[Footnote 370: The reader will be pleased to consult the account of Earl Pembroke, p. 325, ante, where he will find a few traits of the bibliomaniacal character of ANSTIS. He is here informed, from the same authority, that when Anstis "acquainted BAGFORD that he would find in Rymer a commission granted to Caxton, appointing him ambassador to the Duchess of Burgundy, he (Bagford) was transported with joy." Of HEARNE he thus speaks: "I am ashamed that Mr. Hearne hath made so many mistakes about the translation of _Boetius, printed at Tavistock_; which book I had, and gave it to the Duke of Bedford." But in another letter (to Lewis) Anstis says, "I lent this book to one Mr. Ryder, who used me scurvily, by presenting it, without my knowledge, to the Duke of Bedford." There are some curious particulars in this letter about the abbey of Tavistock. Anstis's _Order of the Garter_ is a valuable book; and will one day, I prognosticate, retrieve the indifferent credit it now receives in the book-market. The author loved rare and curious volumes dearly; and was, moreover, both liberal and prompt in his communications. The reader will draw his own conclusions on Anstis's comparative merit with Lewis and Ames, when he reaches the end of the second note after the present one.]

[Footnote 371: Concerning the Rev. JOHN LEWIS, I am enabled to lay before the reader some particulars now published for the first time, and of a nature by no means uninteresting to the lovers of literary anecdote. His printed works, and his bibliographical character, together with his conduct towards Ames, have been already sufficiently described to the public: _Typographical Antiquities_, vol. i., 30-3. And first, the aforesaid reader and lovers may peruse the following extract from an original letter by Lewis to Ames: "I have no other design, in being so free with you, than to serve you, by doing all I can to promote your credit and reputation. I take it, that good sense and judgment, attended with care and accuracy in making and sorting a collection, suits every one's palate: and that they must have none at all who are delighted with trifles and play things fit only for fools and children: such, for the most part, as THOMAS HEARNE dished out for his chaps, among whom I was so silly as to rank myself." Again, to the same person, he thus makes mention of LORD OXFORD and Hearne: "I can truly say I never took ill any thing which you have written to me: but heartily wish you well to succeed in the execution of your projects. I han't sense to see, by the death of Lord Oxford, how much more you are likely to make your account better. But time will shew. I don't understand what you mean by his having a love to surprize people with his vast communications. Dr. R(awlinson, qu.?) tells me he knew nobody who had so free a use of his Lordship's rarities as T. Hearne, a sure proof of the exactness and solidity of his Lordship's judgment. But Hearne answered, perhaps, his Lordship's design of making the world have a very great opinion of his collections, and setting an inestimable value on them. And this Hearne attempted; but his daubing is, I think, too coarse, and the smoke of his incense troublesome and suffocating." But it is to the loan of a copy of Lewis's folio edition of the _History of the Translations of the Bible_, belonging to my friend Mr. G.V. Neunburg, that I am indebted for the following further, and more interesting, particulars. This valuable copy, illustrated with some rare prints, and charged with numerous MS. memoranda, contains some original letters to Lewis by the famous Dr. White Kennet, Bishop of Peterborough: from which these extracts are taken. "Jan. 23, 1720-1. Dear Sir; I thank you for your kind acceptance of the advice to my clergy: well meant, I pray God well applied. I have wisht long to see your _Life of Wiclif_, and shall now impatiently expect it. I am not surprised that a man of dignity, near you, should be jealous of publishing an impartial account of that good old evangelical author, &c. I have a mighty veneration for Wicliff, and am the more angry with Mr. Russell for deceiving the world in his promise of the Bible, after proposals given and money taken. But he has in other respects behaved so very basely that, forgiving him, I have done with him for ever. I would not have you discouraged, by an ungrateful world, or by a sharp bookseller. Go on, and serve truth and peace what you can, and God prosper your labours." Signed "Wh. Peterbor." "Feb. 20, 1720-1. You perceive your own unhappiness in not being able to attend the press. I cannot but importune you to revise the whole, to throw the additions and corrections into their proper places, to desire all your friends and correspondents to suggest any amendments, or any new matter; in order to publish a new correct edition that will be a classic in our history, &c.--If the booksellers object against a second edition till the full disposal of the first, I hope we may buy them off with subscription for a new impression; wherein my name should stand for six copies, and better example I hope would be given by more able friends. I pray God bless your labours and reward them." Several letters follow, in which this amiable prelate and learned antiquary sends Lewis a good deal of valuable information for his proposed second edition of the Life of Wicliffe; but which was never put to press. One more extract only from the Bishop of Peterborough, and we bid farewell to the Rev. John Lewis: a very respectable bibliomaniac. "Rev. Sir; In respect to you and your good services to the church and our holy religion, I think fit to acquaint you that, in the _Weekly Journal_, published this day, Oct. 28 (1721), by _Mr. Mist_, there is a scandalous advertisement subscribed M. Earbury, beginning thus: 'Whereas a pretended _Vindication of John Wickliffe_ has been published under the name of one Lewis of Margate, by the incitement, as the preface asserts, of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and in the same I am injuriously reflected upon as a scurrilous writer, this is to inform the public that I shall reserve the author for a more serious whipping in my leisure hours, and in the meantime give him a short correction for his benefit, if he has grace and sense to take it'--and ending thus--'Why does this author persuade the world the late Archbishop of Canterbury could have any veneration for the memory of one who asserts God ought to obey the devil; or that he could be desirous to open the impure fountains from whence the filth of Bangorianism has been conveyed to us? M. EARBURY." "I confess (proceeds the bishop) I don't know that, in the worst of causes, there has appeared a more ignorant, insolent, and abandoned writer than this Matth. Earbury. Whether you are to answer, or not to answer, the F. according to his folly, I must leave to your discretion. Yet I cannot but wish you would revise the Life of Wickliffe; and, in the preface, justly complain of the spiteful injuries done to his memory, and, through his sides, to our Reformation. I have somewhat to say to you on that head, if you think to resume it. I am, in the mean time, your affectionate friend and brother, WH. PETESBOR."]

