare and happy coincidence in the 
 pursuit of the Bibliomania. Let Decius, I say, 
 be ready to start at the first sound of the trum- 
 pet w^hich gives notice of a vacancy to be filled 
 in the Roxburghe Camp." 
 
 Here, my friend ceased from his narrative ; 
 which, as it had occupied a considerable time, 
 and had embraced a variety of topics extremely 
 gratifying to my feelings, called forth my hear- 
 tiest commendations. '' One glass more," — 
 quoth he — " and we part. I drink to the health, 
 happiness, and longevity of the illustrious 
 President of the Club of which I have been 
 discoursing: — the founder, as well as the posses- 
 sor, of the finest private library in Europe. God 
 bless him !" So saying, he dispatched a copious 
 libation of sparkling sherry, and sprang forward 
 to seize his walking staff — to make good his 
 retreat homewards — but, as if something of im- 
 portance had suddenly come across his recollec- 
 tion, he turned round upon me, and enquired, 
 '^whether I purposed quitting London on the 
 following day." " Assuredly so " — replied I. 
 "Be it so then" — resumed he — '^ but promise 
 me faithfully, ere you start, that you will step 
 across the water and take a peep at the new 
 Library of Lambeth Palace,^' I pledged my- 
 self faithfully so to do — when my friend hurried
 
 54 
 
 away, under the impression of being too late 
 to attend a vestry meeting, which had been es- 
 pecially summoned for that evening. On the 
 following morning — which happened to present 
 itself with the least possible portion of a London 
 fog, or mist — I made haste to carry my friend's 
 parting request into execution ; and taking boat 
 at the Temple Stairs — the tide serving — I glided 
 quickly under the two bridges of Waterloo and 
 Westminster, (of which the first will long con- 
 tinue to be the world's wonder ! ) and was duly 
 put on shore opposite Lambeth Palace. 
 
 As, however, I had never seen it under its 
 new aspect, I was for a little time lost in reverie 
 on its approach : so much so, that the boatman 
 asked, ^'^ whether I wished to go on to Vauxhall 
 Stairs ?" There w^as indeed good cause for such 
 abstraction or reverie. I could scarcely credit 
 the evidence of my own eyes.... 
 
 Miraturque novas frondes, et non sua poma ! 
 
 exclaimed I, as I caught the first full glance of 
 the entire range of the building. But the Li- 
 brary — is alone our business now. You, Sir, 
 may have probably seen it again and again — and 
 I think I may challenge at once your admiration 
 and thorough approval of its plan. What a 
 goodly garniture of antiquated tomes ! How 
 harmoniously all the architectural accessories
 
 55 
 
 blend with the precious treasures which they 
 enclose ! We have all the characteristics of a 
 genuine University library — transplanted on the 
 banks of the Thames ! " And can this be ( said 
 I to myself) the old Juxonian hall,* through 
 which the winds used but lately to whistle, and 
 of which the pavement was dank, and the light 
 doubtfully transmitted? It is even so." My 
 guide seemed to enjoy my moody raptures ex- 
 ceedingly; adding — (probably on the supposition, 
 from the trim of my dress, and fashion of my 
 hat, that I was a thorough rustic gentleman) 
 that " my admiration might perhaps be easily 
 accounted for, when I was informed that Mr. 
 Blore was the architect of the whole concern." 
 '' I heartily wish" — rejoined I — '' that all con- 
 cerns of this kind were managed in the same 
 sensible and satisfactory manner. I am delighted 
 — yea, more than ordinarily delighted^ — at the 
 happy transformation before me. I could gladly 
 linger in such a book-domain through the four 
 successive seasons of the year, and gather fruit 
 
 * This Hall was built by Bishop Juxon. Its j)riiicipal 
 exterior beauty is, the boldness of the buttresses; but there ap- 
 pears to be, near it, a beauty of no ordinary loveliness in my 
 antiquarian eyes. I mean, a vane or weathercock — broad, 
 bold, with elaborate, openwork, yet light and picturesque. I 
 lonor to see it reoilded — and the whole surface of the Lollard 
 towers, and of the side facing the Thames, restored — as I 
 know how it is capable of being restored — by the correct mas- 
 ter-hand of the architect above mentioned.
 
 ^6 
 
 at every quarter." Here, I thought my guide 
 seemed to eye me as if I were a gentleman sub- 
 ject to occasional aberrations of reason, and 
 pressing me towards the door, seemed to desire 
 my egress. I thanked him very heartily for 
 his civility, and, much as I wished to become 
 acquainted with other portions of the building, 
 was obliged, from the pressure of time, to make 
 towards the water's edge, and to seek my boat- 
 man — ^who was in attendance, expecting my 
 return. As I resumed my seat, I could not help 
 casting frequent glances upon the glorious pile 
 I had just left behind — and which confirmed me 
 in the truth of w4iat I had often heard of its 
 present Most Reverend Occupier ; namely, that 
 he had exhibited the talismanic art of a certain 
 Roman Emperor, in leaving behind him " inar- 
 hle^'' that, which^ on his first possession of it, he 
 found to be only '' hrick.'^ 
 
 Urging my boatman to make his best exertions^ 
 I returned in time to my hotel — to prepare for a 
 mid-day departure from London: not however 
 without a previous call upon my opposite neigh- 
 bour, Mr. Abraham John Valpy; — before I got 
 into the Windsor Coach to make a little detour 
 through that place, Reading, and Oxford, in my 
 return to Laurel Lodge : resolving to see, in those 
 several towns, Vv4iether the BibIio7nania or the 
 Bihliophohia prevailed. Mr. Valpy was in any 
 mood but that of in alt. His Thesaurus had run
 
 57 
 
 its course — nobly, but not productively. The 
 scoffs, gibes, and jeers which it had endured in 
 its progress, were now forgotten : the rubbish 
 was swept away — the scaffolding removed — and 
 the building, a Pyramid in size and durability, 
 stood out complete. As the work of one editor, 
 and as the labour of one Printing Office, it might 
 challenge, as it would be sure to receive, the 
 applause of posterity. ^' But the Delphins — tell 
 me truly — how do they go on?" Mr. Valpy 
 was silent. He need not have been so. If the 
 work had expanded immensely, it was not from 
 an exclusive wish to enrich himself, but to render 
 it the more serviceable to students in classical 
 lore. There was an elaborate collation of the 
 earlier editions — an '^ordo" — notes, grammati- 
 cal and illustrative — a critical commentary — co- 
 pious indexeSj together with a carefully corrected 
 text — all deserving of the most decided commen- 
 dation. But fashion had had its sway here as in 
 other matters. At starting, it was the fashion to 
 subscribe — at the present day, it was the fashion 
 to strive to throw up the subscription: yet the 
 work had gone on as zealously and honestly as 
 ever. After all, it was the best octavo set of 
 Latin Classics extant; and a day would come 
 — not improbably in that of its publisher — when 
 its general merits would be acknowledged by an 
 increased price, as well as by the warm eulogies 
 of the learned. To have planned such a work,
 
 68 
 
 and to have carried that plan into such extensive 
 effect^ placed the Publisher in the very fore- 
 most rank of his class. 
 
 With observations like these I strove to cheer 
 my old acquaintance; advising him to take cou- 
 rage to his heart, on the completion of the Hercu- 
 lean task which he had undertaken. His elemen- 
 tary publications were 'Agoing on swimmingly;'^ 
 and many other works, on hand and in prospect, 
 seemed to augur well. " He had braved the tem- 
 pests of the years 1825-6, when his Brethren were 
 wrecked by dozens; but such a dead palsy in the 
 bookselling line, as that in the/)rese/2^ year, he never 
 could have brought himself to believe. The very 
 sight of a book — especially of a subscribed book — 
 threw some men into a delirium of horror. It was 
 '^<J)fvy£ fia\,"^ with Homer— or ^' a vaunt, quit my 
 sight!" with Shakspeare.t Oh, Sir! (added he^ in 
 a tone of no ordinary feeling) let the Reform Bill 
 only pass — let the vessel of state only once get 
 well trimmed, and it will go gallantly over the 
 waves ! Men will return to their lares, and to their 
 ordinary pursuits — speculative or active. There 
 will be chasms to fill with books, which had never 
 been before discerned : walls to cover with pic- 
 tures, which had never before come under con- 
 templation. Commerce will then put on her 
 
 * Iliad, lih. i, 173. 
 t Macbeth.
 
 59 
 
 hundred wings, and fly to every quarter of the 
 globe." 
 
