[457] For the gratification of such desperately-smitten bibliomaniacs, who leave no stone unturned for the possession of what are called Strawberry Hill Pieces, I subjoin the following list of books, printed at the celebrated seat of Sir Horace Walpole (afterwards Lord Orford) at Strawberry Hill: situated between Richmond and Twickenham, on the banks of the Thames. This list, and the occasional bibliographical memoranda introduced, are taken from the collection of Strawberry Hill books in the library of the Marquis of Bute, at Luton; all of them being elegantly bound by Kalthoeber, in red morocco.——i. Two Odes by Mr. Gray. "φωναντα συνετοισι," Pindar Olymp. ii. Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, 1757, 4to., 19 pages, 1000 copies. In these copies there is sometimes (but very rarely) prefixed a short poem of six stanzas, in alternate rhyme, "To Mr. Gray, on his Poems." As there were only six copies of these verses printed, I subjoin them:

Repine not, Gray, that our weak dazzled eyes Thy daring heights and brightness shun, How few can track the eagle to the skies, Or, like him, gaze upon the sun! The gentle reader loves the gentle muse, That little dares, and little means, Who humbly sips her learning from Reviews, Or flutters in the Magazines. No longer now from learning's sacred store, Our minds their health and vigour draw; Homer and Pindar are revered no more, No more the Stagyrite is law. Though nurst by these, in vain thy muse appears To breathe her ardours in our souls; In vain to sightless eyes, and deaden'd ears, Thy lightning gleams, and thunder rolls! Yet droop not Gray, nor quit thy heav'n-born art: Again thy wondrous powers reveal, Wake slumb'ring virtue in the Briton's heart. And rouse us to reflect and feel! With antient deeds our long-chill'd bosoms fire, Those deeds which mark'd Eliza's reign! Make Britons Greeks again.—Then strike the lyre, And Pindar shall not sing in vain.