[Footnote 372: It is unnecessary for me to add any thing here to the copious details respecting these eminent bibliomaniacs, AMES and HERBERT, which have already been presented to the public in the first volume of the new edition of the _Typographical Antiquities_ of our own country. See also p. 66, ante; and the note respecting the late GEORGE STEEVENS, post.]

By mentioning Herbert in the present place, I have a little inverted the order of my narrative. A crowd of distinguished bibliomaniacs, in fancy's eye, is thronging around me, and demanding a satisfactory memorial of their deeds.

LOREN. Be not dismayed, Lysander. If any one, in particular, looks "frowningly" upon you, leave him to me, and he shall have ample satisfaction.

LYSAND. I wish, indeed, you would rid me of a few of these book-madmen. For, look yonder, what a commanding attitude THOMAS BAKER[373] assumes!

[Footnote 373: THOMAS BAKER was a learned antiquary in most things respecting _Typography_ and _Bibliography_; and seems to have had considerable influence with that distinguished corps, composed of Hearne, Bagford, Middleton, Anstis, and Ames, &c. His life has been written by the Rev. Robert Masters, Camb., 1784, 8vo.; and from the "Catalogue of forty-two folio volumes of MS. collections by Mr.

Baker"--given to the library of St. John's College, Cambridge--which the biographer has printed at the end of the volume--there is surely sufficient evidence to warrant us in concluding that the above-mentioned Thomas Baker was no ordinary bibliomaniac. To Hearne in particular (and indeed to almost every respectable author who applied to him) he was kind and communicative; hence he is frequently named by the former in terms of the most respectful admiration: thus--"Vir amicissimus, educatus optime, emendatus vita, doctrina clarus, moribus singularis et perjucundus, exemplum antiquitatis, cujus judicio plurimum esse tribuendum mecum fatebuntur litterati:" _Vita Mori_, p.

XVIII. In his preface to the _Antiquities of Glastonbury_, p. CXXX., Hearne calls him "that great man;" and again, in his _Walter Hemingford_, vol. i., p. XVII.--"amicus eruditissimus, mihi summe colendus; is nempe, qui e scriniis suis MSS. tam multa meam in gratiam deprompsit." Indeed, Hearne had good occasion to speak well of the treasures of Baker's "_scrinia_;" as the Appendix to his _Thomas de Elmham_ alone testifies. Of Baker's abilities and private worth, we have the testimonies of Middleton (_Origin of Printing_, p. 5) and Warburton. The latter thus mentions him: "Good old Mr. Baker, of St John's College, has indeed, been very obliging. The people of St. John's almost adore the man." _Masters's Life of Baker_, p. 94. This authority also informs us that "Mr. Baker had, for many years before his death, been almost a recluse, and seldom went farther than the college walks, unless to a coffee-house in an evening, after chapel, where he commonly spent an hour with great chearfulness, conversing with a select number of his friends and acquaintance upon literary subjects," p. 108.