 Being unwilling to damp the ardour of my 
 friend's imagination, and by no means disposed 
 to dispute the premises upon which his conclu- 
 sions were drawn, I wished him a good day — 
 observing, as the deliberate conviction of my un- 
 derstanding, in accordance with the best wishes 
 of my heart, that '^ I felt persuaded a very pal- 
 pable RE-ACTioN would take place in the course 
 of the year 1832." Within the four ensuing 
 hours, I found myself walking upon Windsor 
 Terrace. The day was fine. The breeze was 
 soft. The landscape, as all the world knows, 
 luxuriantly picturesque. My object, however, 
 was BOOKS — or rather Literature and the Book- 
 Trade, After a turn or two in that fairy land 
 of a sunk garden, at the eastern extremity of 
 the Castle, I retraced my steps, and, catching a 
 peep of the '^ antique spires," (so sweetly ce- 
 lebrated by Gray) pushed on towards Eton 
 College. There, was the Storer Collection — and 
 there Priscian was domiciled : Priscian, the 
 classical and the accomplished. Books are his 
 '^ dear delight" — and Bibles, among those books, 
 the primary objects of attraction. He shewed 
 me a rare set of them — such as, in a private col- 
 lection, are eclipsed only by those at Kensing- 
 ton and Althorp. There were also belles-lettres 
 — in abundance — in the German^ Spanish, and
 
 60 
 
 Italian, as well as in the French and English, lan- 
 guages. But oh, that splendid AIS, of Ovid/ — ■ 
 approached with delicacy, unlocked with care, 
 and surveyed with extasy ! — '' Aug §'o(|)0aX^oi(Ttv 
 if^iaOai^^* — exclaimed I, as, on turning my eyes in 
 an opposite direction, I essayed to see the nu- 
 merous folios and quartos — some of w^iich were 
 impervious to the glorious sun-heam. 
 
 Having lost my list of memoranda, taken on 
 the spot, I grieve to say that my account of this 
 classical retreat must be thus superficial. But it 
 is only the performance of an act of common 
 justice to add, that the Falernian and Mark 
 Brenner of Priscian crowned the evening's hos- 
 pitality of his abode. I quitted such a residence 
 with reluctance; especially as 1 had so many in- 
 ducements, unconnected with my passion for 
 books, to make a longer stay. But my time was 
 limited. To say nothing about the laurels, grow- 
 ing wild and unseemly about the ''Lodge " — and 
 standing in daily need of their master's pruning- 
 hook — (for I allow no one to trim them but my- 
 self) I had, in fact, undertaken the execution of 
 a somewhat arduous task in accomplishing the 
 journey in contemplation. 
 
 By eight in the morning I was stirring — visit- 
 ing, before my final departure, the book-shop, 
 which^ under the mastership ofFote, once boasted 
 
 * Homer's Iliad, lib.xv'n. 646.
 
 61 
 
 of no contemptible reputation. Here, in the 
 heart of the town — and at mere arm's-length, as 
 it were, from the college — ^I expected to have 
 found an early Lilly ^ Holt, Stanbridge, or Whit- 
 tinton,^ But no such good fortune attended me. 
 Even the editio princeps of the Eton Grammar, 
 as now in general use, was not to be laid hold of. 
 Abruptly retreating, I made towards the high 
 road, and found myself in due course upon the top 
 of a Reading stage. On reaching that town — 
 the abode of my earliest boyhood — I hurried 
 down London Street, into the Market Place, and 
 Minster Street, to pay an immediate visit to 
 Messrs. Rusher & Son, and Mr. Smart — the re- 
 nowned booksellers of the place. The latter I 
 had known from my twelfth year: and twenty 
 years ago we had done a stroke of business to- 
 gether — when books were run after, and a brisk 
 and liberal circulation of cash afforded the means 
 of catching them. Mr. Smart sighed heavily as 
 our hands were conjoined. " You come, Sir, 
 (said he) at a sad, sad time — when my books are 
 hanging down their heads, and there is nobody 
 to pat and to cheer them. Mount my great Re- 
 pository, backward. What will, or can, you see 
 
 * An account of the works of these ilhistrious men — the 
 great Luminaries of Grammar in the earlier half of the 
 sixteenth century — will be found in the second and third vo- 
 lumes of the Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain: 
 Edit. 1810, c^c.
 
 62 
 
 worthy of a moment's notice -much less of car- 
 rying away as a trophy ? Customers are alive 
 only to Reform-discussions. There is a knot of 
 them, assembled here of a market day, which 
 does not disperse till nearly dark. They turn 
 their backs upon my books : and my History of 
 Reading y of which your old friend and first school- 
 master, John Man, was the author, is allowed to 
 remain in statu quo upon my choicest library 
 shelf." I expressed great sorrow at this intelli- 
 gence, but the only comfort I could impart, was, 
 that he partook of " neighbours' fare." 
 
 Mr. Rusher and his Son received me right 
 cordially : but here, again, all was dark and dis- 
 heartening. Their love of books was as great 
 as ever : their enthusiasm, unabated : but their 
 customers — those best feeders and supporters of 
 ^' love " and '^ enthusiasm "■ — were gradually 
 falling off: — and as for Bibliography (with the 
 exception of the staunch Collector on Forbury 
 Hill), there was not a creature that cared a 
 pin's point for Dr. D.'s multifarious labours in 
 that department. " Look you^ Sir" — added 
 Mr. Rusher, jun. — " we have tracts out of num- 
 ber, appertaining to the period of the two Char- 
 les' — but who vouchsafes to open them ? Who 
 reads them ? Who regards them ? Who bears 
 them away ? And then for Topography, and the 
 Gentlemanh Magazine — you may as well ex-
 
 63 
 
 pect to catch a sturgeon in the Kennett^* as to 
 secure a customer in these formerly highly fa- 
 voured departments of book-collecting.... 
 
 ** I sigh and lament me in vain ; 
 
 These walls do but echo my moan: 
 Alas, it increases my pain 
 
 When I think of the days that are gone !" 
 
 At this instant — and producing a sort of magical 
 effect — in walked the " staunch Collector " just 
 alluded to — the classical and bibliographical 
 Nestor of the borough town of Reading. A 
 cordial salutation followed the first expression of 
 surprise ; and we had almost entered upon a 
 discussion of the relative merits and demerits of 
 Schedules A and B, when young Mr. Rusher 
 observed, that, " as the day was getting on fast, 
 we might possibly like to take a little refresh- 
 ment in his father's back parlour ?" This, 
 however, was courteously, but firmly objected 
 to by Nestor ; who insisted upon my accom- 
 
 * Pope, in his Windsor Forest, has recorded the renown 
 of this river for its *' silver eels." It runs, in a bright and 
 rapid course, nearly through the centre of the Town — and 
 receives, I believe, several tributary streamlets in its way. 
 In early youth — when summer suns were warm, and summer 
 skies were clear — 1 have often dofted my garments with my 
 school companions, to plunge into its "translucent wave." Of 
 these companions, two only survive, to my knowledge ! M. R.
 
 64 
 
 panying him home, to his boudoir of belles let- 
 tres — whence the Thames was seen, winding its 
 beauteously picturesque course — margined by 
 meadows, upon which hundreds of cattle were 
 grazing — the lordly domain of Marsack (once 
 that of Cadogan,) crowning the neighbouring 
 mountain-height . . . 
 
 A happy rural seat, of various view ! 
 
 I instantly obeyed the Octogenarian's sum- 
 mons; and a few hundred yards brought me 
 within that library, which, in the happy days of 
 Bibliomania — some fifteen years ago — I had en- 
 tered with greater glee of heart than at present. 
 Wherefore was it so ? The books were the same. 
 The bindings were the same. The former had 
 not grown either taller or shorter : the latter 
 had obtained still greater beauty of tone, by the 
 course of time — in an atmosphere, not reachable 
 by a London fog. But my dejection continued 
 — in spite of the urbane upbraidings of " mine 
 host." " What care I ''—quoth he— ^^ for the 
 capriciousness of public taste ? Shall my first 
 folio Aldine Demosthenes and Rhetores be less 
 coveted — less embraced — than heretofore ? 
 
 Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart, 
 
 shall be, to me, my Elzevir and Olivet Ciceros! 
 Nor let old Scapula and Facciolati droop their
 
 65 
 
 towering heads — and, shew me the man, who 
 shall dare to undervalue my large paper Barnes' 
 Euripides, West's Pindar, and Potter's Lyco- 
 phron ? Will any creature, short of a confirmed 
 idiot, presume to " write me down an ass," 
 because I have over and over again tossed up 
 my head at the pitiful offer of three-score and 
 ten sovereigns for my large paper Grenville Ho- 
 mer ? Perish all these dear delights ! — perish 
 their owner with them! — sooner than he shall 
 lend a helping hand to the dissemination of that 
 hydra-disease — Bibliophobja ! Welcome ty- 
 phus — welcome scarletina — welcome even Cho- 
 lera! Pitch your tents, and mark out your 
 victims as ye please. Number me among them, 
 if it be your good pleasure — but let me die . . . 
 hugging my Homer ! 
 