——ii. A journey into England, originally written in Latin, by Paul Hentzner. In the year 1598. Printed 1757. Advertisement of 10 pages in a fine large beautiful type, printed on paper of great delicacy. The body of the work, which is printed in a smaller type, occupies 126 double pages; on account of the Latin and English being on the opposite pages, each page is marked with the same number. Only 220 copies of this curious and elegant work were printed.—iii. Fugitive Pieces in Verse and Prose. Pereunt et Imputantur. mdcclviii. 8vo. Two pages of dedication "To the Honourable Major General Henry Seymour Conway:" two pages of a table of contents, body of the work 219 pages. Printed with the small type: and only 200 copies struck off.—iv. An account of Russia as it was in the year 1710. By Charles Lord Whitworth. Printed at S.H. mdcclviii, 8vo. Advertisement 24 pages, body of this work 158—with a page of errata, 700 copies printed. This is an interesting and elegantly printed little volume.—v. A parallel, in the manner of Plutarch, between a most celebrated man of Florence, and one scarce ever heard of in England. By the Reverend Mr. Spence, 1758, 8vo. This is the beautiful and curious little volume, of which mention has already been made at p. 86, ante. Seven hundred copies of it were printed; and from a copy, originally in the possession of the late Mr. John Mann, of Durham, I learnt that "the clear profits arising from the sale of it being about 300l., were applied for the benefit of Mr. Hill and his family." (Magliabechi was "the man of Florence;" and Hill "the one scarce ever heard of in England.") A copy of this edition, with MS. notes by Mr. Cole, was purchased by Mr. Waldron, at the sale of George Steevens's books, for 3l.6s. It was reprinted by Dodsley: but the curious seek only the present edition.——vi. Lucani Pharsalia, mdcclx, 4to. This is the most beautiful volume, in point of printing, which the Strawberry Hill press ever produced. A tolerably copious account of it will be found in my Introduction to the Classics, vol. ii., p. 53. Kirgate the printer (recently deceased) told me that uncommon pains were taken with its typographical execution.——vii. Anecdotes of Painting in Englaud; mdcclxi. four volumes; Catalogue of Engravers, 4to., one volume. This is the first, and, on account of having the earliest impressions of the plates, the best edition of this amusing, and once popular work. It was reprinted in quarto, in 1765; of which edition I believe 600 copies were struck off. Again, in 1786, crown 8vo., five volumes, without the plates.——viii. The Life of Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury, written by himself. Printed in the year mdcclxix, 4to. Dedication of two pages to Lord Powis. Advertisement six pages, not numbered. After this, there should be a "Genealogical Table of the family of Herbert," which is very scarce, on account of its being suppressed by Mr. Walpole, for its inaccuracy. The life occupied 171 pages. "Mr. Walpole," says the late Mr. Cole, "when I was with him in the autumn of 1763, at which time the book was partly printed, told me that either one or two hundred copies were to be printed; half to be sent to the Earl of Powis, and the other half he was to reserve for himself, as presents to his friends; so that, except the book is reprinted by some bookseller, privately, as probably it will, it will be a curiosity. It was not published till the end of June, 1764, when the honourable editor sent it to me.——ix. Poems by Anna Chambers, Countess Temple. mdcclxiv, 4to. This volume, containing 13 poems on various subjects, is printed in 34 pages, with a large, but not very elegant type. Only 100 copies were struck off.——x. The Mysterious Mother. A Tragedy, by Mr. Horace Walpole. Sit mihi fas audita loqui. Virg. Printed at S.H., mdcclxviii. 8vo. No vignette on the back. First leaf, errata, and "persons" [of the play.] Printed with the small type on 120 pages; after which follows a "postscript" of 10 pages. Only 50 copies printed. An uncut copy was recently sold for 6l. 15s.——xi. Cornélie vestale. Tragédie. Imprimée à S.H. mdcclxviii, 8vo., 200 copies. The title-page is followed by a letter "a Mons. Horace Walpole." A page of the names of the actors forms the commencement of the work, which contains 91 pages, neatly printed. Only 200 copies printed, of which 150 were sent to Paris.——xii. Poems by the Reverend Mr. Hoyland, mdcclxix, 8vo. The advertisement ends at p. iv.; the odes occupy 19 pages. Although this little volume is not printed with the usual elegance of the S.H. press, it is valuable from its scarcity, on account of its never having been re-printed. Only 300 copies were struck off.