Every thing the most amiable, and, I had almost said, enviable, is here said of the virtues of his head and heart; and that this venerable bibliomaniac should have reached his 80th year is at least a demonstration that tarrying amongst folios and octavos, from morn till night (which Baker used to do, in St. John's Library, for nearly 20 years together), does not unstring the nerves, or dry up the juices, of the human frame. Yet a little further extension of this note, gentle reader, and then we bid adieu to Thomas Baker, of ever respectable book-memory. Among the MSS., once the property of Herbert, which I purchased at the late sale of Mr. Gough's MSS., I obtained a volume full of extracts from original letters between Baker and Ames; containing also the _Will_ of the former, which is not inserted in Master's Life of him, nor in the _Biographia Britannica_. The original documents are in his Majesty's library, and were bought at the sale of Mr. Tutet's books, A.D. 1786; no. 375. From this will, as Herbert has copied it, the reader is presented with the following strong proofs of the bibliomaniacal "ruling passion, strong in death," of our illustrious antiquary. But let us not omit the manly tone of piety with which this Will commences. "In the name of God, Amen! I, THOMAS BAKER, ejected Fellow of St. John's college, Cambridge, do make my last will and testament, as follows: First, I commend my soul into the hands of Almighty God (my most gracious and good God), my faithful Creator and merciful Redeemer, and, in all my dangers and difficulties, a most constant protector. Blessed for ever be his holy name." "As to the temporal goods which it hath pleased the same good God to bestow upon me (such as all men ought to be content with) and are, I bless God, neither poverty nor riches--I dispose of them in the following manner." Here follow a few of his book bequests, which may be worth the attention of those whose pursuits lead them to a particular examination of these authors. "Whereas I have made a deed of gift or sale for one guinea, of 21 volumes in folio, of my own hand-writing, to the Right Honourable EDWARD EARL OF OXFORD, I confirm and ratify that gift by this my last will.

And I beg his lordship's acceptance of 'em, being sensible that they are of little use or value, with two other volumes in fol., markt Vol. 19, 20, since convey'd to him in like manner. To my dear cosin, George Baker, of Crook, Esq., I leave the _Life of Cardinal Wolsey_, noted with my own hand, _Lord Clarendon's History_, with cuts and prints; and _Winwood's Memorials_, in three volumes, fol., with a five pound (Jacobus) piece of gold, only as a mark of respect and affection, since he does not want it. To my worthy kinsman and Friend Mr. George Smith, I leave _Godwin de Praesulibus Angliae_, and _Warraeus de Praesulibus Hibernia_, both noted with my own hand. To St. John's College Library I leave all such books, printed or MSS., as I have and are wanting there: excepting that I leave in trust to my worthy friend, Dr. Middleton, for the University Library, _Archbishop Wake's State of the Church_, noted and improved under his own hand; _Bp. Burnet's History of the Reformation_, in three volumes, noted in my hand; and _Bp. Kennett's Register and Chronicle_ (for the memory of which three great prelates, my honoured friends, I must always have due regard). To these I add Mr. Ansty's, my worthy friend, _History of the Garter_, in two vols., fol. _Wood's Athenae Oxon._; and _Maunsell's Catalogue_; both noted with my own hand--and _Gunton's and Patrick's History of The Church of Peterburgh_, noted (from Bishop Kennett) in my hand; with fifteen volumes (more or less) in fol., all in my own hand; and three volumes in 4to., part in my own hand." Let us conclude in a yet more exalted strain of christian piety than we began. "Lastly, I constitute and appoint my dear nephew, Richard Burton, Esq., my sole executor, to whom I leave every thing undisposed of, which I hope will be enough to reward his trouble. May God Almighty bless him, and give him all the engaging qualities of his father, all the vertues of his mother, and none of the sins or failings of his uncle, which God knows are great and many:--and humbly, O my God, I call for mercy! In testimony of this my will, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 15th day of October, 1739.

THO. BAKER.

And now, O my God, into thy hands I contentedly resign myself: whether it be to life or death, thy will be done!

Long life I have not desired (and yet thou hast given it me). Give me, if it be thy good pleasure, an easy and happy death. Or if it shall please thee to visit me sorely, as my sins have deserved, give me patience to bear thy correction, and let me always say (even with my dying breath) Thy will be done, Amen, Amen." Subjoined was this curious memorandum: "At the making of this will, I have, in the corner of my outer study, next my chamber, 170 guineas; and on the other side of the study towards the river, 100 guineas, more or less, in several canvass bags, behind the shelves, being more secret and hidden, to prevent purloyning. One or more of the shelves markt G. among the latter is a five pound (Jacobus) piece of gold."]

LOREN. Never fear. He is an old acquaintance of mine; for, when resident at St. John's, Cambridge, I was frequently in the habit of conversing with his spirit in the library, and of getting curious information relating to choice and precious volumes, which had escaped the sagacity of his predecessors, and of which I fear his successors have not made the most proper use.

PHIL. This is drawing too severe a conclusion. But Baker merits the thanks of a book-loving posterity.

LYSAND. He is satisfied with this mention of his labours; for see, he retreats--and THEOBALD[374] and Tom Rawlinson rush forward to claim a more marked attention: although I am not much disposed to draw a highly finished picture of the editor of Shakespeare.

[Footnote 374: Notwithstanding Pope has called THEOBALD by an epithet which I have too much respect for the ears of my readers to repeat, I do not scruple to rank the latter in the list of bibliomaniacs. We have nothing here to do with his edition of Shakspeare; which, by the bye, was no despicable effort of editorial skill--as some of his notes, yet preserved in the recent editions of our bard, testify--but we may fairly allow Theobald to have been a lover of Caxtonian lore, as his curious extract in _Mist's Journal_, March 16, 1728, from our old printer's edition of Virgil's aeneid, 1490, sufficiently testifies. While his gothic library, composed in part of "Caxton, Wynkyn, and De Lyra," proves that he had something of the genuine blood of bibliomaniacism running in his veins. See Mr. Bowles's edition of _Pope's Works_, vol. v., 114, 257.]