 My friend here became momentarily breath- 
 less. His action had been " suited to the word :" — 
 and he sunk exhausted upon the soft w^adding 
 of a chintz arm-chair. I hurra'd him as he fell ! 
 On recovering, he smiled placidly, asking me 
 if " I thought he had been wandering?^'' " Wan- 
 dering!" — replied I, quickly — "quite the reverse ; 
 you never spake more to the purpose: never 
 more directly to the point. All your remarks 
 went strong and straight forward . . . like the 
 arrow to the bull's eye of the target. Give me 
 your hand — and with it possess my heart ! While 
 such sentiments as these possess an Octogenarian ^
 
 66 
 
 shall I listen to the puling plaints of a cow-heart- 
 ed dabbler in book-purchases? Shall I endure 
 a lengthened, and perhaps torturing, negotiation 
 about beating down the prices of Vellum Spiras 
 and closely cropt Caxtons ? Can I suffer the Al- 
 duses, the Giuntas, and the Frobens, with our 
 dearly beloved Wynkyn De Worde, Pynson^and 
 Julian Notary, to be shoved quietly ' to the wall/ 
 and make no effort to rescue them from such ig- 
 nominy of treatment ? Never : while I have the 
 power to wield an arm or plant a foot. I take 
 a lesson from your gallantry of spirit —and am 
 well-nigh ashamed at my querulous sympathy 
 among the Metropolitan bibliopoles. Your 
 sw^eet air and bright skies make me feel and see 
 as I ought to feel and see — ^ I am a man again!' " 
 Forgive, Reverend Sir, the dramatic air of 
 this part of my narrative; but the whole inci- 
 dent has been so vividly impressed upon my 
 recollection, that I know not how to dispossess 
 myself of it — and I give it you with a most literal 
 veracity. In essaying to take leave, I found 
 there w^as no escaping a Nestorian Symposium, 
 My friend having scribbled hasty notes of in- 
 vitation to the Rectors of the three parish church- 
 es, to partake of this symposium, we then strolled 
 abroad— and were drawn insensibly towards the 
 ruins of the Abbey. Just at that time, there was 
 a great ferment in the town — ^whether these ruins 
 should be preserved, or not, by subscription, from
 
 67 
 
 their meditated destruction by the owner of the 
 property on which they stood: — and this sub- 
 ject formed one of pretty brisk and incessant 
 discussion during our dinner. The Vicar of St. 
 Mary became frequently poetical (no very 
 unusual thing with him) in his deprecation of 
 such a meditated act of vandalism. " Certes/' 
 said I, ^' it is the principal and proud feature of 
 your town; and it is moreover the palpable link 
 which connects you with the twelfth century. 
 Give me the russet tint of the flint stones of 
 which these ruins are composed — the ragged and 
 picturesque forms into which time and accident 
 have now cast them — and I care not a rush for 
 all the flaunting brick and bath-stone structures 
 of which the town and its neighbourhood may 
 boast." There was^, in fact, not one dissentient 
 voice among the guests. Even books were for- 
 gotten — while we dwelt, in imagination, or in 
 discourse, upon the '' by gone days," when this 
 magnificent structure was reared.* Now, its 
 
 * This abbey was " reared " in the time of Henry I; and is 
 perhaps more than eight centuries standing. Like many of the 
 edifices of those days, the walls of this Abbey seem to have 
 been built for eternity. There are views, out of number, of 
 their picturesque character and position ; but those which 
 represent them before the building of the present gaol upon 
 their site — about forty-five years ago — exhibit them in larger 
 masses; as a great portion was compelled to be destroyed for 
 the building in question. In digging the foundations of this 
 gaol, human skeletons out of number were found — said to have
 
 68 
 
 ruins seem^ comparatively, but ^*the shadow of a 
 shade! " " Tempus edax rerum"^ — observed our 
 host, in a sort of '' sotto voce^'' — bidding us not 
 spare his port of 1811 ('' Vin de ComeV ) as an 
 antidote to the melancholy which such a subject 
 was likely to engender. 
 
 We broke up at ten. The moon was at full : 
 unobscured by vapour^ mist, or cloud. The mea- 
 dows seemed to be sleeping beneath her soft 
 lustre.... 
 
 And drowsy tinklings lulled the distant folds! 
 
 We made a little circuit, or detour, by the side 
 of those ruins which had elicited such ardour of 
 discussion. We paused before their " grey and 
 battered sides" — now softened by the pale tint 
 of the moon-beam. We became instinctively 
 mute .... listening to the '^stilly sound " of every 
 thing above and below ! Not even the note of 
 
 been buried there in the time of Cromwell, from a battle which 
 took place in the neighbouring meadows. Some of the existing 
 fragments are from six to nine feet in width — and defy destruc- 
 tion, except from the force of gunpowder. If the town and 
 corporation of Reading suffer these fragments to be destroyed, 
 from the lack of public spirit, they affix the seal of indelible 
 disgrace upon their corporate character. There is certainly 
 no saying to what extent individual cupidity may go — but for 
 the sake of all their past glories, I hope the Inhabitants will 
 make a noble fight for the preservation of these adamantine 
 relics ! I feel well persuaded that Mr. H., the senior Alderman, 
 will be " fetlock^in blood " ere he relinquish the contest!
 
 69 
 
 the inhabitant of the '' iv^y-mantled tower '* was 
 heard. Every -thing seemed . . . 
 
 Insensible .... as those that slept beneath ! 
 
 " What a night !— What a spectacle ! " Not 
 another w^ord w^as spoken : — such TacUus-like 
 brevity being infinitely more natural and impres- 
 sive than the circumlocutory periods or speeches 
 of Livi/. We parted, therefore, convinced that 
 our eloquence had suffered no diminution by the 
 use of the interjections only just uttered. The next 
 morning, I had some thoughts of taking a run 
 down to Bath and Bristol — to see how Mr. Upham 
 at the former place, and how Mr. Strong at the 
 latter, were carrying on their bibliopolistic specu- 
 lations. But I wanted courage. In spite of the 
 effort made in my reply to the book-veteran, 
 Nestor, I found that the wailings of Messrs. 
 Snare and Rusher were yet tingling in my ears, 
 and depressing the barometer of my spirits. It 
 is towards Oxford^ therefore (said I to myself) 
 that I will set my face, and direct my instant 
 course — and for that venerable City I secured a 
 place on the roof of an Abingdon and Oxford 
 Coach, which was to depart about three in the 
 afternoon. Purley, Pangbourn, Straitley, and 
 Abingdon, are the villages and towns in the route 
 thither. 
 
 Doubtless, Sir^ you have, in your Oxford days,
 
 70 
 
 made a similar trip — or at any rate have bowled 
 down the hill, which, 'twixt Abingdon and Ox- 
 ford, gives you the first full view of the towers and 
 turrets of the venerable Alma Mater. Thirty- 
 eight years have passed away since I first made 
 this descent — but never, even in the warm glow 
 of youth, did the objects before me appear more 
 splendidly striking. The sun was sinking rapidly 
 — upon what seemed a pillow of molten ruby and 
 amethyst, fringed with burnished gold. Light 
 streaky clouds of alternate pink and opal, cano- 
 pied his couch. The high arch of heaven " was 
 in a blaze with his descending glory."* The 
 towers of Christ Church, All Saints, St. Mary, 
 All Souls, and the Schools — with the dome of 
 RatclifFe — were vividly spangled with the gene- 
 ral radiance; while portions of the several build- 
 ings^ below,, were embrowned in a dark, soft, 
 warm shade. Tow^ards the extremity. Queen's, 
 and the tower of Magdalen, carried on the line of 
 picturesque beauty and grandeur; and the hill of 
 Shotover, in the distance, was enveloped in a 
 magical hue of purple. The meadows and the 
 elm-roofed walks of Christ Church — the Char- 
 well and Isis commingling into one bright, broad, 
 and gently gliding stream — upon the surface of 
 which, boats and sailing vessels were swiftly 
 darting along, and interchanging positions — 
 
 * Burke>
 
 71 
 
 catching the departing sun-beam upon their sides 
 • — ALL THis^ and much more which escapes mi- 
 nuteness of description — presented itself to my 
 view as I descended the hill in question. Oxford 
 is perhaps no where seen to greater advantage.* 
 But, I was not so light of heart — so buoyant in 
 spirit — as at the period before alluded to. Life 
 had had its realities. The mind had had its 
 SHADOWS. There had been sorrow and grief and 
 disappointment, and .... death! As I reached the 
 bottom of the hill, and neared the City, me- 
 thought I heard the chimes of the several Colleges 
 and Churches — ^when the beautiful lines of Mr. 
 Bowles's Sonnet " On Revisiting Oxford^'' came 
 immediately to my recollection. 
 
 I never hear the sound of thy glad bells 
 
 Oxford ! and chime harmonious, but 1 say, 
 (Sighing to think how time has worn away) 
 
 Some spirit speaks in the sweet tone that swells, 
 Heard, after years of absence, from the Vale 
 Where Charwell winds ! "f 
 
 But I hasten to more matter-of-fact detail. 
 
 * The present venerable Dr. Huntingford, Bishop of Here- 
 ford, used to say, that " he never came down this hill without 
 taking off his hat — as a respectful salutation to Alma Ma- 
 ter." I believe one of the very best views of the University, 
 by the magical pencil of Turner, is from this spot. 
 
 t The remainder may as well be here subjoined : for tlie 
 whole is eminently sweet and touching. Indeed, after all, it
 
 72 
 
 Within an hour, I was in Broad Street with Mr. 
 Parker — ^the Corinthian pillar of Bibliopolism at 
 Oxford. But our meeting was not as of old. The 
 notes of wailing soon got the better of those of 
 congratulation. There stood Reimarh Dion Cas- 
 sius, Difker^s Thuci/dides, Hudson'' s Josephus — 
 all in the portly forms of large paper, and in 
 the princely garb of red morocco .... but who 
 were likely to be the purchasers? The Ciceros, 
 from Leyden, Paris, Geneva^ and his own Ox- 
 ford,* all long standing dishes .... getting cold .... 
 to be looked at, and not tasted ! Even the Cla- 
 rendon Press productions, in their peculiarly at- 
 tractive octavo forms .... all 
 
 Fallen from their high estate — 
 
 as if paralised by Cholera or the Reform BilH 
 
 may be questioned whether the Rev. W. L. Bowles be not the 
 facile prmce/>s of living Writers of Sonnets? The remainder 
 is as follows : — 
 
 *' Most true it speaks the tale 
 Of days departed, and its voice recalls 
 Hours of delight and hope in the gay tide 
 Of life, and many friends now scattered wide 
 By MANY FATES ! Peacc be within thy walls ! 
 I have scarce heart to visit thee ; but yet, 
 
 Denied the joys sought in thy shades— denied 
 Each better hope, since my poor **♦*•• died. 
 What I have owed to thee, my heart can ne'er forget." 
 