——xiii. Original Letters from K. Edward VI. to Barnaby Fitzpatrick, 1772, 4to. I am not acquainted with any circumstance, intrinsic or extrinsic, that renders this small volume sought after.——xiv. Miscellaneous Antiquities, or a collection of curious papers: either republished from scarce tracts, or now first printed from original MSS. Two numbers printed by Thomas Kirgate, mdcclxxii, 4to. No. I. Advertisement of two pages, ending p. iv. The number contains besides: Contents. Chap. I. "An account of some Tournaments and other martial Diversions." This was reprinted from a work written by Sir William Segar, Norroy; and is called by the author, Honour, Military and Ceuill, printed at London in 1602. Chap. II. Of "Justs and Tournaments," &c., from the same. Chap. III. "A Triumph in the Reigne of King Richard the Second, 1390," from the same. Chap. IV. "A Militarie Triumph at Brussels, Anno 1549," from the same. Chap. V. "Of Justs and Tourneaments," &c., from the same. Chap. VI. "Triumphes Military, for honour and loue of Ladies: brought before the Kings of England," from the same. Chap. VII. "Of the life and actions in Armes since the reigne of Queene Elizabeth," from the same. Chap. VIII. "The original occasions of the yeerely Triumph in England." All these tracts are taken from the above work. No. II. Second leaf, a plate of a head from the original wood-cut by Hans Holbein. Contents. This number is almost entirely occupied by the "Life of Sir Thomas Wyat, the elder," copied by Mr. Gray from the originals in the Harleian Collection, now in the British Museum. This extends to p. 54, after which is an Appendix of eight pages on a few miscellaneous subjects. Five hundred copies were printed.——xv. Memoirs du Comte de Grammont, par Monsieur le Comte Antoine Hamilton. Nouvelle edition, Augumentée denotes et eclaircissemens necessaires. Par M. Horace Walpole. mdcclxxii, 4to. The title-page is succeeded by a dedication "à Madame ——," in six lines and a half, printed in a very large type. Then follows an "Avis de L'Editour," and "Avertissement," occupying three pages. An "Epitre à Monsieur le Comte de Grammont,' continues to p. xxi: then a "Table des Chapitres," to p. xxiii., on the back of which are the errata. The body of the work extends to 290 pages; which are succeeded by "Table des Personnes," or index, in three pages. These memoirs are printed with the middle size type; but neither the type nor paper are so beautiful as are those of Hentzner's Travels, or the comparison between Magliabechi and Hill. Portraits. 1. Le Comte Antoine Hamilton, faces the title page. 2. Philibert, Comte de Grammont, opposite the "Epitre:" badly executed. 3. A portrait of Miss Warminster, opposite p. 85, in the style of Worlidge's gems. 4. Mademoiselle d'Hamilton, Comtesse de Grammont, faces p. 92. This engraving, by G. Powle, is executed in a style of beauty and spirit that has seldom been surpassed. 5. Lord Chesterfield, second Earl, in the style of the preceding; very beautiful. There were only 100 copies of this edition printed, of which 30 were sent as presents to Paris.——xvi. The Sleep Walker, a Comedy: in two acts. Translated [by Lady Craven] from the French, in March. Printed by T. Kirgate, mdcclxxviii, 8vo. It is printed in the small type on 56 pages, exclusively of viii. introductory ones, of "prologues" and "persons," &c. Only 75 copies were printed: and of these, one was sold for 4l. in the year 1804, at a public auction.——xvii. A Letter to the Editor of the Miscellanies of Thomas Chatterton. Printed by T. Kirgate. mdcclxxix, 8vo. This title is preceded by what is called a bastard title: and is followed by 55 pages of the work, not very elegantly printed. Only 200 copies.——xviii. The Muse Recalled, an ode occasioned by the nuptials of Lord Viscount Althorp (the late Earl Spencer) and Miss Lavinia Bingham, eldest daughter of Charles, Lord Lucan, March vi., mdcclxxxi. By William Jones, Esq. Printed by Thomas Kirgate, mdcclxxxi. 4to. Eight pages, exclusively of the title-page. Printed in the middle size type; but neither the paper nor typographical execution are in the best style of the S.H. press. Only 250 copies printed.——xix. A Description of the Villa of Mr. Horace Walpole, youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, at Strawberry Hill, near Twickenham, Middlesex. With an inventory of the Furniture, Pictures, Curiosities, &c. Printed by Thomas Kirgate, mcclxxxiv, 4to. This book contains 96 pages in the whole. It was preceded by a small quarto impression of mdcclxxiv: which is scarce; and of which there are large paper copies. The work entitled Ædes Walpolianæ was printed in mdcclxvii.