LIS. Is THOMAS RAWLINSON[375] so particularly deserving of commendation, as a bibliomaniac?

[Footnote 375: Let us, first of all, hear Hearne discourse rapturously of the bibliomaniacal reputation of T.

Rawlinson: "In his fuit amicus noster nuperus THOMAS RAWLINSONUS; cujus peritiam in supellectile libraria, animique magnitudinem, nemo fere hominum eruditorum unquam attigit, quod tamen vix agnoscet seculum ingratum. Quanquam non desunt, qui putent, ipsius memoriae statuam deberi, idque etiam ad sumptus Bibliopolarum, quorum facultates mire auxerat; quorum tamen aliqui (utcunque de illis optime meritus fuisset) quum librorum Rawlinsoni auctio fieret, pro virili (clandestin tamen) laborabant, ut minus auspicat venderentur. Quod videntes probi aliquot, qui rem omuem noverant, clamitabant, o homines scelestos! hos jam oportet in cruciatum hinc abripi! Quod haec notem, non est cur vitio vertas. Nam nil pol falsi dixi, mi lector. Quo tempore vixit Rawlinsonus (et quidem perquam jucundum est commemorare), magna et laudabilis erat aemulatio inter viros eruditos, aliosque etiam, in libris perquirendis ac comparandis, imo in fragmentis quoque. Adeo ut domicilia, ubi venales id genus res pretiosae prostabant, hominum coetu frequenti semper complerentur, in magnum profecto commodum eorum, ad quos libri aliaeque res illae pertinebant; quippe quod emptores parvo aere nunquam, aut rarissime, compararent."

_Walter Hemingford, praefat._, p. CIV. In his preface to _Alured de Beverly_, pp. v. vi., the copious stores of Rawlinson's library, and the prompt kindness of the possessor himself, are emphatically mentioned; while in the preface to _Titi Livii Foro-Juliensis Vit. Henrici V._, p.

xi., we are told, of the former, that it was "plurimis libris rarissimis referta:" and, in truth, such a "Bibliotheca refertissima" was perhaps never before beheld.

Rawlinson was introduced into the Tatler, under the name TOM FOLIO. His own house not being large enough, he hired _London House_, in Aldersgate Street, for the reception of his library; and there he used to regale himself with the sight and the scent of innumerable black letter volumes, arranged in "sable garb," and stowed perhaps "three deep,"

from the bottom to the top of his house. He died in 1725; and catalogues of his books for sale continued, for nine succeeding years, to meet the public eye. The following is, perhaps, as correct a list of these copious and heterogeneously compiled catalogues, as can be presented to the reader. I am indebted to the library of Mr. Heber for such a curious bibliographical morceau. I. _A Catalogue of choice and valuable Books in most Faculties and Languages; being part of the Collection made by Thomas Rawlinson, Esq._, which will begin to be sold by auction at Paul's Coffee House, the West-end of St. Paul's, 4th Dec., 1721, beginning every evening at 5, by Thomas Ballard, bookseller, at the Rising Sun, Little Britain. 12mo. Price 1s. 144 pages.----II. _A Catalogue_, &c., being the 2nd part of the Collection by T. Rawlinson, Esq., to be sold by auction at Paul's Coffee-House, 7th March, 1721-2, every evening at 5, by T. Ballard. 12mo. Price 1s., paged on from the last, pp.

145 to 288. [These two parts contain together 1438 8vo.

lots; 1157 in 4to., 618 in folio.]----III. _A Catalogue_, &c., being the third part of the Collection by T. Rawlinson, Esq., to be sold by auction at Paul's Coffee-House, 17th Oct., 1722, every evening at 5, by T. Ballard. 12mo. Price 1s. (no paging or printer's letter.)----IV. _A Catalogue_, &c., being the 4th part of the Collection by T. Rawlinson, Esq., to be sold by auction at Paul's Coffee-House, 2nd April, 1723, every evening at 5, by T. Ballard, 12mo. Price 1s. (no paging or printer's letter.)----V. & VI. _A Catalogue_, &c., being the 5th part of the Collection by T.

Rawlinson, Esq., to be sold by auction at Paul's Coffee-House, 20th Jan. 1723, every evening at 5, by T.