 C. P. 
 * That of 1783, 4to. 10 vols. See a tale, connected with this 
 edition, in the Library Companion, p. 579, Original Edition; 
 and p. 586, Second Edition.
 
 73 
 
 Advancing towards a comparatively obscure cor- 
 ner — in which, in former days, I used frequently 
 to stumble upon a crackling Elzevir or an uncut 
 Aldus — I took up a very handsomely printed 
 Prospectus of a work of which I had never be- 
 fore received the slightest intimation. Judge, 
 Sir, of my surprise when I found that you were 
 once meditating a Literary and Local History of 
 the University of Oxford.^ Mr. Parker begged 
 
 * As, in after times, — when the Reform Bill and the Cho- 
 lera shall have worked their good or evil — and men's passions 
 shall have pretty generally subsided, by giving way to their 
 reason, — if such an " after time," in this ever-agitated coun- 
 try, (" cet isle, plus enrage que les mers qui I'environnent," 
 observes Montesquieu) shall arrive — a brief mention of this 
 Secret History in Literatiire, may be as pleasing to a few others 
 as to my friend Mr. D'Israeli, in particular. Happening to 
 possess a copy of the Prospectus in question, I think the 
 reader may not be disinclined to be put into possession of a 
 portion of it. 
 
 *'ALMA MATER OXONIEXSIS. A HISTORY 
 OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. 
 
 " Address. — It cannot have failed to strike every lover 
 of his Country's Antiquities, and every admirer of its Graphic 
 Art, that there exists no Publication which can be deemed 
 worthy, in all respects, of transmitting to posterity, a correct, 
 as well as an enlarged, account of the Antiquities, architec- 
 tural and literary, of the University of Oxford. The 
 " secret indignation " felt by Loggan, nearly a century and 
 a half ago, may be yet felt, with some slight modiiication, at 
 the present day : namely, that, *' while rural mansions and 
 obscure villages have found Chroniclers and Artists, the 
 University of Oxford remains witliout any adequate represen-
 
 74 
 
 that I would carry it home with me. " It will 
 at any rate amuse^ if not instruct, you" — said 
 
 tatioii of its numerous architectural attractions." This is the 
 spirit, if it be not the literal version, of Loggan's observations.* 
 &c. &c. 
 
 ^' To the lover of Picturesque beauty, it is impossible to 
 behold the many-turretted buildings of the University— the 
 solemnity of its retired cloisters, and the grandeur of its 
 " Academic Groves," — without a wish that such interesting 
 objects might find an adequate record by the hand of Art :— 
 while, to the meditative understanding, such objects are 
 clothed with additional splendour from the recollection that 
 Oxford has been the '' Nursing Mother" of Statesmen, 
 o'f Legislators, of Divines, Philosophers, Poets, Historians, 
 Scholars, and Philologists : of illustrious characters 
 
 " Whose honours with increase of ages grow, 
 As streams roll down enlarging as they flow!" 
 
 Pope. 
 
 " Nor is the interest attached to such a publication likely 
 to be purely local or even national : — for where is the civilised 
 quarter of the Globe in which the fame of this distinguished 
 University is not established ? To give therefore to posterity, 
 and to the learned of all Countries, AN adequate idea of 
 the variety of interesting objects to be combined in a well ex- 
 ecuted History of the University of Oxford, — as 
 well as to afford delightful reminiscences to the former Inmates 
 
 * Loggan's remark is as follows: " Occasionem huic Instituto 
 prsehuit tacita qusedam indignatio, cum viderem rustica passim tu- 
 guriola, et ignobiles pagos, summorum Artificum caelo et penicillis 
 inclarescere, Oxonium interim, celiberrimum Musarum domici- 
 lium, quo pulchrius aut beatius quidpiam Sol non conspicit, intac- 
 turn praeteriri," &c. Oxonia Illustrata. 1695, Folio f" Spec- 
 tatori Ingenno'\)
 
 75 
 
 he. "What encouragement (replied T) did the 
 planner of the work receive?" " None (re- 
 
 of her classic Walls — it is proposed to publish Three Folio 
 Volumes, which shall embrace the following departments ot* 
 art. 1. Picturesque Views of the University, under difterent 
 aspects. 2. Views of the several Colleges, Halls, and Public 
 Buildings — in whole, or in part — as the subject may require. 
 3. Interiors of Chapels, Halls, Libraries, &c. 4. Gothic Ar- 
 chitecture : Figures : Niches : Screens : Entrances, &c. 5. 
 Modern Sculpture : Figures and Busts of Eminent Men. 6. 
 Portraits of Distinguished Characters, ancient and modern ; 
 including several which have never been before engraved. 7. 
 Curiosities, Belies, &c. 8. Book-Illuminations. 
 
 *' Engravings of these, and of similar subjects,* — executed 
 from Original Drawings— by Artists of the first celebrity in 
 their respective departments — will, it is presumed, give a dis- 
 tinctive character of excellence to this Publication which will 
 be in vain sought for in its precursors. It is intended that each 
 Volume shall contain at least six large and elaborate Plates 
 of Landscape or Architecture, or of a union of both; six Por- 
 traits, engraved in the first style of excellence: eight Copper- 
 plate Vignettes, of a large and finished description — and nu- 
 merous Wood-cuts. But, in proportion to the desire which 
 every aff'ectionate son of Alma Mater will feel for the ex- 
 istence of such a splended memorial as is here submitted to his 
 consideration, must be the anxiety that its execution be cer- 
 tain when once it be determined upon ; that every requisite 
 measure be adopted to protect it from casualties, as well as to 
 distinguish it from the characteristics, of an ordinary under- 
 taking. The plan will be so matured, and the number of Li- 
 terary Coadjutors, engaged in its execution, will be so well 
 
 * The fronts of such Colleges, Halls, &c. as have been rebuilt, 
 or have undergone material alterations, will be engraved as they 
 api)car in their original forms, from the views of Loggan, or front 
 those prefixed to the earlier Oxford Almanacs.
 
 76 
 
 joined he) but what appears on the face of the 
 Prosjoectus ; and of the names there recorded, 
 
 acquainted with that plan, that, if set on foot according to the 
 anticipations of its Author, scarcely any supposable contin- 
 gency can frustrate its completion. In accordance with a just 
 anxiety on this important point, each volume, as delivered, 
 will be considered as complete within itself — in regard both to 
 the text, and the decorations by which it will be accompanied. 
 " The name of Anthony a-Wood has been long and 
 justly popular among the lovers of Oxford Antiquities. The 
 labours of that Antiquary were doubtless both arduous and 
 meritorious ; and the Public have been recently put into pos- 
 session of the most valuable portion of them, as connected 
 with the Lives* of the more eminent characters of the Univer- 
 sity. Wood's Collections, or Annals, relating to the difterent 
 Colleges and Halls, have also their peculiar advantages; but, 
 under both points of view, as a Biographer and Topographer, 
 that author's researches were too miscellaneous; and, at times, 
 too trifling and unimportant. He chronicled the minute and 
 the marvellous, with the same assiduity and degree of good 
 faith as he did the important and the veracious; and a result 
 has followed which might have been naturally expected : — his 
 works are a Repository for occasional consultation, in which 
 however the reader cannot obtain the more valuable matter 
 of which he is in search, without wading through toilsome 
 pages, encumbered by puerilities, and defaced by unconquer- 
 able prejudices. Yet, as a Substratum whereon to build 
 firmly, let no Oxford Antiquary disdain to avail himself of 
 many of those materials, which, but for Wood's unremitting 
 perseverance, would have irretrievably perished. Nor must 
 the name of Hearne, a zealous disciple, as well as enthusi- 
 astic admirer, of Anthony a- Wood, be forgotten among those 
 
 • "The Athene Oxonienses: edited by the Rev. Dr. Bliss, 
 Public Registrar."
 
 77 
 
 not THREE were obtained at Oxford. I believe, 
 Sir, the affair never proceeded beyond this an- 
 nounce. The author, with his usual characteristic 
 zeal, was sanguine to excess. He counted upon 
 a large muster-roll of subscribers — but the day 
 was GOxNE by! An angel from heaven could 
 scarcely effect such a work nowJ^'' 
 
 I slowly folded up the Prospectus, casting a 
 sorrowful glance at its contents — of which I 
 resolved leisurely to make myself master at my 
 Inn — the King^s Arms, I will fairly own to you 
 that I was, at first, alarmed at the magnitude of 
 the design ; but what will not a union of hearts 
 and hands — consolidated by a liberal remunera- 
 tion— effect ? The next morning I visited Mr. 
 Talboy's ; and we had a good long gossip together. 
 On groping 'midst the volumes in the rear of his 
 
 Writers who have treated of the Antiquities of Oxford. The 
 incidental notices of the University, scattered throughout the 
 multifarious publications of Hearne, will be carefully investi- 
 gated, and duly appreciated : and where the information ap- 
 pears to be authentic, it will not fail to be recorded. To say 
 that the notices of Hearne are free from the imputation of cre- 
 dulity, would be to assert what is foreign to the truth." 
 