Plates to the edition of 1784.

1. Frontispiece, Gothic; motto on a scroll, "Fari quæ sentiat."
2. North Front of Strawberry Hill.
3. Entrance of Strawberry Hill.
4. View of the Prior's Garden, at ditto.
5. Chimney in the Great Parlour.
6. Chimney in the China Room.
7. Chimney in the Yellow Bedchamber.
8. Do. —— —— Blue Bedchamber.
9. Staircase at Strawberry Hill.
10. Library at ditto.
11. Chimney Piece of the Holbein Chamber.
12. The Gallery.
13. Chimney in the Round Room.
14. The Cabinet.
15. View from the Great Bedchamber.
16. Garden Gate.
17. View of the Chapel in the Garden at Strawberry Hill.
18. The Shell Bench.
19. View from the Terrace at Strawberry Hill.
20. East View of the Cottage Garden at Strawberry Hill. There were only 200 copies of this edition printed.

The following may amuse the curious reader:

"Mr. Walpole is very ready to oblige any curious persons with the sight of his house and collection; but as it is situated so near to London, and in so populous a neighbourhood, and as he refuses a ticket to nobody that sends for one, it is but reasonable that such persons as send should comply with the rules he has been obliged to lay down for shewing it:—Any person, sending a day or two before may have a ticket for four persons for a day certain;—No Ticket will serve but on the day for which it is given. If more than four persons come with a ticket, the housekeeper has positive orders to admit none of them;—Every ticket will admit the company only between the hours of twelve and three before dinner, and only one company will be admitted on the same day;—The house will never be shewn after dinner, nor at all but from the first of May to the first of October;—As Mr. Walpole has given offence by sometimes enlarging the number o four, and refusing that latitude to others, he flatters himself that for the future nobody will take it ill that he strictly confines the number; as whoever desires him to break his rule does in effect expect him to disoblige others, which is what nobody has a right to desire of him;—Persons desiring a ticket may apply either to Strawberry Hill, or to Mr. Walpole's, in Berkeley Square, London. If any person does not make use of the ticket, Mr. Walpole hopes he shall have notice: otherwise he is prevented from obliging others on that day, and thence is put to great inconvenience;—They who have tickets are desired not to bring children."——xx. A copy of all the Works of Mr. Walpole that were printed by him before his death, 1784, 4to. This brochure, which has been called "rare" in book-auction catalogues, has been sold for upwards of two guineas.——xxi. Postscript to the Royal and Noble Authors. mdccxxxvi, 8vo. There should be, before the title-page, an outline etching of "Reason, Rectitude, and Justice, appearing to Christin de Pisan, &c., from an illumination in the library of the King of France," which is exceedingly well engraved. The work contains only 18 pages: and there were but 40 copies printed. The Royal and Noble Authors were first printed in 1759, 8vo. 2 vols.——xxii. Essai sur l'Art des Jardins Modernes, par M. Horace Walpole. Traduit en François, par M. Le Duc de Nivernois, en mdcclxxxiv. Imprimé à S.H. par T. Kirgate, mdcclxxxv. With an opposite title in English, 4to. It contains 94 double pages, and every page of French has an opposite one of English. Not printed in the best manner of S.H. A copy of this book was sold for 3l.; at a sale in 1804.——xxiii. Bishop Banner's Ghost. Printed by T.K. mdlccxxxix, 4to. On the first leaf is the following "Argument." "In the gardens of the palace of Fulham is a dark recess: at the end of this stands a chair, which once belonged to Bishop Bonner. A certain Bishop of London (the late Beilby Porteus) more than 200 years after the death of the aforesaid Bonner, just as the clock of the gothic chapel had struck six, undertook to cut, with his own hand, a narrow walk through this thicket, which is since called the Monk's walk. He had no sooner begun to clear the way, than lo! suddenly up started from the chair, the ghost of Bishop Bonner, who, in a tone of just and bitter indignation, uttered the following verses." This curious publication contains only four pages of stanzas, written in alternate rhyme, of 8 and 6 feet metre.——xxiv. The Magpie and her Brood; a fable, from the tales of Bonaventure de Periers, valet de chambre to the Queen of Navarre; addressed to Miss Hotham. This is a very scarce poetical tract of four pages only; subscribed H.W.——xxv. Fourteen different pieces, printed at Strawberry Hill, of verses, cards, &c. This title I borrow from a book-auction catalogue. At a sale in 1804, these detached pieces were sold for 2l. 2s.; but it is not in my power to identify them. Whether they be the same "parcel of scraps, and loose leaves of poetry, epigrams," &c. which, according to a daily newspaper, were sold at the commencement of this year "for 16 pounds," I am also equally ignorant. See Kirgate's Catalogue, 1810, no. 420.——xxvi. Hieroglyphic Tales, 8vo. Only seven copies printed; idem, no. 380. From newspaper authority, I learn that these tales formed "a small pamphlet of two sheets, crown 8vo.," which were sold for 16l.; and I understand that the late Mr. G. Baker was the purchaser. N.B. They are incorporated in the author's printed works; but this is not having the first and true edition! There is nothing like the comfort of bleeding smartly for exhibiting these fourth and fifth symptoms of the Bibliomania! Vide pp. 521, 525, ante.——xxvii. Additions to First Editions of Walpole's Lives of the Painters, sewed.——xxviii. The Press at Strawberry Hill to his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, a Poem.——xxix. The Master of Otranto in durance.——xxx. Air, a Poem.——xxxi. A Poetical Epistle to Mrs. Crewe.——xxxii. A Poetical Epistle to Lady Horatio Waldegrave, on the Death of the Duke of Ancaster.——xxxiii. The Press at Strawberry Hill to Miss Mary and Miss Agnes Berry, a Poetical Epistle. [These last seven articles are taken from Mr. Cuthell's catalogue of 1811.] I should add that a much more copious and complete list, though not possessing all the intelligence here communicated, was prepared by the late Mr. George Baker for press; and printed, since his decease, for donations to his particular friends. Only twenty copies of this bibliographical brochure are said to have been executed. We will now take leave of the Prelum Walpolianum by subjoining a copy of the most elegant title-page vignette which ever issued from it.