Ballard. 12mo. Price 1s. Altho' this vol. seems to have been the last of only one sale--yet it may be collected, from the concurrent testimony of his notes in more copies than one--that it was divided and sold at two different times; the latter part commencing about the middle of the volume, with the _Libri Theologici_. In folio.--Test. Nov. 1588, being the first article. This collection began to be sold in Feb. 2. [1724?]--VII. _A Catalogue_, &c., being the 6th part of the Collection made by T. Rawlinson, Esq., _Deceased_, which will begin to be sold by auction at London-House, in Aldersgate Street, 2nd March, 1726, every evening at 5, by Charles Davis, bookseller. 12mo. Price 2_s._ 6_d._ (no paging--printer's mark at bottom irregularly continued from 1 to 35.)--VIII. _Bibliotheca Rawlinsoniana_, being a Cat.

of part the Val. Libr. of Tho. Rawlinson, Esq., Deceased: which will begin to be sold by auction at the Bedford Coffee-House, in the great Piazza, Covent Garden, the 26th of this present April [1727] every evening at 5, by Charles Davis, bookseller. 8vo. Price 6_d._ (20 days' sale--2600 lots.)----IX. _Bibliothecae Rawlinsonianae, &c., Pars_ IX.

being a Cat. of part of the Libr. of Th. Rawlinson, Esq., Deceased, to be sold by auction at St. Paul's Coffee-House, 16th Oct., 1727, every evening at 6, by T. Ballard. 8vo.

Price 1_s._ (20 days' sale, 3200 lots.)----X. _Bibliothecae Rawlinsonianae, &c., Pars altera_, being a Cat. of part of Lib. of Th. Rawlinson, Esq., Deceased, to be sold by auction at St. Paul's Coffee-House, 22d Nov., 1727, every evening at 6, by Th. Ballard. 8vo. Price 1_s._ (22 days' sale, 3520 articles.)----XI. _Bibliothecae Rawlinsonianae, Pars altera_, being a Catalogue of part of the Library of T. Rawlinson, Esq., deceased, to be sold by auction at St. Paul's Coffee-House, 22d Jan. 1727-8, every evening, Saturdays excepted, at 6. 8vo. Price 1_s._ (22 days' sale, 3520 lots.)----XII. _Bibliothecae Rawlinsonianae, Pars altera_, being a Cat. of part of the Library of Th. Rawlinson, Esq., deceased, to be sold by auction at St. Paul's Coffee-House, 18th March, 1727-8, every evening at 5, by T. Ballard. Price 1_s._ (8vo. 24 days' sale, 3840 lots.)----XIII. _Bibliothecae Rawlinsonianae, Pars altera_, being a Cat. of part of the Library of Th. Rawlinson, Esq., deceased, to be sold by auction at St. Paul's Coffee-House, 21st April, 1729, every evening at 5, by T. Ballard. Price 1_s._ (8vo. 26 days'

sale, 4161 lots.)----XIV. _Bibliothecae Rawlinsonianae, Pars altera_, being a Cat. of part of the Library of T.

Rawlinson, Esq., deceased, to be sold by auction at St.

Paul's Coffee-House, 24 Nov. 1729, every evening at 5, by T.

Ballard. Price 1_s._ (8vo. 18 days' sale, 2700 lots.)----XV.

_Bibliothecae Rawlinsonianae, Pars altera_, being a Cat. of part of the Library of T. Rawlinson, F.R.S., deceased, to be sold by auction 13th Nov., 1732, at St. Paul's Coffee-House, every evening at 5, by Tho. Ballard. Price 1_s._ (8vo. 26 days' sale, 3456 lots.)----XVI. _Codicum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Rawlinsonianae Catalogus--cum appendice Impressorum_--to be sold 4th March, 1733-4, at St. Paul's Coffee-House, every night at 6, by T. Ballard. Price 1_s._ (8vo., 16 days' sale, MSS. 1020 lots--appendix 800). To these may be added, _Picturae Rawlinsonianae_--being the collection of original paintings of T. Rawlinson, Esq., F.R.S., by the best masters--part of which were formerly the Earl of Craven's Collection. To be sold by auction, at the Two Golden Balls, in Hart Street, Covent Garden, 4th April, 1734, at 11. 8vo. (117 lots.) Now let any man, in his sober senses, imagine what must have been the number of volumes contained in the library of the above-named THOMAS RAWLINSON? Does he imagine that the tomes in the Bodleian, Vatican, and British Museum were, in each single collection, more numerous than those in the _Aldersgate Street_ repository?--Or, at any rate, would not a view of this Aldersgate Street collection give him the completest idea of the _ne plus ultra_ of BOOK-PHRENSY in a private collector?

Rawlinson would have cut a very splendid figure, indeed, with posterity, if some judicious catalogue-maker, the Paterson of former times, had consolidated all these straggling _Bibliothecal_ corps into one compact wedge-like phalanx. Or, in other words, if one thick octavo volume, containing a tolerably well classed arrangement of his library, had descended to us--oh, then we should all have been better able to appreciate the extraordinary treasures of SUCH A COLLECTION! The genius of Pearson and Crofts would have done homage to the towering spirit of Rawlinson.]