 The price of the work was to have been £7. 17s. 6d. the 
 volume, small paper; the large paper, £12. 12s. the volume. 
 Only thirty-two names were received ; of which six were put 
 down for large paper. May more fortunate hands accomplish 
 the execution of such a splendid — and, in more than one 
 sense, national — undertaking! To hare failed, in sucli 
 times of literary torpor and fatuity, can be no disgrace to its 
 Author. Cato Parvus.
 
 78 
 
 shop^ I stumbled upon a dingy little tome, enti- 
 tled '' Elogia Sepulchralia^^'' &c., of which one 
 P. F.* was the author — and was mightily pleased 
 with the motto in the title-page, which runs thus: 
 
 " Miramur periisse Homines ? Monumenta fatiscunt." 
 
 AUSON. 
 
 '' Nescia Musarum sed Monumenta mori." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 '' Englished by a Wit of the Age: 
 
 *' Men timely die, and Princes day by day 
 Moulder to dust: but Books will live for Aye, 
 And re-embalm us in the coldest day! " 
 
 On reading it, I could not but be struck with its 
 application to your projected History of the TJni- 
 versity of Oxford: — and was almost horrified to 
 find a copy of the Prospectus on Mr. Talboy's 
 counter^ defaced and rendered scarcely legible 
 by dust and ashes. That energetic Bibliopole 
 sympathised sincerely on its failure: adding, that, 
 although the said Prospectus had been depo- 
 sited at every common Room, and with every 
 Head of a House — many of them also with the 
 leading Tutors of the University — yet, the im- 
 pression of his mind was, that only one assenting 
 
 * ** Typis impressit Author P. P. [Payne Fisher] Ex 
 Equestri Familid Generosus : necnon tam Collegii, quam 
 Campi, Graduatus. Lond. 1675. 8vo, Impensis Authoris, et 
 in Authoris usum solum Typis exarata." By no means an 
 every-day book. M. R.
 
 79 
 
 voice^, in the way of subscription, had been trans- 
 mitted to its Author." " Whose might that be?" 
 — observed I. " Dr. Routh's '* — replied my 
 Informant. 
 
 At the mention of that name, a thousand agree- 
 able flutterings took possession of my breast. I 
 learnt, as I am sure you will too, with no common 
 satisfaction, that the intellectual buoyancy of that 
 eminent scholar was unabated; that years had not 
 enfeebled the powers of his mind, nor dimmed the 
 lustre of his eye : and that he was yet as awakened 
 as ever to all that was precious and instructive in 
 the lore of the primitive Fathers. A visit, paid to 
 him — shortly after leaving Mr. Talboy's — con- 
 firmed this good account. I found him as cour- 
 teous and as communicative as ever : correcting, if 
 I may so speak, a proof sheet of his beloved Lac- 
 tantius with one hand, and the pages of a new edi- 
 tion of his favourite Burnet with the other. His 
 hall^ staircase, corridors, dining room and draw- 
 ing room, contained the same goodly book-furni- 
 ture as of old — outvying, in intrinsic worth, all the 
 velvet and silk and chintz hangings of the proud- 
 est palace in Christendom. Mr. Chantrey was,at 
 the moment, on a visit in the University ; and a 
 whisper was current that he was not to leave it 
 without carrying the head of the President of 
 Magdalen College in his travelling carriage with 
 him to London. As this could easily be ac- 
 complished without decapitation of the Original,
 
 80 
 
 1 expressed the heartiest wishes that it might 
 take place. Still I had doubts and fears. 
 
 My next personal object of visitation, was my 
 old friend the Public Registrar: whom I re- 
 joiced to find hale, hearty, active — and as ob- 
 liging as ever. I had known him in the times of 
 the Book-Fever — symptoms of which I rejoiced 
 to observe yet hanging about him ! His area is 
 small, but it is well filled : — and no man is so little 
 disposed to let apprehension of Cholera or the 
 Reform Bill upset his bibliomaniacal felicity. 
 " But when, my friend, (remarked I) do your 
 Hearniana appear? Horace's precept has been 
 doubly observed — for more than twice nine years 
 have stolen away since you announced the pub- 
 lication of that interesting work." He replied, 
 that ''he could not help himself — his business, as 
 public Registrar, was so unintermitting, and of 
 such essential importance, that he feared he must 
 bid it an eternal adieu." The latter words fell 
 tremulously from his lips — and it was clear to me 
 that, at heart, he was as " sound as a roach " in 
 the legitimate cause. 
 
 On quitting, I made instinctively for the Bod- 
 leian Library: for that dear, old, favourite 
 abode, yet haunted by the spirit of all those 
 great Book Collectors who have figured away in 
 the pages of your Bibliomania. The master- 
 living Spirit of the Library was, as usual, prompt 
 to receive me_, and to receive me cordially. We
 
 81 
 
 walked, and sat, and stood, and walked again — 
 in that interminable forest of printed books and 
 MSS. of every description. Dr. Bandinel gave 
 me a sketch — necessarily a rapid one — of the 
 acquisitions which had been more recently made; 
 and, among them, placed before me the stupen- 
 dously splendid monument of the spirit and libe- 
 rality of one individual — in the Mexican Antiqui- 
 ties — of which Lord Kingsborough was the Pa- 
 tron. The copy before me was upon vellum — a 
 present from that Nobleman. It was justly ar- 
 ranged among the Lions, yea of the roaring lions, 
 of old Bodley : and for my part, I wish the noise of 
 such roaring may extend to the uttermost parts of 
 the empire. A similar copy (as I learnt) had been 
 deposited in the British Museum, also a present 
 from the same munificent quarter. I confess that 
 I was transported at this intelligence; and while 
 such liberal and noble blood was glowing in Bri- 
 tish veins, I would not despair of the revivifi- 
 cation and ultimate triumph of the Bibliomania. 
 Dr. Bandinel then shewed me a variety of book- 
 curiosities, of which I could not help wishing that 
 you had been also a spectator. At five, in com- 
 pany with the Public Registrar, I found myself 
 at his table — well garnished — and stimulant of 
 the " feast of reason, and the flow of soul." At 
 first, we were rather flattish. It could not fail to 
 be so. I had communicated my conversation with 
 
 F
 
 82 
 
 Messrs. Parker and Talboys :— the tenor of which 
 found sympathy in their bosoms: but " the health 
 of my Lord Kingsborough" — (^'totocorde et to- 
 tis viribus") made the heart-vessels dilate; and in 
 a trice we were all in an overflowing glow of sen- 
 timentality! The hock had a more racy flavour: 
 the peaches, a more juicy distillation. The de- 
 clining sun had a mellower lustre — and the 
 breeze of the evening wafted a more delicately 
 aromatic fragrance to our senses. We forgot 
 the Cholera — and even the Reform Bill; and 
 resolved never to forego, or even to cause to be 
 mitigated, our attachment to Valdarfer and to 
 Caxton ! Night came on — and, with it, a moon 
 of equal amplitude and splendour with that wit- 
 nessed at Reading. We strolled in the Gardens 
 of St. John — those gardens, in which Brown de- 
 clared that the whole strength of his genius had 
 been concentrated. They give indeed " ample 
 space to narrow bounds " with so much happy 
 art, that I know of nothing which must be men- 
 tioned in the same breath with them — considering 
 the nature of the site, and the limits within which 
 they are formed. 
 
 Here I parted with the worthy head Librarian 
 of Bodley, and pursued my course homeward, 
 in company with my friend the Public Registrar. 
 As usual, I went to take a peep at that matchless 
 quadrangle of Public Edifices, of which St.
 
 83 
 
 Mary's and the Schools form the opposite sides, 
 with the Ratcliffe Library in the centre.* I 
 went, as usual, to visit this spot of enchantment 
 by moonlight . . . and found it, if possible, more 
 magnificently impressive than ever ! You must 
 be wearied with description, and therefore I shall 
 only say, that, strolling backward and forward 
 with my friend for some half hour, we talked of 
 days gone by, and of days that now were — sin- 
 cerely believing, in our hearts, that a re-action, 
 equally bold, decisive, and beneficial, would 
 within a few months take place : that^ not only 
 the hearts of Messrs. Parker and Talboys would 
 there be made to dance with delight, but the 
 hearts and reins of every deserving Bibliopolist 
 in the empire also. My friend was firm in ac- 
 tion, and loud in voice, when he made this de- 
 claration ... so much so, that he awakened the 
 echos of the place . . . and I thought that I once 
 heard the re-echo of " Re-action " dying away 
 within the cloister of the Divinity School. The 
 next morning I paid a hurried visit to the " rich 
 and racy tomes " of Caxtonian lore, which are 
 duly locked within the press of the first Library 
 at St. John's; and did not fail to cast an inter- 
 ested, but not longing, eye upon the peculiar, 
 but limited, treasures of the black-letter kind, 
 
 * They have lately put an iron railing, of an oval form, 
 round this building — an adaptation, as infelicitous as unneces- 
 sary. C. P.
 