FARI QUÆ SENTIAT

Before the reader's eyes are finally turned from a contemplation of this elegant device—and as connected with the subject of Private Presses—let me inform him that the Marquis of Bute is in possession of a thin folio volume, exhibiting paintings, upon vellum, of the various devices used by Pope Sixtus V., in the frontispieces of the several works which issued from the Apostolical Press, while he filled the Papal Chair. To a tasteful bibliomaniac, few volumes would afford so much delight as a contemplation of the present one. It is quite a keimelion in its way!

Trithemius [458] We are indebted to the Abbé Trithemius, who was a diligent chronicler and indefatigable visitor of old Libraries, for a good deal of curious and interesting intelligence; and however Scioppius (De Orig. Domûs Austriac.), Brower (Vit. Fortunat. Pictav., p. 18.), and Possevinus (Apparant sacr. p. 945), may carp at his simplicity and want of judgment, yet, as Baillet (from whom I have borrowed the foregoing authorities) has justly remarked—"since the time of Trithemius there have been many libraries, particularly in Germany, which have been pillaged or burnt in the destruction of monasteries; so that the books which he describes as having seen in many places, purposely visited by him for inspection, may have been destroyed in the conflagration of religious houses." Jugemens des Savans; vol. ii., pt. i., p. 71, edit. 12mo. It is from Trithemius, after all, that we have the only direct evidence concerning the origin of printing with metal types: and the bibliographical world is much indebted to Chevelier (L'Origine de l'Imprimerie de Paris, 1691, 4to., pp. 3-6.) for having been the first to adduce the positive evidence of this writer; who tells us, in his valuable Chronicon Hirsaugiens (1690, 2 vols. folio), that he received his testimony from the mouth of Fust's son-in-law—"ex ore Petri Opilionis audivi,"—that Guttenburg was the author of the invention. The historical works of Trithemius were collected and published in 1601, in folio, two parts, and his other works are minutely detailed in the 9th volume of the Dictionnarie Historique, published at Caen, in 1789. Of these, one of the most curious is his Polygraphia: being first printed at Paris, in 1518, in a beautiful folio volume; and presenting us, in the frontispiece, with a portrait of the abbé; which is probably the first, if not the only legitimate, print of him extant. Whether it be copied from a figure on his tomb—as it has a good deal of the monumental character—I have no means of ascertaining. For the gratification of all tasteful bibliomaniacs, an admirable facsimile is here annexed. The Polygraphia of Trithemius was translated into French, and published in 1601, folio. His work De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis, Colon, 1546, 4to., with two appendices, contains much valuable matter. The author died in his 55th year, A.D. 1516: according to the inscription upon his tomb in the monastery of the Benedictines at Wirtzburg. His life has been written by Busæus, a Jesuit. See La Monnoye's note in the Jugemens des Savans; ibid.

[459] I frankly confess that I was, myself, once desperately afflicted with this eleventh symptom of The Bibliomania; having collected not fewer than seventy-five editions of the Greek Testament—but time has cooled my ardour, and mended my judgment. I have discarded seventy, and retain only five: which are R. Steevens's of 1550, The Elzevir of 1624, Mill's of 1707, Westein's of 1751, and Griesbach's of 1810—as beautifully and accurately reprinted at Oxford.