LYSAND. If the most unabating activity and an insatiable appetite--if an eye, in regard to books, keen and sparkling as the ocean-bathed star--if a purse, heavily laden and inexhaustible--if store-rooms rivalled only by the present warehouses of the East-India Company--if a disposition to spread far and wide the influence of the BIBLIOMANIA, by issuing a _carte blanche_ for every desperately smitten antiquary to enter, and partake of the benefits of, his library--be criteria of BOOK-PHRENSY--why then the resemblance of this said Tom Rawlinson ought to form a principal ornament in the capital of that gigantic column, which sustains the temple of BOOK FAME! He was the _Tom Folio_ of the Tatler, and may be called the _Leviathan_ of book-collectors during nearly the first thirty years of the eighteenth century.

LIS. I suppose, then, that Bagford, Murray, and Hearne, were not unknown to this towering bibliomaniac?

LYSAND. On the contrary, I conclude, for certain, that, if they did not drink wine, they constantly drank coffee, together: one of the huge folio volumes of Bleau's Atlas serving them for a table.

But see yonder the rough rude features of HUMPHREY WANLEY[376] peering above the crowd! All hail to thy honest physiognomy--for thou wert a rare _Book-wight_ in thy way! and as long as the fame of thy patron Harley shall live, so long, honest Humphrey, dost thou stand a sure chance of living "for aye," in the memory of all worthy bibliomaniacs.

[Footnote 376: Lysander is well warranted in borrowing the pencil of Jan Steen, in the above bold and striking portrait of WANLEY: who was, I believe, as honest a man, and as learned a librarian, as ever sat down to morning chocolate in velvet slippers. There is a portrait of him in oil in the British Museum, and another similar one in the Bodleian Library--from which latter it is evident, on the slightest observation, that the inestimable, I ought to say immortal, founder of the _Cow Pox system_ (my ever respected and sincere friend, Dr. JENNER) had not then made known the blessings resulting from the vaccine operation: for poor Wanley's face is absolutely _peppered_ with _variolous_ indentations! Yet he seems to have been a hale and hearty man, in spite of the merciless inroads made upon his visage; for his cheeks are full, his hair is cropt and curly, and his shoulders have a breadth which shew that the unrolling of the HARLEIAN MSS. did not produce any enervating effluvia or mismata [Transcriber's Note: miasmata]. Our poet, Gay, in his epistle to Pope, _ep._ 18, thus hits off his countenance:

O WANLEY, whence com'st thou with _shorten'd hair_, And _visage_, from thy shelves, _with_ dust besprent?

But let us hear the testimony of a friend and fellow bibliomaniac, called Thomas Hearne. The following desultory information is translated from the preface to the _Annales Priorats de Dunstable_--wherein, by the bye, there is a good deal of pleasant information relating to Wanley. We are here told that Wanley was "born at Coventry; and, in his younger days, employed his leisure hours in turning over ancient MSS., and imitating the several hands in which they were written. Lloyd, Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, in one of his episcopal visitations, was the first who noticed and patronized him. He demanded that Wanley should be brought to him; he examined him "suis ipsius, non alterius, oculis;" and ascertained whether what so many respectable people had said of his talents was true or false--'A few words with you, young man,' said the Bishop. Wanley approached with timidity--'What are your pursuits, and where are the ancient MSS. which you have in your possession?'

Wanley answered readily; exhibited his MSS., and entered into a minute discussion respecting the ancient method of painting." Hearne then expatiates feelingly upon the excessive care and attention which Wanley devoted to ancient MSS.; how many pieces of vellum he unrolled; and how, sometimes, in the midst of very urgent business, he would lose no opportunity of cultivating what was useful and agreeable in his particular pursuit. His hobby horse seems to have been the discovery of the ancient method of colouring or painting--yet towards BRITISH HISTORY and ANTIQUITIES he constantly cast a fond and faithful eye. How admirably well-calculated he was for filling the situation of librarian to Lord Oxford is abundantly evinced by his catalogue of the Harleian MSS.; vide p. 89, ante. Of his attachment to the Bibliomania there are innumerable proofs.

Take this, _inter alia_; "I spoke to Mr. Wanley, who is not unmindful of his promise, but says he will not trouble you with a letter, till he has something better to present you, which he doubts not he shall have this winter _among Mr.

Harley's MSS._ Mr. Wanley has the greatest collection of _English Bibles, Psalters, &c._, that ever any one man had.

They cost him above 50_l._, and he has been above twenty years in collecting them. He would part with them, I believe, but I know not at what price." _Masters's Life of Baker_, p. 27. Consult also the preface to the _Catalogue of the Harleian MSS._, 1808, 3 vols., folio, p. 6.]