 84 
 
 which they possess at Exeter College.* I was 
 compelled to tear myself away from all these 
 book-felicities, as the various College -chimes re- 
 minded me of the hour of setting out for " Lau- 
 rel Lodge. ^' 
 
 In my way hither, it was but natural to muse 
 upon all that had taken place in the spot just 
 quitted. I candidly own that it strikes me that a 
 very great improvement in the education of 
 young men at Oxford and Cambridge, might be 
 easily effected. The undergraduate, who first 
 loves his Pliny or his Propertius from the cut of 
 its coat — alias the ;fashion of its binding — may, 
 in a happy moment, by looking into its text, 
 love the author for his own sake. The young 
 mind should be directed to new objects. That 
 perpetual system of Herodotising^ Thucydidising, 
 and Euclidising, is enough to render the sharp- 
 est intellect obtuse .... in the long run. And 
 Sanderson and Watt^ can these Genii do any- 
 thing towards awakening the fancy and refining 
 the tastes of young men, verging towards their 
 twentieth year? Consider, with what high ex- ■ 
 pectations, and sometimes high capacities, young 
 men are sent to College; and how much it 
 may be in the power of the Tutor to apply these 
 capacities and expectations to their most obvious 
 
 * Why will not the Magnates of these two Colleges put their 
 book-treasures, of this description, into secure and appropriate 
 bindings ? M. R.
 
 85 
 
 and honourable uses. Teach young men — espe- 
 cially those who are heirs to large properties, 
 and to a splendid ancestry — where the noble 
 feats of their forefathers are recorded in the 
 pages of the County Historian — and they will 
 become lovers, and peradventure collectors, in 
 that branch of the Liter ce Humaniores, The name 
 of DuGDALE is equally proud and imperishable. 
 Should they love Poetry ? Tell them how Mil- 
 ton altered both thought and word in his first 
 effusions, and they will buy all the varieties 
 of the early impressions of that great man's 
 muse. For Shakspeare, there will be no end to 
 the chasse in the eternally varied field connected 
 with the earlier editions of his Plays. An acci- 
 dental visit to Suffolk made the public acquainted 
 with a Prompter's surreptitious edition of Ham- 
 let, a year earlier than any known edition of that 
 play.* 
 
 * The library of Sir Henry Bunbury, Bart. M.P., (at Bur- 
 ton Hall, near Bury St. Edmoud's) contained an edition of 
 Hamlet, of the date of 1G03 — unknown to all Commentators 
 and Collectors. It had belonged to Sir Thomas Hanmer, his 
 maternal grandfather ; and was bound up in a volume of 
 choice rarities in the Dramatic line, and other early editions 
 of Shakspeare. This volume — light in weight, but ponderous 
 in value — was disposed of to Messrs. Payne and Foss, in ex- 
 change for a number of useful publications; and by Messrs. 
 Payne and Foss was sold to the Duke of Devonshire, the 
 possessor of the finest dramatic library in Europe. Before 
 parted with, Mr. Payne caused a literal re-print of the Ilamlet 
 to be published, of which 500 copies were struck off. It made 
 some noise at the time— but the text was evidently not the
 
 86 
 
 But, above all things, when the generality of 
 young men can wade knee deep into the streams 
 of Grecian lore, without the fear of catching 
 cold^ — in other words, when they can master 
 Greek and Latin sufficiently well for the ordi- 
 nary purposes of philological research — imbue 
 them with a love of antiquities; of antiquities, 
 including the passion for gems, coins, and archi- 
 tecture — and this will lead to the acquisition of 
 the best works relating to such an essential feature 
 of a library. See also that the study of national 
 antiquities be duly inculcated ; so that, in travel- 
 ling through a country, every hillock of earth, 
 and every fragment of stone, may be taught to 
 be viewed with an eye of no ordinary interest. 
 I hold this to be a species of Patriotism in its way. 
 Anything and everything that recals to us the 
 past periods of our country — that re-peoples the 
 temple of the Druid, or the castle of the Baron — ■ 
 is of immediate and direct use, by teaching us to 
 weigh, and to estimate accordingly, the present 
 positive blessings which we enjoy. And as we 
 are careful of th.e past, so may we be attentive to 
 the future. Not a coin, not a gem — not an in- 
 scription upon a stone tablet, however time-eaten 
 — not a frieze, not a capital, not a pedestal, in 
 the architectural pile — will ^^e;2 be contemplated 
 
 offspring of Shakspeare's brain. Amongst other oddities, the 
 Ghost is made to enter in his night gown and slippers! See 
 the Library Companion, p. 813, Second Edition.
 
 87 
 
 with indifference : and, with this, a most zealous 
 attachment to those Written Records by which a 
 true knowledge of history is mainly upheld. Thus 
 a new sense, as well as a fresh impetus, is given 
 to the human understanding; making all the 
 difference between the vacant gaze of an ordi- 
 nary traveller, and the intelligent remarks of an 
 instructed observer. Thus, Philander, once 
 deeply versed in the tragedies of Aeschylus and 
 Sophocles, on a sudden dispensed with the ser- 
 vices of those Dramatists; sought no longer plea- 
 sure in choruses, semi or full ; but became smit- 
 ten only with Pausanias and Dion Cassius — and, 
 from them, by a natural transition, sought his 
 chief solace in Montfaucon and Piranesi, Cam- 
 den and Gough : resolving to devote the remain- 
 der of his life (yet wanting many years of its 
 grand climacteric !) to the study and acquisition 
 of our National Antiquities. And thus, to ad- 
 duce no other instance^ does the Master-Spirit 
 which yet inhabits and adorns Stourhead, pursue, 
 indomitably, his enthusiastic course ! The snows 
 of age sit lightly upon his brow; and bodily in- 
 firmities neither damp his ardour nor enfeeble his 
 exertions: while 
 
 Summer suns roll unperceiv'd away, 
 
 as the spear of the Aboriginal Briton^ or the 
 mystic urn of the Druid, find entrance within his 
 Studio,
 
 88 
 
 Is the Collegiate Pupil destined for the Church ? 
 let him not only construe freely the Bible, the 
 Apostolical Fathers, and the Antiquities of Eu- 
 sebius, Sozomen, and Theodoret, in their original 
 tongues, but let him feel an equal anxiety and 
 pride to possess himself of the best editions of the 
 original text. From the dead, he will naturally 
 come to the living, languages — and among these, 
 his Tutor will, as naturally, tell him to cherish 
 that which is his own. What a prospect then 
 awaits him ! You anticipate what I am about to 
 say. You anticipate the acquisition of MSS. of 
 Wiclifs Version of the Sacred Text*— the Tyn- 
 dale^ and Coverdale printed Versions — heading 
 
 * It is a joyful note of intelligence to impart, that, at 
 length, we are about to receive a most carefully collated, and 
 I will add, GENUINE printed text of the MS. version of 
 the Old Testament, by Wiclif : the New Testament having 
 been published by Lewis, some fourscore years ago, in folio, 
 and reprinted by the Rev. Mr. Baber, of the British Museum, 
 in 4to. 1810. The Rev. Mr. Forshall and Frederick Madden, 
 Esq. (see p. 47 ante) — both of the British Museum — are also 
 the Editors of this forthcoming ^;s^ edition of the text of the 
 Old Testament; and these are names which justify every rea- 
 sonable expectation of complete success. The Clarendon 
 Press, to its immortal honour, prints it gratuitously. Of the 
 various MSS. of the original, that copy in the library of the 
 British Museum (formerly belonging to the Royal Society) is 
 perhaps the most intrinsically valuable, as well as splendid : 
 and that, in the library of F. Douce, Esq. is probably the 
 facile princeps of those in private collections. I think I have 
 seen nearer twenty, than twelve, copies of the original MS. ; 
 all about the commencement of the fifteenth century. C. P.
 
 89 
 
 the folio set of Matthews, Taverner, Cranmer, and 
 Parker.^ Anon, for our earlier Rituals, Prayer- 
 Books, and Sermons ! The race is set before him 
 in all its fascinating varieties; and PoRTiusstarts 
 to reach the goal of a never-dying renown. The 
 longest life is too short to gratify his inextin- 
 guishable passion: the largest room, in his fa- 
 ther's mansion, too small to admit of his mar- 
 shalled treasures ... in the black-letter depart- 
 ment only. He sighs for an hundred feet gal- 
 lery; in which to arrange his busts of our early 
 Reformers; and his day dreams and his night 
 dreams run riot upon the acquisition of choice 
 copies of Latimer, Cranmer, and Fox.t The 
 
 * It may be as well to refer to the summary, but spirit-stir- 
 ring, account of these Bibles, to be found in the Library Com" 
 pardon, pp. 30-32: and if the reader (such an one as For- 
 tius probably is) chooses, to the other larger authorities there 
 referred to. But of all these early English Bibles, place me 
 in the front of the copy of Cranmer's (1540) upon vellum, 
 which is usually kept in the Lodge of the Master of St. John's 
 College, Cambridge ! ! " Obstupui, steteruntque comee, et vox 
 faucibus heesit ! " This has occurred more than once— to me— 
 and to more than one Roxburgher ! Of the first edition of the 
 CovERDALE Version, I believe it is hopeless to think of ever 
 obtaining a perfect copy. That, in the library of Castle Ashby, 
 belonging to the Marquis of Northampton, approaches the 
 nearest to perfection of any with which I am acquainted. Well 
 may my friends Messrs. John and Arthur Arch, muster up their 
 courage to proffer £100. for an entirely perfect copy ! See p. 
 1.5. In a more or less imperfect state, I should say few of our 
 earlier Bibles are of such common occurrence. M. R. 
 
 t 1 presume that the Sermons of the first, the Catechism and
 
 90 
 
 Ecclesiastical Chronicles stand also prominently 
 conspicuous to his mind's eye — and for a perfect 
 Parker, De Antiquilate Ecclesice Brittanmcce,^ he 
 would cut off the entail of nine roods of the best 
 arable land upon the paternal estate! Every 
 stick, every stone, every relic — once belonging 
 to that illustrious Archbishop — is an object ap- 
 proaching almost to adoration with Fortius; and 
 should he ever see, as it has been my good fortune 
 to see — in the archives of Corpus College, Cam- 
 bridge — the sacrament cup, and the salt-cellar 
 (of Milanese workmanship) which once adorn- 
 ed that great man's altar and table, I am not 
 quite sure whether the President of that Society 
 might not require the aid of two lusty Univer- 
 sity beadles to prevent . . . something like an act 
 of sacrilege ensuing ! 
 