[460] Some superficial notes, accompanied by an interesting wood-cut of a man carrying hawks for sale, in my edition of Robinson's translation of More's Utopia, kindled, in the breast of Mr. Joseph Haslewood, a prodigious ardour to pursue the subjects above-mentioned to their farthest possible limits. Not Eolus himself excited greater commotion in the Mediterranean waves than did my bibliomaniacal friend in agitating the black-letter ocean—'a sedibus imis'—for the discovering of every volume which had been published upon these delectable pursuits. Accordingly there appeared in due time—'[post] magni procedere menses'—some very ingenious and elaborate disquisitions upon Hunting and Hawking and Fishing, in the ninth and tenth volumes of The Censura Literaria; which, with such additions as his enlarged experience has subsequently obtained, might be thought an interesting work if reprinted in a duodecimo volume. But Mr. Haslewood's mind, as was to be expected, could not rest satisfied with what he considered as mere nuclei productions: accordingly, it became clothed with larger wings, and meditated a bolder flight; and after soaring in a hawk-like manner, to mark the object of its prey, it pounced upon the book of Hawking, Hunting, Fishing, &c., which had been reprinted by W. de Worde, from the original edition published in the abbey of St. Albans. Prefixed to the republication of this curious volume, the reader will discover a great deal of laborious and successful research connected with the book and its author. And yet I question whether, in the midst of all the wood-cuts with which it abounds, there be found any thing more suitable to the 'high and mounting spirit' (see Braithwait's amusing discourse upon Hawking, in his English Gentleman, p. 200-1.) of the editor's taste, than the ensuing representation of a pilgrim Hawker?!—taken from one of the frontispieces of L'Acadamia Peregrina del Doni; 1552, 4to., fol. 73.

hawker

We will conclude this Hawking note with the following excerpt from one of the earliest editions of the abridgment of our statutes:—'nul home pringe les oves dascu[n] faucon, goshawke, lan, ou swan hors de le nyst sur peyn de inprison p[our] vn an et vn iour et de faire fyn all volunte le roy et que nul home puis le fest de paque p[ro]chyn auenpart ascun hawke de le brode dengl' appell vne nyesse, goshawke, lan, ou laneret sur sa mayn, sur peyn de forfaiture son hawke, et que null enchasse ascun hawke hors de c[ou]uerte sur peyne de forfaiture x li. lun moyte al roy et lauter a celuy que voet sur.' Anno xi. H. vij. ca. xvij. Abbreviamentum Statutorum; printed by Pynson, 1499, 8vo., fol. lxxvij.

[461] As I could not consistently give Emanuel Swedenborg a niche among the bibliomaniacal heroes noticed towards the conclusion of Part V. of this work, I have reserved, for the present place, a few extracts of the titles of his works, from a catalogue of the same, published in 1785; which I strenuously advise the curious to get possession of—and for two reasons: first, if he be a Swedenborgian, his happiness will be nearly complete, and he will thank me for having pointed out such a source of comfort to him: secondly, if he be not a disciple of the same master, he may be amused by meditating upon the strange whims and fancies which possess certain individuals, and which have sufficient attractions yet to make proselytes and converts!! Written March 10, A.D. 1811. Now for the extracts. 'A Catalogue of the printed and unprinted Works of the Hon. Emanuel Swedenborg, in chronological order. To which are added some observations, recommending the perusal of his Theological Writings. Together with a compendious view of the Faith of a new Heaven and a new Church, in its Universal and Particular Forms. London, printed by Robert Hindmarsh, No. 32, Clerkenwell Close, mdcclxxxv. Those marked thus (*) are translated into English.'