A softer noise succeeds; and the group becomes calm and attentive, as if some grand personage were advancing. See, 'tis HARLEY, EARL OF OXFORD![377]

[Footnote 377: There was an amusing little volume, printed in 1782, 8vo., concerning the library of the late King of France; and an equally interesting one might have been composed concerning the HARLEIAN COLLECTION--but who can now undertake the task?--who concentrate all the rivulets which have run from this splendid reservoir into other similar pieces of water? The undertaking is impracticable. We have nothing, therefore, I fear, left us but to sit down and weep; to hang our harps upon the neighbouring willows, and to think upon the Book "SION," with desponding sensations that its foundations have been broken up, and its wealth dissipated. But let us adopt a less flowery style of communication. Before HARLEY was created a peer, his library was fixed at Wimple, in Cambridgeshire, the usual place of his residence; "whence he frequently visited his friends at Cambridge, and in particular Mr. BAKER, for whom he always testified the highest regard. This nobleman's attachment to literature, the indefatigable pains he took, and the large sums he expended in making the above collection, are too well known to stand in need of any further notice."

_Masters's life of Baker_, p. 107. The eulogies of Maittaire and Hearne confirm every thing here advanced by Masters; and the testimony of Pope himself, that Harley "left behind him one of the finest libraries in Europe," warrants us, if other testimonies were not even yet daily before our eyes, to draw the same conclusion. In a periodical publication entitled _The Director_, to which I contributed all the intelligence under the article "BIBLIOGRAPHIANA," there appeared the following copious, and, it is presumed, not uninteresting, details respecting the Earl of Oxford, and his Library. After the sale of Mr. Bridges's books, no event occurred in the bibliographical world, worthy of notice, till the sale of the famous _Harleian Library_, or the books once in the possession of the celebrated HARLEY, EARL OF OXFORD. This nobleman was not less distinguished in the political than in the literary world; and "was a remarkable instance of the fickleness of popular opinion, and the danger of being removed from the lower to the upper house of parliament." (Noble's _Continuation of Granger_, vol. ii., 23.) He was born in the year 1661, was summoned to the house of Lords by the titles of Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, in 1711; declared minister and lord high treasurer in the same year; resigned, and was impeached, in the year 1715; acquitted, without being brought to a trial, in 1717; and died at his house in Albemarle Street, in 1724. A character so well known in the annals of this country needs no particular illustration in the present place. The _Harleian Collection of MSS._ was purchased by government for 10,000_l._, and is now deposited in the British Museum (vide p. 89, ante). The _Books_ were disposed of to THOMAS OSBORNE, of Gray's Inn, bookseller;--to the irreparable loss, and, I had almost said, the indelible disgrace, of the country. It is, indeed, for ever to be lamented that a collection so extensive, so various, so magnificent, and intrinsically valuable, should have become the property of one who necessarily, from his situation in life, became a purchaser, only that he might be a vender, of the volumes.

Osborne gave 13,000_l._ for the collection; a sum which must excite the astonishment of the present age, when it is informed that Lord Oxford gave 18,000_l._ for the _Binding_ only, of the least part of them. (From Oldys's _interleaved Langbaine_. See Brydges's _Cens. Literar._, vol. i., p.

438.) In the year 1743-4 appeared an account of this collection, under the following title, _Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae, &c._, in four volumes (the 5th not properly appertaining to it). Dr. Johnson was employed by Osborne to write the preface, which, says Boswell, "he has done with an ability that cannot fail to impress all his readers with admiration of his philological attainments."

_Life of Johnson_, vol. i., 81, edit. 4to. In my humble apprehension, the preface is unworthy of the doctor: it contains a few general philological reflections, expressed in a style sufficiently stately, but is divested of bibliographical anecdote and interesting intelligence. The first two volumes are written in Latin by Johnson; the third and fourth volumes, which are a repetition of the two former, are composed in English by Oldys: and, notwithstanding its defects, it is the best catalogue of a large library of which we can boast. It should be in every good collection. To the volumes was prefixed the following advertisement: "As the curiosity of spectators, before the sale, may produce disorder in the disposition of the books, it is necessary to advertise the public that there will be no admission into the library before the day of sale, which will be on Tuesday, the 14th of February, 1744." It seems that Osborne had charged the sum of 5_s._ to each of his first two volumes, which was represented by the booksellers "as an avaricious innovation;" and, in a paper published in "_The Champion_," they, or their mercenaries, reasoned so justly as to allege that "if Osborne could afford a very large price for the library, he might therefore afford to _give away_ the catalogue." _Preface to_ vol. iii., p. 1. To this charge Osborne answered that his catalogue was drawn up with great pains, and at a heavy expense; but, to obviate all objections, "those," says he, "who have paid five shillings a volume shall be allowed, at any time within three months after the day of sale, either to return them in exchange for books, or to send them back, and receive their money." This, it must be confessed, was sufficiently liberal. Osborne was also accused of _rating his books at too high a price_: to this the following was his reply, or rather Dr. Johnson's; for the style of the Doctor is sufficiently manifest: "If, therefore, I have set a high value upon books--if I have vainly imagined literature to be more fashionable than it really is, or idly hoped to revive a taste well nigh extinguished, I know not why I should be persecuted with clamour and invective, since I shall only suffer by my mistake, and be obliged to keep those books which I was in hopes of selling."--_Preface to the 3d volume._ The fact is that Osborne's charges were extremely moderate; and the sale of the books was so very slow that Johnson assured Boswell "there was not much gained by the bargain." Whoever inspects Osborne's catalogue of 1748 (four years after the Harleian sale), will find in it many of the most valuable of Lord Oxford's books; and, among them, a copy of the Aldine Plato of 1513, _struck off upon vellum_, marked at 21_l._ only: for this identical copy Lord Oxford gave 100 guineas, as Dr. Mead informed Dr. Askew; from the latter of whose collections it was purchased by Dr. Hunter, and is now in the Hunter Museum. There will also be found, in Osborne's catalogues of 1748 and 1753, some of the scarcest books in English Literature, marked at 2, or 3, or 4_s._, for which three times the number of _pounds_ is now given.