 Such was the general and perhaps rambling 
 
 certain devotional pieces of the second, and the Martyrology oi 
 the third, are here alluded to. Of these desirable publications 
 to a student in our English Theology, tlie first edition of the 
 last work — in 1563 — is the GRAND object of seeurement. The 
 only thoroughly perfect copy of it, with which I am acquainted, 
 is that in the library of the late Philip Hurd, Esq. and to be 
 sold by auction, with the entire collection of his books, under 
 the hammer of Mr. Evans. I hear with pleasure that the Son 
 of the deceased will at least equal the book-celebrity of the 
 parent. C. P. 
 
 * There is no end to discussions touching the materia bihlio- 
 graphica connected with the work here mentioned — first pub- 
 lished in 1572, folio. Those copies in the collection of Lord 
 Spencer, Mr. Grenville, Mr. Coke, Mr. Douce— -to say nothing
 
 91 
 
 train of ideas which occupied me^ on quitting* 
 iny beloved Ahna Mater, till I reached this se- 
 cluded spot. Behold me, then, back again at 
 Laurel Lodge : embedded 'midst my books ; with 
 no sound but that of the choristers chattering in 
 the grove, and " the low of distant kine " — while 
 the village spire, peeping over the slope of the 
 hill, every now and then affords a sort of com- 
 forting exhilaration of spirits. Sir, I will hope 
 that this little Tour has not been made in vain. 
 I will hope that, if I have commenced this epis- 
 tle in the strain of despondency, I may conclude 
 it in that of comparative exultation. There is 
 doubtless a frightful falling off in the " good old 
 cause," amongst the many : but amongst the 
 "gallant few" — of which the number is not 
 very small — we see spirited resolutions followed 
 up by unabated energy and liberality of conduct. 
 Nor is it a hopeless symptom of the times, that 
 two rival English Versions of Richard de Bu- 
 ry^s Philohiblon are, I believe, at this moment 
 in the press. If ever a man should reviv^e the 
 spirit of his great Predecessor, De Bury, it is 
 THE PRESENT Lord Chancellor: who, I make no 
 doubt, would do all in his power to go beyond 
 him. In regard to the Patronage o{ Literature, 
 what can exceed Lord Kingsborough's patron- 
 
 of the Cambridge and Lambeth copies — are the most perfect 
 which I have seen. In fact, it might be doubted whether <tt;o 
 copies were ever found alike. C. P.
 
 92 
 
 age of the Antiquities of Mexico * a work put forth 
 by Augustine Aglio? There is hardly any con- 
 ceivable case, more likely to challenge and to 
 obtain the applause of posterity^ than that to 
 which I allude. We have here a gallantry of 
 spirit which puts all precedent at an incalculable 
 distance behind. It may be thought indelicate to 
 mention more names; but I may make allusions 
 io persons. The libraries of St. James's Place 
 and Althorp, can hardly receive any acquisition. 
 If not full to overflowing, they lack nothing 
 essential. The honourable and high-minded 
 owner of the library in Cleveland Square, suffers 
 not one jot of attachment to abate towards his 
 books — and it is but the expression of mere com- 
 mon justice to say, that such books merit all the 
 intensity of devotion by which they have been 
 
 * This magniiicent performance consists of seven large folio 
 volumes, of which the first four are plates, and the remaining 
 three text. The author, or editor, is Augustine Aglio. 
 Lord Kingsborough is reported to have devoted £25,000. to 
 its execution, in the successful manner in which we now view 
 it, and in which posterity will not fail to appreciate it. Such 
 Lordly munificence is so rare, so splendid, so deserving of 
 perpetual praise, that i know not how to express myself as I 
 feel upon the subject . . . 
 
 In freta dum fluvii current, dum montibus umbrae 
 Lustrabunt convexa, polum dum sidera pascet, 
 Semper honos iiomenque tuum landesquemanebunt 
 Quae mecunque vocant terrse . . . 
 
 Virg. ^u. lib. i. v. 60r. 
 
 See p. 81. ante. C. P.
 
 93 
 
 acquired. Years neither damp the ardour, nor 
 slacken the exertions, of their owner; whose 
 judgment is yet as ripe, and whose taste yet as 
 refined, as ever. On its scale — and of its class — 
 (and the scale is far from being a stinted one) it 
 puts all competition at defiance. I observe, how- 
 ever, that you have said pretty nearly the same 
 thing, in your last edition of the Introduction to 
 the Classics J^ 
 
 You will be pleased to refer to that part of 
 my Letter in which the name of Attic us is men- 
 tioned. f I learn that the book-appetite of this 
 gentleman is of the same cormorant-capacity as 
 ever : nay, that a return to his native land has 
 rather sharpened than subdued it — that Charles 
 Lewis has been obliged to lay in such a stock of 
 russia and morocco skins — to bind only his black- 
 letter romances in the Italian, Spanish, French 
 and English languages— as may appear incredible 
 to those not having ocular demonstration of its 
 truth. Such a set of tools also has been manu- 
 factured for the binding of them^ as is altogether 
 marvellous ; and as to the extent of his library, 
 to save trouble, you had better say, at once, that 
 it reaches from ****** to Nuremberg ! For 
 proof of an intermediate link in a chain of such 
 
 extension, stop at the Rue not a stone's 
 
 throw from the Quai Voltaire — and casting your 
 
 * Vol. I. p. xi. t Pf^ge 37.
 
 IImaa 
 
 94 
 
 eye up at a huge mansion^ in which 30,000 tomes 
 are deposited — and which has been recently cal- 
 led " Grand Hotel Bibliomanesque''^ — learn, that. 
 
 What was Bullard^s once, is * * * * *'s now. 
 
 But if the days of youth with Atticus are over, 
 his early example has found more than one imi- 
 tator. Look back also, Reverend Sir, and see if 
 the name of Euphormjo, and mention of his me- 
 ditated book-pyramid,* be easily to be found. 
 When a lad at Eton^ I learn that this Euphormio 
 was always ^^ strange and prying/' like Henry 
 Dyson of old,-) into book-recesses which were but 
 little haunted ; and that an uncut copy of the 
 Lac Puerorum, printed by William Faques, or 
 Andrew Skot, first caught his eye and fixed his 
 affections. Those affections have been steady as 
 the polar star, ever since; and now, midway 
 'twixt his twentieth and thirtieth year, he lords 
 it, without controul, over such a domain of books 
 — in the hall of his ancestors— as would induce 
 an ordinary man to distrust the evidence of his 
 senses. But Euphormio is something, and a good 
 deal, more than a mere Collector of costly and 
 precious volumes. He is a Bibliographer, of no 
 common calibre ; and volunteers a world of la- 
 bour in the specification of the worth and rarity 
 of his several treasures. He is meditating such 
 
 * Page 23. f Bibliomania, p. 398.
 
 95 
 
 a Catalogue Raisonnt of these treasures, as may 
 astound even yourself. These be glorious exam- 
 ples to the young — and ought to excite the ri- 
 valry of half the Country Squires and Sheriffs 
 throughout Great Britain. 
 
 Nor are other examples wanting of biblio- 
 maniaeal ardour in early manhood. I have men- 
 tioned the name of Marcus^ as one entitled to no 
 ordinary respect ; and have surmised that, when 
 the trammels of non-age are cut away, the said 
 Marcus will spring at once into distinction among 
 the Collectors of a first-rate class of books. The 
 future will, I am persuaded, prove the truth of 
 this prediction. Again — behold the heir ap- 
 parent of a Ducal Coronet, sedulously sitting 
 down to master volumes, of which his school 
 fellows, and perhaps University comrades, had 
 never heard even the titles. While others are 
 coated in red garments, scouring the plain, or 
 leaping the fence, in pursuit of Reynard's brush — 
 while as many more, or double the number, 
 are levelling the tube of death, and the *' whir- 
 ring pheasant " drops lifeless into the brake — 
 behold our young Bibliomane seated tranquilly 
 in his study, with the Treasures of the Greek 
 and Latin languages before him : now reading, 
 now digesting, now writing, and now indulging 
 high thoughts^ and brave resolves, touching his 
 future destiny in life. His morning tijffi/i is.
 