NO.
18.	Regnum Animale, or the Animal Kingdom in three parts. The first treats of the Viscera of the Abdomen, or the lower Region. The second, of the Viscera of the Breast, or of the Organs of the superior Region. The third, of the Skin, the Touch, and the Taste, and of organical forms in general. Part printed at the Hague, and part in London, 1744, 1745, in 4to.
19.	De Cultu et Amore Dei, or of the Worship and Love of God. The first part treats of the Origin of the Earth, of Paradise, of the Birth, Infancy, and Love of the first Man, or Adam. London, 1744, in 4to. The second part treats of the Marriage of the first man, of the Soul, of the intellectual Spirit, of the State of Integrity, and of the Image of God. London, 1745, 4to.
20.	Arcana Cœlestia, or Heavenly Mysteries contained in the Sacred Scriptures or Word of the Lord, manifested and laid open, in an Explanation of the Books of Genesis and Exodus, interspersed with relations of wonderful things seen in the World of Spirits, and the Heaven of Angels. London, from 1747 to 1758, in eight volumes, 4to. "In this work the reader is taught to regard the letter of the Scriptures as the Repository of Holy and Divine Things within; as a Cabinet containing the infinite Treasures and bright Gems of spiritual and celestial Wisdom; &c."(*)....
21.	De Cœlo et Inferno; or A Treatise concerning Heaven and Hell, and of the wonderful Things therein heard and seen. London, 1758, 4to. "By this work the reader may attain to some conception of the heavenly kingdom, and may learn therein that all social virtues, and all the tender affections that give consistence and harmony to society, and do honour to humanity, find place and exercise in the utmost purity in those delectable abodes; where every thing that can delight the eye, or rejoice the heart, entertain the imagination, or exalt the understanding, conspire with Innocence, Love, Joy, and Peace, to bless the spirits of just men made perfect, and to make glad the city of our God," &c.(*)

[462] The works upon Natural History by Gesner, and especially the large tomes published about the middle of the sixteenth century, are, some of them, well worth procuring; on account of the fidelity and execution of the wood-cuts of birds and animals. Bewick's earliest editions of Birds and Beasts should be in the cabinet of every choice collector.

[463]

Ie te confesse bien que le fleuve de Seine A le cours grand et long, mais tousiours il attraine Avec soy de la fange, et ses plis recourbrez, Sans estre iamais nets, sont tousiours embourbez: Vn petit ruisselet a tousiours l'onde nette, Aussi le papillon et la gentille auette Y vont puiser de l'eau, et non en ces torrens Qui tonnent d'vn grand bruit pas les roches courant: Petit Sonnets bien faits, belles chansons petites, Petits discourds gentils, sont les fleurs des Charites, Des Sœurs et d'Apollon, qui ne daignent aymer Ceux qui chantent une œuvre aussi grand que la mer, Sans riue ny sans fond, de tempestes armée Et qui iamais ne dort tranquille ny calmée. Poems de Ronsard; fol. 171. Paris 1660. 12mo.

These are pretty lines, and have a melodious flow; but Ronsard, in his 8 and 9 feet metres, is one of the most fascinating of the old French poets. The subject, above alluded to by Lysander, may be yet more strongly illustrated: for thus speaks Spizelius upon it. 'Solent viri multijugæ lectionis, qui avidè, quos possunt versant libros, ut in mentis ventrem trajicere eos velle, totosque devorare videantur, elegantis proverbii salivâ Librorum Helluones nuncupari; ipso quidem Tullio prælucente, qui avidos lectores librorum, ac propemodum insiatiables Helluones dixit, siquidem vastissima volumina percurrant, et quicquid boni succi exprimere possunt, propriis et alienis impendant emolumentis." Again: "Maxima cum sit eorum Literarum stoliditas, qui, quod nocte somniarunt, continuo edunt in lucem, neque ipsa virium imbecillitate suarum, ab arduo scribendi munere et onere, sese revocari patiuntur," &c. Infelix Literatus; pp. 295, 447. Morof is worth our notice upon this subject: "Veniamus ad Bibliothecas ipsas, quales vel privatæ sunt, vel publicæ. Illæ, quanquam in molem tantam non excrescant ut publicæ; sunt tamen etiam inter privatos viri illustres et opulenti qui in libris omnis generis coemendis nullis parcunt sumptibus. Quorum βιβλιομανίαν reprehendit Seneca Ep. 2. 45, et de Tranquil. animi c. 9, ridet Lucianus in libello πρὸς ἀπαίδευτον και πὁλλὰ βιβλἰα ᾽ωνουμενον; et Auson. epigr. 43. Sunt ita animati nonnulli, ut

magno de flumine malint Quam de fonticulo tantundem sumere;

cum vastioris Bibliothecæ minor interdum usus sit, quam ejus quæ selectis paucioribus libris constat." Polyhist. Literar. vol. i., p. 21. He goes on in a very amusing manner; but this note may be thought already too long.