ANALYSIS OF THE HARLEIAN LIBRARY.

I shall take the liberty of making an arrangement of the books different from that which appears in the Harleian catalogue; but shall scrupulously adhere to the number of departments therein specified. And first of those in

1. _Divinity._

In the _Greek_, _Latin_, _French_, and _Italian_ languages, there were about 2000 theological volumes. Among these, the most rare and curious were Bamler's bible of 1466, beautifully illuminated, in 2 volumes: Schaeffer's bible of 1472. The famous Zurich bible of 1543, "all of which, except a small part done by Theodoras Bibliander, was translated from the Hebrew by a Jew, who styled himself Leo Judae, or the Lion of Judah. The Greek books were translated by Petrus Cholinus. The New Testament is Erasmus's." The Scrutinium Scripturarum of Rabbi Samuel, Mant., 1475; a book which is said "to have been concealed by the Jews nearly 200 years: the author of it is supposed to have lived at a period not much later than the destruction of Jerusalem." The Islandic bible of 1664, "not to be met with, without the utmost difficulty, and therefore a real curiosity." The works of Hemmerlin, Basil: 1497; "the author was ranked in the first class of those whose works were condemned by the church of Rome." The Mozarabic Missal printed at Toledo, in 1500--of which some account is given at p. 161, ante. The collection of _English_ books in Divinity could not have amounted to less than 2500 volumes. Among the rarest of these, printed in the fifteenth century, was "The Festyvall, begynning at the fyrst Sonday of Advent, in worship of God and all his Sayntes," &c., printed at Paris, in 1495. There was ten books printed by Caxton, and some exceedingly curious ones by Wynkyn de Worde and Pynson.

2. _History and Antiquities._

There appear to have been, on the whole, nearly 4000 volumes in this department: of which, some of those relating to Great Britain were inestimable, from the quantity of MS.

notes by Sir William Dugdale, Archbishop Parker, Thomas Rawlinson, Thomas Baker, &c. The preceding number includes 600 relating to the history and antiquities of Italy; 500 to those of France. (This part of the catalogue deserves particular attention, as it contains a larger collection of pieces relating to the history of France than was, perhaps, ever exposed to sale in this nation; here being not only the ancient chronicles and general histories, but the memoirs of particular men, and the genealogies of most of the families illustrious for their antiquity. See _Bibl. Harl._, vol.

iii., p. 159.) 150 to those of Spain; and about 250 relating to Germany and the United Provinces.

3. _Books of Prints, Sculpture, and Drawings._

In this department, rich beyond description, there could not have been fewer than 20,000 articles, on the smallest computation: of which nearly 2000 were original drawings by the great Italian and Flemish masters. The works of CALLOT were preserved in 4 large volumes, containing not fewer than _nine hundred and twelve prints_. "All choice impressions, and making the completest set of his works that are to be seen." See _Bibl. Harl._, vol. iii., no. 562, "HOLLAR'S works, consisting of all his pieces, and bound in 12 folio volumes, in morocco. One of the completest and best sets in the world, both as to the number and goodness of the impressions." Vid. _ibid._, no. 468. It is now in the library of the Duke of Rutland. "One hundred and thirty-three heads of illustrious men and women, after VANDYKE. This set of Vandyke's heads may be said to be the best and completest that is to be met with any where: there being the 12 heads which he etched himself, as likewise 79 worked off by Martin Vanden Enden: and what adds still to the value of them is that the greater part were collected by the celebrated Marriette at Paris, his name being signed on the back, as warranting them good proofs." Tne [Transcriber's Note: The] engravings from RAPHAEL'S paintings, upwards of 200 in number, and by the best foreign masters, were contained in 4 splendid morocco volumes. The works of the SADELERS, containing upwards of 959 prints, in 8 large folio volumes, were also in this magnificent collection: and the Albert Durers, Goltziuses, Rembrandts, &c., innumerable!

4. _Collection of Portraits._