 96 
 
 alternately, Aelian and Thomas Magister : his 
 petit souper^ Porphyrins and Terentianus Maurus: 
 while of Sidonius ApoUinaris, Manilius, and Mer- 
 curius TrismegistuSj he has sundry little pocket 
 editions, wherewith he delights himself as he wan- 
 ders along the butter-cupped meadows. O rare 
 and felicitous combination of mental labour and 
 mental recreation ! O example, greatly to be 
 admired — and deserving of imitation, especially 
 among those whose wealth and situation are at 
 once great and influential ! 
 
 But, whatever may be the result of the ducal 
 heir, we have, in the example of a Duke himself, 
 no common illustration of the steadiness and spi- 
 rit with which an early attachment to Books has 
 been followed up. To the other, almost innume- 
 rable, attractions of Chatsworth^ look at its Li- 
 hrary : the beauty of the room, and the yet great- 
 er beauty of its furniture ! If the Libraries of 
 the Houses in London, Chiswick, and Chats- 
 worth, be put together, they will not easily be 
 surpassed by the similar treasures of any mansion, 
 however lordly and however vast. To books 
 (of which the purchase of the celebrated library 
 of the late Bishop of Ely might only be consi- 
 dered as a graft on the original stock ) add Pic- 
 tures, Statues, and Gems ....and you have the most 
 glorious frame work in which a living portrait 
 can be encadred ! Nor are such treasures idly
 
 97 
 
 dormant in their several receptacles. When St. 
 Ethelwold makes his appearance,* it will be seen 
 to what good and useful purposes antiquarian vo- 
 lumes may be devoted. I anticipate a general 
 stir on the occasion, in the upper book-circles, 
 equal to that on the arrival of an ambassador from 
 Persia among the fashionable corps — whose 
 " many twinkling feet" produce such a fevered 
 atmosphere at Almack's. 
 
 But there is yet a prouder boast to record. 
 The genuine bibliomaniacal blood is now running 
 at high tide in Royal Veins; and no marvel. 
 Who, that has paced the library of George 
 III, now deposited in the British Museum, has 
 not been well-nigh " dumb-founded " at the glo- 
 rious visto of interminable book-treasures before 
 him? What Englishman, on such a visit, has 
 not been astonished that these books were the 
 collection of one man — and that man, the Mo- 
 narch OF His Country! ! Can it be a matter of 
 surprise, then, that the mantle of the parent 
 should have descended upon the shoulders of at 
 
 * The very amiable and accomplished Mr. John Gage is at 
 present occupied in making this " appearance " effective. 
 Mention of this most curious and ancient volume is made in 
 the Bibliographical Deca7neron,\o\. I. pp. Iv.-lxiii.: bnt shortlj, 
 under the patronage of the Antiquarian Society, (here wisely 
 exerted) all its charms and all its worth will he made pal|)able 
 to tiie public gaze. M. R.
 
 98 
 
 least ONE of his sons? You will instantly catch 
 my allusion; and already we are arm-in-arm 
 exploring within the elongated library in Ken- 
 sington Palace. Lately, great acquisitions, in 
 apartments as well as in books, have added to 
 the comforts of the Royal Inmate; and a noble 
 room, just completed, forms a sort of La go Mag ^ 
 giore, into which the contents of the neighbour- 
 ing corridors and boudoirs (crammed with lore of 
 every philological description!) empty themselves 
 as tributary streamlets. Nor has His Royal 
 Highness less ground of receiving congratulation 
 upon another score. His Biblical Treasures have 
 been laid before the world in the sumptuous Ca- 
 talogue of them put forth by Mr. Pettigrew,* 
 adorned with fac similes, and abounding in cu- 
 rious as well as correct intelligence. Such a 
 
 * BiBLiOTHECA SussExiANA: A Descriptive Catalogue^ 
 accompanied by historical and biographical notices of the 31 SS. 
 and printed books contained iti the Library o/H. R. H. the 
 Duke of Sussex, &c. in Kensington Palace, 1827, 2 vols. 
 Impl. 8vo. The first volume is devoted to the MSS. — the 
 second to the printed books, — in Theology only. Mr. Petti- 
 grew computes the number oi manuscript volumes in the library 
 to be 12,000 : o{ printed books, 38,000 — five years ago ! The 
 fac simile of the ornaments in some of the Hebrew MSS. are 
 exceedingly beautiful — and many of them of a very ancient 
 date. Nothing has been spared in decorative attraction of 
 paper and printing to render this work in all respects deserving 
 of the Patronage under which it was given to the world. 
 Cato Parvus.
 
 99 
 
 monument of the good taste and gallant spirit of 
 the OWNER of these treasures, is deserving of all 
 praise, and is at once splendid and imperishable. 
 I am not solitary in the expression of a fervent 
 wish that the Author of this opus magmnn may 
 find encouragement to resume his promised la- 
 bours of continuance. At present, the depart- 
 ment of Theology ( in which the greater and les- 
 ser Polyglots cut a most distinguished figure) 
 only is executed. 
 
 But it is time, Reverend Sir, to bid you adieu: 
 and I do so, with the frank avowal that the re- 
 collection of all the Worthies, here recorded, 
 puts me into a genial flow of spirits, and more than 
 counterbalances the dejection which I felt on ta- 
 king up my pen to address you. In some mea- 
 sure I believe this must be attributed to the sight 
 of an elegantly got up volume, being an English 
 version of the Cynogeticon^ or Book of Hunting, 
 by Arrian, which has been sent down to me 
 from London since I commenced this Epistle. 
 The translator is anonymous; but he is clearly an 
 intelligent, learned^ and tasteful man; and I 
 would rather see this volume upon my table, 
 than witness the longest burst that ever was re- 
 corded in the cynogetical annals of Leicester- 
 shire. The book is absolutely a " dear delight," 
 and may be consulted again and again with in-
 
 100 
 
 struction and entertainment. Like a true Biblio- 
 maniac, the author printed but a limited Yiumhev 
 of copies.* But a truce to this rambling. Gravely 
 and honestly speaking, I would hope that the 
 examples of bibliomaniacal eminence just brought 
 forward, may have a beneficial effect in the long 
 run. Men will in time become tired of the insipi- 
 dity, fickleness, or worthlessness, of those pursuits, 
 which leave behind neither tangible nor visible 
 proofs of their worth. The Tz^r/ cannot always 
 be soft to its frequenter's foot. The dice-box 
 cannot always disgorge its doublets of siot^es. The 
 bagnio may conceal the accomplice as well as the 
 victim of seduction. Tavern orgies tear asunder 
 the stoutest constitution, as well as impoverish the 
 
 weightiest purses Jaded and distracted in 
 
 these exhausting pursuits, the votary of them re- 
 turns to his private haunt — of loneliness, discom- 
 fort, and vexation of spirit! He sees no object to 
 cheer him — he hears no friendly voice of sympa- 
 thy — his pillow is stuffed with thorns, and he is 
 '' tossed to and fro" 'midst the snatches of doubt- 
 ful slumber which that pillow may induce. Where 
 are the dicta of Epictetus, or the morals of Seneca? 
 the golden opinions of Antoninus, or the poesy of 
 
 * I believe only 250. It is sold by Messrs. Bohri and Son, 
 and will I hope be out of print before the next November 
 coursing begins. The embellishments are sweetly appropriate.
 
 101 
 
 Prudentius? Every shelf is bereft of books — 
 and it is not here that we must expect the in- 
 spired WORD of heaven! I will not draw the 
 converse of such a picture. It may be inferred 
 from what has preceded it. 
 
 Let the honest trader, therefore, in book mer- 
 chandise, cheer up his spirits; and if his heart 
 do not beat quite so high as it hath been wont to 
 beat, let him be assured that better and brighter 
 days are at hand. Let the illustrious subhastalian 
 Corps— Messrs. Evans, Sotheby, Wheatley, and 
 Hodgson — take good courage, and polish up their 
 ebon-truncheons for a prosperous Spring cam- 
 paign. Above all, let my old and learned friend, 
 W. Y. Otley, Esq. no longer hesitate to bring his 
 Costerian labours before the anxious eyes of the 
 public.* He will reap a more abundant harvest, 
 in every sense of the word, than he at present may 
 dare to anticipate. Let the word RE-ACTION 
 be inscribed over his inner porch ; and for those, 
 who are watching the ebbing and flowing of 
 chances^ — who are reluctant to untie their closely 
 
 * This book, to my certain knowledge, will be equally a 
 curosity and a treasure in its way. Old Laurence Coster 
 never before had such honor paid him ; and Haerlem has found 
 in Mr. Otley a champion which may almost justify her forget- 
 fulness of Meerman. The volume, which will be in 8vo., is 
 crowded with embellishments, both asfac-similes and illustra- 
 tions. M. R.
 
 102 
 
 knotted purses — who freeze or burn as a few 
 shillings preponderate — for such, my motto is 
 " NOW OR never!" But, ^' I have done."* 
 
 Claudite jam rivos pueri, sat praia biberiint.f 
 
 I am always, 
 Reverend Sir, 
 Your " Constant Reader," 
 
 And devoted Servant, 
 
 Mercurius Rusticus. 
 
 * Cicero, passim. f Virgil, Eclog. iii. v. 111. 
 
 Wm. Davy, Printer, Gilbert-street, Grosvenor-squa
 
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